Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

[morphitudinous]

How could Billy have missed this heart-wrenchingly familiar structure on all his prior trips to the City?

On a test flight of the RADBUG's improved engine, he'd happened to turn his head just the right way and spot the unmistakable scroll-like tops of a building that had been his second home for so long. The second it was spotted in the distance, he changed course and brought the car into a descent. Moments later he parked just outside the ground-level entrance.

So the only confirmed remnants of my world are myself, my Zord, the RADBUG, and the Command Center. Perhaps Tenaya as well, but her world seems to be radically altered. I highly doubt that Zordon and Alpha are inside waiting for me, but I need to investigate.

It pained him to admit it, but he was afraid of what he would (or wouldn't) find. But a Ranger never backed away from a potentially tricky situation. Even if they had to call for backup, which Billy decided would be wise when entering an abandoned building. In seconds, a quick note was typed out on his omnicom and posted.

As Billy studied the exterior he hadn't seen in what he guessed must have been almost a year, he turned his Power Coin in his palm. It seemed to feel more charged than usual. Likely to be a low-key reaction to its location, he thought.

Comments

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

By this point, Stephen was wishing he'd had a vehicle. At this point, he wasn't particular. At least he had coordinates. Not to mention the run would do him good. He'd kept himself in decent shape, all things considered, but he'd still been a smoker before his arrival here. Cold turkey was a rude awakening, but really, he was keeping that particular sourness compartmentalized and--damn it, he was proud of himself. He hadn't snapped yet.

Hopefully he wouldn't either.

His panting and wheezing was probably audible, though, as he approached the building, bent over, and put his head between his knees, just breathing in and out in an attempt to catch his breath.

[morphitudinous]

"Are you all right, Stephen?"

Billy walked over to him, concern evident on his face. Maybe he should have offered people rides from the City entrance---he'd do that next time, definitely.

"Take your time. I'm not rushing through this task." He was actually somewhat worried about what would happen inside the building.

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

He waved a hand at Billy and straightened slowly, taking a deep breath. "I'll be fine. I'm just stubborn. My comm unit is in working condition, after all." Which meant he could have asked for a ride, but he'd wanted to run all the way there.

Just making sure the "mad" still preceded the Scientist, Stephen would say. Assuming he were asked.

"Well, I doubt I'm entirely prepared for an exploration of this caliber, but I'm as ready as I can be." He was more worried about Billy's reaction, if anything. "I expect you to let me know what I'm looking for, and looking at, if you don't mind?"

[morphitudinous]

Ah, that made more sense. Billy nodded with a slight frown. "All right. Well in any case, welcome to the Command Center. As I said over the network, it was the base of operations I shared with my friends."

Once Stephen announced he was ready to go, Billy gestured for them to approach the ground entrance. "My team usually teleported in and out of the building, but without that ability we have to use the ground entrance."

And they do---the place detects Billy's Power Coin and lets them pass through the entranceway. From here, there was a short walk through an area that was almost entirely dark. Only a few distant lights reached them, and it was difficult to see where they were going. "It's not far to the main room. That area should be somewhat lighted, at least. I should've brought a flashlight," he muttered.

[sonofether.livejournal.com]

"I have a small one. I tend to load up the pockets of my lab coats. This one seems no different." True to the Scientist's words, the flashlight was small, but was an LED-driven one, so was pretty bright.

"You know, I should install a pen light in my goggles. That might work, too." He trailed off and let his brain chew on that for a few moments, before continuing.

"What do you want me to do?" Stephen's fully prepared to let Billy give him directions. While the technology itself might be easy for him to adapt to, this was Billy's home, and Stephen was well prepared to give both the building and the man as much respect as he could.

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

While Tenaya usually tended to fail miserably at social interactions from her own , there were some things she could respect.

This was one of them. This building had been an important to Billy, and as much as it was nice to have it still standing, the emptiness and quietness was disturbing.

"So, this is it?" she asked.

[morphitudinous]

And there's Tenaya. She's acknowledged with a slight smile and a nod.

"Affirmative. I'm not expecting to find anything other than the equipment inside it, but it pays to be prepared." He'd been inside once with Stephen and hadn't seen much, but there might be something in the lower levels or other rooms he'd missed before.

Flipping a freshly-acquired flashlight in his hand, he approaches the main door and holds his Power Coin out. It opens, and he steps inside when Tenaya reaches the door. "Ordinarily we'd teleport inside, but I lost my connection to the necessary equipment."

It's a short walk of nothing interesting through a flashlight-lit hallway that seems to go in a circle around the base of the building. Eventually, they come to a very dimly lit room. A blank globe sits on a stand near the entrance to this room, and a path leads from it to the ovular blue platform surrounded by control panels. Around this platform are dull silver columns that once glowed with vibrant light, and extending out into the darkness are a few dim lights that somewhat resemble a starry sky. Once, they had been brighter and more numerous.

But the biggest empty artifact in the room is the blue-grey column facing the platform. Once, a sage in another dimension had made his connection with his team of heroes here. That voice is no longer present.

"Well, this is it."

[neverwastenaya.livejournal.com]

It was strange hearing Billy talk about teleportation like it was so simple. The Rangers Tenaya had known only had access to teleportation through the Ranger Green powers, and between its unpredictability and his own ineptness with it, it was never that easy.

She looked around at the consoles, touching a few wires here and there. On some level, the technology appeared old and outdated, but in other places, it was more advanced than anything she'd ever seen. Not bad for a ten-thousand year old sage.

Finding a port she could access, she asked, "Do you mind if I plug in here? See what's in the programming?"

[morphitudinous]

Billy studied the familiar structures. It still felt like coming home after a long journey and finding that the house had been rearranged. This cold, barren place wasn't the lively action center that his friends had made it.

Upon hearing her question, he paused to think. He had no reason not to trust that Tenaya wouldn't harm anything, but he wasn't overly confident with her either. This Command Center was precious, and he wanted as much of it intact as possible while still helping the team.

But on some level he knew he had to extend her that trust---someone who had been coerced into evil needed to know they weren't distrusted because of that. He'd learned that lesson with Tommy and with himself. After another moment of consideration, he gave his approval.

"All right. I know most of this technology as well as the back of my hand, but you may find something unique. And we'll work better if we both understand what's going on." He's still slightly nervous, but curiosity over what Tenaya might find overrides that emotion.

[silverduelist]

Yzak was the type who would respond to a request for help, any bit of complaining or muttering about the degree of the situation aside. But seeing terms like teleportation system in a request was certainly something to raise an eyebrow at. It was intriguing to see what sort of technologies other people were accustomed to, especially since Yzak thought his own world was something to boast about.

Thankfully he was good at following directions, so he could be seen approaching the Command Center, eying it closely and with a barely noticeable tinge of wonder; this was still a new place to him, after all.

[morphitudinous]

Huh. He'd been escorting his newer acquaintances around the Command Center, but the person approaching now was almost entirely unfamiliar to him. One of the new arrivals, he remembered.

"Hey," Billy greeted with a wave and a friendly smile, pushing off the side of the RADBUG. "Are you here for the Command Center excavation, or did you want to talk about something else?"

[silverduelist]

"Hello," he started, inspecting the RADBUG. For all the talk of things like teleportation, the outdated-looking vehicle was just strange. But he dismissed the thought for now.

"I'm here for the former. Although I admit that after hearing about it, I'm curious about what sort of things might be in there, as well."

[morphitudinous]

"As I wrote on the bulletin board, I'm Billy. It's nice to meet you." Yes, he'd like a name before he takes someone into his former sanctuary. Luckily, he doesn't need much else.

"The primary items of interest were the giant mecha known as Zords, but I'm assuming the Zord Bays were emptied. My Zord was relocated to the vehicle bays, and the others are unaccounted for at the moment. Everything else was for communications, surveillance, teleportation, or Zord maintenance. The empty bays and some experimental workshops are on the lower levels, but the main level has a console room and a remote viewing globe that could once display a picture of any location in the world."

In Nomine Frater Sancti

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

He was almost afraid.

It was the kind of fear associated with entering a new section of this massive ship but this almost-fear turned swiftly into something else. Precisely when a paw met uncertainly with a vertical stone surface, Renne drew away as if burned by some holy flame.
This wasn't Wyvern -- he knew a castle's stone quite intimately and this was no castle stone.

He became afraid then, with the kind of fear one has upon entering sacred ground.

So Renne did the one thing he knew to do: He venerated the holy ground. He knelt, lifted his head and prayed.

[morphitudinous]

Sacred ground with Bee's scent around it, Renne, is always open to you. So don't be surprised if a certain human emerges from the building and kneels next to you for a time. Following Renne's example, Billy quietly thinks of all this place means to him. Of his absent friends.

The pain of loss isn't as bad as it could be for Billy. Someone he loves is here, at least, and that'll have to be enough for now.

[bluebrassmonkey.livejournal.com]

The scent is well known and well loved. It's a strong factor in figuring out what this may be. Scent and stone and Renne is not dim-witted in all aspects.

His hands move in slow, seemingly meaningless rings and spirals in the air. His voice quietly whispers the beginnings of a song. Fleetingly, Renne's mind reminds him that next time, if ever, he ought to wear the proper attire for coming this close. Next time, he'll cover his face and bring a blossom from the L'Langiniar chain.

Right here, right now, Renne's hands move as his voice moves, as his memory moves. From there, he offers the formation of a small gift. An offering at the foot of a sacred place.

[morphitudinous]

Renne won't hear any intruding thoughts or words from Billy for quite a while. The human is watching with reverence, wondering just what his brother might be up to. The song filling his ears is comforting to a degree, so he focuses on it and allows his happier memories to surface.

Eventually, the question on his mind is answered. He keeps his eyes on Renne before looking at the offering, silently indicating that Billy is willing to talk now.

[lol-fireishot.livejournal.com]

It took Pyro a bit longer to find the place than he intended. He underestimated the size of the city portion of the ship by... quite a lot, but with the help of the map on this little computer doodad he did finally manage to stumble upon the building. He hefted his trusty fire axe over his shoulder as he sized the place up. Seemed a shame to have to scrap it, especially without getting to see it in action. He would have liked to check out the teleportation system, just to compare it with what he knew about Engineer's teleporters (which, granted, wasn't a whole lot, but hey).

Oh, well. Job's a job.

[morphitudinous]

"Hey," he greeted Pyro with a wave, recognizing the name from the network. "I was planning to begin salvaging material from the Zord Bays today, since they're empty and Stacy's hangar makes their presence redundant. We have enough light fixtures, panels, tools, parts, and metal columns down there to make a decent addition to our stores."

Billy pointed to a few heavy-duty carts he'd cobbled together and wheeled up to the entrance. There were also several grappling hooks, harnesses, and other wall-climbing devices in his pile of Stuff, along with detailed maps of everything he was willing to scrap so it could be rebuilt someday.

"Do you need to know anything before we go in?"

[lol-fireishot.livejournal.com]

Pyro nodded as Billy gave him the rundown. No idea what a Zord was, but it sounded pretty cool (and huge, if it fit in hangars). He was highly impressed with the pile o' Stuff, especially with what it implied: this was going to be a big, long job. No need for fire and explosives, unfortunately, but at least the axe was going to get a good workout.

He gave Billy an understanding thumbs up and chucked his fire axe in the cart nearest to the structure. Time to get to work.

[morphitudinous]

That axe was impressive indeed. Billy admired it for a moment as he started to lead the way inside. He didn't take Pyro through the main chamber (no need), but there was a lift down to the Zord Bays that they would take now.

"Feel free to ask me about anything you see. I know it's an unusual place---or you could talk while we work. Some of my coworkers prefer that."

[bonnypiperlad]

It's a good thing Jamie likes walking, because he's had to do rather a lot of it to find the base. Hopefully Billy hasn't gotten too bored waiting for him to finally get to where they're supposed to meet.

The Scot glances upwards at the curiously-shaped building, tilting his head to get a better look at the structure. It reminds him almost of a crown, albeit a slightly strange one.

Give him a few minutes and he might actually remember he's supposed to be trying to find Billy.

[morphitudinous]

Huh. Jamie's expression reminds Billy of himself when he'd first entered this structure...oh, he estimated it must have been two years ago. Struggling to hide a smile, Billy makes his way over and taps his friend's shoulder.

"Are you looking for something?"

[bonnypiperlad]

He blinks as he's distracted by the tap on the shoulder, automatically looking to see who's interrupting. There's a brief smile when he sees it's Billy.

"Oh, there ye are. I was just...well, ye saw." It was pretty obvious what he was doing, Jamie figures. No need to go into detail. Especially not if he's actually found the correct place. Which, to be honest, he's not completely sure he has. He's not sure he's had the exterior described to him before - which is fair, since Jamie didn't mention what the outside of the TARDIS looked like.

"Is this your base, then?"

[morphitudinous]

"Affirmative. This is the Power Rangers' Command Center. Or...well, it was. We don't have a team to command within its walls anymore."

After a moment, he realizes that Jamie might have been confused. "Oh! I should have told you what you were looking for. I didn't think to do it because I didn't often see the exterior of this building. We usually teleported directly inside the main chamber from far away. Anyway, I'm glad you made it. Shall we enter?"

Billy strides over to the entrance, again offering his Power Coin to open the door.