Alex/Wes, Jen, Trip, Lucas, Katie and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. Methos and Duncan belong to Davis/Panzer Productions. I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Reviews are always appreciated.
Alex Drake's Journal, May 7, 3001
Another Immortal who hasn't tried to chop my head off. I'm almost starting to believe we may not all be as bad as I thought. Actually, I'm starting to wonder if I know anything at all about my fellow Immortals. Or some mortals too, for that matter. And Patrick... I've learned more about him tonight than in the last year. Starting with his real name.
Duncan MacLeod of the clan MacLeod. That was how he would have introduced himself once, but clan ties that had meant something fourteen hundred years ago in the highlands of Scotland would earn only blank looks in the world of 3001. Duncan followed Alex Drake into a comfortable apartment; not big and not small, nicely furnished by a man who had had plenty of time to learn his own tastes, and had accumulated the money to indulge them.
"Want anything?" Alex was facing him, his face still not entirely trusting. Not too surprising for someone whose previous encounters with other Immortals had apparently consisted mostly of challenges, followed by a battle to the death.
"No, thank you."
"Then have a seat, and tell me what you know about Patrick Wilford."
"What I know about Patrick..." Duncan settled himself on the sofa and smiled as Alex sank into an armchair. "First of all, that's not the name I know him by. His real name is Methos."
"Methos." Alex's lids dropped a little. He had obviously never heard the name before, and probably was wondering why Methos hadn't trusted him with it. "First name? Last name?"
"Only name, as far as I know. When he was born, I suppose most people only had one name."
"When he was born? How old is he?"
"Six thousand years, give or take a century or two. He isn't sure himself."
"Six thousand..." Alex couldn't hide the surprise on his face this time.
"He's the oldest living Immortal that anyone knows of. By a good margin."
"And - and how long have you known him?"
"A little over a thousand years. On and off."
"How old are you?"
"Fourteen hundred."
"Never thought I'd ever feel young again, but compared to you two..." Alex shook his head, a glimmer of humor showing as his stern exterior cracked for a moment. "Did you know him in 1996, the time he's gone back to?"
"Yes I did. And assuming he wants to change something in his past, I think I know what it is."
"Good." Alex leaned forward, raising his brows expectantly.
"But there's a couple of conditions."
"Like what?" The voice was soft, but the face watching him had gone cold.
"Well - Methos is my friend. I don't want him hurt."
"We don't intend to hurt him if we can help it. What else?"
"I'm going with you."
"No." Still soft, but very firm. "You're a civilian. Untrained."
"I've been in the military. Several militaries, as a matter of fact. I might be a better soldier than you are."
"My team and I are Rangers. You'd slow us down."
This time Duncan grinned. "I've had fourteen hundred years of experience in protecting myself from other Immortals. I'm an expert martial artist and swordsman. Don't worry about me. Besides, we're talking about Methos here. He wouldn't hurt me."
"Wouldn't he?" Alex was leaning back, arms crossed, his face grim. "He's apparently willing to risk changing history, to get whatever it is he wants in the past. How many people might die because of that? How do we know how far he'd go to keep us from stopping him?" He paused. "And I'm sure he didn't survive for six thousand years without fighting. And killing."
"True," Duncan admitted reluctantly. More true than Alex could guess, but that was the old Methos, the one that had been gone for thousands of years. "But if I can talk to him... Maybe he doesn't realize how serious this is; how much damage he could do."
"What makes you think he cares?"
"What makes you think he doesn't? From what he told me, he's been a friend to you. Helped you out when you needed it. Is this what you think of him?"
"I don't know what to think of him. Apparently I don't know him as well as I thought I did. For example, he never mentioned you."
"Methos is..." Duncan tried to find the right words. "You're right, he hasn't survived this long by putting other people first. That includes... a tendency not to trust anyone right away. Remember, you've only known him for a little over a year. To him - to us - that's nothing. He's learned to tell people only what he thinks they need to know, including me. Don't hold it against him, that's just the way he is."
"I get the feeling there's a lot he didn't tell me." Alex waved a hand when Duncan started to answer. "Never mind. Tell me where you think he's gone, and what you think he intends to do."
"Am I coming along?"
"I'll consider it."
Duncan sighed inwardly. "All right." He stared down into his hands for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts. Where to start? He hadn't seen most of what he was about to tell, had heard about it second-hand, and seen what it had done to Methos. Talk about her first. That seemed right.
"Her name was Alexa Bond. A lot like your name, come to think of it. I met her when she was a waitress in a place where I used to hang out, owned by - by a friend. That's how Methos met her too. From what he said it was love at first sight, or maybe things just moved faster because they had so little time."
"So little time. Why?"
"She had inoperable cancer. Her doctors had told her she had less than a year to live. In fact, she didn't want to go out with him at first; she was trying to protect him and maybe herself, trying not to get involved."
"I see. But they did get involved."
"For an Immortal, death is nothing new. Sooner or later, all mortals die. Methos wanted to make the remainder of her life as happy and as exciting as possible, so he took her to all the places he thought she should see before she died, first in America, then Europe. I don't think he realized how deeply he would fall in love with her, or how much her death would hurt him. Afterwards, he seemed to have accepted it. He seemed like the old Methos again, maybe a little quieter, but... recovered, or at least resigned."
"But you think he's gone back in time to save her, using the regenerator he took." Alex frowned. "Do you think that's why he joined Time Force? To be in the position to steal a timeship and do this?"
Duncan shook his head, although the possibility had occurred to him too. "Not likely. He can be devious, but I doubt he's been planning this for years."
"Then why now? He's had opportunities before, why do it now?"
"That's another reason I think saving Alexa is what he wants to do. His - a close mortal friend of his died only a couple of days ago. A woman. I think he always was attracted to her, although it never came to much. The times I met her, she reminded me of Alexa a little."
"I see. So he'll have gone to wherever Alexa is in 1996, to use a regenerator to save her life." Alex's eyes were bleak. "He got the idea from me; I told him how I saved my father in 2001. Maybe he doesn't realize that I was correcting the damage Ransik had caused, setting things back the way they were supposed to be."
"What time exactly did the timeship go to?" Duncan asked.
"Mid-March."
Duncan nodded. "That makes sense. He wouldn't want to take the chance of running into his former self, and he came to Paris at that time in a last attempt to find something to save her. She was in Sacré Coeur hospital, in Geneva."
"Then that's where he'll be." Alex's cool blue eyes remained fixed on his. He wasn't done yet, and after a moment the question Duncan had been hoping wouldn't come - came.
"You called Captain Logan my Watcher. What does that mean?"
"It's not important right now, and I'm not the proper person to tell-"
"I'll decide what's important. And you're not the only one with conditions. Tell me the truth if you really want to come on this mission."
"Meet us at the ship, he said. As soon as possible. So where is he?" Jen's voice was right on the edge between concern and annoyance.
"Yeah, he's had plenty of time to get whatever he needs," Lucas grumbled.
"I'm sure Alex has a good reason," Katie said.
"To be late?" Jen asked. "He's never late."
Trip looked up from the instrument console of the timeship they had prepped for the trip. Against his own better judgment, he spoke up. "Katie's right. Alex must be getting more information. Or maybe something's happened."
"Yeah, what's happened is he doesn't think our time is worth worrying about," Lucas muttered.
Trip sighed but said nothing. They were all worried and tense, and Alex, by delaying them, had made himself a good target for that anxiety. Not a good sign for the success of their mission. A team depended on its leader. Lucas didn't like Alex. Katie would never say so, but she felt the same way. Trip himself... he had faith in Alex, who had once been able to pull them together so well, but even he had been shocked by the cold, insensitive Alex who had joined them in 2001. Jen... he didn't even want to think about what she must be feeling.
"So the Watchers have been around for thousands of years?" Alex stared at Duncan, trying not to let his face show the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. So much he had never known, or seen. So much Patrick - Methos - hadn't seen fit to tell him, not even his real name. And Logan, how could he have kept all this hidden for so many years of working together? So many years of spying on him, keeping records of everything he did, watching him behind his back. And Logan hadn't even been the first...
"They say they've been here as long as we Immortals have." Duncan smiled. "I suspect that's an exaggeration. But yes, thousands of years. They must have been started by someone - a mortal - who found out about us, and decided it was important to humanity to try to learn where we came from, and why we're here."
"What have they found out?"
"Not much, as far as I know. We ourselves don't know the answers to those questions. We're also not supposed to know the Watchers exist. I found out pretty much by accident, and only told a few other Immortals I trust. And of course Methos knows. For a while he was a Watcher himself, the perfect way to hide from them while keeping track of any Immortals who might be a threat to him. Fooled them completely for years."
"And Logan?"
"I didn't know about him until he called me. Surprising, that. They all swear an oath never to interfere with the course of our lives. Scientific method, I guess; they think it'll change whatever's supposed to happen to us. Used to be strict rules against any kind of personal relationship, but they've relaxed that some recently. Probably realized that they can find out more by getting closer to us. Still, they're under orders not to reveal themselves to any Immortal who doesn't know about them." He paused. "Don't hold it against Logan. He was obeying the rules. Trying to do the right thing. The fact that he gave himself away and contacted me just shows how serious this situation is."
"I don't really blame him, but..." There was no real reason to be resentful, Alex knew, and yet that was what he felt, and more. "Just the idea that they've been watching me for hundreds of years, and I didn't know..."
"Yeah, it's a strange feeling."
"Like finding out someone's been following you and - and peeping in your windows." He tried to smile.
"Don't laugh, that's pretty much the way it works sometimes."
"I don't like it." But his feelings were irrelevant now. "I guess it doesn't matter. We've got a bigger problem to deal with."
Alex got to his feet and turned away, walking into his bedroom. It was in the closet, hidden inside a disguised wall safe which could be opened only by his touch, using the same kind of genetic lock that was used to protect the morpher itself. He stood looking down at it in his hand for a moment before returning to the living room.
"I haven't used this in centuries. Time Force has given me a new one, but - somehow it's not the same. If I'm going into action again with my old team, I want to be the original Time Force red Ranger again." He strapped the morpher on his wrist. It felt right, like an old, familiar friend, well worth the effort of having to think up some way to explain how he had it. "I'm ready."
"We should call him," Katie announced.
"Yeah, he wouldn't take this long unless something's wrong," Trip agreed. He waited. Three heads turned, and Jen, Lucas, and Trip all stared at him. "Oh, all right, I'll call." He raised his arm. The morpher doubled as a comm device linked to all Time Force communicators; it should be able to reach Alex wherever he was. "Alex? Alex, are you there?"
To his surprise, something formed above his morpher, a small three-dimensional image of Alex's head, looking back at him with a guarded expression. Usually only the five original morphers carried visual as well as sound, and Alex's new morpher was of a different design. "Alex?" he asked.
"Yes, Trip."
"Uh... are you coming? We're all here."
"Yes. I went home to get a few things. We were just about to head over there."
"'We'?"
"That's right." Alex seemed to hesitate, his eyes moving up to someone Trip couldn't see. "We're going to have a passenger."
Geneva. It had been harder to find than he had thought, but there it was. He looked down on it as the little ship flew high overhead. A beautiful sight: a small city along the shore of Lake Geneva in the fading light of a sinking sun, its trademark fountain, the Jet d'Eau, visible even from this height. It brought back memories of narrow streets, shops and restaurants, parks and gardens... and other, less pleasant images.
He was no longer Patrick Wilford, not in this time and place. He was Adam Pierson again. Just another in the long, long string of names and identities he had used, many of them long forgotten, the closest to a real one being Methos. He sighed. Adam was the name Alexa had known him by, the name she had always called him, even after he had told her the truth. The one she would call him again, after she was cured.
First, however, there were practical problems. He could hardly land a timeship in the middle of the city. Had to find someplace out of the way, where no one would see him come down, and no one would find the ship. Then he would have to walk, or try to hitch a ride. He had worn clothing he hoped would pass as contemporary under the uniform he had now discarded; but he still would be an odd sight, hopefully not so odd that the local police would stop him and ask to see ID.
In a wooded area well outside of town he set down. When the ship door opened Methos stood in the doorway for a time, just breathing the air and watching the distant city lights. Right now, in Paris, his former self was trying desperately to recover the Methuselah stone in a last effort to save Alexa and make her immortal, an effort doomed to failure. It probably wouldn't have worked, anyway, even if they had managed it. The stone hadn't done anything to save Daniel Geiger, the renegade Watcher who had tried to steal it for himself. Still, he felt a moment's sympathy for the Methos who belonged in this time, who would soon watch the woman he loved die.
"No..." he whispered. "Not this time..." This time Alexa would live. History would change. He fought back the uneasy feeling that thought brought and stepped down to the ground, hearing the door slide shut behind him. First stop, the hotel he was living in as Adam Pierson and a change of clothes. Luckily he had kept a detailed journal since his Watcher days and still had the address. Then, in the morning, a visit to Sacré Coeur hospital. After that... a new future waited for them.
"Okay. You said to wait until we had time." Lucas swiveled his seat to face them - Alex in particular - and crossed his arms, his eyes challenging. "We're safely in 1996, and en route to Geneva. Autopilot's engaged, and it'll be an hour at least. What's going on? Why did you bring him?" Now his gaze shifted to Duncan MacLeod.
"I'd like to know where you got that morpher first," Jen said, her tone calm but cool.
Reflexively Alex glanced down. "It's my morpher. The one Wes kept."
"And how did you get it back?"
"I didn't go back in time after it, if that's what you're thinking."
"You haven't answered the question."
"Uh..." Trip interrupted. "Alex could have - could have sort of inherited it. Maybe it was passed down in Wes's family, and eventually Alex got it. I mean, we all kind of assumed he's Wes's descendant, so it makes sense."
"Is that true?" Jen's eyes never left Alex's face.
"Close enough."
"How long have you had it?"
"Since before Time Force built it."
"And you didn't tell us? You must have known what it meant-"
"Not necessarily. A mysterious device passed down to me with no explanation. What exactly would I have known?"
"Okay, forget the morpher," Katie said, heading off the flare of irritation in Jen's expression. "What about him?"
"Duncan knows Patrick, and he knows why he came to this time." He explained quickly, in only a few sentences, keeping it as simple as possible, but there was no way to avoid telling them the basic facts. When he had finished they all stared with expressions ranging from fascination to incomprehension.
"What do you mean, he wants to save a woman he was once in love with? This is a thousand years ago!" Lucas exclaimed.
Katie nudged him sharply. "Don't you get it? If he was alive a thousand years ago..."
"You mean he's an Immie?"
"Yes, he's an 'Immie', and so am I." Duncan spoke up for the first time, his eyes narrowing. "That's why I came along. I've known Patrick - whose real name is Methos - for a very long time. We're friends. I want to help both you and him by stopping him without anyone getting hurt."
"You..." Lucas gulped, his gaze dropping and cheeks reddening slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything."
"Of course you didn't." Duncan smiled slightly and added with heavy irony, "Son."
Again Katie came to the rescue. "Well, I think it's very romantic."
"Unfortunately, it's also very dangerous to the timeline," Alex answered.
"I know; it's just - too bad we can't let him do it."
"I wish we could, too." Alex noticed as Jen gave him a slightly surprised look.
Lucas spoke up after a moment of silence. "Our instruments can locate his ship, once we get there."
"He won't stay in the ship," Duncan said. "I remember he was living in a hotel room, and I'm sure he kept it rented while he was in Paris. He'll go there, get clothes and whatever else he needs. Unfortunately, there are a lot of hotels in Geneva, and I don't remember which one. He was only here for a month or two, so we can't exactly look him up in the phone book."
"We need to find him before he can get to Alexa," Jen said. "Are you sure you can't remember where he's staying?"
"Do you remember where your friends were living twenty years ago, let alone a thousand? Of course, you were barely out of diapers twenty years ago."
"Okay, we get the point." Katie had stepped in again. Vaguely Alex resolved to look into a commendation for her. "So what do we do now?"
Duncan leaned back, linked his hands behind his head, and smiled. "I suggest we find a good landing place, settle down for the night, and find out when visiting hours at Sacré Coeur Hospital start."
TBC...