I jolt awake, only to find myself alone in the medbay. The monitor keeping track of my heart rate beeps rapidly, before I take a few deep breaths to return it to normal. Last thing I remember is being close to death, so no matter how I got out of that situation, it had to have been fortunate.

It couldn't have been my teammates, though. They were beaten down, hard. Kelsey wasn't kidding about that, that's for sure. So, who else could have stepped in?

The door slides open, and Dana walks in, eyes red and puffy from crying. I've seen her like this way too much recently, and it kills me. I don't even want to ask what happened, even though I have to. Instead, I let her trudge into the room and flop into an empty chair. "You got hit," she explains, and I glance down at the bandages around my (still sore) midsection. "Carter tried to bargain." Tried. The medical equipment around me beeps as I reach for my IV, but Dana shakes her head. "Ryan saved us."

I rip out my IV and get out of bed, the pain almost second to the fact that Dana doesn't immediately rush to stop me. This can't be protocol, after all. "Where is everyone?" Fear leaves a sour taste in my mouth when she doesn't immediately reply. "D?"

"They're taking part in his interrogation."

Good. It's the least Lightspeed can do for what he did to me. "No other weapon could've done what he did to my brother. He's guilty."

Dana nods. "Which is why…" She inhales deeply. "We think there's a reason he did it."

"That's so fucked." She doesn't say anything, and I find a sick sense of satisfaction in that. "So fucked." My clothes sit in a clean, neat pile on the bedside table, and I reach for them. "I'm going to change and go."

Dana wipes her nose on her sleeve in one of the most uncharacteristic manners ever, then stands up. "Will you be back?"

I don't even feel like crying. Or screaming. Or doing anything. "You tell me."

Everything about this, to Carter, is immensely wrong. They're all gathered around the main conference room table, save for Dana, who wandered off listlessly after they'd brought Ryan in, and he figures she's with Alyssa. He wishes he was there instead.

So now, instead of their Purple Ranger taking up one of the seats around the big wooden table, it's the older Mitchell. He's sitting straight up, posture ramrod straight much like his sister's as he stares down at his clasped hands.

Chad sits to his left, tense like he's ready to leap up and defend himself at a moment's notice. Joel's on Ryan's other side, leaning back into his chair with his legs perched on the table. Carter knows his casual air is a ruse.

Kelsey is the only one of them not seated. Instead, she's standing the straightest he's ever seen her, foregoing even her usual spot against the wall. She's also the most still she's probably ever been, and Carter's slightly freaked out.

"You gonna start this so we can get it over with, or…" Carter's not even irritated at Joel's drawled remark. He understands completely, and he's pretty sure they all do. Even if there was a reason Ryan did what he did… How much does it matter?

Carter sighs, exhaustion swamping over him. He's not prepared for this, which isn't terrible since he isn't one for prep anyway, but he still feels taken by surprise.

Regardless, he has a job to do, so he presses the power button on the small camera they have in the middle of the table.

"We're going to give you one chance to explain yourself," is what he starts with. "If you decide not to take it, that's on you." He hopes Ryan understands the implicit message behind his words: if he- for lack of better wording- pleads guilty… Lightspeed will simply take their hands off the situation. He'll go to a real trial, like any normal civilian. Go to jail.

For all his optimism, Carter finds himself wishing Ryan will just keep his mouth shut so they can be rid of him for good.

But as the door slides open and the younger Mitchell sibling lowers herself into a chair, Ryan rolls his shoulders back. "I don't know what you know about Leon Sakamichi, but it's probably untrue."

I've never heard more BS in my life. What I told the team, and what I told Carter about my brother, was the full truth. There's no reason whatsoever he should've died, let alone die the brutal way he did. The urge to close the tab on my phone that Dana had opened is tempting, but another side of me is morbidly curious.

Even if it was the last thing she'll ever do for me, D gave me an opportunity to hear Ryan explain himself. Because she believes in his innocence that strongly.

She makes me want to believe in him, too. I'm not sure what the alternative is anymore. None of my teammates dare to speak, so Ryan continues on. "After I got the morpher, Diabolico told me that there was one more person who could wield it. Someone who you all had missed." From the CCTV angle, I see Dana's mouth open and close, like she wants to argue. "So he sent me to an art gallery where Mr. Sakamichi was hosting an art show."

Tears threaten at my eyes, but I force them from falling. "Are you saying…" Carter murmurs. "That Leon was compatible with the Titanium Morpher?"

Ryan nods, and as he exhales, his shoulders shake. Regret over what he had done? Or… or… Suspicion starts filling me, and I stand up from my seat in the late-night cafe. "I couldn't do it," Ryan whispers, and I'm up out of my seat, dashing out of the cafe only after making sure I've cleaned up my table. "I couldn't kill him. An innocent man, who only wanted a life to himself and his family. No matter what Diabolico wanted."

My longboard only wobbles slightly as I jump onto it, directing it towards Lightspeed. I'm not looking at my phone anymore, but the audio still plays through my earphones when Dana says, "You didn't…"

"No, D. Leon's alive."