Author's Note: After some consideration (and a few suggestions ;), I went back and broke this story up into chapters. That way it won't seem quite as overwhelming (I hope) and gives you guys, the poor readers, a break from trying to do the whole thing in one shot. There have only be a few minor changes to a couple of words here and there; nothing that affects the storyline, though. And some punctuation cleanup.

"Rangers," Cruger faced the assembled B-Squad in the command center, "There have been reports of people missing; children in particular. We don't know who is taking them or for what purpose. I want you all to investigate and find out what is going on."

"Have their parents reported them missing?" Z asked.

Cruger growled low in his throat. "No, these children don't have parents. They're either street kids or those who have vanished from orphanages. That's why it's taken so long for anyone to note their disappearance."

"Why would anyone want to go after street kids?" Syd wondered aloud.

"Probably because they would be harder to trace," Jack spoke, "For the most part, no-one seems to care about street kids."

"I believe that's why whoever is behind their disappearance is targeting them. It's less likely anyone would suspect foul play against those who don't have anyone to look out for them." Cruger responded.

"They do now," Z said quietly.

Cruger just nodded. "Kat's got a rough area mapped out of where the kids have vanished from. I want you to go down there and see what you can find out."

The five Rangers saluted and left the command center.

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The B-Squad re-grouped in an alleyway after they had split off to talk to several different people. They all wore civilian clothes, after deciding that they probably wouldn't be able to get as much information if they showed up as S.P.D.

"Anything?" Jack asked.

"Nothing," Syd replied, "None of the people I talked to have seen or heard anything."

"Me neither," Z added. She was deeply worried and concerned. Having grown up on the streets herself, she knew that it could be rough at times; but to have someone preying upon the innocent street kids hurt her deeply. Any one of those kids could have been either me or Jack, she thought to herself. She glanced briefly at the Red Ranger. He seemed just as concerned as she was.

Jack looked to the Blue and Green Rangers; Bridge shook his head at him, indicating that he didn't have anything either.

Sky spoke up, "I might have a possible lead." The other four rangers looked at him.

"I got some information from a teenage kid that I ran into. It seems that someone has been 'recruiting' kids; going around and telling them that they can have better lives if they came to work for him."

"Him who?" Jack asked.

Sky shook his head slightly. "I don't know. I never got a name. But I did get a location."

"Where?" Bridge asked.

"There's an unused warehouse about ten blocks from here. Apparently 'recruiting' sessions have been happening each Monday night," Sky told them.

"Tomorrow is Monday," Z said.

"Yes, it is," Sky responded.

"I think we have an appointment," Jack said.

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A small crowd shuffled into the dimly lit room. It was mostly made up of young children between the ages of 10-14, but there were a few who were younger as well as several who were older.

Jack slid into the back amongst a group of young teenagers. He glanced around the room; noting where Z stood with Sky and Syd with Bridge. They had placed themselves strategically near the few exits, on the off chance that something might go wrong.

There was murmured conversations coming from all around the Rangers, but things suddenly got quiet as a man entered near the front of the room.

"Thank you all for coming. I appreciate your being here." He wore a light grey suit and had hazel eyes. Standing at about 6'4", he was slightly thin for his tall frame and had a patch of short, dark black hair. Stepping up onto a small platform, he spoke to the group at large. "While I'd like to be able to help every single one of you; unfortunately, I only have a few openings left," he held up a hand as sounds of disappointment could be heard, "But be assured that what I'm working on will help you all in the end, even if you don't get selected here today."

Jack kept a careful watch on the speaker. There's just something about him I don't like, he thought to himself. He's up to something. And I'd be willing to bet that it ain't going to help anyone but himself.

He glanced briefly towards Z and spotted her looking back at him. She wore the same kind of concerned and suspicious look that he had. She's thinking the same things I am, Jack surmised.

"Now, if you'll all just be patient, my assistants will assess you individually." The man spoke as four cloaked figures stepped out of the shadows and moved into the crowd of kids. Occasionally one of them would stop and direct a child towards the front of the room.

I don't like this one bit, Jack thought. He glanced around and caught the other Rangers' attention. They all acknowledged him back. He began to make his way forward, when he was suddenly cut off by one of those dark figures. He backed a step away, not liking having one that near to him. The figure turned towards the speaker and shook its head slightly, then moved on.

What the hell was that about? Jack wondered.

His thoughts were interrupted by a high-pitched squeal. "No! I don't wanna go!" a small blonde girl of about 9 years in age cried out.

That's enough of this, he thought quickly. He pulled out his morpher. "Everybody stop right there! You're all under arrest!"

Chaos ensued as most of the kids bolted for the doors and the figures dragged kids along with them to the platform.

Crap! Jack mentally cursed. That's not how I wanted this to go down. He took off running towards the nearest figure with kids in tow and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other Rangers doing the same thing. He vaguely noted that Bridge had grabbed the little girl who had yelled out, trying to pull her free from one of the cloaked figures.

He tackled the figure, sending it sprawling to the floor. He drew back to land a punch when he saw that it was an Asian girl of about 16. She took advantage of his distraction to kick him off and jumped up to her feet, taking a fighting stance.

Jack peered at her intently. Her eyes seemed fixed and glazed over as she stared him down. What the hell is going on here? he wondered.

The sound of snapping fingers got both his and the girl's attention. She looked at the speaker, nodded briefly and turned, walking away from Jack.

The speaker stepped forward lightly, followed closely by the four cloaked figures. Jack could only see the head of the girl he'd knocked down, the rest were all still shadowed by heavy hoods.

"You have no right to intrude here. We're not doing anything wrong," he addressed the Rangers.

"Bull. What about that girl one of your goons tried to grab?" Z piped up.

"Honest accident. She has already been released."

Jack glanced around and didn't see the girl anywhere. He also didn't see either Bridge or Syd. They must have taken the girl out with them, he thought.

"Surely, you of all people can understand what I'm trying to do here," he spoke to Jack and Z, "I'm just trying to help these kids lead better lives."

Jack looked at him suspiciously. He didn't buy it at all, but unfortunately, they no longer had any proof of wrongdoing, so there wasn't much they could do.

"I'm sure you think that," Jack replied, "But we'll be watching you."

"Please do. Then maybe you can be convinced otherwise," he turned and left, trailed by the four others.

Jack shook his head as he turned to face Z and Sky. "C'mon. Let's go meet up with Bridge and Syd."

"Right," Sky replied.

"I don't like this, Jack. Something's just not right here," Z told him.

"I know, Z. But right now, we don't have anything to go on," he responded as they stepped outside.

They walked back around to the alley where they had first assembled to discuss their plan before they had entered the meeting. Jack looked around and spied Syd leaning against the wall of a building.

"Syd. Did you guys get anything worthwhile? How about that girl? Is she still around?" Jack spoke.

"What girl?" Syd asked, perplexed.

Jack looked at her oddly. "The blond girl. The one that cried out? The one that Bridge grabbed?"

Syd shook her head slightly. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Jack. Bridge and I got separated," she looked curiously at her teammates, "Isn't he with you guys?"

Jack became alarmed. "No, I figured you two were still together," he turned to Z and Sky, "What about you two? Did you see anything?"

"No, I was rather occupied at the time," Sky replied.

"Me too," Z said.

"Crap," Jack muttered under his breath. He pulled out his morpher and keyed the communicator. "Bridge, come in."

There was no answer. He tried again. "Bridge, its Jack. Come in." All he and the other Rangers heard was static.

"Now, I'm really not liking this," Z spoke up.

"No kidding," Syd added.

"We have to go back in there and look for him," Sky stated.

"You're right. Let's go," Jack said as he led the other rangers back into the building.

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Somewhere in the distance, in a small dark room, a man turned off the communicator on a small black and white device.

"You're mine now," he told the struggling figure that was being held down by four others.

"You won't get away with this," Bridge replied through clenched teeth as he continued to fight against his captors.

"I think I already am," the man responded. He seemed to shimmer for a moment as the human façade faded and revealed a tall alien with purple scales. He had two thin long antennae extending upward from the top of his head and mass of short orange hair. His eyes were a dark green color. He reached down and placed a hand under Bridge's chin, tilting his head upwards.

Bridge shuddered slightly as the direct contact overwhelmed his psychic abilities.

"I knew you were strong. You'll make a fine addition to my army," the alien practically purred at him.

Bridge shook his head no as one of the others that held him down grasped his bare right hand.

Bridge cringed and tightly squeezed his eyes shut as he concentrated on fighting against the psychic bombardment.

He could feel himself beginning to lose.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Power Rangers. No copyright infringement is intended