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"Shh, Olivia, everything's going to be alright," the woman quickly tried to comfort the distraught girl in her arms.
"M-mommy, they took her away, didn't they? That's why she's not here." Little Olivia wailed, as her Aunt Anya tried to soothe her.
"Don't worry, honey, Trent and I will find her, and besides your mommy is dating the best detective in Texas, he'll be sure to get your mommy back." The woman spoke with a confidence that she didn't have as she looked up at her boyfriend. He helped them both up and to Olivia's room as the sound of police sirens came closer and closer.
About an hour later Anya sighed as she came back down the stairs from Olivia's room. Her boyfriend Trent looked up from the conversation he was having with two visitors, the only ones left as proof that the police had been there.
"Anya, how is she doing?"
"Not great, but not horribly. She's asleep from the shock pretty much. She'll be having nightmares tonight for sure." As she finished, she looked at Trent, who quickly said he would spend the night there, an idea quickly seconded by Carlos Sandoval, a police detective who is a close friend of Trent's, and as well as being Kat's boyfriend.
"Anya, do you know of any reason why and who would want to kidnap Katharine?" Asked the ranger who had been talking with Trent and Carlos.
"No, none. It's not like some rival ballet teacher has a hit out on her."
"There wasn't much of evidence here to find, but we'll do what we can to find her."
"Thank you, Ranger Walker." Anya and Trent escorted him and Carlos to the door. After the two men had left, Trent put his arms around his girlfriend and held her close, kissing her on the forehead. "C'mon, I'll show you what they found."
He led her into the living room, where it was obvious that a struggle had taken place. The glass patio door had been broken, as were a couple of the chairs from the table. But what Anya hadn't noticed before was the blanket on the couch nor the book on the floor nearby.
"The police think that she had probably been reading and fell asleep. The intruder was most likely watching, knew that no one else was home and decided to break in while she was asleep. She was probably pretty groggy from being woken up by the sound of glass breaking. The kidnapper most likely counted on that, though it is apparent that there was some struggle. Whoever it was overpowered her and took her with."
"They think that the kidnappers came in through the door?"
"Yeah, all the windows in the house are shut and locked, as are all the doors. It's the only possible way for them to get in."
"I don't know, it just doesn't seem very likely that they came in -"
"Mom-my, Mom-my," Olivia's voice rang throughout the house as she called for her mother. Both Anya and Trent raced up the steps and into her room, finding her thrashing around in her sleep. Anya quickly scooped the young girl into her arms. "Shh, honey, it's okay. That was just a bad dream. Aunt Anya is here with you, you're going to be alright," she softly murmured into the child's ear. Trent sat on the edge of the bed behind her and helped as she tried to comfort Olivia.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Well, pretty kitty, do you think that your detective boyfriend is going to help you now?" a metallic voice asked his newest captive.
"Oh, I do believe that the cat got Rita's pet's tongue," was the reply of a more feminine metallic voice.
Katharine just glared at the captors, silently wishing to herself that she hadn't stopped wearing her communicator. As if that would have done much good, she thought to herself, they probably would have taken it away. She squeezed her eyes shut against the tears that threatened to fall when her thoughts moved on to her daughter and Carlos.
"Daddy, Daddy, what are we going to use her for? Are you going got make her evil again?"
"No, Sprocket. Even better, she's the pink ranger. We all know that the red ranger is attracted to her, so we'll just dangle her in front of his nose."
"Hold her hostage, my dear? Surely that won't work now that Tommy has Kimberly back."
"Ah, Machina, you are forgetting one thing. What is more enticing: a woman who is devoted to you or one you thought you had lost forever, yet may have a chance to get back? What's a better way to break up the team than to dangle their missing teammate in front of them, just out of reach? Kim will be livid when she finds out that Tommy wants Katharine instead of her. Tommy will become careless, playing hero trying to get Katharine back. And the rests of the rangers will be helpless, trying to figure out how they feel and fit in. Suddenly the girl who had snubbed them is back, begging them to help her. They won't have a clue as to what to do." King Mondo laughed as he finished outlining his plan to the rest of the royal family. Kat cringed as they all joined him in laughter, wondering what would happen to her.
Abruptly, Mondo turned around, "Why did you leave in the first place?" he demanded of her.
Think fast, she told herself. I don't need them to know about Olivia "Tommy and I had a fight, … about Kim coming home."
Mondo looked at her closely, studying to see if she was lying. "Perfect," he exclaimed, "all the more reason for our plan to work."
The celebration continued as the group of space villains danced around Katharine as savages would around the kill of a hunt. As the revelry died down, however, it was decided that they needed a better place to store Kat than the middle of the throne room. Upon King Mondo's orders a couple of cogs unceremoniously grabbed Kat and drug her to the Sky Base dungeons. While the trip seemed unremarkable, Kat sighed with relief as she was deposited in her cell. She stretched the best she could and then looked down at the prize she held in her hand, a small wire that she had been able to remove from one of her escorts.
Nonchalantly slipping the wire into her pocket, she settled onto the bunk, certain that she was being monitored in some way, shape or form. Only then did she allow herself to break down, curling up on the bunk. Her long blond hair fell like a curtain around her face as she pulled her knees closer to herself. Pictures flitted through her mind's eye as she thought of all the people she cared about the most. Olivia, her three-year old daughter, was the first she saw, her face framed by the dark hair she had inherited from her father. Her other features she got from her mother, including her build. She would definitely be a dancer, if Aunt Anya didn't corrupt her into going into martial arts first.
Katharine's thoughts then turned to Carlos, her boyfriend of almost a year. She had met him through a bet he lost to his friend Trent. As a result he had to take ballet lessons and enrolled in one of her classes. She had been surprised to get a new student as old as he was, and his surly attitude hadn't helped. It took a story about when Jason had danced in one of her ballets back home, and his comment about how it was a good addition to his workout that finally got Carlos interested. Kat tried to make it interesting, relating it all back to martial arts and eventually Trent started showing up to first watch, and then join in the lessons. It was around the time that Trent had first joined then that Carlos worked up the gumption to ask her out on a date. Their relationship had been going full-force since then, so good that Trent started dating her roommate Anya.
Kat's thoughts then turned to her best friend and roommate. They had met in San Francisco and had decided to both move to Dallas. Anya had never once judged Kat because she had had a daughter from her old boyfriend. Olivia had grown up calling her Aunt Anya, and even recently had started calling Trent "Uncle Trent." The two had joked that it was a sign that they were going to end up married, but Kat knew the truth. She had seen the jewelry catalogues in Anya's room, not to mention the time they were looking at rings in the mall. It would just be a matter or time for those two.
Kat slowly drifted off into a troubled sleep, the thoughts of her friends and how lucky she was to have them still present in her mind.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The seven rangers teleported in after the battles finish to be greeted by two friends and former rangers who often stepped in to help Alpha. Once they powered down, Jason gave Rocky and Adam a victory high-five as Kim greeted her boyfriend Tommy with a concerned hug and kiss. The yellow ranger, Tanya, smiled and put her arm around Adam, checking for bruises as the white and black rangers, Billy and Trini, conferred with Zordon about the battle.
"Zordon, why have Mondo and Machina chosen now to attack? Is there some kind of extra activity on the Sky Base?" Billy mused to their mentor.
Trini backed him up; "They have been quiet for almost a week, what would cause them to start something now? It's almost like they're trying to cover something up."
The other rangers groaned, with Rocky making a small joke about Billy and Trini being paranoid. It was Tommy who spoke up for them. "Guys, just because they attack doesn't mean that they are planning something. For all we know, they could just be trying to spoil out plans to see Kim compete in the gymnastics competition in Dallas."
"Rangers, "Zordon boomed from his time warp. "Either theory could be true. I will have Alpha scan the Sky Base for anything out of the ordinary. You should all go and have fun at the competition. I will call you if Alpha finds anything. Good luck to you, Kimberly."
With that the Gold Ranger, Trey of Triforia, who had been quiet since their return, spoke up. "I will stay and help with the scans, Zordon. Pyramidus picked up some readings of cog activity during the battle that did not seem to originate from the attack. I would like to follow up on them."
The rest of the rangers teleported back to park, where they had been picnicking before the attack. Tommy and Jason settled under a tree to talk, as Jason could see something was on Tommy's mind. Tommy played with a piece of grass for a while, before starting to speak.
"They really gave us a run for our money today." Jason could tell where it was going; this wasn't the first time he and Tommy had discussed Kat's sudden disappearance and the fact that she had taken the pink zeo powers with her. "This wasn't the first time, you guys always pull through."
"Yeah, thanks to Trey, Billy and Trini. I was afraid that Kim was going to have to pull Zeo Zord 1 into battle for us again."
"It's a relief that Billy had the remote for the zord working isn't it?"
"But not nearly as good as if we had a pink ranger! We are short handed every time we go into battle. What was Kat thinking when she disappeared? We are so lucky that Billy found the final two zeo crystals on Aquitar. We would have been toast a long time ago without him and Trini back on the team." Tommy's temper and anger were getting the best of him, so he took a deep breath to calm down. "I just wish we knew where she was. I worry about her every day, Jason. Not knowing if she's alive or dead, kidnapped or if she just left of her own accord. It's almost been four years, but it still hurts like yesterday. Look at us, we're all in college, Tanya and Adam are engaged and Billy and Trini might as well be. Yet none of us have any clue as to where one of our closest friends is. We are the Power Rangers for cripes sakes and we still can't find her." Tommy accentuated his frustration by pounding the ground.
"Tommy, who knows what Kat did or why she did it. But she evidently doesn't want to contact us or she wouldn't have turned off her communicator. Besides, there's one thing that nobody other than Zordon, Billy and Trini knows about. She apparently doesn't want to be found: she deleted her DNA fingerprint from the Power Chamber computer. She must have come up one night soon after she left, but Billy only noticed it recently."
"She what? -She doesn't want to be found? But why?"
"Who knows what her reasons were, but there is nothing we can do about it now. Without her DNA fingerprint it is nearly impossible to search for her among the 6.1 billion individuals on this planet, not to mention that that process takes second priority compared to monster attacks. There's really nothing we can do." Jason knew his argument wasn't going to convince Tommy anytime soon, especially since it had been relatively ineffective over the last four years. "C'mon, our plane to Dallas leaves tomorrow, we need to go get our stuff packed." The ranger went their separate ways with the plan the meet at the airport the next day for the flight to Kim's tournament.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Kim, her roommate and a good portion of the rest of the team were waiting when the plane landed in Dallas. Her teammates had heard her talk of her friends from home and were excited to meet them. As the group exited their plane, Kim ran and gave Tommy a huge hug and kiss. She then introduced everyone to each other, with all of them talking at once as they proceeded to the luggage carousel.
It was after they got to their hotel and were getting ready ton part for the night that Kim unveiled her surprise. "I know that you guys aren't the biggest fans of gymnastics, so I'm not going to bore you by making you all go to my practices. You need to do some sight-seeing as well. So, I figured that Trini and Tanya would be up to some serious shopping," she smiled as all of the guys groaned at that thought. "But, I know that the guys would be thrilled by that idea, so I heard of an exhibitory martial arts tournament that you might want to go to. It's the day after tomorrow, so that means that tomorrow you can do your sight-seeing." The guys' eyes lit up as she flourished the pamphlets and began to hand them out. "It's for a charity, so you'll have to buy tickets when you get there. But it should be fun, and maybe there'll be a chance for you guys to show off."
After handing out the pamphlets, Kim explained the rest of the plans for the next few days to everyone. She, Trini and Tanya planned to meet the guys at the exhibition in the afternoon, after her practice. The next day, however, they would be seeing the sights, starting with The Sixth Floor Museum. Lunch was going to be at a restaurant called J Pepe's Tex-Mex Restaurant and Cantina, with a swimming pool in the back. In the evening they would be taking a night tour of the city, before going to a dinner party for the gymnastics team. Once all the plans were finalized, they all hit the sack, absolutely beat from the crazy day they had had.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Rocky grabbed a paper as they walked past the front desk on their way to the taxi. When Adam and Billy gave him a weird look he just shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to see the sports section."
As they climbed into the taxi, Rocky pulled out the sports section and started in on the baseball results. Adam and Jason began discussing the museum they had gone to the day before, and how amazing it had been to be standing where Presidents Kennedy's shooter had stood. As Tommy became lost in his thoughts, Billy grabbed the rest of Rocky's paper and started in on the front page. However, the excitement levels increased as they neared the gymnasium. "Have you guys seen the list of who's at the tournament? Some of these are really big names. But then, some of these I've never heard of, I mean, who's heard of Thunder Karate? I wonder who teaches that and if they are any good."
"I don't know, but I guess we're about to find out," was Adam's reply as they pulled up to the gym. They were quickly inside, watching a group of people ranging in age from 10 to 24 warm up and get final tips from their coaches. As the first set of matches started up a little girl, probably 3 or 4, ran up to one of the men watching the match. The guys watched as a rather pretty brunette about their age walked up to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Wow, she's beautiful," Rocky, for once, was speechless.
"Yeah, and she has a toddler and a husband," Adam shot back.
"Hey, a guy can dream can't he?"
To all of their surprise the woman and girl began to head in their direction. Just before reaching the bleachers they stopped to talk with an older man, probably in his forties and a blond woman. As the three adults talked they gestured in the direction of the guys. They started in that direction again, only to stop as the man said something to the women. The brunette reached for her pocket, only to be waved off by the guy as he headed in what was probably the direction of the concession, followed by the girl. As they left the two women continued over to near where the guys were sitting.
"Good, from here we can see Trent's warm up area perfectly, as well as the matches. I figured you would probably want to keep an eye on him." The blond teased the younger woman.
"Alex! Why I - never!"
"Come on Anya. The two of you are pretty much inseparable, and yes, I do know that he's been staying at your place for the last few days."
Anya looked around to see if they were clear. "Okay, I'll tell you this much, because I think Kat has already figured it out. But if you tell Walker or Carlos, Trent'll never speak to any of us again." She quickly checked in the direction of the concession stand. "Trent and I have been looking at rings."
"What? Oh Anya, that's great! Congratulations!" Alex beamed at her younger friend. Behind her, however, all five of the guys visibly deflated.
"I just feel bad about it all now, after what's happened. I mean, we started looking before Kat was kidnapped, but I still feel guilty about being so happy even though she is gone. After all, Trent and I wouldn't have met if it wasn't for her and Carlos."
"Anya, don't worry. Walker and Carlos are working on it, and they are two of the best law enforcement officers we've got. And besides, I know that neither of them are going to stop until we have Katharine back." All of the guys had pretty much forgotten about the tournament, listening to the conversation about this other Katharine that was missing. They held on to every word as Alex continued. "How is Olivia taking all of this?"
"About as good as any three year old who came home to find out her mother's been kidnapped." Anya sighed in frustration. "She has nightmares every night since it happened. That's why Trent's been staying with us. The poor girl is barely getting any sleep, and I understand why. Her only parent was violently kidnapped out of her own home."
"Does her father know?"
"I doubt it. I don't even know who Olivia's father is. In fact, I doubt he knows that he is a father. When I first met Kat four years ago she was four months pregnant, unmarried and looking for a job. I got the impression that her ex-boyfriend didn't want kids, at least not then, and that she'd probably left without telling him. She had just turned eighteen when Olivia was born, and it's my guess that he's not much older than she is. The jerk is probably off in college somewhere, not giving a second thought to his ex-girlfriend." Anya stopped abruptly, "I'm sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now. Poor Trent has had to sit through that spiel goodness know how many times in the last three days."
"Hey, it's okay. I'd probably be doing the same thing if Kat was my roommate." As Alex spoke, the man and little girl returned from the concession area.
"Oh, Walker, you didn't need to get anything for Olivia and I."
"Nonsense, Anya, besides, Olivia here wanted a Jolt."
Anya just looked at him in horror as Alex turned her head to laugh and Olivia looked at her aunt with a huge grin. "You did not just buy her a Jolt."
"Well, that's what she wanted."
"It's going to be your head on a platter when Katharine finds out." The guys looked in amusement at Rocky, who had just returned from the concession stand with his own large Jolt.
"What's wrong with getting her a Jolt?"
"Besides the obscenely high amounts of caffeine and sugar?" Anya stopped and thought for a moment. "Kat never spoke much of her friends back home, but I do believe that she mentioned more than once a guy she knew, he would drank excessive amounts of the stuff. There's just probably a few bad memories associated with it. I know that she never touches the stuff and rarely lets Olivia have it."
"Oh, is it really that bad for you?"
"Walker! Oh well, I suppose that one glass isn't going to hurt you, is it Olivia?" Anya continued as the little girl shook her head. "And if Mommy finds out we'll blame Uncle Walker, right?"
"Right!" Olivia giggled, then her face fell. "Aunt Anya, when is Mommy coming home?"
Anya drew the little girl into her arms, "Don't worry, Walker and Carlos are going to find her." She held Olivia close as they watched the matches begin. Soon Tommy, Trent's younger brother, was up and the four of them moved to the floor to watch.
It was after the four had left the bleachers that Billy saw the it. He had become curious about this "Katharine" that they were talking about. The article wasn't easy to find, but he found it, on the page with the police blotter. "Guys, I think you need to listen to this."
" 'Earlier this week a local ballet instructor was mysteriously kidnapped from her own home. Katharine Rae Hillard, 22, was found to be missing when her roommate, Anya Gordon and her boyfriend, Trent Malloy, owner of Thunder Karate, returned home. With Ms. Gordon and Mr. Malloy was Hillard's 3 year-old daughter. There were signs of a struggle.' It goes on to tell more details about what happened. Guys, that was our Katharine that they were talking about."
Jason immediately took charge. "I think we need to talk to Zordon about this. This probably has something to do with that monster attack two days ago. Trey said Pyramidus had monitored some unusual cog activity outside of Angel Grove."
The five of them immediately teleported to the Power Chamber to talk to Zordon.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mondo sat on his throne, pondering the fate of his newest captive. None of the rangers had noticed her disappearance, not even after they went to Dallas. And that was the whole reason that I chose to do it now, so they would notice when they were in Dallas. Is it possible that they don't care? Maybe I'll have to go to plan B.
Plan B involved the zeonizers and zeo crystal that his cogs had stolen from Kat not long after she had left Angel Grove. Unfortunately, they had learned the hard way that the zeonizers were useless without Kat. Because they had been stolen from her and she hadn't given them away, they were still bonded to her. Which meant that no one else could use them. But given a good spell to make Kat evil again, she could use them to do my bidding.
"Yer, Majesty," Mondo looked up to see Klank and Orbus approaching.
"What? Why are you interrupting my peace and quiet?"
"I though that you would like to know that the Power Rangers have realized that we have Katharine."
"Good, it's about time. Bring her to me, there's been a change in plans." After giving Klank his new orders, Mondo proceeded to contact the Power Chamber and give the rangers his ultimatum.
Kat slipped back into the shadows of the passageway as cogs passed, on their way to get her from her cell. One of the residual effects of Rita's spell was that she had the ability to tell when someone was watching her. It hadn't taken the members of the Machine Empire long to tire of watching her cry, making it easy for her to escape. However, she had chosen to hang around her cell long enough to make them believe that she neither had any plans to or any way to escape. Evidently they had fallen for it.
She had already found her zeonizers and crystal, and strapping them on her wrists, she felt like she was halfway home. Now all she had to do was get past Mondo to the contraption on the other side of the room. She had no plans of becoming involved in any change of plans, especially when she had the feeling it involved her becoming evil again.
All I need to do is find a way to distract Mondo, she thought to herself. That was when she got her idea. She quickly morphed and pulled out her zeo blaster. It had been a long time since she had used it, but she knew that the power would guide her. She quickly slipped out of her hiding place and fire two shots. As Mondo turned towards her in disbelief, she slid under the falling metal brace. As it fell on his, pinning him in place while effectively working to keep cogs out of the room, Kat demorphed and activated the device. She could feel herself being "beamed" back to Earth and smiled, knowing it would be good to be home.