The Weakest Color
Chapter 28: Louder than Words
Hospitals made him nervous.
Jack had been afraid of them since he was a kid. He felt every eye on him as he entered the infirmary and sat down in a worn hospital chair. He stared steadily back at the curious cadets, meeting each of their eyes until they looked away.
This was his fifteenth visit in three days. The rational part of him knew that Z was getting the very best care. The irrational part didn't care. He couldn't just leave her here alone, injured and vulnerable.
Jack reached out and held her hand, willing her to wake up, to open her eyes. "Z, I don't know if you can hear me, but please get better soon. I can't do this without you."
He wished they had turned down Cruger's offer and stayed on the streets. There, at least, he could have kept her safe.
In comparison to the bustle and excitement of SPD, the Troobian ship was surprisingly boring. It was probably, Bridge reflected, because none of the Troobians actually liked each other.
Gruumm spent most of his time alone in the throne room, sometimes retreating to a locked room that no one, not even Mora, dared enter. Broodwing had a habit of disappearing whenever Mora wanted a playmate, and Bridge was certain that the bat had a secret way of getting on and off the ship.
On the other hand, Bridge had run into Invisor several times. He was certain the monster was stalking him, choosing to become visible every once in a while just to remind Bridge of his threatening presence.
A krybot jumped out from a hidden archway and Bridge reacted without thinking, dropping it to the floor with a chop to the jaw.
"Sorry," Bridge said, rubbing his hand. His nerves were raw from having to be constantly on alert. As far as he knew, monsters didn't have a code of honor. He wouldn't put it past Invisor to try and cripple him before their duel.
The krybot recovered quickly, hopped to its feet and marched away. Bridge followed it until he reached a huge storage room. Blue and orange-head krybots stood in lines, tall and stiff like clay warriors from an ancient tomb. Behind them were countless crates of silver krybot spheres.
Bridge waved his hand in front of one of the blue-head krybots. When it didn't move, he stepped closer. He'd never had a chance to study one this close, to see the smooth lines and seams that concealed a body of metal and wires and malevolent intelligence.
"Over here, ranger," Broodwing said and gestured for him to come closer. A krybot lay on the table, its chest opened to expose the moving parts. Broodwing picked up a pair of pliers and removed a worn cog from the krybot, replacing it with a glowing yellow one.
"What are you doing?" Bridge asked.
"Modifying the krybots," Broodwing maneuvered the cyborg's chest piece back into place. "I invented them, after all."
The bat seemed amused at Bridge's skeptical look. "Mora would never mass produce her monsters. She considers herself an artist." Broodwing gestured dismissively. "Pointless, childish nonsense. These are the real future of monsters. Mechanical, mass-produced and infinitely expendable."
The krybot turned its head slowly to look at him and Bridge shivered. He knew it was his imagination, but he almost thought he saw it breathe.
Broodwing was watching him closely, eyes narrowed. "You let Piggy go. I should destroy you for that."
"If you were going to kill me, you would have done it already," Bridge said. "You still need me."
Broodwing nodded slowly in agreement. "You're right – for now. Soon, all of these krybots will be activated and teleported to Earth. t The battle will be great and the rangers will lose." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "But after the battle, Gruumm and Mora will be weak. That is when we will destroy them."
Bridge thought for a moment. "What if Gruumm and Mora won't fight us? They might just teleport back to the ship and draw new monsters or destroy the Earth from space or something."
Broodwing smirked and tapped the krybot with a claw. "I'm far ahead of you, ranger. This krybot will stay behind. Gruumm will never notice one extra krybot guarding the ship. I have programmed it to deactivate the teleporter after the second wave of krybots is sent down. Only I will be able to reactivate it."
Bridge was now absolutely certain that Broodwing had his own teleporter. The mercenary would never attempt something so risky without an escape plan. "So what do you want me to do?"
"Nothing. If you survive your duel, I will know that you are ready. If not…" Broodwing shrugged. "Either way, Gruumm and Mora won't make it off Earth alive."
Syd stepped around a half-packed box and paused on one of the few patches of clear floor in the room. As she watched, Boom took all the clothes out of his closet and stuffed them into a duffel bag.
"Boom, you don't have to do this," Syd said.
"Yes, I do." Boom looked around the room, anywhere but at Syd. His eyes fell on a stray book and he tossed it in the box. "I already told Cruger and he accepted my resignation."
"Why? We need you, now more than ever."
"No, you guys really don't," Boom said. He sighed. "You're rangers. I'm just a lab assistant. There are tons of people who could do my job. They can probably do it better than me, anyhow."
"That's not true," Syd said, almost pleading. Somehow, she couldn't stand the idea of anyone else leaving. Especially not Boom, who had been with them since the beginning. "You wouldn't be working for Kat if you weren't great at what you do. Boom, you love this job. You can't just leave like this."
"Yeah, I loved this job." Boom sat down slowly on the edge of the bed. "I loved having friends and helping you guys. But that was before I realized that Kat, Cruger and the rest of them thought I was capable of betraying everyone. Did you know that a bunch of people still won't talk to me?"
If Syd met any of those people, she'd tell them a thing or two. "Running away won't help things. They'll come around."
"And what if they don't? I didn't even do anything and they'll probably never trust me again," Boom said. "Especially not after everything that happened with Bridge. No, it's better if I leave."
Syd was silent for a moment. "What will you do?"
"Well, I guess I'll move back home with my parents, at least until I find another job. Maybe it's time to come clean to them anyways. I never worked up the nerve to tell them I dropped out of the academy. They think I'm a ranger."
Boom watched carefully for her reaction. At least Syd didn't seem angry. He thought about what his father would say and sighed again. "I shouldn't have lied to them to begin with."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" Syd asked.
"No, I don't think so." Boom gave a sad sinking smile. He was surprised by how much she cared. "Thanks for believing in me."
Syd pulled him into a tight hug that Boom awkwardly returned.
"Goodbye, Syd."
A/N: Thank you for reading and reviewing!
