Back in Time
Chapter 25
An aging man jumped out of his car in front of the small, 2 story house in the middle of the woods, slamming the car door as he stormed towards the house, his face red with anger. He climbed the porch and slammed his fist against the door.
"Oliver! Open the door!" He shouted. The door opened and he was face to face with Dr Tommy Oliver, who had a confused expression and a beer in his hand.
"Mr Ford? Is there a reason you're trying to bang my door down?" Tommy asked, only to be shoved to the side as Mr Ford stormed into the house.
"Where is she?" He growled as he looked around, looking in the kitchen.
"Who? And what do you think you're doing?" Tommy snapped.
"Where is my daughter?" He asked. "You're teaching her to fight, so where is she?" He walked into the living room and saw the four adults in there, looking up from their conversations with a frown.
"Kira isn't here." Tommy snapped, blocking his way as he tried to search the rest of the house. "And you can't just barge into my home like this!"
"Everything alright Tommy?" Jason asked as they all stood up.
"You stay out of this!" Mr Ford snapped before rounding on Tommy, getting as close to him as he could. "Where is my daughter?"
"I suggest you get out of my face." Tommy snapped. "Kira is not here. I don't know where she is. I have an hour lesson with her and some other students wanting to learn martial arts and that is it."
"I know you know something!" Mr Ford hissed before pushing past him and storming into the office. He began moving things on the desk, which made Tommy's hand twitch towards his bracelet, ready to hit the button that would send an alert to Hayley and get Kira out of there.
"What are you doing?" Trini snapped, marching over to Mr Ford and squaring up to him. "This is Tommy's home, and you have no right to be in here."
"He knows where my daughter is!" He snapped, forgetting about rummaging through the desk and glaring at the small woman in front of him.
"And how would he know that?" She asked, making him feel uncomfortable. "Are you suggesting that Tommy knows where all of his students are at all times? Or something else? Either way, I have driven for hours to see my friend and have a nice weekend that you are ruining. So I suggest you get lost before I show you who taught Tommy to fight." Mr Ford took a step back at the look that Trini was giving him before glaring at Tommy.
"This isn't over." He snapped. "I will find her." He stormed out of the house and back to his car.
"You didn't teach Tommy to fight." Zach said, glancing at Trini.
"He doesn't need to know that." She replied with a small smirk. Tommy and the others watched from the porch as the car disappeared down the road. None of them moved for a few minutes until a sound emanated from Tommy's bracelet.
"He's gone." Hayley's voice sounded. The five adults hurried into the office, opening the door to the lab and making their way downstairs. Tommy looked around and saw Hayley, Ethan and Trent at the computer, the feed from the camera still playing. He turned his head and saw Kira sat on the rock that she usually went to, but he also saw that she had her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands clutching either side of her head as Conner sat next to her with his arms around her. As Tommy moved closer, he could hear the sobs coming from Kira and could hear Conner trying to calm her down.
"It's like she can't hear me." Conner said as he saw Tommy walking over to them. Tommy knelt down in front of Kira and grabbed her hands, pulling them away from her face and looking into her eyes as she looked up.
"He's gone." He whispered to her, not looking away from her eyes. "You're safe. I promise." As he spoke, Kira's breathing slowed down and her tears stopped. Conner breathed a sigh of relief as he felt Kira calm down.
"What are we going to do?" Trini asked, making Tommy look up at everyone else in the room. He looked at Hayley and she knew that his expression meant he didn't know.
"I think it's time we called the police." Hayley said, making Kira look up in shock.
"What?" She gasped, making Conner tighten his arm slightly. She looked at Tommy with wide eyes. "I can't."
"I don't think we have another choice." Tommy whispered to her.
"At the very least, we can get him for barging into Tommy's house." Jason said.
"Hey, didn't Adam become a lawyer?" Kim asked, making everyone look over.
"Adam? A lawyer?" Tommy asked, not sure whether he believed it.
"Yeah. You're not the only one that shocked us with their career choice." Zach said with a smirk, trying to lighten the mood and give Kira a chance to calm down.
"Look, if you are serious about going to the police, then we're going to need a lawyer. Adam knows us and at least with him we can be honest about everything. He'll know what we can be truthful about and how to stretch some of the truth." Kim replied. Tommy looked back at Kira and saw that although she was clearly still shaken and scared, she was a lot calmer than before.
"It's up to you Kira. What do you want to do?" He asked. Kira looked at him and then everyone else in the room, before nodding and standing up.
"I want to talk to Adam. If he can help, then it's worth a shot." She said. Tommy and Conner stood up, both putting a hand on Kira's shoulder.
"I'll go give him a call." Jason said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
"Well, I guess you guys forgot I was coming." They all jumped and looked at the stairs as a figure dressed in blue jeans and a dark blue top walked down, a large rucksack still on his back. "Hey guys. Good to see you all again." Billy said as he reached the bottom step. He looked around the room, taking note of the tense atmosphere and the shocked and worried expressions on everyone's faces, as well as the tear stains on Kira's face. He frowned as he looked around the room. "Have I missed something?" He asked. One by one, everyone in the lab began to laugh, before everyone except Billy was laughing at the break in tension. "Have you all had a bump to the head?"
"We'll fill you in upstairs." Zach said, walking over and clapping his hand on Billy's shoulder. "I think we could all do with a drink. Let's go put the kettle on."
Xxx
Once Billy had been filled in and Adam called, everyone was helping to move all of Kira's belongings back to her room. The yellow ranger had calmed down dramatically and if they hadn't have seen it for themselves, none of them would be able to tell that she had almost had a panic attack.
"We need something to lighten the mood." Zach said as he brought the last of Kira's stuff into the room.
"Like what?" Tommy asked, looking at his friend with a worried look.
"Let's tell some ridiculous ranger stories!" He said, making the rest of the room laugh. "What it's a good idea!"
"What, like the time I spent a day as a male red ranger?" Kira asked, making Jason shudder.
"Please don't remind me of that day!" Jason complained before looking up in shock. "Oh my god! I showered!" He suddenly remembered, making everyone laugh.
"How about the time we were turned into kids." Kim said, making Billy and Tommy shudder.
"I thought you guys were joking about that." Jason laughed.
"No. It happened twice to Tommy, Rocky, Aisha, Adam and me." Billy replied.
"And then Billy made a mistake with a machine to turn us back into teenagers and turned himself into an old man." Tommy said, making Billy blush slightly.
"So that's why you went to Aquitar." Trini exclaimed as all of them walked down to the living room.
"Indeed. It was the only way to restore me to my rightful age." Billy said. They all sat down in the living room, Jason, Trini and Zach sharing the sofa, Kim sat on the arm of the sofa next to them, Billy and Tommy in the arm chairs and the Dino Thunder teens sitting in various places around Tommy's chair, Trent on the arm and Kira, Conner and Ethan on the floor next to Tommy's feet. Jason noticed how all of the Dino Thunder males seemed to be hovering around Kira, and thought she might get angry about it, until he noticed how she seemed to relax by their presence. He guessed with everything that she has been through she needed the support, and her team were more than willing to give it to her.
"Nothing can beat when Zedd kidnapped Kim and turned her into his queen." Trini laughed, making Kim shudder.
"Oh that was horrible! I dressed like Rita!" Kim exclaimed making them all laugh.
"What about you guys? Any embarrassing ranger experiences that we don't know about?" Zach asked.
"Oh, you mean like the time we touched a meteor that brought out latent personality traits?" Ethan asked, making Kira and Conner shudder.
"What?" Trini asked.
"This meteor made us act completely the opposite of how we normally do." Kira said. "All I wanted to do was shop! I even complained about helmet hair!"
"I turned into a nerd!" Conner exclaimed. "I read more books in that day then I've read all year."
"I turned into a jock! All I wanted to do was exercise." Ethan said with a laugh. "God I was sore afterwards."
"Hey, at least we managed to use that meteor to get Dr O out of the ember." Conner added with a laugh.
"How about the time we got stuck in a comic book?" Dr O replied with a laugh. Kira looked at her watch and jumped up, making some of the others in the room jump too.
"I'm going to be late!" She gasped, running out of the room and upstairs.
"Late for what?" Trini asked.
"She's performing at Cyberspace tonight." Conner said with a smile. "Every Saturday night she performs and a few times during the week."
"Trent, should you be working?" Tommy asked, looking at the white ranger.
"Hayley gave me the night off." He replied. Kira came running back down the stairs with her guitar in hand.
"I can't believe how late I'm going to be!" She muttered, grabbing a bag and some pieces of paper from the kitchen.
"Kira, calm down and get in the Jeep." Tommy said with a laugh, throwing the keys at her. "You guys coming too?" He asked as he and the Dino Thunder rangers stood up.
"Of course." Jason said. They all stood up and left the house, Tommy having to take the keys from Kira and calmly put the guitar in the back, which she had been struggling with.
They all got into cars and drove to Cyberspace, Kira grabbing her guitar and jumping out as soon as Tommy turned the engine off. The others all walked inside at a slower pace, Trent and Conner rushing ahead to pull a couple of tables together so they could all sit together.
"Do you guys always watch her perform?" Zach asked as Ethan and Jason went to get some drinks.
"Always." Conner replied. "She's always there for us with our activities, so we're always here for her."
"Plus, I don't really want her to be here on her own at the minute." Tommy said with a slight frown, making Trent and Conner nod as Ethan and Jason walked over with their drinks.
"You don't think her dad would come here do you?" Kim asked, a frown on her face.
"After seeing how he was earlier, I honestly don't know." Tommy answered, his eyes turning to Kira as Hayley announced her. They watched as she performed, the original rangers watched in awe, Billy finally understanding why Tommy always cut their chats short so that he could go and watch the younger ranger perform.
"She is outstanding." Billy commented as they watched.
"She's amazing." Conner replied. "She's going to be famous one day. She just needs to believe in herself a bit more."
"Hey, she's a lot better than when you guys first became friends." Tommy said with a smile. "She's more willing to put herself out there."
"That she is." Ethan said. Hayley walked over and sat with them, smiling at the other rangers as she did.
"How is she?" She asked, nodding her head towards Kira.
"She's still scared. She almost forgot she was performing tonight. I don't think that's ever happened." He replied.
"The sooner we get her away from him for good the better." She replied. Kira finished her final song and they all stood up and applauded, making her blush as she walked over and sat in the spare chair Billy grabbed for her.
"You were great, Kira." Trini said as they all sat down.
"Thanks." She replied, looking down slightly.
"You alright?" Conner asked, all of the Dino Thunder rangers looking at her with frowns. Normally she had a bright smile after performing, but now she just seemed down.
"Yeah, I'm just tired." She replied. "Can I have the key for the jeep? I want to get my stuff loaded up now."
"Here." Tommy replied, giving her the key and watching as she left the café. "When's Adam getting here?"
"Tomorrow. Then we can work out how to go forward with all of this." Billy replied.
Outside, Kira was just loading the last of her equipment in the car when she was suddenly hit from the side and thrown to the ground. She groaned as she hit the ground and jumped up, expecting to see some Tyrannodrones or one of Mesagog's monsters, only to freeze when she saw her dad standing over her.
"Dad?" She gasped, looking around to see if anyone could see her, only for her heart to sink when she realised they were out of view of the café and there was no one around.
"You think you can just leave? You are my daughter, and you will come home this instance." He snapped, grabbing her arm and throwing her to the ground.
"No. I'm not coming back. Ever." She said, trying to find her courage and stand up to him. He clearly didn't like the answer and kicked her in the stomach before grabbing her hair and pulling her to her feet, pushing her against the side of the jeep, winding her and causing her head to spin.
"I am your father and you will do as I say." He snapped, punching her in the ribs. She gasped in pain as he hit her over and over. She managed to move her hands in front of her and press the button on the side of her bracelet, hoping that the others would hear it. "Is this getting into your thick skull now?" He hissed, slamming her against the car again. "You will learn to be obedient. You will learn respect!"
"Please, stop!" She cried, trying to put her arms up to protect herself, only to get punched in the side of the head.
"GET OFF HER!" She heard Tommy's voice yell before her dad was thrown off her. She collapsed to the ground, trying to get her breath back when she felt 2 pairs of arms on her.
"Kira, can you hear me?" She looked up and saw Kim and Trini kneeling next to her.
"LET ME GO!" She looked over at where she heard her dad's voice and saw Zach holding him to the ground as Jason held Tommy to stop him from reaching him. From where she was, she could see the red mark near her dad's eye, and figured that Tommy had got a punch in before Jason had pulled him away. The last thing she saw was Tommy's face before her eyes closed and the world turned black.
"Tommy, stop. We've got him. We got him." Jason said, making Tommy calm down slightly. He nodded and Jason let go of him, moving to help Zach hold Kira's dad to the ground. Tommy turned around and saw Kira unconscious on the floor and rushed over to her. Kim pulled Trini back as Tommy got there, pulling the yellow ranger into his arms and sitting on the ground with her.
"Kira? Kira it's Tommy. I've got you. You're safe. I've got you." He whispered to her as Conner, Ethan and Trent left the café, Billy following them slightly.
"I thought you weren't supposed to let them leave." Trini said to him.
"Well one has super speed, one can camouflage his whole body and one has skin like a brick wall. How was I supposed to keep them inside?" He replied. The three boys had frozen not far from Kira, taking in their unconscious and beaten teammate, her father who was being held down by two former rangers and their mentor who was cradling her in his arms.
"The police and an ambulance are on the way." Trini said to Tommy, making him nod as he held Kira. He ran a hand through her hair, a feeling of guilt washing over him as he saw the flashing lights in the distance. He looked over at where Jason and Zach were holding the struggling Mr Ford down, and knew that no matter what, he would make sure that he got sent to prison for a long time for what he had done to his daughter.