"What's your damage!" Tomi exclaimed as she stormed into Commander Oliver's office.
The leader of Hexagon looked up from his paperwork with a raised eyebrow. "Care to elaborate?"
"You told me that we were going to help the anomalies!" Tomi said. "But Kira charged in and totally blew it."
"If Ms.Ford hadn't intervened things would've gotten grave for you and Fred," the commander said flatly.
"That doesn't excuse what she did."
The Commander studied Tomi's shaky expression. He couldn't help but wonder how similar he looked when he was frustrated.
He looked hard into her eyes and asked, "What exactly did she do?"
"Don't play stupid."
"I'm not," Commander Oliver said. "Just humor me for a second."
Tomi looked like she wanted to do absolutely anything but that, yet she remained silent.
"What did Kira do," the commander repeated. "She just incapacitated Merrick so she could bring him back here."
"For what though?"
Commander Oliver couldn't help but notice the discrete flair of emotion in Tomi's voice. Whether she'd admit it or not she was afraid of the answer to her own question.
Commander Oliver sighed. "Princess Shayla is coming to retrieve him," he explained. "Obviously this isn't her Merrick but she still wants to help him."
"Oh…" Tomi said.
"I understand your anxiety and doubts," The Commander said. "I don't like being forced to resort to such barbaric tactics but unfortunately it was the best thing for everyone, including Merrick."
Commander Oliver was met with a face filled with anger and disgust. Then, quite slowly, it melted away.
Tomi sighed. "I'm sorry for overreacting." she shook her head slowly. "I just… this is all so new to me."
"It's okay," the commander spoke. "You have every right to be skeptical. I just hope you'll allow me to earn your trust."
Tomi's lips curled into a slight smile. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could trust you."
"Very good," Commander Oliver said. "Now, unfortunately, I have an important meeting I must attend."
"Right," Tomi said. "I'll talk to you later."
"Yes," The man at the desk said with a matching smile.
Once Tomi was out of the room, Commander Oliver pulled up a hologram of Kira.
"The Princess is on her way," the Yellow Dino Ranger said.
Commander Oliver nodded. "Very good."
"But why the sudden change of heart?"
"We needed to prove ourselves to Tomi."
"I don't see why it matters so much," Kira groaned.
"Her cooperation will be critical to stage two of Hexagon."
"Well, we're still on stage one," she reminded him.
"For now," he admitted, "but that won't last forever. And when the time comes it all may very well fall on her shoulders."
J.J Oliver stepped inside Hexagon where he was immediately greeted by the stocky bipedal automation named Alpha X.
"Hello J.J!" Alpha exclaimed.
"How's it going?" J.J asked the saucer headed robot built to be nearly identical to his predecessor sans a hexagon wrapped around the lightning bolt on his chest.
"Fantastic, as always!" Alpha said. "What can I help you with?"
J.J felt a distant lurk deep in his stomach. "I'd like to talk to Commander Oliver," he said.
"Ayi,yi,yi…" Alpha said. "The Commander is in the middle of a very important meeting."
"Oh…" J.J muttered.
"But it shouldn't be for too much longer," Alpha said. "For now I could escort you to the food court, or the holo-deck, or-"
"The holo-deck sounds good," J.J decided.
"Great!" Alpha said. "Follow me!"
The two wandered down one of Hexagon's many hallways. Countless employees rushed past, many were bleed-throughs carried over when Hexagon was sent to New Angel but many still were hired post the interdimensional travel. It was calculated that 1/10 of the entire city was employed by Hexagon in some capacity.
"Hey, Alpha…" J.J said with a shaky uncertainty.
"Hmmm, yes J.J?"
"Is it true that the morphin grid is maintained by the battle of good vs evil?"
"That is one of the leading hypotheses," Alpha X replied, "But no one really knows exactly how the morphin grid works. It was even a mystery to Zordon himself."
"Right, okay," J.J said in a measured voice.
"Why do you ask?"
"Uh… wel…" J.J muttered as they approached the doors to the holo-deck. Panic welled up like a shaken can in his stomach. The images of an hour before flashed in his mind's eye. "Do you have anything in your archives about a Hall of Legends?"
Alpha X paused. His body language shifted slightly. He turned to J.J.
Then, the door to the holo-deck slid open by themselves.
"Woah J.J, long time no see!" Fred Kelman said.
"Oh, hey," J.J said to the Gold Ranger.
"Sup," Ace said from beside Fred.
J.J smiled at the Ace. In the wake of the Paradox War J.J had drifted into the orbit of the Red Zenith Ranger.
"Do you have a second?" J.J asked.
"Ace still has to report for debriefing," Alpha X said.
"Tommy can wait," Ace said.
"Are you sure?" Fred asked. "You know how he gets."
"What's he gonna do, fire me?" Ace asked with a smirk. Then turned back to J.J. "Let's go grab a burger and we can talk."
Zen-Aku darted down the busy street of New Angel. Traffic swirved around his panicked figure, throwing blinding lights and roaring horns.
This world… so full of noise and sound.
It filled the Org's head with pain.
He longed for the simple days of thoughtless conquest. When he used to roam the countryside and have his fill of whatever fell into his claws.
He wasn't even sure why he and Merrick had answered the call those short five years ago. He supposed it was Merrick, that damn fool still loved the Princess. So when the infernal blight had torn the world asunder there hadn't been a second thought before joining the great battle.
And a lot of good it did them… years of scrounging across the strange world only for Merrick to fall prey to those damn Rangers.
Zen-Aku settled under a bridge. The gentle sound of the river echoing around him was calming, it reminded him so much of his old life.
And then, as if the Master Org himself were punishing Zen-Aku for his reminiscing, a new sound was caught by his canine ears. Followed by a pungent smell.
Demons.
The Org raised his blade as the swarm approached. Batling, Ghouls, and even Moogers made up the fleet.
The being leading the charge was a sight that made Zen-Aku strum with internal rage.
A black and purple Power Ranger, with a visor designed after a symbol the Org did not recognize but assumed to be of an eastern language.
She drew a long black katana. "Well, you're certainly an interesting find," she said. Though her voice was closer to that of the male persuasion.
Zen-Aku snarled. "What business do you have with me?"
"Oh relax, Fido," The Black Ranger said. "I'm not here to beef with you."
Finally, he understood what truly disgusted him about the Ranger before him. Their grid energy was tainted. Infused with the power of a Nighlok.
"Then why are you here?" The Org asked.
"Because we have a common enemy," the Ranger said. "I know what Hexagon took from you, and I can help you get it back."
Every dark malignant cell in the Org"s body pulsed with hatred. He wanted to disregard this proposal and rip the corrupted heretic to shreds.
But , despite the impossibility of it, his evil heart burned for Merrick.
"Perhaps an alliance would be in our best interest," Zen-Aku growled.