Hayden left her post for a moment to pick up her niece from her sister's house. Now that Scott, Samantha and Mike were leaving, the two year old wouldn't have anyone to watch her. Though it wasn't going to be ideal taking Engel to the command center while on a mission, it was better than leaving her alone at home.

The former pink Ranger stepped inside the house and found her sister packing Engel's stuff in a bag. When she heard the door open, Samantha looked up.

"Hey."

"Hey," Hayden nodded. Samantha put the bag on the ground and looked at her baby sister. Hayden felt slightly awkward as her sister stared at her. She shifted uncomfortably, pulling Samantha out of her stare.

"I've packed a few things for Engel," she said. "I don't know how long we'll be gone."

She grabbed the house keys from the bowl beside the front door and handed them to Hayden.

"If you need to, you can pick up more of her stuff from the house," she told her sister. "You know where everything is."

"Of course I do," Hayden nodded.

"I told Engel she would be spending a fun weekend with Aunt Hayden," Samantha explained. "She doesn't know I'm going out in the wastelands for a mission. She's expecting me to come home."

"You will come home," Hayden assured her sister.

Samantha shook her head, "I don't know..."

"Sammy, we've survived Venjix and T15! Hell, we've survived the end of the world! Fate's been on our side since day one!"

"It's easy for you to believe," Samantha grumbled, "You can heal, and you're staying inside the dome."

"You can heal too," Hayden said. "Just one kiss and bam, booboo's all better."

"You know it's not the same," Samantha frowned. She picked up the bag and handed it over to Hayden. Hayden took it, but glanced at her sister sadly.

"You'll come back," she told her.

"It's all being set up perfectly," Samantha whispered. "My husband left for a peace mission that turned into a dangerous hostage situation, and now I have to leave my daughter, and I'm taking her real father with me, to go help out! We're going to be fighting these guys we know nothing about without any real back-up, and my baby sister is pregnant with her first child..."

Hayden dropped the bag and pulled her sister into a hug. She knew it was natural for Samantha to worry. She worried every time Scott went out on a mission. When he ran late, she began to panic. Of course she would panic now that she was leaving her daughter and her pregnant sister behind. She knew they would be taken care of, but she also knew how deeply it hurt to lose someone you loved.

"Take care of her," Samantha whispered into her sister's ear, "Please... please take care of her."

Hayden nodded, "You know I will."

Samantha kissed her sister on the cheek and pulled away. Hayden grabbed the bag while Samantha went to get Engel from the TV room. She placed the two year old in her sister's arms.

Hayden let the mother say one last goodbye to her daughter. She was positive everyone would be coming home safely, but Samantha seemed to have her doubts.

"The others are waiting for you at the border," Hayden instructed. "Mom's going to be there as well to give you guys some equipment. With the Ranger Suits out of action, you'll all need a little firearm and protection."

-----Afterlife-----

After tying up the mutant, Scott called Gem to come down into the bunker and meet up with him and Gemma. As expected, Gem rushed to complete his order, and found his way to his team in a matter of minutes.

Dani was rubbing her wrists and pacing back and forth, trying to contact Greg with her mind, but she could feel a mental block was up. Scott watched her sadly, before he heard the mutant begin to chuckle. He walked over to him.

"I see you're awake," he said.

The mutant chuckled again, "Of course I am. Do you really think you can keep something as strong as me down? You regular humans are inferior to what we've become now."

Scott growled softly and turned back to his team. He saw Dani was reaching a breaking point and sighed.

"What are you doing?" he asked the creature.

"Sitting in a chair," the creature answered, "Though to be honest, I really thought you could tie a better knot."

Scott quickly went to check to see if the mutant managed to get his hands free. He sighed in relief when he saw he was still tied down, but glared at the mutant questioningly.

"What are you talking about?"

"This is a simple knot," the mutant said. "If I tried, I could pulled my hands out and take you all on within a matter of seconds."

"Like you could beat us all," Gemma scoffed. The mutant smirked.

"Wanna bet?"

Scott levelled his gun at the mutant's head, "Make one move and I'll kill you."

"If you kill me, you'll break my link with my brothers," the mutant said. "They already know you're here and waiting for backup."

"What are you doing to my head?" Dani shouted, turning to run towards the mutant, but Gem grabbed her, holding her back.

"You're a threat," he whispered. "I can't let you communicate with your male lover."

"At least let me tell him I'm okay!" Dani screamed. "He thinks I'm dead."

The mutant smirked, getting out of the chair, "I can arrange that."

Scott turned off the safety as a warning to the mutant to sit back down. The mutant simply chuckled and reached for his arm. He pulled out the bullet from before without any indication of pain. Scott realised his gun would do no good and put it back in its holder.

Gem pulled Dani behind him, "No one's hurting anyone until we figure this out," he said.

The mutant walked to the door and turned back to face his captors. He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked.

"How many are you expecting to come?" he asked. "Four, five?"

"Six," Gemma answered, "What's it to you?"

"Six soldiers coming in for backup," the mutant breathed. "Let's do the math... it took five of us, to take down two very dangerous threats without a fight."

"We weren't expecting you," Dani frowned.

"Now, even though I'm supposed to be the captive, I've got four of you right where I want you. That means it takes one of us, to take down four of you."

"Your point?" Scott asked.

"You haven't taken us down," Gem frowned. "We're still standing!"

The mutant shut his eyes for a moment and Dani screamed, clutching her head in pain and dropping to her knees. Scott ran to her side, holding her close as he glanced up at the mutant.

"Okay, okay, we understand," he told him. "Let her go."

The mutant obliged, pulling out of Dani's head and opening his eyes.

"As I was saying, by the way things are looking now it would take one and a half of us to wipe out your entire back-up team. There are currently two of my brothers on stand-by, waiting to kill."

"Kill?" Gem said nervously, turning to his sister.

The mutant nodded, "Lover boy is tough. He's yet to tell us any information."

-----Afterlife-----

Greg was breathing deeply, trying to focus on something peaceful instead of the threats coming from whoever was holding him.

"You'll tell us what we want to know," the voice spoke and Greg felt a sharp pain in his head. He screamed loudly until the pain subsided. He raised his head.

"You killed my wife," he muttered. "I won't tell you a thing."

"You killed your wife," the voice corrected him. "We gave you the choice. All you had to do was tell us what you were here to do."

"I told you!" Greg screamed, throwing himself forward, but the chains pulled him back. "I was here on my honeymoon!"

"No one's left the protection of the stupid domed cities to go on a honeymoon!" the voice shouted, grabbing Greg's face. "Your wife is dead because you won't tell us the truth."

"I don't even know who you are!" Greg screamed.

"That is none of your concern!"

"Okay, then let me go!" Greg begged, "Please, just let me go!"

"Not until you tell us what you're doing here," the voice growled. "If you don't, we'll have to assume the worst. We'll have to assume you're a spy for the cities. You've come to take us out."

"You won't believe me!" Greg said. "I've told you the truth!"

"No you haven't."

"Yes, I have! I've told you, I've told you a thousand times! I'm not here to spy on you! I'm not here to hurt you..."

Greg screamed loudly in pain as his head began to pound again, drowning out even his own screams. His knees buckled, leaving him to hang by his arms thanks to the chains.

"He is of no use," the voice said. "Leave him here. We'll deal with him later."

-----Afterlife-----

"What are you doing to him?" Dani asked on the verge of tears as she looked up from the ground. The mutant smirked, shrugging his shoulders. Dani jumped up and ran towards him. She shoved him into the door and glared up at him menacingly. "Tell me!"

Scott heard a beep from his communicator and picked it up. Just before he went to answer it, the mutant pushed Dani aside and walked over to him, holding out his hand.

"You won't be answering that," he said.

Scott went to put the communicator away, but the mutant took it out of his hands.

"Who is this?" he asked. Scott lunged for the device, but the mutant knocked him down.

"Who is this?" a voice asked in return.

"That isn't your concern. I have your team of soldiers here with me as well as one prisoner. You will do as I say."

"What do you want?"

"Summer, turn the team around and head back for the domes!" Scott shouted. The mutant glared at the Eagle Squad leader.

"You heard the captain. Turn back, abort this mission and leave me and my brothers alone."

"What do you want with them?" Summer asked.

"We want nothing with them," the mutant answered. "It's what you want with us. Let us live the rest of our lives in peace."

"What are you...?"

"Let go of our friends or I will come in there and rip all your heads off!"

The mutant frowned and turned to Scott, "Who was that? He sounded foolish."

"You have your secrets, we have ours," Scott smirked, getting back to his feet. He held out his hand, "If you want them to leave, let me talk to them."

The mutant hesitated for a moment, before handing over the communicator.

"If you say one wrong thing I will tell my brothers to kill lover boy," he said.

"I'll tell them exactly what you want me to tell them," Scott smiled. The mutant handed the communicator over and shut his eyes, opening up the telepathic link.

Scott pressed down on the button, "Dillon, give the communicator back to Summer."

----Afterlife-----

Dillon frowned, but did as he was told. He handed the communicator back to his wife. Summer shook her head and sighed.

"What is it, Scott?"

"Are you alone?"

"Do you want me to be?"

"Yes."

Summer stepped away from the group and lowered her voice, "Okay, I'm alone."

"Good. Fall back."

"Scott!"

"Samantha's on this mission with you, right?"

"Yeah... Hayden's pregnant and Samantha... what does this..."

"If you come in here, you're all going to die. I'm not risking that."

Summer groaned, "Scott, this is our job..."

"No, it's Eagle Squad's job. You guys are retired. Now go home."

"No," Summer frowned. "I'm not leaving you..."

"Summer, go home. You'll be safe."

"Scott..."

"It's your job to lead this team when Hayden or I aren't there. It's up to you to protect them in battle. Sometimes, the only way to do that is to fall back. The less lives lost, the better."

"We'll come back for you..."

"No, don't," Scott sighed deeply on the other end. "Summer, this is for the best. Promise me you won't come back."

"I..."

"Summer, please...."

Summer lowered her head in defeat, "I promise."

"Good... and Summer, can you do me one more favour?"

"What's that?" Summer asked.

"Tell my wife, that no matter what happens to me, I love her."

"I will," Summer nodded. "Over and out."

Summer turned off the communicator and clutched it tightly in her hands. She had been ordered to leave her friends for dead. But, to make matters even more difficult, she now had to go tell the wife of one of the dead men that she was calling off the mission.

Summer thought it over in her head, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't walked back over to the others and tell them what Scott had told her to do.

She looked over at her friends and family. They were watching her, waiting for her to come back and tell them the plan. They were all hopeful they could rescue the others and take down whatever it was that was keeping them prisoner.

She looked to Samantha. Her husband was down there. Summer couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for her. If Dillon had been down there, she would refuse to turn away.

"Fuck it," Summer said, tossing the communicator in the sand. She ran back to the others, "We don't have a lot of time."

"What did he say?" Mike asked, jogging to keep up with his cousin.

Summer didn't answer. She wouldn't answer. Scott had told her to turn back. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't follow through with his orders and leave him and the others in the bunker to die. She wasn't one to leave a man behind.