AN: This story was inspired by the episode "Dismissed," but it does not follow the same plot line except for Birdie relieving Cruger of his command. Hope you enjoy!

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After Supreme Commander Birdie relieved Commander Cruger of his duties, he wasted no time in delving into finding a use out of B Squad's abilities. He thought their abilities were wasted as the resources they should be. One of his first acts was to hunt down Kat to find out more about the rangers he was now in charge of.

"Ah, Ms. Manx. I wanted to talk to you about the B Squad cadets."

Kat knew she would not like whatever he had to say. "What about them?"

"I have come to understand they possess special abilities?"

"That's correct, sir." She wondered where he was going with this.

"And what sort of powers do they possess?"

"Well, sir, Jack…I mean Cadet Landers can de-materialize through solid objects. Cadet Tate can create energy shields. Cadet Delgado can multiply. Cadet Carson can read energy fields, and Cadet Drew can absorb any material in her hands causing them to become very strong."

"Ah, I see. And can they use these powers while morphed?"

"Not yet, sir, but we have been developing technology to allow that."

"Hmm…" Birdie crossed his hands behind his back. "I presume you are able to test their abilities?"

Kat nodded. "Of course, sir."

"Good, I would like to see their abilities in action for myself. See if any of them are worth anything."

Kat scoffed a little. "I'll program a simulation for you sir."

"Very good." He nodded at her and left the room.

The next day Kat prepared the rangers for the simulation Birdie has requested. She stood before them in the Command Center.

"Rangers, Commander Birdie would like to assess your abilities."

Jack hated the thought of Birdie taking Crueger's place, but he knew he had to follow the chain of command and comply. "Not a problem."

The rangers headed for the simulation lab and got into position. The whole thing was simple enough, something they had all done while at S.P.D. They entered a warehouse and stopped once they got into the door. Bridge slipped his glove off and waved his hand in front of him.

"Jack, behind that wall."

"Got it." Jack ran at the wall and dematerialized through it to fight the Krybots on the other side.

More Krybots appeared in the building and Z multiplied so she could fight more robots off at once. Bridge waved his hand again and saw how the Krybots were going to attack. He dodged each blow and took them out. Syd saw a few Krybots standing under a metal walkway. She snatched a piece of iron out of her belt.

"Fists of iron!" She punched one of the beams causing the metal walkway to collapse onto the Krybots.

While the others were fighting, multiple Krybots headed for Sky, surrounding him. He made shield on one side of him so he could split up the fight. After he had defeated them, he pushed the shield into the Krybots in front of him, destroying them all.

Each and every Krybot was taken out by the rangers in a quick and efficient manner. Kat stopped the simulation.

"Thank you cadets."

The rangers saluted and left the room.

Birdie hummed under his breath. "Quite impressive, though they could use some work. I would like their files delivered to my desk."

Kat did not like the thought of Birdie looking through the ranger's lives, but she could not deny him this request. "Right away, sir."

The next time Kat saw him, Birdie was carrying the files in his hand. "Ms. Manx, I've been reading over the cadet records. I've noticed something about cadet…" He looked at the top file in his hand. "Carson."

"What about him sir?" Kat worried what the Commander would say.

"He has the thickest file for one thing. While it would seem he has progressed the most, his abilities also seem to be the most problematic."

"Sir, his powers are the most complex of the bunch. The others have all learned how to strengthen and control their abilities, but Cadet Carson continues to gain new ones. That being said, he has learned immense control."

"Yes, I'm sure, but what of his past? Institutionalized?"

"That was before anyone understood his ability. Bridge sees things different than you or I. Not everyone understands that." Kat wanted to make sure she got the point across, but she still worried about what Birdie might do with that information.

"Of course. Thank you Ms. Manx." Birdie left the room.

Kat had a bad feeling about his sudden interest in Bridge.

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"Why does Birdie want to evaluate us?" Z looked at Kat.

Kat pursed her lips. "He just wants to talk to each of you one on one, it's not an evaluation…at least that's not what he said it was."

Jack noticed her annoyance. "Everything okay?"

Kat sighed. "I think he's taken an interest in your abilities, but I'm sure everything will be fine."

One by one each ranger had to talk to Birdie. It was simple enough; he asked them about their progress at S.P.D. and then detested them for their wasted potential. Although frustrated each ranger got through it with ease and without worry, that was until Bridge stepped into the room. Birdie seemed to talk to him the longest.

"So cadet, I understand you have some sort of empathic ability?"

"Yes, sir. I can read auras…did you want me to read yours?" Bridge was about to take off his gloves when Birdie put a hand up to stop him.

"No, that's quite alright." He eyed Bridge's hands. "You wear gloves to prevent your power from occurring all the time?"

"Umm, sort of. They help. If I touch something with my bare hands I get readings off of it. The gloves block that out. They help keep me in control."

"So you have trouble controlling your ability?"

"No! No, I don't. I have really good control, but sometimes energy can be overwhelming. I always handle it though."

"Did you handle all those time you had to go to the infirmary?"

Bridge straightened up a little. "Like I said sir, thoughts can be overwhelming sometimes."

"Ah yes, you read thoughts as well?"

"Not always."

"Hmm…your powers have progressed quite a bit since coming here haven't they?"

"Yes, sir."

"I do wonder how they could progress in the future. If you are able to read thoughts now, you may be able to control thoughts later."

That scared Bridge. "I would never want to control thoughts. Reading them now is too much of an invasion of privacy as it is."

Birdie hummed under his breath. "But what about criminals? What if you could stop a crime from happening just by thinking it?"

"No, bad thoughts in my head…that would be bad, very bad."

"I thought you said you had control."

"I do, but I still have to be careful." Bridge was getting flustered.

"Careful, or weak?"

"I'm not weak. Look I can't control thoughts, so this entire conversation is moot." Bridge was fuming.

"You may go cadet." Birdie scowled.

Bridge said nothing as he jumped from his seat and left the room. As soon as the others saw Bridge, they picked up on his agitation. Z was the first to say something to the Green Ranger.

"You okay?"

Bridge huffed. "That was terrible. It's like he wants to use our powers as a weapon or something."

"Yeah, he made it seem like we weren't using out powers right." Z shook her head.

Bridge plopped himself down on the couch. "I miss Crueger."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, us too."

"Well whether we like Commander Birdie or not, we're stuck with him. We can't get Crueger back unless he decides to do it, so until then we just have to follow the chain of command." Sky was very matter of fact.

Syd rolled her eyes. "Well we don't have to like it, even if we do have to listen to what he says."

Over the next few days, Bridge let his anger subside. The rangers grew busy with new training and commands from Commander Birdie. He was pushing their limits, but determined to create his ideal team. They worried he would try to get rid of them all together, but they knew Kat would have gave him a few reasons to stop that action. Bridge was too occupied with all the new changes he did not have the time to be angry; that was until a cadet approached him with a message to report to one of the interrogation rooms. He hated the sound of that, but he knew he could not refuse. Once he got there he wished he had.

"Ah Cadet Carson, finally. There is a criminal whom refuses to talk. I need you to tell us everything he knows."

"You want me to interrogate him?" Bridge knew what he was really asking, but he was hopeful.

"No Cadet, I do not need your subpar interrogation techniques, I need you to use your abilities."

"You want me to read his mind? I don't think that's a good idea."

Birdie scoffed. "Well what good is your ability to mind read if you can't even use it?"

Bridge knew he needed to choose his words carefully. "I am fine with using my abilities to help, but too much and it could mess with my head."

"Then do it this one time."

Bridge knew that Birdie would not let him do this just once. He knew as soon as the Commander saw how well his powers worked he would abuse it.

Birdie crossed his hands behind his back. "Unless of course, you aren't able."

That was enough for Bridge. "Fine. I'll do it."

Bridge stood up and went to the interrogation room with the criminal in it. He could already feel the negative energy pulsing off of him. Bridge sat in front of the alien and stared for a moment. He did not recognize him as one of the guys they had caught recently, so another group must have made the arrest.

"They say you aren't saying anything…well not anything just the something that they want you to."

The criminal gave him a strange look. "What?"

"You don't have to say anything to me. You may be able to stay quiet, but your thoughts can't."

He took off his glove and put his hand up to his temple. He focused his mind on the aliens thoughts.

"You have a brother that helped you rob that bank."

The alien perked up. "What are you doing?"

"He's hiding on Peterson Street. He's been robbing smaller places while you've been in here. He's hiding out in the basement right with everything you've stolen together." Bridge removed his hand from his temple and replaced his glove. He left the room leaving the criminal sputtering at what was just said.

"Now wait a minute! You can't possibly know any of that. Hey come back here! It ain't true!"

Birdie stared at Bridge as he came out of the interrogation room. "My, my, my, that was quite impressive. That is of course if all the information is correct."

"It is." Bridge was done with the Commander for the day. He did not care about respect at the moment. He just wanted to get away from him. He knew this was just the beginning of a long line of torment.

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AN: Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter!