Well, I wasn't going to update this tonight because of the lack of reviews I had on the last chapter, but I decided to do so anyway after I finished chapter 12. Things are definitely going to get more interesting now and you'll soon find out why.
As for the last contest, congratulations to tlkforever for getting the answer. The song was Panic by Amy Jo Johnson. I totally love her music and I was listening to it as I wrote that chapter, so I decided to lace the lyrics throughout. I also found it fitting to use her music with the character she played so many years ago.
Enjoy the chapter, especially all you Rita fans!
Chapter 11 Preparation for the Crane's Fall
Rita hummed to herself as she sat on the balcony. Anyone passing by would have scratched their head in confused. It was a rare mood for her, one that signaled a devious plot was soon to come. She was, after all, pleased with the pre-phases of her plot so far. Kimberly was putty in her hands, putty to mold, shape, and squash. Everything was going as it should so far, which was a good sign. It was time to prepare for the next stage, which Rita had a vague idea for at the moment. She just had to work out the bigger problems before making anything final.
Rita had a feeling that she'd better call in some brains to help her finalize her plans. Finster had a way of figuring out things she'd never thought of. She hated the idea of using him to help her, but she wanted this plan to flourish properly and not be squashed in the early phases. Above all, she didn't need the pesky Zeo Rangers or King Mondo picking up on her plan. The Zeo Rangers would crush it while Mondo would simply take it for his own and take all of the credit.
Mondo was not a man Rita liked. After he scared them off the moon, he took over her post. It's not like Rita cared about the moon palace too much, but she did care that he took over her and Zedd's job of trying to defeat the Power Rangers. They had been hers for so long, and then gear-face decided he wanted them instead. She still hated the Rangers, but she did tend to cheer them on in battles against Mondo. She would never admit that the Rangers would defeat her, but they'd better defeat Mondo and take down his empire once and for all. Rita scoffed. The man did need taken down a peg after all.
Rita glanced back at her Repulsa Scope, which was still fixated on Kimberly and Trini. She had been paying attention to their conversation off and on, and was happy to learn that even Trini could not bring Kimberly out of her depression. She could not get her to tell Tommy the truth, nor talk to her friends back in Angel Grove. This is what Rita had been shooting for. If someone like the old yellow Ranger could not get Kimberly out of her slump, then who could? She might have said Tommy awhile ago, but that was before Kimberly sent that "Dear John" false break-up letter.
Kimberly was not one to be lured into a depression easily, but Rita had done it. She had torn her mind away from friends and the now ex-boyfriend. The only friends that Kimberly had were the two roommates and Trini, but that didn't matter. Rita knew that now. She also knew that Kimberly would eventually return home, whether she wanted to now or not. There was nothing left in Florida for her, and after the Pan Globals were over, life there would be pointless. Rita could not predict when Kimberly would decide to return home, but she knew that was when her plan had to go into action. She was unfamiliar with Florida and did not want to send a bunch of Tenga warriors there, no matter how smart Finster said they were now. Sending them to Florida would do nothing but cause unwanted attention from the Rangers since Florida was never a spot targeted by her, Zedd, or King Mondo. No, she'd have to wait until Kimberly returned to Angel Grove.
Finster was walking down the hallway toward his room for some much needed rest. After fixing the Dream Intrusion device and creating the new attachable piece for it, he'd not been able to sleep. Rita had kept him busy keeping it in top condition, just in case she needed it again. Finster didn't mind being needed, but sometimes he wished he could go back to the way things were before Rita decided to take on Kimberly. Sure, everyone hated the Rangers and what Tommy had done to betray Rita's spell, but that was a few years ago. Rita should have just let it rest. Instead, she had gotten it into her head to take down Kimberly to get back at Tommy. Deep down Finster couldn't help but feel sorry for Kimberly, but he'd never admit it to anyone, including himself.
"Finster! I need you now!" called the cackling voice. Finster sighed. Back to business with his mistress. And just when he really could have used some rest too. He hurried back to the balcony.
"You called, my queen?" he asked, knowing that it was a pointless and obvious thing to say.
"Finster, I need your help with my plan. I want it to go off without a hitch."
"Do you require the Dream Intrusion device again?" he asked, hoping she wouldn't need it. It was being charged, and once set to charge, it couldn't be used until it was fully charged again. Explaining that to Rita would be like explaining to a three year old the concepts of physics. Highly impossible and improbable.
"No, I have no need for that device for a long time now. What I do need is help formulating the perfect plan. I've got Kimberly's mood right where I need it. She's beyond help and I want to use that to my advantage. I have a feeling that she will stay that way for a long time without help. Hmph. Even her best friend couldn't help her."
"What kind of plan did you have in mind?"
"You idiot! If I had a plan, do you think I would be calling you here?"
"I'm not sure," answered Finster, bowing his head. Anything he said was going to get a sarcastic remark in return.
Rita turned toward her Repulsa Scope. "I want to come up with a plan that will allow me to get back at Tommy. Whatever it is, I must get revenge. Kimberly is the closest connection we have to him. With her connection to him broken, we have broken her spirit. A broken spirit is the perfect tool to use."
"Why don't you use her against him? Against her will, mind you. Use her to lure him to you, and then you can do with him what you wish."
"Hmm… sounds fine so far… tell me more," encouraged Rita. She knew that by feeding him bits of encouragement she could get the perfect plan from him. And if not… well there was always ways of torturing an unwilling soul.
"Well she eventually has to go home, right? I'm sure that if she is still like you say she is, she will have no desire to contact her friends to let them know of her arrival. If so, then they will have no idea she is even home, leaving her open for attack. Zordon will not be able to protect her, because he will still think her safe in Florida. After all, he won't have received any alerts from her friends about her condition or her return."
"Yes, that is true… she's creating a problem for herself and she doesn't even know it yet," realized Rita. Kimberly was going to be more fun than she had first thought. Without contact so far, the Power Rangers were no threat to Rita.
"I suspect that when she does return home, she will distance herself as much as possible. That is when we need to strike. When she is alone, and before she changes her mind about telling the other Rangers."
"Sounds like a plan to me… the only question is who should we send to grab her for us?"
"I wouldn't suggest a monster," began Finster. "We don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves. Instead, we should just send down something simple, like the Tenga warriors. With their increased brain capacity, I'm quite certain they will be able to execute the kidnapping quickly and flawlessly."
"You've forgotten just one tiny detail," said Rita.
"What is that, my queen?"
"Zordon will pick up on the kidnapping with his sensors. He's always done that before and that is why we always fail. He is always on the alert and keeps an eye out for us," reminded Rita.
"Yes, that is a problem. Fortunately I foresee that we will have plenty of time to prepare for that."
"How much time is the question, Finster, what ideas can you think of to keep Zordon from interfering?"
"Hmm… there must be a way to scramble the frequency of the radio waves that he must be using. I have a feeling it is a type unreadable by Earth standards. He must be using a kind found only on Eltar."
"Then I want you to find out the exact kind used on Eltar and create a device to stop it! You have until Kimberly comes home to complete it. Our plan will go into action almost as soon after she arrives home."
Finster sighed. He hated being relied on so much. If he didn't complete his part before the plan went into action, then Rita would blame him for any failure of the plan afterwards. He didn't want to deal with that. He would never be able to live this failure down. He winced inwardly as he remembered Rita's yelling when they were still residing at the moon palace. It hadn't been very pretty and he was quite certain he was going deaf because of the pitch. "I promise you that I will have the device ready by the time she returns home," he responded, almost robotically.
"Good. Now we must discuss exactly how will shall kidnap her. If we get rid of Zordon's sensors, he won't be able to see her. King Mondo might catch us though…. I'm not too worried about him. He won't have any idea why we want a bystander. Kimberly was gone by then so unless he's researched the past Rangers, which I doubt, he won't have any clue."
"Excellent observation. I highly doubt Mondo will have researched. He is only focused on destroying the current Rangers. Since the previous Rangers have no powers left, he has no need to destroy them." Finster realized that Rita had become more intelligent since the last time they fought the Rangers. She was actually thinking through her plan, and trying to find the flaws.
"Good. Are you sure we will be able to trust the Tenga warriors to do their job quickly without bringing in interference from the Zeo Rangers, or having another bystander prolong or prevent them from kidnapping Kimberly. We must have Kimberly, no matter what the cost. Zordon will eventually discover our plan; he is too crafty to deceive entirely. Until he does, we can certainly torment Kimberly. We can even use her as bait to lure the Rangers, or should I say Tommy, to us."
"What exactly are we going to do with Tommy? Turn him evil again?" asked Finster. He was truly curious to know what Rita had in mind for the red Zeo Ranger.
"Evil? No, that's old. Zordon would be expecting that. Tommy must die. That is what must happen…. Instead I can turn Kimberly evil once we have Tommy in our grasp, allowing her the fun of torturing him to death. What better way to die than by the hands of his ex?"
"That would be an entirely devastating way to die," nodded Finster in agreement. Rita was getting more sadistic in her kidnapping ways.
"Besides, the last time I had a morpher to transfer the evil energy to. This time I have nothing like that. There are no more Zeo crystals available for me to steal. Tommy has a strong will. We must break it through torture. I don't think he will be able to stand up to it if Pinky is the one doing the torture."
"And once Tommy is dead?"
"We let Kimberly leave with the guilt, making sure her memories are engraved deeply in her mind, driving her to insanity and finally, killing herself. " Rita cackled evilly at the thought of having the original Ranger ex-couple dead, and not by her hands directly. It was perfect. She could see them now, Tommy lying in his own blood, taking his last breath; as he looked up, he would see Kimberly in her wheelchair, ready to deliver the final blow from an axe tainted with poison. It made her feel giddy and young again, and not so old and un-evil. Rita was on a roll.
Finster looked at his queen and saw the sickening grin on her face. She was cackling softly to herself; Finster didn't want to know. He could only guess that she was imagining the end result to her plan, which wasn't the best way to go. Fantasizing about the success of the plan was fine, but if Rita continuously "counted her chickens before they hatched", to use an Earth phrase, her plan would die before it was very far into action. "May I suggest to focus on the current situation, my queen? We do not want to jump ahead to our plan succeeding, or we will lose focus on what we should be doing right now."
Rita did not hear him. She was still daydreaming of the defeat of Tommy. He had it coming. He betrayed her and went to the good side. He had been such a good Ranger to have, better than her minions, that was certain. She should have never let him get close to that Kimberly. Love was a fickle emotion of humans. (She wasn't going to add aliens, because what she and Zedd shared was different) It was love that had been the undoing of her perfect plot.
"Earth to Rita… Earth to Rita…" called Finster as he waved a hand in front of her face.
Snapping out of her daydream, Rita glared at Finster. "What! I was quite enjoying myself, and you ruined it!"
"I am terribly sorry, but I was saying that we mustn't focus on the success of the plan just yet. We must focus on the present and on Kimberly returning home sometime."
"Well if we must focus on the present, then why aren't you working on the scrambling device?" accused Rita. Finster was starting to become highly annoying and she couldn't stand him being highly annoying.
Finster sighed. He knew he had to lie, or face more of Rita's yelling. "I am merely waiting for you to dismiss me. Then I will begin my research. I have no idea how long it will take, but I will work as quickly as I am capable of."
"Work twice as quickly. Then you will be certain to finish it quickly. Off with you then! I don't want you procrastinating any longer!"
Finster scurried off down the hallway and out of sight. As soon as he disappeared into his room, he took a deep sigh. That had gone better than he'd thought. At least he had escaped without having to deal with too much of Rita's high pitched yelling. At least that was something positive. He glanced around his room, wondering just where he should start with his research. His eyes lit on the bookcase, full of tomes and tomes of books from all kinds of planets, full of a variety of research. It was going to take a very long time to find the information he needed to draw up plans.
Back on the balcony, Rita continued to daydream. To finally create a plan that would succeed with the death of a few Rangers would be more than any evil had ever done. This time, she was going to play the game for real. No more pathetic turning people evil. This time, death would be involved. She would show the remaining Rangers that she wasn't toying around, that she was serious about their destruction. Zordon would learn she was not some long lost enemy to deal with. She glanced into the Repulsa Scope to find Trini and Kimberly still chatting. "Just wait until I get my hands on you, Kimberly. You will become my toy and in your own way kill the Ranger you once loved, creating a living hell for yourself and your loved ones!" she cackled.
So now you all know what Rita's plan is. I know many have been wondering just exactly what she was planning to do with our favorite pink (ex) Ranger. Now you know! Rita does mean business :)
Next time on Windmill into the Fall: Tommy's trying to cope and doesn't want anyone interfering. Most listen, but why does Kat persist in trying to get him to open up? Anger and sadness is all he finds, but he just wants to forget the pain. Tune in next time for chapter 12: The Falcon Tries to Cope!