Chapter 2 – Unwanted Visitors
A few weeks had passed since the attempted mugging in Minneapolis and things had changed significantly for Cosima. Sarah's pestering along with Cosima's natural curiosity about their origins forced the brunette to realise that the best place for her was in Toronto. She packed her meagre possessions into a shipping crate and flew them across the border, eventually settling into a tiny apartment belonging to Sarah's foster brother, Felix Dawkins. The young British man had a flair for art, many of which were scattered around the living area. Quite why he had to do his painting in the nude, Cosima had yet to find out.
Cosima's run in with the drunken muggers forced her to realise that she needed to get back in shape. She wasn't unfit but her karate skills were definitely rusty. She had been fortunate last time, that wasn't a mistake she would make again. With DYAD breathing down their necks, Cosima needed to be as prepared as possible. One of the first things she insisted on was installing a punching bag somewhere in Felix's apartment.
At first there were a few curious looks, not just from Felix but from Sarah as well. Cosima was reluctant to tell them about her talents, instead she spun a tale about how it helped to relieve tension at moments of stress. Her lie was a little too convincing though, Felix insisted putting a badly sketched picture of Rachel Duncan on the bag. A psychologist would have a field day if they caught Cosima or any of the other clones punching an image of their own face during moments of frustration.
Speaking of frustration, there was the Delphine situation to consider. Just as she suspected the Frenchwoman was a plant in an attempt by DYAD to get close to the scientist. Delphine insisted she was on Cosima's side but there were little half truths and unnecessary deceptions which made her question her loyalties. Cosima wanted to say that she wasn't getting invested in the blonde romantically but would definitely be a lie. She had fallen hard for the Frenchwoman and every piece of deceit felt like a blow straight to her heart.
It was for that exact reason that Cosima was worked on the bag hard that morning. Dressed in a pair of black sweatpants and blue tank top, the clone kicked at the bag hard, threatening to tear the thing out of its mountings. Adam Park, one of her old team mates, said that you couldn't extinguish your anger and frustration with violence. At this exact moment Cosima vehemently disagreed with the former green Turbo ranger, she hadn't felt this good in years.
Even though her communicator and Turbo morpher sat firmly on her wrists, Cosima hadn't been tempted to activate either of them. Somehow she managed to stay out the Ranger limelight for the last 15 years and was quite keen to keep it that way. Living in California it was hard to avoid the endless slew of new Ranger teams that seemed to come almost every year. A couple of times she had been tempted to come out of retirement, even fielding a consultancy offer from Andrew Hartford. Cosima politely declined though, choosing to focus on her studies rather than spandex.
After several minutes working on the bag, Cosima decided to take a break. She stretched out a tight hamstring before grabbing her water bottle from the table. The dreadlocked clone took a quick moment to inspect her Turbo Morpher, instinctively summoning it to her arm. The device was still calling, almost warning her that something was about to happen. The distant feeling of alarm sometimes kept her awake at night but Cosima wasn't sure if it was trying to warn her about the threat of DYAD or something extra terrestrial. If memory served her correctly the current active team were based out of Harwood County back in her home state. Last time she checked they had the threat well under control.
Cosima was still inspecting the morpher, debating whether to give it a test morph when her clone phone rang. Immediately she was on alert and fumbled around on the sofa for the phone. On checking the caller ID she noticed it was Alison calling. Cosima thought this was a little unusual, the soccer mom rarely got in contact voluntarily unless prompted. Alison had been growing more paranoid by the day though, almost to the point that she was freaked out by her own shadow. Groaning at the thought of having to deal with fractious Alison right now, Cosima took a deep breath and answered as calmly as she could, "Alison, hey what's up?"
"Cosima thank God", the tense voice of Alison replied, "I've been trying to get hold of everyone but you're the first person to pick up".
The dreadlocked clone smiled to herself, obviously no one else was in the mood to deal with Alison either. Another thought drifted across her mind though, one that she couldn't help but vocalise, "And I was your last resort", she snorted, "gee thanks, really feeling the love".
"I don't have time for your sarcasm", Alison sniped back, "this is serious, I've just been accosted by two people looking for you". Cosima frowned slightly, to her knowledge no one knew she was in Toronto. Not even her father or grandmother knew she left Minnesota so how could two strangers know where to look for her? Perhaps Alison's suspicions were actually valid this time, "I mean the nerve of those people, mistaking me for you".
With just a few words, all of Cosima's good will and civility towards the Canadian woman vanished, "I know, anyone would think we looked alike or something". She couldn't keep the biting sarcasm out of her voice and for a brief moment, Cosima could almost feel the angry glare emanating from her clone sister, "What did these people look like?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.
"Ordinary", Alison began, "suspiciously ordinary, I bet DYAD sent them to spy on us".
"Right I'll tell the Police to be on the lookout for two ordinary looking people", Cosima pinched the bridge of her nose, "anything more helpful to go on".
"No need to get snippy, I was lucky to escape unharmed", Alison countered. Cosima bit her tongue, she really didn't want to get into a sniping match with the soccer mom and waited patiently for her to continue, "Both were maybe a little older than us, one male and one female. The man was big, shaved head and dark skinned. The woman was Asian with her hair tied up in about four or five small plaits".
Cosima froze, those descriptions sounded awfully familiar but it couldn't be. The last time she heard from either of them was well over 15 years ago, "They kept asking strange things, something about blasting storms and some person called Andreas or Anderson", Alison continued.
"Andros", Cosima interrupted her clone, "listen this might sound like a strange question but was the guy dressed in blue and the woman in pink?"
There was a brief pause before Alison answered, "Now that you mention it they were, do you know them?"
"Yeah they're friends from a long time ago", Cosima sighed, the last thing she needed was for the reappearance of her old team in the city. They practically abandoned her 15 years ago and they chose this exact moment to reappear? After talking a few moments to compose herself she returned to Alison, "Did you see where they went?"
"I wasn't going to let them know I was onto them", Alison replied with a scandalised tone, "they could've been DYAD spies or hitmen".
"Trust me Alison, those two are the least likely people to be involved in an illegal cloning experiment", Cosima sniffed, "I'll take it from here, why don't you head home?"
"Are you sure?" Alison asked, "normally I would tell Sarah about this but she's spending all her time looking for Siobhan and Kira".
Cosima paused, Sarah's foster mother and her daughter had disappeared without trace. By that measuring stick, her problems seemed insignificant. "Like I keep telling Sarah, I perfectly capable of taking care of myself", Cosima began, "I don't need her to fight my battles for me".
"Alright if you're sure", Cosima could sense the hesitancy in Alison's voice, "just try not to draw too much attention to yourself, I can't have everyone thinking that you're me".
Before Cosima could reply, Alison terminated the call, "Thanks, I love you too", she snorted and threw the phone back onto the sofa. She flopped back onto the worn fabric, pushing her glasses up to her forehead and rubbed her eyes. A million thoughts flew through her mind, mostly why had it taken them so long to come looking for her? She was being a little selfish, she hadn't exactly gone looking for them either in the intervening years.
Cosima wanted to ignore this but clearly her former team mates were asking about her for a reason. Looking at her communicator, she quickly pressed the call button before she had a chance to back out, "TJ, Cass, either of you there?" she asked.
You could've heard a pin drop in the apartment as Cosima nervously waited for a response. When no one answered within a few seconds, the brunette wondered if the communicator was broken, it had been in storage for a long time. She was about to try again when a familiar voice crackled through the speaker, "Cosima is that you?"
Cosima recognised that as Cassie Chan's voice and she had to admit that it felt good to hear the pink ranger's voice after so many years, "Yeah Cass it's me".
"Cosima what the hell was that all about in the car park?" Cass asked accusingly, "you acted like you'd never met us before yet now you're calling us like nothing happened".
"That's a long story Cass", Cosima sighed, "start with yours first it'll probably be shorter".
Another voice suddenly boomed from the communicator, "Hold up", she recognised TJ's deep tones instantly, "how do we know this is really you Cosima?"
The clone rolled her eyes, TJ was still as logical as ever, "Well I'm using our old communicators, shouldn't that be proof enough". An evil smirk flashed across her face, "Tell me TJ, have you gotten over your aversion to pepperoni pizza?"
Another brief pause followed before TJ answered, "Not cool Cosima, I still can't look at a Dominos delivery scooter".
A small snort of laughter passed through Cosima's lips, despite the many years of absence they had slipped back into the banter very easily, "Alright you know you're talking to the right person, what don't you tell me what brings you to the great white north?"
"Cosima we would really rather do this in person", Cassie replied, "it would be nice to see you after all this time".
Cosima wasn't sure whether to feel pleased or bitter with that statement. On the one hand TJ and Cassie sounded genuine in their wish to catch up, on the other hand it had taken them fifteen years to resume contact. Something told her they weren't going away in a hurry though so despite her reservation, she couldn't say no, "Fine, there's a bar called Bobbie's just off Adelaide street. I'll meet you there in like fifteen or twenty minutes".
"Alright, we'll see you in half an hour", TJ replied with a light tone, clearly he remembered that Cosima had the worst time keeping in the world. With that awkward conversation over, Cosima relaxed back into the sofa and stared at the ceiling, she wasn't looking forward to the next awkward conversation with her former friends.
True to form Cosima's shower took longer than she anticipated and the agreed meet time passed before she had even chosen her outfit for the meeting. She wanted something that suggested she was a success but nothing too ostentatious that made it appear that she was showing off. Despite her best efforts Cosima really couldn't avoid the colour blue either, the only dress that really appealed was a light blue number that clung in the right places.
Finally thirty five minutes after the original call Cosima stepped into Bobbie bar. The place was packed but the clone spotted her targets instantly sitting at a table in the far corner. Taking a calming breath, the former blue ranger squeezed through the crowd with the fluidity and grace of a dancer. Stopping at the table she gently cleared her throat, "Hey guys", she offered the pair a small wave, "how's things?"
To say that TJ and Cassie hadn't changed much in fifteen years would be an understatement. There were a few age lines on the pair but they certainly didn't look in their mid thirties. Whatever they had been up to in the intervening years had definitely been good for them. They had a look of surprise on their faces as it finally dawned on them would had approached their table, "Cosima?" Cassie asked disbelievingly, "wow you look so different".
"Couldn't keep the pig tails forever Cass", Cosima smiled and carefully lowered herself into a vacant seat at the table. Last time she had seen the pair, Cosima still sported a pair of long braids usually teamed with an oversized t shirt. She had been such a science obsessed tomboy back then, no wonder her current look surprised her former team mates.
A brief and tense silence followed, either brought on by shock at Cosima's appearance or general awkwardness brought on by not speaking for over a decade. The brunette really wished she had ordered a drink at the bar first, this conversation would go a lot easier with some alcohol, "So this is fun, three old friends catching up", she jokingly broke the silence, "ever been to Canada before?"
"Erm no", TJ shook his head, "it's good to see you again Cosima, you've certainly grown up".
"Yeah well fifteen years or so tends to do that to a person", Cosima shot back. She didn't intend for it to sound bitter, it just came out that way, "I'm sorry that was a bitchy thing to say".
"No we get it", Cassie tried to begin.
"Not sure you do but you probably didn't come all this way to hear me complain", Cosima shrugged, "why don't you tell why you came here first, get the important shit out the way before I go all angsty teenager again".
Cosima watched as the former rangers squirmed in their seats, it should've given her a small amount of satisfaction but it didn't. "We've come to warn you", TJ began, "we've been getting reports of former rangers getting attacked by some unidentified foot soldiers".
The former blue ranger frowned at her immediate successor, as if she didn't have enough to deal with at the moment, "How many attacks are we talking about?" she asked.
"Most of the old guys", Cassie continued the story, "they got Kim Hart's gym pretty bad along with Adam's dojo, heard they tried to target the original red and yellow ranger's in their home too".
"Even technicolour Tommy got a visit at his school", Cosima's looked a little surprised at TJ's comment, "didn't you know, Tommy's a high school history teacher now".
"Tommy Oliver a history teacher?" Cosima scoffed, "he was a mean Sensei but teacher? Never pictured him doing anything that didn't involve martial arts".
"That's what happens when you go off grid, things tend to pass you by", Cassie couldn't resist a shot of her own. Cosima chewed on her lip, Cassie's comment was probably fair but it still stung a little, "Contrary to what you clearly think, we did try and look for you".
Cosima snorted, "Clearly not hard enough".
"Now that's not fair", TJ began, "immediately after the Dark Spectre fight we went to your place in Angel Grove but you weren't there, neither was your father for that matter". He leaned over the table, "We found out from your neighbours that you moved out of town", he added in an accusing tone.
"Trying to track down your mascot", all the bitterness was coming out of Cosima now, "feel a little sorry for me did you?"
"Cosima where the hell is this all coming from?" Cassie hissed, "we always treated you as part of the team from the very moment we joined".
"Clearly you thought highly of me, that's why we haven't spoken in so long", she held a hand up to stop any further comments until she said her piece, "don't try and give me crap about moving, I only went to my Grandma's. One quick search of her place and you would've found me or even a call on this", she shook her wrist where her communicator sat.
A guilty look passed between TJ and Cassie, "You're right, we got caught up in our own world", TJ sighed, "after revealing our identities the press went mad, our families couldn't even go to the store without getting hounded".
"Andros offered us a place on the team helping to rebuild KO-35", Cassie continued the story, "the press became so much that our parents along with Carlos's and Ashley's left on Terra Venture". Cassie leaned over the table and grasped Cosima's hand that was resting on the surface, "the days then months passed quickly and before we knew it, over a year had passed". The former blue ranger wanted to pull her hand away but Cassie sounded genuinely sincere, "I'm sorry for being a terrible friend", she added with a small voice.
Cosima looked down at Cassie's hand and held back a tear. She expected this entire meeting to descend into a shouting match but the sudden apology had taken her totally by surprise, "We still followed your life though", TJ reached into his jacket and pulled out a battered notebook, pushing it over the table.
The brunette began to flick through the pages and was startled to see that it was a record of every major achievement in her life for the last fifteen years, "Congratulations on the master's placement", Cassie added, "I'll admit I have no idea what evolutionary development is though".
"You wouldn't be the first", Cosima offered a small laugh, "if anyone else compiled this, I would have them pegged as a massive stalker", she added, waiving the note pad in the air, "and I'm sorry too, I should've found a way to keep in touch with the Ranger fraternity. I blame the hormones, the teenage years kinda hit me hard".
"Hey you made it out the other side", TJ flashed his trademark broad smile in her direction, "so are we all good?"
Cosima thought about that for a moment, years of anger and bitterness towards her former team mates had been washed away with a few simple words. Unfortunately her life wasn't that simple anymore, she had DYAD and Rachel Duncan breathing down her neck. If they got word that the Space Rangers were in town, that could open a massive can of worms. Cosima's value would skyrocket if the secret of her Ranger powers came out. Maybe it would be best to let TJ and Cassie leave before they got dragged into this mess.
The more Cosima thought about it though, the more determined she became to fully reconnect not just with her former team but with the wider Ranger network. There must be over a hundred ex-Rangers dotted around the world, each with their own unique skill set. Any one of them could be invaluable against DYAD and their almost unlimited resources. Would it be fair to the other Rangers though? That was probably something for her to think long and hard about.
The former Ranger realised that the silence had dragged on long enough and her friends were beginning to get worried, "Look it's not that I don't want you around but I'm dealing with some serious shit right now".
"Like an identical copy of you living in the same city?" Cassie asked. Cosima groaned internally, sometimes Cassie was fair too observant for her own good, "You don't have to tell us what that's about right now but if you're in trouble then we're willing to stand by your side".
"Once a Ranger, always a Ranger", TJ added.
"Dude go easy with the cheese", Cosima smirked before falling back into a pensive silence. This wasn't just about her though, revealing everything would expose the sisterhood to the crazy world of the Power Rangers. Alison's sanity was holding on by a thread, Sarah was frantically looking for her daughter and there was a homicidal Helena lurking around somewhere.
It went the other way too, she couldn't explain the presence of the Space Rangers without revealing her own Ranger past. Potentially she could be exposing every Ranger on the planet to the machinations of DYAD, "We're in town for a few days", Cassie grabbed a napkin and wrote a string of numbers down, "that's my cell, give me a call if you want to talk further".
"But if you encounter any grunts, don't be afraid to use this", TJ shook his own communicator, "we'll back you up in a heartbeat". He stood up from his chair, closely followed by Cass, "Don't be a stranger", he gently squeezed her shoulder and Cassie bent down to her a quick hug. Within moments TJ and Cassie slipped into the crowd and out the bar.
Almost the moment they left, Cosima felt the weight of the world crash firmly down on her shoulders. Her decision about any future meetings could change clone club's future but she didn't know if that was for the better or worse. She desperately wanted to ignore that nagging angel on her shoulder and throw caution to the wind but her rational side kept holding her back.
The moral dilemma proved too much for Cosima and she threw her head into her hands. She wasn't sure how long she sat in that position before something was placed on her table. Peeking over her hands, she spotted the owner of the bar smiling, "Thought you could do with this", Bobbie pushed a large glass of red wine in Cosima's direction, "that looked like a heavy conversation".
"Old friends", Cosima smiled at the blonde, "haven't seen each other in a while".
"If you say so", Bobbie replied in a tone that suggested she wasn't convinced by the explanation, "bar tenders are good listeners", she added with a wink, "just saying".
Bobbie slunk away leaving Cosima wondering if the blonde just flirted with her, "Still got it", Cosima smiled to herself before taking a long swig of wine, at least today had something positive going for her. Still, she had a lot of thinking to do before contacting TJ and Cassie again.
A/N – Long awaited follow up chapter, the intro chapter found a few followers which reignited my creative spark. Hope you enjoy.