Not a Screw Up
Disclaimer: Nope, dont own (innocently shoves the ultimate power ranger catching device under bed) at least not yet! muahahahaha!
A/N- i decided that because Cam seemed to do everything around ninja ops, i should make a rather angsty piece about it...read and review!
Cam wearily removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. His tools were spread out around him in the zord bay. The lion zord's circuits had been acting up again, so he'd offered to check them out on top of the hundreds of other things he had to do in the next few days.
Replacing his glasses, he forced himself to disregard his own tiredness, instead focusing on the wires in front of him. If he got this done, he could still reprogram the security, work on the ram hammer and maybe get two hours of sleep if he was lucky.
He pulled his hand back quickly, as a few sparks lit up the area. So that obviously was not what he had wanted to do.
The blaring of the alarms pulled him out of his thoughts. One of Lothor's aliens, just what he needed. Quickly connecting the wires he slammed the metal shut, already moving up the stairs to alert and then meet the others.
The battle was going fairly well, compared to some of their others. Lothor had sent a weaker alien, one that seemed to resemble a large potted plant. Unfortunately, not all of them got the chance to fight it.
"We need the zords!" Shane's voice echoed through his morpher. Cam quickly tapped a few commands into his computer, ignoring the flash of irritation at being elected to remain behind. He watched Hunter and Blake circle around towards the others, as Lothor didn't even wait for them to destroy it, before sending the scroll to enlarge the sad excuse for an alien.
"They're on their way." He told them quickly, watching the battle unfold. Not one of the more difficult aliens, but still, they couldn't take it down without the zords, not unless all the rangers somehow grew to be fifty feet tall in the next few minutes. Cam put that thought off as lack of sleep.
"Hey dudes-" Dustin's confused voice caught his attention.
"What is it?" He asked, bringing up the video feed on the yellow ranger.
"Where's the lion zord?" Cam froze, eyes widening. The monitor showed all but the samurai and lion zords approaching. What had happened?
"Cam what's going on?" Hunter's voice snapped him out of his momentary trance. What had happened? He'd been working on the lion's zord and…those sparking wires! They were connected to the command centre.
"There must be a problem with the wires." He snapped, fingers already flying over the keys, searching for some way to remotely fix the circuits. Nothing, it all had to be done by hand.
"I'm sending the samurai zord droid, while I see if I can fix the your zord, Dustin."
"But-"
"Just stay out of the fight for now!" He snapped, cutting off Dustin's reply. Pushing away from his desk, he made his way quickly down the stairs, further into Ninja Ops. The zord bay was almost deserted when he entered, moving swiftly over to the large mechanical animal. A few loose wires were hanging out, that he hadn't noticed before. Pulling open the console he grabbed the wires, momentarily grimacing when it burned his palm, before reconnecting them.
"Okay, I'm sending it out." Cam stepped back, speaking through his morpher, trusting cyber Cam to do the rest.
"I'm serious! It just froze!"
"Didn't Cam just look at it?"
"Big green and leafy nearly beat us because it froze!" Angry voices filtered through the haze surrounding him, as Cam sat up, wearily rubbing at his face. So he'd dozed off for a bit apparently and the other rangers were already back. Angry? He could hear Dustin, Blake and Shane's voices growing louder, they all sounded angry- scratch that, furious. What happened now?
"Cam seriously!" He raised an eyebrow as Dustin came bounding down the stairs ahead of the others. The normally passive ranger was slowly turning red.
"What were you thinking?!" That would be Shane then.
"I don't know what you two are talking about." He said slowly, annoyed with the melodramatics. Shane stalked up until he was looming over the samurai's chair, forcing him to stand up to keep eye level.
"The Lion zord!" He hissed, Dustin and Blake flanking him.
"I fail to see the problem, I fixed it and sent it to Dustin." Shane went to grab his arm but was intercepted by a pissed off blond.
"Hey! Cut it out Shane." Hunter placed himself in between the furious air ninja and the samurai.
"Dustin could've been killed and you're standing up for him?" Cam froze, about to tell Hunter to move. Dustin could have been killed? How?
"What are you talking about?" He asked out loud. Hunter moved slightly off to the side as Tori joined them. Shane's eyes narrowed even more if possible, as Cam finally noticed how Dustin seemed to be holding his chest.
"Dustin's zord froze. It was nearly crushed with him in it."
"That's impossible, I just-"
"Yeah, yeah, you fixed it. We get it, way to go." Cam visibly flinched, his mind working over time trying to figure out what went wrong.
"Listen, Cam, this is like the third time something this big has gone wrong…maybe you should let cyber cam work on the systems a bit…" Tori suggested quietly. Wait, now she was ganging up on him too? He worked his ass off for these people. Attempting to calm himself, he counted to 10 mentally, squeezing his eyes shut. They were all being affected by something lately, something playing on their emotions, he needed to stay calm.
"I'll fix the lion zord, one of the wires probably came loose."
"Came loose?" Blake repeated dubiously.
"That's what I was working on before."
"Cam, how often do the wires come loose on the zords?" Hunter asked from next to him. What? Now Hunter was on his case too? He shoved aside the flash of hurt. It was stupid, letting his feelings take control of him.
"I've been a little busy lately. I was distracted-"
"Because you were distracted, Dustin nearly died!" Shane exploded.
"Maybe we should get Dustin down to the infirmary." Tori cut in, forcibly shoving Cam and Shane apart. Cam glared, then turned away, tapping on a few keys.
"I'll get the supplies."
"I think you've done enough." Blake added hastily, speaking up before the air ninja could say anything else. Cam stared dumbfounded as Shane and Blake helped Dustin down the stairs, Tori glancing back guiltily before following them.
He felt Hunter's stare on his back, as he turned to match his gaze.
"What?" He snapped. It felt like the blond was studying him and he didn't like it. Didn't like the feeling that someone could see right through his mask.
"Maybe…" Hunter paused, hesitating, "maybe they're right. I mean, you should let cyber cam do more around here." He added quickly at the glare he was receiving.
"I'm doing fine by myself." Cam turned away, a feeling of betrayal threatening to suffocate him as he grabbed a small backpack off his chair and headed up the stairs to work on the security system without a backwards glance.
He could feel the glares and wary glances directed at him. He chose to ignore them; instead sliding under his desk, fixing one of the many problems that seemed to of made its presence known.
Cam grit his teeth, determined not to let the others get to him as Shane and Blake chose to talk loudly about his screw ups, across the room. What irked him even more was the fact that the others had chosen to basically ignore him all through training. Even his own dad was showing how displeased he was with him.
Hunter wouldn't even talk to him, probably so he wouldn't get on his brothers bad side. It sucked having feelings for his friend. Friend. Yeah, cause his so called friends were really showing what they thought of him now. This is why he didn't let people close to him in the first place.
The pounding in his head had doubled over the past few days and he'd resorted to surviving on coffee and the odd piece of fruit. Not much, but it'd do. The pounding matched the throbbing in his hand from the burn he'd sustained the other day. It had already been two days, how much longer were they going to keep this up?
"Irresponsible and unreliable." The words drifted over to him, breaking through his barrier. A wave of anger and sadness washed over him, as he pushed himself out from under the desk, keeping his eyes on the ground as he made his way down to the zord bay.
"Cam!" He sat up with a start, his head hitting the metal object above him.
"Whah?" He muttered, replacing his glasses from where they'd slipped down his nose. He was sitting on the floor in one of the many closets, an open circuit breaker above him. Right, he'd been working on the alarm systems and must of dozed off. According to his watch, he'd only been asleep for around an hour.
"Cam!" The door swung open, revealing an angry blond. "There you are!" Hunter stood before him, glaring down at him as he climbed to his feet. "Why didn't you answer us?" He demanded.
Cam's confusion melted to anger. Now Hunter was mad at him too?
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Your morpher. We tried to contact you, sensei needed to talk to all of us."
"Fine." Cam grit out, forcing the hurt out of his voice as he tried to step around the taller man. Hunter didn't move from his spot blocking the doorway.
"Fine? Cam, what would have happened if Lothor had have attacked?" Cam glared defiantly up at him.
"I fell asleep. I'm sorry. Is that what you want me to say?" He snapped, pushing his way past the blond.
"Cam, wait!" He ignored Hunter, continuing up the stairs to where the remaining rangers and his father sat.
"Cameron, where have you been?" He heard the silent, you're late echo around the room.
"I was…working and fell asleep." Cam chose to ignore the whispering coming from the back of the room. He also chose to ignore the thunder ranger that had caught up to him.
"You cannot let this happen again. Lothor could of attacked and you would have been unprepared." Not responding, the samurai took his seat, keeping himself further away from the others. Blue eyes kept darting anxiously at him as his father droned on about responsibilities and teamwork. He had the feeling that the former was directed at him.
As soon as he finished, Cam practically ran up the stairs and out into the woods, letting his feet direct him away from the others.
His feet led him to a small graveyard. Head stones of various sizes covered the small field, various tree's casting small patches of shade. Cam followed a well-worn path to the farthest row. A small head stone sat at the base of a maple tree, moss slowly creeping up the stone.
He hadn't been there in years. Since before he had started training in secret.
Kneeling in the soft grass, he pulled off his glasses, thankful for the bright after noon light.
"Hey mom." His fingers reached out, tracing the letters engraved in the stone. "Sorry I haven't visited in so long." Absentmindedly, he pulled pieces of moss and grass off the stone, mouth moving of its own accord, spilling out all of his troubles.
"I keep screwing up, nothing I do seems to work anymore." A dry, humourless laugh escaped his lips. "I actually thought that he would take my side. I wish you were here. My mother, not the ninja from the past." He paused, grinning sheepishly. "Although the Miko that had the amulet was you as well." Folding his legs, he leaned back against the stone, staring up at the sky. "You would tell me to be strong, to face my problems. But what happens when your friends are you enemies?"
It was just his luck that he ended up sparring with Shane. Out of all of them, Shane seemed to harbour the most negative emotions towards him, which was currently coming out in their training. Cam ducked, just barely missing a vicious spinning kick, as he attempted to knock the ninja's feet out from under him. The result ended with Shane on his back, glaring up at him.
Reaching down, he offered a hand up; instead the air ninja chose that moment to retaliate.
All the breath was knocked out of him, as Shane's fist impacted with his chest. Stumbling, he managed to right himself, with the help of a strong arm wrapped around his waist.
Hunter was yelling at Shane, he realised dimly as it slowly became easier to breath. Hunter's arm wrapped around him. Shrugging off the arm, still angry with the blond, Cam turned, facing the angry air ninja.
"Fine, we'll fight that way." With a move that was guaranteed to send the younger man flying, Cam's movements became a series of blurs. Unfortunately, Cam was slowly becoming more and more dizzy, so when he did hit Shane, the ninja merely stumbled backwards.
His sparring partner growled, sending out a burst of air that sent the already weak samurai crashing backwards onto the padded mats.
"Cam!" His ears were ringing, adding to the massive headache that seemed to have been rising to a crest over the past few weeks. Worried blue eyes appeared above him, fading in and out along with his vision.
"What did you do Shane?" That sounded like Tori, except she sounded angry. He should be the one that was angry; he was the one that just got knocked across the room.
He was just too tired to be angry at the moment. The exhaustion that had been threatening to overtake him finally did, as Cam, oblivious to the frantic voices around him, closed his eyes.
This was not his room. He was sure of it. For one thing his room was not equipped with snoring. Nor was it this cold.
Cam shivered slightly; feeling whatever warmth had been covering him, slip off his shoulders. His eyes felt like someone had pasted them shut, encouraging him to return to his unconscious state. However his mind had other plans.
Forcing his eyes open, he took a minute to let them adjust. Cupboards, counter, medical kit, sleeping Hunter, sterile looking walls- he was in the infirmary. Wait- sleeping Hunter?
Cam sat up, trying not to jostle the prone figure, sitting in a chair next to his bed, head resting next to Cam's knee. What was Hunter doing here? Last he checked the blond had been mad at him.
Deep blue eyes gazed blearily up at him.
"Morning Cam." He mumbled, eyes slipping closed again.
"Hunter?" The blue eyes shot open again as Hunter rushed to sit up, nearly tipping his chair over in the process.
"Cam! You're awake!" The samurai merely raised an eyebrow, taking in the blonds dishevelled appearance. "You've been out of it for two days."
Two days? Shane hadn't hit him that hard. No wait- it must have been from the lack of sleep. He had so much to catch up on, had to repair to zords, tighten up security, fix the bugs in cyber cams program…He swung his legs out of the bed, closing his eyes at the wave of dizziness that washed over him.
"Hey, where are you going?" Hunter demanded, coming around the table to stand in front of him. For the first time he realised he was dressed in a pair of sweat pants and nothing more.
"Well, first I'm going to my room to get some clothes, then I have to get back to work." He replied dryly, walking by the blond.
"You need rest." A heavy hand landed on his shoulder, urging him back to the bed.
"I need for irritating ninja's to stay out of my way so I can clean up after their messes, their mistakes and their problems!" He snapped, shrugging off the hand.
"Cam, I'm only trying to help-"
"No! That's the problem!" He rounded on the blond "There never is any help." Pausing and composing himself, he turned away, hand on the door handle. "I'm sorry. It's not your fault. I'll rest when Lothor's gone; right now I need to keep Ninja Ops going." With that he opened the door, leaving the dumbfounded thunder ninja where he was and wondering exactly when he had stopped sounding like himself.
It was too quiet. They were up to something.
Cam had arrived at Ninja Ops about five minutes before, shopping bags in hand, only to find the normally loud ninja's no where to be found. That was suspicious in it self. There weren't any alien attacks, no dire emergencies, so where was everyone?
He found Shane in the kitchen.
"Hey bro." Cam raised an eyebrow at the greeting, placing the bags carefully on the kitchen counter.
"Shane." He said carefully. "You're talking to me?"
"Yeah, of course." Shane replied cheerfully, grinning at him.
"What are you doing?" The air ninja stood, surrounded by various vegetables and meat.
"I'm making lunch." Okay, so he'd apparently stepped into an alternate dimension on his way back.
"Why?" The air ninja was humming away cheerfully, chopping up a carrot.
"So we can all eat." Cam nodded carefully, wondering if someone had slipped something into his breakfast, except he hadn't had any and the smells of something cooking made his stomach growl appreciatively.
"Um, where are the others?" Maybe they knew what was going on with Shane, that was of course if they would talk to him.
"Oh, zord bay, infirmary, you know, around." He was starting to suspect that this was some new ploy of Lothor's to lure him into a false sense of security, when really all it was doing was making him paranoid.
Boxes. Everywhere. The medical lab was covered in boxes of various sizes and in the middle stood Blake.
"Blake. What possessed you to do this?" He asked, carefully stepping around a large box full of gauze.
"Oh, hey Cam didn't see you there." The thunder ninja picked up a smaller box, placing it on a shelf. "Decided this place needed to be restocked and reorganized."
"Did you or Shane happen to inhale some of the fumes from the zords?" Blake stared at him, confusion written on his face. "Just asking."
"So, I'm moving the gauze to where it's easier to reach cause we use a lot of that, and went out and bought more ice packs, because we were running low." Cam looked around impressed and slightly disturbed.
"I'll just leave you to your work then." He backed out of the room quickly at Blake's wave, afraid that if he blinked it would all disappear.
So, now he knew he was hallucinating. Otherwise, he would not be seeing Tori, Dustin and his father in the zord bay, scrubbing the zords. Guinea pigs were not normally supposed to be seen with sponges bigger than themselves, removing dirt from the dolphin zord.
"What are you guys doing?" Cam demanded. Tori glanced down from her perch on the lion zord, looking slightly guilty.
"We're washing the zords."
"I can see that." He replied, rolling his eyes. Dustin scrambled down off the zord, landing near him.
"Dude, I can totally see my reflection now!" Weren't these the same people that had been furious with him just the other day? What had happened?
"Dustin, are you feeling okay?"
"Never better!" The earth ninja beamed at him.
"We just decided to help around a bit." Tori came up beside them, sensei on her shoulder. Help. Hadn't he said something about that to Hunter? "That's the problem! There never is any help" But how had the others-Hunter.
"Alright, I know what you're all doing." Tori glanced around innocently.
"We're not doing anything. We're only helping around a little bit."
"Where is he?" Cam demanded, looking around the zord bay.
"Where's who, dude?" The samurai glared at Dustin. "Uh, he might be outside working on the security system…"
Cam took off running. Hunter was messing with his equipment! There was no telling what damage the blond could do or have already done! He passed by the still humming Shane, taking the stairs to the portal two and three at a time. Bursting outside, he looked around wildly.
Sitting off at the side, holding one of the camera's sat Hunter.
"Hunter don't touch that!" The blond glanced up, startled.
"Relax, I know what I'm doing." Cam's eyes narrowed as he stalked over to the ninja snatching the equipment away from him and inspecting it carefully.
"There's nothing wrong with it."
"You sound surprised." Hunter drawled, pulling the samurai down onto the grass next to him.
"I am." Cam admitted, checking the camera over again.
"I've been watching you fix these for long enough to know what I'm doing." He placed the camera next to him, instead his anger from before returning.
"What's going on with everyone?" He demanded, eyes flashing.
"Chill, we're just helping out around Ninja Ops, you were the one that wanted help." Hunter tensed, annoyed.
"Oh, so you all hate me for a week and then all of a sudden want to help me. Yeah, that happens all the time." Sarcasm laced his tongue, putting a guilty expression on the blonds face.
"I deserved that. We completely overreacted." He gestured towards the portal. "This was our way of saying sorry for being…well you know." Cam sat there quietly, studying the younger man.
"What brought on the change of heart?" He asked finally.
"When you and Shane were sparring and you got knocked out." He made a face. "Scared the hell out of me, that was when we realised just how hard you've been working. It's all this stupid energy that's building up, it's getting on all our nerves."
Cam nodded, digesting the information. He knew too well the extent of this energy build up. Something else caught his attention though.
"Wait- you were scared?" Hunter's face turned pink, as he averted his eyes.
"Yeah. Um, there's something I should tell you, that I probably should of told you before, but I didn't and instead got angry at you instead of getting angry at myself for being a wimp." Hunter reached down, plucking absently at a few blades of grass. "Okay, so just promise you wont punch me for this, but Ireallylikeyou."
"Huh?"
"I really like you." He repeated, slower this time, finally tearing his gaze away from the ground to meet Cam's eyes.
"Oh." Cam kept his gaze, tilting forwards a bit. "You have a funny way of showing it."
"Yeah I know, I was pretty stupid, wasn't I?"
"To say the least." Hunter glanced away again, only to have his face tilted so he was eye to eye with the samurai. "I really like you too." The blond barely had time to look surprised before their lips met, slow and easy. Cam tilted his head, deepening the kiss, before pulling back, enjoying the flushed looking ninja before him. "But," He continued, "You're going to be working on a lot of security systems to make everything up to me."
"I'm done Cam." Cam looked up as the blond hoisted himself up on the samurai's desk.
"That was fast." He commented, tapping a few keys into the computer to check that the cameras were set up properly. "They all work." He grudgingly admitted. "That's all the work I have for you, you can head out if you want."
Hunter merely shrugged, showing no intention of leaving, glancing over at the computer screen. "What'cha working on now?"
"Systems diagnostic."
"Which cyber cam could do, right?" Cam paused in his typing, looking up.
"Yes." He finally answered, studying the blond next to him. "Why?"
"New movie playing in town, supposed to have lots of things blowing up." Cam raised an eyebrow, arms folding over his chest.
"Are you asking me on a date?" Hunter merely grinned, standing up. Cam sighed, standing as well. "I suppose cyber cam can do some of the work for now."
"Great! And I was thinking dinner afterwards."
"We'll see."