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Andros is struggling. Astronema watches with the distance of an exhasperated parent. Silly boy. Doesn't he know this is for his own good?
"Karone!" He shoves the quatrons away and manages to sit up, one hand clawing toward her. "Please, Karone. Don't do this! Please!"
For all his struggles, he still reaches for her, and she allows herself to show tenderness. He is frightened, and it will not affect the procedure for her to reassure him. She reaches out and clasps his reaching hand. She gently pins his wrist back onto the table. The straps on this side are broken. He had snapped them in his panic.
"Find some new restraints," she tells the quatron. "I told you that rangers are stronger than normal humans."
They scuttle away and she leans over her brother, pinning his arm to the table.
"Shh," she whispers, brushing her hand across his cheek. "It will all be over soon, I promise."
Andros' eyes are wide and dark and betrayed. His hair is falling out of it's tail from his struggles. She's never seen him look quite so vulnerable, and she shivers at this new level of intimacy between them.
"Don't," he whispers.
"It's for the best," she says. "Soon you'll be on my side, and we can be together again. Don't you want to be together?"
"Not like this."
The quatron returns with the restraints, and she allows the quatrons to take over, buckling his arm back to the table. One of them is carrying the headgear. She can see where the micropchips are meant to go, fitting snugly behind her brother's ear, wires stretching about to attach to the ones on his cheek and forehead. It had been Darconda's idea, and for once, she is pleased with the insectoid. Not pleased enough, though, not to suspect what his original plan for the gear had been. Darconda is right now entertaining Scruddly in the dungeons of the Fortress. She wonders idly how many times he will have to die before it's permenant. Perhaps Andros can help her find out, once the procedure is finished.
"Why are you doing this?" Andros says. It's a genuine question, rather than useless begging, so she allows it.
"What did you think was going to happen?" She says. "That I'd leave the Alliance, become a good little soldier in the struggle against evil? I'm the Princess of Darkness, Andros. I have murdered millions, spilled their blood in a great river. Just because your blood happens to be the same as mine doesn't mean that you have any great power to change that."
No. Nothing he could do would bring them together. She is irrecoverably evil, and he is too committed to good. He could never cross willingly into her world, and he could never coax her across into his. No, he has no power to change the tragedy of their circumstances.
But she does.
Being evil means that she just has more options available to her. She can force him into darkness. It's better because it's not his fault. He didn't betray anything or anyone. She took the burden of that sin onto her own shoulders. Too bad he will not appreciate the logic in that. He is like Ecliptor, too noble for his own good. It is part of why she loves him.
"Shhh." She says again, patting his shoulder. "It's alright. I won't make you destroy your friends. I promise."
Pesky irritants, though they are. No, Andros cares for them, and what makes him happy, she will provide.
Right at this moment, all sorts of new possibilities are opening up. The silver ranger for instance. He might be willing to dabble in evil for the possiblity of love or sex, but he won't cross over completely. Astronema can help him with that. And why have just two rangers when you can have a whole set? She hadn't liked either red or silver rangers at first, but once she'd gotten to know them she'd found all sorts of likeable qualities. Perhaps, once the rangers are serving her, she will find their company more enjoyable. She is willing to try anything once for her brother.
She smiles and pats Andros' hand.
"It's all going to work out for the best," she says. "You'll see."