Kim let out a shaky breath as she felt a contraction hit and she tried to stay quiet. She had been trying to count between contractions, but she didn't feel confident in her numbers. At this point, she was confident that it had been going on for hours and they had not stopped. David had made it exceedingly clear that he did not care for her safety and only cared about delivering her to Kiros. She felt that a newborn baby would just be a perk.
"Those contractions are getting closer," David remarked and Kim jerked her eyes up to him. "I wonder what Dad will do with a baby prophet. You know that they're influenced by who they grow up with."
"No…you are not…" Kim forced out before a moan left her lips. She pushed back the tears as she focused on relaxing. She needed to keep her son safe and that might mean having him on her own.
"I'm not the one currently strapped to a table in labor. You have no power to say what I will do," David whispered against her ear and she let the tears flow. Please let Tommy get here in time to save their son.
"Hey- Brittany is wrapping up a few things with our analysts, but I thought you should meet the rangers. This is-" Thomas was cut off as Tommy stood and shook his head.
"Scott, Flynn, Summer, Ziggy, Dillon, Gem, Gemma," Tommy stated as he shook his head again. "I didn't think I'd know your current rangers as well. They were the last…"
"Oh," Thomas whispered as the rangers shook Tommy's hand and Thomas just shook his head. "How are you even standing?"
"Don't have much of a choice. It's the love of my life that I've got to go get, I can break down later," Tommy said as the rangers looked back and forth between the two of them. "I also can't shake this feeling that this is more than taking her to lure me in for Kiros."
"About that," JJ said as he pushed the door open and Thomas looked back at him. He had kept JJ sequestered at the Academy since Tommy and Kimberly had come to this world. He was now glad that he had done that, as it was likely that it had kept David from taking him as well. "I know, Dad- you don't want me here. But he needs to be prepared with what Uncle David is doing."
"This is insane," Summer said as the three Truehearts looked over at her and she went silent. "And that look is terrifying."
"I saw a bit…I'm not sure where he has her, but…he mentioned that prophets grow up different based on who they are raised with," JJ said as Tommy growled and Thomas let out a frustrated sigh. How could David even be considering this? Did this mean that Kim was in labor or that he had forced her into labor? "Yeah, so it's not just Kim that Kiros wants."
"Thanks Jay, can you run down and tell Aunt Britt about that?" Thomas said and JJ nodded before he jogged out of the room. "He'll use the baby to negotiate."
"And he'll die either way," Tommy said as Mitchell and Sally gasped and the rangers jerked over to look at him. He couldn't possibly be serious. He glanced over at Theo who was watching him carefully, but did not seem surprised at all by the proclamation. He didn't even seem like he was going to interfere. "I'm barely containing my powers right now, I doubt I'll be able to hold them back when I get to her. And to keep her safe- I'll be concentrating all of it on him and Kiros."
"He's our son- no matter what he has done…" Mitchell trailed off as the hurt on Thomas's face hit him in the gut. They had done so much to keep David safe, but very little to keep their other children from suffering. "Thomas…"
"You still don't get it," Thomas whispered as he walked over to the rangers and Tommy stood to follow him. They could feel the air crackling with his barely contained powers and Thomas looked back. "You are stronger than me."
"I don't want to be," Tommy stated with a slight twist of his head. "It has its downsides."
"Like what?" Scott asked as Tommy looked over at him and shook his head.
"I have a giant target on my back and it puts my family in danger. Just about any evil being in my universe knows who I am," Tommy said as Brittany and Gordon walked back into the room, looking grim. "What is it?"
"We can't narrow it down anymore than these two locations. There are heat signatures at both and…" Brittany trailed off as Tommy grabbed each of the maps and then looked over at JJ.
"Jay- did you see where she was? What it looked like?" Tommy asked as JJ nodded and he looked over at Thomas. "Do you know what is near these locations?"
"Yeah, they're in the middle of a couple communities we regularly have had battles in," Thomas said as JJ walked over and grabbed the papers. "JJ- you don't…"
"I'm just thinking about what I know…not trying to see something," JJ said as he looked at the maps and then fell silent. "There were metal walls- is one of these more likely to have something like that?"
"That is a more industrial area, but we take precautions in our safe houses to prevent…umm…well anyone teleporting in," Thomas said as Tommy ran his fingers through his hair and stared at JJ. "I don't know that he has anymore."
"If we split up…" Tommy trailed off as he let out a groan. How could they split up? He was going to need all of them if he was right about who else would be there but it made his blood run cold at the thought of leaving Kimberly longer than he had to. "JJ has to stay here. Let's go to the industrial zone first. If she's not there- it won't take us long to get to the other location."
"Why do I have to stay?" JJ retorted as Tommy looked over at Thomas and he just nodded. He didn't have a ton of time to explain this as Tommy was losing all of the patience he had left. "Dad."
"Kiros is likely there and you were who he was coming after- delivering you to him on a silver platter is stupid. And it's going to be enough on us to focus on getting Kimberly and the baby out safely. I don't need to be worried about you too," Thomas stated as his siblings looked at him. "You really thought I would sit this one out?"
"Thomas- this is outside of your duties. You have the responsibility to teach and advise," Mitchell growled as the two versions of his son turned and glared at him. Theo motioned for them to go on as he silently seethed.
"Let's go- you can have this family smackdown once my family is safe," Tommy said as he hit Thomas in the chest and that broke him out of his anger. The five rangers parted as they strode towards the doors and then fell into line behind them. They marched down the empty halls of the Academy, gathering attention from teachers and students who heard the distinct rhythm of battle ready ranger footsteps.
"Thomas?" Jason asked as he jogged up beside him and settled himself next to him. "What happened?"
"Keep my father in the conference room. And call David's family- tell them they should go to the ranger hospital- I don't know what condition he's going to come back in," Thomas stated as Jason stopped dead in his tracks and they continued on. What had David done?
Sweat rolled off Kimberly as she stared up at the ceiling- willing her labor to stop long enough for Tommy to get to them. She had lost count of how long it was between contractions- she was only focusing on not drawing more attention to herself than necessary from David. If he wasn't aware of how close they were, he couldn't call Kiros in.
"You should relax- it will hurt the baby," David said as Kimberly stared at him like he had lost his mind. She did not want to give him one more thing that could be used against Tommy- it was enough that he had her. "Delivering you to your death was always the goal- but delivering your child to be his protegee has now been added to the list."
"Go to hell," Kimberly ground out as he pushed her legs open and she let out a scream of pain. Just as he moved to check her progress, an alarm sounded and he looked over at the monitors and then shook his head.
"Brother dearest figured it out," David said as he pulled out a knife and Kimberly's eyes widened. What did he have planned? "Kiros wanted to absorb your powers, but I guess this will have to do."
The rangers froze as they heard an agonized scream come from up the hall and they watched as Tommy clenched and unclenched his jaw before cracking his neck. Thomas motioned for them to continue as Tommy slowly started glowing white. They felt the power radiating off of him and followed closely- but not close enough for it to incapacitate them.
"Thomas- your priority is Kimberly. Scott- if she's had the baby- your priority is to get him out of harm's way. The rest of you- you'll stick with me and handle anything other than David or Kiros. They're mine," Tommy stated as he heard another scream on the other side of the door and he concentrated all of his fury on the steel door. Within moments it flew off the hinges and he stepped into the room. David straightened up and Tommy saw the bundle in his hands and glanced over at Kim to see that he had roughly ripped her open. He felt the fear jolt through him but knew he had to focus on David. Thomas would get her to safety.
David sprinted for the far side of the room and Tommy ran after him. Thomas grabbed one of the male rangers and they moved over to Kimberly as the rest of the rangers followed Tommy. Thomas glanced around the room and assessed that there were no tools here that could possibly help him to save Kimberly. In order to save her- they were going to have to move her far enough so that he could teleport. Even then, there were no guarantees. He just knew that he could not watch her die again.
"Hey…I need you to stay with us, okay?" Thomas whispered as Kimberly's glazed eyes settled on his and she barely nodded. "Flynn- we need to keep her as still as we can. We're going to use the table as a stretcher and then teleport with it back to the ranger hospital, directly into an O.R. if we can. Now move."
"My baby…" Kim croaked as she grabbed Thomas's hand and he was shocked at how strong her grip was. She had lost a lot of blood. "He's going to give my baby…"
"Tommy won't let that happen," Thomas said as she barely nodded and they sprinted as fast as they could down the corridor. He felt the teleportation kick in as soon as they crossed into the open area surrounding the old factory and he let out a sigh. He had never been so glad to have a nosy sister in his life.
Tommy heard the cries of his newborn son and shook his head. As much as he wanted to keep his child safe, he knew that they would have to get him out of David's hands first and that might require him to be reckless. He looked around to see David nearing a vehicle and he threw out his arm, causing the van and its occupant to go sailing through the sky. David skidded to a halt, giving Tommy long enough to close the distance between them and tackle him to the ground. Tommy recognized that David had dropped the baby, but continued pummeling him as he heard the rangers begin fighting around him. He saw a streak of red light and felt the relief flood him that Scott had gotten their child out of this mess.
He glanced down at David and realized he was soundly unconscious and he threw him to the side. He then stood up and saw Kiros climbing out of the destroyed van. He was shocked that he had stooped to normal transportation, but that thought was only a blip as he stalked towards him. The pedramorphs that came towards him were disintegrating as they came within five feet of him, but that barely even registered. He was solely focused on Kiros.
"Any last words?" Tommy asked as Kiros stared at him.
"You're not in your world," Kiros muttered as Tommy nodded.
"You picked the wrong family to come after this time," Tommy said as he unleashed his pent up fury directly into Kiros chest and Kiros screamed as the energy bore a hole through his chest and he dropped to the ground. Tommy let out a primal scream as the rest of his rage flooded out of him and he heard the groans of the buildings around him. He collapsed to his knees as the energy subsided and he glanced around to see how much damage he had caused. He watched as the rangers slowly rose to their feet, each of them taking off their helmets as they got closer to him. "How…how are…"
"We don't know, but you saved us," Mia said as she stared at him. "What are rangers like in your world?"
"Apparently very different from this one," Tommy retorted as he tried to push himself to his feet and then felt two rangers help him to his feet. He was completely drained from what had just happened, but also desperate to make sure Kimberly was alive. "Get me back to them."
AN: The story is going to split for the next few chapters. A chapter from each location will be posted each week. If you want to read what is going on, on Earth in order you can read Chapters 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, and 24 once they are completed. If you want to read the Kimberly and Tommy chapters together- they will be chapters 12, 14, 16, 17, 19, 21, 23, and 25, 26. Chapter 27 will then bring it all back together.