Hey guys! I know it's been a long while since I've updated this, and I'm really sorry about that. I had to finish an arc on Guardians of the Galaxy and then a lot happened in my personal life that I didn't expect, so I didn't know how long that would take! To make it up to you, I'm going to post two chapters for this story today! Hope you enjoy!


It was early in the morning, and Joey and Owen had already been called to come out and put out a fire. Generally, Owen was only sent to minor fires since he was the only lieutenant fireman, but, because it was so early, he was asked to go in with the chiefs to help.

Unfortunately, this also meant that he was shoved aside and forced to stand by while the chiefs handled it. He crossed his arms and watched them, wondering why they even called him if they weren't going to let him do anything.

The fire was going out because of the sprays from the hoses, but it was still too hot to send any of them in to search for any people.

Owen walked over to Joey, who was monitoring the situation. "Why are we just standing by? Can't we go in and search for people yet?"

"It's too hot to send anyone in safely," Joey responded. "Can't you feel that heat? Besides, we don't know if the building is structurally strong enough to stay up while we go in there."

"Joey, I can't feel the heat," Owen said, as if it was obvious. "Literally. My ability is fire manipulation - I could walk right in there and look for people without getting burned."

Joey looked over at him in surprise. "Seriously? Why didn't you say something before?"

"I'm not used to working with others on fires." Owen muttered. "So, should I go or...?"

The yellow chief gestured quickly. "Go now! Before anyone sees you - I'm not really supposed to let you do this."

Owen made a face. "Yeah, I figured." He moved out of the way and passed behind multiple other chief firemen before he found and opening into the building and walked in. He put his mask quickly over his face and walked through the burning building, being glad he couldn't feel the flames licking at his body.

He found some stairs and was about to walk up them when part of the upper floor collapsed onto them, a body on top of it. Owen stared in shock and grabbed the body, hoisting it over his shoulders to bring it out, though he wasn't sure if the person was dead or alive. Walking back to move out of the building since he knew it was unsafe to walk upstairs, he saw a girl standing in the doorway.

"Hey!" He exclaimed, running forward to shove her out of the way of the fire. Firemen ran over, as did paramedics, and Owen put the burnt body onto a gurney before ripping off his mask and turning to the girl with a glare. "What the hell are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"Are you?" Another chief fireman came up to him, yelling. "No one was allowed to go in there until the fire was out! I knew we shouldn't have let a lieutenant on the job - that why I showed up!"

Joey came quickly over and put a hand on the other fireman's shoulder, pulling him away from Owen. "Whoa, Lawrence, calm down. I told Owen it was fine - his power keeps him safe."

"Yeah, besides, if I didn't go in there, that girl may not have made it out." Owen defended himself.

"Wait a minute," Lawrence looked him over. "Owen? Like Wade's kid brother?"

Owen was taken aback by his recognition, and nodded slowly. "Yeah. How did you know that?"

Lawrence raised an eyebrow, "Wade and I were good friends a few years ago. You've never heard of me?"

He shook his head. "No, I haven't."

"Joey," A paramedic came up to him. "The guy; he's gone. Burnt pretty badly." He said, referring to the body found in the building.

Joey sighed. "Alright." He looked up at the building, "The fire's going down. We'll be able to send people in there to check it out soon - test the integrity and see how safe we'll be inside."

"And in the meantime," Owen turned to the girl, who was standing there with a worried facial expression. "You need to go stand to the side with the others, behind that line." He gestured to the crowd of people standing behind crime tape. "And if we catch you over here again, you can be punished by law."

She nodded and walked over to behind the line, while Owen turned back to watch the fire dwindle out.

- Cue Opening -

Owen got back to ER, a bit tired from the event of that morning. He walked into the lieutenant base, rubbing a hand over his face, only to see Lia giving Autumn a folder for their next case.

"Seriously?" Owen whined slightly as he came in. "I just put out a fire and we're already getting a new case?"

Lia chuckled lightly. "Luckily for you, it's the same case you were dealing with this morning - arson."

He frowned, "I thought the chiefs were handling that."

"So did I," Lia nodded. "But since Sean is just getting back, they're taking it easy and taking on a simple robbery, which is what we were supposed to have."

Nikki raised an eyebrow. "You'd think they wouldn't be able to pass this one up."

Lia gave her a slightly amused look. "You would, but they did. It doesn't matter how you feel about this, but this is good for us. It could get us more recognition - the recognition we actually deserve."

Jason sighed, "If we can solve it."

"We can; we just have to work on it whenever we can." Autumn assured him with a smile. "We can handle this, trust me. We wouldn't be working here if we wouldn't, right?"

"She's not wrong," Owen agreed.

"So, if you were working on this in the morning," Nikki started, leaning on the console in front of her. "I wouldn't suppose you know anything about this case so far, would you?"

Owen chuckled and sat down, leaning back in the chair. "I know that they think it was the John Doe that they found burned in the building; he's the main suspect, but I've heard there were two others."

"You're right." Andi rolled her chair over to the others. "There are two other suspects they want you to talk to," She grabbed the case file from Autumn and looked it over. "A girl named Carly Lambert and a man named Douglas Kane."

Jason frowned, "Douglas Kane? The convicted arsonist?"

Nikki made a face. "Oh yeah, he totally didn't do it."

"It might not be as obvious as you may think," Lia reminded her. "I want you guys to split up - Jason and Autumn will stay here to look at the body of our John Doe and go over any more evidence, while Nikki and Owen will go talk a bit to our other suspects and see if they can get anything to bring them in for further questioning."

"Alright, sounds like a plan." Owen pushed himself to his feet and gestured for Nikki to follow. "You ready?"

She nodded. "Ready!" Nikki smiled.

"Be careful!" Sophie called to them as they left.

- PRER -

Taz followed closely by Sean as he slightly limped in to the chief base. His leg was much better, no longer in a cast since it was healing nicely, though it was still sore and he still had a bit of physical therapy to do before he was cleared for duty. That, however, didn't mean that he couldn't come in and help from the office, even if he couldn't go out on the field.

"Are you sure you're ready to come back to work?" Taz questioned worriedly. "I mean, you're still recovering."

He chuckled at her worry. "Hardly; the doctor said I'd be back on the regular job within the next few weeks," Sean stopped and turned to her, grabbing her lightly by the shoulders. "I promise you that I'm alright." He kissed her forehead. "Okay?"

She sighed, "Okay, but you'd tell me the minute anything was wrong, right?"

"Of course." Sean nodded.

The two entered the base, and immediately saw all eyes turn on them. Tori and Joey, in particular, stood up and walked over to them, Joey clapping Sean on the shoulder with a cheery smile.

"Look at that," He said proudly. "Sean's back at work. How you doing, man?"

"I feel great, considering everything." Sean responded. "Definitely ready to get back to work."

"Well, no field duty until you're cleared by your doctor," Tori crossed her arms. "Not gonna let you get hurt any worse."

Sean rolled his eyes. "I'm fine, but I'll go with it because I know Masters would have my head if I didn't."

"You're right about that." Masters agreed as he walked up to them, putting a hand on Sean shoulder, similarly to Joey. "I don't care how well you feel, you're not getting back out there without your doctor's consent. Even then, I might have to have Sera check you out to make sure you're good."

Tori gave him a smirk. "Wow, the royal treatment. You're really lucky, Sean." She stopped as she was about to walk by him. "You should've just listened to me - I would have been easier about it."

He grabbed her arm for a moment. "I'm glad that you're so happy to have me back."

She scoffed lightly. "Just let me know when you can be cleared for duty. We're a little short-handed."

"Is she always like that?" Joey muttered as Tori walked away. "I mean, I know I haven't been here that long, but seriously, that girl is stoic."

Taz smiled fondly. "Tori isn't really that bad. She does care - a lot, in fact - but she doesn't want it to get in the way of her work. You should try to spend time with her outside of work; she's different."

Joey nodded. "Maybe I will, if she'll let me."

"Alright," Masters announced. "Get back to work, guys. This isn't free time."

As the three rangers moved back to their positions, Lia poked her head around the corner. "Masters," She called, attracting his attention. "We gotta..."

He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder to push her slightly out of the room with himself. "Yeah, I know. Let's go," Masters turned back into the room. "Sera, Logan, let's go."

The two interns finished their work quickly and stood up, following them quickly out of the room.

- PRER -

Owen and Nikki made their way up to Douglas Kane's house, who they both figured would probably be the most likely suspect in the crime. As they did, Owen spotted a familiar face looking in the windows of said house.

"Who's that?" Nikki asked, frowning at the man's behavior.

"A chief fireman." Owen muttered, walking ahead of her and up to the bottom of the steps of the house. "Lawrence." He called, startling the man into turning around. "What the hell are you doing?"

Lawrence smiled nonchalantly. "Hey, it's Wade's kid brother. What is it again? Oscar?"

"Owen." He responded irritatedly. "Now maybe you can answer my question."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Lawrence shrugged. "I was looking into this guy cause I figured he'd be the prime suspect, being a convicted arsonist and all. What are you doing here?"

"I'm one of the lieutenants," Owen held up his badge, one that came with his position as a ranger. "This is my partner, Nikki. We're investigating, and we'd appreciate it if you would leave so we can do our job and bring this guy down, if need be."

The chief fireman gave him a glare for a moment, before nodding and stepping down from the porch. "Of course. Please, go ahead. I'm leaving."

"Good," Owen grumbled as they watched him disappear down the street.

Nikki looked up at him. "Friend of yours?" She asked, a hint of teasing in her voice.

Owen rolled his eyes. "Old friend of my brother's, or so he says. I've never heard of or met him before now, and he's just kinda.. off. He's not really the type of person I imagine when I think of Wade's old friends."

"Well, I'll agree when you say there's something off about him." Nikki crossed her arms. "I don't like the way he was snooping around our suspect's house, you know?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I..." Owen trailed off as Douglas walked out of his house, but in a completely different way than they expected. Compared to his mugshot, he was clean cut and seemed much more peaceful. He was carrying a yoga mat in his arms, and was dressed like he was going to work out. "Douglas Kane?" Owen called to him, getting his attention.

"Yes?" Douglas walked down the stairs and approached them.

"I'm lieutenant Owen Lalley, and this is lieutenant Nicole Keegan with the Waverly Emergency Responders," He said, holding up his badge with Nikki. "We'd like to ask you a few questions."

"Alright, what seems to be the problem?" Douglas asked, regarding them respectfully.

While Owen was taken aback by this behavior, Nikki didn't seem to be fazed. "Where were you between the hours of 6 to 7 am this morning, Mr. Kane?"

He thought for a moment before answering. "I was on a run to Starbucks. I thought I had work this morning, until I found out that the company I work for might be shutting down our store, so I was asked not to come in."

"Is there anyone that can confirm your whereabouts this morning?" Nikki asked, looking him up and down.

Douglas nodded. "The barista. I always come in at the same time every morning and see her there. Her name is Carly, but I'm not sure if she'll be there - she got this phone call and ended up leaving early."

Owen frowned. "Wait, Carly Lambert? You know her?"

He nodded again. "Yeah, like I said, I see her every morning."

"Okay, thank you for your time, Mr. Kane." Nikki said, flashing him a slight smile. "We'll get back to you if we need you." As Douglas walked away, she turned to Owen. "Carly left early after getting a phone call and then was mysteriously at the scene of the crime? That doesn't look good for her."

"You're right, it doesn't." Owen sighed. "But he could be lying," He pointed out, though his idea was shot down by the look on Nikki's face. "Let's go talk to her and she what she has to say."

- PRER -

Tori walked down the hall until she got to the lieutenant forensics lab and peeked in through the door. Autumn was standing over Jason's shoulder, looking his notes as he explained them to her. She stood there for a moment, before realizing that she was ultimately staring, and decided to walk in, knocking lightly on the door to announce her presence.

Autumn looked up first, smiling when she said the red chief. "Hey, Tori. What's up?"

She shrugged. "Just coming around to see how you guys are doing with the case. We know you've been getting harder ones lately because of all that happened with Taz and Sean, so I wanted to make sure that you were doing good with that."

"Why wouldn't we be?" Autumn asked, still keeping up a cheery attitude, even with the implication that she knew came with Tori's statement. "Besides, I know you know we can handle this. I mean, you and the other chiefs were involved in creating the team, weren't you?"

Tori was slightly taken aback by her statement, but nodded slowly. "Yeah, sort of. We weren't too happy about it because we knew we could handle it, but we knew Masters and Lia's higher-ups wanted another team so we didn't have to do everything. Sean and Taz decided that it wouldn't be that bad after a bit and helped Lia in her recruiting."

"And you didn't help at all?" Autumn said, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I didn't." Tori said, her voice steady. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, it's just because Masters told me that you guys helped out, and I figured I wanted to know if you did too." Autumn shrugged, looking slightly dejected. "But I guess not."

Jason watched them interact with a bit of confusion, but didn't think it was his place to but in, and turned back to his paper work.

"Would it have made a difference if I had?" Tori crossed her arms, a curious eyebrow raised.

Autumn sighed. "I don't know, I just hoped you had. It would've made me feel better that you actually didn't just not want us here."

Tori uncrossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Autumn, don't be so insecure. I don't not want you here. I may have thought you guys were unnecessary at first, but I realized that there's a lot we wouldn't have been able to do without you, and the four of us can't handle everything, obviously. So we do need you, and we do want you here."

"That's.. good to hear." Autumn trailed off lamely. "So, we've got some work to do and..."

"I got it." Tori assured her. "I'll get out of your hair. Let me know if you guys need anything."

She exited the lieutenant forensics lab and turned a corner, moving to walk past the lieutenant base on her way out, before noticing that the doors were all closed. Because of the door of the bases were sliding, mechanical doors that locked automatically when closed, they were almost always open unless something serious was going on.

Tori frowned and moved towards the door, about to knock when she heard voices from the other side of the door.

"You have your candidate for the pink chief," Lia's voice came through, sounding annoyed. "We have an idea for the purple lieutenant. If you're getting a new ranger, I don't see why we shouldn't be aloud to."

"I think you guys are only doing this so that you can one up us and make us useless," Andi retorted back, Tori imagining her arms crossed and the scowl on her face.

Masters cleared his throat from the other side of the door. "That's not true, Andromeda. We were always going to bring in a new ranger, and with what happened to Sean and Fantasia, we thought it was the right time for this."

Sophie sighed. "We understand that, but what if this happens to the lieutenants as well?"

"I believe that I should have a say in this," A new voice said - one Tori only recognized from hearing it before. "The new rangers will come in when the opportunity presents itself. The pink chief has barely just got any experience on the field, while the purple lieutenant has. Lincoln, give the new chief some time to adjust, and then bring her in. Lia, I've contacted the officers and they believe the lieutenant will be prepared when you need her. Can you handle that?"

Both of the mentors agreed, sounding a bit dejected on both ends, while Tori quickly walked away before they came out of the base. She had recognized the voice as the head of ER, being Masters and Lia's higher-up. Tori had never met him, but she had heard that he was strict and hard on the people who worked for him, and generally wasn't pleasant to talk to.

She leaned against a wall outside of the building and thought about what she had just heard. She was unaware that new rangers were coming to work at ER with them, and was a bit surprised to hear that Masters and Lia had been planning this for a while without talking to them.

Tori heard people talking and coming towards the exit, and quickly walked away to go to lunch without looking back.

- PRER -

Nikki and Owen sat quietly in Carly Lambert's apartment, waiting as she brought them some coffee from the kitchen nearby. She walked back into the living room and handed the mugs to them before sitting on the couch.

"So, is this about the interview I made with the news this morning?" She asked, sipping her own coffee. "I wasn't aware that that was illegal."

Owen shook his head. "It's not. That's not why we're here. Actually, it's because we were wondering why, exactly, you were at the scene of a crime when you were supposed to be at work?"

Carly sighed. "I had to leave because my mom's dog got out of her house and she wanted me to find it for her. I swear, she does anything she can to get me to move back home."

"Is there anyone who can..." Nikki trailed off when they heard a slight tap on the wall coming from around the door.

Owen stood up and gestured for them to be quiet as he walked over to the door and looked out the peephole, surprised by what he saw. Lawrence was moving around in the hallway outside of her apartment door, holding an empty container of gas in his hands, planting on the ground near her door. Owen gestured for Nikki to come to the door and had her look as well.

Nikki nodded at him and he immediately opened the door, moving to grab Lawrence when he moved out of the way and took off down the hall. "Stay with her and call for backup!" Owen told Nikki. "I'll get him!"

The green lieutenant pressed the buttons on his morpher and morphed silently, running to catch Lawrence, who had taken the stairs to run to the bottom floor of the building.

Owen sprinted after him as fast as he could, drawing his blaster to hopefully injure one of Lawrence's feet and make him stop running. He couldn't get a clear shot, however, until Lawrence ran out of the building and into an alleyway.

As he did so, Owen turned the corner after him but was immediately thrown to the floor when a bullet hit his chest, thankfully embedding itself into the bullet proof material of his suit, but still knocking the wind out of him and bruising him pretty badly with it's strength, as far as he could tell.

"You know," Lawrence smirked as he walked up to him, holding a pistol in his hands. "I never thought I'd get this opportunity until earlier today. Even then, I figured, he's not gonna be able to catch me so I may not get to kill him, but you were one smart cookie. Unfortunately, that's gonna be your downfall."

"So, all of this is because you've just been planning to kill me?" Owen coughed out through the pain in his chest from the power of the bullet. "You're so elaborate." He said sarcastically.

Lawrence rolled his eyes. "Actually, I burned the building for the profits we get - I just wanted more business. When I saw you, though, I knew I had to make you figure it out. I purposefully planted myself in those situations so you'd figure it out and I would get to do just this. Do you think your helmet could withstand a bullet?"

"I thought you said you were an old friend of my brother's," Owen groaned. "Why would you want to kill me?"

The chief firemen shook his head with a laugh. "You actually believed that? Here's the thing about your brother - he was the golden boy of us firemen, and everyone loved him. He knew how to appeal to people. I was similar, but no one else would even look at my accomplishments while he was around. Did you know, I was actually supposed to be promoted to head firemen but he talked his way into that position instead?"

Owen stared at him, before slowly saying, "What does that have to do with anything?"

Lawrence had a malicious look on his face. "He never got the position. The day before he was gonna be promoted, there was a bad fire and the ceiling fell on his back, injuring him and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. Funny thing is, there was never supposed to be a fire that day," He looked Owen in the eyes. "The ceiling should never have fallen. Wade was knocked out from the incident and didn't remember, but I remember hitting with my axe while his back was turned."

"What?" Owen gasped, stunned by what he was hearing. "You tried to kill my brother?"

He nodded. "And I would do it again in a heartbeat. Unfortunately for me, he survived and the little brother he always talked about became a fireman to honor him since he can't be one. I heard about you all the time, even now, but when I met you, I knew it was my chance to end this once and for all."

"Stand down!" A voice yelled from the end of the alley, Lawrence turning to see Autumn standing there with her gun in hand, rather than her blaster. Jason and Nikki were also at different areas in the alleyway.

Owen took this opportunity to knock the gun out of Lawrence's hand and wrestle him to the ground shoving him onto his stomach and slamming his face onto the ground as he pulled his hands behind his back to cuff him. As he was putting him in handcuffs, he leaned forward and whispered, "You'd better hope you never get out of prison." He then pulled Lawrence to his feet and handed him off to Autumn.

"Are you okay?" She asked, taking Lawrence from him.

"I..." Owen trailed off. "Make sure he goes to jail for a long time. He confessed to two counts of arson and the attempted murder of a fireman two year ago and attempted murder of a ranger just now."

Autumn nodded and pulled him away as Owen watched. He was startled when a hand was put on his shoulder and turned to see Nikki standing there. "Maybe you should take off." She suggested as he demorphed. "I heard the whole thing - I can explain to the others, if you want."

He swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah, thank you. I do need it."

Nikki watched him walk off, avoiding any other officers who were asking questions. Jason walked over and stood next to her. "Is he okay?" Jason asked.

"I think he just needs a minute." Nikki responded. "Come on, let's get back to ER and process Lawrence."

- PRER -

Owen made his way home, and even though he took his time and walked, he had no idea exactly what he was going to do. He walked up to the house and quietly made his way in through the front door, unconsciously holding the area of his chest where the bullet should've punctured, but he was sure there was a dark bruise from the way it ached.

"Why are you home so early?" A voice startled him, and he looked over to see Wade watching him from his position in the doorway of the kitchen. Looking at his place, Owen could remember all the times Wade would lean against the door frame and tease him fondly when they were young. "Did something happen?"

"What? Oh, no.. well, sort of." Owen looked down, and Wade wheeled closer to him, observing him.

"Are you alright?" Wade asked, gesturing to the hand he was holding over his chest. "Are you hurt or something?"

Owen looked at his hand and immediately moved it when he realized what he was doing. "Yeah, sorry, I was chasing this criminal and he shot me." Seeing at his brother's concerned look, he corrected himself. "I was wearing a bullet proof vest; it's just a bruise." He assured him.

Wade nodded, his concern waning. "Oh. Dangerous day?"

"I have to tell you something." Owen changed the subject. He looked around and grabbed the nearest chair, bringing it to his position and sitting in it, running a hand through his hair as he did so. "Do you.. remember a man named Lawrence Woods?"

His brother stiffened. "How do you know him? You need to stay away from him, Owen. You have no idea what he's capable of." Wade told him, a traumatized look on his face.

"So you do remember him," Owen frowned. "And you remember what he did." He paused for a moment, shaking his head. "Why didn't you say anything, Wade?"

"Because I didn't remember at first." Wade explained, running a hand through his hair just like Owen had. "I was in pain and had something wrong with my head and I didn't think anything besides the fire had caused it until I thought about what happened. I heard something hit the wood, and only one other person was in that room with me - Lawrence. I don't know what he did, but I know he caused my accident and put me in this chair." He gestured angrily at his wheelchair.

"You're right," Owen nodded. "He told me before I arrested him." At this, Wade looked at him in shock. "And I told him that he better hope he never gets out. If I wasn't the person I am, I would've killed that son of a bitch, but that wouldn't make me any better than him."

Wade stared at him. "You put Lawrence away? Seriously?"

"Yeah, I did. Thank God, huh?" Owen gave him a lopsided smile, but was taken aback when Wade grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him in for a strong hug. Owen was almost surprised by how strong it was, but his thoughts disappeared when he saw the way his brother was leaning and decided to lean forward more to prevent his back from hurting, as it did often from the injury he had sustained. "You okay?" He asked after a long moment.

"Okay?" Wade pulled away, adjusting his sitting position. "I'm happier than I've been in two years, Owen. I know I haven't been working on it, but I think I really want to ask my PT if I can try to really get back to walking in any state."

It was Owen's turn to stare in shock. He knew that his brother barely did anything in regards to trying to walk past what his physical therapist required because he always figured it was useless to try, so to hear that he really wanted to stunned Owen. "That's great, man. You have an appointment in a few days and we'll talk to him. Whatever happens, I'm here."


Next time on Power Rangers Emergency Responders: When homeless people are being murdered, Joey steps in to personally find the criminal behind it, revealing some details from his childhood that he hadn't told the others.

Next Chapter Title: Home Is Where The Heart Is

Like I said above, I know it's been very long since I've updated, but my personal life has been really hectic as of late (when isn't it though?). I did start writing this chapter over a month ago, but I've hardly been online since due to my problems. Thankfully, I think all of the problems are over with and I'm really going to try to get on a more regular schedule, hopefully updating a story once every week or two, most likely on a Wednesday or Thursday since those are my most free days.

Anyway, as for the story, there is gonna be set up for some sub-plots in these upcoming chapters, as well as this one. I'll point them out as they come along, and I should note that a few have already been brought up: Tori's recommendation of Autumn, Owen and his family, and Jason with his feelings for Nikki as well as the intern Logan. More will come up, and some will be resolved, and it will either be obvious or I'll let you know when this happens.

Oh, and I have a poll in my bio for your favorite character from my old story Power Rangers: Data Surge this time for a team-up that I'll be having on August 4 with one ranger from all of my teams! If you read that story, please put a vote in!

Here's the lineup for the next five chapters!

Ep 12: Test - Nikki focused chapter.

Ep 13: Kidnapping Reds - Tori and Autumn focused chapter. Possibly a two-parter.

Ep 14: Purple Lieutenant - New ranger appears!

Ep 15: Nutrition - Taz focused chapter.

Ep 16: How You Love - Jason focused chapter.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys back with the next one!

© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley