As the Rangers arrived back with an escort, comprised largely of injured and exhausted teams returning themselves from their positions out in the city providing supporting fire, there was a huge roar of celebration from everyone in the base. It was a brutal battle, one they were still a long way from knowing the true cost of as reports of damages and casualties were still coming in, but for now, the first instinct was one of celebration.

Roxy and Joanne rushed forward, embracing Ravi and Devon respectively, overjoyed to see them coming home, rough up for sure, but ultimately safe. Nate was with a team bringing in a large crate, surrounded by a force field.

"Everyone clear the way! We need to get him down to the lab!" Nate warned them. "Take him to the sub-basement Morphing Lab, I have a force field generator down there that should hold him until I can create an anti-virus."

"Congratulations Rangers!" General Burke boomed, coming over to greet them enthusiastically. Devon tried not to show the pain in his face as he slapped him on the back, forgetting for a moment the fact they had only just ejected from their Zords, moments before they exploded. "You did it! You finally did it!"

"Yeah, it was pretty touch and go there for a while. I thought Evox might have had our number there for a bit." Devon admitted. "But the plan worked."

"Yes, and a genius stroke it was too! I have no idea where you came up with it!" General Burke said excitedly. "You have to tell me, how did you come up with it?"

"Uh…probably for the best I keep that one to myself." Devon replied modestly. He had indeed come up with a master stroke, trapping the Chimerazord in the hangar door to keep it held in place. He had quickly ascertained it was far more powerful than even their combined Zords and so had to figure out a way to keep it from overwhelming them while they picked it apart at a safe distance. He had recalled the last time he had played Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines, there was a mission where the player had to evade a werewolf that was effectively invulnerable to all the player's attacks. There was, however, a way to kill it by trapping it in a mechanical door and crushing it to death. Somehow, he figured it was for the best that the General, and the rest of his team, didn't know that he had gambled everything on a trick he picked up from a video game.

"Well, we're all entitled to our secrets, especially when they work out so well!" He declared. "Isn't that right, Commander?"

"Absolutely!" Commander Shaw said, looking to the whole team. "You should all be very proud of yourselves. You've made the city, and the world, a safer place!"

"We managed to salvage the CPU's from the Beast Bots." Zoey told her. "They did a great job keeping us safe. We should get them all new bodies as soon as possible."

"Absolutely! It seems the least we can do!" She agreed. "As for now, I find in situations like this, a few words from the victorious leader does wonders for morale."

"I'm…I'm not too sure about that, Commander." Devon told her. "In all honesty, I just want to go sleep for…"

"My boy, the Commander is right. The day is yours, and it's been a trying one for us all." General Burke told him. "It will lift all our spirits. What say you all?"

"SPEECH!" Ben yelled, from where he was getting some first aid. The rest of the assembled soldiers started chanting for him to give a speech. Realising he had little choice in the matter, Devon climbed up onto one of the transport vehicles and faced his audience.

"First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you. This was a team effort, and we couldn't have done it without all of you. It doesn't matter if you were building Zords, training our amazing recruits, or serving meals. You all did your part to make this possible." Devon began. "And saying that, I think we should all take a moment to thank those of us who made the biggest sacrifice. We've all lost people we love, friends, good people who supported us and fought with us when times were toughest."

There was a moment of silence as he said this. It was true, even tonight, they were still pointedly aware some of those fire teams had paid the ultimate price. Between them and civilian casualties which were still being reported, there were going to be a lot of people receiving the worst news over the coming days.

"But they paid that price so that those they cared about would live on. They gave us a great gift, and we have a responsibility to treat that gift with the respect it deserves and live good lives." Devon continued. "To my team, I don't think anyone could have asked for better. You've all been amazing, you've fought with me through so much, and while we had our moments, we always dreamed that one day we would end up here, at the end, standing tall and I owe it to all of you."

There was a round of applause for the Rangers. Devon waited until it subsided before continuing.

"Before all this, I wasn't doing…well…much of anything to be honest. I arrived here, pretty much by accident." Devon recalled. "But you all believed in me, sometimes even when I didn't believe in myself, and that means so much to me! This was a greater responsibility than I've ever had, yet you all backed me, put your faith in me, and I learned to take that responsibility seriously. I thank all of you for that."

He took a moment to think how to finish.

"And now, I know this is a little premature, since Nate still has to create an anti-virus, but it feels so good to say this one last time." He said as a smile crossed his face. He threw his arms wide and yelled as loud as he could. "VIRUS ELIMINATED!"

The whole base erupted in cheers and applause as he finished. He got down off the transport vehicle, coming to Joanne's side.

"You did great." She complimented him.

"Yeah, I'm just sorry we thrashed your Zords." Devon said regretfully. "Those repairs are going to be a bitch."

"Repairs? There'd need to be something LEFT to repair!" She answered him. "I think the technical term is 'rebuild'."

"Yeah…sorry about that." Devon answered apologetically. "So, I don't know about you, but I all I really want right now, is a nice, soft bed!"

"You are speaking my language." She answered.

Down in the sub-basement lab, Nate, Zoey and half a dozen of the guards arrived with Evox's transport crate. Nate ran to the controls and started hitting some keys.

"How long is this going to take?" One of the guards asked nervously. "I trust you, Mr Silva, but I really don't want to be here when that…thing…wakes up."

"It should only take a few moments." Nate told them. Some large devices raised out of the floor, forming a kind of ring a little way from the Neural Alligner. "Alright, take the crate in there and open it up."

"Open it?" One of them gulped. "But…"

"The power cell will only last another few minutes at most!" Nate informed them, indicating to them to move it into the circle. Zoey helped them push the crate in, before they lifted the inert body out of the crate, laying it on the floor. As they finished, Zoey noticed one of the hands moving.

"Nate, get a move on!" She called out as she ran out of the circle. Nate finished his preparations. Zoey gestured the guards out of the room, while she kept an eye on the body, Nate continued his work. It started to stir, beginning to move. "Nate?"

"Zoey, I'm ready, I'll power it up as soon as you get clear!" Nate told her. She moved around, looking to Evox as his head raised and his gaze came onto her. Evox started to raise onto his feet.

"Nate…get ready…" She said, preparing herself. As Evox lunged for her, she leapt backwards with all her power. "NOW!"

Nate hit the command, raising the shield as Zoey threw herself clear, trapping Evox inside. He thrashed around, pounding his fists into the sides of the force field.

"Throw a tantrum all you want! That force field can hold a nuclear bomb!" Nate taunted him proudly. "You're not getting out of there."

"You think you can hold me forever?" Evox hissed. "One day your power will run out."

"Considering the fact this thing is linked up to the Morph-X network, we'll be able to keep it up and running pretty much as long as we'll ever need." Zoey told him as she pulled herself painfully from the floor. "But don't worry, you won't be around long enough to worry about that."

"Now we have you contained, I'm already beginning analysis to prepare an anti-virus." Nate told him. "In a matter of hours, we should be able to eliminate you for good!"

"Now, that sounds familiar. The last people who said that thought they were rid of me, yet here I stand!" Evox told them. He looked around the Ranger lab, trying to find a route to escape, but Nate had ensured there was no technology inside the field for him to infect. He noticed an old, tiny computer in the corner, just by the Neural Alligner, and smiled. "All it took was a pathway none of them foresaw."

Zoey and Nate both looked confused.

"Before? What does he mean, Nate?" She asked.

"He's probably just stalling for time." Nate answered. "Come on, just ignore him. He'll say anything to try and keep us from our work."

"We did it. I can't believe we finally did it!" She said, wrapping her arms around him. She looked away hesitantly.

"What is it?" Nate asked her. "Did you think of something? Did you figure out a way he could…?"

"No, it's not that." Zoey told him. "It's just…the Beastbots are going to rebuilt. We're eventually going to figure out how to create that new body for Steel to tranfer into, we're going to rebuild the Zords…eventually everything's going to work out for us."

"Aren't all those good things?" Nate asked her. She just looked to him.

"Yeah, obviously I'm thrilled, and I want it to work out. I want all those things more than anything. I want to go to Ravi and Roxy's wedding, to meet their kid, to be there when we tell Steel he'll finally get to be fully human. But…they're not the only ones that paid a price."

"You mean your mom." Nate surmised. Zoey just nodded. Muriel Reeves had been a reporter her whole career. She'd always been chasing that one story that would take her to the big leagues, to finally get the career she'd worked her whole life for. But at the moment when she got it, when she had footage that would have revealed the Rangers' identities to the world, the biggest story in existence, she had instead destroyed the footage live on air, declaring that they had a right to keep their loved ones safe.

It had been a noble act, one that Zoey was proud of, but it had cost Muriel pretty much everything she had worked for. Her own station fired her on the spot for the stunt. Those that didn't believe she had the biggest story around and burned it against the benefit of her studio no longer wanted to work with someone who could and would do the same to them. Others declared her a fraud, and the whole thing a publicity stunt, tarnishing her credibility meaning that since then, she had not received so much as a job interview with any other outlet. Her entire career was gone over that one incident.

Zoey was proud of her mom for starting over, creating her own podcast and reporting her own news. It was still early days, and thanks to her less than stellar reputation thanks to many outlets branding her a fraud, getting followers was a slow, though steady process, but enough people were now paying to see her stories that she could at least make ends meet. However, it was always one of her deepest regrets that her mom had lost everything to protect the Rangers.

"I was just wondering if there's a way we could pay her back." She told him. "She really took a bullet for us."

"She really did." Nate answered. "But if anyone will figure it out, it'll be you."

With that, he kissed her softly.

Betty went into one of the repair bays, finding Steel being worked on by one of the engineers. Smash, Cruise and Jax now had their CPU's loaded into new heads, though it would be a little while before someone was free to hook them up to new bodies.

"Betty." Steel greeted her. "How are Ben and Cole?"

"They're both good, they got brought back by a medical unit a little while ago." Betty told him. "It was a real relief, when we lost contact with them, we…well…it was pretty scary. Turns out Ben just dropped their radio when they were fleeing the building."

"I heard their position was one of the ones that was hit." Steel told her. "They must have been lucky to get out."

"It was a pretty close call to be sure." Betty agreed. "They're both pretty banged up, but they both made it and that's the main thing. Dad's down there with them now. He always used to make a fuss around us whenever we hurt ourselves…you know, REALLY hurt ourselves."

"I'm glad to hear they're OK." Steel answered. "You should be with them."

"No, it's alright. Dad's fussing over them so it'll probably be a while before I can get a word in edgeways." Betty assured him. "So, in the meantime I thought I'd check up on you guys."

"I've definitely been worse." Smash chipped in. "At least now I can see what's going on."

"We Beastbots are made of some pretty stern stuff." Jax added proudly. "It'll take more than that multi-headed freakshow to put us down for good."

"And how about you?" She asked. "How about you, Steel?"

"You know me, nothing puts me down for long." Steel commented. "It's not like they can't just replace whatever gets broken."

Betty came over to the guy, seeing him working on one of Steel's legs. He was soldering in some replacement components to bring it back to full function.

"Alright, that should just about do it." The guy commented. "Hey, think yourself lucky, some of your friends will take weeks, even months to recover, and I just fixed you in an hour."

Steel was noticeably silent. The guy was reaching for a plate to put in place.

"Wait!" Betty called out as he was about to put it in place. "The old one, the one that he had in place, how badly damaged was it?"

"Not that badly at all." He said, bringing it over. "Some scratches, a little denting…"

"Well, can we not just put that one back?" Betty asked him. Steel looked up a little.

"Why would we do that?" He asked. "We have a new one…"

"I don't know, it's kind of like…his own battle scars." Betty answered. The engineer just looked confused.

"It's alright, we can replace…"

"No, I want the old one!" Steel rushed out. The engineer now looked even more confused.

"Whatever." He sighed. "I've been working 18 hours straight, if you want the old plate…"

"I can do it!" Betty told him. The engineer just shrugged, before leaving the room to head to his quarters. Betty picked up the plate and a welding torch and started to get to work putting it back in place.

"Thanks." Steel replied. "You don't have to do that."

"No, I want to." She assured him. She started attaching the plate, welding it in place. "I remembered what you were saying earlier and figured, maybe it might be cool if you had your own badass scars to remember all this by."

She finished up attaching the plate, at which Steel admired the work.

"So, how does it look?" He asked her.

"Badass." She answered proudly. "And you know, chicks dig scars."

She suddenly became a little flustered, packing away the tools hurriedly.

"Um…yeah, you know, I'm sure dad will have had all the time he needs to dote on Ben, so I should probably see him before he turns in for the night." She told him. "Night, Steel."

"Goodnight, Betty." He answered. As she left, Steel took a moment to admire his battle scars, proudly posing in the mirror, before leaving to recharge. As soon as he left, Cruise spoke.

"What the Hell was that?" He asked.

"They do realise we were here the whole time, right?" Jax asked.

"You learn a lot being a head on a desk." Smash chuckled.

Elsewhere on the base, in Joanne's quarters, she and Devon were lying on her bed, relaxing after the day's events. She looked to him as he lay, staring up at the ceiling.

"What are you thinking about?" She asked him.

"The fact that all this is pretty much over." He answered.

"Oh, yeah, I suppose it kind of is." She replied. "Once Evox is gone, I guess that's the main threat to Morph-X gone."

She shifted a little in the bed.

"So, have you figured out what you want to do afterwards?" She asked him. Devon looked over at her.

"What?" He asked.

"I mean, once this is done, I guess the base can start looking for a new Ranger if you decided you wanted to get back to your life." She reminded him. "I know you're always saying how much you miss your gaming."

"I suppose." Devon replied, sounding a little distant.

"Hey, don't sound too excited." She replied.

"That's just it, I don't know if I am that excited." Devon told her. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I still love gaming, I probably always will, but…I don't know, it's just after all this, it kind of feels like…"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"If I'm honest, I guess now I see a lot of what dad was saying. I really wasn't doing too much with my life." He admitted.

"Devon, just because some people are lucky enough to find what they want to do early in life doesn't mean everyone has to." She assured him. "You're a long time working! That's what my dad always used to say."

"I guess, I was just thinking about what General Burke was saying." Devon told her. "About how this was something I'm good at."

"I think the results speak for themselves." She answered. Devon just got up, taking a deep breath.

"That's just it, it's more than that though." He admitted. "My whole life I've played at being a whole variety of heroes, but now that I've done it for real, now that I've had people believe in me and put their faith in me, it woke me up to the fact that…I like feeling that way. I like having that responsibility, I like being the guy that people can rely on."

"So, you want to stay?" She asked him. "I mean, you do mop floors pretty well…"

"What if I wasn't just mopping floors?" Devon asked her. "I mean do this for real. I guess what I'm saying is, I'm thinking of signing up."

"Signing up?" She asked him.

"For real." Devon told her. "All of this just made me think that this is something that's been missing from my life that I didn't even know I was missing. Maybe I should give it a go for real."

"You know that if you sign up for real, not as a civilian worker, you'll have to do the whole nine yards, right?" She asked him. "Basic training, exams, classes…"

"Yeah, I know all that." Devon carried on. She just smiled and moved a little closer.

"You'd also have to start at the bottom, PRIVATE Daniels." She teased him. "You'd have to salute me!"

"I think I could live with that." Devon answered with a smile as he grabbed the covers and rolled over, covering them both.

Up in her office, Commander Shaw was busy going over the reports. Now that the celebrations were subsiding, she had to get back to the work of keeping the base and the city running. She now had to face the grim side of things as she went over the casualty reports.

They had lost a lot of good people in the battle, and she was going to have to make a lot of very difficult calls in the next few days. It was always the worst part of her job. She was roused from her work as she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." She beckoned. Zoey entered the room, standing to attention.

"I was hoping I could have a word, Commander." She stated.

"I think in the current climate we can dispense with the formalities." She told her, gesturing to the chair on the opposite side of the desk. "What can I do for you Zoey?"

Zoey went to the chair and sat down.

"I was hoping I could ask you a favour." She began. Commander Shaw just chuckled.

"I think right about now, we're more than in all of your debt." She stated. "What can I help you with?"

"It's not actually about me." She admitted. "It's…it's about my mom."

Commander Shaw leaned back in her chair.

"Your mom?" She asked.

"Yeah, I was just thinking, we've all done a lot for this city, for the world, and I'm not in any way saying I'd do anything different, it's been great, an honour, but…" She started to think. "My mom did us a pretty big favour once and she paid a pretty heavy price for it."

Commander Shaw just thought about it for a while.

"OK, now I'm curious." Commander Shaw replied. "What is it exactly you want us to do?"

"She gave up the biggest story out there, a career maker…I was thinking maybe we might be able to help repay that by giving her something that might put her back on the map." Zoey suggested. "We're going to destroy Evox, but what I was thinking is, it might help the people of the city to feel safe if they know it's been done, if they can see it for themselves. If we just do it in the base, there might be some doubts."

She took a deep breath.

"So, maybe broadcasting it would be a way to make sure people know he's gone for good." Zoey told her. "And if we're going to do that, then maybe we might want to have someone who did us a solid cover it for us?"

Commander Shaw tented her fingers. A smile crossed her face.

"Zoey, I think we can do something about that." She agreed.