2/4/2011
Spoiler, rating, ships and disclaimer in previous chapters.
Chapter/Updated Summary: The rangers deal with the loss of one of their own.
Hi all. Yes, I know the last chapter was really dark, and I can't say we're out of the woods yet. But the rangers always find a way, right? Now let's get to the story…
Answering the Call – Chapter 10: Fallen Soldiers
By Jeannine Trevizo
-x-
In moments, colored lights filled the transmission pad and five rangers reappeared once again inside the command center.
"Oh god," Billy said quietly in a broken voice as he stood frozen at the console, watching the four of the five support team members quickly going to the aid of the uniformed team, two of whom seemed to be barely standing, and of course, one of them who wasn't alive to hear him any longer.
Tanya instead headed to the medical bay to set up spaces for the wounded and… dead, Billy finally following her, spurred on by her actions. The two of them cleared the three beds they had in preparation for the three rangers needing them. The rangers had never been hit like this before, and the morale of every member of both parts of the team was in varying states of denial and disbelief.
The rest of the team moved to assist the uniformed team; Jason and Zack quickly making their way to where Kat's body lay on the transport pad, the two of them carefully lifting and moving her towards the medical bay. Tommy moved swiftly to clutch Kim against his side, her left shoulder and arm having bled through her armor, drenching it the same color as Tommy's. With his once again girlfriend in his grasp, Tommy turned the two of them towards where Billy and Tanya were setting up triage space.
At the far end of the transport pad Rocky was barely standing, his arm wrapped around his stomach where the gaping slash oozed blood over his blue uniform, turning sections of his armor purple; his right leg was doing its best to keep him upright as the left tried to buckle under his weight again. Adam hurried to his friend's side as he threw one of Rocky's arms over his shoulder, Aisha coming to check on her boyfriend and team mate. Trini motioned the three to follow her and Adam carefully aided Rocky in slowly moving away from the transmission pad and through the living space of the warehouse to where the medical area was.
"If we go out there again without some significant upgrades, no one is coming back alive," Tommy told Billy under his breath, his words tinged with harshness as he helped Kim lay on the cot Billy had directed them to.
"I had no idea about his firepower," Billy replied brokenly, his eyes burning with unshed tears at the sight of so much blood and death.
"We can't even go back out anyway until we fix the armor and…" Jason interjected from beside them and then trailed off as he turned to watch Zack remove Kat's yellow helmet, letting her golden locks spill out beside her pale face; a red mess of her left temple showed the caved in part of her skull that had felled her.
"Table this for the moment guys," Kim said with a hiss as she tried to remove her helmet with one hand, prompting Tommy to help her before taking off his own. "We need to deal with patching Rocky and me up first."
Billy and Tommy looked to one another and shared an unspoken moment that recognized Kim's inherent logic regarding the situation. Tommy shot a glance over to Jason who nodded in understanding. They had three members of the team that needed attending to, and when they'd finished doing that then they could deal with the logistics of sorting out the situation of sending the team back into the field.
On the other end of the medical bay, Adam had handed Rocky over to Aisha and Trini's care and they had helped him lay down on the last of the empty beds. Adam loomed behind, his helmet now cradled under his arm as he stood watching, the worry for his friend obvious on his face and in his posture.
"How are you doing Rocky?" asked Aisha, her hands having helped unbuckle and remove his helmet so she could see his face as Trini prepped the scanners to evaluate his injuries.
"Been better 'sha," he replied with a small cocky grin which was quickly replaced by a grimace when Trini tried to pull on the fabric of his uniform to expose his stomach more.
"We need to get the uniform off to get you patched up," Trini stated simply, the armor of their uniforms making it nearly impossible for Trini to budge the material.
"You just want a peek at what Aisha's getting," he remarked with a wink, leading to Trini rolling her eyes and Aisha poking his chest with a finger.
"Not a problem Trini. I'll get Adam to help strip him down 'cause he'd not getting anything from me until he learns to behave."
Rocky pouted and then saw Aisha's small, nervous smile and realized her threat really had no weight. Still, he did need help getting out of the uniform. Moving away from the bed, Trini pulled the small partition that separated the beds so Rocky and Adam could fight with the blue ranger uniform.
On the bed in the center of the medical bay, Tanya had removed Kat's uniform and set it aside before she covered her body with a sheet. There were moments that she'd fought back tears, tending to her fallen friend who had been such a comfort to her when she'd first joined the team all those years ago. In all the times they'd fought together she never thought that she'd ever be in this situation. Just as she thought she might fall apart she felt Jason's hands fall on her shoulders and she turned and fell into his chest, small sobs wracking her frame as she let the former red and gold ranger comfort her.
Tommy had helped Kim peel the sleeve and upper part of her uniform away to expose the wounds so Billy could evaluate the four neat punctures through Kim's shoulder and arm. Now Billy was scanning her arm with something that looked like a laptop sized portable x-ray, looking for broken bones.
"You hanging in there Beautiful?" Tommy asked softly, his hand never leaving Kim's as Billy started using some gadget that he was directing towards the first of her four injuries.
"Besides being ventilated?" she replied before gasping and tightening her grip on Tommy's hand as the hand held gadget Billy was using pressed into the hole in her shoulder; seemingly frying and freezing the wound at the same time, creating a glossy flesh seal over the wound.
"Kim?" Tommy anxiously questioned before turning to Billy with a venomous tone. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Cauterizing the wounds. We don't really have a lot of surgical options so… we need to close these holes up so she can heal," replied Billy just as a string of swear words came from where Rocky was being tended to. "As long as neither of them have anything where a vital organ was pierced or a bleeding artery, this will allow them both to get better… in time."
Tommy took a deep breath and then nodded in understanding, painfully watching as Kim fought to not wince or cry out as Billy administered the same treatment to the other three holes in her upper arm. At the other end of the space he knew Rocky was undergoing the same thing as Kim, and that Aisha was by his side.
"Rocky, stay still," Aisha pleaded with her boyfriend, knowing that he needed to not move around so Trini could help fix him up.
"It hurts Aisha," complained Rocky painfully as Trini used her own sealing tool to close up the gash across his stomach having already addressed his leg.
"Better you hurt and be alive…" began Adam before trailing off, trying to avoid speaking about the elephant in the room that they all knew they would have to deal with.
Once Kim and Rocky had their wounds sealed and then wrapped with bandages, they were helped into some convenient scrubs as their uniforms were left behind in the medical bay, the material a bloody mess. The two wounded rangers allowed themselves to be guided into the living room to sit on the couches; Tommy keeping Kim close to him and Aisha sitting on the arm of the couch next to Rocky, her hands on his shoulders. Billy moved to stand in the center of the living space, his eyes looking around at the faces of his friends whom he'd pulled into this life once again, and his thoughts drifted to the young woman who would never do anything again because of his actions.
"Now what?" asked Zack from where he sat in one of the single chairs, looking from Tommy to Billy and then to Jason.
"We have to make some hard decisions," said Tommy somberly, one of his hands tightly wrapped around one of Kim's.
"What about Kat?" Tanya questioned slightly teary before Trini moved to wrap an arm around her team mate where they sat on another couch.
"We need to tell Damon, her parents that she…" Adam began, his eyes sliding towards his best friend, who he could have lost today as well.
"What do you want to say? We can't tell them she was a power ranger and killed in battle," Billy stated rationally.
"Maybe another story… a car accident?" suggested Kim, her face frowning at having to suggest such a lie.
"I guess… with the head injury…" Jason remarked, knowing that it would be a decent enough cover story.
"We can work on that…" replied Billy simply. "We need a car and a place to stage the accident…"
"What about Blood?" questioned Rocky, his voice rough with anger, "he's still out there."
"Rocky, you and Kim can't go out there anytime soon," Aisha remarked, her hand brushing against his cheek. "You both were badly injured. It will take time for you to heal."
"So? Okay, Rocky and I can't go back out there," argued Kim, "but when Blood sends his people back, someone has to be out there in those uniforms…"
"We know, but…" Tommy began, looking from Kim to the space past them all where Kat lay covered with a sheet. Everyone knew they'd have to replace Kat, but the fact that neither Kim nor Rocky would be fit for duty meant they needed three replacements…
"Who is going to take the slots?" questioned Zack, and all eyes turned to Tommy, making him pale slightly at the thought of having to make a decision that would put more members of the team, more friends in harms way.
Before he could speak, Kimberly squeezed his hand, causing him to turn to her.
"I vote for Tanya taking my spot," said Kim simply. "She already knows my zord…"
There was a brief silence as everyone recognized how Kim was keeping Tommy from having to make the decision, thereby keeping him from having to shoulder any guilt in selecting replacements.
"Kimberly… thank you," Tanya replied, giving the other woman a grateful smile.
"What about you Rocko?" Adam asked, looking to his friend, sadness written in his eyes that they would no longer be together in the field.
"Jase… you willing to take blue?" asked Rocky, selecting the first red ranger to take his place like he had done for Jason years ago.
"That's fine with me. I gotta try and keep up with the color changing leader over here," Jason joked, poking his thumb at Tommy who still held a record three colors, causing more than a few of the team to laugh.
Kim smiled at Jason's accepting of the blue ranger role, knowing that if Jason was out there, she could breathe a little easier about Tommy having someone watching his back.
"And the yellow ranger mantle?" asked Billy carefully, knowing that most of them had yet to even begin to deal with Katherine's death.
Aisha looked to Trini, and then to Rocky. She was tempted to ask to take Kat's place so she could go out there and kick Mistress Misery's ass for what she'd done to him, but she didn't want Rocky to be concerned for her safety like she had been for his.
"I defer to the first yellow ranger," she said, her throat tightening a bit at the end, and Trini inclined her head in acceptance.
"Okay, so the replacements are picked… now we have to address the situation with the armor…" Tommy commented, thought of Kim's bloody uniform swimming through his mind.
"And we need better weapons," Jason added.
"What about modifying the photon sword to give us a shield?" asked Adam thoughtfully.
Billy paused and looked at Adam with a pole axed expression. Why he hadn't thought of that was just…
"I can do that. We just need to add a few circuits and a switch. I didn't think…" he began, nearly stammering over his words as he thought of how a shield could have helped Kim and Rocky, maybe even saved Katherine's life… he looked down and away from everyone, trying to hide his emotions.
"Don't," Kimberly said suddenly, recognizing the guilt on her friend's face.
"Billy, it is not your fault," said Trini softly as she moved to rest a hand on Billy's shoulder, her eyes trying to catch his as she fought to make sure he understood no one blamed him.
Slowly he raised his eyes to meet Trini's and gave her a wane smile. He reached up and captured her hand with his and squeezed it gently in a gesture of appreciation.
"What about the armor. Sure Billy can fix it but how are we supposed to not have the same thing happen as today?" asked Zack, worried now about his friends that were replacing those members of the team that had been injured.
"You know, it was just Pain and Misery's weapons that caused the damage…" Rocky related with some sudden realization, his hand distractedly going to his stomach as the memory of her claws cutting through the uniform and his flesh filled his mind.
"Yeah, I had to have taken ten blaster hits, but all I have are bruises," remarked Tommy, looking to Adam for confirmation and getting it in the form of a nod from the current black ranger.
"So if the blaster fire didn't get past the armor, maybe the metal Misery's claws and Pain's gun and sword are made out of makes them fatal?" suggested Tanya with some optimism.
"It could be… Misery's claws cut right through Kim and Rocky's armor," added Jason.
"If that's the case, maybe we can figure out what the stuff is made off… reinforce the armor against it?" Kimberly suggested hopefully, glancing from Tommy to Billy, who seemed to be seriously considering how he could do that.
"But how long do we have? I mean sure, Misery and Pain hightailed it when we had her wounded and all, but Blood can't be planning on waiting long before moving again," interjected Aisha, her voice tinged with worry.
"Maybe, but if she's injured they may heal her first…" thought Trini aloud, giving Billy a supportive smile as he continued to try and work out in his head what he could do to fix and reinforce the armor of the uniforms.
"But if they have better healing equipment than Billy's got…" Tommy started before taking a deep breath as he squared his shoulders and glanced around the room before he voiced his next comment with the leader's voice he instinctively used in moments like this, "we have to find a way to get a team out sooner than later, and with all the modifications with weapons and armor we need to survive our next encounter with them."
Before anyone could say anything, there was a loud whooping sound that didn't cause the room to turn red like the alarm had before.
"The monitors are picking up a signal from space," Billy stated in wonder before bolting to the command console in the other room.
Zack, Trini, Adam, Tanya and Jason all hurried to join him, looking to see what was going on. The two couples with their injured members sat on the couch waiting to see what the issue was. Billy finally finished his analysis and hissed through his teeth before bellowing, "Turn on the television!"
Tommy reached out and found the remote, clicking it on. Instead of whatever programming might have been on for a weekday afternoon, instead the screen was filled with black and white 'snow'. Then as everyone moved to see what Billy had directed Tommy to turn on the television for, the screen went black before an awful visage appeared on the screen that they all now knew every well.
"Blood," breathed Tommy, his voice filled with surprise and revulsion.
The image of Blood in his dark armor, cape and sword stood before a clear view screen or window in what was decidedly an alien craft. Through the window Earth could be seen, far below the ship.
"I am Emperor Blood, conqueror of words," he said simply, his tone like crushed gravel under the wheels of a car, "and your planet will be mine very soon. My generals have encountered… resistance since our arrival. Do not hope that this resistance will save you… it will be crushed, like every other opposition that has faced me. You have 48 hours to surrender to me before I turn your cities to ash."
Then the screen went black again, then to snow and then back to programming Blood had disrupted before a news broadcast began to interrupt the show that had been on to begin the analysis of Blood's broadcast. It was obvious that every station everywhere had been disrupted by Blood's announcement. Everyone in the living area of the warehouse looked around at one another in shock and anger.
"Even if the Earth did surrender, he'll kill everyone or enslave them anyway," complained Jason, voicing his opinion quickly as he stalked towards the television and turned it off with a push of a button.
"The world governments don't know that," insisted Trini with a frown.
"But we do," remarked Adam, moving to where Tommy sat, his hand firmly gripping Kim's hand.
"And we're the resistance he's referring to," Tanya stated, knowing that their presence while the only thing standing between Blood and Earth's destruction could be seen by others as the one group that could cause more people to die.
"Still, he's given Earth a 48 hour timeline… that gives us a chance…" Tommy announced, causing some of the team to look at him curiously and his girlfriend to turn in her seat, pulling away from him and oblivious to her injuries to stare at him in disbelief.
"To do what?" asked Kim, suddenly fuming, "To have you guys go out and get killed?"
"We can fix the armor Kim," Billy stated simply, recognizing her outburst for what it was… fear at losing Tommy or any of the others like they had lost Kat.
"But how are you going to keep what happened to me and Rocky… to Kat from happening again?" she asked as Tommy reached for her, trying to get her to look him in the eyes so he could reason with her.
"Kim, we'll be okay," he said soothingly, catching both her hands with his as he gazed into her eyes with all the sincerity he felt under his own concerns. "We have 48 hours to find a way to beat Blood. We can do it if we believe we can…"
"I'll figure it out Kim. I promise," Billy said seriously, adding to Tommy's impassioned claims.
With Tommy and Billy's assurances, Kimberly nodded and let herself lean into Tommy as the group prepared for the next steps in their fight against Blood. They had 48 hours to pull a miracle out of their collective hat. Of course, they were rangers… if anyone could make it happen, it was them.
-End Ch 10-
So yes, Kat really is dead. I wanted to show some really bad-ass guys in this series and knew that the stakes would be sufficiently raised by injuring and killing rangers. But I swear that the good guys have a shot at this – I wouldn't write something THAT dark. And next chapter we'll see what rabbits Billy can pull out of his hat and the new team plan their next move. Thanks for reading, Ms. J.