"I don't believe this. I finally get some company and it's damn sleeping beauty."
The voice invaded the cozy cocoon of sleep that was currently enveloping Dustin.
"Well I'm sure as hell not going to kiss you to wake you up."
Hunter? No, that wasn't Hunter's voice. This was someone new.
"Come on, man. I've got a nice bowl of brown mush for you if you wake up."
The darkness of slumber was still too much of a lure. Dustin tried to listen to its siren song rather than the irritating voice.
"If you don't wake up soon, I'm going to eat it for you."
The threat was enough to poke some semblance of life into Dustin's sleepy brain.
"Second thoughts, I'm not sure I could handle two bowls of this stuff."
Dustin's reply was an incoherent moan.
"Oh, thank god. And here was me thinking I'd be talking to myself for the rest of the century."
Dustin managed to open his eyes.
"Well hallelujah! He's awake."
Dustin found himself looking at a teenaged guy with brown hair flopping around his face, clearly in dire need of a cut. His red soccer kit spoke of the need for laundry, but his smile was friendly enough as he helped Dustin sit up.
Dustin looked around and regretted it. He was in a small, stone cell. Weak light came from a small bulb set into the ceiling. There was no obvious way in, just a small hatch in one corner, in front of which sat a tray with the aforementioned bowls of mush. Dustin was now sitting on a narrow shelf barely wide enough to hold his body. Another such shelf was fixed to the opposite wall, a sweatshirt folded at one end to make a pillow.
"Welcome to this luxury accommodation," said the boy, "Room service delivers three times a day, we have ensuite facilities," the guy kicked a bucket that was in the opposite corner from the food, "and the thrilling in-cell entertainment system of writing graffiti on the walls."
"Where?" Dustin managed to ask. He was awake enough to realise he must have been drugged out knocked out somehow, but not awake enough to form a full sentence.
"Take a guess," said his cellmate, "Here's a clue. It starts with D and ends with 'ark palace.'"
"What? How?" The last remnants of the drugged sleep passed. Dustin stared at the other guy in amazement, shocked and terrified by the suggestion. Then realisation hit him fully and he checked his wrist. Cold horror filled him as he saw nothing but bare skin.
All the effort that Cam and Kira had gone through, snatched away from him while he slept. All his hopes for evening the battle with the prince, gone. Dustin must be the worst Ranger in history, if he'd lost his powers after only having them for a day.
The knowledge that his morpher was gone was worse than knowing that he was a prisoner of the prince. It meant that the prince must have known what he was doing when he captured Dustin. And it meant only pain for the future. Dustin had seen Zhane, the energy of the morphing grid actually fusing his hand to the morpher, even as the sparks shot from it into his body, killing him with his own power. Dustin knew what the prince did to Rangers, and now the same fate would await Dustin.
The other guy saw Dustin staring at his wrist.
"Yeah, they took mine too," he said, "I'm Connor, by the way."
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"What the hell do you mean 'Vanished'?" Shane had to fight to keep his voice down from a shout.
"He appeared in Cam's base," Zhane said, "using whatever transportation system it is that the White Ranger developed. Then he just disappeared."
"What do you mean disappeared?"
"The surveillance went down for a second and then he wasn't there."
Shane couldn't believe this. He'd trusted that Cam would set Dustin free and apparently he had. Only Dustin could manage to be kidnapped a minute after being released.
"Could it be the White Ranger again?" asked Tori, "Maybe they let Dustin go to fool Cam into thinking they were good and then took him prisoner again."
"It's certainly possible," said Zhane.
"We will do everything we can to locate Dustin," said Andros, finally joining in the conversation. Up until that point, he'd been leaning against the wall, watching the others argue.
Shane honestly hadn't been expecting that reaction from Andros. He'd thought he'd be here arguing like crazy to get even a hope of a search party. Yet Andros had just offered without question and for a moment Shane was too shocked to say anything. It seemed Tori wasn't though, and her thoughts were on much the same lines as Shane's.
"So, when he was first captured it was too much of a risk to do anything for one person," Tori said, "but now there's a chance he's a Ranger, we'll do everything possible. And if we find the White Ranger's power source or the machine Cam used, will Dustin suddenly stop being important again? You don't care about him, you just care about getting another Ranger on the team."
"I care about destroying the prince," Andros said, anger rising in his tone, "and freeing the universe from his evil. To achieve that, I do sometimes have to make difficult decisions. The life of one person doesn't matter compared to the overall cause."
"Even if that person is a friend?"
It looked like this was going to turn into one hell of an argument. Shane wondered if he should try and get Tori to be quiet before she said something really stupid, but he knew there was no calming her in this sort of a mood. Besides, so far he'd agreed with every word she'd said.
It was Zhane who tried to sooth the raging tempers. He turned to Andros.
"Try and think how they feel. Imagine if it was one of our team who was missing."
"Our team are dead!" Andros snarled, "The prince murdered them."
"And now you want your revenge?" Tori asked, "You don't care if you have to sacrifice a few of your own, just so long as you can kill the prince? You demand absolute loyalty of everyone who follows you, but it doesn't occur to you to offer some in return!"
"I said we would be searching for your friend."
"Good. And when you've found some trace of him, I'll be in front line to rescue him. Someone round here has to show some concern for the people involved."
Tori stood and walked out of the war room. Shane wasn't quite sure if he should follow her. Andros looked mad as hell and was bound to still have a lot to say about the greater good and all that rubbish. Tori was bound to be in trouble over this.
But Zhane caught Shane's eye and nodded his head towards the door. He gave Shane a little smile. Apparently Shane wasn't the only one who thought Tori had made some good points. Shane stood and quietly left the room. If Andros noticed he didn't care. Shane paused in the corridor outside and heard Zhane beginning to speak.
"They've got the same devotion to each other that our team had," Zhane said, "It's noble and it's something you ought to spend more time cultivating in those who follow you..." Then the door slid closed and Shane heard no more.
Shane set off through the ship towards Tori's room. No doubt he'd have to do some damage control with her to prevent fireworks. She was upset about Dustin going missing again. Shane could understand that, because he felt the same anger at the unknown kidnapper and desire to punch someone where it hurt. But Tori seemed more angry now than when the White Ranger had first taken Dustin.
Shane reached the room Tori and Maddy shared. Shane didn't bother with knocking, just opened the door and stepped inside. Tori looked up from where she was sitting on the edge of the bed.
She was crying.
Shane stared, not quite certain what to say. Coming to calm down an angry Tori was something he could do; he didn't know how to comfort her when she was crying though. He thought of all the comments he could make about finding Dustin or how they were bound to get him back. But she wasn't going to be happy with hollow hopes.
"We're going to hunt everywhere for him," Shane said, "Even if Andros decides to give up, we'll keep looking."
"And if Andros is mad enough at me to stop me being part of the rescue team?"
"When have you ever let someone tell you not to do something? Besides, we've got Zhane working on damage control."
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When the other Astro Rangers had been killed, Andros had shut himself off from everyone. He became the strong leader who could lead hundreds and thousands in a cause. But he also became cold. He'd separated himself from those who followed him because he was scared to get close again. He'd seen his friends and comrades brutally murdered in front of him. He was scared of caring for anyone, because it hurt too much to lose them.
Andros was a brilliant strategist. It was because of that they'd managed to win several battles against the prince's forces. But there had been losses too. Each time a rebel was captured or killed, Zhane would watch Andros get colder, locked tighter into his shell. And Zhane wasn't the only one who saw it.
Zhane knew that many involved in this rebellion saw the distance Andros kept and resented it. They saw the occasions when Andros was forced to choose between a slim chance at saving one and the safety of many. Zhane knew why Andros made the choices he did. Most of the rebels understood too, at least on a rational level. But human beings weren't rational. They were emotional and passionate and they would fight like anything for friends or loved ones.
Tori and Shane would go through hell and back if they thought they could save Dustin. That sort of loyalty made teams stronger, it made them braver and, often, it made them better fighters. Andros had stopped seeing the strength that came from friendship. Now he only saw the weakness.
"Try and remember what it was like for us," Zhane said, "We would do anything for the others. Shane and Tori are no different."
"We were young and foolish."
"That doesn't necessarily mean we were wrong."
Zhane stood. Such a simple action shouldn't have to take so much effort. His muscles complained at the act of merely supporting his own weight, but then Zhane was standing in front of Andros, looking him in the eye.
"Even if I'd known what would happen to me," Zhane said, "I would have still gone to the dark palace for the slightest hope of saving the others. These two are willing to risk their lives for a friend."
"And I'm supposed to just let them?"
For a moment, Zhane saw the true man beneath the coldness. He saw a hint of what the others never even guessed at. Andros frequently didn't allow rescue attempts of rebels, because he didn't want to lose anyone else. He'd accepted the role of leader, but that meant he also accepted the guilt. For every rebel who fell due to Andros' orders, he would feel their deaths on his conscience.
Zhane stepped closer to Andros and hugged him with his remaining arm.
"Let them do what they feel is right," Zhane said. "Whether Dustin is a Ranger or not, let them save their friend."
Andros nodded.