Chapter 3: Late Night Questions
(Reefside, California)
After spending the day questioning Rosaline, it was decided that Rosaline and Kimberly stayed with Tommy indefinitely. After the girls went to sleep and Hayley went home Tommy went downstairs to the lab to do further research. He tried to contact Billy after hearing from Trini that he was working on some special assignments for NASADA along with Justin who was working as a computer analyst. Unfortunately, he failed to get in contact with Billy and even tried calling Trini who told Tommy the same thing. Jason was out of the country on vacation with Kat and didn't know when they were coming home. However, he wasn't getting any answers and didn't have the slightest clue where to start. He decided to turn it in for the night and when he made his way to the kitchen he found Kimberly still awake.
"I thought you were asleep," Tommy replied, taking a seat in the kitchen. "You should be resting considering what happened to you."
"Well sleep hasn't been much of my thing lately," she muttered.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked her.
"What's there to talk about. Even after all these years weird things still keep happening. Do you think it's fate or coincidence?" Kim asked.
"Nothing is never fate or coincidence with us...it was always destiny," he murmured. "Even with you being here it has to count for something shouldn't it."
"I don't know if it's ironic that the two of us are having weird dreams hearing the same message over and over saying it's about power. It's like our minds are transparent and that there is still this connection between us. Three days ago I decided to come down to Reefside after all these years and explain to you something I never dreamed about talking about. Well, that was before I run into a mysterious sixteen year old girl who I end up going to the hospital for because a trio of cloaked jokers are after her. We sure are suckers for helping others." she explained.
"That was being a Ranger was about, helping others and defending the Earth from the forces of evil," he told her.
"Before the whole attack on Rosaline you were the reason why I came to Reefside." she replied.
Tommy sat across from her and looked at her. "What's going on?" He asked. She took a deep breath and started to explain everything to him.
"The infamous letter...and what I should have told you sixteen years ago. I'll just tell you straight up that it was both a lie and regret that I've been living with for all these years." she replied.
"What are you talking about?"
"Tommy, I made up the guy because I was pregnant," she replied. Tommy was stunned.
"What?" He asked .
"I was excited that I was part of the team of my dreams sixteen years ago. The thing was that I was missing you so much. Then you were back in Angel Grove dealing with the Machine Empire. Then all of a sudden, it hit. Every morning I was nausea. I couldn't concentrate on my routine. Coach Schmidt sent me to a doctor to find out what was wrong with me. At first, I thought it was the stomach flu. Then, after my test results came back, my doctor told me that I was pregnant. I knew that it was yours, because you were the only person I slept with. I told Coach Schmidt that I had to quit or it would hurt the baby. He was disappointed, but then he knew that I wouldn't want to kill the baby. Then I called mom that was a huge mistake. She disowned me when she found out I was pregnant with your child. I lost out on my dream, my mom didn't want anything to do with me and I had no means of supporting a child as a single teen parent. So, I wrote the letter because I was ashamed of what I did and couldn't live with you hating me." she explained.
She look down at her hands with tears in her eyes. "I put the baby up for adoption so they could have a chance at a better life. If you're going to plan to throw me out because I didn't tell you about your child then say it. All I wanted was for you to know the truth.
"Was the baby...a boy or girl?" He asked.
"It was a girl," she quietly replied. "God I screwed up big time and it feels like everything has been crashing down since."
Tommy reached over and grabbed her hands. "Kimberly, I kept my promise after all these years. The promise that I'll always love you no matter what. It's not because of the promise, it's because I really do still love you," he told her. She pulled her hands away and looked at him.
"How could you sit there and be understanding? You should be irate over the fact I put our daughter up for adoption sixteen years ago without telling you." she pointed out.
"Because what happened in the past, happened and there's nothing we could do to change it." he added. "And about throwing you out do you think I'm a heartless jerk to do that to someone who still has my heart after all these years?"
"We've both changed over the years." she murmured.
"That's true but the feelings still remain no matter how hard you try to forget about it. You know when I realized that when I saw you three days ago on the roadside trying to save Rosaline's life," he confessed. He reached over and grabbed her hands. "Look I'm not going to let anything happen to you and it's a promise because after all this time I know you still feel the same way about me. If it's any consolation I say that unexplained attack brought something good out of all of this."
"You still have a weird sense of humor Tommy Oliver," she slightly giggled. "Still you're still right about one thing and that's the fact that my feelings for you haven't changed."
"Thank you...for telling me the truth, even if it was sixteen years later," he added. "Our daughter...she would have been the same age as Rosaline today would she?"
"Yeah...sweet sixteen," she replied pondering about the current situation. "With what happened to Rosaline and some of those other adolescences I saw in my dreams do you think our kid might be in danger too?"
"I don't know but what I know is more than ever I need your help in keeping that girl asleep upstairs safe," Tommy said.
"Something inside tells us we're obligated to keep her alive," Kimberly said with determination. "Sometimes I wish the gang was here for help. Looks like we're on our own for now."
(London, England)
Meanwhile in England, Jason and Kat certainly had their hands full and knew about the risks of seeking out Penny. However, they knew it wasn't safe for the young girl to remain at her boarding school in Westbury when Penny's mysterious attackers showed up resulting in the death of an unexpected student who witness what happened. Kat gave the three of them time to escape their pursuers and it was then the two of them were force to reveal their reasons for being in England. Jason kept in contact with the coven worrying about Kat's wellbeing to handle such responsibility after revealing to Penny that some of Kat's relatives were practicing wicca. The girl disregarded it until witnessing first hand the abilities Kat possess to drive away their pursuers as they fled back one of the Hilliard's properties they owned in London.
"Did you find what you were looking for in Westbury?" Zack asked letting the trio inside. "Is this what you were looking for?"
"Well that was one thing, the other was business we needed to deal with," Kat replied, acknowledging the presence of three more teens in the house. She took out the mirror and noticed the same reaction she got when she met Penny. "There is a reason why we needed a mirror."
"The Mirror of Lachesis is reacting to them," Jason said, noticing a weird shiny reflective light descending drawing from them.
"What kind of mirror is that?" Zack asked, staring at it, before drawing his attention back to the three bewildered teens. "Oh introduction to the young new girl in the room. This is Kenji, Desmond and Leanne and sorry we didn't get your name."
"It's Penelope Winslow, well Penny for short," Penny replied to the rest of the other teens, "Pleasure to meet you all."
"She's like the rest of the other strays we found," Jason replied handing Kat some stuff.
"Don't worry we'll safe for now at least those weird looking things won't find us," Kat assured them.
"So that strange mirror you're carrying why does it shine a reflective light when you guys are near us?" Desmond asked.
"Because it's one of the three artifacts of the Moirae or in lamest terms the three artifacts of The Fates," Kat said as the teens all sat down, "I already filled in the details for Penny on what's going on for the last two months. Penny wasn't the only reason why Jason and I went to Westbury the other reason being was for the mirror. The coven that my relatives are associated with told me that the other two artifacts of the Moirae went missing: The Compass of Clothos and the Orb of Artopros. According to legend these three artifacts have the ability to foretell someone's fate and destiny. In other words, it gives you full view of your life. The information I have on the Moirae is still vague and I need to translate more of the text I got but the mirror is our strongest asset we got."
"But it still doesn't explain why those weird hooded cloaked guys are trying to kill us?" Kenji replied, taking a deep breath. "My cousin and his friends got me from Tokyo all the way here until they found us and did some weird life drain mojo on them."
"They're called The Dark Judges or if anyone wants the Latin translation they're known as the Atrum Sentio," a voice commented and everyone turned around
Jason, Kat and Zack smiled seeing Billy coming into the living room. "The man with the brains makes his entrance."
"Sorry I couldn't contact you guys sooner I needed to deal with some last minute off world flightplans," he commented looking at the four teens. "So I'm assuming you must be Penny, Desmond, Kenji and Leanne. I'm Billy Cranston from Angel Grove. My friends were lucky to find you guys."
"It's nice to know that the last few weeks we've been hiding out here and innocent people got hurt to protect us," Leanne said in a thick British accent. "We're thankful that you people are willing to risk your lives for us."
"So you said the hooded cloaked guys are called The Dark Judges and they're the ones after these guys?" Jason asked. "I wouldn't ask if you knew this was happening. Do you have any idea who these guys work for and why they want a bunch of teens dead?"
"NASADA has a theory but they're not sharing any information so Justin volunteered to stay behind as our liaison since they know about our history. Lightspeed hasn't been in contact with them for weeks with the possible threat that someone is doing a bit of inside recon on them. My senses told me to take whatever information I can and run. Andros and the Space Rangers on KO-35 are on standby if someone were to attack NASADA knowing that they have contact with the space colonies of KO-35 and Terra Venture. We have our main objective...to get these teens to safety and head to the one place we know they'll be safe." Billy explained.
"And exactly how are you going to explain all of this to Tommy?" Kat inquired, curiously. The three of them knew that Billy's suggestion was to head to Reefside with the four teens knowing well about Tommy's ranger duties with the Dino Rangers. However, there was the risk of exposing their history to a bunch of teen civilians who don't know why they're being chased by the Dark Judges. "He has no idea what is going on and you decided to confide in a few of us what you've been up to. Don't you think the rest of our friends should know?"
"She has a point Billy," Zack pointed out, "I mean you send Kat and Jason to London two months ago and Kat gets an all out mojo boost. However, I wind up caught up in this whole ordeal and in the last few weeks we manage to run up a group of runaway teens. Oh yeah Adam went to track down Andrew Hartford, the guy who created the team Operation Overdrive. His last known whereabouts was in countryside estate property outside of Dublin."
"Have you guys heard from him?" Billy asked.
"Well you guys don't have to worry about waiting to hear from me," another voice replied revealing to Adam standing with a young African teen. "I found Andrew Hartford."
"Adam what happened?" they asked.
"Andrew Hartford is dead," Adam sighed, recalling his discovery sometime ago. "I was too late, more six hours too late.
(Dublin, Ireland: Six Hours Ago)
Adam found the address of the Irish estate that Andrew Hartford was looking for. If there was an expert they needed in terms of translating ancient ruins, artifacts or texts he is the specialist after meeting him the last time. His mission was to obtain materials that Mr. Hartford found. When he arrived at the Hartford's estate he finds it messed up and discovers the body of three servants and two teenagers in the study. He looks around the main floor for Mr. Hartford and finds him slumped in the living room against a chair with a huge gash on his stomach.
"Oh dear God!" he replies in utter shock, "Mr. Hartford, are you here? Mr. Hartford!"
Adam goes to his side examining the injuries knowing that he was too late, "They got you too? I thought you-"
"You and your friends are their only hope," Mr. Hartford said when his eyes suddenly flash opened. "Everything you need is right over there."
"What's happening?" he asked.
"Gather them, it's started," Mr. Hartford said as he grasped for air and went limped.
He quietly shut his eyelids closed and walked over to the table to gather what he came to collect. "It's alright. I understand. We'll take care of it."
(London, England: Now)
"Somehow by tomorrow news will break out of Andrew Hartford's death all over the news," Adam sighed. A moment later he young teenager who arrived with Adam stepped into the living room. "I believe I found you guys another stray you're looking for."
"Oh my God!" Kat replied staring directing at the new teenager in the room. She instantly knew him when the sudden realization came to the others. "I don't believe it...Aidan Sloan."
"How do you know my name? Are you Katherine Hilliard Scott?" Aidan Sloan asked curiously, "I believe you and your friends know my older sister Tanya. She said to seek you guys out."
The former veteran Rangers stared in shock after Kat's mirror shined another reflective light on Aidan and the rest of the other teens in the room. Everything started making sense to them once they realized why the Dark Judges wanted these teens dead. "I think we're just staring into the face of the future legacy." Billy pointed out. "You're right about finding that mirror Kat because what we're seeing is the fate and destiny of these teens who haven't got the slightest clue how important they'll be. Also some sinister force out there trying to rewrite their destinies with a death warrant. Guys...I believe we just found our mission, now it's time to round up the old team again."