All of the anger that'd built up inside Carter finally unleashes itself as he leads the way into the Aqua Base conference room. Just like that fateful night a week ago, when the Titanium morpher had first been reported stolen, Captain Mitchell stands, staring at the flashing monitors, silent. "We had him." His voice is cold, unrecognizable. "We could've knocked him out, taken the morpher, and been done."

Joel storms in behind him, hat already in his hands. "Lord knows he'd have done worse to us," he hisses. "Then where would you be?"

Chad, usually complacent and calm, shakes his head. "Fucked, that's where. Not to mention, we played all of our cards. He knows we have the Lancers."

"And we're still one member down," Kelsey finishes their much-deserved rant. "What the hell do you expect us to do now?"

Carter almost wishes she hadn't reminded them of that. Of the emptiness where their sixth used to stand. But Lightspeed had chosen the Titanium morpher over her.

They'd chosen wrong.

"I could not," he stops to breathe, but the inhale he takes is shaky. Joel claps a hand onto his shoulder, "Even begin to understand what Alyssa is going through right now. First, you drag her into this against her will, forcing her to leave behind everything she had in her old life, including her family- which is now one member less, by the way- and then you prioritize a piece of metal over her?"

"It's not that simple."

"Oh, yeah?" Carter has no idea where any of this is coming from. "Then tell me, Captain. Why is it so important that that monster stays alive when he's taken so much from us?"

"Because," in the following pause Carter knows everything is about to change, "that monster is my son."

That night, I sleep the most soundly I have since I'd joined Lightspeed. No alarms to send me scrambling to suit up. No arbitrary explosions from the weapons lab momentarily shaking the dorms. Not even any music blasting from Joel's room.

On instinct, I check my phone, expecting messages from the Green Ranger himself, or maybe even from Chad, who last held my morpher. But, no.

Dana: We need to talk.

Like hell we do. They'd each made their choice, and they need to respect that I'm making mine.

Today's my no-class day, so I run downstairs to the cafe I'd noticed last night, grab a matcha and bagel, and head back upstairs to my cozy apartment. Immediately, the quiet becomes unnerving, so I turn on the news.

My face is plastered on the headlining story, so I switch the channel, and just before I can take a bite of my blueberry bagel, someone knocks on the door. "Ally?" comes the most unsure greeting I've ever heard from the Pink Ranger. "Let me in."

Not even a please. Ordinarily, I'd think something's wrong, but when is anything ever going right? If things always did go right, Mariner Bay wouldn't need us. "Leave me alone."

"Not until I tell you the truth."

This gives me pause. I stand from my seat at the kitchen island and step over to the door. "Go on, then. Spit it out-"

"He's my brother." I turn the knob, and Dana Mitchell, eyes red and cheeks puffy from crying, collapses into my arms. "He's my brother!" I don't flinch, even as her shrill scream pierces my ears, instead wrapping my arms around her.

"Dana," I whisper, "You don't have-"

"I do. I never told you. Any of you." Her words come in staccato bursts. "All my life, my father told me he'd died in a car crash when we were young. But… but…" A sob wrenches from her chest, and I pat her back gently.

Even though she should be the one consoling me. Even though the brother she talks about murdered mine not three days ago.

She pulls away, and her glassy eyes fill with so much rage that it scares me. "I almost wish he was dead."

"You don't mean that."

Dana pulls away, choosing to pace my apartment. "At least then he wouldn't have become… this. At least he wouldn't have…" Another tear rolls down her perfect skin as she glances at me. "I care about you a hell of a lot more than I do about him. All I had of him were stories and shoddy memories, and this man I can't even remember stole someone from you. Someone precious from someone precious."

I'm filling a glass of water for her and handing it over before I can even process what she's saying. "D, what…" She pauses in gulping down the cool liquid. "What is this? How'd we get here?"

She takes a deep, shaky breath, then sits on the floor. That's how I know it's serious. "Might wanna sit down for this."

"So…" Jesus Christ. You'd think after watching a fair amount of California's population get jet-setted off to space on the nightly news, that nothing would shock me. But this? "Okay." I put my water bottle down and rub my forehead. "So. Instead of dying that night… your brother was saved. By Diabolico. The monster we're trying to kill. Because your dad made a deal with the literal devil?"

Dana nods as she leans back against the couch.

"I need a drink," I mutter, "Or three." When she fishes into her back pocket, I almost think she's about to pull out her wallet.

Instead, she produces my morpher. "My dad left Aqua Base last night. No one knows where he went."

"Where are the others?" The scoff she lets out is terrifying. I've never seen her like this, and I don't want to keep seeing her like this. "You left on your own, to find him. Jesus, Dana, you-"

"Help me," she pleads, "I'm going to talk to Ryan." Her brother. "I need him to explain… everything." Including what he did to my brother. Even if that means she'd find the truth? That he killed in cold blood? I don't ask those questions, for fear that she'll reply, Yes.

I stand and take my morpher, relishing the tingle of power that floods back into my veins. "You don't have to ask twice."

This is either the smartest idea I've ever had in my life or the dumbest, no-in-between. My morpher hangs from my belt loop, as Dana and I skid to a stop in the courtyard that the Titanium Ranger, her brother, stands in. "Everyone, go! Run! We've got this!"

Funny I say that, since only one of us is morphed, and it's not me. "Ryan!" Gone is the devastation that'd brought a wobble to her voice. Standing in front of me, ready to take a bullet for me in case it comes to that, Dana Mitchell is as fearless as ever.

My heart breaks all over again. "Sister."

Not a hushed question, like how I'd direct my actor to deliver their line after reuniting with their long-lost sibling. A low hum. Like a threat. A warning. "Ryan, tell me why you did it."

He tilts his head. Smoke rises from where he'd fired his weapon into the side of a building, and I scan the area for any injured. "Does there have to be a reason?"

When he lifts the barrel of his blaster, I realize I shouldn't have trusted him. We hit the ground and roll in opposite directions as the laser blast strikes the pillar behind us. More debris crumbles, mere inches from where we'd been standing.

"You killed my brother!" I shout over at him as we circle each other. "I refuse to believe you did so in cold blood. No Mitchell would do that, especially not one with the same abilities as a Ranger."

This, finally, gives him pause. And as much as I'd love to use his hesitation to be his end… it just isn't right.

Two against one, and attacking when his guard is down? No.

When it comes down to it, it'll need to be a fair fight.

"And how would you know that?"

"Because." My voice grows thick. "Because I know your sister. Your father. And that they love you."

Dana takes a step closer to him. "She's right, Ryan. I… I never stopped wishing I could've met you again. And it's not too late, either. Use your powers for good. Help us defeat Diabolico."

For the briefest moment, I think he's going to listen to us, especially as Dana continues to reach for his weapon. That he'll surrender, and this disaster will come to an end.

But I recognize the signs of someone forced into a corner. Someone in fear for their life. I see it every time I protect the citizens of Mariner Bay from Battlings. The fight or flight.

He won't shoot. He won't. It's his sister.

But he killed the only person who supported me. My big brother. I refuse to put anything past him, to lose another person precious to me.

So no matter how this will change the trajectory of our dealings with Ryan Mitchell, I scream, Don't shoot.

Dana's only heard this happen once, and once, for her, was enough. It was on that bus when she and Ally had been saving that gunman. A day that feels like a lifetime ago, that was only a few months ago. She'd excused it away as a placebo. As adrenaline rushes on both sides. But this? This is unmistakably something entirely different.

Unlike before, she doesn't have to clap her hands over her ears to protect them from whatever Ally's doing. The suit does enough. But just like before, it sounds as if the Purple Ranger is speaking with voices that aren't hers. Voices, multiple.

Ryan, her older brother, doesn't shoot. Given everything she's been going through, and everything she knows she will go through soon, Dana almost wishes he did. Instead, he jams an elbow down onto her back, hard enough to force her to the ground, and runs.

Or at least, he tries to.

"Stop!" Dana's so enraptured with whatever the hell Ally's doing that she jumps as Chad and Joel rush to her side, each of them with a hand clasped over one ear, the other hand helping her up.

"What's she doing?" The former shouts, and all she can do is shrug helplessly.

"You will submit to Lightspeed for further questioning, and-" Ally stops so abruptly that the change is almost palpable. Dana swears she can see the power emanating from her like heat waves off the street. A cough wracks her body, then another, and blood spatters onto the concrete.

Carter, as always, is the first to get to her side as she stumbles.

And amidst the chaos, Ryan slips away again.