Zoey got down to the holding level. She knew that her friends were busy smuggling Steel out of the building, but between them, they had more than enough people to keep the coast clear for Ben and Betty to sneak the trolly through the loading entrance. All they really needed to do was keep an eye out and run interception for anyone that might be a little too curious. General Burke's order to shut down Steel wasn't one they were willing to fulfil, but it still was an order, which meant they couldn't be sure others wouldn't turn them in if they were discovered.

However, Zoey had her own issue still to resolve. As soon as the elevator arrived on the holding floor, she strode towards the cell with determination, disturbing Cole, who was in the process of reading a magazine.

"Zoey, what are you…?"

"Open the cell!" She demanded. "I want to talk to my brother!"

"But…"

"I said open the damn cell!" Zoey snapped at him. Cole scrambled around the desk, fumbling around in his pocket for his key card as he went. He unlocked the door, letting Zoey inside. Eli was sitting, reading a fantasy adventure book, 'The Secrets Within Me'. He just smiled as he saw her.

"Hey!" He greeted her. "To what do I owe…"

Zoey slugged him as hard as she could across the face, knocking him out of the bed and onto the floor. He just looked up at her, stroking his cheek.

"Whoa, what was that…?"

"Your friends just attacked mom!" Zoey told him. Eli just looked up at her, completely confused.

"What are you talking about?" He asked her. She slammed her hand into his kutte.

"These friends! Your so-called family! They broke into her apartment and attacked her!" Zoey snapped at him aggressively. "They beat the hell out of her! She's in the hospital as we speak!"

"What?" Eli asked, looking ill as he heard this. He started to get up. "Are…are you sure…?"

"Mom's a reporter, she's kind of observant, and it's not like that kutte is exactly difficult to mistake!" She told him. Eli felt ill hearing about this. He had his own issues with the club. He had joined them after leaving the military. Most of the founding members, like him, were disaffected veterans who sought the same camaraderie that they had felt in the military but felt like they had been let down by their Government. There were a variety of reasons they felt that way, but most of them had simply sought to make their own way in the world after their tours had ended.

For Eli, he liked the feeling of freedom. They had their brotherhood, the protection and support they had once felt working for the Government, but sought elsewhere. They lived a life where they would live their lives as they saw fit through mutual support, a fiery yearning for freedom from orders, and yes, just a little bit of a rebellious middle-finger to their former employers.

He and his president, Spike Mike, had very different ideas of the direction of the club. Spike Mike wanted to lean full-tilt into the club's increasingly violent and criminal ways, while Eli was, despite his age, was more of an old-school believer in the original philosophy of the club. It had soured over time, and eventually it had come to blows, with Spike Mike voting to excommunicate him from the club. Eli had a bounty on his head with the club for some time now, but there was one line he never thought the club would cross. There was a very strict rule from the beginning. Family of members were off-limits! Even those that had been stripped of their patch, it was considered the beef was between them and the club. The protection on family was considered sacred. Spike Mike wanted him badly, but he'd always felt like his family was safe as long as they didn't try to get between him and the club.

"I don't believe this!" He whispered. "Spike Mike, that son of a bitch! What's this about?"

"I don't know, they're your friends!" Zoey yelled at him. "And frankly I don't give a shit, but when your shit spills into our family, that's when I draw a line!"

"Zoey, this isn't the kind of thing the club does." He told her. "Is it possible there was something else it could have been? You know mom ruffles feathers, what's she been working on?"

"Are you serious? She does puff pieces! I don't think the guy with the bulldog that looks like Alfred Hitchcock is going to care enough to do this!" Zoey told him. "She was working on some bullshit stories, celebrity affair crap, something about city hall, something to do with Winchester's recycling plant…"

"What did you say?" Eli asked her. It hit him like a hammer. He didn't know what Blaze did with the documents he stole from the recycling plant.

"She said Blaze of all people gave her some evidence of dodgy dealings at the recycling plant." Zoey explained. "Problem is, it couldn't possibly have been Blaze."

Eli felt a chill running down his spine. He knew it was Blaze, he had seen him up close and personal. He was still nursing bruises from that fight. If Blaze had given the documents to his mom, it was just like her to see the potential for an expose. He sat on the bed as Zoey just glared at him.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" She asked him. "Anything at all?"

"I…I'll settle this." Eli told her. "Once I get out of here…"

Just then, her communicator bleeped. She looked to it.

"Zoey, we're in the loading bay. Steel's secure." Nate told her. She just nodded.

"I'll be right there." She told him, before looking to Eli in disgust. "You know what? Don't bother. You've done enough. I have a real family, and the one thing family does is look out for each other. Not just themselves."

With that, she stormed out of the cell. As he came to lock up, Eli looked to Cole.

"Centrefold!" He called him. "Get a hold of your CO. Tell her I want to talk."

"I don't…"

"Tell her I want to talk now!" Eli told him. Cole just locked the door, before heading back to the desk to call Commander Shaw.

Meanwhile, in their new location, Blaze and Roxy were listening in on Grid Battleforce frequencies for communications. They hadn't heard anything from the Rangers in quite a while, but Blaze held up a hand when he heard something.

"Wait…now this is interesting." He commented. "General Burke's put out a call for the Rangers but none of them are answering."

"It doesn't seem like them to ignore the master calling them to heel." Roxy said a little bitterly. "If the General had asked Ravi to cut off his thumb, he'd ask which one."

"That's a good five or six calls now that they've ignored." Blaze stated. Just then, there was a very urgent sounding message.

"This is General Burke, be on the lookout for the Rangers." General Burke's voice stated. "They have disobeyed a direct order. The Silver Ranger is to be taken into immediate custody, and the rest of the Rangers to be presented before command for disciplinary action. This is a Priority Red Order. The Silver Ranger is to be captured and shut down immediately!"

"They must have figured out what our plan is." Roxy said, her fist clenching a little. "Leave it to Grid Battleforce to sacrifice what their people want for their own ends!"

Blaze just looked to her, snorting a little. Roxy could only look to him side-ways.

"Oh, you're one to talk!" She sneered. "Or do you think Evox would love it if I told him about Mr Daddy Issue's extra-curricular activities?"

"I didn't say a word." He replied. Just then, there was another call.

"I have a fix on the Rangers." An operative said. "They're in the industrial district, and they have the robot."

"Identify their co-ordinates now!" General Burke responded. Roxy just pulled off her headphones.

"What?" Blaze asked her.

"They're looking for us!" She explained. "Think about it. What use is the robot to us without this thing?"

She gestured to the Cyber Gate. Blaze just smiled and nodded.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked her.

"They're looking for us." She said with a casual flick of her hair. "I say we make their search a little easier."

With that, she went to Scrozzle.

"Turn the power on this thing up." She told him.

"But if we turn it up too early the Rangers will be able to track it!" Scrozzle reminded her. She just nodded.

"That's kind of the point." Blaze chipped in, levelling his sword across his shoulders.

Meanwhile, at Grid Battleforce headquarters, Commander Shaw went to the interview room, where Eli was sitting. Cole was standing in the corner, his hands clasped behind his back. Commander Shaw gestured him outside.

"Give us the room." She instructed him. "Now!"

Cole left the room, at which she came around in front of Eli.

"I don't appreciate being summoned!" She said coldly.

"And I don't appreciate finding out second-hand that my mom was attacked!" Eli told her. "Why didn't you tell me she was looking into Winchester?"

"Arthur Winchester is a rich and powerful man. If you believe your mother was the only one that wrote an unflattering story about him…"

"The only one backed up with documents from the Recycling Centre!" He shot back.

"Those documents were a fabrication…"

"No, they weren't I was there!" Eli yelled. "She said her source was Blaze Winchester!"

"Yes, and unfortunately I happen to know it couldn't possibly have been him." She told him.

"I…WAS…THERE!" Eli screamed at her. "He's the one that beat the shit out of me! He attacked a whole bunch of guards too! I was trying to get out of the plant with the documents when he jumped me in some weird black and red leather jumpsuit!"

Commander Shaw looked like she'd been slapped as he said this. Eli just took a deep breath.

"I hope for your sake you don't play poker, because that's a tell." Eli told her. "My club was behind the attack on my mom, but she didn't report anything stolen. Doesn't that seem odd to you? I think this is all connected!"

"Are you seriously suggesting that Arthur Winchester would have your mother attacked over this?" She asked him.

"I've seen people do a whole lot worse for a whole lot less." Eli told her. "Cut me loose. If my club's involved, I know more about them than you do. I can try and…"

"From what I understand you're not too popular with them these days." She told him. "If you tell us what you know, we can do something to help."

She put a document in front of him. He just looked to it.

"What the hell is this?" He asked her.

"A statement of compliance." She informed him. "You'll be an official witness. You and your family will get all the protection you need in exchange for your testimony."

"Yeah, because the authorities have done such a bang-up job so far." Eli said sarcastically. "Cut me loose, I'll settle this. With Spike Mike, with Winchester…all of it."

"And how do you intend to do that?" She asked him. Eli didn't answer. She just shook her head.

"Sign the document, I promise we'll protect you." She said, putting down a pen. He picked it up, then snapped it between his fingers, before grabbing her. He head-butted the Commander, staggering her a little, but she didn't get to her position by being afraid of a fight. By the time Cole heard the commotion from outside, she had wrestled Eli to the ground and planted a pistol in the base of his skull.

"Take him back to holding!" She barked at Cole. "NOW!"

Cole grabbed Eli, pulling him back to his feet. She got into Eli's face.

"You have a chip on your shoulder Mr Reeves, and I won't say you don't have a valid reason." She told him. "But sooner or later you have to realise not everyone is unworthy of trust. Some people who offer help are genuine in their intent. I like your sister, and I want to help her. If you really care about your family, you'll reconsider. Come talk to me when you're willing to co-operate."

"Don't hold your breath." Eli said as he was dragged from the room. Commander Shaw just sighed, righting the chairs, and picking up the pieces of her broken pen and putting them in the trash.

Just then, The Rangers, along with Ben and Betty, were searching the industrial district. They had presumed that with so much equipment, that Scrozzle likely hadn't moved too far from the original location. They had started from there, hoping that they weren't spotted by the guard patrols that were still securing the site after the last battle, and started looking at other empty units. They were focusing primarily on ones that were owned by the Winchester and Collins families, Blaze and Roxy's families. They had a lot of ground to cover, and since they had little else to go on, they were willing to give Devon's theory that Blaze and Roxy's avatars seemed to show a lot of similarities with their original personas seriously.

It wasn't long before Nate picked up an unusually high power output. Warehouses did often have a high demand for power, but not empty ones, and even if it was in operation, the Collins unit they were approaching was exhibiting a power use almost twenty times what was the norm.

"Mind the trucks." Ravi told Ben and Betty.

"But we want to help!" Betty said.

"I know you do, but you heard the communications. Your dad is already looking for us." Ravi told them. "If you're here, you can say you found our vehicles and were securing them."

"But…"

"There's no reason for all of us to get in trouble if all this goes south." Ravi told them. "We appreciate the help, but realistically…there's only so much Grid Battleforce can do to us. I'd hate for you guys to carry the tab for us too."

"We're not afraid." Ben told him, his voice betraying him slightly. He was brave, but it was still clear that it worried him thinking what might happen if they were found to be in direct violation of a direct order. "We're willing to face the consequences."

"I know you are, and we appreciate that." Devon added. "But seriously, do this for us."

With that, they left to approach the warehouse. They took care not to spend too much time in the open, going from cover to cover. It wasn't long before they saw what they were looking for.

"Tronics!" Nate whispered.

"So, we're in the right place." Zoey agreed.

"The Cyber Gate's got to be inside, it's huge." Nate recalled. "No doubt it'll be well guarded, but we have to make that our main priority. Without it, they'll have to find another way to bring Evox back."

"And that way I won't have to be shut down!" Steel boomed in admiration, causing all of them to cringe, turning to look at him and shoosh. "What? My brother's awesome!"

"Yeah, but we're trying NOT to draw attention!" Devon reminded him.

"Something tells me it might be too late for that." Ravi sighed as they saw another couple of Grid Battleforce transports rolling in. General Burke got out with some security guards, all armed. The Rangers started to form up around Steel. None of them really wanted to hurt their comrades, but if it came down to it, they knew that potentially the life of one of their own was in danger. They could always serve whatever punishment their actions brought later.

"Don't move a muscle, Rangers!" General Burke warned them. "Seize the robot!"

The Rangers instead drew closer together. General Burke's eyes narrowed as he saw this. Insubordination was one thing, but were the Rangers really willing to actually fight against him?

"Not going to happen!" Devon told him. "Please, we have a plan."

"YOU disobeyed a direct order. Listening time is OVER!" He snapped, making a cut-throat gesture. The Rangers watched as the security guards started to prepare stun blasters. The warehouse was so close, they knew that if they could just get inside and destroy the Cyber Gate, then the whole situation would be over and they could face the music for violating the chain of command once they got back to the base.

"The Cyber Gate is in there! Without it, Evox won't be able to come back!" Devon told him. "Now, you can stand aside and let us save the city AND Steel. But if we have to go through you…then so be it!"

They were all tensing up, ready for a show-down when they heard a scream. They all looked around to see Blaze and Roxy, with a couple of Tronics, dragging Ben and Betty into view. By the looks of the twins, they had put up a spirited fight, but all the Rangers knew first-hand how dangerous the avatars were. They forced them down onto their knees before them. General Burke looked horrified as he saw this. He held his hands out across his security team, standing them down as they were about to get into firing position.

"Blaze…Roxy…" He said, his usual bluster fading from his voice. The General was a rather bombastic, larger-than-life personality, one that had faced down some of the most dangerous enemies his country had ever faced in his career. However, in that moment, it all melted away, leaving only a father, seeing his children in the clutches of dangerous villains. "Please…let them go!"

"Oh, we'd love to!" Roxy answered. "Just hand over the robot, and they don't get hurt!"

"Sir, what are your orders?" One of the security team asked him. General Burke just stood, frozen to the spot. "Sir…SIR!"

"Tick…tock…" Roxy started to taunt him, beginning to stroke Betty's hair in a creepy, unsettling manner. "Tick…tock…"

Meanwhile, back at Grid Battleforce Headquarters, Cole shoved Eli back into his cell.

"I don't know what's going through your mind, but it's obviously not much." Cole stated. "You attacked the base commander in the middle of a military installation? You're lucky she's not having you put in front of a firing squad!"

"What can I say? I didn't like what she had to say." Eli told him, sitting on the bed. Cole just shook his head.

"Well, get comfortable." He commented. "You're going to be here a while."

As he closed and locked the door, Eli reached into his pocket, pulling out a small spring. It was from inside the Commander's pen. He'd broken it to get access to it. He started pulling it, uncoiling it to get a length of wire.

"Yeah, you just keep thinking that centrefold." Eli muttered.

Back at the warehouse, The General, the Rangers, and the security team all continued to stare at Blaze and Roxy as they held Ben and Betty hostage. The General, normally completely unshakable, was staring at them with a heart-breaking expression on his face. Blaze just sighed.

"So, what's it going to be General?" He asked, wrapping his arms around Ben's neck. They recognised the hold, a rear-naked choke. Ben would lose consciousness in seconds, and shortly afterwards would be in serious danger of brain damage, even death. More importantly, it was also the beginning of a neck-break technique. He wasn't holding it with any pressure now, but could easily change that. "The robot…or…?"

He started to tense up, and quickly Ben's face turned beetroot red. Betty tried to swing for him in a futile effort, but Roxy held her back. Steel took the choice out of everyone's hands.

"Let them go!" He declared. He started to stride out before them. "Take me!"

"Steel, no!" Nate protested.

"It's OK, brother. You've taught me what family means." Steel said to him. "All you Rangers were willing to risk everything for me. And that's something that means a lot to me."

He looked to the General.

"I'd never ask anyone to stand back and watch family be harmed if I could do something about it." Steel told him. "With my body, Evox will be strong. But I know, my family, won't stop until he's destroyed."

With that, he headed over towards Blaze and Roxy.

"Well, you're full of surprises!" Roxy said as he came to them. Blaze dropped an unconscious Ben to the ground, while Roxy shoved Betty to the ground, who quickly scrambled to check on her brother. They both grabbed Steel.

"Thank You!" General Burke cried out, with tears in his eyes as they led Steel away. He ran to his children, cradling them both as Ben started to come around. He looked up to the Rangers.

"I…I was…I was so wrong about him!" He declared.

"Then give the order General." Devon told him. He just nodded.

"Get the bastards!" He growled. "Make them pay!"

With that, the four Rangers morphed, just as an army of Tronics came out of the base to intercept them. It was one order they were only too happy to follow!