A/N: Apologies for any strange alerts in anyone's inbox. I accidentally put this upate in the wrong story. OOOPS! Hope you enjoy it anyway.
Brie answered the door in the evening, finding Summer and Dillon standing there. They had seen the article in the newspaper earlier in the day, and Summer had insisted they go to see her. Having had her share of venomous headlines about her, she knew how she must be feeling. She reached in the door, hugging her tightly.
"I'm sorry your news got broken this way." She began as Dillon stood, watching them. Chas arrived behind his fiancée a second later. "It's not right that this has been stolen from you like that."
"I'm still happy about the baby." Brie told her in a little sob as she released her, wiping her eyes a little. "I've always wanted a family."
"I guess congratulations are in order." Dillon said, shaking Chas' hand.
"Thanks." He replied. "I just wish dad hadn't done this. It's not fair he took this from us."
"I can't believe he'd do this to his own son." Summer said sympathetically as they were shown through to the living room. "It's his grandchild."
"Not if you believe 'Dome Secrets' magazine." Brie stated angrily. "According to that it could be half the population of the dome."
"Brie, we were sorority sisters. I was your best friend for all those years." She assured her. "I know you and I were a little wild back then, but there's no way anyone that matters believes that you slept around."
"Unfortunately there are a lot more people that will believe it than don't." Chas stated as he came in from the kitchen with a couple of sodas. "That means potentially more voters believe that about her. Dad doesn't even care how much he's hurt her. The worst part is, I didn't even get to tell everyone myself. Some damn reporter found Brie's pregnancy test in our trash."
"Your dad could have a very painful accident." Dillon told him. He and Chas still had a frosty relationship, largely because of their past conflicts, but they were able to be civil to each other, since both he and Summer respected how much he had changed, and believed him to be a preferable Mayor to his father.
"Thanks, but he'd probably have the papers say I did it." He responded. "I was tempted to pay him a visit myself, but he'd probably want that."
"Anyway, we shouldn't let this ruin your news. Congratulations!" Summer gushed, hugging Brie again excitedly. She separated from her a little with a huge, bright grin on her face, one that Dillon had not seen often recently. "When did you find out?"
"I found out a couple of days ago." Brie replied happily. "I told Chas before the press conference."
"I couldn't be happier about it." He told his former fiancée as he held Brie's hand. "I'm really looking forward to it."
"How far along are you?" Summer asked Brie, positively radiating excitement. "I need to know everything."
"Well I have an appointment in a couple of days." Brie told her. "I don't know exactly how far gone I am, but I only started to suspect a week ago, so I can't be that far gone."
"So what are you going to do now?" Dillon asked Chas. The other man shook his head.
"I just don't want to sink to his level." He replied with a sigh. "I'm hoping to get some publicity out of the charity match. Now that Ziggy's agreed to fill in for Hicks, hopefully the popularity of the Rangers will put butts in the seats."
"Wait, Ziggy's playing?" Summer asked him. "I didn't know he played Lightningball!"
Chas sucked his teeth and shook his head uneasily. He still felt guilty about getting him involved without knowing the facts.
"Ms. Foster only told me after Ziggy left the orphanage that he's never even watched a game." He replied nervously. "I was going to bring around some game tapes to clue him in before the match..."
"He agreed to play and he doesn't know the rules?" Summer asked a little incredulously.
"When I said some of the profits would go to the orphanage, he just kind of went with it." Chas explained.
"Dillon, we need to get him ready for that game!" Summer told him.
"What could be so bad about it?" Dillon asked her. She then realised that Dillon also didn't know anything about one of Corinth's most popular, yet brutal forms of entertainment.
"Chas, give me all the tapes you have." Summer asked him. "Dillon, I'll explain on the way."
Meanwhile, outside the dome, Tenaya climbed to the top of a cliff to get a better view of the landscape. Since she had been unconscious when D46 had taken her to the resistance fighter's camp, she had no idea of where she was, or what direction she needed to go to reach Corinth. The only sensible plan was to try and find some form of landmark to use as a point of reference.
Using her enhanced vision to scan the horizon, she eventually managed to locate the four Venjix installations closest to Corinth. She knew that they were only a few miles from the dome. The only problem was that the way they were laid out was no real indication of direction. It was a rhombus shape, so unless she knew which installation was which, she could easily walk in the completely opposite direction to the dome. From here she couldn't tell which was which, she would have to get closer to inspect them.
She sat down to rest for a while and compose herself in preparation for the next leg of the journey. Between her brutal treatment at the hands of D46 and her hasty escape, she had little left, but she knew she wouldn't survive out in the wastes forever.
Her thoughts strayed back to Ziggy, thinking about how terribly she missed him. When D46 had told her that he would destroy her, she had felt for herself the sensation Sam had talked about all those months ago. She didn't care if she died; the only thing that she thought about was the fact that she would never see him again. Tears ran down her face as she thought about that. It was still possible that she wouldn't make it to Corinth, and perish out in the wastes far from the arms of her precious Green Ranger.
Getting up, she started to make her way down the cliff towards the installations. Her will to get back to Ziggy gave her a second wind. She was determined to hold him in her arms again.
Dillon and Summer arrived back at the Garage, finding Flynn and Scott talking to Ziggy energetically. Gem and Gemma seemed to be in the kitchen mixing something. Flynn was holding a newspaper.
"You replaced Hicks in the match?" Flynn yelled. "Are you completely mental?"
"Flynn, it's no big deal." Ziggy said back as he flailed under the questioning. "I play a game; some charities earn a little money, what's the worst that could happen? Sure I've never played before, so the worst that happens is I suck."
"Ziggy, a lot worse can happen than that." Summer told him, loading a tape into the screen and bringing up the image on the big screen. "Just watch."
He watched as the image came up. It was an arena, a little like an ice hockey rink, though glass extended much higher, forming into a fully enclosing dome to contain the match. He watched as the two teams lined up for the beginning of the game.
"You see those five pods at each end of the field?" Summer asked him. "The objective is to get a ball in all five of them. The first team to have all five pods filled wins."
"So it's kind of like basketball?" Ziggy asked her.
"You're allowed to carry the ball; it's about the size of a softball and is made of steel." She explained. "Each team has five players, two scorers, two defenders and a scoring zone guardian."
"Why are they all wearing so much armour?" He asked, noting that all the players were dressed head-to-foot in Kevlar plated armour, covering their chests, abdomens, arms, legs and head. The joints were flexible, though reinforced, leaving only their faces partially exposed, protected by a grill. "Is that guy carrying a quarterstaff?"
"That's a scoring zone guardian. He's allowed to carry a bo." She explained as the teams lined up. As the first claxon sounded, a hole in the centre circle opened, and the first ball fired up into the air. Both teams rushed each other in a dash for the ball.
"Ok, this seems..." Ziggy stared in horror as one of the players hit his opponent with a flying dropkick straight to the chest, sending him flying. "Is he allowed to do that?"
"It's called Lightningball, but a more accurate description would be murder the guy with the ball." Flynn told the young Green Ranger, patting him on the shoulder. "It was nice knowing you Ziggy."
"Whoa!" He screamed as he watched one of the guardians smashing a scorer across the head with his bo staff, sending him to the floor. Blood leaked from his mouth. "Are there like...any rules at all?"
"Not many." Scott replied as he went over to the kitchen where Gem and Gemma were waving them over wildly. "Well, it looks like the wondertwins have finished their blasting paste."
"Who are we playing against?" Ziggy asked Summer, grabbing her arm with a tight grip, bruising her painfully. She could see the fear in his eyes.
"The Rockets." She told him. "They were the champions of last year's professional league. They're Fresno Bob's team."
She finally pried his hand off, and went to the kitchen to listen to the twins' briefing of their latest brilliant idea. Ziggy though just continued to watch the screen, flinching with every attack he saw the players take.
"I am so screwed!" He whispered softly. It was too late to back out now, people were relying on him. Of course, seeing this, he knew that Saturday was going to be a long and painful day.
Back out in the wastes, Tenaya concealed herself in some rocks near one of the factories as she came closer. Grinders were busy herding the human slaves around as they performed their duties. She had seen these factories before, and knew how miserable and brutal the conditions were. Humans of all ages and condition were forced to work 10 hour days, and kept in tiny cells during their few sleeping hours. The fortunate died through accidents, illness or simply losing the will to live, of course this didn't bother Venjix. The only thing it cared about was losing workers, and so kept them maintained in a hellish limbo of conditions which were survivable, but far from comfortable to maximise efficiency.
She made her way as closely as she could, and watched the humans with a little sense of regret. Not long ago, she would have thought little about their suffering. Now though, she hated the thought that she'd have to leave them here even one minute longer. She wanted to free them, but she knew that she couldn't do so single-handed, and in her condition. For now, the odds were still not good that she would survive the trip back to Corinth.
She came as close as she dared to, before using her enhanced vision to check the sign over the door.
"Alpha project." She said to herself. She knew that the other factories were a few miles to her left, which meant they were on the West. That meant that Corinth was directly to her right.
Just then, she noticed something curious. There were people coming over a ridge a little way above the factory. She recognised them as resistance fighters, obviously on another raid to release a few slaves. Unfortunately though, they didn't seem to have done their research properly. Their plan of attack was flawed; they had mistimed the guard patrols. Tenaya knew that they would never get to the factory before the robotic guards looked back to the left and saw them, sounding an alarm. They had no cover at all, and were badly outnumbered. They were running into a turkey shoot.
She ran from her hiding place, drawing their attention. The Grinders mounted motorcycles to give chase. Tenaya smirked as she realised this. She knew that their programming would not consider one human outside the complex a threat and wouldn't sound the alarm; they would merely give chase and destroy or reclaim them. This was what she was counting on. Turning back on them, she ran towards them, performing a split-legged flying kick, smashing two of them into oblivion.
Picking up one of their hand weapons, she took down the remaining guards before they could return to the base to raise the alarm. Looking to one of the fallen bikes, she thought about simply stealing it and using it to return to Corinth, when she was blasted to the ground by a stun blast. She looked up, seeing D46 circling her menacingly. He put away his blaster and pulled an axe from his belt.
"You didn't get too far, did you?" He asked her, his voice muffled slightly by his mask.
"Your friends are attacking the factory; with your help they could release more prisoners." She yelled, trying to reason with him. "You have to go and help them!"
An explosion came from the direction of the factory, causing him to look up.
"It sounds like they're doing a good enough job." He replied. "Right now, I get to take you down baby sister."
He swung his axe wildly, aiming to decapitate her, though she managed to duck out of the way, grabbing it and pulling it from his grasp. She threw it aside, facing him as she stood back up.
"How many times do I have to tell you, I don't want to fight you?" She screamed. "I want to help you. We can get you all back to Corinth!"
"Liar!" He screamed, leaping at her, connecting with a harsh knee to the side of her face. It was clear that he was as strong as her. Even at a hundred percent, she would probably have had problems with him. In her current condition though, she would need a miracle to help her.
"You are nothing!" He roared as he kicked her hard in the face, spinning her onto her back. "You're nothing but a machine!"
He went over to the fallen axe, picking it up and approaching her. Tenaya looked up, feeling hopelessness claiming her as she realised she was no longer capable of defending herself.
"Don't worry; you're going to a better place." He sneered, raising the axe above his head, preparing for the fatal blow. "Goodbye!"
As she prepared to accept her fate, D46 was sent flying by an energy blast from a weapon nearby. He tried to get to his feet, only to be smashed back down and bludgeoned repeatedly by the Green Ranger's Nitro Sword. D46 rolled away and snapped back to his feet.
"Who the hell are you?" He asked his attacker. "You don't know what you've done!"
"We've saved lives." Dillon stated as he arrived, kneeling over his sister protectively. "Your friends were overmatched. The slaves are still there, but your soldiers have left with their lives."
"That thing doesn't deserve to live!" D46 snarled. "She's Venjix's little poodle!"
"She's my sister!" Dillon shouted back as he recalled his helmet. D46 shifted his position a little as he saw this.
"Subject D44." He gasped.
"My name is Dillon." He replied curtly. "Her name is Tenaya, and she is my sister."
D46 looked around, watching Summer approaching, and realised he was overmatched. Between them, this was a fight he couldn't win. Misguided as they were, they were clearly powerful enough to stop him, and the resistance needed him.
"My people need me." He muttered, putting his weapon away. "Those people in the factories will be freed."
"We want that too." Summer told him. "We were sent here to do recon for a rescue mission. We can take them to Corinth."
She threw him a citizens ID to confirm their story. He just sniggered a little dismissively.
"Do you have any idea how many people are in those facilities?" He asked them. "Do you really have transport for all those people? How do you expect to get a couple of thousand people past the Venjix Barricade?"
He turned and walked away, throwing her ID card over his shoulder dismissively.
"We won't win this war cowering in a cage like rats." He sneered. "If you help free those people, well and good, but don't think for one minute that I trust you or your sister D44."
As he left, the three Rangers powered down, crowding around their fallen friend. Tenaya smiled as she looked up at them, her strength failing her.
"Running off on your own isn't real smart." Dillon told her. "I guess that must be a family trait."
"I'll bear that in mind." She whispered weakly.
"Are you alright?" Ziggy asked her. "How are you?"
"I'm fine now." She replied. "How did you find me?"
"Once we were close to the factory, the signal from your bracelet showed up on the scanners." Summer explained. "Dillon, we need to get her to Dr. K."
With that, Dillon picked her up in his arms and carried her back to his car. Summer had called shotgun, so Ziggy climbed into the back. He knew it would be uncomfortably cosy in the back with two of them there, but with Tenaya returned to him alive, he knew it would be fine. Dillon handed her to him and helped him get her comfortable before re-setting his seat and getting in. As the four sped off back towards Corinth, Tenaya looked up into Ziggy's face and smiled through her pain. Feeling his arms around her again, she couldn't help but feel like everything would be fine.
"You came for me." She whispered, causing him to look down. "You saved me."
Looking up to make sure Dillon was too busy driving to notice, he brought her head up, gently kissing her forehead. Having her returned to him was the greatest gift anyone could give him. He smiled at her.
"I'll always be there for you." He whispered. "I promise."