A/N: I took some liberties in expanding on just what the Mirror of Regret can do; I'll be doing that a bit with some other objects and concepts from the show, especially the Morphing Grid. Also I just love drama and emotional pain tbh.
9. Hearts of Glass, Part One
Lord Zedd started his day off the only way he could, stewing in a subdued rage on his throne, lest he wanted to screw up the careful way his yet-to-be-named indentured servant was polishing his faceplate. It was becoming sadly apparent that he was proving to be the only one with sense - Goldar had even become more insubordinate lately with those sarcastic remarks of his, and he honestly wasn't sure if that or the Rangers made his blood boil more.
"A group of good-willed children can't possibly be clever and strong enough to outwit me every time," he growled, clenching his fist. "It can't possibly be Zordon's doing, he's even more inept than they are."
"You surpass them all in every possible way, my Lord," his servant mused.
"These new Rangers incense me more than anyone else. They can't be so outstanding that the power transfer did not foster some negative effects. There must be some residual energy deposit I could exploit, manipulate them into-"
"They are scared." The servant's tone was plain, straight-forward, not even taking his eyes off his work.
"Did I give you permission to speak? You have a task to focus on, you ingrate."
"I am merely echoing what you were saying the other day. The psychological ramifications of these children going from mere visitors to having to uproot their lives to fight against us." He paused as he began to wipe around Zedd's visor. "The implications that they are mere replacements for the three who left. These were all your thoughts, were they not? I am the dust beneath your feet, surely I could never come up with something so acute."
Zedd drummed his fingers on his armrest, lost in thought. "Well of course I came up with that." He pounded his staff on the floor, shaking up the palace once again, grumbling at the panicked yelps of his even more dim-witted underlings rooms away. "I will play on the fears of the new Rangers, driving the team apart and leaving them all the more vulnerable to utter doom!"
"And how will you do that, my lord?"
"Did I not just say I would play on their fears?!" He swatted him away. "Go, I must start my work."
The servant let his composure slip for but a moment, unable to stop the corner of his mouth from quirking up slightly. "Of course, my lord. You always know exactly what to do." He retreated into the hall and watched as Zedd stood from his throne and went over to the balcony to spy on Angel Grove, curious to see if he would surprise him this time.
After a few minutes, he had conveniently honed in on the Black Ranger's supposed insecurities about being bullied as a child and called for Goldar to bring him something called the Mirror of Regret.
"Not bad," he admitted, pulling his cape around him and blending completely into the shadows. "But not good enough." With that, he disappeared, no one in the palace the wiser.
Billy, Tommy, and Rocky were spending their afternoon in the school library, working on a project for history class. Rocky found the whole thing kind of funny – his life ricocheted between saving the world and being a 'normal' kid so quickly he got whiplash. Being a superhero made having to go to class and do homework seem even less important and unnecessary than when he was just a regular teenager who didn't like school. It'd make for a hell of an excuse to his teachers, if he was allowed to reveal his identity (and if the teachers would even believe him). It wasn't like the other Rangers would disagree with him.
Billy let out a chuckle as he perused through his textbook. "I just remembered, I was partnered with Jason on an assignment about the Industrial Revolution last year."
"Oh yeah!" Tommy laughed at the memory. "You guys made that model with all those contruction paper pipes. What was that supposed to be again?"
"It was supposed to be an automobile factory, but I entrusted him to make it while I wrote up the report and I think he missed the point."
"You still got a good grade on it." They laughed together for a few moments, leaving Rocky out of the loop.
"Uh, guys?"
"Oh, sorry man." Tommy tried to refocus his attention on his own book, but he couldn't help but continue snickering a bit. Rocky wished Aisha was there instead of helping her parents finally move from Stone Canyon so that they could crack a few inside jokes of their own. But it was dumb to be jealous, right, if that was even what he was feeling? Jason was off in Switzerland and had yet to get in touch with his old friends, meanwhile Rocky was helping the boys with a project, and furthermore helping them save the world; he was the winner, clearly.
He felt a tap on the shoulder, and he turned around to see Mrs. Appleby looking down at him expectantly. "I need to see you for a minute, Rocky."
He cast a look over at the others, who shrugged and motioned for him to go. He got up with a shrug of his own, following her to her classroom. She motioned for him to sit in the center of the front row; as soon as he was settled, she smacked down a folder of papers onto the desk.
"Barely a month here and you're already failing," she barked, staring daggers at him.
"What?!" His eyes bulged as he tore the folder open, leafing through the papers only to see a big red F marr every single one. "That's not possible, I've been working hard!" His gaze caught on a particular one. "This is the English report I turned in last week, I know I did well on it!"
"Your confidence is misplaced, Mr. DeSantos." She crossed her arms over her chest, raising a brow in challenge. Rocky didn't know the woman very well yet, but he couldn't help but note that she was acting rather out of character. "It's okay, not everyone can be smart. I only worry for your friends; it can't be easy, having you drag them down. The three who left were so good."
"Mrs. Appleby, what is going on? Teachers can't talk that way to their students." His voice came out even louder than he had meant it to, sinking back into his chair. This wasn't bothering him, of course not. Hearing a teacher liked berate him like this, call him dumb to his face, his thoughts unable to stop wandering to the former Red Ranger and how good he apparently did in school. Even if this was some weird nightmare, he doubted he'd feel any better when he woke up.
"They can when their students drive them to the point of exhaustion." She huffed, closing the folder and snatching it away from him. "You'll need to have a serious intervention if you don't get your act together. Now go on, go make sure you and your friends get a good grade on this project."
He just sat there for a few moments, trying to process everything that was happening. He grabbed his backpack and rushed out of the room, every intent of going to the youth center instead of the library. If he had looked back, he would have noticed Mrs. Appleby's shadow turn into a mess of tendrils that slid across the linoleum floor before returning to normal, and the woman in question shake herself suddenly, not remembering how she got from the teachers' lounge to here.
The juice bar was oddly absent of any of the other Rangers, but Aisha was happy (well, more like relieved) enough just to strike up conversation with Ernie.
"So you're all moved in, in just an afternoon?" He asked, handing her a pineapple smoothie.
"We still have to unpack all the boxes, but baby steps." She grinned, taking a sip. "I probably should be kind of worried how quickly they jumped on getting a three bedroom house, but real estate is really cheap here."
"It's all those monster attacks." He rolled his eyes, earning a laugh from her. "We gonna see results on that soon?"
"We're working on it, I promise." The weight of her morpher on the back of her belt felt especially apparent now. She wasn't sure how Ernie had figured out they were the Power Rangers – well, actually, he probably saw more than most with the nature of his job. She was just grateful he was keeping it to himself and giving them free food for their undying good will. "It's just gonna be nice living in my own house. Adam and Rocky are still staying with me until their families move, but it's mine, you know?"
Speak of the devil, Rocky suddenly showed up, throwing his backpack down on the bar and covering his face with his hands for a minute. Aisha was instantly concerned, putting down her smoothie so she could squeeze his shoulder. "What are you doing here? I thought you were working on that project."
"Why should I? They don't want me around them, I just dumb everything up."
She blinked, hopping off her stool and guiding him away to a more quiet corner of the center. "What happened?"
"I'm failing is what happened! Even though I have no idea how! Mrs. Appleby told me herself, she showed me all the F's and basically said I was stupid; kept going on about how great Jason, Zack, and Trini were..."
"You're pulling my leg, she would never do that."
"Well she did." Rocky's expression twisted, pained and confused, and she wasted no time pulling him in for a hug. "It just- why? She's so nice. I've heard the school gives out detention sometimes for bad grades but I didn't think they'd be dicks about it. But... I've been doing well, Eesh! This is just-"
"I know. I know you have. It had to have been a misunderstanding, or... something. C'mon, let's go back and talk to her. We'll even grab Tommy and Billy, they'll understand why you bailed and vouch for you."
Rocky pulled away, looking at the floor. "I don't know if I want them there."
"What?"
"They probably do wish I was Jason. Looking for an excuse to get rid of me and now that they've got one they'll-"
"Oh my god, stop, you're spiraling." She took his face in her hands. "They do not think that. I mean sure, they have a lot of inside jokes and talk about the old team. Talk about them a lot..." She cleared her throat. "But all six of us are a family now, ok? They care about us and we care about them."
He sighed, nodding slowly. "I guess."
She pat his cheek, taking his hand and pulling him toward the entrance. She noticed Kimberly now sitting at the table closest to the entrance, and smiled. "Here, we'll fix things right now." They went over, Aisha moving to embrace her. She made no move to hug her back, which was weird. "Hey girl, you won't believe what happened, I-"
"I can." Kim hadn't even bothered to look at her yet. "You did the same thing you do every day because you are oh so bland and predictable."
Rocky was looking at Aisha, but she didn't look at him in case it was an 'I told you so' face. Kim wanted to talk about being predictable, Miss Everything's Pink And- no, she was her friend and this was weird. "What's going on with you?"
"I've been sick of you for a while but now I'm finally saying it. Feels good." She stood, putting her hands on her hips and sneering at them. "You try so hard, Aisha. But you'll always barely have a personality and fit in better with-" She eyed Rocky up and down, scoffing. "Boys."
"What the hell is your problem?" Aisha got up in her face, but Kim didn't seem at all phased. Rocky certainly didn't make any move to hold her back. "I thought we were friends. More than that."
"Hrmph." She twirled some hair around her finger. "I miss Trini. At least she stood for something."
Aisha stood there, her breathing growing increasingly labored, until Rocky actually had to step in and pull her away.
"Is this really happening?" She rasped out, trying to shake herself out of all the negative thoughts and feelings that were creeping up on her.
"I don't know, Eesh." He squeezed her hands. "You're not bland."
"And you're not stupid." She blew out a long breath. "Today was supposed to be happy. I was gonna ask her to spend the night."
He sighed. "We should find Adam; if that little kid he's coaching suddenly turns on him, I don't think he'll handle it well."
Kimberly saw red for a moment before she was suddenly in the youth center, holding her head to try to stop it from spinning. "Wasn't I just at my locker..." She mumbled, going over to the bar. Before she could open her mouth to order or even greet Ernie, he gave her a stern look.
"You really need to apologize to Aisha. What you said what really uncalled for; it's not like you, Kimberly."
She was officially beyond confused. "What I said? What are you talking about?"
He scoffed. "You insulted the heck out of her and Rocky! I wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to talk to you for a while."
"What?" Kim ran a hand over her hair, looking toward the entrance. "You're right. That doesn't sound like me." She ran over to the lockers, making sure she was alone before immediately teleporting to the command center. "Zordon, we might have a problem."
"Ay ay ay, they seem to be coming in by the bucketload these days." Alpha rubbed at the top of his head.
"When don't they?"
"Be calm. What's the matter, Kimberly?"
"I don't know how, but I have a lapse in memory. One minute I'm at school, the next my vision gets all wacky and I'm at the juice bar. The worst part is I apparently said something really bad to Aisha and Rocky while I was out of it." She bit her lip. "I'm worried it's Zedd."
"Oh dear." Alpha clasped his hands together.
"Do you guys have, like, some scanner that can read evilness in a person? Traces of evilness? I just know I would never say that to them, and that whole blackout is more than wigging me out."
"I'm afraid not. We must warn the others to be on their guard until whatever Zedd is planning manifests fully."
She frowned up at him. "That doesn't really seem like the best plan."
"It is the best we can do for now."
Just before they could contact the others, the alarm went off. "Oh no, what now? Was it a monster who did this to me?"
"Perhaps, but I sense a whole other problem entirely. Zedd has trapped Adam and forced him to stare into the Mirror of Regret, draining both his confidence and his energy, and it seems Rocky and Aisha are headed into the trap as well."
"I know I need to stop saying what but what?!" She paced a bit as Alpha pressed a sequence of buttons on the console. "Can't we just teleport them here, stop them in their tracks? They need to know what happened, anyway."
"I'm trying, Kimberly. Something is interfering with the signal."
"Of course it is." She put her hands on her face, trying to calm down. When it finally did work, only Tommy and Billy showed up. "Ugh, really? They must've taken their communicators off."
"What's going on?" Tommy asked, going over to her and slinging an arm around her shoulders, her distress being rather apparent. "Where are the others? Rocky's supposed to be working on something with us."
"I'm afraid they're at the mercy of Zedd's latest plan. Kimberly has reason to believe there is a monster lurking about who has the power to take over peoples' consciousness and force them to do his evil bidding, in this case insulting others to cause a blow to their self-worth."
Kimberly raised a brow. "Well, uh, didn't exactly think that but it makes sense, I guess. Kind of petty, huh?"
"Oh no! The viewing globe!" Alpha sounded even more worried than usual, and the Rangers couldn't turn around fast enough to see what was going on. Adam was being held in place by two putties, looking weaker and weaker by the second, as Goldar held up a creepy-looking mirror and talked down to him.
"He looks awful! How's a mirror and a couple of stupid insults doing that to him?"
"The mirror is a very powerful tool, I'm afraid."
"I don't see Rocky or Aisha." Billy adjusted his glasses, looking at the globe carefully. "There's a chance we may be able to intercept them."
The viewing globe shifted, revealing a skeletal dog-like whose laugh chilled everyone. "I'm afraid not. Zedd has summoned another monster and unleashed it on the populace. Stopping Skellereena must be your priority, the others must handle themselves."
Kimberly scoffed. "But they're-"
"C'mon Kim. We'll make short work of this creep and we'll help them out before you know it, I promise." The three exchanged worried looks, Tommy pulling away to grab his morpher. "What are we waiting for? It's morphin' time!"
Adam already struggled with his self-esteem enough without having all of his faults shoved in his face like this. He may not have been a Ranger long, but he was willing to bet this was Zedd's most effective plan yet.
He'd been trying so hard to put all that behind him – the doubt about his worth, usefulness, appearance, what people thought of him – so he could be a good hero, prioritizing his concerns for others above all else. He cared about Sean and teaching him karate for his own sake, of course he did; but he saw too much of himself in the kid to say it was entirely unselfish. As if by helping Sean, he was making up for not being able to fix all the difficulties he had when he was young. And he still ended up in Goldar's clutches, being forced to relive his youth; if anything, becoming a Power Ranger hammered in that whole 'no good deed goes unpunished' saying.
"Adam?!" He heard Rocky yell somewhere behind him, and he shut his eyes. No, don't try to rescue me, you're only going to get-
"On your left, Rocky!" Aisha shouted as he began to hear the unmistakable metallic sound of their fists colliding with putties.
"How does it feel, Black Ranger?" Goldar growled at him. "Knowing you're the reason your friends are about to suffer the same fate?"
He cast his gaze downward, wanting nothing more than to break out of the putties' hold and come to his friends' rescue – who, from the sound of it, weren't faring much better than him already. But he fell to his knees, his limbs like lead; they were all doomed.
As Rocky and Aisha were disarmed and captured, brought over to kneel next to him, he vaguely registered the shadow he saw creep over the ground, though he didn't know who it could have belonged to. It passed under Goldar's feet, whose eyes flashed red and grip on the mirror tightened so much the frame cracked.
"All of you are pathetic." There was an edge to his voice that wasn't there before, Adam ruefully noted. "Don't you realize you're nothing more than replacements?"
"Shut up!" Rocky barked, only to earn himself Goldar's heel to his head, effectively knocking him out. Zedd's lackey was uncharacteristically brutal today; something had to be wrong with him.
The image in the mirror changed, showing all six of the original Rangers laughing together in the juice bar, hanging off each other, having a wonderful time. "They only need you to be cannon fodder. What good are you to them outside of the costumes?"
Whatever spell the mirror was working would have only taken a few moments more to complete – had Goldar not suddenly dropped it, shattering it to pieces, as he started to stumble around. Aisha was quick to rise to her feet and start fighting off the putties around them while Adam struggled, watching the big lug hold his head with one hand and slash his sword about with the other, screaming something at someone about getting out of his head.
"You doin' alright?" Aisha called over to him, roundhouse kicking a putty right in the Z. "I could use some help, if you're up to it!"
He managed a smile – she'd already earned back all her energy in adrenaline, it seemed, or at least was working out her anger by fighting. He struggled to stand, barely managing to wobble over. Clearly he was in no state to help, and he could have kicked himself if he had the energy. He moved to stand protectively over Rocky, still unconscious, as Goldar continued to fight with himself.
Suddenly, he went completely still, his eyes flashing red as the shadow Adam saw earlier passed right underneath him, like a snake slithering through the grass. "The mirror! What did you do?!" Goldar advanced on him, and Adam had to wonder if he was just using him as a scapegoat or if he genuinely didn't remember.
"Now, now," a smooth but booming voice came from behind them, causing even the putties to freeze. A man who looked like a stage magician stepped around a tree, his hands clasped behind his back. "There's no use crying over broken glass."
"You!" Goldar refocused his attention, stomping right past Adam to confront this new... person, whatever he was. Aisha took advantage of the sudden pause in aggression and ran over to join the guys, hunching over Rocky.
"Me!" The man shrugged, unflinching even as Goldar was rushing toward him like he was going to tackle him to the ground. "Are you surprised? I was hoping you'd be. I hoped to make more of a theatrical reveal, but I was growing bored."
"What are you going on about? What are you doing here?!"
"Making sure you're not screwing things up." He grinned, sunlight glinting off his unnaturally sharp teeth, looking more predatory than Goldar ever had. "Undermining one Ranger's confidence over some childhood insecurity will only last so long. When you plant seeds of discord, you have to do it right."
"You're a servant!" The man ignored him, slowly slinking over to the group. "Answer to your betters!"
"My 'better' couldn't even hold a mirror." He moved to cup Aisha's chin, who swiftly slapped his hand away. "Hard to break your spirit, isn't it?"
"That's right." Her hand went to her morpher, her defiant gaze never leaving his face.
"Good for you. Not so good for me, but we'll work on that." He smirked, turning around only to be met with Goldar's sword at his throat. "What is it with you people and your swords? Aim somewhere more detrimental, like my magnificent hair."
"I hope you're prepared to explain yourself to Lord Zedd; once he finds out what you've done you'll be back in that egg."
"What? Done the job you were supposed to?"
"You've done nothing. Apprehend him, putties!" They did not comply; with one look from the man, they cowered and all retreated behind a tree. "What?!"
"They recognize power when they see it. Unlike you. You know it was me in your head." He eyed the Rangers again, all defensive as if they had the strength to fight back against whatever he tried. "But as this is not the introduction I wanted, I'll be leaving. Consider it a gift, Rangers." He sauntered away, smirking as Adam tried to follow but stumbled.
Goldar marched after him, continuing to brandish his sword even if the man did make him feel foolish about it. Slightly. "Where do you think you're going, you'll be returning to the palace in chains!"
"Oh?" He turned, the sunlight glinting off the sparkles in his cape as it swished. "I'd look good in chains. You..." He chuckled, hunching over and straining as his cape began to flip around. A flash of light momentarily blinded everyone in the area, only to reveal the cape had been replaced by dozens of long, shadowy tentacles protruding from his back. The sight made Aisha shriek, and from how Goldar began to back up, he wasn't fairing much better.
"I think you need to know what it's like to be bound again." One of his tentacles whipped out, wrapping Goldar in a vice so tight his armor crunched under the force of it; it disappeared, but it was obviously still there. After a few seconds of struggling he slumped over, his eyes glowing red like before.
"Should we help him?" Adam whispered to her.
"Tch, no."
"This is only a sampling of what I can do, dear Rangers." The statement came out of Goldar's mouth, but the manic grin on the face of whatever he was made it clear the sentiment belonged to him. "Also I'm the most stupid abomination in the galaxy and I think Zedd can just go and shove that staff up his ass!"
A groggy laugh signified that Rocky was waking up, thankfully. "Is that Goldar?"
"Shh." Aisha swatted at him, a crude sign he should be quiet. "Who the hell are you?"
"What did I say? It's all a big surprise. No one ever listens." He snapped his fingers, the putties scrambling over to crowd him. "Anyway, back to the moon palace to clear my name using a wonderful little ability called mind control. Can't wait 'til next time." They all disappeared in Goldar's usual display of all-engulfing flames, leaving the trio to sit on the grass and absorb just happened around all the pain.
"What happened?" Rocky tried to sit up, rubbing his head. "I think I'm concussion free for once; that's good, right?"
"So... what? He was hiding behind that tree and controlling Goldar's mind?" Adam rubbed the back of his neck. "The mirror was doing a pretty good job of draining me before that even happened."
"Guess he wanted a bigger audience." Aisha sighed, squirming a bit. "Ugh, gross."
"The tentacles?"
"The tentacles."
"Tentacles?" Rocky scoffed. "Guys, I didn't see anything, where did tentacles come from?"
Before they could reply, Adam's communicator went off, the ones belonging to the other two muffled by virtue of being buried in their backpacks. "What is it?" He answered.
"Are you alright? We need you guys." Tommy's voice, unusually distressed, came from the other end as they heard blaster fire and maniacal laughter in the background.
Aisha grabbed his wrist. "Uh, not really," she barked into the receiver, her eyes afire. "We got drained pretty bad and Rocky got knocked out for a while."
Tommy grunted. "Sorry guys, but we're-" Punch! "Kind of-" Smack! "Outnumbered! It's a bunch of putties and a skeletal hairbrain."
"Are you sure you're not confusing me with the Pink Ranger?" The twisted voice of the monster was not made any better by the tinny sound quality.
"Oh, as if!" Kim shrieked.
"You need our help now, after what you said?"
"No." Kim's voice came in much clearer now, probably having paused to talk into her own communicator. "I was-" She yelped as there was the very distinct sound of someone hitting the ground. "Please just come in the Zords or something, you won't have to do any physical fighting, just-"
"I don't think so," Rocky mumbled, picking at the grass. "Not like we're Zack, Trini, or Jason; what could we really do to help?" He unlatched the communicator from Adam's wrist, and threw it on the ground, even as a very tinny, screechy "What?!" came through amidst the sounds of more fighting. Rocky took Aisha's hand, lifting them both up, as Adam stared at it; his instinct to help was there as it always was, but there was uncharacteristic burning hatred he felt grow stronger as the seconds passed that he just couldn't chase away
And when he shoved the the thing in his pocket, turning to see his friends nod in approval, giving into it felt a lot better than sitting around feeling sorry for himself.
