A/N: Rated M for violence and explicit-y.

Chapter 3: Painted with Precision

Part 2: Command Centre

Sky's POV

Silence. Just silence. That is the sound of Z panicking. I have a feeling it is. I mean after finding out that the room we are standing in right now! is inhabited by a dead person, it's just wayyy too difficult to digest. In the past two years, Z and Syd had become like best friends, like nothing-could-ever-separate-them kinda friends. And well, this is too…. I don't know what to make of it either. I mean on one hand I feel completely overwhelmed, like I should be curled up on the floor, like I was this morning, but on the other hand, I think that phase passed. Now, after spending a whole day in the blood of one of my closest friends, I realize how totally numb both of us have become to expressions of our emotions. I have a feeling that we'd have to visit a psychiatrist once this is all over. It is becoming too traumatic. I don't know IF we'll make it too! I don't want to die. I know that's what I told mother, but I take it all back… I don't wish anything else, I just want my old life back.

A million thoughts reeling in our brains, we just sit together, on her bed, neither bold enough to take a seat on Syd's bed, and yes, I admit, we're awfully close, which, on any other given day, would've led to some rather… immoral things. But not today; both of us know that, so we're not afraid to sit so close to each other. we're basically hanging on to each other for support. I don't know for how long we just sit there, trying to avoid the others' eye and trying to not say a word, and hold strong. But to be honest, I'm a little hungry. We skipped breakfast AND lunch, so the last thing I had, apart from that crappy licorice, was the crappy stuff they serve in the trains. I mean that shit never suits me. Today it all, and bile, was expelled from me in vomits, so I'm feeling hungrier. I tell my concern to Z, and I know she feels the same, as she looks up the second I mention food.

"should we?" she asked.

"yeah, I mean we need food for survival no?" I ask, and she sighs.

*Z gets up* I follow, and then we slowly trudge to the deserted common room. everything can take a break, but this f***ing hunger cannot chill!

We go off to the common room, and get a not too decent dinner of some tuna rolls and sardines. Yeah I know it doesn't fit together, but there's nothing else we feel like, n they're the first options in the machine's 'menu card' so we press the buttons. We eat on one of the corner tables, and yes, we sit together, which is still quite a surprise, and the rest of the mean passes without much event.

Then we lumber back to our own rooms, and as we are approaching hers, which is nearer to the common room, Z stops me,

"Sky, can I bunk with you tonight?" she asks.

I know she's serious, but I can't resist the urge to crack a joke, maybe it'll lighten the mood. We really need that, and without Boom or Bridge to do it, I have to step in their shoes.

"are you saying that you want to sleep with me?" I ask, and she chuckles, it's been a while since she did "don't flatter yourself," she says, and then proceeds to walk into her room, which I can't let her do because I care. I don't want her to have nightmares… I call after her, and she turns back, and I resist the temptation to make another joke, and tell her, that my doors will stay open, if she wants, she can join anytime she wants. She forces a smile, and then I take off. She'd join me if she wants. I go back to my room, and I brush my teeth, and then pull out my shirt. It's wayyy too hot for it. Not any other garments though, because well, Z might join in anytime. So I strip off my upper clothes, and get into bed.

I can't sleep; I knew that even before I hit the bed. Yes, and I was still awake when Z arrived. She also couldn't sleep in that room, with Syd's memories surrounding her, with the knowledge that Syd was dead. She couldn't make it, honestly, and it was about twelve thirty when she came in. she had a small teddy bear in her hands and was wearing her yellow pajamas. She looked cute, to be honest, her hair were all messy, and ruffled, but they just added to the charm. Either way, she came, and carefully 'woke' me up.

"I wasn't sleeping anyway Z," I say when she apologizes for waking me.

"oh, okay… just wanted to tell you I was here" she said, and then tucked herself in Bridge's bed.

"nice teddy" I say, a little sincere, a little sarcastic.

"my dad gave it to" Z said, looking at it, and smiling at him, and he smiled back, what else could they do? This was the first night. Nightmares were going to come, no doubt. They had to face them together.

X-X-X

The next morning is as dull as ever. The two rangers had both woken up screaming multiple times that night, an aftermath no doubt, of their scarring experiences of the day. Neither decided to wear the SPD uniform, Sky pulled on a button up plaid shirt with jeans, Z had on cargo pants a tank top and a denim jacket. The morning was too dull, it had started to look as if it would rain; Sky and Z make their breakfast, and then, at the end, they decided to investigate a little more around SPD. Wanting to start from the command centre, and the cameras' reel in the SPD mainframe. It had been Sky's idea for once. They searched the whole SPD mainframe, but the strange thing was that there was not a single footage to be found after eleven o'clock Saturday night. So at least they had an idea of the timing of the crime. Sometime Saturday night… they found out the reason for the lack of footage no time later. Not a single camera in SPD had been intact. All of them had been blasted from behind it seemed, so the one doing it had not been seen. This camera-blasting guy had included RIC in his circumference, which explained why the dog had been lying in pieces. Sky was weirded out by the end of it, this was crazy! Whoever had done this had one so much planning! But on the way, they received a call.

That call turned out to be a HUGE breakthrough.

It had been Sergeant Silverback. He seemed very concerned, but also a bit relieved to have actually reached someone. He said that he had received a call from SPD on Saturday night, but he had been unable to attend because of the IPU conference, so SPD had left him a video message. He couldn't see the message because he was busy training some cadets, *Sky and Z traded knowing looks* and afterwards, he had finally managed to check it twenty minutes ago. He was so horrified by what he saw that he immediately rang up the main HQ where Birdie redirected him to Sky and Z. Sky and Z were really curious to see the message. It might hold some really important clue for them. He says that he was completely devastated when he saw the video, and even more because he cannot arrive at SPD to help but then he had to leave, so he sent them the video, and told them that they could count on him if they ever needed advice. The galactic command would send help as soon as the shields were down. The two rangers looked at each other, both wondering whether they should actually watch the video, because as Silverback described it, it was horrifying.

"so? Ready?" Z asked, and Sky nodded.

She hit play.

Z's POV

The camera wasn't shaky, killing all the horror movie effects, but there was a lot of noise in the background. At first we couldn't really make out what the scene was, but then we slowly realized it had been recorded on Dr. Manx's computer. Why hadn't we checked that as well? We were truly idiots. It was about two minutes long, and we were completely horrified as thirty seconds into the video, a bloody, staggering Sydney came into view. It seems like she's taking the support of a chair to prop herself up to the level of the camera. Her wounds are really, really bad. I'm chocked to see that her hair were all pinned up, in a ponytail, and the end of the pony-tail, she was bleeding from a deep wound in the neck, several in her abdomen, and one in her head. It seemed she had been stabbed multiple times, and judging by the nature of the wounds, it was by her own delta-saber. That wasn't even half of her injuries, I am sure. There must've been those in her back, as well as lower part of the body. A nasty thought occurred to me, which a pushed away, shaking. How could I imagine something so terrible might even befall my friend? But what we had evidence for, wasn't all that 'good' either. There was no chance that my best friend would be alive. I felt like something break inside of me. Something was gone. Something in me, that had snapped, changed, altered. I was different, with this knowledge in me. With a sudden realization drawing up on me, I realized it was the child in me.

My thoughts were cut off by her voice, which though usually was happy and chirpy, today sounded offbeat, and crooked. Her eyes bore an expression of fear, that was so overwhelming, Sky had to sit down in a chair, to maybe prevent himself from falling.

"sergeant! Please answer your phone! Please! Help! I tried contacting Tate and Delgado, but both of them had their morphers switched off. Please! Me and Carson are trying to hold them off, but don't know for how long!" Her voice was so pitiable, Z felt tears gushing down her eyes, and she didn't bother to wipe them away.

"sir, fifteen minutes ago a strange gas enveloped the whole academy. Walter Justinian, Carson and I had been working on a HAZMAT project with Dr. Manx so we didn't smell it. then when we saw it, Dr. Manx took off her suit, n fainted. Then they came. Tens, hundreds of them. It's a whole siege. They just dragged Dr. Manx away! We're still fighting them!"

then there was a break, and somebody said something from behind, and Syd turned around, then she hastened up, "Sir it was him! Check his room! He knew about it all… his room, it has eviden—" her eyes went wide, and we could see her falling back. Someone had stabbed her again. A soundless scream tore from her throat and the video was cut off, just as she managed to press the send button.

I shiver, then look at Sky, "that was scary!"

"Z? I think we just witnessed a murder" he rasped. His face was ashen white. "what murder?" I ask, surprised, I don't think we did…

He looks at me incredulously, shocked, as if he doesn't believe what I said. "you didn't see it?" he asked, his voice was still raspy.

"see what?" I ask, then he makes me play it again, in slow motion, "Z Delgado, we have just witnessed a murder," he said, placing a hand on my back. I watch, intently, he points to the background. A little over Syd's left shoulder, and then, just as Syd starts to speak, I also notice what he said, something sharp in the hands of someone dressed in black, attacking someone in a HAZMAT suit. That person then fell to the ground, on his knees. But somehow, Syd seemed unfazed. She didn't even turn around when she might've heard the slashing sounds. I watched that portion intently, and though it was very blurry, Sky was right. Whoever it had been, was now dead. Their blood hadn't flown much, maybe. But now we had two dead rangers. It could be Bridge OR Wally. Either of them, as Syd was right in front of us. That would mean that the other one is the rat. She specifically mentioned a 'he'. We are both silent for a while.

"Z?" he said, shaking my arm, maybe to wake me up from a trance I hadn't realized I had gone into.

"you think we can track the murderer?" he asks.

"no. it's way too blurry."

"so our best chance is searching 'his' room" he said, emphasizing the word.

"who is this 'he'?" Z asks, confused.

"Bridge or Wally?"

"or some other cadet from one of the lower squads"

"you were right… it WAS an inside job. Some man inside SPD must've released that gas, which put everyone to sleep," he says, and she adds, "which is why, as we established, no one put up any resistance. They were all senseless."

Then he picked up, "and the ones who put up resistance were killed…"

"they were all in Dr. Manx's lab, at the time, in HAZMAT suits, so they hadn't inhaled the fumes. Which is why all the blood was in the lab only, and the dead were dragged, which caused the bloodlines in the corridors."

"it all makes sense now" he said, somehow, a little relaxed.

"so they're all alive except two, because as Syd said, they dragged Kat out, alive"

"I wonder what the purpose was. Why did they make such a planned attempt to take out EVERYBODY at SPD?"

It was a question for both of them to wonder.

There was silence for a while, and then, the two decided to take a quick round of the command centre to make sure there was nothing they were missing. Nothing was out of the ordinary. It seemed like Cruger might walk in the HQ any moment and start barking orders. (I know that's a very lame joke)

But once they had ascertained that, they realized one more thing, which they ought to have noticed the first morning. There were no papers in Cruger's desk. Something was fricking off!

It was only after they had left the command centre that Z asked the question that had been bothering her for a while.

"why did you leave?"

"what?" he turned to face her, and he saw a very suspicious look in her eyes.

"Sky why did you leave, and the come back the VERY next day after the crime?"

"are you suspecting me?" he asked with disgust.

"it is very convenient of you to pull all of this, and then pretend like you were never here. After all, how would I know how long you were gone? For all I know you might've come back at the time of murder, and only called me up when you felt it was safe."

"I can say the same for you" he said, through his gritted teeth.

"I came here right in front of you"

"you could've left before I came here" he said, tilting his head, looking at her suspiciously. She looked at him back, as paranoid as him. Who knew, he might take her out the second he got a chance. This was precisely what was reeling in Sky's mind as well. Damn.

"we need to be sure of each other." she suggested.

"make sure we are not hiding anything from each other" he nodded.

"say what? A full scale search operation of our own rooms before we go on to the others."

"alright." The two of them agreed, and then they decided to make their way to Sky's room first.

X-X-X

Z's POV

I can't believe what an idiot I have been. My enemy might be the one who I was trusting! I shared a room with him last night! He could've offed me anytime tonight. So are my suspicions really justified? Well maybe he has some other aim… target or something. Maybe he's trying to win my trust just so he could do something worse later…

It's just as I am about to go into his room, that I remember something else. I need to make sure I can trust him. It will get uncomfortable… I know that.

"Tate," I say firmly, and also I try to sound strictly professional. He looks at me, "something up?"

"you need to strip" I said, trying to avoid looking at him.

"I— WHAT?" he asks in disbelief.

"you need to strip your clothes so I can make sure that you are not carrying any weapons to slaughter me." I explain the reason of my queer demand.

"ooohhh, you can't be sure huh?" he said, smirking at me, then after a minute, added, "but I have a condition."

"okay, what is it?" I ask.

"you strip when it's my turn" he said, a grin spreading over his face despite the situation.

"WHAT?" I ask, that's just preposterous.

"well, if you get to see me naked, why can't I?"

"because I have my privacy. And I need t make sure you will not kill me the moment you get the chance."

"I've had plenty of chances to kill you already, sweetheart" he says, 'sweetly', and then says, "and I have my privacy too."

"alright, what about just till my undergarments?"

"same here. However you want to be, I'll be too" he grinned.

"you boxers are too spacious" I say, "you can hide anything in it."

"well if you insist, I mean you seem way too curious about what's in my pants. Or is it that you're ashamed of something in your pants?" he tilted his head to the side, and a lopsided, amused smirk replaced the fake-sweet one.

"you fucking motherfucker." I can't help but swear, and the next moment I feel a rough hand press against my windpipe, which is ironic as I'm the one he insulted like that, and then he growls into my ear, "keep my mother out of this"

"it's a fucking curse you idiot" I refrain from saying 'son of a bitch' because that is even more relating to his mother, but all the same, I jut my elbow into his ribs, and as he is taken aback, i slap him.

So then he lets go of my neck, visibly embarrassed, and then without a word, starts to unbutton his shirt, and pulls it off. Then he goes for his jeans, and pulls them down as well. He looks at me, and then takes off his boxers too, and I know my cheeks turn red. He complied with my demands without any further argument. Perhaps he was really ashamed of attacking me like that, because with that he actually proved that he would get aggressive if needed. So maybe he wanted to regain my trust. I'm not going to frisk him, but I quickly check his clothes, and take a look at his naked body to make sure that he wasn't holding any weapons. He has none. I've made it completely sure.

Then I go into his room, and take inventory of his side. We'd search Bridge's together. I find a bottle of cyanide pills… I have those too, everyone does. I find his standard issue SPD blaster. I also find his morpher, which was resting on a table. Apart from that, I find a handy pocketknife, a paper-cutting blade, and a home-chemistry kit, which can be used to make small bombs. I remember that workshop, which I don't think I attended, Bridge went on and on about it for weeks! I take all these things, and I put it in a duffel bag, all while Sky waits for me outside, putting his clothes back on.

I also find some pictures. One is of him and his dad, the old SPD red ranger. One is of him, his dad and his mom. She is really pretty, I realize, and she is also quite blond. Then there is one of him and a girl, a blond girl, who looks kinda like Syd, she's wearing a pink flowery dress, and wow I won't be surprised if she actually was like Syd. Is she his girlfriend? Or his sister? Or someone else? How have I never seen her before?

Either way, I'm done searching, and so I head out, and we leave for my room. He's clean. I should've taken his word.

X-X-X

Sky's POV

Well, I completely screwed everything up. I almost attacked the only person I had, whom I could consider as my friend. But it was instinctive. I mean whatever my arguments with my mom are, I love her the most in the whole universe, and I couldn't stand hearing that curse. That thing I said to Z was also a very cheap shot, but I was just kidding! Anyway, I'll make up for it, I promise, both the attack and the cheap comment. I promise myself, I won't lose Z as a friend. And I honestly don't suspect her of anything, but I can play along no? Take her weapons so that she doesn't mistrust me again.

But she surprises me again, when we get back to her room, she stands in front of the door, and then unzips her jacket, and takes it off and I get what she's getting at, I try to stop her, but she says that I was candid with her, she needs to do the same. Then she takes off her tank top, followed by her pants, which leaves her in her undergarments. I have to admit, she is just perfect. Her body is so damn sexy, with all the just perfect curves, bending at every correct turn. I mean wow. I don't know if I can control myself if she takes her undergarments off.

To fuck me up even more, she does precisely that. Dammit, I think something's wrong with me. I see a smirk creeping on her face, and then she says, "you really think I can't see your arousal?" she asks, and I realize it for the first time.

"I—I—uh—I… never mind, I don't think there's anything more needed to be done." I say, and pretend to busy myself with her clothes, searching for nothing, finding something rather disturbing. She had concealed a small fluting knife in her back pocket. Well, maybe she isn't as innocent as she looks.

I then make my way into her room, trying to stay away from the dead girl's side. She wears her clothes again, but I keep the knife. She has noticed but doesn't say anything. I am now regretting being completely honest with her. but anyway, it's not like I find something out of the ordinary in her bedroom. Her morpher, standard issue SPD blaster, tool-kit, one like Handy-Manny's I find a couple of paper-weights, and I shove those in the duffel bag too. I find a LOT of music DVDs, Mp3s, Digi Files, etc. all filled with music I don't know. So yeah in the end, I exit the room with only that much of the stuff that could possibly hurt me.

Anyway, I was done. So I left. Honestly, I feel hurt that she'd keep the knife.

She called after me, as I tried to avoid her. I don't think I need to be her 'companion' in this time. We're both adults and we can take care of ourselves. But still she chased after me, and called me, and finally when I locked myself in my room, she banged the door till I got a headache and opened it.

"what?" I ask.

"you tell me that if it comes to just you OR me, you won't shoot me?" she asks.

I consider the absolutely blunt question. Well, learning about the knife, I'm sure about her answer, so I give her mine. Perfectly candid.

"I wouldn't waver a second."

"then why the f**k are you afraid that I might defend myself?" she asked, and well, she had a point.

"let's not kill each other unnecessarily" it's my only chance. I know I will not pull the trigger if she doesn't do it first.

"done" she offers me her hand, I take it and shake it.

"want to get some lunch?"

X-X-X

This lunch has more conversation than any other meal they had shared did. Which again, wasn't a lot.

"you thought I looked hot no?" she asked, and well, as long as they were being honest…

"yeah I did, I thought that was obvious"

"oh it was, I just wanted to see you admitting it"

*He smirked*

"I liked you too" she replied, "you're…" she paused, looking for an appropriate word, "well defined."

"just 'well' defined?"

"a lot more, but we're not in a R-rated movie. So I won't say it." she grinned, and well, it was quite a while since she had had a real smile, that wasn't sarcastic or evil. he liked it. Then a few minutes later of silence later, he spoke, "I wanted to say that I wouldn't shoot you. Forget what I said earlier, I was mad."

"I'd still be a little careful though" she said, and was about to say something to soften the blow, but then suddenly, there was a loud beeping sound. Someone sent a message to the mainframe. Someone was trying to contact them.

Sky and Z left their lunch halfway to receive the call, it was a videoconference, and they saw a figure standing. He/she was wearing a mask, and had a hood on.

It DEFINITELY wasn't a friend.

A/N: I know the chapter was VERY long and I also know it was VERY predictable, but romance isn't the main theme. That's the kidnapping of the whole f—ing SPD. BTW I ws trying to keep curse words at bay. I don't think I succeeded. Also I know they r all completely messed up characters but in a situation like this, who wouldn't be? So Long!