The city passed by in a blur as they teleported to the energy surge. Tommy had taught them to be proactive about scouting out energy surges- even if they were the only ones in the Command Center. He felt that it was far better to go take a look and it be nothing than to keep waiting for Kiros to come to them. Every time they had gone out- they had found something and it was starting to feel like Kiros was just playing with them. He had not appeared since taking Kim and Shelby out months ago.
"Where are we?" Julia muttered as she looked over at Axel and he shook his head. The others were in class tonight and they had messaged them to be prepared, but had gone ahead without them. It was such an isolated part of town that they weren't worried about civilian casualties. "Axel."
"I don't know…this looks like an old military building…that has been abandoned for awhile," Axel said as they slowly walked through the halls and he let out a sigh. It seemed like Kiros had been focusing his attacks on when Axel was likely to be alone or with only one other ranger and he didn't like that at all. He had a sinking feeling that this was not going to end well for them. "You have a bad feeling about this?"
"A bit, but we don't even know what we'd be calling them in to," Julia responded as she felt some tickle her neck and she jumped around. "Maybe that was just a breeze."
"Yeah…just to be on the safe side…" Axel trailed off as he put his back to hers and gently grasped both of her hands. He heard her gasp and ground his teeth together. He knew a bit about why she wouldn't give him a chance, but any time something like this happened her body involuntarily reacted and it was driving him crazy.
"I'm sorry. I won't talk to you about how I feel and I keep…" Julia trailed off as something sprinted across the hallway in front of her and she grasped his hands tighter.
"What was it?" Axel asked in a level tone as he continued forward, while gently drawing circles on the back of her hands. He hoped that it would keep her steady, he needed her to be steady. "Jules…"
"Probably a pedramorph," Julia whispered and he didn't miss the fear in her voice. "Axe…"
"There's a light up ahead- it'll be better if we can get to it," Axel said, steadily, and he felt her lean into him more. He could tell that if she had been able to, she would have found a way to be even closer to him but there was no way to do that and keep an eye out. "I'm not going to leave you. We'll handle this together."
"Oh- I wouldn't be so sure about that," Kiros whispered in Julia's ear and she screamed as she jumped away from him and sent the two of them rolling around on the ground. "Axel- you are brave to come back, especially with her. You're weaker with her."
"Call the others- I'll hold him off," Axel whispered as he pushed himself up and Julia stared at him. Why would he put himself in that position? After everything Kiros had put him through- why would he do this? "Do it- now…I can only hold him off so long."
Julia felt him move away from her and he clearly blocked the path between Kiros and her. She grabbed her communicator and all she heard was static. She looked around the building and her heart sank. She grabbed her communicator again and heard more of the same. They were in a dead zone. They had found a couple in the city, but never when something like this was happening.
"It's a dead zone, Axe," Julia called as she saw him nod as he absorbed a strike from Kiros that slid him back towards her. "I've got to get topside if…"
"I know…go," Axel said and she tentatively started to move away from him and he turned his face towards hers as Kiros continued to try to get past him. "Go Jules!"
Julia sprinted down the hallway and he squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't let her know that Kiros had landed a good hit already. As he heard her footsteps fading away, he quickly morphed- which threw Kiros and the pedramorphs into the walls. He took in a deep breath to re-collect himself and pulled out his staff. He had never been so glad to have that weapon in his life.
"That's so…nice of you," Kiros remarked as light started swirling around him and Axel braced himself. "It would have been smarter to have back up here- you're not going to make it out of this hallway."
"Well…if that's the case…I might as well make you hurt too," Axel stated as he timed his strike and blasted open the power bulb that Kiros had started crafting. The energy rippled backwards down the hallway and most of the pedramorphs crumpled. "Hmmm- surprised that worked."
Julia heard the battle raging behind her and kept checking her communicator every few feet, hoping that it wouldn't require her to actually get outside. She was getting closer to the light that Axel must have been talking about and she burst out into the open air as she got to it. She took a moment to stare at the walls that were surrounding them and tried her communicator again. It finally gave her something other than static.
"Tommy," Julia called out and hoped that someone would answer. "Anyone?"
"Hey- I got you Jules," Kimberly's voice rang out and Julia choked back a sob as she heard Axel's pain filled scream. She was barely able to concentrate as she could tell how much damage Axel was taking and her body was starting to throb. She needed to get back to him- that was the only thing that she could focus on right now. "Axe is with you, right?"
"It's Kiros- we're at…I don't know where we are…it's some ruin…we need back up. Axe needs…" Julia trailed off as she turned around and saw flames erupt from further down the hall. "Just teleport them…tell them to run towards the fire."
Julia cut the transmission and sprinted back up the corridor. She hastily morphed as she sprinted down the hallway towards the flames. She could hear the battle still raging and also could tell that Axel was more than holding his own. When she got to the fire she saw that it was at least twenty feet deep. There was no way for her to get past it and to Axel directly.
"Axe!" Julia yelled and she saw him push himself up from the ground. Kiros locked eyes with her and she gulped. She could not watch him die, not today. "Hey Kim- are our suits fireproof?"
"What?" Kim asked as she took in a deep breath.
"Fireproof. Suits," Julia repeated and Kim looked over at Tommy and he shrugged. They had never had a reason to really test that one. "Kim."
"We don't know," Tommy responded and Julia looked in front of her. She was fast and the suit gave her a lot of protection- it was worth the risk. "Don't…"
"Too late," Cameron's voice came on the communicator as he watched Julia sprint through the flames and land solidly on the other side. "Apparently the answer is yes."
"Don't go repeat it as an experiment. Get that fire out," Tommy said and Cameron nodded as he looked over at Patrick and water blasted out of his hands. They had found out that he had that ability in a recent accident in the Command Center and it was being put to good use now.
"Are you…" Axel forced out as he tried to stand and collapsed back to the floor as she ran up next to him. He watched as she grabbed his staff and stepped between him and Kiros. "Julia!"
"Come and get it," Julia taunted as Kiros stared at her, in shock, and then charged at her. Axel rolled out of the way as he tried to pant through the pain. He could tell that Kiros was not in great shape anymore either and he just focused on staying conscious.
Julia moved with deft skill and forced Kiros further away from him. He heard the other rangers taking care of the fire and relaxed a bit. He had done his job and kept her safe until the others got here. He felt himself losing consciousness, but didn't try to fight it anymore. The others would make sure she got out of here safely.
"Hey Axe…c'mon…stay with me," Julia forced out between blows as she hoped to hear some sort of sarcastic quip from him, but nothing came. "Axe? Axel?"
"Oh…little pink ranger does have feelings," Kiros said as she focused back on him and delivering as many blows as she could to keep him away from further injuring Axel. "Apparently lots of feelings."
"Jules- we got him," Patrick said as Julia slung Kiros as far back as she could and looked over her shoulder to see Brandon and Patrick had picked Axel up and were starting to drag him down the hall.
"Cam…" Julia started and he stepped up next to her and they started backing out of the hall- keeping Kiros in front of them and the other rangers behind them.
"Julia…you're…" Cameron started and she glared over at him. She could feel how hurt she was as well- but she knew that she would be no help getting Axel out of here if she let Cameron carry her out too. "Jules."
"We just have to keep moving and stay between Kiros and them," Julia forced out and Cameron pushed her behind him and she rolled her eyes. That wasn't going to be a lot of help if Kiros got back up and got moving.
The walk down the hallway felt so much longer than it had earlier and she was shocked that Kiros didn't get up or try to attack them again. By the time they were back in the open space- she found herself leaning heavily against Cameron and she finally looked down at the state of her suit and body. There were rips all over her suit and gashes in multiple places. She glanced over at Axel and saw that he was in worse condition.
"Get us out of here," Julia forced out into her communicator and she felt them being teleported out and screamed as something struck her just as they started moving. She landed in the Command Center, clutching her stomach, and still screaming in pain. She sank to the floor and tried to hold back another scream, but it was torn out of her.
She felt hands on her, trying to get her to straighten up, but they just increased the pain. She panted as her entire body shook and she felt pain roll through her again. She felt the panic rising as the pain was not decreasing and she looked to see there was no extra blood, but that almost made it worse. She crawled towards Axel and desperately curled into his side. She let out a sigh of relief as the pain lessened and she felt him rubbing her shoulder and she just moved closer as she, thankfully, lost consciousness.