A/N: (and a warning) There is swearing here, and insulting...a look at the other side of the glass. Somethings may come over as AU, but that's more my choice than anything else. Sorry if the word offends you. Also got to poke a little fun at an annoying Ranger habit...warm fuzzies if you spot it. Please review, my warm fuzzies are running low.

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, I derive no profit from it.

Cole, while not exactly unresisting, did not attempt to hit anyone involved in the effort of getting him off that stupid green ranger. Taylor and Wes held him until Carter and Chad had hustled Joel out back, Kelsey and Dana following. "Come on," Taylor said, seeing Cole's need to splutter, she glanced at the ninjas, "We'll be back in a minute."

Out the front door Cole leaned against the Silver Guardian's SUV that Wes drove, "That stupid, arrogant greenie," he snarled, sounding like his Red Lion, if said creature could talk. "How dare he? What gives him the right to judge my team?"

"Cole," Merric said, "Zen Aku and I have taken no harm at the Green Ranger's words." He crossed his arms, "It would not be the first time that it was suggested that we were sleeping together."

Max nodded, "For some reason, people think that about Danny and me too."

"That still doesn't give him the right," snapped Cole.

Zen Aku sighed, "Cole, Joel, doesn't tell everything he knows. I think he has some Gift that he does not admit to. I sensed something in him earlier."

"Empathic?" Taylor asked.

"No, but it is, similar." Zen Aku replied. "He believes that we have not been completely honest with the group."

Merric raised an eyebrow, a slight smile playing at his lips, "Have we not?"

Cole shook his head, "It still doesn't matter," he said, "Joel's words, and the manner in which he spoke, are not acceptable."

"I think you got your point across, then," Wes offered, then gulped at Cole's rather heated glare. "Look, I'm sure Carter's going to deal with Joel. He can't ignore it. Lightspeed is the military group; Carter's going to jump in with both feet."

"If they're military, then what's Time Force?" Danny asked.

"Police," Wes replied, "both the others and Eric and I in our own way. I've worked with Joel, he can be insensitive, but only when he's really stressed. His wife's pregnant with their first child, well, children, she's having twins and his mom just had surgery. Personally, I'm just glad he's keeping his mouth shut. Joel is multi-talented; he can talk and piss you off at the same time."

Taylor snorted, "I'll say that."

"Look, I'm going to go talk with the ninjas," Wes said, "When you're calm, Cole, you guys should come back in so that we can figure out what to do." He turned and walked back into the house. Cam and Hunter had straightened up the room and were sitting before the lap top again. "Sorry about that," he said, "I'm not sure what got into either of them."

Hunter looked up, surprised, "It's ok." He said.

"Shane and Hunter have done worse," Cam added. "It's a territorial thing."

"I am not an animal," snapped Hunter.

"I didn't say you were." Cam replied mildly. "It's in the nature of Human males to be territorial. Why do you think I snap at you about my computers?"

Hunter looked as if he had never thought of this. Wes took the moment of silence to enter his own question, "What are you looking at?"

"More of the Star Master information, Justin has an incredible amount of information, even if some of it's hearsay and fairy tales, it builds an image of an incredibly powerful being. He makes Lothor sound like the Easter Bunny." Cam replied.

"Justin was right," Wes said, "you don't know much about who Lothor was."

"He was an expelled Ninja student, Earth element, who practiced the Dark Powers." Cam said, "He nearly killed my parents. He came back to Earth with two nieces-by-marriage who are exceedingly annoying and an array of incompetent monsters to get his revenge, open the Abyss of Evil and generally wreck havoc on our lives."

"He did kill Blake and my parents, and he managed to turn a pair of highly trained Ninjas to his bidding," Hunter added, his eyes dark. "He had some skill, but he wasn't evil incarnate."

Wes snorted, "You really don't know? Well, it was after the, uh, Moon Mission that Andros told us. He was very worried about this new menace named Lothor. The Warlord had already started conquering systems through alliance and treachery. He tended to avoid crowded areas, or Ranger-protected planets, but he was clearly building resources for a reason. Given that Earth is the precious gem of the local subspace, he alerted all of us Red Rangers here to be on the look out. He didn't think that Lothor would come before Master Org was finished. They like to watch the petty squabbles and then swoop in when the victorious side is recovering. We didn't give the warning much notice, I mean, Earth is, literally, the most protected planet on the Arm. Look how many Rangers we pulled together to deal with the Star Master. No other planet would be able to summon so many Rangers with Power. I know, I know, you drained your morphers, but still, Wild Force, Lightspeed, Eric, Justin and I, as well as the Zeo Rangers, all have active morphers. Only Eltare can make any sort of claim remotely like ours." Wes smiled with a quiet pride, "Well, we didn't listen and you got hit in the teeth. I guess that you'll hear this again later, but I'm sorry. I didn't look into Lothor as thoroughly as I should have when we were first alerted to the threat." He looked down at his hands, "We didn't believe, and we let him get by us."

"What Moon Mission?" Hunter asked.

"Only the greatest excuse to kick Red ass in the history of Earth Rangers," Tyler said, her tone amused as she threw herself onto a couch.

Hunter went from interested to sick in moments, "Oh, that mission. Dr. Oliver told me about that."

Cam glanced at him, "When?"

"When Conner did that thing, you know, with that rock and got everyone all freaked," Hunter said, clearly trying to be direct and vague at the same time. Wes wondered if it was an embarrassing story, or if Hunter just didn't want to talk about it.

"Oh, that time," Cam said a moment later, "is that what he was doing when he locked you, Shane and Conner in the Lair?"

"Something like that, just some 'important Red tricks'," Hunter shrugged, "Nothing life altering."

"Ah, the infamous Reds meeting," Wes said, "Tommy said he was going to lecture any Red he happened to come across after the Mission. I take it he followed on it."

"And bouncing like a child at the thought of three for one," Hunter muttered.

Cam eyed Hunter for a long moment, "And when were you going to share?"

"As soon as Shane did," Hunter replied indifferently, his attention zeroed in on the table and he began to idly run his thumb over it.

Wes glanced at Taylor, who looked amused, then glanced slightly over his shoulder to where the rest of the Wild Force team stood. Danny stood in the doorway, with Max just in front of him, Cole in the center, and Merric behind and to the left of him. Zen Aku leaned against the door frame, creating a perfect V formation. The image was too good to resist, "Look Taylor, they're posing."

Taylor glanced up, and smirked, "He's right. Sit down guys. I don't think anything bad is going to happen."

Cole, looking a little wild around the eyes sat down in another arm chair, "Just so long as that fucking idiot keeps his mouth shut," he growled. A loud thud made everyone turn to look; Danny had fallen out of his chair, in shock by the look on his face.

"That's enough," Hunter said, "we're here to save our teammates, not practice unarmed combat." He turned his head, "You guys might as well come back in. We need to finish this."

Sheepishly, the Lightspeed team filed back into the room, with Joel spouting an odd bandage on his nose; said Green Ranger took a seat by the door, in a chair that had been dragged from the kitchen. Carter and the others took seats between Joel and the others, a move that made Wes sigh, they would have to rebuild the bridges here before they could really get this done.