Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie by Heather Ray (beach read book .TXT) 📕

did she have the creeping suspicion that he was misleading her? It still didn't make sense...how could a being that felt no love or compassion restore the proper balance of human emotions?

"Dammit,"

she growled aloud, turning away from the balcony. "This is what happens when I let myself think

too much."

She moved away from the balcony, simmering gaze sweeping her enormous rooms clinically. Neither a nap or even a long soak were appealing; she was far too anxious for the former, and the latter would likely give her even more chance to ruminate.

Slowly, a cruel grin pulled her lip. "I think I can find someone

willing to keep me entertained..."

Chapter Ninety-Eight

When Kimberly stepped foot into the austere throne room, she was mildly surprised to see Scorpina standing beside the open fissure.

"Zedd's still in there?"

she queried.

Scorpina bowed deeply when she noticed Kimberly's presence. "No, Mistress, my Lord has returned to his private chambers. Goldar is inside, running a sweep to make sure the Dark Dimension hasn't been compromised."

The future Queen nodded thoughtfully, walking in a tight circle around the gleaming light. "How does one open this doorway?"

Absently, the assassin wondered why Kimberly had posed the question. But she could think of no adequate reason to keep it a secret. "One must be able to tear a hole into the pocket dimension. Our Lord can do so with but a thought, yet Goldar and myself must use our swords, which have been treated with magic to allow it."

She nodded again. Then, with no further ado, Kimberly took a step into the portal. Scorpina blinked in surprise. "Mistress --"

"I doubt I need to ask your permission to do anything,"

she snapped. Then, a cold smirk twisted her lips. "I didn't get a chance to...play

with my new toy yet."

Slowly, a matching devilish smile stretched across Scorpina's visage. "Shall I accompany you?"

Kimberly waved the thought aside. "Goldar's already in there. He can see me out when I'm finished."

Then, she passed fully through the portal.

Inside, Kimberly felt the lonely chill on her skin the moment she passed through the doorway. It made her skin itch, causing her to grimace faintly at the discomfort.

A quick look around proved that Goldar wasn't in the immediate area. Hmm...this Dark Dimension is bigger than I thought...

She then set her gaze on Tommy. He seemed to hang limply from his heavy chains, utterly motionless save for the shallow breaths that inflated his chest. His head hung toward the ground, disheveled hair hanging in disarray, hiding his face from a profile view.

Kimberly watched him, absently rubbing her bare arms to ward of the irritating chill. She couldn't shake the notion that he was...different

than less than an hour ago, when she first saw him in his prison. There was an undeniable sensation of emptiness, of utter and absolute defeat that she had never sensed from him before. Not at the power plant, when his life rested in her hands. Not on Muiranthias, when first confronted with the demonic creature the Flame twisted her soul into. Not even in the aftermath of the Green Candle, when it seemed his very sense of self was torn from him.

There was no pride left to lift his shoulders. No hope to swell his heart. No determination to lift his chin.

It was as if he finally realized he was fighting a battle he could never win.

Even the consuming darkness that flowed through her body couldn't find real enjoyment in seeing this broken shell of a man.

She decided to chase away the pall silence. "I've never seen you quite like this."

Despite herself, she frowned in disappointment at his deathly silence. "Nothing to say?"

The future Empress of Evil was not one to be ignored. Her eyes narrowing, Kimberly swiftly closed the gap between then. Lifting herself on her toes, she grabbed the hair that remained tied, and yanked his ponytail back. Tommy winced at the pain, letting his chin rise from his chest.

Less than half a foot away, Kimberly's eyes blazed into his. He was so close, he could see the fire burn behind her irises, thrashing feverishly and casting a reddish glow.

"Looks like you've given up,"

she noted callously. "How...boring

."

His lips thinned mutinously, but otherwise he made no response.

Her eyebrow rose. "Well...I suppose we can play a different game."

She lifted her free hand, tracing her fingers against his wan cheek. Slowly, she dragged it across his face, fingernails gently grazing against achingly familiar lips, back and forth. She watched as his sorrowful eyes squeezed shut, and trembling lips pressed together against her whisper touch.

She watched him tense; watched the moisture collect beneath his thick eyelashes. Now this was torture...

Her fingers traveled down his neck, leaving a train of warmth on the cold, sweaty skin. She smirked at the droplets that escaped his locked eyes, streaking against unusually pallid cheeks.

"You miss me, don't you Tommy,"

she murmured. She was so close, he felt her breath on his neck. "You miss my love. My touch. My support..."

Then, in an instant, the gentle caress tingling his upper arm switched into an agonizing torture. Tommy's eyes flew open, lips parting in a wordless scream as flames erupted from her fingertips, scorching fabric and flesh.

"That was for Kat's arrow,"

she snarled, a fresh dose of venom injected into her voice. "Was she worth it, Tommy? Was she really

?? What did she offer you that I couldn't match?"

Her other hand, still nestled in his long curls, tightened their grip again, earning another hiss of pain from the young man before her. "Come on, Tommy, speak up

! What's your latest excuse?"

He leveled his gaze on her, dark eyes once again burning with their own intensity. And through his desperate gulps of breath, through the haze of pain that dulled his senses, he managed to gasp out two words. "My wallet."

Kimberly's brow furrowed. "What?"

"Mistress!" a deep voice gasped. Kim glanced to the side, watching heatedly as Goldar rounded a corner. He bowed at the waist under her blazing stare. "I...heard a scream. I wasn't expec --"

"Get out,"

she snarled, her eyes sliding back to her defiant prey.

The Titan warrior hesitated for a fraction of a second. "Lord Zedd commanded that we watch the Red Ranger carefully."

Kim's eyes narrowed. Keeping her gaze locked on Tommy's severe eyes, she casually lifted her free hand in the direction of Goldar's voice. Stretching her fingers, she had the distinct pleasure of hearing Goldar gasp at the nimbus of fire that erupted from her skin, crawling up her arm before tapering off near the elbow.

"Don't make me repeat myself, Goldar,"

she spoke, her eyes still keenly observing her former lover's tense expression.

"Don't let him distract you, Kim," Tommy spoke, his voice slowly growing stronger as the agonizing pain in his arm eased. "Not when you're so close to the truth."

Goldar's eyes widened. "Kimberly! He's toying with you!"

A stream of fire earned a yelp from the simian. Smoke and debris floated in the air from the wall she'd carved a hole into.

"Come on, Kim...I know you want to know," Tommy baited, a grisly grin touching his lip. "You said you want my latest excuse. You must want to understand what went wrong between us... that's the only reason I'm still breathing. You can't kill me without finding out why I never called you. Then you'll never find out."

He leaned closer, the slack from his chains allowed him to touch his forehead to hers. Skin to skin, one burning with frustrated anger, the other chilled with desperation. "Come on, Kim...look in the wallet."

Refusing to back down, Kimberly released both Tommy's hair and the fire that blazed along her other arm. Staring mockingly into his bottomless eyes, she felt his pockets for the accessory in question.

Goldar watched, eyes wide with dread, as Lord Zedd's fiancée retrieved the small leather wallet.

"What am I looking for?"

she drawled, confident grin letting none of her discomfort show. "A sexy picture of Kat? Or maybe a love letter, sprayed with that slut's perfume?"

"You'll know when you find it," he answered vaguely.

Kimberly sifted through club memberships and bills, until she found the folded page in the back. Her eyebrow rising, she lifted the wrinkled paper.

She shook her head. "A love letter. I knew it."

"Read it, Kim," Tommy urged.

She glared at him, suddenly defiant. "Why should I?"

He answered with another dry grin. "Don't you want to see the words that ruined both our lives?"

"He's trying to confuse you!" Goldar bellowed. Somehow, he mustered the courage to race towards Kimberly, daring to lay a hand on her person.

She glared balefully at him. "Have you lost your mind?"

she hissed. She immediately dropped the wallet, and threw the heel of her hand directly into Goldar's nose.

The towering warrior collapsed, out cold. Kimberly humphed at his nerve, before her blazing eyes turned to the page.

She made no move to unfold it.

"You are trying to confuse me,"

she accused. Narrow eyes observed him as her free hand ignited, the bright flames inching closer to the evidence.

His face remained inscrutable. "If you burn it, you'll never know."

She tried to stare him down, only his expression refused to waver. Her vehement glare edged from Tommy to the letter that Goldar had actually risked his life to keep from her.

Wordlessly, she unfolded it.

Tommy's poker face cracked, as his eyes shone with slowly brewing hope. He surveyed her face, watching as confidence turned to confusion, confusion turned to anger, and anger turned into... something else.

Horror.

Her lips quivered, fist wringing the page mercilessly. "Wh...what is this

supposed to be?"

she murmured.

"I got that letter in the mail a few days before your birthday," he confessed. His unfeeling façade had disappeared, letting the raw emotion wrinkle his face, and weigh his voice. "You can ask any of the Rangers. Even Jason found out about it, after Muiranthias."

"I never wrote this!"

she growled, glaring at Tommy. He refused to turn away from her searing, panicked eyes.

"I know that now, but I didn't then. Look at the handwriting, Kim! Even the goddamned signature!"

"You're...toying with me,"

she concluded, unconsciously echoing Goldar's earlier sentiment.

"No," Tommy responded, "Someone else

is toying with the both of us. Someone else

sent that to me, trying to break us up! Look at it, Kim!"

Tommy released a sound, a cross between a sob and a derisive laugh. "I...thought it was from you. God, I read it dozens of times, mulling it over in my head over and over

...but it never