Wes, Jen, Eric, Miller (sort of), and Mr. Collins belong to Disney/Saban. I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Norman, Silver, Purple, Gaby, and any others you don't recognize are mine.

Rated PG-13 : Harsh language; violence; strong sexual references.

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

Unreal Life


Enemies

"You have a visitor." Jen looked up from the floor of her prison cell, seeing a guard unlocking the door. He swung it open and stood waiting.

"Who is it?" she asked.

"Your boyfriend from the past. Now shut up and come on."

"All right."

Too tired and heartsick to protest, or even to feel much one way or the other, Jen stood up and slowly walked out. She had been here, locked up like an animal in a twenty-first century zoo for -- how long? She wasn't quite sure. The time seemed to blur in her mind.

The cell she left was bare, gray, and ugly. Just like her life, now. Empty. Nothing in it that was really hers. She had spent her time there simply staring at the floor, or out through the bars of her window, wondering how the outside world could still go on, just like before, when everything had become so different.

She supposed they had fed her, and taken her out for exercise, and work. Had she seen a lawyer? Couldn't remember, and it didn't really matter. There was no hope, not for her, not for someone who had done the things she had done. There was only a long gray tunnel, leading into nowhere…

A sparkle of light caught her eye. She smiled, just a little, to herself. Her ring. Strange that a diamond, the gem so often referred to as 'ice', was the only thing that warmed her in this cold place.

"Ironic, isn't it?" The voice startled her from her thoughts. Ransik grinned at her through the bars of the cell she was passing. Jen stared at him, stopping for a moment as he went on. "The virtuous Time Force officer, out to save the world from big, bad criminals like us. And as soon as it suited your personal preferences, you did exactly the same thing we tried to do. Change history."

"I did it for love. Not for power."

"Isn't that worse? At least I had a real purpose. A cause."

"Come on." The guard's grip on her arm pulled her away.

He led her into a small cubicle, as bare, cold, gray, and soulless as the rest of this place. She sat obediently at a small metal table, and waited. Some undetermined time later, the door opened again. A man's shadowy form appeared.

"Hello, Jen," he said. "It's me, Wes."

"Wes!" she gasped, coming to her feet, starting to run to him before she remembered. He no longer loved her.

"Jen. Jen, honey, what have they done to you?" He came to her, taking her hands, smiling into her face, that same glowing smile she had longed to see again.

"Wes… Oh, Wes…" She hugged him, feeling his arms go around her after a moment's hesitation. "I thought… The things you said, on the witness stand…"

When she let go, he gently took her hands again. They both took their seats and leaned across the table. "Jen," he said. "I had to see you."

"I'm glad you came." But reality was settling in again. "You'll have to leave soon, won't you? Go back to your own time. Can't damage history by letting you stay here."

"Soon. I had to talk to you first."

"Did you mean what you said? You don't love me anymore?"

He looked puzzled for just a moment. "No, of course I didn't mean it. They made me say that."

"Oh, Wes…"

He leaned closer, looking intently into her face. "Jen, I want to help you."

"Help me? How?"

"I'll get you out of here. Take you back to 2001."

She pulled back, frowning. "No, Wes, I can't. I can't betray Time Force again."

"Then -- maybe we can stay here. Whatever you want. I'll do it."

"You have to go back to your time. We can't interfere with history. Not again."

"Jen, I'll find a way, somehow. But -- but you have to help. You have to tell me something first."

"What?"

"It's Eric. When I go back to 2001, I need to find him. He'll help us, he has a plan. But I don't know where he's gone."

"Eric? What does he have to do with it? What plan?"

"Never mind that now. I need to find Eric. He's gone off somewhere, with Gaby. Where are they?" He was leaning close again, his hands holding her upper arms, pulling her towards him, looking into her eyes intently.

Jen shifted uncomfortably. "Wes, I don't know what you mean. Why would I know where they are?"

"You know. I know you do."

Jen felt her brows contract in puzzlement. "Eric -- Eric should be at home, or at Bio-Lab…"

"No, he's gone. Think, Jen. Try to remember. He must have told you where they went."

She smiled uncertainly. "I don't know… You're confusing me…"

"Where are they?" He pulled her closer, face to face, his eyes so near, so bright… for an instant she saw a flash in them, of silver, and his face seemed to warp, and distort into someone else, as if she could see through it into another face. It sent a chilling stab of fear through her.

"Wes -- your eyes…" she gasped.

His lids dropped quickly, hiding that unnatural gleam. He smiled and loosened his grip. As he drew back from her, she noticed a smell, drifting through the room, a sweet flowery smell, rather pleasant, Wes's aftershave? But he didn't wear anything like that… Her mind whirled, blurred, then steadied, Wes becoming just her Wes again.

He smiled gently and touched her cheek with his fingertips. "Never mind, sweetheart. Just trust me. I'll take care of everything. Don't even think about it."

"All right." She got up when he did, followed him to the door, smiled goodbye, then passively followed the guard to her bare, gray, ugly cell, sat down, her mind as blank as the prison floor she went back to staring at.


Steve paced outside the mine tunnel entrance. He stared into the dark as he passed it, turned, then stared again on the way back. A quick glance in the other direction showed his troops, standing and sitting around their cars, not talking, looking almost as tense as he felt. A smile didn't quite make it to his face. They were on edge, too.

It was not knowing what was going on down there that was doing it. Too many times like these, the Guardians outside, while the Rangers faced the danger. All very reasonable, very sensible, of course, but… He stopped and looked down the tunnel. Standing around, waiting like this, it was alien to his nature. He wanted to go in.

The buzz of his cell phone startled him, distracting his thoughts. Grabbing it up, he said a quick, "Miller here."

"Steve? It's Jimmy Duran. Any sign of Jen or Wes yet?"

"No." Steve resumed his pacing as he spoke to the SHPD detective. "Eric located their morphers, at the old Hillside silver mine. He went in after them. We're waiting outside, as backup."

"Do you need help?"

"We've got it covered. But thanks."

"The reason I called -- we found Mitchell and Daniels. Your guard and driver."

Steve stopped. "Are they alive? What happened to them?"

"I'll tell you what we know so far."

Steve listened, his mind working as Jimmy gave him the information. It was interesting. And important. Especially if Norman had used the same weapon on Wes and Jen as he had used on Mitchell and Daniels. Important enough to give him an excuse to go into the mine, warn Eric, help in the search.

"Thanks. I'll be in touch," he said absently when Jimmy was finished. He hung up, and started back to his men, to give them orders to stay put and wait. Orders he hoped they would follow better than he was obeying his. Then he was walking into the tunnel, away from the light and warmth of the outside world, hoping he was prepared to face whatever unknown danger lay ahead.


Wes slammed through the Bio-Lab doors, still furious, anger speeding him on his way to Eric's office. He almost ran down the hallway, stumbled, stopped, wondering why the floor had suddenly seemed uneven. The corridor stretched away from him in both directions, empty, silent, and featureless, the lights dimmer than he remembered.

He blinked, frightened, his surroundings suddenly unfamiliar, wondering if he had somehow wandered into some part of the building where he had never been before. For just a moment, the walls, ceiling, and floors seemed to become insubstantial, wavering out of reality, something else showing behind them, a dark tunnel through rock, a widely-spaced line of bare light bulbs along the ceiling.

Then as he pressed his hands to his eyes and looked again, it was gone, he was in Bio-Lab, in the hallway leading to Eric's office, exactly where he should be. Shaken, he continued on his way more slowly, and in a moment was raising his hand to knock on the door.

"Come in."

He opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind him. Anger began to resurface as Eric looked up from his desk, gave him a cold and measuring stare, and then deliberately returned to his paperwork, ignoring him.

"Eric. We need to talk."

"Again? I thought I made myself clear."

"And now I'm going to make myself clear." Wes stepped closer and leaned on the desk. Eric looked up at him, an undercurrent of hostility behind his bland expression. "I want you to stay away from Jen."

"Why on earth should I do that?"

"Because she doesn't mean anything to you!"

"So what? That's up to me and her, isn't it?"

"She thinks you really care about her."

Eric shrugged and grinned. "Did she say that?"

"She said…" Wes hesitated. What had Jen said? He couldn't quite remember now. "It doesn't matter! Just leave her alone!"

"Why are you wasting your time worrying about that tramp, anyway?"

Wes felt his fists clench, his face flush with rage. He controlled himself with an effort. "I'm warning you. Stay away from her!"

Eric rose to his feet and leaned forward, his face coming uncomfortably close to Wes's over the desk. "Who's going to make me? You?" He grinned again. "You don't have the guts to stand up to me. Or the ability."

"Just try me."

They glared at each other for a few tense moments. Then Eric straightened and stepped around the desk. He stopped to face Wes, again coming too close for comfort. "I'd love to settle this once and for all, but I have more important things to do." He moved forward, bumping Wes roughly with his shoulder, and started out.

"Where are you going?"

In the doorway, Eric turned, raising a brow. "I have a date. Or whatever you want to call it. With Jen." He flashed a last sardonic smile. "I'll give it to her once for you. It's as close to screwing her as you're going to get."

"Son of a bitch!" Blinded by fury, Wes stood frozen as the door swung shut, then leaped forward, banging out of the office, stopping as he looked up and down the hallway. Eric was already out of sight, but Wes could hear his footsteps. With a growl, he ran in pursuit.

His own breathing and running steps were all he could hear now, the corridors so empty, echoing with a hollow sound. Wes stopped, feeling that strange sense of unreality again, as the world seemed to waver around him. The sound of someone else's footsteps reached him in the silence. Eric. He ran, turned a corner, and saw him, for some reason morphed, standing there in his Ranger suit, staring.

"Eric!" he shouted.

"Wes?" Eric's voice sounded surprised, his face invisible in the helmet. "Wes, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Wes started for him, adding venomously, "But you won't be, when I'm done with you."


Silver and Purple were waiting for him in his small control room, a space the miners had used as a rest area. He had converted it for his own purposes, putting in a computer system, rigging up a set of alarms and video camera systems, so he would know if visitors came calling. As one was now.

They stood side by side. Norman found a moment to admire their appearance again, the perfection of their manufacture, identical to himself, but in gleaming metal. Their faces were as blank as usual. Annoying, and more than annoying, since he had built them, programmed them, to feel human emotions. To feel his emotions. To feel everything he felt, to be reflections of him. He had thought it would guarantee that they would understand, that they would always do exactly as he wanted. But somehow it hadn't worked that way.

None of this had worked the way it was supposed to. Not a total failure, his drug had done what he expected it to. He hadn't been sure the sweet-smelling gas would affect Wes and Jen through their Ranger suits, but it had. It had distorted their minds, warped their thoughts and personalities, as it had done to the Bio-Lab guard and driver before them, plunging them into a fantasy world of their own imagination. Or rather a nightmare. One composed of their fears, their insecurities, their most hidden guilt, paranoia, and resentments. They had collapsed, powerless and vulnerable, his prisoners, while imagining themselves… somewhere else.

But then it had started to go wrong. He had thought Wes was completely helpless, drugged out of his mind. In that condition, Norman knew, he was very suggestible; especially while his dream world was still taking shape. With a few minutes of listening to his mumblings, Norman had figured out how to enter Wes's fantasy, by pretending to be Alan Collins, what to say to get what he wanted.

And he wanted to know where Eric and Gaby were. He had said things, suggested things, to turn Wes against his friend and partner, to fill him with some of the envy and jealousy Norman himself felt; but in his hatred of Eric he had said too much, pushed too hard. The Ranger had reacted violently, had taken him by surprise, jumping up -- still morphed -- still lost in his dream world, and running away into the tunnels of the old mine. Silver and Purple had been too slow to catch him.

Now, he was still out there, somewhere, either curled up in some dark corner or wandering, unaware of his true surroundings. Presumably he had demorphed hours ago, like Jen, when his morpher ran low on power. Norman frowned. He had given Jen more of the drug, but Wes -- it would be starting to wear off by now. He would be beginning to drift back to the real world, bewildered, still caught up in whatever drama was playing in his head.

But Jen was still here, safely locked in one of the rooms the miners had used as a rest area. He had been more careful with her, had only listened to her talking to herself at first, then insinuated himself into her fantasy as Wes. Unfortunately, he had still been unable to get the information he wanted, she was too confused, too lost in another time and place to remember. But there was time.

He frowned again. She was so pretty, so helpless, so completely in his power, so unhappy in her nightmare. When he had drugged her again, she had grown weaker, more confused, her mind more disorganized. If he kept it up, she might never recover. Something long unused stirred inside him, something vaguely like compassion, or conscience. He sent a quick glance at Silver and Purple. They felt it too; the last time he had gone in that room, he had found her lying on a bed of blankets, covered against the cold. Again that hidden part of him felt a twinge of guilt, that he had not thought of her comfort himself.

But there was more important business to take care of now. Norman moved quickly to the camera display. Even with the dim lighting of the main mine tunnel, it was an image he recognized at once. "The Quantum Ranger. Eric," he snarled, pounding a fist on the console. "He's here!" He swung around to face Silver and Purple. "He's found me somehow, or found his friends. I want you to kill him. And do it right this time."

They glanced at each other. It was annoying, the way they seemed to share some kind of relationship that he was left out of. He glared at them. "Any questions?" he demanded. "Any problems?"

To his surprise, Purple spoke up. "What are you going to do with Jen, Master?"

His eyes narrowed in annoyance. "She's still useful to me. I still need to know where Gaby is." He smiled coldly. "With Eric dead, I'll find her, sooner or later. She's mine. And maybe I'll keep Jen, too." He watched them, seeing something in those metal faces that he didn't like. "Is there a problem with that?"

"No, Master."

"Then -- what are you waiting for?"

This time it was Silver who spoke. "Are you sure? Killing is -- permanent."

"Of course it's permanent! That's the whole point! I want Eric out of my way, forever! Now go and do it!"

Wordlessly, they turned as one and started out. He watched them, stiffening as they both glanced back at him before disappearing into the tunnel leading to the outside. Again he thought there had been something in their faces, something almost disapproving. He thought about it for a moment, and then dismissed it. They couldn't turn against him, after all. He had made sure of that when he created them.


Eric walked slowly, more slowly than he liked, listening with his Ranger-enhanced hearing. It was caution that held him back, he was up against a very dangerous enemy, one who had apparently been able to defeat Wes and Jen. If possible, he needed to take Norman and his robots by surprise. But something in his gut kept telling him to hurry, there was no time…

A sound. Running footsteps. Eric froze, and flattened against a wall. The sound stopped. After waiting for a few seconds, he began to wonder if he had only heard his own steps. The echoes in these old tunnels could be tricky. He started to walk again.

There it was -- unmistakable this time, as he passed through a spot where several tunnels converged into a sort of intersection. He stopped and fell into a defensive position as someone ran from one of the side tunnels only a couple of yards ahead of him. The person stopped abruptly. Eric straightened; feeling relief, surprise, then a chill of alarm at the way the other man was staring at him.

"Eric!" The voice was tight with anger.

"Wes?" he said uncertainly. "Wes, are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Wes's face was filled with rage. He started forward, fists clenched. "But you won't be, when I'm done with you."


TBC...