The Dreamt-of Call
by Estirose
c 2011

Kids in the Rain

Ziggy winced as he helped one of the kids out at the orphanage. He'd taken a painkiller, but the headache didn't seem to be going away. He always had a flash of green with it, and wished he could go to the doctor and see what was going on.

But he couldn't really afford a doctor, and with the increased cartel activity, he couldn't really risk going out other than to steal some things. Ms. Robinson frowned at this, but the orphanage really needed his help and what he brought back, so she turned a blind eye in the end.

He hadn't even been able to go on his old walking routes, even though he really missed them. Missed them to the point of finding himself starting to go that way when he went out. But he'd been able to stop himself in time, even if he'd had to stop himself two or three times when his feet just couldn't point themselves in the right direction.

"Ziggy," Ms. Robinson said, "Could you take Michael, Sandy, Arcie, Bertha, and Lydia out on a walk? It will do them some good."

Exercise always was good for the kids. Even when they didn't feel like it.

"Sure, where?" he asked. Usually it was the park; that was on the route his feet liked to take, so it was okay.

"The park; if they want to play a while, let them, and then take them back."

"Sure." He collected the kids, ushering them to the park. He wasn't sure if she just wanted them out of the way, or actually wanted them to get some exercise, so he encouraged them to skip and run on the way there.

"Mr. Ziggy," Arcie said when they'd reached the park, "I wanna be a Power Ranger when I grow up!"

Ziggy grinned. "Well, they could use a few more people," he said. The Rangers were great, but even he could see they were getting overwhelmed.

Sometimes they tested people - he knew of several in the cartel who had tried to get into those tests, but they never had - but he'd never be called. Thankfully. He couldn't imagine being a Ranger and being able to save the city. He couldn't fight, for one thing.

"Do you want to be a Power Ranger, Mr. Ziggy?" Arcie asked, peering at him.

He laughed, though he decided to let the boy down gently. "Well, I have to admit sometimes I dream of being Ziggy Grover, Green Ranger." Mostly in his dreams at night, but he did. "And I'd be in light green spandex, and my outfit would be shark-themed, with a fin on the helmet." Even he could dream, even though he knew in reality that he'd be awful as one. "But I'm too busy helping Ms. Robinson, and besides, they'd probably want someone big and strong."

Arcie was frowning, and so he quickly added, "But I'm sure you'll grow up into someone the Rangers would want."

He sent Arcie off running, and just sat down on the grass, watching the kids play. The medication that they were able to get, both from his own effort, and Ms. Robinson's, was helping. The kids were getting better.

"Mr. Ziggy!" Lydia, a hispanic girl with curly hair, pointed in the direction of the path. "The Power Rangers!"

ZIggy looked up. Yes, there they were, the Rangers, with a guy he didn't recognize. Tall, broadly built, wearing a leather jacket over a black shirt. The Yellow Ranger, Summer, was talking to him, and he was frowning.

Was the city going to get a new Ranger? He desperately hoped so. They needed at least one more.

"Arcie, Michael, Sandy, Bertha," he said, calling to his charges, "Stay here." The Rangers needed their privacy. He had to admit, he wanted to go up to them too, but they were apparently there to take a walk, not to indulge fans. And he was going to set a good example for the kids if it killed him.

And as it started to rain, he gathered the kids back and headed them in the direction of home.

Summer had thought she'd recognized someone out of the corner of her eye, but she kept her focus on Dillon. They'd convinced the military to let them have custody of him; all they had to do was convince him that he wanted to stay.

He was clearly their Ranger Operator Series Black, and he definitely had passed all of Dr. K's tests, but when it came to joining the team, he'd steadfastly refused. He didn't want to go back to the military jail where they'd been holding him, but he'd repeated his desire to just buy some fuel and leave Corinth.

Probably it was because of military procedures, the suspicion that someone might be a Venjix agent trying to slip into the city as a refugee. Well, Dillon wasn't that person, the morpher had chosen him, and that was the only reason he was walking about somewhat free. But she could tell that he didn't like it.

He didn't like being bound, maybe as a result of being held. He might not understand it, but she did. He wanted to be free, and to be asked to be a Ranger, to stay in one place, to be under Scott's command and be bound to defend this city… well, she could understand why he wanted to leave.

Unfortunately, he had to stay. He had no choice in the matter. The morpher would continue to call him, he'd be drawn back, drawn to defend just as she and the others had. And this time, the military wouldn't trust him, no matter how many assurances the Rangers gave them.

Getting this loner riddled with Venjix hardware to stay wasn't going to be physically hard, but it was a challenge she and the others were going to have to rise up to. Whatever the morpher had seen in Dillon was what they had to work with, to get him to stay.

Even if he wasn't interested in Corinth or defending it. The only thing that might get him to stay is the promise that the headaches wouldn't bother him any more, that the black and gold would get out of his head. But she wanted him to care as well, at least a little bit.

Dillon stopped as the rain started, and she gave him a smile. He probably wasn't used to rain, being amnesiac and having been stuck in the Wastes for however long. He was blinking at it, as if unsure of what to do.

Apparently, he didn't know how to get out of the rain.

She had paid attention to the forecast, knowing rain was on the schedule. That's why she'd planned the outing, taking the others with her because between the three of them, the military trusted them enough with Dillon. If he saw the rain, the people, maybe he'd see what was worth saving. Why he was there. He'd had to have loved, sometime, and gotten hurt.

But as she followed his gaze, she could see what he was looking at. A family, gathered under an umbrella they'd brought, sitting and laughing. She didn't know what it was about them that had caught his attention, but he was watching them, watching as a sister and brother tussled over a sandwich, even as the rain kept falling down.

"What are you thinking?" she asked, coming over to him, opening her own umbrella.

"I'll join you," he said simply.

She looked at the family again, quietly thankful again.

"Great!" Flynn said. His smile wasn't entirely forced; he knew as well as she did that Dillon wouldn't have felt the call if he'd been on Venjix's side; it was just taking him a bit longer to trust. "Now all we have to do is find Ziggy Grover."

"Who's he?" Dillon asked, raising his eyebrows.

"We think he's our Series Green," Summer told him. "Except we can't find him."

"We have our doubts he is," Scott said. "Summer think he is… but he hasn't shown the signs for the last two weeks. Plus, he's a minor criminal."

Dillon frowned at that. Summer hoped that Scott wouldn't go on; he was, of the three, most opposed. She'd brought Flynn over by reviewing the video. He'd agreed that Ziggy'd had the same look they'd all had.

"A minor criminal with a major headache, you mean," Flynn said. "I have no doubt he's one of us. You've seen his look, man. Once we find him, I'm sure he'll be like the rest of us."

"If we find him. If he comes back," Scott said, but she knew the look in his eyes. He wanted to believe. He wanted, as they all did, their fifth operator. Even if Ziggy Grover needed training, he was still the one to complete them.

She just hoped they didn't get to retrieve him out of jail.