A/N: Now the series has ended, and the finale has aired. While I will admit to enjoying a lot of the finale, I'm pretty much going to ignore it and write my own ending. Hope you all enjoy it as it unfolds.

Scott was wandering around the Ranger base in the early hours of the morning, unable to sleep. Now that Venjix had activated at least four hybrid sleepers, the Rangers were all tense, anticipating his final move at any time. He had woken up a couple of hours ago, having only managed to get a couple of hours' rest, and no matter what he tried, he simply couldn't get back to sleep. Having finally given up, he had pulled on a pair of denims, before making his way down to the kitchen to make himself a drink.

As he got to the fridge, taking out a soda, he noticed a sliver of light just under the door to Dr. K's lab, and reasoned that someone else had been unable to sleep. He went to the door and smiled as he found the woman he loved so deeply still deeply immersed in her work. She was concentrating so deeply that she was oblivious to the fact that it was dark, the only light in the room provided by the vast array of monitors that were on.

He cast his eyes over her tiny, slight frame, thinking about all the time they had spent together. He had found her fascinating right from the moment he first saw her. She was a couple of years younger than him, her nineteenth birthday only a short couple of weeks away, and yet she had created the life, the world they all had now, both the good and the bad. She carried herself with a certain sadness that had always puzzled him, right up until he became aware of her part in creating Venjix. She never forgave herself for her part in the end of the world as it had been, and worked tirelessly to destroy what she had created.

The pale blue glow of the monitor she was working on reflected off her almost unhealthily pale flesh. She had broken her habit of staying inside since she had gotten together with Scott, but still rarely went into the sunlight. Despite knowing that her allergy to sunlight had been a lie, designed to imprison and enslave her to Alphabet Soup for the entirety of her life, since coming to Corinth she had still shut herself away. It was a part of her that troubled him a little, like she was imprisoning herself for a terrible crime that everyone knew was not her fault. She enslaved herself to the effort to destroy him as a penance, seeking at least some measure of absolution in the eyes of those that knew what she had done, even if she would never feel it in her own heart.

It was these tragic factors of her life that had drawn him to feel for her, pity her in a way that overshadowed his initial rage when he blamed her for Marcus' disappearance. He had come to feel sorry for her, and that was simply the first step on the path to where they were now.

He just stood for a second, looking at her as she worked, oblivious to her surroundings. He had initially found himself becoming drawn to her as they worked together, becoming more and more fascinated with her. For one so young, she was easily the most insightful and challenging person he knew. It wasn't simply her intelligence, despite her being easily the most intelligent person in the city, and arguably the most brilliant mind to ever exist, it was the way that she analysed everything. She sought the meaning and purpose to everything. It made her incredibly challenging to get close to. Since her social and emotional developments were largely underdeveloped, it was just something that made it even more rewarding to get to know her.

He had always been aware of the fact he was considered attractive, and had had more than a few relationships in his life, but she always intrigued him. She could see through his lines, and constantly challenged him. She was unlike anyone he had ever met.

She looked so different now to the girl that he had met all that time ago. She still wore the lab coat whenever she was working, but other than that, she had been convinced to abandon her old ways, to distance herself from the creation of Alphabet Soup's captivity. She now wore a tracksuit; similar to Gemma's as both a way of getting rid of the unflattering school uniform she had worn before, and also as a kind of closer connection to the team. Her hair was a little longer now, and styled into a bob since she had given up the habit of cutting her own hair with lefty scissors. She was now able to let someone else deal with her hair, not much of a gesture, but an important one in distancing herself from what Alphabet Soup had turned her into. He found his eyes straying, a little disappointed that the lab coat hid so much of her physique. Because she wore the tracksuit now, he enjoyed the way it complimented her figure more. He came over to her side, brushing aside some of her hair and kissing the side of her neck, drawing her attention. She brushed him away gently.

"Scott, I'm busy." She muttered. Scott wrapped his arms around her waist and held her tightly. "I don't have time."

"You don't have time for much now." He replied in a whisper. "You know they invented this thing called sleep. Some people do it to rest..."

"Scott, I have far too much work to do." She reiterated, pushing his arms off her. "I still have to find a way to deactivate the mental implants in the hybrids and free them from Venjix's control. I need to complete a mass screening of the city to find the extent of the infiltration, I have to complete the review of our strategy for defeating Venjix, I need to fortify the Garage..."

"Whoa, hold on there." He interrupted her rant, grabbing her arm and turning her to face him. He held her, trying to look into her eyes. "You do have a team for a reason. You don't have to take everything on yourself."

"You don't understand, I know what's going to happen if we keep going as we were." She told him, trying to look away. She was still haunted by what she had seen of the future. Even when she had succeeded in destroying Venjix, it seemed she was destined to destroy lives. She had promised to protect Alex, but how could she accomplish that? It was impossible to guarantee anyone's safety in this war. She had been unable to look at Ziggy, and barely able to speak to him since they got back. He had seen what he could become if she failed, and it troubled him greatly. It was as though from the moment she was born, whether she intended it or not, she was destined to be the downfall of humanity. "I know what I'm responsible for."

"Well why don't you tell me then?" Scott asked her. "What could you have seen that was so awful?"

"Scott I can't..."

"I love you; I can't stand seeing you like this!" He interrupted her sharply. "You can't hold yourself single-handedly responsible for everything, it'll drive you insane!"

"I can't tell you, anything I tell you could alter the future and we have no idea..."

"What you're doing now could alter the future!" Scott reminded her. "I know you're smarter than me but it doesn't feel good to know that you don't trust me! What makes you the only one who can change things for the better?"

"It's my fault he died." Dr. K murmured. Scott paused as he heard this. "In the future I saw, the Garage was destroyed with myself Alex and Tenaya inside. He didn't make it out."

Scott leant on a nearby work bench and shook his head in disbelief.

"Ziggy blamed me for his death. Things got...really bad after that. I'm sorry but I can't go into details." She continued to explain. "Not because I don't trust you, but because it's too hard. It's because of me things..."

"That's why you wanted us to fortify the Garage." Scott interjected sadly. "You wanted to ensure Alex would be safe."

"I promised Ziggy I would stop it from happening." She stated, nodding her head. Scott came to her side, cradling her chin softly.

"You can't do everything by yourself." He repeated as he drew closer. "Now that I know I can help. You have a team for a reason; you need to let us take some of the strain."

"I have been working on something." She informed him. "I've been trying to figure out how many hybrids..."

"There could be up to 150." Scott told her. She looked at him a little astonished. "Marcus, Tenaya and Dillon were D-series. The one he found in the wastes identified herself and the ones in the camp he found as E-series."

"He destroyed the E-series and the remaining D-series." Dr. K recalled. "There were 50 in the D and E-series program. If it can be presumed that the same is true of the other programmes and there was an A, B and C series..."

"150." Scott concluded. "Excluding the four that we've already destroyed, and its possible there were Dregs, rejects like the D-series..."

"Even that isn't a comforting thought." Dr. K sighed. "As we know, one-on-one the infiltrators are more than a match for human soldiers. Even a handful of them would be a significant problem. Not to mention it still isn't clear what positions they could have infiltrated."

"We'll find them." Scott told her, smiling as he reached for one of the visors she had made. "We'll search tomorrow."

"What are you going to do Scott? Scan every person in the city?" She asked him. "You're talking about trying to find fewer than 150 people in a city of millions!"

"Then you work on the mass scan." Scott assured her, drawing closer, his face inches from hers, a ghost of a smile playing on his lips. "We'll concentrate on the most significant risks. The military, the water treatment plant, the air recycling plant..."

"You're not playing fair." Dr. K said with a little forced smile. "How am I meant to concentrate on worrying when you aren't wearing a shirt?"

"I could be wearing a lot less." He replied cheekily, pulling in to a loving kiss. Dr. K felt her heart skipping a beat as they separated. She pulled off her lab coat, hanging it up on a chair, before pulling off her tracksuit top and throwing it aside. As Scott pulled in, kissing her again, she started to remove her t-shirt. The moment was interrupted as the lights suddenly came on full-beam. They pulled apart, straightening themselves out as much as they could as Gem came into the room. Dr. K's cheeks were bright red as she straightened out her t-shirt. Gem looked a little uncomfortable too, like a kid who had wandered into his parent's room at an inopportune moment.

"Gem, what are you doing up?" Dr. K asked him. Gem's eyes were wide, and he kept looking around, trying to find somewhere to look other than them.

"I...uh..." He stammered as he tried to find a way to talk to them after being interrupted. "I got up to go to the bathroom and Gemma's missing."

"Maybe she just got up." Scott suggested, crossing his arms in front of himself as he became pointedly aware of the fact he wasn't wearing a shirt. Normally it wouldn't have bothered him, but this situation had become a little uncomfortable.

"Her bed hasn't been slept in." Gem informed them. "I haven't seen her in hours."

At that point in time, Gemma was just regaining consciousness, Elwood's tail brushing against her face as he paced around. Hicks had beaten and tortured her at Vasquez's command until she couldn't take anymore and passed out. She tried to speak, only to find herself gagged by a length of duct tape. Her hands were still cuffed behind her back. She pushed herself into a seated position as she looked around.

She was in a large, cylindrical room, about 40 feet in diameter, and nearly 200 feet high. The floor was only a grating, beneath which was a propeller which was oddly still. Hicks was a little way off, working with a welding torch, while Vasquez watched. Looking back to Gemma, she smiled.

"Well, rise and shine sleeping beauty." She greeted her as Elwood hopped up onto her shoulders. "You're just in time; your boyfriend seems to be just about finished."

Gemma looked over as Hicks finished what he was doing. He had welded a bracket to the floor. Coming over to her, he dragged Gemma over to it.

"I'll bet you'd just love to know where we are." He said as he dragged her to the bracket, locking her handcuffs to it. "You're in the water treatment plant. A couple of the guards at the gate are hybrids. Trust me, no one will come."

"I thought that this would be a bit better than simply killing you quickly." Vasquez told her. "We had this tank drained, but once we leave and seal the door, we're going to start filling it."

"It should take about two hours for it to fill over your head." Hicks told her, ripping the tape off her mouth. Gemma yelled in pain as he did this. He grabbed her face and turned her to look at him as he held up her morpher, before throwing it far out of reach. "If you try hard, you should be able to keep your head above water that long."

"Hicks, please don't do this." She murmured as tears ran down her face. She knew it was impossible to escape by herself. Someone would need to release her. "Hicks, I love you, I know you can't do this."

"Actually it's pretty easy." He taunted her. "Think of it as being like turning on a tap. Only a couple of thousand times bigger."

"Venjix had to work hard to keep the activation signals weak enough that Dr. K couldn't find them." Vasquez told her, picking up a large, black case. "The master had to have a conduit to activate the sleepers one by one. Right now only Hicks, myself, and the guards at the gate are active."

"You're the conduit." Gemma whispered. "You activated Hicks." Vasquez just smiled before tapping the case.

"We're going to the Central Command building. Once we're at the highest point in the city, we'll detonate this." She informed Gemma. "Once this goes off, every hybrid in the city will activate all at once. Then we'll just take care of the Colonel."

"You can't do this!" Gemma shrieked as she struggled against her handcuffs. "Hicks, please I know you aren't capable of something like this, it isn't in your heart please..."

Her words were cut off as Hicks leant in, kissing her deeply. She closed her eyes, unable to look at him. She knew it wasn't the man she loved that was kissing her. There was no tenderness, no love in his touch. He separated from her, smirking at her torment.

"Goodbye Gemma." He whispered as he got up and turned around, beginning to leave. He got to the door, swinging it closed.

"Hicks!" Gemma screamed one last time, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. As he closed the door, sealing her inside and preventing anyone from hearing her cries for help, he locked it shut. He gestured up to the control room. The controls were activated and the tank started to fill up.

"It's a shame really, she was kind of cute." Vasquez commented. "She would have made a good hybrid..."

Hicks never said a word, just taking the case from her and making his way to the nearby jeep. Vasquez never even noticed the one tear running down his face.

Back at the Garage, the Rangers quickly assembled as Dr. K composed herself. She shared a little look and a half-hearted smile with Scott, while Gem just sat in the corner, fidgeting slightly, still a little embarrassed by what he had walked in on.

"Alright doc, what's so important we have to get up at this ungodly hour?" Flynn yawned as he poured himself some strong coffee, hoping in vain that it would take the edge off his fatigue.

"Gemma's missing." Dr. K informed them. "I've done a scan for her morpher's energy signature, but it's switched off."

"She would never do that." Summer stated, a worried look crossing her face. "The only reason it would be switched off is to prevent it being tracked."

"I think we must presume the worst, and presume that she's in trouble." Dr. K concluded. "We need to search for her."

"The last time I saw her was when she headed to Hicks' place." Tenaya recalled as she checked that Alex was still sleeping. There was no reason for all of them to lose out on much-needed sleep. "I'll call him."

"What about her cell?" Ziggy asked. Dr. K just shook her head.

"There's no answer, and there's no signal." She told him. "Wherever she is, the signal's blocked."

"What's that?" Gem asked, pointing to something on the screen. Dr. K looked to the screen he was indicating.

"I've been scanning waves of multiple frequencies looking for a possible activation code since the hybrids started to become active." Dr. K told him. "There's been nothing powerful enough to activate them remotely and there's only been a couple of spikes, but this control code has been constant."

"There's one walking around activating the others?" Dillon asked her. "Like a TV remote with legs?"

"Something like that, but the signal is strangely weak." Dr. K informed them. "I haven't been able to figure it out. It's only spiked a couple of times, presumably when hybrids are activated, but this code...it's so weak it barely registers."

"Well that's going to have to wait." Scott told them. "Right now we have to find Gemma."

As the Rangers left, Gem suddenly got a call on his cell phone. He answered it, hearing his sister's voice on the other end.

"Gemma, where are you?" He asked her as the others all left the Garage, beginning their search.

"I'm at the water treatment plant." Vasquez told him in Gemma's voice. "Come quickly, I've found some hybrids here trying to poison the water supply."

"I'll get the others..."

"There's no time, hurry!" Her voice shrieked before the signal suddenly went dead. In the jeep, Vasquez had crushed the cell phone to create the illusion she had been attacked.

"So you activated all the hybrids at the plant?" Hicks asked her as she stroked Elwood softly. She nodded.

"I'm sure a dozen hybrids are more than a match for one Ranger." She replied. Hicks pulled into the parking lot outside the Central Command building, killing the engine. "Now it's time to activate the rest."

"I always thought you didn't want promotion." Hicks said as they got out, taking the case as they headed for the door. "Until the master comes, you're about to become the Colonel by default."

Meanwhile in the palace, Venjix was preparing for the assault. His factories had been churning out Grinders day and night for a long time, preparing the invasion force. Crunch came to his master's side.

"Everything is in place master!" He cackled. "Vasquez is almost in position to activate all the other hybrids."

"Soon humanity will be erased from existence." Venjix told him. "There is only one more thing I need taken care of."

"Anything you wish Master Venjix!" He responded, bowing a little. Venjix gestured him closer.

"I have suspected for some time that Kilobyte seeks to dethrone me." He informed Crunch. "Victory over mankind is so close; his betrayal will surely come soon."

"I'll destroy him..."

"Not yet my most loyal of servants." Venjix told him. "He is one of my most powerful creations. He may be of use. Wait until our victory is assured, and then eliminate him."

Crunch just left, laughing insanely as he went. Of all his servants, Crunch was one of the most powerful, but was also one of the few he could rely on to perform the task. While, like Kilobyte, he had independent thought, he was also nowhere near bright enough to betray him. If Crunch had made any moves to usurp control, he would see them long before it became a problem. No, Crunch was loyal, because he wasn't smart enough to realise that his own time also grew short. Venjix wanted absolute control. What use did he have for servants with independent thought?

As he went to the main hangar to lead the march to the city, Kilobyte left his hiding place, watching his master go.

"Venjix is aware I intend to destroy him. This will make things more difficult." Kilobyte mused thoughtfully. "Though if he believes that fool Crunch is capable of destroying me, he is sadly mistaken."