A.N.: Sorry for the previous chapter, lol. Have more angst!
TWO MONTHS LATER.
As usual, Kai Chen comes home to an empty apartment. His first-in-command, Leo Corbett, is almost never in their quarters. Kai's not even sure if he comes home to sleep. The Blue Ranger knows where to find him, their old training spot in the forest dome, but after the first month, he stopped going out there. He just wasn't sure what to say after a certain point. One of their other roommates, Damon, has thrown himself even more so into his work. Kai knows that it's nothing but a distraction, but it's a damn good one, since the Green Ranger's mechanical skills have increased.
Their last roommate, Mike, doesn't speak. It's not totally unusual, his younger brother having been the most talkative out of the friend group, but still. The guy's virtually mute. Kai tosses his work bag onto the wobbly coat rack- he needs to tighten some screws somewhere- and glances down at the bracelet he wears.
His baby sister dons the other. He hopes Trakeena hasn't made her take it off, or worse yet, destroy it. But in the past two months since Kara Chen had become Trakeena's strongest warrior, the gem in the middle hasn't shown a hint of color.
Kai doesn't have much hope.
Sometimes, Leo won't train. Sometimes, he'll walk and walk and walk until he stops at a random location. Today, he finds himself at the ocean dome. Watching the waves crash against the rocks below him, he takes a breath, and breaks down. He hasn't cried in front of his friends, at least not yet. He's the one holding them together right now, even if he can't do so for himself. The only other member of his team that desperately tries to act like nothing's wrong is Karone. She's still bubbly, still joyful, still tries to plan weekly hangouts as if they're still all together. But they're not.
Kara? Kara, can you hear me? Trakeena hasn't sent a monster down to Terra Venture in the past two months. And ever since that night when he'd almost died, Leo hasn't been able to contact Kara. It's like when he'd kicked her off the team, but also a billion times worse. Even though she'd tried to close herself off to the bond back then, sometimes Leo could still sense a flash of emotion or a single thought.
Now, there's nothing but silence on the other end.
Karone forces herself to smile. It used to come naturally, back when everything was fine and her best friend wasn't loyal to their sworn enemy. But everything is clearly not fine, her best friend is loyal to their sworn fucking enemy, and so every morning, she plasters on a happy face. If no one in the team will be optimistic, hopeful that Kara will come back to them one day, then Karone guesses that the responsibility lies on her. That includes keeping an eye out for her friends who can no longer be bothered to do so themselves. Especially when a flyer on the job board catches her attention. Unfortunately for her, though, it's also caught the attention of many others.
Fortunately for her, she's a self-proclaimed fast runner. "Damon!" He's got his music playing so loud, she can hear it when she pulls him to his feet. "Geez, you're gonna give yourself hearing damage."
"Wouldn't be the worst thing I've felt." True. "What's up?" Ever since Kara'd been taken, the mechanic had lost his humorous spark, instead throwing himself headfirst at his work. Karone doesn't think she's seen anyone fix so many things in such a short span of time, which makes him perfect for what she's about to tell him.
"I've gotta show you something."
"Don't you see I'm not done with my-"
"It won't take long. Come on!"
"But… oh, whatever."
Damon has never liked complacency. In his line of work, becoming stagnant is a curse, which means that his projects would never improve, his innovations would never become more creative. But ever since Trakeena had literally killed Leo, only to successfully bring Kara over to her side, the mechanic realizes that maybe being complacent is better than constantly improving.
That's all that the Aqua Ranger had worked for, right? To improve herself. Damon admired her for it, still does. (He also doesn't like thinking of her in the past tense, even though he doesn't know for sure if she's still alive. He tells himself that she is, that they would know if she wasn't.) But she'd been a threat to Trakeena, and their opponent saw this, took the opportunity to snatch her away. And all because of a lack of complacency.
So the fact that Karone had dragged him all the way here for…
"The job board? In case you haven't noticed, I kinda have a job."
"I know, I know. But check this out." Reluctantly, he peers closer at the flyer she'd pointed out.
"Wanted: chief mechanic for the GSA." Hm. "So?" The blonde girl looks at him like he's an idiot.
"So? Everyone's always saying how you're the best mechanic on the ship. You're perfect for this job!" If he's being one-hundred percent honest, Damon worries about Karone. He knows for a fact that she's equally as destroyed about Kara as they all are, but the only difference is that she hides it well.
"I don't know, Karone. I mean, that's a pretty big position. I don't think I'm qualified." Before he can walk away, Karone grabs his arm, stopping him.
"Of course you are! It says here that you have to come up with a device to improve Terra Venture. You should go for it!" A while ago, Kara had encouraged him to go after the job if an opening ever appeared. He'd told her precisely what he'd just told Karone.
But Kara isn't here, he doesn't know if she'll ever be again, so shouldn't he do this last thing in her honor? (She's still alive, Damon reminds himself, she'll be back.)
"You?" A shorter man in a blue uniform scoffs, and the urge to punch him in the face rushes onto Damon suddenly. "Don't make me laugh."
(Kara would probably say something like: "You kinda already did", and he and Karone would snicker.)
"This is a real job, Henderson, and not one for a grease jockey like you."
"Besides," the taller man in the red uniform- ah yes, another punchable face- continues, "Our boy Baxster here has the job in the bag."
"I'm afraid so," one of the men sitting at the counter turns around, facing the rest of the group, "I wouldn't even waste my time if I were you."
"Oh yeah?" Damon knows that tone: the Kar-stronema voice. He nearly cringes for Baxster's sake. "Well, Damon's gonna come up with a device that'll blow everyone away." She turns to look over her shoulder at him, and he has to resist the urge to raise his hands in surrender.
"Uh… yeah. I hope so."
The Mage awakens to a terrible screeching noise. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened, but all the same, it's annoying. Matches the vibe of the Scorpion Stinger perfectly. Just because it's her home doesn't change the fact that everyone and everything there fucking sucks. She changes out of her pajamas, pulls on her navy blue suit, boots, and coat, and marches out into the common area.
"Who the hell is screaming?" She asks, slamming her hands over her ears. It's too early for this shit.
"It's him, Mage!" The robotic warrior she's come to know as Villamax remarks, pointing a metal finger at the creature. Disgusting.
"Stop that noise!" And that's Trakeena, Mage's leader. The one who'd hired her to be her personal mercenary after the murder of her family. Mage doesn't like that word: mercenary. She knows it's often associated with money, and she's not a sellsword, merely working for money. She prefers to be considered an assassin.
"That is enough! I order you to stop!" Mage doesn't like anyone on board this dump of a ship- not that she's been on any other one, so she's not sure how she can make that comparison- but she hates Deviot the most. Again, she's not sure why. She just… doesn't like that stupid fucking robot. Thankfully, though, his command brings the screeching to a halt.
"Sorry," the bat-like creature apologizes, and Mage scoffs.
"You should be," Deviot mutters.
"Could you hear it okay?"
"Is space dark?" Mage retorts.
"We heard you, Decibot," Trakeena confirms, "Loud and clear. Mage!" She straightens up, fixing her posture that she was fairly certain was fine, "Take Decibot to Terra Venture."
Terra Venture. The one colony they've never been able to conquer, apparently due to some technicolored warriors named the Power Rangers. The same Power Rangers who killed her entire family.
Mage can't wait to get her hands on those Rangers. To make them feel the loss, the pain that they've inflicted on her. They won't even know what hit them. "With pleasure, Trakeena."
"Damon, what kind of device are you gonna make?" His head hurts. For once in his life, he feels… lazy, almost. The mechanic kinda hates it, but kinda doesn't. Maybe he needs to be lazy more often.
"Why don't you tell me? This whole thing was your idea-" Karone doesn't have time to reply, since just then, for the first time in two months, their morphers beep. Damon almost jumps in surprise, but he doesn't. Good, 'cause that'd be embarrassing. The blonde urges him into a small alcove near a storage unit, raises her morpher up.
"Go ahead, Alpha."
"I'm afraid you're not going to like this one, Rangers."
Pink and green, the Mage decides, make for a terribly disturbing color combination. "Kara?" The one in pink whispers, and she tilts her head. Is she seeing things? "Kara, it's us!"
"Kar, come on, wake up!"
"Do you know these fools?" Decibot rages, and Mage shrugs.
"No."
"Some friendly advice…" A new voice. But one she recognizes nonetheless. The voice of the man who killed her family. She's played it over and over and over and over, knowing that one day she'd find who it belongs to and end them. "K?"
"I'm not too sure who this Kara is, but they're not me." Her coat swishes around her form as Mage turns to face the Blue, Red, and Yellow Rangers. The latter breaks from her fighting stance, nearly stumbling, and Mage grins. Good. Fear enables her. "My name is Mage, an assassin loyal to Trakeena."
"That's not who you are," the blue one replies, voice tremulous, "you're my sister." Mage's grin turns into laughter.
"You're even more stupid than I thought. My family was murdered. By you…" She waves a hand, "Colorful people." No one speaks. They don't even approach, as if they don't want to hurt her. But why would that be? The Mage kind of doesn't want to think about it. "Let's not drag this out. Stingwingers!" At first glance, the rainbow-clad fighters didn't seem like much, but when they take down the Stingers, Mage grits her teeth. They're better than she expected.
"It's time for you to go," the Pink Ranger shouts at Decibot, "and for our friend to come home with us." As if.
"It's time for a special announcement." Ugh. Mage waves a hand around her head, temporarily protecting her hearing as Decibot unleashes its attack.
"It's too loud!"
"I can't take it!"
"We've gotta stop him." Mage's attention is drawn to the Green Ranger as he lifts his weapon, and she immediately throws up a shield around herself. As Decibot takes the brunt of the attacks, she paces ever closer to the fallen Rangers. A blade of dark blue energy materializes into her hand, and she bends, grasping at the Red Ranger's shirt.
The man says nothing, instead allowing his suit to fade away. He's not bad looking, Mage has to admit. Doesn't change the fact that he was the one who dealt the final blow to her parents. "Kara. Please." The man starts to cry, and Mage smiles, holding her blade against his neck. "Come home."
"You haven't heard the last of me, Rangers. Mage, let us return!" Damn. Just as she was about to have some fun with this one.
"Fine." She releases her hold on the Red Ranger, but not before leaving a thin scratch on his cheek with the sharp side of her blade. "Until next time, Rangers."
Damon's got it. All it took was coming face to face with his murderous ex-best friend to kick his mind back into gear. "It'll be an asset for Terra Venture's defense," he explains to Karone. Honestly, the more time he spends with the Pink Ranger, the more he feels a sense of… well, he doesn't know. The both of them for sure aren't happy, given the circumstances (Damon's not sure if any of them are), but at least he isn't wallowing anymore. Wallowing won't help to bring Kara back, but he's pretty sure this will.
"Okay, how is this sonar… trans-thingie good for Terra Venture?" He laughs. Damon's also not entirely sure how in the fucking world Karone could have ever been Astronema.
"It's an ultrasonic transmitter. And first off, it can block that monster's signal if it decides to attack again. Second of all, I think I can harness a bit of Kar's powers, send them back at her to see if it'll break the hold Trakeena's got on her." Damon hopes, prays even, that this will work. Two months technically isn't that long, but damn if it hasn't felt like an eternity. He misses her, even though she gave him so much shit. Because at the end of the day, Kara is one of his best friends, and they all need her back with them.
"That's perfect," Karone breathes, "Defeat the monster, get Kara back, and get a new job at the same time!"
Damon can't help but grin. "Exactly."
Mage can't sleep. No matter how much tossing and turning she does, the name that the Power Rangers had called her sticks in her mind: Kara. Why did they think that's who she was? And more importantly, why is she letting her enemies think they know her better than she knows herself? It's a weakness, a brief lapse of judgment. Mage knows better, knows herself better. (Or at least, she thinks she does.)
After the fourth time of her music automatically shutting off- she set it on a twenty minute timer- she gets up, steps over to her punching bag, and goes at it.
Karone feels like throwing a fit. Damon not showing up to submit the plans for his invention is honestly the last straw; she tried to help him out, only for him to bail on her. In fact, she's been trying her best to help keep the team up and on their feet in the absence of their second-in-command, but she'd be lying if she said it didn't take a damn toll on her-
"Oof!" The ground nearly hits her harder than reality does. When she gets up, Karone's jaw drops. "Where were you? You're gonna be late!"
"I fell asleep. I didn't even get a chance to finish my plans, come on!" She's never been a big fan of running, so Karone is glad when they've made it to the official meeting.
"Commander Stanton! The plans for my device. They're not quite finished yet, but the rest is all up here." Somehow, she knows what'll happen before a reply even comes, but when it does, she still flinches.
"I'm sorry, Damon. You're too late."
If there's one thing Damon despises more than running, it's being late to things. Especially important things. So honestly, this feels like the- what do they call it?- the straw that breaks the damn camel's back. And consider him that camel. "We already hired a new chief mechanic."
That should be him. His plans would not only help Terra Venture's security, but they'd also bring Kara back. (The thought of failure spurred him on the other night. Failure is still very much a possibility, but he worked to make that possibility as small as humanly possible. Now he's not even sure if he'll get the chance to put it into action.)
"This is Mr. Baxter." Oh, of all the days. Countless swears sit on the tip of his tongue, countless rants he wishes Damon wishes he could let out right now, but he can't. Mostly because it would involve yelling to everyone here that he is the Green Ranger, and that his best friend, the Aqua Ranger, was kidnapped by Trakeena. Wouldn't be his finest moment.
It seems like Karone has a little less self-control, though. "Him?" Okay. Maybe there is a possibility that she was once Astronema.
"He came up with a fantastic proposal," Commander Stanton begins, "It's called the ultrasonic transmitter." Okay. What. "It's just the thing we'll need if the monster attacks the colony again. Terrific idea, Baxster."
"That idea's-" As discreetly as can be, Damon stomps onto Karone's foot. (Not Astronema not Astronema not Astronema-)
"Great. Congratulations, Baxster. You must be real proud of yourself."
Mage is an assassin. Not one of Trakeena's squiggly eyed creatures. As much as she is a, well, mage, she knows she is also human. So when she lands back into Terra Venture with Decibot, she senses that something is off. "It's time to turn up the volume!" Ugh. That bat is way too excited for its own damn good. Mage waves a hand around her head once more, providing just enough protection to-
"Ow!" Another wave of her hand, and her ears are finally safe from the onslaught of noise. She guesses Decibot was fixed up a little too well. In the wake of the blast of sound, buildings crumble, and the screams of the citizens echo through the streets. There are other sounds, too, which bring on even more screams, some that even sound inhuman in their pain, and she can't help but flinch.
"Those civilians are not our primary target, Decibot," she reminds, voice low. "Our targets are-"
"There they are!" The Red Ranger. The one who had asked her to come home.
Too bad she's already found one on the Scorpion Stinger. But just as he had the day earlier, Red goes for his other opponent. Refusing to hurt her.
Come home.
She turns around then, slowly sizing up her foes. Each of them has a distinctly different fighting style, and while that can provide adequate amounts of weaknesses… that's why they're such an effective team. Because they cover those weaknesses.
They're going to be harder to beat than Mage thought. While the Blue, Pink, and Yellow Rangers take on Decibot, Mage finds herself cornered by Red. (The look he'd had in his eyes as he demorphed. As he left every single one of his weaknesses bare to her. As if, if he were to die, he'd want her to be the last thing he saw before he did.) She shakes her head. No. She's always been Mage, never Kara. She knows who she is.
"I don't want to hurt you, second." Second?
"I'm second to no one, Red Ranger." A pause as they continue to pace around each other.
"My name is Leo. Leo Corbett." Names are power. She told them hers earlier to make them fear her. Red told her his… why?
"Well, Leo. I hope you know that I'm about to make you regret what you did to my family." Even though the Mage can't see his face, the sheer confusion his aura takes on is enough. Then, she's rushing forward, cloak streaming behind her, and Red can barely parry away her first strike. She lashes upwards, but he leaps away. Fast.
"Tell me." He's got stamina, too. Hardly sounds out of breath, even as she continues to slash at him. "What did I do?"
"Don't play dumb." He hasn't attacked. Only evaded. (If this is truly the man that killed her family, Mage wonders why he hasn't already killed her, too.) She stops. Holds her blade out, ignoring the shouts of warning from Decibot. "Do it. Kill me."
For the oddest of seconds, Leo Corbett is silent.
"I didn't kill your family, Kara. That's your name, by the way. Kara Chen," he pauses, takes the blade of dark magic from her hands, and tosses it to the ground, "Your Kai's little sister, the second-in-command of this team, and-"
Mage is faced away from whatever Leo sees, in just a particular position so when he tries to knock her away, the attacks still hit. Pain like she hasn't felt before burns against her back, no doubt ruining her coat, and she grits her teeth against the scream threatening to rise. It feels… like a blast of her own power. How'd they manage to harness it…
The Red Ranger. For the briefest moment, he'd touched her blade. Mage doesn't think that that would be enough to power an attack that strong, but she won't put anything past Leo Corbett.
She stumbles to her feet just in time to spot the Green Ranger leaping into action, and a snarl looses from her throat. All Mage wants to do is go home. So, she figures, that's what she'll do.
"I didn't think you'd play dirty, Rangers. But I'll admit when I'm beaten. And when I come back next," she pauses, fixing her gaze onto each Ranger in then, "You won't be so lucky."