Ryan walked along the abandoned piers down at Mariner Bay's sole beach, taking in the cold salty ocean breeze brushing against him. Of course, everything in Mariner Bay seemed abandoned at two in the morning as Ryan quickly found out upon his explorations of the city in its night hours.
After leaving Skull Cavern with his few earthly possessions in his backpack, he found himself wandering the streets of the large city aimlessly. He had decided he didn't want to go see his dad - calling his real father "Dad" would distinguish him apart from the monster that he called "Father" for so many years - or Dana at the Aquabase. As much as they were his family, he didn't quite think he was ready to embrace them with open arms.
At first, the big city had been incredibly disorienting to him. Ryan had never really roamed through Mariner Bay casually by himself before. He was either there as a student/shopper with Victoria when she insisted they should become more aware of human culture through shopping or he was there on business, all his intents exclusively on killing each of the rangers one by one, mercilessly. The first role was always fun for him to play, as it always ended in their quarters with his lips on Victoria's. The second role he certainly didn't relish now; it just brought a fierce shudder to his thoughts.
He had done awful things when he was Diabolico's puppet. There were plenty of other ways to describe what he was, but that simply seemed to be the best way. Sure, Diabolico had saved his life, but essentially he had also taken it from him...turned him into a fighting machine, supposedly born to fulfill a prophecy; a prophecy he was pretty much sure was just a whole bunch of crap now that he thought about it. The things he did for Diabolico's approval...it made him furious and nauseous at the same time.
As much as he hated to admit it though, Diabolico had given him one good thing in his life: Victoria. Without Diabolico, Ryan would have never met her. He loved that woman with all his heart. Sure, if he ever told anyone, they would say, "How would YOU know what love is? You were evil!" But that wasn't the way Ryan saw it at all: He wasn't raised evil even though he did believe he was; Diabolico raised them like his own children. He had shown them love - even if it was a cruel kind of love - and he taught them to value that love and invest it in each other. Ryan supposed that it had been Diabolico's plan all along to have Victoria and him fall in love with each other, but he didn't care. At least the monster had taught them SOMETHING useful to use in real life.
Strange as it was, maybe he had more to thank Diabolico for than he thought.
***
Victoria awoke slowly from her numb slumber, her eyes crusted with sleep and her head pounding ferociously. A terrible, throaty moan escaped her swollen lips as she forced her eyes open, rubbing the sleep from them.
She was lying on her back in the bed, still dressed uncomfortably in her armor; she suspected Diabolico had removed her wings to allow her to lie down in the first place.
Slowly, Victoria moved her fingertips to the bruise on her head and brushed against it lightly. It stung violently and she winced, swallowing the urge to yelp. Unfortunately, she didn't think she had enough energy to conjure up even a small healing spell to remove the painful scars from her encounter with her father, so she let them be for the time being.
Her stomach growled at her angrily and she sighed unpleasantly. Oh, how badly she wanted a tub of popcorn covered in honey and pineapples! It sounded so good at that moment, but she didn't want to move one inch. Where was Ryan when she needed him?
The question flashed through her mind, and the entire events of the day before fell upon her like a ton of bricks. "He left," she forced out, the mere thought of her loss somehow giving her the energy to push herself up to sit on the bed. "He left us alone," she voiced once more, the hollowness of her voice echoing through the quarters.
Tears easily and furiously spilled from her deep brown eyes, driving down her cheeks like mad rivers. She moved to distract herself from the tears and slowly began to pull off her knee-high metal boots. Once she removed them, she then removed her leather, metal-guarded gloves and her armbands, tossing them all into a pile forming at the side of the bed.
Clad in only her breastplate and leather black pants, she scooted off the bed and padded gently towards the cupboard for some food - any food - to satisfy her gnawing hunger. She owed it to herself and Ryan to keep eating; it was what both of them shared that made her want to keep going.
Pulling open the cupboard and spying its contents, Victoria began to laugh brokenly, her tears turning into full blown sobs wracking her petite frame. Her legs soon enough gave out below her and she collapsed to the ground, but not before she grabbed the item of food that had been mocking her from within the cupboard. She unfurled her fingers from around the object and simply stared at it through her watery eyes.
It was a package of dried pineapples.
Victoria sat in that same position for what felt like forever, even after her sobs faded away and her tears had run dry. All the while she clutched the pineapples, not daring to even open the package and eat one to curb her distinct hunger.
Eventually, the absent thought dawned upon her to heal her wounds and she did, applying fierce concentration. Her thoughts were so mangled that she needed all the concentration she could get to cut through it all and apply her attention to the activity. The blue mist that always emitted when she was healing something wasn't as strong as it could have been, but it was enough to hide the evidence of Diabolico's abuse.
Worn from her crying, she crawled on her hands and knees back into her large lonely bed and shut her eyes trying to sleep. "It's too cold," she murmured to herself, rolling over and grabbing the other pillow and hugging it to her chest tightly. However, it didn't help - it just couldn't replace the warmth and safety Ryan's embrace brought her every time she slept.
"VYPRA!"
Victoria snapped her head up to see Diabolico standing inside the doorway of her quarters, staring down on her. "Father?" she questioned.
"Ryan has joined the rest of the Power Rangers," he stated in irritation.
The way she saw it, it had been bound to happen. His family was part of the Power Rangers. Nevertheless, she kept her mouth shut and queried once more. "Did you want me to do anything?"
"Go to him tonight and convince him to come back," Diabolico ordered her insistently. "You have more to persuade him with."
Victoria's dull eyes lit up slightly. "You mean, I can tell him about-"
"No." Diabolico cut her off, swiftly chopping down her growing hope. "I have given Ryan the curse of the cobra. If he returns to our side, I will remove the tattoo and he will not suffer. If he refuses, he will face the consequences. Do not tell him anything else of your predicament."
Frowning ever so softly, she nodded her head. "Yes, Father," she replied, then asked, "Father, wasn't the curse of the cobra originally meant for the Red Ranger?"
"Yes, it was, but it seemed more useful to use on Ryan," he remarked, dismissing her as he exited her chambers.
The door shut behind him and Victoria gazed at it for a long moment before she began to formulate her plan to get Ryan back. It was vain to create a plan to bring him back, but she did nonetheless, knowing it was positively useless.
***
Ryan shot up in his bed, a good thick sheen of sweat covering his forehead. He had just had the worst nightmare ever...or at least he hoped it was a nightmare. The pain he had felt when Diabolico gave him the tattoo in his dream...it just seemed far too real for his own liking.
Frantic to prove to himself it was just a dream, Ryan jumped up and rushed up to one of the many closets in his new room in the Lightspeed Aquabase. Seizing the door open, he turned around so that his back was facing the mirror on the inside of the closet door and slowly pulled up his night shirt, staring into the reflection. At the base of his back was a large cobra tattoo, exactly like it had been in his nightmare.
He blinked, unbelieving, and continued to gaze at his reflection in the mirror. "This can't be happening," he mumbled, running his hand along his back attempting to feel the tattoo.
"It's real and you know it."
Startled by the new voice, Ryan spun around in the darkness to see Victoria sitting on his bed, wearing his Lightspeed Rescue jacket. And as he could tell by her bare legs, that was most likely ALL she was wearing at that instant. "Father didn't tell me that he was going to give you the curse of the cobra; he only told me after he had done it. If I had known, I would have tried to stop him." She sighed as he closed the closet door and began to head in her direction. Ducking her head into his coat, she took in a deep breath and grinned. "You haven't even had this jacket for a day and it already smells like you; like pineapples."
"You wouldn't have stopped him, Victoria," Ryan remarked casually, joining her on the bed. "You wouldn't have disobeyed Diabolico."
"Want to make a bet on that?" She arched her eyebrow at him. "I nearly followed you last night when you left. I told him I wasn't Vypra, that I wanted to leave...he, of course, threw me into one of the pillars. He knocked some sense into me, I guess you could say."
Ryan gaze softened from his guarded look. "You're okay now, right? I mean, you did heal yourself, didn't you?" he queried in a worried tone. Instinctively, he reached out and caressed her cheek with his hand, but quickly tried to pull away when he realized what he had done. They were on opposite sides...she was his enemy, even if he had feelings for her.
"No, keep it there." Victoria stopped him, placing her hand against his and keeping it against her cheek. She raised her eyes to meet his, utterly tossing her "get Ryan back" plan out the window. There was no possible way she was going to execute it on him in their position. "I couldn't sleep; I missed you beside me. It was too cold." Tenderly, she pressed her lips to his wrist, leaving a feathery kiss on his skin.
Ryan trembled at her light touch and found himself gravitating closer to her body. "Victoria..." Her name lingered on his lips softly, his other hand cupping the other side of her face.
Before he could say anymore, they were kissing gently, lips brushing against each other in a slow dance. Sensations ran wild through them like nothing before, longing for their love's touches after only a day of separation. Soon, the kiss deepened into an ardent flame of want.
Victoria's mouth roamed, searching for the flesh of his neck to taste him fully. The subtle scent of pineapples that filled her nostrils was intoxicating as she slipped her hands up his shirt and began to unbutton it quickly. Ryan moaned at her urgent caresses, his hands running through her hair madly.
She continued to unbutton his shirt and was nearly done when she felt a sharp stinging pain and pulled away with a cry of pain. "OW!"
Panting, Ryan also pulled away, untangling his fingers from her hair. "What happened?" he gasped in concern.
"I think you accidentally touched my bruise." She chuckled softly, touching it at the back of her head and wincing a bit. "When I tried healing it, I didn't have enough energy to actually heal it correctly. Which reminds me," her stomach growled on cue and she laughed, "I didn't eat any food today. Could I possibly get some here?"
"I'd have to go down to the galley, but that's no big deal." Ryan assured her with a grin, re-buttoning his shirt. "What did you want?"
Victoria winked. "Anything and everything."
***
"So you like life away from Diabolico?" Victoria commented lightly, licking the last of the mango pulp from her sticky fingers.
"Well, I've only experienced one day, so I wouldn't call that my life," Ryan joked flippantly, chewing on a fresh piece of pineapple, "but yeah. I like life away from Diabolico. It's not so structured; I'm totally free to do whatever I want whenever I want."
"Diabolico let us do whatever we wanted." She piped up, trying to defend her side a bit. Although, she found it ridiculously fruitless because of the fact that Ryan made life without Diabolico sound so tempting.
"Within reason," he replied, propping his head up with his clean hand as he laid on the bed across from Victoria with their platter of fruit between them. "I mean, we always had to return to fight. And whenever you were fighting, I was always training with that stupid axe."
She giggled, pulling a banana off the tray and peeling it. "You have to admit, Ryan, him having you train with that axe two months before you received the Titanium powers was pretty smart. You handle that axe with such ease now!"
"True." He shrugged absently, pulling a grape off its vine and popping it into his mouth. "Here, at the Aquabase, I know I'll be in training still, but I don't think it'll be as hard as it was with Diabolico. After all, I am the greatest warrior of all time, am I not?" he teased, grinning at her through the darkness of his room.
Victoria grabbed a lone cherry and pelted him on the forehead with it. "I think you're getting drunk on all this change; it's making you hallucinate," she retorted playfully. Taking in the last bite of her banana, she laid the peel back onto the tray and rolled over onto her back with a satisfied sigh. "I feel so full, I don't think I'll ever want to eat again."
Ryan took the platter and moved it down to the floor, scooting over to lie beside her. "I only wish there had been some leftover watermelon from the party we had earlier. I wanted you to taste some; it was so sweet, not as tart as pineapples," he murmured, his sticky fingers playing with her bangs on her forehead.
"That plate was more than enough." She smiled quietly. After a few minutes of tender silence, she changed subject. "How are the other rangers like...when they're not fighting?"
He noted her shy, tentative voice - one he had never heard from her before - and smiled inwardly to himself. The thought of Victoria turning towards his side teased him endlessly; it was a good feeling. "They're different, that's for certain." He chuckled softly, staring off into the darkness and thinking back on his first impressions of the people behind the Power Ranger uniforms. "Joel, the Green Ranger, he's a lot like the same person we met at the flea market that one time; I don't think he remembered me, or if he did, he didn't say anything. He's kinda cocky, but fun-loving in a real good way. He knows how to have a good time.
"Kelsey, the Yellow Ranger, she's a lot like Joel. She's a little more reserved than he is though. Dana tells me she's a real daredevil, someone who likes a real thrill. She's real friendly."
Victoria arched her eyebrow curiously, staring up into his face. "How friendly?"
Ryan laughed, bending down to lightly kiss her lips. "I didn't know you could be jealous," he remarked humorously, his green eyes brightening.
"I'm not jealous," she protested with a short pout. "Just continue."
"If you wish," he complied, returning his thoughts to the question he had been answering. "Well, I guess Chad, the Blue Ranger, he's pretty subdued. Seems pretty open and honest, and to tell the truth I think he's as good a fighter as you even."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It was meant as one. Anyways, Carter is probably the most different when he's out of uniform. Not as ruthless, is the best that I can think of. He seems protective of everyone, and he was so easy to accept me into the fold. That made me feel much more comfortable around them all."
Victoria fiddled absently with the zipper on his jacket that she continued to wear while listening to him talk. "What about your sister?"
"Dana's the same way I remember her, and so is my dad. I don't feel like they've changed at all since I was six. Dana's my little sister and I want to protect her from everything. My dad is my dad, still looking out for me and Dana like he did when we were younger."
She gazed into his face for a long time after he finished, watching his expression. It was completely content and free. Not a single negative emotion appeared to linger in him at that peaceful moment. "You were never evil," she whispered tenderly, causing him to turn his gaze and meet her solemn brown eyes. "You were always good. For awhile you were misguided - lies and your emotions led you - but you eventually got your head on straight...and now look where you are. You're in a place that makes you happy."
"No; YOU make me happy," he murmured quietly, bringing his lips down to her forehead. As he studied the woman lying beside him in the stillness, a question popped into his mind that he couldn't help but ask. "What would Diabolico do if he saw us...together, like this?"
"He isn't watching us." Victoria guaranteed him, taking his hand into her own and caressing it. "He assumes whenever we're by ourselves that we are always having sex for some reason. Either he actually wants to give us privacy, or he just doesn't like to watch."
A slow grin crept onto Ryan's features as he slipped his hand from hers and ran it across her bare stomach beneath his jacket she still wore. "Don't you think that we should at least live up to Diabolico's expectations of us for one night?" he whispered throatily, his mouth edging towards the hollow of her neck.
"Since when did you decide you wanted to live up to MY father's expectations?" she scoffed at him, a sly grin also peeling across her lips.
"Since they involved you, me and nothing else," he retorted fiercely, burying his face into her neck and effectively stopping all word communication between the both of them.
***
As he awoke, Ryan found himself tangled up in the sheets of his bed with Victoria's body resting lightly on top of him. He adjusted himself ever so slightly to gaze down upon her while she continued to sleep contentedly with him.
One of her arms hung off his shoulder, her fingers gripping onto the curve of his neck ever so gently. Her head lay on his chest with her lips pressed delicately to his flesh and her hair splayed against his other shoulder. Her eyelashes lay softly against her tan, flushed skin and her eyes remained peacefully closed. She was absolutely radiant to him in her calm and safe beauty.
Ryan bent his head forward and laid a kiss at the crown of her head, his arm slipping around her nude back and hugging her close. She stirred slowly at his touch, her eyes blinking open. "Leave me alone, I'm sleeping." She grumbled into his chest, snuggling into his embrace.
"We're going to have to get up sooner or later." He grinned, his arm sliding up around her shoulders and nudging her a little. "Carter's supposed to be coming to pick me up for my first day as an official Power Ranger." His voice held a small amount of jest in it, but he was being serious.
Victoria hid her face in his chest and pouted. "Don't talk about that. Don't talk about anything outside of this room." She insisted sleepily. "Better yet, don't talk, period."
He laughed yet again and was about to say something to her when the doorchime rang. "Who is it?" he called out casually while Victoria placed a kiss against his jaw, neither one truly startled by the uncalled interruption.
It was who responded that startled them above everything.
"It's me, Ryan...Dana. Can I come in?"
Instantaneously, the couple jumped out of bed. "Go hide!" Ryan hissed towards his lover as she made a beeline towards the nearest closet. He then replied to his sister through the door, "Ummm...give me a second, Dana!"
Quickly, Ryan grabbed for his usual black attire that was draped on a near by chair and hastily put his clothes on. Once he had done that, he raced towards his bed and picked up his nightclothes off the floor, dumping them onto the bed with his crumpled bedsheets. Lastly, he kicked the platter of fruit under his bed before running into the common room to open the door.
Taking in a deep breath, he opened the door and came face to face with his younger sister. "Hey, Dana." He greeted her with a heaving grin. "Was there anything you wanted?"
The blonde girl took in her brother's flushed appearance in confusion. "Are you alright, Ryan?" she questioned in concern.
"Yeah," he answered, reaching around and rubbing his neck. "I just woke up kind of late; Carter's supposed to come and pick me up in a few minutes."
"Oh." Dana nodded slowly in understanding, but was still slightly suspicious. "I just stopped by because I heard some loud noises last night through the wall...you know I sleep in the room next door, right?"
Ryan gnawed furiously on his lower lip. "Oh, yeah! Well, sorry about the noise, but I'm kind of a restless sleeper. Just must've been me yelling in my sleep or something." He lied hastily, grinning nervously. Taking his chance, he quickly spoke, "Well, I'd better finish getting ready. I'll see you later, Dana."
"Right. I'll see you," Dana returned, allowing Ryan to speedily shut the door after her leaving. Sighing heavily, he collapsed against the door.
"You should've told her the truth. I would have loved to see her reaction when she found out just what those noises actually WERE," Victoria teased, stepping out of her hiding place and standing in the doorway between his bedroom and the common room. "You lie a lot better than you used to," she commented, returning to the bedroom and sliding back onto the bed to lie down.
He shrugged, following her in and walking over to where his jacket laid on the floor. "Lying for the good of us is worth it," he replied, picking up the jacket and hanging near by chair. He turned to face her. "Didn't you bring any clothes with you?" he remarked, shaking his head at her pitifully.
Victoria nodded to his surprise. "Sure I did," she answered, poking her arm underneath his bed and coming out rewarded with a knee-high metal boot. "I stuck all of my armor underneath your bed last night." She grinned wickedly and he cocked his brow at her.
Snatching another chair, Ryan flipped it around and sat down on it backwards while he studied his companion pulling on her armor piece by piece. "You know, I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching you do that," he declared.
"Put on my armor?" She glanced up at him skeptically as she tightened her armbands. "Is that supposed to make me want to change sides?"
"I don't know." He shrugged, smirking a bit while he ran his hand through his hair, combing it out decently. "Did it work?"
Victoria rolled her eyes as she pulled her breastplate over her chest and wiggled into it. "Nope." She paused for a moment, thinking while she tugged on her leather pants. "You know, why are we acting so casual about all this? I mean, we're on two different sides that are fighting each other...shouldn't that be a big deal?"
***
Carter walked down the corridor of the Aquabase, headed straight towards the newest ranger's quarters. He was psyched...beyond psyched even. Ryan, who had once been evil and now retained the Titanium Ranger powers, was on their side: The good side. There was no way in Hell that Diabolico and Vypra would stand a chance against the six of them united. He bet Ryan could finish them both off easily.
Approaching Ryan's quarters, the Red Ranger slowed his pace and stopped before the chime. Just as he was about to push it though, he heard an oddly familiar voice radiate from within the quarters. "You know, why are we acting so casual about all this? I mean, we're on two different sides that are fighting each other...shouldn't that be a big deal?"
He nearly fell to the floor. What was Ryan doing with a girl in his quarters at this hour? Carter KNEW it wasn't Kelsey or Dana; he would've recognized their voices on the spot. He decided on not ringing the chime and simply eavesdropping for a moment; it was invading Ryan's privacy, but he figured it was better off than barging into the room itself.
Leaning in towards the door to listen in better, he suddenly noted that the door had been left slightly ajar. Moving his eyes over to the crack, he got a pretty good view of the entire room. When he spotted Ryan and his mysterious companion through the doorway of the bedroom, Carter's blood began to boil furiously. "Vypra." He whispered harshly to himself.
He could see her standing before Ryan, pulling her gloves on, while he sat down on a chair shaking his head. "It IS a big deal, Victoria," the blond man replied her question, shaking his head. "I was just kinda hoping we could forget about it for awhile. Like you said, don't talk about anything outside of this room?"
Carter arched his eyebrow in confusion. Who the hell was Victoria? And why was Ryan talking to Vypra in the first place?
"Alright." Vypra prodded on, crouching down beside Ryan and beginning to unzip his shirt.
Ryan eyed her oddly and chuckled. "What are you doing?"
"This," she insisted, peeling Ryan's shirt off of his back and leading him towards the closet.
Carter's eyes went wide at the sight of the rather large cobra tattoo sitting at the bottom of Ryan's back, but remained still and silent in his spot.
Vypra opened the closet door and turned Ryan around, forcing him look at his back's reflection in the mirror attached to the inside of the door. "Ryan, this is one of the reasons we've got to think serious about all of this. You've got a lethal tattoo on your back!" she cried out hysterically.
A lethal tattoo?!?! The warning bells in Carter's head were going off crazily now.
"Weren't you always the calm and rational one of both of us?" Ryan arched his eyebrow, while shrugging his shirt back over his shoulders. He spun around and faced her, his hand sliding up her collarbone to rest on the inside of her neck. "Of course, I'm still thinking about the tattoo; I know it's there. But what can I do about it? Diabolico isn't going to stop me from fighting him with it...even if it is lethal. I have a debt to society - to myself - to pay before I let Diabolico get to me."
Vypra slammed the closet door viciously, the breaking of the mirror on the inside of the door muffled slightly. She glared at him in frustration for a moment, before her gaze gradually softened and her brown eyes became sympathetic. "Did you ever think, Ryan, that Father just might send me out to battle you? One on one?" Carter saw Ryan's loose and casual stance immediately stiffen at her line of questioning, his hand falling from her neck. "He knows how we both fight and he knows we're relentless. He's stopped us from killing each other before, but now...we both know he won't." Her voice was cold and harsh, forcing him to face the truth.
She waited a few moments for a response of some kind from him and when he didn't give her any kind, the woman shook her head softly at the man before her and faded into a bluish light.
Ryan only dared to move after she left, edging his way over to the sofa in the common room and plopping down on it, a long and deep sigh leaving his lips. For awhile, Carter watched as the younger blond man stared at the ceiling. After some time, he threw his hands over his face and bent forward to lean his elbows on his knees, letting out a shuddered gasp for air.
Standing up from his crouched position, Carter pressed the doorchime, finally alerting Ryan of his presence outside his quarters. As he waited for a reply to the ring, the Red Ranger could hear Ryan's hastiness in trying to recompose himself; the sounds of the Titanium Ranger's deep breaths not escaping his ears. "Come in," he acknowledged eventually, allowing the door to open and Carter to enter the room.
"Are you okay?" were the first words to slip out of the older man's mouth. "I mean, it took you a long time to open the door."
Ryan looked up into Carter's concerned face from his place on the sofa and forced himself to smile widely. "Oh yeah," he replied cheerfully, running a hand through his hair. "I was just thinking back on how glad I'm finally away from Diabolico. Freedom! It's good to have in heavy doses."
"And Vypra?" Carter pushed. He had to push, even when he saw Ryan's face pale drastically at the mention of the demon. Something was going on...and he had to know; he deserved to know as leader of the Power Rangers.
He glanced away from Carter, and then faced him once more; the emotions passing rapidly across Ryan's features completely indiscernible until they stopped at something near neutrality. "What about Vypra?" he queried, his voice laced with feigned bafflement.
Carter walked around the room for a minute before he answered Ryan's question. "When I came over, your door was open." He had stopped in front of the coffee table before Ryan and stared intently at the other man. "I heard and SAW you talking with Vypra. I saw the cobra tattoo." The younger man's bewilderment washed away, revealing a mix between horror and surprise. "So don't lie to me, Ryan. What was she doing in here?"
"She was..." Ryan's confession was cut-off by the blaring sound of the emergency alarm going off. He quickly sighed in utter relief.
Carter held his ground, torn between wanting to hear what Ryan had to say about his precarious situation with Vypra and rushing down to Operations to find out just what monster was going on attack. He finally ended up choosing which avenue to pursue and ran out of the quarters towards Operations, Ryan hot on his tail.
***
Victoria walked through the busy Lightspeed Plaza, her battlings following her as she unenthusiastically blasted aimlessly at people and structures. "They named a plaza after them." She sighed, letting loose a few red energy sparks at a nearby tree. "I wonder if Ryan knows that..."
She continued to march under the orders of her father to draw the Power Rangers out and warm them up for battle against his three "dependable" monsters. Right when she had returned from her supposedly unsuccessful attempt at luring Ryan back to the side of evil, Diabolico directly commanded her to go battle Ryan and destroy him.
A sad smirk grew upon her mouth, for she had seen it coming a mile away and she had told Ryan. His silent response was all that she had needed to know that he knew she was right. And Father did her the great pleasure of placing her thoughts into action within minutes...she couldn't disobey him; her mind simply wasn't programmed to.
The sound of soft-soled boots against pavement quickly filled her hearing, and she brought her sword in front of the battlings, causing them to stop in their march when she did. Victoria waited until the rangers were a good thirty feet away, still running at her group with full speed and then she unleashed her warriors on them, forgetting the usual banter that took place. "ATTACK!"
Ryan was shaken to the core of himself when he heard the simple word fall from her lips in a forceful, yet almost mournful, cry. His feet instantly stopped, holding him in his place as the other five rangers ran past him to intercept the battlings. Pulling out his Titanium Blaster, he held it loosely in his hand preparing for the do-or-die battle to come between him and his lover. Why did it have to be so soon?!
Victoria weaved her way through the onslaught of Power Rangers and battlings, taking a cheap shot at a ranger when she could spare a second or find an opening. She tried vainly to slow herself down, buying herself time before her confrontation with him. But doing that was like trying to slow down the inevitable; if didn't happen in that battle, it would happen in the next to follow.
Ryan seized breathing when he saw her appear out of the jumbled mess of forms. She was his personal goddess, and yet at the same time she was his death. A petite woman of powerful force, she knew his every movement, his every strength and his every weakness. How could he possibly stand up to her? How could he possibly gather the nerve to bring his weapon upon her...his enemy, his love, and his life?
Victoria blinked furiously as she stood mere feet away from the Titanium Ranger that was staring at her. She couldn't see the Titanium Ranger though. All she could see was him, holding his Titanium Blaster - no, his axe - by his side while his piercing green eyes captured her gaze and his spiky blond hair rustled in the cool breeze. She had the ability to kill him where he rested. She was supposed to kill him where he rested. But it was hard, oh so hard, to do when all she could see was the handsome face of the man she loved and not the cold, faceless helmet of the Titanium Ranger.
Ryan refused to make the first move, insisting on holding his ground.
Victoria refused to make the first move...but gave in, realizing that defying her father would result in death, and dying at her lover's hands sounded so much more honorable and comforting. She threw her sword aside, letting it clang mercilessly against the pavement and ran at him with all the might she possessed in her little frame.
***
Captain Mitchell watched the monitor before him in wide-eyed amazement as he witnessed Vypra relinquishing her weapon and simply charging Ryan. "What is Vypra doing?" He turned to look at Miss Fairweather, who was toting a small smile. "Is she crazy?!"
"No," the brunette scientist replied, her mind rapidly putting two and two together, using the revelations of the last few days to fuel her thoughts. "She's human."
***
Shocked beyond belief, Ryan stood frozen in his spot as Victoria barreled into him head on, causing them both to fall to the ground. His visor popped up automatically and he found himself face to face with her, the absolute desperation of her situation flashing in her eyes. "Fight me," she whispered hoarsely, nearly in tears. "God, RYAN! PLEASE! Just fight me!"
He swallowed guiltily as he stared into her face welled with fright. Fright he knew she wanted to be rid of, but that could never be...for the fright stemmed from Diabolico and bloomed into Ryan. She was frightened to kill him...so she was offering herself to him on a platter. She wanted him to kill her instead.
His gaze turned to stare at his Titanium Blaster, which had been thrown from his hands in the melee of her attack. She sat on top of his chest forcefully, effectively restraining him, even though he wouldn't have moved if she hadn't been there. No, he refused to take the dish she was serving him on the platter; he would not take Victoria's life, even if she begged him to. There was something better than that for her and he would eventually find it.
"RYAN!!!" Dana's voice seemed small and far away as he flicked his visor downwards again and sat up partially...as much as Victoria would allow him. "FIGHT HER!"
"No..." he vocalized softly, reaching out to dab away his companion's tears that were about to breech her soft brown eyes. "I won't kill you...you've got to fight me, Victoria. Fight me with all you've got; let's make Diabolico proud." He spat the last line viciously in jest, but fully meaning every word of it. Ryan wanted her to battle him...battle him like they used to as children, intensely training and simply obeying their father's orders - at that time in their lives, they were the most primal; never gave a single thought to love or each other, just the need to win and please.
For a moment, Victoria's face contorted into confusion at his words, but realization dawned on her and she quickly flashed him the smallest of smiles. Rising to stand up from his chest, she clawed her bright red nails down his uniform-clad chest lightly. She opened her mouth to reply to his suggestion - more like command - and was about to, but instead let out a shrill cry as red laser fire suddenly exploded upon her lower bare back and she fell forward once more.
Startled, Ryan caught her in his arms before she could tumble face first into the asphalt and gritted his teeth in anguish, staring at Carter standing a good ten feet away with his laser pistol still out in shooting position. "Why'd you do that?!?!" He screamed, the words somehow dislodging from his throat. He didn't let his gaze linger long on Carter and returned it to the small woman collapsed against his body.
"What do you mean?!" Carter shouted back, utterly puzzled by Ryan's actions. The other four remaining Lightspeed Rangers grouped behind him, backing the Red Ranger up. "Vypra was attacking you! She was gonna DESTROY you!"
Ryan took little heed to Carter's words, ignoring him completely and demorphing himself with a willed thought. "Ryan!" Joel barked out angrily at him, all of them too shocked to move forward. "What the hell are you doing?!?"
He shook his head of their voices and let them drown into the background and focused on Victoria, and only her. He kneeled down to the ground, cradling her limp body tightly against his chest. Holding onto her, his shut his tear-ridden green eyes and buried his face into her hair, hoping she would survive the brutal assault his teammate had laid upon her. It wasn't even honorable; she had her defenses down, and he took a nasty and cheap shot. That wasn't the way they were taught to fight; they were to uphold the honor code of battle, not back-stab each other at any chance they could get.
"Survive, Victoria," he murmured into her ear quietly, passionately. "Just survive and I'll make everything alright. We'll be fine together, we'll be free together...you and me..."
Ryan found himself so involved with Victoria he didn't hear the sounds of his friends yelling at him, warning him of the danger that had appeared behind him. It wasn't until he felt a familiar clawed hand rest on his shoulder that he lifted his head to see his tall shadow cast on the ground.
"Diabolico," he rasped, choking back the sob that wanted to rip through his body. The blond man arched his head to look up into the monster's eyes, not with anger, but with concern. "You have to heal Victoria. You're her father, you have to," he insisted, his brain completely on overload as it tried absorbing the meaning of the words he had just uttered. Hadn't he wanted to separate himself from Diabolico? To fight him until he was destroyed? Then what was he doing there, on his knees and begging his former guardian to save Victoria's life...his life?
Ryan continued to stare at Diabolico when he caught a glint in the monster's eye. It was the glint he knew so well after years of living with him: it was a signal that he had yet again made another dent in Diabolico's emotional armor that he continually denied to having; the monster would relent to his pleading. "Stand up." He growled lowly, gripping Ryan's shoulder tightly with his claws.
The young man obeyed the order immediately, standing up while holding Victoria in his arms. "RYAN!" His eyes snapped up to see Dana running towards him, apparently trying to "protect" him. "Get out of there!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Ryan saw Diabolico raise his hand and prepare to fire at Dana. "Don't," he quietly spoke. "I'll stop her."
The towering demon hesitated momentarily, but then dropped his hand at the request.
"Dana, stop," Ryan called out to his sister, causing the Pink Ranger to slow down and lift her visor. Her pretty blue eyes were clouded with fear and confusion. "I'm fine," he paused, shooting a nasty glare at the other rangers including Dana, "but Victoria isn't."
At that instant, Diabolico's clawed hand crept over the man's shoulder and pressed against Victoria's head. He began to stroke at the young enchantress' cheek as a flow of blue light began to emit from where he made contact with her, encompassing her entire body in an almost heavenly blue glow.
The five rangers simply gawked in amazement at the show, not knowing what else they could possibly do. Diabolico wasn't trying to kill Ryan and neither was Vypra for that matter...so they just stood there and watched.
Victoria began to stir awake in Ryan's arms and Diabolico pulled his hand away from her head. Before stepping away from the two lovers, he calmly told Ryan, "You are lucky to have the approval of both sides in this war, but it doesn't mean you are completely safe from it all."
"Ryan?" Victoria's questioning voice caused Ryan to tear his startled gaze away from Diabolico - who had moved aside - obviously waiting for his "daughter" to return to him.
"Hmmm?"
"Let me down; your little ranger friends are staring."
"Oh." Ryan quickly lowered her to the ground, allowing her to retrieve her sword from where she had thrown it.
She then returned to him, sliding her sword into its sheath on her belt. "You begged Father for my life?" She broke the awkward silence between them.
"Yes."
"You are in his favor again, it seems."
"I don't think I ever lost his favor, to tell you the truth. But I respect him more for it now that I know I still am in his favor."
"This was an interesting first battle, huh?"
"It wasn't a battle; it was something Diabolico set up for us. He wanted to gauge our reactions."
Victoria looked at her father in the background curiously, studying him for a second before returning her gaze to Ryan. "Perhaps Father meant it to be more than that."
"What more could he want?"
"For me to tell you a secret I've been hiding from you. A secret Father insisted I kept until he allowed me to tell you."
Ryan's eyes widened slightly at the new discovery. "And you think he wants you to tell me it now?" He continued to keep his tone somewhat casual sounding.
"Yes."
He blinked, waiting for her to speak up. "Well, are you going to tell me or should I just go back to the other rangers and try to explain what the hell just took place between us?"
Victoria fidgeted, and Ryan blinked yet again. He had never seen her fidget in his entire life with her. "I am carrying your child, Ryan. I will see you tonight; good-bye." Before even letting her words sink in she reached up and kissed his cheek, walking past him towards where Diabolico waited.
Ryan rewound her words in his mind and replayed them mentally, trying to affirm that he heard exactly what she had said. Victoria was carrying his child...okay. He obviously knew how it had happened...okay. So why the hell did it feel so surprising to him?!
He spun around, his eyes catching Victoria as she strode over to her father. "How long have you known?!" he cried suddenly, the urge to know swelling deeply within him.
Without even turning around, she held up two fingers for him to see and he assumed she meant two months. Two whole months she had kept it a secret from him and he had been dense Ryan, not noticing any change in her at all.
Was she even supposed to change? He sighed inwardly, watching Diabolico and Victoria fade away into their usual lights. Diabolico had been quite thorough with his explanation of sexual intercourse to them, but the aftermath of it...well, he never really had bothered with explaining too much about that.
He continued to stand in the same spot, musing on what Victoria had just revealed to him. He had a child with Victoria...a new life that they had created out of their rabid love-making sessions in Skull Cavern. How the hell was he going to explain this all to his dad?!
