Eric led Wes down to Tommy's team base of operations. There they found the group huddled behind Hayley working on the computer. Probably looking over old footage of their battle with Janixsaur.
Wes looked around the place in amazement. It was unlike anything he had ever seen before, well, at least in stuff that went beyond science fiction movies and comic books. This place would give Batman a run for his money. And he thought the Animarium was something; this was better. High-tech computers and machinery that almost seemed similar to what his friends from the future had.
"Wow, you weren't kidding about this place."
"Yeah, your father would love this."
The group huddled by the computer heard the two and started walking over to them. Hayley remained in front of the computer continually to run scans and try to gather all the information she could on Janixsaur.
"Good, you guys are here." Tommy's eyes fell on Wes. "Wes, glad you could join us, we missed you yesterday."
"Yeah, I wasn't feeling too good," Wes answered softly. It wasn't that he didn't want to stop by here yesterday. He just didn't feel like it, wasn't in the mood for company.
Tommy glanced over at Eric and got the hint that Wes's mood still hadn't changed from yesterday. The black ranger was beginning to wonder if it had been a mistake in involving Wes in the state he was in. He could be more of a danger than a help.
"Wow, so you're Wesley Collins, the son of Alec Collins!" Ethan walked right up to Wes in amazement. "I've read up on everything your father has worked on at Bio-Lab; someday I hope to do the same, but I'm going to own a multi-million dollar computer business."
Wes got a blank look on his face. He didn't know what to say to the young man. "Ah, thanks. I think."
"Ethan, stop drooling," announced Conner as he grabbed a hold of Ethan's arm and pulled him away from Wes.
"I wasn't drooling. I was making conversation," pouted Ethan.
Kira and Trent ignored the two and walked up to Wes to introduce themselves.
"I'm Kira."
"And I'm Trent."
Wes shook both of their hands. "It's nice to meet you both."
Kira pointed over her shoulder at Conner and Ethan who were still arguing. "And dumb and dumber over there are Ethan and Conner."
Wes grinned. "Ah, Conner, so he's the one who whacked you right on the cheek," laughed Wes looking over at Eric.
Eric just gave Wes a dark and cold stare, one Wes knew all too well. "Yeah, well, I would have had him, if she didn't show up and ruin my concentration," announced Eric looking over at Hayley who was typing away on the computer.
"I heard that," called Hayley.
Wes turned to Eric. "So that's Hayley." Wes nodded his head, smiling at Eric. "Not bad."
Eric just rolled his eyes and nudged Wes in the arm. Eric then faced Tommy; they had fooled around long enough. It was time to get down to business. "So Tommy, other then this Mesagog and Janixsaur business, is there anything else we should know?"
The room fell silent. Tommy sighed and turned his head away. Eric glanced over at the teenagers; even they were quiet. Hayley had even stopped working at the computer and turned around in her chair to look over at the group. She probably knew more than any of them besides Tommy about what was going on and why Tommy had been so secretive those two years ago, she knew things even the teens did not know.
"Tommy…" she started.
Tommy licked his lips. "No. They should know. I owe them that." He faced the teens. "You guys head off to class, you don't want to be late, again."
"What about you?" asked Kira.
"Yeah. Randall's going to fry you, if you don't show up," announced Conner recalling the last time Dr. O was late to teach his class, Randall about killed him.
"I'm sure I can handle her."
"Whatever you say Dr. O, I know you're this big time power ranger and everything, but you have not lived until you felt the wrath of Randall," remarked Ethan as he and his friends left the underground base and headed upstairs.
"Randall?" both Wes and Eric said in union.
"She's the principal at the high school I teach at."
If they hadn't been confused before, they sure were now. "Teacher? You're a high school teacher? Man, what have you been up to?" asked Wes. He hadn't known Tommy for that long, but he had never pinned Tommy as a high school teacher. He figured Tommy to be in a line of work similar to his and Eric's.
"A lot, and most of it started long before two years ago."
Hayley got up from her seat and walked over to the men. She placed her hand on Tommy's shoulder. "Tommy, you don't have to do this." The sound in her voice told both Wes and Eric that whatever Tommy was hiding was big.
"What are you, his girlfriend?" remarked Eric harshly.
Hayley looked like she was about to lose it. She was steaming up with fury. She couldn't believe this guy. He hadn't changed one bit, despite what Tommy had told her about him being a caring and honorable man. He was still just as hard and crude as she remembered. "Why you…"
Tommy pulled her back before she could get anywhere near Eric. "Hayley, it's okay."
Hayley glared at Eric in the eyes, hard, and he did the same right back at her. The tension between them was growing. It looked like at any moment one of them would burst. "Fine! He just better stay in line!" she growled, as she stormed back over to the computer.
Wes just grinned, as he turned to Eric. "Don't even say it Wes."
It had only taken a few minutes for Tommy to lead Wes and Eric into his small office room, upstairs. The three got situated, each taking a seat.
"So…?" asked Eric, wanting to get down to business.
Tommy gulped in hard. This was hard on him. He had a lot on his shoulders. Things no one should ever have to carry. There were things that had happened over the last few or so years that he wished had never happened. This wasn't where he belonged. This wasn't the life he had hoped to be living at this point in his life. He had planned on being married and starting a family, but things had changed and his life got turned upside down.
"It started my first year in college, six years ago. I was a long ways from home, away from everyone." He eyed the two carefully. "You're right about the whole Doctor and high school teaching thing. I hadn't planned on being either one." He hadn't planned on a lot of things. He figured he would end up owning and running a martial arts school or being a police officer, but none of those things had happened.
"So what happened?" asked Wes.
"A year later, on the news, I saw this report where this guy Anton Mercer, he's Trent's adoptive father, was doing a dig. He had uncovered these gems, which we call dino gems, my teams' morphers." Tommy held out his wrist and showed them his rather large bracelet, which had a black shiny stone in the center of it. "No one knew what they were, but I recognized them as something ranger related. Don't ask me how I knew, I just did. So I left the college where I was and ended up moving a lot farther from home than I already was." Tommy sighed heavily; there were times when he wondered what would have happened if he hadn't upped and left and joined Mercer's team. Maybe then none of this mess would have ever happened - or maybe things would be a lot worse?
"So you ended up leaving and joined this Anton Mercer's dig team?" asked Eric. It seemed unlikely to him someone would just up and leave, and go off to join some dig. But then again he didn't know Tommy too well. He didn't know too much about Tommy's past, only that he had been a ranger for a long time.
"Yes. I ended up convincing him I knew a lot more about those gems than he or anyone else did. So for the next few years I worked my way up and ended up being his working partner."
"What happened next? Where did these lizard things you told us about come from?" asked Wes.
And more questions would come. He knew they would. And just by answering these questions more would follow one after another. Problem was there were things he was keeping from everyone, not just the kids, things he was even keeping from Hayley. "We created them." Tommy bowed his head down. Reefside was in danger because of an experiment that had gone wrong.
"What?" Both Wes and Eric couldn't believe it. These creatures, the Tyrannodrones, had been created by Tommy of all people. They just couldn't believe it.
"How is that possible?" asked Wes, still in disbelief.
Tommy got up from his seat and turned away from the two, ashamed probably. "I'm not proud of it. Mercer and I uncovered dino DNA and with our technology from the gems we created them. We had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into. And by the time we did, it was too late. The Tyrannodrones had taken over our base of operations; I barely escaped with my life."
"How long ago did that happen?" asked Eric.
"Four years ago. During that time I stayed low, worked at a beach resort for a short time. I also was in touch with Hayley. Together we stabilized the dino gems and built the underground base and everything you see. She gave up her whole career for me." Tommy turned around with his head down. "She deserves better than to be working at the cyber café. She would be working with NASA or the FBI now, if I hadn't gotten her involved."
Wes and Eric looked at each other. This did explain why Tommy had been in such a hurry to get back. He was preparing for a threat that might come to be. But why hadn't he contacted the other rangers? Why Hayley? Why bring someone from the outside in and tell her everything he knew about being a ranger? Was there something he wasn't telling them?
"Is there anything else?" asked Wes.
Tommy was silent for a long moment, deep in thought. "No. That's about it."
Eric eyed Tommy carefully; the answer had come out rather quickly, making him question it, but he wouldn't press on it, not just yet. But he had the feeling there was more going on here then anybody knew about, even Hayley.
Tommy's morpher beeped. "Go ahead, Hayley."
"Tommy, there's trouble in the park…"
Wes, Eric and Tommy eyed each other, all of them alert and ready to go. "We're on it…" stated Tommy.