Author's note: This chapter takes place during "Back from the future 1-4" Power Rangers, and also contains portions from "Differences". Vexicon originally appeared in the TF episode "Future Uncertain". Time Force, Trip, Katie, Jen, Tommy and other related logos belong to Disney. Camille, Lt. CaSteel, the Slipstream portal and other related logos belong to me. Special thanks to Cmar, my #1 fan.

~~~

"What was that?" Katie asked.

"What was what?"

"I thought I heard something,"

"I didn't hear anything," Ransik said.

"It came from the other room," she stood up. "I'll check it out," she head, walking towards the back of the apartment.

Ransik cut her off. "It's nothing sweetie. I'm sure it's nothing," he insisted.

Just then, Katie glanced over Ransik's shoulder into the bedroom where she saw another woman laying in the bed. "Oh no you didn't," she sighed, dropping her box of cookies on the floor.

"Its not what you think Katie," he said.

"Oh, so you weren't cheating on me while I was working all day?" she asked.

He paused. "Okay, it is what you're thinking, but that's not the way it happened," Ransik said.

Katie took a deep breath, trying to control her emotions, but they were getting the best of her. She quickly turned to the woman. "Get out," she mumbled under her breath, but it was enough to make the woman wrap a sheet around herself and rush pass Katie on her way to the door.

"Babe? I hope you're not….."

Ransik was cut short as she pushed him, knocking him through the wall and into the kitchen. With tears in her eyes, she stepped through the hole in the wall and stared down at him. "Go with her before I do something I regret," she mumbled.

"But babe, I……"

"NOW!" she snapped.

Without another word, Ransik made it back to his feet and hurried away. Katie sat down on the couch, taking a deep breath as she tried to come to terms with what she'd seen. Tears filled her eyes as the feeling of betrayal washed over her.

"How could he? That bastard!" she snapped, not even realizing she'd said it out loud.

"Good, for a minute I thought he'd never leave," she heard a voice say.

Katie wiped her eyes and glanced towards the door where she saw her. The only discernable different was that her hair was much shorter, and had golden-blonde streaks in it.

"Oh my God," Katie mumbled.

"I feel the same way. I can't believe I stuck with such a crappy hairstyle for so long. You should really consider cutting that shit off," she said, sitting down next to her.

Then, it hit her like a ton of bricks. "This isn't my apartment. This is an alternate reality," Katie said.

"No shit Sherlock," the other Katie said.

"So that means Ransik didn't cheat on me," she pointed out.

"Well, at least not yet. Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean he hasn't been stickin' it in anyone who'll let him. Reformed ex-mutant or not, he's a man," she told her.

Katie stood up. "I have to go. I'm sure the others have figured out what's going on are on working on a way to get us home," she said.

"On your world, you're still part of the Slipstream project?" she inquired.

"Yeah."

"They booted me off the project and took my morpher from me," she said.

"Why?"

"They said I was too aggressive, that my priorities aren't in order," she said.

"That doesn't sound like me… I mean, you at all," Katie said.

She stood up. "That's what I tried to tell them," she picked up a lamp, hitting Katie over the head with it, knocking her out. "But they just didn't listen," she sighed.

She drug Katie into the other room, closing the door behind them.

~

'Hard to believe that I'm that stupid in any world,' Katie thought as she stared at herself in the mirror, admiring what she had accomplished. She'd been on her new world for a few days now, and even though no one knew what had happened, they were becoming suspicious. 'Not that it matters. None of it will matter soon,' she thought to herself as she zipped up her Time Force uniform.

She headed for the door, but was cut off by Ransik, who had on an apron. "Don't you have time for breakfast before you go? I made waffles," he mentioned.

"Not now babe, I have to meet the counsel about being re-instated back on the Slipstream project," she said.

"Why'd they suspend you in the first place? I thought you were doing a great job," he said.

"So did I. I'll let you know what happened when I get back," she said.

"I love you dear,"

"I know," Katie said, walking out the front door.

She arrived at Time Force headquarters a few minutes later, making her way to one of the Chryo-containment rooms. As soon as she walked in, Lt. CaSteel greeted her.

"What brings you down here Katie?" he asked cheerfully.

"Well, I'm here to release some of the prisoners and take over the building," she said in a monotone voice.

Lt. CaSteel laughed. "Good one Kate," he said, but as soon as he turned around, she grabbed his head and twisted it, breaking his neck instantly.

"People on this world are stupid," she said, heading over to the containment units. She glanced through the prisoner records until she found something that interested her. She set the controls, inputting the command sequences, and moments later, the Chryo-containment chamber began to hum.

She headed over to what looked like a pod and opened the door. Smoke filled the room, but through the smoke, he stepped out. It was a grey-ish silver mutant with three spikes coming out its head. Its eyes glowed an eerie yellow tone, and it had sharp, jagged teeth.

"It's been a long time Vexicon," she said devilishly.

"What's the meaning of this?" the mutant groaned.

"The meaning is you work for me now, or you go back in the freezer. The choice is yours," Katie told him.

He paused, looking at the sinister look in Katie's eyes, then back at the containment unit. "What do you command?" he asked.

"Come with me," she instructed.

 (*)

"As soon as you're through, I'm going to disconnect the modifications just in case. The communicators should work, so I'll contact you when I'm ready to bring you back," he informed them.

"Understood,"

Trip turned to the control panel, activating the Slipstream. As it came on, there was a noticeable difference. Instead of a blue swirling vortex, it seemed to be red, and it the swirls were moving counter clockwise. The two of them took a deep breath, then stepped into the vortex, disappearing.

"Good luck you two, you'll need it," he sighed.

Once the two of them were through the portal, Trip quickly disengaged it and began to disassemble the modifications. 'The last thing we need is Logan coming in and finding out what we're doing,' he thought to himself. There was a time when Trip would never have dreamed of purposely violating one of Time Force's protocols, but as time went on, he realized that sometimes loyalty is just as important. If not more.

The doors to the science lab slid open, and Camille walked in. "Trip," she called out.

Trip quickly heard the distress in her voice and turned around, only to see Katie holding Camille's arms behind her back and a phaser aimed at her head. "Don't go trying to play hero on me Trip. Stay out of my way, and no one gets hurt," she paused. "A lot,"

"Katie? What's going on?"

"Geez, you Xybrian's were always slow learners," she said.

Before Trip could make a move, Vexicon stormed into the lab, grabbing Trip and throwing him up against the wall. Trip hit the floor with a thud, laying motionless.

"Whatever you're trying to do Katie, we'll stop you," Camille warned her.

"Yeah right. Jen and Tommy are gone, Trip is a unconscious piece of nothing over there, Lucas is a has been who never should have been and you… well, you're not in the position to stop anything. Whos going to come to your rescue?" she asked.

"I am," they heard a voice from behind.

Katie turned her head slightly, only to get a foot across the jaw, knocking her over. Camille saw her chance, rolling out the way as a white Time Force ranger stormed in. Katie was back to her feet in a hurry, staring down on the ranger.

"Ooooh, someone new to knock around," she said, wiping the blood away from her mouth.

The white ranger hit a sabat kick, knocking her against the wall, but Vexicon made his move, grabbing the white ranger and throwing him across the room. The white ranger did a flip, landing on his feet and called for the Chrono Saber.

'TIME FOR, TIME FORCE,' Camille called out as a wave of energy washed over her, transforming her into the blue ranger.

Together, the two of them were able to hold off Vexicon, but both had forgotten about Katie, who headed over to the control panels and began inputting a new series of commands. Before she could finish, Trip was back to his feet, hitting a leg sweep that knocking Katie forward, sending her face first into the panel. She stood back up with blood dripping out of an open wound on her forehead, staring at him with evil intent.

"You'll have to do better than that you green haired freak," she taunted.

"Okay, how about this," he turned his head. "Computer, lock out all command functions. Authorization Trip Omega 6325," he called out.

'Acknowledged. Command functions suspended,' the computer announced.

Katie grabbed him by his throat. "You overgrown treasure troll, what have you done?" she screamed.

"Whatever you were trying to do, forget it. Your times up," Trip told her.

"In case you haven't noticed, Vexicon over there is mopping the floor with your friends. So unless you want me to give him the signal to snap their necks like I did Roger downstairs in the containment, I suggest you unlock the computer and give me control," she ordered.

"Heres a better idea: how about you kiss my ass?" Trip taunted, hitting a judo style toss that knocked Katie up against the wall.

Katie made it back to her feet, grabbing her phaser, putting the barrel of the phaser in Camille's forehead. "I know how you feel about this one, it's the same on every world I've been to. You're crazy about her. Try to call my bluff if you want, but if that computer isn't back on in ten seconds, Cammy's brains are going to be in a neat little pile on the floor," Katie snapped.

Camille, still in her ranger uniform, tried to stand up, but Vexicon was right there just in case she tried to move. "Don't listen to her Trip, shes going to kill us anyway," she said.

"Ya know, shes right. You should listen to the bitch for once," Katie said.

"I'm not giving you the codes Katie, do your worst," Trip said, standing firm with his decision.

Before she could respond, what appeared to be a temporal vortex opened on the ceiling on the science lab. As they all glanced up, four figures fell from the vortex. "Time Force, and you're under arrest," the pink ranger said, showing her badge.

"Holy shit Jennifer, there's just no getting rid of you, is there?" Katie asked, aiming the phaser at her.

The red and blue ranger hurried over to Katie, grabbing her and knocking the weapon out her hand. As it fell to the ground, the yellow ranger picked it up, standing face to face with Katie. 'Power down,' she called out as the ranger uniform disappeared.

"Katie?" Trip asked.

Katie nodded, turning back to her counterpart.

"What Katie? Trying to find something noble to say? Something like 'you left me in your world and tried to frame me for murder, but I'm back,'. Save it, all this hero shit is overrated," she said.

Katie cocked back, hitting her counterpart in the face, knocking her out on impact. "And your hair looks stupid," she told her.

The pink and blue rangers powered down, revealing Jen and Lucas in their Time Force uniforms. Jen walked Trip up while Lucas arrested Vexicon.

"When we realized that Katie from our world had switched places with your Katie, we figured we'd drop by just in case she tried something stupid," Jen said.

"But why is she like that? So evil?" Camille asked.

"Katie is half Ethros, and during one of our missions, she was exposed to high levels of radiation. That was enough to animate the dormant Ethros DNA in her body, allowing her demon half to take control," Lucas explained.

"What will happen to me… I mean, her now?" Katie asked them.

It was the red ranger who stepped forward, powering down to reveal Wes. "Hopefully our doctors will be able to reverse whatever happened to her. If not, she'll be put in Chryo-containment," he explained.

"Thanks again for the assist," Trip said.

"Anytime Trip," Jen said, pulling a small device out her pocket and aimed at the floor. Another portal opened, this time on the floor. Jen nodded slightly, then jumped inside.

"See ya' around Trip," Lucas said as he put the unconscious Katie over his shoulder, going through the portal as well. Wes simply nodded slightly, then disappeared into the portal. Soon, the portal itself was gone.

"Well, it certainly has been an interesting day," Camille said, dusting herself off.

Trip walked over to the control panel. "Security, can I get a team down here to pick up an escaped mutant?" he asked.

'Acknowledged sir,' a voice said.

The two of them glanced over at the white ranger as he stood up, dusting himself off. 'Power down,' he called out. His uniform disappeared, revealing……

"Captain Logan?" they asked in unison.

"I'm getting too old for this," he sighed, holding his back in pain.

"But how?"

"The white Chrono Morpher is still in the experimental phase. It has side effects and draw backs, which is why it's never used. But in this case, it seemed like the right thing to do," he told them.

"I never wouldda' thought you had moves like that," she said.

"You should have seen me twenty years ago," the Captain laughed.

The security team rushed in, taking Vexicon into custody, dragging him out the room.

"What was Katie trying to do anyway?" she asked.

"From what I can tell, she was trying to unlock all the Chryo containment modules at once. If she released all the mutants, there would have been anarchy," Trip said.

"Good thinking shutting out the command codes like that," Katie told him.

"If you'll excuse me, I think I'll take the rest of the day off. I'll expect an official report from all of you at 1900 hours," he said.

"Yes sir," the three of them said in unison as he walked out the room.

"If you guys don't need me here, I'm going to go home and take a shower. I suspect I have a lot of explaining to do with Ransik," she said, walking out as well.

Once everyone was gone, Camille turned to Trip. "So, you're crazy about me, huh?" she asked.

Trip blushed.