The Rangers raced back to the school after the battle. Calvin threw Nitro rather carelessly around the parking lot.

"Whoa! What's with the G-forces here?" Preston asked him as he was thrown across the back seat when Calvin turned sharply.

"Jeez, the guy goes from not being able to drive to stunt show in a few months!" Brody complained as he ended up getting squished against the side by Sarah.

"Sorry guys, I was just…aw hell!" Calvin growled. "The parking lot's full now! Someone took my spot!"

"I knew we should have taken the bikes!" Hayley grumbled. "I guess you're going to have to park across at the mall."

"Are you kidding? There I'll have to pay!" Calvin responded. He gunned the engine, bumping Nitro up over the curb and onto the lawn. "There we go, one big green parking lot! Got to love four by four!"

"Well we still have to figure out how we're going to get back into Mrs Finch's class without her noticing we're late." Hayley reminded him. They all very quickly disembarked from Nitro, sprinting up the steps into the school, meaning they failed to notice Clint, the school security guard, rounding the corner. He just started shaking his head and making a little tutting sound with his tongue as he approached, writing up a parking citation.

The Rangers made their way to Mrs Finch's class, creeping along the corridor as they got closer. Brody glanced through the glass in the door, seeing a classroom in chaos. There were plenty of kids there, but considering the fact the closest thing anyone was doing to maths was the couple of kids playing poker in the corner while others were playing video games, reading comics, talking, or in general treating the classroom like their own personal recreation room it looked as though they had somehow beaten Mrs Finch back.

"Looks like we've lucked out." Brody said as he turned around with a bright smile. The others were smiling too, but they weren't the only people behind him. Slowly but surely, they all stopped smiling as they realised something was wrong and turned around, seeing Mrs Finch standing with her arms folded. "Um..Hi…Mrs Finch!"

"We…um…we were worried when you were late so…" Calvin started to stammer out. "We were just going to go and look for you!"

"Calvin, do you see these things on the side of my head?" She asked gesturing to her ears. "Well, after being a teacher as long as I have, they've become finely-tuned bullshit detectors!"

"Uh…well…uh…!" They all stammered. Mrs Finch just pointed into the classroom, at which they all went inside. She took one look at the scene of chaos in her class and her face turned bright red.

"IN. YOUR. SEATS. NOW!" She roared. Everyone very quickly scrambled to their seats and stowed their various distractions away as quickly as they could. Mrs Finch just glared at her classroom. "Now, I know what you're all thinking. I can't say anything because I was late too."

Although pretty much everyone was thinking that exact thing, no one dared bring it up. No one wanted to try their luck.

"Textbooks out and turn to chapter twelve! Monty, start reading!" She snapped. As everyone got out their textbooks and Monty got up to start reading out loud the coursework, Preston just nudged Sarah.

"Is it just me or did she seem super pissed before she saw the classroom?" He asked her.

"Believe me, I don't want to know what put a bug up her ass." She replied. "I'm just happy to take the win."

"Preston! Sarah, something you want to share with the class?" She called out from the blackboard, not even looking at them. They both shook their heads vigorously.

"No Mrs Finch." They both responded.

"Good. Now, I may have been a few minutes late, but this classroom is NOT a democracy so if I hear anyone's voice but Monty's for the rest of the lesson, you'll ALL be in detention after school. Do I make myself clear?"

She didn't hear any response.

"Good." She said bluntly. "Now Monty, continue where you were before you were so RUDELY interrupted!"

Elsewhere in the city, Levi was trying in vain to call the others. He couldn't use his Ninja-Comm in front of Jess, but he couldn't seem to get any of them to answer. All of their phones went straight to voicemail. It took a moment for him to finally realise the time and figure that if they weren't still in the middle of battle, they were probably in class.

"Damn." He muttered, before putting his phone away.

"I think we've lost them." Jess said as she checked around a corner for any signs they had been followed.

"Yeah, I think the Rangers kept them busy." Levi said as he came closer, making a show out of checking around with her. He suddenly felt a pair of arms wrapping around him and holding him tightly. He looked down, seeing Jess clinging to him like her life depended on it.

"Thank you!" She gushed as she held onto him, burying her face in his chest. "I've…I've never seen anything like that! They just came from nowhere and they…"

"Hey, hey, it's alright, they're gone now." Levi assured her, holding onto her. Jess parted from him a little way and looked up to him, looking deeply into his eyes.

"You're…amazing." She whispered softly. "You're not just a great singer. You're brave and strong and…"

"Jess, I just did what was right." Levi told her. She smiled at him.

"I think you did more than that." She replied, closing her eyes and pulling in closely, pressing her lips to his. They were lost for a moment, so much so that Levi never noticed as Jess' hand went behind her back, pulling out a long, curved dagger, before bringing it around behind him. This was Spyclops' special ability, using disguises and misdirection to get her opponent to let their guard down and strike when they were vulnerable. She was about to bring the dagger into Levi's back, however, before she could plunge it into his back, he pushed her arms off and staggered her. She snatched her hand behind her back before he could see the knife.

"Jess…I'm sorry, I…I really am." Levi told her.

"What?" She asked. Levi now felt like simultaneously the world's dumbest person for not seeing this coming and also the world's worst person for letting it happen. He'd saved Jess from the attack, and from the way she flailed earlier it wasn't hard to think she probably was attracted to him already. He started to look at her regretfully as he stroked her shoulders with his hands.

"Jess, you're…you're really great. You're pretty, you're smart, you've…you've got a great voice..."

"But?" She asked.

"Well…" He said, trying to find an easy way to say it. "…the thing is, there's already someone I'm kind of into."

He could see the way Jess was looking at him and it just made him regret even more what had happened.

"Look, the thing is, there's someone I kind of like and we get along great and well, I don't really know what it is yet." Levi told her honestly. "But I kind of feel like if I did anything with anyone else before I figure that out then it wouldn't be fair on them. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Jess walked away from him a little way, secreting the knife in her clothing. Spyclops could see her opportunity had passed, and was trying to think of a new plan to get close to one of the other Rangers.

"Hey, Jess, wait up!" Levi called out, running up to her. He now felt really badly, like he'd really messed up and didn't want Jess to leave feeling badly. "I wasn't kidding before though. I think you've got real talent. I wasn't messing around when I said I wanted to help you out."

"You do?" She asked.

"Hey, I may kid around about a lot of things, but I never kid about music!" He assured her. Jess thought about it for a moment, when something caught her attention.

"Well…OK, but first, check this out!" She said, running over to a market stand nearby. A new plan was starting to form. She could see Levi wanted to make amends for 'leading her on', blissfully ignorant of the fact he was the one who almost fell into a trap. Levi felt so guilty he didn't really think he could deny her if she wanted a little souvenir. It wasn't every day someone was asked to duet with one of their favourite stars. He could still remember hanging up three times when he was convinced Tom was trying to punk him before he finally realised Kira Ford really was trying to call him!

He got to the market stand and saw her rummaging around, looking through some items. She finally picked out a hat.

"Here, what do you think?" She asked him. To say it wasn't Levi's style would be somewhat like saying The Incredible Hulk was the model of restraint and self-control! It was a black baseball cap, with metal on the skip, and some bright splashes of colour along the front.

"Yeah, that could look pretty good on you." He answered in as convincing a way as he could.

"No, not for me, for you silly!" She replied, whipping off his Stetson and putting it on his head. Levi just looked into the mirror in horror.

"Uh, thanks, but I already got a hat!" He told her.

"Oh, but it looks great on you! And the image would be just perfect for my new song!" She told him. "It'd go great with this jacket…oh, and these pants too!"

The last time Levi had seen an outfit like this was at a rodeo when one of the bull-riders fell and a clown would run in to distract the bull until he could get out of the ring. But, he figured, maybe it was a small price to pay to salve Jess' feelings and his conscience.

"So…can I at least see this song?" Levi asked. Jess just slipped him a piece of parchment with music on it. Levi furrowed his brows as he looked at it. "Well, you're right about one thing. It definitely isn't country."

"Oh, come on Levi, you know what they say, variety is the spice of life!" Jess said to him. "You've heard that right?"

"Yeah…yeah, of course!" He answered, looking at the clothes in his hand. "It's…definitely different."

Up on the Warrior Dome, Madame Odious was stalking the halls, pondering her interaction with Spyclops.

She wasn't so much bothered by the fact Spyclops had shown her some disrespect. She was unfortunately more than a little used to it. Many of the warriors she had managed over the course of her career were brutes, mindless thugs that respected little other than power and strength. It wasn't unknown for them to be very cliquish. Many of them wouldn't even let anyone other than fellow warriors into the training rooms or dressing rooms. They felt that honour had to be 'earned'. It had galled her at first when warriors would talk down to her or snap at her, but pretty soon she realised their egos made them all the easier to manipulate. After all, who was really the foolish one? Those that risked their lives in the arena or the manager who got to claim ten percent of their earnings without risking one hair on their head?

But there was something deeper in the disrespect Spyclops had shown her. She almost talked to her like she thought Odious was not as smart as her. It was a pretty dangerous thing to annoy the one that ultimately decided your opponents and the terms of your matches. More than one warrior who had annoyed Cosmo suddenly found themselves on the rough end of some pretty tall odds.

She was already suspicious about a lot of things going on in the ship. It was tough not to be. Only a short time ago they were spinning through space, most of their vital systems destroyed or failing and awaiting inevitable and certain doom when the last few systems finally gave out. As much as she prided herself on her power and her resilience, being one of the few creatures in the universe that could boast taking a direct hit from an asteroid with little to show for it, but even she knew when her number was up and she had to admit even to herself, she was relying on some pretty serious luck to prevent ending up being a set of remains discovered on an abandoned ship by some archaeologist many years from now.

The fact that she was discovered by Lord Draven wasn't just good luck, it was nothing short of miraculous. He not only repaired their systems he had actually upgraded the entire ship and even provided some of his own followers to fill gaps in her crew caused by the inevitable casualties. He even kept in contact and stated that he would send others to help when he could, and all he asked in return was a very vague statement of asking for 'a favour' somewhere down the road. Odious wasn't foolish enough to believe in such charity, she didn't get to where she was without learning that if something appeared to be too good to be true, it almost certainly was and the other side was making a significant benefit from the deal that the other side didn't see. She wasn't in a position to refuse or to negotiate, but she was also awaiting some kind of double-cross somewhere down the road.

She checked some of the footage from the broadcast, and saw that Spyclops hadn't even attempted her plan yet. She had gone off and tried things her own way before doing anything else. She had eventually given Levi the sheet music for the spell, but not before her own plan had faltered. It was almost as if she had never had any intention of listening to Odious and only did so because her own methods had failed and she was willing to try anything.

She looked down the hall and saw Cosmo and Wrench coming out of Cosmo's office, thick as thieves. Those two were always together, always having private discussions, always doing something behind closed doors and out of sight. If it wasn't for the fact that they kept the show running smoothly and dealt with things like cameras, lighting and all those other technical aspects that never interested her, she would have destroyed them out of mere convenience. They had to know that they didn't have the outright power to bring her down, but plotting against her? Was that possible?

She then saw Badonna coming over to them, seemingly very agitated and engaging in an argument that quickly turned ugly. Badonna had been sent to her by Draven as a trusted lieutenant, and Odious already knew she had impressive power. She had also been quick to pledge her loyalty to her, pinning her colours to Odious' banner so to speak. Of course, Odious had done the same with Galvanax and many others…and they found out the hard way how little that could mean!

Someone had trusted Spyclops to play dumb, but it seemed they overestimated her intelligence, or her ability to act. No, someone was playing games with her, she just didn't know who…yet! All she knew was that she didn't appreciate being a piece in anyone's game, and when she figured out who was trying to bring her down, she wasn't just going to win the game, she was going to drive the board straight through their face!

"Mistress, they just won't listen!" Badonna complained as she came running over to Odious. "Spyclops completely ignored your plan and yet they say that they're not going to do anything to…"

"All I'm saying is that Spyclops has a fan-base that she has to satisfy. There are certain things they expect from her!" Cosmo interrupted her. "You can't very well expect her to go bringing out new tactics until she tries the things the loyal fans that have followed her for all those years expect of her. It's just…basic rules of television."

"Television, BAH!" Badonna scoffed. "Who cares what those idiots think? Madame Odious runs the show now!"

"Look Ms. Jenny-Come-Lately, clearly you know as much about television as you do about stealing some metal from a bunch of teenagers!" Cosmo sniped.

"HOW DARE YOU!" She screamed, preparing to launch a power blast. Madame Odious held up a hand.

"Easy!" She beckoned them. "Spyclops is following the plan now, that's all that matters!" She stated. "As for all of you, what is it you always say Cosmo? No one dies on this show unless we're getting paid!"

At the end of the school day, the Rangers were all leaving the school, relieved to finally be out of the surprisingly tense and uncomfortable atmosphere of Mrs Finch's math class. The time had dragged in with no sound being made. No one dared even breathe too deeply as she made it clear she was in a terrible mood. Normally Mrs Finch was one of the nicest, kindest and most reasonable teachers any of them had ever had, but it seemed when she was angered…she had a side of her that they never knew existed. They were all heading to the Romero place to train for a while, and frankly…it wasn't far enough for comfort for most of them! Hayley was just on the phone to her dad to explain she would be late.

"Yeah, that's right…I'm heading to a friends' place." Hayley said on her phone to her dad as they headed for the parking lot.

"Oh, well, that's fine sweetheart, I suppose it's better than you being in the apartment yourself." Aaron answered.

"Working late?" She asked in a sigh.

"Actually, we should be finishing up pretty soon." Aaron told her. "But I was just heading to the gym afterwards. I should be back for a late dinner, around…seven?"

"I should be there by then." Hayley answered.

"Love you." Aaron stated.

"Love you too dad." Hayley replied, hanging up. "That's strange…since when did dad start going to the gym?"

"Your dad isn't the gym type?" Sarah asked. Hayley rolled her eyes.

"The closest he comes to a bicep curl is chugging a Red Bull when he's pulling an all-nighter." Hayley responded. Preston was still shuddering from the experience in the classroom.

"I'm telling you, I don't think I was that terrified when Galvanax took us prisoner on his ship." Preston whispered, as though he was terrified somehow Mrs Finch would still hear. "I've never seen her that pissed!"

"Well, fortunately we'll safer than that classroom." Calvin told them. "We'll be training with a professional ninja swinging live blades at each other!"

They all laughed a little at this, before Brody pointed a little way down.

"Say, anyone know who that is heading for the school?" He asked, pointing towards a guy heading towards the school. He was dressed in brightly coloured clothing. None of them could really describe it, but Hayley was the first to give it a try.

"Someone who should really turn the lights on when they get dressed?" She offered. There were a few more laughs, before Hayley slipped and almost fell over. "Whoa, what…what happened?"

"This whole area is water-logged!" Sarah commented. "What happened?"

"Oh man, look at this!" Calvin called out, going to his truck, finding some tickets trapped under the windshield wiper. He pulled them out. "Clint wrote me up for parking on the lawn and…damaging school property?"

"I think he might mean this!" Preston said as he bent down, picking up a sprinkler head that was just by the front tyre. Calvin just threw his head back.

"Aw man, it says I have to pay fifty bucks to replace the sprinkler head!" He complained. "Mom and dad are NOT going to be happy!"

Meanwhile, inside the school, Mrs Finch was just clearing up after class when she heard a knock on the door. She looked up and saw Levi standing there.

"I couldn't get you on your phone." Levi stated.

"Yes, I switch it off when I'm in class." She told him. "It's a little thing called 'professionalism'."

"Look, I just wanted to check on you. I couldn't see you during the attack…"

"Attack?" She asked.

"Yeah, the Basher…um…the robots that attacked the street." Levi told her. Mary just looked at him unconvinced.

"Robots attacked the street? Really?" She said sarcastically. "That's the best you could come up with?"

By now the city knew that Odious and her monsters were back, so it wasn't THE most outlandish thing in the world to say, but the fact Mary didn't know that the street had been attacked and doubted him at all suggested she had indeed left before the attack. Levi didn't know whether to be happy she wasn't there and so wasn't at risk, or concerned that now meant she didn't believe him.

"Look, I'm sorry, I was just talking to Jess about helping her with her music and then the robots attacked and…"

"Talking about music? Really?" She asked. "Is that what they call it now?"

"Wait…are you upset with me?" Levi asked. "Mary…"

"Mrs Finch!" She snapped, interrupting him. Levi took a deep breath. He could tell she was upset about the fact he had left her.

"Look, I know I can sometimes get a little obsessive when it comes to music and just kind of lose track of everything else." Levi said, trying to explain. "Jess is a really good musician and I think with a little help and exposure she could really go places."

"So, you JUST talked about music and ran away from robots is that about right?" She asked him.

"Yes, that's it!" Levi assured her. "I was going to tell you but then I lost track of you and…"

Mary flicked the skip of his baseball cap.

"Funny, when you were fleeing for your lives you seemed to have time to stop off for some clothes shopping." She stated. Levi gulped.

"Look, I can explain…"

"Don't bother! I think when I have a Masters in mathematics, I can put two and two together!" She stated. "Close the door on your way out Mr Weston!"

Levi realised he wasn't going to be able to do anything other than get himself in more trouble right now. Resolving to come back at another time, hopefully when she had a chance to calm down a little, he left the room, closing the door behind him. Mrs Finch picked up a chalk eraser and threw it the length of the room, where it rebounded off the chalk board with a loud bang, before placing a hand on her head.

"Idiot." She muttered. "I'm…I'm such an idiot."