Wes, Eric, Jen, Alex, Trip, Lucas, Katie, and Mr. Collins belong to Disney/Saban. I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Andrea, Morgan, and 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 story includes slash, which involves sexual situations between two men. If you're uncomfortable with the idea, don't read this.

Reviews are always appreciated. Apologies to those who reviewed last time for not answering, thanks to ff.net's latest glitch, I didn't get to see them until now.

Fall From Grace


Hidden Faces

Alex walked down a hallway at Time Force, alone. My usual condition, he thought wryly. Or it seems that way. Even with other people around him, he had always seemed to find himself alone. Only a state of mind, really, it wasn't as if he didn't have friends, teammates. Even if Jen was the only one he felt really close to. Jen... he could feel himself begin to smile at the thought. Things were finally getting back to where they should be, for him and Jen.

It had been three weeks since he had proposed, and she had accepted. No plans for the wedding, yet, not even a date. She hadn't said anything, and neither had he. That was a slightly uncomfortable thought... as the inevitable image of Wes came to him, like looking in a slightly distorted mirror, the hair lighter, the expression different, too... How many times; when Jen was silent, when she stared into space, when he could tell her mind was somewhere else; how many times was she thinking about him?

Alex shook his head, trying to dismiss sharp stabs of jealousy and anger. He and Jen were engaged again. Soon, they would be married. Wes was a thousand years in the past, safely gone, safely dead for centuries, no threat anymore. Jen would never see him again -- but -- he tried to keep the thought from his consciousness, but it still invaded his mind. If Wes was here, if she could be with him... which one of us would she choose?

With an effort, he brought his thoughts back to when and where he was, a hallway in Time Force Headquarters, the beginning of another workday. He turned a corner, opened a door, and entered the small laboratory where he had been working on and off for the last weeks as a consultant on the Quantum morpher project. To his surprise, the room was empty. He stopped, and stood in the middle of the floor, puzzled. There were normally technicians here. Scientists. The lab should be filled with a quiet buzz of activity by this time of the morning. And they should be waiting for him with the white Quantum morpher already hooked up to the instruments which would activate it and test an array of its functions.

A shrill chirp made him jump. Alex pulled his personal commphone out of his pocket, thumbed it on, and answered the summons. "Alex Drake."

"Alex? Where are you?" It was a familiar voice, Captain Logan, his immediate superior officer.

"I'm in the Quantum lab, sir. Ready for the instrument test."

"What instrument test?"

"The test run of the white Quantum morpher." His brows contracted in puzzlement. "You scheduled it yourself."

"Me? I didn't schedule anything for the Quantum project today. You set up a field trial. Why aren't you here?"

"I set up what? Where?"

"Test area three... What's going on?"

"Don't know... where's the lab staff who are supposed to be here?"

"Everyone's here." Logan's voice sharpened. "Waiting for you to bring the morphers."

"I don't have them." Alex's eyes automatically moved to the back door behind which the Quantum morphers were kept in a locked room. "Hold on. I'd better check."

It only took a moment to run through the door, another to stare at what he had been half-expecting; the security room door standing open, the lock twisted and broken. A step inside and a quick look told him his fears were true. Alex felt his jaw clench as he put the commphone to his face again. "Sir. The lab secure room has been broken into. The Quantum morphers are gone."


"Paperwork... it never ends, does it?" Alan Collins' voice was abstracted as he voiced the usual token complaint, his head bent over the stack of papers Eric had brought for him to sign.

"No, it doesn't, sir."

"Oh well. Only a few more." He dashed a scrawled signature over a few more dotted lines. "Some day you're going to slip a blank check in there, and I'll never know the difference," he added.

"Sir?"

"That was a joke, Eric." He looked up, smiling.

"Oh. Sorry, sir."

"Something on your mind?"

"No. Just busy. Been a lot of work lately."

"Several new clients. I know." Collins' blue eyes regarded him thoughtfully. "Do you need more help?"

"No, sir. Wes, Steve, and I can handle it. No problem."

"Maybe you should think about cutting back on the police work. I know it's important, but we have an obligation to our paying customers first. Don't want you shortchanging them because you're overextended."

"I think we have a good balance, sir."

"I hope so. I don't mean to stop, just to know your limits. I rely on you not to let it get out of hand."

"Yes. But you know how much it means to Wes."

"Yes, I do. But Wes isn't always the most practical person in the world."

Eric felt a hint of a smile lift his mouth. "I hear that. Not that I'm criticizing."

"No, you never do." Another thoughtful blue look, this time making Eric vaguely uncomfortable. "The two of you have been spending a lot of time together. Wes tells me he's going over to your house again tonight."

"Yes. We're going to see a movie or something."

And the next question was completely unexpected, one of Collins' favorite methods of surprising the truth out of people. "Is Wes seeing someone? Dating someone?"

Eric blinked, and made a concentrated effort not to show a stronger reaction. "I -- What makes you think he is?"

"He's been going out a lot at night the last few weeks. I know he's with you sometimes, but -- sometimes he makes up excuses, or just doesn't tell me anything. He's evasive. At the same time, I haven't seen him this happy in years. You two are close. Is he going out with someone he thinks I might not approve of?"

Fervently wishing himself anywhere but in that office, Eric stammered, "I really can't..."

"I know, I'm sorry. Shouldn't have asked. I know how loyal you are, especially to Wes." He leaned on an elbow, eyes wandering to his desk again, and went on. "You know, I'm glad you two have gotten to be so close. You're so different from each other, sometimes I'm surprised. After the other Rangers left, for a while I was worried; he was so depressed, but you've always been there for him; I think that's even helped him get over Jen. And now -- well, if he's found a new girl, I'm happy for him. Hope he knows that -- whatever the problem is with her, he can tell me about it. I'm sure it couldn't be anything we can't deal with." He paused for a moment, stacking the papers.

To his horror, Eric felt his face flushing and tried furiously to stop, which of course only made it worse. Fortunately, Collins was still studying the documents on his desk.

"I think you're a good influence on Wes. He's done a lot of growing up in the last couple of years; he was a good kid before, but I think you've helped make him more responsible and dependable, certainly more serious and mature. I know you've helped him do a good job with the Guardians." He looked up again, and smiled. "No need to be embarrassed. Just telling the truth. You've done a lot of good for my son, and for me. Just wanted to let you know it's appreciated."

Silently biting back a wave of illogical guilt and even shame, Eric nodded. "Thank you, sir," he managed.

"Well, here you go. All signed, sealed, and delivered."

Eric took the papers, straightened to attention, and saluted. "I'd better be going, sir."

"Sure." Collins was already turning his attention to another task, picking up a folder filled with more papers.

Eric was across the room, almost to the door, starting to take a breath of relief, when a last remark brought him to a momentary stop with his hand clutching the knob.

"You and Wes have a good time tonight."


"Alex, calm down."

"Calm down?" Alex turned to face Logan, seeing him sitting behind his office desk, looking infuriatingly relaxed. The rest of his Ranger team -- Jen, Lucas, Katie, and Trip -- sat in their own chairs. All of them were staring at him with varying degrees of sympathy.

"Yes. Pacing and shouting won't do any good."

"Someone's stolen some of our most powerful weapons, and tried to set me up to take the blame! How am I supposed to be calm about that?"

"No one seriously believes you had anything to do with it."

"Is that why I was interrogated for over an hour?"

"You were interrogated because we have to do everything we can to recover those morphers. Now, why don't you just sit down and listen to me."

"Yes, sir." He returned to his chair and sat, seeing Jen, sitting nearby, give him a small, reassuring smile.

"All right. We know the Quantum morphers have been stolen. We know whoever did it tried to put the blame on Alex, by using his computer ID to get everyone out of the morpher lab to see a fake field test. And by arranging for him to enter the lab, alone, right after the theft. However, it must not have been a serious attempt to frame you, Alex, since it was easy to prove you didn't do it."

"Yes. For once I'm glad of the surveillance system," Alex muttered.

"So are all of us, I'm sure. The hallway cameras showed you were not even in the building at the time of the theft. And I'm sure you'd be interested to see who was."

"You already know?"

"Watch." Logan keyed up a display of the surveillance footage on the large wall monitor he used for meetings. It was the typical security video, a slightly fish-eyed view of the hallway just outside the morpher lab, from above. "Here's all of the lab personnel leaving for the 'field test'..." A small group of people were seen coming out of the doors and moving away, talking among each other companionably. "I'll skip the next few minutes. Look."

A single figure approached the door and quickly slipped inside. A figure that obviously wasn't Alex. Logan sped up the video again, then slowed to normal speed as it appeared again, walking out of the doors carrying a small bag. A woman. Average height, slim, blonde, with a sweet and beautiful face. She stopped, deliberately looking up at the camera, and smiled; sending a chill down Alex's spine, as if she could somehow see him. Then she turned, and quickly disappeared from view.

Logan reversed to show her face again. "Alex arrived only three minutes after that. She timed it perfectly," he said quietly.

"Andrea. Damn. How could she... Was that definitely her? Could it have been an impostor?"

"Unlikely. We screen for hologrammatic disguise, as you know. Investigations has identified her DNA at the crime scene. And her fingerprints. And -- we can't locate her. No, that was her, all right."

"But why?"

"Maybe she got tired of waiting for a morpher," Jen said.

"But she could have gotten one legitimately! Can't believe she'd be stupid enough to steal it!" Alex retorted.

"She probably didn't think she'd be selected for the Quantum team," Lucas said thoughtfully. "And she's probably right. She's a great officer -- up to now, anyway -- but after what she did..."

"That was a long time ago."

"She set you up, Alex," Katie said. "Must have known you'd be cleared, but -- she obviously still holds a grudge. I think Jen's right; she wants a more powerful morpher than yours."

"She took all the Quantum morphers," Trip said. "I wonder if she has help. Five of those morphers... And she seemed not to care that we saw her face, as if she doesn't need to worry about us coming after her."

"Hold on." Logan held up a hand to silence them as his deskcomm chirped. He answered, the dampening field preventing them from hearing both sides of the conversation, so that all they could do was watch his face as he exchanged no more than a couple of sentences with whoever was on the other side. They were all sitting up in alarm when he disconnected.

"Looks like Trip's right. One of the timeship hangars is being attacked. By five Quantum Rangers."


"And then he said, 'Have a good time tonight.' Christ."

"Damn." Wes said it softly, his eyes downcast, his heart leaden.

"Yeah." Eric stopped pacing and dropped into a chair in Wes's office at Bio-Lab. They normally didn't discuss anything personal at work, certainly nothing that might give them away, but this time... Eric had come in, the tightly controlled mask he wore when upset firmly in place. It had taken only a few questions for the story to come out. "I felt like the biggest pile of shit in the world," he muttered.

"It's not your fault."

"I know that. But somehow it doesn't help." Eric sighed. "You know what he wants. He doesn't want to come out and just ask you what you're up to, so he figured I'll tell you what he said -- which I just did -- and then you'll decide to tell him."

Wes raised an ironic brow. "You think? Dad's always been good at manipulating people. Nice to see he hasn't lost his touch."

"And it's going to work, isn't it? You're going to tell him."

"I don't see how I can not tell him. Manipulative or not, I guess he means well. He knows something's going on, in fact he's not too far from the truth. If I don't tell him, he'll find some other way to find out."

"Oh, God." As Wes watched in sudden concern, Eric went slightly pale, swallowing nervously, his fingers trembling as he raised a hand to brush his hair back.

Wes got up quickly and rounded the desk to kneel in front of him. "Eric, what's wrong?" he asked.

"What's wrong? I knew you'd probably tell him sooner or later, but -- but now it's sooner." His eyes fixed on Wes's, widening slightly. "What if he blames me? What if he fires me?"

"He won't blame you, and he won't fire you. It'll be okay. You'll see."

"How can you be so sure? This -- this'll change everything."

"Well, what's the alternative? Stop seeing each other outside of work? Cut back to once every two weeks so Dad doesn't get suspicious? Is that what you want?"

"No." The ghost of a smile flickered over Eric's face. In a gesture that was almost as surprising as his uncharacteristic display of weakness, he reached out, running his fingers over the side of Wes's jaw. They were no longer trembling. "No, we can't go back. Do you want me to go with you when you talk to him?"

"No." Wes smiled, although he felt his stomach knot. "I'll have to do this on my own."

"When are you going to do it?"

"No time like the present. Tonight."


She was waiting for him. Alex recognized her instantly, bright blonde hair gleaming in the lights of the timeship behind her and shimmering like a halo, her face cast into shadow, the curves of her body brightly outlined by the enhanced vision of his Ranger suit. He stopped in the middle of the timeship hangar, raising a hand to stop the others as he took another step.

"Andrea."

"Alex. I've been expecting you."

"What do you think you're doing? You won't get away with this."

"Won't I?" She chuckled, a silvery sound. "You used to tell me I could accomplish anything I wanted. Of course, that was back when you used to call me Angel..."

He clamped down an angry reaction. "You took the morphers."

"Always told you I'd be a Ranger someday." She raised her arm, light gleaming over the object on her wrist. The white Quantum morpher.

"Why? Why steal them? Why not wait to get one the right way?"

She shook her head, hair swirling softly. "They wouldn't give it to me. No. One moment, one mistake, years ago, and that's all anyone ever sees when they look at me."

"That's not true. You've made up for it. You've worked so hard, why throw it all away now?"

Her voice was soft, slow, with a quality that chilled him somehow as she answered. "Because I want more than just a morpher. Because Time Force isn't the only one with a mission."

"What do you mean?"

A low laugh reached him. "You'll find out. I have to be going now. Just wanted to say goodbye before we leave."

"You know we can't let you go."

"You can't stop us." She raised the morpher with a gesture so quick it took him by surprise. "Quantum Power!" she shouted, her voice filled with a wild pride and excitement, and a knife-edge of defiance. A bright shimmer of light surrounded her, blazing into life, fading, and leaving her in the black-trimmed white of the white Quantum Ranger, a costume identical to his except with the colors reversed, and jagged edges between them instead of straight.

He reacted, summoned his blaster and aimed, but just a fraction too slowly. She dodged, slipping aside, hand yanking her own blaster from the holster at her hip. He dodged her shot too, but not quite as fast, the edges of it sending a tingling, painful shock through him.

As he staggered, a hand caught his elbow, steadying him. A glance showed him Jen, in her pink Ranger suit, at his side. All of his team had come forward, all now had their weapons and were aiming at Andrea.

"Your suit may be more powerful than ours," he called. "But we have you outnumbered. Give up."

She didn't bother to answer, only laughed again as three shapes stepped from the shadows behind the timeship to join her. Quantum blue, yellow, and pink, all but green. Who, he suddenly realized, must be inside the ship, now fully powered up and ready to take off any moment. He heard Jen gasp softly, and couldn't blame her, the thought occurring that this must something like what Wes felt when he first saw Eric in the red Quantum Ranger suit. All of them were like darker mirror images of themselves, black instead of white trim, and again with jagged edges.

"Well, this has been a pleasure, but we must be off!" Andrea cried. She and her friends started to back towards the door of the timeship.

"Come on!" Alex charged forward, opening fire at the same time, his teammates at his back. The space between the two groups erupted in the bright beams of their blasters, crisscrossing the air, filling his ears with their deadly sizzle. A shot hit him. He heard a groan, in Jen's voice, and tried to find her, but it was too hard to see anything, and another shot hit him. When he looked back, the timeship door was closing.

"Watch out!" It was Trip's voice. Alex ducked as the ship lifted, and suddenly accelerated, straight at them.

"Get down!" he shouted, and dived for the floor. It zoomed over his body, too close, but he didn't see it hit anyone... He rolled up to one knee, seeing with relief that his four teammates were getting up, apparently uninjured.

When they raced outside it was too late, as it had probably been too late all along. A timehole bloomed in the afternoon sky, as black and purple as a bruise, shot with flashes of energy, the stolen timeship already darting into it. They stopped, watching helplessly, as the Quantum morphers disappeared along with it.


TBC...