Rachel, Lorent, Klezmi, Silva, and a few others in minor roles are mine.
This chapter shares plot and some dialogue with my previous story, 'The Second Time'. Sorry if it's a bit disjointed, due to my efforts not to duplicate too much from that story.
Rated PG : language; sexuality; violence; some mature concepts.
Please don't forget to review.
Wes Collins. He had come here. When Jen couldn't go to his time, he had come here. Pursuing her. Rationally, I knew there were other reasons for him to be here. He was involved with this, he was a Ranger, he wanted to help us stop Lorent from changing history, Eric had been his friend and he wanted to avenge his death. I took a deep breath and resolved to behave like a Time Force officer, not like a jealous lover.
Beside me, Jen was pale as death, her lips trembling. I think I knew then, a stab of bitter pain going through me as I saw how the prospect of seeing him affected her. But I ignored it as compassion followed on its heels, and pressed a hand over her shoulder. She looked up at me and tried valiantly to smile.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine."
I let the lie go as Logan strode rapidly into the room, his face set and bleak, Katie right behind him. He passed us and opened the door into the time travel recovery room. We followed him in.
Inside, they were all standing, looking out the window at Silver City spread below the rise Time Force Headquarters is located on. Lucas and Trip looked up, Trip smiling, Lucas swallowing visibly at the expression on Logan's face. Wes hung back, not even looking at the rest of us, eyes only for Jen, even when Katie threw her arms around him and squeezed.
Now that the moment had come, Jen was steady as a rock. I was proud of her. She stepped up to Wes, gave him a restrained smile, and hugged him, not reacting when his arms closed around her tightly. I felt a little pity for him then, as his eyes closed, his face contracting in an expression of intense emotion -- pain or joy, I couldn't tell. Probably both. If I ever had any doubt that he loved her too, it was gone now. As Jen moved back I rested a hand on her shoulder again, earning a distinctly hostile glance from him.
"Sir," Lucas was saying, "I apologize for bringing Wes. We couldn't contact you, and I had to use my own judgment. I take full responsibility."
"I told Lucas we should bring him," Trip put in.
"And I insisted on coming," Wes said.
"Well, it's done now." Logan shot a look at Lucas, a milder one than I had expected. "We'll discuss it later. Now -- Katie, why don't you take Wes to the quarters we've arranged for him. And show him around a little. Meeting in my office in two hours."
"Great! Come on, Wes." She led him away, only a tightening of his face as he glanced back at Jen showing the disappointment he must be feeling.
"All right. What happened?" Logan asked as they disappeared through the door.
Lucas and Trip traded a glance. Trip answered. "After we got to 2003, we spent almost a day trying to locate Eric and the Quantum morpher. We couldn't find a trace until it was activated." His face pinched in distress. "When we detected it, the readings showed the voice lock had been released. Then a few minutes later, the lock was established again, by someone else."
Lucas took over. "We were up against the new Quantum Ranger then and whoever else was involved. The people who had managed to kidnap Eric and force him to give up the morpher. I made the decision to contact Wes for help."
Logan only nodded. Trip continued the story. "We went to his house. All three of us attacked the underground lab where Lorent had taken Eric. We fought our way in, found Lorent. He was morphed. He had Ray, the mutant they made with the Muta-Chem, with him. We fought both of them, but they got away, with Alcott, and flew off in their timeship. We stayed to find Eric." A shaky breath. "He was there. Captain -- they used a mindstrainer on him."
Logan and Jen looked shocked. I'm sure I did too. The mindstrainer was an illegal device used to weaken the will, usually to forcibly extract information. An instrument of torture, with the added feature of destroying the mind, damaging the brain, and usually killing the victim in the end.
"Oh, God. Poor Eric," Jen murmured. "We were never exactly friends. He wasn't easy to get along with. But he was always there when we needed him. Always willing to risk his life to help others."
We were all quiet for a moment. "That's a good epitaph," Logan said quietly.
Lucas started to speak again. "After that, all we could do was wait and watch for the morpher to be activated again. It took a week. Then it happened during Eric's funeral. We all went after them, found them in a cabin in the woods, outside Silver Hills. Fought them again. They got away, took off in their timeship and opened a timehole. By the time we could get back to our ship, they were long gone."
Logan seemed to shake off the unhappy mood that had descended on us. He straightened and said, "All right. Get some rest. See you in my office in two hours." He started off, the rest of us trailing after.
At the door Jen stopped, looking indecisive. I stopped beside her.
"Jen -- are you all right?"
"I'll be fine." She glanced at me, her eyes distant. "I'll see you later."
"Want company?"
"Sorry. Not right now."
"I understand. See you at the briefing."
With a last absent smile, she walked away. Not in the direction of her building, her apartment. Towards the Time Force guest apartments, where Wes had been put.
Two hours later I watched Wes as he told all of us about Ray, Lorent's latest manufactured mutant. An eerie feeling, looking into that mirror of my own face. We had exchanged another glance as he came into Logan's office, a glance filled with suppressed hostility, the age-old jealous anger between two men who wanted the same woman.
"I know Alcott supervised TransGenics' mutation experiments. And Ray seems to be a result of one of those experiments. Ray doesn't even know he's a mutant. I think he's not very smart."
"What method were they using to create mutations?"
We listened as Wes described what was obviously Muta-Chem, the same treatment that had created the mutant who had died fighting me. Ray wasn't the first of his kind they had encountered, Lorent and his friends in 2003 had done it before, creating mutants who had eventually turned against them, and helped Wes and Eric.
Then all our ears pricked up when he told us Bio-Lab had found a way of stabilizing their DNA. We all were aware of the possible consequences of Lorent being able to create an army of mutants who would not die in a few weeks or months. They had discovered that the Venomark serum, used to treat poisoning victims years ago, had also worked on the artificial mutants, keeping them healthy.
Logan took us all in with a glance. "We've got to stop Lorent here. He has the Quantum morpher now. If he gets away, back to the past again, we may not be able to prevent him from causing serious changes. He's already done significant damage. We have to stop it now." A moment later, the briefing over, we were leaving.
I called Wes back. He turned to face me as the door closed behind Jen, his expression resentful.
"What is it?" There was an edge in his voice.
"I guess you don't much like me."
"I… it's nothing personal."
"Just that you're still in love with Jen, and I've been seeing her again." Wes looked away from me. "I know this is hard on you. Especially after losing your friend. I wish there was some way to make it easier. But there isn't."
"In other words, I should just grow up. Act like an adult. Get on with my life, like Jen said." The anger was more obvious now.
"Well… I wouldn't have put it like that. But yes. I can understand how you feel…"
"No, you can't! You're the one who's with her now. I guess you feel pretty good."
The thoughtlessness of that remark brought out my own anger. "Try having your fiancée come back, hand you your ring, and tell you she's fallen in love with someone else. Then maybe you'll know how I felt."
"Maybe you're afraid she'll change her mind again." His voice was spiteful now.
"What does that mean?"
"Just what it sounds like. It's been over a year, and you're not even engaged again. Maybe you're the one who's jealous."
I stared at him, furious, unable to believe he was attacking me. "You stupid bastard," I retorted. "Hasn't it gotten through to you that I have much more right to be angry than you do? You're the one who broke up our engagement. You're the reason we're not married right now." With an effort, I controlled myself, and said what I had intended to say in the first place. "Look, we're involved with a vital mission. Any conflict, even with a temporary team member like you, could be a problem. And we can't afford problems, not now. As leader, I need to be sure we can work together."
"I don't remember signing up for any team. And I sure don't remember making you leader." He looked and sounded like an angry, sulky child.
Anger getting the better of me, I lashed out again. "I have to know if we can count on you. I don't want this mission jeopardized by a childish, jealous fool!"
Wes glared at me, face flaming with hatred. "Why couldn't you have stayed dead?" he shouted. He whirled, almost ran to the door, and slammed out.
I took a few minutes before following, struggling with my own temper. Wes was a self-centered idiot who couldn't control himself. But what was my excuse? I had only made things worse.
I avoided Jen for a while after that. The one time we saw each other, for a workout, ended in an argument. I could no longer trust my own temper where she or Wes were involved. For the first time, I began to wonder if it was over, if it was time to give up.
Then came the call I had been dreading, the call to go into action, to forget my problems with Jen and Wes and work alongside them. The Quantum morpher had been activated. Lorent had been located. It was up to us to stop him, here and now. Time to forget our differences, time to be Rangers.
Jen and I took our seats in a small Time Force fighter flyer, our eyes meeting for a moment. All of the troubles between us, all of the betrayal -- on both sides -- all the hurt feelings, all the guilt, and yet -- here we were, working together. And, I realized, that was exactly as it should be. I saw her glance at me, and saw how uncomfortable she was.
"We're teammates, Jen." I said softly. "We'll always have that, no matter what. We can work out our problems after this is over."
She nodded and smiled. Seconds later we were in the air, sweeping out a path over Time Force HQ. I glanced down at the sprawl of buildings, spotting the ones we lived in, and the small park between them.
Then we were high over Silver City. It glittered in the sun, towers reaching up to us, streets and parks laid out below. So many people down there, blissfully unaware of the fragility of their lives. A pang went through me. So much depended on us.
"It'll take us a few minutes to get there," I said, my voice tense. "It may be too late."
"The others were closer. They were taking a tour."
Showing Wes the sights, she meant. Luckily they had happened to be close to where the Quantum morpher was. That was something constructive Wes had done. I increased our flyer's speed. It seemed to take forever, but only a few minutes later we were in sight of a battle.
It was over a wooded area in the mountains, a small cabin visible below. I saw people on the ground, apparently fighting. But what claimed my immediate attention was the aerial battle over them. A recreational flyer was being fired on by a small battle craft which I recognized as the TF Eagle, the Quantum Ranger's personal flyer, now being controlled by Lorent. There was no real contest, the larger, unarmed flyer was already trailing smoke. It faltered and descended rapidly.
We dove as the Eagle continued the attack. It swerved back up and began to fire at us. We circled, I dodged the blasts as Jen hastily brought up the weapons systems and began to return fire. In moments the tables were turned, and the Eagle was outgunned. It looped above us and fled rapidly.
We pursued, accelerating after them, shooting through the clear blue sky, energy blasts stitching the air between us. The Eagle was built for speed, and for combat, but so was our flyer. It became a race, and in seconds I knew we were losing.
"Damn it!" I shouted, banging a fist on the cockpit panel as he pulled away from us, now beyond the range of our weapons. "Damn, damn, damn!"
"Alex, calm down!" Jen was staring at me.
"That was Lorent! He got away, again! Do you know what this means?" I clamped down on my rage and frustration as I sent us sweeping back to our teammates, thinking bitterly of the trail of bodies left by Lorent. The unidentified mutant I had fought in his house. The second dead mutant, found discarded in an alleyway. Eric. Add all of us, our world, our reality, if we couldn't stop them. And now...
"Of course I know. We'll deal with it. Never give up."
Caught by surprise, I smiled. My own words, come back to bite me. But she was right. Then my anger returned as we again came in sight of the cabin. I saw a timeship lifting off from the woods behind it, already too far away to catch, rapidly receding into the distance. "Damn it," I said, more quietly this time. "They'll probably go back to 2003 again now. Try to finish what they started."
"I know. And we'll be ready to follow them."
"Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy time trip."
The others smiled at Lucas's words. Some in-joke, from their stay in 2001, no doubt. I had no desire to ask. I was sitting next to Lucas in the co-pilot's seat, Jen and Katie behind us, Wes and Trip in the last row. I could hear them talking quietly, Trip going over it again. I ran through it in my own mind, my nerves jumping.
Lorent and Alcott had escaped to the past again, opening an unauthorized timehole that our instruments had picked up. They had the Quantum morpher, and might be able to duplicate it. They had the mutating treatment. They had found out from Eric about the serum that would allow their manufactured mutants to survive. They could build an unstoppable army of them. Already the change was happening, the past was distorting again. The timestream was already too disturbed for normal travel.
It was my first time jump, and it wasn't even a normal one. Because of the quantum nature of time travel, under most conditions we could only jump for certain fixed distances. When going back to 2003, we went back an exact amount of time, about ninety-nine years and a few months, down to the microsecond. When returning, we would travel the same 'distance', always coming back to our exact corresponding time. But not now.
Now, the timestream was very strongly disturbed, which meant we could break that law of nature, and make a non-standard jump, going back an extra ten days, arriving before Eric had been captured by Lorent and Alcott. That meant we could prevent his death, prevent Lorent from getting the morpher and finding out about the serum. It also meant the trip would be rough, to put it mildly. We were in a new ship, an experimental model, made to be strong enough to withstand the stress. A gamble, with our lives as the stakes. But a necessary one.
I listened to Trip telling Wes what to expect. Reality could not endure the same person existing in two places at the same time. When we emerged from the timehole in 2003, he would disappear from our ship and instantly replace his former self, at home, in bed. If we didn't make it safely down, he would have to save Eric on his own.
Whatever I thought of Wes, I had to admit he was brave. He had shown no fear, just the desire to save his friend's life, and prevent the destruction of our time. He deserved my respect for that. He lived up to the standards of a Ranger.
We lifted off, rising smoothly into the sky. A beam stabbed from the ship, opening the timehole. It looked bluer than normal, an effect of its non-standard nature. Lucas accelerated, and then we were in it, my hands gripping the arms of my seat as we were caught up in a swirl of color, buffeted by the energies pouring around us.
The ship shuddered, I lost all orientation of up and down as gravity seemed to go wild and we shook, vibrated, and jerked. The forces slammed at us viciously, perhaps resenting our invasion. My stomach rebelled, I hung on as best I could, sickeningly bright colors seemed to penetrate the hull and sparkle through the air. A white light appeared before us, coming closer with terrifying rapidity.
"Hang on, we're coming out!" Lucas shouted.
"Good Luck, Wes!" I heard Trip say behind me.
Then we were out, shooting into a normal sky so fast that we slammed into the air itself with a shuddering impact. I could see Lucas fighting the controls, trying to stabilize the ship as we vibrated and then turned nose up, rising abruptly higher. Then we slowed, and were falling. Lucas managed to bring the nose down. We leveled off frighteningly close to the ground, still going too fast. I sighed in relief as we slowed, and turned, now under control.
Lucas brought us down for a landing on the beach. It was dark, and quiet after he powered the ship down. I could hear the others start to stir.
"Is everyone all right?" I asked, my voice still unsteady. A glance back showed that Wes had disappeared, as expected.
"Yeah. Wow, some ride," Katie answered.
"Lucas, that was incredible. Great job," Jen said.
"Yes, good work." I nodded to Lucas, then moved to the door. "Let's get the flyers out. We've still got a job to do."
Wes contacted us, and told Jen he was meeting Eric, who was on his way to his fatal encounter with Lorent. It was up to us to make sure events turned out differently this time. It was a fast trip in our flyers -- no chance to think about the fact that I was in another time -- in the past, for the first time -- and in moments we coming down, seeing Wes and Eric with a troop of Silver Guardians. I watched them as we approached, Wes hugging Eric, to his obvious surprise. Again I felt an unwilling liking for Wes, who seemed to care so much for his friend. Then we were off the flyers, and walking towards them. We demorphed as Eric greeted us with a glare.
"What are you doing here? Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?" he demanded.
"Simple," Wes said. "The first time this night happened, you had a fight in the warehouse with Alcott and this jerk from the future, Lorent, and a mutant named Ray. They captured you, and took you to their secret base, and hooked you up to this sort of mental torture machine. You ended up releasing the voice lock on the Quantum morpher, and telling them about the serum. Lucas and Trip showed up, and we found you but you died. We chased them into the future, but they got away, and they were going to change history and screw everything up, so we came back to tonight, to do it over again, keep you from getting killed, and keep all of it from happening."
Eric stared at him. "What?"
"All of this happened before-"
"I heard you. That's crazy."
"I swear it's true. Ask Trip or Lucas."
"I was dead?"
"Dead as a doornail." Wes grinned again. "We had a very nice funeral for you."
Eric glared at all of us again, suspiciously. "It's still crazy, but I guess it must be true, or they wouldn't be here, all grinning at me like that. So... what now?"
To my surprise, Wes turned to me. "Alex? You're in command."
I recovered and answered, my respect for him reluctantly rising another notch. "Right. Thanks. Wes and I will go with Eric. The rest of you, go with the Guardians. That okay with you, Wes?"
"Sure is."
After that it was easy. The three of us rode to the warehouse on Eric's TF Eagle, with Wes and me crouching on the wings while Eric piloted. We set down quietly on the roof, opened a trapdoor, and took the enemy by surprise as the other Rangers and the Silver Guardians attacked from the other side.
Up against seven Rangers and a troop of Guardians, our enemies were overwhelmed, and they knew it. I spotted Lorent running for the timeship and started after him, as Wes took off after Alcott. The others had arrived, Lucas joined me as we reached the ship, barely forcing our way in as Lorent tried to close the door.
Then it was over, we were dragging Lorent out, Wes was shoving Alcott in our direction, Eric was standing over an unconscious Ray, the Guardians were rounding up the rest of them. I stepped back and demorphed, watching Wes, Eric and the Guardians take charge, suddenly realizing this was it, we had won. It almost seemed too fast and easy, rather anticlimactic. Then I turned at the sound of Jen's voice.
"We did it," she said. "Saved Eric, prevented a major change in history, captured Lorent."
"Yes, a pretty good night's work." I took another look at her face. "What's wrong?"
"This probably isn't the right time..."
"But I already know, don't I?"
"Yes." She took a breath. "Seeing Wes again -- you were right about me. Alex, I'm sorry. You've always been so good to me. If I had any sense, I'd marry you tomorrow. But I still love Wes."
"I've been expecting this." I felt surprisingly little, only a lurking bitterness.
"I know. All of this hasn't been fair to you."
"No, it hasn't. You should never have started seeing me again."
"I'm sorry," she said again.
"I'll live." And maybe I had no right to be angry. I was the one who had wanted to get back together, who had refused to give up, the one who had kept pushing. The one who hadn't been entirely honest.
I saw her swallow back tears. "I don't blame you for being angry. I hope someday you'll forgive me."
"I'll get over it. But you -- you'll have to leave him again."
"I know." As I looked past her, I saw Wes, watching us.
"Go on and talk to him," I said softly. "Spend the time you have together."
"Alex..."
The bitterness, the frustration, came out one last time. "Just don't try to come back to me, when you're alone again." After another look, I walked away.
I stayed in the Silver Guardians' barracks for the next ten days, as we waited out the time before we could go home without arriving before we had left. The others stayed at Wes's house. I didn't blame them, but I felt a little -- abandoned. To my surprise, Eric went out of his way to play host, spending time with me, taking me around the city, trying to keep me amused or at least distracted. I think he felt sorry for me. I also think he felt left out of the close relationship Wes shared with his former teammates, and of course with Jen.
We interrogated Lorent, without much useful result. From what he didn't say, as much as what he said, it seemed obvious that he had confederates in our time. In fact, he was amazingly loyal to whoever they were, perhaps out of fear. Trip thought he was working for the Mystery Mutant. A disturbing idea, but it made sense. Ransik said our unknown enemy could command that kind of loyalty from his followers.
Now we were leaving. Saying goodbye. All of us stood on the beach near our timeship. I watched Wes hug Katie, Lucas, and Trip. Jen stood a little distance away, her face barely controlled. I could imagine what she was going through. I had felt something like it.
"Love's a funny thing. Some people can't control it. It's not their fault things turned out like this." Eric's voice came from beside me.
I glanced at his hard face, now with faint sympathy on it. "Have you ever been in love?" I asked.
He smiled slightly. "I thought so, a couple of times. But -- no. Not like that. Don't think I ever will. Not worth it, if it turns out bad."
"I don't know about that." I surprised myself by saying it. "Just to have had that feeling, for a while -- I don't regret it." Wes was waiting now. I turned and held out my hand to Eric. "Goodbye. It was a pleasure to meet you."
"Thanks. Goodbye, and good luck."
Then Jen and I were walking to Wes. Whatever anger I still felt for him disappeared as I saw the expression on his face. Jen hung back as I shook hands with him.
"Listen, I'm sorry for what I said. About wishing you stayed dead. You were right, I was pretty childish."
I smiled. "I can easily imagine how I'd feel in your place. I don't know if I would have handled it any better. Maybe worse."
Wes's eyes met mine. "I doubt that. You were right, too, that you're the one who should be angry at me. I'm sorry about what happened, Jen and you breaking up. I guess you're right to blame me."
"Maybe I did blame you, at first. But both Jen and I changed, that year she was in your time. I guess it wasn't meant to be. To tell the truth, knowing it's finally over is a relief. But I'm sorry things can't work out for you and her."
"I appreciate that." Wes looked at Jen. "I hope you'll still be her friend. Take care of her for me."
"Always. Goodbye, Wes, and thanks for your help." I went to the ship, and turned back to watch them for a moment. Strangely, the sight of them hugging didn't bother me as much as the misery on both their faces.
I frowned slightly. For once I was having a feeling, and it wasn't good. Our real enemy was still out there, still unknown, probably still determined to change the past in order to change our time. This wasn't over, not by a long shot.
TBC...