"Sometimes, the quiet is louder than the battle." — Kael
Scene: Phantom Atlas – Infirmary Level
The soft hum of machines echoed through the white hallway. In the medbay, the boy—Null Red—slept inside a containment pod, wrapped in stasis light. His body was stabilized, but his mind…
Kael stood beside the pod, unmoving.
Ayla entered quietly, twiddling with her cracked morpher.
"He hasn't woken?"
Kael shook his head. "Still cycling through memory locks. Mira says his identity was fractured and overwritten dozens of times."
"That's one messed-up puppet," Ayla muttered. "He was fast. Strong. But broken inside."
Kael didn't reply immediately.
"He said Elios… did this to him."
That name still felt like a poison in the air.
Scene: Briefing Room – Later
The team gathered around a low-lit table. Blue holographic strands of the Morphing Grid spun in midair, tangled and glitched.
Zara entered, arms behind her back, gaze fixed.
"Cipher lost control of his Red Null unit. That means we're ahead of schedule. But it also means he'll retaliate."
Thorne leaned back in his chair, scoffing. "So, we poked the monster and now we wait for it to bite?"
"That's not what this is," Mira snapped.
"Isn't it?" Thorne shot back. "Because all I saw back there was another kid we couldn't save, another ruin with ghosts, and another fight that left us bleeding."
"He's alive," Mira growled. "That's a win."
Rin remained silent. He stood in the corner, arms crossed, gaze locked on the spinning projection of the Morphing Grid. He hadn't said a word since they returned.
Kael glanced toward him.
"Rin… what's your read on the kid?"
Rin's voice was low. Measured.
"He wasn't Cipher's first. But he was close."
Mira narrowed her eyes. "How do you know?"
Rin didn't respond immediately. His fingers twitched slightly.
"Because Cipher tried the same with me."
The room went still.
Ayla sat up. "Wait—what?"
Thorne blinked. "You're saying you were almost a Null?"
Rin finally turned toward them, the white edge of his visor catching the faint light.
"Before I was a Ranger, I was nothing. Cipher's forces raided forgotten timelines—harvesting orphans, loners, warriors without cause. I was taken. Conditioned."
Kael leaned forward. "So how'd you break free?"
A pause.
Rin answered, almost like he wasn't speaking to them, but remembering for himself.
"Someone stopped them. A Ranger. He died saving me. Left me with a morpher and a mission I didn't understand."
"What was his name?" Mira asked softly.
Rin looked toward the stasis pod.
"…Elios."
No one spoke for a long moment.
Zara finally stepped forward.
"Then maybe what you saw on that rooftop… wasn't a lie. Elios may still exist. And if Cipher couldn't control you—he fears what else you might become."
Rin looked down at his hands.
"He should."
Scene: Phantom Atlas – Observation Deck
Later that cycle, Kael found Rin on the highest floor of the Atlas, staring into the broken horizon of fractured stars.
"I didn't know about Elios," Kael said. "I'm sorry."
Rin didn't look at him.
"I didn't want anyone to know."
"Because it makes you look weak?"
Rin smirked faintly. "Because it makes me angry. And anger clouds precision."
Kael leaned on the railing beside him.
"You ever wonder what the Grid saw in us? A failed leader. A broken scientist. A reformed villain. A lunatic prankster. And a ghost like you."
"Maybe the Grid's desperate," Rin said.
"Or maybe it needs Rangers who've already fallen once. Because we know what's at stake."
Rin turned. For the first time, there was no mask of control. Just tiredness in his eyes.
"If Elios is alive, I'll find him. Or bury him properly."
Kael nodded. "You won't have to do it alone."
Scene: Elsewhere – Cipher's Chamber
Darkness. A single platform floating in void.
Cipher stood before a burning map of the Multiverse. One of the dots blinked out—ZK-09.
He watched it fade, voice calm.
"They're adapting. Unacceptable."
A voice slithered through the shadows.
"Null Red is compromised. But we have others."
Cipher turned toward something forming in the dark. New figures. Larger. Less human.
"Then begin construction."
"Bring forth… the Null Omega."
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