Chapter 5: "Reflection"
In retrospect, Sky thought, splitting up might not have been the best idea. Which made that decision his second of three major screwups this week alone: letting Mirloc escape, dividing the team to go look for him, and failing to protect Syd in the park. He was on a roll, a long downward slide, and he was starting to think D Squad might not be as far as he could fall.
"He hasn't gotten Jack," Z was saying, for what had to be the hundredth time. "We're going to be fine. Jack will get us out of here."
"He hasn't gotten Jack yet," Syd countered. "Mirloc managed to capture all of us, and we're not exactly helpless."
"Although, looking back," Bridge said thoughtfully, "getting out of the Jeep might have been a mistake. If we had been inside the vehicle, it's possible that he wouldn't have been able to get a reflective angle on both of us at once. Or the Jeep might have blocked the reflection entirely."
"So why did you get out?" Sky demanded. Staring at his own image copied a hundred times in the walls of their mirrored prison, he didn't have any trouble summoning the disdain that question deserved.
"Well, we couldn't judge him in the rearview mirror," Bridge said. Then he paused, considering that. "Or could we?"
"I don't see you out there evading capture," Z told him. "Aren't you supposed to have more experience with this guy than any of us?"
"Oh, yeah," Sky said, folding his arms and glaring at himself. "Losing family to him makes me a real expert. I could write a book."
"I meant the interrogation," Z retorted.
"Hey, I have an idea," Syd interrupted. "Why don't we stop trying to figure out what we did wrong and start figuring out how to get out of here?"
"Just like that," Sky said, shaking his head. "We're in a funhouse, Syd. There's no way out."
"Actually, funhouses have at least two exits," Bridge pointed out. "The way you came in, and the way you're supposed to go out. So either we're not really trapped, or... this isn't really a funhouse."
"That's probably the more likely explanation," Z said.
"Still," Syd insisted. "I like looking in the mirror as much as the next person--probably more, considering what I have to look at--but if the options are standing around feeling sorry for ourselves or trying to find a way out of this crazy funhouse prison? I'm gonna go with trying to find a way out."
"You forgot option three," Z reminded her, "which is waiting for Jack to find us."
"Option three doesn't technically preclude options one or two," Bridge remarked. "We should be able to accomplish it while simultaneously achieving one of our other goals. Those being escape or, uh... standing around."
"If Jack was going to get us out of here, he would have done it by now," Sky snapped. "We're on our own."
"Listen, Sky, Jack has been coming for me since I met him," Z declared. "And ever since we met you, he's done the same for you. I think he deserves--"
"Hey," Bridge said. "Look at that."
The Omegamax Megazord shimmered into view briefly, trapped in the mirrors even as Jack tumbled out, his Ranger uniform disappearing when the zord did, lost in the reflection. Lying on the ground at their feet, he squinted up at them ruefully. "Well, that could have gone better."
He held up his hand, and Z stepped forward to take it without hesitation. "You all right?" she asked, looking him over as she helped him to his feet.
"Wow," he said. He was staring at his own reflection, echoed over and over again in every direction. "That's seriously weird."
"I guess staying in the Jeep wouldn't have made a difference," Bridge mused.
"Okay," Syd said. "Now can we look for a way out of here?"
"Uh, guys--" Jack had reached out to touch his reflection, and his hand went right through himself. "I think we'd better stay close together."
"What do you mean?" Syd spun around, and Sky could see her reflection reach for Z. She didn't touch anything, but then, she wouldn't if Z didn't want her to. "Wait, why am I testing this on you?"
"That's not me," Z's reflection said. She put her hand on Syd's shoulder, and her other hand fumbled for Jack's again. "Jack."
"Yeah," he said. "Bridge, Sky. Fall in."
"It's surprisingly easy to get disoriented in here," Bridge observed, stepping in closer to them. One gloved hand brushed against Syd's arm, as if to reassure himself. "Or maybe, not surprisingly."
"Sky," Jack said impatiently, his reflection reaching out to Sky's.
Sky waited for contact that never came. Turning, he caught Jack's startled gaze--or the gaze of Jack's reflection. He'd thought he was standing right next to them. But which them was the real them? Every time someone reached out, all of their reflections reached out in exactly the same way.
"Don't move," Z said.
Suddenly there were a thousand Zs, moving and reflecting everywhere, and he caught the one that walked into him automatically. "Gotcha," she said, pulling him in the opposite direction. He stumbled into Jack, who grabbed his arm even as the Z who'd been leading him disappeared.
"Even to me," Z muttered, watching her selves vanish by the hundreds, "that's a little weird."
"Okay," Syd repeated. "Now we're in trouble."
"Nah," Jack said confidently. "Me and Sam had a deal. I take out the giant robot, he finds the team. He'll bust us out of here any second."
"You sent Sam to find us?" Z sounded offended by this explanation.
"Actually, Cruger sent Sam," Jack admitted. "He wouldn't let me leave the base. But then, giant robot, threatening the city, you know how it goes. I figured Sam wouldn't mind if I borrowed his ride for a quick mop-up job."
"Yeah," Sky snorted. "Good work with that."
"Hey, I got the robot," Jack told him. "And Sam is always complaining that he isn't challenged enough, so. I just gave him another Ranger to rescue."
"Sam," Sky said through gritted teeth, and he wasn't talking about Sam at all, "is a cocky son of a bitch who would be more useful to the team if he stopped showing off and occasionally did what he was told."
He heard Z mutter, "Well, good thing none of the rest of us have that problem."
It was Jack's gaze that held his attention, though, calm and just amused enough to set Sky's nerves on edge. "Sam's confidence is justified," he replied. "He's a smart kid. And don't forget he put his life on hold to hang around here and help us out."
"He's not a kid anymore," Sky grumbled. "He's older than you are. Sure he's smart; you would be too if you had fifteen years' future knowledge on the people around you. And he wouldn't have had to put his life on hold if he hadn't screwed up his time travel in the first place!"
Jack raised his eyebrows, but he held up one finger and pointed to it with his other hand. "You don't actually know he's older than I am." Pointing to a second finger, he added, "You're just mad that he won't tell you when you're going to become Red Ranger."
His third finger had nothing to do with anything Sky had said, except in a general and very unwelcome sense. Still studying Sky, he pointed to it and asked, "Why do you keep comparing me and Sam?"
Sky scowled at him. "That wasn't the third point."
Jack smirked. "It wasn't your third point, no. But it was my third point. So?"
"I'm sure Sam would make a great second-in-command," Sky said stiffly. "You obviously think alike. And recently he does have a more successful track record than I do."
"Is that what this is about?" Instead of impatience, Jack radiated a smug satisfaction that made Sky want to deck him. "Jealousy isn't a good look for you, Sky."
He paused, then added, "Well, it is, but not as good as most of your others."
Sky reminded himself that hitting his team leader would get him exactly nowhere. Jack's flirting had gotten to a point where people outside the team were starting to notice, and all he could do was ignore anything that wasn't said to his face. Which was everything. It turned out he had a reputation as somebody no one wanted to piss off.
"Oh, I don't know," Z said, deliberately casual. "It's better than the 'why am I surrounded by idiots' look."
"Or the 'you totally screwed up' look," Syd agreed. Then she added, "Or is that the same one?"
"Variations on a theme," Z told her.
The reputation didn't extend to his team, unfortunately. "Would you shut up?" Sky demanded.
"Ooh." Z pretended to wince. "Definitely better than that look."
"Fine," Jack said, and he had the nerve to grin. "So it's not as good as some of your others. The point is that Sam isn't the Blue Ranger. You are."
"Maybe I shouldn't be," Sky snapped. "This hasn't exactly been a stellar week for me. Don't make deals with criminals, that's D level education. Don't let your emotions get in the way--that's not even D level, that's orientation level one."
"Don't wallow in self-pity," Jack interrupted. "What level is that? Come on, Sky, this is ridiculous. Suck it up and do your job like the rest of us."
"I'm telling you I can't do my job!" Sky glared at him. "Are you even listening to me?"
"Are you listening to you?" Jack retorted. "You think you're the only one who's made a mistake? What about the commander, huh? What about him not telling you something that affected your interrogation and put not just you but everyone in this galaxy at risk? You gonna demote him too?
"What about all of us, getting ourselves captured by a criminal who can travel through reflections? We didn't have enough respect for his abilities--and frankly, it's not the first time. We've underestimated suspects before, and we've paid the price. That's how it works: you pay, you learn, you get better and you try again.
"You don't get better by going back to D Squad and being the fucking Super Cadet," Jack told him. "You don't get to live your life being great at the things you already know how to do. You have to live with what you don't know and hope you figure some of it out as you go."
"And if I don't figure it out," Sky growled, "you die. I can't put the entire team at risk for the sake of my education."
"Hey!" Jack let go of Z long enough to wave his free hand in Sky's face. "News flash! This is a police academy! We put ourselves on the line for each other; that's what we do here!"
"That's not what I do!" Sky shouted at him. "My dad was the best SPD had, and if I can't be that too then I don't deserve the uniform!"
"Your dad was the best, and now he's dead," Jack said harshly. "A Squad was the best, and they're gone. The Eltaran Rangers out there looking for them, they're the best of the best, and they can't even find five missing superpowered cadets! Even the best make mistakes, Sky!"
"Don't talk to me about mistakes," Sky said, icy and hard and scrabbling desperately for a way not to feel. Horror at the reminder of his father, despair at his own failure, and anger--always anger--at Jack.
Jack wasn't done. "You think you're the only one of us who doesn't get to screw up? That's insulting. If anyone ever demotes you it'll be for failing to show respect for your teammates, your squad, for SPD as a whole and for Power Rangers everywhere.
"But it's not going to be me," he concluded. "You're messed in the head if you think I'd ever voluntarily surrender the best fighter on this team. Anyone on this team. Any of my friends."
He really hated Jack sometimes. Most of the time, actually. But as much as he told himself it was true, it was getting harder and harder to remember in unguarded moments when he was distracted by something else.
That was the only excuse he had when Jack let go of his arm, grabbed the front of his jacket, and calmly informed him, "And yeah, I know I'm taking my life in my hands here. But you gotta live with what you don't know, right?"
Jack was in his face and Sky stiffened automatically until Jack's mouth landed on his and he realized what was happening. He felt his hands catch hold of Jack's arms without any intention at all, holding them together. He pressed for another kiss when Jack would have pulled away and Jack let him, answering his doubt with the kind of certainty only fools and maybe Red Rangers seemed to possess.
"So, inquiring minds want to know," Syd declared, as Jack let go of his jacket and fumbled for Z's shoulder again, making sure they were still where he thought they were. "Are you guys still going to be this scary when you finally start going out, or is this just some weird form of repression where you yell and scream at each other and then make out afterwards?"
"Actually, repression would be if they didn't make out afterwards," Bridge said thoughtfully. "You're thinking of sublimation, where you go from one phase to another without passing through the state in between."
"My god, are you actually analyzing this?" Z demanded. "I want to get them some kind of, I don't know, therapy."
"Thanks for the thought, Z," Jack said, squeezing her shoulder. "You're always looking out for my best interests."
"This means you're not actually going to quit, though, right?" Syd was eyeing Sky suspiciously. "Or demote yourself, or whatever? Because Jack doesn't hang around with D level cadets."
"None of us do, really," Bridge said. "I mean, we probably should. Helping them out, setting a good example, the kind of thing that's really helpful when you've just been promoted to your first squad. Jack used to--"
"Bridge," Z interrupted. Sky could see her reflection shake its head, a hundred times over. "He doesn't anymore. We're B level, and we're doing all the A level duties on top of it. We don't have time to socialize with D Squad."
"Right," Bridge agreed immediately. "Of course. We definitely wouldn't see you if you were on D Squad."
"Besides," Jack said with a grin, "which poor D level cadet are you going to demote so you can have their space? That's cruel, Sky."
Sky shook his head, because there wasn't any other answer to that. "At least you don't think I'm staying just because I'd miss you if I left," he told Jack.
Jack laughed. He hadn't meant it to be funny. "I'm just glad I don't have to replace you," Jack teased. "Sam's a redhead, you know. He probably looks terrible in blue."