Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.
"Zeltrax! Are you out of your mind?"
Conner had never thought he'd be happy to hear Elsa's voice, but the leather-clad minion was storming over to the cell, her presence halting the blade of Zeltrax's sword far too close to body parts that Conner wanted to keep in tact.
"Put that sword away, you insufferable simpleton," Elsa hissed, opening the lock and wrenching the door open. "The Master is saving the Rangers for Tommy."
"He is 'Tommy' now?" Zeltrax said furiously, spinning to face his teammate. Conner took this opportunity to usher Kira back farther from the psychotic couple. They were blocking the exit, so there was no chance for escape, but the farther he got her from them, the better he felt. "What is your relationship with the Black Ranger, Elsa?" demanded Zeltrax.
"He is number two in the ranks," Elsa said calmly. "I am number three. I answer to him, when necessary."
"And you're in love with him! You were beside yourself with ecstasy at the prospect of turning him to our side. What does that pompous science teacher have that I do not, Elsa?"
"If anyone here is pompous, it's you, Zeltrax. But I'm not here to discuss the merits of the Black Ranger, versus your utter lack of them. Now that all of the pieces are coming together, we can afford to set aside some more...responsible sentry for our captives. I'm here to make sure that they don't escape, and that you don't do anything foolish."
"Destroying our enemies hardly constitutes foolishness," Zeltrax bit out.
"Their deaths now will do us no good, you bungling boob," she snarled back, venom in her eyes. "The Blue Ranger and Dr. Oliver's concubine are in possession of the gems, and so when the Rangers are destroyed, the powers are free again...free to choose two new Rangers. We want the gems in our power before we kill these two sniveling wastes!" She paused, a nasty smirk crossing her face. "Besides, Mesogog has delegated the task of the Rangers' destruction to Dr. Oliver. He wants to prove the Black Ranger's loyalty. While your incompetence is staggering, Zeltrax, your loyalty is unquestioned."Conner couldn't help himself: "Dr. O.'s loyalty isn't, wasn't, and never will be to you guys."
Elsa laughed, amused and yet hollow. "You keep thinking that, Red Ranger."
"Though it pains me, I am inclined to agree with the red one," Zeltrax said in his gravelly voice. "Dr. Oliver would never have allegiance to our side. He is too noble of spirit." He made that sound like a disease.
"Concede defeat, you little pukes," Elsa said. "Your game is up."
"Heard that before," retorted Kira sharply. "You're all talk, Elsa."
Elsa's face twitched, and she was clearly fighting the desire to yank Zeltrax's sword from him and finish off the Rangers herself.
"So let me get this straight," Conner said. "We're trapped here with you clowns until Meso-goon gets the Gems back?"
"Yes," Elsa said guardedly.
"Oh, great, so forever, then," he said, rolling his eyes. "Fantastic."
"Bite your tongue!" Elsa snarled, and she in fact chucked logic aside in favor of desire, grabbing Zeltrax's sword from his hands and holding the point of it to Conner's throat. "I will not hesitate to kill you."
Even with the sharp metal prodding his skin, Conner was not as scared as he'd been when Zeltrax had pulled the same move. He was fairly certain that Elsa was just threatening them --all talk, as Kira had said-- whereas Zeltrax, on the other hand, was severely unhinged.
He met Elsa's heavy-rimmed eyes steadily, with no trace of fear in his gaze. Finally, she lowered the sword. "Lord Mesogog would be displeased," she offered as her excuse for not following through. She shot a scathing, 'try me' at Kira, who was biting back her scornful smirk.
Elsa stalked out of the cell, locking it behind her, and stood on the opposite side of the bars, no doubt to torture the prisoners with the feeble thought of escape. Zeltrax stood and paced in front of the door, and Conner and Kira sat down against the back wall. "'If things were different,'" Conner said.
"Don't I wish," Kira answered with a note of disgust.
"No, it was what you said back in jail," Conner said, not quite able to ignore his use of the phrase 'in jail' and the weirdness of having been in jail and broken out of it. "You said if things were different, things could happen between us. What things need to be different?"
Kira rolled her eyes. "You're so not doing this now."
"What else am I supposed to do? Listen to those two freaks bicker like some old married couple?" he countered, gesturing uselessly at their captors. "I want to know."
"Well, for starters, we wouldn't be in Mesogog's dungeon," Kira said. "We'd have our morphers, Dr. O. would be out of his suit, Trent wouldn't be evil--"
"I knew this was about that poser!" Conner interrupted with a groan.
"Oh, for crying out loud, Conner, could you get over your vendetta for five seconds?" said Kira irritably. "Seriously, you have a one-track mind."
"Well, c'mon, Kira, every time I bring up the subject of you and me, you bring him up. What am I supposed to think? I don't like him. And may I remind you that you're the one who wants things to be 'different'. They'd be 'different' if he hadn't kidnapped you and gotten us into this whole mess in the first place!"
"This is the different I was talking about, Conner! A different place where you weren't a jealous jackass."
"Oh, so I'm a jackass now?" he said, standing up.
She stood up, too, facing off against him and far more intimidating at a foot shorter than him than Elsa had been at his height, leather-clad and armed. How would it look for the mighty Red Ranger if he was scared of his own petite teammate?
But the thing was, she looked utterly furious. It wasn't even as though she had just cause, because he couldn't remember anything particularly heinous he'd done lately to deserve her wrath, but she started into her rant regardless. "You are so freaking full of yourself, you seem to think that you're the big strong man type, that everyone around you needs saving--"
"Kira, I don't think you need protecting. I have never thought that. You are the most capable out of any of us, save for Dr. O., but only because he has the age thing and the experience thing, and, like, sixty million karate trophies. And the only reason I go around 'protecting' everybody is because it's my job. I'm the leader of the team, your guys' safety is on my head. You used to complain that I wasn't a good leader, and now that I'm trying to be, it's still not good enough. What gives? I just want you guys to be okay. You especially. Not because I think you're weak, but because--" he glanced out of the corner of his eye at their captors, who weren't paying attention to them, "--well, you know."
To his surprise, Kira backed down. "I guess you're right. I shouldn't waste this time bickering with you..."
"Waste this time?" he echoed. "Kira, you love fighting with me."
"But it's not like we have much--"
"Don't even," he cut her off, grabbing her arm abruptly. "Don't say anything like that, don't even think that. This is not the end. We're going to come out of this, okay?"
She blinked up at him with watery eyes, but he recognized the determination lurking beneath the liquid surfaces. And then he thought he understood. In addition to everything else that was happening to them, Conner had also thrown in the twist of his feelings for her. Which just left her more confused than ever, most likely. She had felt it, too, when they had kissed. The spark. The potential for something incredible. But she didn't know how she felt about him, at least not fully, at least not yet. And with all of that swirling around in her mind, making her feel completely helpless, the only way she could take control of the situation was if she got pissed at Conner. Being mad at Conner was the way she dealt with him a good share of the time.
Whether or not his assumptions were right, he would probably never know, but it made the most sense about her outrageous mood swings. He was satisfied.
But then, as if Zeltrax and Elsa weren't enough, Mesogog chose that moment to make his presence known. "My lord," Elsa said. "How much closer are we to obtaining the gems?"
"As much as I regret taking you from your post, Elsa, your presence is requested. Doctor Oliver has left the fortress."