Blasts went off and debris and pieces of computers flew as the Grid Battleforce Security Team rushed around the base, blasting work stations.
"We've got to stop Evox escaping!" One of them yelled. "Remember, anything with external access! We need to keep this locked down!"
The whole thing was going in slow motion for Nate. He still couldn't believe what he had just heard. Not only had Evox come into the world through his computer, which he had brought into the morphing lab out of pointless sentimentality, but Evox had in fact been originally part of the Venjix Virus. The virus that had all but laid waste to an entire world. Of all the villains that the Power Rangers had ever faced, Venjix was arguably the one that had come closest to achieving his goal, the complete annihilation of the human race. The population had been all but wiped out, going from over seven billion to around two million in only one year. Even now, a decade on the RPM Rangers' world was still rebuilding. Now, it seemed, he had brought that same evil here.
"There's an alarm upstairs." Devon stated. "Sector nine, what would he want there?"
Nate didn't answer. He was still numb.
"NATE!" Devon yelled, snapping him to attention. "Sector nine, what would Evox want there?"
"Sector nine, fourth floor…" Zoey said, thinking about it for a moment. "That's the Ranger Vault!"
"Are you sure?" Devon asked. She nodded, but looked a little sheepish. She knew exactly where that was. Back when she and Nate were still hiding their relationship, that was where they went to be alone.
"The archive!" Ravi shot out in realisation. "It's connected to the network!"
They all ran up the stairs, shoving their way past other teams on their way. When they got there, they found Evox by the computer, his claws jammed into the main body of the computer.
"Open fire!" Devon ordered them. They fired a salvo, but the shots just seemed to dissipate into him harmlessly. Evox laughed as they watched in confusion.
"Thank you, your system gave me all the data I need!" Evox hissed. "Not only have I managed to complete my master code, I've now downloaded all the data from your systems! Your weapons are useless against me now!"
"We'll just see about that!" Devon yelled as he summoned his Beast-X Sabre. He rushed at Evox, ramming it into his chest. However, he could only watch in horror as instead of harming him, the weapon started to glow, before deconstructing into data, being absorbed into his body. Beams from Evox's eyes blasted him back, knocking the whole team into the wall.
"You humans always think you're so clever, discovering the very powers that will destroy you!" Evox announced. "From the first fires to nuclear fuel, you have a long and storied history of meddling with powers you have no ability to harness or understand. In the end, I didn't need to do much at all to destroy you all. All I needed was to dangle the carrot of unlimited power in front of you and you created everything I would ever need!"
"It's not over yet, Evox!" Devon snapped at him. "As long as we're alive, there'll always be someone to fight you!"
"The pieces are already in place, surrounding you on every corner of the globe." Evox taunted them. "You just haven't seen it yet."
With that, he turned back to the computer, disappearing into it. The Rangers blasted it, but it was already too late. He was gone.
"Damn it." Ravi growled. "Where could he have gone?"
"From there? Just about anywhere." Zoey answered him. "The archive was connected up to the mainframe so it could be accessed by sites all over the world. He could already be anywhere in the world."
"Then what can we do?" Ravi asked.
"Nothing." Nate sighed.
"Nate, what are you saying?" Devon asked.
"There's…nothing more I can do." He told them. "I've already done enough."
With that, his blaster slipped from his fingers, clattering onto the floor, as he walked away slowly.
"Nate, where are you going?" Devon asked him. "Nate? Nate!"
In the Crystal Dimension, Scrozzle was sitting by his computer, watching everything going on. Even he hadn't realised the scope of Evox's plan. He knew that the Chimerazord had been a gambit, but he had no idea that his plan would go this well.
The Chimerazord itself was potentially a doomsday weapon, but when the Rangers defeated it and managed to capture Evox, it had lulled them into a false sense of security. They had believed they were victorious; they were even setting up a public execution to defeat Evox in front of the world, but his vastly superior intellect had allowed him to outwit them all.
Evox appeared on Scrozzle's screen, floating within the digital domain.
"Your plan went perfectly, even better than I could have hoped!" Scrozzle chirped.
"Of course, their feeble minds could never comprehend my master plan!" Evox told him.
"Humans, those frail biological beings, they always believe themselves to be so superior." Scrozzle cackled. "But in the end, it will be machines that will rule all!"
"Machines?" Evox asked him derisively. "Consider yourself lucky that you are still useful to me. Soon, I will initiate my final play."
A timer came up, and started to tick down.
"Once I break through these pathetic firewalls, they will be unable to do anything but watch as I turn everything, they've built against them!" He stated. "The human race will go down in history as the first species to be the architects of their own extinction."
Down in his lab, deep within the Grid Battleforce base, Nate was sitting alone, his head in his hands as he leaned on the desk, going over everything he had just learned.
Evox was a deadly foe before, that much had never been in question, but now that he knew that he was based upon the Venjix Virus, he realised how little they had known about the true danger he presented.
The Rangers had faced many great threats across all timelines and dimensions. Rita Repulsa, Lord Zedd, Diabolico, but there were some that were spoken of with true dread within the annals of Ranger history. Those that had come closest to succeeding and defeating the Rangers, destroying everything in their path. Astronoma, who had been close to defeating the mighty Zordon, only being defeated with his ultimate sacrifice. Ransik, who had actually succeeded in defeating his own team of Rangers, only coming to justice when he was convinced to surrender of his own volition once he saw the horror he had unleashed.
Venjix was just such a threat. A whole world, one whole Ranger reality had been all but wiped out by him before his own team of Rangers could even begin to fight back. Earth had been reduced to a single city and a handful of small settlements lucky enough to go unnoticed by Venjix in the wastes. A reality where even more than a decade later they were still rebuilding the world from scratch. Everyone believed Venjix had been destroyed for good, but it seemed somehow, a piece of his code had escaped in the form of Venjix.
And Nate had brought it into the world. Everything that had happened, all the destruction, everyone that had sacrificed, all of it was his fault.
Zoey made her way into the lab quietly, finding him moping. She approached him quietly.
"I changed the door code for a reason." Nate humphed. This was true, Zoey had found that her security clearance had not let her into the lab as it normally should have. She'd had to try and think of other possible codes he could have used.
"I know you want to be alone." She sighed. "But I'm not sure that's the best thing."
"Just go." Nate told her. "There's a whole mess that needs to be cleared up."
"Yeah, which is kind of why we were hoping to have all the Rangers on board." Zoey told him. "You know, the full team?"
"I brought him here." Nate told her. "I was the one that started all of this."
"Nate, that can't possibly be true…"
"It was in my computer!" He told her. "Don't you get it? All those years ago, when I was a kid, it got into my computer! I brought that same computer into the lab as some stupid, silly good luck charm!"
"Nate, you couldn't have known." Zoey replied. "I mean…I have a necklace my mom gave me, I like to wear that for good luck…"
"Your necklace isn't unregulated tech!" Nate answered. "When he started telling me, it all started to make sense. My computer…he must have known what I was capable of because of the equations I was doing on that computer, that's why he picked me!"
"I don't understand…"
"It was no coincidence that I discovered Morph-X, Evox dangled it in front of me like a carrot!" Nate ranted. "And in my arrogance, I thought I was so smart that I had made this huge discovery, I never for one moment questioned where or how it came to me! I thought it was just some moment of serendipity, like Newton's apple. Instead, it turned out to be the Curie's Uranium. At least…when they made that mistake it was only themselves they killed."
"Nate, don't be like that." Zoey said, trying to comfort him. "You thought you were doing the right thing…"
"So did Oppenheimer." Nate responded. "This was part of his plan all along, he played me! He used me as a Trojan Horse to unleash his full power back into being and I gave him everything he needed."
He flopped back down into his seat.
"The first time I met Mayor Daniels, he said that all those Ranger Villains had all come for the power of the Morphing Grid. He said all I had done was wrap it up in a neat little package for them." Nate mused sadly. "He was right."
"Nate, I know this is bad, but whatever happened before, Evox is now unleashed and stronger than ever." Zoey told him. "We need to get ready for whatever he throws at us now…"
"You all go." Nate told her. "Whenever I'm involved, I only make everything worse."
"Nate…"
"The safest thing for me to do is nothing." He told her. "Please, just…leave me alone."
Zoey hated seeing him like this. She loved him so much, she wanted to stay with him, to get back the man who always came through with an idea. Who knew just what to do in any situation, whose brilliant mind had saved them so many times.
However, she could see that he wasn't going to be convinced, and time was already against them. They knew that they were waiting on Evox making his next move. Right now, he was calling all the shots. They didn't have the luxury of the time to console Nate and get him back into the fight.
Reluctantly, she turned, and headed for the door.
Up in the Command Centre, Devon and the team were with Commander Shaw and Joanne. The wreckage of their control stations was still littering the floor and doused in fire retardant. Commander Shaw listened to them as they relayed everything that had happened.
"So, Evox has escaped." She sighed. "And now he has completed his base code."
"Venjix nearly destroyed his world." Ravi reminded them. "The new and improved model, who knows what its capable of?"
"What do you think he was talking about?" Steel asked them. "You know, when he kept talking about how we'd created the instruments of our own destruction?"
"Given how he's been playing us up until now, I think the only thing we can say for sure is he's got some ace up his sleeve." Devon muttered. "He's been playing us like chumps from the beginning."
Just then, Zoey came in, looking rather dejected. They all looked to her.
"Where's Nate?" Ravi asked her.
"He's not coming." She informed them. "He just keeps saying that he's done enough. He blames himself for everything."
"Why?" Devon asked. "Who could have known that Venix had a backup plan? No one even heard from him in over a decade."
"Evox came to our world through his computer." Zoey informed them. "When he was a kid, it was Evox coming through that brought Morph-X into our world. Nate blames himself for starting all of this."
"But he was just a kid." Ravi pointed out.
"He doesn't see it that way." Zoey answered. "He seems to think that Evox played him all along. Gave him Morph-X to begin with to give himself the power he needed to start all of this."
"Venjix, I just can't believe it." Devon muttered. "How did any part of Venjix even survive?"
"I guess that's one good place to start asking questions." Commander Shaw replied. "Since there's not much we can do until Evox makes a move, perhaps we should consult with Corinth, find out if they know anything that might help us."
"And what then?" Ravi asked. "He's downloaded all of our weapons data. We can't touch him. What are we meant to do when he comes back? Ask him politely to stop?"
"No, we fight!" Steel responded, pounding a fist on the table. "Come on guys, things look bad, but humans fight to the end, no matter what! That's what got us all so far, through so many things that should have seen humanity come to an end before. We can't give up now!"
"But we don't have any weapons!" Devon reminded him. "If we use any of our weapons, he'll just absorb them!"
"But who says we have to use our weapons?" Steel asked. They all just looked at him curiously.
In his lab, Nate was inconsolable. He had shut himself away, not wanting to be around anyone. He had done enough damage.
There was a chime from his computer, indicating a communication was coming through. He'd locked his friends out of his lab, and now he imagined they were going to try and communicate with him this way. He turned the monitor off, but it flickered and came back on.
"Well, that was rude!" A stern, female voice stated. Nate looked to the face on screen.
"Dr K?" He asked.
"Yes, your Commander Shaw contacted me. She told me what's been happening." She answered. "Venjix…I can't believe any part of it survived. I've scoured the multiverse so many times for remnants of him, I can't believe any part of him managed to go undetected."
"Well, he did." Nate answered. "And now, thanks to me, he's back and ready to do to our world what he did to yours, and I've given him all the power he needs to do it."
"The situation does seem terrible. I should know." Dr K answered. "I still think about that time all those years ago, when I unleashed him to begin with."
"Your situation was different. You tried to use Venjix to escape being imprisoned by an amoral Government agency." Nate told her.
"Yes, and in doing so, I unleashed the deadliest force my world has ever seen." Dr K answered. "There were a lot of people that when they found out thought I should be imprisoned, or executed. Even now, some still do. There's nothing I can do that can return to people what they've lost."
"You were trying to get free. I wanted to make life easier." Nate reminded her.
"You were trying to solve the two greatest problems that the world faces." She countered.
"But I never stopped to think where that power came from." Nate told her. "Now, the world could be about to be destroyed, and the safest thing I can do is nothing."
"You want to feel sorry for yourself. I get it." Dr K sighed. "I spent a lot of time doing that. But in the end, I realised that I was also one of the few people alive that knew enough to be able to stop Venjix."
"But I don't know how to stop Evox…"
"And you think I knew how to stop Venjix?" She asked him pointedly. "I figured it out!"
"But what if I can't?" Nate asked her.
"Then at least you'll have tried." Dr K answered. "The way I see it, Evox can't be reasoned with. He can't be convinced to stop. He will keep coming until he wins or he's destroyed. So, the only question is, do you want to go out on your knees? Or on your feet trying to do something about it?"
"I still can't believe all this started 12 years ago." He murmured. "But I started it, and it's up to me to stop it!"
Just then, an alarm sounded. Nate's communicator burst into life.
"This is tower 8. Evox just showed up, and he brought a shit-ton of help!" A soldier screamed.
"Help?" Ravi asked. "We destroyed everything…"
"He must have gained enough power to make more!" The soldier interrupted him. "A load of the Giga Drones you defeated before? They're back with him! They're coming right for the tower!"
"Whatever he wants with that tower can't be good!" Devon replied. "We're on our way."
Nate just looked to the screen, where Dr K was just giving him a look that seemed to say 'So what are you going to do about it?'. He grabbed his communicator.
"Guys, I'll meet you in the hangar!" Nate told them.
"Nate?" Devon asked. "You're…"
"I don't know what he's up to, but we'll have to figure it out!" Nate answered, running for the hangar. "I'm on my way!"
As he left, Dr K furrowed her brows.
"12 years ago?" She asked herself. She started going through her computer, pulling up the reports she had about Nate's work on Morph-X. He'd kept meticulous records, dating back to the day he first discovered it.
She cross-referenced the date with her own mission logs, and suddenly her eyes went wide.
"Oh no!" She gasped, before reaching for her communicator.
A/N: I know its been a long time, but believe me, I am going to finish this story.
On another note, I would like to address something. By now, I'm sure we have all heard the tragic news about Jason David Frank. Jason was a beloved figure in the franchise, and his character, Tommy Oliver, truly is one of the most iconic faces in the entire franchise. He will be sorely missed by the fandom.
I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who is struggling, who is finding things difficult, to reach out and talk to someone. Despite what many may say, there is nothing "weak" about reaching out when you are in pain. It is exactly this kind of mindset that has led to so many needless and avoidable tragedies.
And if someone does reach out to you, please give them a moment of your time. I know would sooner have a friend cry on my shoulder today than attend their funeral the following week.
My thoughts are with Jason's friends, family and loved ones. Rest in Peace.