POWER RANGERS: BREAKDOWN - Part 8: Consolation
Written by DTM666
Disclaimer: The author would like to clarify that Power Rangers and its characters is owned by BVS Entertainment and not the author.
Note: Thanks for the reviews and sorry this took longer than intended. Enjoy this eighth chapter.
---
Every night he sleeps within the drudgery of broken pieces of metal, hanging wires, and burnt circuitplates scattered about in a small chamber. Every night, he always has the same recurring nightmare; a nightmare where he reaches her house and witnesses its demise, unable to prevent it. Every night, he experienced the same nightmare repeating itself in the same way, as if it was a scripted event. He would try other things and think of other thoughts to change the flow of events. But no matter what he did, he couldn't change the nightmare.
He couldn't save Kat.
Upon awakening this day, Thomas Oliver emerged from the darkness of the chamber and into the gigantic holding bay that once held the old Zeo Zords. He never knew what happened to them last year, only that they were locked away elsewhere in a secret location that only a select few know of. This bay would have held space for the Turbo Zords shortly after their creation, but with those destroyed, all that's left is an empty chamber void of life.
Thomas studied the surroundings of the holding bay. Even with the night air filling the place,the layer of dust that covered, and the giant doors literally ripped away, the place has held up rather well. Thomas' eyes squinted to various areas of the holding bay until he saw a figure standing several feet away. Thomas couldn't see his face or recognize his posture, but somehow he knew who he was. After all, he was a part of him.
"The great Thomas Oliver." the clone declared, "Former Green Ranger. Former White Ranger. Former Red Ranger. Former... Red Ranger. Current has-been."
Thomas's face bore no emotion, his eyes affixed to the clone.
"You were a very difficult man to find, Tommy-boy. I'd almost be impressed with this newfound elusiveness of yours - not to mention your spectral weapons - but I haven't been keeping up with recent affairs. What with my alliance with Zedd and all."
Thomas made no answer.
The clone raised his hands. "Okay, so maybe Zedd isn't the best topic of choice to be discussing with you. Especially since he kicked your ass a year ago. And badly I might add." The clone paused for a moment of deep thought, then almost instantaneously he asked, "How's Katherine doing these days? Are you two still dating by any chance?"
Thomas almost flinched at the mere mention of the name. How could he have known?
"Oh! Am I bad? I'm sorry I seem to have your bad memory too." The clone's next words were spoken with cold emotion. "She's dead. As much as you'd like to believe otherwise, Tommy, she ain't coming back. I personally saw to that."
Thomas's stone-like expression grew more angrier as every second passed.
"I was the one who staged the whole thing. I was the one who put the detonator together. I was the one who had it delivered to her house. I was the one who pulled the mechanism to fire. It was all me."
Thomas took a step forward towards the clone, whether it be intentional or instinctual. The clone took notice of this and stepped back a bit. Thomas continued to approach him and the clone continued to back off until he stopped as Thomas continued his march.
"So now that you know what you know, Tommy," the clone said, "what are you going to do? Kill me?"
Before Thomas could act, the clone blinked out of existence and suddenly he was alone in the massive holding bay. Thomas looked around to see if the clone was anywhere, but he didn't see him. With the clone gone, Thomas gathered his belongings and walked out of the holding chamber on his way to another familiar locale, long destroyed.
---
"We're ready to get this over with, Bill," Kimberly said as she made final checks to the Power Cannon, which was positioned on a tripod stand. Behind her, Billy made notes on his portable computer pad while Justin stood in the distance and watched the two original Rangers at work. When Kim motioned a hand at Justin, he sprinted to the cannon, careful not to trip over any wiring scattered on the floor.
"We'll need to wait a few minutes for the Cannon to reach maximum power," he said, "but things look good."
Kim nodded and began to walk towards Billy. But as she did, she heard faint mumbling in the distance. It didn't come from Billy, who was still close by. Nor did it come from Justin who was just behind her. She disregarded the mumbles as her imagination and continued the steps towards Billy. Then it came back, somewhat louder mumbling sounds that she heard. She didn't know exactly where it came from, but Kim had a feeling where she should look first.
Could it be him? she thought, After all this time?
From the distance, Billy finished recording notes on his pad and walked down the slope. As soon as he caught up with Justin, he glanced away and noticed Kim walking towards the Command Center ruins.
"Where you going, Kim?" he asked.
"I want to check out something at the ruins," Kim answered as she walked, "I won't be long, guys."
---
He stood in the middle of the ruins, moving his head and eyes gingerly to digest all that surrounded him. In his mind, however, he could see a faint echo of the original Command Center upon which these grounds served as the foundation of. In his mind, he slowly approached the spot where Zordon's energy tube would normally be located in that locale, now just a pile of burnt circuitboards and shattered pieces of a plasma tube. He stared at the broken bits for a straight minute without saying a word. What could he say, after all?
"Look who decided to actually be here."
He heard her voice echoing in the night sky. When he saw Kim emerge from behind a pile of rubble, it almost pained him. He hadn't seen her since Murianthias, but remembered her to be distinctly different from her days as a Ranger. In some ways, she was almost unlike the ex-valley girl he used to date.
"Kimberly."
"Glad to see you remember me, Tommy," Kim said humorlessly, "Didn't think you would remember your friends since you decided not to tell anybody about your little joyride."
Thomas didn't answer, but Kimberly didn't expect him to. She could tell from a brief glance of his eyes that even after all this time, he was still hurting from what happened to Kat. But she also saw something else in him, something she couldn't be sure of other than she didn't like it.
"I wanted to say something to try and ease the pain," Kim said, "but there isn't anything. You've pretty much distanced yourself from everyone. Made sure no one was able to reach you."
Thomas turned away from Kimberly briefly. "That's not entirely true, Kim."
Kim raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it? Sure could've fooled me with your disappearing act."
Thomas sighed. She has a point.
"I needed to look for answers, for anything that could explain this." He paused a moment to face his former girlfriend. "But I didn't find anything except for the fact that the Zeo Zord Holding bay is the most uncomfortable place to get some sleep in."
Kim managed a half-smile at that last remark. "How are you holding up anyway?"
"I don't know if I am holding up, Kim," admitted Thomas, "Ever since what happened with Kat, I've been a wreck."
"What happened with Kat could have happened at any time," Kim told him, "You being so close to her, there's no doubt it'll be hard for you. It'll be hard on all her family and friends." She paused a moment, trying to get the right words for what she would say next. "But I get this ugly feeling there's more to it than just Kat."
There was a moment of silence, as if Thomas was trying to drudge up the courage to say words that he knew would hurt him.
"Dimitria and Zordon had said that it was time for us to go," Thomas recalled, "that we should select four replacements to continue the Ranger duties. At first, I felt okay about it and was willing to go for it. Then this happened and I search for answers. The more I move around, the more I realize that giving up that responsibility was a mistake. I was so angry at Dimitria and Zordon because if we were still Rangers, we'd be able to see it coming ten miles away. If we were still Rangers, they would know about what was going to happen to Kat and..." His voice trailed off and he said nothing else.
"They're not all-seeing either, Tommy," Kim added, "otherwise he wouldn't get captured."
Thomas nodded, then looked up to Kim. "Did you ever regret living behind your Ranger duties, Kim?"
Kim almost hadn't expected that question from him.
"Honestly?" she said, "No, I didn't."
Hearing those words from Kim surprised Thomas, as if he hadn't expected her to say that. But he didn't say anything.
"When I passed on the Crane Coin to Katherine, I felt like a tremendous weight had been lifted off my shoulders. As much as I enjoyed my time with the Rangers, I had to move on. There comes a time when you have to face reality and make way for the new blood so they'll take care of the hero thing while you go on with your life. That's sort of how I felt when I retired, for lack of a better word.
"But what happens since then? I get involved in an intergalactic scavenger hunt, get hung over a fire pit, and I find myself running around the city fighting Phakers being led by the supposedly immortal clone of my ex-boyfriend!" She kicked a small pebble off the ground as she said that last part. "I thought that I had given up the weirdness and stupidities, but you know what they say about 'Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger?' There's actually a little truth in that."
Thomas was silent for a moment before he said, "Never knew you felt that way."
"Yeah, I had my blame rounds the same as you," she replied, "But in the end, it doesn't matter. What happened happened and there's no way we can change it."
Before Thomas could answer, he found his surroundings fading to black and found himself surrounded in pitch blackness. Only moments later, a bright spotlight shined over him. When he attempted to lift a foot, he found that he couldn't. He was completely immobilized.
"Yeah, it's me again." It was his voice, but it seemed much colder and much more malicious. Thomas knew who it was and tried to make some semblance of movement, but to no avail.
"Don't bother looking for me, because I'm in your head and no one else is hearing these message but you, so listen up."
Thomas didn't say anything, not that it did him much good.
"Here's the deal, Tommy-boy. I want you, you want me, and Zedd would love nothing more than to see you self-destruct before you eventually suffer and die. What's say we get a little get together and finish this thing once and for all?"
Thomas knew all too well that this was bait for a trap, but there was little to disguise that fact. All he knew was that this would be his chance to finish this affair once and for all.
"You'll be receiving co-ordinates on your communicator for teleportation on the Lunar Palace. You'll know this when the communicator sounds a nine-tone signal. When that happens, you have fifteen minutes to decide on whether to go or not. Now I don't want to give you the wrong idea that this is an ultimatum. It isn't one, because chances are we'll kill your friends and everyone else as soon as we're done with you. Our meeting together is inevitable, so nothing you do will change that."
Thomas felt dizzy for a moment and when he came to, he found himself in the ruins of the Command Center with Kimberly holding him firmly on both arms to keep him from collapsing to the ground. When he came to, she let go and Thomas took a deep breath in.
"Are you alright?" Kim asked, concerned, "You almost phased out there for a minute."
Thomas nodded, then said, "It was him. He was talking to me, telling me something about settling the score once and for all."
Kim looked around briefly before replying, "I didn't hear anybody."
"I know," Thomas said, "It was a mental communication." He paused to take a breath. "We have to get to the others."
Kim frowned at the idea. "You disappear for seven months and you want us to get back together? That's really sloppy leadership skills."
"I need your help, Kim," Thomas said, almost pleading.
Kim thought it over briefly. "When you put it that way... I'll give Jason a call and tell him I'll bring you over to his place." She paused a bit, making Thomas uncomfortable. "But we can't spare that many people, Tommy. Tanya's in L.A. finalizing a record deal, so she's no go. Billy and Justin are about to begin Project Prodigy and we have no way of contacting the Astro Space Rangers or whatever they're called these days."
"Well, we can't bother Tanya," Thomas insisted, "And the sooner Billy gets Prodigy up and running, the better. Which means we have to regroup with Jason and crew."
Kim studied her ex-boyfriend for a moment. "You almost sound like we're going on a raid."
Thomas didn't answer.
---
Billy did a check on the power readout of the Power Cannon using his datapad, which was reading at eighty-five percent and wasn't getting any higher than that. When Billy extended his hand to Justin, the Blue Turbo Ranger handed him a square-shaped card that was inserted into a slot of the Power Cannon. As soon as he shut the exposed circuits of the cannon, he saw the datapad's readout jump to one-hundred-fifty percent, slowly rising.
"Stand back, kid," he warned Justin, "This could be a little rough."
Justin took a few steps away from the entry as Billy waited for the cannon to reach maximum charge. When the datapad confirmed this (at two-hundred percent), Billy waited a moment before pulling the trigger. A pulse of colored energy shot from the main cannon and flew at blinding speed at the rubble, exploding upon impact and forcing the two Blue Rangers to cover their faces from the blinding light. When the light faded, Billy and Justin saw that the rubble had been blown away, revealing an barely-lit corridor with metal walls.
"It worked, Billy!" Justin said excitedly, "We can get in!"
Billy nodded and gave a confident smile at the kid, who smiled back. Before they could make their way in, the two heard speeding footsteps in the distance. They turned around to see Kimberly running at them, with another figure running behind them. It took a moment for Billy to recognize the man behind her and almost dropped his jaw at the sight of him. Justin stood there staring in awe at the veteran Power Ranger who had been missing for several months. He was almost intimidated by the presence.
"Tommy?" Justin asked nervously.
Thomas didn't say anything, but he merely nodded.
Billy looked at the both of them with utter confusion. "What's going on?"
"We have to go, Bill," she said.
"What about Prodigy?"
"You and Justin stay here and get Prodigy up and running," she replied, "I need to reconvene the others for a briefing."
Billy seemed confused. "Briefing for what?"
After a short moment of silence, it was Thomas Oliver who answered the original Blue Ranger's inquiry.
"We're going to raid Zedd's palace and finish this once and for all."
To be continued...