The Rangers Zords arrived as Robo Roxy's horrifying new form started tearing through the city. The fact she could now grow on her own made her all the more dangerous. Her new form, backed up by the power of dinosaur DNA had given her terrifying power which now threatened to destroy the whole city.

Devon was the first on the scene, launching onto her back as his Zord turned into warrior mode.

"Whoa!" He called out as Roxy started spinning around, trying to throw him off, slamming both her and the Cheetah Zord through a couple of buildings. "Guys, I don't think I can hold her!"

"I'm trying to get a lock on!" Ravi added as he fired a salvo of missiles from his Zord. "Man, we're hardly making a dent!"

"None of our Zords can do anything individually." Zoey chimed in, activating the Beast X King Zord from her wrist comm. "If anything's going to have a shot, it's going to be the Ultra Zord."

"Go big or go home." Roxy taunted them as she finally got a hold of the Cheetah Zord, throwing it off her. "Bring it on!"

"You know what they say, happy wife, happy life." Devon stated. "What do you say we give her what she asked for?"

"That is NOT my Roxy." Ravi snapped. "And getting rid of her parody act is going to be the best engagement present I can give!"

Back on the base, Ben was in his room, trying to get some sleep between night shifts, but he just couldn't settle no matter what he did.

Normally, sleeping wasn't a problem for Ben. People used to joke that he was part cat because of his unnatural ability to sleep pretty much anywhere. It wasn't the first time he was found napping in the canteen or in the gym. He never slept on shift, but being able to sleep almost at will was a pretty handy thing when he was working night shift.

He couldn't sleep now though. The only thing he could think about was his dad, and the fact that he told him he was coming to the base to meet his new partner. He knew that his dad was well thought of on the base and it wasn't exactly a surprise that his dad had heard he was now dating someone, but he still hadn't been able to muster up the courage to tell his dad that he was gay.

His family, the Burkes, had a military history that extended back beyond the American War of Independence. Burkes had been in the forces for generations long before the emigrated to America. He and his twin sister, like Ravi, had been raised on bases all over the world, and it was the only life they really knew so it wasn't really much of a surprise that they ended up in the "family business", even when it quickly became apparent, they didn't have much of a talent for it.

Between his sister's stature, by virtue of never gaining an inch or a pound since she was 13 years old and his own lack of athleticism it was pretty clear very quickly that serving on the front was never going to be their destiny, but they had always been more than willing to do pretty much anything that was needed to help, even if it wasn't the glamorous jobs. From maintaining equipment to cleaning the toilets, their old motto that there were no small jobs had meant that Ben and Betty always found some way to be helpful.

He knew his dad would probably have been over the moon if he was more like Cole. His new boyfriend. He was pretty much what people thought of as the ideal soldier. Tall, muscular, athletic…if it wasn't for the exceptional performance of Roxy, Blaze and Ravi, there had been a time he almost ended up become a Ranger. Ben had to think he'd look pretty good in one of those suits.

The fact his dad had accepted that Ben and Betty would likely not end up becoming the kind of officers that had a base named after them had been a relief, and he knew his dad loved him and was proud of him, but he did worry how he would take the news. The armed forces had made a lot of advances in how they viewed the LGBT community. Cole was extremely well thought of on the base, but that didn't mean that the whole institution had completely changed. There were still some that wanted to go back to the 'good old days' when people like him and Cole would not be allowed to serve.

He also had to think that his dad wouldn't be happy about the news it was unlikely he'd carry on the Burke name. He'd been with Cole for a couple of months now, but they hadn't yet had many of the big talks. He had no idea if Cole had any will to have a family, or what their future was likely to be.

He was roused by a knock on the door, and sighed.

"It's open." He called out. The door opened and Blaze came in.

"Hey, Ben, sorry to wake you." Blaze stated.

"Oh, you didn't wake me." Ben assured him. "What can I help you with?"

"I've been trying to find Meghan." He told him. "Have you seen her?"

"Not since earlier today." Ben admitted. "Have you tried the lab?"

Blaze just sighed and gave him a look that said 'Oh, really?'.

"You mean the lab where she practically lives?" He asked. "No, it wasn't the first place I looked."

"Well, maybe it'd be worth having another look." Ben suggested. "Now she's not wearing a tag, I've seen her taking her lunch on the lawn sometimes. Maybe she was just out of the lab when you went?"

"Right, I guess it might be worth another look." Blaze sighed.

"I'm not going to get to sleep anyway." Ben muttered. "I'll come with you."

Back at the site of the battle, the Rangers had assembled the Ultrazord, but the battle was still not going as well as they'd hoped. Robo Roxy tore into them with long, sharp claws and huge swipes from her wings. The Ultrazord was forced onto the defensive pretty fast, covering up as the monster attacked.

"The systems are really taking a battering." Ravi commented. "Damn, she's fast!"

"We're not able to get a hit in!" Devon complained. "If we stop blocking, she'll rip us to shreds, but she's way too close for us to hit back!"

"We're going to have to make a sacrifice." Nate told them. "If we fire off the weapons point-blank, we might get the room we need, but…"

"But we'd be in range too." Zoey surmised. He just nodded.

"So, we do this, we could end up destroying the Ultrazord." Steel answered. "But if we don't…"

"If we don't, we're done anyway." Devon summarized as he thought about it. He knew it was a risky move. However, his experience as a gamer had shown him that there were times when sacrifices had to be made. It wasn't the first time one of the puzzles in one of his games meant having to give up a piece of equipment or even part of his team to progress. He didn't like the thought of weakening the team, but he knew that if they lost, then the city would be lost.

"Looks like Joanne's going to be working overtime." Devon commented. "Nate, give her the broadside!"

At his order, Nate punched in the commands, unleashing all the blasters the Ultrazord had right at point-blank range. Warnings blared and a red light started flashing as the Zord took damage.

"That wasn't good!" Steel said as his console exploded. "I can't even tell you the damage because…the damage report just blew up!"

"We got the room we need!" Devon stated. "We might not get another shot at this!"

"Roxy's recovering!" Ravi pointed out, pointing to the viewer. "She's coming…"

"ON IT!" Devon yelled. He braced the Ultrazord's spear against the ground, and held the other end up, right as Roxy rushed in. Her momentum carried her onto it, impaling her straight through the chest. However, she started swiping once more.

"Really?" Ravi asked. "That didn't stop her?"

"No, but this will." Devon answered. "Man, this is really going to smart. FULL POWER!"

They powered up their attack, which burned through Roxy as she screamed. Before long, she exploded devastatingly, leaving the Ultrazord smoking. It pitched forward, flopping to the ground completely lifeless.

The Rangers all started peeling themselves off the ruins of the cockpit. Nate helped Zoey up as she started digging herself out of what used to be her control pod.

"Well, that sucked." Zoey commented.

"At least Roxy's gone." Ravi responded. "Virus eliminated?"

"Yeah." Devon agreed. "You got Roxy that engagement present…and I have some SERIOUS making up to do to Joanne."

Back on the base, Blaze and Ben went into the lab, finding that Meghan was still missing. Blaze threw up his hands.

"I told you, she's not here." Blaze stated. Ben though was on his knees. "Ben, what are you looking at?"

"Blaze, check this out." He told him. Blaze came over, looking to something on the floor.

"Is that blood?" Blaze asked.

"I've had enough accidents around here to know, that's definitely blood!" Ben told him, getting onto his wrist comm. "Sick bay, this is Ben. Has anyone been admitted today?"

"No one today." The response came. "We're on standby for the Rangers when they get back, but no one else has been in. Why, is someone hurt?"

"We'll get back to you." Ben responded, cutting off the communication link.

He then went to the console, beginning to tap some keys.

"Ben, where's Meghan?" He asked. "If she hurt herself, why would she not go to sick bay?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Ben said as he called up the surveillance footage.

"Ben, if something happened on camera, security would…"

"The cameras in the lab go to a different secure server." Ben interrupted him. "Because a lot of the work in here is classified, it needs to go to a different server. Security might not have seen it yet."

They both watched as the cameras showed Meghan in the lab with Blaze. Ben looked to him in confusion.

"I thought you said you haven't seen her." Ben stated.

"I haven't!" Blaze protested. They then watched as Blaze hit her, knocking her to the ground, where she stopped moving. Blaze recoiled in horror.

"That…I didn't…I would never…"

They then watched as the Blaze on the screen picked Meghan up, before leaving something on the desk, waving to the camera and teleporting out of the base.

"Robo-Blaze!" Ben gasped. "What was he doing here?"

"I don't know." Blaze answered. "But Meghan's in trouble! We need to find her!"

He went to the desk, finding what Robo-Blaze had left. It was an envelope. He tore it open, reading the note inside.

"He said that if we want Meghan back, we need to give him the access codes to the Morph-X towers." Blaze told him. "He said if we don't give Evox all the Morph-X, they're going to kill her."

The Rangers arrived back in the base, along with what was left of the Ultrazord. It hadn't been destroyed, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. Joanne ran into the Zord Bay, taking a look at the devastation, freaking out.

"What in the HELL did you do to my Zords?" She screamed, viewing the smoking, scorched and twisted remains of the Ultrazord.

"Joanne, it's alright." Devon said, trying to calm her. "The Zords all held up, and because of that, Robo Roxy's gone and we're all alive. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your…"

"What part of THIS looks alright to you?" Joanne gasped, reaching out to the wreckage. "Even on double-shifts this'll take DAYS to get back to a hundred percent!"

"Joanne, we didn't have a choice." Ravi explained. "And here's the thing, now that Robo Roxy's gone, Evox has lost one of his main assets. Without the reanimiser and with his Morph-X supplies so low, he's got to be on the ropes."

"Yeah, I know." She sighed. "Look, I'm glad that you're all alright. That's what we work so hard on these Zords for, right?"

Devon went to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. He knew that out of everyone, Joanne knew the value of good engineering on keeping people safe. The only reason she wasn't quadriplegic was because of the implants Nate had spent years incorporating into her spine, almost completely rebuilding it because the APC she had been driving had been hit by a rocket. She did care about the Rangers, and while she took pride in her Zords, ultimately, they all knew if it was a choice between the Zords and the Rangers, she would prefer to lose the Zords every time.

"Joanne, we appreciate everything you do." Devon assured her. She just nodded.

"I know you do." She answered, before looking to her team. "Alright, let's get working on this. Standing around moping about it won't get this thing back on its feet any quicker."

"Rangers, report to the Command Centre for debriefing right away!" Commander Shaw announced over the tannoy. Devon just looked to the others.

"Looks like giving Roxy the good news will have to wait." Zoey told him. "Sorry again, Joanne. If we could have done something different…"

"I know." She sighed. "Looks like I'll be busy for the next little while."

Devon kissed her gently, before they all left. As he got to the door, he stopped and took one last glance back at her. Her work had once again saved their lives, and once again instead it looked like her main reward was to lose all her free time in getting the Zords back together before Evox could capitalise on them being weakened.

She did so much for them, and at times he thought she deserved a lot more back than she got. As they headed for the Command Centre, he tried to think of some way he could show Joanne how much her work really meant to them.

The Rangers got to the Command Centre, finding Blaze and Roxy waiting for them.

"Roxy, so glad you're here." Ravi said, grabbing her and lifting her off the ground excitedly. "Did you see? We finally destroyed your double for good!"

"I saw." She said with a bright smile. "Thanks to you, I might finally be able to go home to my family!"

"The fight was a success." Devon informed the Commander. "Unfortunately, it wasn't without cost. The Ultrazord took extensive damage. Joanne's working on it…"

"I've already signed off on all the time and resources needed to get the Zords back to full battle condition." Commander Shaw interrupted him. "Evox may be weakened, but he has to know we are too. We can't risk giving him the chance to take advantage."

"Fortunately, with his forces so depleted, he has to be struggling for something to send against us." Devon answered. "I don't know how much Morph-X he has, but he has to be running pretty low."

"Unfortunately, that might not be the case for long." Blaze said, stepping up. "While we were concentrating on the battle, Evox infiltrated the base."

"He did what?" Nate asked. "When? How?"

"It looks like Roxy's double wasn't the only one out and about while you were out there." Blaze told them, pulling up the footage in the lab.

"Meghan!" Zoey gasped, watching as Robo-Blaze took her down. "What…what did he? HOW did he get on the base?"

"Since Meghan isn't wearing a tracker anymore, she sometimes goes to the grounds outside the base." Blaze told them. "She must have let him in thinking he was me."

He looked down, thinking about it all.

"I…I've skipped a couple of our sessions lately. I've been kind of flaking out on her." Blaze admitted. "When she saw him, she must have thought…"

"Blaze, you can't blame yourself." Zoey tried to reassure him.

"Why did you skip her sessions?" Roxy asked him. Blaze looked to the others guiltily.

"It doesn't matter." Zoey interrupted before he could answer. "We all know what Meghan's like. She can take things really personally. If she thought Blaze was ignoring her, then all of a sudden, he turned up and said he wanted to see her, I can understand why she'd want to go with him."

"So, what do they want?" Devon asked. "Why would they take her?"

"Do you think they want to make another Robo copy?" Ravi asked. "I remember how bad her avatar was."

"No, it's more simple than that." Blaze told them, handing them the note.

"Bring the access codes to the Morph-X towers." Devon read aloud. "He wants to trade the Morph-X for Meghan."

"Great, that's all we need." Devon muttered. "The only thing we have going for us is that Evox is running low on Morph-X. If we give him the Morph-X, he'll have all he needs to create an army!"

"We can't let that happen." Ravi agreed. "So, what do we do?"

"I'm afraid there is only one thing we can do." Commander Shaw said with a regretful look on her face. "Meghan's one of us, a valuable member of the team, but…"

"But?" Blaze asked. "What part of that needs a 'but'? She's in danger!"

"Yes, and as regrettable as that is, we can't strengthen our enemies." Commander Shaw told them. "Especially when we've been weakened ourselves."

"So, what's that meant to mean?" Blaze asked.

"Then, as much as I hate to say it, as much as this is something I hate doing." She told them. "We may have to accept Meghan as collateral damage."

"Collateral damage?" Roxy shrieked. "You mean we're going to cut her loose?"

"We don't have a choice!" Commander Shaw told them. "You all know Grid Battleforce guidelines. We have a strict policy against negotiating with…"

"I seem to remember you were happy to negotiate when it was Ben and Betty!" Blaze yelled. "But because it's Meghan she's on her own?"

"That was only for a small amount of Morph-X. This is for all of the Morph-X we've accumulated!" Commander Shaw reminded him. "And if we give him that, without the Zords, we'll have no way to defend ourselves. Grid Battleforce has strict protocols about hostage situations. If any one of you was in Meghan's place, you'd know that we couldn't risk that trade. Any one of you Rangers would make that sacrifice, and…and I would make that sacrifice myself."

"That's easy to say when it's not your ass on the line!" Blaze snapped at her.

"Blaze, that's not fair." Devon stated. "The whole situation sucks, but until they tell us where and when they want to do the handover, we can't even begin to figure out a rescue. Once we know what they want us to do we can…"

"No, it's fine, I get it." Blaze said angrily, before storming out. Devon just looked back to Commander Shaw.

"Look, when we get the handover details, we'll weigh up our options then." He told her. "If there's a way to get Meghan back, we'll figure it out."

"I know you will." Commander Shaw answered. "But no matter what happens, we can't give Evox what he wants. Which means, if the choice has to be made…"

"I know." Devon answered sadly. "And I'm sure Meghan does too. That doesn't mean we have to feel good about it."

"Trust me." Commander Shaw answered, struggling to keep her composure. "I don't."