The quiet night of the Royal Reefside Hotel had ended. A large whirling portal appeared on the third floor, localizing itself in room 308. The large cyborg leaped through the portal and into the lowly lit room, struggling to find his balance.

Elsa groaned, one hand tightly clutching her side as blood oozed out slowly. She hissed in pain, stumbling shakily through the small hotel room. Her nose wrinkled while her eyes closed, using her best points of meditation to fight the discomfort away.

She would never forgive the black ranger for what he did to her. At least she was able to get a few cuts into him before it all came spiraling down.

Kimberly Hart was more important to him that she realized and for that, she hated her; nay, despised her. Thinking back to just moments before she wished she would have just slit that nuisances throat and called it a day. Maybe she would have left with more than just a laceration to her waist, but it would have been worth it. Again, she groaned. The pain radiating from her wound screaming for attention.

Her adrenaline was running furiously, the abundance of blood loss now taking its affect. Her feeble body was living in a fiery inferno, but her extremities were ice cold, numbness following close by. She assessed the room with eyes half open, her quick breathing drowning all her thoughts.

"Where are we," she grunted through harsh breaths, "We're supposed to be back at the lab."

"I altered our coordinates," Zeltrax informed as he took in his surroundings. "Apparently this place was the last known location of Kimberly Hart."

Taking a seat on the soft made bed, Elsa rolled her eyes. "Zeltrax, I'm bleeding over here," she spat out venomously.

"And you don't think I understand your pain? I'm missing the bottom portion of my leg for God's sake," He roared in anger at his companion before turning and knocking various things off the oak wood dresser.

He growled at the memory of the teenage boy using his own dismembered soldier as a weapon against him. Even a synthetic being like himself still felt pain. He couldn't think of anything better than to channel this pain into something more and use it as motivation to ruin Tommy Oliver.

Elsa flinched at the incoming inanimate objects, scowling when a few made contact with her bruised body. A tidal wave of agony washed over her, her teeth gritted. Her knuckles turned bone white as she clutched a handful of sheets. She released her death grip gradually, allowing the pain to slowly subside. Her hands leaving behind a bloody trail of prints on the fresh linen. The long black ponytail attached to her head sat over her left shoulder, giving her warmth while her teeth chattered. She shook her head vehemently, fighting with herself to stay conscious.

"We need to get out of here... both of us." She gulped to quench her ever growing thirst. The world began spinning as she set her wobbling legs firmly on the ground and pulled herself up.

"We can't!" Zeltrax ran a frustrated hand over his hard face. The memory of what that felt like as a human relieving some of the tension.

"Why not?"

The cyborg leaned against the tall oak wardrobe, using it as a crutch. "Do you really want to go back to Mesogog having had failed... Again? He'd kill us!" He huffed, "We can't go back empty handed!"

Finding the will within herself, Elsa gave a sarcastic snort, "Are you stupid enough to think he didn't see us fail on the viewing screen already?"

"I'm willing to take the risk," Zeltrax hissed through gritted teeth. He waddled around the room, using the furniture to cruise around. "How about instead of whining you help me find something of importance."

She growled lowly before following orders. With one hand applying pressure to her wound, she began limping to the various drawers and cabinets in the room.

The small hotel room was turned upside down. Kimberly's suitcase had been broken into, her clothes were thrown haphazardly across the room as Zeltrax searched for something... Anything. His shredded leg spewed sparks from the exposed wires, lighting his way throughout the suite. His inability to think of anything other that his pain hindered his search. He flipped the mattress in rage, his leg creating small burns on the carpet as the fire continued to lightly shower down.

Elsa ignored her momentary ally, his tantrums were ones she'd gotten used to. At least his outbursts never had her fearing for her life. Also, she found great joy in destroying Kimberly's room, there was a sense of pleasure that came with breaking her personal belonging. It took the attention from her waist. Still, she couldn't fight the obvious mix of fruity perfume and a masculine scent of cologne that lingered through the room. He had been in here too, and that fact had her fuming with jealousy.

She moved slowly to a desk sitting at the far end of the wall to rest.

Peaking into a bucket of mostly water with a few stray ice cubes floating on top, she groaned at her horrid reflection. Water pooled below the metal canister, creating rings on the wood as condensation trickled down the sides. She swirled her finger around the cold liquid, coloring it pink from the residue of blood on her hands, but felt nothing. Her impending death prohibited feeling in her fingertips.

Her eyes nearly left her when they landed on the glass bottle with the most beautiful amber colored alcohol she had ever seen. Finding salvation at last, she opened the contents with a soft pop and brought the room temperature bottle of scotch to her lips. She took a soothing gulp, her lipstick leaving black marks on the rim. The burning liquid gave her the extra push she needed until they could get back to the lab.

All hope was almost lost before she narrowed her vision to the disheveled stack of papers resting on the desk. Her shaky fingers picked up the material, her blood curling the edges of the pages. She released a shaky laughed reading the material before her, her emotions were going haywire. Her rage and pain cumulated into erratic laughter, stunning Zeltrax who was searching the night stands beside the destroyed bed.

"What's so funny?" Zeltrax moved slowly to Elsa, taking the red coated pages from her freezing fingers.

He smirked as he read praises for the Rangers written by Kimberly's own hand. It was ridiculous.

Elsa's laugh had subsided, the stupidity of it all now settling her emotions. Zeltrax flipped the various pages of notes before something in particular caught his attention.

'Elsa - Appears mortal, should be easily taken out, villain equivalent of a chihuahua.'

The cyborg couldn't contain his fit of laughter that moment. Elsa ripped the pages from his hands and scowled at their findings. The nerve of that woman to call her that. She continued reading down the page, her curiosity raising at just what they could have stumbled into.

'Principal Randall - strange woman, authoritative, keep an eye on her.'

'Mesogog - Unknown'

'Zeltrax - Unknown'

"What the hell is all of this?" Elsa handed the page to Zeltrax, sharing the startling information Kimberly had gathered.

The cyborg was stumped, he couldn't think of a logical reason for her research.

"I... I don't know. What did you say she did for a living again?"

Elsa pondered for a moment before realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She turned to Zeltrax, her eyes widened. "She's a journalist."

'Anton Mercer - Find out all information on him, odd behavior. Portal. Could be influencing the mayor.'

'Mayor Abrams- always missing. Must get meeting with him SOON.'

Her brows raised, lips parted in disbelief. "Is she writing an article to expose us?"

Crumpling the pages in his hands, Zeltrax growled lowly. "She may be a bigger threat than we thought."


Pacing back and forth in the lab with her arms folded across her chest, Haley was certain that something terrible had happened. She stole glances at the large clock hanging on the rocky textured wall, counting another minute that passed by. She couldn't stand still even if she wanted to. Being brilliant had its perks, but it also came with the downside of having a brain that wouldn't shut up. It came easy for her to imagine the most devastating scenarios. Add to that the angry citizens of Reefside and Mesogog still lurking around, it was no wonder why she was sweating bullets.

She walked hastily to her desk, pressing the communication button to get in contact with the Rangers, but once again, her call went unanswered.

"Okay, okay, okay, they should be fine," she whispered to herself as she dragged a heavy hand through her long red hair. "It hasn't been that long since I last spoke to them. I'm sure they'll be here riiiight now."

Her eyes shot to the large unopened metal doors, hoping for some movement.

Drat.

She threw her arms down sharply, softly releasing whines of impatience like a child.

"Come on, Haley, pull yourself together. They're smart, courageous, completely capable of handling themselves, and to top it off they're—"

Trent and Ethan walked in calmly through the large doors, their helmets tucked under their arms as they shared soft chuckles at whatever they were discussing.

"—dead meat," Haley growled.

Kira and Conner followed close behind, each with an arm around Tommy's waist helping him inside as they bickered with each other under their breaths.

The yellow and red ranger dropped Tommy on his chair in a heap. The black ranger winced from the pain in his chest.

Conner nodded to the red head that had her hands balled up into fists to her side, "What's up?"

What's up? She was pissed.

"Where have you guys been," Haley asked in exasperation. "I sent the raptor cycles to you guys over an hour and a half ago."

"Don't blame us," Ethan held his hands up in defense. He reached for the mini fridge, grabbing a few bottles of water and throwing them at his teammate. He walked over to Tommy still slumped in his chair and handed him the refreshing bottle. Beckoning to Tommy with his head, Ethan said, "Blame teacher of the year over here."

"He's drunk," Kira explained calmly as she took a sip from her water.

Haley's brow raised slightly, her arms crossing across her chest. She turned to Tommy, shooting him a death glare, "Drunk?"

"I'm not drunk!" Tommy sighed, slowly using his arms to push himself into a standing position and off the chair. "I...I had some wine earlier, okay? I don't usually drink so it kind of hit me a little hard."

Conner planted himself into the newly unoccupied chair, he slumped down, using his long legs to swivel himself back and forth. He smiled cheekily at his teammate, "Can't handle your alcohol?"

"I can handle it just fine, Conner."

Haley shook her head, sighing lightly, "Can't say I'm not disappointed, Tommy."

The Black Rangers eyes fell. In his defense, he didn't know Reefside was going to get attacked. If he did, he wouldn't have had all that to drink.

Haley chuckled a little to Tommy's surprise. She took the short walk beside him, placing a gentle hand to his shoulder. "I mean, what happened to the guy that could do the perfect keg stand?"

"Keg stand?" Kira nearly spit out her drink at that revelation. This was something she had to hear.

Haley nodded while Tommy shrunk in embarrassment.

If it wasn't for that ridiculous personal gain rule he put in place, he wouldn't have hesitated to use his invisibility powers.

"This guy was the king back in college," Haley said in amusement, getting engrossed with her college memories. The teens were all ears, narrowing closer to hear a rare story about Tommy. "He once jammed out to Black Sabbath, drank a full 40, and still managed to ace his finals."

Ethan's mouth dropped. He could surely use his tips once he began school in the fall. "What? No way!"

"Black Sabbath? Did you go to college in the 70s," Trent stifled a laugh.

"I guess we know where he got that hair inspiration. Trying to channel your inner Ozzy there, Dr. O," Conner smirked as he continued to swivel in his seat, watching the bright shade of red his mentors face was currently wearing.

"Hey, I was a fan," Tommy shrugged.

"You're a lot cooler than we thought, Dr. O," Kira laughed. Being a musician, she loved rock and roll. It was right up her alley.

Hearing about the wild side their mentor had was refreshing. He'd always been so private and it wasn't until just this week that they'd realized he was human after all. I mean, they never even had the thought that he even had a love life. All four teens nearly cringed at that mental picture. Surely they knew there was more to Dr. Oliver after he took off the ranger suit and the teacher hat, but it wasn't something they had ever experienced first hand. Tommy kept them at a distance, needing to keep that barrier between adult and teenager.

Conner shook his head, he wasn't that cool. "Yeah, yeah, but he also used to date the hottest babe in school, and well, now he's not. Let those days live in the past."

"I don't know about that, Conner," Haley added. "He did have a date tonight."

"It wasn't a date," everyone in the room said in unison before they burst into a fit of laughter.

"Alright, alright, you've had your laughs." Tommy would be sure to get Haley for that little story later.

"Anyway," Haley put out a hand, bringing the teens back to her original subject, "it still doesn't explain why you guys took so long."

"We had to keep his cycle straight to keep him from running into every tree and ditch." Trents eyes rolled at the memory. Every few moments one of the Rangers had to extend one of their hands and try and straighten out the wheel. It didn't always work and with Tommy's stubbornness, he would keep over correcting the wheel, causing the cycle to veer left or right sharply. The white Rangers nose wrinkled, "You know, you really live in the middle of nowhere."

Haley stared at them with her brows raised. Were they acting or were they really that stupid? "Why didn't you guys just put the cycle on autopilot?"

Shit.

"See, this is why we let you handle all the technical stuff." Conner moved to the snack table at the far end of the lab and picked a shiny red apple to chomp on. He tossed it in the air repeatedly as he worked his way back to his team.

The brilliant red head surveyed Tommy slowly. She circled around him, one arm resting under her chest and one hand to her chin. With a mischievous smirk, Haley brought two fingers to Tommy's chest. She pushed at his chest lightly, causing a slight loss of balance.

He was tipsy. There was no denying that.

His arms came to his side, using them to steady himself. Tommy hissed at the pain in his chest as he brought his right hand over his left pectoral, clutching his slightly torn black suit.

"Feeling patriotic, Dr. O?" Conner said with a mouthful of apple, juices dripping ungracefully down his chin.

"He's hurt," Kira informed Haley.

Uh-oh. Haley wasn't qualified to handle big medical jobs. She just hoped that whatever Tommy was hiding under his suit wasn't as bad as she imagined. "What's wrong?"

"Elsa sliced him pretty bad," Trent told her.

With an usher from Hayley's hand, he sat on the gurney of their makeshift medical center.

Haley's nose wrinkled at the mix of blood and gritty remains staining the black spandex. She pulled down the back of his zipper, carefully peeling away the suit from Tommy's bloody and bruised body.

Her face twisted at the large gash on Tommy chest. How the hell was he not thrashing on the floor?

"Tommy, I think you're going to need to go to a hospital."

He looked at her like she had just grown two heads, she was crazy.

"Come on, Haley, you know I can't do that," He inhaled sharply at the pain. "Is there anything you can do?"

She chewed on the inside of her cheek, her foot tapping on the sleek floor as she came up with a way to fix him.

"I mean, I'm brilliant, but I'm no doctor. I think you're going to need stitches, but I'll see what I can do."

Tommy have her a weak smile. At least she was trying.

"Med-kit!" Haley called out.

Searching a tall cabinet in the lab, Kira pulling out a large medical kit. She grabbed some bandages for herself and her teammates before handing the box to Haley.

Kira had only a few visible scrapes, but nothing that needed immediate medical attention. Ethan's suit was peeled down to his waist, working on the small gash on his elbow. Conner put his hand up to reject the bandages Kira was passing around, he never seemed to like to clean his wounds around his teammates. As leader he liked to give the illusion of invincibility, even if it wasn't true.

Rolling her eyes at Connor, who was disgustingly munching on the apple, Kira threw her attention to the White Ranger.

She stopped at his side and his eyes lifted slowly to greet her.

"Hey," He said meekly.

"You're bleeding," Kira told him and he returned a look of surprise.

"I am?"

"Yeah, your forehead," she nodded as he moved his ungloved hand to feel the wound he didn't even know he had. He hissed at the sudden mix of the gash and salt from his hand.

Kira shook her head and smiled lightly. Using some saline wipes, she worked her way to cleaning around the injury.

"Did you guys see how pissed the public was?" Ethan turned from side to side, looking at his teammates who all seemed to have been saddened by the publics reaction. "They didn't need the mayor to rile up the angry mob, they did it themselves."

"Damn, we get blamed for everything—everything!" Trent repeated for emphasis. "We didn't even do that to Devin!"

Tommy had remained relatively quiet through their small chatter. He knew it hurt them that they were seen as the enemy, but there wasn't much he could do. It was all out of his control. Although he had very good experiences with being a ranger back in the day, there was a time when he was immensely feared. Even when he switched to the good side, the green ranger wasn't immediately praised for his good deeds. It took some time for the public to realize he wasn't the 'evil one' anymore, but he did get there, and he had faith the Rangers would too. Maybe Kimberly's article was the key to all of this.

"I know guys, but he's an innocent. He shouldn't have even been put in the position in the first place. Same goes with Kim. I don't know what she was doing there, but she felt she needed to help," Conner told them.

"She wasn't wrong," Kira said calmly. "We were losing!"

"Did anyone else seem to notice that Zeltrax seemed to know something about Kimberly?" Ethan paused, he wasn't sure if he should say what he was thinking next, but it was something that needed to heard, "He usually doesn't threaten. He just kills and moves on. I was expecting the worst."

Tommy's stomach turned at that fact. Ethan was right. Zeltrax wasn't one to play games.

Sure it was nice to once again fight side by side with Kim, but having her unmorphed and powerless out in the battlefield was the equivalent of his heart running around out of his chest.

God, and she was almost taken.

Tommy couldn't forget that image of Kimberly being slowly dragged to the invisiportal by Elsa. He felt like such an idiot just standing by and doing nothing. He'd never felt so defeated. What if she had been taken? He knew he'd never forgive himself if anything happened to her.

He was supposed to be the best ranger, wasn't he? Why else would he be put in change of the red ranger mission if he wasn't? Knowing that, he felt even worse. He definitely didn't feel like the best ranger right now.

Kira continued as gently as she could to clean up Trent without injuring him further. "Yeah, he did seem to know that we at least knew of her."

"He definitely seemed to be taunting you, Dr. O. Do you think he knew you guys... You know, hung out today?" Conner asked. He leaned back in his chair, aiming the core of his apple into the small trash bin by Tommy's feet across the room.

He flung the eaten fruit swiftly and watched it fly across the room, completely missing the basket. Hey, he was a soccer player, not basketball star.

Tommy smiled at the red ranger, using that moment to distract himself from the throbbing wound that Haley was working to clean. "I don't know. I don't see how he could."

Trent gulped. He knew. The white ranger had spent some time in the lab back at Mesogog's fortress. He never really spoke of his time there, and the Rangers never really asked. It was a dark time he didn't like to bring up. It wasn't until recently that he truly felt accepted by the Rangers, and he didn't want a simple mention of a viewing screen to derail all the progress he'd made. Conner was a tough one to crack, and although they joked from time to time, he knew that the red ranger would be the first one to turn on him.

"I mean, what he said was kind of strange. He didn't want to kill her, he said he was going to take her back to Mesogog. What could he possibly want with her?" Ethan scratched his head.

"I can think of a thing or two," Conner muttered under his breath, but the little comment didn't go unheard by the yellow ranger. She threw her nearly empty bottle to Conner, hitting him square in the ribs. She'd had enough of his little comments, and since Kim wasn't there to defend herself, she figured she was the one to do it.

The Red Ranger winced sharply, his eyes narrowed when they met Kira.

"Oh, did that hurt," she asked innocently. "Good."

"We'll have to look more into it." Haley didn't really know much about Kimberly aside from what Tommy had briefly mentioned to her. He never really seemed to like talking about her, but hopefully now that things were looking up, that would change. She had a preconceived notion about the poor girl, and now she felt immense guilt about it. It wasn't right to judge her before knowing her, but being Tommy's best friend, she really didn't have another choice.

She just hoped that the years had given them both the experience to handle a relationship of this magnitude, and that things would be different between them this time... If there was a this time.

Giving his bandage one final look over, Haley said, "All right, I think you're good, but you're probably going to need to change it in a few hours."

Tommy sighed, but nodded his appreciation.

"You're good too," Kira said to the white ranger. She placed a light hand to his shoulder and covered it with his. He patted it gently, signaling a polite thank you.

Now that the gash on his forehead wasn't throbbing anymore, Trent was able to think more clearly. He learned one thing major thing through his stint as the white ranger and that was that secrets get you no where. He had to keep his identity from Conner, Ethan, and Kira, nearly costing him their friendship.

Sure the circumstances were slightly different, but hiding the ranger secret from Kimberly was probably not the best. He couldn't think of the perfect candidate to tell their secret to than a former ranger. "Dr. O, I know you wanted to keep Kimberly safe by not telling her, but I think it's doing the opposite. Don't you think she'd be less involved if you just, I don't know, told her the truth?"

"The truth? You guys would be okay with that," Tommy eyed them curiously as he jumped off the gurney. "I mean, it's not just my secret to tell. We all have to agree."

"Well, we want her safe and if that means telling her then I'm in," Kira smiled.

"I don't think she realizes that Mesogog, Zeltrax, and Elsa are a lot to handle," Conner sighed. "I mean, we heard some of your high school stories, and a blue furry monkey with clay putties that act nearly comical sound far less dangerous than what we deal with now."

Ethan nodded at all of his teammates previous statements. They were all correct. "I agree, Dr. O, It's fine with me if you tell her."

Tommy was honestly surprised by The team. I guess seeing Kimberly actually in danger had everyone shaken.

Haley had stayed quiet throughout the little conversation the Rangers were having, but Tommy was genuinely curious to know what his best friend thought. As an honorary member of the team, Tommy still wanted to be sure that everyone was on board.

"Haley?" Tommy spoke softly and her eyes lifted to meet his.

Haley had remained with her arms crossed, leaning lightly on the gurney in the room.

"Hey, I'm not the one with a secret identity," she shrugged, "but yeah, you should tell her."

"So it's agreed?" The Rangers weren't even able to finish agreeing when a loud buzz shot from Tommy's pocket, vibrating up his body.

Tommy grunted as he strained to pull out the small phone from the tight spandex. Quickly his eyes darted to the lit screen and his forehead furrowed at the name that popped up.

Putting his finger up to his lip to quiet the Rangers, Tommy answered the call, "Kim?"

"Speak of the devil," Conner whispered, receiving a smirk and nod from Ethan.

Under normal circumstances the Rangers would have snickered like school children and taunted their mentor for the late night call, but when they noted the somber expression on his face, they knew it wasn't time for games.

"Woah, Kim, slow down," Tommy said abruptly. "Just— just go to the lobby and wait for me. I'll be right there."

Tommy didn't let another second go by before he jumped into the showers off the side of the lab, a genius addition from Haley. He shivered under the waterfall of the shower, not even allowing for the water heater to work its way through the plumbing.

"Dr. O?" Trent called out from his chair.

Not even two minutes had gone by and Tommy appeared partially dressed and working on putting on his jacket. He ushered to Kira for the keys to his spare vehicle sitting on Haley's desk. He caught them easily from Kira's quick throw.

"Dr. O?" It was Conners turn to speak up. The teens shared lost looks, their mentors actions confusing them.

"Dr—"

"—Kim's hotel room was just broken into. I have to go get her."

The black rangers mind was on autopilot, only focusing on the woman he had just had an entire evening with. He made his way up the stairs leading up to the secret passage, leaving behind a stunned Haley and four teens.

"Tommy!"

He turned at the sound of his name and nearly missed the throw from Haley. He appraised the murky green liquid swirling in a plastic bottle.

"My special Elixir," Haley called out. "You'll be sober before you get to the truck."

Tommy sighed in relief, "You're brilliant."

He didn't even wait for a response before running through his house and out the front door. His black F-150 truck sat beautifully in his driveway. The engine roared when the key made contact with the ignition, the tires screeched on the pavement as he peeled out the driveway. His mind went black beside the desperate need to be by Kimberly's side. He just hoped she was okay.


Author note: Hey there! It's been a hot minute, hasn't it? I apologize for the delay, but it's up now! I honestly had a blast writing these two scenes. It was cool to write about villains actually getting injured since we don't usually see that often... You know, I don't even remember it ever happening on the show. Also the Rangers! They always seemed to leave battles without any injuries or bruises. Not in my world! Anyway, let me know what you guys thought of this in a review or a PM! I originally planned to have a double update for you guys, but I didn't reach the deadline I set up for myself. BUT I'm almost finished and l should be uploading the new chapter in a few days. If you absolutely can't wait, let me know with your review or PM if you would like me to send you a sneak peek! See you soon!