Disclaimer: Don't own squat! Otherwise there would have been an SPD season 2!

Chapter 3: Late nights and day jobs

"Time for Time Force!"

"Hiyah!"

"Wa-cha!"

"Wazzah!"

"Take that evil Ransik!"

"No one messes with the pink ranger!"

"Kiyah!"

"What the hell are you doing Syd?"

"Huh?... Ahhh!"

Syd jumped in shock as an annoyed looking Sky Tate snuck up behind her. She hadn't expected to run into anyone in this part of the complex. Mind you, that had a lot to do with the fact that only four people on the entire planet had the security clearance to get into the vault room, and only three people had the codes to unlock it. Those three people were Sky, her dad, and herself and she would have expected her other two counter parts to be in bed by now. It was nearly midnight.

"You didn't answer my question. What are you doing here and what are you doing with that?" Sky demanded angrily, pointing to the singed morpher on Syd's wrist.

"Well, I… uh," Syd turned a deep shade of red as she searched for the right words to save her from this mess. She knew exactly why she was wearing the morpher. Several times before she had snuck down to the vault room to try on the legendary technology. What person wouldn't want the chance to feel what it's like to be a power ranger… to be a hero? That morpher was the very one that had belonged to Sky's dad. It was the one that he had been wearing the day he was killed. It was a symbol of the last shred of hope that had left for the future of earth, which was why Syd was so reluctant to explain to Sky that she had been playing make believe with it. She had far too much pride for that.

"I'm waiting…"

Sky rolled his eyes exasperated as she watched Syd squirm uncomfortably under his gaze. "You know what? Never mind. Just hand it over and get out of here, okay?" Ten bucks says she was playing make believe again. Sky held out his hand expectantly while Syd undid the strap on the morpher. And then she wonders why I don't take her seriously.

Syd paused as she was about to hand over the morpher. "You know what? I don't need to take that kind of attitude from you Sky. So no."

Sky gave the petit blond an odd look. She had suddenly become very defensive and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. "Come again?"

"No."

"I'm not following you here Syd and personally I don't have time for your games. Just hand over the morpher and go to bed."

"No. I won't hand it over. Why should I?" Syd demanded stepping closer to Sky in a threatening way. "I mean, come on Sky! This thing has been sitting around collecting dust in the vault for years. It's no use anyone like this. This thing could be the key to taking back earth and you keep it hidden away like you're ashamed of it."

"First of all, it's DNA activated meaning it won't work for anyone else. So it's useless to anyone but him. Second, I've never been ashamed of who my parents were. I'm just not stupid enough to go around telling the world about it."

"You know? You say that Sky but seems more and more clear to me every time we talk about this that you're just afraid."

"I am not afraid."

"So then why do you care if I use it or not?"

"Because it's not yours!" Sky retorted just as forcefully, stepping forward as well.

"It's not yours either,"

"It's my fathers,"

"And he's dead Sky!" Syd shouted. She immediately regretted the words as she saw Sky's steely eyes flicker for a moment in pain before resuming their piercing gaze.

"Give. Me. The morpher," Sky said coldly.

"I'm sorry Sky," Syd replied softly handing over the device. "I didn't… I shouldn't have said that."

Sky didn't reply. He had turned his back on her and was staring at the famed device in his hand.

"You think I like hiding my past Syd? Do you think I enjoy pretending my father and mother meant nothing to me?"

"Of course no-

"I hate it Syd!" Sky began shout, as he turned to face Syd. "I hate the pretending! I hate the hiding! I hate being afraid! Because I know they wouldn't have hidden. They would have fought and been the heroes I know they were, unlike me… I look at myself and I'm ashamed of what I see because I know they wouldn't stand for what's going on. I just let things happen. I protect the daughter of the man who builds the weapons that allow those monsters to rule our planet."

"Hey!" Syd exclaimed suddenly, yelling back at Sky. "That's not fair Sky! My father doesn't have a choice! If he didn't build what they wanted then he wouldn't have been able to build all the homes for all the people who lost their homes when those monsters took over. He wouldn't be able to protect all of his employees and their families. He wouldn't be able to feed them and keep them safe from being sent off to the labour camps! And he certainly wouldn't be able to protect you are me from a life of scrounging out on the streets! So don't you even dare try and call him the bad guy! Not after all he's done you!"

Sky stared Syd down silently before finally relenting. "You're right. I'm sorry. Your father's a good man and he doesn't deserve that. I just feel so…"

"Helpless," Syd finished.

"Yeah," Sky replied softly. "I just don't want to be one of those people who sits around and waits for someone to come and save the day. I want to do something. But I don't what to do or where to start."

"You could always go off and join the rebels," said Syd, a smirk slowly crossing her lips.

Sky rolled his eyes. "Right, because you know they've just been waiting for the day that a low level security guard with a broken morpher would come and join their ranks."

"Well, you could always supply them financially. You are technically the heir to all of the Collin's fortunes."

"Yeah well, property values tend to go down when all of your factories and properties are reduced to rubble."

"That would tend to bring down stalk values…"

"Not to mention the money in the bank pretty much disappeared right when the bank was also reduced to rubble."

"You could be a spy for them," suggested Sydney.

"No, actually, I couldn't," Sky replied, his tone growing more serious.

"Why not? I know you're not exactly Mr. Sneaky but –

"Syd, who do you think they'd get me to spy on?"

Sydney paused for a moment, contemplating before it suddenly dawned on her. "Oh," was all she could reply.

"Yes, 'oh'. Why do you think we screen our employees so carefully? To prevent spies from getting in here. It's not that I want to hinder their cause or anything. I want to be free as much as the next person but you of all people should remember what happened three years ago. One of their spies got in here and planted a bomb. Dozens of workers were hurt and dozens more were killed. God, if Bridge hadn't been hired not two years ago it probably would've happened again."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Every night we get Bridge to do a psychic scan of the critical areas of the factory. In the past two years we've caught nearly half a dozen sabotage attempts that could have ended up getting a lot of innocent people hurt."

"I never knew that,"

"Well, your father likes to keep these things quiet. No point worrying the other workers for no reason. I have to say, it's probably why I never joined the rebels. I mean, I support their cause, but just… not their methods. Freedom's not much use to dead people."

Both Sky and Sydney sighed simultaneously as they stood in silence.

"Okay," Syd chirped, breaking the silence, "I'm officially depressed. So how about we call it a night?"

Sky chuckled at his perky friend. "Yeah, I need get up early to do my rounds, so I better hit the hay," Sky replied, turning back to the safe. Giving the morpher on last look he gently placed the device back in its case and then sealed off vault doors.

"Hey Sky," Syd said, as the two began to head back up the flight of stairs.

"Yeah,"

"What exactly were you doing down here. I mean, only like four people in the entire complex have the codes to get into this wing and… hey! You were planning on doing exactly what I was doing, weren't you?"

"What? No!" Sky exclaimed, beginning to turn a deep shade of crimson.

"Ha! You're turning red! You so were! You were planning on coming down here to play make believe, just like we used to when we were little!"

"First of all, no I wasn't! Second of all, you're hardly one talk considering you were the one who was caught playing pink ranger."

"Whatever! You can't even deny it buddy! It's written all over your face!"

"Oh look!" Sky said as they turned down the corridor, "This is my wing! Bye Syd!"

"You can't escape me that easily Schuyler!" Sydney called out. But it was already too late. Sky had already began to dash down towards the officer's wing and quickly disappeared as he turned off around the next corner.

Syd just rolled her eyes. "And then he wonders why I don't take him seriously."

Elsewhere in the Drew Technologies complex…

A gloved pair of hands dashed speedily across the computer consol. It had taken a few minutes but after some skillful hacking the schematics for the latest weapons developments began to flash across the screen.

The lone figure quickly copied all the information onto a disk along with any other information that he could manage to access in the limited timeframe he had. The shipping schedules and orders would be invaluable information for planning their next rebel raid. He was almost disappointed he wouldn't be able to be a part of it, but his work here was invaluable to the resistance. They needed him just where he was.

The figured jumped suddenly at the sound of two approaching voices. He quickly grabbed the disk and shut the consol down leaving the room now in complete darkness.

"…you're hardly one talk considering you were the one who was caught playing pink ranger."

"Whatever! You can't even deny it buddy! It's written all over your face!"

The figure held his breath he listened to the sound of foot steps suddenly dashing off, followed by another pair shortly after. After waiting a few more minutes he slowly pushed the door open and strode over to the nearest disposal unit. Checking once more to see that the coast was clear he placed the disk in a silver canister, activated the homing beacon, and tossed it in. The rebels would come find it as soon as they picked up the signal.

For him though, his work was done, so he headed back off to the officers dorms to get some sleep. It was the one down side of being a rebel spy. His first priority may be to steal information for the rebel forces, but that didn't mean he didn't have to get up early to do his rounds. Everybody has to have a day job.

To be continued…

Wow! It's been a long time since I updated! sorry people! I kinda drifted away from this story and started another and now I'm kinda drifting back to this one. I actually almost considered just leaving it but then I got inspired to write. My summer's boring anyway. It's the perfect time to get inspired! So I hope you enjoyed this chap! I intend to write the next chap at a much speedier pace. This last one just remained half finished and saved on my lap top for like 6 months. So here it is! All finished! Enjoy!

Please review! Even if you hate! I really don't mind if you hate my work! Just so long as I know "what" you hated it! It allows for me to make changes and hopefully make it something you despise a little less than before! Thanks!