Wes, Eric, Jen, Alex, Zaskin, Miller, and Mr. Collins belong to Disney/Saban.
Nightwing/Dick Grayson, Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Oracle/Barbara Gordon belong to DC Comics/Time Warner.
Tony Newman, Doug Phillips, and Ann MacGregor belong to Irwin Allen Productions.
I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Gaby, Rick, Norman, and any others you don't recognize are mine.

Rated PG-13 : Crude language; violence; sexual references.

Reviews are appreciated, please take a moment to leave one.

The Time Tunnel


The Battle of Bio-Lab

They stopped inside the laboratory door and watched for a moment. It was a large lab, assorted scientists and engineers in white coats dotted around the room, most of them bent over benches littered with unfamiliar equipment. Dr. Michael Zaskin was in a far corner, looking intent on a conversation with a tallish young man with curly black hair and light-brown skin whom Eric recognized as a junior physicist who had been working there for about a year.

"Come on, let's go," Gaby said impatiently behind him. "I have to get back to work."

"So do I," Eric agreed.

"I really should get back to the stationhouse," Jen said.

"You're a police detective. We're detecting." Wes grinned and took her hand. "Come on, this won't take long." They started for Zaskin.

Zaskin looked up as they approached, his face abstracted and slightly annoyed at the distraction, until he recognized them. "Eric!" he exclaimed. "Wes. Haven't seen you for a while." He shook hands, nodded to Gaby, then turned to Jen. "Nice to see you again too, Jen. How are the wedding plans coming?"

"We're still... discussing," she said with a sidelong look at Wes.

"When's it going to be?"

"That's one of the things we're discussing," Wes said. "Anyway, we're here about something else."

"Had a feeling this wasn't a social call. Go on."

"You studied the cyclobots, didn't you? The ones we and the Guardians trashed a couple of years ago?"

"My team did, yes. We designed the Guardians' blasters from theirs."

"Did you ever look into building them yourselves?"

"Building our own cyclobots? Not seriously. We could have built the bodies, but the programming was way beyond anything we could do. And then your father told me to drop the research."

"I understand." Eric glanced at Wes. Technologies from Jen's time, two hundred years in the future, including the cyclobots, were too dangerous to be introduced into the present, before they were supposed to be invented. Wes, with Eric's help, had been able to persuade Alan Collins to stop Bio-Lab's research into them.

"I heard some of the cyclobot parts we had in storage were stolen," Zaskin went on.

"Yeah. We thought someone might have used those parts to make new ones," Eric said.

"It wasn't my people. I don't even have a robotics expert."

"Didn't you have one to study the cyclobots?" Gaby asked.

"No, at that point we were researching ways to fight the mutants, like the blasters, and trying to analyze the Quantum morpher. We did very little with the cyclobots themselves."

"Well," Eric said, "someone's been building them. I ran into a bunch of them last night. Similar to the originals, but kind of crude looking. But they fought just as well."

"Heard about that too."

"Too bad whoever it was took his broken cyclobots with him," Wes added. "I would have liked for you to take a look at them."

"Yes. And the fact that he went to the trouble of taking them may mean he was afraid we could find out something from them."

"Or just that he needs the parts..."

The young man who had been talking to Zaskin had turned away and back to his work. Now he faced them again and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but maybe I could help."

"Oh, sorry," Zaskin said. "You know Wes, Eric, and Gaby, don't you? And this is Jen Scotts, Wes's fiancée..."

"We've met. Hi, Jen."

"Hello, Rick." She smiled at Wes's inquiring look. "We met a few times at the stationhouse. Rick is Lieutenant Quinn's son."

"Really? I didn't know. Small world." Eric saw Wes taking a closer look. He had already known about Rick's relationship to Jen's commanding officer in the Silver Hills Police Department, and knew Wes was looking for a resemblance.

"Isn't it?" Rick said. "I'm working for your father, and your fiancée is working for mine." He grinned. "Put in a good word for me, and I'll put one in for you."

"Hmm. What were you saying about the cyclobots?"

"I was interested, so I took a look at them. Fascinating, the computer technology in those things is amazing. I'd love to get my hands on one that's still in working condition."

"Do you think you could have built a new one? Or do you know anyone else who could have?"

"Well, that's what I was going to say. I might be able to, given a few years to study them. But there's someone who used to work here who took a big interest..."

"Hold on." Eric raised a hand to the small headset he usually wore while on duty. He listened, brows creasing at what he heard, then glanced sharply up at Wes.

"What is it?" Wes asked, trying to get his own headset into position.

"We're being attacked," Eric said, disbelief struggling with alarm, a sudden sense of déjà vu shaking him. "By cyclobots. They're here, in this building."

"Here? Cyclobots?" Wes stared.

"Let's go!" Jen was already running for the doorway.


Jen stopped abruptly as she came in view of the main building lobby, hardly noticing Wes and Eric skidding to a stop beside her. They were cyclobots, all right. Dozens of them, maybe hundreds. They seemed to fill the room, shoving the people aside, knocking over furniture. The sounds of destruction filled the air, crashes, running feet, screams.

They seemed to be simply destroying everything they could, more and more of them pouring in. She saw a human figure run in with a group of them, a man, in black clothing, wearing a mask and knit cap. Then, as one, they turned, and began to run. Heading straight in her direction.

She raised her morpher, pressing the triggering button, hearing Eric's voice shout. When the sparkling light of transformation died away, she was in her pink and white Ranger suit. Wes stood on one side in red and white, Eric on the other in red and black. They had time to exchange a glance and a nod before the flood of robots was upon them.

Jen ducked under a fist and punched back, rocking the robot off balance. Pivoting on one hip, she side-kicked another in the ribs -- or the robot equivalent -- then braced one hand on its shoulder and vaulted over it, feet plowing into a third. As she landed, metal arms grabbed her around the middle and lifted her. She clutched at them, kicking and struggling.

Wes and Eric were also surrounded and in trouble. She saw Wes drop to the floor to kick a cyclobot's legs from under it, and roll out of the way just in time to avoid being crushed by the falling body. Rolling quickly to his feet, he backhanded a fist into a robot neck, his foot coming up at the same time to thrust another away. A cyclobot grabbed his arm, and he yanked at it, and then twisted to throw it over his hip.

A few feet away, Eric was fighting in his distinctively acrobatic style. She saw him ramming a fist into a cyclobot, doubling it over, then using its back as a support, bracing himself on one arm while leaping up into a flip that ended with him between two robots, one foot kicking each of them back. Eric landed as two of them rushed him, driving him into the wall, back first.

"Jen!" she heard Wes call. As he ran toward her she kicked back at the cyclobot holding her, twisted, and slammed an elbow into its head. It collapsed, with her sprawled on top. Wes pulled her back to her feet as two more came to the attack, grabbing at them. They both grabbed back, pulling on the cyclobots' arms, swinging them into each other with a crash.

Another wave of attackers paused as they heard the sound of the Quantum Defender and saw a beam strike the cyclobots coming at them, leaving three of them sparking and falling to the floor. Eric pushed between them and opened fire again, trashing two more robots. With a moment's break, Jen and Wes summoned their own blasters and joined in.

A round of blaster fire from all three of them drove their attackers off momentarily. Eric took a few steps after them. Jen followed, and glanced to one side to see the wrecked lobby rapidly emptying, the Silver Guardians on the scene now, shooting down the stragglers. The main mass of robots was moving through the corridor they had arrived from, toward the laboratory section of the building.

"Come on!" Eric shouted. "We have to head them off!"

"Keep them out of the labs and offices!" Wes cried.

All three of them charged at the flow of cyclobots, shooting as many as they could before plunging into battle. Jen ducked as two of them struck at her, and kicked them back, knocking them into the robots behind them. Several went down in a heap.

Ahead of her, Wes and Eric were fighting side by side, pushing and kicking cyclobots out of their way, too close now to use their blasters. Jen ran to catch up and turned to cover their backs. Then they were in the clear, ahead of the mass of robots, turning to confront them, a few more Guardians in the corridor moving up to join forces. Jen recognized Steve Miller, Wes and Eric's second in command, among them. The cyclobots stopped, seeming to hesitate. Through their packed bodies, Jen caught a glimpse of the same masked man she had seen before, surrounded by a circle of robots, like bodyguards.

"They're going for the main lab!" Eric said.

"Jen, go on. Get those people out of there! We'll hold them off!" Wes took Jen's arm, and pushed her in the direction of the lab.

Maybe he was only trying to get her away from the action, to protect her... but those scientists would have no protection, and no way out, if the cyclobots got to them. And it was probably just a matter of time, there were so many of them...

She turned and ran for the lab, bursting in to find the scientists huddled in a group at the far end, looking terrified. She stopped and looked around frantically, spotting a fire exit on one side of the room.

"Come on! You've got to get out of here!" She ran to the exit and opened the door with one quick shove. In a moment people in lab coats were running past her. A quick glance showed her Dr. Zaskin, Gaby, and Rick still on the other side of the room.

At that moment the door banged open again. Silver Guardians backed in, pouring a steady stream of blaster fire at the cyclobots visible behind them. Wes and Eric appeared, crouching in the doorway, also firing at the robotic attackers. There were screams from the people still inside, and a renewed rush for the exit. Jen started for the far side, seeing Rick apparently trying to lift a large piece of equipment, Dr. Zaskin struggling with him, trying to drag him away, and Gaby shouting at both of them, backing away as they lurched toward her and stumbling over an overturned lab stool.

Jen almost fell over her, grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. "Come on!" she shouted. But it was already too late. She saw the Guardians and Wes and Eric fall back from the doorway toward the exit and take defensive positions behind benches and equipment. The room filled with the sizzle of energy beams. Cyclobots poured in, were shot, fell, and were replaced by others.

Zaskin and Gaby knelt behind a workbench, while Jen opened fire beside them. With a glance behind her, Jen saw Rick fiddling with the machine he had been trying to take. She shouted at him, but then the cyclobots were almost there, attacking, only a few feet away.

She saw the masked man again, his lips lifting in a smile. He took a few steps right at them, and pointed. "Get her!" he said. The robots surged forward.

Jen took aim. Her blaster was losing power, she could tell that the beam was weaker, and that meant her morpher was feeling the power drain. If she demorphed, they would be helpless, and a mass of cyclobots separated them from the Guardians, and from Wes and Eric. But there was no choice. Bracing herself, she opened fire again.

"Get closer!" She heard Rick's voice as she backed towards him. They crowded together. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him reach for his machine, and flip a switch. And then it happened. A swirl of black and violet unfolded from the air, pinwheeling around them. She looked up, distracted, and it dropped over them, suddenly enclosing them like a moving, shifting wall. She felt energy tingle through her, running over her skin like static. Everything shifted -- blurred -- warped -- changed. A sudden burst of brilliant light forced her to close her eyes.

When she opened them, Gaby, Zaskin, and Rick were still around her, all still in the same positions, now looking shaken and dazed. But the cyclobots were gone. The lab was gone. The building was gone. And in its place...

"Holy shit," she murmured uncharacteristically.


"We can't hold them for long, Wes!" Eric shouted as Jen ran toward the lab. It was true. They just kept coming. He saw the man again, obviously controlling them, his face and hair covered now but almost certainly the same man as the other night.

And another scene intruded on his thoughts, from two years ago, a scene nightmarishly similar to this one. Cyclobots overrunning Bio-Lab, attacking its people, destroying its property. Ransik had been controlling them, then. Eric and his Guardians had fought them, and failed to stop them before Alan Collins and Michael Zaskin had been injured, along with several others. Just as they were failing now...

In rage and frustration, he aimed at the masked man, but couldn't get a clear shot. He ran forward, exchanging a series of punches with the cyclobots he ran into. As they charged him, he leaped, a hand on a metal shoulder swinging him up to fly feet first into the ones behind. Landing lightly, he bent and tackled another, knocking it back and taking down the one behind it. Straightening, he took aim.

The man shrank back and ducked. "Get him!" he shouted. Eric fired, but a cyclobot moved to intercept the beam. Even as sparks shot from it and it jerked to the floor, three more rushed at Eric, lifting him and carrying him back. He fell, the three of them on top of him.

He struggled, bringing his feet up and thrusting one off, twisting to slam another's head into the floor with his elbow. The third seemed to fly backwards off him, falling into its companions, and he saw Wes had come to his rescue.

"Come on!" Wes pulled him up and helped him retreat. After a few steps they both turned to open fire again. A few more steps back took them to where several Guardians had formed a line across the hallway. They stumbled through, and then took up positions behind the line of kneeling men, all of them pouring energy into the invaders.

"I think we're beating them, Eric!" Wes cried.

There seemed to be no more new cyclobots appearing. But that didn't help the immediate situation. Unlike living opponents, the robots didn't care how many of them were destroyed. They felt no fear, just kept coming, stepping and jumping over the 'bodies' of their comrades.

"There's still too many! Fall back!" Eric ordered. They beat a disorderly retreat down the corridor, stopping every few yards to pour energy blasts into the oncoming mob of cyclobots. Then they were at the doors of the main laboratory, and being forced through. They took a stand as long as they could, retreating slowly toward the exit.

A glance showed Eric the last of the scientists escaping through the fire exit. But not quite the last. He saw Michael Zaskin and Rick against the opposite wall, appearing to be struggling over a piece of machinery. Jen was running to them. His heart leaped with a jolt as he saw her stop and help Gaby to her feet.

"Steve! Get them out of here!" he shouted at Miller, who looked, and started to work his way in their direction. Then the cyclobots were inside, and he had no more time to think, only to blast away at them, and hope the energy in his morpher would last. He was driven back across the room, closer to the exit, seeing Wes not far away.

The masked man was in the room, still encircled by his cyclobot bodyguards. Eric blasted the cyclobots between them and started for him, only to be tackled by more. He saw the man point at Gaby, Zaskin, Rick, and Jen, and shout, "Get her!" He saw Rick fumble with the machine he was still clutching. Then he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.

The unmistakable swirl of a timehole opened over the small group, whirling around them in a cone of black and violet for a moment. Then it seemed to dissolve in a burst of radiant light. The four people were gone.

"Gaby!" he cried, hearing Wes shout Jen's name at the same moment. The room seemed to freeze, everyone, even the cyclobots, standing for a moment, staring.

"What... what..." It was the masked man. He backed up, drawing a blaster and holding it indecisively, the cyclobots pulling back after him.

"What did you do to them?" Eric shouted, his voice shaking with rage and fear. He started for the spot where they had disappeared, Wes right behind him.

"What happened?" Wes cried.

"How the hell should I know?"

"It was this thing!" The machine Rick had been trying to pick up was about the size and shape of a large coffeemaker, studded with dials and knobs. Wes reached for it.

"Wes..." He heard a hum vibrate from the device. Another black and violet whirlpool appeared above them, opening, swirling down around them. Before they could move, it was swallowing them into darkness, sending electricity tingling over him. He shielded his face with his arms as a burst of brilliant light left him blinking, then faded into bright sunlight and tall trees. He looked around, stunned.

The lab was gone. Everyone else except Wes was gone. The building, Bio-Lab... Silver Hills itself was gone.

"Eric?" He heard Wes's voice beside him, cracking with shock. "What happened? Where are we?"

"Shit," Eric said softly. "This looks familiar..."


TBC...