The mutant paced back and forth with a grin on his face before he turned to Scott.

"Brave move, chief," he said. "Brave, but stupid."

"I'm not letting you hurt other people," Scott growled. "Now, tell us what exactly it is you want. Maybe we can work out a deal."

"There's no need for a deal," the mutant said, "Lover boy's reaching a breaking point. We can feel it. Another few minutes and he'll tell us everything we need to know."

"If you hurt him..." Dani started for the mutant, but Gem and Gemma grabbed her, pulling her back. They were equally worried about Greg, but knew enough about the situation to stay calm. Whatever plan Scott had would, eventually, rescue them all.

Dani pulled out of Gem and Gemma's grip, glaring at them before turning to the mutant, "What do you want to know?" she asked. "I'll tell you everything if you leave my husband alone."

"Tell us exactly what we want to hear," the mutant told her. "Why are you here?"

"Honeymoon."

"How did you find out about this place?"

"These guys right here."

"How did you get your powers?"

"Radiation poisoning."

The mutant smirked, grabbing the chair and taking a seat. He leaned back slightly, "This is why we don't believe you city-slickers. You're all full of crap."

"A honeymoon is when two people who just got married take a vacation," Dani explained. "They go away somewhere nice. Corinth City and NewTech are so... city-ish, that it was best to just get away. Eagle Squad discovered this Oasis on a mission and reported it back to the commander, my Aunt. That's how we found out. End of story, let my husband go."

"You expect me to believe that?" the mutant asked. "For years I've seen people like you fight against creatures like us. Power Rangers, I think they were called..."

"They fought evil," Scott said. "You're a son of a bitch, but I don't believe you're fully evil."

"My brothers come from around the world," the mutant said, "They don't know Power Rangers like I do... but they do know a threat when they see it."

"You're all from around the world?" Gem asked.

"Yes, we're from around the world! Different cultures, different pasts... but we've used our experiences to survive out here after you city-folks left us for dead! It's been six years since we've been on our own. We've lived in peace until you and lover boy show up!"

"How do you live in peace with Venjix...?" Gem started, but his sister nudged him in the ribs.

Dani growled loudly in frustration, holding her hands to her head as she glared hatefully at the creature holding her inside the room.

"I'll admit, right now I really want to hurt you. I wanted to hurt you from the moment you hit my husband over the head! But before you attacked us, I didn't want to hurt you! I had no idea you existed!"

"And that's why we don't trust you," the mutant said. He shut his eyes. "Takeo, the female's willing to talk."

"Takeo..." Dani frowned. She looked over at Scott, then the Boom-Twins, "That's a Japanese name. Aunt Leah and Uncle Cam used to tell me Japanese names all the time when I was a kid. I thought they were always so funny."

"Like I said," the mutant nodded, "We're from all over the world."

Dani nodded, "You said you knew about the Power Rangers..."

"There will be no questions!" the mutant shouted.

"You're from America, aren't you?" Dani asked. "That's how you knew about the Power Rangers. You grew up with them."

"Is there a point to this?" the mutant asked.

"The voice in the other room... who was he? He spoke English too..."

"We all speak a little of the other languages," the mutant said. "However, right now, I wouldn't be concerned about where we come from... but more about what's happening to your husband."

Scott shook his head and stepped over to the mutant. He held the communicator in his hand and waved it in the mutant's face.

"You don't know Summer like we do," he smirked.

-----Afterlife-----

"Hayden, are you there?" Summer spoke into a communicator as she stood before the lake. "Hayden..."

"Sorry! Engel dropped her building blocks all over the floor!"

"Where's the entrance to the bunker?"

"Find the hollow tree. There should still be a rope going down into the trunk from when Scott, Gem and Gemma went in."

"Over here!" Mike called, waving his friends over. Summer gave the communicator back to Dillon and ran over.

"How are we going to get down?" Ziggy asked.

"We climb," Flynn shrugged.

"This would be easier if we knew how far down this went," Mike said, looking down the trunk. "I can barely see the ground from here."

"But you can see it," Samantha said, patting her cousin on the back. "At least we know there's ground to land on."

"What's at the bottom?" Dillon asked.

"Whoever goes down first should check it out," Ziggy stated, before five sets of eyes turned to him. He groaned loudly, "Why do I always do that?"

"C'mon, man," Flynn smirked, "Take one for the team."

"You were a great distraction last time," Summer nodded.

Ziggy grabbed onto the rope, "Fine, I'll do it. But you're all a bunch of cowards."

Dillon chuckled as he went to check the rope, making sure it was secure for his friend as Ziggy began to scurry his way down. When his feet reached the bottom, he looked around. When he was sure there was nothing in sight, he called back up to the surface.

"We're good. Come on down."

Samantha sprouted her wings and grabbed Summer and Flynn in her arms. She flew them down before going back up for Dillon and Mike. When the six of them were down, Ziggy glared at Samantha.

"You couldn't have done that the first time?" he asked her. Samantha shrugged.

"We needed bait in case there was someone here."

"C'mon, guys," Summer called, already taking off down the long hallway, "We need to hurry."

The others followed her as they ran, checking every door on the way. All of them were locked, and the closer they got to the end of the hallway, the more their panic grew.

Suddenly, a creature walked out of a room, dragging Greg behind him. The former Rangers grouped together and stood defensively.

The creature noticed the six newcomers and turned to face them slowly. His face, as well as his chest and his right arm and leg were scared heavily by burns that disfigured him greatly. He was barely recognisable as a human, aside from his figure.

The creature began to speak, but in a language that the others couldn't recognise. They did turn to Flynn, hoping he could help out thanks to his new powers, but the mechanic shrugged.

"I don't know the language," he said. "I need to know if I can understand."

The man spoke again and Mike picked up on a few words. Having grown up in the Wind and Thunder Ninja Academies, he heard Sensei Watanabe and Sensei Omino speaking the same language as the creature before him. It also helped that he spend a lot of time with his Uncle Cam and his Aunt Leanne while training.

He tapped Flynn on the arm, "It's Japanese."

"How the hell do you know that," Dillon frowned. "It's just a bunch of sounds put together."

"I know, okay," Mike said. "Both the Watanabes and the Ominos are Japanese. They speak it fluently."

"Leanne's Japanese?" Samantha asked.

"Half," Mike nodded, "Her real first name is Sakura. Sensei Omino chose it, while her mom chose Leanne."

Now that he understood the language, Flynn could speak with the creature.

"Who are you?" he asked. There was a response and when the creature was done, Flynn turned to the others.

"He said he called his brothers," he frowned.

"Ask him what he's doing with Greg," Ziggy said.

"Disposing of him," the creature answered, speaking English flawlessly and without accent. The Rangers frowned, looking in shock as the creature replied. Only a few seconds ago they were struggling to communicate, and now he was speaking their language.

The creature continued, "His lover is willing to talk. Once she does, we'll dispose of her and her friends as well."

Ziggy tapped Mike on the shoulder, "Do I suddenly understand Japanese?"

"They've stepped foot on our land and have disturbed our peace," the creature said. "We've been alone for years, and now you city-men have come to hurt us further. We won't let it happen."

"Okay, just let go of our friend, and we can figure out this misunderstanding..." Dillon stopped when the creature was suddenly backed up by three others, all scared and burned like he was.

"Takeo, what do we have here?" a tall, dark man asked.

"It seems Austin was wrong," Takeo answered, "The backup was arriving."

The dark man growled, causing the other two to look over at him.

"It doesn't matter, Mamello," one of them spoke, and he seemed to be the only one with a hint of an accent. From what little he said, the former Rangers could guess he had most likely been living in New Zealand before Venjix. "We still have the upper hand. So there are a few more..."

"This wasn't the plan, Caleb," the fourth man spoke.

"It doesn't matter what the plan was, Olivier," Mamello said, "As long as we keep our land from these city people."

"Where are the others?" Samantha pressed. She looked at the four creatures before her, "What have you done with them?"

"That is up to Austin," Caleb grinned.

Samantha clenched her teeth and turned to Summer, waiting for the signal. Summer stepped forward.

"We don't want to hurt you if we don't have to," she said. "You have our friends, we want them back."

"We can't give them back," Olivier spoke. "We want answers, and lover girl's going to give them to us."

"Answers for what?" Dillon asked.

"Why she and her partner were here and what they wanted with us."

"We want nothing to do with you," Summer told the four men. "We had no idea you guys were out here. If you want we can take you back to the city so you can be shelt..."

Takeo rushed forward, slamming Summer into the wall and pressing his arm against her throat. Dillon and the others were about to jump in to help her when the other three creatures jumped in their way.

"We don't want to go to the stupid cities!" Takeo shouted, glaring at Summer. "It's because of the cities, and the people living inside, that we're trapped out here."

"Trapped?" Ziggy asked.

"The city shields closed before we could make it inside," Caleb explained. "You locked us out and left us to survive on our own in the wastes! We were poisoned, burned and left for dead! We found this place and made it our home! Now you've come and sent spies to finish us off!"

"What are you talking about?" Samantha asked.

"Don't play the fool!" Mamello frowned. "We're mutated! We have powers, we're hideous and we're powerful. We know you normal humans would believe we're a threat to you! And what do humans to do threats? They take them out!"

"Like what you're trying to do?" Mike asked. He motioned to Summer, "Let her go."

Takeo shook his head, "We're protecting ourselves. Survival of the fittest. Only the strong survive."

Summer grabbed Takeo's arm and tried to push it away from her throat to give herself some air. She took a short, but deep breath before Takeo pushed back. However, he couldn't hold onto her for long. Summer opened her mouth and screamed loudly.

The four creatures, as well as her friends were sent backwards a couple of feet, and Summer dropped to her knees. The Rangers recovered quickly, not as fazed by Summer's sonic scream as the mutants and ran to her side.

Dillon helped his wife to her feet and led the team down the hallways. Mike was sure to grab Greg before he followed the others.

Olivier got up and punched the wall beside him. He turned to his brothers, "What the hell was that?"

"It seems the cities are trying to fight fire with fire," Takeo answered. "Send out their own mutants to destroy us."

Mamello closed his eyes, "Austin, kill them all."

-----Afterlife-----

Austin stood in silence, glaring at Scott as the Eagle Squad leader smirked proudly.

"You told your backup to turn around," he said.

Scott nodded, "I did, but Summer's never been one to leave her friends for dead. I knew she wouldn't follow my orders and she would come after us. I let you hear what you wanted to hear."

Austin growled, "Well played, chief..."

He paused, closing his eyes for a moment. Scott, Dani, Gem and Gemma looked at him. He was talking with his brothers, they were sure of that. They waited, dreading the orders he was receiving.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and a malicious smirk appeared on his lips. He turned his gaze to Dani. She screamed, holding her head in pain as she dropped to her knees again. Gemma fell beside her, holding the red head in her arms while Gem and Scott rushed for the mutant.

Austin grabbed Scott by the back of the neck and tossed him into Gem, knocking them both to the ground. He reached for the chair and picked it up. When Scott scrambled to get to his feet, Austin slammed the chair down on his back.

Gem rolled away as Scott hit the ground again and jumped back up. Austin noticed this from the corner of his eye and charged for Gem, knocking him into the wall. He grabbed Gem's face in his hand and smashed the back of his head against the wall. Gem slumped to the floor unconscious.

Gemma let go of Dani and stood before her protectively. Austin grinned. He bent over and grabbed Gem's foot. He slid the boy forward slightly before tossing him at Gemma.

Gemma caught her brother but this gave Austin the opportunity he needed. He dove for Gemma while she was holding Gem, hitting her in the ribs with his shoulder. He heard a crack as Gemma slumped to the ground. To be sure she was out, he kicked her head.

Dani started to recover from the mental attack, but knew she wouldn't be able to defend herself against the mutant. She backed away from him pathetically as he tried to advance on her.

Scott still wasn't unconscious. When he could finally move again, he pushed the chair debris off and reached for his handgun. Though it would have no long term effect against the mutant, it would hopefully be able to take him out for the meantime. He quickly aimed the gun and pulled the trigger.

Austin heard the click before the trigger was pulled and jumped out of the way. The bullet missed him, hitting Daniela in the stomach instead.

Satisfied with the results, Austin turned away from Dani and back to Scott.

"There goes the team," he said.

Scott clutched his mid-section and got to his feet. He dropped his gun and held his hands up in the air.

"I give," he sighed. "You win."

Austin shook his head as he picked up the gun and pointed it at Scott.

"I won't win until you're dead, chief."