Disclaimer: I still don't own Power Rangers

A/N: This was always part of the Time Travel plot, although I might could have written it better.


Doctor K took a deep breath and touched the button that would let her page the Garage; "Dino Thunder, Ninja Storm, please come to the Ranger Room," she said firmly. The two teams looked up in surprise, but headed her way. When Scott would have followed she said, "Ranger Red, I wish to speak to the Dino Thunders and Ninja Storm alone."

"Ok," Scott said, but that didn't stop him from watching while the six Rangers from the past disappeared into the Ranger Room and were sealed within.

Dr K made sure that her voice would only sound in the Ranger Room, to ensure that no one would eavesdrop and learn something they could never know. "I brought you here to give you the final pieces to stop Venjix," she told the Rangers.

"What do you mean?" Hunter asked.

Dr K reached out a shaking hand and opened the door to the control room as she pulled off her headset. Then she turned as the door slid open, stood up and stepped out as they stared at her in shock. "I am Dr K," she told them.

For a long moment, they stared at her in blank shock, then life began to come back to their faces. Hunter looked amused, Dustin thoughtful, Conner annoyed, Ethan was still surprised and Kira looked like she wanted to hug her. "It's an honor to meet you," Cam said with a slight smile.

"I don't think you'll say that after you hear what I have to tell you," Dr K told him quietly.

To her amusement, the six Rangers picked out places on the floor, Dustin and Hunter practically in each other's lap, Conner and Ethan propping each other up, Cam sitting with his back perfectly straight, and Kira in the front, ready to leap to her feet if she had to. "I was born to a family I can no longer remember," Dr K began, "I was stolen from them when I was five years old, not long after the truth of my genius came out. Told that I was allergic to the sun and could therefore never go outside, I was raised at a government facility called Alphabet Soup. I created weapons, wrote computer codes and deciphered cryptic messages. By the time I was eight, I could no longer remember the name I was born to, only the name I had been given, 'K'. When I was eleven, I was given a series of tests, after which I was told that I was now a Doctor. When I was thirteen I was given two new projects that from the beginning were exact opposites. The first you have seen the results of here, Project Ranger. The second, you have seen the worst of, Project Venjix."

"You created Venjix?" Cam blurted.

"It was never supposed to be released," Dr K said, "it was only supposed to be used as a test for security protocols. They never expected me to achieve the level of autonomous interaction that I did."

Kira leapt to her feet and threw her arms around her, "Don't worry," Kira said as she released her, "We aren't going to hate you."

"How did Venjix get free?" Conner asked.

Dr K took another breath as Kira sat back down, "When I was fourteen, my minders brought the first people my age I had met since I'd come to the Soup; Gem and Gemma. Like me, they had been raised there, and like me, Alphabet Soup had left its mark on them. They were the test pilots for the first generation of Project Ranger, specifically they were bonded to the Gold and Silver morphers. By my fifteenth birthday, even if I could not call them friends, they were quick to insist, loudly, that I was their friend. One day, as I was working on Project Ranger, I saw a butterfly. Excited and curious, I followed it. I hadn't seen any sign of the outside world since I was four years old and I was desperate for something. What I found was a window that had been left open, I stepped into the room and into a ray of sunshine. I did not get sick, I felt no pain, and I realized that I had been lied to. I was not allergic to sunlight, I was not forced to stay indoors for health reasons. If I wasn't, then neither was Gem and Gemma. We could leave Alphabet Soup." She looked away, "It never occurred to me not to take them."

"To escape the security at the Soup, security that I had designed and perfect, I knew what I had to do." Dr K looked at each of them for a moment, "I had to use Project Venjix, but first, I would need to put up a firewall to keep it in the Soup. Otherwise, there was no telling the amount of damage the AI virus would cause." She rubbed her arms, feeling the grip of the security man who had grabbed her. "I was stopped before I could put the firewall in place, but after activating Venjix. They kept me isolated for most of the following year before letting me work on Project Ranger again. I was never allowed to be alone with Gem and Gemma after that either. We could only see each other when the Gold and Silver Rangers were needed to test something, and to talk about non Project related matters would lead to more punishment. Three years later, four after I freed Venjix, it came for the Soup. I knew that the government had built Corinth and was intending to use it as a refugee camp, and that's where I intended to take the programs and morphers for Project Ranger. When the directors made it clear that they would kill me before letting me escape, I thought I would die. If the directors didn't kill me, Venjix would. But I forgot about Gem and Gemma. They escaped their confinement and came for me, arriving just in time to stop the Directors. They helped me get out, and then when back in for the Gold and Silver morphers. They never came back out and I was forced to run for Corinth on my own."

Dr K closed her eyes, unable to see if there was hatred in the expression of these veteran Rangers.

Warm arms encircled her, the faint scent of vanilla told her it was Kira. A second set of arms, a scent of Earth and sandalwood, also hugged her, she peeked. Dustin.

"You are an amazing woman," Conner said softly from beyond the circle of arms. "You're strong, brave and worthy of being a Ranger."

"You are not to blame," Hunter added, "no more than the first Green Ranger, second Pink, Titanium Ranger, Silver Wild Force, my brother and I, White Dino Thunder, Red Mystic Warrior, the Mercury Warrior, or Jarrod of Pai Zhua. You did what you had to."

"We don't hate you," Ethan said, "we understand."

"You feel guilty," Cam added, "and you probably always will, but you didn't stop, you didn't give up. You gave Humans the ability to fight back. You spend hours every day searching for a solution and you aren't going to give up."

Dr K freed herself from the double hug, feeling exceptionally uncomfortable with the contact and stared at these six Rangers. She respected them, both because they were Rangers, and as human beings; their acceptance of what she had done was more than she'd ever dreamed to accept. "K," Kira said, "what can you tell us about your family. If we can find you, we can prevent Alphabet Soup from taking you."

"In your time," K said, "I've already been missing a year." She took a piece of printed paper from her pocket, "These are the coordinates to Alphabet Soup, along with everything I can remember about the people I saw. Gem and Gemma will go missing soon if they haven't already. They were six when they came to the Soup."

"A year," Kira gasped, then stared at her for a long moment.

"Kira, what is it," Conner asked.

"Emma?" Kira breathed.

"I'm sorry?" K asked, mostly to cover for the sudden jolt she felt.

"Kim," Kira said, "Kim's daughter."

"No way," Conner said, and then peered closely at Dr K for a moment and shook his head, "I don't know Kira."

"What are you talking about?" Hunter asked, saving Dr K from asking the self same question.

"Kim Johannason," Kira said, "formerly Kim Hart. Gold medal gymnast and the first Pink Ranger. She had three children, not two. James, Rebecca and Emma. No one talks much about Emma in this time, but in our time, she was kidnapped last year. I don't know if she could be called a child prodigy, but was five when she disappeared." When everyone looked at her, Kira shrugged, "James and Rebecca vanished in the evacuation, Kim told me. She hopes they're ok, and making their way to Corinth slowly to avoid Venjix."

"How does she know they're still alive?" K asked.

"Because James is a Ranger-elect," Kira replied, "he'll be a Black Ranger. Kim said the only reason he doesn't have a morpher is because he was too young the last time the Astros were on Earth, but that the Black Astro Morpher would have gone to him. Just like the Pink and Yellow Astro Morphers will go to Lexi and Leigh, or Silver belongs to Zhane's son and as much as Andros would like Terran to have Red, he's a Blue through and through, and Phoenix will get the Red morpher."

"How do they know?" K asked, "How can they be so sure that the morphers will go to the right Ranger?"

"The morpher knows," Conner said, "and when the right Ranger comes, events will conspire to get the morpher to the person. That's how Kira, Ethan and I became Rangers."

"Trent said the white gem actually leapt off a table to bond with him," Ethan offered.

"All you have to do is keep your eyes open," Conner continued, "and even if you're not sure trust your Rangers. Scott has a good head on his shoulders when his emotions are clouding it up."

"Flynn to," Ethan said, "he's a Blue, and very logical, so even if he's arguing against a Ranger, it'll be more like he's the Devil's Advocate."

"And if all else fails," Kira finished, "Summer is a Soul Healer. She's not used to her instincts, but she's learning to trust them. If she says someone should be a Ranger and the other two can't come up with a good reason why that person shouldn't be a Ranger, then trust her."

"It's not just instinct," Dustin said, "it's the Power. The Power knows it's Rangers and like will summon like."