By reason of its underground location, one would expect Ninja Ops to be cold, especially in December.
The two half-dressed occupants of Cam Watanabe's room, however, did not waste a thought on the chilly temperatures of their subterranean headquarters. Their minds were otherwise occupied and their bodies were pressed close enough to share all the heat they were generating between them, which presently was quite a bit.
It had started out as an offer by Cam to help Hunter with his Chemistry homework, but the study session had quickly turned into hands-on exercises of a different kind.
Hunter was nipping at Cam's nipple, causing the samurai to draw a sharp breath.
"Aw, did I hurt you?" the blond ninja asked, grinning mischievously. "Do you want me to stop?"
"You stop and I'll put you on Zord Bay cleaning duty for the rest of the year," came the hoarse reply.
Hunter chuckled. "I didn't know we had a rank system around here."
"It's unofficial," Cam managed to mutter before one more playful nip from Hunter elicited another deep groan from the depths of his throat.
The groan, however, was swallowed up by the sudden blaring of the monster alarm from the command center's supercomputer.
Hunter's head fell dejectedly onto Cam's chest. "There ought to be a law against monster attacks on the weekends. These hours are killing me."
"Just trying to walk right now is going to kill me," Cam replied with the same abject tone in his voice.
"You're talking!" Reluctantly, Hunter pulled himself off his boyfriend, then reached out and offered Cam a hand up. "Oh well, I get to see you in tight green Spandex, I guess that makes up for it."
Cam grinned and accepted the offered hand. Once on his feet, he pulled his blond partner into a quick hug and planted a last kiss onto his lips.
"This is just postponed, not cancelled, you hear?"
"Definitely."
With an affectionate pat on Hunter's butt, Cam dashed off in the direction of his computer, whereas Hunter hung back, taking his time in putting his shirt back on while he cast an unseen smile after his boyfriend. The hug and kiss, not to mention the pat on the rear had surprised Hunter, for the samurai was usually not overly physical.
Cam was still somewhat of an enigma to Hunter – as Hunter doubtlessly was to Cam. But they were getting to know each other better, and Hunter liked what he was learning.
They had come quite a way since their fateful first kiss in Ninja Ops' practice room a few months ago, and once Cam got over his first startled amazement, they had started out with careful, undemanding kisses, no touching involved. Things had progressed since then and Cam had been putting more attitude, as well as tongue action, into his kisses lately.
Or, more precisely, since they had received the approval of the two people who mattered most – Sensei and Blake.
It hadn't always been this way, though. They had gone through some rough times, especially after Blake and Hunter had moved from Ninja Ops back to Blue Bay Harbor and into their own apartment. (( See: "I Try"))
Hunter had noticed a change in Cam almost immediately afterwards, but it hadn't been anything tangible; nothing as clear-cut as an argument or anything like this. It was more of a gradual emotional retreat on Cam's part and at first Hunter had thought it was a fear of their increasing physical relationship. He still remembered Cam's reaction at his confrontation.
"Is sex with a man really scaring you that much, Cam?"
Cam had looked at him with a half-startled, half-exasperated expression. "You just don't get it, do you, Hunter?" the samurai had snapped. "It's not your body, it's you!"
At Hunter confused look, he had elaborated. "I'm not exactly surrounded by a horde of loving family members; my mother died so long ago that I don't even remember her, my uncle is the very man we're trying to keep from taking over the world and my father is ten inches tall with fur! If something like this, or worse, would happen to you…I don't know what I would do."
Hunter had been at a temporary loss for words, but he could practically feel Cam drawing in on himself before he heard the technician utter, "Maybe it's for the better that we aren't that close to each other every day."
It had hurt, but there had been nothing Hunter could do about Cam's decision. Luckily, the physical separation had ended up having a much different effect on Cam; it got him thinking until finally, the samurai's heart had triumphed over his fears and Cam had called him home.
They had resumed their relationship with renewed vigor, but Hunter was still waiting for Cam to be ready for more. He would wait as long as it took, for he was intensely aware of the fragility of their relationship. If he rushed Cam, he could expect nothing but retreat from the samurai, and that was something Hunter didn't dare risk. Their relationship was too important to him, so for now he could wait – and savor whatever Cam was willing to give.
Donning his crimson pullover, he hurried from the room and into the command center where Cam was already pulling up the source of the disturbance on the supercomputer's huge screen.
It turned out to be Marah and Kapri, raiding yet another shopping center. Hunter leaned over Cam's shoulder.
"Piece of cake," he said, watching the sisters strut across the screen. "We won't even need the zords for this."
He got into morphing position while Cam contacted the rest of the team and transmitted the sisters' position before he joined his partner in the middle of the room.
"Thunder Storm,"
"Samurai Storm,"
"RANGERFORM!"
Hunter made sure Cam stayed a few steps ahead of him as they hurried out of Ninja Ops, grinning behind his visor as he caught a few of those anticipated eyefuls of his partner's shapely, green posterior.
A battle observed…
The six Power Rangers arrived at the shopping center just in time to see Kapri engaged in a tug-of-war with a Salvation Army Santa Claus over the contents of his collection box.
"Hey, Flamingo," Shane called out. "What do you think you're doing?"
Both Kapri and Salvation Santa froze in their tugging, and the pink-haired girl's expression changed to one of indignation as she turned to Marah for confirmation. "Oh no, he did not just call me Flamingo, did he?"
Marah just shrugged. "Well, you kinda do look like one, you know, with the hair and all…" She evaded her sister's venomous glare by turning towards the Rangers.
"Duh, what does it look like we're doing? Christmas shopping!"
Cam crossed his arms. "Now see, there's a difference between Christmas shopping and Christmas robbing."
"Not to us," Marah declared.
Behind his visor, Cam rolled his eyes while Dustin pointed at the frightened charity worker. "I can't believe that you two would stoop so low as to steal Salvation Army donations!"
At that, Kapri suddenly smirked. "We're not stealing – we're just acquiring donations for our very own charity we've established - the 'poor evil aliens oppressed by the Power Rangers' fund," the pink-haired girl informed them. "Uncle is the CEO and I am the Treasurer." To emphasize her point, she gave Santa's collection box a fierce tug, finally yanking it out of the poor man's hands.
Marah looked puzzled. "Wait a minute, I didn't know anything about a fund like that," she whined. "I wanna have a position, too!"
Kapri rolled her eyes before she fixed her sister with an innocent smile. "You can be the head bookkeeper," she said, her face guileless. "Since you're so smart."
The sarcasm went completely over Marah's head. "Oh, goodie!" she squealed, clapping her hands.
Now not only her sister, but all six Power Rangers were shaking their heads in unison.
Shane took a step forward and pointed his ninja sword at Kapri. "Not that I believe a word of what you're saying, but if you really wanted to collect money for charity, you might want to try it the legal way…" the Red Ranger pointed to the Salvation Army Santa. "Like he does."
Kapri cast the frightened man next to her a disdainful look. "No way! That would be so…righteous." She wrinkled her nose at that word.
Her sister's facial expression was nearly identical. "Ew! That would, like, so ruin our reputation!"
Kapri tucked the box under her arm and raised her other hand, apparently deeming their conversation finished. She depressed a button on the small device she was holding, and a second later, a dozen kelzaks materialized around the evil sisters.
"Get them!" the two girls screeched in chorus. The Rangers drew their swords and Thunderstaffs and a moment later, the plaza turned into a kaleidoscope of swirling colors and clanging arms.
The three black-clad figures watching the spectacle from the rooftop of a neighboring building went completely unnoticed.
After a minute of silent surveillance, the oldest man of the group addressed the Asian teenager. "Well?"
The boy cast a look at his leader. In his thirties, tall, broad-shouldered and imposing, even in his crouched position, the Mexican had been his 'employer' for the past year, but the teenager still had to suppress a shiver every time those cold brown eyes stared at him. Julio Morales was no one to be messed with – or lied to.
"The red, yellow and blue ones are a definite yes. I recognize their fighting style. As a matter of fact, the blue one is a Water ninja for sure."
"And the others?"
Now the boy grew more hesitant. "The green one's style is similar, but not quite the same, so I dunno where he fits in. As for the navy and crimson ones…definitely from a different school."
Morales nodded curtly. "Then we will focus on Red, Yellow or Blue." He dug into a pocket of his coat, producing a bundle wrapped in black cloth which he thrust at the pockmarked boy. The boy pulled back the cloth, and the small dart gun that was revealed would have looked like a toy to him if he hadn't known better.
"You know what to do," Julio said. "It's already loaded with the special dart. Report to me once you're finished." The Mexican turned as if to go, but paused suddenly. "And Jared…" His hard eyes fixed once again on the teenager. "You better not miss. You can't afford any more screw-ups."
The Asian boy lowered his eyes demurely. "Yes, Sir. I mean…no, Sir, I won't miss."
He kept his eyes on the ground until Julio had disappeared through the rooftop door that led into the building's stairway. Then he looked back down onto the ongoing battle below and nudged his companion.
"Gotta get closer to them. C'mon."
Danger from the shadows…
Twelve against six were quite unfortunate odds – for the kelzaks. The Power Rangers proved that point by beating up, knocking out and generally wiping the floor with Lothor's goons in near record time.
Once the plaza was littered with moaning and doubled-over drones, the Rangers turned their attention back to Lothor's nieces – who were by now looking distinctly worried.
"Well, that was a nice warm-up exercise," Hunter jeered. "Where's the rest?"
Marah jabbed Kapri in the side. "You got the PAM," she hissed. "Get some more!"
"Can't," the pink-haired girl whispered back. "Don't you remember? Uncle cut our quota to twelve a day, because we've been getting so many of them trashed." She glowered at the Rangers team. "Mostly by them."
"Great. Now what?" Marah wanted to know. "Same thing as always?"
Kapri nodded. "Yep. Retreat." She stuck her chin out, trying to look as condescending as possible. "This is getting boring," she exclaimed loud enough for the Rangers to hear. "We're outta here." She raised her remote control to teleport out.
"But not with that!" Shane drew his arm back, throwing his ninja sword like a spear. It struck the collection box under Kapri's arm with enough force to make Lothor's niece squeal with surprise and anger. The box clattered to the ground at the exact same time the flash of light from the transporter beam sucked the two sisters and their drones up into the air.
Their departure was accompanied by cheers and claps from the scattered spectators as well as the Salvation Army Santa, who was hurrying towards them with a huge grin on his face, clutching his recovered box. He thanked them profusely and the Rangers accepted his gratitude with the proper modesty before they readied themselves to head out. Suddenly, Tori's helmeted head turned towards the mall's entrance. "You know...now that Shoppazilla pretty much canned any opportunities for Christmas shopping at the Southside mall, we should do it here."
Dustin rolled his shoulders. "I'm game. That little kelzak-bowling workout just now got me energized enough to keep up with you through the mall." He turned to the rest of the team. "What about you guys?" He received affirmative nods all around.
"Sure."
"Got nothing better to do."
"Yeah, let's do some shopping, baby!"
Cam pointed towards a warehouse a bit further down the street. "Let's go change behind that building and then we can hit the shops."
For the sake of appearance, the team streaked out of the plaza and off into the distance - only to double-back and end up in the murky alley behind the warehouse.
They had not noticed the two black-clad teenagers hovering at the periphery of the plaza, close enough to overhear the Rangers' plans. Consequently, the teens were ready and in position behind a parked van across the street from the warehouse, waiting for the demorphed Rangers to emerge.
The Asian boy, Jared, was squinting at the alleyway, gun at the ready, when his friend spoke up. "Yo, meng, I was just thinking...when they come out from there, they're obviously not gonna be in their suits anymore, so how do we know who's Red, Yellow or Blue?"
Jared frowned. "We make an educated guess," he said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. He had been pondering the same question and was basically hoping that the three Rangers who were obviously Wind ninjas were adhering to the trend that ran with most of the students of that academy, namely a near-obsession with their respective elemental colors. It was a trend Jared had never followed. But even if they didn't, Jared had one more advantage at his disposal - he knew he would be able to sense a fellow Water ninja when he saw him or her.
He had been stunned when, a few months ago, he had watched a battle between the Power Rangers and a monster on the evening news and had realized that some of the Rangers exhibited the fighting styles of the Wind Ninja Academy. That surprise effect had subsided quickly, however, replaced by the increasingly promising idea to use his newfound knowledge to rectify the mess he had inadvertently gotten himself into when he left a bag his boss Julio had placed into his care in his dorm room at the Wind Academy. The next day, when he had returned to retrieve it, he had walked through the holographic portal to find not only all the students and teachers, but also every building - including the dormitory - gone.
After the first shock over this incredible disappearance had worn off, it was replaced by a clump of fear that settled firmly in his gut. The bag!
Julio was a generous employer, and Jared never asked about the contents of the bags and envelopes the Mexican had him deliver all over Blue Bay Harbor, but judging from the dubious establishments and questionable characters he made his drop-offs to, he was sure that it wasn't Meals-On-Wheels he was delivering. Unless they were gourmet meals laced with caviar and Dom Perignon, for the envelopes he was receiving in exchange for his bags were always generously stuffed.
No, Jared didn't fool himself about the errands he was running for Julio Morales - whom the Blue Bay Harbor police department had dubbed "Ecstasy Julio", even though no one had so far been able to link him to the synthetic club-scene drugs that made up his nickname.
He simply didn't care; the only thing he did care about was the commission he received from every delivery. It was more than enough to live comfortably on, and the only reason he still kept his legal part-time job at the video store was for deception. After all, he had to tell his parents some reason he was gone so often.
Julio had been furious about the lost bag and had been on Jared's case almost daily to get it back, no matter how. He was unfazed by Jared's recount of the vanished academy; he either didn't believe him – no one else in Julio's gang was a Wind ninja and could confirm the story - or didn't care about the extraordinary circumstances. Julio wanted his bag back, and when he told Jared about the value of its contents and how long it would take the boy to work off the accrued debt, Jared had almost fainted.
Consequently, the realization that some of the members of the Power Rangers team were Wind ninjas was the lifeline he desperately needed. Here were some people who might know what happened to the school – and most importantly, his room with the hidden bag.
He had reported his findings to Julio immediately, together with the suggestion of abducting and torturing one of the Rangers for information of the school's whereabouts, but Julio had chastised him for coming up with such a foolish plan.
"And just how do you propose we do that, you moron? You think we can just walk up to them in the middle of a monster fight and snatch one of them without the other ones handing us our butts for it? And even if we did manage to grab one of them, do you really think torture would do any good? They're superheroes! They've got powers we can only dream of, and you think we would be able to intimidate them into telling us anything? Madre de dios, Jared, you're an idiot!"
Julio had had a different idea, however, and that plan was what found Jared crouched behind the van holding the gun loaded with the specially prepared dart, nervously watching the alleyway for any signs of the Rangers/ninjas.
Six teenagers, five guys and one girl, emerged from the alley only a minute later. Chatting happily, they slowly strolled down the sidewalk in the direction of the mall – and their color-coded choices of clothing left no question as to who controlled which element. The blonde girl in the light blue jeans and turquoise sweatshirt even looked vaguely familiar. Jared raised the gun, aiming at the Water ninja's back – and froze.
"Whoa!"
The Hispanic boy saw the look of surprise on his companion's face. "What?" he whispered urgently.
"The guy in the green shirt – that's Cam Watanabe!"
"Watanabe?" The Hispanic boy's brows furrowed, but then his eyes suddenly went wide with excitement. "The head teacher's son, right?"
Jared nodded. Manuel was not a ninja, but Jared had told him enough about the secret ninja academy he attended that the name had registered with the other boy.
"Hit him, meng!" Manuel was now visibly jazzed. "He's a much better target than just any ol' ninja. Come on, man, do it!"
"All right, all right," the Asian boy whispered fiercely and raised the dart gun.
To Be Continued...