On the Wings of Doom Part Two

As Conner drove towards the Cyber Café, he couldn't help but feel scared.

"It can just be that Hayley has her phone on silent. Or maybe it's rush hour or…" Ethan felt it too as he continued listing the many reasons their friend was not responding to their calls.

Conner bit back the obvious answer which would drive away any doubts that there was something wrong… It's Hayley.

Hayley was always there when they needed her, both as a ranger needing their resident tech genius and as an awkward teenager needing someone to tell them that no matter what they are going through, they are never alone.

Dr O was in critical condition and though they are optimistic that ranger healing will patch him up, they need the heart of their team, their family with them.

If something happened to her, things would be infinitely harder.

And though he did not mention it to Ethan who was already panicking, he was certain something already had, just like he knew the moment he woke up today, that something was wrong.

First, Dr. O telling them about the distress signal from one of his former teammates and then another ranger who served alongside him mysteriously showing up as their new gymnastics coach. After that, an old enemy attacking them, trying to capture both Dr O and Kim.

Things kept piling up one after the other.

Conner knew better than to believe in random coincidences, though he had no choice but to accept them, just like he had to accept that after becoming a ranger, sometimes, his mind didn't feel like his own.

Strange premonitions, thoughts and impulses that weren't his own, often took control of him and he didn't even realise it till much later. Though he was in place to complain because these instincts had saved him more than once in battles.

When he confronted Dr. O about him, he told him not to worry about it and to trust the Power, whatever it might mean. It reminded him of how the tiny green alien or the bearded vagabond in the geeky space movies Ethan always made them watch on their weekly movie nights, told the dude with the blond mop to trust the 'Force'.

Conner had resigned to the fact that there was greater than him happening and learnt to trust the odd sensations he often felt and today, it was telling him time and again that something was not right and the feeling that they were in over their heads intensified with every passing second.

Every other day, he felt a calming presence and he just knew whatever mutants Mesagog threw at them, his team would emerge victorious, but today, they barely escaped with their lives and it took everything they had to stop the silver monkey.

He knew today was different and he knew despite them defeating the villain, things were not over, not by a long shot.

"No." He halted the car to a stop and hopped out, Ethan following closely behind.

"No. No. No." He repeated as he exchanged a terrified look with his best friend.

In front of them was a police barricade blocking the road towards the Cyber Café. Beyond that, he could see smoke coming out from the distance and hear the faint sound of ambulance vehicles.

He ran over to the police.

"What happened?"

"Some café got destroyed." One of the officers said. "You two should head back home. It's not safe for kids here."

Conner bottled down the bristling anger. They weren't kids, hadn't been for a better part of a year.

"You don't understand!" Ethan said frantically. "Our friend… Our family is in there. We need to go."

"No can do, kid." The officer said dismissively. "You can contact the authorities later."

"What!" Ethan yelled angrily and Conner saw the officer flinch and another officer's hand tighten on his walkie talkie. Both were middle aged white males.

"It is okay, officer." Conner quickly said, placing his hand on Ethan's shoulder. The last thing they needed on top of everything else was one of their own getting detained by racist cops.

"Yeah, try to rein in your buddy."

He forced a nod as he walked away, pulling Ethan with him.

Conner grimaced at him, which he hoped translated to 'I got this.'

The moment they came back near the jeep, Ethan shook off his hand.

"Wanna explain what's going on?"

"Those meatheads were never going to let us in." Conner told him. "Thankfully, we don't need their permission."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Just hold on tight." Conner smirked at him mischievously, as he stooped down and before Ethan could understand what he was about to do, he swooped the blue ranger in his arms, bridal style.

"Hey, what are you doing, man?" Ethan protested, his face flaming red. "Let me down."

"Trust me dude." He winked at him and started running at superspeed, becoming nothing more than a red blur that streaked past the cops and the barricade.

He stopped to a halt before the café, Ethan scrambling out of his arms, flustered.

"Yeah, smart idea, but let's not do that again." The blue ranger said, standing up. As Conner didn't respond, he turned around, his eyes widening at what he saw.

A young woman in a black outfit crouched on a rooftop, seeing the road which was filled with police cars and ambulances.

"The attack was over even before we sensed something." She turned around as a bald man in blue skin, shaven head and a beard wearing silver robes teleported behind her.

"It has Lokar written all over it." She scowled. "But why would he go after random civilians? It was one thing for him to target Zordon's former charges but…"

"I do not know." The eltarian said. "I do however know we were not supposed to interfere in matters not involving the forces of Talos."

"I could not just let another person suffer just like we did." She protested.

"Mesagog and his forces were to be defeated by the Dino Thunder rangers in due time." He said slowly. "I told you this before. We cannot shift the balance."

"That woman was being brainwashed into fighting the rangers against her will. I could sense her torment. Was I supposed to ignore her?" She scoffed.

The eltarian sighed. "We talked about this before. There must be balance."

"I know!" The woman huffed, raising her hands in exasperation. "That is why I did not just take out the big bad lizard even though I easily could have."

"Your actions have consequences, even those you do with good intentions. We do not know why this place was attacked but I do know that the balance has been restored." Her companion shook his head. "You took out a villain, now the rangers have lost their ally and much more."

"So, you are telling me this is my fault?" She asked incredulously.

"No. You know I am not. Things are not as simple as they are, not when the Grid is involved." He pursed his lips. "There is a reason why former rangers do not go out of their way to help new teams and this is why."

"Then what is the point of our mission if we can't save people?" She closed her eyes in anger.

"We can, but we must stay in our own lane." He said kindly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Come. I sense we are needed elsewhere."

"What the hell happened here?" Ethan asked horrified.

"I don't know dude." Conner shook his head, as neither were able to turn their eyes away from the ruins of what used to be the Cyber Café.

The doors had been smashed open and yellow tapes with 'CRIME SCENE – DO NOT CROSS' were stuck from one side of the doorframe to the other. Peering through them, the two rangers saw the broken counters, tables, and chairs within. The lights blinked on and off. The walls were cracked and were singed as if they had been hit by lasers. The floors were littered with shattered shards of glass and splinters of wood.

They turned at each other and then looked around to see the street sprawling with paramedics. Many teens were placed in make shift cots in the middle of the street, the others being led into the ambulances in stretchers.

"We need to find Hayley." Conner said. Ethan nodded.

"Ethan? Conner?" They turned around at the familiar voice.

Ethan's eyes widened on seeing Cassidy limping towards them.

"Gods, are you alright?" Ethan asked as they ran towards their friend, who nodded.

She was crying, her eyes puffy and red. Her face was covered with ash, her hair disheveled, her pink cardigan torn and tattered, and her entire body covered with small cuts and bruises.

"What happened here?" Conner asked.

"We were attacked by these things and the rangers weren't there to stop them." She sobbed on to Ethan's shoulder.

The two looked down with equal expressions of guilt but the intrepid reporter was too distraught to notice that.

"Cassidy, where is Devin?" Conner asked cautiously, finding it weird that her designated camera man wasn't with her.

She shook her head, lips quivering.

"He saved me." She said in between sobs. "He threw me out of the way of a blast but he… There was nothing left!"

She trailed off and the two rangers exchanged a look of terror.

How could they have not known this was happening?

"How many people?" Conner asked, his voice trembling.

"Six." She sniffed. "Devin, Derrick, Krista, Alexi, Anya and Hayley."

"Ha… Hayley?" Ethan stuttered, paling. "They got Hayley too?"

Cassidy nodded.

"She surrendered, yelling at those things to stop and after they got her, they just left." She shook her head. "It all happened so fast and no one saved us this time."

Ethan shut his eyes, as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Conner clenched his fists, trying to control the anger and despair that threatened to consume him. He had known something was wrong from the start but this was worse than any dreadful scenario his mind could have come up with. He knew he couldn't have stopped this attack, not when they were being attacked by Silverback but they had not even known there was an attack. Maybe if they had, they could have split the team and done something!

He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs, yell his throat out. He wanted to punch something so bad right now.

They had not just lost Hayley, but five other people and many more were injured and traumatized from the attack.

He had not known Anya or Devin much, but Alexi and Derrick were on his soccer team and he had gone on a few dates with Krista, before they had mutually called it off but they had remained friends.

None of them had deserved to die.

They hadn't been there.

For the first time, they had truly failed as rangers.

Okay, hope you liked this chapter and please review. This is the second time I am writing this because the first document got deleted. I lost 1k words and while I loved the original version and sort of hate that the new version is not a replica of it, I am okay with it too.

Next chapter, we are going to see Tommy and Kim again.