Disclaimer: Not mine.
Author's note: Still very AU, I'm afraid.
Warning: Swearing ahead.
Another Time And Place
by Smittysgirl
Part 3
"Erk." Conner gurgled. The Red Ranger's head cleared momentarily, revealing the concerned faces of his colleagues as well as that turncoat turnaboutTrent. He tensed, and before he could struggle free of his restraints he felt Hayley stick him in the shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Conner," she said at great distance. "We can't take the chance."
"Wha?" Conner asked. "Wha's he doing here?"
"Leaving," Trent said tersely. "Goodbye."
"You're not going anywhere," Hayley barked. Trent grimaced, returning to his seat. Hayley patted Conner on the head affectionately, her face already the picture of sirenity. "Trent helped us contain you after your latest episode. Dr. Smith wanted him to come here."
Conner's eyes widened. "Dr. Smitty! Where is he?"
"He was going to take on Zeltrax," Kira shrugged. "He told us to look out for you."
"But...."
"He'll be fine, Conner, but you need to rest, and take your meds."
"I took my meds! At school!"
"What?" Hayley asked, confused. "But when you acted up at the cybercafe, I checked your pill case. You were still fully loaded for the day."
Devin nodded, pulling the plastic tray out of Conner's knapsack and showing it to the restrained teen. "She's right, dude. I was there."
"But I was there! Principal Randall and the nurse saw me take them!"
Hayley shook her head in confusion. "There must have been some mixup with a couple of students' medication. I just hope nobody else has, uh, such a severe reaction to missing a dose."
The indicator light above the sensor bank flashed, and the north wall of the chamber rose revealing a discheveled Terrance Smith.
"Dr. T!" the teens cried jubilantly, racing up to their mentor.
"Did you cream Zeltrax?" Ethan asked hopefully.
Terrance forced a smile at his ward's question, briefly looking back at Hayley with darkened, deadened eyes.
"Dr T, are you all right?" Kira asked.
"And can I go home now?" Treant added.
"No," Terrance said simply. Who of the three he was addressing was not apparent.
"Okay everybody," Hayley clapped hastily, "why don't you all stay here and sort out your problems. Dr. Smith and I have some things we need to discuss upstairs. We'll make snacks or something. It'll be a Power Powwow."
Trent and Conner blanched as she strode across the base and activated the security measures, locking down all egress from Dino Ops save the central staircase. "Devin, we'll call you in a little while to help us serve, okay?"
"Okay, thanks Hayley!" Devin said cheerfully.
Trent groaned. "Do you really want to leave me alone with Conner?"
Hayley grinned. "I'll trust Devin, Cass, Kira, and Ethan to keep the two of you from killing each other."
.
.
.
She ushered her boyfriend and colleague upstairs, depositing him on the couch. "Terrance, what happened back there with Zeltrax?"
His eyes struggled to focus on her. "oh God, Hail ... I never imagined it could have been him. I finally know why Zeltrax wants to destroy me. What I did to him."
"Terrence, what happened?" Kayley asked urgently.
"Did I ever tell you...."
.
.
.
FIVE YEARS AGO...
Dr. Edward Payne wiped the sweat from his brow and took a moment to inspect the monolith towering above the archeological dig.
The younger doctor, freshly graduated, stepped beside him and smiled. "You just can't resist basking in your own reflected glory, can you?"
The older man looked at him with an unexpected strength to his gaze. "I think I've earned it, Terrance. This represents my life's work. The inverse neutronic stabilizer will allow us the ability to date fossils with a thousand times the precision of ordinary carbon dating."
"If it works. Successfully."
"It will," Payne insisted. "Even without Anton Mercer Industries as a financier I am confident this prototype will operate at its optimal efficiency. All work in the lab has passed with flying colors."
"Everything changes in field testing, Eddie." Terrance said softly. "You know that. I just don't want you getting your hopes up. I mean that as your friend, not just your boss."
Payne huffed. "I'm sure it will work," the older man said, sounding irritated. "Now, if you'll excuse me?"
He turned away and walked off, oblivious to Terrance Smith's head-shaking and worried look. "I hope you're right, friend," Terrance said softly.
Payne made his way up the platform to the machine's control panel and began running down the litany of prestart procedures. The Silver Guardian escorts sent by AMI to guard the test site seemed on-edge. Terrance idly wondered if anyone had bothered to tell them what they were guarding.
Terrance sat down on the folding chair and crossed his fingers. He did want Edward Payne to succeed; the two men had spent too much time together in local bars for him not to. As the monolith shuddered, he shot up from the chair.
Small explosions began to erupt across the machine's superstructure, one sending the other man flying over he scaffolding to the ground below. From Payne's grunt, Terrance could access his friend was harmed, but not life-threateningly.
As he raced across the field, a protracted screech split the air, and tendrils of green energy deposited a strange gray creature and what looked like heavily modified Tyrannodrones between them.
"Who in the hell are you?" Terrence yelled, screeching to a halt while he tried to find a way to get to his friend.
"You may call me MESOGOG," it hissed. "You needn't worry about your friend's experiment, Dr. Smith. The inverse neutronic stabilizer works perfectly - provided it has all its components installed!"
From inside his tunic Mesogog produced a sophisticated routing mechanism. "Such a shame how fickle these creations of man can be, eh?"
"You... you bastard!" Terrance yelled. "I won't let you have the device... or Eddie!"
Mesogog cackled. "You fail to understand me, doctor. I have no use for either the machine or its creator. What I cannot allow, however, is for you to have access to those designs. Bring him!"
With that two of the Tyrannodrones lifted the prostrate man, binding him under the arms and dragging him to Mesogog. The creature inspected the older man for a moment, disgust evident on his face.
"So PATHETIC is man," he hissed, "and so FRAGILE!"
With that he grabbed Payne by the neck and twisted.
"EDDIE!" Terrance screamed as a sickening crack was heard.
The creature - Mesogog - simply laughed as it, the Tyrannodrones, the device, and the body of Dr. Edward Payne disappeared.
He turned to face the startled Silver Guardians, rage darkening his handsome features. "Where the hell were you people? A good man is dead because of you!"
The slackjawed expression on the sub-commander's face and the screaming evident from his headset alerted Terrance to the fact that over half the guards were no longer present. He turned towards the nearby quarry, his eyes widening as he saw the Tyrannosaurus Biozord rampaging throughout the firing site for the device.
"Our experiments," Terrance whispered. "He got to it all..."
.
.
.
"I wouldn't know, of course, that Mesogog and Anton Mercer were the same person until Trent joined the team," Terrance said softly.
Oh Terrance," Hayley said, pulling him into a tight embrace. "You couldn't have known. I wouldn't expect you to. I can't believe Edward would blame you either."
"But he does," Terrance said heavily. "And... he wouldn't believe what happened to him even if I told him."
"We'll get through to him." Hayley insisted. "Just like we're doing with Trent. No institution built on fear can sustain itself indefinitely."
Terrance sighed. "We're not doing a great job with Trent, either."
"I'd disagree." Cassidy said softly from the stairwell. "I'm sorry to intrude, but the others were getting restless for their snacks. Dr. Smitty, you have to realize how much good you've already done for Trent. He may not trust us, but he trusts the two of you."
Hayley shooed Terrance back down to Dino Ops. "Just be there for them. It's all you can do right now. And send Devin up to help us if you'd be so kind."
Terrance favored his girlfriend with a smile. "Right." He sighed once more and went down with Cassidy to survey any mess that had been made while he was unburdening himself.
.
.
.
Trent winced as Terrance continued his ministrations on the boy's injured shoulder. "Seriously, Dr. T- I can handle this myself. I stole some medical supplies from my da- Mesogog's lab."
"So I'm just good for stitching you back together, not upkeep and maintenance?" the doctor asked with a ghost of a smile.
"Dr. T...." Trent shook his head. "Look, I'm here because Hayley said so. I appreciate what you're doing, but it'll heal. And I'm safer and you're safer if I'm not here."
"You mean, because of Conner?" Terrance asked mildly. "Trent, he's normally all right. It's just... he needs help, after what Mesogog did to him early on. The reptilian part of his brain is taking over. And as for Mesogog... I'm not going to be in any more danger now than I was before."
"I'm a liability." Trent said firmly. "I was to my biological parents, I was to myself, and I will be to you. Everything I touch I destroy, because everything I touch is tainted by Mesogog."
"Trent, you don't really believe that...." Terrance faltered, because he did, indeed, see the belief in the young man's face and posture. "But you do."
Trent laughed humourlessly. "I do."
Terrance sighed. "I don't know if this means anything through all that hurt, but I respect you. I also respect how you've managed to pull yourself up through all this. You'll be a fine man one day, Trent. The best."
"If I survive. If I keep my Dad from destroying the world. Keep everyone else from suffering Conner's affliction."
"You can't put that on yourself. Not alone. It's not your responsibility."
"It's my father. It's what I did. And because I...."
"I hope the next sentence was not going to end 'I hate myself'."
Trent looked up sheepishly like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "Maybe it was."
"Trent."
"I mean it, Mr. T!" Trent exclaimed, wincing in pain. "This is all my fault! Mesogog twisted my Dad's paternal instincts and is trying to make a new world for me!"
"You can't believe that," Terrance said, taking a seat next to him. "Mesogog still has familial instincts towards you because your father's love is too strong. He'd be doing this whether he cared about you or not, he just gets to conch it in an altruistic motive this way."
He nodded across the base to Conner, being spoon-fed applesauce by Kira. "Conner hates you, and he's still driven to attack humans by his reptile brain. Is he your fault as well?"
"My father did this to him. And I should have known. Instead, I was blithely living my life, working for Hayley, ignoring what was going wrong with my Dad...."
Terrance fought the urge to grab him by the shoulders, instead awkwardly folding his hands over his lap. "Trent, we can always blame ourselves in retrospect for the things we should have seen, or decisions we should have made. You can't live your life wondering what might have gone differently. All we have is the here and now. We need you with us here and now. More importantly, you need us."
"I do?" Trent asked. "Conner hates me, Kira hates me... it really was safer when I was trying to leave town and save you all."
Kira doesn't hate you," Terrance insisted. "She's had her heart jerked around for the last eight months, and you're a part of that. Conner I'll concede, though he does have exaserbating circumstances and a rage problem. But what about Hayley, Ethan, Devin, Cassidy and myself?"
"You're safer without me. My Dad's insane."
"We're safer with you here. Trent, you can save your father and the world better if you'd just be here. Be part of our team. Let our strength enhance ours, and let yours enhance us."
Trent slumped forward, suddenly wincing as he tore a stitch. Terrance sighed, easing him back and tending to the boy's injured shoulder again.
.
.
.
"There now," Kira whispered as she dabbed a smattering of applesauce from the corner of Conner's mouth," don't you feel better?"
"I'd feel better if I was allowed solid foods," Conner groused. "I'm not an invalid."
"Well, we'd kinda like your meds to take effect," Devin said nearby, organizing his camera case. "You know, before we let you go."
"And why is Trent still here?" Conner asked. "Dr. T should know better than to trust Mesogog's son. For all we know, White Boy is turning into a lizard himself."
Kira looked away sharply at that. Devin continued to fiddle with a telephoto lens.
"Nobody can answer me that, can they?" Conner demanded. "He's probably getting intel for Mesogog even now!"
"Looks like he's getting his shoulder stitched to me," Cass answered.
Conner glowered at her. "We need to deal with him now, while he's vulnerable."
Kira turned back, her eyes large and damp. "Conner, have you any idea what we go through with your - problems? The fear for what this must be doing to you? The worry that this is going to be the time we lose you for good? And you would DARE to put that on someone else, even after what Trent did to us? Guilt isn't for victims, it's for survivors!"
"So what?" Conner growled. "The bastard is Mesogog's son!"
"He's Anton Mercer's son," Cass said defensively. "There's a difference. Just like there's a difference between the Conner McKnight I consider my friend and the person I'm speaking to right now."
"I'm still the same Conner, no matter what Mesofreak did to me!" Conner told her desperately. "And I think nothing would be better than to deliver Trent back to his daddy in pieces."
Kira started to cry, tearing up the stairs two at a time. The slamming of the front door a moment later attested to her current whereabouts. Cass favored Conner with a sour look.
"What?" Conner asked, mystified.
"You aren't the Conner McKnight we once knew," Cassidy said softly.
To Be Continued....
Author's note: Still very AU, I'm afraid.
Warning: Swearing ahead.
Another Time And Place
by Smittysgirl
Part 3
"Erk." Conner gurgled. The Red Ranger's head cleared momentarily, revealing the concerned faces of his colleagues as well as that turncoat turnaboutTrent. He tensed, and before he could struggle free of his restraints he felt Hayley stick him in the shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Conner," she said at great distance. "We can't take the chance."
"Wha?" Conner asked. "Wha's he doing here?"
"Leaving," Trent said tersely. "Goodbye."
"You're not going anywhere," Hayley barked. Trent grimaced, returning to his seat. Hayley patted Conner on the head affectionately, her face already the picture of sirenity. "Trent helped us contain you after your latest episode. Dr. Smith wanted him to come here."
Conner's eyes widened. "Dr. Smitty! Where is he?"
"He was going to take on Zeltrax," Kira shrugged. "He told us to look out for you."
"But...."
"He'll be fine, Conner, but you need to rest, and take your meds."
"I took my meds! At school!"
"What?" Hayley asked, confused. "But when you acted up at the cybercafe, I checked your pill case. You were still fully loaded for the day."
Devin nodded, pulling the plastic tray out of Conner's knapsack and showing it to the restrained teen. "She's right, dude. I was there."
"But I was there! Principal Randall and the nurse saw me take them!"
Hayley shook her head in confusion. "There must have been some mixup with a couple of students' medication. I just hope nobody else has, uh, such a severe reaction to missing a dose."
The indicator light above the sensor bank flashed, and the north wall of the chamber rose revealing a discheveled Terrance Smith.
"Dr. T!" the teens cried jubilantly, racing up to their mentor.
"Did you cream Zeltrax?" Ethan asked hopefully.
Terrance forced a smile at his ward's question, briefly looking back at Hayley with darkened, deadened eyes.
"Dr T, are you all right?" Kira asked.
"And can I go home now?" Treant added.
"No," Terrance said simply. Who of the three he was addressing was not apparent.
"Okay everybody," Hayley clapped hastily, "why don't you all stay here and sort out your problems. Dr. Smith and I have some things we need to discuss upstairs. We'll make snacks or something. It'll be a Power Powwow."
Trent and Conner blanched as she strode across the base and activated the security measures, locking down all egress from Dino Ops save the central staircase. "Devin, we'll call you in a little while to help us serve, okay?"
"Okay, thanks Hayley!" Devin said cheerfully.
Trent groaned. "Do you really want to leave me alone with Conner?"
Hayley grinned. "I'll trust Devin, Cass, Kira, and Ethan to keep the two of you from killing each other."
.
.
.
She ushered her boyfriend and colleague upstairs, depositing him on the couch. "Terrance, what happened back there with Zeltrax?"
His eyes struggled to focus on her. "oh God, Hail ... I never imagined it could have been him. I finally know why Zeltrax wants to destroy me. What I did to him."
"Terrence, what happened?" Kayley asked urgently.
"Did I ever tell you...."
.
.
.
FIVE YEARS AGO...
Dr. Edward Payne wiped the sweat from his brow and took a moment to inspect the monolith towering above the archeological dig.
The younger doctor, freshly graduated, stepped beside him and smiled. "You just can't resist basking in your own reflected glory, can you?"
The older man looked at him with an unexpected strength to his gaze. "I think I've earned it, Terrance. This represents my life's work. The inverse neutronic stabilizer will allow us the ability to date fossils with a thousand times the precision of ordinary carbon dating."
"If it works. Successfully."
"It will," Payne insisted. "Even without Anton Mercer Industries as a financier I am confident this prototype will operate at its optimal efficiency. All work in the lab has passed with flying colors."
"Everything changes in field testing, Eddie." Terrance said softly. "You know that. I just don't want you getting your hopes up. I mean that as your friend, not just your boss."
Payne huffed. "I'm sure it will work," the older man said, sounding irritated. "Now, if you'll excuse me?"
He turned away and walked off, oblivious to Terrance Smith's head-shaking and worried look. "I hope you're right, friend," Terrance said softly.
Payne made his way up the platform to the machine's control panel and began running down the litany of prestart procedures. The Silver Guardian escorts sent by AMI to guard the test site seemed on-edge. Terrance idly wondered if anyone had bothered to tell them what they were guarding.
Terrance sat down on the folding chair and crossed his fingers. He did want Edward Payne to succeed; the two men had spent too much time together in local bars for him not to. As the monolith shuddered, he shot up from the chair.
Small explosions began to erupt across the machine's superstructure, one sending the other man flying over he scaffolding to the ground below. From Payne's grunt, Terrance could access his friend was harmed, but not life-threateningly.
As he raced across the field, a protracted screech split the air, and tendrils of green energy deposited a strange gray creature and what looked like heavily modified Tyrannodrones between them.
"Who in the hell are you?" Terrence yelled, screeching to a halt while he tried to find a way to get to his friend.
"You may call me MESOGOG," it hissed. "You needn't worry about your friend's experiment, Dr. Smith. The inverse neutronic stabilizer works perfectly - provided it has all its components installed!"
From inside his tunic Mesogog produced a sophisticated routing mechanism. "Such a shame how fickle these creations of man can be, eh?"
"You... you bastard!" Terrance yelled. "I won't let you have the device... or Eddie!"
Mesogog cackled. "You fail to understand me, doctor. I have no use for either the machine or its creator. What I cannot allow, however, is for you to have access to those designs. Bring him!"
With that two of the Tyrannodrones lifted the prostrate man, binding him under the arms and dragging him to Mesogog. The creature inspected the older man for a moment, disgust evident on his face.
"So PATHETIC is man," he hissed, "and so FRAGILE!"
With that he grabbed Payne by the neck and twisted.
"EDDIE!" Terrance screamed as a sickening crack was heard.
The creature - Mesogog - simply laughed as it, the Tyrannodrones, the device, and the body of Dr. Edward Payne disappeared.
He turned to face the startled Silver Guardians, rage darkening his handsome features. "Where the hell were you people? A good man is dead because of you!"
The slackjawed expression on the sub-commander's face and the screaming evident from his headset alerted Terrance to the fact that over half the guards were no longer present. He turned towards the nearby quarry, his eyes widening as he saw the Tyrannosaurus Biozord rampaging throughout the firing site for the device.
"Our experiments," Terrance whispered. "He got to it all..."
.
.
.
"I wouldn't know, of course, that Mesogog and Anton Mercer were the same person until Trent joined the team," Terrance said softly.
Oh Terrance," Hayley said, pulling him into a tight embrace. "You couldn't have known. I wouldn't expect you to. I can't believe Edward would blame you either."
"But he does," Terrance said heavily. "And... he wouldn't believe what happened to him even if I told him."
"We'll get through to him." Hayley insisted. "Just like we're doing with Trent. No institution built on fear can sustain itself indefinitely."
Terrance sighed. "We're not doing a great job with Trent, either."
"I'd disagree." Cassidy said softly from the stairwell. "I'm sorry to intrude, but the others were getting restless for their snacks. Dr. Smitty, you have to realize how much good you've already done for Trent. He may not trust us, but he trusts the two of you."
Hayley shooed Terrance back down to Dino Ops. "Just be there for them. It's all you can do right now. And send Devin up to help us if you'd be so kind."
Terrance favored his girlfriend with a smile. "Right." He sighed once more and went down with Cassidy to survey any mess that had been made while he was unburdening himself.
.
.
.
Trent winced as Terrance continued his ministrations on the boy's injured shoulder. "Seriously, Dr. T- I can handle this myself. I stole some medical supplies from my da- Mesogog's lab."
"So I'm just good for stitching you back together, not upkeep and maintenance?" the doctor asked with a ghost of a smile.
"Dr. T...." Trent shook his head. "Look, I'm here because Hayley said so. I appreciate what you're doing, but it'll heal. And I'm safer and you're safer if I'm not here."
"You mean, because of Conner?" Terrance asked mildly. "Trent, he's normally all right. It's just... he needs help, after what Mesogog did to him early on. The reptilian part of his brain is taking over. And as for Mesogog... I'm not going to be in any more danger now than I was before."
"I'm a liability." Trent said firmly. "I was to my biological parents, I was to myself, and I will be to you. Everything I touch I destroy, because everything I touch is tainted by Mesogog."
"Trent, you don't really believe that...." Terrance faltered, because he did, indeed, see the belief in the young man's face and posture. "But you do."
Trent laughed humourlessly. "I do."
Terrance sighed. "I don't know if this means anything through all that hurt, but I respect you. I also respect how you've managed to pull yourself up through all this. You'll be a fine man one day, Trent. The best."
"If I survive. If I keep my Dad from destroying the world. Keep everyone else from suffering Conner's affliction."
"You can't put that on yourself. Not alone. It's not your responsibility."
"It's my father. It's what I did. And because I...."
"I hope the next sentence was not going to end 'I hate myself'."
Trent looked up sheepishly like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar. "Maybe it was."
"Trent."
"I mean it, Mr. T!" Trent exclaimed, wincing in pain. "This is all my fault! Mesogog twisted my Dad's paternal instincts and is trying to make a new world for me!"
"You can't believe that," Terrance said, taking a seat next to him. "Mesogog still has familial instincts towards you because your father's love is too strong. He'd be doing this whether he cared about you or not, he just gets to conch it in an altruistic motive this way."
He nodded across the base to Conner, being spoon-fed applesauce by Kira. "Conner hates you, and he's still driven to attack humans by his reptile brain. Is he your fault as well?"
"My father did this to him. And I should have known. Instead, I was blithely living my life, working for Hayley, ignoring what was going wrong with my Dad...."
Terrance fought the urge to grab him by the shoulders, instead awkwardly folding his hands over his lap. "Trent, we can always blame ourselves in retrospect for the things we should have seen, or decisions we should have made. You can't live your life wondering what might have gone differently. All we have is the here and now. We need you with us here and now. More importantly, you need us."
"I do?" Trent asked. "Conner hates me, Kira hates me... it really was safer when I was trying to leave town and save you all."
Kira doesn't hate you," Terrance insisted. "She's had her heart jerked around for the last eight months, and you're a part of that. Conner I'll concede, though he does have exaserbating circumstances and a rage problem. But what about Hayley, Ethan, Devin, Cassidy and myself?"
"You're safer without me. My Dad's insane."
"We're safer with you here. Trent, you can save your father and the world better if you'd just be here. Be part of our team. Let our strength enhance ours, and let yours enhance us."
Trent slumped forward, suddenly wincing as he tore a stitch. Terrance sighed, easing him back and tending to the boy's injured shoulder again.
.
.
.
"There now," Kira whispered as she dabbed a smattering of applesauce from the corner of Conner's mouth," don't you feel better?"
"I'd feel better if I was allowed solid foods," Conner groused. "I'm not an invalid."
"Well, we'd kinda like your meds to take effect," Devin said nearby, organizing his camera case. "You know, before we let you go."
"And why is Trent still here?" Conner asked. "Dr. T should know better than to trust Mesogog's son. For all we know, White Boy is turning into a lizard himself."
Kira looked away sharply at that. Devin continued to fiddle with a telephoto lens.
"Nobody can answer me that, can they?" Conner demanded. "He's probably getting intel for Mesogog even now!"
"Looks like he's getting his shoulder stitched to me," Cass answered.
Conner glowered at her. "We need to deal with him now, while he's vulnerable."
Kira turned back, her eyes large and damp. "Conner, have you any idea what we go through with your - problems? The fear for what this must be doing to you? The worry that this is going to be the time we lose you for good? And you would DARE to put that on someone else, even after what Trent did to us? Guilt isn't for victims, it's for survivors!"
"So what?" Conner growled. "The bastard is Mesogog's son!"
"He's Anton Mercer's son," Cass said defensively. "There's a difference. Just like there's a difference between the Conner McKnight I consider my friend and the person I'm speaking to right now."
"I'm still the same Conner, no matter what Mesofreak did to me!" Conner told her desperately. "And I think nothing would be better than to deliver Trent back to his daddy in pieces."
Kira started to cry, tearing up the stairs two at a time. The slamming of the front door a moment later attested to her current whereabouts. Cass favored Conner with a sour look.
"What?" Conner asked, mystified.
"You aren't the Conner McKnight we once knew," Cassidy said softly.
To Be Continued....