Bridge quickly panicked, but then decided to strafe to his left and dodge Sky's shield. Mordom couldn't stop quick enough and turn around to dodge the butterfly kick Bridge executed against him. The unblocked blow on Sky's flank sent him flying forwards onto the ground. It was obvious that, shield or no shield, Bridge was going to put up a good fight. Mordom dropped Sky's shield, got up, and brushed Sky off.
"I wish we had this fight the last time…you've proven yourself to be a challenge." Mordom chuckled.
"Oh, I'm good enough for you." Bridge taunted as he took a fighting stance. Mordom decided that the fight needed to end quickly. He let the shiv slide down Sky's sleeve as he turned and ran at Bridge. Mordom leaped over the roundhouse kick that would've knocked him down, kicked Bridge's leg down, and drove the shiv into Bridge's right hip. Bridge gasped as the metal raced down beneath his skin before quickly being pulled out and leaving a bolt of pain running through him. He winced as he grabbed his hip and fell to the ground. Mordom landed on both feet and turned around to grin at his fine work.
"Do you give up yet?" Mordom asked.
"Never." Bridge said, gaining his composure. He normally would call for backup at this point in a fight, but he knew he had to hold his ground for Corona's and Sky's sakes. If he was going to get his friend back, he would have to push his pain tolerance to its maximum before even considering to run away. He had to be strong for all of his friends now, despite the fact that he knew he was completely outmatched.
"What a fool you are!" Mordom shouted, pulling a shuriken out of his uniform's jacket and tossing it straight at Bridge's head.
Bridge panicked and, without knowing, threw up a telekinetic wall which slowed the shuriken down long enough for him to toss himself backwards and narrowly dodge the flying hunk of metal. He landed on his back, then quickly drew his pistol and fired several times. He managed to only hit Sky once, but he struck Sky's only weak point: his left hand. He shattered the shell surrounding it, sending a fire shooting all the way up his arm. Sky quickly pulled his left hand to his chest, hoping that he'd quell the pain, but he only managed to make it worse. His eyes bugged out as he began to breathe heavily. Bridge's side screamed in pain, but there was no time for him to delay; Mordom had temporarily lost control of Sky and it was the only chance he was going to get to make a worthwhile charge.
"SPD! Emergency!" Bridge shouted, morpher in hand. The green beams of light that exploded out of his morpher displayed his uniform, which then shot backwards at him and flung him head-first towards the ground. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he crouched and guarded his face with his left forearm; which he then withdrew as the back and front pieces of his helmet connected at the sides of his head. He then struck a quick pose and shouted "SPD! Green!" In mere moments, he had gone from an officer with below-average fighting skills, quite a bit of luck, and a mediocre side arm to a Power Ranger with both a baton and a high-grade laser weapon to compensate for said fighting skills.
He drew out his Deltamax Striker and fired off a few decent shots after a quick leap in the air towards Sky. Mordom growled and drew out the Fire Saber. He charged it up as soon as Bridge hit the ground. Bridge, realizing that one should not bring a gun to a knife fight, turned the turret of his Deltamax Striker into the D-Baton. Mordom unleashed two Burning Waves towards Bridge, both of which missed as Bridge charged at Mordom. A few thrusts and jabs were Bridge's first moves, and Mordom could only dodge them. Trying to use his sword with only one hand was tough, as the blade was a bit on the heavy side and required two hands to perfectly control it. Bridge, however, remedied the situation by roundhouse kicking the sword out of his hand and into the dirt. Mordom growled and palm blasted Bridge back so hard that he had demorphed before he hit the ground.
"Can't…give…up…" Bridge said as he pushed himself up. "Not for Sky…not for the team…not for Corona…"
Mordom walked over to his sword, but RIC quickly intervened and nabbed the sword out of the ground in his jowls.
"You infernal mechanical waste of materials!" Mordom shouted as he began to fire at RIC.
Bridge morphed once again, finding yet another opportunity to do so. He took out his D-Baton and quickly charged at Mordom, striking several quick blows. Mordom growled and slugged Bridge, causing sparks to fly from his helmet as he fell back.
"Fine, you want to fight rough? Let's go!" Mordom taunted as he took a step back and grabbed Sky's morpher. He morphed quickly and drew out Sky's D-Baton.
"Alright, Green Ranger, you think you're so tough?"
"I don't need to be tough! I just need to be brave!" Bridge replied, charging at Mordom. Bridge's overhead swing was blocked and earned him a swift kick to the gut. He took two steps back and quickly gained his composure.
"You're sloppy. That's why you're only a green ranger." Mordom taunted.
"Well then, if you're so good, how come you're not red?" Bridge said with a grin. He was expecting a retaliation, which he got in a big way. Mordom quickly took the offensive to a whole new level; he fired off several shots with the Striker at medium range to disorient Bridge, then he quickly dislodged the D-Baton and brutally slashed at Bridge. Sparks showered over the field as Bridge demorphed once again as he barrel rolled across the ground. Mordom didn't stop there, however. He wasn't going to allow Bridge a third chance to catch him off-guard. As Bridge got up, Mordom kicked him in the chest, dropping the hapless green ranger back down with a whimper.
"Bravery gets you nowhere when you're nothing but an untrained weakling…" He said, stepping on Bridge's head and roughly pushing it across the rocky soil. A small trail of blood began to "Now you're all alone. You got any last words?" Bridge slowly pulled himself out from under Mordom's grasp and began to crawl backwards as the blood began to drip down into his left eye. Mordom had assembled the Striker and had it aimed directly at Bridge's chest. "Anything at all before I send you to the little Ranger Reject place in the sky?"
"Yeah. Back off!" Bridge focused his thoughts on pushing Sky back as he lifted up his right hand. A sudden rush of mental energy rushed forwards, sweeping Mordom off his feet and tossing him high into the air. Mordom fired off a shot, but it completely missed Bridge. Bridge got up off his feet and reached for his sidearm pistol. He fired off several shots as Mordom flew through the air, hitting him on every shot before he hit the ground. Mordom demorphed and stayed down for a moment or so, before getting up and snarling.
"Lucky shot!" He shouted, firing off a palm blast that struck Bridge in the chest and pushed him back. He then tossed out a smoke bomb to disguise his retreat, but he didn't need it much. Bridge was knocked out cold.
Hours later, Bridge found himself in the SPD Base's Infirmary, a heavily bandaged Corona sitting at his bedside, the Fire Saber lying across her lap.
"Hey there, Sunshine." Corona said with a smile as Bridge looked up at her.
"You're okay…" Bridge replied weakly.
"I'm in a lot of pain, but Kat said I'm allowed to move about…well, just not out of the infirmary. The gang's all here with ya, so it's not like we're missing anything." Bridge lightly sat up, with Corona's assistance, to find that the rest of B Squad was lying in beds of their own, resting silently.
"So…your name is Stella…?" Bridge asked in a tone suggesting that he still wasn't awake yet.
"I suppose Cruger said something about it." Corona replied.
"More like shouted it."
"He was upset at me. It's understandable." She looked down at the floor. "Ya know…you try so hard to run from the things about yourself that you hate…and in the end, you end up becoming the things you hate the most."
"Your father?" Bridge asked, looking over at her. She was silent for a moment, then she clenched the hilt of the saber as if to summon courage and strength from it.
"I hated him because he was like Sky…he never listened to reason…he wore himself down to nothing…and then he died. He didn't care about us at all…I thought Sky would have more sense…but it seems as if I got all of the sense…what good it did me…I tried so hard to be the opposite of what I am that…that I became everything I never wanted to be. I became Sky. I became my father. What I never became was a Ranger. I was selfish, and I hated both of them, but I loved them both more. I loved what I had, and they fought and succeeded in taking it away. I just wish they knew how much it hurt me to leave home…" Her voice was hitching, and Bridge knew that she was crying. He regretted asking the question.
"I'm sor-"
"No," Corona said, placing her hand on Bridge's shoulder. "don't be. I can't live my life in fear of the truth. I can't live my life pretending I'm something…that I'm someone I'm not. I have to be honest and truthful if I am to be an honorable member of society." She stopped suddenly, and gave a face suggesting that she was playing back her own words. "I sound like him too…oh, the horror." She said with a laugh. Bridge smiled in response. "Well, it's true, what I said before. I can't keep running away from my destiny and my eventual death. My past has caught up with me and I have to confront it, even if it means my death."
"Very true." Bridge replied, gently nodding. His face burned and his forehead was throbbing, but he managed to nod and smile to please Corona's aching heart. "…you want a hug?" He asked as he slid out of bed. His right hip started howling at him, but he had to get up.
Corona looked up at him and snorted. "You're one of those kinds of people, eh?" Bridge wasn't sure of the reference, so he merely shrugged it off. "Well, since you can't hurt me any more than I already am, I guess I'll take you up on that." She stood up and lied the sword down in the chair, then gave Bridge a warm hug.
They stood there in silence for what seemed to be an eternity, filling the gap left behind in Bridge's room. Corona knew that she should've stayed there longer, that she shouldn't have left him hanging there in a strange daze that she knew he had been in. She felt strange, being able to feel the warmth emanating from his body, the feel of his arms around her, the soft moistness of his neck and shoulder that was coated in a thin layer of sweat from being wrapped under sheets for hours. She wanted nothing more than to stand there until one of them fell to the floor.
Bridge, on the other hand, was screaming on the inside. He was still terrified at the mere thought of touching her, of getting close. What if everything wasn't alright? What if suddenly, his powers lashed out uncontrollably and sent her flying into the nearest pointy object and killed her? What if…? For a moment, he shut his own mind off and just stood there peacefully and enjoyed the first hug he had given and the second physical interaction he had gotten himself into in nearly fifteen years, and he let himself enjoy it in peace.
Unbeknownst to either of them, the trio and Kat had begun to observe their quiet moment, waiting for one of them to have a seizure of some sort. Corona pulled out of the hug, leaving Bridge standing there, waiting. Corona grabbed a tissue and blew her nose, tossing out the tissue in the garbage can next to Bridge's nightstand.
"Thanks for that. I needed it." Corona said as she grabbed the saber. Kat cleared her throat and Corona turned around. She and Bridge both began to blush and panic as they noticed their audience.
"You're all free to go if you wish." Kat said. Bridge and Corona half-ran out the door as the others slowly slinked out of their beds. Kat resisted the urge to ask what the embrace was about, yet she rejected the idea that she should report it to Cruger.
Up on the Terror Spacecraft, Sky was sound asleep, sleeping away his wounds. He was wrapped from head to toe in bandages in Mora's bed, which had constricted him to the point that breathing was stammered. Mora sat in the art deco chair with her arm in a makeshift sling, waiting for her mentor to awaken. Mordom arrived, finding the scene depressing.
"Miss Mora, why do you sit and wait for Nova while we should be having a tea party?"
"Because Nova promised me a lesson."
"A fighting lesson?"
"Yes."
"Oh, Nova is not as good of a teacher as me, my dear! I can train you to be better than Nova, if you wish!"
"Oh, I do!" Mora replied with a wicked smile.
Back at the SPD Earth base, Corona was putting the finishing touches on ACTER's shell when Syd walked in. Kat could tell that something was about to happen, and that report to the doctor she had to bring down to the infirmary that she needed to deliver suddenly seemed ready to be brought down. Kat left as Syd approached Corona.
"Hi there, Officer Drew." Corona said with a smile as she dropped her spraycan of light peach paint. She saw Syd's stern look and realized that something was up.
"I want to have a girl-on-girl chat with you." Syd said.
"Sure." She pulled down her doctor's mask and leaned over ACTER's chassis. "What do you wanna talk about?"
"It's about Bridge."
"Is he okay?" Corona asked in a concerned tone.
"You and him…it's gotta stop."
"What do you mean?"
"You can't just go around toying with him."
"Toying with him?"
"You know what I mean."
"No I don't."
"That little scene in the infirmary? You know SPD policy; no fraternizing with fellow employees, regardless of what department they're in."
"There's nothing between us. He gave me a hug because I was crying. Sorry to let you guys find out he's human."
"…and your breakfasts and shopping sprees…I won't stand around while you break his heart."
"Oh, and you and Sky don't have those little moments too?" Syd was taken aback. She had never once made a move on Sky, and vice-versa. The occasional well-wishing and the assisting in tough things was part of being on a team. "It's the little things in life, Syd. Get over it."
"Bridge is a part of our team, and you've managed to separate him from us emotionally and physically. I won't stand around and watch him get torn apart by the likes of you."
"And like you guys haven't done that to him as it is?" Corona was tired of being condescended by a self-reassuring snob like Syd. "You act as if I've never heard you guys behind the scenes. I hear your criticism of his skills, a lack of respect for his methods, and an overall lack of respect for him in general! You don't understand what it's like to have to cut yourself off from the world. You have the world in your hands. You wouldn't know what to do with yourself if you had to live your life fearing for the lives of those around you."
"You don't know how it is for me! I couldn't be a normal kid and have normal friends! I was picked on and shunned for my powers! Nobody wanted to play with me because they thought I'd do something bad to them!"
"Did you ever have to hide at lunch time to make sure kids didn't throw rocks at you to get a giggle over the fact that you couldn't be touched?" Corona felt her skin tingle and burn as she began to lose her temper. "Can you imagine not being able to touch anybody because your hand stops centimeters above their skin, separated by a barrier of red light? Can you imagine having to cry yourself to sleep because you can't get hugs and kisses like all the other little kids your age?"
Syd fell silent for a moment. She then collected her thoughts and continued down her warpath. "What does any of this have to do with Bridge, anyways? We're just standing here arguing over who had-"
"Have you ever taken the time to sit there and listen to him, or are you too busy downgrading his sanity to do so?"
"Excuse me?"
"Have you ever listened to him, ever, without questioning a word he says? Have you ever taken hours out of your time to hear him talk about himself, or do you subject others to that whenever they try to do so?"
"I don't do that!"
"Do you know what it's like to have to feel like you can't get close to anybody? Have you ever locked yourself inside your room and built a world of friends you can't hurt, who will never leave you or fall apart and die underneath your hands like everyone else?"
"Huh…?"
"Have you ever gone to his home and taken a look around? It's a beautiful home, but it's empty and cold…there was no feeling, no emotion…just silence and mechanical precision! It hurts to know that people live like that! It hurts to know that he grew up like that! He's such a nice person and he doesn't deserve it!"
Corona began to tear up as the images flooded her mind. She bit her lip and turned around, trying to keep her cool. Syd frowned; Bridge didn't talk much about anything unless it was a random, off-color comment, or some moment of sudden fleeting genius. Syd couldn't argue with Corona anymore, she could only sympathize with Bridge and try to calm Corona down. She reached out to grab Corona's hand that remained on the table, but it stopped short of actually connecting; Corona's shield reacted and shocked Syd mildly. She pulled back with a weak whine as Corona looked down and stared at her hand.
"So it was only temporary…"
"…What was?" Syd asked.
"My shield was down…"
"Shield…? Oh, that must've been what Bridge talked about before…"
The alarm went off suddenly, interrupting the girls.
"B Squad, report to the B Squad Commons Room with extreme caution." Kat's voice boomed out.
"Bridge is in there!" Syd said.
"Alone?"
"Jack was in there earlier…but I don't know…"
"I'm coming with you." Corona said.
"Um, do the words 'extreme caution' mean anything to you?"
Corona fired up her shield spike. "They mean 'have fun' to me."
Bridge found himself alone in the Commons room, being dangled in the air by his shirt collar by Mordom.
"You can tell me where Corona is, or I can cause plenty of trouble and wreak a lot of havoc in this base." Mordom said, trying to use his abilities of persuasion on the heavily injured green ranger. Bridge, however, was naturally resistant to such mental attacks.
"Not a chance!" Bridge shouted, trying to squirm free.
"I'm just trying to relieve you of lost patience, boy. Now I'll ask you again, where is she?"
"Have you ever tried to mind control a psychic?" Bridge asked, a sting of arrogance gnawing at Mordom's patience. "You don't seem to be all that good at it." Bridge was trying to call Mordom on a bluff as he struggled to block Mordom's powers of persuasion.
"I have a way of making you give me what I want that even you can't resist." Mordom taunted as a black cloud began to drop from Mordom's body and engulf Bridge's legs. Bridge flailed helplessly in a final effort to get free of Mordom's grasp.
Moments later, Jack, Z, Syd and Corona were rounding the corner down the hall from the Commons Room. The B Squad Trio had their pistols in hand, while Corona had her shield spike prepared.
"I'll phase through the wall and see what's going on, then I'll give a shout. Got it?" The rest of the group nodded in response. Jack phased through the wall right before the door to find a seemingly neutral scene. Bridge was standing in the middle of the room by himself, holding his head in a pondering manner.
"Bridge? What's going on?" Jack asked.
"This." Bridge pulled out his pistol and nailed Jack in the chest. Jack cried out, causing Z and Syd to run in. Z duplicated herself into three in case of a sudden need for backup.
"Bridge?"
"Z…get out while you still can…" Bridge pleaded as Mordom aimed his pistol at the true Z.
"What's going on?" Syd asked.
"I have no control over myself…I'm struggling to speak…"Bridge said as he fired off a shot, just barely missing Z's head by less than a centimeter. "Take me out!" Bridge shouted as the two duplicate Z's rushed to grab his arms. "No, better idea. I'll just take you all out…again!" His voice dropped as he dropped his pistol and unleashed a massive telekinetic wave against the duplicates, sending them flying into opposite sides of the room. "No!" Bridge grabbed his head and collapsed to the ground.
"Mordom…" Corona mumbled as she ran in. Bridge looked up.
"Stella! Get out of here!" Bridge shouted as he got up. "It's what…he wants…"
"Let him go, you coward!" Corona shouted as she attempted to run up to Bridge. Z and Syd stopped her.
"Not a chance." Z said. "We'll deal with this." Z and Syd turned their pistols on Bridge.
"Please…take me out…" Bridge began to beg. The girls nodded and fired, both hitting Bridge in the chest. Bridge slumped back as he was knocked out, forcing Mordom out of his body. Mordom sparked a bit upon rematerializing, but was unfazed.
"I want my student. Give her to me now!" Mordom demanded.
"Not a chance!" Z shouted.
"Fine! I'll just take her!" Z and Syd prepared to fire, but Mordom fired a palm blast that sent all three girls back against the wall. Corona got up slowly as Mordom approached her. He dusted her off, then grabbed her by the throat.
"You have an invitation. If you don't come, I will kill all of your friends, including little Nova. Understood?" Corona nodded slowly, then Mordom put a piece of paper in her hand. "Take care, my little ducky. We shall meet again." He then let go of her and smoke bombed his way back up to the Terror Spacecraft. Corona collapsed to the ground before she decided to look at the slip of paper in her hand.