Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.
"What are you talking about, Conner, 'losing' me?"
"I, uh..." Conner stammered, buckling under the weight of Kira's stare. "Nothing," he lied, and it was a bad lie, the haste of his use of the word and the quaver in his voice dead giveaways. "Nothing," he added again for good measure.
"Conner McKnight," she said slowly, sounding not unlike his mother when severely pissed, "all of this," she gestured frantically at the carnage, "was because of whatever stupid reason got you to fight Trent this afternoon. Seeing as how this is my home away from home, and now it's my rubble away from home, I'd kind of like to know exactly why it's rubble. Tell. Me."
"I can't just tell you, okay?" Conner said helplessly. "It's something that needs...I mean, I have to...it isn't the right time..."
"You know, Dr. O.'s been gone awhile," Ethan said. "Maybe we should go look for him."
"You go," Kira said, not taking her eyes off the Red Ranger. "I'd like to stay and chat with Conner."
"Actually, I was thinking that Conner should come with, get a chance to stretch his legs and make sure everything's in working order." Ethan grabbed hold of Conner's arm and practically dragged him away.
"Con?" he asked when they were out of earshot of Kira, who was no doubt fuming.
"This isn't the time, dude," Conner said. "Not with the place trashed, and it being my fault and everything."
"Oh, no way, I think this is the time. Considering she's the reason. I take it Trent found out, and he wasn't happy about it?"
"Something like that."
"She doesn't love him or anything, you know," Ethan said carefully. "I think she's over that."
"I dunno, dude, she seemed pretty eager when she thought Trent was back to normal." Conner sighed. He couldn't believe he and Ethan were having this conversation here and now, squeezing through the underground passages to the woods entrance of their destroyed headquarters.
"Look, Conner, dude, I don't know how she feels about you. But I can tell you that the way things are right now, you're going to regret it that you weren't more open and honest with her. Regardless of the consequences."
"You make it sound like he's going to kill us all," Conner said.
"I don't doubt that he'll try," Ethan said in a dark tone that was hardly his style. "And in case you hadn't noticed, Conner, but even though we usually go at him three against one, he kicks our butts every freaking time."
"Don't I know it," Conner said bitterly. "Listen, whatever I have to say can wait until after we resolve this."
"If you say so..." They came to the entrance, which was open. Dr. Oliver was prowling around. He looked up when he saw them coming. "Conner."
That one word had Conner nervous. "Listen, Dr. O., I--"
Their mentor held up his black gloved hand. "I just wanted to know if you were okay," he said in an almost gentle tone.
"Yeah," Conner said, surprised. "I'm all right."
"I'm glad," Dr. O. said, and even though he was wearing a helmet, Conner could tell by his tone that he was smiling. The Red Ranger wondered if there was going to be a lecture, but none came, and he wisely decided not to press the issue.
"How's everything looking?" Ethan asked.
"Everything's okay. I don't think he knows about the cave entrance; I think he left through the house entrance."
"The door was open when we got here," Ethan admitted.
"Great. Now he knows where the base is," Conner groaned.
"Bit late to be worrying about that, wouldn't you say?" Ethan said.
"Not that it matters," Dr. O. said, "he already trashed it."
"Has this sort of stuff ever happened before?" Conner asked.
"Oh, it happens all the time," Dr. O. said, almost loftily. "Hell, one of my first assignments as the Green Ranger was to do some serious damage to the Command Center. I think I did worse than Trent did, though."
"You're an inspiration to us all," Conner said dryly, and the three of them retreated back into the cave, watching as Dr. O. sealed it off. "Uh...just so you know, Kira's kind of crazy right now."
"Yeah, whose fault is that?" Ethan remarked.
"Now, Ethan, Conner did a very stupid thing--" Ah, here's the lecture, Conner thought, "--but he tried his best to rectify it. It was my fault for not listening to him. As it is, it was my fault in the first place for bringing Trent into the base. You were right, it was a stupid move." Ethan beamed with the thrill of being right. Conner kept quiet for the rest of the walk, humbled. He could have hugged Dr. O. for the man's faith in him, and his willingness to share the blame. He only wished Kira would have the same attitude about the whole situation.
When they had returned, Kira had restored some sense of order to the basement. Tables had been righted, debris had been swept into a heaping garbage can. Kira was sitting in a chair, waiting patiently for her teammates. "I don't know the first thing about computers, so if you want that fixed--" she gestured at the console "--you're on your own."
"I think Hayley and I can handle it," Dr. O. said. "You three should head home."
"And leave you here alone?" Conner found himself blurting. "Nothing doing."
Kira smirked. "Conner, this is Tommy Oliver," she said, as if introducing them for the first time. Then she shattered the illusion by smacking the back of his head lightly. "I think if anyone is okay by themselves, it's gonna be Dr. O., you idiot."
"He got what he wanted," Ethan said logically, the 'he' of course being Trent. "He got into our base and it's unlikely that we'll be able to use much of anything for awhile. He left you two for dead, pretty much. His goal in all of this was to put a chink in our armor, and he's put a huge chink in there. He ain't coming back."
Conner ran a hand through his hair, and it came out dusty. He sighed. They were right. "Okay, we'll go."
"Be careful," Dr. O. called as the trio headed for the stairs. "I'm almost positive that Trent's done messing with us for the day, but it's not outside of the realm of possibility for him to attack you again. Be on your guard."
"Sure thing," Kira said, while Conner nodded and Ethan answered the Black Ranger with a mock salute.
"Do you guys need a ride?" Conner asked as they passed through the house and into the sweet outdoors. He took a deep breath of fresh air, clearing the dirt and dust particles from his nasal passages. He'd only been on the brink of recovering when he'd come to the base not so long ago. And now he was feeling every bruise from every one of his three battles with Trent in the course of that day. His mother was going to be pissed. Kira was already pissed. The basement where Conner spent most of his time was one loose stone away from being rubble. It was not a good day, not at all.
"What we need is an explanation," Kira said. "Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on with you?"
"I told you the whole story," Conner said. "I don't know why you're pissed."
"I know you hate Trent, but that's not a good enough reason to go into a one-on-one with him. There is a reason that you didn't ask us for backup, and I'd like to know what that is."
Conner sighed. "Because of you." He stared at his shoes. "Because we agreed that the loser would back off of you."
He was greeted by silence, and when he finally dared to look up, Kira was fixing him with a stunned stare. "What?" she said slowly.
"I just didn't--"
"You were fighting over me?" she cut him off. Then her eyes narrowed as the puzzlement faded and was replaced with righteous indignation. "Like I'm some piece of property? You had an agreement?"
"Kira, it's not like that," he said, though it was like that, and he knew it.
"Don't even speak," she said. "Just...just shut up." Kira backed a few steps away from him. "I can't be listening to this right now. This is insane."
"Hey, listen, calm down," Ethan said soothingly, but she glared at him. "Don't you start. Don't you dare." Ethan wisely backed off.
"C'mon," Conner said with a weak smile. "Let me just drive us home, and then you can kill me tomorrow." He was eternally grateful that Trent had spared Conner's Mustang.
"I'll walk, thanks," she said coldly. He tried to protest, but Kira had already stalked off down the road. Ethan shot his friend a 'sorry, dude' glance, and then chased after Kira, most likely in an attempt to calm her down.
Conner rested himself wearily on the hood of his car, watching as the last rays of sun flitted below the horizon and twilight settled like a thick blanket. Hayley pulled into the driveway. "Why are you still here? Tommy said he'd kicked you all out."
"Did you happen to pass Kira and Ethan on the way here?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Nope."
"Then I'm out of here," he said, hopping off his hood and gingerly getting in the car.
When he returned home, his mother was sitting in the kitchen, staring into the fruit bowl. Conner decided to take his punishment now rather than run up to his room and risk intensifying his mom's anger. He stood at the entrance to the kitchen. "Hi."
"I said not to be long," she said.
"We had to wait for the tow truck to show up," he said. "I'm sorry."
"And you couldn't call?"
Hard to make phone calls when you were unconscious. He decided to go for the 'egotistical Conner' approach. "Mom, how lame would I have been if I had to call you?"
She rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Conner. Between you and Eric, I don't know what to do with myself some days. I'd throttle the both of you, but that's illegal."
Suddenly, Conner got it. He pulled out a chair and sat opposite his mom. "He hasn't called in awhile, has he," he said quietly.
"I just worry about him," his mother sighed plaintively.
"Mom, if there's anyone who can take care of himself, it's Eric," Conner said, sandwiching her hands between his. She flashed him a watery smile. "He's okay. I promise."
"Right." She got a 'motherly' look to her again. "Conner, go to bed. I haven't decided what to do with you yet."
"Sure," he said, and dragged himself upstairs. He wanted to take another boiling hot soak, but his track record with water today had left a little something to be desired. Instead, he disrobed and crawled slowly into bed. Even the soft down pillows and thick comforter felt oppressive against his many aches and pains.
He lay in the dark, staring up at the endless black of his ceiling. He was trying so hard. He had to protect Reefside. He had to protect his mother. He had to (well, he wanted to) protect Kira. But judging from today's events, he couldn't even protect himself. Unbidden, he felt hot tears welling in his eyes and exploding down his cheeks. He never asked to be a superhero. And he was wanting to be one less and less.