Billy was not sure at first what he expected when Kendall returned but he was certain that the image of the woman dragging the unconscious Heckyl, the paleness of her face as Phillip moved to grab him and Kira moved to ask her what was wrong, would stick in his mind until the end of his days. Kendall did not speak at first, simply cried and sobbed, until finally Trent took note of the missing member of their group and she fell to her knees. At this point, exhausted and messy, the Kerovian siblings had returned with the battered Megaship and upon seeing Heckyl being tended to Karone rushed to his side, trying desperately and without result to wake him. Billy had no idea what was going on at first but he was at least certain that it was in no way good.
"Kendall, what is going on?" Hunter's voice rang, frustrated, unsteady, the anger of a man who still broiled over the events earlier; Billy saw him glance over at Heckyl, being fawned over by Karone, but his eyes inevitably returned to the scientist who was being held now in an embrace by Shelby, the rest of her team moving to surround her. But this was not a surprise to any; there was a natural pull for Power Rangers and their allies to huddle together in adversity, for the team to become closer when things got bad. The image of them standing to protect Heckyl earlier flashed before his eyes but he shook it off and tried to focus on what was going on.
The ninja moved closer but not too close; there was something dangerous in Phillip's eyes and as the prince looked at him certainly that previous confrontation came to Hunter's mind too. He froze, frowning, and Laura came to his side to calm him.
"You were attacked," stated Lauren, not a question but a fact; the Samurai Red approached with arms crossed and a look akin to pity, "Kendall, you need to breathe so you can tell us what happened."
"Mrs. Morgan," Shelby spoke softly, just loud enough to be heard and Kendall hiccupped, a strange sight to see the usually pulled together woman be like this; she looked at the young pink, a sad pained look, then at her hands as if they may have answers.
"We got the Purple Energem but when we left Sledge's ship...we fell right into a trap," she said her voice shaking, tears still streaming down her face, "A woman...she was there with soldiers; Heckyl tried to get to her and got shocked. And Zack...Zack..."
Her whole body shook and she turned away. But as more appeared to surround them, to see what was going on, to understand, one voice unidentified in the crowd asked. "What about Zack?"
"Is he alright?" Tyler asked hesitantly and Billy could guess at least why; the two boys had spent quite a lot of time together prior to Tyler gaining the Red Energem and even after they seemed to be rather good friends. In the light of all the darker things going on Tyler likely didn't want to think about what could have happened to the jovial good natured Black Ranger.
Kendall shook her head. "I-I don't know! He took my gun and told us to run and there was just so much going on and I...I left him there. I left Zack to the clutches of that evil woman; I abandoned him!"
And there it seemed was the root of her pain. Shelby held her closer and Chase and Riley both joined in the group hug. There were a few gasps and murmurs, Billy turned to look around to gather impressions but his heart was already sinking. This was not good. It sounded very much like a lose-lose situation whose best case scenario had turned out to be the loss of one of them but his mind couldn't help but feel a deeper weight than if this had simply been anyone. Zack was not only one of the youngest members but one of the first; he remembered clearly the sight of Andros carrying the boy, the chaos that had erupted in the warehouse where they had rescued the first few of them. He remembered helping Tsuki tend to the boy while he was unconscious and he caught her eye through all of this, seeing upon her face the look of someone trying their best to look strong despite the pain that shone in her eyes. Billy could not help but feel bad but still he smiled at her, hoping to at least give her a piece of comfort in the madness.
"We have to get him back." Kira was one of the original four; of course she would advocate for the rescue of the young boy.
"Are you insane?! Do you understand what you are even suggesting?!" Hunter, it was always Hunter; Billy could understand in light of the things he'd seen and the losses he'd suffered. His brother, his teammates, his students, the Academies, there was so much loss and so much pain. The blue feared though when he looked upon him that this was becoming far worse than the pain of the one who lost his family.
"Hunter, please." Then there was Laura, normally quiet, normally out of the way, who had almost lost her brother Dustin, watched as much destruction and pain, and yet always seemed to be trying to keep her beloved Hunter from doing anything too regretful.
"The woman who Kendall mentioned," Trent spoke up, sounding for all the world as if he was holding back the greatest darkness of all, "Could it be...Katina van Dran?"
Billy froze as did many others, the name that left the White Ranger's lips causing a chill to move through the air. Katina van Dran, the name of one of the two senators behind the Ranger's Initiative; while Astor Morgan had authored the bill, from what he had heard from Tommy and Tsuki upon his return to Earth, it would have never passed nearly as easily without the assistance of one very dangerous woman. He remembered seeing her on the news, before the Renegades as a group decided it was becoming far too close to personal abuse if they continued to watch it, a beauty who smiled and spoke with care to her words and actions, but even through the screen there was something in her gaze that he remembered had made him shiver with discomfort. Hearing her name again only brought it back and he took a deep breath to try and steady himself, turning to look about him, to see if he was perhaps not the only one who felt a kind of fear move through their body in place of blood.
"We cannot go up against her," Chip said and turned to Udonna, "I mean if she's the one who took Zack..."
"What other choice do we have?" Kira spoke again frowning deeply, "We can't leave Zack there, we are not going to just abandon our friend like that!"
"Kira, think reasonably about this," Laura said trying to sound calm and collected though it was hard to hide the shaking of her voice.
The yellow turned on her suddenly. "Reasonably? What are you talking about? I am talking reason not them; he's our friend, he's one of us and has fought by our side since the beginning, there is no way we are leaving him to whatever evil van Dran has in mind."
"Kira is right; it would be wrong to leave Zack to whatever fate may befall him just because we are worried about who we are going up against," Merrick said with his own displeased expression.
His sister Ileana nodded, standing by his side. "We've fought the military before and survived the experience; we shouldn't shy away now."
"Not all of us have survived every big fight against them." Lauren didn't sound as angry as she often did talking about the Incident nor was there a real accusation to her words. More a reminder that gave the female Animarian pause before she nodded solemnly in acknowledgment.
"I don't think that running into this without thinking is a smart move though," Riley commented and Phillip and Shelby both made clear that they stood with him on that opinion.
"We don't have the time to think long about this, Riley," Andros stated, shaking his head, "It's either we make our move now or we risk Zack's life in the process."
Hayley nodded her agreement with the Kerovian. "I normally am all for thinking through our missions but in this case the longer we dally the more we risk not being able to bring him back safely and in one piece."
"He's one boy," Hunter exclaimed angrily, "We can't just-"
"That one boy is a Renegade, Hunter Bradley, and fought alongside us all since the day he woke up," Billy said his voice cold and even, his gaze stuck on the ninja, "To abandon him when he gave up himself to allow Kendall and Heckyl to return back to us would go against everything we stand for as Power Rangers, the very essence of why we continue to fight and struggle despite every hardship and darkness that falls on our path."
"We cannot save Zack, Billy." He expected so many people to be against this plan, members who didn't quite understand as strongly what had been lost and what was being threatened. Kira, Hayley, Andros, Ileana, Merrick, they were all part of the original group, the ones either saved by or did the saving at the NASADA building. He expected them all to understand...
He expected Tommy to understand but as he heard the green speak his heart fell and he turned to see the look upon his teammate's, his friend's face. And he realized just how tired and worn down he really was; young as he was made again there was no escaping the look in his eyes, the look of a man who had gone through hell and yet still stood. But there was an empty darkness there too and as their eyes met Billy felt an urge to either punch the man or cry, neither of which he ended up doing.
"Tommy," the name left Billy's lips easily enough and came with a thousand more words unspoken, emotions and questions that ended up being hard to express properly. He didn't know what to do, what to say, how to express the thousands of thoughts and feelings inside him; he didn't even know if he should try.
The green didn't turn to acknowledge him, taking a deep metered breath before speaking. "We do not know where he was taken, we do not know what could be waiting for us, and we are in no condition to fight anyone. Sledge's attack didn't just destroy the Megaship; many of us are hurt, in more ways than physical. If we go there now-"
"So you think we should abandon him," Billy said though he refused to believe it, refused to think that the man who had once told them that they had a duty to protect people, to keep fighting, to act like Power Rangers even if the world wanted them dead, that that same man was now telling them to do something that should be unthinkable. A Power Ranger was in danger, a friend was in danger, and Tommy stood there with an emotionless expression and told them that they could do nothing.
"We will not win this fight, Billy. No matter how much we may want to, we don't a chance against Senator van Dran and her forces, and I do not want to lose more of us because we refuse to acknowledge the horrible truth of our situation."
"...Which is?" He knew, he always knew, yet still asked, though he knew hearing it from Tommy would kill him. And likely set off at least a few of them.
"That sometimes sacri-"
"Stop." Billy had almost forgotten Tsuki was there but her voice, soft and clear, rang and he was struck with a sense that everything stopped. The swordsgirl moved carefully towards Tommy, her sword slung across her back, her hair slick with sweat; she and Ivan had wandered off and he realized that the gold had not joined his team in surrounding Kendall, his link probably still developing considering how much time he spent not fighting alongside them. He walked behind her, holding two shattered wooden swords, and as she stopped before Tommy, the knight stood by his team finally.
Tsuki and Tommy only seemed to notice each other in the moment and Billy took note of many things in the course of minutes. Tommy stiffened, straightened up, his expression gaining an edge of something, maybe sadness, maybe anger, but it was there. Tsuki looked calm at first glance but her fingers were twitching towards her sheath, a nervous tic Billy hadn't seen from her in years but remembered nevertheless. The green seemed to take a breath before opening his mouth again, only to be cut off. "What is going on with you, Thomas?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said defiantly, calmly, but he twitched a little too and Billy could guess he was just trying to hold himself back from letting out emotions he was still trying to suppress.
"We went straight to the Ninja Academy after having to run around and almost being murdered in the NASADA warehouse, because you told us that we could not ignore a call for help. And even before that we had just escaped nearly dying at the house hours before our infiltration happened. We have run pretty much nonstop trying to save people, protect people, repair the ship, find the Energems, everything. And every step of the way you have either pushed or been right there in the frontlines. Yet now you're talking about pulling back, that we can't possibly win just because a few of us are hurt and the Megaship needs to be fixed again? You must be joking me; this is not you."
"Well, people change, especially when they have to deal with a lot of stress."
She gave a bitter laugh, looking at him even as he turned his gaze away. "Normal people change; you do not, Tommy Oliver."
"Sorry for not living up to your expectations then, Tsukkuyomi." His tone hurt; it was angry and pained and Billy felt the urge to step forward, to tell him not to speak that way, but Tsuki raised a hand as if to stop the blue. As if she knew.
"More along the lines of not living up to your own."
"Don't talk like you know anything about my thoughts."
"I've lived with you for decades, Tommy; I daresay I know you better than most do." The sharp way he spoke was met with a clear and even tone from her, "This is a waste of time obviously and we have more important things on our hands; Zack Taylor is in danger, our friend is in danger, and you for whatever reason are standing in our way. This is not a request, this is not a question, this is not a may or may not: we are going to get him back."
He twitched. "You will do no such thing..." There seemed to be more, words that he spoke but were far too soft to be picked up.
"Tommy" she said her voice still soft, but the calm to it made Billy straighten up more than relax; a hand touched Tommy's shoulder with what looked to be the lightest of touches and she continued, "Get out of the way."
Something there hit a cord or a nerve, Billy was not sure which, but the Green Ranger's eyes widened and he opened his mouth but she moved past him, hand slipping from his shoulder gracefully . Her steps were slow and deliberate and for the first time in a long time, Billy was reminded of the past, of the black haired swordsgirl who would cast down minions in swathes as easily as she would breathe. And reminded that this was every bit still the girl he knew.
He glanced around wondering who would follow her, who would listen to Tommy and the naysayers, who would still argue, and his eyes fell upon the figure of Karone, gently handing Heckyl over Andros with whispered words inaudible to the blue before standing and walking to Tsuki's side. Within those steps, no less hurried and just as light, her Wraith Staff reappeared in her hand and the swordsgirl glanced at the princess who simply nodded. No one needed to ask, all it took was a look in Karone's eyes to know what she was thinking: Zack was kidnapped but Heckyl was actually injured and had yet to wake up. And knowing what she had done to Snide for merely existing and causing Heckyl trouble, there was no doubt that the one who would dare harm him this much was not going to just get away with it.
He was a bit more surprised to see Abby move but his old friend's face was hard and blazed with the eyes of a mother whose child had been harmed, a glare thrown at Tommy before she too joined the other two women. Billy could almost understand: she was the mom of the group and with Zack being one of the few true teenagers, no doubt she was angered to have him being captured like this. Part of him found itself terrified though not of the enemy but for the women they were to face. Because the trio who stood there, the swordsgirl, the ex-princess of evil, the thrice over Power Ranger, were likely more dangerous than any weapon they had at their disposal.
Voices rose and for a time it seemed like they would be the only ones to go; Kira tried to join them but Trent kept arguing and the two fell into a conflict that left them both fuming. Though she spoke for the rescue, Ileana stood by her brother's side, snipping at any nearby who continued their attempts to convince the trio otherwise. Finally though Billy took a deep breath and walked forward towards Abby, Tsuki and Karone; he felt a hand reach out to grab him and found himself looking at Tommy.
"This is a suicide mission, Billy," he said, "You know that, I know that, she knows that."
Billy pulled his arm away perhaps a little too harshly but an anger was boiling in his chest he was unused to and with a cold tone he answered, "Then I'll die. But I'll die doing what I feel, what I know to be right. Goodbye Thomas."
He turned away and found himself face to face with the girls; Abby and Tsuki both offered their hands to him and for a second he could not help but smile before taking them. This was right, this was the right thing to do; he knew he could die but still.
Still he would have preferred this over doing nothing at all, this he knew and felt to his core, allowing that one thought to engulf him as the light of Tsuki's teleportation ability wrapped around the four and took them away.
Billy wasn't sure that Tsuki had taken them to the right place but upon arriving, the stale air made him certain that she was not wrong. It was nowhere he recognized at first, a generic set of buildings made of gray cement and stone set in the desert and land of what he at least could recognize as being Angel Grove. This left a sort of pit in his stomach: after everything that had happened, it seemed they kept returning here and never for good reasons. The sight of the Samurai Rangers writhing in pain in the courthouse returned to the forefront of his mind and despite trying to push it away, it refused to leave.
"It reminds me of the Courthouse." Part of him did feel a little more at ease knowing he wasn't the only one but the way Abby said it reminded him of how much damage the Renegades had suffered. Turning to look at her he was only partially surprised to see her morphed already sans her helmet and Karone tapped the end of her staff on the ground impatiently.
"We will not be having a repeat," he said and glanced at Tsuki who in turn was adjusting her sword and looking about the buildings quietly.
"So how do we plan on finding Zack?" Karone asked, "Divide and conquer?"
"No dividing," Tsuki and Billy said in unison, stopping to look at one another for a moment.
He gestured for her to go on and she nodded. "It's safer if we stay together."
The implication was clear. One was lost already; the four of them were not going to let it happen again. Abby and Karone both nodded in agreement silently and as a group the four entered the closest building. The first person to notice them seemed to pale and turned to try to run but Karone stopped them in their tracks, waving the Wraith Staff as she lifted them off their feet. There was screaming, a lot of screaming, and once brought closer the ex-villainess grabbed him by the collar and glared at him.
"Stop screaming," she said sternly and immediately he obeyed, giving out one last squeak before staring at her with pure terror, "Where is the boy who was brought in earlier?"
"Wh-what boy?" the man's voice trembled and as this was the wrong answer she narrowed her eyes, making him look ready to cry. It would have been fascinating to watch if they weren't in a stressful situation as it was; she didn't threaten him, just looked at him and the man simply kowtowed in fear to her.
Billy glanced around, taking note of a nearby computer terminal and without another word made his way towards it, setting himself down to sit. Tsuki and Abby followed, Karone keeping her captive hovered, and the latter spoke, "Do you think you can get anything out of it?"
"Theoretically speaking there has to be records," he said and started his work. The first obstacle was a password but after some attempts, they finally just made the man tell them it; he seemed so scared of what Karone might do that it made Billy wonder what exactly was told to these people about them. They couldn't really expect any of them to want to harm them, right?
The second was not any aspect of security, that was simple enough for him to bypass, but the sheer amount of data to go through. There was a lot there, including things he hadn't thought about for a while but revived old questions: data on the Power Rangers no one was supposed to know about, the locations they came from, the movements of the Renegades and somehow even data on the Energems that could only have come from Kendall's destroyed lab under the museum as well as snippets of what he was certain was Tommy's old digital diary. He dove deep and found email chains that preceded the attack on the Ninja Academy and Briarwood, the orders that would eventually cause the death of thousands. There was even data on the location of the ones who had been captured and quickly he tried to skim through them, wishing he had some way to take the data with him. With this they could possibly do more rescue missions; the warehouse was a no go anymore but this they could use to find the others, help them get out of custody and-
His thoughts were cut short by an explosion and he winced, ducking down as dust and debris went flying. He could hear Abby yell something, followed by something flashing, likely an attack from Karone's staff and the man she had captured screaming from slightly further than Billy expected. He frowned, shaking his head. The rescues of anyone else could wait; they needed to find Zack first.
"Come on," he muttered under his breath, over and over as he scoured every inch of the database. Military orders, data on public opinion, the itineraries of multiple important officials in this situation, a message from this information bureau or the other...
But nothing on Zack; the longer it took, the more he started to worry and he started trying to move faster, trying to ignore the things that obviously couldn't be what he was looking for. He had to find something, he had to.
"Billy, news?" Tsuki asked and her voice was calm though as she placed a hand on his shoulder he could feel how tightly she gripped it.
"There is insufficient data to make an approximated hypothesis on the location of our imprisoned comrade!" he said; he was slipping back, that wasn't good. He tried to take a breath but he was starting to worry and the worry was becoming panic and the panic was making him use technobabble again even though he had gotten so much better about that...
"So you mean that there's nothing in there about Zack?" Abby said, trying it seemed to calm the blue down at least enough for him to talk clearly; he nodded.
"Well, someone's got to know," Karone said and as the dust settled she went to grab her captive again who was trying to get away from her, again.
She had almost succeeded but there was another explosion and there was a flash of light that followed. They all stumbled in the resulting ground quake and Billy fell over the keyboard, sending a bunch of commands in the process that meant nothing to the computer. From down the hallways was the sound of someone yelling about traitors and for a moment he wondered if maybe they were in trouble. But Tsuki and Abby stepped away from him to stand with Karone and the three women were just staring down the hallway, causing him to look too, seeing something unexpected.
The Lightspeed team did not look very good to tell the truth. Their suits were damaged and as they made their way towards them it was obvious at least one of them, their red, was badly bleeding. Hot on their heels seemed to be a small army of soldiers, all heading right at the quartet of intruders. Billy froze, unsure what to make of this situation, and as he felt someone grab him he half screamed only to note the hardened face of his ex-friend Jason. The scar over his eye from Briarwood only made Billy feel a bit guilty, though of course he hadn't caused it, and the red frowned down at him.
"Come with me," he said and moved to drag Billy along but didn't get a step before almost walking right into the sharpened blade of Tsuki's sword.
The two stared at each other wordlessly and it occurred to the blue that she didn't look so calm now. Actually she looked downright dangerous as she looked at Jason with the kind of look one might expect from a predator.
"What is going on around here?" Karone asked, slamming her staff on the ground and turning from the advancing Rangers and military to the red who had Billy still in his grip, her eyes seemed to glow with a dark energy as she lifted her weapon to point it at the man, "Let go of Billy, now."
Abby was in position to fight the Lightspeed but their own pink demorphed and Dana Mitchell raised her hands, panting slightly as her teammates turned around and to their surprise started blasting away at the soldiers following them. "We come in peace!"
"Do we seem like fools to you?" Karone asked without turning around.
"You don't want the answer to that," the Lightspeed Yellow asked and kicked out the legs of one of the soldiers nearest to her; the five Rangers reached the end of the hallway and the ones still morphed turned to continue to attack.
"What are you doing?" Abby asked, "What do you mean by coming in peace?" she then turned to Jason, "Jason Lee Scott, if you do not put Billy down right this second, I swear..."
The red immediately dropped the blue and he too put up his hands though he had a somewhat sour look on his face. "We are not here to fight you. Tsuki, put down your sword: I was not going to hurt Billy."
The swordsgirl didn't do so immediately but after a few seconds of the two staring at one another she finally sheathed the blade, giving him a wordless look then a concerned one at Billy before making her way over to the injured Lightspeed Red.
"Are you alright?" Her tone was soft and as Carter Grayson turned to her he nodded.
"We were trying to keep them away from this area but they started to overrun us and we lost contact with Wesley and Rocky."
"Do you mean to say you were trying to help us somehow?" Abby asked raising an eyebrow.
"Jason," Billy said turning to his ex-friend, his old friend, and the sour look didn't leave.
"Look we don't expect you to trust us but right now that's not what's important," Jason said frowning, "What is is that I know where your friend is being held and I can take you to him though we need to hurry."
"What brought this about, considering last we saw you, you seemed pretty content with letting the military try to kill us, Jason." Abby's words were sharp and full of hurt; she alone of the three females had been consciously there, she had seen Briarwood and she knew the disaster that had been unleashed.
"Again, I know you don't trust us and have every reason not to and to be mad, but listen to me, Abigail," he said seeming ready to burst but trying not to, "I can take you to the boy and get you out of here safely; everything else..."
"We can discuss everything else later," Dana said and carefully approached Abby; she held out her morpher, "But I promise we're here to help you so please...let us."
The offering was important. For a Power Ranger their morpher was sacred, it was part of who they were, a dangerous weapon, an important tool. Active or not, able to use it to presently morph or currently inert, it was something of high value and by offering it to Abby, she was making a statement. The older pink hesitated for a second then put her hand over Dana's and shook her head solemnly. "We'll trust you for now."
Tsuki turned from Carter to walk back at Billy and the others. "If Jason says he knows the way, then lead the way."
"What about the soldiers?" As Billy asked that the sound of fighting got even closer and closer and the Lightspeed blue yelled over his shoulder at them, "We'll keep them busy; you guys get going!"
No one asked if they would be okay; no one argued or stated that it was too dangerous. Karone nodded and giving Jason a look, the red gestured for them to follow after him. No one else spoke a word and Billy saw the Lightspeed get back to work trying to hold back the ones after them; he alone took note of the fact that Carter seemed healthier somehow, less wounded.
"So is this supposed to be a mutiny or something?" Jason had led them from one building to another and it became quickly apparent that something was definitely happening. Every time they even got close to any soldiers they were running in a different direction and there was a general sense of chaos all around. Someone yelled down one hallway which he was trying to lead them, only for him to backtrack and pull them down another. Billy noticed that Jason seemed almost frantic, looking this way and that and getting more panicked the further they went, the closer to where he could only assume was their destination. But hearing Karone speak he realized he was far from the only one.
"It's none of your business," Jason snapped and pulled Tsuki behind him as a wave of fighters ran past the corner they were just about to round.
She frowned and pulled away from him. "I think it is considering we're supposed to 'trust' you right now."
"I never asked for your trust." That earned him a slap from Tsuki and an ear pull from Abby. Billy barely flinched in sympathy, though right now he didn't much like having information omitted either. They were in the middle of whatever was going on after all, knowing would probably help them right now.
"What is going on around here, Jason?" Abby said sternly and Karone motioned that they were in the clear, allowing Abby to threw Jason forward to jumpstart his leading the way again.
The red grumbled and glared at them but got nothing less than annoyed angry faces in return. He sighed and turning he stalked off, just slow enough for them to follow. "We just got fed up, alright?"
"Oh, murdering innocents wasn't fun anymore?" Karone asked arms crossed over her chest, raising an eyebrow at him.
"I don't need to hear that from the woman who got Zordon killed," he snapped again and got a kick for his troubles from Tsuki.
"You lost the right to judge people for things they did under the influence of pure evil when you threw your lot in with Astor Morgan and Katina van Dran," Tsuki scolded and got a quick glare over the shoulder for her trouble; she was unaffected.
"Oh and what's-"
"Just stop, Jason!" Billy very rarely got riled up like this but as it was he couldn't help but yell. This stopped the group for a moment but he pushed the nearest to him, Abby, forward and this seemed to remind the rest that there was no time to stop now.
Jason was silent for a moment, just taking them through the hallways until finally, in a small voice, letting out more words. "I told you, we never wanted to hurt anyone. We just wanted peace."
"Even if you needed to start a war to get it?"
"Look, we never expected it to get this bad. At first it was just...Senators Morgan and van Dran, they made it seem like we were doing so much good at first, and we honestly thought we were. Bringing in stray Rangers here and there, it started so simple. Then Ethan resisted and I swear I never meant to kill him, I honestly didn't; I was just trying to stop him, injure him. Senator Morgan assured me that that was an unfortunate accident, that I couldn't really be blamed for something that happened while trying to apprehend someone dangerous and I believed him. And then I went to get Tommy and you and...it spiraled so hard, so fast. Suddenly the Ninja Academy was being attacked and Senator Morgan made it sound like it was for such a good cause; they were protecting the Ninja Storm Rangers, they were standing in the way of justice. But every day and every conflict and every conversation just brought more and more doubt to mind; Taylor broke down first, bet you didn't know that her Wild Zords stopped talking to her after the Ninja Academy event."
"I'm aware," Tsuki interrupted and Billy only stared at her.
Jason continued on as if she never spoke. "Then the Courthouse and Amber Beach and," he hesitated before whispering the next word, "Briarwood. By the time we really started to recognize what was really going on, it was too late though. Senator Morgan reminded us that we have blood on our hands, in that disgusting voice of his, and Senator van Dran..."
Whatever the female senator had said or done seemed to truly bother him and he shudder some, shaking his head and wrapping his arms around himself. "We never meant for any of this to happen, we didn't go into this wanting to hurt or kill anyoe. I never wanted the Samurai Rangers to die or Briarwood to burn; I believed we...we..."
"Well my dear Jason, you know what they say about good intentions." The voice was familiar to only one of them and he didn't move fast enough to avoid what happened next. He had taken a step forward only to start convulsing as something seemed to be electrocuting him. Karone raised her staff and dark energy surged, joining the force harming him for a few seconds before he collapsed; whatever she had done had released him from it but as Billy rushed to his side he found his friend trembling and still twitching. His breathing was irregular and as he tried to check his pulse he found it too was all over the place.
Tsuki drew her sword and Abby summoned up her own weapon, both ready for a fight, but the woman who walked out of the room Jason had collapsed in front of was not armed. She was graceful, beautiful, and absolutely terrifying to Billy he realized. He could guess immediately who it was and she looked at each of them with a smile, looking quite pleased with herself. Stopping she adjusted her body to stand at ease, her chin resting gently upon folded fingers of one hand as the other was tucked under her elbow.
"Let's see who we have," she said her voice honey that made his chest hurt, "William 'Billy' Cranston, Mighty Morphin' Blue Ranger and teammate of our dear Jason. Abigail 'Abby' Navarro, Mighty Morphin' Silver, also teammate of Jason's. Karone, aka Astronema, ex-Princess of Evil and Lost Galaxy Pink, the only located Lost Galaxy Ranger. And..."
Her eyes stopped on the last of them and in return the swordsgirl straightened up some. Tsuki didn't frown, didn't glare, didn't react; she just stared and Katina van Dran smiled. "You must be the new conduit; I'm honestly surprised that Tommy Oliver would let you just wander into our little compound like this. Tsukkuyomi Kokuryuu, not a Ranger, not a mentor, just a girl with a sword...though I do suppose you have a particularly unique place in this group. Shall I call you Tommy Oliver's current girlfriend, or Billy Cranston's ex?"
"Am I supposed to be bothered by that?" Tsuki asked in monotone, tilting her head, "Because I really don't care. Where is Zack?"
Despite this Katina chuckled with amusement when the boy's name came up. "I have to admit, I did not expect that one. Zack Taylor, Mighty Morphin' Black Ranger. But...we already have Zack Taylor locked up in another location since before your group went on the run and he wasn't a feisty little Asian boy."
"Where is Zack?" Abby repeated for Tsuki, taking a step forward; Billy saw something and immediately grabbed her, dragging her back before another torrent of electrical energy could hit her. A man appeared behind Katina, holding what looked to be a modified stun gun; he had the look of a man who cared not for human life which Billy found himself thinking how well that fit with the vicious woman before them.
Katina continued to smile and gestured inside the room. Billy got a bad feeling but as Tsuki and Abby went to look, and Karone stood there keeping an eye on Katina and the soldier, he too followed.
The room was neat and cold and he could tell immediately that it had to be an interrogation room. The walls were featureless and a single light hung from above, illuminating a hard desk and two chairs. He didn't see Zack immediately but he did hear Tsuki and after hearing her be cold, be calm, be emotionless, be annoyed, somehow it still managed to dig deepest when he heard her sad.
"Zack!" Her voice oozed panic as she rushed by the blue over to where a figure was curled against the wall. He hadn't noticed them immediately and he wasn't entirely sure why either but it was hard to look away once he did notice them. Zack was hurt, much more so than Heckyl or Kendall had been though he was conscious; Billy knew he was conscious because as Tsuki pulled the boy against her, he could hear the sound of crying and mumbling coming from him. Electricity jumped around him and Zack didn't seem to immediately notice Tsuki actually touching him but once he did he grabbed hold of her and sobbed harder. Silver streaked black hair covered the teenager's face for a time but he lifted it and glassy eyes met Billy's. The smile Zack gave made Billy sick.
"Billy, you're still alive. She didn't kill you." Billy did not understand it, why Zack would even think he would be dead and why he sounded so sad saying it. But he did know who to blame and as he wheeled around on Katina, he did so in time to see Karone try to hit the woman only for the soldier to get in the way. Hatred shone in Karone's eyes and her staff glowed again, her hair turning momentarily a vibrant purple as she hissed. "You bitch."
"What a nasty attitude you have," Katina responded, looking down at Karone like one might a particularly disgusting inspect, "But what can one expect from the Princess of Darkness?"
"He was a child!" Abby exclaimed hands balled up in fists as she unmorphed; it seemed to Billy she wanted to face this monster as Abby, not the Silver Mighty Morphin Ranger, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Is this how you treat someone who has never done anything to you, to anyone except try to protect people?!"
Katina sighed and checked her nails nonchalantly. "He was being rude, not answering any of my questions. Thus we had to resort to some more...aggressive measures."
Billy's eyes went to the soldier's stun gun then to Tsuki currently rocking slowly with Zack in her arms, ignoring this whole conversation. Zack had progressed from being glad Billy was alive to sobbing again and begging for forgiveness, pleading for them to not be upset with him.
"It's okay, Zack, you did nothing wrong," Tsuki whispered to him, holding him close, "You did nothing wrong..."
"What have we ever done to you?" Abby asked, her voice shaking with barely restrained anger and angry tears flowing down her cheeks as she glared at Katina, "We have only ever tried to protect people, to save them, and he...he's not even...he's just a kid so why...what did we or he ever do wrong?"
"He became a Power Ranger." The way the senator said it was calm and even but the hatred and coldness was clear. It hit each of the Renegades individually and Billy saw the way Abby froze and Karone clenched her staff ever tighter. Tsuki did not look up, continuing to stroke Zack's hair and whisper to him, holding the broken young man close to her in an attempt to comfort him.
"You hate us because we're Rangers," Billy said slowly, his own voice feeling so far away even to him; he knew this, he had experienced it, but to hear it so matter-of-factly still shook him to his core. Maybe he expected different deep down, maybe he had been wanting for it to be about more than just what they were by fate's hand, but no. This was the truth, nothing could change it.
Abby shook her head as if trying to shake it away and took a step forward. "You have destroyed our homes, uprooted our lives, tormented our friends, our families, ourselves, impeded our ability to protect the planet from dangers that we were tasked to defend against, killed thousands and all...because you hate the Power Rangers. You have forced us to live on a damaged spaceship as fugitives because you harbor some grudge against the existence of a group who literally exists to protect you and everyone else on this planet from evil."
"And the fact that countless have been harmed because of you simply slips your mind I suppose," Katina said and Abby threw her a glare that only made the senator look more pleased with herself, "Or that more than once the reason the world even was in danger was because of the actions of one or more of you."
"That's-"
"Andrew Hartford's obsession with treasure hunting caused the release of two dangerous beings because he couldn't leave the Corona Aurora alone."
"Yes but-"
"Because of the actions of a Pai Zhua student an ancient evil was set loose, a student that the Power Rangers of that group still protect to this day."
"Wait how-"
"Oh and we cannot forget the actions of one Tommy Oliver regarding the Dino Gems and Mesagog."
"That was not Tommy's fault!" Abby exploded and a blast of dark energy from Karone hit the soldier, throwing him not only into but through the nearest wall. The same sort of energy surrounded her as she stood beside Abby and both women glared at Katina with pure abhorrence in their eyes.
"That is just the things that have been started by either one of you or by someone close to you. Let's not forget the princess here who has brought upon pain and destruction everywhere she's gone. The Power Rangers are just as much harbingers of disaster as the villains they fight, just of a different color palette." She snapped her fingers and for a moment there was nothing but the sound of yelling and footsteps quickly came through and Billy could see soldiers approaching again. "Now be good boys and girls and surrender; I'd hate to have to damage you like we did Zack over there."
"You...monster..." Billy had honestly forgotten in the force of nature that was Katina van Dran about Jason but the red seemed to have taken the time during the conversation to recollect himself enough to grab onto the leg of her pants. This seemed to offend her and without missing a beat she kicked him in the head, forcing him to let go as she pressed the heel of her shoe into his face.
"Oh Jason, if I'm a monster, then what does that make a traitor like you?"
Karone blasted someone. Abby yelled. Jason groaned on the floor. Someone else shouted and shots were fired. There was so much going on and Billy felt frozen for a moment, stuck between staring at Jason and wanting to do something. Thoughts flashed through his mind: the madness in Amber Beach, the sight of his adolescent lab destroyed, the damage done to the Megaship, the major events, the minor events, everything that had happened since that day he got the message that Tommy and Tsuki needed his help back on earth. Then he heard Katina's laugh and his mind stuck on Kendall, her face, her crying, and Heckyl's unconscious form. And the world felt like it went black.
On the outside it looked like Billy was just calmly pulling out his morpher but in the blink of an eye he was gone and suddenly Katina was under attack from...something. It looked sort of like a Ranger, it looked like a monster too; blues, dark sharp blues, and purples, and silvers, and black. The helmet's upper portion was like Koragg's strangely; the lower half was long snouted, with sharp teeth but still a helmet. The armor was broken in places and fixed, mixed together in different ways, and long feral claws extended from where the gloves should be. It was an amalgamation of many things, many forms, with one central theme that would only cross the mind of one who had seen the forms it was made from.
Inside Billy was...not so much Billy. Hatred and pain, a need to destroy, a wanting to destroy, he needed to hunt, he needed to hurt. His brilliance was overwhelmed by what felt like instinct but he summoned a long double sided blade in one hand that he used to try to cut Katina who stepped back, eyes widening slightly. The being that was Billy growled and attacked again and again and again; soldiers got in the way and were cut down without a hesitation, the Ranger focused on his enemy. His prey.
"What is this?" Katina asked watching as yet another man fell to the rage of the bestial Ranger, "This...this isn't in any of our data; his Ranger form should be-"
"Madam Senator, get out of here!" screamed one soldier, trying to shoot at Billy only to be blasted instead by Karone who had morphed into her own new Ranger form, causing Katina to stare at her too before turning to look at Tsuki.
"Is this your special contribution then? I heard that each team has their own unique ability but this..." Her words were cut short as Billy managed to make contact, slicing open her arm. It was a testament to her self control that she didn't make a sound, just took a sharp intake of breath, before straightening up.
"I do hope you understand that you've ensured your own destruction with this; attacking a government building, killing personnel, injuring an US senator. I will enjoy dragging you and yours down to hell where you belong and ripping your precious Power from your hands."
Billy growled and prepared to attack again but before he could Jason moved to stop him, grabbing the maddened Ranger and giving Katina her choice. The senator smiled, that same cruel vicious smile, that same honeyed look that seemed almost friendly but was in all truth just cruelty incarnate, and she turned to leave, managing somehow to still seem graceful despite her arm bleeding and the chaos that she left in her wake.
Jason groaned as Billy strained. "Billy, stop this!"
The words meant nothing; he lifted his blade to attack Jason but Abby stopped him this time, looking concerned. "Billy!"
"What's going on, what happened to him?" Karone asked, watching the soldiers retreat in kind before turning her attention to the struggling blue, "His suit..."
"We need to get out of here," Abby said and trying to take the blade from Billy she found another, different weapon in his hand this time. Nice long sword, Ivan would have likely been interested in it but right now that was not important; Billy wouldn't calm down or even talk to them and it was clear something was wrong.
Tsuki approached, Zack glued to her side with his eyes downcast as she reached out and grabbed Billy by the face. He froze for a moment and there was silence between the two until she turned to Jason, "What are you going to do now?"
"I need to go get the others; Wesley and Rocky were supposed to have been keeping the people directly under Astor distracted but that won't work for long. Taylor already left days ago and the Lightspeed team and I need to leave this place too, we all do," he answered and straightened up, "It's far too little and too late but still we can't stay here any longer."
"If you want you could come with us." The look he gave her was hard to decipher but ultimately he shook his head.
"That...would definitely not be for the best."
"Then I wish you the best. And if you decide you want to try to start making amends, then you should be able to find our frequency easy enough; everyone else does it seems."
"Got it." Somehow it didn't sound too certain but as Billy had started to move again the conversation was quickly dismissed. Tsuki grabbed hold of his hand and started to teleport away along with Zack, Karone and Abby. The last of them watched Jason, examined his face, his body language, and saw in him someone lost and broken. But she had nothing to say to him at that moment. She had no idea what could be said.
The temple grounds were a disaster site for many reasons. But upon returning Billy had broken free and started ripping apart the grounds. Hunter tried to ask what the hell was going on, what had happened, but Abby only told him that they would talk later while Merrick and RJ approached the mad Ranger. Leanbow joined them and after managing to get Zack to stay with Abby, Tsuki did too. The four managed to surround the blue who growled and suddenly howled at them, causing some onlookers to wince and others to look confused. One or two had comments, the Mystic speaking of Koragg, Ileana of Zen Aku, Camille and Jarrod of the wild werewolf spirit of RJ. But the quartet themselves didn't seem to react and the noise stopped after some time, followed by the light of morphing and a groan. RJ caught the now unconscious Billy, picking him up and walking back to the group with a soft smile.
"What happened?" Hunter asked for what seemed like the thousandth time and Abby sighed, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Later, we'll tell you...later."
Far from there Astor stood before his chessboard, tapping the black king piece against the side. The board was set, the pieces all in place, and as Katina sat on his couch, silently scheming her plots, he thought over his own.
"It's remarkable how willingly they dance into our traps," Katina said and slapped the medic who while trying to stitch up the rather nasty gash on her arm had managed to stab her arm in the wrong spot; it was likely nerves, fear of the woman, but it didn't matter much to the senator at the moment. She glared at the medic then turned her attention back to Astor, "Though I must admit I didn't expect Astronema to be able to morph like that; I thought she only had the one Ranger form. And that man Billy..."
"It doesn't change anything for us," Astor mused and placed the king carefully with a smirk, "The plan continues the way it has thusfar. The data taken by the cameras will simply cement our claims and make it all the easier to call for the next stage."
Katina gave the other senator a look but did not respond. His plans mattered little to her, outside of how she could make use of them herself. Still as her arm ached from the injury and she thought about the way Billy had changed, the power exhibited by Karone, her attention was less on whatever plots the spider had for the unsuspecting Renegades but what this new information could do for her instead. She would not let this go unpunished, there was no way she would just let them get away with disrespecting her like this. The medic managed, despite the disruption, to do their job correctly and finish up on Katina's arm, wrapping it very carefully, all while the woman schemed to herself about what to do.
No, she would definitely get her revenge, and Billy Cranston and his friends would regret ever crossing Katina van Dran. This she would make sure of.