At SPD Delta Base in NewTech City, the day started with an unusual occurrence for the B–Squad Rangers – downtime.
No scheduled patrols, no alien invasion, no giant robots stomping on buildings downtown…Consequently, Sky Tate had a pretty good feeling about this day as he walked into the SPD rec room, muscles pleasantly sore from a good workout at the gym. The rest of the team was assembled there, doing absolutely nothing productive.
Z and Jack were playing each other at videogames, Syd was reading a fashion magazine, and Bridge was seated at a table by the window overflowing with electronics clutter, tinkering with something comprehensible only to him. RIC was sitting by his side, butting against his leg and without looking up from what he was doing, Bridge dropped a gloved hand onto the robotic dog's head. He scratched his metallic ear, and RIC actually purred.
Bridge was completely unaware of Sky's presence – or of anyone else's other than RIC's, for that matter - so absorbed was he in what he was doing. Sky let his eyes linger on his boyfriend for a few unobserved moments. Just like Bridge, he was still getting used to the changes in their relationship. Barely two weeks had passed since the aftermath of Bridge's abduction by a bio-terrorist (*) had led to an unexpected revelation of their true feelings for each other. They had expanded the physical side of their relationship to enthusiastic kisses and touches since then, but with anything beyond that, they were going at Bridge's pace.
They were also keeping their deeper relationship to themselves for the time being. Not because they didn't trust their teammates, but to protect them; they were breaking the non-fraternization rules, after all, and if they got caught, at least the team wouldn't be implicated with them.
Which is why you shouldn't gawk at your secret lover that long in public…Sky dropped his gaze and took in the relaxed scene before him instead with a small smile. They didn't get nearly enough opportunities to just have fun anymore. But he did have a reputation to uphold, so…
"Don't you guys have anything better to do?" He crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow at Jack and Z. "Like training?"
"We are!" Jack exclaimed without looking up from the screen in front of him. "Hand-eye coordination training, see?" The Red Ranger's fingers flew over the controller's buttons, and on the screen, Z's virtual fighter went down in a blaze of laser fire and smoke.
"Hey! Not fair! Z threw down her controller with an exclamation of disgust and glared at a shamelessly smirking Jack. Sky rolled his eyes.
"How about a round, Sky?" Jack snatched up the discarded controller and held it out to Sky, but the Blue Ranger shook his head.
"Na. I'm gonna hit the shower. Unlike any of you, I have some sweat to wash off me." He gave a half-wave and turned to go, chuckling at the sound of Z's voice swearing revenge on Jack in the next round.
They were halfway through their next fight when all of a sudden, each Ranger's morpher chirped to life simultaneously. Jack chucked his controller into Z's lap and flipped open his communicator.
"Rangers, we have a large-scale hostage situation in sector 3. Meet me outside of NewTech Citizen's Bank asap!" their canine commander's voice barked over the line.
Jack looked at the Rangers now assembled around him. "You heard the big blue dog, guys," he sighed. "Rec time's over."
"Wait, what about Sky?" Syd asked as they turned to sprint out the door.
Bridge cocked his head and frowned. "Yeah, where is he?"
"He was heading towards your room about ten minutes ago," Z said.
"Oh, ok. I'll go get him."
They hurried out the door, Bridge turning left while the rest of the team turned right. He was through the door of the quarters he shared with Sky a minute later. The sound of rushing water drew him straight towards their bathroom, and Bridge was too preoccupied with the thought of multiple hostages to notice one crucial difference in their roommate routine until it was too late.
They usually showered with the door closed, but since Sky had thought himself alone in their room, he had obviously skipped that step today. Consequently, Bridge found himself standing in the open doorway to their bathroom, Sky's name lodged in his throat at the sight before him.
The bathroom was steamy, but because of the open door, not quite steamed up enough; Bridge could make out the figure inside the glass-enclosed shower cubicle quite clearly. Sky was in full profile, facing the wall, left hand pressed against the tiles. His head was down, the water cascading down his neck and back, while his right hand was slowly moving through his soaked hair. His right leg stuck out at an angle, obscuring Bridge's view of the last bit of his partner's gloriously nude body, but it also presented him with a full eyeful of a perfectly round buttock, a beautifully sculpted thigh, and long, muscular legs.
It was the sexiest sight Bridge had ever seen. Absolute turn-on.
He tried to swallow, but his mouth had gone completely dry, and his heart was thumping so wildly that he was afraid it would break through his ribcage. Now Sky's head rose slowly, up towards the jets. Eyes closed, lips slightly parted, he let the hot water pummel his face, and Bridge could take it no more.
Before he lost his last bit of self-control, forgot all about the alarm, tore off his clothes and gloves and seriously invaded Sky's personal space in that shower, Bridge did the only other thing he could do; retreat. He backed away from the threshold and out into the bedroom. Back pressed against the wall right next to the door frame, Bridge closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm his racing heart and the incessant twitching in his pants. Focus! Have to focus! Why am I here? Oh yeah, Ranger alert!
Without looking, he reached behind him and rapped a shaking hand against the door frame with just a little more force than necessary. "Sky!"
The water turned off. "Yeah?"
"Ranger alert. We have a hostage situation," Bridge called out, eyes still firmly trained away from the bathroom threshold. He hoped his voice sounded stable. "Sorry."
A muffled curse came from the shower cubicle, then: "I'll be right there."
"I…uh…I'll wait in the garage for you."
Bridge beat a hasty retreat from their room. Tugging inconspicuously at the front of his uniform pants, he jogged down the hallway in the direction of the garage and their Delta Cycles, wondering how many nights the image of Sky in the shower would haunt his dreams.
The B-squad arrived at the scene of the crime to find the organized chaos that usually accompanied large-scale operations in public areas: News and police helicopters were circling overhead, law enforcement vehicles of half a dozen agencies were parked in the road and along sidewalks, effectively surrounding the bank building, and scores of gawking pedestrians were craning their necks from behind police barricades to catch a glimpse of anything.
The team spotted their commander right away. Doggie Cruger stood by an official police SUV, deep in conversation with NTC's chief of police. His canine countenance was troubled.
"What do we know so far, sir?" Jack asked after a quick salute, but it was the chief of police who replied.
"Not enough yet, Rangers. Three bank robberies occurred simultaneously in three different branches of NewTech Citizen's Banks, but in the other two locations, the robbers got away. In this case…" he motioned towards the bank entrance, "we have an alien perpetrator who attempted to rob this bank, but the teller managed to sound the alarm and the place locked down. Problem is that he brought along some thermonuclear explosive devices, which he promptly set all around the main lobby and is now holding three tellers and four customers as hostages."
"We have established communication contact with the perp," Cruger added. "He calls himself Corian, and based on facial recognition footage from the bank's CCTV his origin is Kraylean, but that's all we know at this point. He said he will be in contact again soon with his demands in exchange for the hostages."
Bridge frowned. "If he brought thermonuclear bombs, then it's safe to say that he would also have his own personal deflector shield on him for protection," he surmised. "That means he could detonate all those devices simultaneously and still walk away unharmed."
"He wouldn't get far, since the place is surrounded," Jack stated the obvious.
"True, he can't get out, but we can't get in, either," Cruger bared his teeth in frustration. "Scans confirm the presence of thermonuclear charges at every point of entry in the main lobby. They also indicate that the charges are rigged to blow the moment anyone attempts to open the doors to get in or out."
Sky crossed his arms and cast a thoughtful look at the bank entrance. "So we are at an impasse."
Before Cruger could reply, the chief of police's official communicator sounded. "It's from Corian," the chief announced. "Pre-recorded message. Audio only."
He opened the comm channel, and a gruff baritone voice filled the air around them.
"This is for whoever is in charge out there. By now I'm sure you've scanned this building and discovered my little blow-up toys. Let me assure you that they are hot and I am the only one who can deactivate them. One of those beauties is enough to bring this building down, and I have four of them. Which makes me the one with the bargaining power. I want a fully fueled Surface-To-Orbit shuttle right outside those lobby doors in ten minutes, max. In exchange, I'll not blow up half the city block. Ten minutes. Time starts now."
The recording ended and Cruger and the police chief were left staring at each other gravely. "Your thoughts, Commander?" the chief asked.
Doggie Cruger took a sweeping look around the immediate area. "I think that ten minutes is not nearly enough time to clear the streets and evacuate the buildings adjacent to the bank," he concluded. "If Corian is crazy enough to detonate those devices, the casualty rate will be catastrophic. I'd hate to see a scumbag like him get away scot-free, but in this case it's the lesser of the two evils."
Commander Cruger opened his comm line to the Delta Base and directed Kat Manx to send over the requested transport shuttle via remote-pilot, and a few minutes later, a small, rectangular spacecraft touched down in the street between the bank entrance and the group of Rangers. Its engines powered down and the hatch door opened, ready to receive its passengers.
The bank's front door opened promptly and two people stepped outside. A terrified middle-aged man in a business suit emerged first, and behind him was Corian, a surprisingly humanoid-looking alien clad in a jumpsuit-like garment. Slightly taller and wider than his human shield, he sported an unruly mop of purplish hair on top of a pale, almost translucent head. Dark veins stood out prominently against his light skin, running up the sides of his neck and face and along the backs of his hands. One of those hands was holding up the thermal detonator switch for everyone to see, while with the other one he held a blaster to his hostage's head. The alien's violet eyes scanned the area around him while he nudged the shaking man forward and towards the shuttle's open hatch. Once he took one look inside the shuttle, however, Corian's eyes settled on the group of Rangers with a scowl. "Where is the pilot?"
Cruger stepped forward. "You asked for a shuttle. You didn't specify that you needed a pilot."
"That should have been a given," the alien snarled. "I don't know how to fly a Terran shuttle." He nudged the frightened business man. "Do you know how to fly this shuttle?"
When the man wordlessly shook his head, Corian glared at Cruger. "Get me a pilot. Now."
A few feet away, the premonitory vibe from Sky hit Bridge a split second before he saw his partner's head turn towards their commander. "I'll do it, sir."
The big blue dog tilted his head, regarding his Blue Ranger. "Are you sure about this, Sky?"
Sky nodded solemnly. "This is the STO-55, an M-Class mid-range transport shuttle, and I've flown this type of spacecraft before. I also have the most pilot training out of everyone on the team. It makes sense, sir."
Next to him, Bridge felt like he had been punched in the stomach, and from the grave looks on the rest of the Rangers' faces, they felt the same way. None of them wanted Sky to put himself in harm's way, but these risks came with the job. They had all sworn an oath to protect Earth, but did Sky have to volunteer to remove this alien sleazebag from the planet? Bridge stared at his partner, but Sky was looking at Cruger and avoiding everyone else's eyes. He had made his decision and now he was waiting for his commanding officer to approve.
And Cruger did with a curt nod towards his cadet, before he addressed Corian. "Very well, but this civilian is staying here," he said, indicating the business man Corian still kept at gun point. "No one else in the shuttle but you and my officer."
"Fine, fine. Let's just get this show on the road," Corian snapped impatiently. "But no weapons or communicators."
Cruger motioned towards the detonator in Corian's hand. "What about the bombs, Corian?"
"I will turn off the detonator once we're airborne. That will deactivate the bombs and make them safe to remove." Corian shrugged at the skeptical look on the commander's face. "You will just have to trust me, SPD. Now let's go, I have places to be!"
Cruger turned to Sky and made a show of saluting him while he murmured in a barely audible voice: "Transmit your destination coordinates as soon as you're able to." So that the team can meet you there.
"Yes, sir." Sky's lips barely moved as he returned the salute. He faced his grim-looking teammates, nodding to them all in turn, but his eyes lingered on the Green Ranger.
"Sky…" Bridge whispered, but left the sentence unfinished. There was nothing he could have said out loud anyways. He communicated with his eyes instead. Please don't do this.
"It's ok, I'll see you later." The look in Sky's eyes was apologetic as he unclipped his blaster and morpher and handed both to Bridge. You know I have to.
They took two more precious seconds to look at one another, hugging each other with their eyes, then Sky turned, put his hands up in the air and walked towards the shuttle.
The exchange of Sky for the business man went without a hitch, and a few moments later Bridge watched the shuttle ramp retract with a feeling like someone had poured acid into his guts. He looked down at his partner's morpher in his hand. 'Please be safe out there, Sky.'
Next to him, Syd must have noticed how tightly he was clutching Sky's gear, for she nudged Bridge gently. "Hey, he'll be ok. If anyone can take care of himself in this kind of situation, it's Sky. And don't forget that he still has his shields."
Bridge nodded. She was right, of course. Sky was quick to think on his feet, probably the best out of all of them in this regard. And he might not be armed right now, but because of his force fields he was never defenseless.
None of it changed the fact that Bridge felt like his heart was being ripped out of his chest while he watched the shuttle take off.
TBC…
(*)see "The day us began"