Author's Note: I'm so sorry for not posting in these last 6 months. I've been very busy and I have been enjoying every bit of spare time I have. So here's the new chapter. Thank you for reviewing. Happy New Year to everyone!

Chapter 34- Hostage

Pandora ordered the robotic henchmen to put the Blue Ranger in a chair and tie him up. She'd clearly warned them that if he escaped, she would have their heads and impale them on stakes so sharp; their circuitry would be beyond repair. That threat alone was enough for them to do as ordered. Both Orange Heads dragged the sleeping boy to a chair made out of wood and tied rope around his body, leaving the power suppressing cuffs on.

Ever since Pandora knocked him out on the rooftop of the Sunflower Corporation, he had not woken up. Maybe she was stronger than she thought. A blow to the face was all it took. She glanced at her hand, her cold blue eyes analyzing every crease, follicle and nail. Not even a scratch. She flexed her fingers a few times to observe their mobility. Nothing seemed broken either. Her bones seemed to be getting stronger as well.

She couldn't say the same for her face though. An ugly scar made by the Ranger's weapon crossed her cheek. Wiping a dirty piece of opaque glass, Pandora assessed the damage. The scar was merely superficial. The weapon hadn't cut too deep to cause permanent damage. She gave her prisoner a dirty look and resumed seeing herself. In a few days time, her face would be back to normal, she predicted.

As she stood there gazing at her, she noticed her features seemed to be sharper. They gave the illusion of having been chiseled by a plastic surgeon. Never had her jaw line been as prominent as it was that day. Her normally round, baby cheeks had sunk a little. This took away the air of innocence and sweetness she had once.

Somehow, the light made everything seemed clearer. Above The Terror, the rooms were so dark you could barely make out anything. The light filtered through a broken glass window, illuminating the lone figure inside.

Pandora cocked her head and wiped some dried blood off her lip. He made me bleed. Her blood had even acquired a darker tint than normal. No human blood was as dark as hers. "Black as your soul and your heart." She whispered to herself and snickered.

"Not true." A voice whispered behind her. Pandora turned around and scoured the abandoned place, searching for the voice. It had definitely been female. Sky was still unconscious and the warehouse was abandoned. "Behind you." There it was again, tempting her to turn around. The girl turned around and found herself in front of the mirror-like glass again.

"This has to be my imagination." She watched as her lips moved on the mirror and remained close when she didn't speak.

"It's not." Her reflection's lips had just moved. Pandora put her hand over her mouth. The girl inside the mirror giggled softly and stared right back at the girl outside. "Stop this!" The girl commanded, gritting her teeth in anger. "No!" The girl in the mirror replied in a muffled manner.

Pandora gazed at her hand once again, her vision slipped in and out of focus. She blinked her eyes, hoping it was only dizziness from using her powers earlier. She raised her hand upwards, covering the light. To no avail, it was. Her vision must have been playing games with her because this was no normal dizziness. If it was dizziness at all, Pandora thought.

"Who are you?" Pandora asked the mirror. If anyone saw that, they would think she had gone crazy.

"You know who I am," Replied the voice.

Pandora gritted her teeth in frustration and slammed her hands against the wall, leaving a small dent behind. "Tell me!" The girl on the other side of the mirror laughed again. Whatever the joke was, Pandora wasn't getting it. Ignoring her pleas, the girl said nothing; she only stared at the outside. "Tell me!" She repeated. Her voice seemed to have escalated a few decibels.

Sky blinked his eyes, gasping as the bright sunlight filtered through his eyes. He felt like the light had just burnt his retinas. To avoid further contact discomfort, he turned his head to the side. He began to wonder if they'd placed him there as a strategy or it was mere coincidence that he was standing directly in front of the light. His ears picked the sounds of a human voice coming from a few feet away. The source was hidden from view but he recognized it to perfection. Pandora. He gritted his teeth but waited for the right moment to intervene. He could at least try prying into her plans.

"I don't what you want, but I'm in control." Pandora said, apparently to herself because no one replied and she just went on speaking. "Stop this!" He thought that the girl was either going crazy or there was a silent alien in the other room with her. He shifted his head to the right to get a better view. Unfortunately, the wall blocked his view.

Hoping his strategy would not fail him, he tried to lift himself up with the chair to get a better view of the conversation between Pandora and the silent creature. Unfortunately for him, the chair's wood was weakened and withered. Upon coming in contact with the factory's concrete floor, the chair's leg broke under him and caused him to hit the ground sideways.

Pain shot through his body. It was like his nerves were punishing him for such a stupid action. Curiosity killed the cat, his mother had told him.

A loud echo emerged from the other room. Despite her loud conversation with herself, she did manage to hear that. The place had pretty good acoustics, making the sound of his fall amplified.

Before leaving, she turned to the mirror and smirked. "Nice try."

"Just ask yourself who you are and where you've come from." It taunted her again. "I know who I am. My name is Pandora, otherwise known as the girl who will shut you up for good." With a hard punch, she shattered the dirty glass. She'd silenced the annoying little voice forever. Now nothing would hold her back.

Pandora turned around and walked towards her prisoner, thinking he'd attempted to escape. She observed him with a smug smile on her face. She leaned down to meet his eyes. What Sky saw truly frightened him.

The girl before him was not Sydney. This was a product of Grumm and Broodwing's sick, twisted imagination. The girl he once loved was buried so deep inside, Pandora was beginning to seem like an entirely different person now. And maybe she was. Those cold, steely blue eyes, the opaque blonde hair and the chiseled features were not Syd's. The Troobians had been exceptionally thorough in taking away every bit of Syd out of their creation.

She pulled him up by his collar, giving him a dirty look. "No one dares to escape from me."

"I fell."

"Yeah, like I was born yesterday," scoffed the villain as she gave him a light slap on the face. She still did not know how to control her own strength. What was supposed to be a light hit left him with a red hand-shaped mark and a bleeding lip. Her handiwork pleased her. "Want to try lying again?"

"I'm not lying!" Sky yelled at her, licking the blood off his lip. He grimaced at the irony smell. "I was trying to see who you were talking to."

"Didn't anyone ever teach you not to eavesdrop?" Pandora walked around him and observed his fallen body. The discomfort was pretty obvious in his face. She snickered, apparently delighted at his pain. "I thought humans had something called manners. Apparently, you don't."

Sky stayed quiet. He was not going to give her the satisfaction. With a small giggle, she replied, "Oh, did the cat eat your tongue?"

He scowled. "I don't answer to you."

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. With a loud cackle, she crouched down on her knees and grabbed him by the collar, pushing his face towards him. "Guess what? You do. Right now, I'm the head bitch in charge and you… are nothing." The girl gave him a light push and traced the wound on his lips. Her skin was rough and pale. Long gone were Syd's rosy cheeks and baby-smooth skin. Sky turned his face. She grabbed it roughly, forcing him to look at her. "You better learn your place before I do something I might or might not regret."

"You can't kill me, remember?" Sky knew where she was going with her last sentence. "I'm your insurance to get what you want. If you kill me, you won't be getting your boyfriend back."

"Who said anything about killing you?" Pandora retorted. "You see, death is way too easy and not painful enough. I have other ways of getting what I want." With a simple push of a button, Sky discovered exactly what she was referring to when she said pain. A strong electric shock ran through his body, making him grit his teeth to stop himself from screaming.

That would make him obey. "Now that is what I call a shock! You weren't expecting that to happen, were you?"

"I was waiting for something worse." The Blue Ranger either had a death wish or was stupid. She hoped that after that little surprise, he would keep his mouth shut. She then thought about the other side of things for a moment. This rebelliousness would bring her a massive amount of joy.

Pandora pressed the button again, observing his reaction to the shock. Once it had subsided, Sky let out a small ragged breath and closed his eyes. Another shock was sent through him before he could even settle down from the past one. This one burned through his body, ripping through every single one of his muscles. It was like being having a scalpel cut through his body during surgery, only without anesthesia. It had seemed the potency had increased dramatically from the first time.

"Let this be a warning to you of things to come if you don't learn to do as I say." Pandora leaned down, giving him a menacing glare with her cold blue eyes. Sky trembled and twitched but ended up nodding to prevent any further pain. "Good, now we're making progress."

He panted heavily. The pain quickly subsided into soreness. Pandora untied him. Since he was cuffed, Sky couldn't lift himself off the floor. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed him by the shirt and lifted him up to stand almost as if he were a rag doll. There was more to these changes than he thought. She was a whole lot stronger now.

Pointing to a crate, Pandora ordered him to sit down and stay quiet. She took out his Delta Morpher and cleared her throat. It was time for him to roll his eyes. She was about to make a bargain with his team to save his life and she cared about how she sounded. He was flabbergasted.

"Sky, are you alright? We've been trying to establish contact with you for the last 4 hours." Pandora recognized the voice of the yellow Ranger. Her voice sounded tired and worried. Morgana had really done a number on her out on the battlefield.

"Oh, Sky is with me alright."

Z flinched upon hearing Pandora's voice. "What have you done with him?"

"Nothing." Pandora said with a small giggle. "Yet."

"Put him on." Z commanded. The other girl clicked her tongue several times and walked over to her prisoner. "That's not the way things work around here, unfortunately. I'm the one who's in charge here; therefore, I give the orders. Not you."

"Fine, tell us what you want and we'll give it to you. Just… don't hurt him." Sky couldn't help but feel touched by his team's willingness to sacrifice everything for him. The blonde villain pouted at him and batted her eyelashes, putting the morpher to his mouth and before he could speak, she covered his mouth with her hand and giggled. "Sky says he's touched."

Jack took the Morpher out of Z's hands, annoyed by Pandora's games. "Put him on or I'll…" What could they possibly threaten her with? She had the perfect bargaining chip with her and they still didn't understand the rules of the game.

"Or you'll what? Arrest me, kill me, come for me…" Pandora taunted, a loud laugh escaping her red lips. "I told you, I run things around here. You do not threaten me. You do what I tell you to do. Otherwise, bad things happen."

Jack wasn't even going to ask what she was capable of doing because it would just leave him without sleep for a week, probably more. This was clearly not their friend anymore. Her friend had turned into a vessel for the darkness and it had completely taken her over.

A loud scream that emerged from Sky's mouth snapped out of his thoughts. Pandora turned back to the Blue Ranger, who was glaring at her yet again. He knew it wouldn't get him anywhere. "That's what happens when I don't get what I want. People get hurt. Now imagine if I don't get what I really want. Take his scream and multiply times a hundred. Not counting those with weak hearts, of course."

Jack nervously drummed his fingers on the console of the Control Center. He looked at the others for their input. There was no doubt, even without speaking, that they all agreed on the same thing. They would get Sky back, no matter the cost. "Fine, we'll do what you ask."

"Now that's more like it. See, Sky, your friends do care about you." Pandora teased, loud enough for them to hear her. Everyone else listened carefully to what she said next: "I want Dru Harrington. And by him, I don't mean the containment card, if you get the hang of what I'm saying."

Bridge's normal lightheaded temper was about to go out the window. He didn't like being insulted. Before he could lose it, Z grabbed him and made him take deep yoga breaths to calm himself down. She told him Pandora wasn't worth his rage. He did as instructed and sat back down on the stool, feeling slightly lightheaded.

Jack understood his companion's emotional distress. It was only normal for him to feel that way. After all, Sky had been had been with Bridge since day one at the Academy. Even though it wasn't that evident, they were best friends and he wouldn't have expected anything less from Bridge. Or from anyone else.

But he wouldn't lose it, not with Pandora taunting them constantly. He kept his voice calm as he spoke. "Fine."

"Oh, and I also want one of these little devices I'm carrying in my hand."

The Rangers instantly turned to Doctor Manx, who was shaking head in denial. She wasn't just going to hand over one of her most precious creations to her. If Grumm got a hold of it… she didn't even want to think of the consequences. The Rangers stared at her sternly. She then remembered that one of her cadets' lives was in danger. Sky was more important than any of her babies, as she deemed them.

It was a bitter pill to swallow that got harder to dissolve as it went further down. "I'll do it."

Without protest, their leader gave the villain the answer. "Fantastic. We have ourselves a deal. Now remember, if you break it, he pays."

"Where should we meet you?" She pondered for a moment. The city was completely deserted since the Krybots were roaming the streets, scouring for anyone who was out of their homes. Any place seemed safe. No risks would be taken during the operation. She'd have to be very delicate and take precautions.

The trade would have to be made in a place far from SPD. A place where she could control the surroundings without anyone butting in. Downtown NewTech seemed like the perfect choice. Grumm had a few allies there that she could possibly use to her advantage if they betrayed her. The other aliens were so scared, they wouldn't dare raise their voices, let alone fight her.

"Downtown NewTech. I give you until the sun sets to bring me what I ask. Because I'm so nice I'll throw in an extra 10 minutes." Pandora glanced at Sky and cocked her head, smiling at him. "With a price, of course. For every minute that you're late, I'll give him a shock."

She gave Sky another small shock to prove a point. To prove what she was willing to do to get what she wanted. "And if you don't arrive by those 10 minutes, I'll take your friend and let Grumm torture him. And then, I'll bring him back and kill him while you watch."

"We won't be late." Pandora cut the communication and attached the Morpher to her belt. She patted it, pointing out that it was the only safe place to keep it on. She glanced back at the Blue Ranger and pouted. "Let me guess, that last one really hurt."

"Yes." He replied angrily, trying to sit up straight. Feeling a little pity for the guy, Pandora helped him sit straight with his back to the wall. The girl stood in front of him, just observing him for a few minutes. It was unnerving to have someone watching him, especially someone like her. He could only imagine what she was thinking since her eyes and cold expression didn't give anything anyway. Sky just hoped she didn't want to shock him again. "What do you want now?"

Pandora clicked her tongue again and smirked. "You're making this way too easy for me. Speak only when spoken to, is that so hard?"

"No." Sky answered between gritted teeth. She smiled and clapped her hands, mocking him. "Good. I'll save that shock I didn't give you for later." He responded with a groan and an eye roll. Pandora was turning out to be more than a pain in the ass than he originally thought she would be. He would play along for now, but he didn't know for how long he could keep behaving like that without reaching his boiling point.

"Let's just hope that your friends are on time." Pandora's lips curled into a small smile, as if making plans for him. His friends would not fail him, not over a morpher or a containment card with his former best friend, or over anything else for that matter.

He knew they had his back from the moment he heard the determination in Z's and Jack's voices to give up anything for him. That was what he hadn't understood in the beginning. His team was much more than a team. They were his friends, a group of people who would go to hell and back just to free him. If that wasn't dedication or friendship, he didn't know what it was.

"They will be here. I know they will." Sky finally said, not a hint of fear in his voice.

"We'll just have to wait and see, then." With a small giggle, Pandora walked away.

SPD Academy

Jack, Z and Bridge sat around the computer console in the Command Center, devising a plan to bring back Sky without actually giving Pandora anything. They all considered the risks that the operation involved. Sky and possibly more people could not only turn out injured but dead. As much as they dreaded Pandora's coming into possession of SPD technology, they wouldn't risk their friend.

Z sighed in frustration and covered her face with her hands. This had had to be the hardest decision she'd ever taken. It surpassed any other sacrifice all of them had ever made to get something they wanted. They had to remember this was not only their teammate, but their friend. They were willing to do anything for him.

Bridge noticed the raven haired girl's demeanor and put a hand over her shoulder, rubbing it to help her calm down. If Z hadn't stopped him a few minutes ago, he would have gone crazy and probably hit someone in the room. There an air of tension around the room. The three Rangers hadn't spoken in half an hour. Kat was beginning to get worried.

"I'll go get the morpher." Kat announced in an attempt to break the silence.

The trio watched her walk away and pulled up a blueprint of Downtown NewTech to the center screen. Z took out a pen and began pointing out the points of entrance and escape Pandora would probably use.

Knowing her psychology, she would probably have a heavy number of Orange Heads patrolling the area. That meant they could not make any sudden brash moves while they were in the area or she would find out from the Orange Heads and other shady alien citizens. Pandora wouldn't hesitate to hurt Sky. This was not Syd, they had to remember that.

"We are just going to give it to her, then?" Jack looked up to meet their eyes. Z shrugged. "It's not like we have much of a choice." She added in a pessimistic tone, looking back at Bridge. She blinked her eyes and opened her mouth when she saw what Bridge was doing. He was doing a handstand against the wall.

"I'm doing this so new ideas flow into my head." Bridge smiled innocently.

"Sometimes, I wish I could be you so I wouldn't worry so much." Z crossed her arms. Jack came to stand besides her. They looked back at themselves and began laughing. Never had they met such a strange boy as Bridge and they've met a lot of strange people in the past.

"Alright, enough fooling around, let's get back to work." Jack pointed to the blueprints with a smile.

"You sounded just like Sky a few seconds ago." Bridge said after sitting down on his stool.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I did not."

"You miss him?" Z pouted and gave him puppy dog eyes. "It hasn't even been a day and you miss your brother from another mother already? That's so sweet."

"Knock it off, Z." He threatened with a smug smile as the girl laughed. She wouldn't let him win, not without admitting defeat.

The girl clad in yellow rolled her eyes. "Admit it! You miss him."

"Fine, I admit that I miss the guy and his over the top bossiness." Jack gave her a glare and made a shushing sound to indicate that the Commander had just entered the room. He cleared his throat and looked over at the blueprints once again. "So, as I was saying, this is the best way in and out of the area…"

"Really, Cadet Landors?" The Commander questioned, revising the spot he had just pointed to. "The highest rooftop in all Downtown where Pandora will most likely place Orange Heads to keep track of you as well as to attack you." It was a test. Jack knew the Commander well enough to see where he was getting at. The teasing had made him distracted. He couldn't allow himself to do it again or his morpher would once again get taken from him.

"No, Sir." Jack zoomed in on another area, looking back at his two teammates who were grinning like Cheshire cats who had just found milk to drink. "Piggy's restaurant seems like an easy area to get to and get out of. I suggest one of us shows up to meet her and make the thread while the others deactivate the force field."

Z and Bridge mentally slapped themselves. All this kidnapping business had made them forget that the whole city was in peril as well. How could they have forgotten that a huge dome of energy had the city trapped inside?

"She'll suspect something is up if only one of us shows up…" Z began forming a plan in her head. "Jack, you and Bridge should make the trade. I'll deactivate the force field."

"It's too risky, Z. The place will be loaded with Krybots for all we know."

"Exactly." She paused and began playing the video from the earlier battle. "They won't see me coming. I'm supposed to be hurt beyond repair. Pandora knows I'm out of the game. Morgana took my weapon as proof."

Jack raised a brow. "How exactly are you going to fend off all those Krybots without a weapon?"

"I'm not planning to use my ranger suit." Z smiled. Both guys instantly held out their respective morphers for her to choose. She pushed them back softly and shook her head. With a simple pat on her packet, they understood her brilliant plan.

"That way they'll believe…"

"Exactly." Z pointed out after locating the source from Sky's last communication.

The Sunflower Corporation building was the tallest building in the city and was coincidentally located in the very center of it. Seemed like a fitting place for the origin of a force field.

"We'll rendezvous at Piggy's before sunset, which happens to be at 6:58." The trio synchronized their watches and set alarms for the given hour. "That gives us an hour and half to do what we need to do."

"We will all make the trade together. We don't her to hurt Sky. You heard the screams." Z pointed out before walking to the doors and saluting the Commander on her way out.

Bridge and Jack looked at each other. "Ready?" "Ready!" They opened their morphers in unison, pressing the right button to access their ranger suits.

"SPD Emergency!"