Months Later
The world was ending. Truly ending, there was no hope left for them, they couldn't survive. Only three of them remained, just her, Wes and Eric were left to defend their time against Ransik's last attack. Rachael leaned her back against the wall of the clocktower, the cuts and bruises on her back screaming at her, but she refused to make a sound despite the pain. Eric and Wes were sitting at other places in the building, silent, even their best plans were useless at this point, even Alex had lost faith in them. They were abandoned by Time Force who had ordered their friends and comrades to return to their time and save their lives, leaving them to die. The five rangers from the future had resisted leaving, forcing her and Wes to trick them into boarding the ship and sent it back to 3000. Her eyes darted over to Eric and Wes as her brother picked up a Polaroid.
"Your friends." She heard Eric say, "How do you know they're alright?" Summoning her energy, Rachael hoisted herself back into a standing position and come up behind him, her arms crossed over her chest as Wes answered.
"I don't." He shook his head, but the sadness didn't have time to sink in as the windows of the clocktower all seemed to shatter simultaneously. Cyclobots poured in from the windows and came at them from all sides, forcing them into a small triangle with their backs together. The battle started with the rangers severely outnumbered, and as they were already tired from earlier battles, it seemed endless. Rachael tried to hold on, but it was a nice sight to see Wes start blasting the robots away from them.
"There're too many, we have to get out of this place!" Eric shouted and Wes nodded in agreement. Rachael nearly fell onto the same bench Eric was leaning on and grabbed her brother's shoulders.
"He's right." She sputtered and Wes nodded, an idea seeming to form in his mind. He looked right to Eric.
"Now do you need my help?"
Eric nodded in comprehension of the plan. "Going up." He nearly grinned and grabbed onto Rachael's arm, holding her close to his body as his other arm was held onto by Wes who had locked and thrown the blaster into the middle of the room. Rachael gasped in surprise when they were lifted into the air, over the heads of what seemed like millions of robots in the room. As they crashed through the glass face of the clock, they morphed into their ranger suits to protect them as they fell out of the now burning building, landing onto their flyers, Rachael sharing Eric's by perching on its wing.
Morning
One long night of battling cyclobots to keep civilians safe kept them all awake, and the adrenaline from this battle didn't seem like it was helping all that much. As they patrolled the streets of Silver Hills together, Wes caught sight of Alan Collins wandering through the streets, yelling the names of his two children. They started for him when more robots went for him, too many for him to outrun. In a hurry to get him safe, all three twist flipped over him and took them out easily, the small group of five not a problem for three rangers.
"Wes!" He shouted triumphantly, celebrating his son's victory. Eric and Wes immediately demorphed and went for him.
"Dad, what're you doing here?" He asked in surprise.
"Looking for you." Alan grinned, but his eye caught the still morphed Delta ranger standing behind them, her fists clenched. "What's with her?" His smile was wide as he placed on hand on his sons shoulder and looked at the ranger. "I know your friends." Wes ducked his head and looked at violet shaded ranger who came up to Alan and slowly let the color recede from her body.
"Hey Dad." She winced at the shocked look on his face.
"You're a ranger too?"
"Small world." Rachael tried to smile as she shrugged, but didn't have a chance as her father pulled her into a tight hug. Alan kept one arm around her, and the other hand rested on Wes' shoulder.
"Listen, I'm sorry for pushing you to do things my way. I couldn't be prouder of you two." He smiled and pulled Wes into a hug, releasing Rachael to do so. But what they didn't see was one of the cyclobots getting up and pointing its laser at them, but Eric did.
"Watch out!" He yelled and dodged in front of them, absorbing the shot, and taking it out with his own. Weakened, he fell backwards, and almost hit the ground as Rachael screamed and dodged forward to help catch him, placing his head in her lap.
"We have to get him help." Wes said immediately.
"I'll take him." Alan volunteered, nothing like the man he'd been a year previously. Eric protested, but they stopped him.
"No, Eric, we'll take it from here." He looked at Rachael and she nodded solemnly as she held the Quantum Ranger's head.
"Wait." Eric caught Wes' arm and handed him his morpher. "If anything can deactivate those crystals, my Quantum Defender can." He kept his hand out, and in a brief moment of friendship, they gripped hands, before Wes tore away from them, Rachael followed him closely, trying not to feel the tugging at her heart as they left the two men behind. They came to a place where it was simply the two of them versus hundreds of cyclobots and the siblings eyes met, exchanging their last words and feelings between them silently. The battle began, and as they were severely outnumbered, it felt futile, but they pushed on anyway, their lives and the future at stake. Rachael's mind wandered as she fought, thinking about Bronwyn, how much she meant as a friend, and if she and Lucas would ever patch up their relationship. She thought about Eric and if he'd be ok and she especially thought about her brother battling next to her.
Suddenly from nowhere a time-hole opened in the sky, and before she could even comprehend what that meant, there were five other brightly colored suits fighting alongside them. It was like a scene from a movie, together again, they were fighting until the end, an end they all knew the outcome to, but didn't want to accept it for fear of succumbing to the fear. When they had beaten back the horde of robots, the red and Delta rangers faced the pink, blue, green, yellow, and Theta rangers, meeting in the middle, and powering down as they stood together.
"You guys came back." Wes said in amazement.
"You didn't think you could get rid of us that easily did you?" Lucas grinned at Wes and Bronwyn latched herself to Rachael, wrapping her arms around the girl's neck.
"I thought we agreed to stick together." Katie frowned at Wes as he protested.
"Wes, you're not the only one who can choose their own destiny, we all can." Jen said seriously.
"And we choose to stay and fight." Tripp nodded and the others nodded their heads in agreement. Rachael grinned from Bronwyn's embrace.
"I think we just got outvoted." She whispered and Bronwyn squeezed tighter.
"Like hell you did."
Wes laughed and nodded in defeat. "Ok." He said and threw an arm around Tripp's shoulders as he shook Lucas' hand. "Ok. Alright then, listen up, I think I may know how we can save the city." Soon they were gathered around a burned out van, watching Tripp modify Eric's blaster.
"You've only got on chance; you've got to fire a concentrated beam right at the Q-rex. I adjusted the laser; it should have enough to neutralize the crystal." Tripp said as he handed the laser to Wes, who nearly immediately caught sight of the monsters.
"Come on let's go!" He yelled and they sprinted for the middle of the road where they stood in a formation around Wes. "Ready?" He called. "Time for, Time Force!" In a few minutes Wes was in control of Q-rex while the other four controlled the Megazord in mode red.
"Let's go." Rachael motioned to Bronwyn and the pair raced through the city to do what they could for the people, getting rid of as many cyclobots as they could, eventually being forced to split up, going in different directions around the city as the original five rangers battled Ransik.
They each found several rogue cyclobots filtering throughout the house, all of them attacking innocent civilians. Rachael's breathing was fast as she destroyed a few more, pushing herself to keep going and going. It was hard, but there were people that needed help and since the rangers were battling, she and Bronwyn were needed to protect. Lungs on fire, her blade was dragging along the ground as she hunted out more robots. The world shook and a sharp pain echoed through her mind, the dark black threatening to engulf her. She struggled to hold on, but she was falling, falling hard and she couldn't stop it, the peaceful black enveloping her completely.
An hour later Bronwyn was demorphed and wandering the streets, looking for her best friend. Her short blonde hair was matted to her face with sweat and dirt, her clothes nearly torn from her body, but scraps of her jeans and white t-shirt clung to her. Her nearly worn out sneakers padded the ground rhythmically as she jogged around the streets, searching for her black haired friend.
"Bronwyn!" She turned and saw her sister running toward her, Time Force uniform torn and dirty, her face destroyed, but happy as she embraced her. "You're ok."
"Yeah, but I can't find Rachael." She frowned, looking behind Jen to the other rangers including Wes. "Have you seen her?" Her heart sank as they shook their heads.
"I'll go find my Dad." Wes nodded, "He took Eric to the hospital, she might be there."
"Ok." Bronwyn agreed nodding, glancing down at her morpher again. "If she's not there I'm trying to call her again." They started for the hospital, and split up, Lucas and Katie departed to take Ransik and Nadira into holding on the time ship, the rest dividing themselves between the floors and levels or the hospital. Wes found his father in the waiting room, directing the more severely injured to the front of the line, and helping the lesser injured by giving them water or coffee.
"Dad." Alan Collins' face lit up when he saw his son.
"It is over?" He asked and Wes nodded, earning weak cheers, and sighs of relief from the room.
"Dad have you seen Rachael?"
"No, is she injured?" Alan was suddenly worried. Wes shook his head.
"We don't know, she and Bronwyn split up to help civilians, but we haven't been able to find her since." Wes explained, scanning the room. "Where's Eric?"
"I don't know." Alan shrugged, "He left a while ago. As soon as he could walk, he was out that door."
And out the door Eric was, searching the streets for stragglers, especially Silver Guardians, whom he directed to continue their work, making sure everyone, got to where they were the most effective. Although he was still injured, he felt better with his wounds bandaged and some nutrients in his system, and that kept him moving, doing his job. And part of his job was to save people, and as he saw a hand lying on the ground partially covered by rubble, instinct took over as he ran over. The hand had a small silver ring on the pinky finger, telling him the victim was female.
"Alright ma'am, hold on I'll get you out of there." He called down to her as an adrenaline rush kicked in a he tore the large pieces of concrete off of her body, revealing a woman with long black hair dressed in jeans and a black shirt. "No." He whispered and gently turned her over, her hands falling limply as he moved her, her dirty face falling into his arms. "Rachael wake up." He asked her gently, touching her face with the bare fingers on his partially gloved hand. She didn't move, her face didn't even flinch at his touch. Fear screaming through his mind, his hand flew to her wrist, and failing to find a pulse, her neck where a faint thud hit his fingers. "Hold on." He whispered and hoisted her up into his arms and carried her as fast as he possibly could toward the hospital he had just left.
"Commander Myers!" He heard a cadet call him and he turned, relieved to see the cadet had one of the SUV's with him. Eric made his way for it, keeping his grip on Rachael, who still wasn't moving.
"Get to the hospital as fast as you can drive." He frowned at the cadet as he got himself and Rachael into the backseat. He gripped onto her and the seat as they sped through the city and back to the packed hospital in a matter of minutes. Eric carefully held her as he ran into the tall white building, through the throngs of waiting people and to the nearest stretcher.
"Eric!" Jen's voice carried through the halls and he turned to see her, surprised she was back in their time. "Oh my God." Her eyes were glued to the unconscious Rachael on the stretcher. A few nurses were now swarming her, pulling her toward the ward where a doctor started checking her vitals. "What happened?"
"I don't know." He admitted, his hands resting on his hips. "I found her underneath some concrete, she barely has a pulse." Jen was silent as she watched a nurse pull a curtain between them and Rachael.
"Jen, Eric!" Bronwyn came up in a whirl of blonde hair. "She's not here." Jen pulled her sister to her.
"Eric brought her in, it's not good." Bronwyn's face crumpled into a combination of fear and intense sadness. She ducked her head and pressed it into Jen's shoulder as Jen rubbed her back with her free hand. They were soon joined by Tripp, Wes and Mr. Collins, and after a few minutes of silence between them, they returned to helping people, doing the only think they knew would be helpful.
It was hours before they knew anything about the Delta ranger's condition. Even Alan and Wes weren't getting any information on her condition due to the lack of doctor in the area, as he had so many other patients to attend to. Finally Wes couldn't take it, and grabbed the man's arm as he passed by.
"I need to know about my sister." He demanded and the man frowned, shifting through charts on his hands.
"The black haired girl Commander Myers brought in?" He questioned and when he received a nod continued, "She was severely dehydrated and had multiple wounds, including a break in her left arm. It was mostly exhaustion, and she's been on a heavy flow of electrolytes and an IV since she got here. You got her here in time." He nodded and put on a weak smile. "After spending the night to regain some energy, and surgery for her arm, she'll be perfectly fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I have other patients." He left in a hurry, but they had their answer. A sigh of relief seemed to echo through the rangers, and they went back to helping the dozens of people who were still not cared for.
"Mr. Collins?" A sweet nurse came up to him smiling. "They're prepping your daughter for surgery, they'll be wheeling her out in a minute, you can say something to her before she goes." True to her words, they wheeled Rachael's bed out a few minutes later, the girl looking frail in it, but her face was clean.
"Hey baby." Alan took her hand and leaned next to her face. Rachael's eyes fluttered open and she smiled at her father, sending a wave of joy through him.
"Hey." She whispered her voice hoarse. The smile widened as she saw the rangers gathered around her bed. "Sorry."
"Don't be sorry." Wes brushed her bangs back from her face gently. "We're just glad you're ok."
"Me too." Rachael murmured, her eyes closing again, her breathing uneven as she fought the pain. The nurses started moving the stretcher again.
"We'll be here when you get out." Bronwyn said, touching Rachael's hand. "Don't worry." Rachael smiled, but didn't open her eyes. As they moved her into the surgery ward her eyes flicked open and made contact with Eric's for a brief moment before they pushed her through the swinging doors and out of sight.
