A\N: Well, my brain is apparently on drugs.


Gone.

Tommy stared at the battlefield for a moment, then scrambled to his feet.

The aftermath of battles was...devastating. Now it looked otherworldly. Buildings were crumbled around him; the sky seemed almost pure white from the clouds.

It felt like there was no one left on Earth besides him.

Something in that sentence made Tommy tense. He glanced down. ...No. No, that shouldn't be right, why couldn't he sense-

No.

Tommy turned.

Conner, suddenly quiet, stood alone, apart from Kira and Ethan, who had also fallen silent. Conner's fists clenched, the youth staring at the asphalt grayed by the sky. Blood ran down his shirt from a dark spot on his shoulder. He didn't seem to notice.

Tommy carefully walked closer. Conner was trembling.

Conner was fluent in two languages, thanks to his deaf parents, and functional in Russian and Spanish, thanks to their adventures and high school. Now he spoke exactly one word, the rest of the blunt, painful emotion screaming across the Gem-bond instead.

"Trent."

Tommy was the Leader of the Earth Ranger Corps. He loved these children, but he had spent his life in danger, fighting monsters that made Mesegog pale in comparison. And all of him, Leader and Green Ranger and Tommy Oliver, was screaming one thing:

End this. Now.

"Yes." Tommy said. Conner didn't reply. "Conner. Listen to me. You're blocking me out. Let me in."

The order went unheeded, or maybe not even understood to begin with. Behind Tommy came a scream and a crunch; Kira had punched a bit of rubble, and there was a faint twinge in Tommy's hand as Kira broke her own doing it.

Tommy stayed focused. Now, they were a pack animal, a single feral child, and Conner was the leader of the hivemind. "Conner. Turn around and look at me."

"Trent..." Kira's voice sounded like a terrifying song. Tallians had picked up the ability to songscream instead of cry from the Daemon, although they still had tears.

Ethan walked over to Conner.

They 'spoke'. Tommy couldn't hear the conversation. He didn't interject. Images were flashing through his mind now; of Kira, her face soulless and blood-spattered, as the corpses of the Tyrannodrone squadron she had killed bare-handed at fourteen littered the ground around her; of Ethan, curled up in a corner of a van, unresponsive and flinching whenever anyone touched him; of Conner, collapsed drunkenly in a gas-station bathroom, unopened pill bottles around him and a gun with one bullet missing on the floor, a mugger's blood splashed on his jacket.

This was a city full of civilians. His top priority was containment. They would work through this; they were having a flashback of some kind, they hardly had a choice. But he could at least keep them from killing anyone.

Or maybe anyone else. He'd never asked.

The boys turned and extended their hands.

Kira hesitated, then joined them, the three turning to walk away.

Tommy reached out.

They stopped.

Tommy sensed the warning. Base preservation instincts took over, and he froze.

The teenagers walked away.

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Cyberspace
Date: September 10, 2003

"Haley's Cyberspace, what can I do for you today?"

"It's me. Close up."

"Tommy? What are you-"

"Close up. Now. Stay indoors. I'll explain when it's over."

"...I can't get everyone out quickly, I'll have to stay in lockdown."

"...I'll get the rest of the city there too."

"Tommy? What's wrong? You're scaring me...damnit, don't you dare hang up! Tommy? Tommy...damn it all."

*PR*PR*PR*

Location: Mesegog's Island, Unknown Waters
Date: September 10, 2003

Trent knelt.

Mesegog glanced at the boy from his throne. Elsa stood behind him, her face like stone; Mesegog could hear the pain radiating from her mind.

It was...delicious.

He pushed the thought to one side. For now he reached out, touching the boy's mind.

It was shattered, a destroyed ruin that Mesegog felt a grin spread over his face as he explored. The memories he wanted, near the surface, were badly-formed and as ruined as the rest. Still, they told him what he wanted to know.

It was time.

Mesegog stood, and with a flick of the mind drew Trent to follow him. "The timme...isssnear." He told his...well, family, in a warped way.

He turned and tilted his head. "You...hhhave never realized, hhave you. The plan." He grinned. "Elssssa. You...didnot sussspect?"

The woman paused, she always did, trying to gauge every mood, fit her response to it. "My lord?"

Mesegog chuckled. The sound was more like a cough. "Zeltraxx. Tell me. Did you...guesss?"

"Er...no?" The cyborg asked, clueless as ever.

Mesegog laughed. Laughed like he almost never did. When the harsh, diseased sound faded away, he spoke again, returning to his throne in his odd, jerky gait.

"Did you really think that I was a fool?" The hiss was like a whip crack across the throne room. "Ssssome...halfwit lackey likeLothor? No." Mesegog turned, surveying his generals. Silent Elsa, broken and ready to serve him; Zeltrax, warped and stupid; Trent, his newest toy, a doll with his soul shattered in pieces. "We...aregoing to return Earth to the age of the Dinosssaur...and rule the galaxy with the army that grantssssusss."

"The galaxy?" Elsa asked.

Mesegog sat on his throne, calling up a set of data files. "Inthe..early dayssss of hisss experimentssss, that fool Mercccer met with a certain...Power Ranger."

Elsa read the name. She didn't quite believe it.

"Yessss." Mesegog's grin was almost as warped and sick as it was. "The PinkRanger. Notssso...deadasss the Rangerssss believed." He gestured. "And thessse names are...Eltarian. Itsssseeemssss the rumorsss were...true. The Ranger Queen isss...atraitor."

Trent was waking up.

Mesegog paused, then glanced at...his son. Yes. Not Anton's son, not any more. He had stolen the boy, just as he had stolen Anton's lover, Anton's co-worker, and almost stolen Anton's friend. Pity Oliver had been a Power Ranger.

Anton, curled somewhere in Mesegog's mind, struggled. It was the first time in a long time, and Mesegog savored it before crushing it.

"Come, my ssssson. Ssssit by...yourfather." Mesegog mocked. Trent was half-crying, but obeyed, still unable to form more than half of a thought, let alone disobey. Mesegog ran a claw through the boy's hair, savoring the pain as the boy continued to draw his shattered self back together, realize what had happened. "Do you know the ssstory of Meset'goeg?"

There was no reply, only the boy curling up a little more. Mesegog smiled anyway. "It isss...an Eltarian bogieman. A monssster...of children'ssss talessss. Like Americansss and...Sssslenderman."

No reply.

"...The Hhheadlesss Horssseman." Recognition. Mesegog made a mental note to check the IQ of his lackeys. As things stood, he doubted it was above room temperature collectively. These were the days when he was tempted to turn to Anton for conversation, if only so someone could keep up with him.

But I know the script already, Anton whispered, half-bitter, half-calm.

Mesegog chuckled and turned back to reality. "Thisss iss the galaxy." He called up a political map. "Whhhite isss...the territory of theCouncil of Lighhht. Black...isssthe Dark Court. Orange isss...unclaimed."

They peered at the map, wondering where the orange was. Mesegog zoomed in to the Orion Arm. Then closer. Then closer.

One solar system was orange. Nothing else.

"The Treaty of Power...isss a creation of an old war." Mesegog explained. "It limitsss damage. Forcesss...cooperation. Createssss...a Ranger Corps. But it, like all thingssss...comesssto an end."

"Let me guess, when the last planet is claimed?" Elsa asked dryly.

"Yessss."

"But I thought we were turning the world back to the age of the Dinosaur!" Zeltrax protested.

See, this is why I didn't hire Smitty, Anton snarked. Mesegog mentally bitch-slapped him, turning outward again. "Yesss. And whhen we do, Eltar will attempt to claim...usss. And the Dark Court will...ressspond."

"A war." Elsa realized. "You're going to start a war."

Mesegog grinned.

There was a flicker of thought across Trent's mind, a thought the boy squirreled away instantly. Mesegog caught it anyway. "The Rangersss?" He hissed, grinning as Trent winced. "Yesss...they are my obstacle. The one...sssstone in my path." He reached down and caught Trent's chin, pulling the boy's face up to meet his eyes. "And they...are already mine."

An alarm sounded. On the small screen an image of the Dino Rangers appeared.

Elsa gaped.

"I implanted a...sssstate into their mindss." This was almost as good as victory, the tang of realization and horror and hero-worship that the minds in the room filled Mesegog's mind with. "I knew you were faithlesss, Elssssa." The woman looked away. "Ssso I waited. Let you...hhhaveyour fun with your...plotssss. And, in time, you brought the trigger to me."

Mesegog's eyes narrowed. "There isss...one piece of the puzzle, remaining. We mussst defeat...theEarthRangerCorps."

"And the only thing to defeat a Power Ranger is another Ranger." Elsa said slowly, processing Mesegog's plan.

"Exactly." Mesegog studied the screen. "Myssson...your sssssiblingssss...misssyou." He glanced at Trent, still half-crying at Mesegog's feet. "Go to them. Bring them to me."

Trent hesitated.

Mesegog grasped the boy's skull, blasting into the boy's mind. Trent screamed, and Mesegog burst out laughing, delighting in the agony of the boy, the rage and fear that prompted his father to leap up, the ease with which Mesegog could destroy them both if he wanted.
Mesegog implanted instructions in the boy's mind, then released him.

There was a pause as the instructions took, then Trent stood, bowing, and walked away. Mesegog turned back to the screen, grinning.

He could hear Elsa's mind whispering something faint, the final, broken whisper of a mother selling her child into slavery. Could hear Zeltrax's faint jealousy and hero-worship. Could hear Trent's broken despair, very faintly.

The world outside, happy and free, was nothing compared to this. And soon the world would be this.

Soon.