Summary: Mack has trouble coping after 'Things Not Said' and decides to talk to Alpha. Adam gets the wrong impression and believes Andrew Hartford has turned evil. Chaos ensues. Very slight Mack/Rose.
Set directly after Operation Overdrive's 'Things Not Said' episode.
This somehow evolved from the idea that Mack should have a conversation with Alpha about being a robot. Obviously, it mutated and took on a life of its own. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it!
Android?
He was a fighter. He liked adventure books and all kinds of games. He was curious and brave to the point of stupidity. He loved flying the Sonic Streaker. He had tiny a soft spot for the Pink Ranger. He thought he knew who he was.
Mack. Mackenzie Hartford. The Red Overdrive Ranger.
Then with just one word, his world shattered around him.
Android.
He'd read enough adventure books to know what an android was. What he was. He was a robot. He had to admit, he was a pretty good robot. Very advanced. The problem was that now he wasn't sure what was real. Was his personality really his, or was it his dad's idea of an average kid? Were his feelings real, or programmed responses? Was he an individual, or did he have a serial number somewhere on the inside?
How had Kamdor's virus affected him, anyway? Was he remotely linked to the computers or something? Was he being controlled from the base? After all, his dad had wanted to be the Red Ranger…
Thinking about independence was both depressing and confusing, not knowing what was programmed and what wasn't. Then again, during the last half day, any sort of thinking tended to be depressing.
Was he electronic? Solar powered? Did he have batteries? Did he have his own computer system? He must have, but could he consciously use it? Did he even have a consciousness? Did he really need to sleep, or eat? Did he bleed?
Any time he found himself doing… anything, he wondered.
He'd already checked his room for plugs or wires of any kind, and found none out of the ordinary.
He'd checked himself thoroughly too, but he suddenly had no way of knowing if what he thought was normal actually was or not. He couldn't see any plugs or seams, and he had no idea how his 'Dad' had managed to get his head off.
What was he going to do? Who could he talk to about this?
His brain (was it really a brain?) was working overtime as he listlessly wandered around the mansion.
Spencer told him to snap out of it, but it wasn't that easy. He'd eventually helped the other Rangers, and his team took the news much better than he'd expected them to.
Better than he had.
He wasn't sure what he was doing anymore, or whether he was even doing it at all. The only thing he knew for certain was that it was all his Da… no, Andrew Hartford's fault. What else might the man be hiding, and why had he built a sulking robot, anyway?
Robot… hang on, he knew a robot…
Adam Park had been honestly shocked to get a call so soon from any of the Overdrive Rangers. The Red Ranger sounded rather stressed and wanted to meet Alpha for some reason, so Adam naturally asked what the matter was.
The response was a very curt "Robotics."
He had offered to contact a few old friends who were gifted technicians of varying sorts, but the Red Ranger had got quite agitated and said that he actually wanted a robot's point of view on something.
Even though he hadn't known him for very long, Adam had thought that Mack seemed an extremely relaxed guy most of the time, despite being the team leader. Occasionally moody, sure, but he'd seen much worse.
He was curious (and slightly worried) about what might have rattled the young leader so much, but wisely decided not to pursue the question over the phone. So Adam gave Mack directions to his dojo, and mentioned that it would probably be best to come just after closing.
Mack turned up that very same evening.
He looked tired, but he kept anxiously glancing about and even jumped a bit when Adam answered the door. Despite his curiosity, he led Mack towards the empty training hall that Alpha had decided was his at night. Mack had barely said two words.
Alpha was excited to have a visitor so Adam left them to it, mentioning that he'd be just down the hall in his office if they needed him.
"It's good to see you again Mack!" chirped Alpha happily. "What did you want to ask me?"
Mack fidgeted nervously.
"Alpha, you're a robot, right? You've always known you were a robot?"
Alpha tilted his head to one side while he tried to figure out exactly what sort of question that was.
"Well of course I've always known I am a robot. What else would I be?" he waved his arms a little.
Mack sighed, realizing that Alpha looked exactly like what he was. Mack didn't. He looked far too human.
"Okay, um, do you know anything about androids?" he tried again. Alpha looked happier with this question.
"Of course I do! You are referring specifically to Earth's definition?"
"There are others?" Mack wasn't sure if he was happy about that or not, but if there were others, they might be able to help him with some of this.
Maybe.
"Almost every planet with enough advanced technology has tried to create their own artificial life forms, some more successfully than others." Alpha gleefully began explaining. "Androids or their equivalent are usually designed to mimic a sentient race as closely as possible. Most early stages are very temperamental, and cases of them turning on their creators are not uncommon..."
Mack tuned out whatever came next. He hadn't even thought of that! Did he have any younger brothers or sisters? What version was he? Had he been pulled apart and improved whenever his 'Dad' made a new breakthrough? Did his anger and hurt towards Andrew Hartford mean he was going to go nuts and turn on him? Was he evil?
Alpha must have noticed he had stopped paying attention (unless the slight trembling was giving him away) because he was now staring intently at the young Ranger in front of him.
Mack dragged his attention back to Alpha. Barely.
"What about Earth?" he asked, voice shaking slightly.
"Earth has no true androids yet." said Alpha helpfully. "Are you alright Mack? You don't look well."
Mack wasn't feeling well either.
Not only was he not human, it looked as though he may not even be from Earth.
"Are… are there… can you tell where an android might be from?" his voice was cracking now.
"If you had the right equipment it might be possible… are you fighting one? Many Ranger teams have had enemies like that… maybe you could ask… MACK!"
Mack had slipped from his chair and was now curled on the floor trembling, with his eyes screwed shut and his arms around his head. Alpha patted his shoulder lightly, but the Red Ranger only flinched away and trembled more violently.
"Mack? MACK! Oh Ai-yi-yi!" Alpha turned around for a moment, unsure what to do, before shuffling as fast as he could towards the office, yelling. "ADAM! ADAM!"
Adam wasn't sure what he had expected, but when Alpha came running (or at least shuffling very fast) into his office he knew something was wrong.
"Adam! Ai-yi-yi! Something is very wrong with Mack!" Alpha was back out the door almost immediately, and Adam bolted out behind him. He sprinted past the little robot down the hallway and skidded to a halt just a few feet inside the training hall.
The Red Overdrive Ranger didn't look good at all. Adam knelt beside him and reached out, but once again Mack flinched away.
"Mack… Mack, can you hear me?" There was no response.
"What happened, Alpha?"
"He was just asking me about androids." Alpha was fiddling with his fingers and steaming slightly, just two of the many signs the little robot was upset.
"Did he mention why?" Adam wracked his brain for Androids or Robots he'd heard of that might cause damage like this to Rangers. He couldn't think of any.
"No! Oh Adam! Do you think the other Rangers are in trouble?"
"They might be, I'd better check. Will you watch Mack?"
"Of course!" Alpha sat down, but kept twitching with nervous energy. Adam hurried back to his office to dig out the phone number for the Operation Overdrive base.
"Hartford Residence, how…"
"Spencer!" Adam interrupted the butler. "It's Adam Park, are the Rangers alright?"
"I believe so. Let me check." Adam held the phone tightly as the silence dragged on, his mind running through all sorts of unlikely scenarios.
Finally Spencer came back. "Master Mack appears to be out, but the others are all fine."
"Mack's here." said Adam quickly. "He's not well."
"What?" he could hear Andrew Hartford yelling in the background, and there was a shuffling noise from the phone. "What happened?" demanded the billionaire.
"He wanted to talk to Alpha, and he's just collapsed. Maybe I should call a doctor…"
"NO!" Andrew sounded desperate. "No, I'll be right there!"
"But…"
"Spencer!" Andrew Hartford was already running from the phone, and Adam was now even more concerned.
"Hello? Is anyone still there?" it appeared that no-one was, and after twenty seconds of silence, Adam hung up and wondered what to do next. He had no idea what was going on, and he didn't like the panicked frenzy in Andrew Hartford's voice.
He headed quickly back to Mack, shoving his phone back in his pocket for now. If the other Ranger was any worse he might just call Dana Mitchell, regardless of what Andrew Hartford wanted.
Mack wasn't trembling quite so badly now, but he was still curled miserably on the floor, and looked like he was in pain.
"Mack? I don't know what's going on, but your Dad's coming." This seemed to spur a reaction, as the Red Ranger uncurled slightly, moaning.
"No! No more upgrades!" he mumbled. Adam frowned.
"I'm sure your Dad can fix it."
Mack seemed to think otherwise as he struggled to sit up, but at least he wasn't having seizures on the floor any more.
"No! He's not my Dad!"
"What?"
"He's not my Dad!" Mack's voice was getting stronger, but the pain in his eyes was sharper. "He's not anyone's Dad! He's some kind of mad scientist!"
"WHAT?" Adam knew that strange stuff happened around Rangers, but this was weird even for them. "Are you sure?"
"Sure. Very sure. He told me." Mack was struggling weakly to his knees. Adam had no idea what to think. If Andrew Hartford was indeed some sort of mad scientist (and he had certainly sounded like one on the phone just now) did that mean the other Overdrive Rangers were in danger?
"He's not evil, is he?" Adam was almost dreading the answer, but he helped pull the swaying and exhausted Red Ranger to his feet.
"Don't know." mumbled Mack tiredly. "Have to go."
That was enough for Adam. He could figure this out later when Mack was feeling better but it didn't sound like the Red Ranger wanted to be anywhere near Andrew Hartford, who was apparently not his father.
Dragging Mack out to his car was quite an effort. Although not that heavy, the Red Ranger was fairly tall. It didn't help that Mack could barely keep standing and continued his panicked mumbling about Andrew Hartford. Alpha wandered nervously behind them both.
Adam didn't catch most of the mumbling, but the bits he did hear weren't encouraging at all.
"Was he controlling me all along?"
"What about Spencer?"
"No upgrades!"
"Do I even have a family?"
"What if he wipes my memory?"
And most alarming of all, "What if he tries to take my head off again?"
Adam nearly dropped him in shock, and Alpha squealed.
Once Mack was slumped in the passenger seat he seemed to drift into a restless sleep, and Adam began wondering where they should go. He couldn't go back to his house because Andrew Hartford had his address. That also meant Kira, Tori and Xander were out, but none of them were particularly close anyway.
He ran a hand through his hair in frustration. He needed someone with basic medical knowledge, who could help him figure out what was going on with Andrew Hartford. Someone not too far away either, as he didn't think Mack was in any shape for a long trip.
He should probably warn the other Overdrive Rangers too, but if Andrew was racing after Mack they should be safe for now.
Adam revved the engine and sped off, a destination finally in mind.
The other Overdrive Rangers had been having a very subdued evening. They had all agreed that Mack was a friend, no matter what he was (or wasn't) but that didn't mean that it hadn't been a huge shock. None of them really wanted to try and get to sleep while they were still coming to terms with this latest bombshell.
Ronny, Will and Dax were talking quietly on one of the couches, while Tyzonn stared into space with a small frown and Rose had buried herself in a very thick book with molecular diagrams on the cover. None of them blamed Mack for disappearing for the evening.
No-one except Tyzonn looked up when Spencer peeked in the doorway.
Less than a minute later Andrew Hartford was yelling. Then they heard crashing noises from direction of the slide poles leading down to the base, and just a few minutes later he and Spencer were rushing out the doors with several large cases, trailing wires behind them.
"What's going on?" called Ronny, but she got no reply. Rose shut her book, staring curiously after their mentor.
Will and Dax had stopped mid argument and Tyzonn was now staring at the door.
"Come on." Rose darted down the hallway towards their base, the others following behind. When they reached the underground command centre there were pieces of electronics strewn over almost every surface, and several on the floor. Leads and cables spilled out of a tall cupboard to one side that none of them had known existed.
Rose went straight for the main computer and pulled up the tracking software. Mr Hartford was travelling northwest, and Mack was in Angel Grove.
"What's Mack doing all the way over there?" asked Dax.
"He just needs some time alone, why would Mr Hartford be chasing him?" Ronny was puzzled. She didn't like being puzzled, and she certainly didn't like being left out of high speed travel.
Rose had frozen for a moment, her brain running in overdrive. She had been trying to ignore or bury all thoughts of Mack (who she had been beginning to think she liked a lot) but she just couldn't spare the effort any more.
Will reached over next to the unmoving Rose and pulled up the communications program, dialling Mack's morpher.
Mack didn't answer.
"Hello?" The voice was familiar, but none of them could place it. Dax fidgeted nervously while Ronny shifted from foot to foot. Something was wrong.
"Who is this? Where's Mack?" asked Will in his very best intimidating voice.
"It's Adam Park, Mack's with me."
The other Rangers gave a collective sigh of relief.
"Is he okay?" Rose would work out her feelings later. For now, she was just worried. With good reason, it seemed.
"Not really, no." was Adam's tense answer. "He came to talk to Alpha, but he seems exhausted."
"We've had a horrible day," explained Rose. "Him especially."
"He said something about Andrew Hartford not being his Dad, is that right?"
The Rangers looked at each other sadly.
"Yeah, that's true." Will sighed. He was about to explain when Adam interrupted again, and he sounded rushed now.
"He doesn't want to be anywhere near the guy, and he seems terrified of 'upgrades' for some reason." The Rangers flinched as they heard a quiet moan in the background. They hadn't really thought about the full implications of the news yet.
Rose especially was trying to wrap her prodigious mind around the fact that Mack seemed entirely capable of independent thoughts and feelings.
"Look, do you guys know where Hartford is? He said he was coming here, and Mack really doesn't want to see him." Adam jumped in again.
"No wonder." snorted Ronny.
"He left here in a huge rush not long ago." Will explained. "He had a couple of cases with him, and he's left a huge mess down here…"
Adam suddenly had a horrible sinking feeling.
"I think you ought to get out of there for now. Go somewhere safe. I'll call you guys tomorrow, but you might want to switch off whatever you've got that Hartford can track."
The Rangers stared at each other in stunned silence.
"But…" Rose began.
"Look, I don't know what's wrong with the guy, but if he's trashed your base and is after Mack then something's seriously wrong, and you might not be safe there. I'll call you tomorrow."
They could hear several clicks as Adam tried to turn off the unfamiliar morpher, before his muffled voice came through again.
"Here Alpha, shut that thing down for now. We can't have that guy tracking us."
Within seconds there was silence, and Mack's dot had disappeared from the tracking screen.
"Mr. Hartford wouldn't hurt Mack, would he?" asked Tyzonn, staring at the chaos around their normally pristine control room. He didn't think anything was broken, but there was so much clutter strewn everywhere it was hard to tell.
"I don't think so…" but Rose didn't sound sure.
"What if he's right and he gets upgraded against his will?" For once, Dax's suggestion didn't sound so far fetched.
"Does he have a will?" Ronny tried to clear some of the tiny chipboards off the computer console.
"He certainly seems to." Rose looked like she might cry.
It was Will who decided they should take action.
"Maybe we should go somewhere else for the night, just until this is all sorted out."
He sent Ronny, Dax and Tyzonn upstairs to pack a few things for everyone while he went to set up a few of his special spying gadgets and Rose began the complex task of locking Andrew Hartford out of his own computer systems. Just in case. That way they could still use their morphers if they needed to.
Jason and Trini Scott were woken late that night by someone hammering on their front door. Jason promptly rolled over and stuffed his head under the pillow, but the pounding wouldn't stop.
"Jason, go scare off the maniac, would you?" Trini elbowed her husband sleepily. Jason groaned as he rolled out of bed and headed grumpily to the front door. Putting on the most threatening expression he could muster, he wrenched the door open.
"WHAT IS IT?" he roared.
"Trouble." answered the visitor. Jason blinked in confusion. Adam Park was standing on his front porch looking very nervous and a bit dishevelled, with Alpha fidgeting just behind him.
"What sort of trouble?" Jason was suddenly wide awake. He stepped aside to let Adam into the house, but Adam started pulling him out to his car.
"Help me get him inside first."
There was a young man in Adam's front passenger seat who looked even worse than Adam. He was slumped against the door in what looked like a very uncomfortable position and he appeared to be sleeping, or possibly passed out.
Adam carefully opened the door so his passenger didn't fall face first on Jason's driveway, pulled one of the man's arms over his shoulder and hauled him out of the car. As soon as he was clear of the vehicle Jason grabbed the man's other side. Now that he was out of the car Jason wondered how Adam had managed to get him in there in the first place, as the guy could barely stand.
Once they had pulled him up though, Jason noticed the rumpled uniform with the prominent logo on the jacket.
"Overdrive?" he glanced at Adam, suddenly alarmed. "Where's the rest of them?"
"They're okay for now. Something is seriously wrong though."
The two of them carried the unconscious Red Ranger inside, where Jason quickly offered up his couch. By now Trini had come to see what was taking so long, and was standing to one side of the living room with Alpha, staring.
Once the Overdrive Ranger was laid out more comfortably, Jason turned on Adam with a worried expression.
"What on earth happened?"
"I'm not exactly sure." Adam scratched the back of his head with a grimace. "This is Mack by the way." he waved a hand at the comatose Ranger on Jason's couch.
"He called late this afternoon and wanted to visit Alpha. He didn't sound great on the phone, and he looked exhausted when he arrived. He was asking Alpha about robots and androids and just collapsed, so I rang their base."
"Are they alright?" asked Trini.
"They're fine for now."
"For now?" Jason didn't sound happy at all.
"I'm getting there. Anyway, his dad (who is also their mentor) was frantic, insisted I not call a doctor and said he was on his way over."
"So what's the problem?" Trini crossed her arms.
"The problem is when I told Mack his dad was coming he got really agitated and insisted the guy is not his dad, but is actually some sort of mad scientist."
"What?" Jason frowned as Trini gasped.
"He's not sure if the guy is evil or not, but I wasn't sticking around to find out."
"Are you sure? He wasn't just rambling?" Trini stared at the Red Ranger slumped on her couch.
"Absolutely. His team called his morpher on my way over here and they confirmed it. Hartford's not his dad, and the guy apparently trashed their base and charged off after Mack. He was rambling for a while before he passed out. Poor kid has no idea if he has a family, is scared of being memory wiped or controlled, and didn't want Hartford to, and I quote; 'try and take his head off again.' I told the rest of them to get out of there for a while and go somewhere Hartford can't track."
The three of them stared in shock and disbelief at each other for a moment until Mack shifted slightly. He looked a little more comfortable, but his face was still creased with worry and pain, even in sleep.
"What do we do?" asked Adam desperately. "Hartford built that team, he knows everything about them!"
Jason stared at the sleeping Ranger for a long time, but it was Trini who had the solution.
"I think we should wait until he wakes up and can explain. Until then, we need to make sure no-one is going to tell this Hartford guy anything."
Jason and Adam both nodded and pulled out their cell phones.
It was going to be a long night.
Tommy Oliver was very annoyed when his cell phone rang in the middle of the night. He needed to be at work first thing in the morning.
"What?" he growled into the phone when he finally reached it.
"Big trouble, bro." answered Jason. "Overdrive might be compromised."
Tommy blinked for a moment, trying to clear his head.
"WHAT?"
Jason began to explain what little they knew, and how they needed everyone to know not to tell Hartford anything until they figured out the whole story. He was very careful to stress the fact that they weren't sure, but it was better safe than sorry.
Tommy tried to remember any previous cases of mentors going bad.
Mentors had been captured, injured, spelled, killed, coerced, horribly pretentious, transformed into hamsters, and even married to a villain, but he couldn't for the life of him remember any of them who actually turned out to be villains themselves.
"So what do you want me to do?" he asked eventually.
"Can you ring Wes and Cole, and ask them to tell their teams and tech people? And then let your Dino team know. We have the others covered."
"Alright. You'd better figure out the rest of this mess fast, because there'll be a lot of edgy Rangers once this gets out."
"No kidding bro. I'll call as soon as I know anything."
Thankfully their goodbyes were short, because Tommy suddenly had a lot of phone calls to make. He should probably ring in sick in the morning too, since his phone would no doubt be ringing off the hook tomorrow. Not for the first time he wondered why people always rang him to find out about the latest Ranger drama.
Hopefully Elsa would understand.
Back at the Scott residence, Trini had just hung up on Kimberly and was trying to get a hold of Zach, leaving the huge long distance call to Billy for last.
Adam had just finished telling Tori, who was going to call the rest of her Ninja team. Xander was next on Adam's list, followed by Rocky (who could tell Justin and Aisha) and Tanya.
Jason's next call was TJ, who would hopefully tell the rest of the Space and Galaxy Rangers followed by Carter, who could tell his Lightspeed team.
After nearly an hour on their phones, they stopped to regroup.
"Is that everyone?" asked Jason, trying to tick off all the teams in his head.
"I think so." Adam flopped down into one of the arm chairs.
"Now what do we do?" Jason was still fingering his phone. "I hate waiting."
"We can't do anything until Mack wakes up, so I suggest we try and get some sleep." yawned Trini, settling herself into another chair.
"How are we supposed to sleep?" mumbled Jason grumpily, taking the last chair and sitting with his arms crossed over his chest.
Fifteen minutes later he was out like a light.
"Everybody hang on." commanded Ronny in a steely voice as she pulled the SHARC out into the night sky. They had packed the bare essentials, and Rose had managed to shift primary control of the base computer to her laptop. Since she really hadn't had enough time to lock Andrew out she had settled for locking down the base instead. Her laptop was now the only way to access the Operation Overdrive computer systems and she was still typing away furiously in her seat.
Will had set Dax up with a hand held monitor and earphone combination that was piggybacked onto the Hartford Mansion's security cameras, and a few extra ones Will had placed to cover any blind (or deaf) spots.
Tyzonn was not sure what was going on at all, and had steadily been getting more confused and nervous as the night wore on. He was now staring out the window into the darkness with an expression of intense concentration.
"So where exactly are we going?" Ronny asked Will as she cleared the mansion.
"Head for Angel Grove, we should be close to Mack in case something happens."
Andrew Hartford had been having a truly horrible day. Mack had caught a virus and discovered he was an android, and his son seemed to hate him. Now he had collapsed while talking to another robot and Andrew was terrified he'd missed something in his scans earlier.
He couldn't bear the thought of losing Mack, so he'd hurriedly tossed together some sort of android medical kit and rushed out to the garage with Spencer in tow. It wasn't until he was half an hour down the road and breaking an awful lot of speed limits that he realized he could have used one of the faster Ranger vehicles.
It had taken him half the night to reach Adam's Dojo in Angel Grove, and when he finally found it locked up, dark and empty in the early hours of the morning he was frantic. Where was Mack?
Naturally, he tried to remotely access the base computer to find out where Mack had gone, only to realize he was somehow locked out of his own computer systems.
Spencer had then reminded him of his watch, which had a very basic tracking program set for Mack's energy field.
Mack was nowhere to be found.
Andrew Hartford was now well beyond frantic and quickly heading for hysterical. The only reason for that tracking program not to work was if Mack's energy field was too low, meaning he was asleep/recharging, or if the energy field had stopped working altogether. That would mean he was somehow in stasis or dead.
After setting his loudest alarm to the dormant tracking program, Andrew wracked his brains for any ideas about what to do next. It was Spencer who came up with the answer, suggesting that perhaps he should he try contacting Adam Park, since the Black Ranger had been with Mack earlier.
It was only once Andrew had hugged the butler and started stabbing numbers into his phone with a crazed expression that Spencer realized perhaps the best thing to suggest might have been sedatives.
The first shy light of morning was barely beginning to tentatively peek over the horizon when Adam's phone rang. He, Trini and Jason immediately jerked awake, but thankfully the exhausted Overdrive Ranger continued sleeping. Adam stared at his phone display with a slightly panicked expression for a moment, before stuffing it underneath one of the cushions in his chair and sitting on it.
"Hartford." he whispered to the others. The three of them stared at each other in the almost dark, wondering what to do.
Half an hour later they had nearly gone back to sleep when Mack began to stir. His face twitched a little, and his eyes opened sluggishly.
A few miles away, Andrew Hartford's watch beeped loudly.
Mack stared at the unfamiliar ceiling and wondered where he was. He was feeling quite good this morning, right up until he remembered the events of yesterday. Blinking slowly up at the strange light fixtures with a despondent expression he eventually sighed and sat up, cradling his head in his hands for a moment. When he looked up, it was straight into the concerned gaze of Adam Park.
There were two other vaguely familiar people in the room, both leaning forward in their chairs with curious and worried expressions… and Alpha was standing in one corner with his lights blinking dimly in a slow pattern, almost in time with his own breathing. Mack quickly pulled away from that line of thought and focused on the one person he knew.
"What happened?" he asked Adam.
"You collapsed, so I rang your… sorry, I rang Mr Hartford. Then you explained a bit, so I dragged you out to my car before he got there. This is Trini and Jason Scott." Adam gestured to the other two occupants of the room. "You're in their house in Angel Grove."
"Thank you." Mack sighed, letting some of the tension leave his shoulders.
"Your team called. Apparently Hartford trashed the base and went charging off after you. What on earth happened yesterday Mack?" Adam leant forward in his chair with a small frown.
"He WHAT?" Mack stared at Adam with wide eyes, beginning to panic again. "Why would he… unless… he… Are they okay?"
"They were fine when they called. I told them to take off for the night. They were really worried about you." Adam pulled Mack's morpher from one of his pockets and handed it over. "I had Alpha turn it off in case Hartford was tracking you."
Mack accepted the powerful little gadget with a strained smile. "He probably doesn't need this to track me."
Running a hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh, Mack flipped the morpher over a few times before turning it on.
A few miles away, Rose's laptop beeped loudly.
The insistent buzzing of an alarm woke the Overdrive Rangers from their restless sleep just after the break of dawn. Rose uncurled from her position on one of the chairs and reached wearily for her laptop while all around the cockpit the other Rangers were stirring from awkward positions and stretching sore muscles.
"Mack's morpher is on again... and Mr Hartford isn't far away either." Rose started typing while the rest of the team assembled around her in varying states of awareness.
Tyzonn looked almost the same as yesterday, tense and worried, but now his hair was sticking out in strange directions. Dax was somehow yawning, stretching and rubbing his eyes all at once and Ronny was tiredly trying to tie her hair back properly. Will looked absolutely fine except for the crosshatch pattern of the flooring which was now embossed on his cheek.
Rose rubbed a hand across her face and focused.
It was time to call Mack.
Jason barely restrained a flinch when Mack's morpher beeped loudly barely a minute after he turned it on. He watched warily as the younger man answered, and everyone relaxed when a young woman's voice came through.
"Mack! Are you alright? We were so worried!"
The young Overdrive Ranger smiled tiredly. "Hey Rose. I'm okay. What about you guys? Adam said Da… Hartford wrecked the base!"
"We're fine." answered a different voice, male this time. "And It wasn't wrecked exactly, just a huge mess."
Jason frowned questioningly at Trini, trying to differentiate between 'wrecked' and 'huge mess'. She shrugged back at him.
"But why would he do that? And why can't he leave me alone!" Mack's voice cracked a little. "He can't leave me to think for one night?"
"I have no idea…" Rose's voice was back. "…but we took Adam's advice, locked the place down and took off in the SHARC. We're not far from you actually." Rose tried to think of a way to answer Mack's other question. "As for Mr Hartford, maybe… maybe he's gone over the edge a bit. He was really worried yesterday. Everything sort of happened all at once and I'm sure he hasn't had any sleep yet."
Jason, Adam and Trini all looked toward the street suddenly as the sound of screeching tyres broke the early morning air. Mack's head whipped up as Jason walked over to the window, Adam only a step behind. Trini moved to block any view of their young guest from outdoors.
"Mack, what's going on?" asked Rose urgently.
"Crazy guy in a convertible." answered Jason from the window.
"That's Hartford!" Adam had met the man before but he looked quite different now, vaulting clumsily out of his car with a bag that was trailing cables and a crazed expression of desperation. The bags under his eyes and dishevelled hair just added to the look of a mad scientist.
"Oh no." Mack groaned, shoulders tensing. "He's found me!"
Ronny dove for the controls as soon as the screeching was heard, and had the SHARC up and running by the time Adam confirmed Mr Hartford was there.
"Hold on." was all the warning the Rangers got as she gunned the engine and shot off towards the Scott's house at full speed, following the tracking beacons of both Hartfords.
The view from the Scott's living room windows was rather extraordinary. A small red convertible blocked the driveway diagonally across the pavement with a rather green looking elder gentleman in the passenger seat. Andrew Hartford had indeed vaulted over his door, but one of the cables trailing out of his bag had caught on the gear shift and he stumbled badly. Once he had pulled free he was racing for the front door as if there was an emergency of some sort.
Jason started for the door when the man began hammering on it, but Adam caught his arm.
"Just stall a minute." he looked back at Mack, who was pacing in front of the couch with his hands in his hair.
"What am I going to do? Why can't he leave me alone for a while? Is that too much to ask?"
Trini had pulled the curtains on the second window and turned back to the agitated young man, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"You'll have to face him eventually, but not alone."
"And not indoors." scowled Jason. "I'm going to enjoy this." He waved everyone out of sight and stalked towards the front door, frantic banging still coming from the other side.
He wrenched it open much like he had earlier and Andrew Hartford was suddenly confronted with a large, dangerous looking, furious stranger. Jason took full advantage of his momentary shock.
"Who the hell are you?" he bellowed at the man, who backed up rather quickly. "What do you think you're doing?" Jason followed him as the man tried to retreat. "Try to break down my door, will you?" He had pursued Hartford almost halfway across the lawn when the man finally got a hold of himself.
"I-I-I'm sorry to bother you so early. I'm looking for my son, I tracked him here…"
"I'm not your son!" Mack exploded from the doorway with Adam and Trini right behind. "Can't you leave me alone for a day? I need to think about all this, if I can even think." Mack snorted derisively. Andrew seemed to wilt a little, but he was soon trying to move towards the young Ranger, pulling some sort of contraption out of his bag and holding it out in front of him. Jason and Adam kept themselves firmly between the two.
"I know you're upset Mack, but Adam said you collapsed last night and I just want to make sure nothing else is wrong…"
"Like hell you do!" snarled Mack angrily, jumping further away. "You want to try and take my head off again! I won't let you!"
"Mack, that was for your own good. That virus was…"
"Leave him alone, I've heard enough!" roared Jason, finally dropping into the fighting pose he'd been itching to use ever since the crazy guy had first shown up on his front lawn. Trini was instantly beside him, glaring at Hartford from behind deadly curled fists.
Andrew stared dazedly at the large, muscled man and the angry Asian woman in front of him. "Who are you people?" he asked, eyes darting sideways to Adam who glared back at him and made no move to help.
It was at that moment that the SHARC arrived with a whine of turbines as it landed. Rose, Dax, Will and Tyzonn had jumped out before Ronny had even touched the wheels down. They rushed to their teammate's side, joining the barricade between Mack and Mr Hartford and exchanging quick and quiet greetings with their Red Ranger.
The small army of Rangers on Jason's lawn had just doubled, all of them glaring at Andrew Hartford, who actually looked happy to see them. Ronny soon joined them and all of them were trying to shield Mack from view, which would have worked if only he had been shorter. Jason had never been prouder of a junior team.
"Guys! Can you please explain that I don't want to hurt Mack?" Andrew was looking desperately at the newly arrived Overdrive Rangers, who didn't look happy.
"You just admitted you want to take his head off!" growled Jason in a very careful tone. Trini nudged him gently with one shoulder, knowing how close he was to losing his temper. "No-one does that to a Ranger while I'm breathing." His eyes were full of fiery confidence, and Andrew Hartford just knew that this man was worse than Moltor and Flurious, possibly worse than the two combined.
"Who are you people?" he asked again.
"Jason Scott. First Red." growled Jason, watching gleefully as Andrew's eyes widened comically. He wished he dared take his eyes off Andrew for long enough to see Mack and the rest of the Overdrive team's reactions. There was a collective gasp from behind him.
"Trini Scott, first Yellow." added Trini in a low voice. "And you disgrace that legacy, trying to kill your Rangers!"
Andrew Hartford paled dramatically and looked horribly sick all of a sudden.
"What… but… I would never! Guys, I would never… you know that! Mack…" he gazed wistfully at the Overdrive Rangers, Mack staring over their shoulders back at him. He certainly didn't look like he wanted to kill anyone, least of all Mack.
"I was so worried; I thought I hadn't cleared your programming properly!"
Now it was Jason, Trini and Adam's turn to be horribly confused.
"Programming?" asked Adam at once.
Andrew looked crestfallen. "You… didn't tell them?"
Mack shook his head, still staring warily over his team's shoulders. "When would I have had a chance? I only found out yesterday, I was exhausted and you've been tearing after me like a raving maniac!" Jason was surprised to note that the Red Ranger's wariness now extended to himself, Trini and Adam. He had moved, placing his team between himself and anyone else at all. They now encircled him protectively and the Pink Ranger had taken his hand.
"Excuse me, programming?" tried Adam again. Mr Hartford turned to face him with a very strained expression, and all of the Overdrive Rangers suddenly tensed up.
"Mack is an Android." he said after a long awkward pause.
"So?" was Trini's immediate response. The Overdrive team relaxed a little, and Mack looked stunned.
"That… actually explains a lot." murmured Adam.
Jason hadn't moved, nor had his threatening expression. "I don't care if he's an alien. You're still not taking his head off." Now it was Tyzonn's turn to look surprised.
"But… I wasn't… he… it's the safest way to fix him." Andrew pouted.
"Let me get this straight." started Jason. "Mack is an Android, you only told him that yesterday, then you trash their base and chase him all night to take his head off and fix him? What are you, nuts?"
Trini was carefully watching the emotions darting across Andrew's face, and she could clearly see the moment when he realized that he had overreacted badly.
"I was so worried…" he started again, but Mack had had enough.
"And how do you think I felt, or am I not supposed to feel?" he snapped contemptuously. "You dump all that on me after I wake up to find my head is off and then you won't leave me alone to figure out whether I can even think or not!"
The protective circle of Overdrive Rangers had tightened around him unconsciously. Rose squeezed his hand and Will placed a hand on his shoulder, still frowning at Andrew as the man seemed to shrink into himself.
"I'm sorry, I didn't think." he answered quietly. "You're my son, I worry about you."
"I'm not your son." spat Mack. "I'm some sort of project!"
"Not to us you're not." said Ronny gently, nudging him.
"I'm sorry." said Andrew again, looking as if he might cry.
Adam sighed. "Look, I know you care about him, but you're being a bit ridiculous." Andrew's shoulders slumped further, and he seemed to be swaying slightly.
"When was the last time you slept?" Trini narrowed her eyes.
"last ni… no, the night before?" now that his adrenaline fuelled hysteria had died down, the events of the last day and a half were finally catching up with him.
"Yeah Mr H, you don't look so good." Dax stepped forward as Andrew swayed dangerously. "Why don't you sit down?" The Blue Ranger lowered him to lean against the fence, and almost immediately Andrew was drifting off to sleep, head dropping to one side.
Mack rolled his eyes. "Some things never change."
Trini turned to the Overdrive team. "Will you be okay to go home?" Everyone turned to look at Mack.
"I think so." he said. "It's a big place, I can just avoid him. I don't hate him exactly, but I wish he'd leave me alone for a while."
"We can run interference." suggested Will. "And I'm sure once he's had some sleep he'll realize what an idiot he's been."
"Oh he knows he was an idiot." Mack groaned. "He's going to feel awful about it when he wakes up, the trouble is he'll want to apologize."
"How is that a bad thing?" asked Ronny.
"He'll want to apologize immediately, in person and at great length."
"So we'll make him write it down." Rose grinned. "We'll tell him you really don't want to see him but we'll give you a letter. He'll spend hours, maybe days trying to get it perfect."
"And if worst comes to worst, you can toss him on the roof." smirked Will.
"We'd better all get home for some more rest before he wakes up." pointed out Ronny. "The way I'm feeling, I don't want to deal with him right now either."
Jason suddenly had an evil grin.
"Tell you what, leave his car here and make him come and apologize to me first. I'll get the Silver Guardians to tow it and he'll spend ages sorting it out." Will snorted, Ronny giggled. Rose and Dax smiled while Tyzonn tried to look like he had understood why that might be amusing.
Mack smiled at Adam, Trini and Jason. "Thanks so much for all your help."
"No problem." Adam waved a hand absently. "Just make sure you keep in touch okay? And you know where to find me if you need a day away."
With a lot of handshakes and a few hugs, the Overdrive Rangers prepared to leave. Andrew Hartford was loaded into the back of the SHARC and Spencer was found asleep in the convertible and gently moved to a spare seat. Jason was given the car keys and phone numbers were exchanged.
"I'm glad that turned out okay." sighed Trini as the SHARC faded into the distance.
"Okay? This is a huge setback for them! How will they ever be able to trust their mentor now? And that poor kid is just starting a huge identity crisis." Jason stared at his wife incredulously.
"But it's better than if the guy was evil." Trini calmly pointed out.
"I guess." groaned Adam. "Now we just have to explain this to the sixty odd Rangers we put on high alert last night."
The End
A note on locations: Google Maps are great.
Angel Grove is near the sea and also near the Command Centre. The filming location of the Command Centre was a Jewish University north of Bel Air which is interestingly near the Stone Canyon Reservoir. So, I'm guessing the location of Angel Grove would be somewhere roughly northwest of Santa Monica.
As for Operation Overdrive, most people seem to agree that San Angeles is a very thinly veiled allusion to Los Angeles. I think it's way too much of a coincidence that there is a place just east-south-east of Los Angeles called Corona, so that's the direction the Hartford Mansion is located.