Being Drafted (Zedd)

[Deleted]

Lord Zedd set off in the direction of the house, with Jason following after him. They would check Rita’s room for her first, then branch out from there.

When Jason asked who they were looking for, Zedd briefly turned to look at him, his mask hiding the surprised expression on his face. Hadn’t he been taunting the former Red Ranger about this very thing just a few minutes ago? Perhaps it was a side effect of the spell. Zedd made a mental note to look into that. It wouldn’t do if his servant spontaneously developed short-term memory loss.

“To answer both of your questions, yes.” Zedd stopped outside the door to the house. “Rita Repulsa. You remember her, don’t you? She’s one of the founders of this army.”

The last part was said a bit reluctantly. Zedd still disliked Rita having a rank higher than his own. He also chose to omit the fact that they were husband and wife. With that, he turned the knob and stepped inside.

As it turned out, finding Rita was remarkably easy. She was in the living room, drinking wine. Zedd stepped inside first, signaling for Jason to remain where he was for the moment.

“Rita, my dear. I’m so glad I found you.” Zedd took a seat beside her. Smugness was seeping into his voice. “You’ll never guess who I ran into out by the circus tent. An old friend of ours.”

Here he gestured for Jason to enter.

“Allow me to present the newest servant of darkness, Jason Scott.”

[Rita Repulsa]

Jason paused and nodded.

"Of course. I guess things are still a bit fuzzy. That must have been powerful magic you cast on me. Rita's spells on Tommy and Kat didn't seem to last long. If Tommy didn't have the Sword of Darkness he probably would have turned good sooner I think." said Jason.

He nodded.

"She founded this army? Impressive. Although with her former army still in our old world it makes sense she'd form a new one." said Jason.

He paused at him with a grin.

"Well I'm glad you have each other. We may have had our differences in the past but I was jealous how the two of you were able to find love. Even all my friends found love. Maybe one day I'll have what you and Rita have." said Jason.

He was unaware Zedd and Rita weren't together at the moment thanks to Zedd's memory loss so he didn't realize he might be making Zedd angry.

He paused finding Rita and he bowed up to her.

"Good afternoon Empress Rita." said Jason.

XXXX

Rita paused looking up as Zedd arrived with Jason.

"Zeddy? You turned one of the rangers evil? How positively brilliant!" said Rita.

She watched amused as Jason addressed her as empress and bowed to her. At least he was showing respect.

"Good to see you again Jason. You're certainly be of more help that my brother or that buffoon Goldar. A shame we can't bring people from our world. I'd love to bring Scorpina here. She'd be a great asset to this army." said Rita.

She grinned turning back to Zedd.

"So where did you find him? Did you capture him from Critic's army?" asked Rita.

[Deleted]

The longer Jason talked, the more effort it took for Lord Zedd to keep from electrocuting the former Ranger. Even reminding himself that it would be incredibly foolish to kill his newly-acquired slave did little to ease the warlord’s anger. He was entirely sure why he found Jason speaking about him and Rita so distressing. Perhaps it was because it served as another reminder that his memories were common knowledge to everyone except him, or the sincerity of his sentiments. Whatever had happened between him and Rita, it must have been special for the former Red Ranger to have taken notice.

“Zeddy? You turned one of the Rangers evil? How positively brilliant!”

Zedd pushed his annoyance towards Jason aside to focus on Rita. He seemed to stand a little taller at her praise and was so pleased that he forgot to scold her for calling him Zeddy.

“Isn’t it? And without any of those other pesky Power Rangers to get in our way, we’re guaranteed to succeed.”

The warlord stifled a derisive snort at Rita’s wish to bring Scorpina into this world. He was prepared to fire back a retort about the female warrior being unable to accomplish a simple seduction, but the sight of the witch’s smile trapped the words deep in his throat. It took him a few seconds to realize that she had asked him a question.

“It was even simpler than that, Rita.” Zedd rushed to compose himself. “The fool came here on his own, looking for his former friends.”

Zedd made sure to put extra emphasis on the word ‘former’, a reminder to Jason of where his loyalties now lie.

[Jason Scott]

Rita watched amused as Jason seem so eager to obey as if he was almost like a zombie.

"I see you went for a different spell than I did with Tommy and Katherine. I gave them too much free will and the spells broke. He's practically your slave. Shame we couldn't have all of the Power Rangers under our control like that." said Rita.

She frowned at that.

"There may not be more rangers but there still are powerful threats in both armies. Other superheroes and sorcerers we'll need to take out. But once we win this war this planet will have nothing left to protect it and it'll be ours." said Rita.

She chuckled as Zedd said Jason came here looking for his friends.

"You thought to check a circus for your friends? Seriously I know I attacked you at a circus once but that's was just taking the opportunity to attack you." said Rita.

XXXX

Jason smiled as Rita joined them.

"Good evening Empress Rita." said Jason.

He bowed to show his respect but remained silent after that. He paused at her question.

"Well I didn't know if my friends were here or where here was. But I had to look for them. Or some kind of help. But I found my new master instead." said Jason.

He paused glancing at Zedd curiously.

"Do I follow Empress Rita's commands as well? Or just yours?" asked Jason.

[Deleted]

“Practically? He’s completely my slave. Do you think I’d make the same mistakes as you?”

In the privacy of his mind, Lord Zedd allowed himself to (grudgingly) admit that the witch’s spells probably hadn’t been the problem. He couldn’t say for Katherine, but Tommy had had the other Rangers to break him out of Rita control. Seeing as Jason was the only Power Ranger in this world, that wouldn’t be an option.

He didn’t find it so easy to dismiss Rita’s warnings of other threats to their power, but that certainly didn’t stop him from trying. “We’ve brought countless planets to their knees in the past, and now we have a network of allies. It may take a while, but they will fall.”

Despite himself, the warlord didn’t sound overly confident about this. After all, he’d said the same thing about the Power Rangers.

Zedd watched Jason out of the corner of his eye, nodding in silent approval at the respect he showed Rita. His personal issues with her aside, she ranked much higher than the former Ranger ever would.

“Do I follow Empress Rita's commands as well? Or just yours?”

Now there was an interesting question. Zedd looked between the two before concluding, “You will follow Rita’s commands as well, but know they’ll always be outranked by my own.”