Disclaimer; I neither own nor profit from Power Rangers

A/N: Hey ya'll! Sorry about the almost month-long delay. Camp NaNoWriMo just sucked me in and I'm fighting my way back out. Of course, I'm planning to attend the August session. In the meantime, UPDATE! This chapter is episode tagged for Handshake.


Once upon a time, Summer was positive, she had been able to relax in her room and make jewelry without being disturbed by her teammates. However, ever since Dillon and Ziggy had joined the team, there wasn't a day, sometimes even an hour, that went by without some form of alpha male posturing between Dillon and Scott. It usually took the form of their cars, once Dillon had gotten his back from the mechanics. Other times, it was music, or sparring, and there was that rather memorable food fight the night Ziggy had cooked them spaghetti. Not that Summer was totally innocent in that mess, but the origins of that particular piece of posturing had been, yet again, Dillon and Scott butting heads.

Summer was jolted out of her thoughts by the roar of an engine and cursed as her surprise caused the bead she was gluing down to be knocked free. Summer grabbed a second bead with her tweezers and set about inserting it. She'd just gotten it set and had moved back when a second engine joined the first with a roar of sound. Summer yanked the plug of the hot glue gun free of the wall and carefully got to her feet. Her morpher chimed, "Yes, Doctor K?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"Ranger Series Yellow," Dr K said, "would you inform Series Black that he is wanted in the Ranger Room. I have been trying to page him and he will not respond."

"Gladly," Summer said as another blast of engine noise filled the air. She snapped her morpher closed and stormed out of her room. "Hey guys!" She yelled, and felt gratified when Flynn jumped. The Alpha Males, however, were still revving their engines. "Guys!" She tried again; this time they heard her calling them. "You want to try to make a bit more noise." She said waspishly and tugged on her ear, "I've still got some hearing in one ear."

"Just trying to make a point," Scott replied sheepishly. It did sooth her a little that Scott realized just how angry she was.

"Keep trying," Dillon said smugly.

"Yes, well, if you weren't beating your chests so loudly, you might have heard Doctor K trying to page Dillon on the comm," Summer snapped, because she was all for giving Dillon a chance to adjust, but there was a limit to her ability to take his attitude.

"Ranger Series Black," Dr K said, "please report to the Ranger Room."

Summer rolled her eyes a little at Dillon's final display of defiance just as her stomach roiled a little. Food, she thought and headed for the kitchen. "Ah, Summer," Flynn said as he pulled off his welding helmet, "How are you?"

"I'd be better," Summer said, discreetly pitching her voice for Scott to hear, "if people would remember how thin the walls are around here." She grabbed the door to the fridge and hissed, releasing it just as fast.

"Are you ok?" Flynn asked, coming to hover at her shoulder.

"I was using my hot glue gun," Summer said, regarding the burn on the edge of her palm, "it's just a burn. It'll heal up and be gone before dinner."

"If you say so," Flynn said, "did you want something?"

"Food," Summer replied, "I'm feeling a bit hungry."

"Now that you mention it," Scott said as he wandered in, followed by Ziggy. "Is there any of that chicken casserole left?"

"Should be," Flynn said, "Summer?"

"Sounds good," Summer replied.

"Ziggy?" Flynn added.

Ziggy grinned, "Sure, and thanks."

As Summer moved out of Flynn's way and claimed a seat on one of the stools, she reflected that their determination to accept Ziggy had gone a long way to getting the kid to open up. She didn't think he trusted them all the way, but he seemed easier with them than he had in the beginning. Of course, Flynn would probably be more consistently pleasant if Ziggy would stop stealing his fruit. "So," Summer said, "what are we doing this afternoon, anyways?"

"Um," Ziggy said hesitantly as he sat down beside her, "I was, I was kind of hoping to go out."

"Ziggy and I have synch training," Scott said, "and Flynn has that project of his."

"And Doc is probably going to keep Dillon in there for a while," Flynn said.

They all winced at a loud thud, as if someone had hit the door to the Ranger Room. "It might be best if we kept close until dinner," Scott said. "Doctor K sounded particularly irritated."

"Yeah," Summer said, "if you want, I'll go with you after dinner." She grinned at Ziggy, "if Flynn will loan us the truck."

"What, sure," Flynn smiled at her, "I don't mind."

"Are you sure?" Ziggy asked anxiously, "I don't want to be a bother."

"You won't be," Summer assured him. "I need to go to the craft store anyways."

"That- that was where I wanted to go," Ziggy admitted.

"Cool," Summer said. Flynn passed out plates of reheated casserole and they feel to with a will.

After lunch, Summer challenged Scott and Ziggy to a game of pool while Flynn started working on Dillon's car. Of course, Summer and Scott both knew that she would win. Before her morpher, Summer had been a good pool player, after she'd gotten the morpher and mastered its unique energy, she had been unbeatable. It wasn't something Summer could explain, but in learning how to fire the precise amount of energy needed in a Chi Energy Burst, she had gained an instinct for pool that made her game unbeatable; especially when Ziggy naively let her break.

"What are you," Ziggy demanded as she regarded the result of her break, "psychic or something."

Summer shrugged, "Or something."

The Ranger Room door slid open giving Summer warning before Dillon stormed past, followed by a faint hint of ozone. "Ranger Series Black," Dr K announced, "you still owe me three minutes of shield sequencing training."

Summer glanced over at Scott, catching his surprised look. "Bill me," Dillon snapped before opening the door to the fridge. Uh oh, Summer thought even as Scott's lips twitched into a smirk. They clearly heard the sound of Dr K's secret weapon arming as a look of confused panic crossed Ziggy's face. "You've got to be kidding," Dillon said.

Actually, he isn't, Summer thought joining Scott and Ziggy in positioning herself out of the line of fire, but able to watch the show, and for once, he isn't targeting me.

"Shall we begin?" Dr K asked and fired the cannon.

Dillon yelled in shock as he went flying across the room, hit the tire that they had placed to cushion the landing and collapsed to the floor. Summer glanced at her teammates. Ziggy looked like he could barely think from shock, while Scott looked almost wistful. Clearly, he would have loved to have the past few minutes on film, just to replay repeatedly. For a moment, Summer wondered what kind of captions such a scene would have before the alert sounded.

Thankfully, Dr K shut the alert off as they reached the screens and began to pull up information on the cause. "It's a perimeter breach through an air intake," Scott announced moments before Summer had come to the same conclusion. He sounded puzzled, an emotion Summer could second.

"Must be a pretty small attack force," Flynn said, "nothing big is getting through there."

Colonel Truman appeared on the screen, "My forces are taking fire at the Sector Nine power grid. We can't hold them off."

"If Venjix takes out that grid," Dr K said, "it could disrupt the entire southern hemisphere of the city's shield."

"We're on it," Scott said, heading for his car.

Summer didn't hesitate, slamming her helmet on as she threw her leg over the bike and buckling it one handed as she started the engine. They hadn't had a serious breach since the Tenaya attack bot had infiltrated during the Series Green interviews, so it was time and past time to find out how their dynamics had changed in battle.

Although she noticed Scott and Dillon weren't there, Summer knew it was too dangerous to wait. She dropped her helmet by her bike as she raced to help the security forces, hearing Flynn and Ziggy's footsteps right behind her. Over the battle, she heard Tenaya's voice clearly, "Ah, Rangers." A slight shiver down her spine made Summer blink before blocking her first Grinder; this was not going to be an easy fight. Even after Scott and Dillon showed up, Summer kept part of her attention on Ziggy and was pleased to note that, even if he wasn't as smooth a fighter as Scott, Dillon or even Flynn, he was holding his own. It made her feel a bit better about his precipitous arrival on the team.

As if the arrival of their missing members had been a signal, Flynn morphed, and Summer followed his excellent example. Scott's voice joined them and the familiar rush of power and invincibility flooded through her as she called of the Zip Charger.

Just as the last of the Power rush faded, and Summer felt the odd melding of their minds; a fourth power linked in. From the sharp, green sight-feel, it was Ziggy. Unlike Scott's focused worry or Flynn's joyous battle-mind, Ziggy was unfocused. Although he was thinking about the fight, it was so different from anything Summer had sensed. It was almost as if there were two sets of thoughts in Ziggy's mind. One was focused and calm, but distant, she couldn't 'hear' or sense anything beyond the presence of emotions. The second was chaotic and loud, tinged with panic, worry and even a little anger.

The rap of a Grinder's sword against her helmet, and Dillon's nearly unemotional and analytical mind entering what Kira had termed the 'morph-meld' yanked Summer back to the battle. Thankfully, her brief moment of woolgathering had gone unnoticed as Flynn and Scott drew closer to her. A glance at the HUD told Summer that Dillon had squared off with Tenaya while Ziggy was holding off some Grinders who appeared to have been trying to ambush the distracted Dillon.

"Let's blast that bot," Scott said as the three of them met up.

"Right," Flynn and Summer replied.

The boys fitted the saber to the cannon and they headed for Dillon, "Dillon," Summer called at the last minute, "get down."

Dillon ducked as Summer slammed the Zip Charger in place and they fired. Surprisingly, Tenaya held off the blast for a brief moment before the kinetic energy built up by the meeting of her robotic makeup with the Road Blaster's assault sent her flying. She stared at them for a long moment as she picked herself up, and then called the retreat. Summer banished the Zip Charger back into the biofield to focus on Dillon, "Are you all right?" She asked him.

"Yeah," Dillon replied, "Ziggy," he said, glancing over to where Ranger Green was shadowboxing imaginary villains, "the Grinders are gone."

Summer thought Ziggy looked almost sheepish as he walked over to join them. "Let's get back to the Garage," Scott said.

Dillon pointed at him, "I'm not riding with you."

"You can ride with me," Flynn said, "and I promise, I'll put your tires back on."

Dillon's finger swung to jab Flynn's chest, "Do that, then keep your hands off the Fury."

"Sure, fine," Flynn powered down, "whatever." As Summer powered down, she reflected that the glint in Flynn's eye could only mean that he'd done what he'd done deliberately. It was another sign of acceptance by her boys and she had to duck her head a little to hide her smile.

Back at the Garage, they gathered in the Ranger Room for debriefing. Only the 'debriefing' quickly became a power struggle between Dr K and Dillon. "It's not the suit I have a problem with," Dillon snapped finally, "it's you."

Summer winced as Scott and Flynn stepped forward, "Dillon," Scott said, "you're out of line."

"Am I?" Dillon asked, and then he crossed the line he'd been toeing. "Have you ever met or seen this Dr K? Anybody?" He gestured, "It could be anyone, broadcasting from anywhere."

Summer flinched as Dr K spoke, "Ranger Black, I assure you, no one wants to destroy the Venjix Virus more than me."

"Then," Dillon replied, "try testing the invincibility shield yourself."

Scott waited until the door slid shut behind Dillon before he exploded, "Who does he think he is?"

"Scott," Summer said, very aware that Ziggy was still in the room.

Flynn touched her arm, "Let him," he breathed in her ear. "Ziggy needs to learn."

"I mean, seriously," Scott continued, "does he think that my dad, and the Mayor would trust just anyone?"

"That's enough, Ranger Series Red," Dr K said, "While I appreciate your desire to defend me, Dillon must come to his own conclusions."

Scott bit his lip and turned, "Flynn, put Dillon's car back together. Ziggy, go with him."

Flynn nodded and grabbed Ziggy's arm, "Let's go."

"What?" Ziggy asked, even as he allowed himself to be pulled from the room.

"Scott," Summer said, "It's ok."

"I think we need to start pushing back," Scott said. "I know we don't want Dillon to run, but he's got to have some boundaries."

Summer hesitated, "Scott, you already know that Flynn and I will follow you anywhere you want but that's because we know you and trust you. We've had a year to hash out our differences and accept each other. Furthermore, we all volunteered for this and had a guess at what we were getting into. Dillon did it because he didn't really have a different choice. He doesn't think of this the same way we do." She caught his hand gently, "Besides, we always knew that activating Series Black and Green would change things. We're a threesome, but we can't be just a trio any more. The team has to change. What exists between Flynn, you and me, that will change, but in a good way. We're becoming stronger. The thing is, the trio isn't the team now. We have to let the team change." She tugged his hand to make him fully look into her eyes, "Frankly, I'm all for letting the team change, I don't want any more people trying to take over my couch."

A brief smile flickered over Scott's face and Summer kissed him lightly, "Now, let's go out there and not snap someone's head off, ok?"

"Ok," Scott said, and kissed her, gently cupping her cheek with his free hand. "I'll think about what you said."

"Rangers," Dr K snapped, "would you not do this in the Ranger Room."

They both laughed, "Sorry Doc K," Scott said. Then he assumed a stern look, "Let's go harass Flynn."

"We really shouldn't," Summer said as they headed for the door.

"Yes," Scott said as the doors opened, "but this is my team, and he will take orders, just like everybody else."

Summer rolled her eyes as they headed for the kitchen, "Just, give Dillon a little time ok? We were all freaked out by Doctor K at first."

Scott pulled out two water guns from the fridge and passed one to Summer. Under the cover of Flynn's blender, they split up and circled around the wall dividing the bar from the kitchen. Summer watched Scott count down from five and they leapt out with Native American style war whoops, shooting Flynn with the freezing water.

Flynn's girlish shriek was a perfect counterpoint to their mocking laughter.