Cold ripples of fear ran like shivers up and down Bridge's spine. He hadn't let himself think about it, had refused to let the fear in, but now there was no time left. He had not forgotten the last time the Reaper had gotten in his head. Nor what had transpired last time he and Callum had combined their powers. But, as he'd told Sky, they had little choice.
"Everybody calm?" he asked, his voice sounding strange and far off to him.
The calmer the Rangers were, the less chaotic their auras would be. They would therefor be that much easier to ignore. This had already been explained to the Rangers, and they had done their level best to clear their minds, but it was hard, knowing what was coming, knowing that they had to be ready.
"As we'll ever be," Sky replied.
Callum pulled off his right-hand glove. Bridge turned his head fractionally and hesitantly took hold of the Velcro holding strap on his left glove and pulled it off. He closed his eyes briefly, and behind his eyes there flashed all the unfortunate possibilities. Everything that could possibly go wrong.
"Bridge," he opened his eyes and looked at Callum, who had spoken, "You can do this. Don't freak yourself out thinking, just take your glove off and do it."
Bridge obeyed and pulled the glove off. He instantly sensed wave after wave of wavering levels of uncertainty, worry, fear. The Rangers were definitely not calm. Instinctively, his eyes found the most chaotic aura of them all, which belonged to Sky. His face was schooled to be expressionless, even his eyes, normally such clear windows to his soul, hid behind a mask of calm. But inside he was far from calm, far from okay. Bridge bit his bottom lip and took off his other glove, exposing his still healing hand to the energy currents of the real world.
He couldn't think about it. Don't think, just do. He took Callum's proffered hand and the world flashed momentarily, suddenly everything was vibrating with color, rivers and currents of energy of a thousand nameless shades of light.
"Holy-!" Z broke off before finishing, flinching away from a snake of green light twisting past her.
"Keep it together," Sky's level voice seemed to float from nowhere.
"Is this what Bridge sees all the time?" Syd wanted to know.
"Probably," Sky replied quietly.
"Why can we see it now?" Syd asked.
"Because of me," Callum explained, "Not only can he sense more, he can show you a fraction of what he's looking at. Haven't you ever wondered why his name is Bridge?"
"Huh?" Syd was baffled.
"A Bridge is a connecting element between two places, activities, or elements. He's a conduit."
"To what?" Syd asked.
"Anything he wants," Callum told her, "Bridge is more powerful than all of us combined. Haven't you ever wondered why he can't control his powers, where the rest of us can?"
"But you wear gloves too," Sky pointed out.
"That's only a precaution. In case I lose my head," Callum said, then turned to Bridge, "You ready?"
"I've got it," Bridge whispered distantly, "This way."
Stiffly, he set off across the debris, his eyes locked on some distant thing the others couldn't see. Callum fell in half a pace behind him, still holding Bridge's left hand with his right, and the others followed.
Colors they had never before even imagined swirled about them, some parting as they approached, only to return to their course once they'd passed by, while others flowed right through them. Seeing them, they realized that they could actually feel it happening. Did they always feel it, and just never notice? Or was it a by-product of whatever Bridge was doing?
They were for the first time given true insight into Callum's powers as well. He wasn't, as they had believed previously, merely transferring energy from himself to Bridge. He was also pulling from the surrounding energy fields, as was evidenced by the streams of light which seemed to follow him about and occasionally envelope him, only to disappear or disperse a moment later. Like the Reaper, Callum was controlling the energy around him.
The Rangers didn't speak as they traveled, and did their best to contain their curiosity, their awe, and their instinctive fear of the great unknown. As Callum had said, Bridge was a conduit, and they were now bearing witness to a world within their own, one they were ill-equipped to understand and had never been meant to see.
For Bridge, things were much more intense. The flowing energy currents seemed to beat at him, trying to drive him back, as though warning him that he was attempting too much. The world had turned to a red haze as he locked in on the Reaper, and suddenly it all seemed menacing.
He could feel that he was getting lost in it, being swallowed up. Maybe he was meant for this, but he wasn't ready for it yet. He could barely remember why he was in this storm of energy, and he wanted to just stop, to make it all stop. He could feel Callum's hand, and through it sense the resolve of the Black Ranger, and that was what kept him going. It was his tie to his world versus the Reaper's. His life line.
More than once, he stumbled and nearly fell, but at those times Callum helped him. The other Rangers didn't see this, half blinded by the energy currents churning around them.
"No wonder Bridge wears gloves to keep all this out," Sky thought.
He was beginning to get a headache and felt slightly nauseous. Noticing that Syd was drifting away, he caught her by the elbow to keep from losing her completely. At this rate, they wouldn't be in any shape to fight even if Bridge did find the Reaper. He couldn't begin to imagine what Bridge must be feeling. And seeing.
Suddenly Bridge halted.
"In that building up ahead," he breathed.
The Rangers heard the strangeness in his voice, but it was only Sky who realized at once what it meant. Abruptly, Bridge pulled away from Callum and turned, reaching for his weapon with his free hand. Callum stumbled back, calling out Bridge's name as they lost contact.
The alien lights and energies faded from the Rangers' view, and the world was solid again. It took them a second to adjust after having spent so much time in the fog of auras. That is, all of them except Sky, who had known from the start what he had to do, and had never once taken his eyes off Bridge.
He launched himself at the other Ranger, and they both fell before Bridge had a chance to draw his weapon. The other Rangers were stricken by confusion, and did not immediately act. The few seconds it took them to absorb what was happening was all Sky needed.
"Sky, stop it! You're killing him!" Syd cried out, the first to find their voice.
Sky had caught Bridge in a choke hold, and was waiting for the other's violent struggles to subside. Bridge had caught him in the ribs with a well-placed elbow, and was now lying on top of him, preventing Sky from getting a much needed breath. It was a matter of who lost consciousness first.
At last, Bridge went limp and Sky let him go. He rolled over and got up on his knees, coughing and gasping. Syd fell beside Bridge and checked the latter's neck for a pulse.
"He's still alive," she said, looking angrily at Sky.
"I had to," Sky said breathlessly, though it didn't sound a bit defensive, "Come on, we still have a Reaper to deal with. Reese, you with us?"
"I've got a little juice left," Callum replied softly, avoiding looking at Bridge on the ground.
"Hope it's enough, because this is the only shot we have," Sky said.
He tried to get to his feet, but dizziness almost drove him back to the ground. Callum caught him by the arm and held him upright until his head cleared.
"You did what you had to," Callum told him quietly, "Let's make sure it wasn't for nothing."
"What about Bridge?" Syd asked, "We can't just leave him here."
"No choice," Sky told her shortly, "We'll come back for him. Let's go."
He looked at each of his fellow Rangers for a moment before leading the way, forcing himself not to cast a backward glance at Bridge, lying helpless on the ground. He wasn't sure if he'd badly hurt his friend or not. For half a second, he had actually been trying to kill Bridge. That half second would haunt him to the end of his days.
The Rangers powered up and then entered the building through the big double front doors and found themselves in an unlit, internally unfinished structure. Their footsteps on the concrete flooring echoed through the dimness and it seemed to Blue that it wouldn't be at all surprising if a bunch of startled bats flew down at them. But that didn't happen. Worse, as they proceeded into the dark, Blue began to take note of thin smoke curling around his boots, foretelling of the thing which awaited them in the blackness.
A throaty snarl halted him in his tracks. The rest of the team responded to this, halting at once. Pink and Black each dropped to one knee and pulled out their firearms, Yellow turned away from them to cover the rear. Blue drew his own weapon slowly.
He knew that sound. It belonged to the Reaper's hound, the one they'd destroyed. But it figured. The Reaper could make more than one blade, surely more than one beast was not out of the question. A yowl from the opposite side of the room sent warning that there was more than one such creature.
"Our main objective is to locate and subdue the Reaper. Reese, you're with me. Z, Syd, you cover us. If you see anything red and glowing, aim for it and shoot. Remember, you're firing modified water. That's different from an energy blast."
"Got it," Pink spoke for all of them.
Blue didn't feel reassured, but he started forward anyway, looking out for trouble ahead as best he could. He wished he could turn on a flashlight, but that would serve only to give away their position, and would likely do them no good, given the thickness of the smoke around them.
A living shadow swept towards them, a vicious yowl erupting from its throat as it took flight, lunging at Blue's back. Yellow saw it coming, raised her weapon and fired. The beast fell back with a wail, but it wasn't dead. Rolling to its feet, it prowled forward, forcing Yellow to hold back and deal with it while the others continued the few paces to the middle of the room. Pink was similarly engaged at this point, leaving just Blue and Black, who were halted by an ominous hissing up ahead.
The flash of a blue-white light was their first warning, the high-pitched whistle of something flying through the air at high speeds was their last. They cut in opposite directions as a pair of silver blades spun through the air and impaled the ground just beyond where they'd been standing.
They fired blind in the general direction the blades had come from. They ceased fire, listening intently for sounds of distress or movement. All that came from the darkness was a soft rustling, and another flash of light. Something large leaped down from a height and lumbered towards where Black was crouching in the darkness. Blue knew Black was there somewhere, but couldn't see him and dared not fire upon the unknown thing which was creeping through the smoke lest he miss and hit his ally instead.
There was a blast from Black's direction and Blue felt something splash against his uniform, presumably the spray from the modified water gun. An inhuman, eerily otherworldly shriek followed, along with sounds of a struggle. Behind, there came a pained wail and the brilliance of a flash explosion, telling that either Yellow or Pink had dispatched their adversary.
Blue Ranger continued towards the source of these smokey-phantoms, weapon drawn as he inched his way along in the darkness, alert for any sound or sight which might warn him of imminent danger. A roar to his right distracted him for a second and he turned his head to see an explosion as Black did away with the creature which had come after him.
Black Ranger fell in beside him like a silent phantom as another flash of light warned of an oncoming threat. They ducked down and opened fire. Something brushed past them, to be engaged by Yellow, who had been catching up with them, but it seemed she would be detained.
Ghoulish laughter came from up ahead as the two Rangers rose as one. A sickly, cold glow grew out of the smoke, revealing Grumm's Reaper, standing with arms spread and skeletal hands open. The glow seemed to be caused by the Reaper, but did not appear to emanate from within it, but instead was cast about it, turning the black smoke a deceptive and hideous white.
"We meet again," The Reaper hissed.
"Yeah," Black Ranger retorted, "But this time we're prepared."
"Are you?" this question was accompanied by the intensified glowing of the orb at the center of the Reaper's hand, this one faster than any of the others.
The object that flew from it came so fast that Black had no time to dodge. The blade hit him in the chest with tremendous force, and he fell silently. Blue Ranger opened fire on the Reaper. His aim was perfect, striking the Reaper in the face and neck multiple times. But the Reaper continued to stand, impervious, impassive, and seemingly indestructible.
Blue Ranger ceased fire and looked down at Black. Red blood gushed around the blade, which had twisted in flight, driving its way home, digging in deep. Black Ranger was wheezing, choking on his own blood, his body shaking with tremors. Blue looked helplessly at the Reaper, who stood like a statue, gazing out of pitiless black eyes at the Ranger who still dared stand before it.
"I am Death itself!" the ghoul shrieked, "You have no power when you stand before me! You will all die! Come, Blue Ranger! Come and face me! Die with your hero's pride intact!"