Chapter 20.

Jen ran down the street, her anger leading the way. She left behind her a trail that was easy to follow: a blackout. There had been no blackouts in that city for about twenty years, but lights were turning off on both sides of the street as Jen ran through it.

When she had run quite far from the hospital, her legs gave away and she found herself kneeling, taking deep breaths, tired like she had never been.

Alex, honey, where are you? She asked in her mind, helplessly. The thought returned to her, repeated, like an echo. She tried again, with the same results.

How am I going to find you, if I can't see what you are seeing? Alex, she called. Alex! Alex!! Alex!!! ALEX!!!!

The thoughts came back to her, as if they bounced and echoed back. She kneeled there, crying, she felt helpless, she didn't know what it was, it had never happened before. She was beginning to lose hope, when suddenly, among all the echoes of her own thoughts, she heard him.

Jennifer? It was a soft whisper. He had heard her calling, as if she was calling him aloud. Jennifer, is that you?

Yes, Alex, it's me. Again, her thoughts bounced back to her, but though she knew she had to listen more attentively, she held the hope Alex might be listening to her.

I love you, Jennifer. No matter what, I love you and I trust you.

She rose back to her feet when she heard his words. She dried her tears and looked forward, focusing hard. Don't worry, Alex. I'm on my way. She felt a sudden outburst of anger that was too much for her.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRG!!!!" she yelled, and the entire city went dark in one second.

*****************************

The warehouse became completely dark suddenly. Nothing could be seen, not even silhouettes.

"Alex?" Nadira called.

"I'm still here," he said.

"What happened?" demanded The Mistress.

"There's a blackout, the entire city is dark," said Tatag.

"What do you mean there's a blackout, Tatag? There hasn't been a blackout in this city in 20 years!!"

"Well, the power from the entire city is gone, the electric plant just shut off, ours too," he said.

"What's the status of the lab?"

"We can resist for about ten minutes, but no more."

"Ten minutes?" she repeated angrily. "Go to the power plant, and fix it!" she ordered.

"It won't work," Alex said into the dark.

"What do you mean it won't work?" the mistress asked him, her voice coming from the most perfect darkness, carrying her anger.

"This isn't a regular blackout," he explained. "It's Jennifer."

"No human can do this! No mutant can do this! She can't be powerful enough to do this!!"

"She can. She's mad, and she's on her way here."

"How can you tell?"

"I can feel her. She's angry, she doesn't like it when people take what's hers; and I know she's on her way here."

"How do you know?"

"I just do," he said.

"I don't believe this."

"Too bad, because she's on her way here to destroy you. She wants nothing but to destroy you, you and all your mutants."

"How can she know where we are?" The Mistress was sounding scared now.

"She always knows where I am, always. She can feel my heart beating for her, no matter how far."

"Why?"

"Because she loves me," Alex said defiantly. "And I love her,"

He felt suddenly strong, and safe. Jen had called out for him, he had answered, and she had told him she was on her way. When she got there, she would free him, and together they would end The Mistress's reign of terror.

"Tatag, prepare for her imminent arrival, you know where you can find me," The Mistress ordered, and they heard footsteps, followed by the sound of something huge and metallic being slid open. A door.

Then more footsteps. Then more metallic sounds (another door) and then something that made their hearts stop for a second. Heavy breathing followed closely by a soft growling. The growling grew until it became a roar, and Alex heard Nadira scream, before he was sent, with chair and all, against a wall and hit it hard.

He lay there, breathing fast, feeling a pain in his chest, one or more of his ribs broken. He sensed more than heard, the creature walking towards him. A paw pressed on his forehead, forcing his head up, while a smelly snout sniffed his face. It smelled like rotten flesh, and the paw was clawed, he knew because he felt the claws penetrate his scalp, while the paw pulled his hair and his face up.

His hair was released, and for a split second Alex thought the monster was going towards Nadira. But he felt a pain, increased by the surprise provoked by the claws as they scratched across his chest, his jacket and shirt not being protection enough. The monster scratched him several times; his clothes fell in rags leaving his skin completely open to the attack. Some of the scratches were deep, blood beginning to run down his chest, touching the torn skin with a feathery contact.

"Jennifer," he called into the darkness, his body in such pain, he could barely resist it. "I love you," he whispered, focusing hard and praying in his mind she would hear him. He felt the paw hit across his chin, and knew no more.

***********************

Jen entered the warehouse district, knowing exactly towards which building to go, the very last, at the top of the hill.

She saw a motorcycle parked by a bar, and turned it on with her mind. Alex was in danger, he was hurt and she had to save him quickly. He was in pain. She moved towards the motorcycle, and got into it, but she was forced to stop, by a dark figure that stood in the middle of the street.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"To help you," answered the figure.

"No, it's too dangerous," she said.

"She's my daughter, Time Ranger," he warned. "By your side or by myself I will rescue her."

"Do as you please," she said, taking the brakes off the bike. "But stay out of my way," she warned and sped towards the hill, ignoring his yell behind her.

"You better stay out of MY way!!"

She accelerated; she couldn't bring him or wait for him. She had her own plan to follow, and he didn't fit anywhere in it.

***************************

"What do we do now?" Lucas asked, as he, Katie and Trip saw themselves forced to stop, the darkness had engulfed the entire city, and they couldn't follow Jen if they couldn't see her.

"We have one more way," Trip said, and pulled Circuit out of his backpack. "When she morphs, we'll be able to find her."

"What if she doesn't morph?" Katie asked.

"She will," Trip said certainly.

"How do you know?"

"She's got no choice. This is much bigger than she is."

***********************

The door of the warehouse burst open, as if by an explosion. It made a metallic noise that echoed in the warehouse walls. A single ray of light; that came from the motorcycle parked outside, filled the room with light. A small dark figure was cut from the white square looking menacing and dangerous.

She was standing there, both of her arms ending in guns, instead of hands. Taking a few steps inside, she looked around. "Alex?" she called. She heard a soft groaning to her right and turned. "Alex, is that you?" she asked. She walked towards the groaning, leaving the ray of light. "Alex?" she asked again.

Suddenly, the doors closed with the same noise with which they had opened. The warehouse was completely dark again, and Jen was completely alone. Or so she wished. She heard it walk around her, with its heavy breathing, its growling, its knuckles dragged on the floor. She could smell its snout, its breath; it was circling around her, trying to frighten her. And it was doing one hell of a job.

Jen knew she only had one chance, and that it was bringing the lights back. She closed her eyes, and tried to do it, but she kept getting distracted by the growling and the roaring around her. She felt its hungry stare; she could almost hear it salivate in anticipation. This wasn't a mutant, not the kind of mutants she had fought before.

Those mutants were criminals, intelligent, refined and proud. This was a beast, a mere beast trained to hurt and kill. This was a beast that felt no fear, an agile beast, strong and powerful, without all those other things that made mutants laughable inside the deep confines on her mind.

This beast was raw and dangerous, nothing laughable. She unwillingly connected to him, and saw everything that beast had seen in rapid succession of images that made her dizzy, filling her with sudden disgust, not only towards it, but towards those who had created it.

She felt like she was going to be sick. This had been the mutant that had been eating the children, it hadn't been any Hannibal Lecter's mutant version having a refined dinner, it had eaten them raw, and (it was hard to believe a human being would allow this to happen) alive.

She couldn't hold it anymore, she was sick. She threw up in disgust, in fear, in anger and in many other things she couldn't recognize at the moment. She was certain this beast was trained to kill her. Not just hurt her, kill her.

Her mind was taken over by panic and Jennifer Scotts, Captain in Time Force, Pink Time Force Ranger and Alexander Drake's fiancée and protégée, crouched into a ball on the floor and started crying like a baby girl in the dark.

"I'm going to die," she told herself. "I'm going to die tonight, because there's nobody to save me and I can't fight this beast myself, if I do, I'll die, just like Mom did, when she fought that wolf," she whimpered, remembering one of the most tragic nights of her childhood.

One so tragic, it had taken her years to forget.

One night that was repeating itself.

To be continued.