Zach was inserted into one of the medical tubes as quickly as possible, connected to the raw power of the morphing grid to help heal him. From what Billy could tell, Zach had several broken bones in his face and his arm was completely shattered from his shoulder to his wrist. He also had a good deal of blood loss and Billy couldn't be too sure that Zach hadn't suffered damage to his eyes or not. He felt that Zach would be okay, depending on the rate of his healing in the next few hours. Thankfully, Zach had managed to get the dino gem back here before Strasser found it. We weren't sure if he would be able to fight again soon, leaving us a ranger short. Rocky said he would try to reach out to Adam Parker, Zach's replacement when him, Jason and Trini left the rangers when we were kids. If he was willing, he could take the black mantel and help us put an end to Rosita and Goldar.
Rocky also discovered that the glasses Zach had been wearing must have fallen somewhere untraceable by Strasser as we could still see the basement. He had returned Serpentera back to its chamber under the floor and had putties returned to continue adding to the zord. The pieces of it were packed into the crates and the clay henchmen worked to put her back together, working under the ground of the hotel. It was good having eyes on the situation, letting us know when Rosita moved her into action. We needed to find a way to stop this before she could. Serpentera had the Megazord beat by not only size but power. It could level Angel Grove in minutes if she wanted to. Letting her use it was not an option. All hands were needed on deck. I tried calling Jason to fill him and Trini in on what was going on, but he didn't answer. I left him with a vague voicemail, asking him to get in touch with me. He texted me a short time later, letting me know he would be returning to the Command Center that night. While we waited, the rest of us got to work at trying to find ways to beat the monster size Zord. Rocky and Alpha pulled out file footage we had of Serpentera from Zedd's days with it and Zordon did his best to tell us everything he knew about the thing. He felt that it was not the original Serpentera but another version of the metal beast. There was no telling if it held the same power as the original though and it wasn't something we could afford to leave up to chance.
Jason returned to the Command Center a little before midnight. Tommy and I were sitting in the kitchen area when he appeared, looking worn and exhausted. His hair was a mess on top of his head, bags formed under his eyes. Jase looked as if he had aged years since he left, no trace of his delightful self to be found on his face. Jumping from the table, I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug the he returned. He shuddered under me and I realized he was crying. Pulling away, I looked up at him and saw hurt radiating in his eyes. "Jase, if there's anything we can do, don't hesitate to ask." I said, rubbing his arms gently.
"Yeah, man. We're here for you." Tommy said, appearing next to us. Jason shook his head, letting out a sob.
"She's gone." He gasped, trying to get air into his lungs. I looked at him confused.
"Was the baby a girl?" I asked, not sure if they were able to tell that with how far along Trini was. He shook his head, covering his face with his hands.
"Kim…" Tommy whispered, putting a hand on my shoulder. Slowly, realization washed over me like ice water. He was talking about Trini.
"What?" I whispered, pulling away from the both of them. "No! That can't be. Tell me that's not true, Jase." Jason covered his face with his hands as he tried to control his emotions.
"I'm sorry, Kimmy." He whispered, uncovering his puffy and blotched face. "She ended up hemorrhaging after the miscarriage. They tried to save her but the damage was done." Something in my chest cracked and I let out a shallow breath. I looked at him is disbelief. This wasn't true. This was some sick joke that Jason thought would be funny. I shook my head, trying to form words but there were none I could piece together. "Where is everyone else?" He asked, turning to Tommy who held unshed tears in his own eyes.
"Zach was injured earlier while we were trying to so surveillance on Rosita. He's in the medical bay but he's going to be fine. Everyone else is either sleeping or working on the Zords." Tommy replied. "You don't have to tell them yet, man. Give yourself sometime."
"No." Jase said, shaking his head. "I need to do this now. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to help you guys now that I'm all my son has." His emotions sounded raw in the back of his throat. Tears streamed down my eyes as he turned to look at me. "Kimmy? You gotta say something."
"I'm so sorry, Jase." I managed to whisper in a hushed voice. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into another tight embraced. Both of us sobbed as we held each other, Tommy stroking my back as we clung in a small circle. How could Trini be gone? She had been my best friend since I was a kid. She was the only person I told everything to and the one person I knew I could count on for everything. How was it fair that she was taken, leaving Jason to deal with this alone? She was just fine the last time I saw her. Inside, I wished that Rosita had done it. That someone was to blame for her death, so I could kick some ass to make myself feel better. But there was no one to blame and there was no way to bring her back.
"We should round everyone up." Jason said a little while later as we pulled apart. Tommy found some napkins in a drawer, letting us all dry our faces. I nodded, a headache forming behind my eyes from crying.
"I'll get them." Tommy said, giving Jase a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. Jason sat down in the chair at the head of the table, resting his face in his hands. I sat in the chair on the corner, resting a hand on his forearm. Letting his arms drop, he gave me a small smile.
"I can't imagine what you're going through." I said, squeezing his hand. "How was she?"
"She was awake and talking to me. We were talking about what our next move should be with Rosita. I went down the hallway to get something from the vending machine and when I came back, she complained about some pain in her belly. The doctor came in to check on her and she passed out while they examined her. She was gone a few moments later." He choked back a sob, closing his eyes for a moment. Fresh tears threatened to fall but I bit them back. I needed to be strong for him.
"At least you were there with her. And she knew how much you loved her. How much we all cared about her." He nodded, putting his other hand on top of mine.
"How am I going to raise JC by myself?" He whispered, not looking at me. "He's going to be so lost without his mother."
"You don't have to do this alone. You have all of us, your parents and Trini's parents. There is no way in Hell I'm going to let you go through any of this by yourself. I promise you." I urged, smiling at him. He nodded, taking a deep breath. The sound of multiple pairs of footsteps came up the hallway. Jason let go of my hand and stood, pushing his chair in. Everyone filed into the kitchen, looking serious as they took Jason in. He did his best to not meet anyone's glances as they sat around the table. Billy sat next to me, giving me a questioning look. Poor Billy. This was going to be rough for him. Tommy brought in the rear, choosing to stand near the doorway. All the chairs were filled, minus the one Zach usually picked. He would also need to be filled in once he was awake enough. He'll be crushed too.
"What's going on?" Rocky asked, not wasting any time. He looked tired, more than likely still watching the Viewing Globe for any type of movement from Serpentera. Jason rubbed his face again before stepping into the middle of the kitchen.
"Trini passed away this evening, about an hour ago." There was a collective gasp as a soft cry came from Aisha. She covered her mouth, tears spilling down her cheeks. Reaching over, I gripped Billy's hand in mine and he squeezed tightly. When our eyes met, his filled with tears. Rocky wrapped his arm around Aisha's shoulders and she buried her face into his chest.
"What happened?" Billy spoke, his voice sounding wounded right to his core.
"Complications from the miscarriage." Jason replied, running a hand through his hair. "They did their best to save her but she had lost so much blood internally." Silence fell over the room except for the occasionally teary sniff from Aisha or I. Tommy clasped his hand on Jason's shoulder and looked at us all.
"Jason is heading home tonight and won't be able to help us anymore." Tommy said. Jason looked at him to protest. "JC needs you right now and you have to take care of things for Trini." Tommy said before Jason could speak. Jase looked defeated as he nodded, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Adam is on his way here and will need to have his powers transferred to the black dino gem. Once he's ready to go, we will begin going forward with our plans to take care of Rosita. We need to finish this before she brings Serpentera to life. Right now, we have eyes on it but we don't know how long it will be before they find the glasses Zach was wearing. It's only a matter of time before shit starts to hit the fan and we need to try to save as many people as we can." A heavy silence fell over the room as Tommy stopped speaking.
"I'll try to make the funeral as soon as possible." Jason whispered. "I don't want to pull you guys away during all this for too long." Reaching into the pockets of his jeans, he pulled something out. It was a communicator, a yellow band running through the middle of it. He set it on the table, all of us looking at it with sorrow, grief and pain etched on our faces and hearts. "I took it off of her after she passed."
"Oh god." I sobbed, springing to my feet. I jogged out of the room, unable to handle it anymore.