Legal: I do not own Power Rangers or the associated names, places, characters, events etc. Anything not covered by the above rights should be assumed to be purely the creation of the author.
Rating: T – May be some mild adult themes, including language and violence.
Things were mercifully quiet on the Heckyl front for the Rangers, which was a huge blessing given the situation at the museum. Things had gone really downhill fast ever since Kendall had been demoted as a result of Ivan destroying the suit of Honour. It had turned out that the suit didn't even belong to Mr Smith, and they had avoided a huge lawsuit, but Anton had taken it as a sign that running the museum and running the team simultaneously had running the museum was too much for Kendall, and had demoted her, and appointed a new Director, a man named Flash Barker.
Flash was...certainly different in how he ran the museum. He had made his name and his fortune in running amusement parks. As soon as he arrived things had started to change. He had instituted a uniform policy, which wouldn't have been all that bad if it wasn't for the blatant and quite uncomfortable difference between how he expected the guys to dress and the girls to dress. While everyone, regardless of gender, wore t-shirts that were much too tight for them to emphasise their physiques, the girls also had to wear what could only loosely be described as "shorts." They were uncomfortably tight, and so short they barely covered their butts. It was pretty clear how he intended this to attract customers, and it had worked in a way...there were now quite a few more creeps hanging around the cafe at lunch times.
The exhibits hadn't been spared either. He had started manipulating the exhibits to make them seem more interesting and appealing. This wasn't unusual in and of itself, but it became clear that he favoured appearance over any kind of research or historical accuracy. Ivan was outraged when he found an exhibit dedicated to him depicting him wearing plate armour. He had been abducted in 1216, almost a full 400 years before plate armour was developed*. The early man exhibits had a mixture of pro-magnum, Neanderthal, homo erectus and homo sapiens men shown in various states of battle...none of which there was any real evidence of since many of the species had only barely overlapped in the time line at all.
The staff had already felt the rough end of his management style as well. He had fired the original gift shop attendant purely because he was old, and he didn't want to pay him the benefits he had earned over his time with the museum and so manufactured a way to fire him. Allison had been warned about her "bad attitude" because she had questioned some of Flash's decisions. However, all of that was only the tip of the iceberg. In her rush to get to the lake to save Matt, Kendall had assaulted Flash, which gave him all the excuse he needed to bar her from the building. Now, the museum really was his, and there was little any of them could do about it.
Riley entered the museum, carrying various paint rollers and brushes, and looking a little sunburnt and weary. He found Shelby staring at the T-Rex exhibit and shaking her head in disbelief. This was another one of Flash's bastardisations of artefacts. It had at least half a dozen more vertebrae and ribs than it should, and its mouth was jammed full of teeth that didn't belong to it, all because Flash wanted to make it look bigger and scarier than it actually was.
"Shelby, it really isn't that bad." Riley told her.
"Not that bad?" She asked him. "People dedicated their careers to studying these things. He's turned it into some kind of freak show! He may as well have gone the whole hog and given it wings!"
"He just...wanted it to look scarier." He reminded her. Shelby rolled her eyes.
"If he wanted something scarier he could have put up the Spinosaurus skeleton we had delivered last month." Shelby told him.
"Then...why don't you suggest that?" Riley asked her. She just smiled.
"I did." Shelby responded. "He told me he doesn't want to risk the trademark infringement of Jurassic Park by using a dinosaur they made up for the movie."
"Wait...he thinks the Spinosaurus is..." Riley just face-palmed, which turned out to be a bad move given his sun burn. "He thinks it's made up? We have the skeleton right in the back!"
"Try telling him that." Shelby muttered. "We have an overgrown toddler running the place."
"Look on the bright side; at least you didn't spend the last three hours clearing up after that graffiti artist." Riley reminded her.
"I guess at least I'm not working in the restaurant." Shelby sighed in agreement. "Do you know what his latest genius plan is?"
"He...wants to make the food better?" Riley asked her.
"He wants to make it gourmet." Shelby told him.
"I...guess some art galleries have gourmet restaurants..."
"Riley, no one on staff here is a chef! We flip burgers!" Shelby reminded him. "Would you run a sushi bar if none of your employees knew how to make sushi?"
"I...guess not." He said, sucking his teeth. "So...who's the chef?"
"Oh, that's the best part. Chase." She told him. Riley just stared blankly at her. Chase wasn't a bad choice per se; he had manned the grill a lot of times. "Flash found out the food critic likes pavalova and when he remembered for once that Chase is from New Zealand, decided he was the chef."
"Does Chase even know how to make pavalova?" Riley asked her. Shelby rolled her eyes.
"So, you figured out the flaw in this plan?" Shelby asked him. "Oh, he's also not given us much time to prepare either, he's already arranged for Mrs Allister to come to the restaurant."
"The food critic?" Riley asked incredulously. "Is he insane? She's shut down more restaurants with her reviews than the Health Department!"
"So you see a flaw in this plan." Shelby responded. Just then, she turned around to see a rather stern looking woman looking down her nose at her. She was dressed in a designer dress and carrying a new designer handbag.
"Which way is the restaurant?" She asked. "I've got a booking."
"Oh...I...can show you to..."
"No, it's alright, I can find my own way, I see it now." The woman interrupted Riley. "I just hope for your sake the food isn't as burned as your face."
As she headed for the restaurant, Riley just stared at Shelby.
"Is it really that bad?" He asked her. Shelby just winced.
"Let's just say...thank God for Energems." She said, patting his shoulder, causing him immense pain, before heading off to find her next tour group.
On Heckyl's ship, the flamboyant alien was being led down the hall towards the lab by Wrench to see his latest creation. They hadn't sent much in the way of an attack to the city since the battle over the Titanozord. Seeing the sheer power the Rangers had at their disposal with the Titanozord, Wrench had vowed to Heckyl that he would create him a weapon that could match the power of their Zords if given a little time to work and experiment. Heckyl was sceptical at best, but he decided to give Wrench a chance. The cyborg was babbling away as they approached the door.
"I'm telling you, with some manipulation of genetics, combined with some of my own technology; I've come up with the ultimate weapon!" Wrench assured him, in a sales pitch that Heckyl felt like he'd heard a thousand times before. Wrench opened the door, where they saw a massive, armoured creature being attacked by viviks. "Here it is, my secret project. Fortress!"
The viviks attacked with all they had, punching the creature, which didn't react in the slightest, like the blows were of no more concern to it than dust particles. With a simple swing of its arm, all the viviks flew across the room. Heckyl just sighed and stroked the bridge of his nose.
"So, this is your invincible monster?" Heckyl quizzed him wearily. "Wrench, being able to beat up viviks isn't a big deal. We've seen normal people do it. Kendall destroyed a number of them before she got her Energem."
"He isn't just powerful; he knows all the Megazord moves!" Wrench boasted, going to his computer. "Looking through news archives, I've downloaded each and every Megazord battle we've been in."
"All the ones we've lost you mean." Heckyl stated. Wrench just went back to the footage, pulling up the first battle the Rangers won with the Pachyzord.
"That's the Pacha Wrecking ball!" Wrench told him. "Viviks, pretend to be a wrecking ball, just like we practiced!"
One of the viviks jumped onto the shoulders of four others, who then ran with him like a battering ram, head-first towards fortress. The monster deflected them and sent them all crashing to the floor with ease.
"Fortress can counter any Megazord move ever!" Wrench told him.
"Impressive! I just notice one little problem with your little theory." Heckyl stated. "You're not going to be there to call out the moves."
"No, but you are." Wrench told him. Heckyl just looked at him a little impatiently, like he was waiting for him to get to the point. "I've included a cockpit and control system in his armour, just like a Megazord. Once he's Magna-beamed into a giant, you'll have your very own cockpit just like a Megazord!"
"My own monster Megazord." Heckyl said as an evil grin crossed his face, this thought starting to form up in his mind. "I like it!"
At her apartment, Kendall was in her living room, starting to look through some of her books and journals. It had been quite a while since she had this much time on her hands. While it didn't feel good to be banished from the museum, to be away from the place she had poured so much of herself into, there were a few advantages. For one thing, she no longer had to wear that ridiculous uniform Flash insisted she wear at the museum. Since she worked for Anton, and not the museum, Flash couldn't actually fire her, so unless Anton said any differently, she couldn't be fired, so she was still getting paid, meaning she didn't have to worry about her bills, but now that meant that she had to find ways to fill her day.
It had been one of her regrets never getting around to completing her PhD. She had been all but complete, but unfortunately she had planned to partner with Dr Runga to publish a paper as her PhD dissertation. Dr Runga had been a much different person then, being more concerned with credit and glory than his work, and so he had published the paper but omitted any mention of Kendall's contribution. It had been a harsh blow, one that she still hadn't really gotten over completely, even after accepting Dr Runga's apology. The only reason she even looked at submitting a dissertation was as a result of a deal she made with Shelby, that if Shelby went to university and got her degree, then she would finally submit a dissertation and get the PhD she should have gotten a couple of years ago.
Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. A dissertation was easily upwards of 50,000 words, and required a lot of work and study, even before it was submitted, after which it would be scrutinised painstakingly for signs of plagiarism or false and unsubstantiated claims. Since she was starting from square one, first of all she needed to find a topic she even wanted to write about. Since she didn't need to be anywhere, she was sitting in her apartment in just a pair of sweat pants, and a jersey that was about four sizes too big for her. She took a sip of a coffee, before returning to her journals to catch up on the latest developments in her field.
She heard a knock on the door, distracting her attention. She put the journals aside and headed to the door, opening it to find Matt standing outside.
"Matt!" She exclaimed, taking the chain off the door and letting him in. "What the hell are you doing here? You should be in the hospital!"
Matt had indeed been sent to the hospital after the battle at the lake. Between oxygen deprivation, hypothermia and a mild case of the bends, he was in no fit state to go back to the farm to work.
"You know me, 'Granite' Matt Griffin." He told her, coming into the room, but moving a little gingerly. Kendall just guided him as far as the couch, making him sit down. "Hospitals really don't do it for me."
"Matt, this is no laughing matter; you shouldn't be up and about. You need rest, you need..."
"I think I know what I need more than any doctor, and it sure isn't another drip shoved into me." He told her. He reached out for her, cradling her face. "Thank you for what you did. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."
Kendall couldn't resolve what she wanted right now. She wanted to pull away, to get away from Matt to avoid getting too close. Their relationship had ended abruptly after they had gotten to talk about the future. Well, talk was glorifying it a little. Kendall had been disappointed when Matt hadn't been chosen by the Purple Energem she had now bonded to. She was even more disappointed when Matt told her he didn't want to be a Ranger in the first place. She had said some careless things about how he didn't need to be trapped on the farm in Millport, things that only insulted Matt. He didn't think of himself as trapped, he actually wanted to stay. He saw his future in Millport, a future with a family, something that Kendall had blurted out was in no way in her plans. It was the nail in the coffin that let them know their relationship was on borrowed time.
However, she couldn't deny to herself how she felt. When she heard that Matt was in danger, nothing could stop her racing to the lake to get to him. She had thrown away her position at the museum, and ignored the battle at the edge of the lake to get to him. It was only down to her suit she had even survived the swim down to the Titanozord. To have him with her now, to feel his touch, she felt the same energy, the same electricity that surged through her whenever she was near him. She took his hand, taking it from her face, but still holding it.
"Matt...I did what I did..."
"What you did goes way beyond the standard duties of a Ranger." Matt told her. "Kendall, I never stopped..."
"Matt, can you please...just...don't say that." Kendall asked him. She pleaded with him with her eyes. She could feel in her heart what he was going to say, which would just make keeping her distance so much harder. "I'm glad I saved you, but this...we can't forget there's a reason this happened."
"If that's how you feel then why are you still wearing my jersey?" He asked her. It was only then that Kendall realised he was right. One of the few times they had dated, they were out when the weather turned a little chilly. Matt, ever the gentleman, had given her his jersey to help her stay warm. She had never gotten around to giving it back to him. She hadn't even thought about it when she put it on today.
"It's really comfortable." Kendall told him. "If you want it back..."
"Kendall, I don't care about the sodding jersey." He interrupted her. "It's you I care about."
"Matt, this is a really bad idea." Kendall told him, getting up from the couch. "We know where it'll end up..."
"Yeah, I know, but I want you to know...it doesn't matter to me." He assured her.
"But you want kids..."
"Exactly, and you know what? There are kids all over the country that are just crying out for a good home." He told her. Kendall paused as he said this.
"Wait, what do you mean?" She asked him.
"Blood doesn't make family, love does." He told her. "If we fostered or if we adopted..."
"Wait, why would you think...?" Her face suddenly twisted into one of pure anger. "...who told you?" Matt just sighed.
"Your grandmother visited me in hospital." Matt told her. "She told me about the operation..."
"She had NO RIGHT to tell you that!" Kendall snapped at him, folding her arms defiantly. "That was none of her business!"
"Kendall, don't you think those are exactly the kinds of things I would want to share with you?" He asked her. "I can't begin to imagine what that must have been like..."
"I want you to go." Kendall told him. "Right now."
"Kendall..."
"You found your way in here, you can find your way back out!" Kendall interrupted him. Matt realised he had blundered into this rather carelessly and it had backfired horribly.
"Kendall, I'm sorry, will you just listen to me?" He asked her.
"Second thoughts, you might need to rest up after your walk over here." She told him, gathering up a few journals. "That doesn't mean I have to be here!"
With that, she stormed into her room and slammed the door. Matt just went to the couch and lay down, cursing himself for the way he blundered into this. He loved Kendall, and he would never want to be the cause of pain for her. However, right now, it looked like that was exactly what he was.
In her room, Kendall threw her journals onto the bed and sat down. There wasn't much room in her bedroom now, it was a bad idea to hide out here, since there was barely enough room to move around, but she couldn't face Matt right now, and this was the only place she could think of to go.
Climbing awkwardly onto the bed, she barely had any room to move around anywhere else. As she was leaving the museum for the last time, she had intercepted a delivery, one intended for her at the museum. It was all the artefacts the team had found in Koda's tribe's cave in Alaska. Partly as a way of protecting the artefacts from Flash, and partly as an act of spite, she had the artefacts re-routed to her apartment. However, now that they were here, she didn't really know what to do with them. She hadn't even told Shelby, who she shared the apartment with, that they were there, hence why her room was now completely filled with all the artefacts that they had found.
She was trying to read some journals to get some inspiration for her dissertation when her movement on the bed caused one of the artefacts to fall onto her bed. She groaned and reached for it, realising it was the atlatl or spear-thrower that she had found. It was a technology that shouldn't have existed in that era, the first examples being attributed to the Aztecs thousands of years later. She looked around the room and a thought occurred to her. How could she not see it? She had one of the most monumental finds in the history of her field right there in her bedroom the whole time!
She took her notes, screwing them up into a ball and threw them into the corner, before scribbling down a new title.
"Early Man, Early Science. The Untold Truth of the First Scientists."
