In Tokyo, the head of the Misawa Corporation, Mr. Misawa was busy monitoring the city, under the watchful eye of the GEARS that always watched him in his office. He rarely left these days, everything he needed was provided by the many employees of the Misawa Corporation.

He looked up from his monitor as he saw the GEARS rushing towards the northern most window, seeing a dark, winged assailant heading towards them at incredible speed. The stranger crashed through the glass, sending shards flying into the office, landing in a kneeling position. The wings drew back as the stranger stood before him, casting an imposing shadow. Sarah recalled her helmet, at which Misawa just stared at her.

"You...you look familiar." He stated. Sarah looked around as the GEARS started to surround her.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you don't remember me." She told him bitterly. "After all, I did only design most of the technology that paid for all of this."

Misawa smiled and stood up from his desk, observing her critically. The suit threw him off, but her face definitely appeared to be the right age. Clearly she was one of the children from the Alphabet Soup programme. He was sure after the release of the Venjix virus his partners had eliminated all the kids in the programme to prevent the world from finding out of their part in it all.

"So which one are you?" He asked her.

"Dr. K." She answered. "You have information I want."

"You're going to have to be more specific than that." He told her, making his way to the edge of the desk as his GEARS surrounded her, awaiting his order to attack. "There were three Soups."

"Mine was approximately 21 miles from the city of Corinth." She told him, the steel wings twitching a little at the mental commands she gave them, keeping her covered from unseen attacks. "My name was Sarah Marie Baxter. My father was a hitman who worked for your..."

"Ah yes, I remember Mark, he was a good operative." Misawa responded with a smirk. "It really was a shame he got scratched by that gangster."

"You...you remember him?" Sarah asked him. "But you aren't old enough. You must have been about 10 or 12 years old..."

"Believe me, I'm a lot older than I look." He told her. "Genetic enhancements are just one of the projects to come from one of the other Soups."

"So you..."

"I was the head of the Misawa Corporation when your father worked for me." He interrupted her. "I was his contractor."

"So you hired him to kill Fresno Bob?" She asked him. He just laughed in response.

"Now, why would I tell you anything like that?" He asked her. "After all, your very existence is an embarrassment to my organisation, one I will not allow to exist."

Without warning, Sarah launched a miniature missile from her suit, obliterating the elevator to prevent any more support from coming into the office. The GEARS rushed her, at which she folded her wings around herself into a protective position, preparing to fight.

Over in Corinth, the others reluctantly attended the VV day celebrations. By the time they had arrived, the festivities had already gotten well underway. The streets were lined by people, all having the time of their lives. Fireworks were being let off, street vendors were peddling snacks and souvenirs, and in general, the city was just taking the chance to unwind after all the recent reformation work.

The Rangers had all been shown to the V.I.P. enclosure near the stage in Corinth Square. None of them were really in much of a mood to celebrate, all being worried about their friends, especially Sarah who had run off by herself without giving them any indication of where she was going. As they arrived, Chas waved them over.

"Hey guys, we were starting to worry about you when you didn't show for the parade." He said, greeting them as they came over. "Where's Sarah?"

"That's why we were late." Summer told them uneasily, hoping that they wouldn't suspect she was lying to them. "She's pretty unwell; we were just making sure she was alright before we came here."

"She's just having an early night to try and get over it." Gem added. He looked around, craning his neck over the crowd. "It looks like almost everyone in the city's here. Where's Marcus?"

"He's just over by the cotton candy stand with Cassandra." Brie informed him with a little smirk, winking to the others. Gem hadn't yet said anything, but they suspected he had started to develop a little bit of a crush on Cassandra. He had been going to the orphanage on a regular basis to visit his 'little buddies' pretty much since he had arrived in Corinth, loving to play with the kids. Obviously he hadn't been visiting as often, given the times he was needed to fulfil missions, but he still went there whenever he could.

Since Cassandra had started working there though, they had noticed a difference in him whenever he went to the orphanage. He spent a lot longer getting ready before he went there, making sure he was dressed in a fresh uniform, and checking his appearance in the mirror a few times to make sure he was presentable. He constantly hummed or whistled when he had been there with her, and he noticeably brightened up any time anyone mentioned her.

"Here's some money." Tenaya told him, handing him a couple of dollars. "Why don't you go and see if she'd like some more candy?"

Gem pushed his way through them, heading over quickly without noticing that he had almost shoved most of them off their feet in his excitement. Gemma just laughed as she saw the way he acted.

"So when do the speeches begin?" Hicks asked him.

"We'll begin in a few minutes." Chas told him. "We should probably be heading backstage."

"I'll catch you later." He said to Gemma softly, kissing her cheek. "Try to enjoy yourself."

As they left, the others just talked among themselves, all the while, casting glances over to where Gem approached Cassandra and Marcus as they talked.

"Hi Cassandra." He greeted her, waving enthusiastically, causing Marcus and Cassandra to look around at him. She smiled brightly as she saw him.

"Gem, I'm so glad you made it." She replied, moving in a little closer. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

Gem felt himself tensing up a little as he looked at her. She was dressed in jeans, and a souvenir t-shirt she had obviously picked up at one of the stalls. Gem tried hard to speak to her as he looked into her eyes. He was finding himself becoming incredibly nervous, and excited any time he saw her now. He finally remembered the money Gemma gave him.

"Would...you like some cotton candy?" He asked her.

"Actually she..." Marcus found his words cut off as she kicked him in the ankle as subtly as she could.

"I'd love some." She told him, stroking some of her long, dark hair out of her face. She had been working with the kids for a long time now, largely because it was easier to be around them. Their thoughts weren't as intense or painful for her to sense. Their natural innocence and lack of any real malice made them much simpler to be around without being overwhelmed. She had found herself starting to like spending time with Gem for almost exactly the same reason. The fact that he was also pretty cute certainly didn't hurt. Marcus looked between the two of them, and held up both servings of cotton candy he had bought.

"Well you know how much of a sweet tooth I have." He said as he quietly started to back away from them to give them a little privacy. Cassandra started to fidget nervously as Gem looked at her, handing over the money to get them each some more of the spun sugar treats.

A little distance away, Summer and Tenaya were watching them nervously try to have a conversation with each other. Gem came over to her side.

"It looks like my brother's finally trying to make a move." She commented with a little grin. She turned back to the others, realising that they were not really taking the same enjoyment in the spectacle of Gem's clumsy attempts to impress Cassandra as his she was. It was only then that she realised what the problem was. She was there with Hicks, and Brie had Chas. Meanwhile, both of these women not only had to worry about the whereabouts of their friend Sarah, but also the fact that the men they loved were far from the city, in the middle of a war zone.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Gemma whispered, putting an arm around each of them.

"Things have been going so well though. We've almost librated the whole of the country." Tenaya told her. "I really thought we were close to all of this being done."

"The transport links are coming along well." Vasquez reminded them. "It'll only be another couple of weeks before we have the rail link to Mariner Bay running."

"We've almost eliminated every threat in the country." Tenaya sighed, thinking about her fiancé being so far from her and their son. "We've already accomplished so much, but when I think about the rest of the world…"

"We can't think like that. We have to keep taking it one step at a time." Vasquez reminded them. "Other than that, all we'll do is psyche ourselves out thinking about how big a task this all is."

"I just want Dillon to get home." Summer told them, looking down to her abdomen. "I just hate to think of him being in any kind of pain."

In Angel Grove, Dillon was making his way through what was left of the city. As a result of the reactivated circuitry in his brain, his head was throbbing constantly. As he neared an old newsagent's stand, he had to stop for a second, his vision beginning to blur a little as the pain in his head intensified.

"Alright, this idea sounded good on paper." He muttered to himself, steadying himself on his feet as he felt his knees becoming a little rubbery. "Maybe I should have thought this through a little more."

As he looked around, trying to regain focus, he finally managed to do so. He took a few more paces north, before feeling the pain intensifying, staggering him.

"Alright, I'm on the right path." He said to himself.

"Unfortunately for you, you aren't the only one on this path." He heard a voice behind him saying. As he steadied himself as much as he could, an African American man made his way out onto the street, confronting him. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm off to see the wizard." He replied sarcastically. "Would you mind getting out of the way?"

"Not through my territory you're not." The stranger stated bluntly, rushing forward and kicking Dillon hard in the chest, sending him crashing through the newsagents' stand. Dillon picked himself up slowly.

"OK, I guess that answers one question. You're one of the Rangers aren't you?" Dillon asked him. The stranger took a bow.

"They call me TJ." He responded. "Now, how about you be a good little boy and get out of here before I really hurt you?"

"Sorry, I've come too far to stop now." Dillon replied, adopting a guard. He rushed towards TJ, trading blows with him as best as he could, ignoring the pain in his head. Eventually he managed to connect with a hard punch to the jaw, sending him tumbling back. TJ cradled his jaw, laughing as he got up.

"It looks like I'm not the only Tin Man on this Yellow Brick Road." He quipped sarcastically. "Let's see if you have an answer for this trick. Let's Rocket!"

Dillon immediately reached for his own morpher.

"RPM, Get in Gear!"

Back in Tokyo, the last of the GEARS was sent crashing through a pillar by a back-handed blow from Sarah, the Seraphim rig augmenting her strength enough to dispose of the technologically enhanced goons.

"I see you have no qualms about killing to get what you want." Misawa stated, applauding her efforts. "I have to say, that rig of yours is quite impressive."

"I've had time to perfect it." She told him, at which a miniature missile launcher appeared over her shoulder, launching a rocket straight past him, obliterating the elevator. "I also know the men in those rigs were already dead, their neural scans showed no activity."

"Well, my company likes to get the most out of its assets." He replied with a shrug. "Just because someone's dead doesn't mean they can't be of use."

"We won't be disturbed Mr. Misawa, no one's coming to your rescue." She reminded him. "Tell me what I want o know."

"Everything you want to know, could ever possibly want to know is right in that databank." He told her, pointing to the terminal he had been working on. "Of course, you don't have the greatest record with computers now do you? How do I know you won't jeopardise the world these people have."

He made his way towards the broken window, staring out over the city. He panned his hand across the horizon.

"The whole world's gone to hell, and yet Japan remains untouched, unsullied by the mistake you made." He taunted her. "Do you know why Venjix never took over here?"

"I'm guessing it has something to do with your little zombie robots." She snorted in disgust.

"You're exactly right." He told her. "I took your concept of a rig to enhance the physical attributes of a human soldier, and took the next logical step. I adapted it to a soldier who would fear nothing."

"What would someone who was already dead have to fear from death?" Sarah remarked.

"It's easy to re-animate the body; the brain was the hardest part." He told her. "The body basically runs on electrical impulses anyway, we just gave it a new processor. One that has the equivalent of a veteran of several warzones, has an intimate knowledge of weapons and tactics, and more importantly, has no capacity to question orders."

"So you drove Venjix out with these…things." She replied, kicking one of the GEARS she had destroyed earlier.

"I gave these people a world to live in. These people don't just survive like some belly-crawling parasites scratching for what's left of a long lost infrastructure. They thrive!" He told her. "You've seen this city, it's virtually unchanged!"

"I've also seen the citizens. No one looks at anyone else." She told him. "I've seen similar behaviour in other cultures. It took me a while to realise what it was that bothered me about this, but now I know."

"Please, enlighten me." He told her, gesturing for her to go on.

"Look at this place. It's a fortress! This office is a lookout tower!" She told him. "Those people aren't productive because they want to be, they're productive because they're afraid to be anything else. They're scared to look up in case they're noticed."

She stepped forward, unfurling her wings. "How many of your guards were killed by Venjix?" She asked him.

"We started out only using those that fell in battle, but we needed to step up recruitment." He told her casually. "If people weren't useful…we fond a way they could be."

With that, he picked up a katana sword from a nearby stand, drawing it, holding the sword in one hand, the scabbard in the other, adopting a guard.

"If you think for on second, I'm going to let a little failed experiment like you destroy the world I've created, think again little girl." He told her. "It's time to show you that a little genetic enhancement to reverse the aging process is far from the limit of my enhancements."

Back in Angel Grove, Dillon struggled against TJ. They were more or less evenly matched in terms of strength and skill. The advantage TJ had though was that the signal in his head only controlled him, turning him into a Venjix drone. In Dillon though, it was causing an increasingly intense pain that was quickly becoming increasingly difficult to simply put to the back of his mind and ignore.

As TJ smashed him through the wall of a building, Dillon de-morphed rolling over onto his back, clutching his head in pain. His vision blurred again as it increased to the point of crippling agony. He felt like his head was about to split in two. TJ just laughed as he looked down on him.

"You know, in my day Rangers had to be tough." He taunted him. "I have a feeling I could have kicked your butt without the tech."

De-morphing, TJ kicked him hard in the ribs, sending him flying trough a shop display. Dillon fought to regain enough composure to defend himself, but he could see that TJ was showing no interest in allowing him a breather.

"Say lights out asshole." He told him, picking up a lead pipe and preparing to smash his skull in with it. Dillon could only just make out a slightly blurry outline of a figure in silver arriving behind him, stopping him. TJ turned around, but was quickly taken to the ground.

"Goodnight asshole!" The Silver Ranger spat over the body of his former comrade. He extended a hand to Dillon. "The name's Zhane."

"Dillon." He replied, taking the hand and allowing him to help him to his feet. "Why aren't you…?"

"I was on Miranoi with my sister when the attacks took place." He told him. "I was on the Terra Venture 3, the one that went to New Tech. It took me this long to get out here and find out what was happening."

"Your old team is tearing itself apart." Dillon informed him. "And I might be the only one that can stop them."

"How?" Zhane asked him.

"I'm looking for a conduit. It's an item about the size of a ping pong ball that's giving out the signal that makes all your friends…well…assholes." Dillon informed him. "It's also the reason my head feels like it's about to explode."

"So the closer you get to this thing…"

"The worse my headache becomes." Dillon concluded. "I didn't think it would be this bad though. I just couldn't get my bearings against the Blue guy. If I come up against another of those guys…"

"Let me worry about that." Zhane told him. "You just concentrate on finding that thing."

Dillon felt something wet on his lip, and reached down, running his fingertips under it, and inspecting them. It was blood.

"I could definitely use your help." Dillon told him. "Now, let's find this thing and destroy it. Preferably before my brain haemorrhages."