Name: Ascendancy
Chapter 11: Consequences
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I am nothing. I am one with the gestalt. Sue him
Archiving: It's yours if you want it, just let me know where it's posted.
Summary: A traveler arrives, and Conner's actions become known.
Shoutout: To Jeannine, for writing a fic that stirred in me the desire to write again myself.
We find comfort among those who agree with us - growth among those who don't.
- Frank A. Clark
Kira quietly fumed as she walked down the street. Talking to Conner had only partly calmed her down after the briefing at Dr. O's earlier in the day. She spent a few moments thinking some very nasty thoughts about Kimberly Hart, before trying to calm her mind down. It just infuriated her, that this woman could arrive from nowhere, and then sit there and pass judgment on them. She had heard from Conner what she had said to him, and then there were the veiled insults and attempts to insinuate that she, Kira Ford wasn't worthy to be the Yellow Ranger.
Kira came to a stop near one of her favorite music supply stores and briefly considered going in for a quick browse, but decided against it. Erik, the guy who ran the store was nice enough, and he didn't deserve to have her bad mood dumped on him. She had just about decided that what she needed was to go to the park and watch the lake for a while, when she heard something. It took her a moment to realise what it was, and then she recognised it as a store alarm.
She spun round, and saw someone come running down the street, with a security guard from a convenience store in hot pursuit. Even from her vantage point, it was obvious that the guy running had a substantial lead. Without even thinking about it, she set off at a run, and because the thief was so focused on the guard, he never saw her coming until she slammed into him at full tilt.
She'd been expecting the impact, he wasn't, and the thief careened out of his pace, and smacked straight into a parked car, falling back and onto the pavement with a dazed expression on his face. She rubbed her shoulder as the security guard arrived and whipped out a pair of cuffs.
"Thanks miss," he said as he yanked the perp's arms behind him and cuffed them.
"Just doing what was right," she said with a slight smile.
"Well maybe miss, but you'd be surprised how many people just get out of way. It takes something a bit special to put yourself in harms way to help someone you don't know," he hauled the guy to his feet, and smiled at her. "I'd like to record a statement, if you don't mind. Won't take more than a few minutes." He indicated back toward the shop.
Kira nodded absently as she followed the guard back to the shop, thinking about what he had said. As Rangers they often threw themselves into battle for people they didn't know, for a world that didn't know them, and as far as she knew, none of them had ever thought about it as being something special. It was just something they did, something they had to do, because there was no one else.
Her bad mood began to fade, and slowly, Kira Ford, began to smile.
Ethan glanced around the cyber cafe a few times, then sighed to himself and walked over to where Jenny was standing at the bar. Smiling at the girl, he indicated where Kimberly had been sitting. "Any idea where she went?"
"Sorry Ethan," she said back with a wide smile, and inwardly Ethan took note. "Conner arrived and they seemed to have a fight. I think she punched him, then they left." she grabbed her serving tray. "You know, I never figured Conner for going for a girl like that, with the scar and short hair and all."
"I don't think she's his girl," Ethan said worriedly, and trotted to the back of the Cafe, where the phones were. He really didn't want to make this call, but he had promised Dr. O. that he would keep an eye on Kimberly and he had to keep that promise, even if it meant owning up to the fact that he lost her. The fact that she'd hit Conner worried him as well, but if they left together, how big a deal could it be?
The phone rang a few times, before it was picked up. Not waiting for him to say anything, Ethan jumped straight in. "Dr. O? Just letting you know that things are going peachy so far. I don't suppose Conner mentioned coming to pick up Kimberly did he?" he said in a rush, and he could almost hear the sigh across the phone.
"No Ethan, as far as I know she's still supposed to be with you," he said with elaborate patience, and Ethan winced. He glanced around, just to be sure he hadn't missed her somewhere. Not to say that a petite brunette with a scar and short hair was easy to miss in a place like this, but still. He put a hand over the phone, in an attempt to shield the conversation.
"In that case, we may have a small problem," he whispered fiercely.
"What happened?"
He hemmed and hawed for a few seconds before answering. "Jenny says she and Conner got into an argument after Conner arrived, then they left together."
"All right, go see if you can find out what's happened. If there's a problem call me."
Relieved, Ethan nodded. "You got it Dr. O. and I'm really sorry." He meant it to. He took his duties very seriously, and even if it wasn't strictly speaking Ranger duty to baby-sit this mirror-mirror Kimberly, he still hated coming up short.
"Don't worry about it Ethan, she's been rubbing everyone the wrong way," the tone was wry enough that Ethan chuckled.
"Not me," he said with a grin. "I might not have dated her for long, but i learnt a very important lesson from Cassidy"
"And what was that?" Tommy asked, the confusion at his apparent non sequitur obvious.
"That if someone wants a fight, just agree with whatever they're saying, and ignore them. They can't pick a fight with you, because you're agreeing with them, and because you're tuning them out, you don't get upset at what they're saying."
There was a soft chuckle over the phone. "Well, look-" just as quickly, he stopped talking.
"Dr. O? you still there?" the young man asked.
"Yes Ethan," came the response. It was distant though, as if something had just happened, and the conversation was now just some unimportant thing that wasn't being thought about any more. "Go look for them, and let me know if anything happens."
"Sure thing. Are you okay?" he asked slowly, and another soft chuckle was his response.
"I'm fine Ethan, talk to you later."
Tommy put down the phone slowly, his eyes fixed on the man standing in his doorway. Neither said a word for a long time, and the only sounds were those of the forest around them, and the fridge quietly humming in the kitchen. With very deliberate movements, Tommy hooked his thumbs into his trouser pockets and smiled. The two of them were acting like a pair of wolves that had met in the wild and were taking each other's measure, and something would have to be done to break the stalemate.
Given what had happened the last time they had met up, Tommy decided it would be him. "I'm not evil," he said calmly, as he took a step towards the man. "I haven't tried to kill anyone, or bury a campsite in the mountains under a rockslide. You don't have to beat on me until Hayley can find a way to break the spell."
The two of them looked at each other again, and then Merrick's face slid into a grin as he shook his head and took a step forward, extending his hand. "I believe you Tommy. It's good to see you again."
"You too," he responded, taking the hand and shaking it. "I'm a little surprised though, I didn't think you knew where I lived."
"I didn't, I'm on the trail of something, and this was the first place I came across since I set off. I was going to ask the owner if I could replenish my water supplies when I saw you standing there." Tommy gestured for the man to come into the kitchen, and took the large water bottle from him and began to refill it.
"Not a problem Merrick, and if there's anything else I can do to help, I will." He handed the bottle back, and took a good look at a man he barely knew. They had met a little over a year and a half earlier, when he and Hayley had been on a camping trip in the nearby mountains, looking for a dino-egg they thought had ended up there. What they'd found had been an ancient evil that had been imprisoned for years, and that used him to release itself. Merrick had been wandering in the area, and had come to Hayley's aid and had fought Tommy while Hayley found a way to get rid of the evil presence.
It had been the first and only time he had met the man who had been the Lunar Wolf Ranger, of the Wild Force team, but it had left a lasting impression. Merrick had been less than impressed with the reality of him, not surprising since Cole had spent so much time crowing over meeting the 'Greatest Ranger' that reality was bound to come up short. Tommy on the other hand hadn't been thrilled to meet Merrick's choice of traveling companion, a three thousand year old bad guy named Zen-Aku.
However they had formed a tenuous friendship based on circumstance when Zen-Aku provided the final knowledge Hayley had needed to break the evil spell from him, and they had parted as friends if nothing else. As Tommy looked at the man, he realised how ragged he looked from his extended time in the wilderness, and resolved to bring up the idea of new clothes if possible, as what Merrick was wearing was frayed and beginning to fall apart. Walking back into the living room, he indicated for Merrick to put down his backpack. "We're sort of in the middle of a crisis here, but I'll help where I can."
Merrick's eyes narrowed, but his voice was merely curious. "This crisis, wouldn't have anything to do with the veil of shadows would it?"
"The veil of shadows?" Tommy asked, not familiar with the term. He had found that between his own knowledge, and what he had learned from Zen-Aku, Merrick had a tremendous store of knowledge regarding mystical and arcane things, and he somewhat regretted that he hadn't been able to convince the former Ranger to help with his project to archive Ranger knowledge. Merrick had explained that much of what he and Zen-Aku knew was too dangerous to ever risk becoming common knowledge.
"It's a personal term," Merrick explained, taking a sip of his water. "For the dark shadowed area that separates this life from the next, a boundary between planes." Tommy's eyes drifted shut, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, pushing up the glasses resting on them. With a sigh, he sat down, and gestured to the chair across from him. He had never been a big believer in coincidence, after all, when you became a Ranger, more weird things tended to happen to you on average. So the fact that Merrick had shown up, talking about a boundary between planes, not a full day after Kimberly had arrived, from what he now believed was an alternate reality, was more than merely coincidental to his mind.
"It may have something to do with that. Why don't you sit down while I grab us some drinks. This is going to take a while to explain."
They had barely gotten started when Tommy's bracer beeped. With anyone else he might have worried about showing off the communicator but Merrick had two admirable qualities that meant Tommy raised it to his mouth to speak into.
The first was the fact that as a former Ranger himself, he wouldn't be disturbed by the notion, and the second, and almost as importantly, Merrick wasn't one to tell anyone anything they didn't need to know. Tommy was absolutely sure of nothing else in his life besides the fact that any secret told to Merrick would be kept safe. Before he could speak though, a soft, hoarse voice spoke
"Dr. O?" Whatever Tommy had been about to say fled his mind, as the voice registered.
"Conner?" he replied immediately, concern clouding his voice. "Conner, where are you? What's wrong?" He didn't know if it was something in the boys voice, or the hesitancy with which he spoke, but he knew, for certain that something was very wrong. Without wasting a motion he got up fro where he was sitting and with his right hand tagged the dinosaur bone that was the release for the trapdoor to the basement. Three seconds later he was on his way down and quickly sat down in front of the computer.
"Not far," came the gasping voice. "Come quickly." Tommy's face drained of color as he heard his students voice and he activated the scanner. While it had never been very good at detecting non-active signals, from the outset Hayley had built transponders into the bracelets. He keyed in Conners' and his eyes widened as he realised they were less than a quarter mile from the house.
"I've got you on track Conner," he said as he rushed back up the stairs and out the door. Merrick, while unsure of what exactly was going on, or who exactly Conner was, knew enough to recognise the desperation in Tommy's voice, and followed.
As Tommy got outside, he looked around, orienting himself and set off. "Hang on Conner, we're coming," he said as broke into a full run, Merrick on his heels. When there was no response he began to panic, ever so slightly. "Conner? Conner are you there?"
There was no response and Tommy poured on even more speed as he crested a small rise in the forest. From his vantage point he spotted Conner, and Kimberly almost immediately, and fairly well leapt off the rise, scrambling down to where the two of them were a little faster than was actually safe. He crashed into the ground by Conner's head, and could instantly see what was causing the blood pool around his head. The gash along the back of his head thankfully didn't look deep, but it was fairly long, and he quickly stripped of his shirt, down to his T-shirt and pressed it against the injury.
Merrick came to a halt beside him, and checked Kimberly, even as Tommy put two fingers on Conner's neck. "Merrick," he hissed towards the other man. "Oh God, I can't feel a pulse."
tbc...
