"Are you sure we should be going on another mission without Jen? It just doesn't seem right," Camille brought up as the four of them stood in the science lab together.

Tommy, who was sitting at the control panel, turned around in his chair, facing them. "The doctor says Jen just needs a few days to get back on her feet. The procedure was a success and her DNA has been repaired, but sending her through another vortex right now wouldn't be a good idea. She needs time to adjust," he explained.

"Makes sense,"

"I've got Lt. Emery down there now checking on her, but I'm sure she'll be fine. I'll stay behind and try to give up some information on wherever you guys end up, and if I get an update on Jen, I'll contact you," he told him.

"Thanks Commander," Trip said.

"I told you, you don't have to call me that. That's a rank, that's all," he said.

"Whatever you say Commander Tommy," Adam said, mocking him.

Tommy turned to him. "Now you have to call me Commander," he joked.

"Should we call in Lucas and Nadira for this one? This is our first mission in a while, we may need the backup," Katie mentioned.

He shook his head. "I have them working on something else for me, but if they're needed for backup, I'll call'em in," he said.

"Understood,"

"The targeting sensors have been recalibrated, but there may still be some glitches. With any luck you guys won't materialize inside a wall or something," he said.

"Oh yeah, that's comforting," Katie sighed.

"The timer one the vortex has been de-activated, so contact me when you're ready to return," he instructed.

"Got it,"

Tommy turned back to the control panel, activating the portal. "Good luck guys, and may the power protect you," he said.

Trip was the first to step through the portal, disappearing in the blue swirling vortex. Katie was next, followed by Camille and Adam.

(*)

The two of them sat on a park bench as they watched the sun set. The wind was blowing gently, so he quickly removed his jacket and wrapped it around her to keep her warm. She curled up in his jacket, feeling secure as he placed his arm around her, holding her close.

She leaned over, placing her head on his shoulder, letting out a gentle sigh. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked him.

Not that he'd noticed; he was too busy admiring her. He quickly turned his attention to the sky just as the sun began to set. "Yeah, it is," he agreed.

Just then, she noticed something in the sky. Whatever it was, it was difficult to make out. "Do you see that?" she inquired.

"What?"

"That," she said, this time pointing to it.

He strained to see, but eventually did notice something in the sky. "Whatever it is, it looks like it's getting bigger," he said.

"Do you think it's a falling star?"

"No. Whatever that is, it looks blue," he noticed.

Each of them watched on as it- whatever it was- got even bigger. Then it happened… a body fell out of appeared to be a hole in the sky, falling to the ground with a thud. He quickly got up, dusting himself off, and then glanced up as another body fell through, this time landing on her feet.

"What the hell is going on here?" the boy cried, staring at the man with green hair who seemed to fall from the sky.

The man walked over to him. "I'm an alien from the planet Zimthaw, and I'm here to suck out your brains and drink the juices," he told them calmly.

The boy and girl quickly got off, running away as fast as they could.

"Come on Trip, that wasn't funny," Katie said, punching him in the air.

"Yes it was,"

Just then, Camille and Adam came through, landing on their feet as well. Camille glanced upwards at the vortex as it closed. "Looks like the targeting censors are acting up again. I'll take a look at them when we get back," she said.

"Where are we?" Adam asked.

"I'm not sure. From the looks of things, I would say this is the past, but how far back I don't know for sure," Katie mentioned.

"Freeze!" they heard a voice say.

They turned around only to see a group of men wearing military uniforms standing behind them, each of them with a riffle in their hand.

"See, look at the camouflage, I'd say this was the early 21st century, just before World War three," Katie added.

"Put your hands where I can see them mutants. You are under arrest," one of the men said.

"Mutants? We're not mutants," Adam said, taking a step forward.

One of them men took a step forward, shining a flashlight at them in hopes of getting a better look. After seeing for himself, he turned to the others. "Lower your weapons men," he then turned back to Adam. "I apologize sir, but you and your friends shouldn't be out after dark. We have reports of mutants being in this area. You should return to your homes," he told them.

"Mutants? There are mutants here?" Katie inquired.

"Yes, and it isn't safe for you to be out this time of night. Now head home for your own safety," he warned her, and then walked away, signaling for the other soldiers to leave as well.

"I see we found another world with imminent doom written on it," Camille sighed.

"If this is the past, all the mutants should have been taken back to the year 3000 when we captured Ransik," Adam pointed out.

'They were taken back, but this world is different. A lot different,' a voice said.

Trip reached for his morpher. "What can you tell us Tommy?" he asked.

'From what I can tell, the year is 2005. The city has been plagued with mutants for a while now. There aren't any reports as to how mutants arrived there, but it seems most of them remain hidden. The government has been searching for ways to eliminate the mutant threat, but so far haven't even been able to determine where they're coming from or how many there are. Local news reports claim that some of the mutants don't appear to be much different in appearance than average people, but seem to have certain abilities,' he explained.

"What kind of abilities?" Katie asked.

'That's all I can tell you for now. There is suppose to be a world meeting there tomorrow, leaders from every country in the world will gather together to discuss different approaches on how to deal with the mutant threat. Reports don't give much detail, but there is concern that mutants will attempt to interfere in the meeting, possibly even destroy the building. Extra security is being added to eliminate the possibility, but if these mutants can really pass as human, security might be enough to stop them,' he told them.

"If there are mutants here, it's our responsibility to stop them. We'll be at that meeting tomorrow, and we'll put a stop to these mutants once and for all," Adam said.

"The first thing we should go is find somewhere to stay for the night," Katie suggested.

"Good idea. Trip, you and Camille find us some accommodations. Katie and I will see what else we can find out about this place," Adam instructed.

With a nod, the four of them went their separate ways.

(*)

Trip and Camille walked into a convenience store, making their way to the front counter. "Do you have an ATM machine?" she asked.

"In the back," the man behind the counter mumbled, not even bothering to look up.

Trip headed towards the back as Camille grabbed a bag of chips off the shelf. Before she could open then, someone grabbed her from behind, putting a gun to her head. "Gimme all the money in the register or I blow this bitches head off," the man yelled.

Trip was about to make a move, but Camille motioned for him to stop. She was about to drill an elbow into his ribs when a red beam came from out of nowhere, hitting the man's hand and forcing him to drop the gun. He backed away from Camille, quickly running out the store in a panic.

"What the…" she turned around as he walked over her. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a pair of jeans, but the first thing she noticed about him was his red tinted sunglasses.

"Are you okay young lady?" he asked.

"I'm fine, but how did…" before she could finish her sentence, the man walked out the store.

She quickly chased after him, but when she got outside, he was gone. With a look of confusion on her face, she headed back into the store.

"Geez, are you okay Cammy?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she mumbled.

"What just happened?"

"I don't know," she sighed.

(*)

"So what do you think?" Adam asked as the two of them walked.

"About what?"

"About Jen, do you think she'll be okay?" he inquired.

"Well," she paused. "Tommy was cryogenically frozen once too, and he made it out just fine. Jen is a trooper, I'll sure she'll be okay," Katie said.

"You sure?"

"Positive. The last time I checked, Dr. Young had taken her out of her containment module and she was responding to her treatments just fine. Its only a matter of time before Jen is back on her feet," she explained. "What I really wanna know is what mission did Tommy send Lucas and Nadira on," she brought up.

"It did seem weird to me that he'd send them…" he stopped dead in his tracks. "What was that?" he asked.

"What?"

"I heard something," he said.

The two of them stopped, listening as carefully as they could. This time, Katie heard something as well.

"Sounds like it came from over there," Katie said, pointing to a small alley.

The two of them rushed over to the alley, only to find something struggling with what appeared to be a soldier. "Help me," the man cried.

Katie rushed over to the mutant, grabbing it, but it cocked back, knocking her over. She got back to her feet, hitting a spin kick to the back of the head, taking it down. The soldier stood up and reached for his gun, aiming the mutant. He fired, but Katie knocked the gun away, forcing him to miss.

"What did you do that for?" he snapped.

The mutant paused, looking at Katie strangely before it ran off into the shadows. Katie simply stood for a moment with a monotone look on her face.

"We're not in the business of taking lives, mutant or not," Adam said, picking up the gun and handing it to him.

"Do you think on of those things would say that if it had the chance to kill you? I get it, you're one of those damn mutant lovers, aren't you?" he snapped, walking away in disgust.

"What is it Katie?" Adam asked, noticing the odd look on her face.

"I don't think that mutant was trying to hurt him. It looked like he was trying to protect himself," she sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I think there's something going on here, and those military guys aren't telling us the whole story," she said.

'Trip to Adam,' a voice said.

Adam reached for his morpher. "I hear you Trip, what is it?"

'Camille and I found us a place to stay. It isn't much, but it'll due until that meeting tomorrow,' he said.

"Good work. We'll lock onto your signal and teleport there now," he said.

She gave Katie a slight nod as they both reached for their morphers, disappearing into streams of light.

(*)

General Grayson walked into the briefing room, where there were a group of soldiers waiting for him. He headed to the front of the table, saluting all of them. The soldiers saluting him as well, then stood as ease.

"Report," the General said.

"We received word from the local police of a teenage boy and girl being assaulted by an alien in the park about three miles east of here," one of them said.

"An alien?"

"According to the report, the boy was confronted by an alien, who told him he wanted to suck his brains and drink the fluid," he said.

"I don't have time for teenage boys and they're high school pranks Lt. This is a trillion dollar military base of operation, if aliens had in fact come to Earth we'd know about it," he said.

Just then, the door opened and a woman walked into the room. "I agree General, but we both know that strange things happen in this city, things that can't be explained," the woman reminded him.

"Dana? What are you doing here?"

"My father called me in on this one. With the World Summit tomorrow, the mutant threat has to be contained. We're considered experts in that field, so here I am," Dana told him.

He nodded. "Monsters I can deal with, the occasional mutant, but aliens are out of our league. Besides, we had troops patrolling the sector all evening, and there were so signs of a crash landing, or anything out of the ordinary. Unless we have something else to go on, our priority should be protecting the world leaders for the summit tomorrow," he said.

"Yes sir," the soldiers said in unison.

"Is there anything else?" he asked.

"One of our patrols spotted a group of people in the park, not too far from the alleged alien sighting. Reports say they were wearing strange uniforms," one of the soldiers brought up.

"Were they brought in for questioning?"

"No sir,"

"We can't concern ourselves with that right now. Our main concern should be the summit; we should contact the Silver Guardians in Silver Hills, see if they'd be willing to lend us some support," the General said.

"Good idea," Dana said.

"If there's nothing else, dismissed," the General ordered.

One by one, the soliders filed out the room, leaving the General and Dana alone.

"I have to admit, you look good in camouflage," she smiled. "Its good to see you again Carter," she said.

He walked over to her, wrapping his arms around here. "Same here Dana, it's been a while," he sighed.

"You know, I've been doing some research on the mutants, and I'd discovered that…" he cut her short.

"Oh come on Dana, not that again. Your father told me you were…"

"I was what? A mutant lover? I just don't think the mutants mean us any harm. There have been no reports of any mutants ever injuring a human, not one," she pointed out.

"What about the millions of dollars in damage done to the city over the past year? Mutant activity is on the rise, and the general public demand results. This is no different from our old ranger days. Banshera and her monsters attacked, we came in and saved the day,"

"There is a difference. The mutants aren't planning world domination at all. Based on the transcripts I've read from mutants that have been captured and interrogated, most of them insist they simply want to be left alone," Dana said.

"What about all the reports from Silver Hills a few years back? The mutant problem was so far out of hand that they sent rangers from the future to deal with it. They were able to contain the problem, but it appears they didn't get all of them. My job is to ensure the summit goes off without any incidents, and if any mutants threaten that, I'll do what I have to do," he said.

Dana paused. "What happened to you Carter? Sitting behind a desk all these years have made you close-minded. All mutants aren't bad, just as all monsters weren't evil. You've been pushing pencils too long to remember what it was like out there, and…"

"That's enough Dana. I respect your father, and I respect that he felt you were needed for this assignment, but I am still the commanding officer here. If you compromise my mission, I'll have you locked in the brig," Carter told her. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," she sighed.