Late night knocks weren't uncommon. Shane sometimes ordered pizza late at night when he had a craving, or Dustin, Tori, Blake, Hunter, and sometimes even Cam would come by late just to hang out. Sometimes, Kelly would come by and it was easier to knock than to reach around for her bag and dig through it to find her keys.
But Shane wasn't expecting pizza, friends, or a girlfriend. And normally the knock wouldn't concern him so much, but it was more of a pound and now he did have a child to consider.
A Ranger child, but still. He'd be damned if he let anything happen to Sarah.
So, when the pounding knock sounded against the door, Shane jumped up from the couch and very quietly crept to the door. Sarah, who was sitting on the other couch with her notebook in hand, looked up to see her uncle, in his sweats, tip-toeing across the floor like a crook and rolled her eyes.
"You're so embarrassing."
"Shh," Shane whispered. "We don't know who's on the other side."
"Madame Oedius would have blown through the door and between the two of us, I think a common thief is in way over their heads," Sarah said.
"Better safe than sorry."
"Still embarrassing," Sarah whispered. Shane reached for the door, but before he opened it, he called out.
"Who is it?"
"It's Gia."
"Are you here to rob us?"
"Seriously? I'm a cop!"
"Silver Guardian, technically."
"Really, Shane?"
The red Ranger looked through the peephole, saw the person on the other side was in fact Gia (and she didn't look too happy), and opened the door. Gia glared at him, arms crossed.
"I've had a difficult day, you know."
"Sarah told me," Shane nodded. "Just trying to be safe, though. I'm new to the full-time uncle parent thing."
"What are you doing here, Gia?" Sarah asked. She had spoken with the yellow Ranger earlier in the day to update her on what she, Calvin, Preston and Serena had found out. Someone had deliberately caused harm to Tiger. They were waiting to see if they could find the owner of the food truck and hopefully when they did, they could figure out why they would want to hurt Tiger, and how they had done it.
By then, Gia had already known her cat had been poisoned. Finding out it was deliberate was at least a step in the right direction for the investigation. If they could find the owner of the food truck and track them down, it was possible they could find out what they had poisoned Tiger with.
"Can I stay?" she asked. "I don't want to be far from Tiger and it's probably better if I'm not alone tonight."
"We've got a couch," Sarah nodded and pointed to the piece of furniture that she had been sitting on. "Or you could take my room…"
"The couch is fine," Gia promised. "You're sure it's no trouble."
"Not a problem," Shane confirmed. "Any new updates on the cat?"
Gia shook her head. The doctors had promised to call as soon as they had something. So far, there had been no call except to let her know that Tiger's condition was still stable.
"That sucks," Shane said with a sigh. He pointed to the kitchen, "Can I make you something? Coffee? We've got some leftover take-out in the fridge I can reheat for you."
"I'm not really hungry," Gia said.
"Have you eaten anything?" Sarah asked. Gia tried to think of the last meal she had. Breakfast for sure, because she had made herself bacon and eggs, knowing she would need the energy for a day of organizing and setting up her office. She couldn't think of even a snack she had eaten since. Sarah got up. "I'll make you something."
"I can do it," Shane offered. Sarah shook her head.
"Remember what we said about you and the kitchen?" Sarah frowned. Shane nodded his head.
"We're not made for each other."
"You can set up the couch," Sarah suggested. Shane rolled his eyes and sighed.
"Fine, but after that, I'm watching TV in my room."
"Good night," Sarah chuckled as Shane went to get the extra sheets. Gia followed her into the kitchen.
"He can't cook?"
"Kelly's convinced he doesn't know how to work a toaster," Sarah nodded. "He means well, but there's a reason we have a fridge packed with take-out."
Sarah opened the fridge to show Gia, whose eyes widened as the sight of take-out containers piled on top of more take-out containers.
"Needless to say," Sarah added, "dinners at your place are the best nights of the week."
"Want to come more often?" Gia said with a chuckle. "You save the world on this diet?"
"I'm not home too often," Sarah shrugged. "Shane's a good uncle, and I like being with him and stuff but… it just sucks not having either of my parents around. At least when I stay at Ninja Ops, I can pretend they're still at home."
"I get it," Gia nodded. "I still find it weird sometimes to see Claire and my mom… acting all… romantic and stuff. Reminds me that dad's really gone."
Sarah gave Gia a sandwich she had made quickly, then offered her a glass of water. Gia took it, and while she managed to take a few bites, she wasn't all that hungry. Sarah knew the feeling all too well.
"We'll figure out what happened to Tiger," she said. "And whoever hurt her will pay. You're the best Guardian this city's ever seen."
"It's easier when you aren't directly involved," Gia said. "Tiger's my cub. It's hard to worry and work at the same time."
"Yeah."
"And they can't identify the poison," Gia shook her head. "Maybe I'm just overthinking it too much but… wouldn't they know what was used by now? I mean, there are countless drugs on the street right now but… a blood test should tell you what it is, right?"
"Maybe it's flushed out of her system already?"
"Couldn't be. Tiger's still sick. She's stable but… they were very clear, she's suffering. And they found the poison. They have a sample."
"And they can't tell what it is?" Sarah asked. "Could it be a combination?"
"They'd figure it out. I'm sure if I give it time, they'll be able to tell me and administer the right antidote but… Tiger's suffering."
"And I guess the list of people wanting to hurt a tiger cop is pretty long?" Sarah asked. Gia nodded her head with a sigh.
"I mean, I'm the one who makes the arrests and does the paperwork and stuff but… Tiger's always by my side. She's taken down a few bad guys but…"
"But?"
"People are usually terrified the moment they see her," Gia said. "You remember Thomas, right?"
"I try not to."
"He played it tough the whole time he had you," Gia told Sarah. "Played it like he was in control and, honestly, he kind of was. But the moment Tiger came out, he couldn't run away fast enough. Literally, he couldn't run fast enough to get away from Tiger. He was terrified of her, and he's got to be one of the more messed up people I've seen."
"Really?"
"Your whole biological pimp family is high on my list of fucked up people," Gia nodded. "I'm genuinely amazed you're a pretty decent person, never mind chosen by a higher power to be the pink Ranger."
"Thank you?" Sarah frowned.
"I can't count the number of people who might have imagined hurting Tiger, and it's not like no one's every tried but... they're causing her this much pain and she didn't so much as have a piece of their clothing, some of their blood, or even bits of their flesh on her."
"There's a good mental image for right before bed," Sarah frowned. "If you hear me screaming tonight, it's because you triggered another bad nightmare."
"Sorry," Gia chuckled. "But I mean it, Tiger's a real threat to people when she wants to be and if she felt like someone might hurt her, she knows she can fight them off. Whoever did this must be really brave and really stupid to even think to try this."
"Serena calls you brave and stupid all the time," Sarah smirked. "Would you ever try to attack a wild animal, never mind one trained to take you down quickly?"
"No," Gia shook her head. "That'd be… way too dangerous."
Sarah nodded, then sat down at the table, across from Gia, as a thought occurred to her.
"What if the person who attacked her wasn't afraid of being mauled?"
"Who would that be?" Gia asked. "I don't want to be on Tiger's bad side and I know for a fact she would never do anything to hurt me. Ciara and I are the only two people she would never, ever consider touching, no matter what."
"Ciara, but not Jake?"
"She's my spirit animal so technically, Ciara's her kid too. It's complicated," Gia said. "But if I'd be afraid to get on her bad side, who wouldn't?"
"Someone who isn't afraid to do what needs to be done to complete her agenda?"
"Her agenda?"
"Someone who's proven she's okay with hurting and killing the people Rangers love the most? Someone who got her ass handed to her by you for the first time in months."
"Oedius?" Gia asked. "You think Oedius is behind this?"
"I'm just putting pieces together," Sarah said. "The doctors can't figure out the kind of poison that was used on Tiger, despite looking into it for the better part of the day, a food truck appears out of nowhere, and clearly had no intention on ever selling food. The person – or monster – who injected Tiger did so flawlessly. There wasn't a fight, they didn't have to hurt Tiger any further, and they themselves didn't get hurt. Tiger wasn't found right next to the truck, so we can imagine she tried to run. It makes sense. Oedius would have a poison that would baffle anyone on Earth because of course we've never seen this before. Oedius would know how to get an abandoned food truck and how to lure Tiger to it. She wouldn't be afraid of Tiger because she's Oedius, and Tiger, seeing her, would know to run away, right?"
"I've never trained her to fight monsters," Gia nodded. "I always told her to run, protect Ciara and the other kids if needed, but run."
Gia looked across the table at Sarah, "But they could still figure out what the poison is. Just because they don't know it yet…"
"They might, but would you really put this past Oedius? She used Aiden to manipulate Kelly's dad, and killed him, Aiden and Jordan. She convinced my father to work against me and the Rangers. She paralyzed Kelly, blew my parents up when she didn't need my dad anymore, and she attacked us in HQ. She even tried using a time machine to conquer the planet because she saw some guy named Vrak do it and thought she could do it better. If anyone's going to poison a tiger, it's her."
"Vrak was my Oedius," Gia said. Sarah frowned.
"Huh?"
"Vrak. Prince Vrak of the Armada?"
"She just said his name," Sarah shrugged.
"Vrak built a time machine, used it on us and… well, you know the story."
"Not really. I didn't time travel," Sarah shook her head. "So, the Vrak she mentioned, that was your team's Oedius?"
"Had my dad killed," Gia nodded. "Hired Cliff to do his dirty work."
"Cliff?"
"KInda like my Drex," Gia said.
"Oedius had Drex work for her."
"Too bad Vrak's dead," Gia chuckled. "We could have introduced them."
"Do you really want that?" Sarah asked. Gia shook her head, then looked serious again.
"Do you really think… Oedius? You think she would do this?"
"She might have. We can't rule her out."
"Why?"
"If you can figure that out before something bad happens, you'll be the world's best Ranger," Sarah smirked. "Odds are, you'll never guess it quite right."
"If it's to hurt me, she's already won," Gia said. "But she will regret it."
