At the Aquatic Centre, Dr Walsh was working hard to keep up with the massive influx of all the creatures being brought to him from the bay. Everyone knew that the spill was going to be bad, but as time went on and more trucks arrived with more creatures, he was starting to run into a whole series of problems, not least of which was where to put them all. For the time being, he had enough tank space to house them, even though it was going to be a tight squeeze, but he wasn't sure how much longer that was going to be the case.
"Alright, we've done everything we can for this one, put him in salt water with the others." He instructed one of the other hard-working volunteers as another turtle was brought to him. He started to check on it.
"It's been having trouble breathing all the way here." The volunteer told him. "We've kept it calm and checked its mouth…"
"I've got a feeling this is a lot more serious than that." Dr Walsh told him.
Regina came in, looking around, irate at what she had heard. She'd called off her dinner because she'd received a call that a huge expenses claim had been put in by the Aquatic Centre. She'd tried phoning Roxy to find out what was going on, but she couldn't get a hold of her niece. She had also tried calling the Aquatic Centre, but she'd been bounced around by a lot of volunteers who didn't have the time to field a call from her, and so she had ended up coming down to see for herself.
She was completely unprepared for what she saw. The place looked like…well…she didn't quite know what to describe it as. She had never seen anything like it. She could only imagine that it was what emergency medical tents set up in disaster zones looked like, only instead of humans, the patients were fish, birds and other animals. One of the volunteers approached her.
"I'm really sorry Ma'am, but we're not open for tours today." He told her. "As you can see, we've got a crisis on our hands…"
"I'm not here for a tour…" She started to say, struggling with her thoughts. She was almost about to apologise when she remembered what she was there for. Someone from the Aquatic Centre had tried to take money from her company! She shook her head. "I'm going to need to see someone in charge, right away!"
"That would be me." Dr Walsh announced as he overheard the commotion. "Dr Walsh, I run the centre here."
"Regina Collins." She introduced herself.
"Yes, I recognised you from the news." He continued. "I just wanted to thank you personally for your generous donation, we couldn't possibly help with…"
"Donation?" She asked. "I haven't donated anything! I didn't authorise any payments for any of this!"
"You…you didn't?" He asked. "But we were told…"
"Well, I don't know who told you what, but I certainly didn't authorise any of this…"
"Shit!" He interrupted her. "I'm…I'm sorry, I don't know what happened, but…I was promised those funds, so I've already started to order the medical supplies I'll need from the Aquatic Centre's budget. This could very well sink us."
"I'm very sorry to hear…"
"Dr Walsh!" Someone yelled, interrupting them both. Dr Walsh just ran from her back to the turtle. "The vitals, there's something seriously wrong, it's not getting enough air…"
"I think I know what it is. Sedate it, we need to open it up."
"What?" Regina asked.
"I can't see something in its airway, but it's possible something already got much further down than I can see." He explained.
"But Dr Walsh, something like that might kill it…"
"If we do nothing it's going to die anyway!" Dr Walsh explained rather brutally, looking out some surgical tools. Regina just stared on in horror as they started to sedate the poor creature, while Dr Walsh flipped it over, beginning to prepare for the surgery. "Stand clear!"
"I…uh…"
"Look, Ms Collins, with all due respect, we can straighten all this out later, but right now you can either stand clear or leave the building because I need room to work!" Dr Walsh told her. Regina just gulped and nodded, taking a couple of steps back. Dr Walsh prepared his scalpel. "I'm really sorry about this, but we don't have much choice."
Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers were facing off against Blaze and Roxy, and they were definitely finding that their new forms were a lot more than just cosmetic upgrades. Zoey and Ravi were battling against Roxy, while Devon, Nate and Steel fought with Blaze.
Zoey tried to get close to Roxy, but she was blind-sided by a harsh kick, following which Roxy unloaded her blasters straight into her chest.
"You know, if you want to consider a new colour scheme, I can definitely recommend purple." Roxy taunted her. "Give me about ten minutes and the bruises will deal with that for you!"
Ravi came at her, barging her aside before she could press the advantage, giving Zoey enough time to get back to her feet.
A little further off, Blaze was surrounded by Nate, Steel and Devon, blocking all their blows with his long, elegant blade, spinning this way and that. His cloak started to billow around him.
"What is with that cape?" Steel complained. "I can't see a thing!"
"It's just a distraction!" Nate told him. "Just ignore it and strike through!"
He tried to swipe through the cloak with his sword, but it became entangled. Before he knew it, Blaze had a hold of the sword and smashed him in the face with the pummel of his own. Wrenching the sword from Nate's hand, he scored a succession of slashes to the Gold Ranger's chest, knocking him down. He turned to face Devon and Steel.
"NATE!" Steel called out, seeing Nate lying on the ground, face-down. "No one does that to my brother!"
With that, he came for Blaze, swinging wildly and bellowing like a bull. Blaze blocked each of the blows, while countering where he could. Steel managed to knock Nate's sword from Blaze's hand, but he was easily able to disarm him and bring him down with his own sword. He turned in time to see Devon coming streaming towards him with his Cheetah Speed. He barely managed to parry him in time, Devon's blade sparking off his hand guard.
Devon skidded to a halt, before reversing direction coming at Blaze once again. This time though, it didn't work out quite as expected. Blaze pulled off his cloak, and whipping it around, entangled Devon's legs, sweeping them up into the air, before striking him hard in the air. Devon spun through the air, hitting the sand, shortly before Ravi joined him.
Zoey, Steel and Nate struggled over to them, assembling with their friends as Blaze and Roxy came together. They both powered up their weapons, unleashing a huge blast that knocked all five Rangers to the ground. The evil warriors started pacing towards them.
"Man, this just feels right, doesn't it, Roxy?" Blaze asked.
"Oh, what's the matter, did you all fall down?" Roxy teased the Rangers as they struggled to get back up. They were about to power up to finish them off, when Blaze noticed something on his morpher.
"What's this?" He asked. Roxy checked her own.
"Damn it, we're running low on power." Roxy told him, before looking back to the Rangers. "Sorry, but it looks like this time you get a pass."
"Yeah, next time we'll be back with a full tank." Blaze told them, before they both disappeared. Devon was the first to finally get back to his feet, de-morphing as he did so.
"Guys, as much as I hate saying it, I think that time we really lucked out." Devon stated.
"As much as any of this can be called 'lucky'." Ravi muttered.
"I don't know what Evox did to them, but that is NOT the Blaze and Roxy we've fought before!" Zoey gasped, trying to get her breath back. She looked around in dismay. "And…look at what they did here! This'll take ages to clean up!"
"Now that they're gone, we can get the volunteers back." Nate sighed. "I just hope that we can correct at least some of this."
Devon bent down, picking something up out the sand. He looked at it, seeing it was a couple of fingers. They had circuitry on the inside. He handed them to Steel.
"We need to report back to the Commander." He told them. "And we can get those patched up while we're there."
"Uh…Devon, those aren't mine." Steel told him. Devon just stared at him.
"Steel, those are robot fingers." He stated. Steel just looked at them, then back at Devon.
"Yeah, but…I've already got a full compliment right here." He said, holding up his hands to show him.
"If those aren't yours, then…" Devon started to say, before they all came to the same thought. "They're robots?"
"I guess they weren't lying when they said they weren't avatars anymore." Ravi stated.
"We'll need to get these to my lab." Nate concluded. "We might be licking our wounds now, but with these, maybe we'll at least be able to figure out what we're up against."
Back at the Aquatic Centre, Regina was still watching as the volunteers rallied around, trying to save as many of the creatures as they possibly could. She had come in, livid, furious, and determined to find out who had undermined her call, but as time went on, she became less and less irritated by the fact that quite literally no one had time to even acknowledge her, but they were far more worried about what they were doing.
Dr Walsh was still working on the turtle, when he finally caught onto something.
"Alright, I've found the problem!" He said. "Someone hold this incision open, this, right here!"
One of the volunteers grabbed it, and tried to pull it open.
"Come on, I need another pair of hands, now!" He called out. Regina didn't know what possessed her, but she found herself compelled to step in. She went to the other side and held on. Dr Walsh reached inside with some tweezers, and started pulling out some blood-stained plastic.
"Oh my God…" One of the said, seeing him pull it out. "How…how did…?"
"It must have swallowed this." He said, continuing to work. "There's more in here."
He continued to pull out some other trash. Regina could only stare in horror, watching as he pulled out what had to be at least three full plastic bags from the poor creature's stomach. He gave it another look.
"Alright, I think that's all of it." He said, looking to the creature. However, after a moment of checking the vitals, he just looked away, shaking his head.
"What?" Regina asked. "What is it?"
"It's…we didn't get to it in time." He told her. Regina just gulped. She'd seen how hard they'd worked, how much they had struggled to help, but now it was over? That was it?
Dr Walsh looked to his volunteer.
"Go and get us some coffee." He told her. "We've still got a lot of work here to do."
As the volunteer left, Regina couldn't help looking at the blood-stained garbage that Dr Walsh had pulled from the creature's stomach. She reached out to it, moving it around, before finding one that caught her attention. Looking at it, she could see a Collins Industry logo.
"Ms Collins, I'm sorry for any confusion." Dr Walsh told her. "I understand…"
"We'll give you anything you need." Regina whispered. Dr Walsh just looked to her.
"I'm sorry?" He asked. He could see the bag in her hands, which were now covered in blood. He looked up to her face, which was pale, and her eyes were already tearing up.
"Whatever it costs, whatever it takes…all you need to do is ask." She assured him. "I'll sign for everything."
Dr Walsh pulled her in, hugging her before he even realised what he was doing. He released her and tried to straighten himself out.
"Thank you." He told her. "We're going to need…"
"Just…tell me what it is." She told him, pulling out her phone. "I promise it'll be here within the hour."
Back at Grid Battleforce Headquarters, the Rangers were in the lab, along with Commander Shaw. They had gone straight to the lab, with Nate explaining what he had found, and what had happened with the battle.
He had the fingers isolated in a forcefield while he scanned them. He didn't want to take any chances with Evox's tech, in case he had put any kind of virus or worm program into it. He was analysing them for any indication of what they were and what they were made from.
"The metal is pretty unique. Its an alloy that's made of materials, most of which aren't on our Periodic Table." Nate informed them.
"Not from our Periodic Table?" Ravi asked. "But that means…"
"It means not all of the materials are from Earth." Nate confirmed as he carried on with his explanation. "It did, however, trigger a match with our archive file."
"Archives?" Zoey asked him. "We've encountered things made from it before?"
"Yes, specifically from the Machine Empire." Nate continued.
"Machine Empire." Devon groaned. "Looks like Scrozzle was keeping something on mothballs for a rainy day."
"Affirmative." Nate agreed. "As near as I can tell, their circuitry is far more advanced than anything the Machine Empire made before, possibly some kind of prototype for an elite fighting unit that they never managed to fully develop."
"Well, it looks like Scrozzle finally finished it, along with a sprinkling of Blaze and Roxy." Steel concluded. "That's pretty nuts."
"How worried should we be about these new lieutenants?" Commander Shaw asked them. The Rangers all looked around each other nervously.
"Well, Robo-Blaze said something about coming back with a full tank." Zoey informed her. "They had us on the ropes. If this is what they can do when they're not fully juiced up…I'm not sure whether or not we can beat them. In fact,…I think we might have just gotten lucky today."
"That's a cheery thought." Steel commented, putting his arm around her. Commander Shaw just nodded.
"Well, in that case, Nate, I trust you'll be working on upgrades to your arsenal. I do not want any of you to take any chances with these things." She stated. "You'll be pleased to know that the volunteers have gotten back to the beach and they say that after some cleaning up, they're hopeful that the remaining trash will be cleared away in the next couple of days."
"Well, that's one good thing at least." Zoey stated.
"I've instructed Ben and Betty to oversee the work." Commander Shaw told them.
"Ben and Betty?" Devon asked. "But what about Roxy, wasn't she…?"
Just then, some guards came in with Blaze and Roxy.
"Blaze, Roxy, what are you guys doing here?" Devon asked.
"That's what we'd like to know." Blaze stated.
"Yeah, after we left the beach, we were just about to head back when these guys said the Commander needed to see us." Roxy added.
"Blaze, Roxy, there's something…something I think you both need to see." Commander Shaw told them.
She turned on a nearby screen to the local news. Blaze and Roxy both watched on.
"And while there's no explanation as to what exactly happened or what inspired the attack, Collins Industries representative Regina Collins has gone on the record saying that her company will bank roll all the efforts for the clean-up and the efforts to re-home any animals endangered by the spill." The news report stated.
"Aunt…Aunt Regina came around?" She asked. She breathed a sigh of relief. She knew that sooner or later she'd need to talk to her about the fact she had promised some pretty big cheques. "I'm so glad…"
"However, this amateur footage still shows that there are questions that need to be answered." The report went on, showing Robo-Blaze and Robo-Roxy attacking the volunteers. "And while Collins Industries have committed to correcting their mistake, many are asking if it is too little, too late. This is…"
She turned off the screen, looking to Blaze and Roxy.
"That wasn't even us!" Blaze protested.
"Yeah, we need to…"
"But the problem is it looks like it was." Commander Shaw told them both.
"And that's not our fault!" Roxy protested.
"No, it isn't." Commander Shaw agreed. "But even if we could explain to people how and why these things have your appearance, even if we could make the public believe it, then there'd still be a danger."
"Danger?" Blaze asked. "Danger of what?"
"That seeing you around the city could cause a public panic." Commander Shaw stated. They both looked to each other.
"I don't get it." Roxy said nervously. "What is all this?"
"Blaze, Roxy, we can't take the chance that anyone seeing you outside this base could confuse you with those things." She explained. "There's also a danger any of our forces could mistake you for them and that puts you in danger. Which is why, for the time being, until we can destroy them…"
"Wait, what?" Blaze blurted out. He suddenly thought once more about the guards. "Are you saying we're under arrest?"
"No, it's nothing like that…"
"Then I'm out of here." Blaze said, before one of the guards moved to stop him. Both he and Roxy looked to her in amazement.
"I know this isn't ideal…"
"Isn't ideal?" Roxy screamed. "I have a LIFE! I have a family…"
"And all of that will still be there when we finally destroy your robotic counterparts." Commander Shaw stated. "But until then, I'm afraid for your safety and that of the public, we're going to have to place you both under protective custody."
"Protective custody?" Blaze asked. "Well, it sure feels a lot like being under arrest."
"I promise, we'll do everything we can to make your lives as simple and comfortable as possible." Commander Shaw insisted. "You'll both have full access to all areas of the base that are not high-security, and with appropriate escorts and permission you can be in high-clearance areas, but…"
"But we can't leave." Roxy sighed. Ravi just put his arm around her. He led her from the room, presumably towards his dorm, but the look he gave his mother was just short of a weapon of mass destruction. The other Rangers couldn't help noticing the mood change, but could say nothing.
"We'll send for some things for you both." Commander Shaw told Blaze. "In the meantime, the guards will take you to your room."
Blaze just saluted bitterly, before marching out with the guards. The Rangers all looked to Commander Shaw, who stood rigidly before them.
"Is there anything else?" She asked. They all just shook their heads. "Then for now, you are dismissed. We'll meet up again tomorrow for briefing."
With that, they all left the room. As they did, Commander Shaw turned and leaned on the table.