~Italy~
Arum and his father had spent hours talking; or rather, Arum gushing out years worth of things Jack had missed.
Throughout the many stories, Jack listened intently wishing he could've been there every step of the way.
Almost out of breath, Arum finished, "I don't know if Mom knows about me or Noah or the twins and I want her to be alright but.. but..."
Jack lightly laughed and silenced his son. "Arum, you should know about our family history. Mine and your Mom's."
~Bayview~
"We're not gonna storm them?" Noah asked. He and his Uncle Devlin were making their way to Noah's house. It was still pretty dark outside but it was quiet.
"No, we're going to infiltrate and get your father and Arum out of there. But first, you need to be properly trained."
"Do we really have time?" Noah asked with irritation.
"Yeah; besides, it's your birthright." Devlin reasoned. "It's 11:30, we'll leave in two hours."
"Uncle Devlin… If I'm gonna do this… I have to come clean to Mom."
Devlin took in Noah's words and turned them over in his head. After a few moments, he nodded, "I understand, Kiddo."
Nodding, Noah sent a group text to his friends to explain the situation.
~Later on, the Ryder House~
"And that's the story." Noah finished explaining the situation to the Twins and his Mother. The Rangers sans Asher who was off on a personal, secret venture, Lydia, and Tobias were sitting in Noah's living room as moral support. As Noah relayed everything to his family, the tension was thick - This was the first time any of them told their blissfully oblivious parents their collective secret.
When Noah finished his explanation, alongside magical demonstrations from him and his friends, he sat in silence. While his sisters were overjoyed, as they too showed their Mother their abilities, Hilary sat quietly.
"Mom… please say something." Noah whispered to his Mom.
Hilary's eyes were glazed over throughout the whole story, and when Noah finally addressed her, they became clear again. "Oh, Sweetheart." She got up and hugged him tightly.
"This… isn't shocking?" Noah asked in surprise. "But I…"
"Noah… May, Daisy…" Hilary stepped away and took in a deep breath. "Jared, Liam, Sonia, Alicia, Chris… I'm not surprised you can all use Magic. You all being Power Rangers… It makes sense."
"What do you mean?" Sonia inquired, reading her friends' faces.
"It's time you all knew… Your parents and I… we can use Magic as well. And Lydia… I knew your Grandmother. She was a Banshee as well."
One could hear a pin drop - the Teens sat in a state of shock.
Hilary explained, "We protected Bayview from the Supernatural, just as you are now. From High School through College, we all worked together. We were a team. But one day, when you were all young, we learned about a prophecy within the Gordon Family Spellbook. We were attacked and learned first hand of the dangers you were all in. You were just children… so, we made a sacrifice. To shield you all from Supernatural harm, we cast a spell together. We bound your powers at the cost of our memories of Magic. It was to keep you safe until you were ready. You told me you read the incantation in the Gordon Book of Shadows. That was the prophecy - a spell to unlock your powers. There were two ways for my memories to be restored. If you willingly told me your secret. Or if your Father gave them back. Your Father... was picked to be the Keeper of the spell. If the need arose, he'd restore them for us. But he disappeared so that option was gone..."
Hilary looked at all the teens, who were each processing this news in their own ways. Some stared at the floor, others had their eyes closed.
Noah was staring at his Mom directly, his eyes not shifting.
Taking in a deep breath, Hilary super sped out of the room and back, much faster than Noah could have. She was holding a glass of water. She splashed the water into the air and held up her left hand. Using her powers, she suspended the water in stasis. She then slowed down the molecules further, making the water freeze in midair. Afterwards, she sped them up to the point where the water boiled, before finally causing them to erupt with a small blue burst, creating a tiny cloud of vapor.
"Mom…" Noah whispered.
"I know, son. You have questions. But you have to save your brother. I promise you there'll be a time to talk later."
After resolving to save Arum, Noah had a duffel bag packed. He and his friends walked out the front door.
"You sure you don't want a backup on this one?" Jared asked.
"Not right away. If things get too hairy, you're one orb away." Noah replied as his phone vibrated in his pocket. "It's time for me to go now."
"Good luck." Liam smiled pulling his best friend into a hug.
"Be safe." Sonia said as she kissed Noah.
"I'll try." Noah winked.
"Call us if you need us." Alicia reminded hugging Noah.
Jared walked up to Noah and held out his hand Noah clasped it and the two pulled in for a hug.
"Stay sharp out there." Jared said.
"Hold down the fort while I'm gone." Noah replied smiling as he lifted a blue duffel bag.
After Tobias and Lydia's goodbyes, the group made their way outside to where Devlin was waiting, a black and blue sleek car behind him.
"Ready?" Devlin asked, taking Noah's duffel bag.
"Ready." Noah sighed, taking one last glimpse of his friends.
Hilary stood behind all of Noah's friends and pleaded, "Just bring your brother back. I couldn't stand to lose you both, too." It then became apparent to Noah that Hilary didn't know that Jack was still alive as well. Her eyes were beginning to swim with tears.
After breaking away, Hilary said, "Devlin, please bring both my sons back in one piece."
"Of course, Hilary."
With that, Devlin and Noah got into the car. Devlin hit a red button under the radio and the car started to glow blue. It zipped forward at a fast speed, making Noah jerk backwards against his seat; the car grew to extreme speed and silently disappeared.
"Stay safe..." Hilary whispered. With a small nod and smile to the Rangers, she walked by them and went inside her house. "You all have your memories back too?"
A chorus of 'yes' rang out in her head. "They can't know yet..." She whispered. "Still?"
"Still..." Echoed a female voice inside her head.
"They'll all ask questions." Hilary informed rubbing her temples. "They think I'm the only one with my memories back."
"We'll tell them everything when the time's right. They're not strong enough. It was a shock learning who they really were. I don't want any of us to lose anymore kids. I lost Scott already... if I lost..."
"I know..." Hilary sat down against the door and pulled out her phone. She flipped through her pictures and stopped at one that depicted her husband Jack playing with Noah and Arum on a playground. She then flipped to a short video of Noah morphing into the Blue Power Ranger on a city street. "I know..." She repeated closing her eyes.
"I don't want you to lose a child like I have..."
"We won't... Don't worry, Melissa."
~New York City~
Within an hour, Devlin pulled up in front of an old warehouse. It was mostly made of brick and it was a faded orange."Pretty cool tech, huh?" He asked with a grin on his face.
"That's a lot faster than I can run." Noah replied as he shakily got out of the car.
"Yeah, we stole that little tool from the Forever Knights. Welcome to New York City."
Noah stared in awe at the city around him. Being a native Californian, he'd never been to a city that was so big and lit up... it was also rather loud.
"What is this building?" Noah asked as he followed Devlin through the black rusted doors.
The two made their way down a dimly lit hall of concrete.
"You'll see." Devlin teased as a holographic screen the size of a frisbee appeared in front of a silver door. Devlin touched his hand to the screen and it scanned him.
"Devlin Ryder: Confirmed."
After a series of clicks, the bright silver door opened and revealed a high tech room the size of a High School Cafeteria. Computer monitors and screens lined the walls, while a young woman with long blonde hair wearing a black cardigan, blue jeans and loafers was sitting at the largest monitor typing away. The area itself resembled a living loft that belonged to a wealthy person.
"Welcome to our mini base of operations, Noah." Devlin introduced. "Meet your my, and your dad's team." Devlin pointed to the blonde woman at the desk who swiveled around in her black chair. She brushed her hair over her head and waved. Her green eyes glistened in slight recognition. "That's Mariah, our tech wizard."
"Hey, you must be Noah. Wow, you do look like your father."
Above on an upper level were silver tables with gadgets and gizmos lining them. A man with the same hair and eye color as Mariah was fiddling with mechanical pieces that Noah couldn't identify. All six feet three inches of him was hunched over a table putting immense focus into putting the devices together.
"That's Mariah's brother, Mason."
Mason looked up and nodded his head in greeting.
Devlin looked around the room as if he was looking for someone. "Where's Brian?" He asked. As an answer, a person came down from the roof in a swift blur of black. He was wearing an all black outfit that included boots, pants, a turtle neck and a hooded cloak. When he stood up he stared eye to eye with Noah.
"I'm Brian." He said, pulling down his hood. Brian had deep auburn hair with ocean blue eyes. His face seemed soft but mature. A silver stud was in his right ear and it glistened in the light. The young man gave off a sense of trust and security.
After shaking hands, Devlin continued, "Now that you've met the team, it's time for some accelerated training."
"Accelerated?"
"Yep. It's gonna be a bumpy ride kiddo." Devlin led Noah to a room that was all silver. What looked to be a CAT scan machine rested in a corner with hundreds of wires connecting it to a computer.
"That's the training simulator. You're gonna use that to gain all the skills your Father has."
"I don't understand."
"Noah, in about 24 hours, your Symbology powers will be just as powerful as your Father's."
~Later~
Noah wore hospital attire and was lying down on the machine. Devlin and Mariah's eyes were glued to the simulator controls as Noah went under. His head was swimming and the last thing he heard was Mariah telling him to relax.
The world fell away and Noah slipped into unconsciousness.
"You think he can handle it?" Mariah asked looking at Devlin, whose face was fixed with focus.
"He has to..."
Noah had never been subject to anything so strange before. Simulation after simulation taught him how to move with stealth everywhere he went; through crowds, through buildings. After a while, he was taught how to use different weapons including under-wrist blades and poison darts.
Before, Noah would use physical pieces of paper that held symbols on them. Eventually he resorted to wristbands that had small symbols drawn on them. This was different.
The Ryder family magic was more intricate than Noah thought. As a Ryder Witch progressed in their training, a special tattoo would be added to their body. The tattoos, each represented by mysterious symbols, would be etched on a Ryder's back, capping off at 30. Each symbol had a number of different meanings, and when used in different combinations, could create different kinds of spells. Each time a symbol was being used, it would glow. If symbols were being chained together, a blue line would appear and link the glowing symbols together.
To learn these skills, Noah had to go through his family history. He saw the world through the eyes of his ancestors each doing good in their own way; vanquishing demons, ghouls, vampires, all evil and fighting the Forever Knights. Noah even discovered that the original head of his family, named Salvatore De Firenze, was the official Vampire Slayer of his time, powers and all.
After a while, Noah started to watch experiences through his own father's eyes.
In 1997, the year Noah was born, Jack was on one final mission. He had to infiltrate a building that was controlled by the Forever Knights to retrieve something valuable.
"It's for your son..." Jack told himself. "For Noah..."
Noah indeed was inside his father's head and looking through his eyes, but he couldn't change anything. The actions he took were his father's. It was as if Jack's thoughts and objectives were his and therefore, unchangeable in the simulation.
Jack pulled on his own dark hood and stared at the skyscraper of a building close by. He was perched on a construction site much higher than his objective in a busy downtown city area.
Noah could hear Mariah through an earpiece say, "Just take the Leap when you're ready."
"Ok." Jack replied. The man took a deep breath and jumped forward as if he unfolded wings to fly. Jack started to fall downward and even managed to fit in a flip, which made him laugh in amusement.
"Now!" Mariah commanded.
Jack nodded and made three symbols on his body glow: a fire, a bird, and a shield, which caused his black boots to ignite with bright blue lights. The energy from his boots propelled him to the top of the target.
In a few minutes, Jack managed to sneak his way into a central office and turned on a computer.
He found a list of names each with a birthday, location and something else: a power.
Jack's eyes skimmed the prologue titled, "Supernatural Beings" and went down the list.
Noah himself was shocked that through his father, he erased not only Noah's name, his Ranger friends as well.
When the laptop was closed, Noah found himself back in the training room in his own body...
~Later~
"Here." Devlin said handing Noah a dark blue hooded cloak. The boy was covered in sweat and his entire body was numb. Mariah had used a special sort of pen to quite painfully burn all 30 symbols onto Noah's back. Each symbol was simply black, but the skin around them was still light red and tender.
"What's this?"
"Your father's cloak."
Noah studied the article of clothing. It was smooth to the touch and despite being used numerous times looked good as new. On the back was a coat of arms with a wolf's head in the center.
"A wolf?" Noah asked.
"It's the family symbol." Devlin explained. "Put on the cloak. We don't have much time. Call your friends. We're making a plan."
