Sarah wasn't sure what happened. When she came to, gagged, bound and left on a floor in a dark room, she knew she had been right to worry. She tried to pull on the rope holding her arms back. She tried to wiggle herself free, but it was no use. She couldn't move, she couldn't scream.

Still, she struggled. She tried to get herself out. She could move, just not very much. She tried to remove the gag in her mouth, but like the ropes, it wouldn't give. She tried to scream, but it was muffled. She couldn't make much noise, so she was certain no one could hear her.

Her heart started to race as panic set in. She had to get out. She had to escape. The more time she wasted here, the less time she would have to finish the Power Stars.

-Ninja-Steel-

"Should be just down the street here," Kelly said and pointed to the road ahead. "I don't see her, though."

"You said it was approximate, right?" Shane asked, and Kelly nodded her head. "So, she won't be exactly here."

"I'd feel better if she was," Kelly said. "We're on top of her signal. She'll be anywhere around here."

Shane stopped the car and stepped out, looking around for somewhere Sarah might be. They were outside the city on an old country road. They had passed many trails on the way, which would be perfect if Sarah had been hoverboarding. Shane hoped that was the case. He hoped he would find her quickly and be able to yell at her the whole way home for hoverboarding on a dirt trail without telling anyone.

Unfortunately, he didn't think he would be so lucky.

"Maybe she went on a walk," Kelly said and when she turned around, Shane had disappeared. "Where did you go?"

A red streak flashed across her eyes and suddenly, Shane was standing exactly where Kelly expected him to be. She crossed her arms.

"Warn me before you do ninja stuff. I was about to think you ditched me here."

"She's not around here," Shane frowned. "I checked everywhere."

"That was fast," Kelly said.

"Ninja Streaking. Fastest way to travel, fastest way to kick some ass."

"You sure you didn't move too fast to see her?"

"There's nothing here," Shane said. "I didn't even see a rabbit. There's no life but us."

"But her signal is right here," Kelly insisted as she pulled out her phone. I'm going to try calling her again. Hopefully it's not straight to voicemail."

"I'm going to kill her," Shane muttered as Kelly listened to the phone ring. It was a good sign, at least. It meant Sarah had turned her phone back on.

"Hello?" Kelly finally heard, but this wasn't Sarah's voice. It wasn't even close. This was a man speaking, and as much as Kelly wanted to believe it was Preston, Brody, Levi, Calvin or Mick, she knew it wasn't.

"Who is this?" she asked.

"Who is this?" the man asked. Kelly checked the contact on her phone. She was sure she had dialled Sarah, and she knew the number was right because they texted and called each other all the time. This couldn't be a mistake. Her body started to tremble.

"I'm Sarah's girlfriend. Who are you? Why do you have her phone?"

Please say you found it, Kelly hoped. It wouldn't be the ideal answer. If someone found it and Sarah wasn't nearby, it meant the phone was lost and they were no closer to tracking Sarah down. But at least it would mean this stranger didn't have Sarah and her phone.

"Girlfriend, huh? So, you want to see her alive, right?"

"What? Of course! Who the hell are you?" Kelly asked as she put the phone on speaker for Shane to hear.

"Right now, that's not important," the man said and then the call ended. Kelly tried to call him back, but the phone went straight to voicemail.

"Dammit!" she shouted and was about to toss her phone in frustration, but Shane caught her arm.

"Keep it. You're his point of contact now," he said.

"This creep has her!"

"He'll make demands," Shane told her. "He'll keep her alive, so he's got leverage."

"It's not exactly life or death I'm worried about," Kelly frowned. "Drex kept me alive, and until that was over with, I wished he hadn't! If Sarah's with a creep…"

"Don't panic," Shane said, like it was something Kelly could control. "Let's call the others, come together and we'll figure something out there. However, what's most important is Jenny can't know about this."

"But…"

"Not until we know what he wants. Not until we have a plan to get Sarah back," Shane insisted, but Kelly shook her head.

"No! We could use her help! She might know who this freak is!"

"She might, but she also might not."

"She would want to know this was happening…"

"Kelly," Shane grabbed the younger girl by the arms and looked directly at her. "I want Sarah to have a mother to come home to, you hear me. We tell Jenny anything before we have a solid plan, that might not happen. You know how she worries. You feel your heart right now?"

"Yeah."

"Hers can't handle that," Shane said, then smiled, "You know the good part about being a Ranger?"

"What?"

"Once a Ranger, always a Ranger. At least, that's what Tori says. That means, as far as I'm concerned, this is Ranger business. We confront this guy like we would any other monster. Against seven Rangers, he won't stand a chance."

"Eight," Kelly said and then started to type something into her phone, "Serena can help here."

"Serena? As in the white Samurai?"

"You know her?"

"We've met once or twice," Shane nodded, though to Kelly, it seemed there was more to the story. She didn't have time to ask about it, though. There were more pressing matters.

-Ninja-Steel-

"You're never going to guess who called," someone said from behind her and Sarah rolled over. She recognized Thomas, the man who claimed he was her brother. He was holding her phone up with a smirk. "Apparently, my little sister is a dyke."

Sarah tried to scream, but it was muffled by the gag. Thomas laughed.

"I gotta say, I never would have guessed. Not that it matters. If I get what I want, you can do whoever you want."

He knelt next to her. Sarah tried to roll away, but he pressed his knee into her chest.

"I didn't tell them where you are," he said, as if that was supposed to reassure her. "We want to build up their panic a little bit. Get them to consider giving into my demands. Imagination is a bitch, and the longer they're left to imagine what I might do, the better my real request is going to seem."

Thomas pressed his knee down into Sarah's chest, then pushed himself up.

"However, we are going to have to make them desperate. They aren't going to rush into making any decisions if they think you're just here having a mini-vacation, will they?"

Thomas drove his boot into Sarah's ribs and her screams were once again muffled as he kicked her around a few times. She tried to stay limp, hoping to minimize the damage he would do, but Thomas hit her hard, especially with his boot.

"Perfect," he said after a few minutes, then snapped some pictures of her with his phone. "Who should I send these too? The girlfriend?" he asked as he went through her contact list. "What about this Brody fellow or… Calvin, or Hayley or Levi or… mom?"

Thomas knelt down and smiled, "Aw, did you find yourself a new mommy? Grans said you were treated well. New mommy must love you very much."

Sarah tried to shout something, but again, it was muffled.

"I think your new mommy might love to get some pictures of you," he said and hit send. "Like school picture day all over again. I wonder if she'll ask for a retake?"