Chapter 101

Calamity Kimberly

"Should he really be driving at a time like this?" Hayley groaned as Tommy weaved between a minivan and a Greyhound bus.

"Relax," Jason called over his shoulder from the front seat. "We'll be fine."

Hayley glowered at him. "One of these days, I'm going to write a book about how being Power Rangers has made you think you're far more invincible than you are."

"Left," Jason told Tommy, pointing out an opening. Tommy nodded curtly and swerved back into the far left lane. The problem with driving over a hundred miles per hour was that not everyone understood that seventy-five only technically qualified as speeding.

"How's Zack doing?" Tommy asked.

"Conner says he's about three miles back," Trini reported, her cell phone pressed to her ear.

Tommy made a somewhat disgusted sound as he wove between three semi trucks and a Ferrari. "Why couldn't any of you guys stick around through Turbo?"

"Hey, don't look at me," Jason joked. "I was kidnapped when the keys got handed out."

"Alien planet," Billy added wryly.

"Maybe you should have called us about Rocky's accident sooner," Trini said. "By the time I got to Rocky's hospital room, he'd already sent Justin to the Power Chamber."

"Tommy, there's no need to drive this fast," Hayley said weakly. She was sitting in the back seat of Tommy's Jeep, between Billy and Trini. She had chosen the seat because Jason had already claimed the front and she knew that leaning forward would enable her to talk to Tommy a little more easily. In reality, all it did was give her a clear view out through the windshield, which was not fun. She couldn't lean forward to speak to him with Tommy flying back and forth through traffic, either, not unless she wanted a concussion. And to make matters worse, something was wrong with the air-conditioning in the Jeep; it was stuck on freezing, and the knob was missing.

Everyone ignored her, including Tommy. "Where the hell are all these people going?" Tommy growled as he zoomed around an RV. "Seriously. That guy was barely going over eighty."

"The speed limit is seventy," Hayley pointed out. "Look, I thought you said there wasn't a huge rush. I thought you said Adam and Rocky were already halfway there."

"Hayley, we told you," Billy said patiently. "We can't cover all the places Kimberly might be with just two people, and even if she shows up at one of those two places, if she figures out what's going on she'll ditch them and—"

"Not gonna happen," Tommy snarled. "I'm gonna find her. I don't care if I have to go to France to do it. There is nowhere she can hide. Nowhere!"

"Tommy, you're being unrealistic," Hayley insisted.

"No I'm not. Galaxy and Space Rangers can help me get to most of the known universe. Lightspeed can find out if she leaves the country. I can find her no matter where she hides."

"No, no," Hayley said, "by unrealistic, I meant, you're a freaking whack job."

Tommy snorted. "That's never stopped me before."

"Can't one of you talk some sense into him?" Hayley asked the others pleadingly.

"I believe he's beyond reason, Hayley," Billy said.

"Got that right," Jason said proudly.

Trini smiled at her. "I know that, to you, it all seems a little strange. I mean, here we are, flying down the interstate at breakneck speed just because we're reasonably certain Kim went back to L.A.—"

"We've been listening to nothing but 'Ride of the Valkyries' the whole time," Hayley interrupted. "I think we're far beyond 'a little strange.'"

"I like this song," Billy commented. "I miss Earth music."

"The thing about talking some sense into Tommy, Hayley," Trini continued, "is that as far as we're concerned? We finally have."

"What?" Hayley demanded.

"As crazy as this looks—" she began.

"As crazy as this is," Jason cut in.

"Right, is. As crazy as this is, we have been attempting to talk this kind of sense into the guy since 1997," Trini said. "Seven years, more or less, but we've finally done it."

"We talked him into this, Hayley," Jason added. "We're not about to talk him out of it."

Hayley rolled her eyes and gripped Tommy and Jason's seats, bracing her forearms against them in an attempt to hold herself still while Tommy sped down the interstate. "Tommy, look at yourself. This is insane. I don't know what—"

"Do you see my rearview mirror, Hayley?" Tommy interrupted.

"What?"

"My rearview mirror. Look at it."

She frowned and did so. It was sitting at a wild angle and there was a large smear of some sort of grease across it. "Yeah, so?"

"Kim's fault. So's the air-conditioning knob. I tried to put it back in place but it just rattled and fell off and hell if I can find it now. The way you're sitting? Reminds me of Kimberly. Everything reminds me of Kimberly. Pink things. Sundresses. Sagittarians. Parks. Roller skates. Mountains. Beaches. Birds. Darts. Cinnamon. Lipstick. Mirrors. Laughter. Every single day since the moment I met Kimberly, I've thought about her more often than anyone should have to think about anything. Why the hell do you think I'm always so damned distracted?"

"Listen, Tommy…"

"No, Hayley. I'm through listening. I'm through being reasonable. I'm through being rational. I'm going to get Kimberly back if it's the last thing I do and by god, if you're not gonna help me, then get out of my car."

There was no malice in his statement, no anger. It was simple, matter-of-fact. That, more than his words, was what made Hayley sit back in her seat. This wasn't something he was doing because he was upset. This wasn't about being hurt or being angry. Tommy wasn't trying to relieve the pain of the old wound.

Tommy believed in what he was doing. He was looking at it rationally. That was going to make it much, much harder to reason with him. People who were acting emotionally just needed to be calmed. People who were acting logically needed a valid argument. They needed to be convinced. Tommy knew damned well what most of her arguments were; hell, he'd made plenty of arguments himself against trying to reconcile with Kimberly. That meant there would be very little chance of her finding a good counterargument.

They'd only been ten minutes into the planning stages when someone had thought to call Rocky and Adam, at which point they'd discovered Adam and Rocky were close enough to L.A. that they might even be able to beat her there. Adam, Zack, Kimberly, Carlos and T.J.—the only five Rangers who lived in Los Angeles—had all exchanged house keys in case of emergency, so Adam had dropped Rocky off at Kimberly's house and Rocky had gone to sit in her living room and wait. They weren't certain if Kimberly was in the mood for company or not, so Adam had taken the car and headed for her gymnastics center, so she wouldn't see his car in her driveway and keep going. Adam was now parked in an alley near the center, where he could see the parking lot and watch for her without risking being spotted.

With Rocky and Adam covering the two most likely places Kimberly would go, the others had felt comfortable spending some time doing careful planning before leaving the house. By the time they reached Los Angeles, it was going to be almost noon, if they didn't hit any truly horrible traffic. That gave them six hours before the "Ranger kegger," as they were calling it, to hunt down one person in one of the largest cities in the country, and none of them had slept more than an hour or two since yesterday.

"I should have just stayed in Reefside," Hayley grumbled.

Kimberly wasn't that far out of town before she gave up and pulled off to the side of the road. Sighing, she turned the engine off and rubbed furiously at her stinging eyes. It just wasn't fair; seven years of effort and it all came crashing down. Her entire body felt tired and sore, as if she had been battling some random creature instead of just being locked in a super closet with her ex-boyfriend of three years. Although, given that she had been up all night crunched in a small room, getting banged around, in the dark… never mind being emotionally assaulted. Well, maybe "assaulted" was too strong a word. Emotionally gut-kicked? Lifting her shoulders, she rotated them, rolling her neck as well before letting her head drop to the steering wheel.

Seven years of effort. Seven years of trying not to miss him, seven years of guilt, pain and countless other emotions. Suddenly they called due right then and there, tearing up her chest, burning her throat and finally issuing forth. Sobs wracked her body as Kimberly clutched her arms around her stomach, hardly even able to draw breath.

How on Earth could they do this to her? This was her private life; it was none of their business who she was with, who she broke up with, whether or not she chose to speak to them again or not! Where the hell did they get off trying to get her and Tommy back together? It was over, it was over seven years ago, and they should have learned to deal with it like she had! Kimberly hit the steering wheel with her palms, wanting fiercely to kick something.

Leaning against the steering wheel, Kimberly shuddered. "Please, God, I'll do anything if you just make it all go away..." If only it'd just all go away. Wouldn't everything be that much easier if it just—no. Not everything. Just Tommy. Make him go away again. He did it once, why couldn't he do it again? Seemed reasonable enough. "Just make them leave me alone, make him go away…"

Another sob shook Kimberly. What if she had tried to fix something all those years ago? Something simple, even just tried to remain friends? Would it hurt this much? Would it be this horrible? Good God, was this really all her fault? Seven years of… seven years of what? Gymnasiums and medals. Fans and friends and foes. Suddenly it felt so empty, and Kimberly didn't like that one bit. She fought, she worked hard—it shouldn't seem so cold and meaningless so instantly.

Kimberly abruptly pushed herself away from the steering wheel and swiped at her cheeks. No. There was no way she was going to let this get to her now. There was absolutely no way she was going to let some half-baked scheme cooked up by an adolescent Red Ranger turn her into a sobbing wreck. It just wasn't going to happen. She'd spent seven years being utterly fine about her and Tommy, and she wasn't about to let some night in a closet from hell and that kiss…

Kimberly faltered a bit when she thought about that kiss. It was sweet without being timid. It was familiar, warm, perfect. Like watching the sunset from the roof of the Command Center—okay, had she really just thought that? Shaking her head, Kimberly twisted the key so fiercely that it nearly snapped off in the ignition as the engine roared to life. With one last swipe at her cheeks, Kimberly determinedly pulled back onto the interstate.

When they made it to Zack's house—chosen as a base of operations because of its proximity to the gymnastics center and Kimberly's house—everyone was starving again. Hayley was elected to go hit the pizzeria down the street for takeout. Even though it took less than a half hour, the others had managed to make quite a lot of progress while she was gone.

Trini had used Zack's computer to compile and print the phone numbers of Kimberly's favorite boutiques. Conner, Kira and Trent were lined up on the couch, each with one page of the list, methodically calling every number and asking the clerk who answered to page Kimberly Hart. Trini was on her laptop, using what she knew of Kimberly's passwords to login as Kimberly to various credit cards sites and watch them for movement. Billy had hooked up Zack's Aqua-phone to Zack's computer, trying to tap into the frequency used by Kimberly's communicator to get a lock on her position. Ethan had used his own laptop to hack into the Los Angeles transportation department in an attempt to use traffic cameras to spot her car, though one Mustang in a city the size of L.A. wasn't an easy thing to spot. Zack was calling family and friends of Kimberly in Stone Canyon and other cities, just in case she'd gone somewhere other than L.A. Jason was calling other Rangers, but most of them proved unreachable for some reason. Tommy was in the kitchen, alone, performing a kata, presumably to help him stay calm and focus.

The others were so intent on their work that no one noticed Hayley until she dropped the enormous stack of pizza boxes on the coffee table. She had expected them to start chatting while they ate, but instead they simply attacked the food with a single-minded focus and went right back to what they were doing. Other than the occasional trip to the bathroom, none of them did paid any attention to anything but their work. Hayley settled down in an armchair, refusing to contribute to the madness, her analytical mind absorbing their actions with a sense of awestruck disbelief.

Then, at three thirty in the afternoon, Tommy's communicator beeped. The reaction was instantaneous; Jason, Trini, Billy and Zack clustered around him and the teenagers all twisted in their chairs to watch as Tommy held his wrist up to his mouth and pressed the button. "Tommy here."

"Adam. Found her. She just pulled into the gymnastics center and went inside. Want me to go in?"

"No. Stay in the car and watch her. If she leaves, tail her and beep us to let us know. We'll be there soon."

"Gotcha." The communicator went dead.

Tommy dropped his wrist. "Zack, swing by Kimberly's house and pick up Rocky. Jason, Trini, I'm going to need you to walk me through the layout of the gymnastics center. Entrances, floor plan—"

"I can do you one better," Trini interrupted. "I helped Kimberly build her website. There's a virtual tour of everything but the employee's lounge. You can see it all for yourself."

"Good. Show me." Trini nodded and headed for her laptop. Tommy looked around at the others. "I want everyone ready to go the second Zack and Rocky get here."

"Tommy…" Hayley began.

"Not now," Tommy said impatiently.

Zack returned with Rocky by four o'clock, and they beeped Adam on the communicator while Tommy laid down the plan. When he was finished, he looked at each of them in turn and asked, "Any questions?"

"Tommy," said Hayley, "you do know that's completely insane, right?"

Tommy ignored her. "Adam, she still there?"

"Yeah. I've got a perfect view of her parking spot."

"Good. Keep watching her. Dino Thunder with me. The rest of you with Zack. Now let's go get my girlfriend back."

Leslie sighed as she watched Kimberly dismiss the group of bewildered adolescent gymnasts twenty minutes early. Kimberly wasn't due back at the center until Monday, and they'd worked out a plan to cover all the classes just in case she wanted to extend her vacation. This was her first vacation since that canoe trip in Oregon, as a matter of fact, and from the looks of things her current vacation had ended just as badly as the one with Jake and the bear.

Kimberly had burst into the center barely an hour ago and announced that she was having a bad day and needed to work, immediately. She had taken over Maury's next class without pausing to let Maury or Leslie work up a viable argument, and they were now hanging out on a pile of mats in the corner of the gym, watching her teach and whispering theories to each other on what had gotten Kimberly so messed up.

Neither Maury nor Leslie had ever seen Kimberly without makeup, let alone unstyled hair, even during class. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and her voice cracked occasionally. Her smile and cheerful tone were obviously forced. She wasn't even dressed for class; Leslie had pointed out that Kimberly probably didn't want to teach in denim cutoffs and a halter top, but Kimberly had simply muttered something about there being worse outfits to do strenuous activities in and hurried off to the students. She had refused to admit anything was wrong, or even tell them anything about her vacation. Instead, she moved through a lesson way too advanced for the children she was teaching it to, with the monotonous aura of someone functioning on autopilot.

Kimberly looked over at Leslie and Maury as the students filed out into the locker rooms. "When's the next class getting in?"

"Half an hour," Maury said slowly. Kimberly made all the schedules herself; it wasn't like her to forget them.

"Oh. Right. Uh… right." Kimberly looked around, at a loss for something to do. Then the gymnasium door opened and Kimberly froze, her expression flickering from fury to horror to indignation and back again.

"Who's he?" Maury whispered, looking from the newcomer to Kimberly in concern.

"I don't know," Leslie replied. He looked kind of familiar, as if she'd seen his picture somewhere before. He came to stand directly opposite Kimberly, and even though his back was to Leslie and Maury they could see his triumphant face in the mirrors lining the back wall. Leslie watched Kimberly carefully for her reaction. Her expression flickered with a few other emotions, but fury was predominant among them, especially when Kimberly's eyes darted to the man's shirt, a green button-down with a rip in the sleeve, left open over a black T-shirt.

"Guess who's back," he said quietly.

"The hell do you want, Tommy?" Kimberly growled.

The name hit Leslie and her eyes widened in shock. Tommy. Ex-boyfriend Tommy. Greatest thing that never worked out Tommy. Oh, wow. No wonder Kimberly was so upset today.

Leslie leaned over to warn Maury, but Maury was already hopping down off the mats to go stand by Kimberly, obviously expecting a fight. Leslie saw Tommy's face twist in rage for a moment before refocusing on Kimberly.

The door opened again, and this time a large group of people started pouring in. Leslie recognized five of them—particularly Zack, who liked to come check out the classes sometimes, mostly the adult women's courses—and Adam, Rocky, Jason and Trini, good friends of Kimberly. The sixth she knew only from pictures on Kimberly's desk—Billy, if she remembered correctly. The four teenagers that followed were completely unfamiliar, however, as was the redheaded woman who came in last, looking nervous and exasperated.

They lined up on either side of Tommy, the four teenagers and Adam to his left, Jason, Trini, Billy, Rocky and Zack to his right. The redheaded woman hovered behind them and began to slowly drift towards the mats where Leslie perched. Leslie looked at each member of the line with nervous curiosity; they all looked almost as ragged as Kimberly did, save for Tommy, Adam and Rocky. The three male teenagers, Zack and Billy were in pajamas, and the teenaged girl in the boots and the shorts with inside-out pockets was going to have one hell of a time fixing the frizzy mass her hair had become. Trini and Jason appeared to be sharing a single outfit; she was wearing an enormous red T-shirt and he was clad in jeans and nothing but. They looked like they'd all just rolled out of bed and come marching down the gymnastics center, bed head and all.

Leslie looked back at Kimberly. She still looked angry… but she also looked scared now, not in a run-for-your-lives kind of way but more of a facing-some-difficult-emotional-trauma kind of way. She was now looking everywhere but at Tommy.

"Seven years, Kim," Tommy said quietly. "I'm not giving up on you twice."

Kimberly took a shuddering breath and finally looked him square in the eye. "Get out."

The smile on Tommy's face was so chilling that Leslie was fervently glad it wasn't directed at her. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but she could have sworn that, just for a second, she'd seen a flash of green in his eyes.

Suddenly every last one of the eleven people sprang into action, moving with an eerie coordination as if they'd done it a thousand times. The teenager in red headed for the doorway to the back hall, where the locker rooms and store room and so on were. The teenaged girl blocked the entrance to the front office. The other two teenagers planted themselves firmly in front of the exit.

Jason, Trini, Billy, Zack, Rocky and Adam began to spread out, surrounding Kimberly in a loose circle, while Tommy charged, fist drawn back, aiming straight at her—

Or, rather, straight at Maury.

"Stupid," Tommy hissed, "male GYMNASTS!"

Maury stared at him like a beaver at Niagara Falls and then his body was twisting around from the force of Tommy's blow. Leslie shrieked as Maury fell face-first to the gymnasium floor and Tommy turned his gaze on Kimberly.

Kimberly, however, was already in motion.

Leslie forgot all about Maury as she watched it unfold. She had known that Kimberly was into martial arts as well as gymnastics, but she had never seen Kimberly go at it, other than the occasional light sparring with one of her friends in between classes. She had never actually seen Kimberly fight, and the sight was amazing.

Kimberly had told her once that what appealed to Kimberly about fighting was the sheer grace of it. Like gymnastics, it was as much an art as it was a sport—and Kimberly was apparently Beethoven.

Unfortunately for Kimberly, she was facing a small army of Beethovens.

She darted between Trini and Jason, blocked a few punches from Billy and sent him stumbling back into the wall of mirrors. Rocky kicked at her and she dove beneath his leg, went into a roll, and somehow managed to knock his other leg out from beneath him on her way past. Tommy reached for her and she kicked, not connecting but driving him back, and without pause she went into a back handspring and darted around Zack. Adam caught up to her for a moment, and before she could get past him Trini and Jason grabbed her arms… and she flung Trini into Jason and shoved them both backwards into Zack without even slowing down.

"Come on!" Tommy shouted, sounding frustrated. "You know that's a Putty move!"

Kimberly lunged at Adam, grabbed him by the shoulders, and flipped herself over him, landing lightly on her feet and running flat-out for the equipment nearby. Tommy dove at her in what would have been an undoubtedly painful tackle just as Kimberly leaped up and hopped onto the balance beam. Billy leaped up on the other end, blocking her path, and the two traded blows for a moment before Kimberly used the same trick she'd pulled on Adam, grabbing Billy's shoulders and using them to flip herself through the air. Trini was waiting for her when she came down, and there was a blur of flying limbs too fast to follow before Rocky snuck up behind her. Leslie was just about to call out a warning when Kimberly dove to the side, and the tackle meant for Kimberly hit Trini instead.

Kimberly dove right into the path of Zack, who moved so fast for Kimberly to do much but dodge. He backed her up, trying to herd her towards Tommy, but she darted to her left and managed to get back to the balance beam. Jason came flying over it from the other direction, and Kimberly dropped and rolled underneath, climbed back on top of it, and pushed herself up on her hands. Her legs came around Jason's chest from behind and twisted; he was knocked to the mat. Rocky and Adam started coming at her from either side, carefully keeping their distance, and they backed her right into the teenager in red, who flung his arms around her from behind and shouted, "I've got her, Dr.—AUGH!"

Kimberly flipped him over her shoulder and into Adam, grinning in a way that made Leslie wonder if she'd planned to do as much. She leaped over the two of them and went into a series of back flips. Zack and Trini each tried to take a swing at her, but she was moving too fast for them to land anything.

Kimberly vaulted herself up onto the high bar and began to swing, gaining speed quickly. The others began to crowd around the bottom of the bar, knowing she couldn't keep it up forever. At the last second, Jason figured out her plan and began running away from the bar; sure enough, Kimberly let go at the top of her arc and went soaring through the air. She landed ten feet ahead of Jason and used his own momentum to fling him into the mirrored wall with a thunderous crash. Then she was in the clear, the others too far away to catch her now, running flat-out for the door to the lobby.

She was halfway there when the redheaded woman stepped into her path and flung out an arm. Kimberly hit the woman's arm and was sent crashing to the mats, landing hard on her back.

The redheaded woman glowered down at Kimberly and growled, "I have got to stop hanging out with Tommy."

Kimberly stared up at her, outraged and indignant. She twisted to her feet, grabbed the woman by both forearms, and began to turn. The woman was yanked off her feet as Kimberly spun in circles, gaining momentum. Leslie caught a glimpse of the woman's face, and saw no horror or terror—only sheer annoyance.

"You…" Kimberly snarled as she spun, "crazy… civilian!"

With that, she let go. The redhead went flying through the air—straight at Kimberly's charging friends.

"HAYLEY!" Tommy bellowed. He leaped to the forefront of the group, snatched her out of the air, and was forced to go into a spin to keep from overbalancing. He pushed her into Rocky's arms without pausing for breath and went chasing after Kimberly, who was now heading for the parking lot doors.

The two teenagers in her way looked worried. Leslie wondered why they didn't simply get out of the way—but, then, given that the teenagers had been staying out of the fight so far, they were probably more concerned with blocking the exits than fighting. Even as Kimberly leaped into the air, one leg aiming at each of them, they both stood firm, cringing in anticipation of the coming jump kick that would most assuredly hurt…

…but never connected. Tommy grabbed Kimberly out of midair much the same way he had grabbed Hayley, only as he twisted around to keep from falling over, he shifted Kimberly around, somehow managing to fling her over his shoulder and pin her legs against his chest before fully regaining his balance.

"Mission accomplished," Tommy announced, in the tone of one saying he'd just finished all his vegetables.

"You asshole, put me DOWN!" Kimberly raged.

"My life flashed before my eyes," the teenager in blue whimpered.

"Your girlfriend tried to use me as a projectile weapon!" the redhead shouted, glowering at Tommy as if it was his fault. "Damn it, Tommy, can't you go an hour or two without being a freaking whack job?"

"Sorry, Hayley," Tommy said, in the tone of one who was trying not to laugh. He glanced over at Leslie and jerked his head at Maury, calm as could be even as Kimberly struggled like hell. "Might want to take him by the ER, but I didn't hit him too hard. Don't think he even lost consciousness. Oh, and Kim will be back in a few days. Once she's finished with her vacation." He let out a laugh that sent chills down Leslie's spine.

"I… but…" Leslie stammered, shocked and confused and worried and completely unable to figure out why Kimberly's ex-boyfriend and a bunch of her pajama-clad friends had just stormed her business and taken her hostage.

"You know Kimberly," Trini said in a soothing tone. "Always doing something crazy."

"Yes, but… but…" Leslie wrung her hands, trying to come up with a course of action. Something about the whole thing was just too weird to process; she could only watch as the group began filing out, the teenagers holding the door open for Tommy.