»»---Echo---««

Chapter 3 - Captured

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My muscles were so tight it felt like they were about to snap. Aftereffects from the punishments were always worse than the punishment itself, the aches and pains were just a constant reminder of why my sword was taken away. The tracker led me to an alleyway in the heart of the city, one where homeless and sketchy people had gathered. I sighed, peeking my head over the ledge of a rooftop to see more SPD cadets standing with the proton accelerator.

"All that is there, is your run of the mill proton accelerator. There's only a few on earth, and that must be one."

I jumped down, grabbing on and dangling from a fire escape to keep my fall from being so harsh, before dropping to the ground.

"Oh," the informant said, "Looks like she wants it to!"

He slammed the door as the SPD cadets turned to grab their morphers, "SPD emergency!"

"I don't want trouble, just hand over the accelerator."

The blue one attacked. Sending a kick towards my head that I dodged easily. Each one attacked one at a time, leaving plenty of openings for me to counter their attacks.

I landed a punch to the yellow one's chest, sending her flying.

"She's tough," she groaned as the others helped her up.

The green one pulled his baton, trying to get the upper hand with his slashes and attacks but failed when his baton got stuck between two boxes. From there it was easy to disarm him and take his weapon.

The other rangers pulled their batons. Attacking with such a ferocity I was having trouble keeping up with my tired limbs.

I felt a weight on my back. My sword. The Emperor sent it back to me.

I smirked, dropping the baton to the ground as the cadets stared at me in confusion. The metal screeched as I pulled my sword and lunged forward again.

Before I could react, someone shot from my right. I jumped to pull my body into a roll. That hurt. I turned, seeing that another ranger had joined the fight. A red one.

I ran my hand over the sword and chanted. The blast that went off as my sword hit the ground was enough to give me the upper hand over the two girls. Letting their fumble be the base of my offense.

I lost track of where the red one went, but as I felt something rip through my back I fell to the ground with a scream.

They had me cornered, I felt my side trying desperately to find a com. The collar around my neck became tighter as they backed me farther into the wall.

"Now, for your verdict," the blue one said, he pulled out the device they used to morph and clicked a button. The flashing lights bounced back and forth between red and blue, guilty and innocent. The collar became tighter, I gasped for air but the rangers didn't seem to notice.

The device landed on blue.

"Innocent?" the cadets asked confused.

I stared up at them clutching my neck. The collar had tightened completely.

"Wait, what's wrong with her?"

I finally laid down as the pressure on my neck made my head spin. It had never tightened this much. He was going to kill me. It was almost a relief, but the cadets finally noticed the collar around my neck and the green one ran a hand over my face.

"Sydney, break it."

The one in pink placed something in her hand, "Fist of iron!"

She grabbed the collar and pulled. I let out a gasp as air flooded my lungs.

The blue one pointed a blaster to my face as I laid gasping on the ground, "Did you do that? Why would you do that?"

I laid there, waiting for him to pull the trigger.

"Who did it?"

I took a deep breath, rubbing my neck, "The Emperor."

The blue one lowered his blaster and grabbed my arm to force me to my feet, "Walk."

I stumbled, still feeling lightheaded from the collar.

"Skye-"

"Shut up Bridge, she's a fugitive."

I watched as the yellow one took my sword from the ground, pointing it at me as well.

An armored vehicle sat waiting for us at the end of the street. I was pushed into the back and just decided to lay on the ground instead of trying to stand up as the vehicle started.

I wasn't sure how long I was back there. I just laid there, letting the exhaustion catch up to me and the adrenaline crash. My head felt like someone was bashing it in. My chest felt like it had been crushed. The usual emotional numbness that consumed me was gone, being replaced with one of a sickening feeling in my chest. Nerves. When the car stopped the doors flung open as I was pulled out. This time handcuffs were slapped onto my wrists.

The cadet in blue rattled off my offenses, including assaulting an officer which I laughed at.

"What's so funny?"

"You call yourselves officers? You can barely even take on a Krybot."

I couldn't see his expression through the helmet, which kinda sucked cause I was hoping he went red with rage.

I was thrown into a cell much like the one I stayed in on a ship. Instead of darkness and grime there were bright fluorescent lights and a spotless bed. I laid down, waiting on someone to come in and put me back to sleep like the Emperor always did. No one ever came.

So I just laid there. The cuffs dug into my wrists but they never tightened, and the bed was hard on my back but at least it was sturdy and not covered in weird slimy stuff.

I laid there, watching the lights flicker. It was weird because even though I thought hours had passed they never turned off.

I realized I might've missed the comfort of darkness.

»——•——«

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