Chapter Three:

Gathering the Rangers

Dayton Owens sat uncomfortably in a restaurant in downtown San Angeles, wearing a stuffy suit he'd dug out of his closet, sitting across from a man in a finely pressed suit and perfectly coiffed dark hair. Both had large bowls of curry in front of them, Dayton holding himself back from fully digging in the way he normally would.

"How do you like it?" he asked his date, who still had yet to touch his own bowl.

"You actually like this stuff?" the man said, picking through it with an upturned nose.

"Of course," Dayton said. "I love the stuff. My old boyfriend introduced it to me back when we started our service. Never pass it up since. It comes in all these great flavors. If you don't like this kind, you could try—"

His date pushed his bowl away. "No thanks," he said. "Could I just get a salad?" he asked a passing waiter.

Dayton's shoulders slumped. He stirred his own curry for a minute, not feeling quite so hungry anymore.

"You said you were in the military?" his date asked.

"Yeah," Dayton said, perking up. "EAGLE. Helped take down the Black Cross. Even earned a few medals."

"Uh-huh." His date cast a critical eye downward. "And you gained all that, after your service?"

Dayton looked confused for a moment then glanced down at his bulky frame. Oh, he thought. Suddenly, his discomfort changed to full-on annoyance. "No," he said tersely.

"I see," his date said.

Dayton fiddled with his curry a little more, looking around the fancy restaurant as he searched for a new topic. "Do you like riddles," he asked.

His date raised an eyebrow. "Riddles?"

"Yeah, brain teasers, you know. Like a joke you have to think about for a second to get."

His date scrunched his nose. "I don't think so," he said. "I find such things to be childish and immature."

Dayton scowled, stirring his curry again. "Right," he said. He twiddled his chopsticks for a second. "So, what was it you said you did again."

His date sat up proudly, straightening his tie. "I'm an accountant for a major law firm here in the downtown area. I bring in six figures a year."

"Uh-huh," Dayton said. "So, you like—"

"If you'll excuse me," his date said, cutting him off again and getting to his feet. "I need to use the restroom."

He marched away without another word.

"Take your time," Dayton muttered under his breath. He rubbed his head and leaned back in his seat. "That is the last time I let my sister set me up."

"Dating trouble, Dayton?"

Dayton wheeled around to see Doug standing behind him. His face cracked into a huge smile. "Dougie!" he shouted, getting to his feet and giving his old friend a big hug.

"What are you doing here?" he said, looking him up and down. "You look fantastic. Come on, sit down. Have a seat."

Doug pulled over a seat from a nearby table. He glanced at Dayton's date's untouched bowl of curry. "So, how is the date going?"

Dayton rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Well, he's no Huang, I'll tell you that much." His eyes stared into space wistfully for a second before shaking his head. "But enough about me. What brings you here? Still on active duty?"

"Actually, that's what I'm here about," Doug said.

Dayton's face turned serious. "What do you mean?"

Doug filled Dayton in on everything that had gone down inside the base, how the mummy inside the sarcophagus had come to life, how it had used Sean's enhancements to put him under mind control, and how Sean, the mummy, and Doctor Kuchar had all escaped.

Dayton let out a long low whistle. As Doug had told the story, his appetite had returned, and he had now finished off his bowl of curry. "Can't imagine what Sean's going through right now, trapped in his own head. How's Tammy doing?"

"She's good," Doug said. "For now. Determined, mostly."

Dayton pulled over his date's uneaten bowl and started eating that too. "So, I assume that means you want me back in the field."

"As soon as possible, yeah."

Dayton finished off about half the bowl, before stacking it with the other one and putting it aside. "Alright," he said, getting to his feet. "Let's go then."

Doug looked up at him, confused. "Now? What about your date?"

Dayton dug into his pocket and pulled out enough money to cover his half of the bill. "What about it?" he said. He jotted down a note on napkin and set it next to the money. "Clearly wasn't going anywhere. Come on. Let's go. I just need to stop by my apartment to change."

Doug grinned and followed him out. "Don't need to convince you much, do I?"

"Me," Dayton said with a grin. "Oh no, I'm the easy one. Peggy and Josh though, you remember where we left things with them."

"Oh, I do," Doug said as they pushed through the restaurant doors into the cool evening air.

Thousands of miles away, in a CONDOR base just outside of Kyoto, Japan, Peggy Madison worked hard at her station, carefully mixing a volatile batch of chemicals together in a sealed container. "Keiko, give me a spin," she said.

Her friend Keiko Nakamura flipped a switch on the nearby console, starting the cylinder spinning. Peggy stepped back from it, watching the chemicals carefully to make sure the mixture was right.

"That should be good. Turn it off."

Keiko flipped the switch again, and the chemicals settled. Peggy carefully removed the cylinder and carried it into the main lab, fixing it into the side of a large circular machine looking very similar to a stargate, which had been the general idea. Once she made sure it was fixed properly, she flashed a thumbs up to the blast window she knew the program director was behind.

A few seconds later, alarms blared around the lab. "Attention!" the director's voice said. "Another test run is about to begin. Please go immediately to your designated safe areas. Thank you."

Peggy and Keiko headed into their safe room, watching through the window as the machine started to spin. Her cylinder of chemicals drained into the machine and bright light started filling the circle, growing brighter and brighter, and filling up the space.

"It's working," Peggy said, gripped a handrail near the window. The bright disk of light started to swirl, almost forming a vortex. "It's working."

Something burst on one side of the machine and the light started to flare brightly. "Get down!" Keiko said, grabbing Peggy and pulling her down. The machine burst, light filling the window, strong enough to make the first level of glass protecting them crack. After a couple of seconds, the machine powered down and the experiment ended. Peggy and Keiko peeked up to see that the machine was smoking, warped and bent in certain places. Peggy punched her fist against the glass and cursed. "We were so close," she said.

She ran her hand through her long brown hair and let out a breath of frustration. "Alright," she said. "Let's go gather data, figure out what went wrong this time."

Two hours later, Peggy and Keiko stood together in front of the newly radiation-free wreckage of the gate, looking over a report on the test. Peggy bit her lip, her eyes scanning a list of readings. "What if we tried—"

"Well, you're keeping busy, I see," a familiar voice said.

Peggy perked up and turned to see Tammy Hayes standing beside her. "Tammy!" she said, a bright smile crossing her face.

Tammy smiled back. "Hey, Peggy."

Peggy handed off her notes to Keiko and pulled her old friend into a hug. "What are you doing here? Have you met Keiko? Keiko, this is Tammy, she was part of . . . that other project." She raised her wrist, slightly revealing the morpher she would have activated the moment the wormhole actually opened.

Keiko's eyes scanned the device for just a second before returning to Tammy. "I see," she said. She extended her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Tammy shook her hand, her eyes scanning the wreckage before her. "So you're actually trying it, huh?" she said. "Trying to recreate that wormhole."

Peggy crossed her arms and looked up at the gate. "Of course I am," she said. "One of my comrades is stuck on the other side. I don't intend to just leave him there, unlike some people we both know."

"That's not fair," Tammy said. "You know why Josh made the call he did."

"I understand his reasons," Peggy said, her face hard. "Doesn't mean I agree with them." She reached out and brushed her hand against the still warm metal. "Anyway, what was it you were here for again?"

Tammy explained to Peggy everything that had gone down at Doctor Kuchar's lab from the moment the sarcophagus started glowing to the tank being thrown down the hill. Peggy listened to it all, absently fiddling with her morpher. "So, I'm guessing you want the rest of the ranger team back in action," she said.

Tammy nodded. "As soon as possible, if you can."

Peggy looked up at her, noticing the yearning look in her eyes, her clipboard being held tighter to her chest than usual. "Sorry about Sean," she said. "How are you doing?"

Tammy shrugged. "As well as I can," she said. She looked up at the demolished gate. "Doing everything I can to save him."

Peggy followed her gaze. She bit her lip and looked down. "I guess I'm taking a leave of absence," she said, looking at Keiko.

"I guess so," Keiko said, giving her a small smile. Peggy rounded her shoulders, let out a breath, and took her notes back from her friend.

"Give me a minute to finish these notes so my team can carry on without me," she said. "Then, we'll head out."

Tammy's face broke into a bright smile. "Glad to have you back, Peggy," she said.

Another several thousand miles away, Joshua Cage stood at the Turtle Cove zoo next to a small boy with dark hair.

"What's that one, Uncle Josh," the boy said, leaning over the railing to get a better look inside the bird enclosure.

"That's a mynah bird," Joshua said, kneeling down beside the boy to get a better look at the black bird with a bright yellow beak on a branch near them. "They can talk like parrots. They'll mimic what you tell them."

The boy's eyes widened. "Really?" he asked.

Joshua nodded. "Yep. Wanna see?"

The little boy nodded vigorously. Joshua got to his feet and leaned over the railing, using a phrase he expected the bird had heard a million times before. "Hello," he said.

Just as expected, the bird flapped its wings and repeated, "Hello! Hello!"

The little boy laughed and clapped his hands. "That's amazing, Uncle Josh. Can it do my name?"

"I don't know," Joshua said. "We could try." He leaned over the railing and shouted, "Taran. Taran."

The mynah bird simply tilted its head at them, staring blankly.

"Taran," the little boy repeated. "Taran. Taran."

"Keep going," Joshua said. "It learns by repetition."

After about a minute of trying, the bird finally opened its beak and repeated, "Taran! Taran!"

The real-life Taran cheered, dancing around and clapping his hands. "It did it!"

Joshua laughed and sat down on the bench. Taran climbed up next to him. "Uncle Josh?"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Are you and my sister dating?"

Joshua's eyes grew wide, and his face turned beet red. "What?" he said. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, you're always around each other, and you like each other a lot."

"Well, that's just because we were old military buddies," Joshua said.

"And you've been living in our attic apartment."

"No, no, no," Josh said. "We're just—"

"We're just what?"

Joshua looked up as Katie Young came walking toward them. She was wearing loose civilian clothing, had her long, dark hair tied back in a ponytail, and looked much more relaxed than Joshua had ever seen her in uniform. She wore a smile on her face, and she carried three large chocolate-dipped ice cream cones in her hands.

"Katie!" Taran cheered, rushing up to her and accepting his ice cream cone. "Katie! The minor bird knows my name."

"Does it?" Katie said.

"Yeah." He grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the cage. "Check it out."

He leaned over the railing and called out his name a couple of times. In response, the mynah bird fluttered its wings and repeated it. Katie put on an exaggerated expression of astonishment. "Whoa," she said. "That's amazing."

"I know," Taran said.

Joshua smiled at them, licking his own ice cream cone and watching Katie be a good big sister. A few minutes later, the pair sat together on a different bench, finishing up their cones while Taran joined a group of kids as a zoo official taught them all about elephants.

"So," Katie said, crunching her chocolate shell and turning toward him. "My brother says some interesting things sometimes, doesn't he?"

Joshua's face got a little hot again. He scratched at his scruffy beard. "Yeah," he said. "Crazy, huh?"

Katie took another lick of her cone. "Yep, crazy." She glanced up at him. "You wouldn't happen to have an answer to his question, would you?"

Joshua shifted uncomfortably. Were her green eyes always so bright? "Um, well," he said, glancing around in hopes of changing the subject. His eyes fell on a familiar face coming through the crowd toward them. "Harriet?" he asked.

"Harriet?" Katie asked in surprise.

"It's Harriet," Joshua said, getting to his feet as the familiar head of frizzy, bushy hair approached them. Harriet smiled at the pair.

"Hey, Josh," she said. "Hey, Katie."

"Harriet," they both said, pulling her into a big group hug.

"What are you doing here?" Joshua said.

"Is everything okay?" Katie said.

Harriet shifted uneasily, fiddling with a strand of her hair. "We might want to sit down," she said.

She explained everything that had happened at the base. Katie listened carefully to her every word, while Joshua kept his eyes down, rubbing at his bare wrist.

"So, we need you back in the field right away," Harriet said.

Katie nodded. "Of course," she said. "We'll be ready as soon as we can."

Joshua didn't say a word. He got to his feet, pacing for a minute and staring off into the lion enclosure.

"Josh?" Harriet said. "Are you coming too?"

Joshua looked back at her, and for the first time, she noticed how haggard he looked. His hair had grown out, he had bags under his eyes, and he had grown a beard since she last saw him. "Yeah," he said. "I am." He swallowed and looked away. "I just wonder, sometimes, if you wouldn't be better off finding a new red ranger, a better red ranger."

Harriet glanced at Katie in confusion. Katie gave her a sad look and looked down.

"Is this about Kenny?" she asked. "And . . . your fight with Peggy."

Joshua didn't say anything, but his eyes tightened a little.

"But," Harriet said, getting to her feet, "you chose not to try and reopen the portal for a reason. There was a whole army on the other side, all prepared to come through and invade our planet. If you had been in Kenny's place—"

"I know," Joshua said. "I know. If I had been in Kenny's place, I would have wanted you all to keep the portal closed, because my one life was not as important as all the million lives we'd lose if an invasion actually happened. But . . ."

His voice broke and he slumped against the railing. "That doesn't change the fact that . . . I question that decision every day, that I wonder if maybe Peggy was right, that I didn't have the right to project that wish onto Kenny, that I stay awake at night, every night, remembering his family's faces when I told them, knowing full well I was the reason he wouldn't be coming home any time soon."

Katie watched him for a moment, biting her lip as she considered. "Harriet," she said. "Could you keep an eye on my brother for a moment."

Harriet looked at her quizzically for a minute before nodding. "Sure, Katie," she said.

"He's just the one with the scruffy dark hair there."

Harriet moved away, keeping her eyes glued to Taran. Katie leaned beside Joshua, her eyes still as uncomfortably green as they'd been before. Joshua rubbed his temples and let out a breath.

"Did we make the right decision, Katie?" he asked.

Katie shrugged. "I can't say," she said. "I thought we did. That's why I sided with you in the argument. If it had been me in that wormhole, I'd have wanted the same thing. But I can't pretend I don't think about sometimes too."

Joshua shook his head.

"But," Katie continued, "now we have another teammate in trouble. And the rangers need their leader." She fixed him with her always-fierce stare. "And you have always been that leader."

Joshua looked away. He knew in his heart that she was right. She always was. He gripped her hand for a second and gave it a squeeze. "Thanks, Katie."

Katie smiled. "No problem, Captain."

Joshua pushed off the railing. "Alright, Harriet," he said, heading back to where she sat. "Looks like we're both in."

Harriet grinned and got to her feet. "Yes!" she said. She gave them both another hug. "It's good to have you back."

Joshua smiled, returning the hug halfheartedly, his eyes still distant. Katie sat back against the bench and fiddled with her ponytail, her eyes on her little brother nearby. "Now I just need to break it to Taran," she said. "And my parents."

Joshua sat down beside her. "We can let him have one more hour," he said. "Then we'll head back to the house and get our stuff."

Harriet looked between them, confused once again. "House?" she said. "Are . . . are you two living together?"

Both Katie and Joshua turned slight shades of red. "Not exactly," Katie said. "My, um, my parents have an apartment over the garage, and they'd been struggling to find tenants. When we left service, I offered it to Josh."

"Just for a little while," Joshua added quickly. "I, um, I didn't really have a home. To go back to. You know. Because . . . reasons. Anyway, it's just until I get on my feet and can afford a place of my own."

Both were distinctly not looking at each other. Harriet studied both of them, her gossip sensors lighting up and making her itch to tell Doug about it, but she'd have to worry about that later. She cleared her throat and sat back too. "Right," she said. "One hour. That will work."