Disclaimer: The usual. Don't own anything you recognize.

KINGS AND VAGABONDS

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Five: Coming Together

Year 2020

Great. Thanks to Jack and his whole 'let's go help the SPD officers fight the robots, even though they were trying to arrest us' they were now in jail. This was just great. How long had they survived on the streets without getting arrested for their Robin Hood act? Long enough to know better than to help the police…

"You had to go back and help," she said in a sarcastic tone to Jack as they twiddled their thumbs in a jail cell.

He didn't get a chance to reply, because the big blue dog that had showed up after the battle came into their cell.

"Welcome. You are at Space Patrol Delta Headquarters—the most advanced center of its kind."

"You're cops," Jack said. It was a statement and not a question. Z fought the urge to give him a withering look. Of course, SPD was cops.

"No," the dog corrected. "Space Patrol Delta. We handle crime and criminals that have a negative impact on this planet."

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't realize feeding a hungry person was a threat to the planet," Z snapped, her patience with Jack, the dog and the whole situation wearing thin.

"Hear me out." The dog was calm. "This academy trains cadets to be the most elite crime-fighting force known to man—the Power Rangers. We defend the Earth against the darkest evils in the galaxy."

Jack scooted forward on the cot in the cell. "Hey, write this down. It'll make a great science fiction movie."

"The world has changed. And in the upcoming months, it will change as no one can imagine. I see potential in you. You can serve your time in prison or you can become a part of something bigger, something that makes a difference."

Z glanced at Jack. She had been talking about being part of something bigger. Jack bringing her into his whole Robin Hood crusade had awakened something in her. She wanted to do more than provide a jacket or some food for someone. Visions of being a superhero complete with a cape and saving the world had started to seem like the answer. "Can we think about this?" she asked.

"Of course." She exchanged a glance with Jack. There was no way that he would agree to something like this. It wasn't his way. She also had a feeling that the dog knew about her powers—something that she had hidden from Jack, since he didn't have powers of his own. "Time's up," the dog said after a few seconds. "Your decision?"

Z glanced once more at Jack. She hated to betray him like this—leave him in jail while she trooped off to join SPD. But she had come so far from rummaging through trash cans to find enough food to stay alive and selling her body for some money. God, she wanted to join SPD so badly that it hurt. Warm bed, food, uniforms, a small salary to buy clothes… everything she had dreamed of since she ran away from the group home. Maybe even enough money to hire a detective to help look for her parents…

She took a deep breath. "I'm in."

Training was going well, Bridge reflected as the three of them toppled their opponents. Of course, their opponents were cadets on the officer track and no match for the intensive combat training that the three of them had received. It was business as usual.

He glanced at Sky and Syd. Both had changed since they all got back to the academy at the beginning of the year. Sky had gotten more authoritarian and focused solely on his academy related work. Bridge guessed that it was because being a ranger had been so close and now that they were rangers… well, Sky was probably trying to prove that Crugger had made a mistake in giving him the blue morpher. Syd was more open about the fact that she was superficial and about her rich adopted parents. This change had happened right after Parents' Night and Bridge wondered if she had been bought off. Parents' Night had been a disaster. Bridge had gotten away with a cursory 'hello' to his parents before wandering off to find Sky's dad, who felt more like a father to him than his own.

Now they were rangers… blue, green and pink… it made him wonder who Crugger was going to give the red and yellow morphers to, since no one else was imminently available for a promotion.

"Rangers!" The three of them turned and, upon seeing Crugger, saluted. "Elizabeth Delgado has decided to—"

"Hey!" the girl interrupted. Bridge frowned to himself. Wasn't she one of the criminals that they had to bring in earlier? Well, she had been an awesome fighter and, if it hadn't been for her and her friend, they probably wouldn't have defeated those robots. "Remember me?" she asked. "You can call me Z."

"Hey," Bridge said with a smile and a small wave. She seemed like a really great person, despite the fact that she was a criminal. Besides, he did like to be friendly to people.

"Hey," she replied, returning the smile.

"Miss Delgado has chosen to join SPD," Crugger explained. "I've assigned her to B-Squad." Oh no—that was going to get a protest from Sky.

"Sir, she's a criminal," Sky countered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Bridge wasn't sure who to agree with—Sky or Crugger.

"Duly noted," Crugger replied shortly.

"Sir, we've been here for years and you put her with us?" Sky protested.

"Cadet, you may be wise to remember that she was a worthy opponent, despite your prior training and greater number." Sky looked down at the ground, not happy that Crugger wasn't going to listen to his reasoning. "She is your new team member. I expect you to treat her as such." Crugger turned to leave. The three of them saluted, leaving a nervous looking Z facing three seasoned ranger cadets.

"So, uh, what do you guys do for fun?" Z asked, in an attempt to make small talk.

"Bring in thieves."

Great, Sky. Way to make her feel like even more of an outsider. She was projecting emotions of nervousness and fear, almost like she was afraid she wouldn't be accepted now that she had chosen to join them rather than fight them. Bridge decided to take the initiative.

"I'm Bridge," he said quickly, stepping forward and putting a body between Z and Sky. "This is Syd." Syd gave a half-hearted wave. "And Sky."

"Hey," she said, her voice faltering.

"So," he continued. "We're almost done here. I guess that you're rooming with Syd, so we can show you your room and take you on a grand tour. Get your uniform and stuff."

"Okay." Some of the bravado that Z had put on was wearing off. Sky looked disinterested while Syd looked less than happy about this potential roommate.

This was going to be… interesting…

The sun was setting, making it oddly dark in the room with a strange orange glow. Z knew she should get up from her bed and turn the light on, but she couldn't make herself move. It wasn't entirely because of the intense training schedule that she and the other SPD cadets had. She wasn't sure why she thought she would fit in here, but she didn't. All of them came from rich families or upper middle class families and hadn't had to worry about a thing in their lives. None of them knew loneliness and none of them knew pain.

"Not going to dinner?"

She looked up to see Bridge standing in the doorway to the room that she shared with Syd. It was obvious that Syd had lived here first from the pink décor. Pink rug, pink curtains, pink bedding, pink slippers, pink stool, pink laptop… death of the flamingos.

Z shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

"Is it because Sky was yelling?"

She smiled at the wide, innocent expression on Bridge's face. They were almost the same age—she was four days older than him as she had found out during the tour of the grounds that he gave her. There was a childlike quality to Bridge that made her smile. He wasn't naïve—in fact, he was more aware of their shortcomings than they were. But it was like he accepted it and focused on the good qualities. From what she had been able to gather, he and Sky were closer than it appeared. Bridge was like his brother, having spent most of the holidays during their pre-ranger training days at Sky's house. His blue eyes were giving her a searching look, wanting an answer for her voluntary isolation.

"No," she said softly. "I was just thinking…" Z let that thought trail off, thinking of a way to phrase it. "I don't fit in here."

"Yes, you do!" Bridge immediately protested. "You have powers like we do. Your parents put you up for adoption. You're a ranger." He ticked off the list on his fingers. Those leather gloves were such an integral part of Bridge—she couldn't imagine him without them. It was also so like him to not see the obvious differences, but to see the similarities.

"You guys have adopted families that love you," she responded.

Bridge made a face. "Sky is the only one with an adoptive family that loves him." He paused and got a dreamy smile on his face. "His dad loves me too."

"Bridge?" Z interrupted the forthcoming train of thought.

The Green Ranger snapped out of his reverie. "What I mean is my adopted family doesn't really care about me. They went along with the whole 'adoption leads to conception thing', but it didn't. So they're kind of bitter about taking me in." He shrugged. "And Syd's family bought her off for all intents and purposes. They're, like, super-rich."

"How exciting. I grew up on the streets."

"So?" Bridge crossed the room and plopped himself down on the bed next to her. "My family doesn't give me crap." Z flinched at the harsher language. She wouldn't have expected Bridge to swear, even something as mild as that. His gloved fingers absently stroked the corner of the faded yellow baby blanket folded up under her pillow. It was the one thing, besides her necklaces, that was left from her childhood. The locket and the blanket… and the lost Z necklace. She suddenly had an idea.

"Bridge?" she asked softly, pulling the blanket from its hiding place. "Could you… touch this and tell me what you see?"

Bridge looked a little startled, like no one asked him to use his powers outside of their use for SPD. He was psychic—and even he had said he wasn't sure of the extent of his powers. "All right," he agreed, peeling his gloves off. He gently took the blanket from her, being careful not to touch anything else.

He closed his eyes, his brow furrowed. Z studied him, not sure what he was doing. Did he have to sort through things or did certain images come to him? He hadn't explained his powers, beyond the reason that he wore gloves all the time. His eyes opened and the blanket dropped onto the bed between them. Those blue eyes were almost haunted.

"They loved you, Z," he whispered. "They loved you so much."

"My parents?"

Bridge nodded, picking up his gloves and putting them back on. He looked thoughtful. "It's the same thing that my parents felt for me."

Z could see how he knew that and how it had comforted him all these years.

He stood up. "Come on! Let's go to dinner!"

"Bridge, I don't want to."

"Its pizza night," he wheedled, grabbing her arm and tugging at her.

"All right!" she agreed, allowing him to lead her out of the room. She wanted to know how Bridge bounced back so quickly from picking up intense emotions from objects…

Conner smiled at the giggling coming from the girls' bedroom. The apartments here were nice—two bedrooms, fully-functioning kitchen and bathroom, spacious living room with a clearly separated breakfast nook and laundry room. Crugger had said something about there being childcare available at all times. The girls would start school on Monday.

His eyes went to the uniform lying on his bed. It was like the uniform he had seen some of the officers wearing, but instead of dark gray trim, it had red trim—Red Ranger trim. It was almost surreal, the fact that he was going to be a ranger again. Crugger had given him some preliminary information on the other cadets on the B-Squad. One had been training here for almost five years—the Blue Ranger. Conner found it amusing that his name was Sky. The Pink Ranger had been here three years and the Green Ranger had been here two years. The Yellow Ranger had just joined a few days ago. At least there would be two of them that had no idea what was going on.

The training schedule was on his desk next to the SPD handbook. The former happened on slow days, when tracking down criminals and conducting investigations was not a top priority. He had also gleaned that the Red Ranger had authority within the group. Orders issued by him had to be obeyed. So, he'd have to get to know the others quickly and hope that the fact that he was ten years older than them would be enough to garner respect.

He sank down onto his bed. Had this been the right thing to do? Being the Red Ranger again—it seemed too good to be true. He had hoped for the past, wanted things to be as they were in high school and now he was getting that chance again. Should he be doing this again? Most rangers were in their teens or twenties, the lone exception being Doctor Oliver.

It was almost time to meet the other B-Squad cadets. His position was strange as it was and Crugger had explained that, while he was technically a cadet, his title would be that of an officer—the base officer title being 'lieutenant.' Crugger was allowing leniency in light of his previous experience and age. There were no name tags on the uniforms, as each one had a badge encoded with the wearer's DNA. Uniforms could not be traded. The badge allowed someone to track the wearer's whereabouts.

His fingers traced the bright red trim. There was nothing to be done for it. He stripped out of his street clothes and changed into the uniform. It included a thigh harness for the standard issue laser blaster. The morpher clipped onto the belt—in a case, reminiscent of a cell phone case. The morpher held the ranger powers, acted as a communicator with the other B-Squad rangers, had a judgment mode for judging criminals and contained the containment device for transporting criminals.

Time to go… he rounded up the girls, taking them to the childcare center.

"Kira?"

He stumbled to a halt. There were a handful of other children milling about the room designated for babysitting. He had seen Kira a year ago at that open house at the school and now she was here? At SPD? His mind went blank. She smiled at him, sitting in a rocking chair watching the kids.

"Hi, Conner," she said easily. "You two must be Madeline and Christina."

"Uh-huh!" Christina said. "I didn't know you'd be here, Miss Ford. I always liked your music class. It was fun." The younger of his two daughters was off on a rambling tangent about music class in general.

Kira just smiled at her enthusiasm. "Why don't you two go ahead and look around?" Christina bounced off, inspecting a plastic box of Barbie dolls. Madeline drifted towards the book case. The former Yellow Ranger turned to Conner.

"You work here?" he asked.

"Better pay and benefits than the other school." She paused and glanced at his uniform. "You're the one they hired to be the B-Squad Red Ranger?"

Conner willed himself not to flush. "It's a long story."

"Better than living in your car?"

"We weren't going to live in the car. We were driving back to Reefside to go stay with my brother for a little while." Wait a minute—how did she know that? "How did you know about the car?"

"Gossip runs rampant here." The ghost of a smile fell over her lips. "Go to your meeting. The girls will be fine here."

He cast a fleeting glance at his daughters. Both were occupied. "I should be back later this evening," he said softly.

Kira just smiled at him. "Go. It wouldn't look good to be late your first day on the job."

Conner returned the smile and headed down the hall for the command center.

"Cadets, this is Conner McKnight. He will be the Red Ranger for the B-Squad."

Sky looked at the man wearing the red uniform standing at the far end of the semi-circle they made around the main control panel. He looked normal enough, tall with brown hair in his mid-thirties. He clenched his teeth and kept his eyes focused on Crugger. He should have the red morpher and not some new guy that Crugger brought in on a whim. McKnight was standing still, listening to their commander.

"He has been a ranger before," Crugger continued. "And he has powers like the rest of you. He is your leader and I expect you to treat him as such."

Leader… Sky fought to keep from grinding his teeth. This was the most ridiculous thing in the world. He had trained so hard, gotten the best test scores, honed his combat skills and his powers in order to be the best. Apparently, being the best didn't matter around here. The die had been cast. The five of them were wearing color-coordinated uniforms. Crugger had let a criminal and a has-been ranger on their team? This was not right!

"Discipline, control, teamwork—these are the elements that make you a Power Ranger. But these are things that the academy cannot teach you. These are things you must learn for yourself. Any questions?"

Sky wanted to ask why he had been given the blue morpher—but it wouldn't look good to ask about it in front of the person who had been given the red morpher. There was nothing to ask about. It was pretty clear what Crugger meant. He did grind his teeth.

"Let it go, Sky," Bridge said, catching his frustration or more, the projection of it. "Someone else got the red morpher."

Crugger pinned him with a penetrating stare. Sky hated it when he did that—it was like the dog could see into the depths of his soul and read his thoughts. "Sir," he spoke up, feeling the need to defend himself. "I know it would have made a difference fighting those goons."

"Who are you calling a goon?" Z asked, defense written into her tone.

"Not you," Syd corrected. "The other goons."

"They were weird, huh?" Bridge added, immediately going with the stream of consciousness in the room. That used to annoy Sky, but he knew why Bridge did it—to keep from going nuts with all the conflicting emotions in the surrounding area. "They had these big, like, metal soccer ball heads that were going like 'bing-bing.'" Bridge did an imitation of one.

"Krybots—Troovian robotic foot soldiers. They do not feel pain or emotion. They know no mercy. They are programmed to follow orders and to destroy." Crugger looked alarmed.

"And there was a blue one with an x-head," Syd added.

"A blue one?" Crugger looked beyond alarmed. "Gruumm's elite robotic guard. This is more serious than I thought. Do you know what they were after?" He asked, pinning Z with a similar look to the one he gave Sky. The Yellow Ranger squirmed under his glance.

"We had nothing of value. We gave everything we stole… er. acquired, to the poor." She looked a little nervous at the explanation.

"They were after something."

The alarm began to blare with the accompanying flashing red lights. Z visibly jumped at the noise, while McKnight looked up calmly. Syd let out a long breath, knowing that she now had to do some work that would mess up her manicure. Bridge frowned.

"A-Squad rangers report immediately to the command center!" came a voice over the intercom, probably Manx. "B-Squad rangers be ready for back-up."

"Finally! Some action!" Sky muttered.

Crugger glanced at McKnight. He nodded. "Let's go." First words he had said since entering the command center. He looked determined. Sky tried to rein his emotions in, lest Bridge pick up on something again. He should have been the leader, the one giving the orders to the team. He followed the others out of the command center and towards the parking garage that held all the SPD vehicles. A jeep and a motorcycle had been allotted to the B-Squad, although Sky could see they would need more sometime soon.

This was not fair.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: As if you couldn't have guessed, elements of this chapter came from Beginnings 1 & 2. I will continue to make use of elements of the cannon until Shadow Part 1 where I make my official departure from the cannon. If you aren't familiar with what happens in this episodes, feel free to e-mail me and I'll fill you in. :) Once again, thanks to Jepoliant for beta reading and to everyone who has taken a moment to read and review! The response to this still absolutely blows me away when I think about it. No reviewer responses because I'm swamped with end-of-the-year papers and exams. Drop me an e-mail with questions and put something like 'Kings and Vagabonds' in the subject line. Thank you so much for the awesome response to this!