A\N: I'm sorry this is so late in the day, my scheduling's been hectic. Luckily, a class was canceled, so I can update. Enjoy!

Location: 1992 Valencia Drive
Date: August 31, 2003

"There. Done." Dana smiled at Conner, who had been visibly trying not to fidget the entire time.

"Thanks, Mrs. Greyson!" Conner chirped, bouncing to his feet and charging for the door. Kira and Ethan were already in the backyard, playing some probably-invented sport involving the sort of energy only a teenager is capable of.

Tommy glanced at Dana.

The kind, sweet smiles and benevolent tone she wore whenever she treated patients vanished as soon as the back door shut. Dana turned to Tommy with a glare made of stone.

Tommy didn't have a reply.

"Three years." Dana hissed. "Three years, we have been waiting. And then you do this." She stalked up to Tommy holding the pair of scissors she'd been using to cut a bandage for Conner with, her knuckles white from how hard she gripped it. "Give me one reason I should not take these children away from you right now."

"They have no idea that you're anything but the nice doctor lady?" Tommy snarked.

He regretted it almost instantly. Dana looked torn between anguish and rage. "I'm sorry." Tommy said, horrified. "I'm sorry, I didn't..."

Dana's anger faded away, and she sighed. "I know. Me too." She glanced at the scissors, now bent into imprints of her fingers, and tossed them into the trash can, shaking her head. "Damnit."

Tommy's lips twitched. Dana just looked so human, it was easy to forget sometimes that she could melt things just by touching them. In all fairness, Dana forgot it sometimes too; the delayed puberty of Daemon halflings was a (HIGH COMMAND WOULD LIKE TO ASK THE SCRIPTWRITERS TO WATCH THEIR LANGUAGE).

"Don't even think about it." Dana warned, but her lips quirked too.

"They know you'd be there." Tommy reassured her.

"They don't know why." Dana was half-accusing.

Tommy sighed. "No." He admitted. "They don't."

Dana looked horrified.

Tommy looked at the children playing in the sunlight. Darkness whispered across his mind, lingering darkness from his captivity, but he banished them with a skill born of far too much practice. "I told them that you guys wish you could have been here, but you can't, so they had to stay with me for a while." He shook his head. "I didn't think..."

"That it would take this long?" Dana's tone was sharp. She'd been sweet and innocent once, Tommy remembered; he missed that part of her. "Yeah. Never could've seen that one coming."

Tommy sighed. "I didn't. Sue me."

There was silence.

Dana started packing up her things, tossing the warped scissors in the trash. "We should get together. I'll call Jason and-"

"You didn't hear?" Tommy demanded, startled. "Jason's dead, Day."

She really wasn't innocent. Dana just looked at Tommy, for a long moment, then started packing again.

They'd all lost too many friends. Not to death, but if you knew you were never going to see someone again...if you were sensitive enough, it could kill you.

"I'll get everyone on the comms, we'll regroup, talk strategy." Tommy told her as gently as he could. Dana's eyes dropped and she started packing, too quickly, things spilling everywhere. "Tonight, I promise. And I'll update our list..."

Dana snorted. "Gotta be long by now."

"Two. Total." Tommy gave a wry smile. "We're doing well, Day."

Dana hefted her bag. She didn't meet Tommy's eyes.

Tommy watched silently as yet another person left.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Unknown
Date: August 31, 2003

Elsa was drunk.

It was rare, but it happened, and today...today was a day when the Goddess' face had turned completely from her. Oh, hell, Elsa wasn't kidding herself, that one had happened a long time ago, but at least she wasn't usually this aware of it.

She threw her shot glass into the wall.

Oliver. Oliver, damn him-the blasted Power Ranger, he would destroy everything, everything! Elsa surged to her feet, flying in a rage at the punching bag and whaling on it with the grace and coordination of someone with far less alcohol in their system.

Her son...

The thought was enough to make her stop and force herself to breath, to return to her senses. Son. Yes. Her son. She was cold and vicious and uncaring, but for now she would be calm, would be sane.

She had a plan. Long-term, dangerous, and subtle, perhaps. But her plan would succeed, with or without Oliver.

She just had to make sure of it.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: 1992 Valencia Drive
Date: August 31, 2003

"I don't know, Tommy." Carter's hologram flickered as he glanced over the plans he'd printed out. Tommy made a mental note that at least one of his Reds was a damn idiot, but oh, well. "This seems a bit..."

"Complicated?" Billy suggested irritably.

There were days when Tommy wished he could give every single Ranger on Earth a hug, and this was shaping up to be one such day. "Guys, we lost." He admitted, trying to be blunt enough to shock them into understanding. "We can't mediate our way out of this. But we can stop a war, if we get lucky."

"You do realize this means you'll have to be a superhero." Wes teased.

Tommy rolled his eyes. "I think I'll live." The Rangers sniggered; Tommy's tendencies to heroics were less pronounced than Jason's, but he'd been voted the second most likely to be an idiot hero until Andros had shown up.

Tommy glanced at the blank screen where Karone should be, his mood sombering. Karone wasn't able to contact them in her work. Not now. Andros would have to relay messages.

"Anyway. That's all I had to say. Everyone has the assignments?" Nods, as Tommy had known there would be, but this was too important to not ask. "All right. Power protect you all."

They all switched off their chat screens.

Tommy sighed and stared at the static on his before switching his own off. Then he went out of his room. He'd put Kira in her own room and Conner and Ethan in their own, but they'd all ended up in Conner and Ethan's, sleeping in a nest of pillows and blankets. Dana had warned him about that. The Power wanted teammates to be physically close when they slept in case of attack, and the Dino Gems themselves were a bit...clingy.

Tommy gently pulled a blanket over all of them and smiled before tiptoeing out.

Downstairs he poured himself a drink.

It was going to be a long night.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Reefside High
Date: September 1, 2003

"I cannot believe we're still going to school!" Conner said, whether enthusiastically or just intensely Tommy couldn't tell.

Tommy smiled. He'd been worried about that too, but honestly, it was probably safer than re-enrolling all of them for no reason. Anyway, they needed to keep an eye on Elsa now.

Speaking of whom.

Tommy saw Elsa out of the corner of his eye and tapped Conner's shoulder. "Class, guys. Go."

"But you're late!" Conner pointed out. Gleefully. Tommy rolled his eyes. Teenagers.

"I'll be there in just a minute. Go play with paper airplanes or something."

Conner snorted and headed off with the others, all of them avidly discussing some zombie movie about to come out. Tommy sighed, squared his shoulders, and headed for Elsa.

THOOM.

The ground shook. Tommy had a sinking feeling he knew exactly what was causing it, too-and sure enough, when he looked up, there was a very, very large monster.

Elsa was smirking.

Tommy sighed. Time to get to work.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Downtown Reefside
Date: September 1, 2003

So that was it?

Tommy ran over the fight in his head. He and his kids had showed up and curb-stomped the monster in ten minutes flat. No struggle, not even a glitch in the coordination. They'd had harder battles with Tyrannodrones, even when Tommy factored in the Power.

The battlefield was still a mess, of course, but the teens were helping pick up. Tommy, though, was examining the battlefield a bit more closely. This had to be a trap. It had to be.

Finally, after long, nerve-wracking minutes, Tommy saw a glimmer of white. He approached it cautiously, expecting an explosive.

It was a sheet of paper.

Tommy picked it up. The handwriting was Elsa's. A message for him.

Black Ranger,

I know where you live. I know where you work. I know what you eat. I know when you sleep. I know every single thing about you.

My master graciously permits you to live for now. But remember: Step out of line, and you can wave goodbye to your life. This monster was weak. The next one doesn't have to be.

No signature.

Tommy studied it for a long time. Then he folded the note and carefully teleported it home, to study it further.

The bloody triangle made by Zeltrax, Elsa, and Mesegog...

What were they up to?