Disclaimer: All characters are property of Saban Entertainment. This story takes place right after "Protect the Quasar Saber". This is my first true standalone, so enjoy. If I had a hammer . . . I still probably wouldn't be getting paid to write this.

Mike heard the sounds of battle from the Command Tower. Technically, it was impossible, since the Command Tower was only slightly connected to the City Dome beneath it, but Mike could swear he could always hear the rallying cries, the laser blasts, the sharp retorts, even before he turned on the monitors to watch his friends do battle.

Mike always felt slightly guilty about not helping the rangers out all the time, but ever since the day he got back, they had made an agreement. Kendrix and Kai held unessential jobs, so they could ditch whenever they needed to. Mike, on the other hand, as second in command at GSA, was too important to run out whenever he wanted to. His role in keeping Terra Venture in one piece was more important than being a sixth wheel to the proven Ranger machine.

Mike turned on the monitor next to his current station. The rangers were, as usual, holding their own against the monster, a lumbering humanoid with greenish skin and rippling muscles, and so far there didn't seem to be any problems. Mike kept one eye on the monitor, even as he walked away to finish filing his latest report to Commander Stanton.

Then, he heard the sudden cry: "My God! The Yellow Ranger is down!" Mike rushed back to the screen. Sure enough, there was an arrow sticking straight out of Maya's yellow uniform, as she laid motionless on the ground. The monster took out another arrow and struck Damon straight through his heart, his Green Ranger powers doing nothing to slow the arrow down.

Mike bolted for the door, and made his way down the elevator that would lead him to the battle. Once he entered the City Dome, he didn't bother waiting the extra 30 seconds to reach ground floor. He morphed into the Magna Defender immediately and destroyed the glass windows, diving through in a mad attempt to reach his friends as fast as he could.

Mike landed with great force, sending a shock through his feet even though he was morphed. Mike didn't care. He ran to the scene, where four rangers were already down. Leo took out his Quasar Launcher and tried to attack the monster from a distance, but he was too late. As Mike ran desperately to save his brother, he could do nothing as the arrow pierced the chest of the boy that he had cared for as far as he could remember. Leo slumped to the ground, and his breathing stopped. As Mike leaned next to his brother, the Red Ranger uniform disappeared, and Mike was faced with his brother's cold, dead eyes . . .

Mike awoke with a start, his blanket covered in sweat. Mike buried his head in his pillow as he tried to make the horrible images go away. Perhaps the only thing more frightening than what he just experienced was the fact that he knew exactly where the dream had come from . . .

Commander Stanton was worried. For the third straight day, his trusted aid, his second in command, his friend, was half an hour late for his duty shift. He knew it wasn't because Mike was slacking off. In all the years he had known the boy, he had never seen Mike try to run away from responsibility once. Even though Mike had to spend more than half his day in the Command Tower, he didn't seem to mind. Now, Stanton was seeing less and less of Mike each day.

Mike entered the Command Tower still sweating, even though he had taken a shower before he left. He was late, and he knew it. He promptly arrived before Commander Stanton and said, "I'm sorry for being late again, sir. It won't happen again." The words were hollow, and he knew it. He had said the same thing for the past two days.

Stanton nodded. "Is there anything wrong, Mike?" Stanton deliberately used his first name to encourage a sense of familiarity, the same sense that the two always shared when they were just talking, man to man. During shifts, he was always known as 'Mr. Corbett', but as friends, it was always 'Mike'.

Mike shook his head, but it was unconvincing. Still, Stanton could recognize the stubborn pattern in Mike, and knew it was futile to ask again. "Very well, Mr. Corbett. Carry on with your duties."

Mike turned around and headed back to the room he had come from. Kai, who had watched the exchange with worry, saw this as well. Kai sighed; he knew exactly where Mike was now and what he was doing - he did the same thing himself each day. Kai stood up and walked towards his friend.

Kai found Mike standing in front of an empty desk. Slowly, Kai put his hand on Mike's shoulder. "I know how you feel, Mike. I miss her too." Mike just shrugged Kai's hand away, as he walked away from what used to be the desk of Kendrix Morgan.

"Mike!" Kai ran over to Mike's side. "Is there something wrong?" Mike's stone face cracked, a sarcastic, cynical grin crossing his face. "Oh, right," Kai acknowledged, "wrong choice of words there. But you know what I meant!" Kai's voice began to raise. "This isn't like you, Mike! Something's really wrong, and you can't just keep it to yourself forever."

Mike turned to Kai, really looking at him for the first time, with a passive face, and softly, but strongly, said, "Just watch me." And then he returned to his station, leaving Kai standing in front of Kendrix's desk, worried.

Kai walked alone during his lunch break. This was the way he liked it. Kai didn't think he was really a cold person because of it; he just liked having some down time to himself. Of course, it wasn't a strict rule he had. He always found the time to spare his lunch time to someone else, whether it was Mike, or Leo, or Kendrix . . . Kai shrugged the thought out of his mind. He had spent the entire day thinking about Mike's behavior earlier. It wasn't as if Mike was being rude. Kai sensed that Mike objected more to the idea that Kai could understand what he was feeling. But he did, Kai felt. In fact, perhaps more so, since Kai felt something more for Kendrix than Mike ever did . . . Kai shrugged that thought out of his mind, too. It was never anything serious, and he never let on to it.

But, Kai wondered, what kind of feelings could Mike have that could compare to his own pain? He kept remembering the only words Mike had spoken to him: "Just watch me." It was as if Mike didn't think anybody could possibly help him.

Suddenly, a new monster appeared out of nowhere. Kai ducked behind a building, and watched the monster from out of the corner. This monster was definitely a destruction-oriented monster so typical of Trakeena's attempts, rather than the goal-oriented, ranger-mashing, Quasar Saber/Lights of Orion-gathering monster that held the tentacle prints of Scorpius. Kai called his friends over his Transmorpher, and then morphed.

Kai drew his Quasar Saber and leaped at the monster. He slashed it once without the monster even noticing a ranger had arrived. The monster blocked the next blow, but Kai deflected the hand that had blocked and landed another slash. Even as the monster used laser eye beams to attack Kai, his friends jumped out from nowhere and assaulted the monster at once.

Leo helped Kai back up. "Looks like you were having a bit of trouble there, Kai," Leo said laughingly. "What should we use to finish this guy off? Quasar Launchers? Transdaggers?"

"Let's use the Lights of Orion!" yelled Karone gleefully. She loved powering up - to her, it was exactly how every Power Ranger should finish off an enemy.

Suddenly, a bolt of green appeared out of nowhere and struck the monster dead center. As the monster flew through the air, the rangers turned to see where the energy projectile had come from.

The Magna Defender, shotgun already drawn and fired, was racing to the scene. "What are you guys waiting for?" yelled Mike. "Use the Lights of Orion and finish this guy off!"

As Damon and Kai used their Transblasters to bring the monster back down, Leo put his hand on Mike's shoulder and laughed, "Don't worry about it, Mike. We got this all under control. Watch." Leo leisurely strolled to the front of the rangers and waited for the others to get into formation.

"Hurry up!" cried Mike, even as the othe rangers called out, "Lights of Orion, activate!"

"Power up mode!" cried Leo, as the rangers merged and finally defeated the latest monster. Once the fight was over, Leo powered down and laughed. "See, Mike? That wasn't so bad." Then he looked around. His brother had already left the scene.

Kai ran into Leo in the hallway, out of breath. "So, did you find him?" Kai panted in between heavy breaths.

"Yeah. He's just sleeping in his room."

"Strange. His shift only ended an hour ago. He usually stays up for at least another two hours."

Leo nodded. "Kai, do you have any idea what's up with him? He's been really freaky lately."

"Yeah, like just running off after the battle . . ." Kai's forehead creased in thought. "I talked to him a few hours before the fight, and he just evaded every question I asked. It's like whatever's bugging him, I won't understand it if he tells me."

Leo nodded again. "I get the same feeling too. It's like he's holding back a flood or something."

The two stood silent for a while. Finally, Leo said, "Since you're not going to say it, I will. You have any idea what was up with Mike just coming to the battle like that?"

Kai frowned. "It's not like him. He knows why our agreement is in place. He's just too important to the well-being of Terra Venture to disappear all the time. And he knows we're more than capable of taking on the average monster without him."

Leo looked at Kai strangely, and said, "Maybe to someone else, it wouldn't be so obvious, but I can tell when somebody didn't answer the question."

"What?"

"You never said yes or no. Do you have any idea what was up with Mike?"

Kai paused. He didn't want to tell Leo, because he didn't fully understand it himself. But finally, he said, "Whatever it is, I think it has to do with Kendrix."

Leo winced at the sound of their fallen comrade, as he always did. "Why do you think that?"

"Because up in the Command Tower today, he just brushed me off when I tried to comfort him about . . . it."

The two were silent for a while. Finally, Leo said, "Let's let him sleep. Whatever it is, we can help him deal with it in the morning."

At that moment, in his dreams, Mike morphed into the Magna Defender and blasted the glass windows open, diving through in a mad attempt to reach his friends . . .

Commander Stanton looked on at his second-in-command with apprehension. Yesterday, he had tried his best to help Mike open up with whatever was eating him up inside, but the boy had refused. He was concerned. Not as a commander, since Mike, in spite of whatever was wrong, was still performing at his usual ability. No, he was concerned as a friend.

Stanton happened to glance over at the status screens on the monitor in front of him, and noticed some spikes in readings for the western area of the City Dome. When those spikes had first appeared, Stanton had been shocked, fearing the worst had come to his vessel. By now, though, he merely recognized it as a sign that the Power Rangers were once again doing their job. He activated the view screen to take a quick peak at how the rangers were doing. On the screen, a couple of the rangers could be seen evacuating the last of the civilians from the area, a restaurant on the western side that Stanton was familiar with. The monster, a thin humanoid creature with grey skin and a bow and arrow, seemed to be giving the rangers a hard time, but Stanton had no doubt about who would succeed in the end.

But his second-in-command seemed to think otherwise. Stanton looked behind him to see Mike staring at the display screen, his face contorted with fear. Stanton wasn't sure why Mike was reacting this way, but before he could ask, the monster on the screen let an arrow fly, hitting the Red Ranger directly in the chest and sending him flying. Mike instantly tore himself away from the monitor and ran for the elevator that connected the Command Tower to the City Dome. Strangely enough, several seconds later, the status screens reported a breach in the elevator's structure . . .

"Leo, are you okay?" Kai asked as the other rangers rallied to Leo's side.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Leo replied. "But this guy could be a little tougher than the last one." He looked over at his teammates. "Guys, we'll need the Quasar Sabers for this one."

As one, the rangers drew their Quasar Sabers and readied them at their sides. Before they could attack, though, a strong, horrifyingly pained voice rang out, and a string of green-colored shots came at the monster, striking it down. As Leo and the others looked on, Magna Defender came racing onto the scene, still screaming as if working on instinct alone.

Leo couldn't hold himself back. "Mike!" he yelled. "What are you doing?"

If his brother heard him, he showed no indication of it, as he drew his Magna Saber and charged the monster, striking it over and over again in seemingly blind fury. Finally, Mike leaped into the air and spun, delivering his final move to the monster.

Leo and the others were stunned. Once again, Mike had broken their agreement, and this time, he had finished off a monster all by himself. What was even more shocking to them, however, was what came next. The monster began shooting sparks out of itself, a clear sign that it was destablizing and was about to explode. In spite of this, the Magna Defender charged it again, striking it over and over with his sword, yelling in primal rage.

Leo could take no more. He ran to his brother's side and, grabbing him tightly, pulled him away from the monster. Kai ran to Mike's other side and did the same. Leo looked directly into his brother's eyes and said, "It's over, Mike. He's gone." Mike continued to struggle against the two rangers, desperately trying to rush over to the monster again, even as it fell and exploded.

Leo and Kai saw Mike stiffen considerably when the monster exploded. He stood there, just watching the remaining rubble, as if analyzing it. Finally, Mike's legs gave way, and he collapsed to his knees.

The other three rangers ran over to Mike's side, forming a tight circle around him. Leo kneeled down and looked straight as his brother. As he did so, Mike seemed to look up for the first time, looking right into Leo's eyes. As he did so, Leo could swear that he heard Mike start to cry. Finally, Mike's arms reached over to Leo, and Mike's stern voice emanated from the Magna Defender armor: "Are you okay?"

Leo was confused. "What?"

"Are you okay?" Stronger this time.

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm-"

"ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Yes! Yes, I'm okay!" Leo yelled, frightened at what was happening to his big brother. "I'm okay, I'm fine. I'm right here, Mike. I'm fine."

Suddenly, Mike turned to Maya, who was right next to Leo. "Are you okay?"

Maya was slightly confused, but underneath her helmet, nobody could tell. "Yes, Mike, I'm okay."

Mike spun around to face Kai. "Are you okay?"

Kai clasped Mike's shoulders, getting his attention. "Mike, we're all okay. Every one of us. We're fine."

"No," Mike said, shaking his head. "We're not all okay." His tone began to drop, his voice cracking. "Kendrix isn't okay."

"What?" Leo said, for lack of a better word in his mind.

Mike's next words were almost a whisper: "I couldn't save Kendrix."

Slowly, all of the rangers looked at each other. Though they couldn't see each other's faces, it was clear that they all were starting to understand what was bothering their friend.

Mike began to choke on his tears. "I couldn't save her," he repeated over and over between sobs.

Kai once again put his hand on Mike's shoulder. "Mike, it's not your fualt."

Suddenly, Mike shoved Kai's hand off him angrily, and yelled, "How can you even say that?! You were there! You all were there! You can say that you tried your best, that it's not your fault. But I can't!" He buried his head in his lap. "I wasn't even there . . ."

Slowly, Leo said, "You know you can't blame this on yourself. You know that, Mike! This isn't your fault!"

"Maybe . . ." Mike sniffed. "If I had been there . . ."

Leo responded firmly, "You couldn't have changed anything."

Mike shook his head, but didn't fly into a rage as he had seconds earlier. "You already had two Megazords fighting. I could've been the one that stopped Kendrix from destroying the sword."

"Mike!" Leo yelled strongly, as Mike had so many times to him in their youth. "You can say that now, because you know what was going to happen. But if you had been there, you would have called Torozord. Mike, the Psycho Rangers were tough. For a long time during that battle with Psycho Pink, I thought for sure that we were going to lose. We would have made you call Torozord. And Mike, you know, in your heart, that you would have done it. You would have called for Torozord and helped us fight. Because you wouldn't have thought that Kendrix was going to . . ." Here even Leo started to crack, the painful memories still fresh in his mind. "Do you think we feel any better about it?!" Leo argued. "Not all of us needed to be in the Galaxy Megazord. One or two of us could have gone down and stopped her." Leo stopped, his own personal nightmares beginning to crop up again.

"That's right," Kai picked up. "You think I don't feel bad, just sitting in the Megazord, while Kendrix sacrificed herself? You think I feel like I tried my best? I don't even play a big part in controlling the Megazord! I could easily have gone down there." Kai was near tears himself; all the rangers were.

Mike just said, "I was just in the Command Tower, doing nothing . . ." But his statements were not as strong as they used to be. He sat there, crying for minutes. But finally, Mike stood up and looked at his friends. When his gaze fell upon Leo, he hugged him hard. Leo accepted and hugged back.

"Mike!" exclaimed Commander Stanton with joy.

Mike grinned back. "It's 0800 hours, sir. Michael Corbett, reporting for duty."

"Good morning, Mr. Corbett," Stanton said happily. "Today we'll need to be going over some of the energy distribution models with the High Council."

"Yes," said Mike. "In fact, I've already come up with some new ideas for redistribution that I think would be worth discussion."

"Have you?" asked Stanton.

"Yes, sir. If you have a few minutes, I'll go over them with you, sir."

Stanton nodded. "Of course, Mr. Corbett."

As Mike followed Stanton to a computer terminal, he caught Kai's eye in the pilot's seat. Kai grinned. Over the last few days, Mike seemed to be returning to the man he used to be. Nobody expected him to forget his troubles, but Mike showed signs that one day he will accept the tragedy that had occured, and that he was not responsible for it. In the meantime, though, there would be no rest for Mike, or for the others. After all, they were the Power Rangers.