Wrench was sitting in Cosmo's office, feeling really rather pleased with himself. He knew better than to assume a Ranger was down and out until they were dead and buried. The only Ranger he had experienced that never bounced back seemingly within minutes was the over-grown buzzard Zenowing. However any time a Ranger had taken a beating and might be hampered even for a little while, had to be a good thing, especially when he was the one that had to face them.

He was casually drawing his axe through his hand, which had angle grinders built into it to sharpen it as he awaited Cosmo's arrival. The flamboyant alien came into the office, his phone glued to his face as usual.

"Yes...yes, that's absolutely fine, of course...yes; I agree your client sounds like just the kind of talent that would be unique on our broadcast." Cosmo told him. "Tell him to pack his broomstick and wait for my shuttle. I'll meet him in my executive lounge to smooth out the finer details."

"Broomstick?" Wrench asked him. Cosmo just rolled his eyes.

"Yes, he really does ride a broomstick." Cosmo answered. "Well, that was quite a show you put on there Wrench. I have to say that I haven't seen a promotional reel like that in quite some time!"

"That's what you get when your talent understands good production." Wrench said smugly.

"It was a little light of course." Cosmo continued. "I mean, what we had was fantastic, but could you have imagined the drama, the intensity if we had a nice, juicy shot of the Pink Ranger weeping over the corpse of her little friend screaming for vengeance?"

"I did my best, the others showed up!" Wrench protested. "You don't need to worry; he's not likely to be up and about any time soon, my battle systems saw to that."

"Ah, yes, those battle systems I paid for! They truly were something to behold!" Cosmo said as he settled back into his chair, looking to Wrench. "The only question is, how exactly do you top that?"

"Oh, I have a final attack that even you haven't seen yet." Wrench told him. "Unfortunately it's something that doesn't really work well for a close up shot."

"Really?" Cosmo said, becoming intrigued. "Tell me more!"

"Well, you remember what happened to Eltar a few years ago?" Wrench asked him. Cosmo nodded. "Let's just say that if things aren't going my way, a few million more species are going to be joining the Eltarians in extinction."

"Well then." Cosmo said with a wicked smile. "Roll on Friday!"

At the scene of the battle, Jeremy and Spike were sifting through some of the wreckage. Spike was humming a little tune as he swept debris to the designated area for the CSI crew to sift through and see if there was anything they needed to know about. Jeremy was sitting on the curb, wearing a pair of gloves as he looked through pieces to separate out for further analysis.

"You are entirely too cheerful Skullovitch." Jeremy said as he looked to a piece of plastic, ascertaining it was likely part of a head light and tossing it into the appropriate pile.

"What can I say, the process always fascinates me." Spike said with a smile. "Just imagine, somewhere in among all this tiny stuff could be something really amazing that completely changes a whole case! I got pretty good scores in evidence handling, I actually considered going the CSI route."

"What case Skullovitch?" Jeremy asked. "There was a fight here and the monster blasted the car into a wall. That is pretty self-explanatory."

"Yeah...but who was the guy? Why did he disappear?" Spike asked him.

"Spike, you lived in Panorama, your parents grew up in Angel Grove. You should know better than anyone that when people see a monster that looks like a garage sale threw up they run like hell and leave everything behind." Jeremy answered him as he picked up something, dusting it off. "Hell, about forty percent of all the reports we get after a Ranger battle are people reporting all the stuff that went missing when they ran away."

"People nick stuff from monster battles?" Spike asked him.

"Why go to the bother of breaking into a car if the owner is kind enough to run off and leave the keys in the ignition?" Jeremy asked him, handing the item in his hand over to one of the techs. "I think this is the last piece of the licence plate."

"Wow, I didn't know people would be willing to risk their lives for an easy score." Spike said with a furrowed brow. Jeremy just shrugged.

"Yeah, it'd be nice if the Rangers could at least try and take their little throw downs away from public areas wouldn't it?"

Spike felt a little uncomfortable hearing this. Although he liked Jeremy, one thing they seemed to disagree on was how much good the Rangers were doing in the city. He had spent a fair amount of his youth in Panorama City, and thanks to a twist of fate, he had even served a one-night-only stint as the Black Megaforce Ranger during the final battle against The Armada.

His step-mother Kimberly was a Ranger legend, and so he had met and known a couple of Rangers in his time. He always did view them as heroes, though from his perspective it wasn't just from collecting news clippings or merchandise, he had seen the actual people behind the helmets on occasion and knew that there were real people behind those visors. They weren't always the kind of people anyone would expect to be superheroes, most were just ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances that stepped up when the chips were down. To Jeremy though, there was also another side.

He saw mainly the fallout from the battles. The casualties, the damage, the destruction and, apparently, the theft that went along with the major battles which raged in the city streets on a weekly basis. He saw the officers and friends who reported on things they found only to have their reports either redacted or outright thrown into paper shredders due to oversight higher up the chain than his pay-grade even allowed him to see. He had seen friends quit the force in frustration or even being fired if they questioned too closely into certain aspects of incidents that had happened. In his first week alone Spike had seen his first real encounter with the Rangers being swept under the rug and sealed by NASADA because it involved the wreckage of an alien space craft.

He could understand why Jeremy felt a little like the Rangers made an incredible mess then ran off and left everyone else to clean it up, but since he knew some of those Rangers, he was a little hesitant to speak too deeply. Jeremy watched as the CSI put the piece of the licence plate with the others.

"I think I have enough here to get a partial plate." The CSI told them. Jeremy went and looked to the partial plate as the CSI entered it into a tablet connected to the National Database. "Well, this car's a wreck."

"You needed the National Database to tell you that?" Jeremy asked. Spike let out a high-pitched, grunting laugh that just caused Jeremy to flinch. "Skullovitch, seriously, do me a favour and never do that again."

"But that's how I laugh." Spike told him. The CSI just sighed.

"No, I mean it's a wreck. The National Database shows this car as being written off in a nine car pile-up in Silver Hills eight years ago. The owner, a ninety year old woman, died at the scene." The CSI answered. "Also, it was a blue Lincoln then. Now it's a red Cortina."

Jeremy just sighed and face-palmed as Spike looked to him smugly.

"Also, we found this Beretta in the wreckage." He informed him. "It's unlicensed and has the serial number filed off."

"So, an untraceable car and an untraceable car?" Spike asked. "It's almost like you could say the little things you found here changed..."

"Skullovitch, gloating really isn't becoming." Jeremy sighed, pulling out his radio. "Dispatch, this is officer 1993, put out an APB to all local hospitals. We want to speak to anyone showing up with injuries consistent with a RTA." He looked to the CSI.

"Check the weapon and the car, if you get anything that can get us an ID..."

"You'll be the first to know." The CSI assured him as Jeremy headed for his patrol car, Spike trailing only a short way behind.

At the school, Viera couldn't help watching Sarah and seeing the way she spent the whole time in her lessons watching the clock and drumming her feet and her pen. She was normally the model student, attentive and alert, but with Preston in the base getting treated, to say she was distracted was an understatement. She had already completely ignored a couple of questions and those she had answered...well...it ranged between talking for several minutes about the moral tale of The Great Gatsby before being reminded that they were in fact discussing Catcher In The Rye to declaring in Chemistry that the atomic weight of Carbon was 632. The word 'off-day' was being re-defined to the point the teachers had stopped trying to get Sarah to participate in the classes.

She couldn't blame her. Even without knowing that Sarah and Preston were in the early stages of dating, Viera could only think of Sel and his family. She could only think of those that had thrown themselves into the firing line to get her free so that she could come here to Earth and be safe. While the Rangers had promised they would ask if anyone could help her, so far there wasn't really much anyone could guarantee or commit to. As the bell rang, Sarah snatched up her things and sprinted out of the classroom so quickly that she sent her desk and her chair flying and scattered most of her belongings in her wake to get back to the base quickly. Hayley and the others made their apologies for her and straightened things out, collecting the rest of her things while the rest of the kids filed out, heading for lunch.

Viera could only think for a moment about that. All those kids, just trotting off to lunch, the biggest issue on their minds whether or not they would brave the mystery meat or if they'd get there before all the hot dogs were gone. She couldn't help thinking that was likely how it was in the Lion Galaxy when news of her escape broke. There would be some that were happy to see the 'weak' and 'embarrassing' Queen gone, there were others disappointed there would be no public example made of her. Some would be overjoyed to hear of the death of the traitors that freed her. For the most part however, she imagined that just like always, for most people, they would simply not care enough to feel any way about it at all. For many, they'd just go to work, buy groceries, see their children off to school and otherwise get on with their lives, completely oblivious and uncaring to the fact that an entire family had been wiped out in their effort to save her.

"Viera?" She heard someone ask. It was only then that she noticed that in their hurry to check on Sarah, the other Rangers had rushed out and forgotten to take her with them. She saw Monty standing a little way off and figured he was the one that had spoken. "The lunch bell has gone."

"Oh...right." She answered, looking a little shell-shocked. She started to gather her things together as Monty approached her.

"Are you alright?" He asked her.

"I...I'm..." She started to stammer. "I was just thinking about...I really shouldn't say."

"You know, the mystery meat day is never any good in the canteen." He told her, pulling out his lunch box. "You want to be somewhere a little quieter?"

"I...I think I'd like that." She replied as Monty pulled up a chair to the opposite side of her table. He started to lay out his lunch before her. "Hey, you changed your clothes."

"Yeah, apparently some of my constituents like the way I was before." Monty replied. "So, sardines and mayonnaise or spiced tuna?"

"Whatever you think I'd like I'm sure would be fine." She replied.

The Rangers arrived in the Ranger Base, finding Preston lying on the table. He was now awake, but by the looks of things he wasn't sure that was a good thing. Redbot was checking his vitals.

"Preston, you must remain still." Redbot told him. "I can't get an accurate reading if you keep fidgeting!"

"That's easy for you to say Redbot, you don't have nerve endings. You don't feel pain." Preston complained. "This bench really is not comfortable!"

"Don't worry Preston; I have a little something for the pain." Mick told him. "You'll get it once Redbot completes his analysis."

Sarah came across, grabbing Preston tightly in a hug, before pulling away and kissing him repeatedly on the cheek. She pulled away from him, wishing that her friends would allow her to take his pain away.

"Ow...ow...tender!" Preston reminded her. "But...kind of worth it."

"How is he?" Hayley asked them. Mick looked to them.

"Oh, he'll be fine no doubt, but...he's definitely not going to be running any marathons for the rest of the day." Mick told them. "The Ninja Steel is doing its thing, but for the rest of the day at least he's definitely on the bench. If he knows what's good for him probably the rest of the week."

"But Wrench is coming back FRIDAY!" Calvin reminded them.

"Then we do without him." Brody declared.

"Brody!" Sarah screeched.

"If we need him he'll come I'm sure of it!" Brody told them. "But there's not much point in Preston taking any more risks than he has to."

"I'm lying right here!" Preston reminded him. Brody just smiled.

"Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry Preston." Brody said, holding his hand up for a high-five. Preston obliged, but as soon as he did so, his face went incredibly pale as an intense pain ran the entire length of his body. It felt like a thousand flaming knives stabbing into him all at once. Brody just eased him down onto the table. "Yeah, that's what I thought. A little more rest I think."

"In the meantime, the rest of us just need to make sure we don't go anywhere alone." Calvin reminded them. "I was heading to Hayley's to do our history project, so we've got our plans set."

"I can take Preston home." Brody told them. "Sarah?"

"I'll give her a ride." Levi replied. "I'm heading to Tom's office anyway."

"Wait...where's Viera?" Calvin asked. Everyone looked around, and suddenly realised that she wasn't with them.

"You left her?" Hayley said to Brody.

"Hey, I thought she was with you!" He protested.

"How about instead of arguing where she's supposed to be, we go and find out where she IS?" Sarah suggested. With that, they all hurried from the base in search of their runaway Princess.

Back in the classroom, Monty and Viera were enjoying their lunch, while Monty relayed a story to her. He couldn't deny the fact he was delighted to finally get a chance to speak to her alone. He had been in awe of Viera from the first moment he had seen her back at the fun run.

"So, when I finally managed to pull myself out of the lake, Victor was there and he just said 'Monty, I just suggested you clean off your shoes before you get into the car, not take a bath!'." He concluded, laughing as he grunted a little. Viera spluttered on her food, and her mouth was tugged upwards, imagining Monty looking like a drowned rat as he stood on the banks of the lake, before finally letting out a screeching laugh.

She laughed for a good while, too long, before suddenly she noticed the scratches still on her arms, and suddenly stopped. She felt cold, and immediately looked uncomfortable. Monty noticed the sudden shift in her mood.

"What?" He asked her. "What's wrong?"

"This?" She asked him.

"Having lunch?" He asked her.

"No...this." She said, gesturing around. "This, the laughing, the..."

"Wait, laughing is wrong now?" Monty asked her.

"It is for me!" She rushed out. Monty just looked to her sympathetically as he could see her becoming more and more upset. He took her hand in his own.

"What are you talking about?" He asked her.

"What right do I have to be here, laughing and having a good time and...?" She started to tail off. She could see that Monty was completely confused. "I was involved in something...something bad back home."

"An accident?" He asked her. He couldn't help noticing her injuries, but he hadn't wanted to ask her about them.

"You could say it was something like that." She answered. "I got out alive, but there were people, good people...they weren't so lucky."

"I'm really sorry to hear that." He replied sympathetically.

"They gave so much for me; they died just for me to get here and...and here I am laughing and smiling like what they did meant nothing!" She sobbed as she fell forward onto the table. Monty uneasily reached out for her, touching her hair softly as she cried. "They died all because of me, and for what?"

"So that you can have a life." Monty told her. Viera just looked up at him. "My uncle was a fireman for a long time. When he retired they had this party where a bunch of the people he saved all got to come and say thank you to him, but there was this one guy he was hoping to see that wasn't there. It was a kid that had been playing with matches in his tree house and got trapped. My uncle saved him in one of his first calls."

Viera just looked to him as he took a breath.

"My uncle really wanted to know what happened to him so he looked him up. When he found him, he found the guy in his thirties and working in a Subway store." Monty told him. "So he introduced himself and asked why he didn't come. The guy told him that when he got the invite he felt too ashamed to go. He felt like my uncle had risked his life to save him, but because he didn't go on and have some big massive career or end up a senator or a scientist or something that he'd somehow failed my uncle and the second chance he gave him. Do you know what my uncle told him?"

Viera just shook her head.

"He didn't risk his life for him to have some kind of super amazing, important and wonderful life. He just did it so he could HAVE a life." Monty told her. "I don't know what happened to you, but those people that saved you...maybe one of the best ways you can honour them is to have a good life, a happy life. I'm sure that's what they probably wanted for you."

Viera leaned forward and kissed Monty softly on the cheek, at which his mouth just hung open and he lost all track of what was going on. Calvin opened the door, finding them inside.

"Guys, over here, I've found her!" Calvin called out. The others came in, and Sarah came to Viera's side.

"Viera, we've been looking all over for you!" She told her. "Thanks for finding her Monty."

Monty just kind of let out an unintelligible sigh as the team left the room, leaving him in a wonderful dream world he only left when the next class came in several minutes later.