A\N: And hopefully, wild plot appears!
Tommy watched as Jason slumped to the ground. Dramatic, yes, but right now Jason's mental health was seriously under question. He sighed and glanced around. He'd have to replace that vase, too, a pity...he sort of liked it.
Trent groaned.
Tommy walked over to the teen, crouching next to him. "You all right, Trent?"
"I...whaa?" Trent blinked, then sat bolt upright, flinching away from Tommy's hands.
"Shh-shh-shh. Easy." Tommy soothed, grabbing Trent's wrist and examining the morpher on it. Fascinating design. "It's okay. I'm going to help you."
Trent glanced over and paled. "You killed him!" He squeaked.
"No, just gave him a sedative." Tommy said, still examining the morpher. "Come on, Trent, he kidnapped a teenager and was babbling like a fanatic. What else would I have done?"
"...Called the cops?" Trent asked warily.
Tommy chuckled. "Mm, I'm as close as you'll get, sorry...interesting design. Elsa made this?"
"How do you-" Trent cut himself off, staring at Tommy in abject horror.
Tommy was seriously tempted to continue, if only to watch Trent keep making faces, but his sense of compassion kicked in. "Trent. Breathe. I'm not angry at you, you're not in trouble, and you're safe now." He held up his own morpher, smiling gently. "See? I'm a Power Ranger. I'm here to help. Promise."
Trent took a few seconds to process that, but calmed down. Tommy walked over the lights and turned them on, considering the morpher that was unfortunately locked on Trent's wrist. "You can't take that morpher off, can you?"
"N...no." Trent's voice was small, terrified. "A...are you going to kill me?"
"No!" Tommy reassured him. "No, no, I'm just going to help fix the morpher." He shook his head. "It's okay, Trent. You're safe, I promise."
Trent watched him like a hawk.
Tommy sighed, turning back to Jason's unconscious body on the floor. This was going to get interesting..."Here, want to watch TV? I need to get Jase to bed." He dug in a drawer before tossing Trent the remote.
The boy caught it with unnatural skill. Tommy smiled. A side effect of the Power; Rangers were a touch faster and more graceful than normal humans. Trent would probably be glad for that once he started drawing again. "Good boy."
"Wh...what are you gonna do with him?"
Even in the house of a potential serial killer, the boy worried about others. The heart of a Ranger. "Handcuff him to a bed with titanium handcuffs." He hefted Jason, wincing. Damn, the man had put on weight. Maybe it was a Daemon thing, he knew a few students of his were aliens and had twice-density muscle structure.
Trent turned to the television, apparently deciding that not talking to Tommy was the wiser course of action.
Tommy made sure Jason was secure before heading back downstairs. Trent had pulled the afghan over his body, and was blinking owlishly at the television. Tommy sighed. It had been a rough day for him, too.
"You're a supervillain."
Tommy blinked. Well, that had been..."Why do you think that?"
"Your best friend kidnapped a kid and dumped him in your house. You invite him in for drinks, then you drug him and tie him up somewhere. A hero wouldn't do that, that's pure supervillain." Trent said, flicking onto a different channel.
"...And what would a hero do?" Tommy asked, not entirely sure if this was intelligence or just strange.
"Shout 'you'll never get away with this' and start angsting while his best friend holds everyone hostage and starts maniacally cackling."
...Intelligence. "Well, I'm just smarter than most heroes." He grinned mischievously. "And I may or may not have studied the Evil Overlord's List, Hero's Guidebook, Rogue's Guidebook, and checked into the female versions just in case."
Trent stared.
Tommy shrugged and headed over to the sofa, perching on the armrest. "I'm not really a villain, but I fight them so often, well...honestly?" Tommy cocked an eyebrow. "Kind of embarrassing to be the one shouting 'you'll never get away with this' when they already have. So I got smarter." He turned serious, giving Trent a Look. "None of which explains how you found that gem, what happened, and what you remember, which, interestingly enough, is the important part of all this."
"And I know you aren't working for Mesegog because...?" Trent asked warily (and a bit in challenge, Tommy was impressed).
"You don't." Tommy said honestly. "But you're stuck here anyway."
Trent curled his knees up to his chest, his eyes flashing with fear. "You...aren't letting me go?"
"Did you know about your father?" Trent nodded. "That's why. And you tend to hurt people. It's not your fault, but let's keep the collateral damages to a minimum, okay?" Tommy glanced at the boy and sighed. He could certainly get answers now, if he wanted them, but he wanted Trent to calm down, not to break the boy. "You don't have to tell me anything until you're ready, but the sooner you do, the sooner we can get that morpher back to normal, okay?"
Trent just stared.
Tommy sighed and turned to the door, locking it and activating his alien shielding, adding a few phrases to the programming so Trent was stuck firmly indoors. While he could probably untie Jason and cause chaos, Tommy doubted Trent would want to work with Jason even if he was insane.
"Um, Dr. O? You're the good guy, right?"
"Yes. Why?"
"...Duck."