Arrest

Eric stared at Bunton and his cohort, wondering if he'd heard them right. "Excuse me?"

Bunton's expression darkened further. "You're under arrest, come with us."

"I don't think so, buddy," Eric retorted. "You have no jurisdiction here."

Bunton's cohort smiled. "That's where you're wrong, Captain Myers. You're a member of Time Force..."

"More to the point, Lieutenant," snapped a crisp voice, "he is a member of my department, and a citizen of this time period. As such, any charges have to go through me."

It took Eric a moment to actually recognise Lucas' voice, and a moment more before he realised that Lucas was genuinely standing in the antechamber that served as Gina's office.

"Lucas, what the hell's going on?"

Lucas smiled grimly. "It's a long story -- you'd probably best get Wes and Jen here, and whoever is your second in command. Ben, is it?"

Eric stared. "You're not seriously..."

Lucas stalled him. "Not if I can help it, but I need to cover everything."

"Major Kendall," blustered Bunton, finally recovering the powers of speech.

"Major Kendall nothing," Lucas snapped. "You and Tweedle Dee there can keep your mouths shut until I give you leave to talk again." Bunton's mouth closed with a snap. "Eric?"

Eric slowly shook his head. This was definitely in the category of days not to bother getting out of bed for. He turned back to Lexia, who had been watching what had been going on wide-eyed and silent. "Lex -- think your mom and Ben are both in their offices along the hall..." Eric trailed off as he realised Wes was attending a meeting at the main Biolab complex, but Lexia was already on her feet.

"Yes, sir."

Lexia looked scared as she left the office, which was understandable, Eric knew. It was never fun to be in a room that gets its door kicked in, and Bunton was definitely not the nicest of guys, either. The strange thing was that she also looked slightly relieved. That, Eric suspected, had nothing to do with current events and everything to do with wanting to avoid the conversation they had been going to have. Which worried him. What on earth's she hiding? he wondered.

"Major Kendall," Bunton tried again, bringing Eric's mind back to the here and now.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "I'd gag him, but he'd still make a noise," he muttered. To Bunton he added, "Which part of keep your mouth shut do you have a problem with, Lieutenant?"

Bunton subsided.

Eric shook his head. "You might as well come in and sit down."

~*~

Shawn gazed out of the window, trying to put his thoughts into some kind of order, but it was a struggle. This time yesterday, he'd barely felt like himself. He'd been confused and defensive, knowing that something had happened to him yet not knowing what or when, feeling as if the Silver Guardian hierarchy was out to get him. And now...he understood. More, the hierarchy understood. Or Eric Myers did, at any rate.

Which was weird because if Shawn had put money on it, he'd have said Myers would have been the last person to 'get' this.

"Penny for them?" Shawn blinked and found Taylor standing over him. She offered him a smile. "OK?"

"I'd kill for a cigarette," he admitted.

Taylor stared. "You quit!"

Shawn offered a sheepish grin. "And then Frax...or whoever it was...messed with my head."

Taylor nodded. "Fair point." She paused. "And are you gonna quit the SGs?"

He looked back out of the window, although the details of the view escaped him. "Commander Myers suggested I don't make any decisions until I've figured out how I feel about things."

"Good advice."

Shawn sighed and met her gaze again. "But I already know what I'm going to do." At that, Taylor's eyebrows rose. "I was ready to leave yesterday morning. I'm still ready to leave now. I just understand why, better." She opened her mouth to object. "And don't give me the 'quitter's speech' again."

"You haven't quit yet..."

"Actually," Shawn answered with a faint smile, "I tended my resignation to Commander Myers when my interview finished."

Taylor looked floored. "Why?"

Because it's the right thing to do." Taylor looked as if she'd object. "Look at it this way. At the moment, the only people who know that anything happened to me are in this room, or are Commander Myers. You know...at least, I think you know that whatever it was that Frax...whoever did, it didn't work. But outside of this room and Commander Myers, the rest of the Guardians I work with...some of them," he amended, "are going to hear about this -- it's the sort of thing that sneaks out on the grapevine. And there's going to be some who don't believe that it went wrong. Some are going to believe that I let it happen. Some are going to believe that I was somehow the reason all this," and he gestured at the room as if to encompass the last thirty-six hours, "happened. They aren't going to be able to trust me and with what we do...what this job entails..."

"That's bullshit," Taylor retorted.

"No it's not," he replied calmly. "It's human nature. I know that. So does Commander Myers." Not that Myers had said it in so many words, there was just something about the way Myers had accepted his reasoning. As if it was a situation he'd been in himself -- or as if he'd known a similar situation. Shawn knew he was speculating wildly, but it seemed to fit.

Taylor looked nonplussed. "He's accepted your resignation?"

Shawn smiled again. "Yep." He gestured towards his ankle, which was swathed in plaster. "My contract was up in two weeks. I'm not going to be fit for any kind of active duty for three. So pending release from Dr Jackson's tender mercies..."

"You're already finished," Taylor finished, grimacing.

"That's about the size of it," Shawn agreed. "Look at it this way. I'm one less insubordinate, mouthy son-of-a-bitch to annoy the hell out of you."

Taylor rolled her eyes. "I do not think that. What I do think is that you're making a huge mistake."

Shawn shrugged. "Maybe I am."

"You're letting Frax...whoever...win."

"Maybe. You're not going to get me to change my mind."

Taylor sighed and shook her head. "OK. Fine. I'll stop arguing."

Shawn snickered. "That'll be the day, boss."

~*~

Lexia frowned as she headed back towards conference room one having delivered her message to both Ben and Jen. Part of her was glad for the stay of execution as far as her interrupted interview with Eric was concerned -- the interruption gave her more time to work out what she was going to tell him. Part of her was concerned by what had interrupted the meeting -- what Bunton had been saying didn't sound good to her in the slightest. The rest of her was occupied by trying to decide how best to put off JJ and John.

On balance, she decided, most of her mind was occupied by what to say to JJ. Given the overblown case of ego he'd been suffering from ever since they'd become Guardian Cadets, John was best ignored, but JJ... She grimaced as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She'd been enjoying his company in Mirracon's maze, and he had said he'd ask her out...but that was before.

Before she'd found out. Before he'd found out there was something 'weird' about her -- and there was no two ways around it, that stuff she'd done to Mirracon and to get them back was weird.

Either he flat out wouldn't want her or he'd want an explanation. And when she gave that he definitely wouldn't want her.

No way he could want her.

No way anyone could want her.

"Lexia?"

Lexia blinked. For a moment, her vision swam and the face before her was that of Mirracon. The hallucination faded as quickly as it had come, revealing the person to be Gina.

"Lexia, what's wrong?" Gina looked concerned.

"Nothing."

But Gina wasn't buying that. "If 'nothing' was wrong, you wouldn't be looking as if the whole world was out to get you."

"Nothing," Lexia insisted. "Honest."

Gina just gave Lexia a 'how dumb do you think I am' look. "C'mon."

Before Lexia could protest, she found the head of the administrative team had gripped her by the wrist and was rapidly towing her in the direction of the canteen.

"Mrs Miller, I..."

"Gina," Gina retorted. "I'm going to buy you a cup of coffee or hot chocolate...which ever you'd prefer, then we are going to go have a talk." The tone was friendly but firm, brooking no argument.

Lexia sighed. From the frying pan of Eric Myers' office to the fire that was his PA. So much for a stay of execution...

~*~

There was a stony silence pervading Eric's office. It hung, thickly, on the air like Los Angeles smog, Ben decided, and was probably just as toxic. The two Time Force officers he hadn't met before, Lieutenant Bunton and Lieutenant Chisholm, were glaring viciously in the direction of the one he had met before, Lucas. Jen was glaring at all three of them, although the glare Lucas was receiving was definitely toned down. Eric was regarding the trio with mixed amusement (although what was humorous about having an arrest warrant out, Ben wasn't sure) and annoyance.

"How much longer have we got to sit here?" Chisholm finally ventured

"Until Captain Wesley Collins arrives," Lucas snapped shortly.

"He's arrived," announced Wes from the doorway.

Ben glanced up at the voice, then did a double take as he realised that not only was Wes standing in the ruined entrance, but his father too.

"Who the..." began Bunton.

"I'm not sure..." began Lucas.

"Sir, you don't..." began Eric.

Mr Collins lifted an eyebrow, quelling all three. "Eric is, at the end of the day, an employee of mine. More, he is a friend of mine. As such, he deserves my support in this."

The trio of reactions entertained Ben. Bunton and Chisholm, predictably, looked mutinous. Lucas looked slightly amused and wholly unsurprised. Eric briefly looked stunned, although you had to have been very quick and know him very well to have spotted that, before his expression settled into impassivity. That last didn't fool Ben -- nor, at a quick glance at Mr Collins, was it fooling Wes' dad. Eric was pleased to know he had Mr Collins' support.

"OK. If we're all here now," said Lucas, "we should get to business." Bunton opened his mouth. "Did I tell you to speak?" Bunton subsided.

"Should have gagged him," Jen muttered. "I remember him from the academy. Slimy little bastard then and he's not improved any."

The tone of voice Jen used, icy cold, shocked Ben. He didn't think he'd ever heard Jen sound this angry before. To judge from Wes' wince, he had heard his wife sound this annoyed. Absently, Ben wondered when that would have been.

Lucas, for his part, simply gave Jen a look.

"So does anyone actually want to tell the accused over here what it is he's supposed to have done?" Eric asked, neatly preventing more wrangling.

Lucas gave a nod. "You're being charged with several temporal felonies," he answered, "which culminate in a charge of Endangering the Timeline."

"Want to run that by us with the help files?" Ben asked before anyone else could say anything. "The words were English, but..."

Lucas nodded again. "Endangering the Timeline means pretty much exactly that. You're being accused of having done something that could potentially upset the 'preferred' timeline." Lucas rubbed his face with a hand. "The temporal mechanics behind the charge are complicated."

"And again," said Eric, "what am I supposed to have done?"

"It's to do with Kim's use of the Quantum Morpher," Lucas answered.

"Kim's what?" said Wes, surprise written large across his face.

"That was ten years ago!" exclaimed Jen. "Of all the ridiculous..." Words apparently failed her, although she turned her glare up in the direction of Bunton and Chisholm.

"I had a freaking broken leg, there was a serious threat to the freaking timeline in this Goddamn century...would someone mind telling me what the hell else I was expected to do?" Eric asked.

Ben was impressed at the restraint. Eric was clearly livid.

Lucas held up his hands. "I know, I was there. If nothing else, I remember having a conversation about plaster casts and how much they itched. Made me seriously glad to live in a century where med-tech is rather more advanced than that." He sighed. "Unfortunately, by the letter of the law -- and by the letter of your contract with Time Force..."

"You have a contract with Time Force?" said Ben only a shade before Mr Collins said much the same thing.

"Only way to keep the morphers in this century," said Wes. "Long story. Not..."

"Um -- actually it wasn't," said Lucas.

There was a long, painful silence.

"What do you mean 'it wasn't'?" Jen asked.

"When Alex...was killed," Lucas explained, "I was promoted into his job." Ben frowned. This wasn't exactly news. "Which meant I had automatic access to all of his files, which included a mission brief from the director of Temporal."

"Which said...?" prompted Wes.

"That at all costs, Eric Myers had to remain in Silverhills."

"When were you planning to leave?" asked Mr Collins, looking puzzled.

"Long time ago," Eric answered tersely. "Roughly ten years. Very long story. Lucas, what did that son of a bitch do?"

"Basically," Lucas replied, "he went to the high-ups -- the Time Force bigwigs -- and talked them into formally contracting you, in particular, and Wes and Jen as a side bar, as official Time Force officers."

Eric stated open mouthed, saying nothing.

"You mean," Jen finally managed, "that the whole thing. The contracts, the morphers being returned to the future...that was Alex bullshit?"

Lucas nodded. "Afraid so."

"It's just as well," said Wes, "that Alex is dead, because otherwise, I might just be tempted to kill him myself."

"Not if I beat you to it," Eric retorted. "I knew it was a mistake. I said it was a mistake. How could I have been so fucking stupid..." And he lapsed into a string of profanity that was both extensive and anatomically questionable.

This was the Eric Ben knew well, although it had been a very long time since Ben had heard and seen him this angry -- and it was hard to judge who he was angrier with. Alex for his machinations or himself for falling for them.

"What you're saying," Eric finally finished, "is that I am screwed courtesy of Alex."

Lucas shook his head. "No."

"Hands up anyone who's confused here," Ben murmured.

"Lucas, you're not making sense," said Wes. "You just said..."

"What I started to say," said Lucas, "was that it was against the letter of the contract. Given the circumstances, and given Kim had Alex's tacit approval -- and yes that matters, since he was, at the time, head of the department you're contracted to -- only an anally retentive idiot would be pursuing this."

"Got two candidates right here," Jen muttered, tossing off another glare in Bunton's direction.

"So if it's this ridiculous and this belated," said Mr Collins, "why on earth is it being brought now?"

Ben thought Lucas mumbled, "Round two," but he wasn't sure.

"Lucas?" Wes prompted, when Lucas made no move to actually answer.

"It's complex," Lucas replied. "And I'm not one hundred percent sure on some of it."

"Lucas, stop dodging the issue," Jen retorted.

"There seems to be some sort of conspiracy going on within Time Force," he replied. "I think, events of the last four weeks bear that statement out."

"You mean Frax and the kids," said Eric.

"Amongst other things," Lucas agreed.

"This is absurd," Bunton broke in. "There is no such conspiracy! Captain Myers is under arrest and it is my job to bring him forward to trial."

"Bunton," Lucas snapped, "check the offence list you should be carrying -- assuming your boss is having this done by the book, and I'd be delighted if he wasn't because that would give me one more thing to fry him over -- and look at the dates and times of the 'transgressions'. The vast majority of them are ten years old. If you have a brain cell to spare, what does that suggest to you? Because what it suggests to me, and what it suggests to everyone else in this room is that someone has a grudge."

Bunton blinked. "You can't talk to me like that!"

"On the contrary," said Mr Collins dryly, "I do believe he just did."

Bunton's face turned red but before he could say anything, Chisholm broke in, "Not all of the offences are that old. In fact, only one of them is." He produced a datapad. "The primary charge is ten years old, but the secondary charge, another serious temporal violation, is less than six weeks' old."

"Let me guess," said Eric dryly. "That would be Kim taking up the Pink Chrono-morpher."

"Yes," Chisholm agreed. "In part. The other part...the main part...relates to Dr Zaskin's experiment that enabled your wife to hold the Chrono-morpher."

"So why isn't Zaskin under arrest?" Wes wanted to know.

"Don't encourage them!" Mr Collins muttered.

"Because Zaskin has no legitimate ties to Time Force," Lucas replied, resignation in his voice. "Eric is Zaskin's boss..."

"I think Michael would debate that," murmured Jen.

"...or seen as." Lucas groaned. "Damn."

"Damn?" Eric's impassive expression wavered.

"Damn is not good, Lucas," said Wes.

"No, damn isn't good," Lucas agreed. "Chisholm -- may I see that datapad?" Silently, Chisholm held the device out. "Thanks."

Silence descended. Ben watched as Lucas read and couldn't help but notice that Lucas' expression was getting more and more alarmed.

"They can't be serious."

"Lucas, what have they said I've done?" Eric asked.

"According to that rap sheet, by taking on Frax and winning, then by including the kids in the Silver Guardians, you've upset several strands of future history. Nothing irreparable, but dangerous enough to warrant being called to task." Lucas handed back the datapad. "It's bullshit. I know it is. Hawking had unofficially confirmed that much to me before he was mysteriously sacked and replaced. Unfortunately," and Lucas' shoulders sagged, "I can't countermand this order."

There was a stunned silence.

"Why is Eric the one carrying the can for me allowing Kim to use my morpher?" Jen finally asked. "It was my decision...well, mine and Kimberly's."

Lucas shook his head, anger rapidly replacing the shock that had been his initial reaction. "I don't know. Even Director Kerin isn't Neanderthal enough to believe that husbands are responsible for their wives' actions. What I do know is that, with a little help from Kim, I can get this straightened out. Can and will."

"Good. I'll call Kim and..."

Lucas held up a hand, stopping Eric in mid sentence. "There's a downside."

"Anyone surprised, please raise your hand now," Ben murmured.

"Which is?" Eric asked.

"You're going to have to go with Tweedle Dum and Lieutenant Chisholm for the time being."

TO BE CONTINUED...