Brand New Lives Chapter 8 Little Hitler

Morning came all too soon for most of the C-squad, Robert and Samantha were dreading what the day might hold for them, while Katie was feeling optimistic about her first day of working in the Lab. Though Tyler was feeling cocky and on top of the world. It was early when Tyler started giving out orders and making his team very angry with him. Robert had to keep Samantha under control at the same time dealing with his own anger, not an easy task. Though Katie had no idea that any of that was going on, she was working on new systems for the lab with Boom and Kat. Finally she was able to take a break and get something to eat she walked into the Common Room and spotted her friends.

"Good Morning…" Her smile faded once she saw the looks on Robert's and Samantha's face, "….okay then…." She headed over to the food replicator when Robert quickly joined her.

"It's not you, and no Samantha is not in a bad mood." Robert quickly spoke while anticipating her questions. "Tyler is getting on everyone's nerves…again." The young Blue Rangers looked at his childhood friend and then back at Samantha, who quite nearly began banging her head on the table then realized that her food was where her head would land and decided against it. Katie finished zapping her breakfast with the food replicator; she went over and joined Samantha.

"Hey, how's everything going?" Samantha looked up and opened her mouth to speak when Tyler entered the room.

"I don't recall giving anyone a break." Tyler looked at Samantha, Robert, then Katie and back at Samantha and Robert. "Get outside and start training." Robert put down his plate, grabbed Samantha's arm before she did something that would get her into trouble. After they left and before Tyler left Katie decided that something needed to be said.

"Ty, they need to eat breakfast before they-"

"Then they should have eaten earlier. And since when are you in charge? You quit remember." He rudely pointed out though it was valid, it was also inappropriate. He left the room and followed the other two outside onto the field. Katie sat back down and quickly finished her breakfast in silence, once she was done she went back to work in the lab. She knew that it wasn't any of her business, but they were her friends, even Tyler. And something needed to be done and said before something irreversible happened.

Hours later, late afternoon, B-squad was relaxing in the Common Room when C-squad entered. "Hey, how…was your first day…together?" Z asked, fully knowing that she was not going to get a cheery answer. Robert sat down, and wiped his red and sweaty face.

"How do you think it went?" He muttered, as Samantha sat down on the chair next to him.

"T'was horrible. Does anyone own an axe?" Sky couldn't help himself, he wasn't trying to be mean, but he had to advise against it.

"Not if you want a death sentence for the murder of another Cadet." Bridge raised his hand and began speaking.

"Give it another day, maybe he'll calm down and everything will work out." Samantha was trying to keep herself from glaring at him but it was not working well.

"Yeah, and what if it doesn't?" Samantha fell silent for a second, and then muttered under her breath, "Plus I just wanna castrate him" If anyone heard that comment, they decided not say anything about it.

"Then you'll only have two Rangers, but no Red Ranger, unless one of you takes it or if Katie comes back or…." Samantha quickly placed her hands over her ears.

"BRIDGE!" B-squad hollered.

"What?" He asked, as Robert sat thinking, once he made up his mind he stood up stiffly.

"I'll go talk to him." Once Robert left Samantha started thinking about other ways to torture and castration.

"Hey Ty, wait up!" Robert yelled down the hall. When Tyler heard his name, he turned around and looked that the Blue Ranger of the squad.

"What is it?" Robert chose his words very carefully.

"Listen, could you lighten up a bit with the whole training thing. Sam and I are getting really tired and-"

"Lighten up? If I let you guys just play around all day we are going to get our asses kicked. So NO I'm not going to lighten up." Tyler began yelling, and once he was done talking he turned and began to walk away, but Robert would not let it go.

"Maybe you should stop pretending to act like a leader and just be the Tyler we know!" At that Tyler quickly turned around to face him.

"If I did that I'd be just like Katie, weak. At least I don't let my personal feelings get in the way of what needs to be done!" The boy's yelling caught every Cadet's attention and soon everyone was listening to this heated argument. Robert's temper soon had gone past boiling point and he exploded.

"What the HELL is YOUR PROBLEM?! Katie is NOT WEAK she's STRONGER than all of US!"

"Then WHY isn't she the ONE BOSSING us AROUND?!" Robert really wanted to give him a smart ass answer, he did not know. With that Tyler had won the yelling match. What the two didn't know was that Katie had heard the whole thing from inside the lab.

After hearing the whole thing Kat and Boom both looked at Katie just waiting for her reaction. She just sighed, she knew that it was not going well for her friends and it was only going to get worse. When Katie didn't say a word they just exchanged looks and kept working. But if they saw her face, they would have done or said something. She quickly finished her work, all the while trying to ignore the horrible feeling that something really bad was conspiring against her friends.

For the rest of the day Katie hid in the lab, missing dinner and not returning to her room. Samantha tried her hardest to stay awake and wait for her, but once she had laid on her bed, sleep took her. Soon it was around Eleven o'clock at night; everyone was asleep in their beds, well almost everyone. Earlier that day Commander Cruger assigned Bridge to Night Duty, as he sat in the Command Room reading, he sensed someone's aura and it felt like something was wrong so he went out to investigate. His power lead him down the hall and over to the Labs. As he entered the Lab he got a bit of a chill down his back. The light was on and chemicals were bubbling away, giving the room an eerie feeling. 'That's odd.' He thought to himself.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" he asked, as he slightly looked around. When he didn't receive an answer he moved to turn the lights off when someone finally answered him.

"No, don't turn the lights off, please." It slightly shocked him to hear someone, as he lowered his arm he heard a sigh.

"Okay I won't then." He walked over to the area where the voice was coming from, and behind a desk he found Katie. She was sitting on the floor working on some wires. "What are you still doing up?" he asked as he watched her becoming frustrated as she messed with the wires some more.

"I couldn't sleep." Katie quickly answered. Bridge looked around and then climbed under the desk and sat down next to her.

"Need help?" She took a deep breath and looked at him with determination in her eyes.

"I can do it myself thank you." He nodded as the two sat on the floor for a while, he watched her as she worked on the big bundle of wires. Bridge looked at Katie and wondered where she was in school, popular, athletic, geek. He moved a little and looked at her.

"You haven't even tried to sleep have you?" The brown-eyed girl hesitated and then looked at him and back at the wires in her hands.

"No." He looked at her for a moment.

"I heard the argument in the hall way, I'm guessing you heard it too?" Katie nodded.

"It's my fault." She placed the blame on herself, even though it wasn't just her that was wrong.

"No it's not. You made a choice and they made theirs." He knew that both sides were in the wrong, even if they didn't realize it.

"It was my responsibility to take care of them and I let them down." She didn't realize how much her friends relied on her to keep them from splitting apart. And she took it as a hard blow to see how bad things were getting. She tried to hide her feelings but it did not work. Bridge didn't need to be physic to know that something was wrong. He took her hands in his and caressed them with his thumbs.

"Look at me." Katie looked at him as tears began to form in her eyes. "None of this is your fault, things happen."

"Yeah?" Katie whispered. The next thing they knew they had moved closer and closer. Katie suddenly realized what was happening and stopped. "Bridge, I have to go." She stood up and headed over to the door and stopped. "Good night Bridge." As she left he blinked in confusion over what had just happened and what might have happened.

Katie walked down the hall and went straight to her room. She quickly entered the code to unlock the room that she shared with Samantha, as the doors opened she went in to the room and saw Samantha fast asleep in her bed. 'Dang it.' Katie thought, 'I have a few questions for her. Oh well, I should also go to bed. But I can't seem to get sleepy.' She put on her pajamas and laid in bed thinking about what had almost happened in the lab. Eventually she fell asleep thinking about Bridge and right before sleep could take her away that bad feeling that she had felt earlier had returned once more.

"Bang, Bang, BANG!" Someone knocked on the door to Katie's and Samantha's room both girls woke up. Samantha groggily picked up and looked at her alarm clock.

"Ugh." She muttered, as Katie sat up and looked at her best friend who was getting ready to stand up.

"What time is it?" Katie asked.

"Four in the BEEDIN' MORNIN'" Samantha's voice rose as she quickly realized the time and evaluated who would be banging on their door that early. She stood up and briskly walked towards the door, while random objects began elevating. As she opened the door and saw Tyler the light bulbs made a popping noise and blew their fuse, leaving the room and a bit of the hall in darkness."Riddell."

"Training begins now. I suggest you shower, dress, eat, and be out in the training area in an hour", Tyler said as Samantha was about to blow. Katie sat up in her bed and listened in close.

"Breá." Samantha said as she slammed the door in his face. Katie sighed as she knew her Sammi was going to be in big trouble for that one. Samantha fell onto the floor of their room and began to beat herself with a pillow. Katie watched for a moment before snatching the pillow away. "I'm in deep shite, aren't I?"Samantha asked her Kat as she sighed and regained a bit of her composure. Katie nodded and answered truthfully.

"Yeah". Samantha fell onto her back and then sprung up, remembering what she wanted to ask. "Where were you last night Kat?" Samantha paused for a moment. "I know that ye heard the whole argument, I can tell. And if I could fix Ty, I would." Samantha had an impish grin on her face when she said fix, hoping that her twisted sense of humor would make her best friend snicker at the least. Katie shook her head.

"I was up late that's all." Samantha looked at her and narrowed her eyes trying to read Katie's thoughts. After a minute or two she gave up.

"Dang it. Why does my telepathic ability never works when I want it to?"

"Because I don't want you to know, that's why." Katie answered plainly. Samantha sighed as she realized she wasn't getting anywhere.

"And if I ask you why, I've got the feelin' that I'm gonna get very confused. Well I better start gettin' ready for purgatory." Samantha chuckled after realizing what she had said. "Purgatory, nah, more like Hell." As Samantha got dressed and ready to leave, Katie laid in bed a bit longer since she was up way longer than her roommate. Samantha grabbed her morpher and growled, "Wish Tyler Luck."The odd comment caused Katie to look at her in puzzlement.

"Why?"

"Cuz if he pisses me off he's gonna be needin' it." Katie laughed as Samantha left the room mumbling crude words in Irish under her breath. Not long after Samantha had left the room, Katie got up and changed getting ready to go to work. She heard someone knock on the door.

"Who is it!?"
"Brige!"

"Come in!" Bridge entered the room and took a seat on Katie's bed as she gathered her things.

"So, what's up?" Katie asked, Bridge took a deep breath before speaking.

"I want to talk to you about last night." Katie immediately stopped what she was doing and looked at him as she blushed since she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Okay." He first looked at the floor then back at her, "…..I…..ummmmm……" He swallowed hard trying to speak, but he just couldn't find his words. Katie patiently waited for Bridge to speak, but as he began to speak, her alarm clock caught his eye. "I have to go. I'm sorry for bothering you." Katie was about to ask him to wait, but he was already out the door and down the hall.

C-squad was down on the lawn practicing when the alarms went off in the Command Center, as their morphers beeped they all ran into the Command Center to report. Once they got there they formed a straight line next to B-squad, of which was already there.

"Rangers, there's been a disturbance in Sector 4. I want the newly formed C-squad to check it out." Once hearing this, Samantha glanced at both squads, and made her mind up.

"But Commander, I think that B-squad should go. I have a really bad feeling about this." She had a bad feeling, and she had it since Katie declined her position. Commander Cruger looked at her and began pacing thinking about what she had said.

"Samantha McQuade, we are going." Tyler looked at the other two in his squad, "Whether you like it or not." Samantha began to stare him down, but as she realized it wouldn't do any good.

"Little Hitler." She mumbled as she looked down at the floor.

"Cadet, why do you think we should go? Is it because you have had a vision? When you can't even control when you're telepathy even works?" Sky pointed out, as he pointed it out everyone looked at him as Samantha's head shot back up and she matched his glare with one of her own.

"Enough." Commander Cruger stopped the brewing argument as he looked at his rangers. "C-squad go and take care of the disturbance in Sector 4." When no one moved he shouted, "NOW!" The C-squad ran out the door and took one of the SPD Jeeps to Sector 4.

As the C-squad arrived in Sector 4, they got out of the Jeep and cautiously scanned the horizon. Robert looked at Samantha seeing the worried look on her face, he decided to talk to her.

"Sam, what's wrong?" Samantha looked at him and was going to answer when they were shot at from above. As they all took cover they each tried to get a look of who, or what was shooting at them. She landed with ease on top of the low roof of a ran down building and folded her black wings, so that they laid on her back like a cloak.

"Awww, that's no fun. Now are you going to be good experiments, and surrender? Or are you going to resist?" Tyler looked at the other two from where he was hiding.

"Ready?" He asked them, he knew that the best offense was a good defense.

"Ready!" The other two answered.

"SPD EMERGENCY!" They all yelled together. Once they had all morphed into their appropriate (ish) colors, they attacked the girl with the bat wings who just glided behind them.

"Is that the best you can do?" She asked while looking at her sharp pointed black nails. "Pathetic. And Farquad wants you Pathetic creatures back." At that the whole team went straight back into action. As they fought they landed very few punches, and they were used as punching bags.

At SPD Command Center

Katie watched helplessly as the C-squad was being tossed around like rag-dolls. She was trying to be patient and believe in the team, but it was hard. With each blow she felt like she should be out there helping, not just watching from a safe place far away from the fight. Boom came up behind her noticing that she was worried and wanting to be able to help her friends.

"You should go." Hearing Boom's voice slightly surprised Katie, since she was focusing on the fight. As Katie slightly turned so that she could see Boom and still watch what was going on, she answered him with something she didn't quite agree with.

"Boom, you know I can't. I don't have a morpher and Cruger would kill me if I took one step outside." Boom slightly shook his head he knew this, she knew this but that still did not alter the fact that C-squad needed her whether either of them wanted to admit to it.

"Your friends need you though." After she heard that, she turned back and resumed watching the fight.

C-squad Fighting

"We can't take much more!" Robert shouted. They all had received more than their fair share of a violent beating, and they were very close to powering down.

"RING! RING!" The goth looking lady with the creepy bat wing's phone went off, when she saw who it was she sighed and stopped the swift kick she was about to give to Tyler the Red Ranger.

"What! I almost have the ones you wanted!..." She shouted into the phone then listened as her eyes widened realizing that she was now into trouble. Of which was the last place she wanted to be with Farquad. "So you're saying we're one short of a full deck…..No! I want a fight, I want to fight all of them at the same time….Okay. Fine." She closed her cell phone and turned to the C-squad, as they slowly got back up. "Next time, you all better come and not try to make a fool of me. Or else I might spoil the goods for Farquad and save him the time to make you side with him." She quickly disappeared once she was done speaking down to them.

"Bitseach." Samantha muttered as she picked herself completely off of the ground and began dusting the front of her uniform off. The boys just looked at her, Tyler shook his head confused but Robert knew that she probably just said something very rude. The ride back to the base was a silent one. As they walked up to the Command Center they all had mixed feelings.

They each took a breath before they entered the Command Center, once they had walked in they formed a straight line. None of them said a word as they sensed B-squad was there, Commander Cruger looked unhappy which made each of them a bit uneasy.

"What happened out there?" He slightly growled at the C-squad. They each slightly looked at each other waiting for someone to speak, finally Robert spoke up.

"We, uh, got our butts kicked by a vampire, bat looking girl. Sir." As he spoke the other two slightly fidgeted, and then Samantha realized what bugged her the most about that girl.

"She was on the phone!" She suddenly blurted out.

"What? Cadet McQuade?" Cruger asked as he looked at her.

"That creepy goth vampire lady, she got a phone call….Let's see…"Samantha tried her best to remember what that creepy lady said "She said 'what? I almost have the ones' so she was probably yelling at who ever called her…." Tyler then spoke up.

"Well there's three who could possible want us captured, Grumme, Broodwing, and Farquad." He named off the ones he knew of. Samantha hastily shook her head yes as she remembered more of the conversation.

"'So….one short of a full deck' probably talking about Katie….And then she's probably one of those people who want a good fight, an she probably sensed that we weren't putting up a good fight because of reasons, that don't need to be spoken about here…"Samantha muttered the end bit knowing that many of the people in the room were not going to agree to what she said or thought.

"We don't need Katie!" Tyler interrupted as everyone's eyes landed on him, some in surprise, some in shock and there were at least two in anger.

"We do too need Katie!" Robert yelled back turning to face Tyler. Pretty much getting themselves into trouble…again.

"Oh, no." Samantha muttered as she placed herself between the two before one of them threw a punch. "STOP IT! This is neither the place nor the time to start this shit up again." Samantha lectured both of the boys, fully knowing that they were in big trouble, especially when she heard the Commander start to growl. Well, needless to say neither of the boys was listening to her, and she knew that they were going to start throwing punches. 'Great, and I'm stuck between them…' she thought as she braced herself for a few punches.

Robert had been mad at Tyler since his comment about Katie not being a leader, and his last comment had just pushed him over the edge. He was so mad he didn't hear Samantha's warning and he didn't even realize that Cruger was growling. His eyes were focused on Tyler, his muscles in his arms were tensing getting ready to throw a punch at his buddy.

Tyler was also focusing at Robert, he knew his friend long enough to realize that he had just made him very angry. But he didn't care, as long as he believed he was right, it was okay. He ignored Samantha and he blocked out Cruger's growling. His eyes narrowed as he got ready to throw a punch at his friend.

Suddenly both boys threw their punches at the same time one of them was trying to go through Samantha while the other went around Samantha, and actually landed it on his target.

"Damnaigh." Samantha muttered as she felt the punch, she knew that Cruger was way beyond pissed and he was getting ready to have the B-squad end the fight. But Samantha was just one step ahead of him. As Robert tried to throw another punch she grabbed his hand, and using pressure points she got him to unclench his fist. While his hand was opened she grabbed his fingers and pulled them backwards making him fall down on his knees, and she held him there. Tyler, seeing Robert's lack of movement took a step forward to keep on fighting. Samantha was tired of it, so she just used her telekenesis and threw Tyler across the room.

Enough was enough for the Commander, he shouted for the B-squad to separate them. Across the room Tyler was trying to get up, one of Samantha's eyes was turning black, and Robert was being held down by Samantha. They all stopped once they noticed B-squad though. Samantha let Robert up, while giving him one of those looks that said don't you dare. As they all got up and became separated from each other Katie ran into the Command Center to see what had happened. Nobody really noticed her come in, so as Cruger began yelling and lecturing the C-squad she just looked them in disbelief. She just could not believe that they got into a fight amongst each other.

Once Cruger had finished yelling and lecturing they all left the Command Center and went their separate ways. Each not entirely understanding the others, they all thought that the reason they had threw the punch was justified. Robert went to the Common Room and just sat looking out of the huge windows wondering why everything seemed to go downhill. As he rubbed his sore fingers he remembered that Katie had used the same exact technique on Samantha a while ago, see Katie is useful. At that his thoughts wandered to Katie, he knew that she didn't want to be here, he didn't blame her. But living with her parents had taught her many skills that we great in a fight.

Tyler wandered around the base just thinking about the position he had wanted, it wasn't all cracked up as he thought it was. But he had the position and since he knew no one wanted it he'd better suck it up and deal with it. That meant a longer and harder practice schedule. Thinking about the team as a whole made him think a bit about the only girl still in the squad. And man, that girl could throw a person across the room when she really wanted to.

Samantha was just sitting in her room hoping to be ignored by Katie, because she knew that she was in some big trouble with her little sister. She softly touched the eye that was now a beautiful shade of black, man Tyler can throw a good solid punch, but she wasn't going to tell him that, instead she was thinking about throwing him a punch or a knee which ever was easier and quicker.

Katie knew that something had to be done; she needed to stop this petty fighting. Even though Cruger had just told her that she didn't have anything to do with the fight and that she shouldn't become involved. But she just couldn't just sit and watch them tear each other apart. She entered the room that both she and Samantha shared, "Samantha McQuade, find Tyler. I'm going to go get Robert. And we are all going to get this problem straightened out." The tone of Katie's voice scared Samantha; she was used to hearing this tone of voice being directed to Kimberly, a girl of whom the entire group hated, but not towards her. When Samantha didn't move Katie removed her glove and touched Samantha's bare skin. After acquiring Samantha's power of telekenesis, she threw open the door and Samantha knew that her best friend was way beyond pissed so it would be wise to run and do as she said.

Relatively quickly they had all meet up in the Common Room, B-squad noticed everyone getting together and hoped that they were not going to start fighting again. That is until they saw Katie, she was glaring at each of them and yelling at them for their stupidity and stubbornness.

"What the HELL are the THREE of you THINKING?? YOU'RE going to KILL each other with your IGNORANCE and inability to TOLLERATE OTHERS!" Katie shouted as her friends visibly flinched at her tone of voice and at how angry she was. B-squad almost flinched also but they were slightly used to being lectured so it didn't get to them as much as it did to the C-squad. She kept on yelling at them for being so stupid and how they needed to learn how to tolerate each other. Once she finally stopped yelling she removed her gloves and acquired each of their powers to keep them from doing something very stupid to each other. They each had a different reaction towards the loss of their powers but they all felt a little weak and slightly lost without them. B-squad just stood there in shock they did not realize how much the C-squad needed Katie, she kept them in line. But as they were going to walk up and talk to her, she quickly turned and walked out of the room. When she had found a spot that she was sure that no one else would find her anytime soon, she sat down and cried.

The next day their powers were slowly returning, and even though they had a day to think, it didn't mean that their tempers had finished cooling. They kept away from each other knowing that if they went too close a fight might just erupt again. B-squad watched as the powerless C-squad entered the Common Room for breakfast. Nobody was in the mood to talk, but someone had to say something.

"Katie can be quite the... scary one hunh?" Syd asked. Samantha just looked up at Syd and then looked back down at her coffee, she just didn't feel like being up and about, not to mention she did agree with Katie's actions and she knew saying that would piss people off, again.

"Yes, Katie can be scary. But none of you have ever seen me pissed. And for the record I do agree with what Katie did last night." Samantha told Syd in a bit of a louder voice than normal so she knew that the boys heard her along with the rest of the B-squad. "She doesn't like having to do that. But if she didn't I can almost guarantee that there would have been a big brawl." After speaking Samantha began staring at her coffee again. Shocking the hell out of B-squad and slightly making the boys of C-squad a bit mad.

"So now you can say what's correct and what's not?" Tyler asked restraining himself from shouting. Samantha just ignored him and acted as if he was not there.

"Tyler, I don't think she's saying that. She's probably saying that we would have kept on fighting and abusing our powers."
"ABUSE OUR POWERS! I think that line has been crossed." At that Robert and Samantha stood straight up.
"Eejit, ye be lucky she took away mine because you would be a eunuch by now." All of the boys looked at Samantha and either took a step away or scooted a bit farther from her. Jack looked at the group infront of him and decided it was time for him to say something.

"ENOUGH!" Jack shouted at the C-squad. "Katie had no right to do what she did. Someone needs to put her back into her place." Everyone's jaw dropped, the rest of the B-squad was shocked, especially Z, Bridge, and Syd.

"Breá, mé éirigh amach a A Mógacht bealach. Damn Knob." Samantha spoke as she turned and left the room.

"What did she just say?" Sky asked. "If she really wants to piss people off then she should speak in a language that everyone understands." He began rereading the SPD Handbook as he sat down where Samantha was sitting. Ignoring the look he got from a few of the others.

"She pretty much said that she's gonna stay out of your way Jack. And then used some slang word that is probably very rude. That's if I am correct." Robert almost automatically translated, even though he did not completely understand any of the words except for amach and bealach, which are out and way. Robert finished with his cereal and left, while Tyler just took what he was eating and sat in a far corner away from B-squad.

"Jack, that was stupid. You know that they are close, and even if they are fighting with each other they will still stand up for each other." Z half way lectured and pointed that fact to Jack before he said anything more that would cause bigger problems.

As the day progressed more and more of their powers returned, and as their powers returned they hoped that Cruger wouldn't find out. Tyler had informed Samantha and Robert that practicing was optional, while hoping that they would not show up at the obstacle course latter that day. Both Samantha and Robert tried to find Katie knowing that if she didn't want to be found they would not find her.

Wandering Around New Tech City….

Katie walked around New Tech City not knowing where she was going. All she knew was that she needed to get out of the base and that she couldn't face her friends anytime soon. She wanted to go home but she forgot that there was no way for her to return home. 'I wonder if they realized that I'm not at the base yet.' She asked herself as she turned onto the back streets and alleys. Finally she stopped and looked up at the end of a back street, it ended with a huge old warehouse. She entered it not knowing it was occupied, but if Samantha's power was still lingering in her she would have known to run far away from the building. She opened the door and stepped inside.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?"

Back at SPD Headquarters….

Samantha and Robert meet back up in the Common Room, both were worried since they have not seen nor heard from Katie for a while and that had their powers completely back.

"Well?" Robert asked Samantha, as she plopped into the chair next to him.

"Nothing, I've tried to send her a telepathic message. But either I can't right now, or she's ignoring me….or she's out of range. And there's the possibility that she still has some of my powers, since she took 'em from me twice in a row, without much time for me to gain 'em back." They sat in silence just thinking about the last few days. "Sorry." Samantha finally said what she had been feeling since she had woke up that morning. Robert looked at her thinking that she was stupid or something of that sort.

"You sorry? You didn't do anything except for tried to make me and Tyler stop fighting." They both sat in silence, there was nothing they could do. Both of them had a feeling that Katie had left the Base all by herself, something that Cruger had told them not to do. By then Tyler had walked in, Robert and Samantha didn't show up for the optional practice session since they were too busy looking for Katie.

"Well I've thought about it." They exchanged looks, not sure if they wanted to hear what Tyler had to say. "And I think we should look for Katie and get this whole thing straightened out." Robert and Samantha looked closely at Tyler not sure if he was truly feeling bad about the whole thing or he didn't want to be attacked again, since all of their powers had returned.

"Ok. Fine let's go Little Hitler." Samantha spoke as she got up, Robert and Tyler looked at her like she was crazy but for different reasons. Robert's reason was that she just accepted the fact that he didn't apologize and that there was probably some hidden reason that he wanted Katie to be near. And Tyler was confused and not just a little bit upset that she started calling him 'Little Hitler.

The Warehouse….

Katie wandered around the Warehouse not entirely sure if it was safe to explore or to even stay in. Soon she was in further than what she knew was wise; soon she heard voices around a corner. She peaked around trying to be very careful, the boxes and crates in the Warehouse blocked her view of the people that were speaking she quickly recognized Farquad's voice.

"Yes Master, the young girl left SPD. Now she has no one to protect her and without the others she can't use her special abilities." Just listening them talk about her put chills down her back.

"Good. She shall be an easy target. Now Professor, meet Bronx. He's known for destroying many planets in the galaxy. He will help you take care of the Rangers."

"Good, he should be better than Ursela the worthless wench only wants to have…"Katie gasped as she recognized the name from some of the digital paperwork Kat had her organize. "Who's THERE?" Katie turned to run out of the building but she bumped into a box, giving Farquad and Bronx a full view of her. "Bronx, capture her and keep her with you until you have ALL of my experiments with you." Farquad said laughing before he vanished from view. Bronx immediately ran after Katie, she ran and jumped over the various obstacles. 'Thank god for the training that Sky and Jack put us through, I need to thank them when I get out of here!' she thought.

SPD Headquarters

"Commander, I've got a trace on Bronx and a Ranger energy reading coming from downtown by the old fishing docks." Kat reported. Cruger called all of the Rangers into the Command Room.

"Rangers this is a very dangerous mission. C-squad, this is a big jump from the little missions that you've been doing. Bronx is downtown. He is a Great Danger to everyone, including yourselves." He tuned and everyone started to leave thinking that he was done talking. "C-squad I expect that you're problems with each other are resolved." Tyler, Robert and Samantha quickly glanced at each other before answering him.

"YES, SIR!"

The Warehouse….

Katie kept on running towards an exit but Bronx kept on herding her further and further to a corner in the back of the Warehouse. 'Crud, not good.' She thought as she tried to put more space between herself and Bronx. But she quickly got herself cornered. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes." Bronx said laughing. Katie realized that she still had some of Samantha's telekensis lingering, she used the last bit of that power and lifted a pillar. She was going to try to make a door in the wall of the Warehouse and then run like crazy. Bronx was ready for her next move.

"Why don't you take a nice long, long rest?" He shot at the pillar causing Katie to lose the last bit of the telekensis that she was using. And making the pillar to fall onto Katie's left ankle. "Now Child, come with ME." Bronx grabbed Katie by the arm and lifted her to her feet. She tried to pull away so she could get as far as she could from him, but all she did was twist her ankle even more.

SPD Headquarters…...

After receiving their orders from the Commander, the Rangers prepared to go out on their mission together. Samantha quickly and quietly left the team to let Katie know that they were leaving for a mission. She passed the Lab and the Common Room, but when she entered the bedroom that she and Katie shared no one was there. The silence stuck Samantha and the silence cut heart like a sharp dagger of fear. She knew Katie was very, no, extremely mad at the C-squad the day before, but did she leave?

"Commander Cruger!" Everyone in the Command Room moved aside as Samantha shoved her way through everyone, while trying to keep herself calm and not panicking. As she made it over to the Commander, he looked back at her.

"What is it Cadet?"
"Katie is not in the Base Sir. I can't find here anywhere and she's not answering." Tyler and Robert looked at her, and by the look on her face they knew that she wasn't joking, Katie was truly missing. Bridge slowly backed out of B-squad. Since the night before he had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach, but now he had no idea what the feeling was.

"Kat run a search for Katie. And B and C-squad on the other hand needs to take out Bronx." Cruger growled, not at anyone, yet but at the way everything thing was occurring. C-squad was falling apart at the seams, Katie running off, and Bronx appearing.

"YES SIR!"

The Warehouse…

They all had arrived in the place where Bronx was last seen. Each of the Rangers got a odd feeling from being there at the Warehouse but they all knew that they didn't like being there for some unknown reason.

"This place gives me the creeps." Syd wined, as they cautiously walked around looking for clues. Tyler shrugged at her comment.

"It's a Warehouse, they scare everyone." Soon they were near where Katie first saw Bronx. Unknowingly they were getting deeper and deeper into a mystery. Samantha knelt down on one knee and picked up a piece of metal to try to use her telepathy to find out what happed there.

"Bronx was here. But now he's not." She tried to find out what happened, but then her telepathy stopped working, she sighed as she stood back up.

"Hey! Come take a look at this!" Tyler shouted from a far corner of the Warehouse. Everyone climbed over many boxes that had been knocked over onto the floor, just to find a pillar that had been moved but not touched. Jack looked at the pillar and over to where it was supposed to be and back again.

"It had been moved somehow." As Sky looked closer at some of the evidence he noticed something slightly odd.

"I think I found something!" Robert quickly went over and knelt down next to him.

"What is that stuff?" He asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Whatever it is, or whatever left it behind, it wasn't long ago." Bridge answered as he looked at it with his heat sensors.

"It's….blood." Samantha gasped and put a fingerless gloved hand near her face as she realized something else. "And it looks like, human…blood."

"That's weird, but where did it come from?" Z asked as she shook her head. Jack looked even closer at the pillar.

"Something or someone had this drop on them because there's some blood on the pillar too." Just hearing that made Samantha jump to conclusions, her mind began to race. She could hear her heart beginning to race it was the only thing she could hear, even though she knew that people were talking. Just simply knowing that Katie was missing and seeing the new found blood painted a terrible picture in her head.

"Samantha? Samantha!" Robert called to her over and over again, "You okay?" Samantha nodded her head without saying a thing. Jack looked around.

"What now? Bronx is gone and he left no trail." Syd shrugged at Jack's question.

"Go back to the base?" She suggested. Samantha looked at them all in disbelief, she knew something was very wrong with the picture but she didn't quite know what.

"We can't! Katie's still out there!" Samantha shouted, she had finally lost her cool and this talking about giving up just sent her over the edge.

"What has gotten into you Samantha?!?" Tyler shouted, "We CAN'T we've got no leads! And WHY are YOU acting so WORRIED? KATIE can take CARE of HERSELF!" B-squad sighed and shook their heads, it seemed like another fight was going to erupt. Robert stood and watched the two go back and forth until it was time for him to step in.

"HEY! The TWO of YOU, SHUT UP!" Samantha, you worry a lot and Tyler, you do nothing, but yell." Z raised her hand.

"Okay, let's do it this way. Who here thinks we should stay out here and look for Katie even if there's no evidence that she was here?" Everyone raised their hands except for Samantha.

"You're over ruled, Samantha. Let's go." Sky said as he got ready to leave, along with everyone else.

"Let's see human blood. Hmm, Katie's missing." Samantha sighed as she took a moment to breath in and calm herself down. "Ok, thinking logically. My telepathy isn't workin, Bridge have you ever read Katie's aura?" Samantha looked at Bridge and waited for his response, while everyone stopped in their tracks to hear what Samantha was thinking.

"Well, yeah I have, I mean why wouldn't I? Actually when I think about it I've read all of your auras. But Katie's aura is odd. What I mean by odd is different but not in a bad way. Her aura seems to be red, or a pinkish red." Everyone looked at Bridge as he was trying to decide what Katie's aura was. Sky soon lost his patience.

"Bridge! Can you or can you not track Katie's whereabouts?" Samantha threw Sky a quick thankful glance.

"Yeah." Samantha clapped her hands in delight. Confusing everyone even more.

"Good, so you can track her. And IF Bronx is there, C-squad can lure him away." Samantha explained a bit more of her idea.

"Wait! Sam you said lure away? Are we gonna be bait?" Robert asked afraid of the answer he was going to receive.

"Hell yea!" Samantha said getting eager for it to be thrown into action. Jack shook his head.

"No, no. Cruger would have our heads if he found out! That's it C-squad you're off of the mission…" Jack was about to finish his sentence when he received the death glares coming from Robert and Samantha. "Never mind."

"We are willing to deal with that latter." Robert answered.

"Cadet, You are breaking nearly every rule in the SPD Handbook." Sky tried to remind Samantha. She quickly turned and looked at Sky.

"Well no duh! And besides rules are made to be broken." Samantha snapped.

"Enough, you guys." Z got between them. "Now, let's move away and Bridge work." Z and Syd guided them a bit behind a bit away so that he could do his work. C-squad had never seen Bridge in action before the others. The Green Ranger got down on one knee and removed a glove from his hand. With one swift motion of his hand appeared a glow of light. After a moment or two he got up.

"She was here. Along with Bronx, she tried to get away but was captured. She used some of Samantha's power to move that pillar, and it fell on her ankle." He explained, as he looked deeper into the aura he saw more. "There was a short fight, she broke away, but her ankle kept her from getting anywhere. Bronx grabbed her again and threw her down." They followed Bridge over to another spot. "She hit her head here…" His voice became shallow and uneasy. Samantha ran up next to him.

"Well? Where is she?" Samantha asked hoping for the answer that she knew she wasn't going to get. He looked up at her.

"I can't tell you. She just vanished." Samantha turned and wanted to hit something as Bridge just sat on the ground feeling that he had failed.

"Well what do we do now?" Syd asked Samantha just shook her head no, while she tried to keep herself calm.

"Well, you wanted to lure Bronx out. So lure him out already." Sky was getting impatient and he knew that Cruger was not going to be happy with any of them by the time they got back to the Base.

"Um, Sky you shouldn't have said that." Tyler told Sky, as they watched Samantha's reaction.

Wherever Bronx is hiding….

"Yes! Those stupid experiments are predictable!" Bronx chucked as he collected his weapons he loved using on his victims to cause maximum pain. "The Telepath has lost it! And they just made it that much easier for me to get." He thought for a second. "Damn that means I won't be able to kill them fighting."

Where Katie is…

The room was dark and cold with the smell of mold and mildew. The only sounds that to be heard were the sounds of water dropping from the ceiling. Katie slowly sat up as she rubbed the back of her head. She tried to look around but her vision was blurred from her head making contact with the concrete back at the Warehouse. "Hello? Is anybody here?" She tried to keep most of the fear and worry out of her voice. And surprisingly she didn't sound as scared as she felt. Katie used the wall behind her to get to her feet. She hobbled along the walls in a search for a way out. Soon she realized that she was trapped she broke down. "You really messed up this time Katherine." She sat back down and shook her head as her vision slowly returned to her. "I just wish that there was a way I could get a hold of someone, anyone."

Back at the Warehouse…

"What are you doing?" Syd asked Samantha, as a box narrowly missed her head.

"Making a disturbance."
"Why?" Bridge asked confused, he didn't know what she was aiming for and he never knew that she was this crazy.

"If my hypothesis is correct Bronx wants to capture the experiments. And I'm making it just a little bit easier for him to find us." Samantha answered through gritted teeth.

"But Samantha thought we didn't want to be found." Tyler spoke up desperately trying to calm down the Green Ranger.

"No, bómán. We WANT to be FOUND." Tyler and Robert looked at each other in worry as they had the same thought 'This is why she's not the Red Ranger.'

"Samantha, maybe you should listen to your teammates?" Syd spoke in a calm voice as she took a step forward, someone needed to calm the telepath down. When Samantha didn't answer her Sky stepped in.

"Are you trying to endanger your teammates? This is crazy! You're handing yourself to Farquad." Samantha blew Sky off as well. Robert hesitantly pointed to a corner.

"I'm going to write my WILL now." As he walked away Samantha growled.

"What is YOUR PROBLEM?!?" Robert froze as Samantha continued to yell. B-squad was praying that there was not going to be another fight. "Why are you giving up on Katie? She's been your friend for a long time. And Tyler," Samantha turned to Tyler making him flinch, he did not want to be at the reciving end of her wrath. "You've know her the longest. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"She moved to Burney in the fourth grade." Tyler folded his arms across his chest and shrugged, "In my class."

"We became friends through Katie in the sixth grade." Robert replied although he was slightly hesitant to answer.

"See what I mean? We can't just leave her out there, because I know she'd come back for us if we were missing." Samantha spoke as if she belonged in a leadership position. She's the kind of leader who wants to know where everyone is, and if someone was missing she'd search for them and then hunt down the person that caused them to become missing. Robert looked down at the floor and turned back around to look at Samantha.

"Maybe we can move these boxes further to the left?" He suggested. Both the Blue and Green Rangers looked at Tyler, he looked at his watch.

"Well it has been 24 hours now. And she did make us all come together again." Syd and Z looked at each other when Bridge passed between them.

"Bridge? What are you doing?" Z asked. Bridge rubbed the back of his head.

"…Uh…you know, Katie's changed me too. I…I have to side with C-squad on this one." Bridge and C-squad all looked at B-squad with a pleading look in their eyes.

"Great," Jack said as he shook his head. "now what do we do C-squad?" Jack, Syd, and Z stood next to C-squad as Sky just watched. Samantha looked at him and just before she could say something rude and mean Sky surrendered.

"Oh, what the hell?" As they began to work on moving boxes Sky just had to say something.

"Do you realize how many rules we're breaking?" Samantha barely looked up at him and nodded.

"A lot." While everyone talked Bridge got a strange feeling inside, it was as if he was standing next to Katie somehow. Jack soon noticed Bridge with his eyes closed.

"Bridge are you—" Jack never got to finish his question.

"Hello Rangers, how nice to see you." A low and shallow voice spoke. They all quickly turned on their heels to find whom they'd been looking for, Bronx. He was less than fifty feet way and could have easily taken them out while he had the change. With two psychics, they should have sensed him, but he was really good. He laughed as she calmly paced in front of the Rangers, who were ready to fight. "You were looking for me, SPD, but it seems that I had found you." He continued to harass the rangers, "So the team of three you must be the Pathetic C-squad." The C-squad was already sick of being toyed around with.

"Where is she Bronx." Tyler yelled.

"We know you have her somewhere!" Samantha shouted as she took a step forward. Bronx just laughed at them again.

"Do you want your Red Ranger back? Ooooo…my mistake, you must be the Red Ranger?" Tyler ignored that comment.

"Where is she Bronx?" Tyler repeated himself getting madder by the second.

"He's just toying with them." Syd softly spoke while shaking her head. Jack finally took a stand.

"We're done playing. Now where is the Cadet?!" Z and Sky began to lose their patience as well, unnoticed by their teammates Samantha and Bridge shook their heads trying to make sense of something.

"Oh, she's near. You're two Rangers can sense her." Samantha had lost her patience but now she was beginning to lose her temper.

"WHERE THE HELL IS SHE BRONX! I WON'T ASK AGAIN!" Bronx laughed once again as he prepared for a fight.

"You will soon find out once I capture you. Brood wing will pay a lot for the capture of a Power Ranger." Both squads got ready for a fight.

"SPD EMERGENCY!" Together they charged into battle. It wasn't a battle to capture a criminal, but a battle for the safe return of a friend in need. The Rangers were ready, but Bronx was a Master. They all ganged up on him and attacked from the left and right, but none of their hits was making their mark. Bronx was just wearing them down till he could take them out one by one. Sure Bronx was a murder on quite nearly every single planet. But he loved to play games with his prey, the mind games were his favorite ones, he got to see how long it would take before they broke and begged for death.

Sky made a move that should have been fatal. He ran directly into Bronx with his Delta Sword drawn. Tyler shook his head.

"That's disgusting." He said thinking that he might be sick. Bronx looked at the sword in his chest then back up at Sky. Sky thought that he had one it, but when Bronx laughed, he knew he was in serious trouble.

"Did you really think you could kill me?" He shoved Sky back onto the concrete, pulled the sword from his chest and tried to take off Sky's head when Bridged used his sword to block the attack allowing Sky to escape. "Foolish Boy, you can't beat ME!" Bronx grabbed Bridge by the arm and threw him through one of the walls of the Warehouse. He hit a few hard wooden boxes before finally making contact with the concrete floor. His entire body ached as he tried to stand. Once back on his feet he happened to look down to find a trap door. He moved boxes over and out of the way.

"Hello? Is anyone in here?"

From Down Below….

"Hello!" Came a muffled voice Katie quickly looked up at the roof, she couldn't believe that she was hearing someone.

"Help! Anybody?!" Bridge looked at the floor in shock. 'Floors don't talk…' Then he finally realized why he felt that Katie was near.

"Katie!? Is that you?!" He heard a faint voice.

"Yes! Bridge! Help Please!" Bridge took a deep breath and quickly made up a plan.

"Get away from the door Katie!" He climbed on top of a few boxes so that he could jump through the door and break it. He took a really deep breath, knowing that it was going to hurt….a lot. He leapt from the boxes and onto the door. At first nothing happened, then it broke and in fell Bridge followed by a cloud of dust.

SPD Headquarters….

"Commander, there's been a massive discharge of telekinetic energy." Kat informed Cruger as she kept track of where the Squads were.

"McQuade." Cruger growled. They watched in silence as the energy levels went up and down, soon a different kind of energy appeared, a monster energy reading. "Kat, can you get a video image of what's going on there?"

"No, Commander I can't." Kat spoke as she quickly typed on the computer. "But I think that Bronx has appeared near the Rangers." Suddenly her computer beeped and a light flashed.

"What's going on?" Cruger asked wanting to know what was happening.

"Sir, I'm getting another Ranger reading." Kat reported.

"What? Who is it?"

"It could be Katie." Kat answered, Cruger looked at the screen thinking. "What do you want to do Sir?" Cruger thought about it.

"Kat get the Yellow C-squad morpher, and send it with RIC to that position."

Back at the Warehouse….

Bridge stood up after hitting the hard concrete beneath his feet. The room was dark and the cloud of dust didn't help him see any better.

"Katie?" He looked about when she coughed. "Oh Katie! Are you alight?" Bridge asked looking at her. Katie slightly nodded her head as she tried to clear her lungs.

"I'm fine, but I've hurt my ankle." The Green Ranger nodded.

"Okay, come on you have to get out of here." Bridge gently picked Katie up in his arms and lifted her up to the opening. Once Katie was out in the light, Bridge climbed out.

"Let me look at that." Katie rested against a box as Bridge examined her ankle. "It's not broken, but it will be sore for a few days." Katie opened her mouth to speak when RIC showed up out of the blue. Their attention was diverted to RIC, as they looked at the robotic dog Bridge noticed something in his mouth.

"What ya got RIC?" The dog placed a morpher beside Katie's leg and barked a few times before leaving the two.

"A mopher?" Katie muttered as she looked at it, she instantly recognized it as the Yellow C-squad morpher. "What now?" He took her hands and held them in his.

"This is your chance to turn things around. To make things right again." Katie shook her head.

"I can't…."

"Yes you can Katie, listen. They're out there right now and they need your help. I believe in you because I know you can do it." Katie looked into his hidden eyes.

"Okay."

Meanwhile…Bronx laughed more and more. Samantha was hit so hard that she almost didn't want to get back up. The Rangers, all of them, were taking a vicious beating.

"BRONX! Leave them alone!" Bronx looked around recognizing the voice, stopped laughing and looked to the side. A very dirty Cadet and Ranger climbed out of the rubble. Bronx laughed as the situation was becoming rather hilarious.

"Oh, and what are you going to do to me?" Samantha, Tyler, and Robert looked over and found that their friend was safe and sound.

"I'm going to bring you to justice SPD EMERGENCY!" Katie said as she raised the mopher. After transforming to the Yellow C-squad Ranger, Katie quickly realized that he was gaining power from fighting with her friends. Katie thought hard for a moment, for it was all the time she had, then it hit her. It would be painful, but deadly enough to end the battle. She drew out her Delta Sword and charged at Bronx, 'I just need to get close enough to touch him.' Sensing that Katie needed help, Bridge ran at Bronx as well. Bronx laughed at their effort.

"So you're the only ones who want to keep fighting eh? This will be too easy." Just then to his surprise the other rangers stood up, "Oh please you can barely walk. How do expect to defeat me?" Jack quickly answered.

"Easy." They all grabbed hold of Bronx to keep him still. Katie reached in quickly and touched Bronx on the shoulder, absorbing his vast amount of energy. Both were in great pain as this exchange occurred. Samantha quickly reached for her morpher to save her friend from even more pain.

"Confinement Mode!" Where there was the galaxy's deadliest criminal, there was nothing, but a card on the ground. All the rangers fell onto the ground in exhaustion. Katie slowly fell, but she never touched the ground.

"Katie," Bridge called as he fell with Katie in his arms. "Katie?"

Once they all had regained enough energy, they went back to the base.

"Cadets, what happened out there." Cruger demanded once they all, including Katie, lined up.

"We caught Bronx and found Katie Sir." Tyler answered hoping that they didn't see the elevated levels of Telekinesis.

"Cadet Riddell, I'm speaking of the heightened levels of Telekinesis before Bronx arrived." C-squad gulped and looked at the floor. They knew that they were in BIG trouble.

"Sir," Jack hesitantly spoke up, "We needed Cadet McQuade to use her Telekinesis to lure Bronx out from his hiding place."

"Yes, when we got to the scene it looked like there was a fight. I sensed that Bronx was there recently, so we had Bridge do a reading. Since, I thought that Katie might have been there. And once that was confirmed, I had formed a hypothesis." Samantha tried to explain without mentioning that they almost began fighting with each other once again.

"Samantha's hypothesis was that Bronx wanted to find the 'experiments' and capture them. So she made it a bit easier for him to find us." Robert spoke up. Cruger was about to say something about their actions being irresponsible and that she was endangering her team but Sky spoke up as he noticed that they all were going to be in big trouble if they didn't keep on trying to talk their way out of it.

"Yes, McQuade was doing something crazy and put us all in danger, but she kept Bronx from attacking civilians. Sir, I think that the C-squad did very well in this mission, I would not want to be the person that tries to keep these four apart." Both squads looked at Sky in shock, as he rarely gave the C-squad any kind of praise.

"Yeah, and Katie, if you want it, here's the Red morpher. I'm no good at being a leader." Tyler admitted, everyone's looks of shock were suddenly transferred from Sky to Tyler. Katie smiled and took it as she handed him the Yellow morpher.

"No, it was just your week. We all have our strengths and weakness. One day you'll have to lead again. There is no leader on this team, just four friends who make a whole and add to perfection." The C-squad was now a whole again.

"Wow, Sis, that was deep." Samantha spoke up with a huge grin on her face that was matched by Robert, Tyler and Kate.

"Well I'm glad that's over." Z commented.