Sector 3 Slums, Hardware Store
Metro City, Canada
April 13th, 2015
9:30 AM

"Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"

"Oscaker! My office, now!" barked my boss, Mr. Regis.

If you were to look up the word "irony" in the dictionary, you'd find him. He's the biggest tool you'd ever meet in your life, guaranteed. Appropriately, he works in a hardware store, where they sell tools. Me and most of the other staff around here all have a bet going to see how long it'll take for someone to ask Mr. Regis how much he costs. Did you get it? Cause he's a tool, people should think he's for sale.

Need more proof? The guy doesn't even bother to try and pronounce my name properly. He knows damn well what it is; he just doesn't bother making a conscious effort to remember.

And no, this is not just an average employee bitching to anybody who'll listen about how awful their boss is, this is me telling you straight up that I think he's a prick whose authority I still have to respect regardless.

His office was lined with money. His wallpaper is literally made up of all sorts of bills. They're legal tender, too. Then, on top of that, the greedy bastard super-glued millions upon millions of coins. From an aesthetic point of view, it actually looks really cool, but from a personal point-of-view, I see it as him silently saying: "I've got enough money to decorate my whole office with and I'm still richer than you."

"How long you been workin' here?" said Mr. Regis, "Five, six months?"

"No, sir, almost two years now."

"Right, of course," said Mr. Regis, "Thought it was something like that."

If I had to guess, he was probably about to fire me for no particular reason. He did that fairly often. He'd want to change things up, so he'd recruit new people and fire the old ones.

"Did you hear about what happened to Ned?"

"No, sir, he ain't on my shift." I said.

"Boneheaded idgit had an accident with the power saw," continued Mr. Regis, "Let's just say he won't really be able to give high-fives anymore."

Ned was a veteran around here. As a member of the union, he couldn't be fired to bring in new recruits. Out of everyone that works here, I'd say that Ned was the most careful. It didn't seem possible for him to have cut off some of his fingers.

"With him out of commission, there's a job available," said Mr. Regis, "So, since you're now the veteran around here, I thought you might be interested in a promotion."

I must've misheard him. Mr. Regis NEVER promoted people. I'm not kidding. At this store, the term 'veteran' means anyone that's been working in their current position for over a year.

"I might be," I said, trying not to sound ecstatic, "What would the new position entail?"

"You'd get a 25% pay raise in exchange for slightly longer shifts and more duties," said Mr. Regis, "For example, you'd have to start opening or closing the store on weekends and you'd be allowed to use the power saw (among other things) to fill orders for cut wood."

It doesn't sound too bad. More cash and more shifts. It's not much, but when your family isn't even living from paycheck to paycheck, anything is better than nothing.

"I'll take it." I said.

Later that day, after my final shift before the promotion, I teleported to headquarters. Silver should be informed about this, since there's a chance it will affect my availability for ranger duties. Also, I wanted Silver to look into this incident that left Ned without fingers.

"I don't see what there is to look into, Heath," said Silver, when I told him, "Accidents happen. This one was tragic, but it seems as though that's all it is."

"Don't say that until you actually have proof." I said.

"Why does this Ned guy de-fingering himself have you so worried, Oz?" asked Marcus, "So what if he can't pick his nose anymore? That doesn't mean there's a virus at work."

"Guys, Ned had worked there for almost thirty years," I said, "If he was going to have an accident, don't you think he would've had it during his first year?"

The looks on their faces very clearly indicated for me to drop it.

"Silver, could you please just humour me?"

"Fine," he said, "But if something else comes up in the meantime, that will be our first priority."

"Of course," I said, "Thanks."

My Mom was happy for me, but at the same time was distraught. She saw it as more proof of her being a failure. I tried to tell her I didn't think of her as failure, but she didn't believe me.

"It's great that you got promoted, Heath, I'm very proud of you," she said, "But you already have so much on your plate."

"I can handle it, Ma," I said, "Besides, once you're deemed able to work again, I can quit and get an easier, part-time job or something."

"It shouldn't be your responsibility to pay the bills though, honey," she said, "It should be mine."

"You think I don't know that?" I said, "But that's just not an option at this point."

"Thank you, son," she said, "Someday, you'll make an amazing husband."

"If you're using Dad as a comparison, then even a fire hydrant would make an amazing husband."

The way I saw it, was that she had raised me for eighteen years. So, now it was my turn to take care of our family while she's out of commission. Nobody really knows what exactly happened to her after Dad left. I guess she just sort of lost the will to live. He was her whole world before me and my little sisters came around. So, without Dad around, she just sunk deeper and deeper into depression. Eventually, she started hearing voices and was almost diagnosed as schizophrenic. It wasn't until her negligence almost got baby Heather killed that she snapped out of it. That was two years ago. She's much better now, but until her doctors and shrinks are convinced that she's better, it's up to me to bring home the bacon.

"You got a pwomotion, Heat?" asked Heather.

"Yeah," I said, picking her up, "Which means that we might have enough money to buy you a real doll, like a Barbie."

"Well, how much of a raise did Regis give you?" asked my Mom.

"25%"

"That's nothing to be ashamed of." she said.

"I'll take your word for it, Ma," I said, "You know math and I don't get along."

"They would if you had enough time to sit down and do your homework once in a while.

"Yeah, I know," I said, "But as long as I'm not failing, I can still play football, which means I can still get my scholarship."

"You won't last long in college if there's too much on your plate," she said, "Because eventually, they start mixing together until you can't recognize it anymore."

"I can handle it," I said again, "Don't worry about me, focus on getting back on your feet."

"Aaron "Trojan" Kingsley"

Everything was going as planned. Soon, the Yellow Ranger would be all alone in that hardware store, completely unaware that I have a virus that remains dormant until it strikes. It cut off that old crone's fingers accidentally, I can't wait to see what it can do when it attacks intentionally.

Dr. Molex assured me that it would be unstoppable once it wakes up. Mind you, those statistics are only based on a situation where it would be a one-on-one fight. By keeping the virus dormant, that meddling Stephen won't even get so much a click from it on his radar.

Assuming that my calculations are correct, the Yellow Ranger will be all alone for several hours tomorrow while he opens up the store. If he tries to escape, I can hack into the motorized doors and trap him in there.

"My Lord," said General Berg, "Should I prepare some Replicators for tomorrow's invasion?"

"Yes, absolutely General Berg," I said, "I think this is the perfect time to give Ranger Yellow more than he can handle."

The reason the Firearm Virus failed was partly my fault. I was paranoid to use all my resources at once and my fears resulted in the rangers destroying it too easily. Had I sent an army of Replicators into the bank with the virus, maybe things might have gone differently.

So, this time I had no intention of holding back. The whole point of setting up these traps was to eliminate the rangers individually so that they can't work as a team and emerge victorious.

"Dr. Molex, I assume you modified the patch machine to work faster?" I asked.

"Of course," he said, "I live only to serve you."

Good, that means there won't be any more delays in the future. Another one of my crucial mistakes that resulted in the Firearm Virus' destruction was that I took my time installing the rapid growth upgrade patch. Had I not, he would've been big enough to squash the rangers like bugs before they could even summon their Zords.

Just like how the rangers learn something that makes them stronger after each fight, I too learn something that will make their next fight harder. Ultimately, I will surpass them and I will eradicate them. Metro City is already as good as mine!

"Heath "Oz" Ostreicher"

The next day was my first new shift. Mr. Regis gave me my own set of keys. Today I was supposed to open up the store. I had to be there four hours before the store was actually opened up to the public, which was at 9:00am. I don't know why I had to be there so early. The guys that close the store are supposed to get everything ready then, so that whoever opens it just has to turn on the machines and whatnot. I suppose it didn't really matter whether or not I understood it. I was told to do it, so that's what I was going to do.

This was the first time I had ever been completely alone in the store. It looked so much bigger without all the people.

Mr. Regis' change of heart still seemed peculiar to me, but, since it resulted in a promotion, I probably shouldn't question it too much. I mean, what if I think about it so much that I stop believing it to be true? At that point, I might end up waking myself up from this otherwise wonderful dream. I suppose there would be other telltale signs if this was a dream. For one thing, I'd probably have seen Rachel, along with pretty much every other babe from our school in scantily clad outfits by now. Obviously I haven't seen that though, so, if I'm lucky this isn't a dream.

When I got into the staff room there was a clipboard with a checklist of things to do on it. First it said to power on the all the overhead lights, which I guess take a really long time to actually reach their maximum brightness. Next, I needed to prime all the plywood. Which is something that I know for a fact gets done by the night guys. However, at some point between their shift and my shift, it got undone. Priming is the term used to describe the process of rotating and organizing cut plywood. When you're done, it looks much more presentable. Next, I needed to make sure that all the returns were put away back on the shelves. After that, the checklist said to examine each aisle and ensure that there was ladder available for customers to use to reach higher shelves.

Finally, I had to go pest hunting. This was by far the best part of my job. In my life, I've only been asked to do it twice. It is so much that I would happily spend the rest of my life doing it. Because the garden section of the store was outdoors, birds, insects and other animals often managed to enter the indoor sections. From there, they would steal merchandise and use it to create makeshift nests for themselves. So, it was now my job to get rid of the pests by any means necessary.

"I can understand why this was last," I said to myself, "It would've been too dark in here otherwise."

At this point, it was around 7:00am, which meant I had less than two hours to clear out the store. To get started, I decided to check the floorboards and aisles first, since it would be easier to catch the bigger mammals and rodents that might have gotten in. I found myself making animal calls instinctively. Unfortunately, since I had no idea what kind of sound things like badgers or possums made, I was basically just making an ass out of myself.

After an hour and a half of searching, I didn't find anything with four legs, so, I decided to switch my attention to anything that would have six. I was fortunate not to be allergic to bees or relatives of bees because I found a massive hornet's nest on the roof. That must have been there for a long time for it to be so big. How nobody else saw it before now was a question for the ages, but how I was going to get rid of it was a question for right here and now.

Since there weren't any guns in this store, I found the next best thing in the form of a nail gun. They have lousy range, but more than enough power to break up a hornet's nest into small chunks with ease.

Before trying to nail a hornet's nest with my nail gun, I pulled a mesh mask over my head that I took from the garden section. Now that I was somewhat protected, I took aim at the nest.

"Please don't let this backfire on me…" I muttered under my breath.

I fired one lone nail. It ricocheted off the steel rafters above and lodged itself deep into the plastic part of the power saw, shattering it.

"Oh, shit…" I moaned, "That's definitely coming out of my paycheck…"

There was less than thirty minutes before the customers would start coming in, and less than that for the rest of the staff. I knew a really quick and easy way to get of the nest.

"Nobody's looking…" I said, "What's the harm in giving myself the upper hand?"

I took the mesh hat off and threw it on the ground. It itched like crazy anyways.

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" I hollered.

As soon as I morphed, there was a great roaring sound from somewhere I couldn't see. I looked up and used my visor to examine the nest. I could see that it wasn't even organic; it was cardboard. Why would there be a fake hornet's nest up there? It was almost as if somebody knew I was lazy enough to morph just to take down the nest… Fuck! I probably just fell right into a trap.

"Come in, Silver, are you there?" I whispered.

"Why did you morph, Heath?"

"Because I'm an idiot," I said, "I think I just took the bait."

"I'm not picking up any signals in your vicinity," said Silver, "So, if there's a virus, it must be hiding itself from my radar somehow."

"Then send the others to my location so that I at least have back-up."

"If I did, I would be putting them in harm's way of the trap too," said Silver, "You'll need to fend for yourself until I can formulate a plan."

"You hypocrite," I said, "First you set me up to learn the value of teamwork, and now that I need the others you're not going to send them?"

"Heath, it's not like that!"

"Yes it is!" I snapped, "If that's how I can expect to be treated for risking my life time and time again then I'd much rather work here. At least at my job I get paid for being treated like crap!"

How could he do this to me!? I'm begging him for help and he acts like I'm the kid from the boy who cried wolf! Obviously he must've forgotten that the kid gets eaten at the end! I just hope my story has a happier ending. I'd rather take up ballet than die without being able to at least gloat by saying "I told you so!"

By now, my Digitizer was picking up signals. I couldn't see from where yet, but I knew I would find them and kick their asses. I took solace in the fact that Mr. Regis doesn't come in on weekends. So, at least I won't get fired for not being at work when I'm supposed to be.

The roaring sound kept getting louder as I neared the back of the store.

"Of course…" I muttered, "The power saw."

"Show yourself, the jig is up!" I screamed.

I watched in amazement as a virus emerged from the power saw.

"You found me!" it said, "Now it's your turn to hide!"

"I'm no coward." I said.

"Then prove it!" snapped the Virus.

It snapped its fingers and seconds later a group of ten Replicators materialized around me. I was completely surrounded and completely outnumbered.

"Alright then," I snarled, "Have it your way."

The Power Saw Virus snapped his fingers again and the Replicators tried to swarm me. I turned tail and sprinted away, chuckling to myself as they stumbled over themselves.

I needed to show them that I wasn't afraid. I needed to show them this was territory. What a better way to do that than use what I had. As I ran towards the garden section doors, I grabbed a light bulb and some batteries from off the shelves. Once I cleared the doors, I dove out of sight, but tripped over a bucket of water, which spilled all over the ground. I looked up and saw that I was right next to a garden hose.

"Not exactly what I had in mind, but it'll do." I wheezed.

I took the light bulb and the batteries because I had intended to spray the ground with a hose and electrocute it with them. I'd still be able to, but the water came from a different source. I quickly set the bucket right side up and was surprised to see that there was still quite a decent amount of water left in it. So, I dumped it right in the middle of the main aisle.

The Replicators finally found me just as I had begun to climb up the shelves.

"Well, what're you waiting for?" I asked, "I'm right here! Come and get me!"

They looked at each other, rubbing their heads stupidly. Then, after making up their minds, I guess, three of them walked forward apprehensively, only to step right into the electrified puddle.

"Shocking, isn't it?" I said to the Replicators that hadn't moved.

They stepped over the puddle and their comrades, who were now shaking uncontrollably. As the three on the ground imploded, the seven others scattered, probably in an attempt to surround me again. I had climbed up to the rafters now, having used the shelves as a ladder. From up here, I could throw more batteries at them when they stepped into the second puddle.

The Replicators were so dumb that they kept going in circles around the shelves, never once looking up to see if I was still up there. I just hoped they were all in the garden section with me, because if they weren't, the rest of them would be multiplying back inside the main building.

Eventually the Replicators started to huddle up in the middle of the largest aisle; which, unbeknownst to them, was exactly where I wanted them to stand. I tossed a small handful of batteries into the puddle and electrocuted them just like I had done to the others.

As their last actions before imploding, the Replicators looked up and saw me in the rafters. Talk about too little, too late.

Now, all I had to do was get rid of the Power Saw Virus. I made it sound so easy. That thing would be unstoppable if it charged at me and I doubt it would be stupid enough to fall into traps like the Replicators did.

"Need some help?" asked Riley, from behind me.

"No!" I snapped.

"How did you get yourself into this mess?" said Rachel, also from behind me, "You know better than to pick a fight without contacting us first."

"I did contact you," I said, "Silver answered and told me he didn't want to risk sending any back-up."

"Does that really sound like something he would do?"

"No, but he did it anyway."

"I don't think so," said Riley, "I think there's something else at work here."

"Like what?" I asked.

"I think Trojan is trying to get rid of each of us individually."

"What do you mean?"

"The same sort of thing happened to Amanda and I at the bank," said Riley, "Then a few days later, Rachel gets turned invisible by a virus that died immediately afterwards."

"Now it looks like it's your turn." said Marcus.

"Well, then if that's the case," I said, "Let's throw a curve ball and tip the odds back in our favour."

I hopped down from the rafters and quickly brought the others up to speed.

"Come in, rangers!" came Silver's voice.

"Do you have an explanation for our conversation earlier?" I asked.

"Heath, what are you talking about?" he said, "We never spoke earlier."

"Then who was it that told me it was too dangerous to send back-up?"

There was a period of silence. During it, all that could be heard was the distant sound of Silver typing.

"It was Trojan," he said eventually, "There was some sort of answering machine set up to intercept any calls you tried to make."

We all jumped as the large motorized doors flew open automatically. I was horror struck. Those doors were the only thing keeping people out. With them under Trojan's control, it'll be up to us to destroy the virus and protect the people.

"He must be controlling the doors remotely," said Marcus, "I thought he wanted to trap you in here?"

"I guess we were wrong." said Riley.

"No you weren't," said Silver, "Now that Heath has backup, Trojan is improvising."

"That dirty, rotten cheater." muttered Rachel.

"He can do whatever he wants," I said, "It still won't be enough to take us down."

"He's right," said Marcus, "We'll win as long as we work together."

"Are you getting a signal from the virus now Silver?" asked Riley.

"A very faint one, but yes," he said, "According to my database, its #3P4O1S8A, it seems to be made from a power saw or something."

"So then how do we defeat it?" I asked.

"It says here that its weak spot is on its back," said Silver, "Attacking it anywhere else is useless."

"Alright then," said Riley, "Let's ranger up!"

"CYBER POWER, ACTIVATE!" they screamed.

With all four us morphed, we huddled up to form a plan.

"Yellow," said Red, "You know the layout of this place best. So, you and I will be on offense."

"Shouldn't we all be on offense?" asked Green.

"No, because somebody needs to protect the civilians." said Blue.

"I'm counting on you two to keep them safe." said Red.

"We're on it." said Blue and Green together.

We broke apart quickly. Red followed me back to the indoor section while the others split up to guard a door. I have no idea what all those people could possibly need, but they seemed furious at Blue and Green even though they just saved their lives. Maybe next time we won't bother.

"Wait a minute…" said the Virus, "There was only supposed to one of you!"

"Yeah, sorry about that," said Red, "There's been a slight change of plans."

"You're not feeling overwhelmed, are you?" I teased.

Instead of answering us with words, the virus glared. Its menacing blades began to spin as sized us up.

"Download weapon!" we said in unison.

The virus thrust out its hands and groaned, apparently in pain as two sword-like blades extended from its wrists.

"My whole body is a weapon," it said, "Yours will make a nice addition to my collection."

"Over my dead body!" snapped Red.

He ran over to a shopping cart and leapt inside. After standing up like he was on a surfboard, he beckoned me to come over and give him a push. I obeyed and grabbed on to its handle. The virus watched us intently as I broke into a run. Once I had gathered enough momentum, I let go of the cart, which had now been given a soapbox style launch.

Red was poised to strike the virus with his sword when the cart crashed. He knew it wouldn't hurt it, but I guess it was a test to see how powerful the virus' blades were or something like that.

In a flash, the Power Saw Virus had dashed forwards. It took a while for things to catch up to it, but as I watched, Red's cart collapsed, having been sliced into several pieces. Luckily, he didn't suffer the same fate as his chariot.

Just then, I saw what he saw. Red was now facing the virus' back. He had planned the whole thing. No wonder he's our leader…

In an effort to buy Red more time, I sprang into action and tried to uppercut the Power Saw Virus with my mallet. It kicked me away like a deflated soccer ball and then turned on Red, slashing him across the chest.

This was going from bad to worse. I needed to finish this quick. As I tried to give my brain a kick start, I turned my head and saw that the nail gun I had brought out earlier was still on the ground, hidden under a barbeque that was on display.

I carefully reached for it, hoping that I could grab it without drawing any unwanted attention to myself.

Then, from out of nowhere, I heard a familiar voice scream.

"What in the sphincter of hell is going on here, Osborne!?"

It was Mr. Regis. What was he doing here? He normally doesn't come in on weekends. I suppose he came to check on me. He won't find me unless I power down though. However, if I do that, not only will he learn my secret, but I would have to abandon the others when they need me.

Eventually, they end up mixing together until you can't recognize them anymore… I suppose this is what Mom had been warning me about. But, how do I un-mix everything? Is it even possible? I'll bet if I was to take one piece out of the equation that I'd be able to make sense of things again. Which piece do I remove though? Being a ranger, or working to provide money for my family?

I started to think back to the day I fought the Extension Cord Virus. I remembered thinking that being a ranger made me feel good about myself. To be fair, so did working. Then I went even further back and remembered what Silver had told us before we took our codecs from him. He had said that if Metro City falls, the rest of the world will follow shortly afterwards. No matter which way I looked at it, both of these things were important. But only one of them would result in the destruction of humankind. There was no doubt about it.

The Power Saw Virus turned and saw Mr. Regis. It charged at him with its arms outstretched. Since I had already missed my chance, I got up and tackled my former boss to the ground within an inch of both our lives. The virus kept going. It was headed straight for another swarm of people when suddenly it stumbled over something. It hit the ground and skidded to a stop. I used my visor to zoom in for a closer look. It had tripped over a hose. Rangers Blue and Green emerged from opposite aisles. They must have been waiting there, ready to pull the hose snug when the timing was right.

"Have a nice trip." said Blue.

"See you next fall." said Green.

"Dammit, Green," said Blue, "You're contagious! Look what you made me say!"

Not wasting any time, I got back up and stood over the Power Saw Virus. It was too dazed to realize that its weak point was exposed. I lowered the nail gun until it was already touching the virus' back and unloaded the whole supply of nails. With each click, the virus snarled in excruciating pain. Had it been a person, the nails would've lodged themselves deep into its spine. With a shudder, a spiral of corrupted binary appeared over the virus. It was about to grow.

"Are you still alive, Red?" I called.

"I'm answering you, aren't I?" he called back.

"Silver, it's Zord time." I said.

I heard him typing again. We all assembled into our trademark diamond formation.

"Rangers, the Data Zords await your command." he said.

Making sure not to summon them all at once, we began to call out to our Zords.

"Download Gorilla Zord!" called Green.

"Download Fox Zord!" called Red.

"Download Marlin Zord!" called Blue.

"Download Rhino Zord!" I called.

Once they had all materialized, we hopped into their cockpits and grabbed the wheels.

"Commence Megazord transformation sequence!" said Red.

Don't ask me how or why, but whenever we formed the Megazord, each of us could see what was happening from an angle above the action, even though we never left our cockpits.

My Rhino Zord became the legs; on one of the feet were the horns from its head. Since the first time we formed the Megazord, I had been eager to try kicking something with it. Sadly, it wouldn't do anything to the Power Saw Virus.

Piece by piece the Data Zords transformed until they were all properly attached in their designated locations. Once the Megazord was completed, I seemed to wake up already inside of it, as if everything I had just seen was a dream. The others were inside the head with me now; each of them had a steering mechanism of some kind which controlled their individual part of the Megazord.

"Cyberspace Megazord, online!" we announced together.

"I sliced that shopping cart as if it was made of butter, rangers!" said the Virus, "What makes you think that your metal robot will fare any differently?"

"Green, make us spin." said Red.

"I'll hold out the sword-arm," said Blue, "So far, nothing has been able to withstand our cyclone attack thingy."

"From now on, let's call it the Cyber Cyclone," I said, "Nobody takes people who say words like 'thingy' seriously."

Blue held out our sword arm horizontally and then Green made the torso rotate at the waist. I controlled the legs and made us walk forward. Rather than retreat or flinch, the Power Saw Virus revved up its blades too.

"Two can play at that game!" it cackled.

Several steps later, our blades clashed with its blades. Sparks flew everywhere, but neither of us intended to back down.

"Rangers," said Silver over the intercom, "I've developed something that will give you a home field advantage. Red, prepare the Fox Arm."

Red pushed a button to make the left arm temporarily detach from the Megazord. Meanwhile, the rest of us focused on outputting enough force to keep clashing blades with the virus.

"Auxiliary weapon, online." said Red.

The left arm reattached itself, but now it was holding a nail gun.

"I take it you were watching, Silver?" I chuckled.

"What makes you say that?" he said.

"Green, on my word, reverse the direction of the cyclone," said Red, "It should knock it off balance and expose the weak spot."

"Let's hope you're right." he said.

We waited and waited and waited. Then, we saw the virus' arm give off the smallest of twitches.

"Now!"

Green cranked the steering wheel all the way to opposite side. This caused the Power Saw Virus to think that it was safe to relax its muscles. But then when the arm came around again, still from the other side, we caught it by surprise. The virus nearly toppled over, and turned around to try and regain its composure. Red took careful aim and then shot nail after nail into the virus' back. It teetered momentarily and then fell straight forward. Before it even hit the ground, it had disintegrated.

We had won.

During the aftermath of the battle, once the Megazord was gone and we had all powered down, I went to see Mr. Regis.

"OSCARMEYER, YOU'RE FIRED!" his voice was loud enough to make the earwax in ears vibrate.

"I don't care." I said, simply.

"What do you mean you don't care?" said Mr. Regis, "You're a two year veteran and the first employee I ever promoted and you're telling me you don't care?"

"That's right."

"Get out of my sight!" he spat.

"With pleasure." I said.

Just then, an opportunity to further humiliate him was presented to me.

"You're a real piece of work, Regitch."

"That's not my name!"

"Oh, I know," I said, "Just like how you know that my name isn't Oscarmeyer, Osborne or Oscaker."

He just gawked at me. He hated being made a fool of. Unfortunately for him, he had to let me get away with it. I mean, it's not like he can fire me again. Besides, the store is pretty destroyed, so even if he hadn't fired me, I wouldn't be able to work there for a while. Hopefully, the viruses will stop growing while still inside buildings.

Although, satisfying as quitting my job was, there was no denying that I was now without an income. I kept trying to reassure myself by repeating a mantra. Is that you call something that you tell yourself over and over again? I think it's called a mantra.

"You did the right thing, Oz, your plate has less stuff on it and the world will benefit from your sacrifice."

Back at headquarters, the others were all congratulating Silver on how quickly he had managed to develop the nail gun for our Megazord.

"Heath," said Silver, urging the others to be quiet, "This is for you."

He handed me a small envelope. It was light and inconspicuous. I tried to see what was inside by holding it up to the light, but I didn't seem to work. I guess I would actually have to open it to discover what was inside it.

"We all know about what you did today," said Rachel, "That can't have been an easy decision to make."

"Actually, it was," I said, "If I kept my job, I would've got money, but the world would've suffered. If I quit my job, I'd end up broke, but the world would keep on turning."

"Which is exactly why I'm giving you that." said Silver.

"Go on, open it." said Marcus.

I carefully tore the envelope open and had to stifle my tears when I saw what was in it.

Silver had given me a check for $500,000. Well, okay, technically it was for my family, but regardless of that, I was holding proof of the nicest thing anybody had ever done for me. That is if you exclude my Mom giving birth to and raising me.

"I don't know what to say." I said.

"Thank you might be a good place to start." said Riley.

"Was this your idea, Silver?"

"No, it was theirs," he said, "But that amount of money is nothing when you're as rich as I am."

"I'll pay you back as soon as I can." I said.

"It's not a loan, Heath, it's a gift," said Silver, "Being a ranger and helping me protect the city is more than enough repayment already."

"What about you?" I asked.

"None of us are rich," said Riley, "But none of us need money either."

Even though I never saw hot babes in scantily clad outfits, I still felt as though this was a dream. Unless of course they were waiting for me at home…