Dr. K and Ziggy were taken from the main room of Flynn's bunker after their somewhat less than enlightening interrogation. They weren't willing to divulge their names or identities, not least since they were sure no one would believe them since it was now 30 years into their future and as far as they were aware most thought they were dead. Of course not even divulging this information, it wasn't surprising their saviours/new captors didn't see fit to trust them. They were both shoved roughly into a non-descript concrete room with no windows and only a single light. Once they were inside, the door was closed behind them, and locked. Ziggy looked around at the room.

"Well this is hospitality." He said sarcastically.

"Ziggy try to keep your mind on the problem at hand." Dr. K muttered as she pulled out her tiny screwdriver again and tried to work the lock on her restraints, though finding it difficult to reach since her hands were bound. "We need to get out of here."

"Even if we do, what good would it do?" Ziggy asked her. "We're 30 years into the future, and in case you haven't noticed, the only guy we've met that we recognise has kin of lost the plot."

"He's obviously traumatised by this war." Dr. K reminded him, struggling with her bonds. If we don't get out of here, then we can't try to find a way back and then none of this is going to matter…damn it!"

Ziggy watched as she held a finger in her mouth, a little blood trickling down her hand. Not being able to reach the lock securely, she had slipped with the screwdriver and cut herself. Ziggy came over to her and turned her to face him.

"What do you mean by that?" Ziggy asked her. She looked into his eyes.

"Us being in this time is a paradox. We left before the final assault against Venjix." She reminded him. "If we don't go back and play our part in the battle, then time will re-align without us there. We might lose, and then none of this would exist."

"So why are we here now?" Ziggy asked her, extending a hand. She handed him the screwdriver, at which he started working on her restraints.

"Obviously it is possible for us to go back since, at the moment, time hasn't shifted to correct itself." She informed him. She looked down in shock as the restraints snapped open and fell away from her wrists. "How did you do that?"

"Not exactly my first time in handcuffs remember?" He asked her. Dr. K took the screwdriver back and started picking the lock on Ziggy's restraints. "Well I guess we need to find how we can get back. After a little homework of course."

"What homework?" Dr. K asked him. As his hands were released, Ziggy just looked at her in disbelief.

"Is this a future you want?" He asked her. "Whatever happened, it seemed to happen round about the time of the final battle. If we can jut find out what it was and change it, then none of this will ever happen."

"What if it doesn't change anything for the better?" Dr. K asked him. "I'm sure plenty of people would have liked to go back and stop things like World War II, but…"

"How can things honestly be any worse?" Ziggy asked her. Venjix is gone, but because of whatever happened, the humans that are left are wiping each other out."

"You're right about that much." A voice came from the door. Dr. K and Ziggy looked up to see Sam standing there. She looked very different than they remembered, but not so different they couldn't recognise her. Her hair was greying, unsurprisingly since she was now into her fifties. She was wearing thick, oft-repaired glasses, and she was a little hunched and moved a little gingerly, favouring her right hip. "Come with me. I'll explain everything."

As they conceded that they didn't have any other options and followed her, being careful to avoid guards, Ziggy approached her and tapped her shoulder.

"Why are you helping us?" He asked her. "Isn't your husband the one…?"

"We're only married on paper Ziggy." She told them sadly. "He isn't the same man I fell in love with. The war's taken so much from us, so much from him, that I can't even recognise him anymore. He can't even see that he's turning into what he hates the most."

"You know my name?" He asked her in surprise. "You recognise us?"

"My eyesight isn't that bad." She replied a little coldly. "My husband had trouble recognising his own kids at times. All the head trauma has done some strange things to his mind."

"Had?" Dr. K asked. "You said he HAD trouble recognising your own kids."

"We lost our son to the war." She informed them. "Our daughters we lost to sickness. It was only flu, but we had no access to medical supplies."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Dr. K told her. Sam nodded in appreciation, though it saddened Dr. K to see that she wasn't crying. Obviously her children's deaths had happened awhile ago, but it was like everything was so raw, loss was so common in this time that it seemed almost commonplace.

"So if you know who we are, why didn't you say anything before?" Ziggy asked her. "Why are you helping us in secret?"

"If Flynn knew who you were, he'd have killed you both on the spot." She told him. "You remember the GEARS, those guys in blue suits from before?"

"Yeah?" Ziggy asked a little puzzled.

"The technology in their suits is what gives them their combat abilities and makes them so deadly. We can take them down if we ambush them about ten to one, but there are thousands of them. Those that refuse to live under their rule get hunted down like animals." She told them. "Dr. K created the technology that made them."

"Why?" Dr. K asked her. "I would never knowingly…"

"You didn't do it by choice." Sam interrupted her as she took out a security card, accessing a door marked "memorial room." She guided them inside, closed the door and switched on the lights. It was a museum of sorts dedicated to the history of the war, full of artefacts and pictures. Dr. K felt a shudder as they walked past the first picture, one of Summer trimmed in black ribbon, and marked with the date of her death. It was only a few months after she had been married, so she was easily recognisable. "Ziggy made you do it. He kidnapped you and forced you to create weapons for him. He's the one that caused all of this."

Ziggy and Dr. K looked at her in amazement, Ziggy even having a nervous disbelieving laugh as he heard this.

"Me?" He asked her incredulously. "Why on earth would I do that?"

"Because you blamed them for your loss." Sam explained, pointing to a glass case. Ziggy's lip quivered as he approached it, his eyes beginning to tear up. He shook his head slowly, hoping it wasn't true. "Most of us lost something that day. The battle didn't go as expected. You lost more than most."

As he finally got to the case, he sank to his knees weeping. It contained a small grave marker salvaged from a grave in the city, bearing the name Alexander Frederick Grover.

In the present day, Hicks was woken up by a phone call. He looked around his apartment curiously. He had grown somewhat used to long lies on his leave, and he was not sure what time it was. Reaching to his alarm clock, he saw that it was a little after mid day. Pressing the button, it showed him the date.

"I guess the days all kind of blur into one after a while." He said with a shrug as he picked up the phone. He was sure he had missed a day, but he thought he was likely just being paranoid. Answering the phone, he found Colonel Truman on the other end.

"Sorry to disturb you Hicks, I know you're not due back yet, but I was hoping you'd come back a little early." He told his aide-de-camp. "We have a big investigation to cover, and with Vasquez and her team concentrating on the asylum…"

"What investigation?" Hicks asked him. The Colonel paused for a minute.

"Father Larry was murdered." Colonel Truman informed him. Hicks couldn't believe what he was hearing. Who could have killed Father Larry? Why would they?

"Just give me a minute to get dressed." Hicks told him. "I'll be there in about half an hour."

"I'll send a car." The Colonel answered. "Thanks Hicks, I could do with a good man."

As Hicks hung up, he noticed a message on his answering machine. Pressing the button, he heard Gemma's message, apologising for not coming over. What bothered him though, was the date of the message. It was the day before. He couldn't remember getting that message. Indeed, he couldn't even remember that day. How was it possible to not remember what he did for an entire day?

In the memorial room in the future, Dr. K comforted Ziggy after finding out what had happened. He looked up to Sam, finally finding the strength to force out a barely audible, cracking voice to ask the question she knew he would.

"Why?"

"The Second Battle of Corinth started early in the day. You and the Rangers were getting ready to go out and sack his palace. Venjix beat you to the punch though. He sent an army of Grinders, and he attacked the city himself, forcing the military and as many able-bodied citizens as he could find to deal with the invasion while you dealt with Venjix." She began. "Not long into the battle, we were taking heavy casualties. Summer left the Zord to save a family from a stray blast. She paid with her life."

"That sounds like something she'd do." Dr. K commented as she held Ziggy.

"Dillon in his despair sacrificed himself, giving the Rangers the opportunity they needed to activate their ultimate weapon. They destroyed him, but not before he fired off one last blast and destroyed the garage. Tenaya and Dr. K got out, but Alex never made it. There was noting they could do for him."

"I can't believe we were caught flat-footed like that." Dr. K gasped. "I've considered the plan so many times…"

Ziggy couldn't come to terms with Alex's death." Sam continued. "He blamed you for creating Venjix in the first place. He blamed Scott for failing to lead the team, but most of all he blamed Tenaya for not protecting him. It was too much for her to take, and her depression returned, worse than before. She eventually couldn't live with the fact he blamed her and she killed herself. Ziggy left the team after that. None of you saw or heard from him again for three years."

"I can't believe any of this." Ziggy whimpered as he sat on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest. "What happened?"

"The straw that broke the camel's back was when Dr. K and Scott got married." Sam informed him. "When the newspapers reported that the former Red Ranger and Dr. K were getting married and expecting their first child, I guess Ziggy felt like it was a kick in the gut. He broke several members of the Scorpion Cartel out of prison and started a campaign of attacks. He had Marcus and Colonel Truman murdered while he saw to Scott himself. He murdered him in his home in front of you. You miscarried shortly afterwards."

Dr. K looked to Ziggy who by now looked completely vacant. She put a hand on his shoulder.

"How are you?" She asked him.

"I'm just finding out I was responsible for murdering all of my friends and ending the world! How do you think I feel?" He asked her in exasperation, wiping away some tears.

"Don't you think you're asking the wrong person?" She asked him in response. Ziggy had to concede that if anyone knew what that would be like, it would be her.

"He took Dr. K prisoner and forced her to fuse all the Ranger rigs into one all powerful battle suit for his exclusive use." Sam informed them. "He then made you create the battle suits for his soldiers. He took over the city and declared that all had to serve him unswervingly and only his militia were permitted weapons. He declared no one would lose family to senseless war again by uniting into one society."

"A dictatorship," Dr. K commented, "the most absolute and safest form of regime."

"The rest of the Rangers organised a rebellion and fought back, but the citizens are no match for his fire power." Sam told her. "Over 25 years later, we're still fighting, those of us who are left anyway."

"So why are you telling us all of this?" Dr. K asked her.

"If anyone is going to have the kind of technology that will be needed to reverse what happened and send you back it'll be Dr. K." Sam replied. "This time's Dr. K I mean."

"She's…I mean…I'm still alive?" Dr. K asked her. Sam nodded.

"Ziggy's kept you prisoner all this time and forced you to manufacture his weapons." Sam informed her. "If you can go back, then with this knowledge, you can stop any of this from happening."

"I have another suggestion." They heard a thickly accented voice from the door. They looked up in horror to see Flynn standing there, pointing his blaster arm at them. "If I blow both of you to kingdom come now, then you'll never exist to cause any of this!"

Back in the present, Hicks arrived at the Chapel with Colonel Truman to find a team already sifting through the evidence. Sam was there under protest since it was technically her honeymoon, though since Flynn and the others wee trying to figure out how to bring Dr. K and Ziggy back, she wasn't going to get to spend any time with him anyway. Corporal Hicks heard a crunch underfoot and looked down to see he'd accidentally stepped in a piece of stained glass.

"Please stop destroying my crime scene." Sam grumbled as she got up. She approached them slowly, taking off her gloves.

"It's only glass." He commented. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Anyone with that glass in their shoes could be linked to the crime scene." She snapped grumpily. "If you arrest someone, they can say glass got into their apartment or carpet or clothes from your shoes! You've just contaminated evidence!"

"I'll make sure I turn them in at the door." He replied sheepishly. Colonel Truman just turned to him and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it Hicks, you're just out of practice." He reminded him, before turning back to Sam. "I understand you being upset. He did only marry you a couple of days ago."

"This just doesn't make any sense. He'd never hurt anyone." Sam lamented, feeling a little dejected. She'd had a number of strange encounters with the old minister, and had a little trouble accepting his gift, or what he had done to help her. He had given her back her life when he testified on her behalf. He had done nothing but help her and been repaid with distrust. She would never have a chance to repay his kindness. "I can't figure out why he'd be a threat to anybody."

"What can you tell us for sure?" Colonel Truman asked her. Sam gestured them to follow her, taking them to where his body lay, covered by a white sheet where it had landed. As she pulled back the sheet, Colonel Truman looked like he was going to be sick. His arms, legs and back were all bent unnaturally and hung limply on the debris, many of his bones shattered. His face, aside from a few grazes and bruises, looked remarkably undamaged, and almost peaceful. It was as though he knew his fate, and had simply accepted it. Hicks shook off a headache, trying to compose himself as the image seemed to strike something of a cord with him, almost as though he had seen it before.

"Cause of death was a sharp twist of the head, breaking his neck." Sam began to explain as calmly as she could, still upset over his death herself.

"That's a military technique." Colonel Truman remarked.

"The thing is the damage was far more extensive. The vertebrae weren't just broken, they shattered." She told them. "The disks are misaligned; whoever did this was strong enough to almost literally rip his head off."

"What about this damage?" Hicks asked her, gesturing to the destruction. "Do you think that has any significance?"

"The pew was ripped up and thrown through the lectern. I'm guessing when Father Larry tried to defend himself with his blaster." She replied. "Most of his cuts are pre-mortem, which fits with the flying debris. But the other bone breaks show little or no bruising, suggesting it was post-mortem."

"Someone did that to him after he died?" Colonel Truman asked her incredulously. "Why?"

"I don't know, but it fits with the damage to the crucifix up there." She replied, pointing almost fifteen feet up the wall. "Someone or something threw him hard enough to do that with one impact. There's no evidence of repeated assaults."

"There's no way someone could have done that." Hicks said with a look of concern on his face. "He has to weigh about 170, maybe 180."

"No one human could have done it." Sam whispered, gesturing them in closer, looking around to make sure no one was listening. "There were no reports of an attack bot in the city. I think this was a hybrid."

"Another one?" Colonel Truman asked. "I thought they were destroyed!"

"We have no idea how many Venjix made." Sam told him regretfully.

"That still doesn't explain why Venjix would want him dead." Colonel Truman mused. "Why kill a minister?"

In the future, Ziggy and Dr. K started to pace around the room as Flynn kept his weapon trained on them, following their every move.

"Flynn, listen to me…"

"Why should I listen to you Sam?" He snarled, never taking his eye off them for a minute. "You were willing to pass up the one chance I had to destroy this mass murdering piece of shite!"

"I haven't…"

"Don't talk to me!" Flynn interrupted Ziggy as he began. "I watched what you became. I watched and I saw every life you ruined!"

"You're talking about condemning us for things we haven't even done yet!" Dr. K tried to reason with him. "You're talking about things we might never even do!"

"Not if I can help it!" He hissed. Sam threw herself between them, ruining his aim.

"You're right Flynn, this might be a chance for us to stop all of this happening, but not like this!" She begged him. "I lost just as much as you."

"That butcher made me watch while he murdered my son!" Flynn reminded her. "You didn't hear Callum screaming as he…"

"No, I just had to watch as our daughters suffered and died of flu!" She snapped back at him. She approached him slowly, putting her hand on the gun. "Please, we've al lost so much, but killing them won't change things for the better."

"But…"

"We haven't yet fought the last battle with Venjix in our time." Dr. K explained. "If we don't go back, then you are right, this future might never exist, but neither might any other."

"If they go back, they can set things right." Sam pleaded with him, gently pushing the gun down as she approached her husband. "I hate what you've become, what we've become. Now we have a chance, but only if you don't do this."

Flynn glared at Ziggy, burning into him with his one remaining eye. Ziggy could feel the intensity of the hatred from him. It was unlike anything he had ever felt from him. Flynn was indeed different. The jovial, light-hearted man he remembered was long since gone. He finally relaxed.

"So what do you propose we do?" He asked them.

"Apparently if the technology needed to send us home exists in this time, it will be with myself and Ziggy." She told him. "We have to go and find the technology."

"Wait, are you serious?" Flynn asked her. "That place has to be crawling with his guys! It's not like we can just walk in there."

"Maybe we can just sneak into Dr. K's lab." Ziggy suggested. Dr. K shook her head.

"I figured out why your morpher doesn't work here." She told him. "You say Ziggy…your time's Ziggy…made me form one rig from all the Ranger technology?"

"Aye, the battle suit he wears." Flynn replied. "It's indestructible…"

"I'm guessing he never de-activates it." She replied. "Since the green spectrum of the bio field is already being tapped, you cannot activate your morpher. Your ability to teleport was part of the accident that sent us here."

"So what are you saying?" Ziggy asked her.

"I'm saying we have to convince your other self to shut down his rig." She informed them.

"Convince him?" Flynn scoffed as he shook his head in disbelief. He tapped his cannon arm to his bionic leg. "The last time I tried to 'convince' him of anything, it quite literally cost me an arm and a leg. If we go three…"

"If we don't, then we can't go home and one way or another this time will cease to exist." Dr. K reminded him. "It's our only hope."

"If we don't do this, all of this will be for nothing anyway." Sam pleaded with him, drawing closer. "Please."

"I guess we're off to see the wizard!" Flynn sighed, hefting his cannon arm up to rest on his shoulder. "He's based in the old Central Command building. Let's go."