Koda growled, watching from the kitchen as Heckyl and Kendall shared lunch in the cafe. He got a bad feeling where their friendship was concerned, but couldn't explain it. And it wasn't due to his limited vocabulary. Koda couldn't understand his distrust himself. All he knew was that his gut was telling him something was wrong.
And his gut had never been wrong before.
"Perhaps it is a tinge of jealousy?" Ivan asked, bringing over empty plates to be cleaned.
"Jealousy?"
"It is to be assumed," Ivan nodded. "A fair damsel rescues a caveman, takes him under her wing and teaches him about the modern world, only for the two of them to eventually fall in love."
Koda stuck out his tongue. It was true; he had once considered getting intimate with Kendall. However, that feeling had long passed. Back then, Kendall was the only woman he interacted with, and he had been so desperate for companionship he would have been willing to do anything. But as he got acquainted with the new world, he learned there was so much more he had to discover and any feelings he had for anyone had to take a back seat. First, he needed to find where he stood and a new purpose for himself beyond his Ranger duties. As he began discovering the new world, Kendall became less of the person he wanted to start his own family and his new tribe with and more of a best friend – his confidant.
In short, he didn't like her that way. He wasn't jealous she had a boyfriend. He wasn't jealous at all. He just had a bad feeling.
"Maybe Ivan like Kendall," Koda retorted the best way he knew how. "Fair uh... damsel rescue knight and teach him about modern world too."
"I rescued myself," Ivan corrected, but he could see Koda's point. "And I'll take that as a no, you don't like her."
"Kendall is friend. Heckyl is not."
Ivan looked out to the dining room and nodded his head. "I see your point. We haven't done much to get to know the gentleman."
"Don't want to."
"Lady Kendall enjoys his company," Ivan reasoned. "Do we not owe it to her to give Heckyl a fair chance?"
Koda shrugged. This time, Ivan had the good point. He was just about to acknowledge that when he saw in the corner of his eye Kendall and Heckyl were leaving. The feeling in his stomach grew. He wanted to go after them, to find an excuse for Kendall to stay close, but Ivan grabbed his arm.
"They like each other," he said. "And if Lady Kendall does find herself in trouble, she has the purple energem on her side. You need to let go."
Kendall had been the one to take Koda in, but for the longest time he had been protecting her. He couldn't help it: he was big, strong, and had the power of the blue energem to give him an advantage over anyone who tried to hurt her. She was the scientist and completely powerless. She needed protecting.
But not anymore. Now, she was just as strong as Koda (minus the caveman strength). She could look after herself. With a sigh, Koda let her go.
-Dino-Charge-
Kendall followed Heckyl down the street, believing he was taking her to a nearby club. He had a gig and was expected to perform just after lunch. Their meal had run a little long so they were now rushing to get there on time. Since being a singer didn't pay very well, Heckyl needed to impress if he wanted to get invited back.
He pulled her down an alley. Kendall made nothing of it. Since he wasn't a big time singer, he often performed in strange, underground placed. However, when he stopped and turned to her, she got the feeling this was something different. He pulled the handkerchief out from his pocket and held it out.
"Cover your eyes," he said, smiling and Kendall couldn't refuse. She turned around, letting him cover her eyes.
"Why?" she asked as he blinded her. Heckyl chuckled softly then kissed her neck.
"It's a surprise," he whispered softly in her ear. Kendall smiled as he took her by the arm and led her off. She had no idea where he was taking her, but she was excited.
They walked a little bit, though it couldn't have been far when Heckyl suddenly let her go. Kendall stayed still, hoping he would be back soon. A minute or so went by and Kendall began to worry.
"Heckyl?" she called and reached up to the blindfold. Finally, she felt his touch again, discouraging her from removing the handkerchief.
"Ah, ah, not yet," he said and took her by the wrist. "Alright, close your eyes."
"I'm blindfolded," she reminded him, then frowned. "Wait, are we there? I don't hear any people."
"Just, close your eyes. Relax."
"Heckyl, I am relaxed," Kendall said. "And blindfolded and... seriously, where are we?"
"We've got a bit of time," he said. "So... why don't we get to know each other?"
"Blindfolded?"
"We'll listen to each other's words," Heckyl said. "Believe me, it makes a world of a difference. You can learn so much about someone simply by listening."
"Is that how you got so good at it?" Kendall asked.
"Of course. You tell me you have trouble with trust. This is what I've done and I've never been betrayed. Don't you think it's worth a shot?"
Kendall gave a little nod, feeling herself give in like she always did around Heckyl. Something about him just seemed so honest and trustworthy she couldn't help but do as he asked. She closed her eyes, even though she was still blindfolded and listened to his words. He first asked questions about her background: where and how she grew up, the things she liked, how it felt being a foster child. Why she ran away from home when she turned eighteen and what brought her back. The more he spoke, the more honest Kendall felt she could be. Her guard was down. Maybe even all the way down. Any barriers she had, even the ones the other Rangers had told her were healthy were gone.
Then he started to ask about the Rangers: he asked personal questions regarding their interest and their families. Kendall answered to the best of her abilities, but admittedly it wasn't much. She knew Tyler was searching for his father, and his mother had stayed home, but she found she had never quite asked him where home was. As such, she had no idea where his mother was or even who she was. She knew a lot about his father, but Heckyl didn't seem to care much about a man who had disappeared a decade before.
She knew Shelby loved dinosaurs and had come to the museum in hopes of getting ahead in a career she hadn't even started yet. However, outside of that, Kendall knew very little about Shelby's personal life. She had mentioned having parents, but never where they lived or what they did. Shelby didn't care to speak about them, and Kendall wasn't the type of person to ask. She had revealed that Shelby had a huge crush on Tyler, which seemed to ease Heckyl's frustrations a little bit, though Kendall wasn't sure why, or why he was frustrated at all. Still, she kept going.
She talked about how Riley lived on a farm, but didn't know where exactly the farm was. She mentioned how he had a brother, a mother and a dog, all of whom he loved, but Kendall had never met them, and could only give generic descriptions like how his mother was kind, his brother was hardworking and Rubik was... well, a dog. Those answers should have been enough for Heckyl, but again, he seem frustrated by her lack of specifics.
Drawing out any information about Ivan and Koda was like pulling teeth. Heckyl didn't seem to care when Kendall mentioned they were a knight from the medieval period and a caveman from the Pleistocene respectively. He seemed to want more, and Kendall really couldn't share. Koda had a brother, Taku, who had long since passed, and no other family to speak of. Hell, he had no other living relatives that he or anyone else knew of. Same with Ivan. He was a knight from 800 years ago and no longer had any family or people he loved. Only his teammates.
But Chase, Kendall spoke on and on about Chase. About how he was from a small town in New Zealand and lived with his mother and sister. How his father had passed away shortly before he came to the United States. She talked about how Chase used to flirt with all the girls who walked into the museum, but how he always stopped after being turned down. She even mentioned how the flirting stopped once she starting to grab his attention. She shared with Heckyl how Chase eventually admitted to her that he liked her, but that he was willing to preserve their friendship rather than pursue a relationship she wasn't ready for. She talked all about the times he had gone out of his way to help her, and sometimes even went above the call of duty. She went on about how he cared for the things she loved. Most of all, she talked about how she felt safe and warm, and like nothing bad could happen to her when he was near. Even when they were just chatting through the computer, Kendall felt like nothing could hurt her because he was watching her.
Talking so much about Chase had eased Heckyl a bit, until he tried to get more information on the others. It was almost as though he thought now that she had opened up about one Ranger; she would spill on the others. But Kendall had no more to say. Heckyl knew everything she did about the Rangers.
"What about the lab?" he asked her. "All your stuff?"
"My stuff?"
"Your computer, the chargers... what are they, exactly?"
Kendall spilled, telling him how she had invented the chargers to harness the power of the energems. She told him how the chargers could be used to provide the Rangers with more power, as the energy could be concentrated, or how they could help the Rangers summon weapons. She told him about all the chargers, how each one had a specific set of powers that helped the Rangers fight off the aliens that wanted the energems.
She shouldn't have been telling him this, but she did.
"Energems, you mean... like this?" he asked and Kendall felt him reach into her shirt to touch her energem. As soon as he did, something washed over her and she was suddenly very aware of what she had been saying. She grabbed the energem with one hand, pushed him away from the other and then ripped the blindfold off.
"Who the hell are you?" she growled. Heckyl looked to her with a smirk and she noticed his hands were glowing.
"You were way too easy," he chuckled. "Though, I guess I did underestimate you. I had no intention of you finding out so soon. There's so much I want to ask you still."
Kendall growled and lunged at Heckyl, hoping to take him out. But suddenly, she found herself flying backwards into a wall. She hit the wall, then the ground hard, groaning in pain. As she pushed herself up, she looked over to Heckyl and saw him closing a cage door. She rushed to her feet, hoping to stop him and hoping to get out of her cell, but the door slammed shut and locked her in her face. Kendall tried to reach out to grab Heckyl, but he was just out of reach.
Suddenly, the purple energem was ripped from her neck and flew into his hands. Kendall's eyes were wide. It seemed Cammy had been right in a way when she assumed he was a magician.
"What are you?" she asked, reaching out for her energem but Heckyl shook his head and held it just out of her reach. Kendall tried to grab it, but the energem slipped just past her fingers every time.
"Isn't it obvious?" he asked her in return, smirking cockily before turning his back on her and walking away. "And purple makes one," he tucked the energem in his pocket.
Kendall rattled the cell door, hoping it would give but knowing it wouldn't. Then she looked around. The cell was small, it was cold and it was empty. She had no idea where Heckyl had gone but he wouldn't stick around. She also had no idea where she was, if she was even still on Earth.
She reached to her side, hoping to pull out her Dino Com but it wasn't there. She frowned; she always had it on her, even now just in case. She had it on her when she and Heckyl had left the museum after lunch. She then started to search for her morpher, trying to summon it, but she couldn't.
She was helpless.
"Dammit," she muttered. Whoever he was, whatever he was, Heckyl was good. She sat down in her cell, hoping for help to come soon. Koda at least would worry if he didn't see her for a few hours. He was bound to begin searching. She only hoped he could find her.