In his cell, NOS-4-A2 fumed. How dare Darkmatter hang up on him! That was his only call for a month! How was he going to escape now? The Rangers had learned from their previous mistakes: His cell had no accessible power supply, his guards were all organic (still! Even when they switched guards the new ones were just more squishy, smelly organics), and he wore an inhibitor- a new addition to his life after he attacked his energy machine in a fit of rage. There must be some way out! I can't conquer the galaxy from a prison cell!

He perked up, hearing footsteps down the hallway. "How did the session go, Drew?" one prisoner asked another.

"Ah, nothing special. We talked about my family the whole time."

"Let me guess: You had parents?"

"They weren't horrible, except for the whole 'eighty cats and black mold' thing. The house smelled so bad I slept on the roof."

"Ahahaha!"

The second prisoner turned to the first with a scowl. "It's not funny, Rick!"

"Sure it isn't, man, but eighty cats? Your parents were nutso!"

"Shut up, Rick!"

NOS-4-A2 saw a chance to inject himself into the conversation. "Where are these 'sessions' held?"

Drew, who looked like he might need to shower more than the prison's standard three times per week, blinked at NOS-4-A2 in dull surprise. The vampire had seen Drew around: this was his equivalent of a startle response. A weak smile was his version of uproarious laughter. In short, he needed some lessons in a properly villainous persona. An impressive temper could only get one so far in villainy. After a moment or two of awkward staring, Drew answered. "Depends on who you get. There's the guy who works here and if he signs off on it there's some people who get to leave the station and see someone else instead." The inmate sighed heavily. "I'm stuck here, though."

Rick giggled. "That's because you shot ten people, man."

"No, nine people and one guy got hit with a ricochet!"

Rick and his friend argued the rest of the way down the hall about whether or not a ricochet counted as a real laser injury.

Leave the station... Seeing a therapist suddenly sounded very appealing, even though he didn't need one. He was perfect. The vampire grinned as the others passed. He could ask for one, couldn't he, and if that worked there was his open door to the outside world... Lovely! His next guard arrived, stood in his post, and nearly jumped out of his boots when he felt a steely talon tap his shoulder.

"Excuse me. I'd like to make a request, if you don't mind."

XR rattled where he stood. In front of him was a door. It was not a scary door at all, just a plain purple metal door like all the others on the station. The scary part, which he watched with wide optics, was the small, innocent sign on the door.

DR. ANIMUS, PH.D

Never were eleven capital letters so intimidating. This guy nearly had him kicked out over a clear-cut case of identity theft! The small robot extended a shaky finger to the keypad to open the door, and went inside. There was the shrink, writing on something on his desk. He didn't seem to notice XR, which the Ranger was fine with at the moment... but XR was five minutes late for his appointment and needed to let him know he'd arrived. He cleared his throat.

"Allo? Oh! It iz you again!"

"Y-Yeah, it's me." Never mind that he hadn't actually had a real session with the guy.

"Your vocal processor has a glitch?"

XR's head had sunk into his body. "No, I'm just under a little extra pressure this week."

"And so you have developed a verbal tic? Interesting..." The psychologist scribbled something on his notepad.

"Ha, yeah... So, what are we in here for, doc?"

Dr. Animus picked up his manila folder. "It says here that you've made the appointment for addiction."

"Right, I knew that, I was just testing you," XR said cheerfully. "Energy addiction is a real pain in the processor, if you ask me."

The psychologist sat up straighter. "Energy addiction?" Could this be the breakthrough he needed?

"Yep, I'm riding the electric dragon. Up to date on current events." He started to sniffle. "I guess you could say I like to get overcharged! Oh, doctor, please don't let this be the end of my career! I don't want to work at the Mall of the Universe, all my coworkers would be conspiracy nuts and I couldn't tell them anything because they'd make me sign nondisclosure agreements when I leave Star Command and then one of them will just kidnap me and hack into my hard drive and find out the awful secret behind our entire society!"

"...Which is?"

"I don't know! And I'd never find out because I'd be offlined!"

Dr. Animus had no idea the poor robot was under this much stress! Perhaps it was a factor in the addiction? "I doubt you will have to work at ze mall. After all, you sought help yourself, and zat is a very good sign." He folded his hands politely on the desk and adjusted his glasses. "Why don't you tell me how zis all started, hmm?"

XR regained his composure and flushed his dome. "It all started when I had to go check on this mystery cargo Zurg was after..."