Chapter Ten;
She grabbed onto the Power with all the force of her will, trying keep her basic morph from slipping. Her disguise had already been forced away; she refused to let anything else drop off. Not that she planned to keep her secret (or one of them, anyway) for much longer. She just wanted it to be of her own desire, not a decision based on weakness.
"I can walk," She snapped, wincing as the voice came out as male.
"No, you can't." Jonas calmly told her as he escorted her to a hidden place, where they could safely beam away. "And you can drop the voice synthesizer. We know you're female."
"Power Suit – Voice to Base Mode." She ordered, letting the synthesizer change her voice to female. It was still masked, but it was no longer male. "And why can't I walk? I'm not that badly wounded."
A second later, Jonas snapped his arms away from her waist. She gasped and dropped, only to be caught by Chris before she hit the ground. "Last time I checked, you'd have to stand before you could walk." Chris commented as Jonas wrapped his arm around her waist again. Chris kept her other side.
"Beam us up, Scotty." Jonas said, and a blue and red light engulfed her.
When her vision cleared once more, she was back in the basement. Tommy and Trent were sitting by the computer monitor, facing the middle of the room, where the three rangers landed. Kira and Lauren were to the left, Lauren in one of the three medical beds and Kira standing between Lauren's bed and an empty one.
Chris released her and bolted towards his girlfriend, pulling off his helmet in one smooth move before leaning down and kissing her. Jonas snickered and moved Trinity towards the empty bed on Kira's other side.
"You'll have to drop the armor sometime, you know, and right now, it'd save you from a lot of trouble." Jonas told her, helping ease her onto the bed. "Trent finds it harder to be angry at girls than rangers."
"Shut up, Jonas." She snapped, then winced. She was thrown off balance, first from Seed's death, her almost-death, and then the Power suckage. Still, that was no excuse to slip and act familiar with the rangers.
"No need to beat yourself up over it." Jonas said, as if reading her mind, even though her shields were iron tight. "I'm well aware that I know you without the ranger suit. I don't know who you are yet, but I do know you."
"And how did you come to that asinine conclusion?" She demanded.
"The feel of your mind." Jonas informed her, standing back up and dropping his own morph. His hair was plastered to his head, now, but otherwise, he looked healthy. "I can't place it just yet, but with every meeting, I'm learning to get past the helmet's interference and learning your brain waves. Soon enough, I'll be able to put together a profile and find out who you are."
"Liar," She accused, glaring up at him even as she settled into the bed. "You can in no way read my mind."
"I can't read your mind. I can, however, study your shields and the type of waves that make up that shield. Then, I'll find someone who's mind is shielded – unsurprisingly, there are only a few dozen people who can – even a little bit, and I match up the types of shields and waves." He told her, face blank.
"Well," She said after a second, "Shit. Here I was, thinking I could be clever and still help you, and I was compromising my own identity."
He shrugged, but didn't get to speak. Kira was at her other side, clearing her throat. "I hate to interrupt, but..." She held out a hand, slowly. "I wanted to thank you. Because of your sacrifice, none of these rangers, whom I think of as my children, had to be harmed. I am in your debt."
Trinity couldn't help it; she giggled. Kira and Jonas both stared at her as if she were insane. "Sorry, sorry, its just...if you were me, you'd see the horrific irony in the statement, and you'd be slightly hysterical, too."
"And how is it ir-" Jonas was cut off as a huge explosion came from upstairs.
Every ranger, former or otherwise, jerked and started up towards the stairs. Even Lauren. All except, of course, Trinity, who knew she would be no help and that this was the best escape possible.
Tommy stayed, as well, keeping his seat in the black leather throne. "You aren't going to help out." A statement, not a question.
"I'd be in the way," She defended herself. "Besides, I don't think it's anything major. It shouldn't be, anyway. We just killed a Hell Sister – I don't think anyone would be coming after us that fast."
"What about revenge?" Tommy asked after a second, and that caused Trinity to blink.
"The only one who would care what happened to Seed would be her favorite sister, Wave." Trinity muttered, then blinked, "And she's the weakest and the most cowardly. She doesn't have the power to send a monster on her own, and she isn't going to come out without one."
"So, even if it is an attack, the only things up there would be Xales." Tommy finished her thought.
They both sat in silence for a second, then Trinity gingerly got off the bed. "Sorry, Dr. Oliver, but I've really gotta go. Like, now."
Tommy didn't move. "I'm not going to stop you. I've been a ranger long enough – I know that, in your own time, you'll come around and join the team. Pushing won't help."
Trinity was silent for a second. "You really aren't going to make me stay here?"
Tommy shook his head, "No. I'd advise that you did, for health reasons, but I won't push a ranger to do something they feel they aren't ready for, even a ranger who's plotting to kill someone."
Her jaw locked for a second, "Okay, ya know what? I'm getting tired of this – I don't plan to murder anyone." She took a step forward and sighed. "Can I ask you to do me a huge favor?"
"Depends. What is it you want?" Tommy asked.
"I'm going to be forced from my armor any second now. I'd really like to keep who I am a secret, and I need your help with that." She explained. "I don't plan on staying secret for much longer...just long enough to get done what needs to be done."
He seemed to think, then nodded. "I agree – on the conditions that I get the whole story, and that I don't have to actively lie."
She nodded, then sighed in relief as the morph left her. "Agreed."
Tommy smiled, "And why am I not surprised to find out who you really are." He shook his head and stood, "How are we going to explain your appearance down here but not up there?"
"I'm already hurt, obviously..." She trailed off, then stopped, "And I have no idea. I'm not really thinking all that well, I guess."
"Maybe because you were injured in an explosion, thrown against a wall and have a head wound?" Tommy suggested, eyebrows raised. "Of course, you managed to stumble down into the basement before passing out near the door – you're stubborn like that."
Trinity gave him a weak smile, "Thanks – and by the way? That girl I was talking about?"
Before she could finish explaining, Tommy held up his hand, shushing her. "I've been a ranger – I understand self-sacrifice; I believe it's unnecessary, but you aren't going to listen to me just yet."
"You're a pretty smart dude, Doctor Oliver, you know that? Naïve, but smart." She pronounced, swaying a bit on her feet.
"And you're so painfully young. Now," he made waving motions with his hands, "Go. Run outside, scream, fall against a wall or something. Just bring attention to yourself."
She rolled her eyes at him as she turned to leave, the stereotypical rebel teenager. "I'm over a millennium old – and I have the mentality of a seventeen year old. I know how to bring attention to myself, there's no need to teach me."
He rolled his eyes back at her, but it did no good. She was already slumping up the stairs, gone to terrify her family into thinking she was injured. Oh, Tommy thought, so painfully young, even if she were over a millennium old.