Chapter Four

Teresa woke the next morning just as the sun began to shine into the room. After joining her parents for a quick breakfast, she returned to the room she shared with her younger sister Rebecca, sat down at her desk and began reading through the information Alpha had printed out last night, a brief description of the god Atar and how he related to other figures within Persian mythology.

Reaching the end of the print-out, Teresa dropped it onto the desk and sat back. There was no particularly useful information in there, and certainly nothing about silver-clad warriors with eyes of fire who had a habit of killing law-breakers.

She brushed a stray lock of her hair out of her eyes, and thought back to last night when she'd confronted him, picturing the vigilante in her head. There was still something oddly familiar about the figure of Fury, a nagging suspicion that she'd seen that figure somewhere before.

But where?

Teresa shook her head, and glanced down to her communicator. 7:24. Scott would still be asleep, and they were scheduled to meet back in the Command Centre at eight...

Hang on a minute...

And she suddenly remembered why Fury looked so familiar. Crossing the hall to the room shared by Scott and their younger brother Sam, she opened the door and headed for the bookshelf beside Scott's bed. Settling down on the floor, Teresa immediately found the volume she was looking for, and opening the book, began hurriedly flipping through the pages.

"Morning Scott, mind if I borrow this?" she asked.

She heard a groan behind her and smiled. "Wha...oh, g'morning T'resa," came a slurred voice, as Scott slowly drifted awake. "We've gotta meet the others soon, don't we?"

Teresa nodded, about to reply when she turned a page, and there he was. An armoured warrior, red cloak, and eyes of fire - Fury, in all his glory.

"Scott, I've found him!" she cried.

Scott immediately rolled out of bed and landed on the floor beside his sister. Turning to the book, his eyes suddenly went wide. "Hey, you're right, that's Fury!"

They both quickly stood up. "We better get this to the Command Centre," Teresa said, heading for the door.

"Sure thing sis," replied Scott. "Right behind you."

Teresa nodded, but couldn't help smiling at the thought - it had taken a super-powered serial killer, but Scott was finally awake and enthusiastic about something first thing in the morning.

Jason and I arrived in the Command Centre in twin showers of bright light, and looking around, saw that we were the last Rangers to arrive. Everyone else was gathered around Teresa and Scott who were standing beneath Zordon's plasma tube, Teresa holding a thick book.

"We got your message. You guys found something important?" asked Jason.

Teresa nodded. "Yep," she replied conversationally, "we've found our badguy," and holding up the book, she opened to a bookmarked page - a silver-clad
warrior with a red cloak stared back at us. It wasn't an exact representation, but it was pretty close.

"Hey, that's him!" cried Ian.

Zac nodded, and glanced to the book's cover. "That's definitely Fury. But what's he doing in the World Encyclopedia of Mythology? Is that Atar?"

"No," Teresa replied, "but close." And she turned the book back around, and began reading. "Aesma Daeva, patron spirit of violence and personification of anger and hatred. Aesma Daeva was a big player in ancient Persian mythology, and also features in the religion of zoro...astro...something."

"Roughly translated, his name means 'fury'," continued Scott. "Major badguy material. From all accounts, he was fairly high up the cosmic foodchain, so to speak."

Teresa nodded. "According to this, there's a specific ritual that can be performed where Aesma Daeva is bonded to the person who summoned him, imbuing that person with the demon's powers." Teresa paused, lightly tapping the picture. "Which brings us to this guy."

"Teresa, that's brilliant!" I said. "So we were right last night, underneath the fancy dress there is a normal human."

"Exactly," replied Scott. "We searched through the archives before you guys arrived this morning. The ritual can only be performed in a certain temple somewhere in the Middle East. And as it turns out, the temple in question was only recently restored by archaeologists and is now open to tourists."

"That's great," said Ian. "Our first lead. So where do we go from here?"

"Well, we should be able to access computer files in all the travel agencies in Caloundra, right?" asked Trini. "Let's just see how many residents of the city made a trip to the Middle East in the last twelve months."

Alpha nodded. "I'll get right to it," he said, turning to the console nearest him. But after a few seconds of typing, he turned back to face us. "Ayeyiyiyiyi Rangers! About four months ago, one of the agencies in Caloundra was offering a half-price holiday to that part of the world. I've got hundreds of suspects! From what I can gather, it seems like the majority of people went on holiday around the time of Rita's arrival and your first appearance as Power Rangers."

"I guess there's nothing like the threat of being obliterated by fifteen storey aliens to give people the travelling bug," said Brendan.

I nodded. "Indeed."

"Okay, so all we have to do is narrow down the list," said Jason. "Fury's obviously male, and I guess could be anywhere between a sixteen-year-old on a power trip, and fifty. He'd have to be reasonably healthy, too."

Alpha nodded, and punched several more buttons. Pages soon began to print out. "That narrows our search down to 132 healthy male residents of Caloundra," he said, passing the stack of papers around the room, "each with an address attached."

"And bingo," said Sarah. "We've got a suspect list."

Teresa nodded. "It's utterly enormous, but it's better than the phone book. One of these men is our murderer - we just have to find which one."

"And it's a sure thing he'll be back tonight," said Jason, "so the original plan of connecting the first four victims still stands. Tommy, I want you to take over investigating Luke Fitzgerald, while Sarah, Trini and Zac - keep trying to find out information on your victims. Scott and Billy, I want you two to stay here, find out everything you can on this Aesma Daeva and help coordinate the teams. Everybody else, we're got to start knocking suspects off this list. Go door-to-door, start interviewing people. Pretend you're doing an assignment for school or something, anything to help figure out alibis for the last couple of nights."

Everybody nodded, and Jason turned to the Aqua Ranger, standing beside him. "Brendan..."

Brendan raised his hands. "Staying out-of-action as promised," he replied. "I'm heading into the library anyway, I've got an idea I want to check out."

Billy raised his hand. "Jason, I believe having both Scott and Alpha here in the Command Centre would be more than necessary," he said slowly. "Would it be reasonable if I perhaps joined you in the city?"

Jason nodded. "That'd be great. It's probably best if we work in pairs anyway."

"Next question," began Kim. "What happens if we do find Fury, suited-up and ready? Do we call the police, or...?"

"We waste him," said Tommy. "He's a monster."

Ian immediately turned to him. "No, we don't."

"He's a psychopathic serial killer bonded to a three-thousand-year-old demon, what other options have we got?" the Green Ranger asked.

"There's still a human being under that costume," Ian replied. "He's only been active, what, three or four days? I mean, there's a pretty big chance we can get through to him and talk him out this. Convince him to de-bond or something. We're stopping this guy because any loss is one too many, right?"

"I agree," said Jason, then smiled slightly. "Tommy, you can just try to rehabilitate him."

The Green Ranger shrugged. "Why not? I'll use extreme prejudice if necessary."

Jason grinned. "That's the spirit," he said, then turned to the team. "Everybody knows what they're doing?" We all nodded, and he continued. "We can find this guy Rangers. So let's move."

After dividing the suspect list into three, Teresa and Ian teleported north into Currimundi, while Kimberly, Billy, Jason and I travelled into the city, materialising in an empty underground carpark. It was still pretty early, and the city was only just waking up. The shops along the main street were throwing their doors open, the flow of morning traffic was steadily increasing, and restaurant owners were hosing down their sidewalks and setting up for the day.

"Okay," I said, scribbling down notes on the back of the suspect list that Jason and I would be working through, "the best I could come up with is a survey that we can be doing for school about whether people go out at night or eat in, what television shows they watch, you know, the kinds of things that'll tell us if people have a decent alibi for the last few nights."

Kimberly took the sheet and began copying the questions. "It's a start. Can we change these if we have to?"

I nodded, as we passed an electronics store with a row of televisions in the window and Kim handed me the questions back. "Sure. If it works, go for it."

Glancing into the store as we passed, Jason caught sight of the television broadcast and stopped. "Hey guys," he said, "check it out."

We all came to a halt, and looked back through the glass at the televisions.

"A lucky escape for the five latest victims of the serial killer police are calling Fury," came the voice-over, as the camera scrolled down the street where we'd confronted the vigilante last night. "Two as-yet unidentified children attempted a rescue of Fury's victims, before the arrival of the Power Rangers forced the killer to flee the scene. Sergeant Thompson of the Caloundra Police says the Rangers' intervention certainly saved the lives of the five victims, but urges that anybody without superpowers should stay well clear of the killer. However, noted civic libertarian James Pratt has protested the Rangers' involvement, saying the heroes are overstepping their boundaries by interfering with a domestic crime." The screen returned to the newsreader. "And in other news, a successful tip-off from the public has led police to apprehend a criminal wanted in three states for..."

I stepped back from the glass. "Interfering with a domestic crime?" I repeated.

"I wouldn't worry about them," said Jason. "We've got too much to do as it is."

Billy nodded. "Where will you two be this morning, anyway?"

Jason glanced down to our list. "From the looks of it, we've got two people living in the Pumicestone Apartments building, and then we'll be working our way through Golden Beach and into the industrial estate," he replied. "How about you?"

"I expect Kimberly and I will be investigating suspects here in the city for most of the morning," Billy replied.

I raised my wrist, checking my communicator. "At any rate, we'd better get moving. Good luck guys," I said, and Jason and I turned and continued away from them down the street.

Billy watched us leave, before turning back to Kimberly, only to find her staring through the glass at the televisions.

"Kimberly?" Billy asked.

Hearing her name, the Pink Ranger spun around quickly, and smiled. "Sorry Billy, I was just thinking," she said, glancing to the televisions and then back again. "So, where to first?"

"Two of our suspects appear to have residences on the avenue behind the Cultural Centre," Billy said. "We can begin there and move further into the city as we progress."

"Good plan," agreed Kimberly. As they walked, Kimberly glanced at the list of suspects and ran her eyes down the long line of names.

"I know we've got a solid few hours until Fury tries again," she said, turning the page, "but this is going to take like forever."

Billy thought back to the junior Blue Ranger still in the Command Centre. "I'd suggest it will be ultimately more fruitful than spending hours pouring over information regarding the details of mythological and historically false stories," he replied, and Kim couldn't help but notice the tone in his voice.

"You don't like this, do you?" she ventured carefully, as they came to an intersection and began to cross.

Billy shrugged. "It's not particularly a matter of liking anything. I just can't help but feel apprehensive at treating thousands of years worth of what is essentially story-telling as prime evidence in a murder investigation," he said. "Despite what the others said, I think we'd be needlessly expending our time."

Kim smiled. The Blue Ranger must've put some effort into that sentence, she'd understood every word. Almost. "Well why didn't you say something before? Pointed everybody in the right direction?"

Billy shook his head, adjusting his glasses. "I'm afraid it's not that simple Kimberly," he said. "Quantum physics comes to me as easily as the alphabet, but deductive logic? Investigating trails of clues? I simply have to defer."

Hearing the sadness in his voice, Kimberly wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Grateful for the contact, Billy offered a small smile to the Pink Ranger, which she immediately returned.

"I do however agree with Teresa's assertion that this case lies within our jurisdiction," he continued, adjusting his glasses. "And while I am uncomfortable with the notion of investigating ancient cultures for clues to contemporary crimes, rationally the most effective way of approaching this mystery would be to examine every possible angle."

"I wouldn't worry too much," Kim replied. "I think everybody's having to face themselves this time around." She paused, sighing with a smile. "Part of the fun of being a Power Ranger, really."

"There you go," smiled the librarian, holding the door to the library's study room open and letting Brendan squeeze past. The room had one window overlooking a small park, and three chairs wedged around a wooden desk. "I'll just be outside at the information desk, so I'll make sure nobody interrupts you."

Brendan grinned the most charming smile he could manage. "Thank you so much for your help," he replied, carefully settling down into one of the seats and dropping his backpack on the floor.

It must have worked, because the librarian immediately chuckled. "Well, it's what I'm here for dear."

"Before you go, could you bring in those files I wanted?" he asked.

The librarian nodded, stepping back outside. She returned a few seconds later, placing several manila folders on the desk. "I can't imagine why such a handsome young man would want to worry about things like this," she cooed.

Brendan shrugged, smile still fixed in place. "It's for school," he explained, "some kind of curriculum thing..."

"Well call me if you need any help," the librarian replied, easing herself out of the room and closing the door behind her.

Once alone, Brendan looked down to the folders the librarian had left for him, and opening the first one, he emptied the contents - dozens and dozens of news-clippings - onto the table.

The librarian was right, he thought with a mental frown, as he began to sort the clippings into separate piles. These were depressing. The articles were about kidnappings and murders, drug-raids and fatal car accidents, all random senseless acts of death and destruction.

Still, that was the reason he was here. Ever since yesterday morning, there had been something bugging him about the case - specifically, something about the places where Fury left his victims. Why on Earth would he go to all the trouble of kidnapping people, tying them to stakes and then setting them on fire if he was just going to leave the bodies at random locations around the city. It just didn't make sense, particularly not for the control-freak profile they were building for Fury.

But if Teresa was right, and Fury was doing all this to send a message to the underworld, then there had to be more to it. Brendan had a theory that these places, the alley behind Caloundra Hotel and the warehouse last night, were important to Fury somehow - they meant something, even if the Rangers hadn't figured it out yet. And so taking a notepad and pencil out of his backpack, he pulled the closest stack of clippings towards him and began making notes.

It was only when he'd reached the third folder that he knew he'd been right. But by then, he'd completely lost track of time, and it wasn't until a sudden knock on the door that he glanced to his communicator and realised he'd been there an hour and a half.

"It's okay, come in," he called, and Kimberly stepped into the room.

"Hey," she said softly. "Thought you could use some company. Had to fight my way past the librarian to get in here, though..."

Brendan grinned as she sat down opposite him. "I think I turned on the Watts charm a little too high," he said. "How's your day been?"

"Billy and I are working our way down our suspect list, but it's taking way too long," Kimberly replied. "We're about half-way through. Billy's just getting us some lunch from the bakery across the street." Kimberly paused, glancing around at the news clippings covering every square centimetre of space in the room - on the table, the chair beside Brendan, even the floor. "I take it you've had a little more success?" she asked.

Brendan nodded. "You can say that," he replied, and picking up the three closest clippings, he passed them to Kim. "Check this out."

Kim glanced through the stories, her eyes growing wide. "Brendan, you know what this means?" she asked, looking back up to him.

"You bet," he replied. "There's a method to Fury's madness. Listen, I gotta get these notes copied, but you couldn't call Jason and let him know what I've found? Have him tell everybody to meet back in the Command Centre in ten minutes."

"You got it," nodded Kim, and as the Pink Ranger raised her communicator, Brendan grabbed his notepad and the three articles he'd shown Kimberly and headed for the nearby photocopy room.

Out-of-action or not, he thought, he hadn't just given the team a lead - he'd found them a map.

"The thing is, we always assumed the places Fury left his victims were just chosen for convenience or whatever," explained Brendan, standing under Zordon's plasma tube and addressing the group once we'd all arrived back in the Command Centre.

"The truth is," I said, "we hadn't really worried about them at all."

"Exactly," said Brendan. "Exactly. But think about it - Teresa's right. By leaving the victims where they're clearly visible, Fury is leaving a message, a warning - beware my wrath. This is what'll happen to you if you break the law." He paused, glancing around the room. "And the places he leaves his victims are just as much a part of that message as everything else. Here, check this out," and he handed the photocopied articles to the group.

Ian looked up from the article Brendan had given him. "Hey, this is about the Caloundra Hotel," he said.

Brendan nodded, then turned to the rest of us. "About six months ago, there was a drunken brawl in the alleyway behind the hotel," he said. "Somebody pulled a knife out, and three people were injured. One of them was stabbed in the chest and later died in hospital."

There was a shocked silence in the room, and everybody began to crowd around whoever was holding the photocopied stories.

"The house in Golden Beach where Fury left his victims the second night," Brendan continued, "was the site of a murder/suicide a few months back. And the warehouse where we found Fury last night was the scene of a major drug-bust two weeks ago. And that's the link - every one of these crime scenes has been the site of horrible crime some time in the past, which is way too much of a coincidence to not mean anything."

Jason looked up from the article on the drug-bust at the warehouse. "Brendan, this is awesome work."

"Thanks," Brendan smiled, and ran a hand through his curly hair. "While I was as the library, I made a list of all the locations in Caloundra where terrible crimes have taken place in the last six months. So," and he pulled his notepad from his backpack, "we can figure out where he's likely to be tonight. I'll head back there later and go through the rest of the articles, I asked the librarian to keep them for me."

Teresa nodded. "Brendan, you did a great job."

He shook his head. "That's not all," he said. "What bugged me most about Fury is that his first four victims were killed before he set fire to them. So taking Fury's impressive self-control into account, I present the following theory - he kidnaps these people during the day, and keeps them somewhere until sunset. Maybe his home or something, I don't know. But during the first night, when he realised exactly what he was capable of, he went to get them and just lost it. He killed them out of sheer anger - but he still needed them, so he took the bodies and set fire to them anyway." Brendan paused and shrugged. "That's about all I've got. I don't know how much help that's all likely to be..."

"No, that was fantastic," nodded Trini. "You just wrapped up about five loose ends."

"Definitely," I agreed, and glanced to my communicator. "Hey guys, how about we break for lunch before we go back to work? I could kill for one of Ernie's hamburgers right about now. Uh, pun not intended."

After lunch at the Youth Centre, where we decided where we'd all meet at the end of the day ("My place," Brendan had said. "My mother and sister are in Brisbane today and won't be back until late tonight.") the twelve of us returned to our various investigations. Jason and I had gotten interviewing suspects down to a fine art. By now, we only had several more people in Golden Beach to interview. We spent the remaining hours of the afternoon eliminating suspects, but we'd still only managed to work our way through three-quarters of the names on our list before the sun began to set, and it was time to meet up with everybody.

Scott was the last to arrive at Brendan's place, teleporting into the lounge-room with a stack of papers under his arm.

"Hey guys," he said, dropping into a spare seat beside his sister. "Sorry I'm late, Alpha found a text on Aesma Daeva just as I was about to leave, and it took a while to translate it."

Standing at one side of the room and holding court, Jason shook his head. "That's cool Scott," he said. "In fact I think what we're most interested in is what you found on our friendly neighbourhood demon."

Scott nodded. "Alpha and I spent the day looking through the archives for any references to Aesma Daeva," he said. "He had to teach me the computer system as we went, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. There wasn't really that much new information, but we did find something important. Aesma Daeva was specifically said to be a night-demon - Alpha found a reference to him being able to walk between shadows."

"Which means he can teleport between areas of darkness?" asked Trini.

"Pretty much, yes," Scott replied. "That's why Fury only appears in public during night, and why he was able to vanish into the shadow of the warehouse when we confronted him."

Jason nodded. "Good work Scott. How'd everybody else go?"

Teresa spoke up. "Ian and I got through about thirty people on our list. Twenty-two were definitely somewhere else for the last few nights and there were eight we couldn't find or who couldn't provide solid alibis."

Ian nodded. "We ran out of time to interview the last ten," he said.

"That's pretty much now our day went too," I said. "There were a few people we couldn't find, but nothing definite. Kim?"

"The same," said the Pink Ranger. "Actually Billy and I had to interview about three people living on the same street, and the police had a radar trap nearby for speeding cars. I was worried they'd see us, but they didn't notice. And some of the suspects you gave us...Billy and I spent fifteen minutes talking to a Swedish immigrant whose pet turtle is actually his wife, but that's a very long story involving an expired Visa and a dodgy residency claim that we heard at least three times over tea."

Teresa laughed. "I don't suppose you interrogated the turtle?"

Billy nodded. "She was at a local veterinarian last night," he replied with a small smile. "A remarkably solid alibi, all things considered."

Jason grinned, then looked to Tommy, Trini, Zac and Sarah. "I don't suppose you guys are any closer to connecting the original four victims?"

Everybody shook their heads. "I managed to find a bit of information about the family who died in the fire Lee was charged for," Sarah explained. "It turns out the family had a daughter who escaped the blaze with only minor burns. I thought she might've returned for revenge, but she lives in Sydney with her grandparents."

"At least we got through the majority of our suspects," said Ian.

"And given that Fury will definitely be back tonight, all we need to worry about is where he's likely to be," said Brendan. "I went through and copied out a list of likely addresses, and split it up into eleven. There's really not that many, so we can patrol the city pretty easily."

He passed around lists of addresses, keeping one for both Ian and himself (knowing that he'd have to partner up with somebody), and once we'd all familiarised ourselves with our areas, we raised our communicators, lightly tapped the top buttons and disappeared from the house in twelve bright flashes of light.

For what felt like the twentieth time that week, we teleported into the city, materialising in the empty carpark between the library and the dental clinic where my mother worked. The street beyond appeared to be empty. It was a quiet night. A soft breeze was blowing inland from the beach, the stars shone from behind a thin veil of cloud, and the full moon rested high in the sky.

"It's barely seven," said Trini, as we left the empty lot. "I've never seen Caloundra so quiet."

Ian smiled. "I guess the streets have a tendency to clear when there's a serial killer on the loose."

"What does that make the twelve of us?" I said softly.

"Either we're doing the right thing, or we're nuts," replied Jason, and looked up to the sky. "My grandmother always said the full moon brought out the crazy people."

"Let's hope she was right," said Zac.

The group reached the corner, and was about to split up when a light rain began to fall, glowing in the streetlights and covering us in a soft blanket of mist.

"What better drama than the unexpected addition of light precipitation," murmured Billy, and everybody turned to look at him.

"He means it's a good night for rain," said Trini.

Sarah glanced up to the sky. "Given Fury's usual methods, a torrential downpour probably wouldn't go astray."

Jason looked around the group. "Okay guys, same deal as last night," he said, and then tapped his communicator. "Check in every few minutes, and teleport to safety if you need to." He paused, and nodded. "Let's break."

With our lists in hand, the group split up, everybody crossing away from each other and disappearing into the mist. Tommy and Kimberly both turned towards the main street of town, the Green Ranger lost in thought.

"Kim?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Do you really think we're doing the right thing with Fury?"

Kimberly turned to him. "What, you mean like going after him and not leaving him for the police?"

Tommy shook his head. "No, more like treating him like an average law-breaker, somebody we can just turn over to the police, even with all the powers he has."

Kim took a second to think, and then nodded. "Yeah, I think we are," she replied. "I mean, underneath the demon there's a guy, somebody with parents and brothers and sisters, and maybe even a wife and kids. Whatever he did to give himself superpowers, it sounds like just a curse, and it'll probably be pretty easy to break." She glanced up to the Green Ranger and smiled. "They usually are, after all. Why do you ask?"

Tommy shrugged. "I'm just worried, that's all."

Kim grinned. "Yeah, but you worry too much," she said, resting a hand lightly in his. "C'mon."

After a brief detour around the city council building, Sarah continued down the main street of the city towards the police station. Neither location had been on the list of addresses Brendan had provided the team, but maybe Fury would be on an anti-corruption kick tonight, and it was worth checking out. Thinking big seemed to be his style anyway.

She'd just reached the corner facing the police station when her communicator beeped.

"Guys," came Ian's voice, "I think I've got something, near the airport. You can probably see it from where you are."

Mirroring ten other people across the city, Sarah looked west, and everybody registered the orange glow on the horizon at the same time.

"What is that?" crackled Zac's voice.

"A tire yard and empty factory that both just went up in smoke," replied Ian.

"Do you think it's Fury?" asked Scott.

"I don't think so," came the reply. "Everything else Fury has done has been up close and personal. Torching empty buildings and leaving ain't his style. Brendan and I will check it out, but I'd say Fury's trying to out-think us. Everybody else, head north," and the communicator fell silent.

Sarah glanced down to her list, even as coloured streaks of light began to flash through the sky above. The next address was a park in Aroona, only a few blocks away from her house. There used to be an old wooden house on the property, but it was rumoured that the owner of a nearby shop had burnt the place down to make way for a carpark. But in spite of generous offers for the property, or maybe even because of them, the family gave the land to the council to add to existing parkland. Ducking into a nearby alley, Sarah reached for her communicator and teleported from the scene in a blast of purple light.

The city flashed beneath her, and there was solid ground under her feet a second later. She'd only taken a single step forward when a scream shattered the stillness of the night, and Sarah immediately spun around in the direction of the sound.

She took in the sight that met her in an instant - five people, all tied to thick wooden stakes a short distance away and surrounded by kindling. Fury was standing in front of the centre stake, a ball of flame at his fingertips even as the victims begged for their lives - and Sarah immediately raised her communicator and spoke.

"Guys, I've found him!" she cried. "He's at Century Park in Aroona!" And without waiting for a reply, knowing we were on our way, Sarah reached for her morpher.

"Rhamphorynchus!"

Fury didn't notice the sudden explosion of purple light behind him, as he raised his arm and prepared to incinerate the man he was facing.

"Please," the man begged, watching Fury in wide-eyed terror. "You can't do this...I don't want to die...please, I'll do anything..."

Fury shook his head. "Plead all you wish," he said, "for all the difference it will make. You escaped once from a toothless tiger, but you will not escape from me," and hesitating only a fraction of a second longer, he launched his blast of flame...

...only to grunt in surprise as Sarah slammed her Power Mace into the vigilante's wrist, sending the fireball spiraling off course where it blasted a crater in the grass and sent flaming debris into the air. Several burning pieces fell into the kindling stacked around the first victim, and within a few seconds had set it alight.

Fury bellowed and swung out angrily at the Purple Ranger, but Sarah lightly backflipped out of the way.

"I warned you last night," growled the vigilante, spinning around to face her, "the Power Rangers will not be interfering with Fury's divine quest!"

"Then you're in for a big disappointment," she replied.

Fury roared and charged the Purple Ranger, immediately lashing out with his fists. Sarah easily ducked the blows, smashing away his right fist with her mace and aiming the weapon for his shoulder, but Fury stepped around the attack, striking her arm with his forearm before slamming his palm into her stomach. Sarah crashed to the ground a few metres away but was instantly back on her feet, leaping towards Fury with a high kick. The vigilante stepped around the move, and as Sarah followed him to the side, he blocked her mace with one arm and landed a rapid blow to her shoulder, sending her stumbling backwards once again.

I materialised in the park in a flash of orange light as Sarah rolled to a stop and climbed to her feet, and was about to morph and race to her aid when I noticed two of the victims were already well and truly alight, coughing from the smoke as they tried to scream for help. Even as I watched, the fire was just starting to spread to the third victim in line. Even if Sarah couldn't handle Fury, the other Rangers would be here soon - the victims needed my help.

"Stegosaurus!"

Summoning my Power Sword with a thought, I raced over towards the first of the stakes. I couldn't see anything within reach that would extinguish the flames - a fire hydrant, garden hose, pond, anything - so I had to go with option two and fast.

The woman tied to the stake was just slipping into unconsciousness from the smoke when I reached her. I swung wide and sliced through the rope, catching her as she fell, dragging her away from the fire and extinguishing the flames that had taken hold of her shoes and clothes. I quickly glanced over her but didn't have time to stop and check - I just had to hope she'd be okay.

Leaping to my feet, I saw the other two fires were by now roaring out of control - dropping my sword, I grabbed hold of the rope around the stakes, one with each hand, and yanked them backwards with all my strength, physically snapping them both at their bases and dragging the victims to safety. After laying them on the grass and frantically patting out the flames, I let out a small sigh of relief - they were both safe.

Rolling to a stop in front of the three fires, Sarah shakily climbed to her feet as Fury steadily advanced.

"It's all over Fury," came a sudden voice, and the vigilante spun around to see the White, Blue, Grey and Orange Rangers touch down on the grass in a circle around him, while behind us, the Aqua Ranger was busy helping the trapped victims.

"We're here to bring you in," I finished.

Teresa nodded. "Your killing spree ends as of right now," she added.

Fury turned slowly to face us all, his gaze settling on the White Ranger. "How noble of you," he said contemptuously, "but if you wish to stop Fury, you're all very welcome to try." And with that, he stepped sideways into shadow and vanished.

Ian glanced around. "Uh...that didn't really..."

Without warning Fury exploded out of the shadows behind us, charging the unprepared team with a roar of battle, sweeping Teresa and Scott into the air and launching a barrage of fireballs at Sarah and Ian, forcing them both to retreat. I raised my sword and leaped towards him, but Fury spun around to face me, raised his fists and smashed me out of the air, sending me hurtling backwards. I saw the flimsy maintenance shed approaching and by then it was too late - I crashed clean through a wall without slowing down, and landed in a pile of twisted rubble as the entire structure collapsed on my head.

Raising my arms and throwing wreckage aside, I climbed to my feet amid a cloud of dust, shaking off pieces of debris.

"I'm sick of buildings collapsing on me!" I cried, and thundered back across the park towards Fury. Reaching the warrior, I carved the blade through the air towards him, but Fury ducked under the sword, and adjusting my aim midswing, I swung again. He stepped to the side, avoiding the blade, and when I turned and struck out again, he caught my wrist with one hand and smashed the other into my chest, the blow lifting me off my feet and sending me to the ground.

Fury watched as I rolled to a stop. "Children with the powers of gods," he sneered, as Teresa and Ian helped me to my feet. "Pathetic. There is so much you could do to cleanse the Earth of its darkest hearts..."

"Agreed," came a voice, and Fury turned to see a red blur rapidly approaching. "You first," and the Red Ranger slammed into Fury with all the force of a small meteor, the impact lifting Fury off his feet and launching him backwards through the air. Fury crashed to the grass as the six Senior Rangers gathered around the Junior Team, and climbing to his feet, the vigilante glared at the team of heroes now facing him, his eyes burning bright with hatred.

"We're not the police," said Zac, "but you had better believe your armour-clad butt is under arrest."

"Nobody else dies at your hand," nodded Trini.

"Really?" Fury asked, his voice smoldering.

"There's no place left to run," said Tommy. "So either come quietly, or we'll take you in by force - there is no other option."

Fury laughed, a frighteningly malevolent sound. "Well Green Ranger, you should know there's always another option. Tomorrow night, Rangers, injustice will burn at my hand, and the world will see clearly who has the true power," and before we could stop him, the vigilante stepped back, cast a final hateful glare towards the five victims over with Brendan, fell into shadow and disappeared into the night.