Sylvie huddled in the small room she'd ducked into, scared to death. She was supposed to be safe here, things like this didn't happen to the Power Rangers. She'd been on the way to lunch - late again - when people, armed people, had stepped into the hallway. She'd done the first thing that came to mind; she'd run. Fast and far until she'd found a room that was open. Since she was still here, she must have lost them. Taking a deep breath, she struggled to calm herself down. Then she heard the shots. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and distantly she noted how much they sounded like the guns in Star Wars. Who were they shooting?
It occurred to her after a minute that someone could be hurt, and she was the only one she knew to help them. She had to force her legs to move, but finally she crawled towards the door and cracked it open. The voices she heard outside were indistinct, but she caught sight of red-clad legs among the grey ones, and figured it was Andros. She'd never seen him without Carlos, but there was no black in sight.
The figures left, but she waited a while to be sure, not wanting to be like the stupid people in the adventure movies who left cover too soon and were captured. Finally she ventured out, and slipped down the hall the direction they'd come from. She came to a corner and paused, peeking around it, feeling like an idiot for acting like Bruce Willis in "Die Hard", her mother's favorite movie. But down the hall lay a crumpled figure in black that took her breath away. She raced down to him, carefully pushing him onto his back, wincing at the burns in his clothes and the wounds they revealed.
"Carlos?" she asked softly, but he didn't respond. She felt for a pulse at his neck and found it, weak but steady. She glanced around, trying to find a place to hide that was big enough for him. She didn't think she could get him back to the small room she'd found. Afraid they'd come back and find her, or worse, find him, she began to look around in earnest. Around the corner was a door that opened, and the room was big enough for him, if she moved some stuff. She did that, pushing boxes and cleaning supplies out of the way, then gently pulled him in. He was heavier than she'd thought, but she managed, closing the door and sinking down in relief.
The question was, what to do next. She didn't know this area that well yet, and there were people out there who apparently wouldn't hesitate to shoot. "Man," she mumbled, "I wish I had my datapad." Then she remembered she did, or rather, what she'd done with it. Checking once more on the unconscious man beside her, she slipped back out and down the hall to the room she'd taken shelter in before. Yes, there it was, right where she'd left it. She hugged it close, half-wishing it were Delilah, and raced back to where she'd left Carlos. He hadn't moved. She knew from reading the files on him that the healing was increased, but by how much, she didn't know. Resolved, she settled into the cramped quarters to wait, using the time to get a little more familiar with the layout and to figure out exactly where she was.
"Carlos," she said once that was fixed in her mind, but didn't know what to say next. She'd never really thought about being able to confront him about how she'd felt, and it felt kind of weird. She tried not to think about it, but the words continued to come out, and in some part of her brain, she was glad he couldn't hear her. "I know you were upset, but I wish you'd at least said good-bye. First Dad left, then Troy, at least Troy had said good-bye, then you came in to the picture. Okay, so I had to drag you kicking and screaming into it, and I'm REALLY sorry I blackmailed you. I really am, but if I hadn't, I would never have met you, I would never have met Andros or the others." She sighed and shifted a little. "Of course, then you met Brianna, and she had Harmony, but you were still there, you took time for me, even if it was only a phone call every Saturday morning, and the occasional breakfast. I loved it!
"But then you had to go and disappear. I couldn't even ask if they were lying! I thought you'd left because of me! Do you even know that I called every week for a very long time? Every week, just to hear the poor man on the other end say 'I'm sorry, we don't know where he is or when he'll be back. Perhaps you can leave a message?' You didn't even tell your friends where you'd gone! That was really harsh, Carlos. Really harsh."
She paused to take a breath, a little amazed at the anger that had come out. Something tickled her cheek and she wiped at it, expecting a bug and getting water. Oh, great. She was crying. What had Geoff told her? "Stop crying and get over it," he'd said. She brushed the tears from her face, squeezed the last tears from her eyes, and sat in silence until that feeling of crying was gone.
"Well, that was..." she started. He moaned, interrupting her. "Carlos?"
"Bri..." he mumbled, then another name she couldn't understand. Suddenly, his eyes snapped open. "Andros," he said, and started to get up. Sylvie scrambled to push him back down.
"I don't care how fast the power heals you, there hasn't been enough time," she said, leaning on his shoulders when just pushing wasn't enough.
"Where is he." She flinched at his tone, but didn't let him go.
"I saw him go off with a bunch of people in grey."
"Who are you?" He seemed to see her for the first time. "Oh. A cadet... how did you get here?"
She half smiled and leaned back, fairly sure he wasn't going to get up now. "I was holed up in a room a couple corridors over. I saw them take the headmaster, then tried to get back to my room. I almost stumbled over you. Are you okay? And who are you?" That question had popped into her head as a way not to let him know she knew who he was.
"Carlos Valerte, personal bodyguard of the headmaster, and I have to make sure he's okay."
"He was walking," she said softly. It hadn't even crossed her mind that he might be hurt.
"Are they still around here?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so. At least, I didn't see anyone when I went out."
He sat up so fast that she didn't have time to pin him down again. "You went out?" He looked angry, then swayed as if he'd gotten dizzy.
"I had to get something," she said, then had to hide a smirk as he winced. "I told you not to move. That couldn't have felt good."
"What do you mean, the body's gone?!" a voice from right outside the door shouted, and both of them froze.
"He's gone." This one was clearer, and Sylvie glanced at Carlos, who was staring at the door, ready to move. Of course, he couldn't, but that was beside the point. He looked deadly, and she had to admire that. Would she ever be like that?
"I thought you said he was dead!" One of Carlos' eyebrows went up, and he looked at her with a small smile on his face. "He couldn't have just walked away!"
"I didn't, Mike did. I didn't see the body. I still haven't seen the body. He's gone."
"All right. Who else do you have to find?"
"You asked me to find Karone and Cassie Chan. I'm on my way to Medical."
"Good. They did a count in the Commissary...." the voice faded. Sylvie realized she was holding her breath, and let it out. She didn't think she had ever been so terrified in her life. Here she was, stuck in a situation again, and this time, the Power Ranger with her was injured. Badly enough that when he tried to get to his feet, he fell again.
"Stop that," she hissed, and grabbed his arm. "Stay down or I'll sit on you."
"You're terrified, and you want to sit on me," he said, a little humor in his eyes.
"I didn't say I wanted to, I said I would. Have you always been this impossible?"
"No."
"Liar." It slipped out before she could stop it, and she colored. "I've seen the vids," she said in response to his look, hoping he'd accept that excuse. She wouldn't tell him that she'd heard stories from the other Rangers, too. Then she took a deep breath. "So, Karone and Cassie Chan are still free," she said.
"Good. They will both make it tough to..." He paused, staring at her. "You're that Cadet."
"What?" Her hands clenched tightly together.
"You stared at me when you left Medical the day before classes started." She blushed. "What were you doing there?"
"Um... I got lost. I had gone in to see if I could get directions, but I didn't have a chance to talk to the two who were there before the headmaster came in." She took a deep breath; how to divert that train of thought? "They think you're dead. At least, they thought you were dead. How do we use that?"
"We?" He looked incredulous.
"We. You are in no condition to do anything much."
"You have barely been here two weeks!"
"And how much training did you get when you became a Ranger?" she snapped back, and that shut him up. At least, he looked at her with big eyes and didn't say anything. She hoped that because he'd been gone he didn't know the curriculum and had no idea she knew things she really wasn't supposed to. Besides, she thought, what better way to find out if I want to stay here?
He shook his head. "How well do you know your way around?"
She laughed. "Since I got lost that day, and got directions from the headmaster, I made it a point to know where I was going before I went. I don't know the executive offices very well, of course, but I was able to find Mr. Stone's office without asking directions last week."
"Right. Can you find your way around the ventilation system?" He pointed to the wall above her head, and she turned to look.
"Probably. But can I fit?" She stood to examine it.
"Yes. They're big." It took her some work - and a few boxes to climb up on - but she got the cover off, setting it gently on the floor.
"So, now what? I'm not leaving if you intend to sneak out."
He looked stumped and frustrated. "All right. Go to the headmaster's office and see if he's there, find out if he's okay."
Sylvie took a deep breath, then nodded. "You're lucky I'm not claustrophobic," she said, and grabbed her datapad. "I wish I had a pocket or something," she muttered, slid it into the vent, and hoisted herself up.
"Wait, what's your name?" he called once she was inside, but she pretended she didn't hear him and kept going, concentrating on trying to make the vents correspond with the hallways on her map. I don't want you to know, she thought. You can't know.
It took her three times before she found herself looking into the headmaster's office, and that was after she got the hang of the whole vent-to-hallway thing. She could see Andros and Zhane, both slumped in chairs, and there was blood on the side of Andros' face. The rest of the room seemed to be empty. "Hey. Psss," she hissed, and Zhane stirred a little, lifting his head to see her. "Hi. Are you two okay?" The words came out before she registered the bruises on Zhane's face.
"Mostly," he said softly, and nudged Andros with his shoulder. He moaned softly, and Sylvie nearly started to cry again. He took a deep breath, then lifted his head. His eyes were clear, and he had a small smile on his face.
"Are they gone?" he asked blurrily.
"We have company." Zhane indicated the vent, and Sylvie gave a wave of her hand.
"Hi. Um... Carlos is okay. Well, he's injured, but he'll be okay," she said first, and smiled at the relief on Andros' face. "Hopefully, he's keeping that under wraps. Is there anything I can do for you?"
" Just a minute," Andros told her, and then movement across the room caught her attention as the wires pulled themselves out of the camera. Sylvie raised an eyebrow and tried not to freak out too much. He was, after all, an alien. "My battlizer," Andros said, almost before the wires were finished moving. "Get it out of here." Zhane stepped up to her and began to pry the vent off and she flinched back in surprise. How had he gotten free? Once he was done, the odd thing that she'd seen in the Secret City floated up to her, and settled into the vent. "Give this to Carlos. It's his." A second wrist band settled next to the first. "I'm going to keep up this charade as long as I can. He didn't say where he was going, but I'm sure he'll hear about the camera being deactivated in here." He chuckled menacingly. "See if you can take out more cameras."
Zhane had put the cover back on as Andros had spoken, and then he turned to untie his friend. "Go, before they get back," he said, and Sylvie grabbed the two morphers and began to back up. She wasn't quite out of sight when the door opened.
"Don't move or I'll kill her," she heard, and shuddered. The man's voice was slimy. Who was he threatening? The fear kept her moving.
Getting back took much less time, and she slithered out of the vent to find someone had joined them. She lounged next to Carlos, her staff leaning against the wall, although she was blonde instead of a redhead. Sylvie went pale and started to climb back in, knocking the boxes down and falling herself in her haste to get out. Someone grabbed her arm and she spun to hit them, only to have Carlos meet her eyes and block the blow.
"Calm down," he said. "It's okay. This is Karone."
Sylvie couldn't speak. That's not Karone, that's Astronema! I thought she was dead! She hid the morphers behind her back and tried a smile. It didn't work.
"She knows me," the woman said, standing. She took Carlos' arm and made him sit down, then turned back to Sylvie. "Don't you."
Sylvie nodded and stepped back, only to run into the wall. "Is Andros okay?" Carlos finally asked, and Sylvie swallowed, hard.
"He's... he's up and... or would be, if he weren't tied. He's..." She glanced at Astronema, then back to Carlos. "He's been injured, there's blood on his face. The security chief..."
"Zhane?" Astronema grabbed her arm and she cringed. "What's wrong with Zhane?"
Sylvie took a deep breath. "He's okay, he was up because he got untied somehow." Her voice was shaking. "He was hit, I think. His face is bruised."
"I'll kill who did that," she muttered, and let Sylvie go.
"But Andros is okay?" Carlos asked. Sylvie glanced at the woman, then moved to sit next to him.
"He gave me this to give to you. He said it was yours." She gave him the morpher, keeping the battlizer to herself. She still didn't know if she trusted Astronema.
"I told you they didn't give it to anyone," Astronema said softly. "You should trust me more."
Carlos laughed, and it sounded choked. "I don't even trust me," he said, and just held the morpher, staring at it. Sylvie gently took it and strapped it on his wrist.
"It looks better that way," she said softly, then looked at the woman. "They're looking for you, too. Only, I don't know if they know this...." She gestured. "... incarnation." She took a deep breath. "Which can be good, you know. They don't know that Carlos is alive, either."
Astronema turned on Carlos, who was watching them in curiosity. "You let Andros think you were dead?" she demanded.
"I didn't have much of a choice," he said. "I was shot."
"Yes, Vincent. The body is still gone." The voice silenced them all. He sounded weary. "Yes, I'm sure I'm in the right place. No, I haven't found the three missing Cadets, or Teena Williams."
"I want you to concentrate on finding Ashley Hammond.... Just a minute." There was silence outside. "The cameras around Medical are down. The cameras around the Residences are down. The cameras in your sector are still down. Will can't see you, Eric, or Steve. Keep in touch with David at all times, I don't want to take the chance of losing track of any of you."
"Right."
Sylvie started to open her mouth, closing it at a shake of the head from Carlos. Remember the adventurers, she thought to herself. After a minute, Astronema relaxed. "I hope Andros heard that. Ashley is still free." She turned her gaze on Carlos. "If you morphed, that would speed your healing, you know. It's taking so long because it has been a long time."
He looked at her, expression blank. "A long time," he repeated, then his hands seemed to move before he thought. "Let's rocket!" came out in a whisper, then there was a flash of light and he was morphed, already looking tons better. Maybe it was only because she couldn't see the pain in his eyes any more. Then, without words, he demorphed and threw the morpher across the room. He did look healthier, but Sylvie didn't like the look in his eyes. "What do we do now?" he growled.
Go on to Next Chapter | "I Wonder What it's Like...."