Chapter 22
"Wes?!" Jessica asked Jen and Alex, who had just filled her in, after they all got to the manor. Josephine and Kevin were upstairs, giving their children a snack and choosing a TV show for them to watch.
"Yes," Alex said.
"B-but if he was morphed, how can you tell?" the red-haired woman insisted.
"No one but Wes and Alex can morph with that morpher," Jen explained.
"What if it's a clone or something?" Jessica said. She was talking wild, off the top of her head, trying to find an explanation for her husband's weird behavior.
The Time Force Rangers meditated on it for a second. "If it is, it would have to be created around the same time as me. Mutants grow fast, but clones grow as fast as the original. It would have taken a clone of me as long to grow up as it took me, so that's unlikely," Alex explained.
"B-but why would Wes try to kill my sister?" Jessica asked.
Everyone looked at Jen. She didn't return their gaze, she seemed lost in thought. It took her a little while to find what she was looking for. "She was controlling his mind, but not the same way I would," she explained, adding the second bit quickly when she saw Alex open his mouth to talk. "I doubt Wes would do this of his own free will, unless she threatened him with killing someone, or used a mind control device."
Josephine and Kevin walked into the room. Their faces were grim, and somewhat angry. "All right," Josephine said shortly. "Explain."
Jessica didn't lower her head or look away this time. She did the exact opposite; she stood as straight as she could, and looked at her sister menacingly. "Sit down, Phine," she ordered.
Both Josephine and Kevin sat down on the couch. Jessica moved a lock of hair away from her face. "These are the Time Force Rangers," she began. "If you don't know who they are, I don't blame you. A month ago I didn't know who they were either, but they are here, and their mission is to save our lives, in order to preserve the future."
She looked at Alex, but he nodded to her to continue. "Wes was one of them about two years ago. Anyway, someone from the future wants to erase Jen," she pointed at the Pink Ranger as she said this- "from history. And in the beginning she thought I was Jen's ancestor, but it turns out you are her ancestor, not me." Josephine straightened on her chair, obviously concerned about the bit of information Jessica was about to tell her. "This person is after you. After you and after your children."
"And what are you doing to protect our children?" Kevin asked, grasping Josephine's trembling hand.
This time, Alex did take over from Jessica. "We brought you here, and that's our first plan. This manor is protected heavily against mutants, and we are armed and ready to protect you and your children, all the way," he said.
"We can't be away from the farm until this is solved! Our people need us there!" Kevin complained.
"You won't stay here that long," Alex said. He gave Jessica a strong look. "You will stay here until Jessica solves the problem with the Silver Guardians."
Jessica stared at him, shaken by his words. "How am I supposed to do that?"
"Press conference, offer a solution." he said.
"What solution?" Jessica asked.
"It's your business and your job. Find one!" he said shortly.
Jessica sighed. "I guess I'd better get to it now," she said and stood up, walking towards the door. "I'm going to Wesley's office, if you need anything you can find me there." As she walked out, Eric moved to follow her. "No, Eric, stay with Josephine and Kevin," she instructed. Eric bowed and stayed in the room.
"Is there anything we can do for now?" Kevin asked.
"Not now," Alex said. "You go upstairs with your children and try to rest and adjust. We'll tell you more as we prepare the new plan," he suggested.
"But we have so many questions!" Josephine complained.
Jen and Alex exchanged a look. "What do you want to know?" Jen asked.
"Where do you come from? Why do they call you officers? What did you mean by controlling his mind, 'not the way you would?'" Josephine asked.
"We come from the year 3004; we work for a crime fighting organization named Time Force and I'm a psychic," Jen answered tiredly.
"One more question," Josephine pleaded. "Who is this person trying to wipe you out of history?"
*******************************
The next morning, Jessica was sitting by the poolside wearing a pretty pink bathing suit. She had her feet in the cool water, and she was lost in thought. Josephine walked out of the house towards the pool, wearing some clothes Jessica had lent her. She sat next to her sister, who had pulled her feet out of the cool water and was making circles with them.
"Sica," she began. "What are you doing?"
Jessica looked at her and gave her a small smile. "I'm doing some feet gymnastics. I don't want them to get swollen," she said.
"Why would they get swollen?" Josephine asked, taking off her shoes and folding her pants legs up, so she could submerge her feet in the water too.
"I'm pregnant," Jessica said, a smile taking over her lips before she could stop it.
"Really?" Josephine asked. "How far along are you?"
"I'm a bit over one month," Jessica said. "I already went to my first checkup and everything seems fine."
"I'm happy for you," Josephine said.
They smiled at each other for a second, and in that moment Jen walked out of the house, running to them with a smile in her face.
"Jessica! We have news!" she said, stopping next to the twins. "The Mistress sent a communication to us, she's willing to free Wes, but she wants to trade him!"
"Is Wes alive?" Jessica asked.
"Yes, he is," Jen said, her smile growing big. "We are gathering in the dining room, to make a plan."
"I'm coming," Jessica said, getting up and picking her robe and following Jen inside. Josephine followed them, not really sure of what to do.
In the living room, Alex and the other Rangers waited for Jen and the twins. Kevin and the boys were still sleeping.
"So?" Jen asked.
"She wants to trade him for Ransik and Nadira," Alex said dryly.
"What?!" Jen said.
"She wants to trade Wesley for both Ransik and Nadira," Alex repeated.
"We can't do it," Katie said.
Jessica's face was filled with desperation and sadness immediately. "So, we can bring him back?" she asked.
"Of course we can," Jen said. "I say we do it," she told the others.
"You want us to give Ransik and Nadira back to The Mistress?" Katie asked.
Jen looked at Alex, who nodded. "We can recapture Nadira and Ransik easily. I say we give them up and get Wes back, and then as soon as we can, we recapture them."
"Or destroy them," Jen muttered under her breath. Trip looked at her knowingly.
"No, we swore to bring them back alive, and you've got enough trouble with the ones you've already destroyed," Alex told Jen.
"Aren't we operating under protocol 15?" Jen asked.
"That's no excuse," he said with an authoritarian voice tone.
"Sorry," Jen said. "So, when are we supposed to do the trading?"
"In two hours," Alex said. "In front of the clock tower."
"The clock tower?" Trip asked.
"Yes."
"That's one of the places I could identify," he said.
"What?" Jen asked.
"Right!" Trip said. "I never got the chance to explain to you two what I found out! Alex suggested that The Mistress might be using the same technology as the officer gloves, so I looked for the energy print of the invisibility shield, that's a gadget the officer gloves have that leaves whatever it is applied to undetectable by scanner and radar. However it leaves a particular energy print, and if you know this print, you can track it. She couldn't change the print of her invisibility shield. So I tracked it down, and found four places in this city that have their contents hidden from our scanners. The clock tower, which was rebuilt by Bio-Lab after Ransik blew it up, was one of them." Trip finished and looked gravely at his bosses.
"She wants us to trade him in one of the places she's hiding?" Jen asked.
"It might be heavily guarded," Alex suggested.
"Or it might be a trap," Katie warned.
"We'll be ready if that's the case," Alex said. "Get ready, pack your gloves and your morpher, drink only coffee, don't eat, it will slow your senses." He looked at Jessica and smiled reassuringly at her. "We'll get him back," he promised. She nodded, her trust completely in the hands of the officers who had saved her life many times.
******************************
The Rangers drove their vector cycles towards the clock tower, and parked in front of the building. The Mistress and her butterfly mutant walked out, followed by Wes and a centaur-like mutant.
"Did you bring them?" she asked.
Jen and Alex dismounted their cycles, and walked forward, each holding one of the requested mutants inside a silver container. "Here they are," Jen said.
"Unfreeze them!" The Mistress ordered.
"That wasn't part of the deal," Jen said. You asked us to give them back, and we have."
"I want you to unfreeze them!" she ordered.
"We are not doing it!" Alex said. "We are not risking ourselves, Mom," he said.
"Centauricon," she said. The centaur-like mutant pulled a sword out of nowhere and placed it in front of Wes' throat. "Unfreeze them."
Alex and Jen looked at each other. Let's do it. I'll keep them at bay until we get out of here with Wes, she told him telepathically.
"Fine." He took Ransik out of his container and pointed his freeze blaster, changed the polarity, and shot the shrunk mutant, who grew back to his normal size and sprang to life, confused and angry, but completely tame, thanks to Jen's powers. She mirrored her husband's movements with Nadira, and soon, both father and daughter were standing in front of them, fully awake.
"Send Wes to us or we'll freeze them again," Jen demanded.
The Mistress made a movement with her head, and Centauricon let Wes go. Fly- Tag waved him goodbye with a saddened face. He gave her one last smile and waved back. Jen and Alex exchanged an exasperated look from under their helmets, and escorted Wes towards their cycles.
"Morph and call your cycle," Alex demanded.
Wes nodded and obeyed, and soon all of the Rangers were out of sight.
The Mistress, Fly-Tag, Centauricon, Ransik and Nadira went back upstairs. The other mutants were waiting for them. "Children, say hello to Ransik and Nadira," she said. "Your new coaches."
To be continued
"Wes?!" Jessica asked Jen and Alex, who had just filled her in, after they all got to the manor. Josephine and Kevin were upstairs, giving their children a snack and choosing a TV show for them to watch.
"Yes," Alex said.
"B-but if he was morphed, how can you tell?" the red-haired woman insisted.
"No one but Wes and Alex can morph with that morpher," Jen explained.
"What if it's a clone or something?" Jessica said. She was talking wild, off the top of her head, trying to find an explanation for her husband's weird behavior.
The Time Force Rangers meditated on it for a second. "If it is, it would have to be created around the same time as me. Mutants grow fast, but clones grow as fast as the original. It would have taken a clone of me as long to grow up as it took me, so that's unlikely," Alex explained.
"B-but why would Wes try to kill my sister?" Jessica asked.
Everyone looked at Jen. She didn't return their gaze, she seemed lost in thought. It took her a little while to find what she was looking for. "She was controlling his mind, but not the same way I would," she explained, adding the second bit quickly when she saw Alex open his mouth to talk. "I doubt Wes would do this of his own free will, unless she threatened him with killing someone, or used a mind control device."
Josephine and Kevin walked into the room. Their faces were grim, and somewhat angry. "All right," Josephine said shortly. "Explain."
Jessica didn't lower her head or look away this time. She did the exact opposite; she stood as straight as she could, and looked at her sister menacingly. "Sit down, Phine," she ordered.
Both Josephine and Kevin sat down on the couch. Jessica moved a lock of hair away from her face. "These are the Time Force Rangers," she began. "If you don't know who they are, I don't blame you. A month ago I didn't know who they were either, but they are here, and their mission is to save our lives, in order to preserve the future."
She looked at Alex, but he nodded to her to continue. "Wes was one of them about two years ago. Anyway, someone from the future wants to erase Jen," she pointed at the Pink Ranger as she said this- "from history. And in the beginning she thought I was Jen's ancestor, but it turns out you are her ancestor, not me." Josephine straightened on her chair, obviously concerned about the bit of information Jessica was about to tell her. "This person is after you. After you and after your children."
"And what are you doing to protect our children?" Kevin asked, grasping Josephine's trembling hand.
This time, Alex did take over from Jessica. "We brought you here, and that's our first plan. This manor is protected heavily against mutants, and we are armed and ready to protect you and your children, all the way," he said.
"We can't be away from the farm until this is solved! Our people need us there!" Kevin complained.
"You won't stay here that long," Alex said. He gave Jessica a strong look. "You will stay here until Jessica solves the problem with the Silver Guardians."
Jessica stared at him, shaken by his words. "How am I supposed to do that?"
"Press conference, offer a solution." he said.
"What solution?" Jessica asked.
"It's your business and your job. Find one!" he said shortly.
Jessica sighed. "I guess I'd better get to it now," she said and stood up, walking towards the door. "I'm going to Wesley's office, if you need anything you can find me there." As she walked out, Eric moved to follow her. "No, Eric, stay with Josephine and Kevin," she instructed. Eric bowed and stayed in the room.
"Is there anything we can do for now?" Kevin asked.
"Not now," Alex said. "You go upstairs with your children and try to rest and adjust. We'll tell you more as we prepare the new plan," he suggested.
"But we have so many questions!" Josephine complained.
Jen and Alex exchanged a look. "What do you want to know?" Jen asked.
"Where do you come from? Why do they call you officers? What did you mean by controlling his mind, 'not the way you would?'" Josephine asked.
"We come from the year 3004; we work for a crime fighting organization named Time Force and I'm a psychic," Jen answered tiredly.
"One more question," Josephine pleaded. "Who is this person trying to wipe you out of history?"
*******************************
The next morning, Jessica was sitting by the poolside wearing a pretty pink bathing suit. She had her feet in the cool water, and she was lost in thought. Josephine walked out of the house towards the pool, wearing some clothes Jessica had lent her. She sat next to her sister, who had pulled her feet out of the cool water and was making circles with them.
"Sica," she began. "What are you doing?"
Jessica looked at her and gave her a small smile. "I'm doing some feet gymnastics. I don't want them to get swollen," she said.
"Why would they get swollen?" Josephine asked, taking off her shoes and folding her pants legs up, so she could submerge her feet in the water too.
"I'm pregnant," Jessica said, a smile taking over her lips before she could stop it.
"Really?" Josephine asked. "How far along are you?"
"I'm a bit over one month," Jessica said. "I already went to my first checkup and everything seems fine."
"I'm happy for you," Josephine said.
They smiled at each other for a second, and in that moment Jen walked out of the house, running to them with a smile in her face.
"Jessica! We have news!" she said, stopping next to the twins. "The Mistress sent a communication to us, she's willing to free Wes, but she wants to trade him!"
"Is Wes alive?" Jessica asked.
"Yes, he is," Jen said, her smile growing big. "We are gathering in the dining room, to make a plan."
"I'm coming," Jessica said, getting up and picking her robe and following Jen inside. Josephine followed them, not really sure of what to do.
In the living room, Alex and the other Rangers waited for Jen and the twins. Kevin and the boys were still sleeping.
"So?" Jen asked.
"She wants to trade him for Ransik and Nadira," Alex said dryly.
"What?!" Jen said.
"She wants to trade Wesley for both Ransik and Nadira," Alex repeated.
"We can't do it," Katie said.
Jessica's face was filled with desperation and sadness immediately. "So, we can bring him back?" she asked.
"Of course we can," Jen said. "I say we do it," she told the others.
"You want us to give Ransik and Nadira back to The Mistress?" Katie asked.
Jen looked at Alex, who nodded. "We can recapture Nadira and Ransik easily. I say we give them up and get Wes back, and then as soon as we can, we recapture them."
"Or destroy them," Jen muttered under her breath. Trip looked at her knowingly.
"No, we swore to bring them back alive, and you've got enough trouble with the ones you've already destroyed," Alex told Jen.
"Aren't we operating under protocol 15?" Jen asked.
"That's no excuse," he said with an authoritarian voice tone.
"Sorry," Jen said. "So, when are we supposed to do the trading?"
"In two hours," Alex said. "In front of the clock tower."
"The clock tower?" Trip asked.
"Yes."
"That's one of the places I could identify," he said.
"What?" Jen asked.
"Right!" Trip said. "I never got the chance to explain to you two what I found out! Alex suggested that The Mistress might be using the same technology as the officer gloves, so I looked for the energy print of the invisibility shield, that's a gadget the officer gloves have that leaves whatever it is applied to undetectable by scanner and radar. However it leaves a particular energy print, and if you know this print, you can track it. She couldn't change the print of her invisibility shield. So I tracked it down, and found four places in this city that have their contents hidden from our scanners. The clock tower, which was rebuilt by Bio-Lab after Ransik blew it up, was one of them." Trip finished and looked gravely at his bosses.
"She wants us to trade him in one of the places she's hiding?" Jen asked.
"It might be heavily guarded," Alex suggested.
"Or it might be a trap," Katie warned.
"We'll be ready if that's the case," Alex said. "Get ready, pack your gloves and your morpher, drink only coffee, don't eat, it will slow your senses." He looked at Jessica and smiled reassuringly at her. "We'll get him back," he promised. She nodded, her trust completely in the hands of the officers who had saved her life many times.
******************************
The Rangers drove their vector cycles towards the clock tower, and parked in front of the building. The Mistress and her butterfly mutant walked out, followed by Wes and a centaur-like mutant.
"Did you bring them?" she asked.
Jen and Alex dismounted their cycles, and walked forward, each holding one of the requested mutants inside a silver container. "Here they are," Jen said.
"Unfreeze them!" The Mistress ordered.
"That wasn't part of the deal," Jen said. You asked us to give them back, and we have."
"I want you to unfreeze them!" she ordered.
"We are not doing it!" Alex said. "We are not risking ourselves, Mom," he said.
"Centauricon," she said. The centaur-like mutant pulled a sword out of nowhere and placed it in front of Wes' throat. "Unfreeze them."
Alex and Jen looked at each other. Let's do it. I'll keep them at bay until we get out of here with Wes, she told him telepathically.
"Fine." He took Ransik out of his container and pointed his freeze blaster, changed the polarity, and shot the shrunk mutant, who grew back to his normal size and sprang to life, confused and angry, but completely tame, thanks to Jen's powers. She mirrored her husband's movements with Nadira, and soon, both father and daughter were standing in front of them, fully awake.
"Send Wes to us or we'll freeze them again," Jen demanded.
The Mistress made a movement with her head, and Centauricon let Wes go. Fly- Tag waved him goodbye with a saddened face. He gave her one last smile and waved back. Jen and Alex exchanged an exasperated look from under their helmets, and escorted Wes towards their cycles.
"Morph and call your cycle," Alex demanded.
Wes nodded and obeyed, and soon all of the Rangers were out of sight.
The Mistress, Fly-Tag, Centauricon, Ransik and Nadira went back upstairs. The other mutants were waiting for them. "Children, say hello to Ransik and Nadira," she said. "Your new coaches."
To be continued
