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�What the hell?� Tommy muttered as he heard someone beating on the front door and looked over at the alarm clock to see that it was two o�clock in the morning. He could not remember this ever happening before when the answer on the other side of the door was something he actually wanted to hear about. His years as a ranger came flooding back, but that had all been put behind them. They had made sure of that the last time that they dealt with the rangers.
�What�s going on?� Kim asked as Tommy shrugged his shoulders and got out of bed and went down stairs and slung open the door, to only be blinded by a flashlight.
�Dr. Thomas Oliver?� a voice asked as Tommy held his hand in front of his eyes so that he could attempt to figure out who was standing on his front porch, beating on his door and waking up his wife, as well as his child now, at this time of night.
�Who the hell are you and why the hell are you here?� Tommy asked as the man shoved his way into Tommy�s home, but Tommy grabbed him by the arm and slung him back through the door. No one entered his home like that unless they were certain that they wanted to die. �You didn�t answer my questions and I might be half awake but unless I see a warrant, I�ll kick your ass from here to Timbuktu, because my son is upstairs crying right now because of you.�
�Dr. Oliver, I am Special Agent Flowers, I have been sent here to collect you and your wife. Your child will be taken to your parent�s home immediately. You are needed elsewhere,� Special Agent Flowers said as Tommy shook his head and looked at the man in confusion.
�What is going on?� Tommy asked as he flicked on the lights and motioned for the man to come inside.
�The Elemental force has requested that the top level members of the PANEL come to Washington D.C., immediately,� Special Agent Flowers said as Tommy just shook his head and looked up the stairs in time to see Kimberly start down the stairs with Chris in her arms.
�Tommy, what�s wrong?� Kim asked as Chris let out another cry and she walked to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle from the refrigerator.
�We�ve been summoned to D.C.,� Tommy said as Kim stared at him in complete confusion. �It seems that the rangers need us.�
�We let them go, they can do this alone,� Kim stated as Tommy reached over and gently took Chris from her arms.
�No, it seems that they do not know the answers that the government is looking for and that you are the only people that might be able to answer what they are asking for,� Special Agent Flowers said as Tommy just shook his head in disgust as Kim turned and walked up the stairs. �Where are you going?�
�To pack, for us and Chris,� Kim said as Special Agent Flowers held up his hand and she realized something was wrong.
�You only need to pack for yourself, not the child,� Special Agent Flowers said as Kim watched Tommy look down at the floor and she just shook her head. He had the feeling that Kimberly�s wrath would be so much worse than his own, so he was more than willing to let her vent.
�I am not going to just leave my child here without anyone to look after him!� Kim yelled as Special Agent Flowers looked over at Tommy, expecting some help.
�He will be with his parents, he will be perfectly safe,� Special Agent Flowers said as Kim�s eyes squinted as she walked towards him and pressed her index finger into his chest.
�Our child is coming with us, don�t fuck with me. I can kick your ass from here to Timbuktu and I will not second guess it,� Kim said as Special Agent Flowers laughed and Tommy quickly grabbed Kimberly�s arm as he knew that Kim was deadly serious. This man did not realize exactly what danger he had put himself in when he had stepped into a rangers� house and insulted them.
�You still packing some hidden powers?� Special Agent Flowers asked, sarcastically, as Kim struggled to get out of Tommy�s grasp and he only tightened his grasp on her as Chris wound his hand into Kimberly�s hair as well. �You will leave your child here with his parents.�
�You want information from me...your ass better let me take my baby, because from where I am standing, you need something from me and you aren�t offering me anything, as I see it, so you won�t get shit from me,� Kim said as Special Agent Flowers felt something radiating off her and saw the flash in her eyes as well as Tommy�s.
�I will allow you to bring your child,� Special Agent Flowers said as Kim took a step back and nodded.
�You don�t mess with rangers, you should have learned that since the last time that you dropped in here,� Kim said as Tommy smiled as she tried to take a step away from him, but Chris�s fist would not let go of her hair. �Disentangle me, sweetie.�
�She is still as feisty as ever,� Special Agent Flowers said as Tommy nodded.
�You almost got your ass kicked twice tonight; the third time will be the charm. I promise that you say something wrong again and you�ll be meeting the wall as your best friend,� Tommy said, seriously, as Agent Flowers looked over at him. He knew that the rangers were all talk and no action, it was what they had always been. �You have messed with the wrong people, I wouldn�t suggest screwing with us anymore.�
�You rangers are all alike,� Special Agent Flowers said as Tommy placed Chris on the couch and glared at the federal agent.
�Yes and so are all of the investigators that I have met since they pulled me into this shit. You don�t like that you weren�t able to find us until they backed one of your own into a corner and he admitted that he was a ranger and gave up names. If you had never done that to Billy, we would still be free from all of this, so I think that you owe us at least a thank you for saving your asses so many times. Now, you keep on making smart comments and there�s no telling what will happen to you when you are surrounded by all the rangers that you are calling in,� Tommy said as Special Agent Flowers laughed and Tommy then pegged him to the door, as another agent burst in and grabbed Tommy.
�You are a danger to society,� Special Agent Flowers laughed as he smoothed out his shirt and walked back towards the door. �I�ll be seeing you in Washington, Tommy.�
�Maddie, they are going to kill you,� Maddox said as he laid down next to her in bed and she looked over at him and just shook her head.
�I didn�t have a choice, Maddox. The information that they want has nothing to do with us and everything to do with them and it�s something that we know nothing about,� Madeline said as he looked over at her in the dark, questioning exactly what she had figured out. �The government wants to know how in the world they can guarantee that there is never going to be a need for rangers again and even we don�t know that the answer to that. They are the only ones that can tell them the truth about that.�
�But the conversation that we talked about...� Maddox trailed off as Madeline nodded.
�Is enough to make them suspect that we know more than we are saying but, the fact is, we don�t know anything about why they can guarantee that. They are going to have to explain it themselves, even if that is something that we don�t like thinking about,� Madeline said as Maddox just shook his head in the dark.
�I still don�t know if we should go this far, maybe we should just try to talk them out of this information,� Maddox said as Madeline gave him a kiss on the cheek.
�It�s a little bit too late for that, they�re getting them now and I�m sure that they aren�t too happy with us right now,� Madeline said as she felt Maddox pull her closer and she settled against him.
�I guess we�ll see tomorrow morning,� Maddox whispered before drifting off to sleep, leaving Madeline to think in the dark. They had all stayed out late tonight, hoping to hear something about what was going on with the rangers, but had given up at two in the morning, when they knew that they were not going to be contacted, although they seemed to matter much more than any of the other officials that they had dealing with this situation.
Morning came earlier than all of them could remember it coming in ages. They had all been drained from everything that they went through yesterday, but now they had a full day ahead of them that they were sure had more unexpected twists and turns. Their mentors were coming here and they were very grateful to see them, but other than that, they knew that they were going to be in more trouble than they could even imagine. They were sure that their mentors were not taking this well and fighting all of it as much as they could.
�I�m going to kill them,� Kim muttered as Tommy smiled down at her and pulled her close into his side.
�It�s going to be fine, Kim,� Tommy said as she looked up at him and glared. It had been a long time since they had been woken up like this and the last time that it happened, it changed their lives forever and he did not want for that to happen again. He was not sure if he would be able to take that happening again, considering everything that had changed since that day.
�Easy for you to say,� Jason muttered as Tommy looked over at him and let out a sigh. He agreed with Jason that things were not right, but there was not much that he could do about it. Everything was such a problem that for them to even have to think about more than a few things was difficult.
�Hey...� Madeline murmured as she walked up to the former rangers and they looked at her with looks that seemed to hold all of their emotions.
�What�s going on?� Andros asked as Madeline looked down at her shoes and motioned for them to follow her.
�They�ve been investigating you for the past few days, that�s why we were brought here,� Sam said as Kim looked up at him and just shook her head.
�This is bull shit, we presented our final report to them almost a year ago and now they decide that this is the time to call us in?� Kim said as she took Chris from Tommy�s arms.
�What they want to know, we can�t answer,� Madeline said as they looked over at her and she looked down at the ground.
�What do they want to know?� Jason asked, carefully, as Madeline slowly raised her head to face him.
�How can you guarantee that there will never be a need for rangers again,� Madeline stated as they stared at her in shock. �They want the story of how that phantom team showed up and saved the world as well as the rangers.�
�Cassie is going to kill me,� Andros muttered as Tommy let out a laugh and Andros looked over at him. Andros had kept it a secret from Cassie that he had taken any powers back, especially considering her stance on the entire situation. �You have it easy, your wife was one of the �phantoms�.�
�Do you think that there is any way that you can buy us the morning to take showers and get settled in?� Trini asked, as she knew that every woman here was not exactly thrilled with what had happened last night.
�Yeah, we should be able to bull shit around long enough to buy you some time,� Maddox said as they gave them grateful smiles and then headed for the clerk�s desk.
�What do you have in mind?� Sam asked as Madeline let out a long sigh.
�I say with fuck with them some and throw in some things that they completely expect to hear, like the word mission and some foreign planet that I�ll make up in the next few minutes,� Madeline said as the others smiled and they headed for the all too familiar interview room.
�I thought that the other rangers would be joining you today,� Fred said as Madeline shook her head no. She knew that it was a lie, but she also knew that this was the very least that she owed them for pulling them out of their lives to come answer some questions.
�I�m sorry, but they aren�t going to be able to make it. They had an all night flight and we�re going to let them get some rest. Tomorrow you can talk to them, but I�ll try to help as much as I can,� Madeline said as the others smiled. They could see that the gears in her head were working over time and they were sure that she was coming up with something to tell them that actually happened, but would confuse them more than anything else.
�We left off with the extra training that Tommy was giving you,� Fred prompted as Madeline nodded and then looked between Sam and Maddox to see which one of them was going to smile first.
�Yes, we did...� Madeline trailed off as Maddox just shook his head. This was definitely going to be interesting for all of them.
�If I ever go through another day like that, I swear that I will kill Tommy,� Madeline said as she let out a long moan as she stumbled into the dojo and Maddox smiled over at her. He could see the intensity in her eyes and he was sure that she would make good on that promise if she was ever given the chance to do so.
�Kill me if you must, but as long as you become a better ranger for it, I won�t care,� Tommy whispered in her ear as she spun around. �You have got to learn to not zone out as much, Madeline. I know that it helps keep your powers in check, but for the next few months you can�t have that happen. You have to be able to block him out, but keep your mind open for everything else.�
�That is definitely something that I never thought that I would hear from you,� Madeline said as she turned around and Tommy smiled down at her.
�Are you ready for the second day?� Tommy asked as Madeline just shook her head and Maddox could not help but agree with her. He could still feel the pain that was running through his back and Tommy could see it in his face. �You don�t have a very good girlfriend. Kim at least would try to rub out the kinks that I had after we faced monsters.�
�We�re not really dating,� Maddox said as Tommy laughed. Anyone with half a brain could see that they cared for each other, a lot more than they wanted to admit.
�Sure, tell that to someone who will buy your bull shit,� Tommy said as Jason walked out of the back room and smiled over at him. �You want to warm up any?�
�No, I don�t think that I need to do that,� Jason said as Maddox let out a very long sigh. If Jason was not even going to attempt to warm up, they were going to be in for a long day. �Aren�t you going to give them a break on the mats any way?�
�Don�t spoil my fun,� Tommy said with a smile as they looked over at him in shock.
�You�re going to let us rest?� Madeline asked as Tommy nodded his head yes.
�I knew that I had pushed you much farther than you had ever been yesterday, so it was time that you learned how to be a ranger, a true ranger,� Tommy said with a smile as all of the others looked at him in shock.
�What do you mean by a true ranger?� Maddox asked, as he was pretty sure that they were starting to agree with the definition of it all.
�How you act outside of these walls is something that I worry about more than how you act while we are here. Everything that you have experienced and will experience will make you bitter about many things. The fact that no one will ever give you any credit for what you do, for the fact that you will be ridiculed and even called evil, by some circles. As a ranger, you�ll never be completely understood,� Tommy said as they looked over at him, surprised that this was what he wanted to talk about, when there were many things that were more important.
�Is this what you�re going through?� Madeline asked as Tommy nodded his head yes.
�Right now, we�re all in a place that we have never been before. We have never been asked by the government to form a group of rangers and train them, for the purpose of protecting the earth. We have spent the last ten years trying to stay hidden and out of the public eye. We don�t want for people to know who we are and what we do, but now a whole bunch of people that make more important decisions than I do, know who we are,� Tommy said as Jason leaned against the desk and just shook his head. They all had their fears of what was going to happen at the end of this, but they all imagined that there was going to be even more investigating when all of this ended and that was something that they didn�t want. They didn�t know how to live with it.
�You�re worried that they will reveal you to the world?� Maddox asked as Tommy nodded his head yes. It was still their worst fear that they would be revealed as the original rangers and expected to save everyone, when the sad fact was that they no longer had the powers to do that. They were completely helpless if that sort of thing happened to them, because they would not be able to deny that they were rangers. That was a fact that they were proud of and also something that they desperately needed to keep a secret. They couldn�t live in the normal world if everyone found out that they were rangers, they would become celebrities and that was something that they never wanted to be.
�Where are the rangers?� Special Agent Flowers asked as he burst into the room and Madeline looked back over at him and just shook her head.
�They are getting the rest that they deserve, since you woke them up at two o�clock this morning to bring them out here,� Madeline smarted off as Special Agent Flowers crossed the room a few steps and slapped her to the ground.
�I am a government official, you do not talk to me in such a manner,� Special Agent Flowers said as Maddox crouched down next to her to make sure that she was all right.
�Leave,� Maddox said, calmly, as Sam and Garrett exchanged a glance. They both knew that his insides were boiling right now and he was giving the man one chance to leave before he made him pay dearly.
�You�ve got to be kidding that you think your little threat will get me to leave,� Special Agent Flowers said as Sam and Garrett both grabbed Maddox�s arms as he had jumped forward and he struggled against them as the man laughed. �Your other rangers are good little children, maybe they didn�t learn that much from your mentors.�
�You son of a bitch,� BethAnn said as they had forgotten about her and her legendary temper as she slapped the man with her full force and he just stared at her. �If it weren�t for our mentors we would still be rangers, so you can think that you are better than them all you want, because you have a damn badge, but I will tell you that everything that they have done is worth a hundred of your precious badges. Get the hell out of here, or I will make sure that you don�t see the light of day again for a long time.�
�I�m not scared of a little ranger,� Special Agent Flowers said as Tommy appeared behind him.
�I�d be scared,� Tommy whispered in his ear as he jumped around. �You don�t come and harass my rangers without my knowing about it, get the hell out, before you have to face me.�
�You�ll be reported Oliver,� Special Agent Flowers yelled as he walked out of the room.
�I�m certain that will change their minds about me,� Tommy said as he just shook his head. �That man is going to get killed by a ranger one day and I�m not going to feel sorry for him.�
�Why?� Maddox asked as Tommy looked over at him.
�He�s the man that came to my house and told me that he knew what I was and he�s been an arrogant asshole ever since that day,� Tommy said as Fred looked at him in awe. He had heard a lot about Tommy and all of the others, but to see one of them in person definitely made him feel much more certain that whatever they had done had been for the good of the earth, not for the bad as some people suspected.