Name: Ascendancy
Chapter 26: The Choices Of Trent
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I am nothing. I am one with the gestalt. Sue him
Archives: Sure, just let me know where
Summary: As the battle turns against Avalon and the Wildzords, Hayley and Trent seek allies in Silver hills
Shoutout: To Jeannine, for writing a fic that stirred in me the desire to write again myself.
Shoutout: JustJill, thanks, so do I :). GinaStar, sorry about that. Hope it continues to be worth it. TheRealVampire, Glad to see you're still with me. I'll try not to dissapoint.

No one remains quite what he was when he recognizes himself.
-Thomas Mann

Wes Collins was not a happy man. The battle in Reefside had gone poorly, and he glanced at the wall of TV screens in his office. Each one was linked to a different long range camera pointed at Reefside. They were one of the main things that let him keep an eye on virtually everything happening in the city.

He could see a large plume of smoke on one of the camera's which he knew was the remains of the Omega Zord. Mesogog had turned out to be so much more powerfull than they'd been led to believe, and had not only shrugged off the OmegaZords attack, but had smashed it to rubble with a single blow.

Fortunately, the Lightspeed Rangers had managed to escape their destroyed Zord and were currently pinned down in the city with Tyranno-drones surrounding them on all sides. A detachment of Silver Guardians was heading their way to try and clear a path for them, but it was slow going.

On the other side of the city, the Predazord had been wiped out after a battle that was almost as short as the one against OmegaZord. The only difference being that with the advantage of having seen how powerful Mesogog was, it's pilot had been much more careful in the fight. It hadn't helped and they had no idea one way or the other what happened to the pilot of the Zord. He hoped Merrick had survived.

Wes sighed as he came out of his chair and approached the wall of screens. The Wildforce Zords led by the Eagle-Zord had managed to destroy all of Mesogog's allies, but had managed to make no serious dent in the big lizard himself. In fact, of the 18 Zords which had joined Taylor's attack, only 11 had returned to El-Toro, and almost all of them had been injured in the battle.

One piece of good news was that other Rangers were beginning to arrive in larger numbers, and Cam Watanabe had been a godsend in helping take care of the Wildforce Zords. It was quite a gathering of Rangers that were collecting outside of Reefside.

The other piece of good news was that shortly after the Wildforce Zords had withdrawn from battle so had Mesogog. He'd left his drones though, so the Silver Guardians were carefully starting to fight their way through the city, retaking it street by street. Civilians they found were evacuated, and slowly the city was coming back under their control.

They had no idea why Mesogog had left though, so they were keeping everyone on high alert and marshalling their forces so that if and when he returned, they'd be able to throw virtually everything they had at him in one attack.

There was a knock on the door, and he turned towards it as Eric walked in accompanied by two others. As they walked in Wes looked at them, and was immediately struck by how tired the young man look. Tired and grimy, and Wes's heart sank as he identified blood as well. The woman, Hayley Jennings according to her file, looked somewhat better, but she was very conspiciously staying away from Eric, and he seemed to be glaring at her with more than his usual dourness.

"Well," Wes said with a smile towards his visitors. "If you wanted our attention, then let me assure you that morphing in the front lobby got it."

Trent at least had the good sense to look embarrased at that, but nonetheless squared his shoulders. "We needed to see you, and with the mess in Reefside, we figured you wouldn't let us in without a good reason and we weren't sure we had the time to convince you the old-fashioned way. I know we're supposed to keep our identities a secret," he explained, but then his eyes turned hard. "But really, at this point who cares?"

Wes thought about that for a second and gestured towards the couch in his office. Trent sat down, and almost without noticing began to slump. Hayley cleared her throat and nodded to him.

"Joey," Wes called, and a neatly dressed Silver Guardian came into the office. "Can you take Mr. Mercer to one of the guest-rooms. Anything he needs, you get it for him."

The Guardian nodded, and with Hayley's encouragement, Trent left the office. Once the door had closed Hayley turned and smiled. "Thanks for that. By any standards he's had a a very rough day."

Wes nodded. "I've got a few questions if you don't mind?" Hayley shook her head, so he continued. "Why did you come here rather than heading for the rally station outside Reefside?"

"Didn't know about it," she responded as she sat down, eyeing Eric as she did so. "I was unconscious since just after the battle that killed most of the team. Mesogog attacked out base and I was knocked out. Trent watched every one of his close friends be killed, and had to let Ethan stay behind and sacrifice himself to buy our escape."

"Harsh," Eric said from the side, and Wes watched as Hayley's eyes snapped to him and she very visibly bit of a retort she was going to say. He didn't know what their history was, but it obviously wasn't pleasant.

"Yes, it was," Hayley said after a moment. "After I woke up we decided to come her to try and get Timeforce's help to make it right."

"Please tell me you don't want to try time-travel?" Wes asked with a somewhat pained look on his face. "Because I'm not sure we can help you there."

"Why not?" Hayley asked at the same time as Eric said "Yes we can."

The three of them were silent for a moment as Eric and Hayley glanced at each other and Wes raised his eyebrows at the both of them. He eventually decided to address his best friend first. "You want to explain that to me Eric?" Wes asked almost mildly. He was rewarded by a sarcastic snort.

"Not really," he responded evenly. Then he glanced at Hayley. "It's an old debt that needs repaying."

There was definite surprise on Wes's face at that response. He and Eric had been partners for years now and while he didn't know much of Eric's history prior to coming to Silver Hills he knew him well enough to know when he wasn't going to talk. It might annoy him, but he knew that he wouldn't get anything out of Eric while there was someone else in the room.

"I appreciate your vote of confidence Eric, but you know Timeforce isn't going to just let us arbitrarily change history." He held up his hands as Hayley opened her mouth. "Please, I don't mean to sound harsh, but Time-Force only really allows people to change the past when it was changed by someone from the future in the first place. We were allowed to meddle in history because Ransik came from the future, and the same is true for the Mute-Orgs." he gave her a sympathetic look. "Even though what's happened in Reefside was terrible, Tommy was my friend too, can you honestly tell me it happened through interference from the future."

Hayley's eyes dropped and a moment later so did her head. Her whispered 'No," was almost soft enough to go unheard.

"Then I'm not sure we can help," Wes said softly. "Even if we wanted to, Time-Force would be obliged to stop us."

No one said anything for a few moment and then Hayley got up of the couch and rubbed her eyes once. "So there's nothing you can do?"

Wes was about to answer when the side-door to the office opened, and someone stepped through.

"Maybe we can," Jenn Scotts said as she stepped into the office and Wes sighed. This day was just getting better and better.

Mesogog staggered in his lair as the power of his potion began to fade. The battle against the Zords had been a tiring one, and even with his additional power it had been hard-fought. He still had one vial of the liquid made by the life-force extractor left, but for now he needed to rest and recover.

He entered into one of the prison cells and closed the door behind him, ordering one of the Tyranno-Drones to seal it. While he was strong enough even without the potion to break down the door, Anton Mercer was not, and he could already feel his pathetic human side beginning to assert itself as the effects of the potion wore off. It didn't matter anyway, the Rangers were beaten and once he had regained his own form, he would complete the destruction of Reefside. Sooner or later he would flush Trent and the last Dinogem out and then the world would know his wrath.

Mesogog doubled over as the transformation came over him, and a moment later, Anton sank to his knees gasping for breath. He tried desperately to deny what he had done, but the memories of his time as Mesogog assualted him relentlessly and his stomach heaved as he recalled the deaths of people he'd regarded as friends. He threw up on the floor as he remembered the feeling of blood on his hands from the battle against the Blue Ranger.

"Oh God no," he whispered as the memories kept coming of the destruction he had wrought in Reefside, the other Zords he'd destroyed and people he'd killed. Anton Mercer had always thought of himself as a good person, a moral person, a visionary who was trying to make the world a better place, and now he had more blood on his hands than he could stand.

Anton Mercer crawled into a fetal ball and screamed in anguish for all that he had lost that day.

"You're Jenn Scotts," Hayley said with surprise. "But how can you be here. Time-Force wouldn't have let you stay."

"Normally no, but there were circumstances," she glanced at Wes and hesitated for a moment. "We came to an arrangement."

"What did you mean Jenn, maybe we can help?" Wes asked as the two women looked at each other. Part of the deal was that Jenn didn't exert any influence over the present by using knowledge from the future, and usually she took that to mean staying in the background of events.

"Simple enough really. Part of being trained as a Time-force officer is Ranger history. Not just the history of the individual Rangers and teams, but also of their human allies and friends. The ones that made significant contributions to our shared history as Rangers." she took a deep breath before continuing, and even though it had no basis in rational fact, Hayley could almost feel the momentousness of the event.

"Normally I wouldn't give you any future knowledge, but Hayley Jennings is one of the most famous Ranger allies in the history books. She along with Ethan James wrote the first generation AI software for an organisation called Space Patrol Delta. That software was the basis of programs still in use almost a thousand years later. In fact, our tech department still refers to the auto-generated programs as 'Hayleys'."

Hayley was stunned, and caught somewhere between flattered and openly disbelieving, but it didn't take her long to find her voice. "But that's not possible. Ethan is dead, and I've dabbled in AI architecture for our Dino-ops, but I've never completed it."

"Which means," Eric continued, his own thoughts obviously mirroring hers. "That for history to continue on the way Jenn remembers it, Ethan has to live." He looked up at Wes. "Which means someone stopped Mesogog from killing him, which means we probably already helped them change the past."

Wes sighed as he looked at the three people in his office. "Time-travel gives me a headache."

It took them the best part of an hour to hammer out a plan, and there were still grave problems to consider, not least of which was power. In the future, fusion generators the size of a washing machines powered the entire North-Eastern seaboard. Even so, Jenn had explained, Time-Force needed several generators the size of skyscrapers to be able to send large objects through stable temporal wormholes.

As Eric walked Hayley to the room they'd prepared for her, she was mulling over how to get the power, Wes' comment that they'd need either a major power-station or someone who could gain access to one to be able to even open a temporal wormhole big enough to send a person through. It was one thing to send a message to the future, but to send a person was infinitely more complicated and required much more power. Hayley had an idea on that, but not one she wanted to share just yet.

"You okay?" Eric asked as they arrived. "Because you've had a rough day to."

"Don't try and play nice with me Eric." Hayley said. "I'm grateful you stood up for me in there, but don't think that makes things right between us."

Eric sighed. "Be reasonable Hayley, it was seven years ago and it wasn't personal."

She looked him in the eyes, her own narrowing, and her voice was soft and full of hurt. "I know that Eric, why do you think it hurted so damn much. You used me. Worse, you played me. And you stole my research."

Eric couldn't meet her eyes and turned away. "It was a contract, and industrial espionage was good business back then. For what it's worth, I'm sorry for hurting you."

She smiled wanly at his turned back. "But that doesn't make it go away." She didn't know what else to say, so she entered the room and closed the door behind her, closing her eyes at the memories.

She put them aside and reached for her phone on the desk. She still had Eamon's card, and she knew that at least one of his recent commercial projects had to do with the power plant at Redondo in Los Angeles. And even if he couldn't help, he might know someone. It was something of a long-shot, but he was the only millionaire she knew, and he had said that she could call him if she ever needed anything.

She called and gave her name to the PA she got on the line, only to have her react immediately and put her through.

"Hayley?" Came the concerned voice over the line.

"Yeah Eamon, it's me."

"Oh thank God," he breathed with such an audible sigh of relief that it made her smile. "When I heard of what was happening in Reefside I tried to call you, and Tom and the cafe. Where are you? are you hurt? are the others all right? do you need help?"

"Slow down Eamon," she said with a sad smile. "I'm okay. I'm in Silver Hills with some friends who might be able to help fix this. Trent is with me, and he's a bit battered but okay."

She stopped for a second and she heard him draw in a breath as what she wasn't saying registered. "And Tom, and the others?" he finally asked.

"I'm sorry Eamon, they died protecting Reefside."

For a long moment he said nothing, and Hayley found herself oddly wishing that he was there in person. Even though they hadn't resolved their issues, right now she would have given her left arm for a real hug.

"What can I do to help?" he finally asked. "You wouldn't have called if things are this bad unless you thought I could help."

For a moment she considered calling him on his blatant ignoring of the fact that a mutual friend of many years was dead, but Hayley did remember that Eamon was capable of putting aside his own concerns when needed, and she was too tired to call him on it. Hayley sat down and began to explain what they needed.

Taylor didn't even bother turning her head as she heard the crunch of boots on the gravel approaching her. She was currently stroking the Soaring Eagle on one of the landing strips of El Toro AFB, as she had ever since it had returned. So many Zords had been destroyed by Mesogog, and unlike the OmegaZord the Wildforce Zords were alive in some sense, and their deaths had weighed heavily on her consciousness.

She hadn't slept yet, even though it had been almost eight hours since Mesogog had abandoned Reefside. The first attack had happened early in the morning, and now the sun was just starting to set in California. The Silver Guardians had re-secured almost half the city, and everyone was gearing up for the inevitable return of the bad guy. They hadn't been able to kill him last time, so they had no doubt he was coming back.

The Governor had declared martial law in Reefside, and put the local military forces directly under General Cathles command, at the request of the President who had been fully briefed on project Avalon. Normally Avalon was the bailiwick of the special appropriations committee, to give the President plausible deniability when needed, but in this case necessity trumped the need for secrecy. They had begun to roll in heavy artillery, tanks, APC's and thousands of troops. It was the largest desployment of military assets on American soil in the history of the country.

"That's quite a sight," Vampire said as he approached the Zord, a look of awe on his face. "I've never seen anything like it."

"I saw the Animarium from a plane when I was a kid," Taylor said. "It changed my life, and it changed again when I met the Eagle-Zord. We've been through quite a bit together."

Vampire smiled for a moment before turning serious. "I'm sorry to bother you Captain, but we've had an unconfirmed report of Mesogog appearing back in the city. Command wants us back up to alert status one, and to be prepared to launch the Phoenixes for a second run."

Taylor never took her eyes of her injured Zord. "Okay, I'll be there in a few minutes." For a moment he considered saying something more, but then decided that if a senior officer needed a pep-talk, she'd probably ask for one.

As he walked away Taylor looked up at her old friend. "We can do this.". Now if only she could convince herself of that.

Evening meal at the Silver Guardians compound found Trent sitting by himself at a corner table of the almost military style mess, wolfing down a huge portion of food. He hadn't been able to get much sleep in the 8 hours or so since they'd arrived, but it was enough and after the day he'd had he was hungry. Hayley had explained the plan to him, and that it would probably be up to him to make it happen, and he was due to be briefed in a few minutes according to the message that had been left for him.

He was so busy eating that he didn't notice Eric approaching until the older man sat down across from him. "Evening kid," Eric said with a grin. "You ready to change the world?"

That stopped Trent for a moment. "Nope," he said between mouthfuls. "Not ready at all, but I don't think Mesogog is going to give me a chance to get ready. Do you?"

Eric shook his head "Are you scared?" Eric asked after a moment. The mess room was right next to the briefing room where Wes, Hayley and Jen were busy putting the final touches to the plan to save the Dinothunder Rangers. Trent's eyes flew up to Eric's at the older Rangers strident question and he looked at him with something akin to shock on his face.

"Of course not," came the uncertain response, and Trent felt his cheeks heat up as Eric laughed at that. The Quantum Ranger looked at the younger man, his eyes seeming to look straight through him.

"It's okay to be scared," he finally said, and he could tell that Trent was surprised by the statement. "It's easy for the people doing the planning to figure out what needs doing, but unless they're actually the ones that are going out in the field, they can't understand what it's like to be holding the short end of the stick."

"Aren't you supposed to be the tough as nails guy?" Trent asked, slightly confused. The picture that Hayley had painted of Eric was that of a hide-bound, inflexible, rule-obsessed and arrogant man who was all bravado that was backed up by a measure of skill and more luck than most people deserved. It had seemed like a reasonably accurate assessment to Trent after he had first met the man in the lobby of the building.

"Mostly," Eric admitted with a lazy grin. "But I also understand that fear isn't always a bad thing, and I'm not convinced you realise that yet."

"What do you mean?" Trent asked suspiciously.

"Being a Ranger isn't just about fighting the bad guys," Eric explained. "It's about making a choice to put yourself between mankind and the monsters, and to accept that it's a terrifying thing to do, but choose to do it anyway."

"Isn't fear supposed to be bad?" Trent asked. "You know, it leads to the dark side and all that?"

"Cheap emotionalism," Eric said with a dismissive tone. "Fear is something everyone feels from time to time, when they make the big choices in their lives. Now for most people that fear comes from deciding to tell their boss to take a hike, or to ask their girl to marry them," he leaned over towards Trent, and Trent was startled to see the depth of conviction in the man's eyes.

"For us, for Rangers that fear comes from having to make a tough choice, one that could get us, and our teams killed, and making it anyway, because the alternative is unthinkable." Trent swallowed as Eric leaned back in his chair. "You're being asked to make a choice, and not just any choice but one of the biggest anyone can ever make. You have to decide if you can shoulder the responsibility of changing the world, of deciding that your idea of what should be, is better than what is. It doesn't get much bigger than that."

The two sat in silence for almost three minutes as Trent's head churned. He hadn't thought about what he was doing in those terms. For him, it had been about saving his friends, his teacher, Kira, and maybe having a real shot at taking down Mesogog for good.

Eric took a breath, "A very wise general once said, there is a fine line between being a hero, and being a memory. I'll support whatever choice you make, but only you can make sure you end up on the right side of that line. If you get it wrong, you'll be the one who has to pay the price."

"Thanks," Trent said after a few moments. "You've given me a lot to think about. Tell the others I'll join them in five minutes." With that, Trent got up and walked down the hallway to the room he had been given as a guest-room.

"That was awfully nice of you Eric," Hayley said, as she stepped out from hallway. She had heard Eric talking and had decided against interfering until she was sure what he was doing. "I'm a little surprised actually. For a few seconds there, you actually sounded like a real human being."

Eric looked up at her, he had known she was there, as she was behind Trent and he had been sitting across from the boy. When he had seen her approach the table, he expected her to say something, bu she had decided against interfering, and he had appreciated that, so he decided to throw her a bone.

"One of the first things they taught me when I wanted to become an officer in the Silver Guardians was that everyone on a team needs to be motivated. Some people need to just be yelled at, others need to feel like their input matters, or need to be cajoled into doing their jobs," he nodded down the hallway where Trent had disappeared into the planning room. "Some people need to feel like the weight they've got to carry around isn't unique, that someone understands them."

Hayley frowned as Eric nodded towards the empty seat, and she sat down, her arms still crossed. And very much ill at ease sitting and listening to him like that. "Go on," she said after a few moments.

"You can't help Trent with this," he said bluntly. "You aren't a Ranger, you don't wear the uniform." He raised his hands to forestall the angry rebuttal that was evident on her face. "That doesn't mean that you weren't important to your team, but there is a difference between being important to a team, and actually knowing what it feels like to see the world through the mask."

He waited another second to make sure she wasn't going to go off on him, then gave her a rare smile. "Trent didn't need your encouragement, he needed another Ranger to tell him that he wasn't alone, at least until he has to step up to the plate. And if that's what it takes to get him fighting fit," he shrugged as he got up. "Well, it's no skin off my nose. As long as he's willing and able to fight, and to stop Mesogog then that's all that matters. "

Hayley smiled slightly at him, then cocked her head. "By the way Eric, a fine line between being a hero and a memory?" she asked. "Which general was that again?"

Eric gave her an incredible shit-eating grin. "Optimus Prime. Who else?"

It ended up being almost ten minutes by the time Trent came to the briefing room and joined Hayley, Eric, Wes and Jenn around the center table which had papers and charts strewn around it. Wes and Jenn didn't know Trent well enough, but Hayley immediately noticed the difference in the way he was moving. A certain confidence that he had lacked before, and she glanced at Eric who had obviously noticed it himself, but was being careful to hide his smile.

"So," Trent said as he joined them. "Let's go save the world."

TBC...