DAR

I'm still struggling to control my temper as I lead Pina back to the kitchen. I know she'd rather do her research, but there's no way in hell that I'm leaving her alone until Zedd's boy is back under control. Once there, I get her a fresh cup of coffee while ignoring the curious looks of the two Rangers still here. I'm not really all that surprised when Jason speaks considering how fast Zedd and I ran out of the room earlier.

"What happened? Are you all right, Pina?"

She nods, frowning. "I'm okay. Just a little shaken." At my growl and tightened hold on her, she heaves a sigh before patting my arm calmly. "I'm okay, Dar. I promise you, had I not been so careless and stunned it wouldn't have even happened."

Jason bites his lip as he thinks this over. "What did he do?"

Despite her words, I can't control my snarl as I address the Red Ranger. "He put his hands on her and he'll be lucky if I don't remove them."

Andros frowns. "Is it just me or does the evil seem to be getting worse?"

Pina nods soberly. "He's already moved into a stage of evil that none of us would have considered."

Jason sighs, though seems to be taking this far more calmly than I like. "He's always had a bit of a darker side - a more violent side."

"What do you mean?" I demand. After all we're not talking about Zedd or myself here, this is Tommy, the darkest I've ever seen him be was taunting his friends before attempting to kill them while still under Rita's original spell.

"It's hard to explain. In a confrontation, I'd be more likely to try and talk through it, but Tommy would be more than willing to fight his way out."

"That doesn't necessarily make him darker, just more physical" Andros points out. Taking a drink of his own coffee, the Astro Ranger continues thoughtfully. "Which may be why he's a good match for Zedd." At my curious look he shakes his head. "No offence to Zedd meant, just that from what I know of him, and what I've seen myself over the short few years I've known him he has a bit of a temper, evil or not. Maybe that's why he's drawn to Tommy, because he has a similar personality?"

"Maybe more similar than we thought. There have been times that I've thought that the only thing that keeps him on the side of good is his martial arts training," the former Ranger admits. "Sometimes I've wondered if that's why Rita chose him in the first place."

I sigh as I turn to the sink to wash the dishes. If I don't do something with my hands, I'm going to go upstairs and strangle the former Green Ranger that Zedd had better be currently bedding. "If that had anything to do with it, I don't know it. As far as I know, the main factors in her choosing him were his martial arts skills, he was new in town and hadn't made any real friends yet, and he was alone in the alley when she went to him."

I hear the door open but I continue working until I hear Jason's stunned words. "Jesus, Zedd, what happened?"

"I walked into a door." The dry comment makes me spin around, as do Pina and Andros.

The black eye and split, swollen lip on my friend have my rage soaring once more as Pina quickly crosses over to him. "Sit down, Zedd, so I can see it better."

"I'd really rather not," he answers, giving her a look. He does bend slightly, wincing as he does, to accommodate their difference in height so she can examine him and once more spiking my anger to almost unimaginable levels.

"I'm going to kill him."

Looking at me wearily, Zedd however doesn't lash out at my comment as he has in the past, seeming too beaten down to build up the energy to fight with me over the matter this time. "Right now, if you try, he might kill you." We'll see about that.

"Zedd, what happened? I know you like it rough once in a while but this…" Still as concerned as I am about his injuries, Pina moves from his face to his ribs, pulling his shirt up and scowling at the finger shaped bruises already forming on his hips.

"Let's just say for the first time, in a long time, I ended up yelling uncle first." Once she's satisfied that he doesn't need to go to the infirmary, he turns his attention to all of us. He pauses for a long minute, biting his lip. "And that in mind, I think the four of you should get off the planet for a while."

"What?! Hell no, Zedd!" Bad enough that the human put his hands on my mate and my best friend, but for Zedd to think that we're going to just go off and leave him with said human - not happening.

"You all are in very real danger right now. Whatever she did to him - it's gaining strength and power far quicker than even I could foresee. He's come to the realization that we are not what we used to be, and that I can't bring myself to willingly hurt him. He's intent on taking over." Okay, but we can handle- "He's also done something with my staff. I can't even sense its magic, which means that - bare minimum - he's taken it out of the castle and hidden it somewhere."

"We can help you find it if that's all you need to curtail his rebellion." Despite Jason's words and confidence I however don't feel it is that simple by Zedd's expression.

"It's more complicated than that." Moving to the cabinet across the room he retrieves a bottle of liquor before uncharacteristically drinking straight from the bottle. "Even if I had my staff right now…As I said he knows I can't bring myself to hurt him, the staff would only be a deterrent if he was still afraid of me."

"What do you mean if he was still afraid of you?" Pina catching his word choice before I do, we both however are now on the same worrisome realization.

His next words stop me cold. "He has no fear of me anymore."

"Where is he now?" Jason asks.

"Passed out in bed. I'll give him this much - he has a hell of a lot of self-control." Taking another drink from the bottle in his hand he shakes his head.

"You did get him to-"

"Yeah." Not sounding pleased about it however, I am becoming increasingly worried over his worry. "However, I don't know if it'll be enough to break the hold the spell has on him and I have no intention of risking any of you if it's not."

Pina and I exchange looks. She uses her doctor tone when she speaks next. "How many times have you mated? And how many times has he-"

"Four and one," Zedd answers. No hell he has a lot of self-control.

"Four and one?" Looking as stunned as the rest of us, Pina shakes her head. "Why-I mean how-why?"

"He keeps resisting it and denying himself, but I'm not sure why. At first I thought maybe it was his way of just wearing me out so I wouldn't get in his way. Then I figured it might be his way of showing me who's in more control so to speak. Now however your guess is as good as mine."

"Continually refusing would raise the hormone level," Pina muses.

"What if that's what's powering the evil - strengthening it? It's also equally possible, given what happened to him on Earth, it's about having control over whether or not he gives in to the pleasure."

Zedd sighs looking at the bottle in his hand again and seeming as close to defeated as I can ever recall seeing him. "I just don't know, Dar. All I know is that he just now got his one and it was strong enough that he literally fell unconscious from it."

"I hope you restrained him to the bed after he fell unconscious then." At least that should keep him subdued for a bit.

"Um, yeah, right, because you know to just leave him alone in my room, with my weapons, not restrained…Drink?" Suddenly holding the bottle out to me as I groan, Zedd doesn't protest as I take it knocking back a swallow myself.

"Maybe we should call Rita and Zordon back here." Sighing as Zedd curses in Eltarian at my suggestion I give a lost shrug. "What else can we honestly do Zeddic? If your last attempt didn't work to disband the spell we have nothing else, and like hell if I am allowing you to go back up there to get the life beaten and bred out of you."

"I could have stopped him if I had to."

"But you won't." Knowing by his look of avoidance that I'm right, I heave a sigh of defeat before trying a different tactic. "What's the worst that could happen if we call Rita back to remove it? He kills her in the process? Come on Zedd that's what we call a win-win situation."

Andros clears his throat and we all look at him. "Um, again, not to be 'that guy' or anything, but if you remember, when Dulcea talked to Rita she said that any magical interference would upset his progress."

Pina murmurs, "Things are developing as they should - at their own pace - and any magical interference will upset that. For both of them." We all think this over for a minute before she says, "It's possible that she might have known about this. As she pointed out, she knows many things. It's not impossible that she knew that this would happen and it was necessary to allow Tommy to recover fully by getting rid of this."

"She couldn't have warned us at least?" I know my irritation shows in my voice when Pina glares at me.

"Think, Dar. If she'd warned us, we'd have made it a point to avoid triggering this condition."

"And he wouldn't have put his hands on you or hurt Zedd," I snap back.

"It's not his fault," Zedd reminds me, not that I care at this point. "It's the evil power."

I glare at Zedd. "Well, do let me know when he has to take responsibility for his actions. I can - and have - let many things slide, Zedd, but this is going too far."

Zedd sighs heavily. "Look, right now, I need to deal with him and I cannot be worrying that any time I fall asleep he may harm you or worse. This may last longer than the week that the witch predicted and I can only rely on power sleeping for so long. I'm not that young anymore."

Silence falls as we all consider this and I get my rage under control once more. Finally, Jason says practically, "Why don't we hold off on that decision until after he wakes up and see if anything has changed?"

Everyone else agrees to this and looks at me. Reluctantly, I acquiesce to group decision. However, if he's not better, I have no problem doing what I have to do to keep myself, my mate, and my friend safe.