Disclaimer: Sadly these characters are not mine and I'm not making any money.

Sorry it took me so long to get this up. Hope it was worth the wait.
Enjoy!

When Dreams Meets Reality
Chapter Four

I blinked my eyes several times. At least I think I did. Eyes open or shut all I could see was black. I lifted my hand and put it in front of my face.

Nothing.

All I knew was that I was laying down somewhere. With my luck I was probably in Guatemala or something.

"Are you awake," a familiar voice asked.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to answer him seeing as how he was responsible for the blackness from what I remember last anyways. After considering what to say I went with the best I could come up with. "No."

I could practically feel his need to shake his head.

"Babe."

"You're not allowed to call me that anymore," I said, folding my arms across my chest. "After this stunt I'm Stephanie to you."

"Ok," he said with a grin in his voice. "Stephanie it is."

I swear I tried to stop the frown but it came anyways. Ranger calling me Stephanie was just wrong. That's like peanut butter without the olives. It just isn't done.

He laughed softly. Footsteps came toward me on the right. The sound of a light clicking on greeted me. Along with the brightest freaking light ever.

I groaned and covered my eyes with my hands.

"Sorry Stephanie," Ranger emphasized my name. Bastard. There were some more clicking sounds. "I dimmed it."

Cautiously I peeked through my fingers and deemed it safe.

I sat up, on top of a bed I've never seen before, and looked around.

I was in a small black room. Seriously it was blacker than Rangers whole closet. Black walls. Black full sized bed. Black sheets. Black dresser. Black nightstand. Black lamp with a shade that was, you guessed it, black.

With everything crammed into the little room I was surprised there was enough room to breathe.

Besides the furniture there were two doors on opposite walls. Neither of them had doorknobs. One was opened revealing a bathroom that was surprising white. Of course the sink cabinets and everything on top of the pristine white sink was black. Whoever decorated this place needs to be shot with some paint balls to get some color into their system.

The other door was shut and locked. How do I know it was locked, you ask? Well that's what it says. On a metal pad next to where a doorknob SHOULD be there was a numeric keypad and a digital display. In bright red letters, the word LOCKED was spelled out.

Ranger, who was standing by the bathroom door, came and sat on a corner of the bed. I scooted over as far as I could from him and glared. "What did you do to me? Where's Diesel?" My voice got louder. "And where the hell am I?"

It was then that I looked down at myself. "What the HELL am I wearing Ranger!" Someone had cleaned me off and stripped me. In place of my dirty compost clothes I was in a bleach white . . . something. It was a stretchy one-piece fabric that looked like a tank top and shorts put together.

Ranger's lips twitched a bit and his eyebrow shot up. "Are you yelling at me?" His voice was calm but there was no mistaking the seriousness of the question.

This time I didn't give a shit. I stood up from the bed and, using my arms for support, leaned toward him with my own blank face. "I'm not playing this game right now Ranger. Tell me what the fuck is going on."

The usual sexual tension between us changed in that moment. It quadrupled and became tainted with something I couldn't even describe. My muscles contracted together. The next breath I took was ragged.

Then, the moment was over. We both blinked and everything was back to normal. For us anyways.

As I tried to understand what just happened Ranger turned lifted his legs onto the bed with his back flat against the headboard. "We need to talk."

I swallowed and tried to shake myself back. "No shit."

He patted the space next to him. "Sit down."

With apprehension, I climbed back on the bed slowly but instead of sitting beside Ranger I moved along the bottom edge and sat directly in front of him, Indian style.

He shook his head and thought about smiling. When his eyes found mine again they were as serious as I've ever seen them. "Ask away."

"Who cleaned and changed me?"

"I did."

Oh. I could deal with that.

Ignoring the heat rising up my body I asked the less personal, but more important question. "Is Diesel ok?"

"Unfortunately yes," Ranger said with sigh. "He's recovering in the Hospital ward. In a day or two he'll be as good as new."

That definitely got my attention. "A day or two?" My voice was incredulous.

There was a smirk working its way up Rangers lips. "They have good Doctors here."

Apparently.

"Speaking of here," I said, "where the hell is here exactly? What kind of facility is this? I mean it has a hospital ward according to you and this is some kind of weird ass apartment," I commented, looking at the knobless doors.

"We are," he paused thinking about how much he wanted to give away, "technically still in the US. This place is a training facility. It doesn't have a real name but they refer to it as their HQ."

"That is so encouraging," I said deadpan.

He laughed. I mean really laughed at that. It made my heart flutter a bit. "You'll find out more about this place later."

"Does that mean no more questions about it?"

He nodded. "For now."

"I'm holding you to that."

Ranger smiled lightly. "I expect you to. Anything else you want to know?"

"What happened to me after I got . . .?" I had to stop. I didn't know what happened.

Ranger's head fell back against the headboard for a moment before he looked back at me with anxiety. "I zapped you."

I left that sink in for a minute. "You zapped me?"

Ranger nodded.

"With what exactly?"

His lips twitched. We both knew it wasn't a stun gun. There was no dizziness, drowsiness, or nausea from the zap.

"You sure you want to know?" His eyes softened, losing some of the seriousness. "There's no way for me to take it back once you know," he said softly.

"Tell me," I said just as softly.

"I'll do one better," he said raising his right hand, holding it out to me. "I'll show you." I watched his hand carefully. His pinky, ring and middle finger curled toward his palm. His thumb and index finger touched, pressing together tightly.

Then it was as if time slowed down. What would have taken one second took a lifetime. Ranger's fingers slowly came apart. A wavy blue and white streak of electricity swirled between his digits. There was a quiet crackling as the streak moved flawlessly in movement. Ranger's hand closed in on itself and time resumed normally.

"Wow." What else was there to say?

"You're not going to run screaming now are you?" Ranger asked, eyebrow sky high.

"No," I said almost breathlessly, still staring at his hand. "I might start screaming soon though." I dragged my eyes back to his that were now guarded. "I mean you did knock me out with that stuff."

He stared at me for a long time before he chuckled long and deep. Shaking his head, Ranger got to his knees and dragged my body against his. "You really are one-of-a kind, you know that."

I snorted. "I'm not the one with electricity running through me."

Ranger pulled back and his face was alive with mischief.

Shit.

"Ranger don't you d-"

Too late.

Before I could move away his right hand came up again. A blue marble-sized ball was dancing between his fingers and suddenly he flicked it toward me. It stopped a breath away from my chest, just hovering in the air.

I closed my eyes in a sigh. "Thank God."

I opened my eyes long enough to see Rangers smirk before they slammed shut when the ball dissolved into my body.

It was the biggest rush I have ever felt. My body came alive. Blood pounded, muscles quivered, heart pulsed rapidly. It was the closest thing to an orgasm that I've had in a long time and my body responded adequately.

My eyes opened again, lazily this time. Heat flushed my face. My breathing was deep and even. "Jesus," I whispered.

Ranger's eyes were black. "That's never happened before," he said, voice low and husky. He moved back against the headboard, clearly putting as much distance between us as he could. He cleared his throat before talking again. "Ask your other questions."

"Questions?" My mind was still in a haze.

"Babe." Ranger shook his head. "I'm gonna tell you a story now."

"Does it have sex in it?" I asked with hope.

He groaned. "Babe."

"Hrpm," I crossed my arms. "It's your fault."

"As much as I don't regret it, I wish I hadn't done it. We have a lot to talk about still and I need you focused."

"Fine, fine, fine," I huffed, dragging my languid body to the bathroom. I turned the faucet on and slashed some cold water on my face. Grabbing a hand towel, I dabbed at my face and looked at myself in the mirror.

It was subtle but everything about me seemed different. Eyes a little brighter. Lips a little fuller. Hair a little shinier. Body a little more rounded in a good way.

Damn.

Who needs plastic surgery? Just get zapped by a glowing blue ball of electricity.

I made my way back out to the bedroom and hopped up on the bed in my spot. "Ok. Go."

Ranger was thinking about smiling again before his expression turned serious. "Bobby, Tank, Lester and I didn't meet in the army like we've told everyone. We met here about nine years ago. The people that run this facility have recruiters everywhere including every branch of the military and all the major industries. Our," he paused on the word, grimacing slightly, "powers don't fully develop unless we're trained to control them which is why this place has to go out and search for directives, that's what they call unmentionables who are in training."

"Ok," I said slowly, trying to process everything. "So you, Tank, Bobby, and Lester are all unmentionables like Diesel?"

Ranger shook his head. "No. Everyone who comes here has to make a choice. Diesel choose to stay here and train. The four of us decided our commitment to our country was more important."

"But you still have your powers." I got a slight rush just thinking about it.

"To an extent, yes. Our abilities are a part of us. Once they appear they don't go away but without the right training they won't develop either."

Ranger opened his right hand again, palm face up. Another ball of electricity began forming. It started growing from the size of a pea until it grew round as a golf ball. "This is all I can do. It can only knock an average person unconscious for a short while. On another unmentionable, it'll feel like a small pinch."

"Then," I pointed to his hand, "if you stayed you'd be able to do more."

"I was told I could produce enough energy to power a house for a month if I trained hard enough."

"Wow," I expelled on a breath. "And you turned that down."

He didn't say anything for a minute. I watched him carefully as his mind took him somewhere else. It was often that Ranger focused on the past. "It didn't feel right," he said simply.

Carefully I leaned forward and placed my hand on his leg. "Well," I said with a small smile, "between you and me, I'm glad you turned them down."

His lips quirked. "Why's that?"

Crap.

"Umm . . . that is . . . well you know . . . it's just that . . ." I stammered out.

Ranger gave me his full watt smile. "As much as I would like to hear you try to worm your way out of that one, we need to talk about something else."

By the look on his face, I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it.

So that's part of the back story! Did you like it? Was it what you expected? What's the other news Ranger has to share? Do you have any ideas on Tank, Bobby, and Lester's abilities might be? They'll be coming in handy later! Please review and let me know!
Cole