Chapter Thirty-two
Two Heads Are Better Than One
Kimberly was the first to pull back, gently, without shame. Tommy didn't bother to blush as he let her go; he had done what Zordon would have wanted him to do—help another. And in an odd way, she had helped Tommy as well.
Billy's hand left Tommy's shoulder at almost the same instant. The moment was simply over, its end unannounced but somehow apparent. Jason stepped away from Trini and Billy, and Zack released Trini as well. They looked one more time at the blank stretch of dirt and rock, then turned away.
Billy broke the silence first. "Trini?"
"Yes?"
"I'd like to bend your ear about a few theories I have for improving the Aquitian teleportation system. It's good, but it's not nearly as good as it's going to need to be. I want to come back more. I have to come back more."
"Yeah," Trini replied. "Yeah, you do. I think I could help."
Tommy smiled, noticing it as a nod to the moment they'd just shared. They had been apart too long, and it was time to remedy that. Together, they walked back towards the car, chattering away.
"I need a better map of Southern California," Tommy said. "Or maybe I should get OnStar."
"I could help you pick out a good GPS," Trini offered. "We'll fix your perpetually lost problem in no time."
"I could probably build you a good GPS, actually," Billy said.
"Awesome."
"I'm going to teach fewer classes at the gym," Kimberly said. "Give more to my employees. They're always begging for hours."
"Me, too," Jason said.
"I should try television," Zack said. "Hours would be more regular."
"I could probably do a lot more work at home, on my own time," Trini said thoughtfully.
"We should get together for Independence Day," Jason suggested.
"Yeah! Angel Grove has way better fireworks than Reefside," Tommy agreed.
"You know, we never did take that big road trip we said we'd all take one day," Kimberly pointed out. "All the way across the country, to New England."
"We definitely have the money for it now," Zack said. "Next summer would work. Or maybe this one."
"I haven't figured out all of the summer schedule of classes yet," Jason said. "I could free up time in late July."
"I probably could too," Kimberly said.
"I'm off," Tommy said with a shrug.
"My boss needs me too much to not give me the vacation time," Trini said. "Especially since I have a lot of days rolled over from the last few years."
"I could probably keep my schedule open," Zack said.
"We could totally party out there," Kimberly said. "And think of the shopping in New York!"
"I'd rather not," Jason teased.
"You'll think of it enough for all of us," Zack added.
Laughing, joking and planning their future, the Rangers sat down in the sand, the RADBUG in between them and the ruins, under some unspoken agreement to wait until the teens came out on their own. They wouldn't be going inside the remnants of the Power Chamber. They didn't need to.
"This is creepy as hell."
Ethan had started playing with the controls, his confidence growing with every passing second that he wasn't fried to death with some secret death ray booby trap. He'd stumbled across something labeled "The Archives," which was divided into several different sections—one for each group of Power Rangers. To their utter shock, this contained not only "Mighty Morphin," "Alien," "Ninja," "Zeo," and "Turbo," but also "Space," "Lost Galaxy," "Lightspeed Rescue," "Time Force," "Wild Force," "Ninja Storm," and "Dino Thunder."
The information, as it turned out, was not in files or documents, but in video clips played on the Viewing Screen—and "Dino Thunder" contained thousands of images of the four teens and Tommy and Hayley, doing things ranging from fighting to hanging out at the café. Shocked, and not a little nervous, they'd watched scenes of Trent trying to find ways to keep safe when he knew that at any moment his father could morph into Mesogog, thus making the house unsafe; scenes of Tommy training them; scenes of Hayley, experimenting and building; scenes of everything. At the end of the montage of images were pictures of them all, along with text listing things like their names, current ages, residences, and their "status," which said "Inactive" for all of them, save Tommy, which said "Temporarily Retired/On Call."
"Where do you think this all comes from?" Trent asked. "I mean, is Dr. O doing the recording?"
"I don't think so," Ethan said. "According to that file I found earlier, these things are all being transmitted. So… someone's receiving this information."
"Probably Dr. O, if he's the only one who's been here," Kira said. "He claimed he was, and I don't see much evidence to the contrary. This place looks like no one's seen it in ages."
"I'm guessing he set it up to have all the information sent to him," Ethan agreed. "He said he hasn't been here in a few years, but the Ninja Storm Rangers were in the video journal, remember? So he must be linked up to this place. It's probably some sort of… morphing grid thing. I mean, the power of this place is amazing. The fact that it can rebuild itself? Twice? Is it any wonder—albeit a creepy wonder—that it can detect Rangers and videotape them?"
"Dr. O did say Power Rangers are one parts science and two parts magic," Kira said with a shrug. "Still… it's royally creepy."
"I'll say," Conner said fervently. "I wonder if any of the other Rangers know about this."
"It's possible. Dr. O has met a lot of them, remember?" Ethan said.
"Speaking of Dr. O… where the hell is he?" Kira asked.
Trent checked his watch. "I don't know. We've been down here for over an hour."
"Here's hoping he didn't stumble across any 'primary security measures,'" Ethan said, now looking worried.
"Here's hoping he did," Kira grumbled. "I can't believe he sent us down here without a password! We could have been killed!"
Ethan hit the Big Red Button again, and the place immediately powered down, the Viewing Screen shutting off and the lights dimming once more. He sighed. "I could spend years in this place."
"Well, you know, if that stuff is transmitting to Dr. O, all the same information should be in the lab," Trent pointed out as they headed for the exit. "So once he gets it up and running again, we'll be able to go through it from his basement."
"And if it's not him, he'll want to come back here to figure out who it is," Kira added.
"Good point," Ethan said, his face lighting up. Then he frowned. "Great. I guess that means we have to help him clean the lab."
"I wouldn't go that far," Conner joked.
"Stupid Zeltrax," Trent said idly. "Even when I was evil, I couldn't stand him."
They trooped down the stairs, back down the tunnel and out into the sunshine, which was starting to wane; it was now almost eight o'clock. It took them a while to think to check back at the car for Tommy and the others (they nearly panicked when they came out of the cave entrance and didn't immediately see anyone); confused, they clustered in front of the chatting, laughing group, who were sitting with their backs against the car, shoulder-to-shoulder.
"What're you guys doing?" Ethan asked.
"Hanging out," Tommy said with a shrug, grinning slightly.
"Aren't you a little old to hang out?" Conner asked.
"I'm twenty-five, Conner," Tommy said, rolling his eyes. "Not fifty. Okay?"
Conner shrugged. "Just out of curiosity, why do all of our profile thingies say 'Inactive' and yours says 'Temporarily Retired/On Call?'"
Tommy frowned. "What?"
"Our profiles. You know, the things that say what we're doing now. Ours all say 'Inactive,' but yours—"
"What the hell does 'Temporarily' mean?" Tommy shouted, his voice echoing around the mountains.
"Shh! Tommy, don't worry," Jason said quickly, clasping his shoulder, as much to keep him from jumping up and stomping off to go scream incoherently at a computer monitor as to comfort him. "I mean, you still have your Zeo powers, whereas they have no powers, right? So it stands to reason that yours would say something different."
"But… but… on call?" Tommy whined.
"I'm sure that's just some sort of monument to the fact that sometimes you have to help out other Ranger teams, like you did with Andros," Jason said. "All of ours probably say the same thing, as Billy and Kimberly can still summon some of the old Ninja power and Trini, Zack and I have Coins. It's probably perfectly innocent."
"It had better be," Tommy muttered. "Did you guys have fun in there?" he asked the teens, trying to stay happy by changing the subject.
"It was wicked cool," Ethan said with a big grin, which slowly faded. "But…"
"Did you forget something, Dr. O?" Kira asked meaningfully.
"Um…" Tommy knew he had to tread carefully when someone asked him this sort of question. Often, the answer was "Yes," but the trouble was wh… uh-oh.
"The security system!" Tommy yelped, leaping to his feet so fast he practically broke Jason's fingers. "Are you okay? I'm so sorry, I—OOF!"
Kira had punched him in the gut. Hard. Not with malice, but with a certain air of justified vengeance. Tommy coughed, clutching his side for a moment. Conner and Ethan cheered, and Trent put his fist against his mouth, not quite covering his smile, but trying.
"Okay, I might have deserved that," Tommy admitted, wincing slightly.
"You could have killed us! We could have been… been… I don't know what we could've been, because you didn't tell us what we could have been, but you're lucky we weren't whatever we could have been! The whole time we were down there we were spooked like nothing else, and then when we realize you hadn't come to check on us we get all worried that you're dead—well, I get all worried that you're dead, because of course I'm the first one to worry when it comes to you being dead—and we have to come check on you. Newsflash—you're the one who does that, not us! You are responsible for us, and yet you send us to our death without even a heads-up! Did you do it on purpose? Huh? Just like when we first got our powers and you were all 'I'll tell you tomorrow, go home and get some sleep' which by the way did not work, we went home and called each other and freaked out all night, and you, you, if you withhold information one more time—"
"I'm really sorry," Tommy interrupted sincerely. "I just… it's been years since I've been here. I'd forgotten all about it. I set it up. You wouldn't have been hurt. Just… sealed inside while alarms, via communicator, alerted every ex-Ranger to ever set foot in that building."
"So we would have been locked in an underground room while screaming our heads off because we can't get out and some robotic voice is screaming 'Intruder' and we're waiting for some sort of monster or security guard or something to come and kill us because we don't know what's going on?" Trent asked mildly.
"Uh… yeah."
Trent nodded and looked at Kira. "Can I hit him next?"
"No, no, that was for all of us," Kira said apologetically.
"AW, MAN!" Conner and Ethan complained.
"No fair!" Conner whined. "I wanted to hit him."
"Me too," Trent said with a sigh.
"Me too," Ethan said sourly. "You have all the fun."
Tommy tried not to smile. "I'm sorry, guys. I'll make it up to you. Uh… somehow."
"How? Gonna buy us something on my dad's line of credit?" Trent asked sarcastically.
"No," Tommy said, although that had in fact been his first idea. "I'll… um… hmm."
"You'll ride in the trunk?" Conner suggested.
"Yeah, I'll… wait, what?"
"You'll ride in the trunk," Conner repeated. "It's way too cramped in there."
"Yeah, it was only fun for the first few minutes," Ethan added. He paused. "No, wait, not even then."
"You guys are both smaller than I am," Tommy said. "No way will I fit with someone else."
"We could throw someone small in there with you," Ethan said. "Kira will fi—"
"No way!" Kira exclaimed.
"Um… well, someone would ride with you," Ethan said.
"Not me," Trini said quickly.
"I have to drive," Billy said.
"Trini's not sitting on anyone but me," Jason added.
"I'm not going in the trunk," Trent said firmly.
"I—" Zack began.
"I'll do it."
Tommy froze, grateful that his back was still to Kimberly so she couldn't see the look of horror on his face. What the hell was she thinking? "I still think I won't fit," he said, praying that someone agreed with him and knowing no one would.
"There's no way you and Kimberly are bigger than me and Conner," Ethan said. "There's just no way. Besides, you said you wanted to make it up to us."
Tommy grimaced. If it weren't for the fact that this was Ethan—whom Tommy was pretty sure Trini wouldn't bother to recruit, as Ethan knew less about relationships than just about anyone—and for the fact that Kimberly was the one offering to do it, he might have started screaming accusations right then and there.
What could he do now? Pitch a hissy fit and refuse to get in the trunk with her? Lowering Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent's opinion of him and possibly hurting Kimberly's feelings in the process, while coming off as a whiny jackass? But he had to do something. No one was going to stop this nonsense for him. Why the hell had she offered to do it? Nothing was going to keep him from getting in that trunk with her. Not unless he could get Kimberly to take back her statement…
"Well, that's settled, then," Trini said lightly. "Let's get going. I don't know about you guys, but I'm starved."
As the others got up and brushed themselves off, Tommy grabbed Kimberly's arm and drew her aside. "Listen, Kim," he began, trying to choose his wording carefully without upsetting her, though he had absolutely no game plan.
"Tommy," Kimberly interrupted, "give it up. They're going to get us in that trunk somehow, and you know it."
Tommy blinked. So she did know her friends were conspiring against them. Why didn't she seem very concerned? Was she conspiring against him, too? Or just comfortable in her ability to win? …Or did she want to lose?
"Didn't you notice that I was the only one left? All that was left was Zack's excuse and your attempt to worm your way out of it. If we go into that trunk calmly," Kimberly continued, "they'll think their pitiful attempts to get us in bed together by the end of the week are paying off, and they'll back down, at least a little. Don't fight them, Tommy. We've got a week, and then we can do whatever the hell we want without Trini and the others breathing down our necks. All we have to do is pretend they're on the right track for a while. Trust me. I've already got Trini thinking she's got me backed into a corner."
Tommy stared at her, shocked. Of course. She had already figured out Trini's plan, and a way to beat her. Trini was better with psychology, but Kimberly was the master when it came to romance.
"Are you with me?" Kimberly whispered. A few of the others were trying to inconspicuously drift into hearing range.
Tommy thought about it. Whatever Kimberly had in mind, he was pretty sure it was closer to the pace and method he wanted; after all, she was in the same boat that he was.
"Sure," he said finally, grinning. "Let's kick their ass."
Kimberly threw back her head and laughed. "Atta boy, Tommy."
They walked over to the car together, both of them smiling. Billy was holding the trunk open for them. Feeling refreshingly cheerful, Tommy turned calmly to Kimberly. "Top or bottom?" he asked playfully.
Billy nearly dropped the hood on their heads. Kimberly giggled. "Top."
"All right," Tommy replied, winking at her as he lay down on his back, pulling his legs up, "but just this once."
Kimberly sat down and lay back beside him, bending her knees to take advantage of the curve in the hood. "That's what you think," she replied, just as Billy slammed the lid down.
They laughed hysterically once they were alone, picturing the looks on their friends' faces. It felt so nice, hanging with his friends, hanging with Kimberly, joking and cracking on one another. He felt much more peaceful, and a sense of closure about Zordon. Zordon was their mentor, their creator in a way, and he would always be with them.
For now, though, he had his team, old and new, and he and Kimberly were absolutely fine. They were teasing each other, almost flirting, and he was simply amazed at the irony. If anyone had told him two weeks ago that he'd be calmly accepting a long ride locked in the trunk of the RADBUG with Kimberly, he'd have laughed himself sick. But here he was, and everything was fine.
Then it hit him.
Fine?
Everything was not FINE!
He was locked in the trunk of a car.
With Kimberly.
By people who would probably prolong the ordeal for as long as they could.
He was trapped with his ex-girlfriend in a small, cramped area and would be flying hundreds of feet above the surface of the Earth.
So there was no escape.
Was he insane?
"Did you guys see that?" Zack hissed, leaning into the front seat the moment they were safely airborne. As space was already tight up front, Jason, Trini, Billy and Zack practically had their heads attached at the temple now. Conner, Kira, Ethan and Trent, entranced with the view, barely noticed.
"It was kind of hard to miss," Billy said dryly. He'd nearly died when Tommy had made that "top or bottom" comment.
"It's great, isn't it?" Jason said calmly, quite content to be holding Trini and flying in the RADBUG while surrounded by his friends; he simply couldn't be bothered with the Tommy and Kimberly mess right now.
"Is that all you can say?" Zack demanded. "They're flirting! And currently locked in the trunk together!"
"And probably sitting there in complete silence, awkward, upset, and praying for the moment we set down," Jason replied, rolling his eyes. "If anything, this little excursion will make things between them worse."
"Depends on what they talk about, really," Trini said conversationally. "On the one hand, it's possible that only one of them survives. On the other, they could really work a few things out."
"Kim offered to get in the trunk," Zack pointed out.
"Because you were the last person left, and you were going to try to get out of it," Trini said. "That's why she did it."
Zack looked utterly disappointed. "But… doesn't that bother you?"
"Not in the slightest, Zack," Trini said calmly. "Not in the slightest." She grinned. "Trust me, why don't you?"