Part IV

Back at BETA…

"Walsh!" Cain stormed into Walsh's office. "We really need to talk."

"Not now Cain," Walsh growled.

"Oh yeah, now…" Cain hissed. "Unless you want me to wait until Sonny Boy gets back from his mission. Then we can have a nice good old fashioned family reunion."

Walsh narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what the hell you are talking about."

"I think you know exactly what I am talking about," Cain snapped. "What I want to know is what the hell were you thinking when you did it?"

"How did you…?"

"Wheiner can be very helpful when given the right incentive," Cain got in his face. "Now you explain to me why the hell you broke the law and donated your own DNA to the Supertrooper Project!"

"It's…complicated," Walsh sighed.

"Please Walsh tell me some heart wrenching story about some woman you fell in love with and got pregnant but there was some kind of accident and the only way to save the baby was to make it a Supertrooper," Cain growled. "Of course this is you we're talking about so my hopes for that are pretty slim."

"It's not so dramatic as all that," Walsh admitted. "The truth is…The truth is by the end of that part of the project we were running low on suitable DNA. By that time the majority of it was either over used or discredited or simply deteriorated due to certain conditions. The Board of Leaders were refusing to help in any way but wanted results or else the entire program would have been terminated. I had to get DNA from somewhere…"

"So you donated your own, literally throwing yourself into the project," Cain got the message. "Is Gooseman the only one? I mean…How many of them did you…"

"There was only one batch I put my DNA in and Gooseman was the only one that was viable and survived," Walsh admitted.

"My God Walsh…" Cain was truly stunned. "And you have the gall to call me a disgrace to the military! How could you do that to Gooseman? He's your son! And don't give me that technical mumbo jumbo crap you use to hide behind the truth! That's what he is no matter what other DNA you put into him! Your DNA is in his body, doesn't matter how it got in there. Whether it's by test tube or one night stand you give him your DNA that makes him your kid! Simple as that! And then you turned him into a weapon? How the hell do you sleep at night?"

"Sometimes I don't," Walsh sighed. "There is something else…It's not exactly a reason but…In the time of the cold war an ancestor of mine was part of a similar project. He fell in love with one of the soldiers."

"Cheyenne Gooseman," Cain's eyes narrowed. "I've read the file."

"Well it seemed fitting at the time," Walsh shrugged. "Like fate telling me I had to do it."

"How sentimental," Cain groaned. "Well no wonder you let Wheiner walk all over you! Gods if anyone else found out about this not only is your career over…"

"Gooseman's life would be over," Walsh sighed. "There are very clear guidelines on that."

"Gooseman won't even get to the Cryocrypt," Cain swore. "They'd destroy the kid on the spot. Claiming tainted DNA and all that crap."

Cain gave him a look. "This is exactly why I was against the Supertrooper program from the start. Playing God, growing kids in test tubes and throwing them into battle like they were disposable…Not to mention growing soldiers like that would cut into my profits but still…"

"What are you going to do with this information?" Walsh asked.

"I'm going to go to Disney World," Cain said sarcastically. "What do you think I am going to do? I'm not going to say a word, but not to save your worthless hide. Gooseman is a damn fine ranger and way too valuable to just throw to the wolves like that. Besides I think you'll be a little more cooperative with my requests from now on if you want things to go on as usual."

"Don't play the good Samaritan with me Cain, you bastard," Walsh growled. "We both know you'd turn on him in a heartbeat for your own purposes and power games."

"You know Walsh you can call me a bastard all you want," Cain gave him a hard look. "But at least I can sleep at night knowing all my double dealings never hurt a child. Particularly my own. Can you say the same?"

Silence. "I didn't think so," Cain sneered. "I wouldn't worry about Wheiner any more if I were you. Trust me Walsh, I am a lot more dangerous. And you will be sure that you'll play ball with me if you know what's good for you. And your son."

Walsh hung his head down in shame as Cain stormed out of the room. "Shane what have I done?" He whispered.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"Kilbane what the hell are you doing here?" Shane barked at his old enemy. "How did you find us?"

"I got an anonymous tip that if I was interested in offing you and the rest of your Ranger buddies to show up at these coordinates," Kilbane snorted. "I gotta admit I wasn't expecting a bunch of…" He looked and did a double take at Ryder. "Okay either I'm really drunk or that's a…"

"You're a Kilbane too?" Ryder asked.

"Too?" Kilbane snorted. He looked at the others. "Well this trip was worth the price of admission!"

"Watch it slime ball…" Shane snarled.

"Look at that, the traitor calling me names," Kilbane sneered.

"What do you mean?" Ryder asked.

"You didn't tell them?" Kilbane couldn't resist. "Of course you wouldn't. It would be easier to collect the bounty on their heads if they didn't know. Let me tell you a little story kids. Once upon a time there was a whole bunch of Supertroopers until one day their human masters decided to turn 'em into guinea pigs. All of 'em except of course their favorite, the Runt of the litter! They gassed us all with genetic accelerator in order to cripple us but their plan backfired and we became stronger, more powerful than they could ever hope for. But the Runt got jealous and turned on us and only a few of us escaped. So Gooseman took the job of hunting down any stray Supertrooper, dead or alive."

"That's not the whole story and you know it!" Zach barked.

"Oh and you were there?" Kilbane challenged. "You have no idea what Gooseman is capable of."

"It is true isn't it," Ryder growled at Shane. "I knew it!" He stood with Kilbane. "I knew I couldn't trust you!"

"Good instincts kid," Kilbane barked. "He's no Supertrooper. He doesn't have any real powers without his precious badge. He's not like us. He's nothing!"

"Ryder listen to me…" Shane began.

"I'm through listening to you Traitor!" Ryder hissed. "I'm with him!" He pointed to Kilbane. "Mata! Hari! Grab Dea and let's go!"

"Ryder wait…" Hari said. "Something's wrong with him."

"I can see it in his eyes…" Mata shuddered. "Something bad."

"You're right, he is bad," Doc told her.

"You gonna listen to a bunch of humans or one of us?" Ryder snapped. "Gooseman even smells human! But he doesn't! This one smells like power!"

"You are of my blood after all!" Kilbane laughed. "Face it Gooseman, you lost again to me! You were always jealous of the rest of us Supertroopers and our power! You're just plain weak!"

"But if he was jealous of their power…Why didn't he just take the gas too?" Mata thought. "Something is not right here."

"Mata shut up and bring Dea over here!" Ryder snapped.

"No…" Mata said nervously.

"Ryder we don't want to disobey but…" Hari gulped as she looked at Kilbane. "He scares us…"

Suddenly the ground shook violently. "Personally I'm a lot more scared of this planet," Doc checked his CDU. "Seismic activity is off the charts."

"I hope that doesn't mean what I think it means?" Zach grumbled.

"It means worrying about the sun exploding is the least of our problems," Doc moaned. "Because it looks like this planet is going to explode ahead of schedule!"

"Come on!" Ryder grabbed Medea and dragged her over to Kilbane. "We have to get out of here!"

"You have a point. What the hell am I doing wasting time here when I could just let the whole planet blow you up?" Kilbane snorted. "See ya around Runt!"

Kilbane deliberately grabbed Medea and the Rangers knew they couldn't risk taking a shot. "What do we do now?" Niko asked.

"You go ahead with the plan!" Shane barked. "I'm going after them!" He ran after them.

"There's more to this story isn't there?" Hari looked at Niko. "What happened?"

"We'll explain later," Niko told her. The ground shook wildly. "Come on! I have a feeling we'd better follow Goose!"

"But what about grabbing the…?" Zach began.

"Zach even if we had time to grab it there's no way we can install it into Ranger One ourselves," Doc said. "And according to my instruments this planet will explode in about…Thirty something minutes."

"WHAT I THOUGHT WE HAD HOURS?" Zach yelled.

"So did I! But you know how impatient a planet can be!" Doc yelled as they chased after Shane.

Shane had barely managed to catch up behind Kilbane and the two kids. He saw that he was piloting a large A Class pirate ship. It was just taking off. Taking a risk Shane used his metal coil whip he hid underneath his left wrist to catch one of the transmitter towers and pulled himself on top of the ship.

Shane hung on and took a deep breath. He managed to touch his badge with one hand before hanging on. He changed to a metal form with a pair of silver shades so that he could survive outside the ship as it took off. He also developed suctions on his hands and feet so that he could hang on. Slowly Shane managed to crawl on the outside of the ship trying to make his way to the airlock.

Meanwhile inside the ship Ryder was looking out the window from his seat. "I can't believe we left them…"

"Hey that's what happens, deal with it," Kilbane grunted as he hit the autopilot as the ship left the planet's gravity. "This should be far enough. We can watch the fireworks!"

There was an awkward pause as Kilbane sized Ryder up. "So you were abandoned too huh?" Kilbane looked at his younger counterpart. "Yeah that's right Kid, they put me on the list and branded me with an A. But I fought back. I fought back and survived until they had no choice but to take me back."

"Now Gooseman, that's another story…" He snarled. "Walsh and the others…They'd never put him on the list. He was their favorite. They coddled him, trying to protect him every chance they got. We lost people because of that. I lost…I lost my only friend in the world because he chose the Runt over me. And I'll never forgive him for that. Never. They thought he was so great. Walsh's little pet always jumping through hoops to please him. No wonder he turned on us. Then again he was never one of us in the first place. He was a home grown threat that was always going to turn on us. I always said it. Those damn fools never listened to me. They deserved everything they got. So what if they got iced? Less competition…"

It was then that Ryder began to see what the twins meant. He cursed himself silently for not seeing it before. He was so intent on Goose being a danger to him he completely ignored the danger the other Supertrooper was radiating.

A soft moan from Medea lying on the floor got their attention. "Oh right, forgot about her," Kilbane grunted. "Come on help me throw her in the airlock."

"What? Why?" Ryder gasped.

"Because I just had the floor cleaned on this ship and I don't want her to mess it up when she kicks the bucket," Kilbane snapped. "Come on!"

"No! Don't!" Ryder put himself between them.

"Come on kid, she's just gonna die anyway," Kilbane said. "She was only good for a hostage so they wouldn't shoot us. Get with the program."

"I can't! She saved my life!" Ryder said.

"So?" Kilbane growled.

"The twins were right…You are crazy…" Ryder realized.

"Yeah but I'm also the one in charge here," Kilbane shot out a short pair of metal claws on his right hand and took a swipe at Ryder.

Ryder screamed in agony as Kilbane cut him on his face, just over his eye. He fell backwards on top of Medea. "AAAAHH!" He held his bloody face.

"Pity," Kilbane growled. "I could have made something out of you. Would have been fun having a Mini Me to boss around. Then again there's something to be said for being an only child." He raised his clawed fist again.

ZAP!

He jerked his hand back as a laser blast hit it. "What the…?"

"Don't you touch him you slime ball," Shane snarled.

"YOU! HOW THE HELL DID YOU…" Kilbane roared as Shane tackled him. "I don't know how you got on my ship but I know how you're getting off!"

Both mutants fought wildly. Kilbane managed to kick Shane off. "I knew you were slime Kilbane but even I didn't think you'd go so low as to kill your own brother!" Shane snapped.

"Look who's making judgments! Come on Runt! We both know where those kids are gonna end up! I'm just doing them a favor," Kilbane hissed. "Or do you really want the bounty on their heads?"

"They're not going into the Cryocrypt if I can help it Kilbane," Shane snarled back. "But you are!"

"Go ahead and try Runt!" Kilbane changed form into a red metal being with spikes all over him. "I'll rip you to pieces!"

Shane saw something and it gave him an idea. "Gotta catch me first!" Shane taunted as he raced to the side of the ship.

"You can't run from me forever Gooseman!" Kilbane charged straight at Shane.

Shane stood there until the last possible second, then he hit the button behind him opening the door to the escape pod. He jumped to the side purposely letting one foot stick out in order to trip Kilbane.

"WHAAAAAAAA!" Kilbane screamed as he fell face first into the escape pod.

"Have a nice trip Kilbane," Shane smirked as he hit the button locking him in before activating the escape pod.

"I'LL GET YOU RUNT! I'LL GET YOU IF IT'S THE LAST THING I EVER DO!" Kilbane roared just as the escape pod was launched.

"And it may be," Shane grinned. He turned to Ryder. "Are you both okay?"

"I'm fine," Ryder ignored the blood in his eye. "Dea's…I think she's really sick…"

"Try to make her comfortable," Shane told him as he grabbed the controls of the ship. "I'm going back to get the others!"

Shane easily figured out the controls and landed the ship back on the planet and none too soon. The earth was breaking up all around. Lava was starting to pour from the surface.

"What took you so long?" Doc yelled as he ran on board.

"It was impossible to find a parking spot," Shane told him. "Get on! We're blowing this joint!"

They boarded the ship and Shane took off. "I don't know what the hell started the planet from breaking up so fast but there's a chain reaction that's gonna blow us all up sky high before we get into hyperspace!" Doc yelled as he looked at the instruments.

"I'll put up a psychic barrier around the ship," Niko activated her charge. "GOOSE GUN IT!"

"RIGHT!" Shane did so. "EVERYONE STRAP THEMSELVES IN AND HANG ON!"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

"WHOOAAAAAAAAAA!" Doc screamed as the ship rocked with the blast.

"WHEE! THIS IS FUN!" Hari chirped.

"YOU ARE CRAZY GIRL!" Doc yelled.

"HITTING HYPERDRIVE NOW!" Shane shouted. Soon the ship was in hyper drive and Niko could let her shields down. "Everyone all right?"

"No…" Doc moaned.

"That's good," Shane got up. "Zach take the controls. "Niko help me look after the kids."

"The twins are fine…" Doc moaned in his seat as the twins started bouncing around in their seats.

"We're in space! We're in space!" They squealed.

"OW! YOU'RE IN MY SPACE!" Doc yelled as they jumped on him.

Niko looked over Medea. "I'll watch her Goose. You take care of Ryder."

Shane nodded. "Come on kid there's got to be a bathroom around here someplace."

He found one in the back. "Let me see your eye," Shane gently began to clean Ryder's face with a med kit he found. "Good news is your eye doesn't seem to be damaged in any way. Can you see?"

"Yes, nothing looks different," Ryder said.

"You might end up with a scar but other than that…" Shane stopped. Realizing he really did look like his older counterpart. "You'll be okay."

"Those troopers you turned on…They were insane weren't they?" Ryder asked softly. "Like Ryker? That's even worse than being abandoned."

"I had nothing to do with the gas…" Shane sighed. "But I was responsible for freezing the other Supertroopers…If I hadn't, people would have gotten hurt. Do you understand?"

"I think so…" Ryder thought.

"Even thought the whole incident wasn't my fault I still blame myself for what happened," Shane admitted. "If I had been more vigilant…Or if I did something different…I don't know. I was the youngest. All my life I tried to be as good as the others…But it never seemed enough. And then…Then that horrible day happened. And there was only one thing I could do."

"They were insane," Ryder said. "An insane trooper is no good to anyone. He is a threat to not only himself but to everyone around him. The first duty of any Supertrooper is to neutralize any threat, even if it is another Supertrooper. You should not feel guilty for doing your duty."

"Ah but I do," Shane made a wry smile. "That is my flaw. A flaw I've had to hide for nearly my whole life. You were right. I am not like any other Supertrooper. I am too human."

"How did you become…Like that?" Ryder asked.

"I'm not really sure," Shane said. "Sometimes I think it was the way I was created. I was an experimental. The last of my unit and given the most advanced genetic designs. But I think part of it…Part of it is because of what happened to me after Wolf Den."

"What happened?"

"I made friends," Shane smiled. "Real friends who didn't care what I was. That's very rare. That's why I would do anything for them. They saved me from myself. They taught me that all life is important and valuable. And that no one should be abandoned."

Ryder looked away. "When we were abandoned…I was told I was useless. That all I was good for was to help train those that were worthy. And I believed them. But I didn't want to die. I was too scared to die. Then the explosion happened and…And I was happy. It didn't matter how bad things got at least I could live another day. And I had the others. They needed a leader in order to survive. I was the strongest. It was only natural. I was their leader. I was useful."

"That's why you fought so hard for them isn't it?" Shane asked softly. "Even for Medea, who you believed would die anyway? As long as she was alive…You had a purpose. Someone who needed you, depended on you."

The boy barely nodded. "That's why you were so angry at me weren't you? Not because I was different than you…But because we're so much alike," Shane realized. "We both need people to need us. To depend on us. You were afraid that I would take that away from you, weren't you?"

Shane looked in his eyes. "But I could never take them away from you. They all need you and depend on you. Nothing can change that. Do you understand?"

"I…I think so…" Ryder blinked.

"And just as you protect them," Shane gently touched his cheek. "I will protect you. I will never allow you to be used as a weapon again. I promise." He hugged him close to his body. "I promise."

"Why?" The boy was clearly confused. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I know what it's like to be all alone," Shane told him. "To have everything taken away from me. Even my purpose for living."

"What did you do?" Ryder asked.

"I had to find a new reason," Shane told him. "It took me a long time but I finally did."

"What was your reason?" Ryder asked.

"My reason is to protect life," Shane told him. "To protect those who can't protect themselves. To make the universe peaceful so that no one will ever be forced to fight each other again."

"It sounds impossible."

"I like a challenge," Shane smiled. "You're not him you know?"

"He was abandoned like I was," Ryder said. "I'm made up of the same genetic material he was made from."

"Mostly the same genetic material," Shane pointed out. "You have a slightly different smell so the Controllers must have made a few modifications. And there's something else, Kilbane…Ryker never cared about anyone but himself. He didn't care if his whole squad died as long as he survived. You're not like that. Not anymore."

"What's going to happen to me?" Ryder asked, his voice was hoarse.

"I don't know," Shane told him. "But I can promise you one thing, I will do everything in my power to give you a new life. A life better than the one you were supposed to have."

"How?" Ryder asked, confused.

"I'll find a way," Shane told him, giving the boy a gentle hug. "I don't know how but I will find a way."