A/N: Thanks to those who reviewed!
A few important notes about this story: first of all, here, the Time Force Rangers come from 300 years into the future, not 1000. The 'thousand year' thing always seemed a bit ridiculous and far-fetched to me.
Second, this story diverts from the original series after "Clash for Control". So you can kind of call it an AU of sorts.
Third, there will be little to no 'zord' fights – I've always considered zords to be another one of those 'far-fetched and ridiculous' aspects of Power Rangers in general.
Fourth, my explanations regarding a few elements of the series, like morphers, and such, might be quite different.
Having said all of that, do read and enjoy!
Three: Betrayal
"Jen, I've been thinking."
She looked up at him, brown eyes glowing with that warmth that had melted his heart, her lovely, soft lips curled into a bright smile. "Thinking, Alex?" she said, with that mirthful sparkle in her voice. "Since when were you not thinking?"
Alex couldn't help it. His lips drew themselves into a lopsided, roughish grin. "Since the day I saw you."
She giggled, leaning slightly over the railing that overlooked the expanse of the Time Force Academy. "So, what was it that you were thinking about?"
Alex reached into his pocket, feeling suddenly – and inexplicably – nervous. She was not looking in his direction anymore, apparently smiling and waving at something that had caught her attention below. 'Do it, Alex,' he thought to himself. 'No time like the present to…'
"Hey, Jen!"
Alex jerked, startled, nearly causing the precious box to tumble over the railing. He turned around, ready to give the person who had interrupted them a piece of his mind…
Jen beat him to it.
"Hey, Lucas!" She grinned widely at a tall Asian man, dark hair severely gelled back and a wide grin on his handsome face, dressed in what seemed to be a hover-bike racing jumpsuit. "How did the races go?"
He tapped a shining holographic badge on his chest. "What do you think?" He smirked. "Those guys didn't have a chance."
Jen laughed. "That's fantastic, Lucas – congratulations!"
"Thanks, Jen." He gestured toward Alex. "Going to introduce me anytime soon…?"
"Oh. I'm sorry." Jen looked to Alex. "Alex, this is Lucas Kendall, self-proclaimed 'champion' at racing." She smiled. "He graduated out of the Academy with me last year."
Alex raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"And Lucas, this is…"
"Lieutenant Alexander Drake, Red Ranger and Time Force's hero," Lucas finished, his words seeming to have a gratingly cocky inflection to Alex's ears. "Of course I've heard of him."
He gestured behind him. "They're going to be showing the race highlights at Silver Centre sometime soon. Care to come and watch?"
"Well, seeing as it's my off-day… why not?" She glanced behind her. "What about you, Alex? Are you coming?"
He could feel Lucas's triumphant gaze on him – he could feel it. Alex fought back a scowl and deposited the box into the depths of his pocket again. "I'm sorry, Jen, but I can't. Captain Logan asked me to meet him later this afternoon."
Jen looked disappointed. "Well, all right then. See you later."
He nodded, and watched as Jen and Lucas got on to Lucas's hover-bike. Alex's fists clenched until the knuckles turned white, as Lucas flashed him a cheeky grin just before donning his helmet, sitting unnecessarily close to Jen in the process. A couple of minutes later, the bike had neatly swerved into a skyway leading out of the Time Force Academy.
Alex watched as it disappeared into a receding silhouette in the orange-red sky, filled with an emotion he couldn't describe.
Lucas Kendall.
Alex turned around and strode back into the Base, fists clenched.
He would remember that name.
-
"Wes? Wes! Get up already!"
Wesley Collins opened his eyes to a blur of dusty brown ceilings, emergency lights flashing and beeping from every possible direction, interspersed with Jen's increasingly irritated voice.
"Wha – what? A mutant already?" He roused himself from the last grasping tendrils of slumber, still disoriented.
"Yeah." Jen entered the room, Pink morpher already affixed to her wrist, laser-pistol ready at her belt. "Apparently Ransik's got himself an alarm clock." She sighed. "The mutant is causing havoc somewhere in the vicinity of Silver Centre. Trip and Katie…"
The rest of her words escaped Wes as he pondered upon what she had just said.
Silver Centre?
That dream…
"Jen," he said suddenly. She frowned and took a step back, apparently unused to being interrupted. "Does Silver Centre exist in your time as well?"
She tilted her head. "Of course. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing important." Alex… Lucas… Jen… what was that dream all about?
"If it's not important, I'd suggest you don't waste any more time and begin heading towards Silver Centre," Jen said, her voice cold. With that, she strode out of the room.
Wes stared after her, wondering if something was wrong. Then the memory of the events of the previous evening hit him with all the force of a bucket of icy water being dumped over his head. Lucas kissing Jen… an indeterminable rage seizing hold of his limbs… shattering glass… Lucas falling… missing… fading from their lives…
His hands shook.
"Wes! Are you coming, or not?"
Coming?
He grabbed the Red Ranger morpher from his bedside table, and strapped it around his wrist.
He revelled in the power that then flowed through him.
Yes, Jen. I'm coming.
Trip Regis was apprehensive.
That, by itself, was something for everybody to be concerned about; the Xybrian's ability to foretell the near future made his words and feelings something to be considered seriously, but this time, the Green Ranger found the cause for his apprehension to be so convoluted and intertwined, that trying to figure it out was like prodding a nest of coiling, squirming vipers.
It could be what happened the previous night, he reasoned, as he moved into the area of disturbance with the other Rangers. Lucas leaving them seemed to be having serious repercussions not only his own sense of danger, but the bonds that had held the team together, as well. He could sense a frigid wall that had suddenly come up in between Wes and Jen (though the cause barely warranted the severity of the frigidness) and Katie's growing doubts and unease. Lucas had to come back soon, Trip reflected, if they were to survive as a team…
But, somehow, there seemed to be something bigger going on, as well…
"Rangers, eh? I was expecting you."
The mutant was as hideous as they came – Trip nearly sighed as they morphed. Wes and Jen pulled out their laser guns and began a full-fledged frontal attack, while he and Katie lingered, watching their leaders' backs, waiting for the inevitable that was soon to come.
They didn't have to wait long.
In a few seconds, Silver Centre was swarming with Cyclobots.
Trip welcomed the mind-numbing flurry of battle as he and the other Rangers kicked, punched, shot and swiped at the Cyclobots attacking from all sides. For some reason, today they seemed more persistent, resilient, and every punch that they threw, every stray laser beam that struck their fortified Ranger suits seemed to have doubled in power, and had Trip doubling over in pain, stumbling, stars flashing in front of his eyes, interspersed with flashing colours, like a crazed kaleidoscope.
The other Rangers seemed to be having the same problem as well, and they quickly regrouped in a corner of the square.
"Something's wrong today," Katie said, her breath coming in short gasps from behind her mask. She tapped her yellow Ranger suit. "Something that has to do with our Ranger powers."
Jen shook her head in confusion as they dodged another round of laser fire. "It can't just be Lucas's absence that's causing this…"
Somehow, the very mention of Lucas's name had Wes jerk upright. He pulled out his Time Blades. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting this matter over with." Trip could almost see Wes's light brows creasing, that familiar stubborn look clouding his blue eyes. With that determined statement, Wes ran out to meet the oncoming waves of Cyclobots, a feral yell escaping his mask.
Trip gasped.
Cyclobots fell by the dozen, robotic innards torn in all directions.
"H-How?" Katie wondered by his side, and Jen shook her head in response. But Trip knew exactly what was happening.
Jealousy was a powerful thing, it would seem.
Trip knew that it wasn't Wes's fault – not entirely, anyway – but when he was Red Ranger, he was not Wesley Collins; nor was he Alexander Drake.
He was a different man altogether.
Alex's morpher hadn't been just a weapon he could use to turn into a supersoldier – it was a physical manifestation of his very personality, and when the morpher had synchronised itself with Wes's DNA, it had transferred some of Alex's own characteristics into him, merged itself with Wes's persona so deeply, that it was difficult to determine whether the Red Ranger currently fighting Cyclobots with such manic fury was really Wes or Alex.
Apparently, one of those transferred 'characteristics' constituted a strong dislike for Lucas.
Well, Trip thought, sighing. That explains a few things.
But that wasn't what was worrying him – not really. It was their current weakness, and the way it traced back to their morphers.
The incident concerning Wes and Lucas had exposed all of their emotional vulnerabilities, leaving them hanging on the edge of a virtual precipice. Somehow, this emotional weakness was influencing their morphers, and their powers were suffering as a result. This was why, Trip realised, morphers were kept under such strict scrutiny, and why he, Jen, Lucas and Katie weren't authorised their use until the whole Ransik emergency.
The morphers provided them with unimaginable power, but it was also slowly driving them towards insanity.
Insanity that could very well result in a painful death.
Trip snapped out of his thoughts just in time to see Wes mercilessly slash apart the last Cyclobot in his path, and move toward the mutant, whose lipless gash of a mouth had twisted into a wicked facsimile of a smile, greasy, thorn-tipped tentacles writhing. One of those tentacles twisted to attack a fury-blinded Wes from behind.
Jen stumbled forward. "Wes!"
Wes swivelled around, blade coming up, but it was too late. Trip's muscles clenched in an involuntary wince.
Suddenly, a blue-clad figure zoomed into view, knocking the tentacle aside before it could spear through Wes. The newcomer twisted in mid-air, following up on the move, delivering a stunning blow to the mutant's mid-section using a pair of very familiar blue Time Blades. Trip's eyes widened in impossible hope. "Lucas!"
"The Silver Guardians have arrived. The situation is under control. I repeat, under control."
Trip felt his hope crumbling.
Eric.
Quantum Ranger was soon at the scene, and he and Lucas, in a series of co-ordinated, efficient movements, had annihilated the mutant. It disappeared in a spectacular explosion of fire and sound, reduced to nothing but a inert tiny version of its earlier self. Lucas grabbed a containment tube from within his Ranger arsenal, and soon had the frozen mutant inside.
Trip could almost see Eric grinning smugly behind his mask. "Next time, Time Force Rangers, I'd suggest you leave the fighting and capturing to someone who actually knows what he's doing."
Wes ignored Eric, pushing past him, and grabbed at the front of Lucas's blue Ranger suit. "Are you with them?" he growled.
The Blue Ranger patiently pried Wes's hands off his suit. "Them?"
"The Silver Guardians," Wes hissed. "You've joined them, haven't you." It wasn't a question.
There was a long, long moment of silence. Then: "Yes."
Katie gasped, and all six of them demorphed. Wes's face was now nearly as red as his suit, and he was fuming, eyes flaring. Trip felt a terrible numbness seep into his limbs, and he wanted nothing more than to sit down, and bury his head in his arms.
Lucas has joined the Silver Guardians.
There really was no hope left for their team now.
Lucas walked past a fuming Wes, who was still too incensed to speak. His eyes were icy, dispassionate. Almost frightening. "We can take this back to Bio-Labs for research, Eric," he said, walking toward the demorphed Quantum Ranger.
Trip stumbled into Lucas's path. "Lucas," he said, looking into that icy brown glare, searching for the Lucas he knew (or thought he knew) – his best friend. "Lucas, why're you doing this?"
He didn't answer.
"Lucas!" Katie called. "Stop – you can't be doing this to us!"
Still no answer, as he continued his walk towards the car that had brought him and Eric to Silver Centre.
Finally, Jen spoke up. "Lucas," she said softly, her voice holding just a faint note of hurt, but Trip could sense the huge amount of pain that came with uttering that single name.
Pain at Lucas's betrayal.
Lucas stopped, his shoulders stiffening. Trip's heart thundered against his ribcage, thundering like a panicked bird in its cage, trying to get out. Was there still hope?
Lucas turned, and some of that iciness in his gaze had softened. Now he just looked… sad. Exhausted. The bruises and scratches on his face and hands seem to stand out in stark contrast to his pale skin. "I'm sorry, Jen," he said quietly, and then he turned away, got into the car with Eric, and they were gone… gone…
Gone…
Would Ransik have anything left to do, Trip wondered, if the Rangers' own powers were tearing them apart?
Deep in the forest that bordered Silver Hills City, in a crashed timeship whose surface was long overgrown with vines and moss, the being that had changed that had changed the six Rangers' lives forever, sat contemplating in front of a screen. His daughter came and settled herself next to him, pink hair falling into her face, red lips drawn into a pout. "What's wrong, Daddy?"
Ransik's only reply was a small smile.
Nadira grew more annoyed. "You could let me in on the secret, you know!"
Ransik's smile grew into a full-fledged smirk, his one exposed eye narrowing into a slit. "Some very interesting developments have occurred, my dear." He clenched and unclenched his fist, gazing at his pockmarked skin with something akin to fascination. "The air-headed fools of the present have made a very… interesting discovery."
He snaked his other arm around her shoulders.
"That discovery will be their ultimate downfall."