Summary: What if something happened to Conner, and the Rangers needed another teammate, and fast? Can Eric McKnight finally step out of his twin brother's shadow?
They had convinced Eric McKnight to join the team in place of his brother Conner. Now came the true battle: convincing Dr. Oliver that this was a good plan. Especially considering that they'd already gone ahead with it.
"We're doomed. He's going to kill us," muttered Trent as Conner's red Mustang barreled down Valencia Drive on the outskirts of Reefside, towards the wooden house they called their second home.
"Dude," said Ethan plaintively, "you've been working for the dark side too long. Here we don't punish by killing." He swallowed hard. "Just failing science, destroying your GPA, never getting into a good college, waiting tables for the rest of your life..." He cast the backseat a panicked look. "We're doomed."
"You guys are overreacting," said Kira. "Dr. O. isn't going to kill us. Or fail us," she added. "We were in a tight spot. We did what we had to do."
"You three seriously need to chill out," said Eric from behind the wheel. "Let's get some tunes, huh?" He reached over to turn on the radio, but all three of them yelled at once, and from the passenger seat, Ethan dove to push Eric's hand out of the way.
"Dude, no," said Ethan, wide-eyed. "Don't do it."
"What, is the car gonna blow up or something if I turn on the radio?" said Eric. "Special Ranger modifications or something?"
The three seasoned Rangers looked at each other. "Yeah, something like that," said Trent. It was easier to have Eric believe that than to have him know that Conner simply didn't allow anyone to touch anything in his car except the door handles and the seatbelts. Mrs. McKnight had insisted that Eric be able to borrow the car, and Conner, being bedridden, had been in no position to argue.
"Is this is it up ahead here?" asked Eric, nodding at the house coming up on the right.
"Yep," said Ethan, wincing instinctively because Dr. O.'s black Jeep was in the driveway. "Of course it's in the driveway, he lives here," he muttered to himself under his breath.
Eric pulled in, wheels crunching gravel, killed the engine, and hopped from the vehicle. "This girl rides like a dream," he said, fondly patting the warm hood of the Mustang. "I always knew Conner was Mom and Dad's favorite."
"C'mon," said Kira, poking at his shoulder in an effort to get him to move forward. He fell to the back of the pack as the kids let themselves inside, pulled at the mouth of a model T-rex skeleton, and opened up a panel in the floor.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Eric. "The dude's Batman!"
They trooped down the stairs in a row, Ethan taking the lead, then Trent, then Kira, then Eric, who couldn't stop gaping at everything. Sitting at the console in front of six large screens were two people, a man and a woman. The woman had thick, dark hair, this sort of burgundy color that reminded Eric of his mom's couch, and the man had spiky black hair, a tight black shirt, and a goatee. They whirled their chairs in synchronization and stared at the Rangers.
"Conner, what are you doing here?" the dude, presumably Dr. O., said, getting to his feet. "You should be at home in bed."
"Um, Dr. O.," said Ethan hesitantly, drawing the teacher's attention away from the McKnight for a moment. "So, you know how Conner has mono, right?"
"Right. Which is exactly why he shouldn't be here."
"Well, you know that means that we're short a Ranger, right?"
"Right, and we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."
"That's the thing," said Ethan. "We, uh...well, we sorta already crossed that ourselves."
"I don't understand."
"Dr. O.," said Kira, sending Ethan a 'shut up and let me handle this' glare, "this is Eric."
"The Quantum Ranger?"
"The what?" She shook her head, looking both puzzled and frustrated. "Whatever. No. This is Eric McKnight." The teacher stared at her. "Conner's twin brother."
"Conner has a twin?"
"And they call me dumb," muttered Eric.
"Eric," the three teens chorused warningly.
"Sorry," he said. He smiled his best McKnight smile at Dr. O. "Hey, dude. I'm Eric, Conner's brother."
Dr. O. held his gaze for a long, nerve-wracking moment. "Don't call me dude," he said. Ethan cracked up, and since Ethan seemed relaxed, Eric felt some of his tension melting. The science teacher-slash-Power Ranger gave him an appraising look, then turned back to his charges. "Explain," he said sharply.
"Well, Eric was coming to visit, and Conner got mono," offered Trent. "We needed a replacement and fast, and who better to do Conner's job than his identical twin?"
The woman, still seated, snorted laughter. "He's got a point, Tommy."
Dr. O. shook his head. "How much does he know?" he asked of the three Rangers, and since Eric didn't find that this directly concerned him —though it was obviously about him— he wandered over to the console and took the chair opposite the woman. "Hi, I don't know you," he said. Up close, it was obvious that she was older, closer to Dr. O.'s age than Eric's, but she was kind of hot.
"I'm Hayley."
"I'm Eric," he grinned.
"I heard. You are so much like your brother."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?"
She laughed.
"So this is all the shiny equipment," he said. "Do you have cameras set up all over the city?"
"Operated by sensors. Any place where there's unusual activity, Tommy has it monitored and logged."
"If you don't mind my asking, what the hell is a dude like Teacher Man over there doing as a Power Ranger? Isn't he kind of..." he gestured erratically. "You know, old?"
"Don't let him hear you say that. Tommy's very sensitive about his age. But he's probably better equipped to be a Ranger than anyone else in this room."
"Why's that?"
"Oh, you know, just years upon years of martial arts training. Doesn't equate with ninja school, exactly, but..." She smiled.
"Wait, you know about that?"
"Conner let it slip. This was back before he was better at keeping secrets. Besides, it can't be that big of a secret if you told Conner."
"Got me there."
"Eric?" called Dr. O.
"Yo," said Eric, spinning around the chair and jumping off the platform. He skidded to a stop in front of the Rangers and put on his best smile. "What's up?"
"So from what I understand, you're going to be filling in as Red Ranger until Conner recovers."
"I know. Cool, isn't it?"
"Debatable." Dr. O. sighed. "Being a Ranger isn't easy, Eric. It's—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You have to give up a lot. You don't get much sleep. No one gives you credit. You still have your real life to attend to."
"Well...yeah. Something like that." The man looked surprised that Eric had said what he'd wanted to say, and that Eric was perceptive enough to pick up on the complications of the double life.
"Don't worry, dude, I'm okay with it. I want to help." It didn't seem to be working, so Eric opted a different tack: "Please"
"Dr. O., come on," said Ethan. "We need him. And he's willing. That's a bonus. Were any of us willing when we started?"
"All right." Dr. O. shrugged one shoulder. "Are you and Conner identical twins?"
"Um, look at them," said Trent. "I'm going with yes."
"They could be fraternal," Dr. O. offered. "The Olsen twins are fraternal."
"Really?" said Hayley, cocking her head to one side, while Ethan burst into laughter. "Dude, the fact that you know the first thing about the Olsen twins has made this conversation very uncomfortable." His back to Ethan, Dr. O. rolled his eyes skyward.
"Yeah, we're identical," Eric offered. He would've liked to join in on the teasing of the old dude, but since he wasn't actually a member of the team yet, it seemed kind of wrong.
"Hmm. Then you should be able to operate the Zords and the morpher. Your DNA is identical to Conner's, but the gem has already bonded to him, so while you'll be able to use it to morph, you won't get his powers."
"Conner has powers?" said Eric, eyebrows raising in surprise.
"Super speed," offered Trent.
"How totally Smallville. Do you guys all have super powers?"
"I've got a sonic scream, Trent has camouflage, Dr. O. has invisibility, and Ethan has leprosy," said Kira.
"For the last time, it's armor!" yelled Ethan. Dr. O. and Trent tried to hide their smirks.
"Well, I'm sorry, but it looks like you've got some kind of skin disease."
"Can I see?" asked Eric eagerly.
Ethan pushed his sleeve off his forearm, scrunched up his face in concentration, and his arm turned a bluish tint, with a scaly-looking pattern crossing it. Eric stuck out his tongue. "Dude, that's sick."
Trent and Kira burst into laughter, and Ethan pulled his shirt back down, looking pissed.
Eric nodded to Hayley. "Do you have any powers?"
"With their powers combined, I am Captain Mechanic," she said calmly.
"Hayley does Zord maintenance, surveillance, and basically makes us new toys whenever we want," said Ethan.
"I am not your gadget whore, Ethan," said Hayley sharply, and turned around to face the console once more.
Ethan stared at her back. Hayley had never yelled at any of them before, obviously, and Ethan didn't know what to do. Eric already was feeling a kinship with Hayley, the outsider, and he went over to sit next to her once more. "Maybe you can teach me how to fix things," he said. "So you don't have to do so much work."
"That's okay," she said.
"Ah, I see what game you're playing. Keep the secrets to yourself, so that you're the smartest one around," he said. "Shrewd."
Hayley laughed, and rewarded him with a small but warm smile. "I try".
"Is everything okay over there?" asked Dr. O.
"You know something, I think that Eric is going to be a real asset to the team," Hayley remarked.
"That's what I'm hoping."
"So I'm in?" asked Eric eagerly.
"If Conner's okay with this, then I'm okay with this," said Dr. O. "Welcome to the team, Eric."