Explanations: An Interlude
by Stephanie Moffett and Kristen Fallon

Zack had been horrified. So had his parents. Billy was more than just another unfortunate victim of Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa. He was a friend of the family. Zack couldn't count how many holidays their families had spent together. His parents had agreed to let him spend the summer in Angel Grove with his grandparents because they knew he was worried about his friend.

He was worried about Billy, but Zack let himself be honest. He missed Angel Grove. As much as he was deeply worried about Billy, he couldn't stop himself from feeling good about coming home. It felt good.

The good feeling didn't deter him from his mission though. He was looking for Billy. He had kept his visit as a surprise, though after being briefed by the others, he wasn't sure that surprising Billy was such a good idea. As he spotted Billy sitting on a bench feeding the ducks by the lake, he mentally reviewed all the little rules the others had given him. "Yo Billy!"

He faltered a little when he saw Billy obviously jump. _Oops,_ Zack thought as he trotted up to Billy, _well, too late now._ He frowned as he saw how pale and shaky his friend was. Billy was wearing a jacket despite the summer sun. Zack wondered how much of an improvement it was.... Trini had painted a pretty graphic picture and the few times he'd gotten to call Billy, Billy hadn't quite seemed there.

"Zack?" Billy put down the bread crumbs he'd been throwing and stood shakily. "How'd..." He st down again, suddenly dizzy. His head had been aching again since he'd chatted with Adam. He'd gone to the lake to try to relax.

Zack quickly moved to his side and sat down with him, cursing his idea to surprise Billy. "Didn't mean to scare you man."

"No... no... I'm just really surprised." Billy paused. He realized that he hadn't lied. He'd been surprised, but that surprise was not in any way tinged with fear. He smiled broadly at Zack. "It's good to see you."

"Cool." Zack's face lit up. Billy seemed all right. Not well, but not freaking out either. "I talked my folks into letting me stay with my grandparents for the summer."

"Zack, that's great." Billy grinned. Then, his headache increased in intensity. He winced and put a hand to his head.

"You okay?" Zack's happiness quickly passed.

"Yeah..." Billy's voice was soft and Zack could tell he was trying to keep the pain out of his voice. "I... have bad headaches sometimes... because of the skull fracture...."

"Ouch..." Zack was silent for a moment. "How'd you break your skull?"

"I got beat up. In the castle. By some monsters." Billy hesitated. "I thought I was going to die."

"But you didn't. You must've gotten lucky." Zack was getting worried. The others had warned him that talking about the castle seemed to upset Billy.

Billy stared pensively off at the lake. "No.... it wasn't luck...." He shifted uncomfortably on the bench and finally removed his jacket. "Is it getting hot?"

~*~

Distant voices echoed in his head—low murmurs, hushed whispers. Scuffling feet alerted him to some movement nearby—maybe a few corridors over. Or on the floor above him. Then, as suddenly as they had come, the sounds were gone.

On his left side, the floor felt cool and hard against his skin. Maybe if he rolled onto his stomach and pressed his face to the floor, it would cool him down... no... gone... the sensation was gone. His best bet was to try and muster the strength to crawl down into the lower caverns.

Wait... now the cool sensation tingled at down his back. But it was different somehow.

Billy struggled to open his eyes. A large grey mass hovered over him. He strained to bring his eyes into focus. It hurt—gave him awful headaches—but he had lost his contacts quite some time ago.

Finster... the grey thing was Finster. A bright glint caught Billy's eye. A needle... he had a needle.

"No. Please—" Billy begged, but was silenced as Finster slapped a hot, muggy paw over his mouth. He whimpered as he felt the cold needle slide into his upper arm and a burning liquid forcefully oozing its way into him.

Billy struggled to push Finster away but was held back by the cold metal restraints that clamped his arms and legs to Finster's slab table. His efforts amounted to nothing more than the hollow rattling and clank of metal on metal.

"For goodness sakes, be quiet!" Finster hissed as he withdrew the needle and threw it aside. His voice sounded almost as panicked as Billy felt. "If Empress Rita finds you here, she'll kill us both!"

Billy ceased struggling. Rita didn't know he was here... yet. Besides, he was too weary to continue his efforts. And too hot. Whatever Finster had injected into him was slowly creeping through his bloodstream and nearly doubling the uncomfortable, feverish sensation he was experiencing. A bluish tinge clouded his vision.

Finster regarded the drugged teenager apprehensively for a few seconds before withdrawing his paw. Bright red blood stained his hand. He curiously studied it through his bi-focals for a few seconds before it dawned on him that it was Billy who was bleeding, not him. Besides... his own blood had a rather greenish-grey tint to it.

Billy cringed as Finster touched a finger to his trembling lip where it was bleeding.

"Fascinating," Finster remarked more to himself than to Billy, "you humans bleed so easily." He pulled Billy's lip back, ignoring the fact that the sudden movement startled the teenager, causing him to jerk nervously against the restraints. "And your teeth are so small," he commented, running his fingers along the smooth ridge of teeth set in Billy's lower jaw. "How do you eat?" His finger slipped off of Billy's teeth and further into his mouth, causing the young man to gag.

"Oops... sorry," he mumbled, pulling away from Billy and wiping his hands on his apron. "You're a very sick young man," he matter-of-factly stated. "I can't seem to get your temperature back up—"

"Up?" Billy croaked, closing his eyes against the increasing blue tinge and pounding in his head. "But... but I'm so hot... it's only supposed to be 98.6..." He could feel himself losing consciousness.

The sound of shattering glass reverberated in his head. Billy snapped his head in Finster's direction, causing a wave of pain and nausea to rush through him. The monster had dropped the beaker he was working with and was staring at him, dumbfounded.

"98.6? Oh my...." Finster puttered back to the table, stepping over shards of broken glass, "That changes things quite a bit." He touched a muggy paw to Billy's face. Billy shuddered—Finster's hands were the size of his entire head. "You are already at 104. I was trying to elevate your temperature to a stable, comfortable 110. I thought—" Finster broke off. Billy heard the clank of the restraints being released as Finster hurriedly bundled him in a blanket. "Well, it doesn't matter what I thought..."

Billy's head reeled as Finster jerkily heaved him upwards and proceeded to carry him out of the lab. Everything slipped from view and was replaced by inky blackness. He lost all sensation and was only dimly aware of what continued on around him.

"We need to get you below—there are cold springs down there which we can use to reduce your temperature..." the monster prattled on. Finster stopped dead in his tracks. "Oh dear..." he muttered. Billy distantly heard himself moan some sort of response.

"It's Scorpina."

~*~

Billy vacantly stared over the glassy surface of the lake. A look of consternation darkened his face. "I don't know..." he distantly replied, blinking back tears, "I don't remember... I lost consciousness..." He shuddered—something touched the corners of his mind... something he didn't want to remember. Something about Scorpina... no, that was a different time.

"Hey, that's okay, man," Zack slapped a reassuring hand on Billy's shoulder. Remembering what the other said about not "touching Billy," he quickly jerked his hand away.

The sudden gesture hadn't gone unnoticed. Billy turned a puzzled—a surprisingly hurt—eye on Zack.

Zack mentally cursed himself—he should have known better. "Cold?" he asked, removing his lightweight jacket and placing it around Billy's shoulders, doing his best to cover his faux-pas.

Billy wasn't stupid—Zack's thoughts were as transparent to him as if they had been made of glass. He clutched at the jacket around his shoulders and blinked rapidly. His face flushed momentarily then drained to a past white. "What did they tell you?" his voice cracked.

An uncomfortable silence descended upon them. Billy began trembling. Horrified, Zack reached out to grab him—Trini had warned him about Billy's freak seizures. "Oh god... you're not going to have a seizure on me, are you?" He was just as surprised as Billy to find he had spoken those words out loud.

Billy jerked away from Zack. "What did they tell you?" he demanded again, barely keeping his sobs in check.

Zack knew it was useless to try lying to Billy. Besides, Billy was his friend and didn't deserve to be lied to—it simply wouldn't be "right." And Zack suspected Billy already knew the answer anyway. Zack sighed. "They told me not to upset you... that you didn't like to be touched... that you didn't like to talk about... well, you know... Guess I screwed things up pretty bad, didn't I?"

"Oh..." Billy coolly replied, resuming his vacant stare over the water. He was still trembling slightly. Zack braced himself for the other shoe to drop.

After passing a few minutes in unbearable silence, Billy spoke again. "Do you know how long I was there?" His question was more rhetorical that it was directed at Zack. Still, Zack shook his head "no."

"Four months," Billy could barely speak. He felt as if a band were tightening around his throat, strangling all the life from him. "Four months..." he hollowly echoes. Billy suddenly broke down sobbing. "Oh god," he cried, "four months..." Zack's hand rested gently on his shoulder.

Billy turned to look at Zack—almost apologetically, for his weakness. Zack looked back at him with... with sympathy. Sympathy. Not pity. "Do you want to talk about it?"

The look of absolute shock that crossed Billy's face startled Zack. "Oh man, what did I do now?" he wondered.

"No one's asked me that before," Billy mumbled. "No one wants to hear... no one..." Billy stopped, blinking back tears again. The band around his throat tightened even further.

"Hey... don't even think that," Zack pulled Billy close to him in a tight embrace, noticing for the first time how small Billy felt in his arms.

~*~

"Stop it!" Finster snarled, readjusting his grip on Billy. He effortlessly hoisted Billy off the ground and tossed him back into the cage from which Billy had escaped.

Billy clambered into the corner of the cage and pulled himself into a tight fetal position. "No more..." he softly whimpered.

Finster felt pity for the boy—the last few days of experiments had been particularly difficult. But the chance to gather such important data on the human species was a priceless, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that he couldn't pass up.

"Just a few more..." he gently coaxed, reaching through the bars to grab Billy's wrist. "Just a few more... and we'll be done for the night..."

"No," Billy cried, attempting to pull his hand away. Finster's grip was like a vice. No matter how hard Billy twisted and pulled, he couldn't break free. He watched helplessly as Finster pulled his hand between the bars—all he had managed to do was further bruise his swollen wrist.

Finster stretched out Billy's fingers and removed a pair of sharp scissors from his apron.

Billy's eyes widened with horror. "Finster... please..." he stammered, "what are you doing?... please... stop..."

"Hush," Finster snapped, peering impatiently through his glasses. He had no time to explain to Billy—he had lost precious time in recapturing the runaway teen—for the third time today. Scorpina would be by soon, and Finster had to convince her he had everything under "control" or else she would report him to Rita and Zedd.

Finster shuddered—he didn't even want to think about what they would do to Billy. Over the past few weeks he had grown rather attached to the young man. Despite the awful ordeal he had been through, Billy remained rather psychologically stable... until recently, and he was remarkably articulate. Billy had provided Finster with wonderful insight to the human species, though he was understandably guarded when it came to their weaknesses. And he became quite flustered whenever the subject of human sexuality came up—a process that particularly piqued Finster's curiosity, but eluded Billy's lifetime experience. Monsters, and even he himself, were "created," not "born." And there was little to no parenting involved.

Conversely, Finster explained a lot about the life cycles and abilities of most monsters to Billy—though, he, too, would not discuss the particulars for their limitations. He was pleased that the teenager was intellectually curious about their creation and understood—even seemed to appreciate—the toil and labor involved in each creation—something Zedd and Rita took no interest in whatsoever.

Billy started trembling, snapping Finster back to the present. He had to finish this task and get underway on the next one before Scorpina arrived. He couldn't understand why Billy was so frightened this time—they had done this before. Perhaps it was because the last time he had accidently nicked Billy's fingers—Billy's hands were so small compared to his own. Or maybe it had something to do with electroshock he had administered two days ago... yes, that was probably it... that was about the time that Billy began acting bizarrely.

Finster quickly trimmed Billy's nails, being extra careful not to cut his fingers. "Your other hand," he demanded, dumping the first batch of nails into an empty test tube.

Leaning forward, Billy apprehensively passed his hand through the bars and watched Finster trim the fingernails, doing his best not to flinch.

When he had finished, Finster placed the test tube of fingernails in a rack containing other dry "samples" from Billy—skin scrapings, blondish locks of hair, and the like. He grabbed a nearby pitcher and poured a glass of water.

"Here," he said, turning and thrusting the glass through the bars, "drink this."

Billy clutched the glass and greedily gulped down the water—Finster had forgotten to give him anything to drink for hours. "Can I have another glass ?" he hoarsely croaked, pushing the glass back through the bars.

Finster's face darkened. "That would not be advisable," he flatly remarked, quickly turning away.

"Why?" Billy asked, an uneasy feeling descending upon him.

The monster offered no answer.

"Finster...?" Billy warily questioned, rising to his feet. His world blurred, turned grey for a moment and spun out of control.

"Billy! Please sit back down," Finster pleaded as the boy's knees buckled and he crashed into the cage bars, "you'll hurt yourself!"

Supporting himself on the crossbars of the cage, Billy looked up imploringly at Finster. He turned guiltily away and began making preparations for the next experiment. Finster's image receded, as if Billy were looking through the wrong end of a telescope. Billy's wrists groaned angrily under his weight as it became increasingly more difficult to hold himself up. He closed his eyes, trying to shake the nausea slowly creeping over him.

"Finster... wha... what have you done to me?" he murmured as he felt himself being lifted out of the cage.

"It's just a mild sedative...."

The voice sounded as if it came from across the room. Too far away...

Billy forced open his heavy eyelids. Scorpina stared back at him.

Billy screamed.

"Shut up!" Scorpina shouted, dropping Billy's dead weight like a ton of bricks on the lab table and raising her fist to back hand him.

"No!" Finster intervened, clamping one paw over Billy's mouth while using the other to restrain Scorpina's hand. "We must keep him calm—and quiet!" he snapped as Scorpina reluctantly dropped her hand.

Finster turned his back on Scorpina and held Billy's face in both of his paws. "She's not going to hurt you... okay?"

The momentary adrenaline rush having passed, Billy slowly nodded, his ragged wheezing giving way to lethargic heaving.

"Good." Finster went across the room to finish his preparations. "Scorpina, prepare the patient."

"Yes, sir," Scorpina's voice was tinged with resentment.

Billy's heart skipped a beat as Scorpina laid her cold hands on him and rolled him on his side. She seized his battered wrists, causing a yelp of pain to escape from his lips. Ignoring this, she jerked his hands in front of him and began forcing them into a pair of restraints strapped to the side of the table.

"His hands won't fit...." she growled, pulling the leather restraints tighter, but unable to make the buckle close.

"They'll fit..." Finster absently replied, apparently unconcerned about Billy's pained whimpering, "His wrists are swollen from pulling at them earlier, but they'll fit...."

Billy yelped again as the restraints finally snapped into place, pinching his skin. Scorpina then moved down to the foot of the table, positioned Billy's legs to ensure he remained on his side, and fastened them down with a strap that spanned the length of the table. "He's ready," she announced, curiously admiring her handiwork. "What's the point of this experiment?" she asked, trying to conceal her curiosity by adding an air of contempt to her voice.

"With this sample," Finster began, puttering back to the lab table, "I'll be able to gain tremendous insight into human neurochemistry... and even, perhaps, to how the brain and central nervous system operate. You see...."

"That's all I wanted to know," Scorpina cut him short. She bent over to peer into Billy's face, a glint of mischief in her eye, which made Billy involuntarily shudder. "Why don't you just dissect him alive?" she lolled, "Then all of your questions would be answered at once..." A contemptuous sneer played across her lips as Billy's eyes widened with fear when Finster failed to respond.

"Hush," Finster snapped, obviously annoyed. "Quit trying to scare him—you're not helping."

"I tied him down, didn't I?" Scorpina responded, rising to her full height and assuming a more threatening posture. "And I haven't toldLord Zedd and Empress Rita about your little 'guest'—don't forget that."

Finster snorted, but made no reply.

Billy cringed as a blast of cold air pelted his bare back—Finster had lifted up his shirt. A sudden, sharp pain exploded in his lower back, then slowly, agonizingly penetrated deeply, cutting its way to the very depths of his spine.

Scorpina quickly covered Billy's mouth, stifling any potential scrams. Tears involuntarily welled up in Billy's eyes, and he began to jerk hard against the restraints, trying to wrench the needle from his spine.

"Keep him still!" Finster panicked, the needle momentarily slipping from his grasp.

Scorpina threw her body over Billy's, holding him still by sheer force of weight. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she hissed.

"Hold him still!" Finster repeated, removing one vial from the end of the tap and snapping another in its place. "Almost done..." he shakily coaxed, trying to soothe his rattled nerves almost as much as reassure Billy.

Billy stifled a whimper as Finster slowly withdrew the needle. His legs twitched nervously as Scorpina loosened the restraints and rolled him on his back.

"I'll be right back," Finster called over his shoulder, disappearing into the next room.

"No!" Billy's mind raced furiously, "please don't leave me here alone with her..."

A grin crept over Scorpina's features as she began fastening a restraint across his chest.

Billy made a movement as if to run, but realized his legs weren't responding. "Oh god," he whispered.

Scorpina's face darkened. She drew back from Billy. "Guess I won't be needing the leg restraints," she sardonically remarked, tossing a blanket over Billy. She seemed almost... disappointed.

"Your little toy is broken," Scorpina called towards the other room.

"Wha—?" Finster absently wandered from the adjacent room.

He was answered with a stony silence as Scorpina stalked past him, slamming the door behind her.

~*~

"Please don't apologize," Billy waved off Zack's stammering.

"But—"

"Don't."

Zack sat a few moments in silence, racking his brain for something to say. Billy remained next to him, completely drained both physically and emotionally. His soft, ragged breathing reached Zack's ears for the first time since their conversation began. Zack felt a stab at his heart. It was a painful reminder that Billy was still sick—very sick—and it was partially his fault. He should have spotted the fake....

"Stop it," Billy peevishly snapped.

"Stop what?" Zack wondered—again—if Billy was really able to read his thoughts that easily, or if he was just being paranoid.

"Stop staring at me...." Billy trailed off, not caring whether or not he was being "tactful." Zack noted Billy's face blanch another degree and his green eyes glass over.

"You look tired," Zack breached, trying not to sound overly concerned.

"I am tired..." Billy sighed.

"It's hard remembering, isn't it?"

"Yes." Billy could barely conceal the tinge of bitterness creeping into his voice. "But not as hard as—" he choked back the knot forming in his throat.

"As having been there," Zack finished Billy's thought for him. "Billy, I don't know what to say... I mean, had it been me... well, I dunno... I don't think I could have done it."

Billy sleepily blinked a few times. "Done what?"

Zack shifted uneasily. "Well... you know... survived and all..." Billy's eyes lit up and implored him to elaborate. "I mean... gosh, I probably would have gotten killed... or I'd have turned myself in... or something."

Billy shuddered, remembering more than one occasion when he had huddled in the castle's cold ventilation shafts and accidently overheard Zedd and Rita making plans for his capture and grisly execution. "Surrendering wasn't an option—they would have killed me."

"Not if you agreed to work for them."

Billy was genuinely shocked. "Do you think I'd—"

"No!" Zack interrupted, "I didn't mean it that way! But I think... I think _I_ would have..." he muttered, the blood rising to his face over this unexpected confession. "It didn't even cross your mind, did it?"

Billy mutely nodded "no," causing Zack to blush more furiously. "I don't think you would have, either," Billy placed a hand on Zack's shoulder and squeezed gently.

Zack smiled weakly, the heat in his face instantly dissipating. "Thanks, man. That means a lot to me."

Billy slid off the bench, absently tottered a few feet and sat down in the cool grass. Zack slipped next to him. "Are you feeling okay?" he asked, placing a hand to Billy's forehead. Billy's skin was cold and clammy, yet he was sweating. "Maybe we should get you home so you can rest awhile..."

"No... wait—I want to finish," Billy pleaded, shaking off Zack's hand.

"Finish? Uh... I think we really should get you—"

"I want to finish," Billy insisted.

"Um... okay... yeah, sure—go ahead and finish your story," Zack reluctantly conceded. Upsetting Billy would only make matters worse. "So... how did you escape?"

Clinging to Zack's arm for support, Billy pulled himself closer and smiled weakly.

"What?" Zack asked, noticing the faint smile. It was probably the first time anybody had seen Billy smile in days—if not longer.

"Its just..." Billy paused, his mind clouding over momentarily.

Zack slipped an arm around Billy, noticing his friend was becoming more distant. Not "aloof" distant, but "Tired" distant.

"Just... well, you assumed I escaped," Billy finally continued his thought, leaning heavily on Zack's supporting arm, "I think the others... others would have assumed... assumed I was released... not... not escaped... anyway..."

Zack shook his head sadly as Billy's voice trailed off into barely coherent muttering, and doubted Billy even realized that Zack had picked him up and was carrying him to the car.

~*~

Pulling his arms tighter around his body for warmth, Billy struggled to pull his knees into a fetal position. Sharp pains cascaded down his back, ending with a painful, though not entirely unpleasant, tingling in his calves and feet. Unpleasant had been the numbing lack of response he had experienced for the last three days. Now it just felt as if his legs were asleep all of the time.

Finster tucked a blanket around the shivering teen and reached under his back, adjusting Billy and the table to an upright sitting position. Billy recoiled violently from Finster's touch. Whether the reaction was prompted by fear or pain—Billy's back was still a little tender from the spinal tap—Finster couldn't tell. He tenderly smoothed back Billy's hair—a gesture of affection he had seen on many TV shows, whose satellite signals he had intercepted—but rather than reciprocate the gesture, Billy shuddered and turned his head away.

Sighing heavily, Finster withdrew his paw. Billy had become increasingly withdrawn. He had flatly refused food and water on several occasions, and Finster worried that he would have to place Billy on a saline drip to prevent serious dehydration.

On top of it all, Billy's recovery from the spinal tap was much too slow and inconsistent. For three days he had not been able to move, and Finster feared that he might have permanently damaged Billy's spine. Then, earlier today, Billy had shown some progress. Periods of inactivity were offset by periods of bizarre hyperactivity. Extreme hypersensitivity, in which Billy was curled up and doubled over with agonizing pain, interrupted the "normal" periods during which he felt absolutely nothing. Over the past twelve hours, the cycles had regulated themselves to a steady 1 1/2 hour schedule. By Finster's calculations, the next cycle would be starting soon, and he wanted to keep Billy under close observation, in case Billy required assistance. A few more days, and perhaps Billy's mobility might be completely restored.

Almost as if on cue, Billy stifled a moan, and with lightning quickness, retracted into a fetal position, the mobility in his legs apparently no longer restricted.

"Here, drink this," Finster coaxed, rushing to Billy's side, attempting to straighten the boy out, and bringing a glass of bluish liquid to Billy's lips.

Billy pursed his lips and turned his head away.

"Billy, please!" Finster pleaded, "It will help you..."

Billy knocked the glass from Finster's hands. "Like the last time?" he snapped, "What will you do this time? Lobotomize me with an icepick? Rip out my heart to see how long it continues beating outside of my body? Dissect me piece by piece like some sort of machine?? I'm not one of your monsters, Finster—if you break me, you can't fix me!"

Finster's frustration mounted. He was angry with Billy—never before had he seen Billy this....stubborn... or upset. But most of all, he was angry with himself. He felt that he had been doing the procedures for Billy at first—to find out how Billy "worked" so that he could "fix" him better. But it got carried away—he did them now for his own scientific curiosity—and had hurt the boy. "I didn't mean to hurt you—"

"Well, you did," Billy sullenly interrupted. "I trusted you!!" he suddenly exploded, breaking down into sobs. "You're just like the others..."

"What others?" Finster asked, trying not to sound like he was exploiting Billy's vulnerability.

"My friends," Billy continued through his sobs, "I trusted them, too. And they've left me here to die, haven't they?..."

"No, they haven't," Finster assured. It wasn't a lie—they hadn't forgotten... really. They just didn't know. Eventually the clone would make a mistake, and the rangers would come for Billy. It was a dangerous waiting game—and time was running out for Billy. Even as small as the boy was, Finster could feel the intense heat rising from his fever-racked body. He tried to touch Billy, to give reassurance but the boy only flinched away from his hand. "They'll come..."

"Finster!!!" The shriek seemed to pierce through every room in the castle. Billy tensed, listening to the quickly approaching footsteps that reverberated in the hallway just outside the lab. "Finster! Where are you?!?"

"Shh!" Finster ordered, quickly bundling Billy in the blanket. He scooped up the teenager and carried him to the closet. "Quickly, we must hide you before she gets here," he whispered, setting Billy on the floor of the closet and throwing another blanket over him. "Don't make a sound," he softly reminded Billy as he closed the door.

Finster hadn't managed to fully close the closet when the lab door blew open and Rita stormed in. Billy shrank under his blankets, trying to make himself as obscure as possible.

"Finster! Where the hell have you been?!" Rita barked.

Assuming a more humble posture, Finster grasped for an explanation. "Well..."

"Nevermind!" she snapped, "I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses—you were supposed to be upstairs 15 minutes ago. Now get!" she ordered, shoving Finster towards the door. "I need to get that brat back to Earth before she's missed."

"Just a minute," Finster stalled, hoping to make is way back to the closet so he could lock it.

"Now! Go!" Rita screamed, pushing Finster out the door and slamming it shut behind her.

Billy shakily exhaled the breath he had been holding and pulled a blanket tightly around him in an attempt to control his trembling. He silently crept from his hiding place, his eyes darting nervously around the room, like a hunted animal.

His legs twinging slightly, Billy collapsed against Finster's workstation to rest.

Scattered around the table were various "samples" Finster had collected from Billy. Billy shook his head in disgust—it was a sloppy area at best—made his own lab seem immaculate. Several blood samples were spoiling from being left out too long. In the center of the workbench was a large book. Billy carefully slid along the table, using it to support himself as his weakened legs continued to slowly buckle under his weight.

When he finally reached the book, Billy cautiously thumbed through it, so as not to disturb the loose sheets that had apparently been shoved in as an afterthought. It was the book chronicling Finster's experiments and observations of Billy, handwritten in sloppy, scratchy English. Apparently, Finster was trying to read and write English in an attempt to "encode" his work. Billy flipped to the beginning of the book and read:

—Subject brought in by several monsters. Apparent head trauma—bleeding from he ear, fading in and out of consciousness... —

Billy sighed and flipped ahead—he didn't remember being brought in, and he wasn't so sure he wanted to. His eyes came to rest on a page written only two days prior:

—Still difficult to assess damage of failed spinal tap. Subject uncooperative at best, unresponsive at worst. Refuses to answer basic questions, perform basic functions. Considering injection of thorozine, to get him to be more cooperative—

Trembling, Billy turned the page to read on. The previous entry broke off—no more about a thorozine injection, for which Billy was thankful—and picked up with yesterday's entry:

—Scorpina becoming more insistent about turning Billy over to her. He wouldn't survive in her care—even if she didn't' kill him outright, he'd succumb to the various effects and illnesses resulting from her previous "care."

The fever persists—even after weeks of treatment. The complications from the spinal tap are still difficult to assess, though Billy seems to be showing some signs of pain—an indication that the damage may not be permanent. Other damage may be permanent—most notably slight brain damage from numerous concussions and a minor skull fracture (probably the result of Scorpina's beatings or the other monsters "playing" with the boy), and epidermal scarring from various deep welts and lacerations.

Still, I cannot keep him. Even if he wasn't painfully executed by Scorpina and/or Rita and Zedd, I lack the facilities to "fix" him and send him home. He will die if not sent back to Earth soon. As much as the potential to observe the death process and perform a human autopsy fascinates me, I do not wish to watch the boy suffer. Researching lethal injections... —

Billy's vision dimmed and he clutched the counter for support. Tears welled in his eyes—Finster was going to execute him. Whether out of scientific curiosity or some warped altruistic sense of "relieving his suffering," the result would still be the same—he'd be dead.

"He's going to kill me..." Billy muttered softly. A sheen of sweat dotted his forehead, and, for a moment, he felt himself start to black out. His hands clenched the book. "No," he told himself, "I'm not gonna die like a lab rat." The distance to the lower caverns seemed huge—insurmountable—but it was better, his battered mind said quietly, to go out fighting.

~*~

Finster sighed and leaned against his workbench, wondering what could have prompted the boy to flee, when he felt they were making so much progress. His hands lightly skimmed his book as he shifted his weight, and he turned his full attention to it, realizing he needed to log these latest developments.

The book was open to yesterday's entry. Funny, he didn't remember leaving it open... Billy must have been reading it... and, from what Finster could tell, had stopped at the part touching upon the lethal injection...

"Damn!" Finster spat, slamming the book shut and throwing it to the floor. Those random observations and musings had obviously frightened the boy into running. If it had that sort of effect on Billy, he could just imagine the sort of traitorous behavior someone as weak minded as Rita would read into it. The log would have to be destroyed.

Curious chatter captured Finster's attention and he suddenly realized he had left his newest charge standing outside. "Shoo!" he barked at the monsters, rushing to the door and waving them away. "Come in," he ordered the entranced girl, herding her into the room and shutting the door behind them.

This girl was Rita's latest attempt to undermine the Rangers. According to what Rita told Finster, this young lady was to infiltrate their ranks and destroy them from the inside. Apparently she had forgotten that she already had someone to do that—he was just waiting on his orders.

Finster was to place a spell on this young lady to allow her to transform into a cat at will so she could slip amongst the Rangers without any suspicion being cast.

Cat—a humorous pun on the girl's name, Kat. Finster studied the fair creature curiously—she was rather tall and slender. and pretty—for a human.

"Sit," Finster barked at her, setting up for the task at hand.

Kat hesitated. For a brief moment her vapid blue eyes flickered with a gleam of... stubbornness? Self-awareness?... before sitting on the table previously occupied by Billy only hours earlier.

Finster snickered. Just like all of Rita's plans, this one was destined to fail. Kat was already starting to fight the spell. A truly good heart could never be fully corrupted—Rita should have learned that with Tommy, and chosen her newest "candidate" more wisely.

_Knowing Rita's luck,_ Finster mused, _Kat will end up becoming good friends with the Rangers. Who knows... somewhere down the line, she may even BECOME a Ranger._

A sudden inspiration hit Finster. He scooted a stool over to the table and sat down facing Kat. He knew a little magic... this might work...

"Look at me," he snapped his fingers in front of her face a few times to draw her attention. When she turned her vacant stare upon him, he waved a paw over her face, easing the grip Rita's spell had on her. A glimmer of consciousness shone behind the girl's eyes.

"Good," Finster muttered, "Now... I want to tell you a story, but you must keep it locked in the back of your mind until the time is right. Understand?"

Kat slowly nodded "yes."

"Good..." Finster continued, "It's about a boy you will meet—a young man named Billy..."

~*~

"Did you try talking to your other friends?" Claire Taylor knew that Zack's friends were closeknit. "Maybe your friend Billy has just misunderstood. He has been under a lot of stress, you know."

Zack shook his head. "I kinda thought of that, but I think he's right. Most of them just can't deal with it. I thought Adam was actually going to cry." He didn't mention that Trini had cried, or that Aisha had completely clammed up. "Tommy and Jason are at each others throats. It's splitting everyone apart and that's the last thing Billy needs... I think."

Cliff Taylor hummphed. "Sounds like your friend needs to get away and relax. He needs time, Zack. Between your friends bickering, his father's concern and the fact that he has been through a nightmare I can't even imagine... you're lucky you aren't visiting him in the looney bin, you know."

"Cliff..." Claire's voice had a hint of warning to it.

"The boy knows what I'm talking about." Cliff tipped his cigar towards Zack. "Your friend... we're talking about the shy one, aren't we? He was high strung to start with. You can be damn certain being tortured for months didn't help." Cliff saw his grandson cringe at the word torture. "Well, he was Zack. Damn near killed him. Hell... its almost too bad the kid didn't loose it. People would be a helluva lot easier on him."

"Gramps..." Zack hesitated.

"You want to help your friend." Cliff puffed his cigar. "He needs to relax... Take him fishing..."

"Fishing?" Zack didn't quite know what to say. "Grampa... Billy doesn't even like fish... he has this thing..."

"He don't gotta eat the damn things... doesn't even need to catch any... its the act..." Cliff set down his cigar. "Take your friend up to the summer house for a few weeks."

"The summer house? Just the two of us?" Zack considered. No one had headed up to the summer house in ages. It was a big two story log cabin more suited to hunting parties than the occasional family vacation. Zack couldn't picture Billy and him rattling around up there.

"Why not ask a few of your other friends too?" Claire said. "I think a few more people is a good idea. Just in case..."

~*~

Zack sighed. "I think some people need a break too. I mean..."

"Everyone has been under a lot of stress." Kat nodded. "I think its easier for you and I to see it. I just hadn't been able to figure out what to do. Its a good idea..."

"What? What's a good idea?" Rocky pulled up a chair.

"Zack and I are going to take Billy camping... up at Zack's summer place." Kat hesitated. Rocky had been notoriously silent about the entire mess. "Do you want to come with us? It's kind of a getaway."

Rocky frowned. Then, surprisingly, he said. "That's a good idea... I... I haven't really been able to talk with Billy.... He's been kinda... distant... I've been distant too..." Then he added, "I don't know though.... What about Billy's dad?"

~*~

Cliff was suddenly glad Zack had taken his frail looking friend to a movie. It was exactly the sort of situation that was likely not helping the kid's stress levels. "What if he does? There's a phone... Ward, look at yourself. You haven't left that boy alone for over a month. You need the break, and I'm willing to bet your boy does too.... He won't be left alone. Someone will have an eye on him. Admit it, you need the time too."

"I just...." Ward sat down heavily. "I feel like everytime I let him leave, it might... be the last time. " He sighed heavily. "This is my fault..."

"Are you going to chain him up in this house for the rest of his life?" Cliff asked harshly. "At least think about it..."

~*~

"About six hours." Zack piled another box of supplies into the trunk. Kat and Rocky gave him a hand. Billy grabbed a box and stifled the sudden heavy breathing the exertion brought on.

"Okay..." Kat took the box, thankful that Billy hadn't picked up one of the heavy boxes. She didn't think he could lift one. Kat had, until Zack had arrived, been trying to stay back in the shadows as far as Billy's recovery went. Oh, sure she had visited Billy in the hospital. She liked him. He had a shy, quiet way about him that made her feel comfortable. She simply didn't want to put any pressure on him. But considering the way things had gone, she figured now it was her turn to try and fix everything. Or, she thought as Billy took the front passenger seat, at least help Billy.

~*~

"Pull in at that truck stop." Zack commanded. "We need food."

"No arguing from me there." Rocky was starving. Trucks stops were a definite choice place to eat too. Zack reached over and shook Billy. "Hey man..."

Billy bolted upright. "What?!" Rocky slammed the car into a parking spot. Billy slowly got his bearings. "Oh... are we there?"

"No." Rocky's hands were shaking. "We're..."

"Just stopping to get something to eat." Kat said brightly. She got out of the car. "Come on guys." The only way both Rocky and Billy were ever going to feel comfortable was if they didn't make a big deal about things. And, Kat mused with a grin, hopefully it won't involve a car accident.

"This place has awesome food." Zack as they entered the diner. He ushered then to a corner booth. "My folks would always stop here on the way. The pie is to die for."

"Cherry pie?" Billy asked hopefully as he took a seat.

"Banana cream pie?" asked Rocky.

"We have pie for everyone's taste." Their waitress slapped down menus. "But try having lunch first... we do that pretty well too." The older woman trotted off.

"Food..." Rocky regained his good cheer. "Oh man... fried chicken and mashed potatoes..." He nudged Billy playfully. "Sounds good... I might have two orders."

"Yeah.." Billy was a little awed by the menu. "Guys... this is sad... This is the first place I've been other than the Juice Bar in... five months...."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. Then, "Billy, you need to get out more," just popped out of Zack's mouth. Billy burst into laughter and seconds later so did the others. Zack was beginning to think his grandfather was right. Billy just needed to get away.

~*~

Or, perhaps Billy was feeling better. Rocky couldn't quite believe the change in his friend. At first, Billy had been obviously nervous and tense. Slowly though, Billy had seemed to unwind. It wasn't unusual to see him smile. Rocky even thought he'd put on some weight. God knows they were going through enough food. Another good sign though. Rocky had worried at first. Billy had at first, been mostly picking at meals, but the last few days had done something.... Billy was actually coming close to rivalling him at putting away the food. No mean feat.

"Kat is making chili for dinner." Billy said as he sat down at the edge of the dock. "And Zack wants to have a another Monopoly tournament tonight."

"Another?" Rocky chuckled. He laid back in the water.

"Well..." Billy smiled easily. "I think tomorrow we'll head into town and rent some new movies..." He dangled his feet into the water.

"Why don't you jump in?" Rocky encouraged. Billy was sweating. "It's got to be over 100 today."

"106, actually." Billy said. "I don't have a suit...."

"Come on. Just jump in." Rocky said playfully. "Heck, don't even take your shirt off..." It occurred to Rocky that Billy had never really been cool about strutting around shirtless. "The water's great."

Billy peered into the water. "There's fish in the water..."

"And sea weed, and rocks." Rocky paddled back and forth. "The fish don't bite."

"I don't really know how to swim." Billy blushed. "And... I don't like fish..."

"You can stand here." Rocky demonstrated. Faintly, Rocky recalled Zack saying something about Billy being a little phobic about fish. Hesitantly, Billy stepped down the dock ladder into the water.

"This is.... different..." Billy never really liked the water. It was up around his chest and he was nervous. Something touched his toes and he jumped. "What was that?"

"Don't worry..." Rocky swished the water around, hoping Billy hadn't noticed the minnows. "It's just fish..."

"Fish? Here?" Billy backed up until he was up against the dock. "Maybe I'll just get out...."

Rocky chuckled. "Billy... I just do not believe you. Are you really thinking that the lake fish are gonna eat you?"

"It's not funny."

Billy, Rocky suddenly realized, was deadly serious. A shadow moved across the water.

"Oh god! What was that?" Billy jumped so high that Rocky caught him on the way down.

Rocky started laughing. "A minnow!" he snickered, "You know, a 'little fishie.'"

Billy flushed. "Its not funny," he muttered kicking himself free of Rocky's arms.

"Oh yes it was," Rocky snorted between fits of hysterical laughter. "You should have seen your face!" His face turned bright red and tears began streaming down his face. "Definitely a Kodak moment."

Billy impatiently waited for Rocky's laughter to die down.

"What's that??" Rocky suddenly screamed, pointing into the water.

"WHAT?!" Billy shrieked, bending over and looking apprehensively into the water where Rocky was pointing.

"Oh no, Billy, its another fishie!" Rocky exclaimed, slapping his hand on the water and splashing Billy in the face. His hysterical fit of laughter resumed.

"You're so funny," Billy sardonically remarked, splashing Rocky back.

Rocky dodged the splash. "And I'm a better shot too," he retorted, splashing Billy in the face again.

"Ow!" Billy doubled over, grabbing his eye. "My contacts!"

Rocky stopped laughing. "Oh man... I'm sorry, Billy" he apologized as he waded over to where Billy stood. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked, placing a hand on Billy's shoulder.

"Yeah," Billy replied, slapping an hand over Rocky's, "'cause I'm the better actor!" He used Rocky's outstretched arm as a lever to toss him into the water and pushed Rocky's head under, just to make sure he got nice and wet.

"Hey!" Rocky sputtered, re-emerging. Billy had already started clumsily swimming away. "I'm not finished with you yet, Billy!" he shouted, taking off after him.

Rocky easily overtook Billy in a few easy strokes. "You're going down, man!" he said, grabbing the back of Billy's shirt and jerking him backwards.

"No! Wait!" Billy began. He never had a chance to finish—Rocky mercilessly pushed him under.

"Oops, too late," Rocky smirked.

But Billy didn't come up. "Billy?" Rocky called. "Billy?" he repeated, peering nervously into the murky water.

Suddenly something grabbed his feet. Rocky thrashed his arms about, managing to keep himself afloat as Billy popped up, holding his feet.

"I think its your turn," Billy sneered, positioning his hand on Rocky's head.

As Billy pushed, Rocky reached out and grabbed the front of Billy's shirt. "Oh no, its your turn—really, I insist!"

Rocky jerked hard on Billy's shirt as he went under. He heard something rip. Billy staggered backwards, clutching the bare spot on his chest where Rocky had ripped his shirt.

He couldn't help but stare at the huge gashes that crisscrossed Billy's chest. Some were completely healed, leaving a trail of puckered pink scarred skin while others were still scabbed over. Rocky shuddered, imagining how painful they must have been... must still be.

Billy shifted uncomfortably under Rocky's stare. He could feel his whole body flushing with embarrassment, and his lip began trembling. _Don't... don't g et upset...._ he ordered himself.

Aware that his staring was making Billy uncomfortable, Rocky lowered his eyes to the sopping blue material in his hand. "Um... here..." he muttered, thrusting the cloth towards Billy, "sorry..."

Billy snatched the cloth from Rocky's hand. "S'okay," he muttered through gritted teeth, turning his back on Rocky.

Something needed to be said. Rocky felt it in his gut. "Jeez... Billy... why didn't you say something? That's..." he sighed, "I'm... I'm really sorry about... well, you know... leaving you there and all..."

"I said it was okay!" Billy snapped.

"No it's not!" Rocky spat back. "For god's sake Billy, you have a right to be mad, you know!" He felt Billy wasn't really listening to him. Rocky grabbed Billy's shoulders and swung him around to face him. "Look at me!" he ordered. "Damnit, Billy! We left you there for months. You have every right to be mad at us! Do you think you're sparing us any discomfort by not being angry? Do you?" he shook Billy for added emphasis. "You have to face it! We left you there to die!"

"Stop it!! Let go of me!!" Billy shrieked, hurling a fist at Rocky. Through his tears he could see his fist make contact with Rocky's jaw and blood spurt from the lip. Somehow, that only enraged him more and he continued to pummel Rocky. "There! You like that? That's what I get to face. That what every day there was like only multiply it a thousand times over! I'm going to be facing it for the rest of my life and all you can say is 'I'm sorry.' Well, it doesn't cut it! It's not going to cut it so just shut up!" With that Billy punched Rocky one last time and flung himself off into the water and swam to the dock.

Rocky stood numbly in the water and wiped the blood off his face. Billy had gotten lucky on his first punch, and the rest had barely stung.... Rocky had a feeling he was getting off lucky. He paddled over to the dock and got out of the water, very conscious of the fact that Billy was watching him from the water. He held out a hand to Billy. After a moment, Billy accepted it and Rocky gave him a quick pull up.

"You okay?" he asked. He deserved everything that Billy had said, but Billy was looking a little pale.

"No... yeah..." Billy sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. Rocky threw a large towel over him . "Thanks." He smiled shyly.

"No problem." Rocky suddenly felt a weight lift off of him and he smiled in return.

~*~

After five minutes, she gave up trying to figure out who was on whose team. Apparently, the guys didn't know either—sometimes Rocky would toss the ball to Zack, other times, he'd be trying to take Zack down. Kat was surprised by how fast Billy could move—he was difficult to catch and easily overtook Rocky, whom Kat considered a very fast runner.

Most of their time, however, was spent retrieving wild balls. Kat couldn't help but laugh out loud as the ball bounced off Rocky's head—Billy may have been a good runner, but he was a lousy toss.

The... game?... came to an end a short time later when one of Zack's wild balls firmly planted itself in a tree. The guys stood under it a few seconds looking stupidly at the ball, as if that would make it come down. Zack made a running leap at the offending branch, completely missed, and landed hard on his rear. Billy and Rocky burst out in hysterical laughter and took off running once Zack regained his feet. Zack trotted off after them into the woods, shouting some sort of vague, testosterone-inspired threat that Kat couldn't make out through the thick glass pane.

Turning from the window, Kat padded over the stove where last night's leftover chili simmered. Shejabbed a spoon into the thick chili, stirring the mixture of tomato, beef and beans. Spicy hot steam wafted up to her face, burning her nose with pungent odor. She gingerly raised the spoon to her lips, blowing softly on the spoon before sliding it into her mouth.

"Ouch!" she hissed, quickly retracting the spoon. Too hot. And maybe a bit too spicy—considering how Billy was kind of sensitive to the spice last night. But, of course, Kat reasoned, such opinions should only be formed after a second sampling.

Kat brought the spoon to her lips a second time, turning away from the hot stove. Someone was standing in the doorframe. Startled, she screamed, sending the spoon clattering to the floor.

"Kat!... Oh geez... Kat... I'm sorry..." Billy stammered, rushing forward and falling to his knees to help clean up the mess on the floor. "I... I didn't mean to scare you..."

"It's okay..." Kat sighed in relief, reaching behind her to grab a towel. She kneeled next to Billy, who was scraping up the spilled chili with his hands. "Here... let me get that," she smiled, taking his hand in her own and wiping it clean.

Billy blushed, self-consciously jerking his hand away.

Kat felt the blood rise to her cheeks as well. _How sweet..._ she thought, _I wonder if he was always this flustered around girls..._ His clone hadn't been—yet another thing that should have tipped off the rangers that "Billy" wasn't Billy.

Well, no point in pointing fingers now... enough people were doing that. "Are you guys done with your game?"

"For now..." Billy said softly. "Um... Kat....um...." He'd wanted to talk to Kat for a while but somehow he never could corner her.

"Yo Billy!" Zack bounced in. "Wanna take the rowboat out with me?"

"Um..." Kat felt the odd moment fizzle. Billy had been about to say something, she knew, but...

"Yeah... sure...." Billy blushed again and left. Zack simply blinked in surprise. He had interrupted something but it was too late now.

~*~

"Hey Billy." Kat gracefully sat down next to him. "The monopoly tournament will be starting soon."

"We need to find another game." Billy chuckled.

"Well... we have a few minutes..." Kat actually had told Zack and Rocky to give her some time. She had a feeling Billy wanted to talk.

"Yeah..." Billy hesitated. He wanted to talk but the attempt he'd made earlier in the evening still made him cringe. And Kat was so... sophisticated to begin with. No doubt she thought he was clutzy nervous wreck. "It's nice out tonight...."

"I know... it's always at night when I get homesick." Kat felt a sudden tug of loneliness as she spoke. "I look up... and the constellations are all wrong... and I keep thinking its just not the same." She blushed. "That sounds so silly..."

"No, that's not silly." Billy said softly. "Being lonely can... can be overpowering..."

"Was it really bad?" Kat asked gently.

After a moment, Billy nodded. "When I saw you... you don't realize...."

"Realize what?" Kat sensed she was very close to the subject that Billy had tried to broach earlier.

"It..." He took a deep breath. "You saved my life... I was... It was over. I couldn't go on... I was heading down into the lower chambers.... and I was going to die. I'd given up."

"Really?" Kat was surprised. "You mean... suicide?"

He paled suddenly. "No... not like that. You don't understand..." His hands clenched the dock. "I just couldn't go on... I could take the beatings and never getting enough rest or food... I could even make myself think that there was a rescue coming. I just couldn't... she knew.... she'd found the one thing left to hurtme with and I... I couldn't let that happen." He hesitated, his face getting even redder. "There's a point where... things go too far... and you can't let it go any further." As he spoke, the clouds that had been threatening all afternoon began to rain softly on the two teens. Billy sighed.

"Are you okay?" Kat asked. She rather liked the feel of the rain. It was soft and gentle, more a light misting than anything else. If Billy was upset by it though....

"Yes... no..." Billy pulled his feet out of the water. "It just.. reminds me... only a little... of that last time with Scorpina..."

~*~

Another freezing blast of pressurized water hit him against the back and knocked him to the floor. Billy sputtered and gasped for air against the onslaught.

"Want another drink, Blue Ranger?" Scorpina hissed, momentarily shutting off the hose.

Billy struggled to regain his feet and his breath when Scorpina turned the hose on him again. The column of water hit him in the center of the chest, and he was thrown against the wall. His head knocked hard against the wall. As he slid to the floor, a sharp pain shot through his head and darkness began to enclose him.

Throwing the hose aside, Scorpina strolled over to Billy and easily pushed him over onto his back. Billy moaned slightly, but stifled it as best as he could. He did not want to give her the satisfaction of crying out in pain.

Scorpina loomed over him a minute, then straddled his body and dropped to her knees. As her weight crashed down upon him, Billy unsuccessfully tried suppressing a gasp. He groaned as she slid herself to a comfortable position just above his hips and feebly tried pushing her away.

She laughed maliciously. "I thought you were dead. You surprise me...." Billy could tell that she knew he was too frail to fight her off. She easily swept his hands aside with one stroke. Billy cried out in pain as his hands slammed painfully onto the cold, hard floor above his head. Her lips spread into a smile as she heard it. No more whimpering... the actual cry...

"But you're not dead, are you, Billy?" she malevolently breathed into his ear, "At least, not to me... but to them..." She knew their last meeting was still fresh in his mind and glowered with gratification at seeing Billy's ill-concealed grief.

Scorpina slid further down his hips and leaned over him _Oh God..._ Billy thought, trying his hardest to hold back sobs, _she's gonna rape me... oh God... please help me... don't let this happen...._

She bent over and placed her ear against Billy's chest, grinning with satisfaction as she heard his rapid heartbeat and shallow breathing. It was working. She took her free hand and lightly ran her fingernails up and down Billy's side, listening intently as his heart skipped a beat and began to race even faster. She slid her hand under the shreds of Billy's sopping shirt and traced a few of the more recent slashes along his stomach, digging her nails into one to draw fresh blood. Billy's shallow breathing gave way to silent spasmodic whimpers.

Billy blinked back tears as Scorpina shifter her weight again and sat back up. He struggled under her. "Quit struggling, brat!" she spat, slapping him across the face.

The slap did it... the tears began to flow freely now. "What's the matter, Billy?" she spitefully purred, "don't you humans like this sort of thing? Don't all young boys enjoy sex?" She stroked his soggy, grimy hair and ran her fingernails lightly down his face. "I'm the only one who loves you, you know... Isn't this how you humans show your love for each other?" Her pleasure heightened as each calculated word seemed to wound Billy in a way in which even beating him within an inch of his life never seemed to achieve. She could see the fire in his eyes dying, replaced with the dawning hollowness of a broken spirit. "You should love me too... After all, I'm all you have left. Show me how much you love me, Billy..."

Billy shook violently with sobs. "Please, Scorpina... no..." he weakly begged, feeling her lightly stroke his chest.

Scorpina reached under his head, seized his wet hair and violently jerked his head back. Billy shrieked for a moment but was silenced as she pressed her lips hard against his.

Billy struggled to close his mouth and force her away, but his efforts just encouraged Scorpina further. He convulsively coughed and gagged as she pressed herself harder against him. As she pulled away, she bit his lip hard, obviously relishing the taste of his blood in her mouth.

She let go of his hands and forcefully pushed off him.

Billy rolled over onto his side and curled up into a tight fetal position. He whole body shook violently with the force of his sobbing.

Scorpina stood nearby, watching him with perverse fascination. She pulled out her whip and let the lash fall once across his back, smiling viciously as Billy shrieked and convulsively shuddered.

Billy's shaking intensified and became more jerky. He felt an agonizing, cramping pain cascade through him, tensing his muscles to the point where he felt they would snap. It ceased momentarily, then started up again with a vengeance. His throat tightened, causing him to choke on his own sobs and faltering screams. Then it abruptly stopped.

Scorpina had never seen that happen before. She leaned over and peered into his face. His face was smudged and streaked with tears. But he was no longer crying.

Billy stared vacantly back at her, unable to move. He felt as if his body were no longer his own—he was mentally commanding it to get up and run but was only answered with spasmodic, painful twitching. He watched as she nudged him with her hand, obviously hoping to provoke some reaction. Nothing. Billy didn't even feel the touch.

Scanning him for life signs, Scorpina put a hand to his chest. Billy mentally winced seeing her hand so close to his body. Her hand rose and fell in sync with his slow, shallow breathing.

Scorpina carelessly picket up the drenched waif and tucked him under her arm like a rag doll. The swaying sent Billy's head reeling again. She would probably take him to Finster.

~*~

Kat drew him into a hug, not saying a word. She didn't think she could say anything without crying herself. Finally she said, "I'm sorry... I wish we'd gotten there sooner. No one should have to have that happen."

Billy pulled away but after a moment, he smiled. "Thank you Kat."

"For what?"

"Just... thank you."

~*~

"Rocky?" Kat looked at the pile of food Rocky had prepared. "Who do you think will eat that?" Kat was simply not a breakfast person. "Zack went into town for supplies and Billy's not up."

"Not up?" Rocky's brow creased with worry. "You know... the last couple days, all he's really done is sleep. And eat... but not as much... Do you think he's okay?"

Kat hesitated. She had not shared what Billy had told her. It wasn't that he asked her not too, he hadn't. He hadn't said much of anything. Kat somehow sensed that she'd been entrusted with a secret, perhaps as a test. A test she fully expected to pass. She had a feeling that he would, at some future time, tell the other Rangers what had happened. The first time was the hardest, and she figured that a lot of why Billy was sleeping all the time was the inevitable emotional crash from baring his soul.

"I think he's okay, Rocky," she said finally. "Just worn out. You and Zack have been keeping him pretty busy. And.... he's been going through some... stuff."

"Stuff?" Rocky looked at his mountainous breakfast and frowned.

"Personal stuff." Kat piled some food on her plate and took a seat.

"I think I know what you mean." Rocky took a seat. "So... what do we do? Just be cool?" It sounded like a plan to him. Billy was doing okay.... if he needed to sleep and maybe just hang around, then that's what Rocky wanted him to do.

"That'll work." As Kat spoke, the door to the porch slammed and many feet pounded across the wooden floor. Zack bounced in, followed by all of the rangers.

"Hey! Look who I found!"

~*~

Cabin was a misleading word, Billy thought as he walked out onto the wide covered porch. It was made of logs, true, but the Taylor family summer cabin was larger than Billy's home. The place was centered around a large open living room/dining room combo with a huge stone fireplace. Almost every night the last two weeks, a cheery fire was lit and they had played cheesy board games on the old latch rug. Most of the bedrooms were loft type rooms, opening off the stairwell to the second floor. There were a few bedrooms on the first floor, more nicely furnished, and Rocky, Zack, Kat and he had grabbed those when they first arrived. The place was huge. With ten people though, it got pretty noisy and hectic. He missed the quiet. The thumping sound of crutches reached his ears. "Aisha."

"How'd you know it was me?" She limped over to where he was standing and smiled at him. "You look tons better. I was worried about you. Now I wish I'd come along. Maybe I'd be looking as good."

"Oh, you're just being nice." he scoffed gently. "Besides, you don't look half bad."

Aisha was taken back for a moment by his words. Billy had never been one to kid like that. "Well, I try." She took a seat on one of the wicker chairs. "You do look better. You seemed so nervous before... Getting away has been good for you."

Billy leaned up against the porch railing. He gave Aisha a smile, a smile so open and genuine, Aisha felt her heart melt a little. She had missed Billy, more than she knew. The odd coldness of the clone was something that had worried her for a while but she had said nothing, figuring that Billy was just upset.Then, the clone was discovered and Aisha had felt like hell. She had felt even worse when she'd seen how slowly Billy was recovering. She smiled back, feeling suddenly at ease. "I missed you Billy."

"Same here." Billy said it easily. Aisha's openness and his own newfound calmness made talking with her somehow... nice. "How's your leg?"

"I get the cast off next week." Aisha started as a sudden flash of lightening illuminated the dimming porch. The heavy scent of rain blew in with the breeze. "Looks like it's gonna storm tonight."

~*~

And her reasoning seemed to be right. Billy seemed... not exactly his old self, but better. Trini didn't hold out much hope that her often naive and gentle friend of old would ever really be back. It saddened her, not that she hadn't thought it would happen eventually anyway, but it still hurt. Her mother had warned her once that a person can't innocent forever. Trini simply wished Billy hadn't found out that truth in such a hard fashion.

"It's storming pretty bad." Adam said softly as she walked by. Adam was, Trini thought to herself, surprisingly closed off. She hadn't known him that well before but to her, he seemed almost afraid of trying to deal with the situation. Billy had given up even trying to talk to him and in fact, Adam had spent most of the day looking through old magazines. That was, to Trini, preferable to how Jason and Tommy were glaring at each other. Everyone was dancing around them and Trini had a bad feeling that it was going to erupt into an argument.

Jason and Tommy shouldn't have come up at all, in her opinion. They both needed to sit down and work out their problems. They needed to do it before they spent time with Billy. But instead, they were snarling at each other and making everyone miserable, especially Billy. Like Aisha, Trini had been heartened by the positive changes in her friend. Billy looked so much better, she almost thought it had been a mistake to have come up with everyone.

Billy saw Trini just looking at him and blushed. He leaned over the fireplace and started to stoke the fire, hoping the flames would cover his embarrassment. When Trini wandered back into the kitchen to help with the after dinner cleanup, he let out a deep sigh.

"You okay Billy?" He started slightly as Tommy clapped him on the back.

"Jeez Tommy...." Jason took a seat on the old lumpy couch. "You just about whacked him into the fire."

"I did not!" Tommy stalked over to a chair. Jason simply rolled his eyes. Billy felt his anger slowly rise and forced it back down. Somehow, he knew that he had the answer to why Tommy and jason were so angry but that was a memory that still eluded him. As he threw another log on the fire, the lights flickered and went out. A crack of thunder rolled over the cabin, rattling the windows.

"We have candles over in here." Rocky came out with a few small candles and matches. Adam took them and lit them. He handed a lit candle to Billy with a shy smile. "Careful."

Billy smiled. "No problem." He took the candle and started to move towards the couch. His feet caught on the latch rug and he spilled to the floor, the candle hitting the rug dangerously close to his head and catching the rug on fire.

"Adam!" Tommy jumped to his feet. He shoved Adam aside and stomped on the flames. Adam fell over on Billy, jabbing him painfully in the back.

"Ow!" Billy winced. He was really more startled than hurt.

"You idiot!" Jason whipped Adam off of Billy. "Look what you did!"

As Billy slowly stood, something started to resonate in his head. He'd heard it before.... Suddenly he realized that Jason and Tommy were still at it.

"It was an accident!" Tommy gave Jason a shove.

"Jerk!" Jason shoved back. "You never take responsibility! It's your fault!"

Billy felt the anger he'd been storing away rise up again. His hands clenched around the fire poker as he tried desperately to get control. Suddenly something Rocky said to him came back... 'You have a right to get angry, you know.' That did it. He gripped the poker and slammed it into the fire place. "SHUT UP!"

Tommy and Jason turned to stare at him. The others all looked up, startled and concerned. Billy didn't care. "You make me sick! All of you!" He smacked the poker into the fireplace again. "You're arguing about whose fault it is... well, let me tell you. You're all to blame! I spent months being beaten and starved! While you all were nice and safe, I was being tortured, experimented on, and damn near raped! And all you people can do is argue about who should get the blame! Well it's your fault!" Billy pointed the poker at Tommy. "Dammit, you had months to figure it out and you didn't." He swung around to Jason. "You talked to the clone on the phone. You could have noticed! Do you understand how it makes me feel? I can be replaced and you never noticed!" Billy turned to Adam, about to shout some more but he saw suddenly that Adam was crying. Sobbing actually....

He threw the poker into the fireplace and stomped to the door. Trini reached out but he brushed her off. "You're not my mother!" He stepped out onto the porch and broke into a run.

The rangers were shocked. No one spoke for a long moment and the only sound in the cabin was the pounding rain and Adam's crying. Then, Jason sat down heavily, his feud with Tommy forgotten. "Raped... experimented on... oh god...." Jason cradled his head in his arms.

"Why didn't... why didn't he say something?" Tommy asked softly.

"What was he supposed to say?" Kat had been silent all day, hoping against all odds that there would not be such an ugly scene. She had seen it building all day. "And when? We've all just danced around this... it's like Billy is just supposed to forget what happened and just be 'okay' with everything. Well, he's not... he can't just brush it off. And he can't play referee to your little blame fest."

Both Jason and Tommy nodded, seeing for the first time how badly they had been acting. They both hung their heads.

"Um... it's raining pretty hard out." Rocky was startled by the sound of his own voice. "And cold..."

"He shouldn't be outside." Adam said suddenly. He stepped over towards the window and a flash of lightening danced across his reflection. "We shouldn't let him wander around in a storm like that..."

~*~

_Maybe I won't go back,_ he thought suddenly, but he knew he was just putting off the inevitable. It felt good though to be alone and running.... he felt not exactly refreshed but better. He trotted down the hill, not wanting to go back but realizing that he had probably scared the hell out of everyone.

The path was sloppy with mud. Before he could really register it, he had fallen and sliding down the slope. He reached out wildly and latched onto a tree root to stop his fall.

"Whoa..." he sat up and put a hand to his forehead. A headache was coming on. He suddenly realized where he was. Near the cabin, up on a ridge of cliffs. His feet... his feet were dangling over the edge. _If I'd missed that branch,_ he thought, _I'd be dead. I would have fallen to the bottom... close to 100ft._ He took a deep breath and tried to will the shock away. It wouldn't go, and his headache grew worse. Falling...

~*~

"Trini? And... Jason..." He didn't really understand... He'd seen Trini earlier but he knew that was wrong. They should be in Switzerland. Not that it mattered. It suddenly struck home to him... he had escaped. He was safe. The hyper state of awareness that he had to live in to survive in the castle suddenly blacked out. It didn't matter anymore... where he was, who was around him. He was safe with his friends. Trinigently steered him away from the edge. He shook his head, feeling the trembling envelope him and the only thing that kept him from collapsing was the supporting arm that Trini had wrapped around him. He saw Kat and Rocky lean over the building edge. _What?_ he thought to himself, _what are they looking at..._ Dizziness enveloped him. "I don't... feel real good..."

Jason took a hold of him and steered him over to a knobby air conditioning unit. "Just... sit down, okay Billy?" He turned around, his hands still on Billy's shoulders, "Rocky.... maybe you should go find um... some help." Billy saw Rocky nod and speed off towards the stairs. He looked up at Jason, and felt what was left of his reasoning fall away. His vision was fuzzy and a bluish-red aura surrounded Jason. Jason looked down at him and he could see tears welling up in his friends eyes. _Why is Jason upset?_ he wondered, _I don't understand...._

Jason's eyes hardened suddenly. He let go of Billy and stomped over to Tommy. Tommy was holding his shirt over the bleeding cut on his chest. Jason towered over him and Billy dimly realized that Jason was somewhere between being enraged and bursting into tears. Jason lifted Tommy up and shook him. "You idiot! How could you let this happen?" He yanked Tommy to his feet. "Look at him! God dammit!" He suddenly started shaking Tommy and Tommy wasn't resisting. Billy lost interest.

He stood up. _Where did the clone go?_ His vision was blurry and fuzzy even when he was physically well and the bright lights coming from the street were dazzling him. He tottered over to the edge of the building and kneeled down. No luck... he could see the street as a white blur of light but nothing in detail. Suddenly, he was smacked down and he felt a sudden twinge of fear. He rolled away, and suddenly realized he'd rolled his upper body off the building. A pair of strong hands grabbed him and pulled him up.

It was Kat. She helped him turn over and sit up. "You okay?" He nodded, not quite understanding what hit him.

Tommy was also getting up off the rough asphalt. He shook himself and grabbed Billy by the shoulder. "Okay, man?"

"Uh..." Billy started shaking. Tommy took that in with a glance and turned on Jason.

"He nearly fell, Jason! Damn you!" He dove on Jason and in seconds they were fighting. Really fighting... Billy once wondered what a real drag-out knock-down fight between his martial artist friends would really look like. He had his answer. It was a swirling mass of violence that culminated with Tommy splitting Jason's lip with a high arcing blow. Jason's blood splattered onto Billy, Kat and Trini's faces. Billy wiped his face with a shaking hand and stared at the blood in a shocked, horrified way. The shaking enveloped him and his vision clouded into a bluish black haze and faded to black.

~*~

"Hey! Help!" he called, hoping that someone, anyone would hear him. Then, the blue engulfed him.

~*~

"This storm is bad!" Tommy's voice was barely audible over the thunder. "We gotta find him!"

"I know!" Jason shrieked back. "Where the hell did he go?" The wind whipped around him and he trained his ears to listen. On the trailing edge of the howling maelstrom, he heard... something. "Guys... this way!"

"What? Did you hear something?" shouted Tommy. They ran up tot he top of a small hill.

"Maybe." Jason looked around. They were near the cliffs. " Let' s look around! "

They fanned out. Tommy was beginning to think Jason had simply had a bad hunch when he spied a slick trail of mud on one of the foot paths. Stepping nimbly, he walked down the steep grade. Then, he spotted a swatch of blue cloth. "Guys... over here!" As an after thought he added. "Be careful!"

>From where he stood, he could just see that Billy was inches away from the edge of the cliff. Tommy couldn't tell if he was conscious or not, but he could see a slight twitch running through Billy's body like a wave. Jason and Adam slipped and slid down to his position.

"Oh geez..." Jason said through rushed breaths. "Adam... go get the others... we might need them. Adam nodded and ran off. Jason looked over the situation. "Billy! Billy? "

"He's either unconscious or just... out." Tommy said. "He's shaking..."

"A seizure."

"Yeah... man... we gotta get him away from the edge. If he's not aware, he could fall off..." Tommy didn't like it. The storm was raging... the footing was steep and slippery.

"We can do it." Jason pointed to a tree that was just out of arm's reach of Billy. He stepped down to it carefully and tested a limb. It held and he wrapped his arm around it. "I'll hold the tree, and onto you..."

"and I pull Billy up." Tommy finished. He clenched his hand around Jason's, a gesture so familiar from before that they both felt a shiver of sudden frission. A feeling of rightness enveloped them, and they both realized how lonely they had been. Instead of helping each other, they had pushed each other away until it was almost too late. He smiled at Jason, and wished he could take back all the weeks of anger.

"Let's do it." Jason said, feeling the same rush of friendship and regret. He gripped Tommy's hand like a vice. "Don't let go..."

Tommy inched down to Billy. He noted that Billy did seem unconscious but started talking anyhow. "Billy? Look man... I'm just gonna grab your shirt and pull you away from this cliff..." He reached out and took hold of the shirt. With one quick heave he pulled Billy up to where both Jason and he could grab a hold of him. Tommy was worried though. Billy was dead weight. Tommy and Jason carried him up to the top of the hill and set him down. Aside from being coated with mud and covered with scratches, Billy seemed all right, if unconscious. Jason patted him a little, hoping to maybe get him awake at least. It worked.

"Mmmmm..." Billy blinked and then closed his eyes again. _So tired,_ he thought dimly.

"No... don't go to sleep." Jason felt a sharp edge of fear. He shook Billy again. "Come on..."

"Yeah man...." Tommy joined in. To Jason he added, "let's get him up..." They pulled Billy upright. He seemed, to both of them, not aware, just a shell that happened to blink every once in a while. They both held on and half carried half dragged him through the woods. Slowly, Billy came out his funk, enough to walk without much guidance. He shook off his friends hands as they neared the cabin and stopped walking for a moment.

"Billy?" Tommy asked. Billy's eyes had a glazed over look... a look that told Tommy that it was very unlikely that Billy would recall the rainsoaked walk at all. "You okay?"

"Yes..." Billy blinked rapidly. "Are you guys okay?" It was a simple question, but both Jason and Tommy knew that the question Billy was really asking went a lot deeper than how they were feeling. The two recent enemies looked at each other and grinned. "Yeah Billy," Jason said with a short laugh. "We're okay."

~*~

"The phones are out. Besides... the road is still flooded. The guy at the roadblock said if we could transport him down, they might be able to get him to the hospital..."

"Well... if he doesn't wake up soon... we might have to do that."

Billy groaned. He tossed off the hand made quilt that someone had thrown on top of him, and sat up. He ached all over and it was readily apparent that he was turning into a giant bruise. Dark streaks of abraised skin and swelled bruises were all over him. While he was in a fresh t-shirt and sweatpants, the clothes he had been wearing the night were in a sad state of filthy repair. Vaguely, he realized that Tommy and Jason had gotten him cleaned up and changed the night before. He nudged the mud encrusted clothes and was suddenly glad his friends hadn't just thrown him into bed. His stomach was growling in a boisterous manner. Food, he thought, that would truly hit the spot.

He stepped out into the large living room, feeling very self conscious. He had blasted his friends, he remembered that, and then he recalled nearly falling off a cliff. After that... he had nothing but vague impressions. He thought Tommy and Jason had been almost civil to each other, but he wasn't sure. Just like he thought it was Jason and Tommy having the rational discussion on whether to take him to a hospital.

"Billy?" Zack came up behind him and pushed a cup of cocoa into his hands. "Drink that... have a seat. You scared the hell out of us." Zack's voice was soft and controlled.

Billy took the cocoa and looked around. In fact, all of the rangers were littered about in various states of disarray. With the exception of Aisha, who Billy realized simply could not have gone chasing after him, they all looked damp and tired, as if they had spent the night looking around the woods and had simply fallen asleep where they dropped. _They must've been worried,_ he thought suddenly. It was a realization that made him feel bad on one hand and on the other hand, he felt a sudden warm glow of affection for his friends. He took a seat on one of the puffy overstuffed couches. Tommy and Jason, who had been standing by the front windows, came over and hovered around him with concern.

"Hey Billy..." Tommy said suddenly. "About last night..."

"I'm fine." He said it with conviction. He'd said it before, to the doctors, to his father, to his friends and it always felt like a lie. For some reason though, this time it felt like the truth. "Is there any food?"

Jason quietly went into the kitchen and came back with a plate of pancakes. "Rocky is like... cooking anything that stands still." He watched Billy wolf down the pancakes in silence. "Um...."

"Billy," Tommy picked it up, "We were thinking... are you okay? I mean, do you need a doctor? Cause the roads..."

"Are flooded. I heard." Billy smiled. "No, I'm okay... just really tired, and hungry." He paused, not quite sure how to continue. "I'm sorry I lost my temper last night... no, I'm not, actually. I am sorry I ran out of here. I could've been killed and you guys could've gotten hurt too."

"It's okay." Jason said softly. "We haven't exactly been great about this."

"Yeah, man." Tommy added. "But we're going to try a little harder from now on."

Billy hesitated. "Guys... this has to work, okay? Because I can't do this again. I'm having... enough problems coping that I can't deal with yours too." He blushed suddenly."I need your help with this... I'm... I'm tired of being alone against this."

"Yeah..." both Tommy and Jason nodded. Then Tommy added, "I think we kinda forgot that you... were going through some stuff that made our problems kinda petty."

"That's not... how I meant what I said." Billy barely remembered what he said... just that he had shouted and told them off.

Jason shook his head in disagreement. "Things are going to change. "

~*~

The summer ended. Jason, Trini and Zack returned to Switzerland. Zordon deemed Billy to be fit for battle and the blue power coin was returned. Zordon had thought that would be that but after the brief ceremony, Billy lingered, something obviously bothering him.

"Yes, Billy?" Zordon asked.

"Something's been bothering me...." Billy wasn't quite sure how to broach the topic. He leaned up against one of the computer consoles and crossed his arms. "The night that... Kat rescued me... We were up on the roof of the hospital. Kat and Rocky were looking over the ledge... and they said they didn't see a body.... Zordon, is it possible that the clone survived?"

Zordon hesitated, but then relented. "Yes, it is possible. I was unable to track the clone but there is no evidence to indicate that he is dead." Zordon's face grew grim. "I fear that he has more than enough knowledge of my methods to make tracking him impossible."

"I could find him..." Billy said slowly. "We need to have this resolved." He hesitated. "I need to have this resolved too."

"Billy.... what will you do if you find him?" Zordon's booming voice rang with concern.

"Zordon.... I can't keep my side of the bargain if I don't know where he is. And I certainly can't make sure he's keeping his end of the deal if I have no idea where he is." Billy's voice was tight with emotion. "I need to do this."

Zordon sighed. He had no doubt that the Blue Ranger was correct. He just hoped that further contact with the clone would not be as disastrous as all of his senses told him it would be.

End