Hey guys, I'm officially back! The new character I brought in in that little teaser from two chapters ago, Tony, is back in this one! He's gonna start to be an important and main character from this chapter on, and you should especially pay attention to the ending with him. Hope you guys enjoy!
Oh, and read below for an update about everything.
- Flashback -
"You need to take these, sir," An older nurse said sternly. She was holding a small cup of medication and was trying to give it to an 19 year old Sean, who was sitting on a bed in a crisp, white outfit. He looked up at her defiantly. "It's hospital policy. If you don't take these, we'll have to sedate you instead."
Sean crossed his arms. "I don't need them. I'm not some psych case." He shook his head. "I shouldn't even be here."
She rolled her eyes. "You were brought here for a reason. Dr. Matthews has looked over your case and prescribed these pills to you. You need to take them for your own good."
"I'd like to disagree," Sean muttered. "But I guess my rights don't matter anymore, do they?"
"No, not when you were brought in by the police for harassing and nearly assaulting a man for nothing." She replied.
"He wasn't doing nothing!" Sean protested. "He insulted me because he thought I was drinking and driving. In my opinion, I think he should be the one in here."
The nurse gave him a pointed look. "You were drinking and driving, sir."
"It helps me calm my mind when I need it." He insisted. "This is the first time something like this has ever happened to me. Why did they take me straight to the psych ward?"
It took everything in the nurse's power not to snap back. She opened her mouth to respond, but Dr. Matthews came in and held up a hand for her to stop what she was doing. He took the small cup of pills from her and gestured for her to leave. She did so reluctantly.
Dr. Matthews sighed. "Sean, I'd like you to take this medication." He said, kindly but strictly. "It'll help you calm down."
"No," Sean turned away when the doctor offered them to him. "All they do is slow my mind down and not let me feel what I want to feel. I don't wanna take them anymore."
"These are different than the ones Dr. Collins has been giving you." Dr. Matthews assured him. "I've read your records and I know all about what she gives you and your history with Bipolar disorder. These pills should help you keep a clear mind and not deal with everything that Bipolar brings on all the time."
He stared at the doctor, looking at the pills hesitantly. "Really?" He nearly pushed them away again. "But I don't need them. I feel fine."
"Of course you do," Dr. Matthews nodded. "You're going through a manic episode right now. Keep in mind that with mania comes depression, and if you don't control it now, you're gonna be right back where you were at before you started on your medication."
"But after depression comes mania again," Sean pointed out. "And I love it. It's the best high you could ever feel. I'd live with depression everyday for just a little mania. I was here last time and they put me on stuff that made all of that go away."
"Keep in mind that mania is not good for you." Dr. Matthews reminded him. "You need to take your medication because it will only get worse. The day you were diagnosed, you came in here after assaulting someone. Please, take your medication and then we can talk more about this."
Sean looked down at the meds once more, before taking the small cup and tilting it into his mouth, swallowing them dry.
- End of Flashback -
- Cue Opening 2 -
Now, six years later, Sean sat in his car in the underground parking garage beneath ER, listening to loud music and dancing to it wildly in his seat. He had all of the windows rolled up, but the music was so loud that everyone else in said garage could hear it from afar.
As he usually did when he was in the car, Sean was listening to booming rock music, though he never had it up this loud.
Other people who worked at ER walked by his car, frowning when they saw him in there. Some frowned because they knew him and had never seen him so energetic before, and others were frowning at the loudness of the music, wondering how Sean didn't have hearing loss by now.
That morning, Sean had also taken Taz to work with him, which they sometimes did when they didn't have anything else to do separately. Taz had gone up to the chief base without him, but when he didn't come up after her, she decided to go back down to see what he was doing.
Tapping on his window, Taz startled Sean, who turned to look at her before he rolled the window down. When he did, all of his music filled the garage even further, making everyone nearby look at them.
"Sean, what are you doing?" She asked, waving at people who stared at them, embarrassed by his behavior. "You know Masters will kill you if he finds you down here doing this."
He shrugged. "So what? I was actually thinking of starting my own business anyways."
"What are you talking about?" Taz looked at him like he was crazy.
"Starting my own business, duh." Sean responded, as if it was obvious. "I'm gonna be the CEO of a new phone company. You're currently looking at the next Bill Gates. You should be honored."
"Okay," Taz said slowly, confused. "Well, right now you still have a job here, so can you come upstairs?"
Sean sighed exasperatedly. "Fine," He drawled, reaching over and turning his music off irritatedly, before pulling his keys out of the ignition and getting out of the car. Once he was out, he grabbed Taz suddenly and kissed her passionately, running his hands over her body. He let go and smirked at her. "That's just a taste of what you'll get later."
Taz stared at him in shock as he walked towards the elevator, fixing her shirt and taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes for a moment before following after him, staying a bit away when they were both in the elevator together.
Before she could react, he took her hand and lead her out of the elevator, pulling her quickly along with him as they went into the chief base.
"Good morning!" Sean called out. Everyone in the room stopped and turned to him, looking a bit chagrined.
They walked further into the base, stopping at the middle console when Masters walked in. Masters cleared his throat, gesturing for all of them to gather around the console for his instructions.
"What's up, boss-man?" Sean greeted.
Masters froze before he spoke, turning to Sean with a glare. "Excuse me?"
"He's just a little overexcited today," Taz interrupted. "He didn't mean anything by it, Masters."
"I'm sure." Masters nodded, giving Sean a scolding look before addressing everyone. "Since Joey's still out of commission, our possible lead on Silas is going to be passed over to the lieutenants temporarily, unless something important is found. You four are gonna be going out on patrol in partners today."
"Can I be with Sean?" Tori spoke up before Masters could assign them partners. "We haven't been paired in a while." She fixed him with a look.
He sighed. "Yes, you and Sean can go out and patrol around the pier," Masters told her. "Taz and Nat can take the town square."
"Wait a minute," Sean stopped them. "Why is our case being passed over to the lieutenants just because Joey is out? I think we can handle it. What's going on?"
The chief mentor fixed Sean with a scowl. "Those orders come from higher-up, not me. Besides that, the new lieutenant, Moran, actually came in contact with Silas, so I figure they might as well have it for now."
Tori frowned. "Okay, but what is going on?" She asked, not unkindly.
"We believe Silas is looking to steal money from a fairly rich man named Arthur Wright," Masters explained. "Arthur is the CEO of the NSHT building in town, and..." He trailed off when Sean starts chuckling. "Yes, Sean?"
"What kind of name is NSHT?" Sean laughed.
"NSHT stands for National Superhuman Taskforce," Masters told him, his tone cold. "They are the main people that fund places like ER and have their own agency with special agents more highly trained than anyone here. Arthur brought up a branch of NSHT by himself and made it more money than you can imagine by creating new equipment to protect the people we save. Their equipment created our morphers. Without his efforts, we wouldn't be as far as we are now."
Sean shrugged. "I could've come up with a better name."
Nat stepped in between them when she saw Masters face turn dark as he glared daggers at Sean. "Okay, let's stop there," She said. "We should probably get out there. I'm sure the lieutenants will do fine on our case today,"
She got the four rangers out of the door and gave Tori a pursed lip smile as she took Taz and went the other way, while Tori led Sean out of ER.
- PRER -
Silas laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling as Belladonna lay quietly against his chest. The two were covered by blankets, and Silas had his arm wrapped around Belladonna in a way he didn't usually do.
After Moran had saw him and tried to take him out at the dog fighting ring, Belladonna had been on edge and worried about the whole thing, while he wasn't too sure how he felt about it.
On one hand, he wasn't too worried about it. The rangers, even if they knew where he was at all times, would never just swoop in to take him out because they knew of the retaliation that would come. They knew it wasn't that simple, and they definitely didn't have the manpower to handle a full scale riot against them.
On the other hand, Silas had to admit that it was a bit disconcerting that they had found him and even had a ranger undercover right under his nose, and he didn't know about it. He usually felt strong against the rangers, and he knew he was, but it really smacked him in the face with how much he had been risking by overestimating himself.
Having had a long time to think about it afterwards, he decided that he wasn't going to look at himself as invincible anymore. That was what damaged his father and made him take over in the first place. He loved his father, and still did, but he didn't want to fall down the same path as he did.
Besides that, his father expected better from him. He wasn't disappointed in Silas, but he was definitely distressed by the information.
Belladonna shifted against his chest, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Are you thinking about our heist plans?"
"That's..." Silas trailed off, knowing how he couldn't trust Belladonna. "Exactly what I was thinking about. If we steal from Arthur Wright, we can take his weapons and products to use against the rangers."
"Not only that, but imagine the money we would get," Belladonna raved, smiling wildly. "He's very rich, and I could definitely use some of that cash right about now."
He nodded. "Yes, that would be excellent."
"But we're only gonna do it if the rangers are off of our asses." She said, sternly. "So, I don't think we should do it yet."
"No, we're not going to." Silas agreed. "It will take a few months to plan, and I'm sure one of the men from the dog fights has told the rangers something about it. Besides, I have other things planned for the rangers in the meantime. Be assured that I would never do anything to put our mission at risk."
"Are you sure?" Belladonna asked, irritatedly. "Because you're the one who was almost caught a little bit ago."
Silas suddenly sat up, pushing her away from him. "I don't think you have the right to talk about that, considering how you purposefully got your sister caught for you crimes. They know she wasn't the only one, Belladonna. Don't treat me like I'm the only one."
She sat up as well, glaring at him, "My sister was willing to do, and she hasn't snitched on me yet. If she's lucky, maybe I'll break her out one of these days; Lara deserves it."
"Get out of my bed," Silas told her lowly. "Lara may have been willing to do that, but I'm not willing to have this conversation with you. I'd like you to leave."
Huffing, Belladonna stood. "Fine. Just remember who your allies are when the time comes."
"Are you really my ally?" He asked as she walked away, making her stop. "Or are you with me simply for the reward when it comes?"
"I don't have to listen to this," Belladonna shook her head, stalking into the bathroom to put her clothes on while Silas laid back in bed alone.
- PRER -
At the pier, Tori and Sean were walking along, keeping a look out for anything suspicious while they were on patrol. Tori watched as Sean walked rather quickly and was looking around intensely. She was about to say something when he suddenly slowed down and rolled his eyes.
"There's nothing here," He announced, holding his hands up in defeat. "Masters knew that. He must have just sent us here for a test."
"What?" Tori raised an eyebrow. "Why would he want to test us?"
"I don't know, I'm not Masters," Sean shrugged roughly. "Maybe he sent us here to get rid of us."
She scoffed. "Okay, well I think you know what my next question is gonna be."
"Tori, there's no other explanation for why he sent us here." Sean told her, getting frustrated. "Masters has something up his sleeve; I can feel it in my bones."
"Okay, that's enough." Tori stopped in her tracks, making him do the same. "I know you're not taking your meds, Sean. You may think you've got everyone fooled, or maybe you don't care to fool them, but it's very obvious. You haven't been yourself in over a month, and it's getting out of hand."
Sean crossed his arms, glaring at her. "Why is it any of your business? So what if I don't take my meds? I don't need them! I have never felt better than I do now. Those pills were just holding me back."
Tori sighed. "No, they were making sure you weren't manic, which you have been and are now. The only reason you feel so good is because of your mania. You need to talk to your psychiatrist and get it under control."
"I'm fine." Sean growled, turning to walk away from her.
"You're not fine!" She called after him. He stopped again, taking a deep breath to contain himself as he turned around. "You need help. I've seen your reports, the ones you had to turn into Masters when you became a chief, and I know that you can get dangerous when you're manic. This isn't good for you."
He stormed up to her and got close to her face, jabbing a finger hard into her shoulder. "You don't know anything about me, bitch!"
"All you're doing is proving my point," Tori said lowly, staring back at him without flinching. "Now get out of my face before I make you."
"Try me," Sean held his hands out provocatively. "Hit me."
"Not unless you hit me first." Tori responded. Before Tori could speak further, Sean shoved her back hard. She stumbled back and nearly fell, before looking back at him. "This isn't something you want to get into, Sean."
Again, he walked up to her and shoved her roughly. Her back hit a wall and, as he walked up to her again, Tori kicked him in the stomach and watched him fall to his knees. He stood back up and came closer, making her jab him in the face a few times. He fell back a few steps, leaning against a bench nearby. He groaned and wiped blood from his face. His groan then turned into hysterical laughter as he stood back up. "Is that all you got?"
Shaking her head, Tori spoke up, "I'm not gonna fight you."
"That's too bad," Sean stood fully and lunged at her, slamming her hard into the wall. She struggled against him pinning her there, kicking and punching at him. She kicked him in the shin, which made him stumble to the side and sent both of them to the ground.
The two fought for control on the ground, with Sean eventually pinning her to the ground since she was only fighting to gain the upper hand instead of to harm him and staring threateningly down at her, much to the shock of the patrons gathering in a crowd around them.
"Don't do this." Tori stared up at him, actually feeling fearful. She chose to only defend herself in the fight rather than actually fight, and now she had no idea what he was gonna do to her.
"You started this." Sean growled, punching her in the face.
Her head knocked back slightly and she winced, trying to keep a strong facade up. He began repeatedly punching her over and over, barely leaving anytime for her to step in and block some of the punches.
When she became winded, he knocked her hands away and continued to punch without any signs of letting up anytime soon.
"Hey!" A booming voice called from behind them.
Neither of them had time to look up before a taser hit Sean's back and shocked him, making him fall off of Tori and loose consciousness.
- PRER -
Meanwhile, the lieutenants arrived at the NSHT building, looking up at the large skyscraper before carefully walking in. They showed security their ER ranger badges before walking into the main lobby. The group looked around before locating the elevator.
"Okay, Owen stay down here," Autumn ordered. "We need you on lookout in case of anything suspicious."
"Got it." Owen nodded, taking a stand in the front while the others went over to the elevator and took it up to the top floor, where Arthur Wright's office was.
There was a long hallway that led to multiple offices and a few hallways. Autumn turned to Moran. "Can you check out the hallways? Just do a quick walk to check for anyone out of place before you come in,"
Moran nodded and took off down the opposite way than they did. She walked slowly, eyeing both directions and peeking in open doors to see if she could see anything suspicious or out of the ordinary.
When she turned the corner, distracted by looking at a security camera on the wall, she bumped into a young man who was walking towards her and was knocked off of her feet while he spilled his papers all over the floor.
Embarrassed, Moran cringed and leaned forward to help him pick up the papers, muttering, "I'm so sorry,"
"Don't worry about it," The young man replied, grabbing his papers and tucking them under his arm before offering a hand to help her up. "It's my fault, I should've been watching where I was going."
"No, it was..." Moran trailed off as she finally got a look at him, and was startled when she saw his appearance. "Joey?" She questioned, as he looked exactly like Joey, only his hair was styled a bit different and he wore a white dress shirt, khaki dress pants, and black converse.
He raised an eyebrow, "No," He chuckled lightly. "Though it's not the first time I've ever been mistaken for someone else." She blushed in embarrassment, and he held his hand out, "I'm Anthony Wright, but you can call me Tony. You are?"
"Moran Blue," She shook his hand, a bit flustered. "Umm.. Officer Moran Blue." Moran pulled out her badge, offering it to him.
"Wow, you're a ranger?" Tony asked, barely glancing at her badge, before waving it off. "That's highly impressive. I've always wished I could work on the force like that."
"Really?" Moran looked around at the building they were in, before looking Tony over. "I wouldn't expect that from someone who works in a place like this. No offense, but it just seems like more an office dwelling version of saving lives than out in the field."
Tony laughed, "Yeah, probably not. I guess it's a good thing I don't really work here." He commented. "This is my dad's company. I'm actually a private detective,"
"Oh, well now I feel like an idiot," Moran laughed back, albeit nervously. "Well, you got the look down. You look almost exactly like a coworker of mine."
"Joey, I'm guessing?" Tony quipped, and Moran nodded shyly. "He must be a pretty good looking guy, then."
Moran blushed at his comment. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were flirting with me, Tony."
"I'm sorry, I'm probably making you uncomfortable," Tony responded, shifting the papers in his arms. "I'm not usually so straightforward, I promise - in fact, you probably wouldn't have even noticed on a normal day. I like to take things slow, you know?"
She smirked slightly. "How do I know that's not just something you tell all the girls?"
Gesturing around, he smirked in response. "What women do you see around here? Besides that, I guess you can't know, but I've always liked to think of myself as better than one of those guys, even if that sounds conceited. I don't like just messing around with people, I like to play it safe."
"Good answer," Moran bit her lip, before shrugging. "I'd love to hang around and talk, honestly, but I've got to catch up with my team." She, on a whim, touched his arm briefly as she walked away. "It's nice to meet you."
He smiled and nodded. "You too. Hopefully I'll see you again, sometime."
"Hopefully," She agreed, before departing from him and continuing down the hallway, taking a look back to see he was gone and sighed in a bit of disappointment. Despite this, Moran continued down the hallway, checking around before she made it back to the room she was supposed to be in, slipping in and hoping she wouldn't be noticed for being late.
- PRER -
Tori sat in the waiting room of the psychiatry ward at the hospital, holding an ice pack to her bruised face. Thankfully, there was no real damage that had been done by Sean's intense assault on her, but she was definitely sore and would have some blossoming colors on her face to coincide with it.
She leaned forward in her seat slightly as Taz and Nat came into the room, both looking disheveled by the news - Taz especially. The green ranger was very obviously worried, though her expression turned darker when she saw Tori's face.
"Oh my god," Taz moved towards her, sitting next to Tori to try and see the damage. "Are you alright? Sean hurt you like this?"
"It looks worse than it is," Tori assured her, pulling her hands away from her face. "He did, but only because I confronted him about being off of his meds, which he shouldn't have been off of."
Taz ran a hand through her hair, pursing her lips. "He told me about it a while ago, but I didn't even think anything of it when he started acting off. I should've known."
"Don't blame yourself," Nat butt in, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You were only trusting him on what he said."
"So what do I do now? I've never dealt with something like this before," Taz said, worriedly.
"You need to do what's best for yourself." Nat advised, after Tori didn't say anything. "If you can't handle something like this, maybe you need to take a step back, but if you really love him and want to be there regardless, then you need to stay and fight for him."
The red chief looked up at her, her expression wary. "I wouldn't stay." She admitted, bluntly. "He's my friend, and I do care about Sean, but he's borderline abusive like this. He needs to clean himself up before you should be comfortable like that."
"I don't know, Tori," Taz played with her hair aimlessly. "I think Nat's right. I love Sean too much to let him go because of a mental illness that he can't control, especially when he does so good when he is on his meds. I'm gonna stay around and help him get through this, so that I can do so in the future too."
"If you say so." Tori shifted the ice pack on her face.
The three lapsed into silence for a few moments before a doctor came towards them in the waiting room. "You three are here for Sean Francis?"
"Yes," Taz turned to him eagerly. "I'm his girlfriend."
He nodded in understanding, "Ah, well, I'm here to deliver some good and bad news." The doctor told them. "Sean is currently sedated and is being immediately put back on his medication. Unfortunately, it will take a few weeks to start working effectively, and we would like to keep him here in the meantime for his safety, as well as that of others."
They exchanged looks, and Taz spoke up again. "But, he'll be alright?"
"I'm hopeful, considering his immense progress with his current psychologist," He responded. "We're just monitoring him until he calms down to a more appropriate state."
Nat nudged Taz lightly and asked, "Can she see him?"
"At the current time, I'm going to have to say no," The doctor responded, sympathetically. "You'll likely be able to see him later tonight or early tomorrow morning at the soonest. We can call you, if you'd like."
"That's alright," Taz shook her head. "I'm gonna go back to our apartment to get some things for him and then come back to wait."
"Sounds fine," He said. "I'll have a nurse let you know when you're allowed back."
Taz gave him a small smile. "Thank you, doctor."
The doctor nodded back at her and left to go attend other patients, while Nat turned to Taz. "Do you want me to wait with you?"
"No, it's okay." Taz said. "It'll be a while, so don't worry about it." She picked up her bag. "I have to stop by the apartment anyways."
"I'll give you a ride." Tori offered, standing up from her seat. "I'm gonna get back to ER to tell Masters the situation."
"Thanks," Taz replied gratefully as the three left the hospital, hoping for the best.
- PRER -
Belladonna sat alone in a much nicer place than Silas' warehouse, being a rather upscale hotel room in the middle of Waverly. She had left her obtained room and went down to the private conference room in a secluded location in the back of the hotel, sitting at the chair at the end of a long table as she sipping on a glass of red wine.
She was also watching a security camera video from NSHT's building and looking through hacked files from people in the building on her laptop. Something had just caught her eye when a figure in a concealed outfit made their way into the room and sat next to her.
"You're early, for once," Belladonna commented, taking her eye off of the computer to look at the person sitting next to her. "What's the occasion?"
"Maybe it's a get-out-of-prison-early occasion," The figure, who had a feminine voice, retorted. "But then we would've met earlier, considering I've been out for a while now. I think I'm only here because I'm curious about what you want."
A smirk tugged on Belladonna's lips. "I want you to work for me, as I'm sure you already knew."
"Oh yeah?" The woman shook her head. "What is it now?"
"A simple mission," Belladonna assured her. "It's just a single shot that I want to go through the head of a person at NSHT,"
"If it's so simple, why don't you do it yourself?" She asked, crossing her arms.
The wine glass Belladonna was holding was finished off and put down on the table before she spoke. "Silas will know. We're planning a large takeover of NSHT's building sometime in the future, but I have evidence that the son of the creator wants to become a ranger." Belladonna explained. "His computer files are all about the rangers, as are his recent searches."
"How do you know that's what he wants?" The woman responded. "Maybe he's just a freaky fanboy."
"No," She disagreed. "It's too in-depth. Either way, who cares why we need to kill him, when just can?"
The woman nodded. "That's true. Who is he, and what do you want me to do?"
"His name is Anthony Wright," Belladonna told her. "And I need you to put a bullet through his body, ideally his head. Can you do it?"
She sighed, "I can do it."
"Thank you," Belladonna smiled as the woman removed her jacket and hood. "It means a lot to me, Lara."
Next time on Power Rangers Emergency Responders: Joey makes a mistake on the job and gets Nat hurt, making him rethink his reckless methods.
Next Chapter Title: Rush
Before I get into updates about my writing and such, I just want to point out that Lara, as in Lara Letford from the beginning, is back in the game! I originally intended her to be a one-off character, hence why she didn't get an actress portrayal or anything, but I then made her Belladonna's sister and got too many ideas to leave her out. Speaking of actress portrayal, she's now portrayed by Chloe Bennett!
Now, I'm glad to announce that everything will officially be back to the way it was with my writing! I was planning on waiting until I was completely finished with my work, but not only did school start back up right after but, I was actually in treatment for an eating disorder in the meantime and only was able to get to a computer once, and when I did I ended up doing my Beta reading once before also leaving it because of the constraints on my schedule. The new plan is to get them out by story for the '5th anniversary' stuff, so the next three chapters of this story will be released today, and PRRF will be when I'm done, then PRED.
I know I probably disappointed you guys with my break and such after I promised so much, and I'm so sorry for that. All of those chapters will be going up, however, and I'll try to make it up to you however I can! The biggest I'm sorry goes out to Quantum Bewear, as they gave me this idea, was my biggest supporter on it, and was disappointed when it failed miserably. I'll be PMing them very soon to make it up as well!
Oh, and I wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who PMed me about how I was doing after my last author's note update - it means a lot to be that you guys care enough to do so! I also wanted to tell anyone whose stories I review regularly or was planning to review that I've been pretty focused on my personal life, as you may realize from above, and I was reading the stories, but didn't leave any reviews! So I should say to ICrzy, SentaSophia, Perry The Brave, and more that you guys are doing great on your work! Anyone else should definitely check them out!
One last thing is that I'll have a new section here dedicated to my Tumblr page that just lets you guys know what I'm posting on there so you can check it out if you're interested. I'll be posting a new update on there after every update on here.
Tumblr Update (charliehartley-writer): Deleted scene from the last chapter of Power Rangers: Guardians of the Galaxy.
Here's the lineup for the next five chapters!
Ep 21: White Lieutenant - Final new ranger!
Ep 22: Brothers - White Lieutenant and Joey focused chapter.
Special: Origins Part I - Tori and Autumn focused chapter.
Special: Origins Part II - Sean and Jason focused chapter.
Special: Origins Part III - Taz and Nikki focused chapter.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys back with the next one!
© Copyrighted by Charlotte 'Charlie' Hartley