At long last, an update! Hooray!

When Luka met Melanie

Dr. Luka Kovac--formerly ER doctor, currently resident helper in the fight against evil--was scared to death. It wasn't the first time he'd been so, and it probably wouldn't be the last. But why was he so afraid? There were no bombs flying; his patients back in Cook County General were well taken care of in his absence; his newest patient was stable. Luka was terrified of a woman barely over five feet tall. She was still carrying on an argument with herself, throwing her hands in the air as if to bat away any new points to the discussion or possibly trying to keep herself from punching something.

Questioning whether it was the brightest idea to approach an emotionally distressed black belt, Luka spoke to her. "What wa…is his name?"

"Adam. His name is…was...Adam." Melanie said the words slowly, testing them for future use.

"He's going to be fine." Luka stepped a bit closer. "Andrea was right. That should be looked at." He pointed to her face, but still kept his distance.

"Do I have to go….IN THERE?"

"Yes, you do."

She thought about it. "I'll be fine. It doesn't hurt that bad."

"Do I have to call those guys with the muscles to drag you to the infirmary?"

"Fine," she mumbled grudgingly.

Following the Croatian doctor back into the infirmary, Melanie was quite sure she had never been so grateful for a curtain in her entire life. This line of white fabric just two hundred threads per inch was the only thing preventing her from seeing Adam. And while her imagination had run wild filling his body with tubes, wires, respirators, dialysis machines, and any number of fictitious medical equipment she couldn't begin to name; she was positive that seeing the real thing even with just a fraction of the machinery would result in a total break down.

Luka was smart enough to face the girl down facing away from the curtain. His latex coated hands passed over the trails of crusted blood. After a few passes with an alcohol pad (Hey Lisa, is that right?), he was glad to find just two lines remained. He looked down at his own fingers, then at the gashes. Trailing his hand in the air above her face, fingers poised as though to tear at her flesh, he saw the gashes were oddly spaced. They could not have been made by a human hand. In a way this comforted Luka, who had lived through the cruelty humans can inflict upon their neighbors; still he could not begin to imagine what kind of monster lay waiting for the next team of Power Rangers.

"What did this?"

"Angry guppy," she muttered.

Luka nodded as though he understood. "Well, it's not as bad as it looks."

She made no reply, just continued to stare at the wall. Luka recognized the expression on her face, he'd seen it on his own many times since his family had died. It was pointless trying to tell her not to think about it, but he could at least try to distract her for a little while.

"Wait," he said sternly. "I know what this needs." He pulled a small adhesive bandage from the pocket of his lab coat. It was bright yellow and had Muppet Show character smiling out from the plastic. Not even Melanie could stay locked in her grief when presented with such a band-aid. Luka smoothed the gift across the smaller cut. It really did more to lift her spirits than to protect the wound.

Luka motioned that he was going to go back behind the curtain. Melanie left the infirmary before she could glimpse so much as one of Adam's shoes.

---------------------------

With her mind focused on a grinning Gonzo and her fingers in her ears to prevent any noises from Adam's machines to put new ideas in her head, Melanie quickly escaped the infirmary. She leaned against one of the glass panels that showed a mannequin mock-up of the White Ranger--sort of a window into times long past. She watched Billy and Erin trying not to slap one another as they both attempted to fix the morphing grid. Being the newest member of the "Power clique", excluding the two kidnapped doctors, Melanie had only ever heard stories about Wonder boy Billy Cranston. Now here he was working against the clock to save the Rangers and about to get a Silver Zeo morpher thrown at his head.

John and Luka entered the Power Chamber, their job done until the latest battery of tests results were completed by the Command Center computer. Tanya and Rocky looked up hopefully as John stepped up and began to fill them in.

"Judging by the latest CAT scan--"

A sudden high-pitched buzz sounded in the Power Chamber sending the two novice crime fighters under a control panel.

"Are we under attack?" Luka asked, pulling Erin to safety.

"You aren't." Melanie pulled out her mobile phone. "But I am." She turned away in a lame attempt at privacy, "Yeah, Michael. On my way."

"You can't seriously be considering going to work right now," Kimberly gaped.

"Two of my sous-chefs have the flu, I have no choice," she turned to leave.

"It's unwise for us to go running around the city," Billy called out to her. He entered a command into the computer and the viewing globe showed images of the Piscelons during her and Adam's fight. She turned away, unwilling to relive the battle. "These aren't like any of the mindless minions we have faced in the past. The Piscelons are bred with the instinct to find any weakness in their opponent and to exploit it. We must proceed with caution."

Andrea turned the viewing globe off before it could show Adam's defeat.

With the Piscelons capable of appearing anywhere in Angel Grove," he turned to the doplar map being created by the sensors the Rangers had stationed earlier. They showed the alien forms appearing and disappearing randomly throughout the city. "It really is best if we all stay here."

Billy turned back to the group expecting to see that his argument had convinced Melanie to stay. But he did not find her at all.

"Where did she go?"

They all turned to the spot she had been occupying at the start of the scientist's speech. It was now empty.

"If I had to guess," Jason sighed. "I'd say she went to work."