Disclaimer: see part 1
Author's notes: Thanks once more to Nalan for her beta work, and thanks for Estirose for letting me steal a gag : )
The Tempest
by Smittysgirl
Ethan felt marginally better in the morning. Marginally better still meant he felt betrayed, scared, ashamed, and more than a little disappointed in everyone he knew, but it was still an improvement over how he'd gone to bed.
Dr. Smitty had come into his makeshift quarters at what Ethan supposed was twelve midnight, looking like a zombie and apparently ready to console the heartbroken Blue Ranger until he was no longer explosively irate. One look at the older man and Ethan had quickly shooed him back to his own bed. No matter how bad Ethan's life was, nothing could compare to the strain Dr. Smitty and Hayley had to be under.
This was why he had lost Cassidy? This is why Kira had shut down around everyone? His gut tightened at the thought of them together, even though Kira was adamant there was nothing between them - nothing even spoken, she insisted. His heart raced. He tried humming songs to himself, but every tune he could think of somehow correlated to her. Every good memory he had of his friendship with Kira or his relationship with Cassidy somehow inevitably led back to the image of them together, and he winced.
Ethan hadn't had a lot of experience in relationships. He had the pick of the litter in his nerd clique, and while that might have been intoxicating for some, the Morgan Webb's of the world didn't do much for him. Ethan, frankly, didn't like most people the way he liked computers. He'd even been known to flush years long web relationships if a social meeting went horribly.
He grabbed a quick shower in his private bathroom, impressed to see the amount of amenities Mesogog had included - among which included prepackaged mud packs, which he supposed might be a necessity for creatures with no sweat glands. Sadly, no razor anywhere. He nearly crackled a smile at the girls being in similar straits before the realization of who those girls were made him wince again.
How long was this going to hurt? He had no frame of reference. Was it like a cold, did he just need to drink fluids and stay off his feet for a couple days? Was it like a cancerous growth, inching its way into every part of him until he fell into toxic shock?
With a final sigh, Ethan threw his sweaty clothes from yesterday back on and trudged back towards the main laboratory. He really needed a project to tackle right now.
A beautiful morning had risen over the pacific island the three Ninja Storm Rangers called their current place of residence, but none of them paid it mind beyond being a period of wakefulness. They'd fallen into a classic military regiment with their arrival here, each taking a shift guarding the others as they slept.
After spending their first day on the island attempting to find food and shelter (neither encouraging), Shane had demanded they organize a variety of methods by which to escape the force field that surrounded them. They had only noticed the field was there after Dustin's attempt to ninja streak back to Mesogog's base had smacked into the 'roof' above them.
Shane drew a small diagram of the island in the sand, noting the barrier and ocean accordingly. "There must be some way we can manipulate the tides and just walk our way out of here. Dustin, could you - "
"That's not my expertise, dude," Dustin said. "I'm the dirt guy, Tori was the water one."
Hunter shook his head at the question he knew was coming. "I don't think there's any chance of blasting our way through the barrier, either. I might be able to with my element power, but I'd probably burn us all to a crisp trying it."
Shane grimaced. "Dustin, try and go down into the mantle underneath the ocean. There has to be some way for us to get off this rock."
"Whoa dude, just hold up there for a sec. You want me to build you a land bridge? Across the ocean? I'm not even totally sure where we are, and I know my ninja powers aren't up to that level even if I did!"
The Red Ranger marched across the beach and stood in the Yellow Ranger's face. "Right now I don't care whether this kills you or not. Hunter's way kills all of us if it backfires, and that won't do Master Lothor any good at all, now will it?"
"Hey guys," Hunter said nervously, "all we probably have to do is defeat the barrier. Lothor's got to be looking for us by now, especially after what those poser Rangers did. Once he can detect us we'll be all set."
Shane broke his staring contest with Dustin a moment later. "Fine. Let's try and figure a way to defeat the forcefield."
An enormous hand made of sand and other loose debris burst out from the ground, squeezing the Red Ranger's midsection and knocking the breath out of him. Dustin grimace. "I am TRIED of being ordered around like this! You might be our leader, but you're not our boss! I don't know what Master Lothor uncorked in you, but I don't like it!"
" ... mutiny ..." Shane rasped.
Hunter waved a finger at him. "You call what we're doing mutiny? How do we know you haven't gone behind our backs and sewn some seeds with Lothor? You still have a loyalty to your teammates, Shane."
The sky split above them, and a concentrated cyclone tore the fist apart as Shane was safely protected in the funnel's center. The wind sensei landed in a crouching position, his face set and determined. "Loyalty, huh? Let's just see about that.
Kira awoke feeling the most refreshed she'd felt since - since the last time she'd slept beside Cassidy.
They'd finally been ushered to their own quarters after Conner's outburst, only to find neither was much use sleeping on their own. Worried about misconceptions, both had made a point to bring her own pair of sheets when laying down togeher, but those boundaries had quickly dissolved as they slept. They'd balled together like children half their ages.
Kira considering untangling from her friend's embrace so she could freshen up, but finally settled for nudging her gently. Cassidy's eyes fluttered open, and they shared a long smile. There was nothing hanging between them any more.
"Hey," Kira whispered.
"Hey yourself," Cass said.
"Did you want to go scrounge up something to eat? I don't know what Mesogeek has for a galley, but I bet there's something somewhere," Kira offered.
Cass made a face, and Kira giggled. "I'd just as soon starve myself as eat what that monstrosity called food."
Another silence passed, and Cass reached out to caress Kira's cheek. "I can't believe all of this is actually happening. I can't believe you're here."
"I know," Kira breathed. "The only reason I know I'm not dreaming is because I feel like I finally got a good night's rest."
She leaned forward, softly kissing Cassidy on the forehead. She kept moving down, her lips brushing Cassidy's fluttering eyelid for a moment before finally touching her lips. They both recoiled at the mutual morning breath, and a second later began to laugh.
"Come on," Cass laughed, "let's try and make ourselves a little less disgusting."
Trent stood in profile, leaning in the doorway to what had once been his room. Inside he watched as Conner shifted and moaned in his sleep, the curvature and sharp angles of the Zeltrax armor knocking sheets and pillows askew as he did. Trent's heart fluttered. He and Conner had their share of differences in the past, but right now they were closer in terms of sheer experience than any normal men could be.
What was he it wanted out of all this? A part of him still seethed at his treatment at the other boy's hands. A part of him didn't understand why any sane person would invite the possibility for being hurt again.
Trent didn't know. He didn't even know if he wanted to know. He was so tired. Emotionally as much as physically.
He sat down. So much had happened.He hated Mesogog for what he had done. He hated himself for not saving his father from this sooner. He hated himself for what had happened in that warehouse, when an attempt to spare a life had -
Trent shivered uncontrollably.
Why hadn't he drowned himself when he'd had a chance? He still remembered the night it all began. The voice, the perverse other that haunted him. Though it had disappeared when he embraced the gem's brainwashing, a part of Trent always felt its presence within him like a malignant tumor.
He slammed a fist softly into to doorjamb. His father was dead or nearly dead, and he was cursed. Cursed with the white Gem. He tore his bracelet off in a fit of rage and tossed it randomly.
"Careful!" came a modest voice from behind him. Trent turned around carefully, surprised to see Blake holding the bracelet with some wry amusement on his face. "You can put people's eyes out with this."
Trent sighed. The Navy Ranger knelt down across from him. "Something troubling you?"
"I was just thinking of how much hell we'd been through lately."
Blake nodded. "I know a little something about that," He shot a glance at Conner sawing logs in the most literal sense. It sounded like a chainsaw. "Then again, I can't say I've seen anything on par with you guys."
"This used to be my quarters, once upon a time," Trent confessed.
Blake nodded in contemplation. "So you were the White Ranger that worked for Mesogog? That had to be rough on you."
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Trent said.
Blake bit his lip. "You know, my brother and I? We were under Lothor's control twice. I've got some experience with this, if you ever need to talk."
Trent nodded, keeping an eye on his sleeping teammate. "Not much to talk about."
Blake nodded in turn. "Thought you might say that. Just giving you the option. You wanna head upstairs and see what the genius brigade have whipped up?"
Trent looked at him vacantly. Blake grimaced, gripping the White Ranger by the shoulder. Trent fought the instinct in him to flee. "The laboritory. Trent, how much have you slept?"
"Um?" He honestly couldn't remember anymore. Why was the past so crystal clear now, and the present so cloudy?
Blake nodded towards the sleeping figure of Conner. "Come on, let's get out of here for his sake. You can get the skinny and then take a breather yourself. That sound good?"
"I'll just stay here," Trent said, feeling suddenly safe in his former quarters. Or right on their peripherals.
"Trent," Blake sighed, "you can't burden Conner like that. Especially not after last night. You both need some space to unwind."
Trent took a deep breath and looked at Conner.
"Trent."
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Trent huffed.
Blake patted him on the back. "It'll be good for you to see some people."
"Right," Trent muttered, but followed the elder Rager.
Lothor didn't like the way this day was shaping up one bit. He hadn't made contact with his Rangers since their skirmish with the Dino Thunder team - and since when had they been invited to the party, anyway?
His plan to bring about the destruction of the ninja academies had proceeded unencumbered, which was a distinct change from the usual methods employed by his former generals. He'd even left behind that brother of his as a memento for Cam.
Cam. Lothor drew a sharp breath. His nephew was the greatest obstacle in his attempts at universal domination, especially with the others disposed of. Tori and Blake he could accept as minor problems, but Cam - whatever part of Lothor had once been Kia Watanabe felt kinship to the boy. Turning him against the current Rangers would be the prefered course of action. He would be a great asset to Lothor's new evil ninja empire.
That meant separating him from the others. That also meant he needed to get his own foot soldiers returned to him unharmed - and without their conditoning removed. With a flick of his wrist a view screen opened in the middle of the room. A young woman in a thunder academy sensei uniform nodded. "Greetings, Master. Lothor."
"Ah'm not in the mood to trifle, Leann. Fell me something I'd like to hear."
She nodded curtly. "Very well. Construction on your craft is proceeding swiftly. In addition we have begun to enlist the aid of some heavy industry employees. You needn't worry, we've taken every procaution when enthralling them. Equipment will be written off, and no paper trail will lead back to the project."
"Excellent. The sooner we're off this planet the better. There's somethin' about this place, I can feel it in mah bones. There isn't a tyrant in the universe that's safe here."
Leann's face quirked. "If I may be so bold, master, why did you remain here at all if you knew this to be so? Surely your revenge would have been attainable from afar, perhaps using intermediaries to -"
Her sentence was interrupted as her wind pipe shut. Lothor glowered across the monitor, unclenching his hand and releasing her a moment later. "You may not be so bold, Ms. Omino. Ah'll thank you to ask for real next time."
"Of - of course, sire."
The Navy and White Rangers piled into the laboratory to find most of their teams had already staked out a place and were hard at work on something. Ethan, to everyone's pleasant surprise, actually seemed cordial. The absence of the two teenage girls from the Dino Thunder twam might have contribured to that however.
"Conner stayed in bed," Trent supplied quietly to their mentor. "He had kind of a rough night, and I had to talk him down. I thought it best if we didn't wake him."
Terrance nodded. "Good thinking, Trent. The last thing any of us need is more hostilities at the moment."
"Please tell me," Devin yawned, "you guys have found something that's going to make today a little easier for us all."
"Yeah," Cam started. "I think we might have a way to solve one of our major problems right off the bat."
Hayley nodded. "We may be able to separate Anton from Mesogog. Using the modifications to the lifeforce extractor Mesogog had made before Conner's - accident, and some of Cam's own equipment to replace the lost or damaged components, I believe it may be possible to isolate the human elements of Anton Mercer and reconstitute them in the Genome Randomizer."
"Which we've nearly completed repairs on," Ethan chimed. "We just need to grab three tissue samples from the good doctor to make sure nothing gets bungled up."
"Which means ...?" Blake asked calmly. Next to him Trent pumped his fist.
"It means we can finally kill Mesogog," Terrance said with a hardness none of his pupils could remember hearing from him. "Once we're sure Anton survived the process in one piece, we can finally put all of this behind us."
"At least the big parts," Devin added. "There's still Lothor and those ninjas we've got stitched up downstairs and the other Rangers and I really should just shut up now while we're feeling good about our successes, shouldn"t I?"
Hayley nodded softly.
"Let's get started, people," Terrance supplied.
Marah kind of enjoyed regular school for a change. It was better than the ninja academy, and infinitely better than evil alien high school. if this kind of social environment and curriculum were the norm for girls her age, then she was amazed Cassidy would ever want to leave.
As she filtered out of English Lit she was besieged by a brown haired girl with strong, regal features. "Cassidy!" she wheezed, clearly winded. Marah whapped her on the back and the girl coughed for a moment. "Thank you."
Marianne, the voice in her head supplied. Marah had quickly gotten used to the cliff notes for social interaction. it certainly beat claiming residual brainwashing for her partial amnesia. "Hey Marianne. What's going on?"
"Have you seen ANYBODY?" she asked.
Marah looked around in confusion. "Unless somebody put an invisibility spell over the city, I see lots of people."
Marianne's face darkened. It was evident from the bags under her eyes she hadn't been sleeping well for a long time. "Cass, this is serious. That bastard Mesogog killed Eric, and now everybody except you has taken off. Conner, Ethan, Kira, Devin, Trent - even Hayley, Dr. Smitty, and Dr. Mercer! Then you show up right next to Eric's body after an attack by Elsa, given a Hearst snowjob? I need ANSWERS!"
Marah frowned. She could sense this girl's love for Eric coming off her in waves, and it turned Marah's stomach to see how deep his death had hurt her. "I wish I could help. I was hoping to get some time in with Principal Randall later today - she's the last person known to have seen Anton Mercer."
"Good luck with that," Marianne snorted. "Randall's not speaking to anyone, not even the police. Says they need to be able to pin her to something, and right now her record is squeaky clean. There's nothing to nail the bitch on. Mercer Industries' board of directors is doing flips right now."
Marah made a sour face. 'That's unfair. Gosh Marianne, I wish there was something I could do for you. Everything's been so insane, and there's days I hardly even feel like myself anymore."
So not a lie. So, so not a lie.
Marianne sighed, clutching her book bag to her midsection. "Eric's gone. I mean, I'd known him for almost forever, but I'd never seen this side of him until recently. It came so close to when we'd gotten involved I thought for a while it was me, now I don't know what to think. I owe it to him to find out what caused his death. I'll sleep better knowing it."
"You are taking this really well," Marah ventured softly. She wasn't the best at comforting others, and her deficiencies were becoming obvious to herself. "Way better than anybody else I've seen."
Marianne shrugged. "My brother in law died working construction during Diceotron's first attack. I'm not going to lie, living in a city like this you get accustomed to weirdness. You just try and gather up your wits and make do with what you have. It got easier to put a face on things when Tyler died."
The class bell rang, and fires seemed to light underneath each of the students. The other girl smiled awkwardly. "Anyway, I'm sorry to go after you like that. If you need any help with your investigative work, you know where to look me up."
Marah nodded enthusiastically. "I'll be taking you up on that, count it."
Especially with Devin gone.
"Oh, and your hair looks great like this!" Marianne called over her shoulder as she headed into Dr. Mercer's – now Dr. Morton's – class.
"Thanks!" Marah said, fluffing her locks again. "I'm totally thinking about trying red."
Kira and Cassidy had piled into what they presumed was Mesogog's commissary after much pressure on Kira's part, and circumspect advice from Hayley over Kira's communicator that perhaps their services would be more appreciated somewhere that didn't have Ethan currently waist deep in vital circuitry. Dr. T promised to catch them both up once he was confident Ethan hadn't endangered Dr. Mercer's life - a statement which had raised more questions for the girls than it answered.
To their surprise Devin had left behind an assortment of tropical fruits that grew outside in a large bowl. He'd also descended on Mesogog's arboreum and snatched up everything that hadn't been crossbred for toxicity. His note, thoughtfully left behind for those Rangers that had slept in late, noted that he and Tori had already fed the few cognizent ninja students in sickbay.
Kira dubiously inspected something that looked like a bloated orange mango. "What is this? Also, can we trust Devin's ability to tell if something will kill you? I think Mesogog gene sequenced some of these."
"It's a pawpaw. You can eat it. My mom used to grow them when she lived in Ohio."
Cassidy picked up what looked like a small green coconut. "This is a breadfruit. This is indigenous to the pacific islands. Hawaiians used to live on this stuff."
Kira struggled with opening the potato like skin with her fingers before simply morphing and chopping it into quarters with her sword. She demorphed and returned to her seat. "Your mom was a botanist?"
Cass shook her head. "My grandfather was. Mom got into it as a hobby. She really stopped doing much when we moved to Reefside. Daddy felt she needed to focus more on keeping up appearances - houses don't run themselves and we're not rich enough to have maids."
Kira nodded, taking a bite of the fruit. Alicia Cornell was something of a local terror when it came to appearances. Last year's Christmas pageant was a nightmare of flash and spectacle. Kira's own acoustic performance of several Christmas standards had gotten a warm reception, but the bands, dancers, and lighting technicians Mrs. Cornell employed completely knocked everyone else out of the spotlight.
Kira wasn't sure she wanted to imagine that kind of fervor put towards any kind of a hobby – not unless she was putting together an evil army like Mesogog.
With a pressurized whoosh Conner stumbled into the galley. He looked at the girls with a general expression on his face, and snatched a couple of apples from the bowl. Cassidy cautiously waved hello, and Conner waved back.
"Morning girls," he rumbled. That was – different, they both reflected in a quick glance. They'd never heard the Zeltrax voice come out of Conner's mouth without the helmet on. Cassidy had frankly assumed the vocal modulator was a part of the helmet.
"Hey Conner," Kira said simply. It was nice to know at least somebody wasn't overreacting anymore. Maybe her friendship with him could be salvaged after all. With all the stuff Conner had had to deal with, was it any surprise he was so prone to blow outs now and again?
The armored teen sat down at the far end of Cassidy's side of the booth, happily chomping away on the fruit. They all concentrated on eating in their silence, none wanting to admit how badly they had neglected themselves the days prior. Conner cautiously eyed the apple cores and stems he left behind, experimentally biting into one. The girls winced, and Conner shrugged.
"Can'urt me annymorr," he mumbled. Cassidy grabbed another breadfruit and rolled it down to his end. He grabbed it in one of his hands and began to chomp away just like the apples he had just eaten.
They really needed to find a way to get Conner back to normal. Last week if possible.