Timeforce – Delta
Chapter 9 – The Clock Tower

With just three days left, the entire SPD drove together to the address Sydney's uncle had given them. None of them really knew what to expect but they discovered the address for an old clock tower, they had to wonder where this was going. "The Clock Tower Uncle Eric?" Sydney muttered.

"Well it's definitely ranger-related," Bridge reported from his examination of a plaque by the door. It read, The Silver Hills Clock Tower was destroyed during the final battle of the Timeforce power rangers and has since been restored as symbol of the city's resilience and fortitude.

"Well they couldn't hide this," Z said wryly. "Nick of Time Odd Jobs," she read the writing on the glass of the door. "Small business?"

"I think I tried to hide out here once but the door was locked," Jack recalled. He pulled on the door but it didn't budge.

"Don't tell me this is where the enhancers are," Sky looked up at the giant clock face.

"I don't know but remember, I made Uncle Eric a promise that we wouldn't divulge whatever we discovered here," Sydney reminded them. She produced a key that Eric had given her and slid it easily into the slot. With bated breath, they gently opened the door and entered the shop area of the tower. There was a long counter with a cash register on the left and a workbench on the right. Behind each of them was a set of shelves and there were hooks on the walls presumably for work tools that were no longer there. Everything was covered in a near opaque layer of dust so it was clear they were the first people in there for a long while.

Sky walked around the counter and gently touched the register, "It's old and banged up. Probably the original." He pressed a button and the drawer opened, "Still works."

"The stairs are there," Z nodded towards the back of the room where a wooden staircase stood. "Shall we?" Leaving the store, they trouped up the winding stairs, higher and higher, until coming to a loft-like area with a short platform accessible by a short ladder right in front of the clock face. They looked up at the bell hanging over them, pigeons fluttered around it while sunlight shined through the slots in the windows. They didn't even have to look in any of cardboard boxes piled on the floor; they knew they were in the right place.

Sky was the first to turn his attention to the boxes, "Alright let's get down to work. The information should be here." He ripped the tape off and opened the flaps, "Newspaper articles," he reported.

"Okay everyone, pick a box and have at it," Jack clapped his hands together.

Each of them selected their own box; Jack found articles as well, Sydney found a series of tapes that were marked as recordings of television news reports, Z got even more articles but Bridge –

"I think this is it!" He pushed his whole arms into his box and came up with a stack of files, the one on top had the SPD symbol on the folder. They gathered together to look through them.

"SPD Earth was founded through the Silver Guardians," Z skimmed through the pages. "After the war with the mutants, Collins went non-profit and Doggie approached him about starting up an Earth-wide protection."

"Then he retired and the project was taken over by his son Wesley," Sky continued but Syd and Z froze for a fraction of a second. "Hey Syd did you know he worked with your uncle?"

"Yeah," Syd said shortly, not meeting his eyes. "The photo I told you about had a caption with their names."

"You alright?" Jack whispered to her.

Sydney weighed her choice of words carefully, "Stressed."

"I feel you," Jack patted her shoulder. "We'll get them home safe."

"I know will," Sydney smiled. Jack looked away and she glanced at Z who was looking at her, "I just wish that was what's stressing me."

"Guys GENPOW isn't in here," Bridge declared looking through the last file.

"It's okay we're on the right track," Sky grabbed another box and split it open. It was filled with random objects. The most surprising of which was a white leather jacket with 'timeforce' written on it. "Wow look at this."

"There are two of them," Jack got the other. "Kind of small, for the women maybe?"

"But why only two of them?" Z queried from her box. "Weren't there five on the team?"

"Maybe the other three got destroyed when the building was attacked," Sky supposed.

"GUYS I GOT IT!" Syd shrieked. She held up a folder with Project GENPOW stamped across the front. "There has to be about a dozen files in here."

"We'll take them all with us, just bring the whole box," Sky smiled for the first time in a while. He looked down and saw underneath the jackets were a number of odd items including a wooden box with something white sticking out of it. Curious, he picked it up and popped of the lid to find pictures. "Hey guys, there are pictures here."

"Think it's the Timeforce team?" Bridge jogged up to see.

"Has to be, who else is there?" Sky flipped through the stack until he came upon some familiar faces. "NO WAY! My parents were on Timeforce!"

"You're kidding," Jack peered over his shoulder. Sure enough he saw Jennifer and William Tate caught in a candid moment of William surprise-kissing Jennifer.

"That's so cute," Sydney cooed.

"Okay, okay. We can look at this stuff later, let's back to headquarters." Sky ordered and the team dispersed. Sky packed up the box to take with them too leaving the picture of his parents out. He looked at it some more, "Man they look so young," he said to himself. He flipped it over to the back and what he saw drained all the good humour out of him and left him stony and in shock.

Z reappeared, "Hey are you coming?" But Sky didn't answer. "Sky?" Z went to his side and saw what he was looking at. "Oh…"

"Wes… as in Wesley Collins?"

Z bit her lip, "Yes."

"You knew," Sky ground out. "You and Sydney. You said you found a photo of the leaders of Silver Guardians and there was caption with it. You. Knew."

"We didn't know how to tell you," Z said gently. "We were trying to figure out where the morpher came from and saw a picture of the Timeforce team and the red ranger had the exact same suit your father did. So we went to track them down and that's when we saw the article. Of course I recognized him but then I saw the caption…"

"We going to have a meeting right now," Sky said firmly. "I need some answers." They got the box and left the tower with the words still burning in their eyes.

Wes and Jen, 2002

A/N: Well everything is about to hit the fan and let's hope SPD can handle the truth. ENJOY R&R PLZ!