Blue & Evil: The Beginning
By: PernDragonrider
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Power Rangers. Just borrowing the characters for a little romance then returning them. No money being made; so don't sue.
Author's Notes: This contains SLASH! Relationship between two men and if you don't things like that please hit the back button and go no further. This plot bunny hid and bit before I could get rid of it. This is a prequel to my drabble entitled "Blue Meets Evil On The Beach!" Just one possible explanation for the tale of how Chad Lee and Ryan Mitchell might have became a couple. Special thanks, kudos, and bowing and scraping at CamFan4Ever's feet. Without her almost instant feedback, patience, and encouragement this tale would have never been written. Enjoy and please leave a review. Pern. Now onto the tale…
Chapter Six – Steel & Titanium"Kelsey is right, Carter." Captain Mitchell said with a sigh for Carter's homophobia. "I knew before I chose him that Chad preferred male partners; but he does his job to perfection. He's the perfect choice for the Blue Ranger's powers. I will not take his place on the team for his sexual orientation."
"He goes off by himself every morning, Captain." Carter said with a grim, angry tone. The scowl on his face was clear for everyone to see. "How do we know he's not secretly working for those demons that attack us? We don't. Was he even doing the underwater work for Ms. Fairweather today or was he just slacking off and shacking up with his fag lover?"
"He was with his lover, dad." Dana said with a quiet voice as she watched Chad sleeping on the medical bed. "I covered for him and so did Ms. Fairweather and her team. He just simply slept in. I don't blame him for wanting the extra time because Carter always picks him up first on his way out to get the rest of us. It's not fair to Chad that he has to cut short the precious little free time we do get because it's convenient for Carter to grab him instead of, for one time, picking up the one furthest out and letting Chad sleep in for a change."
"Well he gets to sleep in for the next three days, I think that's fair compensation." Carter said with a deriding tone of voice. "Faggot needs to learn to watch his back."
"Carter you don't even share a room with him and you're acting like Vipra's showing up was his fault." Joel said with an angry tone of voice. "I've shared a room with Chad since we were chosen. He told me our first night that he preferred male partners and I'm still his friend. He's never made a pass at you, anyone in the Aqua Base, or me for that matter. Like the Cap said, he's the perfect choice for our team and he's not going to take away his powers because he's gay. Deal with it, Carter. You need to enter the twenty-first century and get out of the dark ages anyway, guy."
Carter stalked out of the medical bay and to his room while the rest of the team sat with Chad until he woke up. Chad woke up about fifteen minutes later and tried to roll to his side. "Ry?" He asked sleepily and with some disorientation.
"Your in the med bay, Chad." Dana told him as she helped him to sit up without pulling on his wound. "Vipra attacked you out on the beach and almost sliced your back open. The doctor stitched it up, but no diving or strenuous stuff until it's healed."
"Yeah, like fighting off monsters isn't strenuous." Chad said with a sad tone and an even sadder expression on his face. "Dana, would you call my apartment, please? I just want…"
"I tried, after the attack, Chad." Dana said with a compassionate voice. "All I got was your answering machine and I left a message that you'd been hurt out on the beach tonight. I also told him that he was welcome to come to the base to see you; if he felt the need to."
"Thanks, Dana." Chad said as he slipped down off the bed and turned to leave the room. "I don't know what's with me; but every time I'm with him lately something inside of me wants to hurt him. I don't want him hurt, but I'm going nuts fighting off whatever is inside causing that feeling."
"It's the powers, Chad." Ms. Fairweather said with concern in her voice as she entered the room with a blue and white checked shirt for Chad to put on. "The Lightspeed powers will react like that when you're near a demon or something created by them. It's a kind of failsafe for you and the others that I built into them."
"He's not a demon nor was he created by them." Chad said sternly with a large dose of anger rising in his voice. "He's a man, just like me! Something is screwy with your failsafe then!" He stalked from the room and to the compartment he shared with Joel, the Green Ranger. Dana and Ms. Fairweather watched him go with matching expression of shock and surprise on their faces. It was the first time they'd ever seen Chad lose his temper with anyone.
Chad remained in his room for the night and the whole of the next day as well. He refused all offers to join anyone doing anything. The night after Vipra's attack on Chad saw the whole team, minus Carter and Chad, gathered in the empty mess hall talking quietly.
"He won't say two words to me." Joel said with a downcast expression. "I can get a 'hello' and 'fine' out of him, but he won't say more than one or two words to me at all. He's really fallen into a black funk and I don't know how to help."
"Did he and his lover have a fight?" Kelsey asked with a slight smile on her face. "Maybe we could get them to kiss and makeup. That would lift Chad's spirits then."
"Sadly I don't know who he is, Kelsey." Dana said with a frown. "I know he's tall with sandy brown or dark blond hair, but other than that I have no idea who he could be. Chad did call a name in the infirmary, but only a first name or a nickname. I've been calling Chad's place almost non-stop since Vipra's attack and no one ever picks up the phone; all I get is Chad's answering machine."
"His boyfriend, lover, or whatever hasn't been back there since they fought on the beach." Carter said quietly from door to the mess hall. "I've been there five or six times over the last two days trying to see if I could catch the guy. I've spent the rest of the time combing the beach to see if he'd show up at sunset. No luck. I apologize to all of you for my outburst about Chad's preferences. I've just come from his room after apologizing to him too. Captain Mitchell is right. He's the perfect person for our team and his preference in men for bed partners makes no difference in his job performance. Joel, you were right too. I did need to come out of the 'dark ages' and join the modern world. I want to say I'm sorry to all of you too. I've been a real ass these past couple of days to everyone."
Ms. Fairweather smiled and patted the chair next to her. "Come on, Carter; join us. We're trying to find a way to pull Chad out of his slump into depression. The doctor will be taking the stitches out in the morning and I'm going to send Chad out to check the underwater sensors. Maybe diving again will break him out of this black mood he's fallen into."
Dana looked at the clock and then blanched slightly, "I have to go. There's something private I have to take care of." She quickly rose from the chair and left the mess hall with everyone staring at her retreating back.
"What's up with Dana now?" Kelsey asked with a frown. "She's been really nervous and jumpy for the last day or so. That's not like her at all."
"Actually, I know and it is a private matter for Dana." Ms. Fairweather said sadly. "She's going to go and see her father and they're going to commemorate a shared loss. They'll both be a little on the sad side tomorrow, but they'll be fine. Just treat them like you always do."
"Well, I can't think of anything to help out Chad and I'm going to bed. If getting him back out diving every morning breaks his depression then I'm going to need as much sleep as possible. He seems to drag me out of bed after his dives. I know it's because he wants to share the joy of his discoveries, but sometime I just wish he could share them with someone else. He's a great guy and I love watching him talk about diving, but a six o'clock wake up call is a little on the extreme side. I think it's cause mine and Dana's door is the first one he passes on the way to the mess hall."
The group split up after that and each went back to their own rooms for the night. Dana and her father, Captain Mitchell, shared the remembrance of Ryan's loss together and they too retired for the night. During the night a lone figure stood on the beach near the submerged base. His sun-streaked light brown hair was blowing slightly in the soft breeze that blew in from over the restless waves that lapped against the sand at his feet. His tall, muscular frame was encased in a wet suit and at his feet sat the rest of the gear needed for going scuba diving. His dark eyes looked out toward the horizon that couldn't be seen for the darkness that shrouded the entire city.
"Forgive me, blue." The lone diver's thought as he donned his tank and prepared to walk into the warm waters of the bay. "Just as soon as the rest of the Rangers are destroyed and the Queen's Temple is back in its rightful place we'll be together forever, love. My plans to leave are already set in motion. We'll sneak out of Mariner Bay and never look back. I'm going to be leaving all I've ever known for you, blue. I hope you appreciate it." The diver walked into the waters of the bay and then disappeared into the dark swirling watery depths. His dive light illuminated the dark murky waters that he swam through silently. The only sounds those most divers hear, the rushing of the oxygen when he inhaled and the gurgle of the released bubbles when he exhaled. Topping an underwater rise, the diver came into sight of the submerged Lightspeed Rescue Aqua Base. "I'm going to tear Vipra apart with my bare hands for touching my, BLUE! Damn father and his plan for me to sneak in. I damaged those sensors weeks ago when first diving with Blue. He's never fixed them yet. Why'd he have to send that witch after him?"
"You are much to attached to that pet Ranger of yours, Ryan." Diabolico's thoughts echoed very eerily inside of Ryan's head while he was deep in the waters of the bay. "I sent Vipra to be sure that the sensors you disabled wouldn't be repaired until after you'd obtained the titanium morpher, son. Do not disappoint me and dally with the task of retrieving that powerful item and returning home." "Yes father." Ryan answered with a very respectful mental tone and then turned hard eyes on the bright lights of the base before him. He swam into the moon pool that Chad had told him was always open and eased off his fins, tank, and mask. He carefully dripped his way to the office of Captain Mitchell and entered. The key for the safe was exactly where his father had said it would be and he smiled slightly as he retrieved the powerful morpher, shut the safe and started sneaking back out of the base again. He was unprepared to run into the one person inside that he gave anything more than a damn about. Ryan tried to ignore the fact that he'd just bumped into his lover; but as always Chad was faster and more observant than he needed to be.
"Sorry," Chad said as he bumped into the large, wet suit clad body in the darkness of the hallways. Chad stopped short and then whirled and grabbed Ryan by the shoulders. "Ry!" Chad hissed in near panic. "What the hell are you doing here, in the base? You could go to jail for sneaking in here. Gods, Ry! Where the hell have you been? I've been calling the apartment to apologize since we fought. I… I'm sorry, Ry. Please, I need you to understand. It's not me, there's something wrong with the failsafe that was built into the powers. That's what was going on with me on the beach. Ry, please, understand. That wasn't me!"
"Can't let him find me with the titanium morpher! Have to distract him, quickly!" Ryan's thoughts chased so quickly through his head that he wasn't sure if they were his or something his father, Diabolico, had sent to him. He drew in a deep breath and then looked down into Chad's worried, frightened, and love filled eyes. He sighed as his heart constricted almost painfully and then dipped his head and kissed the man before him gently on the lips. "I'm here because I missed you. I thought I'd find you out diving in the bay and I wanted to surprise you, Blue. I got in through the moon-pool and I thought I'd find you there suiting up. Come join me in the water and let's explore together, love. I was an ass that night too, Blue. I'd gotten into a fight with some of my family over my lifestyle. We both have some things we need to makeup for, but come on, Blue, join me?"
Chad looked into Ryan's eyes and smiled slightly as Ryan kissed him. He listened to Ryan's words and nodded his acceptance, but when he reached up to wrap his arms around Ryan's neck the stitches still in his back pulled tightly and painfully. "Ugh." Chad grunted with the slight pain of the tugging stitches. His tone was forlorn and sad when he continued. "Can't dive until these damn stitches, curtsey of that bitch Vipra, are taken out, Ry. I want nothing more than to spend forever with you right now, but you have to get out of the base before you get discovered. We could both get into some very serious trouble if you don't go. Ms. Fairweather was saying that I'd be out diving for her in the morning. Meet me on the beach tonight, Ry, please?"
"I'll try, Blue." Ryan said smiling down into Chad's warm eyes. "I have some things I have to do for my family and then I'll try and meet you on the beach if I can. Love you, my blue." Ryan quickly turned and stepped into the moon-pool access to the bay and donned his gear. Before he could pull his mask down over his face, Chad grabbed his arm with a gentle hand.
"Ry, be careful out there, love." Chad said very quietly. "You shouldn't be diving alone, love. Don't take that chance again, Ry." Chad's concerned tone and the love shining through his eyes and words tore into Ryan's heart and before he could reply Chad had pulled him into a deep, passionate and loving kiss. "Take care, Ry. I'll be on the beach tonight; waiting for you." Chad turned and quickly left the room. He smiled slightly as he made his way to the quarters he shared with Joel Rawlings, the Green Ranger. He slipped back into the room as quietly as he'd left and Joel was never the wiser. Chad lay in his bunk and drifted into a light sleep.
Chad's alarm went off and he jumped quickly out of the bed while tossing a bright and cheerful, "Good Morning, Joel!" Chad quickly stripped off his still damp sleeping pants and pulled on his swim trunks and the blue tank top he wore when diving. He shimmied into his wetsuit and left it draped over his trim hips as he sauntered out of the shared quarters and to the medical bay. Joel opened one bleary, sleepy eye and then just rolled over and fell into a light doze until his sleep brain clicked into gear and he too jump from his bunk, not in happiness but in confusion.
"Damn that man changes moods more often than a woman." Joel groused even as a bright smile lit up his chocolate dark good looks. "Guess getting to dive this morning did the trick." He used the intercom on the wall of his room and called Kelsey and Dana's room. "Dana! Kelsey! Chad was smiling this morning! Good morning, lovely ladies. Come join the world!" Joel smiled at the sleepy replies and then cut the connection and woke up their early rising team leader for once. "Carter! Chad was HAPPY this morning! Come on, join the world and let's meet him in the mess hall when he finishes his dive!" Joel dressed quickly and made his way to the science bay where he was greeted with happy smiles from everyone in the area.
"Good morning, Joel." Angela Fairweather greeted the Green Ranger with a happy smile. "Our wayward Blue Ranger is out fixing the sensors this morning. He should be back in about a half an hour if there's not any trouble." Ms. Fairweather's smile was the brightest anyone had seen for days. "Looks like him being able to dive again has driven his depression away for now."
"Something drove his depression and sadness away; that's for sure." Joel told her with a bright smile of his own. "He woke ME up this morning chirping good morning before he left for the infirmary to get his stitches out. Took me about five minutes to realize that he was smiling so happily that he was beaming, something we haven't seen for almost a week now."
"Good!" Carter said as he joined them. "About time our Blue Ranger came back to himself and us too."
"Chad was always with us, Carter." Dana said with a smile as she too joined them all in the large science pod of the Aqua Base. "He's just been so sad because of the disagreement with his boyfriend, you, and then the attack by Vipra that confined him to base. He's just been out of sorts for a few days."
"Well, I for one am glad he's back to something akin to normal." Kelsey said as she joined her teammates yawning slightly. Kelsey turned her attention to the monitors that were following Chad's progress as he realigned the proximity sensors that had been jostled loose. She smiled as she saw him finish and then look around the underwater world he loved so well. "He loves it out there so much. It's a pity none of us dive or that there isn't someone that would dive with him all the time. He… Oh my god! What's that?" Kelsey's tone was normal and thoughtful until a large shadow seemed to obscure Chad from everyone's view.
"That is Chad's buddy." Ms. Fairweather said with a smile. "That huge grouper fish comes around every time Chad dives. Chad's the only one that's ever been able to get close to it."
"Not the fish! The man with the fish!" Kelsey said and then watched as Chad and the unknown diver swam along with the huge fish for a few minutes before Chad turned and indicated he was returning to the base with hand signals. They all watched amazed as the unknown diver and Chad came together in something that resembled an embrace and then the fish and the other diver swam off as Chad came back to the moon pool.
"I see your morning dive wasn't without its surprises today, Chad." Ms. Fairweather said as one of her assistants helped Chad shed his tank, weight belt, fins, and mask.
"Good dive this morning, Ms. Fairweather." Chad replied with a very happy smile. "Maxi, that huge grouper, came by with a friend, a very unexpected friend, but welcome nonetheless."
"Maxi?" Carter asked with a mock frown. "Thought your friend was a man, Chad."
"Maxine, Maxi for short, because she's the largest grouper I've ever seen." Chad replied with a smile in Carter's direction. "I wasn't talking about Maxi, though. I was speaking of her companion, Carter. My friend, partner, sometimes joins me when I dive in the mornings. He's been worried cause I haven't been out for the last few days. Seeing him was as big of a relief for me as it was for him. We've got some stuff to work through, but I think we'll see the other side of this without many waves."
"Welcome back, Chad." Kelsey smiled and waved from the rear of the group. "Guess you're going to drag me out of bed to talk about your dive again?" Her teasing tone had all of them smiling as Chad looked up and then smiled brightly.
"Why, Kelsey, you're up already, sleepyhead. Where's the fun of that?" Chad teased back with a huge smile and happiness sparkling in his dark eyes.
"Why don't we all make our way to the mess hall and Chad can tell all of us about his discoveries this morning?" Captain Mitchell said from the doorway. His usually somber and serious face had a smile of happiness for his Rangers. "Come on, I think the chef has made Chad's favorites this morning. I thought I overheard him saying that our Blue Ranger needed cheering up. He must have been mistaken."
"Coming, Captain." Chad said with a happy tone as he stepped into the small changing room near the moon pool and donned his tank top and a pair of light grey sweatpants and then joined his teammates in the mess hall for a friendly breakfast that filled the place with laughter, teasing, and merriment.
The day was shaping up to be a quite one until the alarms started ringing. The rangers quickly assembled and shot from the base in the Rescue Rover to take of the latest threat to Mariner Bay. They fought against Vipra and then against a Ranger, the Titanium Ranger. Their newest weapons, the V-Lancers, knocked the seemingly indestructible Titanium Ranger to the ground and they were all saddened that they'd taken out another Ranger when he rose from the ground, his visor up. Carter called for them to take their weapons to full power and Chad froze.
"Ry?" He whispered and then he shocked them all by powering down. "RYAN! NO! Please, No!" Chad said as he stood between the threat of the Titanium Ranger and his teammates weapons. "Ry, for the love of god, please love. Why? How?"
"Rangers! Stand Down!" Captain Mitchell cried over the communication circuit.
"Do what?" Carter demanded even as he was watching tears flow down Chad's face.
"I said STAND DOWN and return to base!" Captain Mitchell said sadly.
"Blue, leave." Ryan said as he turned his back on Chad's tears. "I have a score to settle and then… I don't know. Go, blue! Now!"
Chad returned to the Rescue Rover, the tracks of his tears and his distress clearly visible on his face. For once none of them said a word until the returned to the Aqua Base and Carter angrily confronted Captain Mitchell on his calling them off.
"I called you off because he's my son!" Captain Mitchell said in distress.
"Oh lord!" Chad said with a gasp as he grabbed onto the wall and slid to the floor. "This is not good." Chad's whisper was only loud enough to reach Carter and he spun to see Chad slumped on the floor hugging his legs tightly about the calf while his face was buried into his knees and he rocked back and forth with his back banging into the wall.
"Chad." Captain Mitchell said with an understand tone. "It's not your fault, it's mine." Captain Mitchell moved to Chad's side and he gently took the distraught Blue Ranger's arm. Tugging gently Captain Mitchell got Chad to his feet and then he walked into his private office, locking the door behind him. "I'll take care of Chad. You four meet us in the conference room in two hours. If Diabolico gives us that much time to recover and regroup; if he doesn't then we'll deal with explanations as you go."
XXXXX The End of Chapter Six XXXX
A/N: I realize that the end of this chapter diverges from canon; but sometimes it happens, folks. Anyway, please read and review. Reading is grand, but feedback is writer's crack. Feed my addiction, please? On another note a very special, thank you to Allie351 and CamFan4Ever. Thanks for your input and opinions on this tale to date. Without either of them; I don't think story would be as good as it is. May the Power Protect You, Always! Pern.