10. Hearts of Glass, Part Two

Schuyler hadn't even fully dismounted from her bike before Lilly rushed up to her the next morning. "Can you believe it? The Power Rangers failed to defeat a monster, and now we've got a stupid city-wide curfew 'til it's dealt with."

"Believe it? The news is really covering it for once, live, footage of the monster in that barricade in Angel Grove Park and everything. And speaking of news," She grunted as she tugged a notepad out of her backpack. "I wrote up two pages about it. Hell, I even used to phone book and called like six kids in my classes for quotes. In summation, 'this sucks, dude'. And you know something, no one's praising me for risking life and limb for that zord battle story I did; if anything, that's much worse than some dumb normal-sized monster."

"Well, uh, at least you're sort of developing a work ethic." Schuyler scoffed as they walked inside together, the hallways buzzing more than usual with gossip all about the same subject. "For real, though, this isn't good. I take my morning jog in the park; now police are all around the perimeter and that weird demon skeleton dog thing is all prancing about."

"You jog in the morning? We have PE, why?"

Lilly waved her off. "The Rangers never do this. Not once have they let this happen."

"What've I been telling you? Corporate fruit cakes. Funding must've run out or something."

"Seriously? You ran out to be in the middle of a zord battle and you still don't think much of them? What happened to 'maybe they're not so bad, folks'?"

Schuyler huffed and stopped them right in the middle of the hallway, a wonderful place to stand as if it didn't at all make getting around you inconvenient. "They've done good, I know that. Let's not forget they saved my little brother from his teddy bear." She snorted. "But until I have some concrete proof that they're in it just for helping people instead of money, I refuse to be swayed." She stuck her chin up with a 'hrmph'. "I'll take any sign; them giving flowers to a little girl, visiting a hospital without any cameras, some, I dunno, an angel coming down from the sky and ramming right into me that-"

Someone collided right with her shoulder, causing all the books they were carrying to drop for once. She was near tempted to let them pick their mess up themselves since it wasn't her fault, but only a second passed before she rolled her eyes and crouched down, setting her own stuff aside. She was glad she did, because it turned out to be Adam, of all people.

"Sorry, Schuyler. My mind's somewhere else today." He smiled that smile, the one that simultaneously disgusted her and made her want to hug him, and all she could do in reply was shrug.

"Don't we all." She cringed a bit when she realized that reply made no sense. "Have our minds elsewhere, I mean."

"Guess so." She handed him the rest of his stuff, and he was quick to stand. "See you later."

"Yep." She watched him shuffle off, scrunching up her nose, until Lilly socked her in the shoulder. "What the hell was that for? Not like I let him clean up the mess by himself!"

"That was one of the worst things I've ever seen." She tugged her along. "So clearly you wanted to ask him to the Vice Versa Dance, but you didn't because, well, for one thing you're annoying and for another you're stubborn as all hell."

"Hush. I don't know if you know this, but when you give people advice, you're not supposed to insult them. You're turning into Melvin."

"How dare you." Lilly huffed. "I'm just being real, alright? Clearly he doesn't find you annoying, so why don't you just go for it?"

"I barely know him! Besides, I'm not all tall and blond and fit like you, I can't just go up to a guy like 'let's go toots' and expect him to go along with it."

"You think guys don't run for the hills when I approach? They hate it when girls are bigger than them." She pursed her lips. "And if you're calling guys 'toots' I can't blame them for brushing you off."

"Hardy har har."

"But maybe that's it; maybe this is just a superficial crush and nothing more."

"That's right."

"No use in trying."

"Not at all."

"Hmm." They stopped at Schuyler's classroom. "Good luck being a cynic for cynicism's sake while the guy gets a girlfriend who actually wants to put the effort in pursuing him." She lightly patted her curls before walking away, leaving Schuyler gaping and sputtering.

She couldn't think of a come-back quick enough, so she just walked in mumbling to herself – until she caught sight of the usually clean-cut Kimberly, Billy, and Tommy bruised and battered. "What the hell happened to you guys?"

"Off-roading accident," Tommy said quickly, offering a half-hearted smile.

"Huh." She shook her head as she moved to take her seat near the back of the classroom. "That's what you get for doing so many extracurriculars." Her attention shifted between reading over her article, watching Mrs. Appleby have what seemed to be a pretty distressing conversation over the phone, and watching the other students file in. Growing bored, she figured she could always use another quote or two about what was going on, in case someone had something to say that was funnier than the comments she already had.

She tapped her pen on the desk of the girl who sat next to her, and for the life of her, she could not remember her super generic name at the moment. "Hey, care to comment on this whole 'the Power Rangers couldn't kill a monster so now it's still lose and we're all on lockdown' situation?"

"Huh?"

"...You know what, never mind."

Opportune timing anyway, as Mrs. Appleby had just hung up the phone and took her place at the front of the class. "If I may just have a quick moment of your time before we get into the lessons for today." She clasped her hands together, looking weirdly chagrined. "Recently I was a bit too... cruel towards a student of mine, and I would like to formally apologize and let you know if I'm ever being too harsh, please tell me right away."

The class erupted into chatter, most of which questioning what drove her, a woman with both the appearance and cheery attitude of a preschool teacher, to rage so hard that someone complained. "What'd you do?" One of the more dimwitted students asked outright.

She cringed a bit. "I was rather harsh about his failing grade."

"Lame."

The talking continued, the subject shifting to who the culprit was, until she rose her hands and started shushing them. "Now now, kids, let's just please start our day, alright?" The noise slowly subsided, and Schuyler, biting her lip, chose now to raise her hand. "Schuyler?"

"This is a subject change, I swear." She whipped out her tape recorder. "What do you think about the fact that there's still a monster running rampant because the Power Rangers failed to do their job?"

A few people gasped, others exchanged whispers, but Mrs. Appleby didn't look amused. "I'm sure they had a perfectly good reason. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes."

Schuyler couldn't help but snort, the cynical voice in her head barking that her teacher only said that to further cover her ass about her outburst. "This isn't getting an answer wrong on a test or spilling a smoothie. This is the fate of the world, peoples' safety. Not like the police can do anything except stand around and waste bullets on a monster who's impervious to them."

"Yeah, it's not good, obviously," Kimberly piped up, shifting in her desk to look at her. "But they're only human. They can only take so much."

Schuyler's brows shot up. "They're human, not alien? Do you know this for a fact? How do you know this?"

Kimberly sighed, rubbing her head as Billy looked over at her warily. "I don't know. They have... human failings. Or like, whatever." She narrowed her eyes. "Just because of this one screw up – which, I'll bet, they're working to fix – you're gonna smear them?"

"Why shouldn't I? People deserve to know the truth."

"It's just a high school newspaper," Billy mumbled exasperatedly, earning a gape and an offended scoff from her.

"Nobody asked you, brainiac."

Mrs. Appleby clapped for their attention. "Kids, please. I'm sure this will all be resolved soon." She rubbed her temples, turning to the blackboard. "On to class." This whole ordeal must have really drained her, as she didn't take any more time to get all preachy about how great the Rangers were once again. Schuyler didn't pay attention anyway, instead scribbling down more to add to the article, muttering, "I knew I didn't like them for a reason."

"So... this isn't good," Tommy said to the other two as they exited class, trying to avoid bumping into anyone as it would only aggravate their injuries more.

"Like I said, it's only a high school newspaper. It used to be just a platform for Melvin Glauss to ramble about academic events and bears." Billy rubbed the back of his head. "Speaking of whom, have either of you had a chance to do more recon on how we can get Rita's staff from him? I haven't had the chance to yet."

"No." Kimberly huffed. "Nowadays the paper's all about us. And now it's gonna be in the bad way. What's her problem? We offered to be her friends, she wanted it, and now she's done a complete 180 and acts like a jerk all the time. ...Guess that seems to be happening a lot lately."

Tommy slung his arm around her shoulders, giving her a look of sympathy. "You haven't seen the others since yesterday either, huh?"

"Rocky didn't come to school today. I briefly ran into Adam by my locker, but he excused himself shortly thereafter." Billy shrugged. "At least he's not outright hateful, I suppose."

"And Aisha?"

"Negative."

"It's gotta be that mirror, or something. Maybe it also makes people angry along with taking away their confidence?" They all stopped at Tommy's locker, Kimberly reluctant to go across the way to her own locker as she would have to give up his physical comfort. "This is the worst."

"Things always work out." Tommy grinned before turning to put his books away. "We just have to keep pushing through this."

"Don't jinx it, babe."

For one stroke of good luck in their favor, Lilly passed by them, pausing at a nearby garbage can to empty her backpack of crumpled up papers. "Might as well get one hurdle out of the way." He approached her with a smile. "Hello Lilly."

"Oh hey Cranston." She smirked. "Have you ever noticed our names are literally one letter from being the same?"

Ah, that was getting old. "I actually wanted to speak to you about Melvin."

Her lips instantly puckered. "What about him? What did he do now?"

"Oh, nothing." Nothing yet. "I just wanted to ask if he's spoken to you about any big projects of his."

She stared at him for a moment, her brow raised. "Uh..." She slowly zipped up her backpack, trying to make sense of what he was implying in her mind. "If he did something, you can just tell me. I'm used to holding his leash."

"No no, it's not that. I'm genuinely curious."

That apparently didn't lessen her suspicions any. "Are you looking to sabotage his science fair project? As much as that would delight me, I'd have to ask you to, you know, not. There are only three things that kid cares about in this school – the Temporibus, the science fair, and how doing both makes him feel better than everyone." She paused, considering this. "Actually? Go ahead and screw him up."

That was all he needed; the mention of the science fair sparked a near perfect idea in his mind. "I wouldn't dream of it." He cleared his throat. "I have to get going. Thank you for your time."

"Uh, ok. No problem."

He walked back to the others, now at Kimberly's locker. "That's one part over."

"Small miracles." Kimberly shut her locker with a loud, angry bang, turning to walk away – until she caught a familiar figure in her peripheral vision, and she whipped around to see Aisha go back the other way she came. "Big miracles." She shoved her books at Tommy before taking off after her. "Aisha, wait!"

"I don't want to talk to you!"

"Well that's gonna be difficult." Even with her injuries, she pushed herself hard enough that she managed to cut her off by the stairwell. Aisha didn't try to go around her; that was already a good sign. "Considering we – Rangers we – have a problem."

"We have a problem too. A bigger one." Aisha sat down on the steps with a scoff, resting her chin on her books. "How could you say all that to me?"

Kimberly hesitantly sat down next to her. "It wasn't me. I was being mind-controlled, I swear."

"As if."

"Crazier things have happened to us, and this is the one you're not believing?" The bell rang, but she ignored it, grabbing her shoulders and looking at her intently. "I meant none of it. I promise."

"You didn't even come for us! You left us at Goldar's mercy, and then expected us to help you!"

Kimberly winced. "I wanted to come for you, but Zordon made us go fight the monster!"

"Likely story. You don't care about me anyway; you made it perfectly clear I'm just a blank slate replacement for Trini. "

She curled in on herself; crap, she hadn't realized it was that bad. "But you're not! You're wonderful and vibrant and-"

"Save it. Look in the mirror, Kim; you're not much better." She scoffed again. "We may be your new Rangers, but that doesn't mean we have to be friends with you."

Kimberly screamed internally; she honestly couldn't tell if Aisha actually meant this or she was under her own insult-spouting evil spell. Aisha gathered her things and started to get up as a completely wild idea popped into Kimberly's head. Look in the mirror, Kim. Mirror. Mirror of Regret. Mirror of... Compliments?

She grabbed Aisha's arm as she fished around in her backpack for her own mirror, shoving it in her face. "Aisha Campbell, you are a stunning ray of sunshine who kicks butt and could out-sass anyone. I've never made a best friend so fast in my entire life than I have with you."

Nothing happened for a few seconds, save for Aisha's expression going blank, and Kim sighed, not surprised that her idea turned out to be a dud. At least, until Aisha's posture suddenly snapped straight and her mirror cracked out of nowhere. "Oh my god, did that stupid thing work on the first try?" Her answer was Aisha pulling her into a tight hug. "Is this you trying to strangle me?"

"No, your random mirror trick worked." She buried her face in her hair. "I'm sorry. I was already over it, but the other mirror did something to us. Like an angry cloud, or something."

"I'm sorry. Whoever did this to us is a-"

"I might already have an idea of who it was." Aisha pulled away, biting her lip. "And it's not good."

"When is anything ever good?"

"Right now, I'd say." She grinned, squeezing her hand, although there was an edge to her eyes. Doubt, maybe? Kim couldn't think about it too hard before the alarm sounded – not the fire alarm, but instead the alarm that had been installed last year that alerted the school if a monster got too close. "Oh hell."

"Skellereena must've broken through the barricade." She pulled at her hair. "If we weren't able to handle it with just three of us I don't think four will be much better. Plus we're injured."

"I can get Rocky to do that mirror trick and come over, I just need to get to a pay phone." They stood as students started leaving their classrooms, the air a mixture of fright and excitement as teachers tried to get them to come back inside. "Once you catch up with the other guys you've gotta find Adam. He's not angry, he's just... I dunno. Sad."

"Right. Let's all meet back here." Aisha ran off, while Kimberly took a moment to contact the guys on her communicator to make hunting them down less of a hassle. "Guys?"

"Billy and I made it out of chemistry, we're over by the cafeteria. Where are you?"

"The east stairwell. I got through to Aisha, I expertly figured out it just took a mirror and buttering her up, suck it Billy."

"Really?" Billy scoffed, although there was a clear smile in his voice. "You can gloat later, Kim."

"Right. Sorry. Aisha's gonna try it on Rocky. Have you guys seen Adam?"

"Nope. Hoping he'll show up."

"That's not comforting."

"Rangers!" Alpha's voice came over the frequency at last. "We just received the alert, are you alright?"

"We're fine, Alpha. Skellereena hasn't entered the premises yet so we're just trying to regroup, since Kim managed to get through to Aisha."

"Well done, Kimberly." She basked in Zordon's approval. "I was not aware there was such a simple solution to counteract the effects of the Mirror of Regret."

I pulled it out of my ass, honestly. "I'm well-versed with mirrors, and the like. Anyway, what do you think? Would the Power Blaster be enough to take it down?"

"There is no need. I have had Alpha making repairs to the Power Cannon; it will be more than enough of a match for Skellereena."

An awkward silence set into the connection. "Really coulda used that yesterday."

"That seems almost too convenient." Billy, of all people, commented.

"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth, guys." Tommy said, ever the voice of reason in favor of giant freaking weapons. "Let's just hope we get Rocky and Adam back so we can carry it."

Adam was only barely comforted by his friends suffering the same effects from the fight and the Mirror of Regret, just in the sense that he wasn't alone. They had all trudged back to Aisha's new house, collapsing on what little furniture had been unpacked, refusing dinner or to even really move. He felt that anger, alright – at himself, for dragging them down with him, for taking Zack's place when there could have been someone better, anger at feeling angry about it. If feeling this way all the time was what Ranger life promised along with all the life-threatening danger, then it was all just more regrets to add to the ever-growing list.

He wished he stayed home with Rocky, but Aisha wouldn't let him; she said it was a matter of pride. For her, maybe; having to be insulted by Kimberly, of all people, was far worse than what he went through. At least she soldiered on, turning the pain into a fire that kept her going, like she always did.

He had no idea how she managed.

He was just going to coast through the day, try to distract himself from the torrent of negative emotions plaguing his mind with school, not interact with anyone more than he had to. Admittedly he wanted to just go back to the other three, as pissed as he was at Kim for hurting Aisha, because it didn't feel right to let this all get in the way of their ability to be Power Rangers. But if that reason wasn't good enough for Aisha or Rocky, it wasn't good enough for him.

Then the alarm sounded, and in the chaos of the other students in his class rushing to the windows and going out into the halls, a part of him decided that reason wasn't good enough.

He worked his way into the crowd leaving, narrowly slipping away before the teacher called them all back in. He considered his options for getting around the school without anyone seeing him for a few moments, trying to map out the location of his teammates' current classes in his mind. Before he could formulate his plan, the sound of racing footsteps and the loud clanging of the front doors opening and closing down the hall broke his concentration. Was someone actually going outside? He waited a few seconds for any other noises, before creeping past the other classrooms and exiting the building.

He was met with the sight of Schuyler brandishing a camera as she yelled at Bulk and Skull, very poorly disguised behind a couple of bushes. "And if you ruin this for me I swear to god-"

"What are you guys doing out here?" Adam demanded, scanning the area for a monster before approaching them. If there was actually something around, it clearly wasn't going for a frontal assault.

"What are you doing out here?" Bulk countered.

"Yeah, what are you doing out here?" Schuyler put a hand on her hip, slapping Skull's hand away as he not-so-subtly made a grab for her camera. "I woulda thought you or any one of your friends would explode if you cut class."

"The school's on lockdown, the only thing anyone's doing is hiding."

"Not us!" Skull proclaimed, before looking down at the bush he was very clearly trying to hide behind and frowning. "The Power Rangers are going to show up, for sure."

"And we're waiting for 'em." Bulk looked very pleased with himself. "I couldn't have planned this unmasking better."

"He's right, he couldn't." Skull shrunk when Bulk turned to glare at him, rustling the bush comically as he did so.

"And I'm here," Schuyler interjected with a wave, "to document the Power Rangers not showing up. They couldn't beat this monster once, who says they're going to try again?"

Normally, a comment like that would send Adam's self-worth plunging. Either his confidence was already so low there was nowhere else to go but up, or whatever was going on in his mind made him impervious. Or maybe it was as simple as knowing she was wrong.

"Uh, everyone?" Bulk sneered. "That's their whole shtick, they never give up."

She rolled her eyes. "Everyone gives up."

Bulk and Skull shared a look, frowning, and something in Adam's mind snapped again, just like earlier in the classroom. "Okay, that's enough."

That got her attention. "Huh?"

"I don't know what your deal is, but I don't think you really want this monster to terrorize the school unimpeded." She gaped at him, but at least it meant she was listening. "So the Rangers tried to take on a monster and they failed. You don't know why they did. But I can sure as hell tell you it wasn't because they didn't try hard enough, or abandoned the battle before they were forced to. If all that they've been through has yet to stop them, how could this?"

It was unflinchingly silent for a few moments, everyone – even Adam himself – surprised The Quiet Guy had so much to say. Whether or not what he said had sunk in was a different matter.

"If you stay out here because you're fixated on getting pictures of nothing, that monster's going to find you eventually."

She looked everywhere but at him, digging her heel into the ground. "If I get captured I can always write about-"

"No. Please, just... go back inside." He turned to face Bulk and Skull, who had sunk to their knees to be better hidden by the bushes. It didn't help much. "As for you two, same thing. It's nice that you have faith in the Rangers and all, but you're just putting yourself in danger."

"Danger's our middle name." Skull gave him a salute, only to chop Bulk in the head.

"Not today it isn't. How about tomorrow, when the stakes aren't as high?" He went back over to the doors, opening one and holding it for them. "C'mon."

"Only because knucklehead here knocked me in the head with his knuckles," Bulk grumbled out, ruefully going back inside with Skull treading carefully right behind him. Schuyler just stood there, arms crossed, watching him.

"Schuyler, please, it's only going to stay quiet out here for so long." He expected her to protest or ignore him, but to his surprise (or maybe not, he had been pretty convincing) she walked over, pausing to put her hand on his shoulder. Despite the fervor of his big speech, his still flinched at the contact.

"You should speak up more often." With that, she cleared her throat and ran back down the hall.

And so the Power Rangers did what they always do – reunited after differences almost drove them apart, fought the monster, and finally defeated it with a big weapon (though this time, they didn't have to get in the Megazord to do it). This victory felt especially sweet, with everyone going out of their way to shower each other with compliments, cheering for Adam when they heard about what he said in their defense, and celebrating the fact that Lord Zedd would seemingly always fail, even when his plans proved more clever than normal.

"Wait a second. How come Aisha and I had to do that mirror thing to break that spell, and all you had to do was be a hero?" Rocky lightly shoved Adam's shoulder, who managed to smile without blushing for once.

"All I did was get them to not be monster bait."

"With people that stubborn? You worked a miracle." Aisha paused, wringing her hands together. "Actually... maybe this all came so close to succeeding 'cuz it wasn't all his plan."

"Right." Kimberly stepped forward, folding her hands together. "You said you had an idea about it."

"We all do." Rocky rubbed the back of his head. "Well, kinda. Why don't you or Adam take this one, Eesh?"

They exchanged a look before Aisha just shrugged and continued. "There was another guy. We don't know his name, he kept going on about some big introduction he was planning, but Goldar kept calling him a servant."

"Why would a servant of Zedd's be permitted to leave his palace?" Billy asked.

"That's just the thing; Goldar kept threatening to snitch on him. Anyway, he looks normal, right? Well not normal, he looks more like some Vegas act or something. But he's got this cape that turns into tentacles that can mind control people."

"We think that's what happened to me and Mrs. Appleby, to make Adam, Aisha, and Rocky feel bad about themselves and drive us apart." Kimberly bit her lip. "How he got in those places is a whole other skeevy mystery I'm not excited to figure out.

"He got into the school?!" Alpha threw him arms up. "Why didn't you tell us before?"

"We were dealing with Skellereena, plus we only really worked it out in the fight." Tommy paced around, sighing. "Do you know who he is, Zordon?"

"I'm afraid not. No trace of him appeared on the viewing globe yesterday, either." Alpha joined Tommy in pacing. "I will begin efforts to uncover his identity immediately."

"At least we've got that sweet cannon now." Rocky grinned. "We could blow the weirdo away easy."

"Let's hope." Kimberly shook out her hair, slinging her arms around Aisha and Adam. "Now, as a nice little distraction, I believe we owe you a housewarming party. Not today, god no, but nothing cheers me up like party planning."

"I'm a little scared, honestly." Aisha chuckled, bumping her head against hers.

"Let her have her fun. The rest of us can go nap."

"Ugh, amen."

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