Author: Jadelyn Ja Lee
Story: Through Her Eyes
Disclaimer: I own no one.
Time Frame: During Wormhole
Summary: AJ's father was the greatest ranger ever….now she's taking on the mantle he gave up. Power Rangers SPD.
Author Notes: I wasn't originally going to do this ep but then a friend made a comment about AJ's possible reaction to meeting Zeltrax before he tortured her and…yeah.
Mystic Force SideNote: Does anyone else think Koragg is Alianbow and Nick is Bowan? I've suspected for a while that Nick was related to Udonna somehow andIused to thinkKoragg was Clare's father (cause we don't know who he is and in the flashback to the sealing of the gates, Niella was horrified when the figure sacrificed himself). Also? Daggeron and Madison seem to get along really well if you know what I mean...
WARNING: Explicit torture. You've been warned.
Bridge: I wish I could stay. I was just born last week and I could meet myself and become my own best friend. I think. What if I met myself and I didn't like me?
AJ's stomach dropped when Cruger announced Gruumm had gone back in time. Yesterday, completely out of the blue, her Aunt Hayley had called and said three words in a decidedly evil tone.
"Kick his ass."
Now, she had a really bad feeling she knew what Hayley had been talking about.
When Jack, Z, Bridge, and AJ stepped off the shuttle, the first thing she noticed was that they were in Reefside. The second thing she noticed was her aunt Kira and her uncles Conner, Ethan, and Trent walking towards them—all four younger than she was now.
"Yikes." She mumbled as Jack called hello. While Jack, Z, and Bridge tried explaining the future and past meetings, AJ quietly pulled out her morpher and scanned the area. What she saw made her wince.
"Uh, Jack? We got krybots." she announced. The Dino rangers went quiet, confusion written on there faces as the three SPD rangers hurried to AJ's side.
"Where?" Jack asked. She pointed to two locations on the map.
"Here and here. There's a third one, but the little buggers being all allusive." She grumbled.
"I hate it when they do that." Z commented. Jack nodded.
"All right, we have to go take care of the bucket of bolts. You four stay here." He ordered. AJ stood back, knowing her aunts and uncles were going to argue. Eventually it was decided that Z and AJ would stay with the Dino Rangers while Bridge and Jack went to take care of the other two krybots. The six teens slowly cased the area, AJ mumbling expletives under her breath as she tried pin-pointing the krybots location on her morpher.
"What's that?" Ethan finally asked, pointing to the device in her hands. She looked up, blinking. Z chuckled.
"Forgot about us, I take it?" she teased. Ignoring her teammate, she held the silver lined tool up.
"It's my morpher. It can track Troobian readings. Usually." She added as the morpher blinked at her again. Ethan's eyes lit up as Conner looked at her morpher skeptically.
"That's your morpher?" The red ranger asked in distaste. She smirked at him.
"Yeah, much more efficient than the silly tyranno morpher you're hiding." She replied. Conner smiled, mischief dancing in his eyes. Kira, recognizing the look, sighed in annoyance.
"Bet you'd like a closer look, huh?" he smirked playfully. Z choked at the lunar ranger's expression.
"One, ew. Two, you're like twenty years older than me. Three, ew. Four, you're married. Five, ew. Six, I'm happily taken with a guy who would so totally kick your ass if he were here. Seven, ew. Eight, my dad would kill you if he heard what you just said. Did I mention, ew?" She asked him, making a face. Kira, Ethan, and Trent cracked up at Conner's expression.
"Got enough ew's in there?" Conner muttered dejectedly. AJ smirked slightly.
"Yeah, I think so, Uncle Conner." She told him before turning back to her morpher. She smirked slightly as Kira, Ethan, and Trent howled and Conner gagged.
"I hit on my niece!" he whispered, horrified. Z suddenly appeared at AJ's side.
"Evil, much? I think he's about to throw up." She whispered. AJ shrugged.
"Payback for all the times he's teased me about my lack of a love life." she replied blithely as Jack and Bridge hurried over.
"Oh no…" AJ whispered, horrified, when she saw Zeltrax. She couldn't move as memories long repressed rushed to the surface.
"Where am I?" Twelve year old Aimee mumbled to herself as she looked around. It seemed she was in an abandoned warehouse. She could see several crates stacked against the walls and a stationary fork lift on the ceiling above her. She heard some groaning and frantically looked around to find her brother sitting in a chair behind her, his hands and feet tied.
"JD!" she whispered urgently. He blinked slowly at her, his expression going from confusion to fear in a split second.
"Aimee, where are we?" he asked. She bit her lip, tears springing to her eyes.
"I don't know. Last thing I remember we were at the park when that…monster…appeared." She trailed off, feeling a presence. She turned around quickly but was unable to do anything as Zeltrax grabbed her by the throat and lifted her from the chair.
"Monster!" he roared, throwing her to the ground. The last thing she remembered was seeing the cement floor rushing at her head, then, blackness.
"AJ, are you okay?" Bridge asked worriedly as Z, Jack, Conner, Kira, Ethan, and Trent charged into the fray. When AJ didn't move or even show some sign of acknowledgement, he gently placed a hand on her shoulder. He immediately froze as the influx of memories slid through his glove and hit his mind like a ton of bricks.
Jason's screams were finally what woke her up an hour later. As she struggled to comprehend what was happening, she saw Zeltrax standing before her brother who was hanging from the ceiling by his hands. His shirt was in tatters, blood soaking it from several cuts in his chest. Zeltrax held up a whip and with a flick of his wrist, it slashed into the young boys skin.
"Why are you doing this? Leave him alone!" AJ sobbed as she heard her brother cry out in pain. Zeltrax turned around in surprise, the whip still held aloft. His helmet glowed crimson.
"Your father destroyed my life. Now, I'll destroy his!" he growled, stalking towards her. Despite her frantic squirming, Zeltrax was able to hang her up next to her brother. However, instead of the whip, he grabbed a gleaming sword from a table loaded with weapons.
AJ screamed as the sword bit into her arms. Zeltrax didn't even flinch but continued slashing at the young girl whose father had destroyed his life. Jason screamed in anger and horror but was powerless to do anything to stop him.
"Jack, something's wrong with AJ and Bridge!" Z called frantically when she finally noticed neither the green ranger nor the lunar ranger was fighting. The black dino ranger glanced at the two teens in surprise.
"Surround them." He called, rushing over to protect the frozen rangers. Before he could get there however, Zeltrax stepped into his face. Kira, Z, Jack, and Trent forcefully fought there way to the two comatose teens and began fighting again in earnest.
Aimee had gone completely numb after a few minutes of Zeltrax slashing at her. Her pink shirt, a gift from her aunt Kimberly, was in rags and completely soaked in her blood. Jason's voice was raw from screaming but he refused to let up. He knew his dad would be looking for the twins. Finally noticing the girl was turning catatonic, Zeltrax grabbed the whip and turned on the boy. Jason's eyes widened.
"No! Stop, please, don't!" He begged and then screamed as the whip bit into his back.
"AJ! Bridge!" Sky exclaimed when he saw his girlfriend and best friend frozen. JD gently placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn't move. Helios appeared at the solar ranger's side and gently shook his head.
"She's remembering." He whispered sadly. Next to the incorporeal god, his sister Salene was glaring daggers at Zeltrax. JD's eyes narrowed and an ugly look appeared on his face, one none of the rangers had ever seen before. Sky turned to where he was glaring and with a jolt knew what had happened. AJ had never given him a lot of information but he knew what the former paleontologist had done to the twins and knew AJ still had nightmares about it. The blue and solar rangers locked eyes.
"Watch over her. It's revenge time." JD murmured in a low voice that only Tommy and Sky heard. Behind his helmet, Tommy's eyes narrowed as Sky nodded.
"Leave some for her." He murmured. JD nodded, a wicked grin crossing his face.
"No problem."
When Tommy and the others finally found them, AJ was barely alive. JD was unconscious and twitching from the lashes he'd received. Tommy and Jason saw the twins at the same time. With identical roars of rage, they charged at Zeltrax who was barely able to protect himself from the former ranger's fury. With a flick of his wrist, two dozen triptoids appeared out of thin air and attacked the fifty-odd rangers who'd accompanied Tommy.
AJ saw all this as if in a dream however, as the blackness slowly overcame her. The last thing she saw of her tormentor before she passed out was Zeltrax trying to avoid the lightning bolts being hurled at him by her uncle's Hunter, Blake, and Chip while also dodging the streams of fire from her uncles Nick and Daggeron, the water from her aunts Tori and Madison, the ice daggers from Udonna, and the various roots that kept breaking through the cement at her uncle Xander and uncle Dustin's urging.
"Aimee! Sweetheart, speak to me!" Tommy begged as Jason grabbed her brother. Above them, she could just make out her aunt Vida and uncle Shane hovering in midair to untie them. Aimee locked eyes with her father.
"I knew you'd come daddy."
With a gasp, AJ and Bridge's eyes snapped open. As they struggled to regain there breathe, they noticed the battle raging around them. Bridge pushed everything he'd just seen to the back of his head and fumbled for his morpher. He glanced at AJ who was staring at the morphed forms of her father, her brother, and the commander as they fought with Zeltrax. Without saying a word, she morphed and ran straight at the man who had nearly killed her, her lunar blades appearing in her hands. Bridge ran after her.
"Commander, Dr. Oliver, don't." He called softly, stopping them from helping AJ. They looked down at him in confusion. He kept his eyes locked on the lunar and solar rangers as they attacked Zeltrax as one. "This is their fight."
Understanding immediately what he meant, the commander nodded and headed over to help the blue rangers. Tommy, on the other hand, frowned in confusion.
"What do you mean?" he asked, eyeing the villain with distaste. From beneath his helmet, Bridge could just make out AJ sobbing as she continued to attack her tormentor. He didn't need his psychic senses to know the other members of B Squad kept looking over at the normally stoic science tech with worry.
"Zeltrax tortured them when they were younger." Bridge explained in a soft voice. Tommy immediately understood and stepped back to let the twins go at it.
Jack, Z, and Syd froze in shock when they heard the sad words of the green ranger. None had known about the kidnapping and subsequent torture. As they went back to fighting the Troobian and dino army, each kept a close eye on the battle, knowing if something went wrong, Zeltrax would have to deal with them.
As the rangers stood next to the shuttles, they kept looking at their watches worriedly. After Zeltrax had retreated from battle, AJ had collapsed on the ground, demorphed, and proceeded to sob until she passed out from exhaustion. Bridge, JD, and Sky had quietly gathered the young woman in there arms and took her back to the shuttle she, Jack, Z, and Bridge had come in. After instructing JD and Bridge to take her home and telling Sky to go wait with the other members of B Squad, he'd quietly explained that the three of them would retain there memories because of what had happened but that he planned on erasing Jack, Sky, Z, Syd, and his own memories.
Thankfully, Tommy had told the younger four rangers not to say anything and not to ask any questions pertaining to the young woman's breakdown. They'd agreed and then got distracted by Jack, Syd, Sky, and Z. Therefore, they didn't see Cruger erase their mentor's memories with the black ranger's agreement.
"Hey Aimee." Bridge smiled softly at the young woman. She sniffled into the pillow she was clinging to.
"Hi." She whispered. He carefully sat down on her bed and wrapped an arm around her. She leaned into his arms with another sniffle.
Sky and the others knew they had had their memories of the mission wiped and were okay with it. What they weren't okay with was the fact that AJ had barely spoken a word since they'd gotten back. Not even Sky had been able to get her to talk. Having seen the torture Zeltrax had inflicted through her eyes, Bridge had decided to stop by.
"What happened after you passed out?" Bridge asked softly, knowing she had work through what had happened. JD had explained on the way home that he'd dealt with what had happened a few years beforehand. AJ hadn't. Instead, she had repressed the memories until it was to the point that she knew what happened but couldn't remember it.
"I woke up in the hospital a month later. I'd slipped into a coma because of the blood loss and the psychological aspect of what happened." She explained flatly. Bridge tightened his grip on her shoulder.
"What happened to Zeltrax?" he asked quietly. She gave a bark of laughter that had no real warmth to it.
"He was fried by the ninja storm and mystic force teams." She replied. Bridge swallowed.
"By fried, you mean…" he trailed off as AJ nodded.
"According to what uncle Nick told me, several of the ice daggers Udonna threw at him got stuck. Uncle Xander and Uncle Dustin called on the various plants underneath the warehouse to tie him up. Aunt Madison and Aunt Tori soaked him with water. Right before Uncle Hunter, Uncle Chip, and Uncle Blake threw lightning bolts at him, Uncle Nick melted the ice daggers which were then refrozen onto his metal by Udonna. Zeltrax was electrocuted and then burned by several solar flares from Uncle Daggeron. He melted until he was nothing more than a lump of metal that Daggeron and Nick fashioned into a sword and two daggers for my dad." She snorted. Bridge swallowed.
"Remind me never to anger your aunts and uncles. Ever." He whispered. AJ snickered as the door opened silently to admit Sky. AJ looked up, saw the worry on his face, and couldn't stop the tears from forming. Bridge gently untangled himself and motioned for Sky to take his place. When the blue and green rangers passed each other, Bridge gently squeezed the taller man's shoulder, blinking back tears. Sky nodded and wrapped AJ up into his arms.
Before Bridge walked through the door, he heard AJ quietly talking about what had happened. He wiped the tears from his eyes and hurried to his own room before he too burst into tears. These tears were tears of relief however because he knew that if she was telling Sky what had happened, then she would be okay. It would take awhile, sure, but AJ was truly on the road to recovery.