Chapter Four: Truth or Dare

The chains ravenously bit into skin. It was dark, she was not in her room and she was currently restrained with her hands chained to the wall, hanging above her head and, in addition, she was gagged. That was all she was currently sure of. Everything else was just speculation.

Okay, okay, calm down. Don't panic. Dad has told you what to do in a situation like this. Who would have thought that your old man's paranoia might actually work out in your favour for once?

Just breathe.

First thing's first, let's find out what that noise it and then we'll move on from there.

She wasn't alone.

It had taken her a while to determine that, given the complete and all-consuming darkness, but finally she had realised that the noise she could hear was stifled breathing.

Was there another prisoner locked up with her?

She tried to call out but her words were strangled by the gag so they only came out as a muffled, meaningless sound.

Judging by the sound of the breathing, she could only assume that her cellmate was equally restrained and gagged.

No matter, at least she wasn't alone.

A thin blade of light cut through the gloom and tore her eyesight to shreds. So accustomed to the dark she had become, that any light was a blinding source of pain. She clenched her eyes shut and silently counted to ten before slowly reopening them. Her vision was blurry but she knew it would adjust with time. She glanced opposite her in the general direction she assumed her fellow prisoner was restrained and could see a faint, blurry silhouette.

So there was someone there. Good to know, she had been mildly concerned she was going crazy.

"I do hope that the two of you have been playing nice with one another." Tommy looked up in response to the voice. Like the other prisoner, the owner of the voice was a featureless, black outline.

"Who… are you?" she forced out, dragging the words over dried, coarse vocal chords.

"Somebody that is very interested in you, Miss Tommy Q. Oliver. What does the Q stand for? Queenie? You look like a Queenie." The figure walked over to the other shackled prisoner.

"That's not an answer."

"No it is not," the figure agreed, "If I was to be fully honest with, I would say that I have a flair for making enigmatic statements. I think it makes me come off as mysterious. It is a personal failing of mine but, again being honest, I do think it is my only one. My name is Zedd and I believe that you can help me with something." He kicked the other prisoner. "At the very least, I doubt that you could possibly be any more useless than this one. Stop looking so upset, Rita. At least now you are actually of use to me. I cannot lie, I have often wondered about your obsession with the older magics but I am always the first to admit when I am wrong and this may just be one of those times."

Tommy's vision was starting to clear but, for some reason, her eyes were still refusing to give her a definitive visual of Zedd. Rita, she could easily identify with her black, almost bandage like garb but Zedd still looked like a blur.

Zedd placed his hand on Rita's skull, gripping her forehead and she screamed.

Although Zedd did not appear to be exerting much force on her, clearly his hand was doing something to her. Rita's skin paled and then started to grey, her hair following not long after. Her eyes rolled into the back of her skull and a thin trail of blood steadily drooled from her mouth.

"I think I have enough." He released her and she limply sagged against her chains. He took no notice of her, not even glancing to check whether or not she was still alive. "Your turn, Queenie," he said, approaching Tommy with his palm reaching out to her face. She tried to struggle but her chains held her fast and she was unable to move. "Shhh, don't worry, Queenie," he said, almost soothingly, "You are not like her. She was a failure and exists only serve as your foundation. I will not hurt you, I will never hurt you."

He gently placed his hand on her head.

~o~O~o~

"What's the emergency?" Jason was still dripping with water when he made to the bridge of the Command Centre. The urgency of Zordon's voice had compelled him to run without pausing, despite the fact it was one in the morning.

"The Morphing Grid has activated." Zordon's face swivelled around the wall until he and Jason were eye to eye. "And we know it was not one of you five. It was the Green Power Coin that triggered the activation." The holographic display in the centre of the room glowed a sickly green.

"Rita," Jason breathed in horror, "But that's impossible. We stopped her! She can't be back."

"Jason, it's even worse than that. Rita's Power Coin had been damaged in the asteroid strike that killed me and my team which is why she was never able to access her full Ranger powers such as her weaponry and Zord. But this means that the coin has not only been repaired, it has bonded to a user and that they are either on this planet or its moon."

"Jesus Christ." Jason leant on the railing for support. His legs felt like they were about to drop out from under him. "This is connected to that ship you and Alpha spotted, isn't it?"

"That would seem to be the most likely scenario. Jason, this is not going to be the same as when you and your team fought Rita the first time around. Her sorcery was her greatest asset but her Ranger Powers were lacking. This is going to be a Green Power Ranger at full strength which means that not only is it likely that has Rita returned but that she now has an ally powerful enough to repair her coin."

"You're right, it's not gonna be the same." Jason had a determined edge to his voice. "The Zeo Crystal isn't buried in the middle of a street this time. It's here in this ship, buried under nearly twelve layers of shielding, metal, water, and rock. If she still wants it, she has to come to us, not Angel Grove. And, more importantly, we're not new at this anymore. We can morph, we can operate our Zords and we have fought her before. I'm not trying to be arrogant but I believe in us. You, me, and the others. We can do this."

The various rocks that made up Zordon's face shifted and, at first, Jason thought that the display had malfunctioned until he finally realised what had happened.

Zordon was smiling.

Jason hadn't seen many previous cases of this in his experience with their mentor.

"I have been so used to fighting on a desperate defence. When I was Red Ranger, it was all I knew. I suppose I am not used to hope. Thank you, Jason, for reminding me that I am not alone."

"So, what's our next move?"

"Right now, we wait. I know it is not what you want to hear but until Rita comes out of hiding, we have no way of finding her. We need to let her make the first move. But we will not be unprepared. We will train harder than ever before, Alpha V and I will instruct you on utilising your powers to their full potential and we prepare defences. Rita will not get the crystal without bleeding for it, I promise you that."

~o~O~o~

"You're looking pretty awful. What happened to you?" Zack had been waiting all first period to ask Jason why he looked seconds away from collapsing into a pile of exhaustion. He had also meant to inquire about the recently formed bruises on his face.

"I was at the Pit all night training." Zack whistled in response. For the training programs to leave bruises that were still showing, he had to have set the level at maximum difficulty,

"Have you ever heard of burning the candle at both ends?" Kimberly asked, grinning. She frowned when Jason didn't return her smile. "What's wrong?" Jason looked around at his friends.

"Zordon thinks that Rita is back."

"What?!" Billy was practically hyperventilating.

He plunges face first into the dark, stinking waters of the pier, the foul liquid forcing its way down his throat. He struggles to breathe but that just provides easier access for the waters. He shakes, twists, contorts, anything to try to force some small amount of air from the gloom.

Finally, he stops moving.

"Hey, hey, hey, Billy, you are okay, you're with us. She cannot hurt you." Billy was calmer.

"I know, I'm sorry, it's just…"

"It's alright, we understand, buddy."

"So what do we do now?" Zack asked.

"Zordon and Alpha need a day to put together a new training program, apparently this one's more detailed, so we're not going in tonight but, starting tomorrow, they want us making an appearance every day until we take them down."

"I suppose things were getting a little too quiet around here," Trini said, a sardonic grin forming.

"So, what you're saying is, is that, since we're not training tonight, we still have to go to that party you roped us into just because you want to hook up with new girl," Kimberly said, her eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Jason likes Tommy? It's not fair that all the really good looking ones are straight." Trini was grinning sadistically as Jason looked more and more uncomfortable with the direction that the conversation was going.

"I think you guys are ignoring the seriousness of the situation here–"

"Jason likes Tommy, Jason likes Tommy," Kimberly and Zack said in sing song voices.

"Seriously, are you guys twelve or something?"

"Well, technically, we're all juvenile delinquents so it would be out of character for us to act mature." It was all Billy could do to avoid cracking up with laughter.

"Et tu, Billy? God, I hate you all." Despite the fact that he was the source of the laughter, eventually Jason had to join in.

"Speaking of, where is new girl?" Zack asked, "I didn't see her in class."

~o~O~o~

"You made it! I didn't know if you'd show cause we didn't see you in school." Jason looked up from the fire in response to Zack's words. Lo and behold, there was Tommy Oliver walking towards the group carrying…

"Is that a bottle of Johnnie Walker Gold Label?" Trini exclaimed. Tommy shrugged and grinned.

"Well, you know, the new kid on the block always wants to make a good impression. Here you go." Tommy tossed her the bottle and Trini caught it before quickly looking at the label to confirm it was the genuine article and, upon seeing that it was, she gave a brief exclamation of delight.

"Well colour me impressed. Guys, I think we should keep this one." Tommy sat down on a log near Jason and Zack held out a hot dog.

"We have onions, sauces and all that stuff in the cooler over there. Go nuts."

"Thanks," she said, taking the offered food.

"So where were you today?" Jason asked.

"Nowhere really, I just felt like playing hooky for the day. What?" The last part was in response to the others, sans Jason, breaking out in laughter.

"God, I picked the wrong time to take a drink," Trini chortled, "That's kind of burning now."

"Jason, you need to marry this girl, pronto," Kimberly near shouted, tears trailing down her face. Her and Trini practically collapsed into each other, laughing so hard. "Oh, that was good, that's a good way to break the ice. Thanks, Tommy, we needed that."

"Sorry, I'm a little lost here," Tommy said with a bewildered expression.

"Don't worry about it," said Jason, blushing slightly, "It's just these losers have deliberately set out to ignore certain words in the English language."

"Translation, you two are the only ones in the entire planet to ever use the word 'hooky.'" Billy had had quite a bit to drink already and it was starting to have an effect as he was quite unused to alcohol.

"Well, I suppose I could be in worse company," she said, glancing over at Jason, "What are you drinking anyway?"

"Corona," he said, holding up the bottle so she could see.

"I take back the worse company line," she said, grinning, "Could you be anymore white?" Despite that, she did swipe the bottle from his hand before taking a swig of the stuff.

"Well, you may not have noticed this," he said, leaning in towards her conspiratorially. She leant towards him in response. "I'm kind of the token white guy in this group. Huh, I didn't know people actually did spit takes in real life."

"God, I'm sorry," she exclaimed, mortified after having just sprayed him with beer while laughing. Despite her embarrassment, she started laughing again which set him off.

"Damn it," he said, "I was hoping to do the stern expression thing and make you think I was actually serious. You set me off and ruined it."

~o~O~o~

"Okay… uh, truth."

"Coward!" Zack called out before taking another drink.

"Hey, don't judge, it's still early in the game," Kimberly said defensively, "So fire away, I'm open book."

"Did you really knock out that guy's tooth?" Billy asked which led to a collective groan.

"Dude, we already knew that one," Jason said, facepalming, "I think we should get another question."

"Ah, nup!" Kimberly said triumphantly, "I was asked that question so I shall answer honestly, yes, Billy, I really knocked out that guy's tooth. And I think that brings us to you, Zack."

"Well, I'm picking dare cause I guess I'm the bravest here," he said with a swagger.

~o~O~o~

"Come on, come on, be the nut!" Tommy laughed. Billy's face was screwed up in concentration.

"Okay, okay, I've got this," he said to himself before throwing the cashew which completely missed Tommy's open mouth, her face and went on to hit Trini straight in the nose to the general amusement of all those gathered.

"Dude," she said, "Wrong target."

"The idea is to throw a lot at once," Zack added unhelpfully.

~o~O~o~

"How the hell is Trini the first one to pass out?" Jason exclaimed, "I mean, Billy I understand, he's not really used to this but somehow he's second!" Billy's eyes had just recently closed, making him the second person to pass out and signifying the party was winding down. Tommy was sitting in front of him and leaning against his chest so he wasn't exactly complaining about the state of affairs.

"Well, she's just lost a lot of her street cred," Zack chuckled, "I thought she was the tough, badass one of the group like Rosa from Brooklynn Nine-Nine. Now she's just kind an Amy."

"Lay off of her," Kimberly said protectively, "She hasn't been feeling that well lately. We all have off days." Trini's head was resting in her lap and Kimberly ruffled her hair affectionally. "She'll be as good as new next week and then we'll see who lasts longer, you or her."

"Oh, will you two just get a room already?" Tommy snorted. Kimberly's head shot up.

"We're just friends," she said quickly.

"Riiight," Tommy replied sceptically, "And I'm just practically spooning this loser because we're just really good friends. No offence," she added, glancing back at Jason.

"We're just friends," Kimberly repeated, with a little more conviction this time.

"Okay, that's cool," Tommy said, backing off from the subject, "Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool." The last part was a rapid fire delivery with barely half a second between words. She then stretched and yawned. "Anyway, I'm sorry to love and leave you guys but I really need to head off."

"I'd offer to walk you down the mountain but I should really make sure he gets home alright," Jason said apologetically, nodding in Billy's direction.

"Nah, it's all good," she said, climbing off of him, "The walk will do me good anyway. Oh, I almost forgot." She grabbed his face and kissed him full on the mouth for several seconds. She then pulled away and wobbled unsteadily until she found her balance. "Now don't make anything of that," she said, "I may be quite drunk. Anyway, later taters." And with that she walked off, quickly disappearing into the gloom once she got away from the fire.

"Jason Scott, my man," Zack said, grinning like a child, "She likes made up words too so it's bound to work out."

"Shut up," Jason said, but he was too happy about the kiss and was quickly grinning in response.

Despite the others, Kimberly was not smiling, she was still focusing on Tommy's 'get a room' line.

She and Trini were just friends.

~o~O~o~

"So, how was your night, young lady?"

"Yeah, it was alright," Tommy replied casually, "They seem like a decent bunch of guys. That Jason's already into me though."

"Well you are a rather lovely young lady. Any boy would like you."

"Thanks, Zedd," she said with a grin, "Now I'm thinking that taking them all out is gonna be pretty easy."

~o~O~o~

I hope you all enjoyed this later chapter. Please remember to review and tell me what you liked, what you didn't and what you'd like to see.