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ajgrey9647 · 3 months

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Frantically checking them over for injuries after a traumatic event+ Matt Cook & Billy Cranston (any timeline ^^)

An Outsider Hiding Within

“No way, kid. It’s not going to happen…”

Turning from the blinking console, Grace Sterling firmly crossed her arms over the white lab coat she typically wore when deeply embedded in one of her many ‘projects’. She claimed the garment helped to center her mind and to focus on the task at hand. Her face was stern, dismissive of any argument.

“Grace, please! I can help them! You can’t just…” Matt pleaded again, hating how he sounded like a small child.

“Yes, Matthew, I can,” she interrupted, her tone icy and clinical. “The Green Dragon powers are still in flux until I can get them stabilized and there isn’t time. Lord Drakkon and his Sentries are vicious! You have no idea what that ‘Ranger’ is capable of, but I do!”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Grace briefly closed her eyes, not wanting to recall the many conversations she’d had with the monster when he was chained in the bowels of Promethea. She’d had nightmares from what Drakkon had gleefully shared with her, hellish, brutal punishments and executions. He’d spared no detail, his eyes almost glowing with remembered pleasure.

It was almost sexual.

The older woman shook her head, trying to clear away the disturbing image.

“Lord Drakkon is a sadist. I’m not going to get into the depraved things he said while we had him contained. Just trust me when I say there are worse things than death…”

“So, you’re just going to risk Billy and the others dying at the hands of this demon?” Matt yelled incredulously. “From what I heard, they were lucky the first fucking time!”

Lifting a brow at the teen’s language, Grace clucked her tongue.

“The Rangers have experience with Drakkon, experience you don’t have. You are still learning how to fight and, when your powers are working, how to utilize the Green Dragon energy. This isn’t a video game, Mr. Cook! There is no practice run, no extra lives, no going back.”

Running his hands through his thick brown hair, Matt grit his teeth before giving in with a scream of frustration. The sudden grip of a hand on his shoulder caused him to whirl around, his face twisted in anger.

Immediately, he found himself gazing into Billy’s crystalline blue eyes behind his wire frame glasses. The tightness gripping his chest eased, replaced by the tickle of butterflies fluttering about his guts. Hoping his cheeks weren’t as red as they felt, Matt took a deep breath.

“Billy!”

“Grace is right, Matt. This isn’t the time for you to make introductions with the other Rangers, let alone Lord Drakkon. No one else is aware of what we’ve been doing here and finding out now could be a distraction we can’t afford,” the blonde teen explained gently.

Matt lowered his eyes and glumly braced himself against a console.

“I’m afraid for you guys,” he admitted. “What if one of you gets…”

“Don’t speak it into existence, Matthew,” Grace snapped, her own traumatic past closing in on her mind.

Billy settled next to the new Green Ranger, his blue Triceratops helmet clutched in his gloved hands.

“It won’t just be us,” he offered. “There are other Coinless versions of us who will be assisting. Ranger Slayer, Trini, Zack, Bulk, Skull… And the Omega Rangers are going too. Rocky, Aisha, and Adam will be staying here in case there’s a monster attack.”

Matt sighed, shoulders slumping in defeat. He didn’t like it one bit.

But there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it.

Staying behind with Grace as Tommy, Billy, Kimberly, and the Omega Rangers ventured to that dark world was one of the hardest things Matthew had ever experienced. Those were his friends walking into the path of a mad man…

Well, the White Ranger was not a ‘friend’ friend. As the new kid in school back in the day, Tommy had been a huge fucking dick, mean as a striped snake, easy to anger, and vicious with his mouth. No one wanted anything to do with his ass, including Bulk and Skull and their fellow punks.

More often than not, poor Jase sported a black eye or busted lip, sometimes even limping down the school hallways. The others in his friend group also had their turns in the hot seat, just not as often. Matt had tried to stay out of it, as Jason had insisted, until he just couldn’t stop himself.

That afternoon, during their shared lunch period, Matt had attempted to have a conversation with Jason about a class project they’d been assigned, but his friend was in so much pain he’d barely been able to talk. One hand curled protectively around his red t-shirt, guarding tender ribs. That was the last straw.

Biding his time, Matt waited behind in the locker room after gym class, pretending he wasn’t watching Oliver’s progress as his football buddies changed and made their way into the hall.

“You checking me out, Mr. Football Superstar?” Tommy hissed, his head slowly swiveling in Matt’s direction. “Put your eyes back in your head. I’m not interested.”

“Oh, I know you aren’t interested in me, dickhead. And from the look of things, I should count my lucky stars,” the other teen hissed, voice low as he dared approach the surly, green-clad student. “I’m just here to give you some ‘friendly’ advice.”

Tommy rolled his eyes in annoyance, huffing loudly, and turning to face Matt.

“And what’s that?”

Grinning broadly, the jock leaned an arm against the cool metal lockers.

“Leave them alone.”

The corner of Tommy’s mouth twitched and a strange look washed over his face.

“Let me guess… You’re their guard dog, right? Protecting your little puppies…”

Laughing darkly, he licked his lips deliberately, staring into Matt’s eyes intently. Then, the smirking teen sucker punched him, the blow glancing off his cheekbone and knocking his head around. For several minutes, the pair pummeled one another with Matt managing to get in a few lucky punches of his own despite Tommy’s martial arts skill. Fortunately, the P.E. teacher overheard the brawl and interceded, giving both fighters detention.

Knowing the truth now, that Tommy was under a spell by the evil witch, Rita Repulsa, Matthew tried not to hold his previous behavior against him. It wasn’t always easy, especially when Kimberly started dating him. And it was weird how fast he and Jason became the best of friends.

But that was a good thing, right? It didn’t mean he wanted something bad to happen to the White Ranger, who tried to make amends and atone for his cruel actions.

“Kid, you’re going to worry yourself sick if you don’t get your mind on something else,” Grace’s voice called over his shoulder.

She stood at a control panel, monitoring several different screens at once. Pulling himself from the window, the Green Ranger moved to stand beside her.

“Easier said than done. What else am I going to think about?”

The former Red Ranger shrugged.

“Beats me, Mr. Cook… but wallowing around thinking about your friends isn’t helping anything.”

Staring down at the displays flashing at random as Grace manipulated the dials, he frowned.

“What are you working on? What does all that mean?” he puzzled, trying to make sense of the data stream flowing through the monitors.

Grace couldn’t help a smirk. This particular project hadn’t been shared with anyone, not even Billy.

Yet.

“I suppose I can let the new Green Ranger in on my secret,” she teased, her eyes sparkling as they slid to his confused face. “I’m quite proud of this little guy.”

Pulling up a chair, she gestured for Matt to take a seat.

“You might not find this as interesting as Billy will, but perhaps you will…”

“As you may have been aware, Mr. Cook, Promethea was in possession of the illustrious Lord Drakkon, locked away in a secure holding cell deep within our facility. For a time anyways,” Grace began. “I had hoped and planned for his residence to become permanent, but I’m no fool.”

Flipping a switch, a large screen materialized into view before Matt’s eyes. Drakkon’s name was typed at the top with pertinent physical characteristics described below.

“I knew there was ALWAYS a risk of escape with that one. And sure enough, he managed to find a way to worm his way free and return to the Coinless World.”

She chuckled, the sound contemptuous.

“But his ‘lordship’ was unaware that he brought ‘Scout’ along with him when he departed.”

Matt’s brow scrunched and he looked up at Grace, who stood at his shoulder.

“Scout?”

The screen switched images and a blueprint appeared in place of Drakkon’s face sheet. The little robot resembled what Matt always knew as a ‘daddy long-legs”, the tiny mechanical body held aloft by eight wispy, featherlight appendages.

“Scout is a ‘spatial collector of observations and universe tracking’. This one is specific to the Coinless dimension,” she announced grandly, excited to finally be able to share her invention. “During one of my many audiences with that arrogant prick, I kept him distracted so Scout could hitch a ride in his pocket. Just in case.”

Her face darkened.

“I knew getting him to revel in his psychotic storytelling would do the trick. That made the nightmares worth it.”

Pointing at the screen, Matt shook his head.

“But what exactly does Scout do?”

Patting the Green Ranger’s shoulder, Grace grinned down at him.

“Once Drakkon crossed back into his dimension, Scout has been collecting a variety of information about the Coinless universe. Things like weather, topography, air quality, plant and animal life, which is laughable by the way. Microbes. All the nitty gritty. But the most interesting discovery…”

Again, the screen shifted, displaying a graph with a number of squiggly lines that Matthew didn’t understand. Noticing the younger man’s lack of comprehension, Grace sighed.

“I forget I have to explain in greater detail for you than I do with Billy,” she grunted.

Walking to stand beside the image, she pointed at the lines.

“From this data, I’ve learned that the Coinless Universe operates in a peculiar timestream. Basically, time is a funny thing, both within their world and between it and ours.”

Hazarding an observation and risking looking foolish, Matt spoke up.

“Aren’t they further along than us? I mean, Billy said the Coinless Rangers were older versions of the ones here.”

Tilting her head, the older woman tried to decide how to answer or explain such a bizarre phenomenon.

“Sort of, Mr. Cook. For example, the Rangers have only been gone two hours per our time table. In the Coinless universe, that could be days, weeks, months. It…changes.”

“Changes?”

Grace raked her brains to explain, but truthfully, the whole timestream was unexplainable.

“For a time, it appears we were aligned with their world. But that changed when Lord Drakkon came to power. Something happened, something ‘not good.’ There are ways they advanced and ways that they reversed the clock,” she tried. “It’s not stable. One good ‘whack’ and everything’s screwed.”

Matt jumped up in alarm.

“So they could already be dead and forgotten and we’d have no way of knowing!”

“Settle down, kid. You think with all this tech I don’t have a way to at least keep tabs?” she laughed. “That’s a little insulting.”

Another image change and the screen showed glowing images of the Rangers in their respective colors.

“See? All alive…”

Matt sank back in his chair with relief. So far, so good. But when would they be back? How would they know if there was something wrong besides being dead?

Grace was right. He needed something else to ponder. He needed to trust in his friends.

“You know, I’ve heard Lord Drakkon’s name thrown around and how he’s this crazy asshole. But I need to know everything about this dude, Grace. What if he were to find a way back here?” he growled.

“I doubt Drakkon will attempt to cross back. He’s got his happy little kingdom in the Coinless universe and almost lost it. But again, I’m no fool. It could happen. He’s not the most mentally well individual I’ve ever come across.”

Returning to the image of Drakkon’s face sheet, Grace pulled up a separate tab. This not only listed the physical characteristics, but also his history, such as it was known and had been corroborated. In the middle of the page, was a photograph and this was what caused Matthew to cry out in surprise.

“You’ve got to be shitting me, Grace! Oliver? That’s who Drakkon used to be over there?”

Grace nodded.

“Get comfy, Mr. Cook. You’ve had the cliff notes version of this monster. It’s time for a deep dive…”

By the time Grace Sterling had finished bringing Matt up to speed regarding the demonic Lord Drakkon, the young man was so stunned he couldn’t find words at first. His mouth moved as if to speak but nothing came out.

Drakkon was the Coinless world’s Tommy Oliver. Damn but didn’t that make sense…

“What the fuck…” he whispered harshly.

Grace gave a sharp nod.

“That’s the understatement of the century, but you have to remember something, Matthew. Tommy is not Drakkon. He could have been, but he chose to join the Rangers. You can’t hold him accountable for the vile things Drakkon did in his world.”

“That might be hard,” the Green Ranger confessed. “I wasn’t Tommy’s biggest fan to begin with even after finding out about the spell. But it sounds like it wasn’t just the spell making him act like an asshole.”

“Tommy’s past is sad and full of abuse, so he easily could have been what Drakkon turned into. It’s very telling that he hates Tommy as badly as he does.”

“I guess…” Matt started, when a flash of blue energy blinded the pair.

Shielding his eyes, the young man stepped protectively in front of Grace even as his brain registered that it was the Blue Ranger returning to Promethea.

And his appearance was jarring.

The blue and white of his uniform was scorched and torn, blood blossoming over the silk. His face was pale and streaked with tears. In his gloved hands, Billy clutched a thick leather-bound book.

“Oh my God! Billy! Shit! What the hell happened? Are you alright?” Matt cried, darting towards his mentor.

Grace was right behind him.

“Billy! Where are the others?”

Struggling to catch his breath, the genius thrust the book at the former Red Ranger. He couldn’t bear to have it in his possession still.

“He blitzed us… barely got away…” he gasped. “The others… at the Command Center… Told them I… had to get… here…”

Matt’s strong arms cradled Billy as he collapsed to the tiled floor, muscles shivering and heart racing. The Green Ranger quickly roved over his body, trying to assess the severity of his injuries. The special healing factor from the Grid had already started to repair the wounds and none looked to be life-threatening.

“Are they alright? Because you look bad, man…”

Billy nodded.

“Yes, but we all pretty much… look like this,” the Blue Ranger whispered. “We couldn’t end Drakkon… He’s still in power. Only he’s gloating and more riled up.”

His red rimmed eyes locked on Grace’s face and he pointed an accusing finger at her.

“Did you know about this? And don’t lie or mislead me this time! I have a right to know!”

The woman’s brow wrinkled as she briefly thumbed the pages, skimming the entries. Matt was too worried about Billy to give the mysterious book any consideration.

“What happened over there?”

Shaking his head vigorously, the blonde teen couldn’t find a way to begin explaining the explosive revelation they’d discovered in the Coinless universe. He shuddered in Matt’s arms and tucked his face in the Green Ranger’s neck.

“I failed! That’s what happened! I couldn’t fix it! And I still don’t know how… I should have found an answer! When it counted, I came up empty and he actually left with him!”

Matt put a hand under Billy’s chin and forced him to look him in the eyes.

“What are you talking about?”

Grace cleared her throat, catching their attention.

“I’ll need time to read this in its entirety, Billy. Drakkon enjoyed spending his time here discussing the sick things he carried out. From what I’ve been able to glean right here, no, I wasn’t aware of what really happened to him.”

“Who?” Matt tried again, annoyed at being left in the dark.

“Not now, Matthew. Billy needs tending to.”

And with that, she hefted the book under her arm and ducked through the automatic door.

Matt gaped after her a moment, then helped the Blue Ranger to his feet. Tears still flowed and dripped from his cheeks to dot the front of his uniform.

“Billy…”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now, Matt. I… I can’t.”

Once he’d assisted cleaning and dressing Billy’s wounds, Matt gently tucked him into bed in one of Promethea’s sleeping quarters. He hated to leave him alone, but he needed to find Grace. She’d all but disappeared after departing with the book Billy had brought back from the Coinless world.

In fact, almost no one had seen her and he was starting to worry.

The Green Ranger scoured every inch of the facility before he thought to go outside. And that’s where he found her.

She was standing near a roaring bonfire, her back to him as he approached. There was something off in the way she stood and he was surprised when the woman blew a puff of smoke in the air.

“Grace?”

She jumped slightly, trying to hide her cigarette.

“Matthew? What are you doing out here? Is Billy patched up?”

She gave up trying to conceal her vice and gave Matt a stern look, though her eyes were wet.

“Dirty habit. I gave it up a long time ago, but every now and then… Nights like tonight beg for one. Or two or three.”

She fished in a pocket of her lab coat and pulled out an orange colored plastic bottle that rattled slightly. Matt recognized it as a prescription medication bottle.

“Haven’t needed one of these in awhile either… Drakkon really has a way of bringing out your deepest fears.”

Within the flames, the young man realized that Grace had tossed the thick volume into the pit to burn. She took another puff of her cigarette and looked at where he was gazing.

“What was that?” Matt whispered.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with, kid. Let this one go. Stay close to Billy right now. He’s your focus…”

She turned back to watch the book withering into ash.

“I’m not going to be much company tonight so why don’t you get back inside?”

Wordlessly, Matt nodded as he too watched the book disintegrating for a moment. Then he turned and made his way back inside Promethea and down the corridor towards where Billy was nestled.

Except from the sound of it, he wasn’t peacefully resting.

Racing the rest of the way to the sleeping quarters, Matt nearly broke the door down before it could swish open. The screams had been terrified and his chest tightened in fear.

On the bed, Billy was sitting upright, eyes tightly shut, screaming forlornly into the darkness.

“Billy! Billy! It’s alright! I’m here!” Matt yelled over the din, hoping the teen could hear him. “You’re safe! You’re safe!”

“NO! Don’t go! Don’t do this!”

“Billy! Wake up!”

“We can help you! It’s not real! He’s deceiving you!”

Matt gripped Billy’s shoulders firmly and gave a few sharp shakes, causing the boy’s eyes to snap open. Reflexively, he pulled back, prepared to punch his attacker but the Green Ranger seized his fist and held it gently.

“Matt?” Billy gasped, looking around in confusion. “Where are we?”

“Promethea. We’re safe, we’re safe…”

Swallowing miserably, Billy burrowed into Matt’s arms.

“Will you stay awhile, Matt? I don’t want to be alone right now. I don’t want to keep seeing it over and over and over…”

Pulling back, he grinned down softly at the Blue Ranger.

“I’ll stay as long as you need me. All night if I have too. I’m here.”

He snuggled down into blankets, cuddling Billy close.

“I’ll always be here…”

#lord drakkon #boom! comics power rangers #power rangers #ao3 author #billy cranston #matthew cook #blue ranger #blue mighty morphin power ranger #green ranger #tumblr prompt #tumblr asks #fluff and angst

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