Summer found herself sitting in a dark room, without any lighting whatsoever. Her heart started to beat a little faster as she searched around for some sign of where she was. She couldn't see anything but darkness. She had her arms wrapped tightly around herself for comfort.
"Hello?" She called out hopefully. "Is anyone there?"
There was no answer. No one called out to her. She tried to reach out, to feel her way around in the hopes of finding some way out, but found herself unable to move her arms. She struggled, finding that it was more than just being too scared to reach out. She physically couldn't move her arms, any time she tried her jacket pulled tightly against her. She pushed herself against the wall to struggle to her feet. It was spongy, and offered only minimal resistance. As her bare feet got to the floor, she found the surface just as soft. It was then that she realised to her horror where she was. She was in a padded cell, the reason she couldn't move her arms was because she was wearing a straightjacket. The lights came on, revealing the truth of her confinement to her.
"Help me!" She screamed as she struggled against her restraints. "I'm not meant to be here, let me go!"
A hatch opened up in one of the walls, exposing a safety glass partition, behind which was a viewing area. A doctor in a white coat led a small party into view. Summer smiled hopefully as Scott, Flynn, Ziggy, Dr. K and Colonel Truman came into view.
"Thank God you're here!" She exclaimed out loud, making her way to the glass. "There's been some kind of mistake, I don't belong here, please, tell them to let me go."
"She still doesn't remember what happened?" Colonel Truman asked the psychiatrist.
"It's the worst case of self-delusion I've ever seen." He commented sadly, shaking his head. "She doesn't even register the passage of time. She still thinks she's a Ranger."
"But she was committed over a year ago." Scott replied sympathetically.
"No I wasn't, I was in the Garage only a short time ago! I can't have been here more than a couple of hours!" She screamed, making her way to the glass. "Just ask Dillon, he was with me!"
"She's still asking after him." Flynn said with regret in his voice. "She really doesn't remember does she?"
"It's all part of the delusion." The psychiatrist explained. "It's a defence mechanism to protect her mind from what she did."
"What I did?" Summer screamed at them. "What did I do? Why am I in here?"
"I really wish I didn't have to see her like this." Ziggy sighed, turning his face from her. "He loved her so much, he just couldn't fight back. I never thought she could do anything like this."
"Look at me!" She screamed, kicking the glass as hard as she could, barely even feeling the flesh bruising painfully as she struck the impenetrable glass. "Someone tell me why the hell I'm in here! I'm not insane!"
"Tell that to my predecessor." Chas said as he stepped into view. Summer felt her face burning and her muscles tensing as she saw that he was wearing Dillon's RPM uniform. "Or rather, you could have if you hadn't killed him."
"I guess we were right about her all along sweetie." Brie said as she came to his side, wrapping an arm around her fiancé. "She always was a little off. I guess it's just a shame she finally snapped with the man she loved."
Summer saw to her horror that Brie was wearing her old RPM uniform. She had been replaced too, and if they were to be believed, she had killed Dillon, the only man she ever loved.
"No! This can't be true!" She screamed as she ran forward, slamming herself into the glass in her fury. "Dillon can't be dead, I just saw him!"
"She's flipping out again!" Brie called out. "You need to help her before she hurts herself."
A pair of guards rushed into the room and manhandled her roughly to the floor, holding her down. Summer continued to struggle, but it was useless. Their grip was too strong. Gates came into the room, carrying a large syringe.
"You can't do this to me, I'm not insane!" She screamed as she tried to break free.
"I don't know about that." Ronan told her as he appeared in the corner of the room, stepping towards her. "You are still seeing dead people."
"I know you couldn't help it." Dillon told her as he appeared in the room. "I don't blame you for what you did."
"Dillon!" She screeched as she renewed her struggle. "You're not dead! Guys, he isn't dead, he's right over there!"
"She still thinks he's alive." Scott said sadly as his father placed a hand on his shoulder. "Will she ever recover?"
"I'm sorry Ranger Red, but she had shown no sign of improvement at all since she was committed." Dr. K told him. "I'm afraid it looks like she'll be here for good."
"No, don't do this!" She screamed as Gates approached with the needle. "Don't do this to me!"
Just before the needle was plunged into her flesh, she found herself being shaken awake, and Dillon standing over her. She looked at him, afraid that she was hallucinating, and reached out to touch him to be sure.
"You told me to wake you if you started to freak." He told her. "You looked like you were seeing something pretty rough in there."
Summer launched herself forward into his arms, holding him tightly and wept. She wanted to get better, she really did, but she was terrified as soon as Dr. Young had suggested she stopped taking the meds.
"Was it really that bad?" He asked her. "Was it Ronan again?"
"No, this time was different." She told him. "I was in a psychiatric ward, I had been committed."
"Summer, you can't worry about that." He told her. "You aren't crazy, you're having a little trouble dealing with this, but you can't think that."
"All of the others were there; they had put me in there." She informed him. "They all thought I was crazy. Everyone did."
"Summer, they would never think that about you." He reminded her. "You know we all want you to get through this. We'll never abandon you."
"I killed you." She whispered gently. "They sent me there because I killed you."
"Summer, I know you could never hurt me." Dillon replied, holding her again.
"I just wish all of this would end." She murmured. "I think I still have some pills around here somewhere..."
"Summer, you know you aren't meant to do that." He reminded her. "Dr. Young wants you to face the dreams now."
"It's just so hard." She murmured. "I'm just so scared."
"You know I'll be here." He reminded her. "I'll always be here."
Just then, their morphers bleeped, informing them that they were being called into the lab. Summer groaned and threw off the covers, before grabbing some clothes.
"I guess I can try again later." She muttered.
"Well I'll be ready when you do." Dillon reminded her. Summer smiled as she thought about this. It was good to know that the Black Ranger was looking out for her.
Meanwhile, Ziggy made his way into a bar a few miles from The Garage. It was a small, dingy place, with low lighting and a faintly musty smell. There was a small band of regulars, but other than that, it was usually empty. Ziggy made his way to the bar.
"I'm meeting someone in the back room." He told the barman. The barman looked around to make sure no one was listening, before showing him through.
The reason this bar didn't do anything to spruce itself up and attract new clientele was because the sale of liquor was not its main source of income. There were a few people gambling on illegal games in the back. He was finally taken to a private room in the back. The door was opened, and he saw Benny, his old accomplice pacing the room impatiently.
"Ziggy!" He greeted the Green Ranger with an enthusiastic hug that threatened to break something. "What is this about?"
"It's about the attack on Scott." Replied, getting his breath back from his massive friend's hug. "We think members of the Cartel might have been involved."
"That can't be true." Benny told him with a chuckle. "Fresno Bob has a strict no-touch policy on the Rangers. He knows how much heat something like that would cause."
"We found some Diamond Dust at the scene." Ziggy told him. Benny rolled his eyes and took a seat. The production and distribution of drugs was a side of the business he was never comfortable with, and so out of respect for their friendship, Fresno Bob ensured Benny never had to get involved with it. Of course, he knew enough to know that only the Cartel produced Diamond Dust. "Fresno Bob isn't stupid, I know none of his guys would touch the Rangers intentionally, but maybe he interrupted a deal or something."
"They would have just surrendered and taken the sentence." Benny informed him. "A while ago, one of the Cartel's guys stole some...personal items...from the Yellow Ranger. He spent a month in the hospital. Everyone knows not to touch the Rangers, it'd be suicide."
"Well someone from the Cartel was there." Ziggy told him. "Could you ask around or something?"
"Ziggy, if someone was involved, they aren't likely to talk about it." He replied. "Like I said, they'd be as well walking butt naked into the wastes with a marching band in broad daylight if Fresno Bob found out."
Ziggy pulled a little closer.
"Benny, I could tell you more, but this is something that hasn't been leaked to the press. If I tell you this, you have to swear it'll remain between us." He told him. Benny nodded intently. "Have you ever heard of The White Rose?"
"You think this is a race thing?" Benny asked him.
"A white rose was found at the scene." He confirmed. "Do any of your guys show any kind of racist leanings?"
"None that I can think of." Benny told him.
"What about freelance work?" Ziggy asked him. "I know you and I didn't always just do what Bob told us to, sometimes we did our own jobs off the books. Do you think it's possible someone took a job for someone else?"
"It's possible, but there'd be no way for us to check." He told him. "I could ask around, but I doubt anyone will be too talkative."
"There is one more gambit we can take." Ziggy told him. "If we released the fact that the drugs at the scene..."
"Fresno Bob would go ape shit!" Benny confirmed. "He'd be shaking down everyone in the whole Cartel to find out why his drugs were there."
"When people get nervous they make mistakes." Ziggy told him. "Maybe this will shake someone up."
"Run the story." He told the Green Ranger. "Fresno Bob trusts me more than anyone. I'll be the one he gets to ask questions. If anyone has answers, I'll find him."
"Thanks Benny." Ziggy replied. "I'll have Colonel Truman make a press statement tomorrow morning. Be careful Benny."
"You too little guy." He replied warmly. "You too."
They arrived down in the lab, finding Scott there already, looking up at a communications link on the screen with Colonel Truman.
"What's going on?" Dillon asked as they arrived in the room.
"Dr. K was taking something over to Central Command for the Colonel to look at." Scott told them. "She isn't back yet, and she left almost three hours ago."
"Scott called me to find out what the hold-up was." Colonel Truman continued. "I haven't seen her all night."
"So where is she?" Dillon asked as he and Summer exchanged a slightly worried glance. It wasn't often that Dr. K ventured out of her lab, and she certainly never did so for very long, even with an armed escort.
"I set an armed escort for her at her request." Colonel Truman told them. "I've tried reaching them, but so far I've not heard anything back from them."
"They were last heard from at gate 74." Scott continued to the others. "It's near the forensics lab. I asked Flynn to check it out on his way back."
"Scott, I don't think you're going to want to hear this." Flynn's voice announced over the communicators. "I'm near the gate, and I've found something."
"What is it?" Scott asked him.
"I found a couple of guys matching the description of the guards that were sent to collect Dr. K." He informed them as he knelt down over a pair of recently murdered corpses that had been hastily stashed behind a hedge. "They're dead."
"Is there any sign of Dr. K?" Scott asked him in a panic.
"No, there's not even any real sign of a struggle." Flynn told them. "Whoever did this got the drop on them. It looks like they were taken out pretty cleanly, and their clothes and guns are gone."
"Wait, someone took their clothes?" Summer asked him. "Why would anyone want to do that?"
"If her armed escort didn't turn up, Dr. K would just have come back." Scott reminded her. "Whoever did this must have known that and sent someone in their place."
"Is there any luck tracing her with her communicator?" Dillon asked him.
"It was the first thing we tried." Scott told him regretfully. "Either it's turned off, or it's been destroyed. Neither one is good; Dr. K's too smart to go off the radar like that willingly."
"So you think it looks like someone's taken her?" Dillon asked in response. "She's responsible for all the technology that keeps the city safe. Why would she do something like that?"
"Right now I think the main worry is how to find her." Scott replied sharply, feeling more than a little guilt creeping into his heart. It looked like whoever had taken her had taken the opportunity provided by her leaving the Garage to give the recording to Colonel Truman. "Flynn, stay there until we get there. If you see or hear anything, I don't care if it's a rat, suit up. Don't take any chances. The last thing we need is another member of the team MIA."
The others quickly ran to their vehicles, preparing to leave the Garage. Scott called Ziggy to relay their meeting point, but all he could feel was guilt. Dr. K was in danger, and it looked like it was all because of him. If he had just given the recording to his father, none of this would have happened. All he could do now was hope that the fact she hadn't been found meant she was more useful to whoever had killed those soldiers alive.
Dr K was dragged along a corridor, before being dumped on the floor somewhat less than gently. She tried to get to her feet, only to be shoved over by a heavy boot. She couldn't see where she was, her captors had pulled a heavy canvas bag over her head to prevent her seeing where she was being taken, and her guards were careful to distract her and disorientate her in case she somehow tried to calculate her location.
"I guess you must be The White Rose." She sneered, getting to her knees. "Congratulations. You're powerful enough to kidnap an 80 lb girl that isn't even out of her teens."
She was sent to the floor as one of them struck her hard on the side of her head with a solid object, she presumed the butt of his blaster. Shortly afterwards, she heard a shot being fired and a body falling to the floor.
"I told the two of you she was to be unharmed!" She heard a familiar voice roaring wildly. The bag was ripped from her head and she found herself staring at Gate's sick, twisted face. He helped her up into a chair and gently stroked the side of her face that was swollen. "I do hope he hasn't harmed that wonderful brain of yours. It would be a shame if you lost all value to us."
She looked around, recognising the room with horror. There were cold, grey, perfectly smooth walls of clinically clean concrete. Stainless steel work benches were all around the room, covered in all manner of scientific instruments and computers. In one corner, there was a simple bed with a single blanket and pillow, while in the other was a violin.
"This isn't possible." She whispered, looking back to Gates.
"I know, this is just a reproduction, but I thought you'd like a little touch of home." He replied sarcastically. "Alphabet Soup was destroyed. It was many miles from here, but then I'm sure I don't have to tell you that considering the fact you walked here."
"But how could you possibly know about Alphabet Soup?" She asked him. "It was classified to the highest levels of government. When I came to Corinth, even Colonel Truman didn't know about it..."
"I know because I was one of the project leaders." He informed her. "While I was in the Military, I was given a psychiatric evaluation, following which I was approached by some government agents. Apparently my results showed me to have a highly desirable combination of loyalty, intelligence and, shall we say, moral flexibility?"
"That's more than a little bit of an understatement." She grumbled. "What is this all about?"
"Well you already mentioned The White Rose." He reminded her. "So you've already figured out that part."
He turned to the one remaining guard, who still stood, frozen over the body of his murdered comrade. Blood was leaking into an increasingly large pool on the floor from a single hole in his skull.
"Pick that up and leave us would you?" He stated, waving him off. The guard simply nodded and dragged his comrade away, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Gates turned back to Dr. K.
"I was brought in to oversee the government think tank known as Alphabet Soup." He informed her. "Completely off the books of course, not even my own squad leaders were allowed to know what I was doing. I was simply to come in for a week every month to oversee the productivity of our charges."
"Your slaves you mean!" Dr. K snapped.
"Ah, yes, that was one of my better ideas." He reminisced as though talking about some beautiful memory. "You see originally we recruited the usual candidates. University graduates, scientists, computer programmers and such like. However we had a major problem. We recruited them voluntarily. They had a nasty habit of using our technology to come up with their own ideas and projects, and keep them for their own profit once they left the Soup. Some were patriotic enough to be manipulated into giving up all their ideas, but the others realised their ideas were more useful if they kept them for profit."
He crossed to the computer and opened a file showing the personnel files of Alphabet Soup. "I however realised that there were people easily as smart as them, but who hadn't yet grown up enough to realise their ideas were more profitable outside of the government. All we had to do was get to them young enough to stop them forming those annoying little selfish tendencies."
"You stole children!" She replied in disgust. "Most were little more than babies!"
"Like I said, we caught them before they grew up too much." He replied. "That way we could mould them into what we wanted. People who would work all those precious little brain cells as hard as they could for nothing more than a birthday cake every year."
"I was five years old when you took me." She protested. "The only memory I have before Alphabet Soup was the day your goons took me away. I don't even remember my name!"
"The thing is, the idea worked really well. It turns out that as well as not having any mercenary leanings the kids had something those others did, a certain level of creativity that tends to be taught out of us by others by our adulthood." He continued. "Our technological advancement increased exponentially."
"So what is your connection to The White Rose?" She asked him. "Alphabet Soup was a government agency. Racism doesn't seem to fit their agenda. Many of their members were..."
"You're right about that; The White Rose is nothing to do with Alphabet Soup, or the government." He told her. "That was all my creation."
"Why?" She asked him. He just gave her a little smirk.
"Do you know what it's like living your whole life, watching everyone take what's rightfully yours?" He asked her. "I've worked hard my whole life, to be the smartest, the strongest, and the absolute finest in every field I've ever entered, and still I don't get the recognition I deserve. I have to smile and clap as I watch the incompetent and the weak being given accolades and promotions before me. It happened all my life, even in Alphabet Soup. The one thing that I had that I excelled in was the military. I was easily the most qualified for the position of Colonel. I planned to resign from the Soup and finally claim what I'd always longed for, a position of respect and honour, where for once everyone would recognise me as the better man."
"You never made it." Dr. K surmised. He took in a sharp breath and his fists clenched tightly in his anger.
"I was passed over again for Truman!" He hissed angrily, remembering that day. "Our accomplishments were almost identical, but I was easily the smartest. Of course, he had one thing that I didn't."
"You think he was chosen over you..."
"I know he was!" Gates interrupted her angrily. "Political agendas screwed me out of everything I ever wanted. I had to watch as another inferior man took what was rightfully mine."
"Colonel Truman isn't inferior." Dr. K taunted him. "His accomplishments since then more than prove that."
"When the Battle of Corinth came around, I volunteered for service." He told her, ignoring her support of Truman. "I knew that if anything would earn me the accolade I deserved, it would be the aerial defence. Only when Colonel Truman was set to make the decision who flew the lead position, I knew who he'd choose. His father took the command from me, and his son was going to steal the honour. I couldn't let that happen. That's why I disabled the safety mechanism on my missiles."
"You murdered Marcus?" She asked him.
"I couldn't let him come home as the Hero of Corinth." He told her coldly. "I knew if that happened, I'd be bowing and scraping to the Trumans forever, so I made sure he never came home."
"So what am I here for?" She asked him. He smiled and reached out a hand, stroking her hair.
"You're here to make everything fit into place." He told her. "You see, my plan is almost complete. The Truman name is in doubt, Chas' popularity has never been greater, and the ceremony is only a few days away. All I need is the weapon to make everything complete."
"You're going to assassinate Colonel Truman!" She gasped in her moment of clarity.
"His son as well." He replied. "With two of Corinth's heroes being executed in broad daylight, the Mayor will be pressured to resign, and with only one of Corinth's true 'heroes' left, who do you think won't vote for Chas?"
"You are aware he's an idiot aren't you?" She asked him. Gates gave a huge laugh and moved around behind her.
"I'm counting on it!" He responded loudly. "He thinks my agenda's to get him into power. Once he's the Mayor, who do you think he's going to name as Colonel Truman's successor?"
"So all of this is just to get Colonel Truman's job?" She asked him.
"I couldn't even care less about The White Rose." He told her. "I created them and their policy as a way to get followers gullible enough to follow me. You see, now that Colonel Truman runs the defence of Corinth, he effectively runs the city. Even the mayor tends to go with his decisions. Once I'm in his job, I will rule what's left of the human race."
"What makes you think I'll help you?" She asked him.
"You don't have a choice." He explained, snapping a shackle onto her left ankle, securing her to the wall. "No one knows where you are. There's no way to escape."
"So what happens if I won't do it?" She asked him. "What will you do? You can't hurt me, and you certainly can't kill me. If you need me, then you can't risk leaving me unable to work."
"No, but what I can offer you is what Alphabet Soup never could, the chance to leave." He told her. "You see, I know your dirty little secret. I know it was you who created Venjix."
Her eyes grew wide in alarm as he said this. She had carried the burden of that knowledge alone for so long. In her desperation to escape from Alphabet Soup, she had created the Venjix Virus to blind their security system, but she was caught and prevented from uploading the firewall necessary to restrict it to the compound. It had uploaded itself to the internet, and from there it had spread to virtually every system on earth.
"How do you really think everyone will feel once I tell them that you are singlehandedly responsible for the end of the world?" He asked her. "They don't burn witches anymore, but I'm sure they'll make an exception in your case. You did cause what? Nearly 6 billion deaths?"
He leaned over her shoulder, and whispered in her ear.
"Everyone will hate you, everyone has a reason to. I wouldn't be surprised if the Rangers were the ones carrying the torches when the citizens of Corinth torch you." He whispered as tears started running down her face. "If you create this weapon for me, then when the plan comes to fruition, I'll let you go. If you don't, then I'll make sure everyone knows who they have to thank for their new lives in this dome."