The dust had settled down and the little light that was still visible from the barracks came back into vision. Wes pushed the boulder off of his body, taking a deep breath and clenching his teeth in pain as his bandages became exposed. He was still a little dazed from what had just happened, the last thing he remembered was Ransik getting ready to attack; he had shielded Jen with his body. Jen….

"Jen!" Ignoring his injuries, Wes frantically began looking for Jen, and that's when he noticed the still body lying against him. With the little strength he had left he lifted another boulder off to reveal Jen. The boulder had hit her head, there was blood all over the side of her face and her hair, and the cut was very visible. Wes could hear Jen moaning softly, but couldn't make out the words. He ran his hand through her hair. "Hang in there Jen; I'm going to get you out of here."

Wes stood up, determined to find a way out, but the moment he stood his legs gave away and he dropped to the ground. He felt a sensation of pain in his side; he clutched at it and felt something wet. He looked at his hand to see it covered in blood and a piece of metal sticking out. "Ah man…." Not good….. He knew he should pull it out, but he also knew if he pulled it out he could bleed out even more.

"Wes…." Something moved just a couple of feet up ahead. "Is that you?"

Wes watched as someone came walking forward in the dark, limping slightly as he came into the light. It was Alex; he looked pretty banged up, but otherwise okay. He hadn't gotten the full impact from Ransik's blast. "Yeah, it's me."

"Is Jen with you?"

"Yeah. ….But….." His heart was racing, pounding hard against his chest, he wasn't sure if it was due to all the blood he has lost or if it was Jen's dire need of help; maybe it was both. "She won't wake up!" His voice was muffled and near tears.

Alex made his way over to Wes, trying to get there as fast as he could, but even a few feet were difficult. His leg has gotten hit pretty badly when he tried to take cover from Ransik's blast; the force of the impact had sent him flying. Once he had reached the two he saw Jen lying still, her eyes closed, and Wes kneeling next to her holding her hand. "You're not doing so hot either," announced Alex, noticing Wes's half unraveled bandages that were soaked in blood and his pale sweating face. He looked half dead.

"Forget about me! Just help me get Jen out of here." Wes gently grabbed one of Jen's arms and put it over his shoulder. All he could hope right now, was that Jen was going to be okay. He had done all he could, but even that didn't seem to be enough. "I tried to protect her….b-but…I…I….."

"She'll be okay, Wes!" Alex soon followed his lead and did the same with Jen's other arm. "Nice and easy now." He knew if they moved too fast it wouldn't be good for any of them.

It was painful, but he pushed the pain inside and concentrated on Jen and getting her out of here. He didn't care how off bad he was. He didn't care if this would kill him, as long as he got Jen out of here alive that was all that mattered to him. They took a few steps at a time moving themselves closer up ahead, hoping that once they reached the end, their friends would be there waiting for them with open arms. "Did you see Ransik at all?"

Alex shook his head. "No. All we can hope is he's under all the rubble somewhere. Dead…."

"Think again, Rangers!" There was a loud CLANG, a moving of some rubble.

Alex and Wes slowly turned around and all their hopes were shattered; Ransik was still alive and wasn't about to go down, not without a fight. Even though his mask was gone and his distorted bloody face revealed, he was still determined to continue on with the fight until they were all dead, nothing but a memory.

"You didn't think you would get rid of me that easily, did you? If I'm going to die, I'm going to take all of you with me!"

Wes turned to Jen, her head rested on his shoulder while her body hung limp. She couldn't fight, she couldn't even stand. She'd be nothing but target practice to Ransik. "Haven't you done enough?" Wes looked back to Ransik. "How many more lives are you going to take? How many more are you willing to kill for your cause?"

"Not nearly as many as you have…." Ransik hissed.

"What….?"

"Wes, don't listen to him…."

"Or have you forgotten how many lives you destroyed, by sending the others back, Wes…." Ransik snickered and his glare sent chills down Wes's back. "If you hadn't, then maybe none of this would have ever happened. Maybe you would have won, maybe she…" he pointed to Jen, "wouldn't have to die a horrible death in the darkness, hearing the screams of her lovers…." Ransik stepped closer. "But no, you did just as I wanted you to do. I knew without them, the city would fall."

And then an eerie feeling came over Wes, more horrible than he ever imagined. His heart nearly stopped. "It was you…. You're the one who sent me that message! It was you all along….'

A wide evil grin covered Ransik's face, more devious then ever imaginable. "Yes. You see, I knew that if I played with your emotions hard enough, you would send them back, leaving the city defenseless. I knew the love for your friends, for her, meant everything to you." He got right into Wes's face, breathing his hot muggy breath onto him. "You see, my dear Ranger, you're even worse than I am. I was fighting for something to help more than just me, but you were willing to sacrifice everyone's lives, just to save your lover."

"Wes, don't…." Ales started; though he didn't know everything, he could pick up little bits and pieces from what Ransik was saying.

"No!" Wes bowed his head down. "He's right…. All I cared about was that Jen was safe." Wes gently pushed Jen closer to Alex. "Get her out of here, Alex." He turned back to Ransik. "Ransik and I have some unfinished business!"

"No one is getting out of here alive!"

Wes moved in front of Alex, who now had Jen's limp form in his arms. His heart was racing. He knew there was no way in the condition that he was in, that he even stood a chance against Ransik alone. "Let them go, Ransik, this is between me and you." He licked his lips. "Besides, if you kill me, you'll still be able to go after them."

Ransik clenched his fists. "Fine. I'll give them a running start. It won't take long for me to finish you once and for all."

Wes got into a fighting stance; he was ready to do what he had been ready to do all these months, take down Ransik for the monster he really was, even if that meant he'd go down with him.

"Wes, there's no way…."

"Please…. Get Jen out of here, keep her safe."

"What am I supposed to tell her?" Alex gently picked Jen up with both of his arms. He knew Wes was right, that Jen needed to get out of there now, but what was he going to say once they were safe? When she woke up and asked where Wes was, what was he supposed to tell her?

"Tell her that I'm sorry." Wes glanced at Alex, maybe for the last time. "And that I love her." And with that said, Wes went raging at Ransik, morphing in the process, knowing he would only have a few short minutes until he would go into a forced demorph due to his weakened state.

"Damnit, Wes!" With a heavy heart, Alex did what Wes asked him to, but not before promising that he would come back for him once Jen was safe. "I'll come back for you, that's a promise!" He owed that much to Jen.

Above, Danny, Katie and Eric urgently began lifting the boards of wood and rubble off the ground, to reveal another entrance. It was several hundred feet away from the motel; they didn't know for sure if this was what could be another way into the motel barracks, but it was all they had to go on. All they could do was hope. Trip seemed certain that this was the place, but sometimes his visions were wrong - or not exactly right.

"Should we go down there?" asked Danny, as he, Katie and Eric lifted off the large metal panel and moved it to the side. According to Trip something terrible had or would happen; he didn't know exactly what, only that it was bad. He looked down inside, but could see nothing but darkness, an unsure hope.

No one said a word, they weren't sure if they should go down there or what they would find if they did, if they too would become trapped down there like their friends or even die. Wanting to be sure before they did anything, Katie raised her morpher up to her mouth. "Alex, do you read me….?"

There was no answer, so Katie tried again and again, and after what seemed like an eternity: "I read you!"

Katie looked at her morpher, a little confused. A big grin came onto Trip's face; Alex's response hadn't come from the morpher. They all looked down into the hole to see Alex standing below them, Jen in his arm. "Help lift her out!"

Together the three pulled Jen out of the barracks and gently laid her on the ground. Katie quickly checked Jen over. "Just a concussion, she'll be fine." She looked up to the others.

"Okay, let's get you and Wes out of there." Eric knelt down and held out his arm, but Alex made no attempt to grab it. And that's when Eric noticed that Wes was missing. "Where's Wes?"

Alex didn't know how to answer that, though it hadn't been that long since he had left Wes with Ransik, there was no telling what could have happened in that amount of time. "I've got to go get him."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"He's fighting with Ransik." Alex sighed heavily. "Wes was hurt pretty bad, Eric. I don't know what I'll find."

Eric jumped down into the barracks. "I'm going with you!"

"What are we supposed to do?" asked Trip, looking down at them.

"Get Jen to a hospital." Alex gulped in heavily. "Hopefully we'll see you there."

"Be careful," Katie glared at them both, "both of you!" They watched as Alex and Eric disappeared into the darkness.

Danny carefully picked Jen up, making sure to support her head. Though there didn't appear to be anything else wrong with Jen, there was no way of knowing. They needed to get to a hospital, and fast, and with Silver Hills being deserted they would have to go to the next city, which was in Turtle Cove, a good distance away on foot.

"We better get moving, guys," announced Trip.

"Katie, Trip…. Do you read?"

It was Lucas. Katie responded into her morpher. "We read you, Lucas. Is everything okay?" Everyone shared a concerned glance, hoping that this time around would be some good news.

"Yeah. We're all fine, Merrick too. Did you get the others out?"

"We got Jen back, but she's hurt, we have to get her to a hospital."

"What about Alex and Wes…."

"Alex and Eric went back in for Wes; I…I think something happened." Though Alex hadn't said much about Wes's condition, it was more than enough to make him want to go back, risking his life to save someone who was his rival.

"What's that?" Trip looked up ahead and saw flashing lights and sirens heading towards them. They were all soon surrounded by trucks and two ambulances.

"Katie, what's going on?"

"I think it's some help…" Katie couldn't be sure; it could be just another trick. She waited a few moments and watched as one of the truck doors opened and a Silver Guardian appeared; she had recognized the uniform right away.

"Mr. Collins sent us," announced the Silver Guardian, soon he was followed by more and a medic team, that rushed over to Jen. "Thought you guys could use some help."

"Lucas, can you and others meet us back here….."

"Time for you to die!"

Ransik slashed Wes and his body went turning and slammed against the wall. Wes's body plopped to the ground as he went into a forced demorph. Pain… That was all he felt. He was sure something was broken; he could barely move as he watched Ransik hunch over him, pressing his foot against his side, pressing the piece of metal deeper into his wound.

"Ahhhh!" Wes cried out in pain; he was starting to lose focus, black spots began closing in. Hot tears ran down his face because the pain was so intense. He tried to get up; he tried to lift Ransik's foot off of him but couldn't. He wanted so badly to make Ransik pay for everything, for all the pain and suffering.

"Give up. It is futile to try and resist me." Ransik pointed his sword right above Wes's neck. "Your end is near."

There was nothing he could do except watch the point of the sword move closer and closer, getting ready to make the kill. He had failed…. Wes closed his eyes, just wanting death to come to him. He wanted the nightmare just to be over, he only wished he could hold Jen once more in his arms, kiss her gentle lips one final time, and tell her with all his heart how much he loved her.

"Goodbye, Ranger!" Ransik flung his sword at Wes.

"NO!" two voices rang out, screaming. It was Alex and Eric, who had come to the rescue, apparently too late…..

But just as Ransik's sword was about to make contact with Wes, an amazing and yet horrifying thing happened. The Quantum Morpher began lighting up, much like it had once before, when Wes had been near death. A bright light shone and a powerful force emerged around them. Alex's eyes widened in horror….

"Get down!" Alex shoved both himself and Eric to the ground.

"What's going on? What is this?" Ransik was confused, this had never happened before. He could barely see Wes; he was blinded by the brightness.

Wes could feel his breathing steady just a little; he squinted his eyes and could see Ransik's confused and terrified look. He knew very well what was happening, it had happened once before, with devastating results. "I'm sorry, Nadira…." He hadn't planned on this happening, he had hoped there could be another way, but it seemed Ransik had chosen this to be his fate. For what seemed like the first time ever, Wes heard Ransik scream, a horrifying and deathly scream that never in his life he thought he would ever hear; it was almost too much for him to handle. He felt his heart racing, and then the screaming stopped and the light disappeared in a flash. He could feel the pain in his body returning and the exhaustion, but just before he closed his eyes he watched as Ransik's now mangled body dropped to the ground and watched as the once mighty, powerful mutant closed his eyes…..

Slowly, Eric and Alex picked themselves up, dusting their clothes off. "What the hell was that?"

"A defense mechanism. Whenever the user of the Quantum Morpher is under grave stress or pain of the body, the morpher goes into overload defense-mode."

Eric looked over at Ransik, who lay completely still, most of the armor that had once covered his body was no more. It appeared as though Ransik was no more. "So Ransik is….."

"Dead…." Alex nodded his head. "Nothing can survive that kind of blow."

"What about W……" The underground began shaking and little bits and pieces began falling down on them, giving them full warning that they didn't have much time left.

"We've got to get out of here, now!" Alex and Eric quickly ran for Wes and grabbed his body, and ran as fast as their legs would carry them as the ceiling above them started crumbing down. Alex briefly looked behind him over at Ransik; there had been no time to get him out and since Alex didn't have the right equipment on him, he couldn't even contain him. He watched as a piece of ceiling fell onto the mutant, the man, who had turned his whole world upside down. He thought he would feel some relief to know that Ransik was finally gone, finished for good. But….that still didn't change a thing. Jen would never be his again, her heart belonged to the half-dead man he had risked his own life to save.

"We're almost there," Eric announced, seeing light up ahead; that was enough for them to quicken their pace. "Just hang in there, just a little longer…" as everything behind them, everything was collapsing.