The Ranger's Initiative

by Lawliet Veneziano

After many years of being protectors now the Rangers are being hunted, and the only ones who can save them are a mismatched and unlikely group. But with the public against them, the military after them, and even their own wanting them taken in, can a group of mismatched ex-Rangers really save the world and their friends? Or will they fail even to save themselves?

11. The Incident in the Courthouse: Part One

One. Two. Three. Four. Tyler tried to take deep breaths, counting moments slowly as he walked through the front doors of Angel Grove's courthouse. But of course it would all happen there; when Tommy and Andros had figured as much out, the ex-green had nearly burst out laughing. Tyler wasn't too sure what was funny about any of this, not when he could practically feel his heart in his throat and he found himself fidgeting, pulling on the hood of his oversized jacket.

A hand gently rested on his shoulder and Karone leaned in to whisper into his ear, "It's okay Tyler, breathe, just remember to breathe."

"Sorry Karone," he muttered back to the older woman and she smiled before pulling back away and returning to her spot by his side.

There was a part of him that did wish to try, to stay calm; after all he had been the one to ask to be involved in this mission, knowing it would be not only a difficult one but a dangerous one. Tyler wanted to prove himself, as much as Zack had wished to; the other teenage boy walked beside him, hands in his pockets in a show of nonchalance that part of him wished he could emulate but he wasn't blind enough to not notice the way Zack twitched and looked around impatiently before turning to see Tyler looking at him and smiling but there felt to be something fundamentally wrong in the way he did it. It wasn't like his smile and after spending time with the other boy, and he did a lot of that when they were the only two teenagers aboard, both children compared to the experienced fighters who populated the rest of the ship, it was all too clear to Tyler the difference between the careful almost mad smile of the amnesiac and the one he gave now, terse, uneasy. He too seemed off kilter and yet it was that thought that made Tyler feel calmer, not the smiles, or his own desperate attempts to tell himself that he had to breathe and try to act normal because right now things were on his shoulders and he had to prove he wasn't just a kid. It was knowing he was not alone in feeling nervous about this whole ordeal.

He knew what was going and he knew what the plan was supposed to be; walking inside he took a look around, taking a second to admire the high ceilings, the clean appearance, the crowds of people who were no doubt there not for a case they themselves had a personal stake in but for the same reason he and the others were; side eyeing a family with a small boy who was pulling on his mother's sleeve and asking why they were there, only for the woman to respond with "To see some bad guys get their just desserts honey", he tried to wonder instead about whether Tori, Hunter and Laura's teams had actually managed to make it inside and how long until they get the signal to move forward with their part of things. Tyler tried to go through what he knew they were supposed to be doing; since Tyler was almost entirely unknown as the child of a Ranger, and Zack seemed to be mainly a concern of the army people from the ex-NASADA compound, the two boys were given the duty of scouting out the front entrance. Karone, being unknown to the earth as she was now, was assigned to help them as necessary, a protector of sorts that he might have worried was a case of Tommy being overly protective in place of Tyler's mother yet the boy knew better; it couldn't really be counted as over protective if the situation was as volatile as this one was. They needed to secure as many escape routes as possible and he could still remember all too clear the somber looks on the faces of all the adults as they spoke and planned and schemed. It still left a shiver down his spine and he closed his eyes for a moment before turning to Karone with a frown.

"What do you think?" He still didn't really know her; he had of course heard about Andros and his team from his mother and from Tommy, he knew the stories of Astronema that dangerous femme fatale who in the end had been revealed to have been the abducted sister of the In Space team's Red Ranger. Tyler didn't really think she seemed like the galaxy destroying, dark warrior type but he knew the dangers of judging a person based on their appearance and as such was not entirely sure how well he trusted her.

Still whether she recognized his apprehension or not it was unclear, Karone smiling in a kind way and continued to stroll along the smooth marble floors with him and Zack. She kept her gaze causal around them and spoke carefully under her breath to him, "Certainly suspicious; there's plenty of people here but the vast majority are just civilians here to get a look at the captured team and look in at the trial."

"Yeah it's a bit odd just how little security there is," Zack mentioned and took a glance around, letting his eyes linger on a pair of security guards standing by the main entrance where there were metal detectors; of course the trio had nothing on them to alert the devices, and he fingered the small almost innocuous bracelet wrapped around his wrist. Twenty-four hours had been barely proven enough time in the end and really it hadn't even been that long yet; it had taken most of that time for them all to get ready, mentally, physically, with a plan and ideas and of course gadgets. The tech whizzes came in as always, fitting each team with at least one communicator each so that they could all talk as necessary; Zack had been the chosen one for their team and Tsuki smiling as she gently strapped the small device to his wrist, telling him the materials it was made out of being impossible for the metal detectors to find and that if he needed help to just tap the small gem-like stone on it to activate it's communicator functions, was stuck in his mind. The sight of so few guards around, barely able to see any military personnel in the crowds, didn't make him feel as safe as it maybe should have; it made him feel more on edge and he felt worse knowing Karone felt the same.

"We'll need to stay on guard then," Tyler said, to which his two teammates nodded and the young boy sighed a bit, letting out a breath he had been holding in for far too long; reaching the hallway that was supposed to lead to the elevators, remembering that the trial apparently was to be held on the fourth floor, in a small room which seemed almost too simple to be used for something like this, he felt the push of people around him and the murmur of voices all around.

His hand went out instinctively, grasping for something, anything to reconnect him to the other two as they started to get pushed apart, the sea of people getting tighter, more insistent. His heart sped up further, panic started to settle in, and he was tempted almost to call out for them, yell their names even though he knew that would be a bad idea; they had to be careful, even if they weren't well known. The words formed but he felt a hand grasp his tight and he was pulled towards the edges of the crowd, closer to the fringe of the crowd and he was quickly face to face with Karone who looked at him with concern in her eyes.

"Careful Tyler," she said and he nodded almost dumbly; she looked out over the group and clicked her tongue, "I see Zack; he looks to be almost to the elevators."

"We'll have to meet him at the courtroom," Tyler commented, to which the older woman nodded; she squeezed his hand and turned to him again.

"Let's stick close until then; we can't risk getting separated more than we already are. Hopefully Zack will be okay on his own for a bit." He couldn't help but feel the same and let her led the way forward; he held tight to her hand and found himself thinking of his mother. Maybe it was because Karone was an ex-pink too, though it felt to him more like it was something more to do with the manner of the two rather than a shared color scheme; Karone seemed like the caring type, a strange contrast to the Princess of Darkness she once had been, but strong willed, and he oddly felt just a bit safer holding her hand in that moment. As much as the teenager hated to think he had to be protected, and he truly did, there was some sort of comfort in knowing he was in less danger with her than without. He just hoped they did find Zack safe and sound upstairs; after all he had the communicator for their group and they hadn't gotten their signal yet.

The fourth floor was not better than the first in terms of noise and crowding; honestly it was far worse. The two managed by some miracle to push their way into the elevator to get them upstairs but once out in the hallway Tyler found himself greatly thankful for the fact that Karone had such a tight grip, practically clinging onto her as they tried to move through the densely populated hallway. It was by miracle he thought that they did find Zack and the ex-pink grabbed onto his arm, dragging the boy along until they managed to find an opening in the sea and the trio pulled themselves into a courtroom.

Not the courtroom; this one was empty and silent and it felt easier to breathe here. Tyler looked at Zack, a wild sort of look on the boy's face but neither said anything at first; in the end the son of one of Tommy's oldest friends was the one to break the silence. "What's next?"

"We got into the building safely, that was step one," Karone said; she reached over and pressed on the small gem on Zack's bracelet. As a holographic interface appeared she tapped at parts of it until a field of energy, barely enough to cover the three surrounded them; only then did she go on, "Next we go into that room and prepare ourselves; you two remember what the plan is right?"

Zack and Tyler both nodded and the former spoke, "Hunter and Laura are leading their teams through the back and underground entrances respectfully, securing those pathways as escape paths."

"Meanwhile Tori is with Tsuki, RJ and Annie as the ones with the most mobility, taking the rooftop entry," Tyler continued, speaking carefully, "They'll be our eyes and ears from the rafters and ceiling, moving around and keeping track of the movement of any guards and military types who might be present. Tommy being very visible as, well, Tommy is staying close to them where he won't be as much in the fray but still able to assist if needed."

"You, Tyler and I are to be the vanguards in this though," Zack said and it was hard to hide the shaking in his voice; he took a deep breath and grinned, "We go in, scout out the courtroom and take our places in the audience; upon the signal from our spies in the roof we are to grab the Samurai Rangers and then immediately hand one of each of them to each of our teams; we're to take Antonio Garcia and Jayden Shiba with us, while Billy, Hayley, Anton and Trent, having came with Laura's team through the underground, will break off as a necessary fifth team and take the rooftop entrypoint as their exit after Tori and her team have secured their Samurai Ranger and teleport back to the Megaship by the way of Tsuki's ability. Tommy will join us before then to assist us in forcing our way back through the front entry way and then once we're outside we meet up with the others in the designated meeting spot and then have the mobility team beam us back aboard the ship."

Karone nodded, seeming somewhat satisfied with their explanations. She crossed her arms. "This is going to be very tough; not only are we juggling the locations of eighteen of our own current forces, but we'll also be having to protect and direct the six Samurai Rangers, but we pull this off right we might just be able to save an entire team and get one step closer to fixing things. But-"

"Yeah yeah, we know; we gotta stay on point and not let our guards down one bit," Zack said rolling his eyes.

"We were given this assignment because we're the ones who are least visible to the crowds," Tyler said, "But we're also getting the hardest job; we have to be in charge of getting Jayden and his group safely to the others and then make our way through the front doors with the Gold and Red Rangers."

"As you pointed out we'll have Tommy with us when it comes to our escape but you're right; this is probably the most difficult of the assignments," Karone agreed, "But we have to believe that we'll be okay."

Tyler nodded, unsure what else to do or say to that; Zack turned his eyes towards the clock in the room and raised an eyebrow. "Guys, it's twenty minutes to the trial; we better get to the right room quick."

"Right." Karone headed for the door and the young man turned off the mini communicator, letting the force field disappate completely before following after her with Tyler in tow. The crowds were still prevalent and it was a battle to just across the hall to the room they needed to get to; Tyler found his hand searching for theirs and grabbing on tight once they were found. The trio stayed close and once inside the courtroom, full of the murmurs and conversations of exited spectators, they took their seats, sitting not too far from the doors but not too close either.

Twenty minutes seemed to move like a blink of an eye and the cacophony of noise didn't disappear immediately upon the judge, a tall stern looking older man with hawk-like eyes and a frown that seemed permanently stuck on his face, walked into the room, nor when the prosecutor and defense attorneys both made their way inside. It was only once the defendants arrived that all sound seemed to sucked out of the room, becoming deathly silent before turning the volume up to eleven; it went from murmurs to borderline screams, the words that could be made out sending bloodcurdling chills through Tyler and made him sink into his seat. He had heard of the people Anton and the others had seen in Ocean Bluff but it was hard to believe that it was real when the words he heard all around him seemed so venomous, so hateful; he tried to focus on the Rangers themselves but looking at them only made the bad taste in his mouth get even worse.

It felt like all life had been sucked out of them and the beings that walked into the room, handcuffed, shackled, were simply poor imitations of the Power Rangers; there was an air of dejectedness and defeat, expressions ranging from the pained look of their ever kind pink, to the empty gaze of their sweethearted yellow, and the almost-defiant stares of the green and blue, failing only as both wobbled with the movement of people who were likely too injured to really be standing. The only ones who looked any real amounts of themselves was their red and gold, the two who were to be entrusted to Tyler's group; maybe it was because they had each other, two childhood friends who alowed to stand together did indeed do so. Maybe it was because from what intel they had Jayden Shiba very much took his position as leader of his group seriously and there was a fire in his eyes that had Tyler unable to look away from him, looking up at the judge with the projected dignity and strength of the Red Ranger he was. And right beside him, handcuffed hand on the other boy's shoulder, stood his best friend, Antonio showing no sign of wear, and as he turned to the rest of their team, leaning in to whisper something to Mia, it was almost like a wave went through them and as the judge brought the court to order and the yells were finally weakened somehow down into murmurs and then finally silence once more, Tyler watched the transformation of the defeated people, changing back into the Power Rangers Samurai team, the ones who fought to protect and save only to be blamed for something terrible. The start of all this, and yet not an ounce of him could hate them even a little.

"I cannot say I'm pleased by the turn out of this particular case," the judge started a cold tone stuck to his words, "There are far more important things to be worrying about and yet the public and the government seems to think that the punishing of these miscretins who think themselves heroes is of the upmost importance. But we will have orderly proceedings if nothing else and I will not hesitate to throw any and everyone who causes a disruption in my courtroom, understand?"

Murmured agreement and Tyler turned to look at Karone; she was looking ahead and saying nothing, her expression betraying the severity with which she was concentrating. His eyes moved onto to Zack and the Asian boy seemed to be fiddling with the communicator, staring at it instead; it wasn't active of course, but he seemed on edge and Tyler had no doubts on why or what exactly was on his mind. The judge continued to talk for a bit longer before turning things over to the opening arguments, allowing the prosecutor to jump into what felt like an hour long rant; the Rangers were evil, they were dangerous, they put innocents in danger, they constantly caused more problems with their actions and immaturity than not, unworthy of the sort of immense power they were given. Tyler took note of Mike seem to try to open his mouth to say something, as their defense attorney simply shuffled papers as if not hearing the insults being thrown at his clients, but Jayden looked over and the look on his face seemed to say things words couldn't; the green fell back with some hesitation and the prosecutor was allowed to go on without interruption. Yet every word that left him, every second that passed, was one that made Tyler wish that the signal would be given and things could be made to move finally; his worry, his apprehension, all the jitteriness that made it so hard for him to breathe and calm down before, it felt like it had been melted away and replaced with something else. Impatience; he wanted so much to do something, the more he heard the man bad mouth the Rangers, as if they were the villains, as if they were the bad guys in all this. Instead of heroes who were suffering because of mistakes they may or may not have made.

It didn't occur to him that Tommy had never told them what the signal would be but Tyler was fairly certain that what happened next was not the signal; it made no sense to him that it would be a young woman, looking for all the world a strong combination of pissed and frantic, running into the courtroom yelling "You can't do this!" ala a guy trying to stop a wedding in a bad rom-com. His attention, as well as that of every other person in the room it seemed was drawn towards her and even Zack leaned in to whisper, "Who's that?"

Karone shrugged, having no easy answer; it was Jayden honestly, seeing the woman, his eyes widening in an expression that spoke of some unsettled fear, that gave the explanation, speaking loudly, "Lauren what are you doing here?"

"Lauren? Who is Lauren?" Antonio asked frowning, looking hurt by this apparent secret more than anything.

"Young lady it is rude to interrupt court when it is in session; do not make me have you held with contempt of court," the judge said bristling visibly.

"I will not let you get yourself and the team killed for something like this." She ignored the judge, speaking sternly to Jayden upon approaching the young man, looking him straight in the eye before only then turning to the judge and jury, and Tyler got a strange sense of deja-vu; she reminded him of Jayden in that moment as she spoke clearly, "If you wish to sentence the Samurai Rangers then you must sentence me too. My name is Lauren Shiba, I am the true head of the Shiba Clan and the real Samurai Ranger Fire, making me the responsible party for their actions not my younger brother."

Stunned murmurs filled the air and Tyler blinked, unsure what to make of this development; he turned to Karone but she didn't look to have known either, her brow furrowed and arms crossed as she muttered something under her breath that he couldn't quite make out. Zack frantically tried to contact the others and Tyler couldn't help a pit growing in his stomach.

"Karone," he said worried.

"We can't let this affect us too much," she answered trying to seem definite and knowing but her body language didn't change, "Zack, inform Tommy of this development; we'll go from there."

"Already on it," Zack said finally getting the interface up and Tyler was glad the arrival of this mysterious woman calling herself the true Samurai Red had distracted everyone so entirely. His heart pounded and the judge started banging his gavel hard against his desk, trying his hardest to get the attention of the collected madness; at this point it was far too late though and the cacophony of noise and comments all around them quickly swallowed the sound of the gavel. The teenage boys attention was mainly on the woman though and the Rangers and Karone stood up out of her seat, grabbing Tyler's arm. He blinked but let her pull him to his feet, the older woman whispering to her, "Quickly while everyone is temporarily confused."

He understood and nodded before making his way over. This ended up being only slightly easier than the wade through the hallway and they managed by some miracle to reach the front where the Rangers and the woman Lauren were; Jayden and his sister were arguing about something while his teammates seemed confused and unsettled. Karone made her way over and grabbed the male Red Ranger's arm getting his attention.

"Who are you?" He asked frowning at her.

"My name is Karone, ex-pink of the Lost Galaxy Power Rangers team," she answered him and looked from him to his team, "I'm here to rescue you and your team."

"Rescue? We don't need rescuing," he responded and tried to pull away from her, "We are staying."

"You know they're going to kill you right?" Karone asked, "You and your team; when they find you guilty of the charges against you, and that is a when not an if, they're going to kill you."

"They wouldn't do that," Mia said, voice barely noticeable over the noise around them.

"As far as the government is concerned right now you and all of us ex-Rangers and allies, we're all public enemy number one. Unless you plan to help them round us up-"

"We have no such plans," Kevin said shortly frowning at them.

Antonio nodded. "We only agreed to turn ourselves in because we felt it was right; I mean the kid's death was our fault after all. We figured worse that would happen was imprisonment, not..."

"Hey you three!" Someone yelled from the nearby and Tyler lifted his head to see guards approach from the judge's side, angry and armed; he got a bad feeling and turned back to the Samurai, "Look we don't have much time; we need you to come with us."

"No," Jayden said stubbornly.

"Jayden, come along; I'm not asking as your sister, I'm telling you as head of the Shiba Family," Lauren said and grabbed her brother's arm, "You and the others are leaving."

"I am not going," he responded, "Take Antonio and the others but I'm staying behind. I might not be their true leader-"

"Bull!" Antonio exclaimed angrily, "I am not leaving you behind Jayden, no way, no how. I don't care if this lady is your long lost sister or God herself or a giant frog pretending to be a person, I am not going with her and leaving you here."

"I'm not going either," Mike said, "You're our red, Jayden; I'm sticking with you."

The rest of Samurai Rangers all gave varying forms of agreement and Lauren looked irritated more by the stubbornness than anything else; the guards were getting even closer and Tyler was starting to worry about the guns at their sides. He turned to Karone and the older woman bit her lip, unsure herself how to get them to move; she didn't want to force them, that wouldn't help, but she hated the idea of letting this be a failure and leave them to their fates like this.

"So you're just going to throw away your lives and let the earth be destroyed, because you're feeling guilty?" The familiar voice of Tommy cut through the chaos and Tyler turned his head to see the older man making his way over; his eyes were on Jayden though and the Samurai Red frowned back at him, saying not a word, allowing him to go on, "There are people out there who are suffering, innocents being tormented, hurt, worse by the monsters that you and your team are bound by duty to defeat, to protect them from. Are you telling me that this farce, that the mistake you may or may not have made is more important than the lives of all the people you could be saving instead of standing around here and feeling sorry for yourselves?"

"That's," Mike started but drifted off; words failed him, they seemed to fail them all and as the court guards approached the defendants' table, drawing their weapons, Lauren gave them a glare and kicked one of them away. Their weapon discharged and the chaos of the room, the yells and murmurs and conspiratorial conversations, turned into all out rioting; people screamed and started to run, set off by the gunshot and the judge yelled over the crowd to no avail about something near inaudible.

They didn't waste more time; Karone gave Jayden to his sister before grabbing hold of Mia's wrist and leading her away, allowing Lauren to take her stubborn but silent brother and his still shaken best friend; Tyler, Tommy and Zack took the remaining three Samurai, pulling them along through the wave of people now getting up to try and escape the room. Tyler was glad to see Laura, Hunter and Billy standing outside the room, barely managing to stand in one place with the chaos that had been unleashed by Lauren's actions.

He handed Mike and Kevin over to Laura and Hunter respectively, not immediately realizing the problem until Zack, directing Emily to go with Billy, spoke up, his voice sounding suspicious and concerned. "Where is the representative from Tori's team?"

"I left them the moment I got your message about what was going on," Tommy said frowning, "They were still upstairs monitoring things from their position."

"Who was the one who was to come get Mia?" Karone asked, still holding onto the other pink.

"Tsuki." There was concern on his face and Tyler could practically hear the gears moving in his head as the ex-green started to think of all the things that could have possibly happened to his girlfriend.

Karone bit his lip and looked back into the room, "Damnit...We can't take her with us, we're going to have a hard enough time with just the six-"

"Seven," Lauren said, "I'm not leaving my brother."

"Fuck. Fine, seven of us. Eight is going to really be pushing it."

Tommy was silent for a moment then moved to Karone and Mia's side. "Mia come with me."

"But," she started but Karone beat her to it.

"Tommy, we need you with us."

"No you don't; you have Lauren with you, she looks like a tough girl," Tommy said looking at the female Red who simply raised an eyebrow at him; he smirked, "The four of you should be able to handle getting through the front doors no problem. I'm going to take Mia, bring her back to Tori's team and make sure everyone is okay."

"You mean make sure Tsuki is okay." Tommy made a gesture like he couldn't hear Tyler over all the noise and once he had gotten Mia to follow him, he led her away, the members of the other teams and the Samurai they were to escort soon making their way to their own as well and leaving the two still shackled Samurai Rangers, one secret Red Ranger, one ex-villain and two teenage boys to stand among the chaos alone. Yells could still be heard and Tyler felt himself pushed into Lauren, wincing and trying to right himself with a muttered apology; of course it went unheard.

Karone didn't speak for a moment but finally she sighed and motioned for the group to follow, trying to push through towards the elevator; Tyler and Zack followed, making the three Samurai Rangers were close by. The plan seemed to have been modified but Tyler had to believe that wasn't a bad thing; they would just readjust, try and make the best out of what they did know and what they did have. Still it stuck in his head how Tsuki hadn't shown up and the sense of worry and the pit in his stomach grew again, forcing him to take a deep breath.

And to fall behind; he didn't walk fast enough, lagging just a little behind his group and ended up pushed back, swept away from the others. He was almost willing to convince himself that was okay, that all he had to do was remember where they were meeting up, go back to the front of the building and make his way to the meeting spot, and it would be okay, he would be okay, except he felt a large hand on his shoulder and he blanched as he heard the same voice that had called out to them in the courtroom, the voice of one of the guards.

"Where do you think you're going?" The gruff voice spoke and he gulped, trying not to turn around and look. He was scared though, more than he honestly could remember ever being scared, and he could barely make out Karone yelling, trying to make her way through the crowd to get to him, reaching out to him. He stretched out a hand, trying to reach her but too far, they were too far and he clenched his fist, making his decision.

"Get them out of here!" he yelled to her and Karone froze up for a moment before Tyler turned to the guard, getting loose of his grip. If he was going to get caught, he decided that he would at least get caught while putting up a fight; he was the son of a Power Ranger after all, wasn't he?

"Let go of my son, you asshole!" The words preceded a woman grabbing the guard by the back of his shirt, pulling him back and kicked him hard enough to almost drop the larger, bulky guard. Tyler was stunned, though for more than the reason of seeing such a thing happen; the crowd parted, likely mainly out of terror of what happened, but fear wasn't the main thing that Tyler felt as he looked at the face of the one who had just hit a guard for him, calling him son. Though of course he wasn't without great fear as he thought suddenly that his mother Abby was likely going to scold him something fierce now for being reckless like this, being here, and probably when she found out how he almost got killed at the Ninja Academy he'd be grounded for a good trillion years; worth it he decided.

"Mom," he barely got out before the woman turned to him and suddenly and tightly hugged him.

"Tyler," she said and he didn't hesitate; hugging her in return, every bit as tight, every bit as clinging, he realized that the main feeling he felt wasn't fear: it was happiness.

It was his mother, it was really her; this wasn't a dream or an illusion or a hallucination brought about by all the stress and anxiety and adrenaline rushing through his veins. Abigail Phillips was really there, Tyler's mother was really there, and he couldn't help but be happy about it.

"Tyler!" yelled another voice and he was snapped from the happiness, the moment of joy causing him to pull away with great hesitation.

"Mom," he said, "We gotta go, like now."

She didn't give any argument, simply nodding before taking her son's hand and leading the way thrugh the sea of people and back to where Karone stood with the others. Zack looked at Abby, seeming to be sizing her up and spoke, "What's your mom doing here at the courthouse?"

"Same reason you're here I assume," Abby said then frowned, "Wait how old are you?"

"Thirty-five," Zack said without missing a single beat, grinning.

"He's the same age as me, mom," Tyler corrected, trying not to crack a smile.

"Why are two teenagers here?" Abby asking, turning to who she perhaps saw as the most responsible person there.

Karone seemed to not wish to get into it, changing the subject easily. "We have to get downstairs but the elevator is jammed; it looks like our only chance is the stairs at this point."

"Four flights of stairs in this mess? Oh joy," Antonio said and got an elbow in the stomach from Jayden for his troubles; the gold ranger grumbled and Lauren nodded.

"So be it," she said, "Whatever will get us out of here quicker is fine by me."

"We need to get moving quick; I don't think Tyler's mommy managed to do enough damage to that guard guy and I can see more coming now," Zack said, pointing over the crowd at where the guard was starting to approach with a posse.

Tyler winced, not really wanting to deal with more of them and he could barely hear his mother mutter something under her breath about talking to Tommy before the group took a sharp turn towards the stairs.

Antonio's apprehension about the stairs had proven not unfounded; with the elevators the way they were and all the crowding, the stairs too had ended up full of people. Karone grumbled and had to push through, Lauren and her teammates following right behind her, with Zack, Tyler and Abby rounding up the back; Tyler held onto his mother's hand the entire time and though a part of him told him that that was childish, that he was too old to be doing so, another part simply wanted the safety that that action instilled in him. He didn't think he'd get swept away again, potentially caught up by their pursuers once more, as long as he held tight to her hand and didn't let go. Abby was there and he could feel like he didn't need to be as worried as long as that was true.

Around Zack's wrist the communicator came alive but the sounds coming from it were jumbled, half staticky interference and half barely heard fragments of words that made no sense; the teenage boy brought it up to his ear, trying not to trip as he was pushed forward by some old lady trying to force her way past him, and he made a face as he listened. He could barely make anything out and he tried to tell Karone that something seemed to be up, that he was getting messages that he couldn't really make out, but the ex-villainess got shoved against the wall by a rather aggressive man and Zack got a severe case of the shivers as he saw the evil look in her eyes that preceded her clenching her fists and continuing on; he wasn't sure what it was that passed her mind in the moment, what she had contemplated doing , but he was also not entirely certain he wanted to know either.

The messages continued until they managed to get back down to the first floor, an ordeal that felt like it took hours and left the group of them with aches and plenty of impatience, and pushing through the doorway, finding some space to themselves out to the side where there was more room, Zack finally got his chance to tell Karone and the others about them. The ex-pink frowned and looked over the communicator, holding it up to her ear as well to see if she could hear anything; Tyler got a bad feeling and looked to Jayden, "Jayden, do you have a way to contact your team?"

The red frowned and shook his head. "Our equipment was confiscated when we were taken into custody."

"You let them take your Samuraizers," Lauren said sounding almost incredulous; she shook her head and sighed, "This certainly has become a disaster."

"I'm certainly worried about that but right now I don't think it's the most important thing," Abby said then turned to her son, "Why do you ask, Tyler?"

"It's just a bad feeling I guess," he said shaking his head; he wanted to believe that was all it was, that in the end it wasn't that something was really wrong but he couldn't shake it no matter what he told himself.

Karone was frowning and looking rather frustrated with the communicator, and Antonio opened his mouth to say something else when there was a scream; it was sounded different from the rest of the yelling they had heard and Tyler felt his heart drop even before he realized he knew the voice that had screamed. The group rushed off towards the direction it came from and they were startled to find Lana there, along with the rest of Hunter's team, including Kevin; the blue Samurai Ranger was laying on the ground convulsing and Jayden ran off, followed quickly by Antonio and Lauren; Kira saw them approach and her eyes widened.

"No, stay away!" she called out but it was too late.

Tyler made motion to move but he saw Antonio's body spasm strangely and stiffen before dropping to the ground; Jayden's eyes widened and opened his mouth to say something before letting out a startled sound and falling to the ground as well. Lauren called out her brother's name but he didn't respond. Tyler looked around, "What just happened?!"

"Careful everyone!" Karone yelled and they approached carefully; she leaned beside the fallen red ranger, his sister standing with her hands over her mouth, shaking as the older woman examined him.

"Wh-what's wrong with him?" Lauren asked her voice trembling as she watched Karone carefully.

"It's the handcuffs!" came the voice of Billy and the ex-blue appeared, helping a shuddering Emily walk with his own teammates hot on his heels; from another direction came Laura and her own group, Merrick carrying the unconscious form of Mike in his arms. Tyler watched as everyone seemed to show up, even Tommy assisting a shaking Mia, and Zack spoke carefully, "Why are you all here?"

"Because we made sure you all would be forced this way." The familiar voice to some, unknown to most, rang out and it took that moment for Tyler to realize that it was only them; the crowding, all the other people that had been such a problem getting down here, all the chaos was suddenly gone. And the silence that reigned was more painful on his ears and chest than all the screaming in the world would have been.

Then they were surrounded and Tyler took a step towards his group, his heart pounding in his chest; soldiers, guards, people with guns and weapons of all sorts encircled them, corralling them all into a center section. The oldest of them took to the outer sides and Tyler found himself forced towards the center by his mother and by Tommy, both of whom stood defiantly towards the front of the collected Renegades and shuddering Samurai Rangers. And there, among the cast of enemies, was Jason once more, standing tall until his eyes happened upon Lana, her own expression hard and angry even as his turned almost saddened.

"You mean to tell me you somehow orchestrated us ending up all in this one place?" Tommy asked, his voice defiant, his gaze clear and harsh as he stared at his ex-best friend.

"It wasn't hard," the man responded and shook his head, "You and your team fell for the bait far too easily; I expected so much better from you, Tommy."

"We knew it would be a trap," Tommy said, "But this...this is too much; how did you-"

"You're not the only one with communicator technology," said another voice and the ex-green turned his attention to where Taylor stood, alongside what he knew to be members of the Lightspeed team. It sunk his heart to see other Rangers there but seeing the ex-yellow his attention was drawn towards Hunter, Tori and Merrick specifically, finding the first shaking with barely controlled rage at the sight of his brother's murderer, the second taking deep breaths that he suspected where to help her control her own anger, while the third was only not running at his ex-teammate because Andros had taken the initiative to assist in holding him back, holding Ileana back as well while he was at it with the help of RJ and Trent.

His gaze moved over their would-be captors and it occurred to him that there were actually a few Rangers there, mainly ones who were connected someway with the military or law enforcement; he took note of Wesley Collins of the Time Force team, though the lack of the other present day member Eric did leave him with more questions than answers. Still no matter what he couldn't help but return to Jason and his blood felt hot just looking at the ex-red, his ex-red, the man who once he called friend and who now stood there with a dark sort of expression as the Samurai rangers writhed and suffered.

"What did you do to them?" he asked, skipping asking if but what.

Jason held up a small remote. "The military had their handcuffs specially made; they house a poison capable of stopping the heart, though I promise I only administered a small dose. Will keep them from going anywhere with you."

"You're a monster," Lauren said in a low voice and tried to help her brother up, her hands barely able to touch him without hesitating seeing how much pain he seemed to be in.

"And you're all foolish," Jason said and stepped forward, closer to the group and closer to Tommy; the ex-green met the movement, standing up straight and Jason frowned some, "Tommy, I'm giving you this one chance; give in, come along quietly, and I promise nothing bad will happen to you. It'll be better in the longrun if you just stop all this foolishness."

"I'm reminded of when we last talked, Jason," Tommy answered, causing the other man's frown to deepen, "You said it was necessary what you did, capturing our old teammates, forcing Rangers out of their happy lives for some stupid law. That the death of Ethan was necessary; now it's been a little while since then and I've seen some stuff. I saw the government murder kids as they attacked the Ninja Academy. I saw that woman," he pointed at Taylor who looked a little taken aback, "shoot a Ranger in the chest. I've seen the destruction wrought in the name of that stupid law and you know what else, Jason Lee Scott?" he stepped ever closer and leaned in close, lowering his voice almost as if to relay a secret though it was still far too easy to hear every word he said as he practically spat them, "I saw the rope burns on Ileana's wrists from where she was tied up before being thrown into a cage at that NASADA building."

"Watch it, Tommy," Jason said eyes narrowed.

Tommy smirked and pulled back, stepping away at the same time. "So tell me again how it's necessary, how it's for the good of everyone that kids who care barely fight back should be shot in the head. Tell me how it was for good reason that you let them throw your girlfriend into a cell kicking and screaming. Tell me how wrong I and my friends here are for wanting to see the Samurai Rangers free, to see all Power Rangers safe and sound and capable of going back to our lives, not hunted or hurt or murdered or imprisoned. Tell me how necessary all of this war and violence is, Jason, tell me!"

Jason growled and the sound of guns being cocked sounded all around them; Abby pressed her hand back against Tyler, trying to force him back but the boy pushed back. They were surrounded and he was terrified but he didn't want to die like this, not like a protected child; he could hear shuffling and he could just barely make out the figures of the conscious Samurai Rangers getting themselves up onto their feet. The group, almost forced into a crowded mass, started to fan out and take on fighting stances and it came to him that none of them planned on going down without a fight; they were outnumbered, without weapons, without much of a chance. But in his mind Tyler thought it was the Rangers who stood with him there that were the real ones, not the ones who stood among the soldiers, watching them carefully, silently, coldly.

The second gunshot of that day was not followed by a scream but a battle cry; the words themselves were lost in the fray but the emotion was clear as each of the eighteen capable Renegades and new allies made their way at the people around them. Merrick had been let loose and the silver wolf made a beeline for Taylor who drew her weapon in a show of trying to shoot, only for her to hesitate and him to throw her to the ground; a soldier tried to injure the angry man but got a violet colored spirit wolf to the body as RJ defended his fellow Ranger. Another tried to shoot at Tyler only to get a fist to the face from Abby who looked more than a little upset over someone pointing a gun at her son; Tyler didn't have the time to focus much on that, dodging an attack from one of the other men and landed a kick to their stomach in return, sending them flying into another soldier and another in a domino effect.

Jayden and his team tried to help but despite Tommy launching himself at Jason, grabbing at the remote control, the ex-red managed to press down on one of the buttons and they were laid flat on the ground again, trying to pull at the handcuffs to no avail, causing their wrists to bleed as the needles in the binds injected more poison into their bloodstreams. Emily let out a soft cry and Tommy turned his head to look over before yelling at Jason, "Stop it, you'll kill them!"

"Then surrender already!" Jason said and tried to hit Tommy, getting blocked and a return strike thrown at him; it was uncomfortable to Tommy to say the least, once more finding himself in a martial arts faceoff with Jason. But this wasn't some practice fight, nor anything like when they first met; the punches, the kicks, they were all very real, very aggressive, and very much about bringing the other one down. And despite years apart, despite all the time they had had to train and learn and grow, it frustrated him how easily Jason still could read him, and how easily he could read Jason in return.

Only one member of the team was not present at the battle, though for not for lack of wanting. Crawling through a vent, holding tight to her chest with one arm her sword while using the other to try to feel her way forward and hopefully find a way out, Tsuki was not yet aware of the violent showdown happening between her friends and their enemies. She did not know about the Samurai Rangers writhing in pain, she did not know about Tommy having to fight his old friend, she did not know about Merrick's anger or how Hunter or Laura was running to assist Merrick only to get forced back by more soldiers, having to fight them as the silver wolf fought his own ex-teammate with dangerous flashes of gold in his eyes as an old monster woke inside him.

What she knew was what brought her to the vents, namely how she had left Tori and the others to go meet up with Tyler's group to collect Mia and ended up seeing the soldiers who would later end up on the first floor. Upon being spotted as well she had immediately tried to teleport, only to stop herself quickly and instead settling for using her skills to evade their attacks long enough to climb up into an open vent hatch and pull herself inside and away from them. The sound of them yelling, shooting at the chute for a while in hopes perhaps of hitting her and injuring her long enough to be able to capture her, maybe something far worse, still rung in her ears even now, a good hour or so after the events themselves; she had followed the vents through the building, hearing all sorts of other things. People yelling, lots of running, arguing, the frantic broken shrieking of her communicator that made her wince before turning the thing off again with a sinking feeling; she slid down a chute leading downward and the sound of the wind blowing by her hurt her ears a little, causing her to close her eyes and clench her sword even closer before landing on what felt like the bottom of it with a loud thud.

Followed by a louder one as the metal of the vents gave way under the combination of her weight and the velocity with which she had fallen, dropping her onto the ground on the first floor; she let out a cry of pain, feeling it shoot through her whole body and she lay there for a while, uncertain which was worse: this or the sickness she felt when she over used her powers.

The sickness was what had stopped her before; she knew that she had a limit and though she had had to use her powers more than a few times since the day they left Tommy's house, she had been doing her best not to exceed it again, mainly for the fact that she hated the feeling of her organs starting to shut down as she overexerted herself, blood mixing with spit as she would nearly cough up her lungs. But also because seeing the way Tommy would look at her when she did, the worry, the frustration, it bothered her more; she prefered the playful way he'd act when she'd use her powers inadverently, when she'd be sick for different reasons, sneezing only to accidentally teleport herself to the Dino lab, back when things were simplier. She'd land on Tommy back then, right into his lap and the man would always tease her, tell her how heavy she was, and that he understood she was lonely but that was no excuse for stalking him to the lab; it was always with a smile or smirk, a playful tone always followed by some sweet kiss to her forehead, a light peck on her cheek or upon her lips before taking her back upstairs to force her to take some medicine or drink some soup. She would have held it against him but she knew she was far more aggressive about making sure he took care of himself whenever he was the one who got sick; in her defense though he was terrible at doing so. Still she preferred that to the way he would worry over her now, telling her to be more careful, to not overdo it. All while over doing it himself; it frustrated her honestly, and worried her to no end, concerned how much her beloved would be able to go through before he too would end up coughing up blood.

After some time of thinking and molling over the pain she managed to drag herself off the floor, wincing as the pain continued before pulling her sword back onto her back and taking a look around. She seemed to have fallen into a cafeteria area, not too far from the main lobby of the courthouse; if she remembered correctly Tyler and his group would be going that way, which meant she could take that pathway, go meet up with them and everything would be okay. Tsuki figured at least, unaware until she had actually left the room and walked towards the lobby of the events unfolding there.

She arrived to find blood. Kira screamed and fell to her knees, her leg bleeding profusely from a gaping wound in her calf; Tyler was calling out for help as he tended to his mother, Abby holding her mangled right arm with her other hand and weakly trying to tell Tyler it was okay. Tsuki saw Tommy still fighting with Jason, blood dripping from both of their mouths, their bodies heaving in exhaustion from matching hit for hit, kick for kick and punch for punch but neither looking willing to back down. Her eyes fell upon the Samurai Rangers, not knowing of the remote that lay off to one side near the two martial artists, badly broken and sparking; all she did know was that she could see Mike shaking on the floor and she didn't like it.

The swordsgirl rushed over, grabbing onto what she could find of his wrist beside the bulky handcuffs to check his pulse; it was going crazy and she looked around for his teammates. They were easy enough for her to make out, all wearing the same bracelets save for the strange woman holding Jayden; Tsuki bit her lip and tried to pick up Mike best she could, carrying him over to his other teammates. She had that bad feeling again, the same as when her communicator had gone crazy in the vents, and she tried to take a deep breath, to think; she hadn't teleported before so she could save her energy. If her communicator was acting weird then likely something was wrong with their connection, after all they had taken good care to make sure they were kept in good condition and she and Billy had done a check on all of them before they went out on this mission; she was inclined to believe external interference more than she was that something might be wrong with the hardware they can worked on, that Billy had created. The main point was though that if the communicators weren't working right, then chances were they weren't going to be able to get the teleportation mechanism on the Megaship to pick up on them either; before leaving they had indeed cut down almost all the power, leaving the ship almost entirely inert outside of the separate power and mainframe that kept the medical bay going, and a small generator to allow them to still access the teleporters. Of course it required a signal from their communicators though, allowing them to be picked up, without which they were mainly sitting ducks. Which led to why she had second guessed using her power to escape the soldiers she'd seen before; she needed her energy, as much of her energy as possible. Mental math told her there would be at least twenty-four of them to take back aboard the ship, though there seemed to be an additional two people to add to that list; a group of that size would take more than she had normally and she did not relish the idea of the pain she'd be in after that but that didn't matter. If she could still do it, and she had no doubts she could, she would; she'd teleport them all one by one if she had if it meant saving her friends from danger, and from what Tsuki could see they were all in danger.

But the Samurai Rangers were first; it didn't take a genius to know they were dying, that something was killing them and she needed to get them to the megaship, somewhere safe, somewhere she could properly tend to them. Her grip on Mike tightened as she pulled him ever closer to his teammates, grunting from dragging his weight but his pained groans and small whines made her feel bad for focusing on her own; it would be easier and faster to teleport them all together she figured, and she was thinking about who the woman holding Jayden was, and how she was going to convince her to let Tsuki take him up to the ship, when Mike suddenly went limp. His entire weight fell on her and she squeaked in startlement, nearly falling only to just barely regain control of her own movement and stopping; he was silent now and her heart fell harshly.

"No," she murmured and put him down, checking his heartbeat again. Still, it was all still; she frowned and checked his neck; nothing, "No...no, no, no, no, don't do this, come on."

Tsuki laid him flat on his back, opening his airway before starting CPR. She pushed hard against his chest, her mind racing with fear and determination as she tried to remember everything; hand over other, middle of chest, body weight down. Fast compressions, two rescue breaths before returning to compressions, keep trying until he recovers, until he starts to breathe, until he at least moves.

But nothing, absolutely nothing, and she could hear the sound of Lauren crying, calling out her brother's name as he too seemed to succumb to whatever took Mike's life as well. Tsuki still tried but eventually she just couldn't muster enough strength to force it, and her hands lay lamely upon the fallen green ranger's chest as he just lay there. He almost looked peaceful; it was so much different than Blake, she found herself thinking, staring down at the man absently. Blake, he'd looked so surprised and it had been so fast for him, but Mike had been in pain, they all had been in pain; convulsing, crying out, yet now he just looked like he was asleep and she was inclined to want to believe that was it. She wondered if Tori had thought the same, if Hayley had; maybe they were all just sleeping, this was all a bad dream and soon they'd wake up and everything would be okay, and...

"Tommy!" Tsuki cried out his name before she could think; she wasn't even entirely sure why she did it, what would possess her to try to gain his attention now. But she did and she regretted it almost immediately as he turned to look at her, drawn by the pain and fear in her voice.

It felt like it happened in slow motion for her and she was certain that that was exactly what Tori had felt; one minute Tommy was looking at her and the next he was falling and she screamed, a guttal noise that was followed by her running as fast as she could over to him and barely making it as he nearly hit the ground. He was bleeding, he was bleeding very badly, a dot of red that grew and grew until it started to eclipse his abdomen; it wasn't a bullet wound to the chest, it wasn't something fast like when Taylor shot Blake in the chest but something slow and painful and Tsuki could swear her own heart had been shot as he started to cough up blood.

"Tsuki," he said weakly, trying to move but couldn't; he looked confused by this, "Wh-why can't I..."

"T-tommy," she whimpered and gulped; she tried to adjust him, trying to get to her bag, but he let out a cry of pain and she froze up immediately; eyes wide, tears forming quickly she spoke quickly, "I'm so sorry, oh god, Tommy, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean, oh god."

It was a rambling line of words, barely making sense as they went on, just repeated parts and his name, over and over. He looked up at her and tried to smile, in that reassuring way that Tommy did, and shaking he reached up to put his hand on her head.

"H-hey, stop that; it's okay, I'm...okay..." She wasn't convinced, she didn't have any reason to be, not when he kept bleeding and Tsuki could feel him shivering in her arms, could feel his body shake. And all she could think of was how it was her fault; she called out to him, she shouldn't have done that, why did she do that? She had stupidly called out to him and now he was dying and it was her fault, it was all her fault; she should have just used her power to teleport to where Tyler and the others were before, she should have just used her power immediately to take Mike to the ship while he was still alive. She should have done so much but she didn't and now...

She pulled him to her, feeling him groan a bit before moving his arms to wrap them around her, holding onto her weakly. She murmured softly, speaking not to him but something else; her mind raced but something stuck, a memory, a thought, and she clung to it.

"Please," she begged, holding onto the injured ex-green as all around her her friends, her allies, got shot and hurt and broken, as the Renegades started to lose; she pressed her face into his hair, a desperate terrified kiss, her voice trembling with a wish for something different, "Please, I know I'm not a Ranger, and I know I'm not a mentor. I'm just a girl with a sword and a strange skill; I've never been a Ranger, I've never been one of your chosen but please...Please give them the strength to fight back. Please heal their injuries so they can survive. Please...save Tommy, even just one more time."

"Tsuki," he spoke weakly; his hands moved but passed through the light that started to grow, to surround her and she closed her eyes.

She'd made her plea to the one force she knew could help. And the Morphing Grid answered.