Chapter 14

"One would think that a year as Power Rangers would have taught you who to trust," The Mistress said happily.

Eric stood in a fight stance in front of Wes and Jessica. Wes covered Jessica with his body protectively. She covered her head with her arms, crying in fear.

"Now, I just want the redhead," The woman told them. "If you let me have her, you can save your own lives."

"Well, it turns out that I wouldn't want to live my life without the redhead," Wes answered angrily.

"And it turns out my job is to protect the redhead," Eric explained in turn.

"Oh, well," The woman said. "I tried."

*********************************

Jen gave the mutant a kick, and sent him flying, with the help of her powers, across the street. Finally she grabbed a hold on him with her telekinetic powers and held him in the air.

She summoned her freezer blaster, and aimed at his DNA patch, which she had to shoot to reduce and freeze him, but just as she was about to fire, she heard a voice calling her name.

"Jen!" It was Alex.

She turned around and ran to kick the Frankenstein-like mutant from him. "You okay?" she asked, as she observed him rub his neck where the mutant had tried to strangle him.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said, but she didn't hear him. Another voice was calling her name from above, this one she heard in her mind. She looked up, and her husband put his hand on her shoulder, both mutants were regrouping and preparing to charge against them.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"The Mistress!" Jen said. "She's got Wes, Jessica and Eric upstairs in a room; she's going to kill all three of them!" She sounded desperate. "There is no way we can get there in time!!"

"What do you mean there's no way we can get there in time?!" Alex asked, amazed. "What's the teleportation device included in the Officer Gloves for, then?"

"But, the mutants!" she pointed out.

Alex pressed a button in his officer glove, which was substituting for one of his suit's gloves. A small silver square with black borders appeared in his hand.

"What's that?" Jen asked.

"A laser web, like the one the megazord has, only smaller, but just as strong. We will deploy it in front of the hospital gates, it will keep them out," he explained. She nodded. They both climbed the stairs in front of the hospital's entrance, and then Alex threw the silver square in front of the glass doors. "Laser web, activate!" he called. It did. The glowing green laser web covered the entire front face of the building.

"We don't have much time," he told Jen. "They'll find a different way to go in."

"Why don't we use my web on them? To be doubly sure, I mean," she suggested.

"Great idea," he agreed. She pressed the button on her Officer Glove and threw the square at the mutants. With the mutant DNA sensor the web had, she didn't need to activate it. It activated by itself, covering both mutants, who were just too stunned to even try to escape.

"Okay, now, listen carefully," Alex told her. "Where do we want to teleport to?"

"The fifth floor," Jen said.

Alex pointed his glove at the building and then said to his right hand "Fifth floor, calculate coordinates."

"Coordinates calculated," a voice told him.

"Share with the squad," he demanded.

Jen heard a computerized voice say in her ear, "Your superior has shared with you coordinates for teleportation, do you wish to teleport now?"

"Hell, yeah!!" she said.

"It has predetermined answers, Jen," Alex told her. "Yes will do."

"Yes," she said.

It was the most awful sensation ever. It felt like being sucked by a giant vacuum cleaner. It felt like traveling in time without the time ship. She landed completely dizzy, and she distinctly remembered screaming.

"Enjoyed the ride?" Alex asked behind her.

"Oh, yes," she said sarcastically. "Almost as much as making love to you," she added with a smile that was covered by her helmet.

"You know, if you didn't have that helmet on, I would attack your earlobe right now," he muttered.

"If you didn't have that suit on, I would attack a lot of your body parts right now," she answered. "Let's focus," she said, serious again. She felt Wes's presence somewhere in front of them. Just as they approached the door of the room she had felt him in, it burst open and The Mistress fell out of the room, as if she had just been pushed.

**********************************************

It all happened in a second. Eric dived out of the way of the blast and hit the woman on the knees, making her fall backwards. Jessica had yelled, truly terrified. The woman had moved to pick up her gun, but Eric kicked it away. She had gotten to her feet and had tried to reach Jessica, but Eric had driven her away from her target, with no respect for her gender or her age.

He had ultimately grabbed her and thrown her out of the room, in hopes to get enough time to get Jessica and Wes out safely. However, as he stepped into the hall, he saw the Pink Time Force Ranger and the Black Time Force Ranger (He had never seen that one before) running at his target.

"Freeze!" the Black Ranger yelled, but the woman pulled out a small cube and vanished from sight. "Damn it!" the Ranger cursed.

"She's retreating," Jen said, noticing how all three mutants suddenly left the surrounding of the building. "Probably went out to find more mutants," she warned.

"We have to get Jessica Collins out of this building," The Black Ranger urged. His voice was strangely familiar.

"Let's go in and explain ourselves," Jen suggested.

Inside of the empty room, Jessica was crouched on the floor, shaking with fear, tears running down her cheeks. Wes was trying to comfort her.

"Wes, we need to talk," Jen started.

"Yes, I'd say we do," he told her bitterly.

*********************************

Twenty minutes later, all the Time Force Rangers, still morphed, were standing in front of the Collinses and Eric. "What the hell is going on here, Wesley?" Jessica asked.

"I'm not sure," he answered truthfully.

Jen took a step forward. "Jessica, it's my fault that you are being targeted by these criminals," she admitted sadly.

"Why? What did I do?" she asked.

"We come from the year 3005, your husband will explain who we are, but he'll have to do it later, we have to take you to a secure location, and this certainly isn't one," Jen told her.

"It's littered with reporters down there. Jessica Collin's miraculous recovery and the Power Rangers coming back! It's their version of a feast!" Eric pointed out angrily.

"Well, we can leave by air," Jessica said softly. "The Silver Guardians have helicopters, we just have to summon one."

"We can't," Eric said bitterly.

"Why not?" Jessica asked.

"Because Wes here followed your advice and announced you are closing the Silver Guardians. There's a strike, all the former employees have taken over the installations and the equipment," he informed her.

Jessica covered her mouth with her hands, looking truly concerned. "Is that true Wesley?" she asked her husband.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because," Wes started, shooting Eric a severe look. "I was waiting until you recovered a bit more."

"Excuse me," the Black Ranger said. "Mrs. Collins is not safe here, so facing the reporters or not, she has to go."

"A helicopter from the Silver Guardians is on its way," Jen announced.

"Didn't you just hear what I just said?" Eric asked angrily.

"Yes, I did. But I have ways to make this happen," she explained. "Wes, you have to organize a press conference in your house, tell the reporters what happened with Jessica."

"And that was?" he asked. "Because I certainly don't know what happened to Jessica."

"We'll explain later," Jen promised. "You have to tell the reporters that you used a new technology developed by Bio-Lab. Pay attention; it's carbon nano-machine technology. They repair the body and then they dissolve, leaving no traces. Say that's all you can tell them, and that very few people in Bio-Lab know about this project, because it's very secret and nobody can give them any more information, do you understand?"

"Yes, I do," Wes said.

"Well, we have to leave now, we have to track The Mistress down, we'll contact you later, to finish the plan," the Black Ranger said.

"One more thing," Wes called. "Who are you?" he asked the new Ranger.

"Exactly who you think I am," he answered. Wes then saw him take the Pink Ranger's gloved hand and he knew who it was under the helmet.

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In the helicopter, being flown by a strange looking pilot, with his eyes slightly out of focus and a bizarrely pleasant smile, Jessica looked at her husband, who was looking down thoughtfully at the city.

"I have never seen you so serious," she commented. He blinked and looked at her, managing a smile. "Are you going to explain to me what happened back there? Who are those people? How do they know you? Why are you on a first name basis with them? What is it that you haven't told me yet?" she bombarded him with questions, thirsty for information.

"Well, I guess the answer to all that is the same," he told her sadly. "When we met, you once mentioned you had been in Europe for a couple of years before we met. While you were there, the city was attacked by this monster called 'Ransik'. Ransik had a gang of mutants, monsters like himself, who were trying to destroy the city. Those people came back through time to bring him back, and they eventually did, months before we met. I think you came back right after they went back to the future. They are the Time Force Power Rangers, and I know this is a hard story to believe, but it's true," he explained all that in a flat voice, it sounded to Jessica as if he was making the ultimate confession of an horrible crime.

"That still doesn't explain why you are on a first name basis with them," she insisted.

Wes looked at her sadly. It was hard for him having to tell her all this at that time, when their marriage seemed to be finally taking off. He smiled sadly and sighed heavily. "I was the Red Time Force Ranger all throughout that battle," he admitted, not daring to look at her eyes.

Jessica was left open mouthed. Apparently he was making the ultimate confession of a very well kept secret.

To be continued