Chapter Sixty-One
Target Rangers
Rocky couldn't believe this was happening to him. Stuff like this didn't happen to him. Stuff like this happened to Zack.
Zack and Conner, standing on either side of Rocky, were slowly raising their hands, eyes wide behind their masks. Rocky, however, wasn't sure if the two police officers pointing nine-millimeter handguns at them wanted Rocky to drop the shovel before raising his hands or not. Probably, but if he just let it go it'd probably land on his foot, and if he threw it he might get shot. Either way, Rocky wasn't too keen on hospitals.
Rocky was surprised to realize that having a gun trained on him by law enforcement officer didn't scare him at all. He was pretty sure he was supposed to be scared, but mostly he was just grim, determined, uneasy, examining the options, and thinking that this whole mess might be more trouble than it was worth.
"Officer," Rocky said slowly, "we haven't done anything wro—"
"RUN!" screamed one of the girls, though Rocky couldn't tell which. A moment later, the girls had vanished into the trees.
Suddenly Rocky wasn't liking the odds so well. He hadn't done anything wrong, true—unless it was illegal to dig holes in a public park while masked—but the girls were fleeing law enforcement, so they probably felt they had a reason to do so, and if Adam had been right about the axe murderer thing, Rocky didn't want to be caught in the crossfire.
Even though some part of him knew it was a bad idea, knew he really shouldn't do it, something about being safely behind a mask made Rocky turn and bolt into the forest as well. Zack was right behind him, and before the cop who'd told them to freeze had finished swearing, Conner was yelling "Wait for me!"
Thankfully, the cops had been a good fifty feet away when they'd popped into the clearing, so Rocky, Zack and Conner had a good head start, and the cops were bound to be slowed down by the multitude of holes throughout the clearing. Rocky thanked God for making him athletic as he sprinted through the trees, Zack and Conner on his heels.
It became harder to follow Rachel, Sandra and Dee, as they were now zigzagging through the trees, dodging left and right, which slowed them down until the guys had almost caught up with them. Rocky tried to puzzle this out and remembered reading that when being shot at, running in a zigzag pattern decreases the chance of getting hit, as a bullet's trajectory is straight.
"Guys, don't run in a straight line! Wind through the trees!" Rocky ordered.
"Why?" Conner asked. "That'll slow us down! The shortest distance between two points is a straight line, even I know that!"
"Yeah, but zigzags mean less chance of getting shot!"
"What?" Conner yelped.
"I thought that was for alligators or something," Zack mused as he darted to the left.
They began to lose ground on the girls and a quick glance over his shoulder showed Rocky that the cops were gaining. They weren't shooting, for which Rocky was grateful, but he didn't know exactly what it would take to get them to shoot.
"Split up!" Rachel called from ahead. "Meet back at the rendezvous point!"
Dee veered left, Sandra veered right, and Rachel returned to going in a straight line, dead ahead. Rocky almost ordered the guys to split up as well, but he had no idea what the rendezvous point was. And now, most unfortunately, there was less chance that the girls would get caught, and more that Rocky, Zack and Conner would. Rocky grit his teeth and switched the shovel to his other hand; heavy as it was, he didn't want to leave it behind, just in case it could be traced back to him.
"Conner," Rocky called urgently. "Do you still have any you-know-what left?"
"Any what?"
"Any… any red juice left?"
"Huh? Oh. No. No, I don't have any, um, juice left."
"Damn." Granted, Rocky had the Blue Zeo Powers and Zack the Black Mighty Morphin, which they could use to escape, but they couldn't just leave Conner to hang.
"Couldn't risk it anyway," Zack panted. "Too important. Almost blew everything last night; not gonna risk it today."
"We got the masks," Rocky pointed out.
"Doesn't matter. Skin tone, clothing, height, build—not to mention they got a good look at the girls. Could probably trace us back to the carnival riot on clothes alone, and before you know it…"
Rocky sighed and switched the shovel back to his right hand. "Anyone got a plan?"
"We could fight," Conner suggested, with no enthusiasm whatsoever.
"That's assault," Zack said flatly.
"And this is resisting arrest," Conner shot back. He groaned. "Oh, man—Dr. O's gonna kill me!"
Jason sighed and came to a halt by a stream that ran the length of the forest. He was reluctant to leave the path, as he doubted Rocky, Zack and Conner would have a reason to do so (at least, a reason Jason would want to walk in on). Trini had called roughly a half-hour ago to tell him that she'd spotted Dee, who'd been alone and had ditched Trini by nailing her in the eye with a Sharpie (which Jason was pretty sure Rocky, Zack or Conner would be paying for). There really wasn't that much hope of finding the guys and their axe-murderer girlfriends; in a park this size, even splitting up from Adam, Billy and Trini meant they'd still be covering a good ten acres each, minimum…
"Hi Rocky's friend!"
Jason whipped around. Rachel burst out of the trees, leaped over the stream like a track team member doing the hurdles, and bolted across the grassy field. Jason tried to puzzle this moment out logically, but his instincts quickly took over.
She's being chased, Jason thought. By what?
He turned back to the trees as Rachel disappeared down a hill. Coming straight towards him were three guys in ski masks… one of whom was wearing a new red-and-black shirt just like one Jason had worn Monday.
"Conner," Jason groaned, remembering Conner showing off his new shirt that morning. It appeared Jason had found Rocky, Zack and Conner at last.
They were running as if drunk, weaving through trees and occasionally smacking into a tree trunk or each other. Stepping far out of their paths, Jason peered behind them, his heart sinking when he caught sight of two cops—the sort of young, in-shape cops who looked like they could handle chasing Jason's friends all over the park. Jason sighed and wondered why there weren't any elderly or pudgy cops around anymore.
"The hell's going on?" Jason demanded.
The cops weren't close enough to hear him, but Rocky, Zack and Conner looked over in surprise. "Hey, Jase," Rocky said helplessly as he leaped over the stream.
"Catch ya later man," Zack said as he also easily cleared the water.
"Please don't tell Dr. O!" Conner whined.
"Straighten out, keep going," Rocky called. "We're losing too much ground."
And with that, Rocky, Conner and Zack vanished down the hill.
Jason grimly regarded the two cops, sizing them both up carefully. "I just know I'm going to regret this," he muttered as they neared the tree line. Taking a deep breath and averting his gaze so the cops wouldn't be know it was intentional, Jason stepped into the path of the closest officer.
"ARGH!"
With a thud and a splash, the cop crashed into Jason, bounced off, and landed in the stream. The second cop leaped over the stream, spun around and knelt on the bank in one unnervingly fluid motion. "Steve! Steven!" he shouted.
Steven rolled over and sat up, his head and shoulders popping above the rushing water. Luckily the ground beneath it was dirt, not rocks, so his fall hadn't been bad. "What are you waiting for? Get them, man, I'm fine!"
The other cop turned and took off. Soaking wet and looking livid, Steven stood up; the water only reached his knees.
"Steven? Is that you?"
Steven spared Jason a glance and did a double-take. "Jason? Jason Scott?"
"Hey, man, I ain't seen you in forever!" Jason said brightly, clasping Steve's hand and pulling him in for a one-armed hug, which Jason realized was a mistake the moment Steve's soggy uniform met Jason's favorite sleeveless red T-shirt. Steven stared at him in a "What the hell?" sort of fashion as Jason pulled back.
"Yeah, not since you left for that Conference," Steven said. Steven had been a year ahead of the Rangers, so he'd graduated by the time Jason had returned as Gold Ranger. "We could have used you on the team; we didn't even make it through round one of the districts after you and Zack left." Steven had been on the varsity football team with Jason, Tommy, Billy and Zack; the season had ended shortly before Jason and Zack had left, but the team had been sad to see them go, especially since next year's team was cut almost in half by graduating seniors.
"Yeah, I really missed football. Didn't get to play in Geneva. Some of the people there hadn't even heard of football."
Steven started to say something, then shook his head and collected himself. "Look, I'd love to catch up, but I've got a couple of criminals to catch…"
Stop him! Gotta stop him! How? Jason thought in a panic. "I'll come with you!" he blurted out, a little too loudly and happily to be natural.
Steven looked at him oddly even as he started jogging. "Um, actually, I don't think—"
"So you're a cop now?" Jason interrupted as he easily kept pace. It was obvious that Steven was tired, and the fact that his clothes were now weighted with water wasn't helping his endurance. With any luck, Steven would give up soon, although Jason knew better than to expect that. He was pretty sure that he'd have to accompany Steven in the race to arrest Rocky, Zack and Conner until he found some way to get Steven to stop.
"Yeah. Got my associate's at A.G.C.C., then went into the academy."
"Cool. How come you're not working in Angel Grove?" Jason asked, fishing through his internal stores of small talk for something to say other than "Please don't arrest my friends. Remember Tommy and Zack? Your former teammates? Tommy will kill me and Zack will go to jail and we kind of have plans for this Saturday." "Do you commute?"
"Nah. I left the Grove right after that bit with that Astronomer psycho."
"Astronema," Jason corrected automatically.
"Whatever. What are you doing now?"
"I run a karate school," Jason replied. They lapsed into silence for a moment until Jason came up with, "Oh, hey, I married Trini Kwan, remember her?"
Steven blinked. "I thought you were gay."
"That was a rumor!" Jason growled. "Trini and I have been together off and on since high school. Got married a couple years ago. What about you, you tied the knot yet?"
"No, but my girlfriend's getting impatient about it," Steven replied. He swore and halted. "Damn. I think we've—I've—lost them."
"Who were you chasing anyway?" Jason asked.
"I don't know. They're wearing ski masks. One of them scared a dog-walker."
Add that to the list of random things that happened today and we just might have sixty-one idiotic things since breakfast, Jason thought wryly. "Well, hey, since you're no longer busy, seeing as how you lost them, wanna go grab a beer or something?"
Steven gave him an incredulous look. "Uh, I'm on duty. Also soaking wet and trying to find a couple of bad guys. Maybe some other time." Shielding his eyes, he scanned the surrounding area. "Aha! There's Jarel! Down that hill!"
Steven took off again. Fighting the urge to knock him unconscious, Jason followed.
"We can't run forever," Zack muttered as the three of them charged across a field. They'd lost sight of Rachel by now, but at least there was only one cop to worry about.
"I know. I'm thinking," Rocky said shortly. "Wanna carry the shovel for me for a second?"
"No."
"Hey, um, guys?" Conner said tentatively. "Why don't we split up and meet back at the rendezvous point, too? It worked for Dee and the others."
"We don't know what the rendezvous point is, Conner," Rocky pointed out.
"Ah. But, um, Dee and Rachel and Sandra aren't from around here, right?"
"Yeah, so?" Zack replied.
"So… wouldn't the rendezvous point be the truck?"
"Duh!" Rocky exclaimed, starting to smack his forehead but stopping when he realized he was holding the shovel with that hand.
"But we've been running away from the parking lot this whole time," Zack said. "At least, I'm pretty sure. It's directly behind us. Plus at least two miles, probably closer to four."
"I'll bet you anything Dee and Sandra let the cops chase us and circled back behind them," Rocky said. "Rachel's probably done the same thing somewhere along the line. They probably let the cops blow right past them."
"So we should do that, too," Zack said. "Who wants to keep running?"
"I will. You take Conner and the shovel."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. If I get caught, at least I won't have to worry about Tommy coming after me for getting Conner thrown in jail."
Zack laughed. "You're a real hero, man."
"You two ready?"
"Yeah. Try and ditch him, next patch of woods you come to."
"Okay. Meet up on the other side of that stream and jog back. Take off the masks as soon as you're behind him, maybe your shirts, too; do whatever you can not to look like the guys in masks minus the masks. Try to blend in, look like you're just out for a run. I'll slow down for a minute, make him chase me."
"Gotcha." Zack took the shovel. "Now, Conner!"
The two of them sprinted off to either direction. Rocky skidded to a stop and turned to face his pursuer, letting the cop think that he was giving up to save his friends. The cop was only ten yards away when Rocky bolted once again.
"Damn it, I am so gonna shoot you!" the cop shouted in frustration.
In spite of himself, Rocky smirked.
Something blue suddenly appeared next to Jason, and he looked over to see Billy smiling brightly as he ran alongside Jason and Steven. "You recruited the police. Good thinking, Jason."
Jason shot him a warning look. Billy's eyes widened in horror, not understanding but knowing that if Jason was running around the park with a soggy cop and not because they were searching for the others, it couldn't be good.
"Recruited the police for what?" Steven asked suspiciously.
"Finding… my dog," Jason said quickly. "It got off its leash; we were trying to find it when I ran into you."
"Might wanna call animal control for that," Steven said. "S.C.P.D. is gonna be spread pretty thin over the weekend; they're transferring a bunch of us to Angel Grove for the big Power Rangers Day thing."
"Ah." Again, Jason floundered for conversation. "Billy, you remember Steven?"
"Steven? Oh, yeah," Billy said. "From the football team. Good to see you again."
"Billy? Billy Cranston?" Steven breathed, skidding to a halt. "I thought you were dead!"
"What? Why would you think that?"
"Well, you sort of vanished after high school. I also heard you ran off to Mexico with some chick, and that you were doing top-secret government projects at Area 51."
"Rumors are so disconcerting," Billy grumbled. "How've you been?"
"Good, good—man, I really could have used your help in college, though. I couldn't get halfway through calculus at A.G.U. I mean, I got my associate's, but forget the bachelor's. I still can't thank you enough for getting me through high school."
"It was nothing," Billy said, beaming slightly. Behind Steven's back, Jason motioned for Billy to distract Steven as long as possible… but Billy misread the gesture and figured Jason meant "Keep him talking." "So what are you up to? Right now, I mean."
"Huh? Oh, crap!" Steven started running again. "My partner and I are tracking down these three guys in ski masks. One of them scared the hell out of some housewife out walking her dog, and we caught them digging up half the park with their girlfriends, but they bolted."
Jason glared at Billy as the two of them jogged beside Steven, easily keeping up with the lagging cop. Billy shot Jason an apologetic look. "So… have they done anything wrong?" Billy asked.
"Probably not legal to dig in a public park," Steven said with a shrug. "Incidents in the parks are usually handled by park rangers, but the woman they scared called it in to us. Anyway, they were digging up something, and right now they're probably gonna be facing charges for fleeing law enforcement officers."
"Oh," Billy said, exchanging panicked looks with Jason behind Steven's back.
"Steven! Over here!"
The three of them turned and jogged towards Jarel, who was leaning against a tree, catching his breath. "Lost them," Jarel gasped out. "One of them stopped, let me think he was turning himself in, then took off. Led me away from the others. Next thing I knew he was gone; I think he hid and waited for me to run past, then doubled back."
"Thank god," Billy breathed in relief. Steven and Jarel looked at him oddly, and Jason looked at him with "Shut. Up!" clearly written on his face. "Uh… I mean… you could have been hurt," Billy added quickly.
Jarel raised an eyebrow at him. "And you two are…?"
"Oh, Steven here went to high school with us," Jason said brightly. "I'm Jason Scott. This is Billy Cranston."
Jarel frowned, still trying to work out why Billy and Jason were hanging out with Steven while in pursuit of criminals. "Uh, are you cops, too?"
"No, no, I own a karate school," Jason replied. "And Billy, um…"
"I… swim," Billy supplied lamely. It was the first normal word to pop into his head that halfway-described his life on Aquitar.
"He's a lifeguard!" Jason added quickly.
"A lifeguard?" Steven said blankly. "You were a total genius back in the day."
"I still am," Billy said modestly. Floundering for an explanation, he added, "I had a midlife crisis."
"At twenty-four?"
"Uh-huh."
"Okay then."
Jarel shook his head. "I see what you meant about the Grove, dude."
"Told you so," Steven said. "Anyway, um, I really gotta get going, guys. Need to follow-up on this. Look me up, though—we'll get a beer."
"Yeah, yeah," Jason said enthusiastically. "What's your precinct number? I'll give you a call in a few days."
"Nine."
"All right then. Good seeing you… nice to meet you, Jarel… Billy, let's go find, um, my dog."
"Right. Bye!"
Jason and Billy rushed off. Jarel and Steven must have misjudged how long it would take them to get out of earshot, because a moment later they could hear Jarel saying, "They sure made a hasty retreat."
"Eh, Billy and Jason were always like that. Them and their two buddies, Tommy and Zack. Always running off for no apparent reason, spouting lame excuses and vanishing before you could ask when they'd be back. A couple of times they just disappeared for entire days."
"Why?"
"No one ever found out, but I don't think it matters. Just a quirk, I guess. Like I said, they're from Angel Grove."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Billy whispered to Jason, somewhat wounded.
"Who cares? Right now, we have to find Rocky, Zack and Conner and get them out of this park before those two find them. Steven mentioned the three guys in ski masks as the biggest priority, didn't seem that concerned with the girls… I swear. When other guys pick up girls, ditch their friends, and drive to the park, they make out with said girls on picnic blankets. Those three put on ski masks, dig up the place, and run from cops."
Billy grimaced. "Now I get what 'they're from Angel Grove' meant."
Jason chuckled and started to reply when his cell phone interrupted. Not bothering to check the ID, he hit send and pressed it to his ear without breaking stride. "Hello?"
"Hi, Jason."
"Hayley! What's going on?"
"Not much. A cop rolled into town asking questions about Tommy's identity while Bulk and Skull wreaked havoc on my café, until the cop got himself caught in a booby trap and I threatened him into backing off. You?"
Jason blinked, taking a moment to digest this. "What is it with cops today?"
"Must be a full moon or something," Hayley said, giggling.
Jason frowned. "Are you drunk?"
"Wonderfully so."
"Okay, then. Everything okay?"
"It is now. Listen, Anton Mercer offered to pay to keep my café open over the weekend while I come down for Power Rangers Day."
"Seriously? That's awesome!"
"Yeah. I was hoping I could crash on your couch, but I wouldn't be leaving here until nine-thirty or ten, so I wouldn't get there until roughly one in the morning…"
"I don't care when you show; you know you're always welcome. Between Billy and Trini, I probably won't get to actually speak to you, but I'd love to see you."
"Yeah; I don't think we've actually gotten together since Tommy got fossilized."
"No, we all rolled into town for the coma, remember?"
"Oh, yeah. Anyway, I'll call you when I'm leaving Reefside. I'm gonna train Anton's temps tomorrow and then head out."
"Okay, cool. I kind of gotta go now, though; we're in the middle of catastrophe time again."
"What is it this time?"
Jason cringed. "Rocky, Zack and Conner kinda hooked up with some cute axe-murderers. We managed to shake the cops for the moment, but we're trying to rescue Conner before Tommy finds out."
There was a long silence from Hayley's end, until he began to wonder if he'd lost signal. Finally, she replied with, "Nice."
Jason smirked. "Thanks."
Hayley laughed. "God, I miss you guys. See you tomorrow!"
"Later, Hayley." Jason hung up. "Hayley's driving in tomorrow for the weekend."
"Prodigious! I can't wait to finally meet her in person!"
Jason nudged Billy with his elbow. "She's pretty hot, bro. Probably a lot hotter than when her skin is tinged purple by the Aqua-phone."
Billy rolled his eyes. "Happily involved with a beautiful Aquitian, you know."
Jason snorted. "You know what, Billy?"
"What?"
"We really are weird."
"Most definitely, Jason. Most definitely."