Jason's eyes shot open and he focused his hearing to see if he could determine what the noise was the had woke him. He glanced around the room cautiously, instinctively looking over at Kimberly sleeping next to him. Whatever he had heard had not apparently disturbed her sleep as she was still doing so soundly.
Jason sat up and swung his feet onto the ground. He glanced over at the clock to see it was a little after two in the morning. He started to stand when he heard something and so he stiffened up and got quiet. It sounded like a slight scratching noise coming from somewhere in the kitchen.
Jason got to his feet, stealing a glance back at Kimberly to see if she had woken up. His movement had not stirred her so he made his way barefoot and shirtless out of the bedroom and down the short hallway that led into the kitchen located at the back of the apartment. He stopped in the hallway as he heard the noise again.
A swift movement in the kitchen to surprise any would-be intruder garnered no results as he found the kitchen empty. A rumble of thunder outside followed by the room lighting up with thunder prompted Jason to move his eyes over to the sliding glass door to his left leading out onto the small back porch area.
Another flash of lightning caused Jason to tense up as he was sure he saw the silhouette of someone lurking just outside the door. He made his way slowly over to the door and slowly moved aside the blinds that covered the glass. He shifted his eyes around to see nothing. He reached over for the porch light switch and flipped it on. Nothing happened and Jason cursed himself for forgetting to replace the bulb earlier that evening.
Jason took a deep breath and moved to the other side of the blinds to peer out to see if he could see anything from that vantage point. A loud rumble of thunder startled him in his tense state. He focused his eyes knowing lightning would soon follow. Within seconds the whole backyard was lit up. Jason's eyes widened as he saw something that he couldn't believe.
Jason stepped back and shook his head. No way he had seen what he thought he saw. He noted a pair of boots against the wall next to him and he hurriedly slipped them on, not taking the time to tie them. He gripped the door handle, reaching up to unlatch it. He stretched over to the kitchen counter next to him and popped open a drawer to retrieve a flashlight. He steadied himself again and pulled the door open to step outside.
Jason walked a few steps out onto the front porch, his guard heightened as he moved the flashlight around the large expansive backyard of the apartment complex. He focused the light of the flashlight where he had seen something earlier but nothing was in view this time. He glanced behind him and suddenly felt very vulnerable. He considered making his way back inside but a rustling sound to his right stopped him.
"Don't go..." a familiar voice in an unfamiliar tone came through the darkness, prompting Jason to instinctively switch to a fighting stance. He focused his eyes where he had heard the voice and it was then it dawned on him he had dropped the flashlight in the movement to defend himself. A rumble of thunder... a flash of lightning and he got a clear view of who was now standing a few feet away from him.
"What are you doing here?" Jason asked, his eyes surveying the yard around them.
"Jason," Rita Repulsa's normally shrill tone was softer now. It was causing a surreal sensation throughout Jason's body as it made its way into his ears.
"What do you want?" Jason questioned.
"I have looked everywhere..." Rita responded, lifting her head to look up at him.
"For what?" Jason inquired, confusion overtaking even his sense of alarm.
"Zedd," Rita replied. Jason furrowed his brow as he looked at her. Her countenance was sad, her appearance decidedly unkempt. If it were anyone else he might almost feel sympathy for her.
"Don't you know?" Jason asked, taking a small step back.
"What... know what?" Rita asked, her interest piqued as she in turned stepped closer to him.
"He is gone," Jason shook his head. He wasn't sad about it, but something about delivering this news to Rita felt somber.
"Gone... gone where?" Rita inquired.
"Dead," Jason dropped the hammer and he watched Rita's eyes go from inquisitive to closed. She remained that way for several seconds.
"How?" Rita asked.
"It... was... the other me... from the other timeline... at least that is what I was told," Jason answered.
Rita's eyes opened and she fixed her gaze on Jason. The way she stood without blinking made him grow more uncomfortable as it continued.
"You took him from me," Rita finally spoke, without breaking her gaze. Her eyes were piercing a hole through Jason.
"No... not me," Jason deflected.
"It was you..." Rita's tone was growing angry now. Not in the cackling and the almost comical way Jason was used to though. Darker, serious.
"It was not me... it was the other Jason... and he was under the influence of dark magic... you know this," Jason tried to reason with her.
"I somehow knew he was gone... I couldn't feel him anymore," Rita replied. She shook her head. "I loved him... I hated him... I loved that I hated him..."
"Look... I won't pretend to understand whatever was going on with you..." Jason began. "Just know I was not the one that took him from you... not that I would go out of my way to have saved him either."
Rita's eyes focused on Jason again as he stood up straighter to deliver the somewhat brutal truth to her.
"You will pay for his death, Jason," Rita replied. "I thought... maybe... this dance between me and you and your team was history... but..."
Rita stepped back a little, her features now shaded completely in darkness again.
"Maybe it is time I finish what we began all those years ago," Rita continued. More thunder, another lightning flash, and she was gone.
Jason backed his way up to his door and slipped inside. He turned to rest his back against the closed door. His mind was racing. His adrenaline was on a high. He barely noticed as Kimberly made her way into the room.
"Jase?" Kim took in the sight of him and she hurriedly made her way to him. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know," Jason answered her honestly.
(****)
"Wow that is heavy," Zack commented from his spot sitting on top of a picnic table. He glanced around the group.
"I can't even imagine what that must have been like," Trini added.
"It was weird," Jason responded. He ran a hand through his hair nervously as he glanced around the table at the group.
"It makes no logical sense she would hold it against you," Billy stated.
"She wasn't thinking logically," Jason shrugged.
"Did you talk to Zordon?" Zack asked. Jason shook his head.
"Not yet... I wasn't sure what to make of it and wanted to let you all know first," Jason answered. Kimberly reached over and took him by the hand.
"I don't like the idea of her threatening Jason like that," Kim said. "And the way she did it... that is not like her at all... to just show up in the night and not to make a scene."
"Definitely not her usual modus operandi," Billy agreed.
"What do you think she will do next?" Trini asked. Jason turned to her.
"I'm not sure, but I have never seen her so intense... so whatever it is I don't look forward to it," Jason answered.
"I'm surprised she didn't just attack you then and there," Zack said.
"She is not a fighter... she is a thinker," Billy responded. "She will no doubt be planning something, an attack from someone or something else."
"Like one of her monsters?" Trini asked.
"Yeah or those!" Zack alerted the group as they turned to see an army of putties forming around them in the park.
"This is like deja vu," Trini commented doing a circle to see the putties all around them. They were the original putties, with no mark of Zedd on them.
"I guess she has made her first move," Kim commented.
"Yeah... what do you say, guys?" Jason glanced at her and then the rest of the friends. "For old time's sake?"
"I'm already on it," Zack said with a smile as he ran across the park doing a flip over a group of putties and surprising them with a flurry of kicks.
The rest of the group fanned out in different directions and began to engage the putties on their own.
Jason clotheslined a putty sending it into a twirl before he hit a spin kick to another and then straight punch to a third sending them into a pile.
Trini grabbed a putty by the arm and flipped it over her shoulder into another. She ducked a swing from one behind her and then countered with a knee in the midsection and leg sweep.
Billy cartwheeled by an oncoming attack and landed with a front kick that knocked one putty into another. Two ducks in succession followed by an uppercut yielded the desired results as Billy glanced around him to see putties all around his feet.
Kimberly did a roll under a swing from a putty and then sprang to her feet to punch another in the chest. She spun gracefully to block a sucker punch from behind to then counter with a front kick and then a back kick to another both putties falling in unison.
Jason lifted a putty up into a fireman's carry and flipped it over onto another group charging him. He then lept over a putty charging from the other direction, hitting a sidekick directly in its face when it stopped and spun. He glanced around to see the rest of his team fending off the attack as effortlessly as they had always been able to.
He smiled momentarily until something caught his eye. A flicker of sunlight reflecting off something in the distance. His eyes widened as he recognized it as the staff in Rita's hand as she moved out from behind a nearby tree and held it high over her head.
"Watch out!" Jason called out but his call was timed with a blast from the staff. A blinding flash filled his eyes and he shielded them even as he ran in the direction of his friends.
The force of the blast knocked him backward and he crashed hard into a nearby picnic table. He fought losing consciousness as he felt a stinging pain in the back of his head. He struggled to his feet as dirt and dust settled in the air in front of him. He ran into the thick cloud of it and nearly stumbled over the body of Trini at his feet.
"No..." Jason called kneeling down to check her. The dust cleared more as he saw the bodies of the other teens lying all around him. A lump developed in his throat as he took in the sight. In the middle lying on her back with her leg bent awkwardly underneath her was Kimberly. Jason made his way over to her and gently scooped her up in his arms. "Talk to me..."
Jason glanced up to see Rita was still standing nearby, her staff still glowing from the charge of her blast. She was grinning and the sight of it was sending him into a rage. He reached for his Morpher in a blind rage. He could barely morph through his anger and shock and he immediately reached for his blade blaster and began to fire at her.
Rita vanished as his blasts obliterated the tree she had once stood in front of. Jason threw the weapon to the ground and knelt back down to pick Kimberly up once again.
"Come on... please..." Jason urged her as he felt for a pulse. An anguished cry came from him as he pulled her close and coddled her limp body in his arms.