Summer came to in a punishment box. She heard a dry, hoarse voice screaming from the cell next to her, and only barely recognised it. It was Mouse. They were both in solitary. She heard Mouse's weak, pathetic whimpers and her pounding and a thought came to her. She had said she couldn't face being shut up in an office all day, she had freaked out at the very threat of going into one of the punishment boxes. She now knew what was wrong. She was claustrophobic.

She beat the side of her own cell rhythmically to try and attract Mouse's attention.

"Mouse, it's OK, I'm here." She assured her. "It's alright..."

"It's dark, I can't breathe..." Mouse responded, her breath rapid and forced. "I can't breathe!"

"Mouse, it's alright." Summer assured her. "You can breathe."

"No, I can't!" She screeched. In her mind, Summer could picture her clutching her knees to her chest defensively. "I can't breathe!"

"Mouse, it's alright." Summer said reassuringly. "Why don't you tell me more about Dr. Wardle?"

"John?" She asked weakly. Summer smiled as she heard this. Mouse wasn't exactly the most secure of people, and it was good to think that there was something she could hold onto.

"Yes, John." Summer replied. "Tell me more about him."

"He...he's really smart and funny." She stammered nervously as she thought about the man she had loved so dearly. "He's really good looking too. He's almost ten years older than me, but you wouldn't know it to look at him. He's got a really cute, childish sense of humour. He used to play stupid jokes on me all the time."

"It sounds like you really liked him." Summer responded.

"He was the first man that showed any interest in me." She replied. "He always made me feel really special."

"It sounds like you were made for each other." Summer told her.

"I really wish I could get out of here." She said in panicked gasps of air. "I've always hated small spaces, ever since I was a kid. The guards know I freak out when I get sent to the hole, that's why I keep my head down and try to stay under the radar. The guard love sending me here."

"It's OK Mouse, I'm here." Summer reminded her, placing a hand on the metal wall between the two cells in a wordless gesture of comfort. "It's OK, stay calm."

"Thanks Summer." Mouse replied. "I'd be going crazy about now if it wasn't for you."

"Hey, you've kept me sane since I got here." Summer told her. "I'd call it even."

Back at the Garage, Scott and the others came into the main room. Scott searched through some papers and found one, holding it up triumphantly.

"Ronan Wells became the prison warden after he left the service." Scott informed them, gesturing to the document. "He's been with Summer the whole time!"

"According to his employment record, he used to weigh 170 lbs when he was a training officer." Ziggy informed them. "However, not long after he left the military he was admitted to hospital with a broken jaw. He had it wired shut for six months and couldn't eat solids. During that time he lost 70 lbs."

"So he'd have been able to escape down the recycling chute." Flynn chipped in. "He has every reason to want to get Summer sent to prison. While she's in there, he has control over her."

"There's just one problem." Dillon informed them. "All of this is just theory right now. We have no way to prove he was in the apartment."

"We have no way to prove he has any connection to this at all." Scott sighed. "We need to be able to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was there, otherwise we'll never prove Summer's innocence."

"We need to get her out of there." Dillon stated flatly. "We can't leave her in there with Ronan. If he lays one hand on her..."

"We all feel the same way." Flynn assured him. "We're getting her out of there."

Back at the prison, the door to Summer's punishment box was thrown open and Ronan knelt down with her, admiring his handiwork. She looked at him in disgust.

"I bet right about now you're wishing you had just given in to me three years ago." He taunted her. She flinched away from him as he touched her face.

"Actually I was thinking that sitting in here is still preferable to letting you touch me." She replied.

"You really ought to be more respectful." He told her. "If I feel like it, I could leave you in here for the rest of your natural life. All I need to do is say the word and you won't see the light of day again."

"This is how you get your kicks isn't it?" She asked him. "It's never been about the sex has it? It's the control you get off on."

"What can I say? There's a sense of satisfaction in breaking someone's spirit." He told her. "There's nothing like the feeling you get when you look into someone's eyes and see them accepting that you hold all the power over them. It's an amazing rush."

"You're sick!" She hissed angrily. "I can't believe that anyone was ever fooled by you."

"Trust me; fooling people is the easiest thing in the world to do." He assured her. "People are so easy to manipulate. People are so quick to judge that it takes very little to turn them. Just look at what happened to you. You've done so much for them, and yet they turned on you. As far as they're concerned, none of those times you've saved them matters. All you are is a murderer."

"But you killed them!" She protested.

"Good luck trying to convince people of that." He laughed insincerely.

"You killed three men!" Summer said incredulously. "Three men are dead because you have a grudge against me? Do their lives mean nothing to you?"

"Of course they do." He answered her. "If it wasn't for them, I would never have been able to get you right where I want you."

"You'll never have me!" She snapped in her disgust. "You'll never break me!"

"Oh, it's only a matter of time." He told her, grabbing her collar. "And time is something I have plenty of. Before too long, you're going to beg."

Back at The Garage, Dillon and the others were looking through the evidence they had acquired. He still hated to think that Summer was in the prison, completely at the mercy of the man who had attacked her. He threw aside one of the files in frustration.

"We have to be able to prove he was there! We just have to!" He snarled as he ran his hand through his hair. "Everything else fits; we just need something to connect him to the scene."

"I think we've exhausted everything we can find out from paper." Scott stated. "I think it's time we went and had a word with Ronan Wells."

"Wait, hold on a minute!" Flynn protested. "I know the Colonel expects us to break a few rules, but I'm sure even he had his limits."

"Summer's completely at his mercy in there!" Dillon reminded him. "We have to stop him before it's too late!"

"Ziggy, you and Flynn search his office for anything that can help us. Dillon, come with me." Scott instructed them. "Summer's been in there too long already."

Back at the prison, Ronan opened the door to Summer's punishment box, before pulling her out into the courtyard. He handcuffed her hands behind her back and hauled her to her feet.

"It's time you and I went for a little walk." He stated, grabbing her by the collar and dragging her with him. She struggled to get away from him, but he was far too strong to resist. He shoved her into the elevator and activated the control to take her to the top floor.

"Where are you taking me?" She asked him.

"I just thought you should see the view from the roof." He told her. He dragged her up the stairs to the roof, before leading her to the edge. "It's amazing isn't it? Nearly a thousand inmates and I control every second of their existence."

"So what happens now?" Summer asked him. "Is this where I have an accident and fall off the roof?"

He grabbed her and shoved her over the edge, holding her precariously over the edge.

"I could always do that." He sneered at her, taking a sick pride in her fear. He threw her aside onto the roof. "No one would even care. I wouldn't even be questioned about it. Of course doing that would end your suffering too early. You don't get to be that lucky. You only die when I say so!"

"You're real brave when I'm in handcuffs aren't you?" She taunted him. "You're a coward Ronan, you always have been."

"I couldn't agree more." Scott stated as he and Dillon arrived on the rooftop. Ronan just smirked at them.

"I guess this is the part where you threaten to beat the hell out of me." He suggested, picking up Summer. He pulled out a blaster and held it to the side of her head. "You know you have no business here."

"Actually we do." Flynn told him as he and Ziggy arrived. He held up a bottle of pills. "We found these in your office. I'll bet that these are what you used to drug Summer."

"It took me quite a while to find something that would work through her system before she went to a tox screen." He told them. "I never expected her to remember what happened that night. Of course that's just going to make it more fun in the long run. How much d you think I love the fact that she's going to spend the rest of her life in here with me, when she knows who really killed them and can't do a damn thing about it."

"You're not going to get away with this." Dillon warned him, taking a step forward. He stopped in his tracks as Ronan deactivated the safety catch on his gun.

"Who's going to believe all of you over me?" He asked them in a mocking tone. "There's nothing to tie me to the scene of the crime. It's your words against mine; all you have is circumstantial evidence."

A tear ran down Summer's face as he pulled back some of her hair and smelled it. "You'll never prove that I did it. You're mine Summer, you've never been able to beat me."

"That would be where you're wrong." Scott informed him, holding up his morpher. "I hacked into the public announce system. Your confession's just been heard by every guard in the prison."

He looked out over the edge of the roof, seeing the guards and prisoners staring up at him from the yard. The game was over; he knew that Scott had told the truth. Any minute now, guards would storm onto the roof to arrest him.

"Back off!" He screamed, waving the gun around in his panic. "I may not have long left, but at least I've got enough time to break her before I get sent down."

"That's been it all along hasn't it?" Summer asked him, her expression turning from one of fear to sheer loathing. "This is all about me. It's always been about me." She turned to face him, looking at him down her nose at him.

"You've been in my nightmares for three years!" She snapped at him. "I always thought you had this power over me, but now I know the truth."

"You've always been mine." He told her. "I've owned you since..."

"The only power you've ever had over me is the power I've given you!" She shrieked at him. "You thought you'd break me like the others. You thought I'd never report you to Colonel Truman. You underestimated me, and that's why you're obsessed with me!"

"You were so pathetic..."'

"The real reason you've done this whole thing isn't just revenge. It's because you're afraid of me!" She continued to yell at him. "You couldn't break me then, and you haven't been able to break me now! You're the one who's pathetic! The only power you've ever had is the power I gave you by being afraid of you!"

"Shut up!" He screamed at her. "I'm in control, I have the power!"

"You have nothing!" Summer told him. "I'm not afraid of you Ronan, not anymore!"

Guards stormed onto the roof, levelling blasters in Ronan's direction.

"Don't shoot!" Scott ordered them. "You might hit Summer!"

"It's over Ronan." Dillon told him. "You're going down for this."

"You all think that this is over. If you think I'm going down for this, you're all sadly mistaken." He told them, looking Summer in the eyes, sending a chill down her spine. He sneered at her one last time. "Now I'll be with you forever. You'll see me every time you close your eyes. I'll be in every nightmare you ever have from now on."

With that, in his final act of defiance, he placed the blaster in his mouth and pulled the trigger. Dillon rushed over to her as his blood splattered across her face. He cradled her head to his chest as she wept hysterically. Ronan had stolen one last thing from her. He had escaped justice. He would never face trial for his crimes.

"It's alright, he can't hurt you now." Dillon assured her. "He won't be hurting anyone again."

Later in the day, Summer sat in Ronan's office as the head guard entered the room. Now that Ronan's deceit had been revealed, and he had committed suicide to escape trial, he was now in charge of the prison. He pulled out a key and unfastened the tracking collar from around her neck, removing it. Summer stroked her neck gently as the collar was removed. It felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her as he put the collar on the desk.

"Your conviction has been overturned." He informed her. "You're free to go."

"Thanks." She replied weakly. Dillon put his arm around her, holding her closely as she continued to stare at her blood-splattered t-shirt.

Mouse came into the room, being accompanied by a guard. She looked around at the Rangers and the guards nervously.

"They said you had been released." Mouse greeted her. "Why did you want to see me?"

"We did a little research into your case." Flynn informed her. "Summer asked us to look into it."

"Your conviction has been overturned." Scott informed her, unlocking her tracking collar and removing it. "We've caught the real perp."

"You caught the real thief?" Mouse asked him. "I thought the money was untraceable..."

"It was." Scott informed her. "But the fraudster made a big mistake. He spent the money. It was your old boss, Dr. Wardle."

"When we looked him up, we noticed he lived in Cresswell heights, kind of a nice neighbourhood on a librarian's salary." Flynn informed her. "He claims that he got a large inheritance from his late mother, but when we checked up, we found out that she died years ago."

"We also found out that he and his wife had a baby girl a couple of years ago." Scott explained to her. "It seems his marriage isn't as unhappy as he made out."

"He used me?" Mouse muttered under her breath as her heart broke. "He never loved me?"

"He encouraged you to do those online courses so that the authorities would believe you could have hacked the education authorities' accounts." Scott informed her. "He used your account to make it look like you did it. He set you up."

"I loved him." Mouse whimpered, wiping away some tears as she realised his betrayal. "I thought he loved me. Instead all he wanted was someone to take the fall for him."

"We picked him up a couple of minutes ago." Flynn told her. "He sang like a canary when the guards started interrogating him."

Summer gestured to Mouse to come over, and hugged her warmly. She knew what it was like to have her faith dashed cruelly by a man she should have been able to trust. Mouse straightened her glasses.

"Thanks Summer." She told her. "I don't know how I'll ever be able to repay you for this."

"Maybe you could tell me your real name?" Summer suggested. "I'm pretty sure it doesn't say Mouse on your birth certificate."

"Jennifer." She replied with a small smile. "My name's Jennifer."

"I like it." Summer replied. "Take care Jennifer."

"I will Summer." She replied. "Stay in touch."

Later in the night, the Rangers were celebrating back at The Garage when Colonel Truman came in.

"Summer, I heard that you were released." Colonel Truman greeted her with a warm hug. "You have no idea how grateful I am that you were cleared."

"I really wanted to thank you for having faith in me." Summer responded. "It meant a lot to me that you believed in me."

"I always would Summer." He assured her. "Of course it's the other Rangers that did the real work to clear your name."

"I really wanted to thank you all for everything you did." Summer told them, fidgeting with her hair nervously. "I was sure I was going to die in there. I almost gave up so many times."

"We never doubted you for a second." Dillon told her cheerfully.

"I just really wish I hadn't been so weak back then." She said sadly. "If I had just reported him back then, if I had made a complaint then none of this would have happened."

"You can't blame yourself for this." Scott stated flatly. "You were a teenager when he attacked you; you've grown so much since then. You couldn't have gone through with it then."

"But if I had just made a complaint back then, maybe those three guys wouldn't have died." She whispered.

"Ronan was a sick, twisted man." Dillon assured her, holding her closely. "He can't hurt anyone else."

Summer felt a little warmer as she enjoyed the sensation of being in his arms. She looked into his eyes and felt herself smiling.

"Um...Dillon, can I talk to you for a minute?" She asked him. "You know, in private?"

Dillon put down his drink and followed her out of the room. As they arrived outside, Summer looked to her shoes for inspiration and bit her lip nervously.

"Dillon, it really meant a lot to me that you believed in me." She told him. "I had my doubts about myself. When I had that flashback of my hand on the knife I was certain that I'd done it, but you never doubted me."

"I know you couldn't have done that to anyone." He replied, holding her chin with his hand. "You're no killer."

"There were so many times I just wanted to give up." She told him. "I almost did, but it was you that stopped me. Dillon, you're the one that gave me the strength I needed to carry on."

"Summer..."

She cut off his words by placing a couple of fingers on his lips, which she quickly replaced with her own. Kissing him deeply, she parted a little way from him. Her heart beat faster as she waited nervously for him to say something.

"Summer, the reason I never gave up was because you mean so much to me." He told her, reaching an arm around her and pulling her towards himself. "Summer, I love you."

"I love you too." She replied, looking deeply into his eyes. Dillon smiled and drew in closer, kissing her once more. Flynn came out to see what they were talking about and smiled.

"I knew I was right about those two." He said quietly to himself as he turned and left quietly, giving them privacy. Summer settled into Dillon's arms and smiled. Ronan had taken so much from her for so long; she couldn't believe that it was all over. She felt completely safe and secure in his arms. He would never hurt her, he would never take advantage of her, and he would always protect her. Ronan had taken from her everything he could, and she still survived through it all. He had been the embodiment of her nightmares, but now that was all he was. He was wrong. She would never think of him again. He had no power over her anymore.

Now she could look forward to what lay ahead for her with Dillon by her side.

Fin.