Any others you don't recognize are mine.
Rated R : Strong and descriptive but not explicit sexual content, including m/m contact; language; violence.
This is slash, it includes sexual situations between two men. If you're uncomfortable with the idea, don't read this.
Reviews are always appreciated.
"Wes!" Eric gasped, as another blast hit him. He fell, got up, kept going, firing back with the Quantum Defender. A shot seemed to hit its target, the energy beams stopped for a moment. He bent, dragged Wes up, looked around, and headed for the closest doorway. As he glanced back and saw movement, he shoved Wes in front of him, pushed him through into another dark room just as two more blasts struck him. There was pain, so much it numbed him, then the electrifying jolt as he felt himself demorph. With his last trace of strength, he stumbled through the doorway, tried to turn, felt himself fall helplessly. But another form was on his feet, Wes lurched past and slammed the door shut, the sound of the bolt sliding home the last thing Eric heard as the darkness of the room blended into the blankness of unconsciousness.
"Eric? Eric, are you all right?" When he opened his eyes again, a flashlight was glaring in his eyes. It moved away, then up to illuminate Wes's face staring down at him, stark fear in it, quickly vanishing into a smile as he blinked up and raised a hand to his head.
"I'm okay..." he mumbled. "What happened?"
"You got us in here before you demorphed. I locked the door."
"Where are they?"
"Still outside, I guess. We knocked out at least three of them, I think. I heard them moving around."
"How many?"
"I saw at least six. Maybe more."
"Gotta call Steve..." Eric reached for his headset, to call their second-in-command, Steve Miller.
"I tried already. This room must be shielded. Can't get through with the headsets or the phone."
Eric stared at him for a moment before dragging himself into a sitting position. He tried both headset and cell phone himself as Wes watched, more or less patiently. "Damn it," he said softly. "We have to get out of here. With those rifles, they could kill someone. Can't fight them ourselves until our morphers recharge..."
"That'll take hours."
"I know. Let's see if there's another way out."
He took a few more moments before trying to stand up, with Wes's help. They started out, circling the room, Eric cursing softly as they stumbled over almost invisible objects in the darkness, the thin beams of their flashlights the only illumination.
The room was small, for a warehouse, it took only a few minutes to return to the door, after making the circuit. After finding nothing. Eric found a box to sit on and sank down gratefully, Wes dropping to sit on the floor, leaning against the wall.
"What's a damn shielded room doing here, anyway?" Eric demanded.
"Dunno. Maybe there were radioactive materials here or something."
"Great. There goes my chance to have kids."
Wes snorted in laughter, glancing at him quickly and then away. "They wouldn't have put anything too dangerous here. And it's empty now."
Dimly, sounds came from the other side of the door, footsteps, voices, too faint to make out the words. They both sat silently, listening. Then they jumped as there was the unmistakable sizzle of an energy beam. The metal door vibrated for a moment. Another blast, another metallic shudder. Then nothing.
"The door's holding," Eric said tensely.
"For now. We should get on the other side of the room. See what kind of cover we can find."
They got up, explored with their flashlight beams, collected a pile of boxes and packing materials. In twenty minutes they had a makeshift barrier in place, and were slumped on the floor behind its flimsy protection. Eric leaned his back against the wall and closed his eyes, exhausted by the brief exertion.
"You okay?"
Eric moved his light to regard Wes, a few feet away from him. "I'll live. You don't look so great yourself."
"Yeah, being blasted into oblivion kinda takes it out of you."
"Tell me about it." Eric closed his eyes and tilted his head back for a few minutes. It was quiet and almost completely dark now, after they had both turned off their flashlights to save the batteries. He realized there was a very faint light, some kind of glow strips in the ceiling, barely enough for him to make out Wes's face as his eyes adjusted. He tried to relax, letting himself drift as sleepiness hazed into his mind, realized the sensation was the aftereffects of the blasts he had taken, and tried to shake it off. "Wes?" he said. "Talk to me. Don't fall asleep."
"Okay." Wes's voice sounded a little drowsy, too. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I dunno. Your anniversary. What it's like being a Ranger. Anything."
"Funny. Just today I was thinking, about school. The dorm. The guys."
"How we met?"
"I guess... And when we saw each other again, ten years later. That fight with Nadira, remember? The first time the Silver Guardians went into action." He chuckled softly. "You wouldn't shake hands with me."
"Don't remind me. I was such an asshole."
Eric closed his eyes again, sifting through the memories those words brought back. Wes... it had been a shock seeing him again, when he came to town and first joined the Silver Guardians. It was the first time since prep school...
Eric had known he was gay since childhood, since he could remember. He had simply lumped it together with the other ways in which he was different; the drunken, promiscuous mother, the abusive father, the miserable dump they lived in, the constant lack of money. It never seemed all that important, he had few friends anyway, hardly anyone he had to hide the truth from. No one he wanted to be with, no sense of his own loneliness. Until he met Wes.
That had been at one of the low points of his life. Nothing compared to when his father took off or his mother abandoned him, of course. But a time that should have been good, but somehow wasn't. An opportunity, a scholarship to a fancy prep school, the chance for a really good education. For anyone else, it might have been a chance to make wealthy and powerful friends, but not for Eric. Kissing up wasn't in his collection of skills.
So he showed his disdain for his schoolmates, most of whom he considered lazy and stupid, there only because of their fathers' money. Until he met Wes...
"Hi. Wes Collins."
Eric couldn't help smiling at the boy holding out a hand for him to shake, a warm and happy smile lighting his face. A handsome face and an athletic body, he couldn't help noticing. "Hi. I'm Eric Myers," he responded, putting out his own hand.
"You're new here."
"Yeah. Started a few weeks ago. Transferred in."
Wes regarded him thoughtfully. "Myers. Can't say I've heard of your family."
He almost laughed. "You wouldn't have. They're not exactly society."
"Where are you from?"
"A little town up the coast. Canela Beach."
"Sorry, never heard of that either. Your folks still live there?"
"No. They're gone." He saw Wes's expression of sympathy, and let the small deception remain. Better for people to think his parents were dead, than to know the truth. But he wouldn't lie about anything else. "I'm here on scholarship," he said.
"Yeah? You must make good grades. Frankly, half the kids around here just live to party. Maybe if I hang out with you, I'll do a little studying for once." Wes grinned at him again, with that infectious smile. "I'm from Silver Hills, myself... Hey, what are you doing for lunch?"
That had been the first time they met. Wes, who was smart, who was nice, who for whatever reason made an effort to be his friend. Wes, who had the sexiest mouth... Eric had fallen for him, hard, with all the intensity of an otherwise empty heart. Had thought for a while that he might have a chance. Wes dated rarely, had no serious girlfriend. Maybe... Eric had no experience, didn't know what signals to look for, thought there was something in the way Wes looked at him sometimes, but hesitated, afraid to lose even his friendship. And of course, that was exactly what had happened, when he stupidly tried it, or almost did... Wes had run as fast as he could in the opposite direction, just as he'd feared.
With his one friend gone, Eric had sunk further into resentment and unhappiness, starting to hate his schoolmates, even Wes. Maybe particularly Wes. But it hadn't lasted long, his scholarship had ended, and his education with it. With no money, he was forced to drop out.
Ten years in the military had given him another opportunity, and he had taken full advantage of it. The training, the discipline, the companionship of others who had come from similar backgrounds, had filled a void in his life. He had found sex, too, mostly quick and furtive encounters in dark places, always with the fear of discovery. None of them had meant anything beyond the pleasure of the moment, but that was enough.
He had put his childhood behind him, and Wes with it, or so he thought. Except for the times when he was alone, with only himself to turn to for satisfaction, imagining the hands touching him were someone else's -- someone with blond hair and blue-green eyes that crinkled slightly at the corners when he smiled...
And then, ten years later, after the fight with Nadira, there he was. Eric had expected it. Wes lived in Silver Hills, his father owned Bio-Lab. It was inevitable they'd run into each other sooner or later. But he hadn't expected it to be quite so soon.
Wes, looking almost the same as in school, better if anything, a little maturity in his face now, his hair a little longer and looser. Still handsome, still that athletic body, those eyes a unique shade of blue-green, full lips that made him wonder if they felt as soft as they looked...
None of that, he told himself. It's over, it's been over for years, never existed in the first place, don't be a fool, not again. Just say hello and get out of here. He stopped in front of them, all five staring at him blankly, obviously wondering what he wanted. He noticed the others only in passing, a tall, very good-looking Asian man, a shorter, younger Asian man with ridiculous green hair, a tall brown-skinned woman. And the pretty brunette woman next to Wes, standing staring at him with cold eyes, hands behind her back.
He had to take off his sunglasses before Wes even recognized him. And he saw a flash of shock and dismay, the first reaction before Wes smiled and held out his hand. Just a flash, but it was enough. Stung, still fighting his own emotions, Eric clasped his hands behind his own back, said something deliberately insulting, and escaped as soon as he could, running back to the cars.
He had thought it was over. Had hoped it was, that he would never see Wes again, or at least not soon, not often. Just that brief meeting had been enough, more than enough. But it had happened only the next day, when the Guardians went into action and ended up helping the Rangers against another mutant attack. That was when he found out the truth, in that moment when he recognized Wes in the red Ranger's suit, his helmet broken open after a violent fight.
After that, Wes had run off without a word or even a glance for his old school 'friend'. Shaken, burning with envy, resentment, and rejection, Eric had made himself a promise. He would find a way to compete, to make himself Wes's equal, if not superior. He'd find a way to have everything Wes had, to take the place he had given up at Bio-Lab, to show him... he wasn't sure what. And he would never, ever, let Wes know what he really felt.
Back in the present, in a dark room in a dark warehouse, he spoke into the silence. "What was it like the first time for you, Wes?"
"Huh?" The word sounded almost alarmed.
Eric grinned in the darkness. "I don't mean that. I mean the first time you morphed."
"Oh. Well -- it was great, actually. Exciting. It was the first time all of us morphed. Ransik had just arrived, Jen and the others needed me to use the red morpher, so all the morphers would activate."
"Never really understood that. Your DNA is the same as Alex's?"
"No. But similar. We're probably related. Trip was able to modify the morpher so it would accept me."
"Nice trick. You're lucky he was such a genius."
"Yeah." Wes's voice was wistful.
"And they were lucky to find you. Out of all the people in the world, they bump into Alex's relative. His double."
"I guess... Trip thinks it was the timestream, protecting itself. Fate, sort of." He paused. "Anyway, we all morphed for the first time, together. The others knew what they were doing, luckily. It was great... you know the feeling... like nothing can stop you. We kicked butt. I loved it, couldn't wait to do it again."
"Yeah. I know the feeling. The power... it seems to fill you up..."
There was more silence for a few seconds, until Wes continued. "We were lucky you got the Quantum morpher, too."
Eric smiled. "You didn't think so at the time."
"No, you're right about that."
They hadn't been happy at all, when Eric had taken the Quantum morpher. They had tried to get it back. Wes had tried, several times. "Remember the warehouse, Wes?" he asked. "The first time I morphed?"
"Sure. I saved your life, when those cyclobots were about to zap you."
"The second time that day."
"And you were as grateful as usual."
Eric chuckled. Yes, he hadn't been very grateful. Had been a complete jerk. He could still remember the resentment he had felt, the anger, when Wes had saved him, and when he had demanded the box that contained the Quantum morpher.
They had fought back to back, forced to be allies, but then becoming enemies when the moment of truth came, when Eric had claimed the morpher for himself, just before that first time he had become the Quantum Ranger. When Wes had pleaded with him not to do it.
"This isn't about us!"
But of course it had been about them. A lot of it, anyway. About his own desire to have whatever Wes had, to share his power. Did he also see it as a way to share his life? To be a part of it, at least?
"Why did you say that?" he asked now, in a different warehouse, almost two years later.
"Say what?"
"That it wasn't about us."
There was a hesitation. "I -- I knew you hated me. Thought you didn't want to give back the morpher because of that."
"Wes..." Eric sighed. "I never hated you. Not even close. You know that."
Now there was silence. Eric tried to see Wes's face in the darkness, knowing he had just stepped over the line, had reminded him of the one thing he had promised never to mention again. Just as he was taking a breath to apologize, wondering if that would only make it worse, Wes spoke up again.
"Is it getting stuffy in here?"
Startled, Eric sniffed the air. Wes was right. And a chilling thought followed on that realization. "Yeah. This room is shielded. Probably sealed. No ventilation."
"Meaning, we're going to run out of air."
"Yeah," he said reluctantly.
"How long?"
"I don't know. A few hours, if we stay quiet."
"Our morphers should recharge enough by then."
"I hope so." The morphers drew energy from the environment to rebuild their power supply. Here, at night, in a sealed room, there was precious little energy available for them to use. They should be able to morph again before the air ran out. But it would be close.
TBC...