Disclaimer: Power Rangers belongs to Disney and the like, which I am not affliated with.
Kira got up, and gave Dr. O. a brief hug, just grateful to see the man behind the mask for the first time in a long time. He patted her shoulder fondly, but they were all business when the moment ended. "It was an accident," she said.
"Elsa was about to kill Conner," Ethan said. "Kira needed to move her and fast, she had to use her gem power, and to do that, she needed to take off her helmet. There was no other way. But people came into the room before she had a chance to rectify it."
Kira's head dropped. "I'm so sorry, Dr. O. I've probably ruined everything for all of us."
"Is Conner okay?" he asked in a soft tone.
"For now."
"Then we'll let it slide." She looked up at him hopefully. "You know why we have to keep our identities secret. It's safer that way, for everybody. But the importance of keeping a secret is relative, and this is one of those rare situations where it's all right to break the rules. It's for a greater good."
"I'm proud of you, Kira," Hayley said with a smile, putting her hand on Kira's arm.
Kira smiled at the genius with hesitance, then finally noticed Trent. "What are you doing here?" she asked, and there was a small hint of nastiness in her voice. It was clear she still blamed him for Conner's condition, and wasn't about to forget or forgive anything he'd pulled on them lately.
"We determined that it was better to keep him with us," Dr. O. said.
"Wouldn't want that running loose on the city," the Yellow Ranger said sharply.
"Kira," Hayley cautioned, but Kira couldn't turn off her glare, irrational blame placement though it may have been.
The door opened, and five tense individuals turned expectantly. A doctor was pushing through the crowd. "I'm not interested in whatever is going on with you people and what they're saying about you," he said. "Any truth or lies circulating is strictly your business. I just want to check on Conner's status."
Wordlessly, they stepped to the other side of the room and let the doctor do his job. "It's mostly press out there," Dr. O. explained to Kira and Ethan, who hadn't left the room in awhile. "They've gotten the dirt on you two already. Mrs. McKnight has gotten them off Conner's trail, but it's only a matter of time. They'll figure out my involvement next. Trent might be the only one that escapes."
"Not if Elsa makes it out," Ethan said. "She's the principal. If she wakes up, she'll give them everything. Medical background, permanent records--she's got all the paperwork they could ever possibly want. And she knows it would do huge damage to the team, so she'd be all too willing to tear us apart."
The doctor stepped away from Conner. He looked disturbed. "He's not doing very well," he confessed.
"But he seems okay," Kira said. "I mean, his breathing's fine and everything..."
"There are some internal injuries that I can't even begin to gauge the damage for."
"Would surgery be an option?" Hayley asked.
"In normal circumstances, yes. But when Conner first arrived in our hospital, we found some...abnormalities in his system. That's why I've held off on any surgical procedures that I would have proceeded with immediately otherwise. If the rumors regarding you folks are in fact true, then I suspect his condition may have as large a problem in the physical aspects as in the...mystical aspects." The doctor's brow furrowed.
"Disconnection with the grid?" Hayley said, glancing at Dr. O. He nodded.
"Correlation between the physical prowess of the Ranger and the source of the Rangers' powers is never an accurate match," he said. He frowned. "Something went wonky."
"Now there's a medical diagnosis if ever I've heard one," cracked Ethan.
"I'm going to leave you to discuss this amongst yourselves," the doctor said. "If there's anything I can help with, by all means, please page me. I'm Dr. Walsh."
Dr. O. smiled and nodded his thanks, and the medical doctor left the room. "Conner's issues with the grid would affect his rate of healing," Dr. O. said. "Something about going through the portal so soon after a forced de-morph could have affected his powers, shut them off. So he not only has to deal with civilian medical issues, he has to deal with a power flux."
"So what do we do?" Kira said quietly.
"You kids have done enough for now," he said with a gentle, if not tired, smile. "You need to rest up."
"We can't leave the hospital," Kira said. "We can't even really leave this room."
"Then, try to make yourselves comfortable in some chairs. You kids have been through a lot, and I want you rested. You're still my responsibility, after all. Sit," he said, and they sat, though Hayley had to be a buffer between Ethan, Kira and Trent, and even with that, Trent still scooted his chair far away.
Dr. O. hovered over Conner's bedside. Kira and Ethan exchanged a glance, but neither of them questioned the teacher, knowing that Dr. O. was in one of those moods where he wouldn't answer anything they asked.
He lifted his arm, his face screwed up in concentration, and the black Dino Gem in his bracelet began to glow. "Dr. O..?" Ethan began, alarm suddenly crossing his face as the strain of what Dr. O. was doing was taking its obvious toll.
"Tommy, stop!" Hayley said anxiously, jumping to her feet and pulling his arm down, breaking the connection. Dr. O. was breathing heavily. "Are you out of your mind?"
"The only way to fix Conner's problem is a power donation," he said.
"But you can't possibly take it on yourself," she said firmly, fixing him with a serious stare.
Ethan and Kira, meanwhile, had already crossed the room to check on Conner's progress. He looked no worse for wear, but what they had earlier perceived as him being all right had been a gross overestimation, according to Dr. Walsh. Biting her lip, Kira reached out for Conner's hand at the same time that Ethan was reaching across the bed for hers. They collided in midair, and then wide eyes looked up to meet each other.
All three of their gems were glowing. Blue, yellow, red, faintly but unwaveringly.
"Dr. O.?" Ethan said. He and Hayley both looked over. "I have an idea," Ethan continued. "But it's going to take all of us." He was looking at Trent as he said this. "Even you, Trent."
Trent hadn't spoken at all since arriving in the hospital room, but he suddenly became very animated. "I'm not helping him," he said flatly. "I would much rather he just died."
"Trent--" Hayley said, but the boy in white was already headed towards the door.
"Let him go," Kira said with a small amount of satisfaction, then glanced at Ethan, who looked concerned. His expression alone was enough to change her mind, so she asked reluctantly, "You're sure we need his help?"
"Yes," he said.
"Okay," she said, and followed him out.
She was expecting the throng of people, but they were more distracted by Trent having just pushed through them to notice that Kira was attempting the same. Once she'd gotten through the wall, she jogged to Trent's side, and grabbed his arm. "Trent, get back in there."
"Screw off," he said. "If Conner dies, I win."
"If Conner dies, you die," she said sharply. "Because if anything happens to him, so help me, I will come after you and you will wish he had left you to die on the island. Do you hear me?"
"I could take you," he said, sizing her up without emotion. And Kira was well aware that he'd almost killed her an several occasions. But she didn't care about that now.
"Ever hear the phrase, 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? Well, hell hath no fury like my desire to kick your ass, should anything happen to him. Get back in there," she said, biting off the end of each word. "You will help. You have no choice."
She gripped his arm even tighter, and proceeded to drag him back. The crowd advanced on them with a flurry of questions: "Kira, what can you tell us about being a Ranger?" "What can you tell us about your teammates?" "Is Dr. Thomas Oliver connected with you at all?" "Who else is in that room with you?" Who's and what's. She brushed them off. "Move. Now," she commanded, and wisely, they parted for her to get back to the room in peace, and shove Trent through the door.
"We're all here," she said. "What's the plan?"
"Dr. O. had a good idea. What Conner needs, first and foremost, is power. And we all," he shot an apologetic glance at Hayley, who nodded her understanding, "have power."
"Group power transfer?" Kira said.
Dr. O. nodded. "A loaner, just to bring his balance back to something that his body recognizes as normal."
"All of us need to donate because too much from any individual would drain them."
"The fewer Rangers out of commission, the better," agreed Dr. O.
"Even Trent?" Kira said with a degree of skepticism.
"Yes, even Trent."
"I would like it stated for the record that the only reason I'm helping you losers is because when he's at full strength, he and I are going to end this once and for all," Trent snarled.
"You're so noble," Ethan said sarcastically. "But, you know, whatever works. Dr. O.? You wanna field this mission? You've probably done about a billion of these things."
"Thank you for your abundance of faith, Ethan," the teacher said, rolling his eyes. He moved up to the head of Conner's bed, and Trent stepped in next to him, with Ethan and Kira opposite them. "Ready," Dr. O. called the morph. "Dino Thunder, power up!" said Rangers Black, Blue, and Yellow, while Trent said, "White Ranger, dino power." They raised their arms, and Hayley watched as the four Rangers concentrated everything they had in transferring power to the comatose Conner.