Chapter 20

Jason let out a grunt as he was thrown into what resembled a jail cell. His bones and muscles screamed in protest as he hit the ground. He had been put under so much stress and pressure for the past couple of days, maybe it had been weeks. When did everything start again? It was starting to all blend together for him He wasn't sure what move t make, not being able to see the big picture and feel what was going on around him. Ironically, he realized it was the only thing that helped him and made him feel comfortable about fighting with Rita's and Zedd's monsters. Being able to watch them on the viewing globe or to fight them a couple of times see their weak points.

This was different.

These were humans and in a way, much scarier than any of the monsters they ever had to face. Who knew the kind of cruelty and malicious energy a human could hide underneath a calm and friendly demeanor? Parents always warned their kids about stranger danger, explaining that there were some evil people out in the world that would bring harm to kids. No one had explained how the most evil beings were the ones that didn't try to hide their malicious intentions.

Jason groaned, pushing himself to his knees. It was difficult, his hands still handcuffed behind his back. His dark eyes took the time to adjust to the dimly lit room, to see if there was any way he could escape. It was probably the same kind of holding area that Billy and Bailey had been put in as well. He hoped they were OK. He hoped the others were OK. God, he hoped they were OK. Shuffling back so he was resting on the edge of the metal sheet with a thing mattress—what could barely be considered a bed—Jason lowered his head, trying to push away the impending sense of claustrophobia that was starting to close in around him.

If he could wave his hand in front of his face, he would try. However, the straining of the metal against his skin didn't budge, further pushing his feeling of panic. The room was so dark he couldn't' tell whether or not he was really awake. Not that he could even tell before, having been blindfolded in the back of the van. It was as if he had been asleep, only waking up surrounded by darkness. It was a crazy feeling, not sure if the darkness was the backs of his eyelids or not. Not knowing if it was a living, breathing creature or just a figment of his imagination starting to run wild.

If Billy were here he'd say that there is never really and total darkness, Jason thought with a wry smile, despite the situation. And that if I was in actual darkness, I really couldn't see anything since there's no light. Jason felt his chest swell and collapse before letting out a small cry, just to be sure he could. His voice sounded so meek, so tiny, so…unlike himself. Jason got to his feet. He had to move around, to make sure he still could. Jason turned so that his hands were leading him, and backed up to a wall. Using the wall as a guide he started to walk the room, his hands brushing over a door—he almost tripped over the bed thinking it was a bunk bed—and the rest of the walls.

How much time had passed? A few minutes? An hour? He had no sense of time in that tiny box.

Jason opened his mouth and yelled and yelled and yelled.

Nothing.

His feet sliding out from under him, Jason moved down to the floor. His hands clenched into shaky fists. No. He had to stay strong. He had to stay strong for his friends. Images of the rangers and Bailey appeared in his head, each one flashing quicker than the one before. They had always worked together well in battle, they were great friends, they always had fun together, and they always relied on each other whenever they needed help.

"That is, if you don't trust the others."

The challenge hung in the air.

Jason snorted. "I do trust them, I trust them with my life," he said. "Tommy, Kim, Billy, Trini, Zack...we've all been through too much not to trust each other…" he trailed off, suddenly understanding what she was getting at. Stubbornly, he shook his head. "I trust them," he repeated. "But they can't know. Not yet. Not until we're far enough away. Not until I can't be found…"

Had he said he trusted Avalon and Bailey? He didn't remember, not exactly. It suddenly stuck him as to why Avalon had been so adamant to go, to help him through everything, and to continue to stay by his side no matter how hard things got. He never said he trusted her and she was doing her best to prove to him that he could. She had gotten out of the Vipers and had proven her worth in many monster fights, and yet he had never said he trusted her.

And he did, just as much as the other rangers. Yes, they came to the party kind of late, but they had come into the world of being a ranger and dealing with what Angel Grove had to throw at them quickly. Bailey was a great help in the Command Center and coming up with solutions to their problems whenever the time came. Avalon had brought a different sense of fight power to the rangers and while she had been a bit prickly at the beginning of their working together, she had quickly turned their world upside down with what she brought to the table whenever it was needed.

Looking back on it now, if he had to do all of this again, instead of going off on his own, he would have explained everything to the other ranger; to get their help for a good cover story, he would have had Bailey and Billy make some sort of tracking device so they knew where he was, and he probably would have actually asked Avalon to go with him this time.

God knows I didn't have a choice anyway. Jason gave a wry smile.

His eyelids started to fall.

Sleep had caught him before he knew what happened.

"Get up!" It was only hours later that Jason was sharply jabbed in the side, immediately shocking him awake. He let out a mixture of a grunt and a cry of pain, which was quickly subdued by the hand that was forcibly shoved over his mouth. "Don't make a sound or I'll fucking cut you!"

It was then Jason saw the glint of light bouncing off metal. Jason's eyes darted around and he saw the door on the other side of the room was open. The light that trickled in was reflecting off the blade of the knife that was being held in front of his nose. Jason could tell that it had just recently been sharpened, smelling the burning scent of metal against metal. Nate Manning was crouched in front of him, increasing the pressure of his fingers on Jason's face as the seconds passed.

"You're coming with me!" He moved his hand from Jason's face and grabbed his arm, pulling him to his feet. "C'mon!"

"I'm not going to get breakfast first?" Jason asked. He doubled over as fist was driven into his stomach. Coughing and sputtering, Jason tried to keep up as he was dragged out of the room and through the mazes of the hallway. Guess not. Jason's eyes tried to adjust to the light as he was moved through different passageways and around many corners, through different room. He was shuttled so rapidly that he barely had a chance to get an idea of where he and the others were, so they could get help. Alpha and Zordon had told him they couldn't get a reading on Billy and Bailey while they had been in there. Who knew how long they were going to last without having the backup of the Command Center to teleport them out.

Jason suddenly stumbled, falling to his knees. His head was cloudy, eyes falling even lower than they had before. This time the wave of energy leaving him was different. Despite the power from Zordon's chamber he had received, he knew he didn't have a lot of time left. He was dying. He knew it. And rather than becoming scared by that thought, he pushed the fear away and focused on the people he was trying to save.

"That's fucking suicide!"

He didn't have a choice.

It was just the way it had to be.

Jason was—literally—dragged the rest of the way, Nate continuing on his way, despite the inconvenience of the dead weight behind him. Finally, Jason was dragged into a large, open room. The center of the floor held a large blue mat much like the ones that he and Tommy used when they were sparring with each other, or when he was fighting in a tournament. It felt familiar under his feet. Nate turned Jason around and unlocked the handcuffs before he roughly shoved him to the opposite side. Jason stumbled, but kept his footing.

There was a clanging sound and Jason looked up into the rafters to see a hidden door open and his friends get lead out, their hands tied behind their backs. Jason felt a huge sigh release from his body. Tommy, Kimberly, Zack, Trini, Billy, Avalon, and Bailey all looked around as they were led into the room by men and women he had never seen before. His eyes moved to the blue ranger and the technical advisor. They didn't look too roughed up, Jason could see the side of Billy's face had bruised and he had a split lip. Jason immediately flashed back to the times Bulk and Skull had become a little too rough when tormenting his friend. During those times, Jason had always been at Billy's side and defended him.

Now he was the reason he was hurt.

"Jase!" Kimberly called. She leaned forward, anxiously looking him over. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Kim," Jason called back, his voice echoing around the rafters and bouncing back towards him. It scared him a little, his voice tiny and weak. He cleared his throat, putting the forcefulness they were used to back into his voice. "What about the rest of you guys? Are you ok?"

"Please." Avalon scoffed. The orange ranger looked offended. "You know it's going to take a lot more than this to bring us down." She gave him a meaningful look at Jason gave a small smile. She nodded back.

"You got that right," Zack agreed.

There was the sound of another door opened and closing and all eyes turned to the other side of the rafters where Evan Peterson slowly walked over to the railing, his hands behind his back. If it weren't that the rangers were in the hell he had created, he would have appeared to be a regular, kindhearted man. He even had a pleasant smile on his face. However, it left Jason with a feeling whatever the plan was that had him at the bank that day was just getting started.

"Oh, don't mind me," Evan said. He removed a hand from behind his back, holding it palm up in the air. "Continue your conversation. I bet you want to see how your friends are doing." His eyes then moved over to Billy and he smiled warmly. "Ah, young William Cranston. Please give your parents my best." His eyes flashed, finally cracking the pleasant mask he held. "That is, if you live that long. Your mother was a great colleague, too bad her ideas were too small."

"What do you want?" Tommy demanded. "We know you know we're power rangers. But you didn't go running to the media with it." His mouth hardened. "You want something else."

"The money you would have gotten from the tip is something anyone would want," Trini added. Her voice was light, trying to hide the displeasure and frustration. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I already have all the money I need from Angel Grove's first national," Evan replied calmly. He then leaned forward, resting his hands on the rail. It was as if he was standing at the balcony overlooking the beach. Jason could practically see the sand and ocean water underneath him. "I would have had more, but you know what happened there."

Jason let out a light growl, placing his hands on his hips. He started to pace back and forth on the padded floor. Nate, standing on the other side, kept his eyes on Jason, watching every move he made.

"Nevertheless, the money was only so I was able to fun my project," Evan continued. "What I really needed was the energy. And…after seeing that you, dear red ranger, was only a teenager. A teenager that was related to some of my former co-workers, I knew it was the best way to go. I had a little bit of research to do and when I found out that your friends were rangers as well; I knew I hit the jackpot."

"And you just lost the lottery!" Zack shot back. He wiggled back and forth, struggling to move his arms from behind his back. Jason watched them. In fact, only Avalon was holding still, not trying to get out of her restraints. Maybe she had something up her sleeve…or maybe the memory of being tied in the van was still in her mind.

"We're not going to let you get away with this!" Bailey added.

"Oh, but you will," Evan replied calmly. "Because you don't really have a choice." He cleared his throat. "You see, Nat and I have spent too much time and energy, so many years of work on this and we're not going to let a bunch of kids with some powers stop us." He then grinned down at Jason, his mask cracking even further. "Who knew it would be one of you guys that would lead us right to you. You're not that great at keeping secrets."

Jason hung his head in shame. "I'm sorry, guys," he said.

"Don't apologize, Jase," Tommy instructed. "No one knew this was going to happen."

But I would have done a better job of preventing it, Jason thought. He turned back to Nate, clenching his hands into fists. He didn't have his communicator or power morpher; just the availability to morph once and he didn't know how it was going to turn out. All he knew was now he was ready to die for this friends sand there was nothing anyone could do to change his mind.

"And I bet you're wondering what we're going to do," Evan continued. "We may as well tell you because you're all going to die anyway." He cleared his throat, pushing himself up so he was standing straight. "We're going to make sure none of you will have the ability to morph again." Bailey let out a light gasp. "We know that you being away from your Power Coins are going to make it hard for you to fight back."

Jason gritted his teeth.

"So what's a better way to be sure that we keep you out of your comfort zone than by exhausting you to the point where you can't use your powers? When we get to that point, we'll harness them and do what no other paleontologists have been able to do before," Evan said. His tone then turned malicious, the words matching the wild look that had come to his eyes. "Bring back the dinosaurs."

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Jason was blindsided with a punch to the side of the face. He heard a crack seconds before he was flung, spinning to the ground.

"Jason!" He could hear his friends yelling his name as he hit the floor.

Jason rolled onto his back in time to see Nate hurtling the heel of his boot swiftly down towards his face. Bringing his hands up, Jason crossed them and pushed back at the moment the heel came down. It burned. The force of the blow hurt more than he imagined it would. Even in tournaments he wouldn't feel tired until the last fight of the day. This time he could feel each and every blow rattle through his body. Reaching his hands behind him, Jason rolled back and then launched himself back up to his feet.

Nate brought up a hand, driving the heel of his palm towards the red ranger's face. Jason ducked out of the way, bringing up an arm to knock Nate's arm to the side. Still holding onto Nate's wrist, Jason turned and drove his elbow into Nate's chest before kicking him in the stomach, sending him flying back.

He wasn't going to give up that easily.

A/N: Dun, Dun, Dun, Jason angst.

Well, only ten chapters left to the story. Thanks for the support on it, especially since it's such a…interesting idea. I hope to be able to finish the story in a way that you guys like. I had a lot of fun working with this one. Getting into Jason's head and figuring out what would potentially break him is always interesting for me, especially because he's such a strong character.

~Avalon