Title: Erudition
By foggynite
Fandom: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
Characters: Tommy, Billy (some pre-slash here, if you pay attention)
Rating: Nothing terribly traumatizing.
Disclaimer: Not mine. They belong to Saban.
Summary: Tommy gets Ranger detention from Zordon.
Notes: Set very early in the series and written all from memory of the charas and eps, so if there's any glaring mistakes, let me know. All for my virtasquee, who picks some damn hard characters for me to write, and knows it.
The Command Center was dark when Tommy teleported in, and he glared at the running lights that provided a dim glow.
"Great." He muttered to himself as he stalked towards the Zords Bay. "Bad enough I have to get up early on a Saturday to do geek duty, but now nobody's here!"
Something electronic beeped right behind him and he jumped, frowning suspiciously into the shadows but no one was there. He hadn't been the Green Ranger long—Well, the un-brainwashed Green Ranger—so the back halls of the Command Center were still new and kind of creepy. And it was weird that Alpha hadn't been on standby, recharging or whatever he did, waiting to greet Tommy. After all, Zordon had announced in front of everyone that Tommy would be helping Billy with the Zord upgrades.
"Make a little comment about nerds with no lives, and suddenly I don't have one either…"
Another electronic blip echoed down the hall, in front of him now, followed by a hollow groan. Tommy's steps faltered for a moment. The concrete floors and walls were humid, even though the Command Center was cold compared to outside, and the freaky green lighting was just kind of… unnerving.
He came to a fork in the hallway and paused, nervousness quickly replaced by irritation. Zordon told him to show up at eight, and yeah, maybe he overslept a little, but that didn't mean he should be messed with like this. He didn't care if he couldn't find the Zord Bay; it wasn't like he'd ever been there before, and if no one could be bothered to give him directions, then fine. He'd wander for a few more minutes and then go back to bed.
Impulsively, he took the hall to the right and walked faster. The groaning noise was louder in this one, and it felt like he was descending deeper into the earth. The hallway sure wasn't straight. When there was another electronic bleep, it sounded like it was right next to his ear, and then the service lights running along the floor shut off.
Maybe that noise was the hallways collapsing? How deep did these go anyway? And who had done all this digging? It probably wasn't even up to the building codes…
Fighting back panic, Tommy stopped dead in his tracks and fumbled for his wrist communicator. He should have just called for Billy in the first place, instead of trying to find the Bay on his own. He realized that now.
"Billy?" He said directly into the communicator, but it just gave this flat, strangled tone and stayed silent. "Billy? Zordon? Alpha?"
All right. Fine. No problem. He was cool. No freaking here. He just had to find a way out and he was good. Right.
Swallowing, he reached for the wall and shuffled until he made contact. The stone was slimy, but he started inching forward. It wasn't like there was anything on the floors, but he didn't want to chance running into a door or something. He tried not to think about what other "somethings" Zordon might be keeping down here.
The lights came back up as a piercing screech reverberated down the hall. Tommy went from feeling for the wall to covering his ears and bolted down the hall, practically running around the next bend.
"Tommy?" Billy's voice, then Billy himself was right in Tommy's face, and he let out an embarrassingly high-pitched yell.
"Woah! Dude, don't do that!" He growled, glaring at the Blue Ranger.
"My apologies." Billy blinked, obviously startled as well, and pointed at his wrist. "I didn't mean to frighten you, but our communicators don't receive any signals at this depth."
"I wasn't scared," Tommy said defensively, but Billy had turned around and was headed toward the giant steel doors at the end of the hall.
"Alpha noted your arrival, but when we still hadn't seen you, I figured I should check the service tunnel in case you were lost."
"I wasn't lost either," he said sullenly.
If Billy heard him, the other boy didn't acknowledge it, and any further complaints from Tommy were forgotten when the doors opened to reveal the floor of the Zord Bay.
Tommy had been in a Zord before, obviously. But—The size of the things had never really occurred to him. From the cockpit, fighting monsters, you could forget that you were in a machine taller than most of the buildings in downtown Angel Grove. The Dragonzord was huge.
"We're in the middle of upgrading Zack's Mastodon," Billy was saying as he walked over to an elevator platform. Tommy hurried after him, still awed by the fact that his Zord's foot was bigger than his house.
"Alpha's been a big help, but some things require a more… sensitive touch. Unfortunately, we haven't been able to fine tune him to the necessary specifications." Withdrawing a data pad from the front of his overalls, the blonde adjusted his glasses. "But right now we're finishing the hydraulics system. The high-pressure lines for the anterior motors needed to be replaced, and I've designed a more efficient valve block—"
Tommy tuned him out. The geek-speak went right over his head, anyway. Instead, he surreptitiously studied Billy while pretending to look at the Zords over the other boy's shoulder. Something about the way he was acting struck Tommy as off, but the Green Ranger just shrugged to himself and shoved his hands in his pockets.
Unfortunately, he made the mistake of looking down through the elevator grates, and yeah. Good thing he didn't eat breakfast. Quickly focusing back on Billy, he lost what little enthusiasm he had for the whole thing.
"Could you just tell me what you need me to do?" He interrupted. Billy looked surprised, but that was probably more from being so obviously cut off than the fact that Tommy could care less about the hydro-thingies. The other Rangers tended to put up with Billy's tangents for longer, Tommy had noticed, but he didn't want to stand around all day.
"Well," Billy fidgeted with his glasses again. It made Tommy's fingers itch to take them off him. "One moment, please."
Clutching the data pad in one hand, he raised his communicator near his mouth. "Alpha, how are we on the hydraulics?"
"Just awaiting your return for the final tests, Billy," the android's wavering voice rang clear.
"Excellent." He focused on Tommy again. "After these tests, we can start on the circuitry. That's what I need the most help with."
"All right."
Tommy shifted his stance, but that made the grates creak, so he determinedly stood still. They were level with the top of the Triceratops' horns now, probably eight stories up. He tried not to think about it.
The elevator came to a smooth stop at the service platform, which was reminiscent of the Command Center consoles, only set half-way up an artificial cliff face and severely lacking reassuring walls around it. There was a cot set up against the cliff, though, and Tommy did a double take.
"You slept here?" He asked incredulously, interrupting Billy and Alpha.
"I frequently avail myself to Zordon's hospitality while overseeing mechanical repairs and upgrades for the Zords." Billy pushed his glasses further up his nose. "The accommodations are more than adequate for proper relaxation."
"Right. Bro, we have got to get you a life…"
"I assure you, I'm quite content with the one I have."
Tommy raised an eyebrow at Billy's prim response, but didn't say anything else. Alpha started in with the geek-speak again, so Tommy wandered over to what looked like a work table and had a seat at the bench. The area was covered in wires and circuit boards which were probably important, so he didn't mess with any of them.
Bored, he started tapping his fingers on the edge of the metal table, counting out the rhythm. It soon escalated into the drumline of the last song he'd heard on the radio, and he started humming along. He was just getting to the good part when Billy appeared at his elbow with an amused grin.
Tommy stopped and slowly lowered his hands to his lap, trying to at least look cool.
"So, whatcha need me to do?" He asked before Billy could say anything.
"Here." Billy handed him a pair of earplugs. "Wear these. We're running the final hydraulics tests, then we'll get to work on the cockpit."
Putting the plugs in his ears with a frown, Tommy watched as Billy and Alpha braced themselves in front of the main console. He realized why they were doing it when the Mastodon's rear leg lifted and came back down with a thud that reverberated through the entire bay, shaking the walls and causing the metal fixtures around them to groan under the pressure.
That explains the odd noises in the hallway, Tommy thought from the floor of the work platform. Then he thought, Wow, the ceilings in the Zord Bay are really high.
He was going to get back up, but then another leg was being tested and he decided that, as long as nothing from the table fell on him, he was fine where he was until they were done.
"Are you all right?" Billy peered down at him worriedly once the final echoes faded.
Tommy glared as he got to his feet. "You could've warned me."
"I apologize. I'm not used to having other people here during maintenance," Billy said stiffly. He opened his mouth to say more, but then awkwardly closed it again.
Taking pity on him, Tommy shrugged and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Hey, it's cool. I'm just cranky 'cause I missed breakfast."
"If you're not averse to granola," Billy said as he reached into his coverall pouch, "I have one left over from my own morning repast."
Tommy accepted the bar with a smile. "Hey, thanks."
"You're welcome." Billy looked at him for a moment, then cleared his throat. "Well, we should probably get started on the cockpit controls…"
Which was how Tommy found himself hanging halfway out of the Mastadon's cockpit for the next three hours, butt in the air as he soldered circuit boards and flipped switches while Billy watched the readouts on his equipment. There was an adjustable platform they used that kind of suctioned itself to the outside of the zord, but it still didn't look very secure, especially so far off the stone floor, so Tommy kept his head down in the cockpit. Billy didn't seem to mind the heights, though, and blithely typed away at his mini-console in the middle of the platform.
Much to both their surprises, they'd found out Tommy wasn't too bad when it came to all the wiring and circuitry replacement. Apparently, he had a knack for using the soldering iron, and could figure out what systems were related to each other pretty quickly. Billy had thawed towards him once the Blue Ranger realized he wasn't going to slow down their progress. They fell into an easy routine of Billy calling out instructions, sometimes climbing into the cockpit next to Tommy, but mostly doing the power monitoring and manual software adjustments from his terminal.
"Try it now," he called over his sweaty shoulder, stripped down to his green tanktop and cargo pants. All this zord work was hard, and the blood was rushing to his head, making it pound. But he was actually having fun. He hadn't felt this accomplished outside of the dojo.
"Yes, that is the correct coupling, Tommy," Billy said in a distracted tone, tapping away at the keyboard. "It appears that energy output has been increased byfifteen percent. Excellent. Alpha, are you recording this on your end?"
"Of course, Billy," Alpha's warbled voice said over their morphers.
"What's next?" Tommy asked, propping himself up on his elbows to peer over his shoulder. Billy glanced at him, then quickly looked away.
"That's all for the Mastadon, actually. Next we have the Triceratops. The hydraulics where overhauled not too long ago, so we shouldn't have to do much except routine maintenance. However, the posterior steering apparatus may have suffered damage in the last battle, so I'd like—"
"Woah, woah, dude." Tommy interrupted, hauling himself out of the Mastadon and resolutely not looking down through the platform grills. "We've been at this for hours. What about lunch?"
Billy looked up at him in that way he had, like Tommy was speaking another language, and that's what had set the Green Ranger off earlier in the week. It had much the same effect now.
"I know you understand what lunch is, genius," he snapped.
"Well, yes. Of course I do," Billy said stiffly, their earlier rapport crumbling in the remote expression on his face. "Feel free to engage in an interlude for meal consumption, if that is what you feel the need to do, but I shall continue with my work, thank you."
That made Tommy pause, but he crossed his arms over his chest belligerently and frowned. "It's okay to take a break, you know."
"I am aware of that," Billy responded to his work screen. The scowl on his face made Tommy relax for some reason, and he sauntered over to where the other teen was sitting.
"So instead of giving yourself scoliosis at such a young age," he said, his voice teasing as he leant down next to Billy's shoulder. "Why don't we hop over to Ernie's, grab something to eat, and continue after we've had some fresh air?"
"I still have upgrades to perform on the Dragonzord and Pteradactyl today. I don't have time to leave the Command Center—"
"Yes, you do." Tommy insisted, making sure that the terminal had sent all their data over to Alpha's before shutting it off.
"What—" Billy spluttered, taking off his glasses and glaring up at Tommy. Angrily, the Blue Ranger climbed to his feet. "Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Getting lunch. C'mon."
"Now see here," Billy ground out obstinately, face flushed. "What part of 'I don't have time' did you not comprehend? I realize you're here under duress, but that gives you no right to interfere with my work. Rita may attack again at any moment, and the sooner I have these zords upgraded, the sooner we have a better advantage than before. You can't seriously expect me to just drop everything and go gallivanting about when the defense of the planet relies upon the zords' battle readiness—"
"Billy," Tommy said gently as he laid his hands on the other teenager's shoulders. Billy's muscles tensed, but he didn't strike out, so Tommy figured he had a chance to talk. "The world will not end if the zords are not upgraded this second. Starving yourself and wearing yourself out won't get the zords upgraded any faster, either. You'll just freak people out and make them worry about you while you're too busy worrying about the world.
"Besides, all we had was granola for breakfast. I'm starving, and you'll be the one to have to clean it up when I faint from hunger and plummet to my death." He made a show of looking warily at the flimsy railing, but the last bit was said in his usual voice and had the desired effect.
Billy grimaced ruefully, obviously not as put out as he was pretending to be now, and shrugged in defeat under Tommy's hands. He glanced at Tommy's face, then looked away, his cheeks still red but not from anger. Realizing how close they were standing, Tommy couldn't bring himself to back off.
"Fine," Billy finally agreed. "But only a half hour. No more."
"We can get our food to go," Tommy said with a smile. "And maybe then you can explain all this circuitry stuff to me some more."
Billy smiled at him, stepping away and around Tommy to the platform controls. "You actually want to hear about zord technology?"
"Who knows, maybe one day I'll be the one designing upgrades," he said offhandedly, turning as green as his tank top when the platform started moving again.
He didn't know whether to be offended or not when Billy started laughing. Really, it wasn't that funny…
End