Title: Tilling My Own Grave
A vampy revamp of Power Rangers Ninja Storm
By foggynite
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Will be Hunter/Cam
Notes: Buffy this is not. Some ideas borrowed from LJ Smith's Night World book series, as well as her Dark Visions series and White Wolf's Hunter: The Reckoning game.
He let out another calming breath, feeling the tension slowly leave his body. Musty air filled his lungs at each inhalation. The only sounds in the room were his breathing and the rhythmic slide of metal over whetstone. He felt the muscles in his arm elongate and contract in a steady pattern.
His mind was mercifully blank.
Soft footsteps approached, barely distinguishable from the hum of the ventilation unit outside the window. His next exhalation was more like a sigh, and the intruder knew it.
"Surely it is unwise, my son, to engage in the sharpening of our weapon store with no light to guide you?"
The deep voice seemed incongruous with the tiny body that now housed his father, but Cam did not pause in his task, merely frowning into the darkness.
"Because I haven't done this thousands of times before, Dad. Nor do I need to accustom myself to the dark."
The sarcasm was apparently lost on his father, or the man deliberately chose to ignore it. "True, you are well-acquainted with your task, but I fear you may become too lax in your attention for that very reason."
He hadn't addressed Cam's second comment, but then, Cam didn't expect him to. That, along with his father's response, made Cam's reply sharper than he would have normally allowed.
"I thought the point of meditation is to empty your thoughts and focus on your task."
Before his father could answer back, Cam set the whetstone aside with a tense movement. Knowing his father, he could probably see Cam's glower in the darkened room, but Cam didn't care.
Like it wasn't bad enough he wasn't allowed to go on missions, but to have his 'busy work' criticized now too? He was always stuck here at the dojo when the rangers were out hunting, risking their lives when they hadn't even had half of Cam's training, and he was expected to just sit around doing nothing? Insult to injury, and he was twenty-three, not some two- year-old. Not like his father was that concerned with the difference.
That was a childish thought, and he knew it. He sighed, striving to blank his expression and hold on to any sort of peace.
"Was there a reason you came to get me?" He tried not to sound as frustrated as he was, but it probably came through anyway. These were difficult times they faced, and he was a grown man, but surely he was used to his father's sometimes irrational concern for him by now.
"You asked me to inform you when the rangers were returning," The solemn voice said to his left. He could barely make out his father's shape in the dim light from under the door. "They are on the approach as we speak, according to Shane. Their mission was successful."
"Great," Cam muttered as he rose swiftly to his feet. "You did remember to turn off the cell-phone this time?"
"Indeed, son."
Without another word, Cam placed the long dagger onto their arsenal table next to the whetstone. Absently wiping his fingers on his jeans, he pushed through the heavy steel door. Ignoring his father, he went straight to his computer desk without waiting for his eyes to adjust to the harsh fluorescent light of the basement. He blinked at his old monitor for a second, fingers typing in his password from long experience, and he suppressed another sigh as he called up the mission files.
He tried not to be envious of the rangers. He tried really hard. But it was difficult being the son of a sensei, trained in the ninja and witch ways since he was a child, even running his father's dojo in the man's "absence," and yet his father wouldn't allow him to hunt as their family tradition decreed. Instead, his father had enlisted three students who were also witches but had only been studying for a year, if that, and were routinely late to class as it was. What really offended Cam was that he could best all three of the current rangers at once if he wanted to, but his father still claimed he didn't have the experience and training to go out into the field.
So instead he had to play secretary when they came back, keeping a log of their missions and recording anything unusual that happened. In their world, every bit of information helped, no matter how inconsequential, and the completed logs would be uploaded to the Council's main network so other ranger teams could access them.
The opening of a window upstairs alerted him to another presence in the building. He froze, holding his breath, until the light footsteps were joined by two others, and they made it down to the basement door without setting off the wards. The tap of the keys on the security pad were steady and knew the correct password. But he wouldn't relax until he had visual confirmation it was his friends.
The tingle of the security wards ran along his arms as they entered the concrete stairwell. Shane's legs appeared first, clad in all black and stockier than Dustin's but thicker than Tori's, which were close behind him. Dustin trailed behind, looking a little anxious, and that made Cam leery.
"Dude, what's up?" Dustin smiled broadly and tried to look innocent. Cam leveled a glare at him, but the ninja started babbling. "You were totally right about that old warehouse down near the docks. It was completely infested and things were rotting and it was gross. You're so lucky you weren't there. I thought Tori was gonna hurl—"
"Hey!" Tori paused in unlacing her uniform long enough to take a swipe at Dustin, who dodged and blithely continued.
"But seriously, dude, we got there and managed to save some chick, but she ran screaming and we were too busy getting thrashed to stop her."
"I'll keep an eye out," was all Cam said, still regarding Dustin suspiciously. Shane was moving stiffly, which meant that he probably had an injury or two, and Tori's all-black uniform was glistening with blood, so she was either injured or had just been very enthusiastic. But what he noticed was that the other two Rangers had placed their weapons on the table and Dustin hadn't.
Before the taller boy could launch another deflective monologue, Cam leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, and gave Dustin the Sensei Look he had learned from his father.
"Where is it?"
"What, man?" Dustin blinked innocently and even reached up to anxiously comb a hand through his hair.
Oh yes, Cam knew where his bo staff was. "You did it again."
"Dude, it was so totally not my fault this time, I swear!" Dustin turned on his pleading and earnest gaze, his big brown eyes professing his innocence. Cam was unmoved. "There were, like, a dozen of them crowding in from all sides, and I was going at it, and one of them kicked me in the chest while five more piled on me—"
Shane snorted, wincing as it tugged his ribs. "There was, like, three of them in total, man."
"--and before I knew it, they were grabbing your bo and I couldn't stop them and they broke it, but I managed to get a hold of one end and stake two with it..." Dustin produced a sticky bit of wood shorter than his forearm from within the folds of his uniform.
Cam rubbed his eyes slowly with thumb and forefinger, feeling the last vestiges of the peace he had found during meditation slip away. Luckily for Dustin, Sensei made an appearance, bouncing off the back of the poor guy's head and onto the table, next to Tori and Shane's bokkens.
"A ninja enters combat like a soft summer's breeze, Dustin, and leaves just as quietly. The art of stealth is your greatest weapon."
Dustin nodded, rubbing his head. "Yes, Sensei."
Cam stopped grinding his teeth and intervened before his father could pull out the big metaphors. "Dustin, that's the third bo this month you've either lost or destroyed. Those staffs were specifically made with vampire hunting in mind. Now we know the vampires are not stupid, so what do you think will happen if they find any trace evidence on those weapons? What do you think will happen if they manage to find out where those staffs came from? Their resources are much broader than ours, I assure you."
The look on Dustin's face turned glum and he dropped his eyes to the floor. "They jumped me, is all I'm saying."
"You acted well, given your circumstances," Sensei said soothingly. Well, as soothing as a talking guinea pig could seem. "But perhaps some extra training might be in order. Say, tomorrow afternoon?"
"But—"Dustin began to protest, but cut off abruptly when Shane coughed knowingly into his hand. Dustin's shoulders sagged. "Yes, Sensei."
"Very good. Cameron will instruct you."
Cam felt the urge to whine like Dustin, but controlled himself in time. He thought of it more as a manly griping. "I was planning to upgrade the computer systems between classes."
"Surely helping your fellow student to hone skills that may very well save his life has greater importance over technical details that can be completed at a later time."
Cam didn't dignify that with a response, knowing that he never really had a choice anyway, and turned to enter the statement Dustin had given in the computer. Without looking up, he said, "Shane, sit at the table. Tori, go get the first aid kit."
"Why do I have to—"Shane started to protest while Dustin sniggered, but a look from Cam and they both sobered.
"So, Shane. What's your report?" Cam asked in a toned laced with annoyance, fingers rapidly flying over the keyboard.
"Uh, basically the same as Dustin's, without the getting my ass kicked part." They both ignored Dustin's indignation. "We got there and they had a girl cornered, so we broke it up. She ran. I don't know if she was bitten or not. I took out three of them, Dustin got two, and Tori got the other four."
"Anything unusual?" Cam prompted without looking away from the monitor.
"Yeah. They seemed really disorganized. Like, no one listened to anyone else. I think that's how we were able to get so many."
"Interesting," Cam mumbled and looked over at Tori, who was laying the first aid kit out on the table.
"Oh, I agree with everything they said," she offered with a smile. "Dustin got his butt kicked, Shane got dog-piled, and I saved the day, as usual."
Cam had to grin as the guys glowered and didn't deny it. "You can give me a more detailed account later. How severe are your injuries, Shane?"
"They're—fine." The team leader flinched as he tried to take off his uniform. "Just some bruises. I'll live."
Sensei spoke up again. "Perhaps one of the other rangers should inspect them, just to make sure."
While Tori and Dustin stood around poking at Shane, Cam finished the mission log and went through another check of the security cameras outside. Nothing unusual. He could only hope that the rangers hadn't been tracked back to his home.
Funny how he had an amazingly painful headache. But then, that was his usual state of being around the three rangers.
"Ugh. I need a shower," Tori exclaimed behind him, echoed by Dustin.
Cam just stared blankly at the security monitor, wishing them all away now that he knew they were safe. After some more whining from Shane, they were back in street clothes and ready to go. Finally.
"Hey, man," Dustin nudged him. Cam looked up warily. "You wanna hook up tomorrow after I get off work?"
"That'll be fine, Dustin." He would have agreed to anything at that point. He just wanted some quiet.
"Cool. Catch you then."
At last, the only sounds left were the hum of the computer equipment and the hissing of the air vents. It was after two in the morning. He could sleep, or he could do the damn computer upgrades.
Rubbing his eyes tiredly, he dragged the box of parts closer.
TBC...