An alarm tore through the Command Center and the rangers rushed in. Julia quickly settled at the control panel and began calling in Tommy and Roberto while the other rangers took a look at the district this monster was attacking. They had been able to move the monsters to less populated areas lately, but this monster had appeared in the middle of Times Square. There were only a few ways that they could limit damage there and all of them had drawbacks.

"Go," Julia insisted as Axel gripped her hand for a moment before leaning down to give her a kiss and then teleporting away. She heard footsteps behind her and recognized that both of the men she had called had entered the room. She spun around from the screens as the sounds of battle began and locked eyes with Tommy. "I can't watch."

"I know," Tommy said as he motioned for her to leave and she let out a sigh. She ran her hands over her ever growing abdomen and slowly walked back towards their living quarters. "Kim is at the Academy if you would rather hang out there for a bit."

"Thanks," Julia said as she left the room and Tommy glanced over at Roberto.

"I know. She wasn't any better when you went in. It's just different because she has active powers," Roberto said and Tommy started barking commands at the rangers. He could see a view of the battlefield much more clearly and did not like what he was seeing at all. He had managed to stay out of battle for a couple of months, but it was not easy to manage. "It's good she left."

"Yeah. Cameron- on your left."

"Does the screaming ever stop?" Hannah asked as civilians streamed past them and they dove further into the fight. They knew there was a monster here, but it seemed like it was controlling some of the civilians as well.

"Normally by now, yes," Axel replied as he stilled and he slowly turned to take in the scene. His vision lit up as his helmet detected different types of enemies around them. He took in a steadying breath as he felt the plan formulating. "Something's different."

"Any idea what?" Patrick asked as he threw a gorgon away from several screaming civilians and he glanced back in the direction of the other rangers to see that they were all fanning out. Each of the rangers was suddenly engaged by more gorgons than they could handle and it hit them all. The point was to get them apart from each other and figure out their personal strengths.

"Nobody panic- you're all good enough to take the gorgons on you out," Tommy's voice rang in their helmets. "I'm going to call out what I can see. I'd get your weapons out. Brandon- 9 o'clock."

"I take back everything I ever said about how having you in my ear was annoying," Brandon said as he fired in that direction without disengaging from the gorgons around him. "Can you get me closer…"

"Working on it. You're going to need to start moving to the right," Tommy instructed as he scanned the field and saw what must be one of the generals emerge. "Axel-new target."

"See him," Axel said as he spun and aggressively slashed his staff, destroying all of the gorgons around him. He saw that the others were handling their opponents well and as he took in his surroundings, he knew the easiest way to get to the monster. He also knew that Julia would kill him if she saw it. "Jules watching?"

"Nope."

"Good," Axel said as he scrambled up and over a piece of artwork, launching himself at the general and slamming into him from above. He needed to buy the rest of them time to defeat the gorgons and get more of the civilians out of here.

"Brave ranger," the general taunted and Axel slammed into him again as his staff met the general's sword. The general moved in close to him and took in a deep breath, Axel was stunned that he would take the time to do that and shoved him away as hard as he could. "So it's true there's another ranger baby on the way."

"Axe…" Tommy started as Axel shifted into another gear for fighting and he let out a sigh. He had heard from Kimberly a time or two that he did the same thing, that he was reckless in his focused pursuit of keeping his team safe. Watching someone else do the same thing hit him with a kind of anxiety he was not accustomed to. "Cam- back him up."

"On it," Cameron said as he pulled out his sword and immediately ripped through the gorgons around him. The need for revenge bubbled to the surface and he made a break for Axel and whatever he was fighting. Erick had discouraged him from actively seeking revenge, but had also told him to use it as fuel when evil was right in front of him. And it didn't get much more right in front of him than this situation. "Can I get some cover?"

"Working on it!" Patrick yelled as he switched from his ax back to a blaster and opened fire on the gorgons around Cameron and Axel, pinning them down as he went. "We could really use…"

"I know. I got our sharpshooter pregnant," Axel fired back as he sunk his staff directly into the general and turned to the side as Cameron delivered a blow to his neck, decapitating him. The gorgons disintegrated and the humans that had been under his control let out screams as they saw the bloody damage in front of them. "Good job- let's get out of here."

"You two are one hell of a tag team," Roberto said as the rangers landed in the Command Center and Axel and Cameron looked down at their blood soaked uniforms. Tommy stood in the doorway, preventing any unexpected eyes from appearing. They all knew this would rattle the new trainees and there were some things they wanted to keep from them, for the time being.

"You good?" Axel asked as he demorphed and stepped out of the blood that had pooled at his feet.

"Yeah," Cameron said as he looked down at the ground and then over at Axel. "We should probably clean that up."

"If you don't want to freak Jules out, I'd say yes," Tommy said as he shook his head. "He's right about how well the two of you work together. It would be good to see more of it. All of you did a good job out there. I'll see what we can do to get some more long range weapons into the rotation."

"How many generals is that?" Patrick asked as he started logging information about the fight into the Command Center database. "It seems like every other fight we're dealing with a general or someone higher up in Skyster's team. How many can he have?"

"We keep killing them. He's probably promoting lower and lower level people each time. I mean, it's getting easier," Brandon said as Tommy and Roberto exchanged a glance. "No, no, no. You two don't get to have those knowing looks and not tell us anything. What are we missing?"

"Or he's purposefully keeping his stronger generals out and using these fights to learn about all of you. It's what I'd do," Tommy said as the rangers let out groans. Tommy had been at this long enough to be able to easily think like the enemy and he was right so many times. The few times they had ignored his advice, it had cost them. "Take the W. Axel go on, go find Jules, she should be hanging out with Kim and the kids."

"Hold up!" Hannah yelled as Axel started jogging past them and she caught a glimpse of some obvious blood on him. "You've got a bit…there and there and also there."

"Thanks. I'll shower off real quick," Axel muttered as he turned towards their living quarters and started shedding his bloody clothing as he went. The less proof he left, the better it would be for Julia. She was already taking it hard that she was stuck here for the fights and any evidence of how bad it was made it worse.

"And us?" Cameron asked as Tommy walked over to him and put his hands on his shoulders. Cam locked eyes with him as he gulped and he tried to push down the pain he felt. "Tommy…"

"Do you need a distraction or time?" Tommy asked and Cameron let out a sigh. He was glad that Tommy understood, even if he had never really talked with him about it.

"Distraction," Cameron muttered and Tommy nodded as he walked over and grabbed a mop and a bucket. "Thank you."

"No problem."

"What's for movie night?" Patrick asked as he walked in to see Hannah and Axel cooking some sort of meal. After Hannah had gotten over the initial shock, the two of them had fallen back in to some of the habits that they had missed from their youth- the main one being large family meals. "Guys…"

"Special request- carne asada tacos with just about every side you could imagine," Hannah said as she gave him a smile and motioned that he could help with the black beans. "I have no idea what the movie choices are."

"It's romcom week. I got nothing," Patrick said as Axel shook his head. "What?"

"Between Juno and Bend it Like Beckham. With the Academy being back in session, it's open to them and…well…the youngest barely clears PG-13 being okay. So Love and Other Drugs got taken off the table," Axel explained and Patrick just shook his head. "I know, it's weird to me too, but it's something we can do once a month and get a better check in."

"It's week 2. What could they have to check in about?" Brandon asked as he sat down at the bar and Hannah pursed her lips. "What?"

"They were pulled in, from all across the country to attend this elite school that people know next to nothing about. They've got no friends, no family and a bunch of different personalities just thrown together. There's a lot to check in on," Hannah said as Julia and Cameron walked in, leading a handful of students that hadn't been down to the Command Center before. "Hey- movie room is that way. We're just finishing up dinner if you want to wait for it."

"What is this place?" Zoya whispered as she looked around the room and saw pictures of former and current rangers lining the walls. These weren't the portraits kept in the main academy, these were the personal photos that the rest of the world didn't get to see.

"The Command Center or at least part of it," Jessica supplied as she walked over to the wall and smiled at several of the pictures. "Hi, Mom."

"Your mom?" Cameron asked as he walked over to the newbies and she looked up at him with her light blue eyes, confused by who he was. He was older than all of the students she had met and he had a look in his eyes that let her know he had seen too much. It was a look she had seen in her mom's eyes and one that Kimberly and Tommy wore all too often as well. "Cameron Bauer- one of the current rangers. You're doing the high school split, right?"

"Yeah. Apparently I'm the baby," Jessica grumbled as Zoya started shaking her head and she glanced over at her. "What?"

"It's an honor to be here," Zoya said as Jessica let out a sigh. She had thought the same thing before she got here and then she had learned the truth of what might be waiting for her. Greyson had told her that the older academy trainees got a much better idea of what might be coming than the younger trainees. Zoya was still too new for it to have all sank in, but she knew it would start sinking in soon. "Why are you and Greyson always such Debbie Downers? This is a great opportunity…"

"Zoya, right?" Cameron said as he saw the pain and aggression light up in Jessica. He could guess that she had more latent skills than the average potential ranger and he didn't want Zoya to find that out tonight. He hoped that he could make a point about everything, but not give away information that Jessica still wanted to protect. "There's a lot about being a Power Ranger that you don't know about yet and you're going to learn a lot over the next few years that puts being a ranger into perspective. Jessica and Greyson have a little bit of a head start on that."

"Thanks," Jessica whispered as Zoya walked off with a huff and she let out a sigh. She was trying to keep it quiet that she had more of a connection to Power Rangers than the others and often failed at it. "Who did you lose?"

"That obvious?" Cameron asked and she locked eyes with him. He let out a shaky breath as he realized that she saw him. She was one of the first people that well and truly saw him since Shelby had died. "Takes one to know one."

"Yeah, something like that. What do you teach?" Jessica asked as Cameron shook his head. "You don't teach?"

"It's not that simple," Cameron said as he walked away from her and went over to a section of pictures that were obviously newer. She watched him for a moment and then saw him reconstruct the mask that he must wear around everyone here as Emma walked over to him and started asking about the latest fight.

"You're right, Cameron. It's never that simple."