Once A Ranger, Forever A Hero
Chapter 6 – Free Fall
On Gamma Vile…
There was a savage sense of homecoming as Lothor appeared at the base of an enormous castle. It had been another lifetime when he first stepped foot here, fresh-faced and even a bit frightened after abandoning the Academy but now he felt a calm, surety that had long been absent. It might be strange to consider being fond of such a foreboding structure but there had been once laughter, feasts, joyous occasions. He remembered the day his good-for-nothing nieces were born, how they were doted upon only to betray their family to sully themselves with the rangers.
He approached the gates and the guard stopped him, "State your business."
He grabbed the whelp by the collar, "Go and tell Master Vile that Lothor has returned." The guard shivered and took off, Lothor remained where he was. He was home.
Tommy's place…
It was unnervingly quiet at Valencia road. Reeling from Marah and Kapri's tale, they all wandered off, trying to take it all in. The dinos were in the kitchen with Haley, Tori, Blake, Shane, and Cam. For lack of anything better to do, Hailey made tea. (A/N: This is me.) "All this time, I never asked them," Cam sighed.
"None of us did," Tori insisted. "Not even Sensei asked."
"We just took it for granted," Shane swallowed.
"And they chose us," Blake ran a hand through his hair. "When Hunter and I thought Sensei killed our parents, we would have done anything to destroy him. But Marah and Kap, basically their entire family was wiped out except for Lothor and Master Vile."
"I just came back from k-ki-killing their cousin," Tori's breathing hitched and Blake held her hand.
"So did I," Kira whispered and had to leave the room.
"Those girls were holding on to a lot," Hailey mused over the rim of her mug.
*ORFH*
Outside, Kapri was sitting alone under the trees. Marah was somewhere further away with Dustin, her little sister could only cry at the old wounds. She however was older and remembered a bit more. In hindsight, taking a seven year-old and a five year-old to an intergalactic war wasn't the smartest idea but they'd been spoiled rotten and Grandfather always liked it when they came along. He called it a learning experience. They'd been groomed to head up the empire until they had lost it all. Grandfather withdrew from conquest and Uncle Lothor put it into their heads that they were going to get revenge against the rangers and take over Earth like they should have done all along. They were going get justice for their family. "Why didn't you tell me?" Hunter asked from above. He was leaning on the tree next to her.
"I chose." Kapri said simply.
Hunter knelt before her, "You shouldn't have had to take this on by yourself. They were your family Kap."
"In some ways," Kap agreed. "In others, we were never family. We followed Uncle Lothor faithfully but he still turned his back on us. He left us for dead. But that's how we grew up. Those around us are disposable, no matter who they are. You guys showed us that family isn't about convenience and burden but loyalty and love." She got up on her knees to kiss him lightly, "I came to Earth looking for revenge and ended up with a new family, a real one and that's more than I could have ever asked for."
"Kap…" Hunter began. "There was something I wanted to talk to you about."
"If you choose now to break up with me Hunter Bradley -"
"No," Hunter chuckled. "Not a chance. You're stuck with me, it's just that…"
"Yes," Kapri said expectantly.
Hunter glanced back at the house, "When we finish this fight with Lothor, I have an idea I want to run by you."
Kap was visibly curious. "Sure."
*ORFH*
Kira blindly stumbled away from the kitchen just intent on getting as far away from the fact that she joyfully participated in the destruction of her friend's cousin. Eventually she found her feet leading her back down to the centre where Tommy was working away at the computers. "Hey."
Tommy stopped and turned to her. "Hey, are you okay?"
Kira had every intention of responding with 'fine' but just the act of trying to open her mouth caused her eyes to well up and her voice to catch. "No," she at last wept. Tommy was immediately out of his seat and pulled her into his arms. Dry sobs passed through her chest, shaking her frame. She felt dirty and disgusting. "We actually celebrated," Kira cried into Tommy's neck. "He was their cousin, he had a family, we knew that along and we never even stopped to care."
"Kira you had a job to do," Tommy soothed her. "Do you honestly regret beating Thrax?"
"No," she sniffed. "But we didn't have to do it like that."
"The creatures we fight," Tommy pulled back to look her in the eyes. "Some of them have family, some of them do not. Unfortunately, regardless of whether they do or not, we have a duty as rangers to protect the Earth and the people on it."
"So what? I'm just supposed to ignore it?"
"No, you're supposed be aware of it. That's how you remember that this is not a game and that what you do, you do because it is necessary. We're not like Mesogog or Lothor or Vile, we aren't trying to destroy everything, just guard our home."
Kira slumped against him miserably, "I hate this."
"It's not the sort of thing that's meant to be enjoyed," Tommy said.
"Do you have a plan?" Kira asked. "Between Master Vile and Meso-Lothor, we're going to be out of our depth."
"There's no telling when he – they could come back, if at all," Tommy blew out.
"We're going to wait?"
"WHAT?!" the pair jumped and saw Andros, shaking and furious. "WE ARE NOT SITTING ON THIS TOMMY!" Andros roared.
"Andros calm down, no one said that." the other veteran tried to diffuse the situation. "But-"
"But?" Andros repeated dangerously.
"But we have to be reasonable," Tommy continued evenly. "We don't know where Lothor went, he could have gone all the way back to Gamma Vile."
"Then we go after him," Andros insisted. "We take the megaship to the M51 galaxy and track him down."
"Track him down?" Tommy scoffed. "Do you hear yourself? You want to take A ship, ONE ship into the heart of Master Vile's empire with about a dozen rangers. That's suicide."
"So?" Andros growled.
"You have Ash and the kids," Tommy pleaded for his friend to see sense. "I hate to say this but if something happens to her, you're all they have."
At the mention of his wife, Andros trembled and looked more haunted than anything else. "Ash wouldn't be in this state if it wasn't for me. How can I face my children knowing that I doomed their mother?"
"You didn't know," Tommy insisted.
"What if it was the woman you love?" the blonde man pointed at Kira who stood off to the side. "What if…the cogs came after her and brought her to brink of death? What would you do?"
"I don't know," the other sighed. "But what would you say to me if I wanted to leave her and our kids behind and go on a revenge quest that could get myself and others killed?"
"I can tell you what I would say if I heard that," Kira volunteered. She looked Andros in the eye, "Don't you dare."
Andros softened some, "Ash would say that."
Kira moved to place a hand on his shoulder, "Then you have your answer."
