Outraged Series: Chapter Three
Written By: Liz Donovan
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Having adjusted and fine tuned Tommy’s Zeo Morpher, Billy removed the rubber gloves on his hands and took the goggles off his face. He pushed the basin aside and brushed away the tid-bits of metal and plastic. The turned the reformed Zeo Morpher over in his hands, and breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t damaged the casing or the morphin grid, but now the object was completely redone. The wrist part of the morpher was history, as Billy would have done had he been a ranger. Now, there was one piece, and it worked with a switch.
The former blue ranger pulled a drawer open and removed a long chain with dog tags dangling at the bottom of them. He unhurriedly took the tags off and slipped the much smaller Zeo Morpher on to the chain. Holding it out in front of him he examined it once more, rubbing the glistening metal with his shirt. Then he took pride in hanging the chain around his neck. He spoke aloud to himself.
"Now Tommy, we will see who is the REAL Red Ranger."
And with that he lifted the medallion on the chain and flipped the switch to ON. A flash engulfed Billy’s body and he raised his hands in victory.
* * *
"Man, what’s gotten into Billy? He doesn’t even seem phased that Tommy was nearly killed." Rocky muttered thinking about the days events.
"That’s because he did it." Adam darkly stated, looking at his hands.
The other three rangers looked up startled at this news. Adam walked to the computer and began to type into it. Zordon glared down at Adam from his casing.
"Explain your reasoning, Green Ranger." Zordon bellowed.
Adam turned and noticed everyone starting at him. Kat crossed her arms defiantly. He turned and typed a little more in the computer and then looked back. Everyone was still starting at him.
"I know what I’m doing!" he cried.
"We’re not saying that you don’t, but that’s kind of an erratic accusation." Rocky replied, crossing his arms.
"A what?" Kat asked, blinking.
"Never mind." Rocky replied
"Rocky is right. Adam did you find some proof of this…speculation?" Zordon inquired, looking down.
"Proof? Well…not exactly…but…," Adam started.
The other rangers stared at him. "well, I saw him in the park, he had blood on his face, and it looked like he had Tommy’s morpher…and…and…guys…"
"What do you have against Billy?" Rocky questioned.
"Nothing…" he answered quickly. "I, well, you saw the way he was acting this morning…maybe King Mondo put him under a spell to kill Tommy."
"Do you think he could do that?" Tanya asked to anyone who’d answer.
"Man, Billy could tell us!" Rocky stated.
"Yeah." Kat chimed. "Or Tommy."
"Tommy wouldn’t know tha-" Rocky nudged Adam and he dropped his sentence as Kat looked curiously up at him. "never mind." He replied with a sigh
"Alpha, can you do a scan on Billy?" Rocky suddenly asked
"Aye! We tried already! All the scans turned up negative!" the robot said sadly.
Adam blinked, and asked: "Alpha, what did you scan for?"
"We looked for the usual: Brain waves, dilated pupils, and of course evil spells." The robot replied.
"And you didn’t find anything?" Kat said in disbelieve.
"I’m afraid not." Alpha answered.
"That’s because you’re all so sure its King Mondo’s doing." Adam stated, and faced the console again.
Once again everyone looked at Adam as he took on the role Billy normally played.
"What are you saying?" Rocky asked, as he leaned against the wall, arms still crossed.
"I’m saying maybe Billy isn’t under any spells." Adam began. "I mean, we are normal teenagers under a lot of pressure. Most kids are bogged down with homework and school. Billy’s graduated, but so what? He still is always doing my homework…our homework, plus he spends most of his time in here working on our Zords and the like. Not to mention he has been a Power Ranger longer than any of us have even lived in Angel Groves. Perhaps he has just snapped from pressure. Perhaps he was sick of the way his life was going, and just took it out on Tommy? None of us have every actually turned on each other. The two were alone…and Tommy said something Billy didn’t like so he hit Tommy. Of course Tommy fought back and Billy ultimately won."
Rocky’s mouth dropped and Kat rubbed her arms as though she was cold. Footsteps sounded in the darker part of the Command Center and everyone turned to see who they belonged to.
"It seems to me that since you know so much about this that perhaps you were the one who beat Tommy up." A dark voice stated from the blackness.
Billy stepped into the light, his features appeared hard and cold under the strange lighting. He glared at Adam.
"You’re accusing me?! How dare you!" Adam cried, seeing who it was, and what his motive was.
"It seems obvious to me that you intended to hurt Tommy. The facts you just stated seemed to be your testimony. Don’t deny the truth." Billy coldly retored.
"Truth?! You tell me about truth?! I can’t believe this!" Adam shouted, shaking his head.
"Adam, how could you?" Kat cried, backing away.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Rocky cried, trying to bring some order to this entire thing. "I find it hard to believe that Adam would do such a thing to Tommy. Besides, he was at the Juice Bar…wasn’t he?"
"I thought he was with you studying, Rocky." Kat said.
"No, he left shortly after Tommy and Billy did…" Rocky answered in a mumble.
All eyes focused on Adam. He took a step backwards, into the computer console.
"I didn’t do it! I swear I didn’t!" Adam pleaded.
"All the fingers are pointing at you, Adam." Billy snidely stated, taking another forward step.
"Billy, how can you?! First you cream Tommy and now you’re turning on me! I can’t believe this!" Adam cried out, lashing at Billy, trying to get him to feel some ounce of remorse . . . or compassion.
"Me turning on you? You’re the one accusing me of beating Tommy up!" Billy snapped back.
"You’re the one accusing me of it!" Adam cried back.
"That is irrelevant." Billy said, through clenched teeth.
"Not the way I see it!" Adam replied hurt.
Billy shook his head. "I simply defended myself from your inadequate accusations on me by turning them on you. It is highly possibly that Tommy was beaten up by thugs…" And then under his breath he added. "Since the Power Rangers haven’t been doing their job…"
"What was that?!" Adam scolded.
"Nothing." Billy coolly replied.
"Enough bickering Rangers." Zordon called from above.
"Excuse me," Billy stated, looking up. "but I’m not a Ranger anymore." He added with a sour grin.
"Rangers…and Billy." Zordon repeated, looking at Billy warily.
"That’s better." Billy muttered.
Rocky leaned towards Kat and whispered: "What a snot."
Kat’s reply was only: "Shhh."
"Yes Zordon?" Adam answered, to Zordon’s call of attention.
"Now that Tommy is out of commission," Zordon began. "for the time being I need to create a temporary Red Zeo Ranger as otherwise we will be utterly defenseless against the attacks from the Machine Empire. Adam, as you are Zeo Ranger IV, I should promote you to this position, but since the reason that Tommy is hospitalized MAY be your fault, I cannot allow you that control."
"Tough luck man." Billy sneered under his breath at Adam. Then he snickered and put his chest out, knowing Zordon would most likely chose him.
"Billy you might have been my next choice," Zordon continued. "but I must decline you as well for you may too be the cause of Tommy’s downfall." He finished.
Billy hissed softly between his teeth and enviously looked at Rocky.
"Rocky," Zordon finally stated. "I have found no fault in your loyalty to the Power Rangers, and I believe that you will make a good temporary leader until Tommy is able to take command again. So I honor you with the powers of the Red Zeo Ranger V.
Rocky swallowed, eyes wide, and then stood taller than before and looked up at Zordon, and nodded his head.
"I will not let you down Zordon." He stated, and cast a glance to Adam.
Billy’s fingers wrapped around the medallion at his neck, his thumb caressing the switch labeled MORPH.
"Uh, one slight problem, Zordon." Tanya interrupted. "We don’t have Tommy’s Morpher…"
Out of the silence, Billy stated: "I do," All eyes turn to Billy, surprised. His eyes meet theirs. "and I don’t plan on giving it up either."
"Doesn’t look like you have much choice in here." Adam coldly retorted.
Billy turned his head to face him. "You’re so wrong Adam. I have every choice in the world. In here, and out. As for you...well, there’s not much too say."
"Billy how could you?!" Rocky demanded, realizing it was Billy not Adam.
"How could I what?" Billy sneered, facing Rocky. He paused a moment and then turned and walked to the center of the Command Center. Everyone watched him. Rocky with a scowl on his face and Adam not to far behind. Kat seemed not to know what was happening and Tanya just stood, dumbfounded, just listening. "You don’t know what its like to be under Tommy’s control for this long. What it is like to see him take a person, someone who cares about him, and crush them. What its like to see your fellow rangers leave, to be replaced by other people you’ve known for three days. To see them rise in status after a few months, and yourself drop. To lose your powers is the ultimate price to pay for kindness. You don’t know how it pains me to see the Blue Zeo Ranger in action. The place I would be…but by far the worst, is seeing the Red Zeo Ranger. The place I should be, but I wasn’t. Wasn’t until today. The day when I no longer could take Tommy’s ego. His heartlessness, his conceited little bastard self. This team lost all of the Zords we’ve ever had, and every time, I blamed Tommy for it. He was a sorry leader. All balls and no brains. I made up for his lack of Brains, and he took the credit. All the fucking time! Well, not anymore! Tommy Oliver is out of the picture now! And if you don’t like the idea of me as your leader, then piss the fuck off!" he screamed.
The other four rangers stood there, gaping at Billy. He breathed heavily, and then brushed the hair from his face. He turned and looked at Zordon, and then back at Adam.
"I’m sorry for accusing you, Adam." Billy began. "It was wrong, and I know what I did to Tommy was too, be he very well deserved what I gave him."
Billy then looked to Rocky. "Take care of that Blue suit." He stated. "Wear it with pride."
He look to Tanya and Kat. To Tanya he said: "You’re alright, but Aisha was better and at least Trini could understand me…although she was a reason I changed so much."
Then he turned and faced Kat. He looked at her a long cold minute, then spat: "I have nothing to say to you bitch."
"I have nothing to say to you either, asshole." Kat snapped
Billy glared at her, and then spit in her face. She shuttered and wiped it off. "Rot in hell, Kat." He sneered.
"Away from you? With pleasure." He answered.
And then he slapped her across the face. Her hand instinctively went up to protect it. And her cool blue eyes iced over and peered down icily at Billy. "Say that one more time, and you’ll really end up with Tommy…in the hospital."
"I tremble." Kat said, hand to her cheek.
"You better had." Billy answered, disgust in his eyes. his words dripping with seriousness.
"Oh, I do." Kat sarcastically answered.
"Don’t mock me, bitch." Billy shouted.
"Then get the hell out of my face." She icily retorted.
And that was the deciding point; when Billy drew his arm back and punched her sharply in the face; drawing blood from her nose. She stumbled backwards, bracing herself for the fall with one hand, and reaching for her injured nose with the other.
"If you play with fire," Billy stated, shaking his hand a little from the sting. "you’re gonna get burned."
To be concluded…
