A/N: When I started this story, I had so many different ideas. But I bit off more than I could chew, mostly due to the sheer amount of characters. Writing this story gives me an even more profound respect for what the Russo brothers pulled off in Infinity War and Endgame. Still, I hope that the ending for you is satisfying. I had to cut some things out that I would have liked to continue pursuing, but at the end of the day, this story would have become far too drawn out. Thanks for reading, and for your patience!
Death Was Arrested – Chapter 18
The cosmic war ended with Thanos' death. While his outriders and leviathans continued to skermish with the heroes, once Adam recovered from the expenditure of energy, he was able to send the henchmen back across space with his stone. Meanwhile, Doctor Strange used his magic to imprison Hela. An eternity of falling, which Loki remembered and shuddered considering he spent thirty minutes doing the same.
While the war was over, however, the rebuilding had just begun. As the heroes wrangled up loose ends, those who had been snapped into the soul stone began to have bittersweet reunions with those who had survived it. If they weren't on the battlefield, they were calling from home. Scott Lang was reconnected with Hope Van Dyne, Clint Barton spoke with his wife over the phone, Katherine found out her brother Danny was back.
After the rangers powered down, they all looked at one another with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes.
"Thanks for saving us, guys," Zack shared. "I was starting to feel cooped up in that place."
"No kidding," Trini replied. "It feels amazing to be back."
"It's good to see you guys back in the land of the living," Adam smiled. "But how did you get here? How did you get your powers back."
"I may have had something to do with that," Doctor Strange appeared in their midst. His appearance shocked all of them, except for Jason, Tommy, and Kim. After all, they had interacted with the master of the mystic arts.
"You knew how this would play out the whole time," Tommy replied.
"I knew certain things that had to happen in order for us to win," Strange answered. "Out of all the possibilities I foresaw, once we got to you gaining the soul stone, there were still hundreds of scenarios where it wouldn't have worked out. But I knew what had to happen in order for us to have a chance."
"What do we do with the stones now?" Kimberly asked. "Something tells me that these wouldn't exactly be helpful just to have laying around."
"We'll figure that out in due time," Strange replied.
"I'd like to give Pepper the purple one," Tony quipped, entering into their circle. "She looks pretty in the color."
"Not going to happen," Strange replied coolly.
"Hey," Tony placed his hand on the wizard's shoulder. "I was wrong about you. Everything you did, it saved the universe." He looked over at the rangers, particularly the ones wearing his newly enhanced zeo suits. "You all are way better at this than I thought. Because of that, you all can keep my suits."
"Thanks, but, I think it'd be nice to go back to being retired from rangering," Rocky answered.
"No kidding," Tanya added. "It was a nice rush, but, I think we'll return them." Kat and Adam agreed with her, but Tommy and Kim remained silent.
"I don't know..." Tommy started. "Can we think about it and get back to you? About the suits that is?"
"The rush of power's got the good doctor intrigued," Tony quipped. "Is that enough for the lovely Ms. Hart to follow suit?" The comment turned everyone's attention to Kimberly, who blushed a little. "I mean, that kiss..."
"Wait... what kiss?" Rocky asked, while Zack and Jason grinned. "What's he..."
"Nothing, Rocky," Kim fibbed as she shot Tony a menacing look. He merely shrugged.
"What? You should know by now that I'm not the one who doesn't kiss and tell," Tony joked. "Or at least, in this instance, see a kiss and tell."
*Three Months Later – Hayley's Cyberspace*
After the dust had settled, and the rangers went their separate ways, Kim decided to move to Reefside. She didn't know what the future was with her and Tommy, but she figured she should at least give them another shot. The only way she really felt like she could do that was by being in the same vicinity as him. And what better time to uproot her life than right after a universal emergency, where society was resetting anyway.
After an initial icy exchange between Kim and Tommy's best friend, Hayley took a liking to the former pink and orange ranger. With Kim needing a job, Hayley offered her a manager position, with part of her role being the booking director with all the local bands and artists that wanted to play at their space.
This morning in particular, she arrived at Hayley's Cyberspace early, and she began cleaning the bar counter when Hayley walked in.
"You're here early," the red-head muttered, stifling a yawn.
"Couldn't sleep," Kim replied. "Figured I might as well be productive. Besides, I live alone, Tommy's at the high school, and I still haven't made too many other friends. I figured I could spend time with you opening up."
"Extrovert?" Hayley joked, to which Kimberly chuckled. "And a morning person."
"Definitely not a morning person," Kim replied. The shift in tone was easy to notice, even for someone as tired as Hayley. "I just... I keep wondering it's going to happen again."
"What do you mean?" She asked, though it only took another few seconds to realize what she was talking about. "Oh. You mean if all of us are going to turn to dust in front of you." Kim nodded. "You know, it's easy to forget the trauma that our disappearance caused to those we left behind. For us, we were just gone for a moment. A little discomfort, and then we were back. But for you..."
"Everything was destroyed in an instant," a familiar voice interrupted. At least, familiar to Kimberly. The two women turned to find Captain Rogers behind them. He walked over to Hayley and extended his hand. "Steve Rogers." She shook his hand vigorously, amazed that she was shaking the famed Captain America's hand.
"Hay-Hay-ley," she gawked. Kimberly chuckled at the normally reserved red-head's star-struckness. She gave Captain Rogers a big hug, he was a welcome sight to her.
"What are you doing here?" Kimberly asked after they left the embrace.
"I was actually hoping that I could steal you and the good doctor for the day," he replied. "Official Avengers business."
"Avengers?" Kim asked quizzically. "Look, it was fun to team with you guys, but I'm just getting settled here, and we don't even have our powers..."
"We can settle all of that after you come with us," Steve smiled. While he smiled at her, she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. However, they left the cafe with Hayley's blessing, and then went to pick up Tommy at the school. (Kim went in by herself, knowing the commotion Captain America would cause in the middle of classes at Reefside High!)
After a ride in the quin-jet, the trio made it to the Avengers Headquarters, which was still undergoing renovations from its encounter with Thanos and his army. He led them to the empty conference room, and directed them to sit down in the chairs that rested at the long, gray table. Steve grabbed the pair some coffee, and then sat down across from them.
"We'll start in a moment," Steve started. "There are a couple other people who want to talk with you."
"Who would want to talk with us?" Tommy asked. "We're just powerless rangers."
"That was precisely what I thought you'd say," Tony quipped as he walked in the room. "But, you know, I do a pretty good job of making suits, and I think you'd both do a bang-up job piloting a couple of new ones, you know, infused with a bit of your zeo crystal." He sat down next to Steve and looked at him, and then back to Tommy and Kim. "Come on, you know you want to be Avengers. Besides, that's a much cooler designation than power ranger anyway."
"Is that so?" Tommy rolled his eyes at Tony's sarcastic wit. Suddenly, an orange ringed portal opened up beside Steve and Tony, causing all four of them to jump. Out of it came Stephen Strange, who gracefully descended into the room and looked at the four of them.
"What have I told you about that, Doc?" Tony quipped. "You keep doing that, we might get jumpy and do something to hurt you."
"I'll be fine," he smirked. He turned to Captain Rogers. "Sorry I'm late." He then shifted his gaze towards Tommy and Kim. "Thank you for coming, we have some important matters to discuss."
"Look, I all ready told Captain Rogers that, as honored as we'd feel, we don't think it would be appropriate to join the Avengers," Kim interjected. "We're just getting back on our feet, we haven't had our powers for a while..."
"You offered them positions on the Avengers main team?" Strange asked as he looked at Tony. "Tony, we talked about this."
"I can't help if that's what they assumed, I never said that," Tony held up his hands as he responded.
"Wait... so you don't want us to be Avengers?" Tommy asked.
"Well, not exactly," Steve replied. "We actually were wondering if you could do a favor for us. We have an Avengers team currently assembled, so we don't have any open spots currently. What we could use is a full network of former rangers who could be available at a moment's notice, the next time we have a global-scale event."
"Another one?" Kim asked.
"Well, I mean, at this rate we have one about every three years," Tony quipped.
"Tommy, you know the history of the power rangers better than anyone," Steve continued. "Would you be willing to start this up for us?"
"You know I will," Tommy smiled. "But, is that all you brought us here for?"
"Well, we figured we could have you start that here, and we could align all of our databases..." Tony started, but was quickly interrupted.
There's more," Strange interjected. "There's also the small matter of the infinity stones."
"Small?" Tony quipped, which earned him a stern look from both Captain Rogers and Doctor Strange, and a smile from Tommy and a chuckle from Kimberly.
"For most of them, we were able to put them in places that were similar to their former resting places, but we couldn't really do that with the soul stone," Strange continued. "We wondered if it was meant to rest with Ms. Hart?"
"Me?!"
"You acquitted yourself well on our mission, Ms. Hart," Rogers shared. "And you showed that you were worthy of holding onto the soul stone then. Maybe you should hang on to it for a little while longer." Strange summoned it almost out of thin air, and then, controlling it with his mind, the stone drifted in the air towards Kimberly until it landed in her petite hand.
"I don't know what to say," she said. "It's an honor to serve in this way."
"It's honor to serve alongside you, Ms. Hart," Captain Rogers replied.
"Just make sure you don't go around flaunting that rock around Reefside," Tony quipped.
"Fine..." She mock sighed. "I guess someone's going to need to get me a better rock so I can flaunt that instead." She grinned devlishly as she looked over to Tommy, who blushed at the assertion, and brought a chuckle from the three co-leaders of the avengers.
*Six Months Later – Angel Grove*
"I'm not sure why the guys suggested the same restaurant," Kim thought to herself. She arrived at the same elegant establishment the year before, where she saw the original ranger team turn to dust. She wore a deep blue dress, which certainly wasn't the normal color she wore. But she felt it appropriate given the cool weather in February, even in California. She entered alone, and wondered why Tommy had insisted on arriving separately.
The hostess showed her to her seat, where the original team sat together, along with Adam, Tanya, and Rocky, who let out a low whistle.
"You better watch it, Rocko," Adam joked. "Fearless leader might get a little upset if he thinks you're moving in on his girl."
"Speaking of fearless leader, where is he?" Kim asked as she began to sit down.
"He had to take care of a few things," Jason grinned knowingly, his smile giving Kim a weird feeling. She looked around and realized that, while it was prime dinner time, many of the tables were empty.
"Is it me, or is there like, no one here?"
"Maybe we got lucky?" Tanya suggested.
"Lucky?" Kim rolled her eyes. "My birthday is on February 14th, and I've never seen a restaurant empty on Valentine's Day, especially Milano's. What gives?"
"Good evening, Madame," a familiar voice said to Kimberly. She turned and was surprised to find Scott Lang dressed to the nines as her waiter.
"Scott?"
"Hi. Uhh... Happy birthday."
"Thanks. What are you doing here?"
"Well... I'm the one on the team with the most recent experience in food services, so I got the role of waiter tonight."
"Wait... what do you mean..."
"I worked at Baskin Robbins, but then they found out that I was in prison for being a thief..."
"No, I don't mean why are you the waiter," Kim interjected. "What do you mean you got the role?"
"Right... you don't need to know about Baskin Robbins, I don't know why I even thought to tell you all about that. See, the thing is, Mr. Stark kind of rented out the restaurant for the night."
"Dude..." Zack sighed.
"What?" Scott replied.
"You weren't supposed to tell her," Peter Parker appeared, carrying the water pitchers to their table. "Even I knew that!"
"Spider-boy?" Kim asked.
"Man..." He interrupted. "Spider... I mean, I'm Peter."
"Boys..." Tony appeared behind them. "Some of the other guests are arriving, maybe you should help them." The pair nodded and left straight away, leaving Tony with the rangers. "Thought the owner of the soul stone deserved a special birthday celebration, especially since the last one was, well, terrifying."
"Thank you?" Kim asked. "I mean, don't take this the wrong way, I'm very appreciative of the gesture, but you rented out this whole restaurant for me?"
"I mean, it was also the only way Nat and I could get that old fuddy duddy to go on a date, so that was added motivation," Tony quipped. Before they could ask what he meant by that, they heard a sweet Aussie voice behind them.
"Hey guys!" Kat's voice rang. They were all a bit taken aback, as she was holding hands with Captain Rogers.
"I was going to ask where you were," Kim chided her. "As well as why we were saving two seats for you."
"Let's just say, Steve is almost as shy as Tommy when it comes to asking out women," she grinned. The statement caused a slight blush come across his face.
"To be fair, your brother Danny was pretty stern about not letting me talk to you for a few months," he grinned.
"Most of the time I agree with my brother," Kat smiled. "But even though I'm glad to have him back, this is one of those times I wish he hadn't had input in my life."
"Sorry I'm late," Tommy interrupted as he made his way to their table. "Happy birthday, beautiful." He leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, sitting down beside her. Kat and Steve sat beside Tanya and Rocky respectively, and their dining experience began. Between Scott and Peter comedically making mistakes getting the right drink orders in, to Tony dropping by occasionally dropping his quick wit, the rangers plus Captain America were having a very fun time. As the night went on, Jason began to clink his glass.
"A year ago, the five original power rangers sat here to celebrate the 30th birthday of Kimberly Hart," Jason started. "While it started out ok... well, it didn't end well. But the rangers did what they've always done, which is fight. A lot of people, including many of us, owe our lives to what you all did. And I can't imagine a better way to celebrate than to celebrate a former Pink and Orange ranger's 31st birthday, than for us to be together."
"Well said, Mr. Scott," Steve smiled. However, while they listening to Jason's speech, what no one noticed was two ants crawling on their tablecloth, pushing a small black jewelry box towards Kim's placesetting. She looked down briefly, after the ants had left, to find it sitting in front of her.
"What's this?" Kim asked, picking up the small object.
"You know, about six months back, you mentioned that in order for you to not flaunt the Soul stone, I needed to buy you a better rock," Tommy started. He looked into Kimberly's eyes, his hand taking one of her hands. "Though I wouldn't have chosen the circumstances, I'm grateful that Thanos' snap brought me back to you. While I tried to forget you, forget us, it seemed that fate would always bring us back together. And now, here we are, one year later, and I'm reminded just how much I love you. And how I never stopped."
A tear slipped down Kimberly's face, one of joy and sheer happiness. She turned briefly to see inside the small box, fumbling with her one hand to get it open. In it she found what she expected, a solitaire diamond ring. Simple, yet elegant.
"Kimberly Anne Hart, will you marry me?"
"I..." Before she could respond, a portal opened up, and out came Doctor Strange.
"We have a problem," he replied. "Dormammu is threatening our world from the Dark Dimension, and we need all hands on deck." He looked around briefly and settled his eyes on Tommy and Kimberly. "Oh, congratulations on the engagement, by the way."
"You don't know if I'm going to say yes," Kimberly retorted, chewing her bottom lip.
"You don't have to be the Master of the Mystic Arts to know you're going to say yes," Strange replied dryly. "We need to go." Kimberly quickly looked at Tommy and gave him a kiss, as the rest of the group stood.
"We'll talk about dates when we're done," she smiled, with a sigh of relief coming from Tommy.
"Avengers... Assenble," Steve Rogers declared, the word prompting many others to come from behind the kitchen, and in one fell swoop, Strange transported them all, leaving the restaurant empty as they all, avengers and power rangers together, saved the world once more.
The End
Thanks for reading, and for your patience!
- Googz333