Gia's parents rushed home after they heard the news. Emma wasn't their daughter, but that was just a technicality. They fed her, gave her a place to stay, and most importantly, they loved her. She may not have been one of their own by blood, but she was still family. Emma and Gia would always be their girls.
After their return, Emma was asked to be put under the protection of the police. Emma didn't want it. She didn't need a babysitter, someone to stalk and constantly remind her of her father. However, after days of nonstop coaxing from both her team and Gia's parents, she finally agreed to it. They had to compromise though. Instead of sitting in a police station all day, an officer was assigned to accompany her at all times.
Now, Emma was sitting at home, forced to wait for the officer before she could go anywhere. She was supposed to meet everyone at Ernie's. Not wanting Gia to be alone in all this craziness, Matt went with her while Jennifer opted to stay with Emma.
It had already been days and the police still didn't have any leads on her father. She didn't know how to feel. She was petrified, but not for the reason most people thought. Mr. Goodall was crazy, but he wasn't stupid. It's how he kept his control over her for so many years. He knew how to get to her. He had done so almost a year ago. By threatening and nearly killing Gia and Troy, he almost won. He was so close.
"Here," Jennifer placed a plate of food down in front of Emma. "Eat something."
Emma pushed the food away and shook her head. "I'm not hungry."
"You haven't eaten anything all day. Or yesterday."
"I don't want to eat."
"Just one bite?" This time Jennifer was met with no response. She sighed and took away her plate. If there one thing she knew about Emma, it was that she could be stubborn. This was a battle she couldn't win quite yet. After putting the dish in the sink, the doorbell went off. Jennifer opened the door and found herself face to face with a brunette woman in uniform. She looked relatively young, no older than thirty.
"Hello Officer…?" Jennifer stepped aside, welcoming the new guest.
"Danvers." she smiled warmly and walked inside. "You're welcome to call me Alyssa though. You have a lovely home."
"Thank you. Is there anything I can get for you then, Alyssa?"
"No thank you Ma'am." Alyssa walked to the couch Emma was sitting on. "Hey there, you must be Emma?"
Emma simply nodded.
"My name is Alyssa Danvers." she continued. "I'll be here to…"
"I know why you're here. You don't need to state the obvious." Emma glared.
"Emma!"
"No no, it's fine." Alyssa continued to smile. This wasn't her first rodeo with stubborn teenagers. "Look, I know you don't know me and I don't know you, but whether you believe it or not, I just want to keep you safe."
"Exactly! You don't know me, and you don't know my father. You don't know what he's capable of."
"Then tell me. Help me help you." Alyssa tried to move closer, but Emma scooted away.
"Like how your cop friends helped me?" Emma scoffed. "You guys help me because it's what pays your bills. After I got out of the hospital, all they did was question me. Once they were done, they dumped me like I was nothing. Just like my dad."
Hearing this, Jennifer stopped what she was doing and tried to walk over. Alyssa shook her head, signaling her to stop. She needed Emma to trust her. That wasn't going to happen if she didn't open up.
"I'm sorry to hear that, but lucky for you, I'm not a regular cop."
This peaked Emma's interest slightly. "What do you mean?"
"You don't know me. You don't trust me and you don't trust cops. With all the crazy things going on in this world, I don't blame you. I get it. But I promise you can trust me." Alyssa removed her badge from her belt and handed it to Emma. "You know about the Power Rangers right?"
Emma's heart skipped a beat. There was no way this lady knew about her identity. She managed to stammer out a response. "Y-Yeah, what about them?"
"How about the ones from Silver Hills?"
"I was barely a toddler when they were around."
"But you trust the Power Rangers?"
"They save lives." Emma shrugged her shoulders, silently sighing a breath of relief at the same time.
"Well, I pretty much work for a Power Ranger."
"You work for the Silver Guardians?" Emma looked down at Alyssa's badge. Everyone knew about the Silver Guardians once Time Force's former rangers became in charge of it. They became the talk of the town, but like all other news, everyone got used to it and it eventually died down. "What're you doing all the way out here then?"
"I'm a Silver Guardian. I do this job because I care. Like you said, some people take this as a paycheck, but for me, it's my calling. I took this case because I want to help."
"Tell me something personal about yourself." Emma said.
"What?"
"You want me to talk to you about something personal, but trust works both ways right?"
"Right." Alyssa nodded and gave off a soft sigh. "When I was in college, my father was presumed dead. Like me, he was a cop, but they never found his body. He pursued a case one day and never came back the next. We buried an empty coffin."
One look into Alyssa's eyes and she could tell that it was the truth. She was being genuine, her emotion raw. And she did seem different. The cops from before wouldn't have reached out like this. There was no reason to not trust her.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
"It's okay, it was a long time ago and I had a really good set of friends to help me through it."
"Alright," Emma nodded, changing the subject back. "I'm assuming you at least know what my father did to be put into jail?"
"Of course. The case file said that the son of a bitch thought he could get away with hurting his daughter and her friends."
"Yeah, well that case file is a bit of an understatement. Once my mom died, he turned to alcohol, drugs, or pretty much anything to fill the high. He blamed me for my mom's death and that became the beginning of me becoming his new punching dummy."
"Why didn't you ever tell anyone? I'm sure the bruises would've spoke enough for itself."
Emma looked down at her hands sadly. It was never easy talking about her past. There were so many painful memories. "He knew how to keep my mouth shut. I-I was so lonely. I was always the environment girl who stood out in class. When I was younger, I would rather learn about bugs and the water cycle than play with dolls. No one liked me. But it didn't matter because I had Gia. She understood me like no one else and my dad knew that. He would threaten their family and back it up by beating me into submission. He said he would hurt them like they hurt me." A tear rolled down her cheek. "I had no choice. I had to keep quiet to keep them safe. I couldn't lose the only ones I loved."
Alyssa clenched her fists tightly. No father should have dared to lay their hand on their child. To think that this poor girl had to suffer like that for years made Alyssa's stomach turn. She had no one to turn to.
"When my friend found out," Emma continued. "That became the last straw for my dad. He kidnapped him, locked me in the basement, and probably planned to kill us. I had to use the glass he threw at me to cut through the ropes and free Troy. Gia showed up then there was this big fight, a gun, and boom, I was in the hospital while my dad went to prison."
Without saying a word, Alyssa gave the young girl a hug. She had a younger sister of her own and just the thought of having her go through something like that made her sick. If she found out someone hurt her sister, they wouldn't have lived to see another day.
"We'll find him, I promise."
It felt good being able to talk to someone else. She would always be grateful to Gia and her family, but knowing that she could trust someone outside her normal circle gave her comfort. Emma wiped her tears and gave off a small chuckle. "You're not supposed to make promises like that."
"Like I said, I'm not like other cops." Alyssa smirked. "I make promises I know I can keep. Plus I like you. You have a good heart and quite a bit of spunk."
"Sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to be so stand-offish."
"Don't mention it. I would've done the same thing if I was in your positon. You know, you remind me a lot of myself." Alyssa stood up from the couch and grabbed her belongings. "Now, where to? Seems like you've been cooped up here for long enough."
"Do you know where Ernie's is?"
"I love Ernie's!" Alyssa smiled.
"My friends are there, is it okay if we meet them?"
"Of course! Get in the car kiddo."
The car ride was short since the Moran household wasn't too far from the mall. As they got closer though, something seemed off. An unusual amount of police cars were parked outside. Ambulance sirens were nearing and a large group of people were gathered outside a store. Alyssa and Emma managed to push themselves through the crowd until they could see what was happening for themselves. What both Alyssa and Emma didn't expect though was the ruins of Ernie's. Shards of glass were scattered across the floor and bullets decorated the walls. It didn't take much effort to figure out what happened.
Alyssa held Emma's hand for comfort, but was forcefully shoved away. Emma sprinted towards the store. She heard her name being called, but it didn't matter. She had to see. She had to see what happened. She needed to know if her friends were okay.
As she searched, she saw a couple of people who were understandably frightened. They were shaking in fear, but appeared unharmed. There was still no sight of her friends. Emma kept looking and looking until she found a note with handwriting that was all too familiar. She glanced around and when no one was looking, Emma stuffed the piece of paper into her pocket.
"Hey! You can't be in here!" An officer grabbed her roughly and dragged her out.
"Let go of me!" Emma screamed.
"Witnesses say that at least five people were taken. I got better things to do than this." The cop replied while strengthening his grip on Emma. "Now get out of here kid!
"Lay off!" Alyssa flashed her badge and gently took Emma away from the man. "They'll be okay."
"No," Emma growled, tightening her grip on the piece of paper. "They won't."
A/N: Thanks for reading! If you have anything you'd like to say, I'd love to hear from you! Until next time! :)
Love and Appreciate ya!