"Right. Her plan…"
"Why don't I tell you myself?" Madam Oedius said, announcing her arrival as she stepped out of the shadows of the workshop with a smirk. Sarah quickly grabbed her mother, pulling her behind for safety, while her father took a step back from Oedius. The fox just smirked. "Look at that, I don't even need to hunt the three of you down individually. You're all here!"
"Leave them out of this," Bill said while Sarah took her Power Star out of her pocket. "I betrayed you, not them."
"And you'll face the consequences, as promised," Oedius nodded as her gaze shifted to Sarah. She saw the pink Ranger about to morph and swiftly rushed her, knocking the charger from her hand, then kicking Sarah to the ground. "I don't have time to play around, child."
"Mom, dad, go! I've got this!" Sarah called to them as she jumped back up to her feet to fight Oedius. She knew she couldn't take on the monster herself, but her friends weren't far. Her parents could run to safety, they could get help. Sarah only had to survive until then.
But Oedius had a different plan and her parents were reluctant to leave her, especially once they watched Sarah fly and crash into the workbench, smashing it in half and landing with a sickening thus on the ground. Sarah let out a cry of pain and then couldn't move as Oedius approached her.
"Nothing is sweeter than killing a child right in front of her parents," Oedius said as she drew a sword. Sarah was still in pain and still couldn't move. Her head was spinning, her vision blurred. She could barely see the danger she was in, never mind process it.
Just before Oedius could strike, Bill grabbed her arm. Oedius was stronger than him, so he couldn't stop the blow, but he pulled enough to cause her to miss. Oedius shrugged his off and sent him to the ground.
"Fine, then. I'll kill you in front of your daughter," she said, but before she could strike, Jenny threw a hammer at her head. Oedius gasped as she turned around, her eyes focused on Jenny.
"Big mistake…"
Sarah was just starting to get her bearings back. Not enough to even think she could do anything to stop Oedius, but it was at least enough to get her attention. She got to her feet and while she was a little wobbly, she ran to her mother and stood before her protectively. Oedius stopped and rolled her eyes. "This is just sick and as I said, I have no time."
She dropped something. Sarah couldn't see what. Anything passed her nose was a blur. Her mother saw it and all Sarah felt after that was her mother pushing her to the ground, just before a bomb went off. Sarah could feel the blast right above her. She heard her mother scream out in pain, then felt the building collapse on top of her.
Then nothing. She was sure she was dead, until she woke up in a hospital, in pain, barely able to breathe on her own.
And despite that. Despite her pain, nothing hurt more than when she found out her parents were dead.
"If mom hadn't pushed me… if she hadn't seen the bomb… I'd be dead," Sarah said. "But… the worst part is that if she had just dropped to the ground, let herself fall, instead of pushing me… she'd be alive. She knew she was going to die. She knew I was a Ranger, and I had powers and…"
"It hurts?" Gia asked.
"Getting blown up hurts. Spending weeks in the hospital, with tubes and wires and people poking and prodding and asking you how you're doing when all you want to do is cry; that hurts. Knowing my mother saved me instead of herself… I can't describe that. Oedius used my father as a soldier because of me. My father died, because of me. My mother died to save me. I have all these powers and… I've never felt so powerless."
"You're human," Gia told her, but Sarah shook her head.
"I'm a Power Ranger," she said. "And… and no matter what it takes, no matter what I'll have to sacrifice, I'm not going to let Oedius make anyone feel the way I felt. If I get my way, and I promise you, I will, Oedius isn't going to hurt anyone else."
The interview ended there as the museum fell silent. No one knew what to say after the screen went blank. The Rangers all turned to Sarah. They hadn't been there to witness the end of the interview. Sarah had gotten too emotional and though she knew she was about to share her feelings with the world, in the moment, she needed the privacy. She only allowed Gia and Kendall in the room for the last part and hadn't spoken to her friends at all after.
Losing her parents would have hurt, no matter how it ended, but Sarah knew the role she played in their death. Oedius never would have targeted her mother if her father hadn't betrayed her. Her father wouldn't have betrayed Oedius if he never worked for her. He never would have worked for Oedius if she hadn't saved him from the Galvanax clones. Galvanax never would have clones himself if Sarah hadn't come up with the technology.
It fell on her shoulders. She wasn't looking for sympathy. She didn't tell her story to have people feel sorry for her and change their minds. She told her story because she wanted the whole city to know just how hard she was fighting to keep them safe. She wanted to be as transparent as she could possibly be. If the city knew her motivations, her powers wouldn't feel so threatening.
For some, it worked. Seeing the pink Ranger so vulnerable seemed to remind some that she and the other Rangers were still human. They were people, and while they did make mistakes, they were ultimately there to protect the city. From where she watched behind the scenes, Sarah could see a few faces soften.
Others weren't so sympathetic. As Kendall walked up to the mic to wrap up the interview, some people turned away in disgust, others called the interview scripted, and a few people even shouted out how that story made them distrust the Power Rangers more.
Kendall firmly stated that there would be no more questions and that everyone could leave. Though not many people listened, she walked off the stage. Anyone who tried to follow, insisting they had a right to more answers, was stopped by Koda.
"Move," one man stated.
"Kendall say leave."
"I. Don't. Care," the man said, speaking slowly as if Koda couldn't understand him. Koda growled. The man growled back.
"Hey, hey!" Chase said as he arrived, cutting between the man and Koda. While he knew his friend would never hurt anyone, the man didn't know that. Chase was more than happy to play along with Koda's apparent aggression and size to help keep a riot from starting. "The big guy said it's time to go."
"But that Ranger's responsible for the biggest tragedy Summer Cove has ever seen!" the man said. "And we have to let it go because she lost her dad or whatever?"
"No one said you had to let it go," Chase told him. "But if you're going to be mad, go do it outside. The museum is closed."
"She's here, isn't she?" the man asked. "That pink Ranger. You're hiding her somewhere, aren't you?"
"I can't say whether we are or not. Amber Beach Ranger Museum takes it's confidentiality seriously," Chase said. "But even if she was hiding back there somewhere, do you think I'd want to know that I let a grown man go after a seventeen-year-old girl?"
"A Power Ranger," the man reminded him.
"So, you're either a tough guy, or you're stupid," Shelby said as she made her way over. "Though, I don't know what's so tough about a grown man taking on a kid."
"She's not a kid, she's a Ranger! She's dangerous."
"So… definitely stupid, then," Shelby frowned. "Because, well, this pink Ranger, as you claim, is dangerous and powerful and… you and this little mob are going to take her down?"
The man looked over his shoulder, and while he felt like he had half the city on his side, the reality was that most people had watched the interview from home. The viewing in the museum was for a limited audience. Some of the people who followed him had walked out when Koda asked them to leave. Others left after Chase showed up, and more were turning away when Shelby arrived. The man was now standing with about five other people.
"She's not getting away with this," he growled then stormed off, with the remaining followers close behind. Shelby waved goodbye as she locked the doors behind them, then turned to the Rangers, the only guests who stayed behind.
"Well… at least more people are… not mad," she said. "That went well."
"Except the people who are still mad aren't just angry," Calvin sighed. "They're furious!"
"If Sarah even shows her face in public, we could be looking at a civil war," Brody said. "How is this any better?"
"People know the pink Ranger's story now," Shelby said with a shrug. She knew her idea for an interview might not work flawlessly, but she was still confident this was better than just letting people wonder. "I mean, now we know who she is, we know how she became a Ranger and why she's fighting Oedius. People who came here wanting to see her stripped of her powers are now on her side."
"If they don't want her crucified," Preston stated. "Or us! It's bad enough Oedius wants us dead."
"I doubt anyone really wants Sarah dead," Shelby said, but the Rangers didn't seem to agree. "Okay… maybe a few sickos out there do but… you're Power Rangers. You don't do this so people will like you. You do the job because it's the right thing to do. You're out there fighting for people whether they agree with you or not."
"One day," Chase added. "They'll see that they need you to stop Oedius. Hopefully that day just comes sooner, rather than later."
"Before we lose a pink Ranger or they figure out who the rest of us are," Kelly muttered. "How's Sarah doing?"
"She's in Kendall's office if you want to check in on her," Chase said and pointed down the hall. Then he looked to Koda. "What do you think, big guy? Should we let them talk for a minute while we fix up some lunch?"
"Good idea," Koda nodded and smiled at the Rangers. "We make burgers so good, it cheer you all up. Promise!"
As they headed off to the restaurant to fix up a meal for everything, Calvin put his arm on the blue Ninja's shoulder and shook his head with a smirk.
"I still think you two are somehow related."
"Us?" Preston asked and pointed to where Koda had been standing.
"You're probably his great-great-great grandson or something."
"I don't see it," Levi insisted with a shake of his head.
"It's too uncanny," Brody told his brother. "How can you not?"
"I just don't."
-Ninja-Steel-
After the interview ended, Sarah made her way back to Kendall's office. Since they weren't trying to stir up trouble for the museum, or themselves, Kendall allowed Sarah to stay behind the scenes at the museum to watch. Her friends knew where she was, but no one else thought to look around for her. They were so focused on the interview and seeing if their questions, worries and doubts would be answered.
Sarah wasn't alone in Kendall's office, though. Cammy was sitting there with her. Kendall knew there was a chance the viewing didn't go well and so didn't allow Cammy to be in the room to watch it with the others. She had to stay off site and so stayed with Sarah.
"I think the Rangers are pretty cool," Cammy told Sarah when she saw the pink Ranger still looked a little sad. "Did you know, for a little while, I was the purple Ranger?"
"Cool," Sarah muttered, but she wasn't really listening. She knew she had convinced half the city she was looking out for their best interest, but it was the others, the people who still blamed her, who she worried about.
"Kendall says I'm the youngest Ranger ever!" Cammy told Sarah, though she knew the pink Ranger wasn't listening. She hoped if she kept talking, Sarah would start. "The next youngest Ranger was ten when he fought. He held the record for the longest time."
"Nice," Sarah said, still without paying attention to Cammy. The little girl hopped off her chair and walked over.
"Are you scared because of what people think?" Cammy asked. Sarah finally turned and seemed to be listening, as she nodded her head in response.
"I guess."
"Why?" Cammy asked.
"I think… I guess it's because they're right. As cruel and dangerous as Oedius is… if I never created those holo-clones…"
"Oedius would have found another way to cause trouble," Cammy stated. "We had a bad guy, Heckyl. He tried, and tried, and tried a lot to destroy us and sometimes, it felt like no matter what we did, things always went wrong."
"My mistake killed people, Cammy," Sarah told her. "Dad worked for Oedius because of me. Mom basically blew herself up to save me. If I had just… If I…"
"Wasn't a Ranger?" Cammy finished for Sarah, who nodded. Cammy sat down next to Sarah. "Okay, so you said, in that interview, that you became a Ranger when you met your red guy and he was in trouble, right?"
"Preston and I saw something falling form the sky and I wanted to check it out," Sarah nodded. "Preston… he was scared but I think he tagged along because he didn't want me to get into trouble alone. He's a good guy."
"That thing falling from the sky was a monster?"
"It was Brody," Sarah said. "He had taken the Nexus Prism and escaped Galvanax's ship. But Ripcon followed him down and was attacking him when Preston and I showed up."
"Was Brody winning?"
"He needed help," Sarah shook her head. "I told Preston to hold on because I thought if we ran into the monster, we could distract it long enough for Brody to get away. While Ripcon was getting back up after we hit him, the Prism chose us."
"And you wished that never happened?" Cammy frowned. "So… would Preston have gone to the thing that fell if you hadn't?"
Sarah shook her head again. Cammy smirked.
"So, if you hadn't become a Ranger, Preston wouldn't have either," Cammy said. "And Brody probably would have been dead?"
"I… I never thought of it that way," Sarah said.
"So… if you never became a Ranger, Preston or Brody wouldn't have either. So, all the people they saved, and you, wouldn't have been saved either?"
"But what about the clones?" Sarah asked. "If that never happened…"
"Galvanax probably would have found another way to kill everyone. Or at least try. And maybe it would have been worse."
"How could it be worse?"
"I don't know," Cammy shrugged just before she glanced up at the door. "Your friends are here. I'm going to go see if I can get Koda to make me a sundae. Do you want one?"
"I'm not hungry," Sarah said. Cammy hopped off the couch and raced off to find her friends while the Ninja Rangers walked in. Kelly made her way over to Sarah.
"We saw the end of the interview," she told her. "You never said anything about Jenny pushing you down."
"I didn't think I needed to mention it," Sarah shrugged.
"If it's any comfort," Preston said as he sat beside her, taking over Cammy's seat. "I'm sure she knew what she was doing."
"Doesn't make me feel better," Sarah muttered. "You guys watched the interview. You guys were there. You know how everything with Oedius and my dad unfolded. If anyone should have died…"
"No one should have died," Calvin frowned. "And it's certainly not your fault."
"Try telling that to anyone else," Sarah said. "I got dad killed. Mom died protecting me, and I'm the Ranger. Gia nearly killed herself protecting me. Anne's dead because of my dad and… don't even get me started on your parents," she said to Kelly.
"My parents?" she frowned. "Sarah, my parents are dead because they're bigots. Dad let his hate for us consume him to the point of working with a monster, and mom let herself become a monster. In case you forgot, she's a big part of the reason you have a brain injury."
"I think that's kind of idea of brain injury," Calvin stating. "The lack of memory… OW!" he cried out when Hayley nudged him roughly in the ribs. "I'm just making a joke."
"It's not funny," she warned him.
"This city is right to think I'm dangerous," Sarah told her friends then stood up. "I think I'm just going to go…"
"Go where?" Gia asked as she stood by the door, arms crossed. "My dad's dead because of a clone, you don't see me quitting because of it."
"You didn't create the clone," Sarah muttered.
"Right, so the only Ranger I know with the power to create technology like clones and time machines is just going to walk away?" Gia asked. "Give up her Power Star?"
"It's better for everyone."
"For who?" Gia frowned, then pointed to her leg. "Kid, I have a daughter at home who needs her mother. I have a nephew who still wakes up in the middle of the night, crying for his father who'll never come home. I've promised them both that I would never put myself in a position to abandon them."
"And you did!"
"And you have the nerve to think I would break that promise for nothing?" Gia asked, looking very offended. "Do you understand the love I have for my daughter? Can you even begin to comprehend the lengths I would go to, just to make her happy? Never mind what I would do to keep her safe?"
"I…"
"And I risked that for you," Gia added. "And now you're standing here, and you have the guts to say that you're going to give up? You're going to make me go home tonight, and tell my daughter and my nephew that I broke my leg and nearly died for a Ranger that was just going to give up?"
"No, but…"
"And your poor mother," Gia continued. "I mean… this woman, this perfect stranger chose to have you be a part of her life. This woman, who had no obligation to you, opened her heart, raised you, comforted you, and gave her life for you and you're just going to throw that away."
"Don't talk about my mother."
"Am I being disrespectful?" Gia asked. "Am I dishonouring her memory by reminding you of the sacrifice she made for you? For this planet?"
"Stop it," Sarah growled, her anger really starting to grow now. She clenched her fists as her eyes watered.
"Your mother believed in you so much, that in the face of death, she kept herself together long enough to push you down. She sacrificed herself, so you could live, and you want to throw that away?"
"Stop it!"
"Your friends!" Gia pointed to the other Rangers. "Your teammates! They've stood by you through thick and thin, time and time again as you screw up! You're responsible for clones, they forgive you. You risk your life with a time machine, they're there when you get back. You bash your head so many times, you end up with permanent brain damage, and they don't even question leaving you behind. Now, to thank them, you just quit?"
"Stop it!" Sarah screamed in Gia's face, but the yellow Ranger didn't stand down.
"No one said this was going to be easy," Gia told her. "No one promised that if you slipped the spandex on, you would be a beloved hero. No one promised that everything would be okay. The only thing your Ranger suit ever promised you was that you were going to take a beating. This is a job where you get hurt, where you fall and where you make some of the biggest mistakes of your life. This is a job where people die, and people are going to hate you for it, but you do it anyway. I hurt, Sarah. Gosei couldn't have picked a worse time for me to be a Ranger and it didn't get better once I had my powers. If anything, it got worse. But I stuck it out until the end. No matter how much my city hated me, or my friends hated me, or no matter how much I hated myself. I stuck it out, and dammit, so will you."
Gia looked to all the Ninja Rangers, "You've won back some fans, but you also have people who hate you now more than ever. But you're going to stick it out to the end. You'll do what's right. Do you understand?"
"Yes," they all nodded. Gia then looked to Sarah.
"Do you understand?" she asked. Sarah didn't answer and instead turned to head away. Gia hit her leg with her crutch. "HEY! Do you understand?"
"Yes," Sarah whispered, and as if she uttered the magic words, Gia's face changed from stern and fierce to soft and gentle. She set her crutches aside and took the pink Ranger in her arms.
"You'll be okay, kid," she promised.