Title: The True Meaning of Hero
Author: DemonicangelGREED
Summary: After watching his mentor and best friend die, Ziggy ran out into the Wastes where he met a old survivor who taught him what love and family were truly about. After a terrible accident Ziggy meets Dillon and goes back to the city he ran from.
Warnings: Slash fic, will eventually be Dillon/Ziggy, cage fighting and murder.
Pairings: Dillon/Ziggy

Chapter 7

The battle had been too easy.

That was all Ziggy could think as he jumped on his bike, the other rangers didn't seem to think so, but he was sure of it, Tenaya hadn't even put up much of a fight even when Ziggy and Dillon had tag teamed her. It was almost as if she hadn't really been there to fight at all.

Summer grinned at him as they started up their engines together, three weeks ago after he had gotten over his memory onslaught the yellow ranger had practically pounced on him. Ever since them the two of them had bonded over their love of bikes. The best thing was, if the two of them rode fast enough they could over take any of the cars they wanted.

"Race ya" Summer called back to the others.

Ziggy smirked at the acceptance of the challenge and then grinned at Dillon who narrowed his eyes at him. Their rivalry was a big one and even though Ziggy had beaten the black Fire-bird each time they raced the black ranger was still under the illusions that he could beat him.

"Meet you guys back at the garage" Ziggy called back and then pulled his helmet on.

Then as one the convoy of the three cars and two bikes shot forward, Ziggy couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled inside him as he and Summer easily took the lead. His bike was faster than the yellow rangers, it was just the way he and Flynn had made it, but another thing was he knew how to decrease the drag so that it was almost nonexistent. Taking a deep breath he leant against his machine completely and then like a green missile he shot through the back streets of the city.

When he saw his favorite route open it up to him Ziggy smirked and then turned a sharp right and drove up a ramp so that he was now driving along the lower roof tops. Summer that was driving a short ways behind him on the ground made a short movement with her hands making the Younger ranger Skid to a stop before turning and setting off at the left. He knew he was going to win, not even Summer was going to beat him.

Taking a deep breath Ziggy drove his bike right of the edge of the building but laughed when he caught the overhang that allowed him to drive smoothly to the ground and a good minute in front of the other bike rider. After that it only took a few seconds for him to arrive at the garage and like he predicated he was the first one to arrive-not that he was surprised.

"I win!" he said standing up before taking his helmet off and waited for Summer to ride up next him.

He didn't have to wait very long, only a few moments later the yellow and black bike skidded into the spot next to him, its rider beaming at him. "And once again: they lose" she said and the two of them high fived.

The first of the cars of arrive was Dillon and then Flynn and lastly Scott who was protesting that the black ranger had cut him off at one of the turns. The two bikers were already half way through cleaning their machines and shook their heads at the arguing that the three rangers were doing.

"Who's up for dinner!" Ziggy asked breaking up the argument.

The three rangers all nodded happily and let the yellow and green ranger lead them towards the kitchen where Ziggy had prepared them another meal.

Dr K watched as her rangers all laughed and joked around the dinner table and then turned her attention back to the finished program on her screen. Swallowing roughly she let out a shaky breath before pressing enter.

"Ranger Green, gene activation over-ride program on line, status: not tested" the computer told her making her smile nervously.

"Yeah I know, I know" She whispered and then looked back out to her rangers and focused on Ziggy who was laughing loudly at something Flynn told him. "But I don't have a choice"

When the moon-albeit fake moon-finally reach zenith Ziggy's eyes once again shot open, it was like clockwork now. He would wake up around midnight, train with Dillon who was usually awake at the same time, and then work on his bike before he would start to prepare breakfast. But as he dressed himself Ziggy noticed that something didn't feel right.

Tilting his head to the side Ziggy began to pick up sounds of crashing and shattering, his eyes flying wide Ziggy raced out of his room and jumped off the cat walk and onto the ground below, much like had seen Dillon do months earlier.

Ziggy blinked at the scene that was in front of him, Dillon was destroying the lab, and Dr K was huddled under a table to hide from her black ranger. "Dr K" He called.

The young woman looked at him and her face flooded with relief "Get the others" she cried.

"No need" Scott said running up to Ziggy's side.

Flynn ended up on his other side and Summer was next to him. Ziggy nodded to each of his teammates and then as the team they were they rushed the black ranger attempting to stop him. But Dillon was half hybrid and they were just human and soon the three original rangers found themselves on the floor.

Ziggy though wasn't human, he was different: enhanced and soon found himself to be the only one still standing against his friend. "Dillon stop!" he growled as he dodged a punch that was aimed at his head.

The black ranger went on like he hadn't heard him and struck out at him again, Ziggy flipped catching Dillon on the jaw making the older fighter stumble back into the wall. Ziggy took a calming breath and then struck a fighting pose.

"Fine you want a fight?" he growled "Well then look at me: I'll give you one" Dillon pulled himself up off the floor and then charged the younger more agile fighter.

Flynn watched as Ziggy fought his best friend and then looked over at Dr K who had thrown herself at a computer and was typing in a range of commands he had become quite familiar with. "Dr K are Ye Crazy?" he demanded.

K looked back at her blue ranger and gave him a desperate look and then turned her gaze back to the fight where Ziggy was punched in the face before kicking Dillon in the knees.

"Ziggy!" Summer cried out as the green ranger was thrown into a nearby wall.

But just as he started forward, Scott caught her arm and held her back shaking his head "No Summer, this isn't our fight, we have to trust in Ziggy" he said not taking his eyes of the fight where Ziggy was barely holding on.

The worst happened when Dillon caught the younger man by the throat, the other rangers took a step forward and then winced when the black ranger slammed Ziggy into the ground making the ground crack where his head hit the cement. Ziggy let out a pain yell and then didn't get up.

Dr k groaned and then typed her final sequence into the computer "activate program" she called out.

"Ranger Green, Lupine Gene override program activate"

The other rangers all took a step back when Ziggy's eyes glowed green for a moment and then his whole body tense and he let out a low deep throaty growl. Flynn gulped and flattened himself against the wall as he watched Ziggy turn more animal then human before his very eyes.

Dillon looked down at the young ranger on the floor and bent down to inspect him closer, but once he was in striking distance Ziggy's fist shot out and caught him in the face making him fly back. The green ranger flipped himself into an animal crouch and snarled at the Venjix control black ranger who had picked himself up.

"K what did you do to Ziggy?" Scott asked as Ziggy head butted Dillon to get his to release him.

The young genius looked sick at what she had done and then turned her shaken gaze to her red ranger "I activated Ziggy's recessive genes and created a program which would make them the more dominate gene, hence his more animalistic fighting now" she whispered.

Summer looked back to where the two rangers where fighting and gasped when Ziggy kicked Dillon in the jaw sending him up in the air and then followed him up there and preformed a drop kick sending him crashing to the ground. Both fighters were bruised, bloody and looked exhausted but she knew neither one would give up just yet.

It wasn't until a few minutes later when Dillon and Ziggy were locked in a standstill that she spotted the black device on Dillon's neck. "Dr K, get ready to shut down Ziggy's program" she whispered.

The Dr nodded confused, and Summer then began to inch her way around the two fighters. Standing behind Dillon she took a deep breath and then jumped up and preformed a spinning kick and almost shouted in relief when she knocked the device off his neck. Almost immediately Dillon's eyes re-focused on Ziggy who had let go of him once he realized the fight had left his opponent.

"Wha-Ziggy" he whispered before he fell down unconscious.

The beastly ranger spun around to fight the other rangers when Dr k deactivated the program "De-activate!" she called quickly.

"Ranger Green, Lupine Gene override program DE-activate"

Ziggy's eyes flashed green for a second and then his eyes slid shut and he collapsed on the ground, his body worn out and broken with the physical strain he had just gone through. Dr K climbed to her feet and stared at her two rangers and sighed.

"Scott please restrain Dillon on the examination table. Flynn lock Ziggy in his room, I think when he wakes up he might be a little violent" she ordered softly and then turned to Summer who nodded.

'I'll help you clean up" she said in a kind voice before she wrapped an arm around the shorter woman's shoulders.

Two hours passed and Dillon had woken up screaming holy hell, wincing at the noise Flynn snuck away and knocked lightly on Ziggy's door just in case he was still asleep. But the soft reply of come in dashed his hopes of skipping the awkward talk he was about to have. Taking a deep breath the blue ranger opened the door and entered the room of the most unpredictable ranger.

"You did something to me" was the first thing Ziggy said when Flynn closed the door behind him, the younger ranger didn't even look away from the window he was perched next to, and somehow that made him just that little more threatening.

"Yeah" Flynn admitted and dragged the chair at Ziggy's issued desk over to the window and straddled it backwards. "It was a fail safe if you will"

Ziggy turned and looked at Flynn in confusion "Fail safe?" he asked

The blue ranger nodded and then ran a hand over his head "After the first time you went...Wolfy, Dr K asked me to get bio samples from you so that she could create a program that could help control you in a way"

"Control me?" Ziggy strangled out.

Flynn nodded and then looked straight at his younger friend "Yeah, Ziggy control you" he said seriously "You have no idea how dangerous you are when you go berserk. It's like you don't know who your friends are anymore"

The green ranger looked down guiltily and then began to fiddle with the blanket that had been draped over him. "I don't" he admitted "When I change everything kind of blurs together and I strike out at the thing in front of me, I know you're not going to hurt me but it's like I have no idea how to control myself"

"And that's why Dr K crated this program" Flynn said getting up to sit next to the younger man "The program is designed to activate your genes into taking over each other"

'And that's what you did tonight?" Ziggy asked softly

Flynn nodded and then looked up at the roof "The program was meant to do the opposite; we were supposed to bring out that side of you. It was meant to rein it in, but you were the only one who was able to keep Dillon busy, and even then you were getting hammered" he said thickly: his Scottish accent becoming more pronounced.

Ziggy grabbed his friends hand and smiled at him kindly "its okay: I'm okay you don't have to feel guilty or sad, you didn't make this problem and you're still trying to help me deal with it. I don't blame you" he said and then gave the startled blue ranger a hug.

Flynn hugged his younger friend back and couldn't help but realise that the green ranger may not be the most skilled and may not have the best path but, there was no doubt that Ziggy was the bravest of them.

It was midnight when Dillon and Ziggy finally saw each other for the first time since the big fight, the black ranger had been released four hours earlier but hadn't had the guts to go see his friend, and Ziggy hadn't left his room until he was sure the others were all asleep.

Ziggy was staring up at the fake stars and trying not to sigh at the longing that flowed through him, he wished he could see a star, a real star more than anything, but that wasn't going to happen they would be forever stuck in this dome they called a city.

"Not very creative are they?" Dillon said walking up behind him.

Ziggy smiled sadly and then shook his head "No, I still remember staring at the constellations when I was younger. It was my favourite thing to do" he admitted.

Dillon took the seat next to his friend and then stared up at the fake stars and nodded "I don't remember much but I do remember looking up at the stars and enjoying it" he said smiling.

The green ranger grinned and nudged him in the shoulder "I'm glad" he said cheerfully

"About what?" Dillon asked laughing "If you don't remember you and I had a death match earlier" he said grinning.

Ziggy nodded and then turned to look at his friend, a smile brightening up his already handsome features "Because even though we had that "Death match" you and I aren't acting all weird, I've had enough weird today. I actually had Summer crying in my arms earlier" Ziggy said before looking back up at the stars.

The black ranger smiled and slung his arm over Ziggy's shoulders "Nah, we're to cool for that, and anyway it's not like we had any control right" He said and then pushed Ziggy over.

"Hey!"

Dillon chuckled and held a hand out to his friend "Come on, let's go work off our excess energy shall we" he said clapping his hands together gleefully "I have this new move I want to try"

Ziggy's grin turned devious and he narrowed his eyes at his friend making the black ranger hesitate for a moment "Oh Dillon. The plans I have for you tonight" he said happily.

"plans? Ziggy don't mess with me what plans!" he said getting a little nervous as Ziggy walked off.

The green ranger waved off his words and continued walking "Come along, we have a long night ahead of us" he said in that happy voice which had Dillon shuddering.

If someone asked Ziggy what he thought of Gem and Gemma he would say he thought the two of them were awesome, and if someone asked the twins what they thought of Ziggy they would say he was like there other sibling.

When the twins and Ziggy had first met everyone had been nervous about how the bio-genetic ranger and the boom twins would work together, turns out they needn't have worried, because as soon as Gem had seen Ziggy trying out the new Bow that Dr K had created for him that made the target explode he had adopted the younger man almost immediately, and Gemma had taken one look at his cooking skills and had dragged him into her experiments straight away.

But the real turning point in Ziggy and the Twin's relationship was the time that Ziggy almost changed into his wolf form in front of them. When Dr K had heard the growling and stifled snarling she had rushed over to her computers and quickly reined Ziggy's more feral side in and as soon as he was safe Gem and Gemma had him wrapped in a tight bear hug.

"Gem, Gemma you can let go of me now" Ziggy said weakly.

The gold ranger pulled back and then brushed a stray hair out of his face and shook his head slowly "You must be-"

"In so much pain" Gemma finished for her brother running a soothing hand through his hair.

Ziggy gave the gold and silver rangers a look of confusion "What do you mean" he asked his voice weary. Dr K left the twins with her green ranger and let the three of them bond over whatever had happened to Ziggy.

Gem sat back and took Ziggy's hands into his own and stared at them sadly "When we were in Venjix's holdings-"

"He had these other kids there" Gemma said her hands falling from his hair to fiddle with each other nervously.

The gold ranger nodded sadly and then continued "They were from this lab called-"

"Thronille?" Ziggy breathed out in fear.

Gemma nodded and looked at Ziggy in fear "Venjix wanted a new kind of weapon-"

"Not a hybrid like Dillon" Gem cut in quickly, and Ziggy was thankful he was used to the twins joint way of speaking.

"But one with the genes of both animal and human" Gemma whispered, and Ziggy could say it was the saddest he'd ever heard the silver ranger sound.

Taking a deep breath Ziggy looked into Gem's eyes "What happened to them?" he asked in a shaky voice, almost afraid of the answer.

The gold ranger stared into his eyes sadly and shook his head "None of them survived. Their bodies rejected the new DNA"

"But then rumor came out that a young boy had successfully bonded with Lupine genes a few years earlier" Gemma said and then raised a hand to his face

Ziggy nodded slowly and Gem winced "Venjix had his attack-bots search for months for you" he whispered

"He killed all the other subjects, saying they were a lost cause" Gemma finished and by this point Ziggy was holding in all his tears trying not to cry at the thought of all the others dying because he had been safe with the cartels.

"The doctor in charge said-"

"That you'd be young and impressionable" Gemma finished for her brother.

Gem shook his head and pulled Ziggy into another hug which his sister readily joined "We are glad you escaped his clutches" they said as one, and Ziggy just let himself fall into the hug of the two older rangers.

After the revelation that Venjix had been after Ziggy since his first take over the boom twins had really taken Ziggy under their wing and when on the battle field always had his safety at heart, when off the battle field they were teaching him things he should know about his genetic composition and how to use it as a way to fight more naturally.

Dillon found that even though he wasn't spending half as much time with his best friend as before, he couldn't get jealous of the twins. Everyone in the garage had dubbed the boom twins as Ziggy's older siblings and even Dillon could see that in the new rangers, and he could see that they were actually helping the green ranger accept the fact that he wasn't like anybody else. But the biggest reason he never got jealous of the twins was because even though they took up nearly all of Ziggy's time during the day, when it came to night time and everyone else was asleep, he and the green ranger would laugh and joke together it was simple at night it became clear that Dillon was Ziggy's best friend.

"Hey Dillon" the black ranger looked up from the Fury's engine and saw a grinning Ziggy sitting on his bike, helmet in hand, "Can you tell Gem and Gemma I'm just going out?"

Dillon crossed his arms and smirked at his younger friend before quickly looking around the empty floor before nodding "Get outta here" he said before turning back to his car.

Ziggy grinned and pulled his helmet on before starting his engine right behind his friend making him flinch at the sound. Then with a gleeful laughed he gunned the engine and shot out of the garage, just a blur of green and black shooting through the city traffic.

The green ranger sighed happily and leant down so he could go as fast as he could make his bike go, and let out a happy whoop. It was in these times, when it was just him and his bike shooting through the city dodging traffic and riding through the back streets that he could forget that he was a genetically altered creation or that he was a ranger and the city depended on him and that at any point he could kill his friends. When he was riding through the city he could just be Ziggy and that was relieving.

When he reached the rocky outcrop of Conith he stopped his bike and entered his secret cave and stretched happily before taking his helmet off and shaking out his hair which spiked up thanks to the sweat.

"Just-my luck" a pained voice gasped out.

Ziggy spun around and gasped when he saw a heavily wounded Tenaya leaning against the wall of the cave one arm sparking and the other gripping her stomach where she was bleeding. "Oh my god" he whispered and rushed over to her side.

The attack bot looked at him in confusion as he removed her hand and pressed his jacket onto her wound, "You're helping me?" She croaked out.

The green ranger didn't say anything; he just continued his inspection of her and then winced when he was the amount of wounds that she had been dealt with. He had known she was a hybrid from the first time she had stalked him whistling that annoying and haunting song, but he hadn't seen Tenaya this human...ever.

"Stay here I'll get something to help you" he said and then rushed over to his bike and pulled the black bag strapped to the back off and pulled out his first aid kit.

When he returned to Tenaya's side she was staring at him in what looked like pure awe, "Why are you helping me" she whispered "I tried to kill you, and capture you so I could take you to my master"

Ziggy looked up from his kit and then gave her a kind smile, "I'm helping you because I know you won't hurt me" he said kindly.

Tenaya stared at the green ranger in shock as he pulled out a small knife and a bunch of bandages before he moved to her mechanical arm humming a small tune. Then her shock grew as he began a quick field repair on her arm better than what even Venjix's medics could do.

"How do you have any idea what you're doing?" she asked stopping his humming, even though it was calming her slightly.

Ziggy looked up at her and the smiled shyly "Well...sometimes Dillon gets really banged up, so Dr K taught me how to do quick repairs to his metal arm. But first aid is something I've just always known" he said before going back to his song.

The attack bot listened to the song and slowly memorized the tune before she shyly joined in, when he heard her voice tentatively join his own Ziggy grinned at her and then nodded happily before turning back to her arm to do the finishing touches.

At Ziggy's approval Tenaya smiled and continued to hum the song softly, it was a better song than the one she always whistled, it was calmer and more soothing, less haunting. "All done" Ziggy said leaning back after tying the final knot of her bandage.

The attack bot looked down at her arm and smiled faintly, "Now let's get you all stitched up shall we" Ziggy said as he carefully removed his now blood stained jacket from her midriff.

Tenaya winced as the stale air hit her still bleeding cut, "This is the worst of the injuries" she whispered.

The green ranger nodded and pulled out a small bottle of antiseptic and quickly squirted it into the cut making her flinch at the sudden burning that ran up her frame. "So after this, do you need me to drive you to the boarder or something?" Ziggy asked as he got a needle and some thread.

"No" Tenaya said in a shuttered breath as he slowly began to stitch the wound closed with a practiced ease "If I go back Venjix will kill me" she whispered.

Ziggy didn't pause once throughout his ministrations just started to hum again, and like magic the song calmed the tense girl down straight away. Tenaya couldn't be more thankful that it was Ziggy who had found her and not one of the other rangers, because she knew that none of them beside perhaps Dillon would take the time to let her explain like the green ranger was.

"Venjix ordered me to capture you" she said in a soft voice "and when I failed her got angry, he said his patience had run out and then got his generals to do this to me. I managed to get away and with this" she whispered holding out an USB in shaking fingers.

The green ranger bent down and bit off the last of the string as he finished with her wound before wiping his blood fingers on his jacket. Looking into her eyes and seeing the acceptance their Ziggy took the USB from her and slipped it into his jean pocket. "You were very brave" he said warmly as he put a slave on her stitches, then made her lean forward so he wrap her in bandages.

Tenaya smiled as he fussed over each of her wounds and when he was finished she had never felt so cared for before in her whole life, the fact that she had nowhere to go now made all of this seem bittersweet. Ziggy wiped his hands for a final time and then stood up from his crouch his back cracking and the held a hand out to the startled hybrid.

"Coming?" he asked in an amused voice.

Tenaya stared at Ziggy and then at his hand "What?" she said unintelligent.

The green ranger bent forward: still holding out his hand and smiled at her warm and inviting "come on, I'm gonna take you home" he said

The ex-attack bot held back the tears that were threatening to fall and hesitantly took Ziggy's hand and then smiled at the warmth it held.

Dillon laughed at something Flynn was saying when the sound of Ziggy's bike approached them, the rangers all waited for their green ranger to appear and when he did they were shocked to see the a female passenger behind him wearing his helmet.

"Ziggy, who's your friend" Flynn asked curiously.

The green ranger smiled at him and then helped the obviously injured girl off the bike, "ah Scott" he called out resting his hands on the sides of the helmet "Don't freak out"

The red ranger frowned at his youngest teammate and then he froze when Ziggy removed the helmet to reveal the mystery passenger. Standing slightly behind Ziggy almost for protection was Tenaya Seven looking more pitiful then any of them had ever seen her.

"Ziggy" he gritted out "Are you insane"

The green ranger lifted his chin defiantly and looked into Scott's eyes coolly "She is no threat to us anymore"

Dr K exited her Lab to find out why her rangers were making so much noise and when she saw Tenaya standing behind her green ranger one hand buried into his jacket almost as if to remind her that he was still there.

"Oh and how exactly do you figure this?" Scott demanded angrily

Ziggy took two steps forward and glared right at Scott and then pointed back at his guest 'Tell me Scott, does she look like a spy. Does she look like she wants to hurt us!" he said harshly "Because I just spent the last hour patching her back up from wounds Venjix inflicted on her!"

Flynn winced at the sight of Tenaya and then put a hand on Scott's shoulder "mate, look at her, she looks like a frightened kitten" he said in a soft voice.

Ziggy took several steps back, so that Tenaya could latch herself back onto him and smiled at her comfortingly. Dillon stepped in front of Ziggy protectively and crossed his arms "I trust Ziggy" he said in a dark voice.

"As do I" Dr K said coolly from the side.

The rangers all whipped around to look at their mentor who was standing at the entrance to her lab "Series Green bring Tenaya into the lab I will need to check over the first aid you gave her" The young woman said before turning to stride into the lab ahead of her ranger.

Scott stared after Ziggy and his patient in shock as they entered Dr K's lab "What just happened/" he asked Summer who was smirking at him.

"I think we just took in a stray"