Tip the Scale Chapter 01: Anywhere Else But Here

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Rangers and I don't own the song 'Anywhere Else But Here' - Saban and Simple Plan own them respectively.

Author's Note: Hello, PR fandom! It has been a long time since I last wrote anything for PR. I believe the last time I touched this fandom with my own writing was while Ninja Storm was playing new episodes every week. It's been a long time, but I am finally ready to get back into action with, hopefully, much better writing than I did back in the day. Special thank you to Rebel Paisley for inspiring me to get my butt back into gear with her story, Any Moment. If you haven't read that yet, I suggest you do. It is absolutely fabulous.

This story takes place after Return of Thunder and will follow the rest of the season's storylines as far as major happenings.

Happy Reading!

Fair. This was a word that Hunter Bradley threw out of his vocabulary early on in his young life. He had to. If he didn't, he would be stuck wallowing in whatever bitterness and self-pity he harbored over every bad thing that happened to him and his younger brother Blake – and frankly, there were more bad things than Hunter could count. And if he got stuck wallowing in his own misery, he wouldn't be able to take care of neither himself nor Blake and the Bradley brothers would be totally and completely screwed. Again. There were already too many different people and things screwing the Bradleys over; Hunter didn't need to contribute to the party.

Okay. So maybe he did harbor a bit of resentment towards…everything. But he couldn't afford to think too much about 'fair.' And he definitely didn't have the luxury of trusting others. He'd foolishly trusted Lothor and look where that got him and Blake. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

So that was why Hunter Bradley found himself standing in front of Storm Chargers, his heart pounding in his chest.

After the whole, "Agreeing-to-be-Power-Rangers" situation, he and Blake needed a place to stay and, despite the fact that the Bradley brothers didn't have much money to their names, Hunter forcefully declined Sensei's offer to stay at Ninja Ops and went on the apartment search. He'd been taking care of himself and Blake for ten years; the last thing the older Thunder wanted was to be someone's charity case. He could handle it. He always handled it.

Hunter, being a natural older brother, had never let Blake know over the years how much money they actually had. Blake wasn't spoiled – no, their parents hadn't left enough money behind for that – but he wasn't deprived. Hunter made sure of it. The brothers had found an apartment on the outskirts of Blue Bay Harbor, in an admittedly not-so-great-but-not-too-terrible neighborhood. While he had sent Blake to school with the others, giving Tori instructions to help his brother enroll in the public high school (after convincing Blake that the apartment deal would come through, no problem), the 19-year-old went to the landlady's office, armed with their sob story and half of their savings - in cash - to cover the first few months of rent. It must have been convincing because the landlady of the half furnished one-bedroom apartment consented without too much hesitation. Words would never be able to express the immense gratitude he felt when the landlady nodded her head in assent.

And now, here he was, praying none of the Winds or Blake would happen to come by. They probably wouldn't, Hunter reasoned with himself. They were all in school and Cam never left Ninja Ops. With another sigh of relief at this revelation, Hunter thanked every being out there that he was older than the rest and had graduated a year prior, before the Thunder Academy had been attacked. Hunter was a very proud person, something Blake often pointed out as a flaw, and the last thing the Crimson Ranger wanted was for everyone to see him begging Kelly for more hours. He needed more hours to keep himself and Blake - but most importantly Blake - in an apartment with clothes on their backs and food in their mouths.

"Hunter!"

The blond visibly jumped, mentally cursing as he heard his boss – speak of the devil – call his name. Schooling his face into his neutral scowl, Hunter turned around, "Hey Kelly."

"What are you doing here?" the petite woman asked, glancing at the clock as she shifted the box in her arms. "You're…four hours early for your shift."

"I know. I…uh…" It was now or never. "Can I talk to you for a second…in private?"

Kelly immediately went from confused to concerned. "Yes of course. Is everything okay?"

Hunter just shrugged, tilting his head towards the back. He couldn't ask her here, even if there were only one or two people milling about the store. Kelly got the hint, though, and motioned for Hunter to follow her through the store to the back room and into her makeshift office. Once they were inside, Kelly set the box down on the ground and sat down at the chair behind the desk, waving her hand for Hunter to take a seat. When he didn't move from his place by the door, Kelly only raised an eyebrow.

"So…" Hunter began uncomfortably, hands unconsciously curling into fists around the edges of the sleeves on his shirt, "Um…well, Blake and I…well you know we were adopted when we were younger and…" Hunter took in a deep breath. He had to do this, he kept telling himself. For Blake.

Hunter looked up at Kelly, who was frowning in concern. He let out a breath, eyes turning towards the ceiling, "Look. I hate to ask this of you, especially if you don't have any to give me, but I need more hours."

Kelly's eyebrows flew up. That was the last thing she'd expected of her newest employee. Hunter looked more uncomfortable than Kelly had ever seen him in the short few weeks she'd known him – and that included when he apologized for flaking on her.

"Hunter…" Kelly began gently, unsure of how to tell Hunter that she couldn't put more hours in for a stock boy. She had a long-time employee working during the day and couldn't cut his hours for Hunter.

"I know," Hunter interrupted. "I know things are a bit tight, but…the thing is…I'm all Blake has." He said bluntly, deciding that his pride needed to take a back seat - if only for the next few moments.

Before Kelly's look of surprise could fade away, Hunter continued, "Our parents died when we were younger. We lived with…family friends for several years, but they can't take care of us anymore. I'm 19 now and I'm Blake's legal guardian. We just found this apartment and I've been saving up for years and we have enough to cover a few month's rent, but I after that…I just don't know what we'll do and I just…I need to be able to support both of us. And I…I can't let Blake know how much trouble we'll be in if I can't find a way to make more money. He has to focus on finishing school and his motocross and I don't want him to be worrying about this at all."

Hunter had never been one to beg, but his voice had reached as close to pleading as he could muster.

There was a moment of silence. Kelly studied the teen before her; he looked so much older than 19 now. She'd never known about their family life; Kelly never pried any of her employees on their personal lives if she could help it.

"Well, I don't have any stock boy positions available during the day," Kelly repeated. "But I guess I could use an extra hand up front. I usually man the morning shift and it would be nice to be able to focus on other things during the day…"

Hunter's eyes brightened up considerably, although he would probably never admit it.

"Why don't you come in tomorrow morning? I'll get payroll set up today and we can start you on training tomorrow. You'll come in everyday during the week for your cashier shift and then switch over to stocking in the afternoon. And you're still good for your racing obligations and your weekend shifts, right? I can't afford to pay you more hourly than you already get, though."

But Hunter didn't care. He was nodding his head already. "You got it, Kel. Thank you. Seriously. Thank you."

Kelly gave the blond a smile, shaking her head, "It's the least I can do. You're a good brother, Hunter." At Hunter's blush - that he tried to hide with a scowl, of course - Kelly laughed, waving her hand towards the door. "Now, get out of here. You just signed on for a full time gig so you better enjoy the rest of your last free day. See you this afternoon."

Hunter nodded and quickly left the shop, unable to stop the smile that was threatening to break over his face. Things seemed to be falling into place. His natural instinct was telling him that it all seemed too easy, but Hunter would take it for now. He had plenty of time to be skeptical about their good fortune later.

"Hunter? Bro?" Blake called out, shifting the helmet in his arms so he could fish for the keys that he swore he put in his pocket right after Hunter gave them to him while they were at Storm Chargers earlier in the afternoon. Where did he put them? Hunter was going to kill him if he lost them after just five hours of having them.

Just as his fingers touched the cool metal of the keys in, what seemed like, the deepest depths of his pockets, the door to their new apartment swung open to reveal Hunter wearing his signature smirk.

"Lost your keys already?"

Blake rolled his eyes in exasperation, "No! I just...couldn't find them for a bit."

Hunter just snorted in disbelief, stepping back to allow Blake entrance. He shut and locked their flimsy excuse for a door and bit his lip in anticipation as his younger brother's eyes widened in surprise.

After their shift at Storm Chargers, all the Rangers checked in quickly with Cam at Ops. The technician liked to see for himself that the teenagers were alive and well each day. Hunter couldn't exactly blame him. After all, they all partook in sports categorized under "extreme" on a daily basis. Once Cam was satisfied with the Rangers' physical well-being, Dustin had suggested grabbing a slice of pizza before the group went their separate ways for the night. Blake had readily agreed, but Hunter politely declined, claiming he had "some things to take care of."

It was met with skepticism from all parties involved, but Hunter ignored it and turned to leave Ninja Ops after giving Blake instructions to be home at a reasonable hour; he had school in the morning. The older Thunder could practically hear Blake rolling his eyes at his retreating back while the others snickered at the Navy Ranger's expense.

Nevertheless, Hunter didn't give in. He quickly went back to the apartment to finish what he'd started working on earlier in the day. He'd gone to a hardware store and bought some supplies to make their apartment a little less like a hole in the wall and more like a home. Hunter put up a curtain divider in the living room to create a second bedroom; there was only one "real" bedroom and Hunter had deemed it Blake's room. He'd also built a coffee table out of scrap pieces of wood. It still needed to be painted, but Hunter figured all of that could be taken care of over time.

"Do you like it?" Hunter asked nervously. Blake was probably the only person whose opinions the Crimson Ranger cared deeply about.

Blake whirled back around to look at his older brother, shock clearly spelled across his face, "How did you...where did you..."

"The hardware store and the Internet. It's crazy the kind of things you can find." Hunter replied nonchalantly, though inside he was bursting with pride.

Blake nodded, but Hunter didn't really think he was listening. He had that scrunched up look on his face - the one where Hunter knew he was thinking too hard. The Navy Ranger dropped his helmet and backpack on the futon carelessly on his way through the apartment, inspecting everything Hunter had done.

Luckily, the apartment was partially furnished with bedroom furniture, save for a mattress, and all appliances. Although Hunter suspected the appliances hadn't been updated for the past ten years, he couldn't say he minded since they were all in working order. Hunter had also gone to a library to use the Internet to find used furniture. He was able to get a futon for the living room and two mattresses for his and Blake's room. The Bradly brothers were accustom to living practically on top of each other, so the small one-bedroom apartment was more than enough space for the two of them and their sparse belongings.

"You should check out your room. The walls kind of suck, but I figured I'd leave that up to you."

Blake frowned when he realized Hunter was indicating the room with the real door. But before he could say anything, Hunter cut in, "Don't. I want you to have that room. You have more stuff anyway, you diva."

"I do not!" Blake immediately shot back, fighting the grin off of his face.

Hunter merely raised an eyebrow at him before going to his new "room" to get ready for bed. It wasn't all that bad, Hunter decided as he looked around. The crimson curtain wrapped around 2 sides and he had picked a corner wall to enclose the rest of the makeshift bedroom. It wasn't much in the way of sound-proofing, but Hunter wasn't concerned with that.

"You could've let me help you, you know."

Hunter jumped at the sound of Blake's voice, silently cursing at himself for not being more aware of his surroundings. He turned around and tired to glare at his younger brother, "Knock much?"

Blake snorted in response, "On what? This is a curtain, bro."

"Whatever." Hunter muttered, flopping back on the mattress on the floor.

"Seriously, Hunter." Blake said, sitting down gingerly on the carpeted floor next to the mattress. "You didn't have to do all of it by yourself."

"I didn't." Hunter protested, "You still have your room to fix up and when we do groceries after work tomorrow, you're putting them away."

Blake rolled his eyes. Hunter didn't see it, but he knew the navy-clad teen was staring at him with an exasperated expression.

Hunter sat up and looked at Blake as earnestly as he could, "Seriously, dude. It's cool. You were at school and I wanted to do something with the place if we're gonna...you know, be sticking around for...whatever amount of time."

Blake gave his brother an even stare and Hunter knew exactly what he was doing. He glared right back at Blake. There was silence between the Bradleys for several minutes before Hunter finally burst.

"Look, all I'm saying is that Lothor is one hell of an evil space ninja. We saw what he was capable of when we lived on that goddamned ship! I'm just...saying that we might, you know, be Rangers for awhile. So we should have a place that isn't a total dump, you know? I put you in school so I might as well give you like...a place to call...home...and stuff." Hunter finished lamely, looking away from Blake. He and Blake loved each other and they meant everything to the other. But it was something that was always implied, not said. And it made Hunter uncomfortable every time emotions were brought up. Blake once joked that he could see Hunter trying to crawl out of his own skin whenever emotions were in question.

Hunter knew Blake was giving him that look right now. The all-knowing-I-know-what-you're-trying-to-do look. And Hunter really, really did not want to see it. So instead, he reached over to his suitcase that contained all of his personal belongings and pretended to look for something in it.

It wasn't until Blake reached over and put a hand on his shoulder that the Crimson Ranger stopped what he was doing. He glanced up at his brother, who had thankfully wiped that look off of his face.

"Thanks." Blake said simply, offering a smile.

Hunter nodded in return. He had a feeling Blake wasn't done.

And he was right.

"You know," the Navy Ranger went on as predicted. "You're right. It might take awhile to take Lothor and his goons down. And, you know..." Blake pause for a moment, thinking about how to phrase his next thought. He knew, from experience, how incredibly difficult it was for Hunter to socialize. "You know, we've gotta work with the Winds and Cam to beat Lothor. And, really bro, they're not that bad. I actually...I really like them. And you will too if you just...give them a chance, you know?"

Hunter shrugged in response. He knew Blake was going to get on his case about this. It was the reason a part of Hunter desperately wanted to leave Blue Bay Harbor behind after the whole sinking island ordeal. It was one thing to operate as a team with Blake; he knew Blake. He trusted Blake. But add in three other Rangers and their tech guy? Hunter felt uneasy about it. Still - and he supposed this was part of the reason Sensei Wantanbe felt they would be good Power Rangers - Hunter couldn't deny the sense of duty he felt when he realized the kind of power he and Blake had. Not to mention the burning desire for revenge on Lothor. That helped too.

"I'm just saying," Blake said, standing up after a final pat to Hunter's shoulder. "Think about it."

With that, the Navy Ranger left, leaving Hunter alone with his thoughts - which, really, wasn't an ideal situation. Hunter was already feeling a bit on edge. He hadn't had much time to process what was happening. Once they got off of the sinking island and the Bradleys had agreed to stay in Blue Bay Harbor to help defeat Lothor, Hunter poured all of his energy into getting both himself and Blake situated in Blue Bay. Now that Blake was enrolled in school and they had an apartment with a way to - hopefully - keep up with rent payments, Hunter had nothing else to pre-occupy his mind.

"Fuck." The Crimson Ranger cursed, tossing his duffel bag aside and put his head in his hands. He knew the others took his apology at face value; they accepted it and they accepted him. But that was it. They didn't like him, that he was sure of.

Blake was always better at making friends, even when they were younger. Every time their mom would bring the boys to the park after school, Blake was the one who ran off to greet gaggles of peers while Hunter would hang back until Blake pulled him into the group. It was always like that, even after they started Ninja training, but Hunter never minded. It afforded him the ability to keep a better eye on his younger brother, an instinct that had always been a part of Hunter.

The Bradleys had adopted Hunter five years after they'd adopted Blake, who had been taken in just a few months after birth. Hunter hated the family at first. He was sure that they would give him away, just like the others.

When Hunter was three, he had been taken away from his birth parents; they were drug addicts guilty of neglect. Though Hunter had managed to get away without physical scars, the young toddler was forever burned with the idea that he didn't deserve to be loved. This idea was consistently upheld by the two foster families he'd had over the following two years; both families had sent him back to the orphanage with the social workers after just a few months with the little boy. They'd been hoping to adopt an infant, but had decided to "try" Hunter out, as though he was a car on lease. Neither family was prepared to take care of and raise a little toddler who came with so many emotional scars.

Enter Casey and Jake Bradley.

On Blake's third birthday, the unknowing toddler asked for a brother to play with. After talking it out, Casey and Jake agreed that Blake could probably use a sibling. The couple wasn't able to conceive, but loved children, so a month later, Casey and Jake contacted the adoption agency that had helped them find Blake and asked if there were any little boys they could take in. They had talked seriously about it and figured that a toddler would be ideal. They wanted the boys to be able to play together and grow up together, like twins. The social worker they had been in touch with came back with several profiles. Hunter's story called out to them.

The social worker had explained, upon inquiry, that Hunter was a sweet boy, but was never well-socialized after his birth parents conveniently forgot about the toddler for days at a time. The foster homes he had been in temporarily were not perfect fits - they had been new parents who had no ideas on how to raise a little boy who already had so much baggage. Casey turned to Jake, who was already nodding his head. They would meet five-year-old Hunter.

A month later, Hunter's small backpack of his only possessions - a few outfits and his crimson security blanket - was packed and the blond was telling one of the counselors matter-of-factly that he would probably be back soon before turning to Casey and Jake with a bored sounding, "I'm ready to go now."

It broke the Bradleys' hearts.

It was six months into Hunter's residence with the Bradleys (a tough six months filled with temper tantrums from Blake, slammed doors from Hunter and undying effort from Casey and Jake) when Hunter finally began to believe that he could call the Bradleys and Blake his family. He had fallen out of the tree in the backyard during one of his pouting sessions (he didn't perfect the art of brooding until much later on), landing with a distinctive thud and an excruciating pain shooting up his arm. The next thing Hunter could remember was a very upset Blake standing over him with watery eyes.

Hunter let out a whimper of pain and his new younger brother immediately took off, hysterically crying to their parents to "come quick" because Hunter was "almost dead" and they had to save him before he lost his big brother. It was that exact moment that Hunter realized he had a real family – and they loved him. Hunter distinctly remembered thinking that finally, the world was fair again.

Hunter swallowed thickly against the lump in his throat at the memory of his parents. Just seven short years later, his mom and dad were unceremoniously ripped from his and Blake's grasps. How was that fair? Two former orphans, orphaned once again.

And thus began a chain of, what Hunter deemed, a series of unfortunate events over the next seven years. Blake chided him from time to time, reasoning that things hadn't been all bad. Hunter couldn't exactly agree, but he also couldn't deny that tiny prick of pride that sparked within him. If Blake didn't think things were terrible, then at least Hunter had done one thing right in his lifetime: Raise Blake.

Now, here they were, putting their lives in the hands of yet another host of people who Blake claimed were trustworthy. Hunter wouldn't necessarily put that label on the Winds just yet, but then again, he was the one who led them into Lothor's web of lies. And look where that got them.

Yeah. Life wasn't fair. Hunter learned that the hard way. More than just once. And he wasn't really sure if trying one more time was really a fair trade for the pain he knew it would cause Blake if they were duped again. His brother actually liked the Winds.

The Crimson Ranger sighed, forcing himself to close his eyes against his conflicting thoughts. This whole saving the world gig had better be worth it.