"Office. Now," Mitchell barked as Thomas walked into his first class of the day and found his father standing at the front of the room. He glanced at his professor and she shook her head. She had no idea what was going on and gave him an apologetic look as she nodded for him to follow Mitchell. Thomas let out a sigh and then turned to walk towards his father's office. He had no idea what he had done this time.
Thomas walked, silently, next to his father and felt how mad he was. He racked his brain as he thought through the last few days and there was nothing that came to mind. He had been at every practice on time, taken on the three extra sessions with no arguments, and had been making time for Kimberly as well. His grades were excellent. There was nothing that deserved this kind of beginning to a day.
"When were you going to tell me that you like the girl?" Mitchell growled as he slammed the door shut and Thomas looked over at him. He might have thought that to himself, but he had admitted it to no one, not even Jason. Theo was the only one that might suspect something and he would never tell his dad this kind of information. Mitchell threw a stack of photos in front of him and Thomas casually looked through them. Who had been following him? Why was someone following him? "That is beyond your duty to keep her safe."
"I can give my friend a hug," Thomas said as he met his father head on and Mitchell glared at him. "She had a bad day."
"Then how do you explain this?" Mitchell yelled as he threw down a picture of Thomas giving Kimberly a kiss on the cheek. Thomas let out a sigh and then shook his head. "You can't."
"I can. We walked through the mistletoe together at the Juice Bar and those two wouldn't let her leave without someone kissing her. She froze. So I gave her a kiss on the cheek to get her out of there. That was when she told me that Griffin nearly raped her," Thomas ground out as he stood up and Mitchell, for the first time, felt power radiate out of him. This wasn't something that normally happened at this age, but he had suspected that Thomas would be an exception to many rules. "And you didn't toss his ass out."
"That is my decision," Mitchell retorted and Thomas shook his head. That was a piss poor decision if he had ever seen one.
"And you made the wrong one," Thomas ground out as he clenched and unclenched his fists. It had been one thing to talk with Theo about this, it was another thing to confront his father. "He doesn't deserve to be here, to even stand a chance at powers picking him."
"That is not your decision," Mitchell repeated as Thomas stalked closer to him and Mitchell felt terror run through him. Thomas was in his prime and if what he suspected was true, he was becoming stronger as his soulmate connection slowly opened. There would be a point, very soon, when Thomas could take him on and he was afraid he would pay for everything he had done to him. "You are done as her guard."
"The hell I am," Thomas said as Mitchell backed into the wall and Thomas towered over his father. "Punish me. Do whatever you want, but I will not put her in harm's way because you don't like me having a life."
"You're out of summer intensive," Mitchell stated as Thomas cocked his head to the side and just shrugged. If his dad wanted to give him more time to be with Kimberly, that was fine by him. "You will be at our house all summer. You won't see her."
"If her powers come in, she needs to get here and I need to be able to get to her. She's going to think I hate her if I just disappear all summer," Thomas stated and Mitchell gave him a cocky stare. He had backed Thomas directly into the corner he wanted him to be in.
"It seems that she will need that new guard after all," Mitchell said as the door slammed open and Theo quickly looked between the two of them. "Why are you here?"
"I got an alert about a power spike," Theo said as he glanced between the two of them. "What's going on?"
"Why do you hate me so much?" Thomas asked as Theo jerked his gaze to Thomas. He had never expected him to actually ask, but it was something that all of them had realized about Mithcell for years. Thomas was his least favorite child and none of them could understand why. "You celebrated the first time that David ever hooked up with a girl. He was allowed to get away with anything he wanted while in school. How many times did he show up drunk on a Saturday night? How many cars did he wreck? I've done everything you have ever asked of me and now I'm asking that you let me keep her safe. And that is punishable?"
"C'mon Thomas, let's go take a walk, have you calm down," Theo said as he grabbed one of Thomas' arms and he shook his head. How in the world was he going to de-escalate this? Mitchell had to know how close Thomas was to losing it and funneling all of that energy directly into him. "He wants you to lash out. So he has actual grounds to kick you out."
"How dare you even suggest…" Mitchell started as Thomas shook his head and took several steps back. Mitchell glared at Theo as Theo scoffed at how transparent the plan was. He hated that he was right about what his brother-in-law was doing, but he was glad he got to Thomas in time. "You are everything I was supposed to be and I hate you for it."
"Thomas, go. Take a walk. I'll catch up with you," Theo said as he saw the hurt on Thomas' face and he let out a sigh. Thomas looked at him and then nodded before he stormed out of the office. "If you're not careful Mitch, he will be the one that sends you to meet your maker."
"I stand by my decisions. He will be removed from the summer intensive and will be back under my roof until the school year begins. She will get a new guard," Mitchell said as Theo shook his head in disbelief.
"Did you run that by any of the other elders?" Theo countered as Mitchell shook his head no. "To kick someone out- even for an intensive- requires a majority decision. You know that. You just hoped that you could bully him into doing something where we couldn't fight for him. This shit stops now, Mitch. All of it. I don't care that he is fulfilling all of the prophecies they thought were about you. We mess this up and all future Power Rangers are going to be in trouble."
"Mess what up?" Atlantis asked as leaned into the door and Robert followed behind him. "You got him calmed down?"
"I don't know…I got him out of here- that was my first priority," Theo said as Atlantis nodded. When they had seen the spike, they had guessed what it might be, but this looked to be worse than they had thought. "Robert- deal with your brother. I am tired of cleaning up his shit with Thomas."
Theo stormed out of the office and Atlantis let out a chuckle. If he had it his way, Theo or Robert would be running this place, but that decision had fallen to Edward. Edward had insisted on Mitchell, even though everyone knew it was a poor choice. There was very little they could do to combat the Truehearts when it came to these sorts of decisions. While Atlantis knew they were losing their way, the Power Rangers on the whole were stable and doing well. If they could get Thomas into this position, they knew it would be better.
"He'll be going to summer intensive and he'll be living here," Robert stated as Mitchell just shook his head. "Mitch- his power spike was strong enough that we thought another ranger team had been summoned."
Mitchell froze as he stared at Robert and Atlantis. While he had wanted to push Thomas, he did not realize exactly how dangerous that was until now. Everyone had been commenting about how good Thomas was. He now realized that they hadn't been lying.
"Can I grab Thomas?" Theo said as he opened the door and Garrett nodded. Thomas had stormed into second period in the kind of rare mood that he didn't even want to try to deal with. He had hoped that someone would show up that could calm Thomas down and Theo was the best bet. "Hey- let's go down to the training field."
"I need to know what he meant, Theo," Thomas said as Theo nodded. He knew that Thomas needed to know, reading the prophecies had used to be a critical part of Power Ranger education, but Mitchell had removed it. He now suspected that it was so that Thomas couldn't put the pieces together. As a Trueheart, he would have had extra access and that would have spelled doom for Mitchell.
"I know- I just want to get you somewhere that if you need to explode- you can. Safely," Theo said as Thomas nodded. He could feel the power pulsing in his body and he didn't know what to do with it. He would have known if Mitchell had let him come to the Academy earlier, every single move he made had a ripple effect that they were now seeing the results of. "I'm really sorry Thomas, this should have never been…you're a kid. You should be able to just be a kid."
"He made damn sure that would never happen," Thomas replied as they walked in silence across campus, down to the furthest training field. This field was normally used by new Power Rangers as they were testing out their powers. Today it was empty and that was exactly what Theo had hoped to see.
"When your father went through the Academy, there was a class that discussed prophecy and we had access to the prophecies that were likely to come true in our lifetime. There is a very old prophecy- that talks about a powerful first-born ranger. Mitchell was one of the most powerful rangers we had ever seen, he met many of the other specifics, but things started to change as he got older. He started missing mile markers and forcing things to make the prophecy look true. Your grandparents had primed Mitchell for it, told him that it was his for the taking, but that isn't how prophecies work. You are a better fit and you are meeting all the criteria, without having ever seen the prophecies," Theo said as they sat down side by side on the bleachers. "I don't know why he has never been able to accept that."
"I'm not the first born," Thomas said as Theo looked away from him and let out a sigh. That was a family secret he had just blown open. "Uncle Theo."
"But you are. David is Sally's child, but not Mitchell's. Most of the rangers from my day know that, but no one in the family talks about it, especially your parents," Theo revealed and Thomas stared up at the sky, trying to process everything he had just told him. "I only ask that you don't tell your siblings."
"So I am the one that will be the next mentor," Thomas muttered and Theo grimaced. Thomas being this sharp was definitely something he hated at some moments. "Does Kimberly come into this?"
"I don't know, I can ask Amelia to look, but she may not be able to share what she finds with us," Theo whispered and Thomas stood up from the bleachers and walked out into the middle of the field. He then let out a scream and the power flooded out of him, hurting no one, but completely draining him. He felt the relief of it and Theo stared in awe. Yeah, Thomas was meeting every part of the prophecy just right.
AN: I meant to get this chapter out earlier this week, but traveling knocked me on my backside. Hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll return to my regular schedule on Monday.