I'm finding myself in medbay way too often for my liking. Especially with Ms. F standing in front of me, arms crossed and feet planted. This behavior is usually directed towards someone like, I don't know, Joel. Not me.

Joel wasn't the one to mind-control someone, though. "Uh…"

Ms. F throws her hands into the air. "Why doesn't anyone ever tell me things, Ally?"

"Well, it's not like I could've told you anything I didn't know myself!" She sighs and checks my temperature for the third time since I was admitted. The others are scattered around Aqua Base, giving the Mitchells time to sort out their family drama (if that's a strong enough term). I haven't spoken to them yet, but I'd sensed the distance growing between us.

Not like there's any blame to place, but I'll place it anyway: if Lightspeed hadn't prioritized their damn weaponry over me, then I doubt we'd even be here at all. Now, my closest friends in Mariner Bay look at me with fear, if not disdain.

"I should've known."

"Known…"

Ms. F adjusts her glasses, and I sit calmly, waiting. At least one person is unperturbed. "Each morpher has bounds of untapped potential. I've yet to see how the others' will develop, but clearly…"

"Will I need to stay here?"

She glances over from where she's typing away at a desktop. "Not if you don't want to."

"Good." I hop off the little bench, something that always reminded me of my much-hated location at the doctor's office. "Thanks for the check-up, Ms. Fairweather."

I swear her eyes glimmer with a tear-filled sheen as the medbay door closes behind me, and when I turn to avoid the sight, I run straight into Carter. "Ally. They didn't tell me you're-"

"I'm not staying."

I don't have the strength to keep walking past him like I'd planned on. Instead, I stay rooted in place as he gazes down at me. "Ryan gave up the morpher and left. According to Dana and Captain Mitchell."

"I don't care." I do. I really do because I need him to tell me why he killed my brother. "I see where everyone's priorities are now."

He's silent for a moment, and then his gaze flicks away from mine. "I'm sorry."

"I'm not."

"Will you at least keep your morpher? There's no telling what Ryan's capable of, even without the Titanium powers, and I…" He'd told me once that to let any one of us out of his sight in the middle of combat worries him. I wish things were as simple as they were back then.

"Yeah. I will." His eyes soften as they survey my face as if he's not sure if he'll ever see me again. That single look is almost enough to make me change my mind. "You're a good leader, Carter Grayson, and an even better man."

"Things I can only be with a good team to back me up." I stomp down the butterflies threatening to rise in my stomach, especially as he takes a step forward so we're standing a little too close. "I hope this isn't goodbye, Alyssa."

I have to look up to meet his eyes, and one of those godforsaken butterflies reawakens. "Clearly you can do without me here, so I think we'll just have to see."

The step back that I take is almost painful. "If I had it my way," Carter whispers, "I'd have fought for you."

He's right. He offered to undergo those stupid compatibility tests with the morpher, even after the disastrous first attempt. I have no doubt he'd redo them, even at the expense of his well-being. But it's not that simple, not when there are literal committees of people that make our decisions for the good of the organization. "I know, Carter. I know."

He knows I'm going to start walking away, somehow, and before I can, he reaches out and grasps my hand. I know I can order him to let go, and he'll have no choice but to obey. But for this moment, I relish the warmth that tingles up my arm. "Stay. Please."

I squeeze his hand gently, rubbing circles on his thumb with mine. His eyes widen slightly, and I can't help but smile. "And just the same, I ask that you respect my decision to leave."

Carter stares down at our intertwined hands, and slowly, he lets go.

"You let her go?" Carter's not sure if he's ever felt this embarrassed by any decision he's made, especially as the Red Lightspeed Ranger. Kelsey's jaw is on the floor as she stands in front of him, hands on hips. Joel sits at the conference table, head tilted down so his hat shades his eyes. Carter's not even one hundred percent certain he's awake. Chad sits next to him, foregoing his usual spot across, but really, nothing's the same anymore, anyway.

Dana's the only one not there, and Carter understands. She's been reeling these past few days, and he knows enough to let her be, especially after he'd heard the intruder alarm ring and knew who'd arrived. "She's been mistreated enough."

Chad glances up, and Carter knows instantly that he won't like what he hears. "That's true, but…" he scratches the back of his neck, "We'd received strict orders. Ryan needed to live." But- "And don't even try to suggest undergoing those tests again."

Joel sets his hat down with a clatter, and everyone jumps. He's hardly aggressive, hardly ever irritated, even with their occasional buffoonery. "And we're sure there's no loophole to any of this? No other person that could hold the Titanium powers that isn't coincidentally a homicidal freak who was raised by demons?"

Kelsey turns, and Carter readies himself to jump in between the argument. "That's harsh."

"Oh, sorry that I can't drum up the fucking empathy for a murderer!"

"So you believe it?"

Chad throws his hands into the air. "What else is there to do?"

Carter knows the answer and hates what it is. "Ask him."

The chaos shuts down to nothing at all, and his teammates' eyes settle on him. Nothing's felt right since Alyssa left, since Ryan Mitchell appeared in their lives, but at least he still has this. "He could damn well lie," Chad whispers.

Joel shifts. "Not if we bring him in," he adds under his breath, "I'm sure Ms. F's got some lie-detector device somewhere. Besides," He lifts his chin, clearly more confident with his suggestions now, a welcome sight in Carter's eyes, "He came willingly once."

"And that might be the only time." Dana trudges into the room and slides into a seat across from Joel and Chad. Her posture's still ramrod-straight, but Carter sees the weight that would be on her shoulders replaced and in her eyes instead. "He didn't want to speak with me anymore. My dad said he left to figure things out."

"We still need answers," Carter argues, "Alyssa deserves them, after everything."

Dana buries her head in her hands. "I didn't think Lightspeed would be so… so…" Right. This had not only been tough on Alyssa but also on the Pink Ranger, as she watched the entire infrastructure of her life compound on her purple counterpart. As she saw how unfair things had been. "Stupid."

"Whoa," Joel murmurs, "Strong words there, D."

No one laughs. "So…" Kelsey crosses her arms. "What now? Do we find him? Wait for him?"

Chad shrugs. "Can we afford to wait? What if he goes back to Diabolico?"

"Then that's another thing on Lightspeed for allowing," Carter mutters, "It was a possibility, and they knew that." He takes a breath. "We should find him. Ask him to come back in."

Dana's glimmering eyes meet his, and Carter's heart breaks. "And if he refuses?"

He's not really sure what will happen, then, but he doesn't have to answer, since the Base's alarms begin to ring, signaling another attack.