It was lunch time at the precinct, and unusually Trevor was actually at the precinct, instead of somewhere within his normal patrol areas. Spike had a few clerical things to sort out at the station and so while his preference would have been to visit a kid's lemonade stand or play a game of basketball with some of the locals or something to maintain the friendly face of the department he had become, he was sitting at Ellie's desk, while Spike filled out some papers.
"Are you about done Skullovitch?" He asked.
"I only have a few more to go." Spike answered. "I've got my application for the advanced driving course, and my expenses claim sorted out. Now it's time for the big one, the Concealed Carry Licence application!"
"Concealed Carry?" Trevor asked. "You are aware you have a holster right? What the hell do you need a concealed carry permit for?"
"I'll need one if I want to become a detective!" Spike reminded him. "Of course it'll also open up undercover work...but I'm still waiting on hearing back about that advanced profiling and negotiation seminar..."
"Look at this, the kid's only been here for a cup of coffee and already he's wanting to move onto bigger and better things." Trevor chuckled, looking to Ellie. She just shrugged.
"Never let it be said I discourage ambition." She replied. Trevor just sighed and shook his head.
"That's the problem today, all these kids are in the door five minutes and want to become John McClaine or Matlock or something." He stated. "Everyone knows that uniform is where the real work is done."
"Says the guy with the lowest citation record in the department." Ellie teased him. Trevor just shrugged.
"What can I say? I find that people are more likely to talk to us if they see cops as people who'll have a quiet word about considerate parking and cleaning up their trash than if they dish out a ticket every time they're in the neighbourhood." He answered. "Who also has the highest number of registered informants?"
Just then, the phone rang. Ellie was a little thankful that she was getting taken out of the discussion. She knew it was mostly just Trevor trying to keep the new guy in line and teach him a little respect for the uniforms who would likely be doing most of the background work if he did go on to bigger and better things. Trevor was easily more than capable of moving on from patrol, but the fact was he enjoyed it. Ellie picked up the phone.
"Good morning, 83rd precinct, how may I help you?" Ellie asked. "You want to report a break in? Is it at your address?"
Trevor hit Spike in the upper arm and gestured to the call. Spike put his form aside to listen in as well.
"No, its someone else's home...you were heading past and you found the door lying open?" She asked. "You say there were signs of a struggle? Alright, thanks for your call, I'm going to send a patrol straight over. Can you tell me the address?"
She got a piece of paper and started to write down the address.
"1721 Riverview...Crescent?" She shrieked. "THAT'S MY HOUSE!"
"Spike, get your ass in gear!" Trevor told him, quickly grabbing his jacket. Ellie was doing likewise. Normally they'd not suggest a civilian worker leaving the precinct during their shift, and certainly not to go to an active crime scene, but considering the circumstances, no one was going to try and stop Ellie from going.
"I thought you weren't going to call me...?"
"Not the time Skullovitch!" Trevor warned him as they headed for the door.
Over at the school, Sarah and Levi both morphed as they headed out of the school. They could hardly believe that Wrench or any of Cosmo's other minions would have the nerve to strike them so deep in their own territory. The school to them was their back yard, and an attack there was a pretty bold move. Of course, the unfortunate part was that Wrench had clearly weighed up his odds, and struck there in the hopes that being surrounded by their fellow students, many of whom were their friends, they would be unlikely to unleash their full arsenal on them.
It looked like it was a gamble that paid off. As they arrived, they found Calvin and Hayley already down. Calvin was silent, and lying unmoving on the ground, while Hayley was crying out in pain, clutching her ribs on the floor. Neither of them were morphed, which meant Levi and Sarah could already tell that either they had been beaten to the point they had de-morphed, or they had been unable to morph, likely because they were worried about being seen. Right now, it wasn't even as though they could check on them, since the more pressing matter was getting rid of Wrench.
"Rapid BLAST!" Levi called out, unleashing a barrage from his Rockstorm Blaster at close range, ensuring he didn't waste a shot. He already knew that the reflective coating on Wrench's armour would rebound them, but at the very least it would be a distraction and the initial impact would drive him back a little. With a full charge and a concentrated firing pattern, Levi managed to get enough space between Wrench and Hayley to be able to knock him away with a hard strike.
"It's about time the two of you showed up!" Wrench taunted them. "I was starting to get bored! Sledge made all this look like so much hard work!"
"You've got a lot of nerve coming here!" Sarah screamed at him. "You're going to pay!"
"Set up a line of credit, I'm so far in the black it's not funny!" Wrench replied, powering up his axe. "Which reminds me, I need to visit that Hot Shot in New Zealand for some payback for those X-Jaws!"
Both Levi and Sarah dodged out the way, leaping forward and rolling to their feet. Normally they'd be looking for distance, but Wrench had already shown them more than once that his new armour made blaster fire a very bad option. If they were going to take him down, they needed something other than energy weapons.
Wrench was a lot faster than he looked, but with all their training, together with very real personal reasons to bring him down, Sarah and Levi were very quickly getting through his guard, chipping away at him with all their strength.
"I don't care if we have to take you a piece at a time; we're going to bring you down for good!" Levi stated as he hacked away at him.
"Oh please, you humans will tire eventually! My power cells are fully charged and have a 300 year life span!" He told them, swinging around and forcing them to duck. He managed to kick Levi, but with his back to Sarah, she took the opportunity to put in her Element Star and leap into the air, driving the point down with all her strength and weight behind it.
"FINAL STRIKE!" She called out, driving the point down into Wrench's shoulder, but not managing to get it very far. Wrench bucked to get her off his back, at which there was a huge snap, before Sarah flew into the side of the cage surrounding the tennis court.
"You know, if it wasn't for the fact Cosmo's really wanting this fight tomorrow, I'd finish you right here!" He told her. "But I guess I have to make do with your friend!"
"Leave them alone!" Levi screamed as he ran for Sledge, bringing his weapon down in a huge, double-handed overhead strike. It connected with his shoulder, but as Wrench spun around, back-handing Levi into the cage, he ripped the Rockstorm Blaster from his hands.
Sarah looked over to see Levi lying on the ground, struggling to get up as Wrench opened up his chest cavity, bringing out the Gatling Lasers. She could see that Wrench had Levi's Rockstorm Blaster, meaning that he didn't even have the ability to block.
"Who said I was talking about one of them?" He asked, unleashing his salvo. Sarah couldn't even hear her screams or Levi's over the explosions. By the time the smoke cleared, Wrench was gone, and she was alone. She de-morphed, running over to Levi and shaking him in a futile effort to rouse him.
"Levi? Levi, talk to me!" She begged him. "Hayley...Calvin...anyone?"
With that, she fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands, the weight of the situation crashing down on her. Wrench had exactly what he wanted. She was now the last one standing, and having taken out her friends, she had no idea how she was meant to take him down.
Trevor, Spike and Ellie all sped to the Thompson House, the siren blaring as they came into the street. Trevor had already called ahead for any unit in the area to attend to secure the area and tend to the witness.
Ellie was already distraught, trying to imagining all sorts of horrible things that might have happened, and praying that Al was out for a trip to the supermarket or seeing a client at the time. Breaking into houses was a pretty bold move in the middle of the day. With the visibility of daylight and the number of passers-by, most people tended not to break into homes in the middle of the week unless they knew the street was going to be empty. While at one time that might have been a viable option, the nine-to-five working week was long since a thing of the past and so there was often one or two people around most of the time. Unfortunately that meant that most people who would risk breaking in during the day were likely to have a pretty good reason for that confidence, namely if they were armed!
"Where is he? Where's my husband?" She yelled as she rushed for the house, being held back by one of the other officers. "Al! AL!"
"Miss, there's no one in the house. When we got here the house was empty." The officer told her. Trevor came to Ellie's side, trying to comfort her in whatever way he could. Spike looked to the officer.
"What does the witness say?" Spike asked him.
"She said she was just jogging through the neighbourhood and saw the door lying open. She went to see if the owner had made a mistake and make sure everything was alright." The officer told her. "When she saw the blood she called for us."
"Blood?" Ellie screamed, suddenly becoming even more worried. Spike went into the house, closely followed by Trevor. They went in and found the entrance hall in a bit of a mess, and some blood splattered on the wall. It wasn't much; it looked like what they'd expect from someone that had taken a hit, but certainly not from a gunshot or stabbing.
"The living room looks like it hasn't been disturbed." Trevor commented. "I'll get Ellie to confirm that, but I'd say it looks like nothing was taken."
"They've got a nice house, full of nice stuff...not to mention the home of a financial advisor who no doubt has a LOT of people's personal data on the premises and they don't take anything?" Spike asked. "Why do I get the feeling robbery wasn't the motive?"
"Marx!" One of the others called out. "We've got another witness. Some old guy from across the street."
"Nosey pensioners with nothing better to do." Trevor said with a smile. "Best security system in the world. We're just coming."
Spike and Trevor came out, finding Ellie already talking to the guy. He was giving his story to the cops.
"Well, that's the thing, I saw some guy roll up in a blue Lincoln and park right there by the curb. Now I'm not nosey, but it caught my attention because he was blocking poor Mrs Edwards' drive way! Really inconsiderate! You can tell a lot about a person by how he parks..."
"Please George, can you just tell us if you saw Al." Ellie asked him.
"Well yeah, the guy in the Lincoln went to the door. He was sporting a really bad limp too. Hard not to notice that. Anyway, next thing I know Al's coming out and getting in the car and driving him away."
"Driving? Al was driving his car?" Ellie asked.
"Well yeah, that was something I thought was odd too." George stated.
"Can you describe the man he left with?" Trevor asked him. He thought about it for a moment.
"He looked like he was in his fifties...maybe early sixties. White hair, moustache...looked to be in decent shape other than the limp." He told them.
"Thank you for your time." Trevor answered. "One of the other officers can take you to the precinct to put your statement in writing."
"I'll just get my wallet." George said with a grin, looking like a kid going to a toy store. Clearly he liked the idea of helping the police with an investigation. Trevor and Spike looked at each other.
"What do you think Skullovitch?" He asked.
"Old guy, white hair and moustache, injured...it all sounds like kind of a lot of coincidence." He stated.
"Yeah, I was thinking that too." Trevor answered, looking to Ellie. "Ellie, we've been making inquiries into a suspicious person in town. Does the name Jerry Goodwill mean anything to you?"
Ellie didn't need to say anything. The fact she went completely pale and her knees buckled out from under her forcing Spike to catch her before she hit the concrete told them that she did indeed know the name.
"Jerry?" She asked.
"Yeah, he was involved in the Yaxley Scam in Panorama." Spike told her. "You lived in Panorama too, so I guess you knew him..."
"He was...he was a friend." Ellie gulped as she prepared to tell them. "What I'm about to tell you was sealed by the courts."
"What is it?" Trevor asked her.
"Jerry and Al weren't just friends, they were...they were partners." She told them. "Al was the other culprit in the Yaxley Scam."
They both backed off a little hearing this.
"He turned State's Witness and testified against the company. The FEC got almost eighty convictions on his testimony alone! His name was kept from public record as part of the plea deal..."
"But Jerry went down." Spike sighed. "I think it's fair to say whatever went down robbery was NOT the motive."
"Please, my husband, he wasn't a good man, even he knows that. He lives every day with what he did. He worked so hard to become a good man." She begged them. "Please, you have to find him!"
"We'll do everything we can." Spike assured her. "We'll find him."
Over at the Ranger Base, Sarah was sitting, completely shell-shocked after the latest battle. The whole thing looked hopeless. Within only a few short days, Wrench had decimated her whole team. She was now literally the last one standing, and the only one that stood between him and complete victory.
She didn't know why Wrench hadn't taken any of the Power Stars. She figured he probably just wanted to save that for the cameras. What was the point in giving away the money shot on free television after all?
"The others have been taken to the hospital." Mick told her as Viera stood, putting her arm around Sarah in the hopes of comforting the Pink Ranger. "Principal Hastings is making sure that everyone just thinks they were unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Yeah, they were." Sarah sniffed. "They were on a team with me."
"Sarah..."
"What Mick? Don't be so hard on myself?" She demanded. "Why not? I'm the one he wants! I'm the only one that isn't laid up and..."
"Sarah, you can't beat yourself up over this." Mick told her. "Wrench is..."
"Wrench was the guy that Dr Morgan defeated repeatedly without even knowing they were in a fight!" Sarah shrieked. "The only reason he's still around is because no one in Amber Beach thought he was WORTH destroying! Now he's taken out all of us and I'm just waiting on getting my ass handed to me in front of the entire universe!"
She grabbed her Ninja Sword and threw it across the room in frustration. She just started to sob.
"So much for being a Ranger." She lamented.
"Sarah, you're a great Ranger." Mick stated.
"Dr Morgan was better." Sarah sighed. "And Shelby...and Chase and Riley..."
"You know there are a lot of Rangers, so this could be a long list." Mick told her.
"If that's your way of making me feel better..."
"All I was going to say is, if you're going to rank yourself against people that have done great things, you're never going to feel like you're up to it." Mick said as Redbot went to retrieve Sarah's sword. "You have done some amazing things, things I would never have thought possible, and you're not even close to done unless you tell yourself you are."
"But I couldn't help them!" She replied.
"You're saying things never looked bad for the last team? They never had times where it looked like it was all done?" Mick asked. "You keep talking about Dr Morgan, are you trying to tell me she was always on top of things? That she never had times where she was outmatched?"
"She...she was once on Sledge's ship before she got her powers." Sarah answered. "I guess she always said she felt like she was pretty much done for when she realised Wrench knew she was on board."
"But she went on anyway and...look what happened." Mick said with a smile. "I don't know the majority of the Rangers. I've only met you guys, and a few of the Amber Beach guys, but without even meeting any of the others, I can pretty much guarantee you one thing."
"What's that?" Sarah asked him.
"Every single one of them will have thought at one time or another they weren't up to the task." Mick put down flatly, hugging her tightly. "But every single one of them went on and found a way."
"I guess I'll be needing this." Sarah said as Redbot brought back her sword. She looked to it, before rolling her eyes. "I guess I can borrow one of the others. It looks like I damaged it. Shows temper tantrums with weapons..."
"Wait, it's damaged?" Mick asked her. Sarah showed it to him.
"Yeah, the tip has snapped off." She told him. "I'm sure we can re-forge it..."
"Sarah, Ninja Steel is far too strong to be damaged that easily. You couldn't have damaged it throwing it into the wall." Mick told her.
"But then when...?" Sarah paused for a moment as she played the battle back in her mind. She remembered landing on Wrench, driving the sword into him, before being thrown off. She remembered hearing a snap.
She then thought to seeing Wrench with the Rockstorm Blaster. She had thought he was holding it, but his hands were out to the side, but he was holding the Rockstorm blaster in the middle..."
"He wasn't holding it!" She rushed out.
"He wasn't holding what?" Mick asked.
"When he took Levi's weapon, I thought Wrench was holding it. He wasn't!" Sarah told them. "I drove my sword into his shoulder and the tip snapped off. Then Levi hit him in the shoulder with his weapon. Wrench wasn't holding it...it was embedded in him!"
"What are you saying?" Redbot asked.
"I'm saying he was damaged! He's not indestructible!" She shrieked. "Maybe if I get a little more power..."
"More power?" Viera asked. Sarah looked to her as Viera smiled. "I think I have just the thing!"
In another part of town, in the motel room, Jerry had taken Al into the bathroom, forcing him into the bathtub. He had shoved him down into the bottom of it, kneeling on his chest while he held a towel over his face. Taking the shower head in his other hand, he was running the shower into the towel.
Al spluttered and choked as the water was forced into his nose and mouth. While not especially refined, it was a pretty crude and effective form of water-boarding. Jerry pulled the shower head away and pulled the towel off, allowing Al to clear his tubes of some of the water.
"You can't keep this up forever Al! The martyr thing never suited you!" Jerry told him. "Tell me where it is!"
"I can't tell you Jerry because there's nothing there!" Al told him. "How many times do I have to tell you?"
"You'd say anything to get your own ass out the fire. That's why half your old friends are still in jail!" Jerry answered. "You're probably hoping the cops are going to be on their way..."
"Jerry, please, just let me go; I won't say anything about this." Al told him. "I'm sorry you went down, but we both deserved..."
"I deserve what I'm owed!" Jerry screamed at him. "But if I can't get the answer from you, maybe Ellie will be more co-operative. Or how about Sarah?"
Jerry went to the sink, where he snorted another line to give him the courage to keep going.
Al played over what was happening in his mind. He didn't know what had happened to Jerry, he had never known him to be violent. Hell, the closest he got to violence when he knew him was one time he threw an envelope to another colleague and an unfortunate office junior just so happened to be passing at that moment, getting accidentally hit. It was a perfectly harmless and innocent mistake for which Jerry apologised profusely right away. Of course given his current predicament he could tell that he had gotten over that hangup.
Before he'd never have believed Jerry could do anything to harm Ellie or Sarah, but now, now he wasn't so sure, and he shuddered to think of what he would do to them. Al just gulped and took a deep breath.
"Alright Jerry, alright." He told him. "You win."
"Alright, now we're talking." Jerry said. "So what is it? A Gran Cayman account? Swiss?"
"Nothing like that." Al told him.
"Alright, so where is it?" Jerry asked him. "Tell me or I'm heading over to Sarah's school and..."
"I'll do better than that." Al told him. "I'll show you where it is."
A/N: Well, not quite where I was INTENDING to end the story before my trip, but hopefully it acts as enough of a cliff-hanger. I'll be away at the con for about a week, so until then, hope you all liked it! Promise I'll be back as soon as possible.