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Thunderstruck

Chapter 10:Bad Blood

Ten months have passed. It is now October 2006, in the present day

Flashback

1983

A young Navy Thunder Ninja streaked through the forests just outside the Thunder Ninja Academy. Once he felt that he was far enough away, he removed his ninja mask and took out the scroll he had managed to swipe. He carefully unrolled it and watched it glow with ancient ninja magic.

"The scroll of Lokar…the most powerful dark ninja in history," he murmured, as he read the words and prophecy. It wasn't the complete story, but he couldn't afford to steal too many scrolls at a time. Omino would notice soon enough, but it was a risk he had to take. Releasing Lokar was the answer to all his problems, but bringing him back wouldn't be easy.

There were only three ways and for the first, he didn't have the kind of power it took to open a portal to the ancient world that would allow Lokar to step through to this time period.

The second was to summon him in spirit form. This required power too and actually limited Lokar's power to be used as a tool to those who had summoned him.

The third was…to use the scroll to allow his spirit to possess a living being. And not just any being…an infant, which worked well for him, because he was to be a father soon. He would raise the future ruler of the world and rule beside his soon to be powerful offspring. That was…if Omino and his lackeys didn't get in the way. He suspected they were onto him and would try to stop him soon. But he was confident he could overcome them. He absorbed all the information from the scroll and his eyes went black with dark ninja magic. Lokar's spirit called to him and he would follow through.

"Logan?" a female voice called. His back was turned to her and he rolled the scroll up. His eyes turned back to their normal brown and he turned around with a smile for her. His beautiful wife, Sarah Bradley Zimmer, her belly round with his child. Her designation was crimson, as was her twin brother's.

James Bradley and his wife Elizabeth hated him though. He was what they considered a bad seed, though he supposed they were right. In his own way, he did love Sarah and his offspring, but she would have to accept what he was about to bring forth, or he would have to eliminate her with the rest of the resistance he knew would come.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked.

"Just a little meditation," he answered quickly, as he hugged her.

"But I should be asking you the same. You know you shouldn't wander too far from the school grounds in your condition. The doctor said it could be any day now," he chided. She smiled.

"I know…it is peaceful out here and I think the baby likes it," she said. He nodded and put his arm around her, as they returned to the school and their home.


Present Day

Rocky and Skull, or rather Eugene, as most people now called him, got out of the car and began their approach to the crime scene. They had been called in on another homicide and were sure it was part of the recent string they had been investigating. It saddened them both that Angel Grove wasn't quite the sleepy city it had once been. In fact, crime had increased forty percent since the days when Angel Grove's main problem was monster attacks. And if Rocky was truthful, he preferred Zedd, Mondo, or Divatox's monsters. At least he knew where they came from, why they were attacking, and how they would be defeated, even in the days after he was no longer a ranger. At least with alien monsters attacking, there would always be power rangers there to protect people.

But human evil like this was an entirely different story and when the murders were connected to a possible drug network, it only made things more complicated. They couldn't get people to talk out of fear and ones that would talk were always winding up dead, despite the best police protection. Angel Grove Police Department had already lost three officers in the last year, two on protection details and one undercover vice officer.

"What do we have?" Rocky asked the female beat cop that had called it in.

"Latina female, no ID, probably between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four, her gut sliced clean open," she reported, as Rocky lifted the tarp and examined the gruesome scene. As a ranger, he had seen things that would make anyone turn white as a sheet, but it didn't prepare him for this kind of carnage. The first time he saw something like this as a young beat cop, he had lost everything in his stomach.

"She looks like the others, definitely possible Mexican descent," Skull suggested.

"Yeah, she was cut open just like the other victims, probably for the drugs they smuggled inside her," Rocky replied, as he placed the tarp back over the body.

"This thing is bigger than just Angel Grove…" Skull said. Rocky nodded.

"It's nationwide," the former blue Zeo ranger sighed.

"I'm going to call Billy at Quantico and see if can give me any leads…off the record, of course," Rocky decided. His superiors wouldn't take kindly to Federal involvement unless they had no other choice, but Rocky had no patience or time for bureaucrats when young women were being used as drug mules and then murdered.


"The Angel Grove police still have no suspects in the murders, except that they are drug related. They are asking that the citizens of Angel Grove remain vigilant," the male reporter stated, as the camera panned to Tanya Sloan-Park.

"And to end on a higher note, we have a miraculous story coming out of Hawaii tonight. A badly burned man that was found on the shores of a beach two years ago has in fact survived. You may remember hearing this story back in late 2004 when the male, so badly burned and unrecognizable, was discovered washed up on a beach," Tanya said, pausing for a moment.

"After being discovered by three people, who found the man had a pulse, he was rushed to the nearest hospital. He was not expected to survive and has remained in a deep, medically induced coma since that day. While doctors say he must still remain in his coma, his condition was upgraded to stable this week. Perhaps miracles do happen," Tanya concluded, trying to end the news broadcast on a higher note in what was a gruesome newscast. Today was actually her first day back from maternity leave. Their baby girl, Ashala Sun Park, was three months old now and even though she had only been back to work a few hours, she couldn't wait to go home to her baby and away from this ugliness.


A compound somewhere near Mexico City

The man's head snapped to the side, as he was struck hard with a leather belt. He sat tied to a chair with a woman, who was also tied to a chair at his back. She yelped in pain, as she was struck as well.

"We know that you're undercover agents…now tell us what you know," the man, dressed in a dark suit, demanded.

"You're mistaken. We are just a couple traveling through your beautiful country," Jack Hanson lied, which earned him another blow to the left side of his face.

"Lie if you must, American scum, but we know everything about you," the man said, as he turned to his constituents.

"Your cover has been blown and we know your true identities, Jack and Alana Hanson, DEA vice agents, hailing from Blue Bay Harbor, California. How quaint," the man sneered. His technician at the laptop said something in Spanish very quietly and their captor seemed very intrigued.

"Interesting…you have a daughter," he stated, causing Jack and Alana to freeze in fear. They had been so careful and yet someone had exposed them as not only government agents, but their personal lives as well. The technician turned the laptop screen so his boss could see the photo and the two felt it very hard for them to breathe suddenly.

"What a beautiful girl…I think I must meet her," he sneered.

"No…NO LEAVE HER ALONE!" Jack yelled, as he and Alana struggled with their bonds.

"Keep an eye on them. I'm going to California for a few days," he said with an evil smirk.


Ninja Ops

Cam sighed, as he sat back in his chair in Ninja Ops. They didn't have a need for a ranger headquarters anymore, but the room still remained a place where they often gathered when they were together and off limits to students, with the exception of Marah and Kapri since they were family.

"You look exhausted, son," Kanoi mentioned, as he set a cup of tea down for him.

"Thanks dad...and I am. I'm starting to think that Leann and I should have eloped," Cam replied.

"Bringing two academies together that were once rivals will not be an easy transition, but your union will do so," Kanoi stated.

"There are those at both academies that don't like the idea of merging the schools, you know," Cam reminded. Kanoi nodded.

"I know, son, but in time, those that choose to stay will learn to accept it. Years ago, I may not have been so open to our once rival academies becoming one and it is likely Omino would have felt the same. But as Lothor so thoroughly taught us, we will fail apart, but prevail together as one," Kanoi said wisely. Cam nodded.

"Would you and Leann not marry if we decided not to merge the academies?" Kanoi asked. Cam looked appalled.

"Of course not, I love her. It wouldn't matter to me," Cam replied. Kanoi smiled.

"Then you shouldn't worry about what others think," Kanoi said. Cam nodded.

"Thanks dad," he replied, as he went back to work.


The Thunder Ninja Academy

Outside Reefside, CA

Several Thunder academy students jogged through the woods that surrounded their Academy, which was located just outside Reefside. Four of them in all, two uniforms stripped in Navy and the other two in Crimson, indicating their fighting classes.

"Did Zara get it?" one of the males, a Caucasian boy with brown hair, asked in a hushed whisper. The red haired girl with green eyes smiled and held up the tattered looking scroll.

"Yes, this is it!" the other boy, an athletically built boy with ash blonde hair and blue eyes.

"What if we get caught?" the last girl, a tall brunette asked.

"Zara is taking care of that right now by making a spectacle. We'll be fine for a few minutes," the blonde, known as Derek, stated.

"This is it…the scroll of devastation," Ashlee, the tall brunette, said as they glanced wearily at each other.

"We're so expelled if Omino or Bradley find out we stole this," the brown haired young man known as Nate said.

"Zara knows what she's doing. Now hide the scroll and let's get back," Rachel, the red head, snapped. They hid it in the hollow of the tree and covered it with leaves, before heading back to the academy grounds.


Tori shut the door on her van and slung her blue bag over her shoulder. A few of the students still gave her odd looks, but most were used to her presence at the Thunder Academy now, as she had been a frequent visitor in the last ten months.

"Hey Tor," Leann greeted, as she walked into the main operations building.

"Hi Leann," Tori greeted in return.

"You're just in time. I think Hunter's ready to escape again," Leann said.

"Uh oh...is it a problem with the same student again?" Tori asked. She nodded.

"Most nuts can be cracked, but this girl is having none of it. She deliberately goes out of her way to break the rules. I think she's doing it just to get personally reprimanded to Hunter's office," Leann divulged. Tori sighed.

"Sometimes his standoffish attitude has that effect on the wrong kind of girls," she replied, only half joking.

"Maybe, but the Master brooder only has eyes for you," Leann assured. Tori smiled and then remembered one other reason she had come today. She quickly fished out a stack of envelopes from her bag.

"Oh here, Cam finished his half of the invitations," Tori said, as she handed them to her.

"Thanks, I've got to get these out being that our wedding is only a few months away now," Leann said, looking at the penmanship on the envelopes and then suspiciously at her fellow female ninja.

"Did you do these for Cam?" she asked. Tori laughed.

"Not all of them, but I did help. I took pity on him," Tori replied. Leann rolled her eyes.

"He just wanted to get out of helping with planning the wedding so he could bury himself in his tech world," Leann said knowingly. Tori smiled.

"I know, I got duped, but I didn't mind," the blonde replied, as Leann hugged her.

"Go rescue your beau. I'm going to go kidnap mine and make him take me somewhere nice," she said, as he headed off. Tori waved and continued down the hall toward Hunter's office where she could hear the conversation from the open door. She guessed what they were discussing was no secret so he hadn't bothered to close the door.


The dark haired, half Asian girl smirked seductively, as Hunter tried to control his temper.

"We have to stop meeting like this…Sensei Bradley," she purred.

"You're right, we do. I'm tired of seeing you in my office every day. I should expel you for violence against another student," Hunter said sternly. She suppressed an eye roll.

"It wasn't violence, we were sparring and I'm just that much better than Daniel. It's not my fault he lacks skill," she argued. Hunter sighed.

"Zara, there is a difference between sparring and attacking, you know that," he tried to stress to her. She shrugged.

"I got carried away, I guess. Perhaps a few one on one sessions with a real Thunder ninja would be a better use of my obvious above average skills," Zara suggested.

"The only thing you're going to be doing is running laps and polishing thunder staffs," Hunter replied. Zara smirked.

"You're such a slave driver, Sensei," she pouted. Hunter was really trying not to lose it now.

"Zara…" he said sternly.

"Relax, I'm going. Has anyone ever told you that you're really sexy when you're angry?" she hissed, before walking out, nearly running right into Tori, who had caught part of the conversation. She glared at the water sensei, a look that Tori wasn't a stranger to at the Thunder Academy. Hunter sometimes was on the receiving end at the Wind Academy with some of the older sensei's who did not like the new closeness of the two schools either. Both Academies were steeped in tradition and resistant to change. But after Lothor's attack, the six ranges that had faced them knew that division was a path to failure and thus change was coming. And with it came resistance and anger.

"Wow…she's a student?" Tori asked, as she entered her boyfriend's office.

"My most difficult…every class has one I guess," he replied, as he stood up to greet her.

"She was hitting on you," she teased. He smirked and pulled her close, before planting a passionate kiss on her lips.

"You know where my heart is though," he whispered passionately, as their lips parted. Tori smiled up at him, her sapphire eyes sparkling with love, before she kissed him again. Since admitting their suppressed feelings ten months ago, they had wasted little time in exploring the depths of their feelings and things had moved fast, especially since they were far past the getting to know you phase. Moving from friends to lovers became very right and natural for them.

"Come on, let's grab some takeout and go home," he suggested. She nodded, as they joined hands and left his office. Unfortunately, as they left absorbed by each other, they failed to notice the dark eyes glaring into their backs.


FBI Headquarters

Quantico, VA

"Why haven't you gone home yet?" Jason asked, as he poked his head inside Billy's office.

"I'm working on something. Rocky called me earlier and asked for a favor and it happened to uncover a whole lot more than I anticipated," Billy replied.

"Okay, but we just closed a case. You should be home with Kat and the girls," Jason said.

"Normally I would be…but I think we may have a problem. Shut the door," Billy replied. Jason groaned.

"Is this ranger related?" Jason whispered.

"Possibly. Rocky says there has been a string of homicides recently in Angel Grove that he believes are drug related," Billy said, tossing the file to him.

"Drug mules?" Jason asked, as he looked over the information. All the women were of Latina descent and had been killed in the same manner. It was well known that many cartels smuggled drugs into the country by making young women swallow small plastic wrapped packages of various illegal drugs.

"Okay…but I still don't get why you're looking into this. It's not FBI territory," Jason responded.

I know, but Rocky asked me to look into it since I have that acquaintance that works for the DEA, off the record, of course," Billy said. Jason nodded.

"Okay…so did you find any leads?" he asked.

"Well, it seems that two of their undercover vice agents have gone missing recently. Normally I wouldn't think much about it, but he let the names slip and I looked them up," Billy said, as he turned the screen so his longtime friend could see.

"Jack and Alana Hanson?" Jason asked, not making the connection.

"They're a married team and they've been undercover running drugs for one of Mexico's most notorious drug cartels for years. We're talking about the kind of creep that makes mules out of young women and then has them cut open for the drugs when they get here, just like the dead girls that are popping up all over southern California," Billy replied.

"As much as I would like to go after a scumbag like that, our asses would be in a sling if we went anywhere near DEA territory," Jason warned.

"Normally I wouldn't even be considering it, but these are Tori's parents," Billy told him. Jason sighed and put his head down for a moment.

"Tori's parents are DEA?" Jason asked. Billy nodded.

"And she has no idea. I'm pretty sure now that they've blown their cover. The ring leader, Palo Vasquez, might send his goons after Tori to get them to talk," Billy stated.

"You're sure? Cause you have to be positive if we're going to even think about going off the radar here," Jason questioned. Billy typed something up on his system and showed Jason frozen surveillance footage on one of his screens.

"These four arrived an hour ago in LAX airport from Mexico City. L.A. is only a four hour drive to Blue Bay Harbor," Billy said. Jason sighed.

"Dammit," Jason cursed. Billy nodded.

"Tori is plenty capable and so is Hunter, but you know what these kinds of men are like, Jase. They have an entire network of thugs here in the states and access to a plethora of semi-automatic weaponry. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let them kidnap Tori if we can do something about it. You know what they'll do to her and Hunter will be killed, because he'll be right in the middle trying to protect her," Billy said. He sighed.

"They're rangers, Jase…that makes them family," Billy added.

"All right…but this has to be completely off the record. We have to go in civilian clothes and unmarked hand guns. And even then, there's a really good chance we'll be found out," Jason mentioned.

"I've already put in for my time off and then logged in as you, putting yours in as well. Since we just closed a case, it doesn't look suspicious," Billy said.

"Wait…you logged in as me?" Jason asked. Billy shrugged.

"Just trying to save time," Billy replied nonchalantly.

"Okay…but say we do capture those goons and free Tori's parents. Then they start flapping their gums and we're found out? Our careers would be over," Jason warned.

"I've actually taken care of that, since we're officially turning this into a ranger mission. After we apprehend our perpetrators, they won't remember a thing about us," Billy said slyly.

"Do I want to know what you mean by that? Or how many rules it probably breaks?" Jason asked. Billy smirked.

"It's a good story. You see, back in the day, Adam did this school project in Ms. Appleby's class where he brought in a kaleidoscope. And Zedd being Zedd decided to turn it into a monster that could scramble our brains. Tommy, Kim, and I lost our memories," Billy rambled. Jason shook his head, as Billy continued.

"So after we got them back and it was all over, I started playing around with the same concept; how light can scramble our molecules in the right circumstances and I sort of came up with a little device that can erase as much memory as I want it to," Billy explained.

"Hold on…are you saying you have one of those little flashy light memory things like in Men in Black?" Jason asked, referring to the movie.

"Um…huh, well I actually hadn't thought of that comparison, but yeah, it's a lot like that," Billy replied. Jason shook his head and chuckled a little.

"You know, we would be so screwed if you went evil on us," Jason joked. Billy scoffed.

"Like I would do that. Kat would kill me," Billy joked back.

"So I suppose you already booked our plane tickets?" Jason asked.

"No time, the goons have several hours on us. We're using the ranger express from my basement lab," Billy replied.

"Of course we are," Jason drawled.

"I need to call Trini or did you already do that for me too?" Jason asked.

"No, but Kat might have already. We're dropping her and the girls off in Angel Grove and picking up Rocky and Adam," Billy replied.

"Oh this just gets better and better. Next you'll tell me that we're swinging into Reefside for Tommy too," Jason quipped.

"He's meeting us in Blue Bay Harbor," Billy answered. Jason threw his hands up.

"Am I the last to know about all of this?" Jason asked.

"Yes, but not intentionally. It's not my fault you're getting your boxers in a twist, because I'm not letting you play fearless leader," Billy joked back, making Jason laugh again, as they headed for the elevator.