At the Marx house, Trevor was just finishing up making dinner for Laura and himself. It wasn't ideal that he was still under review. The fact was that he knew the case could go either way. Regardless of the fact that Gary had, as far as anyone was aware, physically assaulted another person, there really was no way that Trevor's actions towards him could be justified as reasonable force. Trevor was significantly larger than Gary, and between his police and military training, even without the power of Psycho Green he was more than capable of bringing a joker like Gary in with a lot less force than he had used. Gary was right now laid up in hospital with several broken bones and quite a few missing teeth and a lot depended on whether or not he wanted to make a complaint…presuming he had the wherewithal to do so! He might have been a scumbag, but even scumbags had certain rights.
Trevor couldn't feel too badly for Gary. He had seen kids like him before many times. Perhaps if someone had given him some guidance growing up, if his parents or older relatives had disciplined him he might not have grown to the point where he felt like he could raise his hands to someone weaker than him without consequences. It was only a matter of time before he crossed paths with someone that wouldn't put up with his bullshit. Even though he knew that he had crossed several lines and gone way beyond his responsibility as an officer of the law, he couldn't feel badly about the fact perhaps now Gary would finally have gotten the message and leave Betty alone. Unfortunately he also knew that his problems extended far beyond just the prospect of having to find another job.
Psycho Green had completely taken control of him a few times now. Most recently he had killed former General Tracker and he had beaten Gary to within an inch of his life, but in many ways they deserved what they had coming to them. What he couldn't reconcile though was it was becoming more and more clear that Psycho Green wasn't going to be satisfied until he took over completely. It was a battle of wills for Trevor's very mind that he wasn't sure he was going to win.
He could even recall being about to face off against Spike. Trevor knew all too well one of the hardest things to do was call out a team-mate or friend. Spike had been trying to call out Trevor and make him realise the path he was on. Trevor had even made a move on him, and it was only Spike's training that prevented him getting hurt. He had felt Psycho Green starting to rise again before they were interrupted. Trevor knew that Spike's training went beyond what he received at the academy, he had seen it in action himself, but even with his multiple black belts, he was confident Psycho Green would make short work of Spike. The fact was, he either needed to find a way to control Psycho Green or remove him for good. Unfortunately, he had no idea if the latter was even possible. He'd already tried to dispose of the dagger, but it always found its way back to him.
He started serving up his curry into dishes before heading through to the Living Room. When he got there, he found Laura on her laptop.
"Now, for your sake I hope that's either Twitter or adorable cat videos on YouTube." He told her.
"It's nothing heavy, just a few reports." She told him. Trevor didn't look particularly amused by this. "What?"
"Traditionally when someone is on bed-rest, they're meant to stay in bed." He reminded her. "I know it's too much to ask you to do that, but you're actually working?"
"My job doesn't just stop because I'm not there." Laura told him. "It's bad enough those accounts only just got back from the evidence locker, if I sit on my butt here for too long Keith would probably try and replace me!"
"Keith would know better than that!" Trevor stated. Laura could sense something in his tone, a lot harsher than she was used to hearing from Trevor. She looked to him.
"What's that meant to mean?" She asked him. Trevor stalled for a moment. She didn't know about the fact he had attacked Keith on their own front lawn.
"Go on. Tell her." Psycho Green whispered. Trevor had to shake his head clear.
"I…had some very direct words for him." Trevor said.
"Coward!" Psycho Green taunted him. Laura just looked disappointed in him.
"You threatened my boss?" She demanded. "Trevor, what the hell?"
"He came to your house after you were involved in a car accident!" Trevor reminded her. "You could have been killed!"
"Jeez, this is bad…um…OK, I've not got any e-mails that say I'm fired, that's one thing at least." She rushed out. "Alright, maybe if I finish this up I can get back before he decides…"
"Wait, are you mad at me for this?" Trevor asked her.
"You threatened my boss, of course I'm mad!" She snapped at him, before grabbing her head. "Great, now I need an aspirin."
"Why are you mad at me? I'm not the one that's demanding you work yourself into the ground!" Trevor said bluntly. "Keith is…"
"Keith's an asshole!" She interrupted him. "But he's on the promotion highway. Six months from now he'll be looking for an office in another city and I'll be heading upstairs and I'll never even need to hear his name again. If you don't manage to talk me onto the unemployment line in the meantime!"
Trevor took a deep breath. Laura was pretty astute when it came to the corporate ladder.
"Alright, fine, I lost my cool and I shouldn't have. It won't happen again." Trevor assured her. "Can you at least put the laptop away while you have some dinner?"
"Sure." She replied, folding it away. "Oh, Aaron called earlier. He said he ran into you at the grocery store."
"Yes, we ran into each other." Trevor muttered.
"He mentioned you had to bail him out at the counter." She sighed. "He really does feel bad about it."
"It wouldn't be the first time." He said a little bitterly. Laura just smiled.
"You know he always gets us back in the end. Those grants can be a nightmare to chase up!" She told him. "They have to go from one committee to another and through various chambers…God, if you think there's red tape in my job…"
"What?" Psycho Green asked. "He gets a pass and you get yelled at for standing up for your wife?"
"…I mean, maybe these things would run a little more smoothly if he finally got tenure but you know Aaron, that would mean he wouldn't get time on precious boats…"
"She stands up for him when she gets angry at you for trying to protect her and her daughter?" Psycho Green stated. "She should be grateful and yet she's…"
"SHUT UP!" Trevor snapped. Laura just stared at him.
"Excuse me?" She demanded. Trevor just picked up his bowl and stood up.
"Maybe I'm just a little sick of the fact I'm getting dragged over the coals when Aaron gets free pass after free pass no matter what he does!" Trevor blurted out. Laura just stared at him, completely struck dumb by his outburst. Trevor regretted his words instantly, but it wasn't as though he could tell her he wasn't talking to her but the voice of the alien in his head. "I…think I'm just going to eat this in the kitchen."
"Probably a good idea." Laura said, looking clearly unhappy about the way he had spoken to her. Trevor just headed out of the room, into the kitchen, dumping his dinner into the garbage when he got there. He stood for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts, before picking up a jacket and heading out into the city. He needed to clear his mind, preferably before he said anything else he'd regret.
The Rangers were at the Romero Farm, getting in some training time. Dane had now been training with them, lending some of his expertise. They'd now had a good few training sessions with Dane joining them. He was only too happy to accept and respect Brody's role as leader of the team, he was quite adamant he was fine with the 'one and done' nature of his short tenure as a Ranger, but he had also offered to take a more active role in the training duties as well as forging the ninja stars in order to take some pressure off Brody during this crucial time in his education. Brody for his part was quite happy with the arrangement. The others…well…it depended on when you asked them!
Sarah lunged towards Dane with her sword outstretched, only for him to step and twist so that the blade missed him by mere millimetres. He slapped her wrist as she went past, and she found herself unable to hold the sword, which went flying, narrowly missing Preston who was sitting by the fence a little way off. Dane finished by sweeping her legs out from under her, letting her crash hard to the ground. The whole manoeuvre was so fast that it didn't even look like he had done much of anything and Sarah had more or less just thrown her sword away and fallen to the ground all by herself!
Calvin came up behind him, wrapping his arm around his neck, cinching in a rear naked choke, but he seemed to let go almost as quickly. Unseen by the others, Dane had jabbed a few choice pressure points with his fingers, disabling his arm, before falling to his knees and jamming a couple of fingers into Calvin's leg. The Yellow Ranger fell to the ground, his leg now useless.
"So you see, it's not necessarily the biggest or flashiest moves that win the day." Dane said with a smile as he looked around the others, who were just staring in awe. "It might look super cool to hit someone with a jumping spin kick, but if the guy hits the ground and stays there with only a simple move, it leaves you with so much more energy for the next guy."
"OK, duly noted." Calvin stated, flopping around on the ground. "Um…would you mind undoing what you just did to my arm and my leg?"
"Sure thing." Dane said as he knelt down and got to work, releasing the paralysis he had inflicted on the unfortunate teenager. Sarah was helped to her feet by Preston.
"Did I ever doubt Brody when he said that his dad was the greatest ninja that ever lived?" She asked him. "Because if I did, feel free to slap me upside the head."
"Well, I don't know about the best that ever lived." Dane said rather humbly. "But I like to think there was a reason Kanoi was seriously considering me as his replacement. Alright, everyone, take a few minutes, get some water."
They all nodded and wandered off to get some rest. Sarah looked to the others.
"Say, does anyone know where Levi is?" She asked them. "I thought he was meant to be training with us."
"He texted me saying something about some singer he met." Brody told them. "He said he might be a little late."
"Ah, speak of the devil!" Preston said as he pointed towards Levi's car, which was just pulling up into the yard. He got out and started walking towards them, at which the Rangers all started to assemble around Preston. The Blue Ranger's eyes opened wide as he watched him approach, and his mouth hung open. "Uh…you guys are seeing this right?"
"That guy we saw at the school was Levi?" Hayley asked. The Gold Ranger approached them with a smile on his face.
"Hey guys, sorry I'm a little late." Levi greeted them.
"Son…five minutes is 'a little late', your friends have already been practicing for an hour." Dane said, struggling between his attempt to reprimand his son for setting a bad example to the others and laughing at his ridiculous outfit.
"Yeah, we got your text." Brody said, staring at him in a way that betrayed his confusion. "Um…what's all this about?"
"I met this amazing singer called Jess, she has a great voice, I really think she could go all the way so I said I'd help her out! She even wrote a song for us to sing together!"
Preston took the parchment from him and started to read it. Levi could see the way they were all staring at him.
"Look, I know how fortunate I've been. If The General hadn't found me busking I'd probably still be on that street corner in Texas." Levi explained to them. "I know this business can be tough and a lot of people have given me some really fortunate breaks so when I get a chance I like to pay it forward. Kind of my way of giving back for all the good luck I've had."
"That's…great." Sarah said, nodding as they all continued to squirm somewhat. Levi just sighed.
"So why do I feel like there's some kind of massive elephant in the room?" He asked them. None of them really knew how to address the issue, and it ended up falling to Hayley to be the one to bring it up.
"It has to be asked…what's up with the clothes?" She asked him.
"Oh, uh…Jess picked it out for me. She thinks it's a good look for me." Levi told them.
"Compared to what?" Calvin asked him.
"What's that meant to mean?" He asked.
"Are you sure that's even you?" Brody asked him. "I mean it looks…well…it's kind of…"
"It looks like a Skulgator ate a paint factory then threw up!" Calvin blurted out. Levi was a bit taken aback, but given the barely contained sniggers from everyone, including his dad, suggested most of them were of similar mind.
"It's just…trying something different." Levi told them. "I mean, is it a bad thing not being a cowboy all the time?"
"Levi, you ARE a cowboy!" Dane told him. "I know I'd love it if you were a bit more like the little boy I remember from before but you're a man now and the fact is…you've been Levi Weston a lot longer than you've been anything else."
"This song isn't exactly you either." Preston told him. "I mean have you read these lyrics? Eva Noh, Ta She meh…and it goes on. Most of it is just gibberish."
"Hell, even I don't understand that and I'm the girl that can talk to pretty much anything!" Hayley agreed, hearing the bizarre words. The power she gained from the Ninja Steel allowed her to understand any form of communication if she was exposed to it for a short period of time. Her mind just made the connections necessary to understand it. So far it had worked on everything from Preston's pet rabbit Aloha Mora to the as-yet unidentified language Psycho Green spoke. The only way she could think of that it wouldn't work was if the words weren't actual words.
"Hey, I might have made my name in country/rock fusion but my musical taste is very varied. I have everything from Beethoven to Rob Zombie in my record collection!" Levi told them a little defensively. He had to admit, he was a little sceptical himself about the whole thing but he felt like he owed it to Jess to give it a shot. "Besides, it's only one performance right? Haven't you always heard that variety is the spice of life?"
"Well yeah, but…there's spice and there's spice." Calvin stated. "I tried the Ghost Chilli Hellfire Burrito once and believe me, that was no fun going in OR coming back out!"
"That was just lovely." Hayley sighed, forcing a smile as she put her arm around him. "My boyfriend everyone!"
"Look, I know we're kidding around a little." Dane told his son, trying to be a little more diplomatic about it. "But the thing is, do you really think it's a good idea to try and be something you're not?"
Levi by now had his fill. He could understand his friends didn't mean any harm and if anything probably had good intentions, but between his fight with Mary earlier and the guilt he felt over his misunderstanding with Mary, he really could live without them making fun of him too. He snatched the sheet music back from Preston.
"Alright, fine, don't come to the performance!" He snorted. "I guess I'll see you guys at school."
"Come on Levi, we were only teasing!" Sarah said apologetically as he stormed back to his car, slamming the door. He sped away leaving them behind. "Man, he really took that all personally."
"Preston, are you alright?" Brody asked, looking at the Blue Ranger. Preston just shook his head.
"It's…probably nothing but…I feel like I've heard those lyrics before." He told them, sitting down and pulling out his spell book.
"Alright, well…I guess the rest of us should get back to it." Dane answered to a chorus of groans.
Back at the Marx house, Laura was working through more of her work, trying to get 'caught up' as Keith would no doubt put it. Her division was easily weeks ahead of schedule and hundreds of thousands ahead on budget, but Keith was the kind of guy that wanted to make a big impression and move on before he started to get settled. If a project was going to take longer than six months, he had no interest because he didn't intend to be around long enough before his next promotion for it to matter. She heard a knock on the door. She rolled her eyes, figuring it was Trevor. She heard him leave the house and presumed he had gone to clear his head after the fight. She figured he'd probably forgotten his key and now couldn't get back in.
"I'm just coming." She called out. She got to the door and opened it, finding Spike standing on the doorstep. "Spike, hi."
"Hi Mrs Marx, how are you feeling?" Spike asked.
"Kind of like I've been through tumble dryer." She chuckled, letting him in. "Still, I should be back to the swing of things soon."
"That's good to hear." Spike told her. "I was just coming by to tell Trevor that it's alright, he can come back soon too."
"I'm sorry?" She asked him.
"It turns out Gary had a lot more on him than just a restraining order. They found an unregistered weapon. Between that and his previous conviction he was only too happy to make a deal to drop his complaint." Spike explained.
"Wait…complaint?" Laura asked. "Spike, what the hell are you talking about?"
Spike suddenly realised he'd just put his size tens right in his mouth. Clearly Laura didn't know about the complaint or the disciplinary hearing.
"Uh…"
"Spike!" She asked him. "What are you talking about? What complaint?"
"Trevor and I attended a domestic case at the university recently. Trevor might have…gotten a little rough with the guy." Spike told her reluctantly. She just blinked in astonishment.
"He…he told me he took personal time to look after me." She told him. "You mean to say he was SUSPENDED?"
"Um…"
"Spike, sit your butt on the couch right now!" She ordered him. Spike gulped and obeyed without question. "Now, start from the top. What did my husband do to get himself suspended?"
Back at the Romero Farm, the team were all stretching off after training. Preston suddenly jumped up from his seat, causing them all to look round.
"Oh man...oh man…this isn't good!" Preston rushed out.
"What is it Pres?" Sarah asked.
"Guys, I knew I had seen those lyrics before! It's in this book!" Preston told them, showing them his spell book.
"Wait…you're saying that Jess just so happened to write a song that is in fact a real spell?" Calvin asked.
"Why do I doubt that very much?" Hayley agreed. "It sounds like more than a little bit of a coincidence."
"What does the spell do?" Brody asked.
"It's called a symmetric spell. It causes the person that recites it to reverse their personality." Brody explained. "It says here in the Lion Galaxy sometimes they would force prisoners of war to sing it so they would join their own army and fight against their own side!"
They all quickly started trying to dial Levi, but all of them found their phones going straight through to his voicemail.
"Damn it, his phone's going straight to voicemail!" Sarah complained. "Either he's about to start his performance or he's really pissed about us teasing him!"
"He's not answering his Ninja Comm either!" Brody added.
"Guys, this is bad!" Preston told them. "We need to stop him before he finishes singing that song!"