Tommy
"Who did you guys say you were again?" The older security guard asked us as he typed away at the computer in front of him. It looked just as old as he did, and he typed using two fingers, similar to the way one would if they had never touched one in their entire life. I was beginning to suspect this was the case for him.
"Kimberly is my sister." Jason replied. "And I am trying to figure out where she went. I know someone said she might have gone to stay with some friends, but no one has seen her." The security guard, who was apparently named George according to his cheap badge, nodded and leaned forward in his chair.
"I'm not really supposed to show people who aren't employed here the security footage." He said in a hushed voice. "But, I know that Kimberly isn't one to just leave in the middle of the night like that. I tried tell Coach Schmidt, but he was convinced she had left early for winter break." Pulling back in his chair, he hit a few more buttons before sliding his computer chair back. Standing, he waved at the computer, inviting Jason and I to see the screens. Jason rounded the edge of the desk, sitting in the chair once George was up. Pulling himself forward, he gazed at the screen. I stood behind him, bending over so I could see over the glare of the fluorescent bulbs overhead. Jason pressed the space bar and the images on the screen start moving. It was of the lobby, the same colored walls and metal detector telling me that. You could even see the security desk in the corner. The elevator doors opened, and I watched as a short, petite woman emerged from them. Her hair was up in a bun and she was dressed in some baggy clothes, but I knew it was Kimberly from her walk.
"Do you have audio?" I asked, glancing at George. He shook his head, leaning against the desk.
"No. But I did talk to the night guard, Hector. He said she told him he would be out on the patio getting some air. She didn't mention a thing about leaving the property." He replied. Turning my attention back to the screen, I saw that the camera view had changed to the outside of the building. Several more shots showed her walking from the front door and around the building to an alley way. She walked up it, disappearing for a few moments before reappearing on another screen. She walked over to the fencing on the patio and leaned against it, gazing out at the horizon.
Through the grainy footage, I could see she had been lost in thought. Kim still somehow managed to look as amazingly beautiful as ever. Her face, however, seemed different. Sadder, maybe. There was something on her features that told me she was thinking about something she didn't like to think about. An instant pang of guilt shot through me and I tried like hell to shove it into the back of my mind for later. On screen, Kim suddenly turned to look behind her. She moved closer towards the alley way, peeking around to look at something. "She must have heard something." Jason mumbled, pausing it. We both looked at the screen, looking for something. All I could see where trash cans and a BBQ grill, typical things that weren't out of the ordinary. He pressed play again and suddenly, she wiped around like someone had touched her.
"What is she doing?" I whispered, gazing hard at the screen. Her lips moved, looking as if she were calling out to someone. She said something else, this time bringing her arms up in a fighting stance. She spun again, and the camera image flickered. There was movement on the screen we couldn't quite make out and then suddenly, it cleared. Only, Kim was gone. It looked like she had never been there.
"Did she just vanish into thin air?" Jason asked, rewinding the footage. He played the patio part again. I watched closely, trying to see something. A flash caught my eye through the scrambling. Reaching passed him, I paused the video and hit the left arrow button a few times. It moved by frame, going picture by picture that was captured. In the midst of the scrambled garage, there was one still image of Kim standing on the patio. In front of her, there was a cloaked figure. Kim was frozen in a position like she was gearing up to run. There was a bright light in the middle of the cloaked figure and the next image was just an explosion of white on the screen. I went back to the image of Kim, trying to memorize it.
"Whoever that is, they know where she is." I said in a low enough voice that only Jason could hear. He nodded, eyeing George quickly. The security guard was pacing the lobby, a phone in hand. Quickly, Jason opened up the internet browser and emailed himself a copy of the file.
"How's it going, boys?" George asked, heading towards us. Jason closed the window and stood up.
"Doesn't seem like much there." Jason replied, giving him a shrug. "Thank you for your help, sir. It means a lot to us."
"Any time. Please, if you find her, just tell her to let me know she's okay. She has me worried."
"We will." I said, nodding. "Do you know if her roommate is home? We wanted to see if there was any sign of where she might be in Kim's room."
"No. She's at the gym. I can give you my key to get in there though. I trust you." Reaching over on the desk, he pulled a drawer out and fished out a key ring. He handed it out to Jason who took it. "The keys are labelled by which room they are. Her apartment is on the top floor, door 11."
"Thank you." Jason said. Turning, we headed to the stairs and started up them. "So, what the hell was that thing?" He asked as soon as we were out of ear shot of George.
"No idea. Whatever it was, it hit her with something. Explains why she seemed to just vanish out of nowhere."
"This is nuts. Who on Earth would want anything to do with Kim? She hasn't had anything to do with the Rangers in forever. I mean, it would make more sense if it was you." Jason muttered as we cleared the first three floors.
"I know. We should send that file to Billy. He might be able to analyze it and clean it up more, so we can see more clearly who it is."
"You're right." We made it to the top floor, finding a plain white door with two brass ones on the front of it. Jason searched the key ring and found a key with the number on it. Sliding it into the lock, he opened the door and we walked in. The apartment was a modest size, eggshell walls with cheap hardwood floors. It was furnished with some second-hand furniture but was decorated nicely with pictures and posters. It was definitely an apartment shared by two women, pink being over bearing almost at some points in the living room. I closed the door behind me and glanced around. On the coffee table, I saw a photo album open and a picture of our group was sitting on top.
"Jase." I said, pointing at it. He turned, seeing what I was trying to show him. Walking over, he picked it up. Under it, there was a cell phone with a pink silicone case on it. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was Kim's phone. I picked up the phone and pressed the unlock button. A picture of her and Trini lit up on the screen, the battery percentage on 33%. The pin key pad popped up, asking for the pin. I entered her birthdate and it unlocked, the icons showing up. I clicked her phone icon, her most recent numbers popping up. "Her last call was to you." I stated, showing him.
"Yeah. She called to let me know she would be coming for Christmas." He set, setting the album on the couch. He walked towards the kitchen, the white walls making their way there as well. There were older model appliances here and two white doors on opposite sides of the room. He walked over to the one on the right and opened it. Following him, we both entered the room. "This is Kim's room." He stated over his shoulder.
"I can tell." I replied. The bedroom was a bit on the small size, but it was warm and cozy. There was a queen size bed in one corner of the room, a light pink comforter and matching sheets tossed on it. Across from it, there was a long dresser with makeup and jewelry on it. There were also trophies lined up on it and on the wall above it, there was a frame with Olympic medals in them. Her name was etched into them and I recalled the memory of watching her win them. She had been beaming on that podium and so had I, watching from the TV in my college dorm as she placed it around her neck.
"Her purse is here." Jase said, bringing my attention back to the room. There was a purse in a chair by the bed along with some car keys on top of it. They were set their neatly, like she hadn't planned on going anywhere for a while. She didn't leave on her own. It was easy to see that. Where the hell were you, Kimberly?
"She hasn't been doing anything Ranger related, right?" I asked, looking over at Jason who was rooting through her purse. He shook his head, setting it down.
"No. She's been wrapped up in this so long, I don't even think she would know how to locate an active ranger. This shit would be a lot easier if I knew what the fuck to even look for."
"Right." I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "We should ask the security guard if anyone has seen someone hanging out by the building or if there has been weird stuff happening. Maybe this person was here, and someone saw it."
"Maybe he has the number for the roommate as well." I nodded. From the corner of my eyes, I saw something perched on her pillow. It was a stuffed animal, a green dragon to be more specific. It looked tattered and old, but I still recognized it as the present I had given her of our second date. There is sat, all these years later. After everything that happened between us.
We left after speaking to George again. He told us that no one had reported anything weird and he was able to give us Andrea's number, telling us she would be home about seven o'clock tonight. We climbed back in the car, pulling back on the highway and heading towards the hotel Jason had booked for us over the course of the next few days. We were going to stay with his relatives, but we decided against it if something came up with old ranger being kidnapped. We couldn't risk putting his family in danger like that. Instead, he found a little hotel a few miles away. He checked in while I pulled out bags from the trunk. I followed him to the second story of the hotel where we found ourselves in room that looked like it hadn't been deep cleaned in decades. Everything was old and musty but at least it was a bed. It was also somewhere we could set up shop.
Jason helped me yank over the table in the corner of the room and we set up my computer station. It was big and heavy, but it was the only form of communication we had with Billy. I wasn't going to bring it originally, but I felt like he might come in handy. Billy Cranston lives on the distant planet of Aquitar. He was the original blue ranger and the genius of our group. If Billy can't fix it, you're screwed. I pulled in the monitor and powered it all on, the screen lighting up. Once it was finished loading, I brought up the program I use to connect with him. Typing for a moment, the screen changed, and it showed a black box. My picture was in the bottom right corner.
"Greetings!" A voice called as the image went from dark to an almost clear shot of Billy on the screen. His hair was sandy blond, his glasses pushed back on his nose, and a light blue jump suit completed his look.
"Hi, Billy. How are you?" I asked.
"I can't complain. Did you redecorate?" He asked, gazing behind me. I shook my head.
"No. It's complicated but I need your help Billy. We think someone kidnapped Kimberly. We can't seem to find her and in the footage we have, there seemed to be something that took her."
"Took her?" He questioned. I nodded, adjusting on the corner of the bed.
"We could really use a hand right now, Billy." I replied. Reaching up, he pushed his glasses back up his nose and nodded.
"Affirmative." I slid over so that Jason could sit next to me. Billy's face lit up when he saw Jason who smiled at our old friend. "Jason! How are you?"
"I've been better. And you?" Jason asked, forcing a smile.
"I've been well. What can you tell me about Kimberly's disappearance?" I sat back as Jason dove into the story of Kim coming up missing. He explained about the coach and her roommate thinking she had just run off for the holidays. Billy listened intently, nodding now and then. Jason types on the keyboard, bringing up the file for the security camera footage.
"Tommy and I went to her dorm today and were able to pull the clips from the security cameras. It's choppy though. Could you maybe fix it, so we can get a clearer picture?"
"I will try my best. Have Tommy transfer the file to me." Billy answered. Reaching out, I opened the file transferring program that Billy invented, and I dropped the file into it. The computer dinged, and I could see the reflection of his screen in his glasses. "This will take me some time. I will put all my effort into this though. I will follow up with you shortly about my progress."
"Thank you, Billy." I stated. He nodded, logging off. Sighing, I stood up from the bed and paced by the window. "This doesn't make sense at all. Even if it was ranger related, Kim has nothing to do with that shit anymore."
"It might not be about her though." Jason said, crossing his arms over his chest. I looked at him, waiting for him to continue but he didn't.
"Then what's it about then?" I asked. Rolling his eyes, he shook his head.
"It still amazes me how dense you can be, Oliver." He said, standing up. "What if the thing that took her was trying to get back at you? You've made a lot of enemies out there while being on multiple teams. Maybe someone found out that Kim and you were connected before and this is how they are trying to get back at you."
"You think that someone took her because of me?" I asked softly.
"It's a possibility. We won't know anything until Billy is able to clear up the video clip. Can you think of anything weird happening lately?" I burrowed my brow, thinking. It's not like I had seen a cloaked figure following me around or anything. I was certain I would have noticed that at some point. I thought of anything that happened in the last few days. Nothing came to mine except for my dreams. But that was nothing compared to what happened to Kim. Shaking my head, I threw my hands up in the air.
"Nothing. Unless you count my divorce, everything has been normal. Well, normal as it can be." Sighing, I rubbed the bridge of my nose. What if Jason was right? What if I was the reason someone was out to hurt Kim? I had pissed off countless aliens and evil things during my time in the spandex. That was no secret. And my relationship with Kim when we were kids was something that was known to some of them. Had she become a target again? Did that mean the rest of us were in trouble too?
A ringing on the computer brought me out of my thoughts. Jason pressed a button on the keyboard and Billy's face appeared on the screen. He was shaking his head, working on a tablet in front of him as he mumbled under his breath. "Unbelievable." He whispered.
"Billy, what did you find?" I asked, leaning on the table to see the screen better. He didn't seem to hear me as he continued to gaze at the tablet in front of him. "Billy?" I called. He finally looked up, confusion on his face.
"Was there some sort of water phenomenon near Kimberly's home?" He asked, scanning the larger screen with his eyes.
"What?" Jason asked, seeming just as thrown off by the question as me.
"Did something occur in the ocean near there? Such as a tidal wave or some type of destruction." He asked, glancing at us.
"I'm not sure." I replied. Jason pulled his cell phone out next to me and touched the screen. He typed something and scrolled for a minute.
"There was some kind of massive stranding on a beach a few miles away. A shit ton of animals died. Does that count?" He asked, turning the phone towards me. A picture of a dead whale on the sand was on the screen, a caption stating it was a smaller hump back whale that had died prematurely.
"Affirmative." Billy replied. "I will share my screen with you, so you can observe my findings." The screen changed and the clip we had sent him filled the screen. "I was able to enhance the video with the software I use. It's not much better but the image seems to be clearer." The video started playing. It wasn't as dark, and I could see more of Kim's features now. As the cloaked figure appeared near Kim, I noticed that their seemed to be more definition under the hood. I could just see the tip of a nose as Kim turned to run away. The bright light appeared from under the cloak.
"I can't really see much." Jason murmured.
"Just wait." Billy replied. The image progressed as the flash enveloped Kimberly and she vanished in thin air. The cloaked figure stood there for another minute before turning towards the camera. You could see the face perfectly now. It was a woman with pale skin, almond shaped eyes and a devilish grin across her lips.
"No fucking way." Jason said, leaning forward. The woman gave a wave and Billy paused it.
"It's Rita Repulsa." I said. "Rita took Kimberly."