Hours Later
Garfield heard Xanthe's breathing change as she woke up. Setting down the first-aid kit he'd taken from his Pocket Dimension, he felt his way across the gap between the bench and her bunk. He had to hop a little to avoid using his bad foot, though the oily stuff he'd rubbed on the burn had dulled the pain a lot. Sitting down beside her, Garfield helped her as she sat up. Xanthe swayed a little, and Garfield caught her by the shoulders.
"Feeling okay?" He asked. Xanthe shuddered.
"Yes, for now," she replied. Then she sighed, and her turned her head towards Garfield. Her hair brushed the back of his hand. "I…I haven't been completely honest with you, Garfield."
"No kidding," Garfield replied, with a wry grin. Now Xanthe looked down at her lap. She started to speak, but Garfield held up a hand and shushed her. He could hear footsteps in the hall. Quickly, he threw the first aid kit back together and shoved it back in his Pocket Dimension—he didn't want it confiscated by their captors.
"Garfield—"
"Hey, I said shhh," the Cerulean Ranger said, putting a hand over Xanthe's mouth. "Someone's coming." He took his hand away, and knew he was being glared at. Xanthe's shoulders had tensed up, and she shoved his hand away. A muffled male voice came through the door, which opened with a hiss. Garfield almost rose, but a pang shot through his instep and stopped him. Xanthe tried to jump up, wobbled, and nearly fell but for Garfield's quick catch.
"Isinia!" She cried, and Garfield felt a pair of wide paws seize Xanthe by the upper arms. He grinned in sheer relief, and both Hourglass Rangers eased Xanthe back onto her seat. Someone else was breathing in a corner, and the door closed after a moment, leaving all four in the poky little room.
"The Mesozoic Rangers told me their side, and I explained who we are," Isinia said.
"Hang on: why are they listening to you and not us?" Garfield demanded, scooting away from Xanthe a little. He twisted his bad foot around to press the wound against the cold metal wall.
"You guys attacked us. She rescued our missing Ranger," the teen, that Red Ranger again, retorted.
"Ah. Fantastic. So where does that leave us? Like I said before, the only reason we attacked you was because we were looking for Akra—and from what you said before, we weren't wrong," Garfield pointed out, turning towards the Mesozoic Ranger.
"True," he admitted. "It's starting to look like this was a mistake—or we're being played against each other by someone bigger." Everyone knew who he was talking about. Garfield faced Xanthe again. She was nervous, twisting her hands in her lap and squirming a little.
"What happened to you back there, Xanthe?"
"It…honestly, it all began much earlier, while we were investigating Aly," Xanthe said. "But even before that, I've been having visions of the Queen. This time, though, it was really her. Sh-she took the other voices away—"
"Voices? You've been hearing voices?" Isinia interrupted. By Xanthe's quick, uneven breathing, she was near tears. She nodded.
"They've been driving me insane—I think literally. She cut out the telepathic interference and offered to let us all go, on condition that we took care of certain rebellious Akra for her. We've been hunting Akra for a long time, it didn't seem like a betrayal! She promised we would be left alone," Xanthe said, facing each of the room's other occupants in turn—Garfield could hear the change in pitch as she turned.
"What would have happened to us if you'd done it?" The Red Ranger asked, in a deliberately even tone.
"Time Force would have peeled off the Akra and dumped you back in your own timestream, probably wiping your memory," Garfield replied.
"We don't have another timestream. Cody does, but from what we've gathered, we're supposed to be some kind of new breed of Akra. Hosts cloned from combined Ranger DNA, surgically implanted Akra, entire lives composed of fake memories, like that."
"Ouch." Garfield winced. After a moment of silence, the Mesozoic Ranger left the room, closing—but not locking—the door after him. His footsteps faded down the hall. Forcing a grin, Garfield turned to Xanthe.
"So after all the flak you gave me for thinking about turning on you guys, you've been—" Xanthe let out a stifled sob, and Garfield realized he'd hit a little too close to the mark. He scooted closer to her and put one hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry."
"No, you're right," Xanthe replied, forcing the quiver in her voice back. She lifted her head with a sniff. "I shouldn't expect you to just forgive me for helping the Queen."
"Um, no, I forgive you all right—I mean, you were under a lot of stress and weren't actually betraying us as far as you knew—I was just fishing for an apology," Garfield replied, with a sheepish smile. He felt Isinia lightly punch him in the arm, and then the Sirian reached past him to take Xanthe's hands.
"It's just as much our fault, Xanthe. We didn't look for a way to help you before the Queen came," she said.
"Though it might have helped if you'd told us it was getting that bad," Garfield muttered. This time both women hit him, and he recoiled, throwing up his arms. "Hey, it's true!" He accidentally put weight on his wounded foot, and bit back a curse.
"You're hurt?" Isinia suddenly became concerned.
"Some hotshot named Jack plugged me in the foot," Garfield replied, and bit the insides of his cheeks as the pain flared again. "They said they'd take care of it once all the life-threatening cases were taken care of. Decided not to wait." He began feeling around for his Pocket Dimension. Isinia bent down, picked it up and handed it to him, and Garfield grunted in thanks.
"Now what?" Xanthe sounded calmer than before. Garfield grinned at her as he picked up his foot and began digging around in the first aid kit. Her slim fingers slipped around his hands, and she pulled out a roll of bandage. "Let me." Garfield obeyed.
"Wait until they decide to trust us," Isinia replied. "But even if they don't, it shouldn't be a long wait. They don't have the luxury of time."
"Why not?" Garfield asked. Xanthe was as gentle as possible, but his foot still hurt when he moved it. He bit the insides of his cheeks. Isinia continued speaking.
"The boy who helped me rescue the lost Mesozoic Ranger explained the situation. When the Rangers accidentally destroyed their Akra controllers, the ones in charge of the entire project abandoned them, destroying almost half of the city in the process. The pirates who'd been attacking the Rangers moved in and enslaved everyone for a few days, until the Rangers repaired their morphers. They destroyed the pirate ship yesterday—but lost one of their own in the process."
Garfield hissed—both in pain and sympathy. Xanthe tied the bandage and began cleaning up the first aid kit.
"You're good at that," Garfield said.
"I can see what I'm doing—sorry," Xanthe sounded embarrassed. Garfield shrugged.
"Yeah, I noticed," he replied, with a tiny, bitter laugh. He turned his head towards the door, and furrowed his brow. "He didn't lock us in."
"Good. We'll be able to at least prove that we're willing to wait on their decision," Isinia said. Garfield nodded, and leaned back against the wall. Closing his eyes, he shifted into a more comfortable position, and was soon thoroughly lost in thought.
Garfield was snapped awake with a jolt and a snort, and glanced around wildly. The lights had turned off, leaving the room cold, and he could hear running footsteps. He'd fallen asleep sideways, legs curled up to his chest, and the Cerulean Ranger quickly straightened, grimacing as the blood began flowing back into his legs.
"What's going on?" He asked, hearing Isinia stirring nearby. Xanthe, whether she'd woken up earlier or never fallen asleep at all, sat beside him, breathing quietly.
"I can't tell." The Sirian got up and went to the door. It slid open as she reached it, and a breathless teen stopped in the doorway.
"Okay, you guys are in—but have you worked out how to keep the Queen from getting back into green girl's head?" A girl asked. Garfield realized that it was Mary.
"No," Xanthe answered before anyone else could. "And I want to stay in here until I do, so don't worry about that."
"Thanks, appreciate it, but we need you other two right now," Mary said, coming in and taking Garfield by the arm. He stumbled a little, and Mary stopped. "Foot okay?" Garfield tested his weight.
"I can fight morphed, I guess," he replied.
"Good enough. Come on!"
Xanthe stood up as the door closed behind her teammates, and closed her eyes. Delicately, she began telepathically feeling around the room. Being built to contain the telepathic Akra, cutting them off from the rest of the species, there were anti-telepathy fields built into the walls. Xanthe tagged each of them, just trying to see whether the Queen's help had given her self-control again. At least in here, it had.
Opening her eyes, Xanthe went to the door. She stopped in the doorway, and focused, raising her hands. She felt her lobes glowing violet. The people around her were mostly asleep, some dreaming, but Xanthe could still sense traces of Akra control hovering around them. Now came the real test—could she fight the Akra Queen herself?
"There you are." Xanthe wasn't surprised to hear the Akra Queen's voice. Saffron's reflection faced Xanthe from a shiny wall panel, arms folded and a cross look on her face. Xanthe's expression hardened, and she stood up straight.
"No," she said, clearly and firmly. The Queen looked confused. Xanthe could practically see the telepathic thread worming through her head. Reaching up, she caught it and twisted, dragging the Akra Queen out of the reflection and into her own mind room. Angry, the Queen fought it, but Xanthe quickly stepped back into the room.
Coming back out, Xanthe focused on her mind-room, and the Akra Queen appeared inside it. Xanthe joined her, morphed this time and ready.
"If you wish to talk inside my head, then you will do it on my terms," Xanthe said coldly. A murderous gleam flashed in the Akra Queen's eye, and then she let out a too-casual laugh.
"Fine, whatever you say!" She sat down in one chair with a thump, crossing her legs and folding her arms. Slouching back, she waited for Xanthe to sit. The Aquitian didn't. Instead, she came right up to the Akra Queen, and looked down at her.
"You have already seen my new memories, haven't you?" The Akra Queen snorted.
"Of course. What do you think I am, an idiot?" She demanded.
"No. Megalomaniacal, psychopathic, and quite possibly the most selfish being in the universe, but certainly not an idiot," Xanthe replied, deadpan. The Akra Queen raised her eyebrows, and let out a laugh. "Stop that."
"What? You don't have a sense of humor?" The Akra Queen leaned forward, meeting Xanthe's eye. She was still grinning. "Here you are, a mentally broken, physically exhausted Aquitian, insulting one of the most powerful being in the universe—and that's not bragging. I have more morphers than Tommy Oliver and more powers than Zordon."
"You're still going to lose," Xanthe replied placidly. Now she sat down, making her helmet vanish with a snap of her fingers. The Queen seemed mildly surprised by her confidence. She uncrossed her legs and scrutinized the Aquitian.
"What do you know?"
"Nothing that you don't." Brow furrowing, the Akra Queen tried to probe Xanthe's mind, but the real-world Xanthe quickly stepped back into the Akra-proofed room. The Queen's projection vanished. Smiling now, Xanthe looked around the room. She couldn't see the anti-Akra sensors buried in the walls, but she could tell where they were.
"Pocket Dimension—laser cutter," Xanthe ordered, reaching into hers. She drew out the cutter and hopped up on one bunk and began cutting. The Queen couldn't get through the telepathy dampeners—understandably: she needed protection most of all if an Akra were to go rogue. Xanthe could hold her off at least briefly, but if she was outside the shielding long enough, the Queen would likely take her mind by force.
The wide circle of wall fell inwards as Xanthe tapped it, and she reached into the smoking hole. The telepathy dampener was a round, knob-like device with flickering lights. Xanthe began fiddling with it. Hopefully the ambiguous little threat she'd thrown the Queen would keep her from doing anything too destructive. The telepathy dampener slipped in its socket, and Xanthe began unscrewing it.