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After the whole "Troy is the Red Ranger and we need your help!" thing, Jordan's life went- well, not back to normal, but to a different normal.
Jake, Noah, Emma, and Gia were more friendly- he didn't see the new guy, Zador, much, but apparently he had a lot of hoops to go through so he could live on Earth. He and Troy still hung out and did English together, which sparked more than a few arguments over The Great Gatsby, since Troy thought that Gatsby had the right idea but forgot to treat Daisy as a person and if he had then everything else would have been sorted out, and Jordan was of the firm opinion that everyone in that book was an idiot that deserved to crash in a ditch. But especially Daisy's husband. He should crash first. Dude was an asshole. He killed his mistress and then blamed another guy!
And Troy still cut and run, but it was a lot easier to take knowing that he was going off to save the world, not hang with other people. Jordan was perfectly okay being the ordinary dude on the side.
He really ought to have read the superhero comics again. It was never that easy.
Jordan hadn't expected a call from Troy when there was a battle on. He managed to find a supply closet and hide in there.
"What's up?" Jordan asked. "Are you hurt? Do you need help?"
"We're in trouble, no one's hurt yet, and yes," the Red Ranger- his tone was too professional to call him Troy- said. "You have multi-way calling, right?"
"Yeah." His parents were absolutely sure to pay the best package so that Jordan would never have to actually ask them for anything.
"Our communicators are down and Tensou thought it more important to make sure he started his new Zord designs." The irritation was audible. "We tried to improvise, but none of us have multi-way."
"On it." Jordan opened up his contacts and tapped every Ranger. "You're all on."
"Why do they have fireballs?!" Jake shouted.
Jordan winced. "Jake, not so loud, I'm stuck in a shelter and I don't want you to get caught!"
"Sorry."
"Silver, you're with me, we need to clear those Loogies off of the City Hall roof," the Red Ranger snapped. "Green, Pink, take the ones invading north; Blue, Yellow, you've got south."
"On it!" all five of the others responded, and Jordan turned down the volume to his phone, listening until the battle ended.
"It was good work you did today," Zador said, brown-and-red-striped hair falling in front of his face. He'd finally got visitation cleared, though there were issues with his apparent past on a pirate vessel.
"Thank you," Jordan said, startled. They were outside Ernie's again- Noah was fiddling with his phone, Jake was pretending that he wasn't making eyes at him, Gia and Emma were laughing over some pictures, and Troy had gone to get drinks again. "I- this guy Gosei- or was it Tensou? Anyway, he doesn't seem to do anything much."
"Gosei is meant to be our mentor, and Tensou is meant to be our tech," Zador said calmly. "But they function as tech passingly, and the universe was saved by a team without a mentor."
Jordan blinked. "When?"
"You should recall- it was on Earth that the true fight ended." Zador's smile was wistful. "The Kerova-Earthian hybrid team, in what you'd call 1998."
"The invasion!" Jordan sat up. "I was too young to remember, but yeah, everyone heard about it!"
"Led by Andros of KO-35." There was more than a hint of hero-worship in Zador's smile. "His Silver was Zhane- I idolized them, as a child. They were the ones to finally defeat Dark Specter and free our planet."
"One of their teammates was Cassie Chan," Emma piped up. "She's one of my favorite singers."
"I got everyone's drinks," Troy said from behind him, nudging Jordan's shoulder. Jordan turned and grinned at him, scooting over to make room.
One of the pictures must have been really funny, because Emma and Gia burst out laughing.
The next time there was a battle, Troy called within the first minute.
"Connecting everyone now," Jordan said, pulling the phone back to his ear and paying attention to the TV in the shelter. "I can also see all of you this time."
"Awesome, maybe you can warn me when there's a freaking fireball aimed at my head."
"I was occupied with fighting off ten Loogies, Green!" Pink protested. "Sometimes you have to keep a watch yourself!"
"Less bickering, more ass-kicking," Yellow snapped.
"There are more of them coming on the east side," Jordan said, eyes glued to the television screen.
"Thanks, Jordan," the Red Ranger said warmly. "Green, on my six with these guys. Yellow, you're with Silver; Pink, you're with Blue."
"On it!"
Somehow it became a rhythm. Jordan would connect them all from the shelter and tell them what the TV cameras saw while they did the actual fighting and they got fancy tech from Gosei and Tensou.
"Jordan?" Emma asked, her tone too sweet to be anything good.
"I'm going to regret asking what you need, won't I?" He turned from his locker to see Emma beaming at him.
Emma smirked. "Judging by the amount Troy goes over to your place, you have it free a lot, right?
Jordan raised his eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I'm holding an environmental protest and we need somewhere to gather before marching," she said, still smiling. "We'll only be an hour. Please?"
"If the house is a mess when they get home, my parents will kill me," Jordan said, though they probably would just look at him like he was the dirt and then walk on by as usual.
"We'll be the cleanest house guests you'll ever have!" Emma clapped her hands. "Thank you!"
Even though he hadn't acutally said yes, Jordan just nodded. It wasn't like people were clamoring to come to the house anyway.
They were not, in fact, the neatest house guests he would ever have. The dirt in the front hallway was ridiculous, though at least they'd cleaned the kitchen from the vegan souffle explosion.
Jordan rolled his eyes and got a broom. Still. There had been people here who'd willingly talked with him. That had been kind of nice.
"This a one-man job, or can I join in?"
Jordan jerked up to see Troy leaning against the doorway with a grin. "Hey!" He let go of the mop and grinned like an idiot. "What brings you here?"
"Emma called. Said you might need a hand." Troy walked over, hands in his pockets.
"Wouldn't turn one down." Jordan felt his cheeks flush and ducked his head, picking his mop back up.
Troy's hand clapped his shoulder and Jordan saw him pick up a bucket and sponge. "Then I'd be happy to join in."
It was the most fun he'd ever had cleaning. Apparently soap bubble wars were not discarded after the age of ten and were still really, really fun.