[All disclaimers in Book 1.]

Something Wicked This Way Comes
Book 4
by Naomi Tilley

Part 12

Keop waited silently, tremblingly as his father and grandfather left the room, and only then did he emerge into the main room. He’d been there by sheer accident- he’d gone looking specifically for his grandfather when Mark and Jason had disappeared somewhere together. Feeling a little left out, he’d been hoping to get some time alone with his grandfather. He’d gone into the bedroom, looking for company, and it was from there that he’d overheard everything.

Mind control

An icy chill swept over Keop’s body, causing him to shiver involuntarily. How could it be any sort of control? They’d been set free… hadn’t they? Nausea filled his gut. As much as his mind was screaming at him to ignore it, he couldn’t. He’d heard it from the lips of his own father and grandfather, and there had been no one else in the room, for Keop to convince himself that it was a false statement.

He wandered to the doorway, confused and suddenly frightened. If… If it was mind control… If they were under some sort of control, then that meant…

His young mind could barely comprehend what it all meant. All he understood, somewhere in his mind, was that he’d been betrayed, and so had Mark and Jason. Dimly, he realised that they were being used and, in a dark corner of his awakening mind, he realised their loving father and caring grandfather were perhaps not quite so loving and caring after all.

Suddenly terrified, Keop fled the room to find his brothers.

 


The Safe House

 

Anderson, Cronus, Nambu and Coran met the four scouts and their two additions at the safe house, and quickly guided them through to the meeting room.

"It seems that two of you, at least, were ambushed," Nambu said, eyeing Jason and Tommy critically.

"It wasn’t their fault," Ken said quickly, firmly. "We were caught off guard. It won’t happen again."

"I should certainly hope not," Nambu murmured, not looking appeased. Anderson spared his counterpart a grim look, then turned his gaze to Zedd.

"Dare I ask where he came from?"

"Go easy, Chief," Jason advised him. "If it wasn’t for Zedd, we probably would have lost Tommy."

"Speaking of whom," Cronus said, stepping in, "you look terrible, boy."

"We’ve been over this already," Tommy snapped, quietly angry at himself for allowing Jason to get the drop on him in the first place. "I’m fine, there is nothing wrong with me. Okay?"

"You may say so," Ian retorted, clamping a hand down tightly on the youth’s shoulder, "but I’m not yet convinced. I’m going to check you over more thoroughly right now, whether you like it or not. So, unless you want me to carry your sorry behind out of here, I suggest you march yourself upstairs immediately."

Tommy looked around at Jason in disbelief, searching for some support. The teen only smiled wryly and shrugged.

"Better do what he says. I wouldn’t put it past him to actually try it."

For several seconds, it looked as though Tommy was going to take a chance to refuse. Finally, though, he conceded and angrily stomped out of the room.

"Won yourself another fan, there, Ian," Cronus commented wryly, but Ian didn’t smile.

"Joke if you want," he said quietly as he started for the door, "but something isn’t right. I checked him out briefly on the way here, and his heart rate is almost double what it should be." He paused, then shook his head grimly. "Excuse me."

He left the room hurriedly, leaving the adults alone with Ken, Joe, Jason and Zedd. Stretching his arms a little, Zedd made to leave the room.

"If you’ll excuse me, I think I might find a quiet place to rest…"

He froze, finding himself staring down the barrel of a laser gun. At the other end of the weapon, Anderson spoke in monotone.

"Jason claims you saved Tommy’s life. That may be the case, but then it may not. For all we know, you may be the cause of his current troubles, and we know how you really feel about him. Give me a reason why I should trust you, and try to make it believable."

Zedd took a cautious step back. For all his power and arrogance, he didn’t care to risk getting his mask blown off.

"That little twit Zoltar has commandeered my wife."

"And your problem is?"

Zedd let out his breath in an angry hiss. "I want her back, and I need help to do it. As much as I’d like to fool myself otherwise, I’m no match for Mordock, and I’m certainly no match for all five of them."

"Fair enough," Anderson conceded, but he made no attempt to lower the gun. Zedd glared at him, his visor glowing violently red.

"What more of an explanation do you want from me?"

"We know how much you hate Tommy, and we know how much you hate Jason Scott," Anderson said coldly. "What guarantee do we have that you won’t double-cross us and try to harm
anyone here? Especially those two?"

Zedd laughed, then. "Do you honestly believe you have a chance of rescuing those brats? You’ll have to kidnap them before you can even begin to try and break the control they’re under, and then I can guarantee that Mordock and Zoltar will kill them before it can be broken."

"What concern is it of yours?" Cronus demanded to know. "Why should you care either way?"

"Honestly?" Zedd retorted. "I don’t care. But as I said, I want my wife back, and that’s not going to happen if any of your brats…" He paused, taking in the glaring looks that were focused at him. "Excuse me, if any of your teenagers are killed. At this particular point in time it’s in my own best interests if they live. After that… Well, as you humans say, we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Anderson stood still for a long moment, watching Zedd intently, and contemplating their options. Finally, he nodded and stepped back, lowering his weapon.

"All right, then. In that case, I think we have one option open to us."

"And that would be?" Nambu asked, staring suspiciously at Zedd.

"We leave the rescuing of Zedd’s wife to the last moment," Anderson replied bluntly. "It’s the only way we have to guarantee the safety of our children around him."

Zedd laughed sneeringly at them as he sidestepped around Anderson and headed for the door.

"Your children? If I were any of you, I wouldn’t become too attached to the little brats. I don’t doubt that you’ll be suffering losses long before this battle is over." His gaze swept over Ken, Joe and Jason. "You’ll be lucky if any of you survive."

Then, he was gone.

"Charming," Joe muttered under his breath. "Absolutely charming."

"He’s right, though," Jason murmured, trying futilely to stave off the despair he was starting to feel. A hand came down on his shoulder, and he looked to see Ken standing there, looking more determined than ever.

"No, he’s not right, Jason. You wouldn’t believe him in any other circumstance. Don’t believe him now."

"Ken is right," Joe agreed. "We can win this. They might have the strength, but we have intelligence. Don’t start thinking defeat before we’ve even started."

Jason conceded reluctantly, falling into a heavy silence.

"Perhaps the three of you should go and get some rest," Cronus advised. Ken nodded, but made no move towards the door.

"All right, but first things first." He walked over to the table and unrolled a large map of the capital. "The city is a dead zone," he said as the adults gathered around. "People are hiding in their homes. The place is deserted, except for the Spectrans. They’ll have the upper hand with anything that happens within the city limits. We’d be wise to avoid getting cornered into a battle there.

"I expect that you’re right," Nambu murmured as he eyed the map critically. "However, we should be prepared for the fact that the Spectrans may not be very discriminatory as to where they fight. As much as we don’t like it, they do currently have the upper hand." He paused, then looked back to Ken, Joe and Jason. "The three of you, go and get some rest. We’ll take care of these details."

Ken and Joe went automatically at Nambu’s order, but Jason hesitated, his gaze flickering to Anderson. The Security Chief nodded.

"Go on, Jason."

Jason nodded and wearily left the room with his two companions, leaving the adults to their plans.

 

 

"Tommy?"

Tommy looked up just as Rocky and Adam came into the bedroom. They started a little, seeing he was wearing a pair of white under-shorts and nothing else, then went all the way in at Tommy’s signal.

"What’s going on?" Adam wanted to know. Tommy shook his head, his gaze fixed firmly on the floor.

"We brought a doctor back with us. He wants to give me the once over, or something."

Rocky and Adam exchanged glances, and then Rocky sat down on the bed next to his friend and leader.

"So what happened? Did you see Jason?"

Tommy hesitated in replying, biting down on his lower lip in an effort to control his emotions. Now that the adrenaline rush of his near escape was fading, the shock, and realisation, was finally starting to sink in.

"I saw him," Tommy answered finally, and he was unable to stop the tears that worked their way out of his eyes. "I… I don’t know if we’re gonna be able to save him, guys." He looked up at them finally. "I’ve got a really bad feeling that we’re gonna lose him."

"Don’t think that way," Adam said softly, fiercely. "Keep the faith, Tommy. We’ll get him back, somehow. We have to. We can’t let Zoltar win."

The door abruptly swung open, and Ian Ryder walked in. He eyed Rocky and Adam critically, then marched over to the desk and opened his medical bag.

"You boys are welcome to stay if you really want to, but I’ll kindly ask you to keep quiet for the interim." He turned around, stethoscope in one hand and something that was unrecognisable in the other. "Am I understood?"

Rocky and Adam again exchanged glances, then each nodded silent replies. A tight smile touched Ian’s lips.

"Good."

 

 

"Is it true that you’ve been G-Force’s doctor all this time?" Tommy asked, wincing a little as the cold metal of the stethoscope touched his skin. Ian nodded.

"That’s right. Well, more or less. Chief Anderson recruited me when he brought the first of the five children to Centre Neptune. That was Mark and Keop. He brought Jason, Princess and Tiny there soon after. I watched those kids grow up, quite literally. When Centre Neptune was destroyed, I returned to Washington D.C. and took up the post of Chief Surgeon at Trinity Hospital. I saw them on a regular basis, though. A little too regularly, unfortunately. Barely a month has gone by when one or other of them hasn’t been admitted to hospital for injuries they sustain in fights. Of course, after Mark and Keop learnt the truth about their past, and Zoltar was able to discover what they looked like out of uniform, they’ve been targets wherever they go. The sadistic bastard is very prone to taking potshots at them just for the hell of it."

Tommy swallowed hard. "We haven’t known them for long, but we know how bad it is for them."

"They’ve learnt to live with it," Ian said dismissively. "They’ve had to. This latest trick on Zoltar’s behalf is going to take some beating, though, that’s for sure. He’s never had any of them so securely under his control before, and that’s the frightening part."

"Have you seen them when they’ve been under Zoltar’s control before?" Rocky asked. Ian glanced sideways at him, then conceded and spoke.

"Once. It was Mark. Zoltar has targeted him for these mind control experiments a lot. The last time, though… I honestly don’t know what Zoltar did to him, but the team ended up having to physically kidnap him. They’d never had to do that before. They brought him back to Trinity, and we were forced to both restrain and sedate him for nearly three weeks before whatever it was wore off. That was a terrible time, for all of us."

He paused in the examination, a frown flickering across his features. "Tommy, breathe in slowly for me."

Tommy did so, only to gag after a couple of seconds and break into a painful coughing fit.

"Easy," Ian murmured. "How did that feel?"

"Couldn’t do it," Tommy rasped, still gasping for air. "It… It feels like my chest and throat just clamped up on me."

"What’s wrong?" Adam asked tensely. Ian looked grim.

"Without the equipment to do the appropriate tests, I can only make an educated guess. Lie down on the bed for a moment, Tommy."

Tommy did so, cringing at the fresh pain that pinched at the inside of his chest. Ian reached down and carefully pressed his fingers to the boy’s chest, testing different spots until Tommy suddenly jerked violently and gave a choked cry of pain. Quickly withdrawing his hands, Ian helped the boy sit up again.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Ian said grimly. "Right now."

"No," Tommy muttered, his eyes shut tight against the pain he was in. "I have to stay here and help…"

"If you stay here," Ian snapped, "I think I can guarantee that you’ll be dead within forty-eight hours. The valves to your heart have been pinched and partially closed off. Can you feel a tingling sensation in your arms and legs? In your hands and feet?"

Tommy nodded slowly. "Yes. Sort of…"

"How’s your head feel? Dizzy, I’ll wager."

The Ranger looked at Ian warily without answering. Ian straightened up and pulled Tommy carefully to his feet.

"That’s all caused by an acute shortage of blood to the vital areas of your body. Your heart is pumping harder than it should, but only a minimal amount of blood is circulating. Give it another twelve hours or so, and you’ll start to develop some serious blood clots in your aorta and primary valves. After that, you’ll be in line for anything from a stroke to a heart attack. So unless you’d like to be either dead or permanently disabled, we are going downstairs, and we are getting you to a hospital
before it’s too late. Now, move!"

Tommy went, no longer daring to argue.

 

 

Tiny entered the Godphoenix slowly, feeling an intense sensation of déjàvu as he found himself in a cockpit that was disturbingly similar to that of the Phoenix. Ryu, perched in his pilot’s seat, glanced back over his shoulder as the big boy approached.

"Have a look around," Ryu invited him casually. "I don’t think it’s that much dissimilar to your plane."

"It’s not," Tiny admitted. He hesitated, then took the seat next to Ryu. "Just a few differences."

"I think we have a few more advanced weapons," Ryu said, "but that’s all. We haven’t had to use them for a while now, too."

"Lucky," Tiny muttered. Ryu had to smile.

"Tell me about it. We’ve been on tenterhooks this past year, waiting for something so major to happen with the Spectrans that we’d have to be called in, and it finally happened." He shook his head. "Took long enough. You guys held out for a lot longer than we thought you would."

In his seat, Tiny had gone rigid with anger at the implied insult to G-Force’s competence.

"You think we can’t handle Spectra."

Ryu instantly realised his blunder, and quickly tried to cover his tracks.

"I didn’t mean it like that, Tiny. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest you were helpless, or anything, but here’s the thing. I think Sosai X… Our enemy… might have been more powerful technologically speaking. But Zoltar has an advantage over you that Sosai never had with us."

Tiny nodded, reluctantly conceding the point. "Mark and Keop."

"Right. And with the other kind of power they have… Well, in a way, I think that’s worse than any sort of technology. Technology can be destroyed. But with powers like the kind that Zoltar and your two teammates have, unless you destroy the person, then those powers are still a threat. Our battle was always technology against technology. Yours was always going to come to this, eventually."

"I know," Tiny said softly, eyes cast downward. "Mark knew it, too. I don’t think Keop ever really understood where it could lead, but Mark did. And he made sure that Jase knew it, too, as soon as we learned the truth about him." He sighed heavily, and slumped back in the seat. "I just don’t get how everything can fall apart so fast."

"It happens all the time," Ryu pointed out. "It just usually happens to the bad guys. We’re a little too used to the fact that when things fall apart, it’s usually in our favour. We’re just not used to having to pick up so many pieces."

"You can say that again," Tiny agreed. He hesitated, then forced himself to look Ryu in the eye as he spoke. "I’m glad you guys are here. We need all the help we can get."

"That’s why we’re here," Ryu said. He smiled reassuringly at the younger boy. "We’ll help you get your friends back, Tiny. I promise. They’re not gonna die. Not while we have anything to do with it."

Tiny raised a single eyebrow slightly, curiously. There was far too much gusto in Ryu’s words for him to simply dismiss them off-hand. He was about to question Ryu about it when his transmitter flashed once.

"What’s that about?" Ryu wondered aloud. Tiny rose quickly to his feet.

"I connected my transmitter directly to the Phoenix’s mainframe computer about six years ago, so that if anything in her went on alert and I wasn’t there, I’d still know about it. Something just clicked on."

He hurried from the plane and, after a moment, Ryu quickly followed.

 

 

"Is there a problem?" Ryu asked cautiously, watching from the back of the Phoenix’s cockpit as Tiny worked the controls of the advanced equipment.

"I don’t know," Tiny answered in monotone, his attention focused solely on what he was doing. "I hope not…" He fell silent, and this time Ryu didn’t interrupt. Several seconds passed that felt more like several minutes, before Tiny started in his seat, and swore furiously.

"I take it there’s a problem?" Ryu asked, feeling his stomach muscles tighten at the tension in his American counterpart’s voice.

"That’s the understatement of the century," Tiny answered tersely. He lifted his transmitter to his lips, and spoke into it urgently. "Chief, you read me? We got trouble coming in a big way."

"I read you, Tiny. What’s wrong?"

"I’m in the Phoenix, looking at our radar equipment. We have a lot of company coming, and it’s practically on our doorstep!"

A long silence followed, and then Anderson spoke in a tense voice.

"Stay where you are. We’re going evacuate immediately in the two Phoenixes and the Lions."

Ryu turned abruptly, without saying a word, and disappeared out the back to retreat to his own plane. He’d been gone only a few seconds when the first of the explosions rocked the sanctuary.

 

 

Ian, Tommy, Rocky and Adam had just reached the top of the stairs when the entire building was rocked on its foundations by a violent explosion. Tommy, in his pained state, would have tumbled down the stairs for sure had Rocky and Adam not grabbed him and pulled him back.

"What’s going?" Tanya cried out as she and the other former Rangers joined them.

"I don’t like the odd of it being a natural disaster," Ian retorted grimly. "I’m betting we’re about to be invaded to the tune of something Spectran."

In confirmation to Ian’s prediction, a siren blasted the otherwise quiet air, signaling the start of an immediate evacuation.

"Go!" Ian yelled, pushed the teens towards the stairs. "Get to the Phoenixes. Run!"

"But our stuff…" Kim protested.

"Leave it," Ian ordered. "Unless you want to be left behind to the mercy of the Spectrans, then go!"

The teens began to hurry down the stairs, Rocky and Adam supporting a reluctant Tommy. All around them, people ran, grabbing one thing or another in a frantic attempt to salvage what they could before it was too late.

Jason appeared out of nowhere, skidding to a halt by the group of Angel Grove teens.

"Get to our Phoenix. We’re getting out of here now."

"Is it them?" Tommy asked breathlessly.

"Don’t know for sure," Jason answered. "Probably. They must have tracked us when we left the city."

"Hang on," Zack protested as Jason started past them. "Wouldn’t this be our chance to get them back? What if we try and grab them in the confusion?"

"Are you insane or just stupid?" Jason snapped. "The only ones who are gonna be confused are us. Unless you all want to die here and now, then move your asses and get going! There’s no time left!"

Then, he was gone. Ian stepped away from them, pointing in the direction of the long corridor that would take them to the landing pad.

"Get to the Phoenix, and hurry. I have to help elsewhere."

Ian then turned and disappeared down another hallway, leaving the teens to themselves. A moment later, Tommy turned abruptly and headed back up the stairs.

"Tommy?" Billy yelled after him. "Where the hell are you going?"

"I took my Zeonizers off upstairs so that doctor could check me out, and he didn’t give me chance to put them back on. I have to go and get them."

The Rangers all exchanged grim looks, then followed their former leader back upstairs.

 

 

"So what’s the plan?" Keith wanted to know as the Voltron Force, the KNT, the Turbo Rangers, Jason, Tiny and the adults gathered in the meeting room.

"We have to get a party to Witch Mountain," Anderson said decisively. "Regardless of whether they’re willing to help us or not, it’s the only safe place left for us. And I do not want Therese, Penny, Jennifer, Michael and Sam exposed to anymore danger."

"I also recommend that the other children from Angel Grove be left there as well," Cronus advised. "As capable as they may be, their emotions are going to lead not only them, but potentially the rest of us as well into serious trouble. We can’t risk it."

"I’m in agreement with that," Nambu murmured. "It’s going to be difficult enough now without worrying about them."

"All right," Anderson conceded. "Since we are the only ones who know the location of the Mountain, I suggest that Jason, Tiny and I take the extras in the Phoenix and go on to Witch Mountain."

"We’ll take our Phoenix and act as a decoy," Ken said.

Anderson looked over at Tiny. "Is the cloaking device working?"

Tiny responded with a single nod. "Yes, Chief. I tested it thoroughly just before all this happened."

"Good, because we’re going to need it if we want to keep the presence of the KNT secret. They will act as a decoy, and we’ll use the Phoenix’s cloaking device to get away, hopefully unmolested."

"The rest of us will follow Ken and his team and engage the Spectrans," Keith agreed. He looked over at the four Power Rangers. "We all need to go at once. That’s the only way G-Force will be able to escape with the children."

"You expect us to go out there deliberately and leave ourselves open for target practise?" Carlos demanded incredulously. "That’s insane! It’s practically suicide."

"None of us are helpless," Ken snapped. He had already taken note of the current team of Power Rangers and, with the exception of just one of them, he’d found them to be little more than a whiny, immature group of teenagers. "If we are all to escape now, we must all work together."

Carlos glowered at the commander. "I don’t know about anyone else, but I have a score to settle. I’m not leaving here until it’s sorted out."

"If that’s your attitude, you won’t be leaving here at all," Joe retorted, glaring right back at the youth. "You might feel you need to avenge what happened to your leader, but if you haven’t got it through your thick head by now just how dangerous Jason really is, then maybe you deserve what you’ll get. Now grow up and start cooperating!" The big Sicilian turned a harsh stare onto the other three Turbo Rangers. "That goes for all of you. You kids shouldn’t be here, but you are and there’s nothing we can do about it. So if you want us to stop treating you like the children that you really are, I suggest you start maturing right now! Because I, for one, don’t have the time or patience to baby-sit you."

"Joe is right," Ken said in a softer, though no less commanding tone. "You four have a serious decision to make. Either you cooperate with us one hundred percent, or you’ll be going to Witch Mountain with the other children. We do not need dissidents within our own side. There’s no time for that. You will only get yourselves killed by trying to follow your own agenda."

While Carlos glowered at the floor, Cassie spoke in a nervous but steady tone.

"We’re with you, one hundred percent. Don’t worry. None of us are going to go AWOL on you. We promise."

Ken nodded, satisfied. "Good. Now, I think we’d best get moving, before it’s too late for any of us to get out."

Anderson rose quickly to his feet, acutely aware that their time was running out fast.

"Once you’re all clear of the fight, retreat and get to the designated points as fast as you can. It’s essential that we put our own plan into effect immediately now that the Spectrans have made the first move. We will attempt to rally the support of the Aarethians, but we can’t count on that. Regardless of whether we succeed, the plan must go ahead promptly. You all know what to do. Get going, and God speed."

A murmur swept across the group, and they all hurried from the room, even as the house began to rock once more with violent explosions.

"They must be close to entering," Anderson said grimly as he joined Jason, Tiny and Ian at the back of the large contingent. "Is everyone on board ready to go?"

"They should be," Jason answered. "If they’re not, too bad. They’ve all had plenty of time to get to the crafts and we can’t wait any longer. It’d be suicide if we do."

"I don’t suppose there’d be any chance of dropping myself and young Tommy off at a hospital on the way to Witch Mountain?" Ian inquired. Anderson looked at him sharply.

"Is it that serious?"

"Yes," Ian confirmed softly. "I told the boy that he had only forty-eight hours or so to live without adequate medical attention. I’m afraid I was being rather generous in that estimate."

"How generous?" Anderson demanded to know. Ian looked even grimmer.

"By approximately twenty-four hours. That boy is going to be critical in less than twelve hours."

"We can’t afford to stop," Anderson decided after a long moment. "There are healers at the Mountain, powerful ones. They should be able to undo whatever it is that Jason has done to him. As long as we can get there, he should be fine."

They reached the Phoenix, and Tiny activated the lift by remote, taking them up into the belly, and then the cockpit of the plane. Anderson rapidly scanned the group on board, checking to see that all were present who should be present…

"Where in God’s name are they?" the Security Chief exploded, realising that every one of the former Ranger team was missing. "Damn it!"

Jason turned abruptly, heading for the back of the plane. "I’ll go and find them. Just stay here and don’t move, anyone."

He barely made it five steps when the building began to implode around them.

 

 

"Tommy, hurry up!" Adam exploded, fast losing patience with his recalcitrant leader. "Damn it, they’re gonna leave without us if we don’t move!"

"Does it matter?" Tommy retorted. "We have our own Zords, we’ll be fine." He frowned, looking around the room. "Where…? Oh, there…" Ducking down, he snatched his communicator up off the floor, from where it had rolled under the bed. "Okay, we can go…"

Suddenly, without warning, Tommy froze, his face draining of all colour. A moment later, he dropped to his knees, clutching at his chest as he struggled for a breath that simply would not come.

"Tommy!" Kat screamed in panic. "What’s wrong?"

"He’s having a heart attack, or something," Rocky said, running over and dropping to his knees
beside the tormented boy. "That doctor said it could happen. We gotta do something. Billy?"

Billy hurried through into the room, followed by the rest of the group.

"What we have to do is get him downstairs to the Phoenix. The doctor can attend to him on the way to wherever they plan on going. Rocky, Adam, Zack, help me get him up…"

The four boys started to get their arms under Tommy to lift him up, only to be brought to an
abrupt halt by the sound of a familiar voice.

"Well, look at this. The whole gang’s here! Talk about a family reunion."

Billy stepped away from the large group, locking gazes with the boy that leaned oh-so-casually in the doorway.

"Jason."

"Here we go again," Jason said with an exaggerated yawn. "How about we drop all the formalities? You say my name, I say yours, we exchange a few false pleasantries, I kick your asses. How about we get straight to the kicking of asses? Hmm? Sound like a plan?"

Zack also moved away, coming to Billy’s side.

"There’s nine of us, and only you. You really think you could take us all on, Jase? C’mon, buddy, you’re smarter than that."

A smirk crossed Jason’s lips. "Eight, discounting Houdini there. I don’t really think he’s in any condition to fight, what with the heart attack he’s about to have."

Kat started forward, fists clenched, but a single look from Jason stopped her in her tracks.

"Don’t, Katherine," he warned softly. "You should know better than Zack here."

Reluctantly conceding, Kat moved back into the safety of the group. Jason returned his attention to the former Black Ranger.

"As to your question, the answer is, basically, yes. I could." His eyes narrowed, and seemed to darken. "Without laying a finger on any of you."

"Jason, please," Trini begged, tears falling from her dark eyes. "Let us go! We’re your friends, don’t you remember?"

"Sure I do," Jason said with a light shrug. "Which is why I’m not going to kill you right now. We’ll save that for later. I might even make it painless."

"You want us," Zack hissed, "and you’ll have to kill us to take us. We won’t go willingly."

"I figured you’d say that," Jason conceded. "But I have no intention of killing all of you. At least, not yet. I’ll just kill Tommy."

The Rangers all froze, taken aback completely by the bluntness of the threat. Jason’s gaze went to the fallen Ranger, and his eyes narrowed once more with concentration. A moment later, Tommy gave a choked scream of pain that ended in a horrible gurgle, as blood welled up in his throat and spilled out of his mouth.

"Stop!" Kim cried out, her eyes flooding with tears. "Jason, stop! We’ll go with you, just don’t hurt him anymore!"

A calm smiled filtered onto Jason’s face, and he relaxed. At the same time, Tommy slumped down onto the floor, unconscious but definitely alive.

"I thought you’d see sense." He stepped into the room and off to the side of the door. "If you’ll just go through door number one, there are soldiers waiting to escort you to your prize, an indefinite stay with my father."

Slowly, reluctantly, the teens went. Zack held off as long as he could, finally going through last. As he went, he paused to look Jason in the eye.

"We used to be friends. I thought that meant something."

"It does," Jason answered quietly, losing all facades of humour. "You never betrayed me like Tommy and those others. That’s why I’m going to make sure you, Trini, Billy and Kim aren’t hurt."

"You mean you’re gonna give us a quick, painless death?" Zack retorted angrily. Jason shook his head.

"No. I mean I’m going to make sure you don’t die at all. I can do that, Zack." Pride flashed across Jason’s face. "I’m a prince of Spectra."

"That’s supposed to impress me?" Zack burst out. He looked back to where Tommy lay slumped on the floor. "Look at what you’ve done to your best friend! For crying out loud, Jase… "

"He’s not my friend!" Jason exploded. "He turned his back on me when I needed him. He is not my friend!"

"Yes, he is," Zack snapped. He shook his head. "We love you, Jase. We really do. But you’ve done so much damage already… I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to forgive you for this one."

Anger… and grief?… flooded Jason’s eyes , and he pointed out the door.

"Get out of my sight," he hissed in a voice that trembled with rage. Zack hesitated for just a moment longer before turning and walking out of the room. Jason watched him go, then walked across to stand over Tommy’s inert figure. His dark eyes flashed with fury, and he released his anger with a vicious kick to the helpless boy’s side.

"You turned them all against me. They were my friends, and you turned them against me!"

He crouched down beside him, fists clenched so tightly that his fingernails dug into his palms and drew blood.

"I’m going to torture you myself, Tommy," he promised softly, pure hatred in his voice. "I’m going to let you die the slowest, most painful death you could ever imagine. You’re going to pay for everything you ever did to me… For everything you ever tried to do to me… For everything you ever
thought of doing to me. You’re going to pay ten times over, and more. I swear to God, I’m going to fucking kill you. Do you hear me, bastard? I’m going to kill you."

He paused a moment longer before standing up and stalking out of the room to find his brothers.

 

 

Jason landed with a crash on his side, thrown off his feet by an explosion that blew the walls themselves inwards, and rocked the Phoenix.

"We have to go!" Tiny yelled as he pulled Jason back up to his feet. "It’s too late, the Spectrans are inside. If we don’t go, we’ll never get away!"

"We can’t just leave them," Jason protested, trying to pull out of Tiny’s iron grip. A moment later, Anderson appeared in front of him, speaking in a commanding tone that Jason couldn’t ignore.

"Jason, it is too late! They have probably already been captured, and we won’t do them any good by getting captured ourselves. We have to go, but we will come back for them."

Jason stood stiffly, torn between doing as Anderson ordered, and obeying his conscience. Finally, he conceded and reluctantly took his place in Mark’s chair.

"Okay, let’s go. Tiny, activate the cloaking device."

"Roger," Tiny answered. He switched on the computer and rapidly pressed a long sequence of buttons. There was a slight shimmer around them, and then nothing.

"Did it work?" Jennifer asked, her voice trembling a little with fear.

"It worked," Tiny confirmed. "I’d suggest going outside to check it out, but I don’t think that’s a real good idea at the moment. Now hang on, we’re getting our butts outta here."

As the Phoenix lifted off the ground, one of the younger children on board gave a small gasp of fright, and pointed a trembling finger at something on the ground.

"Look, down there."

They looked, and saw Mark and Jason standing just inside the doorway entrance to the launch pad. Neither boy was moving. They merely stood side by side, looking straight at the Phoenix as it rose into the air.

"I thought you said no one can see us?" Michael cried out, fighting off a threatening panic attack.

"They can’t," Tiny replied. "Not with their eyes. But they can sense us, and they can hear the engines."

"So why are they just standing there?" Penny asked tensely. Jason and Tiny looked back at Anderson, who could only shake his head helplessly. Tiny spoke a moment later with grim determination.

"Let’s just get out of here, and pray to God that they don’t decide to crash us."

Silence fell as the invisible Phoenix lifted right out of the dock, and cleared the property… only to enter a black swarm of enemy craft.

Tiny let rip with a long list of expletives, fighting with the controls to avoid a collision with a Spectran plane that was coming right at them. They swung out of the way at the last second, narrowly avoiding getting clipped. Grimacing, Tiny pulled on the controls and finally directed the plane out of the cloud of planes, undetected and safe.

"Get going, guys. We’ll cover for you."

It was Ken. Jason replied to the commander in a voice that trembled just slightly.

"Good luck, Ken. All of you. And… Thankyou…"

"Save the sentiment," Joe’s voice crackled over the radio. "We can all have a good cry when it’s over. I’ll bring the tissues."

Jason grinned at that, unable to stop himself. He looked across at his remaining team member, and saw that Tiny was grinning too.

"Tiny?"

Tiny nodded, pushing the controls forward and directing the Phoenix away from the raging fight.

"Next stop, Witch Mountain."

Jason glanced once more at the battle they were leaving behind before returning his attention back to what lay ahead of them, both land and future. He settled back slowly in the chair, and silently prayed that their bold plan succeeded. The teen shut his eyes, lowering his head, contemplating the terrible consequences of failure, and a single tear worked its way out of his eye. If they did fail, then God help them all.

 

 

"Did you see that?" Jason asked incredulously.

For a long moment, Mark didn’t respond. His gaze was fixed to the sky, fixed on the blue and red plane that wove its way through the storm of Spectran planes. Finally, he answered.

"I saw." He nodded skyward, at the visible Godphoenix. "That is not the Phoenix. It’s a decoy so the real one could get away."

"So who’s flying it?" Jason wondered. Mark’s eyes narrowed as he concentrated his power at the plane, only to finally break contact in frustration.

"I can’t tell. Whoever they are, they have natural mindshields that I can’t break through."

"Let me try," Jason growled, but Mark shook his head.

"No, don’t waste your energy. It’s probably just Colonel Cronus and some of his men. Whoever they are, we’ll get them soon enough."

Jason hesitated, on the verge of trying anyway, before finally conceding and backing down.

"We’d better get back to our transport," Jason said, moving back towards the door. His dark eyes lit up eagerly. "We have prisoners to deal with."

A grin crossed Mark’s lips at his brother’s enthusiasm. "Yes, we do. C’mon, let’s go."

 

 

Keop stood before the monitor, watching wordlessly as the former Rangers were herded into a small holding area in the belly of the large transport. He’d opted once more to stay with his grandfather during the significant part of the action, after a mutual decision that it would be safest. However, the little boy no longer felt safe with him. Indeed, Mordock now frightened Keop considerably, and it was only due to the old man’s lack of empathic ability that his fear hadn’t been detected.

In the end, Keop had failed to tell his brothers what he’d overheard. He wasn’t sure why, but for some reason when he’d come back into the presence of his two brothers, his doubts and fears had subsided so much that he’d finally dismissed them. Being with Mark and Jason had calmed him somehow, and relieved any concerns that he’d had.

His newfound calm had lasted as long as he’d remained with the older boys, but the moment they’d left him with Mordock, those fears had come crashing back on him, worse than before. He didn’t understand it, but with every minute that passed, Keop was becoming more and more certain that what they were doing was wrong, and that they had to escape before it was too late… Before somebody was killed.

One more figure was brought into the holding cell, and Keop cringed, unable to stop himself. It was Tommy Oliver, and the boy looked almost dead. For a moment, Keop thought he was dead, but a quick mental probe revealed that he was alive, if only barely.

Grief flooded Keop’s mind and soul. He honestly didn’t understand what was going on- only that something had been done to Mark, Jason and his minds to make them do all this damage. And whatever it was that had been done had to be reversed, fast.

"Keop?"

Keop looked around slowly to find both his brothers standing there, watching him. How long they’d been there, he didn’t know. He only prayed that neither of them had tried to probe him. He was young and inexperienced with his power; if they wanted to, either one could easily get a probe past his shield undetected. Mark walked forward, coming to stand by the younger boy’s side, and even as he neared, Keop felt his fears dim once more. Inexplicably, his concerns about what they were doing eased, and all questions faded from his mind. Once more, he understood the logic of what was happening, and why. He was a prince of Spectra, one of three heirs to the most powerful rule in the Universe… and that was all he needed to know.

"You should have come with us, kid," Mark said, nudging him slightly. "It’s time you started training your own power."

"I’ll come with you next time," Keop replied. "I didn’t want to cramp your style."

Jason laughed as he joined them. "You’ll hardly cramp our style. Tell you what, you come with us to give them a good going over when we get to our next base. Okay?"

A small, cold smile touched Keop’s lips, and he nodded.

"Okay."

Mark ruffled Keop’s wild mop of hair affectionately. "We’re gonna show everyone we’re not to be messed with. By the time we’re done, everyone’s going to know the three of us. They’ll all be so scared of us, they won’t be able to look us in the eye." His gaze focused on their prisoners, and his harsh laugh echoed softly in the quiet room. "Starting with them."

Part 13

"Zack?"

Zack looked up slowly from where he was sitting, chained to the wall of the holding cell within the Spectran base. It was Trini who had spoken, and she was watching him with a mixture of concern and hope.

"What is it?" he asked, trying hard to keep the irritation out of his voice. After his exchange with Jason some hours ago in the Canadian refuge, he hardly felt like conversing with any of his friends.

"You spoke to Jason, didn’t you?" Trini asked in a hushed voice, fearful of being heard. "What did he say to you?"

Zack looked away. "He said exactly what you’d expect a villain to say. He’s gonna kill us. He’s gonna kill all of us."

"No way," Kim whimpered, terrified. "Jase wouldn’t hurt us! He can’t! We’re his friends…"

"That doesn’t mean anything to him now," Rocky grumbled. "Look at what he did to Tommy!"

All eyes turned to the motionless figure of their former leader, and finally Zack spoke in a bitter voice.

"Jason doesn’t give a damn about us. He doesn’t care whether we live or die. Not really. He’s under Zoltar’s thumb, and nothing we do is gonna change that." The former Ranger shook his head in frustration and anger. "He’s not our friend anymore. He never will be again. I’m never gonna forgive him for this."

"That isn’t Jason," Adam cut in anxiously. "Zack, none of this is Jason’s fault! It’s not his fault that Zoltar is his real father, and it’s not his fault that he’s been put under Zoltar’s control."

"Adam’s right," Kat agreed softly, all the while not taking her eyes off Tommy. "We can’t blame Jason for something that isn’t his fault. We never blamed Tommy for the times that he was put under spells, or anything like that. It isn’t fair for us to do that to Jason now."

"Tommy never did the damage that Jason is doing," Zack pointed out.

"That’s true," Tanya conceded shakily. "Look at what he did to TJ…"

Adam turned an angry look on her, then returned his attention to Zack. "Maybe not, but Zoltar is a completely different enemy to Rita, Zedd, Mondo and Divatox. Totally different."

"He’s a hell of a lot more sadistic," Rocky agreed.

"So it’s logical that that would be in Jason’s nature," Zack said. Billy looked up, then, and finally spoke in a quiet, but commanding tone.

"Zack, shut up."

Zack looked at Billy, startled. The former Blue Ranger went on almost in monotone.

"We’ve known Jason for most of our lives. We trusted him with our lives while we were Rangers, and he never did anything that put us at risk. He always put us before himself, and sometimes he paid a heavy price for that. And now you’re happy to just let all of that go? For something that you know is not his fault? I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything so cruel and selfish in my entire life."

Zack slumped back against the wall, at a loss for words. Billy went on after a moment’s pause.

"We might be in a bad mess right now. I know things don’t look too good. But we’ll come through it. We always have, and there’s not reason to doubt that now. But why don’t you all stop for just a moment and think about what’s going to happen when whatever Zoltar has done to Mark, Jason and Keop is reversed? We all know how hard it was for Tommy to come back to us after each time he was used by evil, and despite what he did, we always found it in us to forgive him. We were there for him regardless." Billy focussed on Zack, his gaze narrow, harsh and angry. "Are we going to just leave Jason to suffer? Are we really going to be that hypocritical?"

"But…" Zack protested. Billy cut him off abruptly.

"But nothing, Zack. If you want to desert Jason right when he’s going to need us the most, fine. But I intend to stick by him, no matter what."

"Isn’t that sweet?" a voice said sarcastically from the doorway of the holding room. All eyes turned to find not only Jason standing there, but also Mark and Keop as well. Jason walked slowly into the room, and came to a halt in front of Billy.

"You’re going to stick by me no matter what? That just makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside."

One foot came back and swung forward hard, striking Billy right in the gut. The boy doubled over, clutching his stomach in agony. Jason looked around at the rest of the teens, sneering cruelly at them all.

"Anyone else like to share any more sentimentality? No?"

"Go to hell," Zack muttered. Jason laughed softly.

"Not quite yet, Zack. I don’t think they’re ready for me down there."

He turned and, leaving Billy, walked over to Zack and crouched down in front of him.

"You’re never gonna forgive me, Zack?"

"No," Zack said angrily. "You’ve done too much damage. I can’t forgive this. And look at what you did to Tommy!"

 

 

"That loser is a lost cause," Jason snapped. He glanced briefly downward, and Zack’s chains fell
abruptly away. Jason stook back up, dragging Zack up with him. "C’mon, buddy. How about I give you a real reason to hate me?"

"Jason, no…" Adam shouted in protest. Jason’s head snapped around, and an instant later an invisible force caused Adam’s head to slam back into the wall behind him, knocking him out cold.

"Would anyone else like to register a protest?" Jason asked flatly. Silence met his question, and the former Gold Ranger nodded his approval. "Good. You’re learning." He pushed Zack roughly through the door, disappearing into the blackness beyond. A moment later, with cold smiles on their faces, Mark and Keop followed.

 

 

"Jason, please, no," Zack gasped as he was forced into a large metal chair and strapped down. Jason laughed softly.

"You sound scared. Are you?"

"Yes!" Zack burst out. "I’m scared! Is that what you want? You want to scare me?"

Walking around, Jason leaned against the back of the chair.

"Actually, I was going to give you a choice."

"Choice?" Zack echoed uncertainly. Mark came around and stood in front of the helpless boy.

"How would you like to be free? Instead of being tied up here, in this chair? Free to do what you
want?"

For a moment, it didn’t register in Zack’s mind what was being said to him. Then, abruptly, he realised.

"You want me to join you? You’ve gotta be kidding…"

A hand came down on his shoulder; Jason’s…

"Just one quick injection," Jason whispered seductively into his ear. "That’s all it’d take. You’d go to sleep for a while, and when you wake up…"

"No!" Zack exploded. "No, I won’t! You might think you’re free, Jase, but you’re not! I don’t know why you can’t see it, but I won’t let you do it to me! I’ll fight it, somehow…"

Jason’s grip suddenly tightened on his shoulder, so much so that Zack cringed in pain.

"We’re not going to take you by force, Zack. You aren’t worthy enough for that. I just thought I’d be fair and give you a chance to say yes before I cut you open like a clam shell." All of a sudden, Jason held a very long, very lethal-looking knife in his hand, waving it threateningly in front of Zack’s face. "Any last words?"

Zack swallowed hard, staring at the blade of the knife in stark terror. Then, gradually, through the dimness of the fear that was overtaking him, Zack had a brief moment of clarity, brought on by sheer anger.

"I don’t hate you, Jason," he stammered finally, "but I’ll never forgive you."

Jason was still for a long moment before walking around to face the boy head on. Zack stared at the knife, transfixed by the glinting blade. Then, finally, Jason lowered the knife.

"Jason?" Mark asked, a touch of concern in his voice. "Are you okay?"

"You should have stayed out of this one," Jason said, ignoring Mark. "You really should have."

Zack pressed himself back into the chair. His mouth had dried up long ago with fear, and though he tried to swallow, he couldn’t.

"Jase…"

The blade came up and back, and then Jason thrust it forward with a single, swift movement. Zack’s eyes went wide with pain as it went straight through his stomach. Jason remained frozen, leaving the blade there for several long seconds before pulling it out again. Then, even as Zack began to die, Mark spoke in a wry voice.

"I thought you were just going to torture him a little?"

"I was," Jason conceded. "I changed my mind." He took a step forward and grabbed Zack’s chin in a strong grip, forcing the boy’s head up. "Now you have a reason to hate me," he whispered harshly. Zack didn’t… couldn’t answer. Blood welled up in his throat and mouth, and trickled down his chin. Finally, after an excruciating long time, the boy’s eyes closed, and his pained expression faded as death overtook him at last. Then, only when he was dead, did Jason release his grip on him and turn away.

For a long while, silence reigned. Eventually, Jason looked up and focused on the soldiers who had stood quietly in the background during the entire time.

"Take him back to the others. Leave him there as a reminder to them. I am not who I used to be."

Then he stalked out of the room. Mark whistled softly, taking one last look at Zack’s lifeless
body before hurrying after his brother. Keop stayed where he was, watching wordlessly as the body was removed from the room before walking out and heading slowly back to his room in heavy silence.

 

 

 

Silence had reigned in the cell for a good five minutes or so after Jason had taken Zack away. Then, finally, Billy shifted over as far as he could to see how badly Adam had been hurt.

"Is he okay?" Kim asked in a soft, trembling voice.

"I think so," Billy answered after a long pause. "He’ll just have a massive headache when he wakes up. There doesn’t seem to be any real damage. No fractures, or anything like that." He moved back into a slightly more comfortable position. "That’ll be the least of his worries. He’ll be better off if he stays unconscious. Less likely to get picked on by Jason for anything."

"I can’t believe this is happening," Trini whispered, tears flooding her eyes. "How can things go so wrong so fast?"

"It’s been building up to this for a long time," Rocky murmured. "I overheard Mark talking to Chief Anderson the last time… When we stayed with them at their place in Woodeforde. They both agreed that it was just about time for something really major to happen. I guess it started with us finding out about Jason being… Well, you know. About who his real father is."

"Zoltar is not Jason’s real father," Kim snapped. "He may be his biological father, but that does not make him his real father. Donavon Scott is Jason’s real father. We’ve got to make him remember that, somehow."

"Nothing we say or do is going to make a difference to Jason," Kat said unhappily. "He’ll only end up killing us for trying…"

She trailed off, her gaze going to the bars of the cell. Two soldiers had appeared, carrying Zack’s limp body between them. They opened the cell awkwardly and unceremoniously dumped the body face down on the floor in the middle of the cell. Then they were gone, leaving the teens alone.

"Oh my god," Kim whispered. "Zack…"

After a moment, Rocky crawled across the floor, as far as the chains would allow him, and reached out to touch Zack’s shoulder.

"Zack? C’mon man, don’t scare us!"

Tanya saw it first, and went rigid with shock, a frightened whimper escaping her lips. Then Rocky saw it, blood that was starting to seep across the floor from beneath the still boy. Holding his breath, Rocky pushed on Zack’s shoulder and rolled him over onto his back.

A short scream escaped both Trini’s and Kim’s lips, while the rest could only stare in horrified disbelief. For a long moment, Rocky didn’t move. Then, reality sunk in and he scrambled back, away from the bloodied form.

"What are you doing?" Tanya choked out, struggling against her own urge to start screaming. "He might still be alive…"

"He’s not," Rocky cut her off, his voice strained with panic, shock and grief. "He’s dead. Zack’s dead." He looked up at Billy. "Are we still so willing to welcome Jason back with open arms when this is over? Because I’m not so sure that I am."

Billy didn’t answer. His gaze was fixed on Zack, desperately hoping to catch some glimpse of remaining life. A slight rise of the chest, or a minuscule movement… There was nothing. Billy shut his eyes against a sudden flow of tears. All of a sudden, he was no longer sure about anything.

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