rivulet027 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rivulet027) wrote2010-01-06 08:17 pm
rivulet027) wrote2010-01-06 08:17 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: An Unexpected Mission: Chapter 9 (Power Rangers)
Title: An Unexpected Mission
Authors:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rivulet027 and moonlite_n_rose
Fandom: Power Rangers with an AU ending for the Operation Overdrive Team-up.
Pairings: Billy/Trini, Tommy/Hayley, Kira/Dustin with 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. We also don't own anything to do with 'The Exorcist'. We also don't own anything to do with Ruby Tuesday, just using the name for fun.
A/N: Please don't worry about Trent, he will eventually redeem himself. Also, sorry this update took so long.
Chapter 9:
Tori headed out the patio doors and looked around for Xander. He wasn't hard to find, he was sitting in front of an empty patch of yard that they'd decided to put a garden in. As Tori walked up she stopped, her mouth open in surprise, flowers were growing to full size right out of the ground. It was like nature in fast forward. "Wow," she murmured in awe.
Xander turned when he heard Tori's appreciation, "I think I got a little carried away."
"It's beautiful to watch," Tori told him, before remembering what she came out here for. "Kira got attacked by those Putty things," she said soberly. "She's alright, but she got worked over pretty bad."
The smile that had started to form on his face at Tori’s appreciation faltered and fell. Xander rose. He couldn’t help but think there was more to the story than that. Curious he asked, “What happened?”
Tori sighed, and started to explain what Adam had explained to her, the phone argument with Trent, the throwing of said phone at the wall and the departure of Kira. "So…she came back and was all battered and bruised. Dustin's cleaning her up, and Adam went to call Billy to see if he can get communicators for us. I mean Dustin and I are connected through our morphers, but no one else is," she pointed out.
“Communicators sound like a plan,” Xander nodded as he brushed the dirt off himself, “And I know you’re probably only thinking about having a go at him, but has anyone called Trent? They might have broken up, but it’s hasn’t even been a day. He deserves to know what his idiocy caused.” Xander frowned, out of all of them he was probably the one that should be calling Trent. Everyone else was probably ready to read him the riot act.
"Sensei always said never act with a hot head, so yeah, I shouldn't be doing that, I'd like to ninja streak to Reefside and give Trent a piece of my mind, which will only make things worse." Tori replied, attempting to keep her formidable temper in check.
“Only good thing about his idiocy is he’s pushed Dustin and Kira closer,” Xander decided. Not that he had anything against Trent, besides the upsetting of a teammate, but Xander liked watching the prettiness of a new relationship about to bloom. He’d never admit it, but it was always interesting to see.
"Ten bucks says those two hook up before the first monster battle," Tori said kneeling down to look at a rose. "They're both attracted to each other; their body language is screaming 'I want you'. I've seen the way Kira was looking at him during training sessions."
“I’m not about to make a bet I’d lose,” Xander smiled.
"But since you mentioned it, you call Trent. I have his number. Maybe you can get it out of him why he's acting like a complete ass," she smirked as she grabbed her phone.
Xander nodded and took the phone. When Trent picked up Xander tried to keep the smile in his tone, “Hi, names Xander, this is Trent right?” It wouldn’t be good if he was talking to the wrong person.
"Yes, this is Trent. Xander? You're the Mystic Force Ranger on the vets team, right?" Trent asked a little warily. Why was this dude calling him?
Xander flopped down on the grass, he could already tell this was going to take awhile by the tone in Trent’s voice, “That would be me. Look, mate, how bout you sit down for a moment.”
"How bout you just tell me why you’re calling me?" Trent retorted, he had an inkling of how this was going to go, and it put him on the defensive immediately.
Xander rolled his eyes before he stated simply, “Kira was hurt. She was angry earlier today and went out on her own. She got attacked.”
Trent was silent for a long moment, a myriad of thoughts running through his head. Was she hurt badly? Is she okay? Should I go back out there? Then the cold hard facts kicked in, she’d broken up with him. Why should he care? Hotheadedness won out and he snapped, "Why should I care?"
Because she's still your friend, a small voice in the back of Trent’s mind quipped, but he pushed it aside. He was still angry, though he wasn't sure if it was at himself or at Kira.
“You care,” Xander told him, “You guys haven’t even been broken up for a whole day and if you two didn’t care than your argument this morning wouldn’t have been so heated that she felt the need to storm off. You care, even if you’re too worked up to realize it.”
"What the hell do you know about it?" Trent retorted hotly. Who was this guy? He didn't even know him.
“Look, I called to keep a fellow ranger and as far as I thought someone who cared about Kira informed,” Xander told him annoyance in his tone. He glanced up at Tori and rolled his eyes as he mouthed 'idiot' at her.
"She's alright isn't she? If she wasn't…I wouldn't be the only one you called," Trent snapped, feeding off Xander's annoyance. He wanted to bang his head against the wall for being such an idiot. But it was too late to back off now.
Xander groaned, “This is as bad as trying to talk to V when she was dating that guy who was a carbon copy of her. How have you two lasted this long?”
"It's none of your damn business," Trent retorted. "Are we done here?"
“No, we’re not done,” Xander stood and began to pace, so focused on how angry Trent was making him that he’d forgotten Tori was even there, “One of my teammates got in an argument, a stupid one, with someone she obviously cared about. Then went off on her own and got attacked. That makes it my business and this is ridicules! I called you because I was the one who wanted to have a go at you the least! I didn’t realize I’d be talking to someone who makes V seem like a cuddly kitten and Chip a walking academic encyclopedia. One Dustin doesn’t even look at girls that aren’t available. Two he was cuddling with Tori too, who is practically his sister by everything but blood. And three you were dating Kira and let me tell you every time I’ve so much as lightly flirted with her she’d tried to pound me into the ground. Get over yourself.”
Trent slammed his phone shut without a word, and resisted the urge to chuck it against the wall. He couldn't afford a new one and he wasn't going to tell his father why exactly he chucked it in the first place. His father would probably read him the riot act. Dammit I'm an idiot, he thought angrily. He'd hung up on someone who wasn't trying to pick a fight with him, and he hadn't even found out for sure if Kira was okay or not. "Shit," he groaned, as his head thudded against the wall instead of his phone.
Tori’s eyes widened as she watched Xander get more and more upset. "Xan… Xander!" she tried. He was supposed to be the one who handled Trent with a calm, cool, and collected head.
Xander stared at Tori’s phone suddenly hearing his own words, “That didn’t go well.” He hadn’t meant to make it worse. He groaned, “Kira’s gonna kill me.” That said he flopped onto the grass and gave Tori a helpless look, “I didn’t realize he’d be that infuriating.”
Tori sighed. "Either way, I'm not sure you made things any worse than they already are. I can't believe he didn't even ask how Kira was," she said incredulously as she got up and dusted her knees off. "I'm going back inside. Don't forget to water your garden, the soil is dry," she teased as she headed for the patio doors.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
After giving himself a mild headache by banging his head on the wall, Trent flipped his phone open. "Dial Conner," he ordered it. He needed to know if Kira really was okay, and he sure as hell couldn't call the mansion, considering that everyone wanted to tear him a new one. You deserve it, the voice in the back of his head reminded him. Shut it, he told himself.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
“Conner!" Ethan called not even bothering to look up from setting up the video game, "Phone!"
"Dude! I'm not deaf, I heard it," Conner said jumping over the back of the couch and grabbing his phone. "Yo jerkface, what's up?" He asked as she settled back into the couch.
"Kira got hurt in a battle. I need you to call her and see if she's okay," Trent ignored the 'jerkface' comment and got right to the point.
"And why aren't you calling her to see if she's okay? Why do I have to be the go between?" Conner asked putting it on speaker phone so Ethan could hear as well.
"Because I'm an idiot and went off on Xander when he called to tell me she got hurt. I can't call back now," Trent said with a sigh.
"Bro you are an idiot," Ethan told him, "but at least you’re admitting it. How do you go off on Xander? He's the guy that tries to reason with the monsters instead of fight them.”
"Because he told me everybody wants to pretty much kick my ass," Trent retorted.
"Everybody does. You're just lucky Dr. O. and Hayley don't know how you acted," Conner replied grabbing one of the controllers.
"And you aren't going to tell them either, right?"
"Dude, I kinda like you, even if you are being a complete dick. I won't say anything, but you need to get off you're high horse and apologize to Kira, like yesterday," Conner informed him.
"I know…I know," Trent grumbled.
“Yeah, because while we might not be telling them, they’re bound to find out sooner or later. You might not want stick around for the fall out. I’ve seen Hayley when she’s pissed. It’s not pretty and I’m sure you have too. You might wanna go into hiding, for your own safety,” Ethan advised before he grinned at Conner, “You are so going down.”
Then he stopped and reviewed the conversation thus far, “Wait, Kira got hurt?”
"Yes! Xander said she got attacked because she went on her own and I got pissed and then he went off on me, and I hung up. So I don't know if she's okay or not! So you need to call and find out, and let me know, okay?"
"I still think you should find out yourself," Conner told him.
"Guys!" Trent exclaimed.
“What bro?” Ethan asked, “Look if we call she’ll know it’s for you and then it looks like were taking sides. She hasn’t even called us yet for us to let us tell her that you’re a jerk and we’re taking her side. I mean, we like ya, but come on…Dustin? You’ve met the guy, you should know better.”
"Yeah, I know. I over-reacted. I was a jealous asshole and Kira's absolutely right for dumping me, I get it… I really do. But can't you just call her to see what's up? I mean you're her friends… you could call to see how the team is getting along or something. Please!" Trent practically begged.
“Okay, okay,” Ethan agreed, “We’ll call you back after.” With that he hung up the phone. He looked to Conner, “I value my head, you call her.”
"Hell no! You call her, she likes biting my head off dude," Conner said shaking his head. "She can stay calm for you."
“Whimp,” Ethan accused even as he dialed Kira, leaving it on speaker phone.
“Hi,” a guy said.
“Hi, can we talk to Kira?”
“Um, Dude who is this?” Did Dustin sound hesitant?
“Dustin, it’s Ethan and Conner.”
There was a pause and then a, “It’s like totally up to her dude, hang on.” They heard him tell Kira they were on the phone.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Kira grabbed the phone from Dustin, "Hey guys, what's up?" She asked, curious as to why exactly they were calling. Did they have ESP or something? Did they know she’d gotten hurt?
"Umm..." Conner fidgeted, "How are you? How's the new team?" he said quickly.
"The team is great, everybody is cool… as for me, I've been better," she admitted, leaning against Dustin who was sitting next to her on the couch. Dustin wrapped his arm around Kira, hoping that the call wouldn’t upset her.
Ethan threw Conner a look and mouthed, ‘like she’ll fall for that’ but he played along anyway, “So what do you mean by better?”
Conner made a face at Ethan, "Yeah, what happened?"
Kira rolled her eyes and covered the mouthpiece of the phone, "Do they think I'm stupid?" she asked Dustin softly. She put the phone on speaker, "I broke up with Trent and got attacked by Ruby Tuesday's foot soldiers," she told them.
"So are you like… okay?" Conner asked.
“Yeah, are you okay?” Ethan echoed before he told her, “Trent, we already knew about. We were kinda waiting for you to call so we could say we think he’s being an idiot, have let him know we think he’s an idiot, and that we’re on your side.” Off the look Conner was giving him he said, “What, like she hadn’t already figured out we knew about that? I’m not about to get chewed out.”
"Still! You didn't have to tell her!" Conner exclaimed.
"Guys… Guys!" Kira exclaimed into the phone, hoping to quiet both of them. "I didn't call you guys because I didn't want you guys taking sides. Since you guys are friends with both of us," she informed them. "And I'm fine, bumps and bruises mostly. I got cleaned up and I'm feeling fine, albeit a little sore," she admitted.
"Thank god," Conner said with a sigh. "Trent wanted to call, but he was being an idiot."
"What?" Kira exclaimed.
"Uhh… Ethan…" Conner looked at him, 'help me', he mouthed.
“Thanks bro, we’re dead,” Ethan glared, “What Conner meant to say is that we already took sides cause someone had to tell him that he was being an idiot. We don’t know who told him you were hurt, but well you were hurt. Don’t you think we’d want to know you were okay? Please don’t kill us?”
Dustin gave Kira a careful squeeze hoping to sooth her.
Kira covered her mouth to keep a giggle from erupting, the boys were hilarious when they thought she was going to kill them, "I'm fine… and you can tell him that I'm fine too," she grumbled. "And tell him if he wants to call me again, he needs to take the stick out of his ass before he does or I'll do it for him and then I'll beat him with it," she added heatedly, snuggling into Dustin more. He calmed her.
"Right, I'll be sure to tell him," Conner replied, "So, you're not going to kill us? Right?" He asked hopefully.
"Only a little bit," she said mock-seriously.
“How bout you don’t kill us and we won’t be upset that you didn’t call us to vent,” Ethan attempted to bargain, “We’re your friends too, even if taking sides might be involved.”
Kira sighed, "Fine and I know you're my friends, but I didn't want to put you in the middle of mine and Trent's shit," she replied, still firm in the fact of why she didn't want them involved.
"So, it still affects us," Conner pointed out.
"I know! I know, but you do see my point right?" She asked, hoping that they at least saw her point of view, even if they didn't agree with it.
“Right yeah,” Ethan told her, “so we only get to hear about it from his end. How’s that fair to us?”
"Tell him to shut his mouth, besides… venting will only piss me off again, I don't want to be pissed off again… he's a freakin' idiot, a jealous little prick, and he finally took it too far when he insinuated that I'd throw myself at Dustin while I'm still in a relationship with him," she said hotly, the not wanting to be pissed off point going right out the window.
"So much for not getting pissed off," Conner muttered to Ethan.
"I heard that Conner!" Kira growled.
"I'm so dead," Conner bemoaned.
Dustin pulled her closer and leaned his forehead against the side of her head as he told her, “They’re not trying to piss you off.”
“Kira, I didn’t mean it like that,” Ethan said. So much for meeting toughness with toughness, he should’ve known it wouldn’t work. “Look he knows he’s being an idiot. We’ve told him he’s being an idiot and we’re not trying to piss you off. We were just worried about you,” Ethan attempted to sooth. Conner was right, they were so dead.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Kira apologized with a sigh, snuggling into Dustin more. "Just talking about it makes me mad, which is why I don't want to talk about it," she explained. "I was going to call you guys, I swear, just after I had a few days to cool off."
"We just want you to know that you aren't the only one who thinks Trent is being a jerkface," Conner told her.
"Do Dr. O and Hayley know yet?" Kira asked curiously.
"No, none of us wants to tell them," Conner explained.
"Good, don't mention anything to them yet, okay. I don't want to stir up more trouble right now," she told them.
“Okay, we won’t,” Ethan reassured, “Can I go kick Conner’s butt now? I’d just set up the new controllers when we found out you’d been hurt.”
"He won't kick my butt. I'm getting better at this game dude!" Conner exclaimed.
“Yeah right, you’re going down,” Ethan told him.
"Have fun boys, I'll talk to you later," she hung up the phone and looked over at Dustin.
"Well, that was interesting," she said with a sigh.
Dustin hadn’t realize how wrapped around each other they were until she turned to him. They were practically nose to nose. He froze not sure if he should back away or answer her, “Interesting…yeah.”
Adam walked into the living room and stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway, seeing Kira and Dustin nose to nose, looking like the were about too…
"Oh…" Adam kept the groan threatening to come out firmly in his head. Mentally, he was saying 'oh god, oh no… not now… they just broke up… and relationships and… shit.'
Kira licked her lips. "Yeah…" she whispered and was just about to bite the bullet and kiss him when she saw Adam out of the corner of her eye. "Adam!" she flushed bright red.
“Adam!” Dustin scrambled to his feet, “Ah, hi dude, hi. Ah Kira got a call from Ethan and like um Conner and they had heard she was like hurt and wanted to like know that she was okay.”
"Ooookaaaayy," Adam said raising an eyebrow at Dustin. What was the guy so jumpy about, it's like he’d gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "So how are you feeling Kira?"
"I'm feeling fine. I'll probably be sore for a bit, but it's no biggie," she said fighting through her blushes and stretched nonchalantly.
Dustin realized he had probably overreacted, but he couldn’t have stayed on the couch wrapped around Kira like that. How had that happened? How had they become so tangled so quickly? She’d just broken up with Trent, he couldn’t be doing that. He really wanted to kiss her and then it’d almost happened right in front of their leader. What was wrong with him that he wasn’t able to keep his hands to himself?
“I’m going to like go make dinner,” Dustin announced as he tried to discreetly make his exit. He needed another run. He needed another Tori explaining things to him session. Maybe he needed a Shane explaining things to him or Cam before he drove Tori nuts. Dustin shook his head with a groan. What did he think he was doing? Kira couldn’t really want him, could she? She probably only saw him as a friend, a good friend, and he couldn’t put that on the line by wanting her, could he?
Kira sighed as Dustin took off. "You have horrible timing, you know that," she said to Adam, crossing her arms and shooting him a look.
"You sure you wanna be moving that fast?" Adam retorted, raising an eyebrow to that look. "You just broke up with Trent…"
"I know. And I'm not as upset about it, which leads me to believe it wasn't meant to be in the first place," Kira said dropping her arms and shrugging.
"Just…be careful," Adam felt compelled to say before heading out of the living room towards him room. "Why me? Why my team?" He grumbled once he was inside his bedroom. "This can’t be good," he continued to talk to himself as he crashed on the couch in his room. He needed a nap.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Xander paused at the opened door to Adam’s room. He almost felt bad going in there, the others had stressed the issue that this was Adam’s space and they had to respect that, but he had called twice and gotten no answer. “Adam?” he tried again as he stepped into the room and looked around.
It didn’t take him long to find their leader on his couch passed out. Xander frowned. Adam was sweaty, and it was clear from his face that he was having a nightmare. Xander shook him and when that didn’t help he shook him again. “Adam, wake up. Dustin sent me to get you, dinners ready. It’s just a bad dream, wake up,” he tried.
In his dream, or rather, his nightmare, Adam had been knocked out of his morph by the powerful monster. He was trying to rise to his feet but found himself pinned down by the monsters foot. "You failed," it said sinisterly. "Now watch as I destroy your precious teammates, one… by… one."
"No!" Adam yelled out in his sleep, thrashing about a bit in an attempt to get away from the monster and save his team.
Xander jumped back when Adam yelled, then shook him harder, “Adam! Come on mate, wake up.”
"Leave them alone!" Adam sat up, in full on battle mode, ready to punch the monster and get free. He stopped, his fist an inch from Xander's face. "What?" he said breathlessly.
Xander’s first instinct was to stumble away, but he stayed where he was, watched as Adam lowered his fist before he joked, “Must have been some dream, could’ve hurt me.”
"I’m so sorry Xander, I was so caught up in that dream," Adam shook his head, trying to clear the remnants of it away.
Xander reached out to give Adam’s hand a squeeze, just so his leader would know he’d been joking. As soon as he touched Adam Xander jumped back with a hiss of pain. “Ow!” he pulled his hand into himself and looked at Adam confused, “What? That was just a nightmare, right?” He hadn’t just got a sense of terror, pain and confusion all being pushed into Adam, had he? It hadn’t actually felt like dark magic had it?
"What?" Adam looked up at him curiously, then stood up to stretch. "It was just a bad dream, just the stress of acclimating to the new team."
Xander frowned. Part of him wanted to let it go, but the part of him that knew magic, the part of him that cared about his teammates and saving the world didn’t let him. He took a step towards Adam.
“Didn’t feel like nothing,” he muttered as he reached out his hand again and took Adam’s, pressing forwards this time with the good magic that was inside of him. He stumbled back and his legs gave out. “That doesn’t feel like nothing and it doesn’t feel like good magic either,” he said shaking his head, then he laughed, “Good thing I didn’t try kissing you to see what that was…you’d have killed me and the spell might have gotten a hold of me too.”
Adam groaned. "Xander," he said exasperatedly and hauled the young man to his feet. "It was just a bad dream. Everybody has them," he told him firmly. There was no way he could be under a spell, they hadn't even had a proper battle yet. "Seriously. I'm fine Xander," Adam continued. "Now what did you want?" He ran a hand through his hair and tried to shake the thoughts of 'what if Xander's right' from his head.
“Dustin sent me in here to get you for dinner,” Xander answered then continued, “If it was just a dream I wouldn’t have been knocked down by the force of it. It wouldn’t hurt when I touch you. It wouldn’t feel like dark magic.”
"Maybe you just tripped," Adam reasoned. If he was under a spell, how had it happened? Why hadn't he noticed it? Not even the first battle and something has slipped past me, he thought miserably. "Let's go down to dinner," he said heading for the door, though suddenly, he didn't have much of an appetite.
Xander frowned as Adam headed towards the door. He was right wasn’t he? Why did Adam look so miserable if he thought he wasn’t under a spell? “I tripped from touching your hand? You may be hot, but I’m not love struck,” Xander pointed out. What if he was wrong? Then he’d just look like an idiot in front of his team.
Adam just groaned at Xander. "Why me…" he muttered as he headed down the stairs. "So not cut out for this," he said to himself, stopping before he reached the kitchen and shaking his head, clearing his thoughts and trying to put on a normal demeanor for the others.
Xander caught up with Adam, “And if I’m right?”
"You're not," Adam said looking over at him. "What? I'm under a spell to have bad dreams? Come on Xander seriously."
Xander wanted to back down at that. He frowned and wet his lips, “What was the dream about? You’re looking exhausted lately, how’s that not undermining your ability to function?
"It was about…" Adam paused and thought about it. It'd just been there, in his head. "It was…" he paused again, he’d just had it. "I don't even remember now," he said with a shrug, he knew he'd explained it to Jason so why couldn't he remember it now? "It's nothing Xander, let it go, alright?"
What if he was wrong? Xander frowned, maybe he was wrong. “All right, sure thing boss,” Xander told him. He needed to talk to Udonna, Udonna would know what to do. Clare would probably know better than him what to do. He needed to get to Briarwood, but he couldn’t just disappear during team dinner night. Later, he promised himself.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Still uneasy and knowing the Adam would likely trust Kat’s opinion before his Xander sought her out. He gave her his best winning smile and told her, “I have…I think…” He collapsed into the nearest chair, “I’m not even sure how to say this, but I need your opinion on something.”
Kat looked over at the young man, he looked slightly disturbed by something. Whatever it was, she hoped it was something simple and easy to take care of, she hated seeing other rangers in need. "Best way to start something, is starting at the beginning," Kat offered in response.
“When Dustin had me get Adam for dinner,” Xander started slowly, “he was having a nightmare. I tried to wake him up, but I wasn’t able to. He came out of it on his own, but when I touched him I got the feeling that he’s under a spell, dark magic. It knocked me down when I tried to find out more, but he dismissed the idea.” Xander stared down at his hands not sure how to continue. He was sure that Adam was under a spell, was sure that dark magic was involved and yet at the same time he wasn’t able to say so with confidence until he had someone else agree with him.
"Whoa, back up," Kat said slowly. Adam, under some sort of spell? "Detail by detail. What happened when you went to go wake Adam up; don't leave anything out," she ordered. There had to be a rational explanation for what happened. Who would put Adam under a spell? Villains never did the smart thing, attack the leader first when he's most vulnerable.
Xander looked up. Maybe she'd believe him? He frowned, where exactly should he start? "He didn't respond to me when I said his name so I went into his room. He was asleep, obviously having a nightmare. I tried to shake him more than once to get him to wake up. He came out of it and almost punched me in the face. I squeezed his hand after he apologized and it hurt. It felt like dark magic to me so I tried touching him again, tried to sense it, figure out what it was, but all I got was a sense of dark magic and a spell before I found myself nearly on the floor. He helped me up. I explained, but he seems to think he's only have nightmares. He wouldn't even tell me what it was about." Xander ran a hand through his hair, "Maybe I shouldn't have flirted with him, maybe than he'd have believed me."
Kat sighed, "Xander, flirting automatically gives off a sense of, not nonchalance, but… lightheartedness…As if you're saying, no worries mate," she tried to explain. "But," she continued, "Are you sure you didn't fall back until after he nearly boxed your ears?" She asked, biting her lip. She knew Adam had been on edge lately, and he'd been having trouble sleeping. But it couldn't possibly be the villains, they couldn't be that smart, could they?
"I always flirt," Xander defended before, "but I guess you're right. And no he didn't actually hit me. I didn't move until I touched his hand and I didn't trip."
Kat sat back against her chair, "Well, are you one hundred percent sure that you felt the presence of a spell Xan? Completely sure?" She ran a hand through her blond locks, it would explain the dreams… dreams that had woken her up from down the hallway, but that could also be explained by adjusting to the leadership of a rag tag group of rangers and the stresses of returning to the life he'd thought he'd left behind.
“I was until he wouldn’t believe me. He’s worked with magic before hasn’t he? Wouldn’t he know what a spell felt like?”
"The only thing that doesn't make sense is why are they going after him now? There hasn't even been a significant attack on the city yet," she got up to pace in front of their chairs. "What would this type of spell accomplish? I mean… okay it will bollix up his sleeping schedule, but Adam is still getting at least some rest, and he can function on little sleep. I just don't understand the why of it."
“That’s the only part that makes me doubt, the why. I know magic, well there’s still a lot I have to learn, but it felt like a spell,” Xander stopped to stare at his hands again feeling helpless. If Udonna was here she’d know what to do, but it wasn’t like he could easily take a trip over to Briarwood, it would require time, time he might not have. There would be friends to visit and gossip to catch up on. There couldn’t be a quick pop in for a spell and pop out, not without insulting several close friends that he’d rather not insult.
Kat cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, running through all the why's of the situation. "If it is a spell, its ingenious, but villains just don't act like that, not with out a…a… something," she growled softly in frustration, her 'cat' qualities tended to come out when she was upset or frustrated.
Xander shook his head, “Villians so smart Phineus wouldn’t stand a chance…I’m not sure I’d want to see that.” Then he groaned in frustration, “So you think I might be right? What do I do? It’s obvious Adam’s not going to believe me.”
Kat shook her head, "I don't think there's anything you can do. If Adam's disinclined to believe you, we may just have to let this play out, unless things get worse. I'll keep an eye on him, and see if I can't fish out what's going on… you keep you're ears open too, alright?" She didn't like the answer she'd just given, but she didn't really know what else to do.
Xander nodded, “I could talk to Udonna. I’m sure she’d know a revealing spell, but it felt like the kind of spell he’d have to break for himself, not one we could find a way to counteract on our own. I hate feeling helpless.”
Kat nodded, "So do I, but you're probably right. In my experience, most personal attacks like this require the attackee to figure a way out of it themselves," she sighed. She didn't like that idea. Adam was dealing with so much already; this was just one more thing.
Authors:
rivulet027 and moonlite_n_roseFandom: Power Rangers with an AU ending for the Operation Overdrive Team-up.
Pairings: Billy/Trini, Tommy/Hayley, Kira/Dustin with 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. We also don't own anything to do with 'The Exorcist'. We also don't own anything to do with Ruby Tuesday, just using the name for fun.
A/N: Please don't worry about Trent, he will eventually redeem himself. Also, sorry this update took so long.
Chapter 9:
Tori headed out the patio doors and looked around for Xander. He wasn't hard to find, he was sitting in front of an empty patch of yard that they'd decided to put a garden in. As Tori walked up she stopped, her mouth open in surprise, flowers were growing to full size right out of the ground. It was like nature in fast forward. "Wow," she murmured in awe.
Xander turned when he heard Tori's appreciation, "I think I got a little carried away."
"It's beautiful to watch," Tori told him, before remembering what she came out here for. "Kira got attacked by those Putty things," she said soberly. "She's alright, but she got worked over pretty bad."
The smile that had started to form on his face at Tori’s appreciation faltered and fell. Xander rose. He couldn’t help but think there was more to the story than that. Curious he asked, “What happened?”
Tori sighed, and started to explain what Adam had explained to her, the phone argument with Trent, the throwing of said phone at the wall and the departure of Kira. "So…she came back and was all battered and bruised. Dustin's cleaning her up, and Adam went to call Billy to see if he can get communicators for us. I mean Dustin and I are connected through our morphers, but no one else is," she pointed out.
“Communicators sound like a plan,” Xander nodded as he brushed the dirt off himself, “And I know you’re probably only thinking about having a go at him, but has anyone called Trent? They might have broken up, but it’s hasn’t even been a day. He deserves to know what his idiocy caused.” Xander frowned, out of all of them he was probably the one that should be calling Trent. Everyone else was probably ready to read him the riot act.
"Sensei always said never act with a hot head, so yeah, I shouldn't be doing that, I'd like to ninja streak to Reefside and give Trent a piece of my mind, which will only make things worse." Tori replied, attempting to keep her formidable temper in check.
“Only good thing about his idiocy is he’s pushed Dustin and Kira closer,” Xander decided. Not that he had anything against Trent, besides the upsetting of a teammate, but Xander liked watching the prettiness of a new relationship about to bloom. He’d never admit it, but it was always interesting to see.
"Ten bucks says those two hook up before the first monster battle," Tori said kneeling down to look at a rose. "They're both attracted to each other; their body language is screaming 'I want you'. I've seen the way Kira was looking at him during training sessions."
“I’m not about to make a bet I’d lose,” Xander smiled.
"But since you mentioned it, you call Trent. I have his number. Maybe you can get it out of him why he's acting like a complete ass," she smirked as she grabbed her phone.
Xander nodded and took the phone. When Trent picked up Xander tried to keep the smile in his tone, “Hi, names Xander, this is Trent right?” It wouldn’t be good if he was talking to the wrong person.
"Yes, this is Trent. Xander? You're the Mystic Force Ranger on the vets team, right?" Trent asked a little warily. Why was this dude calling him?
Xander flopped down on the grass, he could already tell this was going to take awhile by the tone in Trent’s voice, “That would be me. Look, mate, how bout you sit down for a moment.”
"How bout you just tell me why you’re calling me?" Trent retorted, he had an inkling of how this was going to go, and it put him on the defensive immediately.
Xander rolled his eyes before he stated simply, “Kira was hurt. She was angry earlier today and went out on her own. She got attacked.”
Trent was silent for a long moment, a myriad of thoughts running through his head. Was she hurt badly? Is she okay? Should I go back out there? Then the cold hard facts kicked in, she’d broken up with him. Why should he care? Hotheadedness won out and he snapped, "Why should I care?"
Because she's still your friend, a small voice in the back of Trent’s mind quipped, but he pushed it aside. He was still angry, though he wasn't sure if it was at himself or at Kira.
“You care,” Xander told him, “You guys haven’t even been broken up for a whole day and if you two didn’t care than your argument this morning wouldn’t have been so heated that she felt the need to storm off. You care, even if you’re too worked up to realize it.”
"What the hell do you know about it?" Trent retorted hotly. Who was this guy? He didn't even know him.
“Look, I called to keep a fellow ranger and as far as I thought someone who cared about Kira informed,” Xander told him annoyance in his tone. He glanced up at Tori and rolled his eyes as he mouthed 'idiot' at her.
"She's alright isn't she? If she wasn't…I wouldn't be the only one you called," Trent snapped, feeding off Xander's annoyance. He wanted to bang his head against the wall for being such an idiot. But it was too late to back off now.
Xander groaned, “This is as bad as trying to talk to V when she was dating that guy who was a carbon copy of her. How have you two lasted this long?”
"It's none of your damn business," Trent retorted. "Are we done here?"
“No, we’re not done,” Xander stood and began to pace, so focused on how angry Trent was making him that he’d forgotten Tori was even there, “One of my teammates got in an argument, a stupid one, with someone she obviously cared about. Then went off on her own and got attacked. That makes it my business and this is ridicules! I called you because I was the one who wanted to have a go at you the least! I didn’t realize I’d be talking to someone who makes V seem like a cuddly kitten and Chip a walking academic encyclopedia. One Dustin doesn’t even look at girls that aren’t available. Two he was cuddling with Tori too, who is practically his sister by everything but blood. And three you were dating Kira and let me tell you every time I’ve so much as lightly flirted with her she’d tried to pound me into the ground. Get over yourself.”
Trent slammed his phone shut without a word, and resisted the urge to chuck it against the wall. He couldn't afford a new one and he wasn't going to tell his father why exactly he chucked it in the first place. His father would probably read him the riot act. Dammit I'm an idiot, he thought angrily. He'd hung up on someone who wasn't trying to pick a fight with him, and he hadn't even found out for sure if Kira was okay or not. "Shit," he groaned, as his head thudded against the wall instead of his phone.
Tori’s eyes widened as she watched Xander get more and more upset. "Xan… Xander!" she tried. He was supposed to be the one who handled Trent with a calm, cool, and collected head.
Xander stared at Tori’s phone suddenly hearing his own words, “That didn’t go well.” He hadn’t meant to make it worse. He groaned, “Kira’s gonna kill me.” That said he flopped onto the grass and gave Tori a helpless look, “I didn’t realize he’d be that infuriating.”
Tori sighed. "Either way, I'm not sure you made things any worse than they already are. I can't believe he didn't even ask how Kira was," she said incredulously as she got up and dusted her knees off. "I'm going back inside. Don't forget to water your garden, the soil is dry," she teased as she headed for the patio doors.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
After giving himself a mild headache by banging his head on the wall, Trent flipped his phone open. "Dial Conner," he ordered it. He needed to know if Kira really was okay, and he sure as hell couldn't call the mansion, considering that everyone wanted to tear him a new one. You deserve it, the voice in the back of his head reminded him. Shut it, he told himself.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
“Conner!" Ethan called not even bothering to look up from setting up the video game, "Phone!"
"Dude! I'm not deaf, I heard it," Conner said jumping over the back of the couch and grabbing his phone. "Yo jerkface, what's up?" He asked as she settled back into the couch.
"Kira got hurt in a battle. I need you to call her and see if she's okay," Trent ignored the 'jerkface' comment and got right to the point.
"And why aren't you calling her to see if she's okay? Why do I have to be the go between?" Conner asked putting it on speaker phone so Ethan could hear as well.
"Because I'm an idiot and went off on Xander when he called to tell me she got hurt. I can't call back now," Trent said with a sigh.
"Bro you are an idiot," Ethan told him, "but at least you’re admitting it. How do you go off on Xander? He's the guy that tries to reason with the monsters instead of fight them.”
"Because he told me everybody wants to pretty much kick my ass," Trent retorted.
"Everybody does. You're just lucky Dr. O. and Hayley don't know how you acted," Conner replied grabbing one of the controllers.
"And you aren't going to tell them either, right?"
"Dude, I kinda like you, even if you are being a complete dick. I won't say anything, but you need to get off you're high horse and apologize to Kira, like yesterday," Conner informed him.
"I know…I know," Trent grumbled.
“Yeah, because while we might not be telling them, they’re bound to find out sooner or later. You might not want stick around for the fall out. I’ve seen Hayley when she’s pissed. It’s not pretty and I’m sure you have too. You might wanna go into hiding, for your own safety,” Ethan advised before he grinned at Conner, “You are so going down.”
Then he stopped and reviewed the conversation thus far, “Wait, Kira got hurt?”
"Yes! Xander said she got attacked because she went on her own and I got pissed and then he went off on me, and I hung up. So I don't know if she's okay or not! So you need to call and find out, and let me know, okay?"
"I still think you should find out yourself," Conner told him.
"Guys!" Trent exclaimed.
“What bro?” Ethan asked, “Look if we call she’ll know it’s for you and then it looks like were taking sides. She hasn’t even called us yet for us to let us tell her that you’re a jerk and we’re taking her side. I mean, we like ya, but come on…Dustin? You’ve met the guy, you should know better.”
"Yeah, I know. I over-reacted. I was a jealous asshole and Kira's absolutely right for dumping me, I get it… I really do. But can't you just call her to see what's up? I mean you're her friends… you could call to see how the team is getting along or something. Please!" Trent practically begged.
“Okay, okay,” Ethan agreed, “We’ll call you back after.” With that he hung up the phone. He looked to Conner, “I value my head, you call her.”
"Hell no! You call her, she likes biting my head off dude," Conner said shaking his head. "She can stay calm for you."
“Whimp,” Ethan accused even as he dialed Kira, leaving it on speaker phone.
“Hi,” a guy said.
“Hi, can we talk to Kira?”
“Um, Dude who is this?” Did Dustin sound hesitant?
“Dustin, it’s Ethan and Conner.”
There was a pause and then a, “It’s like totally up to her dude, hang on.” They heard him tell Kira they were on the phone.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Kira grabbed the phone from Dustin, "Hey guys, what's up?" She asked, curious as to why exactly they were calling. Did they have ESP or something? Did they know she’d gotten hurt?
"Umm..." Conner fidgeted, "How are you? How's the new team?" he said quickly.
"The team is great, everybody is cool… as for me, I've been better," she admitted, leaning against Dustin who was sitting next to her on the couch. Dustin wrapped his arm around Kira, hoping that the call wouldn’t upset her.
Ethan threw Conner a look and mouthed, ‘like she’ll fall for that’ but he played along anyway, “So what do you mean by better?”
Conner made a face at Ethan, "Yeah, what happened?"
Kira rolled her eyes and covered the mouthpiece of the phone, "Do they think I'm stupid?" she asked Dustin softly. She put the phone on speaker, "I broke up with Trent and got attacked by Ruby Tuesday's foot soldiers," she told them.
"So are you like… okay?" Conner asked.
“Yeah, are you okay?” Ethan echoed before he told her, “Trent, we already knew about. We were kinda waiting for you to call so we could say we think he’s being an idiot, have let him know we think he’s an idiot, and that we’re on your side.” Off the look Conner was giving him he said, “What, like she hadn’t already figured out we knew about that? I’m not about to get chewed out.”
"Still! You didn't have to tell her!" Conner exclaimed.
"Guys… Guys!" Kira exclaimed into the phone, hoping to quiet both of them. "I didn't call you guys because I didn't want you guys taking sides. Since you guys are friends with both of us," she informed them. "And I'm fine, bumps and bruises mostly. I got cleaned up and I'm feeling fine, albeit a little sore," she admitted.
"Thank god," Conner said with a sigh. "Trent wanted to call, but he was being an idiot."
"What?" Kira exclaimed.
"Uhh… Ethan…" Conner looked at him, 'help me', he mouthed.
“Thanks bro, we’re dead,” Ethan glared, “What Conner meant to say is that we already took sides cause someone had to tell him that he was being an idiot. We don’t know who told him you were hurt, but well you were hurt. Don’t you think we’d want to know you were okay? Please don’t kill us?”
Dustin gave Kira a careful squeeze hoping to sooth her.
Kira covered her mouth to keep a giggle from erupting, the boys were hilarious when they thought she was going to kill them, "I'm fine… and you can tell him that I'm fine too," she grumbled. "And tell him if he wants to call me again, he needs to take the stick out of his ass before he does or I'll do it for him and then I'll beat him with it," she added heatedly, snuggling into Dustin more. He calmed her.
"Right, I'll be sure to tell him," Conner replied, "So, you're not going to kill us? Right?" He asked hopefully.
"Only a little bit," she said mock-seriously.
“How bout you don’t kill us and we won’t be upset that you didn’t call us to vent,” Ethan attempted to bargain, “We’re your friends too, even if taking sides might be involved.”
Kira sighed, "Fine and I know you're my friends, but I didn't want to put you in the middle of mine and Trent's shit," she replied, still firm in the fact of why she didn't want them involved.
"So, it still affects us," Conner pointed out.
"I know! I know, but you do see my point right?" She asked, hoping that they at least saw her point of view, even if they didn't agree with it.
“Right yeah,” Ethan told her, “so we only get to hear about it from his end. How’s that fair to us?”
"Tell him to shut his mouth, besides… venting will only piss me off again, I don't want to be pissed off again… he's a freakin' idiot, a jealous little prick, and he finally took it too far when he insinuated that I'd throw myself at Dustin while I'm still in a relationship with him," she said hotly, the not wanting to be pissed off point going right out the window.
"So much for not getting pissed off," Conner muttered to Ethan.
"I heard that Conner!" Kira growled.
"I'm so dead," Conner bemoaned.
Dustin pulled her closer and leaned his forehead against the side of her head as he told her, “They’re not trying to piss you off.”
“Kira, I didn’t mean it like that,” Ethan said. So much for meeting toughness with toughness, he should’ve known it wouldn’t work. “Look he knows he’s being an idiot. We’ve told him he’s being an idiot and we’re not trying to piss you off. We were just worried about you,” Ethan attempted to sooth. Conner was right, they were so dead.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Kira apologized with a sigh, snuggling into Dustin more. "Just talking about it makes me mad, which is why I don't want to talk about it," she explained. "I was going to call you guys, I swear, just after I had a few days to cool off."
"We just want you to know that you aren't the only one who thinks Trent is being a jerkface," Conner told her.
"Do Dr. O and Hayley know yet?" Kira asked curiously.
"No, none of us wants to tell them," Conner explained.
"Good, don't mention anything to them yet, okay. I don't want to stir up more trouble right now," she told them.
“Okay, we won’t,” Ethan reassured, “Can I go kick Conner’s butt now? I’d just set up the new controllers when we found out you’d been hurt.”
"He won't kick my butt. I'm getting better at this game dude!" Conner exclaimed.
“Yeah right, you’re going down,” Ethan told him.
"Have fun boys, I'll talk to you later," she hung up the phone and looked over at Dustin.
"Well, that was interesting," she said with a sigh.
Dustin hadn’t realize how wrapped around each other they were until she turned to him. They were practically nose to nose. He froze not sure if he should back away or answer her, “Interesting…yeah.”
Adam walked into the living room and stopped dead in his tracks in the doorway, seeing Kira and Dustin nose to nose, looking like the were about too…
"Oh…" Adam kept the groan threatening to come out firmly in his head. Mentally, he was saying 'oh god, oh no… not now… they just broke up… and relationships and… shit.'
Kira licked her lips. "Yeah…" she whispered and was just about to bite the bullet and kiss him when she saw Adam out of the corner of her eye. "Adam!" she flushed bright red.
“Adam!” Dustin scrambled to his feet, “Ah, hi dude, hi. Ah Kira got a call from Ethan and like um Conner and they had heard she was like hurt and wanted to like know that she was okay.”
"Ooookaaaayy," Adam said raising an eyebrow at Dustin. What was the guy so jumpy about, it's like he’d gotten caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "So how are you feeling Kira?"
"I'm feeling fine. I'll probably be sore for a bit, but it's no biggie," she said fighting through her blushes and stretched nonchalantly.
Dustin realized he had probably overreacted, but he couldn’t have stayed on the couch wrapped around Kira like that. How had that happened? How had they become so tangled so quickly? She’d just broken up with Trent, he couldn’t be doing that. He really wanted to kiss her and then it’d almost happened right in front of their leader. What was wrong with him that he wasn’t able to keep his hands to himself?
“I’m going to like go make dinner,” Dustin announced as he tried to discreetly make his exit. He needed another run. He needed another Tori explaining things to him session. Maybe he needed a Shane explaining things to him or Cam before he drove Tori nuts. Dustin shook his head with a groan. What did he think he was doing? Kira couldn’t really want him, could she? She probably only saw him as a friend, a good friend, and he couldn’t put that on the line by wanting her, could he?
Kira sighed as Dustin took off. "You have horrible timing, you know that," she said to Adam, crossing her arms and shooting him a look.
"You sure you wanna be moving that fast?" Adam retorted, raising an eyebrow to that look. "You just broke up with Trent…"
"I know. And I'm not as upset about it, which leads me to believe it wasn't meant to be in the first place," Kira said dropping her arms and shrugging.
"Just…be careful," Adam felt compelled to say before heading out of the living room towards him room. "Why me? Why my team?" He grumbled once he was inside his bedroom. "This can’t be good," he continued to talk to himself as he crashed on the couch in his room. He needed a nap.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Xander paused at the opened door to Adam’s room. He almost felt bad going in there, the others had stressed the issue that this was Adam’s space and they had to respect that, but he had called twice and gotten no answer. “Adam?” he tried again as he stepped into the room and looked around.
It didn’t take him long to find their leader on his couch passed out. Xander frowned. Adam was sweaty, and it was clear from his face that he was having a nightmare. Xander shook him and when that didn’t help he shook him again. “Adam, wake up. Dustin sent me to get you, dinners ready. It’s just a bad dream, wake up,” he tried.
In his dream, or rather, his nightmare, Adam had been knocked out of his morph by the powerful monster. He was trying to rise to his feet but found himself pinned down by the monsters foot. "You failed," it said sinisterly. "Now watch as I destroy your precious teammates, one… by… one."
"No!" Adam yelled out in his sleep, thrashing about a bit in an attempt to get away from the monster and save his team.
Xander jumped back when Adam yelled, then shook him harder, “Adam! Come on mate, wake up.”
"Leave them alone!" Adam sat up, in full on battle mode, ready to punch the monster and get free. He stopped, his fist an inch from Xander's face. "What?" he said breathlessly.
Xander’s first instinct was to stumble away, but he stayed where he was, watched as Adam lowered his fist before he joked, “Must have been some dream, could’ve hurt me.”
"I’m so sorry Xander, I was so caught up in that dream," Adam shook his head, trying to clear the remnants of it away.
Xander reached out to give Adam’s hand a squeeze, just so his leader would know he’d been joking. As soon as he touched Adam Xander jumped back with a hiss of pain. “Ow!” he pulled his hand into himself and looked at Adam confused, “What? That was just a nightmare, right?” He hadn’t just got a sense of terror, pain and confusion all being pushed into Adam, had he? It hadn’t actually felt like dark magic had it?
"What?" Adam looked up at him curiously, then stood up to stretch. "It was just a bad dream, just the stress of acclimating to the new team."
Xander frowned. Part of him wanted to let it go, but the part of him that knew magic, the part of him that cared about his teammates and saving the world didn’t let him. He took a step towards Adam.
“Didn’t feel like nothing,” he muttered as he reached out his hand again and took Adam’s, pressing forwards this time with the good magic that was inside of him. He stumbled back and his legs gave out. “That doesn’t feel like nothing and it doesn’t feel like good magic either,” he said shaking his head, then he laughed, “Good thing I didn’t try kissing you to see what that was…you’d have killed me and the spell might have gotten a hold of me too.”
Adam groaned. "Xander," he said exasperatedly and hauled the young man to his feet. "It was just a bad dream. Everybody has them," he told him firmly. There was no way he could be under a spell, they hadn't even had a proper battle yet. "Seriously. I'm fine Xander," Adam continued. "Now what did you want?" He ran a hand through his hair and tried to shake the thoughts of 'what if Xander's right' from his head.
“Dustin sent me in here to get you for dinner,” Xander answered then continued, “If it was just a dream I wouldn’t have been knocked down by the force of it. It wouldn’t hurt when I touch you. It wouldn’t feel like dark magic.”
"Maybe you just tripped," Adam reasoned. If he was under a spell, how had it happened? Why hadn't he noticed it? Not even the first battle and something has slipped past me, he thought miserably. "Let's go down to dinner," he said heading for the door, though suddenly, he didn't have much of an appetite.
Xander frowned as Adam headed towards the door. He was right wasn’t he? Why did Adam look so miserable if he thought he wasn’t under a spell? “I tripped from touching your hand? You may be hot, but I’m not love struck,” Xander pointed out. What if he was wrong? Then he’d just look like an idiot in front of his team.
Adam just groaned at Xander. "Why me…" he muttered as he headed down the stairs. "So not cut out for this," he said to himself, stopping before he reached the kitchen and shaking his head, clearing his thoughts and trying to put on a normal demeanor for the others.
Xander caught up with Adam, “And if I’m right?”
"You're not," Adam said looking over at him. "What? I'm under a spell to have bad dreams? Come on Xander seriously."
Xander wanted to back down at that. He frowned and wet his lips, “What was the dream about? You’re looking exhausted lately, how’s that not undermining your ability to function?
"It was about…" Adam paused and thought about it. It'd just been there, in his head. "It was…" he paused again, he’d just had it. "I don't even remember now," he said with a shrug, he knew he'd explained it to Jason so why couldn't he remember it now? "It's nothing Xander, let it go, alright?"
What if he was wrong? Xander frowned, maybe he was wrong. “All right, sure thing boss,” Xander told him. He needed to talk to Udonna, Udonna would know what to do. Clare would probably know better than him what to do. He needed to get to Briarwood, but he couldn’t just disappear during team dinner night. Later, he promised himself.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Still uneasy and knowing the Adam would likely trust Kat’s opinion before his Xander sought her out. He gave her his best winning smile and told her, “I have…I think…” He collapsed into the nearest chair, “I’m not even sure how to say this, but I need your opinion on something.”
Kat looked over at the young man, he looked slightly disturbed by something. Whatever it was, she hoped it was something simple and easy to take care of, she hated seeing other rangers in need. "Best way to start something, is starting at the beginning," Kat offered in response.
“When Dustin had me get Adam for dinner,” Xander started slowly, “he was having a nightmare. I tried to wake him up, but I wasn’t able to. He came out of it on his own, but when I touched him I got the feeling that he’s under a spell, dark magic. It knocked me down when I tried to find out more, but he dismissed the idea.” Xander stared down at his hands not sure how to continue. He was sure that Adam was under a spell, was sure that dark magic was involved and yet at the same time he wasn’t able to say so with confidence until he had someone else agree with him.
"Whoa, back up," Kat said slowly. Adam, under some sort of spell? "Detail by detail. What happened when you went to go wake Adam up; don't leave anything out," she ordered. There had to be a rational explanation for what happened. Who would put Adam under a spell? Villains never did the smart thing, attack the leader first when he's most vulnerable.
Xander looked up. Maybe she'd believe him? He frowned, where exactly should he start? "He didn't respond to me when I said his name so I went into his room. He was asleep, obviously having a nightmare. I tried to shake him more than once to get him to wake up. He came out of it and almost punched me in the face. I squeezed his hand after he apologized and it hurt. It felt like dark magic to me so I tried touching him again, tried to sense it, figure out what it was, but all I got was a sense of dark magic and a spell before I found myself nearly on the floor. He helped me up. I explained, but he seems to think he's only have nightmares. He wouldn't even tell me what it was about." Xander ran a hand through his hair, "Maybe I shouldn't have flirted with him, maybe than he'd have believed me."
Kat sighed, "Xander, flirting automatically gives off a sense of, not nonchalance, but… lightheartedness…As if you're saying, no worries mate," she tried to explain. "But," she continued, "Are you sure you didn't fall back until after he nearly boxed your ears?" She asked, biting her lip. She knew Adam had been on edge lately, and he'd been having trouble sleeping. But it couldn't possibly be the villains, they couldn't be that smart, could they?
"I always flirt," Xander defended before, "but I guess you're right. And no he didn't actually hit me. I didn't move until I touched his hand and I didn't trip."
Kat sat back against her chair, "Well, are you one hundred percent sure that you felt the presence of a spell Xan? Completely sure?" She ran a hand through her blond locks, it would explain the dreams… dreams that had woken her up from down the hallway, but that could also be explained by adjusting to the leadership of a rag tag group of rangers and the stresses of returning to the life he'd thought he'd left behind.
“I was until he wouldn’t believe me. He’s worked with magic before hasn’t he? Wouldn’t he know what a spell felt like?”
"The only thing that doesn't make sense is why are they going after him now? There hasn't even been a significant attack on the city yet," she got up to pace in front of their chairs. "What would this type of spell accomplish? I mean… okay it will bollix up his sleeping schedule, but Adam is still getting at least some rest, and he can function on little sleep. I just don't understand the why of it."
“That’s the only part that makes me doubt, the why. I know magic, well there’s still a lot I have to learn, but it felt like a spell,” Xander stopped to stare at his hands again feeling helpless. If Udonna was here she’d know what to do, but it wasn’t like he could easily take a trip over to Briarwood, it would require time, time he might not have. There would be friends to visit and gossip to catch up on. There couldn’t be a quick pop in for a spell and pop out, not without insulting several close friends that he’d rather not insult.
Kat cocked her head to the side thoughtfully, running through all the why's of the situation. "If it is a spell, its ingenious, but villains just don't act like that, not with out a…a… something," she growled softly in frustration, her 'cat' qualities tended to come out when she was upset or frustrated.
Xander shook his head, “Villians so smart Phineus wouldn’t stand a chance…I’m not sure I’d want to see that.” Then he groaned in frustration, “So you think I might be right? What do I do? It’s obvious Adam’s not going to believe me.”
Kat shook her head, "I don't think there's anything you can do. If Adam's disinclined to believe you, we may just have to let this play out, unless things get worse. I'll keep an eye on him, and see if I can't fish out what's going on… you keep you're ears open too, alright?" She didn't like the answer she'd just given, but she didn't really know what else to do.
Xander nodded, “I could talk to Udonna. I’m sure she’d know a revealing spell, but it felt like the kind of spell he’d have to break for himself, not one we could find a way to counteract on our own. I hate feeling helpless.”
Kat nodded, "So do I, but you're probably right. In my experience, most personal attacks like this require the attackee to figure a way out of it themselves," she sighed. She didn't like that idea. Adam was dealing with so much already; this was just one more thing.