Chapter 9: Divided
Shawn let out a breath he did not know he was holding as he watched Ky walked towards the door, carrying the unconscious Jen like she weighted nothing in his arms. A movement to his right caught his eye, and he saw Cody quietly giving Xadrin a supportive hug.
He looked away and started towards the door as well. He had noticed the subtle looks that Cody was giving Xadrin more and more recently. He knew it was not his business, but he wondered if Cody knew what he might be getting himself into. Xadrin was from a different planet, after all.
"You're bleeding." Aly was saying to Ky in front, and Shawn heard footsteps behind him that meant the remaining two were catching up. Shawn suddenly remembered the way Ky was holding his arm when he first reached him. Was it Jen who did it?
Ky ignored her as he turned right, following the green light that VIKI had provided. With his dark colored jacket, it was hard to tell. But when Shawn shifted, he could see that Ky's left hand was bloodied.
"Look, why don't we stop by the med bay?" Aly tried again, "We could get Jen checked as well, to see if she needs anything."
Ky slowed a little. "That is… a good idea. Thank you."
Aly gave Ky a small smile, but did not say another word as she continued to walk by his side.
As the team walked in silence towards the med bay, Shawn could not help but think how fast things keep changing. First, they were a team of four, trying to deal with Metigor alone. Then, their foes multiplied and things got rather complicated with Ky and his sister coming into the picture. And now Ky, who — as far as Shawn was concerned — had been rude, impulsive and aloof, was suddenly a Ranger and part of their team. Shawn was not sure what to think of that. He needed to find out how that happened.
When they arrived at the med bay, Ky insisted on reading Jen's scans before he allowed anyone else to tend to him. Xadrin and Aly helped removed Jen's armor, and Shawn couldn't help but sneak a look at Aly, who had been in exactly the same place and wearing the same armor barely days ago. To his relief, Jen was not drenched in blood like Aly was.
Still, Ky grimaced at the reading and Jen's prone form, and his eyes were bright as Cody silently led him away to another bed.
Curious, Shawn looked over Aly's shoulder as she read it as well, and frowned when he did not see what was wrong. Jen had no injuries.
"She's fine, isn't she?" He asked quietly, not wanting to attract Ky's attention.
"In terms of not having any injuries." Aly replied, just as quietly. But she gestured at Jen's unconscious form. "But just look at her. She's obviously underfed. And her body's been overworked. She's only sixteen."
Shawn's eyes widened in shock, and he studied Jen's form again with fresh eyes. She had looked much older than sixteen. And if he looked closer, he could see that the dirty tunic she was wearing beneath the armor was too big for her. And she looked… bony.
He grimaced, understanding why Ky had been emotional. This must be heart wrenching for him.
Aly had gone to get something, and when she returned, he noticed a device in her hands that had sharp needle on one end.
"What's that?" Shawn asked.
"I'm getting a blood sample." Aly said simply, turning Jen's arm around to find a vein.
"What are you doing!" Ky was on his feet when Shawn turned in surprise, and he covered the ground between them in a few strides, the glaring red gash across his left arm forgotten.
"Ky!" Xadrin sounded exasperated when she arrived beside him, Cody following quietly. "Why can't you just—"
"What are you doing to her?" Ky demanded.
Shawn saw Aly flinch at the vehemence in his tone, but her voice was steady when she replied, "I'm getting a blood sample."
"Why?"
"To analyze Metigor's poison, see if VIKI can come up with an antidote." Aly explained calmly. Shawn had to give it to her, she was always thinking a few steps ahead.
"There is none," Ky said, his voice dangerously low. "Did you not think thousands of people have tried?"
Aly lifted her chin defiantly. "I wouldn't have expected less. But you heard Xadrin, the previous victims were never this strong. The poison must have changed, and even if we couldn't find a cure, it would be good to analyze it and—"
"You will not treat her like some lab specimen." Ky spat, and Shawn widened his eyes.
"Ky, Aly didn't mean that." Xadrin said quickly, her eyes darting between the pair who was now glaring at each other.
"Jen is my sister," he growled, "I have already agreed to placing her in a containment cell like a prisoner, I will not let her be treated like a lab specimen."
"For goodness' sake, will you just stop acting like a child—"
"And you should stop acting like a cold-blooded computer!" Ky yelled, cutting Aly off. She looked like she was slapped.
"That's enough," Xadrin cut in, "both of you. Ky, got get stiched up. We won't take any blood samples, all right?"
"As much as I'd like to preserve peace," Aly said coolly, "You should know that with every second we waste in not finding an antidote, someone else on Metigor's ship gets closer to death." She directed a piercing glare at Ky again, "They may not be your sister or brother, Ky, but they are someone else's. Think about that before you accuse someone else of being cold-blooded."
She slammed the device on the tray, and stalked out of the med bay.
Ky's expression was hard, but he did not look like he would budge. Xadrin was frowning at Jen's unconscious form. Shawn caught Cody's eyes, and he cocked his head at the door, silently asking him to go after Aly. He nodded, knowing that Cody would take care of matters here.
He left the med bay, picking up his pace when he was at the door. Aly had gone further than he would have guessed in the few seconds' lapse. He had barely caught the glimpse of brown hair as she turned left down the corridor.
"Aly, wait up!"
Whether she was ignoring him or did not hear him in her own anger, he could not tell. He had to run the last few metres to catch her arm. "Aly, wait."
"What?" She snapped, surprising him with a face streaked with angry tears.
He swallowed. Girls were never something that he was good at; girls in tears were even worse. "Are you all right?"
"What the hell do you think?" She snapped again, and he flinched. But just as suddenly, she closed her eyes, and covered her face with her palm. "Fuck. I'm – I'm sorry. It's not you."
That sounded a bit more like her. His lips quirked. "I'll be worried if it is. All I did was stand there and watch you two yell at each other. I'm glad you're not yelling at me, for once."
From behind her palms came a muffled chuckle. With a deep breath, she wiped her face dry and opened her eyes again. She did not really meet his gaze though. "Sorry about that."
"You've already apologized." Shawn said, relieved that at least she seemed to have stop crying.
"Not for that." She muttered, her eyes meeting his briefly before darting away again. "I mean for all the other times I've yelled at you. I must have – I know what Ky means. I know I'm always very calculative and cold-blooded—"
"Are you really buying that?" Shawn asked, frowning in disbelief.
She looked slightly startled at his question. "I know how difficult I can be—"
"This is ridiculous." Shawn snorted, "You're letting some angry words get to you—"
"They have more than a ring a truth to it, though." Aly muttered.
"No, they don't," Shawn said firmly, grabbing hold of her shoulders to make her look at him. "You are not cold-blooded. You wouldn't have been here if that's the case — you stayed to help a stranger fight a freaking alien, like Cody and I did. And you wouldn't tell anyone that you're half bleeding to death before you make sure the rest of us are all right—"
"I wasn't half bleeding to death." Aly muttered, and Shawn was glad that the bitterness was gone from her voice. He was getting through.
"Like hell you were not." He said half-heartedly, mirroring that half smile that Aly was giving him.
"Thanks." She said as he let go, "You're right. I was letting angry words getting to me. Stupid thing to do."
"Agreed." He said heartily, grinning as Aly punched his shoulder playfully. It was funny how they hardly see eye-to-eye on so many things, and yet could get along well otherwise. Shawn felt like they could have been siblings.
Aly turned towards the way she had come from, and just like that, the lightness in her eyes was gone. "I was serious about the blood sample, though."
Shawn nodded. "I see where you're coming from."
To his surprise, Aly shook her head. "It wasn't just that. Something's not right."
"What do you mean?"
"What happened today. What happened when I was on Metigor's ship." Aly said with a frown. "The more I think about it the more it doesn't add up."
"Are you going to tell me why or not?" He said impatiently.
"I'm not too sure myself," Aly muttered, "We thought Metigor's ship was a stolen cargo ship before I was captured, and before the three of you infiltrated it. But it is a full-fledged battleship – so why was it that I snuck around the whole ship blindly the whole day without triggering a single alert?"
"You said that there were no guards. The prisoners would not pick up your presence."
Aly caught his eyes; her own were troubled. "But there were cameras, Shawn. I had thought someone must have been watching them and kept waiting to see someone sneak up on me."
Shawn did not know what to do but nod sympathetically. That must have been one hell of a day for her.
"And yet I survived and got out on my own." Aly continued, "Even before that, Jen recognized my morpher. She couldn't have been the only one."
"Are you saying that Metigor let you wander around his ship?" Shawn said, not really wrapping his head around the idea.
"It could be a trap." Aly crossed her arms. "To give me false information – and it wasn't until Xadrin told me that I know that information has been relayed back to Eltare, and her brother's team is acting on them."
Shawn took a couple of steps back to lean against the wall, and stared at the ceiling as he tried to digest her words. "That sounds like a bit of a stretch. What would Metigor accomplish?"
Aly uncrossed her arms, and clenched her fists. "That's the thing. I don't get it. Unless I've interpreted everything on his ship completely wrongly – which is unlikely, because even complete idiots would get some of it right – he had handed information about his battleship to me.
"And today's attack as well – why dump a squad of soldiers in the middle of the park with no intention of kidnapping anyone for his army?"
He had been wondering about that. "To lure us out?"
Aly nodded, "That's likely. But why hide Jen among the soldiers when he knew she is our weakness? I would have made her lead the attack from the beginning, unmasked from the start."
"Maybe he was waiting for Ky – well, Xadrin to show up." Shawn offered, "He did see them together on the ship."
Aly looked like she was thinking hard. "It could be, but still…"
"But why do you think a blood sample would help?"
"Like I said, to analyze the poison," She said, and Shawn almost roll his eyes at her before she continued, "Not just for an antidote. I'm hoping we'd be able to tell things like whether the poison would fade, whether it was weaker at certain times of the day – things that we can work with when we rescue the rest of the prisoners."
Shawn was impressed. He had not thought to think that far. "Damn. I wish I could help."
Aly looked at him sharply at that. "Would you?"
"Of course," Shawn said, wondering if he should feel offended that Aly had doubted that. "I meant what I said."
"Then I need your help with something."
Cody was on his way to the containment cell for his shift of watching over Jen when he bumped into Aly on the way.
She looked startled, and pocketed something quickly. "Hey. Aren't you a little early for your shift?"
He shrugged. "Ky's been there all night. I figured he'd need the sleep more than I do."
"If he can sleep, that is." Aly muttered.
Cody studied her, recalling the shouting match in the med bay last night. She looked like she did not get enough sleep. Though there was no hint of anger when she referred to Ky. "You know he didn't mean what he said yesterday."
Aly looked away. "It doesn't matter."
He nodded, glad that she looked like she meant what she said. Absently, his eyes caught the cylindrical lump in her jacket pocket, and recalled how she had hastily put this away when she saw him. There was a flash of something dark red, something – his eyes widened.
"Aly, what's that in your pocket?"
She flinched. His eyes narrowed. "Did you-"
Wordlessly, she took the small cylinder and held it up for him. Even though it was unlabelled, it was very obviously a vial of blood.
He cursed quietly. "How did you get that with Ky on night shift? He'll be furious!"
"It doesn't matter. It's done." She said stubbornly, pocketing the vial again.
"It does matter," He said firmly, trying to keep his voice down, "It matters that you did not respect his request—"
"His request?" Aly repeated, her eyes flashing with anger, "His irrational demand, you mean! You saw how he was — he's so freaking emotional and unthinking when it comes to Jen — he can't be relied upon for good judgment."
Cody frowned. "You have a point. But this isn't just about him. It's about how you are treating Jen. You're not treating her with the dignity she deserves."
Aly's expression was hard. "Do you think I'm a cold-blooded machine as well?"
So Ky's words had stuck, after all. "I don't," He said firmly, "I'm just saying that you could have waited until she wakes up and ask her for it."
"Do you think I'll stand a chance with Ky around? And don't talk to me about dignity – you didn't see what the conditions were like on that freaking ship, there was no dignity at all to speak of." She said, and Cody realized with a start that perhaps she had spared them the more gruesome details of what she had seen on that ship.
"I'm just trying to shorten the time those people will spend in that condition." She continued quietly. "The Jen I know would approve, I just know it."
Cody hesitated. He still did not like this sneaking around within the team.
"Are you still hung up on that 'lab specimen' comment?" Aly said as the silence stretched. "If it makes you feel any better…" She paused, and rolled up the sleeve on her left arm. Cody knew what he would see even before the band-aid on the crook of her elbow was revealed.
"I'm a lab rat as well," She said with a humorless grin.
Cody sighed. "Why?"
"I just recovered from the same poison, remember?" Aly said.
Cody suddenly realized what she must have been getting at. "You want to see if an antidote could be made from your blood."
Aly shrugged, to his surprise. "That was the idea. But VIKI said it wouldn't be that easy. We are immune to it because we are Rangers, and that is not exactly biological." She waved her hand absent-mindedly, "I discussed this for hours last night with VIKI. Basically, the chances of it working are pretty low. But it's not zero, so we've got to give it a try."
"Anyway," she said, "it's not just for the antidote. It will be good if it gives us more information about how the poison works, maybe it could help with the rescue operation."
Cody studied her, noting the slump of her shoulders and her tired eyes. She looked like she had been working all night on this. Even if Cody could not agree with her actions, he had to acknowledge that she was trying harder than them in finding a cure, at least. And it was not fair to give her so much trouble over it.
"Go get some rest." He finally said. "You look like you need it."
She nodded. "I'll just drop by the med bay before I head back to my room. Oh – Cody?"
He raised his eyebrow.
"Something… doesn't feel right." She said, "Things are not adding up the more I think about it. I've talked to Shawn about this, could you catch up with him later?"
Cody had wanted to ask her more, but she really looked like she could use some sleep. So he nodded. "Will do."
"Be careful." She said, before walking past him towards the med bay.
He turned slightly to watch her retreating figure, and wondered what was it that did not add up. Be careful? On the Ace?
Xadrin couldn't stop smiling as she made her way to the mess hall, her heart still full of the warmth from talking to a long-lost family member all afternoon. Jen had woken up some time in late morning, and to all their relief, she was not under Metigor's influence — she was 'awake', as she herself described — though she was wise and understanding enough to accept the need for placing her in a containment cell, brushing off Xadrin's apologies.
Both Xadrin and Ky had stayed for hours in the cell with her, talking about the changes at home and in their families while she was gone. None of their eyes stayed dry for long periods in those few hours, and Jen had surprised them both by being more mature and stronger than they expected. Xadrin felt so incredibly proud of her.
She slowed her steps as she caught bits of conversation from the mess hall.
"What do you think it could be?" Cody's voice was asking quietly.
"I don't know." Aly was saying like she had repeated this many times.
Curious, she poked her head into the mess hall. Shawn saw her first, and he nudged Cody beside him. Aly turned around to look as well. They looked a little startled. Or did Xadrin read too much into it?
She went in the rest of the way, smiling. "I thought I would be the only one hungry at this hour."
"And we thought Aly was the only one." Cody said, smiling back.
She caught Aly raise her eyebrow as she went to the synthetron to get her early dinner. "This is a normal time to get hungry. I just decided to get proper dinner instead of a snack."
Xadrin missed the others' replies as the synthetron emitted a slow whine as her food was prepared. When she joined them at the table, they seemed to be waiting for her already.
"How was Jen?" Cody asked casually.
Xadrin smiled. "She's great. Unbelievable, like you said," She nudged Aly. "She understood why we had to put her in a containment cell. Asked us if we planned to save the other prisoners as well. We were expecting — I don't know, a little more sadness or resentment for the years she had lost. But she just said she was grateful and that she wanted to go home."
"She wants to go home?" Aly repeated, her voice thoughtful.
"To Eltare. To see everyone again." Xadrin said, already looking forward to the trip, knowing that many people would be delighted to see her. "She even asked about Xander's team. She used to hang out a lot with us when we trained, you know."
She caught Aly and Shawn exchanging glances. Cody looked thoughtful as well. She put down her sandwich again, realizing why that was so weird. They did not seem as happy as she thought they would be at the news.
"All right, what's the matter?"
"What do you mean?" Shawn said, trying to look innocent. Both Aly and Cody did not meet her eyes.
"You are acting weird." Xadrin narrowed her eyes. "Is there something that you're not telling me?"
Aly sighed. "We were just talking about something else. About how things did not add up since the day I woke up in Metigor's ship."
Taken aback, Xadrin took a moment before she replied, "What do you mean?"
"There are several things," Shawn started, and for some reason Aly threw a grateful look at him and continued with her dinner. "Firstly, we thought Metigor's ship was a cargo ship, which should not have any sophisticated alarm system. But if it is a full fledged battleship –"
"Aly!" Ky barked from the door.
He strode angrily into the hall. When he reached the table he knocked Aly's cup off the table, spilling her drink all over the floor. "I told you not to touch her!"
Xadrin jumped to her feet, seeing Shawn and Cody do the same. Aly, however, remained seated, setting down her fork and knife calmly.
"Ky, do you really have to-"
"She took Jen's blood behind my back." He growled, and Xadrin turned to Aly in surprise. From the way she calmly stood up and met Ky's gaze, it had to be true.
Xadrin grimaced. "Aly."
"Yes, I did it." She admitted coolly. "And now VIKI is working on an antidote—"
Ky took a step forward, his face inches from Aly's face as he growled, "I don't care. You should have respected my request, I'm her brother—"
"And you are a Ranger," Aly snapped back, "You should know that hundreds of lives are at stake here—"
Ky looked slightly startled at that, "You don't get to question my status—"
Xadrin caught Cody's eyes, and motioned for him to restrain him. She herself grabbed Aly's shoulder from behind, and held it firmly.
"Stop it," Xadrin ordered, raising her voice to drown out the other two. "Sit down and talk like proper adults."
Aly sat down without much help from her, though Cody and Shawn had to give Ky a much stronger nudge. Or shove. Xadrin could not believe that they had to do this.
"Let's do this one step at a time." She started, "Aly, why did you take Jen's blood sample when we agreed that we won't?"
Aly raised her eyebrow at her. "Did we 'agree'? Or did you just give in to whoever was shouting the loudest?"
Xadrin's eyes widened, and she fought to suppress her anger. "That's not the point. The point is you snuck behind the team's back to do something we did not agree to."
"She didn't." Shawn said, and Xadrin turned to him in surprise. "I helped her."
"Shawn!"
"Look, I agreed to help you because I believe you meant well," Shawn said to Aly, "I'm not going to pretend I did not and let the two of them yell at you."
The fact that the two of them, who had disagreed and argued about so many things, actually cooperated had not even sunk in when Cody added quietly, "I found out this morning."
For some reason, that roused a sharper sense of betrayal, and Xadrin gaped at Cody.
Ky suddenly snorted. "What a team."
After what they had been through in the past weeks, it felt like a slap in the face. She had never had this feeling with Xander's team. But then again, she realized with more than a tinge of bitterness, this was never Xander's team to begin with. She had taken too many things for granted.
"Look, I kept quiet because it had already been done, and there was no point in starting an argument like this," Cody was looking into her eyes when he said this. Xadrin only glared at him. "I do not agree to ignoring Ky's request because you are Jen's brother. But you have to realize that this is much bigger than Jen alone, and we are racing against time to save hundreds of lives."
Ky kept quiet, but his fists were clenched, and his whole body was facing outwards, as if he was prepared to leave any time.
"If we are to work as a team, you have to trust that we would not harm Jen," Cody continued, and then turned pointedly to Aly, "And no one should sneak around doing something against what the team has decided."
Despite her anger, Xadrin appreciated what Cody said. It was something that they should have talked about a long time ago.
Aly nodded. "As long as the team makes decisions based on reason and not based on whoever shouts the loudest, I am fine with that."
Ky's fists twitched, but he settled for a glare at the remark.
"Good." Cody said simply.
Xadrin watched the Ky and Aly, and found it hard to believe that just yesterday she had thought that they might have feelings for each other. Or was it exactly because they feel for each other that they fought so hard?
Nobody said anything in the moments that followed. Abruptly, Aly picked up her fork again and continued with dinner. Xadrin looked down at her half-eaten sandwich, trying to decide whether she was till hungry after all this.
When the muted chime came, it was almost a relief. "Rangers," VIKI announced, "I have managed to produce an antidote for Jen based on a combination of the anti-serum meant for Rangers and Aly's blood. Would you like to use it now?"
Xadrin turned to Aly in surprise at the mention of her blood – had she provided a blood sample as well for the effort?
"Are you-" Ky sounded surprised but hopeful. "Are you sure?"
"It proved effective when tested with Jen's blood." VIKI replied, "From Jen's medical report, there was no reason to suggest that it would not work on her."
Ky was already standing up and heading for the door, and Xadrin had abandoned her dinner when she realized that Aly was still seating down.
Cody noticed as well. "Aly?"
"I'll catch up with you guys after this." She said with a small smile, nodding at her half-eaten dinner.
Shawn took a look, and changed course towards the synthetron. "I think I'm getting hungry as well. You guys go ahead. You don't need us there."
Xadrin was hesitating when she caught Cody gesturing for her to follow. His eyes showed the same excitement that she felt, and despite her earlier sense of betrayal, she was glad that she had him on the team. So she followed.