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"Ryan and Carter are back," Captain Mitchell announced.
I let out a sigh of relief. I closed the search I had been doing and started towards the transport bay.
"Hey," I asked Skye, she'd been sitting quietly since we got back, "Aren't you coming?"
She stood up silently and started down the right hallway, towards the med bay.
"Skye? Transport is the other way."
She looked back at me, giggled slightly before walking down the left hallway.
What is up with her?
I followed behind her but as she turned the corner at the end of the hallway she was suddenly nowhere to be found. How could she have disappeared in the two seconds it took me to catch up?
Carter stood near the loading bay, looking around confused.
"Hey are you alright?"
"Yes I'm fine," he said, "I couldn't find the other Rangers."
"Yes I'm running a search for them now," I said, "You haven't talked to Skye yet have you?"
"What about me?"
I turned, seeing Skye standing right behind me.
I quickly covered my tracks, "Oh just wanted to know where you were earlier today."
"I was in my office silly," she giggled.
"During the party?"
"Yes," she said, "Why so many questions? Where's Ryan?"
Carter looked at me nervously, "He went to go find the Captain."
Skye gave us another smile before turning back down the hallway, presumably to find Ryan and the Captain.
"Is she... acting weird?" Carter said.
I chewed on my lip, thinking for a quick second before letting out a shrill whistle. On a normal day, Skye would have turned around and sent one back. No matter how mad, busy, or out of it she might've been, it was our rule to always send one back. I honestly couldn't think of a time where she hadn't.
Carter looked at me, "I think somethings wrong. Let's go find Ryan."
Skye had disappeared again. The communications room was filled with chatter as lab tech frantically ran searches for the missing rangers. Ryan and the Captain stood talking quietly in the corner.
"I don't remember much about Olympius. I was so young," Ryan said as we approached.
"Who's Olympius?" I said.
"Impus who was reborn. All I know is Queen Banshera gave Diabolico the star power. Her son, Impus was next in line to receive it. Meaning, it transformed him into Olympius."
"So he's more powerful than Diabolico?" Carter said, I sat down to look over the various computers that were searching through each quadrant for the missing Rangers. How had it not detected the energy from their morphers?
Ryan nodded at Carter, "He's young, but once he learns how to use it he will be."
Captain Mitchell began to walk back to the transport bay, "Set up a search party Nova. Tell them to sweep the entire vicinity."
"Where's Skye?" Ryan said.
"We saw her in the transport bay," Carter said, "Did she not come find you? She left before we did."
I looked at Carter with a nervous look.
"Hey!"
We turned to see Skye walking back from the med bay.
"The rest of the team came back from transport. They're in the med bay getting checked up. So no need for the search party right?"
"Absolutely," Captain Mitchell sighed with relief, "Now we can concentrate on Olympius."
How did she know about that?
Carter looked at me with a puzzled look. Captain Mitchell walked back to the communications bay with Ryan following behind him.
Something was up.
"Hey Skye, how did you know about the search party?" Carter yelled after her.
"Well, I figured you guys would send someone to look for them right?"
Carter chuckled nervously, "Right."
Skye giggled, "Gotta go!"
Carter grabbed my arm, pulling me to a side of the hallway where no one could hear us, "What's up with her?"
"Carter, I know this sounds crazy but... I don't think that's Skye."
"Was she acting like this before we left?"
I sighed, "No... and that Skye said she was in her office but before we left Skye came out of her room."
Carter rubbed his face, "Okay listen. You go back to the city, check around to see if you can find anything. Look for the other rangers while you're at it."
"But Captain Mitchell said to call of the search parties-"
"You and I both know there's something wrong going on," he cut me off, "I'll cover for you till you get back but please, just go see if you can find her. If my hunch is right I think that the Skye we saw a minute ago is part of Olympius' plan."
"Alright, keep your com on," I said, clicking a button on his morpher and my com link to connect them.
Carter clicked a button on his morpher, "Take my blaster."
I took the sleek blaster and tucked it into the back of my belt, "I'll see you soon."
"Be careful Nova."
I nodded before returning to the training bay. The Lightspeed cycles were barely used and it wasn't uncommon for me to borrow them on an off day. I pulled on a helmet and sped off towards the mainland.
I returned to the same spot that we had been at when Queen Banshera appeared over the city. Rubble from buildings made it hard to navigate the motorcycle through so I ended up having to abandon it and go the rest of the way on foot. I don't know exactly what I was looking for, but I knew I wasn't leaving till I covered every inch of ground for clues.
It was such a small detail, I'm not even sure how I noticed it, but lying face down in the middle of the sidewalk was a Lightspeed keycard. Some dirt had fallen on top of it but the bright blue back was still slightly visible.
SKYE MITCHELL.
That was all the confirmation I needed. Skye would've never ever left this behind, this is how we had access to the whole building and our equipment.
I tucked the keycard into the pocket, with my own on the other side of my jacket, and hopped back on the bike to rush back to the Aquabase.
I returned through the back entrance we use to load bigger equipment since it was the closest to the communications bay.
As I stormed in, Ryan looked up at the departure screen in shock, "The main entry is opening?"
"Yeah and I think I know why," I stated, I tossed the keycard at Carter who caught it easily.
He glanced down at it before meeting my eyes with a look of realization.
Carter hit the intercom button, "Miss Fairweather, close the entry gate!"
We rushed down the hall and to the security bay where the control panel to open the doors were located.
Carter entered the room, bending down to pick up the key card that Miss Fairweather had dropped.
"Hey, Carter, buddy..." the imposter said, "How's it going? Can I have my pass key back?"
"You're not my buddy," Carter gripped the key tightly in his hand, looking angry as he stared back at me. "In fact, I don't know who you are, but you're not Skye! Now get away from the console."
The imposter grabbed Miss Fairweather and everyone jumped, I pulled my blaster aiming it directly at the imposter's head. The eerie feeling of holding a blaster to what looked like my best friend's head made me sick to my stomach.
"Okay, just take it easy..." Carter said, trying to sound as calm as possible. The creature started cackling loudly as the body morphed into that of the figure we saw emerge from the flames.
Olympius.
"Now one last time, give me the pass card." he ordered.
"Okay, just don't hurt her." Carter said, glancing to the side before slowly walking forward as if he were going to give up the card. Olympius snatched it from his hand, laughing.
"The Aquabase is about to have a little company." Olympius told. Ryan ran up from the side, knocking Olympius backwards so that he could grab Miss Fairweather and pull her out of the way.
Carter lunged forward, grabbing onto Olympius and wrestling him. They both stumbled backwards, the back end of the security bay was used for an underwater entrance that divers can use. I let out a scream as Carter fell into the water. We covered our eyes as sparks flew up out of the water.
"They're gone," Ryan said. I looked up and saw he was right. I rushed over to the control panel and started doing a search through every quadrant like I had done earlier. This time I got a hit.
"Ryan, they're at the beach. I'm going to find Skye!"
Ryan took off towards the main entryway to head in one direction while I followed to take the rescue rover towards the city.
The mist had cleared from the rubble slightly as I threw the hummer into park and jumped out.
She had to be here.
If she wasn't I don't know what I'd do.
I let out a whistle as loud as I could. Scanning my eyes over the rubble desperately.
The smallest whistle came from my right and I took off, whistling and waiting for a response.
I finally found her. She was huddled up beside a massive piece of debris. I peeled off my jacket and put it over her shaking form.
"He-"
I stopped her when I heard her voice break, "I know, we figured it out."
"I saw everything."
I pulled her into my arms, not caring that her wet clothes turned mine damp, "Let's get you back. Carter was so worried. Can you stand?"
Shakily she rose up, I threw her arm over my shoulder and practically carried her back to the rescue rover to strap her in.
She didn't say anything on the way back, just sat shaking in the front seat. I kept seeing her eyes droop before snapping back awake and I worried if it was fear or adrenaline keeping her up.
I pulled into the loading dock before running around to her side. This time when I put her arm around my shoulder she slumped into my side, eyes barely open.
"Help!" I screeched, I could barely hold her up. Luckily two EMTS that worked under her rushed to our side, taking her into their arms and rushing towards the med bay.
I stood there, staring at the hallway they had disappeared down in shock.
A hand on my shoulder made me jump.
"Woah woah," Ryan said, "It's just me."
I didn't say anything, but he pulled me into his arms anyway.
"She's- she just collapsed. I didn't-"
"It's okay, everything's gonna be okay."
I shook my head no, "You don't understand I had to hold a blaster to her head-"
"That wasn't her," he assured me, "You did what you had to do Nova."
I couldn't even look him in the eye.
"Did they take her to the med bay?"
I nodded. I looked right past him seeing the rest of the Rangers jumping out of the other rover. Carter stood looking like a drowned cat staring at me worriedly.
"I'll take you to her."
I turned, grabbing Ryan's hand and leading them down the hall. When I got to the exam room they had placed her in I almost passed out myself. She laid there, hooked up to all the monitors and IV's, her face pale and her eyes closed.
Miss Fairweather approached looking at her chart, "She's gonna be fine. Being a host for Olympius made her dehydrated and exhausted but she should make a full recovery. I will have to keep her overnight though."
"I'm staying," I stated, I marched over to her bedside to pull a chair up.
"Of course," Miss Fairweather smiled.
Ryan and Carter thanked her before following in after me.
"I'm glad she's gonna be okay," Carter said, sitting down across from me.
"I don't know what I would've done if she wasn't going to be."
"Probably hunt down Olympius himself," Ryan laughed.
"I would," I nodded, "Carter? When you said 'Don't hurt her' earlier when Olympius had a hold of Miss Fairweather, you weren't just talking about her were you?"
Carter stared down at Skye, smoothing her hair back in place. She shivered, making us all jump and my eyes flicked up to her heart rate monitor. She was fine. She was going to be okay.
Carter slid his red Lightspeed jacket off his shoulders to drape over her.
I took that as my answer. I looked over at Ryan with a 'he was definitely also talking about Skye' look which he smirked at and grabbed my hand tightly.
"You guys should go clean up. Carter, you definitely smell like a wet dog. I'll stay here with her."
The boys both nodded solemnly before standing up to leave.
Carter paused at the door, "Can you com me when she wakes up?"
I smirked, "Of course. Oh! I almost forgot."
I pulled his blaster from my belt and placed it in his palm. He smiled at me before opening the curtain back up. The lights in the med bay had been turned down for the night and I felt my eyelids start to become heavy.
I grabbed Skye's hand and leaned my head down onto the bed to try my best to get some sleep.
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Make sure to go check out Starting Line by @pezzbosch for Skye's POV!
Don't forget to vote, comment, and add me to your reading list to get updates on Final Phase <3
and as always I hope y'all are safe and happy and may the power protect you!
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