A/N: Hi, everyone! Here we are with a new fic. I hope everyone is doing well, especially our friends who are living in the south! I know everyone's favorite Marci dealt with the weather on her side of the country. I am happy to say she made it through though!

Just a reminder this is the sequel to Altered/Reality. If you haven't read that one, I would do that so you aren't lost. :) It is based off the idea in the comic books with Lord Drakkon. If that's not your cup of tea, I totally understand. Feel free to sit this one out until the next fic. I have some oneshots that will be coming out soon as well.

As always, please remember to R&R and let me know what you like and don't like about it.

Tommy

The sound of crickets chirping was the only thing I could hear as I walked, the night sky that had once been filled with bright stars now murky with clouds. It reminded me of a clear day on the ocean until something stirs up the sand like the small feet of children running in the surf. Now and then, the moon would peak through a small break in the clouds, reminding me it was looming above. I glanced up, wondering what was happening on the surface of it now. It had been sometime since my boots had made impressions in the dust on the face of the moon. For a moment, I thought of those who used to dwell there. Were they still there? I doubted it. I didn't think that Lord Drakkon would allow Rita's minions to continue living on the Earth, let alone allow her to inhabit it while he was trying to conquer our world.

It's odd how much the world around you can change in just a matter of time. My mind thought of a brightly lit room with fluorescent bulbs and neon paint, teenagers milling around while they enjoyed after school activities and smoothies. Some would laugh and others would be working out on the used machinery located in the room. Now and then, you could see the smiles on the faces of our group as we talked about school, our families, and things that no one else around us would understand. After that, we would all head home to work on homework or to spend time with our families. It was a far and distant thing in the past now, an almost foreign idea in the wastelands that Angel Grove was surely becoming. It's waste was seeping out around it, affecting the entire west side of the country. The East had done it's best to cut off all ties and keep a truce with those who wished to rule it. Drakkon made no move on this soil. What he wanted wasn't there anyway. He rather focus his efforts on the state of California where his current enemies had taken up arms. He had no idea about me.

I paused, listening closely as I focused on the fenced in structure fifty yards away from me. It was a tower that loomed a good 25 feet into the air, a green orb blinking on the end of it. Now and then, a crackle of energy would come from it, streaks of green lightning scrawling across the sky like a thunderstorm rolling in over the ocean. They were being used to connect the Morphing Grid between the two worlds, powering it so that the connection wouldn't weaken when a power coin was unavailable for Drakkon to leech from it. I had to give him credit where credit was due. With no ability to get to a Power coin, he had sought out the next best thing and that was leaking out the raw power from the morphing grid. I wondered what it's effect had on our world and his, leaving scars on the edges of our timelines. I guessed. I was no genius but it didn't take one to know that these things were not very good for either reality. The fence around it was just a chain link one with warnings posted. They threatened instant death if anyone was caught near them, something that made me smirk.

Shifting in my spot in the tree, I strained my eyes to look through the darkness and the tall grass surrounding the area. Beyond the tower was a small brick building that was currently hosting three guards. I had seen them when I arrived earlier as they were making their rounds. Guards change shifts every eight hours, swapping out men with different ones and sending out the previous guards on large humvee like trucks. I waited around long enough to learn their routines. One would remain in the shack while the other two would walk around the perimeter of the fence, each taking a different direction before meeting back at the guard station. This happened every other hour, the walk around the fence taking them twenty minutes if that. It was not a good defense strategy for them, leaving an opening if something happened to a guard. The area was too dense, too dark, and too spaced apart for one to hear if the other was in trouble. I knew that Drakkon was desperate to protect these antennas but I didn't think it would be to this point. Sometimes, they would let an hour lapse before doing another perimeter check. I needed them to be a bit more dedicated to their jobs for my plan to be able to go into action.

I slipped down from the tree, walking through the grass and closer to the fence. I stopped about ten feet away, taking cover behind a thicker set of weeds. I made sure to keep my hood pulled up and my head low, allowing me with just enough viewpoint of the guard shed. I heard some talking and what sounded like static from a walkie talkie. The door of the shack opened and the two guards walked out. One was dressed in yellow armor and the other in black, guns in their hands. The one in yellow turned back to say something to the guard in the structure quickly before closing the door. I couldn't hear what they said exactly before they separated, the one in yellow walking away from me. The one in black headed towards me, sticking to the space near the fence. I smiled in relief, determination filling my chest. I was only going to get one chance at this and I wasn't about to let my guard down now. That was the mistake this man was about to make.

The guard's head turned back and forth, scanning the area as he walked. He loosely gripped his weapon, in an almost lazy fashion as he walked. His boot made loud scuffing noises as he walked through the grass that had been beaten down into a path from their rounds around the area. He reached the first corner of the fencing, pausing to look around. I could hear him mumble something under his breath as he made the turn to head directly towards me. Crouching low, I spread my feet apart to give me a steady footing. I reached over and grabbed a thick stalk of the weed. Once he was near enough, I pressed my thumb against the stalk. It broke with a loud cracking noise that was just loud enough for him to hear. He came to a stop, snapping to attention. He raised his weapon now before taking a few steps towards the source he thought the noise had come from. I picked up a rock from the ground and tossed it carefully behind it. It hit the fence, making a soft metallic noise. He spun quickly to investigate.

As he did, I jumped forward, knocking him off his feet. He let out a muffled grunt when we collided and fell to the ground. He attempted to aim his weapon at me but I disarmed him quickly, snapping his arm at the elbow. I took his gun and pressed it into his throat, cutting off any scream he might try to let out. I felt it gurgle against the hilt of the gun as he tried to alert his comrades of his attack. I held it there until he stopped squirming, him losing consciousness from the lack of air. Standing up, I quickly dragged him into the tall grass. I made sure that all of his limbs were inside of the area, unseeable from the beaten down dirt path by the fence. In the distance, I heard footsteps and knew that it was the yellow guard heading towards me.

"Black?" A voice called out. I grabbed the weapon, the yellow guard coming around the corner. He didn't have time to stop before I swung and connected the butt of the gun with the temple of his helmet. He fell backwards, his own weapon falling to the ground. I picked this up as well, tossing both a safe distance away. Yellow moaned quietly, rolling to his side. I walked over and stood over him. Lifting my leg I brought my knee down to his kidney. He gasped, the air escaping him. Rolling on his back again, he left his throat open for attack. I quickly jabbed his Adam's apple. He grasped at his throat, trying to breathe. I stepped to the side and kicked him twice in the back of the head. I could hear his skull bouncing around inside of the helmet, his brain more than likely doing the same inside of his dome. He stopped moving then, unresponsive. I dragged him over to the black foot soldier, adding him to the heap. I heard a grunt from the black one, telling me he was still alive but he made no movement. I gave him a swift kick to the temple, locking in his state of unconsciousness for me.

Picking up the weapons again, I walked along the fence way towards the guard's shed. Inside, I could hear what sounded like music playing from a radio. I stopped in front of the door and lifted up the guns. Bringing my leg back, I kicked the door open. The metal door bent, caving in with a loud screeching noise that seemed to echo into the empty darkness around us. Inside, there was another yellow guard sitting at a folding table that had been set up. He jumped up from the table where playing cards were laid about and attempted to grab his weapon that was off to the side. Unlike the other guards, he didn't wear his helmet and I saw he was a younger guy about my age. He had blonde hair that was cut close to his scalp, blue eyes that were piercing. I kicked the chair nearest to me, colliding it with his weapon and putting it out of his reach. He stopped, putting his hands up in the air.

"Who are you?" He asked, glaring at me.

"I think I am the one in the position to ask the questions at this moment in time." I said. Reaching up, I pulled my hood down. His eyes widened.

"You're him!" He exclaimed. "You're the one they've been looking for."

"Sure am." I replied. "Now, where's Drakkon?" I asked. He laughed.

"You think that I know that? I'm just a guard." He said, shaking his head. He was right. Yellows and blacks aren't really swimming with the information I wanted to know. That was probably best reserved for either a Red sentry or Blue. They were more regarded in Drakkon's military than these colors. However, there was a chance that this idiot knew more than he was letting on.

"Where's the base of your operations then?" I asked.

"What?" He asked, looking confused. Annoyance bounced around my skull.

"Where the fuck do you all report for work in the morning?" I hissed.

"He's not there." He said. "He's never there."

"Answer my question then."

"It's at the old military base on the coast. That's where they assign our missions from." He grumbled, telling me that he didn't want to just give up that information.

"Which time era are you from?" I questioned. He shot me a glare. "That's what I figured. Where's the portal that you came here? How did you get here?"

"That's classified information." He retorted. I shrugged my shoulder.

"Alright then." I said. I raised the yellow weapon and fired. A blast of energy hit him in the lower torso. He let out a loud cry of pain, blood splashing on his armor as he hit the wall behind him. He slid down, slouching to the floor as he held onto his injury. "Is it still classified information?"

"You're full of shit." He said, the color beginning to drain from his face. "You're one of them. There's no way you'll kill me. You took an oath." I let out a dark laugh, shaking my head. I stepped towards him, crouching down.

"Ah. Apparently, you all don't know everything about me. See, I'm not like the others. I wasn't picked by a higher power because of my loyalty and compassion. I came from the dark side. And there's a good reason for that. Now, I'm going to ask you one more time. Where is the portal?" He eyed me, a glint of fear behind the shimmer of tears in his eyes now.

"The warehouse district. There's an open courtyard. That's where we were deployed from." He said.

"Well, now. That wasn't too hard, was it?" I said, standing back up. Walking over to the table, I saw that there was a walkie talkie there. There was a large control panel on the wall behind it. There were buttons that were lit up, large and small switches and various gauges that controlled things I didn't have the slightest clue about. I knew it had to do with that damn tower though, the one harnessing energy for the arrogant bastard. For a moment, I considered disarming the tower to just piss Drakkon off. I knew I couldn't do that though. If there was a chance that Drakkon had Kim on the other side, I couldn't risk closing the only door there without a way of it reopening it. Reaching over, I grabbed the walkie.

"Tower 7, confirm your status." A voice said from the walkie. I pressed the button.

"Tower 7, all your men down." I said, speaking into it. I tossed the walkie back on the table and the guard let out a laugh.

"See? I knew you were like the others." He breathed.

"Sadly, I'm not." I said. I pointed the black weapon at him and fired the energy blast hitting him square in the chest. His chest captivity seemed to explode from the impact, blood splattering around the room. I felt some of it hit my jacket. His head slouched back, his eyes wide open and all the life in them disappeared. I tossed the weapons to the ground and moved to walk out. That's when I saw the map on the wall near the door. It showed the entire tri-state area, stretching into Nevada and New Mexico. There were 10 green stickers on the map, each indicating an antenna tower. There were four yellow markers and then three red ones. I didn't know what these were but I was going to find out. I unpinned it from the wall and folded it up as I walked out the door. Off in the distance, I could hear large engines rumbling and what I assumed was some kind of airship approaching. I pulled my hood up and ran, heading back into the tall grass area where I had come from. Along the tree lines, I paused to watch the ship come to a stop near the tower. Guards ran out, their guns raised as they exited the vehicle. I could see that a red uniformed soldier was in front, signalling his troops where to go. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I knew they were searching the area for any sign of the person who had caused the distress call. I smirked, turning back to the trees. I saw my dirt bike was still hidden behind the brush. Grabbing it, I climbed on and high tailed it out of there.

The moon was higher in the sky now as I climbed into the remains of the red brick apartment building. There were no sounds to be heard, telling me that there were no units patrolling the area. More than likely, they had been sent to deal with the situation I had caused. I hid my bike in its usual position in the rumble on the north side of the building. At one time, this had been public housing for people who were in need of income based housing. Now, they were just shells of the building they used to be, Drakkon's attacks leaving them this way. I had been fortunate enough to locate a unit that still had an intact bedroom when I returned to Angel Grove a week ago. I secured the location, setting up camp here for the time being.

I lit the small lanterns I had on the cheap wooden end tables in the room, making sure that the newspaper and blankets still covered the windows. The last thing I needed was to have someone spot lights coming from here. As the small room lit up, I pulled the map from my jacket pocket and unfolded it. I walked over to the wall and tacked it to it. Stepping back, I grabbed one of the lanterns and moved it closer so that it was more brightly lit up. I grabbed a marker from the end table and walked over to the map, drawing large X's on eight of the green markers. That was the three towers I had managed to attack over the last week. They were the closest to this location, all of them being within five to ten miles of here. The others had been ones outside of Angel Grove, some being in Nevada. I had traveled there and taken them out to obtain more was another that was about fifteen and one that was thirty, them being my next targets on my list. That was until I had seen this map.

I wasn't sure what the yellow and red markers were. All were located in California and were in a small area compared to the towers. I grabbed my road map from my bag in the corner and opened it, looking to see what was in the area of the closest yellow marker. It had been the military base the guard had spoken of. I looked up the other yellow markers, seeing that they were either military related locations or large sea ports. This must be where Drakkon was keeping his forces or bringing them supplies. The red markers were the ones that were getting my interest the most. There were three of them. What was so important at these locations? Looking at the road map, I saw that one was directly over the warehouse district. That's where the guard had said he had been able to come through the portal. The second one was located right on Angel Grove high school. The last was nestled in the middle of the desert. It was north of Angel Grove, seeming to be in the middle of nowhere.

The Command Center.

It made sense that Drakkon would want to monitor this location. The last I had heard, the Power Rangers were still giving him quite the hassle in trying to stop him from taking over the world. I hadn't had any contact with them since I had left, word travelling to me from whispers on the streets and comments from the guards I had come across as I made my way from base to base. The towers weren't the only places I had been targeting. I traveled across the states on this side of the coast, trying to find any location that Drakkon might be. So far, I've only found traces of him and some of his forces that are only here to assist him. It seemed that he hadn't been in our world in quite some time. His presence was still felt here, however, especially here in Angel Grove. It was the only reason I had returned to this area. I had wanted to avoid it all together, not wanting the team to know I was back. They would try to hunt me down to bring me back to their missions. I couldn't bring myself to do that. My mission was more important.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I grabbed my bag and put the map back into the front pocket. I saw a picture tucked in here and I pulled it out. Running a finger down the side of it, I looked into the gorgeous doe brown eyes that belonged to Kimberly Hart. Her smile was stunning and brilliant as she looked up at me from the picture. What I wouldn't give just to see it for myself in person again. I knew she was out there somewhere. I could feel it right down in the depths of my soul. There was no way to describe it other than the fact my heart wouldn't allow me to believe any other possible resolution. I closed my eyes, thinking back to the last time I had seen her. She was standing right there in front of me, just in arms reach. I should have grabbed her. I should have pushed her out of the way. I should have done everything possible to stop what was about to happen from happening. I felt tears sting the back of my eyes as they opened.

The team had been so quick to assume she was dead. I couldn't understand why they were ready to let her go. there was no proof that she was dead. There was no body and no sign of her dying. Rage flared in my chest. They took the word of that other version of Kimberly. The same one who had attacked us. The one who had caused all of this. She had been the one who came here to kill us, seeking to destroy our world for her Master. The thought made my skin crawl and my stomach lurch. How could they just take her word that Kimberly was gone? After everything that had happened, they just assumed she was telling the truth now. I couldn't just stand by and let that happen.

Sighing, I laid back on the bed and looked up at Kim's picture. It's been five years to the day since she disappeared. Our world was entering one of being in shambles, thanks to Lord Drakkon. The government tried it's best to help out the citizens on this side of the country, sending out reinforcements to fight off Drakkon's advances. His forces were too strong though. He made his demands clear; surrender to him this part of the country or face his wrath. It was amusing how quickly they had turned on the West. The country was divided in half now, the East it's own country that followed under the watchful eye of Drakkon. They had even offered him bodies for his army, supplying him with the manpower to take over and control the people here. Canada and Mexico were quick to follow suit, offering the same to him in return for peace in their lands. Those that lived here scurried to shelter in these regions of the world before the borders closed. Those who were unfortunate enough to not make it there were now forced to live in the camps that had been established by Drakkon's forces. The men were forced to join their army while the women and children worked to earn rations for their families.

Before I had left, I made sure that my parents managed to make it out of Angel Grove for their safety. They were in Canada, hiding with my uncle in his hunting cabin. I knew they would be targeted by Drakkon and I didn't want them to be at risk because of me. After ensuring they were safe, I started my mission. I knew that the Rangers were trying to defeat Drakkon, doing their best to keep him at bay. They've been doing a good job, seeming to keep him at least on the defense. They've been able to break into two of the camps and freed the civilians living there. I had heard of this before heading back to town. I wondered if they were working with outside forces, allies to Zordon from space. Unlike Drakkon's world, they were not considered the coinless. We still all had our power coins. I haven't morphed in what felt like an eternity though, Drakkon able to tell where I am due to his connection to the morphing grid.

Leaning into the pillow, I smiled at Kim's picture. I had an idea of where I would be going tomorrow. If that guard was correct, there was a good chance that a portal was available in the warehouse area of Angel Grove. By this time tomorrow, I could have Kimberly back here with me in my arms. My heart ached at the idea, wishing that there was a way I could tell her that I was coming. I prayed she knew I hadn't given up on her and that she knew I was coming to save her. I've always saved her before. There was no way I was going to stop now. I didn't know what Drakkon's plan was and why he had taken her. He had no reason to keep her. He had his own Kimberly. He had bragged about that to me when we had faced off last. Why did he need to have her too? Why did he need to take her when she meant nothing to him?

"I'm coming for you, Beautiful." I whispered, kissing the picture. "Just hold on a little bit longer.