Chapter 19
Mesogog arrived in the lower chamber and fixed his gaze on Conner. Mesogog hissed in approval. He had to give Trent and the clone credit, their plan went off without a hitch. The switch was a success and now all he had to do was watch as the rangers would fall to one of their own. Mesogog heard the doors to the lower chamber hiss open and knew that Trent had come to see his prize as well.
"Did you tell him?" Mesogog asked.
"Yes, plan two is in action as we speak."
"Good, that little brat from Florida will never know what hit her."
"Why the girl? Why not the mom?"
"Ms. Hart will come shortly, but right now, her daughter is my main focus. She is keeping the rangers together while her mom tries to come to terms with her feelings for Dr. Oliver."
"He has one question before he goes forward with the plan."
"And that is?"
"Is he to take her in front of everyone or when it's just the two of them?"
"In front of everyone."
"Very well."
"Is that all Trent?"
"Yes."
"Then leave me alone with my prize." Mesogog said referring to Conner.
"Yes sir."
Trent left the lower chamber, leaving Mesogog alone once again with Conner. Conner started to move and Mesogog was quickly in his face.
"Welcome Red Ranger."
"Huh? Where am I?" Conner asked, not yet aware of his senses.
"In my lower chamber. But don't worry, you won't be here alone for very long."
The voice made Conner aware of who had captured him, he was still unsure of what happened in the last few days. He remembered some but it was mainly just one big blur.
"Leave my friends alone." Conner threatened but with no strength behind him.
"You're in no position to make threats red ranger. The only thing that you are in position for is to watch as we take your friends to the brink of insanity. So I'll leave you with this, enjoy the show."
Mesogog left the chamber leaving Conner to wonder what exactly Mesogog meant by that last statement. He sent a prayer to whoever might be listening to keep his friends safe.
"Come on guys, get me out of here."
Reefside Memorial
Everyone was there to greet Conner as he was getting ready to leave the hospital. He was excited to finally be going home. It was a great feeling to know that everyone from Jason to Kira was there to celebrate. It was just a few days ago, when he was sent through a window at the Cyberspace and aside from a few cuts and bruises, he felt great. He thanked everyone individually for helping him through the last couple of days. He was happy to call these people his friends and in a few minutes he would feel even better when he took one of them with him. From the hospital, the gang drove to Tommy's house and they all just hung out, enjoying each others company. Jason, Kim and Tommy were in the living room talking about the original gang and who still talked to who. Ethan and Kira were in the back yard. Kira was writing a song about the latest events in their life and she asked Ethan to help her with it. Conner and Anna were in the basement because Anna asked Conner to show her the updated video library of ranger history featuring the current team. As Anna watched with amazement, Conner eyed her with an evil smile across his face. It was time.
"Hey Conner, how are things going with you and Kira?" She asked.
"Right now, Kira is the last thing on my mind." He answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Right now, I'm more interested in you." Conner said in a low tone.
"Conner, Kira is one of my best friends, I couldn't do that to her." Anna said feeling very uncomfortable at where this conversation was heading.
"Who cares?"
"I do. Are you feeling okay?"
"I've never felt better. Come on Anna, don't fight it. Come with me and we'll leave everyone behind. No one else will matter."
"You're crazy. I'm going to go upstairs."
"Oh great idea, let me get the door for you."
Conner held the door open for her but he stayed in the doorway, Anna entered the living room and instantly went to Jason's side.
"Hey squirt, what's wrong?" He asked as he saw the scared look in her eyes.
"Keep him away from me." She whispered.
"Who?"
"Conner. Keep him away from me."
"Are you alright, Anna?" Tommy asked.
"Get the others. Something's not right."
Kim went to the backyard to get Ethan and Kira as Conner came up from downstairs.
"What did you do to Anna down there?" Jason said at the sight of the red ranger.
"Nothing she didn't want."
"You so much as touch her and I'll send you right back to the hospital." Jason warned.
"We'll see about that Jason."
Kim came back in with Ethan and Kira and everyone stood between Conner and Anna.
"Conner, are you alright? Talk to me." Kira asked.
"I'm fine. There's nothing to talk about. Look Anna, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Forgive me?" Conner extended his arms for a hug.
Anna seemed to hesitate for a minute as she searched his eyes for any kind of false hope, when she didn't see it, she returned the hug.
"You just caught me by surprise is all."
"Again, I'm sorry."
When Anna went to break the hug, Conner yanked her arm back to him and held her firmly. He turned her so that she could face the others in the room.
"Say goodbye, Anna."
"What?"
"Say goodbye to your friends, you won't see them for a while."
"Conner, let her go." Tommy warned.
"No more threats old man. I was given an order and now I'm going to follow through on it."
"An order from who?" Kim demanded.
Suddenly a green light engulfed the living room as Trent and Mesogog appeared through the invisiportal.
"From us." Mesogog hissed.
"No. Conner?" Kira cried.
"It's true yellow ranger, I work for Mesogog now."
"Red ranger, we have what we came for, let us go now." Mesogog said.
"Yes. Let's go. If any of you want to see her alive again, you will meet our demands." Trent warned.
"And what are those?" Kim asked.
"When we make them, we'll let you know."
"Goodbye rangers, I'll be waiting for you." Mesogog said as he left through the invisiportal.
"Come on Anna, I have a lot of fun activities planned for you." Conner said as he drew her nearer to the portal.
"MOM!" Anna screamed.
"ANNA! Hang on!" Kim yelled.
"Bye Bye." Conner said waving as they went through the invisiportal.
The invisiportal dissapeared just before Kim could get to her daughter.
"NO!" Kim yelled in frustration.
Kim fell to her knees crying as Tommy went to help her to her feet. All he could do was wrap her up in a hug like he had done so many times when they were younger. She cried into his shoulder as he held her.
"It's okay Kim, we'll get her back."
"Why would he do this?"
"I don't know. I promise we'll get her back."
In Mesogog's Lab
"Where do you want her?" Conner asked as he and Trent held her by the arms.
"With the other one. Take her to the lower chamber."
"What do you want with me?" Anna shouted.
"It's not you that I want. I want the power rangers to be destroyed. To kill something or someone, you must attack their heart, that's you. You are just a pawn as is the person you will be staying with during your time here."
"Who is that?"
"You'll find out soon enough. Take her away."
Conner and Trent took Anna to the lower chamber doors, where Trent hit the button to open the doors. The hissing sound of opening doors brought Conner to his senses. The door was open and he could see three figures but he couldn't make out who they were.
"Who's there?" He shouted.
"Just us, but we brought a special guest along with us."
The two brought a kicking and screaming Anna into view of Conner.
"Anna." He whispered.
Anna looked up at the voice and had to do a double take, here bounded to the wall with chains was Conner McKnight but then who was the man dragging her into the room? She looked to her left and found Conner McKnight.
"How in the hell?"
"What have you done with her? Let her go." Conner demanded.
"Nope, ain't going to happen." Trent said. "Tie her up and let's get out of here, we have more business to discuss."
Conner tied her up on the other side of the room from her friend. Trent and Conner left the room leaving the red ranger and his friend to talk.
"What happened Conner?"
"I don't know, I woke up and I was here. What did they do to you?"
"That guy that looks a lot like you came on to me in the basement and when I got the others, he apologized and gave me a hug only when I went to break away he pulled me back and brought me here."
"I don't know how they did it, but they cloned me. My only guess is that they switched him with me when I was still in the hospital."
"So now what? Everyone thinks it's you working for Mesogog. They don't know that it was a clone."
"We have to get out of here or at least you. If we can get you out of here, you can go and tell everyone. They probably won't beleive me right now."
"Probably not."
"I'm sorry for what he did to you. You know I would never do that."
"I know. All along, I had a feeling something wasn't right with the way it went down."
"So, how do we get out of here?"
"I don't know but I think we are going to have a lot of time to figure it out so why don't we get started?"
"Sounds like a good idea."
TBC.