Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.
Conner released Kira, but grabbed her hand again, wanting to maintain some sort of physical contact with her, to lessen his fear and help him remain calm. It had worked when he had faced Mesogog earlier. Any skills Conner possessed as a leader, he attributed to the fact that he had people he wanted to lead and protect.
"What do you want," he said slowly, careful not to make his voice too angry. Elsa was probably itching for a fight, and he didn't want to provoke her if that was the case.
"You didn't eat," Elsa observed, picking up the discarded tray.
"Would you?" Kira asked, and Conner swallowed his smile.
Elsa smirked. "What do you think keeps me in top form?" she said. "Oh, well, your loss. Watching you wither away into nothing via malnutrition isn't my top choice for your demise, Rangers, but it will be entertaining all the same. Ciao!"
And she sauntered down the hall, leaving the Red and Yellow Rangers alone in the dungeon. Conner sighed deeply, his entire body going loose once Mesogog's minion had left.
"That does it," he said. "We're getting out of here."
"And how do you propose we do that, Conner?" Kira said, disdain in her tone.
He shrugged. "Our powers."
She stared at him. "You're an idiot."
"What?" he asked, all innocence.
"Duh, Conner! Mesogog has our morphers. We're powerless."
"Remember how Dr. O. told us that the gems were bonding to us? We don't have our gems, but I think we might still have our gem powers. Bonded to our DNA."
"And if we break out of the cell, then what?" Kira asked, and by her question, he knew that she was agreeing with his plan. He felt fortified.
"Well, I haven't thought of that yet."
"He's got our morphers. We can't leave without them," she pointed out.
Conner was fixated on the hefty padlock holding them captive. "We'll have to get them," he said loftily, obviously distracted.
"Conner, we need a plan, we should have some sort of idea at least of what the hell we're dong before we just--"
He held up his hand for her silence, finally turning to look at her again. "Mesogog didn't have a plan when he kidnapped us. He didn't expect to get what he got. And now he's saddled with more than he's equipped to handle. Do you honestly believe he thought he was doing us a 'favor' when he shoved us in here together? Do you think for half a second that he would be kind to the people that keep thwarting him? No. He doesn't have the facilities to hold us separately. He's not ready to deal with the both of us, so we can whomp his ass to kingdom come."
Kira stared at him thoughtfully. "You were beginning to sound like a real leader...until you used the phrase 'whomp his ass.'" She cracked a smile, and he laughed quickly.
"Yeah, well." The moment of mirth passed, and he again slipped into 'leadership' mode. "Dr. O.'s been training you on concentrating your scream, right?" he said.
"I've broken locks smaller than that," she said, catching onto his plan. "But the scary lizard dude and friends are going to come see what all the hubbub is."
"That's where I come in," he said. "I'm the one with the super-speed, I can probably get us out of here in enough time."
"Do you know that your power works on me?" she asked.
He shrugged. "We'll just have to try. It's not like we have much time for anything else." He nodded at her resolutely. "Hit it."
Conner covered his ears just in time as she released a scream, rippling the air and hitting the padlock with force enough to shatter it. Conner let out a small whoop of triumph as he swung the heavy gate open. "Way to go, Kira! Now it's time for phase two. Do you trust me?"
"Yeah," she said, without hesitation. He then grabbed her up into his arms, concentrated on kicking up his power, and took off down the dank hall at a blur.
As he tore through the corridors, one thought kept running through his mind. It wasn't about escape, it wasn't about trying to find the morphers, it wasn't about trying to find a portal out, it wasn't about contacting Ethan and Dr. O. It was the simple, delirious thought that he was holding Kira, that she was pressing herself against him to make them smaller and therefore faster, that they were close. She trusted him and was relying on him, and he was the rescuer. It made him giddier than the thought of escape.
They turned a corner, and the green circle hovered in the air before them, beckoning. Conner stopped and put Kira down. They glanced at each other. "Shall we?" he asked.
She shrugged. "It's the only way to travel." With their inner hands clasped, they stretched out their outer hands and were sucked in, as though a magnet were pulling them through. It was a disconcerting feeling, but it was over fast, and they landed, stumbling. Conner dusted off the front of his shirt out of nervous habit, though he wasn't paying attention to whether or not he was actually dirty.
"Um," Kira said, "where are we?"
"Not in the fortress anymore," he remarked. "Outside it."
That was his best guess. They were up on a hill, a cliff, with the shadows of a black building looming behind them, and the water glistening in the distance in front of them. To the left and right of them were trees, lots of trees.
"Damn," Conner said, "I was hoping we'd get farther away than this." He kicked at the dirt. "What's the point of having a teleportation portal that just takes you into your own backyard?"
"This is great," Kira groaned, collapsing on the ground and leaning against the base of one of the trees. "We're no closer to home, and we're still without our morphers."
He dropped his head and leaned against a different tree. He had only wanted to save them, and now they were still screwed, just in a different location. This was not turning out the way he'd planned at all.
Of course, what had he planned? He'd gotten them out of the cell, sure, but had he really expected to just charge into the heart of Mesogog's lair, steal their morphers, and just magically get them off the island?
Actually, yeah, he kind of had.
He felt miserable. He had probably doomed them both. And now Mesogog would be even more furious, because they had tried to escape, and he'd just hasten the whole killing-them thing--which worked out well for him, anyway, because that was the only way he could access their powers. Conner was okay with this by himself, he wouldn't be half as concerned. But Kira was here.
"Conner." Her hand was on his arm, and he opened his eyes to see her staring at him. "It's okay."
He shook his head resolutely. "It's really not."
"Ethan and Dr. O. will get us out of here," she said earnestly.
"That's good in theory, but in case you'd forgotten, the base is totally trashed--which, by the way, is also my fault." Conner sighed, feeling miserable. He knew he was whining, and he knew how stupid he sounded, but he couldn't help it.
"It's not like there's anything you can do now."
"Why are you being so nice about this?" he grumbled, shrugging off her comforting gesture.
"Because. You're a much better leader than I give you credit for," she said slowly, looking away. "You're doing your best here, and it's not like I've done anything..." She sighed. "I don't give you credit for a lot of things, Con, and I'm sorry."
"Look, if this is about what I said back in the cave..."
She shook her head, her hair bouncing off her shoulders. "No. It's not. Well, maybe it is...I don't know. The thing is, I'm seeing you in a new light."
"Yeah, the creepy light of a creepy island forest," he cracked.
She didn't smile, only kept staring at him with that penetrating, thoughtful look that made his insides twist up in a weird way. "We fight. Like, all the time. But you've never broken my heart, Conner."
"I never would," he said thickly. He was just now beginning to realize how close she was. Painfully close. She shouldn't be standing that near to him if she wasn't going to be his.
And the way she was staring at him...he was hypnotized. In the back of his mind, he knew, he knew that they were doing this only because they were worried they might not make it until tomorrow. But as his lips slowly met hers, he didn't care. He almost wished that Mesogog would show up, because now he had something huge to fight for.