Episode 40
A Perfect World: Part I
Siege

Xaviax stared at the screens before him, lines and lines of emerald code rolling to life as the calculations unfurled. With Hawkin's cooperation, the final piece of the puzzle had fallen into place. Now, they had all they needed. Years of planning and months of execution were now paying off as the systems locked into alignment. It was only a matter of time until everything he had ever dreamed of would at last become a reality.

But there was still much to do, and while the list grew shorter with every passing second, it nonetheless made them vulnerable. It was an ever-present concern on Xaviax's mind, but others, however, seemed content to revel in their current successes.

"It's absolutely marvelous!" Ender decreed. "No, splendiferous! With the full capacity of the Digitizer at our disposal, it's like the very force of creation is in the palm of our hands!"

"Look upon my works, Ender," Xaviax agreed. "All we have strived to achieve is within our grasp. But we must not become complacent until the perfect world is fully realized before us. We may have conquered Hawkins and removed her from the equation, but there is still much to do."

And was there. The entire tower needed to be reconfigured, entire floors deconstructed and recreated as the tool for his ultimate prize developed within. The signals and connections needed to be synchronized for the ultimate coordination between them. For all the preparations they'd made, it was still nothing compared to the mountainous list of tasks that lay beyond them.

But that didn't matter; with the full power of the Digitizer at their command, those mountains were merely molehills. What would have taken years was now taking hours, and every passing moment brought them closer and closer to their goal's completion. But Xaviax was not yet ready to revel in their victory, not yet. Not when there was one loose thread that threatened to unravel all they'd worked so hard to achieve.

"Do not get complacent," Xaviax warned. "The Power Rangers succeeded in breaking out of Dream-Eater's prison; they remain a threat."

"That?" Ender scoffed. "I wouldn't wonder worry your black heart too much there. Dream-Eater's version was child's play compared to what we're making now."

"It doesn't matter that they broke out," Xaviax corrected. "As long as the Power Rangers are out there, they will continue attempting to unravel our plans. Now that we have their previous mentors, they will be more dogged than ever. We cannot allow them to interfere, not now. Not when we are so close."

"Well then, most malicious one, what do you suggest?" Ender asked.

But as Xaviax was about to give the order, an obvious solution that was more permission than a solution, he hesitated. The impulse struck him suddenly, surging from the dark recesses of his mind to hold his tongue and belay the order. It was an instinctive, moral recoil from what he was about to do.

Hawkins and Granger had been a thorn in his side from the very beginning, the main obstacle to achieving his goal. But the Rangers, for all they'd done to foil his plans and delay the attainment of his goal, were different. With the exception of Mileena, they hadn't chosen this. They were children dragged into Hawkins and Granger's battle to fight on their behalf. Xaviax had every intent of bringing the full weight of his power upon them, to crush them beneath his might to prevent any chance of dismantling his goal. And yet, another part of him was reluctant, the part that was still Davian Scolex.

"My lord?" Ender was staring at him, curious about the sudden silence as the iron mask turned to face the minion. Just as quickly, Xaviax dismissed the thought. It was nothing; it didn't matter. The elimination of these hesitations was why he'd turned himself into Xaviax, to ensure that nothing could stand in his way. Not even himself.

"Eliminate them," Xaviax ordered coldly. "Spare nothing in the pursuit of their destruction. If they're so determined to reject the perfect world that was handcrafted for their comfort, then they have no right to belong in the next one."

Seeing his master's renewed resolve, a sinister smile appeared on Ender's lips. "I've got just the tool for the job. A little side-project that I've been working on. An old friend that owes them some payback."

"See that it's done," said Xaviax. "Come nightfall, I wish the Power Rangers to be no more."

He turned on his heel and departed, leaving Ender to cackle maniacally at the emergence of his new creation as the lab filled with steam and emerald light. Once outside and finally alone, Xaviax buckled forward, panting heavily as his mask and his robes vanished in a burst of shadows. And when they did, Davian Scolex stood in his place.

His breathing grew heavy, panting in and out as his vision narrowed to the pace of his pounding head. He'd done it; he'd just ordered the destruction of a bunch of kids. It needed to be done; he knew that. And yet, until now, the necessity seemed like more of a concept than a reality. There had always been the hope that if there was a way to defeat the Power Rangers ending the children's lives, then it would present itself. But there was no other way, and Xaviax had seen that no time would be wasted in search of an impossible alternative.

It was done. But as he walked down the empty corridor, Davian Scolex could only wonder if he'd be able to live himself when his perfect desire finally became a reality.

Down in the lab, Lena could only stare at the readings on screens in disbelief. They were off the charts, outputs of digital energy surging overnight and concentrated on a single area: Cyberdyne Tower. There was no mistaking it, Xaviax had what he wanted. The only way he'd be able to get a Digitizer outputting that much energy was because Hilary had told him how.

She wished that she was surprised, but Lena knew deep down that it was inevitable. It would have been so easy to see Hilary as completely unflappable, an unbreakable wall of steel that Xaviax would never be able to bend. But they'd managed to get their hands on Ray as well, the perfect leverage to make Hilary do what they wanted. And in the end, she was only human.

All that mattered now was whether they still had a chance to stop their enemy before it became too late.

"What do you think it is?" Jess asked.

"My bet?" Lena asked. "He's building something, probably something he couldn't make without Hilary's help. But whatever it is, it's big enough to hollow out his own building to make room for it."

"That's not the only thing running hot," Jess noted. Flicking to another screen, she pulled up a top-down map of the city, littered with blinking lights. "Each of these dots is one of the power installations Scolex built for Lakeview after the Haywire incident. All of them went live at once last night, and I think we can guess where it's funneling."

It was all coming together; all of Scolex's wheeling and dealing in the city, the outcome of all his monster attacks finally becoming apparent. First, he'd turned the city into a giant super-computer, and now he's hijacked the power supply for his own ends.

"How long do we have?" Lena asked.

"Who knows," Jess admitted. "I've never seen digital output readings like this before. I don't even think Hilary has either. It's got to have a limit, but I have no idea what it would be or how close he already is to reaching it. But in the meantime? I hate to say it, but we've got bigger problems."

With a nod, she motioned toward a screen of rolling code. The lights were flashing, the alarm long silenced.

"Last night, the museum started getting hit with an unending wave of DOS attacks. I don't think it takes a genius to tell who's behind it."

"Can you stop it?"

"I'm doing my best," Jess said nervously. "Hilary put a lot of automated defenses in place for an event like this, but it still has its limits. I think she'd planned to be on standby to manually defend if it were needed, but, well, I'm not Hilary."

With gritted teeth, Lena stared at the malignant code assaulting their defense, knowing all too well what Ender was targeting. "How long until the firewall goes down?"

"The good news is, it's not that simple," said Jess. "Hilary layered the defenses, multiple firewalls around the building, just like the walls of a castle. They might be able to take down one and get closer, but they won't get very far while the others are up. The biggest one's around the museum's perimeter, stretching just across the road. The second covers the walls of the building, and the last one is surrounding the lab. That one's the strongest, and the good news is that I'm not sure if Ender's got what he needs to break it down."

But Lena had another thought, one that chilled along her spine as she realized Xaviax's likely plan. While the lab was well-defended, the rest of the museum was less so. Even as they spoke, the building was filled with innocent civilians, completely unaware they were in the crosshairs of the city's tormentor.

Xaviax didn't need to beat them; he just had to hold them off long enough to complete his plan. And with the people of Lakeview directly in harm's way, it didn't matter whether he breached the lab's defenses. They were locked inside, and if they didn't find a way to break out while keeping the civilians safe, it would all be over before they even stepped out the door.

They were running out of time, and every second they lost was one they no longer had to rescue Ray and Hilary. Wherever they were.

The phone's alarm sounded its soft and lulling tones, pulling Hilary from the comforting slumber and into the conscious warmth of the morning light. The temptation to slap it off and return to the pull of sleep was overwhelming, a dulcet draw that Hilary pushed away before she could submit. Rising with a delighted yawn, Hilary's hand instinctively reached across the bed to greet the other waking occupant. But there no one was there. Instead, all that met her touch was the softness of the empty sheets.

A second later, Hilary dismissed the absence with a laugh. That'll teach her to sleep in. No doubt Ray was already up and about, making the most of the morning while she lay in bed. The perils of marrying a morning person, but also the upside of being her own boss. If she wasn't tied to the demand of a 9-5, she was damn well going to enjoy it. And if Ray was happy to run the havok of the morning of his own, getting everyone ready and out the door in time, then who was Hilary to object?

Even if it meant some lonely mornings.

Before she knew it, Hilary was up and ready, dressed for the day in her refined but expensive wardrobe as she stepped into the sunshine to greet the familiar suburban street. Rows of houses with beautiful green lawns stretched out before her, regimentally organized among the divisions of white-picket fences. Tranquil and calm, the occasional car rolled up the street at the perfect speed as Hilary smiled at the sight. All she needed at that moment was Ray at her side, and she'd have had everything she ever wanted. She supposed it would teach her to sleep in.

Having had her moment of contentment, Hilary stepped off the porch and toward the garage where her car, a sleek new electric, awaited her. Her commute to work felt like a flash, an easy drive that allowed her to fall into her thoughts. By the time she'd arrived at the building, Hilary was ready for the workday.

"Morning, Dr. Hawkins," Jessica said eagerly as the elevator doors opened. The office floor greeted her as she stepped into the space, the rows of desks where her team of engineers were hard at work. All smiled as they looked at her, happy to be a part of the world she was trying to make. But as much as Hilary wanted to get down into the bullpen and see what they were all working on, she also had her own mountains of work to do. And so, as was usual, Jessica talked while they walked.

"We've got your meeting with the board in an hour; they want to talk about the latest stock projections. The company's been going up for the last twelve quarters, and I think they want to make sure it stays that way."

"They're just swimming for a bigger bonus," Hilary replied lazily. "Answer's the same as before; we're reinvesting profits and making sure our engineers are paid what they're worth. If they want a soulless paycheck, they can go work for Disney."

"Gotcha," Jess nodded, moving on. "Time Magazine reached out. They want to do a profile for next month's issue. Your rise in the industry is really striking with women interested in tech, and they're looking to capitalize by putting you on the cover. I told them we'd see how it fit with your schedule, but it will probably land around the time you're making that speech at Caltech. If we can make it work, it would be an awesome way to encourage more women in the field. Oh, and the Pentagon called. They're about to run a major firmware update and wouldn't mind if you flew over to take a look."

"I cannot imagine my life without you, Jess," Hilary smiled gratefully as she reached the door of her office.

"That's why you pay me the big bucks."

"And it's worth every penny."

With a wide grin of appreciation, Jess spun around and strode back to her desk. As Hilary watched her assistant glide away, she took a moment to observe the office that was under her care. It had been a long road, but her firm was thriving, meeting every new project with excitement. The world was a better place, and it filled Hilary with pride to admit that part she'd played. And no matter what she did, it only ever felt like the beginning of something greater.

Finally reaching her desk, Hilary had barely sat down when there was a knock at the door. Her mentor was standing at the threshold.

"Hey, Doc! How've you been?"

Hilary couldn't put her finger on why, but something pranged from deep inside of her, a relief that he was alright, mixed with the cathartic excitement from seeing him after a long time away. But just as quickly, Hilary pushed the thought aside. Doc was fine, just as he had been when they'd said goodbye the previous day. Where the sudden worry for him had come from, Hilary had no idea.

But Doc's face told a different story. As he stepped across the threshold toward her desk, he stared at Hilary with uncertainty and concern. His steps were measured and cautious as he approached and leaned across.

"Hilary," he said. "I need you to listen to me. This, all of this, it isn't right."

"What are you on about?" Hilary scoffed. "Looks at all of this. It's everything we ever dreamed of."

"Exactly. There's not a single different thing. Everything that you and I ever wished for came true, and nothing happened to change its path."

"So?"

"Think, Hilary," Doc pleaded. "I need you to think really carefully. How? How did all of this come to be? What made our dream a reality?"

Like an early warning tremor, Hilary's heart jolted in instinctive rejection of the question. "You sure you're doing okay? Maybe you've been working too hard. Why don't you take a few days off?"

But Doc ignored her, leaning closer with further insistence, and refused to relent. "Come on, Hilary, tell me. How did we get here? What did we create that made everything we ever wanted possible? Think!"

While still worried, Hilary relented to his request, hoping that the answer would calm him enough to see if he was alright. "Okay, well, you see…"

And then she stopped, her mind hitting an impenetrable wall of fog surrounding the memories. They were there; she could feel them, but it was like they were just out of reach. "We… perfected the Digitizer…"

"Perfected it? How?"

"We… we made it safe…"

"Safe? Why? What was the problem with it?" Doc urged. "Come on, Hilary, remember."

It was simple, wasn't it? For so long, she and Doc had been terrified of what would happen if the Digitizer fell into the wrong hands. They knew how much the technology could help the world, but too much could go wrong if they released it to the public with no restraints. But they'd fixed it, hadn't they?

They'd managed to make it safe. Because what made it dangerous was…

How the entire thing worked.

Slowly, Hilary's eyes widened as her mind grabbed the thread, unraveling the delusion with every tug. They hadn't come up with a solution. She couldn't think of one because it never existed. But they would never have released it to the public if they couldn't shield its use from evil hands. So why did this company exist? How could she be so renowned and successful for something she'd never done? And never would do?

Pushing her own glory ahead of a public good would make her no different to…

Davian Scolex!

With a gasp, Hilary fell back in her chair as the memories came flushing back, the face of a despised rival morphing into an enemy and then a mask of cold, expressionless steel. A mask that had held her captive, that had forced her to give up the only safeguard for the technology that could destroy the world.

And then he'd thrown her into a world of his own making, a world that would give her everything she longed for. This office, this company, everything about this world she was in; none of it was real. It couldn't be because its very existence hinged on a solution she hadn't found and couldn't be conjured for her. Breathing heavily, Hilary looked up at Doc across the desk, whose sad eyes were filled with concern and regret.

"Doc?" she asked, a desperate plea quivering with hope. "Is it really you?"

"It's me," he nodded. "I've been here ever since Erika and Miguel escaped the tower. Looks like Xaviax decided to throw you in here too."

The next thing Hilary knew, she was out of the chair, leaping around the table and into her mentor's arms to squeeze him tight with relief and despair. He was okay! He was there! She'd finally reached him after all this time. But as Hilary surrendered to her relief, the last of her memory hit her. She snapped away, struck with horror at the absence of another.

"If you're in here with me," Hilary realized. "Then where's Ray?"

"Get in the car."

Erika practically threw the bag into the vehicle in front of the building before spinning around to face her slack-jawed father, staring at her in disbelief.

"Erika, I'm not going anywhere. For starters, I've got to work this evening."

"Then call in sick. You can take a night off. If anything, they owe you for all the overtime you've been pulling. In the meantime, I hear that Los Angeles is great this time of year. And if you leave now, you should be able to get there by tonight."

"LA, huh? And what do you plan on doing when we get there?"

"Oh, I'm not going. This is me trying to convince you to take some time for yourself. What you deserve is some solo R with nothing to stress you out or distract you. Some you time. Somewhere away. Far away… You still have a valid passport, right?"

Her father raised an eyebrow as his daughter sheepishly tried to convince him of the impossible. "Erika, what's going on?"

What could she tell him? How could she even begin to explain? Erika would have thought it would have been easier without the barrier of her secret. But as she stared at her father, trying to find the words that would ensure his safety, she realized it was anything but. Because she knew that the second her dad learned of what was about to happen, nothing would be able to stop him from staying at his daughter's side.

And then, just to make things even harder, Valerie's car pulled up and parked behind them.

"Hey, I got your message," she said as she climbed out. "'Hey babe, you know what's better than a walk on the beach? A Hollywood beach. I hear the LA boardwalk's going to be awesome tomorrow.' Seriously, are you doing okay?"

Great, now she had to have both conversations at once. Say goodbye to her dad and her girlfriend. As if having those conversations one at a time wasn't going to be bad enough. Hearing Valerie read out the message, Erika's father turned to her with growing skepticism, and Erika couldn't help but shrink beneath the demanding gazes of the two people in the world she loved the most.

"I just… I need you to get out of town, okay?" Erika pleaded. "Just trust me. Please."

Valerie understood in an instant, softly nodding in solemn understanding as she realized the only reason Erika would ask at all. Her father, however, needed a moment.

"Why?" he asked. "What's going to happen? Is that evil billionaire going to blow up the city or something?"

By then, Erika couldn't no longer hold the truth, wearing it plain on her face for her father to read.

"…oh."

"Dad, Val," Erika said. "I don't know what's going to happen. But I know that whatever Scolex is up to, it's going down soon. We're going to stop it, but I need to be prepared for if we don't."

"But you're going to," Val insisted. "You always do."

"But what if we don't?" Erika replied. "What if the one time we fail is the time that we lose it all? I don't want it to happen; I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that it doesn't. But I also know that if you're here, if you're still in Lakeview when Scolex makes his play, then that's all I'm going to be able to think about. I can't keep people safe if I'm too busy worrying about the two of you."

All they could do was stare at her, rooted in place with frightened indecision, unable to bring themselves to comply with Erika's desperate plea. Two people who loved her, who wanted the best for her, who couldn't stand the idea of stepping aside as she threw herself into danger. Even if it was what she needed.

"Dad, Val, please," Erika pleaded. "I know you don't want me to face this alone. I know that in your heart, you want me to come with you. But I can't, and we all know it. Because this power is a responsibility, and I owe it to everyone else in this city to keep them safe. But I also need to know that if I fail, if we fight our hearts out and Xaviax still gets what he wants, then there will still be at least two people that I managed to save. Please."

There was nothing more she could think to say, no other way that Erika could think of convincing them. Slowly, Val and her father looked away from Erika's pleading eyes to share a look of fearful uncertainty. And then they nodded.

"I guess that I can convince my parents to take me on a last-minute, celebratory pre-graduation trip," Val relented.

But her father said nothing, continuing to stare in terrified paralysis. She could see it in his eyes, the conundrum that tore him between his duties as a father and the wishes of his daughter. Because to leave was to accept that he might not come back, to leave his daughter to face the darkness of the world alone.

"Dad," said Erika as tears welled in her eyes. "You're not leaving me; you're letting me go. Because you can't shield me from the world forever. Because keeping me inside while it burns around us isn't going to protect me. You need to let me out; it's time to set me free. You've spent all these years looking after me and keeping me safe. Now it's my turn to do the same for you."

Quivering, her father's hands rested on her shoulders, and his welling eyes stared at her as if truly seeing her for the first time. As if her entire life was flashing before his eyes, relieving every moment and watching her grow in an instant. As if only now did he truly realize the young woman that she'd become and that to stand and shield her now would only hold her back. That it was time to let her go and let her fly.

"Okay," he said. "I'll go."

With a sigh of heavy relief, Erika rushed forward and hugged them both. "Thank you. Hopefully, when this is all over, you can tell me I worried over nothing."

Letting the two of them go was one of the hardest things that Erika had ever had to do, an anguishing moment that could have lasted an eternity. It was as if, in letting go, Erika was acknowledging that she may never see them again. But at last, she relinquished her hold on her father and girlfriend as she said her final goodbye. Letting go of a hold that left her longing in hopes that she would feel it again.

Having relented to his daughter's plea, Ken Nishimura was the first to leave, climbing to that car in accordance with his promise to remain safe. Val wasn't far behind.

"Go get 'em, tiger," she urged, kissing Erika deeply one last time.

And then she drove away, leaving Erika alone on the curb, standing before the building of her empty apartment. And she watched them go, Erika breathed in deeply, letting her melancholic sorrow settle in her chest, mixing with a feeling she was more comfortable with to become potent fuel. They were going away; they were leaving her.

Because she needed them to.

Because Scolex wouldn't relent; because he'd made it clear that he'd come after the people that she loved. And there was only one way that she was going to get them back while keeping them safe.

As the cars vanished around the corner, Erika's gaze hardened as the anger simmered within, her fist curling into a tightened clench as she affirmed what needed to be done. Once upon a time, she'd been so consumed by anger that all she'd wanted was to watch the world burn.

Her anger had never left her, but she understood it now. Now, it was a force to be reckoned with, a fuel to her fire igniting on her whim, a weapon to be wielded with perfect control. And now Scolex's world was the one she was going to burn to the ground.

The air cracked as Abbey and Miguel Wisped into the lab, frightening Jessica as Lena stared unaffected at the rolling screen. The sight before them didn't fill Abbey with much hope. When they'd left the previous evening to see their families and convince them to leave, Lena and Jess had remained to begin a plan of action. But their lack of progress was clear, and Abbey could only assume it was because either the odds were insurmountable or something had been placed in their path. It was likely both. Very quickly, Lena had given the grim update that confirmed her fears.

"We've got to get people out of here!" Abbey realized.

"Easier said than done," Lena said grimly. "What do we even tell people? That the museum's about to be besieged by killer robots? The people of Lakeview have kind of gotten used to that."

"What if we set off the fire alarm?" Miguel suggested.

Jessica shook her head, "Even if everyone obeyed it immediately, which I doubt, it might only be temporary. And it will still bring in a whole team of firefighters to investigate the alarm."

"There's another problem," said Lena as she pulled up the reading on the firewall. "The outer defenses have nearly been completely stripped. If we send those people out now, they could be walking straight into a horde of Cyberdrones. The truth is that the safest place for them right now is inside."

There were words she left out of the explanation, but Abbey grimly caught them just the same: for now.

"Any luck with your families?" Jess asked.

Both of them nodded. If there was any time that Abbey was grateful that her parents knew about her Ranger identity, it was when she'd been standing in their kitchen, convincing them to leave town. After the incident at parent-teacher night and a few months to adjust, her mother and Richard had thankfully learned there was no point in arguing. Instead, they'd agreed to take a trip to their holiday house in Santa Cruz.

Miguel had been a different story. As the only one whose family was out of the loop, the conversation was more difficult. He'd contemplated telling them everything, but deep down, he knew that it would only lead to a million questions that he had no time to answer. Thankfully, the Carmichaels had called at Abbey's behest, inviting them to Santa Cruz with them. It still hadn't been easy, but it was an easier sell.

"They're safe," said Abbey. "Now we've just got to make sure it's safe to come back."

And just like that, one of the monitors began beeping, warning of a breach in the digital defenses.

"They've made it through," Jess said urgently. Her fingers were firing across the keys, punching in codes in a desperate attempt to fight back. "They've gone straight for the outer firewall, just like we thought. We put things to slow them down, but I don't know how long they're going to hold. I'll try to buy some more time, but them getting through is a when, not an if."

"How long can you buy us?" Miguel asked.

"Whatever I can."

But Abbey was already looking at the screen to see another problem. "There're still people outside. If they're there when the Cyberdrones come at us, they'll all be in danger."

"Not to mention that Erika and Zeke aren't back," said Lena. "Xaviax's is about to throw an entire army at us. They'll be cut off."

"We need to get out there," Miguel agreed. "Try to buy them time and get safety."

"I'll try to hold the firewall up as long as I can," Jessica confirmed.

The three teens bolted to the elevator, moving as fast as they could to reach the front of the museum in time. Hoping that whatever they had left was enough.

"Urgh, this is just the worst!"

What even was all that? Was it a dream? Some twisted reality show?

All Whitney knew was that one minute, she was fuming downtown, trying to clear her head with some high-value retail therapy. Then she's somehow experiencing the greatest wardrobe in the history of ever, and somehow also feeling sad about it!

And then, after somehow getting dumped in a dumpster (again!), she and Deryck were back to running for their lives in downtown Lakeview as if they'd never left! Neither of them could explain it, the entire afternoon that felt as distant as some half-remembered dream. They'd each gone home, not entirely certain of what had happened, and it was only after a night of sleeping on it that Whitney realized that she had, in fact, experienced something truly strange.

She had had the wardrobe from heaven. And she had had everyone in the world dying for her approval. And she had found it empty. It had been soulless and shallow. And now, for some reason, she had to feel bad about it, too?

What was the deal?

Even now, as Whitney strode across the city square to meet Deryck, Erika's words echoed from the back of her mind with haunting resonance.

"Who knows," she'd said, "it might even stop you from ending up alone." Because in that strange dream that Whitney couldn't forget, alone was all she'd been.

"It's so weird," Deryck realized. "Yesterday, it felt so real. But it wasn't, was it?"

"I don't know, Deryck!" Whitney snapped. "Maybe? No, it couldn't have been. It must have been something we ate. I told you afternoon specials at the salad bar were a bad idea."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But if it wasn't real, why did we both see it? We both saw it, right?"

There was nothing in the world Whitney wanted more than for Deryck to be wrong, for some reason, to appear and confirm that it had all been some hallucination caused by bad Caesar dressing. But in her heart, she knew that, in some way, it had been real. Even if it had only been in the mind, what she'd felt in those strange, missing hours was simply too compelling to ignore. Not to mention that the past year had been far too strange in general to easily dismiss it, either.

But if what Whitney had seen was real, then that meant what she'd felt had been as well. She'd got the life she'd always wanted, and she'd been nothing but disappointed.

"Deryck?" Whitney asked soberly. "Why do we keep doing this? How do we keep ending up here?"

"What you mean, Whitney?"

"I mean, look at us. We're hot as hell and at the top of our game. The world is meant to be our shellfish or whatever. We should be dying for the carp and all that. So why did I hate getting everything I wanted? I saw a dream come true, but was that really the best I could do? An empty home and clothes I didn't want? And what was I doing before that? I was complaining about sand in my hair. Like it was the only thing I could think to complain about."

"Yeah," Deryck nodded sadly. "I thought being good at everything would be awesome, but it just made everything boring. It's like there wasn't anything exciting anymore."

Until there was. The moment they saw each other again was the first connection they'd shared in the entire world. And when the robots started swarming the street, and the monster started chasing them, they'd been terrified. But it had been real.

As had their cathartic relief when it was all over.

"It's like…" Whitney slowly realized with sobering discomfort. "It's like only the way that something really matters is if you care about it."

"Like working for something hard makes you appreciate it more," said Deryck. "Makes you want it more."

So, what did that make them? What did they really care about? What did they want badly enough to work for? It couldn't be nothing… could it?

No. No, that couldn't be it. She was Whitney Whiting. People would kill to be her. She was just thrown by Erika's snapping remark the previous day. That was it. Somehow, Erika's comment had gotten into her head and sent her for a spin.

Well, Whitney was going to show her. When she next saw Erika, she was going to make sure that a face full of sand was the least of that girl's problems.

And then, all of a sudden, Whitney and Deryck had a whole lot more.

Zeke was already climbing out of his car as Erika approached the museum's back door.

"Hey," she said as she reached him. "How'd it go?"

"It could have gone worse," Zeke replied. "Convincing them to go was the easy part; they had no problem once they discovered that a supervillain might be turning on his doomsday weapon. That hard part was accepting that I couldn't go with them."

"But they're gone, right?"

Zeke nodded. "Mom and Dad piled my little brother and sister into the SUV and are driving down the interstate as we speak."

So that was it then; their families and anyone else they loved were clearing the decks. Anyone that Xaviax could possibly use to manipulate them was out of harm's reach, and while the thought provided small comfort, it brought a wave of anxious trepidation as they realized nothing was standing their way.

"Let's get to the lab," said Erika. "Once we meet up with the others, we can finish making a battle plan."

"Hopefully before Xaviax tries anything to-."

Zeke's words were cut off by the beeping of their communicator, earning a scolding look from Erika as she opened the line.

"Please tell me this is some miracle news about busting right into Xaviax's lair with minimal effort."

"Boy, do I wish," Jess replied. "Xaviax has been attacking the outer firewall. You two need to get inside before-!"

But the last of Jess' warning was cut off by a shriek around the corner, and Erika had a suspicious, sinking feeling about the source. And even that was something that would have to wait. A heartbeat later, the surroundings flared with a violent flash of emerald, burning as it descended upon every spare inch of space surrounding the museum. In the blink of an eye, the light vanished, replaced by a swarming sea of Cyberdrones. Erika's heart jolted with a momentary fluster of fear as she tried in vain to count them. There were more than she'd ever seen in her entire life, and now they'd surrounded the Museum and cut off all escape.

"Don't worry," she said meekly into the com. "We found them."

And then the robots descended.

Without so much as a second to reach for their keycards, Erika and Zeke bounded back, desperate for any distance they could gain in an attempt to make a plan. It wasn't much, but it was all they were getting, and the Cyberdrones reached them moments later with sinister determination. And then it was all they could do to keep on their feet.

The first came in as Erika swerved to the side, kicking in a sweeping crescent to slam down the robot before it could take another shot. It was the only opening she was gaining, and she planned to milk every second. As the first robot dropped, Erika launched into a flurry of kicks at the next attackers. Unprepared for such a brazen assault, the Cyberdrones staggered back, pushing into the horde as Erika pressed ahead. One of them found their courage and lashed out, but all on its own, it was easy pickings. With narrowing eyes, Erika leaned from the punch before snatching out and grabbing. She yanked the Cyberdrone forward, pulling into the path of another strike before spinning it around and kicking it in the backside. The minion went clattering forward, crashing into numerous comrades as Erika stepped back into the ground she'd gained to catch her breath.

"Here for the exhibit opening?" she taunted. "Let me punch your tickets."

They seemed to like the deal and lunged again to take it. Erika skidded to let them pass. The next blow swiped overhead as she ducked beneath, fist jabbing into the robot's side as she swerved to avoid another. For all her spunk, there were just too many. Erika could hold out all day, but she couldn't get ahead, and with so many surrounding her, it was impossible to find a window and morph. And that was only the beginning of their problems.

Nearby, Zeke was doing all he could to stay standing, stuck on the backfoot as the Cyberdrones came at him from all sides. While defense was his comfortable territory, his problems were the same. With this many Cyberdrones, only their Ranger powers would be enough to take on the horde, and the robots were doing all they could to stop the teens from using them.

Having been backed against the wall, Zeke spun as a Cyberdrone saw the opening and lunged, crashing into the brick wall as the teen reached for a pair of trash cans and snatched up the lids. It wasn't much, but it was the best he had, and the twin disks of galvanized steel spun in his hands like a pair of shields. As the next henchman rushed him, the metal crashed across the faceplate, clanging as Zeke sent it sprawling to the ground. The next snapped upward, just in time as a Cyberdrone lunged from up high with its weapon poised for the takedown. It clashed against the steel, it too clanging as Zeke battered away the weapon and kicked the Cyberdrone in the chest. The henchman dropped, but there were plenty more to replace it.

"Zeke!" Erika cried out. "Heads up!"

The boy didn't even look, responding to Erika's only warning by throwing out a golden shield. Over on the flank, Erika shot back, darting toward the nearby dumpster and leaping onto the lid. As the Cyberdrones raced toward her in pursuit, Erika kept going, vaulting for the adjoining wall and bounding off with all her might. And as she did, she built the charge between the hands.

The power crackled, arcs of crimson energy sizzling between her fingers as more and more collected between her palms. It glowed more brightly with every cycle, building with intensity as Erika forced more and more of it together. And as she landed by Zeke's side, she unleashed it. The bolts of crimson fury unfurled from her hands like an electric tidal wave, booming with the calamity of thunder as the forks burst in all directions to sizzle through the Cyberdrones. Too drawn into their assault on Zeke, the henchman had been clustered in the perfect position, nowhere to run, as the lightning coursed through their bodies and dropped them to the ground, convulsing as their circuits fried beneath their armor.

It was an opening, but only big enough to run, not morph. But neither Erika nor Zeke were in the mood to bemoan what they were getting. They bolted to the museum's side entrance, desperately hoping that the terrain would give them an edge to pause and morph. And instead, what they found was a much bigger problem.

"Server Force! Login Access!"

The energy blazed around the three teens as the Digitizer spirited them outside, imbuing their bodies with the power of the grid as the suits conformed around their bodies. As the columns of colored light slammed down at the museum's entrance, Lena launched ahead, morphed and ready, with Abbey and Miguel close behind. All around them, people were screaming, running in fear as the Cyberdrones rushed to the entrance. They had to hold the line, to keep the henchmen held back and give the people time to run inside to safety. Until they knew that the people of Lakeview were safe, it was the only plan they had.

Abbey's bow unleashed the second she hit the air, bombarding the sea of chrome with a dazzling blue barrage. The energy arrows detonated as they hit the ground, blasting the Cyberdrone ranks apart to create the perfect opening for Lena and Miguel's descent. With the Blue Ranger hanging back to defend the fleeing civilians, the White and Dark Rangers engaged with extreme prejudice. With spear in hand, Lena descended upon the horde, polearm glowing a blinding white as it cleaved through the ranks. The Cyberdrones shattered as the weapon impacted, bashed aside like a broken wave. And as Lena readied for another swipe, Miguel closed in.

The shadows curled around his body, a growing mass of dark light condensing into a single point. And then Dark Ranger surged forward, unleashing it all at once to carve through the Cyberdrone lines in a single steak of black. Once again, the shattered robots clattered in all directions as their dismantled limbs scattered across the ground. But even as the Dark and White Rangers hit them with all they had, the multitudes of henchmen were endless.

"We need to get back inside!" Miguel warned.

"Just a little longer!" Lena replied. "Abbey's holding the door. We just need to hold out long enough for everyone to-!"

But she never finished the sentence as a barrage of laser fire suddenly unleashed in their direction. Both Rangers saw it just in time, leaping away as the bolts exploded beneath them. But as the pair landed and spun around, it wasn't the fact that it was fired that shocked them. It was who. And their appearance made Lena gasp with abject horror.

It was ArcKnight, but everything about him was wrong. His armor had changed, it was still the familiar bulky shape but now bleached into a sleek and shiny white as a blood-red trim stained the helmet and ridges of his plating. The grill of his helmet had morphed into a reverberator, and the lenses of his eyes now glowed with a sickly green. But it wasn't the changed appearance that sent a chill running down Lena's spine; it was the way the warrior moved. Whereas before, there had been purpose in ArcKnight's stride, now it was rigid and robotic, precise to the point of inhuman.

"Rangers," he said. His voice was cold, buzzing with rhythmic regularity that stripped it of any feeling. "This will be the day of your extermination. Submit to the might of Xaviax, or prepare for your deletion."

"New look, ArcKnight?" Miguel scoffed. "Did your old boss lure you back with some upgrades?"

But as Miguel taunted their enemy, Lena was struck with a sickening thought, a gross realization filled her with abject horror. "That's not ArcKnight."

"ArcKnight is no more," the warrior replied tonelessly. "I am his replacement, stripped of all weaknesses and optimized into the ultimate being of martial perfection. I am X-Knight."

ArcKnight hadn't just been taken; he hadn't just been deleted. He'd been reprogrammed and had his whole identity erased. And now he was being sent against the Rangers, once more, to tear them apart with ruthless efficiency.

Erika ripped around the corner with the horde hot on her heels, Zeke right behind her as more Cyberdrones greeted them. They were bunched together like a pack of delinquents, prancing around with sinister glee as the shrieking continued sounding from the middle. No guesses for who that belonged to.

One glance was all Erika needed to make a decision, confidently affirming with Zeke before lunging forward. With no time to morph, they had to move, and that meant leaping to Whitney and Deryck's aid without the shrouding disguise of their suits. But the choice between protecting civilians and protecting their identity wasn't a choice at all. Even if it was Whitney.

With full fury, the teens lunged back into the thick of it, bashing back the clustering drones as they beat their path toward the hapless victims. Whitney was standing as far back as she could, cowering behind a brave but ineffective Deryck as he tried to hold the horde at bay.

There was no time to waste. With the force of a freight train, Erika barreled through the henchmen, shouldering them back as she muscled between the Cyberdrones and their prey. The closest one to Deryck copped the full sting as her heavy heel crashed into its faceplate, sending it reeling as Erika lashed out and snatched the wrist of another. She pulled it inwards, yanking it free of its balance and right into the path of a comrade attack, and with the minion reeling, Erika lunged. She rolled over its buckled back, bringing down her heel like a plunging axe to crash down another. But now they were in an even tighter space than before, and while the bottleneck of the alley was keeping the Cyberdrones contained, it was also keeping the fresh supply of henchmen flowing toward them.

Beside her, Zeke was doing all he could to stay grounded, refusing to lose an inch of ground as the Cyberdrones came at him from all sides. His foot planted into the chest of the first before shifting aside and striking the next. The next three tried a coordinated approach, but Zeke's footing was better and his position more secure. As they descended, he dropped into a roll, kicking out his leg to sweep them by the ankles and send them crashing to the ground. But for each that fell, more were already surging to take their place, and the teens were losing their battle against the tide.

They needed to move!

Then Whitney let out another shriek. With Erika and Zeke's reprieve, she and Deryck had retreated further into the alley, closer toward the museum's back door. But the Cyberdrones had seen them too, and having broken past the defensive line, a group of them surged toward the helpless duo with their weapons raised to strike. Zeke didn't even think, instinct taking over as he lunged toward them. The shield flashed out from his body, the gold dome bursting with glowing light as it intercepted the plunging weapon. And as it did, Whitney and Deryck could only gasp and stare as they watched the ball of light burst apart with shattering force.

As the Cyberdrones staggered back, Zeke stood defiantly in their path, vicious, glaring a warning of intent and of what was yet to come. Seeing the opening, Erika bolted back, smashing an intervening Cyberdrone to reach Zeke's side and whip around. By the time she'd made it, the charging current had built to critical, and Erika unleashed everything she had. With a deafening clarion, crimson lighting blasted from her hands, forking between the conducting targets and bursting out the other side of their torsos. The front rank dropped, smoke rising from the holes in their chest as Erika and Zeke readied to take on the next wave.

"WHAT?" Whitney demanded. "WHAT WAS THAT?"

"They just…!" Deryck stammered. "And they…! You just…!"

But the teens in front ignored them, glaring instead at the Cyberdrones already charging forward to meet them. They had the opening, and they had to take it. Sharing a look, both of them nodded. The time for subtlety was over, and Erika stepped forward with confident zeal as the Morpher appeared on her wrist. "Are you ready?"

"Ready!" Zeke replied.

And standing there, gobsmacked, Whitney and Deryck could only stand there as the last thing that they ever expected unfolded before their eyes.

"WHAT?"

"Server Force! Login Access!"

Twin columns of blinding light erupted from where the teens were standing, red and yellow energy swirling like a tornado as the power of the grid unfurled. It surged through their bodies, emboldening their limbs, enhancing them to superhuman extremes as the materializing suits bound them within. As the helms formed around their head, the visors shunted down to mask them, and the two morphed Rangers stepped out from the light with weapons drawn to face the hordes with fresh empowerment.

All too aware of what Whitney and Deryck had just witnessed, Erika tilted back her head to give them a warning. "We're going to be a little busy for a while," she told them. "So now might be a good time to run."

And then Red and Yellow Rangers lunged at the encroaching hold to unleash upon them the full power of the grid. And for the first time in her life, Whitney did the smart thing: she did as she was told.

"Resistance is futile. You will be exterminated."

For the life of her, Lena had no idea how she'd been able to dodge in time. X-Knight was faster than she'd ever imagined, barreling toward her with erupting force as the sword swung to cleave her through. Leaping high, the very air pummeled beneath the White Ranger as she soared to safety, and her hand snapped to the holster in desperate reach for her pistol. The blaster hounded as white steaks seared down at her stationary target. But X-Knight was more than prepared, swerving with unnatural speed to bat the shots away with his shield.

Seeing his opening, Miguel surged into a Shadow Strike, steaking across the battle in a flash of black light. But instead of a decisive blow, the Dark Saber was met with X-Knight's blade, parried with expert precision. Miguel could only gasp in surprise as the warrior turned to dispassionately face him.

"Attack was predictable," he decided. "Outcome within parameters. Source of weakness: human error."

"Miguel, look out!"

Lena's warning was all Miguel got, diving aside as X-Knight snapped back the sword and plunged it down. The blade buried into the earth as the Dark Rangers leaped away, the very ground fissuring from the force of the blow. With his target on the retreat, X-Knight refused to relent. He lunged in pursuit, catching Miguel with blitzing speed as he bashed into the Dark Ranger with his shield. Miguel went soaring, slamming into the asphalt and rolling away as X-Knight stood above him with his sword ready to descend.

"Target isolated," X-Knight announced. "Protocol: extermination."

"Get away from him!"

Lena lunged forward, squeezing the trigger of her pistol again and again to unload everything she had on Miguel's attacker. X-Knight spun and deflected, his shield intercepting again as the white-hot rounds bounced off the surface. But while he'd seen Lena's barrage coming, there was another flank that he'd ignored.

Like a bolt from the blue, Abbey's arrow struck across the sky. Pulled back to full draw, the shot struck the warrior dead-on and exploded with cataclysmic force. Lena wasn't waiting to see how well it landed, and neither was Miguel. As the shockwaves rippled outward, the White and Dark Rangers leaped away, landing at Abbey's side as the last of the civilians made it into the museum. But the people's safety was their only comfort as the smoke began to clear.

Turning from where he stood, X-Knight glared back at the trio of Rangers. For all she'd put into it, Abbey's shot had barely made a dent.

"Not good," Miguel gulped.

"Guys!" Jess warned them. "You need to fall back, now!"

"But…" Miguel began to argue.

"The secondary firewall is still around the building; they can't reach you inside!"

Before Miguel could try again, Lena placed a resigned hand on his shoulder. They weren't equipped to take on a foe like X-Knight, not at that moment. They needed to regroup and make a plan.

"We've held as long as we can out the back!" Erika's voice sounded into the com. "You guys need help up front?"

"No," Abbey replied. "No, we're falling back."

Slowly, Miguel nodded in agreement, turning around to follow Abbey into the museum. Standing alone at the top of the steps, Lena took one last look at X-Knight and his endless horde of Cyberdrones as they stopped at the firewall's invisible boundary. And then she raced inside to follow her comrades, trying desperately not to think if the fate of her enemy awaited her as well.