"Wakey wakey Kira," Trent's voice ripped through her subconscious, however there was something off about it; something darker and colder than she remembered. She groaned slightly as she blinked open her eyes and found Trent's face within inches of her own. She tried to jerk backwards as she remembered Trent was currently evil and that she'd been grabbed during the battle. However, her back was pressed against something hard and her arms and legs were cinched down. Trent smirked and stood up as she struggled against her bindings.
"Let me go Trent," she spoke, meeting his eyes with her own, and glaring at him.
"No can do, Kira," he replied, stepping away. Kira looked him over, frowning when she realized all he wore was a pair of pants and two glowing red rocks around his neck. The rocks were humming, and Kira knew immediately that they were part of the boulder responsible for her teammates' side switch. She jerked harder at her bonds. While she didn't know what being able to hear the rocks meant, logic determined that she really didn't want to find out. "Mesogog wants you right where you are."
"I'm not letting him kill me so he can take the dino gem," Kira retorted. "I'll never give up that easily, and you know it," she spat. Trent snickered and shook his head, casting his eyes up at someone who was apparently standing behind the stretcher she was bound to.
"Cute," Tommy's voice reached her ears. "She thinks she has a choice in what happens next," he added, his voice becoming louder as he walked closer to her. He rounded the stretcher so that he was within her view. He was dressed similarly to Trent, his pants black instead of white. He also wore a pair of matching glowing rocks. Kira took a deep breath and went to scream, but Tommy slapped his hand over her mouth. Kira glared at him and bit down, causing Tommy to jerk his hand away, and exam the blood from where she'd broken the skin. "I'd almost forgotten how feisty she is," he smirked.
"Touch me again and see what happens," Kira threatened, glaring at him. Despite his appearance, Kira easily separated the man currently in her view from her teacher, mentor, and friend. She wouldn't hurt him unless necessary, but it was beginning to appear that hurting both of them might be the only way out. She took her eyes off him for a moment and looked down at herself. She wore nothing but a thin spaghetti strap cotton dress in yellow that ended at her knees. She knew she hadn't put it on herself, but glancing at the two other occupants of the room, she felt sick as she tried not to imagine who had put her in it.
"Don't try and use your ptera scream again," Trent told her, placing his drago sword against her throat. Despite being out of morph, both rangers had their weapons. Kira gulped and nodded, trying to keep her calm enough to think of a way out of the mess she was in. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes off the rocks around Tommy and Trent's necks, which was making thinking more and more difficult by the minute.
"You two are like cats playing with a mouse," Elsa's voice joined the group. Instantly, as if by command, both Tommy and Trent took stepped back, their eyes glazing over slightly. Kira thought she briefly saw a look of fear in them. Elsa came into Kira's view, spinning a baton with a red gem at the top. Kira glared at it for a moment, before allowing her sight to rest on Mesogog's general. Elsa smirked at her before turning her back on the strapped down yellow ranger and focusing on the two men. "What happened to you?" she asked Tommy, noticing a few drops of red blood on the floor at his feet. He still held his fingers in his other hand.
"She bit me," Tommy replied simply with a shrug of his shoulders. Elsa rolled her eyes and turned to face Kira again.
"I can see why Mesogog wanted her," she replied, studying the girl, leaning her face down towards Kira's. Kira drew back her head, and spat in Elsa's face, before struggling against her bonds again. Elsa growled, and struck Kira against the side of her face with her palm, leaving a red welt where skin met skin. Kira bit down on her own lip to avoid crying out. "I'd sooner have her killed," Elsa stated, grabbing Kira's chin, and forcing her to meet her gaze. "But you won't be doing that again any time soon," she added with a smirk. "Who wants to do the honors?" Elsa called back over her shoulder at the two men.
Trent smirked and stepped forward as Elsa released Kira and began walking back out the way she'd come. "I'll leave you to it," she told them leaving Kira's view. Kira watched as almost in slow motion, Trent moved toward her, removing one of the stones from around his neck. Kira's eyes shot wide as he brought it closer to her, immediately understanding why she was strapped to the chair and not already dead. Mesogog didn't want her destroyed. He wanted her alive, and subject to his control like Tommy and Trent clearly were.
"Stay away from me," Kira growled, fighting her bonds harder. She drew in a deep breath, attempting to summon another ptera scream to drive him away, but Trent moved faster. He slipped the leather cord over her neck, and Kira felt a jolt as the rock touched her skin. Had she not been bound to the stretcher, she would have been tossed backward. Her skin warmed where the rock touched. It began to glow a bright steady red, as her mind clouded over and she drifted back into the realms of unconsciousness.
Adam came running back down the stairs into the command post where everyone else was gathered, carrying both Luke and a bottle. He cast one hesitant glance at the rocks that were still glowing inside the bio chamber. Now that he knew their capabilities, he was more than a little nervous around them. The look on Billy's face told Adam that the former blue ranger and zeo tech felt the same way. He made eye contact with Billy, Rocky, and Aisha, the others who had been Kimberly's teammates. "She's not upstairs," he told them. "How could she get out?" he added, handing baby and bottle to his mother. "He was crying when I got up there. I didn't want him to wake Katie," he explained and Aisha nodded.
"I told you," Haley stated, with a bit of an exasperated sigh. "The lock down is designed to let you out, but not back in. She didn't need me to take it down to get out."
"So she's definitely not here?" Rocky asked, looking back at his former teammates. Adam shook his head. Aisha sat on the sofa, giving Luke a bottle, but she was staring off into the distance, not really focusing on anything. Tanya sat beside her. Connor and Ethan studied the walls, while Billy sat near Haley on the steps that led to the computer platform.
"This is your fault," Tanya snapped, looking up and glaring at Haley. "You had to put all the blame for Tommy going AWOL on her," she told Haley, pushing herself off the couch and stalking towards the dino thunder team's tech. Billy jumped and maneuvered himself in front of the woman, knowing exactly what Tanya was capable of, while Adam grabbed hold of her shoulders, steering Tanya away.
"Lay off her Tanya," Adam told his fiancé, who turned her glare on him. Adam raised an eyebrow, silently telling her that he wasn't going to let her through. She deepened her glare and shrugged herself out of his hold, but didn't try to push past him. "Haley was only trying to protect Tommy," Adam continued.
"Yeah," Rocky stated with a bit of a sarcastic laugh. "Cause he needs so much protection," he added rolling his eyes. Adam turned his gaze on his friend, giving him a glare of his own. Rocky sighed and shook his head. "Sorry," he muttered, casting his eyes to the ground.
"You're both right," Haley stated. "I took things too far," she added, standing up. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry doesn't bring her back," Rocky muttered. With Tommy gone, Rocky felt responsible for his teammates. Kimberly was his responsibility and she was somewhere only Zordon knew, with two, possibly three, pyscho rangers on the loose. The idea made him sick to his stomach.
"You're right," Haley stated with a nod, her mouth set in a grim line. "But I'll do what I can to help find her." Billy nodded, and moved a bit out from between her and the irritated zeo rangers.
"We can't fight amongst ourselves," Billy told his friends, meeting each of their gazes. "Emotions are running extremely high right now," he added. "And that's not going to help us find a solution."
"Billy's right," Aisha stated, rocking Luke slightly in her arms. "Right now, we've got to come up with a way of finding Kimberly. She's alone, she's obviously upset, and most importantly, she doesn't know the danger those rocks possess, especially to her." She sighed and looked up from her son's face and made eye contact with Haley. "Haley," she stated. "I'm sorry for blaming you. You said what you felt. No one should fault you for that. I'm sorry for not being there for Tommy. You're right, we should have been. None of us should have lost contact with one another. But we did. And now we're dealing with the fall out. We need each other and we definitely need your help. What do you say? Can we try and put this behind us and start over?"
"Yeah," Haley stated with a nod. "You're right. I'm sorry too," she stated. "I really am."
"Alright," Adam told her, simply. He looked at Tanya and Rocky who each sighed and nodded. "So, first thing's first. We find Kim?" Adam suggested. Billy and Haley nodded in response.
"Haley is the locator device that you created still functional?" Ethan asked, turning to face his team's tech. Haley paused for a moment, considering his idea and then nodded.
"That could definitely work," Haley replied, turning her back on the rangers and heading to the computers. "I just need to reprogram it for Reefside coordinates, but I should definitely be able to do it."
"Good," Connor stated. "But we can't guarantee we'll find her in time," he stated, pushing himself away from the wall, and sighing, his face grim. "We need to make sure there's a way to turn them all back in case we're too late."
"We won't be too late," Ethan told him, but Connor shook his head.
"Dude," he stated, with a slight grin. "Tommy would be proud of your hope," he laughed, specifying the teenager version of their leader they had spent two weeks with. "But Dr. O taught us to make sure all our bases are covered."
"Yeah yeah," Ethan smirked in response. "Billy? Any ideas?"
"Not yet," Billy replied. "But I might be able to come up with something if I could exam the rocks outside the bio chamber."
"No time like the present to get started," Connor told him. "Adam, you shouldn't stay down here," he told the green zeo ranger. Adam looked like he was going to protest for a moment, but then cast a look at the rock which seemed to glow extra bright, as if taunting him. He shuddered slightly and sighed, giving a nod in response.
"Katie will be awake soon. I can help Aisha with her," he stated, looking at his friend. She gave him a smile and a nod, standing up and leading the way to the stairs.
"Rocky?" she called over her shoulder, as Adam followed her, after giving Tanya a slight kiss, and whispering something to her that sounded suspiciously like 'try not to kill Haley'.
"Yeah?" he asked his wife.
"Don't let Billy touch those rocks," she stated simply. It was a simple command, but Rocky understood every emotion she put behind it. He set his face into a calm mask and nodded once, silently promising her that nothing would happen to their blue ranger. Aisha nodded back and led Adam up the stairs, Luke nestled in her arms.
Kimberly had slipped out of the room the moment Aisha had released her. She'd been fighting to hold back her tears since the moment Haley's words had cut into her like knives, but she hadn't wanted her friends to see how much the words had affected her. Everything Haley said was true, and that's what made it sting so badly. She was the one who had broken Tommy's heart. She was the cause of him isolating himself. She was the reason no one knew he'd been on an island that exploded, or had ended up in a coma. She hated herself for it at that moment. She hated Haley for making her realize it. And she hated Tommy for telling Haley about their past. So as she escaped the house and began to run through the woods, hot tears of both anger and sadness dripped down her cheeks, obscuring her vision, and making her stumble every so often.
However, she didn't stop moving. She summoned every inch of energy she had and thrust it into the speed at which she ran. The motion of her legs moving and striking the ground served to sooth her as much as it did to put distance between her and the rest of her friends. Her mind was in complete and utter chaos; tons of emotions bounced around in her head, adding to her confusion. More than anything, she wanted to leave Reefside, turn her back on everything and everyone and isolate herself as punishment for what she'd done. However, there was an equally strong part of herself that wished she had come clean to Tommy the previous night and told him that the reason she had come to Reefside for the past three years looking for him was because she still loved him. But how could he possibly still have feelings for her after everything she had done. After all the pain and suffering she'd apparently caused him. Sure, he'd admitted as much when he'd kissed her during his time travel; but in all honesty, hormones were running rampant then as well, and it wasn't her that he had kissed, it was her seventeen year old self. Wasn't there a difference?
Kimberly finally slowed her running down to a walking pace, as her tears began to dry up. She had slowly brought her breathing to a steady rhythm as she walked, trying to clear her mind. It was only when she slowed that she realized how stupid she'd been. She'd acted like a willful teenager, sneaking off when the emotions got the best of her. And unfortunately, she'd put herself in danger. She looked around, realizing she didn't know where she was, or even remotely which direction she had come. Which meant she had no idea how to get back. She was unprotected and at risk. If Trent and Tommy had captured Kira in full morph, what chance did she even have?
"Stupid," Kimberly muttered to herself, swiveling her head as she tried to pick a direction to go in.
"That's not surprising," Tommy's cold voice reached her ears, as he stepped out from behind a tree nearby her, cutting off her path. He had been following her, invisibly since nearly the moment she'd left the command. Kimberly stumbled backwards, her back colliding with the trunk of another tree as she took him in. He was barefoot and shirtless. Two stones hung on leather cords around his neck, glowing and humming. Kimberly tore her eyes away from them and looked up at his face. "You never were the smartest person." She remembered the tone of his voice from years ago. She hated that tone more than anything in the world.
"You followed me?" Kimberly asked, although it was more of a statement. Tommy smirked at her, moving closer, slowly. Kimberly slid around the tree she was backed against and continued to move backwards, making sure she didn't turn her back on him. Her eyes darted off of him for a moment, looking for his back up.
"Of course," Tommy snickered at her. "Oh, don't worry. He's not here. It's just you and me, Pink Ranger."
"I haven't been the pink ranger in a long time, Tommy," she stated, trying to keep her cool. Tommy just smirked.
"I remember," he told her. "You let Kat take your place. Another of your stupid moves, Kimberly."
"Shut up," she snapped at him, her eyes darting back to the rocks around his neck. Their buzzing was beginning to infiltrate her mind, much like the shards Rocky had brought back with him. She was having a hard time focusing on where she placed her feet, and as a result, she tumbled backwards onto the ground. Supporting herself on her hands and on her feet, Kimberly scrambled backwards as Tommy continued to advance. He laughed. The same way he'd laughed at the original power rangers years ago. It sent a shudder through her spine.
"You were always so stupid," Tommy told her, snickering and shaking his head. "But," he added, with a slight pause. "You were mine."
"Leave me alone Tommy," she spat back at him, as Tommy continued to close the space between them. Kimberly was mentally cursing herself. She knew she was powerless. Why had she left the command post?
"Oh Kimmy," Tommy laughed. "You don't want that, now do you? We both know we're meant to be together, so stop fighting it."
"Not like this Tommy," she told him. "This isn't right," she added, unable to crawl any further away from him as she was backed up against a small cliff face. Tommy stopped directly in front of her, and reached a hand down to her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to her feet so that she was barely inches away from him. She could hear him breathing and hear his heart beating; but mostly, she could hear the sound of the rocks buzzing and humming, calling out to her. She couldn't struggle against his grip. She didn't even look up to meet his eyes. Hers were locked onto the stones, even as he released her and took one of the leather cords off of his neck and gently placed it over her head. He pulled the neck of her blouse outward so that the piece of rock fell beneath it, settling against her skin. And he caught her as her body was flung backwards slightly, and she slipped unconscious.
Kira blinked a few times, letting her eyes slowly adjust to the dimly lit room she found herself in. She sat up, glancing around the room, and holding her head in one hand. It hurt and there was a constant buzzing that only intensified the pain. She took a few deep breaths, trying to get her bearings, as she ran her eyes over the stone walls. On one side of the room was a sink with a round mirror above it. The wall perpendicular to that one held a single, cell like door. The other two walls were bare. She sat on the edge of a metal cot, a small trunk at its foot. There was a second metal cot in the room with its own trunk beside her.
"Oh good," Elsa's voice reached her. "You're awake," she taunted. Kira's head snapped up and her eyes locked onto the black leather clad woman who leaned against the wall with the door, just to the right of the exit. Kira snarled, and leapt forward, arms extended in front of her as she attempted to wrap her fingers around Elsa's neck. "Uh uh uh," Elsa stated, not even flinching at the sight of the yellow ranger moving toward her. The woman spun the baton she carried and its gem flashed. The buzzing in Kira's head grew louder and the pain intensified, causing her to halt in her tracts. Beyond the pain, Kira felt a weight around her neck, and she glanced down to her chest to see a stone hanging there, glowing a bright red as Elsa spun the baton. "Good girl," Elsa patronized her, as if speaking to a pet. "You learn quickly," she added in, and stopped the spinning. The pain in Kira's mind lessened a bit and she looked up at the woman. "Now then," Elsa continued. "What do you say we get started on your conditioning?"
"Conditioning?" Kira asked, frowning. "How about I tell you where you can shove that stick of yours?" she growled.
Elsa just laughed at her and took a step closer to the girl. Kira, unconsciously, took a step backwards, causing Elsa to smirk. Kira frowned. She wasn't afraid of Elsa. Why had she moved?
"You don't have a choice, little girl."
"Call me that again," Kira hissed, her eyes cold. She lunged toward Elsa again, but the woman just twisted her baton, causing the pain in Kira's mind to return. Kira winced at the pain and brought her hands to her head.
"Stubborn one, aren't you," Elsa told her. "Good thing Mesogog created this thing, or you three would be uncontrollable. Just out there doing whatever you wanted," she added, admiring the baton she held in her hands. "Now," she laughed. "Do I need to use it again, or are you going to start behaving and following orders?" Kira just glared at her, opening and closing her fists, breathing in and out in frustration. She hated Elsa. Granted, she couldn't really identify anyone she liked at the moment. She was pretty sure she hated everyone. Trent and Tommy had done this to her; it was Connor and Ethan's fault she had gotten captured; Haley and the older rangers hadn't mounted a rescue for her. What made Kimberly so special that she warranted rescue, while Kira was left there? She would kill them all if she could.
"What do you want me to do?" Kira finally hissed out, not breaking her glare.
Elsa smirked. "You're going to go to the training room," she told the teenager. "You can thrash the person you find in there as much as you want, but you can't kill them. Just get your frustration out," Elsa told her. "Follow me," she stated, turning her back to the girl in yellow. Kira frowned and squared her shoulders, following Elsa, only because she didn't want to feel the pain in her brain again.
Elsa led the way through a series of corridors. Kira tried to memorize their path so she wouldn't get lost if she had to find her own way back to the dorm or back to the training room on her own. Elsa finally came to a stop outside a set of large metal doors. She pointed at them with her baton. "In there. I'll be watching, so remember what I said about not killing."
"Whatever," Kira growled, shrugging her shoulders, but there was a hint of fear in her eyes when they landed on the baton in Elsa's hands. Elsa smirked again and walked off, leaving Kira standing outside what she assumed was the training room. She took a deep breath and pushed open on of the doors, her eyes examining a large, barren, and entirely white washed room. It was lit with harsh florescent lights which, after the dim light of the dorm and hallways, hurt Kira's eyes. She shielded them for a moment, blinking as she tried to take in her surroundings.
"You!" a familiar voice called out from the opposite end of the room, disbelief and cruel amusement in the tone. "This will be fun," the individual added as Kira's eyes finally focused on Trent. He was still clad in only a pair of pants, which didn't surprise her. She was still wearing the yellow cotton dress. However, the stone that he'd placed around her neck hadn't been replaced. Instead of two, he now only had one.
"This is all your fault," she told him, glaring and shifting into a fighting stance.
"Fault?" Trent laughed. "You should be thanking me," he told her.
"For what?" Kira spat in response. "Making me Mesogog and Elsa's play toy. Because I'm really thankful for that, Trent," she growl.
"It's a small price to pay to get to be who you really are," Trent told her, shifting his stance as well. Both rangers began to circle one another slowly.
"Who I really am?" Kira told him. "Is that what you call this? For your information, I liked who I was before. Now, I hate everyone," she told him. "Including you."
"Ouch," he mocked. "I'm wounded. You should be grateful. You no longer have to take orders from Connor."
"No, now I take them from Elsa. That's a huge improvement," she yelled at him, darting inwards and striking at him. Trent countered her fist, catching it on his forearm, before pushing it away, and delivering a blow towards her stomach. Kira blocked with both arms in a crisscross pattern over her torso. Both teenagers leapt away from each other, panting due to the speed they'd needed to counter one another, still glaring at one another.
"It is," Trent told her. "No rules to follow. Destroy whatever you want," he added.
"What I want is to destroy you and the rest of the power rangers," Kira growled. "But Elsa won't let me."
"Oh," Trent laughed. "She'll let you kill them," he added in. "That's the point of it. The more of us there are, the less of them there will be."
"Us?" Kira snickered. "What us? I'm pretty sure I've covered the fact that I hate you," she spat. Trent snickered and shook his head, before beginning another round of attacks. Kira defended against most of them, but at one point his foot collided with her shoulder, sending her stumbling backward to the floor. He approached her, and sneered down at her for a moment, before offering her his hand. Kira glared at him, but reached up and took it. Catching him off guard, Kira yanked him down, rolling him over her shoulder and pinning him to the floor, her fist on his throat so that she was cutting off his breathing, her other fist raised in the air to strike at his face.
"Yellow Ranger!" Elsa's voice called over what Kira assumed were loud speakers as the woman was nowhere to be seen. "Let him up," she stated each word slowly. Kira hesitated for a moment, pressing against Trent's wind pipe even harder. "I said release him," Elsa commanded. "I won't tell you again," she stated. Kira growled, knowing that if she didn't, her head wouldn't appreciate it. Angrily, she removed her hand from his throat, and pushed herself into a standing position, not turning her back on Trent.
Trent coughed slightly, rubbing at his throat, before rolling onto his stomach and pressing himself to his feet. He turned back to face Kira, glaring at her. Kira shifted back into a defensive position, and raised her eyebrow at him. Trent exhaled sharply and moved towards her again, ready to attack. However, before he could, Kira was hit in the side and sent to ground. Trent followed her body before turning his head to see what had struck her. His eyes settled on Tommy and he sunk into more of a glare. Kira, caught herself and rolled to her feet, twisting at the ankles and glaring back at her attacker.
"What did you do that for?" Trent growled at Tommy.
"She got the best of you once. Didn't want you to embarrass yourself by letting it happen again," he told Trent. He turned away from Trent and let his eyes fall on the still crouched yellow ranger. He smirked at her. "Hello Kira," he told her.
"Dr. Oliver," she muttered, deepening her glare. He snickered at her and then turned his back on both of them.
"It's lunch time," he told them both. "I worked up quite an appetite."
"Your mission went well then?" Trent asked him, falling out of attack stance and walking towards him. Kira didn't move. Tommy nodded and then looked back over his shoulder at Kira who was standing, but hadn't made a motion to leave. Trent followed his gaze. "Coming?" he asked her.
"I'm not hungry," she spat at them.
"You'll learn soon enough, that either you eat when fed, or you don't eat at all," Tommy told her, turning back around and shaking his head. Trent shrugged and followed him out the door. Kira sighed and decided the best thing to do would be to follow, in case Elsa got any bright ideas with her baton.
Hoped you enjoyed that. I have everything through the end of Chapter 49 finished. I do believe I am 1 maybe 2 chapters at most away from finishing this. If you've stuck with it since the beginning, I do hope you like the ending, I'm quite pleased with how its coming. Next chapter is one of my favorites (not counting the ending of Chapter 49 which has officially garnered my favorite scene).
Reviews loved and appreciated as always.
Fateless
