Eric walked into his office, tossing his keys on the desk as he closed the door behind himself. He'd gone out to find out what caused the temporal displacement, but had come up empty handed. It bothered him, not being able to solve a case. 'Something as simple as a damn displacement temporal thing. Come on Myers, think,' he told himself, sitting down behind his desk, neglecting to turn on his computer.
He went over the facts: 'This displace thing is the same as the one that brought the Time Force rangers from the future, but is too small to fit an entire ship though,' he thought. 'Trip told us he doesn't know of any way to travel through time without the time ship, so what the hell could he be?' he wondered.
His thoughts were interrupted as his office door flew open and Gaby stormed in. "You didn't turn on your computer yet?" she asked.
"No," he stood up, straightening his uniform. "I don't just barge into your office without knocking, do I?" he replied.
"Sorry, but this is important," she said, hurrying behind the desk and switching on his computer.
"What is it?"
"The Silver Guardians responded to an alleged robbery at a local convenience store on 7th and Pine. The owner said that two people wearing army uniforms cleaned out his ATM machine, but when the Guardians arrived, there was on proof of any forced entry to the machine at all. We were able to retrieve the tape from the hidden camera inside the AMT machine itself to see what happened, and we saw this," she paused, turning his attention to his computer screen. The image was a bit blurred, but still clear enough to see who it was.
"Jen?" he inquired with amazement.
"That's not all, look at the person behind her on the far left," she said, pointing to the screen.
"Is that…." He paused. "Tommy Oliver? But how?" he asked.
"I don't know, but this explains our temporal displacement," Gaby said.
"But Trip said there was no way to travel back through time without the time ship," he mentioned.
"Think about it: If Time Force were here on a mission, they'd do their best to avoid people so they wouldn't alter the time line, right?" he nodded. "If Trip told you he didn't know anything, more than likely he was under orders from his superiors to tell you that," she explained.
"So you think Time Force is here on some top secret mission," he said.
"That has to be it,"
"Have you told Wes yet?" he asked.
She shook her head. "No, I wanted to bring it to you first. Knowing the relationship he had with Jen, it might cloud his judgment," she said.
"Good call. What else do you have for me?"
"I sent Lt. Cooper out to investigate it, I figured because of his past experiences he was the best suited for the job. He should be reporting in within the hour," she told him.
He sat back down. "You should really consider leaving your department and coming to work for me," Eric mentioned.
"Naw, I'm in good with one of the leaders of the guardians. I'd only sleep my way to the top. It wouldn't be fair to the other guardians," she said, cracking a smile.
"Nothing wrong with that. I like it when you're on top," he brought up.
"I've got to get back to my office, but we're still on for tonight, right?" she asked.
"If memory serves me right, I owe you a spanking," he said.
"Yes sir Commander Myers," she said, saluting him, then walked away with a smile on her face.
(*)
Lt. Cooper walked up to the counter, where there was a woman sitting behind the desk. As usual, she didn't seem too interested in getting up to help him.
"What can I do you for?" the lady inquired, not bothering to stand up.
"Ma'am, I'm Lt. Max Cooper of the Silver Guardians. Have either of these people checked into one of your rooms within the last 36 hours?" he asked, holding up a picture.
She glanced at the picture. "I'm not sure. Even if they had, I can't give you any personal information about any of my tenants. Its bad for business," she told him.
He paused. "You know what, you're right. I apologize for even asking you to break your confidentially rule. Thank you for your time," he turned to walk away, but stopped. "Isn't this the same hotel that was attacked by Shin Getti around this time last year?" he asked.
"Yeah, so,"
"There was a lot of damage done, but it looks like you got the place back in working order. Lord forbid that another monster attack were to happen, you'd probably have to spend thousands of dollars to get the place repaired again, not to mention waiting for the Silver Hills Safety Inspector to come out and verify that everything is up to code," he took another step. "By the way, you did have the inspector come out and verify, didn't you? I'd hate to have to report you and have your business shut down again," he said, and then continued to walk away.
"Wait," she called out, standing up. "The people you're looking for, they were here. They're still in room 411, and they owe me a full days rent," she told him.
"Thank you for your help ma'am," he said, making his way towards the room.
As soon as got to the room, he knocked on the door, but there was no response. He knocked again, but got the same results. Finally, he reached for his pistol and kicked the door in.
The room itself looked barely liveable, but from the looks of it, someone had been there recently. He headed into the bathroom, where he saw a Time Force uniform hanging on the back of the door. Without a second though, he reached for his cell phone.
'Myers,' a voice said on the other end.
"Commander, this is Lt. Cooper. I'm at the Silver Hill Hotel complex on Pine and 15th. I have visual confirmation of a Time Force uniform in one of the hotel rooms. There's our proof, Time Force is here," he told him.
'Good work Max. Retrieve the uniform and report to my office at once,' the voice said.
"Right away sir," he said, hanging up his phone.
(*)
Tommy and Jen ducked behind a bush just outside Bio-Lab, watching a Silver Guardian trucks came in and out the complex. There were guards posted at every access point, and a series of video cameras through the complex itself.
"Alright Jen, nows the time for that master plan of yours," he brought up.
"Come on," she said, watching the camera rotation. Once it was facing the opposite direction, she headed for one of the doors, waving her Time Force badge across the censor. The door opened, and the two of them ducked inside.
As soon as they got in, the elevator door at the end of the hall opened, and a group of Silver Guardians stepped off, walking down the hall. Tommy and Jen ducked into the stairwell until they passed, then rushed over to the elevator.
"If I'm right, the central control room should be on the 6th floor," Jen said.
"How do you know so much about this place?"
"Lets just say I've done my homework when it comes to this place," she said as she pressed the button, and the elevator began to move. Each of the watched as the numbers overhead went up, but stopped on the 4th floor.
The elevator doors opened, and the janitor stepped in with his mop and bucket. "Six please," he said as the doors closed.
"That's where we're headed," Tommy told him.
"You know how these execs can be about their office. They always want everything cleaned and dusted and mopped, and they want the trash taken out. They're the sloppiest execs I've ever worked for," he said.
"I can imagine," she sighed.
The elevator stopped at the 6th floor, but as soon as the elevator doors opened, Eric, who had his arms folded and his usual monotone look on his face, greeted them. "Welcome to the 21st century, again," he said coldly.
"Eric," Jen sighed.
"That's Commander Myers to you. What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I can't tell you that," she said.
"Both of you into my office, now," he insisted.
Without question, the two of them followed Eric down the hall and into his office, where he closed the blinds and locked the door behind them.
"We don't have time for this Eric," Tommy said.
"Don't have time? Jesus, don't you guys have time machines? Make the time. I want to know what's going on. Why did you rob a convenience store and shack up on the sleaziest hotel room you could find?" he asked them.
"If I tell you, it could alter the time line," Jen said.
"If you don't tell me, I'll turn you into the authorities for theft. I'm sure two Time Force officers sitting in a SHPD jail would alter the time line too," he brought up.
Tommy sighed. "We might as well tell him Jen," he said.
"No, we can't."
"What choice do we have? If we don't, it'll ruin his chances," he said.
"My chances for what?" Eric asked.
"Don't say anything Tommy," Jen insisted.
"Sorry Jen, I have to," he turned to Eric. "You know the girl you've been seeing for a while now?" he inquired.
"Gaby?"
"Yeah, today was an important day for your relationship. You've been thinking about asking her to marry you, haven't you?" he asked.
"Not really,"
"Well, you should, and today will be the turning point. The two of you are destined to be together, and your children will play an intricate part on the formation of Time Force," he told him.
"My children?"
"Yes, that's why we're here. If you don't marry Gaby within the next year, the future as we know it will crumble," Tommy explained.
"And you came all the way here to tell me that?"
"No, we weren't supposed to tell you. We were just suppose to make sure the two of you ended up together, but we were discovered," he said.
"So why are you here?"
"We need to deactivate your censors so you wouldn't be able to detect our vortex when we returned to our own time," Jen said, playing along.
"I can disable the system for a minute, but it will reboot itself and be back on line in five minutes," Eric told them.
"That's more than enough time," she said.
"Who else knows we're here?"
"Gaby knows, and Lt. Cooper. You know, the former Wild Force ranger," he said.
"It is imperative that no one else know we were here. If they did, the future could altered," Tommy reminded him.
"Is there anything else I can do?"
"We need a truck. We have to get back to the transport site," Jen said.
Just then, someone knocked on the office door. Eric rushed over to the door, peeking out, and when he realized who it was, let him in.
"Sir," Lt. Cooper said, standing at attention.
"Max, I need you to get the two of them where ever they need to go and quick," Eric instructed.
"But sir, I…."
"Just get it done," he said.
"Yes sir," he said.
"Max will get you there, I'll take care of the censors for you," Eric said.
"Thanks Eric," Jen sighed.
Eric sat back down behind his desk as the three of them headed out the office.
(*)
Then arrived at the transport site a few minutes later. Jen and Tommy quickly jumped out the truck, running around to the backyard. "Thanks Max," Jen said, waving as he pulled away.
Tommy reached for his morpher. "Trip, this is Tommy. Come in," he said.
'Right here Tommy. What's up?' a voice asked.
"We're at the transfere point. Get us out of here," he said.
'Gimme a second to realign everything,' he said.
"I can't believe Eric bought all that crap about having to marry that Gaby girl," Jen brought up.
"I had to tell him something," he said.
"Well, it worked,"
He paused. "When we do get home, you wanna go out and get something to eat?" Tommy asked.
"Are you asking me out on a date?"
"Not really a date. I have to eat, you have to eat, I don't see any reason why the two of us can't eat together. You know, at the same place at the same time," he said.
"Sounds like a date to me,"
"Well, kinda depends on what your answer is," Tommy blushed.
Just then, the temporal vortex opened. "I don't know if I'm ready to date anyone yet, but how about we discuss it over dinner tonight? My place," she said.
"Are you asking me out on a date?"
Instead of answering, Jen stepped through the portal. With a smile on his face, Tommy stepped through as well, and the portal disappeared.
~
Wes simply watched from the house next door as the portal disappeared, putting on his sunglasses to disguise the confused look in his eyes. "Goodbye Jen," he sighed, walking away.
