When Jason pulled into Reefside a couple of hours later, he headed straight for the Rock Porium. He knew it was early, but he was hoping to find the rangers there opening the shop. At first he didn't see anyone and the shop was dark. He tried calling his sisters, but only got a busy signal which probably meant they were at Rootcore. So he settled in to wait. After a while he caught sight of the familiar figure of one of the rangers hurrying down the street. Climbing out of the car, Jason caught up to them as they reached the door.

"Chip, we need to talk," Jason said behind him.

Chip yelped, spinning around in shock.

"Jason?" he said in surprise, his eyes wide.

He let out a sigh of relief as Jason raised an eyebrow.

"Little jumpy this morning, aren't we?" Jason said.

"Umm… yeah. Sorry," Chip said quickly. "Just wasn't expecting anyone else out here. Toby goes in the back door…"

"Mmm hmm…" Jason frowned. "Where are the others?"

"Rootcore," Chip answered. "Why?"

"Good," Jason said. "Let's go."

"Wait—what?" said Chip, looking at Jason in confusion.

Jason sighed. Reaching over, he grabbed Chip by the back of the neck and forcibly turned him around.

"Rootcore—now," Jason growled. "I've got a bone to pick with the five of you."

"Alright, alright!" Chip yelped in protest as Jason propelled him back down the street. "I'm going!"

But Jason didn't let go as they made their way to the rangers' base. Something Hayley had told him hours before had been bugging him and he didn't like the implications of what she had said. He knew if he let go of Chip and the younger ranger tried to disappear with magic that he wouldn't be able to stop him. Chip kept asking him what was going on, but every time Jason just growled at him to keep going. When they finally reached Rootcore, Jason followed Chip inside.

"Uh—hey guys," Chip said as they walked in. "We, umm… we have a visitor."

Jason finally let go and Chip started rubbing the back of his neck as he stepped out of reach. The rest of the team was looking at Jason in surprise from where they'd been gathered near their crystal ball viewer. Daggeron was standing a short distance behind them. He'd been talking when they first walked in, but he was just watching now.

"Umm… Hey, big brother," Vida said slowly. "What are you doing here?"

They were all on their feet now, watching Jason warily. No one had expected him to come barging in like that.

"We need to talk," he said, crossing his arms. "What is going on over here?"

The rangers exchanged glances.

"What do you mean?" Madison asked. "We're just studying right now."

She glanced over at Nick as she spoke. He nodded, his face grim. Taking a deep breath, Madison turned back to her brother and started walking over to him.

"Jason, we need to talk to you, too," she said hesitantly. "Will you come sit down?"

She held out a hand to him, inviting him to come sit at the table with them. Sighing, Jason started walking over to join her, glancing up to where Vida and the others were standing next to the globe. Then he froze suddenly, staring in shock.

"Jason?" Madison said in concern as everyone tensed. "Jason, are you alright?"

"Where did you get that?" Jason growled, gesturing at the globe. "Or, better yet, how did you get that?"

The globe was currently showing a life-force scan, one that was extremely familiar to Jason. Jason recognized the scan immediately, having seen plenty of scans of Tommy's life-force over the years. The colors, which had always been present in some form, had grown more predominant over the years. But it was the green sphere in the center that held Jason's focus. When Tommy had first broken free of Rita's spell, they thought her dark magic had been banished forever. But some unnoticed seed of dark magic had taken root in Tommy—and they didn't catch it in time. Then, when Rita lit the green candle, things started getting worse. It drained him and nearly killed him as it pulled power from his life-force. So he gave up the power and, for a while, things seemed to get better.

But then the powers were recharged by Zordon. It wasn't until after that time that the rangers realized how closely tied to Tommy's life-force the dark magic had become. And by then it was too late to remove it. So over the years, beginning with Zordon's guidance, Tommy had learned to control and contain the darkness using his own life-force. And it worked. Occasionally, when Tommy was extremely stressed, angry, or exposed to too much magic bits of the dark magic would escape, but he was nearly always in control. And the fact that Jason could see the darkness pushing against that sphere just from the still scan was not a good sign. It meant Tommy had been losing control.

"Jason?" Vida said, repeating Madison's question. "Are you alright?"

"Delete it," Jason said sharply, shaking himself out of his memories.

They were too close to finding answers they weren't ready to deal with—if they hadn't already figured it out. All five rangers looked at him in surprise.

"But—" Madison started to protest.

"Now," Jason growled. "Delete it, destroy it—whatever you want to call it. But it needs to be gone right now. And it can't come back."

"No," Nick said, shaking his head. "We aren't deleting it. Not until we get answers."

"I'm not joking," Jason snapped. "Get rid of it now or I will find a way to smash the whole thing—and you won't be able to stop me."

All of the rangers looked at him with horrified expressions.

"Jason!" Vida exclaimed.

"Now!" he ordered, not backing down.

He knew he was outnumbered, but he had his morpher with him this time and he knew he could destroy that globe and any evidence of the scan before they knew enough to stop him.

"Not happening," Nick snapped, stepping between Jason and the globe. "I don't care who you are or who you're related to. Now what do you know about Tommy? You are going to tell us or I will personally make sure you can't leave here."

Nick's challenge was the last straw for Jason. The other four rangers, and their mentor, watched as he and the young red ranger faced off. Jason knew from what he'd seen that Nick was strong—both morphed and unmorphed. But none of them seemed to have any idea of what he himself was capable of.

"That's enough!" Jason snarled. "You are all completely out of line. None of you have any right to have seen what you have. If I had my way, you would all be stripped of your powers and replaced. Unfortunately, that is a decision that is beyond my control for the moment. At least until I've been able to assess what kind of damage you've done."

"Damage?" Nick scoffed. "We didn't hurt anyone—"

"There's more than one way to inflict hurt on someone," Jason interrupted, towering over Nick. "And you can rest assured that all of you will pay the consequences of your actions if you have caused any lasting harm. Tommy is—"

"Is an evil ranger who uses dark magic to hurt people," Nick snapped. "He's dangerous."

Jason froze, staring at Nick. He'd guessed, especially after seeing the scan, but actually having one of them say it was still surprising. The question now was how much they knew past Tommy's time as an evil ranger.

"Jason, Nick is right," Vida said hesitantly. "I know he's your best friend, but Tommy isn't who you think he is… You need to stay away from him."

Jason scoffed, shaking his head.

"Not happening," he growled. "Not after this. What did you do to him?"

"Jason, he's dangerous," Madison pleaded. "He—he tried to hurt us… he attacked Xander with magic and nearly hurt Nick, too!"

"Tommy would never hurt anyone without cause," Jason retorted. "Now what did you do?"

Chip, who had been listening to the exchange silently, now was staring at Jason in horror.

"You know," he said. "And you have known, haven't you? You've known Tommy was the green ranger."

Madison and Vida both whipped around the look at Chip in complete shock, obviously not happy with his implication.

"Of course I knew," Jason snapped. "I've known nearly since the beginning. Did you really think I wouldn't know?"

Now the twins spun to look at their brother, eyes wide.

"You knew?" Vida exclaimed. "You knew and you didn't say anything? Jason—how could you?"

He glared back at her.

"You five are making a lot of assumptions right now," he growled. "Now what did you do? Because I came here assuming some monster attacked Tommy, but now I'm not so sure."

"You've seen him?" Xander frowned. "Where?"

"Not a chance," Jason said. "None of you will be going anywhere near him until I know what you did—and even then you may not have a shot. Now answer me!"

"Jason, how could you?" Madison finally got out, stepping backward and away from him. "How can you be on his side?"

Jason frowned.

"Why wouldn't I be on his side?" he asked. "We've been on the same side for a long time."

"He's evil," Nick snapped. "And he attacked all of us. He's not welcome here. And if you're choosing his side, than neither are you."

"You guys really don't get it," Jason said, shaking his head. "You're making a lot of assumptions without any explanations. I'm gathering you didn't give Tommy a chance to say anything, but you need to listen. So give me a chance to explain before you make your final decision—I think you'll change your minds."

Madison gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth.

"That's what Tommy said, too," she stammered. "Jason, please don't do this."

"Maddy, I'm not against you," Jason sighed. "We're on the same side. But you've got to understand that what you did to Tommy is wrong. He didn't deserve any of that—"

"He deserved exactly what he got," Nick growled, taking a step toward Jason again. "We know what he is now, too, so don't think coming here and begging for him is going to change anything."

"And you're quickly wearing out your welcome, too," Xander added, moving to stand with Nick.

Jason was getting more and more frustrated now.

"Jason, you lied to us," Vida said, looking at him with hurt in her eyes as she stood next to her sister. "And what's worse is you've been lying to us all along. Why couldn't you tell us the truth? Why all the secrets? Maybe we could have helped."

"You couldn't have helped," he said. "At first you were too young and then it was over. We can't change any of it now."

"You don't have to be like him, Jason," Madison said softly.

He groaned.

"Girls, you aren't getting it," he said. "Things happened and we can't change them. I know I lied to you about a lot of things, but just give me a chance to explain. Tommy—"

"Enough about Tommy!" Nick exclaimed. "He's a problem and we'll take care of him eventually. Right now we need to know who you're going to side with. I hate to hurt you, if only because you're their brother, but we will take you out, too, if you become a danger."

"The only problem here is the five of you!" Jason shouted in anger, finally snapping. "You have absolutely no idea what he has done for all of you and until you understand that you will keep your mouths shut and you will respect him. In fact, you will respect all of us because at this point you cannot begin to comprehend the sacrifices others have made so that some of you could even be here today. You may be power rangers, but you are not the first ones."

"And what do you know about that?" Nick snarled. "You've never been in our position."

"I was there when the original power rangers saved Angel Grove from countless monsters," Jason snarled. "I got to see them save people time after time, putting their lives on the line every day to keep citizens safe. And I saw the consequences of misused power—even if the fault didn't always belong to the person in question. None of you would be here if it wasn't for them."

He was pushing now, trying to see what they really knew.

"That has nothing to do with you or with any of the original rangers," Nick snarled. "This is about Tommy and how dangerous he is. We refuse to let someone with such strong dark magic run loose forever. His days are numbered."

Jason froze, his gaze locked on Nick.

"You have no idea what you're saying," he said slowly, shaking his head. "And, if you move against Tommy like that, you will regret those actions for the rest of your life. So stand down and destroy that scan. Now!"

Nick snarled, reaching for his wand. Jason didn't back down, his hand shifting to his back pocket. But none of the rangers noticed, their focus completely on Nick.

"Don't, Nick," Madison said suddenly, grabbing his shoulder. "Just get rid of it."

Nick looked at her and the other rangers in surprise. But they were all nodding in agreement with Madison.

"We can't escalate," Vida said, shaking her head.

"But he—" Nick started to protest.

"Hasn't actually done anything," Chip said. "Jason hasn't lifted a hand against you."

"Fine," Nick snapped, jerking away from Madison and stalking a short ways away.

Jason didn't relax, eying him warily and ready to react. Madison took a deep breath, pulling out her own wand. Pointing it at the globe, she erased the scan.

"It's gone," she said, turning to Jason. "For good. We can't call it back. Now will you please listen to us?"

He didn't answer her question.

"You'd better not be able to," he said sharply. "Now listen well. This is your final warning. If you cannot get your act together, you will be acting alone. You have been warned and there will not be another—we don't help rangers who blatantly break the Code."

Turning, he stalked toward the exit.

"Jason, wait!" Vida cried. "Where are you going? And what are you talking about? Please don't do this."

"I'm going home!" he snapped, not pausing. "And you'll know if or when the time comes."

"Jason, if you go then we have to count you as an enemy," Vida said. "We can't afford to put the people who count on us in danger just because you're making bad choices."

He stopped, fists clenched as he stared straight ahead, not looking back at them.

"So be it," he said. "I made my choice a long time ago, and now you've made yours—I just hope you don't regret it later."

He stalked out without another word, leaving his sisters and their friends staring after him in shock. The stared for a moment, and then Madison bolted for the door.

"Jason, wait!" she cried, running out after him. "Please come back!"

Vida and the boys chased after her, hoping they weren't running into a trap. They found her outside, staring into the woods. Jason was nowhere in sight.

"Where is he?" Nick asked, stopping next to Madison.

"Gone," she mumbled. "He took off running before I could get out here…I just—how could he do this?"

She turned to the others, fighting tears.

"Maybe Tommy has him under a spell," Xander suggested as Vida put an arm around her sister. "Daggeron did say his magic could be dangerous."

"Maybe," Nick said doubtfully, frowning. "But even if he is, he could still be a problem."

Sighing, he turned to the girls.

"Maddy, V," he said. "I'm sorry, but you're brother just put himself in a really bad position. You know you can't trust him anymore, right?"

Vida glared at him. Madison was still crying quietly.

"We get it, Nick," she snapped. "You don't need to rub it in. We know where are loyalties have to lie—no matter how hard it is…"

"We'd never put you guys in danger," Madison added quietly, her voice shaky. "We—we'll stay away from Tommy and Jason until we figure this out…"

With no sign of Jason coming back, the rangers headed back inside to do some damage control.

By the time Jason got back to Reefside, he had calmed down a little—though not a whole lot. The actions of the Mystic Force team still had him fuming. He still couldn't believe that they would attack another ranger like that—especially without giving them a chance to defend themselves. And on top of that, he had just walked away leaving his sisters and the rest of their team to fend for themselves, effectively cutting off any chance for aid from another team. Heading into the house, Jason was climbing up the steps when the door opened and Dr. Walsh came walking out.

"Dr. Walsh?" Jason said, pausing in surprise. "Is Tommy alright? What's going on?"

The doctor paused, sighing.

"He's sleeping again," he answered. "I gave him some medication for pain and to help him sleep, so he should be out for a while. He's going to need to rest that shoulder for a while and give it a chance to heal."

Jason nodded. Even though Dino Thunder had been done for a couple of years now, Dr. Walsh was still the only non-ranger doctor the rangers trusted. No one had ever actually told him anything and that was the way the doctor liked it. He helped fix up the rangers when Dana couldn't help and never asked any questions—which still surprised some of them given what Dino Thunder put him through in their last few months. He simply accepted whatever explanation they gave him without question. But all he wanted to do was help them without putting himself in a position where he might have to lie. As long as Dr. Walsh could only speculate, he could say with good conscience to anyone that he knew nothing.

"Thanks, Dr. Walsh," Jason sighed. "We'll keep an eye on him."

Nodding, the doctor made his way out to his car as Jason continued into the house. When he walked into the living room, everyone turned to look at who had come in. Anton was sitting and relaxing in one of the armchairs while Justin was lounging in the other. Kira and Trent were sitting on opposite ends of the couch, their legs stretched out toward each other, and Ethan and Conner were sprawled out on the floor. Everyone looked relaxed at first glance, but Jason knew they were anything but right now.

"Did you make them pay?" Justin asked the moment he saw Jason.

Conner's head shot up and he quickly sat upright.

"Are they dead?" he asked before Jason could answer Justin.

"No, they're not dead," Jason said, shaking his head.

"Why not?" Conner demanded.

"Because I can't kill them," Jason sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Why?" Ethan asked, sitting up. "Did you forget your morpher?"

Jason shot him a look.

"No, I did not forget my morpher," he said.

"Then why didn't you take care of them?" Kira frowned, swinging her feet around to rest on the floor. "Didn't the rangers help?"

Jason took a deep breath, hesitating. He knew an explosion was coming the moment the truth was out.

"It was your sisters, wasn't it?" Hayley said from behind Jason, surprising him. "Mystic Force attacked Tommy."

The younger rangers looked at Jason in surprise, but the way he flinched when Hayley made her accusation left no questions.

"Yeah," he said reluctantly. "It was—but how did you find out?"

"Something Tommy was mumbling in his sleep," Hayley said grimly. "Combined with 'they know' it wasn't hard to figure out. Did they explain what on earth they were thinking?"

"They didn't explain much of anything," Jason said shortly. "Outside of pointing out that Tommy was the original green ranger—they were really stuck on the evil part—and insisting that I stay away from him because he attacked them and he's dangerous."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Conner growled, on his feet now. "You're serious? The new team attacked Dr. O?"

"Because they found out he used to be evil?" Trent added furiously.

"They still think he's evil," Jason said. "They didn't give him a chance to explain anything."

Hayley had moved into the living room and was standing with her arms crossed.

"Oh, we'll make them regret that decision," Ethan snapped, standing up next to Conner. "There's no way he attacked them first."

"I'm in," Justin said, getting out of his chair. "No one is getting away with hurting Tommy like that—no matter who they are."

Kira and Trent were up now, too, all of them ready to retaliate for Tommy's sake. Anton was the only one still sitting, though he was obviously upset by Jason's news.

"They're not going to know what hit them," Conner growled, glancing around. "Ready, guys?"

"Let's go," Kira said as they all nodded.

"No one is going anywhere near there," Jason snapped, crossing his arms as he stood in the doorway. "So stand down."

"We're going," Conner said. "I know they're your sisters, but they deserve what's coming to them."

"Conner's right," Ethan agreed. "They had no right to do what they did—they could have killed him!"

"And there's no way Dr. O would have hurt any of them on purpose," Kira added. "I don't care what they claim—they escalated the fight, not him."

Jason took a deep breath as the rest of the group chimed in agreements.

"So we're out of here," Conner said, moving to walk around Jason. "Hayley, we'll be back later tonight."

"Enough!" Jason snarled, putting out an arm to stop Conner. "Stand down now!"

The younger rangers all froze in surprise. They rarely heard that kind of command from Jason. He generally left corralling them up to Tommy, focusing his own attention on the older rangers. But now his tone left no room for argument. He was visibly agitated by everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

"No one is going near Briarwood," he continued, his gaze daring any of them to argue with him. "It's bad enough that they attacked Tommy. We aren't going to start a war that's going to cause more pain than solve problems. My sisters—Mystic Force are on their own now. No one is going to fight them—or help them."

"We have every right to retaliate," Conner challenged. "They escalated the fight, not us."

"Tommy has the right to make that decision, not you," Jason snapped back. "He is the only one of us who knows exactly what happened. And with him out of commission for the moment, all five of you fall under my authority in ranger matters. None of you will set foot in Briarwood or the surrounding areas without my permission."

"But—" Ethan started to protest.

"No!" Jason interrupted. "Stay away. If, after he wakes up and is conscious enough to make a coherent decision, Tommy decides retaliation is the right path you can go then. But you will not make a move without consent from one or both of us. Understood?"

He looked at the younger rangers, waiting for their answer. They glared back, not ready to back down yet. Jason looked over at Hayley, too, knowing she was perfectly capable of retaliating without the aid of the rangers.

"Jason's right, guys," Hayley said reluctantly after a moment. "I want to make them pay as much as you do, but now is not the right time. If we take down their team, then we have to finish their fight and none of us are prepared for that."

"We can deal with it," Conner said. "We can't let them get away with this—they almost killed him!"

Jason flinched again at the reminder.

"Conner, we have to stand down," Kira said quietly behind him as she looked at Jason. "The whole thing is bad enough…do we really want to war against other rangers? Let's let them stew for now."

"And when we do move, they won't see it coming," Trent added. "We have the advantage of knowing who they are. They don't know who we are—right?"

All of them looked at Jason expectantly. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face.

"I don't know," he said. "They might, they might not. All I know for sure is that they found out about Tommy's time as a ranger and I'm pretty sure, from how angry they got with me, that they made the leap from him to the rest of the originals… You guys might be safe."

"Oh, that's reassuring," Ethan muttered. "Least we know Dr. O wouldn't have told them willingly…"

Conner was still glaring at Jason, arms crossed.

"Conner," Anton said quietly from the chair he was still sitting in. "Would Tommy want you to attack Mystic Force?"

Scowling, Conner slowly shook his head.

"No," he muttered. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't…"

He sighed, dropping his arms.

"Alright," Conner said, looking at Jason. "We'll stand down—for now. But if they do anything else like this then any promises go out the window. Remember, Dr. O is on my team now, not yours."

Jason glowered at him, but Conner didn't take it back.

"Oh, and one more thing," Conner scowled. "Reefside is ours. They set foot on our turf and you no longer get a say. We get to do what we want with them."

"Fair enough," Jason agreed. "But you are not allowed to lure them here in any way. The rule of it being your turf only applies if they come here of their own free will. Got it?"

"I got it," Conner muttered. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Well I certainly don't," Justin grumbled, plopping back down in his chair.

"Yeah, well, deal with it," Jason snapped. "Now if you'll all excuse me, I have to figure out how to tell everyone else without causing a run on Briarwood."

Hayley frowned.

"Jason?" she said. "Shouldn't you wait until Rocky and Adam get home? Or at least until they're close enough to you that you can take their keys and keep them from going back?"

Jason looked at her in confusion.

"Back where?" he asked.

"You did tell them they could leave Briarwood, right?" Hayley said. "That we found Tommy?"

Jason groaned, rubbing a hand on his forehead. The younger rangers started snickering as Hayley rolled her eyes.

"You mean to tell me they're still searching?" she said in exasperation. "Jason, they've been out there all night!"

"I was a little distracted," Jason said defensively. "I'll just tell them to come here so I can get their keys before I tell them what happened."

"Not if I tell them first," Ethan smirked. "And you haven't told them they can't retaliate yet."

He had his phone in hand and his fingers were flying over the keyboard.

"No you won't," Jason snapped, snatching the phone from Ethan. "And none of the rest of you are allowed to tell them either. That means you, Justin."

"Aww… But I was about to hit send…" he grumbled.

"Delete it," Jason growled as he deleted the message Ethan had been typing. "I'm going to call them. You guys can talk to them when they get here."

Turning, he hit the call button on Ethan's phone as he walked away.

"Wait! That's my phone!" Ethan protested.

"And you can have it back as soon as I'm done talking to Adam," Jason called back without turning around. "Hey, Adam. It's Jason…"