Disclaimer: in part 1.
Another Time and Place
by Smittysgirl
part 7
Conner McKnight slid into his breakfast nook with an inarticulate grunt, hair still askew and bed clothes rumpled. It had been another fitless night of sleep, his brain haunted by half-remembered images of the previous day's activities.
At least, he reflected as he hunkered down with a bowl of watery and cinnamon laden oatmeal, he wasn't screaming anymore.
After digesting his second spoonful, he became aware enough of his surroundings to notice his brother Eric just finishing up his own breakfast, a neatly coordinated tray of perfectly balanced entrees. It was something Conner would have made himself, if he was still ... himself. He idly wondered when his twin had begun getting his act together.
He nearly laughed. Eric had his act together. Eric was becoming non-dorky. Well, except for his hair. Eric was... becoming not Eric.
As he had stopped being Conner, thanks to Mesogog.
"Hey bro," Eric said lightly. "You been feeling okay? You look, um... Dishwallaed."
"Disheveled," Conner murmured instinctively. Eric, to his credit, no longer flinched when corrected. Conner forced a smile for his barely younger brother. "I've been having some nasty dreams lately, that's all. But hey, how's life in private school?"
Eric gave him a watery smile. "I'm coping," he said. And that was all he said. Ever since he'd started taking ninja classes, he'd become... secretive. In a very annoying way.
It was always about secrets, Conner supposed. The secrets he'd kept from his family, the secrets Eric was keeping from him. He only wished more of those secrets had positive connotations.
The timer on Eric's watch screeched, and the younger of the McKnight brothers bolted out the front door with nothing more than a vague wave in the house's general vicinity.
Conner sighed. So much for conversation. Not that Eric had much to offer, anyway. He stared at his food. He had to eat, he knew, or things would get worse. Mesogog's stupid mutation would get worse.
He forced down the sloppy mess, collecting his and Eric's dishes and depositing them in the sink. In the distance he could hear the television switch on in his mother's study, and knew his parents would be making their way downstairs. He'd have to be strong for them. Stronger than he was for Eric. And that strength would have to hold for another grueling day.
As much as he wished for death, there were times Conner wondered if he wasn't already.
"Day of the living dead," he muttered, but there wasn't much humor to it.
But he could do it. He could make it. He had to. To see that freak Mesogog pay for what he'd done.
Cold rage surged through him, and Conner gripped the sink. No, not here. Let it pass, let it wash over you. Don't let control slip.
Remember what Hayley had taught him. Breath. Let it pass. Let it pass. Let it pass. Don't seem strange. Fit in.
"Hello, son!" his father's voice boomed behind him. Conner bit his lip, turning around and forcing a warm expression on his face.
"Dad, hey. I was just taking care of Eric's breakfast before I got ready for school."
His father smiled. "You've been eating a lot lately yourself."
"Psych said I needed to eat more."
His father nodded, gripping him firmly on the shoulder. Conner tried not to flinch at human contact. "We're all real proud of you, son. Not letting some chemical imbalance get in the way of you living your life. That Dr. Smith Hayley's dating, he's a Godsend. I don't know how he could have identified those symptoms on sight."
"Dr. Smith is a genius, Dad, I swear," Conner said. "He's done a lot for me."
His father patted him on the shoulder again. "So have you. Your mother and I hope you remember that. Mental health is all well and good, but emotional health plays a big part in that. We're all real proud of you."
"You said that already," Conner chuckled.
"And it's good you made some friends outside the soccer team," his mother added, coming downstairs. "I like Kira."
"So do I," Conner replied.
His mother smiled, brushing past his father and setting up the coffee maker. "I wish you'd invite her over some time for dinner. Goodness knows you've done more with your past girlfriends."
"Kira's not just any girl, mom. And she's got a boyfriend." He forced that last part out.
"Oh," his mother said simply. She sounded disappointed. God knows he felt disappointed.
"Well, what about the nice James boy?" his father interjected. "You talk about him all the time. Not to mention Greg Fong's boy. Whatsisname, Dilbert."
"Devin," Conner corrected automatically. "I might invite the two of them over."
A knock on their back door spared Conner the humiliation of needing to recap his personal life in greater detail to his parents. He dove between them, making his way to the living room.
Checking the peep hole, he was surprised to see Hayley mulling outside, chewing her lip.
He opened the door. "Hay, what are you doing here?"
"I thought I might stop by," Hayley said. "Take you to school."
Conner tried to process the connotations of that and found himself deeply unnerved by what this might be about. "Um, alright. I should probably get dressed and untangle my hair. Give me about five?"
His mother appeared over his shoulder. "Why, Ms. DeMatteis, it's wonderful to see you. Would you like to come in? I just put on a pot of coffee."
"Thanks, I could use a cup," Hayley said. "Or at least half a cup."
"No problem," Conner's mother said cheerfully.
Conner smelled girl talk encroaching, and quickly skedaddled to the upstairs bathroom.
He quickly combed his hair, and looked again for any signs of change. Hayley thought there would be some, not just psychological.
He ran his fingers through the back of his hair, mildly troubled to feel something protruding roughly where Mesogog's spikes emerged.
A further examination revealed they were probably oil glands, but this probably did merit investigation by Dr. T after school.
He'd just have to be careful. Breathe. Pretend everything was fine. He looked over his appearance one more time, and walked downstairs.
"I'm ready," he announced. Hayley looked up from the recliner, trying not to spit coffee all over.
"What?" Conner asked.
"I think," his mother snorted, "that while your wearing shorts and a wife-beater might be popular with some of the girls in your school, it's not exactly the sort of image you want to be projecting."
Conner looked down, realizing he hadn't changed his clothes after his examination. He looked back up, sheepishly. "I'm auditioning for Streetcar?"
"Conner," his mom said gently. "Go and change."
"Um, right, mom," Conner said, heading back upstairs.
"You want to tell me what that was about?" Hayley asked after they'd gotten out of eyesight.
"What?" Conner asked, distracted by the smell of fresh meat.
Hayley grunted, swapping sides of the sidewalk with the young man and forcing him away from the open kitchen window at the Morrosy's house. "I said, you looked pretty haggard back there. Is something getting worse?"
Conner nodded mutely.
Hayley sighed, producing a bottle from somewhere in her dress. "I was afraid of that. This is a stronger antimutigen Terrance has been working on. It'll stave off the worst of it, but it's a temporary measure. Once he has the cure for Mesogog, he'll have the cure for you."
"Shouldn't I wait -" he began. Hayley shook her head.
"I want to see it with my own two eyes. The antipsychotics can wait for Principal Randall."
"Oh, fun," Conner muttered.
Hayley shrugged. "I want to know for a fact you're getting your dosage. Something happened yesterday with Randall, and I don't like it."
Conner nodded. "I don't like it much either."
The Red Ranger flinched as he swallowed the large pill without water. Hayley watched with a curious eye for the next half block, finally convinced he had in fact swallowed it.
"Are you satisfied?" he asked levelly.
Hayley nodded. "I hate to be a mother hen, Conner, but it's the only way I can know you're not about to have another episode."
"Right," Conner gulped.
"Trent Jacob Hernandez-Mercer, where the hell have you been?" Terrance asked, looking at the bedraggled form of the White Ranger. Wherever it was, the White Ranger was in no condition to go to school. He looked like he hadn't slept at all, and smelled like he'd spent the night in a dumpster.
Trent began convulsing and sank down onto the porch. He tucked himself into the fetal position and stared at the opposite wall as though Terrance wasn't even there.
"Shit," Terrance swore, and moved to pick the big-boned White Ranger up. Whatever had happened, Trent was in no fit state to do anything.
Trent whimpered as the Black Ranger touched him, pulling away.
"N - n -no," Trent stammered. "Please. Not safe."
"Trent, you're safe here," Terrance soothed, though it seemed quite futile.
"No!" Trent yelped, pulling himself back until he tilted precipitously over the railing above Hayley's garden. "YOU'RE not safe!"
"Trent!!"
Trent loooked wide-eyed and ran.
The fetid stench of human waste and any number of noxious chemicals filled the alleyway. Mesogog breathed deeply, savoring the nearest approximation to his native swamp environment.
"Thisssssss," he purred, "almost makes up for what we are here to do."
The mutant stood over the mangled form of his once top general. Blood and coolant had run together, coagulating across Zeltrax's armor and nearly gluing him to the sidewalk.
He waved the Tyrannodrones closer. "Taaake him. Carefully."
Just as the beings were gently taking the general's body up, a particularly hideous-looking human stopped at the alleyway. "Hey, what's going on?"
Mesogog smiled. He had hoped not to run into any transients while retrieving his property, but the scent had put him in mind of home - and home put him in mind of the hunt.
"Mister, you ... you better get out of here before I get it in my mind to call the authorities!"
"Indeed," Mesogog hissed, pleased. The human froze in a parody of ninja movie moves.
Mesogog incapaciated him with a simple backhand, which sent the human reeling. The mutant sighed. This posed absolutely no challenge - but he could not let there be any witnesses to this.
A beam of concentrated psychic power lashed out of Mesogog's frontal lobe, engulfing the human. He resisted for only an instant, quickly succumbing to the stream of energy demolishing his subconscious mind's automated life support functions.
Mesogog continued to apply the beam until even the human's death spasms had abated.
"That felt... exellent," he said, motioning to the Tyrannodrones to return their burden to the Island.
The creatures complied, dragging the remains through the invisiportal they had arrived in. Mesogog surveyed the alley for a moment before following. He rematerialized in his chamber, and motioned to Elsa.
"Dispatch TNTitan to obliterate the immediate area. A clean up crew is too conspicuous, and I want no evidenssse."
"Right away, Lord Mesogog," Elsa said. "Oh, and a human blundered his way into an invisiportal somebody accidentally activated." She glared at a cowering Tyrannodrone.
"I wouldn't call it blundered," came a voice from the shadows. Mesogog turned in surprise. He KNEW that voice from somewhere, though the inflections were different.
"You ALLOWED-"
Elsa shook her head. "He's harmless, my lord. We've already disarmed him, and he permitted himself to be manacled."
"He had better be," Mesogog hissed.
"Anyway, I thought we could make some use of him," Elsa continued smoothly. "After we... ah... take care of the remains."
"I had a better idea," the voice continued. "Let me go, and I'll help you destroy the Power Rangers. Honest injun."
"Shut up!" Elsa screamed.
Mesogog held up a hand. "Let us... hear him out."
Terrance had given up chasing after the White Ranger and returned to his home, hoping to track the young man via the scanner system. At least until the former collapsed of exhaustion.
Though, he noted with some disgust, the latter seemed right on the verge of breaking down as well. He sighed as he switched off one of the computers slaved to the mainframe, pulling it out from the wall unit and prying open the front. They were burning out components faster than he or Hayley could replace them.
They needed a full integrated sensor network and supercomputer. They needed resources like every other single Ranger team probably possessed.
They didn't have them. Instead, they were one semi-competent paleontologist/archaeologist/doctor, a semi-genius with electronics, and five kids who had never seen battle before their Gems had bonded with them.
He sighed, and started tinkiering with the computer.
He just hoped Trent would curb his more self-destructive tendencies in the meantime.
Someday, he'd convince Trent that everything that happened wasn't his fault, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Trent needed psychiactric care, and that care wasn't possible without compromising his secret identity.
The computer beeped as he replaced it in the wall.
The secondary monitor switched back on, tracking the implant Terrance had placed in Trent's bracelet the day before. He corroborated the readings with the GPS satellite Ethan had hacked into months back, and queued the Raptor Rider bay to open Black Rider's pen. Morphing, he went in search of his terrified white colleague.
Devin yawned as the midmorning sun cast through his window. One of the advantages of his internship at the station, not to mention work alongside Cassidy, was that his school hours were far less strenuous than his fellow Rangers'. He rose out of bed and stretched, wincing as he strained a few of the bruises Conner had inflicted on him the day before.
No matter how exciting life as a Ranger was, he stil wished bruises went away instantly. He was glad his parents never saw how injured he was, or, well-meaning as they were, they'd never let him out of the house again.
There was a knocking on his door, and Devin quickly threw a long shirt on. "Just a second!" he cried.
His mother stuck her head in a moment later. "Devin, your sister is almost done in the shower. I thought you'd want to grab whatever hot water is left."
"Thanks, mom," Devin said, thinkin that the hot water would be perfect for the injuries. "I gotta go meet Cass early today."
His mother shook her head faintly. "Don't tell your father that. He barely tolerates your interning with channel 3, heaven knows what he'd do if he knew you were working with her off campus."
It was an old argument. Greg Fong barely understood his son's love of photography, and made it plain he expected Devin to follow in the family business. Gwendolyn Fong just barely understood her youngest child, and tried to help Devin live his own life - if only in the hopes he'd one day come to his senses and settle down.
"Right, mom," Devin said, glad his father didn't know about his little side job as a superhero. He grabbed his Zire, glad that he had it to keep track of where he needed to go. Cass would be so disappointed if he didn't show up.
She moved out of the doorway to allow him exit. As he headed towards the bathroom she abruptly hugged him.
"I know you don't hear it a lot in this house, but I am proud of you, son."
Devin gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Mom."
Hayley grunted in frustration, bringing her head back against the reception area's wall. She'd been waiting to see Principal Randall for almost a half hour now, and the woman hadn't shown up yet.
Hayley closed her eyes, took a steadying breath, and counted to ten. This wouldn't do her any good. Heck, Randall might even have a perfectly good reason in being a cold hearted accomplice to premeditated medication chickanery.
Yeah, right. The phone rang, and the mousy receptionist answered. It was evident from her tone Randall was on the other line, and Hayley gripped the arms of her chair a bit tighter. 'Keep it together, girl. Terr thought you could do it.'
Maybe, if she was really lucky, the other woman had contracted something. Like a cold. Or lupus.
The receptionist finished her call, and looked up at Hayley with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm sorry, Principal Randall got delayed. Do you mind waiting a bit longer?"
Hayley sighed, affixing a smile that she herself had been forced to use against her more belligerent customers. "That's no trouble at all."
"Thank you," the receptionist said, and returned to ignoring her, as if she were an inconvenient and ugly piece of furniture the district had pressed upon them.
Another mind deadening fifteen minutes passed before Randall burst through the office doors. The woman looked disgustingly chipper, and Hayley wasn't sure if this was an opportune time to strike or a horribly miscalculated one.
"Um, Principal Randall?" she offered, rising to her feet. "Hayley DeMat -"
"Yes," Randall said dismissively. "I remember. What do you want?"
"I've come to talk to you about one of your students," Hayley managed.
Randall rolled her eyes. "Somehow I suspected it wasn't to invite me to a potluck, Ms. DeMatteis." Her grin widened as she pinched one of Hayley's cherubic cheeks. "Though perhaps you should be avoiding those anyway."
Hayley resisted rolling her eyes. She bit back a reply that would have not furthered her cause. "Conner McKnight."
"Ah yes." Randall replied evenly. "Such a nice boy. It's a shame what he has to go through. He should be coming by the nurse's office in a couple of hours to take his medication. If you'd be willing to come back, you'd be welcome to see him."
"Maybe I should," Hayley said. "I want to make sure he does, because he caused a little scene later, since it seems he didn't take them."
Randall looked up in genuine surprise. "I find that hard to believe. I was there, as was Nurse Llewellyn. What in the world happened to Mr. McKnight?"
"I believe he tried to tear up the Cyberspace," Hayley said smoothly.
Randall's hand went to her mouth. "Oh my."
She looked at her secretary briefly, and ushered them both into her office before securely shutting the door. "Are you quite - I mean, how bad was it?"
"Thankfully, I know Kung Fu," Hayley said. "Actually, I was able to subdue him before he trashed my entire business."
"I'm terribly sorry," Randall said. Damn her, she seemed almost sincere. "But why do you think he didn't take his medication? We clearly saw him swallow the pills in our presence."
"I know the symptoms," Hayley said. "I saw him."
"Do you believe it might be possible for his condition to simply be worsening? I have a cousin with manic depression, and his mood swings even while medicated can be quite severe."
Hayley tried not to overreact. "Ma'am, I checked his pill case myself. It was fully stocked. He had not taken his medication."
Randall raised both eyebrows. "Perhaps his parents packed a second dose, and you found that container. I know the nurse likes the patients to carry a backup."
"I saw the McKnights myself before coming here. He had a single dosage. They are very careful to portion out his medication."
"What," Randall wondered, "do you think happened then? How do you account for two eyewitnesses, not to mention - I would hope, at least - Mr. McKnight's own word."
Hayley clenched her fist. Damn this woman. Damn that she seemed RIGHT. This didn't make any sense - and suspicious characters didn't just invite people along to witness their sleights of hands.
Hayley nodded. "Something just went wrong, and I'm trying to figure out what happened. Trying to keep my expenses in control. And I worry about the people who come to the Cyberspace. It's good business."
Randall noded. "I understand. You're certainly welcome to watch Mr. McKnight take his meds this afternoon. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. If he persists, I hope you plan to consult with his doctors?"
"I'll bring it to the McKnights' attention," Hayley said. "They're as worried as I am. And if something's going wrong with Conner's meds...." She left the last bit hanging.
Randall took a seat at her desk, neatly threading her fingers. "I believe that would be the responsibility of your keeper - ah, beau, wouldn't it? He is, as I recall, the man who first diagnosed Conner's unfortunate condition."
"He's not Conner's doctor," Hayley pointed out. "Merely a friend of the family who's familiar with the symptoms."
Randall nodded. "I understand. Well, if there's no further business until then, I have something of a backlog for this morning I need to attend to. I'll be seeing you later, Ms. DeMatteis?"
Hayley nodded, turning to leave. Her hand fell on the doorknob, and she was suddenly jolted with energy.
to be continued....
Another Time and Place
by Smittysgirl
part 7
Conner McKnight slid into his breakfast nook with an inarticulate grunt, hair still askew and bed clothes rumpled. It had been another fitless night of sleep, his brain haunted by half-remembered images of the previous day's activities.
At least, he reflected as he hunkered down with a bowl of watery and cinnamon laden oatmeal, he wasn't screaming anymore.
After digesting his second spoonful, he became aware enough of his surroundings to notice his brother Eric just finishing up his own breakfast, a neatly coordinated tray of perfectly balanced entrees. It was something Conner would have made himself, if he was still ... himself. He idly wondered when his twin had begun getting his act together.
He nearly laughed. Eric had his act together. Eric was becoming non-dorky. Well, except for his hair. Eric was... becoming not Eric.
As he had stopped being Conner, thanks to Mesogog.
"Hey bro," Eric said lightly. "You been feeling okay? You look, um... Dishwallaed."
"Disheveled," Conner murmured instinctively. Eric, to his credit, no longer flinched when corrected. Conner forced a smile for his barely younger brother. "I've been having some nasty dreams lately, that's all. But hey, how's life in private school?"
Eric gave him a watery smile. "I'm coping," he said. And that was all he said. Ever since he'd started taking ninja classes, he'd become... secretive. In a very annoying way.
It was always about secrets, Conner supposed. The secrets he'd kept from his family, the secrets Eric was keeping from him. He only wished more of those secrets had positive connotations.
The timer on Eric's watch screeched, and the younger of the McKnight brothers bolted out the front door with nothing more than a vague wave in the house's general vicinity.
Conner sighed. So much for conversation. Not that Eric had much to offer, anyway. He stared at his food. He had to eat, he knew, or things would get worse. Mesogog's stupid mutation would get worse.
He forced down the sloppy mess, collecting his and Eric's dishes and depositing them in the sink. In the distance he could hear the television switch on in his mother's study, and knew his parents would be making their way downstairs. He'd have to be strong for them. Stronger than he was for Eric. And that strength would have to hold for another grueling day.
As much as he wished for death, there were times Conner wondered if he wasn't already.
"Day of the living dead," he muttered, but there wasn't much humor to it.
But he could do it. He could make it. He had to. To see that freak Mesogog pay for what he'd done.
Cold rage surged through him, and Conner gripped the sink. No, not here. Let it pass, let it wash over you. Don't let control slip.
Remember what Hayley had taught him. Breath. Let it pass. Let it pass. Let it pass. Don't seem strange. Fit in.
"Hello, son!" his father's voice boomed behind him. Conner bit his lip, turning around and forcing a warm expression on his face.
"Dad, hey. I was just taking care of Eric's breakfast before I got ready for school."
His father smiled. "You've been eating a lot lately yourself."
"Psych said I needed to eat more."
His father nodded, gripping him firmly on the shoulder. Conner tried not to flinch at human contact. "We're all real proud of you, son. Not letting some chemical imbalance get in the way of you living your life. That Dr. Smith Hayley's dating, he's a Godsend. I don't know how he could have identified those symptoms on sight."
"Dr. Smith is a genius, Dad, I swear," Conner said. "He's done a lot for me."
His father patted him on the shoulder again. "So have you. Your mother and I hope you remember that. Mental health is all well and good, but emotional health plays a big part in that. We're all real proud of you."
"You said that already," Conner chuckled.
"And it's good you made some friends outside the soccer team," his mother added, coming downstairs. "I like Kira."
"So do I," Conner replied.
His mother smiled, brushing past his father and setting up the coffee maker. "I wish you'd invite her over some time for dinner. Goodness knows you've done more with your past girlfriends."
"Kira's not just any girl, mom. And she's got a boyfriend." He forced that last part out.
"Oh," his mother said simply. She sounded disappointed. God knows he felt disappointed.
"Well, what about the nice James boy?" his father interjected. "You talk about him all the time. Not to mention Greg Fong's boy. Whatsisname, Dilbert."
"Devin," Conner corrected automatically. "I might invite the two of them over."
A knock on their back door spared Conner the humiliation of needing to recap his personal life in greater detail to his parents. He dove between them, making his way to the living room.
Checking the peep hole, he was surprised to see Hayley mulling outside, chewing her lip.
He opened the door. "Hay, what are you doing here?"
"I thought I might stop by," Hayley said. "Take you to school."
Conner tried to process the connotations of that and found himself deeply unnerved by what this might be about. "Um, alright. I should probably get dressed and untangle my hair. Give me about five?"
His mother appeared over his shoulder. "Why, Ms. DeMatteis, it's wonderful to see you. Would you like to come in? I just put on a pot of coffee."
"Thanks, I could use a cup," Hayley said. "Or at least half a cup."
"No problem," Conner's mother said cheerfully.
Conner smelled girl talk encroaching, and quickly skedaddled to the upstairs bathroom.
He quickly combed his hair, and looked again for any signs of change. Hayley thought there would be some, not just psychological.
He ran his fingers through the back of his hair, mildly troubled to feel something protruding roughly where Mesogog's spikes emerged.
A further examination revealed they were probably oil glands, but this probably did merit investigation by Dr. T after school.
He'd just have to be careful. Breathe. Pretend everything was fine. He looked over his appearance one more time, and walked downstairs.
"I'm ready," he announced. Hayley looked up from the recliner, trying not to spit coffee all over.
"What?" Conner asked.
"I think," his mother snorted, "that while your wearing shorts and a wife-beater might be popular with some of the girls in your school, it's not exactly the sort of image you want to be projecting."
Conner looked down, realizing he hadn't changed his clothes after his examination. He looked back up, sheepishly. "I'm auditioning for Streetcar?"
"Conner," his mom said gently. "Go and change."
"Um, right, mom," Conner said, heading back upstairs.
"You want to tell me what that was about?" Hayley asked after they'd gotten out of eyesight.
"What?" Conner asked, distracted by the smell of fresh meat.
Hayley grunted, swapping sides of the sidewalk with the young man and forcing him away from the open kitchen window at the Morrosy's house. "I said, you looked pretty haggard back there. Is something getting worse?"
Conner nodded mutely.
Hayley sighed, producing a bottle from somewhere in her dress. "I was afraid of that. This is a stronger antimutigen Terrance has been working on. It'll stave off the worst of it, but it's a temporary measure. Once he has the cure for Mesogog, he'll have the cure for you."
"Shouldn't I wait -" he began. Hayley shook her head.
"I want to see it with my own two eyes. The antipsychotics can wait for Principal Randall."
"Oh, fun," Conner muttered.
Hayley shrugged. "I want to know for a fact you're getting your dosage. Something happened yesterday with Randall, and I don't like it."
Conner nodded. "I don't like it much either."
The Red Ranger flinched as he swallowed the large pill without water. Hayley watched with a curious eye for the next half block, finally convinced he had in fact swallowed it.
"Are you satisfied?" he asked levelly.
Hayley nodded. "I hate to be a mother hen, Conner, but it's the only way I can know you're not about to have another episode."
"Right," Conner gulped.
"Trent Jacob Hernandez-Mercer, where the hell have you been?" Terrance asked, looking at the bedraggled form of the White Ranger. Wherever it was, the White Ranger was in no condition to go to school. He looked like he hadn't slept at all, and smelled like he'd spent the night in a dumpster.
Trent began convulsing and sank down onto the porch. He tucked himself into the fetal position and stared at the opposite wall as though Terrance wasn't even there.
"Shit," Terrance swore, and moved to pick the big-boned White Ranger up. Whatever had happened, Trent was in no fit state to do anything.
Trent whimpered as the Black Ranger touched him, pulling away.
"N - n -no," Trent stammered. "Please. Not safe."
"Trent, you're safe here," Terrance soothed, though it seemed quite futile.
"No!" Trent yelped, pulling himself back until he tilted precipitously over the railing above Hayley's garden. "YOU'RE not safe!"
"Trent!!"
Trent loooked wide-eyed and ran.
The fetid stench of human waste and any number of noxious chemicals filled the alleyway. Mesogog breathed deeply, savoring the nearest approximation to his native swamp environment.
"Thisssssss," he purred, "almost makes up for what we are here to do."
The mutant stood over the mangled form of his once top general. Blood and coolant had run together, coagulating across Zeltrax's armor and nearly gluing him to the sidewalk.
He waved the Tyrannodrones closer. "Taaake him. Carefully."
Just as the beings were gently taking the general's body up, a particularly hideous-looking human stopped at the alleyway. "Hey, what's going on?"
Mesogog smiled. He had hoped not to run into any transients while retrieving his property, but the scent had put him in mind of home - and home put him in mind of the hunt.
"Mister, you ... you better get out of here before I get it in my mind to call the authorities!"
"Indeed," Mesogog hissed, pleased. The human froze in a parody of ninja movie moves.
Mesogog incapaciated him with a simple backhand, which sent the human reeling. The mutant sighed. This posed absolutely no challenge - but he could not let there be any witnesses to this.
A beam of concentrated psychic power lashed out of Mesogog's frontal lobe, engulfing the human. He resisted for only an instant, quickly succumbing to the stream of energy demolishing his subconscious mind's automated life support functions.
Mesogog continued to apply the beam until even the human's death spasms had abated.
"That felt... exellent," he said, motioning to the Tyrannodrones to return their burden to the Island.
The creatures complied, dragging the remains through the invisiportal they had arrived in. Mesogog surveyed the alley for a moment before following. He rematerialized in his chamber, and motioned to Elsa.
"Dispatch TNTitan to obliterate the immediate area. A clean up crew is too conspicuous, and I want no evidenssse."
"Right away, Lord Mesogog," Elsa said. "Oh, and a human blundered his way into an invisiportal somebody accidentally activated." She glared at a cowering Tyrannodrone.
"I wouldn't call it blundered," came a voice from the shadows. Mesogog turned in surprise. He KNEW that voice from somewhere, though the inflections were different.
"You ALLOWED-"
Elsa shook her head. "He's harmless, my lord. We've already disarmed him, and he permitted himself to be manacled."
"He had better be," Mesogog hissed.
"Anyway, I thought we could make some use of him," Elsa continued smoothly. "After we... ah... take care of the remains."
"I had a better idea," the voice continued. "Let me go, and I'll help you destroy the Power Rangers. Honest injun."
"Shut up!" Elsa screamed.
Mesogog held up a hand. "Let us... hear him out."
Terrance had given up chasing after the White Ranger and returned to his home, hoping to track the young man via the scanner system. At least until the former collapsed of exhaustion.
Though, he noted with some disgust, the latter seemed right on the verge of breaking down as well. He sighed as he switched off one of the computers slaved to the mainframe, pulling it out from the wall unit and prying open the front. They were burning out components faster than he or Hayley could replace them.
They needed a full integrated sensor network and supercomputer. They needed resources like every other single Ranger team probably possessed.
They didn't have them. Instead, they were one semi-competent paleontologist/archaeologist/doctor, a semi-genius with electronics, and five kids who had never seen battle before their Gems had bonded with them.
He sighed, and started tinkiering with the computer.
He just hoped Trent would curb his more self-destructive tendencies in the meantime.
Someday, he'd convince Trent that everything that happened wasn't his fault, but that wasn't going to happen any time soon. Trent needed psychiactric care, and that care wasn't possible without compromising his secret identity.
The computer beeped as he replaced it in the wall.
The secondary monitor switched back on, tracking the implant Terrance had placed in Trent's bracelet the day before. He corroborated the readings with the GPS satellite Ethan had hacked into months back, and queued the Raptor Rider bay to open Black Rider's pen. Morphing, he went in search of his terrified white colleague.
Devin yawned as the midmorning sun cast through his window. One of the advantages of his internship at the station, not to mention work alongside Cassidy, was that his school hours were far less strenuous than his fellow Rangers'. He rose out of bed and stretched, wincing as he strained a few of the bruises Conner had inflicted on him the day before.
No matter how exciting life as a Ranger was, he stil wished bruises went away instantly. He was glad his parents never saw how injured he was, or, well-meaning as they were, they'd never let him out of the house again.
There was a knocking on his door, and Devin quickly threw a long shirt on. "Just a second!" he cried.
His mother stuck her head in a moment later. "Devin, your sister is almost done in the shower. I thought you'd want to grab whatever hot water is left."
"Thanks, mom," Devin said, thinkin that the hot water would be perfect for the injuries. "I gotta go meet Cass early today."
His mother shook her head faintly. "Don't tell your father that. He barely tolerates your interning with channel 3, heaven knows what he'd do if he knew you were working with her off campus."
It was an old argument. Greg Fong barely understood his son's love of photography, and made it plain he expected Devin to follow in the family business. Gwendolyn Fong just barely understood her youngest child, and tried to help Devin live his own life - if only in the hopes he'd one day come to his senses and settle down.
"Right, mom," Devin said, glad his father didn't know about his little side job as a superhero. He grabbed his Zire, glad that he had it to keep track of where he needed to go. Cass would be so disappointed if he didn't show up.
She moved out of the doorway to allow him exit. As he headed towards the bathroom she abruptly hugged him.
"I know you don't hear it a lot in this house, but I am proud of you, son."
Devin gave her a small smile. "Thanks, Mom."
Hayley grunted in frustration, bringing her head back against the reception area's wall. She'd been waiting to see Principal Randall for almost a half hour now, and the woman hadn't shown up yet.
Hayley closed her eyes, took a steadying breath, and counted to ten. This wouldn't do her any good. Heck, Randall might even have a perfectly good reason in being a cold hearted accomplice to premeditated medication chickanery.
Yeah, right. The phone rang, and the mousy receptionist answered. It was evident from her tone Randall was on the other line, and Hayley gripped the arms of her chair a bit tighter. 'Keep it together, girl. Terr thought you could do it.'
Maybe, if she was really lucky, the other woman had contracted something. Like a cold. Or lupus.
The receptionist finished her call, and looked up at Hayley with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm sorry, Principal Randall got delayed. Do you mind waiting a bit longer?"
Hayley sighed, affixing a smile that she herself had been forced to use against her more belligerent customers. "That's no trouble at all."
"Thank you," the receptionist said, and returned to ignoring her, as if she were an inconvenient and ugly piece of furniture the district had pressed upon them.
Another mind deadening fifteen minutes passed before Randall burst through the office doors. The woman looked disgustingly chipper, and Hayley wasn't sure if this was an opportune time to strike or a horribly miscalculated one.
"Um, Principal Randall?" she offered, rising to her feet. "Hayley DeMat -"
"Yes," Randall said dismissively. "I remember. What do you want?"
"I've come to talk to you about one of your students," Hayley managed.
Randall rolled her eyes. "Somehow I suspected it wasn't to invite me to a potluck, Ms. DeMatteis." Her grin widened as she pinched one of Hayley's cherubic cheeks. "Though perhaps you should be avoiding those anyway."
Hayley resisted rolling her eyes. She bit back a reply that would have not furthered her cause. "Conner McKnight."
"Ah yes." Randall replied evenly. "Such a nice boy. It's a shame what he has to go through. He should be coming by the nurse's office in a couple of hours to take his medication. If you'd be willing to come back, you'd be welcome to see him."
"Maybe I should," Hayley said. "I want to make sure he does, because he caused a little scene later, since it seems he didn't take them."
Randall looked up in genuine surprise. "I find that hard to believe. I was there, as was Nurse Llewellyn. What in the world happened to Mr. McKnight?"
"I believe he tried to tear up the Cyberspace," Hayley said smoothly.
Randall's hand went to her mouth. "Oh my."
She looked at her secretary briefly, and ushered them both into her office before securely shutting the door. "Are you quite - I mean, how bad was it?"
"Thankfully, I know Kung Fu," Hayley said. "Actually, I was able to subdue him before he trashed my entire business."
"I'm terribly sorry," Randall said. Damn her, she seemed almost sincere. "But why do you think he didn't take his medication? We clearly saw him swallow the pills in our presence."
"I know the symptoms," Hayley said. "I saw him."
"Do you believe it might be possible for his condition to simply be worsening? I have a cousin with manic depression, and his mood swings even while medicated can be quite severe."
Hayley tried not to overreact. "Ma'am, I checked his pill case myself. It was fully stocked. He had not taken his medication."
Randall raised both eyebrows. "Perhaps his parents packed a second dose, and you found that container. I know the nurse likes the patients to carry a backup."
"I saw the McKnights myself before coming here. He had a single dosage. They are very careful to portion out his medication."
"What," Randall wondered, "do you think happened then? How do you account for two eyewitnesses, not to mention - I would hope, at least - Mr. McKnight's own word."
Hayley clenched her fist. Damn this woman. Damn that she seemed RIGHT. This didn't make any sense - and suspicious characters didn't just invite people along to witness their sleights of hands.
Hayley nodded. "Something just went wrong, and I'm trying to figure out what happened. Trying to keep my expenses in control. And I worry about the people who come to the Cyberspace. It's good business."
Randall noded. "I understand. You're certainly welcome to watch Mr. McKnight take his meds this afternoon. I appreciate you bringing this to my attention. If he persists, I hope you plan to consult with his doctors?"
"I'll bring it to the McKnights' attention," Hayley said. "They're as worried as I am. And if something's going wrong with Conner's meds...." She left the last bit hanging.
Randall took a seat at her desk, neatly threading her fingers. "I believe that would be the responsibility of your keeper - ah, beau, wouldn't it? He is, as I recall, the man who first diagnosed Conner's unfortunate condition."
"He's not Conner's doctor," Hayley pointed out. "Merely a friend of the family who's familiar with the symptoms."
Randall nodded. "I understand. Well, if there's no further business until then, I have something of a backlog for this morning I need to attend to. I'll be seeing you later, Ms. DeMatteis?"
Hayley nodded, turning to leave. Her hand fell on the doorknob, and she was suddenly jolted with energy.
to be continued....