Power Rangers: Cyber Squad

by Patrykowski

In the year 2028, SPD ends the Ranger program in an effort to demilitarize Earth and form peace with the planet Eltar. But when the cyber terrorist known as Mesomorph surfaces as the leader of the dangerous Aleph Beyt cult with the army of Genohanced warriors, it is up to the retired Thomas Oliver to lead the first "random" team in 15 years as the Power Rangers: Cyber Squad.

57. Against the Wind, Pt II: Monster

Volume VII - The War of Rangers

Chapter 56—Against the Wind, Part II: Black Wind

Grace

"I must admit, I am relieved to see you returned to your senses," Messiah said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "It pains me that we have come to such estranged terms and Declarations of War."

I nodded, silent.

He cleared his throat, his tone changing noticeably—light and accomplished. "Now, on to business. Do either of you think you'll be able to change the other Rangers' minds?"

Matt shook his head. "Jay's too worried about Amy to leave her side, and he knows that Eltarian medicine is way better than SPD's. He'll want to stay. I could talk to Patrick, but with Aaron officially the King of Eltar and already requesting Emergency Powers to form a counterstrike, there's no way either of them are budging."

"And what of the Red Ranger? Beth?"

Messiah and Matt's eyes looked to me and I sighed.

"Beth is stubborn. She's in tight with the Eff and the Elf. I don't see her leaving any time soon." I paused and glanced at Messiah pointedly. "Not to mention, she still kinda hates you for 'taking' Gabriel."

He chuckled. "True. Very true."

"What about the Mecha Squad?" I wondered.

He waved a hand. "I've no need to worry about them. They do what they're told as of now."

I tried my best to stay composed at his response but almost felt my cover slip.

So dad was right.

The Mecha Squad hadn't really turned over a new leaf. Maybe some of them, but most of them couldn't be trusted as far as they could be thrown. Like Michelle, Brianna, Josh, and Sanders. If there was anyone acting as a mole for Messiah, it was one of them.

It took all the energy I had to keep myself from snapping on either him or Matt. It took all my self-control to stand there and look Messiah in the eyes like nothing was wrong.

"Well, as much as I'd like to pretend like we weren't at war with more concerning matters to attend to—we are. The first order of business is to obtain Aaron, alive. If I can meet with him, I'm sure I can talk to him without starting a battle," Messiah said, turning on his heel to pace the room as he spoke. He rubbed his forehead as he grinned self-deprecatingly. "It was a terrible idea to task Gabriel with that objective, I realize that now."

"What makes you think we can make him come back with us?" Matt asked, ignoring Messiah's bush-beating.

"Because he won't attack us," I responded, knowing Messiah's plan before he even had to say anything.

"As much as I'd like to believe that," Messiah said slowly, "I insist you take a team of SPD Rangers with you." He smiled earnestly. "Just in case."

I felt my eye twitch in irritation but tried to play it off as I nodded. "Yes, sir."

And just to convince him, I saluted.

And Matt followed suit.

—56—

My communicator wouldn't work inside the SPD compound, that much I knew; but I needed a way to warn the other Rangers of what I had done.

I needed to tell them I was undercover without revealing my cover.

Almost impossible with SPD guards watching my every move, that much was true. I couldn't even piss in peace.

The only thing I could think of was to let Sofyetta know, but Matt could potentially intercept my thoughts to her, and he would no doubt sense her leave the compound's hangar bay.

"You ready?" Matt asked me, his eyes seemingly blank and emotionless. Like he had no idea what we were about to do.

I tried to mimic him.

"As I'll ever be."

"Is Sofyetta willing to give us a ride?" he asked me as we began to head off toward the flight deck.

"I don't see why not," I replied, "she said she's willing to give peace a chance."

He didn't seem to acknowledge my baiting statement, trying to see what his actual intentions were.

I didn't like this Matt.

He wasn't Matt at all.

Something had to have happened.

And Sofyetta agreed.

"How are we gonna get Aaron alone?" I asked, Sofyetta's form looming into view and her presence filling my mind. "I mean…he is the King of Eltar now. He's not just gonna walk out of the palace and come with us."

"Then we make him."

I stopped walking, staring at Matt like he'd lost his mind. I mean, he had to have. Right? Going up against Aaron? Mr. I-Almost-Blew-Up-The-Planet-With-My-Temper-Tantrums?

Matt turned back, looking at me like I was the crazy one.

"What?" he finally asked.

"Are you serious? You think we can make Aaron go somewhere?" I chuckled bitterly. "Sure, and while we're at it—we'll just force Zordon into going too!"

"Why are you being like this?"

I tried to stay calm, but his attitude was…so off. I couldn't take it. I couldn't take looking into his eyes and not seeing a shred of him there. I couldn't take hearing his voice and failing to find any sliver of emotion in his words. I couldn't take seeing him, but feeling no love.

"Matt, listen to yourself. You're talking about…fighting one of our friends. I know it's weird to say it, but after four years, that guy that we hated so much in high school is one of our best friends. One of few. People like us don't get to make many friends with the kind of work we do." I stepped toward him, laying my hand on his cheek and stroking his jaw softly. "Patrick loves Aaron as much as you love me. Even if we were to 'force' Aaron into coming with us, if we hurt him, Patrick would never forgive us. Ever."

His hand moved up to hold mine briefly, and then his fingers wrapped around my wrist and pulled it away slowly. "Right now, I don't care. This needs to be done. We need to end this."

He let go of my hand, letting it fall down to my side lifelessly. And then he turned and walked toward Sofyetta.

He barely turned back as he asked me, "Coming?"

I never considered myself overly religious. I was taught the traditional ways of Christianity, but never went to church every Sunday. My last time in a church was for my mom's wedding with Terrance. Almost twenty years ago. And I'd had "Amazing Grace" butchered a million different times by a million different people every time I told them my name. I never felt like I needed a special place to ask something bigger than me for help. I always had to help myself. So to say me and the Holy Spirit weren't on the best of terms wouldn't be far from the truth.

But in that moment—in the wake of Matt's words and the stillness in the air like a monstrous hurricane was going to come hurtling from the skies at any minute—I couldn't help it.

I prayed.

I prayed to every deity I knew about; and then I prayed to the ones I would never even begin to fathom.

—56—

The Baramo ban Dyr was the elite guard of the King of Eltar. Their name literally meant "Arm of the King." Each one would rather die before see harm come to their king, and each one had a mind like a steel trap. Nothing in or out. Ever. Even some of the most advanced telepaths on the planet couldn't breach their minds. And that was just the mental abilities. Physically, each one was on par with the acrobatic skills of a professional gymnast; their ground speed was up to twenty miles per hour—on their feet alone. And the shortest one of them all was 6-foot-8.

They were the easy part.

Aaron and his 'other-half' Orion were unlike anything I'd ever seen. When Aaron walked into a room, you knew it. You could feel him there. And I don't think he noticed it, because he never acted any different. He seemed very much the same—just…wiser.

But when he was on the battlefield—when all that raw power went into overdrive—it was incredible. I mean, I had seen some pretty powerful people and creatures and whatnot. But Aaron was unreal. Maybe it was just because I knew him outside of the battlefield. I dunno. Something told me it was more than that. On several instances, Zordon had used the Eltarian Palace's PsyTexeon Equaloreom—The Psychic Technology Facility, to test the limits of Aaron and Orion and their combined mind's power.

He had to stop the tests.

Aaron had only continued to grow. And since he was the only Human-Eltarian hybrid in existence, his physiology and genetic makeup were still very foreign to the entire planet. Even Zordon didn't understand why Aaron was reaching his zenith faster than any of us anticipated. It was like every day he became more powerful. Like he just soaked up energy every day he woke up from his two hour "sleeps."

I had no idea how Matt assumed we could make him come with us.

But that could wait until later.

Our first test was getting past the security.

"This is Psi Black, en route with Kappa Blue and Sofyetta," I radioed in, fighting my hesitation. " Requesting Palace Barrier Access Codes."

"Affirmative, standby for internal scan," someone responded a few moments later.

It wasn't a voice I recognized, so it had to be a member of the Eltarian Land Forces. It was too late in the night for it to be anyone else. They were supposed to be asleep.

Everyone except Aaron.

I focused on keeping the SPD troops hidden with my cloaking ability, the strain hardly a sweat after years of practice. The things I could do with my power now amazed even me. Cloaking a ship full of humans—8 altogether—was no small feat.

But I did it.

I couldn't slip up now and let Matt know what I was doing. And he'd been quiet the whole time.

"Shields down," I said, trying to lighten Matt up. "That's one obstacle out of the way."

He nodded.

That's it.

A fucking nod.

I gathered a deep but shaky breath, trying to calm myself before I blew our cover a different way.

"Have you got a lock on Aaron?"

Oh, he speaks.

"He's in the lower level corridors. Looks like he's visiting Hunter."

"Then he'll be alone," he mumbled. "We need to hurry. Before he leaves and rejoins the Baramo ban Eltar.

"You really want to attack him while he's with his near-dead parent?" I demanded.

"We're not going to attack him."

"Oh, really? So we're just going to stroll in with a bunch of a SPD Rangers with us?"

"We can take care of ourselves," the Red SPD Ranger piped up.

"You can? Well in that case, how about I just go ahead and de-cloak you then?"

"What's your deal?" a female blue SPD Ranger asked. "Why are we even trusting her, anyway?"

"Because without her, you wouldn't even be here," Matt snapped.

I think it was the first bit of emotion I'd seen him show since earlier this afternoon.

No one dared to say anything else, so we all fell silent, Sofyetta's rotors the only sound in the still night. She lowered her chopper form to the rooftops, closing in on the helipad slowly. Even she, in all her brashness and outspokenness, was hesitant in this moment.

She was just as scared as we were.

"I'll wait here," she said, her engines going quiet.

"You might want to wait here," I suggested, glancing at the SPD Rangers.

"Not a chance, ma'am," the Red Ranger said, shaking his head. "Our orders are to escort the King back to SPD."

I sighed. "I can't promise…I can't promise you'll all come out alive. The Baramo Ban Dyr will be on point. They will not hesitate to take you out." I glanced at them to add emphasis. "Permanently."

No one spoke for some time, and Matt was being more patient than I thought he would be.

Finally, the Shadow Ranger spoke up.

"You have twenty minutes. Then we're coming in."

There was no more need for words. They stowed away in Sofyetta and Matt and I stole away into the night like black and blue blurs in the wind.

The silence stuck with us all the way until we got to a clearing where the Baramo were standing guard. Right outside some ancient corridors in a sealed passage of the palace's lower levels. Matt and I tiptoed around them silently, careful of the placement of our feet.

"State your intent, Rangers."

I froze.

One of the Baramo was staring at me. Not around me. Not confused by my camouflage. He knew exactly where I was.

"I need to speak to Aaron."

"Dyr Aryn is with his Dyn. He does not wish to be disturbed."

"Let us through," Matt ordered, cutting me off.

"I shall not," the guard said heavily, setting his behemoth sword in front of him and blocking Matt's path.

"Look," I said, "this is important. Like SPD is here important!"

I could feel Matt's eyes dart toward me, but I ignored him.

"Impossible."

"Oh, well then never mind! If you say it's impossible, then it simply must be impossible. I must have just been imagining the fleet of cloaked T-Fliers on its way here. And the Rangers I just arrested and put in Sofyetta's containment brig must really just be impersonators. How silly of me."

He grunted now, angered. "Do not condescend to me, human. You may wear the Cyber Morpher and wield the will of the Morphing Grid, but do not presume to patronize me. You overstep your boundaries."

"Fuck your boundaries," Matt fired.

I held a hand out to him in irritation.

"Unless you want to rebuild this palace when—or if—we make it through the invasion, I suggest you let me talk to my friend. Cuz right now, you're overstepping my boundaries."

Our eyes battled for what felt like eons. I tried not to let the limitless knowledge in his irises intimidate me, tried to exert my dominance. Tried to keep composed. Tried to shadow him.

I won.

"Very well."

His sword transformed into an enormous key that he motioned toward a great wall with ancient Eltarian inscriptions. The symbol-like letters of the Eltarian alphabet began to glow just faintly, until a passage way formed of all the crystals that composed a single wall of glass in the palace.

I nodded my head in respect before I took off. Matt took his time walking away, no doubt mean-mugging the Baramo.

Whatever room we'd enter was obviously some sacred Eltarian temple for fallen kings. Or something. The entire history of their planet seemed to line the walls in engravings that looked thousands of years old.

They weren't so different from us, at one point.

They still weren't.

At the end of the seemingly endless hallway was a single light blue door. It wasn't the fanciest, most special door I'd seen, but there was something about it.

Something…spiritual.

Matt flung it open unceremoniously.

Aaron was seated with his back to us, his Royal Eltarian wardrobe's cape draped over his shoulders.

"I can't believe you came in here."

I frowned. "No, Aaron, you don't underst—"

"I know why you're here," he said calmly but drowning out my voice. "The same reason you brought SPD with you. The same reason you lied to the Baramo."

Matt looked ready to morph. Tense. Waiting.

"I'm not going to fight you," he said after some time. "I'll talk to Messiah. I'll give peace a chance." He stood now, his full height dwarfing even Matt. With all his armor and royal detailing, he looked even bigger than he usually did. "But when it fails—and I know it will—what then?" Now he was facing us, and I wish to God he hadn't been. "What happens next?"

"Nothing," Matt answered tersely, "we end it. I'm done with this. We all are. This is way more than we signed up for."

"No, Matt, it's not," Aaron barked. "You knew what you were doing when you put that Morpher on. It chose you because it knew that something in you was great. It knew you were capable of everything you've done and all the things you haven't done. When you become a Ranger, there's no rubric or course outline; no instruction manuals or handy tutorials. Not for the important things. You can learn how to form a giant 4,000 ton super robot in 5 seconds flat; you can learn to manipulate the smallest of air particles in a matter of months." He was coming closer now, but I didn't think he was going to attack. I knew he wasn't going to. I trusted him. "But the core value—that one un-teachable thing—is what it takes to be a Ranger. To fight for those who can't—or won't—fight for themselves."

I could tell now that Aaron was doing his best to suppress Orion, who was probably chomping at the bit to wipe us off the face of the planet with a couple of energy blasts.

"Like I said," Matt finally replied coolly, "this isn't what I signed up for."

Aaron shook his head. "I guess not." His shoulders slumped and he seemed to relax slightly as he headed toward the door. "Let's go."

It felt too easy.

Aaron walked out first, his back turned to us again. I could feel his disappointment in the way he walked.

I looked at Matt, whose face still showed no trace of any type of emotion. Except maybe agitation.

"I don't like this," he said, "it's too easy."

I nodded.

"Let's just hope he doesn't try anything."

We didn't need to sit there discussing our hopes. We both knew we were terrified of Aaron either losing control of Orion, or even worse, being perfectly in control and still tearing us to shreds.

"So," Aaron finally said, "how sure are you that this isn't a trick?"

He slowed his pace until he was standing still, looking back at us.

"Is that SPD Ranger Squad gonna shoot me on sight? Are you absolutely sure that this isn't a trap?"

I froze. I didn't know how to respond. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do.

"I'm not," Matt finally said.

Aaron's eyes met mine, seeing straight through me. I tried to use the same trick I used on the Baramo on him—tried to mime him with my shadow abilities.

But I forgot that he was light.

He saw through everything.

In that moment, I was so happy he did.

His eyes settled on Matt, and in that moment, my suspicions about Matt all came scurrying to the surface.

Messiah had done something to him.

I could tell by the look in Aaron's eyes. The surprise that seemed to cross his face like lightning. There one minute. Gone the next.

"What?" Matt finally asked.

"Matt…" Aaron muttered, "Matt, what did he do to you?"

The confusion and hurt in Aaron's voice sucked the warmth out of me. I felt cold and hollowed out, suddenly terrified of what Messiah had done. I, better than almost anyone, knew what he could do. But he never messed with my mind.

"Say what you will, Aaron," Matt sneered. "He didn't do anything you haven't done. All you Eltarians and your psychic powers, and your 'Armageddon this' and your 'apocalypse that.' Everything is so…so…alien." Matt was cracking now, emotion scorching through his words. "I can't handle it! I'm done. All I want…all I really want…is a normal life. I wanna go back to Earth, back home to my parents; where water is blue and the clouds are white, not the other way around. All Messiah did was promise to give me that back. To let me go. To leave me alone for the rest of my life. All of us!"

Aaron was looking at me now, as if somehow, in the middle of Matt's tirade, he had realized something.

"He promised he would let Grace go," Aaron said matter-of-factly, "didn't he?"

My head snapped in Matt's direction, his face darkened by frustration.

"All I wanted was for us to be able to actually enjoy peace."

He was too fast for me to detect, but not for Aaron.

The new King of Eltar flipped through the air and dodged the blade of air Matt had fired at him. His cape wasn't as lucky, tearing from his back like it had been burned off.

"You won't take that away from me!" Matt roared, his voice bordering on hysterical as he tossed wind spheres at Aaron viciously.

Aaron continued to dodge the onslaught, screaming back at Matt to stop before he got hurt.

But all the while, I couldn't move.

I didn't know what to do.

And suddenly, the hallway was on fire.

Or at least, it sounded like an explosion had gone off in the hallway.

I covered my eyes, trying to squint past the light to see what had happened.

I remembered praying again for the second time that day. Begging the universe that Orion hadn't snapped on Matt.

It was Amantanine.

She had burst into the hallway in a barrage of laser fire and managed to separate Matt and Aaron.

"Get on!" she screamed in my head.

I flipped onto Amantanine's seat and she immediately wheelied off before either of the boys could catch me.

—56—

"If Messiah really is in Matt's head—if he really has brainwashed him somehow—then we're screwed. Aren't we?"

I didn't respond to Amantanine immediately as I looked out over the darkened landscape from the hill we'd escaped to.

Without noticing, I sighed. "I don't know. I just…I don't know. Messiah knows our powers inside and out. We gave him plenty of time to study us while we were enrolled in SPD. The only advantage we have is the Beta Bonder BURST Execute. Luckily, you and Matt haven't done that yet."

Amantanine's silence only enhanced the bristling of offense I felt from her mental presence.

"No offense," I added quickly.

"No," she finally said, "I…I only got offended because I can't help feeling like it's my fault. I haven't necessarily been the most cooperative partner."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The reason you and I bond so well is because you motivate me. You push me to my limits because you truly believe I have none. Because that's how you look at yourself—like you can do anything you want. And it's true. You have this unshakeable confidence that Matt and I just don't have. Maybe my BURST Execution triggers are the things I lack?"

I thought about it for a few seconds, and it came to me like an epiphany. She was right. She and Matt were very similar. They were both 'go with the flow' types. It was easier for them to not put up a resistance and settle for the first good thing that came along. They were easy to please and didn't have the desire to fulfill their potential.

"Against the wind…" I muttered, half to myself.

"Huh?"

I shook my head. "Earlier today, when I first found Matt at the SPD command post, we had a crazy argument. I pushed him, and he finally pushed back. I forced him to go against the grain. Against the wind. Instead of trying to bond over being similar, or using your experience with my element, channel what you've learned from me. You have to push him."

"I don't see how that's going to help," she said, confused. "I mean, that might've helped about 8 hours ago, but there's no way I'll be able to get through to him with Messiah in his head."

"See, there you go," I said, mild irritation surfacing, "always saying what you can't do. You're a Zordian. Zeta reformatted you for a reason, Amantanine. Because you have so much potential, but you're so reliant on someone else to make you feel special when you're incredible without me or anyone else there to push you. The only reason I push you is because I know what you can do. I see the parts of you that you don't. I'm on the outside looking in, and I know that you can do this."

I stepped over to her and placed a hand on her windshield, my Shadow powers flowing into her so she could transform and I could look her in the eye.

Her emerald green eyes stared back like neon headlights.

"You know me like the back of your hand. You know how I am with Matt. I can't get inside his head because I'm not telepathic. But you can. You can be me. You can use what you know about me to mimic me. And if there's anyone who knows Matt, it's me."

I felt her core warm with confidence and euphoria—that inexplicable gratuity that sometimes overtakes the mind, body and soul—and she came as close as she could to hugging me.

"K'Yndeemeeorod, Grace."

That word.

The Eltarian verb she'd just used, sent chills through my body. I felt my entire physicality disappear, like I was just a light bulb of energy in the universe that had just been plugged up for the first time. Slowly, my limbs reconnected, and I felt my heart let out the strongest beat I'd ever felt.

All from one word that reverberated in my mind like a mixture between a feeling and a sound.

"What…what was that? I…I don't understand it. There's…there's no translation."

She shook her head. "No, there's not. Humans don't have a word for it, but…it's like saying you love someone forever, but really meaning. It's that random feeling that you get. You never plan it. You can't force it. It just creeps up on you and takes over your whole body. Eltarians don't use it very often, because it's so sacred. It's eternal love. The kind that you share with Matt, or Aaron shares with Patrick. The kind that Amy and Jay, and Tonion and Lyz have."

Despite the fact that I had no idea what was going on with Aaron and Matt right now, or whether the SPD team had started ransacking the palace grounds or not, the most important thing to me in that moment was to find out why Amantanine didn't have anyone.

"Do…do you?"

She smiled half to herself, suddenly shy. "I've…I've never felt the romantic version if that's what you mean. Well, never had it reciprocated that is."

"What do you mean 'had it reciprocated?' You've never been in a relationship before?"

"Eltarians don't date," she said, "so no. If I had had a partner, I would still be with him or her now."

"Oh…" I said, suddenly at a loss for words.

Why was that happening to me so frequently today?

"Anyway," she said, changing the subject, "I've met plenty of friends and family that I feel Yndeemeor for. Romance isn't always necessary. Especially when we have bigger things to worry about."

I nodded, suddenly snapping back to reality. "You're right. We should get back."

I opened my mind up and tried to call to Sofyetta.

"Oh no."

"What?" Amantanine asked.

"Sofyetta is gone."

"What about Matt and Aaron?"

"I don't know. Sofyetta's out of range so I can't even ask her what happened." I turned and looked at Amantanine now. "Let's go see if we can find the Baramo. Maybe they'll know what happened."

In a flash, Amantanine went from being a 15-foot female robot warrior to a sleek crotch rocket in glimmering black armor. As soon as the light subsided, I took my place on her cushioned leather seat, revving her engines. Her tires ripped at the soil beneath us as we sped off the hill top and dove into the night below.

—56—

The Baramo had been executed. All six of them.

Aaron's cloak was in shreds near along a pathway, and scorch marks blackened the deep blue grass like a plague of death.

I let out a hysterical shudder, something that sounded like a mix of crying and muttering "oh no" to myself.

My composure cracked.

Now I was going to have to do one of two things.

Track down Aaron and Matt before the other Rangers found out Aaron was missing.

Or.

Blow my cover and tell the other Rangers that I had allowed SPD and Matt to kidnap Aaron.

If they'd even believe me.

And then my Morpher came to life, bleeping in response to someone trying to contact me.

It was my dad.

Amantanine and I shared a look, one that relayed so many words and feelings in mere seconds.

"Let's go," she said.

I ignored the hail and called out, "Cyber Digitize—Energize!"

I always forgot how incredible it felt to Morph. Sometimes, because I did it so often, I didn't even realize I was doing it. But every once in a while, on a night like tonight with so much at stake, I felt the strength and wisdom of the Morphing Grid filling me up. I felt it filling me with its will, guiding me along the way to the right choice.

I knew I could do this. I just had to focus.

As my suit snaked its way on to me from my feet to my neck, I felt the familiarity of the calm yet fearsome power's embrace wholly as the will of the Morphing Grid surfaced from within me. My GeoElesferi snapped on like pads of armor along my shoulders and torso, and from them, bright lines of Cyber Encoding laced my arms and thighs. My forearms were absorbed in a black haze as embers of shadow energy burned gauntlets on over my white gloves. I felt my blond hair spiral into a tight bun atop my head, and when I closed my eyes, I felt metallic armor clicking onto my face, forming my helmet. When I reopened my eyes, the white haze of my visor was just clearing from my eyesight, and I stared out into the vast darkness of my morphing dimension.

In seconds, the real world reappeared in front of me, and I found myself looking out over a daunting, cold, Eltarian night.

I couldn't give myself to time to think about the impossibility I was diving into. I pressed my feet together and flipped into the air. By the time I was ready to land, Amantanine's motorcycle form scooped me from the air and I twisted my hands forward on her accelerators.

Her tires lit up the earth beneath us in black flame as I pushed us into hyper drive. As the sound barrier began to yield to us, my visor compensated to diffuse the sparks of energy crackling around us as we gunned for Mach II speeds.

Amantanine and I had never been able to cut loose like this on Earth. We had never been able to test the limits of our combined powers on such fragile and suspect terrain, and because most of the Earth was populated, there were no vast terrains like there were on Eltar. Here, the true alien features of Amantanine shined bright as she accomplished feats that were simply impossible on Earth. Like breaking the sound barrier on wheels without destroying the tires, or, better yet, my body not being flung off of her and broken to bits by the harsh speeds.

Both of us were defying the laws of physics.

So why couldn't I defy the laws of possibility?

I pushed my thoughts into Amantanine as we sped through the night, black flames with purple tongues lashing out at the ground in a trail of energy that did no harm to the soft blades of azure grass beneath our tires. My visor came to life as I brought up navigation, trying my best to get a lock on Matt's morpher signature.

He hadn't gotten too far, and either Sofyetta was still following our plan and staying undercover, or Matt had somehow forced her to obey whatever twisted will he was under. Either way, I knew that my cover was about to be blown. The slaughtering of the Baramo could only mean that Messiah really had no intention of a peaceful negotiation with Aaron. And I was an idiot to believe otherwise.

I knew I had no choice but to confront Messiah myself and try my damnedest to free Matt from his control without getting killed.

"We're less than five minutes from the outpost," Amantanine's voice informed me telepathically. "Do we go in guns blazing, or do we go in quiet?"

"Our element is Shadow," I responded. "We sneak in and wait for an opening."

—56—

Aaron was alive, obviously, but he looked…sick. Veins were throbbing in places they shouldn't have been, and his face was strained and red, like he couldn't breathe right. The Iso-Cuffs on his wrists and ankles didn't exactly make it easy for him to move, especially in his current spread-eagle position; and it was obvious from the pained expression on his face that he was far from at ease.

Messiah was across from him, seated in a comfortable chair and gazing at him with a quiet admiration.

Finally, he stood.

From my place in the air duct, I could hear the subtle pride lacing his words. He was no doubt impressed that he was able to capture the mighty Dyr Ban Eltar.

"I'm sure you're wondering what I've done to you," Messiah finally whispered as he turned his back to Aaron, gazing out at nothing in particular.

Aaron didn't respond. It didn't really look like he could.

"Don't worry, it's just a little…suppressant. Call it a 'safety precaution,' if you will. A special batch I whipped up just for you, actually. It's similar to the one I used on your Blue Ranger friend to make this whole thing possible."

Aaron's wild eyes locked onto Messiah, and I fought the urge to cry out at that bastard for messing with someone else's mind.

"But you know what it is, don't you? You know why I can't just turn you into another confused, conflicted, yet obedient lapdog. Don't you?"

Now Messiah was looking at Aaron, partly impressed; partly disgusted.

"You're not fully human, so the Cronus Virus can't control you. Can't trick you. But it sure as hell burnsthe Eltarian part of you, doesn't it?"

Aaron suppressed a grunt, his breaths tight and constricted.

"In any case, you already know why I've called you here, don't you? It's inevitable really, that you and I should meet under any other circumstances. And now, here we are. Two kings of two very different planets. One, a powerful, experienced, genetically advanced genius; the other a young, confused, abomination-of-a-hybrid that should be a biological impossibility. How, exactly, did you expect us to meet? I, for one, have been dreaming of this day." He crept closer to Aaron, sadistically torturing his mind much like he had mine and Matt's. "And I'll let you in on a little secret…" he whispered chillingly. I listened harder, trying my best to make out his next words. "I've been planning this all along."

Aaron stared up at the ceiling, away from Messiah. He seemed to be deliriously drifting into the heavens, his eyes unfocused. Messiah laughed patronizingly, but he took his eyes off Aaron for less than a second. And Aaron's bright eyes locked onto mine. Like he was staring right through the air vent.

Messiah stopped laughing enough to step about a foot away from Aaron.

"See, I've orchestrated every little part. Some was improv, I won't lie. But all the 'big stuff,'"—he waved his hands flamboyantly, "all of that was me. I'm quite the architect, I must say. I've woven an extensively complicated web, but it all boils down to this right here." He leaned forward, his hands on his knees as his face loomed inches from Aaron's face. "You," he said with a point, "and me."

Aaron's breath seemed to be regulating somewhat and he seemed to calm himself just as Messiah turned to walk back to his chair. He was planning something.

"Now," Messiah said as he turned around dramatically, plopping into his chair, "let's talk business, shall we? You know what I can do to your friends. You saw what I did to poor little Grace when I took her mind out of her body and started pulling her strings. You see what I've done to Matthew; emptied out what little was in his head and filled it up with all the important stuff he already had. Hell, I even left that small little attachment to Grace for him; call it me throwing old Fido a bone."

My stomach knotted as I listened to him desecrate my free will and my love life like they were just pieces in his chess game. I felt the sting of hatred sharp in my veins and had to force myself to remember why I was here.

I had to wait for the right moment.

"But what you haven't seen, Mr. Brooks—or Zeta, whatever it is—is what I can do to you. How would you like to be another Gabriel? Hm? How would you like to be so blinded by all the negativity and hatred you've ever felt, and lose all of the love you've ever known?"

Aaron finally answered back, his voice riddled with heavy breathing, though noticeably better than before. "In your dreams."

"What is it with you Cyber Squad Rangers and underestimating me at every turn?" The SPD Commander snapped in disbelief. "I mean, surely by now you should know I don't bluff. I've just told you that every single thing over the past two years was me. Including that little one-night-stand you had with Josh." Messiah gloated for a second. "You didn't think he actually liked you, did you? No, I needed to play my cards right. Every member of the Mecha Squad was placed strategically. You think you've 'saved' them by 'purifying' the Aleph Beyt morphers? All you did was weaken them. I'll admit, it was a disappointing, but necessary loss." He seemed to regret it temporarily, a fleck of remorse detectable for mere nanoseconds before he pressed on condescendingly. "And recruiting Patrick and Grace into SPD? Just sewing the seeds, there, buddy. Oh, and of course, killing you. Though, not a lot of good that did, since…here you stand." Having realized he'd proven his point, and showing signs of self-realized digression, Messiah continued to lay out his playbook. "The fact remains that if you think for a second that anything that's happened to you over the past four years was an accident, you are surely mistaken. That is why you should never underestimate what I can do, Dyr Aryn."

A parade of silence settled in for half-a-minute before Aaron spoke. "What do you want?"

"Why your surrender, of course. Verbal would be preferred, but I'll understand if you want to opt for a written submission. Either way works for me."

Aaron's body seemed to spasm slightly, his head hung so I couldn't see his face. Then it lolled back and I heard the laughter finally spill from his throat. Quiet at first, before it built up.

And then, Messiah seemed to be thrown off guard. "Maybe I overdid the Cronus Serum a bit, since you seem to be delirious with pain. Or perhaps your goal is to test my patience until I decide to end your unintentional life in an act of martyrdom." Messiah's anger continued to surface, as was evident in his blood red eyes, "Whatever the case may be, a coherent response will escape your lips even if I have to rip it from your throat!"

Aaron's laughter began to subside, but his eyes closed now and he didn't bother to open them. But his lips started moving as he spoke. "For someone who's had everything planned out, you seem a little worried."

Messiah didn't respond, no doubt confused by the lack of pain or fatigue in Aaron's voice now.

"And that's because you might not have been bluffing with Grace. Or with Matt. Or with Doctor Oliver. Hell, you might even be able to stonewall my Dyn. But me?" Aaron paused confidently, a smirk taking over his face slowly. "I make you nervous. You don't know what to expect from me. I'm a gamble. Like you said, I'm an accident. An anomaly. The one variable you just can't control."

Messiah scoffed, but his front was shaky at best.

"If you think, for even a fraction of a sliver of a nanosecond, that I'm going to give up myself, my friends, my family, and my world to you because you think you can control them all…"

Aaron's eyes shot open as he his head whipped up toward me. They locked onto my own, and suddenly, I knew what he was planning.

"You might wanna get some new strings."

Messiah looked confused now.

And then Aaron exploded in an orb of light that disintegrated the iso-cuffs and covered the room in a blinding white light.

"I'm nobody's puppet!"

Messiah let out a scream of rage as the entire compound shook with an aftershock of Aaron's powers.

In seconds, Aaron jumped for me. I grabbed his hand and we both phased through the walls and floorboards until we landed outside where Amantanine was waiting.

As we stood and Aaron's eyes returned to normal, I stared at him in awe. "I don't know whether to call you legendary or lame for that comeback."

He smirked and broke into a breathy chuckle. "I couldn't help it. If there's one thing Messiah's got down to an art, it's banter. He's a tough act to follow."

"Patrick would be proud," I joked. "What's your plan?"

"Well, that was my plan," he admitted. "I figured if I let Messiah think he'd captured me, I could buy you some time to bring the others."

My eyes shifted away from his.

"You…did bring them…right?"

"No. I didn't think they'd believe that I hadn't really turned on you guys. I didn't think they'd trust me. Not after Messiah was able to use me before."

Aaron placed a strong hand on me. "Hey, nobody mistrusts you, and nobody blames you. What Messiah said in there was true—he's done a lot of stuff to control us, but we can't let him think he can win. Like he said, he's had to improvise, and trust me; he's had to do it a lot."

I grinned half-heartedly at his attempt to cheer me up, and then he pressed on.

"Now come on, I know you wouldn't come out here without a plan. Even your plans have plans."

I had to laugh now.

"Well, I was thinking that with Amy out of commission, reaching into Matt's mind isn't going to be as easy as it would be with her here. But, if Amantanine can try to bond with him, maybe she can break through Messiah's Cronus Virus compound."

Amantanine chimed in now. "I was listening in through Grace when she was in there and I heard Messiah mention he used a strand of the Cronus Virus to manipulate Matt." She brought up a holographic diagram of an analysis on the virus. "This is all the information Doctor Oliver was able to obtain on the virus while you had Gabriel detained. If I'm right, Messiah is using the cognitive override stem of the Cronus virus exclusively. If he had used any more of the virus, Matt's Morpher would have become incompatible with his DNA, so no genetic changes could be made."

I took over for Amantanine as I told Aaron our plan. "We had already suspected something to that nature, so I had Amantanine start coding an antivirus. The only problem is that it would take too long to synthesize. So, we figured we could just make a patch instead of an antivirus that we could upload into Matt's brain through BURST Execution."

Aaron nodded. "That's a great idea," he said, "but…you and Matt have never been able to do that though…have you?"

I immediately answered for Amantanine. "Not yet. But I know she can."

Aaron didn't seem to question my confidence, so he went along with it.

"Alright, you guys go find Matt, I'll—"

"Don't bother looking for me."

Aaron and I spun around, Matt standing about 25 meters from us.

I wasn't afraid of him, I was afraid of Sofyetta, who was standing next to him in her Tornado Thronos form.

"Sof…?" I wondered.

She didn't respond.

"Don't bother," Matt said, "she's not undercover. She told me everything."

"How did you—"

"She's my partner, remember?" he spat. "You think you're close with her? Probably like you think you're close with me, right? Probably like you think you know me." He was having another one of his Cronus-induced rages, all the blocked and pent up emotion seeping out in anger and hatred. "But you don't! You never took the time to get to know me. It was always you. And now look where that's gotten us! You did this! We could've been happy. We could've been married by now, with a home of our own. We could be normal. But no, that's not enough for you."

"Don't listen to him, Grace," Aaron warned, "that's not Matt, it's Cronus. Don't make the same mistake Beth made—don't let him poison you too."

I tried to listen to Aaron, I really did. But his words seemed to get drown out in my own rage. Amantanine felt it too, and she idled up to me with her engine rumbling. Ready.

"I didn't want to have to do this, Grace," Matt said, "why don't we just call it tough love!"

He screamed as he jumped into the sky and threw down a tornado from the heavens.

Amantanine took off and snatched me with her, and I heard Aaron shout "wait!" before we tore off toward Sofyetta. In a spark of blue, Matt merged with her and her armor seemed to glow with energy as she and Matt's combined form stepped forward.

Amantanine and I rode along the edges of the tornado before we allowed ourselves to be sucked into the vortex. In midair, our energies synchronized, and a BURST Execution smoother than any other took place in the eye of the storm. In our new robotic form, we rode down the funnel and spun out into a kick that slammed into Sofyetta's chest plate.

The blue combo buckled under the force of the blow and staggered backward, somewhat caught off guard by our recovery.

"Remember the plan, Grace!" Aaron shouted over my commlink. "I'll hold off SPD."

I hadn't even noticed it, but a squadron of SPD Rangers had vacated the command post to engage Aaron, but I didn't need to worry about him. His powers had grown immensely, and I could tell the Cronus Virus had long since worn off on him.

But now Sofyetta was charging Amantanine and me, and suddenly, the plan did come stumbling back into my fury-clouded brain.

"We're going to have to separate them somehow," I said to Amantanine. "Any ideas?"

"Just one," she responded, "but I have no idea if it's going to work."

"What is it?"

"Remember how you wanted me to broadcast you into Matt's mind?"

"Yeah, but that's not going to work without him being bonded to you."

"I know. But, what if you bonded to Sofyetta, and then I bonded with you, and then bonded with Matt through Sofyetta."

I fell silent for a second as we jumped away from Sofyetta's Rotor Sabers. She slashed again, and if it weren't for Amantanine's lithe form, we'd have been missing our ankles.

It made sense, I guess. Amantanine could piggyback with me into Sofyetta's mind, and then Amantanine could get into Matt's mind through Sofyetta.

"It's worth a shot," I said hastily. "Sure as hell beats getting minced into two-by-fours. Let's do it."

Amantanine and I pushed our body into a flip as we stood atop the SPD outpost's main communication's tower. The duo known as Mayetta seemed to hesitate, knowing they couldn't risk shooting me down lest they interrupt the satellite's communications. Quickly, while they were stalled, Amantanine and I used our cloaking ability and began to focus our energies on pulling Sofyetta's mind into the open.

It wasn't easy, but I felt her presence, and that was all it took. Once I had the opening, once I was in, Amantanine barged into her mind and pried it open like a broken door.

Amantanine's psychic-self sprinted through the corridors of Sofyetta's mind and then crossed the bridge into Matt's. And it was there that I saw all the confusion and hatred Messiah had planted in Matt. I saw his side. Felt his pain. Knew his torment. Everything that was happening to him was what Messiah had wanted to do to me. And Matt had sacrificed himself. Once past the veil of the virus, I could see the events unfold right before me like a movie in my head.

Matt had been kidnapped after being shot down. Messiah threatened him with infecting my brain and forcing me to join him against my will. Matt pleaded with him and volunteered to take the virus instead as long as Messiah left me alone. And, surprisingly, Messiah would keep his word. By the time Matt had awoken from the procedure, Messiah was easily able to dupe Matt into believing nothing had happened to him—that he still had his free will.

And now, we were here.

In the time that I had let my guard down to witness Matt's dilemma, Amantanine had already begun her struggle with trying to break Messiah's hold on him. I felt the bond pulling at me, taking all the energy I had to keep it going. A four-way bond had never been attempted before, or so I was getting the feeling. And I was beginning to understand why. The amount of focus it took for me to cling to myself, and to Amantanine while traversing two other minds was almost impossible. But it was all I could do to tell myself that impossible was just another way of saying it couldn't be done…yet.

So I pushed myself into Matt's mind with Amantanine, and hoped that all the emotions I felt for him could speak the words I couldn't quite think of.

I didn't know how then, or why, but something happened. What it was, none of us were sure. It was like a crossing of our souls. Like each one of us seemed to meet in the middle of the battlefield in our purest, rawest form of being, before everything combusted in a shower of lights. Black, purple, blue, and teal meteors of energy spiraled around us as I shot from Amantanine's BURST Chamber and saddled up in Sofyetta.

In the blink of an eye, I was Sofeyace—the ninja class Twilight Thronos warrior with more blades than I knew what to do with.

But across from me, Amantanine had begun to transform. It wasn't half as smooth as mine and Sofyetta's transformation had been, but the process she and Matt were undergoing was a first time thing and the manner in which it was executed was for more complicated than ever seen before.

But the new figure stood to full height, taller than Amantanine and I usually were as Grantanine. In fact, Amantanine's entire appearance was more masculine than it ever had been before, lean and angled in an androgynous manner. A stark, bright blue visor hung over the beings eyes, and as information about its armor poured into my visor, I began to realize what I was seeing.

As six, jagged, navy blue wings rose into the air, the being levitated above the ground divinely and its mouth opened to let out an ethereal, genderless, and deafening roar.

"DARKWIND OPHAN MODE!"

We stared at the new anti-aerial class warrior, known as Mattanine with something close to anxiety and doubt.

"It's okay," Matt and Amantanine responded, their voices joined in an echoing distortion, "we're okay."

Even though I knew I was staring into a cybernetic visor and not Matt's actual eyes, I could feel his soul underneath. I knew he was there. Somehow, I just knew.

"Good," Aaron's voice interrupted, crackling over our commlinks, "because there are T-Fliers inbound. You know what time it is."

"Yeah," Mattanine responded angrily, "payback time."

Their mighty wings pushed at the ground and they thrust into the skies even higher than before. Sofyetta and I weren't far behind as our own small wings let out a burst of dark energy, propelling us into the sky.

Meanwhile, Aaron hung back. "I've already contacted the others. They're bringing the ELF with them," he said. "But I've got a bad feeling about this."

"We can handle the T-Fliers," Sofyetta and I responded confidently, "no matter how many there are."

"It's not them I'm worried about," the King responded quietly, "Messiah's been quiet since we broke out. And Gabriel has taken a lot more time to 'heal' than he ever has."

Mattanine and I were silent.

"He's gotta be planning something."

"Want us to hang back just in case?" Mattanine asked, thinking over the situation.

Aaron answered distractedly, "No…no, go ahead. I'll hang back."

With that, Mattanine and I took off toward the T-Fliers descending from space.

Just as we were about to collide, an expanse of green exploded in the darkened night sky, and it widened into a full portal. And in the blink of an eye, the vehicle forms of Tonion, Omega, and Zeta burst through.

"The cavalry is here!" Jay hollered as he and Tonion flew through the air in circles around the encroaching T-Fliers.

The Fliers opened fire, but Tonion spiraled in a burst of flames that dissipated their attack like rain drops against a wildfire.

"We've got three swarms of T-Fliers from the northwest quadrant, and another platoon of T-Runners from the east," said Tonion through the commlinks as I tore through a T-Flier's hull with my bladed arms.

"Split up," Aaron ordered. "Patrick and Zeta, you guys are with Beth and Lyz; take out the T-Runners."

"Beth's not here," Patrick responded, cutting Aaron off cautiously. "She's…not feeling well."

I heard venom in Aaron's voice when he asked, "What?"

"We'll have to worry about that later," Jay chimed in, changing the subject completely as he and Tonion strafed through laser fire. "These things are learning—quick."

"Fine," Aaron said tersely, "Sofeyace, Mattanine; you two stay here. Patrick, Zeta, and Jay and Tonion will head off the T-Fliers northwest of us." He took a pause as he morphed in a spark of white energy and then jettisoned through the air towards Omega, who was already halfway through her transformation from flier mode to speedster-car mode. Now safely in his BURST Chamber, the two transformed to Zord size and Aaron finally spoke again. "I'll take care of the T-Runners."

With that, Omega's engines went into overdrive and her sleek ivory form slashed across the ground like a bolt of white-blue light.

As Aaron left the battlefield with his orders like a personal placeholder, I felt the battle return to my line of concentration, and Sofyetta and I burst through the air in a black cloud of shadow and wind. Beside me, Mattanine sprang into action. For a brief second in time, our cybernetic Zordian partners' eyes met. But through the metal and electricity, I felt Matt and Amantanine. I reached past my Prime Bonder's presence and touched Matt's mind with my own.

"K'Yndeemeeorod."

—56—

"Messiah is getting more dangerous every single day," my dad was saying as we all looked at Matt's biometric scan.

Amantanine's patch worked like a charm, but the antivirus was another story. Matt's patch would block the Cronus virus from expanding or remain active. But it was a virus. It was always going to be there. And if Messiah was able to retrigger it, the patch would fail.

"As much as I hate to admit it," Aaron said, "this really does turn the tables. I mean, we're talking real mind control here. Not necessarily feeding thoughts, but the ability to rationalize thoughts that are usually overruled. It's…"

"Disgusting," Matt said, his voice not his usual voice. But still a welcome to change from what he was just yesterday. "I…I didn't know what I was doing. Everything I did made perfect sense. It was like…it was like he fed on my inner doubts. Like he knew that there was all this tension between…well..us."

Zordon, for a second, looked human. I saw the guilt sweep over his face as he stepped forward, placing a hand on Matt's shoulder.

"Matthew," he said slowly, "I owe you an apology." He seemed to be searching for the right words and I caught a glance between him and his grandson, as if Aaron was trying to walk him through the process. "I have only just gotten to know each of you as Rangers, not as people like I had with my own Ranger teams. Like I had with Tommy and Catherine." The offhand mention of my mother caught me off guard and it struck me as odd that I had never made the connection before. Zordon stood to his full height now as he inhaled, pressing on. "I misjudged you, I realize that now. You showed great bravery and selflessness in what you did for Grace. While your initial actions which led to the entire ordeal were rash, I must admit that my very own were no different. And for that, I am sorry."

Matt nodded, grinning somewhat. It wasn't a full smile, and I didn't see it reach his eyes, but I felt the sincerity from him nonetheless. And I was sure Zordon did too.

"Thank you," Matt said. "I…I know I haven't handled all of this the way I should…or the way that everyone else has, but I guess it's just harder for me. Or it was. But now I really realize what's at risk, and why Messiah has to be stopped."

Now Aaron stepped up, his eyes warm with pride.

"I'm glad to have you back, Matt," Aaron said.

"We all are, dude," Patrick joined in.

For a moment, everyone in the room seemed to share a smile. The mood lightened somewhat, only for it to come crashing back down when Beth stormed in with a full parade of soldiers with her. She looked fine to me.

You three" she said quickly, pointing at my dad, Aaron, and Zordon, "I need to talk to you. Now."

The rest of us looked around the room at each other, slightly confused as to why we weren't included.

The three men exchanged looks, all of them just as confused as we were. Even Zordon with all his powers looked lost.

"Well, I guess that's our dismissal," I sighed, stretching and grabbing Matt's hand. "Let's go watch a movie on my phone."

I could tell from the look on his face that he was wary of my carefree attitude. Either that or he was worried that I was babying him.

"C'mon," I urged him.

I felt like I was towing him to our room the entire time, but when we finally got there, he didn't seem as resistant.

"Grace," he finally said as I turned on the lights and kicked off my shoes. "What are you doing? Don't you think we should be waiting for Aaron's plan…or…figuring out something with this virus? Aren't you…I dunno…aren't you worried?"

I made myself comfortable in bed and swiped my phone toward the far wall. Immediately, the holographic screen became a projector as I sifted through my movie files. "Yes, babe, I am. But I also know there's nothing more we can do right now. My dad and Zordon will figure out the antivirus, and for now, Messiah's down. You saw him retreat yourself. All his command posts are offline here, and the few still up are no doubt terrified that we're going to attack again." Now I looked up at him, meeting his cool blue eyes. "I know this sounds weird coming from me…but right now, I just want to focus on you. I just want a piece of normalcy. Just for an hour and 47 minutes."

He didn't say anything, he just smiled. And unlike his smile to Zordon, this one was real. I saw his eyes light up like a kid as he made his way to the bed and pulled me in close. I felt his arms wrap around me tightly and his warmth seal me in a perfect embrace.

"What are we watching?" he asked.

I grinned at him, not answering his question. "You'll see."

It was only a few minutes into it when he made the connection.

"Seriously?" he asked, laughing.

"It's a good movie!" I defended.

"I thought he was illogical. He abandoned his mission to go back for the girl, remember?"

"Well, then he's illogical. But maybe he's also in love, just like me," I replied with a faint smirk. "Cuz I risked everything just to go back for you."

His smile was gone now as he sensed the seriousness in my voice. But I didn't want him to feel guilty. I didn't want him to feel sad. I wanted him to feel proud.

"And I would do it all over again," I added. "I love you."

"K'Yndeemeeorod," he thought back to me.

And I felt it.