When?

Lucas sat back in his seat, shaking his head. Just when things didn't look as if they could get worse, they usually did. And in this case, they'd been starting out from dire straits in the first place...

"What do you want to do?" Kerin asked, sounding almost polite.

Lucas glanced at Hawking. "You think you can break through this interference from TFHQ?" Hawking nodded. "And you," Lucas continued now meeting Kerin's gaze via the comm. connection, "can guarantee safety?"

"It's in my own best interests to make sure of that," said Kerin.

"Then," said Lucas, "Hawking will be on his way to Central City in an hour's time. Sorry, doc," he added.

Hawking shook his head. "Nothing to be sorry about, Lucas. I've pulled long shifts before, when necessary. And right now, it's necessary."

"Anything else?" Kerin wanted to know.

Lucas thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes. Have Dr Alicia Roberts standing by. We caught the 'culprit' here, except he may be more victim than villain. I was going to contact Alicia myself, but..."

"If you're already sending one person back to Central City, might as well make it a party," Kerin agreed.

Lucas nodded again. "As far as other action goes, I shall be authorising a party to investigate the TOI facility where Captain Myers was rescued from yesterday."

"You can't possibly hope to find anything left there now!" Kerin objected. "We both agree that The Master is probably long gone."

"It's the only lead we have," Lucas countered. "Unless you've found anything in Central City this morning?"

"You know damn well I haven't," Kerin snorted.

"I will, naturally," Lucas added, "report any and all findings to you as soon as I have them -- as you say, we have to work together on this."

Kerin shot Lucas a venom-filled glare. "Fine, fine. Have your scouting mission."

"I'll keep you updated, Director. Kendall out." Lucas flicked the comm. terminal off and groaned. "This really was all we were missing to make this a full blown crisis."

"I shouldn't speak too soon, Lucas," Hawking advised. "Something tells me more trouble's just walked in."

"Huh...?" Lucas looked round to see the trio of Vengeance Rangers standing in the doorway looking grim. "Do I want to hear this, Alice?"

"You said you were sending someone to the TOI," she said. "We want it to be us."

Lucas' eyebrows lifted. "You do?"

"It's our parents who're missing," said Rick.

"It's something that we can do to help," put in Namir.

"Besides," Alice finished. "Who else have you got?"

~*~

Wes studied the stranger, trying to figure out if he'd heard right. Zordon, huh? This sure wasn't how Tommy or Jason had described him. No sign of a big white head in a tube anywhere. Dark hair falling in his eyes, blue eyes, a general bad boy aura that made Wes devoutly glad Lexia was nowhere nearby... He didn't look like Harrison Ford, but then he wouldn't, not if this was real.

After all, Wes didn't look much like Mark Hamill either.

He folded his arms across his chest as the whoozis sped across the sand. "So where are we going, exactly?"

"To get my ship," Zordon tossed back at him. "This thing's okay for a sprint, but if those goons really decide to come after you, we're gonna need some real power under us."

Wes pursed his lips. Ol' Zordon here sure has the Han Solo attitude right. Hopefully his ship would be in better shape than the Millenium Falcon. He slumped in his seat. Wasn't like they had a choice. They had to get Katie back.

A scene from the movie came to him: Leia cowering back from a floating torture device with a big needle sticking out of it... "Dammit!" he shouted, startling Ben. "Can't this thing move any faster?"

~*~

Al leaned on the roof railing and looked down at the landing pad. He felt singularly useless. Alan Drake was a civilian cargo runner. A good pilot. A husband and father. It was enough in normal life. But this wasn't normal life any more, and the skin that made up Alan Drake felt like a straight-jacket.

Katie was missing, and he was doing nothing to help find her -- because there was nothing for Alan Drake to be doing.

He slammed a fist down on the railing. He could contribute. He had ten years' experience in Time Force as an investigator. He'd led complex investigations. He'd busted criminals -- hell, he'd taken down Ransik once! And none of that counted any more. Because the man who'd done those deeds was officially dead. And worse, he'd promised the very person who was missing now that Alex Collins would stay dead. He pounded the railing again, feeling the blow jar the bones in his hand.

"Breaking your hand's not going to help."

Al glanced round to see Rob looking at him dispassionately. "Not like I can do anything else."

"Tell Lucas the truth," Rob retorted. "You need to be helping find Katie; he needs Alex Collins, interrogator extraordinaire to wring the truth out of Carmen."

"Put me in the same room as Carmen and I'll kill him," Al warned.

"No you won't."

Al rounded on Rob. "Don't try and tell me what I would or wouldn't do because you don't know."

"You won't," Rob repeated. "Because as angry and frustrated as you are, you know -- somewhere in that thick head of yours -- that we need Carmen to nail these bastards."

Al snarled and turned back to the view.

"So are you going to tell Lucas?"

"I can't."

"Bullshit."

"I can't." Again, he swung round to face Rob. "Don't you get it? Alex Collins was a -- a creep. A cold blooded, manipulative bastard..."

"...who helped to make the place safe for kids, puppies and Christmas because he could take the hard decisions, and stand up for them," Rob finished. "Or did you forget the blood, sweat and tears you put in to being a Time Force officer? A good one, at that." Quieter, Rob added, "And if Alex Collins was as dislikeable as all that, why would Ven and I have stuck around as long as we have done? Neither of us are masochists."

Al felt his anger drain away, leaving behind a sense of depression. "I don't want to do this."

"No," Rob agreed. "One word why you have to: Katie."

"I know." Al sighed. "You're right. As usual. I should go find Lucas and hope he doesn't decide to kick my ass first and ask questions later."

"Now why would I want to do that?"

~*~

In lieu of a better idea, seeing as Eric knew very few details of the actual drug beyond what he'd felt under its influence and what he'd seen in the victims, Ven had put Eric through a complete body scan in the hopes of finding out what the tmazacol was doing and finding some way to counter act it. She now looked at the results with a sinking feeling in her stomach. Not again.

"Ven?" Kimberly's soft query drew Ven's attention from the results and the memories that were threatening again.

Ven sighed. She looked through the office window into the main medi-centre. Eric was sitting on the bio-bed. Apart from his eyes, he looked almost perfectly healthy -- a little gaunt, but otherwise OK. "It's bad." She met Kimberly's gaze. "As things stand, Eric has maybe two to three days." And that was being optimistic.

Kimberly looked ashen. "Two days?"

"As things stand."

"You can stop this?"

Ven swallowed. "I don't know," she admitted. "The tmazacol is steadily destroying Eric's entire nervous system. On a limited basis, I could mend the damage, but as fast as I healed one area of damage, another area would probably hit critical. I could keep him alive..."

"But it wouldn't be a life," Kimberly finished dully.

"No. And as a doctor, I don't think I could condone taking that course of action."

"You can't just let him die!" Kimberly whispered.

Particularly not knowing the sort of hideous death this would be, Ven agreed silently. "I've got a day, Kim. That's before this gets to the point where the only thing I'll realistically be able to do is take mercy on him. I'm not gonna quit on this." I'm gonna make sure you don't have to see Eric like I had to see Martin.

~*~

Eric sighed. Kimberly and Ven were, he suspected, discussing the results of the scan. Given that Kimberly hadn't returned to berate him for giving her a heart attack, he presumed the scan results weren't good. The worst thing about his present situation was the perpetual darkness gave his mind plenty of scope for dredging up what he'd seen when he'd helped to shut down the tmazacol project.

The bodies of the beta five victims had been one of the worst things he'd ever seen -- and considering that he'd served eight years in the USMC and had spent a further ten years as a Silver Guardian, dealing with the decidedly weird and potentially gruesome, that really was saying something. The bodies, four of them, had been bloated and swollen -- a couple of them were so badly bloated, the skin had started to split, leaving a bloody ichor to ooze out. It had looked -- to Eric, at least -- as if their bodies had been slowly liquefied from inside to out; something that had to have been both excruciatingly painful and lingering.

Even if we'd got there quicker, there wouldn't have been anything we could do, he noted. Is that the same now?

A knock on the door frame of the medi-centre pulled Eric from his thoughts.

"Hey dad." Alice.

Eric had a sudden thought. If he really was as completely screwed as the poor bastards he'd seen in that lab complex there was no way he wanted Alice to see it. He didn't want Kimberly to see it either, but he had a feeling that trying to keep her out of things wasn't going to happen. Need to talk to Ven...

"Dad? What's wrong?"

Shit. "Nothing, honey. Did you want me for something?"

"And mom 'n' Ven -- Lucas' got some news."

"I'm not sure where mom and Ven are," Eric admitted. "Other than being around here some place." He sighed. "They should be back any second -- you might as well take a chair from the stack over there and take the load off." He inclined his head in the direction he thought the chair stack was probably in -- and was rewarded by a gasp of surprise from Alice.

"How did you...?"

"Observation," he answered, smiling a little, even as he heard her move through the room to grab a chair from the stack. "That plus experience."

"So how many times have you been in hospital since I've known you?" Alice teased.

"This is the fourth." Eric frowned. "You know, out of a ten year period, that's actually not as many as I figured."

"It's probably four more than most people's dads."

"Most people's dads don't work as a Silver Guardian."

"Rick's dad is a Silver Guardian..." But Alice trailed off, unable to finish the thought.

"You said Lucas has news," Eric pointed out. "How's Rick doing?"

He heard Alice heave a sigh. "Mostly OK. He's antsy to get back to the TOI and pull apart the computer system there."

"You really think you'll find anything?"

"Who knows," she replied with a groan. "But it's better to be doing stuff than not."

"You never could sit still," said Eric dispassionately.

Alice snorted inelegantly. "Hello pot, I'm kettle. I still remember mom having to hide your crutches."

Eric opened his mouth to refute the charge, then realised that Alice's point was probably valid. He sighed instead. "You've got an indecently long memory."

"Not that long," said Alice quietly. "Besides, gaining you as a dad was the single best thing to happen to me. Don't think I'll ever be able to forget it."

~*~

Lucas watched as both Al and Rob jumped. Neither of them had seen or heard him come out onto the roof. Al, particularly, looked almost comically aghast. He bit back a smile. "What are you expecting me to kick your ass over, Al?" he repeated.

After an electric pause, Al finally managed, "I can help you with Carmen's interrogation."

"You can?" Lucas enquired, now truly struggling to keep a straight face.

"I...my name wasn't always Alan Drake."

Lucas decided to put Al out of his misery. "I know." Al's jaw flapped open, leaving him to closely resemble a stranded fish. Lucas dug his fingernails into the palm of his hand to try and remain straight faced. "Ignoring the fact that a supposedly civilian cargo runner knows a heck of a lot about Time Force procedure -- and about my job in particular," Al turned puce, "I figured it out when I first met you."

"You didn't say anything."

Lucas offered a shrug. "Should I have done? I had a pretty good idea why you'd done it -- though the how still puzzles me, given Wes, Cole, Taylor and Ben were very clear on what they'd seen." From the way Rob twitched at that, Lucas guessed he had been involved with the 'how'.

"Oh."

"So no ass kicking on my part -- unless you changed your mind about helping to interrogate Carmen. If that happens, all bets are off."

Al shook his head. "It's about the only thing I can contribute right now."

Lucas nodded. "Thank you." Al nodded back, more or less his right shade now. "And on a not unrelated note, I've got a situation update." Al's expression changed. Lucas couldn't help but notice the surge of hope and wished he wasn't about to burst the bubble. "It's not good."

~*~

There was a long pause in the conversation. Alice studied her hands, trying to find the words for what else she needed to say. She sighed. "Dad, can I talk to you?"

"You're doing good so far on that front," Eric joked.

Alice stuck her tongue out at him and rolled her eyes. "I meant seriously."

He smiled faintly in response, probably guessing her reaction. "What's up?"

Just take the plunge, Ali -- get it said. "We...haven't really talked...since...um...since Frax...kidnapped me. Us." Alice swallowed. You can do this. "I -- I know things have been busy...and...everything, but...you -- you do know...I didn't mean what I said?"

"What you said?" he echoed, sounding and looking puzzled.

"The night before...after the Cyclobots tried to kill me," Alice explained, grateful he couldn't see her blush. "I...said stuff I shouldn't."

"Oh. That."

"Yeah." Alice's blush deepened.

"Honey, I knew you didn't mean it when you said it. You were hurt...confused..."

"That's no excuse."

Eric smiled, though there was little humour behind it. "Ali, it might not seem like one to you, but trust me, it's every excuse. Everyone says stuff they don't mean when they're upset -- and you certainly had every right to be upset. The person who'd promised he'd never hurt you'd that way'd very nearly..." He swallowed. "Very nearly killed you..."

"But you didn't mean it!" Alice cut in. "I realised that on the...Saturday morning..." But she trailed off. That Saturday morning had been far calmer and far less fraught. Which, she supposed, was the point Eric was trying to make. "Oh."

"Give yourself a break," Eric advised.

"Yeah. I'll try...no," she added, before Eric could open his mouth, "don't say it."

A smile quirked across Eric's face. "Say what? Do or do not, there..."

Alice swatted him on the arm. "That." He chuckled. "You can be so irritating sometimes."

"Only sometimes? Must be losing my touch."

Alice smiled. She hadn't heard him joke like this since Frax had shown up -- it was a good sound. She stood up and wrapped her arms around his neck in a bear hug. "I am sorry, though. I know what I said must have hurt..."

"It did," he admitted quietly, humour leaving his tone again. "But I understood."

"Did that make it hurt any less?" Eric said nothing and Alice knew what that meant. She'd really hurt him. "Dad, I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Hey -- none of that. You think you have a monopoly on saying stupid or hurtful things in the heat of the moment?" Alice's only response was an incoherent sniff. "Because if you do, when you find Wes and Katie, you might find it interesting to ask them about a particular pain in the ass they had to deal with when Ransik was in Silverhills who regularly said incredibly dumb stuff...and nearly got himself killed doing it, too."

"Who was that?" Alice asked.

"Me."

Alice frowned. He couldn't possibly mean that! "You?!"

"Me."

Alice pulled away, trying desperately not to giggle. The idea of Eric being anything like that was just too weird. "Sorry, dad," she tried and the contained laughter burst out.

Eric smiled. "Don't believe me, huh?"

"Well -- no."

"Don't believe what?" asked a new voice.

Alice looked over her shoulder to see Kimberly and Ven both looking faintly bemused. It had been Ven who'd spoken. "That dad was a pain in the ass," Alice explained as best she could for her continuing giggles.

"I see," said Kimberly, shaking her head.

Finally getting control over her laughter, Alice continued, "Lucas wants to have a meeting ASAP -- he's got news."

Somewhat to Alice's surprise, Ven and Kimberly exchanged glances. What's up with that? Alice wondered.

"You and Alice go on," Ven advised. "Eric and I will follow in just a second -- I need to take one more reading."

Kimberly nodded. "I understand."

Inwardly, Alice winced. The remnants of her amusement died a death. The expression on Kimberly's face, combined with the tone of voice told her there was something serious up. Glancing at Ven, Alice felt her heart sink. It couldn't be...

"Ali?" Kimberly was looking at her.

She looked from Kimberly to Eric to Ven and back. "OK. I want to know what's going on and I want to know now," she said quietly.

"Honey..." Eric began in a tone of voice which told Alice whatever this was, he didn't want her to know.

"Alice, we'll talk later," said Kimberly firmly.

"When is later, mom?" Alice asked. "I'm not a kid any more." She sighed. "I don't need to be protected -- and if it's bad news...and I think it has to be, I want to know now."

There was a long, long moment of silence.

"The drugs...one of the drugs...they had me on is making me sick," Eric finally said quietly.

"How sick?" Alice asked, though the looks on her parents' faces gave her some clue.

"Very."

And even despite having the warning, Alice felt as if the bottom of her stomach had just dropped out.

"It's not all lost yet," said Ven. "There are things I can do -- things I can try."

Alice wanted to take hope from Ven's words, but the expression on her mother's face and the slump of her father's shoulders told another story. No...

~*~

Katie groaned, sitting up slowly. Where was she?

Oh. The bar fight. Right. At least Wes had gotten away; she'd made sure the guards were busy enough so they'd have no opportunity to worry about him.

And then they'd tried to shackle her. Katie grinned. She'd laugh, only her head was pounding. In the end she supposed they'd had to knock her out.

So the question remained: how long had she been out and where was she? She wasn't afraid; Wes would come after her. Unless, of course, he had no idea where to look.

Katie looked around. It was a small cell, all smooth surfaces, nothing that could be turned into a weapon. She swung her legs off the bench where she'd lain and walked around, pacing it off. There was a vague sense of movement under her feet, a slight vibration. They were still underway. But to where?

The door slid open suddenly, admitting a black-clad, helmeted figure and a -- what the hell was that thing?

The man in black approached menacingly, the device floating nearer. Katie could make a pretty shrewd guess as to its function. "I can't tell you anything," she protested. Which was the truth, as she actually knew nothing that could possibly be of interest here -- not even where 'here' was.

The black-clad figure removed his helmet. "On the contrary, I rather think you can."

Katie reared back with a hiss. It couldn't be. "Ransik?!"

TO BE CONTINUED...