Once he'd helped the rest of the Animorphs to escort Jara and Ket to the hidden valley that the Ellimist had either shown Tobias or just created entirely, Tommy morphed back into his bald eagle form, caught a nice headwind, and set off back to Angel Grove. He knew that he couldn't tell Empress Rita about the Hork-Bajir, both because the pair of them would probably kill themselves if she tried to bring them into her forces, and because explaining things would involve too many other people, and too many secrets that weren't just his to keep.

On the way back to his house in Angel Grove, Tommy caught sight of the Red Ranger, making his way down one of the many concrete paths that meandered through the city.

The thought of the Red Ranger, the one who had humiliated him in front of both Goldar and Empress Rita, walking freely in the city infuriated him. His wings folding in close to his body almost by reflex, Tommy fell through the air, aimed at the back of the Red Ranger's neck. Opening his wings at just the right moment, Tommy gouged out a chunk of flesh from the Red Ranger's neck.

Circling, watching as the Red Ranger collapsed to the ground with blood spraying from his neck no matter how hard he tried to clamp his hand over it, Tommy turned to catch a tailwind so that he could fly back to his house.

Checking to make certain that the Yeerks currently playing the roles of his foster parents weren't anywhere in evidence, Tommy landed in the tree just outside his bedroom window, demorphing and sliding the window open as soon as he'd regained the fingers to do so. Continuing to demorph as he made his way across the room to his closet, Tommy blinked in surprise as he suddenly found himself standing in front of Empress Rita again.

"Empress?"