Why was there light on my face? I opened my eyes and squinted, this did not look like my bedroom. This looked like Ranger's office. Oh shit. I sat up with a start, and the room started to spin. My heart was pounding and my head throbbing. I was sprawled out on the floor, my high heels a few feet away. I army crawled to them and stood up slowly, and took in the sight before me.

The room was in shambles. The desk was tipped over, its contents everywhere. There was three good sized holes in the gray wall, plaster dust littering the floor. The blinds ripped off the bar, the window looked smeared and dirty. Books ripped in half and strewn around the room. Ranger's big black leather couch had tears in it. My brain was in panic mode when I saw a big knife sticking out of a cushion.

I've seen that knife.

Strapped to his thigh, he touched it whenever he was uneasy about a situation.

Ranger's knife.

I dropped the shoes and ran to it, yanking it out of the couch and gripping it tight. I then searched for my phone. Shit this is freaking me out. I gave my search and stared at the door. It's the same dark wood it's always been. If I turn the knob I'll see all the cubicles on five. The monitors with some merry men sipping coffee and carrying files.

Won't I?

The door seems so intimidating and terrifying. Tears streamed own my face. I didn't know, or understand why I was here, how this office got this way. I walked over to the window and stared at my reflection. My eyes were smudged in heavy black, my lips were a faded red. There was dried blood on my temple and a bruise forming on my cheek. My pretty blue evening dress was dirty and torn. I turned to face the door, to face my fear. Come on Steph, open the door. So I did. As soon as I turned the knob, I remembered pale blue-gray eyes and smelled cigarettes. But that's not what I saw on five. I saw cubicles and monitors office supplies, and coffee cups. Files and boxes, on the ground. But there was no single man. Nobody. Rangemen was empty. I gripped my knife and took off running. I screamed names.

"Ranger!" No answer. "Ranger!"

"Tank!"

"Bobby!"

"Lester!" I screamed until I was choking on sobs. I was sure that yelled every name at Rangemen. I ran through every room, every floor. Taking the stairs to the gym, the guy's apartments, finding everyone, empty but there as no signs that anyone went anywhere. I took the stairs, two at a time to six, running to Ella's. I yanked the door open. It was perfectly immaculate. Just like it always was. Normal. That's how everything looked. I took a deep breath and walked up to seven. I saw the same kind of dark door and felt the same gut-wrenching fear. I touched the wood and it swung open. I sucked in a breath. I stepped in. I sank to the ground and sobbed. I cried and sniveled and cussed my heart out. No. It can't be like this. I got up and walked through his apartment. It looked like it had the last time I was here. Normal, when I reached his bedroom, I flopped onto his unmade bed, reveling in his scent. Wondering if it was the last time I would ever smell it. I closed my eyes.

When I opened my eyes, and realized where I was, there was a moment of pure joy. Then I remembered the situation at hand. Rangemen was empty, not a soul here. I got up and went into Ranger's kitchen. I opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. I saw all the normal foods and condiments that are in a typical fridge. Well, normal for Ranger. I went over what I knew. Rangemen was empty and apparently shut down, but it looked normal. Like it was unexpected. The only place that wasn't normal was Ranger's office. And for some reason I kept thinking about my vision almost. Pale blue-gray eyes and cigarette smoke. Were they responsible? Can they help me? I squeezed my eyes shut to stop the tears. Who could help me? I opened my eyes and took off running, I grabbed a set of keys from the side table by the door and went down the steps and ran to the garage. I clicked unlock on the fob and saw the 911 turbo beep. I ran through all the company SUV's and ripped the door open. I broke all traffic laws on my way to the police station, surprisingly I didn't get picked up. I pulled up to the front and slammed on the brakes. I took off to a run, and opened the door to see Eddie and Joe talking to each other laughing.

I guess I never really was meant to be with Joe. We stared to drift apart and there was no emotion behind the kisses. The sex became meaningless and boring. One day I just didn't go over, then he was away on assignment. Things just kept coming up, and neither of us spared time for each other. One day I saw him at the grocery store in the pasta isle. We locked eyes and finally thought of each other for the first time in weeks. I remember we were both crying by the sauces, over what we lost. We went to Pino's and talked for three hours about everything and nothing. Then Joe sobered.

"Steph, I'm sorry but we were so lost." I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He looked at me and smiled a slow sad smile.

"Joe, I know. We lost each other. That can't happen again. I won't be able to bear it. I need hockey games and pizza with beer." He nodded and I saw a tear come out of his eye.

"Step-" I cut him off.

"And I need you to call me cupcake." I smiled and he chuckled.

"Ok, cupcake. Twist my arm." I punched his arm. "Cupcake, it's not in the stars for us. I mean we were good for a while. Really good. But the spark faded. But now I realize that I still need you I my life, as my friend." I nodded and we toasted our beers to that. We said goodnight with a promise to stay in touch.

And we did. We went to lunch and watched hockey with beer. We even walked Bob sometimes. This was better for us. I even brought him to Sunday dinner to my parents to help me get my mom off my back about us. He and I got into a real comfortable friendship. He was my best friend again.

But now I ran to him in a panic.

"Joe!" I grabbed his arm and whipped him around to face me.

"Jesus cupcake. What the hell happened to you?" Carl ran up to us.

"Hey Joe, there was a reckless driver on route two. She was pushing 90 in a 911 turbo." Carl, Joe, and Eddie's eyes snapped to me. Joe Junaik came in from outside before I could answer.

"Where the hell is Ranger and why is he parking like an ass?!" Uh oh Uncle Joe was not happy. I smiled and raised my hand meekly. Then I was bombarded with another vision thingy. I saw feathers and heard a woman's voice. Run. She told me to run with panic in her voice. Then I went down.

I opened my eyes to see Joe, Carl, Eddie and Junaik all looking down at once. I sat up quickly and knocked heads with Carl.

"Oww!" I got up with minimal grousing. Joe gave me a bottled water and smiled kindly.

"Rangemen is empty." Eyes widened, breath was sucked in.

"Steph honey, let's move this to an interrogation room." Junaik took my arm and gently guided me to a recently painted room. It was a nice pale purple with nice chairs. Which was odd for the low budget station. The four men already had their cop faces on and assembled themselves in each corner. I sat on a chair in the middle of the room.

"Stephanie, do we need to record this?" Eddie's face was compassionate. I sat up with a shot. I went from zero to Rhino mode in two seconds.

"This isn't a confession Eddie Gazzara!" I grabbed his ear and yanked him down to my level like I used to do when we were kids. "I should tell your mother on you!" Even though it was immature, it's how the Burg worked.

"Uncle! Uncle! Jeez I thought you wouldn't want to repeat the story!" I released his ear and looked at the ground.

"Oh. Sorry." I smiled and Eddie guided me back to the chair. He gestured to the recorder and I nodded.

"Ok Stephanie, Tell us about Rangemen."

So I did. I told them about how I woke up, how the office was in shambles. How five was empty and the computers, monitors and phones were all off. How everything was normal as it could be without the Merry men. Several times I started to cry, and there always was a familiar shoulder to lean on. The cops were holding all questions to the end.

"Did you wake up with a hangover?" Carl looked mildly ashamed but persisted.

"Not exactly, but there was something making me drowsy. Can I get blood taken?" Joe nodded and stepped out. We all waited, and he returned with Robin Russell and she had gloves and a syringe. She made quick work and left.

"And the damage to your face?" Junaik's face was not a happy one.

"There when I woke up."

"You don't remember anything from the night before." Eddie made this a statement.

"Yes, well. I get these flashback things. I know they are from that night."

"What are they?" Carl looked pretty excited. Hold your horses son. I blew out a breath.

"They are really weird and not exactly helpful. The last one made me black out. I saw these pale blue-grey eyes and I smelled cigarette smoke. And the second one was like white feathers, from like a boa, and a frantic woman's voice telling me to run." I stopped and looked around. They all looked confused, join the party.

"Well that's very interesting, but you're right. It can't exactly help us." Uncle Joe shrugged.

"Call me if you remember anything else." Morelli hugged me and gave me a shit ton of paperwork.

Bastard.

It took me an hour to fill out the paperwork and Robin took pictures of my dress and face. I left with the plan the Morelli would accompany me to Rangemen tomorrow afternoon. I went home and saw everything was trashed. All my belongings thrown about and plates and glassed shattered. My clothes were everywhere. I dialed Joe, as I ran to Rex. I sighed with relief when I saw he was in his soup can. Joe picked up right after that.

"Morelli."

"Joe, I'm home and my place is trashed."

"Shit Steph. I'm coming over, pack a bag. You are staying with me until this starts to make sense. Hold on for a bit."

"Ok." And I screamed. I heard the phone drop. I heard Morelli's voice drift to me telling me that he was coming with backup. I yelped and picked up the phone.

"Steph hold on baby, we're coming!"

"No Joe! Just you. I'm fine I just saw that I have a friend."

I helped the big guy off the floor, and got him an ice pack and a bottle of water. He was cuffed to my old radiator and had a goose egg on his head. He grunted when I held the icepack to it. I wasn't especially close to him, so it made me wonder why he was in my apartment.

"Morelli is on his way. I don't have a cuff key so you'll have to wait."

"Its fine little girl. Thank you, I was nervous that nobody would find me. I don't know how I got here."

"It's ok Tank." Then I heard Morelli pounding on the door. I got up and opened it. Morelli crushed me to him. "Do you have a cuff key?"

"Yeah here." He handed it to me and followed me through the mess to Tank. I uncuffed him and he too hugged me. Morelli clapped Tank on the back.

"Well, it looks like you are the one remaining Rangeman."

"What." Tank slammed on his blank face. Morelli sighed and looked at me.

"Do you want to tell him, or shall I?"

"Talk." Tank barked this as an order. Again I went from zero to rhino.

"I am not your employee. Neither is Joe. So if you want to know what we know you are going to have to ask nicely and use the p-word." I further pushed the limit by jabbing Tank in the chest with my finger on each word. There was a heavy silence as a held my breath to see what country I would be sent to. Tank's face split into a huge smile showing extremely white teeth.

"Well sheeeeiiiit, Lil girl you got it in you." He laughed. Morelli was smiling too, and then looked at me.

"Cupcake, are you gonna stay with me?" I saw Tank sober and look at us through the corner of his eye while he pretended to be fascinated with the cuff key. How he does surveillance, I'll never know.

"No, I'll stick with Tank." I looked at Tank nervously. "That is ok right?" Tank smiled with teeth again.

"Yeah bomber." Morelli nodded.

"I'll need your statement tomorrow, call me whenever."

"Bye Joe. Thanks again" Joe nodded.

"Ok Steph. What the hell is going on?" Tank moved some glass of the sofa and sat down, I followed suit.

After giving Tank a recap of the situation, he told me that he woke up with the similar feeling I described and saw the apartment trashed. He woke up a 0400 and that was three hours before I did. It was eight now so I felt bad for him but he said it wasn't so bad. He helped me pack a bag and we headed to Rangeman. He did a sweep through the building and saw the same thing I did. When he saw Ranger's office he blew out a breath. He stared at the couch.

"Bomber what made these cuts in the leather?"

"Ranger's knife. I found it sticking out and I was scared so I took it with me." Tank nodded.

"Good you had a weapon. Where is it?" I drew a blank for a few minutes then I remembered.

"Oh on seven on the kitchen counter." We took the stairs. The door was open.

It was wrecked and the knife was gone. Tank pushed me behind him.

"Little girl didn't you say it was normal and not trashed? Fear was clawing at my insides.

"Y-yeah i-it wasn't like this." Tank did a sweep of the room and we hotfooted it down to five. Tears were freely falling down my face. Tank surprised me by sweeping me up and carrying me to his big pickup truck. It was huge and without his help there was no way I would be able to get in it. Tank drove for a while and stopped at a little blue row house in Hamilton Township. It was a midsized home that didn't look too masculine. The décor was nice, big chairs and couches all done in earth tones. I met all three of Tank's cats. He was almost shy to show me them. I thought back to him and Lula. They almost completed each other. Lula was loud and bright while Tank was calm and quiet. I wonder what would happen if they got together again. I yawned. I was stretched out on Tank's large couch and was feeling sleep deprived. Tank came back in and locked the front door and entered his security code.

"Tank, why are you doing that? Nobody's watching the monitors." He sighed and ran a hand down his face.

"I can't give up Steph. They are somewhere. It's too important." He came over and handed me a beer.

"Who could do this Tank? Rangeman is a Fortress and full of very capable men. And I doubt they all left on their own volition." Tank sighed and chugged his beer.

"Well little girl, there are some things you don't know. Recently the core team stopped taking in government contracts." I must have looked confused because Tank clarified. "Missions. Me and Ranger alone have done 26. My working theory is that they thought we knew too much and decided to get rid of the risk. It happened before to a friend. She was a good girl. Jumped through hoops for these suits. And when they thought that their teacher's pet was too smart, they threw her into a war zone and gave her no hope of escaping. But they didn't count on her having friends like Ranger. We went in with everything we had to find her. She was kept as a sex slave to a drug cartel. They kept her in chains in a locked room, every man that went in there, never came back. If she didn't find some way to kill them, she maimed them or scared the shit out of them. So eventually they threw dead bodies in that room." I gasped it was all horrifying, but it did distract me. Like a ghost story.

"We got her out though, she wasn't the same. She was mentally ill. At the airstrip there was a government plane taking her in custody, we couldn't stop them. The suits threw her in a nut house to keep her quiet, she was smart and strong though. She managed to bide her time until she could call us." Tank got up and gave her a blanket from a chest.

"Here little girl." He handed it to me while I was sputtering.

"What happened to her?!" He chuckled and shook his head.

"I don't want to scare you, I think I already did." Now I was shaking my head.

"No, it's a good story." He sighed and sat back down. He's been doing a lot that lately.

"Well, she called Lester." I wrinkled my nose.

"Why did she call him?" I had nothing against Lester but he was a total trick, I bet he tried to hang up on her thinking it was a one night stand gone wrong. Tank started laughing really hard and punched me in the arm. It kind of hurt.

"Shit little girl that's dead on." I reddened. I had to work on blurting things out.

"Sorry." He punched my arm again. Ouch this shit is starting to hurt, but I sucked it up.

"Well she was the only real relationship our playboy ever had. He was going to propose when she stopped missions." I immediately felt bad. "We got her out only to find that she didn't exist. They deleted her."

"I didn't know that was possible. And who is they?" Tank looked a bit uncomfortable. I poked him it the bicep. Damn that's hard.

"Well I think our little problem came from a suit named Tanner. He's got the man power and he might have a grudge. He was the one that sent us on missions." I stood up

"Then we march down to this Tanner guy's office and demand the love of my life back!" I clapped a hand over my mouth. Oh shit did I just say that? By the look on Tank's face I did. I sank down to the couch and hung my head in my hands. "It really is that close to the surface. It bubbles out at any time now."

"Did you ever tell him?"

"No. I never thought he felt the same and I-" He cut me off.

"You two are the dumbest fucks I ever saw." I must have looked shocked because Tank's face was full of sass. "You run around each other never saying how you feel. You never have a backbone around him." Tank elbowed me. "You don't need to be saved Stephanie. You can be wonder woman if you want to."

My eyes were watering and I gave Tank a smile. "I want to."

Tank nodded and got up, he grabbed my chin. "He's not Batman anymore. He is just a sexually frustrated man." I'm sure I look horrified because tank started to laugh his ass of as he made his way to bed[HM1] .

[HM1]