Hey guys, here's the next chapter! I have a lot to get done before August 4th, mostly on my other stories, so I'm not really on a schedule anymore. This story will probably be uploaded the least out of my other ones, since they take priority for my 5th anniversary planning, but I'll still try to get this one out as much as I can! Hope you enjoy it!

Early in the morning, a young woman walked quietly through her house, careful not to wake anyone nearby. She eyed the quiet man sleeping on a chair in the living room, her fists clenching as she looked at him.

On the floor surrounding his chair, beer bottles lay scattered, with some liquid still spilling out of a few. The young woman huffed and walked over to the kitchen, coming to stand directly in front of the stove. She looked down at her hands for a moment, before holding them out in front of her, directed at the stove.

Almost instantly, the stove went up in intense flames. The flames licked at the walls and surrounding area, quickly beginning to spread throughout the kitchen area, making it's way out towards the living room.

She moved out of the kitchen, her expression calm, and looked at the older man once more. She thought to herself for a moment that it was strange that he wasn't snoring like usual, before getting back to her task.

Taking a few deep breaths, she held a shaky hand out at one of the half empty beer bottles, making it erupt in flames as well.

The young woman stared as the flames crawled up his chair, but turned away before she could see what happened to him. She began to walk away as the smell of burning flesh assaulted her nostrils, ignoring it as she made her way into her room.

Closing the door behind her, she contained herself and laid back down in her bed, pulling the covers over her and falling back to sleep.

- Cue Opening -

Nikki came into ER that morning, sipping her coffee and humming to herself. She was walking so fast she almost looked like she was skipping, and was nodding her head to the music she was thinking about. As she made her into the lieutenant base, she stopped and was a bit confused to only see Autumn standing there, leaning on the console in the middle of the room.

She frowned a bit, "Are we the only people left in civilization or something?"

Autumn looked up, startled. "I'm glad I'm not the only one here," She commented. "I don't know where the others are at, and I don't think I remember Lia telling us that we were supposed to be somewhere."

"Me neither, and god knows she's gonna be olagonin' on about how we're late," Nikki muttered, making Autumn give her a funny look.

"What?" Autumn asked, confused.

Nikki looked up in shock, as if she had noticed something wrong. "Oh, I mean complaining. Sorry, I'm.. tired. It's early."

"Oh, okay." Autumn nodded. She looked to be in thought for a moment, before she spoke up, chuckling a bit. "You know, when I came in this morning, I thought maybe I just didn't know why no one else was here because I haven't been here as long as the rest of you. I mean, I'm not new or anything anymore, but I was worried about it."

The yellow lieutenant smirked, "Hey, if we didn't think you could handle this, I wouldn't have recommended you to Lia that day."

Autumn smiled, looking down. "Apparently, you're not the only one." She looked back up. "I don't want to say anything about it to her, but Masters told me that Tori actually recommended me a few months before any of this happened."

Nikki crossed her arms. "Tori? That's impossible." She shook her head. "She's not the type to do anything nice."

"I don't know about that," Autumn shrugged. "I think she just keeps up a facade, but underneath she's kind and really cares about us."

"Doubtful," Nikki rolled her eyes, about to speak up again when a knock on the wall startled them.

The two turned to see Sophie standing in the doorway, a slightly embarrassed look on her face. "Hey guys, sorry I forgot to mention this yesterday, but we're all meeting in the chief base this morning. My bad,"

Autumn patted her on the shoulder as they passed by, "Don't worry about it, we're all good. Thank for coming to get us."

They walked into the chief base together, and Tori, who heard Autumn's comment, nodded. "Yeah, it's a good thing she went to find you guys - we were just about to get started and leave you out of it."

"Please," Nikki rolled her eyes once more, taking a swig from her coffee cup.

Masters and Lia stood in front of them, talking with each other, before finally calling the rangers to listen. "Thank you," Masters said as they became silent. "We have noticed a bit of.. separation between both of your teams, and we think you guys need a bit of understanding with each other."

Sean made a face. "I don't really think there's a separation between us," He said, his arm around Taz. "We get along."

"Yeah, but you still think you're better than us," Owen snorted, looking at the chiefs. "All because you guys got a higher score on some stupid tests than us."

Joey frowned. "Well, I took the same test and I wasn't chosen until later on."

"Because we were only going to have three people on each team at first," Jason pointed out, his voice quiet. "Everyone who also scored high were left to join the different bases, doing whatever job they did."

"Well, Autumn didn't even take the test," Sean crossed his arms.

Autumn sighed. "I still went to school for..."

"Okay, okay," Lia quieted them down, cutting Autumn off. "As you can obviously see, there is tension between you guys. That's why we're going to go the old-fashioned route and pair you guys up into four partners,"

Taz raised an eyebrow. "By color?" She asked. Taz didn't have a problem with Owen, of course not, but she figured they wouldn't be the best match, given their extremely conflicting personalities.

"I'm fine with that," Tori spoke up, much to the surprise of the others. "Autumn and I can handle this."

"That's great to hear." Masters responded dryly. "But, we're not pairing you up by color, we're pairing you up by job. So, Autumn will actually be paired with Sean, since they are the only ones without a job match."

Autumn and Sean shared a look, while Tori crossed her arms. "Masters, I have to object. I don't think..."

"I've already decided on this, Tori. Autumn and Sean will be paired together, then Jason and Taz, Owen and Joey, and you and Nikki," Masters read off. The others didn't seem too chagrined by his decision, but Nikki stared at Masters in shock and outrage.

Nikki shook her head. "Nope, not happening." She retorted. "I'm not being paired with her. This is unfair! You know we don't get along." If she wasn't speaking to her bosses right now, Nikki imagined this conversation would be much more vulgar than it was.

Lia sighed. "Maybe this will be good for you two, in that case." She suggested. "Besides, it's only for this one assignment. After that, you could never speak to each other again, if you wanted."

"Besides, I'm not the one with the problem." Tori muttered, giving Nikki a look. "That's you."

"Don't even start with me." Nikki growled out, glaring at her.

"You guys can argue later - right now, we have a crime to solve." Masters touched the console in the middle, and a picture of a burned house projected from the middle of it. "This house was burned partially in the early hours of the morning, but there was nothing that could've possibly caused it. Homer Winston, a man in his early 50s, was killed in the fire, and it seems like foul play."

Taz gestured for Jason to follow her. "We'll get our tools." She announced as the two made off down the hall.

"I guess that just leaves us to get going," Autumn said, nodding towards the door. "Shall we?"

The others, besides Nikki, nodded and began to follow Autumn out of the room. After a moment of standing and seething in her own anger, Nikki huffed and followed after them.

- PRER -

Silas sat in his office, leaning back in his large chair as he looked out of the window. It was a bad part of town they were in, being stuck in a warehouse to keep a low profile, so it wasn't as if he was in a skyscraper, looking down on the beautiful city below him.

It was as if he was watching a part of the city fall apart, which is what he was doing. He could look out the window at any given time and see some sort of crime or something akin to that everyday.

Not that Silas minded. He actually relished in it and enjoyed watching people rip into each other. It was why he was a crime lord in the first place, though he wouldn't have minded having a larger place either.

A knock at the door startled him out of his thoughts, and he turned in his chair to see Thorn come into the room, a confused look on his face.

"Thorn, how many times do I have to remind you that I'm not here to answer all of life's questions for you?" Silas remarked, hardly looking at him.

"I'm not here for that, boss," Thorn crossed his arms. "I wanted to know if we had any plans for anything big soon?"

Silas nodded. "Oh, of course we do." He chuckled. "When have I not?"

"Well, I was only asking because I hadn't heard anything." Thorn commented, frowning.

The crime lord nodded again. "Yes, that's true. I haven't told you or Bones anything about it." Silas smirked. "I don't need to. Belladonna and I have everything we need, without you two to screw something up."

Thorn made a face. "If you and Belladonna are doing so well, then why do you need us here at all?"

Silas shrugged. "Backups? Look, Belladonna and I have always had a complicated relationship - one of betrayal and comradery. You two have always been loyal to me, so I need you here in case she tries to usurp my power."

"I see," Thorn almost smiled to himself, proud that he had a high spot with Silas. "Well, Bones and I will be of assistance if you need us, boss."

"Of course you will, Thorn," Silas stood up, snaking an arm around his shoulders and leading him towards the door. "And I appreciate that. The minute I need you, I'll be sure to call."

Silas opened the door and shoved Thorn out into the hall. He turned and closed it behind him, shaking his head to himself as he walked back towards his chair.

- PRER -

Tori stood in the living room of the burned house, looking at some of the pictures that still stood on the mantel of the fireplace. In the picture was a family of three, with a father and his two daughters, who looked very different, not only from him, but from each other.

Adopted, most likely, Tori thought to herself. Maybe a foster father. Perhaps an angry biological parent. She looked over at one of the daughters, who was sitting on a chair nearby, talking to Nikki. She looked a bit shaken up, but not too badly. Tori assumed it was because Nikki was using her ability to calm her and make the interview easier.

She put the photo back on the shelf and observed the daughter from afar, before seeing a fading bruise on her arm. It was hidden partially by her sleeve, but looked like someone had grabbed her quite roughly, Or maybe, abusive foster father and scared foster kids.

"What's that from?" Tori asked, pointing to it.

The older daughter, Alison, pulled her sleeve down hastily. "Nothing; I fell."

Tori rolled her eyes. "Not true. That's a hand print. It looks like someone grabbed your arm and bruised you. Did your foster father do that to you?"

Alison shrugged defensively. "No! My boyfriend and I are a little rough during sex. Big deal." She looked embarrassed. "I don't see how that's relevant."

"Tori, back off," Nikki glared at her, just as Tori was gonna read her mind. "It doesn't matter if he was her foster father - he just died. Give her some space."

"Okay, I'm sorry for asking." Tori held her hands up in surrender. "Is your sister here?"

She shook her head. "No, Jasmine's at her friends house. I don't know when she's getting back, but I'm waiting for her."

Nikki nodded and stood up. "Well, maybe we should walk over there and get her? Do you know the address?"

"Oh," Alison looked a bit flustered, before she slowly grabbed a paper and pen to write it down. "Here you go. Umm.. maybe you shouldn't tell her until she gets here. I want to talk to her myself."

Tori took the paper. "Of course." She looked towards the kitchen, where Joey and Owen were standing. "Hey, we're gonna go pick up the other daughter. Call if you guys are gonna get out of here."

"Yeah, we are soon." Joey called. "I think we're almost done here."

"Cool," Nikki gave him a thumbs up before walking towards the door. "We'll get back to you if we find anything." She told them, before she and Tori left the house in the direction Alison pointed them.

- PRER -

Jason and Taz had taken the body back to the chief lab, and were looking it over to see if there was anything they could find that would help them with the investigation. So far, they hadn't come up with much, since the body was so badly burned.

"It doesn't seem like there was much of a struggle." Jason pointed out. "If there was, the burns wouldn't be so bad and he might not even be dead."

Taz nodded. "That's right. He would have gotten up to put the fire out within seconds of him feeling it. The only way he wouldn't have is if he was possibly drugged or..."

"Already dead when the fire was started," Jason finished for her. "I ran his tox-screen and the only thing in his system was an extremely high blood-alcohol level."

"High enough to cause alcohol poisoning?" Taz asked, frowning.

Jason thought for a moment, before sighing. "I would say yes, under normal circumstances, but his liver is damaged pretty badly, and I don't mean from the fire." He gestured to it. "He was obviously a heavy drinker, and if his body was accustomed to it, it might not have been enough to kill him."

"Well, it's possible that the onset of alcohol poisoning caused him to lose consciousness," Taz suggested. "Because of that, he was unable to stop himself from being burned to death."

The blue lieutenant rubbed his arm, "You don't think that would cause him to awaken from unconsciousness?"

Taz shrugged. "Honestly, it would depend on his level of consciousness all together." She sighed. "90% of alcohol poisoning related incidents were caused by non-alcoholics who were binge drinking. With the level of damage to his liver, that's obviously not the case."

Jason paused, before responding. "Well, did you check the damage to the bone? If he was already dead when the fire was set, the bones would be different than if he was still alive," He pointed out.

"Of course," Taz immediately moved to look at some of the exposed bone, finding it dry and brittle to the touch. She looked back up at Jason. "This bone was damaged postmortem." She told him. "He was dead before he was burned."

"Do you think it was murder?" Jason asked, eyeing the body. "Was the body set on fire to conceal other damage?"

Taz shook her head. "I doubt it. The way the fire was set seemed deliberate to harm him, and there's no evidence of antemortem trauma in the autopsy. Its likely that the person was unaware of his prior death, which would point to attempted murder."

"You're completely right," Sean announced as he and Autumn made their way into the room. "We just got off the phone with Joey and Owen, and they told us that they determined the fire was definitely deliberate to kill him, and was set by a superhuman with the ability to control fire."

"But, we still have no idea who did it." Autumn sighed. "Did you find anything that could lead to our attempted murderer?"

"No, not yet." Jason said. "But, it narrows it down if you know the ability of the person."

Sean glanced at the body, before looking up at Taz. "Was he a superhuman?"

"He wasn't." Taz replied. "That part of his brain was never active."

Autumn looked disappointed. "That's gonna make it a little harder. A lot of normal humans won't associate themselves with superhumans of a dangerous power like that. They're usually too afraid."

Taz pursed her lips. "Obviously he wasn't."

Sean pulled out his phone. "I should call Tori and Nikki, let them know what we've found." He gestured to the door. "I'll be right back." Sean said as he excused himself from the room to call.

- PRER -

Tori and Nikki were walking towards the address that Alison had given them, but Tori couldn't get the nagging feeling that something was off out of her head. She thought that Alison had to have been lying about how she got the bruise, and was chagrined that Nikki cut her off before she could ask more about it.

She knew that Nikki wasn't fond of her, and also knew the reason why, but didn't understand why she was still holding onto that hate after all these years. Tori wasn't one to talk about distancing herself, not in the slightest, but what happened wasn't even something Tori could control.

After a few more moments of thinking and walking in a heavy silence, Tori shook her head. "Okay, look, I think I should go back to the house." She told Nikki, making her stop in her tracks. "There was something off about Alison, I'm telling you."

Nikki scoffed. "You just want to try to show me up, like always. That's the only thing you care about."

"Oh please," Tori rolled her eyes. "I'm trying to help us catch a murderer. Besides, I honestly don't care at all about the stupid little feud you think you have with me."

"You know what you fucking did!" Nikki growled. "I was gonna be a damn chief before you showed up, but no, Tori's better than everyone!"

Tori stared at her like she was crazy. "You think I purposely tried to take your spot? I didn't. I know that I shouldn't have been able to take that stupid test since I came in late, but Masters let me. It's not my fault. If you wanna be mad at anyone, be mad at him."

The yellow lieutenant glared daggers at her. "You're damn right you should've have been able to. They had already chosen Taz and had only one spot left for a female chief. I wanted it more than anything and you came in and took it right out from under me!"

"I didn't mean to," Tori emphasized. "I hardly even knew you back then."

Nikki sighed exasperatedly. "I don't think you meant to. Besides the obvious anger I felt at being ripped out of my place, I knew that it in and of itself wasn't your fault. The way you've acted since - that's your fault."

"I don't act in anyway other than the way I've always acted."

"Yes, you do." Nikki retorted. "I mean, of course you've always not cared about anyone but yourself, but there's more than that. You think you're better than all of us just because you're a chief. If I had become one, I never would've thought that."

"Okay, I believe you," Tori nodded. "But, you do realize that all of the chiefs kind of think that way, even Taz and Joey, the nice ones. You know why that is? Because we were chosen as the top of the top. We've worked hard for this, and I get that you have too, but you don't have the right to undermine us just because you're upset." She scowled. "And, by the way, I care a lot about others. I just don't let my feelings get in the way of my job."

Nikki almost smirked. "Yeah, I guess you're right. You know, Autumn was saying the exact same thing this morning."

Tori wasn't phased. "Okay? What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know you recommended her to become the red lieutenant." Nikki told her. "And she knows it too."

The red chief shot her a sharp look. "You don't know anything," She hissed, before shaking her head. "You know what, screw this. I'll go back to find Alison on my own. I don't need your help."

Nikki opened her mouth to give a rebuttal, but Tori was already storming the opposite way. She groaned irritatedly and leaned against a nearby wall, running hands through her hair. She stayed like that for a few moments until her phone rang. Nikki pulled it out of her pocket, answering, "Hello?"

"Nikki? It's Sean," His voice came through the speaker. "We found out that the fire happened after he was already dead, and by a superhuman with the ability to control fire. Homer wasn't a superhuman though, and we don't know anyone he could've known that was."

"Well, I..." She trailed off, as she thought back. Nikki remembered Tori mentioning that Alison was adopted, and about the bruises on her arm. It hit her like a ton of bricks. "Oh my god." Nikki gasped. "I think I know who did it!" She hung up before she could clarify and ran down the street as fast as she could, hoping to get to the house in time.

- PRER -

Tori arrived outside the house, her hand on the blaster at her waist. She carefully walked up the steps and got up to the door, pressing her ear against it and listening for sounds inside. As she listened, she could hear two girls arguing - Alison and Jasmine - one of whom sounded frightened and distressed.

The red chief moved closer to the window and peered inside slightly, and saw something she found extremely surprising. While she thought it was Alison who could've been the culprit, when she looked inside, she saw Alison looking at Jasmine with a scared expression on her face.

She waited for a few moments, watching them until it seemed like the right time to involve herself. Tori morphed quietly and busted the door open, pointing her blaster at Jasmine, who was moving threateningly towards Alison.

"Hold it right there," Tori told the younger teen as she turned around to face the ranger. "Don't move any closer to anyone, alright? Take it easy."

Jasmine stared up at her with big eyes, becoming frightened as well at the sudden entrance. Alison immediately grabbed Jasmine and pulled her behind her, holding a hand up at Tori. "Hold on, don't hurt her!"

Tori was a bit taken aback. "What? What's going on?" She asked, lowering her blaster a bit, but not letting it go.

"She was only doing it to save me," Alison cried out, tears flowing down her face. "I'm sorry! Take me instead."

"I..." Tori blinked, stunned. She put the blaster back in it's holster, not feeling any more danger. She took her helmet off cautiously, holding it at her side as she moved closer, and took a deep breath. "Look, why don't you sit down and tell me what happened, Alison?"

"Okay," Alison sniffled and allowed Tori to move her and Jasmine over to the couch. Tori kneeled in front of them. "I'm sorry."

She nodded. "Just tell me what happened."

"Dad was hurting her!" Jasmine spoke up, before Alison could. "He said he wanted to put her out on the streets to make us money! I couldn't let him do it. It was my fault. I killed him."

Tori breathed out, feeling a pang of hurt in her chest. "Hey, if I had a sister and someone was hurting her.. I'd do anything to protect her. You thought it was what you had to do."

Jasmine stared at her. "So, am I going to be in trouble?"

"Well," Tori read Jasmine's mind for a moment, and made sure she was telling the truth. "We'll try to do everything we can to help you through this, okay? I promise."

From the doorway, Nikki's heart ached at this sight. She had never really seen Tori at work on a crime scene, and now completely understood why she was always regarded as one of the best - it was so obvious to her in that moment.

Before anything else happened, Alison noticed her in the doorway and stared at her in fear, but Nikki used her own power to calm both her and Jasmine's fear as she moved closer. "Tori's right," She said, making Tori look up at her. "We'll do anything to help you out."

Tori stood up and demorphed, looking Nikki over. "You showed up?"

"Sean called and told me something that made me realize you were right," Nikki sighed. "Besides, Jasmine didn't kill anybody. Homer was already dead before she started the fire."

The red chief gave a sigh of relief. "Thank god."

"That was really sweet," Nikki told her. "What you said to her. I guess I was wrong about you."

"I guess so," Tori pulled out her phone to look at the time, before looking back up at Nikki. "Can you handle this here? I have someone I need to talk to back at ER."

Nikki nodded. "Yeah, I can handle it."

"Thanks." She gave Nikki a small smile, before she turned and walked out of the house.

- PRER -

Silas was laying in bed, covered partially by his sheets as he rolled over and smirked at the other occupant in his bed, Belladonna. Her eyes were closed, but they opened when she felt him staring at her. She looked up at him, her expression bored.

"Just because I'm in your bed, doesn't mean you get to stare at me while I try to sleep," Belladonna commented dryly.

"You'd never fall asleep in my bed," Silas scoffed. "You don't trust me enough for that."

Belladonna chuckled. "I guess you're not wrong. You know me well, Silas," She pushed herself up onto one elbow. "But, don't fool yourself. I know you just as well, if not better than you know me."

"I don't doubt that," Silas said, slyly. "Especially not with the work you did just now."

She rolled her eyes. "Maybe I'm just trying to get into your head with seduction."

Silas shrugged. "I'm fine with that. I don't see anyway I could lose there - I get sexual favors and you lose because I'm too smart to fall for any of your tricks. And, before you say anything, I know you know all of my tricks as well. We'll just have to see who's better this time."

Belladonna looked him over. "I guess we will." She looked to the door to make sure no one was there, before looking back to him. "Has the plan been set in motion yet?"

"Of course," Silas assured her, giving her a knowing look. "I'm always on top of my priorities."

"Good. Once Mark does what he needs to," Belladonna had a sadistic simper come across her face. "We'll be rid of those two red rangers for good. Are you sure he can do it?"

He almost laughed. "Mark is a mentally unstable man with superhuman endurance and a fixation on the two. What could go wrong?"

"You're risking this on him?!" Belladonna exclaimed, though kept her voice low so no one heard them. "Are you insane?"

Silas smirked. "He offered," He responded. "Besides, if anything goes awry, I'll kill him. Hell, if everything goes right, I'll kill him regardless."

Belladonna shook her head. "What if he's a snitch?"

"He is a snitch," Silas pointed out. "The rangers already know where I am, but they're not gonna come here. I have guards everywhere, and contacts through the roof. They know if would be suicide to try to take me out." He got close to her and whispered, "It would be a bloodbath."

"I hope you're right, because if you're not, I'll kill you myself," Belladonna threatened, before pulling the sheets away from the bed to wrap around herself. "Get dressed. I don't want to look at you," She growled as she picked up her clothes and walked over to the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind her.

- PRER -

Autumn was walking around outside of ER, planning to go on her way to get something to eat. From the back of an alleyway nearby, a shadowy figure watched her walk by. When she passed the alley entrance and kept walking, the figure ran to the back and down a strip behind a building until he came out in the back of another alley.

This one, he immediately had to duck behind a dumpster when he saw Tori walk up to Autumn and stop her just in front of where he was.

He watched as Autumn seemed to greet her, and Tori pulled her into the alley, a little ways away from him. He moved a little closer, though still hid in a place where they couldn't see him.

"We need to talk," Tori announced to Autumn, her hands on her hips.

The figure smirked to himself, reaching into the back of his pants to pull out a pistol. "The only person you'll be talking to after this is me, ladies."

Next time on Power Rangers Emergency Responders: After Tori and Autumn are attacked and taken by Mark, the two have to work quickly to escape, especially with one of them shot and bleeding out.

Next Chapter Title: Kidnapping Reds

Yes, I left this off on a cliffhanger, but I've already started to work on the next part, so don't worry - you'll be able to see what happens next very soon. I'm really excited to get to work on the next one, since there will be a lot of good Autumn and Tori moments! I love having them work together because they're such a good pair!

Also, I don't have a new poll up at this time, since I need to introduce all of the new rangers in PRGG, PRRF, and this one before I can poll you guys on your favorite. I'll announce when I have those polls up, though!

Here's the lineup for the next five chapters!

Ep 14: Purple Lieutenant - New ranger appears!

Ep 15: Nutrition - Taz focused chapter.

Ep 16: How You Love - Jason focused chapter.

Ep 17: Pink Chief - Nat focused chapter.

Ep 18: Animals - Purple lieutenant focused chapter.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys back with the next one!

© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley