Paradise Lost

A/N- Thanks for all your wonderful reviews. Sorry for the huge wait! Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Conner could vaguely see blurs in front of him, and he could sort of hear raised voices, but everything hurt SO MUCH, he just couldn't focus. As he fought the pain to try and stay awake and work out what was going on (he was sure he had heard Dr O. a minute ago) a scream broke through the pain haze.

"DR O!"

That was Kira's voice Conner's fogged mind told him. And she sounded upset. He doubled his efforts to beat back his confusion. If Kira was here, and calling for Dr O, that meant they were all here, trying to rescue him, and he should be trying to help them fight.

The blurriness in his eyes was getting slightly better, as though he had beaten it back with sheer will force. He was seeing double of most things, and not seeing them very well, but he could now actually make out people from walls.

From what he could vaguely make out, someone was on the floor, just in front of him. They were lying on their back, and, someone or something…Conner squinted to work out who. Elsa! It was Elsa! Elsa was holding her sword to the person on the grounds throat.

Which most likely meant the person on the ground, who he couldn't quite see well enough to put a name to, was one of his three team mates.

And, as it seemed no one else was helping said team-mate, it was up to him to save them.

Conner tried once again to force away all the fog in his mind. But, the sort of pain induced haze that he was clinging to consciousness with wouldn't go away. Giving up on shaking it away Conner had a quick glance to either side of him. Just the slight movement of his head made it seem like his whole top half was on fire, but he ignored that, focussing instead on the person Elsa was holding her sword to.

I have to save them; I have to save them… Conner chanted to himself. The two drones holding him didn't seem to be too worried about him, they both held him with a terribly loose grip; just enough to keep him off the ground. Well at least one thing had gone right. The drones weren't going to be expecting this!

Still chanting in his head Conner ripped his arms from the drones grip, and before they could even register he had moved Conner leaped at Elsa. He drove her into the floor, and away from the person laying on the ground. Elsa kicked him in the stomach, and jumped back to her feet. Conner, whose vision had blurred once more with the exertion of his tackle, saw a blobby person shaped thing move to attack her.

But he saw nothing else before sinking into unconsciousness.

Kira had watched it happen in slow motion. Dr O had been knocked to the ground in his fight against Elsa. As hard as she and Ethan had tried they hadn't been able to break through to him, and she had stood over him triumphant and ready to skewer him on her sword.

It had been a shock to everyone when the seemingly unconscious Conner had leapt out from between his drone guards and knocked Elsa into the ground. That had been the signal for everything to turn even more chaotic. Dr O was off the ground in an instant, retrieving his lost sword and getting ready to continue his fight with Elsa.

Kira had taken the drones surprise and used it against them; taking down four before they could work out that the fight had begun again. It took only a short time before Kira was fighting right next to Conner.

He was, to her dismay, out like a light, lying unaware on the floor of the room. She hadn't yet been this close to him, and she was shocked by the state he was in. Blood was still dripping form several cuts on his face, and she was fairly sure that the shirt he was wearing had blood seeping into it, though it was impossible to tell because it was red.

"Ethan! How long do we have before the portal comes!" she shouted across the room.

"Um, like 4 minutes." Ethan shouted back. The sea of drones had dwindled considerably to very few now, and Ethan had almost reached Dr O, who was still battling it out with Elsa.

"Ethan, Conner's hurt REALLY bad. I think we have to get him back now, do you reckon we can make it to the portal in time?"

Ethan thought hard for a second. Flipping back away form the three drones that were left he had a quick look over to Kira. She had disposed of all her enemies, and was kneeling next to Conner. And she was right, he looked terrible.

He also had a quick look over to Dr O. He and Elsa seemed pretty fairly matched in their fight, neither giving and inch. They were going to be there all day.

"You can make it if you go now. Can you carry Conner? Or is he too heavy even when you're morphed?"

"I can carry him. How can we get rid of Elsa quick enough? Have you got a plan?"

"Dr O can't beat her in the next three minutes Kira. You have to take Conner yourself. Come back for us, I'll wait with Dr O. QUICK! You have to run now! Don't fight me on this, I know you don't want to leave us but we have to do what's best for Conner! Staying here another half an hour won't help him! Go, quickly! SPRINT!"

She didn't need to be told twice. It was hard work sprinting and holding Conner, but luckily the portal room wasn't to far away. It had just taken them forever to find him before because of their sneaking. The suit made her a little faster then she usually was, and for that she was very grateful. Even so, the portal had already opened when she arrived in the room.

Not even blinking Kira steamed through, calling for Haley to close it immediately after they got through. The amount of noise she had made running through the base she wouldn't be surprised if most of Mesagog himself was right behind her waiting to come through the portal.

Upon entering the base the adrenaline rush she had been on vanished, and she could suddenly feel every hit the drones had landed on her. Panting heavily Kira gently placed Conner on the bed Hayley had prepared in case he was injured. She took the glass of water offered to her gratefully and skulled in a few seconds.

"What happened!" asked Hayley, horrified at Conner's appearance.

"Elsa." Gritted out Kira.

"Where are the others?"

"Back inside, I have to go back for them as soon as possible. They told me to go; we had to get Conner to the portal."

"Of course. It'll take ten minutes or so before I can make another one, the equipment needs to cool down."

Kira nodded, guilty she had left the others, but glad she could have a break before returning.

She sat quietly, holding Conner's hand as Hayley began to check how badly he was injured. Though his face was bad, his stomach was worse. Black and purple bruises covered it, and Kira winced when Hayley told her that he had at least one broken rib.

She was getting ready to go back, because the equipment was almost cooled down when Conner's eyes flicked open.

He could tell he was at the base because of the smell. The sort of almost musty smell that you get when you stand near freshly dug up dirt. And the computer bleeps gave it away as well.

Everything hurt, though not as much as it had before. He assumed that Hayley must have given him something for the pain, which he was grateful for. His vision still wasn't very good, everything was blurry. He could only just tell that someone was sitting next to him, though he couldn't tell who.

"Hayley?" he croaked, his voice hoarse.

"No Conner, it's me, Kira. Can't you tell?"

"Blurry." He replied. It hurt to speak, but he knew there was something pressing he needed to tell her. Something desperately important, to do with him and her maybe?

"I'm just here Conner" she said, holding onto his hand so he knew she was there.

"Somethin I have to tell you." He rasped, confused. "But I can't remember what it is. What happened? Why does everything hurt so much?"

Authors note- Well, there it is chapter 7. Not that good, but oh well, writers block is cruel, and this is the only time I have to write for ages, so I thought I should post something. The next chapters are going to be very sporadic due to school, and the enormous amount of sport I'm playing. (I love winter, all the good sports come on!)

Anyway, REVIEW PLEASE! I'll try and update more soon.