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.

Many thanks to ScarletDeva for helping me thrash this out. And, as always, to Rach, who is my personal angel. Next to Binky.

Angel with Two Faces

Chapter 7

Heedless of the sterile field they'd been so careful to set up, Ba'altesch threw aside chunks of wall and sparking machinery. "MIRI!" The acrid smoke that filled the lab was blinding, choking; Ba'altesch covered his mouth with his arm so he could breathe through the fabric of his uniform. He groped through the smoke and found a length of PVC piping and knew he must be close. "Miri! Can you hear me? Where are you?"

"She's over here," said a deep voice, slightly raspy. "She's unconscious, but she's got a good pulse."

Ba'altesch checked in his search, and then made his way toward the voice. A figure loomed through the smoke, carrying Miri in his arms. He knew what he would find, and yet… seeing him standing there was somehow unnerving.

"Jason Scott." The big blue alien stared at him, coughing. "We must leave this place." Ba'altesch wiped at his irritated eyes and reached for his unconscious friend.

Jason hefted her close. "It's okay, I got her. You lead us out."

"Very well." Ba'altesch picked up a length of fused cording that lay at his feet and handed Jason one end, tying the other securely about his arm. "So we don't become separated in the smoke." Jason nodded.

Figuring their best chance was to find a wall, any wall, and grope along to the door, Ba'altesch picked a random direction and walked slowly, hands in front of him. A solid wall loomed in front of him, and he barked his shin on what he realized was the sofa, which gave him his bearings. "This way," he said hoarsely.

The door refused to respond to the palm panel, which was irritating if unsurprising. Ba'altesch sighed.

"Can we pry it open?" Jason asked.

"No need." So saying, Ba'altesch grasped the metal doorframe and pulled, the tendons in his shoulders straining. The frame buckled, revealing the edge of the door. Ba'altesch took a breath, rolled his shoulders to loosen them, and curled his fingers around the edge of the door. He braced his leg against the opposite side of the jamb and pulled.

Metal squealed as it began to give way; Ba'altesch gritted his teeth and increased pressure. The door opened an inch… another. The huge blue alien threw back his head and began to growl. Cords of ropy muscle stood out on his neck. The fabric of his uniform gave way across his chest and shoulders. Sweat dotted his forehead.

"You'd – better – stand back," he gritted to Jason, who obligingly stood aside. With a roar and a mighty heave Ba'altesch tore the heavy metal door free from its moorings and flung it behind him. "After you," he said to the other man, who regarded him for a moment before carrying Miri past him.

~*~

The canteen was on fire. Taylor got up off the floor where she'd been thrown and crawled over to Trini, pulling the table they'd shared off of the older woman. "You okay?"

Trini nodded, wincing. "Yeah. What happened?"

"No idea." Taylor squinted around. The canteen hadn't been very busy, but there were still plenty of injured. Her eyes widened as she saw that the catwalk that served as balcony seating had come down. The fire was being dealt with, but black, greasy smoke was rolling out of the kitchen area. "We need air in here, though. One sec."

She got up and palmed the door control; the door shorted out and began to open and shut rhythmically, blue sparks showering down. Taylor cursed succinctly and looked around for a chair, which she jammed into the opening. The door banged against the chair, bending it into a jumble of metal framing.

"Oh, that's no good," she muttered. The battered chair skittered away into the hall, and the door resumed its rhythm. Beside her, Trini took the door's measure, counting under her breath. "What are you going to do?" Taylor asked.

In answer Trini flung herself into a graceful helicopter kick, nailing the palm pad hard enough to break it apart. The door slowed, shuddered, and stayed open. Trini gave the other Yellow Ranger a tight grin as they stepped aside to allow medical personnel into the room.

"Come on, let's go find out what's happening."

~*~

The shiny yellow comm on Kailey's wrist crackled to life. "Kailey? Honey, are you there?"

She wiped away the trickle of blood that trailed down the side of her face. "Yeah, Mom, I'm all right. A little banged around, but okay. What happened? Are you all right?"

"We're not sure yet, honey. Is Scott with you?"

Kailey glanced over at the blond Black div. Ranger, who was wrapping a piece of his uniform around a gash on his leg. "Yes, he's here." Scott mouthed something at her and shook his head, pointing at his injury, and Kailey nodded. "He's fine. Have you talked to Uncle Bill or anyone?"

She could hear her mother's smile. "Wanted to talk to you first. Where are you?"

"In the arboretum. There's a huge crack in the outer wall, though, so we are going to get out of here as soon as we can, because it's getting really cold." Kailey rubbed her reddening nose and shivered.

"Okay. SC Earhardt-Myers tells me that you should head for the docking bay for evacuation. Be careful, okay?"

"You too, Mom."

Kailey thumbed off her comm and looked at Scott. Amazing how well she'd come to know him, given the length of time since they'd met. "We're not going to the docking bay, are we?"

He struggled to his feet. "I'm not." Scott gazed down at her, pulling a piece of mulch from her hair. "If my dad was okay I'd have heard from him by now. I'm going to go find him."

She looked at him, then slid her shoulder under his arm on the side with the injured leg. "Make that 'we'."


~*~

"Ow! Jesus, Maya, take it easy!"

"Shut up, you big baby. They're definitely broken, by the way, so you should be thanking me."

Eric growled at her. "For what, dragging me around, ripping up my shirt, calling my wife and scaring her by telling her I've hurt myself, or stabbing your damn pointy fingers into my side?"

"So very grateful. You want to go back into what's left of the ops room and freeze your ass off, be my guest. I'll stay here in the hall where it's reasonably warm." Maya cast a glance over her shoulder as Taylor and Trini hurried toward them. "Huh. From the look on her face, you'd better be the scared one."

Taylor indeed looked as though she was ready to flay something; Eric winced as the tirade began. "Who the hell are you, Superman? You think you can hold up an entire load-bearing wall by yourself? Dammit, Myers, if I'm gonna be a widow it'll be on MY terms, thank you very much!" She turned to Maya, her tone suddenly perfectly reasonable. "I grabbed some tape off a medic we passed. Are they broken?"

Maya gestured at the huge purpling bruise on Eric's side. "I'm pretty sure, yeah."

Taylor began tearing off strips of first-aid tape with her teeth and handing them to Trini. "Hah. Serves him right."

Eric flinched indignantly as his wife began taping his side. "Hey!"

She glared at him. "Knock it off, whiner. It's not every day you get three women handling your naked torso."

His lips tightened. "And you'd think from the description I'd be enjoying it more than I am."

Trini interrupted them. "Has anyone heard from communications?"

Eric frowned. "Nope. This side of the ACC took the brunt of the shock wave from the explosion; that's what brought that wall down. Communications is on the other side of it. I'm just hoping nobody's under there."

Taylor finished her ministrations with a none-too-gentle pat that got another yelp from her husband. "Thank God you're not," she muttered under her breath, but he heard and dragged her against his good side with one strong arm, resting his forehead against hers, murmuring too low for the others to hear.

~*~

Cold… so cold…

Billy opened one eye and groaned at the pain that simple action caused. He rolled over slowly, levering himself up on his elbow. Where…?

It came to him, suddenly, where he was, and his eyes flew open. The explosion, the shock wave that followed… the huge crack that traced across the wall and ceiling as they lay on the floor dazed. Tommy… he'd got up and run to a metal table, shoving it with one foot toward them… he'd shouted for them to get down, and then… and then… oh, God. Rocky had grabbed Alyssa and thrown her under the table, and the wall…

Billy looked around. Rocky was next to him, eyes fluttering. Alyssa lay half under him, blood seeping from what looked like a superficial cut on her head. Tommy…

Where Tommy had been was just rubble.

Billy shivered and shook Rocky awake, scrambling out from under the table, which was itself half-buried. They had to get out of there, he realized, squinting at the open sky. Unless – oh, he had to be brain-dead. Billy would have smacked himself in the forehead but his hands were too busy locating and activating his atmosphere chip in his wrist comm. It wasn't instantly warm, but at least he couldn't feel the Antarctic breezes anymore, and it'd heat up soon. He bent and activated Rocky's and Alyssa's chips, the former still too groggy to move and the latter still unconscious.

"Tommy?"

He didn't know why he said it. The odds of getting a response were so close to nil he couldn't measure them without a computer. And yet, if there were a chance – even one – he would take it.

Billy clambered over debris to about where he thought he'd last seen Tommy and began to dig.

~*~

Scott stared in mounting horror at the bulging door to the communications room. "The whole outer wall?" he asked, his voice a little shaky.

Standing beside him in a brand new uniform and slightly bulky about the waist, Eric nodded. "You can't get in that way. We'll have to 'port you in. Get your atmosphere going first, so you don't freeze."

Scott nodded and busied himself with his comm while Eric contacted emergency operations. Kailey moved away from her mother and touched his arm. "I'm going too."

"No – " began Trini involuntarily, then grimaced at the look her daughter sent her. "Sorry. I guess it's time for me to stop trying to protect you."

Eric looked from one of them to the other. "We've got juice enough in the backup 'porter for a short site-to-site burst, but only two people at a time, max, until we get the other generator up."

Kailey smiled at her briefly, then took her place beside Scott. "Ready."

As the teleport beam dissipated, Kailey bit back a gasp. The communications room was in ruins. Hastily she climbed lightly over the wreckage toward her uncle, who glanced up at her, his face sweat-streaked. Rocky and Alyssa were digging furiously in the rubble.

Scott blanched as he joined her. "Dad?"

"We just heard him," Billy bit out. "Come on."

Working like maniacs, the five pulled aside chunks of wall and ceiling, guided by faint groans. It was Alyssa who uncovered the problem. Tommy was trapped in a rickety teepee of steel I-bars under an immense hunk of ceiling, his left thigh neatly skewered by a rebar. It was eminently clear that the whole thing was as precarious as a house of deadly cards. What was not clear was whether Tommy would be able to move himself. Further, the huge piece of debris on top of the pyramid would surely fall in and crush him if it were jostled even a little.

Lastly, Tommy's wrist unit had been destroyed. Which meant two crucial things: one, he was at the mercy of the elements, meaning time was of the essence. And two, no comm, no teleport.

All of which led Kailey to an inescapable conclusion: somebody had to go in after him. Now. She crouched and examined the opening.

"What are you doing?" This was Uncle Bill, all but grabbing her by the scruff of the neck.

"I'm presuming you don't want your friend to die in there," she said reasonably. "So I am going in after him. Commander Myers says there's enough juice in the backup teleporter for two at a time, if the distance is short."

Scott stared at her, his bright blue eyes wide. Billy stared at her. Rocky stared at her. Alyssa stared at her.

"What?" Kailey shrugged. "I'm the smallest, therefore the best choice. We could debate it, but it's getting colder."

Billy stepped back. "Just don't give your mother a reason to kill me, honey."

The fit was tight, and motion was curtailed, but Kailey managed to wriggle her way in. By reaching her fingers she could brush Tommy's foot. He moaned at the contact. Gritting her teeth, Kailey hauled herself over the debris as carefully as she could, scooting her small body as close to his as she could manage. He opened his eyes, which were glazed with pain.

"You – you're – "

"Shh. I'm getting you out of here. Just hang on, okay?"

"No," Tommy protested. "Let me…"

She snuggled as close as she could and reached around his head to turn her atmosphere off, then on again to envelop them both. "Let you what? I'm not going to let you die, if that's what you mean."

That got a faint smile, even as his eyes began to flutter closed again. "No… want to… 'pologize…"

In spite of the situation, Kailey had a grin on her face as she and Tommy 'ported out of the rubble.

~*~

The door to the barren cell slid open abruptly and Wes fell through, assisted by the butt of a blaster. Kat scrambled across the stone floor, pulling his head into her lap.

He looked awful. Black eye, split lip, a cut at the hairline and another slicing along his jaw. His uniform was in tatters; his upper body was crisscrossed with bleeding cuts. Kat cursed softly and accepted the roll of uniform strips that Vevila handed her, which was all they had in lieu of bandages. Vevila carefully cut away the remains of Wes' uniform top and began to methodically ready it for Lewis, who was still being 'interrogated'.

Cassie moaned and shifted slightly in the corner where she lay; Kat shot her a worried look. Her fever was rising, surely. Goldar had taken an evil delight in toying with the leg she had fractured, and Kat was increasingly sure it had gone septic. The long slice on Cassie's arm was angry red and puffy.

Wes jerked his head. Instinctively Kat winced; the place on her stomach where Goldar had removed a ribbon of flesh was severely tender. But if human contact offered Wes comfort, then a little pain was a small price to pay. She smoothed his hair back gently and leaned back against the cold wall.

She'd figure out Goldar's plan soon, and then she'd find a way to stop him.

~*~

Someone was pounding on Miri's head. "I hear you knocking, but you can't come in," she mumbled under her breath.

A low chuckle filtered through the pain. Miri opened her eyes a fraction.

Jason Scott sat on the floor across from her, larger than life, his knees drawn up, his arms draped over them comfortably. He was smiling gently.

"Want the number of that truck?" he offered, his voice as gentle as his grin.

Miri sat up gingerly, grateful for the wall at her back. "Was I attacked by angry gorillas?"

"No, just a chunk of wall. This place – your friend called it the ACC?" She nodded and regretted it instantly. Jason frowned. "Take it easy. Anyway, there was some sort of explosion outside, and we were caught in the shockwave. Had to be one hell of an explosion," he added, running his fingers through his dark hair. "Now, can you hold still for a sec?"

He reached toward her, and Miri flinched back. "What are you going to do?"

Jason gave her a steady look. "Help, if I can. Don't be afraid of me; I wouldn't hurt you."

She notched up her chin. "I'm not afraid."

That got another chuckle. "Okay. Then hold still." His fingers gently brushed her temple.

A tingling warmth spread from where he touched her. Instantly the ache began to subside. Miri found herself able to focus. And then the exhaustion ebbed away, and she felt energized, better than she had for days. And Jason moved his hand away and smiled.

"Better?"

She stared at him. "Where the – how did you do that?"

He shrugged and stood in one fluid movement, reaching down to help her up. "I think your friend is coming back," was all he said.

Ba'altesch was slightly out of breath. There were wide streaks of dust across his massive chest, which looked even more massive without the top of his uniform to contain it.

Miri raised her brows. "What happened to you?

The large blue alien flushed a darker blue, but grinned anyway. "I'm glad to see you're all right, Miri. You were unconscious for quite a while."

She contemplated his bare torso. "Evidently."

Ba'altesch turned to Jason. "I was able to clear a path through the debris in the stairwell, which we ought to be able to navigate with ease now that Miri is back on her feet. Once free of these lower levels I expect that we'll have no more difficulty contacting anyone."

That got Miri's attention. "We've been out of contact? What happened?"

Ba'altesch shrugged and led the way toward the stairwell. "We've been trying to find that out, but your comm is still in the lab and mine has been non-operational for some reason."

Miri frowned. "Sounds like there's too much beta interference for the intra-base communications grid to penetrate this deep within the substructure." She glanced at Jason. "You're right, that would have been one heck of an explosion. What are you grinning at?"

He chuckled. "You've got to be related to Billy, though he never mentioned a… sister? Cousin?"

Miri hesitated, then took the plunge. "Daughter."

Jason blinked. "I guess things took longer than he thought they would."

She touched his shoulder sympathetically. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault." His eyes grew distant; then he turned to her. "Kim's gone, isn't she? And Zordon?"

For the second time she stared at him. "How can you possibly know that?"

Jason shrugged as they began to climb through the rubble in the stairwell. "I'm not sure. I think… I think I saw them go by. It's like remembering a dream, but… not." He grimaced. "I can't explain better than that."

Ba'altesch's comm went off suddenly. Billy's voice was frantic. "Ba'altesch! Where's Miri? You've both been offline and – "

The alien smiled. "She's with me, Admiral. We're all right. And – " His dark eyes distant again, Jason jerked as though he'd been burned and grasped Ba'altesch's arm. He shook his head and put a finger to his lips. Ba'altesch's eyebrows rose nearly off his forehead, but he complied. "And we're on our way to you now," he finished. "The lab was pretty well destroyed. What happened?"

Billy sighed. "I'd rather discuss it in person, Ba'altesch. Give Miri my love and be careful. I'll see you when you get here."

Ba'altesch put his arm down and gave Jason a considering look, but it was Miri who spoke, her voice somber. "I don't understand. Why not let Ba'altesch tell them you're all right? Surely Dad would be grateful for some good news."

Jason looked at her, his dark gaze somehow unnerving. "I'm – not sure. I just have the feeling that something's coming – that it would be better if they didn't know about me right now."