Jonathan was getting a little worried. After loading the Jumpship of the one-month's supply of food he obtained, Jennifer still hadn't made it back, and now it was thirty minutes past the agreed upon time they were supposed to leave. He tried to calm himself by thinking that she was just slow in getting back as this was her first visit to the supply hub in months, and probably everyone she ran into wanted to talk with her and express their joy that she was indeed still alive and well. She had been cooped up for so long, it was probably good for her to be out conversing with friends.

After an initial search of the hub had him coming up empty with no sign of Jennifer, Jonathan made his way to see Nigel, hoping that the old man could give him a clue as to where she could be.

"Well if it isn't Captain Power!" Nigel reached out and shook Jonathan's hand. "Heard it's been rough out there against The Silencers. But you got Jennifer back, so maybe that's a sign that our luck is turning for the Resistance!"

Jonathan put on a forced smile. He was getting more concerned about Jennifer with each passing minute. "I sure hope so, Nigel. Speaking of Jennifer, have you seen her? She was supposed to have met back up with me about a half hour ago."

"You can't find her?" Nigel asked, confused.

"No…" Jonathan's heart skipped a beat at seeing the worry on Nigel's face.

"Oh dear. Well, I had traded the part that she needed to a strange man. Never seen him before. I told Jennifer that she could probably catch up to him before he left, to see if he would let her barter for it. She was headed for the hangar bay, but that was over an hour ago."

"What did this man look like?" Jonathan asked, tensing up, his mind now on full alert.

"Couldn't tell ya. He wore a long linen cloak with a hood around his face. He didn't want to be seen. Hardly talked at all and then he left."

"Thanks, Nigel," Jonathan ran off back towards the hangar bay.

"Hope everything's okay!" Nigel shouted.

Back at the hangar bay, Jonathan was coming unglued, neurotically pacing back and forth in front of the Jumpship. He was crazy with fear wondering what could have possibly happened to Jennifer. He had interviewed several people to find out if anyone saw anything go down in the hangar bay, but no such luck. He was just about to climb into the Jumpship to open communications with the base to tell the guys the bad news when someone from Elzer's Team came up to him.

"Hey, I heard you're looking for Pilot?"

"Yeah, do you know anything?" Jonathan anxiously fired back.

"Saw her in the back seat of an old warbird as it flew out of the bay."

"What?" Jonathan couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Wait, the back seat? Who was flying it then?"

"Some weird guy. Never seen the likes of him around here before. Couldn't see his face, it was hidden."

Jonathan's world fell apart once again as he put two and two together. A strange man who hid his face. Elizabeth said she gave Taggart an old warbird. Taggart had Jennifer.

Flying over old Colorado Springs, Jennifer was surprised to be returning to her Team's old stomping grounds. Taggart descended the warbird and landed near a partially destroyed building. She knew this place; Jonathan once told her that his dad used to own it back in the day before the Metal Wars. Was it really that simple? Taggart had been hiding out in Colorado Springs this whole time? Her Team had always thought that it would be the last place he would hole up. Which in hindsight, she gathered, is probably why he did it.

Taggart opened the cockpit and climbed down with the box that held the part that started this whole predicament. The hood of his cloak fell back onto his shoulders but he no longer cared that she could see his face. Jennifer sat still and didn't move, wondering what he had in store for her and if her life was in danger.

"Coming?" he asked, as he started walking toward the entrance of the building, not even looking back at her.

Jennifer was dumbfounded. He left her in the warbird? At this very moment she could easily slide into the pilot's seat and take off without him and make a clean get-away. But he acted like he was trusting that she wouldn't. And she hated that he was right. Her curiosity got the best of her. She needed to go with him to find out what he was up to for the sake of the Resistance. She didn't appear to be in imminent danger, so she climbed down and followed him.

Once inside she absorbed every detail fully and stayed alert to her surroundings. There was a sleep area with a cot and blankets, and a small makeshift kitchen made up of a fire pit on the floor and a few miscellaneous bowls and utensils sitting on a table. But what interested her the most was the chalkboard full of mathematical logarithms and equations that went way beyond her understanding, and the massive amounts of wire and circuitry strewn all over the floor and plans drawn out on large sheets of paper laid out on a work bench. Chills went up her spine when she looked in the corner of the room and saw a mainframe structure that was not yet fully complete, but the outline was an exact replica of Overmind. She was wondering why he was building all of this (for good or for bad?) and knew she had to tread very carefully in speaking with him about it.

"Are you hungry?" he asked her, as he extended out his hand and offered her an apple.

She did not take it. Jennifer was stunned at his hospitality. It was extraordinarily out of character and it threw her off. "I thought…aren't you going to kill me?"

"Lord Dread would have," he admitted, his head low and voice quiet.

"But you're not Lord Dread…" she said this more like a question than a statement, proceeding cautiously, searching him out as to who he really was now. She needed confirmation. Especially with the look-alike Overmind looming in the corner.

"I am still having trouble processing it myself…it is difficult for me to understand. I am no longer linked to Overmind. It has been so long since I have been…."

"Human?" she finished for him.

He nodded. Jennifer noted the expression on his face. It was one of fear and confusion over who he was. She must have worn that same expression on her face when she met Captain Power for the very first time when she fled the Dread Youth.

"I know the feeling," she shared, hoping to gain some ground with him, to make a connection with him. Her only hope in staying safe was to meet him at his level and get him to open up to her.

"Tell me. How did you find your way back? Tell me what it was like for you. Please." he begged, as he sat down on his cot.

She almost scoffed at his request, but seeing the utter despair in his eyes, she could tell he was feeling broken, alone, hurt, and scared, just like she had felt when she had escaped from under his reign. Did she dare to have compassion on this man? He may not be Dread anymore, but oh he had been, and as long as she lived she would never forget it. And now this same but different man who stole her life from her and brainwashed her to do horrible things was standing before her, wanting to know how she dealt with it, how she found her way back. Because now he was on the same journey. The irony hit her full force.

Jennifer sighed as she sat down at the nearby table. "It wasn't easy, and it took a lot of time. You did a lot of damage to me psychologically."

His face grimaced at her words. He looked like he was going to break into pieces under the weight of his guilt. Jennifer hesitated, worried about his emotional stability. She didn't want him to become dangerous by bursting out into a fit of denial. But again, he surprised her by remaining calm.

"Go on," he whispered.

"In some ways I have never completely healed from it all. When Jonathan took me in, he had his hands full. I was a mess, full of anger and rage. I didn't understand how to let all of my feelings out in a healthy way. I didn't even know that I was feeling. You taught me that emotions are the enemy of logic. That feelings are bad and the Machine is perfection. But that was all a lie. With time, Jonathan and the others helped me realize that being human is feeling. And thinking. And being alive. Recognizing my emotions- letting them out instead of fighting them- is what set me free. And learning to love…love is the best feeling of them all. It's what this world needs the most in order to survive."

Taggart fell silent and then he did the unexpected. He began to cry. "I have never learned to love. Can you teach me how?"

It was at this moment that Jennifer truly believed that the great and powerful Lord Dread had been defeated. Not by sword, not by fire power, not by a fierce and deadly battle, but by the sheer breakdown of his own guilt and human emotions. It was a moment that some thought would never come, and it was a moment that many had fought and lost their lives for, but right now she was the only one to witness him crumble before her and marvel at what it could mean for the future.

Jennifer stood and walked over to his workbench and looked over his drawings of Overmind.

"First you need to tell me what you are planning to do with this."

Back at North Star, Jonathan filled the guys in on everything that had happened.

"This is all my fault. I broke my own new rule about splitting up. I should have stayed with her the whole time," Jonathan groaned.

Hawk tried to console him. "Come on, Jon, this isn't your fault. One of the safest places has always been the supply hub. Who knew that Taggart would be dumb enough to show up there, let alone even know how to find it?"

"I should have known. He's not dumb. He hasn't changed. He's always one step ahead of us. We let him lull us into thinking that he was a coward in hiding," Jonathan replied bitterly.

Tank stood tall with arms crossed. "Pilot is smart, too. She'll know how to handle him. She'll be alright; she's a survivor."

"Look, we're wasting time. What we need to do is get to work and figure out where he would take her," Scout countered.

"Volcania?" Tank offered.

Hawk let out a huff. "Doubtful. Overmind wants nothing to do with Taggart. Besides, breaking into that place now would be nearly impossible with the way Overmind has it sealed off and guarded by The Silencers."

Scout snapped his fingers. "I got it! Why didn't I think of this before?" he berated himself.

"What?" Jonathan jumped with anticipation.

"Mentor!" Scout yelled out.

Mentor appeared in the vacuum tube and stood ready to help.

"Wasn't it standard protocol back in the day that all warbirds were outfitted with a tracking device on board that could only be read by Resistance frequencies?"

"Yes, each warbird was built with an onboard transponder which gave out a unique signal that could only be read by Resistance satellites. However, the satellite system used to bounce off the signals from these transponders was destroyed by Dread in the Metal Wars."

"Wouldn't our current system be able to detect the signal?" Jonathan asked.

"Negative. The warbird transponders are old tech. Their signals are not able to uplink with the current GPS tracking systems."

Scout and Jonathan shared a look. They both knew what the other was thinking. Jonathan gave out the order. "Mentor, download all information you have on warbird transponders and the old satellite system, including all plans and specs on how it was created and installed."

"Working…"

Scout sighed. "Well Gentlemen? Anyone want to help me rebuild a dinosaur satellite system?"

Hold on, Jennifer, Jonathan thought. We're coming.