Power Rangers: Foxhole Force

by LunaMoon2620

Neil Josten did not expect to find trouble within the hour of arriving to Palmetto City but now he's in the middle of a war between some scary looking raven-like creatures and...and...who are these people again? And Neil is supposed to be their leader now? (Full summary inside) Season: 1 Number of episodes: 20 Come give this story a chance... you won't regret it!

13. S1E13: Between a rock and a hard place

Hi! i know it's been a long time coming but the new chapter is finally here. I hope you enjoy it!

---

Previously on Power Rangers: Foxhole Force.

As he recovered from the injuries Riko had inflicted on him, Neil was faced with the deadline Andrew had set: he either stayed with the Force or he left forever. The decision should have been easy, he should have run the moment Riko found out who he was, but something was stopping him. He just didn't want to go. He wanted to keep the friends he'd made and he wanted to keep his Fox. But his quest to find out if he really had friends within the Court got interrupted when Kevin started acting weird: violent and angry. When Andrew called for a meeting to express his concerns, Kevin found out they were talking about him behind his back and lost it. He accused everyone of lying to him and not wanting him on the team, but the worst part was him referring to Riko as his King again. At war with himself, Kevin began to transform into a Raven, injuring Andrew in his attempt to escape and save everyone from himself. It took some fighting and Allison bravely remembering him who he really was for him to break out of the Raven spell. At the end of the day, Neil met Andrew on the roof and told him he'd decided to stay. Andrew accepted him back and reminded him of their new promise. Neil stayed and Andrew would help him find out the truth about his past.

S1 E13: Between a rock and a hard place

---

A knock on the door.

"Neil?"

"Mghr"

Another knock. "You awake?"

It was Matt. "Mhmm"

"Andrew's here"

Neil grumbled one more time as he freed his head from under the pillow and flipped around to stare at the ceiling, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. What time was it?

Late, Red said and Neil could feel some restless energy coming from the Fox. Did Foxes ever sleep?

Late.

Neil sighed.

It wasn't the first time he slept in that week and it wasn't the first time Matt had to knock on his door saying he'd be late for work if he didn't get up soon. Except today was Sunday, so why was Matt bothering him so early—

Late.

... in the morning?

And, wait... Andrew's here?

Neil's eyes widened slightly in surprise and he grunted with the effort of sitting up in bed. It had been more than a week since his encounter with Riko and his body was healing nicely but, strangely enough, these days he felt more tired and heavy than ever. It seemed as if he was walking through quicksand and breathing through water every day. He wasn't having any kind of mental breakdown, at least he didn't think so, so his kind of lethargic state had to be just physical. He literally felt as if the moment he decided to stay, his body had shut down on him saying: we can sleep here forever now, right?

And he'd certainly done a lot of that. But if there was anything to feel guilty about, Neil decided he could leave that particular emotion to deal with later, preferably during working hours. It was Sunday. Sunday. And Neil refused to spoil himself the fun of a normal Sunday in his life. But if—

Another knock on the door. "Neil?"

He grumbled. He yawned and he got up. "Coming"

"Andrew's here" Matt repeated as a way of explanation for his interrupting Neil's sleep when he opened the door and the redhead caught a glimpse of a person standing by the front doorway around Matt's broad shape. He nodded and made his way sleepily towards him.

Whatever Neil had been expecting Andrew to say, it was definitely not this.

"You and me. On the roof"

"What?"

"Now"

The blond didn't wait for an answer as he turned on his hills and disappeared down the hall, adjusting the duffle bag Neil had just noticed strapped to his shoulder.

He had a small feeling of deja vu and he hesitated before remembering he and Andrew were on good terms right now and figuring that the blond personally showing up to summon him had to be a show of good faith on his part, right?

Well?

Neil rolled his eyes at Red's insistence but he shook the cobwebs from his mind and nodded anyway. The Fox was bored, which meant the Fox was curious and, if Neil was being honest with himself, so was he. So foregoing a change of clothes and merely putting on some sneakers, Neil made his way to the roof leaving a stunned and curious Matt behind and resigning himself to the fact his day had only just started.

… . … . … . … . … . … . …

When he stepped into the roof a couple of minutes later, he didn't immediately see Andrew.

The blond wasn't perched on his usual spot and, looking at the edge of the roof now, the redhead could only be reminded of the last time they were sitting there together, when Andrew had finally acknowledged him for deciding to stay and find out the truth about his past.

The memory brought out with it a foreign mix of feelings, something between the fear of staying put after years of running away and excitement at finally having a place that he could say he actually belonged to.

Team.

Yes, and a team.

He hadn't set foot on the roof since, and he and Andrew hadn't spoken more than a couple of work related stuff since that day, so it was unexpected and surprising to have the blond ordering him to come up here. And where was he anyway?

A quick search had him landing eyes on Andrew's broad back, as far away from the edge of the building as he'd ever seen him, and making his way to the middle of the roof. When he deemed a spot good enough for only he knew what, he dropped the duffle and turned to send an impatient look his way. Neil didn't waste time wondering what was going on if he could just ask, which is exactly what he did once he joined Andrew in the middle of the roof.

"Umm... what are we doing?"

"Sparring"

Neil's eyebrows shot up to the roof, not literally, as he regarded Andrew's deadpanned expression. He vividly recalled the morning he'd asked Andrew to spar with him on a regular basis so he could get better at fighting unmorphed and the other boy had blatantly refused, saying he had absolutely no interest in spending more time with Neil than was absolutely necessary. Really, Neil should have been used to Andrew's ever changing moods by now but for some reason, it was still a shock to hear an acknowledgement of his proposal. "What?"

"What are you, deaf?"

"But you said no"

Andrew cocked his head to the side and Neil wasn't sure if he should keep digging until he found out why the change of heart or if he should just go with it.

"Do you want us to spar or not?"

Definitely keep digging. "Did Coach put you up to this?"

Andrew made a gesture with his arm indicating the way back to the door. "I can leave"

"No, no. It's good" Neil decided to backtrack and relent, dropping the matter for now and not risking Andrew suddenly changing his mind. "I'm good. We'll fight"

Despite the weather growing steadily warm as the days went by, Andrew was wearing a long sleeved t-shirt and sweats, whereas Neil was only clad in a worn down t-shirt and shorts.

He stretched his neck this way and that before jumping on his tiptoes and making his body warm up a bit before they started. A few feet in front of him, Andrew merely rolled his shoulders once.

"Question" the redhead said before they could get into business. The only indication that the other boy had heard him at all was a lifted eyebrow and a bored look. "How does the no touching rule work here?"

Neil would have liked to say he was starting to know Andrew enough now to see a flicker of surprise come across his otherwise neutral expression, but he couldn't really be sure of that since, after all, the blond answered clinically.

"You won't be touching me, you'll be fighting me"

Neil found the answer as odd as the man himself, but he didn't want to brush the words aside as a joke because Andrew had never treated the matter as such. In fact, the no touching rule was the one thing Andrew was violently adamant on, so Neil would respect that. Still, that answer only prompted him to wonder. After all, they would have to touch in order to spar, so what Neil wondered was what exactly kind of touch Andrew didn't tolerate, and the redhead knew there were many kind. His own body was evidence of what a cruel intended touch could do, and it wasn't like he—

A fist flew by, almost catching him on the nose if he hadn't reacted fast enough to dodge it.

"Woah" he planted his feet apart as his body instinctively dropped into a fighting stance. Andrew's face didn't betray anything, not even amusement at catching Neil by surprise. "Warn a guy next time"

"You thought I'd be going easy on you"

"No"

Silence.

"Maybe" he added with a shrug.

"Why?" Andrew asked as if he was genuinely curious about why Neil hadn't expected him to throw a first punch that could have easily broken his nose.

Neil shrugged again. "It's the first time"

"No first time is pretty"

Neil supposed it was true but he only shrugged to drop the matter as unimportant. Knowing now not to wait for a start signal, Neil didn't wait for Andrew to attack first, instead jumping forward and trying to catch the other boy by surprise. Of course, Andrew was ready and they traded a few blows that didn't manage to catch any of them anywhere. They blocked and dodged and danced around each other for a few short seconds before taking a step back and surveying the situation.

Neil let out a cocky smile as they walked in slow circles, proud of the fact he sported no bruises yet. "Better than last time, right?"

"Barely" Andrew said and lunged forward.

After a couple of months with the Foxhole Force, fighting Ravens left and right and training with Renee, Neil held his ground decently enough. Better than he ever had before in a fistfight and even though Red wasn't helping him perform crazy acrobatics in the air like he did when he was fighting while morphed, Neil found he'd actually learned a lot since day one. The problem was, Andrew was an excellent fighter, equal parts vicious and calculating. He wasn't the fastest of fighters, but damn he was strong and relentless and in no time at all, Neil had broken into a sweat. Where did Andrew learn to fight like this, he didn't know, but he filed the question in his mind for whenever they played a next round of their truth game because Neil was simply too curious now to just let it go.

But their draw didn't last long as things started shifting in Andrew's favor after a while. A fist landing here, a kick landing there. Soon enough Neil went from occasionally landing a hit himself to barely being able to defend all of Andrew's moves. Whereas Neil's body became slower with time, Andrew's seemed to react faster and soon enough, maybe even embarrassingly so, considering Neil was a Power Ranger and Andrew was not, the blond sent one powerful kick after another, making two 360° rolls in quick succession and sending the redhead sprawling to the ground, winded, and holding the side of his jaw. He was pretty sure Andrew had held back on that last hit because if he hadn't, then Neil's jaw would've been broken. As it was, it was sure to start bruising within minutes.

Andrew regained his balance right after Neil dropped to the ground and he took a step back to survey his work. Neil thought he saw something flash in Andrew's eyes and he realized he was the only person capable of looking both impassive and smug at the same time with the mere lift of an eyebrow.

Neil let out a devilish grin. "You have got to teach me that"

"I don't have to do anything"

"What do you call that?"

"I don't"

"Can I call it the double roll?"

"No" but the redhead disregarded his answer and leaned back on an elbow while he continued to work on his jaw.

"The twister. The double twister. The three sixty? No, wait. Three sixty plus three sixty... the seven twenty! No, no, that's awful" in the midst of his distracted digression, Neil heard Andrew mumbling something about all of them being awful, but he wasn't deterred. He began stumbling his way back into his feet and rubbed at his jaw one more time before simply forgetting about the pain. "I'm just gonna call it the double roll"

"Suit yourself"

"But, seriously, will you teach me?"

Andrew had already walked towards the duffle they had drifted from and fished a water bottle from inside, offering it to Neil, who eyed it reluctantly until the blond rolled his eyes, took the cap off and swallowed half the water first before offering it back to him. The redhead took it and finished it.

After another few seconds of silence, the blond finally answered. "I'll show you once. After that, you can practice on your own time"

"Deal" Neil said without missing a beat. He honestly hadn't thought the other boy would agree to it so he wasn't about to miss this rare opportunity.

When Andrew got back into position, the redhead followed him.

"Knees apart, right foot forward, hands never down, arms bent waist high" as Andrew spoke, they looked like mirror images with Neil mimicking everything he did. "Don't hold back on the first kick. You will lose your balance because of it. Use that" he continued as he demonstrated. "Your leg will come down hard. Don't try to rebalance. Instead, pivot on that leg and roll. Bring your other leg up to finish the job"

He made it look, and sound, easy, but as soon as Neil tried to roll to get the second kick out, he overbalanced and fell to the ground with a yelp. Andrew didn't laugh, but Neil wouldn't have blamed him if he had.

Far from discouraged though, Neil tried again.

Andrew had taken residence at his usual spot near the edge of the building, lighting a cigarette and ignoring Neil's attempts to master the double roll move.

The issue was always the same. His leg came down on the ground so hard from the first kick that when he tried to used that leg as a new pivot, he simply lost control and went overboard into the floor.

Help, Red suggested and Neil huffed right back at him.

Yeah, you could do that.

But instead of actually offering any help, the Red Fox retreated and went back to being silent. When Neil rolled his eyes and turned around to try the move again, he startled in surprise at Andrew, who had creeped up on him from behind.

"You're not doing it right"

"No kidding" so many helpful comments lately, Neil thought sarcastically.

"You're not doing it wrong either" Neil could only stare back, waiting for another sprout of wisdom. In a clear sign of annoyance, Andrew sighed. "Here"

He offered up his arm. Neil blinked twice.

Neil continued to stare at him until Andrew explicitly ordered him to take it and use it as leverage to keep his ground while doing the double roll.

"Isn't this cheating?" the redhead asked, still reluctant to grab into the other boy's arm.

"You're not playing a game, you're learning a new skill" and, well, touché, he guessed.

Neil took a hold of his arm.

He tried to master the move again, and again, and again with the unmovable help of Andrew's arm, managing to complete the roll without falling and getting better at aiming his foot high enough to probably knock someone out the first time he decided to use this against somebody, or some-raven.

"I think I got it" he declared overconfidently and let go of Andrew's arm while trying one last time only to have to immediately latch onto it again when he inevitably lost control. Flailing desperately for a second, his grip slipped from Andrew's forearm down to his wrist and when Neil's fingers clasped over an exposed patch of skin, Andrew instantly pulled back, making him yelp and end up on the ground anyway.

"You're done practicing" the blond spat, making his way once again to the edge of the building. Neil nodded even though Andrew's back was to him and he took a moment to catch his breath before joining him a few minutes later.

Neil knew they would not talk about it. In fact, he expected the other boy to have one of his tantrums and completely ignore him for days now, because for a moment there, for the split second that Neil's fingers had slipped inside his armband, he had felt more than the knives he knew where hidden in there. And the thing was, Neil knew what scar tissue felt like, he knew because he'd been feeling it all over his body since before he could remember but despite the sudden, unexpected and completely unfamiliar need to know who and why and when, he bit down his curiosity and stopped himself from asking. It was one thing to ask questions when the answers were willingly given and another to have an answer exposed by accident.

So, all things considered, it definitely came as a surprise when a cigarette was held between them in offering once Neil joined him.

"We're going out today" Andrew spoke first, to which Neil could only arch his eyebrows.

"Come again?"

"To the library"

"Again, come again?"

"Our promise" the blond said as way of explanation. "Maybe we can find something about your family"

"At the library?"

"They have books. And records. And old newspapers. History"

"You think my family is connected to Palmetto's history?"

"You don't?"

Neil couldn't really deny he had thought of it, what with the name of Palmetto being crossed out of the binder by his mother and the memories of her violent reactions every time she heard the name, but he'd never actually considered making any kind of investigation over it. He had to admit some of Andrew's ideas were interesting enough to consider. "I guess we could give it a shot. Except Coach doesn't want me to leave the building much"

"You haven't been out all week" sometimes it was unsettling how for someone so used to not being noticed, he now sometimes felt like his life was under a microscope. Or maybe that was just Andrew and his eerily but mostly definitely irritating ability to just pay attention.

"You wanna go now?"

Andrew shrugged. "No time like the present"

Neil sighed and exhaled the last of his cigarette smoke. "Fine. Let me just shower and I'll be good to go"

Andrew didn't answer anything back so Neil simply turned around and made his way back to his room. His muscles were already aching after what had to be at least an hour of intense sparring but he found that despite his sore healing injuries, the burn of exercise on his body was as liberating and mind clearing as always. He'd actually followed Coach's orders of staying put and not letting himself be seen near the Youth Center now that the Ravens knew his identity, but as much as living over a gym could do for him, not that it had done much this week because both Coach and Aaron had been adamant he rest, he missed his daily runs as if he'd been banned from taking them forever. He supposed these new weekly sparring sessions with Andrew were good enough substitutes for now.

After a quick shower and a bite to eat, Neil left a napping Matt on the couch to go meet Andrew at the top of the stairs where the other boy had already been waiting for him. Without any need for acknowledgement, they went down the stairs and hopped into Andrew's car to make their way, unbelievably and mind-blowingly, to the library.

---

"Palmetto is a weirdly ass place" Neil commented once they got out of the car.

"What gave it away?" Andrew asked with no real curiosity in his tone. "The Ravens? The monsters?"

"The library... open on a sunday"

Andrew didn't say anything to that. He locked the Maserati and began walking the short distance towards the building.

For being a really old building, Palmetto's Public Library looked to be well maintained and kept up to date with the technologies, the front doors sliding open upon their arrival and the AC hitting them in the face as they walked through. Because it was Sunday, the place was nearly deserted, with only a librarian at the front desk and another one working his way through a nearby shelf. Andrew went straight towards another mechanical entrance and swiped a card he'd just fished from his wallet.

"I don't have one of those"

"You don't need one" the blond signaled an entrance for guests next to the front desk where he could just walk through to the other side.

Neil regarded Andrew as he put away his library card before sending a nod to the woman at the desk. Andrew was a regular here. Andrew was a regular at the library. Andrew was a regular—

"Coming?" Neil shrugged and simply filed the information away as another fact about the blond.

Andrew navigated their way easily between shelves until the endless rows of books opened to reveal an area designated for computers and work tables. He indicated for Neil to choose one of the work spaces and he appreciated the freedom to choose one facing all doors and with a shelf of books at their backs, even if they had to walk past a dozen of empty spots. Neil didn't think anyone would come at them at the library, but one could never be too careful.

If Andrew wondered anything about his choice, he didn't comment on it, and once sitting at the table, the blond powered on the computer.

"So what are we supposed to be looking up here that we couldn't at the centre?" Dan had some really state of the art technology in the Command Centre, something they'd taken advantage of before, but Andrew seemed determined with their little library excursion.

"They have their own archives"

Right.

But when the screen loaded and the catalogue search opened up, Neil came up blank. It was like he had so much he needed to know that he didn't know where to start. Did he type in his mother's name? That search had already proved pointless the first time they tried it, so Neil didn't think the library would miraculously turn up anything different just because they had their own archives.

Should he type his father's name? A shudder ran down his spine at the mere thought of it. Should he search the history of the Ravens? The Foxes?

"Problem?" Andrew asked after a while. Neil took his eyes off the computer to glance briefly at him before shrugging. Andrew almost sounded annoyed when he spoke again. "Things have changed since we met"

It was a statement, not a question.

"So?"

"And I promised I would help you"

"Again. So?"

"So can I ask about you?"

Neil froze, an instinctive response to whenever anyone wanted to dig into his story, but the Red Fox sent a warm wave of comfort his way and reminded him that this was just Andrew and it wasn't like the blond could help him understand the truth about his family without knowing who his family was first. Neil knew that, but it was still hard to open up.

Still, with a resigned sigh, he nodded. "What do you want to know?"

"Your real name"

He had been expecting something like that. "I don't like my name"

"Not what I asked" but Neil remained silent. Just because he understood he needed to talk it didn't mean it wasn't incredibly hard to let the words out, words he'd been guarding from even himself for such a long time... he didn't think he would ever be ready to share. Andrew's patience though, lasted about a half minute because he let out a breath and spoke again. "What do you have against it?"

"I'm named after my father"

"Then save us the time of my asking again and just tell me his name"

The redhead could tell Andrew wasn't asking out of impatience. If anything, he was being the most polite he'd ever been about the whole matter of Neil's past. But he didn't want to let the words out. What if someone overheard them? What if his secrets got out because of it?

But Andrew... Andrew had never really lied to him. He'd never disclosed anything of what he already knew to anyone, and he knew so much. He knew more about Neil's truth than anyone else had ever had and, if it weren't for Riko, there would be no one that knew as much about Neil than Andrew did. So what if he found out a few more things? Neil was both surprised and relieved to find out he trusted Andrew more than he'd ever trusted anyone else, because Andrew had never spilled his secrets and he'd never broken a promise to him. Above all though, Neil trusted him because Andrew had fought for him to stay, in his own kind manipulative way, sure, but he had done it anyway. He had nothing to lose by trusting Andrew a little bit more.

"Nathan" he finally said, gathering up the courage to speak his father's entire name. "Wesninski"

The blond studied his face as if he could picture his father through his features, which would give him a scarily accurate image of him and, after a minute, all he said was, "you don't look like a Nathan"

"I'm not" he said with a sigh. He supposed it was going to happen eventually. "I'm Nathaniel"

"Nathaniel Wesninski" Andrew said as if savoring the words, unaware, or probably just uncaring, about Neil's flinch at hearing his real name being spoken by him. He didn't like it. Andrew's voice just didn't sound the same with that name on his lips. But the blond wasted no more time and went back to business. "Look him up"

Instead of wasting however many minutes it would have taken him to bravely type in the words of his father's name, he just cowardly slid the keyboard closer to Andrew so the blond could do it himself. He was relieved to see Andrew just take it without comment.

After a while, in which Neil wasn't even facing the screen, Andrew flicked him in the back of the head to call his attention.

"I don't see anything relevant" Neil frowned. That didn't sound right. "You said you ran from home because he was a shitty father. Was that true?"

The redhead remembered the first time he told Andrew anything about his family, back when the blond had drugged him for answers and they'd made their first deal. "Mostly" he answered, but at Andrew's arched eyebrow he was quick to add. "What he was —is, yeah... it counts as shitty"

"Tell me"

This wasn't making much sense. "You just read about it"

"Not many Nathan Wesninski's in the world. None of them stand out to me"

"What?" Neil forgot all about his previous reluctance and stole the keyboard from Andrew. He opened a new search tab and directly wrote what his father was: the Butcher of Baltimore. More than ten thousand results popped up. "There"

Andrew leant in and read the first few headlines. "A serial killer" he stated.

Neil studied him as the blond stared at him back, something other than boredom in his eyes. Something that wasn't quite curiosity either. Something that Neil didn't know what to call.

"I don't need your pity"

"Who says I pity you"

"Then don't fucking look at me like that. Yes, my father is a serial killer. Let's move on from that"

"Indeed" he agreed and now it was Neil's turn to stare puzzlingly at him because Andrew's words were sometimes so hard to decipher. Was he simply agreeing with him or implying something else? But the redhead shook his head and berated himself for getting so caught up in Andrew's antics that he'd just spent about five minutes talking about his father being a serial killer without minding his tone or if anyone was near enough to hear them.

"Whatever" he answered and clicked on the very first link about The Butcher. Everything he read was information he already knew: The Butcher of Baltimore blah, blah, blah... hasn't struk for 10 years, went missing after that... his wife and child missing and presumed dead blah, blah, blah... but it wasn't until he reached the end of the article that his breath hitched and his eyes widened. There was a photo of his father, except—

"10 years" Andrew said, eyes scanning over the article as well. "When Riko said your mother 'hid him here', what did he mean?"

But Neil wasn't listening. He was staring at the screen trying very hard not to let the anxiety he could already feel rising in his chest blind him, or choke him. He checked, and double checked, and triple checked, but his eyes weren't deceiving him and the name at the bottom of the picture wasn't either.

"Neil... Josten... hey!" he jumped at the snap of fingers near his face. "Snap out of it"

"That's... I don't..." he gasped and then cursed. Fuck, he really hated the anxiety attacks. He brought a hand to his chest as if he could keep the fear contained inside and took as much of a deep breath as he could, only managing to get his next words out when he shifted his troubled eyes from the screen to Andrew. "That's... not my father"

"Explain"

Through rapid breaths, he tried. "He doesn't... my father doesn't look like that. His name, look. It's not his"

Andrew took a closer look at the picture. "Steven Burrows. So it's not a picture of your dad. So what?"

Neil shook his head. Andrew wasn't getting it. The article was about The Butcher, there was no doubt about that, but why would they use the wrong picture? They couldn't have just made such a mistake unless... unless it wasn't a mistake at all.

He clicked back on the article and switched to an image search, rushing through the thousands of pictures and growing more agitated as he did. None of the pictures were right. They kept showing that man, Steven Burrows, as the Butcher. They were all from Baltimore. There were even pictures of his family: a wife and a young boy, but that was not his mother and that was just not him. The news, the facts, the places... everything was right except it wasn't them.

"I don't understand" he whispered and leaned away from the screen. Andrew went through a few more pictures himself before focusing his attention back on him.

"Could you have gotten his title wrong?"

Neil landed anxiety-filled eyes on him. "How could I have gotten it wrong? I lived with him for 8 years, I saw him hacking people to pieces, he hurt me. I didn't get his title wrong"

"Did you never look him up then?" the question wasn't meant as a jab, Andrew wasn't judging him. He knew, but he felt defensive either way.

"The internet is wrong"

"But you didn't know he knew the Ravens either. You didn't know Riko was the one after you. Is it possible that none of what you think you know is true?"

Goddamn it! Andrew was making sense but how could Neil accept that? And how could he not? If Riko had proven anything to him is that half of what he knew of his family was a lie. Why would this be any different? And Riko had said—

Riko had said...

"Try the Doctor of Baltimore"

While Andrew's fingers worked the keyboard, a sudden wave of calm washed over him. It was so warm, and sudden, and powerful that Neil felt his eyes dropping and his head falling for a second. He gasped and sat up straighter.

Red?

Yes.

What are you doing? The Fox had helped him through some of his anxiety before but never had his influence been so powerful he felt on the verge of falling asleep. What if this happened during a compromising situation?

Andrew.

What about him?

Instead of answering, Red trembled. The Fox felt like it had done something wrong. Neil leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. His heart felt calmer, not longer about to burst out of his chest and his breathing was better if not entirely back to normal. Even if Neil was against losing his awareness under any circumstances, even when he was with someone he trusted, he could appreciate his pulse coming down to a more manageable level. It also made his mind clearer.

Just don't over-calm me.

Anxiety. Hate it.

I know, he said, understanding now where Red was coming from. Thank you.

At least a few minutes later, when Andrew declared he hadn't found anything useful under the new search either, Neil didn't feel like the walls were closing in on him.

When all he did was hum, Andrew asked what was on his mind. "I'm starting to think my father has nothing to do with Baltimore at all"

"You're thinking Palmetto?"

"Where else if not?"

Andrew typed something else on the computer and Neil realized he'd changed the focus of their search towards the Ravens. They read through some articles, hoping that looking at the problem from another angle would shed some light on who Nathan Wesninski really was. But, as Neil was learning to expect, everything was fruitless.

"Nothing's older than a couple of years" he commented after the fifth article.

"When the Ravens first showed up" Andrew stated. He stretched his neck before slumping on the chair and making it spin from side to side as he seemed to retreat into his thoughts. Neil continued to watch him until Andrew caught him at it and arched an eyebrow. Neil's eyes migrated to the ceiling.

"Coach said..." he started but trailed off for a few seconds as he tried to solve this impossible puzzle. "Things just don't add up. The Ravens arrived at Palmetto 2 years ago but Riko has been after me for years and he had been looking for the Doctor way before that. He killed my mother because of it. How come there's nothing older on the web?"

He didn't get an answer but he wasn't really expecting one either. Andrew knew as much as he did at this point and he was ready to call it quits and suggest they just go back home when the blond suddenly jumped from the chair and pulled Neil up along with him by the fabric of his t-shirt. "Come with me"

"Where are we going?" he asked, closing their search tabs in a rush and running after Andrew who wad already disappearing through some shelves.

"You'll see" oh, how Neil hated those words.

They came to a stop in front of an unlabeled door that Andrew didn't hesitate to open. A flight of stairs going down greeted them and the sight did nothing to help keep Neil's anxiety under control, especially because he was suddenly reminded of the nightmare in which Andrew turned into a Raven at the bottom of his childhood's basement stairs.

"Andrew..."

But the blond simply went down and Neil couldn't really do anything other than follow him.

When they reached the underground landing, Neil got the impression that this was what an old building was actually supposed to look like. The place was dark and dusty, and even though it was filled with rows and rows of books, it didn't look like an actual part of the library. If anything, the room looked like a dumpster of forgotten books. How did Andrew knew about this place, he had no idea, but he made sure to stick close to him at all times. There was no AC down there, no good lighting and the shelves were arranged in a worse labyrinth-ly manner than the ones upstairs. Neil's pulse jolted at the mere idea of getting lost down there. Whatever this room was for, why did it have to be a basement?

"What is this place?" he asked in a whisper only to jump when Andrew answered back at a normal volume.

"The oldest archives"

When they seemed to arrive at their destination, Neil read the title of some books at random. "History of Palmetto... Palmetto City: A Hundred Years of History... The City of Palmetto... You think we'll find something about the Ravens here?"

Andrew shrugged as he examined the title of some of the books himself. "Everything is shady when it comes to the Ravens"

Neil nodded.

Keepping in mind that he didn't want to wander the room alone but wanting to be over with it as soon as possible, he proposed they separated and picked out a few books that called their attention to go through them together. Andrew agreed without a word and began studying the closest shelf.

The amount of books dedicated to Palmetto's history was overwhelming. Why did they keep these books separated from the rest was beyond him but he guessed it didn't really matter as long as they provided some of the answers they needed. So making sure he never lost Andrew from his line of sight, Neil tapped into the warmth the Red Fox hadn't exactly stopped spreading through him and set himself to his task. If they were lucky, they would be out of that book cemetery within the next couple of hours and, hopefully, they wouldn't leave with more questions than the ones they already had.

… . … . … . … . … . … . … . …

"Your mother is dead"

Neil looked up from a dark stain on the floor he'd been staring at for the past 10 minutes and regarded Andrew with an astonished expression.

"What" the blond asked. "We're stating facts"

"You could have started with literally anything else"

"Fine" Andrew huffed, then arched an eyebrow. "Your father's here then"

The reminder only made Neil's stomach sink.

"What" Andrew asked again.

"Forget it"

"Do you need a break already?"

"Forget it" he sighed and focused back on the stain.

They had spent the last hour going through some of the books they'd picked only to come up empty handed when the history of Palmetto turned out to be disappointingly boring and Raven-free, not one single mention of the dark feathered creatures anywhere. That's why Andrew had suggested they worked through what they already knew, making Neil re-tell him again all the things Riko had spat the other day about the Doctor and his family, which had inevitably led to the brilliant idea of stating the facts they'd gathered so far, all so they could come up with a reasonable theory about the conection between the Ravens and the Wesninski family. Andrew's words, not his. But Neil didn't need to hear the facts again. He knew them by heart already.

He tuned Andrew out and went from studying the stain on the floor to examining the walls around them.

They had migrated from the history of Palmetto section to one about mystical and esoteric things. Titles like How to Master Black Magic in 7 Quick Steps or Calling on the Divine for Dummies were just some of the ridiculous names they'd encountered so far. They didn't even look like antique books at all, but he guessed they were unpopular enough to grant them a place in this forgotten room.

As Andrew continued to spout facts about Riko being his real tormenter all this time, a shelf to his left caught Neil's attention because the books didn't look like books at all. They were three to four times bigger, thick enough to probably require both hands to pick them up and bound in the same worn black leather binding. They picked his interest enough for him to stand up from their messily arranged pile of books on the floor and go examine them.

"…your family. Maybe— Hey, we're talking here" but when Neil didn't acknowledge him, the blond stood up to follow. "Good to know I can keep your interest"

Neil rolled his eyes and bent down to pick one of the strange books from the bottom of the shelf. He knew he had been the one to pick Andrew's interest when the blond eyed the book curiously before ripping it from his hands to open it himself. Neil sighed and stood on his side to read.

"They're newspaper articles"

"Old newspaper articles" Andrew added and flipped through some pages.

The pages were worn and yellowish, and some parts were so faded it was hard to read the text or see the pictures. Still, Neil's pulse started running again with excitement. This looked more promising than any history book they'd read so far. Actual facts and events that happened to people, with dates and times and descriptions and everything. After hours of fruitless work, the redhead believed that if there was anything worth finding about the Ravens or the Wesninski's, this was their best shot.

"Look for the ones from around ten years ago" Andrew ordered and Neil quickly found the correct newspaper collection.

If anything, the newspaper clippings made for an interesting reading and it soon became evident why they were placed in the esoteric section. They all had something to do with strange phenomena surrounding the City of Palmetto. Neil decided to leave Andrew with the 10-year old articles while he inspected some of the older ones on the shelf. There were even clippings from a hundred and more years ago. Now this, Neil thought, is what history is supposed to look like.

He guessed he shouldn't haven been surprised that not even five minutes into the reading he'd already came across allegations of alien abductions.

A couple in 1893 claimed to have been abducted while they walked back from an evening romantic stroll by the beach.

That same year, a psychic became famous for professing he could communicate with the dead. A few articles later his murder was declared an unresolved case.

Walking into the 90's, a string of murders shook the City of Palmetto. All victims were young, all had been found dead by the same murder weapon and all bodies had been disposed of in the same manner. Neil didn't need the words 'serial killer' spelled out to him to spot the pattern and as soon as he made sure this case didn't share any details with how his father used to dispose of his victims, he moved on.

Sisters born attatched from their limbs… people walking out of their graves… ghosts visiting old ladies at midnight… people with clairvoyant abilities… floating animals in the woods and, seriously, more aliens? Neil huffed and turned the page. If—

Wait... floating animals in the woods? Neil went back to that.

According to the article, a search party had been going through the woods looking for a missing teenage girl when one of the men swore he saw a glowing floating dog that led him straight to where the girl had fallen unconscious. Nobody really believed his crazy story and they attributed it to adrenalin and sleep deprivation, but the man swore by his word.

Neil checked out the date of the article. The year was 1991, definitely more than ten years ago and the redhead wondered... a floating dog?

Fox.

You think it could have been a Fox spirit?

Fox.

He decided it was worth it to finish going through the entire page just in case there was another mention of the floating dog anywhere, but he was about to reach the end of the article when something happened that made Neil stop reading for a moment.

The ground had rumbled.

It hadn't been much and it hadn't been for long. In fact, seeing as Andrew continued to read from his own book undisturbed, Neil began to consider he had simply imagined it all.

He went back to his own reading. There was just something about this article...

"Hey, look at this" he called, waving Andrew closer so he could read the words himself. "It says something about—" but then he felt it again.

The ground shaking.

This time though, Andrew had also noticed because his head snapped up to the ceiling and a confused frown crossed his features.

"Did you—?" the blond nodded and not even ten seconds later, the room shook again. "What the hell?"

Dust rained down on them and some of the books fell from their shelves.

Go. Red urged and Neil didn't need to be told twice. Neither did Andrew, apparently, because the moment the place shook again, the blond gave Neil's shoulder a push.

"Let's go" he said, coughing some of the dust that continued to fall from the rattled shelves.

Andrew's hand remained on his shoulder, guiding him towards the exit as they both hunched in on themselves to keep the dust from their eyes. And through it all, the walls didn't stop shaking every few seconds. The tremors were getting more and more intense to the point Neil almost lost his footing several times.

"What the fuck is going on?" this just didn't seem like a typical earthquake. Not that he'd been through any, but still.

Hurry. Go.

Then, unexpectedly, their communicators came alive just as the door came into view.

Andrew let go of Neil's shoulder and walked past him when the redhead instinctively stopped and reached for it, recognizing the now familiar sound of a monster alert.

Suspecting where the shakes were coming from now and after a remark from the blond to fucking move his ass, Neil reached him at the bottom of the stairs.

"We shou—"

But that's when, with a resounding crack and a final shake, the ceiling finally collapsed and the building came crashing down, burying them inside.

---

Noise. And dust. And concrete. And books.

Everything came rushing at him from absolutely every direction. An explosion of air came from the stairwell opening and Neil was blown off his feet, unable to tell what was up and what was down for a long endless second until down became evident when it hit him on the back, taking all the oxygen from his lungs and ripping a silent groan from his throat.

Books fell all around him, crushing him like he was in the middle of a stampede, and the dust swallowed him, blinded him, choked him. Huge chunks of concrete landed dangerously close to where he could only curl and protect himself on the floor and at least one book shelf landed painfully on his side, the edge digging into his hip enough to make him gasp out.

But worst of it was the noise. It was deafening and never-ending. The ceiling breaking, the chunks falling, the walls cracking, the pipes creaking. It was enough to make Neil want to scream the sheer overwhelmingness of it away. Except he didn't have any oxygen left to scream with and it didn't matter anyway because the next second something heavy crashed into the side of his head and that's when everything went black.

At least everything went quiet after that.

… . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . …

Awake.

Awake.

Awake!

Neil groaned when Red's scream sent a dagger through his brain and his body got wracked by a coughing fit the moment he opened his mouth to breathe.

For a long minute, his world was reduced to dust, darkness and pain.

A basement. He was in a basement. He remembered being in a basement. He was hurt in a basement. He was choking in a basement. His father was going to—

Not there.

A fucking basement—

Not. There.

Neil gasped again and opened his eyes. Everything was pitch black. How was he supposed to believe he wasn't in that basement if he couldn't see anything? He was hurt, he couldn't move, he couldn't breathe right and he was

in

a

basement.

Look.

Neil did and he was shocked to realize that he could actually see. His inmediate line of sight was blocked by a huge chunk of concrete but the fact that he could indeed see it helped him regain some of his composure back. His father's basement wasn't littered with cracked parts of the ceiling and the light of his father's basement was definitely not red.

Shifting his eyes to stare at his own body, he realized there was a soft red glow coming from his skin and he sighed in relief at the manifestation of his Fox.

Thank you.

The Red Fox hummed and glowed even brighter.

Neil studied his surroundings carefully and remembered the reason he was half buried under the debris, fear creeping up his mind when he remembered he hadn't been alone inside that library room.

"A-andrew?" he coughed more than what he spoke, so he tried again. "Andrew!?"

There was no response.

Okay, okay, he thought, that doesn't mean anything. It doesn't mean he's dead, it doesn't mean... it doesn't mean...

He needed to get out of there. He needed to move and find Andrew and get the hell out of dodge. But when he tried standing up, a sharp pain on his side made him grunt and recall the book shelf falling on top of him. He groaned and pushed it off himself. He was glad it didn't take much effort and that it had been the only thing keeping him down even if he would have some impressive bruising later.

When he found his way back to his feet, he stumbled, the room spinning all around and his brain complaining about it. A hand to his temple let him know he was bleeding and he cursed the sudden nausea that came with the knowledge.

Andrew. He needed to find Andrew.

The place was in utter ruins and for a scary moment, the room shook again. Neil scrambled to hold on to something, anything, until the tremors passed, not before they dislodged a few more unstable parts of the building. God, there was a building on top of them, the entire fucking library was literally on top of them. What the hell had happened?

Andrew. Neil focused back on the blond at Red's reminder but after a second, he realized the Fox was calling for his attention.

Andrew.

There were some faint grunting sounds coming from somewhere to his left that made Neil perk up and hurry over. He had to limp his way over fallen debris that made his progress slow and uncomfortable, but the state of his injuries was nothing compared to the other dozens of times he'd been hurt before this, so he pushed the discomfort out of his mind and made his way to where he vaguely remembered the door being and where the noises that were hopefully from Andrew were coming from.

When the blond finally came into view, the reason behind his grunting became clear. He was trying to push a giant block of concrete off himself, his left arm and shoulder were trapped underneath and, Neil had the slight suspicion, part of his chest too, but he was either too hurt to move the block on his own or the piece of concrete was simply too heavy, which was a problem considering Andrew probably couldn't breath right underneath that thing.

"Andrew" the redhead called as he approached only to have a wild pair of eyes snapping up at him.

"Stay away" the blond warned and even though he looked dazed, his tone was unwavering.

"Hey, it's just me"

"Stay. Away" the redhead frowned and stopped his approach.

"I just wanna help—"

"Move. Move. Move" but he wasn't talking to Neil, he was grunting the words as he tried, unsuccessfully, to move the concrete away. The blond slumped after the last effort and coughed the only thing he'd managed to move so far, dust.

Neil tried again. "Andrew, just—"

"Shut up"

To Neil, it was always unsettling to see the blond so unhinged. The only few times he'd seen him like that, Andrew had been beside himself with anger. But now, now he looked desperate and anxious, and Neil didn't know how to deal with that.

Under the bright red light emanating from his skin, Andrew tried once again to dislodge the piece of concrete from himself. His efforts were in vain though and when Neil's eyes saw the blood coating his chest, right were Kevin's slashes had probably reopened, he knew he couldn't keep watching.

"Listen" he started but the blond didn't stop his assault on the concrete block, which he was now trying to beat to a pulp with his bare fist. Blood continued to seep from his wounds.

That was it.

"Hey, stubborn!" Neil shouted with as much authority as he could muster, tapping into his inner Coach voice in case that prompted Andrew to actually listen. When the blond's eyes found his, he continued. "Just let me lift it off you and you can go back to beating the crap out of it when you're free, but it's hurting you, so stop"

Andrew was breathing heavily, staring at Neil and then at the block pinning him down as if he was deciding between the lesser of two evils, which Neil tried not to feel too offended for. Eventually, he seemed to calm down enough to nod his approval and, as dazed as his eyes had been before, they now tracked Neil's approach like a hawk.

When he reached him and took a hold of the block, Neil knew better than to say anything about Andrew's flinch and the blond hesitated before saying, "Just don't touch"

"I know" the redhead replied, making sure there was no contact between their skins. He positioned both hands at the edge of the block and braced a foot on the nearest wall. "Okay, I'm gonna lift, you're gonna push and when you can move, get out from underneath"

Andrew nodded curtly and got ready to move. Neil counted down from three and with the Fox's help, they worked on getting the blond free. It took some time and a couple of tries but eventually they lifted the block enough for Andrew to slip out, Neil falling on his ass once he dropped the weight and Andrew sticking his back to the wall and tucking his arm to his chest.

"You okay?"

"You're glowing. Why are you fucking glowing?" well, it's not like Neil was actually expecting a thank you.

"Red is giving us light, not that there's much to see..." standing up and looking around, he made sure to keep a respectful distance from Andrew, who seemed content to rest against the wall for now. "Well, this is a mess"

Silence was the only thing that greeted him, so Neil continued his reconnaissance of the ruins.

"Is it broken?"

Andrew's eyes never stopped tracking his progress. "No"

"Dislocated?"

"No"

"This is where the stairs are supposed to be" he pointed out. "I don't see an opening for us to go through. Your chest bleeding much?"

Andrew didn't answer and Neil didn't push.

Neil's initial panic at finding himself buried in what was practically a basement hadn't entirely receded, but with both Andrew and the Red Fox he figured that as long as he wasn't alone, he'd be able to keep it under control. Right now Andrew was the one who seemed most affected by their situation so Neil concentrated on finding a way out of there. He took out his communicator.

"Do you have a signal?" he asked Andrew, deflating when the blond shook his head after checking. Neither did his.

"Okay, okay, we can... maybe if... I can morph" he ventured while pacing. "I can morph and see if I can reach the Command Centre"

Without waiting for a response, Neil brought his arms up and touched the Foxhole Force insignia on his morpher. He breathed the words out without fanfare and inmediately the red suit materialized around him. And that was the exact same moment they were plunged into darkness again.

Umm, Red? We could still use the light.

Morph.

You can't do both?

Morph, the Fox repeated and that was that. Neil let out a curse and played with his helmet until he found the night vision feature.

The first thing that greeted him when the world turned green was the sight of Andrew, wide-eyed and petrified, trying to plaster himself further into the wall. It didn't look like he was breathing at all even if Neil could hear his shallow breaths from across the room. "Andrew?"

"Come back" if it wasn't because he could see him, Neil would have never thought anything was wrong just by the sound of his voice. He sounded steady, like always, but the fear in his eyes was evident. Somehow, Neil didn't think the problem was the darkness itself.

"Let me just check this" he said, tapping the side of his helmet. "Guys? Does anyone copy? It's Neil"

Not even static reached him. "Hello? Dan! Coach! Anyone?"

Silence. They were completely cut off from the world.

"Fuck, this is useless"

"Josten"

"We're trapped here"

"Neil"

"No one knows where we are"

"Neil. Come back"

"Fuck, sorry. Power down" Neil hurriedly morphed back into himself and the Fox instantly lit up again. He looked like a human lantern, but he appreciated the ability to see past the bridge of his nose. By the way Andrew's shoulders relaxed marginally, so did he.

Neil knew better than to say anything about it. "Maybe I can create an opening"

"We're underground" Andrew replied, finally engaging himself with their quest for freedom.

"Yes"

"No street around" even if only to criticize Neil's plan.

"I meant 'opening' as in going up"

Andrew studied the collapsed ceiling and the blocked stairwell. "You'll bring the whole thing down"

With a sigh, Neil cleaned a spot on the floor from fallen debris and sat down. His body protested the movement and he lost his balance for a second, remembering he had a gash on his forehead and probably a concussion. He'd been getting a lot of those lately.

"Don't do that" Andrew warned when he brought a hand up to press against the wound.

"I should stop the bleeding"

"Infection"

"It can be treated later"

"Not if you die from it" was Andrew seriously lecturing him on how to treat wounds without supplies?

"It's covered in dust anyway. And so is yours, by the way"

"Then don't make it worse. It'll stop bleeding on its own"

"Will yours?" the redhead wasn't sure if Andrew's reopened wounds were still bleeding or not, but the top part of his chest was covered in blood and no matter how dirty the wound could get, bleeding out was worse in Neil's opinion. Still, he didn't believe the blond would let him near enough to apply pressure on it. With a heavy sigh, he dropped the matter. "We can't call anyone outside and we can't risk moving anything from in here. What are we supposed to do then?"

Wait.

"Wait"

Great, Neil was so good at waiting.

What if no one ever noticed they were gone? What if what remained of the building gave out under the pressure? What if there was another shake? And where had the shakes come from? Their communicators had received an alert right before the collapse, did it have anything to do with their temporary prison? What if it wasn't temporary at all? What if they were stuck there forever!?

Stop.

We could die.

Calm.

We'll run out of oxygen. We'll suffocate in here!

So much for keeping his panic under control.

We could blast an opening.

Collapse.

Then we dig carefully.

Collapse.

Than what the hell are we gonna do!?

"It's your turn" Andrew said out of the blue, effectively confusing Neil enough to halt his panicking thoughts.

"My turn to what"

"To ask"

He stared incredulously up at him. "We are not playing that game while waiting to die"

"Why not?"

"We'll be wasting oxygen"

"We'll pass time"

"And then die of asphyxiation"

"Such a pessimist Red Ranger"

Play.

Neil groaned and mentally rolled his eyes at the Fox who seemed to be on Andrew's side more than his today. "Fine"

If anything, the game would take his mind off their impending doom.

But when the silence stretched for longer than five minutes, Andrew cleared his throat. "Your turn" he reminded unnecessarily.

"I'm thinking"

Neil hadn't thought in a while about what he would like to know about the blond, his own life so hectic lately that he just hadn't had the time. And the thing was, he didn't know why he wanted to know things about him. He'd never cared about another person's backstory beyond the facts that would label them dangerous or harmless for him, but he guessed it had something to do with Andrew knowing so much about him too. Neil didn't like to be standing on uneven ground, and he supposed neither did Andrew, hence why he created this truth for truth game. He knew asking about his family was off limits so what else could he ask about?

Eyes dropping to the reopened slashes on his chest, Neil made up his mind. "How come Kevin is part of your group? I mean, he was actually a Raven at some point. If you drugged me because you thought I was a Raven spy then what did you do to him?"

When Kevin had almost turned on them the other day, Neil recalled Allison warning Andrew not to do to Kevin what he did the first time. Had he beaten him up? Drugged him too? They got along now as well as Andrew ever gets along with anyone, so whatever it was, it must have been forgiven by now.

With a bored tone of voice, Andrew answered. "Kevin was stupidly easy to intimidate back then. I just threatened to send him back to the Nest"

"Harsh"

"Necessary"

"How did you know he wasn't evil?"

"One question, Rabbit" the blond warned and Neil narrowed his eyes at hearing the nickname. Since that night on the roof when Neil had decided to stay, the name hadn't sounded as derogatory as before and Neil wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that.

"I'm not a rabbit anymore, remember?"

"Indeed"

Andrew and his indeed's. "Okay then, ask away"

"Why are you so obsessed with exy?"

"I'm not—" but Andrew's arched eyebrow shut him up. With a sigh, he remembered he wasn't supposed to lie in this game. "I played little league when I still lived at home. Exy was the only thing that was just mine and inside the walls I wasn't... I wasn't Nathaniel, I was just another player and I could pretend I was like all the other kids. Normal"

"Nothing about you is normal"

"Tell me something I don't know" he replied pensively and then shook the memories of his early exy days from his mind. There was no use longing for those days now. "Okay, my turn. Why do you hate exy so much?"

"I don't care about it enough to hate it"

"But you don't like it, which I don't know how it's possible because you're—" somehow he knew Andrew wouldn't appreciate Neil gushing over his exy abilities like a teenager fangirling over an idol. "You're good at it"

"I played in juvie" he finally answered after a silence that had begun to stretch into uncomfortable territory. "I don't like to be reminded of that"

"Oh"

"How many names have you had?" the blond asked, taking his turn to change the topic of conversation and to hit back with something just as personal. He didn't mind the question though, it would be the least dangerous secret he'd reveal to Andrew as of yet.

"Twenty-two... so far"

"You should play the lottery on that. Your last number"

His heart jumped at the idea of Neil Josten being his last made up identity. But wasn't that exactly what staying here meant? "I'm not a big fan of chance"

"Luck?"

"Only the bad kind"

"How—"

"My turn" he interrupted and Andrew didn't have a choice but to relent. "What were you in for?"

He knew he'd asked the wrong question when Andrew's eyes darkened and his posture stiffened. "Off limits"

Curiosity burned at him, but the rules of the game were clear and Neil wasn't about to push Andrew's limits when the blond had never set a foot past his. "Okay... tell me something you like, then. Like exy"

The question was innocent enough that Andrew's posture relaxed again and he rested his head back against the wall. "I thought I said I don't like exy"

"I meant something like the way I like exy"

"I could talk more about the things I don't like" Andrew waited until Neil shrugged his approval and so he answered. "I don't like sports. I don't—"

"Hold up. You can't not like sports" Andrew lifted a challenging eyebrow. "You work at the Foxhole Court"

"As a janitor"

"Yeah but when you sub for other coaches... I mean, the kids love you!"

"Doesn't mean I like sports, or them for that matter"

"Now I know you're lying. You love those kids"

"I hate everything about kids"

"Is it because of your childhood?"

For a second there, Neil thought Andrew would refuse to answer, seeing as Neil had already asked his question, but he let the second question slide and after he adjusted his position against the wall, he asked back. "What do you know about it?"

"Well, it must have been shitty if you work at the centre. That's why Coach hires people, right?"

"What does that say about your childhood then?" Neil could recognize a jab when he heard one so he relented on his questioning.

"Alright, I get it. I won't ask about it"

"Do you want to ask about it?"

"Do you want me to ask about it?"

"I want you to stop talking for a few minutes if that's something you can manage" Andrew was just so freaking confusing.

"Hey, you're the one that wanted to play"

"A mistake, in hindsight"

Neil sighed and mimicked Andrew's posture, letting the back of his head rest against the fallen bookshelf behind him and staring at the roof as he silently fulfilled the blond's wishes.

He didn't last long though. "My father was a serial killer so yeah, my childhood was fucked up. One of my earliest memories is listening to a man being hacked into pieces while he was still alive. He… he hurt me a lot too, for reasons that were just… stupid. I didn't— Things weren't easy on the run, but anything was better than living with him"

Andrew didn't say anything after that spontaneous confession and Neil finally succeeded in remaining silent for more than ten minutes. Wasn't that what he'd been arguing at the beginning of this incredibly long round of truth for truth? They were saving oxygen after all, but he found himself waiting expectantly for Andrew to say something, anything, and keep their game going.

His patience was rewarded when a few minutes later, the blond started to talk.

"Kids are vulnerable" he said, voice tighter than what he'd sounded like all day. "I didn't like it when I was young and I don't like seeing it on the kids at the centre"

"You don't have to tell me anything if you really don't want to"

"I also don't like owing people anything. We're even now" and that sounded like an impasse. Was that an impasse? Neil wasn't versed in social interactions well enough to recognize certain situations, but even he had to acknowledge Andrew's words were final.

He tried consoling himself with the fact he couldn't think of anything else he'd like to ask the blond and he didn't even know whose turn it was anyway, so he simply let it be and concentrated on breathing. He also didn't want to think about the fact it was getting slightly harder to breathe and it could just be the dust and the oppressive feeling of being trapped underground, but it could also mean they were already running out of air. The room they had been in hadn't been small, but that didn't mean oxygen would last them forever or until someone found and rescued them.

Look.

Red's unexpected warning had Neil opening eyes he hadn't realized he'd closed, but all that greeted him was the same as before. Dust and crumbled walls.

What?

Andrew.

The Fox was sure saying that name a lot today. The redhead fixed his gaze on Andrew, who hadn't moved as much as an inch since he plastered himself against that wall and after a full minute, Neil realized what was wrong. Andrew's condition was worsening and it was evident in the permanent frown settled between his eyebrows as he gazed up at the ceiling. The arm that had been trapped under the concrete block was resting slacked over his lap and his other hand was fisted tightly on the fabric over his wounds. But he wasn't breathing heavily and he hadn't sounded off while they talked. Either Andrew wasn't really that hurt or he was just too good at masking his pain, something Neil knew was more than possible if someone set his mind to it.

"Staring"

The redhead was startled out of his thoughts, feeling like a deer caught in headlights but unwilling to feel guilty about it. "Andrew, are you o—?"

"Why didn't you ask?"

"Huh?"

"This morning" the blond explained, not really narrowing it down. "You touched my arm"

Ah... the scars. Neil had almost forgotten about that. Almost. "You didn't mean for me to find out so I didn't think I had the right"

Andrew's eyes went from the ceiling to Neil's face and even if Andrew wasn't feeling at his best, his eyes remained as sharp as ever. "You don't. Neither does anyone else but they still would have asked"

The redhead shrugged as if taking some importance away from the matter. It was very simple to him anyway. "I agreed to trade truths willingly. It wouldn't have been willingly given information on your part"

Neil could have sworn he heard a low growl coming from the blond and the pale eyebrows were drawn together in irritation more than pain right now. "You're insufferable"

"I've been called worse things" even by Andrew himself, but he didn't really care about insults.

The blond's head dropped back against the wall and for a scary moment, the hand fisted over his chest slackened and dropped a few inches until he tightened it again, readjusting his position and pulling his lips tight when the motion obviously hurt him. What if that block had hurt him more than he was letting on?

"Hey, you should... we should keep talking"

"Who's wasting oxygen now?"

"Come on, ask me something"

"Your concern is unasked for, and unnecessary"

"Concern doesn't have to be asked for"

"I thought I had already... introduced the pot to the kettle"

Help.

I know, but how do I help him?

"I'm giving you the chance to ask a question for free, are you going to refuse?"

"Hmm"

This wasn't helping. "At least let me look at your wounds. There's no need to—"

"Why did you never look him up?"

God, Andrew could be so stubborn. But Neil let out a sigh and followed his lead. "My father?"

"Hmm"

"I... we never really had access to the Internet. When we did, it was at public places like this and my mother would always be the one to search the news for any word on my father. I was always the lookout, making sure no one was looking too hard at us. She never let me near the computers and I just... I just believed everything she told me she read about him"

"But the Butcher of Baltimore... isn't your father"

The statement made Neil shake his head in denial. "He is, I mean, it wasn't him in that picture but I saw him doing things. I saw..." when he trailed off and Andrew didn't ask anything else, Neil made sure to keep the blond talking. "You can say it. I'm stupid"

"That... goes without saying" for the first time Neil noticed Andrew's breathing starting to strain.

"I never questioned anything she told me"

"That's what kids do. They trust too much"

"Did you?" he blurted out the question without thinking and Andrew's momentary stunned silence had him letting out a halted apology. "Sorry! Sorry. I wasn't supposed to ask. I know I shouldn't have asked. I'm sorry. You don't have to answer that. In fact, don't answer that. It was stupid of me. I'm sorry"

Andrew remained silent but he didn't take his eyes off Neil after that for a while. The redhead began to feel self conscious at the scrutinity but he refused to be the one to look away first, which is why he caught the shiver than ran through Andrew's frame. Fuck, Andrew was bleeding out in front of him and the stupid fuck was just too stubborn to let Neil come even near enough to see the wound.

"This is ridiculous" he blurted as he found his way back into his feet.

"What are you... doing?"

"I'm finding a way out of here" if he couldn't help the blond directly, he could at least get them out of there so he could get the medical help he needed. "There must be a—"

But the room shook again.

Neil cursed and dropped down on all fours to avoid losing his balance, flinching when a few chunks of concrete rained down on them again. He glanced up at Andrew, who hadn't even moved to protect himself and cursed this damned shakes. What the heck was going on now?

Help.

Neil crawled his way over to the blond but before he could get there and find a way to cover him from the falling debris without really touching him, or coming near him for that matter, a whole the size of a truck opened up at the ceiling to their left and Neil was momentarily blinded by the sunlight filtering in through the hole. A gush of fresh air had him gasping every new breath and that's when he realized they had been slowly running out of oxygen. If Neil hadn't been too dazed to even keep his eyes open at the moment, he would have been gloating to Andrew.

Speaking of...

The redhead opened his eyes marginally, which watered a bit at the amount of light coming from outside, and made sure the blond was still alive.

He was, thankfully, and he was squinting up at the ceiling where, now that he looked at it too, a giant metal Fox head was peeking through.

Fox!

It was Matt's giant Fox who had literally taken a bite off the building to open up a hole for them to go through. Neil had never been happier to see his colorful team.

"Neil! Andrew!" Kevin was the first one through the hole, clad in his bright blue suit and jumping in to stick a perfect landing a few feet away from them. "Are you okay?"

The Pink Ranger was next to follow. "Neil!"

"We're fine! We're fine" he replied, straightening from his hunched position and then glancing dubiously down at Andrew. "Actually, we need to get him to the medic bay"

"What's wrong with him?"

"A building collapsed on top of us, Kevin. What do you think is wrong with him?" the realization of his own words hit him and a sudden thought crossed his mind. "There were people upstairs. At least two of them. Are they...?"

"They're fine" Allison replied, walking closer to them but halting when Neil put himself between her and a yet-to-say-anything Andrew. "They got out when the shakes started. Why didn't you?"

"We didn't have time. Where did the shakes come from anyway?"

"Monster attack. The Ravens made it grow from the start"

"Um, guys?" Matt's voice came amplified from inside the giant Fox and everyone looked up at him. "Not to hurry you up or anything but the building might still collapse so, you know, hurry up"

"He's right" Kevin agreed and he also stepped closer to Andrew.

"Wait!" Neil warned before turning around and crouching in front of the blond. He was still several feet away and he was aware of the danger they were still in, but remembering Andrew's anxious demands of staying away, he knew he needed to ask first. "Andrew, we need to go"

"No... kidding" it was the first thing he'd said since the team had found them and Neil didn't like the quality of his breathing or the softness of his tone.

"Can you stand up or do you need help?"

The offer seemed to offended him and Andrew huffed before attempting to stand up on his own. He stumbled and screwed his eyes closed for the whole minute it took him to climb his way up to his feet, but he didn't ask for help and didn't let out a single noise of discomfort. Eventually, they were ready to go.

When Neil turned around, he found Allison staring intently at him through her visor but he didn't pay much attention to her as he evaluated how on earth they would climb up that hole with an injured Andrew stubbornly refusing any help.

"Okay, how are we doing this?"

"Oh" Kevin said and Neil could practically hear the grin in his voice. "You're gonna love this. Matt?"

The Green Ranger acknowledged Kevin's call and suddenly the giant Fox head was replaced by one of its legs entering the hole and placing its paw on the ground. A freaking door opened up the side of its leg and Allison beckoned them over. "Isn't it great? We can all go inside. We'll reach the Centre in a flash"

At Neil's astonished expression, Kevin explained. "We discovered it after we defeated the monster, when we needed to get to you quickly"

Matt hurried them again and as they made their way up a flight of stairs going from the Fox's leg to its head where Matt was waiting for them, Neil asked, "How did you know where we were?"

"When you didn't respond to the alert Dan tracked your movements through the street cameras" Neil felt a familiar pang of fear at having his movements so easily traced, but he guessed in this case, he could appreciate its usefulness. "What were you two doing in the library anyway?"

"Umm... Andrew was just helping me with something"

Allison snorted. "Andrew? Helping?"

Neil frowned but didn't say anything, instead just searching out Andrew and finding him sliding down a wall to sit down on the floor. It might have been Neil's imagination, but underneath all the dirt and dust that had stuck to them during however many hours they spent down there, Andrew looked paler than ever.

"Hey" Neil said, taking a seat next to him but making sure to keep his distance. "You okay?"

"Peachy"

"Alright!" Matt announced. "Grab on to something!"

Neil thought it was a dumb thing to say considering there was absolutely nothing for them to hold on to, but he braced as best as he could against the wall. The Fox lifted its paw from the hole in the library and stood up to full hight, making its entire body shift and tremble. Neil had been inside his own giant Fox a few times now but it was still a shock to be so high up from the ground inside a giant metal machine. Beside him, Andrew's eyes were scrunched shut and his skin had gone impossibly paler. He was clutching at the floor with clawed hands.

Suddenly, Neil knew what his next question would be whenever they played another round of their truth for truth game.

As the Fox made its way through the city and then the woods to get them all back home, Neil was struck with the sudden memory of why they had been at the library in the first place and what he'd been reading right before the entire world collapsed on them. But looking at Andrew's tense body again, he knew this wasn't the time or the place to bring it up, so he decided to wait until they made it home and the blond got the help he needed, if he stopped being stubborn enough to accept it.

Pot.

Don't you dare.

Kettle.

Red!

A Fox's laugh was the strangest of sounds and yet, Neil didn't think he'd ever heard anything more pure.

… . … . … . … . … . … . … . … . …

When they finally made it back to the centre, Coach was waiting for them, ushering them to the medic bay where an annoyed Aaron didn't stop complaining about his idiot brother and the idiot rookie ruining his day off.

Neil's injuries were easy to get sorted and within a few minutes, his head wound had been cleaned and the bruise on his hip had been iced. Andrew though… the brothers locked themselves up in one of the curtained rooms and Neil knew it would take an entire army for anyone to get close to that room any time soon. That was fine with him, as long as he knew Andrew was getting the help he needed, it was enough.

Luckily, no one gave them too much grief about why they had been at the library even if Allison kept stealing furtive glances at him that he was not in the mood to try and decipher right now. All he wanted was a hot shower and maybe a bite to eat. Despite having spent almost all day at the library without taking a break from their research and then being buried alive underneath it, Neil didn't feel much like eating.

After the shower, Neil found himself making his way to the roof. He'd found it was a surprisingly useful place for thinking and he felt most clear-headed to make decisions when he was up there.

Andrew.

Neil rolled his eyes. What is it with you and him today?

But the Fox didn't reply and Neil made his way over to the edge of the building where he sat down to wait for… he didn't really know what he was waiting for. A sudden epiphany on what their next move was concerning the research of his past? Today's trip to the library suddenly felt like a total waste of time. The only thing they'd managed to learn was that Neil's past continued to be a big fucking pile of lies and that Neil was the most stupid human being alive for believing everything his mother had ever told him without question.

Innocent.

You mean stupid.

Young.

Ignorant, brainless, a fool, fucking stup—

Stop.

Neil gasped at the whine that resonated in his mind. He'd heard Red whining before but the Fox had never sounded as hurt as he did when Neil couldn't help insulting himself. His heart lurched painfully in his chest because no one had ever cared about him enough to be hurt on his behalf by some simple words.

I'm sorry.

The following purr was worth every single apology and Neil made a mental note to try and be kinder to himself if only for his Fox's benefit.

The sound of the door opening behind him had him turning around to see Andrew slowly making his way towards him. The redhead was glad to see him mostly gone back to normal if maybe still a little pale. His arms were sling free so he guessed he hadn't been too hurt under the weight of the concrete block. Knowing not to even try, he didn't ask if he was alright.

Andrew didn't acknowledge him either as he sat down and took a cigarette from his pocket. A shower and a change of clothes had also been on the blond's recent agenda, and he lit up one cigarette to hand down to Neil before lighting another one for himself. Neil didn't feel like smoking right now, but he played the cigarette between his fingers and watched as the smoke danced towards the sky.

After almost twenty minutes of companionable silence, Neil broke it off. "Can I take a turn?"

Andrew didn't break eye contact with the horizon but he nodded in response, taking a longer drag of his cigarette.

"Why do you come up here if you're afraid of heights?"

The blond didn't seem surprised that Neil had figured out his dislike of heights since he hadn't done a very good job hiding it when he'd been forced to climb inside the giant Fox, so Neil didn't think he would deny the fact. He wasn't sure he would answer it either, but it was worth a try.

Without looking at him, Andrew placed two fingers over the pulse point in his wrist and replied. "Feeling"

And, fuck, that single word was implying so much. Neil wasn't an expert on mental health issues. Hell, his own were probably enough to fill up an entire book about them, but he knew Andrew must have gone through some shit to feel like he couldn't feel anything at all unless he was facing his worst fear, which made him realize he and Andrew weren't as different as they were supposed to be and, again, he wasn't sure how to feel about that.

The only thing he did to acknowledge Andrew's answer was hum his understanding but he didn't ask anything else about it. Instead, he brought the conversation back to safer topics, if there was even such a thing nowadays for him.

"Before the collapse today, I think I found something important" Andrew's interest was picked enough for him to move his head to face him. "About the Foxes"

He explained everything he could remember about the newspaper clipping that talked about floating animals in the woods and then commiserated about the entire collection probably being destroyed in the collapse.

"Are you sure they don't have digital copies that?"

"Small city" he replied, as if that explained everything.

Neil heaved a frustrated sigh and crushed the still burning cigarette on the roof's floor. "Such a small city they don't publish anything online. Such a small city they don't make digital copies of their records. Such a small city it's fucking infested with Ravens and no one knows a fucking thing about anything. There's nothing for us to research here in Palmetto"

A hint of his earlier frustration bled through his words, enhanced slightly by the fact Andrew didn't seem affected by this at all. But why would he be? It's not like they were trying to figure out his past. They weren't trying to pick apart his life. But then Neil sighed and figured it wasn't fair to ask Andrew to care about something that didn't really have anything to do with him. The fact that he was helping him at all was more than enough effort on his part.

But then the blond let out a pensive hum and declared to know what they could do next.

"What?" Neil asked, anxious to know.

"We go to Columbia"

Yes.

"Columbia?"

"Columbia"

Neil guessed they were going to Columbia.

Next episode: How to kill two birds with no stone at all

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It would mean the world to me if you could let me know your thoughts on this episode. Did you like it? Hate it? Was the pacing too off? Were the character too OC?

Every comment and feedback is welcome!