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

KINGS AND VAGABONDS

By Etcetera Kit

Chapter Seven: Hidden Pride II

Z frowned as the computer brought up the files she needed for the briefing later today – she could save them to her key card, which held ID and memory for case files, and bring them up in the command center later. The case seemed fairly cut and dry. Someone had been robbing banks by cutting into the buildings. They had a culprit who they had seen cutting through cars, plus an eyewitness that claimed she had seen him perform the act. As far as she was concerned, it was case closed. However, she knew that Bridge would pitch a fit because of something he had read in the guy's aura.

She glanced at the clock on Syd's nightstand. She had half an hour before the meeting began and she had to present the research – Conner had assigned her to find the case files on the suspect. The suspect came from a planet that she couldn't pronounce, a species she couldn't pronounce and had a name she couldn't pronounce. Well – for her purposes – the suspect was just going to be called T-Top.

"Hey there!"

Exasperated since the briefing was so soon, she looked up, ready to chew out the person that was interrupting her, but stopped short. The door to the room had been open as it normally was during the day. A woman was standing in the doorframe. She had longish silky blonde hair and blue-gray eyes. Wearing a loose black blouse and jeans with a backpack slung over her shoulder, she looked like she had just got off a bus.

"I'm looking for a little brat, about this high." She indicated about shoulder height on her, but that could be a couple different people here. The woman took no notice of her startled expression or confusion. Who was she talking about? In fact, who was she? "Blonde hair, huge attitude?" the woman continued.

Z just stared at her.

"No?" She paused and looked around. "Well, Syd still lives here from the looks of things. Let her know that her sister's back in town, will you?"

Then it clicked. "You're Paris?" she asked.

"Guilty," Paris replied. "You must be Z."

She nodded. So this was infamous sister that Syd had briefly mentioned. Z had learned more from the stories the officers told about Paris than anything Syd had said. The officers said she was rebellious, hated taking orders and was generally insubordinate, driving Cruger to drink. There were some great stories about her showdowns with Cruger. In fact, the only reason the officers figured she was still at SPD was because of her powers – they had said she could phase through solid objects.

"I've got to go," Paris said, looking at her watch. "I'm back a day late and got stuck with the graveyard shift tonight and the day shift tomorrow to make up for it."

"You don't get to sleep?" Z said, gaping at her.

Paris shrugged. "Sleep is overrated."

With that, she disappeared down the hall. Z stared at the spot where she had been standing for a few more seconds, questions churning in her head. Where exactly had she been the entire time that Z had been at SPD? While Syd had mentioned her, this exchange led her to believe that Paris and Syd saw a lot of each other when both were on the academy grounds.

Her eyes cut to the clock. Uh-oh – she let out a creative curse, before quickly saving the information she needed to her key card and heading for the command center.

"He's a—" Z stumbled over the name of the planet and species of the suspect. "And his name is—" Again, she stumbled over the given name of the suspect. "We'll just call him T-Top," she ended with an air of finality.

Conner just gave her a neutral expression. Of course, he probably wouldn't be able to pronounce the names of that particular planet either. He glanced to Bridge. The Green Ranger was sitting apart from them at the main computer console, for all intents and purposes, reading a book and not paying attention to what was happening. He inwardly sighed. Hadn't Bridge been the one to insist on team unity? Now that the A-Squad was officially missing in action, they had to work together, since they were the last defense of Earth.

"So what do we know?" Cruger asked.

"Money's been stolen, the buildings have been sliced into and an eyewitness – I think T-Top is our man," Conner replied.

"What do you think, Bridge?" Z asked as if she were carefully phrasing the question.

Bridge didn't react. "Bridge!" Syd snapped.

The Green Ranger casually looked over his shoulder. "Oh, sorry guys," he said, but it wasn't an apology. "I was just reading this book. See how the cover has cool artwork – I thought it would be a cool story. But it's not. It's lame." To illustrate his point, he threw the book on the ground by the main console.

Conner fought the urge to roll his eyes. "We weren't talking about your book," he said patiently. "We were talking about the bank robber."

"So was I!" Bridge protested.

"You were talking about a book," Conner muttered.

"No I wasn't! Didn't anyone else notice anything strange?" Bridge gave them all a look that indicated they should agree with him. No one did. He frowned. "The witness' dog? The water on the ground at the bank?"

Conner gave him a blank stare. This was all fascinating, but it had absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand – who actually robbed the bank. It was obvious – to everyone except Bridge – that T-Top was their man.

"Sir," Bridge said, appealing to Cruger. "I'd like to do my own investigation. Run down my own leads in my own way."

"Very well," their commander replied. "Anyone want to go with Cadet Carson?"

"Sky will," Conner said.

"What?" the Blue Ranger sputtered. Sky had been mostly quiet during the proceedings about the bank robber. It was obvious that he didn't have any great inspiration surrounding this case and was just doing his job. "I didn't volunteer," he pointed out unnecessarily.

"I know," Conner agreed. "But you can help Bridge."

"How?"

"Just go help Bridge and don't ask questions," he growled.

Sky gave him an insolent look that could be best summed up with the phrase you're the boss, boss and followed Bridge out of the command center. Conner watched them go, Bridge babbling something to Sky as the doors slid shut behind them. Z and Syd were giving him a strange look. He didn't bother trying to justify his reasoning on this. If Bridge was doing an investigation by himself, it wouldn't go far because his mind would wander. With Sky helping him, he would focus and things would be smoother.

"Cadets," Cruger addressed the rest of them. "I'm leaving the bank investigation to Cadet Carson and Cadet Tate." He paused. "The rest of you will start a new investigation. It seems that an office building downtown has disappeared."

"Disappeared?" Z asked.

Cruger nodded. "It has reappeared here." He brought up an image on the main screen, showing an office building now placed on the beach. "Go see what you can find out."

They saluted and left the command center.

It was dark outside. Conner let out a long breath, making his way down the halls that held the cadet rooms. Lights out was in a few minutes. The investigation at the beach had been odd at best. The building was empty except for a lot of dolls. He had brought some of the dolls back – some he gave to Kat for analysis, but he wanted Bridge to take a look at the others. Z had a theory that the dolls and the building tied back to a little boy they had run into later in the day while looking into alien activity. But it was just a theory.

Right now, he wanted to make sure that Bridge and Sky were doing all right with the continued bank robber research. The door to their room was open, so he assumed that they were still up and working. For all other cadets, there was a lights out time when the lights literally went out. For rangers and officers, such a thing didn't exist.

He moved to the door of their room and then a smile cracked his face.

Books about botany and alien species that were plants rather than animals littered the floor and a couple volumes were in Bridge's bed. The lamp on Sky's nightstand was still on, but all the other lights were off. Both cadets were in their pajamas and dead asleep. Sky was lying on his stomach, his hand curled around a notepad he had been taking notes on, a pen lying nearby. Bridge was on his back with an open book on his chest, his reading glasses still on.

Conner just shook his head, entering the room. He tugged the notepad out of Sky's hand and picked up the pen, setting both items on his nightstand. Pulling the blanket from where it was bunched at the end of the bed, he covered Sky. The Blue Ranger didn't stir.

Moving to Bridge's side of the room, he gently took off the reading glasses, setting them on the nightstand. He removed the books from the bed and took the one off of Bridge's chest, putting them on the floor with the others. Bridge rolled onto his side, grasping a worn dinosaur stuffed animal in the same motion. Conner just pulled his blanket over him and turned out the lamp, plunging the room into darkness.

He moved to the door, turning off the 'open' control and turning it back to the normal, motion sensor control. He paused in the door, glancing at the Blue and Green Rangers. No one would guess how close they actually were from their normal daily interaction.

"Goodnight, Conner," Bridge mumbled sleepily.

Conner smiled and left the room.

"Bridge, you do realize we're loitering in front of this woman's house."

Bridge leaned over to look at the colorful flowers in the flower box on the fence, waving a hand at him. "Just act like you're pausing to look at the flowers," he commanded.

Sky rolled his eyes, but fixed his gaze on the flowers. Thanks to the mass number of botany books that Bridge had checked out of the academy library, he knew that most of the plants were not native to Earth. Bridge didn't think that the eyewitness was credible and wanted to question her more – or find out if she was really a plant alien species. He had an elaborate plan involving a balloon animal – and Sky had gotten dragged into this ridiculous interrogation because McKnight had assigned him to work with Bridge. He would much rather have been assigned to the investigation about the dolls and the disappearing buildings topped off by a little boy who was controlling robots.

"There she is!" Bridge hissed.

Sky cast a sidelong glance down the street. The eyewitness – Diane, her name had been – was coming down the street with her dog in tow. Did she always wear high heels while walking her dog? Syd had demonstrated that that was practically impossible to do, by walking RIC for them as per request. And why had she been walking her dog downtown when she lived in a really nice neighborhood? They never had a dog, but he and his father did have a cat for a while and the cat liked to go on walks – and there had never been a reason to leave the neighborhood.

Bridge bent over, making a show of studying the flowers. Sky fought the urge to roll his eyes as the witness came up to them.

"Can I help you?" she asked coldly, her tone barely civil.

"No," Bridge said. "I was just looking at your flowers."

Diane set her dog down. "I remember you. You're that odd SPD officer." She turned to Sky, did a slight double-take and sashayed over to him. "Am I under suspicion?" she asked in a tone that had turned unsettlingly coquettish.

"Not unless you're an alien and can slice through cars," Bridge replied, then laughed at his own apparent joke.

Sky did roll his eyes this time. "Look, ma'am," he said politely. "We have to follow all leads for a case and, unfortunately, we need to question you."

She smiled. "All right."

"These are really beautiful flowers," Bridge piped up. "Are they native to Earth?"

"No, those are from Fernovia," she replied.

This interrogation was rapidly deteriorating. Sky gave Diane an apologetic look, but felt the sudden, inexplicable need to get out of the situation quickly. He hated it when women purposely came onto him like she was. It was disconcerting. Why couldn't all women treat him like Z and Syd did – treating him like an overgrown teddy bear or wayward cousin that just had to be put up with?

"Hey, did you know I can make balloon animals?" Bridge asked.

Diane frowned at him. "That's nice."

"Yeah, see?" He pulled a balloon out of his pocket and put on another performance about trying to blow it up and failing. It was amazing that – while Bridge was an advisor for some of the lower level cadets and editor of the academy newspaper – no one had thought to put him in the drama department. "I'm sorry," he said, looking truly confused. "Could you?" He held the balloon out to Diane.

She sighed exasperatedly and took it. In a few seconds, she had the balloon blown up and tied off at one end.

"Thanks!" Bridge said brightly, twisting it into a messed up dog. He held it out to her.

"Don't give up your day job," she said dryly. She gave Sky a smile. "If you'll excuse me, I need to finish walking my dog."

She turned and walked off down the street.

Bridge punched the air with his fist. "We got it!" he cried. He waved the balloon at Sky. "With this, we can tell if she's a plant."

"That's great Bridge," Sky replied sarcastically. "So we'll have to see if we can convict her for the bank robberies or if she presses harassment charges against us first."

"No," the Green Ranger scoffed. "She might press harassment charges against me, but she won't press harassment charges against you."

"Yeah right." He paused. "Let's get back to SPD and analyze the balloon."

Conner walked down the corridor towards the childcare center. So Bridge had been right about the bank robber – it had been the witness and not T-Top. Well, they were still working on the case with the dolls, but nothing had come up so far. It was easier working on it too with a full force and not just three of them with Z going off every chance she could about how she thought that this little boy – Sam – was involved somehow. It was pretty clear that the little boy had powers, but no one knew what to make of that including Cruger and Kat.

He just wanted to get away from the hectic schedule. Now that he had a steady job and decent place to live, it had left less time with his daughters than he would have liked. And Kira… she was a factor he hadn't planned on when coming here. From what he could gather, she helped at the childcare center and taught first grade here. She also lived in one of the apartments that were normally reserved for officers.

There was so much he had forgotten about Kira – starting with how beautiful he had always thought she was. Oh, there had been extenuating circumstances back in high school – mainly Trent and Krista. But neither of them was here now and it had been over fifteen years…

The childcare center was on the first level and opened up into the grounds, leading to a playground. The playground wasn't directly adjacent to the building, but more removed so that it gave the kids lots of room to run around.

Kira was there and turned towards him with a smile. "Hey Conner," she said.

"Daddy!" Christina cried, bouncing up to him. "You're early!"

"Yeah," he said with a grin. "I left early tonight."

"Yah!" Christina bounced around the room, gathering up her things.

"How's the case going?" Kira asked as the girls finished getting ready to go home for the night.

He shrugged. "We've gotten nothing so far. There was no point in hanging around." He paused. "Besides, if someone finds something, they can contact me soon enough."

"True," she agreed.

"So, still looking for that peace and quiet?"

To his surprise, Kira laughed. He had forgotten how much her laughs seemed to light up the entire room she was in. She laughed with her whole being. God – he had missed being around strong women who appreciated him and not manipulative bitches like his ex-wife. "Peace and quiet is one of things that doesn't happen around here," she replied.

"Tell me about it," he muttered.

"And you've got more on your plate than me," she said with a smile. "Being the mentor for four cadets? Before now, I couldn't have pictured you doing that."

"Neither could I."

Kira gave him an appraising look as Christina bounded up to him with her backpack. She had grown up, more than he could have imagined. He and Kira had managed to do it all – hit peak experiences that most people never have. And here they were – running from something elusive and going back to their days as rangers. Kira was taking Doctor O's path of finding some peace and quiet as a teacher. He was back to being a ranger.

Madeline walked up to them with her bag.

Christina was tugging on his hand. "Let's go!" she said.

Kira smiled at him. Well – it wouldn't hurt to ask. "Do you want to go out for dinner or something, sometime?" he asked in an undertone before Christina managed to drag him away.

"I'd like that," she replied softly.

"Come on!" Christina whined.

He was in the woods somewhere – he couldn't be sure where it was. For some reason, he felt younger than he was. There was a rough path that he had to keep following. Something was urging him to go faster, but he didn't know what.

Something flew out of the woods at him – a large, dark shape. He didn't know what it was, but he began screaming hoarsely. That was what he was supposed to be getting away from, but it hadn't worked. It had caught him…

"Bridge!" Someone was shaking him. "Bridge!"

He sat bolt right up in bed, his forehead connecting with something hard. One hand went to the pain in his forehead and the other grasped the arm that ended with hands on his shoulders. His breath was coming in ragged gasps.

Sky?

I'm right here. There was a pause. He could feel the dry amusement coming from his roommate. You have a hard head.

I'm not the only one. He rubbed his own forehead to make a point. His eyes focused on the situation. Sky was sitting on the edge of his bed, his hands still on his shoulders. That meant one thing – he had the nightmare again. It was such an elusive dream and the moment he woke up most of it fled. Sky claimed that he started thrashing in his sleep and making noise like he was trying to escape something.

Bridge withdrew his mind from Sky's. The Blue Ranger was used to him jumping into his head at odd moments – like after the nightmares. It was no wonder that the pair of them didn't have secrets from each other. Sky couldn't hide from Bridge. The sounds and sights of the room, dim in the early morning light, came back to him as he left the familiar presence of Sky's mind.

"You had the dream again."

It wasn't a question. He nodded. "I wish I knew what it meant."

"I guess the dream dictionary won't help."

"No." Bridge glanced at Sky. He looked worried and genuinely concerned – something that he didn't let show outside their room. God – Sky needed to learn to lighten up and accept the others. But now wasn't the time for that conversation.

"Are you going to be okay?"

He gave Sky his best game-but-unsure smile. "I'm always okay."

Sky got up and went back to his own bed, trying to get an hour more of sleep before the wake-up call. Bridge exhaled and laid back down, wondering what that dream meant.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note: Ever have the feeling, as you walk out of a final, that you've just done terrible on it? Story of my life this morning... At any rate, elements of this chapter come from A-Bridged and Sam Part 1. The normal thanks to Jepoliant, for beta reading this, and to all my readers and reviewers! You guys are the best! Keep up the great comments and feedback:) If you have questions, e-mail me - and I promise I'll get to the people that needed a run-down of the cannon! I promise! Good luck to all of you with your end-of-the-school-year stuff!