Title: Changing of the Circumstances
Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or the characters in Time Force.
Pairing: Eric/Wes
Author: Afterphase
Rating: T (for now)
Summary: Set 3 years into the future. Wes' powers take a turn for the worst. A new threat arises that makes it nearly impossible not to morph, but everytime Wes does, his life grows darker. Eric/Wes SLASH.
Note: Reviews are love. This is also my first Eric/Wes story. Also the stage in their relationship is the beginning. They just came to terms with their feelings, or rather Wes did for Eric. Eric already had his.
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Chapter One: Three Years Later...
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"Time for, Time Force!"
"Quantum Power!"
The Red Time Force Ranger and the Quantum Ranger were once again forced to call on their powers.
Bio-Lab's top scientist and researcher, Dr. Zaskin had developed a new stimulant that could temporarily grant humans incredible strength and heightened senses. It was an advanced form of a regular steroid, but after doing extensive research and even testing it, the conclusion was that it was incapable of being used. That was until today.
A new wave of crime had swept through Silver Hills. The group was rising, and becoming more powerful. They were ordinary humans, and should have been able to be thwarted easily, but a few members had actually worked for Bio-Lab. In having access to the company, those select members took Dr. Zaskin's supposed flawless capsules, and returned them to their leader.
Now Wes and Eric were facing these very members, but with the added effects from the drugs.
"Who are these low-lives?" The crimson ranger asked as they ran through the halls of Bio-Lab trying to reach the top floor in time.
"They call themselves The Black Plague. They're only Class D criminals but now they have that new enhancer stimulant that Dr. Zaskin developed."
"Wes, I thought that it didn't work."
"Well we're about to find out!"
Wes grabbed his Chronoblaster and shot it towards the blocking door. Red streaks collided with the lock, the handle breaking loose and falling towards the ground.
Eric rushed forward then and kicked the door open.
The three former scientists stopped in their tracks. One of them had the case the held the advanced steroids.
"Dr. Daniels, Dr. Reys, and Dr. Phillips, it's good to see that your loyalty is so easily swayed." Eric replied bitterly with a hint of sarcasm as usual. The three scientists had been given exclusive access to almost every area in Bio-Lab after proving themselves, but it only turned out that they were working for another the entire time.
Not wasting any time, using his open advantage to get the in, Eric rushed forward.
"Eric, wait!" Wes yelled after his best friend, teammate, and current lover. However seeing that Eric wasn't stopping, Wes had no choice but to go after him.
Dr. Reys turned around, running off down the hall as he was the one with the briefcase. "Take care of them!" He yelled back at his companions and made for his escape.
Phillips grabbed onto Eric once he tried to carry out his thrust attack. He grabbed onto Eric's wrists, his grip seeming like steel and he flipped him into the air, slamming him back against the wall.
"Son of a --" The shove into the wall didn't have that much effect on the Quantum Ranger, but the fact that he still got a hold of him, and had been able to throw him into the wall confused him. The steroids were classified as defective, so they shouldn't have been able to be used. Eric tried to recover but Phillips already had him in the steel grip. Dr. Phillips' steel grip was on Eric's shoulders, and he began with slamming the Quantum Ranger into the wall, his helmet indenting the wall even further everytime.
"Eric!" Wes had been trying his best to hold off Daniels, but the strength they had right now was overpowering. He went to rush after Eric.
If they were together there would be a much better chance of defeating both of the scientists, but separated gave the betrayers the advantage.
Dr. Daniels grabbed onto Wes' waist, throwing him with one arm back into the wall. He then grunted and grabbed Wes' wrists and started clamping his steel like hands down.
"Ah!" Wes cried out as he looked down and saw that he was crushing not only his wrists but his morpher. Trying to resist only made the grip tighten and the next thing that followed was a scream from Wes.
Electric bolts shot out of Wes' morpher then, the red bolts making Dr. Daniels move back.
Wes fell down on the ground and his body started to convulse as the red bolts attacked him. The outer case of his morpher had been cracked and crushed in some.
Eric saw the latter part of what happened to him and twisted against the hold that Phillips had, kicking him back. He quickly grabbed his Quantum Defender and then shot Phillips' back, the darker red strikes colliding with Phillips' chest, sending him back onto the ground.
Nothing else mattered – the only thing that did was if Wes was alright. Eric would compromise the mission to ensure that. The scientists could flee for all he cared.
Eric watched as Daniels tried to move closer to Wes again.
"Think again!" He shot another blast at the second scientist, which made him back down.
Eric dropped down by Wes and tried to pull him into his arms, but as soon as he did, the red bolts started to electrocute him. "Damn it!" Eric gritted his teeth as his jaw locked and he tipped his head back from the pain. The bolts were swarming around both of their bodies. He however reached forward while his own body shook. Sparks flew off of both of their chests, but Eric continued to reach and once he pressed a button on the broken morpher, Wes finally demorphed.
Eric winced as he looked back but noticed that both of the scientists were already gone. "Damn."
The suit had protected Wes from the major physical damage, but his wrists were black and the one with his morpher was bleeding. His hair was drenched with sweat and his face was pale.
After demorphing himself, Eric pulled Wes closer and moved his hand to cup Wes' cheek. "Wes, talk to me." He could tell that Wes was somewhat still delirious from the shock. Brushing his thumb over Wes' skin, Eric tried to bring him out of it.
"Come on Wes... talk to me."
Blue eyes met with his then. "Eric...?" Wes coughed then as he tried to sit up.
"Yeah it's me, blue eyes."
"Wesley!"
Eric moved his hand away from Wes' face then and moved back slightly, so it didn't appear as if they were that close.
"Dad?" Wes said groggily as he leaned up and watched as his father along with a few of the Silver Guardians rushed into the hallway.
"What happened?" Mr. Collins looked first at Wes but then at Eric. "Will you please explain how three scientists got away?"
There had been a time when Mr. Collins had calmed some, but that seemed like a distant, far-off memory. He was back to his usual self and once again instead of looking to how his son is, he goes to what they didn't succeed at.
Eric coldly looked at Mr. Collins and then looked back at Wes. "They somehow took the steroids, and they actually worked. Their strength was like steel and one of them..." He had to think for a moment, drifting back to what had just happened. "Daniels got too close to Wes and they shattered part of his morpher."
The memory flowed through Wes' mind as Eric spoke. He then almost out of instinct looked down at his wrist. He winced when he saw his singed skin. Deciding finally to sit all the way up, Wes leaned forward and unclasped his morpher. He winced but subsided the moan of pain through gritted teeth. As soon as the morpher fell it revealed the blood and the true extent of his burn.
"Wesley, can you walk?" His father coldly replied as he directed one of the Guardians to take Wes' morpher down to one of the open labs so it could be repaired.
"Yeah, I'll manage." Wes looked at Eric, giving him a thankful look. It wasn't uncommon that the two saved each other, on many occasions, but now that they had grown closer, and bridged the gap in their relationship, it was different. Each one cared for the other more than they had anyone else, and even though they were partners fighting, it still didn't take the worry that one of them might be seriously injured.
Wes stood up, and even though Eric helped him he tried to move away from him.
"Myers." Mr. Collins looked at him while he went stiff and stood.
Wes stopped to wait for Eric.
"I want you to go and try to find the three that escaped. Take the Silver Guardians."
"Actually, Sir, wouldn't it be best if I got Wes medical attention first?"
"Wesley can walk, he'll be fine."
"It's okay, Eric...I'll see you later?" Wes gave him another reassuring look, though his later comment had ended in a question like it always did. He saw Eric nod and then turned to walk down the hallway. He wouldn't have his morpher so if there was any danger, he would just be a civilian, but what could happen at the hospital?
They had a Medical Ward at Bio-Lab in case of emergencies, so Wes decided to stop there. He didn't need the hospital asking all of their questions, and they had probably the best doctors in Silver Hills at Bio-Tech anyway.
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After spending around an hour with one of the doctors, Wes left Bio-Lab. Both of his wrists had been wrapped up with bandages and Wes had refused any type of brace or cast for his left wrist, the one where the morpher had been.
After Jen, Trip, Katie, and Lucas returned to the future, Wes had decided to still keep the old clock tower, and had fixed it up some. It was wear he now lived. He worked for his father now and there was no reason to rent or lease another apartment. The clock tower seemed as much of a home to him as any, and it was also the one place where he could still be close to his former friends.
The sky was darkening from the night finally coming.
His relationship with Eric had been less complicated. The first couple of months after Jen left, Wes had closed himself off from almost everyone. He told her that he loved her, and she told him the same. His feelings for her were strong but it was something that could never be, never happen. But Eric had been there for him through all of that, and somehow – one way or the other, they grew very close. They were best friends, at each other's side through everything. Through that closeness, Wes simply asked him if there was more to their relationship than any was letting on, and after a few confessions thus began the first stage of their current relationship.
Eric had his own place, having got back his small house after deciding to stay in Silver Hills. But it was usually every other night that they were either at Eric's, or at the Clock Tower.
Wes hadn't heard from him since they last saw each other at Bio-Lab.
Hearing his phone ring, however, made the still dazed Red Ranger jump and he quickly ran to grab it.
Eric.
Once he read the name he flipped open the cellphone and brought it up to his ear. "Hey."
"Hey blue eyes, how are you feeling?"
"I guess you could say better. Did you find them?"
"Yes and no. We caught Phillips but the other two managed to get away. He's being interrogated now but they let me leave."
An image popped up and the screen started to activate on the Chrono Communicator. They had left it behind just in case something might or could have happened. Though it hadn't been active in any time of the three years. Wes turned and his eyes widened when he saw...her.
"Eric... I...I have to go." He then hung up the phone without waiting for him to say goodbye.
Wes ran over to the screen and stared blankly at it. "Jen!?"
The screen was fading in and out but it was obvious that it was the Pink Ranger.
"Wes... you're alright..."
"Let me see!" Another voice was heard and then the strong and somewhat feisty yellow ranger appeared on the screen then.
"Katie!" Wes smiled as he saw her.
Jen had pushed Katie and the others out of the view of the transmission before it would end. "Wes, we can't talk for long. The future has changed. I don't know what happened but it says you die in the year 2005. I... we had to find some way to warn you."
"2005... that's a year from now, that's not possible!"
"Wes, we can't just let you die. History is going to re-write itself in worse ways if you do. We've been cleared for going back to the time... 2004. We'll be there as soon as we can Wes, just please... please don't do anything careless."
The transmission went dead then.
"WES! Wes! Are you here?"
Wes turned around hearing a voice down stairs. "Yes." He yelled back to the voice. He knew it was Eric's and in a matter of seconds Eric was approaching him.
"Don't do that again!" Eric was frowning and his voice sounded angry.
"What... what did I do?" The blond blinked a few times and he tried to remember what he would have done.
Eric approached him then and grabbed Wes' face with his hands and pressed his lips against his. It was a rough kiss but there was passion in it like always. After staring into Wes' blue eyes for awhile he moved back and looked at him. "You hung up on me... you didn't even tell me what happened."
Eric had become very protective of Wes, even before they had become lovers. When they were still simply friends, it had been that way everytime.
Wes wasn't really surprised that Eric had kissed him. This wasn't the first time that he had failed to mention something to Eric, and to have him worry. "Sorry... I was shocked, the transmission worked on the Chrono Communicator. I .. I saw Jen..." He lingered on her name for awhile but then continued. "And I saw Katie."
"You saw Jen?" His voice was low but he failed to mention the Yellow Ranger. If it was her that had contacted him, there wouldn't have been as much tension. Sure Wes was -his- now, but there was still always going to be the 'what if' part of his relationship with Jen.
"Yeah... they're coming back from the future."
"Why?" Eric's typical frown masked his face again. Now they were returning.
"Because apparently in the year 2005, I die."