Starting Line || Carter Grayson

(6) Titanium

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When none of the tests Dana ran revealed any promising answers, our father agreed that I could go about my day as normal as long as I come to him immediately if the Cobra were to not bother me again. I decided against telling him about it bothering me again, knowing that he would just keep me in the infirmary. I didn't like being in there - I don't think anyone did.

Instead of going about my day though, Nova and Miss Fairweather had asked me to meet them in the testing lab. I wasn't quite sure what I was needed for, but after some explanation Nova had told me about a new Morpher that they thought I should be the one to possess. I thought they were crazy - after all, Nova agreed that I could hardly deal with the itsy bitsy spider, let alone a demon. Somehow though, they thought the new Titanium Morpher would be better off in my hands. I thought they were stupid for trusting me with something so important, but my father must have agreed with them since he was present during the Morphing Sequence test.

I was placed in a separate room, leads hooked up to in many of the same places they were while I was in the infirmary. My stomach turned with the audience inside the other room. Miss Fairweather, my father, Nova, and the rangers. Out of all the faces, the one I locked eyes with... was oddly Carter. He stood out from the rest - maybe it was because he was wearing my favorite color or maybe it was because his face was perfectly constructed in a way I found handsome. Whatever the reason was, we locked eyes and that's where my gaze stayed as I was asked to conduct the Morphing Sequence.

    "Here we go." Miss Fairweather spoke through the intercom.

I sucked in a deep breath, looking at the morpher attached to my wrist and then pressed the button, "Titanium Power!"

The surge of power that flowed through me was nothing like I had ever felt before. It was very different from the pain that crept up, stinging the skin of my lower back as it had already done twice before. I fell down to one knee, trying to bear the pain at power simultaneously. I heard yelling from the other side of the room and then bodies rushing into the room as the test was immediately shut down. The pain subsided seconds later, leaving me sitting on the ground trying to catch my breath.

Carter was the first person at my side, his hand on my shoulder and the other reaching for my hand to help me up.

"Are you okay?" Carter asked.

"We've got you," Nova's hand was on my other shoulder, "Maybe this test wasn't a good idea."

"Yeah, I'm okay..." I muttered, letting them help me to my feet.

I brushed the dirt off my pants as I let my hands fall to my side. Nova started unhooking all the leads, asking a million questions in the process. I half answered all of them as she fired them at me.

"I'm fine." I assured everyone when they were all staring at me. Nova placed her hand on my arm, pulling the back of my collar down and gently rubbing her fingertips across my shoulder. I watched her for a second before she pulled away and then yanked the morpher off my wrist and placed it back into a sealed case.

Miss Fairweather and my father went to speak in his office, while the other rangers started to disperse amongst the Aquabase. Carter stayed around, making sure I was surely okay before Nova convinced me to come with her. She led me to the kitchen, where she quickly changed my thoughts from the test seemingly going wrong, to thinking about my twin as we collectively made a birthday cake for him. Well, she made the cake... I couldn't bake to save my life. I burn a pan of brownies one time and she never lets me bake again...

When we finished baking the cake, Dana joined us and we headed to my fathers office. Every year on my birthday, my father and I would blow out candles on a cake in honor of myself, and Ryan. Even though it served as a painful memory, it helped. It helped us remember that Ryan is still here with us mentally - standing somewhere in the shadows of our lives and blowing out the candle with us.