"Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. "
― Edna St. Vincent Millay
Into the Darkness (They Go)
The light was so bright. Astronema kept her eyes shut tight, trying not to react otherwise.
She was lying on the floor of the Dark Fortress; she could feel it under one hand, the familiar pattern of the metal. They were in flight. No - they were landing. She knew the feel of that.
Someone picked her up. Astronema stayed limp and unmoving. She didn't know what was going on, and it was safer not to move until things made more sense. The last several hours were very fuzzy; the last thing she really remembered was sitting in her room, waiting for the Power Rangers to hand themselves over.
Whoever was carrying her took her down a ramp onto uneven ground and set her down. They stayed hovering over her. Astronema barely breathed. Something fell on her face - there was noise - Red Ranger!
Wait. She could use this. A simple thought was enough to get rid of her implants - useless now without Dark Spectre, anyway. The colour washed from her hair and her clothes faded into something far softer, gentler. Not her at all, but then she wasn't playing herself.
Her eyes flickered open. "...Andros?"
She smiled and simpered at the stupid, dull people on KO35. She smiled and hugged the Rangers on the Megaship as they followed Andros' strumpet back to Earth. She smiled and touched Zhane when he came to her room, faked shyness and made him pursue her, let him tumble her into the sheets and pretended delight and joy. It would keep him tied to her, give her an ally in the Ranger's group. She had a feeling she'd need it at some point.
Andros came to her after a while. "I've been talking to Tommy Oliver. He has an idea, a - a vision. For the Rangers of Earth."
"Oh?" She clasped her hands together, watching him demurely. "What is it?"
"He wants to bring them all together to protect the planet. He's still working out all the details, but.."
"But?" she prompted, blinking innocently.
"Well, he'd like to talk to you about the League of Evil. And - maybe -"
"Maybe?" she prompted, inwardly rolling her eyes. He was so damn tentative all the time.
"He thinks it would be useful to have someone who can go undercover if it's needed."
"Oh." She bit her lip, looking down.
"I told him you couldn't, but he wants to meet you. He promised it would just be a talk."
"I...ok. I'll meet him. Just a talk, right?"
"Just a talk," he promised.
"Maybe I can just tell him things to help him."
"I'm sure that would work."
She smiled and hugged him, pressing one hand against a particular spot, between two ribs. She'd promised herself she'd stab him just there - he'd have enough time to realise, to look her in the eyes - but it wasn't time yet. First she'd see what this 'Tommy' wanted. Anything that would help the Rangers couldn't be allowed to go ahead.
She let him go and smiled. "Let's go meet him."
Astronema let Tommy talk her into undercover missions. It was the most fun she'd had in months. He was trying to set up a centre for all of Earth's Rangers; on the plans it was called the Hexagon, but she nicknamed it the Hex and it caught on. It amused her that no one realised she was being literal. It was easy to lay hexes and jinxes in as it was being built. Nothing too serious; the game was the point, now. But just enough to irritate them; lost paperwork, stubbed toes, spoiled food. Tiny irritations, but enough to sow seeds.
She took the missions, as many as he'd give her. It was a chance to let loose and be herself again without monitoring everything she said and did. Her nights with Zhane were always more fun afterwards, more energetic and exciting. She didn't know what he thought about it and didn't much care. She'd been fiddling with his mind for months and he was now only loyal to her.
Tommy sent her after the Quasar Saber. She almost hugged him. The Saber would make things much easier for her. Faking a ghost was easy - she'd seen enough videos of Kendrix - and faking a uniform even easier. The set up with the statue warrior, staged for Leo's benefit, erased any doubts they might have had and she was welcomed onto a team.
They let her onto a team. This wasn't even a challenge! It was - what was that Earther saying? Shooting fish in a bathtub?
The Saber didn't like serving her, but she got around that, bent and changed it, drank from the power it offered her. It was amazing, the things she could do now. Almost terrifying, if she'd had any ability to feel fear any more. That had long been trained out of her. When the team gave up their Sabers Karone slid a replica into place, sighing and commiserating with the others as she 'lost' the Power.
The real Saber adorned the wall of her quarters in the Hex. Only Zhane - so addled now he barely remembered his own name most days - knew it was real. He couldn't have told anyone if he wanted to. Astronema liked to see it there when she was sitting astride him.
The next team was fighting demons. Astronema didn't get involved too much with them. Their base was underwater, to limit the demons' power, and she didn't like it down there, all dingy and damp and dark. Their Sixth caught her eye a few times, his dark power calling to hers, but she didn't go near him. He had a sister and father involved in the fight and she couldn't risk him choosing their side.
After they'd defeated the demons Tommy officially brought them into the Hex. Astronema still didn't seek the Sixth out, not sure of him, but she saw him here and there in the halls, in the labs, enduring tests and checks just as she had when she joined first. For all their claims of hospitality, the Earthers were very suspicious of anything different.
Eventually he was allowed out to roam the halls freely. It took him all of twenty minutes to find her quarters, and far less than that to tumble her into the sheets. Astronema enjoyed it. Zhane was responsive, but he never initiated anything any more, and it was good to have someone else doing the work for a while.
"How long until you kill them all?" Sixth asked afterwards.
"I haven't decided yet. Why? Staking a claim?"
"Yeah. I want mine."
"Your sister and father?"
"And the others. Trapping me down in that tin can for weeks on end. All that talk of love and goodness and family."
Astronema smiled at the way he pronounced the words, as though they were foul curses. "I think we're going to be good friends, Sixth."
"Ryan."
She sat up, rolling in one swift move to straddle him. "Do I look like I care? Now, I have some orders for you, if you think you can manage that."
His power roiled against hers, but he'd been raised and trained to serve, not lead. He dropped his eyes. "As you wish, my queen."
She sent Zhane back to KO35. He moaned and whined about it, but he was no use to her on Earth any more and there were missions she didn't want to be on herself. Sixth worked hard in the Hex, moving himself up the ranks, barely acknowledging her in the corridors and meeting rooms and devotedly at her beck and call otherwise.
She paid closer attention to the Sixths after that. They were more likely to be outsiders, aloof, easier to seduce in one way or another. She ignored Eric; he was just bad tempered and looking for attention, not evil. Merrick was no good either, too caught up in nobility and goodness, but ZenAku - ah, that was a feast. She drained him of everything useful and tossed the husk back into the enchanted sleep that had held him for so long.
The Dark Ninja Rangers seemed promising at first, but they eventually ended up on the side of good, after some yoyoing. Astronema contrived to meet them, after they had finished their battle; the Crimson one had promise, but the Navy was too tightly tied to the light. She made sure Crimson and Sixth would be working together and left his training in Sixth's hands.
She was proudest of turning White Dino. She did it under Tommy's nose - his own teammate, no less! - and didn't even have to try that hard. There was darkness in the kid even before his Gem got to him. She turned him and kept him nearby, for times when Sixth was on missions and couldn't scratch her itches.
White was the last useful one for a while. She could have turned any of the others, of course, given enough time, but she wasn't that concerned. It was amusing, watching Tommy run around gathering everyone up, giving them earnest speeches about 'working together' and 'staying strong'. Apart from some help with technology, he hadn't yet helped any of the new teams.
Eventually the day came, though. An all out attack, mirroring her own on Angel Grove almost fifteen years before. Tommy called in every member of the Hexagon, made sure they knew to stay incognito until the time was right, and sent them all out. Astronema joined the others in rescuing sniveling civilians, pretending she cared about them.
She joined them in defeating the X Borgs. No point in taking down the Rangers and then having to immediately turn around and defeat another army. When it was done, she positioned herself behind Andros as Tommy as he talked to the new guys. Sixth, Crimson, Zhane and White were in strategic positions throughout the group of Rangers, Sixth near his sister, Crimson between his brother and his brother's girlfriend, Zhane with the Time Force team and White behind Tommy.
She quietly summoned a blade, smiling blandly at the new Rangers. Their Sixth seemed to notice something, watching her warily, but it was far, far too late.
She moved behind Andros, smiled again, and struck.