Disclaimer: Very few of the characters within belong to me. You'll know which is which. I'm not making anything on any of them anyway, so nobody should get excited.

A/N: Many thanks to Rach for getting me through this bit and making sure I didn't leave any important bits out. Thanks also to ScarletDeva and Dagmar for letting me bounce things off them. And to Carrie for helping me flesh out the plot.

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 2

Patience was a virtue, Kailey reminded herself for what was probably the thousandth time in three days. Sometimes it worked better not to ask questions; besides, if one drove one's superior (or parent) up the wall, one might get taken off the list of people going to Earth. And Kailey really, really wanted to go.

Certainly the last few days had been too busy to get any real information anyway. Mom had spent all her time delegating her duties as head of Yellow division; Uncle Bill was busy too, first in the lab, re-running all the sims he could think of (and that was saying something!). Eventually satisfied on that front, he spent the remainder of his time cloistered with Commander Andros of Red division. Kailey supposed they were trying to cover any and all eventualities with regard to running the IRF with the Admiral on Earth temporarily. Uncle Bill was also the titular head of Blue division, but Dr. Trey had had the reins firmly in his hands for years now, so there was little to deal with there.

The head of Black division, Commander Myers, had departed for Earth immediately with a Red/Black team to clear the way for the Admiral's arrival there. Kailey couldn't really imagine what would need to be done, but then covert ops wasn't her field.

All Kailey herself had had to do was pack, and that had taken all of ten minutes on the first day, so time had hung loosely on her hands for a while, at least until all the sims were run and Miri was free. Kailey knew perfectly well Miri knew more about this Jason Scott thing than she was saying, but that was okay. Kailey would rather hear it from her mom and Uncle Bill anyway. So instead the girls had spent their time packing and cleaning their quarters, anything to make the time go faster. They'd speculated excitedly about Earth, what it would be like to see it for the first time. They'd gone to the recreation center and worked out until both were exhausted. Finally, it was time to go, and Kailey walked sedately to the large docking bay, though inside she was dancing with excitement.

She'd been patient. Maybe now she'd finally get to hear the story behind all this. She smiled her goodbyes to those who had assembled to speed their parting; mostly friends of her mother's and uncle's.

The Admiral checked in his stride on seeing the tall blonde woman in a yellow pilot's jumpsuit. "Subcommander?"

Kailey pricked up her ears at the surprise in her uncle's voice. As a cadet she'd never gotten to see any of this behind-the-scenes stuff. She knew the Subcommander well: SC Earhardt-Myers had been a tough but fair taskmaster in the latter days of Kailey's training. The handsome blonde woman sent Kailey a grin before answering the Admiral with a shrug. "Commander Myers did say to put the best pilot on the job, sir. And it's more than my life is worth to cross Commander Myers."

Uncle Bill chuckled at that. "I'll bet. Does he know you assigned yourself?"

SC Earhardt-Myers tried to hide a smile. "No, sir."

The Admiral shook his head. "Oh, joy." The group followed him more or less sedately into the spacecraft, though Kailey did catch her mother exchanging grins with the SC.

Upon settling into the public quarters of the ship, Miri immediately buried her nose in a holobook. Kailey sat quietly in one of the comfortable seats of the big craft as it lifted gently from the IRF docking bay and nosed its way into space. Uncle Bill had a holopad and was frowning at it, making notes of the data. Her mother had curled up with a pillow as soon as the ship lifted off. Ba'altesch was up in the bridge, watching SC Earhardt-Myers handle the big ship with practiced ease.

Surely patience would pay off soon. Kailey sighed quietly and watched the familiar star clusters drift by as the ship prepared to slide into hyperspeed. Someone would fill her in, at some point. She hoped.

Two hours later, she burst. "Hello? Mom? Uncle Bill? How do you drop a bomb like 'Jason Scott will live again' and then just waltz off like you made a comment on the weather? Isn't anyone going to fill me in?"

Billy swiveled his seat around to face her, amusement lacing his tone. "You held out a lot longer than I thought you would," he said, then laughed outright at the indignant expression on her face. "I'm sorry, honey. We're a little preoccupied. What do you want to know?"

Kailey composed herself, folding her hands in her lap. "Well, I know who Jason Scott is; every child reared on the Station knows about all the early Rangers. And I've seen the museum on Eltar. He was yours and Mom's Red Ranger, right?"

Trini nodded from her seat across the aisle. "Jason was the first Red Ranger on Earth, sweetheart. He was… is an amazing man."

Kailey gave her mother a penetrating look. "Which is it, was or is?"

Miri looked up from her holobook. "I can answer that one, shorty. Both."

"What?" The petite woman looked bewildered. "I don't get it. And stop calling me shorty." She looked steadily at her uncle, who sighed.

"Did your mom ever tell you about Jason returning to the Rangers, taking on Trey's Gold powers?"

Kailey frowned. "Trey? You mean Dr. Trey, Blue division, who works with Miri?"

Billy nodded. "The same. Before you were born, he held the Gold powers of Triforia, sort of souped-up Ranger powers. Anyway, he was injured, and needed someone to hold the powers for him until he recovered enough to take them back. Jason did that." His blue eyes grew distant, as though the events played themselves out in front of him. "Jason was – you should have seen him as the Gold Ranger. He was incredible. But eventually, Trey needed those powers back, and that's when things went south." He rubbed a hand over his beard. "You see, though I knew the powers weren't meant for a human, Jason seemed to handle things well, so I figured as a temporary measure it would be okay. But it wasn't. Jason hid all the symptoms, so I didn't know until too late that the powers were effectively killing him."

Kailey said nothing, though her brown eyes were sympathetic. Her mother took up the tale. "Your Uncle Bill realized that when Trey took the powers back, Jason would die."

Kailey leaned forward. "What did you do?"

Billy shrugged. "Talked it over with Jason himself. And Zordon, of course, and a few others. Then I did the only thing I could think of. I monitored the power transfer, and as soon as the power level in Jason registered zero, I slapped a stasis field around him."

Kailey sat back, digesting this. "And that's where he's been all this time, just – in limbo?"

"I swore I'd figure out a way to stop him from dying. I just – I never thought it would take this long." Billy sighed again. "Trey was really upset. He went back to Triforia for a while, but when the IRF was getting off the ground, he got in touch with us and volunteered to head up the research into Jason's cure. If it hadn't been for him and Miri and the others…"

"No, Dad," came the response from behind the book. "You were the one who came up with the theories. We just ran with what you gave us."

The pale blue form of Ba'altesch joined them from the bridge. "Indeed, yes," the soft-spoken alien agreed. "Our team merely extrapolated from your work, Admiral. And it is no secret that you reviewed the work constantly and provided insight whenever possible. The success of this project is largely due to your determination." He settled his bulk into a chair. "I understand the subject was of some importance to you?"

Billy nodded. "Yes, indeed. A great friend."

Ba'altesch smiled, his expression beatific. "Then I am delighted to have spent these past few years in some small contribution to his safe return."

"Huge contribution, that would be," Miri put in without looking up from her book.

The large alien blushed, turning a deeper blue. "You are too kind, Dr. Cranston. I am honored to have been invited to join you on this mission, as well. I must say," he added, winking cosily at Kailey, which made her giggle, "I am quite excited to finally see Earth. I have not had much opportunity to travel since my arrival at the Station, on my induction into Blue division. I am convinced, from my readings on the subject, that I have never seen a planet quite like her."

"I suspect Earth will feel much the same way about Ba'altesch," Trini whispered to her daughter. Kailey bit her lip, but it was no good; she erupted in laughter, in which Ba'altesch good-naturedly joined.

~*~

"I'm not clear on what you're saying, Tom. Run it by me again?"

Eric Myers leaned over a monitor in the Antarctic Command Center. At his back was Commander Tom Oliver, head of IRF Earth Division.

Tommy leaned forward, stabbing a finger at the data. "I'm saying there's a pattern here; someone is targeting people who are affiliated with the original Rangers."

Eric stroked his chin. "These were villains, yes? I don't know that I'd call that affiliated."

"Look, Eric. First Rita and Zedd, then Scorpina, and now Divatox. All of them killed in the same way and then burned to a cinder." Tommy shook his head. "We kept careful tabs on them after Zordon's sacrifice, and for whatever it's worth, they were leading exemplary lives. Even the Serpentera thing, back in '02, that wasn't Zedd, and it easily could have been. He knew it was up there, after all."

"Okay, I take your point." Eric nodded. "So who?"

"That's the problem. I don't know." Tommy frowned. "And we don't know if the focus is on those who were evil and turned good, or on all of us."

"Or, if by 'all of us' he means the original five, or six, or Adam, Aisha and me as well," put in Rocky DeSantos, coming through the door and shrugging off his jacket. "Damn. Cold up there and hot down here. How are you, Eric?" he added, shaking the other officer's hand.

Eric grinned. "Hi, DeSantos. I thought you retired after we smacked down Serpentera."

"I did." Rocky grinned. "Spent some time coaching the newbies, and then took some time off from Rangering. But when Tom called about this series of murders, I thought maybe I could help, so I got on the first plane and came to this God-forsaken place. What've we got?"

They spent some time reviewing the data, unearthing nothing beyond the basic facts: four humans, once meta-human, had died horrifically and painfully, and then been turned nearly to ash by some sort of energy pulse.

Eric shook his head. "Well, I buy the connection. Question is, what do we do about it? I've got the Admiral and company on their way here; if there's something in the wind, I need to know."

Tommy looked at him steadily. "There's definitely something in the air, but what, I can't tell you. That help?"

"Nope. Thanks."

A young man in the silver and black of covert ops entered the room with a quick salute. "Commander Myers? The Admiral's ship is coming out of hyperspeed."

Eric glanced at the young man. "Thanks, Ranger – er – ?"

"Oliver, sir."

Eric looked quickly up at Tommy, who grinned. "Yeah, he's mine."

"And he's in Black div.?" Eric chuckled. "I guess if you'd stayed on active duty long enough you'd've got around to black eventually."

Rocky snickered. "We didn't call him Technicolor Tommy for nothing."

Tommy folded his arms and shook his head, chuckling. "I was the first Green, in case you forgot. Scott's in the right place."

"Scott?" Eric was bemused.

"Jason Scott Oliver, sir," the young man put in with a grin. "But everyone calls me Scott."

"Ah." Eric looked at the blond, blue-eyed young man again, then back at his father. "Doesn't look much like you."

"Takes after his mom."

"Wait a sec," Rocky said, evidently working something over in his mind. "I don't get what Tom being Green has to do with Scotty being Black."

"Green's a division of Black these days," Eric clarified. "Special weapons."

"Oh." Rocky digested that, then nodded. "I guess a dagger that doubles as a flute would qualify."

Eric looked at him incredulously. "A dagger that doubles as a – that's the stupidest thing I ever heard."

The ACC was abuzz with activity as the four men threaded their way through the halls toward the comm room. Scott held the door open and followed the three senior Rangers inside, where the comm speaker was sputtering to life.

"… Alpha One secure. Big Blue requesting clearance to land."

The comm officer glanced up at Tommy, who nodded. "Roger that," the officer spoke crisply into the transceiver. "Big Blue, you are clear to land, pad two."

"Roger, Alpha One. We're coming down."

Scott started in surprise as out of nowhere Cmdr. Myers' hand smacked the console, the expression on his face thunderous. "Taylor, is that you?" he all but growled.

"Hi honey, I'm home," came the laughing answer.

"I told you – "

The voice of the woman on the other end cut him off. "You told me to put my best pilot on this bridge. I did."

"I didn't mean you!"

"Then you shouldn't have asked for the best. Shut up, now, Eric, I have to concentrate."

"That's a heck of a way to talk to a superior officer," Rocky said admiringly. "Who is that?"

"That," gritted Eric, looking about ready to explode, "is my wife."

~*~

Billy was the first to step off the spacecraft's ramp. He looked around with interest; though he'd seen the plans for the ACC while it was under construction, he'd not actually seen it. The pad was ample for the big Station ship, and had sunk noiselessly through the polar ice cap to the docking bay where it now sat.

The door of the bay slid open, and there were some familiar figures approaching him swiftly. "Bill! It's good to see you!" called Tommy, one hand raised in greeting. Still slim and fit though in his late forties, Tommy moved with the vigor of a man half his age. The long hair had been gone for decades, as well as the goofy spiked mess he'd sported the last time Billy had seen him in person. Instead Tommy was graying discreetly at the temples, and looked every bit the Ranger he'd always been. Beside him was a lanky figure, moving with less grace than Billy remembered and with a limp. The jet hair had gone salt and pepper gray, but the face was still boyish and the grin still open. Flanking Rocky was the shorter, more muscular figure of Black division head Eric Myers. Now there was a man who had aged well. He was only a year or two younger than Billy, but aside for a few lines at the corners of his eyes and the merest sprinkling of silver in his dark hair, Eric looked much the same as he had when Tom had introduced them more than a decade ago.

And just now Cmdr. Myers looked like he was going to murder someone. His dark eyes were narrowed, his jaw was set in stone, and Billy didn't need the muttered "Where – is – my – wife?" to know who the target of his wrath was. In answer Billy merely jerked a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the bridge, and Eric pushed past, with a curt nod and a growled, "Admiral," by way of greeting.

Tommy caught up Billy's hand in a warm grip. "It's been too long, Bill. How is little Miri?"

"Not so little," came a voice from behind Billy, and an arm slid around his waist. He looked affectionately at his daughter.

"As you see, Tom, she's grown up. Rocky, this is my daughter, Miranda," he introduced the other man.

"Looks like her old man, but manages to be a knockout anyway," Rocky bestowed a kiss on the blushing Miri's cheek. The sound of a throat being cleared caught his attention, and he glanced up. "Trini!" Rocky bellowed happily. "I didn't know you were coming too!"

"And pass up a free ride to Earth? Not on your life." As Trini spoke Billy glanced absently around for Kailey. Trini caught his eye and gave a small shake of her head. He frowned. Now what was up with her? She ignored the questioning look he sent her and went on. "Come on, let's get the debriefing thing over, can we? From the sound of it Commander Myers is debriefing his wife," Trini added with a laugh, referring to the sudden cessation of raised voices in the ship behind them. She tucked her hand through Tommy's elbow and gave him a kiss. "And then I want to hear all about Kat and the kids."

"Well, here's one of them. My son Scott." Tommy proudly pulled a diffident but smiling young Ranger forward.

Billy turned in surprise to see a handsome young man, built on Tommy's lines but favoring Kat in coloring. "Glad to see you, son," he said cordially, then turned back to the problem that was niggling at him. Something was up. What was she trying to hide? "Trini, what about Ba'altesch and Kailey?"

There was that look again. If he didn't know better…

Trini was answering him, wearing her best poker face. "They're going to supervise unloading the equipment and setting it up."

Tommy nodded. "Scott, you'll help the other members of the Admiral's team unless Commander Myers has other plans for you." The younger Oliver nodded and climbed the ramp, knocking embarrassedly on the hull and clearing his throat loudly before entering.

"He's a nice kid," Trini said.

"Yeah." Tommy smiled after his son. "His mother's influence, not mine. Come on."

In the corridor, Billy maneuvered himself and Trini to the back of the group, taking the opportunity to hiss into her ear. "You said you told Tom about Kailey more than twenty years ago, Tri."

She shot him a look. "I lied. Sue me."