trans_9 | Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

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Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

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.

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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.

"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.

Edited 2010-06-08 00:01 (UTC)

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?"

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.

"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.

Thankfully, light soon arrives. "Thank you. First I want to examine the main room, and then I'd like to enter one of the storage bays for supplies. Feel free to ask me about anything you see."

It's now significantly easier to see, and they circle around the base before entering the main chamber. Star-like lights glow dimly against the walls and a small ray of light reaches down from the tube in the front of the room, but most of their visibility comes from Stephen's light. This place definitely isn't the magnificent sanctuary he remembers.

First, Billy passes the blank globe on the stand near the entrance, and he moves to stand on the ovular blue platform where he'd received his mission briefings so many times before. He strides to one of the platform's consoles and punches in the button sequence that would have activated the viewing globe, but it doesn't respond. It's likely to be a power problem. Sighing, he turns to that empty blue-grey tube at the front of the room.

"You're not here, are you? Are you out there somewhere?"

Yes, Billy's speaking to the tube. Don't mind him, Stephen. Billy might've let himself hope against hope that a certain someone would be here to guide him.

Stephen didn't mind. Billy speaking to what seemed to him to be inanimate objects, wasn't much different than say, his father speaking to his DeLorean. Other than the fact that Pythagorus usually had some witty response.

"Do you know where the main power supply is?" Stephen was hoping against hope that it was a break in the connections or some such--that was easily fixable. Most likely it wasn't, but there was still a good chance he could use some of his Scientific 'technomancy' to fix whatever the problem seemed to be.

Stephen hoped.

Besides, he could only imagine how good it would be for Billy to get this place up and running again.

"It's on the lowest level, past the Zord Bays. But without the Morphin Grid at full power we'll be limited in what we can do. It may be possible to bring the viewing globe online or transmit messages around the ship, but teleportation would be unlikely. The grid would have to adjust to being mapped around Stacy instead of the earth. It's done that well enough for me to morph, but I don't know if it can sustain other functions."

After a moment of thought, he remembers that he hasn't told Stephen anything about the Rangers or what all of this was. "I probably just confused you, so ask me if you want an explanation on the way." And so he starts out of the chamber, entering a side path that leads to a lift. A button is pushed, and it descends slowly. Excellent, it's still working.

"A little, but I'm used to it. So, explain the Morphin' Grid to me, because I know absolutely nothing about it." It wasn't like a bunch of Sons didn't confuse the bejeebus out of each other, with all their theories and mad Science. Stephen just took it in stride, following Billy to the lift.

"I figure we'll just see what we can convince it to do, eh?"

"All right," Billy nodded as the descent started to move.

"My world had an energy biofield known as the Morphin Grid permeating it, powered by the maintenance of a balance between good and evil in the universe. I believe that mundane human activities maintain that balance, but it was thrown off by the arrival of an extraterrestrial threat. When an evil sorceress named Rita Repulsa came to Earth with the intent of conquering it, a wizard fighting on the side of good named Zordon felt the tip of the scales and this Command Center activated. He was sealed away in a time warp, but he had a communication link with my dimension through the tube in the front of the main room."

He took a breath. "He couldn't fight Rita or her minions directly, but with evil forces active he was able to give five chosen soldiers access to the Morphin Grid's power. Those who access the Grid and gain powers to fight evil are called the Power Rangers. Its power kept our entire operation alive."

They should reach the power supply soon. At the moment, they were passing the barely visible empty Zord Bays.

"Hm. I'm not good at manipulating biofields, but if it interacts with machinery, I can most likely repair whatever it meshed with, if that's broken. I can probably fix some of the energy conduits and that sort of thing, but I haven't really learned how to plumb the particular depths of living things." Clearly he was going to be getting some crash courses, though.

"Call me crazy, but I'd think that there would be some sort of similar field here, considering what we're all drawn together to do. I don't imagine it would be exactly the same as this Morphin' Grid, but we could always see if it was detectable, or if the two fields could...oh, peaceably coexist, for lack of a better term." Because a lot of Etherite technology consisted of bubble gum, spare wires, odds and ends, and a lot of hope and sheer belief. And sometimes, it actually worked.

"Worth a shot at least?"

"I can show you how the machinery is supposed to work. I memorized nearly all of it in my time here." Yes, the team's loyal mechanic loved this old place.

Stephen brings up a possibility he hadn't considered. "Stacy's unique nature may interfere with that, but it's possible. I'll have to invent some equipment in the lab and take readings, but I'll see what I can find. Anyway, we're here."

The lift had come to a stop, and Billy started to lead Stephen in the proper direction. It wasn't difficult---only one hallway existed here. After a gentle downward slope, they ended up in a small round room. In the center sat a clear gem, glowing faintly. Oddly enough, that faint glow seemed to perceptibly intensify as Billy approached it.

"This is the power supply. On Earth, it glowed brightly enough to light up this entire room and send lines of light throughout the Command Center. It powered everything from the viewing globe to the Zords. Its connection to the Grid is severely weakened, but there's still a small portion of its power remaining."

Billy placed his chin in his hand and turned the gem problem around in his mind. He was getting an idea, but it needed a little more time to form.

"I can probably help with that, though you'd know better what you're looking for. Readings and such." His goggles were built to take minor readings, after all, though the data well was probably full. Stephen wouldn't be terribly surprised if it had started to rewrite over the information he had.

Stephen did, however, notice the glow. "It seems to recognize your presence."

"Got it---hey, what are you using to take readings? We usually use our omnicoms for that purpose, but they're limited in function and I haven't seen yours." It was another mystery of Stephen's items and abilities.

Pacing around the gem, Billy nodded his agreement and held out his Power Coin. "I wonder if I could give it a slight charge. I've done something similar before. Triceratops!"

The moment the word was said, blue lightning crackled to life from Billy's coin and entered the gem, which began to take on a faint blue glow. He held the charge for several moments, waiting for the coin to noticeably weaken before withdrawing it.

Once the charge is over, the room (and the rest of the Command Center, actually) is visible without a flashlight. Everything has a blue tinge to it now, replacing the vibrant rainbow of colors from the past.

"I have a data chip I installed in my goggles. It's not fully functional at the moment, sadly, as I haven't got a place to download the data to. After the past few days, it's probably full," Stephen admitted.

"If it's not yet, it probably will be soon. It also writes over itself if I don't download it. I could probably stop it if I had to." He does wish that he'd had it set to transmit--but then again the computer that he would've set to receive is destroyed. No great help there.

Watching the flash and the lightning charge, Stephen's eyes widened behind his goggles. "I don't suppose you could explain how you did that?

"Wow, that's incredible. What sorts of data can it read?" Billy loved strange inventions. They provided plenty of inspiration for his own work, and they were just plain cool.

When that question was asked, Billy moved to Stephen's side of the blue gem and lifted the coin for him to see. Once the design on it was seen, he deposited it inside the buckle-like device he wore on his belt. "That's a Power Coin, the main source of a Power Rangers' strength. It was infused with energy by an unknown master thousands of years ago, and it now recharges its energy from the Grid after usage. Normally I use that energy to morph into my Ranger form, but it can also be used to recharge other Rangers or areas of the Command Center. Unfortunately, there's a limited supply."

"Currently I have it set for energy fields and material compositions of things. No biofields or anything like that, if there's any life energies I can't read them."

He eyed Billy's coin with some interest. "The Scientist part of me wants to take a sample, but I'd hate to actually damage it somehow, so I'll pass on it." Stephen chuckled a little and ducked his head. The last thing he wanted was to offend Billy somehow.

"Energy field detection should be useful. With any luck, it will find the Grid or something similar to it."

Traces of the Grid indeed lingered---enough for Billy to morph and a Zord to function if necessary, but not much more. As for the Coin?

"That's alright." He smiled slightly at that, knowing that he'd think the same thoughts in Stephen's shoes. "I can't offer you a sample, but I can offer a demonstration of its abilities. I actually want to see if further use of my powers will activate a reaction here."

That said, he reached for the belt buckle and hooked a fist around the back handle. "I don't believe this is dangerous, but you may want to stand back and shield your eyes slightly. It won't blind you, but intense light at this level can be painful."

Stephen wasn't too worried about the light, because of his goggles, but he took Billy's advice anyway. He was pretty sure the last thing he needed was to be laid up for a while with lightning burns or Tesla knew what else might happen.

Still, this phenomenon Billy was about to invoke was fascinating. He was going to stay just outside the "might be dangerous" radius and watch, that was for certain!

Once Stephen was far enough away, Billy smiled and took his stance.

"It's morphin' time."

A second later, he extended both arms and thrust the morpher out in front of him.

"Triceratops!"

As soon as the voice activation phase completed, the Power Coin flashed with a blue-white light. Small bursts of blue light crackled from the morpher and into the gem before they focused on racing up Billy's arms. As the lightning intensified, Billy swung his arms down and his entire body was engulfed by a humanoid-shaped blue-white light.

When it faded, a being in a strange blue and white spandex-esque uniform with an even stranger helmet stood before Stephen. This blue and white creature shrugged, the helmet tilting up as blue grid lines in the walls suddenly lit up and raced out of the room.

"Well, we've had one side effect so far." Yes, it still talked like Billy.

"How interesting," Stephen murmured to himself. He hadn't seen many transformations in his time, though he'd known at least a few...unique people. Idly, he wondered if he could preserve that particular data. Probably not in time.

He hoped he'd have the chance to witness it again. It might be worth it for Billy to have that information set.

"Well, at least that still works." Stephen paused. "Though it would probably be very bad for our cause if it didn't."

Billy fought down a faint blush. Even after all this time, it still felt strange to morph in front of people. That experience had been the team's shared secret for so long that he wondered what people felt when they watched.

Plucking the helmet off to assure Stephen that he was still himself under the costume, Billy agreed. "I didn't have access to my powers for a few months after I awakened. I wondered if they still worked, but apparently there's enough of the Grid or a Grid-like source left to power it."

Still thinking, he walks back over. "So the Command Center still responds to my presence. I don't think I can give it any more of my own power, but with an external source obtained from somewhere it may be possible to restore this place. Perhaps I'll find something on one of the planets we visit."

"I still have to get my place running, but I'll wrap my head around the problem and see what I come up with. Preferably something as akin to what you once used as the original." After all, it wasn't that Etherites couldn't use perfectly normal technology. Uncommon, not impossible.

Stephen blinked at Billy's revelation that he hadn't even had his powers for a few months after he woke up. "Billy...you're a braver man than I am, my friend." He had no clue what he'd do if he woke up and found his abilities just...gone.

"If I can be of any assistance to you, please let me know." Stephen deserves a favor in return. It's that simple.

Scratching his neck with his free hand, he blinked. "I felt uneasy without them, but it wasn't too terrible of a hardship. We'd always been taught not to rely on our powers and to learn to fight without them. That's something I'm still striving for. And whenever we did run into a threat that needed to be fought, my morpher was returned to me. To be honest, I miss teleporting most of all."

Oh, how convenient that was if he was running late for school and could sneak out of sight. Not that he ever abused it for personal gain, nope.

"I will. Mostly it's going to take a lot of clean-up, and then building computers and stuff." And the clean-up is really only going to take him using the Matter sphere to tweak things.

"I suppose I shouldn't feel so weird about it. It's never a guarantee that, shall we say 'my kind', gets 'powers'. I learned to do a couple of things without them. Like shoot a gun. And the Aikido I learned has nothing to do with them." Stephen shrugged, then blinked at Billy from behind his goggles.

"Yeah, if I had access to that, and then didn't? I'd miss teleporting, too."

Empty Hallowed Halls [Open]

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