Summary: The Dino Gems choosing their owners, but what if the people who owned the Gems weren't who the Rangers were supposed to be?
Author's note: this is so, so late, and I'm very sorry, but I'm also trying to graduate.
Dedicated to Sarah, for a belated happy birthday, with my thanks for pretty much everything.
Hayley cradled the phone between her ear and shoulder, scrubbing feverishly at the countertop. Tommy was regaling her with the events of yesterday's battle. She had heard stories from all of her patrons, and watched the news coverage, but it was better to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak. "The kids looked pretty good out there," she said.
"They mastered the Zords, they took down the assault craft, and they ended the threat," agreed Tommy.
She sensed there was something he wasn't saying. "But."
Tommy sighed. "I'm not sure."
"You hand-selected them, Tommy. Besides, the gems wouldn't have bonded if these kids couldn't handle the power, you know that."
"I know. It's the teamwork thing that I'm concerned about. How are they ever going to fight Mesogog if they can't stop fighting each other?"
Hayley agreed, but it wasn't her place to say, not just yet. What Tommy needed to hear right now was assurance that he'd made the right decision. "It was their first day on the job. It'll get better." She noticed out of the corner of her eye a spill stain by the register. She swiped her rag over it, but it was sticky and unrelenting. She sprayed something heavy-duty on it, and went to work.
"I guess you're right," he conceded, but she was only half-listening. "I guess my larger concern would be getting them all to pass at the end of the year."
"Uh-huh," she said noncommittally. "Stupid stain..."
"Hayley?"
"Out, damn spot!" she muttered, putting all of her weight into it.
"Have you gone and killed King Duncan again?" he asked.
"No, just occasionally like to illustrate evidence of my high-falutin' education."
"And here I thought that you slept through most of your courses."
"Now you sound like my mother. I am turning a profit, I'll have you both know. I'd be turning more if I stopped giving a certain science teacher free drinks."
"You act like I come in and suck it straight from the spigot."
"You might as well, for how much you're costing me." There! Her counter sparkled once more. Satisfied, Hayley leaned back. "Shouldn't you be in class?"
"School doesn't start for another half hour yet."
"Oh, yes, and you're well known for your promptness." The bell over the front door made a tinkling sound, and Hayley looked up. "First customer of the day, Tommy. I'll see you later."
"You mean you'll insult me more later."
"That, too." With a smile, Hayley hung up the phone and turned to her regular. Since her 'Space catered largely to the local high school crowd, it was never busy in the morning, and Hayley didn't bother with a morning staff. It was a high contrast from the afternoons and the weekends, in which the place was packed. There seemed to be no middle ground, but she liked the variety of it.
"Morning, Ethan. You're here early." Ethan James had been coming in since she opened the place, always offering free advice on maintenance issues. Since computers were her forte, Hayley had been hesitant at first to listen to a kid, but Ethan proved to be something of a genius-in-training when it came to the machines, and she'd grown fond of his presence.
"My laptop's on the fritz," he said. "I think I got a virus after I hacked into that..." he trailed off, and put on a large, overly casual grin. "Since I went to that forum about good study habits."
Hayley rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Ethan. Hand it over. You want a muffin?"
"Am I going to have to pay for it?"
"Well, it's either the dollar-fifty for the muffin, or it's the going rate for my services. You make the call."
"Muffin it is!" he said cheerfully, coming around the counter to help himself to a blueberry muffin. He punched in the appropriate button on the register, deposited the cash, and took his receipt.
Hayley watched this all out of the corner of her eye and shook her head. "You're in here way too often." Struck with an idea, she looked up. "Actually..."
"What? Oh, no way. I know what you want to ask." He glanced unsubtly at the bay window, where the sunlight streaming through made the thick red letters bleed through the white paper backwards on her 'Help Wanted' sign.
"Come on, Ethan. You know the price of everything, you can work the register, and you can help anyone who has a computer question. You'd be perfect for this job." She patted the counter. "There, all fixed."
"Yeah, and I told you the last time, I'm not interested."
"I can see how you wouldn't want to forgo all of your free time, which is so well spent on..." She checked his history, her eyes widening in surprise. "This is what you crashed your computer for?" she said. "I hope no one saw you doing this on any of my terminals..."
Ethan reached over her, snapping his laptop shut and securing it under his arm. "Thanks for the help, Hayley, gotta get to class. See you!" He darted out the door.
Hayley laughed to herself, going over to turn on the shake machine. One of the things she loved about this job was the people she met through it. One of the other things she loved was the free time it devoted towards helping Tommy with getting his Ranger team set up. If she was going to have a genius IQ and an expensive college education, she was going to put it to good use.
The bell tinkled again, and she looked up from chopping bananas. A Hispanic boy, high school age, was wandering in, looking around the place and taking in everything. "Are you open?" he asked hesitantly.
Hayley smiled. "Sure we are. What can I get you?"
"Actually, I was here about the sign in the window." He pointed, and Hayley found herself staring at the object in question for the second time in fifteen minutes.
"Looking for a job?" she said, a little relieved.
"Yeah," he said. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Trent Fernandez."
"Hi, Trent," she said, shaking obligingly, though a little surprised. Hand-shaking was not one of the personality quirks of her usual patronage. "I'm Hayley. The job in question basically entails scut work at the moment. Bussing tables, policing the terminals, things like that. It's not glamorous, but if you show that you can handle it, you can might find yourself moving up the ladder into the delightful world of part-time management."
Trent smiled. "Sounds fine."
"And hey, shouldn't you be in school?" she asked suspiciously.
"Well...it's a bit complicated," he said.
Hayley had spent the last two weeks hacking into security systems all over the city in the hopes of wiring useful camera feeds into the base. This kid knew nothing about complicated. "Try me."
"We just moved to town last week. I was supposed to start at Reefside High, but for some reason my dad pulled me at the last second. He's trying to get me into Lovell Academy instead. Says it's 'safer.'"
Lovell Academy had a rep for being expensive, prestigious, competitive, and a bit of a brain farm, but it was only a day school, and was no better or worse in terms of security than Reefside, really. Hayley shrugged, who was she to judge. "All right. Well, anyway, here's the appropriate paperwork. If you can get it to me by tomorrow, that'd be great. I'd like to start you at the end of the week, if that's okay."
"All right, cool," he said. "I can do that. Thanks a lot, Hayley."
"No problem," she said. Other bosses might not be so lax about their hiring policies, but Hayley had always trusted her gut, and her gut was saying that Trent was a good kid. Besides, she needed the extra hands, and she couldn't bother Ethan forever.
"I'll be here tomorrow," Trent promised, ducking out the door with a shy sort of smile.
The following morning, Hayley stopped by the base—going in through the woods entrance so as not to wake Tommy and interrupt his precious beauty sleep—to do her regular city scan. The alarm would go off instantly if there was a larger surge of energy anywhere, but that was more designed to cope with monster attacks and the like. It was what had first alerted her to the presence of the BioZords, although there had been a radio report moments later. In any case, a manual search was better for more low-key things, such as the readings she came across that morning. The unmistakable signatures of some of Tommy's discarded experiments.
She called in sick, headed out into the woods with the handheld reader, and was pleased to see that there was not one, but three lost eggs. She spent the day holed up in Tommy's basement, trying to train the Raptor Riders. At noon, she called up the Cyberspace to check in, and Marc informed her that 'some spiky-headed kid' had been in to hand in paperwork. Hayley's next call was to Trent to tell him he had the job, but that was cut short when the red Raptor knocked his tail into a monitor and nearly set the room on fire.
By the time Tommy came home, the Raptors had already worn themselves out. "How was work?" she asked conversationally, putting the replacement monitor into place.
"Not nearly as entertaining as your day was, from the look of things," he said. "What happened?"
Hayley beamed at him. "Guess who made some new friends."
"Hayley, that's fantastic. I hope it was something we can use."
"It's pretty much always something we can use," she said. "It's the Raptors. They just started napping, so don't you dare go over there and wake them up, because they're still kind of temperamental, and your first aid kit isn't up to par." She gave the monitor an experimental wiggle, testing to make sure it was secure. Satisfied, she brushed herself off and backed up to admire her handiwork. "How were the Rangers?"
Tommy sighed.
"That bad, huh?"
"I had to listen to Cassidy Cornell screeching at Devin for an entire period, for starters."
"I know where you're coming from," she groaned. "She came into the 'Space yesterday without him, and it was like she couldn't even function. But at least she's not a Ranger. Tell me the others are somewhat better."
"They seem to be ignoring each other, for the most part." Tommy frowned, running a hand through his short hair. The cut always amused Hayley, because when she'd first met him, he'd had more hair than she had. "When I was doing this, we were all really good friends."
"Except for when you were trying to kill them," she said cheerfully, and he glared. She knew that she was probably the only person who could get away with mentioning it casually, but even so, it still caused the man a considerable amount of pain. Which was why he was spending the rest of his life atoning for something that hadn't even been his fault to begin with. She put a hand on his arm gently. "I'm sure these guys will be okay in the end," she assured him.
"They'll need training. They don't know how to fight all that well."
"Lucky for them you're a good teacher."
"I can't teach them how to manage their powers."
"That's probably something they can figure out for themselves."
Tommy nodded curtly, and the potentially self-destructive train of thought was cut off by a sharp roar. Hayley sighed. "They're awake again. Want to take a turn at it?"
He laughed. "I think you're on your own there."
Hayley rolled her eyes at his retreating back, double-checked to make sure that anything valuable and/or breakable was tucked safely away, then mentally pushed up her sleeves and went back to work.
Conner faced the weekend with a good feeling. The rest of detention had passed without incident, once a sad-looking Mr. Reed consented to the kids bringing in headphones. The last two days had found three teenagers all listening to their own music without exchanging so much as a glance at one another. Conner was so thrilled to be free that he woke up early Saturday morning, eager to get to the field and get back in practice.
He called up Zack Clark, the team captain. He was hoping to recruit some guys, and Zack would be the one to act as switchboard for this makeshift match. "Zack, man, it's Conner."
"Conner, the rebel without a cause. Are you finally done with detention? We have a match next week against El Carro, and we need your magic feet in a big way."
"Detention-free," Conner swore. He was going to steer clear of Randall for the rest of his life.
"Great. Hey, listen, was Derrick with you?"
"Derrick? In detention? No, why?"
"Because he only showed up for one practice this week. We've been using Greg Kaplan in his place, but he isn't half as fast. I know you and Derrick are buddies, so I figured the both of you had gotten on Randall's bad side. If Derrick's not in detention, though, he has got a hell of a lot of explaining to do."
"Listen, man, how about I call him and find out? I needed to talk to him anyway."
"Tell him I'm ticked."
"Will do. See you, man." Conner hung up, not brothering to press the issue of a scrimmage later, because it sounded like Zack was a little on the warpath. Understandably so, without Conner and Derrick, there wasn't much of a team. He wondered where Derrick could be that he'd miss that much practice, and picked up his phone again to call and ask.
Conner realized that even though he'd known Derrick since his freshman year and they'd been on the team together for the same amount of time, he didn't actually know Derrick's cell phone number. Frustrated by more than merely a setback to his plan, he pulled out the phonebook, and dialed Derrick's house. "Hey, Mrs. Cole," he said, when a woman's voice answered, "I'm looking for Derrick, is he there?"
"Oh, are you from the study group?"
"No, this is Conner. From the team." Study group?
"Conner! Yes, of course. I'm sorry, Conner, Derrick's not here. I thought you were a member of the group, calling to ask about the location change. Apparently, it caused a bit of a fuss."
"Oh. Well, actually, I was looking to join the group. Could you tell me where they're meeting?"
"Sure thing. Let's see, Derrick wrote it down...ah, here it is. Hayley's Cyberspace."
Why did that name mean something to him? He knew he'd heard it mentioned somewhere before.
"Right, the Cyberspace," he lied, like he knew where it was. "Okay, thanks for your help, Mrs. Cole."
"No problem, Conner. Goodbye."
"Bye." He hung up the phone, and leaned against his kitchen counter. Hayley's Cyberspace. It sounded so familiar, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out why. He'd never been. He didn't know anyone named Hayley. He couldn't think why anyone he knew would go to a place with 'cyberspace' in the name. Cyberspace was like...the internet. Computers. A computer place wasn't a place for his friends, it was a place for people like Ethan James.
Ethan.
"Dude, are you going to Hayley's after this?"
"You just asked me if I was going to Hayley's...how do you even know about that?"
He had never heard of Hayley's Cyberspace before, and he'd just casually brought it up to Ethan like it was something they always did. Like it was a place he would hang out; like he would hang out with Ethan James. And now here it was again.
Hayley's Cyberspace.
Hayley's Cyberspace. Derrick couldn't believe he was here. Well, he could, sort of—the Hayley woman was nice, and the smoothies were unbelievably good. More accurately, he couldn't believe he was here on a Saturday, with Devin and Krista. Like they were friends or something. But Dr. Oliver had paged Derrick's ridiculous bracelet that morning after breakfast, and said there was going to be a meeting at the Cyberspace, to discuss something. Derrick didn't even know what; his mother had knocked at his door and had wanted to know who he was talking to, so he'd had to cut the impromptu page short.
When he'd arrived, Devin was spinning on a bar stool, his messy hair flapping every which way.
"All right, now that we're all here, I was thinking we should talk about what we're going to do with our powers. I think—"
"Whoa, you don't get to just start talking or anything," said Derrick. "First of all, I don't want to listen to you babble about saving fish, and second of all, Dr. Oliver isn't here."
"That's okay; I've printed up an outline, and made copies for everyone. He can still read over what he missed."
"Dude, what do you think this meeting is for, anyway?" said Derrick irritably. "Dr. Oliver didn't call it to talk about your stupid crap."
"That's because Dr. Oliver didn't call it."
"He was the one who told me to meet here this morning."
"I called the meeting. I just asked him to spread the word and pretend like it was his idea."
"Why do that?" asked Devin.
"Because I didn't think the jock would come."
"Damn right I wouldn't."
"Are you guys all set to order?" asked Hayley, coming over. She was giving them a smile that almost seemed like she knew something she wasn't telling them. More likely she was laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, the three of them being crammed in there together. Derrick might even laugh, if he didn't have to deal with it himself.
"No," he told her tightly, though he glared at Krista while he spoke, "we're still waiting on a member of the group."
"We're all set, actually," said Krista with a bland smile. "I'll have one of your—"
"No, thank you," Derrick cut her off. "We're not—"
"Guys," said Devin pleadingly.
Hayley eyed them, her face falling slightly. "I can come back." Derrick wondered why she looked upset—the Cyberspace seemed pretty full, so it wasn't like she was losing customers or anything.
Krista opened her mouth, probably about to complain again, but Derrick was so not in the mood anymore. "Fine, whatever," he said to Krista, and then to Hayley, "Could I have that pineapple thing again?"
"You could say please," Krista muttered.
"You could bite me," Derrick snapped back.
Krista made a hideous face at him, then turned to smile at Hayley extra-sweetly. "Just an apple juice, please, and a blueberry muffin?"
"Got it," said Hayley. "Anything for you, Devin?"
Devin was glancing nervously at the door and almost missed the question. "What? Oh, no, I'm good. Thanks." His gaze returned to the crowd of kids coming in.
"Who're you waiting for, Devin?" asked Derrick, amused because he already knew the answer.
"No one," said Devin hastily.
"So does this mean you lick Cassidy's boots on the weekend, too? It's not just a weekday thing?"
Devin's face fell slightly, caught and offended. "Cassidy just needs a lot of help," he said. "She's really busy."
"And you are so, so whipped. I hope you at least get something out of this."
Krista groaned loudly. "You are such a pig."
"Oink."
"Here you go guys," Hayley said, handing out their orders with a wan smile. "I'll assume you're paying separately?"
"I don't do charity," said Derrick.
"See, that's just what I'm talking about," Krista said, pressing papers into Derrick and Devin's hands. "This is my proposal for what we should do with our powers," she blathered, completely oblivious to the fact that Hayley was still standing there.
To his credit, though, Devin managed to take notice of this. "Not in front of the civilians," he hissed.
Fortunately for them, the phone rang. "Hayley's Cyberspace," Hayley answered. "Tommy? Where are—" She caught Derrick looking at her, and held his gaze for a moment before turning her back to them. "Yes, they are." Derrick felt a little guilty for listening in, and was about to turn his attention, albeit reluctantly, to Krista's latest diatribe, when he spotted the last face he ever thought he'd see coming into the Cyberspace. (And the last face he wanted to see.)
Conner McKnight spotted Derrick, threw up his hand in a wave, and started to walk over.
"You know, you think just because you're red that you get to dictate meetings?" demanded Krista of Devin in an loud, high, incredulous voice. "How incredibly sexist and fascist of you."
Devin shook his head. "It has nothing to do with that."
Conner reached the bar. His eyes fell over the hoards of nerds hunched over computers, the screeching hippie, the president of the Reefside AV Club, and finally landed on Derrick. "I didn't believe it when I heard it," he said. "What the hell are you doing here, bro?"
"Study group," Derrick rattled off the excuse he'd given his mother, trying to keep his voice even. It was the only viable reason why he would be hanging out with Krista Stewart and Devin Del Valle ever. Well, the only excuse that didn't involve soccer balls to the face.
Now that was something to consider.
Conner shook his head slightly. "Zack's ticked, man. He said you missed practice all week?"
Not all week. He'd been there...Monday? Tuesday? He knew he'd been there at least once.
"Whatever, man," he scoffed. "I don't need to practice."
"Derrick?" interrupted Krista. "Are you quite done socializing yet? We have work to do." She tapped her finger against the stack of outlines on the counter.
Conner glanced over his shoulder at her, and Derrick felt a wave of embarrassment. Kirsta, inexplicably, was wearing a bright yellow vest over her usual floofy dress, and it made her look like a crossing guard. Plus, she had dirt in her hair. She looked like a crazy person, and that reflected so badly on Derrick, who just last year had dated every girl on the junior varsity cheerleading squad.
Krista regarded Conner flatly in response, but he didn't blink. Finally, she huffed and made shooing motions with her hands. Conner cocked an eyebrow at Derrick. "Cute, but annoying."
"I wasn't even going to give her cute," Derrick sighed.
"Can you get out of here?" said Conner. "I mean, it's only the first week of school, how big of a project could you possibly have?"
A loud buzz cut through their conversation, and all the teens turned to look at Devin, who was pulling his cell phone out of his pocket with a sheepish expression. "Oh, hey, Cass. No, I'm...I'm sick."
"DEVIN!" came the response, loud enough that Devin winced and had to hold the phone out to preserve his eardrum, unfortunately inflicting Cassidy Cornell's wailing on the rest of them. Devin shrugged at his audience.
Derrick's entire reputation was so dead if he couldn't find a way to smoothly salvage this in the next ten seconds.
"Conner McKnight, right?"
They both looked over at the sound of Hayley's voice.
"Yeah," said Conner cautiously.
"Soccer forward extraordinaire, if my sources are correct." She smiled. "You know, I'm surprised you two aren't at the open tryouts for the Reefside Waves." The Reefside Waves were the best soccer team in the state, one of the top five in the country, and if you came with Wave accolades, you stood a very good chance at going pro.
Derrick gaped. "Open tryouts?" How could he have missed what was probably the best thing to ever happen to him?
"Yeah," Hayley said. "At their practice field right now."
Conner flashed his widest grin, the one that got him everything he wanted. "You're kidding, right?"
"No."
Without another word, Conner turned away and started heading for the door. Derrick hastily climbed off his stool, shouldering his backpack. "I'm coming with," he announced, following his teammate.
"Derrick!" Bouncing impatiently, he turned. Krista and Devin were staring at him. "The meeting?" said Devin.
"You don't understand, bro. These are the Waves." Derrick smirked, brandishing Krista's flyer. "You guys go on without me. I'll catch up." He gave them a mock salute, glad to be out of there, and chased after Conner.
Devin watched Derrick go with a vague sense of failure, which he quickly forgot when he realized that Krista was radiating disgust. "Do you see what I mean?" she asked Devin despondently. "He's a flake." She gave a very Cassidy-like sigh, one that indicated that this was the worst thing to happen to her since the beginning of time. "You know, it's okay, though," she continued. "Now that Derrick's gone, you and I can go over the outline without being interrupted by his immature and unintelligent commentary. Let's get a table," she said, gathering up her papers. With some difficulty, she managed to balance both her food and her propaganda, and then shoved Derrick's abandoned smoothie into Devin's hand. "Here. He won't be needing it."
Devin took a few anxious tugs at his straw, but he had calmed down considerably after Cassidy's call. Cassidy had yelled at him for several minutes, but she seemed to buy the illness excuse, and in turn, that had bought Devin at least the weekend. He felt guilty about lying to Cassidy, especially since she was about to start yet another big expose, and could use his help, but he knew that some things were just more important.
He sat down next to Krista at one of the round tables, and began to skim her handout. The manifesto contained a list of all the charities that could benefit from the celebrity endorsement of the Power Rangers. Devin liked the theory fine—why just use the Zords to save the world, when they could do so much more?—but he couldn't help thinking that Krista was being a little over the top about the whole thing.
"Krista, I don't know if using Derrick's super-strength to relocate the warehouse district is the best of ideas," he said uncertainly, but when he looked up from the page, Krista wasn't paying attention. She was, like he had been earlier, staring at the door. Somehow Devin doubted she was afraid that Cassidy might show up. "Krista?"
"Who's that?" she asked, her voice taking on a completely different quality than the tone he was used to. She sounded a little less brash, a little more breathy.
Devin turned to look. A guy had just come in the 'Space: short, Hispanic, attractive (Devin supposed—he was a dude, after all), and looking lost. Krista was losing focus over a guy! Devin smiled, glad to finally see a break in Krista's chilly exterior. "Are you okay?" he teased. "Do you need something? Do you want me to call a paramedic?"
She glared at him, but only for half a second. "Shut up." Then she hit his arm fiercely, turning around. "Shut up."
"I wasn't saying anything."
"He's coming over here," she whispered, bending over her papers and beginning to scribble fiercely on the top page.
"Hi, I'm looking for Hayley?" the guy said. "I'm supposed to start work today."
"If she's not at the bar, then she's probably just taking someone's order," said Devin. "She'll probably be back in a minute. Hey, haven't I seen you around before?" The guy did look vaguely familiar.
"You might have. I just moved to Reefside last week. I'm Trent."
"Devin. And this is Krista."
Krista raised her head, flashing Trent a smile. "Hi."
"Do you guys go to the high school?" he asked, addressing both of them but watching Krista.
"Yeah," she said cheerfully. "Have you started yet?"
"No."
"Come find me when you do. You'll like it, I promise."
Devin coughed in an attempt to cover up his laugh. Krista didn't notice, but Trent might have, and before he could say anything, Hayley came over. "Trent. Good timing. Come with me, and I'll get you started."
"I guess I'll see you guys later," Trent said, waving as Hayley escorted him away. "Bye, Krista."
"Bye!" she said, and once he was out of earshot, she turned to Devin and said, "All of our meetings will be held here from now on."
Devin only smiled, deciding that he didn't know Krista well enough to get away with teasing her. "Anyway, about the manifesto. I like the idea, but I'm not sure if these are the right organizations that we should be helping out. I mean, the Horticultural Society—"
"The Society!" cried Krista, her eyes going wide. She frantically started shoving all of the papers into her bag. "I completely forgot! Today's the meeting where we discuss our fundraisers for the next few months! I have to go."
"Uh," Devin began, but Krista was already out the door before he could finish. He did anyway. "Bye."
Derrick had tryouts. Krista had a meeting. Hayley was training her new employee. And an indignant Cassidy had informed him over the phone that she was now going to spend all day at the spa, trying to eliminate the migraine that Devin's incompetence gave her. Devin drummed his fingers on the table, suddenly faced with an afternoon of nothing to do. He pulled Krista's abandoned juice over to his place at the table, and took a sip. He smiled.
"Well?" demanded Mesogog.
Elsa struggled to keep her poker face. "Well what, sir?"
"Where's my explanation?"
To her left, Zeltrax spat out, "My lord, we offer no excuses, only apologies and the promise to improve our performance."
Mesogog, the leather of his long jacket swishing with every step, came to rest a mere foot away from his subordinates. "Is this correct, Elsa?" he asked, leaning in to invade her personal space. "Am I to understand that you feel no need to explain yourself?"
Elsa only required a few milliseconds to gather her thoughts before answering as diplomatically as she could. "Lord Mesogog, it is in my humble opinion that it would be a waste of your valuable time. Time better spent destroying Dr. Oliver and his new Power Rangers."
"Exactly the answer I was looking for," the lizard of the lair declared, his scaly face mere inches from Elsa's own. Elsa had to turn her head to escape the pungency of her master's breath, and while it provided a brief respite, she regretted the gesture, because it made her seem that much weaker. Still, she plastered on the familiar black smirk that had earned her such favor in the past.
Mesogog stepped away, resuming his nefarious pacing. "Now. Have you had any luck in tracking down what we discussed earlier?"
"We know they're out there," Elsa offered. Finding egg signatures was the easy part. Pinning down their location was a lot harder. Zeltrax wasn't much use at the console, either.
Mesogog settled onto his throne, waiting.
"Oliver has not made his move yet," rasped Zeltrax. "When he does, we will be there to stop him."
There was a distinctly murderous glint in their master's yellow eyes. "You had better be."