Stinger had no idea how he managed to get into this situation. One minute the team was fighting a group of indavers and the next he was being pulled away, his vision suddenly dark, just hearing Kotaro calling out for him. Now, he found himself in a cell strapped to a table being injected with a blue liquid.
Finally, the man injecting him spoke, "You should appreciate this, I'm bringing you a part of your home world."
"What are you talking about?" Stinger fought the ties and even tried to sting the mysterious man but found his tail was also trapped.
"The poison. It's from one of the tribes on your planet," he paused as he set the syringe down, "we've harnessed poison from each of the 21 clans and even some from crossbreeds."
Stinger felt his body starting to go numb as the man continued, "Don Armage wanted me to test some of them on you to see if people of your planet react differently than the subjects we tested from other planets." He went to leave the room, "Plus I think he's mad about your brother. He mentioned making this slow and painful."
Stinger was thankful for now that his body was just numb, he tried to move his fingers but received no response but that was better than searing pain. He didn't know how long it had been but he felt himself growing tired, finally though the man came back with a whole tray of vials. After injecting him with a white potion the man sighed, "That was less exciting than I had hoped. The good thing is, we have antidotes so we can keep testing you."
"Let's try this one," he picked up a yellow venom and filled the needle.
After a few minutes Stinger felt him stomach clenching, He threw up, coughing as it choked him. The man flipped the bed up into a sitting position to prevent Stinger from suffocating and dying too quickly.
An hour of gagging and wretching, there was nothing coming up anymore except trickles of blood.
"I guess this is enough of that." Stinger breathed as the antidote worked almost instantly, his nausea going away just leaving pain in his throat and a puddle of stomach contents around him.
An alarm started going off and a voice spoke through the ceiling, "Kyurangers spotted in the northern corridor, all hands to their position."
"Looks like we don't get any more fun, do we?" The man gave a deep chuckle as he readied another needle, "There was one poison we never were able to find an antidote to. Even if your friends are here to rescue you, it will be for naught."
Indavers were chasing the team down the hall, a few stopping to fight them off. Champ burst into the room followed by Naga and Kotaro.
"Aniki! We found you!" Kotaro approached and freed Stingers bonds. Naga watched Stingers dilated eyes look fearful, then turn into anger, almost like a frightened animal posing to strike. Naga pushed Kotaro out of the way just as Stingers tail swung around. Naga felt a prick in his arm before the tail started wrapping around him like a boa constrictor.
"Naga?!" Kotaro jumped up.
"Get away," Champ ordered.
Naga focused his energy on Stinger, temporarily freezing the sasori warrior. Naga's gaze weakened as his energy dropped and Stingers tail continued to squeeze. Champ summoned the ohitsuji kyutama and shot it at Stinger who dropped to sleep instantly.
"Can you carry Naga?" Champ looked at Kotaro.
He looked for a second, "he's a little tall…"
Champ laughed, "I've got Stinger," he picked him up, "I'll send one of the others to help you with Naga."
Stinger heard talking which brought him to consciousness.
"Raptor is amazing. I didn't know she could make an antidote, especially that fast," Kotaro admired.
"She said it's easy as long as she has a sample of the poison," Champ answered, "Even with an antidote though, symptoms can last a while."
"Yeah, Naga's heart rate is still freaking out."
"Naga?" Stinger mumbled as he struggled to open his eyes.
"Good to see you waking up, partner," Champ spoke.
Stinger's eyes finally focused on the black mechanical bull in front of him.
"How are you feeling?" the little blue ranger appeared in the corner of Stinger's eye.
"Confused," Stinger admitted.
"The last poison they gave you made you see things. I don't know what you thought you saw but you were freaking out."
"Was anyone else taken?" Stinger closed his eyes, the light causing them pain.
"No, and we got you out as quick as we could," Champ answered.
"Where is Naga?"
"Don't worry, he's with Balance right now," Kotaro smiled.
"You can't just hide it," Champ answered.
Kotaro sighed, "He just woke up, why do you want him to worry?"
Stinger opened his eyes and met Kotaro's, "What happened? I heard you mention him."
"He got stung… He pushed me out of the way," Kotaro worried.
"You were attacking us," Champ admitted.
"Naga wouldn't have gotten hurt if it wasn't for me," Kotaro said sadly.
"You were fine," Stinger gave a small smile, "it was my fault for attacking."
"Give it a rest," Champ hated their mini apology party, "It was Jark Matter's fault in the first place, they deserve all of the blame."
Stinger looked at Champ again and nodded before he pushed the blanket off of his legs and ripped off the gear monitoring him. They knew there was no arguing with him so they let him attempt to stand by himself. After taking a few steps he stumbled but Champ caught him. Kotaro came around and let Stinger lean on him for support before leading them to the room Naga was in.
"Stinger," Naga gave a small smile, "How are you?"
"Naga just woke up," Balance informed.
Kotaro helped Stinger sit in a chair next to Naga's bed, "I'm sorry."
"You were poisoned, you couldn't help what you were doing," Naga assured. He shivered and wrapped his blanket closer around him, "Are you feeling better?"
"I'm fine, I'm more worried about you right now," he grasped Naga's hand which felt like ice.
"As long as you are safe, I'm good."
"Ok, you saw him, he's good, now back to bed," Champ ordered the orange ranger.
Naga pulled at Stinger's hand and motioned to the extra space on his bed. Stinger smirked before moving from the chair to the bed. Kotaro and Balance laughed while Champ grumbled.
"You two lovebirds get some sleep," Balance said as he turned down the overhead light.
Once the others were out of the room, Naga cuddled against Stinger's chest, stealing as much body heat as possible. "I was so worried when I saw you getting taken away. I thought I might never see you again. I can't imagine finding this emotion again with anyone else."
Stinger ran his fingers through Naga's hair, "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere."
"Good."
"And Naga? I love you too," Stinger yawned as he continued to pet the others hair, slowly drifting into a comforting slumber.