A/N: I don't think i mentioned it in the last chapter, but Walter 'Wally' Justinian is the new Green Ranger. He'll be useful in the future
Chapter 2: There Were None
Z's POV
"Jack I'll be fine! Don't worry" Z said, as she packed up, she didn't want to tell Jack what Sky had told her because she didn't want to worry him. Truth was, she was quite shaken herself. She was shattered.
Sky Tate, the great and mighty red ranger, and the best cadet at the academy, literally, was sobbing, and had been for God knows how long. He says that there's nobody at the academy, not a human soul, not an alien. No Cruger, no Bridge, Syd, Kat, Wally or anyone! He was in a state of utter panic. He himself must've never seen something so desperate. He said there were trails of blood all around. He was almost sure all of them had been taken, and a few, if not all, were dead. He sounded hysteric. I was so shocked. I can't believe that Sky feels so deeply for our friends. I had always thought he was so stuck up, but it seems like he cares so much for us that he was crying. Normally, in a situation like this, I'd expect him to harden up and lead the team. But Sky Tate breaking apart means that I'm going to be the one who'd have to hold him together. He had already told me of the horrors that awaited there, and though I know what it is, I'm still scared to go there. But I don't need to get Jack all worried.
Sky and I can take care of the thing. We just need to keep hope that they're there. and I should stop thinking about it! Jack's looking at me weird. He must know I'm lying. I don't want him to think that I'm scared. He shouldn't get mixed up in all this. He has something to lose. He doesn't need to be in trouble.
"Z are you sure you'll be fine?"
"I'm leaving Jack." Z says, then she adds, to reassure him, not telling him about Sky's meltdown, "Sky's there. I'll be fine with him" she said, and hurriedly left.
She didn't have much luggage, not having the time to pack. She had just put her necessities in a duffel bag, and like Sky, she had cut short her weeklong trip and rushed to SPD in just two days.
She forced all thoughts out of her mind all he way during the bus ride, and three hours after Sky's call, Z was scanning her ID into the SPD scanner to let the gates open.
Now where's Sky? Where the hell is that boy? Whoa! Did I just call him a boy? *then she was distracted* What's with the blackbird song? I've never heard blackbirds singing in the SPD grounds. Something's different, and not just because of what Sky has said. It's something I can't place. Now where is Sky? *she looks around* he's not here. Let me go in.
Z went around the front of the academy, and the training grounds, afraid to go in the building to see the blood, yelling Sky's name at the top of her lungs, but there was no reply. A horrible feeling took her over.
What if Sky's been taken too? oh, no, no, no! I can't handle this alone! Where are you Sky? Wait, I can call him up,
Riiinnnnggg! The bell went, and after eternity, Sky answered.
"hello?" his rough voice spoke.
"Sky, where are you? I'm worried!" she said, sighing, at least he was okay.
"I'm in Eisenhower Park. Three blocks down." He said in that gloomy voice, but he wasn't crying anymore.
I decide to fetch him, because he doesn't seem eager to come on his own. I make my way along the blocks to Eisenhower Park, and when I walk in, I see him sitting there in plain sight. He hangs loosely on to a swing in the park, and it moves him along slowly. He isn't even attempting to stop its movement. He just sways from side to side, front and back. He just sits there, humming a soft song.
Sky's humming a song! Wow! This is a completely new Sky! Even though I should be panicking like him right now, seeing him humming just makes me smile. I don't know why, and I walk up behind, wondering which song he's singing, I can make out the words "fly!" wait, it's "fly, blackbird fly!"
"Sky?" I ask, tenderly, knowing he'd jump around, shocked, but he surprises me again.
"yes Z?" he asks, without turning around. This means that he was not as oblivious to everything as it seemed. He knew I was here.
"Sky, turn around," I ask him, and he follows, swinging the swing so he faces me.
"you're singing?" I ask, and he nods, a melancholy smile filling his face, "it's Blackbird, by the Beatles."
"you mean the song in Boss Baby?" I ask, because that's where I heard it, and I immediately see his expression hardening. I know I've hit a nerve, but I don't know which.
"let's go back to SPD" he says, "we've wasted enough time"
The old red ranger is back. And now I realize what nerve I struck. He was opening up to me, and what I did was mock him. No wonder he keeps to closed in. He's afraid that people will make fun of what he feels. Which is exactly what I did. He must've had some deep seated emotional connection with the song, and I teased him about it with my Boss Baby reference. Should I say sorry? I'm too late, he's already sprinting back to SPD.
Z runs to catch up with him, and when she does, she holds his upper left arm to make him stop, and is just shocked by how much muscle is there.
"Sky?" I say. He stops, and turns around, and he asks, a little roughly, "yeah?"
"Sky I'm sorry, I didn't realize how much the song meant to you. You know how ignorant I am. I'm sorry Sky" I say, quite sincerely, and maybe he also judges this, and his expression softens a little.
"It's a strange situation Z, I got a little unhinged. I'm fine now. Now let's check out what's inside."
"on one condition." I say, this is my chance. He looks at me like I'm crazy, "yeah?" he asks, "you have to promise to stop shutting me out"
it takes him a minute to comprehend what I've said, then he nods, "only is you promise to not be judgmental" he says, and I smile a little and hold up my pinky finger.
"aren't we too old for this?" he asks, but tangles his pinky into mine nonetheless.
Then, hoping everything is okay, and that he won't bottle up his emotions anymore, we trudge back to the academy, where we know horrors are awaiting. Both of us, it seems, were too timid to actually find out where the blood came from, and what exactly happened. But together maybe we can do something. Maybe even find everyone who is missing, after all, it hasn't been concluded that anyone's dead, right?
X-X-X
Sky scans his ID into the SPD main gate, and it gives way for the two of them. They look at each other, as if searching for inspiration in the other, and then finally, together, step inside. In the metal halls, a few feet from the entrance, lies Sky's backpack, and Z squeaks as she sees the blood.
"what now?" she asks, and he grimly replies, "now we follow the blood"
The trail of blood was thin in a few places, and pooled around the corners in some others. It looked as if someone had been dragged through the blood, because at some places, it looked like the blood was dragged out of the puddle.
Z shivered, "you realize it's not stinking?"
Sky considered this, "you're right. Blood aka remains of something dead start smelling… decomposing, after eight to twelve hours"
"this happened last night" she said, horrified.
"you're right" he bent down, and dipped his fingers into the blood, and smelled it.
"what are you doing?" she asked, she felt like throwing up, but she had been mentally preparing herself for this since Sky had called her.
"I'm checking whether it's really blood or not" he said,
"right, as if someone will throw ketchup all over the floor to mislead us" Z said, sarcastically.
"it's blood alright. But I had to make sure." He said, looking up, "wanna smell it?" he asked, and Z cringed, "seriously Sky?"
"let's keep going" he said, she nodded.
They silently followed the blood trail and they realized that the source of the blood had been behind a closed door…
It was Kat Manx's lab.
X-X-X
Sky's POV
I look at Z, this is scary, and I'm not admitting it though, not in front of Z, she might rat me out, but I'm shit scared.
We swipe out IDs and gingerly enter the room. We don't know what we might find. We might discover Kat bleeding, or worse, dead. We might discover Boom, or someone else we know and love! I don't want to see. I see that Z's also fighting her fear. She doesn't know what to do either. She looks at me, and I nod encouragingly, as if I'm not scared at all. Z and I then enter the lab.
It's trashed. Hell trashed.
The equipment is strewn on the floor, quite a lot of it is sparking. Something in the back is making a strange "ggrrr—Beep beep" noise, and it's putting me on the edge. I don't like it!
We slowly make out way around the tables, trying to avoid the sparking hsit, because getting electrocuted is the last thing on our minds. We make our way around, to see if someone is there, but no human moaning sounds or anything like that. It's only the machinery. I am honestly relieved that we don't have to deal with a dead body, because that was something I am not ready for. Seeing them dead. Taken? I can get them back.
Dead? I don't know…
*Z screams*
Suddenly Z shrieks, and I think I've gotten a heart attack!
*Sky runs towards her*
"what is it Z?" he asks,
He sees it then, there is a huge pool of blood, collected on the floor, there is a bunch of equipment soaked in blood, like someone bled to death in there, so much blood loss can't mean the person's alive!
But what is the most disturbing of it all is the fact that there is someone in fact inside the pool of blood, lying there in tatters. It was someone who could'nt have bled, and both Sky and Z had forgotten about. He lay there in pieces, staring melancholy at Sky and Z, from it's screen.
It was RIC.
There were actually no humans or aliens at SPD in this present time. This tour of the lab concluded that. What was there, seemed to be in too bad a condition to narrate what had happened. Whoever it had been, who had ransacked SPD, had had not even the mercy to spare a robot dog who couldn't even speak.
Sky shuddered to think what would've become of the others.
A/N: I thought I should give RIC some spotlight since almost everyone else (including me) seems to so conveniently forget him.
A/N(2):I was supposed to begin giving the info in this chapter, but I just realized it was too long anyway, so i dropped it. More explanations coming up in the next chapters!