Haley stood on the front porch of Tommy's house staring at the empty street. She didn't feel the wind blowing in her face or the rain soaking her clothing. She didn't feel much of anything – she was numb.
Unthinkingly Haley turned and walked into the house. She automatically went to the kitchen, and then down the stairs to the lab. There was no reason to go down there; she just didn't know what else to do. And that was the crux of her problem. Haley always knew what to do next. Even if she didn't have a solution to a problem, she had an avenue to figuring it out. And by the time she had worked a problem through she would have a solution. But now, there was nothing Haley could do; she felt frozen. She had no solution that would help Blake, Conner or Adam – nothing that she could physically do to be of assistance. It made Haley feel helpless and useless.
Haley stood at the bottom of the stairs to the lab for a full five minutes staring unseeing into the empty space before she realized she arrived. Haley blinked and moved forward, automatically gravitating toward her place at the computer console, but when she got there she turned away. With her back to the console and screen, Haley scanned the rest of the lab. After all of the activity of the past few days it seemed unnaturally quiet and empty. They should have been celebrating. Tommy and Dustin were rescued. But the losses the teams had sustained were devastating; it was unlike anything the gathered teams had ever experienced.
Haley closed her eyes in pain. She knew it was all her fault. In all of Ranger history, there had never been this level of grievous injury sustained by any one Ranger, let alone three. Rocky had every right to yell at her; she'd been unable to extract Adam from the lab when he needed it the most. She's been unable to maintain communication with the Dino Thunder rangers, and as a result Conner took on Zeltrax head on, never knowing what he really faced, and Blake had no warning about the loose Tyranodrone. I couldn't help them when I needed it…what good am I now?
Haley shook her head and opened her eyes. Again, she scanned the lab. It looked so normal, like nothing was wrong. But something about the picture was wrong. Haley scanned again, this time paying more attention. Most of the lab was empty. Some of the chairs and the couch had been moved. Haley automatically moved toward them and starting putting them back in their places, but as soon as she took action, she knew the misplaced furniture was not what was really bothering her; but, she was on the right track. Haley froze with one hand suspended above the chair she had intended to move. She knew that her instincts were right – something was in the wrong place…but what was it? She scanned the lab again, this time with much more focus and intensity. But aside from the furniture, what was there in the lab to move?
Haley's gaze came to rest on the assembled Wind Ninjas. Kanoi had resumed his seated position near them. He sat directly behind Dustin and Tori; and though he wasn't touching them, he was close enough to easily reach them. Haley felt a pang of sympathy for Kanoi; he looked completely wiped out. Even in his resting state, he looked drawn and pale. She could see he was totally exhausted. Haley had no idea how much energy it took to do the spiritual and mental tasks he had undertaken in the past few days, but she believed the energy expenditure was enormous, and it was obviously taking its toll.
Haley drifted closer to the group. She knew she was getting closer to realizing what was bothering her. On closer inspection, all of the Wind Ninjas, not just Kanoi looked drawn and in pain. Haley squinted as she tried to figure it out. Rocky had placed Dustin in the center of the group lying on his back. Dustin's right arm was outstretched and Tori had curled into his left side. Both of their faces were turned toward Shane, but he was curled away from them. That's when Haley realized what was wrong. Shane was in the right area, but he wasn't physically with the group. If she'd learned one thing about the body type rangers this weekend it was that they needed to be physically present to give or receive support from the others.
With no further thought Haley rushed forward. She moved to kneel in front of Shane. At close range, she could see the distress on his face was far more pronounced than the others. With a shove she pushed Shane, but all she managed to do was roll him from his shoulder to his back; he was still out of reach of the others. Taking a different tactic, Haley stood up over Shane. Grabbing the sleeves of his uniform at the shoulders, she dragged him over until he was lying on Dustin's arm. Dustin's response was immediate – he pulled his arm in drawing Shane closer. Tori moved at the same time reaching across Dustin to get a hold of Shane's arm and pulling it toward her across Dustin's chest. Though none of them had opened their eyes or regained consciousness as far as Haley could tell, the change in the feeling of the situation was definitely positive.
It was such a small thing, but Haley knew she had made a big impact. That small, successful gesture broke the paralysis Haley had been feeling. She ran up to the house to gather up pillows and blankets – there was no way she could wrestle all three Wind Ninjas off the floor, but if they were going to sleep there, at least she could make them more comfortable. Quickly Haley devised a nest of sorts for the Wind Ninjas; not that any of them appeared cold, but it was always nice to have blankets around. Haley was less sure of what to do for Kanoi. He remained seated and she wasn't about to knock the man over. She left some pillows and a blanket within his reach in case he woke and needed them later.
Haley turned back toward the main computer console. She didn't know what information the others might need from her later, but she was determined to be ready when they called. With new focus, Haley began organizing. She started with the data that had been automatically gathered during the fight in Reefside. Every time the Dino Thunder Rangers were morphed in a fight, the computers in the lab recorded life sign readings, energy readings, impact assessments and power fluctuations. After each fight Haley would analyze the data and make adjustments to the morphers or weapons to be more effective the next time around.
This time she called up all the information the computer had gathered about Conner during the fight. Some of the data was hard to extract because of the interference from the storm, but Haley doggedly pursued each bit of information until she was confident she had it all. She had no recorded information on Blake because the computer wasn't calibrated to him. Haley set the computer to download any information it could extrapolate about Adam in Mesogog's lab, and while it was working began her analysis on Conner's data.
At first, all of the information was what she expected. Conner powered up, was fighting the drone, and then there was a huge power spike when he called upon SuperDino mode. Wait, that's not right. Haley looked more closely at the readings, then pulled up the video playback and displayed the timestamp. Haley tried to correlate the power spike and the SuperDino mode, but the power spike happened first. Conner didn't call on the SuperDino mode until after Hunter got between him and Zeltrax. He powered up to get the speed to knock Hunter out of harm's way. So where did the power come from?
Haley rewound the digital image of the fight. She was glad that this part of the fight had been recorded before the electrical interference really kicked in. Watching second by second, Haley matched up Conner's power readings to what he'd been doing in the fight. She was surprised to notice that the power spike correlated to casual contact between Hunter and Conner. That doesn't make any sense. Hunter tried to pass the power of the storm to them before everything went to hell and it didn't work. Why did it work later?
Haley went back to review the initial attempt at power transfer. Blake and Hunter worked together to kick-start the storm, then together they channeled the energy from the source they had created. But when they tried to pass the power to the gathered Dino Rangers it didn't work. The Rangers got a short blast of power, but nothing that was sustained. Haley went back to the data about the Hunter and Conner incident. She noticed something she hadn't picked up on before. Not only was Hunter able to provide Conner with a power boost, it was a sustained power boost. It carried through as far as the data Haley was able to record before the energy from the storm had completely fried her surveillance and communication circuits.
If Hunter was able to maintain that connection with Conner, he could still be maintaining it now. It was something to think about.
The limited data that was retrieved from Mesogog's lab was not very useful or informative. They knew that Adam was able to morph with Tommy's dino gem. How it was possible wasn't really an issue at this point. Knowing that wouldn't help him heal from his burns. But I wonder…
In all the excitement and the rush to get Adam to the hospital, no one noticed when he dropped Tommy's morpher. Haley hadn't noticed it herself until she started looking around the lab. And, it hadn't occurred to her until now to pick it up because she was too distracted by other things. Making her way over to the spot where Adam had transported in, Haley bent over and picked up Tommy's morpher. If Adam could get the morpher to work for him…if the dino gem bonded with him even a little…couldn't it lend him its healing powers?
Armed with something to do that might have a real purpose, Haley dragged out her tools and got down to work. Time became meaningless as Haley diverted all of her focus and energy into recalibrating Tommy's dino morpher. Fixing the physical shell of the morpher was no problem; she had plenty of parts around, including the original template she had used to design it. It was retuning the gem that was tricky, and she was having trouble making it work.
A noise got Haley's attention. She looked up, but all she heard was silence. For a moment she couldn't place what had disrupted her concentration. Then the noise happened again, and Haley was able to process the sound of a phone ringing. What with all the sirens and noises that usually went off around the lab, a normal phone ringing was somewhat unusual.
Haley located the portable phone near the main computer console.
"Hello?"
"Haley," said a relieved Billy on the other end. "I'm glad you're there."
"Where else would I be?"
A beat of silence was her answer. Haley could almost see Billy shaking his head before he continued. "The doctors here are looking for as much information as you've got about Conner's condition. But it's too sensitive to talk about over the phone. Could you get down to the hospital?"
"Are you sure the doctors could…handle…that sort of information, Billy?"
"Yes, definitely. Dana Mitchell is from Lightspeed Rescue."
"Oh…" Then Haley realized what Billy had just said. "Really? That's great!" It would be so much easier dealing with a doctor who understood exactly what sort of injuries Conner was dealing with; she didn't know how she could explain what happened to a layman.
"Is everything else there okay? Dustin? The Wind Ninjas?"
Haley glanced over at the sleeping trio. They seemed much more at ease and all of them looked much improved. "They're fine, just sleeping. Do you think I can leave them here alone? Sensei Kanoi is sleeping as well."
Haley could hear the hesitation in Billy's voice. "I don't like the idea, but we really need you here, Haley. They should be fine as long as they're together."
"Okay." Haley replied. "Let me gather up my laptop and some equipment. I'll leave a note for the others and I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Thanks, Haley. See you soon."
Haley clicked the button on the phone and returned it to its cradle. She moved swiftly around the lab gathering what she would need. She only hoped she would be of help.
Hey – two updates in one weekend! I'm trying to cram them all in before I go on vacation next week. Thanks so much for all the reviews! You know I love them! Dang - 50 chapters! I can't believe the story has come this far. Thank you all so much for hanging in there!
AngelMouse5 – I tried to e-mail you about hosting "Recognition Revisited" but it didn't work. Is "The Lair" a website of your own or a friend's? Can you send me a link to it? I'd be honored if you wanted to post a story of mine somewhere else.
Jenna Summers – Conner and Tommy's injuries were inflicted the same way, but they have different damage which I will explain more about if I get another chapter up this week. Conner definitely needs more help.
Trinity and Mallcara – Welcome aboard! I don't usually update this quickly, you just got lucky!
Pink-Green-White-4Ever – Happy early birthday, and Happy actual birthday! Hope you had a great one!
MzDany – If I could have an honorable morpher it would have to be purple. Don't know why there's never been a Purple Ranger (only in fan fiction), but I would love to be the first one. :grin: This chapter gives a little clue about why Hunter came next door (also, Blake was taken out for tests and Cam pretty much dragged him over.)
LJstagflowers4e – Welcome aboard! I liked writing Kira's POV – I wanted to make it clearer why she was so unbalanced in the storm – and it made sense to put it in here. I'm glad you're enjoying the story.
Tygerwind8 – Thanks as always for your kind words and support.