***

Metropolis was a city that never slept, but this time it was even worse. The Pan Global Games had made Metropolis their last stop of the season. There was a lot of excitement surrounding these games. The last ticket for next year’s Olympics was the big prize today. Everyone looked forward to seeing who would win in the battle between Cherry Checkers and Kimberly Ann Hart.

It was a lazy Sunday for Clark Kent and Lois Lane. For once, no stakeout interrupted their weekend and no Superman had been needed; they were just spending a lazy Sunday together with their 3-month-old son, CJ. The child was about 2 months when he appeared in the crib a month ago. Clark’s mind took him back to the moment where they learned who his parents were and why they had chosen to give the child to Lois and Clark.

***

FLASHBACK

Two weeks ago, Lois and Clark had just received the news they were officially CJ’s parents. Lois was sitting, in black sweatpants and an old shirt of Clark’s, on the couch in their living room on Hyperion Avenue. She was feeding their son. Clark sat next to them, looking at his wife and his son with pride.

“I am still curious how he got here, Lois.” Clark sighed while he thought about how they had found the baby one night in the crib with a letter saying, ‘Lois and Clark, this child belongs to you.”

“I know, Clark. I know, but on the other hand, he is ours now. Nobody can take him away from us.” Lois looked at the little human in her arms.

“I know how it feels to not know where you come from. I just wish I could answer that for him, the moment he is old enough to understand that he is adopted.” Thinking about it brought back memories of his own childhood. “It’s the not knowing that kills you, Lois.”

“I can’t say that I understand you, Clark, but I can try to imagine what you went through...” Lois was stopped in mid-sentence by a knock on the door.

Clark used his X-ray to see who stood at the front door. “I can’t believe it!”

Lois was curious now. “Who is it, Clark?”

“Lady Zara and Cheng!” Clark stood up from his sofa and walked to the front door to let them in.

“Greetings Clark!” Lady Zara warmly embraced her first and official husband (on the planet New Krypton, that is). She still had much respect for Clark, who had chosen to stay on Earth with his wife and only love, Lois.

“Greetings, Lord Kal-El!” Cheng wasn’t very happy seeing Clark again. It was a reminder that he never could be officially married to Lady Zara. They had found a way to be together as ‘partners’. However, a partner on New-Krypton was less than a husband, and because they didn’t believe in divorce on New-Krypton, he would forever be just her ‘partner’.

Lady Zara poked her partner in his ribs with her elbow.

“What was that for?” Cheng asked angrily.

“Watch what you call me on the street. If the wrong people hear my birth name, I will be recognized as Superman. You need to call me Clark in public. You can call me Kal-El only in front of Lois and my parents.”

Clark sighed, “Come in! Lois is feeding our son in the living room.”

Clark wanted to step aside but was stopped by another voice exclaiming behind him, “No, she is not! Lady Zara, Cheng!” Lois tried to greet her visitors politely, but she mostly feared that they had returned to take Clark away from his family. Zara noticed the hostility.

“I will not take him away from his family, Lois,” she reassured her, “but may we enter and explain why we are here?”

Lois nodded, still holding CJ in her arms. “I am going to put him in bed; I will be right back.”

Clark stepped aside and let his visitors enter his home on Earth.

“Do you have some of those sugary things you call food?” Lady Zara and Cheng had been waiting for a reason to visit their lord on Earth, and their reason was the little human that Lois was putting to bed now.

Clark smiled and motioned for them to sit down, Clark used his super speed, and within seconds he had filled the coffee table with coffee and biscuits. Lois had rejoined them once CJ was sleeping soundly.

“I will come straight to the point, Clark. We are CJ’s birth parents.”

Lois and Clark were stunned, but they stayed silent in the hope Lady Zara would explain some more, which she did.

“I want to tell you this, not to have a role in his life but because you should know that he is fully Kryptonian. We heard of your problem, and we thought of you as a solution to our problem.”

“Which problem did you face? Lois asked, jumping in reporter mode. “Not that I am complaining that you chose us though.”

“You know, Lois, that Kal-El and I are still married, and because we can’t divorce on New-Krypton, he will always stay so until he dies. Don’t worry Lois, I have no right to take him away from you against his will. That makes Cheng my partner, but partners have fewer rights than husbands. For instance, he can’t rule over me nor over New-Krypton, though he can advise me. There is another rule about partners: they can father only one child. It was a disaster when I found out that I was pregnant with my second child, because the normal rule is that the child will be killed or adopted secretly by the husband. That is why I sent the baby here. We know that humans and Kryptonians aren’t compatible for reproduction, and we knew how much you wanted a family. So we sent the baby here to save his life. Here are the Kryptonian papers saying that the baby is yours and Lois’.” Lady Zara handed the papers to Clark and embraced him.

Cheng stayed silent. It had been Lady Zara’s idea to give the child to Clark and Lois. He respected Clark as his Lord but no more than that. He hated the fact that he still was only a partner. His son would be raised by the man who had all rights over Zara.

END FLASHBACK

The winner of the Pan Global Games was now known. Gymnast Kimberly Hart had not only won gold but also the last ticket for gymnastics. Therefore, Kimberly was going to the Olympics next year.

ANGEL GROVE:

Rocky, Aisha, Adam, Kat, Billy, and Tommy sat in the juice bar; they all had gathered together to watch Kimberly win. But there was something strange. It was time to receive the gold medal, but Kimberly was nowhere in sight.

“This is nothing like Kim. She was too excited to go to the Olympics,” Aisha said, still confused when Kimberly never showed up. Tommy agreed with her. Tommy was still proud of her, although it had only been a week since she sent him a ‘Dear John’ letter to break up with him.

“Kimberly would never disappear like that. Let’s talk to Zordon; surely, he will know more about this. Maybe he can tell us where she has gone too. I have a bad feeling about this guys.”

They stood up and walked to a place where they were out of sight and with 6 colorful beams disappeared from the Juice Bar to reappear in their second home, the Command Center.

But no luck there, Zordon could only confirm what the group of teenagers already knew. Kimberly had disappeared, and there was no doubt that Rita had something to with it as usual.

“The only thing I can say is that you will need to go to Metropolis and look for clues if these are just criminals. Please don’t interfere – they have their own superhero there called Superman. If you need help, you can contact Lois Lane and Clark Kent from the Daily Planet. Give this to Clark without someone noticing. He will know then who you are and why you are here. Don’t worry about your identity’s rangers. Clark Kent is the hero Superman, so he knows all about keeping a secret! That’s all. Be careful rangers and let the power protect you all.”

The group nodded at the big floating head in the time-tube, they were ready for there next adventure.

Metropolis...

Zordon had given Tommy and his team the address where they could find the help they needed.

“This is it, guys, The Daily Planet,” Tommy announced while looking at a building with a globe in front of it. The group walked in and looked around, taking in everything they saw, until they came to a desk.

“Can I help you?” a young brunette asked from behind her desk.

Tommy noticed the woman and stepped towards the desk.”Yes, we are looking for Clark Kent and Lois Lane!”

“Do you have an appointment with Miss Lane and Mister Kent?” The brunette acted very friendly towards the group of teenagers.

Tommy shook his head. “We are friends of the missing gymnast Kimberly Hart, and we heard that they were the best investigative reporters in town. We wanted to ask them for help.”

“I will see if they are available. Wait here in the lobby for a moment please.” The brunette took the phone and dialed Lois’ number.

“Miss Lane, there are a group of teenagers here to see you and Mister Kent. They say they are friends with the missing gymnast Kimberly Hart, and they wanted to talk to you and Mister Kent about it. Is that possible for you?”

The group listened to the respectful way the brunette talked to Miss Lane before she nodded and put down the phone.

“Miss Lane and Mister Kent expect you upstairs. You can take the elevators to the third floor.”

“Thank you, Miss,” Tommy said politely before the group walked towards the elevators. Tommy was their commander, so they trusted him to do the talking for them. Besides Billy, Tommy knew Kimberly better than the rest of them.

Lois was watching over her husband’s shoulder as he looked over some information about the missing teenager when the bell of the elevator rang. Lois and Clark looked up from their work and noticed a group of six colorful teenagers. One of them, a young boy dressed in white with long, brown hair in a ponytail walked out first. He was followed by a young man in a red shirt, a young blond man dressed in blue, an African-American woman dressed in yellow, a young Asian guy dressed in black, and lastly, a beautiful blond girl with bright blue eyes dressed in pink. They all walked towards the desk that had the golden name tag, Clark Kent, on it.

“Clark Kent?” asked the one with the long ponytail.

Clark nodded. “I am Clark Kent and this is my wife, Lois Lane.” Clark reached out his hand towards the young man who gladly reacted by also reaching out until their hands met in a handshake.

“I am Tommy Oliver; I have a letter for you from an old friend,” Tommy said vaguely. Clark accepted the letter and started to read.

Dear Clark,

It’s been a long time since you have heard of me. I still remember the day that I told you how you reached earth with my help.

These are my Power Rangers. Please help them to find their former teammate Kimberly Ann Hart.

They know your secret, but don’t worry – they deal with secret identities too. You can rely on their help wherever you need it during their stay in Metropolis.

Please help them.

May the power protect you all.

Zordon.

“Zordon,” whispered Clark. Lois looked confused. “Who is Zordon?” she asked quietly only for Clark’s super hearing to notice.

Clark sighed, “I will tell you when we get home, but I can tell you this. Zordon saved my life when I was a baby.” He then turned to the group who was waiting anxiously for a response. They had no idea that Clark knew Zordon.

“I want to invite you to our house on Hyperion Avenue later and to have dinner with us. We will be finished in a few hours. Let’s meet outside The Daily Planet at 6pm; that will be in about two hours. We will take a look at what we still can find out.” Clark noticed the relieved smiles on the teenagers’ faces.

“Thank you, Mister Kent, Miss Lane, we will gladly accept this dinner invitation,” Tommy replied with a smile.

The hours passed. The group had walked around in Metropolis, seeing the sights but not forgetting why they were here. They had visited the place where Kimberly was last seen but found nothing that could give them a lead as to what had happened. They had a few ideas, though they weren’t sure this time. But if their instincts were right, this would be one hell of a fight.

The clock showed 6pm, and the friends were waiting outside of The Daily Planet, just in time to see Lois and Clark walking out of the building.

“Nicely on time I see,” Lois quipped.

The group smiled before following the reporter too there home on Hyperion Avenue.

“Please sit down.” Clark motioned towards the living room.

“Thank you, Mister Kent. I know we didn’t introduce ourselves properly, but can we speak freely here?” Tommy asked.

“Yes, Mr. Oliver. My wife Lois knows my secret, and I trust her with my life. You can trust her too and please call me Clark.” Clark smiled. Lois looked confused now. How did these teenagers know his secret? They have never seen Superman.

“Thank you, Clark. I see the confusion in your wife’s eyes, let us clear everything up now. I am Tommy, Ranger Commander and White Ranger. This here is...” He paused, pointing to a young man in a red shirt beside him. “This is Rocky, the red ranger, and next to him in blue is Billy – he’s my second in command, and the brains behind the team. Next to Billy in the black clothes is Adam the black ranger. And the sweet ladies behind them are Aisha, who is dressed in yellow, and last but not least our Pink Ranger Kat.”

“Glad to meet you all. But what confuses me is how did you know about Clark?” Lois asked, trying not to be too hostile towards their new friends.

“Zordon told us about him, but don’t worry we know how it feels to keep such a big part of your life a secret,” Adam said in his own gentle way.

“Speaking of Zordon, how do you know him?” Rocky asked. This was one thing that had been on his mind since they started this mission.

Clark sighed, “He saved my life once when I was a baby. I was born on a planet called Krypton, but my parents sent me to Earth because Krypton was about to explode. I learned later, about ten years ago, that there was a miscalculation, and I was heading for a black hole in space when a strange beam led me to Earth. I also learned that Zordon had been a friend of the family before he was captured ten thousand years ago. My family used a special device to keep in touch with him. He beamed me up ten years ago and told me the story. He brought me to Earth with that beam! I owe him so much. He brought me to the love of my life, and he brought Superman to this earth.”

The group was silent. Zordon had saved his life, and he had never told them that.

“How did you get in touch with Zordon?” Lois asked curiously.

Tommy looked towards Billy. He was the best one to tell the story because he was there from the first moment. “You tell the story, Billy!”

Billy cleared his throat. “We were beamed up by Zordon and his assistant the robot Alpha 5, and we... I mean my friends and former rangers, whose identities I will keep a secret, you know because they aren’t here to give their permission. One of them was Kimberly Ann Hart, a former pink ranger and predecessor of Kat, who fought the evil sorceress Rita Repulsa, the one we suspect to have taken Kimberly from us. But with her being a celebrity we can’t be sure anymore.

He paused a few seconds before continuing. “Tommy wasn’t always our commander: Rita had turned him evil, and he started his career as our toughest enemy yet. Once our former leader broke the spell, he joined us as the sixth ranger. Some time passed and Tommy lost his green powers, but he ultimately was chosen to wield the white ranger powers. Right before our former leader and two friends left for Switzerland, he became our leader and our commander. Rocky, Aisha, and Adam were chosen to follow in my friends’ footsteps as a ranger. The team stayed that way until Kimberly got the opportunity to train in Florida and chose Kat, who also started out as our enemy, to take her place. I forgot to tell you that Rita married the even more dangerous Zedd.”

Everyone looked up when the phone rang in the house. “Hello?” Lois asked politely.

“Lois, it’s Jimmy,” sounded from the other side of the phone.

“Hi, Jimmy. What do you have for us?” Lois asked, sounding scared for once.

“Turn... Turn on the news channel, I still can’t believe it...” Jimmy said before he broke the line.

“Jimmy asked us to turn on the news channel,” Lois said in a confused voice to her husband. Jimmy had acted kind of strange.

Clark turned on the news channel and was shocked by what he saw, more shocked than his new found friends.

It was all over the news, something they had never seen in Metropolis. A silver wolf with yellow, glowing eyes, was walking through the streets on his hind legs. His teeth glinted in the sun, his long fangs dripped with blood. Long, black nails, sharp enough to cut through metal extended from the end of each paw.

“Come on rangers! I know you are in this city today! Come out, come out wherever you are!” growled Wolfator. He lifted a car and threw it in front of him.

Lois was shocked when she saw the monster on the news channel. “Clark, what are you going to do? You’ve fought bandits, burglars, heck even assassins but never something like this.”

“There has to be a first time for everything. Lois, don’t worry, I will show this monster he is in the wrong town,” Clark growled before he spun into his suit.

“Clark, wait, let us handle this. We are used to this monster, and this is the answer we are looking for. This has Rita and Zedd written all over it. My guess is that they have Kimberly too,” Tommy said before Superman could leave.

“I understand, Tommy, but I can’t sit by and let you handle everything. I have sworn to protect this city from every evil. There is not much that can hurt me anyway.” Superman was not going to sit this one out.

“Don’t say that too loud, you don’t know Rita and Zedd as we do,” Rocky responded. He was trying to let Clark see reason.

“Clark, listen to them, you don’t know what you’re up against,” Lois said, a bit worried. “This is not your typical Lex Luthor.”

“I am going too, and that is final,” Superman said stubbornly, “and while we are discussing something we all know that is useless, the monster destroys more and more of the city. We have no time to lose.”

Tommy nodded, “Alright, Clark, but if it goes how I think it will go we need to handle the 30 stories tall version of the same monster after we have defeated him. We need you to step aside and let us handle it alone. We can’t risk your life.”

Superman sighed, “Deal, I’ll see you guys there!”

Tommy looked at his team and gave a slight nod. Lois, on the other hand, stepped aside. She didn’t know what to expect. She saw the group nod back to him in response. She was going to witness what the power rangers really were.

“Ninja ranger power now!” Tommy yelled. They all made a bow movement above their heads to end with their ninja sign. The group of teenagers were gone; in there place stood 6 multicolored ninjas. The group made their way outside, almost running into Jimmy who stood in front of the door, ready to push the doorbell.

Jimmy looked at the group of multicolored ninjas and ran inside. “Lois, Lois are you alright?”

Lois shook her head. “What? Oh, hi Jimmy. I am fine.”

Jimmy looked back towards the front door. “Who were those people?”

“The power rangers, no time to explain, we have a scoop to get. Come on, Jimmy! I will ask my neighbor to watch little CJ. “ Lois ran out of her house; she wasn’t going to lose this one to the Metropolis Star!

Lois knocked on the door of the house next to theirs. The sweet Mrs. Avery had moved to an apartment closer to town. She rented her house to a nice couple with a teenage daughter. The woman of the house was a housewife, and she had promised Lois every time she needed to go away she would babysit little CJ.

“Hi, Lois.”

“Hi Helen, can you watch CJ for a moment? He is asleep now so he won’t be too difficult. I will be back in an hour or so, but there is a scoop I can’t skip now.”

Helen was a sweet lady in her late 40s with blond hair that just reached her shoulders and green eyes.

“Sure, Lois. I am not doing anything at the moment. I would love to babysit that little sweetheart.” Helen laughed sweetly.

“Thank you, Helen, I owe you big time. My pager number is on the fridge in case of an emergency,” Lois said before she gave the spare key to Helen and took off after Jimmy who already stopped a cab.

Helen closed her door and let herself in Lois and Clark’s house. This wasn’t the first time Helen had watched over CJ. There wasn’t anyone better to trust their son to.

Maybe it would soon be time to let Helen in on their family secret. She would talk it over with Clark. If she was going to babysit, she needed to be prepared to see him float or worse set the room on fire. Clark had received his first powers when he was 13, but was every Kryptonian baby the same?

Superman stopped in front of the monster. He floated a few inches off the ground to look straight into the face of the Wolfator.

“You are in the wrong town, pall!” Superman said, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Who the hell might you be? Muscle-boy?” The wolf growled. “This is none of your business, blue-bird! So beat it, before you get hurt!”

“This is my town to protect so that makes it my business, and the name isn’t blue-bird or muscle-boy, the name is Superman!”

“Out of my way, blue-bird!” the wolf growled before he smashed Superman against an apartment building.

“You can handle one man, try the six of us,” Tommy yelled. “It’s Morphin Time!”

“White Ranger power!” Tommy held his morpher in front of him. The rest of the group followed his example, all saying their own color. By the time they had morphed into their power suits, Superman was floating behind them, as if nothing had happened.

“Make that 7 guys!” Superman said, looking straight at the silver wolf.

Zedd was watching everything from his throne room in his moon palace. His vision reached earth easily; you could say he had even a better vision than Superman.

“Who is that blue guy in tights helping the rangers?” Zedd asked his wife who was watching through her telescope.

“I have no idea, but did you see how he survived that smash? He can’t be human, that’s completely impossible. I know someone who might know who that Superman guy is,” Rita responded to her husband before yelling for Finster.

Finster was a strange mix between a goat and a dog. He was the scientist of the moon palace, and he knew everything about other planets, legends, etc...

“You called for me my queen?” Finster said with his typical high pitched voice.

“Yes, Finster, look through my Repulsa scope and tell me what you see!” Finster obeyed his queen and looked through the Telescope. He looked at the battle on Earth. He saw a man in blue tights send the Wolfator flying.

“What can you tell me about that man helping those power punks?” Rita asked her minion.

Finster was shocked. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The son of the Kryptonian ruler Jor-El was still alive.

“My queen, this is clearly a human from the planet Krypton,” Finster answered his queen Rita Repulsa.

“That is not possible Finster. I blew up that planet because they wouldn’t surrender to my ruling!” Lord Zedd responded to his minion. He knew that Finster wasn’t lying, but he couldn’t believe that someone had escaped.

“I am sorry to tell you Lord Zedd, but I have even more bad news,” Finster said, his eyes locked on the floor.

“Well, what is it, Finster!” Rita yelled in her one high voice.

Finster sighed, “Did you notice the symbol on his chest? That is the symbol for the House of El. This is Jor-El’s son, Kal-El, supreme ruler of the survivors on New-Krypton.”

“That is impossible, Finster. He couldn’t have been more than 3 months old. If that’s Kal-El, I still lose the throne over New-Krypton. I can’t let that happen.” Lord Zedd started to glow red from anger.

“My Lord, Kal-El is invulnerable, even Lord Nor was defeated by him.”

“What if we make him surrender, Zeddy?” Rita Repulsa said.

“What did you have in mind pumpkin?” Zedd said. He knew that look in his wife’s eyes. She had an idea.

“Take what is most important to him, his wife and child!” Rita laughed evilly. “We can put them with that pink brat. Although, I want to examine the baby. If he is Kryptonian, I want to keep it and raise it to do evil biddings for us!”

“My darling wife, that is a wonderful idea. Let’s do it, and we will give Tommy and his power brats a dilemma of their own.” Lord Zedd now laughed along with his wife.

“Goldar!” Lord Zedd yelled for his minion. A 6 feet large blue monkey appeared, wearing a golden armor and a golden helmet. He was carrying a large sword and had black wings on his back.

“Goldar, take some putties and capture that strong man’s wife and child, and Goldar don’t come back without them. You can bring the wife to the dimensional prison where she can keep that pink ranger company. Bring the baby here, we have other plans for him first!” Lord Zedd said evilly. “Oh and leave this little note while you are there!” Zedd gave his minion the note addressed to Kal-El.

“Yes, my lord!” The golden monkey bowed towards his master.

The Wolfator was weakened by the hit Superman gave him, but he wasn’t defeated yet. It was only then that the white ranger noticed a collar around the wolf’s neck. “I think if we can manage to remove the collar that we can defeat him,” the ranger commander said to his team and Superman.

Tommy took Saba from his place at the white rangers hip. “Saba, remove that collar.” Saba rose in the air and aimed his laser towards the blue collar. The collar snapped.

The ranger commander turned towards his Super companion. “Superman, I give you the honor to smash the Wolfator one last time!” Tommy said, raising Saba in the air as a sign to go.

Goldar took that moment to land behind Lois Lane. People started to run in all directions, but Lois remained still. The power rangers and Superman turned around just in time to see Goldar disappear with Lois in a circle of light coming from his magic sword.

“See you later, Power brats!” Goldar laughed evilly

“Lois!!!” Superman yelled but he was too late, Lois was gone.

At the same time as Goldar had taken Lois, the putties – human looking, gray creatures made of a special clay by Finster with a Z in the middle of their chest and on their knees – had appeared in the home of Lois and Clark and had taken little CJ and his nanny, neighbor Helen.

“Alpha, start a search for Kimberly. If we are lucky, she will have some residues of her powers in her body, enough for us to find her and Lois,” Zordon said, keeping an eye on his ranger commander. Tommy was taking it very hard that Zedd had captured Kimberly yet again, and what if what Zedd said was true? What if she was pregnant with his child? Why hadn’t she said something about it?

Superman turned towards Zordon, “What about my son? Do you know if he is still alive?”

Zordon sighed, “I don’t know for sure, Superman, but I fear that if your son is alive, he is being held in the palace because I didn’t notice him in the images. Alpha and I have been prepared for this and made you a coin of your own.” Alpha walked towards Superman, holding in his hand a morpher with a coin bearing his symbol.

“Thank you, Zordon, but I am invulnerable,” Superman interjected, confused.

“You are invulnerable from earthly things, like bullets, but we don’t know how effective your powers will be against Lord Zedd’s and Rita’s magic. I want to be sure that you are protected by the morphin grid,” Zordon declared to his new ranger.

Tommy walked towards Superman and reached out his hand. “Welcome to the family of Power Rangers, Superman.”

Superman smiled, still a little surprised by these events. “Thank you, Tommy, and please as long as nobody is around who doesn’t know, you can call me Clark. When I am wearing the ranger suit, you can call me Superman or Kal-El.”

“Where did the name Kal-El come from?” asked Rocky, confused. How many names could one man have?

“Kal-El is my birth name from Krypton. My full name is Lord Kal-El from the House of El. I don’t need to explain to you that I don’t want anyone to know my real identity.” Superman laughed.

“How do you know all of that? Do you have any memories from your time on Krypton?” Adam asked curiously. They couldn’t do much as long as they didn’t know in which dimensional prison Kimberly, Lois, and Helen were being held captive. Alpha and Billy were doing their best to find them as soon as possible.

“A few years ago, we were investigating a group of people led by a man called Jason Trask. He was convinced in his own sick way that I was here to lead an invasion on Earth and that I was a danger to the human race. We found out later that he was the leader of the group who called themselves Bureau 39. The group had found and stored the spaceship that brought me to Earth in the year 1966. That ship carried a globe and had some sort of navigation system. I couldn’t take my ship back, because it was way too big and Lois didn’t know about my origins at the time, but I was able to retrieve the globe. That globe spoke to me through a hologram of my father months later and that is how I know who I am on Krypton and where I came from,” Superman said, noticing that Tommy had walked out. He understood very well where Tommy’s thoughts were at the moment.

“Where did Tommy go? Maybe we should go and see if he is alright,” Kat suggested, clearly worried about her commander. She knew his heart still belonged to Kimberly, and it always would be hers especially if it was true that she was carrying his child.

Superman placed a hand on Kat’s shoulder. “Let me go; I think I know what he is going through at the moment.”

Kat nodded. Superman was right. Due to the capture of Lois and his son, and the uncertainty of whether his son was still alive, he knew how to best comfort Tommy.

“You might need to stand back a little, I am going to change suits.” Superman laughed as the others nodded and stepped back. Superman looked around him before spinning in a blur of colors until he stopped, and suddenly Clark was standing in front of them in jeans and a shirt that was glued to him like a second skin. But he looked odd without the glasses he was wearing when they first met him. “Didn’t you wear glasses earlier, as Clark I mean?” Aisha asked, confused.

“The glasses are as much a disguise as the Superman suit is. I don’t really need them,” Clark said while he placed his morpher in his back pocket.

Clark walked out of the Command Center and found Tommy leaning against the wall, staring over the desert, “How are you holding up?” he asked the long haired teen. Surprised, Tommy turned his face towards Clark, quickly hiding the fact that he had been crying by wiping his face with the palms of his hands.

“You don’t need to hide your pain from me, Tommy,” Clark said as he walked towards Tommy.

“Clark, is there something wrong? Did they find anything?” Tommy asked. It was obvious where his mind was at the moment.

“I am sorry Tommy, but they didn’t find anything yet. I wanted to be sure that you were alright,” Clark said as he turned around to enjoy the silent sounds of the desert.

“I will be fine...” Tommy stopped in mid-sentence and turned his gaze to his feet. Clark could hear the teen sigh before he looked up again. “I am not alright. I am worried sick about Kimberly. I keep asking myself the same questions over and over again: What if Zedd is right and Kimberly is carrying my child? What if we can’t find them in time?” Tears ran over Tommy’s olive colored skin and fell in the warm sand.

“Have faith. We will find them, and we will make Zedd and Rita pay for what they did to them. That is how I keep myself straight.” It was time for Clark to sigh deeply.

“Here I am worrying about my ex-girlfriend and the fact that she may or may not be pregnant when you know nothing about the fate of your son.” Clark wanted to respond to what Tommy said but stopped when he heard footsteps and a voice calling them. It was Adam. “Tommy, Clark, we found them!” The two men looked at each other before following Adam inside.

“Talk to me, Billy, where are they?” Tommy was back in commander mode.

“They are in the dimensional prison where he held Kimberly earlier, you know when Zedd possessed her power coin,” Billy said happily. He was glad that they could reach them with his machine.

“Can we still go through the back door, Billy?” Tommy asked curiously.

Clark looked confused now. “The back door?”

“A device I invented that can create an alternate doorway when the normal doorway is out of our reach. It’s called the portal com.”

“ Where is the portal com, Billy?” Tommy asked anxiously

“ Here it is!” Billy took the portal com from out of Command Center’s secret weapon chamber and rejoined his friends.

“Let’s go and save them. Ready guys?” Tommy asked his ranger team.

“Ready,” the group answered simultaneously.

“It’s morphin time! White Ranger power!” yelled Tommy, once again falling back into leader mode, his voice full of confidence. The rest followed his example, yelling their specific color. Clark waited until the others had finished before morphing for the very first time, excitedly yelling super ranger power!” It was like he knew exactly what to do. His suit transformed into a blue color with a mixture of red and yellow stripes on his chest and in the middle of those stripes, his Superman symbol was visible.

They opened the portal com right where Goldar had taken Lois Lane. Billy, Aisha, Adam, and Rocky stayed with the portal com to protect them from Lord Zedd. They had agreed that two of them would stay with the device the whole time and the other two would remain as back up for when Zedd would send his ugly black birds, the Tenga’s. They learned their lesson the last time Zedd had captured Kimberly. Tommy and Superman had just walked through the portal com when the four other rangers heard the infamous cawing. Suddenly, the big crow like creatures flew out, ready to take the portal com down yet again.

“Ready to pluck some Tenga’s, Rocky?” Aisha quipped, readying herself for a fight.

“I’m really hungry for some roasted Tenga!” Rocky quipped back while following Aisha’s example and getting into a fighting position.

Goldar appeared again in the dimensional prison, a sort of cave in an unknown place on Earth. Unknown to everyone except for Zordon and his rangers.

“You will regret this, monkey face!” Lois yelled, struggling to get free. Goldar only laughed when he pushed Lois in her cell. Kimberly stood against the wall of the cave, her arms crossed over her chest. “Just wait, the rangers will be here soon, and you will regret this, Goldar!”

Goldar laughed again. “I am not afraid of those pathetic rangers nor that blue bird flying with them! They need to be quiet or Miss Lane and her little boy could get hurt!”

Lois jumped up against the prison walls but was hit and fell against the wall on the other side of the cell. The force-field was too strong. “You will regret this Goldar!”

The putties chose that moment to arrive with Helen and threw her in the same cell as Lois and Kimberly. Helen was still unconscious.

“Leave my son out of this! Do with me whatever you want but leave my son alone!” Lois yelled through her tears. Kimberly embraced the devastated mother. Lois curled up on her side and cried into Kim’s shoulder without looking up to see who was comforting her.

Lois calmed down after a while and looked in the eyes of the young woman. She knew this woman. “You are that missing gymnast, Kimberly Ann Hart? Your friends are looking for you! The power rangers! They teamed up with Superman.”

Kimberly smiled. “Yes, that is me. How did you know that the power rangers are my friends?” Kimberly peered at Helen who was still unconscious.

“My husband, Clark, is in reality Superman. Zordon had saved him and brought him to Earth when he was a baby,” Lois said, smiling back at Kimberly. Something about her made her feel safe, like everything would turn out fine.

Kimberly sighed, “I was afraid that Tommy wouldn’t be looking for me.”

“He is the one with the ponytail?” Lois asked carefully.

Kimberly nodded. “I made the biggest mistake in my life. I sent him a letter to break up with him.”

Lois looked at the woman in front of her. “Why would you do that? He looked like a sweet boy!”

Kimberly sighed, “I didn’t want to be a burden. You see, he is the commander of the power rangers. He doesn’t have the time to be a father.”

“You are pregnant?” Lois asked, amazed.

Kimberly nodded again. “The baby is his. I let a friend get into my head; she said that he would leave me for another and that I needed to break up first before he broke my heart. I don’t know why the hell I even listened to her. I hope I can ask him for a second chance.”

“I bet you can. They are searching for you, and they will be searching for me too. I am worried about CJ though. I couldn’t handle it if something happened to him.” Lois sighed, tears reappearing in her eyes.

“The rangers will save them, I am sure of that!” Kimberly smiled. “We both need to believe that everything will be just fine!”

Superman was shocked when the blue monkey flashed away with Lois. He turned around towards the rangers, who sensed that he was a little agitated now. “Do you know that freak?”

Tommy sighed deeply. “Yes, unfortunately, we do. That was Goldar, one of Rita’s loyal minions. He is probably the one who kidnapped Kimberly too. Don’t worry, Superman, we will save her.”

Superman’s breathing started accelerating very quickly when something else dawned on him. If he was right, then they would regret ever crossing that line.

“White Ranger, could you handle this here without me for a while? I need to check something. I want to know if my son is safe.”

Tommy saw the panic in his eyes – the panic of a father who was afraid that the well-being of his son could be in jeopardy. The white ranger nodded towards Superman, who took off with the loudest sonic boom Metropolis had ever heard from him. The ranger commander didn’t have time to panic as the Wolfator grew thirty stories high.

The white ranger nodded towards the rest of his team.”Ready, guys?”

The rangers startled when they saw the monster fly past them, ending up 100 feet from where they were standing. They ran towards the monster only to find an enraged Superman beating the wolf to a pulp.

“Where did they take my son?” Superman yelled while choking the silver monster. He kept banging the wolf’s head into the street.

“I...ugh...don’t...ugh...know!” the Wolfator tried to grit out while Superman was choking him.

The furious superhero yanked the collar from his neck and was about to end the monster once and for all. “Before I kill you, make sure that your master knows that they have no clue whom they are dealing with here. Tell them they have crossed the line when they took my wife and son.” Superman groaned through his teeth. He didn’t give a damn who heard him say that. Never mess with an outraged superhero. Superman raised his fist and smacked it in the monster’s face who exploded immediately.

The power rangers stood there shocked by what they just saw. They knew he was strong, but never in there whole life did they think he would singlehandedly take care of a thirty story high monster made with the magic of Zedd and Rita.

Tommy walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We will find them and get them back to you.”

Superman stared at where the monster had just been. “I am coming with you, so they will know that they have crossed the line of my patience.”

“Do you think that’s a wise decision?” Tommy asked curiously. He didn’t know if and how his powers would work.

“I am going with you, Tommy, end of discussion,” Superman said. Tommy knew that he would do it with or without their permission, and maybe he could use his powers.

Tommy smiled. “Alright, let’s see what Zordon can figure out for us, okay?”

Superman couldn’t do anything but agree. He would have gone immediately without thinking but these weren’t your usual bandits. They practiced evil, black magic and no matter how badly he wanted to save his wife, he knew that he needed the assistance of the rangers and Zordon.

“To the Command Center, guys!” Tommy said without removing his hand from Superman’s shoulder. Tommy pushed the button on his belt and disappeared in a white beam, accompanied by Superman in a blue and red mixed beam.

They appeared again in the middle of the Command Center in front of a large tube holding a floating head.

“Welcome, Clark, I was expecting you,” Zordon said while bowing his head.

“Thank you, Zordon, and thank you for saving my life so many years ago. Now, my family is the one who’s in danger,” Superman said, still trembling from the rage he had been feeling moments earlier.

“I am aware of that Superman. Alpha has already started a scan to find the prisoners,” Zordon said, trying to reassure the man in red, blue, and yellow.

Tommy walked next to him. “Zordon, I can understand why he would take Kimberly, but why would he take Superman’s family? What had he to gain from it?”

Zordon sighed, “I have no clue, Tommy.”

Zordon had just responded to Tommy when a heavy voice sounded from behind him, “I can give you that piece of information, Tommy!”

Tommy rolled his eyes. “Not again!” he whispered beneath his breath so quietly that only Superman heard him.

The superhero looked at his long haired friend. “What do you mean, not again?”

The ranger commander sighed deeply. “Just turn around and see.”

A man, made from muscle tissue and iron, appeared in the big globe in the corner of the Command Center. He was sitting in a large throne made of stone and was holding an iron wand with a big Z on top.

“I really want to know how he does that!” Adam sighed towards Billy.

“Yeah, I need to do some modifications after this is over.” Billy sighed.

Rocky looked as shocked as he did the first time that it had happened. Kat looked confusedly towards Aisha who explained, “This isn’t the first time he appeared like that. This is the second time now. The last time he kidnapped Kimberly, he managed to do the same thing.”

They all looked toward the globe but like always it was Zordon who reacted. “What do you want now, Zedd!”

“First, I want to say hello to our new friend, Lord Kal-El of the House of El. I have your family here in my prison.” The view changed, and it now showed images of Lois, Kimberly, and Helen surrounded by a force-field and strange gray creatures. The images changed again and showed more gray creatures watching over a baby, CJ. “You see they are still alive, Kal-El but not for long if you don’t resign the throne of New Krypton over to me! Not like your parents when I destroyed Krypton!” Zedd laughed evilly

Superman’s jaw tightened before speaking again, “First of all, I am not your friend; secondly, I can’t do that, Lady Zara rules over New-Krypton! You will regret ever double crossing me, Zedd!”

Zedd laughed. “ What are you going to do about it? You may be invulnerable from things on Earth but don’t underestimate my power, you little blue pesky bird!”

Tommy laid his hand on Superman’s shoulder again. “Don’t let him get to you; we will stop him and save your family.”

Tommy turned again towards Zedd. “What about Kimberly, Zedd!”

Zedd laughed again. “Yes! Tommy, all I want are you power coins, and I will take good care of her since she’s pregnant! You will have until tomorrow evening.”

The globe went blank again, and everyone was left shocked at what Zedd had said. Kimberly was pregnant with Tommy’s child. This time it was Superman’s turn to comfort Tommy by laying his hand on his shoulder.

He turned towards Zordon. “What can we do?”

outside the cave

Super-Ranger and the white ranger stepped out of the portal. The super ranger looked around before placing a hand on his temporary commander. “We will save them, Tommy, but be careful. There is one thing I haven’t said. As you know, I saw my son on the images in the hands of some of those gray puppets. So we both have much at stake here. I just wanted you to know that I will do everything to make sure everyone will be alright. I have your back.”

“Thank you, Kal. Let’s kick some puppets!” Tommy said, trying to maintain his confidence.

Kal just nodded before they ran inside the cave.

back in the cave

“Please leave my son alone!” Lois yelled while Kimberly held her back. She knew that Lois wasn’t used to being a prisoner behind a force field. Her heart broke hearing her son cry.

“Look out for the force field, CJ can’t have a wounded mom you know,” Kimberly said, trying to keep her away from what looked like visible electricity.

Kimberly had just calmed her enough to keep her away from the electrified prison bars when Goldar appeared again. This time he stood at the side of the putty guarding little CJ.

“Come on! Lord Zedd and Rita are waiting for their special guest!” Goldar laughed.

“Say goodbye forever, Mommy!” Goldar mocked, grinning sharply at Lois.

“Over my dead body!” boomed a voice before Lois could react. Everybody looked towards the source. Lois knew that voice, but she didn’t expect to see him like this.

“Let him go you overgrown monkey!” shouted yet another familiar voice. Kimberly looked and saw a familiar white power ranger suit appearing next to one she didn’t know. Lois, on the other hand, seemed to know the strange ranger.

“Who is the new guy?” Kimberly whispered towards Lois.

“That is something I would like to know. Are we too tough for Zordon’s power brats that they needed some help?” Goldar laughed.

Lois didn’t answer, though she didn’t know how to address him either. Should she call him Superman or not? He wasn’t exactly in his Superman suit. Lois looked at Kimberly, and it was like she understood what Lois was trying to say: to wait until the coast was clear and to ask again then.

“Sorry, I’d like to chat a little more, but Lord Zedd expects his new heir.” Goldar laughed and disappeared surrounded by four putties and little CJ. Super Ranger had taken off at super-speed the moment Goldar lifted his sword to transport him and the putties back to the palace. But even with the extra speed given by the super ranger suit, he was still not fast enough.

Kal shook his head in disbelief but didn’t have long to brood over his defeat. Suddenly, a storm of putties split into two groups and ran to both Tommy and his new teammate.

“Aim for the Z on their chest, Kal!” the ranger commander yelled. But Kal had already destroyed his part of the gray clay puppets due to his rage and super-speed.

Tommy kicked the last two putties in the chest. “We really could use you permanently.”

Kal laughed but didn’t answer him. He too was having a great time with the rangers.

“Now, let us start freeing these three lovely ladies,” Tommy said while wielding his magic sword Saba, earning him a small smile from Kimberly and Lois.

Tommy held Saba in front of him and cut through the force field. Kimberly pushed CJ’s babysitter, who had watched everything silently out of fear for her life, through the stone pillars holding the field together.

Tommy held his arm in front of the mouthpiece of his helmet. “Zordon, would you please send the babysitter home?”

Zordon used his special citizen beam to transport her safely. That beam took a lot of energy out of him. He couldn’t use it for the power rangers though – both energy beams couldn’t work together and it could be dangerous for them. It could mean their death.

Lois was the second one who tried to walk through the two stone poles but bounced back when the force field reactivated itself.

“LOIS!” yelled Kal, fearing that Lois was hurt.

“Kal, use your weapon, it will take care of the force field!” Tommy’s voice boomed out of the communicator.

“Super diamond!” yelled Kal. It was like he had worked with the rangers from the start instead of this being his first mission. The super diamond was his shield from the House of El! The shield in diamond form was placed on the stone pillars and interrupted the force field.

Lois jumped through the pillars and ran right in the super ranger’s arm. “Please save our boy, Kal!” Lois said not keeping the hurt out of her voice.

“Thank you, Tommy!” Kimberly smiled.

“Come on! Let’s go! We need a plan to save a little boy!” Tommy said, trying to give Kal and Lois some confidence.

The super ranger placed his arm around Lois’ shoulder, Tommy placed his arm around Kimberly, and the four of them walked through the portal. Billy and Adam were happy to see that Tommy and Kal had succeeded. “Where is the child?” Adam asked, confused.

“We will explain everything in the Command Center,” Tommy said, looking in front of him and watching the Tenga’s fly away.

A voice sounded in front of them. It was the voice of the red ranger. “They chickened out, yeah!” Rocky laughed giving a high five to Aisha.

They looked behind them and saw the tears on the face of Lois. Rocky’s happiness died down once he realized they were here without the child. The mission wasn’t over just yet.

“Lois, grab the arm of one of the rangers,” Kimberly said gently while she herself grabbed Tommy’s shoulder.

Lois nodded and took Kal’s arm before the rangers grabbed their belt and pushed their morpher, transporting them back to the Command Center.

“Welcome back, Kimberly and welcome, Lois Lane,” the floating head said gently. Lois looked around while the rangers powered down again.

“Where am I? Clark, what it this? Why the new suit? Where did they take our little child?” Lois asked, looking from Clark to the rangers to Alpha 5 before finally facing Zordon again.

“I know you have a lot of questions dear Lois but know that the rangers will not rest until they have your child,” Zordon said from inside his time tube.

“Who are you?” Lois asked again, going back to reporter mode.

“My name is Zordon of Eltar, and I am the rangers’ mentor!” the blue head said.

“So, you are the famous Zordon who saved my husband when he was a baby?” Lois interrogated. “What’s the deal with the suit my husband is wearing?”

Clark rolled his eyes at his wife’s mad dog mode. “Lois, leave the man alone, will you? We are here to save our child!”

“It’s quite alright, Clark but first let’s give Lois and Kimberly a check up. We will start with Kimberly and her baby’s health. Alpha 5 will scan you now,” Zordon said softly.

For Kimberly, it was routine to have Alpha scan her body with the small body scanner.

“You and your child are in perfect health, Kimberly. Congratulations,” Alpha said before he walked towards Lois to do the same thing.

“Yeah, congratulations, Kimberly!” Tommy said a little angrily before he walked off. Kimberly was startled by the pain she heard in Tommy’s voice and ran after him. They needed to sort this out and fast. She hoped that he would understand her reasons.

Kat looked at where Tommy had disappeared and was about to walk after them to give Kim a piece of her mind but a hand stopped her. “They need to sort this out on their own. I know you want to help Tommy, but you will make things worse if you are planning to interfere,” Lois said while Alpha was scanning her.

“But she left him in so much pain with her letter!” Kat argued. “I don’t want that to happen again.”

“I see that you care a lot about him, but they have to get through this. It will be the best thing for the unborn child,” Lois said softly

“But I love him too, and I can’t stand the thought of him being hurt again by her,” Kat said sadly.

“You are in full health too, Lois!” Alpha interrupted happily.

“Thank you Alpha, Zordon.” Lois smiled towards the robot.

“Lois is right, Kat. You may not like it, but they are going to have a child together if it’s Tommy’s,” Adam agreed, coming to Lois’ aid.

“It is, she told me that she only slept with Tommy,” Lois stated, answering the question they all wanted to know.

“We all were there when he received that letter, but Lois is right. They need to solve this. and the only thing we can do is support them,” Aisha said, placing a hand on Kat’s shoulder.

“What about my little boy?” Lois asked Zordon with tears now in her eyes.

“Billy is doing everything within his power to locate the baby, which isn’t easy. We need to be sure of his location before we can do anything else,” Zordon replied sternly but with compassion for the parents.

Clark embraced his wife. “We will save him, Lois.”

Lois placed her head in the crook of Clark’s neck and started crying uncontrollably.

In the meantime, outside of the Command Center, Tommy sat with his back against the wall, staring in front of him. He hadn’t noticed that Kimberly took her place next to him or if he did, he didn’t show it. “Why didn’t you tell me about your pregnancy?” he asked suddenly, hurt clearly audible in his voice.

“I didn’t want to be a burden to you,” Kimberly said in a soft, small voice.

“Were you ever going to tell me, or would he be at my doorstep in 18 years?” Tommy asked, but Kimberly didn’t know how to answer that question so she stayed quiet.

Tommy looked beside him and saw Kimberly looking at the ground, playing with the edge of her shirt.

“I didn’t want to be the reason that you had to give up being a ranger commander,” she admitted quietly.

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe I would have been happy to give it all up for you and the baby?” Tommy asked, raising his voice slightly.

“That’s just it, Tommy, don’t you see? The world needs you, and I would be a target and a burden to that. I love you too much for that!” Kimberly yelled.

“You didn’t have the right to take that choice from me, Kim! Oh and another thing, weren’t you still a target to them? Did you really think Zedd and Rita would leave you alone? They know damn well how important you are to me!” Tommy yelled with tears in his eyes and hurt in his voice.

“I wasn’t thinking straight, Tommy. I was afraid, and I let someone talk me into breaking up with you. I still regret until this day that I wrote you that letter. I still love you, and I hope that you find it in your heart to forgive me. I want you in the baby’s life,” Kimberly cried.

Tommy stood up and knelt in front of Kimberly and placed his hands on her knees. “You hurt me terribly with that letter, Kim. I didn’t know what I did wrong to deserve it.” Tommy sighed; this was something that needed to be said.

Kimberly sighed deeply and closed her eyes as tears ran over her cheeks. “I am sorry, Tommy. It is the most stupid thing I ever did. All I want to ask for is a second chance to start over.” She opened her eyes again and looked straight in Tommy’s chocolate eyes.

“I am prepared to forgive you and to give you that second chance under the condition that you talk to me, Kim, instead of assuming something and choosing for me.”

Kimberly caressed Tommy’s cheek, placing a lock of his long hair behind his ear. Tommy leaned forward, and Kimberly closed the gap between them until their lips touched each other. Tommy placed a hand on Kimberly’s cheek and deepened the kiss, neither of the two noticing that Kat and Aisha were coming outside to see whether they had killed each other. Kat was shocked and ran back inside. Aisha, on the other hand, jumped happily before running after Kat.

“Guys, Kimberly and Tommy made up!” yelled Aisha cheerfully not wanting Kat to destroy their mood.

Everybody cheered. Lois jumped in Clark’s arms and laughed. It wasn’t the only news.

“Someone go and bring the new couple inside. I have news about little CJ,” Billy said when he turned around from his buttons and lights.

“On my way!” Rocky yelled.

He laughed quietly when he caught the couple in each others arms, kissing each other passionately.

“Hey!” Rocky yelled, startling Tommy and Kimberly in the process. “Stop eating each other’s faces. Billy has news about Lois and Clark’s child!”

Tommy and Kimberly laughed and shook their heads before running after Rocky. Leave it to Rocky to make a joke about it.

Tommy walked inside with his arm around Kimberly and Rocky following behind them still wearing a smile from ear to ear.

Kat huffed softly at the sight of the happy couple.

“Talk to me Billy! You have some information for us?” Tommy said in his commander voice, not leaving any doubt that he was in charge here.

“I found little CJ because of his special origins. The bad news is he is at the moon palace of Lord Zedd and Rita.” Billy pushed a few buttons but was stopped by a voice coming from the viewing globe, “Congratulations, rangers and Superman.”

Everybody looked around not shocked anymore to see Zedd’s face there.

“I still want to know how he gets in here!” Adam whispered towards Billy who nodded in agreement.

Tommy took a step forward leaving his place next to Kim.”What do you want this time, Zedd?”

“I still want what I wanted before: for Kal-El to give me his throne on New-Krypton!” Zedd laughed before he continued, “You may have saved your wives, but I have something here that you want.” He showed baby CJ in the arms of Rita Repulsa. “Give me the throne and your power coins in exchange for your precious baby!”

“You will not get away with this, Zedd!” Zordon almost yelled. Zedd only laughed in response.

“We can’t let him get away with this. Isn’t there a way that we can trap him?” Lois asked, trying to control her trembling voice. Her baby was important to her but so were her new friends. She couldn’t put so much control in Zedd’s hands.

Kimberly knew how hard this was for Lois; so she walked over and embraced her with every ounce of friendship she felt for Metropolis’ finest reporter. She tried not to cry herself. Her hormones made it very difficult for her.

“They will save him, Lois.” Kimberly smiled. “They always do.”

Lois just nodded against Kim’s shoulder. She was going to cherish this new found friendship. She felt deeply connected to all of them, but her friendship with Kim was special to her. They had been in Zedd’s prison together.

“Alright, Rangers, we are going to trap Zedd,” Tommy announced, his voice full of confidence.

“Clark and I are going to go to the park and make a deal with Zedd and Rita under the pretense that we will give them what they want. Clark will use his super-speed to take CJ from Rita. The young boy’s origins makes it possible to survive such speed,” Tommy said to the group.

“But how are you going to convince them?” Adam asked.

“Zordon, you don’t have some copies of the coins?” Tommy asked his mentor.

“I knew this day would come, so I made a metal version of the real one, including Clark’s. That way we don’t endanger the real ones,” Zordon replied while he made them appear in Tommy’s hands. “I left yours out of it, Tommy.”

Zedd chose that minute to appear again. “I am here to listen to your answer.”

Tommy sighed, looking at the floor and backing up. “We will give you what you want.”

“What about Kal-El?” Zedd asked.

“New-Krypton is yours.” Kal-El sighed.

“Meet us at the park, but you have to bring the child with you,” Tommy demanded with the voice of a leader.

“You are in no place to make orders, White Ranger,” Zedd said angrily. “You will come to the palace alone with the coins and a letter from Kal-El that states he will give me his planet.”

Tommy sighed, “Alright!”

“Good, I am expecting you, Tommy!” Zedd laughed before he flashed out of the globe again.

“Alright, are you ready to save your son?” Tommy asked. Clark nodded.

“Zordon, teleport us to the moon palace.” Zordon nodded and without another word, he flashed Tommy and Clark near the throne room.

They landed just outside the throne room. The white ranger pointed at a place in the shadows. He could allow himself to become one with the shadows not too far from the door. Tommy was going to ask to see the child and when that happened, Super Ranger was going to whoosh in and grab the child. Super Ranger nodded, he needed to stay calm. They had only one chance to do this right.

Tommy sighed deeply and walked in the palace throne room.

“Ah! Do you see what I see pumpkin? Tommy still knows the way to the palace.” Zedd laughed.

“Here are the coins, Zedd.” Tommy opened the chest with the fake coins. “Now show me the child!”

“First the coins, White Ranger!” Zedd yelled.

The ranger commander shook his head, while he closed the chest again. “No, Zedd,

I want to see the child first.”

“Rita show him that little bug,” Zedd said to his wife.

This was Super Ranger’s cue. He came up from out of the shadows in full speed and had taken CJ from Rita. He was standing beside Tommy before both villains knew what was happening.

“Thank you for taking care of my son, but I will take it from here,” Super Ranger quipped before he placed his hand on the white ranger’s shoulder; the commander teleported them out before anyone could react.

They vaguely heard Zedd yell, “I will get you for this power rangers!” And they could easily imagine Rita’s reaction as she exclaimed, “I have a headache!”

Super Ranger was holding his son tightly against him. He just didn’t know how he was going to react to the teleportation and to be honest, he still couldn’t believe that he had his son back. All thanks to his new found friends. Friends who understood the burden he was carrying – the burden of the world’s safety that rested on his shoulders while he tried to keep his identity a secret. He had people to talk to now who understood him. He could talk to Lois too, but there were just things she couldn’t understand completely.

The white ranger and the super ranger landed in the center of the Command Center. Welcomed by a nervous Lois who embraced her son and her husband before Clark had the chance to demorph himself.

“You did it, you saved our little son!” Lois cried as she held her son close to her.

“I want to thank all of you for saving my son and my wife,” Clark said.

“We want to thank you for helping to find Kimberly,” Tommy replied while he laid his arm over his girlfriend’s shoulder.

“I don’t think I need this anymore,” Clark continued, giving his morpher to Tommy, but Tommy refused to take it. “We want you to be our seventh ranger; someone we can reach in emergencies. We want you to be a part of this team. Will you do it?” Tommy asked, holding out his hand.

Clark looked at Lois who nodded slightly.

Clark took Tommy’s hand. “As long as I am not busy as Superman, I would love to.”

“There is something else you could do for us,” Lois added. “Come back with us to Metropolis for an interview as rangers to celebrate that you guys found me and Kimberly? We will keep your identities a secret of course,” she reassured them, still holding her son.

Tommy watched Zordon who nodded in approval.

The next day would be one of the best selling days in the history of the Daily Planet. It was all thanks to the front page headline: “Superheroes Work Together to Find Missing Gymnast Kimberly Ann Hart and Reporter Lois Lane.” The article included a picture of the power rangers side by side with Metropolis’ hero Superman.

Oh, and Kat was more than happy to return to Metropolis more frequently since she found a certain press photographer who was cute and single. They started dating days after the group of rangers had come to Metropolis again but this time as themselves. Kat and Jimmy found happiness with each other.

THE END