Colonel Truman arrived at the apartment block with a guard detail, quickly sweeping the building. Corporal Hicks and his unit quickly checked to ensure the building was clear of threats before Sam came in. Ziggy was still there, waiting for them.

"What the hell happened in here?" Colonel Truman asked. His mouth hung open in amazement as he looked at the scene of devastation. Ziggy came over to greet them with a wordless gesture. He looked incredibly pale, though given the fact he had just found dozens of corpses, they weren't that surprised.

"I left the scene how I found it." He informed them. "The only difference is that over by the generator there, and down here by this corpse you'll find patches of vomit. The one by the body is mine, the one by the generator is...someone else's...but he didn't have anything to do with this, we found them all like this."

They understood what Ziggy meant by this. They knew he was getting information from Benny. Ziggy knew enough about forensic procedure to know that they would need to know about anything he had done to the scene.

"It looks like Ziggy's right about one thing." Corporal Hicks stated, inspecting one of the robed corpses. "It looks like they were members of The White Rose."

"How long do you think it'll take to get an idea what happened here?" Colonel Truman asked the forensics expert. Sam just shook her head.

"I'll need a full team down here." She told him. "It'll be hours before I can even get all these bodies ready for autopsy."

"Have any of them been identified?" He asked.

"That'll take time." Sam replied.

"You'll have all the resources you need within the hour." Colonel Truman assured her. He gestured to half a dozen of his troops. "You men stand guard over the scene. Ensure that Sam and her team are the only people who get in, do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" One of the guards shouted as they set up a perimeter.

"I'll stay with them." Corporal Hicks stated, pulling out his weapon and leaving to oversee the guard. Colonel Truman was glad he didn't need to ask this of him. Given the insidious nature of the cult, he had very little idea who he could trust completely.

"We need to get back to The Garage." Colonel Truman told her. "If there's anything else you need, let us know."

"I will." She assured him, beginning to take a few pictures of the crime scene. "I'll let you know what I find soon as I can."

Meanwhile, back at The Garage, Dillon's car roared into the main garage, almost slamming into the other vehicles as Summer brought it to a halt. Flynn came into the room to see what the disturbance was, and immediately knew that something was wrong when he saw Summer getting out of the driver's seat. Summer never drove Dillon's car.

"Flynn, someone attacked me and Dillon!" She yelled as she helped Dillon out of the car. "He's hurt!"

"It looks deep." He agreed, sliding himself under Dillon's arm and taking his weight. "Help me get him to the lab."

They dragged him inside, before helping him up onto a table. Dillon lay there as Summer inspected the wound.

"It didn't hit anything vital." She told them as Dillon winced in discomfort from the necessary probing of his wound. "Dillon, it looks like you were right, the needle went into your implants."

"You said it was a woman." Flynn said, looking a little confused. "She stabbed him hard enough to hit his implants?"

"She threw me without even trying." Summer told him. "Then she jumped straight onto a roof about 30-40 feet away and ran off at an incredible clip. She definitely wasn't human."

"You think this is a Venjix thing?" Flynn asked her, grabbing one of Dr. K's scanners.

"This one seemed different." She told him. "It looked human, but it didn't say anything."

"Well whatever it is, it caused minor damage to his implants." Flynn told them. "It'll be taken care of by his self-repair system in..."

As he was about to finish, a warning alarm went off, alerting them to an archive file.

"Bollocks." He muttered as he checked the file that had opened in the computer.

"What is it Flynn?" Dillon asked him, looking a little concerned.

"Flynn, please what's wrong?" Summer asked him. Flynn looked at them both regretfully.

"The archive file relates to the virus the acceleration code the lightning bot entered into him." He told them regretfully. "A similar program was uploaded into his systems by whatever attacked him."

"Similar?" Dillon asked him. "How similar is it?"

"From the readouts here, it's considerably more aggressive." Flynn told him. "The virus is now spreading at a rate two hundred times faster than before."

"Well let's get the code uploaded and stop it!" Summer screeched, beginning to panic over her boyfriend's wellbeing.

"It's not that simple." Flynn replied. "The virus is similar, but the base code is significantly different. We'd need the motherboard from the weapon his attacker used."

"No such luck I'm afraid." Dillon told him. "She took it with her. What's the prognosis?"

"If the last time is anything to go by, it's not good I'm afraid." Flynn responded. "The virus will have taken over by the end of the day."

Meanwhile, at Chas' mansion, he was in the billiards room, practicing some shots when the butler showed Gates in. By now he was wearing his uniform once more, hiding the biotech rig beneath it. Chas gestured the butler to leave them, before closing the door after him.

"I saw the newspaper this morning." Gates said with a smirk. "It seems you're the toast of the town right now. Word's already spread about how you're going to bravely attend the ceremony in two days despite your injuries."

"Yes, I saw that earlier." He replied, throwing the paper in the trash.

"Chas, you know this is all about getting you into office." Gates replied.

"I know you really know what you're doing." Chas stated, lining up another shot, trying to articulate his thoughts. "The thing is, I'm really not comfortable about what you're doing to Marcus."

"You said you'd leave the Trumans to me." Gates reminded him. "I deal with your public image and your political agenda, and you let me get a little payback on the Trumans."

"Look, I'm not a huge fan of the Truman family either." Chas conceded. "Marcus and I butted heads at the academy, but these allegations of cowardice aren't right. I know he was a lot of thing. Arrogant, dismissive, crude, but the one thing I know he wasn't is a coward."

"He doesn't need to be." Gates told him, picking up a cue and lining up a shot. He sank the ball he was aiming for with ease. "It's all part of the plan."

"I'm not really comfortable with this." Chas replied. "I mean, I admit that what I did to Summer was kind of low, but..."

"Look, this is all about the political agenda." Gates replied. "Look, you know that I'm planning something for the ceremony that'll weaken the Mayor's image..."

"You mentioned the rent-a-mob you hired to picket the event." Chas interrupted him as Gates sank another ball. "You said that if the ceremony is ruined on his watch, then the public will lose confidence in him, but..."

"Who do you think the public will turn to when they don't have faith in the Mayor?" Gates asked him. "They'll be looking for someone they can rely on, that they can put on a pedestal. A hero if you will."

"You've told me this..."

"Colonel Truman is effectively the next best candidate, but there're already doubts about his judgement." He continued. "He has already shown great favouritism towards his own family..."

"But..."

"Now Scott is rumoured to be a drug user." Gates interrupted him, ignoring Chas' protests.

"Marcus is DEAD!" Chas yelled, finally losing patience with the corrupt officer talking to him like a child. "He isn't competition for us! There's no need to torch his memory for our own ends!"

Gates' expression slipped and he racked his cue away, coming to Chas' side, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You should trust my judgement." Gates told him, his grip tightening. Chas winced in pain as he felt his crushing grip. "If it wasn't for me, you'd still be wallowing in page four obscurity instead of front page fame."

He forced Chas down to his knees with his grip.

"You would never even make it out of admin, never mind the Mayor's office if it wasn't for me." He hissed aggressively, before releasing him. Chas got to his feet, staring at Gates in amazement. "I've gotten us this far haven't I?"

Chas held his shoulder, stroking it and nodding nervously.

"Trust me." Gates said with a little smirk. "By the time the ceremony's over, there'll only be one man everyone in Corinth is talking about. You just worry about getting ready for that wedding of yours."

As he left, Chas just rubbed his shoulder thoughtfully. This was the first time Gates had been aggressive with him. From his actions, he knew Gates had a nasty streak, but this was the first time he'd found it directed at him. He was sure Gates' wanted him in the Mayoral office because of his families' name and prestige, but now he wasn't sure. He had an indication that there may be more to Gates than he gave him credit for.

He was nervous, most of all, because of something his father had always told him, something that occurred to him as Gates spoke to him. "Never trust a man who has to tell you he can be trusted."

Colonel Truman, and Ziggy arrived back at the Garage, finding Flynn working feverishly on the computers as Summer stood over the man she loved.

"What's happening?" Ziggy asked them, noticing that Dillon and Summer seemed to be comforting each other.

"Dillon was attacked." Flynn told him. "He's been injected with another acceleration code."

"Is there anything you can do for him?" Ziggy asked in response.

"I'm working on something Dr. K and I were collaborating on." Flynn replied, continuing to work away on the computer. "It's taking a while for me to break into her files, but I'll keep working."

"I'll help." Ziggy chipped in, making his way to another console. "I'll try to bypass her fire-walls."

Colonel Truman wanted to do something to help, but at that moment, his cell phone rang. He flipped it open, answering it.

"What can you tell me Hicks?" He asked.

"Sam's still working on the scene, but the first few bodies have been identified and moved to the morgue." Hicks told him, being careful to keep an eye on Sam. "She said they've all been injected by a powerful toxin. According to her, it pretty much liquefied their insides and..."

"It wasn't a pleasant death." Colonel Truman summarised.

"That's to say the least." Hicks agreed. "She said they'd have died in agony, but the thing is they seemed to have injected themselves."

"It was suicide?" Colonel Truman asked incredulously.

"Is that Colonel Truman on the line?" Sam asked Hicks. He nodded and handed her the phone as she gestured for it.

"Sir, this scene doesn't make sense." She told him. "All of these people injected themselves with the poison. No one would knowingly do that unless they wanted to die. Also, the way they were arranged, all looking up to this one man on the stage, it looks like they were involved in some kind of ceremony."

"The White Rose was a cult." He reminded her. "Perhaps it was some kind of ritual mass-suicide."

"Sir, all the pieces don't fit." She told him. "In my experience most suicides tend to try and limit suffering in the end. People take overdoses of sleeping pills, numb limbs before cutting them, use hollow point bullets...hell, even jumpers tend to remove their glasses and open the window first!"

"What are you saying?" He asked her.

"Their choice of poison is all wrong." She told him. "They would have died in agony! There are much better ways they could have ended their lives from a local pharmacy. Also, there were far more syringes here than there were cultists. It looks like they were going to take other doses out of here."

"So why would they take their own doses first?" Colonel Truman asked her.

"They wouldn't." She told him. "Also, among those already identified were three military officers, a lawyer and a journalist. They worked their way into some pretty influential positions, they don't seem like the kind of people to give up. Especially not when they're so close to achieving what they wanted."

"What are you getting at?" Colonel Truman asked her.

"It's a thought I had when I saw this." She told him. "You, Marcus and Scott have been attacked in the press. Your reputations are in doubt right before the ceremony. If they wanted to affirm their beliefs..."

"They had almost a perfect opportunity at the ceremony." Colonel Truman agreed. "It would be the perfect opportunity to humiliate us in public and turn the public against us."

"Sir, I can't possibly tell you what the real agenda is here, but this is no suicide." She said with certainty. "If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say they were set up."

"Which means someone else is behind all of this." He replied. "Let me know when you've found anything else."

With that, he hung up and made his way back into the lab, where the Rangers continued to work on breaking into Dr. K's system.

"I've got it!" Ziggy yelled excitedly as the files opened. "Who'd have known her password was..."

"Ziggy, we're on a short time-frame here." Flynn reminded him as he accessed the final programmes he needed. He hit a command, at which a door opened in one of the walls. He led the others through into a hidden chamber. There was a capsule, large enough for a man to lie down in. Seeing the leather, padded interior, it seemed that this was the intention. There was only a small glass window in the hatch. As Flynn approached the capsule, he hit a switch on the control panel, causing it to open.

"What is this Flynn?" Summer asked him. "Will this cure Dillon?"

Flynn wanted to tell her something different, but the look in his eyes betrayed him. He knew he couldn't lie to her. He took a deep breath and shook his head.

"Dr. K and I still haven't found a permanent solution to the growth of your implants." He told Dillon honestly. "Also, without the motherboard from the weapon that uploaded the acceleration code, there's no way I can slow it back to its original rate. This is something that Dr. K and I were working on as a temporary solution, in case your implants progressed too far and we still hadn't found a solution."

"What is it?" Dillon asked him. "If you want me to get in there..."

"It's a stasis pod." Flynn explained. "Dr. K and I figured that by using a process similar to my suit's time manipulation burst, we could create a field which will freeze everything inside it, however we found a way to cause it to form into a perpetual loop instead of existing in a short burst."

"You mean..."

"That's right Dillon, when you go into the pod and activate the field, you'll be held in place in time." Flynn told him. "You're implants won't grow any further."

"So that's your brilliant plan?" Summer shrieked, getting into his face. "You're going to stick him in the freezer until you figure out what to do?"

"Not exactly, but that is essentially the idea." He told her regretfully, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Summer, I'm sorry but we don't have any other choice!"

"You can't do this!" She screamed, swiping his hand away angrily. "We have to help Dillon, we have to stop this from happening. We need him!"

"Summer, I don't want to do this either, but Flynn's right." Dillon conceded, turning her to face him. "If I don't go in there, by the end of the day Venjix will have taken over completely."

"So you're just giving up?" Summer asked him, her lip quivering as she tried hard to keep control of her anguish. "I can't let you give up!"

"Summer, I'm not giving up, but you know we have to do this." He told her, holding her closely. He gently caressed her cheek as he looked into her eyes regretfully. "If Venjix takes over, then I won't be able to stop myself. I couldn't bear it if I did anything to hurt you."

He kissed her gently, before making his way over to the pod, climbing inside. Summer began crying as she watched him resign himself to the stasis pod.

"Dillon!" She shrieked, rushing to the side of the pod and reaching in before they closed it. "I can't lose you!"

"You'll never lose me." He told her with a smile. "You'll het Dr. K back, and she'll figure out something. Until then, I'll just be in here, waiting."

"I love you." She whispered, leaning in, seizing him by the head and kissing him deeply. Dillon returned the gesture, and smiled as they parted.

"I love you too." He replied. With that, she stepped back slowly from the pod. Ziggy put an arm around her, holding her as Flynn activated the control panel. She watched, feeling her heart breaking as the pod sealed, and the stasis field powered up, sealing the man she loved in time, preserving him in his current state indefinitely. She turned into Ziggy and held him tightly, sobbing into his chest. Ziggy comforted her as best as he could, but he knew this had to be the worst blow yet. They had now lost a Ranger.