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THIRD PERSON POV!
BACK AT THE BASE, summer and flynn were analyzing the remnants of the attack bot, while cameron was charting down anything that was helpful with their progress.
minutes prior, doctor k. ordered them to bring in the damaged attack bot, not further explaining the reasoning for it. though cautious, the rangers did so as ordered, mostly assuming it to be routine evaluation.
in actuality, the scientist was working on a hunch, a gut feeling, an inkling that needed to be explored, and boy, was the creepy computer person so spot on about that weird feeling.
after a short while, it was then and there that the doctor was ready to report their findings to the team.
flynn, summer, and cameron continue to work with the inactive bot, as scott turns around to face the flat tv screen. "what are we lookin' at here, doc?"
"something different; radically advanced."
cameron finishes jotting down the info she managed to get, before placing the clipboard and pen on a nearby table. she, flynn, and summer shift their attention to the tv screen, eager to listen in on the doctor's report.
"venjix technology is now evolving at an exponential rate. if we don't upgrade the firepower in our zord configurations, venjix will overrun the city within a month."
cameron sighs, as the rest of the rangers take in the news.
it was obvious that venjix was always three steps ahead of them, constantly putting them at a disadvantage. yet, there was only so much, and so little, that they could do to not fall behind, and succumb to another deadly invasion.
unless, of course, they had an extra set of hands.
understanding this, flynn steps forward and voices everyone's thoughts out loud. "we're gonna have to activate series black. th-there's no way around it."
scott turns around to face him, visibly frustrated. "yes, but we don't have an operator that can handle the series black bio hardware."
cameron's head shoots up, as an imaginary lightbulb goes off in her head. she suddenly had an idea.
"where are we supposed to find one now?" scott asks, not expecting an answer.
as flynn remains silent, scott glances at cameron for a split-second, and watches her eyes widen in some sort of realization. he looks away, before storming off, bumping into flynn on the way.
while disregarding the boys, cameron excitedly turns around to face summer, a certain glint shining in her eyes.
"hey, summer?" she asks, as flynn walks past her with a sulking facial expression, "i have an idea."
summer looks up at cameron, pulling herself from her train of thought. the blonde then gestures with her hand for the brunette to continue.
cameron only smiles. "are you thinking what i'm thinking?" she asks, her eyes shining so brightly that they're almost blinding.
looking away, summer knits her eyebrows for a minute, trying to figure out the source of cameron's excitement.
until it hit her.
she then looks up at cameron once again, her face breaking out into a knowing grin.
cameron smiles even wider, knowing that someone else was on the same page as her.
"well," summer concludes, taking out her phone to text flynn about their future whereabouts, in case anything goes wrong, "we know where to find him."
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A LOUD SLAM RESONATES AROUND SUMMER AND CAMERON, as they navigate the dim hallways of corinth city prison. summer leads the way, as cameron trails behind with caution. it was obvious that she'd never went to a prison before, but she tried to stay as unbothered as possible.
however, two officers, that were both holding giant blasters in their arms, squeeze past the two, causing cameron to flinch, and immediately move out of the way.
she shuffles closer to summer, who continues walking through a long hallway, fueled by her determination.
"before coming here, i always pictured those county jails from the looney tunes cartoons," cameron expresses, "not dungeons."
summer shakes her head. "cartoons don't always reflect life, cameron."
"i know, that's why i love them so much," she mumbles, "at least they don't reflect my boring life so much. . ."
summer sighs, brushing off her teammate's paranoid nature. cameron, on the other hand, remains silent (while avoiding intimidating-looking officers), as they reach the end of the hallway.
in that moment, the girls slow down their pace, and enter a large area with a single cell in the middle. the cell was well lit by an overhang light, as the rest of the spacious area was pitch black. it was almost like the backdrop to a cliché slasher film.
inside of the weathering cell resides colonel truman, corporal hicks, and dillon, who was wearing an orange jumpsuit and a quiet demeanor. many would assume that dillon was either bored out of his mind or masking how he truly felt in that situation.
and later on that day, that observation would turn out to be true.
with that being said, summer and cameron stand by in the darkness, watching the interrogation in progress.
colonel truman was questioning dillon about his robotic implants, as corporal hicks was jotting everything down on a piece of paper. this had been going on for 15 minutes with no definite results.
". . .so, we can also assume that these robotic upgrades provide you with enhanced physical abilities?" truman informs, holding up a couple x-rays of his supposed implants.
"extra strength?" he lifts another one with his right hand. dillon continues to watch in silence, half listening and half thinking.
"improved. . ." as the colonel raises another x-ray, his arm accidently knocks over his coffee cup. on instinct, dillon darts from his seat, and holds out his hand, catching the coffee mug in time.
summer and cameron smile from afar, as the colonel, and the corporal, watch him in amazement.
dillon returns to his seat, holding out the colonel's coffee mug with a small smile. truman takes it, while looking at dillon like he was facing a dilemma.
"sir, i'm gonna mark that down as a definite yes," hicks says, breaking the brief silence. in response, the colonel smirks.
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FOR THE NEXT FIFTEEN MINUTES, the colonel continued on interrogating dillon, still turning up nothing. from the sidelines, cameron covers her mouth to stifle a yawn, obviously affected by the long, ineffective interrogation.
summer disappointedly knits her brows, already questioning if coming here was a good idea or not.
"you can see my problem here."
cameron leans against the wall, as summer stands a couple inches in front of her, growing antsier by the second. the more talk about the implants, the more irrelevant they were becoming. it's white noise to the girls, and the other officers, at this point.
"i mean, how am i supposed to know if you're a human that's part machine. . ." the colonel slams his hands on the table, creating suspense, ". . .or a machine that's part human?"
"maybe you should flip a coin," dillon jokes.
in response to that, cameron snickers, and quickly covers her mouth with her hand to not draw too much attention to herself. summer glances at her with a serious facial expression, which causes the brunette to clear her throat, and refocus her attention to the creepy cell holding the stone-faced prisoner.
"you know, when it comes down to it," truman says, referring to himself, and then, to venjix, "you can side with us or you can side with them."
"i side with myself," dillon concludes, "every time."
with those six words, the colonel has finally reached his limit with him. he has had it up to there with interrogating dillon, and he was now pondering a new strategy to break through to him.
he narrows his gaze at the dark-haired prisoner, who stares back at him with the same intensity in his eyes, despite the rest of his face remaining cold and emotionless.
it was like that for another 10 seconds or more, before the sweet, soothing voice of summer landsdown breaks the tense silence.
"colonel, could i please have a minute?" she asks, her calm, collected eyes shifting over to dillon's unreadable ones.
cameron lifts herself off the wall, as truman turns around to look at her. cameron waves at him, and walks a little further to stand next to summer, causing the colonel to sigh to himself.
without another word, truman, and corporal hicks, exit the cell in defeat, as summer enters through the opened, gated door with a newfound confidence. a couple officers leave the area to give them privacy, as cameron walks around them to stand near the exit, still remaining within earshot.
the gated door closes, and summer takes a seat at the interrogation table, possibly pre-preparing her own set of questions. dillon, who was sitting patiently on the other side, kept his eyes on her the whole time. not like he was analyzing her, but taking her in, which could explain the small, yet gentle, smile on his lips.
he was definitely a lot more comfortable with her than with those military officers from before.
"alone at last," he says, while seemingly staring holes into the depths of her soul.
the blonde briefly smiles in response, pretending to not be uncomfortable with his gaze, as cameron shivers from a slight chill up her spine.
"creep," she mutters, putting her phone back into her jean pocket.
dillon looks away for a moment, before speaking up again. "could i be honest with you?"
"give it a shot," summer humors.
cameron watches closely, as she takes out a tape recorder from her jacket pocket, before discreetly turning it on.
dillon pauses, before answering her. "yellow is definitely not your color."
summer leans back in her seat, not knowing how to respond to that random thought.
cameron, on the other hand, sighs to herself, reluctantly placing the tape recorder near her feet, before taking out her flip phone and opening it. "this is gonna be a while," she says, unlocking her phone, and checking her contact list for new messages.
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"can i ask you a question?" says summer.
"let's hear it," replies dillon, watching her in slight amusement.
cameron groans. "what is this, mystic messenger?" she mutters, looking up at summer and dillon, who weren't making much progress.
the aforementioned blonde leans forward, ignoring her teammate's comment. "do you have to work really hard at the whole brooding, bad boy thing?" she asks, in a soft, yet mocking, tone of voice.
dillon smiles at her in response, finding entertainment from her jab at his 'ego.'
"like seriously, do you get up and practice every morning in front of the mirror?" the blonde presses on, still being faced with a smiling dillon.
cameron furrows her brows in confusion. "where is she going with this?"
"i'm summer," she introduces, forming a brief smile herself.
dillon lightly rolls his eyes, already done with having to introduce himself several times to everyone. "dillon. you can call me dillon."
summer continues on. "then, can i ask you another question, dill—"
"look, i'm telling you people the truth," he interrupts, now grabbing cameron's full attention, "i don't know who i am or where i came from—"
summer leans toward him again. "i don't care where you came from," she emphasizes, as a light-hearted tune starts playing out of nowhere. while watching ominously, cameron leans downward to pick up her tape recorder, as summer reveals an opened pocket watch from under the table.
immediately, dillon relaxes to the soft melody, his gaze shifting to the small object resting in summer's hand.
cameron watches him, a look of disbelief breaking out on her face. "okay, where is she really going with this?" she whispers, her right thumb hovering over the 'stop' button on her tape recorder. all she needs now is for summer to excuse herself for good, so she could end the recording, and rewind the tape later for investigating.
recording an authorized interrogation without permission was definitely against standard protocol, but it wouldn't be breaking the rules, as long as it was kept within the two of them.
"i wanna know where you're going," summer says, staring at dillon like she was waiting for a response, let alone, a reaction. dillon only continues to stare at the pocket watch, his mind focusing solely on the gentle song playing.
summer closes the pocket watch, before placing it on the table, causing it to make a soft clatter. the tune cuts off, inevitably reducing the surrounding area to silence.
"nice meeting you, dillon," summer says, before standing up from her seat.
cameron clicks the 'stop' button on her tape recorder, as a security guard walks over to the closed gate, and opens it, allowing summer to step out of the cell.
as cameron stuffs the tape recorder in her jacket pocket, she looks up at summer approaching near the exit, and notices the look of defeat on her face.
curiously, her dark brown eyes look over at dillon's form, right as the security guard closes the gate with a slam. the quiet prisoner just sits there, contently fixating on that lowly pocket watch sitting under the bright, harsh lighting.
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SUMMER AND CAMERON RETURN TO THE GARAGE, both carrying a sense of hope and assurance with them about their final choice for their black ranger candidate.
unlike summer, cameron was partially expecting the guys to unanimously vote on dillon, despite the obvious issues he retains, and the obvious fact that he was in prison.
yet, still, he was a pretty good fit for ranger series black, because of his enhanced, special abilities, and his quick, decision-making skills in the midst of battle. summer, on account of cameron, would go as far as to say that, 'he was the perfect fit for the team.'
except, it was gonna take a lot more than just the two of them to make that change happen. unfortunately, those two had to learn that the hard way.
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CAMERON'S POV!
AFTER SUMMER AND I INTRODUCED THE GUYS TO DILLON, we started to discuss the potential idea of him being eligible enough to become ranger series black.
while doing so, we stood in front of the tv screen, analyzing, and commentating, on the now bigger, and more defined, versions of dillon's robotic implants. as expected, me and summer would start to encounter a few obstacles.
unarguably, flynn's 'simple-minded' perspective on dillon would be the first one.
"but, i mean, he's a machine, now ain't he?" he questions, making me roll my eyes. i already saw potential in dillon, because of what he did for summer hours before, so i'm gonna stand by her word, no matter what happens.
"technically," doctor k. corrects, "he's a human equipped with cybernetic modifications."
flynn scoffs in disbelief. "technically? now, i'm just a simple mechanic—"
"not this," i mutter irritably.
"—i'm not a scientist, but i'm looking, and seeing metal, i'm seeing bolts, and i'm seeing circuitry, alright? now, if that is not a machine, i don't know what it is."
already disappointed by flynn's point of view, i look over at summer and see her roll eyes, before sighing. she may appear to be annoyed by her teammate's skepticism, but i knew deep down that she was hurt. she really did see something in this guy, based on my personal account from before, but i think that there's something different with her perspective.
i believe that there's more to why she's defending dillon, and it definitely doesn't have to do with us trying to convince our stubborn teammates to consider him.
scott chuckles next to me, as summer looks at the screen, then back to flynn. "there's more to him than that," she defends, causing me to nod in agreement.
now, i understand that flynn was expressing his own simple-minded opinion, but he's really missing the point that summer and i were trying to make. actually, both him, and scott, weren't taking this guy seriously at all.
that's when i knew that this wasn't going to end well.
doctor k. speaks up, and completely disregards summer. "scott, you're team leader, this is your call," the computerized voice informs.
he sighs, and turns around enough to face summer, while keeping his peripheral with me. his body language already gave it away - he was going to reject dillon as a candidate.
"look, summer," he starts, looking at her, then at me, "and cameron," he says stiffly, "i honestly hope that the both of you know what you're doing with this," he expresses, as flynn nods along with him, "because i cannot see anything impressive about this guy, at all."
i look away, not wanting to feel his gaze burning into me, despite already expecting him to do so.
i don't get it, ever since i was recruited here to be a power ranger, scott had always acted a certain way around me. i could be minding my own business, not bothering anybody, and he just gets pissed off out of nowhere. sometimes, if i happened to be around, let alone in the same breathing space as him, he'll just get irritated so easily.
i have no idea why or what effect i have on him, but i never asked or approached him about it, so i just dealt with it like it was nothing. at least, for the first few weeks i was here.
overtime, it really started to get to me, and i would feel so self-conscious and uncomfortable from his presence. hence, why, i make sure to avoid him at all costs.
i hadn't been very successful with that lately, and it's starting to show here.
after looking away for a few seconds, i hear the sound of footsteps gradually move in the opposite direction of me, followed by a door slamming. i briefly glance at summer, and see flynn pat her on the shoulder, before following right behind scott as well.
i hear another door slam afterwards, meaning that summer and i were alone in the main part of the garage. i take this moment to walk over to her, who was staring at the x-rays on the screen in deep thought.
obviously, the outcome had made her upset, but i also believe it got her thinking, since i was already pondering another way to get through to them.
i stop next to her, and lean up against the small table. "don't worry, summer, i'm just as bitter as you are," i assure.
she nods in acknowledgement. "if only they could see what we saw in him," she mumbles, as the large, tv screen in front of us switches off, ominously reflecting dillon's not-so-distant future on the team. . .
. . .or so we thought.
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"IS THIS REALLY GONNA WORK?" I SKEPTICALLY ASK SUMMER, already unsure with her way of convincing the guys. she and i were standing in front of a large tv near the kitchen, as summer was messing around with its controls, while i was leaning against the counter, 'supervising.'
she gives me a deadpanned look, causing me to raise my hands in defense. "my plan didn't work at all, so i'm not 100% sure on yours succeeding either."
"that's because you don't know how to talk to guys," she replies flatly.
going silent, i look away for a moment, trying not to show how offended i was from her comment. i can understand her being persistent during the most dire situations, but she didn't need to jab at me like that. i mean, she's not wrong about that, but still, a little backhanded.
i look back at summer, and i believe she was put off by my sudden silence, because she turns around to look at me with a confused expression. i had an unamused look on my face, despite trying my hardest to not bust out laughing at her panic.
fully realizing what she said, she quickly backtracks. "i mean, you didn't convince them properly."
i raise an eyebrow. "and you did a better job than me? you were the one doing most of the talking," i chortle, before grabbing a vhs tape from off the counter, and waving it next to my face.
"at least i presented something useful," she retorts, grabbing the tape from my dominant hand, her hair swishing around from her movements. "you just stood there, and made jokes about his hair for 10 minutes."
"dillon's or scott's?"
summer sighs, turning around, and walking over to a large tv sitting on the countertop.
she turns on the tv, before inserting in the vhs tape, which automatically swallows the tape smoothly, securing it inside the player. (a/n: i know this description sounds weird, but i had a tv like this growing up, so that's the best way i can explain it 🤷🏽♀️)
seconds later, the tv screen shifts to static, and summer promptly turns around to look for something. the remote, i thought, and i turn around to grab the rectangular device from the counter.
"looking for this?" i call out, lifting the object in my hand.
she looks at me for a moment, and snaps her fingers in recognition. i hand her the remote, and she thanks me, before turning around to face the television. i think she was messing around with the buttons, trying to get the recording to play.
"i'm surprised," she suddenly says.
i furrow my brows in confusion. "about what?"
"that we hadn't lost this thing already," she gestures to remote, pulling up a video with the thumbnail of corinth city prison's cafeteria.
i shrug. "i wouldn't be surprised if scott accidentally 'misplaces' it."
she chuckles, and plays the recording on the screen.
it was footage from a security camera that faced the cafeteria, and it was displaying dillon, the prisoner that we met hours earlier, practically wiping out a group of inmates, while holding a tray of what looked to be strawberry jello.
further right on the screen was a scrawny, curly-haired guy, holding up a chair as a shield, mostly out of fright than protection.
i gasp, realizing that it was the same guy i approached previously at the lot before he got arrested. the same guy that was with me during the invasion a year ago.
i know it sounds like i'm not making sense, but i know it's been a long time, and i know a lot of things have changed since then. yet, i just wonder if he still remembers what he did, let alone, me. . .
or maybe i'm wrong. maybe that's not the guy who was with me that night. maybe i'm just looking too into this.
i just sigh loudly, feeling my thoughts go haywire inside my head. i can feel summer's concerning gaze through my peripeheral, but i ignore it, not trying to make it seem like a big deal.
though, if i had the chance, i could probably identify him, and confirm my suspicions. maybe, if i can just find out his name. . .
"cameron?"
i flinch from summer's voice, placing my right hand on my chest. "don't startle me like that!"
summer's face remains the same as before, concerned. "is something wrong? i paused the tv for a minute, because you were staring off into space."
i furrow my brows, before looking up at the television. it was now paused, as summer said, but it was showing dillon enjoying his dessert, as the cafeteria was scattered with broken chairs, displaced food, and prisoners knocked out cold.
i let out an 'oh,' now remembering where i was. "i see."
summer shakes her head, still retaining that worried look. "anyways, what do you think?" she asks, using the remote to point at the screen.
i look at her for a moment longer, and then, at the frozen screen.
and before i knew it, a wide smile was breaking out on my face.
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NOTE ── since this chapter was already longer than it needed to be, i decided to break it up, and post the last part of it in the next chapter. it's not really convenient, but i didn't want this chapter to get any more longer than it already was.
and it took me a while to edit, and constantly go over, so i'm sticking with my decision. i just hope it's not a bother to you all! :)
last edited: 12/22/2023.