Bridge couldn't speak, couldn't think.
"I've...what?" He finally managed.
Sky took a seat in the chair next to Bridge, the doctors and nurses hovering close by.
"That night, after we split off and I couldn't get a hold of you, I ran upstairs to find you. When I got to the fourth floor, your destroyed morpher was laying on the ground, and you were nowhere to be seen. We searched for you for weeks. Today was the last day this- I mean, your case was in our jurisdiction. Tomorrow it would've been off to cold case." Sky could see the pain evident on Bridge's face as he struggled to come to terms with it.
"I, uhm, so...where...where have I been? Who took me?" He asked.
Sky shrugged.
"We don't know. We were hoping you could tell us." Sky looked at Bridge hopefully, but one look and Sky knew that Bridge was in no condition to even attempt to remember anything else.
After a time spent in silence, Dr. Banet cleared his throat.
"Bridge, I have a few questions I need to ask you if you're feeling up for it." He asked.
Bridge nodded, suddenly appearing extremely weary.
The doctor moved to his other side.
"How are you feeling. Dizzy? Nauseous? Any pain?"
Bridge shook his head slowly.
Banet nodded and pressed on.
"What happened when you took off your glove? If you can tell us, we might gain a better understanding of how to help you."
Bridge shook his head to clear it and looked up at Banet.
"I somehow remembered my powers and, at first, thought Sky was lying. I took off my gloves to see if he was and then…" Bridge put his head in his hands, "There were so many emotions, a lot more than I'm used to. They all came at me at once. I couldn't control them. But, I did see Sky's aura, and that's what made me remember."
Banet listened and dipped his head thoughtfully.
"We'll need to keep a close eye on you then. For now, no more reading auras or taking off your gloves at all. We need to get you healthy again before we can figure out how to help with that."
Footsteps pounded down the hallway followed by labored breathing, and Jack and Z stopped short outside of Bridge's room. Banet gestured for the other nurses and doctors to give some privacy and allow the others into the room.
A smile spread across their faces when they saw Bridge awake and alert.
The team gathered around Bridge's bed.
"How do you feel?" Z asked tentatively.
Bridge smiled weakly.
"Better than I did a few minutes ago. You guys missed all the fun."
Jack looked quizzically at Sky who quickly filled him in.
Jack and Z's eyes widened the longer Sky talked.
"So," Jack said when Sky finished, "You didn't remember anything, but now you do?" Jack asked.
Bridge half-heartedly shrugged.
"I remember people and events for the most part. I haven't really had time to discover what I do and don't remember. But before you ask, no I don't remember being attacked or anything while I was gone."
Syd laid a hand on Bridge's uninjured arm.
"We aren't asking you to remember anything else right now. For now, we're just glad that you're OK."
A knock on the door drew the attention of the room to Cruger and Kat who stood stiffly at the door with another person in a lab coat directly behind them.
"Rangers." Cruger greeted them shortly. "Might we have a word with Cadet Carson. Alone."
Begrudgingly, the other rangers saluted and quietly exited, leaving Kat to close the door behind them.
Cruger closed the blinds over the window into the room and effectively shut the rangers out of their meeting with Bridge.
The four resigned to the chairs in the waiting room, lounging about until they could see Bridge again.
The clock ticked away the hours tirelessly as they waited and waited and waited.
"What do you think they've been talking about?" Syd asked.
"His ordeal." Jack piped up. "They're probably asking a lot of questions on where he was and what happened."
"But he can't remember anything right now," Sky leaned his head back against the wall, "which will only make them ask more questions to try to figure out how to jog his memory."
"Poor Bridge," Syd whispered, "he's already exhausted from whatever happened earlier and now more probing questions that he can't answer."
Jack shrugged.
"He'll be fine. Cruger knows what he's doing. He won't push Bridge too far."
But even Jack's confident demeanor had a tinge of doubt and worry as he glanced at the clock to see how long they had been alone with Bridge.
The shadows were beginning to grow long when Cruger, Kat, and the gentleman emerged from the back hallway.
The rangers snapped to attention and relaxed at Cruger's command.
"Rangers, I know you want to see Bridge again today," he began, and the rangers muttered in agreement, "however, he needs to rest right now so he can get back on his feet as quickly as possible." Cruger could plainly see the disappointment on their faces. "As of right now, Bridge is slated to remain in the hospital for at least two more weeks. After that, about three more in a wheelchair and then possible two more months on crutches. He has a long recovery ahead of him."
Sky looked ready to argue with Cruger, but Cruger held up a hand to silence him.
"Bridge needs time to heal and recover and it is our responsibility to help him, whatever form that takes." Cruger directed his order at Sky.
Sky clenched his jaw and almost had to physically restrain himself from uttering a scathing response.
Cruger motioned them to follow him out the front doors of the hospital.
"We all have work to do. I expect to see you all in the Command Center within five minutes of me." Cruger grunted to them as he slid into an SPD cruiser.
The cruiser pulled away from the curb and the rangers looked at each other.
"Anyone else got a weird feeling about this whole thing?" Z asked. They uneasily looked amongst each other.
Thoughts raced through Syd's head, and she couldn't shake the feeling that the reasoning behind Bridge being kidnapped wasn't random, but she couldn't imagine why specifically him. As far as they knew, Bridge could really only read auras. It was true that he saw the future once, but that was one time. He could sort of read thoughts, but she couldn't imagine he would let someone else use his power for themselves. But, what if…?
No, Syd couldn't think like that. She wouldn't allow herself to even consider the possibility.
Cruger was ready and waiting for the rangers when they arrived. They were barely in the door before he started talking.
"Rangers, we have a problem," he grunted. "One of our undercover operatives was ambushed today during an operation. He is in critical condition."
The confusion in the room was evident as the team failed to see how this pertained to them specifically and what Cruger wanted them to do about it.
"The operation and two years of undercover work are now up in smoke."
Jack stepped forward.
"Do you need us to find the people who did it? Or arrest them?" Jack asked. Cruger shook his head.
"The men responsible are already in our custody. This ambush occurred three weeks after one of our new satellite facilities for the mental training of recruits was fired upon and firebombed, resulting in the death of three."
Sky stood up next to Jack.
"As terrible as those two events were, what do they have to do with us, sir?"
Cruger stared hard at the team.
"Both the operation and the facility had one operative in common that worked on the projects. Bridge Carson."
Syd stiffened. The kidnappers hadn't wanted Bridge for his skills. They wanted Bridge for the knowledge he had. Bridge consulted on more projects now than any of the others. What other projects were now compromised? Syd tuned back in to listen to Cruger.
"-pulled all nonessential operations and put the essential ones on high alert. We have no idea have many are compromised. This is why we need Bridge to remember what happened as soon as possible, and I need your help with that."
Cruger turned to Sky and Syd.
"You were there today when he remembered his past today. I know it has something to do with his gloves, but that it also causes him extreme pain. We need you all to come up with a plan to try to jog Bridge's memory, fast, with as little discomfort to him as possible."
Cruger swept his gaze over them.
"Bridge knows many secrets, and lots of lives are depending on you to help him remember so we can stop whoever this is before they can take more SPD lives. Go. SPD is counting on you."
The team saluted.
Jack lead them out of the room, issuing the orders for their game plan.
"Sky, go tell Bridge what Cruger is planning. I don't care what Cruger says, we need him to know. We are going to need Bridge's help with this. The rest of us will start on that idea of Cruger's. Let's go team. Not a moment to waste."
His fingers flew across the keyboard and the screen hummed to life showing the inside of a hospital room.
"Boss, bug is in place and video is up." He shouted to the other room.
The boss the picture of his wife and daughter back down on their memorial and strutted to the man.
"Excellent. Audio?"
The man nodded.
"Coming in right… now."
The audio recorded nothing but the sounds of a busy hallway.
"Good." The boss smiled wickedly.
"There was no sign that anyone saw or suspected a bug. We had to turn it off for the scans, but we should be fully up and running again."
The smiled widened.
"Even better."
On screen, a man in a blue uniform with the SPD crest entered the room. A man they knew to be named 'Sky.'
"Hey, Bridge," he greeted, "got a minute?"
The boss let out a haughty laugh.
"It's perfect! Now, let's see what SPD is up to."
Author's note: Heyo! Sorry, sorry, sorry, I know it's been more than a week, but I hope this chapter makes it worth the wait! As always, thanks for reading and please share any comments, questions or concerns down below!