Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.
The group had disbanded not ten minutes before, after Kira had announced that she had to get to dinner. Hayley had offered to drop her and Ethan off, and Conner had begged off, having, of course, his own car. Dr. O. wanted to keep Trent a little longer for observation, and Conner had agreed to watch their adversary while Dr. O. went upstairs.
"For the record, I'm not buying it," Conner said, once their mentor had left.
"Then you're smarter than I ever gave you credit for," Trent said, immediately falling back into his lazy voice and superior tone. "Too bad Kira's falling for it." A huge smirk crossed his features. "Hook, line, and sinker."
"Our agreement was that loser would back off," Conner hissed.
"Yeah, it was, wasn't it? And if you'll recall, I'm evil, you idiot."
Conner gritted his teeth. He wanted to beat Trent to a pulp, but he knew that if he so much as raised a fist against the kid, Dr. O. would choose that inopportune moment to walk in. Plus, he was still somewhat weakened from their little brawl that afternoon, Ranger healing powers be damned.
"You're not going to get away with this, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, I'm just so freaking scared of you, McKnight. What are you going to do, hairspray me to death? Don't you think I had this all planned from the get-go? Did you really think you could defeat me?"
At the time, Conner would have bet everything he had that Trent had in fact been defeated. But the truth was, he had been tricked. It was a trap, and he'd stepped right into it, even though he'd been trying his hardest to not fall in a variety of different traps.
He needed to talk to Dr. O. alone. But that would mean leaving Trent alone. Instead, he just sat down and tried to puzzle things out, one question repeatedly pushing itself to the forefront of his mind. Kira couldn't possibly think that Trent was good again, could she?
Dr. O. returned, still in Black Ranger guise, thanks to Trent. Trent was pretending to not know the Rangers' true identities, even though he knew perfectly well. The only thing they had going for them was that he didn't know where he was. Well, he knew he was in the base, but he didn't know where the base was. "How are you feeling, Trent?" Dr. O. asked kindly.
Trent coughed. "I have a bit of a headache," he said in a pathetic voice.
"I imagine you would," Dr. O. said. "You were in quite a state."
Conner smirked behind the Black Ranger's back. Trent saw this and narrowed his eyes slightly, but he said nothing.
"I think I'm doing fine now, though," he said.
Conner couldn't take it any more, and grabbed Dr. O.'s arm. "Can I talk to you, Dr. O.?"
"Sure, Conner," Dr. O. said, following Conner into a corner of the room, where Conner was fairly certain that Trent couldn't overhear. "Could you not call me Dr. O.? Trent doesn't remember finding out who we are."
Conner wondered why that mattered at all. Since Dr. O. believed that Trent was on the verge of being healed, then wouldn't it make sense that he recruit the White Ranger to their side, anyway? But no matter--Trent wasn't going to be joining the team. "He's faking it."
"What?"
"Trent. He's faking it. Well, I mean, not that he's injured, but that he doesn't know what's going on. He knows exactly what's going on, he knows who you are, he knows who we are, he remembers everything. He's not 'cured' or whatever it is you're thinking. He..." Conner bit his lip, knowing that he was going to be in the worst kind of trouble, but also knowing that he had to own up to what he'd done. "I've gotta come clean. This morning he--"
Behind them, Trent started coughing violently.
"This can wait, Conner," Dr. O. said, heading back to check on his charge.
"Are you crazy, dude?" Conner said. "No it can't! Trent's evil!"
"Evil or not, he's injured and he needs our help."
"When did you become so magnanimous?" Conner blurted. "He's been nothing but trouble for us! He's tried to kill Kira; he's tried to kill all of us," he added pointedly. "Hell, he's frozen you in your suit! Why are you helping him? Screw Ranger ethics, it works only so far, and this is too far!"
With an audible sigh, Dr. O. turned around to face Conner. "Conner, I don't think--" He was cut off, however, by the Trent swinging a heavy object and connecting with his helmet. The helmet protected Dr. O. from any major damage, but before he could say, do, or likely even think anything, the object was swung again, catching him in the gut, winding him, and knocking him down.
"He knew too much," Trent said with a shrug.
"You son of a--"
Trent swung again, cutting Conner off, and he only barely jumped out of the way.
"Gotta finish what I started, right?" Trent said, a maniacal look to him.
"Kira! Ethan!" Conner barked into his wrist, bending back to avoid another swing. In the back of his mind, he was surprised at his agility and flexibility. "We've got trouble at the base!"
Trent didn't have enough energy to morph, but he had enough to charge after Conner, swinging his blunt object furiously as he tried to connect with Conner's vitals. The Red Ranger vaguely recognized the object as a spare part to one of the Raptor Cycles. Conner lifted a stool out of the corner, the one that one could usually see Kira sitting on during down time, strumming on her guitar. He used it to block Trent's advances, but it was hefty and difficult to maneuver effectively.
Conner swung hard, in an attempt to knock Trent's weapon down, but momentum made him spin slightly, exposing his back to Trent. It was only for a fraction of a second, but in his effort to correct this, Conner was rendered off balance, giving Trent the upper hand.
The last thing Conner saw was black.