A/N: Okay my dear readers; this is where the fun starts. Everything that is in italic is in the past set during Dino Time. Remember that as the next 10 or so chapters won't make any sense. Enjoy x
How the ex-blue defender got herself into this state, he would never know but he had found her in the hospital, already seen to and treated. Her condition was diagnosed: Massive brain trauma and a few broken bones. They say that every hero gets their comeuppance and this is hers but this is too mean. Her life is hanging in the balance and to make matters worse, she is alone and he hopes that she doesn't know that. He hopes that she is dreaming and that reality quite hasn't caught up with her yet.
Luke has been watching her for at least half an hour; he has been once a week for the last nine months. He knew that he should have told Kyle about Zsa-Zsa but he was so content of letting go and moving on that it might have broken him; the others told him of the yellow defenders break down. This would have pushed him over the edge. Luke didn't know how to deal with mental breakdowns and by the sounds of it, never did James. Yep, this would definitely be a shock for the yellow defender.
He looked over at Zsa-Zsa again, in nine months, all the cuts and bruises and faded leaving her with a very pale complexion. She did not peaceful and at rest, ironically for the first time in her life. Her brown hair with dark blue streaks in it was tied in a bun; she wouldn't appreciate that. She hated having her hair up in a bun. It was ponytail or down. The nurses told him he could grab her hand, she might feel it and be reassured. He did it once but it was so cold against his warm hands that it felt wrong. Just because her mother's was partly a cold blooded person didn't mean she should be too.
Looking at the clock, he realised that he'd been in here for at least half an hour and decided to get up and go. Visiting hours were ending soon. As he stood up from the chair and opened the door, he gave on last glancing look before leaving. He did wonder where the other Jr defenders are, well two of them; he knew where another one was…well did but he lost track of him two months back. Passing that receptionist on the way, he smiled to her as he left the hospital for the last and only times this week only for his smile to be wiped off completely when he saw someone outside the hospital.
"Hello Luke, it's been a very long time."
"Jack?" Luke asked with his eyes wide open.
~Ooooo~
"So, if we put DC 2 here with DC 5 next to it then the others should fit in." Drake stated pointing at various points on the floor.
"No, it won't work." Amy stated, "DC 3 is designs like an Eagle and like an Eagle it has wings which would collide with DC 4 if we put them next to each other."
"So, what would you do?" Josh asked trying to break up the fore coming argument between the neighbours.
"I say we put DC 2 and 4 next to each other as they are roughly the same height and have smooth sides and put DC 3 next to DC 5 because Kyle's DC is smaller than DC 3." Amy explained, "They should all fit."
"Good plan." Kyle stated looking around then up to the ceiling, "Where the highest point of the ceiling is, that's where DC 3 goes."
"So, how do we move them?" Zoey asked, "We can't turn them on because we have no idea how to control them and DC 3's a rocket, I along with everyone else in this building, don't want it to go flying through the building."
"Do they have wheels?" Amy asked, "Then we could drive them on."
"Good plan, I know DC 5 does, hopefully the rest should too." Kyle replied then looked at his team who were looking sheepishly at him, "What?"
"It's just…" Josh started.
"The DCs were meant for the Jr defenders and it just feels…wrong to drive them without the Jr defenders driving them first."
Kyle hmmed, he understood their point, "You guys mark out where the DCs should go and I'll drive them in?"
His friends nodded and started talking amongst themselves while Kyle walked over to DC 5.
~Ooooo~
He looked older; stubble had grown around his chin and his hair had grown thicker. His clothes were surprisingly neat and tidy; it made Luke wonder where he had got them from. However, when he looked into Jack's dark brown eyes, he saw the tiredness and desperation. Jack had obviously not been back to the castle for a reason and knowing Jack, there must have been a good reason because there was something beating in Luke's heart that told him the former black defender hadn't been in Pearl Canyon for a while.
"How's Zsa-Zsa?" He asked once the pair had sat down in the Smoothie place.
"Haven't you seen her?" Luke asked, "She's been in a coma for nine months."
"I'm aware of that." Jack replied, "I've been distracted."
"How the hell are you even here?" Luke replied, "Going on from what Kyle said, I thought you all died. He think's your all dead! And not to mention that your parents think you're at boarding school. The poor kid couldn't even bare to tell him. Do you know he's had a mental breakdown?"
"I get the point!" Jack exclaimed, "I know I've been a really bad leader and friend but Kyle was safe and we weren't."
"So how did you escape?" Luke asked.
Jack sighed and looked at Luke.
A loud crash woke Jack from his sleep. His eyes snapped open only for his vision to be covered by glass. The first rule of being a defender: Do not panic but I don't think that rule applied to this situation. How do you even break glass if you're covered in it? Suddenly, a buzzing sensation rippled through Jack's body, it was getting faster and faster and running through his skin. The glass started to break, piece by piece. Chunks fell on the floor and smashed into a millions of piece. His vision was perfect and it was then that he realised the lab was collapsing. He turned his attention to his team mates; the glass was breaking on them to. The roof was caving in and pieces of ceiling were falling and smashing on the ground. Thunder was roaring up above. The ceiling above them all was cracking and hanging off. Amongst all of this, an earthquake had started. The shake was loosening the ceiling. It detached himself from the ceiling, Jack braced for the impact. This was not how he wanted to die. To his surprise, a green glow surrounded the four Jr defenders, protecting them from the collapsing ceiling. Zsa-Zsa had woken up along with Danny; both were as unsure and confused as he was.
"Is that a force field?" Zsa-Zsa asked.
"It looks like it." Jack replied, "Why is it green?"
"Awesome, new powers!" Danny shouted jumping up and down causing Annaka to come out of her slumber.
"Danny?" She muttered.
The green defender stopped jumping and ran to his girlfriend, "I'm here, and we're going to be okay!"
Zsa-Zsa and Jack ran over to join them. The four were huddled in a bundle clinging onto each other; the Danny's force field was still protecting them but was becoming weaker. A red light flashed before all of their eyes and everything went black.
~Ooooo~
Da, da, dada, da, da.
"Not again." Zoey moaned as Kyle's phone notified them of an evil presence, "We've only got two DCs on board."
"It would have been kinder if Luke didn't download the tracer app on your phone." Drake commented.
"Doesn't matter now, we better go?" Kyle ordered, "One thing's for certain, the twenty attackers shouldn't be back."
The defenders ran out of the basement for the third time that day. It was getting dark and the street lights were kicking in. It was new thing for everyone; no one had dared have a battle in the night time; well there was that battle in Space but still it was a very bright room. Astrid and her minions seemed decades ago when in reality it was less than a year ago, this time last year, they still had JCD powers. Kyle wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing that they had destroyed four sets of powers. He was going with bad. Then again, it wasn't their fault that they had all been destroyed; if Astrid wasn't a witch then they definitely would still have JCD.
Once they arrived at the street, it was almost pitch black; the sky was a red/orange colour. The defenders all stopped running and looked around the street. Two figures slowly walked down the street. One of them had a smirk on their face while the others were emotionless; a glass shield was covering their face from their forehand to the end of their nose.
"Oh great, we've had the whole set." Josh commented.
"What do you want Arthur?" Kyle asked.
"Not a fight, I heard what Harvey did to you and I'll save you the trouble of changing." Arthur explained, "I just want to introduce you to someone, now she might fight you. Lustenema, come here."
The second person stepped forward; she was wearing high wedges, black leather trousers, a pink t-shirt covered in metal armour. Her pink curly hair reached past her shoulders and her arms were down her side. She looked angry, stern and seemed mute. Arthur looked between Lustenema and the defenders and smiled wide as if some practical joke was about to be made. She walked slowly towards them, her pace quicken with every step she took.
"Looks like she means business." Kyle stated, "Jungle Gems! Let History Unfold!"
"Yellow Gorilla!"
"Blue Elephant!"
"Red Monkey!"
"Green Giraffe!"
"Pink Hyena!"
"Tag team guys, I'm going solo!"
Zoey and Josh went in for a double punch between them but she blocked them with both of her hands and grabbed their fists. She threw them to the side and looked over at Amy and Drake, who ran over going for a kick. Lustenema ducked and kicked Amy in her side then immediately kicked Drake in his chest before turning her attention to Kyle. He jumped in the air and was going to pound down on her. The new villainess cart wheeled to the side avoided Kyle completely. She then tried to kick him which the yellow gorilla blocked by kicking in her direction. Zoey and Josh returned to the battle and tried to punch her. She dodged both and kicked them both away before focusing her attention on Kyle once more. Amy and Drake blocked her way and actually got a hit in causing her to stumble backwards. Kyle then took this as his opening to kick her again but Lustenema quickly recovered and pushed all three of them backwards before making her way back to Arthur.
"Well if that's not an introduction, I don't know what is!" He commented, "Come on Lustenema we better be going back."
~Ooooo~
Landing with a thump onto the ground, the four Jr defenders slowly got up and looked at their surroundings. They were on the outskirts of a forest, the one outside the Castle but they were on the wrong side of it. The Castle was on the over side of the forest! They were miles away from home! Jack got up slowly grabbing Zsa-Zsa with him and pulling her up as well, both of their hairs were a mess and their clothes dirty. From the corner of his eye, he could see Annaka standing up with Danny beside her, the pair was far worse. Their injuries were still healing, their clothes were ripped, Danny's hair flew up at all angles and Annaka tried to sort hers out. After letting go of Zsa-Zsa's hand, something he didn't realise that he had, Jack looked around; the scenery looked familiar. Jack turned around and realised why.
"Why do we always end up back here?" He asked sighing to himself.
The others turned around to see what he was complaining about then it all made sense. They were at the other castle. The one where it all began; well most of it.
"I guess we better go inside." Annaka stated looking up at the castle.
"I don't think we have much choice." Zsa-Zsa replied, "We're miles away."
"What about Kyle?" Danny asked, "Where's he got to? And where are our powers?"
"James." Jack replied, "He took them off us and he was there. He must be with Kyle."
The others nodded in agreement before entering the abandoned castle. Nothing had changed; everything was still a wreck and partly destroyed. The chains which kept their parents captive were still hanging on the wall to remind them of what happened here. They remembered the events very well.
~Ooooo~
"You had the opportunity to go back." Luke state with his smoothie in his left hand, it was his fourth but he didn't care.
"I know and I wanted to that was the plan." Jack replied, "But we were lost, confused and had no idea what had happened. We needed to sort ourselves out first before going back to Kyle and then something happened."
"You mean you needed to sort yourself out?" Luke questioned which gained himself a glare from Jack, "You're a typical leader, only caring about yourself."
"I care!" Jack exclaimed.
"Then why haven't you visited Zsa-Zsa at all?" Luke demanded to know.
"Because I failed her and I broke my promise to her." Jack replied back quietly, "I did see her once, the day she got emitted. She looked so broken and then Danny…"
Luke became more engaged. He had forgotten about Danny because he too had been in a coma and was emitted the same day Zsa-Zsa was but he had woken up earlier and was discharged without a trace.
"Do you know where Danny is?" Luke asked hopefully.
"Yep, he's with me. Currently, he's in the hotel room but he's got amnesia. Can't remember a thing about his life; barely trusts me."
"We should go back to him." Luke ordered standing up, "And on the way back you can explain why you failed Zsa-Zsa."
~Ooooo~
Night had fallen and the four Jr defenders were watching TV. Annaka and Danny had become inseparable and wouldn't leave each other's side for a second. The pair was snuggled up on the sofa watching the broken TV. No one was really paying attention to; everyone was too wrapped up about the events that had happened. So far they had discovered that Jack can now create Earthquakes, Zsa-Zsa can create and control thunder, Danny can create force fields and Annaka can teleport which explained how they escaped the lab.
"I'm off to bed." Annaka announced looking down at Danny, "You turning in to?"
"Yep." He said standing up and grabbing her hand, "See you two in the morning."
The pair scuttled up the stairs towards the bedrooms, they had agreed to what bedrooms everyone was having earlier so there would be no fighting later. Annaka arrived to her bedroom door with Danny still holding her hand.
"I'll see you in the morning I guess." She stated opening the bedroom door slightly.
However, before she could enter Danny turned her body around to face him and leaned in. Realising what he was getting at, she leaned in as well and the pair started kissing. At first, it was a slow gentle kiss, one that they did regularly especially if her father was in the room but then Danny started nibbling at her bottom lip, his tongue was asking for entry. Annaka obliged quickly and felt his tongue around her mouth, inspecting every corner and scaling across her teeth. She did the same to him and swept her tongue across his teeth before their tongues started to battle it out. His hand reached up to the back of her head and combed through her hair, one arm was around her waist while her arms hung loosely around his neck. She moaned in pleasure quietly but Danny heard it and his tongue fought harder with hers. Annaka was surprised but didn't complain. She soon realised that she was running out her breath and withdrew from the kiss.
"So that's your goodnight kiss." She stated with her arms in exactly the same place.
"Would have done it ages ago if it wasn't for a certain protective Viking."
"Hmm hmm." Annaka replied smiling for the first time that day, "Why don't you stay with me tonight- not in that way- it just feels like a shame to separate now and after the day we've had"
"You need some comfort." Danny finished off, "I guess."
"Not to mention the nightmares." Annaka added more seriously, "I don't want to be on my own when I wake up."
Danny nodded, his arms had moved up to and around her neck. He bent in and leant his forehand against hers while closing his eyes. Annaka's frown became more prominent. Her childish boyfriend had been replaced with a serious one and she didn't like that especially as it wasn't her own doing. She removed her arms from around his neck and was about to tickle his rib cage when…
"I love you."
Annaka froze on the spot; her arms in mid-air. Danny's eyes remained shut.
"I love you too." She replied then smiled to herself and quickly tickled his rib cage resulting in sudden jerk from Danny.
"What was that for?" He asked stepping back and crossing his arms over his rib cage, "I declare my love for you and that's what I get?"
"Just testing." Annaka replied smiling, "Making sure you have humour still."
"Trust me you'll find out tomorrow." Danny smiled mischievously.
"No. not a prank." Annaka said opening her bedroom door further.
"It's just a test…to make sure I have humour still." Danny replied back gaining himself a playful hit in the stomach from Annaka.
"Whatever, I'm going to bed."
Down stairs, the remaining two Jr defenders were still sitting on the couch; the news had started a few minutes ago. Funnily enough, nothing happened. Everything was still the same as it was this morning; for the rest of the world anyway. Jack looked over at Zsa-Zsa, who looked engrossed with the news but probably wasn't. She was lying on the couch, with Jack sitting in the corner. Her feet were slightly touching his thigh and hadn't moved for a while. Slowly, he shifted his thigh to the left causing it to move Zsa-Zsa's feet. She didn't respond so he tried again and again and again until Zsa-Zsa gently kicked him in the thigh and sat up. She didn't look as displeased she should normally do when something annoyed her; instead she went back to watching the news.
"Hey Zara." Jack said obviously trying to annoy Zsa-Zsa. It was a child hood thing, Jack could never say Zsa-Zsa until he was 7; before then it was simply Zara. She had hated it completely and despite being a year younger always told Jack off. He did oblige and tried not to call her Zara but he realised that it was a way of getting her attention quickly.
"What?" She replied annoyed.
"Do you think this would have happened if I had come with you to find the lab and you didn't go by yourself?"
Zsa-Zsa paused looking at the ground; her lips looked redder than normal and didn't go well with her complexion, "Are you trying to say I can't handle myself?"
"No. That's a definite. It's just maybe if I was with you when you found Harvey and those kids then, one of us could have fought them off and one of us could have gone into the lab." Jack explained.
Zsa-Zsa looked over at him and slid towards him on the sofa and sat next to him. She uncharacteristically took one of his hands and gave it a gentle squeeze, "Don't go there Jack. You always over analysis and think of the what if's. Just don't not this time. We've bounced back from worse. This time tomorrow we'll be back in the castle. Annaka will be making cocoa, Danny will have a bucket of slime balancing on a door frame somewhere, I'll be in the lab, Kyle will cooking and you'll be observing us all. You'll see. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow, it's an off day."
He gave her hand a squeeze back, "I hope your right."
"I'm always right." Zsa-Zsa boasted jokily. The news had moved on to local and the Pearl Canyon spokesman whittled on about some problem the town was having, "As long as the world's still standing, we'll be okay."
"We've had a vacation to Space before, we could do it again."
"Yeah because that was soo a vacation!" Zsa-Zsa replied, "Didn't we almost lose all oxygen?"
"Minor details." Jack replied grinning for the first time that day, "What do you think Kyle's doing?"
"Hopefully sleeping." Zsa-Zsa replied back, "Unless he's roaming riot through the castle."
"We'll sort him out tomorrow." Jack replied, "Listen, whatever happens, I'll come and save you. Whether it's fighting a pair of teenagers or a bomb about to explode, I'll come. I promise."
"You've lost it Jack but promised remembered. I'll keep you to it."
~Ooooo~
"Danny?" Jack asked opening the hotel room, there was no movement and the former green defender didn't wander off like he used to. This Danny was a shadow of his former self.
Luke entered the small hotel room, clothes were thrown everywhere; all of them green and black with a slight hint of red in places. The curtains were shut and there were empty dishes on the bed along with a few glasses on the bedside table.
"Jack?" A voice said coming from the bathroom, Danny appeared from around the door frame, "I ordered some food, turns out I don't like it."
"Salad and some sort of pasta. Yeah, you weren't too fond of them before. This is Luke. He's an old friend of both of ours."
"Hi." Luke greeted smiling.
Danny didn't reply, he looked Luke up and down before retreating back into the bathroom to brush his teeth.
"Don't worry, once his memory returns, he'll be bouncing off the walls." Jack stated slightly laughing. The laugh started to turn flat and stopped, everything was meant to be normal nine months ago but it didn't happen.
Luke's phone filled the silence; he reached into his pocket and answered it. Nothing was said, only a few 'yeps', 'oh really' and 'I'll be there soon'.
"That was Kyle." Luke told Jack, "I'm his mentor. James left yesterday."
Jack nodded understanding. It made more sense why Kyle would call him rather than James.
"You two should come back with me and maybe bring Annaka, where ever she's gotten too." Luke commented then saw the sour look on Jack's face; one of guilt and sadness.
"She is here?"
"I'll go back to Kyle, you stay here with Danny." Jack ordered going into the bathroom, "I need to explain to him alone and by myself."
~Ooooo~
It was 9pm and after 45 minutes of reassuring Danny that Luke can be trusted, he left the pair to catch up. He instructed Luke to tell Danny about his parents, he knew them better than the former black defender did. Luke gave him a scrap of paper where Kyle was but he didn't need it, he'd been to the Ottawa hub before with Charles, it was a one of visit and had been very boring. He was surprised that Kyle had known about it and found his way here on his own, that kid had grown up a lot but that was mostly down to him.
Jack found the basement door but didn't open it. He didn't expect to walk back into Kyle's life with just a simple 'hello'; he didn't want Kyle to be that way. Once, he entered that door, he would have a lot of explaining to do which would mean admitting the truth that he had been denying for months. The eldest Jr defender opened the basement door slowly and walked inside. He scanned the room and saw his Defender Craft. He heard Kyle's voice above the others, ordering them about. The basement door slammed shut.
"Luke!" Kyle called, "I've sorted out the DCs we can…"
"Hey Kyle." Jack replied to his former team mates as he stared wide eyed at him, "Missed me?"
