Chapter 26

Jen and Alex walked around the mall, looking everywhere. Alex insisted on going out and enjoying the 21st century, which he had been unable to do the last time he had been there. After stopping the mutants that had attacked the bank branch they hadn't felt like going back home, so Jen had found the moment perfect to satisfy Alex's curiosity about the year they were visiting.

"Look, over there," he said, pointing at an appliance and electronic equipment store. TV sets, VCR's, home computers, washing machines, refrigerators and other state-of-the-art electronic equipment were displayed inside it. Jen followed her husband, who ran to the store like a boy would run to a toy store.

"Wow, they're so obsolete!" he commented excitedly, but in a low voice. "Look at the refrigeration systems," he commented, pointing at the back of a refrigerator. "No computers in most of the models, remote controls with buttons!!" He picked one up and showed it to her. "I mean, it has buttons! And look how thick it is!" Jen laughed softly, the remote he was holding was one of the slimiest, coolest remotes she had seen in the time she had been in the twenty-first century.

"Well, you're looking at state of the art stuff," she pointed out.

Alex moved to the computers. "What in the world is this?" he asked her, holding a mouse.

"It's a mouse," she answered. "I think they use it to interact with the visual interface of their computers, they use--" and she lingered. She knew he would flip over this, being the electronics freak he was. Alex could put a computer together with his own two hands in less than two hours, another of his hidden talents. He loved everything that had to do with electronics, especially their history. To see a computer that was running 'Windows' as an operating system was bound to get him excited. "They use Windows," she completed, her face immediately showing a smile at his amazed face.

"Are you serious?" he asked. "Windows?!"

"Yes," she assured him, pointing at the card that described the computer they were standing in front of. "It says there this machine uses Windows XP v. 2.0," she said.

"Wow!" he said, looking at the computer. "Look at the monitor!" his voice was excited and interested. He looked at her guiltily. "I've got to get myself one of these," he assured her, she just laughed. "With all the extra gadgets it can support, I have to have this in my collection, I could put it in the studio of the house, people would freak to see one of these, a working one!"

"It's your money," she consented. Alex had transferred a considerable amount of current currency to them through Time Force.

"You sure you don't mind?" he asked again.

"Not at all, baby," she assured him, giving him a kiss. "Perhaps Wes can help you find a good store, you don't have to buy this one, there are stores dedicated to computers. I'm sure you'll find one that's just what you want." He smiled and nodded. "Even a Mac," she added maliciously and her words made him go wide-eyed and -mouthed.

"A MAC?!" he asked as if a Mac was the most unbelievable thing in history. Jen just laughed and dragged her husband out of the store.

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Jessica and Wes sat in the backyard, drinking some iced tea Philips had kindly made for them. Josephine and her kids were in the pool, Kevin was on the phone discussing farm business, and the other officers were scattered. She knew Jen and Alex were out, and Eric was standing near her and Wes, accompanied by the other member of their guard.

She straightened her back for a little and then returned her attention to the report from Finances. The reintroduction of the Silver Guardians seemed risky, but after what she had seen that morning it was bound to be a success. She threw her husband a glance, and noticed he was submerged in a report from Dr. Zaskin's laboratory.

The report was filled with a lot of useless information, but the overall look seemed interesting. Marketing hadn't yet sent their report, and she noticed, with a bit of relief, she was done for the day with her vice- president duties. Now she could dedicate the rest of the day to being a wife and a mother-to-be. The thought of her baby brought some horrible images to her mind, and she shook them away, with a movement of her head that made Wes look up at her.

"You all right?" he asked softly, taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"Yes, I'm fine," she lied with a smile. "Are you done?"

"Not yet, but I can leave it for later if you feel like snuggling," he offered, putting the report down and moving to her.

"That'd be great," she said, and they kissed.

"What do you feel like having done to you today? Foot rub?" he asked.

"No, just run your fingers through my hair the way I like it so much," she pleaded. He stood behind her and ran his fingers down her soft and silky red hair. She purred happily as he continued the caress. "I want to talk to you about something," she began. He didn't stop his caressing.

"About what?"

"About you and the other Time Force officers. What exactly happened between you and Jen?" her question made him stop and sit next to her.

"It was a crush," he assured her.

"I know, but I want to know what happened. How did you develop it? How did you meet all of them? How did you become the Red Ranger?"

"Okay," he began and raised an eyebrow as she put one of her bare feet on his lap. "It was an unexpected event, in a normal day. When I left the house that day I sure as hell didn't know I was going to save the life of a woman from some weird robots, and that I was going to fight them again later that day wearing a futuristic armor. No one could have been more surprised about my friendship with the Time Force officers than me."

And so he began a story that took him about an hour, he told her everything about his adventures as a Ranger, from the day he had called Jen crazy to the day he had told her he loved her. Jessica listened to the story with interested, posing a question every now and then.

"And then I was the leader of the Silver Guardians along with Eric for about a year, until Dad died. A week later I met you, and only a few weeks after that, I already loved you for who you are, and for how much you care about me." He finished his story with a smile, after rubbing both of her feet.

"You don't mind if I talk to Jen, do you?" she asked carefully. "About this whole thing."

"Not at all," he said, kissing her cheek. "We've got nothing to hide. Can I get back to my report now?"

"No," she pouted. "I feel like soaking in the pool, care to join me?" she asked.

"I'd love to," he said, leaping to his feet and helping her up from the chair. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you."

"If you're going to tell me I look like a truck--"

"Pregnancy suits you, you look more beautiful than ever," he said, interrupting her. She smiled and he kissed her. "If that's possible."

"You are impossible, Mr. Collins," she told him, rubbing her nose against his. "You are adorably impossible."

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"What are your thoughts on the mutants?" Jen asked Alex as they walked back to the house.

"Like you didn't know," he answered playfully.

"I don't spend all my life reading your mind, Alex; I'm not that insecure."

"I didn't mean that," he said, holding her hand tenderly. "I just thought perhaps you already had."

"No I haven't," she said forcefully.

"You know what really bugs me?" he asked.

"That you couldn't buy that computer today?"

"Besides that," he said matter-of-factly. "The whole thing with the posed bodies. We never knew what they were posed to look like."

"I always thought they were messages," Jen theorized. "You know, messages that only one person in particular could decipher."

"But a message for whom? Saying what? The pose of that doctor we found and his wife, it keeps haunting me, I know in the back of my head I've seen that image somewhere before, but I can't place it."

"I know how that feels," she said. "I've had the same feeling all along."

They fell silent for a few minutes then Jen smacked her forehead with her hand. "We have to hurry! Tonight is the dinner for Josephine and her family, remember? They leave tomorrow."

"Right, we'd better hurry," he agreed peacefully.

"What are we waiting for?" she asked. He looked at her with one of his playful looks, with a smile to match.

"Race you to the manor," he dared her.

"Bring it on," she answered and they both began running to the house that was only a block away, past the gardens.

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

Fly-tag and Centauricon were alone at the top of the clock tower, facing each other. "Ok, I want you to give me your best shot," he said.

She nodded nervously and stood in a fighting stance. She threw a punch at him, but he blocked it. She tried again, but he kept blocking her moves. Finally, he pushed her away and she landed hard on her back.

She got to hands and knees and punched the floor with her fists angrily. "I'm never going to get it right!" she complained.

"Hey, it'll be all right," Centauricon said.

"I'll make sure of that myself," said another voice that made them both look up. The Mistress was standing in the door, behind her stood Nadira and her father. Ransik was holding Bunnistein by the arm with one of his big hands.

When The Mistress walked in, he threw the rabbit-like mutant towards her friends as he walked in followed by his daughter and the rest of the young mutants. A male mutant that had a rocky body moved towards Bunnistein and helped her up tenderly, wrapping an arm around her waist when she was up. Ransik moved towards Fly-tag who was still on her knees. She looked at him, scared, and he wrapped his powerful hand around her thin arm.

"Ouch! Let go!" the butterfly complained trying to pull herself from his grasp.

Ransik's laughter sounded like a growl to her ears. "Make me," he dared. She looked at Centauricon, but he was being held back helplessly by two stronger mutants. Fly-tag turned, trying to catch a glimpse of Ransik's face with her violet eyes. His breath, that didn't smell very good, caught her nose and she turned back to The Mistress.

"Nadira told me about the cowardly stunt you played at the bank," The Mistress began, walking in front of Fly-tag like a caged animal. Fly-tag shook her head, scared, and threw Nadira a demanding glance. "She said you refused to follow orders. What do you have to say to that?"

"I don't understand," Fly-tag began with a broken voice. "Our orders were to break into the bank and rob it, those were the orders you gave us, I followed them."

"Don't play stupid, Fly-tag," Nadira snapped. "You know what I'm talking about very well."

Fly-tag shook her head. She did know what Nadira was talking about, but was determined to deny it as long as she could.

"Nadira ordered you to shoot a woman, did she not?" The Mistress asked.

"She did, but the woman was no threat to us--" she began and she knew she had said the wrong thing when The Mistress hit her across the face with her fist. Centauricon struggled against the mutants holding him back.

"Since when does it matter if humans pose a threat to you or not, Fly-tag? You were ordered to shoot her, why didn't you?" the woman demanded.

"I did shoot her," the young mutant said. "I did shoot her!"

"When Nadira forced you to!" The Mistress sounded really angry. "I don't appreciate it when my mutants don't follow my orders, Fly-tag."

"With all due respect, I did follow your orders, ma'am. Your orders didn't include us killing humans, just robbing a bank," the young violet-eyed mutant answered defiantly.

The Mistress hit her across the face again. "Didn't I order you to follow ALL of Ransik and Nadira's orders, Fly-tag?" she asked angrily.

"You did, ma'am," Fly-tag admitted with her head bowed, her nose bleeding.

"Good," The Mistress began, looking around at all of her mutants. "This shall serve as an example to all of you who are planning on disobeying Ransik or Nadira. Fly-tag, you are from now until further notice forbidden to fly," she said. Fly-tag nodded, her face covered in tears and blood. "And we have to make sure you don't fly, so, Nadira if you would."

Nadira smiled and made her nails grow. Ransik took a stronger hold on Fly- tag as she began squirming in his grasp again, as Nadira approached her, her nails shinning in the artificial light. Centauricon struggled even harder against his holders, and Bunnistein struggled to get free from the hold she was also trapped in. Nadira took the border of Fly-tag's wing and pulled it almost tenderly.

"No! Fly-tag!" Centauricon called, struggling hard until he got hit in the face by another of The Mistress's faithful mutants.

"What are you doing?!" Fly-tag yelled squirming as hard as she could in Ransik's grasp. "NO, PLEASE!!!" she begged. Nadira caressed her tearful face in a mocking gesture and thrust her nails into Fly-tag's delicate wing, tearing it. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" the poor youngster yelled as her friends tried to free themselves.

Bunnistein's companion hugged her pressing her face into his chest so she wouldn't see. Centauricon stood there, barely conscious. Blood poured from Fly-tag's wing as screams of pain poured from her mouth. Nadira repeated the operation on her other wing and Ransik let her go. The mutant fell to her knees in pain, her wings twitching involuntarily. She looked more than ever like a butterfly, a wounded butterfly to be exact.

She lay there crying while her wings bled. The Mistress approached her and injected something in her neck, and then she and her escort left the room, leaving only Fly-tag, Centauricon, Bunnistein and the rocky mutant, whose name was Boulderac.

"Fly-tag, are you all right?" Centauricon asked, bending his four legs to kneel next to his friend. He caressed her hair even though he knew it did little to take her pain away. Bunnistein, who was crying herself, fetch the first aid kit and moved forward to help her friend.

"Centauricon, help me, please," she asked, handing him a ball of cotton soaked in a healing liquid. "Put this around the tear," she ordered. With trembling hand, the boy-horse followed her orders. Fly-tag had just fainted.

"This was very cruel," Boulderac said angrily, as he put healer on the butterfly's wings.

"Not just cruel," Bunnistein said. "It was unnecessary."

"Don't worry, Fly-tag," Centauricon muttered, caressing his friend's face. "She'll pay for this," he promised.

Fly-tag's violet eyes opened slightly and she smiled at the centaur's brown gaze. "Centauricon," she muttered numbly.

"It's okay, now," he assured her, holding her hand.

"It hurts," she moaned.

"We'll make her pay," the horse said.

"Of course we will," the bunny supported.

"That's a promise, butterfly," Boulderac added.

To be continued.