Princess Viera appeared back on the ship in a flash of light, appearing in Cosmo's office. Cosmo, Drillion, Galvanax and Wrench were all waiting for her to return. As she appeared, she started to sway a little. Drillion rushed forward to grab her to keep her upright.
"Princess Viera…"
"Get your hands off me Drillion!" She hissed, trying to steady herself. She looked to the others in the room, seeing the way they were looking at her. She could see that they suspected she was weak, and that was something she didn't want Drillion to affirm by making it look like she couldn't even stand by herself. "I need to get out of these ridiculous Earth clothes! How they function in these stupid rags I will never understand!"
"Of course, Your Highness. Your quarters have been prepared as per your request." Cosmo told her. "I trust our little side-show has proven instructive?"
"It has." Viera responded. "The Rangers are not as impressive as you led us to believe."
"What?" Galvanax screamed.
"Your bumbling buffoon almost took them out before I got a chance." She declared. "Shoespike was a moron and he almost succeeded where some of your greatest warriors have failed. Perhaps in your arrogance you overestimate your own strength and fail to see how weak and ripe for the picking your own foes are."
"How dare you…"
"In fact, if I was you, I would be more concerned with my own followers." She told them.
"What's that meant to mean?" Galvanax screamed as he approached her. Drillion stood between him and Viera, powering up his drill weapon.
"ENOUGH!" She yelled. "If you cannot be bothered to keep an eye on your own followers, that is your failing. I will be in my quarters preparing for our battle at the end of the week. We'll rid you of your Rangers, and once we have, no one will question my rule."
She snapped her fingers, at which Drillion followed her out of the office. Galvanax rounded on Cosmo menacingly.
"Impudent little brat! What is she talking about Cosmo?" He yelled at him. Cosmo just shrugged.
"I know as much as you do Champ." Cosmo told him. "We weren't broadcasting. If she saw something down there that we didn't know about, you'd have to ask her. Of course, I'm sure Drillion will have something to say about that!" Galvanx snorted in anger before storming out of the office. Wrench just looked to Cosmo a little worried.
"He doesn't look too happy!" Wrench commented.
"He never looks happy." Cosmo sighed.
"You don't understand, I served with Sledge, I know his type!" Wrench pleaded with him. "He could do something stupid!"
"It wouldn't be the first time." Cosmo chuckled.
"But if he provokes Viera and Drillion, he could bring the Lion Galaxy…"
"He will not do any such thing. In fact, if I know him, and I do, right now he's going to the nearest drinking hole to let off some steam." Cosmo told him.
"But what about what Viera said?" Wrench asked. "What did she mean about…?"
"Oh, she was referring to Odious." Cosmo interrupted Wrench. "She was down there, she was the one that destroyed Shoespike."
"Odious?" Wrench asked.
"Yes, in her guise as the Rangers' school principal. A position she took up some time ago to keep an eye on her Gold Ranger to ensure he doesn't remember too much."
"H…h…her Gold Ranger?" Wrench stammered nervously. Cosmo turned towards Wrench, lighting up a cigar and approached him, his usual grin absent from his face.
"I warned you long ago Wrench, VERY little goes on around here without my knowledge." Cosmo stated. "I know all about Odious' secret lab, and all about her project with the Gold Ranger. Her infiltrator masquerading as the Red Ranger's brother, and of course her plot to frame Ripcon for the whole thing."
"I don't know what you…"
"And I also know that you knew about it some time ago. In fact, I've asked you a few times, given you an opportunity to tell me what you knew." Cosmo whispered as he glowered at him with an intensity Wrench rarely saw in him. "Don't think I haven't noticed that each time you didn't come forward. That is very disappointing Wrench. I had such high hopes for you, and this is how you repay my trust?"
"You KNEW?" Wrench screamed.
"Of course, I knew my dear boy. Like I said, I didn't get to the top without being the smartest man in any room." Cosmo said calmly. "It suits me down to the ground to have the idiots that work for me slitting each other's throats for the scraps from my table all in the vain hopes of taking my empire from me!"
"But…but…Ripcon…"
"Ripcon was a high price, but one I was willing to pay to keep her in the dark as to how much I know." Cosmo told him. "I leveraged my assets and determined that you were the more valuable asset. It's the reason you're still alive. Remember that if you ever consider going behind my back again!"
Cosmo went to his desk and sat down, crossing his feet on the desk, before pointing to the door.
"You can show yourself out." He told him. Wrench turned and left the office, more than a little alarmed by what he had heard. He had known of Odious' games. He had known that all of the higher executives on the ship had their own agendas and their own games and given his rapid rise he was certain that he was playing the game expertly. Now, he was wondering if he even saw the board.
By now, the city was buzzing with news surrounding the events at the fun run. Although by now monster attacks in the city were no longer really huge news, they still hit the headlines. The real story however was the news that the trusted Principal of Summer Cove High had in fact been the monstrous Madame Odious in disguise.
The city had accepted long ago that it was under attack, that the threats would come down from the Warrior Dome and that the Rangers would be there to protect them. However, the one thing they weren't prepared for was the thought of a threat from within.
The cops were keeping reporters out of the hospital, keeping exposure to a minimum until they could get to grips with what was going on themselves. The only thing anyone knew for sure was that Principal Hastings had been abducted weeks ago. Her condition, while not immediately life-threatening, indicated she had been abused and mistreated now for several weeks at least. Until she was strong enough to be questioned, there was no way the police could even tell for certain how long that was, never mind being able to unravel any harm she had done.
She was in a room on the top floor, which had been completely cleared of any other patients. The whole floor was swarming with cops, keeping the whole place on lock-down.
Principal Hastings was just being inspected by the most senior doctor on site. The police were taking no chances in the treatment of the only witness they had who could shed light on the whole story. She looked to the drip bag that he was hanging.
"No olives?" She asked him. The doctor chuckled.
"It's not martini I'm afraid." He told her. "You're showing signs of malnutrition and dehydration."
"A steady diet of dog food smoothies will do that to you." She answered. "The good news is I'm pretty sure I shed that last five pounds I was trying to shave off."
"I'd say probably more like twenty from the looks of things." The doctor told her. "The problem is what your system's been running on isn't exactly very solid or substantial. We'll run you on this for a couple of days. Maybe then we can try you on something a little more substantial like those pudding cups everyone around here is so keen on."
"That's something right?" Mick asked. He was the only one that was allowed up on Principal Hastings' floor other than cops and medical personnel. It was largely as her insistence. More accurately, she point-blank refused to go anywhere without him. Since her abduction, the only people she had seen were Odious and 'Aiden'. She had spent weeks locked in her own basement, chained up like an animal. The first face she had seen that showed her any kind of compassion had been Mick's. He had released her from her bonds and carried her to safety. Although she was now surrounded by more security than many city officials, she still felt more secure with him around. "Who doesn't like pudding?"
"I'll leave you two alone." The doctor told her, before looking to Mick. "Remember what we discussed, she should rest. Try not to stress her out too much."
As he walked out of the room, Principal Hastings rolled her eyes.
"Don't you find it annoying how doctors do that?" She asked him. Mick just stared at her confused. "Talk about you like you're not in the room. I'm lying right here."
"I suppose it is a little impersonal." Mick conceded. He couldn't really comment too intelligently on human medical practice. He had only been on Earth a few months now, and in that time, he'd never really needed to see a doctor, not that he was terribly confident there'd be much a human doctor could do. His physiology was very different from a human's, and after Preston had made him watch ET, he was a little hesitant to find out what would happen if anyone got too good a look at his physiology and started to get curious. "They're only looking out for your well-being."
"I suppose." She answered. She took a breath. "I wanted to thank you…"
"You don't need to do that." Mick told her with a smile. "I'd have done that for anyone."
"I don't doubt it." She replied. "That…that thing that took me, that…Odious said…"
"You heard the doctor, you shouldn't get worked up." Mick reminded her. Principal Hastings looked to him, and without a word lifted her gown. She showed him a long, jagged scar that ran from a little beneath her naval to her sternum.
"I got that a month into my first teaching tenure." Principal Hastings told him. "My first tenure was in the kind of school where the half of the kids that weren't as high as kites were coming down. I confronted one of the wrestling team on some homework he hadn't done, and before I knew it, I was lying on the floor quite literally holding in my own intestines."
Mick muttered something unintelligible under his breath. Principal Hastings pulled her robe back down.
"I'm a lot tougher than people think." She told him. "Mick, she told me that you were involved with the Rangers."
"Do you really place a lot of stock in the opinion of insane…"
"Odious was sadistic, cruel and malicious, but she wasn't insane. I've seen people who are out of their minds and she was one of the most clear-minded creatures I've ever seen." Principal Hastings interrupted him. "Don't try to lie to me Mick."
"So, what did she tell you?" Mick asked in response. Principal Hastings adjusted her bed to be sitting up so she could look at him. She gestured him to come closer. Mick moved his chair next to the bed so that he was next to her.
"She told me that you're involved with the Rangers." She told him as she took his hand in hers. "She told me that much, and I had a lot of time to think about who you spend most of your time with, so it's not too much of a mental stretch to say I could probably tell you who the Rangers are."
"Principal Hastings…"
"Jennifer." She corrected him. "In the school it'll still be Principal Hastings, but I think you can call me Jennifer."
"Jennifer." Mick replied. "So…you're telling me I'm not fired?"
"I owe you my life Mick, I'm not going to tell anyone." She assured him. "All I want in return is a little honesty." Mick held her hand gently and smiled.
"Then what would you like to know?" He asked her.
The Rangers had all gone to a nearby ice-cream place after the battle. They had wanted to go with Mick, to make sure that Principal Hastings was alright after her ordeal, but since they had been at the house as the Rangers there really wasn't any way to explain why five of her students would randomly turn up at the hospital. For the time being, they would have to rely on Mick to check on her and find out if she knew anything that could help them in the future against Odious.
They had split up on their way home, each heading off their own way. As Sarah and Preston waved goodbye to Calvin and Hayley, Preston went with Sarah in the direction of her place.
"Isn't this like, completely the wrong direction for you?" Sarah asked him. Preston pulled out his cell phone.
"One of the fringe benefits of being a Tien." He told her. "If I call my dad's office, they'll have a driver pick me up within fifteen minutes."
"I…thought you hated all that rich kid stuff." Sarah commented. He just shrugged.
"It has its uses at times." He told her. He walked with Sarah as they made their way along the street. He couldn't help watching her as she licked her ice-cream cone.
"Did you get a load of that accent?" She laughed as they walked. Preston just furrowed his brows. "On that monster I mean. Did you hear that accent? It was all… 'I vill crush you! You will be terminated!'"
"It was so Ahnold I had to try hard not to pee myself!" Preston laughed with her. "If he was on our side I'd have been waiting on him saying 'Come with me if you want to live'."
"I was more fond of 'Get your arse to Mars'." Sarah giggled. "Or 'It's not a tumour!'."
"Wow, you really are an Arnold fan, aren't you?" Preston asked her. Sarah just shrugged.
"What can I say? How can you not love a guy who can play everything from a killer cyborg to the world's first pregnant man?" She asked with a shrug. Preston looked to Sarah and smiled.
"What?" She asked him. "What is it?"
"You've um…you've got a little…" He gestured to her nose. She had been eating her ice cream so enthusiastically she had gotten some on the end of her nose. He pulled out a handkerchief and approached her, wiping it off.
"Did you get it?" She asked him, feeling his touch. Preston just stared at her for a moment. "Preston?"
"Yeah, I got it." He answered eventually. They walked on, heading towards Sarah's house. As they did, Preston couldn't help thinking about the days that had led up to this and everything everyone had said about Sarah. He couldn't deny how much they had in common or how he always found himself smiling any time he saw her, even if it had only been a few hours since he had last seen her. He could feel his stomach knotting up and his chest tightening as he considered the fact that on this day, as much as they joked about the monster now, he had almost won. It was only good fortune that kept them from losing to a monster that was considered so weak that Cosmo hadn't even sent cameras to film his fight. He took a deep breath and steeled himself.
"So…um…are you doing anything tomorrow?" Preston asked her.
"Tomorrow's a school day." She reminded him.
"Yeah, I was meaning after school." He clarified for her. Sarah looked a little confused.
"We're going to work on our project in my workshop." Sarah reminded him. "You know, like we talked about."
"Well, what if we do something after that?" He asked her. "Like, maybe go for something to eat?"
"That would be great, I'm sure the guys would just love that!" Sarah rushed out.
"Um…I was actually thinking more like…just us?" He said to her, struggling to get the words out as his mouth started to dry out. "You know…alone, just us."
Sarah gulped down a piece of ice-cream that was just a little too large. She struggled a little and it chilled her all the way down. She felt it go all the way to her stomach, which churned uneasily. She stared at him.
"Just us?" She asked nervously. "Like…a date?"
"M…m…maybe?" Preston stammered, looking around for a way to escape, worried his heard was going to stop dead right there as Sarah stared at him. He wondered how he'd escape, but he hit a problem. Sarah knew both all the same magic tricks and ninja tricks he did. She'd know where he went, not to mention he'd see her again eventually. "If that's something you'd like?
Sarah stared at him, her mind turning over and over what she had heard. Her friends and even her mother had put the idea in her head for a while now that Preston was perhaps more than just a friend to her. She knew that of the Rangers he was the one she had most in common with and the one she spent the most time with. Now, here he was standing in front of her asking her out. She looked to Preston who was waiting on an answer, and she was conscious of the fact it had been a while since she had said anything at all. Her brain, which could figure out complicated mathematics and engineering with hardly any effort was now suddenly completely drawing a blank. She was rooted to the spot, unable to move, no matter how much she willed her body to. She took in a massive breath and finally came up with an answer.
"That…sounds like it'd be great!" Sarah finally managed to say, a smile finally crossing her lips. "I'd like that."
"OK then!" Preston said as he started to back up slowly. "Then I guess I'll…see you tomorrow."
"I guess so." Sarah answered. "Night Preston."
"Goodnight Sarah." He responded as he watched her go into her house and the door closed behind her. As he walked away, he jumped high into the air and punched the sky with a huge whoop of delight.