Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.

Conner stared at the bike between his legs, more specifically, at the communication device through which Hayley had just informed him that the city was under attack, and Conner and Kira couldn't morph. He could not think of any words to answer her, could not think of much of anything.

"Conner?" Hayley was waiting for an answer. Kira was looking at Conner expectantly. Trent was glancing across the warehouse at them, bored and annoyed.

They needed him to lead. But he didn't have any leader left in him. He'd made several potentially stupid decisions lately, and they were now in so deep that there seemed to be no hope.

He had to save Ethan. Ethan was his best friend. He would be in the middle of the fortress right now, attempting to save Ethan, if Hayley hadn't contacted them.

But he'd been chosen to help defend the city and the people. It was his duty. He had sacrificed so much already to the cause. Could he sacrifice one of the people he cared most about?

Ethan, however, could take care of himself. As could the Black Ranger. And Conner knew that Dr. O. would do anything to protect Ethan, having seen any and all possibilities throughout his duration as a Ranger. Based on his past and horrors endured in it, Dr. O. felt more responsible for the three of them than Conner could even begin to fathom.

Conner didn't want to risk Kira again. He loved her, and he'd done too much to her already. But she would go where he led, he knew that. She was having her own issues struggling with wanting to save Ethan and wanting to save Reefside. But she would agree with his decision, she would follow his lead.

The city needed the Rangers' help. Always. Whether or not the Rangers were actually capable of helping. He had to do something. He had to maintain the integrity of the name and the legacy of the Power Rangers, he had to keep his home safe from the reptilian psycho.

Sorry, Ethan.

"We're coming back to the base," he said. "We need to regroup."

"I'm waiting for you," Hayley said, and ended communication.

Conner exchanged worried glances with Kira, who nodded her understanding at his decision, then turned his attention to Trent. "Trent, do you want to come with us, or--"

But Trent was already gone. The portal swelled slightly in the manner of one that had been recently used. "He went to Mesogog's," Kira observed tonelessly.

Conner shrugged. "It's his funeral. He doesn't want to help save his own city, that's his problem. We've got bigger fish to fry."

Kira climbed on Ethan's Cycle, but she kept casting a wistful gaze at the corner with the portal. "I just figured he'd come with us..."

"Why?" Conner said bitterly. "Because he helped us get out? He's just looking to save himself, Kira. He said as much. He wants nothing to do with you or me or the Rangers or hell, not even Reefside, apparently. Just forget the White Ranger. We have things we need to do."

Kira nodded resolutely, and she followed Conner as the Cycles roared and took them out of the warehouse and possibly to their doom.

"Could the warehouse district be any farther away from Dr. O.'s neck of the woods?" Conner complained as he and Kira sped down the long and winding road into the heart of town.

Kira said nothing, at least nothing that could be distinguished over the roar of the engines.

Traffic was desperately trying to get out of town as they came into it, the populace having realized that the Power Rangers had not yet arrived on the scene. If this much time had passed since the attack started, it was entirely conceivable that the Rangers might not even show. Conner felt almost sick as he saw the panic that he was unable to stop. He and Kira darted the bikes through the congested traffic, but were halted by a roadblock.

"We're not letting any traffic into the city," the cop informed them.

"But we have to--" Conner said, and was cut off when the cop asked, "Why aren't you kids wearing helmets?" Then his eyes scanned down to see what the duo was riding. Color drained from his face. "Where did you get those?"

"Uh...we found them..?" Conner said nervously.

"Can I ask you where?"

"I don't know...somewhere in the..." Conner gestured lamely over his shoulder, unable to come up with a convincing lie. If he directed the cop to the warehouse district, they might find the portal.

"By the side of the road," Kira filled in for them.

"Where?" the cop asked suspiciously.

She shrugged, opting for the 'clueless teen' routine to save their identities. "I dunno, back a couple of miles on Green Road. Why, what's the big deal?"

"Those belong to the Power Rangers, miss," the cop said darkly. "Traffic is backed up here, people are falling all over themselves to get out of the city because there's been another attack and no one knows where the Power Rangers are. And here I am, finding two punk kids with vehicles that I know belong to the missing Rangers. I'd like some answers."

Conner knew that he was going to be going against Ranger ethics for what he was about to do, but at this point, it wasn't like he had much choice. "Sir," he said carefully, "these bikes belong to us. We're the Power Rangers."

"Conner," Kira hissed, looking appalled, but Conner ignored her.

"I'm Red," he continued, "and she's Yellow."

The cop looked unamused. As a matter of fact, he looked quite angry. "And you expect me to believe that?" he scoffed. "Two high school kids are Power Rangers. Why aren't you out there, fighting the good fight, saving the city?"

"Mesogog stole our morphers," Conner said simply. "He's the one that let the monster loose."

"That's a made-up name if ever I've heard one," the cop said. "Tell you what. If you two are Rangers...prove it."

Conner and Kira exchanged a glance. They couldn't. Not because they were bound to keeping their identities secret --which they were-- but because they very simply couldn't, not physically.

The cop smirked. "I thought as much." Suddenly the smirk was gone, replaced with a deadly seriousness. "Do you two know anything about the missing rangers?"

"No, nothing," Kira assured him hastily.

"You two are coming with me to the station."

"What? Why?" Conner demanded.

"I don't think two punks like you kids are capable of taking out the Power Rangers. But you're playing with stolen goods." He leveled them with a beady-eyed stare. "You're under arrest."

Outside of Ethan's cell, past the wall of Triptoids, so that he couldn't see, there was a bit of a commotion. He heard the distinctive battle cries of Dr. O., and the unmistakable sounds of a fight, a struggle, and then confusing and distressing silence. He heard the thud of a body to a floor, and the sound of something heavy being dragged.

A chill spread through Ethan's body.