Rachel, Lorent, Klezmi, Silva, and a few others in minor roles are mine.
Rated PG : language; sexuality; violence; some mature concepts.
Please review, it keeps me going.
We sat in the Time Force courtroom again, almost like the first time, watching Ransik stand in the middle of the floor. With harsh light shining on him, somehow he wore his chains like a badge of honor, facing his fate with his back straight and his face calm. Again I felt that unwilling admiration for him. This time he had company. Nadira stood at his side, and Conwing, Steelix, and Brickneck were in a group nearby.
Jen sat next to me on one side, Logan on the other. I could hear Trip, Lucas, and Katie talking behind us in low voices. I watched Jen out of the corner of my eye. She still didn't seem entirely comfortable with me, and we were almost silent after the obligatory greetings. Logan quickly picked up our mood and sat quietly also.
"They'll give Ransik life, for sure," Trip was saying.
"Yeah," Katie answered, a hint of regret in her voice. "In a way, I'm almost sorry for him."
"What?" Lucas demanded. "You saw for yourself what he did in 2001. How many people died because of him? And he killed Alex, almost. Tried to kill all of us."
"I know what Katie means. He thought he was doing the right thing, for his people. His cause."
"How can you say that, Trip? There's no cause that justifies the things he did."
"He thought there is," Katie broke in. "Face it, Lucas, there's a lot of prejudice against mutants. He doesn't even look human. Think what his life's been like."
"I don't care. That's no reason to hurt people who never did anything to him."
"Well -- you're right about that," Trip said. "But he's seen that he was wrong. He's sorry now."
"Maybe. A little late for the people he killed. He still deserves to be locked up. So do Conwing, Steelix, and Brickneck."
"And what about Nadira?"
"Well -- she's different. She tried to stop Ransik. And she never really tried to hurt anyone."
"Is that because you think she's really reformed?" Katie asked, her voice teasing. "Or because she's pretty?"
"Well…" Lucas sounded amused, too. "Maybe both."
Logan turned to give them a stern look. They fell quiet as the judges made their entrance and the courtroom hushed. The three judges took their places, looking down from their stand at the defendants.
"We have reached our verdicts," the chief judge announced. "Ransik, for your crimes here and in the past, and for the crime of attempting to interfere with history, you are sentenced to confinement for life, with the possibility of parole. You will not be kept in isolation, and we hope you will use that opportunity to make some useful contribution to society."
It was a more lenient sentence that I had expected. Apparently the judges had taken into consideration the facts that Ransik had surrendered and had done what he could to repair the damage he had done. He had been left with a chance for parole, so he might even be free some day.
"Conwing, Steelix, and Brickneck. You are all sentenced to confinement for life. The possibility of parole will be contingent on psychological assessment." I nodded, they had been unwilling to give the followers harsher sentences than the leader, but were leaving the question of parole to after they had undergone in-depth mental profiling to determine whether they were still a threat.
"Nadira. In light of the facts that you were influenced by your father, that you did not commit any serious violent crimes yourself, and that you attempted to prevent your father from changing history, we sentence you to six months of confinement, to be followed by three years of probation." I saw Jen smile slightly. It was a light sentence, lighter than I would have given her, but Jen and the others were in a better position to have an opinion than I was, and they all seemed pleased.
We watched as the prisoners were removed. Ransik looked over at us as he was led out, sending an unpleasant prickle of déjà vu though me. But this time he smiled, apparently sincerely.
Minutes later we were outside, the crowd breaking up into groups, melting away into the dusk. I touched Jen's arm as she drifted a little apart from the others.
"Jen," I started. She looked at me inquiringly. Might as well just say it, I told myself. "I'd like us to get together sometime. Dinner. Whatever. As friends."
I couldn't quite tell how she felt about it. It took her a moment to answer. "I'd like that too," she said finally. "I want us to stay friends."
"Great." I smiled with real happiness. Friendship was the first step. She had loved me once, and I still had the same qualities that had attracted her then. With time, and patience, she would love me again.
It was mostly guilt that made me want to talk to Rachel a few days later, guilt and the need to reassure myself that we understood each other, that we were still friends. I saw her leaving the building in the evening and hurried to catch up.
She cast me a look as I came up to her, and gave me that warm, slightly shy smile. I fell in beside her as we walked over the large, decorative lawn in front of headquarters. For a few minutes we were silent, as I looked at the clear sky, down at the grass, anywhere but at her, and tried to think of what I wanted to say.
"So," she said, beating me to it. "Jen's back."
I glanced at her. She looked uncomfortable, and it occurred to me that she didn't quite know how to handle this either. I shrugged. "Yes, she's back." Feeling the sudden urge to confide, I went on. "It's not the same between us. We're not... exactly back together."
I saw her eyes flash up to my face and then back down. "Well, she's been gone for a year. It's a long time, and a lot has happened to both of you."
"Yeah, a lot happened, all right," I muttered. "She -- she met someone else."
"What?" This time Rachel stopped and stared at me. I saw genuine concern in her face, and a flicker of something more, something she hid quickly. I wondered at it, and then wondered why it should be important to me.
"Wes Collins. The one who took the red morpher. She fell in love with him!" I heard the anger and pain spill into my voice. "She gave me my ring back. Broke off our engagement, because of that -- that..."
"I'm sorry." She was studying the ground again.
"But I'm going to get her back. I'm not giving up." Now my tone was utterly grim and determined.
Rachel shot me another glance, less sympathetic and more penetrating this time. She took a few moments to answer. "Maybe you should just... see what happens."
"No. I'm not letting some bastard in the past beat me... take Jen away from me..."
"Alex, this isn't a contest. Jen has to make her own decisions."
I bit back an angry response and tried to calm down. She was right, of course. "I want her back, Rachel. I have to try."
"If that's what you want, I wish you luck." She looked me in the face again, smiling, but with an element of hardness in her eyes. "I have to go."
"Thanks for listening." I hesitated. "I'm glad we're friends, Rachel. You're... you've been great."
"Yes. I'm a great... friend." With a last look that might have contained a flash of anger, she turned away and left, her steps rapid.
I'm not a complete fool, I realized then that I had been totally insensitive. Too late, of course. At least I had been honest with Rachel, where I had not with Jen. Perhaps too honest. Briefly I cursed myself for doing everything wrong, as I watched her walk away.
It was six months later when Ransik asked to see us. Logan summoned us to his office, closed the door, and sat behind his desk with a sigh. He tossed a piece of paper to me.
"Ransik. He's requested an interview with the five of you."
"Why? What would he want to say to us?" Jen asked as I was looking over the written request form.
"You'll have to ask him."
"I'll bet it's Nadira," Katie said. "She's getting out on parole. Maybe he wants us to keep an eye on her."
"Maybe." Trip's voice was thoughtful. "I have the feeling it's more than that." I looked up at him. Trip had mild psychic abilities, we all treated his premonitions with respect.
"Well? Are we going to do it?" Lucas asked, looking at me and then at Logan.
"Why not?" I said. "When?"
"Right now," Logan said. "I'll call the prison and let them know you're on your way." He reached for the vidphone as we all stood up.
A few minutes later we were outside, walking across the Time Force flyer landing field. Jen came up beside me, and beckoned me a little aside, letting the others move ahead of us.
"Alex, the four of us could talk to him," she said. "If you don't want to go."
"I'll go. Why wouldn't I?"
"You know why. Of all of us, you have the most reason to hate him. He killed you."
For whatever reason, I felt irritated. Or maybe I knew the real reason. We had been seeing each other again, but it hadn't exactly been going the way I'd hoped. Jen remained friendly, but somehow distant. I had tried to be more like Wes for her, more easy-going, more relaxed, but that wasn't me. My frustration and sense of failure had become increasingly hard to deal with as the months went by without any progress past friendship.
"You mean he beat me in a fight, and got away."
"Well, yes. But there was more to it than that."
"I'm not that sensitive. I can face him. It's probably harder on the four of you. You were fighting him for a year."
"Yes. But we got him in the end."
"Only because he gave up." She glanced at me sharply, and I realized how I had sounded. "Sorry. You did a great job."
"Yes, we did." She gave another one of those looks before turning to follow the others.
"Jen, wait. I'm sorry."
"Look, Alex…" She turned back, straightening, obviously ready to say something that had been on her mind. I could just imagine what it was. "I can understand if you're still angry, but this isn't the place to show it."
"I'm not still angry."
"Don't deny it. You -- you snap at me. You pick arguments. This isn't the first time."
"I think you're being too sensitive. You're taking what I said the wrong way. I didn't mean it as an insult. Just that you have every reason not to want to see Ransik again too."
"It was more your tone of voice than what you said." She looked at my face, her gaze penetrating this time. "But maybe you're right, I'm being too sensitive. Maybe we're still just not -- comfortable with each other."
I smiled. "I'll try harder, if you will."
She returned the smile and stuck her hand out. "Truce?"
"Of course. We never declared war." I took her hand. It was warm, her touch familiar, and more affectionate than it had seemed since her return. I held on a few moments longer than necessary, encouraged when she returned the pressure.
We smiled at each other, then both looked in the direction of our ship as Lucas shouted at us.
"Hey! You guys going to talk all day, or are we going to get moving?"
We filed into the small, white, bare room used for visits to the prisoners. There was just enough space for us on our side of a clear partition meant, I knew, to protect us from the criminal we would be talking to. In Ransik's case I doubted it would hold him, if he made a serious effort to get through it.
There was another person already inside, sitting on one of the visitor chairs. A slender woman, long, bright pink hair, a sharp-featured, pretty face as she turned to look at us. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.
"Nadira!" I heard Jen say behind me.
She looked very nervous. "I'm sorry," she said quickly. "Daddy asked me to be here. He wants to talk to all of us."
"What about?" I asked.
She shrugged, smiling as Lucas stepped in and took a chair next to her. "I don't know. I was only released today, and I haven't had a chance to see him since the trial. If it wasn't for Lucas I wouldn't have had any contact with my father."
Lucas met our curious gazes with obvious embarrassment. "I visited Nadira a few times," he explained. "And saw Ransik once or twice. Took some messages between them."
"Lucas was wonderful," Nadira said with a big, starry-eyed smile. "He came to see me every week. I don't know what I would have done without him."
"Yeah, well, I kind of felt bad, after she tried to help us and all, you know," Lucas stammered, blushing.
All of us tried to hide our smiles. I nodded. "Of course. You were just trying to be fair. Improve human-mutant relations." Trip gave a muffled snort of laughter.
That was when the door into the prisoner holding area opened, and Ransik walked through. Nadira jumped up with a glad cry. The rest of us stared with various degrees of wary hostility. Ransik had a warm smile for his daughter and a cool gaze for the rest of us. Even dressed in prison gray, holes cut in the cloth for the metallic spikes that grew from his shoulders and arms, he looked formidable.
We all sat after Ransik and Nadira had exchanged a quick greeting. "You wanted to see all of us?" I asked.
"Yes." He looked me up and down. "Let me apologize for what I did to you," he began, to my surprise. "I had no desire to kill you, but I thought it was necessary at the time." With a look at my teammates he continued, "I caused all of you a great deal of pain. I'm sorry."
"Is that all you wanted to say?" I asked.
"Of course not. I want to warn you." He took a breath. "There's another mutant you need to be aware of. He's managed to hide his presence very effectively, you probably don't know of his existence. But I believe he intends to do the same thing I tried to do."
"You mean prevent the creation of Time Force?" Jen asked.
"Precisely. He could potentially be more dangerous to you than I was."
"Who is he?" I asked.
Ransik frowned. "I don't know."
"What? You give us this warning and you don't even know who it is?"
With a shrug, he said, "I only had contact with a few of his followers before my trip to 2001. Since my return, I've heard things. He's quite good at hiding his identity."
"You heard things. Who from?"
"I won't betray my sources." His face told me arguing would do no good.
"I don't see how this does us any good, then."
"Perhaps it won't. The only other thing I can tell you is that I believe he's responsible for that mutant you fought just before our return from the past. The one who died." His eyes moved to Nadira. "I've done what I can to help you. Now I would like you to help my daughter."
"Daddy…"
"Nadira is alone now. My former allies will have nothing to do with her now, and I wouldn't want her in contact with them. She's very young, and not equipped to take care of herself."
"Daddy!" Nadira glared at him indignantly. "I'm not a child! I'll be fine."
He went on as if she hadn't spoken. "All I'm asking is that you keep an eye on her. Help her if necessary."
Lucas answered before I could. "I'd be happy to."
"I'm not sure if you'd be a help or a danger."
"How can you say that, Daddy? After the way Lucas has been so good to us!"
Ransik's eyes narrowed. "Don't hurt my daughter, Ranger. I still have friends on the outside."
Lucas faltered for a moment, but his chin came up and his voice was steady. "I like Nadira. I wouldn't hurt her, at least not intentionally."
They stared at each other, Lucas not backing down. After a few moments, Ransik began to smile slightly. He nodded. "All right. I'm glad to know my daughter has someone she can trust." He stood up.
Taking that as a signal that the audience was over, we all got to our feet. The five of us left the room, giving Nadira a moment for a private goodbye with her father. We paused in the hallway.
"Do you think he's right?" Katie asked. "About the -- the Mystery Mutant?"
"You mean, is he telling the truth?" Jen muttered. "Or did he make all of that up?"
"No, he wasn't lying. I have a bad feeling about what he said. There's someone out there who's going to make a lot of trouble," Trip said quietly.
I walked Jen home that night. Our brief argument was still on my mind. She had seemed more like herself, showing some of the old spirit, perhaps emerging at last from the depression that seemed to have gripped her since her return. The last months of dates that ended with only a quick, tentative kiss were on my mind, too. Months of waiting, more or less patiently, with no reward.
"Well," she said, stopping outside her door.
"Well." I hesitated. Tonight I was in the mood to see how far she was willing to go. I stepped forward, took her shoulders in my hands, and leaned in to kiss her.
She didn't turn her head or pull away, but she wasn't exactly eager, either. Our lips pressed together, I slid my arms around her, and pulled her against me. The kiss deepened, my breath came faster, I held her tightly and probed between her lips with my tongue. She tensed, her mouth firmly shut. Passion, anger, and frustration all came together in me, I clutched at her, trying to force the response I wanted, until she made a protesting sound and pushed me away.
I let go and stepped back, humiliated and horrified at my own behavior. We stared at each other. "I'm sorry," I finally said.
"It's okay. It's all right. I understand."
"It's just… it's been so long. I want you." My voice was rough, and raw. It sounded unfamiliar. I listened to myself with amazement. This wasn't like me, not at all. All the pain of losing her seemed to be bursting out of me, and I couldn't stop it.
"I'm sorry." It was almost a whisper. "It's not that I don't still care for you…"
"Then why?"
"It wouldn't be right… wouldn't be fair to you…"
"Nothing about this is fair!" I took a few deep breaths. "It's Wes, isn't it? You've got some crazy idea of being faithful to him, don't you?"
"No… I know it's over with Wes."
"Damn right it's over! You'll never see him again! But you're still in love with him!" Another deep breath, but it didn't help. "You're a fool, Jen," I said more quietly.
To my surprise, she didn't seem angry. She bent her head and murmured, "Maybe I am."
We stood again, silently, two people who had loved each other once. I suppose we still did, I know I did, and I think she still felt it too, somewhere in her heart. I watched her, out of things to say, but unwilling to give up and leave.
After a time she spoke again, her face still downturned. "Alex. If you want to see someone else, it's all right."
Suddenly on the defensive, I straightened. "What makes you think there's anyone else?"
"You're a very attractive man. Don't tell me no one else is interested."
"I don't want anyone but you."
The pain that filled my voice must have gotten through to her. She raised her face and looked at me, and I saw the tears in her eyes. Suddenly guilt replaced all the anger.
"Jen… oh, Jen, I'm sorry."
She shook her head, her face crumpling. I stepped forward and took her in my arms again, this time gently pulling her head against my shoulder. She hugged me back. I could feel her body heave, and heard sobbing.
After what seemed like minutes, she quieted enough to speak again. "You're right, Alex," she said softly. "I'm a fool. But I have to face the fact that I fell in love with someone else, and I have to try to be honest with you about it. We can't just pretend it didn't happen."
"No, I suppose not."
"I do still love you, but..."
"I understand."
"I need time. I need to figure all of this out."
It had been six months. "Take all the time you want. I can wait," was all I said.
She straightened and stepped out of my embrace. We kissed, softly and affectionately, but without passion. She opened her door and stepped inside, turning to smile at me, her mouth still trembling.
"Thank you. I want you to know…" She paused, seeming to search for words. "You've been really wonderful."
I smiled woodenly and denied my own wonderfulness, and stood there while she closed the door. I felt very far from wonderful. She had been honest; she was trying to be fair. I had again hidden my own false step. I told myself it was because I didn't want to hurt her, because I didn't want to make trouble between her and Rachel. But I knew the truth. I was afraid, afraid of her jealousy, maybe more afraid that she wouldn't be jealous. Afraid to risk jeopardizing whatever chance we still had, mostly afraid to admit my own imperfection.
TBC...