Fic: Surviving (SPD, Gen)

[rivulet027]

Title: Surviving
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: S.P.D with MMPR, Time Force, and Wild Force
Characters/Pairing: Rocky, Tommy, Doggie, Andros, Zhane, Danny, Max, Z, Eric, Bridge, Kat Manx, Billy, Max/Danny, Eric/Wes
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers. It’s not my toy box and I’m merely playing.
Summary: Mirloc kills S.P.D. Red. Mirloc is eventually captured and put in prison and Gruumm is banished to the other side of space. The team doesn't survive. S.P.D. does.
A/N: Written for pockysquirrel for the Power Rangers Universe Building Exchange.


Surviving:

Rocky looks for an out of the way corner as the S.P.D. Command Center erupts into a fervor of activity around him. Tommy’s carefully constructed tour to get him to join S.P.D. is obviously over and Rocky waves off Tommy’s attempt to apologize and figure out a place for him to go, “Go. Do. I can keep myself out of the way.”

Tommy nods and turns back to the view screen as if the image there is going to contradict what the monitors are telling them.

Red is dead. The rest of the team is battling Mirloc. The rest of the team could die too.

Rocky needs to get out of everyone’s way. Ideas are being shouted out. Cruger strides into the room demanding a status report. The team medics are already on scene trying to save Red and how come he doesn’t know this guy’s name? An…and Andros is sagged against the wall near the door. His fingers are gripping his knees. His mouth is slack. His eyes are wide. There is a file scattered near his feet. Rocky isn’t sure he’s ever seen anyone be so absolutely still in his entire life. Andros only talks about Zhane as his team before he met TJ, Ashley, Carlos and Cassie. Zhane had confirmed they’d had six member team before KO-35 was attacked, but he refused to talk about them either, explaining that it would be disrespectful to Andros’ pain to do so.

Rocky crosses the room swiftly, gathers the file, wraps an arm around Andros’ waist and tells him, “Come on, we’re getting out of here.”

Andros doesn’t say anything, but allows Rocky to pull him out of the room and into the next. It looks like a standard classroom, except that the blackboard is a computer screen. Andros slides to the floor, back against the wall as he presses his palms against his closed eyes and forces himself to take a slow deep breath.

Rocky drops down next to him and reassures, “Hey, you’re okay. You’re safe.”

Andros shakes his head.

“Is there anyone I can get for you?”

Andros shakes his head again as he forces himself to take another deep shuttering breath. Andros’s hands drop into his lap and he leans his head back against the wall behind him. He wets his lips. He starts to open his mouth to talk and then shakes his head. Rocky reaches out and takes his hand, squeezing it in comfort.

Cruger steps into the room, “Andros. All active rangers on base are leaving to take on Mirloc. You…”

Rocky glares.

Cruger tilts his head, takes them both in, and starts again slowly, “Our containment cards don’t work on him. He’s reflection based and can escape. If you could stay behind and help us decide an appropriate prison to send him to, it’d be appreciated.”

There’s a screech of shoes and then Zhane is tumbling into the room, pushing Cruger out of the way and dropping down in front of Andros, “What happened?”

Andros doesn’t let go of Rocky’s hand as he pulls Zhane close.

“You were on base, but needed help and I didn’t think morphing would be needed, but it took forever to find you. What happened?” Zhane pushes as he leans into Andros.

“Tate died,” Andros manages.

Zhane’s arms tighten around Andros, “He had a kid.”

“He could come back,” Cruger points out, “Some rangers do.”

Andros tilts his head to look up at Cruger before he asks in a hollow tone, “How long did it take you to accept that your teammates’ death were permanent?”

“Years,” Cruger admits.

Andros opens his mouth to speak again, closes it and then shakes his head, drawing in a slow breath before asking, “And when did you know they were gone?”

“As soon as it happened,” Cruger answers.

Andros nods, dropping his forehead to Zhane’s shoulder, “Cruger wants us to find a place to put the guy responsible.”

“You up for that?” Zhane asks as he rubs Andros’ back. Rocky thinks about taking his hand back, but Andros’ grip is tight so he settles in closer.

Andros frowns considering before he asks hesitantly, “Give me a little more time?”

“Of course,” Cruger answers as he steps out of the room and shuts the door.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Danny is almost distracted by the way his niece squeals and immediately runs towards Max, backpack flapping in her arms. It’s clear she doesn’t know how serious the situation is or how last minute this arranged sleep over is.

“Uncle Max!”

“How’s my favorite niece?” Max asks as he helps Elizabeth with her back pack.

Danny turns back to his sister. He hugs her close.

“Thank you,” she tells him.

“It’s the least I can do,” he tells her, “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”

“Carson managed to get a tracker on Mirloc before he fled and we have a solid plan that takes his powers into account…”

“Olivia?”

“I don’t know,” she tells him, “Just keep my baby safe.”

“We will.”

“Z, honey, come give Mama a hug goodbye.”

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Eric finds Bridge cuddling Wes’ dog in their backyard. He sighs and sits down on the grass next to the kid, not sure if he’s grateful he didn’t go next door with Wes to talk to Mrs. Carson or grateful that he decide to check on the dog. He's not sure what made him agree when Wes said Newfoundland puppy, but there is something reassuring in the way Bridge is cuddled into a dog that is bigger than him. They sit in silence for a moment, Eric know that soon enough Bridge will be working to fill that silence.

“Mom’s sad,” Bridge tells him.

Eric nods.

“She’s trying to not be really sad around me,” Bridge explains as he sits up, scratches the dog one more time and puts his gloves back on.

“It’s hard not to be sad right now,” Eric agrees.

“Dad’s not coming back,” Bridge says slowly as if he’s trying the sentence on for size and Eric has to fight his urge to quickly disagree because that sentence should never have to be spoken by a child that young.

“We’re still looking,” Eric tells him.

“He’s not dead,” Bridge insists, “I’d know. He’s not.”

Eric nods because if any kid has a right to make that claim, it’s Bridge.

“He’s trapped,” Bridge tells him, “And he can’t get home.”

Eric nods, forcing himself to push aside the guilt he feels at Bridge’s words. After locking up Mirloc, the rangers, that had gone after him, stayed in space to help trap Gruumm, keep him from their part of space. Unfortunately the battle had left more than a few Rangers trapped and unable to return home.

“Maybe we’d better go talk to your mom,” Eric suggests.

Bridge shakes his head, “She’s sad. It hurts.”

“She’s not trying to hurt you.”

“I know,” Bridge nods.

“You know you’re allowed to be sad too,” Eric tries.

Bridge frowns. Then shakes his head before he asks, “What happened?”

“I think you need to talk to your mom about that one,” Eric manages.

“You hurt less,” Bridge points out, “You feel, but you make it so I don’t feel your feelings better than most people.”

Eric presses his lips together and shakes his head, not sure how to respond.

“Maybe she can tell you and then you can tell me,” Bridge suggests.

Eric sighs, “I think you and your mom need each other right now. You’re both allowed to be sad and this is probably going to hurt for awhile.”

Bridge nods. Eric waits for Bridge to insist that he, Eric, go out there and find his dad, but Bridge doesn’t.

“Will you go with me?” Bridge asks.

“Yeah, sure,” Eric agrees as he and Bridge stand. Bridge reaches out and takes his hand and Eric tries not to notice how tiny Bridge is.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Kat looks down at the morpher Arthur Drew places on her desk. Her ears twitch, “I’m not the one you should be handing that in to.”

“You’ll know what to do with it and I can trust it won’t be used,” Arthur tells her as he turns on his heel and leaves.

Kat scoops up the morpher feeling like a young kitten as she follows Arthur down the hall. She huffs at him, “We need you right now.”

“Need me?” Arthur demands as he spins to face her, “Mirloc is locked away. Gruumm won’t be a problem. S.P.D. isn’t losing my financial backing, just their green ranger.”

“What about the rangers we haven’t found yet?” Kat points out, “We’re working on a way to get them back. We’ll need rangers.”

“There are plenty of rangers on Earth.”

“Arthur,” Kat starts.

“No,” he glares, “I’m moving. I can’t deal with this. We lost Carson, Delgado and Landors. Hell Delgado’s kid went missing along with her uncle and his husband.”

“We can’t find Landors’ kid either,” Kat admits.

“All the more reason to leave,” Arthur chokes.

Kat shakes her head, “All the more reason to stay. Help us find them.”

Arthur shakes his head, “Yesterday my daughter asked me if she could be the pink ranger one day, just like Ms. Landors. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Maddie’s probably dead. We’re moving, across the country. I’m not taking a chance that my Syd could be the next kid to disappear and she’s going to get everything she wants out of life.”

“Everything that’s not S.P.D.?” Kat asks.

Arthur looks away from her.

“What are you going to tell her?” Kat pushes.

“I don’t know,” Arthur admits, “Thankfully she’s not really old enough to ask yet.”

Kat can’t think of anything further to say as she watches him walk away.

~~~~~*****~~~~~

Billy settles down in the stool next to Tommy. Tommy tilts the glass he has sitting in front of him and doesn’t say anything.

“Are you angry with me?” Billy inquires.

Tommy takes a sip of his drink, “Why would I be mad at you?”

Billy waves off the bartender and turns to look at Tommy, “The plan not going so well. Not figuring out how to get anyone we lost home yet.”

“You’re not the only tech,” Tommy points out, “We all agreed to the plan.”

“No one agreed to getting trapped on the other side.”

“Do you think if we sent a team after him?” Tommy starts and then sighs. They don’t have a full team. They have parts of teams. Several people have moved on from being rangers, have lives that neither he nor Tommy are prepared to ask them to leave.

“We don’t have a team to send,” Billy says for him.

“We have teams,” Tommy disagrees, “Just not the right team.”

“How long do you think it’d take to put one together?” Billy pushes.

Tommy shrugs, “I’m not sure I’ve even met them yet. Hell, I’m not sure we have the right morphers yet.”

Their eyes meet and Billy, despite how defeated he feels, manages, “We’ll find a way to defeat Gruumm.”

“We will,” Tommy agrees, “It just won’t be us and it just won’t be today.”