Chapter 5 – Meeting The Frog

Two sparkling beams of light landed in an alley way between two tall buildings. When the light cleared Sarah stumbled for a few seconds, bouncing into the wall of the nearest building, "Dude should've warned you, teleportation takes a while to get used to", Cosima chuckled, grabbed hold of her identical in order to keep her upright. Sarah merely grumbled in response, shrugging off the American in frustration.

The clones stepped out of the alley and spotted their target directly across the street. The Black Frog martial arts studio was a modern looking building, complete with huge glass windows that enabled Sarah and Cosima to see the students working hard inside. Cosima noticed Sarah instinctively pull up her hood and slink over the street. The blue ranger rolled her eyes, even though they were invited some things never changed.

The reception area was small, only a tiny desk occupied the space. Behind the desk was an open door, something Sarah couldn't resist, "Seriously this guy is my friend", Cosima hissed towards the British clone, "he won't like you sneaking around his office".

"No harm in taking an early preview", Sarah shrugged, slipping behind the desk and into the office.

The office space was surprisingly big compared to the reception area. There was easily enough space for the clones to stand with plenty of room for several others. The area was exactly as Cosima expected, several trophies along the walls together with pictures of previous Rangers. The blue ranger immediately spotted one which the first incarnation of the Turbo team, "Wow, how nineties", Sarah commented from over her shoulder, "I forgot how short we were at that age".

Cosima wanted to disagree but at thirteen she barely came up to the shoulders of the two beside her. Then again anyone standing between Tommy Oliver and Katherine Hillard would look pretty tiny, "Size matters not", she replied with her best Yoda impersonation, "still could've kicked your ass".

"Yeah you would've tried", Sarah replied with a smirk, "I still can't believe all this is real", she continued, "how long does it take before this becomes normal?"

"My first Ranger assignment was chasing down an intergalactic pirate to another dimension to stop her marrying a lava monster", Cosima shrugged, "nothing seems weird after that". She paused and smiled to herself, "I'll get TJ to tell you his pizza story one day if you need another dose of weirdness".

Sarah merely shook her head, "No thanks, my life is weird enough already". The British clone began to scan the room, Cosima knew she was getting impatient, "Where is this guy, I though you said we were expected".

"Sarah it's the middle of the day", Cosima groaned, "he's probably teaching a class or something". The British clone wasn't listening though and began to sift through some of the papers on the desk, "Seriously can you go more than five minutes without resorting to petty larceny", she added in exasperation.

"I haven't nicked anything", Sarah replied defensively, "I can look around can't I?" Realising she wasn't going to stop her fellow clone, Cosima threw her hands in the air and let her get on with it. Eventually Sarah's roaming hands found another door, "Wonder what's through this keyhole", she mused, pushing the handle down.

Moments later the pair got the shock of their lives as something burst out the cupboard, a red light flickering through the gloom. After a few seconds though Cosima recognised the voice, "Danger, danger, intruder alert", came a robotic cry that pierced the silence. The familiar red body with a gold coloured, saucer shaped head could only belong to one individual, Alpha 6.

Alpha paused immediately at the sight of Sarah, "Cosima?" he asked, "ay yi yi, is that you?"

The British clone stood dead still in shock, staring in silence at the robot. Cosima pushed her way in front of the Brit to avoid any further awkward moments, "Actually Alpha I'm Cosima", she waived slowly at her old friend, "how've you been?"

The robot looked between the two clones for several seconds before shuffling towards the American with open arms, "Cosima it's good to see you again", the robot said as he hugged the blue ranger.

"Good to see you again Alpha", Cosima smiled, resting her chin on top of Alpha's head. The blue ranger turned to Sarah, "This is Alpha 6", she began, "he was basically our technical support, there's pretty much nothing Alpha doesn't know".

"Aw, shucks", Alpha replied, if a robot could've blushed he'd would've done right then.

"Alpha this is Sarah", Cosima continued, "I assume you've been caught up about Project LEDA and clones".

Alpha nodded in confirmation, meanwhile Sarah was still dumbfounded, "It's a robot", she finally mumbled, "I really have seen everything now".

"Oh not by a long shot", another voice called out, this one belonging to an Asian man in his thirties dressed in a black set of martial arts clothes, "you must be Sarah", he continued, "I'm Adam Park, former black and green ranger, also the owner of this establishment". Adam then turned to Cosima, "Good to see you again", he added with a smile, "it's been far too long".

"I had a self-pitying phase", Cosima shrugged, "but I've decided to get over myself". She looked around the room before continuing, "Is there somewhere more private we can talk, as you can see pretty much anyone can walk in".

Adam smiled at the pair before shutting the door, "Don't worry this place is sound proof, we might not be active Rangers anymore but you never fully retire. Once a Ranger, always a Ranger".

"Ergh enough with the cheese", Sarah groaned, "are you the person to talk to about other Rangers?"

"Direct and to the point", Adam began, "something you two clearly share", Cosima nodded with a smile, it sounded like Adam had been fully briefed about her genetic history. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a large gold coin engraved with the image of a Mastodon. He slotted the coin into a hidden recess, revealing a small computer screen and a memory stick, "You're lucky, previously Tommy kept hold of the Ranger address book", Adam stated, "until some of his students broke into his basement. That's when we decided it was better off in a safer pair of hands".

"Still can't believe he's a doctor", Cosima snorted, "bit of a career change from race car driver".

"Tell me about it", Adam replied as he clicked a button on the memory stick which displayed the stored data on the screen. The clones watched as various profiles flashed across the screen, Cosima recognised some faces from her personal experience and some others from their more recent accomplishments. The majority though were merely faces, ordinary people who shared an extraordinary secret, "Carlos shared a little bit about your current situation", Adam continued, "something about a DNA abnormality. I'll be honest I'm not sure there's too many people in here who can help".

Cosima sighed, "Probably not, I'm mostly looking for people with medical experience or at least a background in biological engineering".

"Well you could worst that starting here", Adam stopped the cycle of images on a blonde woman, "Dana Mitchell or Dan Grayson as she's now known", he continued, "trained as a paramedic as a teenager before become a fully-fledged Doctor".

"That'll be nice when one of us starts drowning in our own blood", Sarah began, "not sure she's who we're looking for though".

Adam frowned, "Is this illness that serious?" both the clones nodded, "I'm sorry, that must be awful to have hanging over you".

"Tell me about it", Cosima sighed, "I'll take Dana's details but Sarah's right, we really need someone who works in the bioengineering industry".

"If you can find us a DYAD employee that's not a total dick or wants us dead that would be a real bonus", Sarah added.

For a moment a deep look of concentration passed over Adam's face. Suddenly he broke into a broad grin, "No DYAD employees but I can do you one better". A few clicks later an image of man with light brown hair appeared on screen, "Meet Wesley Collins, CEO of BioLab Industries".

"The CEO of BioLab is a Power Ranger?" Cosima exclaimed, "Holy freaking watershed that's amazing". She caught Sarah's confused look out the corner of her eye, "BioLab are like DYAD's big rivals, like the Coke to DYAD's Pepsi. You think DYAD's presence is huge, they're nothing compared to BioLab".

For the first time in a very long time, Cosima was certain she saw a smile from Sarah. Maybe a sense of relief was a better term, "And you think this Wesley bloke would help us? What would he get out of it?" the Brit asked.

"Rangers like totally stick together, he'll do what he can to help us", Cosima replied, "plus I'm sure he wouldn't turn down an opportunity to stick it to DYAD".

"Hang on what if Rachel gets wind that we've turned to this company for help", Sarah suddenly thought, "she hates us enough already without learning that we've turned to her biggest rivals for help".

Cosima paused, the British clone made a good point. DYAD were making their lives miserable enough already, turning to BioLab could really make their lives difficult. "Well Wes is technically the Co-Commander of the Silver Guardians still", Adam's voice pierced through her thoughts, "he might not get out in the field anymore but he might be able to send a few men".

"Might need something a little more subtle", Cosima sighed, "armed heavies on patrol might draw suspicion. Worst comes to worst I can protect you", she added to Sarah.

"You might have some sweet ninja skills but you're just one person", Sarah reminded her, "plus you're really needed to work on the science stuff".

"You mentioned ninjas", Adam smirked, this time drawing up a whole team of Rangers, "you could do worse that employing some actual ninjas".

"Ninja's are real?" Cosima and Sarah asked at the same time.

Adam nodded, "I have pretty good contacts at the Wind Ninja Academy, or if ninja's aren't enough maybe some Samurai", this time another team of six appeared on screen, "the Samurai team from Panaroma City might be able to help".

Sarah suddenly looks a little pale, "Ninja's, Samurai, I think I need to sit down", suddenly Alpha extended a hand containing a glass of water, "not helping", she snapped, "I think I just need some air", with that she promptly stomped out the room. A disconsolate Alpha shuffled back into the cupboard, his shoulders slumped in disappointment

"Good thing I didn't mention that Wes's team were from the year 3000", Adam shrugged.

"She only found out about this today, cut her some slack", Cosima replied, "thanks for this though Adam, I totally appreciate this".

"Hey anything for my favourite genius", he replied with a smile, "you know it really worried us when you went off grid all those years ago", he added, "Kat and Tanya even searched several cities for us but couldn't find anything".

Guilt began to build up inside Cosima, she might've been annoyed but there was never any intension to worry anyone. Still, she found it surprising no one could find her. Maybe her disappearing act was better than she thought, "They thought they encountered you several times though", Adam continued, "as it turns out they probably ran into other clones". That grabbed Cosima's attention, just who had they run into? There was still one big burning question about Project LEDA, just how many clones were there?

"Yeah, welcome to the trip", Cosima sighed, "look I'm really sorry about disappearing, I was being a brat but I've grown up since then".

"Hey no apology needed", Adam smiled, "at least not to me. I wouldn't mind a spar against you one day, still how you've developed over the years".

"A bit rusty if I'm honest, martial arts took a backseat to science", Cosima admitted, "if you have the time I could do with knocking the ring rust off. Something tells me something big is coming".

"You're welcome any time", Adam began, "and I know what you mean", he paused and reached into his desk drawer, "I think I know what they're looking for". He pulled out five small figurines, design in the style of the Turbo team. Adam flicked the bottom of the green figure to reveal a hidden key, "They appeared out of nowhere about 4 weeks ago", he continued, "there's been reports of footsoldiers attacking past Rangers looking for these keys. I'm not sure why they appeared to me, you're the only original Turbo Ranger, everyone else had other powers".

"No idea, I gave up trying to figure out how the Power works years ago", Cosima sighed, "since they're actively looking for me perhaps you should keep hold of them, for now at least".

"Gives you a reason to come back for that spar", Adam replied and handed over the memory stick, "if you need my help, just shout".

"Thanks Adam", Cosima smiled and gave him a quick hug, "better be going, there's no telling what carnage Sarah could bring to the city if she's left alone for too long". With a final wave Cosima left the dojo, finally feeling that some progress had been made in her quest for a cure.