Disclaimer; I do not own Power Rangers
A/N: I lied, I have more Rangers in this story, and I'm planning a few more before this ends. However, I also know this will end in the next three chapters.
For Lance, the return of the victorious ninjas meant the start of work. Macy, as per their earlier agreement, started with triage, ordering the injured ninjas in order of greatest need while Macy's second, Laura, started feeding the prisoners soup. Thankfully, the ninjas were easy to get settled with pain salves and slow healing spells and the Earth ninjas were sipping restoring brews to counter the effects of the damaged earth they'd channeled. It was a brew Lance had learned for his qualifications that he'd never thought he'd have to make so often so soon. It didn't help that the ninjas had taken to calling it 'Wolfsbane Potion' for it's horrible taste and how sugar rendered it useless.
Finally, though, he was free to start checking on the prisoners. "My name is Lance," he said, stepping into the circle of prisoners, "My parents were Mystic Rangers and I am a trained, albeit young, healer. With your permission, I'd like to check you over, see if there are any major medical issues, and do what I can to help you feel better."
"Lance?"
Lance went very still as a slender, bearded man stood up, "Pa?" he managed finally.
"My God, Lance," Xander Bly said as he stepped forward.
"Pa," Lance said and held up his hand as memories he'd tried to suppress surged, "prove it."
Xander hesitated, and Lance made no effort to hide his longing and pain. "Here," Xander said, he held his hand out and created a shower of green sparkles that coalesced into his morpher. He flipped his hand down, "Let's see Venjix do this," he muttered, "Magical Source, Mystic Force."
The rush of energy was unmistakable to Lance and he threw himself at his dad with a sob. He barely felt the change when Xander demorphed, focused instead on the arms that held him close. "Pa," Lance whimpered through his tears.
"I thought you were with Nick and Madison," Xander said after a Lance began to calm down again.
"I'll explain later," Nicole said from behind them. "I've kept Lance safe, Xander. It's good to see you against brother."
"Hey Nicole," Xander said, "I never figured to see a genius gnome like you out here." He reached a hand out to clasp Nicole's hand over Lance's shoulder.
"I wasn't about to get shut up like a rat in a trap," Nicole replied, "and there were people who needed help out here that Corinth wasn't going to offer." She hesitated, "I don't suppose you know."
"Chip and the kids are safe," Xander said. "They were made to get on an evac bus by the army instead of getting back to the base, but they're safe."
"And Mom," Lance finally managed to say.
"I'm sorry, mate," Xander said, "we got into it with the army guys and the grinders showed up and cut us off."
Lance closed his eyes, "You're sure about Dad though?"
"Positive," Xander said firmly.
Lance freed himself from Xander's embrace, "I have work to do, Dad."
"You do, huh?" Xander said with a fond smile.
"Master Andair said that the only reason I wasn't a journeyman already was because I'm not fifteen yet. I've got two months and I can start saying I'm a journeyman." Lance replied, "Now hold still." He closed his eyes and let the magic flow, listening to what it would tell him. "All right," he said, "you got lucky. The Power has kept you in good order, just eat and sleep and try not to fight Grinders for a few days, ok?"
"You got it," Xander said.
"Let's sit over here," Nicole said, "and I'll explain what happened."
"Sure," Xander replied.
"I'm keeping an eye on Lance today any ways," Nicole said as they settled on a cot.
Lance turned back to the group, "Sorry about that," he said with a sheepish smile, "as I was saying I'm Lance and I'm a healer. I just want to make sure you're all ok right now. I have what can be called a magical gift that lets me heal people." He turned and sat down beside his first patient, "May I check you for injuries?"
The tall, African American smiled, "Sure kid, go right ahead."
Lance reached out with his magic, and then looked at the man with a frown, "You're a Ranger," he said, dropping his voice.
"It's ok," the man said, "I never had a secret identity. I'm Joel Rawlings."
Lance blinked a few times, "Lightspeed Green," he said as his memory caught up with him. "You have active powers, right?"
"Right," Joel said, "like your Pa, I'm probably in good stead."
"I'd say you're a little better," Lance replied. He hesitated then turned to Nicole, "Hey Nicole, where's Will?"
"He's checking the ATVs," Nicole replied, "why?"
"Will, as in my son," Joel said.
"Yeah," Lance replied with a grin. "He's here; he's in charge of everything mechanical. He's over there," Lance pointed, "just down that hill where all the ATVs are."
"If you'll excuse me then," Joel said, "I'll have something to eat, after I see my son." He got up and walked away.
Lance moved on to the next patient with a calm smile. An ache that had plagued him for nearly a year was eased a little. He had known coming out here would change things, he had expected it to hard, even expect to die. He had not expected to find out that most of his family was alive. Glancing over to where his dad was talking to Nicole, Lance knew that things were going to be all right.
Xander looked up, as if sensing Lance's gaze, and smiled at him. Lance smiled back before turning back to his work.
Everything was going to be all right.