Eric, Wes, Jen and all other characters from Power Rangers belong to Disney/Saban. I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.
Gaby is mine.

Rated T: mild language, some violence and sexual references.

A/N: This is a sequel to 'Crossroads' and part of my 'Year of Time' series. It can, however, stand alone, with most of the background from the series being mentioned along the way.

Reviews are always appreciated.

Reversals of Fortune

Mirrorverse - Part 4
- - -

"Are the ropes tight? Sorry, but you won't have to put up with it for long."

Eric decided he didn't really want to think too closely about that statement as the gun barrel pressed against the back of his head finally withdrew. He tried pulling at the bonds tying his arms behind his back, and the ones around his ankles, but without much hope. With a distinct sense of déjà vu, he remembered that this was the second time he had been tied up in less than a day. So much for Jen's perfectly safe little experiment in dimensional travel.

They were in the study on the second floor at the back of the house, Wes, Jen, and himself securely bound and sitting on the carpeted floor, propped against a wall. Wes-two had dropped their morphers on the desk and then relaxed in the chair behind it. Jen-two moved to stand beside him while Eric-two leaned on a corner of the desktop. Trip, Katie, and Gaby were sitting in the three other chairs, and Lucas was pacing in the small space in front of an ornamental fireplace, frowning at them.

"Okay, he's back. We've got all three of them. When are you going to tell us about this plan of yours?" Lucas asked.

Wes-two grinned and shrugged. "Now's as good a time as any, I guess."

"Good. We're listening."

"Okay." He leaned back, arms up, lacing his fingers behind his head. "I think we can all agree that things have gotten too hot around here for comfort. We may have gotten rid of two of Ransik's team, but the rest of them aren't going down so easily. I for one am tired of fighting them, especially since we might lose."

"What choice do we have?" Katie asked. "Ransik won't stop until he gets us. Neither will Nadira, Frax, and Conwing."

"We have a choice now, thanks to them," Eric-two said, nodding at the prisoners.

"I'm curious." Wes spoke up from the floor beside Eric. "Did you expect us to defeat Ransik for you?"

"No. You were a distraction. While they were busy with you, the others were supposed to finish all of you off." Eric-two turned his gaze back to Lucas, Katie, and Trip. "But, as you know, they failed."

"Oh, right, blame us!" Lucas said hotly. "If you three had been there, instead of off hiding somewhere keeping your own asses nice and safe, we could be rid of Ransik right now!"

"Calm down," Wes-two interrupted. "No one's blaming anyone. What's done is done, anyway. The thing is to find a way to use them to our advantage now."

"I thought you said you have a plan!"

"The beginnings of one. We need your help to work out the final details. That's why we're all here now." He looked up at Jen-two. "And we might as well get comfortable. Eric, find some more chairs. Sweetie, why don't you and Gaby bring us all something to eat? Nothing fancy, just a snack. I don't know about all of you, but I'm starved."

It took a few minutes to bring another three chairs from an adjoining room, and for Jen-two and Gaby to return with a large bowl of popcorn, a couple of bags of potato chips, and a plate of crackers and cheese. 'Brain food', Wes-two called it with a laugh. They handed out drinks as they all settled down, with Jen-two perched on the edge of the desk. No one offered the prisoners anything.

"Okay," Lucas said as soon as he had helped himself to popcorn and passed the bowl to Katie. "What's your idea?"

Wes leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the desk. "We have two options here. Either destroy Ransik and his team, or get them to leave and go home to the future. We've tried the first without much success, so now we'll try the second."

"Get Ransik to go home?" Trip asked. "But how? Why should he give up and leave?"

"He'll leave if he thinks we're no longer a problem." Wes took a sip of his soda and held up the glass, studying it thoughtfully. "It occurred to Eric and me that our doubles could be useful as exactly that - our doubles. Let Ransik think we're taken care of."

"You mean..."

"Right. We've already rigged the house with explosives. All I have to do is trigger them-" he held up a small box, "and the place will go up like a firecracker and burn to the ground. They'll be found inside. Tragic. Ransik will figure his mission is accomplished, and return in triumph. With them gone, we're in the clear."

Eric swallowed, almost as shaken by the casual tone and by Eric-two's and Jen-two's calm acceptance as by the scheme itself. All three of these versions of themselves seemed completely willing to kill them in a particularly cruel way, apparently without a second thought. Even this world's Gaby seemed completely comfortable with it, looking more bored than anything else. He exchanged a glance with his own Wes and Jen, seeing the same horror in their eyes.

"Wait a minute." Trip was staring at Wes-two suspiciously. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Yeah, like us," Katie said.

"Our bodies won't be found in the fire. Ransik will know we're still alive, and he won't give up until he gets us," Lucas stated flatly.

"Hm. Maybe you're right." Wes-two sighed. "How about this: we clean out Bio-Lab, take my family money, and start all over somewhere else. Investigating the fire and waiting for the bodies to be identified should at least slow Ransik down."

"But he'll still track us down sooner or later." Lucas blinked, raising a hand to rub his forehead.

"You could be right. Well, can you think of anything better?"

"I'm trying, but..." Now Katie was looking strange.

"You're up to something... I can tell..." Trip swayed. "I don't feel so good."

"Me too..." Katie gasped. "What's... What's happening?"

Lucas dropped his glass and pushed himself unsteadily to his feet. "You - you poisoned our drinks?"

"Nothing so cliché. It was the popcorn, actually. A tasteless, odorless, very fast-acting knockout drug, thanks to Dr. Zaskin."

"You... you traitor...!" Lucas' knees buckled and he slid to the floor. Trip had already quietly collapsed. Katie managed to raise her hands, fingers groping for her morpher, before her eyes rolled up and she toppled from her chair.

"You're all absolutely right," Wes-two was saying cheerfully. "As long as Ransik knows you're still alive, he'd be after you, and us. So we went for the obvious solution. When the house burns down, there'll be six victims, not just three. Besides, I hate to leave loose ends, don't you?" He craned his neck to see them over the desktop. "How rude. They're not even listening."

"Are you going to let him do this?" Jen demanded harshly of her own double. "They're your partners! Your friends! You can't just kill them like this!"

Jen-two shrugged. "Why not? They're just in the way now. We sure don't need them where we're going."

"Where you're going? What do you mean?"

"She means," Eric-two answered, "that we've decided this dimension has lost its charm. Especially after we heard about yours."

"Ours?" Jen said faintly. Eric saw Wes go pale, and felt a wave of sick dread.

"Yes, yours. We would have preferred to stay here, where we've already got a nice little operation set up. We considered just disappearing after the fire, hiding out until Ransik leaves and then returning to pick up where we left off, but it would be rather difficult to explain where your bodies came from. While we have a convenient arrangement with the police, even our friends in the Department would have trouble with six suspicious deaths. Besides, there would always be the possibility that Time Force would find out and send another team to get us. Your dimension sounds like a nice place, with almost as many advantages as ours. Not as much power for us, but we'll change that in time. And one big extra: no Ransik and a Time Force that thinks we're on their side."

"From what you said last night it sounded like you'll be ready to leave very soon, and we could tell you were getting suspicious," Wes-two said. "We went ahead with our plan A: sending you against Ransik in hopes that both of you would be destroyed. Unfortunately, thanks to our former teammates' incompetence, it didn't work out the way we wanted."

"What we said last night? You've been spying on us?" Eric said.

"Yes. I like to know what's going on in my own house." He sat up and hit a button on a control box on his desk. A panel on the bookcase behind him slid aside, revealing a panel of small television monitors. Eric recognized views of the foyer, living room, the upstairs hallway, even the room they were in now... and the bedroom where Wes and Jen had been put. Wes-two grinned at his counterpart and Jen. "You two put on quite a show for us after that conversation. I think I learned a couple of new techniques."

Wes was turning an interesting shade of dull red, whether from embarrassment or fury or both, Eric couldn't tell. Jen's only reaction was narrowed eyes and compressed lips.

"Didn't figure on you getting captured, Eric, but stuff happens," Wes-two went on. "You conveniently escaped without telling Ransik who you are or where you're from, so it's all good. Now that we have this," he held up Jen's communication device, "and we have you, we can put our plan B into action, and escape into your dimension. All we have to do is wait for your Time Force to be ready to pick us up, which I figure is any time now."

"You'll never get away with it," Wes growled.

"Heroic, but unrealistic. Of course we'll get away with it. Ransik will assume we're dead, so Time Force won't be looking for us, even if they had a way to follow us into another dimension. In your world, who's going to suspect? We'll walk right into your lives, and into control of Bio-Lab and Silver Hills."

"Well, close," Eric-two said. "But not quite. I'll walk into control of Bio-Lab. You, sadly, will be staying here." The usual smile was on his face, but the gun in his hand was now aimed right at his partner.

A flash of frighteningly cold anger came and went over Wes-two's face, leaving it blank except for watchful eyes. "I should have expected this, shouldn't I? So much for honor among thieves."

"Yeah. They already found out about that." Eric-two waved the gun in the direction of Lucas, Katie, and Trip. "I figure if we're starting over in a new world, there's no reason for me to be in second place. So - I'm going. You're staying. If you're lucky, you can hide out until Ransik leaves, and then start over."

"How far do you think you'll get without me?"

Eric-two snorted. "Far enough. After I show up and explain how you were killed in this dimension, Mr. Collins will need all the support he can get. I should be in an excellent position to step in and take over - especially if I have the grieving widow at my side." He gave Jen-two a considering look. "How about it, Jen? You're smart enough to know what's best for you. Play along and you can run Bio-Lab with me, which is more than you'll get from him. Or - stay here and take your chances that Ransik will be fooled into leaving."

"Jen?" Wes-two eyed Jen-two.

"Sorry, baby. Share Bio-Lab with Eric or run from Ransik with you? It's not even a choice." She got off the desk and walked to stand at Eric-two's side. "Besides, maybe I could use a - change."

"He's not changing anything," Gaby said. She was on her feet, glaring. "Eric's doing this so he can take me along. Tell them!"

Eric-two kept his eyes on Wes-two, but he grinned. "Sorry, Gabs, but that's not doable. How would I explain you? Besides, I already know all your - tricks. Amusing as you are, it'll be even more fun persuading your double to learn them too."

"You slimy pervert!" Eric strained against his bonds again.

"I prefer to think of myself as - inventive."

"You can't leave me behind! Ransik will get me!" Gaby was facing him angrily.

"You could always try your charms on him. You've gone through just about every man in Silver Hills; why not a mutant or two?"

"You bastard!" With a snarl of rage, Gaby sprang at him, her nails raking at his face. He raised his free hand to protect himself, and slapped her away, knocking her to the floor. But Jen-two had taken advantage of the distraction. With a quick movement, she picked up a small statue from a nearby bookcase and brought it down hard on Eric-two's gun hand. It slipped from his grip. He grabbed at it, but...

"Don't move." The quiet command brought everyone's attention back to Wes-two. His gun was back in his hand and aimed at Eric-two, his face calm but the blue of his eyes as cold as ice. "Thanks, hon, I should have known I could count on you," he said as Jen-two stepped away and Gaby backed off, staring wide-eyed.

"Now, Wes, don't do anything you'll regret," Eric-two said, raising his hands.

"Oh, I won't regret this." Wes-two paused, smiled, and pulled the trigger. The gun fired, the sound deafening inside the closed room. No one moved for a few seconds as the echoes died away, until Eric-two looked down at the red spot growing on his chest, touched it hesitantly, looked up with an expression of confusion, slowly fell to his knees and toppled onto his face with a dull thud.

"You - you killed him!" Gaby gasped, a hand over her mouth.

"Of course I killed him. I killed my own father to get control of Bio-Lab; do you think I'd let a low-life like him get in my way now?" He glanced at Wes, that humorless smile still on his face. "Oh, right, your father is still alive, isn't he? Well, accidents do happen. I intend to be in charge again."

"You... you..." Wes sputtered, obviously unable to come up with a bad enough word. Eric had to admit his own more extensive vocabulary didn't include an accurate description of this kind of monster either.

"Looks like our acquaintance is almost at an end," Wes-two said. "Too bad. I really was starting to like you." He handed Jen's communicator to his own Jen and picked up the device with the trigger for his firebombs. "Well, your Time Force is probably waiting for our call. Might as well get this show on the road."

A movement caught Eric's eye. On one of the television monitors still visible behind the desk, he saw motion, shadowy forms, but recognizable. It might mean a way out of this trap, he realized, carefully keeping any reaction from his face. But they needed another minute or so. Had to keep the other Wes and Jen distracted. Keep them talking. "Wait!" There had to be some way to shake them up... "Sorry, but I've got bad news for you, pal. Ransik knows exactly what's going on, and who we really are. He'll figure out you've gone to our dimension."

"Really? I guess you were lying about not talking to him. Not too surprising; people don't escape from Ransik very easily. Doesn't much matter, anyway; he won't be sure if we escaped or you simply went home. Even having an extra dead Eric will just confuse him. Besides, our Time Force doesn't even have dimensional travel yet. It's almost impossible that they'll ever be able to track down which dimension we've gone to."

Wes, beside him, tensed subtly. He had seen it too. "Then why kill us?" he said. "Just leave us here!"

"Well, I really would like to, but as I said before; I hate to leave loose ends."

"Aren't you burning your bridges?" Jen asked. "What if Time Force can't get you out of here?"

"They will. Even if they don't, we can still disappear and start over somewhere else. Speaking of disappearing, no point in delaying it any longer." He looked down at the box in his hands.

"What...? Look!" It was Gaby, pointing at the monitors.

Wes-two and Jen-two whirled. He snarled, a feral sound of anger, fear, and hate. "Ransik!" He stepped closer to the screens, fists clenched. "How did he get past the alarms and traps? Why isn't anyone watching?" He growled again. "I left Philips in charge of surveillance... I'll cut his throat for this!"

"What are we going to do?" Jen-two sounded panicky.

Wes-two slapped at the device on his desk. They all heard a low boom: a sound Eric recognized as an explosion, in the house but not close. "That should slow them down. Call Time Force. Tell them to get us now." He ran to the door and locked it.

She already had the communicator in her hands; now she fumbled with it, cursing as she dropped it on the desktop and snatched it up again.

"You idiot! Hurry up!"

"I'm trying!" She got the top open and flipped the control. A surge of static buzzed through the room, even as there was a heavy thump on the door and a deep voice shouted from behind it. "Trip!" she cried.

"... Jen? Wha... wrong..."

"I can't get a good signal!"

Wes-two crossed the room and crouched in front of Jen. "Tell us how to tune it in!" he growled, roughly grabbing her chin. She stared up at him defiantly.

Everyone was screaming at once, Wes yelling at his double to leave Jen alone, Wes-two ignoring him and repeating his demand, Jen-two calling Trip, Ransik shouting through the door, Eric calling back to him. A loud and sudden bang blasted through the noise, leaving silence in its wake as the door flew open, revealing a very large, very angry-looking mutant.

Ransik advanced into the room, long black hair flying about his shoulders, glaring out of his one good eye, taking in the situation at a glance. "At last," he said. "I've been waiting a very long time for this."

"You may have to wait a little while longer." Wes-two raised his arm and touched his morpher, followed by Jen-two. In a blaze of light, they stood in the red and pink Ranger suits.

Ransik smiled. "You know the two of you can't defeat me."

"And he's got us to back him up," Nadira said, appearing at her father's side. Conwing silently stepped up next to them. "Your other Rangers can't help you. Give up and make it easy on yourselves."

For a moment, Wes-two seemed to be considering it. Then he leaped forward, his chrono-saber appearing in his hand, and slashed at them. As they dodged, he turned to run, heading for the side door that Eric knew led to the master bedroom and back to the hallway, with Jen-two at his heels. The three mutants had their blasters out in a flash and fired together. The three beams hit the pink Ranger in the back. With a scream, she fell. Wes-two didn't even look back.

He might have made it, but Eric saw Wes move beside him, sliding down and thrusting his bound feet out. Wes-two stumbled over him, staggering, delayed just long enough for another round of blaster fire to strike him. He collapsed, hitting the floor and demorphing.

"After so long... and it's all over in a few seconds," Ransik said softly. He stepped to where a demorphed Jen-two was lying on the floor, dazed, and pulled her upright. "You're under arrest. So are your teammates. Your trial is long overdue, but you'll face justice as soon as we return to our own time."

Wes-two rolled over and looked up, his expression shaken and frightened. "What... what are you going to do to me?" he asked.

"Nothing, beyond taking your morpher. We have no authority to arrest someone native to this time. However, I believe you will still have to deal with the law here."

"Yes, he will. I'll make sure of that." They all turned at the voice. A middle-aged man in a suit entered the room cautiously, staring at the bodies on the floor and glancing around nervously until his eyes fell on Wes-two and narrowed. He was holding what Eric recognized as a miniature tape cartridge in his hand.

"Philips!" Wes-two exclaimed.

"Yes, Philips. Are you really so surprised?"

"You were in on this! You brought Ransik here!"

"Quite. For years I've had to put up with watching you get away with murder, literally. But now - your power is gone. The other Rangers are gone. The Silver Guardians were loyal to Mr. Myers, not to you. Even the police you bribed to look the other way will be unable to ignore this. Now you have nothing."

Wes-two climbed to his feet. "I still have my money. You'll regret turning against me!"

"No." Philips held up the tape. "Not after the police see this. It's an excellent recording of you shooting Mr. Myers, and admitting that you murdered your father. You were a greedy and selfish child, Master Wesley, and I've seen you grow into an unnatural creature with no conscience, one who could kill his own father for money and power. I only regret that I was forced to wait this long to see you pay for your crimes."

"Wait a minute," Eric said. "You were their operative on the inside, weren't you?"

"Indeed, sir. I gave information to Mr. Ransik when I could do so safely, and I arranged his entrance tonight." A corner of Philips' mouth turned up slightly. "Sometimes it's true: the butler did it."

"Ransik." The metallic voice came from the doorway, where the golden form of Frax was standing amid a few cyclobots. "We cannot control the fire. It's spreading. We've made sure the servants are out and notified the fire-fighting authorities, but we should vacate this house as soon as possible."

"Right. Conwing, Nadira, get them out of here." He nodded at the inert forms on the floor. Conwing stepped over to them, heaved both Lucas and Katie over his shoulders, and started out. Nadira demonstrated her mutant strength by lifting Trip and following him. "Frax, take charge of the prisoners and go with them," Ransik went on.

"Um... what about me?" Gaby said. "I didn't do anything!"

"That's not for me to say, young lady. You will be turned over to the local police along with Wesley Collins, probably to be charged as an accessory."

"Couldn't you - you know - let me go? Pretty please? I could make it worth your while." She smiled at Ransik coyly. He shook his head, frowning. She turned her smile on Philips next, who returned it with an expression of disgust. "Oh well. Can't blame a girl for trying," she sighed, and joined Wes-two and Jen-two as Frax herded them out.

Ransik was already kneeling, working on the ropes tying them. Eric felt them give, spent a second or two rubbing sensation back into his hands, and then fumbled with the bonds on his ankles. In another few moments all three of them were climbing back to their feet, wincing at the resulting pins and needles as cramped muscles protested their treatment. Ransik was already at the door, beckoning them impatiently. They stumbled after him, stopping only long enough to grab their morphers and Jen's communicator.

Only half a minute faster and they might have made it. From the top of the curved stairway Eric could see daylight through the front door, and saw Wes-two look back at them from outside, a malicious smile on his face and a hand inside his pocket. As Eric stopped, a trickle of alarm making him look around apprehensively, there was another booming sound - louder this time - a deafening roar knocking them off their feet like a solid object hitting them. A flash of bright light, a wall of heat, pain as a shower of fragments peppered them, a wave of chokingly thick smoke. Eric found himself on hands and knees on a floor suddenly littered with plaster and wood.

"Another firebomb!" he heard Jen gasp.

"We're cut off!" Wes said. The stairway leading down to the foyer and to the front door was now a crumbled ruin, with flames starting to lick up through the debris. They might get through it morphed, but...

"Watch out!" Ransik's shout was almost drowned out by another explosion. This time the high ceiling over the marble floor began to disintegrate, chunks falling to shatter like small bombs. Eric fought back a surge of dismay at seeing this beautiful place destroyed, and glanced at Wes's face, wondering how much worse he must feel.

"Come on," Wes said grimly. "Back past the bedrooms. We can climb out the window onto the roof."

"Right, and then we can morph and jump down," Jen said. "But..."

"What about you?" Eric asked Ransik.

"The little hop from here to the ground? Pah, it's nothing. Just want to make sure you're all right."

Eric caught Jen's surprised look, but she said nothing as they ran through the hallway. Ransik stepped past them and threw the window open with a heave, then climbed out and reached back to help Jen. In another couple of minutes they were standing on the back part of the roof. From here the house seemed almost normal... except for the pillar of smoke rising from the front and the wail of approaching sirens.

"Jen!"

"Trip..." Jen held up her communicator. Eric realized Trip could have been calling them for some time, and they hadn't heard.

"Are you guys all right? What's happening?"

"We're okay. Now." She looked up at Wes and Eric, her face pinched.

"We can transport you any time you're ready."

"Good." Wes cast another grim look at the smoke drifting from this duplicate of his home. "Let's get the hell out of here."

It was fast. Jen had hardly broken the connection when the familiar funnel of silver light appeared, spinning and twinkling in the hazy sky above them. Ransik stepped back, watching, and then raised a hand. "Farewell, and good luck, Rangers."

"Good luck to you, too," Eric said. "And thanks." Wes and Jen nodded.

And then it had them; the wall of light cut them off from this world and took them away, hopefully home, giving him time to wonder what unimaginable alternate realities it was carrying them through, what other possibilities lay out there... Bizarre as this one had been, he knew there must be stranger ones, many of them. Quickly, it faded, and was gone, leaving them standing on the back roof of the Collins house, under a clear blue sky.

- - -

TBC...