Disclaimer: Not mine

Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Yeah, it's all Ashley's fault for being to depressed to realize what Andros was saying. :P See, I can be mean to Ashley. Yay, you updated! Finally. :P And I was supposed to tell you and Jenny that Melissa's on vacation.

JakiBlue: Yeah, Andros is gonna feel really guilty about this one. And the evil person teleported onto the Megaship before Deca rewrote the override. I try to update as soon as I can. Since I use these evil little cliffhangers as often as I can, it's probably a good thing. :P

DizneeDol: Here's more, relax already. :P

Arwennicole: Don't let anything bad happen to Ashley? But it's so fun... I didn't do anything too bad. :P

Jenny: Don't worry, you can take as much time as you want on the standalone. And my computer won't bring up AH/AY's site all the time, either. Supid AOL... I kinda remember you saying you'd like to see what would happen if Ashley was pregnant. The Psychos will find out later, and that won't be good. :P

SpookyandLumpy: Thanks, and here's some more. :P

Melissa: It's okay, don't worry about it. Have fun on your trip. :P

Chapter 8

Far, far way

Ashley was hauled down a bright white hallway by her captor, who now wore a long hooded cloak concealing what served as her face. As she passed through the many twists and turns of what she assumed was now her prison, Ashley was struck with the eerie sense that she knew where she was going. Andros had been dragged down this corridor several times. When they stopped in front of a door, Ashley shuddered, knowing what lay on the other side of it.

The door opened, and Ashley was shoved in roughly. Another cloaked figure glided past her out of the room, acknowledging Ashley's captor with a snarl. Ashley wasn't paying attention to them; she knew who they both were, and looking for a way out of the labratory of a mad scientist seemed like a priority. She saw none.

"Don't move," Ashley was ordered. Her arms were held behind her back in a painfully tight grasp. Ashley didn't bother struggling. It wouldn't do any good, and she was going to have to save her strength.

The cloaked figure returned, pausing in the doorway to sneer at her.

"Well, Yellow Ranger, it seems like you won't be rescuing anyone."

Ashley glared at him. She opened her mouth to retort, but anything she might have said was strangled in her throat when she caught sight of the limp form lying behind him.

"Andros!" she shrieked, desperately trying to wrench herself free. Trying to ignore the thought that no one could look like he did and still be alive, Ashley managed to tear her arms away from her captor, going straight to Andros, completely ignoring the other figure standing directly above her. "Andros, please don't be dead."

He was still breathing, and Ashley sighed with relief at that. His face was terrifyingly pale, except for his right cheek and half his forehead, which had become a giant reddish-purple bruise. A thin ring encircled his head, and underneath, Ashley could see that the skin was rubbed raw and bleeding. His hair was filthy and matted with blood, most of it looking quite new. His clothes were torn and bloodstained as well, some of the blood seemingly still wet.

"Andros, please wake up," she whispered, leaning over him and shaking his shoulder as gently as she could. "Please, Andros, I just need you to wake up."

She shook him again, and could have sworn that she heard him moan, but she was afraid to believe that he had woken up so easily. In the state he was in, she wouldn't have truly believed that he would wake up at all.

"Andros?" she questioned softly, and this time she was definately sure that she saw his eyelids flicker for a moment. "Andros, come on, I know you're awake. Andros..."

His eyes opened slowly, and Ashley burst into tears. Cradling his upper body in her arrms, she held him close, her face hidden in his neck.

"A...Ash?" His voice was hoarse, and very faint, but she knew that she'd heard it. Sobbing harder, she pulled back to look him in the eye. He smiled at her, or tried to, and slowly raised one hand to touch her face.

"Very touching, but I did bring you here for a purpose other than this, Yellow Ranger."

Andros stiffened as he recognized the voice, and Ashley tightened her grip on him, glaring fiercely at the frail-looking old man who had just entered the room.

"Run away," he whispered urgently. "Ash, please..." His eyes were begging her just as much as his voice was, and when Ashley shook her head firmly, she thought he might cry.

"On your feet," she was ordered by the one who had captured her. Slowly, Ashley set Andros back down on the floor, flooded with fear. She knew she could take anything that they did to her, but thoughts of what they might do to her child nearly paralyzed her.

"Why don't you just show yourselves?" she demanded, sounding much braver than she actually felt. "I know who you are."

"An unkown enemy is feared more than a known one," the old man said, appearing by her side and circling her slowly. Ashley fought back the urge to turn along with him, not liking the idea of leaving her back unguarded.

"But if I know who they are, then they are a known enemy," Ashley pointed out, forcing herself to sound calm. Shut up, she told herself, but talking seemed the only way to delay whatever came next.

"True," he mused thoughtfully. He turned two the two guards and shrugged. "Reveal yourselves."

Knowing who they were did nothing to take away the chill Ashley felt when she saw the red and yellow Psycho rangers standing side by side. One quick glance at Andros' face told her that he'd figured it out as well. His eyes were narrowed, but Ashley wasn't sure if that was because of anger, or because he couldn't keep them open otherwise.

"A perfect choice, Arcanus." The old man sneered with pride as a disembodied voice floated through the air, and Ashley shivered. "Just make sure to kill her first."

"Of course, Master," Arcanus agreed, laughing to himself.

Ashley cast a frightened glance towards Andros, and was shocked to see tears that had gathered in his eyes. Seeing him so scared frightened her even more, and she forced herself to look away, just barely stopping herself from holding her stomach protectively.

"You," Arcanus ordered the two Psychos. "Tie her down. I need to run the preliminary test."

Andros closed his eyes at those words, knowing that he wouldn't be able to bear watching Ashley's torture. He gave the ring around his head a desperate tug. He'd seen how terrified her expression had been, and he wanted to reassure her in some way.

When Ashley started to scream, Andros couldn't keep back his tears any longer, and he started crying silently, hating himself more than he could ever remember. If it wasn't for him, Ashley wouldn't even be here right now. He should have been more alert when he'd heard someone approaching him from behind that night months ago. He should have made them kill him at the beginning. He should have...

Ashley's screams died away, and he cautiously opened one eye. The Psychos undid the restraints that held her down, hauling her forward off of the cot. Her face was deliberately devoid of any and all emotion, but she couldn't quite manage to hide the pain that was in her eyes.

"Ash," Andros whispered.

"Can't we just kill them now?" Psycho Yellow whined. "Why bother waiting when we could have all the fun now?"

"Who's idea was it to revive Ecliptor, anyway?" Psycho Red asked. "He was always in everyone's way, and he never trusted us to begin with."

"Silence!" roared the phantom voice, loudly enough to make Andros and Ashley flinch. "You act on my orders, and you'd best remember that. Now, take them away."

Psycho Yellow grasped Ashley from behind while Psycho Red went to retrieve Andros from where he lay on the floor, not having moved from the spot where he'd been while the Psychos had tried to beat the override codes out of him. Psycho Red pulled Andros to his feet by the neck of his shirt, causing him to start choking when his body pitched forward. Arcanus said something, and with a disappointed sigh, Psycho Red held him from behind the way Psycho Yellow was handling Ashley.

The Psychos dragged them down the sickeningly bright hall to Andros' small cell and threw them in roughly. Ashley stumbled as she was released, catching herself with her hands, but Andros didn't move after Psycho Red dropped him and kicked him inside.

"Whichever one of you disobeys will watch the other die," he snarled ominously as he slammed the door shut, leaving them in complete and utter darkness.

"Andros," Ashley cried, crawling over to his side. "Andros, talk to me."

"Ash," he said weakly. "I... you... how did they get you?"

"Psycho Yellow came to the Megaship," Ashley told him gently, taking his hand.

"I tried not to give it to them," Andros whispered, his eyes filling with tears again. "I tried, Ash, but they read my mind, and I couldn't stop them. I'm so sorry, Ash."

"I know," Ashley assured him, laying down beside him and pulling him into her arms. "Don't worry, Andros, we'll get out of here."

I hope, she added silently.

"Ash, I love you so much," Andros whispered, forcing himself to move, and he wrapped his arms around her as best he could.

"I love you, Andros," Ashley whispered back.

"Ash, get this thing off of me," Andros begged her, one arms tearing at the ring again. "Please, get it off."

"I'll try," Ashley promised, gently lifting his head off the floor. "How?"

"I don't know," Andros said desperately, and Ashley heard in his voice the tears that he was struggling not to shed. "I think there's a catch in the back."

Ashley rested one hand on the back of his neck, supporting his head, as she felt along the rim of the ring with the other. She found a small lock, and fiddled with it for several minutes, growing frustrated with her inability to see what she was doing. She was tempted to just give up, but she didn't want to do that to Andros. After an hour of trying increasingly creative combinations of turns and twists, she heard a soft click, and the ring let go.

"Thank you." Andros' mental voice filled her head, and Ashley felt tears well up in her eyes. "I love you, Ash."

"I know you do," Ashley assured him, gingergly touching his forehead. Andros inhaled sharply, and she winced. "I love you too... Do you thnk they're listening to us?"

"Probably," Andros told her. "Why?"

"I need to tell you something," Ashley said nervously. "They can't read our minds from far away, can they?"

"I don't think so," Andros said, reaching for her hand. "What's wrong?"

"Andros, whenever they hurt you, I felt it," Ashley said. "And I-"

"You felt it?" Andros repeated. "Everything?"

"Whenever the ring was off, I think," Ashley told him. "It's not your fault."

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "Go on."

"I was on Earth the first time I felt it," Ashley continued, "and I fainted. I woke up in the hospital, and I... I found out that..."

"Ash, what's wrong?" Andros asked her.

"Andros, I'm pregnant."

"You're what?" Andros sounded stunned, and if she could see his face, Ashley knew that he'd be staring at her. "We're going to have a baby?"

"We're going to have a baby." Ashley took one of his hands and placed it on her stomach, letting him feel her abdomen. It wasn't visibly swollen yet, for which she was grateful, not wanting to think what the Psychos would do to her unborn child.

"Ash, I promise you, as soon as we get out of here, I'm going to marry you." Andros felt tears slowly make their way down his face as he felt Ashley's stomach. He couldn't let Ashley die. He couldn't let his child die.

"Don't you dare get yourself killed." Ashley's tone was sharp, and he realized that she'd heard his last thoughts as well. "I need you too much, Andros. This baby needs you."

"I won't," Andros promised her. "Not if I can help it. I never want to be away from you again."

He stifled a moan as his head began throbbing in pain. It was costing him too much to keep talking, Ashley realized, and she lay down beside him again, wrapping her arms around him.

"Rest," she told him firmly. "We'll get out of here, I promise, but we can't escape with you like this... and don't even think about trying to get me to leave without you."

She added the last bit hastily before the thought had fully formed in his mind, and Andros abandoned the thought reluctantly. He closed his eyes, the darkness descending over his mind with frightening speed.

Once he was asleep, or unconscious, Ashley couldn't quite tell which, she slipped her comminicator off of her wrist and put it in her pocket. It had been a miracle that they hadn't taken it from her, but her sleeves had been long enough to cover it. Zhane and Karone could track the signal. Once they realized she was missing, that is.

Hurry up, you guys, Ashley urged them, wishing she could speak to them as easily as she could to Andros. Find us before one of us is dead.