Al pulled up Jerry's car outside of the motel. Jerry had his gun trained on his old friend the whole way, knowing that he couldn't drive and keep the gun on him at the same time. Al didn't have much choice when Jerry turned up to his house with a gun but to do as he said. He was already wracking his mind trying to imagine what was going to happen and what Jerry's plan ultimately was, but he did know that whatever it was it was unlikely to end well for him. He was, if anything, slightly relieved that Jerry didn't just shoot him in the entrance lobby of his own house. While he didn't think that his family would exactly be jumping for joy if the worst happened, he could only imagine Ellie or Sarah having to come home and see that.

"The room's directly in front of us." Jerry told him, tapping the gun against his shoulders. "And there's twelve really good reasons in here not to try anything."

Al just nodded in understanding as he got out of the car. Jerry did so as well. The gun was no longer on him briefly, but looking around Al really doubted his ability to tackle his old friend or to run. He was never exactly a track and field star in his life, and he wasn't exactly willing to gamble on his ability to become one in less time than it would take Jerry to get a shot off. He went to the door and sighed.

"103?" He asked. "Wasn't that your old house number?"

"Yeah, it's a funny coincidence, get in!" Jerry said impatiently, unlocking the door and shoving Al inside. Once they were in, he closed the door, hanging the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door and putting on the security lock to prevent a well-meaning maid coming in to start cleaning up. Al looked around at the room and the assortment of take-away containers littering the place.

"Nice place." Al stated. "I guess you've had that Do Not Disturb up for a while."

"Sit down." Jerry snapped at him, flicking the gun in the direction of a chair. "SIT DOWN!"

Al was pretty confident that even out here a gunshot going off in a hotel room would likely raise the attention of the authorities, but that didn't really help him. He had a feeling that Jerry wasn't exactly thinking too clearly right now considering the fact he dragged him out of his home at gunpoint in broad daylight. It wasn't exactly the move of a master criminal, and he had a feeling that it was likely the only reason he wasn't spotted and the cops called as soon as it happened was because people that weren't self-employed and running their business from their home actually had things to do during the day. He sat down on the chair, at which Jerry went to his bag, getting out some zip-ties.

"Hands behind your back!" He barked as he approached. Al really didn't want to put himself in the position of being bound. It wasn't likely that Jerry was going to give him much opportunity, but if he did get the chance to try and tackle him or run, he really wanted to be in the position of doing so. Jerry pointed the gun at him. "If you don't, I know where you live. I know where Sarah goes to school. Get your hands behind your BACK!"

Al reluctantly did as he was told. Right about now he was putting his own odds of getting out alive as in the distinctly questionable column, but at least he knew Ellie and Sarah were safe. The last thing he wanted was to give Jerry any reason to change that. Jerry went behind him and bound his hands together, leaving him unable to defend himself. Jerry slipped the gun into the back of his jeans and put on his jacket.

"I've got some things I need to get." He told him. "Don't worry though, I'll not leave you with nothing to do."

He turned on the TV, turning up the volume, likely so that he was sure Al couldn't just yell and attract attention to his plight. As he left the room, locking it behind him, Al just sighed.

"Could you at least change the channel?" He called out. "Seriously, Sponge Bob? I hate that show!"

Over at the High School, the day was wearing on. Brody and Preston's chairs were noticeably empty. Brody had to remain at the hospital, there really wasn't any way they could explain taking him out after the state he arrived in, while Preston was once again spending the day in the workshop. He wasn't in any real state to do much of anything, but they didn't want to have to explain how he got that way.

Sarah still felt awful too. She had no doubt saved Tom's life by absorbing some of his injuries. Taking shots to the chest from Wrench's Gatling Laser, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that at least some of his organs would have been hit, and so Sarah did take a huge risk taking even some of that. She'd been assured that her own organs had already healed to the point they were only bruised, but the feeling of coughing up her own blood was something she was pretty sure she would never forget.

Wrench was a lot smarter than his former employer had ever been, hell it was clear he was a lot smarter than a lot of Cosmo's guys too. The majority of Cosmo's stars were either ego-driven maniacs out to prove their strength, mercenaries who would be thinking about getting their next job and some who were coerced or forced into fighting. Not many of them actually thought out any real strategy short of come down, smash things up until the Rangers showed up, then try to beat the Rangers into a fine red paste. The only part of that plan Wrench seemed to follow was the last part. The rest of it, he was picking his moments, he was using what he knew about the Rangers from months of watching them, and he was trying to cut down the numbers for when he finally did take on those that were left.

Sarah couldn't even hear what Levi was talking about at the front of the class. He was pointing to some musical routine or other on the white board, so she assumed that was what the lesson plan was about. Levi really was passionate about music. It was easy to think of him as a one-trick pony since he was at his roots a country music performer, but he had actually studies music in his time as a Weston. Their money did afford him the opportunity to explore his love of music. He had everything in his personal music database from Bach to Rob Zombie. He did hold a special place in his heart for country music, but he was as comfortable teaching someone to play the piano or violin as he was with a guitar. Unfortunately, right now all Sarah could think about was the fact he had spent the whole night at the hospital as evidenced by the fact he was wearing the same clothes as he had the night before. Both of his brothers were in the hospital, and Sarah couldn't help feeling like she had a responsibility to do something to get Levi the payback he deserved for that.

"Sarah?" Viera asked, leaning over. "What's this note mean again?"

"It's a semi-quaver." Sarah reminded her. "It's a half-beat. A very rapid note."

"Oh, right." Viera replied. Just then, the bell rang, mercifully signalling lunch time. The students all started hurriedly getting their stuff away, while Levi was way too involved in his own issues to remind them they were only to go once he dismissed them. Hayley, Calvin, Viera and Sarah approached him.

"How are they?" Calvin asked him.

"They're doing about as well as can be expected." He told them. "Brody's going to be in there for at least a few days. Of course, they're having to practically tie him to the bed to make him stay, but he knows we'll call him if we don't have a choice."

"Tom?" Sarah asked hopefully. He just nodded.

"They put in in a chemically-induced coma." He told them. "It was pretty touch and go there for a while, but they seem confident he'll pull through."

"I'm really glad I could be of help." Sarah told him.

"How are you after that by the way?" Hayley asked.

"I'm still breathing." Sarah assured her. "It only hurts when I laugh, talk, sing…thanks for making me do that by the way Levi, breathe deeply…"

"Maybe you should rest up for a bit?" Calvin suggested. Sarah just waved him off.

"I'll be fine." She assured him. "Besides, with two Rangers down already, I don't think we can really afford to be too choosy about who's still on active duty."

"So, canteen?" Calvin asked.

"Sorry, I have to help Mrs Finch with some stuff in the teachers' lounge." He told them.

"I'm going to be at the tennis court. Calvin needs to be home early today so I figured it would be better if I get my practice out the way early today." She told them.

"Well, I guess that just leaves you and me then." Sarah answered, looking to Viera. "I was going to work on something in the base, want to just grab something and head through?"

"Sure thing." She agreed as they all headed off for their various lunch plans.

Back in the motel room, Al was trying and failing to get free of the cable ties binding him. He knew thanks to the DND on the door he wasn't likely to be found by the maids, so if he was going to get out, he had to do it himself.

He stopped as he heard the door being unlocked, and sighed as he saw that it was Jerry coming back. He closed the door over, security locking it once more, before heading to the bed and emptying out the contents of the bag. He had a couple of items, mostly snacks, sandwiches and the likes. He also had some beers and another little bag.

"Did you really have to leave me with Sponge Bob?" Al asked. "Talk about cruel and unusual punishment."

"You want to talk about cruel and unusual punishment, try going to prison!" He replied bitterly.

"Jerry, you could have talked…"

"I DID talk! They sent me to prison anyway!" He snapped at him, opening up the bag. "I didn't get a sweet little get-out-of-jail free card and an anonymity agreement."

"I guess you didn't give them something interesting enough then." Al stated. "Jerry, what we did, we deserved what we got, worse even."

"That's easy for you to say! You didn't get locked up!" He roared.

"You're talking like you went to Alcatraz!" Al interjected.

"It was a prison!" Jerry stated.

"It was a minimum-security resort! Hell, they'd re-sowed the lawn on the golf course just before you got there!" Al said in response. "Look at you! You've lost like thirty pounds, you look like you got exercise…hell you look better now than you did when you went in!"

"My wife left me! She had divorce papers sent to me three months after I was sent there." Jerry told him. "Melanie doesn't even return my calls, she had my number blocked, she doesn't want to have anything to do with me! You still have your family!"

"I'm sorry that happened, but I'm not responsible for your family problems Jerry, we're all responsible for our own actions." Al told him. "I could remind you that the Yaxley deal was your idea, but I'm a big boy Jerry. No one twisted my arm and made me go along with it. I did that on my own, just like you did."

"Yeah, you did…and things still worked out pretty nicely for you, didn't they?" Jerry asked as he poured the contents of his bag onto the table. It was a white powder. He started cutting it into lines, before snorting one.

"You know…I know a great programme that can help you with that." Al told him. Jerry cracked open two beers, taking a swig of one before offering one to Al.

"You're trying to tell me you're clean now?" He asked. "I remember the morning-to-night sessions you had at the office."

"Three years sober." Al told him. "I wouldn't take that bottle from you even if I could. It took a lot for me to put it down."

"Well, things have just worked out so well for you, haven't they?" Jerry asked him, slamming the bottle down, slopping some of the contents around. "You're all clean and sober, your family's in a nice new neighbourhood, you own a nice house without a mortgage…"

"I worked very hard at the first two." Al told him. "The house…that's a long story."

"Yeah, I'm sure it is." Jerry stated. "But something tells me I can make it a lot shorter…if you just tell me where it is."

"Where what is?" Al asked him. He just looked to Jerry, who took another long slug of beer before he started to get what was going on. "Wait, you think…you think I have the money?"

"You weren't just good Thompson, you were the best!" Jerry stated. "There's no way you'd have walked away from all this without a dime."

"The feds took everything! Every penny I had went to reimbursing some of what we lost those clients! It was part of the plea deal!" Al yelled at him. "We were sofa-surfing for months before Ellie got a job that earned enough for an apartment!"

"BULLSHIT!" Jerry yelled at him. "You're holding out on me Thompson! I lost everything! Now I want what you owe me!"

"I don't owe you anything Jerry…"

"I think you're forgetting who has this!" Jerry yelled at him, pulling out the gun. Al stared at him in terror.

"I'm well aware of the fact you have that, which is why you can be sure if I had anything I'd give it to you." Al assured him. "Please, Jerry, I don't have the money. It's gone. Just let me go, I just want to go home. Ellie, Sarah, they…"

"I don't buy it Al. You could have showered in manure and still walked away smelling like Chanel No 5 back in the day." Jerry stated. "I just need to figure out how to convince you to start talking."

"Please, Jerry, listen to me…"

"Oh, I intend to." Jerry told him, grabbing Al. "But first…how about a shower?"

Back at the school, Calvin was helping Hayley with her training. He really didn't like or care about tennis, and so he was nowhere near the level he would need to be to offer her any kind of meaningful training as an opponent. What he could do though was work the serving machine. He had rigged it to adjust the aim a little after each shot in a random pattern so that Hayley got more of an experience of facing an opponent instead of a machine that would always hit to the exact same place.

Hayley hopped and sprinted around the court, returning the balls. She had always been fond of the game, but she had gained a whole new motivation for it ever since the school held a tournament the previous year. Her game against Victor wasn't just a loss, it was nothing short of a blood-bath. Not only had she not won a single set, she hadn't so much as won a single point! Victor was an impressive athlete in a number of different sports and tennis was no exception, but that day he had made Hayley look and feel like she had never so much as seen a tennis racket in her life. The only thing worse than how she felt was the fact his bragging and taunting for weeks afterwards. It was then she had dedicated herself to training hard to make sure when she did get a re-match, she could drive an 88 mile and hour serve straight down his stupid throat!

Calvin ducked as the ball sailed straight for him.

"Hey, careful there!" He protested. "I'm trying to help here!"

"I'm sorry Cal." She answered. "I promise I'll…now look what you made me do, I missed that one!"

"Ooh, this looks like fun, can I join in?" Wrench said as he appeared from nowhere, grabbing Calvin and throwing him into the cage surrounding the court.

"I am so done with you attacking our friends!" Hayley stated, reaching for her Power Star. Unfortunately, her attention was drawn by movement. Looking around, she saw that other students were running, but they were still in the area. That meant that people would see if she morphed. Releasing her grip on her Power Star, she gripped her tennis racket tightly and ran straight at Wrench.

Monty was in the corridor, pacing as he tried to think about what he planned to say to her. He couldn't stop thinking about Viera.

"Hey, I have coleslaw" He tried out, thinking of a casual approach, before thinking how lame it sounded. He tried another thought. "So, there's this cartoon festival at the cinema this weekend, do you want to go?"

He smiled and nodded. That was it. Nothing too formal, but also not completely lame and stupid. He was about to head into the canteen to look for her when he heard voices. Sarah and Viera were heading along the hall behind him in the direction of the shop class.

"You know, some people have a little beef with their horseradish." Sarah giggled, seeing the large, sloppy baguette that Viera had picked out for herself before loading up with condiments. She just shrugged.

"What can I say? I like this spicy food you have here on Earth." She replied. Monty followed on as they walked down the hall, seeing them go into the shop class. It made sense, he knew that just like him Sarah worked on a lot of extra credit projects. He was only a little way behind them when they went inside. The fact Sarah was there made him a little nervous, but he had already come this far. He opened the door.

"Hey there Viera, I was just wondering…"

His words tailed off as he looked around finding the classroom completely empty. He blinked and started looking around in confusion.

"Viera?" He asked. "Viera?"

His shoulders slumped in defeat as he figured he must have been mistaken. He started walking away heading for the canteen, hoping that at least Victor would be in there. Moments later, he was sent flying as someone slammed into him, running down the hall. He looked up in time to see Sarah running down the hall.

"I'm sorry Monty! I'm so…I…I need to go but…I'm so sorry!" Sarah rushed out, before turning to run away. Monty got up and dusted himself off, before turning and looking around. The other end of the hall, with the exception of the shop class was a dead end.

"Where did she come from?" Monty asked, straightening out his glasses. "How did she do that?"