Chapter Text
Dale sighed. It was too quiet for the last couple of days. The others were enjoying the break, but he wasn’t. Chip was watching the news feed for any sign of a case.
“Just a bunch of small time burglaries.” He said again that night at dinner. “We need something bigger.”
“Golly, I think the smaller cases are nice sometimes, Chip. Less dangerous for us.” Gadget said. “I mean, it also gives me time to add some improvements to our most used things.”
“That’s true, I guess…” Dale said. He finished off his dinner of cheese chowder and crackers when there was a distinct yowl below.
“Hey! Rescue Rangers? Are you in?!”
“Who’s that?” Chip asked, rushing to the door. “Ollie? Guys, it’s Ollie!” Ollie was stray cat they’d befriended on a random case six years prior. They hadn’t seen him in a long time. As the rest of his team joined him, Chip climbed down to the ground.
“Thank goodness.” Ollie looked very upset, but also winded. “It’s terrible.”
“What’s wrong?” Chip asked.
“Stacie’s missing.”
Dale blinked. “Stacie? You mean that little tyke that accidentally helped us crack a case a few years ago? How is she doing?”
“I’m guessin’ not good if she’s missing, Dale.” Chip deadpanned. “When did you see her last?” He asked, turning back to Ollie.
“It’s been two days!” Ollie exclaimed. “The social worker went to collect her, and her foster said that Stacie hadn’t been home…”
“That’s terrible! You don’t think she ran away again?” Dale asked. When she was six, Stacie had almost convinced him to hide her with them up at Ranger Headquarters. Chip had found out and forcefully suggested against it and made him send her back to the foster home.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. She loves Sven.” Ollie said quietly.
“When was the last time you talked to her?” Gadget asked.
Ollie scratched his ear with a hind leg. “Two mornings ago. She went to school. She came home and then went out on her..route.” Ollie made a face. “I told her to give it up, but… she gets antsy.”
“Route?” Chip asked. “I don’t think I’m going to like the sound of this…”
“She likes to go where kids her age shouldn’t be, to try and prevent bad things from happening.”
“Oh brother…” Chip slapped a paw to his forehead. “I thought we told her not to do that…that’s how she almost got in trouble when we first found her!”
“Oh, come on, Chip. She’s just a kid.” Dale said.
“My point, exactly.” Chip said.
“Guys, not now.” Gadget said, giving them both a withering stare. “We’ve got to start looking for her now. Have they sent a missing child report yet?”
“Don’t know…I came to get you guys.” Ollie said. “I thought we could start by where she normally goes. Maybe someone saw her…”
“But does she talk to all the animals or just us?” Dale asked.
“Most, I think. She’s one of the few humans I know that can do it.” Ollie said. “It’s unusual, to be sure.”
“Let’s go. You lead the way, Ollie. We’ll follow in the Ranger Plane.” Gadget said.
Dale nodded. He was at once worried about his young friend. “The faster we go, the quicker we’ll get her back to the group home, the safer she’ll be.”
“And when we do find her, I’m giving her a stern talking to!” Chip put in, folding his arms. “Going off on her own! What was she thinking?!”
“Gee, Chip… maybe she just wanted to help…” Gadget said.
“Yeah, well…” He sighed. “Let’s just find her.” With that, Gadget got the Rangerplane into the air and they took off, following Ollie, who was below on the sidewalk.
#
“What the hell, Sven? What is she doing here?” The mean looking man glared at Stacie. Sven had her firmly by the wrist. His grip was hurting her.
She twisted, trying to get free. “Ow…” She yelped.
“Be quiet.” Sven said firmly. “Didn’t have a choice. My time with her ran over.”
“You’re supposed to be off duty tonight.” The man scowled.
“Guess someone didn’t get the message.” Sven muttered.
“Put her somewhere out of the way for now and keep her quiet.” The older boy said.
“What? No, why don’t we just let her go, and….” Sven began, but the older boy glared at him. “No way! I’m not holding her here!” The two men glared at each other for a long moment. “That wasn’t the plan!” Sven finally ground out.
“You’ll do what you’re told or else!” Then Stacie felt him grab her arm roughly. “Y’know what? Never mind. Load the cargo. Now.” He started to drag her off.
Stacie turned, panicked. “Sven?! What’s happening?!”
“Shut your mouth, little girl.” The boy said. He picked her up then when she almost got away from him.
“Let me go, you creep!!” Stacie tried to kick out at him. “Please, I won’t say anything, I promise!”
“I said to be quiet!” The man growled. He wrapped an arm around her middle, then held her tightly, as he yanked open a door. It was a large storage closet. “You scream anymore, and I’ll quiet you myself. You hear me?” He dropped her hard on the floor and slammed the door.
Stacie heard the lock turn. “W-wait…p-please…” She scrambled to her feet and tried to turn the knob. “Sven? Sven! Help! Let me out, please!” She was suddenly shoved backwards as the door flung open.
“Stacie…. Stacie, I’m so sorry…” Sven’s voice was quiet as he stepped in a bit more. He had an armful of blankets and a pillow. “Here. It will be chilly tonight.” He dropped them on the floor.
“T-tonight? Sven! You can’t…” She began, getting to her feet and starting for the door. To her shock, he shoved her backwards hard.
“No, you don’t!” He said in an uncharacteristically cold voice. “You stay here until we move you. You understand?” He rummaged in his hoodie pocket and dropped a few packs of fruit snacks at her feet. “That’ll hold you over till morning. Eat them slowly if you know what’s good for you.” He started to back out of the storeroom.
“Sven… please…. w-what are you doing? This isn’t…. it isn’t right…you wouldn’t…you can’t….”
“I’m sorry…” He mouthed, closing the door again, the lock turning.
Stacie sat down hard on the floor again, ignoring the fact that she landed on top of some of the fruit snacks. She found herself breathing hard. No. Not hard. Quickly. She recognized this. She was having a panic attack. Okay. This was bad. This was really bad. Something was wrong. Sven wouldn’t do this to her. He loved her. He’d just told her that that morning, hadn’t he? Why had he brought her here? What was going on? She tried to slow her breathing, to take deeper breaths and calm down. But that was when the tears came. And that was the first time in a few years she thought of Dale, and the Rescue Rangers.