A/N: Hey all, Happy Saturday. I'm pretty beat right now after a long day of work and then a movie night at my best friend's house, but I need to get this episode ready to go so here we are. There's not much I can really say without spoilers so I'll let you dive right in. See you in the second Author's Note.

Episode 28: The Judas Contract

Quincy's feet hit the floor moments after his alarm clock rang. He shut it off and opened the blinds with a snap of his fingers. Sunlight streamed through the windows as ELO's "Don't Bring Me Down" spilled from the factory speakers.

He flipped a switch on ALPHA's control console as he passed it on his way to the bathroom, which brought the Buddy-Droid out of sleep mode. ALPHA entered the kitchen and began to cook while Quincy hopped in the shower.

Quincy emerged a few minutes later, fully dressed and freshly shaven. He tossed his towel into a hamper on the way to the newly-set dining room table. A breakfast consisting of toast with butter and jam, over-easy eggs, and crispy bacon awaited him.

"Hey, thanks, ALF! It looks great!" Quincy sat down and rubbed his hands together, then dug in with his utensils. "Uh mah guh, it tashtes great, too!"

"Happy to hear it!" ALPHA cracked open a can of Energon and took a swig before gesturing to a calendar on the fridge. "No classes or training today. Got any big plans?"

"Mm-hmm," Quincy hummed as he sipped on his coffee. He set his mug down. "Ken's invited everyone out to the movies."

"Oh? What's playing?"

"Some import film from Japan? Not really sure, to be honest; he's playing it pretty close to the vest, so I'm guessing he wants it to be a surprise," Quincy gulped down some orange juice and added, "You're more than welcome to tag along."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm afraid I'll have to pass. I have some errands I'd like to run; besides, the last time I went to the theater, the other patrons complained that my servos made too much noise," ALPHA politely declined. "I hope you have fun, though!"

"Thanks! I'm sure I will," Quincy's pocket buzzed, and his mouth lifted into a toothy grin as he pulled out his phone. "I think that's them now!"

He unlocked his phone to read the text he'd just gotten, and his smile wilted. He blinked, but the message didn't disappear; instead, it stubbornly stared back at him and burned itself into his retinas.

Phase I of the Contract has expired. It's time for Phase II.

"...So, that's it, then," he mumbled. The last remnants of his smile rotted into a scowl. "Ball's in my court now…"

"Quincy…?" Quincy shook his head and shifted his gaze back to ALPHA. He forced a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Is something the matter?"

"Yeah, no, everything's fine," he nodded. "My phone's just acting up – think it's this most recent update. Gotta love bloatware!" A car horn honked from outside, prompting him to add, "Looks like my ride's here. Catch ya later, ALF!"

"Yeah, later…!" ALPHA's optics tracked Quincy as he rose from his chair and padded across the room as if his feet were made of lead. He tilted his head, then shook it as he turned to the mountain of dishes piled in the sink.

"Well, that was...something," Griffin squinted and shielded his eyes as he stepped out of the theater and into the parking lot. He lowered his hand once he'd adjusted to the light and spun around to face the others. "When you said they made a movie about the CPU Rangers, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it definitely wasn't...that."

"I get what you mean, but it was still cool, right? I mean, they don't make a movie about us everyday!" Kenny wrapped his arm around Milly, and his eyes flicked to hers expectantly. "What'd you think, Mil?"

"I liked it, yeah! It was fun," Milly nodded and her lips lifted into a smile. "They obviously had to take some liberties-"

"I'll say," Griffin cut in with an amused snort. "Red acted nothing like me - he was kind of a jerk, actually. And don't even get me started on that ridiculous haircut!"

"Ehh, him being a jerk was fairly accurate if you ask me. As for the hair, well, much like yours, I'm assuming it's never met a comb," Wendy swept a hand through his hair and bit her lip to suppress a fit of giggles when he shoved her off. "Hey...! C'mon, I'm teasing you, blockhead!"

"Well while we're on the subject, Yellow being a brat fit you to a tee," Griffin's lips curled into a mischievous smirk, but his remark earned him a smack on the arm. "Ow!"

"That did not hurt, you big baby!" Wendy admonished.

"Would you two quit flirting and let Milly finish?" Kenny said with a chuckle. Wendy frogged him in the arm, but he paid her no mind as he turned his attention back to his girlfriend. "Sorry, babe. What were you saying?"

"Just how it makes sense that they couldn't make it 100% accurate, but it was still enjoyable for what it was," Milly glanced over at Quincy, whose eyes seemed to be burning a hole in the sidewalk. "What about you, Quincy? What'd you think of it?"

"...Huh?" Quincy's eyes rose to meet her gaze. He looked at her intently, but a vacant and distant flicker flashed in his dark brown orbs. He blinked. "Sorry, what was that?"

"The movie," Kenny told him. "She wanted to know what you thought of it."

"Oh…" Quincy gradually tilted his head back, then nodded in acknowledgment. "Yeah, I uh, I liked it well enough. Nothing groundbreaking, but it was a fun watch."

"...Are you alright?" Wendy asked him. He turned to face her, and her forehead crinkled as she added, "You've been really quiet today."

"Yeah, no, I'm fine," Quincy replied a bit too hastily. He covered his mouth with his hand as he faked a yawn. "Just haven't been sleeping well lately..."

Quincy turned and started heading towards Milly's car, only to stop when he felt a hand reach out and gently grasp his arm. He turned and locked eyes with Griffin, who furrowed his eyebrows as his lips curved into a slight frown.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Griffin's expression softened as he leaned in and whispered, "You can talk to me about anything. You know that, right?"

"...Yeah, I'm good, Grif. Just tired," Quincy told him, avoiding his eye-line as he gently pulled away. He turned and headed for the car again, only to freeze when a familiar beep emanated from his pocket. His shoulders tensed, and as the others reached for their morphers, the last remnants of his manufactured smile rotted into a deep scowl. "No rest for the wicked, huh?"

"Evidently not…" Kenny sighed. He offered Milly a sheepish smile. "I'll call you later tonight?"

"Counting the seconds," The two exchanged a quick kiss, after which Milly turned and ambled to her van. Kenny watched her pull away, and his ears went red as Griffin and Wendy teased him by making kissy faces. Once she was gone, the Rangers spun on their heels and tore away from the mall…

"Alright, Doc, we're on station!" A morphed Griffin relayed via his morpher as he and the others skidded to a halt outside an abandoned junkyard. ALPHA joined them moments after they arrived. Golden rays of sunlight licked their suits as the sunset peeked out over scrap metal and trash mounds. "What's the sitch, over?"

"My sensors are detecting a massive Energon spike in that sector. It's got to be an Attack Bot." Doctor K informed via comms. "Series Red, can you confirm visual contact?"

"Uh…" Griffin scanned his surroundings, eyes sweeping across the dump for any signs of activity. "...No. I can't, actually."

"You sure your sensors aren't on the fritz again?" Wendy questioned. She used her morpher's 'Analyze' mode to scan the area, then raised it to her mouth plate once it emitted a beep. "I mean, there's nothing here."

"It couldn't be a malfunction; Bugz updated our detection firmware last night," Doctor K told her. "...You're certain there isn't an Attack Bot?"

"Not unless Venjix makes 'em invisible now," Kenny said facetiously. "Doc, we're coming up with a crazy handful of nothing here. Can we go home? I'm hungry, I've got exams to cram for, and my girlfriend's expecting me to call-"

"Hold on, I think I've got something!" ALPHA elbowed Kenny, then gestured toward one of the trash heaps as a white shape poked out from behind it. "I see movement! That must be the Attack Bot."

"...That's not an Attack Bot," Griffin realized as the silhouette stepped out into the light and revealed himself as a bespectacled scientist in a white lab coat. Underneath, he wore a white button-down with a thin black tie secured by a silver tie-clip, black dress slacks, and matching shoes. An ID badge with his picture and a logo depicting noodles in the shape of letters of the alphabet was pinned to his breast pocket. "It's...some guy."

"What do you mean, 'some guy'?" Doctor K's puzzled response crackled over the comm link as the man stopped in his tracks and stuffed his hands in his coat pockets. He lifted his head in acknowledgment of the Rangers, and they studied the new arrival intently as Doctor K added, "Series Red…?"

"Good evening, Rangers. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," The scientist greeted. "My name is Doctor L; I represent an organization from Earth-2. We've been observing you for some time, and it's time we were formally introduced."

"Doctor L? There's only one group I know of that issues code-names like that, and they're…" Doctor K's voice trailed off, and the sound of her clicking her pen opened and closed echoed over comms. "...No, it couldn't be."

"Is that your voice I hear, Doctor K?" Doctor L replied, his response more of a rhetorical statement than a genuine query. "I've heard a lot about you over the years. The rest of Alphabet Soup send their regards!"

"No, that's-!" Doctor K's eyes widened, and she began clicking her pen faster and faster as she tapped her heel against the lab floor. "Venjix's forces leveled Alphabet Soup years ago– I was there! How can this be-?"

The lights in the lab went out, and red alarm lights began to pulse as klaxons blared over the speakers nestled in the ceiling. A computerized voice soon followed: "WARNING: SECURITY HACK IN PROGRESS. LAB WILL SOON BE COMPROMISED"

"Long time no see, K," A feminine voice crackled icily as a woman with red hair and cold blue eyes appeared on the holoscreen. Doctor K's eyes became saucers, and as she frantically pounded away at her keyboard, the woman continued, "Did you really think we just went away?"

"Doc, who is this guy? What's going on?!" Griffin received no response, so he pressed the button on his morpher again and repeated, "Doc!"

"I'm afraid your mentor is a bit preoccupied," Doctor L said with an amused snort. "Soon, you will be, too...isn't that right?"

The Rangers all looked at each other, confused – save for Quincy. They then shifted their attention back to Doctor L, whose gaze zeroed in on the Gold Ranger in particular.

"Would you like to tell them, or should I?" Quincy's shoulders tensed, and he clenched his fist so hard his glove creaked. "Cat got your tongue, Doctor Q?… Very well, then; allow me."

"What the heck's he talking about?" Kenny's head cocked to the side, and he turned to face his Gold teammate. "Quincy, you know this guy…?"

"One might say that, yes." Doctor L cut in, his lips curled into a lopsided grin that revealed his teeth. "But as you'll soon learn, working with someone and actually knowing them are two very different things."

"If you have a point, then make it!" Wendy spat. "Enough of this cryptic bullshit!"

"Very well. It appears you're incapable of reading between the lines, so allow me to spell it out for you: 'Quincy' does not exist."

"Are you high?" Kenny gestured to the Gold Ranger, adding, "He's right here. What do you mean he doesn't exist?"

"I mean, he doesn't exist," Doctor L repeated. "At least, not in the way you've been led to believe. 'Quincy McLaren' is simply an alias – a cover story created to gain your trust and infiltrate your team from within."

"Pfft," Griffin let out an amused snort, then shot back, "If you're trying to get in our heads, you'll have to do better than that."

"We don't buy that for one second. Quincy, this guy's full of shit, right?" Wendy elbowed him gently in the side and chuckled, but her laughter wilted when he leaned out of her reach. "...Right?"

"Quincy, you're behaving rather strangely," ALPHA noted. "Are you alright?"

"Don't let this guy get to you; we know he's lying," Kenny said. "I mean, we know you."

"Are you certain?" came Doctor L's taunt, but Griffin waved him off as he turned to Quincy.

"Since day one, you've always been there for us – for me. As a Ranger...as a friend... you've never let us down, not even for a moment. Would somebody like that really be able to go through with something like this?" Griffin's query fell on deaf ears, so he repeated, "Well, would they?… Quincy…?"

Quincy's gaze drifted away as Griffin took a tentative step forward. Griffin's hand trembled as he shakily placed it on his teammate's shoulder.

"Tell me he's lying," He pleaded, to no avail. "Quincy, tell me..."

"...I can't," Quincy gently pried Griffin's hand off his shoulder, then turned his back to Doctor L and fixed his gaze on the others. "...It's true. My name is Doctor Q; I'm a double agent working for Alphabet Soup. Everything I told you about my past – about Galatia – was a lie..."

"But...that's impossible," ALPHA denied with a shake of his head. "I remember coming online for the first time – in Galatia. I remember the lab, the ruins, the smell of scorched earth-"

"You're a robot, and I'm a programmer," He reminded the Buddy-Droid. "Memories aren't exactly difficult to manufacture. Just write a few lines of code, flash 'em to your simulated hippocampus chip, and bam. Fiction becomes fact."

"I don't understand...everything we've been through, everything you've done for me. Saving my life in the mines, talking to me about Josie, giving me that pep talk while I was brooding over the ball...was any of it real?" Griffin questioned. "Was it really just an act?"

"Of course not, Griffin! I…" Quincy reached for Griffin's shoulder, but Griffin shrunk back, and Quincy stared down at the palm of his glove. "I'm...sorry. I was only following orders,"

"No," Griffin balled his hand into a fist and shook his head. "No, no, no, no…!"

"I never meant for this to...I only ever..."

"We trusted you, Quincy! I trusted you!... I thought you were my friend."

"I can't-"

"You can't what? Do this?" Griffin scoffed. "You've already gone this far; why stop now?!"

"Grif, I am your friend! I-"

"Stop! Just stop it! I can't even look at you!" Griffin stared a hole in the dirt and trembled. "You played us!… God, I feel so stupid...I can't even believe this…"

"Griffin…" Quincy reached for Griffin's shoulder again, and this time, Griffin smacked his hand away.

"Don't touch me!"

"...Enough stalling, then," Quincy turned and trudged over to Doctor L, then added, "Let's do what we came here to do, L."

"I can't let you do this…!" ALPHA shouted, speaking up for the first time in minutes. He drew his CellTech Blaster, then shakily trained it on the Gold Ranger. "I'm sorry…!"

"...As am I," Quincy caught a device Doctor L tossed to him, then pointed it at ALPHA and pressed a button on its surface. ALPHA's morpher slipped from his hand, and as his Ranger suit dissolved, tiny sparks flickered through his chassis. A garbled stream of syllables spilled from his malfunctioning speech unit, and he fell silent and then collapsed as his systems came to an abrupt shutdown.

"ALPHA!" Kenny rushed over, knelt down, and vigorously shook the robot. He glared up at Quincy. "Is he-?!"

"He's not dead. Just shut down," Quincy said flatly. "I activated a failsafe I had installed in case he ever tried to interfere."

"Interfere…?" Wendy questioned. "Interfere with what?"

"Why, your capture, of course," Doctor L replied, and with a snap of his fingers, he conjured forth clusters of binary code. These shapeless amoebas coalesced into blue humanoid silhouettes whose bodies pulsed with electricity. Their forms hummed and crackled in an otherworldly cacophony of static. "Digitrons, assume the ready position and await orders from your commander!"

The Digitrons promptly formed up on either side of L and Q. Quincy used his remote again and summoned a larger blob of ones and zeroes, which solidified into a brutish purple Digitron that towered over the others.

"Rangers, allow us to introduce you to Alphabet Soup's pride and joy - Infiltr8!" Doctor L boomed. "He'll be escorting you to our headquarters on Earth-2!"

"Like hell he will!" Wendy defied, and she and the others stood their ground as Infiltr8 and the Digitrons charged toward them.

"This is bad!" Bugz exclaimed. She turned to Doctor K, who was still frantically pounding at her keyboard as klaxons blared and red lights pulsed through the lab. "Doc, the Rangers! They're-"

"Horrifically outnumbered, yes! I can see that!" Doctor K cut her off. She typed a string of commands into her terminal, and three cylindrical tubes slid open on the far wall. Her gaze snapped to the Buddy-Droids. "Teleporters are prepped and standing by – go!"

"B-But Doc, what about you?!" Apex stammered. "We can't l-leave you!"

"Apex is right! They're gonna get into the lab, and you won't be able to take 'em on yourself!" Bugz told her. "If we leave, you could die!"

"And if you stay, the Rangers will die. They're down two members and surrounded on all sides – they need FusionTech!" Doctor K pointed out. She ripped open her desk drawer, procured her Nitro Blaster, and gestured to it. "I'll be fine, now get out of here – that's an order!"

"But Doc-!"

"You heard her, now c'mon!" Cheetor grabbed Apex by the arm and dragged him away from his terminal. He gestured to Bugz, who reluctantly tore herself from her terminal, and the trio crossed the room. "Griffin and the others need us!"

They reached the teleporters, and Cheetor released Apex from his grip. Apex glanced at Doctor K over his shoulder, then looked at Cheetor and Bugz, who nodded. Apex hesitated and then nodded back; together, the three Buddy-Droids slipped into their respective teleporters.

"Rangers, I'm sending you some reinforcements!" Doctor K hollered over the comm-link. "Activate your FusionTech Visors!"

"Execute: Fusionfall!" Their upgraded armor overlaid itself onto their suits in a flurry of lights, and the trio drew their weapons as the Digitrons continued their advance.

Griffin teleported to the nearest Digitron, which he sliced through with his saber. He vanished again and reappeared next to two of its compatriots as they moved to retaliate. He sliced through them, then teleported away as a fourth Digitron swung at him with its blade-like left arm. He repeated this tactic many times, blinking in and out of the junkyard as the Digitrons he struck froze and then recoiled in pain.

Kenny raised his arms as his biceps ballooned, then slammed his fists into a nearby mountain of trash. The resulting shower of debris hurtled toward the Digitrons as they rushed him, stopping them in their tracks. Kenny closed in on his prey, striking them with his left fist and periodically taking offhand jabs at them with his saber.

Wendy nimbly leapt away from the flurry of orange lasers the Digitrons fired at her from their palms. She then skated through the air, her amplified superagility enabling her to maintain her altitude as she pelted them with blaster fire. When she finally landed, she spun on her heel and gunned down the few survivors as they attempted to avenge their comrades.

The Rangers initially seemed to have the upper hand, but the tide turned against them without warning. For each Digitron they dispatched, two or three more materialized. Before long, they were surrounded on all sides.

"Face it, Rangers – you've met your match," Doctor L taunted as Infiltr8 shoved his way past the other Digitrons to get to Griffin and the others. "Surrender now, and I guarantee you'll remain unharmed; continue to resist, and you'll each buy yourselves a one-way ticket to the sick bay once we arrive on Earth-2."

"I...choose...neither!" Griffin defied through grit teeth as he smacked the Digitrons aside and broke into a run. His speed increased until he became a red blur, then disappeared. He teleported to Quincy, who narrowly blocked his saber with his sword. The two locked blades. "Why are you doing this..?! What could you possibly stand to gain from it, Quincy?!"

"...You wouldn't understand even if I told you," Quincy averted his eyes and sucked in a breath, which gave Griffin the window he needed to break through his defense. Griffin swept Quincy's legs out from under him, but Quincy reeled back and kicked him in the chest. The force propelled Quincy back to his feet and sent Griffin stumbling backward. "Is that all you've got?"

"Thought you knew me better than that by now," Griffin retorted, and he tightened his grip on his saber. "I'm just getting started!"

He lunged at Quincy, and they locked blades again as their confrontation wore on.

Across the junkyard, Kenny and Wendy found themselves on the back foot as their newfound enemies closed in. Kenny crossed his arms in front of his face to block incoming swings from the Digitrons while Wendy pelted Infiltr8 with blaster bolts in a vain attempt to slow his advance.

"T-This is bad…!" Apex spluttered as Kenny dug in his heels and shoved the Digitrons back. Kenny grabbed onto the side of a trash mound and tried to materialize a makeshift weapon with his material-osmosis, but the attempt failed, and his glove shimmered with heat. He stared at his palm. "We're running out of E-E-Energon…!"

"Growing fatigued, Ranger Blue?" Doctor L taunted. He motioned over to Infiltr8 as he added, "This ought to wake you up!"

Infiltr8 stretched his hands toward a rusted-out car, and electricity enveloped it as it floated up into the air and drifted toward the sentient program. Infiltr8 lifted the car above his head, then grunted as he hurled it at the Blue and Yellow Rangers.

"Wendy, look out!" Kenny shoved her out of the way and swung at the car with his saber, cleaving through it at the last second. Infiltr8 surged forward and closed the distance before the split halves of the car touched the ground, locking hands with Kenny as the Blue Ranger planted his feet. Kenny's arms buckled, and his biceps bulged as he held his foe back. "Gahhh…!"

"INTRUSION ALERT: SECURITY PROTOCOLS FAILING," The computerized voice echoed from the intercom. The blaring klaxons mingled with the thunderous rapport of Doctor K's keycaps in an anxious symphony as red lights pulsed through the lab. "REPEAT: SECURITY PROTOCOLS FAILING. LAB INTRUSION: IMMINENT"

"It appears that my men have nearly broken through your firewall, K," the woman on the holoscreen remarked. "Unsurprising, of course, considering our superiors at Alphabet Soup taught you everything you know."

"Not everything, J," Doctor K retorted, nodding towards her Nitro Blaster as she continued to type. "You'll find I've acquired some skills of my own since I left."

"Admittedly, you raise a good point there, K. Times have changed, and so has my name. I'm The Librarian now, and I suggest you refer to me as such." The other woman sneered. "You'd do well to respect the one who's bested you."

"You always did have an overly inflated opinion of yourself," Doctor K said with an amused snort. She then added, "Careful J, your insecurity's showing."

"SECURITY PROTOCOLS FAILING," the computer repeated. "TOTAL SYSTEM SHUTDOWN IN TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE..."

"Mock me all you want, K. I still win," The Librarian disappeared from view moments before the entire hologlobe shut off. Doctor K narrowed her eyes in confusion, then snapped her gaze to the ceiling as the lights abruptly went out.

Her computer was the last thing to go, and as the sterile glow of its monitor fizzled out, she found herself sitting in total darkness. She snatched up her Nitro Blaster and swiveled in her chair. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears.

A crackling sound echoed through the lab as a golden light appeared at the base of the door and began to slowly creep along its outline. Doctor K stood and readied her Nitro Blaster as sparks leapt from the door frame.

"GAHHHHHH!" Kenny's biceps bulged, and his arms trembled as he grappled with Infiltr8. His suit began to shimmer, and he shrunk back as the telltale signs of his weakpoint kicking in made their presence known. "Man, not *now*…!"

"Careful now," Infiltr8 taunted. "You wouldn't want to overheat."

"Crap, he's in trouble!" Bugz exclaimed worriedly.

"Kenny!" Wendy shoved two Digitrons off her, then turned and tore towards her Blue teammate. The rest of the Digitrons nipped at her heels. "Hang on, I'm coming...!"

Meanwhile, a series of metallic thwacks reverberated through the junkyard as Griffin and Quincy's weapons collided repeatedly in a shower of sparks. Griffin kicked off the ground and put some distance between him and the Gold Ranger, then yowled as he broke into a run. He spun his saber into a standard grip, the hilt firm in hand as he aimed an overhead swing at Quincy. Quincy met the attack with a deft block, and they locked blades again. He shoved Griffin backward and followed up with a swift sideways slash but narrowly missed as the Red Ranger leaped up to avoid it. The moment Griffin's feet touched the ground, Quincy lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air in a wild arc. Griffin parried each strike with one of his own, and their gloves creaked as they locked blades again. Their boots gouged trenches in the dirt as they dug in their heels and strained against each other's force.

"You can't win, so you may as well surrender now," Quincy told him. "There are forces at work far beyond your comprehen-"

Griffin vanished before he finished, and Quincy glanced over his shoulder as he teleported behind him. He turned and raised his sword, but Griffin tackled him to the ground and knocked it out of his hand. Griffin flipped his saber into his usual reverse grip, then pointed it at the Gold Ranger's torso. Their breaths mingled as they panted.

"...Well, go on, then," Quincy told him. "Do it."

Griffin raised his saber for the final blow, but his hands began to tremble, and his grip on his weapon loosened. Time slowed to a crawl, and he let out a shaky breath.

"KENNY!" Wendy's cry broke Griffin out of his trance, and he bolted upright and turned just in time to watch Infiltr8 hurl Kenny through the air like a dart. The Blue Ranger groaned as he slammed into the ground, and Griffin tore across the battlefield as Infiltr8 set his sights on Wendy.

"You're annoying," Infiltr8 stood his ground, unfazed, as Wendy sank a volley of blaster bolts into his chest. He then knocked her blaster out of her hand with a burst of electricity before converting his right arm into a long, serrated blade. Wisps of energy surged from his feet and ensnared Wendy, who vainly wriggled against the restraints as Infiltr8 raised his blade arm. "You should've just surrendered!"

"WENDY!" Griffin's calves burned with every step, but he pushed through the pain. He removed his FusionTech Visor from his SpyTech Brace as he got closer. The armor provided to him by Cheetor ebbed away as the red Buddy-Droid vanished and reappeared next to him in a flurry of red binaries.

"Grif, what're you doing?!" Cheetor stretched his hand toward Griffin, who blitzed past him and dove between Infiltr8 and Wendy. "Wait, you can't!"

"NOOOOOO!" Wendy screamed as she watched Infiltr8 slash Griffin diagonally across the chest. Griffin's Ranger suit sparked uncontrollably as he slumped to the ground, then disappeared altogether as he fell unconscious. His shirt was now ripped, revealing a deep red gash where he'd been cut. "GRIFFIN!"

She glared up at Infiltr8, only to collapse when a burst of electricity coursed through her restraints. Kenny started to get up, but Doctor L kicked him in the ribs, knocking him out cold.

"Kenny! Wendy! Griffin!" Cheetor's cries fell on deaf ears as the Digitrons converged on him and cut off all escape routes. They knocked him to the ground, then kicked and stomped him into submission. Their rhythmic blows formed a harsh metallic cadence that lulled the Buddy-Droid into unconsciousness.

"That's it, then. Job's done," Doctor L remarked as he surveyed the Digitrons' handiwork. He pressed a button on his earpiece, then spoke into it. "We have the Rangers and Buddy-Droids in custody. What's the status of Doctor K?"

"I have her skittering around her lab like an animal rattling its cage," The Librarian's voice crackled over Doctor L's comm link.

Doctor K trained her blaster on the entrance to her lab as the golden light slowly crept toward the edge of the door frame. It finished tracing the outline with a final shower of sparks, then vanished.

What followed were the longest few seconds of her life in recent memory. Sweat beaded on her forehead, but she maintained her grip on her weapon as the door abruptly slid open, and two blue silhouettes burst inside.

She took aim, firing a flurry of bolts at her attackers, but the Digitrons dove out of the way. The first disarmed her with a burst of electricity, which allowed the second to slip behind her and knock her unconscious with a swift blow to the back of the head. It caught her in its arms as she slumped over, and the other Digitron aided it as it dragged her to the nearby teleporter…

"...I've just received word that Doctor K has been apprehended," The Librarian informed, her voice crackling over the comm link. "Mission accomplished. Prep the Rangers and Droids for transport and return to base."

"Yes, ma'am. Preparing for dust off," L pressed the button on her earpiece again, then turned his attention to Quincy, who was still lying where Griffin had left him. He made his way over and offered his hand. Quincy seemed to hesitate for a moment before he took it. He helped him to his feet, and the Gold Ranger demorphed. "Excellent work, Q. Phase II went flawlessly."

Quincy averted his gaze, his eyes wandering to the Rangers as the Digitrons scooped them off the ground and carried them over to a portable teleporter. He reluctantly turned back to Doctor L.

"What happens next...?"

"We return to base and initiate Phase III," Doctor L replied. "The Librarian's been cagey with the details, but I have no doubt you'll be rewarded for your efforts."

"Right…" Quincy's eyes wandered off. He stared into the distance for several moments before shaking his head. "...Well, what're we waiting for, then? Let's go, L."

"With pleasure, Q." They turned and trudged over to the teleporter, where they, the Digitrons, and their captives disappeared in a cluster of blue binaries.

- POWER RANGERS: CPU -

A/N: There's a lot to unpack here, but yeah. Quincy's a double working for Alphabet Soup (the shadowy think tank mentioned several times in RPM, tl;dr its where Doctor K comes from) to infiltrate the Rangers and bring them to Earth-2. Why exactly does Alphabet Soup want the Rangers? Well, you'll get your answer in the next episode. Said episode will continue Quincy's character arc and see his loyalties, ideals and goals challenged. You won't wanna miss it.

As for when that next episode will go up, I honestly have no idea. I wanted to finish at least one more episode before this one went live but work and work-related stress have taken their toll on me the past month (longer, actually) and it just didn't end up working out. I'm currently in the writing process for Episode 29 and I hope to have it done soon, but I estimate at least another month or two before I have another batch ready to go. Sorry to keep you guys waiting.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one - positive, negative or anything in-between. I read each and every single review I get and I appreciate them all.

I love you guys; your support, speculation, and feedback all means more than you can ever know. Thank you so much.

Until next time, stay safe, and may the power protect you - always!