Deep in the prison ship, the cloaked figure reappeared, walking toward Hell's Gate and keying open the doors. There was a metallic click as he reached for an ice block and pulled out the cryo-frozen prisoner.

A sound alerted him to possible intrusion. With red eyes glowing, the intruder hurried out of the chamber, locking behind him the doors to Hell's Gate, then racing down the corridor toward the re-animation sector. If Ransik and his band discovered the presence of this mysterious being, it was sure that they would figure out who was truly behind all the problems.

Status report.

"I have acquired our next soldier," the being stated to the disembodied voice. "Proceeding to de-cryonization for use, but stealth may become compromised."

Understood. Proceed with your mission.

It wasn't long before the cloaked form reached the section of the prison he searched for. As soon as he arrived, he placed the prisoner in the re-animator, then stepped back and manipulated the controls to begin the process of bringing the inmate back to life. "TimeFire, both of them, must be eliminated," he whispered while the chamber opened to reveal the alien killing machine he had woken up. "If Matthew Corbett will not leave and return to his fate, then he must be eliminated."

Deep in the forests, Matt sighed while he looked up at the slumbering V-Rex. It had been over a week since the incident with the voice mimic, and since then, Eric had gone right back to his old ways, forcing Matt to take back the V-Fire at least twice. Strangely enough, though, every time Matt had taken it back, it some how managed to get back into Eric's hands, almost like the device wanted to be used by the man.

"He's not the right person," the boy said, mostly trying to make himself more at ease about trying to take the V-Fire back again. "He's not a Ranger at all, he doesn't deserve the V-Fire." Matt glanced up at the Rex, a look of worry in his eyes. "You don't deserve to be abused by him."

There was still another choice in the matter, but it was one Matt was very reluctent to use. He still had the inactive V-Fire of the present, and if he had to, he could engage it and transform to fight Eric for the TimeFire. The problem was, he wasn't sure if he could control the future V-Rex, and if he couldn't, then Eric did have a huge advatange.

With a sigh, Matt fell back against the Rex's leg. "I just don't know anymore," he admitted to himself. He was tired, and having the self-imposed task of trying to continue Zordon's work was something he wasn't so sure he'd been ready for. Still, he'd made his choice, and regardless of how much he personally suffered, he had that responsibility to the universe.

More so, he had a responsibility to Earth now, to make sure that, if he couldn't take back the V-Fire, then at least he could make sure Eric knew the burden he had to carry, and to make sure the man learned how to act like a Power Ranger. His eyes flickered toward his backpack, tempted to use his creation now. That rush of power he had felt before was like a drug, and he knew why Okibi fought to keep hold of it. Matt had only felt it once, and he was already missing it.

"Sorry, Zordon," he whispered, getting up and opening the backpack. He reached in and pulled out the V-Fire control box, then, breathing deep, slipped his hand into the slot. "But I have to know, if he's the one we can trust with your last legacy."

Inferno

There was something of a worried look on Eric's face as he headed for the office of Jeremy Collins. Even with the summons being only a memo, he had a bad feeling he knew what it was about. "Sir," he called, entering the office and coming to attention. "You wanted to see me?"

"Business for the Guardians has been dropping." Collins looked back at Eric before continuing. "We both know why this is. With that damn V-Fire of yours constantly going back and forth between you and Corbett over the past week and a half, I'm not sure how our image will look when our commander's own abilities are very unreliably sound in our hand. I have an ultimatum, Okibi. Make sure Corbett doesn't get the V-Fire again, or say hello to life on the streets."

Eric's eyes went wide with shock. This was something he hadn't expected. Collins was just going to leave him with nothing? Didn't the man care at all? Granted, Corbett couldn't get total control over the V-Fire, but the fact that also could use the morpher was becoming a problem. But this extreme of a threat... "Sir..." Eric sighed and nodded with resign. He knew what had to be done if Matt made another bid for his morpher. "Understood, sir." Eric finally said. "I promise, Corbett will not be a problem in that regard anymore."

"Good," came the controlled response from Collins. "Make sure he doesn't, or it's your job."

With a salute, Eric moved to leave, then halted when he heard a squelched form his headset. "Repeat that."

"Commander, we've got a major situation down here!" came the reply. Eric's eyes went wide as he heard explosions in the background, then winced from the blood-curdling scream that overcame his communications.

He tapped the switch, not getting anymore response. "Tolwyn, come in," he stated, glancing to Collins as he now realized what Wes and Matt had meant when they said Collins had no idea what he was getting people into. "Geoff, respond, over."

Nothing but static. Eric noticed the look of shock on Collins' face, then nodded before running to the window. "Sorry sir," he apologized while sliding it open. "But this is the fastest way out." There was a look of fear in his eyes, but Eric regardless pushed off and leapt out the window, bringing the V-Fire to his lips on the way down. "Time Fire!" he cried, transforming with that same addicting rush of power. He quickly tapped a switch on the V-Fire to summon the FireEagle from subspace, landed in the cockpit, then pulled up and hit the overdrive to go screaming through the skies.

He only hoped that he wasn't too late.

Even as Eric raced through the skies toward the mass of explosions that tore through the outskirts of Silver Hills, five hovercycles roared over the streets, their riders trying as much as possible to make it in time.

"Why do I get the feeling that Ransik's not exactly having a good day?" Domon remarked as he strained the overdrive of his cycle. Lucas glanced over to him, then turned forward to keep his eyes on the roads. "This doesn't at all fit how Ransik's been operating, what do you think is going on?"

Yuuri said nothing. While the hardened officer part of her said that this was the real Ransik's plans, there was a large part that knew this couldn't possibly be his work. Even Matt had told them what was really going through the mutant fugitive's mind, and this didn't at all fit. Someone else was releasing these monsters, but the question was who. "We'll investigate that point later," she replied, gunning the engine of her cycle. "Right now, we have a murderer to handle!"

More explosions flared in the distance while screams could be heard. Syon gasped as he felt something in his mind, forced to slow down and stop so that he didn't lose control of his cycle. "Guys!" he yelled, trying to keep his breath. "I'm...I'm getting a vision!"

The other four Rangers pulled to a stop and rushed to where Syon was now on his knees. "This can't be a telepathic image," Domon muttered while kneeling down to take care of the young alien. "This is a precognative vision!"

"Twin flames," Syon whispered, his armor starting to crackle in and out of existence. "Raging against each other, and blood everywhere..." Just as his armor restablized, Syon gasped in horror and shot upwards. Domon caught him before the youth could fall back from exhaustion, then looked to the others with worry. "I'll be alright," TimeGreen said, trying to calm down from the violent flash of prophecy. "It was...just horrible though."

"Did you see who these two flames were?" Domon asked, hoping that they had a chance to figure out what they had to do to stop the disaster Syon had seen. "Any idea who we have to find and stop?"

He shook his head, unsure himself what the vision had meant, but then, he thought of something, something that scared even him. "One of them might be Eric," he stated just as they looked up to see the FireEagle roar by overhead. "He's the TimeFire, so...it would make sense."

"But the other flame is the problem then," Lucas said, glancing to Yuuri and Wes. "There aren't two TimeFires, so if Eric is one of the flames, then how can he have a twin?"

There was silence, and then, something else roared through the air above them. The five looked up to see a slim red object fly by at a great speed, an object that almost looked like some kind of flying surf board. It was then that Syon gasped in horror, realizing his vision's meaning. "Oh no," he whispered, then looked to the others. "Guys, it's Matt! He's the other flame, he has to be!"

Lucas and Domon looked at each other, then at the other two standing Rangers. "That doesn't make sense," Domon remarked. "How could Matt be a twin to Eric?"

"The V-Fire of this era!" Syon continued. He shook his head as he tried to put all the pieces together himself. "He still has the V-Fire of now, and so long as it is taken someday to Eltar for Time Force to find, he could have already activated it for his own use!"

Wes, behind his helmet, widened his eyes in horror. "So he can take the V-Fire of the future back from Eric," he said, looking toward the battlezone. "Oh dear god, he's gonn'a fight Eric using the TimeFire!"

It was already burning with the destruction he had heard over his comlinks, but when Eric arrived, he still couldn't believe the sheer amount of devistation. Dozens of bodies and body parts littered the ground, causing even Eric to pale under his helmet. "I think I'm gonn'a be sick," he winced.

"Sir!" came a familiar voice. Eric turned to see one of the Guardians run over, nursing a nasty wound on his arm, but still alive. "Am I glad to see you."

He nodded. "What's the situation?" Eric asked, trying to ignore the horrible scene around him. "It looks like a friggin' horror movie slaughter here!"

"Some kind of alien killing machine," the man replied while leading the TimeFire to where the other surviving Guardians had set up base. "We've already lost ten men, and at least a dozen civilians were dead by the time we got here."

Eric swore and looked around. "Why the hell didn't you people pull out and get to safety until I arrived?!"

The man sighed. "We were ordered by Mister Collins to hold ground while you were enroute. I don't think he thought it was going to be this bad."

There was a flash of pain and anger, though, because of his helmet, Eric didn't reveal the expression to the man he spoke to. "What the hell was he thinking, he heard the same thing I did over the com lines!" He shook his head, unable to believe the gall that his employer had to send those men into obvious danger. Still, he had a chance to make sure no more were lost. "Get yourselves out of here and stay out of this fight, I should be able to handle this guy."

The Guardian hesitated for a moment, then nodded before running to carry along Eric's orders. TimeFire, however, looked out at the devistation, then noticed as his helmet directed his attention toward some kind of energy surge. "What now?!" he hissed while walking out of the make-shift camp. He expected to find the alien causing all this destruction, but instead, he found Matt Corbett standing in the debris. "Look, kid, I don't have time for your games right now."

"This isn't a game, Okibi," Matt replied. He pulled off his jacket and threw it to the ground, then snapped his left wrist to force the V-Fire to appear. Even with the visor, Matt could sense the surprise and shock on Eric's face. "You've betrayed my trust for the last time. I'm taking the V-Fire back, even if I have to tear it from your corpse."

Something was wrong. From what he'd heard about the boy, Matthew Corbett would never resort to killing someone in cold blood. What had happened to the boy since they'd last met two days ago? "You're bluffing."

He raised his arm. "Am I?" Matt hissed. In a flash, the V-Fire he wore was at his lips, and a crackle of crimson energy flushed over his body. "Time Fire!"

Cascading about, the influx of power erupted around Matt, tearing up at his surroundings in a violent fashion. Eric was forced to block out the major effects of the release with his visor, but even then, he couldn't believe just how powerful the transformation Matt was undergoing was; this was nothing like when he'd first morphed, it was even more violent and explosive! "What the hell did he do to that thing?!"

As the storm of energy ended, Matt stood clad in armor, now Eric's exact twin save height. In a flash, his V-Defender was drawn, and he took aim right at Eric's chest. "I'll give you one last chance," he stated, slowly stepping toward Okibi. "Surrender the V-Fire now!"

"I can't do that!" Eric replied as he reluctently drew his own weapon. "I've got a job to do, and that's taking out the maniac who's on a rampage through the city right now!" He then sighed. "Though, I think I'm looking at another one right now."

There was only a feral roar from Matt as he ran foward, stabbing with the sword-mode V-Defender. With a quick twist, Eric avoid the thrust and shifted his own weapon to blade-mode, parrying a second strike and taking the chance to kick Matt away. Something was very wrong with the boy, he was acting like a wild animal! "Corbett, what's with you?!"

"Realizing what I should have done over a week ago!" he roared, attacking with a hard slash that barely missed Eric and slammed into the ground. Chucks of rock and debris launched up from the impact, and with a growl, the boy raised the V-Defender and swung again. Eric quickly deflected with his own V-Defender, horrified at how feral that this boy had become. Just a few days ago, he had been calm and collected about everything, still believing that Eric would come around. Now, he was like a monster, willing to kill just to get what he wanted.

Was this what the V-Fire did to someone? Granted, Eric had been a bit more agressive since he had gained the power of the TimeFire, but what it was doing to Matt was unbelievable. Either Matt was trying to teach him something, or he really had suddenly turned into this insane maniac. "Corbett, stop this now!" Okibi yelled, narrowly avoiding a slash that would have taken his head off, armor or not. "You're acting crazy!"

For a moment, Matt halted, as if realizing what he was doing. Then, just as quickly, the primal fury took over again, forcing him into a frenzy. Cut and slash were swung at Eric, but the man had enough enhanced reflexes from his own V-Fire to be able to counter and make a usable defense. He didn't have time for this, there was a killer loose in the city.

With a grunt, Eric pushed Matt away and kicked him hard to send the boy flying into a pile of rubble. "I'm sorry," he stated while glancing about. "But I have to track this guy down, or he'll kill even more people!" With that, he holstered his V-Defender and ran to board the FireEagle. Matt was just starting to get to his feet when Eric launched and shot off into the sky.

"You can't run," the boy growled. There was a flux around his armor, causing it to shift in form. For a moment, it almost resembled the armor he had worn as a Delta Ranger. It quickly stablized to the armor of the TimeFire, but Matt still was in a rage as he ran to his Galaxy Glider and hopped on. Within seconds, he shot off after Eric, racing to catch up.

Further into the city, the alien that had been set free was on its own rampage. Wherever there was someone to kill, it took the chance, slaughtering civilians left and right. There was no pattern or system to the alien's path of death, it simply killed.

The five Time Rangers managed to arrive just as the alien moved on. One look at the carnage wrought by the alien was enough to make Wes feel sick. So many bodies littered the ground, and blood seemed to flood the streets, just like in Syon's vision. "I think I'm gonn'a be sick," he groaned, unknowingly echoing Eric's own initial reaction. "I hope to god that this isn't because of Matt and Eric."

"Doubtful," Yuuri remarked while examining some of the bodies. "I'm not picking up their signatures, but I am getting traces of Granian DNA. Looks like our prisoner is one of those damn killing machines from Zy'pher." There was a pause as she stood up. Something didn't feel right about this. Ransik's motives did not match with the releasing of such violent and homocidal prisoners that they had been handling lately. Someone else was pulling the strings here. "Scanners at maximum range," she ordered while making the needed adjustments to her own sensors. "We have to find that thing, and fast."

An explosion caught their attention, causing the five to turn toward where a massive fireball had erupted int the sky. Domon growled and started a sensor sweep, but what he found wasn't the alien inmate; it was two different energy signatures from TimeFire. "I think we might have a huge problem," he stated. "Lieutenant, I'm picking up TimeFire...two TimeFires, and I don't think that Matt and Eric are having a nice little chat over tea."

"Kuso!" the woman hissed while racing over to her hovercycle. "Move it, people! We gott'a stop those two from tearing up this city before we're too late to stop the Granian!"

There was a groan as Eric, pulling himself from the cockpit of the damaged and downed FireEagle, fell down to the ground and held his side. "God damnit," he muttered while pulling himself to his feet. "Matt, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Okibi!"

He groaned again, this time in annoyence. "I don't have time for this, Corbett!" Eric yelled, trying to get some distance between him and the rampaging teenager. "There's a killer on the loose, you should be going after him, not trying to take the V-Fire away from me!"

As the teenage TimeFire approached his older counterpart, he flicked out the V-Defender into blade-mode. "The only concern of mine," he hissed while his armor again fluxed, "is getting back what rightfully belongs to me." There again was that roar, and he charged forward, swinging and barely missing to impact the ground. He spun, focusing on Eric again, and racing at the man.

With a cry of pain, Eric brought his own V-Defender up and parried the blow, then quickly spun about to kick Matt hard. Even now, it hurt him to do this, but the boy was out of control, and he shouldn't have been acting like this. Something about him using the V-Fire was causing his mind to go into some kind of berserker rage. "Corbett, we already came to an understanding!" he yelled while he cautiously watched Matt turn around to face him. "Yes, I use my powers as a way to make a living, but at least I'm helping people and risking my life to save others! You can't tell me that in my shoes, you wouldn't have started the same way!"

His armor fluxed again, but this time, the shifting of design was more permenant as a silver chest plate forced itself into form around the symbol on Matt's chest. His boots and gloves turned a dark silver as well, while his helmet was changing to have a mouth-like appearence to the visor. There was a very loud animal roar in the air as Matt threw his head back and the visor shifted to mimic the mouth of a lion roaring. He said nothing, but the feral scream continued, Matt running forward and swinging hard at Eric with the V-Defender. Again, the older TimeFire blocked the attack, but looking at the rage form of his younger counterpart scared him.

"Matt," he yelled again. "Snap out of this! This isn't who you are!"

Only a beastial roar answered the man, and with movements like a cat, Matt slammed Eric hard with a sharp kick that sent him flying back several meters. He knew that there was no reasoning with the boy, something had taken over his mind with this fury. "I'm sorry," he muttered before sheathing the V-Defender and letting his own powers surge in preperation. "FireStorm, Engage!"

Explosions of energy erupted around Eric, turning into flames that surged around his body and empowered him with the form of the FireStorm Armor. He dropped his hands back, grabbing the gunblades as they energized into his hands, then took aim just as Matt leapt violently toward him. A double pulse shot slammed into the boy, sending him sailing through the air and into the side of a building. His body caused a massive intent in the wall, but pain didn't seem to affect him at all as he pulled himself to the ground and assumed a very animalistic posture.

Now Eric was worried. With regret as he did so, he fired a round of rapid shots, causing flares to explode around Matt even as the boy raced toward him. "Matt!" he screamed. "Snap out of this!" Eric continued to fire, but it did almost nothing to the charging teenager. With a roar, Matt jumped up and slammed into Eric, sending them both to the ground. He leapt off and back, now on all fours like a wild lion as he held his position. The older TimeFire groaned while getting up, but he dared not move his eyes from the feral boy.

A low beast-like growl escape from Matt as he moved about like a lion. Eric frowned under his helmet as he watched, knowing exactly what Matt was doing; he was stalking his prey. "And you say I shouldn't be using the V-Fire," he muttered, mostly to himself. He wasn't so sure that Matt could even understand human language anymore. "At least I'm not flipping out, kid."

The boy stopped, then pounced on the TimeFire, starting to attack with his fists. Light blazed around his fingertips, forming into claws that he started using to try and tear off the golden armor plates on Eric's body. With a yell of fury, the TimeFire shoved his gunblades into Matt's stomach and, at point-blank range, fired to send him flying back. Eric took the chance to get up and look his armor over. The golden FireStorm plates were damaged now, and judging from the massive hole in the chest piece, Matt had managed to tear a good size chunk out. "You got heart," the man whispered while keeping his eyes on his opponent. "I'll give you that much right now."

"Eric!"

He glanced about at the voice, knowing it to be Wes. Matt as well snapped his head in the direction of the now arriving Time Rangers, but only a growl came as his response to their arrival. Eric looked to the boy, then to Wes. "Stay back!" he cried. "Matt's gone nuts, he's like some kind of wild animal!"

It didn't take much more warning for the team of five to look at the boy and realize that something was indeed horribly wrong. Not only was he postured like a feral lion, but the armor of the TimeFire that he wore was warped to near unrecognition. This was not the same hero that they knew of, this was an uncontrolled beast wearing human form.

Syon turned his head aside. "Guys," he hissed while his scanners let off an alert. "I'm picking up the Granian, what do we do?"

There was no answer as the other Rangers kept their eyes on Matt. They all knew that at any minute he could lash out at Eric again, something they couldn't let happen. "We buy Eric time to get away," Wes stated. He glanced to Yuuri for approval, and she nodded. "He should be able to handle the alien while we keep Matt busy, it's the only chance we have."

He tapped his Changer to release the double-blade Chrono Vector, then grabbed its handle and braced himself. "Eric!" he yelled. The TimeFire turned toward him, but it was obvious that his attention was also still on Matt Corbett. "We'll take care of Matt, you go after the alien and take him out!"

The man hesitated. This wasn't exactly their problem, but why were they going to give him a chance to pull out of this fight? More so, it was Wes who seemed to be taking the majority of this distraction on as his own mission. "Why are you risking your life for me?" he whispered. "What do you get in return? You'll be lucky if he doesn't kill you guys."

But then, he realized that the fact they did care about him was why they were going to give him this chance to retreat. That was what he actually found admirable about Wes; he took risks because it was for the greater good, and he didn't care for the rewards, so long as he made a difference. This kind of person, Eric at last realized, was who he should be. Now he understood at last what Wes had tried to tell him, why he'd had a sense of what he was doing with the V-Fire and its powers wasn't right.

And he had to take that lesson now and hurry to help others while these five gave him the chance. Eric nodded and gave a salute before engaging his armor's flight mode and flying off. It was then that Matt sprung, but a round of shots from the Time Rangers brought his crashing back to the ground.

"Do what you can to keep him distracted," Wes ordered. Doing this, he knew, hurt all of them just as much as it was hurting Matt. These four had grown up in their time looking to Matt as a great hero, a living savior of the universe, and for them to now have to subdue him was something they thought they'd never have to do. The problem was, even if they went all out, he wasn't so sure they could bring him back.

Flames tore into the air as Eric raced toward the alien signal. Already, however, he could see the destruction and ruin that this monster was bringing. With a growl, Eric tapped the side of his helmet and tapped into the Guardian transmission frequencies. "This is Commander Okibi, can anyone read me, over."

There was only a squelch of static in response. Eric tapped the com again, hoping that he could reach someone. "This is Commander Okibi, please respond, over!" Still no response. Eric dove down a bit, then came to a stop when he saw the mutilated body of the man he had been talking to earlier. "Oh god," he whispered, landing and running over to the fallen Guardian. "Mercer!" he cried, trying to get any response. "Mercer, don't be dead, for god's sake!"

The man finally coughed, but there was a splatter of blood. He opened his eyes to see the helmet of the TimeFire, then weakly smiled. "Still alive, sir," he said.

"What the hell happened?" Eric asked, hoping that at least for this man there was a chance to survive. "I thought I ordered you all back to base!"

Mercer nodded, but then winced and coughed again. "Collins ordered us back into the combat zone," he replied. "He figured we could handle the alien since you couldn't be found." Again, he cough, splattering a bit of blood onto the golden FireStorm armor. "That thing is a monster, it tore through all of us like we were nothing. Sorry sir."

Rage burned its way into Eric's eyes. Collins had sent these men back into the battle to their deaths, without any care as to the fact that a dozen men had already died. Even more so now, he was starting to truly understand Wes, and the responsibility he, as TimeFire, had to burden. "Save your breath," he ordered, but even then, his helmet's scanners told him the horrible truth; Mercer was going to die, and nothing could be done. "I promise, this won't go without retribution."

Mercer nodded, then gagged as his body went stiff. A moment later, he went limp, and Eric gently pushed his eyes shut. He was disgusted now, both at the alien fugitive and at Jeremy Collins. Both were equally responsible for the deaths of two dozen loyal men, men that Eric had a responsbility to. Now, he'd failed that duty, all because a single man was too concerned with business to realize that these were people.

A gurgling sound caused him to turn about to see a large dark brown skinned form walk out of the burning debris. "You," he hissed, drawing out the V-Defender and converting it to blade-mode. In an instant, the FireStorm tranformed his weapon into its massive enhanced form.

The alien roared and ran toward Eric, but the man simply gripped his weapon tightly and swung, cutting into the creature's side and stepping away while it stumbled and hit the ground. His armor flashed, pulsing light into the V-Defender, and he brought the blade back to make a finishing strike. "I'm gonn'a make sure you never kill anyone again!"

The creature stood and ran at Eric, TimeFire as well charging with weapon primed. He let out a scream of anger, bringing back the V-Defender, but just as he was about to swing, he was slammed to the ground by a red blur. The same form lept up and sent the alien to the ground, then stood to reveal that it was the person Eric was afraid would get involved; it was Matt.

The boy seemed to have a slight bit of control over whatever was forcing his actions, but then he drew his V-Defender and pointed right at Eric's chest. "Shut it down," he hissed. There was a tinge of beastial growl in his voice, and Eric knew that the boy was still not out of his uncontrolled fury yet. "Shut it down or I'll blow your heart out!"

He shook his head. "I can't do that," Eric replied. "I have a job to do, Corbett, and making sure that thing doesn't keep killing is it."

There was a moment of silence. For a moment, it seemed that Matt would finally break out of his rage, but then his finger tightened around the trigger. "Then I have my own job to do." He began to squeeze, but then stopped as Wes ran to stand between him and Eric. For a moment, the boy relaxed his grip, but he didn't lower his aim. "Out of the way, Wes!"

"I can't let you do this," the man replied, not budging. "You can't kill Eric, it's not who you are, and you're not in control of yourself!"

"I'm very much in control!" he snapped back. He began to grip trightly again, but he just wouldn't fire so long as TimeRed was in his way. "Now stand aside and let me do what I have to do!"

Again, Wes refused to comply. "You do this," he stated with calm, "and you'll be no better than the very thing you have been fighting to stop!"

"I said get out of the way!"

Wes sighed, then tapped his Changer and shut down his armor. Eric stared in shock as he stayed in his stance, keeping himself as a barrier. "You're gonn'a have to shoot through me first."

For a moment, as Matt's finger continued to tighten, it almost seemed as if he was going to do it. But then, he relaxed his hand, and his armor began to flux again. The silver and white sections faded back into black, and his helmet returned to that of the TimeFire. His finger slowly came away from the trigger of the V-Defender, and he slumped, as if utterly drained. "God," he whispered, looking at the weapon in his hand. "What was I about to do?" He looked up at Wes, then demorphed, revealing the horrified look on the boy's face. "What was I turning into?"

Before Wes could answer, Matt was slammed aside and sent crashing to the ground. The alien killer stood where he had been, and let out a massive roar before stomping toward Wes and Eric.

"No!" Eric screamed as he jumped to his feet and recharged the V-Defender. He'd had enough of all this, and he was finally going to do what he had to do. He slammed his shoulder into the creature, then spun around and brought the blazing V-Defender flaring toward the prisoner. "Inferno...Strike!"

As the blade cut through the alien, it screamed out in pain. There was a bright flash while the charged energy pulsed into the Granian. Crackles of crimson bolts surged through its form, and then, caused the creature to detonate into a mass of pulp and internals. Eric breathed heavily as he finally shut down his armor and fell to his knees. He looked to Wes, then over to where Matt lay. The boy was hurt badly, he knew that, and he'd been through enough himself. "Take care of him," he whispered to the man he knew wanted to be his friend. "And when he wakes up, tell him that I'm finally going to do things like I should."

As Eric stormed past security and toward the office of Jeremy Collins, he had the most furious look in his eyes. It was a look that caused just about everyone to move quickly out of his way. As he reached the doors of the office, he finally gave in to his rage and simply kicked them in, causing them to fly open and surprise the trio of men who were discussing some kind of business deal. Most of all, Jeremy Collins was shocked at this unseen before behavior. "Commander Okibi, I'm quite busy right now, so if you'll just wait outside-"

"I've had enough of your orders!" Eric snapped harshly, cutting Collins off in the rudest way he could muster. "I've had enough of your greed, enough of your exploiting people just for your own wealth, and enough of your manipulating me like some puppet!"

Collins frowned, both angry and shocked by Eric's words. He glanced to his companions, noted that they were looking at him for some control in this situation, then knit his brow. "Eric, I will remind you that you are in my employ, and you will do as I say. When I tell you to go wait outside my office, then you had best-"

"And I say to shove it up your pompus ass!" Okibi roared. He was finally letting out months of frustration and anger, and he was not about to stop now. "Now you listen to me. You don't give me orders anymore, and you don't dare presume to think I give a shit about what you want me to do! Twenty-four men died today, twenty-four good men, all with families! I ordered my men not to go after that alien, and you butted in and told them to ignore my commands!"

There was a look of restrained fear in the man's eyes. Collins had never seen Eric this angry, but he had to take charge and get control of the situation. "Eric," he calmly stated. "I know you're upset, but I have an obligation to uphold our agreements with our clients."

"Obligations?" Eric hissed in contempt. "How about the obligation to those men to not put them in a position where they don't have a chance of survival?! They're dead, all because you decide to think that you knew better than I did!" He balled his fists, about ready to simply just punch Collins, then shook his head; he was above that. "You know, your son is right about you. You don't care about the people, only the money."

At that moment, Jeremy Collins found that he couldn't reply to the accusation. Coming from Wes, it was one thing, but from someone he thought he understood, it was like a slap to the face. "Eric, I don't understand. You of all people should know what I'm trying to do."

"I thought I understood things," Eric continued, interrupting Collins again. "But then I learned something important; there are things worth more than money and the kind of power you value." Looking down, he pulled off the red rope on his shoulder. "I also learned what it means to have people you can really count on. You were going to throw me on the streets just because you didn't want to risk losing some pubilicity image, but the Time Rangers are willing to help me, your son is still willing to help me, and for nothing in return."

With that, he tossed his shoulder rope and his beret to Collins' desk. There was all too much a look of disgust on his face, disgust at the greed of this man he actually had looked up to. "Your son taught me the lesson I needed, more so than anything that Matthew Corbett was trying to tell me." There was silence for a moment. "Find yourself a new commander, Collins, I quit." Eric paused to let his statement sink in. "You just lost the TimeFire, for good."

On that, he turned and walked out of the office, Collins gaping in shock and disbelief. Then, summoning all the command he could, he grabbed Eric by the shoulder and tried forcing him to turn. "You listen to me, you son of a-"

He couldn't restrain himself anymore. Holding back as much of his empowered strength as he could, Eric spun about and slugged Collins across the face. The man yelled as he fell back and hit the ground, finding his nose was broken and bleeding. Okibi looked at the scene, then grunted. "You deserve a lot worse for what you've caused," he muttered, then turned and left. It was then, when he had left the building, that Eric Okibi finally broke a smile and headed for his final destination.

Matt was laying on a bed, trying to recover from his injuries when the lobby bell rang. He winced as he sat up, but Yuuri quickly pushed him gently back down. "You stay and get some rest, I'll see who it is." She stood up and bounded down the stairs, blinking in surprise to see Eric waiting in the lobby. "Eric-san?" she quipped, then noticed the blood on the man's knuckles. "What happened?"

"I finally gave Jeremy Collins the punch in the face he deserves," the man replied, sort of in an odd form of greeting. "Look, I'm a bit out of a job now after giving Collins my rather, colorfully worded two second resignation notice. I was wondering, you guys have any extra room around here for an out of work TimeFire?"

The woman blinked, then suddenly smiled and nodded. It seemed that Wes had finally gotten through to his old friend. "The more the merrier," Yuuri said while offering her hand. "Welcome home, TimeFire."