Julia sat on a bench in Central Park and stared across one of the fields. It had been a month and she was no closer to getting Axel to break. He had fought them at least a couple of times a week for the last month and he just kept getting stronger. She was sporting another set of bruises and she hated it. She hated that she couldn't reach him and that they might have to destroy him to end this.

She felt the shadow come over her, but continued blankly staring across the field. She did not care to be bothered by anyone and hoped that they would go away. After a few minutes- she whipped her head around and froze. Why was he here? Why wouldn't he leave her alone?

"Julia," Axel said, curtly, as he sat down next to her and gently grabbed her hand. She tensed as she looked at her other hand and wished she could press her communicator buttons. Why would he prevent her from doing that? "Kiros is mad, I'm not doing my job well enough."

"I'd say you're doing fine," Julia forced out as she pulled up her shirt on the other side to reveal the layers of bruises. She was his favorite ranger to torture and they all knew it. "Or do you not remember beating me to a pulp on a daily basis?"

"I'm supposed to bring you back with me," Axel said as he ran circles over the back of her hand and she saw a flicker of his humanity returning. He had finally gotten an order that he was not going to fulfill. "I can't do that. I can't…he'll torture you even more than me."

"You don't have to go back either," Julia whispered and he looked over at her and just shook his head. "Axel- you can break out of this."

"He said…if I stay with him- he won't kill Kimberly and Shelby. I met both of them…I can't let them die because of me," Axel muttered as she saw Tommy approaching and wondered why he was there. She hadn't even been able to notify him. "And I can't take you back either."

"Axel," Tommy said with a nod and the boy looked up at him. "You with us?"

"He'll kill your wife if I don't go back," Axel restated and Tommy nodded. "You're okay with that?"

"He'll try to kill her if you don't go back. You'll likely kill Julia or someone else if you keep going back. I can handle him," Tommy said as Axel looked over at her and she wouldn't meet his gaze. He was vaguely aware of fighting the rangers; he didn't know he had solely concentrated on Julia. "We thought you might have broken out of it after last time. I'm glad we were right- come back with us. I can protect my wife and you can help us protect the world from Kiros."

"I can't…I don't deserve…" Axel trailed off as Julia threw her arms around him and he stiffened and then softened into her arms. "I am so sorry, Julia. I didn't know what I was doing- it…it was like I woke up and remembered parts of it and…"

"I'll be mad later- let us get you back and get you healthy," Julia whispered as she pulled back ever so slightly and cupped his face. "Come with us."

"Okay," Axel said as his eyes flashed green again and she tightened her grasp on his face and he relaxed against her. It was then that she saw how much pain he was in. He hadn't been lying when he said that Kiros was torturing him as well.

"Walk with us a bit and we'll teleport," Tommy said as he helped Axel to his feet and Julia took a bit of a defensive stance behind them. She might not do much if Kiros appeared, but she would stop him long enough to get Axel out of there. Ever since the last battle- they had seen the shape he was in and knew that when he came to them- he was going to need help. He was going to need a chance to heal.

"Julia…before all of this…I meant…" Axel trailed off as he glanced back at her and Tommy tried to make himself invisible. Julia hadn't talked about what had happened before, but he suspected that it was eerily similar to what he'd done to Kimberly. "I meant…"

"Let's get you back," Tommy said as they moved into an alcove and Julia grabbed one of Axel's hands before they teleported off. Axel landed in a heap in the Command Center and Julia looked between him and Tommy. "I've got him, you don't have to stay."

"Is he lying to me?" Julia whispered and Tommy shrugged. He didn't know. While he was fairly sure they had broken through to him- there were still several tests that needed to be conducted to solidify that conclusion. "I can't…until I know."

"I know. I've got some tests to run to make sure- why don't you go up to the loft and have some time with Kim and the babies? It'll keep your mind off of this," Tommy suggested and Julia barely nodded before she turned to go towards the door. "Jules…for what it's worth- whatever happened before this took him over…I would trust that more than anything you've seen lately- speaking from experience."