Stolen Sister 5
Author's Note: I am ready to make a comeback to fan fiction, so hopefully somebody will be reading! Thanks!
With SPD in lock down mode, a determined Sydney had to find a way into the building. In her condition she wasn't ready to fight Taylor if she was caught, and she wasn't taking any chances while the others were in the building still either. Vaguely she remembered that the ventilation maps she had studied had entrances in the garage, where the SPD vehicles were kept. Since it was a separate building from the academy, Syd knew she would be able to get into it without alerting Taylor.
She crept through the early morning shadows undetected, forcing herself to remain calm and conserve her energy. She checked her watch and knew that despite her injuries she would have to move quickly. In less than a half an hour the SPD academy would be gone if she didn't stop her sister's evil plan.
She grimaced as she forced herself up the ladder, and unscrewed the vent from the wall and reluctantly crawled in. It was a small tunnel, covered with dust and incredibly cold. She alternated from crawling on her stomach with scooting on her back to give her arms a break.
Sydney wanted to throw up from the pain. But her discomfort would just have to wait as the fate of SPD rested literally in her hands. She would have to rely on three years of training to get her through the hardest trial of her career. Crawling through the tiny dusty vents had taken much longer than Syd had anticipated because of her injuries. Every movement was painful, the burns on her skin rubbing against the cold dirty floor. Sydney didn't care about being dirty for once but she was afraid of infection setting in. Her right arm was pretty much useless, and lack of sleep and a probable concussion made it hard to focus. She took her time, taking breaks often to close her eyes, hoping to relieve some of the pain. Undaunted she continued, knowing there was not much time left. Syd had managed to escape death once already and having escaped from the cave and walking back to SPD she wasn't about to be stopped now.
Finally she reached her destination, the command center. Determined, she kicked the vent door out and gingerly pulled herself down to the floor. Her blue eyes darted around the room trying to find the bomb. Attached to the main computer of SPD was a tiny black box, a red light glaring from it in the dark room as it counted down.
Three minutes blinked furiously on the detonation device in the command center. It would take twice that time just to get to the others. A sudden nudge against her leg filled the pink ranger with hope. RIC, their loyal robotic canine could reach the others while she disarmed the bomb. Quickly she programmed the dog with the coordinates of the old containment cells and placed the box of morphers into his mouth, even as more time ticked off the clock.
The group of trapped rangers huddled together for what they were sure was their last moments alive.
"There's gotta be something we can do." Bridge moaned helplessly, "We can't just sit here." He was pacing around the small cell anxiously.
"No one knows we're here." Commander Cruger answered the green ranger's question. "The rest of SPD could be destroyed by now." He stated pessimistically. He could not offer his team false hope; the truth was that unless there was a miracle their days were numbered.
Jack and Z sat huddled together, each offering a semblance of calm to one another during this most helpless time. Sky sat apart from the group guilt eating him even as he wondered about Sydney being alone. At least they were together and were relatively unharmed. He didn't know what condition they might find Sydney in, if they found her at all. He didn't want to think about that.
"Why didn't she just kill us when she had the chance?" Sky spoke aloud, breaking the tense silence.
Jack looked over at his teammate. "You're trying to rationalize what a demented criminal was thinking?" He scoffed in disbelief. "What's the point?" He muttered, having accepted his fate and leaning back against the wall.
"The point is, I don't think this attack was about SPD. I think it was about Syd." Sky replied. "Someone wanted to make her pay, to see her suffer."
"Why?" Z asked thoughtfully. "Who would want to hurt Syd?" The yellow ranger said being the voice of reason as usual.
Bridge joined in the conversation. "We know she was captured Friday night after she logged out from SPD…"he recalled
"But who would have known she was leaving?" Kat wondered. "We didn't know." Now Z was interested in this conversation. Maybe Sky was right. Even Jack had to agree that something didn't make sense.
"Red, blue, yellow…" she muttered as she recalled the detonation procedure from the SPD manual. "Green and black." She cut the wires carefully with her left hand, and over rode the self destruct mode Taylor had installed as the numbers on the bomb slowed to a stop. Relief flooded Syd briefly before springing back into action. She had to get to the garage before the others found her. If they saw her in her condition, she would not be allowed to pursue her sister, and she didn't feel like explaining that fact to them just quite yet.
Sydney shook off her fear of driving and grabbed the keys to Sky's motorcycle. Luckily it was so technologically advanced it could almost drive itself, since she had never driven a motorcycle before. As she jammed a helmet on her head, she grimaced as the pressure increased on her head wounds. She faltered a minute, pausing to catch her breath. Nevertheless she had one thing on her mind; she had to save her sister. Somehow she had to convince her that she was not evil and break the spell Broodwing had put on her.
The motorcycle roared to life and sped away from the garage as she held on tight following the windy road up the mountain. She pulled off the road and walked the rest of the way to where Broodwing and Taylor were waiting to celebrate.
She stood out of sight as the deadline came and passed and SPD was still standing. Broodwing turned his angry eyes onto the evil princess next to him.
"Disappointed?" Sydney made herself known, startling her two enemies. "How did you get out of that cave?" Broodwing asked extremely pissed off that his plan was unraveling around him. Lord Grumm would make him pay for his failure he was sure of it.
"You ruin everything!" Taylor screamed as she threw herself at Sydney taking down the injured and exhausted girl. The two girls grabbled on the ground until Taylor managed to land a blow to Syd's head; leaving her more dazed and disoriented. The black clad girl stood up and smirked at her opponent. "I may not have destroyed SPD, but I will destroy you!" She shouted angrily as she began another attack on the defenseless girl, kicking her in the side until bloodied.
Sydney could feel her already bruised ribs breaking, as the painful cracking sounds echoed in the quietness of the cliffs. Her brain rushed to keep herself alive long enough for her teammates to arrive. Though she knew that they couldn't help her unless she was incapicitated. But she also knew that Commander Cruger and her teammates wouldn't leave her there to die.
The Academy was like a ghost town, lights off and empty of all human or alien beings as the seven made their way to the command center. Kat wanted to give them all a thorough examination but finding Sydney was a greater priority and the group not so politely refused her offer. They noticed the disarmed bomb but no evidence to show who might have done it.
"Where is she?" demanded Z worried. "She doesn't have her morpher so we can't locate her that way." Bridge declared nervously as he opened the box that contained their own morphers.
"But her morpher isn't here so if we track her morpher we'll find her anyway." Jack suggested as they strapped on their own morphers. Commander Cruger quickly typed in a computer search for Syd's morpher. When the location appeared on the screen, he was glad to know she wasn't too far away, and the group headed to the garage and headed up to the cliffs overlooking New Tech City.
He had been surprised when he had been alerted to the identity of the fake Sydney. He remembered the circumstances surrounding her admittance into the academy and his heart broke for his pink ranger. In his entire career at SPD, he had never faced a situation like this before. He didn't relish the fact that he would have to tell his team that they couldn't help their teammate.
"Sydney." Jack shouted as he jumped out of the jeep before Sky had even parked it. Z, Bridge, and Sky were not too far behind as they raced to find their teammate.
"No." Ordered Commander Cruger abruptly, halting the four in their tracks at his statement. "You stay here unless I call. That's an order." He demanded roughly, leaving without waiting for a response or the mandatory salute.
Z, Bridge, and Sky were shocked and were ready to disobey the Commander's orders until Jack stepped in. Jack disagreed vehemently, but as leader reluctantly obeyed and directed the rest of the team away from the battle. He understood their confusion but he trusted Commander Cruger to know what to do. The four rangers stood together, impatient for word on Sydney, and ready for action.
The Commander watched his smallest ranger battle valiantly against her opponent, who was not as injured or exhausted as his pink ranger. As much as he wanted to go in and save her, or let her teammates go and defend her he knew he couldn't. This would be one battle Sydney would have to win on her own. He didn't consider the one possibility that would enable him to override the manual. If it appeared that she was gravely injured and unable to defend herself, he the highest ranking officer on the scene would be permitted to engage in battle without consequence. Knowing Sydney's determination and fighting ability, he hoped it wouldn't come to that.
He watched helplessly as the pink ranger whom he had come to care for a great deal was engaged in an intense battle. He feared he would have to step in, but would Sydney ever forgive him for doing so? Could he forgive himself if it came to that?
When Commander Cruger ordered the team to stay back they had all been confused until Sky, who had memorized the SPD manual, brought up an obsolete rule that had clarified the situation.
Sky's voice stopped them from going against Cruger's orders. "Rule 22-C, "When engaging in battle between good and evil, where two people of blood relation are pitted against one another, the team shall stand down unless called upon by the commander or highest ranking officer at the scene. " He finished reluctantly. The sudden awareness of the situation came as a painful realization to the blue ranger.
"So that girl is somehow related to Syd?" Z asked in confusion. "Syd never mentioned her."
"So Grumm didn't create her?" Jack inquired puzzled. "No, he must have turned her evil." Sky declared unbelievingly.
"Did Syd know?" Z wondered if such a thought was possible. The battle was being waged in front of them and the four were unable to move or close their eyes at the sight of their battered teammate still fighting after all she had been through. They weren't close enough to hear though and their questions were still unanswered.
"What did he tell you?" She demanded her voice hoarse from exhaustion. "I have never forgotten that day, every night I have nightmares and wish it was just a terrible dream, but every day I wake up and I realize it's not. You're never coming back, and I have to live with that." Tears burned the cuts on her face as they made their way down her cheeks onto her dirty shirt. She didn't have the energy to brush them away.
"At least you got to live." Spat Taylor angrily. "But not for long." She amended quickly, taking advantage of a weakened and powerless Syd; tossing her to the ground with a vicious force. "And when you die, don't think I'll spend any minutes thinking about you at all."She threatened as she delivered a brutal kick into the pink ranger's side, causing Syd to bite back a scream as she clutched her already bruised and probably broken ribs.
But Sydney wasn't defeated yet. Taylor confident that her opponent was beaten relaxed briefly, giving Sydney an opportunity to attack. Possibly her last opportunity. In the fight to survive, Sydney accepted that the Taylor who she was battling was not the sister she had loved and lost. Digging deep for strength she didn't know she had, Syd grabbed Taylor's leg and threw her to the ground, giving her time to struggle to her feet.
Stunned, Taylor now looked up at the pink ranger furiously. Sydney gathered a quick yet painful breath as Taylor slowly stood up ready to continue the fight. Sydney knew she had to end this now or face certain death. She grabbed the locket off her sister's neck and shouted "fist of gold!" Her battered right arm transformed and with a final surge of energy, she pushed the dark princess off balance and tumbling over the cliff.
"I HATE YOU!" Screamed Taylor as she fell to a painful and final death on the rocks below. She found herself watching her sister's body tumble through the air, she had to know that it was over. She knelt by the side of the cliff and allowed herself to relax knowing she was alive, yet grieve for losing her sister once again. Broodwing having failed to defeat the rangers once again, quietly disappeared.
"NO!!!!!" Sydney's screams echoed through the cliffs and back to the other rangers who were waiting helplessly as Syd fought off Taylor. Z flinched at the heart wrenching sound coming from her roommate, instinctively moving closer to Bridge, who was also overwhelmed by the pink ranger's cries.
Sky, the steadfast blue ranger remained unmoving as he stood apart from the others, devastated for the closest friend he had on the team. 'Closest friend.' He muttered darkly, 'I know nothing about Sydney.' He realized angrily, the anger masking the guilt he felt. Tears threatened to fall from his blue eyes, but he didn't care if anyone or everyone saw them.
A frustrated Jack Landors watched over his team, wishing he could go back in time and change the events that had just taken place. He knew, without actually knowing, that today would change everything for all of them, Sydney in particular.
There was no victory in this battle.
Darkness covered the cliffs but not the memories of the intense battle that had been fought. Numb to both the physical and emotional pain, she reluctantly and slowly stood to her feet. Adrenaline fading she limped past her teammates and commander. Shame, guilt, and pain were evident in her blue eyes even as she evaded eye contact.
Z was horrified by Syd's appearance. Her blonde hair was in a messy ponytail, tinged pink with blood from the numerous cuts on her face. Her t-shirt and jeans were dirty and blood stained evidence of the battle she had faced. A black eye and busted lip made her look more fragile than usual, not to mention the cuts that would inevitably need stitches.
Bridge noticed the dark circles under her eyes that told of exhaustion and the red puffy eyes that told of the tears of her pain. He felt his heart breaking at the sight of his friend. Too many emotions to even comprehend.
Not that he didn't notice her appearance, but what struck Jack the most was her eyes. Instead of their usual twinkle, there was a hardness and a pain that erased all of his first impressions of the SPD "princess". He wondered how she could have a kept a secret so deep and painful for all this time without them knowing.
Sky winced as she approached, her right arm hanging limply at her side, her struggle to catch her breath even as the movement of walking seemed to drain her. Her collapse seemed inevitable so he moved forward to catch her, to offer her some modicum of comfort. But she walked right past them, not making eye contact, not saying a word.
Her bruised and battered body struggled with every movement, and Syd was glad when Sky's bike came into view. Without a word she walked past, she couldn't take their questions or their pity. Before they could stop her, or even realized what she was doing, a sudden roar of a motorcycle crashed through the rangers' consciousness as the petite blonde took off in a sudden burst of speed.
As he watched her disappear, Sky realized how wrong he had been a few days ago when he had accused Syd of not knowing how to drive. He was perplexed at the cause of her unwillingness to drive.
Commander Cruger was the first to leave, the other rangers following right behind him; the group silent all the way back to SPD.
Kat noticed the rangers pacing about outside the window. They were anxiously waiting for an update on the pink ranger's condition. Sydney had been adamant that no one be admitted in the medical center when she arrived. Kat fought to keep her composure as she examined the young girl under her care. She forced herself into her professional mode as she saw the damage caused to Syd's body, amazed that Syd had survived, let alone won the battle and more amazed that she walked away on her own will power and drove back to SPD.
The injured girl was asleep when Kat finally left to give the team the update. It had taken 2 hours for her to finally tend to all of Syd's injuries, and only the physical ones at that. The emotional injuries would take far longer to heal, if ever.
"How is she?" demanded Sky as he jumped to his feet from the couch where he, Jack, Bridge, and Z had been sitting together, four on a couch, the need to comfort each other more important than their actual comfort.
"It could be better." Kat admitted slowly. "I don't know how she did it, because her body is completely shut down right now." Z stood next to Bridge to offer support as much as receive it. Bridge was Syd's closest friend, and because of the powers he had, all these emotions were wrecking havoc with him as well.
Kat put up the recently taken x-rays for the others to see. "Her right arm is broken in three places, "she said as Sky saw that the breaks were not simple fractures. She has some displaced vertebrate in her back and neck which will require therapy to strengthen and move them back into alignment; Kat continued explaining the contraption on Syd's neck to keep her from moving in her sleep.
The feline doctor continued her analysis, "Her left fibula is broken, she has three broken ribs, and a major concussion. Not to mention being dehydrated and malnourished."
"Is she going to make it?" questioned Bridge worried. He had never seen anyone look so injured before, not even when Icthior sent three of the rangers plus Commander Cruger into the medical center.
"She's fighting… She has a fever which means her body is working to heal itself. Along with her ranger powers, this regenerator should speed up her healing but it won't be easy. It will be a long process with therapy and counseling." She warned them. "Right now she is sedated so she can rest and her body doesn't have to work so hard."
"How did she get those burns?" Jack asked after the update was finished, interrupting the stunned silence of the group.
"I don't know." She admitted sheepishly. "I guess there are some things we won't know until Syd wakes up." She wished she had more answers for them, but tried to give them reasons to be optimistic.
"If she wakes up," Growled a tired and frustrated Sky, who quickly left the room. "You all need to get some sleep. I'll let you know if anything changes with Sydney." Commander Cruger ordered his team to rest.