Disclaimer: I don't own the Power Rangers.
Ashley Hammond/Astro Yellow: Yes, Andros is very good at thinking about Ashley at times when he's supposed to do other things.
Mz. Daydream: I think your feeling was right. Andros did something really, really, really stupid.
Arwennicole: When have I let everything be not okay? It just takes awhile. :D
Star Fata: Stupid is what I'd call him. :P
JDPhoenix: Sorry there was no Ashley last chapter. There will be lots of her soon.
Sasja: I updated soon! I've been waiting six months to write this chapter. :P
C.C.C: Well, if I kill Andros, I've got nothing to fill up parts 2 and 3 with, so I think he has to come back alive...
the-power-of-love: I actually did update soon for once. :)
TrueRomantic: Be careful what you wish for. ;)
Chapter 33
Tonight was the perfect night, Andros decided as he gave up on sleep. The rangers were all either asleep in their beds or spending the night elsewhere. He was ready. He had joined in the training sessions the others held each morning for almost at week now, stating simply that he wanted to be ready when they had his morpher back, and no one had questioned him.
Throwing back the sheets, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat for a moment, elbows on his knees and head in his hands. I can do this. Nodding quickly to convince himself, Andros stood and tugged at his shirt and pants, trying to smooth down the material that had wrinkled when he had tried to sleep.
It was only when he shrugged into his jacket that his heartbeat picked up, the reality of what he was about to do crashing down on him. He paused halfway to reaching for his boots, hesitating. Zhane and Karone would never forgive him if he died... Then he shook his head and grabbed his boots, sitting back on his bed to buckle them up. If they died, he would never forgive himself. He had to take this chance.
He grabbed a brush and ran it through his hair a few times, before setting the brush back on his dresser and pulling his hair away from his face. He secured it into a ponytail as he walked out of the door, not taking the time to wonder if this was the last time he would ever be back in his own room. He couldn't think like that if he wanted to live.
"Deca." He spoke quietly as he made his way through the halls. "Set a course for sector nine of this system immediately. Hyperrush three."
"Hyperrush three initiating now."
Deca didn't sound too thrilled with him, and he supposed he couldn't blame her for that. He had barred her from letting her tell anyone what he was up to, after all, and he knew that it was what she would have done under any other circumstances. He should have been grateful that she was watching out for him, and he really was. It was just that her caring always seemed to come at the most inconvenient times for him.
The holding bay was eerie and silent when he entered, the soft tapping of his feet against the metal floor the only sound. He headed straight for the red locker he hadn't so much as touched in two years. The door fell open with a soft click, and he reached in to grab the Astroblaster that still lay there. He wasn't quite sure what would happen when he fired it--after having gone so long without being fired, there was a slight chance of malfunction, but he knew better than to test it while still in the holding bay, and he wasn't about to go to the Simudeck.
His eyes landed on the Synthetron and hesitated. He knew that he would fight better if he ate a bit, but he wasn't sure that his stomach could handle it at the moment. Nervousness was beginning to build up within him, and he slowly paced back and forth across the room, wondering what he was supposed to do next.
Assuming that Deca could hack through the encryption codes protecting the teleportation signals before dawn, he would have no say in where he ended up. Inter-ship teleportation was separate from transferring from one completely different location to a ship. It wasn't as high a security concern, for one. Andros sighed, turning the Astroblaster over in his hands and hoping that he would at least land in a fairly secluded area of the ship.
"We have arrived at sector nine," Deca announced, startling him out of his thoughts.
"Then scan for the signal," he ordered. "Tap into it as quickly as you can."
"Scanning now."
Deca sounded even more reluctant now, and Andros felt a twinge of guilt. "Thanks," he muttered, toying with his blaster. "Tell me when you've got it."
He sighed, fidgeting anxiously as he waited. What was taking her so long? It was only a matter of time before the Dark Fortress picked up the Megaship on radar or they were spotted by approaching Velocifighters. They could always make a quick getaway, but then he would be stuck explaining why they were in enemy space in the first place, and he would never have the chance.
"Anything?" he asked finally. He tried not to let his impatience show, but heard some creep into his voice and winced, knowing that if he did manage to survive, he would be eating out for the next few weeks.
"Anything what?"
The blaster clattered to the floor as Andros started visibly. "Ashley," he gasped, stooping down to retrieve the blaster. "What are you doing here?"
"Couldn't sleep," she said with a shrug, a sheepish grin creeping across her face. "Ever since I was a kid, I've never been able to sleep the night before my birthday or Christmas. I know it's silly, but..."
She shrugged, and Andros just stared at her, nodding his head without really knowing why. She smiled at him and he almost melted, his mood turning sober quickly when he was struck with the urge to tell her how much she meant to him. He beat it down quickly, knowing that if he said anything now, he would lose the only chance he was going to have to go after Cosmos on his own.
"What are you doing up?" Ashley asked curiously, heading over to the Synthetron. "It's almost midnight."
"I was just--thinking." He stuttered a little, but he thought it slipped past her. "About... everything."
Ashley made a knowing face at him as she walked over with a glass of water in her hand. "You know it'll all be okay, Andros," she said softly, taking a small sip. "Just give us a few more days to come up with a working plan."
He nodded, hoping she would mistake what he knew had to be a suddenly guilty expression for one of uncertainty. "There's better things to drink if you want to get to sleep," he told her, quickly changing the subject. "Water wakes you up."
"I know." Ashley wrinkled her nose. "But Deca told me I was dehydrated."
"She did?" He shot a furtive glare at Deca's camera. "When?"
"Just now." Ashley made a face at her glass. "I probably am because of cheer squad on top of training and battles, but I didn't know she could tell just by looking."
"She can't," Andros said before he thought better of it. "It must be a... er, calibration error in her programming. I'll have to take a look at it in the morning. And you should get back to bed," he added. "It's late."
"Yeah." He thought Ashley looked at him a little strangely, but she waved and headed toward the door. "G'night."
"Night," he called back, waiting what he thought was a reasonable amount of time for her to walk away before turning to glare at Deca. "You couldn't have thought of something better than that?"
"You requested that I say nothing of what you are doing," she reminded him. "I did not," she added, as though he might not have realized it.
"That's not the point," he insisted. "I know what I'm doing, Deca."
"I disagree," she informed him. "I believe that your mind has been influenced by a combination of stress, guilt, and fear that is currently preventing you from thinking clearly."
"I'm thinking fine, Deca," he sighed. "Have you got anything?"
"Are you certain you want to do this?" she questioned by way of reply. "It is far riskier than--"
"You're wrong," he interjected, voice harsh. "I can't lose anyone else because of this, Deca. It's the only way. You can get me in?"
"Yes." He thought Deca almost sighed. "But I cannot predict where you will land, and I--"
"As soon as you get me in, get the Megaship out of here," he ordered, climbing to his feet. "I'll call my glider to get out."
"You are operating under the assumption that you will in fact retrieve your morpher," Deca warned him. "If this fails to be the case, you will be trapped."
"It won't fail," he insisted, frustrated with her persistent lack of confidence in him. Taking one last glance around the holding bay, he tensed his finger over the trigger of the Astroblaster and took a deep breath. "Now, Deca."
When he next blinked, he found himself standing on a ship utterly unfamiliar to him. The faces of the two people standing before him, however, were ones that he knew quite well. Falling into a fighting stance before they had completely recovered from their astonishment, he aimed the blaster squarely at Cosmos.
"I want my morpher," he said quietly. "Now."
"We figured as much when the Megaship showed up on our radar," Cosmos said, seemingly unbothered by the blaster pointed at his chest. "What we didn't figure was that you would be this..."
"Stupid?" Lyra suggested, fingers curling around her staff as it appeared.
Pushing their voices from his mind, Andros fired. He'd hoped the shot would be enough to force Cosmos to demorph, if that was the right word for it, but his brother threw himself to the side just in time. The shot blasted the wall instead, setting off a multitude of alarms.
Lyra sprang forward, kicking the blaster out of his hand and sending it flying through the air to drop loudly to the floor several feet away and unquestionably out of his reach. Staggering back, Andros fell into a defensive position instinctively, his hands coming up to block when her staff whistled through the air.
She tugged hard when he managed to get both hands on her staff and he fell forward, knocked off balance by the force she'd used. Lyra twisted around abruptly, flinging him to the ground when he lost the hold he had on her staff. Andros scrambled to his feet just in time to avoid the energy blast from the staff, ducking back down when a sword came at him out of nowhere. Apparently, Cosmos had recovered.
Knowing that remaining defensive would get him nowhere, he went on the offensive. His tornado kick was quick enough to force Lyra back for an instant, giving him a split second to go after Cosmos. He wasn't so lucky this time, though, as Cosmos caught the fist he threw. His next punch was no better. Frustrated, Andros threw his weight back and planted a foot in his opponent's stomach, wrenching his arms free as Cosmos hit the ground.
Unfortunately, he had ignored Lyra for just a moment too long, and the energy blast from her staff threw him back a half dozen feet. He clutched his chest with a groan, wincing in pain and unable to force himself back up onto his feet.
It was only when someone else hauled him up that it dawned on him that the room had filled with Quantrons, as well as Ecliptor, Elgar, and Darkonda. The alarms, he realized, were still shrieking. Silently, he cursed himself for setting them off with that shot, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
"That was disappointing," Lyra sniffed, brandishing her staff as she sauntered over to where the Qauntrons supported him. "I expected more from you, Andros."
"Take him to the prison bay," Cosmos ordered, turning to lead the way. "Follow me."
Andros struggled against the Quantrons when they forced him to walk, though he knew it would do him little good. He'd trapped himself nicely--even if he were able to pull free, he was surrounded by dozens of others who would catch him before he made it too far. Not only that, but he had nowhere to go.
His heart dropped down into his stomach when he was shoved through the cell doors. It was cramped and lit painfully bright, damp air filling his lungs the moment he breathed in. Well, what did you expect? he demanded of himself, lashing out at Cosmos when he chained him to the wall just on general principle.
"Don't worry," Lyra assured him in a tone that did absolutely nothing to soothe his tense nerves. "We won't be killing you anytime soon, Andros. Not when there's so much that you know that could be useful to us."
"I won't tell you anything," he spat defiantly, praying that he was strong enough not to crack.
"You'll tell me what I want," she informed him calmly. "If I wanted you telling me that you wanted me more than anything you've ever wanted, you would be doing that in a few minutes."
He just stared at her. "I'll die before I say that."
"You wouldn't if it was what I wanted to hear," Lyra maintained with a smirk. "I know you too well. I know you like this," she continued, sliding a hand behind his head to tug almost playfully on his ponytail.
She slid off the red elastic band that held it in place and freed his hair to spill forward across his shoulders. Andros glowered at her when she ran her fingers through his hair, but otherwise didn't react.
"Maybe next time." She grinned widely at him. "As amusing as it would be, that's not what we want this time."
"We'll start with something simple." Cosmos leaned back against the wall, speaking almost casually. "The rangers. Tell me about them."
Andros glared steadily down at the floor, shifting his weight around uncomfortably. His arms were pulled straight up above him, and the chain was too short, forcing him to stand on the balls of his feet. It wasn't painful just yet, but he doubted he would be getting comfortable anytime soon.
Electricity crackled off on his right, and he turned his head before he thought better of it. The energy Lyra cradled in her hand was gone as soon as it had come, but the sadistic smile she flashed him was more than terrifying. He let his head fall forward again, wondering how long it would be before anyone even noticed that he wasn't where he should be.
