The Rangers moved through to the lab with Justin to continue the briefing. He went to the computer, beginning to work on the keyboard furiously, working his way through Dr. K's system with amazing speed. Dillon watched him as he worked furiously.

"How do you know this stuff?" He asked him.

"I have a brain." Justin replied dismissively. Summer could see that Dillon was beginning to lose patience with Justin's arrogant attitude. It was true that he hadn't made the greatest of first impressions, essentially smashing his way into the Ranger's home and attacking the guards that were there to protect Sarah, and it seemed like he was making no effort to endear himself to them now either, despite asking for their help. "I was a child prodigy. By the time I was 12 I was already in High School."

"Well by the time I was 12 I already had three doctorates!" Sarah snapped at him, grabbing Justin's shirt and pulling him away from the console. "You're asking for our help remember? So if you want us to listen, you will treat my team with respect!"

"Listen lady..."

"No you listen! My team have proven themselves to me on more than one occasion!" She interrupted him sharply, continuing her rant. Scott stood, smiling proudly as the woman he loved berated their uninvited guest. "All you've done is wreck my home and try to blackmail me with knowledge about my past. You've done nothing to prove yourself to me. Make no mistake, if I say the word, my Rangers will have no second thoughts about tossing you back into the wastes."

Justin looked around at the team assembled before him. He was a strong warrior in his own right, but he was sure that facing off against seven fully powered Rangers, even ones that hadn't had their powers as long as him, wasn't a wise move. Dillon in particular seemed to almost be waiting for an invitation to be turned loose.

"Now, start talking to my people with the due level of manners or I will have you removed." She warned him. Justin pulled off his jacket, revealing his impressive physique and extensive tattoos. He took out a computer disk and loaded it into the computer, showing them schematics from the Turbo Ranger team's arsenal.

"I was part of the Turbo Ranger team. When the Blue Zeo Ranger, Rocky De Santos, was injured and left unable to take up the mantle of his new Ranger powers, he chose me as his replacement."

"Aw, you were so cute." Dillon teased him, seeing his old photograph. "Nice bowl-cut grandpa."

"Step back newbie, you might just learn something." Justin told him. "When the command centre was over-run, we thought our powers were lost forever. The rest of the Rangers boarded a ship in the Nasada base, the Astro Megaship and made their way into space to find help. I remained behind."

"So what happened?" Summer asked him.

"They joined forces with Andros, the Red Space Ranger and became the Space Rangers." Justin informed them, moving the files to the appropriate team. "During that time, we found out that Lightning Cruiser, TJ's Zord, and Mountain Blaster, who you've already met, had been captured. Mountain Blaster brought me back to help free Lightning Cruiser. It was then we found out that Mountain Blaster had my old Turbo Morpher all along. That was when I became a Ranger again."

"So you've been a Ranger since you were 12 years old?" Summer asked him. "Who thought it was a good idea to throw a kid into all of this?"

"Look, as fascinating as all of this is, we have a lot to concentrate on, not least of which is starting to build the transit system between the liberated cities." Scott reminded them. "What do you need help with?"

"When Terra Venture took off in search of a new world, they were kind enough to take the Astro Megaship with them." He said with a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Tommy gave the Dragonzord to SPD to help with their research, which meant we only had Lightning Cruiser and Mountain Blaster as Zords, and no ability to make a Megazord. When Venjix attacked, the Space Rangers and I held out as much as we could, but when they started sending in the big guns, we got stomped into the ground, so we had to find a way to even the odds."

He pulled off his shirt, revealing an electronic device about the size of a cell phone surgically implanted in his chest.

"My dad still had a lot of the research from the Macha Group in his files, so he gave us all a little upgrade to help us when the enemy was a little bigger than us." He told them. "The Macha Group was beginning research into cybernetics. Dad thought they were planning to use it for medical purposes to help amputees and people with disabilities, but when he saw how much the implants improved on the performance of the original body; he knew it was going to be used to create super soldiers. It was one of the things that tipped him off to the Macha Group's real motives. It was also the foundation for..."

"It was the foundation of Venjix's research into creating hybrids." Tenaya chipped in, figuring out where this was going. Justin nodded in response.

"Dad hooked us all up with a full system upgrade so to speak." Justin informed him. "Together with our Ranger abilities, it tipped the balance in our favour. We managed to destroy all the attack bots he sent to clear out the city. However, there was an unforeseen problem."

"Venjix took over." Scott concluded. Justin nodded in response.

"Since Venjix knew the system we ran on, he put out a signal that took control of the implants. Dad managed to catch me and implant this dampener in my chest, but the other Rangers were lost. Venjix used them as his new generals."

"Wait; if they're hybrids then as soon as Venjix was destroyed the control signal should have been destroyed." Dillon reminded them.

"It hasn't though." Justin told them. He tapped the device in his chest with his fingers. "The dampener stops me from being taken over, but I can still feel the signal trying to hack my systems. As long as the dampener works I'll be fine, but it only has a limited power supply."

"How do you power it?" Dr. K asked him.

"It was powered by energy crystals dad managed to salvage from the old Ranger base." He informed them. "I inserted the last one about a month ago."

"How long do you have?" Gem asked him. Justin shook his head.

"I don't know exactly," he answered honestly, "another couple of weeks, a month if I'm lucky."

"That's why you came looking for us." Sarah concluded. Justin nodded, and handed her another CD ROM.

"This was the last information dad managed to compile on the Macha Group and the people on its payroll. It was the last report he managed to compile before the attacks. He never managed to get it to SPD before communications went down."

"We'll help you where we can." Sarah assured him, grateful that Justin had fulfilled his part of the bargain. "Devise a strategy and prepare to leave tomorrow."

"So much for the celebration." Flynn grumbled, realising that they were going to miss out on the VV day celebration. They all left the room, except Scott, who stayed behind for a moment, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Are you sure about this?" He asked her. "What you know already has hurt you so much..."

"What can I find out that's any worse?" She sighed. "Scott, you know me. I can't let a mystery go if I can find the answers. I just have to know."

"Just...promise me you won't do anything on your own." He told her. "I'm in this for the long haul. You know that."

Sarah just nodded, at which Scott gently kissed her on the cheek and left the room. Sarah loaded the disc into the computer and loaded up the first file, revealing a number of personnel files. One name in particular caught her attention.

"Mark Iain Baxter?" She gasped as she saw the name. Pulling up her birth certificate, she realised that she was right in her suspicion. She had seen the name before. Her father worked for the Macha Group as an external contractor.

She opened his personnel file, looking at it. It contained a picture, and was deeply encrypted, but it was child's play for someone of her intelligence to decrypt it. Whatever he did, it looked like he was incredibly well paid for it. Payments were infrequent, but incredibly large, regularly in the six figure bracket.

None of his jobs had a detailed description though, only being listed by location. Cities all over the world were listed in his portfolio. However, the last job seemed to be listed with a much more extensive file. She opened it, finding a file she would never have expected. It was an extensive file on Bob Taylor, listing among other things his known haunts, security detail, habits and medical records.

"What would my dad want with Fresno Bob?" She asked herself.

The following day, the Rangers all assembled in the hangar with Justin. Hicks and Vasquez were noticeably absent, having their hands full with last minute preparations for the ceremony. It was just another unfortunate coincidence that most of the Rangers wouldn't be able to attend the ceremony that was being put on in their honour. Justin whistled to Mountain Blaster, at which his Zord dutifully drove into the cargo bay. Gem and Gemma had finished loading up.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Gem asked as Dillon and Ziggy came into the room, carrying rucksacks.

"Hey, I managed to skip the last mission, I don't mind." Ziggy assured them as Scott and Flynn continued to load their equipment into the jet. "It's only fair you two get a break."

"Between Scott's Paleomax Megazord and our Valvemax Megazord, we should have plenty of firepower." Dillon chipped in. Summer came over to her husband, kissing him softly.

"Just don't let him get to you." She instructed him, realising that Justin still got on Dillon's nerves a little. It wasn't really surprising; both of them were a little stand-offish. Since he arrived, Justin had an attitude about others, having survived for a long time out in the wastes by himself. In many ways, they were so similar; it was amusing that they didn't get along.

"Hey, as long as he remembers to hold his tongue, I won't have to rip it out." Dillon told her. "Just you try to take it easy. You remember what the doctor said about your blood pressure."

"Yeah, try to relax and get my blood pressure down while my husband's running off into the wastes every other day for God knows how long." She grumbled. "I'm sure that's going to be easy."

"Come on Dillon, it's about time we were heading off." Ziggy told him, kissing his son goodbye and handing him to Tenaya. "The sooner we go, the sooner we can get back."

"I'll try to contact you as soon as I can." He told her. "I love you."

"I love you too." She replied as he got on the jet, preparing to watch the man she loved leaving her yet again.

Later in the day, Sarah went to the orphanage. She hated to go against what Scott had asked of her, but she couldn't let it drop. It looked like she was finally closing in on finding out why her parents had done what they had, why they had sold her to the company that her father had worked for in some capacity for many years. She had already seen their bank balance, and knew that it was hardly a matter of necessity. Indeed, given the six-figure deposits made for each of her father's contracts, they were incredibly wealthy. They certainly weren't in need of a hundred grand.

Making her way up the path, she found Bob outside with Cassandra and Benny, playing with the kids. She watched them for a second, wishing she felt the same way others did about children. She just couldn't see why everyone fell in love with them. Children were born, and grew into adults; it was as simple as that. Of course her friends occasionally talked about some of the happy childhood memories they had, of the games they played and the friends they had. Sarah didn't have any of that. Her formative years had been sent studying and developing the weapons she would eventually use to save the world.

"Oh, hi Dr. K." Benny greeted her as he noticed her, putting down the boy he was carrying.

"Everyone calls me Sarah now." She told him. "How are you Benny?"

"We don't normally see you around here." He commented. "Can I help you with something?"

"You might be able to actually. I was coming to talk to you and Bob." She told him. "It's about...your past."

Benny nodded in understanding. Now that the Scorpion Cartel was no more, they generally opted to not talk about it anymore, and simply move on with their lives. They certainly didn't talk about some of the unsavoury activities of their past in front of the kids. Benny gestured Cassandra over.

"Cassandra, would you mind taking the kids for a little while?" He asked her. "Bob and I need to talk to Sarah."

Cassandra went back to the kids as Sarah went inside with Bob and Benny, going into the main sitting room. She closed the door behind her and tried to find a way to begin.

"I was doing some research into my past, and I found something I think you might be able to shed some light on." She explained. "It relates to your time with the Scorpion Cartel."

"What can I help you with?" Bob asked her sadly, wishing he could just distance himself from that part of his life.

"What does the name Mark Iain Baxter mean to you?" She asked him. Bob and Benny looked at each other, unsure about this. Clearly they knew the name.

"What does it mean to you?" Bob asked her.

"I know he was employed by the Macha Group." She informed him, pacing the room. "His last job was something to do with you. He had a file on you."

"A long time ago, long before the dome went up, one of my businesses, a race track was making a lot of money." Bob told her. "The Macha Group made an offer on it, but it was far less than the true value of the business. When I told them what to do with their offer, they tried to make me reconsider. Since I was the head of the Scorpion Cartel though, I didn't really respond to threats."

"Mark Baxter was a trouble shooter for the Macha Group, the kind of guy the sent to ensure business deals went through." Benny explained. "He offered the kind of guarantee that only a hollow point bullet could guarantee."

"Mark Baxter was a hitman?" Sarah asked him in a weak voice. "This was his last job, and the file wasn't closed. That means..."

"He went with the same retirement plan as most people in his industry." Bob told her regretfully. Sarah couldn't look at him, sitting quietly. She didn't know what to be most upset about. She had found out that her father, the man who brought her into the world was a reprehensible human being, a man who made a living from death. In some ways that made sense, she had caused the deaths of billions with her work, clearly that was in her genetics. She couldn't help a sharp pain though at learning that her father was dead. "I don't remember exactly who it was, but one of my men got a lucky shot when he made his move. We disposed of his remains, which is why there was no death certificate."

"He's dead?" She asked him. "You're certain he's dead?"

"The way we disposed of people...there's no way he would have survived." Benny assured her, trying to take her hand. Sarah snapped it away involuntarily. Although she loathed what her father was, she couldn't help her instinct to feel revulsion at what had happened to him.

"What about his wife?" Sarah asked them. "What do you know about his wife?"

"We didn't know anything about his wife." Bob assured her. "We never looked into it."

"When was this?" She asked them.

"It was about 12 years ago." Bob told her. Sarah didn't know how to feel about this answer. Going by their timeline, she would have been seven years old. She'd already have been in Alphabet Soup for two years. In some ways, she'd have preferred it if her father had been killed before she was taken. It would have given her mother a reason for what she did. Raising a child alone would have been a difficult and frightening prospect, especially for someone who had lost their partner without explanation. Now though, there was no such reasoning. Her father was alive when she was taken, which meant she was back to square one. Her parents knew what they were doing. She was back to feeling like she wasn't wanted.

"What...what does all this mean to you?" Benny asked her. "You seem upset."

"Mark Baxter was my father." She said in a weak voice, before getting up and leaving the room quickly. Bob tried to stop her, realising that they had just confessed to having a hand in murdering her father. Sara was too quick though, rushing out of the orphanage and down the path to where Scott's car was waiting. She got in, fumbling with the keys as she tried to start the engine. Tears ran down her face as she started the car, pulling away. Scott had warned her that she might not like what she would learn, and so far it seemed like every step she made towards the truth just caused her more pain, but her mind wouldn't let it go. There were still two questions she needed to know the answers to. Did anyone in the Macha Group still exist? And was her mother still out there somewhere?