Disclaimer: Don't own PR

Here it is, and it actually didn't take too long to post! Well...for me, anyway ;-) Thanks for all the reviews, i'm glad you enjoyed the calm before the storm, although i'm thinking it will be one of those short, violent storms covering two or three chapters. I'm not sure why, but the formatting has gone a little off-kilter, so sorry about that. Its unimportant, but still annoying. Oh, and before you hit the end...remember if you kill me you will never find out what happens...heh...enjoy!

X. Test:

A means of determining the presence, quality, or truth of something;

An oath or other confirmation of one's loyalty, religious beliefs, etc.;

A set of standardized questions designed to elicit responses for use in measuring the traits or capacities of an individual.

"Three more months, eh?" said Ally. She and Z were on their way to meet Ally's friend Sarah at a nearby café. Sarah worked at as a programmer for James and Ortiz Technologies, several blocks away from the café, and would be driving over to meet them. After lunch, the three girls would take Sarah's car to a mall so they could begin shopping for Ally's wedding. Compared to the massive preparations for Sydney's wedding, the task would be easy.

"Yeah," Z replied. "I'm not sure if I should be thankful or terrified."

Ally threw an arm around Z's shoulders. "Relax. You will make a great mom! Everything will be fine."

Z grimaced, "Tell me that after you've been pregnant. I'm glad your friend is driving us to the mall; my feet are killing me!"

"Sorry," Ally apologized, "my car's at the DMV, all the trucks are out, and Jack needed his car to go meet that disgusting, pig-headed…"

"Who?"

"Ugh, sorry. He's the owner of a new clothing store over on Rawn Street, but he lives in Angel Grove. We met him here once, and let's just say he was more interested in me than our proposition. He said he would consider it if we would meet him again at his house in Angel Grove. That's why I took the day off – Jack is taking Piggy instead, which should keep Mr. Hak's eyes closed and ears open," Ally explained.

"He does not sound like the kind of guy you would want as a business partner," said Z.

"That's what I said, but Jack wanted to give him another shot. Actually, I think he plans on punching the guy for trying to get me to dump my fiancé and 'explore the world' a little."

"I'm surprised Jack didn't kick his ass right there."

Ally shrugged, "Jack was out of the room when Mr. Hak pulled me aside and said that. I told him later, which was when Jack made the decision to meet with Mr. Hak again."

Z shook her head, "I don't think they will be talking about charity. So when did you say you were planning to marry the maniac?"

Ally chuckled, "May 14; we just confirmed it with the reception hall. Thank God, we're having a small wedding so we didn't need to make reservations anyplace fancy."

Z was about to respond when she noticed a large green van driving slowly down the wrong side of the road; their side of the road. She nudged Ally, who nodded in understanding, and the two began to walk faster. When the van pulled up next to them and four men, two human and two alien, climbed out of the back, Ally pulled out her cell phone. Z started running, not daring to look behind her.

Ally screamed and was dragged backward. From somewhere behind Z a hairy but human hand covered her mouth and another arm wrapped around her chest. Out of the corner of her eye she could see another human and a scorpion-like alien struggling with Ally. The alien finally held a cloth over Ally's mouth and nose. After another moment of struggle, Ally's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell unconscious.

Z tried to scream, but it was muffled by the hand over her own mouth. The alien left the human to deal with Ally's weight and started to move the cloth towards Z's face. A voice behind Z grumbled, "No! We don't want any chemical interference with this one."

The alien scowled and dropped his arm. Z elbowed the man behind her in the groin. With a yelp he quickly released her. Z screamed and tried to run, but the alien behind Z put a tentacle over her mouth and a second tentacle around her throat. The one around her throat tightened so she couldn't breath. Z's vision swam.

"What should we do with the extra?" asked the man holding up Ally's limp body.

"Just leave it," ordered the same voice from behind Z. It was closer now and she could feel a forked tongue licking the top of her ear as it spoke. "She isn't useful."

Z couldn't break the choking hold of the tentacle around her neck. Just before she lost consciousness completely, she saw the human carelessly let Ally's body fall to the ground next to the open cell phone Ally had dropped when the men grabbed her.

XXX

"Piggy could you get that?" Jack asked as he put on a turn signal. His phone was ringing and he was already on edge; he knew it would be a bad idea to try having a conversation while he was driving.

Piggy picked up the phone and looked at the front screen. "It's Ally. You sure you don't want to talk to her?"

"Just answer it, Piggy, and tell me what she says."

Piggy shrugged and flipped the phone open. "Hello? Hello? Ally, are you there? Hello?" He turned to Jack. "There's no one there, but she's not hanging up."

"Put it on speaker, maybe she thinks it's the wrong number," said Jack. He turned the wheel, passing a sign that read "Welcome to Angel Grove." Piggy put Jack's cell phone on speaker. "Ally?" Jack called. "Ally are you there?"

In response, he received nothing but wind. "Maybe she got distracted," Piggy suggested.

Jack frowned, "No. Something isn't right here; we would hear her talking in the background. Hold on, I'm pulling over." He stopped the car next to a curb. "Hand me the phone."

Piggy gave the phone over. "There ya go."

"Thanks." Jack hung up and punched in Ally's number. It rang several times before an answering machine picked up. Once the tone went off, Jack spoke, "Hey Ally, it's Jack. I just wanted to try giving you a call back, but since you aren't answering I guess something came up. Give me a call so I know you're alright. Um, I am gonna try calling Z since I know you were supposed to be with her, and you kind of have me worried. Hope everything's okay…bye."

"No answer?"

"What do you think, Piggy?" Jack growled. He dialed Z's phone and waited again. The result was the same. "Z, it's Jack. Look, could you just give me a call back when you get this? I'm worried about you girls. Talk to you soon."

"Do you have her other friend's number? What was her name…Sandra?" asked Piggy.

Jack rolled his eyes and started looking through his phone book. "Sarah, Piggy. I think I do – she drives for the mission sometimes and Mr. Samuels told us to make sure we could contact the drivers. Yeah, I got her." He hit the call button and waited. This time, someone picked up. "Hey, Sarah. This is Jack Landors. Ally's fiancé? / Yeah, I figured you remembered but I didn't want you to think… / Right. Um, listen; is Ally with you? / No? Has she called you? / I just tried her cell a minute ago and she didn't pick up. Before that, I got a call saying it was from her cell phone but there was no one on the other side. I tried to call Z, too, and I got an answering machine. / I know, it sounds like something's up. Do you think you 

could drive back to our apartment? / Thanks. I'll keep my phone on." He put his phone back in the cup holder between the two front seats.

"What's going on?"

"Sarah is going to drive along the same road Ally and Z should have taken. If they're not walking, she'll try the apartment and call me when she finds out what's going on," Jack explained.

"What do we do?" Piggy asked.

"We wait," Jack replied. He turned off the engine. "I don't want to leave the meeting with Mr. Hak to answer my cell phone."

Piggy smirked, "But I thought this wasn't a real meeting."

"It's the principle of the thing. How intimidating would it be for me to say 'Hold that thought, Mr. Hak, while I take this phone call to try and find out where my fiancé is'?"

"You make an excellent point, Ja–"

The phone rang and Jack grabbed it. "Hold that thought, Piggy. Hello? / Sarah, slow down! What happened? / Is she alright? Where's Z? / Did you call for help?! / Well you should have called them first! / I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled, but as soon as I hang up you have got to call 911, okay? / I'll be there as soon as I can. Shit, I bet this has something to do with SPD. I'll call them. / Oh, they'll put me through. Just make sure Ally's alright, and get her some help! / Okay, call me if anything happens!"

Jack ignored Piggy's questions and dialed a different number. "This is Jack Landors, I need to speak with Commander Cruger right aw… / It's an emergency! / Fine, can you patch me through to Bridge Carson, the blue ranger? / Right, morpher codes are off-limits…can you get me Katherine Manx? / But… / This is not a prank! I was the red ranger! They know who I… / Forget it! I'll call Sydney; she never turns her phone off."

"Um, Jack, buddy, what are you…"

"Not now!" Jack shouted, searching through his phone for yet another number. "Syd? / I know you're working, but this is an emergency! Ally's in trouble and so is Z. / Sarah – Ally's friend – found her unconscious, and Z is missing. I think somebody kidnapped her. / Because they wouldn't connect me through the main line! / There's an emergency hotline? Never mind. They should be somewhere on Kaswek Avenue or 81st Street. / Please Syd, hurry!"

This time, Jack flung his phone at Piggy with one hand and started the car with the other. "Call Andrew, tell him to call Mr. Hak and cancel the meeting. Don't reschedule." Jack did an illegal u-turn and started speeding back toward New Tech. For once, Piggy did not ask any questions.

XXX

Sky sat at one of the Command Center's computers, making his way through what seemed to be an endless list of old records that needed to be updated. He had to remain in the Command Center until another senior officer came in; Isinia had finally convinced Commander Cruger to take a day off, and Sky was not about to question their whereabouts.

Bridge and Sydney were busy in the simulator, working with the D-squad cadets. They were doing better than they had been during the troobian invasion, but the group had a long way to go before they became real ranger material. Sky figured that the blue and pink rangers would be lucky to get out any earlier than he did.

Kat was in her lab, working with Sophie to repair a wire in the cyborg's optical circuitry that had gone dead, causing Sophie's vision to go fuzzy in one eye. According to Kat, it was 

nothing serious; just an old wire that needed replacing, so she had offered to go through all of Sophie's systems and replace the older pieces. Sky looked up at the clock. With hope, Kat would return within the hour and Sophie would take over.

Until then, Sky was stuck with very little to do while the cadets on duty monitored the city. Most of the interesting work was for the commander, and Sky felt that the records needed to be updated before he went on to something interesting but not currently necessary. From across the room, a cadet called, "Sir, we just got a call on the hotline from a man claiming to have witnessed a kidnapping from the window of his apartment involving off-world life forms. There were four kidnappers, two human two alien. According to the caller, they attacked two human women. He ran downstairs to help, but when he got to the street level a large green van was pulling away and there was a woman lying unconscious on the sidewalk; the second woman was gone. He made sure the woman was alive before going back inside to call 911 and us."

"He saw all of this from a window? How can he be sure there were aliens involved?" asked Sky.

"I'm not sure, sir," the cadet admitted. "Should we let the police handle this one?"

Sky considered it for a moment. He was bored out of his mind, but it would not be right for him to accept a case that the regular police should have dealt with. He sighed, "Send the report on to the regular police. If they find any other evidence that there was an off-world presence, tell them to inform us immediately but continue working on the case. Kidnappings need to be dealt with swiftly."

"Yes sir!" the cadet replied. As he set up his terminal to transfer the information to the New Tech Police Department, he looked over the report and shook his head. "It doesn't make sense for them to leave one woman behind. I sure hope they find the other victim quickly; who kidnaps a pregnant woman? Then again, it would probably be easier to get ransom."

The cadet next to him shrugged, "Sounds like a domestic crisis, if you ask me. Someone was trying to get rid of the evidence of an affair."

Sky cringed; that one struck a nerve. He was about to yell at the cadets for speculating about a case that was not their own when a panicked Sydney fell through the door. "Z's gone!"

Sky stood up, "What?!"

Bridge stumbled in behind Sydney, "Jack called – Sarah, the one who was supposed to go shopping with them for Ally's wedding, found Ally unconscious on the sidewalk."

"And Sarah said that Z wasn't anywhere nearby!" Sydney finished. "We have to find them, somewhere between Kaswek and 81st!"

Sky felt his stomach rise. "Cadet, put a hold on that data transfer to NTPD. Where was the incident located?"

"The man just gave the number for his apartment building, so across the street from 114 Kaswek Avenue," the cadet replied.

"Oh no…" Sky whispered. "Stop the data transfer; as of now, that is a priority one SPD case! Tell Dr. Manx and Sophie about the case as soon as they get here, and get a message to Commander Cruger. Bridge, Syd, take the bikes – we have to get to that scene as soon as possible."

XXX

Sky stood in the corner of a room in New Mercy Hospital, staring at the street fifteen floors below. Behind him, Ally leaned back against the raised portion of her bed. Jack sat in the chair next to her, holding onto one of her hands, with Sarah standing next to him. Sydney stood 

on Ally's other side, a small computer in her hand. Bridge and Sophie were back at the original crime scene, scanning psychically and mechanically for any clues. Sydney and Sky were supposed to be getting everything they could from Ally, although Sydney seemed more aware of the task than her fiancé.

"Why did you call Jack and not 911?" asked Sydney, keeping the computer close enough to record what Ally was saying.

"When I felt that guy grab me, I figured I wouldn't have time to dial, let alone tell them where we were. I had called Jack just before we left to ask if he had any major color preferences for the wedding, so I just hit redial. He at least knew the general area we were supposed to be in, and it was faster. Then I dropped the phone, and I have no idea what miracle kept it from breaking," Ally explained.

Sydney nodded, correcting the computer when it missed or misspelled a word in Ally's speech. "You mentioned the van earlier; did you get a good look at it?"

Ally sighed, "Like I said, it was big and green, but I can't give you much more. Oh, but I do remember that there were blue letters painted on the side: F.R.L."

"That sounds familiar," said Sarah.

Sydney nodded, "It stands for Freller Research Laboratories. One of my dad's best friends worked there, but he quit and testified that the lab was involved in some inhumane and very illegal experimentation. My dad wouldn't tell me anything else; I was 'too young.'"

Sarah agreed, "I think I remember hearing that they were shut down for some reason."

"If they were shut down, why is their vehicle involved in a kidnapping?" asked Jack.

Sydney put away her computer. "That's a good question, one I intend to find the answer to. Don't worry, guys; we'll find Z, and we'll find out who did this to you, Ally."

"Thanks, Syd, but don't worry about me," Ally smiled. "The doctor said I should be fine; I'm going home as soon as she comes back to clear me."

"Where you will stay in bed and let me take care of you," said Jack. "You really scared me there, and I am not taking any chances." Ally rolled her eyes.

Sarah patted Ally's shoulder, "Hey, you scared me too. Take it easy, alright?"

While the other three talked, Sydney went to stand with Sky. "We will find her, Sky," she whispered. "And there is no way you can possibly twist this into being your fault."

"But if it weren't for me I bet she could have taken those guys," he mumbled.

"What?"

He amended the comment, "But I almost handed her case off to the police."

"They would have done just as good a job, and as soon as they realized who was involved they would have called us. Sky, you were just doing your job," Sydney replied.

Sky finally looked away from the window. "Then I need to start doing my job better."

"Sky…"

"Z is out there, somewhere, alone and pretty much defenseless, and we're just standing here! It's already been ten hours since she went missing," Sky shouted, drawing attention from the civilians. "There are way too many criminals who would take advantage of her while she's pregnant, and every one of them has a relatively understandable motive to kill her."

Sydney sighed, "We will find her, Sky, I promise. But for now, we have to get to the meeting with Commander Cruger and the other rangers. I want to ask Kat if she knows anything about F.R.L., too." The pink ranger turned started to leave, pausing momentarily by the bed to say, "Get well soon," to Ally.

Groaning, Sky followed after his fiancé. "Feel better, Ally. Thanks for talking to us," he growled in a manner that did not come close to sincere.

XXX

Z woke up feeling as though her throat had imploded. She tried to rub the area with her hands, but found both were strapped to the bed she was lying on. In fact, her entire body was tied. She was surrounded by big, cold grey walls and the burning smell of cleaning chemicals. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glint of metal and turned her head. There was a small table next to her bed laden with needles, a scalpel, and several tools Z did not recognize. She struggled against the leather straps holding her down to no avail. "Help!" she screamed. "Help!"

A large set of metal doors opened to her left and a tall human male walked in. He wore a long white lab coat, a pair of gloves, and large glasses set over unfocussed grey eyes. His black hair was a mess and his teeth were crooked, giving him the overall impression of a mad scientist. "Oh hush now, my dear. You will only succeed in hurting yourself, and we can't have that."

"Who are you?" asked Z. "What do you want with me?"

"Both excellent questions!" exclaimed the man. He bowed, "I am Dr. James E. Neljin, a humble employee of this, the great F.R.L."

"F.R.L.?"

"Freller Research Laboratories," he explained.

Z's eyes narrowed. "I've heard about you. You used to kidnap the poor and use them in all sorts of sick genetic experiments, all because you thought no one would miss them. But Dr. Freller was arrested years ago. They shut down his company."

"Not entirely. A few devoted researchers, such as myself, saw the future F.R.L. should have had and chose to continue our founder's noble work in secret, away from eyes that judged it to be 'inhumane.' But those eyes were blind! They did not understand what we were doing; it was an honor for those people to be a part of this project."

"An honor?!" Z spat. "They were mutilated, mentally destroyed, and even killed! You are nothing but a group of sadists."

"You will see it differently in the future," said Dr. Neljin. "After all, you and your children are going to be a part of it!"

Her eyes widened in terror; not for her life, but for the life of her children. "NO!" she redoubled her efforts to break free.

"Now, now, you mustn't be like that. You have been chosen as the host of our latest experiment! It has been so difficult to find a host carrying twins; even with the new technology installing in our trucks – we are capable of finding expectant mothers and using a powerful ultrasound to see who they are carrying from up to twenty feet away. At last the technology has paid off; our collectors found you," the doctor grinned.

"Collectors?! Do you even know who I am?"

He continued to smile pleasantly, "Who you were does not matter; we are quite safe beneath the city. You are Host # 453, and your offspring will be Variable # 787 and Control # 787. You family name is Experiment # 911."

"You're no doctor. You are a monster," she hissed.

"No, no. Dr. Mounster works with chemicals; he is not interested in people. Now, if there are no further questions, we will begin." Dr. Neljin walked out of Z's line of vision, humming to himself. She started to panic. The table was out of her reach, a moment of 

concentration proved that the room was surrounded by energy dampeners which nullified her powers, and there was no one to hear her scream but the insane doctor. The only witness to her kidnapping had been Ally. Z prayed that she was at least alive, let alone able to go for help.

"Somebody find me," she whispered, "before it's too late."

XXX

Commander Cruger sat at the head of a conference table, unhappy that his day off had been cut short. However, that unhappiness was completely overcome with worry for Z. "Well? What have you found?" he asked the assembled group.

Bridge went first, "Sophie and I scanned the crime scene. The witness was right; a van pulled up, and four men jumped out. Two of them attacked Ally while the other two concentrated on Z. They knocked Ally out with chloroform and one of the aliens wrapped a tentacle around Z's neck until she passed out. They dropped Ally, put Z in the van, and drove away. Other than the witness, no one else came by until Sarah got there."

"I found traces of chloroform and tire treads," Sophie continued. "The tires match those used by F.R.L. trucks before the facility was shut down. I also found Ally's phone and Z's purse – which had her phone in it. I think we can assume that there is no way for her to contact us."

Cruger nodded, "It would be best to assume that the odds are against us. Sky, Sydney, what did Ally say?"

Sydney put the transcript of her interview with Ally on the large, holographic screen in the center of the conference table and gave the others an overview. "I asked Kat if she knew anything about F.R.L., and she agreed to come to the meeting," Sydney finished.

"Very well. Do you have anything to add, Sky, before we move on?" asked the commander.

Sky shook his head, "No, sir." He had remained quiet since his argument with Sydney. Instead of speaking or giving orders, he was trying to put everything together in his head.

Cruger nodded in Kat's direction, and she began to speak. "Every credible scientist has heard of Freller Research Laboratories. It was shut down because of their inhumane experimentation on intelligent life forms, mostly poor humans. They had many different studies involving the brain, nervous system, and what they called 'pre-life' – the time between conception and birth. The pre-life studies were their latest known experiments. They were trying to create a super human by tampering with a fetus while it was still developing, and most experimentation ended with horrific results. If F.R.L. has somehow survived and they are the ones who kidnapped Z, I am certain they would be using her children as a pre-life experiment."

"No!" shouted Sydney. "We can't let them do that!"

Kat sighed, "I am afraid that it might already be too late. The scientists at the original F.R.L. were aware that someone would eventually notice the missing people, so they acted quickly."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" said Sky. "We have to go after her!"

"Where would we look?" asked Sophie. "We don't have any idea where they could have taken her."

Cruger agreed, "Our time is short, but we must wait until we have more information."

Sky stood up, "But sir! We should at least begin looking…"

"Tate!" Cruger growled. "I cannot have you running aimlessly through the city; we must go about this search rationally."

Sky bit his lip to keep from yelling at the commander. "Permission to return to my quarters, commander."

"Permission granted; it is late, and I think we all need to get some sleep," he replied. "We will continue working on this case once our minds have been refreshed. No one does anything else until Delgado is found!"

"Yes sir!" the rangers chorused.

That night, Sky could barely sleep. All he could think of was Z trapped in some dark cell, hurting, dying, dead, along with the twins. He gave up around 5:30 AM and headed for the rec room, hoping some coffee would help him think. Minutes after he sat on one of the couches with his mug, Sky was surprised to see Bridge step through the door. "I thought you might be here," said Bridge. "I heard you moving around all night."

"Sorry I bothered you," Sky replied. "I bet my worry kept you awake, too."

Bridge shrugged, "I wasn't really sleeping, anyway. I figured I would at least let my powers rest a little; our room is the furthest from everything, so it's easier to think."

"So why are you here now?"

"Coffee, toast, and the all-important butter," Bridge smiled.

Sky rolled his eyes and returned to his thoughts on finding Z. Suddenly, something Bridge had said gave Sky an idea. "Bridge?"

"Yemf?" he said around a mouthful of toast.

"Couldn't you use your powers to follow the truck to whatever base they have?" asked Sky.

Bridge swallowed the toast and took a drink before responding. "Sorry, Sky. You know I can only track living things."

"But couldn't you track the people inside the truck? You know what Z's aura looks like, you could…"

Bridge interrupted, "First of all, an unconscious person's aura is a lot harder to read than a conscious person's; that's why I am so sure Z got knocked out. Her aura faded and all the colors jumbled together, so it would be nearly impossible to tell apart from everyone around her. Second, chances are I would not be able to lock onto the kidnapper's auras since I have never encountered them in person, so the connection is practically non-existent. Finally, assuming that I can get a strong enough reading from the kidnappers, it would probably use up all of my energy to follow them. They probably aren't even in New Tech City anymore, it would be too obvious."

"That still means there is a chance you could do it, right?" Sky said.

"Well, yeah, I guess there's always a chance that it's possible. I mean, it isn't like I've tried it before and we're always learning new things about our powers so theoretically I can't be absolutely sure of what I can and can't do…"

"Bridge!" Sky shouted. "Just answer yes or no. Would you be willing to try? For Z's sake?"

Bridge thought a moment. "Yes."

"Then let's go; we can take my bike, if you're willing to hold on. That way I can drive while you look for the aura."

"There's still a pretty high chance that this isn't going to work at all," Bridge said, "but okay, I'll trust you on this one. Give me fifteen minutes to put on a uniform – I'd rather not go outside in my footie pajamas."

XXX

Thirty minutes later, the red and blue rangers were back at the crime scene. Bridge was doing a hand stand while Sky watched impatiently. Bridge opened an eye, "Sky, it is a lot harder to find an aura with you tapping your foot like that."

"Sorry," Sky snapped. For a man who had no problems standing at attention for a full hour, he was finding it extremely difficult to stand still while Bridge looked for a trail. He could not help feeling that it was his fault Z was in so much danger. According to Kat, it was her pregnancy that had made her a target, not her status within SPD. She was pregnant because of him; she had lost her morpher because of him; her name had been dragged through the mud because of him. All of this, and he still could not admit it to anyone but himself. That was why he had to rescue Z. If they were not able to save her, Sky was sure his conscience would drive him to insanity.

"I've got something!" Bridge announced, flipping over. "At least, I think I do. I don't know how long I'll be able to hold onto it, though, once we get into a busier section of the city."

"It's better than nothing," Sky replied, already swinging a leg over his bike. "Just tell me where to go and concentrate on that aura; I'll worry about the rest."

Bridge got on the red bike behind Sky. "Alright; go straight, against traffic, and then make a left up ahead – make sure you are going with the traffic then."

With a nod, Sky kick-started the bike and followed Bridge's directions. They sped along back alleys and main roads, twisted around in circles, and scared several civilians as they went by. After another hour, there were no pedestrians to scare as they rode down a long, empty road outside New Tech City. Sky could feel Bridge's grip weaken as the sun got higher, and he was sure someone back at SPD had noticed them missing by now; they had turned off the communication channels on their morphers to make sure nothing broke Bridge's concentration. Sky was about to suggest a short rest when Bridge shouted, "Stop!"

Sky slammed on the breaks and turned to Bridge, believing the blue ranger had reached the end of his mental capacity. Bridge's hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, though his skin looked cold and clammy. "Are you alright?" asked Sky. "Do you want to sit for a while? You look sick, let me see if there's water anywhere around here."

"No," he muttered, "it isn't me; they stopped here. The aura's got all distorted, so I think – I think they must have carried Z somewhere in that direction." Bridge was barely able to lift his arm high enough to point ahead of them.

Sky looked around; they were in an abandoned train station, one that had once been part of a town that was torn down years ago. In the general direction of Bridge's finger was a set of stairs that led to an underground tunnel, one that had been used to cross under the train tracks. The tracks were still visible under a layer of over-grown grass and wildflowers. "Where's the truck?" Sky wondered.

"I told you, I can't read…"

Sky shook his head, "I know, it's okay. We can send someone else to find it; we have to find Z. Can you still feel that aura?"

Bridge nodded, "It's really confusing, but I can feel something until it goes into that tunnel. I would have to get closer to see if it goes any further." He slipped off of the bike and tried to walk toward the tunnel, one naked hand stretched out in front of him. Sky jumped off the bike and caught Bridge as he stumbled over his own feet.

"Hold onto me, buddy. We'll only go as far as you feel you can, and if we run into any trouble I am ordering you to get away as fast as you can. Call for back-up, and do not engage in combat. Understand?" said Sky.

"Yeah, I promise. We have to – we have to go down those stairs," Bridge answered, taking another shaky step. Sky put Bridge's arm over his shoulder and wrapped his own arm around Bridge's waist. When they reached the steps, Sky practically carried Bridge down them. At the bottom, both rangers paused to lean against the old stone wall and catch their breath. Sky glanced at their surroundings. Daylight flooded in from the stairs they had just climbed down, but the opposite exit was blocked; that half of the tunnel had probably collapsed when the town was condemned. There seemed to be no other way out of the tunnel.

"Bridge?" Sky called.

The blue ranger stretched out his hand again. After a moment, he felt his way along the wall until he was halfway between the stairs and the collapsed wall. He sank to the floor. Sky followed and noticed the faint outline of a door in the wall. "Just push," Bridge explained. "They never expected us to get this far, although I am sure there's more security inside."

Sky nodded, but turned away from the door and pointed back up the stairs. "Bridge, you are fantastic, but you're wasting all of your energy, and I don't know what's beyond this door. I can't risk you getting hurt since you cannot fight in this condition. I want you to go back to the bike and find a place to hide. Then call for back-up. Cruger will be furious, but tell him it was all my idea. I'll take the heat later; just get some help – for yourself and Z."

Bridge was too exhausted to protest, so he allowed Sky to help him back up the stairs. Before Sky let go of his arm, Bridge whispered, "Good luck, Sky. I hope you bring all three of them back safe and sound."

"Thanks, Bridge," Sky replied.

"You better morph," Bridge added.

"Good idea," Sky agreed. He pulled the red morpher out of his belt and shouted, "SPD, emergency!" With a final nod at Bridge, the red ranger raced back into the tunnel and cautiously pushed open the hidden door.