Wes and Eric belong to Disney/Saban. I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Any others you don't recognize are mine.

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.

Red Fire

The Allies

"An hour," Eric said. "Think that'll be enough time for our morphers to get up to speed?"

"They helped by blasting the shit out of the door. More energy in the environment. We should be able to morph for a while, anyway."

"So meanwhile we wait."

"Yeah." Wes went on after a moment. "We have no choice. If I don't give up, they'll blast through the door or melt the lock. You play dead, I'll open the door. When they come inside, we'll call Steve, morph as fast as we can, and get them. If the morphers have a decent charge, we should be okay."

Eric bit back his doubt and fear. Wes was right. It wasn't much of a chance, but it was the only one they had. "Okay," he said. "If they decide to make sure I'm dead, you should have time to morph while they're distracted with me."

"And then I can attack, while you morph."

Fighting back the uneasy conviction that things were bound not to go according to plan, Eric settled back into his spot on the floor. Feeling the increased heat, he unbuttoned his jacket, leaned against the wall, and tried to relax. There was silence for a time.

"What were we talking about?" Wes finally asked.

"Jen. Your undying love."

Wes apparently chose to ignore the sarcasm. "I guess maybe she's back with Alex now," he said. "Maybe even married."

"Does it bother you?"

"Not really. I hope they're happy."

"You don't want her back anymore?"

He heard Wes stir uneasily. "Well, sure, I want her back. I miss her. Still love her."

Eric hesitated. They had rarely discussed Jen, each for his own reasons. He had resolved long ago to keep his opinions to himself, unsure of how much of what he felt was only jealousy. But somehow, now, here, in the dark and the danger, he felt the need to say what he really thought.

"I don't think you ever really loved her."

"What are you talking about?"

"Shit, you wait until the minute she's leaving to tell her you love her? I was watching. You didn't even kiss her goodbye. What kind of crap is that?"

"It wasn't like that between us. We had something special. You don't understand."

"Yeah, I'm much too crude. Never felt that kind of pure and noble love. And I hope to shit I never do."

"Well, I guess I'm just not like you. I can love someone without thinking about sex all the time."

"I'm a realist, Wes. There was nothing really stopping you and Jen. You were both adults. Alex was gone. They even broke up, at the end. If you're in love with someone, you want to have sex with her. Or him. Why the hell didn't you do it?"

"I respected her! Something you wouldn't understand!"

"She probably would've liked a little less respect and a little more action."

"Don't talk about her like that! Shit, you don't know anything about love. All you care about is sex."

There was silence for a long moment. Eric sighed softly, hearing his own bitterness in his voice as he answered, "Yeah. That's right." From Wes's point of view, maybe he deserved it. That was probably the impression he had given, that night just over a year ago, grabbing like that, the first chance he got. But what he had felt had been so much more than 'just sex'... They sat silently and unhappily again for a time.

"Eric?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I said that."

"What, the sex thing? Forget it. Sorry I insulted your saintly love for Jen."

"I did love her."

"I guess." Eric sighed again.

"What, you don't believe me?"

"Honestly? Yeah, I think you loved her. As a friend, and a teammate. But you weren't in love with her."

"I was! I am! Why do you think I'm not seeing anyone else?"

"That's another thing. How long are you going to wait? It's been a year already. How long are you going to use Jen as an excuse to be alone, so you don't have to face the truth about yourself-"

"Don't start, Eric." Wes's voice was deadly with anger. "Don't even try to go there."

"Okay. All right. But I still think you need to get over Jen and get interested in someone else."

"Shit, you keep trying to tell me how I feel! I know better than you do! And besides, I don't see you shacking up with anyone either!"

"Whatever you say, Wes."

"I did love Jen. I was jealous of Alex, when he showed up."

"Right."

"That time when Dad was attacked. Alex came back, and took my morpher. Shit, so many things happened…"

So many things. Eric closed his eyes and leaned his head back. So many things had happened in those few days. To Wes, and to him…

He had been dazed by it all. First Venomark, the city attacked, hundreds of people sick, dying. Horrifying. And of course Wes had been the one to come up with a cure, the one who played the hero. But for once Eric hadn't been resentful. It was the way Wes had looked, so scared, when he came to Bio-Lab looking for his father's help, so worried about his friends. For the first time, Eric had seen him as vulnerable, had felt a sudden, powerful urge to help and protect him. Had wanted to take him in his arms… but of course that was impossible.

Instead he had taken Wes to his father, and stood by him as the Bio-Lab scientists worked to produce the cure. Had made sure he got enough to save his friends. And Wes had been grateful. It was a small beginning for them, and the end of any real hostility. Even later, when Wes had tried to take back the leftover serum, Eric had stopped him, but his heart hadn't really been in it.

Then Ransik had attacked Bio-Lab. Mr. Collins -- Alan -- had come so close to dying, and Eric had faced some unpleasant truths. That he cared about his employer, almost like a father. That Wes would be taking over, if Mr. Collins died. That Wes had every reason to hate or at least distrust him. That he couldn't bear it if Wes fired him, if someone he cared for took away everything he had won for himself. And worst of all, the lurking suspicion that his feelings for Wes had gone beyond that old schoolboy crush, and beyond a physical attraction; that they had deepened into something he didn't want to name.

He had decided that perhaps the best thing would be to leave, to give up, run away; and had started to do it, gone so far as to pack, send in a letter of resignation, and start driving out of town. But something had stopped him. Not Frax, attacking the city. He had already decided to stay. He had found himself unable to leave, unwilling to run out on Mr. Collins, to let down a city in trouble, even to leave the other Rangers when they needed his help, or at least his morpher. And maybe most of all, he couldn't leave Wes.

After the battle with Frax's robot, they had taken another small step, when Eric had been driving back and seen Wes on foot, and offered him a ride. Something so simple…

"Get in. I'll give you a ride."

"Okay."

Wes sat silently for a while as Eric drove. He didn't even ask where Wes wanted to go; he knew. The hospital, the same place where he had already been headed.

"Wes…"

"Yeah?" Wes didn't look at him, eyes on the road, obviously distracted.

"I hope he's okay."

"Thanks." Blue eyes were watching him now.

"I…" But they were already there. No time, and he didn't know what to say, anyway. "I'll find a place to park. You go ahead."

"Thanks." Wes smiled at him as he slid out. "Thanks a lot."

Another step. And then later… After Mr. Collins was out of danger, and he was giving Wes another ride, back to Bio-Lab…

"Were you going somewhere?" Wes asked. He glanced pointedly at the suitcase in Eric's back seat.

"I was," he said, steadily enough. "Look, I need to talk to you."

"Okay."

"In your dad's office. Please."

It felt strange somehow, walking through the hallways of Bio-Lab with Wes beside him. Certainly the people he passed thought so, they got a few puzzled looks. But it also felt right. And finally they were alone again, in Wes's father's large, dark office, facing each other across the desk.

"So what's up?" Wes asked, dropping into the chair as if he belonged there. Which he did, at the moment, until Mr. Collins returned.

"Sir…" Eric straightened up automatically.

"Shit, don't call me sir." Wes looked so indignant Eric almost laughed.

"Suits me." He nodded at the letter he had left that morning, lying on a corner of the desk. "I'd like to get that back."

Wes picked it up. "What is it?"

"My resignation."

"Your resignation?" He stared for a moment, looking astonished. "Why would you resign? I thought you like this job."

"I do like it."

"It's me, isn't it? You thought you were going to have to work for me. Do you hate me that much?"

Embarrassed and uncomfortable, Eric shook his head, eyes on the floor. "I don't hate you at all. But I figured you'd want me gone. Thought I'd save you the trouble."

"You really thought I'd fire you?" Wes stood up and circled the desk to face him. "No, I wouldn't have. You're doing a good job here. I want you to stay."

"But you don't like me."

"That's not true. I like you, Eric. Always have."

"In spite of everything?"

"Yeah…"

Their eyes met again, and held, longer than friendship could account for. Wes licked his lips and blinked, but he didn't look away. Eric moved a step closer, almost reached out, almost touched him, thought he saw something in Wes's face... But in the end he couldn't do it, couldn't take the risk of destroying the new relationship they seemed to have just established. Cursing himself for a coward, but determined not to make another mistake, he dropped his hands behind his back.

"I'd better go. Got work to do." In moments he was walking the corridors again, headed for his office. And wondering; had he given himself away? What he felt, what he wanted, it must have showed. Why hadn't Wes moved back, said something, gone behind the desk? Why had he only watched, and waited?

"Okay, Collins. Time's up!" The voice broke the silence that had fallen between them, shaking Eric back from a haze of memory and conflicting emotion. He looked up in the direction of the door, and then at Wes.

"Well, looks like it's show time," Wes said softly, before getting up, turning on his flashlight, and heading for the door. He paused when he reached it. "Ready?" he asked softly.

"Ready." Eric had stretched out on his stomach, face toward the door, among the boxes, wanting to force the thieves to take a few moments moving them in order to reach him. They would need all the time they could get. He lay unmoving, listening as Wes shouted again.

"Okay! I'm opening the door! Don't shoot!"

"Unlock it, and stand back!" Joe's voice came.

He heard Wes grunt softly as he struggled with the bolt. Probably warped by the heat, Eric thought, hoping it would open. Apparently it did, he heard the sound of metal sliding over metal, and then a thunk. Cautiously slitting an eye open in the suddenly bright light, he saw four men with blast rifles pull the door open. Three of them stepped inside, the other one stood in the doorway. Another two were visible behind him.

Not only that, with a sinking feeling he recognized the protective clothing they were wearing, another item Bio-Lab had developed and then stored away, as being too bulky and restrictive for the Guardians to use regularly. They were like large, bulky bullet-proof vests, but giving some protection from blaster fire. With them, they could take a couple of stun-level shots without passing out, if they weren't hit in the head, and he wasn't willing at this point to use a possibly fatal setting.

One of the men, looking perhaps mid-thirties from what little Eric could see, tall and with sandy brown hair, spoke in the voice of the man who had called himself Joe. "Stand back," he said to Wes, his voice brisk. "Hands up. Don't move. Where's Myers?"

"Over there." Wes jerked his head. "What's left of him."

Eric closed his eyes again as two of them approached, silhouetted against the light shining in through the door. He heard one of them come closer, shoving boxes away. The other was apparently standing back, undoubtedly keeping him covered. He approved their methods, and their discipline, but wished they weren't quite so professional, under the circumstances. Then he needed his own discipline not to jump, as something small and hard poked him painfully in the side. A rifle barrel, he was sure.

"He's not moving," a voice said above him.

"Make sure," Joe's voice came. "Shoot him."

"No!" Wes shouted.

Eric was already moving. He rolled to his back, pushed up with one foot, and kicked the rifle the man over him was holding, knocking it aside long enough for him to lunge upwards. Grabbing the weapon, he pulled, rolled backwards, and flipped the man over his head with a foot in the gut.

The other man near him had hesitated, perhaps not wanting to hit his companion. Eric swung the rifle he still held and batted the weapon out of his hands. Both of his immediate opponents were disarmed. Wes was struggling with Joe and another man, a glance told him. The others were starting to come through the doorway. He took just an instant to shout, "Steve!" into his headset before raising his morpher.

"Quantum Power!" The light and energy transformed him, as always surging into him with a sensation of strength and invincibility. But he could feel that it wouldn't last long, his morpher was operating on a partial charge.

With a smooth, quick motion, he pulled out the Quantum Defender and then hesitated, faced with the same problem as the thieves. He couldn't fire at Joe and the other man without taking the chance of hitting Wes. Instead he shot at the men coming through the doorway, watching them duck back as he aimed. They fell back and started shooting at him around the edge of the doorframe. Eric spun back and took cover himself, behind a box.

As the small room erupted in the sizzle of blaster beams, Eric saw Wes kick Joe away, knock his other opponent down with a punch and dive behind a carton. He breathed a sigh of relief as a burst of light left his partner in his Ranger suit, at least partially protected, for the moment. And then Wes was adding his blaster fire to the general chaos.

There was movement, Joe and his friend darting through the doorway, the thieves intensifying their barrage as the two men Eric had fought ran for it. He got one of them, bringing him down, but the others pulled him out. Then both he and Wes were charging for the door, but the red Ranger, being closer, got there first.

"Wes, watch out!" Eric shouted. Wes slammed into the door as the group of men started to swing it shut, and stayed there, braced between door and frame, starting to push it back open as he continued to shoot with his free arm.

But he was in a bad position, exposed but unable to see or aim around the door, and blocking Eric from firing past him. Then he was struck directly by a beam, and another, starting to sag as Eric grabbed at his arm. A blast went over his head, striking Eric, staggering him. An abrupt flash of light shimmered over Wes, leaving him demorphed, a scream of pain ripping out of him as the heavy metal door crushed him between it and the frame.

One more blast would kill him. Frantic, Eric kicked the door as hard as he could, grabbed Wes's arm again and yanked, pulling him free, then leaped forward to slide the bolt home again as the men on the other side slammed it shut.

"Are you okay?" Eric said, turning back to bend over Wes. He raised his arm and demorphed, then turned on his flashlight.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm all right."

To his relief, Wes was sitting up, hand to his head. In the pale beam of the light, he looked shaken but in one piece. He rubbed his ribs gingerly, and then slowly got up.

"I guess we blew it," Eric said. "They won't try again."

"Yeah. But Steve heard us. I got an answer, just before I morphed."

"What did he say?"

"Just an acknowledgement. No time for more."

"At least he knows we're alive, and need help."

"For now, anyway." Wes started for the other side of the room, limping slightly. Eric caught up and took his arm. "I'm okay," Wes said impatiently, but allowed Eric to help him.

"Steve's careful," Eric said as they settled onto the floor again. "The Guardians must have the building surrounded, he's probably been talking to Joe, trying to get them to give up. Now he'll start moving in, getting in position to attack."

"Soon, he'll make his move. And we have to be ready to back him up. How's your morpher?"

"Not great, but usable for a few minutes at least. Yours is drained again."

"Yeah." He heard Wes sigh. "So we're back to waiting…"

TBC...