The sense that something was wrong hung heavy over the Command Center the next morning as Tommy and I walked towards the control room. Everyone was standing in the middle of the room, their gazes looking everywhere but at each other. I gave a confused look at Tommy who shrugged his shoulders. Gripping my hand, he led me towards the group. No one spoke as we stopped among them. "What's up?" Tommy asked, speaking to Rocky. Rocky frowned, leaning against the control panel.
"Trini lost the baby." He said softly. I noticed then that Jason and Trini were not present in the room. I felt the air in me disappear as I covered my mouth with my hand.
"What?" I whispered. "What happened?"
"We aren't sure. Jason called a little while ago to let us know he had to take Trini to the hospital. That's when he told us." Zach said, tucking his hands into his jean pockets.
"Is Trini going to be okay?" I asked, tears burning behind my eyes.
"I'm sure she will be." Aisha responded, doing her best to sound optimistic. "These things just happen sometimes. I think the best thing we can do right now is keep working on trying to stop Rosita. Jason will let us know more once he's ready."
"Aisha is correct." Billy added. He looked beside himself, his thoughts of Trini in pain etched across his pale features. We locked eyes for a moment before he turned away. "I've been able to assemble the Megazord. It's operable but needs to be fully charged. That could take up to twelve hours."
"She'll be usable then, right?" Tommy asked, a hoarseness to his voice. Billy nodded.
"Affirmative."
"We need a battle plan then." Rocky announced, standing up from his spot on the controls. The sound of robotic foot steps caught our attention as Alpha made his way into the room.
"Rangers! I just completed a scan of Angel Grove. There has been no activity of magic in the last twenty-four hours. Where ever Rosita is hiding, it's untraceable to the Morphing grid." He said, bringing up an aerial view of the city of the Viewing Globe. Behind us, I noticed that Zordon was not in his tube. His giant floating head was missing from it's place.
"Where's Zordon?" I asked.
"Charging. Coming back to Earth took a big toll on his energy. He took the time to charge while everything was quiet." Alpha replied. Nodding, I felt a strange sense of loneliness. Even though I was surrounded by so many people, it still felt empty with Zordon, Jason and Trini in the room. Something inside me felt off but I brushed it aside. It must have been about Trini and the baby.
"Do we just go in and attack? Or should we wait for her to make a move?" Zach asked, taking in the image on the globe. "God knows what she'll attack with then."
"Going in blindly isn't a good idea. If we don't know what we're up against, how will we know if we stand a chance?" Aisha commented. Stepping forward, Tommy released my hand.
"Alpha, pull up the scan of the hotel again." He requested. Alpha did as he said, pressing buttons on the control panel. The scan projected above us, the square shape of the hotel filling in the air. Like before, it was a 3D blue print of the building; the top floor (which we now knew was the Seventh Floor lair), the middle five floors full of rooms for the guests and the lobby and then the final floor was the basement. It remained the solid mass of nothing since when our scan first happened. Reaching up, Tommy pressed on the basement floor and the image zoomed in on it.
"Whatever she has planned is hiding here." I said, starring up at the image. "Why else wouldn't she let Tommy go down there?"
"What could it be though? Strasser doesn't seem to be the smart type. I don't think he would be able to hide some monster or something there without it slipping out." Rocky ran a hand through his short hair and frowned. "I wished we could send someone in there to see again."
"That option is out though. Unless you have some way to turn invisible." Zach mumbled.
"We do!" Aisha exclaimed, a smile filling her face. "The dino gems! They have their own powers. One of them is invisibility, right?" She asked, looking at Tommy. He nodded, smiling back at Aisha.
"The black dino gem does." We all glanced at Zach. "The gem can make you invisible and untraceable to scans. I used it all the time while I was with the Dino Thunder team. You can sneak in and see what is there." Zach didn't look to eager to jump to the idea.
"Are you sure they won't be able to tell I'm there?" He asked, trying his best to not look scared.
"I can run some tests." Billy offered. "We can make sure she won't be able to detect you while you are invisible."
"Okay." Zach said, nodding. He seemed to be warming up to the idea better now. He pulled her morpher from the back of his belt line and glanced down at it. "How do I use it?"
"Just hold the gem and channel the energy. Once it realizes what you're trying to do, it'll work." Tommy said. Zach did as he said, closing his eyes. Right before our eyes, Zach began to dim and then vanished completely.
"Did it work?" He asked, the voice coming from thin air it seemed. "Woah!" He exclaimed, apparently noticing now. "This is amazing!"
"I'm going to run a scan of the Command Center. It should tell us how many people are here. If everything work according to my calculations, we should be short one black ranger." Alpha chirped, pressing a button behind him. The control panel lit up as the scan started.
"If this works, we'll be able to know what she's hiding and what we can do to stop it." Tommy said softly next to me. I nodded, giving him a supportive smile. The computer binged loudly and Billy laughed, a smile on his face.
"There's no Zach here!" He said, holding up the paper that the computer spit out. "You should go undetected in that environment."
"Good." Zach appeared again, the gem bringing him back into focus. "How long can I hold this for?"
"As long as you need but I wouldn't do more than an hour. We aren't sure of the effects of the dino gems powers for that long of a time. The other powers are more of a short burst. This is the only one that is prolonged like this." Tommy replied.
"Well, except for Kim's." Aisha said, winking at me. "We aren't quite sure what her's is yet, right?"
"No. Maybe I don't have one." I suggested, shrugging my shoulders.
"I'm sure you do. The gem just feels like you don't need it quite yet, Kimberly." Zordon's voice boomed as he suddenly appeared in the tube behind us. We shifted to look at him, his brightness more than it was the night before. He looked more clear as well. He must be fully charged now.
"Zordon! How was your charging?" Alpha asked, looking up at the intergalactic being.
"It was refreshing. Thank you for looking after the Command Center while I was gone, Alpha." Zordon replied, smiling down at the little robot. "Rangers, I've listened to your plan while I was awakening. Do remember that the longer Zach is present in the hotel, the bigger trace of the morphing grid he leaves. He will only have about thirty minutes before his presence is know to Rosita."
"That should be the right amount of time for me to see what's there." Zach said, nodding. "I won't be able to hang around Strasser for that long anyway."
"Least he doesn't smell like Goldar." Aisha muttered, shaking her head. The soft yellow of her t-shirt made her skin look smooth in the pale light of the Command Center. I saw everyone was still wearing their colors. It almost made me chuckle. Even as adults, we still found it in ourselves to wear them proudly. Jason and Trini had also taken to wearing their colors, though they weren't active. I frowned at the thought of them.
"I'm going to call and check on Trini. Let me know when you guys are going to send Zach." I said to Tommy. He nodded, rubbing my back before I headed out of the room. I headed for our chambers, finding my cell phone on the wall mount charging station near the door. I slid it unlocked and found Jason's number in my contact list. Pressing the screen where his picture was, the image changed to a phone and I heard the faint ringing as I brought it to my ear.
"Kimmy." Jason's voice said softly. So softly, I almost didn't hear it.
"Hi, Jase. How's she doing?" I asked, biting my lip. My heart hurt for the both of them.
"She's sleeping right now. The doctor wants to keep her overnight to make sure she's going to be okay. She seemed to pass everything though." Silence fell on his end of the line for a moment before he let out a muffled cry. "Oh god. I don't even know what to do, Kimmy."
"Shh. I know. You two are both so strong. You're going to get through this. Sometimes, this stuff just happens and there's no explaining it." I said, feeling tears burning at the brim of my eyes. "The important thing is that Trini is okay and safe." He sniffed, taking a deep breath.
"I know. I know." He cleared his throat. "What's going on there? Everyone still resting?"
"Yeah." I lied, not wanting him to worry about things here. It was the last thing he needed. "Everything has been quiet, so we are going to keep trying to regroup."
"I'll be back once Trini is awake. I don't want her to wake up and have me gone. Once I get back, we can start coming up with a plan."
"Jason, you should stay there with Trini. We can handle things here. She's going to need you right now. Take a break from all of this and just be a husband, okay?"
"Call me if anything happens." He said, his tone gruff. I knew he understood what I meant though.
"I will. Tell Trini I love her and that we are all thinking about her. You too. Take care of yourself, Jase."
"Thanks, Kimmy. I'll let you know when she wakes up." Our call ended as Aisha appeared in the doorway of the room.
"Hey. Zach's ready."