Previously on Power Rangers: Foxhole Force.
The team hit a wall when their dysfunctional dynamic caused a target to get hurt and then taken by the Ravens. The Rangers have no idea where the Ravens continue to produce these terrible monsters from but they are strong and difficult to fight, especially because now the Ravens can make then grow as tall as buildings. Neil and Matt were the only Rangers able to experience their Foxes adapting to the new situation and growing out of their shadows to become giant metal fighting machines capable of handling the Ravens' newest surprise. Despite being able to defeat the monster though, the target was lost and Kevin got hurt enough to morph out of the suit. Now the team members are crossed and at odds with each other, leaving Neil in the middle of it all trying to figure out how to actually belong.
S1 E7: A dead end
Abram!
Abram!
"Mom?"
You stopped. Why did you stop?
"Mom, where are you?"
Run. You have to run. Run!
"Mom, please! I came here to find you"
Run.
Run.
Run.
So Neil ran. He ran through the dark not really knowing where he was or where he was running to but two things were clear: wherever he was he was hearing his mother's voice and wherever he was, he was not alone. He could feel the evil presence of something breathing down his neck even though every time he turned, there was nothing but blackness there. Maybe the evil presence was the darkness itself, in which case it wasn't just behind him but all around him and Neil couldn't help the constant shivers of his spine.
"Mom? You there?"
But his mother's voice didn't answer and not for the first time Neil felt his resolve crumble. He'd lost her again.
Still, he ran.
He ran until the oppressing darkness gave way to a slit of light coming from a hundred feet ahead. It wasn't terribly bright but it was something other than black, so he quickened his steps and forced his eyes on the sliver of light, lest it disappeared and left him stranded in the darkness again.
Why was he alone again? He'd gotten used to the ever present warm spirit of the Fox. Why had he abandoned him? And where?
The light came closer, or rather, he came closer to the light and as his eyes adjusted to it, he recognized the underside of a door that quickly turned into the whole frame. Whatever was beyond that door, it had to be better than this because there was light and light made everything better.
So he reached for the handle and didn't think twice about bursting inside. Except inside was actually down and Neil found himself suspended in midair for an abnormally long second before crashing into the edge of several stairs. He rolled down, down, down over them until he finally landed at the base.
Funnily, there was no pain.
Unfunilly, he realized where he was.
A basement.
Inmediately, his heart went wild as he looked around him in the dim light of a single lightbulb hanging from the low ceiling. No, sometimes light wasn't better than dark because this light was letting him see that this was his basement, the basement and right now Neil would give anything to go back to the darkness from above.
Darkness is better. It's better. Darkness is better.
"What is it, Monkey?"
Neil gasped and looked up from where he'd forced his eyes on the floor, not wanting to see the walls covered in blood. Andrew was there, in all his improbable and impassive glory, staring down at him as if he was one of his basketball kids. Neil was speechless.
"Hello? Monkey? You in there?" the blond knocked on Neil's head like a door and he was so startled by how real the contact felt that he swated the hand away and found the courage to stand.
Now he and Andrew were eye level, mostly, and Neil was about to ask him how on earth had he found his way to this particular basement when Andrew beat him to it and pulled his chin up in a self-satisfied gesture.
"I found her"
Neil's eyes widened. "What?"
"Your mother. I found her"
"Where?" he asked breathless. Finally! All that searching and all that longing had come to an end because Andrew had kept his promise and he'd found his mother. But where? Where? Where!?
"She's Jane Doe number 38" the blond replied and Neil's blood ran as cold as ice.
"Wh-what?"
"She's dead, Monkey. Died a long time ago. He killed her. You know this"
Neil shook his head and stepped back until he rammed the hill of his foot against the stairs.
"You're lying"
"I wouldn't lie to a liar"
Neil shook his head again, more to clear the cobwebs of his mind than to deny Andrew's statement. "Who would've killed her? When would he have—?"
Andrew smirked. "You know who"
No. No. No. No.
But then Andrew's smirk turned into a shocked grimace as he faltered half a step forward. His brow furrowed in confusion... or pain.
"Andrew?"
When the blond tried to talk, blood spurted out of his mouth. Neil gasped and rushed forward as Andrew's legs faltered and he fell on his knees in front of him. Neil got a glimpse of his back. There was a knife embedded to the hilt in the middle of it and as Andrew fell the rest of the way down, Neil heard the agonizing sound of his struggling to breathe.
The struggle didn't last long though and Andrew's eyes lost their mischievous shine until he was merely a puddle of blood on the ground.
Unable to move, Neil stared, and stared and stared and stared at Andrew's prone figure as he tried to process the fact he'd just been talking to him before he got impaled. Killed. Murdered.
There was nothing he could do.
Neil looked up and ahead, searching for whoever had thrown that knife. It could've been anyone and it could only have been him. Whoever it had been though, Andrew was dead.
And then a shift. A slight shudder of the blooded pale skin before Andrew, impossibly, began to move again. Or rather, Andrew's muscles were moving beneath his skin and his skin was shuddering because it was shifting. It was turning black.
Like a zombie on strings, Andrew's limbs carried him up until he was on his feet again but his eyes, instead of hazel and dead, were sickly yellow and alive. Feathers began to grow and Neil wanted to throw up.
Awake.
Andrew was turning into a Raven.
As more feathers grew out of his skin, Andrew extended his hands towards Neil, talons growing long and sharp towards him. When the transformation ended, Andrew was no longer Andrew but an exact replica of Riko and Lieutenant Mureau and General Muldani all down to the murderous glint of his eyes.
When the thing in front of him let out an inhuman cry, Neil couldn't take it any longer.
He ran.
He turned on his hills and ran up the stairs not even looking back to see if the Raven was following. He could hear it anyway, screaming for blood, screaming for him.
Awake!
Neil reached the door and yanked frantically until it gave but his heart stopped and his breath hitched and on the other side of the door, his father greeted him with a cruel smile and the chilling light of his icy blue eyes.
"Junior" he said and Neil screamed.
AWAKE!
. … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . …
Neil woke up with a choked gasp and kicked his legs out on a reflex before sitting bolt upright and squirming back until the headrest dug sharply into his back. Then he hugged his knees close and breathed heavily into them. He was sweating and he was shaking.
Awake. The Red Fox thought through him in an effort to calm his fried nerves, but Neil could only clutch the hair at the top of his head and continue to breathe irregularly between his bent knees.
"Where were you? Where the fuck were you? Where the fuck were you?" he muttered over and over again because the Fox had left him. It had left him alone in the dark with his father and the basement and a Raven and an Andrew-Raven and where the fuck were you?
Awake.
Neil remained hunched like that until a soft red glow penetrated through his tightly closed lids. He opened his eyes and forced himself to uncurl his stiff body. The glow was coming from him.
Awake.
Neil blinked a few times and stretched his legs forward, hugging his torso instead. The aura of the Red Fox was surrounding him, faint but visible and warm, definitely warm, which made him shiver one last time at the realization before his body finally unwound.
Awake.
"I'm awake" Neil repeated and wiped the sweat from his forehead as he realized it was the Fox who had ripped him away from the nightmare. "I'm awake now. Thank you"
Red hummed in his chest and Neil let out a heavy sigh. If it weren't for the Fox, Neil would have had to face his father that night. It didn't matter if it was only a nightmare, facing his father in any form was just something he was never ready to do.
He looked out the window and saw the faintest hint of light blue coloring the sky. At least he hadn't woken in the middle of the night and seeing as the sun was about to come out, Neil didn't see the point of going back to sleep.
Awake.
"Yes, I'm awake"
He rubbed his chest soothingly until the red aura faded and he felt in control of his breathing again.
It was Sunday so he didn't have to get ready for work. He had a sparring session with Renee but that was still hours away. Matt and Seth had invited him to a picnic lunch with the girls right after that. He and Andrew hadn't planned anything for today involving the search for his mother, so there was really nothing for him to do at the butt crack of dawn.
So, naturally, he went out on a run. Down the hill towards the beach and then right back up through the longer route, avoiding the central park of Palmetto. The hood of his sweater was up but he didn't fasten it around his face.
I found her. She's Jane Doe number 38. She's dead Monkey. You know this.
Damn it, he thought as he put one foot in front of the other and increased his rhythm the more he ran. What had Andrew been even doing in his dream? The blond had already planted the seed of doubt in his mind the other night at the command centre, so he didn't really need his impassive self showing up in his dreams to remind him of the very real possibility of his mother being dead.
And where did his brain got off mixing Ravens with Andrew, his mother and his father? The nightmare had been simply terrifying but the worst part was that Neil knew there was more in his mind where that came from. It had been weeks since his brain had played tricks on him at night and he suspected the Red Fox had a lot to do with keeping the nightmares at bay, but he guessed even the Fox couldn't keep them away all the time.
As he ran, Neil thought about everything he'd acomplished since joining the Foxhole Force and everything he had not. He and Andrew had only gone out once together to ask around in hospitals and clinics, asking if anyone remembered ever seeing a woman that fitted his mother's description, but they hadn't been successful. It was a tough job, since Neil could only give so many details and Andrew had never even seen her. His mother could be wearing any hair color or length, she could be wearing eyecontacts that hid the true color of her eyes. How was he supposed to describe someone like that?
Jane Doe number 38.
Neil heaved a sigh and poured himself into his run. He didn't want to think about how improbable it was for him to find his mother, dead or alive, and he would only be fooling himself if he didn't recognize he was starting to lose hope. The more time he spent in Palmetto, the more time he spent at the Court, he realized there was so much he had missed about life by living on the run. Would finding his mother lead to the rest of his life on the run again? Would not finding her do the same?
But Neil still had a year to think about it, so he merely kept running for fun, not necessity, until the sun was fully above the horizon and he was back at the Foxhole Court.
It was close to 8:00 a.m. when Neil turned left at the metal doors to walk through the cafeteria and the kitchen up to the Tower but reeled to a stop when he saw Andrew sitting at one of the staff tables. The blond raised an eyebrow at him and Neil couldn't help but be assaulted by the image of a dead Andrew slowly transforming into a Raven right in front of him.
Awake.
But his Fox reminded him that this was not a dream and that real-Andrew wouldn't suddenly grow talons and chase him towards his father. So Neil drew in a breath and walked closer to the table.
"If you get yourself killed running out there alone, our deal is off" the blond pushed an unopened bottle of water his way which Neil took as an invitation to join him and sit down at the table.
The youth centre was eerily silent and the lack of children made the cafeteria look bigger than it was, so Neil kept his voice low to not disturb the rare peace of the moment.
"How did you know I went out?" Andrew took a bite of the ice cream carton he was craddling in his hands and pointed upwards with the spoon afterwards. Neil lifted a skeptical brow. "Do you ever sleep?"
Another bite of ice cream. "Do you?"
He considered the question fair enough and opened the water bottle to drain half of its content in three long gulps. For the briefest of seconds, Neil remembered the time Andrew had drugged him much the same way, but quickly discarded the memory. The blond hadn't given him a reason not to trust him ever since.
"What do you do so much on the roof anyway?"
Andrew worked his way slowly through another spoonful of ice cream. How anyone could eat the cold dessert so early in the morning, Neil didn't know. The ice cream he was having for breakfast was salted caramel, not the plain vanilla flavor the youth centre sometimes served as dessert at lunch, so he figured Andrew must have brought the treat down from his own freezer. "Are you asking or are you asking?" the blond replied.
Neil shrugged. "I'm just asking. You can not answer if you don't want to"
Andrew never took his eyes off him as he licked the spoon clean before dipping it into the carton again. "Smoke. Kevin and Aaron bitch too much when I smoke inside"
"That's... considerate of you"
"It saves me the bitching"
Neil hummed and drank another quarter of his bottle. The weather in Palmetto was starting to announce the arrival of summer, so even running at first hour left him drenched in sweat and thirsty.
In the silence that followed, Neil couldn't help himself from asking. "Do you really think she might be dead?" and then he added, "This time I'm actually asking"
"I don't think anything. It's just a possibility. Why don't you think she is?" it took Neil a moment to gather that Andrew was taking his turn with the question and he fought to answer the truth.
"I... I don't know. I guess I just don't want her to be"
This time it was Andrew who acknowledged his statement with a simple hum as he continued to eat from the carton. Neil found himself transfixed by the swirling motion of the spoon as Andrew played with the ice cream.
"Can I ask you something?" Neil spurted after a while and Andrew stared at him as if saying what exactly do you think we've been doing? "Right. Why do you call the kids Monkeys?"
It was something he'd been curious about from the start though he'd never brought himself to ask. Remembering his dream though, he couldn't really let the opportunity go by.
Andrew thought about it for a moment and then shrugged. "It came up"
"And the numbers? What, you were too lazy to learn their names?"
The blond left the spoon inside the ice cream carton and regarded him with a bored expression. "Bethany Johnson, Alex Young, Trent McGregor, Andrea González, Jennifer Monroe, Leyla Smith, Jacob Grant, Josh Taylor, Doyle Davis..."
"Oh, come on, you could be making those up"
"I wouldn't lie to you"
Neil jerked back at the words. They were so similar to what dream-Andrew had said to him that it was impossible not to stare. I wouldn't lie to a liar. It was almost scary how accurate his dream version of Andrew had been.
If the blond was surprised by his reaction, he didn't show it but he did stare at Neil long enough to make him uncomfortable.
"Umm... well... okay" he said and wasn't sure how to bring the conversation back to more comfortable ground. He avoided Andrew's gaze by self-consciously finishing his water and he wiped away a few drops running down his chin. When he found that Andrew's eyes were still eerily stuck on him, Neil cleared his throat and decided to venture. "I was wondering... would you spar with me?"
Andrew arched an eyebrow. "Now?"
"No. I mean, regularly, like with Renee. I'd like to practice my fighting unmorphed and I think going up against someone other than her might be helpful"
"What would I get in return?"
"A truth?"
"You already give me those"
"Fine. What do you want?"
"I don't want anything"
"Come on, there must be something that you want"
"If I wanted anything it would be not having to deal with you or anyone else. Some peace and quiet would be appreciated"
"Oh" Neil was taken aback for a second by Andrew's cutting words, which he said with a perfectly composed expression."Alright. You spar with me once a week and I promise I won't bother you any other day, except for when we're looking for my mom"
Andrew regarded him intently, considering his offer before replying with a straight face. "Not interested"
"What? Why? I just told you I'd—" but he went quiet when a person emerged from the kitchen, rounding the corner of the counter and coming to a stop when he saw the two of them at the table. It was Seth, eyes still red from sleep. He looked like he had just gotten out of bed.
"Hey" Neil said and the other boy nodded before continuing on his way. Andrew ignored him completely.
Taking advantage of Neil's distraction, Andrew put the lid back on the ice cream and got up from the table. Neil went to follow but stopped at Andrew's next words. "Find someone else who cares to help you"
Well... damn. As the blond walked into the kitchen, Neil was reminded of how unpredictable Andrew actually was and how unpenetrable his armor was. Whatever ground he thought he'd gained with his co-worker these past few weeks was quickly trampled by the dismissal and he made sure to write a mental note to remember that Andrew didn't really like him, that he merely put up with him for convenient reasons. Their relationship didn't go beyond Neil needing help to find his mother and Andrew needing him to act as the Red Ranger for the team.
It was nothing more than that.
Recapping the now empty water bottle, Neil threw the plastic in the bin and went up to the Tower and back to his apartment. He would wait until after the sparring lesson with Renee to shower, so he just fixed himself some breakfast and settled in for the wait.
The Red Fox was happy.
Neil could feel it in the way it made his heart beat with excitement and anticipation. He guessed this was what kids felt like waking up on their birthdays or going to an amusement park for the first time. At least the kids that could enjoy those sorts of privileges without the heavy hand of trauma playing a role in their lives. But what would Neil know? It's not like he'd ever been excited about anything other than staying alive after a close encounter with death at the hands of his father's people. Was the Red Fox excited for him? Because he was going to a picnic?
As they rode Matt's truck to an outdoors camping site, Neil wouldn't describe himself as excited but cautiously intrigued. It was the first time he participated in such a social outing and even though anxiety was waiting just around the corner of his mind, the Fox's excitement trampled it with earnest. It had taken a full day of Matt's whining and then some of Seth's retorts to finally convince him to come, but here he was, about to eat salmon deli sandwiches and fruit salads. Yes, Renee had asked him what his favorite food was. She had made sure he felt included even in the tiniest of details.
When they reached the site and got out of the truck, the Red Fox went wild inside him. Neil was sure if the Fox was actually physically there, it would be running in circles around them as they settled a blanket over the grass and arranged their feast on top of it.
Were picnics supposed to be that exciting?
"Put this on the corner, Neil" Dan instructed before everyone took their places. She handed him the igloo cava and then put a backpack over another corner herself. "So the wind doesn't pull it up"
There wasn't really that much wind, but they set the weights by the edges of the blanket anyway. In fact, the day had turned out to be pleasantly warm even if Neil felt a bit overheated with a sweater and the hoodie up. He'd taken to wearing a hood over his hair every time he went outside because he still wasn't comfortable walking around displaying his trademark auburn hair but as summer approached, he wasn't sure he could continue to pull it off. If anything, he'd bring more attention to himself by being the only human being crazy enough to wear a hoodie in a 75 degree weather. For now though, it was safe to do so.
As far as Neil was concerned, the picnic was going great, given that he didn't have anything to compare it too, but he counted it as a win when he didn't have to participate in conversation much or when he only had to nod here and there to let everyone know he was paying attention. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to them, but more like he didn't think he had anything important to say. They were talking about Matt and Dan's last date, about Renee wanting to become a social worker like Coach. They talked about the kids at the youth centre and the upcoming fundraising.
"Everyone loves cake, so we're thinking about making a bake sale at the front gate while we advertise our mission. What do you think?"
They talked about Seth's birthday next month and Dan's friends coming for a visit soon. Apparently they were close enough they were like sisters.
So no, unless they wanted to talk about how last night he'd dreamed about his father murdering Andrew only for him to turn into a Raven, Neil didn't really have anything to say.
That was, until Allison called him out. "Neil, what were you doing with the monster this morning?"
The change of conversation topic was so sudden that for a moment, the only image that came to mind when the word monster was uttered was the image of the giant thing they'd battled on Friday. It took Allison actually saying his name for Neil to follow.
He also figured it was Seth who told her about that morning. "Umm... talking?"
"You shouldn't spend so much time with them"
"Allison..." it was Renee who warned her, but Allison brushed her off.
"What? It's true. They'll just corrupt him"
Neil frowned at the choice of words. Corrupt him? "Why? They're part of the team, aren't they?"
"Because they're selfish and rude and heartless" Allison stated matter of factly.
Matt was the next to intervene. "Nicky is none of those things" he said apologetically, as is afraid to show he thought differently than her.
"But he'll always take his cousins' side"
"And what side is that exactly?" asked Renee. Out of everyone, she looked the most crossed with the conversation which was odd, since Neil had never seen her being anything other than pleasantly calm and collected. Her tone of voice threw Allison off a bit.
"They... they don't talk to us. I mean, just the bare minimum. Aaron is rude, Kevin is fucking selfish and Andrew's just heartless"
Neil shrugged and popped a piece of pineapple into his mouth. "They talk to me"
The truth was, out of everyone, he could count on one hand the number of times he'd talked to Aaron. He and Kevin had spoken from time to time about Exy and the Foxhole Force but Neil wouldn't say they held regular conversations. Nicky pretty much talked to anyone everywhere whether that someone talked back or not, and Andrew had his moments. But the thing is, it wasn't like Neil was a very talkative person either. Hadn't they noticed him say less than three sentences during the whole picnic?
Allison went on. "And I don't even know how you stand it. Talking to Andrew? After what he did to you?"
"I told you we worked that out"
"And don't tell me the others didn't know about it. He did it to Kevin too, after all"
This surprised Neil. "What?"
"You don't know? After Kevin got away from the Ravens, Andrew practically kidnapped him and interrogated him. Fucking heartless, I tell you. Right after escaping the Nest? I don't know what Coach sees in him" he shouldn't, in fact, be that shocked about the revelation. Andrew had drugged him trying to find out his secrets to figure out if he was a Raven spy. Why wouldn't he suspect Kevin the moment he showed up? Having lived at the Nest for so long... But did everyone else know he'd done it to keep his family safe? And Andrew had roped him into a one year deal so he wouldn't unbalance the team by upping up and leaving them without a Red Ranger. Neil could agree that Andrew was... something. Not heartless but something. By now, the blond had made it clear he wasn't interested in idle chat, that he didn't care about spending time with any of them and that he preferred to be alone and unbothered. But he also treated the kids at the youth centre with cold respect and distant care. He often spoke in a monotone and detached voice but it was when talking about protecting his family that he spoke fervently or, at least, as fervently as he could. No, Neil wasn't sure what Andrew was, but he wouldn't say he was heartless.
If he was being completely honest with himself, Andrew's attitude towards practically everything was contradictory at worst and puzzling at best. Just that morning, the blond had seemed invested enough to kind of have breakfast with him, if a carton of ice cream and a bottle of water could count as breakfast, but then he'd gone and made it clear he wasn't interested in helping Neil beyond the deal they'd made. If anything, Andrew was as much of a puzzle as he claimed Neil was.
However it might be though, it was not his place to praise someone who made a point to let others think he was exactly like they thought he was. So he settled with a simple shrug and then commented after a second. "I don't think they're that bad"
Allison, the strong willed woman that she was, couldn't leave it at that. "Quit defending them!"
"I'm not. I'm just calling it like I see it"
"See? They're already turning you into one of them"
"What, selfish, rude and heartless?" he asked right back, a glint of his own confrontational yet dormant streak showing up.
"Just saying" Allison replied.
And then Renee stepped into the conversation again, which was a relief because the picnic had begun to turn into a tennis match between Neil and Allison and he wasn't comfortable with the attention. "Actually, I think it's great"
"That Neil is turning selfish, rude and heartless?"
"Enough with the selfish, rude and heartless!" Dan burst out next to Seth. Not for the first time, Neil got the feeling the only one set strongly enough against Andrew's crew was Allison and that everyone else was too merely by association. They had all talked ill about the others at some point, but no one seemed as deadset on it as Allison. "I agree with Renee. Maybe it's a good thing Neil gets along with us and with them"
"How do you reckon?" Seth asked. He was usually Allison's number one rooter, but he'd kept a very silent approach on this matter.
"Neil gets along with you guys," she started, signaling between Seth, Allison and Matt. "And he gets along with Kevin. As the Red Ranger, maybe he could help bring the two halves of the team together"
Everyone stared at her until she sighed and explained.
"I mean... you saw what happened the other day. You guys wouldn't stop fighting and things got out of hand. I'm not saying it was one person's fault, but it really shouldn't happen again. We all should act more as a team and Neil could be our one way ticket to mend the bridge. Maybe spending more time with them, all of them, will help"
Allison balked. "Are you serious? It's not like we're gonna invite them to a picnic with us and they're gonna say yes. Andrew and Kevin? On a picnic?"
Dan lifted a shoulder. "Maybe if Neil asked them?"
They all looked expectantly at him as if he had any true inside knowledge of whether Andrew and the others would say yes or no to hanging out with them. Did Dan really expect Neil to persuade them after only a month of knowing them? If Renee with her samaritan personality and Matt with his easygoing self hadn't been able to do it in years, why would Neil be any different?
Trust.
Neil frowned at the Fox's intervention. First of all, because he hadn't expected Red to be centered enough to pay attention to the conversation in the midst of all his excitement and, second of all, because… trust?
By definition, by mere principle, Neil didn't trust anyone. Certainly not Kevin or Nicky or Aaron. He didn't really trust the people he was having a picnic with right now. He liked them, he could at least admit he liked his co-workers and team members enough to let himself be a part of their mission, their cause. But he couldn't really trust them with his secrets, could he? With his truths. None of them knew who he really was, none of them knew why he was there. If Neil didn't trust them, then how could any of them trust him?
Truth.
But he'd told Andrew the truth, hadn't he? Well, part of the truth. But enough of the truth anyway for it to beone of his truths. Did Neil really trust Andrew? Didn't he?
"I don't think that's enough" he muttered. The words were meant for the Fox, but he didn't realize he'd spoken out loud until Matt responded.
"What?"
"Umm… I don't know if me asking would be enough"
"You could try, right?" Dan asked, hopeful. "Actually, let's do something next weekend. We can go bowling or have dinner somewhere. Will you ask them?"
Neil looked around him and shrugged. It wouldn't kill him to try. "Sure"
"Now, wait a minu—" Allison had started to reply but she was interrupted by the collective sound of their communicators coming alive.
"Oh damn" Seth let out. He reached the device first and put it on speaker.
"Rangers?"
"What is it Coach?"
"It's Lieutenant Mureau. He's in town. Kevin's already on his way"
"Where?"
"Palmetto High School. The target is young"
Coach hadn't even finished talking yet when the six of them got into motion and rushed to their feet. Matt nodded at Neil, Allison and Seth. "We're on our way"
"We'll head back to the centre" Renee offered, signaling between her and Dan and shooing the rest of them off. "Find somewhere to morph and we'll deal with this"
"Hurry, Rangers. I don't want Kevin alone with Mureau for too long"
Allison squared her shoulders and nodded. "Let's go"
. … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . …
After finding a secluded spot on their way to the local school to morph, the Power Rangers arrived at the scene to be met with chaos and noise.
"It's not a school day" Seth began, "Why is there so many people?"
Teenagers were running out of the school building, some of them beckoning the Rangers inside once they saw them and some of them way too focused on getting away to even notice them.
"There was a science fair" Coach replied from the centre.
"Let's find Kevin" Neil stated and they ran the rest of the way towards the building. Their blue teammate shouldn't have been at the scene in the first place. Aaron had been clear enough when he'd wrapped his ribs less than a week ago. Kevin needed rest and time to heal. He had even been excused from coaching exy practice for a couple of days after his injury, not that the taller man had followed that particular recommendation, but it was one thing to direct practice from the sidelines and another one to be engaging Ravens by himself. Aaron was probably fuming back at the centre.
It wasn't hard to pinpoint where the epicenter of the chaos was, they just had to follow the sound of clashing weapons and the screams of terrified youth. The Ravens were at the gym.
"Geez!" Matt exclaimed once they got the full picture beyond the gym doors, because not only was Lieutenant Mureau in there but another three Ravens as well.
The situation was like this: Kevin was engaged in battle with Lt. Mureau, the Raven sword and the blue staff clashing every other second above their heads. Lt. Mureau wasn't fully transformed into a Raven, but his speed and strength were still a force to be reckoned with.
The other Ravens were scattered around the gym, wreaking havoc through the tables and scientific displays. A table at one of the corners had caught fire and the flames were rapidly spreading to the next one.
There were kids everywhere and some adults trying and failing to direct everyone towards the exit, but the Ravens made it impossible for them to go far as they constantly slashed at them and pushed them to the ground.
Neil felt the Red Fox pulsing with anger and he let the emotion fuel his actions. He summoned his weapon, ready to go into battle.
"Red Staff!" he blocked a Raven's hand as it was coming down to slash at a teacher cowering near the door threshold and sent him flying backwards with a powerful swing from the staff.
"Which one's the target?" Allison asked and Kevin's voice reached them from the other side of the gym. Urgent, winded and strained.
"Bleachers! Under the bleachers!"
True enough, there was a Raven trying to fit its enormous feathery form under the bleachers where the target was apparently hiding.
"Seth?" Neil called, and the Yellow Ranger dashed towards them.
"On it!"
"Seth," Coach spoke inside their helmets, directing the Rangers into the battle. "Protect the target and get out of there. The rest of you, contain the situation. There's way too much collateral"
Everyone got their hands on deck.
As Kevin kept fighting Mureau and Seth went to take care of the target, the other Rangers went after a different Raven each, everyone summoning their weapons and engaging in fierce battle.
Neil followed the first Raven he'd attacked as the dark feathered creature launched itself at a group of kids hiding under a table. He slashed at the Raven with the tip of his staff and then used it like a baseball bat to smash against its side. The thing buckled but didn't go down completely, though it did buy the kids enough time to get away while Neil distracted the Raven.
"Go, go, go!" he urged them and engaged the Raven once more.
This Raven wasn't particularly strong but it was fast and it made Neil chase him all over the place as it weaved in and out of the others' own battles. Neil caught a talon slash on the shoulder not really meant for him merely because he was rushing past Matt while on his way to chase the Raven.
When he lost sight of it for a moment, Neil whirled in every direction to find it, getting a glimpse of how things were going for everyone.
They weren't great.
Kevin was too silent. He was fighting Mureau with everything he had without their usual back and forth bickering about Kevin leaving the Rangers to go back to the Nest and Lieutenant Mureau leaving the Ravens to break himself free of their reign. Silence meant concentration which meant neither of them were holding back and Kevin was struggling to contain the perfect Raven on his own.
Allison was standing between a Raven and a couple of teens, acting as a shield for them by blocking the thing's talons. Her weapon lay scattered several feet to the side.
Matt was, for all intents and purposes, boxing against the Raven with his Kit Gloves and Seth was nowhere in sight. He was probably already gone, hopefully with the target.
The Red Fox sent a not so subtle shock of emotion his way for him to focus back on his mark, and Neil glanced beyond Kevin and Mureau to spot his own Raven next to the burning tables. Unfortunately, that was also next to an elderly professor that was trying to crawl away from said fire.
He unclasped his weapon, turning the red staff into two smaller but equally sharp weapons and dashed forward. He threw one of the staffs tip-first at the Raven to distract it while he reached him and then slashed at its face with the other. A well placed kick later and the Raven went stumbling to the ground.
Neil hurried to help the older man from the ground, glad that once he was able to get his feet under him, the man could walk away on his own. But the exit was on the other side of the gym and too much was happening in the middle for it to be a safe walk out of danger, so Neil directed the man under the bleachers because they'd proven to be a good hiding spot against the tall frame of the Ravens.
Once he was sure the man would be relativately alright, Neil turned around and that's when a dark figure tackled him painfully to the ground. He rolled and rolled again in a mixture of flying limbs until it all came a stop and Neil found himself pinned to the ground by none other than the Black Ranger.
"You're here" Neil said breathless but a crash over them brought his attention to a burning table that had just sailed over them and crashed against the wall where he'd been standing two seconds ago. The Black Ranger had tackled him out of the way.
When he glanced back again, the other Ranger was still looking at him but in his typical silent manner, he got graciously back on his feet and went after the Raven without a single word.
Neil didn't even have time to thank him.
He took advantage of the Black Ranger's presence to get his breath and his weapons back before charging into battle once again. He spared only half a minute to admire the way the Black Ranger engaged mercilessly against the Raven before diving towards Allison and helping her get her whip back from the floor.
After that, he went to help Kevin.
Just like he'd suspected, the Blue Ranger and the perfect soldier were fighting viciously, not giving eachother time to breathe, much less talk, and Neil figured it was all Mureau's doing, because he still had to see Kevin deny the Raven the opportunity for redemption. It was also weird, though, that Mureau wasn't goading Kevin on. Between this Raven and General Muldani, it was her the most talkative out of the two, but Lieutenant Mureau was also known for his jabbing words and remarks, specially when it came to Kevin.
It was just weird and Neil didn't know why he noticed the absence of words so much but he joined his blue teammate in the silent fight anyway.
"You good?" he asked Kevin once he joined him and the taller Ranger nodded once.
"Fine"
The fight against Mureau was as brutal as ever and soon enough, Neil had to lose his surroundings awareness in order to focus solely on not getting caught by the black sword. He remembered how painful the sting was when it happened, so he was extra careful to keep the weapon away from his body. That didn't stop him, though, from hearing the shrill sound of the fire alarm once the flames from the one corner of the gym were high enough to be detected and then the sprinklers turning to life. Water rained down on them and the constant blaring of the alarm only added to the chaotic scene they were currently in. It was annoying and distracting but they had to power through and end this battle soon. There were still too many people inside the gym.
Sparing a thought to the older man he'd hidden under the bleachers and the fire spreading towards him earned him a clip of the sword on his leg, and Neil cursed while jumping out of the way, Kevin blocking the next strike and giving the painful shock enough time to subside. But between the noise of the alarm, the terrified screams around them, the distracting pour of the sprinklers and the pain from his leg, Neil was starting to feel overwhelmed.
Worst of all though, was that despite having the Black Ranger on their side, they weren't gaining much ground and unless their yellow teammate came back soon, they wouldn't be able to use either the Foxes Blast or the Cannon to up their game against the Ravens.
Neil wondered if their weapons would ever combine with the Black Ranger's or if the Ranger would ever even agree to do so.
"Shit!" the curse got his attention more than anything else did because it carried a tinge of fear he wasn't used to hearing in the Yellow Ranger's voice.
"Seth?" Allison asked. If Neil had noticed the difference in the voice inside their helmets, then Allison was bound to have done so as well.
"Shit, shit, shit!"
"Oh my God" Dan whispered in shock way back from the centre. "Oh my God, guys!"
"What is it?" Matt asked her, but it was Nicky's urgent voice that reached them instead of Dan's.
"It's Riko!"
"Guys!" it was Dan again. "You have to help Seth now!"
As if he could hear what was going on inside the Ranger's helmets, Lieutenant Mureau regarded Neil and Kevin with a satisfied sneer on his face.
"You have to go, now!"
"We can't... leave these people unprotected" Matt grunted while in the middle of his fight.
"But it's Riko!" Nicky repeated from the centre.
"Something the matter, Rangers?" asked Mureau, pausing his constant attacks for the first time during the fight. But before any of them could answer, Seth's voice reached them through their opened communication channel.
It was just clear after a second that his urgent words weren't meant for them. "Run, okay? No matter what happens, don't stop running. I'll distract him. Just run!"
"Jean, what are you planning?" Kevin asked and the Lieutenant smiled even wider.
"You won't stand a chance now"
Before any of them could move, the Black Ranger appeared by Neil's side, black shield held in one hand and his blaster in the other. He regarded Neil cooly and jerked his head in the general direction of the door, his meaning clear. Go.
It took a moment, but the implications of that gesture hit Neil like a freight train. The Black Ranger was in on their communications!? For how long? Since ever? But a sudden painful grunt brought Neil's attention back to the matter at hand. If the Black Ranger could deal with Mureau, then Neil and Kevin could go help Seth.
Neil nodded and when the other Ranger charged, without warning or preamble, Neil tugged on Kevin's arm and directed him towards the exit. "Stay on the Ravens!" he told everyone else. "We've got Seth"
"Hurry!" Allison prompted as she continued to battle her Raven.
Since they were heading out anyway, Neil took the opportunity to tug a group of teenagers along, hurrying them out from under a table and running towards the door. But as soon as they reached it, a figure dropped in front of them, blocking their path and forcing them to retreat a couple of steps.
Neil cursed and shoved the kids the way they had come. "Back, get back!"
The kids scattered and both Neil and Kevin raised their staffs.
"Thea" the Blue Ranger spat with as much contempt as he'd ever shown when talking to the General. "What the hell are you doing?"
The newly arrived Raven grinned wildly as her frame started to grow and feathers spurted from her skin. Her black sword shown brightly, reflecting the flames that did nothing but grow on the other side of the gym.
"You're not going anywhere" she spat once fully transformed and attacked.
Kevin and Neil could barely keep up.
The General went at them viciously, with everything she had, forcing them back into the gym but keeping them isolated enough from the rest, not that anyone else could have done anything to help them since they were all struggling with their own opponents.
Meanwhile, the sound of Seth's battle continued to weight down on everyone.
"Coach, they're boxing us in!" Kevin informed the people at the centre, blocking Muldani's sword in mid air but not fast enough to avoid the slash of her talons. The Blue Ranger let out a pained hiss and dropped to the side, giving Neil a chance to take over and engage Muldani himself. Every time he went down, Kevin took longer to get back up and Neil didn't miss the supporting hand he kept on his middle. His ribs must have been on fire. But still, the Blue Ranger kept charging forward, just as everyone else did because they could all feel the urgency of the situation breathing down their necks along with the sounds of Seth's heaving breaths.
The Red Fox was specially worried.
Hurry.
Fast.
Hurry!
Neil grunted when Muldani kicked him so hard he flew into the nearest wall. I know, he told his Fox and jumped into battle again.
But how would they break away from this fight if there were so many Ravens to deal with? General Muldani was guarding the door with delighted and vicious glee, the Black Ranger was busy with Mureau, Matt and Allison were trying to keep everyone safe while dealing with the other Ravens and the fire did nothing but grow.
Neil was starting to feel desperate, almost like in his nightmare when he couldn't see a way out of the darkness. He knew that if the Rangers could find their way back to each other, then they could turn the tables in their favor. They could present a united front against the Ravens. But they'd fought Muldani and Mureau enough times already for them to have figured out that as long as they kept the Rangers separate, they held the upper hand.
Was that Riko's plan? It wasn't often the Raven King came out of the Nest to deal with them, if ever, and for him to come down here and engage one of the Rangers on his own...
Hurry.
And Neil hurried.
He hurried to keep Muldani's attention on himself to give Kevin some room to breathe. He would only worsen his injury if he kept up this pace. But he was also trying to give his blue teammate an opening. If Neil could handle Muldani on his own, then Kevin could finally go help Seth. If they could only reach the door.
Things were easier said than done, though.
As Neil fought Muldani, he caught a glimpse of the Black Ranger shooting his blaster at Mureau and he got an idea. But would it work?
Try, his Fox beckoned. If Neil had had a second to spare, he would have wondered at how clearly Red was communicating with him that day, but since Neil did not, in fact, have a second, he merely nodded and changed tactics.
Glancing beyond General Muldani at the gym entrance, Neil threw both halves of the red staff at her much like he'd done before and took advantage of her distraction to draw his blaster, jump and perform a front flip over her to shoot her from the air. The General bellowed and went down. Neil could only hope she stayed down.
He was sure the stunt hadn't looked half as good as it had when the Black Ranger did it at the forest, but when he landed on the other side of Muldani, nothing standing between him and the door anymore, and sprinted for the exit, he couldn't help but grin in satisfaction.
"Seth! I'm on my wa—"
"HA!"
Fuck.
That was all Neil had time for. The moment the lightning reached his back, pain and electricity rendered him useless and he went down unceremuniously. Red whined inside his chest as he also writhered in pain, painful aftershocks making them both twitch on the floor.
"...eil! Neil!" his ears were buzzing but he shook his head enough to recognize Dan's voice in his ear. "Are you okay?"
Neil grunted. "Mmhh"
Since when could the perfect Ravens summon their lightning strike indoors? General Muldani had recovered from Neil's attack way too quickly and though Kevin was now between them, he was in no shape himself to stop her from coming after Neil again.
In the mean time, Neil struggled to get back on his feet.
A lot of people were speaking on top of each other and Neil's mind was fried enough as it was from the lightning strike to be able to follow all the voices, but he did catch Seth's strained one from wherever he was fighting Riko. "Guys, any... any day now!"
Neil glanced around in desperation.
They were all busy. The Ravens weren't giving them ground, there was still too many people in danger, the flames from the fire reached a quarter of the gym now and Neil could barely move yet. The Power Rangers were scattared and as he watched on, Neil watched them all fall and fall again one by one as the Ravens intensified their attacks. And the Rangers fought. They fought to get back on their feet and protect the people around them and counteract the Ravens' attacks but nothing was ever enough to give them the chance to break away and help Seth.
Neil panted into his helmet as he tried to come up with a solution. When he spotted his discarded staff on the floor, he slowly crawled his way to it, ensembling it back together and using it as support to stand up. Again, they needed to get past Muldani to get to the door so once he was back on his feet and after taking a settling breath, he charged towards her. With the amount of energy the lightning strike had taken from him and Kevin's injury, they were both fighting at half capacity now which meant both their weapons were needed to stop Muldani's sword from coming down on their heads. The sword and the staffs sparkled and Neil's arms strained trying to push the Raven sword away. Neil and Kevin grunted with effort. General Muldani laughed with delight.
And then, suddenly, the sword was gone.
Neil and Kevin stumbled when the force pushing against them was withdrawn and they stared at Muldani in puzzlement as she simply took a step back and fluttered the sword into nonexistence.
Behind them, all sounds of battle had stopped as abruptly as Muldani had and the only thing they could hear was their own panting breaths and the crackling of the fire.
"Our King should be about done now" Muldani said, her eyes flashing yellow as she smiled. "Run along now, Rangers, or you'll miss the end of the show"
And right as she signaled every Raven in the gym to drop everything and just go, a gutwrenching scream reached them inside their helmets followed by the horrified cries of their teammates back at the centre.
. … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . …
The situation was like this: General Muldani slashed her talons between the Red and Blue Ranger as she disappeared through the door, the other Ravens following her out the gym after one last attack against Allison and Matt. Lieutenant Mureau was the last one to go, bringing his sword down into the Black Ranger so hard the Ranger lost his grip on the shield and flew backwards towards the fire. He spared Kevin what Neil would later understand as an apologetic look before vanishing out the door.
No one understood what had happened but they didn't really have time to, because everyone at the centre was urging them to move on.
"What happened?" Allison asked. The Rangers ordered everyone to flee the gym before any more Ravens showed up, though Neil doubted they'd be coming back. "Dan, what happened!?"
"Just go!" Dan's voice was pleading and desperate, both of which Neil had never heard coming from her before. "Just hurry, go help Seth. Hurry!"
The Rangers ran. They didn't even wait for the gym to be fully evacuated before making their way outside.
"Where are they?" Matt asked.
It was Coach who answered. "Three blocks west, at the end of the street"
So the Rangers ran faster.
"Seth! We're coming! Hold on!" Allison yelled.
"Faster, Rangers!"
They were still too far away.
"He's got him! He's about to..."
"Oh my God"
"Hurry!"
"I don't see them!"
"Rangers!"
"Alls—" Seth's voice reached them right before a deafening boom did and an explosion cloud took over the sky one block away from them.
Neil faltered.
Someone gasped next to him. Another someone stumbled and went down to their knees. Neil himself lost his breath on the next step and that's when he felt his Fox wailing.
Silence reigned between them as every Ranger froze in their tracks to stare up at the cloud of smoke rising from behind the row of houses. Time seemed suspended and the only thing Neil was aware of was the beating of his heart hammering all the way up to his throat. That, and the desperate wailing of the Red Fox inside him.
Seconds ticked by and ever so slowly, Neil was the first to come out of his stuppor. But it happened in stages. First, he was aware of his own body again and how heavy it felt just to be standing. Then he turned his head to the side and noticed that the Black Ranger had followed them out and was still with them, suffering silently through their stunning just like every other Ranger was. And then he heard the people back at the centre. Curses and cries. Insults and sniffles. Neil's stomach sank.
When he could finally break away from the spell, he staggered forward, his feet shuffling until they could steadily make him walk again and eventually run. He needed to reach the other street. Distantly, he was aware of the other Rangers slowly doing the same and, finally, they got to the end of the street.
"No" Allison broke away from them as soon as she saw Seth's prone figure on the ground.
"Wait!" Kevin ran after her to stand between her and Riko, who was merely a few feet away from Seth. Neil was the next one to follow and as they reached their pink teammate, he and Kevin faced off against the Raven King. But Riko wasn't moving. He was fully transformed into a Raven and he was regarding them all with crazy yellow eyes but he didn't make a move against them.
Allison had reached Seth, the downed Ranger unmoving and unmorphed on the ground. Allison's voice was choked as she muttered. "No, no, nonono. Seth? Wake up. Wake up!"
Seth did not wake up.
The other two Rangers reached them, but there was nothing anyone could do.
"You're gonna pay for this" Kevin spat at Riko, his blue staff raised and poised to attack. The Blue Ranger sounded choked up and angry.
Riko spread his enormous wings, the air whooshing around them as he prepared to take flight. "You chose the wrong team, Kevin, and I'll kill each and every one of you until you realize what a mistake it was to leave the Nest... for this"
Riko spat at Neil's and Kevin's feet before lifting from the ground and flying away into the sky.
When they turned around, Allison was craddling Seth's head in her lap. The target was nowhere in sight and Riko hadn't taken the teen with him, so Neil could only assume that Seth had bought the target enough time to run away.
"Is he...?" but he didn't really have to finish the question. He had felt it, they had all felt it, and as Neil stood there unable to take a step closer to his teammates, the Red Fox's desperate wailing went louder than ever.
Seth's body was pale and as Allison rocked him with her grieving ministrations, Neil's eyes found the man's wrist. The morpher was still clasped around it but instead of bright yellow, all color had bled out from it. It wasn't even just gray, it was simply colorless the same way Seth was now lifeless.
The power that once ran through it was gone. The spirit of the Blanford Fox... Neil brought a hand to his chest.
I'm sorry, he told his Fox.
Pain.
Death.
Destruction.
The Red Fox was angry. It was weeping.
I'm so sorry.
As he continued to rub circles into his chest, Kevin and Matt knelt beside Allison. They didn't morph out, none of them did, but without looking at their faces, Neil knew they were striken and maybe even tear stained and dumbfounded. He didn't know what his own face might have looked like at the moment, but he was shocked. And he was shocked that he was shocked. He felt for his Fox more than he felt for himself but he was also rendered speechless after what happened.
Neil didn't feel entittled enough to go kneel by Seth's body, but he stood protectively over his team as they grieved. The Black Ranger also stood several feet to the side and when he noticed Neil's assessing look, he stared right back. They regarded each other silently. There was so much Neil wanted to ask him: how are you in on our communication channel? Why won't you ever talk to us? Who are you?
But he asked none of those things and simply remained quiet. The Black Ranger glanced at the rest of the team and sent one last look Neil's way before slowly walking away and disappearing at the end of the street.
Somehow, Neil felt another wave of loss taking residence inside him.
Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. For however long they remained there, nobody said anything as they tried to assimilate that Seth's death had actually happened, that Riko had murdered him and that the Blanford Fox had been destroyed along with him.
The Foxhole Force was incomplete now. Fractured. Shattered. Broken. And Neil could do nothing but wrap his arms around himself as if he could actually hug Red while the Fox mourned the loss of its friend.
"Bring him home, Rangers"
What home? Neil thought bitterly, and the Red Fox wept even more.
Next episode: Smoke and… mirrors?