Always a Ranger - Part 26
The High Price of Fame
By Jeannine Trevizo
It was a
simple thing for Tommy Oliver to walk upstairs from the basement command
center, leaving Hayley alone to work on a new project. The rest of the team was
off at Kira’s video shoot, and he really didn’t want to try and explain to
Hayley what he’d just done.
Kim though…
He hit the
redial on the phone, and it quickly called Kim’s number. He hadn’t called
anyone besides her since calling to talk with David and Sam. The phone rang
three times before he heard the voice he longed to hear in the mornings when he
woke up.
“Hello?”
“Kim,” he
started, his voice cracking at the simple word.
“Tommy? Are
you okay?” she asked quickly, wondering what had happened.
“I killed
him.”
“Who? Tommy,
you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”
“Zeltrax,
Kim. I killed Zeltrax… Smitty, I don’t know what I should call him. I made a
decision and I killed him.”
“Whoa, wait a
minute. You killed Zeltrax? But I thought…” Kim stumbled, confused.
When he’d
called her to tell about Zeltrax’s identity, it had seemed like he was torn
about what had happened, and Zeltrax’s belief that the accident had been
Tommy’s fault. But they had talked through it and Kim had done her best to
assure him that there wasn’t anything he could have done, couldn’t have known
how Mesogog would twist Smitty into Zeltrax.
They had both
hoped though that in the end that once Mesogog was destroyed, maybe Smitty
could be saved.
Now Tommy was
saying he’d destroyed that hope?
“I didn’t
want to do it Kim… but I just couldn’t see an other answer,” Tommy explained,
running a hand through his hair in his standard nervous habit and continued
pacing the floor of the living room.
“What
happened that forced you into it?” she asked, realizing that something serious
had to have happened to make him kill the being who had been his friend.
“We got
Conner the Triassic powers, I mentioned that last time we talked, right?”
“Yes, we
talked about that already…”
“Well, Kira
and Ethan can’t stay morphed when Conner’s in Triassic mode. He was fighting
with Zeltrax’s scorpion vehicle, and I realized that I had to stop him. Once
and for all time. So I jumped to his ship and gave him an ultimatum. Stand down
or be destroyed,” he explained mechanically.
“Which of
course he didn’t,” Kim guessed knowingly.
“No. So we
went at it. There was a point when I tried… God I tried to get through to
whatever was left of Smitty in him Kim, but he refused to listen. So… I did
it.”
There was
silence on the line as Kim tried to process the information he’d given her.
He’d escalated the battle. Something that Zordon had preached time and again
against. He’d chosen to stop Zeltrax permanently, even if he possibly could
have let him retreat. Instead, he’d killed Zeltrax and stopped this attack and
future ones.
Years ago,
she might have tried to condemn him for abusing the power; for not trying to
find another way. But the reality of the world had made both of them wiser.
Sometimes you had to make the hard choices. If he hadn’t done what he had,
maybe Zeltrax could have beaten him, then crushed the other rangers, paving the
path for Mesogog taking over. If he hadn’t made that agonizing decision to use
deadly force to stop Zeltrax then, one of the team could have been killed.
It was a
brutal thought… and Kim wondered for what probably was the millionth time since
she had met Zordon and been offered the ranger powers if the main reason that
teenagers were rangers was because they could still see the limitless
possibilities that older, more world-weary men and women couldn’t see any
longer.
Still…
“You killed
him? You’re sure?” Kim asked finally.
“I… I just
barely made it out of his ship before it blew up. I had really hurt him badly.
I can’t see how he could have survived,” stated Tommy darkly.
“Then you
need to make peace with it.”
“How?” he
nearly cried, the weight of what he’d done crashing down on him fully. “I
*killed* him Kim. I didn’t stop. I finally let myself be as evil as I ever was
when I was under Rita’s power. I didn’t back off, I didn’t try more than once
to bring him back to his old self. I cold bloodedly murdered him!”
“No! You
aren’t capable of that,” Kim yelled, and Tommy cringed slightly on his end of
the line. “You told me yourself that you tried to get Smitty back, several
times before this confrontation. And all of them were unsuccessful. There was a
moment when you had to make a choice handsome. And you made the only one you
could.”
“But…”
“Tommy,
don’t. Did you not just say that Kira and Ethan were unmorphed?”
“Yes.”
“And that
Conner was on his own against Zeltrax’s monster?”
“Yeah.”
“And you
realized that you needed to stop Zeltrax to protect them, make sure that they
could win. You tried to stop Zeltrax, and when he pushed you, refusing to stand
down, you killed him,” Kim stated, using his own words to paint the picture of
what had happened for him.
“I couldn’t
think of another way to stop him. We’ve just been going around in circles for
months now. We battle, we do damage and he retreats to come back. I just
couldn’t let him do that again with everything…” Tommy murmured, starting to
understand what Kim was implying.
“You did what
you had to. You protected the team. You were a leader and made the tough decision.”
“But I don’t
know how I deal with this Kim. Someone’s dead because of me. And I wasn’t evil
at the time. I was me.”
“Did Zeltrax
back down? Did Smitty break free of whatever Mesogog did to him before you
killed him? Did he not escalate the fight as well?” Kim questioned rapid fire
at him, forcing him to reflect on what had happened.
“No, but…”
“He was the
bad guy Tommy. You did what you had to do. If he had attacked the kids
outright, and you had to choose to kill him or lose one of them…”
As Kim
trailed her thought off, Tommy had to ponder. No, if Zeltrax had directly
attacked the team, and there was a thought that if he didn’t kill him that he’d
kill one of the team, he wouldn’t have hesitated in killing him. But what Kim
was suggesting was this was the same…
“It’s not the
same,” Tommy argued, though less fiercely than he had fought before.
“It is. There
was no guarantee that Conner could defeat Zeltrax’s machine. You had to make
sure that they were about not only survive but to win. And that’s what you did
by stopping Zeltrax. I know you’re not proud of the decision you made, but you
have to know that I respect you for making it.”
“I…” began
Tommy, finding himself unable to gather his thoughts. If Kim understood why he
did it, didn’t think him weak for not being able to find another way, maybe he
hadn’t crossed the line. “Thank you Beautiful.”
“You’re
welcome.”
“So, any news
on…” he started to say when a herd of elephants pounded up the stairs and
through the trap door in the kitchen. He turned to watch Trent, Conner, Ethan
and Kira all pour through the opening in the floor.
“Dr. O it was
so cool, Kira was great!” enthused Trent, not noticing Tommy on the phone.
The others
recognized the halted pacing behavior, and noted the phone stuck to his ear.
Conner and Ethan glanced at each other with a knowing look and Kira rushed
forward, placing a hand on Tommy’s arm.
“Is that
Kim?” Kira asked quietly, excitement in her voice.
Tommy nodded,
and she gave him a pitiful look. Behind her, Trent looked confused while Conner
and Ethan rolled their eyes.
“Can I talk
to her?”
“Kim, Kira’s
here and wants to talk to you…” Tommy said, and Kim smiled on her end.
“Put her on.”
With that,
Tommy reluctantly handed the phone to Kira. As Kira stepped away, he noted
Trent looking at him strangely, and headed over to stand with the men as Kira
spoke with Kim.
“Kim, hey! I
am so glad to talk to you. How is Boston? I have such cool news to tell you,”
Kira said rapid fire, not even breaking to breathe.
“Hi Kira. Things
are good. So, what’s so important that you broke in and stole the phone from
Tommy?” Kim asked, smiling at her young friend’s enthusiasm.
“I recorded a
music video. It was great!”
“That’s
wonderful. Is it good? Do I have to wait for it to air on MTV or are you going
to send me a copy?”
As Kira
explained to Kim how they’d shot the video, with the team’s help of course,
Tommy continued to note Trent’s gaze on him. Finally, he decided to ask what
the problem was.
“Trent, is
there something on you mind?”
“Who’s Kim?
And how does Kira know her?” Trent questioned, and everyone realized just how
out of the loop Trent was.
“Kim is Dr.
O’s girlfriend,” Conner explained simply, bringing a frown to Tommy’s face.
“And she’s
the original pink ranger too. They used to be an item back in the day, and now
they’re together again,” added Ethan.
“Whoa, wait a
minute… I’m lost. She’s a former ranger? And she and Dr. O are dating? You guys
need to fill me in,” Trent told Ethan and Conner.
“Guys,” Tommy
warned in a tone that said he really wasn’t happy with the turn of events, but
knew he had little control over the situation.
“Don’t worry
Dr. O, we’ll be good,” Ethan promised as he and Conner led Trent to the couch
to dish the ranger romance dirt.
Tommy turned
back to where Kira was leaning against the wall, talking to Kim. He hadn’t been
listening to her end of the conversation, but her sudden change in posture made
him focus on what she was saying, and wondered what Kim was telling her.
“Kira, I know
you’re talented, and I’m glad the second video was a better experience for you,
but I want you to remember something very important,” Kim said, her voice full
of significance.
“What’s
that?” Kira asked, looking up to see Dr. O watching her with a concerned look
on his face.
“That
sometimes the dream we have isn’t quite what we thought it was. Be careful that
you don’t loose what you have now in pursuit of it.”
“Like you
did?” Kira asked quietly, understanding what Kim was suggesting.
“Sort of. But
I got lucky. I got back some of what I lost.”
“So I
noticed. Speaking of which, Dr. O is staring a hole into me, so I will talk to
you later, and send you a copy of the video when it’s done.”
With that,
Kira held the phone out to Tommy, and he gave her a half smile and quickly
grabbed the phone. He watched as Kira went and sat by Conner and joined the
conversation about his love life and sighed.
“So, you and
Kira have a good chat?” he asked.
“Yeah. She’s
really hoping that the moron from the record company will like the new video.”
“Did she tell
you about her other video.”
“Yeah,” Kim
laughed, and then quickly smothered it. “I told her that she should be very
glad that at least Conner cares enough about her to tell her the truth.”
“Hey! We
wanted to spare her feelings.”
“You just
didn’t want her to yell at you. I know how you are Thomas Oliver. You can face
down evil monsters and travel through space and time without blinking, but
having a slip of a girl tell you off terrifies you.”
“Well, I
spent a lot of years in fear of you, so…”
Kim giggled,
remembering one of the more choice moments of their teen dating days when she’d
chewed him out for getting them caught in the rain with his jeep’s soft top
packed in his parent’s garage.
“Still, you
need to be honest. With all of them. That’s what keeps you a team, remember?”
“I do.”
“Anyway, it’s
late. I should let you go, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”
“Okay Kim.
Love you.”
“I love you
too. Night.”
Once the
words were out, she hung up the phone, and Tommy hung up as well. It was then
that he knew he didn’t have a buffer between him and the questions that he was
sure were coming. But as he looked at the young faces before him, he realized
that there weren’t any immediately coming.
Then he saw
the looks from one to another, and realized it was a momentary reprieve.
“Well Dr. O.
we came over to tell you about Kira’s video, but…” Ethan began, and his
eyebrows rose a bit in implication.
“We think
you’ve had a busy enough day. So we’re just gonna go and talk to you later,”
added Conner, getting up from the couch and reaching over to haul Trent up.
“Yeah. And
we’ll get Hayley out of here too,” Trent stated, as they all started towards
the trap door.
The guys were
halfway down when Kira stopped and spun around to look at their mentor and
teacher.
“I’ll bring
you a copy of the video too Dr. O,” Kira said simply, with a sly smile. “I
think you’ll really appreciate it.”
With that,
she hurried down into the kitchen, leaving Dr. O standing in the living room,
his mind now turning back to Zeltrax and Kim.
He hoped that
Kim really was right… that he had made the right decision and that his soul
wasn’t damned by his destroying the thing that had once been his friend.
Still, he had
done what he had to to protect the team, protect the world and, in the long
run, make sure that what mattered most to him was safe… Kim.
And at the
end of the day, he could live with that.
-End-
To be
continued…
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