Our Time
Vida Rocca exhaled heavily and shrugged her shoulders, hoping to loosen them enough to get a good blow at him as he walked through the door.
"What are you doing?" Chip asked her as he came inside with the first bag of groceries that they were taking to their hotel suites.
"Don't want to know," she told him. "Just get inside."
"What?" he set down the bag and looked outside. Vida was staring at Nick who was coming up the stairs.
Vida lunged, cuffing Nick's nose.
Xander grabbed Vida just as she prepared for another swing.
Nick wiped his nose of his sleeve and looked up carefully. "Okay, I saw that coming, what took you so long"
Vida glared hard at him, disgusted that he could laugh off her anger.
"You don't even care about us, do you? You selfish jerk. After everything we did together, you just don't get it."
"Oh, no, Vida, I understand perfectly. I get it that Madison is too big of a weenie to confront me herself. She just hides behind you. It's sad really."
"Don't you start."
Xander and Chip backed out of the room as Daggeron came to stand between Vida and Nick.
"Get out of the way," Nick ordered.
"I don't think so," Daggeron said firmly. "You need to cool off."
"He's right, get out of my way so we can finish this." Vida brought her hands up again and lunged at Nick. Daggeron grabbed her arm.
"Vida," he said firmly. "This isn't going to solve anything."
"The hell it isn't. Momma's boy over there needs a good spanking."
Nick burst out laughing. "Bring it on Vee. Hit me. It's exactly what I deserve."
Vida kicked out hard, connecting hard with his chest.
Madison walked around the corner, noticing Nick reeling back and Vida fighting against Daggeron's bear-like grip.
"What's going on here?" she asked, watching the blood run down Nick's face.
"We're letting off some steam," Vida said quickly. "Don't worry about it."
"This is about me, isn't it?" Madison said with a groan.
"Oh, no, baby, this isn't about you at all." Nick stood up and began taunting Vida again.
"I don't think this is the time or the place for you to unleash any masochistic tendencies," Robert James Finn called up the stairs as he entered the room. He let go of the banister and swung up next to Nick. "We need you out there."
Casey came in behind him. "Good luck, RJ. This one is practically falling apart at the seams."
"I am not," Nick yelled. "My business is my business, just stay out of it!"
RJ stepped forward and put a hand on Nick's chest. "Please, now is not the time."
"On the contrary," a voice from the doorway said quietly. "There is no better time."
The group turned to see a man none of them had ever met standing on the precipice. He was of a stout build, his hair dark, his eyes darker. His complexion was almost white, his lips a startling red. He wore a long coat made of black leather that reaches his ankles, covering most of his knee-high boots. His height was hard to guess, but from below them, he seemed to tower in presence.
"There is no time but the present, and no better place than here to fix the pain." He walked quietly up the stairs and past RJ, barely acknowledging his presence. Casey hugged the wall as he walked past, down the hallway, holding Nick's arm and dragging him along like a rag doll. As he touched Madison, she too followed him instinctively. He entered the nearest suite and ordered them inside. He closed the door with a sweep of his arm.
"Who are you?" Vida asked with a startled expression.
The man turned, looked back at her with cool indifference. "An ally."
Chip held out a glass of water, the man took it and placed it on the mantelpiece, not taking a sip. "Thank you," he said brusquely, nodding to the red-head.
"Can we help you with something?" one of them said weakly.
"I need to speak with Cassie Chan," the man told them. "I was told she would be here."
"She's not here," RJ told him firmly. "But I can take you to her."
The dark eyes hovered over him. "That would be best," he shouldered his way past Lily to the door. He barely noticed Theo, who came to the middle of his bicep.
"I can take you to her if you tell us what business you have, and who you are."
The man turned. "You have a strong sense of self for such a tried man, Robert. I was expecting someone... a little less... how would you put it..."
RJ glared over at him with his green eyes. "What?"
"Never mind," the man said quickly. "Come wolf. I will do my best."
Casey leaned in and whispered something into RJ's ear.
"Don't worry, Casey, you can trust me."
Casey backed away, startled.
"I am not your enemy. Your enemy will be far darker than I am."
Lily grabbed Theo's hand uncertainly and pulled him up the stairs with her.
RJ nodded. "Tell Dom I'll be back later and we'll talk then," he said as he made his way down the stairs and out into the daylight.
The man stood impatiently in the light, waiting with his arms crossed over his chest. "I must find her quickly," he told RJ with urgency.
"Why Cassie?"
"Of all of you, I think she will be the only one who will believe me when I reveal myself."
"Reveal yourself?" RJ pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number, his eyes never leaving the man standing beside him.
"I wish I had come under better circumstances," he said grimly. "It's been a decade since I've been to your planet. Those times were little better."
RJ closed his phone silently. "She's staying there," he said, pointing to the rooms not far away, on the other side of a massive statue that divided the courtyard of the Silver Hills Inn.
"I wonder..." he said to no one in particular.
"You owe me an explanation."
The man held out his gloved hand. "I don't know if this will mean anything to you."
RJ took a small device from his hand. "What is it?"
"I didn't expect you to know what it is." He pocketed the device quickly. He pulled off one of his gloves and held out his hand. "What about this?"
RJ examined the robotic technology embedded in his hand. "What is that for?"
The man smiled. "The people of KO-35 were born with telekinetic abilities. On my planet, we were not so lucky. We do things a little differently." He focused on a penny sitting near the statue and forced it to fly up into his hand.
"It does other things as well," He ran a hand through his black hair. "Things that make that look like child's play."
RJ backed away slightly.
"Treats for another time," he said pensively. "Now, take me to Cassie."
RJ sighed, realizing he was liable to get a headache and little else out of his companion.
The man followed RJ to the door, and knocked.
Ashley popped her head out the door. "Hey," she said with surprise. "Can I help you with something?"
"This man here needs to see Cassie."
The man nodded, watching Ashley as she walked back inside. His eyes seemed to lighten with recognition.
"You know her," RJ realized.
"Knew her," he corrected. "It was a different life."
Cassie came outside, looking at the man's face, she didn't seem to know him. "I'm Cassie," she told him.
"I know," he told her. "I never forgot your face."
Ashley went back inside. Cassie stood confused.
"Can you give us a moment, Robert?" he asked with a dismissing nod.
RJ stepped inside and closed the door.
"Do I know you?" Cassie asked, narrowing her eyes.
"It was far too much to expect that you would recognize me after all this time." He sighed and brought a hand to her cheek. "Don't be afraid, Cassie."
For a moment the hand lingered, then she didn't feel it anymore. The man was gone.
She turned, searching all around her. She felt a hand on her back. Her hair slipped through fingers she couldn't see.
"Do you remember me?" he asked, dissolving into a man again in front of her.
"Phantom?" she said with surprise. "I thought you..."
"Disappeared?" he said with a chuckle. "Things have been different since my father was taken, since he was tortured and, finally until he was killed by a man standing in the room behind you."
Cassie's eyes went wide.
"My feelings for you always got me into trouble," he reminisced.
"It is you," she realized. "You're Zordon's son."
He smiled again, his teeth a perfect row of white. "In the flesh."
"What are you doing here?" she asked, clearly surprised to see him again after ten years, and face the startling new revelations about his identity.
"Eltar has been attacked. I just may be the last of my race, Cassie."
She stood, her face stretched thin. "What's happening?"
He took her hand in his own. "I am afraid of that which I don't know. This is one of those things."
"Come inside," she told him. "We can figure this out together."
He stepped back. "I don't think I can."
"Of course you can."
"Things are different now, Cassie."
"How so?" she asked.
He looked away, seemingly lost in his thoughts. "I'm not a part of your team."
"That doesn't matter."
"They won't understand me, believe me, I know."
"You trusted RJ to bring you here."
The Eltaran nodded. "He is different, different in a way that even he doesn't quite understand."
"I'm asking you to trust me," Cassie urged, taking his hand again. She turned his head toward hers. "I don't even know your name."
"There was a reason I never told you."
"Then tell me now. If this really is the end of everything, what does it matter?"
With a turn of his dark head, he moved closer. "Loving you almost got me killed, Cassie, and loving me almost killed you. Are you sure you want that burden?"
"It's just a name," she told him adamantly.
"If it was just a name, you wouldn't care."
She nodded. "Ah, I see."
"Gavriel," he told her. "My name is Gavriel."
"All these years, I always wondered what happened to you."
"I'm amazed you gave me a second thought."
"Did you think of me?" she asked.
"You were the one person here that I missed, Cassie. I thought about you every day."
She turned away to hide the heat rising in her cheeks.
"But the time for romance is not now, I'm sure we'd both agree."
"Uh, yeah," she said quickly. "Right."
"Take me inside," he decided finally. "Maybe I can be of use somehow."
"You do realize why we're in Silver Hills?"
"No. What would that reason be?" He fiddled with the glove on his hand.
"Gavriel, your father is alive."
The dark eyes flared for a moment, like clouds swirling in a thunder cloud just before a tornado. "That's impossible."
Cassie nodded, "That's what we thought. But he's here. I swear to you."
He grabbed her shoulders and brought her against his chest. "Tell me where he is!"
Cassie groaned. "He's at BioLab," she told him, stopping him with a firm grip to his forearm. "Don't go."
"I have to," he told her. "If he's alive..."
"Gav, he's dying. He came to warn us but his body is breaking down. Please, I don't want you to see him like that."
"That isn't your choice."
"We need you here. We'll go in the morning. We're all going back..." she promised.
Andros came to the window and looked out at them, hearing the change in their voices.
"You shouldn't worry about her," Ashley told him calmly. "Cassie can handle herself. Come eat something."
"Your burrito is getting cold!" TJ called.
Andros looked back at the room with indifference. "I'm not hungry."
Ashley wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "What is it?"
He looked down and then at her face. She was trying to hold it together, but he could tell that when she'd gone to the bathroom she'd been crying. "I'm not going to pretend that everything is going to be all right, Ashley."
"I don't like seeing you like this," she told him.
"What, being realistic? Face it , Ashley, we're out manned, out gunned, and they have the upper hand."
"I'm not giving up."
He forced a smile. "That's just like you. You'd run in front of a bus if you thought you had a chance of making it across."
"That's not true, and you know it. Have a little faith in us."
"KO-35 is next Ashley. My home planet is going to be wiped out and there is nothing I can do. I'm here because this is what we do, but I should be there."
"I know."
He turned into her shoulder. "It's times like this when being a ranger of both worlds is hardest."
She kissed his cheek. "I know, but you made the right choice, Andros. We need you here. This planet is six billion strong, and each and every one of those people needs you right now."
He nodded, accepting her embrace. Over her shoulder, he continued to stare out the window at the man standing with Cassie. He had stopped shaking, and was standing there like a dog who had tracked mud through the house. His body was tense, like he expected a slap at any moment. His dark clothes and hair contrasted even more with his milky skin as the sun began to fade.
The sun was melting at last behind the mountains that gave Silver Hills it's name. Peaks that truly did look silver when the light reflected just right. Dana crawled into bed with a distinct fear that she might never have another good night's rest.
The moon was peeking through the window, making eerie shadows through the lace curtains. She heard Carter, Joel and Chad in the other bedroom talking. She wondered how many of her friends would actually find sleep at all that night. The bed beside her was empty and it made her lonely.
She put her head down on the pillow and breathed in a little. A couple of tears began to roll down her cheeks. As a doctor, she knew hard times were coming.
Carter came in a few minutes later, turned off the light and crawled into the other bed.
"You asleep?" she asked quietly.
Carter propped himself up on his elbow. "No."
She sighed. "I can't stop thinking."
"Then don't think," he told her with complete control.
"You can't turn off your brain," she said wistfully. "If I could I would have already."
Carter silently agreed. He stood up and came to her bed. He sat down next to her. "Try to get some sleep." he told her. "Just lie down and let yourself slide away."
"I wish that was possible," she told him.
"I know what you mean," he whispered after a while, clutching his spare pillow close to his chest.
"Carter?" she asked.
He stood up and walked over to her bed and sat down on the edge.
"What is it?" he brushed her hair with his fingers.
"Do you remember when the worst thing we thought could happen was Diabolico and then Impus showed up? That's how this feels, but worse."
Carter stepped over her and lay with his arm around her. "I remember that we succeeded against all odds. We rebuilt Lightspeed, and we're still here."
"What would I do without you?" she asked quietly. "You're always there to remind me what's important."
He sighed and closed his eyes, resting his head on her shoulder, and quickly fell asleep.
Taylor spent the majority of the night sitting beside Eric's bed, gaging his breath, trying to tell if the day had worn him out more than he was letting on. He was sleeping peacefully as far as she could tell. She woke at midnight and stood up for a while, moving her hand from his.
The moon was high over them. It was a beautiful night, if a little deceptive in nature.
She sat back down beside him and took his hand again. He squeezed her hand a little as she took it again.
"You didn't tell me you were awake," she chided. "Eric, you need your sleep."
"I'm good," he told her. "Really, I feel better for some reason." He opened his eyes and looked over at her.
Taylor sat forward, "Better how?"
"Like I'm not being sucked dry."
"How is that possible?"
"The only way that would be possible is if..."
"Zordon is awake..."
"...Or he died."
Taylor took out her phone. "Should I call Wes?"
Eric shrugged. "I don't see the point. Let him get some sleep."
She sat back down next to him.
"You didn't have to stay here," he told her. "I didn't expect it."
Taylor nodded but didn't say anything. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. Eric turned on his side and watched her, his hand still holding hers. For the first time in a week he didn't feel like he was going to keel over and die. He didn't know if that was good or bad.