Spoiler Warning: Being a side-story to McPoodle's "Black & White" (which I helped co-author), this assumes that you've already read Black & White. If you haven't yet read Black & White, do so now or this story will spoil the ending for you!

Author's Note: I'm credited as Roxor in Black & White, but Rohan Bernett is my preferred pen-name. Credit here goes to McPoodle for co-authoring with me.


Black And White: The Switch

By Rohan Bernett and McPoodle

Day 1

Earth-A

Laurel Weir knew it was only a matter of time before Nimnul came back. Everything was prepared. Lou had his orders, the Dimensional Switcher was set for the post-apocalyptic Earth-C, now the only thing missing was Nimnul. The two-way radio, of which Lou had the matching unit, gave a distinct pattern of four pulses of static, sounding out the bass-line from Doctor Who. Laurel quickly put down her pen, closed Nimnul's notebook and retreated into the shadows.

Above her position at the entrance to the bunker, the door to the surface opened. Nimnul hovered in his pod for a moment, obviously having to let his eyes adjust after being out in the sun. The sight of the naked sun caused remnants of scrambled memories to stir in Laurel's mind, but they dissipated almost as quickly as they had come together. Nimnul and his hover-pod looked the worse for wear. Many of the silver hemispheres on the pod were cracked or shattered and he was covered in a layer of dust and debris, diminishing the black of his outfit.

Laurel noticed that Nimnul's attention was on the shimmering block of the Dimensional Switcher, which was currently in its idle state, however she couldn't help noticing the box of explosives Nimnul was carrying.

"You'll never get away with this, Davros," said Laurel from the shadows.

Nimnul had started hovering down from the entrance, but stopped several metres off the ground.

"It's about time that somebody caught the reference, although I am disappointed that I had to go completely black before anyone recognised it. So, I have a would-be hero to face, do I? Show yourself!"

"A hero, me? Not likely." she thought to herself.

Laurel stepped into view, watching Nimnul's continued descent.

"Oh, I'd say the resemblance to the Doctor Who villain was pretty obvious. I'm surprised you haven't started screaming 'Exterminate!' yet," she replied dryly. Out of the corner of her eye, Laurel noticed the outer door quietly open to admit the Rescue Rangers into the bunker. "Well, looks like my plan just got easier," thought Laurel.

Nimnul didn't seem to notice the arrival of the Rangers and simply continued his conversation with Laurel. She knew it would be in her best interests to keep him talking.

"It's more of a homage," said Nimnul. "More importantly, unlike the original, I know that sometimes the best reaction is to run. Now is one of those times. Now step out of my way so I can leave this world. Surely you have no objection to that?"

Nimnul piloted a diagonal course to the ground, putting the Dimensional Controller between himself and Laurel. Laurel watched him set the controls, quite clearly not suspecting that she'd added a dummy control panel to stop him from setting the destination anywhere other than Earth-C. After setting the controls, he removed a makeshift time bomb from the box he had brought, and attached it to the Switcher. He placed his hand on the scanner, but was annoyed to see that the screen remained black.

"What have you done to the Viewer?" he asked irritably.

"It's the scaling circuit. You shouldn't have used sub-standard equipment."

Laurel began to slowly approach Nimnul, her eyes fixed on his goggles.

"What I object to, Nimnul, is you avoiding your responsibility. It's quite an apparent character flaw you have. You fled your world to ours because..."

"...because my world had no place for me, was unwilling to reward me as I deserved. As your television show has taught me, I was living in a world where the universe revolved around a team of vermin. So I came here, and it took a while, but I found that this world is not for me, either. So I leave your world saved from alien annihilation, my victims unharmed. You ought to thank me for what I've done for you all, so why are you so disappointed?"

Nimnul was answered by the voice of David Kano. "We are disappointed because you squandered your potential. You have no idea how much we gave up to put you in this position, and what did you do once you got it? You planned to invade the Galaxy rather than take the perfect retirement! How could you not foresee that this course of action would doom the Earth even more thoroughly than the Danaans could ever dream? Does your arrogance have no bounds?"

"Who... how...?"

Laurel held out an arm. This was the signal for Sparky to emerge from the safety of her hair.

"Gah!" Nimnul sputtered, pointing. "You must both belong to that race of shape-shifting aliens from the show!"

"We're not Fleeblebroxians," Sparky, or rather, David, replied. "I simply reproduced your Metamorphosizer. When I was injured on the Moon, it must have gone off before it was destroyed, trapping me in this form."

"You're lying!"

"Can you come up with a better explanation?" challenged the mouse.

Laurel was confident that Nimnul would buy David's cover-story. After all, to her knowledge, he hadn't been given any hints to her and David's true origins.

"...no," replied Nimnul in defeat.

Only now did he notice how close the two of them had crept while he was pondering his answer.

"I would appreciate it if you stepped back a foot or two."

"What if we don't want to?"

"You should know that I'm armed with six different death machines..."

"You abhor killing!" exclaimed Laurel. "Why else would you abolish the death penalty as your first act after the war?"

"...six different death machines, and fifteen different ways to cause pain or unconsciousness." He flicked a switch on the hover-pod's control panel. "If you make one more move, they'll start firing. Now to get that scaler fixed..."

Laurel and David saw Foxglove landing on the back of the Dimensional Switcher.

"What alternate Earth will you flee to?" asked David in hopes of distracting Nimnul. "The one where the Roman Empire never fell, or the one where men are ruled by apes?"

"You've been reading my notes, then. No, I'll return to my home dimension. I've learnt enough here to be able to take over that world even easier than I gained this one, and this time, there will be no rebellions. Even better, there will be no Rescue Rangers to stop me, because they will be stranded on this world... forever!"

Laurel snorted. "Why are you even bothering with explosives? The plans for that equipment are already posted on the Wired. We'll be able to rebuild in days."

"Even the Dimensional Switcher?"

"Blast! I'm nowhere near finished duplicating the schematics for that!" thought Laurel.

Nimnul grinned at Laurel's momentary scowl. "The Switcher is my invention, and there isn't a man on this planet who will ever be able to reproduce it!"

"You can't go back there, I'm warning you!" said David. "We have been told of the future of your world, and you will destroy it if you return. You will not mean to do this, but that is the inevitable result."

"Who told you this?"

"My counterpart, Sparky."

"I knew I never should have trusted that rat! He's going to the top of the enemies list when I return."

"See, that's the sort of attitude that will destroy your world. Sparky knew that would happen before you messed up his memory. We only found out about the fate of your world should you return due to a moment of clarity he saw me."

"Destroy the world? Don't be ridiculous! I'll conquer the world, and bring it the peace and prosperity it always deserved. Why would I want to destroy the Earth? It's where I keep all my stuff!"

"You don't get it, do you Nimnul? You're too self-absorbed to really try and help anyone if there's nothing in it for you. You won't take responsibility for your actions. You run away from them instead. It's your selfish streak that threatens your world. No. You're not going to escape this time. We'll personally see to it."

"Over my dead batteries! Eat amperes!"

CLICK-CLICK went the button on the control panel, but nothing happened.

"Uh..." Nimnul looked worried now and tried several other controls with the same results.

"Looking for this?" asked Foxglove, holding a circuit board from the hover-pod. Laurel didn't know how the pod's electronics were set up, but given it was still hovering, she guessed it was the weapon controller.

"You... no, it can't be! You're not supposed to be able to talk!"

"We had a little help from our friends," said Chip as he and Dale hopped down from the hover-pod.

Laurel resumed her approach to the hover-pod, stepping around the Dimensional Controller. Nimnul backed away from both the Rangers and Laurel, putting him next to the Switcher. He looked over at the timer on his bomb in time to see Gadget finish pulling apart the timer.

"The bomb's deactivated, guys!"

"You!"

"Oh, hello, Nimnul! You know, you really should have asked us before bringing us here. I mean, it's nice to see a new place, but being stuck 'half-there' in your head for a week is rather awkward. You know what I mean?"

"Gah! I was so much better off when I couldn't understand you!"

He reached out and pulled Laurel close to him. Laurel didn't even try to resist, given Nimnul was unknowingly helping her plan along. David hopped off her shoulder just as they'd planned.

"I'm going back home, and I'm taking a hostage! You will not use the Switcher to follow me, or I will hurt her!" commanded Nimnul.

Laurel grinned wickedly. "A Switch? What a great idea!" Before Nimnul could react, she shoved the hover-pod into the barrier and touched it herself, causing both of them to fall unconscious.


Earth-C

At first everything for Laurel was black, but her hearing and vision cleared up in a few seconds. Looking around, she spotted shrew-Nimnul lying on the ground, looking up at the sky. The whole world had a visual feel to it as if it were created with computer graphics that might exist in the hands of movie studios or game developers in ten years. Laurel gave a smirk. 2008 wasn't that far away, after all.

"Where am I?" asked Nimnul.

"Welcome to your new home, Professor." Laurel noticed that her voice had changed slightly. She sounded a bit harsher than she was used to.

"You're a mouse!"

Laurel looked down at herself. She was wearing a dirty yellow shirt and faded blue pants. What was exposed was covered in a light-brown fur and she could feel her tail moving around behind her. Moving her hands to her head, she could feel that she had a lot of thick hair. Hair, which when she brought a strand round to the front turned out to be blond.

"Yes. Yes, I am. Haven't you taken a look at yourself?"

"I... I... I'm afraid to."

"Aw, what's wrong, Professor? Scared you won't like what you see?"

Nimnul whimpered in acknowledgement.

If Nimnul was going to be like this the whole time, this would be a very easy task for Laurel.

"Up you get, Professor," snapped Laurel. "I'm not going to sit around bored just because I'm going to be your warden while you're on this world."

"How long are we going to be here?" whined Nimnul.

"Until Francine decides to switch us back. In your case, that might never happen if she likes your counterpart from this world more than you. Not a hard thing to imagine, really."

Nimnul got to his feet and in the process of getting up, looked at himself.

"I'm a... a... vermin!" he cried, looking like he was about to have a nervous breakdown.

Laurel promptly slapped him across the face, almost knocking him to the ground.

"I will not have you wasting my time by going blue-screen on me. Don't think I won't hit you harder than that in the future."

"I had no idea a mouse could hit that hard."

"Oh, my counterpart can hit much harder than that. Just consider yourself lucky I'm not as experienced as she is."

"Do I want to know what she can do?"

"Probably not, but you still don't want to get into a fight with her."

Laurel surveyed their surroundings. In the immediate vicinity were buildings which had been abandoned for thirty years, with an overgrowth of vegetation, both from gardens and nature reclaiming the roads. The nearest buildings were in the best condition, but even that wasn't saying much. Far off in the distance lay great piles of rubble where buildings used to stand, along with a headless giant statue on its island out in the bay.

This city used to be New York.

Laurel's ears pricked up as she heard footsteps.

Approaching were four rats who distinctly looked like scum.

"Look, as I told Capone's other goon squad yesterday, the Professor won't be working for him. If you want his plans, you wait until they get distributed like anyone else," said Laurel, remembering what she'd seen her counterpart do the previous day.

"Oh, we're not here for that loser Capone. We're here for Fat Daddy C."

"Are you deaf? I just said that you'll have to wait like everyone else. Now, get lost!"

"When Fat Cat wants something, he gets it," replied the dimmest-looking of the rats.

"Not around here, he doesn't. You can tell your boss that if he wants anything the Professor isn't already working on, he'll have to file a request and wait like anyone else. Now, get lost."

"Nobody turns down Fat Cat without regretting it."

The rats promptly charged at Laurel and Nimnul, fists ready. While Laurel didn't have the combat experience of her counterpart, she did have her counterpart's physical strength and speed. Her counterpart may have been able to handle four opponents this size, but the difference made by experience clearly showed with Laurel struggling against just two. Nimnul, however, was completely useless. All he was doing was running and hiding from the two who went after him.

Finally, Laurel knocked her opponents to the ground, but with Nimnul stuck out of their reach the other two just came after her. Given she was near the point of collapse, she was certain she was going to lose, at least, until she spotted a vehicle heading for them, loaded up with rodents.

The two chipmunks on board held out a stick off to the side which Laurel could see would hit the rats if they didn't change course. Laurel ducked at the last second and the rats were knocked flying by the stick, the vehicle skidded to a halt and four of the five rodents hopped out as the rats got to their feet.

A squirrel raised a crossbow loaded with a rusty nail and fired at one of the rats, a large mouse charged at a second, the two chipmunks went after the third with scalpels fashioned into makeshift swords. The last rat ran and the mouse who was quite obviously this universe's Gadget took off after him in the vehicle.

Guessing the identities of the other counterparts of the Rescue Rangers wasn't hard. Laurel was fairly sure the squirrel was Carolyn's counterpart. She certainly looked similar enough. Until she found out otherwise, Laurel decided to assume the Ranger counterparts were named the same as in the show.

Tammy got three nails stuck in her rat before he stayed down, Monty beat his target senseless in seconds, and Chip and Dale had their target begging for mercy from their fencing skills in short order. A minute later Gadget returned with her rat badly bruised and tied to the bumper of the vehicle.

"Ugh. Saved by the Rescue Rangers," grumbled Nimnul as he managed to get himself unstuck.

"Well, you were completely useless," replied Laurel with a scowl directed at Nimnul.

Nimnul pointed at himself. "I have an excellent excuse. With that very prominent exception over there, most vermin are completely useless. Now if you will excuse me, I have a good, long period of sulking ahead of me."

"Oh, no you don't. You're going to be working while you're here, Nimnul. Your counterpart is not going to be returning home to find he's behind on his work just because you feel sorry for yourself."

Nimnul rolled his eyes. "Fine! Assuming I don't accidentally shed into everything I try to make! I was much happier bald!"

"What's going on here, Lahwhinie?" asked Gadget. "You were doing unusually badly in that fight."

"I'm not Lahwhinie," replied Laurel. "I'm her counterpart from another universe, same deal with Nimnul, he's here for a while until he learns not to be such a selfish brat."

Nimnul opened his mouth, but for once noticed he was outnumbered and the smallest creature in this scene by far, so he closed it again and merely nodded.

"That has to be the first time I've seen him speechless since meeting him," remarked Laurel, with a note of amusement in her voice.

Nimnul rolled his eyes angrily. His eyebrows looked like a pair of caterpillars which were trying to detach themselves.

"Heh, I guess Gadget will finally be able to win the techno-babble fight!" remarked Dale with a grin.

"Uh, what?"

"You two always compete to explain your inventions to us, so I was just saying that... uh, on second thought, never mind."

"That's Lahwhinie you're thinking of, I'm Laurel."

Dale sighed. "Hi, I'm Dale, and you're Laurel, and you're still Nimnul. Nice to meet you. Got any hobbies?"

Chip bonked Dale. "We'd better get back to headquarters. This place isn't safe after dark."

"What about the rats?" asked Laurel.

"Leave them tied up here?" offered Gadget, directed at the other Rangers.

Chip nodded. "Yeah, leave them for the 'Midnight Crew'. They'll think we're doing them a favour."

"Is it alright if we come with you?" asked Laurel. "I'm not as good in a fight as my counterpart and I don't think she'd forgive me if something happened to your Nimnul's body while he's on my world."

"Of course," replied Chip. "We came out here looking for you, after all."

"Looks like you'll both need patching up, anyway," added Tammy, while the Rangers finished tying up the rats.

"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind..." trailed off Laurel as she and Nimnul climbed into the vehicle.


Sitting in the Rangers' vehicle gave Laurel a better feel for how technology had developed in the post-apocalyptic world of Earth-C. The "car" had been built with large wheels and a lot of room on the suspension for them to move, much like the rovers which had been sent to Mars prior to the recent manned mission a few years back in Laurel's home universe. Unlike the Mars rover, this was considerably faster, although still powered by electric motors.

The trip took them through the ruins of buildings and over the remains of streets full of cracks and local plant life growing up through them. Quite obviously, nature was reclaiming what was no longer used. Moving towards the centre of the city, although most of the buildings were destroyed, there were, however, some paths through the grass, which were usually covered in pieces of asphalt, no doubt salvaged from roads elsewhere in the city.

As the vehicle approached Central Park, Laurel noticed a surprising abundance of artificial light in the area. Not just artificial light, but the constant glow characteristic of electric lighting. Considering the post-apocalyptic nature of Earth-C, this was all the more surprising.

"Where are you getting the power for this?" asked Laurel.

"An alliance of engineers manage to keep the hydro-electric power plants around the Americas running," replied Gadget. "Granted, we don't get anywhere near as much power as the humans generated prior to the catastrophe, and we couldn't run any human-built power plant that needs fuel, anyway."

"What about nuclear reactors? The fuel for those lasts for years."

"Nuclear power never went commercial here. The outcome of World War Two saw to that."

"What happened? Did World War Two turn into a nuclear war?" asked Nimnul.

"You're not as ignorant as I expected, Nimnul," remarked Chip.

"As far as we know, the humans who were not killed in the nuclear blasts, whether from Allied or Axis bombs, ended up dying from radiation-related diseases," Gadget elaborated.

"Yeah, Europe is a really creepy place now. The radiation danger keeps the sentients away, and only the plants and the ferals remain in the area."

"Are you saying the whole planet is too radioactive for humans?" cried a shocked Nimnul.

"Of course they are, Nimnul," snapped Laurel. "Think about it. Spread too much radioactive material around and the radiation levels worldwide will end up too high for humans to survive. That's what would have happened to our world if you hadn't prevented the Daanans from blowing up the nuclear waste dump on the Moon."

"I'll die here!" cried Nimnul, on the verge of a breakdown.

Smack!

Laurel promptly belted him across the face.

"Don't be a fool, Nimnul. You're not human on this world and your counterpart has survived just fine. Now pull yourself together."

Nimnul folded his arms and glared at the floor.

Dale and Monty were laughing at this.

"What's so funny?" asked Laurel, puzzled.

"If there was ever any doubt you're Lahwhinie's counterpart, that just crushed it!" replied Monty.

"Oh?"

"Lahwhinie's always beating up Nimnul for getting out of line," explained Dale. "I'd hate to think what he'd be like if she didn't."

"I already know," replied Laurel. "It's not pretty and that's why we're here."

The vehicle stopped outside a garage which had been built at the base of a tree. On the outside was the double-R logo of the Rescue Rangers. Chip hopped out, entered a combination on a set of four rotating rings and opened the door. With the door open, Gadget drove the vehicle into the garage, with Chip following on foot and locking the door behind them.

Once inside, everybody climbed out, with Laurel forcing a rather stubborn Nimnul to follow the Rangers to a lift. Dale closed the safety screen and turned on the power and the lift rose up out of the roof of the garage along a set of rails mounted against the tree, with the counterweight zipping past in the opposite direction, and eventually stopping amongst the branches of the tree. The safety screen on the other side was opened and everyone climbed out.

Rounding a corner, the Rangers stopped in their tracks. Clearly they had been expecting headquarters to be empty. That was not the case. Waiting expectantly for them was a rat in a dirty-white coat.

"Sparky? How did you get past our security again?" demanded Chip.

"I have my ways," replied the rat.

"As cryptic as ever," remarked Chip dryly. "What new information brings you here this time?"

"Not here. We'll have to talk at my outpost. Bring Lahwhinie, too. I need to have a word with her."

"Tammy, Monty, Zipper: you three stay here and keep an eye on Nimnul. Gadget, Dale and I will go with Sparky." Chip looked around and growled in frustration. "He's done it again."

"Done what?" asked Laurel.

"Vanished on us."

"Does that happen often?"

"Often-enough that I've lost count," replied Chip as he headed out the door.

"Three-hundred-and-nineteen," said Gadget when they were about halfway down the stairs attached to the outside of the tree.

"What?" asked Chip.

"This was the three-hundred-and-nineteenth time Sparky has seemingly vanished on us when I've been present to observe."

"He's like a ghost!" exclaimed Dale. "It's like he can walk through walls and turn invisible."

"I doubt it, but it certainly seems like it," replied Chip.

"Care to fill me in on this guy?" prompted Laurel as they stepped of the last step and started along a mouse-sized footpath.

"Why are you suddenly asking me about Sparky, Lahwhinie? You know him better than I do."

"Chip, I'm Laurel, not Lahwhinie. Her mind is in my body on my Earth right now."

"Sorry. I forgot. You look the same and sound so similar, it's hard not to think you're Lahwhinie."

"Yeah, I've noticed her voice sounds a little harsher than mine does."

"Anyway, Sparky. A list of what we don't know about him would take all night. He's a walking mystery. He seems to know everything that's going on, but only tells you what you need to know. We've seen him talking to Fat Cat, so we know he doesn't just give us information."

"We've heard Fat Cat demanding information from him without Sparky giving him what he wants," chimed in Dale as they entered the subway system.

"That makes a lot of sense," commented Laurel thoughtfully.

"It does?" asked Gadget.

"What you want and what you need are often two very different things. A starving man on an island may want a fish, but he'd be better off with a fishing rod."

"I think I understand you now, Laurel," said Chip. "A couple of months ago, we were investigating a theft and one of Sparky's leads not only helped us find the stolen item, but also resulted in us dealing a major blow to Rat Capone."

"Exactly."

As they made their way along the ledge to a maintenance room along the side of the track, Laurel was certain she saw a spider which bore an uncanny resemblance to Lou leaving the door up ahead.

I wonder who Lou's counterpart works for?

"In here," said Gadget when they reached the door.

Inside the room, it was actually nice by the standards of a post-apocalyptic world. There were several sizes of furniture, built for animals ranging in size from a fly to a cat. Standing in front of a door at the other end of the room as if he'd always been there was Sparky.

"Glad you could make it," said Sparky.

"I still haven't gotten over how creepy it is to find you standing there like that when you could only have been a few minutes ahead of us at the most," remarked Chip.

"I get that a lot."

"So, what did you want to see us about?"

"You'll see, but first, could I have a word in private with Lahwhinie?" asked Sparky.

"Er, Sparky, you do know that this is Lahwhinie's counterpart from another world, not our one, right?"

"Yes, yes, I know."

"Are you ever going to tell us what your 'top secret' conversations with Lahwhinie are about?" asked Gadget.

"When the time is right."

"When will that be?" asked Chip.

"I'll know the right time once I see it," replied Sparky.

"Hey, Laurel, if he makes sense, let us know, will you?" asked Dale.

"If he's going to tell me what I think he is, I won't be telling you."

There was a groan from Gadget and the two chipmunks.

Sparky led Laurel through the door behind him and into a room lined with fabric.

"It's sound-proofed in here. They won't be eavesdropping on us."

"They've been dying to know what you and Lahwhinie keep discussing for years, haven't they?"

"Yes, but I can't tell them. I don't know how it would affect the future if anyone else knew."

"Right, I'm guessing that you and Lahwhinie are both from the future. Lahwhinie went back first, had her memory scrambled, and without that trip changing the future, the time-machine was realised to be faulty, was eventually fixed and you went back in time to change history."

Sparky looked stunned. "How did you know?"

"The same thing, at least in the broad strokes, happened on my world. I'm guessing the details differ significantly, though."

"Nimnul got power-hungry and tried to take over the world. His plans backfired, Nimnul was killed, and civilisation was knocked back centuries. Nimnul's theoretical notes on time-travel, however, survived and eventually the world recovered enough to implement them. Those of us seeking to change history knew Nimnul was too valuable to kill and instead decided to go back and guide him on a more benevolent path. Your summary played out, then when I arrived in the past, I found that Lahwhinie had already found Nimnul, even though she'd lost her memory. She was just about ready to give up on Nimnul as being too much of a pest. I managed to explain what had happened and we began guiding Nimnul on his new path."

"Is that when Lahwhinie started belting Nimnul whenever he got out of line?"

"Yes. Until I arrived, she didn't have anyone else to turn to. What happened on your world?"

"What I'm about to tell you is second-hand to me, as I was the one with the scrambled memory. The Daanans invaded and hit Earth's biosphere pretty badly about nine months after their invasion started. Nimnul had crossed over into our world from his original and when he wasn't taken seriously and the war was going to be lost, he rebuilt his dimensional switcher and fled back home a few days before the cataclysm. About a thousand years down the track, time-travel had been invented by the surviving life-forms. I went back and lost my memory, adopting the name Laurel Weir from a dead woman. Several years later, I made contact with another time-traveller named David, or as he's now known, Sparky. The plan was to get Nimnul taken seriously to repel the Daanans, but we didn't expect him to go as far as he did after defeating them. Basically, he took over the world and implemented some rather draconian laws."

"So, why did Nimnul rebuild the switcher if he'd taken over the world? Obviously, he did, or you wouldn't be here."

"He wanted his world's Rescue Rangers to gloat over. Francine planted the idea in his mind and some of us organised a two-front revolt. When Nimnul tried to run back to his world, I'd had enough time to learn how to use his dimensional equipment and was waiting for him. I switched him and myself with our counterparts here to teach him a lesson. Your Nimnul and Lahwhinie will be returned in three days, given the instructions I left with the others back home. Just don't tell Nimnul about that. He thinks he's stuck here until his counterpart's wife decides to switch him back."

"You're sadistic Laurel, you know that?"

"Oh, yes," replied Laurel with a menacing grin.

"Seeing that look on your face shows just how different you are from Lahwhinie, yet I can still see that you're still her in a way."

"Looking at your counterpart from another universe is a bit like looking at your reflection in water. The image is distorted by the ripples, but you can still see it's you."

Sparky nodded.

"I had better give the Rangers their information, now. I trust you won't tell them about me?"

"Hey, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's keeping a secret."

They headed back into the meeting room to find the Rangers had been joined by a red fox.

"Agent Mulder, from your presence here now I think I can safely assume the situation has deteriorated," remarked Sparky.

"Sorry, sir, but you need to look at this update," replied the fox, handing Sparky a piece of paper.

Sparky read over the document, then turned to Agent Mulder.

"Thank-you for bringing this to my attention, Agent. You had better return to your assignment."

"With any luck, Fat Cat won't notice I've been gone."

"Good luck, Agent."

With that, the fox departed.

"What's happened, Sparky?" asked Chip.

"This was originally going to be to inform you about a kidnapping attempt Fat Cat would make."

"However..."

"However, he has acted sooner than initial estimates predicted he would. It's too late to do anything today, so you'll have to mount a rescue tomorrow."

"So, who needs rescuing?"

"Fat Cat has kidnapped Dr Winnifred Francine Cadwallader and her assistant Foxglove Fairmont."

Sparky held up a photo of a rat and a bat. Laurel immediately recognised the bat, but it took a moment for her to realise just how much the rat looked like Francine Nulton from back home.

"So, what does this world's Francine do that would warrant a kidnapping?" asked Laurel.

"She's one of Professor Nimnul's rivals."

"Why haven't we heard of her before, then?" asked Dale.

"She only arrived in New York within the last two weeks," replied Sparky with a shrug.

"Is there anything you don't know?"

"I assure you, Dale, it doesn't stay that way for long."

"I think that's our cue to leave, Dale," said Chip. "Besides, I want to get back to headquarters before the Midnight Crew come out of hiding for the night."

Laurel and the Rangers headed for the door.

"Oh Laurel?" called Sparky, just before she walked out.

"Yes?"

"Do try not to let Nimnul get himself killed."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

As they retraced their steps Laurel noticed there was a distinct change in the mood of her companions. While they'd been fairly relaxed on the way out, with the sun vanishing below the horizon the Rangers had become quite on edge, as if they were preparing for a fight.

"Who exactly are the Midnight Crew?" asked Laurel.

"The lawless masses. Our influence is only enough to cover the daylight hours. At night, anarchy takes over where community is unable to enforce standards of behaviour," replied Chip, bitterly.

As they entered the park, various inhabitants initially pointed crossbows at them, but lowered them upon recognising the Rangers. Apparently, Lahwhinie was also on their do-not-shoot list.

Back at headquarters, Chip filled in the rest of the Rangers on the next day's task. According to Monty, Nimnul had been surprisingly well-behaved and had spent his time trying to build something before giving up and heading to bed. Tammy put Laurel up in the same spare room as Nimnul. Fortunately Nimnul seemed to be a pretty heavy sleeper.