Chapter Text
“We have to get down there,” Kat said and pointed to where the Delta One megazord lay fallen in the cratered city ruins. The dust from the battle hadn’t even cleared, but tiny figures were approaching the megazord.
Civilians, Sky realized. And they were converging into an angry crowd.
“Not a problem,” Cruger said, and tapped a wrist device.
A moment later, an alien spacecraft was hovering in front of them. Sky felt the distinctive jolt of a teleportation beam, and then they were zooming down to the battlefield.
By the time they arrived, the crowd had grown. A low murmur spread through the crowd as they stepped out of the spaceship. Above their heads, the Delta megazord broke apart, and the runners rumbled back to their garages. The Rangers teleported beside them and unmorphed.
The sea of dirtied, bloodied civilians, interspersed with battered cadets, parted out of their way as they walked. At the center of the crowd, her legs partially trapped beneath the severed arm of her megazord, lay Dr. Archer.
She was pale and shaking with what Sky recognized as the beginning of shock. But she still had enough energy to sneer at them, her narrowed eyes fixing on Kat.
“Dr. Manx,” Dr. Reyes said, and descended into a coughing fit that splattered her lips with blood.
“Ms. Manx may be more accurate,” Kat said, her voice carefully neutral. “Ever since you had my degrees revoked in oh… 2003?”
Dr. Archer gave a sour huff and looked away. “I should have known. You never give up.”
Kat didn’t disagree. “You’re lucky to be alive, Naomi. The neural interface could have killed you.”
“Am I lucky?” The other scientist said. “I don’t feel very lucky right now. Actually,” she grimaced and gestured vaguely towards her legs, “this feels quite painful.”
It was Z who asked the next question. “Do you remember killing Commander Reyes?”
“Vaguely,” Dr. Archer said.
“And destroying half of Newtech City?”
Her lips quirked into a humorless smile. “Distinctly.” She paused, and the smile faded. “What’ll happen to me?”
“You’ll get a trial,” Kat said. “It’s more than you would have given any of us.”
Dr. Archer simply rolled her eyes. “You’ve won, do what you want.” And with that, she would say no more.
The murmuring of the crowd took an angry turn. Someone threw a rock at Dr. Archer, which missed and ricocheted harmlessly off the metal megazord chassis.
“She deserves to be punished!” A civilian shouted, fury twisting his face. “Look at our homes! She destroyed everything!”
The crowd agreed. “They all did!” The rage turned inwards and the mob began shoving and striking the cadets among them. Most of the cadets simply cowered, but a few reached for their blasters.
“Stop, everyone,” Bridge shouted and waved his uninjured arm to get their attention. “That’s the kind of ‘justice’ that led to this!”
The cadets paused, but the crowd seemed less sure.
“I recognize you. You’re an S.P.D. cadet,” someone accused and pointed towards the four uniformed Delta Squad members.
“But he’s a Power Ranger,” an older man said. “That used to mean something.”
“They might be cadets, but they helped save the city.” A woman said. “We can’t blame them all for what Reyes did.”
A gangly blond pushed his way forward, his cadet uniform torn and bruises tracing across his face. Someone spat on him as he passed. He wiped it away and addressed Cruger and Kat. “What will happen to us now?”
“You're free to go, if you choose,” Cruger said. He had to raise his voice over the low mutters that followed. “I won't make you stay, but I hope you will. This city -- and this planet needs people who will fight to protect it.” He turned to address the crowd. “Starting today, we will work to make S.P.D. a force for justice and equality for all species, rather than a force of terror.”
There was silence all around them. Without speaking a word, the cadet unbuckled his belt and laid down his weapons and badge. He walked away without looking back, and the crowd let him pass. He was soon joined by dozens of others.
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Syd asked.
“No,” Cruger said. “Let them go.”
“Why?”
“Because Reyes wouldn’t,” Kat said simply.
A civilian stepped forward. The young brunette was wearing a ripped Greek letter shirt and jeans. She looked like any ordinary college student, but there was a set to her jaw and the spark of determination in her eyes.
“I’d like to join you,” the girl said.
Cruger nodded and smiled. “What’s your name, cadet?”
“Penny Thomson, sir.”
“Welcome to S.P.D., Cadet Thomson.”
The next few days passed quickly. Everywhere he went, humans were working shoulder to shoulder with aliens to rebuild the city. It wasn’t always smooth or easy — old prejudices died hard, and Sky personally had broken up a few fist fights — but everyone he met was making a genuine effort.
In the fire-gutted shell of S.P.D.’s science lab, Kat had begun piecing together equipment and supplies. Sophie was operational again, and the cyborg fidgeted when she greeted him.
“I’m sorry for what I did. I didn’t want to hurt or deceive anyone, but it was the only way.”
Sky shook his head. “You saved everyone. You only did what you had to do.”
“I know, but…” Sophie hesitated, a note of anxiety creeping into her voice. “Do you think the other Sky and Bridge will forgive me?”
Sky thought back to what he knew about the Sky and Bridge in this world. Their fierce, if sometimes misguided, loyalty. Their protectiveness towards their friends. “I’m sure they will. It’ll just take time.”
Every empty area in the headquarters had been re-allocated to house the city’s homeless. Human civilians mingled with aliens who had been released from containment. He made new friends and reunited with some familiar ones.
Dhara, the blue-skinned alien Piggy introduced him to that very first night, had survived and was working on the ground-level cleanup crews. He spotted Dr. Chance deep in conversation with Boom. Boom seemed different somehow — as serious as ever, now sporting a black eyepatch — but perhaps his step was a bit lighter, and the frown lines on his face not as deep.
Sky joined the construction crew and worked on repairing the roof. It was quiet up there, and sometimes, at that height, this world and all of his problems seemed distant and faint. At night, he slept on the floor under the very roof he was rebuilding.
He missed his own world.
He was still no closer to finding a way back.
He was sitting on a roof beam, eating his lunch in solitude (“tuna, a famous human delicacy, that is both a salad and a sandwich,” the alien serving lunch told him with bright enthusiasm) when Bridge climbed up and sat beside him. His wrist was in a brace, and Sky briefly wondered how the cadet had scaled this high with only one hand.
“Hey,” Bridge said. “So… I guess everything worked out? A lot of it thanks to you.”
Sky shrugged. “I didn’t do all that much. Really, it’s thanks to Sophie.”
“I see,” Bridge said. He could tell that Bridge wanted to ask him something, but for some reason hesitated. Sky waited for the other cadet to gather his thoughts.
“There’s something that keeps bothering me,” Bridge said, and didn’t meet his eyes. “You offered once, but I was too scared back then. Of myself and of you. You don’t have to, I mean,” the cadet was rambling. “I know it must be very invasive to let someone else into your mind. But — ”
Sky held out a hand, palm up, in answer.
When their fingers touched, there was a sudden warmth and a strange, but not unpleasant, electricity that passed between them. For an instant, Sky felt safe for the first time since he fell through the manifold dimensions.
Bridge released him, and they sat in pensive silence for a bit longer.
“Another universe, huh. And another me.” Bridge’s blue eyes were a bit dazed. Understandable, since he had just seen through time and space itself. “I understand better now why you fought so hard to save me, and why you believed in me, even when nobody else did. I can’t thank you enough, and I’ll do my best to help you get home.”
Sky returned to familiar habits and routine. He might not be a ranger anymore, or even a cadet of this S.P.D., but he wasn’t about to let his athletic training and skills slip. Just in case. In case of what, he wasn’t sure. Jogging around headquarters was more of an obstacle course than a race due to all the debris and battle damage, but he made time each morning to complete a circuit and clear his thoughts.
He never saw anyone else during these jogs. It was before the cleanup crews would arrive to work, the morning sun barely over the horizon. So he was surprised when, one day, Tate appeared alongside him. The other ranger easily kept pace, and they continued the circuit without speaking, only stopping when they had returned to the main gates. The morning sun was barely hovering over the horizon.
“Bridge told me about what you did for him,” Tate said without preamble. “And who you are.”
Sky didn’t know what to say. Where was this conversation going? It didn’t matter who he was. At the moment, he was just like everyone else here. Lost, just another person trying to get by and find his place in a world that had changed.
“I wanted to thank you,” Tate said to his silence. “For protecting Bridge, when I couldn’t.” And then he pressed something into Sky’s hand. Sky realized it was his B-squad morpher and badge.
Sky stammered a thanks, but Tate waved it off.
“Kat wanted to give it back to you, but I asked her to let me return it instead,” Tate explained stiffly. “It’s going to be a long process, returning all the items S.P.D. wrongly confiscated. Apparently, there are a lot of items in the vaults. You should go down there sometime. The alien in charge… he said he knew you, and he had something for you.”
The vaults turned out to be deep in the lowest sub-floors of S.P.D. headquarters. Due to their location, this area was largely undamaged. Since the elevators were out of service, he had to descend many flights of stairs before opening a blast-proof door marked ‘restricted area’. Inside, floor to ceiling, were storage compartments, each carefully labelled with names, dates, and a series of warning symbols. Some symbols he recognized — radioactive, corrosive; explosive — and some he didn’t. It was like a bank vault, but for dangerous artifacts.
Sky had never spared a thought for what happened to the dangerous artifacts and technologies confiscated from S.P.D.’s prisoners in his world. If he ever made it back home, he would have to ask Kat about it.
At a desk in the center of the room, leaning far back in a chair with his feet on the table, was Piggy. The desk was surrounded by bags of chips, empty cups, and a dragon’s hoard of other junk food.
“Hello, Piggy,” Sky said. The alien jumped and fell backwards off his chair.
“Ah! Oh — ” Piggy stumbled to his feet and wiped his hands sheepishly on his pants. “It’s just you. Good to see you — I guess everything worked out, huh?”
“Largely, no thanks to you,” Sky pointed out.
Piggy’s face fell. “Sorry about that,” the scaly alien blabbered, “I didn’t really have a choice. But you didn’t tell anyone, and neither did Bridge. You’re not so bad. I owe you one.”
“What are you doing down here anyhow?” Sky asked.
“Oh, this and that,” Piggy said. He tried his best to look innocent, but only managed to make his eyes water. “I’m very good at identifying artifacts, and so Kat put me in charge of the vaults for now.”
“I’m surprised they have anything left in them,” Sky said, the snark coming more from habit than malice at this point.
Piggy didn’t take offense, only raised his arms in a dramatic shrug. “What kind of person do you think I am? I would never, never steal from anyone… Anyhow, this is temporary. Now that the city is open to aliens again, I can open my own restaurant, just like I always wanted. I'm just waiting until Kat gives me the go-ahead.”
“That’s great,” Sky said, and he meant it. He couldn’t really blame Piggy for anything he had done. Piggy was a survivor — it was just his nature.
Piggy headed towards a row of compartments. He pulled out one in particular. “I haven’t forgotten my promise to help you. And now I will.” He unlocked the box and handed it to Sky.
“I think this is what you were looking for. It was confiscated from Tomars years ago. But… it’s been tampered with. And not by me!” Piggy hurried to add. “There’s a note there… for you.. and something else.”
The blue amulet Bridge had given him in the last universe lay on top, its leather band neatly coiled around the charm. He slipped it back over his neck. The weight settled against his chest like it had always belonged there. Beneath it was the inter-dimensional hyper-speed relocator. Sky expected the laptop to be dead — not that he knew anything about the alien batteries powering the device — but as he unfolded the screen, it flickered to life. Against the black screen was a single line of white text with a blinking cursor.
Ready? Y/N
There was no hint as to the destination. On the keyboard was a folded note, addressed to “Sky Tate, B-Squad Blue Ranger”.
On the paper was a single sentence in a familiar scrawl that Sky couldn’t quite place. The note said:
‘Just in case.’
And it was signed, ‘The Traveler’.
Now that Sky had a potential way home, nothing was preventing him from leaving this world behind for the known (or unknown). But instead, he thanked Piggy and left with the laptop, deep in thought. Who was the mysterious traveler? How did they know who he was?
He opened the laptop again. The cursor blinked continuously, waiting. The laptop never left his side, but somehow it felt heavier by the day.
He wasn’t ready.
Somehow, he had a vague feeling there was something left unfinished, something he still had to do. Sky pondered what this could be while he went about his day. Like everything else, it came back to…
He collided with Bridge in the hallway. They had both been lost in thought and not paying attention to where they were walking.
“Oh!” Bridge said. He studied Sky’s face, and his smile fell. “You — you’re leaving. Aren’t you? But there’s so much to be done here.”
Sky nodded. “You’re a Power Ranger, remember? You can handle it. I have to get home, to — ” In that moment, he suddenly remembered something about this Bridge, something that had set all of the events and changes of this world in motion. “Bridge, did you ever find your family?”
Bridge looked startled at the question. “Are you sure your power isn’t mind-reading, too? While you were fighting Sophie and Sky,” Bridge stumbled over the words, “I mean, you are Sky, but you were fighting the other Sky, my Sky — I hacked the S.P.D. computers at that warehouse and learned that my mom and dad are both alive, and they live on the Titan Epsilon colony.”
“They’re scientists, just like Kat said. They never had any other kids. And they're Jewish.” Bridge nervously picked at his gloves. “Which I guess means I'm Jewish. I keep thinking about contacting them, but it's weird... I don't know. I guess I'm afraid that they would hate me for everything I've done. For what I am.”
Sky let out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. “Bridge, they're your parents. They've waited to meet you for eighteen years. You could even go now — you'll still be in communicator range, and I heard Kat has the transporter working.”
“Will you come with me?” Bridge asked suddenly, before backtracking. “Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. You just told me that you have to get home…."
“No, it can wait,” Sky said. He just knew in his bones this was important. “Let’s go."
And so they teleported to Titan Epsilon, with the roiling yellow skies and the lush terraformed hills. Due to the increased gravity, the squat houses were short and clustered close together.
They were in the right district, but neither of them knew where to go from there. Bridge asked the teleporter operator for directions.
“Um... excuse me.” The uncertainty in his voice made him sound a lot younger than he was. “Do you know where I can find the Carson family?”
“Sure. Take the first left, and their house is a block down. It's the one with the green gate, you really can't miss it.”
They walked together to the house. Bridge paused, his hand suspended over the door, and looked at Sky for reassurance before knocking. There was no answer at first, so he knocked again.
The door opened.
Sky had never met Bridge’s parents, in any universe. He’d gathered, over the years, that his own Bridge was somewhat estranged, and it had something to do with his powers. They also lived off-world and never visited their son. It obviously hurt Bridge to talk about them, and Sky wondered now if that was a relationship that could or should be repaired.
The man who stood before them now had a striking resemblance to his son. He was joined by a short and slightly round brunette with warm eyes.
Bridge’s father blinked and stared. “Can I help you?”
“You’re the Carsons?” Bridge asked.
“Yes? What is this about?”
“You had a son, once. But he went missing, years ago, right?” Bridge said.
The woman slowly nodded. A shimmer of tears came to her eyes. “The hospital said he died after birth. But… how do you know this?”
“Because.... I'm him,” Bridge said. “My name is Bridge, and Commander Reyes kidnapped me when I was born because of my powers. I thought I didn't have parents, but Kat helped me find you. And so... I came here.”
Her hands flew to her mouth in shock. She studied his face carefully. “It’s you. I —” Anything she had been about to say was discarded in favor of a tight hug. Bridge’s mom hugged him like she planned to never let go. He went stiff but then tentatively returned it.
Bridge’s father stared at his long-lost son, and then back at Sky. “Ryan Tate?”
Bridge released the hug reluctantly. “No, this is my friend Sky. But he’s from another universe. The other Sky is on Earth, along with everyone else. I think you know all their parents.”
“Oh,” both parents said at once. Bridge’s mom looked a bit faint at the day’s revelations.
“I’m so sorry, I forgot my manners. Please come in.” She hurried them inside and sat them at the dining room table. Sky noticed that on the mantle was a picture of Bridge as a newborn, likely the only photo his parents had. They had kept it all these years. “Sit down, please. I want to know everything. Do you want anything to eat? There isn’t much but —”
It was different, being fussed over by a family. It was a new experience for them both, and even more foreign for Bridge. Bridge had a half-smile on his face and every once in a while looked around, taking in every detail, like he might wake up from this dream at any time.
Bridge in his universe had tried, long ago, to explain to him what an empathic aura looked like. He had said that people’s emotions, hopes, and dreams shone in a certain special way, and this glow infused both the people and things they cared about. And here, in this small house, Sky could almost see it, a warm, welcoming glow that embraced everyone and everything. Sky wondered if this was what life would have been like had his dad survived. He had grown up in a house, but never a home.
The two red suns had both set by the time Sky thanked them for their hospitality and got to his feet.
Bridge’s parents both looked stricken. “You’re leaving already? There isn’t much room, but you can stay… as long as you like.”
“I’ll stay,” Bridge hurried to reassure them, “but Sky has to go home. He only came here because of me. I’ll — I’ll be right back.”
They stepped outside.
“Thank you again for everything,” Bridge said. “Also… there’s something you should know.” He frowned and removed a glove, and quickly swept his hand. “There’s something wrong with your aura. I saw it before, but I wasn’t sure until now. It’s reaching for something, or maybe something is pulling you somewhere. Whatever it is, please… be careful.”
“Thank you, Bridge. I suppose this is goodbye,” Sky said.
Bridge shook his head. “We’ll meet again, I know it.” With that, he surprised Sky with a quick hug before pulling away and returning inside.
Sky opened the laptop. He set it on the ground and pressed the key. The laptop itself folded inwards, disappearing into a singularity that expanded into a portal. The horizon at the edges flickered — this portal seemed somehow unstable. Blades of color cut through the darkness, folding inward like a kaleidoscope. Within, he thought he could see distant stars, their light bending into glowing arcs. A brisk wind came from within the portal, drawing him closer.
Sky didn’t allow himself to look back. As the universe fell away, he once again heard a whisper of something, a voiceless murmur…