Chapter 25

New Beginning

"Captain, I need to speak with you."

Captain William Mitchell looked up from the file folder he held in his hands. His co-worker, Aaron Mason walked briskly to him, looking over his shoulder every few seconds as he did so. Captain Mitchell closed his folder and tucked it under his arm, waiting for Aaron to reach him. His lips twitched, allowing his mustache to follow the small movement. "Yes, Mason? What can I do for you? Does it have anything to do with-"

"It has to do with your daughter?" Aaron said under his breath.

His breath hitching in his throat, Captain Mitchell now took the chance to look around at the cubicles that were preoccupied by his co-workers. It didn't seem that anyone was paying them any attention; no one seemed to have noticed their hushed tones and stiff stances. Captain Mitchell's dark eyes moved around the room, a million thoughts running through his head. He let out a breath and brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. There were a million things that could have gone wrong. All of which having to do with the decision that he had made ages ago. He let out his breath and turned to the side, opening his folder once more, making it appear that he and Aaron were in a tense conversation about the files that were inside.

"Meet me in the break room and we can talk about it then," he murmured. "Five minutes." Closing the folder once more, he turned and sat down at his desk. Warily, he rested his face in his hands and rubbed at his temples. That pounding headache wasn't going to go away no matter how many times he rubbed the sore spots. There were too many things that would be revealed if anyone found out about Aaron Mason was talking about. As it happened, he didn't have only one daughter as the picture on his desk showed. She wasn't an only child, there were so many things he didn't want to think about and now it was all coming back to him sooner than he anticipated.

Reaching out a shaky hand, Captain Mitchell picked up the photo graph of wide smiling, spaces in her teeth blonde little girl, his daughter Dana, which rested on his desk next to the large stack of papers he hadn't managed to dent. No matter what he finished, the pile never seemed to shrink in size. Now it was the last thing on his mind, now that everything was crashing down around him from those seven simple words.

It has to do with your daughter.

Captain Mitchell replaced the picture of Dana and reached for the phone that rested on his desk. He pulled it off the hook and started to punch in a series of numbers. Halfway through, he stopped and replaced the phone. No. He couldn't call her. She probably wouldn't talk to him and if so, their conversation would end up in another fight with the two of them raising their voices and demanding to know which one was to blame for their predicament. Captain Mitchell let out another sigh before standing up from his desk, straightening his shirt, and fixing his tie. Picking up his file folder, he walked out f his cubicle and headed towards the break room. On the way there, he spotted the young woman he had been looking for.

"Excuse me, Miss. Fairweather," he said, stopping in front of her. Angela Fairweather pushed her glasses up her nose and gave a shaky smile, hugging her clipboard closer to her chest. She blinked up at him as he continued. "There's something that I need to discuss with you, may I see you in the break room?"

"Sure thing, Captain," Angela said. She smiled and nodded again and followed Captain Mitchell to the break room. Pushing open the door, he allowed her to go first and closed the door behind himself. Aaron turned away from the coffee pot and greeted the two with a nod. "Is something wrong?"

"Unfortunately the experimental metamorphosis program that we created long ago seems to have malfunctioned in an even greater way than we expected," Aaron said with a heavy sigh. He lifted his coffee mug to his mouth and took a long sip.

"Is there anything that we can do?" Angela pressed. "It was only a prototype when we first created it and with our new advancements things should be fine now." She glanced over at Captain Mitchell who still had his arms crossed over his chest. His lips were pressed together in a thin line and he kept his gaze on his feet. "When we first created the process from everything we found out from past intergalactic battles we didn't think it was going to be fool proof."

"We also didn't think there would be as many side effects as there have been," Aaron reminded her. He cleared his throat and turned to Captain Mitchell. "Sir, your daughter, Avalon, has been in the hospital recently. And as I have found out, she and your other daughter, Abigail, had been living on their own and have just recently been evicted. I believe they're now living with a friend of theirs, but that isn't the main focus here."

Not the main focus? He had left his daughters to live with their aunt and now he found out they were living alone? Did they live on the street? Did they get hurt in some way? How did they manage to get the apartment for themselves? It had been so long since he left the airport, thinking they were ok. How long had it been really? Three years? That long already? He wondered if they were any different, if Avalon was still that sweet and athletic girl and if Bailey was still that shy and modest little girl. He had wanted to contact them years before, but wasn't sure if it would be best. Now hearing what they had gone through, he felt nothing but intense guilt.

"The main focus is that we've gotten word that she's a lot stronger and faster than she should be," Aaron continued. "She can lift more than twice her body weight as well as run faster than one hundred miles an hour as she has been clocked so far."

Captain Mitchell's eyes widened. "Are you sure?" He breathed. "We knew that there was a chance that the side effects could be at the molecular level. But are you absolutely sure about this?"

"We're absolutely sure," Aaron continued. "And we also have reason to believe…well, not believe more than we know that she's a power ranger as well." Captain Mitchell's eyebrow quirked upward. "Everything that we know about the existence of the power rangers as well as Rita Repulsa, Zedd, and Alpha and Zordon all seems to link back to her." He held up a finger. "However, we're not completely sure about the identities of the other rangers, though we're sure that they're the people she and Abigail associate themselves with."

"It would make sense that she would become a power ranger," Captain Mitchell finally said. "Considering I was the one that injected her with the powers to become one." He ran a hand over his hair. "Though it was an accident, she was still exposed to what Miss. Fairweather and I had been working on. So far, it seems to have been a success in that matter, though the powers that we tried to make don't seem to be what she's using."

"Correct," Aaron agreed. "The powers she's using are what have been bestowed upon her by Alpha and Zordon considering the information that those at NASADA have been able to give me."

"Let me see the files from NASADA and give me your informant so I can stay in contact with him," Captain Mitchell instructed. Aaron nodded then Captain Mitchell turned to Angela. "I'm going to have you assigned to work with me. I want to continue with the program we had created before; it's given Avalon the side effects that are thought to go with the powers of that a power rangers should have."

"There's something else, Captain," Aaron continued. "Abigail seems to have created a new power source from the power ranger project you had made before. It's given Avalon and the ability to control fire. If that's the case, then we're going to need to watch her even closer that we already had been."

"Thank you," Captain Mitchell said. He sighed heavily and briefly closed his eyes, mentally trying to figure out what to do. The best thing would be to keep this quiet between the three of them before things got out of hand. As the way they were at the moment, things were slowly going that way. Miss. Fairweather would be moved to work exclusively with Captain Mitchell while they figured out what to do and how to contain the news of the power rangers' identities as well as the newfound abilities they seemed to be having. "This has really become more of a problem than I would have anticipated. If I knew about it beforehand, I wouldn't have created the project in the first place."

"Captain, the project proves to have become a success, it was just accidentally exposing it to your daughter that's the problem," Miss. Fairweather continued. "Had it have been your other daughter or your son-"

Captain Mitchell turned and glared at her and Miss. Fairweather immediately closed her mouth, looking down at her clipboard once more. Aaron continued to stay silent, being sure not to look at Captain Mitchell, in case he would infuriate him even further. The loss of his son had been extremely hard for the widower, shortly after he had lost his wife. Reminders of that night would always be shut down before it could immediately affect him. Captain Mitchell had only been seen grieving over it at work once and when he had come back, he was back to business and wouldn't allow anyone to keep him away from his job. However there was a lot about his life that his co-workers didn't know so the fact he could talk to someone about the intricacies of his life made him feel a little bit better.

"Please just wait for me at my office," Captain Mitchell said to her. Miss. Fairweather nodded and turned, leaving the break room. Aaron walked over to Captain Mitchell and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If there's anything else you need to me to do for you," he said. "Please don't hesitate to ask."

"The only thing I hope you make sure doesn't happen is any of my kids find out about this before I can tell them myself," Captain Mitchell replied quietly, his voice above a whisper. "Thanks Aaron." He patted Aaron on the shoulder and left the break room, gently closing the door behind him. Instead of going back to his office, he went to the men's room and ducked into a stall. Closing the toilet lid, he sat down and put his face in his hands, pressing the heels of his palms over his eyes and quietly sobbed.

Avalon picked up her dishes and placed them in the sink. She ran the water, rinsing off the bowl and spoon she used for cereal and returned to the kitchen table, where Billy was sitting, waiting patiently. The orange ranger bent down by the chair she had previously occupied and picked up her backpack, sliding her backpack over her shoulders. She reached back behind her and loosened the pigtails she was wearing in her hair, pulling them over her shoulders. "If I had known that your parents weren't going to be here for breakfast, I wouldn't have made so much," she apologized, motioning over to the three Tupperware containers sitting on the counter; filled with eggs, toast, bacon, and hash browns. Though it had stated to cool, the delicious smells were still wafting from the closed plastic.

"It's alright, Av, it's the thought that counts," Billy reassured her, waving a hand. He dropped his arms onto the table and leaned towards her. "Besides, I told you when you and Bailey got here, don't act like you have to earn your keep to stay here. We're glad to be able to help you."

Avalon frowned as she sat down in the chair, her backpack pushing her towards the edge of her seat. She shifted her feet, to drag them under her chair, and accidentally bumped them against Billy's. Avalon let out a quiet sigh, bringing her head down and allowing some loose fringe to fall over her face. She chewed her bottom lip for a moment before speaking. "I know," she finally said. "It's just…what with what we still have to do…talk to the police, potentially get some restraining orders…" she threw her hands into the air. "I don't know what's going to happen with Chase and them now. It's like I said before, getting out of a gang is a lot harder than getting in and knowing Chase as well as I do, he's going to be pissed." She shook her head, a pigtail hitting her in the face, causing Billy to chuckle a little. "I don't want you guys to be put in any danger because of me."

"We've been in danger before you," Billy pointed out. "And we don't know what's going to happen in the future." He brought his hands up and steepled his fingers together, resting his chin on top of his hands. "As long as you remember that we're all going to help you out any time you need it. Just like we'd hope that you'd do the same for us."

"No worries there mate," Avalon reassured him. She gave a small almost embarrassed, smile scratching the back of her neck. "You all still accept me even after everything I've revealed. I wasn't lying when I said that you lot are my best friends."

"At least you're not afraid to say it," Billy pointed out.

"That too." Avalon lowered her hands from her neck and placed them on the table, picking at the chipping nail polish.

She took the chance to look around the kitchen and conjoining living room. It was like any house in that area would look like; she had broken into enough homes to know the economic status of that family, and how many kids were bound to live there, just from looking at the furniture. The kitchen was a good size, small enough to feel cozy, yet big enough to accommodate whoever was going to stop by for dinner. The living room was warm and inviting, which surprised her a bit. She had expected David and Lacey Cranston to be a bit more straightedge and by the rules, based on their professions, but they were warm and inviting, easily allowing Avalon and Bailey into their lives. Even over the weekend, as the rangers helped the Mitchell sisters move their things into the Cranston's guest room and move things around, David and Lacey had been helpful, smiling and laughing along with the teenagers.

They even went as far as to allow the two girls to call them by their first names, anything that would make them feel at home. Avalon felt at home already, though there was still a part of her that felt a bit out of place there. Probably because I'm not used to seeing such a well off family when mine isn't going that great. Avalon sucked in a deep breath and released it, allowing her shoulders to drop. The smile came back. But things are getting better now.

Billy reached out and patted Avalon's hands before he looked at his watch. Then he stood up, grabbing his backpack from the ground. "We should probably get going."

Avalon glanced up at him. "What's the matter Smurf? You don't want me to ruin your perfect attendance," she teased, getting to her feet as well. Reaching out a hand, she pushed her chair into the table before smirking over at Billy.

He gave her s serious look. "No, I'm more disturbed with the impending likelihood of being jumped." Avalon stopped and stared at him, her right eye slowly lowering in the silent seconds that passed.

Great, that was the reminder she needed. Thinking that someone from the Vipers had found out and was going to stalk her or that someone from the High Flyers would follow her there once they found out she and Bailey weren't living in the apartment anymore. It was frustrating. Almost everywhere she went she caused problems and now it was getting to the point where she couldn't sleep because she was constantly worrying about what would happen after they talked to the police. It was hard enough for Avalon to admit that she needed help to the rangers the first time, having to continue to explain her life for the past three years was something she could live without.

How many people did anyone know was in a gang and still went to school and take care of their younger sibling? Being a ranger made it worse, she was constantly facing doing the right thing and doing the wrong thing in the same day. And she was lying about it to the people that she was helping save the world along with bringing danger to them at the same time.

It was enough to drive her crazy.

But now that everything was out in the open, she could breathe easier. Life was getting better already; she had to remember to focus on that.

As the silence continued to stretch between them Billy blinked, his eyes widening in surprised and fear. "I was joking." He scratched the back of his neck. "I guess it wasn't that funny."

"Stick to your science fairs, Smurf," Avalon said. She and Billy walked over to the stairs, heading towards the front door. Avalon glanced down at the shoes that sat at the base of the stairs before she rolled her head to call up the stairs. "Bailey, c'mon, we have to get going!" She looked at her watch then crossed her arms over her chest, lifting her chin so she could look directly at Billy. "How does it take her this long to get ready every morning?"

"Probably, considering the fact that she sleeps in as much as she can, she's overly exhausted from the emotional weekend," Billy suggested. He looked just as concerned as she felt, if not more. Avalon glanced away from him, feeling anxiety run through her body. She was so not used to people caring about her so much.

"Hm." Avalon didn't look convinced, though she was a bit concerned. "Maybe." She turned to Billy, crossing one leg over the other. "How are the contacts feeling this morning? They hurt your eyes so badly yesterday that your eyes were blazing red all day." The corner of her mouth lifted. "I know it was the dust, but you looked like you were a step away from getting the munchies."

"Better now," Billy said, hitching his backpack up his shoulder. He shrugged. "I guess I just needed to get used to them." He looked at his own watch then gave her a shy look from under his fringe. "Actually, may I inquire you about something?" Avalon nodded, curious as to what he wanted to ask her. It must have been big if he was the one that needed help. "My date with Trini is coming up soon-"

Avalon broke in, poking him in the shoulder. "Are you excited?"

"Wow, you really sounded like Kim there," Billy said.

Avalon adopted a look of horror before grabbing onto Billy's arm, digging her fingers into the skin. "Please, if I ever start to wear pink, put me out of my misery." She laughed and dropped her hands. "Sorry, Smurf, what was it that you wanted? Your date with Trini?" Billy suddenly blushed and Avalon nodded. "It's your first date, isn't it?"

"Yyyeah," Billy finally admitted, his face reddening even further. He turned his gaze to his feet. "And, I don't know where to take her. I thought she'd like to see a movie-"

"Movies are bad for first dates," Avalon interrupted. "You want to go somewhere quiet and…kind of secluded so you can get some time alone…so you can talk." She thought for a moment, tapping her chin. "What about a book store? That seems like something you'd both enjoy. A coffee shop, maybe."

"I don't know if she likes coffee," Billy admitted. He looked at the orange ranger up from under his eyelashes. "Umm, you girls talk a lot, right? Can you figure it out for me? Maybe ask her where she'd want to go?"

Avalon blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected that at all. Most guys were the take charge kind of guy and knew immediately what they were going to do when they asked the girl out. Their confidence was what would instill whether or not the date went well. Avalon slowly shook her head before reaching out and patting Billy where she had poked him before. "It's not going to matter where you take Trini; she wants to go out with you. She'd probably have fun sitting in the Command Center working on some of the machinery." Avalon waved a hand in the air. "Personally, I'd probably be bored by that, but to each their own."

"I guess I just don't get why she wants to go out with me," Billy muttered. He scratched the side of his neck. "Dating isn't my thing. Not like Tommy, or Zack, or Jason. I'm better with things that require intelligence and-"

"Since when does being intelligent mean that you can't have fun?" Avalon interrupted, she looked a little angry. "You're nice, you're sweet, and you're smart. Anyone that wouldn't want to go out with you is a boofhead, seriously." She crossed her arms over her chest. "But if you really want me to ask Trini about it, I will." She then smirked. "Yes, I actually am that awesome."

"And you're modest, too," Billy agreed. He gave another shy smile. "Thanks, Av."

"No worries." Avalon then gritted her teeth. "I just hope you don't mind that you might lose an assistant because if I don't want Bay up not, she's definitely going to make us late for school." She excused herself and hurried up the stairs and walked down the hallways to the guest room. Avalon knocked on the bedroom door before opening it and stepping inside. She groaned when she spotted her sister still in bed. "Bay!"

"I'm sick," Bailey's muffled voice replied.

"Like hell you are." Avalon walked over to her sister, tucking her hair behind her ears. She bent down and pushed Bailey's hair back from her face so she could clearly see her. Despite not believing her, Avalon's motherly instinct took over and she placed the back of her hand on Bailey's forehead. Her voice lowered to a soothing tone when she spoke, "When you're sick, the tip of your nose gets red."

Bailey reached out and grabbed the blankets, pulling them over her head."I don't feel well." Her voice was muffled by the sheets that covered her.

"Are you sure it's not because of what's been happening? Are you afraid your classmates might have found out and will tease you?" She was sure that was it. She remembered what it was like to be in the years that consisted of junior high. Kids could be cruel sometimes. They could tease you and put you down until you broke and made you afraid of going to school. The bullying could be that bad. But from Avalon had seen, Bailey had made a good friend in Fred and that should have made it better for her. Avalon stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. When she didn't get an answer from her sister, she ran a hand through her hair and looked at the ceiling for a moment. "If I find out you're chucking a sickie, you'll be in trouble, got it?"

"Got it." Bailey rolled over so her back was facing Avalon.

Avalon reached over and stuck her hand under the covers, holding out her pinky finger. Bailey hooked hers around Avalon's before dropping her hand back to her side. Avalon left the room, gently closing the door behind her. She walked back downstairs and over to Billy. "She's sick, so we can just go on ahead."

"Is she ok?" Billy glanced back at the stairs.

"She'll be apples," Avalon replied.

Billy's eyebrows slanted together in a look of utter confusion. "That doesn't make any sense. The idea that someone will be an apple says-"

"I really got to get you a slang dictionary, Smurf." Avalon reached over and opened the front door. Placing both hands on his back she pushed him out the front door, pulling it closed with her foot.

A/N: Sorry this chapter didn't have a lot happen. I had a bit of writer's block and came up with this. I hope you guys liked it anyway. I know what's gonna happen in the next chapter, so that should be up soon. I'm still trying to decide if I want this story to go through seasons 2 and 3 or have this one only in season 2 and have a sequel for season 3.

~Avalon