Turquoise (Not Turquoise, not anymore, just Phoebe, fucking shit) sat bundled in blankets on Tara's couch, her body wracked with chills as her power gem sapped away heat like a black hole fused to her chest.
Megavolt had picked her up just a few blocks from Shining Ranger HQ. Keeping tabs on the rangers was basically her job, and it turned out that when you see one of them haul ass out of HQ in a panic and get on the first bus they see and then one minute later the whole place is on high alert because someone's been murdered ("Not murder," Tara had told her, "Manslaughter, it's ethically and legally distinct, you didn't mean to.") it's not too difficult to put two and two together.
"I made you soup." Tara said, and placed a bowl in front of her, the liquid inside icing over almost instantly. "Hhh. Okay. Listen, Pheebs- I have to go run interference, there's an entire fucking crayola box set of magical girls looking for you right now. Are you going to be okay if I leave you alone?"
"I feel like I'm dying." Phoebe groaned.
"I know. It'll pass, I promise."
"I want to make everyone who did this to me feel this fucking awful." She continued, and Tara sighed.
"That won't, I'm sorry."
"This is bullshit, this whole thing is bullshit-" Phoebe said, anger that wasn't hers but wasn't entirely foreign welling inside her as the temperature in the room dropped further. "Scarlet is an apocalyptic bitch to everyone forever and I snap at her once and my gem is fucked?"
"I know."
"Whoever made these things is going to answer for it, believe me. Scarlet's fucking pure of heart and I'm a villain. She's lucky I couldn't make it slow."
She clutched her head, sickened.
"Oh god, oh god I don't know where that came from, is that really how I feel?"
"I don't know, I'm sorry." Tara said. "Phoebe listen to me. You need to try and stay calm and ride this out. Maybe turn the stove up and try just eating the soup out of the pot? But I have to go make a scene before anyone can track the temperature distortions you're causing. I love you, okay?"
"I killed Scarlet..." Phoebe whined.
"I love you more for killing Scarlet, she was the worst and magical gems are not the arbiters of morality." Tara touched her own gem, and transformed into Megavolt in a shower of sparks. "I'll see if I can steal your shit from HQ. And some space heaters."
The tradeoff with emotion based powers is that, while they do average out to being stronger than those you have complete control over, it's very hard to do anything when your heart's not in it. Megavolt didn't want to be out blasting power lines and taking potshots at distracted rangers, she wanted to take care of Phoebe, to stay with her through what had been the worst experience of Megavolt's own life and would probably be the worst experience of hers.
But worry was not a conducive emotion.
Becoming corrupted hurts, not that anyone feels much sympathy for you. She was the only person who could be there for Phoebe, and she wasn't, she was abandoning her like she had been abandoned, and once again it was all the fault of the fucking Shining Rangers.
She could work with that, get mad about it.
Still, there was only so much one girl could do. Flitting from place to place trying to cause enough chaos to overwhelm one of the most numerous magical girl forces in the country was a losing battle. She needed to finish up and get the fuck out, figure out a place for them to lie low out of town for a while.
"Hello, Megavolt."
She froze, 90% through sneaking into Turquoise's window at Shining Ranger HQ.
"Azure."
The leader of the Shining Rangers stood in the doorway, her lit cigarette glowing faintly in the dark room.
"I think it's time we had a little chat, don't you?"
"Can I say no?"
"I wouldn't."
Megavolt slipped her leg through the window and crossed her arms, her back against the wall.
"What would you like to talk about? Boys? Gossip? You know," She said, lowering her voice and putting a hand to her mouth conspiratorially, "You didn't hear this from me, but I hear Kitten Crusaders Calico and Tortie broke up."
"We know she's with you, Tara. We're not stupid."
"I'm not so sure-"
"I would really take this seriously if I were you." Azure said. "For her sake."
"Is that a threat?"
"Yes." She said, and took a long drag to let that hang in the air before continuing. "We know she's with you, we know she's draining heat like nobody's business. Tara, she's showing up on the fucking weather channel. We don't know exactly where you live, but we'll figure it out. She murdered Scarlet."
"You can't seriously believe-"
"Doesn't matter what I believe. A jury would believe it."
"You fucking cop!" Megavolt said, and electricity danced across her hands as she balled them into fists. "You know she wouldn't-"
"Oh, I don't know shit. Her gem's corrupted, her powers are out of control, she could be capable of anything."
Megavolt fumed.
"You know, I was genuinely worried I wasn't mad enough to kick your ass."
"Well, we're not done talking so you'll have to wait."
"Oh, we're done talking!" Megavolt snapped, charging up for an attack.
"Come quietly and we stop looking for her."
She faltered, lightning fizzling out.
"We all know you did this to her," Azure continued, "I figure without you in the picture, maybe she fucks off to a life of petty crime and isn't our problem. You, however, are determined to be my problem. Give us a week and we could take both of you in, but I don't want to deal with more bodies. Call it a win-win."
"Authorities are still at a loss as to what's causing the continued drops in temperature on the outskirts of the residential district, but the Shining Rangers have assured them they're looking into it. In other news, notorious supervillain Dark Ranger Megavolt has been taken into police custody following the murder of Shining Ranger Scarlet. Leader of the Shining Rangers, Ranger Azure, was unavailable for comment-"
The television was silenced, pierced by a massive icicle erupting from the floor. Phoebe screamed her throat raw, completely overwhelmed with sadness and anger and hate, hate for the shining rangers, hate that bubbled up from her icy core until there was no room to feel anything else.
The temperature plummeted, pipes burst and windows shattered from the thermal shock. Phoebe's heart was a bundle of exposed nerves, a void from which no warmth could escape, and Tara had been stolen from her again and she was in agony and everyone needed to feel her pain.
And so, half-dead, wrapped in a comforter and clad in a sweater that was too big for her, she set out to destroy her enemies.
She could come up with a villain name while she walked.