Episode 18

Rev-Head


Great, this wasn't awkward at all.

The two boys stood outside the museum, waiting awkwardly in silent stillness and completely avoiding the other's gazes. Every sound echoed deafeningly around them, from the passing cars to twigs ruffling in the wind, loudly announcing themselves as they barged through the tense air between the two of them.

"So…," Miguel asked, uncomfortably breaking the silence. "Did Hilary say what she wanted to talk to us about?"

"Her message just said it was important," Zeke shrugged. "There's something she wanted us to see."

Dammit, Miguel knew he should have waited around the corner for someone else; Abbey, or even Erika. Anything but just him and Zeke, nervously standing beside each other without a clue what to say.

What even was there to say? It wasn't like they had anything in common, save for being Rangers and their shared, awkward crushes on Abbey. Of course, that wasn't exactly an even affair either, and Miguel suspected likely the cause for Zeke's continued coldness toward him.

However, he had to admit that the Yellow Ranger had started to warm toward him in recent weeks. Ever since the whole doll incident, Zeke seemed to have backed off, not just in sending Miguel withering glares when he thought no one was looking, but in giving Abbey space as well.

Small steps; maybe Zeke was finally coming around to what was right in front of him. Of course, that didn't mean Miguel was anywhere near earning the boy's approval. Judging from the weird silence that hung between them, anything of the sort seemed a long way off. Instead, they continued to stand there, neither saying a word within a tension so thick it was suffocating.

"Uh… hey guys?"

Oh, thank God!

Erika walked up to them, eyebrow raised in amusement as both seemed exasperatedly happy to see her. "You got the cryptic message too?"

"Something I need you to see," Zeke repeated with a nod. He shot a look at Miguel and shrugged again, the first open acknowledgment of the Dark Ranger's presence since first arriving. "Weird, usually Hilary's right up front with what she wants to show us."

With a nod of shared agreement, the trio turned to head inside, just as another voice called out to them.

"Wait up!"

Turning again, Abbey raced up the steps to join them.

"Abbey, look at you," Erika said cheekily. "Are you… late?"

"I… decided…" she panted, buckling over, "not… to rush…"

Grinning, Erika patted the Blue Ranger on the back before helping her up. "And we're proud of you. Small steps of self-care, it's progress."

Abbey smiled and rolled her eyes, accepting the recognition before the four moved into the museum.

"Already for your first shift at the Hub today?" she asked Miguel.

Right… that…

It had started as an off-hand comment, barely a few days prior when Abbey finally began to acknowledge her need to put things down and take better care of herself. Miguel should have been happy for her, and in the moment he was; Abbey was setting a boundary, the first important step to avoiding another "accidental evil clone" debacle.

But dropping a commitment came with its own problems. Dirk was short-staffed, and with Erika's joining Electro-Head, he was even more strapped for help. It seemed to be physically paining Abbey, to admit that she needed to step away from some volunteering and potentially leave her boss in the lurch.

She just looked so sad, actively distressed at the thought of her absence causing more problems. He just couldn't leave her feeling like that. So of course, Miguel had offered to take her place and help run things at the Hub. Abbey's shrieking elation and squeezing hug had made the offer well worth it.

Of course, then there was the matter of actually following through with it. The closer the shift got, the more daunting it became. Miguel had never waited tables in his life, and that place was so big! How was he possibly going to handle all of that? But Abbey had been so thrilled, so comforted by how helpful his offer was, and he just couldn't bring himself to let her down.

"Can't wait," Miguel said instead. Thankfully, before Abbey could either notice or call him on it, the doors dinged open, and the four teens stepped into the lab to see what Hilary's message was about.

But Hilary was not who greeted them.

Instead, it was a tall man; his short, blonde hair tussled atop his head, while his blue eyes looked around in confusion. He was dressed simply; a grey jacket over a blue t-shirt and khaki cargo pants that looked intimately familiar with a garage floor. His face lit up as he saw them.

"Thank goodness!" he exclaimed, striding over as the teens took a cautious step back. "Do you know where we are? Because I don't think I'm meant to be down here…"

All four teens shared a nervous look, silently questioning how a random stranger could make his way into the secured command center. Or why, despite all the strange technology surrounding him, he only seemed concerned with getting his back to the museum.

"You must be looking for the front desk," Abbey smiled nervously. "Maybe I can show you where it is?"

"Would you?" the man smiled graciously. "That would be fantastic. I was relying on direction from my sister; she says she knows everything about museums. But really, she's got no idea how to find her way around one-."

"That was one time!"

Hilary's voice boomed out from behind the machinery, and the man's face split into a cheeky grin as the museum director wheeled out on a dolly. Seeing the man conversing with her Rangers, Hilary's eyes narrowed into a furious glare, only to soften in an exasperated sigh. "You're never going to let me live that down, are you?"

"Knowing more about a museum than you? No way," the man chuckled. "Can you blame me? Look at all this, I've got to take the wins where I can get them."

Hilary rolled her eyes with annoyed amusement before looking back at the four, still-stunned Rangers. "Rangers, I would like you to meet the original Data Squad Blue Ranger. My younger brother."

"Younger?" the man seemed almost insulted. Almost. "You really are going to hold those thirty minutes over my head the rest of our lives, aren't you?"

"I know you!" Abbey gasped. "You're Ben Hawkins! Hilary talks about you all the time!"

"Oh really?" Ben said, looking back at his twin sister with a raised, suspicious eyebrow. "Only good things, I hope?"

"What do you think?" snorted Hilary.

"So, you were a Ranger with Ray and Hilary?" Miguel asked. "That's awesome! I bet you've got loads of cool stories."

"Oh, and do I," Ben grinned, only to be silenced by a glare from his sister. "But, you know what? They can wait."

"This is what you messaged us about, isn't it?" Erika asked Hilary, who nodded in response.

"He was in town, and wanted to put faces to names," Hilary said. "And my brother is someone best experienced than described."

"I hear that!" said another happy voice from the elevator, and the Rangers turned to see Ray striding in from the doors. In one swift motion, the team's mentor crossed the lab, making a b-line for Ben as the two grown men embraced each other in an affectionate hug.

"See you made your way in okay," Ray grinned before shooting a cheeky look at his wife. "And in one piece."

"Hey," Hilary insisted, throwing up her hands in much surrender. "He gave no cause. It must be the maturity of age finally setting in."

"Nah, that can't be it," Ben said. "You know, one day you're going to have to tell me what it's like. The maturity part, I mean; looks like you've got plenty of the age bit already."

Something flashed across Hilary's eyes, something that, even though it wasn't meant for him, made Miguel's insides go cold. Hilary whistled a cooling breath as she looked at her brother with a fresh warning.

"Better be careful there, little brother," she smiled. "You're sleeping under my roof tonight, and your best friend can't legally testify against me."

Beside them, Ray rolled his eyes, signaling this was far from the first of such exchanges he'd been privy to. Meanwhile, the four Rangers stood glued to the floor, watching the verbally sparring siblings with ever-growing fascination.

"This is fascinating…" said Zeke, just a little too loudly.

For a moment, Ben looked like he was thinking of the best response to give, one that he was assuring himself would be absolutely devastating, when another voice cracked across the room.

"YOU!"

The furious bark cut through the air, and all heads whipped around to see Lena standing at the elevator. Her eyes narrowed, searing at the newcomer with a fresh, searing hatred, and Ben's face dropped in shocked recognition as Lena strutted forward with murderous intent.

"For too long have I dreamed of this day, Blue Ranger!" she snarled. "But at last, the time has come! And now nothing will save you as I take my revenge!"

Ben's face went white, face filled with absolute horror as he stared her down. Then Hilary snorted. Then Lena's eyes flicked over Ben's shoulder before she too crumbled into a fit of hysterics. With the dam broken, both Hilary and Lena buckled in howling laughter, hooting at their own amusement as they wiped away tears as at last Ben realized what was happening.

"You must be Lena," he said with a resigned gasp of relief. Then he shot his sister a look. "Really?"

"I'm sorry," Lena wheezed at Hilary as the laughter refused to subside. "I shouldn't have looked at you. It's what broke me."

"You should have seen his face!" Hilary cackled, buckling over as last her breathing seemed to return to normal. "Oh boy, am I glad that I caught that on camera!"

"I love reunions," Ben grumbled.

Ray stepped beside him to place a condescending hand on his shoulder. "Welcome back, buddy, it's good to see you."

As the laughter finally died, the room finally turned to business.

"So anyway, thanks for coming out, guys," said Hilary. "Ben's going to be around for a little while and helping me out with some stuff. I thought it'd be nice if you all met him together."

"It's great to finally meet you guys," Ben agreed. "But don't hang around on my account. I know from my time as Ranger that there's plenty of important relaxing doing be doing right now."

Yeah, relaxing, Miguel thought, suddenly seeing clocking and watching the hand tick over to his first shift of doom. So… relaxing…


The energy at the Hub was electric. Almost every table was packed, covered in glasses and plates as a frantic Dirk worked tirelessly at the counter to fulfill the orders. Already, Whitney was sitting at her usual table, clicking her fingers above her head to demand the latte she'd ordered barely a minute earlier, bemoaning the likelihood of it losing foam before it reached her.

Yup, Erika was sure that Dirk would be right on that. Right after he filed his taxes and went on an early retirement. She almost felt bad, her first proper day off in weeks and the center was getting slammed. Well, she almost felt bad.

Truth was, the Hub got busy all the time, whether Erika was there or not, and this weekend was the first in ages where she hadn't been either working or practicing with the band. It felt like she'd barely seen Valerie in weeks, and there was nothing short of a Code Red that was going to get in the way of that now.

Of course, maybe they should have picked a place with less company.

"Okay," Zeke declared. "Nine stripes, left corner pocket."

Erika shared an amused and knowing look with Valerie as Zeke's eyes narrowed on his target. Poor kid was giving it his all, but Erika's idea of relaxing was barely taking the table seriously. And yet, it was neck and neck.

With a crack, the white ball went careening across the table, bouncing off the edges to completely avoid where Zeke had called. It could have been worse, he could have sunk it.

"Unlucky," Erika tutted. "You should have known better than to go for such a greedy shot."

"Maybe," Zeke agreed, nodding toward the white ball's awkward placement. "Or maybe I just felt like letting you catch up."

Behind him, Valerie snorted, and Lena equally raised an eyebrow with shared amusement. Erika quickly measured up the remaining solids and planned her finisher. Poor Zeke, he should have learned by now not to issue a challenge. That was just asking for trouble.

"Uh oh…" Valerie whistled, watching Erika's game face go from disinterested to serious as she looked at Zeke with a dangerous and daring smile.

"Oh, that's how it is, is it?"

"That's exactly how it is," Zeke replied.

Well, if he said so…

"That's it, Johnson," said Erika, taking off her leather jacket and handing it to Valerie before leaning into the shot. "You're so going down."

"You put her in a tight spot," Lena said to Zeke before slyly adding. "Will telling you the likelihood of success make you feel better or worse?"

"Never tell me the odds," Erika insisted. "Just makes it more satisfying when I beat them."

"Talk all you want," Zeke jeered, "but that's quite the shot you've got to make to-."

"Seven solids, top left."

CRACK!

Zeke's eyes bulged as Erika sent the cue from its position spinning up the table with surgical precision to knock her target into the pocket. Zeke's jaw dropped, realizing he'd been sandbagged as Erika silently moved around the table to ready her follow-up.

"You said her odds weren't great," he stammered at Lena.

"No, I asked if you wanted to know them," she replied. "It was a hard shot, but she's been going easy on you all game. And that definitely put the odds in her favor."

All Zeke could do was slowly turn his head and watch in horror as Erika systematically cleared the table.

"Four solid, center left."

"Wait…"

CRACK!

"Three in the bottom right."

CRACK!

"Two in the middle right."

CRACK!

Four down, Erika began casually prowling the table, contemplating how best to sink the eight for the win as Zeke stammered at his sudden reversal of fortunes.

"Looks like I'm down the black," said Erika. "Then I guess if I sink this one, that means I win, right?"

"Don't feel bad, Zeke" said Valerie, "You had no way of knowing she was this good. She cleaned me up good the first time we played too."

Sure, Erika snickered silently, but Zeke certainly wouldn't be getting any one-on-one "lessons" later.

"Hey, guys!"

All three heads turned, smiles broadening as they saw Abbey push through the busy crowd to join them. There was renewed weightlessness about her, a chipper grin on her lips as she waltzed over to join her friends.

"As I live and breathe," Erika realized. "Is this Abbey Carmichael, actually taking a day off?"

"I decided that my homework was going to get done, but it didn't have to be now," Abbey said proudly. "So, I thought I'd see where the fun was happening."

"Perfect timing," Valerie said excitedly. "Because Erika's setting up for a big finish."

"You haven't got it yet," Zeke said with a desperate pleading in his voice. "If you sink the white now, it's all over."

It was a perfect shot into the corner pocket; with the right angle and balance of force, and the eight-ball would glide cleanly into the net. With a calming breath, Erika leaned in, leveled the cue for the victory, and pulled back to take the shot.

"Sure," Erika snorted. "You keep telling yourself that, bud."

CRASH!

The sound of breaking glass and crockery shattered through the air, loud and shrieking just as Erika moved. Completely thrown, Erika's arm jolted with so much force that she almost skewered the cueball, rocketing it forward. It cracked the eight, sending it hurling to the pocket without any sign of slowing. The black ball sunk, harder than she'd planned, only for the eager and unrelenting white ball to drop in behind it.

"YES!" Zeke cheered, fist-pumping the air as Erika hissed angrily and whipped around to the disturbance. It had come from the kitchen, which could only mean...

"Erika?" Dirk's head whipped out from around the counter. "I know you're not on the clock, but I think we could use a hand back there."

Erika and Abbey shared a nervous glance to confirm the mutual suspicion. Not wasting a second, the two girls rushed around the back and into the kitchen, only greeted by a scene of pure chaos.

"Um, he-llo?" Whitney complained from her table. "I'm still waiting on that latte!"

The floor was littered with shards of glass and porcelain, chunks of food scraps intermixed between them as their gooier bits clung to the cracked edges. The tap was running full blast, hammering water into the sink as droplets sprayed in all directions, drizzling into the floor to give it a slippery sheen. Miguel was on the floor at the center of the pandemonium, apron soaked and covered with food scraps, legs stretched out in front of him as he stared into the distance with astounded disbelief.

"I… I slipped," was all he could manage to say.

Okay. Code Red.

Erika and Abbey rushed to Miguel's side without saying a word, helping him up before Erika moved to the sink and shut off the tap.

"Okay," said Abbey. "From the beginning."

"Ahhh," Miguel looked around. "I uh… I needed to clear the plates, but an order just came in, and then the dishwasher finished and needed clearing and the sink overfilled and…"

Okay, way too much at once.

"I think it's probably safe to say that Dirk needs an extra hand," Abbey winced as Erika felt her heart sink. Abbey was right, there was no way Miguel was managing all of this on his own, and a day like this was way too much for a first-timer to take on.

Dammit, and she'd just got a chance to spend time with Val.

But when duty called…

Maybe they could clear it up quickly and things would die down fast? Maybe she'd still have a chance for some time after that?

"I'll tell Dirk he's got more hands on deck," said Erika as she Miguel's sunken look of defeat. "Don't worry, bud, we'll get this cleared up in no time."

She just had to hope that afterward there'd still be time left…


"Can you pull up the 3D render? I want to check the stats of the new levels."

Hilary nodded as she opened the window to view their new design. Sure enough, the vehicle appeared on screen, charts blossoming as Hilary's eyes narrowed to compare the previous data.

"Hmm," she said. "It's made a difference, but it's still not enough. I just don't get it, I'm adjusting the yields just fine. I should be getting way more output than this."

But rather than expressing equal confusion, Ben was grinning. She just knew what he was about to tell her, and what was worse, Hilary knew that he was going to be right. And she just knew that it would come with a replay of her own, old "I told you so" dance. Honestly, over Ben had become even better at it than her.

Although, she supposed that was the very reason she'd asked him to come all the way down to Lakeview in the first place.

"I've got an idea," said Ben. "How about we stop looking at these babies through a screen? Boot up the Digitizer, bring one to life, and let me have a tinker with the engine. I'm sure I can get the torque you need once I get my hands in there."

Once upon a time, Hilary would have argued purely on principle. There were a million reasons why he could be wrong, why going through the more time-consuming process of manually tweaking the engines wouldn't bring any better results than adjusting them in the data file. But her brother had also proven to her, time and time again, how sometimes the less likely route was also the correct one. Hilary knew computers and codes like the back of her hand, but no one could fire up an engine like Ben.

"All right," she decided. "Let's boot her up. Just one, right? You're not going to insist on doing the entire set by hand?"

For a moment, Ben looked sorely tempted, only to shake his head in practical agreement. "They're all identical save for color, right? Should be able to do one, and then copy them over once you Re-Digitize it."

Sounded like a plan; Hilary just had to clear enough room beneath the Digitizer to emit the full projection. And that sounded like a Ray job; he'd certainly have plenty of time given how long the initial file would take to load. With the click of some keys, the file shifted onscreen, spinning as a loading bar appeared before them to move at a snail-like pace.

"I'll get it out once I've transferred it from the server," said Hilary.

Ben was already eyeing the elevator for an exit. "Soooo, what I'm hearing is that you don't need me for a while," he suggested slyly. "And if you don't need me, then…"

Some things never change.

"Nice try," Hilary grinned deviously, as she clicked open the security feed and revealed her car parked downstairs. "While you're here, you could always give my girl downstairs a tune-up."

"You know, you can pay a local mechanic to give your car a service," said Ben. "You don't need to wait for me to come visit."

"And you can always pay for a hotel," Hilary replied. "What's your point?"

"All right, fine. I'll give it a look this afternoon, deal?"

With a grin, Hilary spun back in the chair, cackling at her victory as she turned her attention to their next project: Xaviax.

Lena's memory restoration had been invaluable, giving a full outline of Xaviax's digital projectors that enabled his teleporting, as well as sketching out just how far from his base they stretched. If nothing else, it had earned them time. While Hilary may have been able to figure it out herself, she would have needed to run an algorithm analyzing monster attack frequencies to do it. Lena's recall, meanwhile, was now instantaneous.

But while her big revelation of Xaviax's identity was astounding, Hilary realized a new problem that it presented. They had absolutely no idea what to do with the information.

"This is him, huh?" Bena asked, nodding at an image of Davian Scolex projected beside Xaviax's masked visage. "He doesn't look so tough."

"To be honest, I was less scared of him before I knew who he was," Hilary admitted. "It was one thing when we thought Xaviax was just some madman with a Digitizer, but now that we know the resources at his disposal…?"

It just didn't make any sense. Regardless of Hilary's dislike of him, everything Scolex did was to help the community. His philanthropic endeavors, his investment in the museum, not to mention all his research funding. Why did he need to go galivanting around as a supervillain when he already had all the money in the world?

All the power?

"I just can't believe your local billionaire turned out to be evil," said Ben, earning a skeptical look from Hilary. "Okay, he's still a billionaire, but you always made him sound more like a Bezos than a Musk."

"I just can't figure out what his game is," Hilary replied. "We already know Xaviax wants me for something, but we always assumed it because of my knowledge of the Digitizer. Whatever he's planning on doing with it, I'd be able to shut it down. But what I don't get is why he was trying so hard to recruit me as Davian Scolex. And when that didn't work, he tried poaching my assistant."

"You mean that lovely woman I met on the way in?" Ben inquired with a devilish grin.

Hilary rolled her eyes. "The one who's almost fifteen years younger than you? Yes, her."

"Are you telling me that she was offered a corporate-level payout and she still chose to work with you? Damn, I'd have run away from you for free."

"He wants something," Hilary said, ignoring him. "I just can't figure out what it is. Lena said after her failure with the Dark Ranger, Xaviax started keeping her out of the loop, but she knew his plans involved attacking city infrastructure. But across a million different shell companies, he already owns half of it. Why go through the effort of damaging property that's already yours?"

"Maybe they're connected?" Ben offered.

"Well obviously they're connected, I just can't find one that makes sense. It's a long way to go for insurance fraud, that's for sure."

"No, I mean that attacks and the buying," Ben clarified. "Can you find out when exactly he bought pieces of city infrastructure?"

That was a good point. Hilary had only been looking at recent lists; readouts from the data scraping algorithms she'd begun collating once they'd drawn the connection between Scolex Industries and Xaviax. But while that had given her a list of assets, it hadn't collated how long he'd possessed them.

And that opened a whole lot of new avenues to investigate. "You think the attacks were a cover for the buyouts?" Hilary asked.

"Here's one thing I learned working on luxury cars," said Ben. "Rich people are cheap. If they can find a way to drive down the price or drive up their own value, they'll do it."

That would explain Dollface too. A monster that transformed innocent victims into dolls and let Scolex swoop in to look for a solution. A solution he'd have likely had the whole time and would have sat on had the Rangers not destroyed the monster. All while making himself out to be the hero of the people and ratcheting up his stock value.

"You're right," Hilary realized as she found the public sale records. "Every single time he purchased companies that operate public facilities, it was right after a monster attack. He was forcing down the price."

"See, what did I tell you?" Ben gloated. "Maybe I should hang around some more, you're clearly stumbling around in the dark without me."

Oh boy, here we go.

"I mean, just think," Ben went on. "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have even considered going to your fancy college. If it hadn't been for my sharp deductive reasoning, you wouldn't have thought about going to Stanford, just gone to a boring old local college for boring local people."

"Like you did?"

"I hung back so my dear sister could flourish," Ben decided with insincere selflessness. "When you think about it, it's really thanks to me that Lakeview is still standing. If it weren't for me, there wouldn't be any Power Rangers."

Hilary could only roll her eyes and smile, finding a calm settling into a strange comfort as she quietly listened to her brother's outrageous boasts. As if his speech at her wedding hadn't been bad enough, where he had openly declared all the ways he was responsible for her marriage, before regaling the guests with the many embarrassing stories of his best friend and sister dancing around each other.

And once again, he was probably right.

"It's good to have you back," Hilary smiled softly.

Her quiet sincerity caught him off guard, and Ben's face dropped in confusion. "Wait, did I hear that right?"

"I mean it," said Hilary. "Right now, my life is all meetings and spreadsheets. Even when there's a monster attack it's me sitting behind this desk running mission control. Having you here, annoying the hell out of me, it feels a little like old times."

For a moment, Ben looked like he was about to crack a joke (he was definitely contemplating it) only for his face to soften warmly.

"It is good to be doing this again," he agreed. "Zords, power-ups. It really takes me back. Although, don't expect me to be running out to fight a big scary monster any time soon."

"No chance of that," Hilary replied. "If we had more safely working Morphers, Ray and I would already be using them."

"Really?" Ben chuckled. "Mission control not doing it for you?"

"Honestly?" Hilary admitted. "At first, I was glad to be in the chair. We didn't exactly plan to use the swipe-card Morphers so soon, and there were so many things that needed to be monitored. Then there was the whole Dark Ranger thing, and then Lena. It was comforting to know that when the Rangers went out there, Ray and I were still back here waiting for them. Ready to support them if things went wrong."

"But now?"

"But now the tech's running smoothly," said Hilary. "And they all seem just as good at helping each other through their problems. Outside of keeping things running, I don't know if they need us back here. Ray's nearly worn a groove in the floor with all his restless pacing. And in the meantime, it feels like Xaviax's monsters are only getting stronger. If there's anywhere the team needs help, it's out there."

As if to echo her thoughts, the alarm began to blare, klaxon sounding as Hilary spun in the chair to pull up the footage. Outskirts, right near the freeway bypass. ArcKnight was already there with a hoard of Cyberdrones, and right beside him was a brand-new monster. Tall and bulky, easily towering over the companioning armored warrior, its neckless head was melded into its chest to look like a radiator with a snarling face.

"Engines," Ben mused. "That's never a good sign."

"I'll let them know they might have a runner," Hilary noted, before nodding to the seat beside her. "While don't you park yourself there while I alert the Rangers. Looks like you'll get a show after all."


Great, just great.

Miguel's heavy head slumped as he sullenly swished his hand through the water, producing another plate to put in the pile. He had one job, one job! Let Abbey have her day off. Instead, both she and Erika had to put their plans on hold to bail him out.

Because once again, things spiraled out of control the moment they got heated. Every. Single. Time.

"All right, the last batch," Erika declared, sliding the last tray of cups into the washer. Hot steam hissed as the industrial machine thundered to life, spraying the insides as his reluctant coworker dusted her hands in satisfaction. "Back on track.

"Last of the tables are all clear," Abbey confirmed as she strode in with a mostly empty tray. "Looks like things are starting to quieten down out there too."

Sure enough, as the three of them stepped out into the community center's open space, most of the tables were empty, save for Lena and Zeke waiting by the door. Finally, things were calm. If only he'd pulled it off without the need for reinforcements.

"Good work today, guys," Dirk them. "And thanks for jumping in."

"Happy to help," Abbey smiled back sweetly.

"Desperate times, right?" said Erika. "Normally you've got a day like this covered. What was causing the mayhem?"

Miguel braced himself for the inevitable answer, the explanation that bad help was only going to slow the proprietor down. But instead, Dirk just shrugged and nodded at the coffee machine.

"Old girl was being temperamental," he said. "Couldn't keep up with demand. I'll take a look at her later so we're ready for the next time we get rushed."

A handy excuse, but Miguel knew well enough when someone was sparing his feelings. He'd screwed up, and Erika and Abbey were having to clean up after him. Like always.

"Tell you what," said Dirk. "Things seem like they're calming down now, why don't you two head off? You've already done more than enough."

The two girls nodded, happily walking around the counter to join Zeke and Lena before Dirk turned to Miguel and added awkwardly. "You too, Miguel. Thanks for stepping in. We'll be trying to pick a better day to train you up properly."

Great. Failed to help out, and now too much of a burden to keep on. Great going.

Nodding sadly, Miguel hung up his apron and wandered over as the others were getting ready to leave.

"All done?" Abbey asked lightly. Miguel just sullenly nodded and said nothing. Soon after, the five teens were out in the city street, basking in the cooling afternoon.

"Sorry about your date with, Val," Abbey said to Erika. She didn't mean to, but she'd locked eyes with Miguel as she spoke, and both nervously looked away as he caught the underlying meaning.

Erika just shrugged. "It's okay. Dad's on shift tonight, so she's going to come over and binge the latest season of Kung-Fugitive with me."

Beside Miguel, Abbey's pace slowed, matching step with his shuffling to give him a comforting smile. "Hey, don't feel too bad. Everyone's first big rush is a mess."

"I guess," Miguel replied, tone barely concealing his lack of belief. "I bet you didn't make one on your first shift though."

"Well, no…" Abbey admitted awkwardly. "But it wasn't as crazy as that, and the coffee machine was working properly, and…"

"Abbey, it's okay," Miguel cut her off. "I know what you're trying to do. I'm sorry I interrupted your day."

Sadly, Abbey looked away, clearly deciding not to push Miguel's dour mood any further.

"Hey, do you think Hilary's brother is still at the museum?" asked Zeke. "Oh man, I bet he's got lots of cool stories from when they were Rangers."

Lena snorted. "Oh yeah, I bet his version of events will be quite the tale."

"Did anyone think that he wasn't… what they expected?" Abbey asked. "I mean, it's not like Hilary doesn't talk about him, but she always made him out to be kind of…"

"A doofus?" Erika chuckled.

"Well… yeah," Abbey conceded awkwardly.

Again, Miguel said nothing. He was the last person who should be making judgments after his most recent crashing and burning.

"He's definitely grown up," said Lena. "He used to be such a fool; I've got to tell you the number of times his laid-back attitude made things worse for the Rangers. Which at the time, I welcomed, I guess."

"Hang on…" Erika stopped, spinning around with wide-eyed, gleeful revelation. "You knew Ray and Hilary when they were our age, right?"

"Well, kind of; I was their mortal enemy, so I guess…"

Just quickly, Zeke reached Erika's page. "Which means you've got to have tones of embarrassing stories that they'll never share!"

For a moment, Lena seemed uncertain, sharing a nervous gaze with Abbey tensed up beside as if also uncertain whether it was crossing some kind of line. But then, Lena's jaw twitched, a gleeful realization of acceptance and opportunity. "And do I…"

"Oh, we are so having that conversation," Erika grinned.

But before they could probe any further, their communicators started beeping.

"Speak of the devil," Erika mused, all five hurrying into an alley to avoid eavesdroppers as they opened up the com line. "We'll all be here, Hilary. What's happening?"

"Want to guess?" came the jovial reply. "ArcKnight's developed an interest in monster trucks and is running a rally by the freeway."

"We'll be right there."

"Just be careful, this looks like a fast one."

Listening in, Miguel felt a lightness rise in his chest. Waiting tables was a disaster, but destroying monsters? That he could do.

Shutting the line, Erika nodded to the team in preparation.

"Let's hope that being a fast one means that it'll blow up easy," she said with the flash of her keycard. "Ready?"

Colored light burst from the wrists, the watches transforming into Morphers as Abbey and Zeke produced their cards and the four teens stepped up beside their leader. "Ready!"

"Server Force! Login Access!"

Miguel hit the activator as the light flared around them, the power of the grid flowing from the devices and imbuing them with strength. The energy surged through his body, flushing through his limbs to grow his strength, the protective layers of the suit materializing in the swirling radiance as the helmet encased his head. The visor shunted in front of his vision, masking him completely as the Rangers appeared on the scene from the fading light.

They were already moving as they landed, launching high as they opened fire on the Cyberdrone horde and somersaulting into formation. The shots rained down, blasting the robot ranks as ArcKnight and his metallic companion spun around in annoyance.

"Ah, Power Rangers," ArcKnight snarled. "At last, you have come to join us."

"Looking for a ride out of town, ArcKnight?" Erika asked. "Because we can help with that."

"We'll even pack your bags," Lena agreed.

"I am only here to wish you a speedy goodbye, and to introduce you to your demise," ArcKnight growled back. "Motor-Mouth, Attack!"

"Time to put the pedal to the metal!" The air filled with an engine's ripping roar, black smoke sputtering the pipes on its back as they cracked to life and backfired.

"Be, careful," Abbey wared as the Ranger readied for battle. "Hilary said an engine usually means that it's –."

And then the monster vanished. It burst into a blur, surging forward with blitzing speed before the Rangers got a chance to react. Motor-Mouth flashed across the road, crashing into them with the weight of a highspeed track, smashing his arms into their suits to send them soaring. It was like all the wind had been forced from Miguel's lungs at once. Sparks burst off the fiber's surface, air rushing past as he flew through the air and smacked into asphalt beneath. He tumbled across the ground, groaning as smoke rose from his body and the monster howled in endless amusement.

"Whoopsie!" he laughed at them. "Should have looked both ways!"

Around the scene, the Rangers staggered their feet, scattered from the forceful strike as they wearily looked around to check the others.

"Man, that was like getting hit by a truck," said Erika.

"Someone should tell him it's a residential zone," Zeke wheezed.

But ArcKnight was far from amused by their levity, helmet lowering in a scowl as he raised his sword to signal his henchmen. "It's time for you to become a statistic," he decided. "Cyberdrones, engage!"

Scattered and staggering, the Rangers were far too exposed, hapless victims as the Cyberdrones lunged to overwhelm them. Miguel acted fast, Dark Saber flashing to his hand as he staggered back to parry, the blade slicing downwards as the first minion lunged for a strike. The solder clattered into the pavement, sparks bursting from the neck as the next lot reached him to engage.

There were just so many!

All around him, the others were having similar trouble. Zeke's shield was already out, braced against the forearms as he battered away the incoming blades, backed into a corner with nowhere to go as the Cyberdrones continued their surrounding onslaught. On either side, both Erika and Lena were spinning and swerving, making better headway with their axe and spear but the sheer numbers were keeping them on the run. Lena's spear was giving her reach, stabbing in fast to keep the robots at bay, but the way they were clogging up her lane was giving her no opportunity to break through to the others. Erika, likewise, was felling the Cyberdrones left, right, and center, but the moment one fell, another would take its place.

Miguel dived beneath another blow, slashing back and heart racing as his head whipped around for their final member. He needed to find Abbey, to figure out where she was. All of them were in trouble, isolated, and on their own. He knew they needed help, but he had no idea which to go to first.

Then he spotted her, racing up a ruined car in retreat and jumping high. Spinning around, Abbey unloaded with her bow, unleashing a torrent of energy arrows that exploded beneath Cyberdrones. The blossoming boom sent them flying, scattering the robotic minions along the highway as Abbey landed and kept running.

Good, at least one of them was freed up. Now, if he could just figure out where to go, then.

But then her luck ran out. Having lurked on the sidelines, ArcKnight had been waiting for a Ranger to be free and launched at their Blue companion with zealous conviction.

"Abbey!"

The Blue Ranger skidded and dived, the black sword slicing above as ArcKnight growled and kept up his assault. With only her bow in hand, Abbey could only block and dodge, stuck on the defensive as the armored knight pressed on with assault.

Miguel needed to get to her, to help her.

But as Miguel tried his best to untangle himself from the maze of Cyberdrones, even more problems appeared. He could take ArcKnight, he'd done it before, but that was only one of the fights around them. The Cyberdrones were running free, and Abbey's bow was the best they had to clear it. Zeke could offer the best protection to stave off ArcKnight, but he was still too cornered to help. Erika and Lena could pack a punch, but both were too far away to make it in time.

Even all of that was before…

"Miguel, look out!"

Ray's voice rang in his ear as Miguel whipped around, eyes widening as the hulking shape of Motor-Mouth thundered towards him.

"Don't forget to head-check!"

Moving fast, the Dark Ranger leaped high, the mechanical monsters screeching to stop as he crashed into the debris and Miguel landed safely behind.

That was close; far too close. If Ray hadn't warned him, then the monster would have run him flat. And now he was cornered and facing the creature down alone.

"Careful," the monster laughed. "You should always give way to bigger vehicles. Wouldn't want to get crushed, now would you?"

This was bad. Too many problems, where was he even meant to start? Normally Erika, Abbey, and Zeke would handle the monster, battling it into position to blow it up with the DeFrag. But all three were still tied up, and even Lena was too overwhelmed to help him out. His Dark Saber was strong, but was it really enough to take a monster on his own? He needed to fix something, anything, and solve some of the problems so they could start getting ahead.

But there were just too many!

And the monster was done playing around.

"You're lookin' like a dear in the headlights!" Motor-Mouth cackled.

The engines fired up again, the monster bursting into a blur before Miguel could even move. In the blink of an eye, the hulking behemoth crashed into him, slamming his full might into the Dark Ranger as the strike boomed against his Ranger suit. The attack shot him backward, careening into the debris with a thundering crash.

"Miguel!" Hilary cried through the coms. "Are you okay?"

Miguel replied with a wheezing cough, looking through the cracked visor to see that his suit had held up. To look right at the eager monster, revving up for the finish.

"Time to make some Ranger roadkill!"

His heart was pounding, breathing tightening as Miguel stared down his final moments. He needed to do something, anything! Leap and strike? Dive for cover? His mind was racing, reaching frantically for any idea it could grab and spitting all of them out at once. And none of them were helping.

With a hearty, bellowing laugh, the monster shot forward, the full ten-ton weight rocketing toward the frozen Dark Ranger.

"Miguel, move!"

Her voice shook him from his daze, eyes flicking to the side to see Abbey lining up her bow. Miguel didn't think, he moved, launching high as the Blue Ranger aimed and fired. Only she wasn't aiming for the monster.

Off to the side, the highway crash cushions lay in wait. The blue energy ripped into the sides, slicing the barrels open to unleash a flood of gushing water. Right into the Motor-Mouth's path.

"Hey, wait!" the monster cried as his feet hit the pooling liquid and skidded. "Something's slickin' me up!"

At full speed and zero grip, the monster spiraled out of control, arms flailing helplessly as he toppled forward and impacted headfirst into the debris in front of him. The air was filled with a thunderous crash; metal and concrete shattering as the Motor-Mouth went reeling across the ground.

Just the moment the Rangers needed. Miguel had barely landed beside her as Abbey spun around, unleashing another volley of arrows as the Cyberdrones surrounded Zeke. Seeing it coming, the Yellow Ranger braced behind his shield, sheltering from the fire that washed over and consumed the surrounding soldiers.

Now free, Zeke launched himself high, landing beside the other two as Erika reached them. Examining the scene for Lena, Miguel saw her; holding tight against ArcKnight to let Abbey run free. But the writing was already on the wall, the black-armored warrior spun around and hissed at the monster's wreckage

"Looks like you need to pull over," Erika warned as Motor-Mouth waddled to his feet.

"Just a bit of a stall! I'll run you over good, just you wait!"

But as his engines revved, ArcKnight leaped high and landed beside him, backing between the monster and the Rangers as Lena saw her chance and raced to join them.

"It appears the tides have turned," he said. "We will return when circumstances are in our favor."

"Guess I do need a bit of a tune-up!" Motor-Mouth decided. "See ya!"

Before any of the Rangers could draw and fire, the two vanished in a flash of green, the remaining Cyberdrones spirited off with them to leave the five Rangers standing on the ruined highway.

"Anyone get the license plate?" Erika scoffed, staring at the empty sky as if watching them retreat.

But as the rest of the team expressed relief and gratitude that they'd at least made it out, Miguel couldn't help but feel lower. Had it not been for Abbey, he'd have been flattened. And had he managed to make a choice, he wouldn't have even been in that position at all.

He'd made a mess, again. The monster had got away, and this time it was all his fault.