Chapter Seventy-nine

Dark Warrior

"Would you look at this place?" Cassidy sighed as she and Devin climbed off of Devin's scooter in front of the enormous porch of Anton Mercer's mansion. "I wish Dr. Mercer would adopt me!"

"I thought you liked your parents," Devin said blankly.

"So not the point," Cassidy replied, rolling her eyes. Together, they made their way across the porch. Cassidy made to hit the doorbell, but the door opened before she could get close.

"Yes?" asked a tall, thin old man with a suspicious look on his face.

"Hi, remember us?" Devin asked cheerfully.

"The two idiot children who I threw off the property for claiming they were friends of Trent's in order to hassle Dr. Mercer for an interview about the Greenleaf Award?" the butler asked dryly.

"Yeah! And then we snuck back onto the property and into the greenhouses and we started to interview Dr. Mercer but then he got nauseous so Trent—"

"Devin, shut up!" Cassidy hissed. "We're here to see—"

"Trent is vacationing with some friends," the butler interrupted. "You two have the worst timing when trying to use your supposed friendship with Trent to gain admittance. Granted, not knowing he's on vacation sounds slightly better than not knowing he'd moved out of the house for several months—"

"Yeah, that's nice," Cassidy cut in impatiently. "We want to see Dr. Mercer. And Principal Randall, if she's here."

"They are not here, either."

Cassidy stamped her foot. "Well, where are they?"

"I'm afraid Dr. Mercer has asked that I don't share his whereabouts with everyone who drops by," the butler drawled.

Cassidy glared at him. "Listen, Jeeves—"

"My name is Bob, actually. Now, I'm going to have to ask you to leave, and not come back, lest the police be called. Goodbye." With that, he shut the door in their faces.

"Ugh! How rude!" Cassidy exclaimed.

"Maybe they're at the cyber café," Devin suggested.

"Why would they be at the cyber café?" Cassidy demanded.

"Well, they're friends with Dr. O and Hayley. And Dr. Mercer came in there sometimes when Trent was working. And—"

"Devin, I am not giving up! Come on. If we can get back into the greenhouse they'll probably be a door leading to the house. We'll just slip in and go wait for them. If they're really not home. I'm going to have a talk with Dr. Mercer about his butler."

They headed around the house to the greenhouse where Anton had housed most of his biological and botanical research… and stopped, staring up at the boarded-up greenhouse. Cassidy gaped at it. "What happened?" she breathed.

"Trent told me that after he kicked us out that day we came by for the Greenleaf interview, Dr. Mercer turned into Mesogog and kind of smashed the place to smithereens," Devin said. "Trent said his dad's waiting to repair it, because there's been a lot of damage to the house—Dr. Mercer destroying the greenhouse, Trent fighting the White Ranger Clone on the lawn, Trent practicing his moves when he was evil—and he wants to repair everything slowly and secretly so people don't think they were too involved with the Dino Rangers." Devin pointed across the lawn. "Trent said if you look close enough you can see the new grass over there somewhere, from when Dr. Mercer had to replace a giant scorch mark left when Trent blew up the White Ranger Clone."

"Wow," Cassidy breathed. "I told you this would be a great story!"

"You were right. But how are we going to get into the house?"

Cassidy turned away from the greenhouse and began glancing around. "Well, maybe—what is that?"

Devin followed Cassidy's gaze and saw a sparking green ball of energy hovering in midair above the path that led off along the lawn. "I don't know," he said, staring at it in awe. Cautiously, he and Cassidy approached. It was about the size of a melon with short tendrils of electricity extending from it in random directions. "Cool," Devin breathed, reaching out his hand to touch it.

"Devin, don't!" Cassidy hissed, clutching his arm. "It could be dangerous!"

"I don't think so," Devin said slowly. "I think Dr. Mercer got rid of most of the dangerous stuff once the Dino Rangers defeated Mesogog."

"Devin, I mean it, don't touch it—"

Devin wasn't listening; the science geek in him was too entranced by the ball of light bouncing above the path. He tentatively reached out his hand, index finger extended, and touched the ball of light.

It was as if he'd just been sucked into a giant vacuum cleaner. Everything went dark, and the only sensation was Cassidy gripping his arm painfully tight and the incredibly powerful suction drawing him inexplicably forward. There was no air, he couldn't breathe, couldn't scream, though not for lack of trying—

Then suddenly Devin was crumpling on a hard, rough surface, Cassidy falling against him and rolling away to the side. They were both screaming incoherently, panicking, curling up in the fetal position as if to protect themselves from falling objects. It was several long minutes before the screaming died down.

"What the hell?" Cassidy complained, still curled up with her hands over her face. "What was that? Devin, what did you do?"

"I don't know," Devin whimpered, cautiously looking around at their surroundings. They appeared to be in some sort of half-demolished building. It was dimly lit by sunlight poring in through the cracks in the tiles overhead. Support beams and wires hung forlornly from the ceiling. Debris was scattered randomly and the place smelled of charred wood and chemicals, reminding Devin strongly of formaldehyde.

Slowly, tentatively, Devin rolled over and began to stand. He was almost fully upright when he caught sight of something nearby and screamed once more, backpedaling, tripping over Cassidy and landing on a pile of shredded insulation.

"What? What?" Cassidy demanded fearfully, helping him up and then hiding behind him.

"Severed arm! Severed arm!" Devin wailed, pointing at the limb in horror.

Cassidy couldn't resist a peek at it. She frowned. "That's not a severed arm, Devin, it's part of a Tyrannodrone," she pointed out.

"It's a severed Tyrannodrone arm!" Devin exclaimed in horror, but the fear had drained from Cassidy. Dead monsters were the best kind in her book, and while they might be gross they definitely weren't frightening. She glowered at it disdainfully, then slowly turned around in a circle, taking in their surroundings with interest.

"Where do you think we are?" she asked thoughtfully.

Devin shrugged uneasily, his eyes squinted shut. "I don't know… probably in Mesogog's laboratory."

Cassidy's eyes lit up. "Are you serious?"

"Trent said it got destroyed and all. He and Dr. Mercer barely got out alive, that they went through something called an invisiportal at the last second. That's probably what the green thing was."

"Devin, get your camera," Cassidy ordered. "We're inside the secret hideout of Reefside's most dangerous villain! This will be the scoop of the century!"

"Should we really film it without Dr. Mercer's permiss—?"

"Devin, get the camera already!"

Devin jumped and reached for his shoulder bag… only to discover it was no longer there. "Um, Cass… I think I might've… you know… dropped it when we got sucked into the portal."

Cassidy stamped her foot. "Dev-in! We get sucked through a green ball of light, wind up next to an evil creature's severed arm in a villain's secret lair, and you dropped the camera?"

"We were getting sucked into a ball of light!" Devin whined, trying to scrunch up and look small, as he often did when Cassidy was screaming at him.

"That's just great! Great!"

"Well, um, not to further dampen the mood here, but, uh, Cassidy?"

"What?"

"Shouldn't we focus on how we're going to get home? From what I remember, Mesogog's fortress was on an island."

Cassidy glanced around in horror at the demolished lab, her stomach sinking into the heels of her designer sandals. There were no obvious exits, and even if there were, an island meant there was a body of water between Reefside and Cassidy, and a body of water meant goodbye to her three-hundred-dollar halter top. To make matters worse, the ball of green light had vanished.

"Devin?"

"Yeah, Cass?"

"If we don't find a way out of here, I'm going to kill you and eat you for food."

Conner was bored. Conner was extremely bored. Ethan and Trent had been gone forever. Maybe even five whole minutes.

He'd tried people-watching at first, but the mall didn't have a whole lot of interesting people in it. In fact, the mall itself was pretty slow at the moment; Dr. O had said something about how Angel Grove citizens knew when impending doom was at hand, and most anyone who walked in and saw the fountain mess would probably walk right back out again or just join the brigade. Plus a lot of people had probably been scared away by the hamsters and gerbils… he hoped Ethan remembered to get him two ball thingies, because he wasn't sure if Ms. Syrian Hamster and Mr. Mongolian Gerbil liked to share just yet. Maybe he should try putting them in the same pocket—

A girl sat down on the bench next to him. Conner hastily yanked his sleeve down to cover the handcuff on his right wrist; he knew enough about girls to know any girl would probably find it weird to handcuff oneself to a bench and let one's friends wander off with the key. He hoped Ethan and Trent got back soon… the fur was starting to itch…

Enough about the handcuffs, though; he had a pretty girl sitting next to him. At least, he assumed she was pretty—she had her back turned to him, but he could see a curtain of mousy brown hair and a thin figure. Granted, she wasn't very fashionable; she was wearing white gloves on her hands, a black-and-white striped short-sleeved shirt and tight black pants, with an odd hat on top of her less-than-chic hair. Something about the hat was familiar. He didn't know much about hats, but he started running through a list in his head anyway, trying to come up with where he'd seen the hat before. Cowboy hat, police hat, fireman hat, baseball cap, knit cap… that was pretty much all he could think of, but none of them matched the hat… bowler hat, maybe?

Well, anyway, she was slim and just a little weird and even if her hair wasn't shiny or styled she probably wasn't all that bad looking and it's not like he was looking to have six kids with her or anything, so he'd just get her to turn around and if she was ugly or thirty or something he'd just ask her for the time and then be very disinterested until Trent and Ethan came back to uncuff him. If they came back. Uh-oh…

Praying the girl was hot and that Trent and Ethan would eventually return for him, Conner said, "Excuse me."

The girl turned. Only she wasn't a girl.

She was a mime.

Conner's eyes widened in horror at the white makeup all over her face and the creepy blank expression. Oh, god. He was sitting next to a mime! A MIME!

Conner had a history with mimes. He knew what they truly were. They weren't like clowns. Clowns were either scary or nice, and most were nice. Sure, he'd run across an evil clown gang yesterday, but those were rare. Most clowns tried to make a person laugh, and he liked people who made a living off humor. Clowns were funny and had cool skills like juggling fiery objects and throwing knives. Mimes… mimes were terrorists. They were always trapping people in invisible boxes and staring with their wide vacant eyes, just like that mime at the circus on his third grade field trip that had scared Conner so badly he'd had to go home for a change of shorts. But that was different. Back then he and Eric had still been as close as if they'd been Siamese twins, always going everywhere together, best buds to the end. Eric had been the one to tackle the mime so it couldn't finish its invisible box of doom. Eric had been the one to threaten those classmates who dared to laugh at Conner's plight. Eric had been the one to make mean Mrs. Flanders let them both go home when their mom came to pick Conner up. He'd even cheered Conner up by saying things like "Anyone would have wet themselves after three large root beers and a mime," and "Know why mimes trap people in invisible boxes? So they can't escape."

But now, now, Conner was alone. Alone with an evil mime girl who'd tried to pass herself off as something worthy of a pickup line. Ethan and Trent were off buying hamster balls and Eric was off in Blue Bay Harbor and Conner was alone with a mime.

"Get away from me!" Conner yelped. "I know martial arts! Honest I do!"

The mime stood up in a jerky sort of fashion and then put up her hands. Oh, god. The box. The suffocating box of doom.

"HELP!" Conner screamed as the mime began to feel out the box around him. "Help! Somebody! Help!"

Everyone in the vicinity looked around with the alertness of threatened squirrels. Yet nobody came to help him. A few shuddered and mumbled something insulting towards mimes, but most laughed, obviously thinking that a kid thrashing about and screaming while handcuffed to a bench and being encased in an invisible box was some sort of odd mall entertainment.

Panicking now, Conner kicked out at her, but she was taking care to set the boundaries of the box out of range of his legs. "I mean it! Stay away from me! Help!" Conner shouted.

No one rushed to his side. No one believed Conner was in danger. But it was a mime! How could he not be in danger? Didn't these people know how evil mimes were? Didn't they know that Conner had upset a large portion of the White Makeup Mafia by smacking down whole bunches of mean clowns just twenty-four hours ago? Oh, god, was this payback for yesterday? Had the bruised clown gang contacted their mime brethren and put out a hit on Conner? Was this vengeance for daring to take on some of the psychotic creatures who made it their business to scare little children?

"HELP!" Conner screamed. "Get away! I know karate and kung fu!"

No one came for him. He was all alone, handcuffed to the spot, at the mercy of a mime who had the gall to masquerade as a possibly attractive girl.

"I'm a Power Ranger, you know!" he roared, throwing caution to the winds. "I'm a Red Ranger! Let me go! Let me go!"

She didn't even pause. The box was almost complete. Wait… if he could get out before she finished, if he could run away with the bench…

Conner stood up as best he could when one hand had to stay against the bench. He seized the slats of the bench in both hands and heaved, preparing to run for it.

Until he discovered the bench was bolted to the floor.

Conner sank onto the bench, trembling. Was this how it ended? Would he, Conner McKnight, leader of the Dino Thunder Power Rangers, be condemned to suffocate inside an invisible force field? What would Trent and Ethan and Kira and Dr. O and Hayley say when they found out he'd fallen? What would they say when they realized he'd never again drink Hayley's smoothies or give Ethan dating advice or tease Dr. O about his love life or annoy Kira until she let out a Ptera-scream at him to shut him up or beat Trent in a race just to prove he could or play cheery tunes on the communicators—

The communicators!

Conner lifted his left wrist to his mouth… and realized he needed two hands to activate the communicator.

Growling in angry desperation, he slammed his left wrist against the bench to activate frequency that would contact Ethan and Trent. He held his wrist up to his mouth, praying they answered in time… sometimes it took them a moment to get somewhere where it wouldn't look suspicious to use the communicator…

Conner waited as the mime began tapping on the invisible wall of the box. Conner couldn't breathe. He was dead, dead dead dead…

"Conner?"

"Trent! Ethan! HELP! MIME!" Conner shouted into his wrist.

"We're on our way!" Ethan yelled, and within thirty seconds Conner could see them, running flat-out, dodging through the mall-crawlers, all determination and worry, like any two great best friends who happened to be ex-superheroes. In that moment, as they rushed to his aide, Conner almost completely forgave them for handcuffing him to a bench.

They broke through the invisible wall of the mime's fortress-box and came to a stop in front of Conner, facing the mime, both in martial arts stances, daring the mime to make a move.

"Back up, clown," Trent said in a voice that had hints of his evil White Ranger tone.

The mime's eyes widened. She looked livid. Trent had just delivered the Ultimate Mime Insult.

The mime put up her fists and slowly pantomimed a few punches. Ethan and Trent looked at each other, wondering if this was some sort of karmic thing for missing the clown fight. Then, in perfect unison, they did what Power Rangers do best.

They posed.

Conner forgot his fear for a moment as he watched them do something few Rangers did without the uniform. The quick, jerky motions, the demonstration of power and fearlessness, the almost creepily flawless synchronization…

Then it was over, and they were back in their stances, glaring at the mime once more. The mime looked a little worried and pressed her finger to her chin in a mock-thoughtful expression, but she did not run away.

Ethan and Trent exchanged another glance, this one slightly annoyed, and then they simultaneously went into a routine, showing off all their best moves, spinning and kicking and punching and rolling and Conner forgot all about the mime and watched, both impressed and certain that he could take either one of them with one hand handcuffed to a bench.

When at last they straightened up to scattered applause from the onlookers a few minutes later, the mime decided she'd had enough. She made a few posturing gestures and then half-skipped, half-ran away, down the hall and out the doors to the parking lot.

"Oh, thank god," Conner moaned as she vanished out into the sunlight. "That was terrifying. I thought I was dead!" He reached out, seized Trent by the back of the shirt, and hauled him down onto the bench for the tightest one-armed hug he could muster now that all his limbs felt like jelly from panic. Trent shoved him away and nearly fell off the bench.

"You called us all the way back here for a mime?" Ethan asked, shaking his head, as if now that it was over he wasn't quite sure it had happened at all.

"You saw her. She was gonna kill me, man," Conner insisted, shuddering. "Don't you remember third grade? The circus?"

Ethan frowned. "Didn't we go on a field trip or something?"

"Yeah! And this mime tried to lock me in a box and I wet my pants and Eric had to tackle her and Eric wasn't here and I'm so glad you came!" he finished in a wail, snatching Ethan's forearm and hauling him down for a hug as well.

Ethan cleared his throat. "Conner… people are staring."

Conner sniffled a bit, trying to gain control over in his relief and the last remnants of terror and adrenaline. He was starting to feel kind of stupid. Sure, it had been an evil mime and he'd been handcuffed to a bench, but he wasn't a scared little third grader anymore. He was an athlete, a martial artist, and a Power Ranger. He could have taken her. In fact, if he ever saw her again… when he wasn't handcuffed to an immovable object… she'd just taken him by surprise, was all. He could handle her. He totally could have.

He sighed shakily and released Ethan. "All right. Did you get everything? Did you get two balls?"

"Conner, we were gone all of three minutes," Trent pointed out, standing up and brushing off the fur Conner's hug had transferred to Trent's shirt. "We hadn't even made it to the pet store when you rang."

Conner sighed. "Okay, well, uncuff me and I'll just keep lookout with Trent outside the pet store."

"Are you kidding? No way!" Trent exclaimed. "Just hang here."

Conner's mime fear resurfaced with a vengeance. "I can't stay here! The mime might come back!"

"The mime won't come back. You'll be fine," Trent said firmly.

"Don't worry about her, Conner, I think you can take her," Ethan said, giving Conner a patronizing pat on the head.

"Besides, you've got your communicator. We'll come running if she does," Trent continued.

"And anyway, we'll be back in twenty minutes, tops," Ethan added.

"Yeah, right. You guys just handcuffed me to this bench so you could ditch me and go have a chaos-free existence while I get eaten by a mime," Conner said sulkily.

"Uh-huh. Yeah. That was our plan," Trent scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"We came back for you, didn't we? We'll come back again, promise," Ethan said reasonably. "As soon as we swing by the pet store."

"Come on, guys, don't leave me here…"

"Conner, you'll be fine," Ethan said sternly.

"And I really need a few minutes of peace to realign my equilibrium," Trent added. "It's not easy being The Normal One, you know."

"Not when you hang out with us," Ethan joked, clapping Trent on the shoulder. "We'll be back in twenty minutes," he added to Conner, and he and Trent began heading back down the corridor.

"An hour, tops!" Trent called hastily. As they vanished behind a vendor's stall, Conner thought he heard them mention the arcade.

Conner sighed heavily. They weren't coming back. Not for a while. Just like that time Dr. O had told Conner he just had to run to the store for paperclips and came back six hours later smelling of women's perfume. Just like that time Ethan had told him he'd help Conner with his algebra as soon as he beat Zelda on his Game Boy and hadn't mentioned he wasn't even halfway through the game. Just like that time Kira had told him Kylee Styles was going to set him up with one of her backup dancers and had later told him she was just being sarcastic. Conner knew his friends loved him and enjoyed his company… but he also knew that sometimes they liked their solitude, and he was getting marginally better at spotting one of those moments when his charming presence wasn't appreciated.

Conner sighed and took Mr. Mongolian Gerbil out of his pocket. "At least I've still got you, buddy," he said fondly. "And you," he called to Ms. Syrian Hamster, whom he couldn't remove from his pocket thanks to the cuffs.

He put the gerbil back in its temporary home, where it resumed nibbling on Conner's wallet. Darn handcuffs, they were starting to itch. Idly he scratched at his right wrist with his left hand while glancing around the mall for a distraction—

Clink thunk.

The red fur surrounding Conner's wrist suddenly vanished. He looked down in surprise and realized the cuff had somehow fallen off. He was free!

Conner scooted along the bench and leaned down to examine the cuffs. A thin bit of metal sticking out of the open cuff was now leaning the other way. He was delighted to realize he'd discovered a safety latch.

Conner grabbed the other cuff and fumbled with it for a moment until it, too, unlocked. Grinning, he stuffed the handcuffs in with Ms. Syrian Hamster. An idea had just occurred to him.

Conner strode purposefully towards the glass doors. With any luck, the evil mime hadn't gotten far.

"That's the last of the Spencer's crap," Jason said heavily as he dropped the final bag in the middle of Tommy and Zack's hotel room floor. "I have no idea how you'll fit this all in your Jeep with the Dino Rangers on the ride back to Reefside, Tommy."

"I'll probably let you guys sort through it later," Tommy said. "See what all they want. And since Hayley's coming in tonight, I can have her take some of it back. Or maybe some of the Dino Rangers back," he added hopefully.

"Plus the Mesogog guy is coming, right?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to ask him to take my new supply of handcuffs home," Tommy replied. "The guy was my mentor. My employer. Not to mention Trent's father."

"And any good Ranger knows better than to give an ex-evil villain a supply of handcuffs," Jason joked.

Tommy shook his head. He had endured numerous jokes about his unwanted purchases, most involving Kimberly, since the three of them had left the mall to drop off Billy's electronics and the Spencer's merchandise. They were now planning to head back to the mall with the Jeep and Escalade now nearly empty, in addition to Jason's truck, even though they doubted they'd have too many packages for two vehicles again—but it was better to be prepared, especially now that Kimberly was clothes shopping.

They had just turned to leave when Tommy's phone rang. He groaned loudly as he pulled it from his pocket, wondering what god had decided to throw sharp objects at him now, but the caller turned out to be Adam. Adam he could handle. Adam was generally more resistant to chaos than the others. He was the original Trent.

"Hold up, guys, it's Adam," Tommy called, sitting down at the table in the corner and opening his phone. Jason shut the door, more out of habit than because he thought they'd end up discussing anything that needed to be kept secret; all Rangers had an unshakable routine of watching out for eavesdroppers when a group of all Rangers got together.

"Cool," Zack said, flopping back on his bed and closing his eyes, wondering if it was safe to sleep or if he'd end up worshipping wildebeests or craving tea. This was turning out to be one of the most tiring vacations he'd ever had.

"Hey, Adam," Tommy said. "You guys back in town yet?"

"No, actually. Rocky had just left for the teashop when I got home, according to Carmen." Carmen was Adam and Tanya's maid and the only staff member they employed fulltime. "He apparently spent a long time in the pool. I called him and he said he'd be a while. That was almost an hour ago."

"I didn't even know he liked tea," Tommy said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, well, you know Rocky. He's about as predictable as an alien invasion. Anyway, I talked to Tanya. She and Aisha will be here about five o'clock on Friday. I told her I'd pick them up at the airport and we were hoping you guys would come, too."

"Yeah, sure. Haven't seen Tanya since the coma thing. And I don't think I've seen Aisha since Jason and Trini got married."

"Great; I'll let her know. Oh, and she apparently got in touch with T.J. He wants to organize a big Ranger shindig the night before Power Rangers Day. That way we can all sit down, discuss a few things—"

"And have a kegger."

Zack jolted out of his catnap. "What was that about a kegger?"

Adam laughed. "T.J. said the same thing."

"After the week I've had, I could use a kegger. Or three."

"When's the kegger?" Zack demanded.

"Yeah, when's the kegger?" Jason asked with interest. Tommy waved at them to be quiet.

"And who won't love seeing the original Rangers back in uniform and all hung over come Saturday morning?" Adam joked. "I know I'll be taking lots of pictures."

Tommy chuckled. "Who all has T.J. invited?"

"Well, he says he's having trouble getting in touch with those ninja guys who lost their powers last year. I told him you might have their number—you met them, right?"

"Yeah. Met, fought against, hung out at a motocross rally, the usual. I don't think I have any of their numbers programmed in my phone, but I'll call Hayley; she chats up their tech genius, Cam, a lot."

"You won't forget, will you?"

"Of course not. So who else will be there?"

"Well, we're not sure about Lost Galaxy. T.J. contacted Andros, Ashley and Zhane on the Megaship and Andros said he'd get in touch with them, though. Lightspeed already said they'd show and Wes and Eric are bringing Taylor. She's calling up the rest of Wild Force. Justin may or may not make it, something about finals at MIT, but Cassie and Carlos are coming."

"What about Kat? No one wants to mention her for fear Kimberly's head will explode or something." Tommy glowered at Jason and Zack, who both suddenly appeared extremely disinterested in Tommy and Adam's conversation.

Adam grimaced. As far as he knew, Kimberly and Kat hadn't been in the same room for years, and Kat had told him once that Kimberly had stopped writing letters to her after the incident with Divatox. He seriously doubted there would be any animosity whatsoever between the two girls were they to meet again—after all, Tommy and Kimberly's breakup had had nothing to do with Kat—but he was slightly nervous about reuniting them, especially when Kimberly and Tommy had just started hanging out again. Still, that didn't mean he wanted to forego seeing Kat; she was still extremely close to Adam, Tanya and Rocky, and relatively close to Jason. "Um, well, I tried calling, but I didn't get an answer, and when I went to email her I got a note from her saying that her dance partner, Julian, got bit by some sort of poisonous snake—"

"Jeez, seriously? Is he okay?"

"Well, from what I hear, yeah, but she's spending a lot of time in the hospital with him and if she's in the hospital—"

"She'll probably turn off her cell and she won't be answering the house phone or email. Did it say if she was coming to Power Rangers Day?"

"No, but it was a group email; she sent it to all of us and a bunch of non-Rangers, including her family. Maybe she didn't want to mention it. Or maybe she doesn't even know. But if he's still hospitalized, she'll probably want to stay with him…"

"Yeah. That would suck. Would be nice to see Kat again."

"I sent her an email telling her about Power Rangers Day. If she gets it, I bet you anything she'll show. She won't miss seeing Billy and everyone."

"Yeah. Hey, maybe one of us should try beeping her. She might be wearing the old communicator."

"Worth a shot. I'll go do that now."

"All right. I'll talk to you when you get into town. Oh, hey, where are we having the party?"

"Well, T.J. was thinking of his place, but I pointed out that it'd be less suspicious to do it here. A bunch of people showing up the night before Power Rangers Day at the home of an unmasked Ranger…"

"Good thinking. And it's not like you don't have space to spare."

"Yeah. Carmen's already made some calls, ordering food and whatnot. I think she thinks we're having some sort of gay pride party; she asked about decorating and I said it would be too much work, this short of notice, to include 'every color in the rainbow.'"

Tommy laughed. "Nothing wrong with being liberal."

"True. Well, see you in a few hours."

They said their goodbyes and Tommy flipped his phone closed, at which point Jason and Zack simultaneously asked, "When's the kegger?"

"Friday. T.J. suggested a Rangers-only party. Adam and Tanya are hosting." He filled them in on the details of the conversation as they headed out the door and into the elevator.

"Sucks about Kat," Zack said. He had always liked Kat; though he wasn't as close to her as Jason, Rocky, Adam and Tanya, he still emailed and called her often and he'd danced with her for hours at Jason and Trini's wedding, glad to have someone around who not only knew how to dance but harbored a passion for it. Granted, Kat preferred ballet, but she had learned a lot of other styles and enjoyed clubbing almost as much as he did.

"She might come. She and Billy were close," Jason pointed out.

"Adam said he'd call her on the communicator; we'll know for sure in a few hours," Tommy said. "Meanwhile, let's get back to the mall before the others manage to blow it up."

"Oh, come on. None of us would blow up the mall. Kimberly would kill us," Zack joked.

"Just the same, I'd like to get back there before one of the teenagers I'm responsible for decides to do something stupid."

Conner sighed heavily as he glanced up and down the busy street. He hadn't been able to spot the mime anywhere… and now, he could no longer spot the mall, either.

He wasn't quite sure how it had happened. One minute he was marching determinedly through the parking lot, one hand on his handcuffs and the other balled into a fist, and the next minute he was on the corner of Main Street and Seventh Avenue. He'd turned around and headed back in the direction he'd came from, but three miles later he was still nowhere near the mall. Here he was, all alone, just him and his gerbil and hamster, wandering around an unknown city and unable to find one stupid evil mime or to find his way back.

Dr. O was going to kill him.