Disclaimer: Still don't own them.
Author's note: Thanks for the reviews! It's almost over … Oh, I hid a Supernatural line in the chapter, whoever spots it gets a cookie, hahaha.
Love is in the air
Retribution
"Hunter, you've got an e-mail." Cam said. The rangers immediately rushed over to the computer. They exchanged a look and when Hunter nodded, Cam opened the e-mail.
Watch and enjoy. Was the message that came with it. There were a lot of files attached to the mail, pictures. Hunter's hands clenched on the back of the chair, pretty sure he didn't want to see this. He mentally prepared himself to see a beaten up and probably tied up Dustin. Cam opened the first picture. It was a picture of Dustin tied to a dirty looking bed. He was naked and the side of his face showed a big bruise. His head was turned to the side and his eyes were closed. He was out cold. There was nothing but silence in the room. Cam clicked the next picture. It was a close-up of Dustin's face, showing the bruise perfectly.
Hunter wanted to be angry but his anxiety swiftly pushed the feeling back. Neither of them particularly wanted to see the rest of the pictures but their eyes remained glued to the screen nonetheless. They saw picture after picture of Dustin. They didn't need captions to know exactly what had happened.
Tori let out a sob at the sight of a close-up of a crying Dustin's face. His eyes were squeezed shut, pain was clear in every line of his face. There was one more picture. Cam apprehensively clicked it. It showed Dustin's ass, there was blood. Hunter knew he was probably all torn up inside too. He clicked away the picture as Cam sat frozen. Tori was crying against Blake's shoulder while Shane was trembling.
Fury shot through Hunter, he saw red. "That is it! That is fucking it! I am going to track that bastard down and tear him apart with my own bare hands!" Hunter yelled. He felt the overwhelming need to hit something, preferably Ben. He was going to god damn kill him! He'd gone way too far this time. His fear be damned. This was Dustin, the guy who wouldn't hurt a fly, the guy who was always happy and cheerful. He could imagine what this would do to him because he had gone through it too. He was going to kill him, repercussions be damned.
"Cam, track him down."
"Hunter-"
"Do it!" Hunter shouted. "Fuck!" He cursed. He kicked the nearest thing which happened to be the wall. Pain shot through his foot but it barely registered. He was going to sink his fists into that bastard's stomach time after time until he was begging him to stop. Like he had been begging years ago. He was going to get his damn revenge. He was done being scared. This would end as soon as Cam had found them. He was going to end it.
Shane stepped into his pacing path again and Hunter seriously considered knocking him out. Instead, he roughly shoved him away. Shane would have none of it and grabbed his arm, forcefully pulling him back. The fire blazing in the red ranger's eyes mirrored his own.
"We're going to find him," Shane said, voice low and dangerous, "And we're going to tear him to shreds."
Hunter smiled what only could be described as an evil smile and nodded his agreement.
Blake eyed the two shades of red with a worried expression. The expression in their eyes was murderous. He didn't doubt they were going to tear him to shreds. It was damn well what he wanted to do as well but it would cause them a lot of trouble. They couldn't. Getting that into Hunter's and Shane's heads was going to be extremely difficult. They were out for blood. They wanted to see him bleed. Heck, Blake did too. He wanted to see him suffer for what he had done to his brother, he wanted to see him suffer for what he had done to Dustin but killing him wasn't the solution.
His arm tightened around Tori. He could only hope Cam wouldn't track them down until both his brother and the red ranger had at least somewhat calmed down to be reasonable. What were they going to? Kill the bastard and hide the body? Hunter and Shane weren't killers, it was up to him to stop him before they would.
--
Dustin shrunk back against the wall when he heard the familiar sound of the door opening. He fearfully watched Ben approach. He was bringing food again. He left it on the ground next to him and without a weird went back upstairs.
Dustin wasn't at all hungry. He knew that if he even attempted to eat anything, it would come right back up. He pulled the blanket a little more tightly around his shivering form though it did nothing to help. The cold he was feeling came from the inside not the basement. His friends probably didn't even want to look for him after having seen those pictures, probably figured he wasn't worth it. Tears sprung to his eyes and trickled out of his eyes.
--
Hunter's fury wore down only to leave a deep hatred in its wake. His need for revenge was no smaller than before. This event had successfully pulled him out of his state of self-pity. His arms were crossed and he was leaning against the wall, watching Cam type away. There was nothing the rest could do but hope that Cam could work his computer wiz magic and find them. If he couldn't, well, then Hunter was going out there himself. He was going to find Dustin before that bastard could do more to him. He needed to.
He knew Blake was worried about him, could feel his gaze on him ever so often. He could practically read his mind. He didn't need Blake to talk to know what was going on in his head. Blake wasn't going to let him kill Ben. Though luck. It was the only way they could stop him. The world was better off without him anyway. He only caused hurt and problems. He'd chosen the wrong person to mess with.
--
Night was falling when finally Cam released a whooping sound.
"I found them! It wasn't easy as I had to track the e-mail through several countries and countless servers but I got them! If Ben thought I couldn't do this, then he seriously underestimated me!"
"Let's go." Hunter said. His fists clenched by his side and a new wave of anger swept through him.
"Wait!" Blake shouted, coming to stand in the doorway.
"What?" Hunter growled. It was a low and dangerous sound, almost animalistic.
"We can't just go in there and kill him."
"That's exactly the plan though," Shane remarked, moving but he was stopped by Tori.
"You guys are not killers. Killing Ben isn't going to solve anything." Blake said patiently.
"Are you kidding me? It'll solve everything!" Hunter roared.
"You really can't just kill him. Think about what it will do to you afterwards." Cam spoke up in his voice-of-reason voice.
"It'll make me feel a lot better."
"You're out for revenge, I get it. I would want to kill him too but you can't." Cam replied.
"We're wasting time. Come on!" Hunter moved but was forcefully stopped by his brother.
"I'm not going to let you turn yourself into a killer."
"Last time I checked, I kill all kinds of things," Hunter retorted.
"But not humans," Blake argued. "You can't hill a human being."
"I can and I will. Now let me go before I have to hurt you."
Blake knew that the person before him was not really his brother. Hunter was consumed by hate and revenge, it clouded his mind and his judgment. There was no doubt in his mind that Hunter would strike out. He'd just had to hope that somehow Hunter wouldn't be able to follow through with it. No matter what his brother said, he would feel guilty if he did kill him. He knew Hunter.
He let go and Hunter disappeared in his streak. Tori shot him a sad look and let go of Shane who followed after Hunter. The other three followed.
--
The house was easy enough to find as it was the only house in the block that looked like it could fall apart at any second. It was mostly shielded from the streets by big trees and bushes and was separated from the other houses. It was a good location.
Outside, the five paused. They didn't have a plan, nor did they feel like making one. It would cost them time and would lead to argument. So instead, they exchanged looks and just like that, burst in the house.
Splitting up in two groups happened almost instinctive, Blake and Tori went in search of Dustin while Cam joined Shane and Hunter into finding Ben.
--
Ben jumped when the front door broke down and he looked up just in time to see streaks shoot towards him. Well, shit, they weren't supposed to track him down. Almost automatically, he shot into a streak, streaking past them and out of the house. He was found out and he had pissed off the rangers, he didn't particularly feel like sticking around.
He could practically feel the three on his heels, could feel the anger they were radiating. In that instant he knew that he wasn't going to get away from them. They were driven by adrenaline and anger, two of the most powerful feelings.
--
Dustin jumped when he heard a loud bang from the house. He sat up straighter and felt pain shoot through his ass. The door to the basement open and he had no trouble recognizing Blake and Tori. His body sagged back against the wall in relief. They'd found him. They hadn't given up.
They rushed forward and he could see tears shine in Tori's eyes. He couldn't bare to see it and looked down. She kneeled down next to him while Blake checked the cuffs.
"Hang on," He ran back upstairs.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Tori asked gently.
"Not so good," Dustin replied, voice sounding small and lost. He still refused to meet Tori's eyes. She touched his shoulder and he flinched away but it didn't faze her.
"You'll be okay, Dustin, I promise. We'll help." Tori whispered softly.
"Where are…" The words died in his throat and he peeked up at Tori through his eyelashes. He didn't miss her worried expression.
"They went after Ben."
"No, they can't! He'll hurt them! Or worse, they'll kill him. They can't! They'll get in trouble." The last part was whispered.
"They won't kill him." Tori answered but her voice held no conviction.
Blake returned with the key. "Good thing he wasn't carrying it in his pocket," he remarked before uncuffing him. Dustin cradled his wrist in his other hand and rubbed his thumb gently over the inside of his arm, over his pulse point, trying to soothe away the pain. His wrist was rather raw looking from the cuffs and the rope.
"Can you get up?" Blake asked. Dustin nodded. Blake placed a hand under his elbow, gently helping him up. As soon as he had straightened up, Tori's arms came around him and she hugged him tightly. His own arms slid around her slender body and he buried his face against her shoulder, desperately needing the contact. He could feel Blake's hand on his shoulder, could feel the warmth of it radiating through his shirt and seeping into his previously cold skin. He soaked up their warmth as if it was the last thing that could save him.
--
They reached Ninja Ops. Blake had let the others know that they were taking Dustin back to Ninja Ops though he wasn't sure that they had gotten his message or where they were.
Blake regretted not having been able to go with the other three but he knew that if he had gone with them, he would have killed Ben. He'd not only been trying to stop them from doing it but he'd also been trying to stop himself. He wouldn't have the necessary restraint. He'd seen his brother suffer, had seen what that bastard did to him and now to Dustin. He would have killed him for sure but he was not a killer.
He just hoped that Cam could reason with them enough to at least not kill him. He didn't mind them beating the crap out of him because that was entirely justified.
He risked a look over at Dustin and Tori, they were sitting closely huddled together on the couch under a blanket. Dustin's head was tucked under her chin. She gave him a worried look and he managed a reassuring smile.
It was a relief when three streaks came back in. Dustin shot up from the couch. He could see their knuckles were bloody, their faces bruised. Dustin couldn't even ask if they had killed him, didn't really want to know either. Shane walked over to him and pulled him into a hug, surprising the hell out of Dustin but he returned the hug. Shane held on tight for a couple of seconds before letting go. He smiled at him and patted his cheek. Dustin grinned, not quite his usual grin but a grin nonetheless. He knew Shane was bad with words but his actions spoke volumes. Cam pulled him into a quick hug too but let go quickly which made Dustin smile too. He knew Cam wasn't the touchy-feely type so the hug meant a lot.
Last was Hunter. He eyed him carefully. He looked like the old Hunter again. He no longer looked broken or vulnerable. He didn't know what had triggered the change but it was a relief. He smiled tentatively, could feel the others' eyes on him as he walked closer to Hunter.
Hunter reached out and tenderly touched the mark running along his left cheek from Ben's kick. Something in his eyes broke, not for himself but for Dustin. He reached out and pulled him into his arms. Dustin relaxed and leaned against him. His arms went around Hunter's waist and he held on tight. He could feel sobs begin to wreck his body and he didn't bother holding them in. Hunter's arms only tightened around him more and he started whispering soothingly, telling him it would all be okay. Dustin believed him because as long as he had Hunter and his friends, he would be okay. He could feel it.
To be continued
So, did they kill him, yes or no? Guess and find out in the last chapter!