Before you read this chapter, go back and read Chapter Ten over. I replaced it with what should have been there. Sorry for the mix up. But hey, you already know what happens now…right?
Corona stopped in front of the residential building written on the slip of paper ACTER had given her. RIC happily leaped out of the squad car, and yelped as he ran around chasing his tail. Corona had a sudden rush of envy come over her; Bridge lived in the white-collar part of town, in a good sized brick house with a nice lawn and a tree in the back. Bridge's home was everything she had wanted growing up, but she had the crawling feeling that, like many homes like this, the family inside was more than dysfunctional. Adding Bridge's powers into the mix made it a billion times more believable that Bridge did not have the picture perfect family that one would envision would be living in such a perfect home.
Corona saw the green hybrid Kawasaki motorcycle in the driveway sitting alongside a brand new Hyundai hydrogen 'golf car', as her friends used to call it. So his folks had a bit of cash to spare as well. She wondered how his family felt about Bridge working such a low-wage job, but decided to just go in.
"C'mon, RIC." She called out, catching the robotic canine's attention. She stuck her hand in her pocket and gripped the SPD green morpher tightly as she approached the door. She sighed, then knocked. A few moments later, a woman came to the door.
The woman looked almost exactly like Bridge; she was either his mother or an older sister, but Corona quickly guessed the former. Her dark brown hair was tied up in a bun, and her brown dress, which was made in a retro style reminiscent of the 1950's, touched the floor in a bell dome and hid her shoes. Face-wise, her smile was warm and inviting, but her hazel eyes gave the impression that they were gazing directly into your soul in an icy glare from hell.
"Hello there." The woman said. Her voice was clear and concise. The woman then spotted the SPD badge. "Ah, SPD. I'm guessing that you're here to talk to Bridge?"
"How very right you are." Corona replied.
"Well, come right on in. We'll be having dinner soon." The morpher screamed for attention for the seventh time in the last half hour.
"Can I use your bathroom first? The ride here made me a bit nauseous."
"Go ahead. If you go down the hall past the stairs, it'll be the first door on the left."
"Thanks."
Meanwhile, at the Tantalus crash site, Mordom was growing ever impatient of the situation.
"Where is your stupid friend? Did he manage to kill himself?" Mordom asked through Sky. The battle was simmering down now; the B Squad Trio took defensive positions on the other side of the ship. Jack opened up his morpher and radioed in an SOS, just as Sky unsheathed his sword from before and lit it up.
"Come on out!" He bellowed.
"I guess we're on our own, girls." Jack said as he morphed.
"Sir, I'm trying to help the team right now…I'm just doing it my own way." Corona spoke out into the morpher. Cruger was prepared to rip her limb from limb.
"Stella…"
"I still can't get used to that." She smirked as she played with her hair while looking in the bathroom mirror.
"I received your letter of release from our witness protection program the night of the accident. I decided to honor it as soon as you came to. But that is another story. Why are you not out protecting your teammates?"
"You said that I was to take the morpher, but what I did with it wasn't any of your business, remember? I'm doing what I think is right."
"You selfish brat! Why are you instigating?" Cruger knew exactly where she was now, and he knew what her motives were. "Leave Bridge alone!"
"He's never going to come out of his groove if I don't try something! I can't let him do this to himself. This is my fault, this is my problem, and it's time for me to stop running from my mistakes and failures. I'm not Sky; I don't bottle my pains and fears inside until I explode." She closed the morpher and left the bathroom. She ran into the woman once more as she left. She was just standing there, hands folded.
"His room is upstairs, third door on the left." She said softly. Corona softly nodded in response as she made her way to Bridge's room.
The house's interior, despite the warm exterior, looked more like the inside of the SPD's Lab. The hallways were lined in steel plating; the floor panels were screwed in, the stairs were lined with metal sheets, and everything in sight shined at the mere drop of light. The sound of RIC bounding around the bend and up the stairs sounded exactly like the sound of RIC bounding around the bends and down the halls of SPD; it was a very cold and empty feeling. This didn't seem at all to be like the same house she had seen on the outside. She felt cold and alone, despite the fact that it was warm and there were at least three beings, counting RIC, there in the house with her. She was humored by the fact that she was right about the house, and the family, after all.
She slowly caught up to RIC, who was sitting and waiting for her outside Bridge's door. She wasn't even in front of the door when she heard Bridge's voice.
"Go away." His voice was hitched slightly.
"Bridge, RIC and I-"
"Go away!"
"Bridge…" Corona frowned. The sliding door opened slowly, revealing the warmest looking room in the house.
The room was a decent sized room, but with all the machines and robots lying around the room, it looked almost too small for anybody to live in. The lone bookshelf filled with mechanic's manuals sat at the far end of the room, with a working desk and chair sitting next to it. The steel walls were home to various schematics held up by little magnet-based figurines, and most of the larger robots were built off of them. Many of the robots served only one purpose; one was an item retriever with a long arm for retrieving things on high shelves such as tools and books, another was a ceiling-based light which seemed to be able to move to wherever it was needed by the push of a button, and one was nothing more than an automated Lazy Susan-coat rack. Everything that wasn't hand built looked to be jerry-rigged to work much more efficiently, from the lights around the room, to the power tools used to work on them. She now understood why Bridge was considered the best mechanic in all of SPD Academy; his life seemed to revolve around designing and building anything and everything.
Bridge, however, was lying in bed, underneath the covers.
"…I guess I couldn't convince you to leave me be…" he mumbled as he rolled over underneath the sheets. The grey sheets and the creaky spring box mattress were a far cry from the forest green bedding and contour-forming mattress of the Academy dorm. "I'm glad to hear your voice." He commented. "It means you're okay, which's great." RIC pounced on the bed and barked. "Ah, and you managed to fix RIC. I'm impressed." Bridge sat up, revealing his reddened face. He had obviously been crying. "I feel a bit better knowing you're okay, but if this is an attempt to get me to come back-"
"Bridge, please. They need you." She sat down at the end of the bed and gave her best serious look.
"Honestly, I'm not even comfortable with you being this close to me."
"Bridge, that's not the poi-"
"I'm a danger to myself and others, Corona."
"What would I have to prove to you that it's okay?"
Bridge got out of bed, pushing RIC and Corona off of him. "Get out. I've made my decision. Just go."
"I can't replace you, Bridge."
"You're a billion times better than me, Corona."
"But I'm not as smart as you."
"They have Kat, don't they?"
"But Kat never thinks out of the box like you."
"Get out." Bridge's tone became sterner as the morpher sounded off once again. "They want you, so go."
"You said it yourself. 'Until I'm sure that I'm no longer a threat, I am taking this extended leave of absence.' I came here to prove to you that you're not a threat."
"And how exactly do you plan to do that?" He shut the door with a press of a button on his desk.
"Well, when you were in bed, I didn't feel the slightest bit pained, for starters."
"Oh, big deal." Bridge replied in a condescending tone.
"Alright then. How do you want me to prove it?"
"I really would like it if you left."
"And left you here to sulk? Fat chance."
"I'm not sulking!"
"You're crying! It's close enough." She was growing tired of his childish games. Most of the time, it was cute, witty, or interesting, but it had suddenly turned into an immature whine fest. Bridge was unable to respond to her retort; there was nothing he could think to say in response. "Alright, I have an idea." She got up off the bed and walked up to Bridge, who was practically squirming up against the wall in fear. She reached out for his hand and interlocked their fingers. To their surprise, her shield never came to block the contact. They looked down, then looked up and gave each other a confused look.
"Look what I did to you." Bridge said, pulling his hand out from hers.
"That's not supposed to happen…" Corona said. She quickly forced her shield up, and it appeared. She sighed heavily, feeling a bit calm. She then quickly conjured up a shield spike, which also appeared. "Well, I think this might actually be good."
"No, it's not." Bridge said, moving to his left. "You're in more danger now than ever. There's nothing to stop me from acciden-"
"Seriously, you seem to be fine." Corona said, following him as he tried getting away from her.
"No I'm not! Just leave!" He screamed, clutching his head as if somebody had just slammed a hammer against it. He curled up in a ball in the northeast corner of the room, trying to get her to go away. Corona merely bent down in front of him and frowned. She ran her left hand through his hair; she was surprised to find that it was feather soft and free of knots, unlike what its appearance suggested it would be.
"Looks can be deceiving." Corona said with a smile as she continued to run her hands through his hair.
"But…I don't get it," Bridge began to say as he stood up. "how did your shield fall? Why aren't you in pain? How did-"
"Bridge, drop it. It's fine. Take your morpher and let's go." Corona said as she reached for the eternally beeping device. Cruger would not stop until he got full contact with her, it seemed.
"-you do that? Your shield…I'm perplexed…"
"Then sush."
"I mean, why would it drop and then sti-"
Corona refused to say the same thing three times. She pressed him up against the wall and quickly pressed her lips against his, slamming his head against the wall in the process. This'll be proof enough, Corona thought as she began to mentally count to twenty.
Twenty seconds was all it took the last time for her to slip into a cardiac arrest, according to Kat, so to prove to Bridge that he wasn't harmful, that's all the time she needed. She slowly thought of that night, how she slowly began to fade and die in his grasp, of how her thoughts and his meshed for the brief moment they were connected, of how terrified she was of dying. She had always feared dying while underneath the banner of SPD, but not in the way she almost did. She had nearly died by the hands of the two closest men in her life, and it was terrifying and comforting at the same time to think that she could have died like that. If by some chance she was wrong this time, she believed that she would die a happy woman.
Bridge was much more terrified than Corona, and he quickly began to hold his breath. He began to panic and attempted to push away, but Corona had completely pinned him against the wall. She had once again interlaced their fingers, which made him more panicky. He began to plan out what action he'd need to take if she had another heart attack, and how he'd have to explain this to his parents and to SPD and to Corona's family…if she still had one, that is. He worried that he'd have to hunt them all down after it was all over. However, as the seconds ticked away, he was more worried about breathing. He started having a panic attack, which caused Corona to just push him down harder and press her lips harder against his. The high he was getting from lack of oxygen quelled his nerves a bit, but that wasn't enough. He began to imagine how much longer she could keep it up, because he was enjoying the sudden rush as it continued to run through him.
She let go after twenty seconds, and Bridge resisted the urge to lunge forward as she pulled away. He stared at her in that infamous deer-in-headlights stare, shocked at the fact that they were both standing there, unharmed and stunned all the while.
"I'm not dead. You're fine." Corona said, pulling back. She walked to the desk, placed the morpher on the desk and walked out, taking RIC with her. The steel door closed slowly, and Bridge slid down the wall, letting everything in his head slow down and compile.
"Sir, RIC appears to be returning to the base, but Stella does not." Kat reported.
"Damn her!" Cruger shouted. "Get contact with her now!" Her growled angrily as Kat quickly relayed a final signal to the green morpher.
The morpher buzzed about the desk as it rang out. Bridge picked it up and opened up. He jumped as Cruger's voice bellowed over the speaker.
"Damn you, Stella! Didn't I warn you about disturbing Officer Carson? I should have you arrested and locked up for insubordination! Your father would be horribly dishonored at your inaction to save your fellow Rangers! And don't turn my words on me again like the last time! Get going!"
"Um…sir?" Bridge said. Cruger paled and gasped at the sound of his voice. "I don't think there's a Stella around here. It's just me."
"Where is Corona?" He barked.
"She left." Bridge sighed at the very thought of having to say that.
"What?" Cruger was confused.
"Don't worry sir. I'm on it." Bridge closed the morpher and ran out the door.
At the Tantalus crash site, Mordom, through Sky, continued to thrash the charging Rangers. He held his sword parallel to his chest, and began to run his fingers along the tip of the blade.
"Fire Saber!" he called out, and the flames shot up and swirled around the blade like a hurricane. He bent his knees and prepared to charge them as they fired on his position. They missed on every shot, as they were too worn to aim properly. "Burning Rush!" Sky cried out, running towards the trio, the Flame Saber erupting in a blinding blaze as he sprinted. As he passed them, he thrust the blade sideways, causing it to cut into them and partially searing their uniforms. It happened so fast, that the suits didn't have time to catch on fire, but merely spill out sparks like a waterfall onto the ground below them. It was a quick fall to the ground and an even quicker demorph for them. Bleeding, tired and defeated, Syd refused to give up. She slammed her fist against the ground.
"Sky, I'm not giving up on you!" She shouted as she slowly caught her bearings and began to stand up.
"You pathetic fools are a disgrace to SPD!" Sky shouted. "Your sense of justice, honor, and discipline is fractured! I'll get rid of you and your corrupt enterprise by myself!"
"Sky, listen to yourself…" Z said as she followed Syd's lead. "SPD protects the innocent and fights against injustice all over the galaxy! Mordom's feeding you lies and using your hatred against you!"
"Lies! All of you are liars, thieves and murderers!" Sky said, sheathing his sword and firing off another palm blast, flinging the girls back roughly half the length of a standard football field. The girls fell hard, and were knocked unconscious.
"Sky! You're not like this! You're not a murderer! You're a jerk most of the time, but you're SPD! We are your friends! Stop this!" Jack said as he got up. A distant humming sound came rolling in behind him, but he was focused more on the task at hand.
"You must have me confused with somebody who cares, Red Ranger." Sky grinned. "Hm? Who do we have here?" He said, looking back at the vehicle drawing closer.
"Freeze, scumbag!" Corona shouted. RIC barked in agreement; that is, if he were to have been understood by anybody else besides other dogs, they would have known that he said the same thing.
"Oh good, I can finish what I started with her…" Sky said, unsheathing the sword once more and unleashing a fiery wave of energy with just a swipe of the sword. He repeated several times to ensure a hit, but Corona deftly evaded every wave with the grace of a swan. She stopped the bike just short of the last blast, and the debris from the blast shot up over her and RIC. Luckily, she had thrown up her shield before the debris hit, so all it did was bounce off the shield.
"Nice try, Mordom, but you'll have to try harder." She dropped her shield. "C'mon, RIC, we gotta keep our promise to Cruger and help the Rangers." She got off the bike and ran up to Jack.
"Bring the girls back to base." Jack ordered.
"No. Both Bridge and Cruger want me here, so I'm here." She then gave Jack a look. "You should go back to the base. The three of you have had enough action for today."
"But you don't have-"
"A morpher? I know. I'll be fine. Just get the three of you to safety." Jack frowned, knowing that there was sense behind her words. He slowly walked over and, with RIC's assistance, got the girls into the Delta Cruiser's backseat. Meanwhile, Corona was preparing for the fight of her life. She quickly fired up her shield spike and prepared for Mordom's initial Burning Wave, which came almost instantly.
On the way back, Jack was nearly knocked off the road by a green motorcycle blazing past at top speed. He would've turned around if he hadn't seen the SPD logo on the jacket of the driver.
"Well well, it looks like Corona brought some back up…" Jack joked as he continued onwards.
Sky dominated the fight, sending Burning Wave after Burning Wave in Corona's direction. Whatever she couldn't dodge, she deflected with her shield spike. As she got into range of the Flame Saber's range, She began to swing violently and expertly at Sky.
"Die!" She screamed as she blocked his thrust and countered with a swift kick upside the head. She grabbed the blade and hurled herself on top of the blade, using it as leverage for a brutal back-flip kick. It took only a moment for Mordom to collect Sky's composure and slice at her while she was still in the air. The blow set her jacket on fire, which she quickly took off and tossed at Sky. He pushed it aside with his injured hand and sneered.
"I can assure you that your current victories are merely flukes." He commented as he prepared another Burning Wave. He fired off several more Burning Waves, this time getting lucky. One hit was all it took to knock Corona off her high horse, and every shot after the lucky shot struck, burning holes and scars into the unfortunate Corona, who had neglected to force her shield up. Sky chuckled as Corona dropped like a sack of potatoes. "That was almost too easy! What ever happened to your shield, my dear? Oh, don't answer. Don't get up. I'll just finish this quickly!" As he raised the sword, several shots rang out through the air from the direction of the Tantalus, striking Sky from behind. Sky cried out as he fell forwards on his sword. The motorcycle dropped close by and the rider quickly holstered his pistol and ran to her side.
"Corona…" Bridge said, taking off his helmet and kneeling next to her.
"Bridge, go…" He mindlessly ignored her plea and helped her up.
"My job is to protect the innocent and those who can't protect themselves." Bridge said as she made it to her feet. She weakly propped herself up against him and fell into unconsciousness. He gently picked her up and laid her on top of his motorcycle. He then looked back at Sky and sneered.
"Sky, Mordom, whoever you are, you're going down!" Bridge shouted. "You've done enough damage to my friends, and if I didn't do something about it, I'd regret it!" Bridge tightened his gloves, cracked his neck and prepared for a one-on-one.
"I honor your bravery…I suppose that, given the fact that you're Nova's friend and all, I should give you a fair shot at actually landing a punch." He sheathed his sword and took a defensive stance. He was forcing Bridge to make the first move, but Bridge refused. Mordom huffed, generated a force shield, and charged at Bridge.