Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Maggie answered the Silver Guardian call after the first ring. “Sawyer.”

“Are you and Thorn heading in?” Eric asked, ignoring niceties.  

“We’re picking up Lauren from the motel first.” The younger Red Ranger had been visiting the only other female Red Ranger in Earth’s history for the week. Maggie had spun a quick tale about an internship to explain how she knew Lauren.

“Wes took a team to get her.”

She looked over at Chip. “Head for base. Wes has Lauren.”

The former Yellow Mystic Ranger nodded once and started to change lanes. Maggie could see the nervousness in his eyes despite the steady grip he had on the wheel.

“We’re twenty minutes out,” she told Eric. “I’m going to call Ethan, Trent, and Kira, then check on the rest of Briarwood for Chip.”

“So far, we haven’t heard from the future.” He sounded frustrated, and Maggie didn’t blame him.

“I don’t know what I’m hoping for when it comes to them.” No news wasn’t necessarily good news given no news could mean Time Force didn’t exist. “Stay safe.”

“Be careful.”

Maggie hung up and conference called her former teammates. Ethan was already with Alyssa and Wild Force in Turtle Cove. Trent and Kira were headed for Wind Ninja Academy. After checking the emergency roll call group chat, she told Chip, “Nick is at Rootcore. The sisters are with Tanya. Xander is in San Angeles with half of Overdrive.”

Chip nodded, hands flexing on the wheel. “So they’re safe.”

“And getting safer by the hour, Charlie.” She reached over and squeezed his shoulder. “This is why we keep in touch and take turns telling the newest team ghost stories around a campfire.”

Chip scoffed. “The only campfire was ours, which was very disappointing when it was our turn to go visit the new teams.”

Maggie entered her and Chip’s destination into the roll call. “Maybe next time you should start your own campfire?”

He grinned and seemed almost excited. “This is why you’re a Red, Mags. You have the best ideas.”

She rolled her eyes at him and took a deep breath. “Okay, wish me monsters.” She hit the speed dial for Alex’s cell and wasn’t too surprised to get through. “Hey, Danvers.”

“What’s up, Sawyer?” Alex’s voice didn’t betray any worry, but she still said, “You sound stressed.”

“Something’s come up on the Silver Guardian side of things.” Maggie kept her words measured and calm. “Me and the partner are heading in. Don’t wait up for me tonight?”

“Anything the DEO should prep for?” Alex asked, both curious and ready for a fight.

“Given how much your boss and mine don’t see eye to eye?” Maggie scoffed. “I’ll let you know.”

“The team that trained me -still- gives me shit for dating a Silver Guardian, you know.”

Maggie grinned. “They’re just jealous we get invited to the fancy parties with the good food.”

Alex’s laugh was harsh and abrupt. “No one is jealous of standing around the rich and petulant. And I’ve been to those parties while undercover. The food’s not that great."

She shook her head. “You inhale food as fast as Kara, you probably didn’t even taste it properly. I’ll text you when I’m heading home.”

“Okay. If you end up in the uniform, send us a pic?” She sounded far too hopeful for Maggie to even think about agreeing.

“Not in a thousand years.”

Alex sighed. “A girl can dream. Love you.”

“I love you, too.” She hung up, put her phone down, and closed her eyes.

“Mags?” Chip didn’t sound worried or hesitant, not after years on the job with her. But he was concerned. “Want to come up with a reason for us to head over to the DEO?”

She shook her head. “I want every reason to stay away from those two until this is over.” She opened her eyes on focused on the city around them. “Alex and Lucy are tough, and I know they can handle a lot. But this is not their fight.”

He nodded once. “Then we’ll protect them, and everyone else, with all we’ve got. Like we always do.”

Maggie smiled over at him. “You’re good people, Charlie, I don’t care what Xander says about you.”

Chip snorted. “Xander can go choke on a pinecone.”

When they got to the Silver Guardian headquarters, Wes and Lauren were waiting just inside the front gates for them. Maggie tucked the younger Red Ranger under her arm and felt Lauren’s shoulders relax. Though she knew the answer from the roll call, Maggie asked, “Jayden and the others?”

“My brother and his team are all accounted for and heading for one of the bigger groups.” Lauren took a deep breath. “Is anyone else coming to National City?”

Maggie shook her head. “Everyone’s holing up in the more natural bases, like the ninja academies. We’ll fall back to Angel Grove if things get bad here.”

Eric was finishing up a meeting with the squad leaders and dismissed them soon after the other former Rangers arrived. Once they were all in his office, he sat down and sighed. “I’m having half of them out there patrolling, and the other half here in the barracks. If the Psychos are paying attention to us and go after someone we care about, hopefully a team will be nearby for backup.”

Wes grinned over at Maggie. “I’m sure your girls will love that.”

Maggie snorted. “Especially Alex. Any word on who resurrected our worst enemies?”

Eric shook his head. “Doctor Morgan and Keeper haven't been able to confirm if Snide has anything to do with this. It seems out of his league, according to them.”

“Psycho Rangers just steal the power of the Ranger they share a color with, right?” Chip asked, shifting from foot to foot. “And they die the same as anyone else once they fight a different color Ranger. If we beat them before, shouldn't we be able to use the same tactic to beat them again?”

“These particular Psychos aren't color coded,” Wes said, grimacing. “They're able to take anyone's power.”

“But why us?” Lauren asked, looking between the three old Red Rangers. “We have no powers.”

“Doctor Morgan and Keeper are talking to the other mentors,” Eric said. “They'll let us know as soon as they have something.”

“Did the two of you want to get in uniform?” Wes asked.

Chip and Maggie traded glances. It might be best if they tried to blend in. She nodded and said, “We should get Lauren a kit, too.”

Eric nodded. “There are still enough rumors floating amongst the ranks. If she sticks with one of us, no one will question too much.”

The location of the quartermaster hadn’t changed, so Maggie led the way there. Wes broke off halfway through the building to go lead his team in a patrol of the city. The quartermaster himself hadn’t changed, either. He recognized Maggie and Chip and had already heard of them being on site. Their new uniforms were ready to go, and he quickly found Lauren something in her size. He didn’t question why Lauren needed a uniform; any and all new trainees were seen by him on their first day. No one’s first day would be an all hands on deck situation.

Maggie had a feeling the man knew exactly who Maggie was on her first day, almost ten years ago. Eric had brought her down personally. The rumors of what the leaders of Silver Guardians used to be was likely fact for the quartermaster, not fiction.

“Can I ask what Wes meant when he said Alex would love it if the Silver Guardians showed up to help against the Psychos?” Lauren asked as they headed for the changing rooms.

Maggie nodded and took a moment to figure out where to start. “The division Alex and Lucy work for was already well established when the Silver Guardians were created. The government agents didn’t take well to a private citizen funding what was, essentially, expensive alien cops. There were a few run-ins, most of which resulted in the aliens escaping. When the Guardian’s settled into their current non-profit status, lines of communication were opened and areas of operation were figured out. There's not a lot of crossover these days since we don’t actively hunt aliens anymore.”

They were tugging their sleeves into place when the base-wide alarm went off. Eric’s voice echoed between buildings over the intercom, telling all personnel to evacuate. Controlled chaos spilled out onto the concrete; everyone had their assignments in such a situation, and they all moved with a steady purpose. Those who didn’t have a particular place to be, like Maggie, Chip, and Lauren, were to head for the front gates.

“Why are we going in the opposite direction of our meet up point?” Chip asked even as he followed Maggie without hesitation.

“If a Psycho is here,” Maggie said, keeping her voice low, “we’re not fighting it surrounded by other people.”

“Those other people have guns. We don’t.”

Lauren shook her head. “Those other people will be killed. The three of us will last until a Dino Charge Ranger shows up. Hopefully.”

Maggie squeezed Lauren’s shoulder and hoped the younger Ranger would live to see Jayden’s next birthday. Chip knew he was to get Lauren out of the area if the Psychos showed up. Maggie knew he would do it to keep Lauren safe, even if he wanted to have Maggie’s back in a fight.

Chip felt something skitter down his spine and stopped, tapping Maggie’s elbow to get her attention. “Wait! Something’s not right.” He looked ahead, trying to figure out why he felt the urge to go no further. “If you were a Psycho Ranger, what would you sabotage on a law enforcement base?”

“The armory,” Maggie said, looking at the plainly marked building twenty feet in front of them.

“How big is that explosion going to be?” Lauren asked, ready to go back the way they came.

The three of them whirled around when they heard something metallic land behind them. The Red Psycho pointed his sword at them. “Big enough you can’t outrun it, Rangers!”

Maggie pulled the service pistol she kept on her and took two shots even though she knew it wouldn’t do anything but tickle the Psycho. “Go, Charlie!”

“Go where?” taunted another Psycho as it landed behind them.

Maggie felt Lauren press up against her back and knew Chip had her six. Before the Psychos could attack, Eric and Wes appeared in front of Maggie. They leveled their blasters and fired on the robots. It wasn’t enough to destroy them, but it did make them stumble back. Wes and Eric kept up a steady pulse of blasts as they joined the other three Rangers.

“What is the meaning of this?!” the Pink Psycho demanded as she leaped up onto a roof. “How do you have weapons that hurt us?!”

“You assholes came back once,” Eric said, aiming up at her. “It was only a matter of time before you returned.”

“Your weapons don’t matter,” Psycho Red said, also moving out of a clear line of sight. “You won’t survive the next fifteen seconds.”

“Think again!” The shouts from above made the Rangers on the ground relax just a little.

Maggie saw the Blue and Purple Dino Charge Rangers land behind the Psychos and felt a vicious kind of triumph as the robots were kicked out of their hiding places. Koda’s blue Stego-Shield made for an excellent battering ram as he tackled Psycho Red into a wall. Kendall followed Psycho Pink down and landed behind her, shooting her in the back of the head. The Pink Psycho went flying forward but wasn’t down for the count. Koda was tossed off and towards the other Rangers. Wes hauled him up. Kendall was hit with Psycho Pink’s own blaster and sent flying towards the other Rangers as well. Maggie and Lauren got Kendall to her feet.

“Good luck stopping the bomb,” Psycho Red said before he and Psycho Pink teleported away.

Kendall put a hand on Wes before he could head towards armory. “You guys get out of here. If we can’t disarm it, we can teleport out.”

“Why not teleport the bomb out?” Lauren asked.

Chip grinned at her, nudging her a little. “Now you’re thinking with portals.”

Lauren rolled her eyes, but Kendall said it was a great idea. Eric led the jog to the rear gate while the two Dino Charge Rangers headed for the armory. There was a small group of Guardians at the rear gate, but the Rangers were no longer worried about the Psychos returning. Even if their explosive plan failed, the robots had shown an avoidance of the Dino Charge Rangers.

“Should we fall back further?” Maggie asked Eric, glancing in the direction of the armory.

He shook his head. “We won’t make it at this point.”

Chip took hold of Lauren’s shaking hands and squeezed. “The heavier ammunition is still underground, right?”

Wes nodded. “The crater would take out most of the base. Chances are they’ve made sure the explosion would be twice as bad.”

The wait wasn't long, but it was tense. The alarms had stopped blaring, the group was silent. Maggie wondered if word had made it to the DEO that the Silver Guardians had evacuated their base. She didn’t dare search the sky for Supergirl. Maggie knew her secret was blown if Kara had seen anything in the last five minutes.

When Kendall and Koda joined them, they were still morphed and carrying two cases between them. The crates were marked with a lightning bolt embedded on the lid. They set their load down before reporting the bomb had been disposed of.

“Decided to bring these out to you now,” Kendall said, patting one of the boxes. “We can send you the program to update your energy scanners as soon as it’s ready.”

Wes popped open one of the crates and started to pass around the blasters designed to handle Ranger enemies. “We were going to assign these before the patrols rolled out. The energy frequency they use changes after every shot. The Psychos shouldn’t be able to adapt quickly.”

Maggie clipped the holstered weapon into place on her tactical belt and made sure Lauren had her own positioned correctly. Koda and Kendall bid them luck before teleporting away. Maggie looked over at Eric and asked, “Are the five of us sticking together or splitting up?”

“Together we are more of a challenge,” Eric said, frowning as he thought. “But I think it would be best if we're not all in the same place. Lauren, would you be comfortable staying on base with me until tonight?”

She nodded. “I don't know National City as well as you do, so it's probably best I stay in one place.”

“I have my team,” Wes said. “Maggie, your team should be ready. And since someone,” he gave Chip a pointed look, “has refused leadership training, he gets to pick someone to shadow.”

Chip grinned and moved next to Maggie. “She's only gotten me shot the once, so I’ll stick with Mags.”

“I haven't gotten you shot at all!” Wes protested.

“True, but Mags makes me feel tall.” He dodged her elbow to his ribs.

Eric shook his head at their antics and bit back a grin. “We’ll send out the all clear. Go grab some comms. I’ll find out where your team ended up.”

Everyone dispersed, Chip leading the way to the building housing the communications unit. Lauren lightly bumped shoulders with Maggie as they trailed after him. “You’re not mad that I’m staying here with Eric, are you?”

“Not at all.” Maggie bumped her shoulder back. “And I’m sure if we asked, Kendall would teleport you to Jayden.”

“No,” Lauren said with a shake of her head. “He needs to focus on his team. I know Eric needs to do the same, but he has more experience with...prioritizing.”

“Don’t think for a moment Eric would sacrifice you where Jayden couldn’t. I’d be surprised if Eric lets himself get into a situation where he has to make such a choice.”

“And you already gave Charlie standing orders to get me the hell out of the area while you distract the Psychos.” Lauren gave Maggie an annoyed look. “After you were one of the ones that preached to Jayden about self-sacrifice only working once.”

Maggie took a moment to think about how to keep secret the fact Kara would land between her and a Psycho. Chip knew the details, but Eric and Wes had no clue who Maggie played Scrabble with while waiting for Alex to regain consciousness in the med-bay. “Look, as cliche as it sounds-”

“It’s easier if you don’t have to worry about me and whatever Red Ranger habits I might have picked up.” Lauren was grinning a little, but her eyes were serious.

“Exactly. It’s not that I don’t think you can’t handle a fight, but I’ve been training with the Silver Guardians for years. Stronger-than-human fights are what we’re meant to deal with. You’re a Ranger, yes, and you have your own training. But most of your training still has an element of power dependence.”

Lauren nodded slowly. “And you know how to get through a fight without even contemplating superpowers.”

Chip held open the door to the communications building, which wasn’t quite bustling with returned Guardians just yet. “Hey, Mags, do you think your federal agent girlfriends have heard about the Silver Guardian base evacuation?”

Maggie cursed as she dug out her phone, which she had put on silent. There was one missed call and, surprisingly, only five text messages. Fortunately for her, Kara hadn’t been sent to investigate. Maggie sent back a text to both her girlfriends, telling them she was safe. She didn’t lie in her explanation. Informing them of a bomb threat would only make them worry, and trying to pass off the evacuation as a test would cause them to call her out.

“Everything okay?” Lauren asked once Maggie put her phone away.

“As okay as things can be, given how they worry.” Maggie hoped Alex and Lucy wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire. If a Psycho had been watching her, to learn how to deal with her, she prayed it had seen how dangerous it was to attack Supergirl’s family.

Once they were assigned comm units, they met Maggie’s team outside the motor pool. There were six other Silver Guardians, all of which Maggie and Chip had trained with over the years. They were part-timers as well, only ever really being involved in situations like the current one, which required all available Guardians. The other six didn’t know what Maggie and Chip had done before becoming Guardians, but she had a feeling they’d find out before the Psychos were destroyed. Again.

“I don’t like that smile on your face,” Maggie said as Eric approached with his hands behind his back.

“I’m just here to collect Lauren and give you an assigned area.” His grin widened when Lauren joined him at his side. “You’ve got the northwest sector of the city.” He rattled off the streets being used to define the area. “It’s as far from your precinct as I can put you.”

Maggie nodded, knowing that was a viable truth to cover the other, considerably more real reason. She would be far from the DEO as well. “You could’ve told us that over the comms.”

“I could.” He held out the object hidden behind his back. “But I really like watching your face do exactly that.”

She snatched the red beret out of his hands, trying not to blush. She refrained from whacking him with it only because some of the other Guardians didn’t know of her deeper friendship with Eric and Wes. “I hope you go cross-eyed.” It was a horrible thing to say to a man with a shooting record like Eric’s.

“Do it for the Vine,” Chip said, holding up his phone.

“If certain members of a certain agency end up with pictures of me,” Maggie warned as she slipped the beret in place, “there won’t be a body to find.”

Chip snorted. “You realize as a former conspiracy theory nut, that’s EXACTLY how I wanna go, right?”

Maggie rolled her eyes. She knew he wouldn’t send any pictures to anyone without her permission, but it still made her feel better to threaten him.

Eric stepped forward and looked at the group behind Maggie. “Don’t let Sawyer try to sacrifice herself, don’t leave her alone if at all possible, and don’t try to be heroes yourselves. We’re a team, we accomplish more together. Understood?”

The Guardians nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Eric turned and faced Maggie. He lowered his voice and said, “If I have to explain to the Director of a black ops government agency anything at all…”

“I plan on living, seeing the universe, and eating pie,” Maggie said. “I don’t want to die, Eric. I’ll do my best to avoid it.”

“Be careful out there,” he said, serious but caring. “You, too, Thorn.”

“Stay safe,” Maggie and Chip said at the same time. Maggie looked at her team and made sure they were good to go. “Okay, let’s load up and figure out what’s for lunch. We can grab food on the way to our area.”

“There’s this food truck on Fifth,” Hernandez started to say, only to be interrupted by Whitmore.

“Food Fantasies on Fifth isn’t a food truck, it’s a health hazard.”

Maggie traded a look with Chip as the debate started up. They had no idea if they would actually make it through the day intact, but they had every intention of giving the Psycho Rangers hell.

~*~

~*~

Lucy laced her fingers together on the table to keep from pinging Maggie’s phone. Winn wouldn’t hesitate to do it if she texted him, but she needed to trust Maggie would be able to make it through the next ten minutes unharmed. Given the relaxed nature of the handful of other Silver Guardians in the diner, Lucy figured she didn’t have to worry.

“Hey,” Alex said, soft and a little exhausted. When she had Lucy’s attention, Alex laced their fingers together. “Kara’s been keeping an ear out for her. If something were going on, we’d know.”

Lucy nodded and leaned her head against Alex’s shoulder, closing her eyes for a moment. “Yeah. I’m just not comfortable with the fact we don’t know -why- it’s all hands on deck for them. On top of the evacuation earlier today….It just feels like there’s something she’s not telling us.”

“There are probably a few details she could fill in for us, but that wouldn’t make us worry less. And the bad rapport between the DEO and Silver Guardians is for show. When it comes down to it, they’ve always told the DEO when something could affect the city.”

“And we’ve done our best to return the favor.” Lucy knew there had been no preparing for Myriad, but she had been the one to make the call about the Daxamites. She was going to be forever grateful the commander in charge that night hadn’t taken a moment to ask her name.

The bell above the door chimed, and Lucy sat up in hopes of seeing Maggie. She recognized Charlie instantly even in the drab gray uniform. He was talking a mile a minute to someone just beyond the door, which was reflecting the lights of the diner. The moment Maggie appeared, amused at whatever her partner was saying, Lucy’s heart stuttered. She had seen the Silver Guardian uniform before, had even seen it on women. But seeing Maggie in it, in person, holding herself confident in a way she only ever did in her NCPD blues, made something in Lucy flip-flop.

“You’re catching flies, Lane,” Alex teased.

Lucy snapped her mouth shut and watched as Maggie tucked a red beret under her arm. The strict bun in Maggie’s hair was also a rare sight. Lucy watched Maggie look at the group of Guardians as if checking in, getting nods from all of them and a few jaunty salutes. It was Charlie who saw Lucy and Alex first. He waved at them before trying to shove Maggie in their direction. Everything about Maggie softened as she weaved through tables towards them.

“I’m surprised you both aren’t snapping photos,” Maggie said as she sat across from them.

Alex shrugged. “I have a sister who can fly and was taught how to use a telephoto lens.”

“I thought Kara used her powers for good?” Maggie managed to keep a straight face for all of six seconds before laughing.

Alex snagged the red beret when they calmed down. “What’s up with the target making color?”

“Eric thinks he’s funny,” Maggie groused. She looked up at the waitress and placed her order, having heard what was good from the other Guardians already. Once the other two ordered, she said, “He doesn’t get a lot of chances to put me in charge of people, so now he’s going all out.”

“Wait,” Lucy said, holding up a hand. “Eric. As in, Eric Myers, Commander of the entire organization?”

“Yeah? He recruited me, we’ve kept in touch.”

Lucy narrowed her eyes. She knew when one of her girls was being evasive. “How many people are under your command?”

Maggie glanced over at the group on the other side of the diner. “Does it really matter?

“Only because you're avoiding the answer.” Alex grinned. “And now that I think of it, I’ve only ever seen two other people with red berets.”

Maggie shrugged as if her rank wasn't as high as Lucy suspected. “I don't have to worry about anyone yelling at me for sitting here with my girlfriends and not my team.”

Lucy wasn't just a lawyer, she was a military lawyer. “That means either no one above you is on the street, which is common for upper command. Or, if there is anyone out, there aren't many of them and are nowhere near here.”

Maggie gave her an amused look. “Or maybe these guys don't care? They might even respect me enough to not rat me out?”

“You don't work with them often enough,” Alex pointed out. “If anything, they'd be bitter about you being in charge.”

“We can always ask Winn to look into the Silver Guardians later,” Lucy said, sitting back but looking no less interested. “He needs the distraction to keep him busy while James is visiting Metropolis. I'm sure he’d enjoy having a reason to investigate an organization that worked with Power Rangers.”

Lucy saw something flash through Maggie’s eyes, there and gone before Lucy could identify it. “Again, why are our friends using their powers for evil?”

“It's cute you still think we're the good guys.” Alex handed back the beret. “So. About the evacuation?”

Maggie shook her head. “Since you've probably heard the official statement…Some nervous rookie in the armory wasn't watching where he was going, tripped, and fell into the grenade closet. He panicked and hit the “holy shit we're all going to die” button.”

Lucy sighed. “I've been through that a few times. Some kid knocks over an ammunition crate and thinks that's enough to make it explode.”

“Sometimes that's true, you know,” Alex said.

“Yes, but nothing like that would be left where the children could get into it.”

Lucy stopped interrogating her girlfriend on details she knew were classified. Maggie might be far more involved with the DEO than anyone outside the organization should be, but Lucy didn't expect this particular street to run both ways. The Silver Guardians were allowed to have their secrets and confidential SOP. If it came to it, Lucy and Alex would learn what was going on through official lines.

Lucy could only hope she and Alex would be able to help before it was too late.

~×~

Maggie was surprised to have slept through the night. She was expecting her paranoia to wake her up, especially since she was sharing a bunk with Lauren. It probably had something to do with the Morphing Grid and their connection. She checked her phone but figured it would be another half an hour before Lucy and Alex had the brain power and caffeine to text her. Still, she sent a kissy emoji before leaving her blankets. Lauren roused without any grumbling. They pulled on new uniforms and headed for the mess hall in silence, both checking their Ranger related chats for updates.

The Psychos had attacked four times during the night. Everyone was safe, but the Dino Charge team was now dealing with Snide’s attacks as well as the Psychos. There were still no leads as to who was behind bringing back the Psychos or why they were attacking former Rangers.

Chip was bleary-eyed at a table already, slowly shoveling food into his mouth. Maggie and Lauren grabbed breakfast and joined him. Once their cups of coffee were half gone, they were able to communicate with actual words instead of grunts.

“Can I join you guys today?” Lauren asked. “I’m feeling….”

Maggie offered a small smile. “Cooped up?”

“Maybe?” She shrugged. “I just know I need to be out in the city today.”

Maggie traded a glance with her partner. Hunches were to be acknowledged in the life of a Power Ranger. “Sure, you can ride around with us. Can’t promise it’ll be any more interesting than watching Eric trying to keep Wes from doing something stupid.”

Wes sighed as he sat down at the table. “How did you know I was behind you?”

Maggie grinned at him. “Everyone straightens up when you and Eric are in the room.”

Wes perked up, thinking he had real authority.  

Chip was quick to kill his dreams. “Probably because they’re hoping to see you trip over thin air again.”

“That was once!” Wes groused into his toast and muttered about janitors needing a vacation.

Maggie ignored all three of them when her phone chimed.

Once she put her phone away, Maggie looked up to see three amused faces watching her. “What?”

“I hope you didn’t have too much of a gruff reputation,” Lauren said.

Chip nodded. “You’re so frigging adorable when you talk to them.”

Maggie shrugged and hunched over her almost empty tray, but couldn’t help her smile. She didn’t want to hide her smile. Alex and Lucy made her happy, and their relationship was a good one. She had no reason to hide anything about it. She looked over at Wes when he nudged her.

“It’s good to see you so happy.” Out of the three at the table, he had known her longest. He had seen her go through so much, come so far. She knew he was a mix of happy and relieved to see her with people who could see life through with her.

They finished their food and headed out for the day. The team adapted to Lauren without a problem. They treated her as they would any new recruit, running her through the procedures for checking out gear and vehicles. Had it not been an all hands on deck situation, there would have likely been some teasing and light-hearted hazing. Lauren paid attention as if she were planning on sticking around. It was a Red Ranger’s instinct to learn how a team functioned no matter the circumstance. Maggie, however, had no intention of Lauren having the chance to use anything she learned. If it got to that point, it meant Maggie and Chip had made horrible, potentially fatal errors in judgment.

So far, the public hadn’t noticed the influx of Silver Guardians roaming the streets. Eric had a story ready in case anyone asked; training exercises always worked when it came to unusual activity. Any public attack on the Silver Guardians could be passed off as the usual trouble they ran into. If anyone did point out the Psychos’ similarities to enemies a decade and a half old, Eric was ready to point out it was only a matter of time before someone looked at ideas that had worked in the past and tried to recreate them. Maggie wasn’t surprised Eric had various statements ready; it was a Ranger’s prerogative to have a viable story in place when things were going crazy.

Hernandez finally brought up a food truck the rest of the team could agree on for lunch. It was in a park at the edge of their patrol sector. Maggie let her team get their food first so she could start texting her girlfriends instead of listening to when her order was up. Alex was elbow deep into something in her lab, but Lucy was free for a phone call. Maggie whined about patrolling in circles. Lucy met Maggie’s complaints with her own about running drills with rookies for the fifth day in a row. Lucy was one of those, “never ask a subordinate do so something she wasn’t willing to do herself” leaders.

“Don’t get too comfortable!”

“Shit gotta go.” Maggie hung up her phone and dropped it into her pocket, raising her blaster with her free hand. She aimed at the Psychos without hesitating, feeling more than seeing Chip and Lauren frame up beside her. The rest of the Silver Guardians immediately moved to clear the area of civilians, putting themselves between the three Psychos and everyone else.

“Oh, look, they have more of those annoying weapons,” the Yellow Psycho said. “What do you say we take them by force?”

“By forceful removal of their arms?” the Black Psycho asked, shivering with glee.

“Exactly what I was thinking!” the Red Psycho said.

Across the city, Kara was getting a phone call from Lucy about Maggie dropping out of their conversation. She focused her hearing for a moment and heard the rapid heartbeat of someone in danger. She left her desk and latest article in a gust of wind.

Maggie made sure the area behind her target was clear before firing. The Red Psycho growled and stumbled back when he was hit. Lauren and Chip took it as their cue to open fire. The constant barrage, combined with the shots made by the other Silver Guardians, meant the Psychos didn’t have a chance to really attack.

Maggie glanced back and noted the civilians were clear. “Charlie, go! Whitmore, Kimura, with them!”

The other members of the team moved up when Charlie and Lauren took a step back. The Psychos used the changeup to make their move. They surged forward through the blasts and Maggie was ready to roll out of the way, hoping Charlie and Lauren had the same idea to dive and come up behind them. It would put the other Guardians at risk, but they knew the job was dangerous.

The trio of Psychos was knocked into a concrete bench to their left before they could reach the former Rangers. Supergirl stood in front of them, hands fisted and ready for a fight.

“We have no quarrel with you!” the Red Psycho said as he got to his feet.

“Anyone who threatens the people of this city has to go through me,” Kara said.

“So be it.”

Kara took to the air when she was charged and retaliated with a laser blast. Maggie motioned at Charlie, and he carefully tugged Lauren towards the SUV. It was armored enough to provide sturdy shelter until the Dino Charge Rangers showed up. Maggie started firing when the Red Psycho refocused on her. Kara met the Yellow Psycho blow for blow, and the Black Psycho was dealing with half the Silver Guardian team.

Maggie felt a hum of relief skirt over her skin as the Purple, Pink, and Black Rangers landed. She immediately ordered a cease-fire to give the Rangers space to work. The blasters wouldn’t hurt the Rangers, but Maggie didn’t think the additional bombardment would be pleasant. When a team up between Shelby’s Pink Tricera-Drill and Kara’s strength broke a joint in the Yellow Psycho’s knee, the retreat was quick.

“You only delay the inevitable, Rangers!” the Red Psycho shouted before the vanished.

“Oh, my God, you’re Supergirl,” Shelby near about squealed when the coast was clear. Thankfully, she stayed morphed.

“You’re a Power Ranger!” Kara was equally excited. “How cool was that combo?”

“That was the most amazing thing I’ve done!”

Chase cleared his throat and crossed his arms. His Black Para-Chopper rested on his shoulder, scorched from repeatedly hitting robots.

“...all week. Most amazing thing I’ve done all week.”

Lauren appeared at Maggie’s side, trying to suppress her eagerness at the sight of Supergirl. Maggie managed to hide her amused reaction.

Kara didn’t seem disappointed at all. “I mean, you guys do awesome things all the time. But, like, what’s up with those evil looking Rangers?”

“Someone resurrected them because they’re our most dangerous enemies,” Shelby said, speaking before Kendall or Chase could get a word in. “The Psycho Rangers are the only ones to have actually killed a Power Ranger.”

Kara glanced over at Maggie and her team. “And they’re attacking random people now?”

Chase stepped forward and clapped a hand on Shelby’s shoulder, silencing her before she could reveal too much. “They’re trying to split us up, learn how we react. They’re so dangerous because they adapt to our fighting styles.”

Lauren was suddenly moving, aiming her blaster into the trees behind the Rangers. “Get down!”

The three Rangers dived out the way, abandoning their positions to leave open air. Maggie caught sight of what Lauren spotted and fired her own blaster. She saw Tomlin and Hernandez aim in the same general direction, but didn’t get a chance to pull their triggers. The searing pain in her shoulder was enough to make her fall to her knees. Her world went blurry as she heard the shouts and sounds of people rushing around.

“Supergirl wait-!” Chip’s voice was cut off, replaced with the roar of wind.

Maggie held tight to both her weapon and Kara’s arm even as she cursed her out. When there was something flat under her back, she opened her eyes to see the DEO med-bay above her. “Damn it, Kara, my team!”

Kara looked down, confused. “The Power Rangers are taking care of them.”

“They’re my responsibility!” She handed off her blaster when a nurse pressed a hand to Maggie’s forearm.

“I’m not leaving you with a bunch of strangers!”

“They’re strangers to you!” The pain in her chest felt like it was crawling, spreading from the wound. She knew that couldn’t be a good thing, not when a Ranger enemy was the source. “The Silver Guardians might not know their identities, but we’ve always trusted the Power Rangers.”

The on-duty doctor stepped up beside her. “Detective Sawyer, we need to remove your tac vest and top.”

Maggie nodded tightly and relaxed as much as she could. She laid still, knowing any movement to help would only get in the way. Though it wasn’t standard DEO gear, the medical team had her vest off her in moments. She grimaced when its removal didn’t lift the weight off her chest.

“Detective, can you tell us about the weapon you were hit with?” the doctor asked.

“No idea.” Maggie gritted teeth. “I was taken from the scene before the people who knew could get to me.”

“I’m going to send Alex up and update Lucy,” Kara said before turning around and leaving.

Maggie had no real shame at the momentary exposure as her uniform jacket was opened and replaced with a clean cloth. At that moment, all she really felt was the pang of guilt at having left Lucy hanging during their conversation. Lucy had probably spent the last five minutes fearing the worst.

Maggie was relieved when Kara wasn’t with Alex, but she was surprised to see the Purple Dino Charge Ranger walk in with her. “Alex?”

“She’s here to help.” Alex stood out of the way at the head of Maggie’s bed, wringing her hands as she watched the medical team work.

Kendall stood opposite the doctor on Maggie's other side and held a scanner over the wound site. “This is only the second time we've encountered this attack, and this is the first successful attachment. Can you feel anything besides pain?”

Maggie swallowed against the bile of being the first victim. “It feels like something is crawling out from the entry point. No temperature difference, nothing going numb, and I don’t think I’m feeling any kind of murderous urges.”

Alex leaned over to look at the scanner. “What magnification is that?”

“These are nanites,” Kendall said. “We should be able to reconfigure the teleportation technology to get them out, but…” She moved the scanner and tilted it towards the doctor.

“What's wrong?” Maggie demanded.

“The nanites are already trying to control your heart,” the doctor said. “Removing them will affect the rhythm of your heartbeat.”

Maggie grit her teeth. “You're saying I might have a heart attack.”

The doctor nodded once. “If not something worse.”

Kendall started to tap at the scanner’s screen. “We can make sure the nanites come out clean, but I can't say what will happen when their influence stops.”

Maggie took a slow, deep breath. “I'd rather find out what happens if they get taken out rather than leaving them in.”

“Okay, I'm ready here,” Kendall said.

“Prepare a crash cart,” the doctor ordered.

“Here we go.”

Maggie looked up at Alex and held her eyes. She hoped this was not how she died, and she needed to have some kind of comfort. Alex nodded and put a hand on Maggie's shoulder. The buzz of the teleportation hummed in her ears and felt weird on just her insides.

The moment the nanites were gone was obvious. Everything went quiet and dark. It was hard to breathe.

“Maggie!”

“Detective Sawyer, are you with us?”

She groaned and forced her eyes open. Alex was trying and spectacularly failing at not looking worried. “Here.” Her lungs were struggling, and she was so very dizzy. It felt like something was trying to dig spikes into her collarbone.

Kendall moved the scanner away from Maggie. “The nanites are out.” She reached down and lifted a small disk with claws off her chest.

Maggie shuddered just a little. “I’m glad I didn’t look down.”

“Yeah,” Alex said, “it was kinda terrifying to see. How do you feel?”

“Well, the crawling feeling is gone, so that’s a plus.” She took another slow, deep breath. “What about my teammates?”

“Officer Tomlin was grazed in the in arm, but not infected,” Kendall said. “Officer Hernandez caught the blast in the thickest part of his vest and is only bruised. My team teleported them back to the Silver Guardian base. Captain Thorn is taking the rest of the Silver Guardians back to base as well.”

Maggie felt the tension between her shoulders relax. “Danvers, I understand where Supergirl is coming from, but if she takes me from my injured team again….”

“I’ll talk to her, I promise.” Alex looked at Kendall with fire in her eyes. “I know this is a Power Ranger problem, but it’s now become a bit personal for the DEO. How can we help?”

“Normally, I would say there’s nothing you can do,” Kendall said. “However, I’m willing to make an exception given the threat the Psycho Rangers present.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Even if you don’t know what we do here?”

“Supergirl trusts this place with an injured ally,” Kendall said. “I’d say that’s a vote in your favor if there ever was one. I can put you in direct contact with our allies in Mariner Bay. There are a handful of others who may wish to remain anonymous given how much they know of Ranger technology.”

“I don’t exactly blame them,” Alex said, not looking at all offended.

J’onn entered the room, focusing on Kendall for a moment before looking at Maggie. “Detective Sawyer, I’m relieved to see you out of danger.”

Maggie gave him a wry smile. “I’m not nearly as bad as some people around here.” She focused her thoughts on Charlie, Lauren, and her team to avoid thinking about the Lightspeed Rangers. She wasn’t sure if it would work, but she could hope.

Alex muttered an insult in Kryptonian that had J’onn raising an eyebrow at her. She looked a hint repentant before asking, “Can we help the Power Rangers?”

J’onn reached a hand out to Kendall, even if her gloves would prevent the skin to skin contact necessary for a stronger mind reading. “Director Henshaw. Thank you for helping Detective Sawyer. She’s pretty much one of our own.”

Kendall shook his hand. “It was no problem at all to help her. Forgive me for not giving a name.”

J’onn nodded. “I understand the necessity of a secret identity. To be honest, were you anyone other than a Power Ranger, I would probably push for more transparency. But, given any threat to you is a threat to us all, I don’t mind offering our help in any way we can.”

“Thank you.” Kendall sounded so very relieved. “I can have a communications computer sent to the work area you’ll be using.”

Maggie saw the way Alex looked eager yet hesitant. “Go, Alex. I’ll rest here for a bit more and call Lucy and Chip.”

“Sorry,” Alex said, ducking her head a little.

“Don’t be sorry for wanting to help people. I appreciate you coming to check on me, but I’m in the clear now. You don’t need to feel bad about leaving me to the care of other doctors.”

Alex smiled at her before focusing on Kendall. “I can show you where my lab is, we can set up there.”

Kendall nodded but squeezed Maggie’s hand before leaving. “Thank you for protecting my team. I’ll check on you tonight and again tomorrow morning if that’s okay with you?”

“Sounds good.” Maggie shifted deeper into her pillow. “I’ll be here resting, unlike some agents when they get injured.”

Alex rolled her eyes and muttered in Kryptonian again as she headed for the door.

“Stay safe,” Kendall said as she followed Alex.

“Be careful out there,” Maggie called after her.

Once Alex and Kendall were gone, J’onn asked, “How do you really feel?”

Maggie adjusted the angle of the bed so she could sit up. “I had a few bricks fall on my vest once. This is worse.”

“I hope you will continue to be the better agent and stay in medical instead of insisting on being out in the field?” He was serious, but there was still amusement in his eyes.

“Only because I think Eric would be more restrictive than you.”

“Speaking of the commander, I need to have words with him about necessary information sharing. I have a feeling the Silver Guardians have been specifically targeted because of their previous alliance with the Power Rangers.” He raised his hand. “I won’t ask you to share confidential information when I’m fully capable of getting it myself.”

“Thank you. I was actually hoping to keep Alex and Lucy out of this. The Psycho Rangers date from before the Silver Guardians, but even we’re prepared for them because of how dangerous they are.” The moment the Psychos learned who the Rangers cared about, the knowledge would be used against them.

“We’ll both have to do our bests to keep them safe. Get some rest while you can.”

Maggie nodded, and he left her to tug her phone out of her pocket. She swiped away all the notifications given the words were likely about to be repeated verbally. Bracing herself, she unlocked the screen and called Lucy.

After two rings, Lucy picked up. “Winn told me Kara flew you straight to medical. Which your partner is pissed about, by the way.”

“I’m fine now,” Maggie said, reassuring Lucy first. “But Kara took me away from my team and the people who knew what hit me. One of the Power Rangers had to come here.”

“The equivalent of regular paramedics taking an agent to the hospital, instead of letting us take care of our own.”

“Exactly.” Maggie sighed. “I’m sorry I worried you.”

“I knew you were on duty, even if it was your lunch break. This isn’t the first time, it won’t be the last. Thank you for calling me, but I should probably let you call Charlie.”

Maggie frowned. “Why do you say that?”

“He’s still blowing up my phone.” Lucy’s voice was dry and amused. “Likely Alex and Kara's as well.”

“I’ll see you tonight?”

“I’ll bring dinner, we can eat in the courtyard.”

After saying their goodbyes, Maggie hung up and was about to call Chip when Alex returned. “What’s up?”

“I was wondering if you wanted to rest in the lab instead of in here,” Alex said, lacing her fingers with Maggie’s. “I know I’ll be doing a lot of talking, so if you really wanted some sleep, you can stay here. But I thought you’d want in on the research.”

Maggie grinned. “I think I’d rather watch you nerd out.”

“I’ll make sure you’re allowed to leave.” Alex squeezed her hand and left, returning a few minutes later with a scrub top for Maggie to wear under the slightly ruined top half of her uniform.

Moving made her shoulder ache, but it wasn’t enough pain to make her worry. Once the top was on and she had her uniform zippered up a bit, Maggie took Alex’s hand and hopped off the bed. Her shoulder handled the sudden movement well, but the change in position reminded her stomach that it was beyond hungry.

Alex raised an eyebrow at the noise coming from Maggie’s torso. “Mess hall first, then lab.”

Maggie huffed but didn’t argue. “I put off ordering lunch to talk to your girlfriend.”

“So she’s my girlfriend when she’s more important than food?”

Maggie nodded, trying not to grin. “She’s also your girlfriend when there’s something out of reach on a top shelf.”

Alex snorted and shook her head.

Once they had eaten, they retreated to Alex's lab. The transparent computer screen already had information loaded up. Maggie was curious as to what Alex was allowed to see, but she really needed to do more than text Chip and Lauren. Alex settled at her desk to start reading, and Maggie went to the other table a bit away from the lab equipment.

“Please tell me you aren't about to turn into some Psycho Ranger,” Chip said as a greeting.

“I'm not being turned into some robot controlled cyborg.”

“Okay. Good. Because otherwise we’d have to give Lauren an actual rank.”

“What? Why?"

“I...I froze, Mags. You were hurt, then you were gone, and Tomlin was bleeding and I just… Lauren had to nudge me into being a team captain.” He sighed. “We’ve trained for situations like this and I….”

“We’ve never trained for something quite like this,” Maggie said. “Aliens that spit neurotoxins are a bit different from the one enemy that has managed to kill a Power Ranger.”

“Yeah, but Lauren also made sure one of the Rangers checked on you. That didn’t even occur to me.”

“Chip. Charlie. She spent a long time learning all the things you’ve either had to pick up on the fly or never had to deal with.” Maggie was rather proud of how she avoided revealing their secret identities outright. “The big and fast decisions are rarely your responsibility.”

He sighed. “I should take those leadership courses, huh?”

“I mean, we’ve only been pushing them on you for the last six or so years. But it’s not like we’re likely going to be facing something this bad again anytime soon.”

There was a long pause. “Did you just jinx it? Holy shit, how do you and yours ever make it through any crisis?”

“Hey!” She risked a glance at Alex and saw her shaking her head in disappointment.

“Speaking of yours, call Lauren. Eric disappeared with her, probably to help her process in some super violent-”

Maggie rolled her eyes. “Take care of yourself, Chip.”

“Stay safe, Mags. Talk to you later.”

She hung up and took a moment to collect herself. She had forgotten to ask about the team, but she knew anything horrible would’ve been mentioned. “I’m not bothering you by talking, am I?”

Alex was quick to say no. “You’re not nearly as annoying as some people when I’m trying to study.”

Maggie grinned a little, but it fell away when she remembered she would need to talk to Kara at some point. That wasn’t going to be a fun conversation. Scrolling through her contacts, she found the name of the one Ranger in the city who was supposed to be on vacation.

~*~

~*~

Getting Kara to talk wasn’t easy. Maggie was willing to put it off for a day and let them both cool down. Alex wanted them to sort things out before there was another Psycho Ranger attack. Given how neither Kara nor Maggie wanted to be at odds with each other, it didn’t take long for them to actually hash out the issue once the words started coming. Maggie had been upset about being separated from her team. It took some explaining since Kara had never seen Maggie really work with a team like the Silver Guardians. Making sure a SWAT team was in place was very different from taking personal responsibility for each individual. Kara promised she wouldn’t take Maggie from her people again unless her life depended on it. Maggie understood that Kara had been worried; having an alien device embed itself in Maggie’s chest was likely a fright Kara hadn’t been expecting.

The conversation eventually devolved into Kara asking all kinds of questions about the Power Rangers. Maggie had long ago memorized the information any Silver Guardian would have so she could talk about her friends without seeming to know too much. Alex was happy they had something to bond over, even if it was in her lab.

When Lucy announced she was five minutes out with dinner, Kara flew off to finish proofreading her article. Alex reluctantly signed off the Ranger computer. She had spent hours messaging with Mariner Bay to learn how the Morphing Grid and man-made morphers worked. Maggie had read over Alex’s shoulder and refreshed her own knowledge between her conversations with Lauren and Kara. Maggie had a basic understanding of how the Dino Morphers functioned after all the issues her team had faced. She wasn’t ever going to be able to build a morpher, but she could put a broken one back together.

The courtyard to the side of the DEO was a walled off garden where agents could get outside for a bit without having to change into street clothes. The three of them ended up on a bench instead of a proper table so Maggie could be squished in the middle. Lucy had wanted to see the wound. There wasn’t much besides bruising, and pin-pricks were the nanites had been injected. It was still enough to have Lucy pressing close to Maggie, glancing at what bruising she could see peeking from the scrub top.

Alex and Maggie were taking turns telling Lucy about what they had learned from the Power Rangers. Lucy recalled some rant of her father’s about the superheroes; she also made a comment about the spandex looking suits. Maggie bit her tongue and let Alex explain how it was a high-tech polymer. Maggie wasn’t quite up to explaining the significance of the color spectrum and felt sorry for the poor soul who Alex asked.

A chilly warning shot down Maggie’s spine, and she dived out of the bench, yanking her girlfriends with her. The heat of a blast shot over them as she turned and pulled her Silver Guardian blaster from the holster at her hip. Alex cursed and started firing in a different direction. Maggie caught sight of the Black Psycho in the bushes at the edge of the courtyard and let off a steady stream of blasts to keep the robot pinned down.

When Lucy’s gun rang out twice, Maggie knew they were so very screwed. Without stopping her barrage, Maggie said, “I’ve got eyes on Black!”

Alex called off Yellow and Blue, Lucy said she was shooting Pink. Maggie started to swear under her breath. Lucy wouldn’t be able to hold off her Psycho for long with her limited ammo. There was no cover near; she hoped anyone watching the cameras had sent reinforcements.

Maggie was about to tell Alex and Lucy to make a break for the door of the building when she heard the tell-tale buzz of a teleportation beam. She didn’t dare look at who had arrived, not wanting to take the pressure off her Psycho. Another Silver Guardian blaster shot in the same direction as her, and Lucy’s carefully timed shots went silent. She could hear the sounds of hand to hand fighting.

“Commander Meyers,” Lucy greeted.

“Director Lane.” And, oh, Eric sounded far too amused for Maggie’s comfort.

“I’d say it’s nice to put a face to the name, but with a face like yours…”

“You seem a lot shorter in person, yourself.”

“Those are fighting words, Meyers.”

“That’s fine, you don’t seem like much of a threat.”

Maggie spared the split second to nudge Eric with her elbow. “If she shoots you, I’m not arresting her.”

Eric chuckled. “It’s fine, Sawyer, we just had words earlier today.”

Maggie really wanted to pin Lucy with a look. “Oh?”

“Just a chat between directors,” Lucy said dismissively. “Kinda getting shot at right now.”

Lauren’s voice was unexpected. “The other Rangers are dealing with an attack in Amber Beach.”

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Maggie demanded. “Eric!”

“She hitched a ride when we teleported out with these two! She was supposed to stay on base with Chip!”

“I don’t need to be coddled or protected.” Lauren was calm and steady. “Besides, I’m no safer with him on the base than I am out here with you.”

“There are literally a hundred specifically trained Silver Guardians on that base,” Eric pointed out. “While there are competent agents here, like the one to my right-” Maggie could hear Lucy growl when he mentioned Alex alone, “-they aren’t prepared for the fucking Psycho Rangers.”

Maggie knew things weren’t looking good if Eric was swearing. He maintained there were more intelligent, eloquent ways to express horrible situations and people. “We need cover.”

“We’re in a garden meant to provide clear sight lines,” Alex said. “Attacks from this area are meant to be funneled at the door.”

A flash of red blinded Maggie for a moment. There were shouts, and she was being yanked back from the barrel of Psycho Red’s blaster. It was different from the other Psycho side arms, and she knew it would litter her body with nanite pods.

“Time to join us, Ranger!”

Before she could try to fire off a shot of her own, Tyler was in front of her, holding out his arms to protect them. Instinct took over, and as Maggie reached for Tyler, she felt something inside her roar to life.

*

Alex fell back from the attacking Psycho, grunting as she smashed her tailbone. From her sprawled position in the grass, she watched in fear and awe as four hands reached out to grab the Red Dino Charge Ranger from behind. Maggie had a hold of his belt, Eric reached over her shoulder to grab at his armor, and Lauren was standing with another man with their hands splayed on the Ranger’s shoulders. Red lightning crackled around them as the Psycho fired the nanite weapon. Wind thundered through the courtyard as a Tyrannosaurus Rex head formed out of the lines of light. The nanite pod hit an invisible shield, exploding on impact. The outlined maw of the T-Rex snapped on the Psycho, seeming to bite right through the robot.

Energy quickly fed back through the lighting. The Red Ranger shuddered, and the quartet behind him was thrown back. The Psycho collapsed onto the bench, nanite gun falling to the ground.

Alex’s lungs finally demanded air. Her quick intake seemed to send everything moving too fast. The Red Dino Charge Ranger collapsed, his suit disappearing as Maggie and Eric caught him. The Psychos were suddenly gone, the fried Red and his weapon teleported away as well. The Purple Ranger ran over even as Maggie settled the Red Ranger’s head in her lap. Alex had only seen that worried look on her girlfriend’s face when either Lucy, Chip, or Alex herself was hurt seriously enough to end up in a hospital bed.

Maggie brushed the hair off the young man’s face. “C’mon, Tyler, you can’t tap out after winning the fight.”

“His vitals are steady,” the Purple Ranger said as she knelt beside Tyler. “Whatever that was, it overloaded his connection to the Morphing Grid.”

“Did that overload disperse through us?” Lauren asked. Her eyes were wide, and her hands were shaking even though she had them planted in the grass. “I feel...wired.”

“Like you could morph,” said the man who hadn’t spoken since arriving.

Maggie’s head whipped around. “Jason?” The surprise in her voice was unmistakable, but there was something else, something Alex couldn’t place at the moment.

He nodded and gave her a small smile in greeting. “Hey, Maggie. Are you feeling it? Eric?”

The two Silver Guardians nodded but didn’t get a chance to say anything before Tyler was groaning and trying to move.

“Easy,” Maggie half ordered, her hands gentle on his shoulders. “We’re good here.”

“The others?” Tyler asked, voice raspy.

“Keeper tells me Amber Beach is safe,” the Purple Ranger said. “How do you feel?”

“Like I have the worst sunburn ever, right after being blasted in a sandstorm.”

“Sounds about right,” Eric muttered. Jason nodded in agreement.

The purple Ranger put a hand on Tyler’s arm. “Keeper says you shouldn’t morph for at least a day. He doesn’t even want you to teleport right now.”

“What if there’s another attack?” Tyler asked.

“Whatever you idiots did overloaded your connection to the Grid.”

All five of them began to protest, and that’s when the scene clicked in Alex’s head. They were all wearing something red. They spoke as if they knew each other, none of them seemed confused by what the Purple Ranger was saying, and Maggie was the only Silver Guardian being targeted. She looked over at Lucy and saw she had come to the same realization. “Holy shit, you’re all Power Rangers.”

The Rangers went silent. Maggie, Tyler, and Lauren looked afraid. Eric sighed. “Well, this is new and slightly terrifying.”

Jason shrugged. “It happens. And don’t you have a base full of people who know who you are?”

“I have a base full of people who suspect what I was. Most of the officers who were around when National City was attacked have kept their mouths shut.”

“Does Director Henshaw know?” Lucy asked, keeping her voice calm even if Alex could see the various emotions in her eyes. Alex likely had the same look; pain, understanding, fear, surprise.

“If he does,” Eric said, “he never brought it up with us.”

Maggie shook her head. “He’s never confirmed it.” She knew Lucy meant J’onn and his mind reading.

“How has this never come up?” Alex asked, far more confused than she was a moment ago.

Maggie shrugged. “Do you think about high school often?”

“Wait.” Lucy stiffened, her eyes narrowing at Tyler’s prone form. “High school?”

Before Maggie could find the words to explain, Jason spoke up. “How about we move this inside? Maybe get Tyler off the ground?”

The others didn’t hesitate to follow his suggestion, moving in unison without speaking. The Purple Ranger and Maggie helped Tyler get upright. Lauren took a position on Tyler’s left, Maggie on his right. The Purple Ranger’s uniform faded away, leaving a woman with glasses and blonde hair standing before them. She followed behind Tyler, eyes sharp and not missing any twitch of pain. Eric offered a hand up to Alex, and Lucy accepted Jason’s assistance to her feet.

There were DEO agents just outside the door, ready for a fight they didn’t get to have. Lucy gave them all a stern look. “Secure the area. If I hear rumors of what any of you overheard here, there will be consequences that make Fort Rozz seem like a spa resort. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Once they were inside and away from eavesdroppers, Maggie said, “Thanks, Luce.”

“Of course. I’m not actually upset at you managing to do what we’ve tried to beat into Kara for going on three years now.”

Maggie winced. “They don’t know about Kara.”

Lucy stopped mid-step, shrugged, and continued on to the small meeting room down the hall. “Not like they weren’t going to find out, once she hears what’s going on.”

Alex frowned and looked around. “It’s weird that she isn’t here.”

“Who’s Kara?” Jason asked.

Alex wanted to hesitate, wanted to try and maintain some semblance of control over everything. As it was, however, five unauthorized civilians were being escorted through the DEO. “Kara is my adopted sister. And maybe also Supergirl?”

The Rangers looked at Maggie in shock. “You know Supergirl?” Lauren asked with undisguised awe.

“I told you I’ve worked with her,” Maggie said, amused and a little defensive.

“Wait,” Eric said, frowning. “The Kara who buried you in two dozen kittens is the same person who saves the day more often than we ever could?”

Maggie sighed. “You had to bring up that video, didn’t you?”

Jason chuckled. “You gotta admit, it’s a cute video.”

Alex watched Maggie’s ears turn pink as they filed into the meeting room. She traded a look with Lucy, wondering who the hell Jason was that he could get that embarrassed reaction. Maggie and Lauren deposited Tyler in the nearest chair. Eric caught sight of a case of water in the corner and started to pass out the warm bottles. Maggie took a deep breath and introduced everyone. She referred to her girlfriends as D.E.O. agents, but didn’t explain what that meant. Alex shook her head when Maggie was done. “So. What, exactly, is going on?”

“What you know so far is true,” Kendall said. “The Psycho Rangers are the worst threat any Power Ranger has ever faced. They are the only enemies who have ever killed one of us.”

“Have we heard from Terra Venture?” Eric asked.

Jason nodded. “They say no one’s come for them.”

“What’s the catch?” Lucy asked, going into Director mode. “Don’t your enemies stick to the active team of the year?”

“That’s what we don’t understand,” Kendall said. “In their past two incarnations, the Psycho Rangers only attacked the current team, and could only drain the powers of an identical colored Ranger.”

“Attacks on past Rangers aren’t unheard of,” Jason said, “but it’s never been all of us. Usually, it’s only the immediately preceding team that has a problem.”

“What do they gain by killing the rest of you?” Lucy asked. “I’m guessing the lack of spandex means none of you have powers for them to steal.”

Three frowns were aimed Lucy’s way, and she didn’t completely hide her smirk when the protests against the word ‘spandex’ filled the room. Maggie cut Lucy’s fun short by waving her hand down at the others. “She’s fucking with you, Alex already explained that to her.”

“There is nothing to gain from us,” Eric said. “We don’t have any powers for them to steal.”

“I don’t know,” Alex said. “That T-Rex out of lighting was impressive and out of place, if I understand things correctly.”

“Our bond to the Morphing Grid can’t be erased or removed,” Lauren said, glancing around at the older Rangers to make sure she was getting it right. “We might not be able to channel the Grid, but we’re still connected to it.”

Tyler perked up. “It was a T-Rex out of lightning?”

“Head of one, yes,” Kendall said, peeved. “It bit Red Psycho in half.”

Lauren gave Tyler an amused look. “I don’t know why that surprises you. All of you had trouble with the T-Rex’s attitude problem, right?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jason said, a little too quick to be innocent.

“You must have done something wrong,” Maggie said, teasing in her voice. “After you, T-Rexes haven’t been happy with any of us.”

Eric snorted. “Poor thing came out of sixty-five million years of isolation, and the first thing it sees is Jason’s face. I’d be mad forever, too.”

Kendall rolled her eyes. “While impressive, it brings up so many other questions and problems.”

“I know this might be a tough topic,” Lucy said, “but were there effects on the team that lost their Ranger? Besides the emotional ones?”

“Oh, Kendrix is fine,” Maggie said. “Her team managed to bring her back to life a few months later.”

Lucy and Alex looked at each other and decided not to ask how that was managed. It wasn’t the time, and they really didn’t have the mental capacity for it at the moment.

“I’m the only one here who had been a Ranger when that happened,” Jason said. “I know we all felt -something- we couldn’t explain that made us get in touch with each other. The other Pink Rangers were depressed for a few days after they found out.”

Kendall stared at Lucy for a moment. “I know there’s a bond between Rangers, but are you suggesting there’s something more?”

Lucy motioned at Maggie. “Twenty minutes ago, there was an impact bruise and injection marks on her collarbone. It’s gone now. If there’s nothing more than some instinctual bond, then why did someone without powers heal instantly?”

Alex shifted in her chair and turned Maggie towards her. Maggie didn’t seem to mind the brief inspection, tilting her head up so Alex could get an unshadowed look at the area exposed by the scrub top. “Speaking of the nanites. They were trying to control your heart and were heading down to your lungs and likely up to your brain. It isn’t as simple as turning an ally against the active Rangers, is it?”

“After seeing exactly what the nanites tried to do,” Kendall said, “we think the Psychos are trying to control former Rangers.”

“Again,” Lucy said, “without powers, what’s the point? Unless there’s something you’re missing?”

Lauren shifted and looked around before speaking. “When Thrax managed to sever the Overdrive team’s connection, didn’t the Sentinel Knight restore powers to five former Rangers? That can’t be easy, can it?”

Maggie nodded. “Kira was the only one of my team who could escape her everyday life to cover for Overdrive since she didn’t have a schedule to keep. Ethan and I had to….”

“Had to what, Mags?” Alex asked.

Maggie looked at Jason. “We couldn’t keep our Dino Gems on us while she was active. Did you guys have to do the same for Adam?”

Jason frowned. “You know, now that you mention it, we were asked to make sure we didn’t have physical contact with our old coins while Adam was fighting.”

“So there is some kind of link,” Lucy said, looking both terrified and pleased with herself.

Kendall and Alex looked at each other, their minds starting to race. Kendall looked over at Tyler, who waved her off and said he would be fine.

“He can stay with one of us,” Maggie told Kendall. “We’ll even stick him in medical if it’ll make you happy.”

“I was thinking of working from here for a bit,” Kendall said. She looked at Alex. “If that’s okay with you? I’ve picked up on the fact this is not a normal government organization, so if you want your secrets, I understand.”

Alex and Lucy traded a look and shrugged at each other. “At this point, it would be rude to try and pretend we’re going to maintain our secrecy.”

“Brainstorming at the DEO?” Eric rubbed his hands together. “Count me in.”

“Don’t you have a base to run?” Lucy asked, raising an eyebrow.

Jason spoke up before Eric could reply. “You get back to the Silver Guardians. I’ll keep an eye on the kids.”

Eric scoffed. “You know I don’t actually trust you to keep them out of trouble, right? Lauren is probably more responsible, given the stories I’ve heard of you and your team.”

“Five of us in this room were given our powers. One person stuck his hand in a box on a hope and a prayer that he wouldn’t lose said hand.”

The way Maggie was reacting to Jason started to tickle something in Alex’s head. It wasn’t a crush, but it wasn’t hero-worship, either. Alex knew what both looked like on Maggie. She was going to have to bring it up with Lucy while Maggie was occupied, because she could tell it wasn’t clicking for her, either. Alex didn’t feel threatened by Jason, but not being able to identify the emotion on her girlfriend’s face was driving Alex up the wall.

Eric decided to ignore Jason. “Lauren. Staying here or heading back to base?”

“I think I’ll go with you. Jayden won’t like it if I can’t tell him where, exactly, I’ll be sleeping.”

“It’s a sibling’s job to worry,” Jason said. “And like Eric said, you’re the one we can trust to keep everyone else out of trouble.”

Lauren blushed a little, but she looked pleased with the praise.

Alex tugged Maggie’s red beret out of her uniform pocket. “Quick question, before you go. What’s Maggie’s rank?” She watched her girlfriend’s eyes widen when Eric smirked.

“She’s fourth on the chain of command.”

Alex could feel her jaw loosen, but was proud her mouth didn’t drop like Lucy’s.

Jason scoffed. “Fourth? A fellow Red, man? And after a Yellow?”

All amusement left Eric’s face as he turned to glare at Jason. “If she were a full-time Silver Guardian she would be next in line behind me and Wes. But Maggie has a life, and I’m not gonna ask her to take over the base unless absolutely necessary.”

Jason shrugged to himself and nodded, agreeing with the argument. Maggie sank a few inches into her chair when Lucy found her voice. “This entire time you’ve been bitching about leadership training, and it’s been as a base commander? I thought it was the same shit we run Alex through every few months.”

“It’s a combination of both,” Maggie muttered. She snagged her beret back from Alex and stuffed it away. “I’ll get you for this, Eric.”

“Looking forward to the attempt.” He stood, and Lauren moved to get up as well. “Be careful, all of you.”

“Stay safe,” the remaining Rangers chorused back.

Lauren and Eric were teleported out; Kendall didn’t want to have them travel by car and get ambushed. Likely the Psychos were beyond pissed their plan to overwhelm Maggie had failed. There had been no further attacks, but there was also no reason to risk having two former Rangers traveling alone.

Lucy quickly cleared the arrival of “civilians” with J’onn. As much as she had a say in the running of the DEO, she didn’t want to overstep her level of command. Alex led the way to the elevators, already trying to piece together the new puzzle with Kendall. She didn’t think they would solve it all in one night. The head start, however, might just save all their lives.

~*~

Maggie stepped into the recovery bay and saw Kara and Tyler still talking, waving their hands around and looking more like children on a sugar high than superheroes. She leaned in the doorframe and watched them. After seeing the amount of hero-worship between Kara and Shelby, it was nice to see them getting along as friends. Before Tyler could launch into another story, however, she cleared her throat and entered the room. They looked up at her, a little guilty but still smiling. “You might be solar powered, Kara, but Tyler isn’t. It’s almost midnight.”

Kara stood, nodding in agreement. “I should probably go wash off the smell of burning car wreck, huh?” Supergirl had been caught up in a school bus accident when Maggie had been attacked. No one was seriously hurt, but Supergirl had spent a good two hours with the children involved. Tyler had offered to explain what he could when she had come rushing in when Winn informed her of the attack after she left the scene.

Maggie nodded. “And maybe go work on that article you now only have two days to get done.”

Kara groaned. “I know. I should be able to get a lot of it written tonight. Are you, Alex, and Lucy spending the night here?”

“Yeah. We’re better off here than at home if we’re attacked.”

Kara turned serious. “I can work from here, too, you know.”

Usually, Maggie would feel bad about asking Kara to look out for her. But this wasn’t just about her anymore. Tyler, Kendall, and Jason were here, and the Psychos likely had Lucy and Alex on their kill lists. “Go home, shower, decompress a little. If you’re up to spending the night here, don’t keep Tyler up until dawn.”

“I will definitely work on that article,” Kara vowed. “But, text me if you need anything? Both of you?” She left after getting nods from both of them.

Maggie watched Tyler angle his bed flat again. “So. How jealous is Shelby going to be when she finds out you got to spend a couple hours talking to Supergirl?”

Tyler blushed a little. “I put her on speaker phone for a while, and a couple of the others.”

“Such a good leader, sharing the fun with your team.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “You would’ve done the same if you weren’t so busy protecting our identities and Kara’s.”

“True. Maybe. I’ve gotten so many offended texts from Eric and Wes about keeping this from them. Chip’s been bragging since Eric and Lauren got back, apparently.”

“Hasn’t Chip been interacting with Kara as part of his job and your friend though? It makes sense he would know, or figure it out.”

“He pretty much had the same reaction Eric and Wes are having now when he found out. They understand why I kept quiet, but it’s still rude of me to not even have hinted at it.” She rolled her eyes at their antics. They meant no harm by it, but the fact they could carry on like children was never going to not be amusing.

“Well, I think it’s pretty amazing you’ve managed to keep both parts of your life separate. It couldn’t have been easy.”

She sighed. “There were times I wanted to call in the cavalry. But most of those situations would’ve been purely for personal gain, and the ones that weren’t, a team would’ve shown up if it was that bad.” She squeezed his shoulder and echoed Kendall’s words from earlier in the day. “Get some rest while you can.”

He nodded and wished her same. Maggie made sure Kendall and Jason were set for the night in the lower parts of the building. The city base was where initial training took place for the DEO, which meant there were dorms for the recruits. Alex had, months ago, claimed one of the larger trainer rooms for herself and strapped two of the twin beds together. It had started off as a hidey-hole for recovering in when she wasn’t healed enough to leave the base but refused to stay in medical. Eventually, it grew into the room the three of them crashed in when they were too tired to make the trip home.

Lucy was sitting on the bed with a book in hand, already in sweats for the night. Alex was sprawled on her stomach next to her, one of Vasquez’s custom emojis on her phone screen. Maggie headed straight for the tiny bathroom, and it’s smaller shower stall. The water was blissfully hot and steady, and she leaned on the wall, taking a moment to finally breathe. Her secrets were out. Both sides of her life were in danger. She didn’t have active enough powers to protect anyone, but she had enough of a connection to the Morphing Grid to be a target. There was no way for her to gain active powers, and she wasn’t exactly the brains of her team to figure out a way of stopping the Psychos.

Once the dirt, sweat, and fear of the day were washed away, Maggie turned off the water and dragged the towel on the hook into the stall. She sighed, having forgotten to stop by the overstuffed dresser for clothes. Sliding the curtain open, she smiled a little at the sight of sweats balancing on the sink. Once dressed, she braced herself for the inevitable talk. Alex had let her into so many secrets, and Maggie hadn’t returned the favor.

It wasn’t too late for her to text Keeper for a teleport out. It was the coward’s way out, but maybe it would be best for her sanity if she put off a potential fight or break-up until after the crisis. Alex wouldn’t stop helping Kendall just because Maggie had run off.

Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and found only the lamp was on. Lucy set aside her book and Alex plugged her phone in before turning it face down. They made space for her in the middle of the bed, and Maggie climbed in, resting her head against Lucy’s hip as Alex wrapped an arm around her waist.

“First and foremost,” Lucy said, “we love you. This changes nothing except maybe what gag gift you get next.” She ran her fingers through Maggie’s damp hair. “Like I said, we can’t be mad at you for keeping a secret that protects lives. Not to say I’m not jealous of you having superpowers, but I can happily live without the spandex suit.”

Maggie turned her head a little and nipped Lucy through her sweatpants. Lucy scritched at her scalp before going back to her finger combing.

Alex leaned in to press a kiss to where Maggie had been tagged by the nanites. “We wish you had told us the truth when this all started yesterday, but we also understand why you kept it in-house. It’s no different when the D.E.O. does the same. Yes, there are voices in both our heads that want to yell and demand. They aren’t the loudest voices, not by a long shot. We’re worried about you, we want to help you, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Maggie rolled a little to kiss Alex, then leaned up to kiss Lucy. She settled back down, and Lucy joined them in laying flat. “When I realized Kara was going to be a steady part of my life, that I was going to be involved with the DEO long term, I did talk to Chip, Wes, and Eric. I felt bad for getting to know all your secrets. There really is no precedence for one of us to find ourselves part of another big secret that saves the world on occasion.”

“But this secret isn’t just about you,” Lucy said. “It’s not just your identity.”

“I couldn’t ask everyone to be okay with non-Rangers knowing who I’m connected to. I know I can trust the two of you, Kara, J’onn, everyone. But if this knowledge gets out?” She shook her head. “You know the saying, if no one comes back in time to stop you, then it can’t be that bad? Someone has actually come back in time to stop some of us.”

Maggie felt something in her chest shudder when they wrapped their arms around her and squeezed. When she was a teenager, she had expected the world to pay her back for saving it time and again. For a few months, she thought she deserved some kind of reward for the sacrifices she made. It took meeting former Rangers, watching Tommy go through another power acquisition, and having to really stand up and lead that made her realize the responsibility was a selfless one. Keeping people safe was the reward. She never expected the love and support she got from her girlfriends. Having Kira and Ethan at her side, knowing Wes and Eric and Chip had her back, every bond she had with other Rangers, that had been enough.

“Thank you,” Maggie said when they loosened their hold. “I love you both, so much.”

Lucy reached out and turned off the lamp. “We love you, too, Mags. We’re here for you, no matter what.”

Alex reached behind her and handed over the separate quilts they used to avoid blanket stealing. “Definitely. Forever.”

~*~

There were no attacks through the night. Instead of being relieved, it left the Rangers worried as to what was being planned. Alex only ate breakfast because Kendall insisted on the brain food before bogging down for more research. Maggie wanted to go out on patrol with her team, but neither Lucy nor Eric wanted her on the streets. Chip and Lauren were also staying on the Silver Guardian base with Wes and Eric. As much as being together made them a bigger, more accessible target, it also gave them the protection of officers and agents around them.

Winn arrived before they all left the mess hall and nearly crashed into a seat across from Maggie. “Hey, so, are you feeling rested and better for answering questions?”

Maggie was actually a little touched Winn had waited for them to recover a little before bombarding them. Before she could reply, Alex raised a finger at him.

“You. With the thing for superheroes. Stay away from my girlfriend.”

Winn looked insulted. “First off, Maggie likes them badass and female. Second, you three are my favorites, and I would never try to break that.”

“You are such a sap, Schott,” Lucy said, smiling as she teased him. He always did his best to be a cheerleader for their relationship.

Maggie grinned a little. “You know, some of the theories Chip shared with you aren’t just theories.” Putting the two conspiracy nerds in the same room had always been fun to eavesdrop on. Chip was a troll and loved every second of telling Winn all the true things he would never believe.

Winn’s jaw dropped. Maggie saw Jason stifle his laughter behind his coffee and was a bit relieved Chip wouldn’t be getting in trouble for feeding a mind like Winn’s. Kara eventually nudged Winn, telling him he was catching flies. His mouth snapped shut, and he refocused on Maggie. “Wait. Charlie is one of you, too?”

“Power Ranger, yes,” Maggie said. “Red Ranger, no. He’s a Yellow.”

He looked between all of them. “Is there, like, a color hierarchy that makes a difference?”

“Chip not being Red is actually a compliment,” Kendall said. “It means he’s not crazy.”

“I can’t be nearly as bad as-” Tyler was cut off before he could finish.

“You boarded Sledge’s ship without powers to get your Energem back. That is classic Red Ranger behavior.”

Tyler gave her an unimpressed look. “Weren’t you on the ship at the same time as I was? Without powers, either? I at least had Shelby with me.”

Kendall opened her mouth, closed it, and settled for glaring at him.

“Everyone is prone to crazy behavior,” Jason said. “But purple is a combination of red and blue, so that might have something to do with it.”

Lucy looked at Maggie. “Have you done anything that measures up to Rogue Agent Danvers?”

“It was the once,” Alex muttered.

Maggie sipped her coffee. “No comment.”

“Which Red Ranger were you?” Winn asked, slowly getting over his awe of hearing Power Rangers tease each other.

“Dino Thunder in Reefside.” Maggie knew this was where things could get ugly. So far, they had been lucky Tyler seemed older than he was. The moment they discovered he wasn’t quite nineteen, there could be a slight uproar about children protecting the world.

“Didn’t you leave Reefside the day after you graduated high school?” Alex asked, eyes narrowing.

“Yes. I was a senior.” Maggie sincerely hoped her girlfriends didn’t remember where her birthday fell during the school year.

Lucy sighed. “As someone in the military, I can’t really be upset given the minimum age of recruitment is seventeen.”

“Okay, but the military trains everyone,” Alex said. “Unless there’s a Ranger academy-”

“Not for a few hundred years,” Jason offered.

Alex looked like she wanted to ask, but decided against it. “That means you were dropped into a war without any preparation.”

Kendall nodded and looked at Tyler. “It was never anything personal when it came to how hard I tried to keep Shelby off research digs. We were looking for Energems, and I didn’t want one bonding with her. You, Shelby, and Riley are young. This shouldn’t be your responsibility.”

“But it is,” Tyler said, not arguing. He kept his voice calm and steady. “And I don’t think it was a coincidence. I found my dad, who had an Energem himself. His journal has pictures of Sledge’s monsters. I may not have set out to become a Power Ranger, but I’ll see it through.”

Kendall squeezed his shoulder. “And together we’ll see the defeat of the Psycho Rangers. Again.”

They scooped up their last bites of food and drained their cups before heading out. Alex’s lab had never seen so many people in it before. Winn wanted to help, and everyone else wanted to know if any progress had been made by those who didn’t need as much sleep. J’onn joined the group for the morning update. Maggie watched Alex, Lucy, Winn, and Kara’s eyes go wide as the computer terminal displayed a screen that took up half a wall. One by one, teams and mentors loaded up as they joined the conversation, no longer faceless. No names or locations were given, and Maggie noticed the DEO agents didn’t look bothered by it. What they did seem impressed by was the sheer number of Rangers. There were up to a dozen people on each screen and nine different screens.

“Have we learned anything new?” Jason asked, starting the meeting without hesitation or real cue.

“Keeper has shared with us the energy readings of last night’s battle,” Udonna said. “We can confirm that, for a few moments, the five of you were connected through the Morphing Grid. Had you working morphers, you may have been able to morph after at the feedback dispersed through you. We can’t say how long the powers would have lasted, however.”

“Would we be better or worst off with powers?” Max asked. “So far, the Psychos haven’t attacked the active Rangers.”

“While it is possible to reconnect every Ranger on Earth,” Princess Shayla said, “doing so would weaken the Dino Charge Rangers. The Morphing Grid would be actively channeling power into all of you, instead of passively as it is currently.”

“What, exactly, happened last night when you guys went full T-Rex on Psycho Red?” Tori asked. “What were you thinking, planning? Cause to me it sounds like you combined powers in the way we combine weapons.”

Maggie glanced over at Jason while Eric and Lauren said they weren’t sure, they just wanted to help Tyler somehow. She licked her lips before shrugging and saying, “I fully intended to yank him down and out of the way.”

Jason nodded. “That was pretty much what I was aiming for, too. One of us being down is bad, but an active Ranger is worse.”

“So it was an intent to protect for the most part,” Carlos said. “But since you Reds are crazy, the power ran with the main theme of the T-Rex and created an attack.”

Every Red Ranger huffed, Maggie included, but none dared to argue while their teams were present. Maggie knew Kira, Trent, and Ethan wouldn’t hesitate to list every insane stunt she had ever pulled.

“We haven’t heard from them since last night,” Theo said. “Do you think that combined power attack was enough to do some permanent damage to Psycho Red?”

“If it was,” Ronny said, rubbing her hands together, “I won’t hesitate to try it on the next Psycho that heads our way.”

“Would it work with any combination of us?” Mia asked. “Or does it have to be Rangers of the same color? And only Lauren wasn’t a T-Rex Ranger, does that have to be taken into account?”

“We were still able to use the Overdrive zords,” Xander said, recalling when the Sentinel Knight briefly returned the powers to five Rangers. “Our powers were nowhere near a match, and some were man-made as well as Grid created.”

Tommy looked at the group around him. “If it works for protection and attacking, it should work in general, right? Riley, do you mind morphing?”

Riley looked to Keeper and Kendall for permission. Kendall warned him to try to avoid an overload. Once suited up, Tommy put a hand on his shoulder. The others behind him fell in line, framing up to brace either Riley or those holding him.

Jason turned a little towards Lucy and Alex. “In case you were wondering, Tommy’s crazy ass is the one who mentored Maggie and her team.”

“Yeah, and I learned from you, Jase,” Tommy shot back.

“I’m sorry, who was the one who went-”

“Boys,” Trini said, calm but sharp. “Not the time.”

Zack chuckled. “Did you ever think we’d be dealing with these two STILL trying to one-up each other twenty years later?”

“Oh, God,” Kim groaned, “please don’t remind me how old we are.”

“If the peanut gallery could let us concentrate on channeling mystical powers without an inhibitor,” Cassie said, eyes closed, “that would be great.”

The groups went quiet and still as they watched a dozen Rangers focus on Riley. Maggie could just imagine how he was feeling; excitement at trying something new, fear that it may not work, determination at the idea of finding a solution to defeat their enemies.

It was almost eerie to watch the charge in slow motion. It started from the back of the group, with Tanya, Madison, and Vida. Their eyes flew open and glowed with their respective colors. It moved up to Mack, Will, Shane, and Hunter. Maggie felt something in her straighten her spine when the energy spun through the other two Red Rangers. She glanced over at Jason when T.J.’s eyes glowed red beside Ashley’s yellow. Jason shifted when the current passed through Tommy, who’s eyes swirled with his various colors next to Cassie and her Pink eyes.

“Of course,” Jason murmured. “Show off.”

Maggie fought back her grin. The techs and mentors who were monitoring the power surge displayed their readings on the screens showing their teams.

“Holy shit that’s something,” Riley said, his hands fisting. The lines around his visor glowed, as did the edges of his vest.

Kendall tapped at her tablet. “Riley, you need to bleed off that energy before it feeds back to them.”

He didn’t hesitate to activate the next level of his armor as the others started to close their eyes and let go. The energy flared around him in a blaze of green light. The armor was far more prolific and sharper than before. It glowed green at the tips.

“How do you feel?” Tyler asked.

“Like I could take on Sledge and Snide at the same time.” He looked at his gauntlets and shook out his limbs. “Okay. Yeah. This is a lot more power than I’ve ever felt before.”

“While this test is successful,” Udonna said, “there is a drawback.”

Cam nodded, looking at the energy readings. “The former Rangers run the risk of channeling too much energy if they have to do this suddenly and without concentrating. It’s pure luck the five Red Rangers didn’t turn into pure energy bombs last night.”

“What?” Alex demanded, standing closer to Maggie then she had a moment before.

“The morphers are necessary to act as an inhibitor like Cassie said,” Doctor Hartford explained. “Not only does it give Rangers an easier way to access the Morphing Grid, but it also controls just how much energy is channeled into their bodies.”

“There is such a thing as too much power for our bodies,” Andros said. “If we can’t expel that power safely and quickly enough, our cells would be unable to contain it.”

Jason crossed his arms. “So we need to find a medium between everyone being active again and manually channeling our powers into an active Ranger.”

It wasn’t long before the meeting broke up so the brains of the operation could focus while the others either went about their lives or dealt with the fall out of uprooting themselves for protection. J’onn and Lucy left to discuss DEO logistics, and Tyler led Winn and Kara out of the room before their chatter could get them kicked out by Alex. Jason and Maggie took seats opposite of Kendall and Alex.

It wasn’t more than two hours later when the sound of glass breaking and shouts echoed up to the lab. Maggie raced out with Kendall and Jason, feeling the skitter of power over her skin as Tyler morphed. They looked over the railing to see Tyler and Kara trying to hold off all five Psycho Rangers. Kendall morphed and leaped down without hesitating.

“I’m guessing I can’t convince either of you to head deeper into the building,” Alex said, alien gun in hand.

“Not a chance,” Jason said.

Psycho Pink looked up at them. “There he is!”

Maggie and Alex yanked Jason back towards the lab as a nanite pod was shot at him. They headed for the hall, but Psycho Blue leaped up to block them. Alex fired, causing him to stumble back. Kara shot up and slammed the Psycho into a wall. Maggie raised her Silver Guardian blaster when Psycho Red leaped up as well. She only had to fire four times before Tyler and Kendall were with them. Maggie, Alex, and Jason retreated back to the lab, shooting from the doorway. J’onn and Kara dealt with the three Psychos below. Lucy had Winn behind her and was ordering agents around the room to provide cover fire when possible.

“Just give us the First Ranger, and we’ll leave you be!” Psycho Red demanded.

“Yeah, I don’t know why,” Tyler said, “but I don’t trust you.”

“Kendall!” Maggie shouted. “Teleport Jason out of here!”

“Keeper can’t teleport anyone in or out! The Psychos have set up some kind of interference!”

“Kara!” Alex shouted. “They’re here for Jason!”

“I’m not leaving you!”

Maggie watched Tyler take a strike to the head that sent him flying back towards her and Jason. When Maggie saw his morpher fall from his fingers, an idea struck her hard. She knelt and grabbed the morpher while Kara took over fighting Psycho Red. Jason hauled Tyler away from the brawl and into Alex’s lab.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked as she took shots at Psycho Pink when she leaped up to join Psycho Blue.

Maggie popped open both her blaster and the morpher, mind racing with the knowledge gained in the last two hours. “Tyler needs more power, and we can’t give it to him. I’m replacing the Kerovan dispersion filter with the Trixyrium Crystal.”

“That’s too much power!” Kendall yelled.

Maggie pulled out her Dino Gem and looked at Jason. He nodded at her once. “Not if he shares it.” She slammed the morpher closed and stood, hauling Tyler to his feet. “You ready?”

“Let’s do this.”

Maggie felt anticipation spiral in her stomach as she slipped her Dino Gem into the altered blaster. “It’s morphin’ time.”

Last night, the power surge had felt overwhelming, there and gone before she realized it was happening. Now, morphing on purpose, after ten years of nothing, she felt a level of giddiness that was likely the source of every crazy Red Ranger antic. Her uniform flared around her, and the way her helmet surrounded her face but didn’t hinder her was a fantastic sensation after so many motorcycle helmets.

“Feel good to be back?” Jason asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Maggie handed Tyler his morpher and ran right for Psycho Pink. Maggie was just as fast as she had been before, and her speed caught both her and the Psycho by surprise. Maggie’s fist acted as a battering ram, sending the robot down the stairs. Maggie stumbled to a stop before turning her attention to Psycho Blue.

“How are there two of you?!” Psycho Blue demanded. “You don’t have a morpher!”

Maggie didn’t bother answering. She and Kendall started up a relentless series of attacks that put the Psycho on the retreat. Maggie’s speed combined with Kendall’s augmented strength was too much for the robot to want to handle alone. It leaped back down, joining the fight against Kara and J’onn. Kendall headed down, and Maggie ran towards Psycho Red, tossing him over the railing to keep the Psychos in one place. She and Tyler jumped down and kept up their assault on Psycho Red.

The roar of engines rushed in from the broken balcony windows. The Ptera Zord hovered just outside, and the other Dino Charge Rangers poured into the room. Outnumbered by Rangers and with their target under heavy guard, the Psycho Rangers retreated.

“Is everyone okay?” Tyler asked, looking at the DEO agents coming out of their cover.

“We’re all good here,” Lucy said as she approached. She took one of Maggie’s gloved hands in her own and pulled and pinched at the material. “You’re right, not spandex.”

Maggie sighed. “Sometimes, I hate you so much.”

“You could never.” Lucy let her go and looked around. “That’s not nearly as much damage as I was expecting.”

“We’ve gotten better at adapting our energy weapons for our enemies alone,” Kendall said. “Speaking of…” She held her hand out to Tyler, who gave her the altered morpher. She gave it to Maggie. “Put it back the way you found it, or so help me.”

Maggie didn’t entirely stifle her laugh as she took the morpher and leaped back up to the level housing Alex’s lab. Jason had the Silver Guardian blaster and Kerovan filter. He shook his head at her antics, and she scoffed. “Don’t act as if you wouldn’t be jumping around if you could.”

“Already had my chance to use my powers again,” he said, holding the blaster open for her. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Absolutely.” Maggie carefully moved around the Trixyrium crystal back into her blaster and closed it up. Once the dispersion filter was back in place, she removed her Dino Gem and shut the Dino Charge morpher. Her suit started to fade, but the smile didn’t. She turned and tossed Tyler his morpher. Slipping her blaster back into its holster, she looked at Alex’s dumbfounded face. “So. How was that for an example of crazy Red Ranger?”

*

Lucy had thought she was settled with the idea of her girlfriend being a Power Ranger. She had seen Maggie interact with other Rangers, past, and present. She had seen what had happened the night before. Tyler had shown her, Kara, and Winn a few videos from the Ranger archive that morning. Maggie was a Power Ranger. Lucy thought she had processed it.

Apparently not.

She hadn’t seen exactly what Maggie had done, but she had seen the Dino Thunder Red Ranger leap down and charge a bunch of Ranger-killers head-on without hesitation. Her heart had found its way into her throat, and for the first time in a long time, she froze. Fear clawed at her chest, and Winn had to squeeze her shoulder to bring her back to working order. She had seen Maggie in a fight, knew she could hold her own. But watching Maggie get sent flying into a wall was another matter entirely, superpowers or no.

Watching Maggie leap back up to Alex’s lab, Lucy wondered if she would ever really understand anything about Maggie’s life as a Ranger. She doubted she could ever come close. She thought she had understood the camaraderie, but nothing she experienced in the Army could measure up to the apparent bond between the Rangers.

When Alex, Maggie, and Jason joined them, Kendall offered to teleport Jason and Maggie to the Silver Guardian base so another attack on the DEO could be avoided.

“That will be unnecessary,” J’onn said before Lucy or Alex could protest. “As I said before, Maggie is as much an agent as can be. At some point in the last year, she’s had the back of everyone in this room. We may not be entirely prepared to handle the Psycho Rangers, but that won’t stop us from helping and supporting her.” He looked around the room. “No one present disagrees with me.”

Lucy knew the Rangers wouldn’t know of his telepathy, but she trusted he wouldn’t lie if someone didn’t want to fight for Maggie. For a moment, Lucy wondered if only specific, loyal agents were in the command hub for the duration of the Psycho Ranger attacks. She wasn’t idiot enough to think everyone would be okay with how Maggie was integrated into the DEO.

“Then I guess we should get back to work,” Kendall said as she demorphed.

The other Dino Charge Rangers split up, some returning to Amber Beach and some remaining at the DEO in case of another attack.

Kara bounded up to Maggie and matched her giddy grin. “Rao, you’re a Power Ranger.”

Maggie blushed and shrugged. “Occasionally.”

“That’s still so COOL.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “You are ridiculous, you know that, right?”

“Pft, just because you can pretend you aren’t impressed-”

Maggie turned puppy eyes on Alex. “You aren’t impressed?”

Alex glared at them both. “I’m so happy you two are getting along again. Really.”

They grinned at each other before Kara suddenly perked up. “Oh, you’re probably hungry after that, huh? Be right back!”

Riley looked at the balcony. “Um, where did she-”

Kara returned with sixteen takeout boxes.

“Favorite hero ever!” Koda said as he relieved her of three boxes.

“Let’s get all of you to the mess hall,” Lucy said, shooing them out of the command center.

Alex broke off from the herd. “I actually have an idea I want to get out to the others, and I’m not hungry, anyway.”

“Yeah, I don’t need the food, either,” Jason said, following Alex back up the stairs.

Once Lucy had the Rangers and Kara situated in a conference room where they could be as messy and as rowdy as they wanted, she headed for Alex’s lab. The communication screen was up, but there were only subtitles instead of text. Whatever Alex had told the others had them in an uproar. Alex went quiet when Lucy entered, and Jason looked over his shoulder to wave her in. “What’s up?”

Jason reached out to snagged one of the desk chairs for her. “Just checking in now that the reality has hit a bit closer to home than before.”

Lucy sat and laced her fingers with Alex. “I think I had a heart attack when I saw her jump down. I can’t imagine what you felt when you saw her do everything.”

“It was amazing,” Alex said. “God, Luce, she was brilliant. She calls me the nerd, but she knew exactly what she was doing with her blaster and that morpher.”

“And then she ran right into danger like she’s never really done before.” Lucy shook her head. “Winn had to shake me out of my shock.”

Jason leaned back in his chair. “Maggie and her team have a bit more of a hands-on knowledge of their morphers given how their upgrades had to be worked into them. Eric and Wes have kept their technology in tune with the time period, and Kendall has purposely made her morphers accessible to her team so they can improvise with the Dino Chargers.”

“And all of you Red Rangers seem to have kept up with the change in technology,” Alex said, looking at the first Red Ranger. “All of you seem to have team scientists, but none of you have been left behind in the conversation, either.”

“Tommy might be the only Red who learned how to build his own morphers, but it’s always been our prerogative as leaders to know a little bit of everything.”

Alex leaned her head on Lucy’s shoulder. “No wonder she’s the perfect girlfriend. She pays attention to everything.”

Lucy pressed a kiss to Alex’s hair. “If she’s perfect, what does that make me?”

“Short.”

Jason laughed as Lucy shrugged Alex off her shoulder. “It helps that she’s had a team to teach her. A leader is only as strong as their team wants them to be.”

Lucy knew her smile was sappy and lovesick and she didn’t care. “She makes it easy to love her.” Take a deep breath, Lucy turned serious. “She’s going to make it out of this, right? All of you are going to come out the other side of this alive?”

“I know it seems like Maggie’s been the main target, but I can promise you she hasn’t been the only one attacked these past few days. We’re pretty sure they came back for her last night because she was the only one they managed to hit with the nanites. Today, they were here for me by the sounds of it. But, yes, we’re going to stop them. Together, we are more powerful than the Psycho Rangers can even imagine.”

“You sound so sure,” Alex said, quiet surprise in her voice. “They had a hold of her heart and you sound so certain you’re going to win.”

“Zack wasn’t exaggerating when he said it’s been twenty years. Maggie herself has seen ten years of teams rise up to the challenge and defeat every threat to the planet. We’ve all had that one challenge that tests everything we know. Maybe it’s arrogance, but Earth continues on because we are the best at what we do.”

“It’s not arrogance,” Lucy said. “I’ve seen arrogance. Your words are a comfort.”

He shrugged. “I mean, I hope I can still pull this leader thing off after all this time.”

Alex huffed, and Lucy scoffed. Jason chuckled and made sure they really were okay a few moments before Maggie, and the Dino Charge Rangers arrived.

“Kara had to get to her day job,” Maggie said. “And why does it look like there’s been bonding without me?”

“You can’t prove a thing,” Lucy said, standing and looping her arm through Maggie’s. “And you were busy reliving your glory days, so-”

“Reliving? Glory days? Jason, help me out, please?”

“I don’t know, Maggie, I was the one in here talking to them while you were off at the kids’ table.”

The reaction from the Dino Charge team was instantaneous. “Kids’ table?!”

Jason chuckled, and Alex laughed at the outraged look on Maggie’s face. Kendall got them to calm down by turning the volume back up on the communication screen.

“Finally,” Tommy said, putting his arms down. “What’s going on over there, anyway?”

“Just delusions of grandeur and old age,” Maggie said, seeming at ease with running her mouth to her mentor.

“Not surprised, considering it’s Jason,” Tommy said.

“I know where you sleep,” Jason muttered.

“Yeah, right next to the lightest sleeping ninja on three planets.”

“Boys!” Trini cut in again. “Alex, your idea is amazing, and we should be able to get it working.”

Alex was surprised. “I mean, it’s crazy, but is it really possible?”

“I’ve heard a few stories of your own antics, Agent Danvers,” Wes said. “You’d be one of us crazy Reds if -”

“She’s clearly the brains of the operation,” Ethan cut in. “We Blues claim her first.”

“I think not,” Kira said. “Wes has heard stories, and everyone has seen her brain pretty much solve our problems, but -I’m- the one who’s heard the most as Maggie’s best friend. Alex is Yellow; Brains, brawn, and heart.”

Lucy huffed. “You’re apparently the perfect girlfriend,” she motioned to Maggie, “and now Alex is being fought over by three colors. Where does that leave me?”

Eric chuckled, and Lucy could feel her blood pressure rise. “I’ve heard a few stories about you, too, Co-Director. You’re among the ranks of asshole sixth Rangers.”

“And we always come through for our teams when every other hope is lost,” Tyzonn said.

Lucy decided that she could definitely live with that definition.

Maggie looked over at her, thought about it, and nodded. “I mean, I had an asshole fifth Ranger, but, yeah, it-”

“Hey!” A dark-haired man popped onto the screen behind Tommy.

“Oh, hey, Trent,” Maggie said, grin wide. “I hope you weren’t expecting me to take that back?”

“Not at all. Just have the guts to say it to my face.”

“Rangers.” Udonna’s voice seemed to echo through the room, bringing them all to attention. “Back to the topic at hand, if you please.”

There were a few murmurs of, “Sorry, Udonna,” as everyone refocused.

“What did you come up with?” Maggie asked Alex.

“Watching you combine your blaster with the morpher, and knowing all of you do the same with your own arsenal and Zords gave me the idea of a morpher that could channel all your powers into the active team at once.”

“We can pull this off?” Kendall asked the screen in general.

“It will take some leaps in quantum science,” Doctor Hartford said, “but where there’s a will, there’s a Ranger morpher.”

Lucy watched as everyone set to work with determined, pleased looks. She didn’t think Jason was arrogant when he said they were the best at what they did. But watching them move without hesitation, work together without questioning authority or knowledge, made her start to actually believe this would all end in their favor.

~*~

~*~

Maggie took a deep breath as she stepped out onto the balcony. She had absorbed as much knowledge as she could. Like Jason, who was leaning on the railing and looking out over the city, there was only so much she could handle before her brain started to feel a little stretched thin. He had checked out of the discussion and building of the group morpher once the scientists had gotten into some heavy quantum mechanics. Even Alex had looked out of her league, but she was determined to see it through.

“I know Tommy is closer to National City.” She leaned on the rail next to him. “Not that I'm ungrateful, but why are you here, Jason?”

He shrugged. “You and your team still refer to him as Doctor O. He didn't want to disrupt the hierarchy you've got here.”

Maggie raised an eyebrow. “And your being here doesn't do that?”

“He's always been the one to take charge. I've been content to let him. Everyone here knows what they're doing, but he would have the urge to be on top of everything.”

Maggie figured she could accept the answer for what it was: a respectful distance being kept to avoid clashes of authority. “Alex would probably take a can opener to his brain, too.”

Jason chuckled. “Yeah, that's another reason he wants to stay away from here. None of the morpher builders want to be within reach of your girl.”

“She's not that bad.”

“She's the one who, just today, came up with a power synchronization morpher. After barely two days of studying the Grid. Two. Days.”

“To be fair, she has some personal investment in the Psychos being destroyed. Again.”

He sighed. “Yeah. Why can't anyone bring back the fun monsters? Eye-guy wouldn't have been nearly as much trouble.”

“Fun monsters?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Didn't you guys have to deal with a pachinko machine?”

“Rocky was the Red for that,” Jason was quick to correct her. “And, hey, no one's had the same kind of fun as Face Stealer.”

“Why does that sound more horrifying than fun?” Lucy asked as she stepped onto the balcony.

Maggie put an arm around Lucy as she joined them against the railing. “Our ideas of fun and horror are skewed. Fun is being baked into a giant pizza.”

Jason nodded. “Horror is losing our powers and having no obvious way of stopping the takeover or annihilation of the planet.”

“Wait a minute.” Lucy looked over at Jason. “You said you guys were the best at what you do.”

“We are.” He shrugged. “That doesn’t mean we haven’t come close to losing.”

Maggie felt Lucy’s eyes on her and squeezed her hip. “I could tell you one or two things, later.”

Lucy laced her fingers with Maggie’s and held tight. They both knew what it was like to have the world on their shoulders. “You were in high school.”

“Yes. And being a Power Ranger was probably the shove I needed. Did Tyler tell you guys how we found the Dino Gems? Me, Kira, and Ethan had detention. We went snooping around Tommy’s lab because he was late. I was an angry, selfish kid who was tired of waiting until I could escape and be open about my sexuality. I had no real friends, even on my soccer team. My aunt tried, but she was busy working twelve hours to keep a roof over our heads. Being a Power Ranger…”

Lucy grinned. “Scared you straight?”

“You’re getting predictable in your old age,” Maggie drawled. “I knew you were going to say that.” She shrugged. “I shaped up. Being a Power Ranger put me in contact with Eric and set me back on the path of law enforcement.”

“And now you’re here with us,” Lucy said. “It’s not exactly the same, but you’re never too far behind Kara and Alex when things start to get rough.”

Jason chuckled. “It’s a bad habit of ours. Once a Ranger...”

Maggie nodded. “Always a Ranger.”

“....You guys are cheesier than Kara.”

~*~

Alex had to leave the actual building of the morpher to the experts. Each team was re-grouping in their home base, or the city they protected if their base was destroyed. Maggie was quick to invite her girlfriends with her to escape the DEO building for a few hours. Jason decided to follow them, needing to get an idea as to what he and the Zeo Rangers would be doing with their morphers.

Teleporting was an experience Alex wasn't sure she liked or not. It wasn't as startling as flying with Kara, but there was still a sensation of moving that was disorienting. She caught her feet a little quicker than Lucy, whose grip tightened on her arm.

The cave was a bit more well lit than the DEO’s desert base, but not nearly as large. It was still very obviously a cave, however. Alex nudged Lucy while Maggie got dragged into a few bear hugs. “And you thought me being in Narnia was bad.”

“The bat-cave you hid in is still bigger,” Lucy pointed out with a smirk.

Alex rolled her eyes and refocused on Maggie as she introduced her old team. Kira was pressed against one side of Maggie, and Ethan had an arm around her from the other side. Trent was on Kira's other side, and his arm reached over to rest his hand on Maggie’s shoulder. Hayley and Elsa were there as well, saying Anton was busy keeping things running above ground, so no one noticed their absence. Jason and Tommy were jabbing at each other off to the side, grinning and teasing each other about slow reaction times.

“And that’s Taylor,” Maggie said, motioning behind Alex and Lucy. “Which is really confusing. I thought all of you were on the Animarium?”

“We are, but I’m here to see the look on Lane’s face.”

Lucy’s jaw was indeed on the ground. “I spent two years thinking you were dead! It makes sense now why you never talked about it, but, holy shit.”

Taylor shrugged. “Sorry about that.”

“I’m confused,” Alex admitted.

“She was in the Air Force when I first joined the Army. One day she just pulled an Amelia Earhart and disa-fucking-peared,” Lucy said. “No mayday, no crash, just gone. I’m kinda surprised they let you back in.”

Taylor smirked. “No one outside my direct chain of command knows this, but it was Mariner Bay that vouched for me.”

Understanding dawned on Lucy’s face. “And no one would question the one military base known for dealing with Power Rangers.”

“Mariner Bay really is the military’s worst kept secret,” Taylor said.

“Taylor is one of the Silver Guardians above me in the chain of command,” Maggie said. “How do you two know each other?”

Lucy made a sour face. “Dad assigned me a keeper when I was first in the field. It was a mutual hatred.”

“I didn’t brown nose to the General,” Taylor said, “but I also didn’t run my mouth at anyone, so he thought my neutral attitude was perfect. I did NOT like being a babysitter for a general’s daughter.”

“I didn’t make it easy since I thought she was one of dad’s lackeys. But then we learned neither of us liked him.” Lucy smirked. “We started to find ways around every rule to give him grief without risking reprimand.”

“I was eventually re-assigned, and I’m pretty sure my actual CO stepped in to make sure it wasn’t a shit assignment.” Taylor shrugged. “A few months later, I crash-landed on the Animarium.”

“We tried to keep in touch,” Lucy said, “but changes in career and time zones made it hard. After a while…”

“It happens,” Taylor said. “I lost touch with a lot of people in the military after being a Power Ranger. It didn’t really affect me at the time because I gained all these weirdos as friends. But I wouldn’t mind keeping in touch again, Lane.”

Lucy smiled. “Definitely.”

Alex was happy Lucy had someone in her past who she could reconnect with. There were so many things about Lucy’s time in the military she complained about. To know there had been someone, at least for a little while, that made it bearable was a relief.

Taylor left to join her team, and Tommy and Jason brought over the Dino Thunder morphers. Maggie took hold of hers first, followed by Kira, Ethan, and Trent. Tommy had his in hand already and led the way to the main table in the lab. Their morphers were never destroyed, only their powers depleted. It was just a matter of reconstructing the morphers into something that would channel latent Grid energy into the active Dino Charge Rangers. Alex was at Maggie’s side, watching as she copied Tommy through the delicate task of rewiring her morpher. In front of each morpher was their respective Dino Gems. The stones were dull and smoothed down from years of being handled.

Tyler arrived and dismantled his morpher under Tommy’s watch. The man-made morphers had to be wired in manually to the Ranger they would be powering. The more magical powers, like Wild Force and Mystic Force, were being augmented by those particular mentors. There was a part of Alex that wanted to see how that was being accomplished. Her brain, however, was starting to feel too full. She spent the last two days learning a new kind of science, and there was only so much she could handle before the concepts stopped making sense.

“Okay, guys,” Tommy said, “this is where it gets tricky.”

Ethan snorted. “He says after we’ve wired in our morphers to Tyler’s.”

“That’s just basic circuitry.” Tommy’s grin was wry. “As intuitive as the Morphin’ Grid is, sometimes it needs a push in the right direction. We need to be sure the Dino Gems will funnel into Tyler and not us. So, while everything is connected, we need to essentially jump-start the morphers.”

“Chances of being blown up?” Kira asked.

“If things go only marginally wrong, slim.” He sounded far more confident than anyone else in the room felt.

“And if things go horribly wrong?” Trent asked.

“We’ve all had good lives, right?” He still sounded as confident as before, but it was laced with real sympathy.

Alex was struck again by just how dangerous it was to be a Power Ranger. The group around the table looked at each other in quiet satisfaction; Maggie locked eyes with Alex before glancing across the room at where Lucy was discussing things with Hayley and Elsa. It wasn’t just a fight against evil that could end their lives; there were moments like this when the risk came in, and becoming more powerful could mean saving lives or ending theirs.

Maggie shrugged. “I mean, I never made it to professional soccer-”

Kira was quick to jab Maggie in the side. “You totally gave up that dream after, like, two days of being a Power Ranger.”

“Hey, it was legitimate goal back then. Despite someone’s comments about bad knees and failure.”

Ethan held up his hands. “I only said half the things I did because you were kind of a jerk about my computer savvy.”

“I was,” Maggie admitted. “Which I have apologized for every time I lock myself out of Pokemon Go.”

“I honestly don’t understand why you don’t just stay logged in.” Ethan shook his head. “If anyone steals your phone, they aren’t going to mess with your games, even if you are Valor trash.”

“I know that, Mystic moron.” Maggie glared across the room and raised her voice. “I have an asshole for a girlfriend that wastes all my stardust on first evolutions because she’s on the wrong team.”

“Everyone trusts in their instincts!” Lucy called back over her shoulder. Kira agreed with a whoop.

Alex tried to bite back her smile when she heard Maggie sigh. “You know, she’s not wrong.”

“Non-players don’t get a vote,” Maggie grumbled. She looked at Tommy. “So. Jump-starting the morphers?”

He nodded. “You’ll need to touch both the morpher and Dino Gem at the same time and focus.”

“Should be easy.” Trent rubbed his hands together. “Let’s do this.”

Alex stepped back when Jason did, and she saw Lucy turn and focus on the Rangers. They touched their Gems and morphers, closed their eyes, and took a deep breath at the same time. Alex felt something raise the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck. The five gems on the table glowed. Tyler and Jason were keeping an eye on their friends and the devices, poised to act if they noticed something wrong. Rings of light flowed down the wires from the Dino Thunder morphers to the Dino Charge morpher. The rainbow of energy spun slowly around the blaster in a tight ball.

“That should do it,” Jason said, calm and confident and nowhere near worried.

The light show on the table dimmed. Alex shivered as the extraneous energy dissipated. She didn’t reach out for Maggie until she turned her head, looking for her. Lucy came over as well, awe and concern etched on her face. “You okay?”

Maggie nodded. “Not nearly as strong as morphing, but that was a rush.”

“I feel like I can run to the high school and back,” Ethan said, shaking out his limbs.

Kira smirked. “Race ya.”

“You’re so on,” Trent said.

Alex and Lucy stepped back to let Maggie join her teammates in racing out of the cave. Alex and Jason stepped in to dismantle the connections between morphers with Tommy, Tyler, and Hayley. Jason and Tommy started to talk about heading over to Angel Grove to deal with the Zeo morphers.

Elsa leaned on the table next to Alex. “How are you holding up?”

“Better than I thought I would,” Alex said. She looked over at Lucy, then back at Elsa. “I think it’s easier knowing there are so many Rangers. She’s not facing this alone.”

“We were talking about Maggie’s fight being at the desert base,” Lucy said, catching the attention of everyone in the room. “She’s one of you, definitely. But she’s one of us, too. There are a dozen agents who will volunteer to be the second line of defense.”

“We do need to keep this away from the cities,” Hayley pointed out. “Their base in the middle of nowhere would be our best bet.”

Jason nodded. “The Zeo and Overdrive Rangers are gathering where Command Center used to be. Far from people, and a good place for us to make a stand.”

The look traded between Jason and Tommy made Alex wonder what had been lost and found were something “used to be.” She didn’t think it was nostalgia that was calling Jason to the place. By the looks of it, if Tommy didn’t have the Dino Thunder team, he would be joining Jason.

Lucy’s phone rang, ending the solemn moment. Alex rolled her eyes when she heard the song. “I’ve got the power? Really?”

“Don’t be jealous just because you haven’t found a good ringtone for our girl.” She answered the call and put it on speaker. “Did you get lost on the way to school?”

“We kinda ran out of energy.” Maggie was breathing hard but didn’t sound distressed. “We made it halfway back. Can someone come pick us up?”

Elsa and Hayley rolled their eyes. “We’re on the way,” Elsa said as they grab their keys off a table. “Honestly, it’s been over ten years, and we’re still dealing with the fall out of their antics?”

“You have some antics to catch up on,” Hayley said as they headed upstairs. “You need to make up for trying to kill them.”

“Fair enough.”

Maggie’s voice reminded them the phone was still open. “You seriously aren’t letting our old high school principal pick us up like a bunch of truants, are you?”

“Make stupid choices, win stupid prizes,” Lucy taunted.

There was a distorted shout and Maggie instantly agreed. “Hey, the Raptor Cycles weren’t destroyed, right?”

Tommy snorted. “I’m not letting any of you ride those without protection of the power or a regular helmet.”

The phone was apparently passed around because Trent’s voice came in loud and clear. “If I ever mentor my own team, I’m letting them do whatever they want.”

“As long as you believe that,” Jason said, shaking his head in amusement. “We’ll see what happens when you’re suddenly responsible for the lives of your own Rangers.”

Kira’s laughter got louder as she stole the phone. “He can barely be responsible for a litter of puppies. There’s no way any of us would trust him with a team.”

“Well, what do we have here!” The voice of a Psycho Ranger sent Tyler into motion. He was morphed and teleporting before Maggie’s phone clattered to the concrete.

Tommy went over to one of the computers and brought up a program that accessed the traffic light cameras. The angle wasn’t perfect, and the setting sun cast long shadows, but they saw only one Psycho Ranger. Alex glanced back at the Dino Gems and morphers, but Jason caught her eye and shook his head.

“The morphers wouldn’t be able to sustain all of them fully morphed now that we’ve rewired them.” He crossed his arms, obviously wanting to be out there fighting. “It would probably weaken Tyler as well.”

The sound of fighting echoed over Lucy’s phone. Maggie hadn’t let her Silver Guardian blaster leave her hip, and she was able to provide cover fire. The sound of a car horn blared over the phone before Elsa’s car was seen barreling into frame. Tyler got out of the way just in time for Elsa to ram the Psycho Ranger at speed. The Psycho went flying through the air, landing in a sprawl on the asphalt. Tyler ran over, weapon at the ready, but the robot teleported away.

They saw Maggie pick up her phone moments before her voice filtered through Lucy’s speaker. “So, in case there was any doubt, Elsa is still terrifying.”

“Aw, you really do like us,” Ethan said as he opened the car door.

“As I said before,” Elsa said while Hayley pulled up, “the four of you are a menace to society.”

~*~

Laying in the dark on their makeshift bed, Lucy tightened her arms around Maggie. “Are you worried about tomorrow?”

Maggie squeezed Lucy’s arm. “Not even a little.”

“But the reason all of you are working together is due to how dangerous they are.” Alex shifted closer. “You’ve all said they’ve killed one of you.”

“Together, we are more powerful than the Psycho Rangers ever expected. The first time, they were defeated by a single team. The second time there were two teams only because the active one asked those with experience to help them. The Psychos attacked those of us without powers because I honestly don’t think they are powerful enough to go after an active Ranger.”

“But there’s still a chance everything could go wrong.” Lucy sighed. “I know it’s really no different than what we do here at the DEO. The scale of this just makes it seem so much worse.”

Maggie kissed Lucy’s temple. “I know this looks like we’re prepping for the end of the world. I promise this isn’t as bad as it seems. We’re only going all out in hopes of wiping every bit of the Psycho Rangers from existence and the Grid.”

They were quiet for a minute before Alex asked, “How often has the world been close to ending?”

Maggie sighed. “You know how Ranger teams vanish as suddenly as they appear? Usually, it’s because we’ve expanded all our energy to destroy our enemy at the peak of their own power.”

Once the shock passed, Lucy said, “So about once a year. That’s...about as good a track record as Kara, actually.”

“I’d say it’s only been National City under threat,” Alex said, “but we all know Non and Rhea would’ve gone for the whole planet once they had a foothold here.”

They all cuddled closer, preparing to drift off when Maggie’s phone rang the Silver Guardian tone. She reached over Alex to snag it off the side table. “Sawyer.”

“We’ve got a thumbs up from the future.” Eric’s voice was calm and so very relieved. “That’s really all we’ve gotten, but they were probably edging the line when they sent us that.”

“That’s a relief.” Maggie felt tension ease from her shoulders. “Take care, and get some sleep.”

“Be careful, yourself.” He hung up, and Maggie put her phone back on the table.

“What was that about?” Lucy asked.

“Wes and Eric’s teammates are from the future. It’s a long story I can tell you later. The Time Force team isn’t allowed to contact the past to preserve the timeline. But they apparently sent a thumbs up.”

“You said last night someone has come back in time to stop you,” Alex said. “And was it really only last night?”

“Welcome to being involved with the Power Rangers,” Maggie drawled. “Everything happens all at once or not at all. And it wasn’t me, specifically, but we’ve gotten warnings.”

“My question is, is this thumbs up saying your plan is solid, or that you’re all going to live?” Lucy asked. “And, yes, there is a difference.”

“I’m going to be optimistic and say both,” Maggie said. “Thinking it could go any other way than our way pretty much goes against everything that makes us Power Rangers.”

“No, seriously,” Lucy said as she snuggled down. “Cheesier than Kara.”

“Maybe, but you still love me.”

“Well, yeah. How could we not?”

~*~

Alex watched Maggie dig out a redshirt from the bottom of the dresser. “I guess being a redshirt is different when you're a Power Ranger, huh?”

Maggie snorted. “I’m a leader of an elite galactic fighting force, not a nameless member of a landing party.”

“Nerds,” Lucy muttered as she shuffled from the bathroom.

“Takes one to know one,” Alex teased back.

Lucy grumbled and yanked a can of Starbucks out of the mini fridge. She chugged half of it before passing it to Alex. The taste of caffeine made Lucy more human even before it really hit her system. She wrapped her arms around Maggie and said, “Promise us you’ll stay safe?”

Maggie returned the embrace and felt Alex close in from behind. “As safe as I can be.”

“No self-sacrificing shit,” Alex said against her back. “It only works the once.”

“Got it.” They held each other for another moment, breathing each other in. When they let go, they could see something in Maggie's eyes they had only really seen in Kara. It was the strength and determination and sheer self-confidence that this fight was going to go her way.

They headed up to the command center to be teleported out to the desert base. Lucy had warned her people the night before of what would be going down. Vasquez was aware of their arrival time and would keep an area in the desert command hub open for them. When they got to where J’onn, Kara, and Winn were waiting, they were surprised to see two dozen agents suited up and ready to go.

“What's this?” Lucy asked.

“These agents are volunteering as back-up,” J’onn said, the pride obvious in his voice. “Some of them have worked with Detective Sawyer, and some are from cities protected by Power Rangers.”

Maggie looked at the gathering and smiled. “Thank you.”

One of the older men nodded at her and said, “You and yours do what we can't repay. If we can have your back at least once, we’ll take it and do our best.”

Alex squeezed Maggie's shoulder, proud Maggie had earned the loyalty of other DEO agents. Maggie texted the others to make sure everyone else was ready and in motion. Once they contacted Keeper, they were all teleported over to the desert base.

Another ten agents were ready to join the cause. Only one had worked with Maggie; the others were residents of protected cities who wanted to return the favor. The rest of Maggie's team, Lauren and the Samurai Rangers, and Tyler and Ivan teleported in. Jason, Mentor Ji, Hayley, and Elsa were there as well, armed with weapons that could harm the Psychos. The Rangers were in awe of the agents who were willing to stand with them. They had seen citizens take up arms against their enemies before, but to have people volunteer when the Rangers had a plan of action was new.

Lucy kept her voice low as she addressed Jason away from the others. “I thought you had a team of your own.”

He shook his head, a small, sad smile on his face. “My powers, along with my teams’, were completely destroyed by Rita and Zedd. If we had the time, maybe we could’ve reforged them.” He tapped the Silver Guardian blaster at his hip. “The five of us are going to be support for the others.”

Lucy nodded, understanding how much he would want to be at the fight even if he didn’t have powers. She had been beside herself with worry and anger when she was trapped at the desert base during the Daxamite invasion.

The Ranger teams were surprised when Tommy and Jason looked to Maggie when everyone had gathered close.

Maggie didn't hesitate to take charge. “Once we’re on the surface, we won't have a lot of time before the Psychos realize we're baiting them. There are four other groups along the coast, and we're all going to emerge at the same time. If we're lucky, we’ll each face only one Psycho Ranger. There is a risk of the entire team picking one group and attacking all at once. If that happens, we’re teleporting to them.” She looked at the DEO agents. “Are you willing to come with us?”

They didn't even need to consult each other before they agreed.

“Tyler and Ivan are going to be the main combatants. Our two teams are going to be channeling our old powers into them to make them strong enough to wipe the Psycho Rangers from existence. Chances are, we won’t be able to move while we focus our powers.” She looked at the DEO agents. “The Rangers are bulletproof, we aren’t. I can’t promise your bullets will do anything except annoy them and make you targets. Which is why we’re going to loan you these.”

Two crates were teleported into the center of the group, their lids bearing a lightning bolt.

One of the agents groaned. “Oh, hell, Sawyer, are we gonna have to rely on Silver Guardian gear?”

“We’re never gonna live this down,” another moaned.

Maggie smirked at their antics, though if her fellow Rangers were confused by the agents’ teasing they didn't show it. “Only the two other Rangers in the Silver Guardians know about this, so your fragile reputation is safe.”

Lauren and Jason opened the crates and started to pass out the blasters. The agents handed off their main guns to others who had stepped up to help with the weapon exchange. Maggie explained the basics of the blasters so the agents wouldn’t expect recoil or overheat. The blasters were specially calibrated for the Psycho Rangers alone to prevent “friendly fire.”

Once the DEO agents knew where they would be positioned in relation to the Rangers, Maggie signaled Keeper that they were ready to go. Silver Guardians were being teleported to the other groups as back-up as well; those other four teams were wearing masks to hide their identities. After the brawl in the DEO command center, Maggie and Kendall decided there was no point in trying to protect their identities. It was a show of trust and respect due to Rangers never being known by any large number of people before. The DEO worked in even more anonymity than the Rangers, given the world didn’t know they existed.

They were teleported to the surface with a few seconds warning. The sun hadn’t quite crested the mountains. Tyler and Ivan stood front and center. Maggie and her team framed up behind Tyler. Jayden and Lauren held their morpher together, lining the Samurai team behind Ivan. Lucy, Alex, Kara, and Jason were poised between the two teams. The DEO agents ranged out to either side at both the front and back of the groups.

“Ready?” Tyler asked, his voice carrying across the sand.

“Ready!” As one, they all brought their morphers out. The air grew sharp with the smell of ozone.

Though powerless, Jason’s voice rang out. “It’s morphin’ time!”

“Dino Charger! Ready!” Ivan and Tyler loaded their morphers. “Energize!” They shot their blasters into the sky. “Unleash the power!”

“Samuraizer! Go, go, Samurai!” The team wrote their symbols of power, Jayden and Lauren working together.

“Dino Thunder! Power up!” Maggie, Ethan, and Kira triggered their morphers while Tommy keyed in his. “White Ranger Dino Power!” Trent morphed at the same time as the others without faltering in his words.

In any other circumstance, Lucy would’ve probably found the call to power a bit ridiculous. Watching the resulting light show, hearing the wind howl, and feeling the ground tremble just a little made her watch in awe as Tyler and Ivan were encased in the light of their respective red and gold colors. The two teams started to glow, subtle at first, then to the point of being more light than flesh. Lucy thought it should be blinding. Instead, she felt the unyielding confidence Maggie spoke of settle somewhere deep in her chest.

“Do you honestly think you mere mortal Rangers have the power to defeat us?!” Yellow Psycho demanded as she appeared a few meters in front of them. “We Psycho Rangers can never be completely destroyed! Yet, you humans are so easy to kill!”

“We’re going to render all of you extinct,” Tyler said, aiming his blaster. “No one will be able to resurrect you ever again.”

“We’ll see about that!” Yellow Psycho charged, and the DEO agents opened fire. Kara sped for the robot, beating the two morphed Rangers to the punch by a few seconds.

A rainbow of light spiraled from the two teams and into their supported Ranger. None of the former Rangers moved, and their facial expressions were lost in the columns of light that surrounded them. Tyler and Ivan landed hit after hit, their armor growing sharper, glinting at the tips. Sparks flew as two Power Rangers, and a Super tossed the Psycho around the desert without pause. DEO agents took pot shots where they were able, hindering her even more.

Alex watched the Power Rangers relentlessly attack the Psycho Ranger and almost couldn’t imagine Maggie being as ruthless. From what Alex had experienced in the last few days, the Power Rangers she had met and dealt with were kind and fun loving. Sure, they took their responsibility seriously. But Tyler and Ivan gave the Psycho no time to concede defeat. There had been no offer to walk away and never return, or even a chance to face judgment for her crimes. Even the worst of Fort Rozz was given the opportunity of a peaceful surrender. The enemies of the Power Rangers were only ever to going meet one end: total annihilation.

Glancing at the beam of red light that represented one of the women she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, Alex wondered just what Maggie’s limits really were. For all she was willing to negotiate a peaceful compromise, it was apparent now Maggie would not hold back a death blow if necessary. For some reason, the thought didn’t frighten her.

The whoosh of air that announced Kara’s return to her side made Alex refocus on the fight. The Psycho remained on her feet, but only just. The black and yellow was cracked, wires and circuit boards were exposed. Tyler and Ivan, still being fed power through their tethers of light, aimed their blasters and fired point blank.

The resulting explosion made them close their eyes against the light and fury of dust and wind.

When Lucy and Alex risked looking around, they saw all the Rangers were in their uniforms. The DEO agents were a hint awed to be in the presence of those who had saved the world time and again. Tyler and Ivan walked back to the group, leaving only a charred mark on the ground behind them. In a burst of light expanding from their chests, the Rangers’ uniforms faded away. Left behind were the pleased and relieved faces of those who just risked their lives to destroy an old enemy once and for all.

There was a moment of silence as reality settled in. The Power Rangers had done it. They had defeated their worst enemy. Again.

Tyler raised his communicator to his mouth as he and Ivan reached the group. “Keeper, how are the others?”

“Everyone has been successful,” Keepers voice came through loud and clear, relieved and proud. “The Psycho Rangers no longer register in the Morphing Grid.”

That’s when the celebrating started.

All at once, the Rangers started talking and hanging off each other, shaking hands with the DEO agents and gushing with Kara about her aerial stunts. Someone’s stomach must have rumbled because Kara raced off and returned a few minutes later with pizza from New York.

“I don’t care what Director Lane says about you, Supergirl,” said one of the longtime DEO agents as he took a slice of hot pizza. “You are always welcome here.”

Kara rolled her eyes as Lucy glared from her spot next to Maggie. “Director Lane likes to talk big to make up for her other shortcomings.”

“Keep talking,” Lucy growled, “and I will pick James as my partner the next Game Night.”

Kara didn’t back down, still high on adrenaline. “Then I’ll just pick Alex for my team, and we’ll be unstoppable.”

Alex lifted Lucy up a few inches and faced her in the other direction while Maggie nudged Kara around to aim her attention on the Rangers. The duo dropped the fight in favor of friendlier conversation. Alex and Maggie traded looks and shook their heads before grabbing slices of pizza for themselves.

It wasn’t long before the two Dino Charge Rangers teleported back to Amber Beach to celebrate with their teammates. The Samurai Rangers, minus Lauren, were also ready to head back to their lives. Maggie hugged her former classmates before they also returned to their homes. The DEO agents trooped inside as well, leaving the leaders of the various groups.

Lucy noted the sun had just cleared the mountains as the four Red Rangers considered each other with proud and tired smiles.

“You did good, Mags,” Jason said, squeezing her shoulder. “I don’t think any of us have ever inspired loyalty from an outside group.”

She shrugged and fought back a blush. “Some of them were from cities we’ve protected, they just wanted to return the favor.”

Tommy shook his head. “Maybe that’s what they said, but it’s you they know and decided to follow.”

Lucy held her tongue, deciding she could tease Maggie about her reaction to praise and compliments in private.

“What about you, kid?” Jason asked, nudging Lauren’s shoulder gently. “Thinking about staying in one place for a bit yet?”

Lauren nodded a little. “Wes and Eric offered me a job. I’m thinking about it.” She ducked her head when they were nothing but supportive of the idea.

Jason and Tommy tugged each other into a rough hug, saying nothing. There was no need for words between them anymore. They already knew and understood.

“Take care of each other,” Tommy said. He looked at Kara, Lucy, and Alex. “All of you.”

“Be careful out there,” Maggie replied as she hugged him as well. He teleported away, and Jason pulled both Lauren and Maggie into a hug before vanishing back to Angel Grove.

Lucy looped an arm through one of Maggie’s. “Sad that big brother left?”

“What are you talking about?” Maggie asked, confusion evident.

“Your entire attitude around Jason. It took me a day to figure out. It’s not hero worship, and definitely not a crush. You look at him the same way Kara looks at Alex when she’s kicking ass and taking names.”

Kara didn’t even deny that she had a certain look when it came to her sister.

Now Maggie's blush was visible. “Still have no idea what you're talking about.”

Lucy scoffed. “You were giddy every time he picked on Eric and Tommy, you almost preened whenever he said you did a good job.”

Lauren rescued Maggie as best as she could. “Jason is Earth's first Red Ranger. He didn't have the guidance we can get from other team leaders, and he was just a kid himself. We can't measure up, but knowing he approves…” She shrugged.

“I guess,” Lucy said, exaggerating a sigh. “C’mon, let’s make sure there’s no evidence the Silver Guardians were ever here.”

They trooped back inside and found the crates already packed and ready to go. The agents from the city headquarters were milling around while their desert counterparts had started on their after action reports. Maggie signaled Keeper, and they were all teleported back to the command hub in National City.

“I take it you were successful?” J’onn asked as the agents headed for medical for post-mission checks.

The five women standing in front of him nodded, and Maggie said, “The Psycho Rangers have been wiped from the Morphing Grid forever.”

“That’s good to hear.” He frowned. “Did you ever discover who was in charge of them?”

Maggie blinked, having completely forgotten someone was usually in control of the Psychos. She pulled out her phone and put her call to the Dino Charge Rangers on speaker. “Hey, guys, did anyone figure out where the Psychos came from?”

“They never announced their master,” Keeper said. “A scan of their energy matches no known threat in this galaxy.”

“Which isn’t exactly great news,” Kendal admitted. “If there’s someone we don’t know about using the best of past threats, this may not be the only time this legacy of power is used to defeat an enemy.”

Maggie looked at those around her. “Well, we’re ready for them.”

~*~

~*~

Maggie opened the door to the apartment and was greeted by the sight of her girlfriends lounging on the couch with ice cream. Nothing was playing on the t.v., and they both looked at her with bright smiles. “It’s good to be home.”

Alex nodded. “We left your bowl in the freezer.”

Maggie quickly fetched her bowl of ice cream, holding it with a dish towel, and joined the other two on the couch. “So, now that everything’s said and done…”

“There hasn’t been any panic that’s set in,” Lucy said. “We haven’t realized, “oh, wait, we don’t want to deal with this.” We’re here, with you, no matter what.”

“And you call me cheesy,” Maggie teased, leaning in for a kiss.

Lucy rolled her eyes but kissed her anyway. “It’s not always a good kind of rubbing off when it comes to either of you.” She didn’t even flinch when two pillows hit her knees.

“We have questions, still,” Alex said. “We don’t expect answers for all of them, and some are just random things we’ve always wanted to know. But it has nothing to do with not trusting you. We just want to know about this aspect of your life.”

Maggie smiled and nodded. “I’ll answer what I can.”

Lucy picked her phone off the table. “First one, then. What’s with all the chat rooms? I’ve got an invite from Kira for Team Instinct, another from Trent for a room called “Spare Tires,” and a third from Hayley called “Alpha 5.”

Alex motioned to her phone. “Kira and Ethan pulled me into a conversation about which color I should be. They said I can only join one chat because there aren’t enough people for a multicolor room?”

Maggie laughed, shaking her head. “There are so many of us, we try to keep topics separated so we can keep up with the conversations as best we can. Most of us play Pokemon Go, the Spare Tire room is where the sixth Rangers congregate to bitch about their core teams, and Alpha 5 is a tribute to the robotic assistant that helped the Angel Grove team.” She took a quick bite of her ice cream. “There’s a rule about not entering another color’s chat room, and the only Rangers who have been different colors are Jason, Tommy, T.J., and Carlos. We all believe they have their own chat room despite the fact that the only non-Red of them is Carlos.”

Lucy was quick to accept the invites to all three chat rooms but didn’t do more than say she would talk later.

Alex checked her messages and rolled her eyes. “And now they want me to pick a Pokemon team. I don’t play that game.”

Maggie and Lucy grinned at each each other and at the same time said, “Come play with us.”

“We have Instinct and Valor already.” Maggie managed to refrain from starting up the game. “You should definitely be Mystic.”

“But I'm getting all kinds of texts from pretty much every Yellow Ranger playing this game.” Alex held up her phone, which was still lighting up with notifications.

Maggie felt something in her chest warm at the thought of her friends being so quick to accept Alex and Lucy. “You could always flip a coin.”

“That is not how you make an important life decision,” Lucy said, outraged.

Smirking at Lucy, Alex went over to the bowl by the door that held their spare keys and loose change. “Heads for instinct, tails for mystic.”

“Rude!”

Alex laughed and flipped the coin.

~*~

Emperor Marvo watched the Power Rangers on Earth defeat the revived Psycho Rangers with almost too much ease. He switched off the video at the sight of them celebrating. He may have lost the battle, but he had gained far more insight into Earth’s Rangers than any other before him. He would send Admiral Malkor with this new knowledge to start the first incursion with the Milky Way. Earth would be a stepping stone from which they would launch the Armada’s invasion of the galaxy. Patience and perseverance had won Marvo four galaxies already; the Milky Way would fall just as easily.