DISCLAIMER:The usual disclaimer, the Power Rangers and all associated characters are property of Saban. The only thing I eventually own is the OC and the plot idea.
Chapter 1 - Down The Rabbit's Hole
It was a warm Californian day in Angel Grove and the vast majority of the students of Angel Grove High had just finished their classes and emptied the halls, eager to pursue their free time as they saw fit. A young man walked across the now desert halls of ground floor of AGH towards the gym area, rows of lockers giving way to trophy cases embedded into walls, proudly showing off the school's sports tradition, with the tiger motif proudly displayed at the back of every case. He was well built, wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans, his physique showcasing a lifetime of sports activity and martial arts involvement. He tentatively looked around the connecting halls as he approached the main staircase leading to the upper floor, obviously looking for someone. The sound of tapping brought his attention to another young man wearing a green sleeveless shirt and black pants, his backpack slung casually over his shoulder. He was leaning almost out of sight in the corridor that led to the changing rooms, a frown of bored impatience on his face.
"Tommy! Hey!", the youth in red called, relieved. Initially, he hadn't been sure if the other teen would've accepted an offer to hang out, but now he felt uneasy that he had to reschedule due to other commitments.
"Hello Jason.", Tommy answered tersely, his eyes fixed intently on the red-clad teen. Jason was surprised to notice the complete lack of enthusiasm on Tommy's part: their first meeting, prior to a competition, had been the complete opposite of this one.
"I'm sorry, just dropped by to let you know I can't spar today. Urgent call from family.", Jason said apologetically, looking at Tommy for any signs of a reaction. The lie he just told was ashen in his mouth, but it was needed. He had more pressing problems to deal with.
"I see.", Tommy responded evenly, tilting his head ever so slightly. The lack of any emphatic reaction surprised Jason even further.
"Are you up for a reschedule? Tomorrow maybe?", Jason suggested, wondering quietly why the other teen was so tense. Had the school bullies been giving him a hard time? It was a nonsensical question, as Tommy clearly knew how to handle himself, but Jason knew a lot of his fellow jocks to often be very abrasive, especially to newcomers.
"Fine with me.", the answer came with a shrug.
" I'll see you tomorrow then.", Jason's elation in his voice was genuine. At least it was one of the rare genuine things about him for the last week.
With that Jason turned his back on Tommy, not noticing a small tinge of emerald green flashing in his eyes and a circle shaped object slipping into his hand: a coin. As he started to walk away, Tommy turned the coin towards Jason, a green light beam shooting out of it and Jason disappeared in a brief flash of green particles that shimmered into nothingness in a matter of seconds. Tommy returned the coin into his backpack, looking left and right along the adjacent corridors, then slinging the backpack back on his shoulder and walking towards the front exit like nothing happened.
At the same time, at the upper floor of Angel Grove High, another youth just left the computer labs with his black backpack slung casually over his left shoulder. He was 6 feet tall and muscular built, dressed in a gray sleeveless shirt, black pants and black sneakers with a gray trim to them, and with a far more serious expression on his face than one would expect of an 18-year old. His almost jet black hair was crew cut and only a very faint trace of stubble on his chin indicated the formation of a goatee. As he passed along the tight corridors of the labs, the scant groups of people clustered around the upper floor lockers turned heads after him, some whispering to their friends while others just moving out of the way. He met the eyes of a few with a nod, traded a smile with the others, but was otherwise engrossed in his thoughts as he made his way to his locker. He stacked the books neatly inside the steel-enclosed space, locking it as he finished. It was a small ritual that marked the end of the school day.
He silently walked across the hall towards the staircase to the lower floor, eager to finally leave the school premises behind for the day. As he approached the stairs, he heard two voices talking downstairs that shook him out of his thoughts: one of them was more than familiar while the other he could not say he ever heard until now. Grinning, he quickened his pace to approach the stairs. Slowly leaning over the railing of the stairs, he watched as the two youths separated, but, while the one in red turned his back and was about to leave, the other one got some kind of coin out of the bag and the hall was briefly lit by green light as a beam connected between the coin and the teen in red. The older youth pulled up the stairs without making a sound as the one in green looked around himself, then leaned slowly back to watch him leave.
- What on Earth has just happened? - the young man asked himself as he stood by the stairs waiting for a few minutes to pass so he could head to the lower floor without suspicion. His mind was reeling from the shock inflicted by the scene he just witnessed, and he tried frantically to look for an explanation for what happened.
Everything clicked in place at surprising speed. By now everyone knew of the battle between the Power Rangers and the alien invaders from space, and most recently, of the appearance of another Ranger who was intent on helping the aliens conquer the planet: the Green Ranger. And he just witnessed who the Green Ranger really was. He recognized the younger teen from a recent Karate Tournament in which his brother participated. Just one question remained to be answered. What did the Green Ranger want with his younger brother?
With that thought in mind, Kevin Lee Scott descended the stairs in a hurry and walked towards the exit of AGH, concern mixed with fury deeply showing in his face and replacing the expression of surprise and shock he had just a moment ago. He decided he'd get to the bottom of the matter with Tommy in earnest.
Zack sat at the usual table the Rangers sat at while in the Youth Center. He was looking around himself, waiting for Jason to show up, showing a forced smile at acquaintances that passed. An empty glass stood on the table in front of him, and he drummed his fingers onto the table to a beat in his head. While his acquaintances would think he was his usual easygoing self, a further look at him would show that he was recently a bit fatigued and worried. It was expected, since this young black teen was the Black Power Ranger, and recently in that role he had his hands full with the new Ranger on the block, an evil one on top of that. With the communication with Zordon disrupted and the Command Center in a disarray, the Rangers had to use everything they had left at their disposal to both get Zordon back and keep Rita and the Green Ranger at bay.
Looking at his left, he saw Trini and Billy enter the Youth Center, discussing something on their way to the table.
"Hey Billy, hey Trini.", he greeted the two, his features assuming the first genuine smile of the day.
"Salutations Zack", Billy replied, with a faint smile, drawing a bar stool closer and plopping onto it with exhaustion. The resident genius had pulled an overnighter, working to stabilize the teleportation system and helping purge Alpha 5 of the last vestiges of the viral code slipped into him by the Green Ranger.
"Hey Zack, what's going on?", Trini returned the greeting as she pulled up a chair as well and dropped her backpack under the table, for a change not bothering to pull her notebooks out.
"Nothing, just waiting on Jason and Kimberly to show up. Between our class assignments and the you-know-who, I don't know anymore what's worse.", Zack commented bitterly, tapping his fingers on the empty soda glass in front of him.
" I know what you mean. I've seen Kimberly on my way out from school and she told me she'd meet with Jason in front of the High School after she dropped her books home." Trini said with a drawn out sigh. The Yellow Ranger was worried about her friend: they had yet to find out the identity of the Green Ranger, and being separated left them potentially vulnerable. The thought of Kimberly or Jason alone and at Rita's whim was a sobering thought.
" If I remember correctly, Jason had a scheduled meeting with Tommy prior to meeting us. They should be here soon enough." Billy pointed out, recalling the two teens talking the day prior: the newcomer had been giving all of them the cold shoulder aside Jason, with whom he seemed very keen to spar.
Zack looked unconvinced. "For some reason, I have a bad feeling about this."
Kimberly was pacing in front of the stairs leading to the Angel Grove High main entrance, where she agreed she'd meet with Jason as soon as he finished his sparring session with Tommy. She had gone to drop her school books home and then returned to the High School proper, figuring that by the time she'd done that, Jason would be done and waiting for her in front of the school gates. However that was not the case, and the more time passed, the more worried she became. Tommy had passed her by, rudely brushing aside her greeting as he made his way down across the street and out of her sight. She hadn't been had the chance to ask about Jason's whereabouts. A minute later she saw Kevin march out of the front gate, halting to a stop and looking around himself carefully.
"Kevin! Hey!", Kimberly shouted, waving frantically to get the older teen's attention. Kevin seemed jolted out of whatever he was trying to focus on then turned and lightly descended the stairs to where Kimberly was standing, returning her wave.
"Hey Kim! What can I do for you?", he asked politely and with a forced smile, his eyes darting almost nervously around.
" I wanted to ask you if you have seen Jason after class. I was supposed to meet him here.", Kimberly said hopefully, knowing that if anyone almost always knew where Jason was, it was Kevin. The three years older teen was always the one to watch over her and Jason when they were kids, and had quickly developed a penchant for knowing where they'd be.
Kevin pretended to ponder the question. Knowing perfectly well what happened to Jason, Kevin had quite a conundrum. On one hand, seeing Kimberly's worry written clearly on her face made him want to tell her, but on the other, he had no doubt that if any of the two sides came to know he knew about the Green Ranger's identity, trouble would soon follow.
" No, I haven't seen him after class. Are you sure he hasn't just gone ahead and is waiting for you in the Youth Center?", the teen replied, rubbing the back of his neck. He had to pretend not to be unsettled by the disappointment on her face.
" You know that's so unlike Jason. He would not stand up on someone like that without a notice.", Kimberly remarked with a frown, as the initial disappointment passed. Something about the way Kevin acted unsettled her. The teen's tension reminded her a lot of Jason's when they were about to battle one of Rita's monsters: he was wound up.
" Maybe he went there to work out with that new kid in your classes that I've heard so much about.", Kevin suggested tentatively, while his eyes went from Kimberly over to the street, and then further out, as if he was willing the street itself to give up the Green Ranger's steps.
" Maybe you're right, Kevin. Thanks anyways.", Kimberly answered, sighing to herself. Maybe she was being just too worried after all. However, Tommy had just passed her by, and Jason was nowhere in sight.
" No problem, Kim. I'll see you later.", the older teen said with a smile as he reassuringly patted her back. The friendly gesture did little to bring her comfort.
With that, Kimberly turned and left for the Youth Center, while Kevin started running the moment she had left the line of sight. Basing himself on the direction where he'd seen Tommy walk off, his first guess was that the younger teen went to the park. He'd make sure he checked each of the usual hangouts before he'd call it a day. If he couldn't find Tommy today, there'd be other times where he could catch the younger man unaware and other ways to confront him.
He wasn't wrong in coming to the park first and foremost. Kevin leaned into the shadow of a nearby tree, watching Tommy go through a familiar kata in the more secluded area of the park. The series of moves was familiar to him: it had been one he and his brother had often practiced. This version of the form was terse and forceful, as if its practitioner had a lot of anger that he tried not to show. He bristled inside at the thought of confronting Tommy about Jason's disappearance and he was now just biding his time until he saw an opening in the kata the teen was performing.
As he saw Tommy start to turn his back on Kevin to execute a punch, Kevin sprung forward, catching Tommy's arm and wringing it behind. Tommy, caught by total surprise, couldn't do anything as his arm got twisted in a lock behind his back while at the same time he lost his footing to a sweep, unceremoniously falling face down into the grass. He felt a foot position itself on the back of his knee, applying just enough pressure to ensure he wouldn't move his legs without risking serious injury. All he could do was turn his head around to look at his attacker and was greeted by an older teen's blue eyes looking at him menacingly.
" What did you do to Jason?", Kevin asked harshly, his gaze passing critically over the downed teen and he started slowly applying pressure to his arm, leveraging it inches by inches to the breaking point. There would be no tapping out of this one.
" I don't know what you're talking about!", Tommy gritted between his teeth while he tried to move around to somehow ease the pain in his arm, but the more he moved, the more pressure was applied to his arm, sending jolts of pain through his limb as his nerves protested every move he made.
" Bullshit you don't!", Kevin growled at him, finally pushing the arm lock to what he felt was the limit. "I saw him disappearing out of the school corridor, and I bet that coin of yours has more tricks up its sleeve. Now spit it out or I am going to risk my good standing by sending you to the hospital, preferably in pieces!"
Tommy smirked more to himself than to Kevin. "Why would you like to know? What is the Red Ranger to you?"
Kevin stood dumbfounded for a moment. Red Ranger? Jason? The thought echoed in his mind like a gunshot. Regaining his composure, Kevin lifted his foot off Tommy's knee and let go of his arm. Instead he quickly turned Tommy over to face him while laying down, then lifted him up abruptly by the hem of the shirt. The cloth of the shirt strained under his grip, and would soon rip apart.
" If I find out even a scratch on Jason, you'll answer to me. And there won't be any amount of power to save you if I decide to pay you back for what you've done to my brother.", he threatened, then dropped the younger teen on the ground as abruptly as he had yanked him upwards. " Remember I know who you are. Green Ranger. ", he growled, then turned around and started to leave.
Tommy shot him a mean glance while sitting up, rubbing his arm back to life while feeling returned to his aching body. " You chose the wrong person to threaten!", he yelled after the young man leaving, trying to put in some menace into it.
" It's not a threat.", Kevin replied in an ice cold voice, not bothering to look back at Tommy. " It's a promise."
Kevin strode quickly across the park grounds to a rocky outcropping by the lake, sat there and stared into the water for a moment, concerned thoughts crossing his mind as he clenched and unclenched his fists. His heart was still racing, but the initial unbidden urge to seriously harm the Ranger for kidnapping his brother vaned with the lessening of the adrenaline in his bloodstream and was getting fast replaced by a sense of worry. Kevin did not know where the Green Ranger took his brother, nor in what condition Jason was, and he started dreading the worst. He berated himself for acting impulsively as he leveled his head onto his hands, elbows resting on his knees, and in vain he tried to tell himself that he won't let his emotions get the better of him ever again when Jason might pay the price for his error.