Chapter 35

Alex ran back to the stable but was stopped midway by his communicator beeping. "Alex?!" Lucas called.

"What is it Lucas?" he asked.

"We need help, we are getting our asses handed to us back here," he said.

"Lucas, Jen is alone with Mom, probably hurt," Alex said.

"Forget about Jen for a second, Alex, she can take care of herself, we need you here," Lucas chided. Alex looked towards the stable and then towards the fight, where explosions and laser beams could be seen from the distance.

"Fine," he said, making a decision. "I'm on my way, hang on tight and regroup," he ordered, he closed the communication and ran towards the battle, wishing silently Jen could really take care of herself.

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

Samantha kicked Jen across the face again, making the younger woman stumble to one side. Jen acted on impulse and with a yell of anger, kicked Samantha as hard as she could after a half-turn of her hurt body.

Samantha tripped over the chain she had used to hit Jen and fell on her butt. "I am amazed at you, Farm Girl," she said, as Jen approached her angrily and punched her in the face. "You just became me," she announced.

"I'm still fighting the bad guys," Jen said, taking another turning kick at the fallen woman's jaw.

"All I see is you kicking an opponent when she's down!"

"What is equal is fair," Jen answered. "You did it to me; I get to do it to you."

"That's not how heroes think, Farm Girl. Perhaps your psychic powers are driving you a tad too close to the dark side? You have tasted power and have enjoyed it, haven't you? If not, why not create a different fantasy for me? Why create one where you got to kill my mutant family?"

"I have killed your mutant family," Jen said. "In a different timeline, I killed Nadira with my own two hands. I'm not proud of it, but it's something I did. I will remember it forever, even if it technically never happened. Nadira's death will torment me forever."

"That is so noble," Samantha said, getting to her feet. "So noble it's disgusting. You are in for a rude awakening on how the world works, Jen, you'll see that noble feelings of regret usually aren't valuable. You've felt it, haven't you? Ransik and Nadira saying they were sorry was not enough for you, you always wanted more. You wanted pain for them, didn't you? You wanted pain you could see them feel, not just regret. Regret wasn't enough for you, and it's not enough for anyone. Only pain is a punishment hard enough, isn't it?"

"Perhaps you're right, perhaps you're wrong," Jen said bitterly. "That's what we are here to find out, isn't it?" she said, throwing a kick Samantha managed to block and return quickly.

"Pain, Jennifer, I want you to feel it," Samantha said, picking up the chain from the floor and circling it around over her head like a lasso. She finally brought it down on her opponent twice in a row, bringing Jen down to her knees. She kicked the young woman's back, certain of her victory.

Jen hit the floor with her face, tears running down her cheeks at the pain. She rolled on her back, she needed to look up; she always had to look up. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to die looking at the floor, like a submissive loser.

"You are so powerful, Farm Girl..."

Samantha was twirling the chain over her head again. Jen felt anger surge through her towards that woman. That woman had tried to keep her away from Alex, had killed him twice, directly or indirectly, that woman had killed children and women, tens of the young cadets that graduated with Jen at the Time Force academy. The only good thing Jen could remember Samantha Drake had done was Alex. Jen felt the anger build inside of her and fuel her will. She wanted to get up and hurt that woman so badly, like she had said herself, pain was the only punishment that was good enough for someone that bad.

Jen felt like a second skin was growing around her. She couldn't move, but she had to, she had to hurt Samantha, hurt her until she pleaded for her life. Samantha drew the chain down to hit Jen, but the latter extended her leg and broke the full blow of the chain with it, so that it twisted wickedly around with a cracking sound. She yelled in pain as her leg broke in different spots, but she bent it down angrily despite the pain and drew it back up, hitting her mother-in-law in the ribs with it.

"If pain is the only valid punishment," Jen began, getting on her knees. "Then we are both going through it, until we have paid for everything we have done!" She stood, putting all her weight on her healthy leg, the chain falling to the floor.

Samantha was getting to her feet, clutching her ribs. "We're not done yet," she menaced.

"No, we're not!" With her mind, Jen made the chain hit The Mistress on the back, and sent her face down to the floor, and hit her again. "We are going through pain and sorrow, Samantha, but we are getting equal shares at least." Jen turned the woman on her back and brought the chain down on her abdomen.

"You are so angry and strong-willed, Farm Girl. I used to look down at you, but now I know I was wrong to think you could never amount to much." Samantha got on her knees and hands, preparing to go back to the battle. "You could be someone big and powerful, Jen. You could even go beyond me, if you exploited that anger and used that power correctly."

"Yes, probably," Jen agreed, limping towards her enemy. "But the problem is I like to move upwards." She grabbed her mother-in-law by the neck of her shirt and threw her, with the aid of her powers, against the wall. "I said this before, and I'll say it again, there was a time when all I wanted was for you to like me, all I wanted was your acceptance. But now, I'm fed up with you, and I want you out of my life, out of Alex's life and out of my world!" Jen had been punctuating each of her phrases with a punch to Samantha's face. "I am fed up with you!" she said, hitting her adversary between words. "Are you hurting now, Samantha? Are you feeling the pain now?"

"This isn't pain," Samantha answered. "This is not pain to me, I've been through so much, you can't even imagine what I've felt. You don't have the guts to cause me any real pain; you are too heroic for it. You and Alex are too good at this for your own good, and that is your biggest weakness."

Jen stepped back from Samantha, anger still painted in her features, her brown eyes burning with anger and impotence. Samantha saw the chain fly towards her and twist around her wrist, then dragging her towards the middle of the stable, right bellow the lamp that had flickered back on.

"You want me to cause you true pain?" Jen asked bitterly. "Well, here's your true pain," she said, and then the lamp fell from its holder, directly towards Samantha, who barely had time to think- and scream- before its electric sparks made contact with the chain around her wrists. Jen closed her eyes, and fell to the ground.

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

Alex arrived at the battle, and found the Silver Guardians and the other Rangers picking up the frozen and dead mutants from the ground. "What's going on here?" he asked.

"We defeated them, with the aid of four young mutants who decided to betray The Mistress," Lucas explained, pointing at Fly-tag and her gang.

"But I just saw explosions," Alex said. "You called me and said you needed help."

"Me? No, I never did," Lucas said.

"But then what--" Alex shook his head in disbelief when it dawned on him. "Jennifer!" he yelled and ran back to the stable. On his way, he heard his communicator beep. "Yes?" he asked, not looking.

"Alexander, please state your location," he heard his father ask.

"Unknown."

"Your status?"

"I have minor injuries, but the others are badly hurt, I probably have a man down, the status of Captain Scotts-Drake is unknown as yet," he said, his voice worried, and out of breath from running.

"We'll find you there, did you get The Mistress?"

"I don't know, sir, she was fighting against the captain," Alex said, finally getting to the stable.

"We'll get there as soon as we can," his father promised and closed the communication.

Alex burst into the dimly lit stable and found his mother kneeling, her hands cuffed and seeming to be in a state of shock. A few feet from her, Jen lay on the ground bleeding from almost every inch of her skin and apparently unconscious. He ran to her and knelt next to her, but didn't dare to move her.

"Jennifer..." He whispered her name and her eyes, one of them black, fluttered open for a second.

"Alex," she whispered. "I had to trick her, I couldn't move," she said.

"You stopped her, she's cuffed, did you cuff her?" he asked sweetly.

"Yes, but she's not under arrest yet. I have a hold on her mind, I managed to get past her barrier," Jen said with a croaking voice.

"Okay, I'll put her under arrest now, you can let go, it's okay, it's over," he assured her.

"No, Alex, it's never over," she said.

"I'm proud of you, Jennifer, I'm very proud of you, my love," he told her, caressing her hair.

"I love you, Alex," she whispered, and it scared him that it sounded like a goodbye.

"And I love you, Jenny," he answered, a tear sliding down his cheek. "You and me," he began with a sad smile.

"Forever," she completed and her face fell to one side as her body relaxed instantaneously.

Alex stood up and walked towards his mother, who seemed surprised to find her hands cuffed. "Alexander?" she demanded. "What happened?"

"You are under arrest," Alex whispered tonelessly. "For time crimes, kidnapping, torture, murder, illegal breeding of mutants, assault against Time Force officers, violation of the will and about every single other crime that one can be charged with" He took his jacket off and put it around his mother's shoulders. "You have the right to remain silent, everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney." Alex continued reading her rights in a toneless drone, not looking at her. He saw the other Time Force Rangers standing in the door of the stable when he got up, helping his mother to her feet.

"Alexander," Samantha began.

"Yes?" he asked, his voice remaining toneless, mostly because he refused to feel anything for his mother in that moment.

"I'm proud of you, son," she said. "You are good and have your feet grounded. I will always be proud of what you have become, Alex."

"Thanks, Mom," Alex said, handing her to Lucas and Katie, who were waiting to get their hands on her. "It still means to me as much as it did years ago," he whispered, a feeling finally taking over his voice. It was sadness. "Trip, do you have your first aid kit with you? I doubt there's much we can do for Jennifer with it, but at least we'll buy her some time."

"Yes," Trip said and ran towards the interior.

"How bad is she, Alex?" Katie asked.

"She may not make it," Alex answered.

"But she was standing," Samantha said. "She was standing and hitting me."

"No, Mom," Alex said. "That's what she wanted you to believe." He turned and followed Trip back in. Samantha lowered her head, guilt taking over her heart for the first time in years. Alex was hurt beyond words, beyond tears. She could tell her son's will was broken, as was his heart, by the sound of his voice. He sounded as if he didn't want to talk anymore, as if he felt he couldn't make a difference anymore, as if he had given up.

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

Josephine was being attended to in the emergency room, which made Wes very happy, but he had to run. He ran through the hospital's corridor as fast as his legs could carry him and burst into the maternity room like a speeding bullet.

"Jessica!" he yelled, running to her side. "Please tell me she's not born yet!" he begged.

"You are here in the nick of time, Mr. Collins," the nurse told him. Wes kissed Jessica's sweaty face as she panted.

"I'm going to kill you, you bastard," she menaced angrily. "How could you leave me like this? With no explanation?"

"I'll explain later," he said, giving her a meaningful look. "What's important it's that I'm here," he said cheerfully and she grasped his hand tightly.

"Okay, Jessica," the doctor said. "I need one more big push."

"Come on," Wes encouraged her. Jessica got to pushing, gritting her teeth. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven." Wes and the nurse counted together for her. At the end of the count, the song of an angel could be heard in the room.

Their baby girl, crying at the top of her lungs as she entered the world. The doctor prepared her, covering her in a blanket and waiting for the cord to stop pulsing. Then she handed Wes a pair of surgical scissors. "Cut right here, Mr. Collins," she said. Wes took the scissor with a trembling hand he tried to steady as he cut his baby's cord.

"Welcome to the world, baby," he said, taking her from the doctor and handing her to Jessica, who was crying with happiness.

"Welcome, honey," Jessica told her little miracle. "Welcome. I'm Mommy, and this is Daddy, and we are going to take good care of you."

"What are you going to call her?" The nurse asked, taking the little joy from her mother's arms.

"Where are you taking her?" Jessica asked.

"She needs to have a few things done to her," the nurse explained. "What are you going to name her?"

"Caroline," Wes said immediately.

"Jennifer Caroline," Jessica corrected her. "In honor of the woman who saved her life," she said, looking at Wes who smiled broadly and kissed his wife deeply. "I love you, Jessica."

"And I love you, Cherub," she said jokingly.

"I deserved that," he agreed, holding her head close to his chest and kissing her sweaty hair.

"We are a family now," she commented.

"Forever," he whispered. Then he let go of her as if hit by a sudden inspiration. "I have to get you some flowers!"

"Get me some water first, please," she asked.

"Sure thing, I'll be right back," he promised and walked out of the room, looking for a water fountain. Out in the corridor he found Eric, seated, nursing a wound in his right arm.

"Eric?" he asked.

Eric looked up. "How are they?" he asked.

"They're fine, it's a girl," Wes announced, with a smile Eric shared.

"Congratulations," he said. "On a darker note, Alex just called, Jen is pretty bad."

Wes face saddened. "I hope she makes it," he said honestly.

"Yeah, me too," Eric said.

"You need that tended," Wes said, pointing at the wound.

"It's not that bad," Eric said. "I'll go over to the emergency room, okay?"

"Okay." Wes watched him as he limped towards the elevator, but lost sight of him after the door closed.

Eric leaned against the elevator wall, closing his eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulder and opened his eyes. The most gorgeous man he had ever seen stared back at him. And he wasn't just gorgeous; he made Eric's gay-dar go crazy. Eric was immediately mesmerized by the sparkles in his blue eyes, and the prospect of getting to know him better.

"Are you lost? Do you need someone to tend those injuries for you?" the man asked with a sexy smile.

"I'm not lost, but I do need to have these tended," he agreed with a smile.

"My name is John," the man said, and as the first spell wore off, Eric noticed he was wearing a white coat, indicating he was a doctor, and also glasses. His hair was that dirty tone of blond that turned into brown at the roots, and his goatee looked cared-for and elegant. "What's your name?" he asked.

"I'm Eric," the other said, feeling like a teenager that had just hit puberty.

"Well, Eric, is your butt hurt?" John asked playfully.

"I don't think so," Eric answered, his gaze dropping to the ground as a slight embarrassed blush colored his cheeks.

"Well, that's a shame, isn't it?" John said with his sexy smile, surrounding Eric's waist with a strong arm and tenderly helping him limp towards the emergency room.

To be continued.