Title: An Unexpected Mission
Authors:
rivulet027 and
moonlite_n_rose
Fandom: Power Rangers with an AU ending for the Operation Overdrive Team-up.
Pairings: Eventual slash and het
Rating: Pg-15
Summery: The Once A Ranger vets team continue in Angel Grove with a new set of villains. Wherein Adam gains a team, gets a girl, a couple of tattoos and might just lose his sanity in the process.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers, neither does MnR. We’re just playing in their toy box and we promise to put everyone away when we’re finished.
A/N: This story is originally being written in role playing format. All updates will first be posted here http://pr-stories.escape-from-reality.net/ and then added elsewhere.
A/N2: Chapter 2 is to big to post in one sitting so there will be two parts.
"Mr. Hartford took care of it, as an apology for pretty much dragging us all into this, not that we wouldn't have gotten a team together if need be, but," he paused and shook his head. "He's bought us a house," he waved towards the computer screen, where the specks were still open in the email, "Which is good, because you are absolutely right, this wouldn't work, we'd kill each other, all cramped up in this small space, not to mention, when our tempers run short, there's be no way to lock the emotions down, we'd drive you insane in the first drag out fight." He walked back over to his computer chair, "The house is huge… it'll be big enough for all of us."
Should he or shouldn't he? Bridge had really only had it once and it had tasted good after Jack told him to add sugar, but Sky had said never again and well Sky wasn't technically his commander right now…so one cup couldn't hurt could it?
Authors:
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Fandom: Power Rangers with an AU ending for the Operation Overdrive Team-up.
Pairings: Eventual slash and het
Rating: Pg-15
Summery: The Once A Ranger vets team continue in Angel Grove with a new set of villains. Wherein Adam gains a team, gets a girl, a couple of tattoos and might just lose his sanity in the process.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers, neither does MnR. We’re just playing in their toy box and we promise to put everyone away when we’re finished.
A/N: This story is originally being written in role playing format. All updates will first be posted here http://pr-stories.escape-from-reality.net/ and then added elsewhere.
A/N2: Chapter 2 is to big to post in one sitting so there will be two parts.
As Rocky hung up the phone he could hear Aisha making her goodbyes. He glanced at the clock, he had a little over two hours to get to work. He felt awful, he was stressed for Adam. He also knew he was too busy and too far away to be of any good to his friend. Maybe if he got some sleep he could think of something to help him. That in mind he called off work for the day.
He collapsed in front of his computer then began looking up the cost of plane tickets as he picked up his phone and dialed. He really hoped he wasn’t calling at a bad time, trying to calculate out time differences always made his head hurt.
Kat was just sitting down for an afternoon cup of tea when the phone rang. No one she knew in London would call around this time so it had to be one of her friends from the states. She looked at her caller id and smiled, "'Ello."
"Hi Kat," he greeted enthusiastically when she picked up; "Guess who's got a really huge favor to ask of you?"
"Oh Rocky, what do you need now?" She asked exasperatedly; then decided to tease him, "I can't bail you out of jail when I'm across the ocean ya know."
“Ye of little faith,” he grumbled good-naturedly, “No it’s about Adam. Do you know what’s going on with him?”
"Yeah, he had a minor freak out on the phone with me this morning; I managed to calm him down a bit. I assume you're calling me because he gave you a repeat performance?"
“No, worse. He called Aisha,” Rocky gave that a moment to sink in before he continued, “And then she decided to get me in on the three-way. I think we helped him see it’s manageable, but you know Aisha’s not good with the calming down and despite the fact that he’s got other friends in Angel Grove I really don’t see them, how do I put this…Kat he needs someone like you who can get him to talk about what the hell is going on so he doesn’t lose his mind. I’ll even pay for the plane ticket to get you there and the plane ticket to get you home. I wish I could go, but I’m…I’m kinda stuck right now, I don’t even want to talk about the wheedling it took me to get the day off of work even though I’ve been up half the night with my two best friends.”
"Oh good lord… I love 'Sha to death, but when it comes to the three of you, you all feed off each other and make things worse," Kat said plainly.
Rocky sighed. How had he gotten so busy that he couldn't just drop everything and go back and help Adam? Wasn't he supposed to be there for his friend?
Kat noticed that Rocky was being awfully silent, she knew he felt bad. "Rock… listen, you can't help it that you have a demanding job, a job you're quite good at. You're not the only one who can't take time off to go jetting to wherever our friends need us. But…" she continued quickly before Rocky could think she wouldn't do it. "I am between shows right now, and I'm at a point where I'm not even sure I want to do another show, so I can definitely go back home and give Adam some moral support, and maybe even help out with things. I used to help Billy when he was playing tech for us, remember? You don't even have to pay for my ticket hon, it's not like I can't afford it."
Kat noticed that Rocky was being awfully silent, she knew he felt bad. "Rock… listen, you can't help it that you have a demanding job, a job you're quite good at. You're not the only one who can't take time off to go jetting to wherever our friends need us. But…" she continued quickly before Rocky could think she wouldn't do it. "I am between shows right now, and I'm at a point where I'm not even sure I want to do another show, so I can definitely go back home and give Adam some moral support, and maybe even help out with things. I used to help Billy when he was playing tech for us, remember? You don't even have to pay for my ticket hon, it's not like I can't afford it."
"Thanks Kat," Rocky smiled feeling better, "I would at least like to help cover the cost, last minute tickets aren't exactly the least expensive things."
"If you want to help me out, send me a bunch of those chocolates I like from that store across the street from your work. They don't have a shop in Angel Grove, and I think I'm going to need them by the time things heat up. Besides, I haven't had chocolate since the last time I was in the states," she added, knowing it would shock Rocky, who was sure that chocolate should be one of the food groups.
“What?” She hadn’t just said that! “No chocolate, are you insane? I mean I know you like have to be careful about what you eat, but how are you surviving if you haven’t had any chocolate?” Rocky told her, then smiled ruefully, “Nothing to worry about, I’ll soon take care of that.” He turned serious again, “Thank you Kat, I really think Adam’s going to need the support.”
"You don't have to thank me, it's the least I can do to help, you guys have always been there for me whenever you can," Kat replied firmly. "But don't tell Adam I'm coming, I want to surprise him." She looked at the clock. "I gotta go, I meeting my partner for dinner, I have to break a few things to him," she said a bit stiffly, as if she was dreading the dinner. "I'll call you when I have my flight time," she promised.
“Okay,” Rocky agreed, he hadn’t missed her voice change when she talked about her partner, “Hey if you need to talk about anything I’m here. I may not be able to go anywhere right now, but I can still pack a mean intimidation routine or a good ear if you’re in need.”
"Nah… it's nothing major, I'm just going to be telling him something I know he won't want to hear, and it's just not going to be pretty. He's an amazing dancer, but he's such a bloody diva, it's not even funny," she said with a sigh. "I'll call you later Rock… cheers," she said hanging up. "At least now I have a plausible reason for not dancing in the next production," she said to herself as she went to go change for dinner.
Dustin yawned, then stretched and opened his eyes to the sight of Bridge and Xander curled around one another. He smiled with a shake of his head before he leaned back to check on the girls. Everyone’s blankets had shifted so he carefully tucked everyone back in starting with Tori, moving to Kira and then the guys. It was about then he noticed Adam at the computer. He padded over as carefully as he could. “Morning Dude, whatcha looking at?” he greeted as he scratched his stomach and suppressed another yawn.
"Our new base of operations," Adam said showing Dustin the house. "Andrew's present for us, since technically it's all his teams fault we're back in action." He waited as Dustin checked out the house, "So, what do you think? It's like a hundred times bigger than this place."
Dustin peaked over Adam’s shoulder. He wet his lips and then said the only thing he could manage, “Duuuude.” He blinked at the screen, “Is that like a work out room. Dude!”
Dustin bounced happily, “That is so cool. No offense dude, but we’d so kill each other here. I was going to try and find a place for some of us today, but that is so much better. But like what are we gonna do about Zords? Cam like fixed Tor’s and mine, but like it combines with the falcon zord. Shane’d probably be cool if we used it, and I know they can do a like remote thing from like ninja ops, but…Hey, maybe he could managed to hook it up to like someone else’s morpher or something.” He yawned again, “Dude I so like need to go for a quick run. I’m like gonna check the fridge and get some stuff from the store too. I can make breakfast, if that’s cool with you?”
Adam blinked and just took in everything that Dustin was saying, the only thought running through his head was, I wonder what a conversation between him and Bridge would be like.
"I know y'all would kill each other here, I'd probably be tempted myself," he added with a smile. "I'm calling Billy… he was my team's tech guy, maybe he and Cam can figure out a way to route the falcon to Bridge's morpher. Billy will have to work out zords for Kira and myself, and maybe figure out a way to combine with Xander's Minotaur. That way we'd have two Megazords.”
Adam grabbed a pen and a paper to write that idea down to hand off to Billy, and looked up at Dustin, realizing he was waiting for an answer about the breakfast. "You can cook? Go for it man. I'm sure the legions are going to be dying of hunger when they wake up," he said with a laugh.
Adam grabbed a pen and a paper to write that idea down to hand off to Billy, and looked up at Dustin, realizing he was waiting for an answer about the breakfast. "You can cook? Go for it man. I'm sure the legions are going to be dying of hunger when they wake up," he said with a laugh.
“Well like duh dude. I can even cook vegetarian if I have too, my sister is like totally a future girl yellow, she’s like way scary dude.” Dustin shuffled his way over to his bag, got out a change of clothes and his wallet. By the time he came out of the bathroom, and started slipping on his running shoes Bridge had begun to stir.
Bridge groaned. He didn’t want to wake up, Xander was peaceful in sleep and he’d kept trying to hold onto that peacefulness through the night as panic had kept overwhelming his sleep. What he needed was his old room, with Sky who didn’t project or Syd or Z or Jack. He could feel the tension radiating up his neck making his head pound. He tried burrowing closer to Xander, but unless he tried skin on skin contact Xander’s peaceful sleep wasn’t going to help him. He flopped onto his back and rubbed at his temples. Tori was peaceful, Kira was anxious and Adam…thankfully Adam was starting to calm down. Dustin was happy…but leaving?
He couldn’t take this, none of them had decent mental shields. They all projected and were cramped into this tiny apartment.
Bridge sat up and buried his head in his hands. Then he ran a hand down his face as he wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. He could find a way to deal with this, he had to. Wait, was Adam wondering what he was doing, if he was feeling alright?
Bridge slammed his hand against his head. Stop! He ordered his brain. He didn’t read minds unless he concentrated. Bridge scrambled to the nearest wall and settled himself into a handstand. He needed to get back into his own head and now! He could feel Adam’s eyes on him. He closed his eyes tightly trying to block him out as he admitted, “You’re projecting, actually all of you are projecting and my shield aren’t so good when I sleep. Not everyone’s happy, and it’s become disconcerting. My head aches and I need to find my equilibrium.”
Adam's eyebrows rose even more at Bridge's answer to his unspoken 'what the hell'. "Sorry… things have been a little disconcerting since I found we were more of a permanent squad than a temp team," he responded curiously.
“Yeah, I was hoping to go home,” Bridge told him then frowned as he realized it hadn’t come out right. He sounded a lot like Xander when he’d said that actually. He groaned, that hadn’t happened to him in years. He moved his mouth around and tried to remind himself what he sounded like.
Apparently Bridge did more than just read auras. "So what, are you a telepath or something?" Adam asked, wanting to know the extent of Bridge's abilities. He needed to know these things, even if he didn't want to think about these things, even if all he wanted to think about was his bed.
Bridge sighed, what he needed was Dr. Felix and something to get rid of this headache, then maybe he could concentrate. Frustrated he dropped out of his handstand and rubbed at his temples again, "I read auras and it lets me track people, that you know, but it's more than that. The aura is a way of letting me pick up on people’s emotions, I feel them directly when someone touches me. It's mostly directed though my hands, but all of my skin can pick up on it on some level."
He tugged down his sleeves, "I can accept some skin on skin contact, but it's still a work in progress. Everyone at SPD is taught how not to project, so I usually have one of them to fall back on if I get overwhelmed. I can read minds, but usually only if I concentrate on it. I've also had some instances of precognition and I still don't sound like me do I?"
Adam sighed; it'd been a long time since he'd had to actually work on keeping his emotions in check. He has a friend who is sort of like Bridge, and reacts to others emotions. He did his best at that moment to clamp down on his emotions in an attempt to help Bridge.
Bridge's shoulders sagged slightly when he could no longer feel Adam's emotions. Why weren't his shields working? He knew how to mentally block people, why was he struggling with it so much?
"You sound a bit like Xander, a bit of an aussie accent coming out," Adam told him.
Bridge groaned and rubbed at the back of his neck trying to think of how to explain, "There was like this lab accident and it like...” He buried his head in his hands and stopped. It would just be better if he just stopped.
"And you don't have to explain everything right now. I'll work with the others, give them the basics to lock down their emotions as best they can," Adam responded kindly.
"Thank you," he managed, then wrinkled his nose still not sure if he sounded like himself.
"Will Tylenol help your headache any? I have some in the medicine cabinet," Adam offered.
Bridge took his head out of his hands and looked at Adam confused, "What's Tylenol?"
Adam raised his eyebrows at that. "Umm… it's a pain reliever, a medicine, it helps with aches, pains, headaches, fevers, that sort of thing," he explained.
"Similar to Acetaminophen?" Bridge asked before he shook his head, "Yeah, sure, please." He closed his eyes and let his head rest against the wall.
"It is Acetaminophen, Tylenol is just a brand name," Adam explained before heading into the bathroom to grab the bottle of Tylenol. He stopped off in the kitchen for a glass of water and headed back into the living room.
Oh, Bridge thought. Maybe this was why he was overwhelmed. He'd been able to block them when he thought it was a quick mission. He'd been able to firmly have his mental shields in place when he woke up, because he knew he would be going home soon. His Ranger History class had briefly skimmed the fact that there was a team-up for the Operations Overdrive team and he already knew what happened to Kira in the future thanks to Syd's taste in music...so it really wasn’t supposed to last very long, was it? He couldn't blame his teachers for not giving him any details, but having been brought to the past by the Sentinel Knight he had been counting on that as a way home.
He shouldn't have just assumed. Well, the Sentinal Knight had offered, but he had to finish the mission. He couldn't just abandon this team when they were in the beginning of a fight. But now he was panicking, had he given up his one chance to go home?
No, he told himself, if Boom can pull radio broadcasts from the future I should be able to send myself home. He tried to remember the schematics for Boom's device, but his head pounded again. He groaned. When he could think, then he could worry about how he was going to get home and it'd have to be a side-project, the team came first.
Adam watched Bridge contemplating everything and felt pangs of sympathy towards him, if he was having a hard time dealing with this, Bridge had to be having it even worse, it was supposed to be a temporary mission, and it was worse for Bridge, this wasn't even his time!
"Here," Adam said holding the medicine out to him.
"Thanks, and I’m sorry for not knowing what Tylenol was. I’ve really only been taught the chemical names," Bridge said taking the pills from him and accepting the water. Well, Adam wasn't Dr. Felix, but this would hopefully work.
Before Adam could respond Xander rolled over, pulled the blanket over his head and muttered, "I'm not getting up unless the world is ending."
Bridge blinked, and people thought he was weird. He tilted his head to look up at Adam, "Have you even slept?"
Adam chuckled at Xander's mutterings and then looked over when Bridge asked his question.
"No, I called some of my ex-teammates, didn't exactly mean to jaw the night away with them," he yawned. "I'll just tough it out today, if I go to sleep right now, it’ll throw my sleep cycle all outta wack." He looked over at the couch, where the girls were curled up. "It's a good thing they are so small, or they'd be awfully uncomfortable," he commented, running a hand through his tousled hair.
"I am awfully uncomfortable," Tori grumbled, as she turned over on the couch and went back to sleep.
Adam's comment caused Bridge to look and take in their surroundings for the first time. It was a nice apartment, at least he thought it was nice given that he really didn't have a 2007 basis for comparison, but there were six of them, seven when you counted Alpha.
Bridge stared and then shook his head, "This isn't going to work."
"Mr. Hartford took care of it, as an apology for pretty much dragging us all into this, not that we wouldn't have gotten a team together if need be, but," he paused and shook his head. "He's bought us a house," he waved towards the computer screen, where the specks were still open in the email, "Which is good, because you are absolutely right, this wouldn't work, we'd kill each other, all cramped up in this small space, not to mention, when our tempers run short, there's be no way to lock the emotions down, we'd drive you insane in the first drag out fight." He walked back over to his computer chair, "The house is huge… it'll be big enough for all of us."
Bridge nodded as Adam told him what Mr. Hartford had done, that was really nice of him. Adam was right, he wouldn't be able to handle any fights in this small space and wait...were they becoming their own team...a team he'd never studied in all of his history classes?
Bridge wet his lips suddenly feeling ill. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall as he told himself that he wouldn't have been able to study the history. He had contacted SPD when he first arrived here, let them know who he was and why he was in one of their uniforms. They would have known not to teach him about this.
He ran a hand down his face and worked his way to his feet to check out their new base of operations. His eyes widened as he scrolled, "Wow. This is..." He smiled, maybe just maybe this could work.
His brief moment of peace at the thought was interrupted as Dustin spun back into the apartment carrying a few bags and bustled into the kitchen. He suddenly felt very, very happy. Bridge groaned and let his head hit the desk. He wasn't happy he told himself.
Adam put a comforting hand on Bridge’s shoulder as he watched him do a live impression of 'headesk'. He was sure that Bridge would be alright after he was given a few days to acclimate to the surroundings and the situation.
Dustin had intended to go for a short run, then to pick up food, but he'd caught sight of Bridge stirring and he really wasn't sure of what the shower situation was going to be and he so wasn't going to smell for the rest of the day. So a slight use of Ninja powers, a trip to the grocery store and a quick move back and he was ready for the day. He’d go running once things were sorted.
He paused in the kitchen, it wasn't his. He shrugged; he might as well just make himself at home if he was going to be cooking breakfast. Okay, toast for Bridge, with butter. Pancakes for him and waffles for Tori or was it pancakes for Tori and waffles for him? It never failed she always wanted the opposite of what he wanted. Oh well, he'd just make lots of both, even though he sort of felt like pancakes. He set up Bridge's toast, then some coffee and some tea before he decided to ask Adam, "So do you want pancakes or waffles? Oh or an omelet...I can like so do an omelet Dude. I got like tons of food, cause everyone always in the mood for breakfast...at least we always were, even Cam."
Dustin paused to think for a moment, then shrugged and preheated the oven so he could cook the bacon. He started some sausage in a pan and began on the batter. It'd so be better to wait to see what kind of eggs they wanted.
Adam listened to Dustin ramble on about breakfast and then got up, heading into the kitchen, keeping his footing a lot easier now that two of the rangers were awake and off his floor.
"I'll have a bacon and cheese omelet," he told him, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. "And coffee… a lot of coffee," he half murmured to himself as he watched the coffee percolate.
"Oh and like dude before you panic...I like can so also clean up after myself. I can't stand dirty dishes, like just ask Tor when she wakes up, her mom loves me when I come over cause ugh well dishes are just..." Dustin paused to shudder and then went back to cooking.
Adam laughed as Dustin shuddered about the dishes, "You shouldn't have to clean up if you're doing the cooking, I'm sure between the five of us we can clean up after you make breakfast."
Dustin opened his mouth to give his standard reply that Hunter wasn’t allowed near dishes. “Dude,” Dustin shook his head to cover his almost mistake. It was weird serving on a team that didn’t have his old teammates, at least he had T. He wasn’t sure what he’d do without T, well without Tori he wouldn’t have even had the accident that gave him his powers back so he was really grateful.
Dustin shrugged, “Whatever happens, as long as they’re clean I’m cool. Just do me one favor though, Dude? When you call Cam about the Zords or is Tori calling him? Well anyway, when he offers, cause I like so know he will just say no to CyberCam.”
Adam raised an eyebrow. “I think I'll have Tori call him, and I'm not sure I want to know what CyberCam is," he said a bit warily.
Bridge stood blinking in the doorway. Dustin gave him a smile and went back to cooking, grabbing Bridge’s toast and buttering it for him when it came up. He handed Bridge the plate.
Bridge blinked at his toast, “Is it…”
“Yep Dude,” Dustin confirmed as soon as he saw the fingers wiggling. He bounced back over and checked his bacon.
Toast, as far as Bridge was concerned, was the ultimate comfort food and he needed it. The morning had been weird enough, but what Dustin was doing was just beyond weird. His mother had had a hand in inventing the synthesizer that gave them their food…so this was just scary.
Adam headed over to the coffee, leaning against the counter as he watched Dustin and Bridge, chuckling slightly when Bridge wiggled his fingers.
"You don't remember home cooked meals, Bridge?" Adam asked curiously.
Bridge wrinkled his nose trying to remember and frowned. "I think I have a memory of my grandma making cookies, but she died when I was young. At least I'm pretty sure she made them, maybe she didn't. I know my Mom didn't make them. My mom hated to cook, she loved making things though so it was probably that that led to her helping to develop a synthesizer. I invented a computer program that makes my toast perfectly, just the way I like it, but I guess that's not as interesting as the synthesizer."
Adam shook his head. "I think that's pretty cool… when I make toast, it usually comes out either black, or warm bread," he said making a face before sipping his coffee.
"It was great, it came out just buttery enough, but not too buttery and I'd just got my waffle iron patented before I left."
Tori, who'd woken up to the smells of a thoroughly Dustin meal, stepped up behind Bridge. "Dustin! You'd better not burn my eggs," she grumbled, running a hand through her tousled hair.
"Duuude!" Dustin complained as he began Adam's omelet, "That was like so long ago and it was totally like Shane's fault. And that other time was Hunter and Blake's fault…it's not my fault they wouldn't trust that I can cook."
"Morning Bridge," she said giving him a half-asleep smile. She nodded at Adam. "I'll call Cam later," she told him, having heard him talking about it as she woke up.
Bridge returned Tori's greeting and went back to his toast. He was tempted to ask for coffee since Sky had forbidden him from having any after the one and only time he'd tried it. He really hadn't been 'rambling' that fast.
"Coffee Bridge?" Adam asked, as Tori headed for the tea rolling her eyes at what Dustin said. Waiting for Bridge's reply he touched Tori on the arm and murmured to her, explaining quietly and quickly that Bridge could sense emotions, and the easily most efficient way to lock overflow of emotions down.
Should he or shouldn't he? Bridge had really only had it once and it had tasted good after Jack told him to add sugar, but Sky had said never again and well Sky wasn't technically his commander right now…so one cup couldn't hurt could it?
"Sure," Bridge smiled, "Can I have sugar too?"
Tori tilted her head to the side. "So… it's like mediating? Dustin's gonna have a problem with that," she murmured looking over at her teammate, well her original teammate, since they were all her teammates now.
"We'll deal with that later," Adam replied sipping his coffee. "You can do it right?"
Tori nodded and mentally ran though the basics of grounding and centering, putting a mental damper between herself and anyone who could read emotions. She hoped that would help Bridge, she didn't know if she would’ve been able to handle that, feeling what everyone felt.
"We'll deal with that later," Adam replied sipping his coffee. "You can do it right?"
Tori nodded and mentally ran though the basics of grounding and centering, putting a mental damper between herself and anyone who could read emotions. She hoped that would help Bridge, she didn't know if she would’ve been able to handle that, feeling what everyone felt.