Disclaimer: I do not own power rangers, Saban/Disney does. Reviews are much appreciated.
Time ForceAt the facility men and women were working out doing various activities such as running, pushups, and sit-ups. Sweat dripped form their faces and they were breathing hard. If you looked closely, you could see that they were all wearing the same thing: dark blue shorts and a blue shirt with what appeared to be their last name on the back. And emblazoned on the front of the shirt were the words "Silver Guardians".
One group of trainees was doing pushups, which were being counted out by a burly Asian man wearing a red beret.
"Down," and the trainees went down and up simultaneously.
The man noticed that one you man thought he wasn't looking and decided to not go down. Taking quick, long strides he squatted down beside the young man.
"Henders, why aren't you doing your pushups?" he yelled into the boy's ear. The trainees' arms shook as they held up their weight, praying to God that it would be over soon.
"I can't," the boy squeaked out, suddenly afraid.
"Why not?"
"I'm tired, sir," the boy though maybe he should suck up a bit, it might lessen the punishment.
"You gonna' let down your team when they need you because you're TIRED!"
"N-no sir," this was ridiculous, he only skipped one pushup.
"Well, thanks to Mr. Henders here, we will be doing 20 extra pushups," the class groaned, "Down."
"Mr. Meyers," the man turned to find two men in military uniform approaching him.
"Yeah, that's me," he said warily. The only person he knew in the military was his girlfriend, Taylor Earhardt.
"This is for you," Eric grabbed the out held letter and could see his name on it written in what he recognized as Taylor's handwriting.
"What is this?" Eric asked, puzzled.
"It's from Taylor Earhardt. We were instructed to give it to you if she went missing." Eric couldn't comprehend the words. Taylor couldn't be missing, she just couldn't.
"H-how long has she been missing?" he finally got out.
"5 days sir."
"5 days and I'm only just finding out about this now!" he yelled, outraged.
"Those were her instructions, she wanted to be sure that she was missing so as to not worry you unnecessarily."
"Thank you," the two men nodded and left after giving their condolences.
Eric turned around and looked up from studying the still unopened letter. He looked startled to see his class waiting in pushup position, "Class dismissed."
He walked to his office and took a seat. Taking a deep breath he broke the seal and pulled out the letter:
Dear Eric,
If you are reading this, I must be MIA. Sorry about letting you know 5 days after the fact, but I didn't want to needlessly worry you. I know how you are, once you heard I was missing you would come charging to my rescue, even if it was just a false alarm. Don't try to foolishly save me; I don't want you to get hurt. I know that I can be foolhardy and stubborn at times, so can you, but in case this turns out to be my last words to you, I want you to know that I love you.
Love,
Taylor Earhardt
Eric's eyes teared up, "I love you too, Taylor." The letter was just like her, short and to the point.
"Eric," as Wes stepped into the room Eric shuffled the papers on his desk, effectively hiding the letter from view. Once Wes saw Eric with the military men, and then dismissing his class he knew something was afoot. So he dismissed his own class and made a beeline for Eric, only to lose him in the mass of trainees.
"What do you want, Wes?" Eric tried to belie his emotional turmoil by calmly asking, but it ended up coming out harsher than he intended.
"What's up? I saw you talking to those military guys."
"Ah, it was nothing," Eric tried to brush it off, hoping Wes would drop the subject.
"Oh come on," Wes thought for a moment, "Was it about Taylor?" He connected the dots, he wasn't that stupid.
"No," but Wes noticed his pause before answering.
In their argument, Eric had stood up and they were face to face. As Eric slammed his hands on the desk, papers went flying, and one in particular caught Wes's eye.
"What's this?" and before Eric could stop him Wes had grabbed the letter.
"Hey, give that back!" Eric made a grab for the letter, but Wes easily sidestepped him.
"Dear Eric, if you're reading this, I must be MIA…" Eric lunged at him again and this time Wes let him rip the letter from his hands.
"I didn't know man. I'm sorry." Wes apologized profusely.
"I don't want to talk about it," Eric couldn't look Wes in the eye.
"Ok, but know that I'm here if you need to," Wes mad a quick exit, embarrassed.
After shutting the door, Wes leaned against the wall, and then smacked his head against the wall, "Idiot!" He then got up and briskly walked away.
Eric sighed and sank back down into his chair and read the letter once again.
xxx
A week had passed and Eric had thrown himself into his work, trying to forget about Taylor. He pushed his trainees past their limits and went after dangerous criminals alone. Wes was worried about him; the way he was dealing with his pain was unhealthy.
"Eric wait, we need to talk," Wes grabbed Eric's arm to stop his gait.
"What?" Eric scowled; he wasn't in the mood for this.
"I'm worried about you," Wes began, "You're killing your trainees and rushing headlong to confront volatile criminals without any backup."
"You don't need to worry about me Wes, I'm fine," Eric brushed him off and turned to walk away, but Wes grabbed him again,
"Yeah, I do. You need to deal with your pain; we don't even know if she's dead. She was a Power Ranger remember," Wes whispered the last part, so as to not be overheard.
Eric broke Wes's grip, "Don't tell me what to do Wes, you're not my father."
"I'm your friend, Eric!" Eric walked away, Wes's concern falling on deaf ears.
xxx
Eric was driving around in his SUV on patrol duty. The full moon shone bright and Eric could see numerous shadows inside the vacant warehouse. He pulled over and decided to investigate. Drawing his gun he silently crept over to the warehouse.
He walked over to the door and kicked it in, "Silver Guardians, freeze." He barreled into the room gun at the ready.
xxx
Wes was beyond worried. He couldn't get in touch with Eric and what was worse, no one had seen Eric for the past week.
Riiiing. Riiing.
Wes pulled out his phone, "Eric?" Wes sighed as he realized it wasn't Eric. But his hopes were up as it was the hospital saying that they had a John Doe. "I'll be there in 15 minutes."
Wes ran out to his car and raced to the hospital. He ran up to the front desk, "Silver Guardians, where is the John Doe?"
Once he was told, he made his way to the room, and slowly pushed open the door. He hung his head as he got a good look at the man and at once noticed that it wasn't his best friend.
"Damnit!" He struck out and kicked the wall, succeeding in only hurting his foot.
Riiing. Riing.
He dejectedly answered his phone, "Hello."
"Hello." Wes pulled back his phone and stared at as the creepy voice came through.
"Who is this?"
"That's not important. What's important is that I have something of value to you."
Wes interrupted, "Eric?"
"Now if you want him back go to the abandoned warehouse tonight at midnight. And come alone otherwise your friend will go bye-bye." And the line went dead.
xxx
Wes pulled up to the warehouse and cautiously walked up to the door. He opened the door slowly as it made a loud creaking noise.
"Eric!" Wes called out as he ran up to his bruised and battered friend who was tied to a chair. He pulled the gag out of Eric's mouth.
"Wes, watch out!" Eric shouted too late as Wes was hit over the head from behind by the green robot's sword. Wes fell, unconscious at Eric's feet.
