In the jet, Dillon was sitting, with Flynn and Ziggy as they made their way over the landscape. Corinth was now looking very different from the mere dome it had been before. Their counterparts in New Tech had been sending out teams to liberate colonies too, recently freeing the city of Mariner Bay. Now between SPD, RPM and now the arsenal of the Aqua Base, new connections were being made every day.

As part of the reformation, they were starting to establish mass transit links between the cities, building a network of bullet trains. Lines extended out from Corinth now, giving it something of the appearance of a gigantic metal spider. None of the links had been completed yet, but the lines were slowly but surely being built. The most recent estimates had put the completion of the first link, the link to Mariner Bay as occurring sometime within the next fortnight. They were expecting the first trains to run about a week later. All going well, they were hoping to have contact brought up with all the major cities within the next four months.

Justin was noticeably quiet as he sat in the corner. He detached the dampener unit from his chest, extending it out on a cable to check the display. Dillon really didn't like him, he hadn't done anything to make the right impression since he arrived, and he had continually talked down to him, insulting his intelligence. As he watched him checking the display though, he felt a little compassion for the Blue Ranger. He had been in this situation before, knowing that the technology within him was slowly taking him over, and that eventually he would lose control completely. Justin was now facing the same thing. Of course, Justin was facing it from a slightly different angle. Because of the dampener unit, he knew pretty much exactly how long he had. He quite literally had a clock in his chest, counting down to the moment he would no longer be able to control his own actions.

"What's the prognosis?" Dillon asked him. Justin just sighed and shook his head.

"Morphing takes a lot of energy. When I morphed breaking into your command centre it accelerated the whole process." He stated sadly, replacing the unit. "I only have about two and a half weeks left."

"That has to suck, knowing it's coming like that." Ziggy commented. "I mean, at least in your case you didn't know it was coming, right Dillon?"

"Ziggy..."

"What's he talking about?" Justin asked him. Dillon just glared at his future brother-in-law coldly.

"You aren't the only one with a little machinery in you." Dillon told him. "Approximately 52 percent of my body is bionic. I was a Venjix hybrid."

"So how are you...?"

"I was hit by an attack that fried the control software in my brain." He told him. "It almost killed me, but I managed to pull through."

"So you managed to stop the tech taking over?" Justin asked him. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

Flynn threw a magazine at Ziggy, wordlessly reprimanding him for spilling that information. He knew Ziggy didn't mean anything by it, he was sure he probably just thought he was helping. Of course in the process he had done the one thing none of them wanted.

"Sarah did a scan of your systems. It's similar, but it isn't exactly the same." Flynn explained as Ziggy shrunk away into the corner. "She and the twins are trying to work on your scans to see if they can come up with a compatible anti-virus program..."

"But it's possible they won't manage it." Justin interrupted him. "Even after all that, my friends might be lost for good."

"I'm afraid so." Flynn told him. "We'll do what we can to rescue your friends, but it is possible we'll have no choice but to put them into stasis."

"Stasis?" Justin asked him. "You mean cryogenics?"

"It's kind of like that." Dillon explained, recalling his own experience. "I went into stasis once. You have nothing to worry about. You won't be aware of anything."

"We'll do everything we can for you and your friends." Flynn assured him. Justin didn't say anything though. It couldn't have been easy for him to hear that it may be a futile gesture to bring his friends in.

"We should be getting close enough for me to get a signal to the command centre." He whispered gently as he made his way into another part of the vehicle. "I'll need to contact the others."

Ziggy looked at the others a little regretfully as Justin left.

"Sorry guys, I didn't think..."

"It's alright, we know you didn't mean anything by it." Dillon told him, looking down the corridor Justin had taken to the cargo bay. "It's just a bit hard to hear that you might not have a future."

Over in Corinth, Sarah arrived back at the Garage, making her way through the main room quickly. Repairs were being affected after Justin's rather dramatic entrance, but out of necessity, everything was getting back to normal. Right now, Gemma and Hicks had set up a training mat in the centre of the room, and were busy sparring. Hicks and Vasquez were always keen to test the limits of their abilities. They hadn't really had much chance to do so in the chaos of the reformation, but now they were making up for lost time. Gem and Vasquez were sitting on the sidelines watching them, while the rest of the military personnel continued to monitor the city's surveillance system.

"Hey Sarah, where did you get to?" Vasquez asked as she saw her. Sarah just paused, being careful to make sure none of them saw her face, or the fact she had been crying. It had only been about an hour since she learned who her father was, and also the fact that knowledge didn't really help her cause. Her father was dead, murdered in the course of his job. Logically she knew she didn't really have any cause for complaint when it came to Fresno Bob. Her father had been sent to kill him, it was inevitable that one of them would die. On this instance tough, it was the assassin who came out on the rough end of the deal.

"I just went for a drive to clear my head." She told them, failing to tell them exactly where she had gone, or what she had found out.

"In Scott's car?" Vasquez asked her. "

"He isn't using it is he?" She replied with a shrug. "If you'll excuse me, I just want to check on something in the lab."

"What do you suppose that was about?" Gemma asked as she blocked another of Hicks' attacks. He shook his head dismissively.

"I couldn't tell you." He commented. "Anyway, we should probably be hitting the showers. It's only a few hours to the ceremony."

"Summer's just having a lie down, I told her I'd wake her in time to get ready." Gemma replied, kissing his cheek gently. "I'll go check on her."

Meanwhile, Sarah was in her lab, frantically updating the information she had on the computer fro her father. She was just about to close the file, sealing it when she noticed something about it. Mark Baxter had made a claim for travelling expenses when he went to fulfil his contract.

"I guess it's too much to hope for that the CEO signed the expenses form." She commented, following the transaction electronically. She recognised an attempt to cover up a paper trail almost instantly, but she managed to filter through a number of nonexistent corporations and holding accounts, finally finding one company based in Tokyo. The Misawa Corporation, just one of many subsidiaries of the Macha Group.

She immediately got to work, checking on the satellite network covering the globe, pulling up the most recent pictures. So far, all the efforts had been concentrated on reclaiming the Northern American continent. She checked the footage, finding to her surprise that there was no sign of any struggle in Tokyo. Indeed, there didn't appear to be any remnants of Venjix left at all in the whole country.

"This can't be right." She muttered to herself. "How could they possibly have defended themselves against Venjix?"

She zoomed in on Tokyo, finally getting to a level where she could see into the streets. Far from any signs of struggle, people walked freely in the streets. She had no idea how this could have been possible.

"Now, let's find this address." She whispered to herself. She checked it out, finding that the building was still standing, like a gigantic glass and steel monument. It was lit up, like a shining beacon over the city. She had no doubt that someone had to still be in charge there if things were going so well.

"It looks like I'm going to have to RSVP no to the ceremony." She stated, activating a hidden panel on the console, bringing out a retinal scan. She had managed to keep this project hidden, even from the Rangers for so long, she doubted if she'd ever use it. However, she had to find out if any information still existed relating to her birth. As the scan came back positive, it asked her to confirm her voice recognition.

"Access project Seraphim." She ordered it, opening a hidden compartment on the wall.

Over in Angel Grove, the jet started to descend into what used to be Angel Grove Park. Like every other place they had visited so far, much of the architecture lay in ruins, only a few buildings in any kind of state of repair worth noting. It looked like much of the city had been rebuilt to varying degrees. Justin got out of the jet, Mountain Blaster rolling out after him.

"That's where we're heading." He told them, pointing to a small, single-storey building in the distance. "That's our base of operations."

"That place?" Dillon asked him.

"Hey, we used to spend a lot of time there." Justin told him, getting into the truck. Scott realised they had touched down there because the building clearly wouldn't have room to house the jet. Reluctantly all the other Rangers got into the truck, at which Justin pulled away. "Most of the original Rangers moved away after their Ranger days. Not many of us stayed. My dad and a couple of the originals run the resistance from there."

"Wait, I thought you sad the originals were hybrids." Flynn stated. Justin shook his head.

"Only myself and the Space Rangers got dad to upgrade us." Justin informed them. "Jason decided that it wasn't safe to rely on Macha Group technology, so a couple of us didn't go through with the procedure, including him."

"Jason?" Scott asked him.

"Jason Lee Scott, the original Red Ranger." Justin told them. "He and his wife Trini own the building."

As they arrived, a roller door opened, allowing them inside. Justin pulled up next to a bright red sports car. As he got out, the others took a look around. It looked like at one time, this place had been some kind of gym. Broken down training equipment littered the room, while a bar sat at another end of the complex. Dillon pointed to a sign hanging over the bar.

"Your base of operations is a juice bar?" He asked him.

"Who's Ernie?" Ziggy asked, seeing the name on the sign. Justin went over to the bar, vaulting over it.

"Ernie used ot own this place before Jason and his wife Trini bought it over." He informed them. He activated a switch underneath the bar, at which an elevator opened up in one of the walls. "Jason added a few improvements in case we ever needed to get back into action."

The Party was a little reluctant to get into the elevator, but they did so, trusting the Blue Turbo Ranger. The elevator finally arrived in the basement, at which they found themselves in a control room, surrounded by equipment. Justin's dad had helped Jason and Trini to outfit thi new command centre when it became clear they were needed again. They saw a tall, athletic looking man standing by one of the consoles. He looked about the same age as Tommy, though he seemed to be aging just a little better. He turned towards them, smiling as he saw Justin.

"You took your time finding Corinth." He quipped playfully, coming over and shaking Justin's hand. "I'm Jason, and I'm guessing you're the latest Rangers."

"Scott Truman, team leader." Scott introduced himself with a handshake. He had gotten a little bit of the cliff notes version of the history of the Rangers from Tommy when he helped them in Vegas. He couldn't believe he was actually shaking hands with the man that started it all, the original Red Ranger. "This is Flynn, Ziggy and Dillon."

"Ziggy?" He asked, slapping Ziggy on the arm. "Your parents didn't like you much huh?"

"Jason, I can't believe you just said that!" Trini shrieked as she came over, smacking him upside the head and shaking her head in disbelief. There was a kid who looked like he was in his late teens just a little behind her. "Sorry about my husband, he doesn't seem to get the fact not everyone finds his sense of humour funny. I'm Trini, and this is our son Austin."

"And this would be the brains behind the outfit." Jason stated as another man came in. He was a lot shorter than Justin, and considerably lighter, but they couldn't deny the family resemblance. "This is James Stewart, Justin's dad."

"We really appreciate anything you can do to help us." He told them, ushering them to an area where they could sit down.

"The first thing we'll need is a full repot on the lay of the land." Scott told them. "We need to know who we're up gainst, and anything you can tell us about them."

Back in Corinth, the others were just getting ready for the ceremony, getting dressed in their finest for the occasion. Hicks was just getting used to his new dress uniform.

"So are we all ready?" He asked them as they gathered in the room, wrapping an arm around Gemma gently. Summer looked around.

"Where's Sarah?" She asked. Gemma rolled her eyes, noticing that she wasn't there.

"Sh said she wanted to check something in her lab." Gemma told them. "She probably just lost track of time."

"I'll get her." Gem volunteered, running out of the room. The others watched him go.

"What's he so excited about?" Hicks asked them. "I know there's a parade and everything, but I'd have thought Jello and Ice cream was more his scene."

"I don't think it's so much the ceremony as whose going." Gemma replied. "Marcus said he was bringing Cassandra around."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." He responded with a knowing smile. "Do you think she knows?"

"Well she is an empath." Vasquez reminded him with a shrug. "I'd be surprised if she doesn't to be honest."

Just then, Gem came back into the room with a look of confusion on his face. He was carrying a note.

"Where's Sarah?" Tenaya asked him. "Don't tell me she fell asleep at her work station again."

"She's gone." He told them, handing the note to Hicks. "She doesn't say where."

"She can't have gone far could she?" Summer asked, beginning to get a little concerned. It wasn't like Sarah to just leave without telling anyone where she was going. At very leat, they thought she'd want Scott to know she was safe.

"If it was anyone else, I'd have said no." Hicks responded. "Of course with Dr. K, she has so any tricks up her sleeve, she could be anywhere."