Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.
"We're in jail," Conner marveled. Then again: "We're in jail."
"I can't believe you were telling him we're the Power Rangers."
"Um, just so you know, we are the Power Rangers," Conner said, as if it was the biggest 'no duh' statement in the world. Which, by rights, it was.
"Yeah, but we're not supposed to tell people, McKnight!" she cried, hitting his arm.
He rubbed the spot. "Jeez, Kira, I was trying to not get us in trouble."
"And you got us arrested."
"I don't see you doing anything!" he retorted.
"Me doing nothing is better than everything you've been doing," she said.
"You're infuriating," he sighed, shaking his head.
"You wrote the book on that!" she retorted, and next thing he knew, he was grabbing her to him, however stupidly, and kissing her with all the fervor of a man who had narrowly escaped death several times in the past two days, and yet still couldn't manage to catch a break.
She pushed him off of her. "God, Conner, are you out of your mind? This is not the time or place for that."
He arched an eyebrow, wearing a cocky smile. "Oh yeah? When is the time? And where is the place? Because I want to be there for this."
She sighed, sitting down on the uncomfortable stone bench. "We can't break out of here. Not like the fortress." He was a bit upset that she didn't want to kiss him, but he could, of course, understand. He sat next to her, feeling a little ashamed about earlier.
"I know. I'm sorry. Hey, have we gotten our call yet?"
"No. Things are a bit too crazy outside for anyone to pay us much notice. Even though we 'stole' the Raptor cycles. But when we finally get our call, I'm calling Hayley."
Conner nodded, not wanting to imagine how his mother would react if she heard that Conner was in jail. She already was beginning to think of him as a delinquent. He sighed.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about our situation right now," Kira said slowly.
"Nope," he agreed, and after a moment of silence, he bit the bullet. "Kira?"
"Yeah?"
"How do you feel about me?"
She looked up sharply. "What is that supposed to mean?"
Conner shrugged. "Valid question. We've got nothing better to do now than discuss it, so let's discuss it. We kissed, Kira, and it definitely meant something to me. I laid my cards on the table for you. But now I want to know how you feel about me."
"Conner..."
"I'm not asking you to fall head over heels in love with me," he said casually, although he was hoping that very thing would be true. "I just want to know if I even make an appearance as a blip on your radar." Unable to help himself, he added loftily, "Trent's more or less made his true colors known."
"Don't even start that."
"Kira, please. He turned tail and ran when it came down to saving the city. Sure, I can understand him wanting to destroy us, but Reefside is his home, for crying out loud. He's the only Ranger around who actually has powers, and he just left. And you're in love with this guy?"
"For your information, Conner, I have never been in love with him. I haven't had a crush on him in some time."
"So what about me?" said Conner.
"What about you, Conner," said Kira levelly, and to Conner, it was obvious she was just stalling for time. To help aid her decision, he pulled her to him slowly, and was thrilled when she melted into the kiss.
"I love you," he said quietly. "That might not mean anything to you, but…"
"It means a lot to me," she assured him. She pushed some of his hair out of his face in a gesture more tender than anything he'd ever witnessed Kira doing. "If things were different, Conner--"
"Don't say it if you don't mean it," he cautioned her.
"I do mean it. If things were different, you and I could be something. I...I care about you. It's not what you want, exactly, and I'm sorry about that, but I can't do any better than that. Not right now."
He nodded. It was stupid to be worrying about this now, when there were much bigger things at stake, but he couldn't help himself. Still...'not right now' held promise. If they made it out of this (if that was even possible), he was going to try again.
"One more kiss?" he found himself asking, almost shyly, which was weird, considering that Conner had never in his life been shy. "For fortitude," he added with a quick grin that was more his style.
Kira snorted a laugh. "Sure." And they kissed again, worried and afraid and confused.
Until a bright light flashed, distracting them. "Dr. O.!" they chorused, jumping to their feet as the Black Ranger arrived via glowing invisoportal. "You're okay!" Conner said, relieved. They rushed over. "How did you get out?" asked Kira.
"No time for that," Dr. O. said curtly. "We have to get you out of here."
Without warning, he grabbed each of their hands, and the portal shimmered behind him as he sucked them in.
"What the--" Conner said as they landed, because he'd been expecting Dr. O.'s house or at the very least, some place in Reefside for their final destination. But that was not the case.
The Black Ranger didn't seem concerned or even surprised when they arrived. He'd known precisely where they were going.
Mesogog's fortress.
"Good work, Doctor Oliver," hissed Mesogog, stepping out of the shadows.
Conner and Kira fell into ready stances out of instinct, but they stiffened when the surprises piled upon themselves: Dr. O. got to one knee and bowed his head reverently before the lizard. "As you requested," he said. "My lord."