This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series.
Blue Bay Harbor, Ninja Academy, six months later...
Cam Watanabe was doing his best to look genuinely exasperated at the blond man who was practically bouncing back and forth before him.
"Come on, Cam," Hunter said, grinning from ear to ear. "I promise you, we'll have a blast."
"But why there, of all places?" Cam exclaimed. "There are so many other interesting - not to mention culturally important - places in California!"
Hunter was not deterred. "Because I've never been there and I'm sure neither have you. And I firmly believe that everyone should have been there at least once in their lives."
"But Hunter, we're grown men, for crying out loud. Why Disneyland?"
"Grown men who've never been there." To Hunter, this reasoning seemed to make perfect sense.
"You've got this firmly implanted in your mind, don't you?" Cam rolled his eyes, but couldn't quite keep his face straight as Hunter came closer, stepping into his private space without hesitation.
"It would be our first weekend alone together, away from here," he said, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, and Cam had to admit to himself that when Hunter put it this way the idea was suddenly starting to hold more and more appeal.
Since the restoration of the Wind and Thunder Academies a year ago, both he and Hunter had put in a ridiculous amount of hours as head teachers of their respective schools, sometimes working for weeks without taking even one day off. There had barely been enough time to sleep, let alone time to spend with each other.
But the hard work had paid off in the end; the academies were once again flourishing, so certainly they could afford a weekend away, couldn't they?
"Besides," Hunter's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "It's only a few hours' drive from here; we'll probably find a really good rate on a hotel room because it's past peak season, and..." he pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, "I found this coupon in this month's Moto Magazine. Two-for-one admission to the park. Do you know how expensive these tickets normally are? Can't just pass up savings like this."
The two partners grinned at each other - until Cam suddenly remembered something else.
"Wait a minute, Blake is coming to visit this weekend. Wouldn't you rather hang out with him?"
"Nope. Blake's coming to visit Tori. They haven't seen each other in a few weeks so he might just get lucky and end up getting some. I don't want to mess this up for him." At Cam's snort, Hunter's smirk grew a little wider. The samurai held his hands up in mock defeat. "All right. Fine. Disneyland. But I'm driving. I want to get there in one piece."
"Deal," Hunter said, pulled Cam closer and planted a kiss on his lips. "Splash Mountain, here we come!"
Silver Hills, a few days later...
Wesley Collins was a man on a mission. First: locate the target. He had already looked in most of the likely places. A quick check of the Silver Guardians' exercise yards had turned up nothing. A consultation with the SG dispatcher and the assignment log had revealed his quarry was not out in the field, at least not on an official assignment. He also wasn't with Alan Collins, Wes's father and the man who owned and ran Bio-Lab, where they both worked. He wasn't in his own office. Or in the cafeteria. That left one more spot Wes could think of.
Figures he'd be in the last place I look, Wes thought as he entered one of the small gymnasium rooms in the SG complex. Anyway, he was now located. Now for phase two: isolate target. Not difficult, luckily the room was empty of anyone besides themselves. Wes closed the door behind him and prepared for phase three: detach target from work and interest him in some fun. Long experience had taught him this would be the hardest part.
Eric barely acknowledged him with a glance and then returned his concentration to what he was doing, which at the moment was bench presses. Wes said nothing, not wanting to distract his partner while he had a very heavily weighted barbell suspended over his chest. He came closer, watching, reflecting with a smile that the sight of Eric's muscles flexing under skin slicked with sweat was very distracting to himself.
Finally Eric heaved the barbell onto the rests with a grunt of effort and looked up, wiping his forehead with one hand. "Hey. What's up?" he asked.
"Funny you should ask." Wes grinned. "Just thought I'd find out what you're doing."
"Well, now you know." He reached for the bar again.
"How much longer are you going to be?"
"Until I finish my workout."
Wes smiled and sat on the edge of the bench, nudging Eric's legs aside. He reached out to trail his fingertips over his partner's stomach, feeling the dampness of the thin t-shirt he was wearing. "Can't you take a break so we could get out of here for a while?"
"Still have to work on my abs."
"Mmm. I love your abs."
"If you want to keep on loving them, I have to do my crunches."
"They're not the only thing I love. And I can think of other ways to exercise."
"I'm on duty. And so are you." Eric's tone was curt, but a smile was beginning to lurk at the corners of his mouth. "What's the hurry, anyway?"
Wes shrugged. "Things have been slow lately. I'm bored."
"You're always bored."
"I won't have any free time at night for the rest of the week. Dad's got a whole string of business dinners set up."
"That's what you get for being the boss's son."
Wes leaned closer and used what he hoped was his strongest argument. "And you look so hot, all sweaty like this..."
"Think so?" Eric's eyes moved quickly to the door, reflecting his usual nervousness about being caught in a public display of affection, but he reached up to grab Wes's uniform jacket and pull him down into a quick but intense kiss. "You know, maybe I could take a long lunch," he murmured softly when their lips parted.
"What a coincidence. So could I."
"My house? I've got food in the fridge."
"We may not have time to eat." Wes planted another kiss as Eric smiled, and stood up. "Don't tire yourself out. At least not yet," he said as he walked to the door.
Meanwhile, Blue Bay Harbor...
"I still can't believe how you set me up," Cam grumbled as he pulled off the main road and onto the unmarked path leading towards the concealed holographic entrance of the Wind Academy.
From the passenger seat came a chuckle. "That picture's going to be priceless. I'll blow it up and hang it over my bed."
Cam threw his lover a dark look. "You put that picture of us riding the Teacup ride over your bed and you can sleep with CyberCam from then on."
Hunter tapped his lips with one finger. "Hmmm, he is your holographic twin, I wonder if he knows that little trick of yours. You know, that thing you do with your..."
"Don't. Go. There."
Hunter just laughed while he fished a rectangular device out of the glove compartment. He depressed a button and a few yards ahead of them, the holographic illusion of a row of oak trees dissolved in a shimmer. Cam drove the car onto the academy grounds, the portal immediately closing behind them again. "I still don't know how you managed to get the park cleaning guy to take that picture. Must've bribed him."
Hunter shrugged, looking smug. "Yup. He was cheap, too. Only five bucks."
Cam's sharp answer died in his throat as they rounded a corner. Instead of the main training plaza, which would usually have been bustling with ninja students of three different colors, they were presented with a picture of utter destruction.
There was broken equipment everywhere; cracked and half-burned wooden practice bokken were strewn about the plaza, the raised platform from where Sensei Watanabe had presented them with their graduation scrolls less than a year ago was smashed to pieces; behind it, the large, red banner with the Wind Academy's symbol on it hung in shreds. Wisps of smoke were still curling upwards from half a dozen smoldering spots and the large community building directly behind the plaza was scorched in at least a dozen places, most of its windows having been blown out.
For a moment, Cam and Hunter were both rendered speechless as a frightening wave of déjà vu washed over them.
"Oh God, not again," Hunter breathed as they both jumped out of the car and ran towards the stone building they had only put the finishing touches on less than a few months before. The double doors of the communal hall stood open and several figures were emerging from inside. A black-robed man Cam recognized as Sensei Chan, surrounded by half a dozen leather-clad students, strode towards them and even from yards away Cam could see the worry lines etched into the older man's face. Sensei Chan spoke before they even came to a halt before him. "Cam, we've been trying to reach you..."
"What happened?" Hunter cut him off.
"We were attacked; it happened only a few hours ago." The old teacher's eyes were blazing with helpless anger. "It was him, Cam. It was Lothor."
Cam was so shocked that his mind blanked out for a moment. He cast Hunter a look. The Thunder ninja's face was alarmingly pale as he wrapped a shaky hand around Sensei Chan's arm. "Are you sure of that?"
The Wind teacher nodded solemnly. "It was so much like the previous attack. It caught us completely by surprise. Suddenly, Lothor – together with a golden robot the likes of which I have never seen before - appeared right in the midst of the training grounds during midmorning practice. There was a blinding flash of light and the next thing we knew, the entire plaza was surrounded by kelzaks as well as dozens of bouncing robot-like creatures armed with lasergun-blades." Sensei Chan made a sweeping motion with his hands towards the training plaza where pieces of bronze metal were strewn across the ground. "They attacked right away, but they focused mainly on Senseis Shane, Tori and Dustin..." he cast Cam a glance, "...and your father." Sensei Chan's pained eyes then went from Cam to Hunter. "Your brother happened to be there, too, Hunter. He was waiting for Sensei Tori."
Cam fought the sudden wave of dizziness that threatened to overcome him. All the former Rangers and Dad... in Lothor's hands?
Next to him, Hunter was swaying precariously as well.
"They fought bravely, we all did, but there were just too many of Lothor's goons. They were overpowered." Sensei Chan looked dismayed. "Lothor teleported them all away. We all tried to get to them before they fled, but there was nothing we could do; it all happened so fast..." Sensei Chan sighed heavily, his gaze sweeping over the wreckage of the main square before it fell back onto Cam. "We would have contacted you earlier, but no one knew where you were."
'Because everyone who knew where we were has been kidnapped,' Cam thought miserably.
Hunter raked his hands through his blond mop of hair. "Do you know what he wants with them? Did Lothor say anything about where he was taking them?"
Sensei Chan shook his head sadly. "No. I'm sorry." The older man looked at the ground, then back at the two head teachers with troubled eyes. "He did say, however, that he'd be back for you two."
"Let him try," Hunter growled.
Cam turned to his partner. "Let's take a look at the surveillance tapes of the attack," he suggested. "Maybe we'll come up with something that way."
Hunter nodded curtly and together they hurried towards a familiar trapdoor imbedded in the ground a few yards away.
Two minutes later, in Ninja Ops, Cam was seated in his old desk chair before the re-built computer system that now served as the elaborate surveillance and security base for both the Wind and Thunder Academies. Hunter stood behind him, peering intently over the samurai's shoulder as scenes from several cameras showed the attack on the training plaza from three different angles simultaneously.
Cam forwarded the tapes to the beginning of the ambush; it began with the flash of light Sensei Chan had mentioned. An instant later, the disturbingly familiar figure in his black leather coat was standing right in the center of the raised ceremonial platform, arrogantly surveying the assembled ninjas from behind his mask. It was undeniably Lothor – and he was flanked by a tall, golden robot and surrounded by dozens of his kelzaks and bronze-clad robots aiming the weapons Sensei Chan had described right into the crowd of students. The ninjas scattered, then regrouped in attack formation – with Shane, Dustin and Tori at the forefront. Words were exchanged between the evil space ninja and the former Red Ranger and Cam desperately wished there was audio to go with the recordings. From another angle they could see Sensei Watanabe striding onto the plaza with Blake by his side. Lothor pointed a gloved finger at Cam's dad, shouting silent words, and Sensei answered back in a more dignified demeanor. He waved his wooden staff and Cam didn't need to actually hear any words to deduce that his father was telling his estranged brother to Be Gone!
Now Lothor threw his head back, undoubtedly emitting a dismissive cackle, and raised his arms. A moment later, the entire screen was filled with rapid movement as the army of kelzaks and robots clashed with the Wind ninja students.
Sensei Chan had spoken the truth; they all fought bravely indeed – even his father was making short work of quite a few of Lothor's black and red clad drones. But only a few minutes into the battle Cam could already tell that the odds were not in the Wind ninjas' favors.
Tori went down first, hit by a shot from one of the bronze robots' blade guns. Blake jumped in to help her only to get tackled by three kelzaks. Dustin was next, pushed to the ground with an assortment of robots and drones holding on to his various limbs.
Shane was the last one standing, but even he eventually had to concede to the overwhelming enemy presence. It took four kelzaks and the blade of one of the bronze-bots at his throat to finally bring him to his knees, though.
Lothor wasted no time. As each former Ranger went down, he pointed a remote-control looking device at them and each was instantly beamed away in a flash of light, together with the kelzaks and robots still holding on to them.
The tall golden robot seemed to be giving most of the battle directions to the drone-army, leaving Lothor to stand back and enjoy watching his old enemies get overpowered. With only Sensei left, Lothor stepped down from the platform, walked straight through the chaos of numerous robot-ninja combats and approached his brother. He gripped the old teacher firmly by his upper arm and held up the remote control.
Cam could clearly see his evil uncle's smirk before he and his father vanished in a flash of light.
Only moments later, the golden robot and the rest of the drone/robot army followed suit.
Cam sat frozen in his chair, staring at the Wind ninja students' subsequent confused hustle-bustle on the screen without seeing any of it at all; his mind was with his father and his friends – wherever they were right now.
An angry growl came from the direction of his shoulder. "This is like...total déjà vu, you know that, right?" Hunter said.
Cam kept his eyes on the computer screen. "Yeah, except this time he didn't take the entire school. Only the Rangers.
"And Dad," he added in a voice not much louder than a whisper.
He felt Hunter's hand on his shoulder. Then the Thunder ninja's voice sounded from behind him. "Jesus – he's settling a score."
It was the same thing Cam had been thinking, but to hear his presentiment spoken out loud sent a wave of ice water through his veins. He turned his head, locking eyes with his partner. "We need to find them. Fast."
Hunter nodded gravely and for a moment Ninja Ops was completely silent as the two young men pondered their options.
Cam spoke first. "I think the first thing we should do is look at where Lothor would be most likely to hide."
Hunter cocked his head. "Well, we blew up his ship, so I guess that narrows the search parameters down to 'Earth'."
Cam blew out a puff of air. "Why is this not making me feel a whole lot better?" he mumbled. Then his eyes narrowed and he turned back to the screen, fingers poised over the keyboard. "Maybe we should tackle this thing from a different angle...Let's see if we can come up with some kind of information on that bad C3PO impersonation he had with him. It definitely wasn't one of his usual monsters. And neither were those bouncing bolt-brains..."
Cam typed into his computer and the screen narrowed down to a close-up of the golden robot. The samurai hit keys in rapid succession and the screen changed. A new window popped up, filled with colorful symbols, dozens of them. Hunter recognized the Wind and Thunder Ranger symbols, but the others were unfamiliar to him. He was smart enough to make an educated guess, though; they were the symbols of Rangers and Power Rangers Teams Past. Cam's Power Ranger Database.
"Let's compare this thing with the catalogued monsters in the Archives," Cam said. "Hopefully, something will come up."
After some more key-punching, the computer emitted a beep and the screen changed to a full-bodied, rotating version of the golden robot. To the right side of the picture, lines of writing appeared. Hunter and Cam both squinted at the screen.
"Frax. Doesn't ring any bells," Hunter said.
"With me neither," Cam concurred, "But it says here that he was the right-hand man of an escaped mutant criminal from the future - some guy named Ransik. The active Rangers team at that time were the Time Force Rangers and they finally defeated Ransik and his gang about four years ago." Cam's brows furrowed. "Strange thing is, though, it says here that Frax was destroyed in the final battle."
By now, Hunter was frowning as well. "Think Lothor rebuilt him somehow?"
Cam shrugged. "I don't know. I don't even know where Lothor came from again all of a sudden. We know he teamed up with Mesogog, but when the Dino Rangers destroyed that freak and his fortress, I figured that that was the end of Lothor as well." He cast Hunter an upward glance. "We haven't seen or heard from him ever since, after all."
A dark look crossed Hunter's face as he glowered at the screen. "Guess it wasn't."
"Yeah, I should have known better."
Hunter took a step forward, propped his hip onto the computer console and folded his arms across his chest, looking down onto Cam intently. "Well, no matter how Lothor somehow survived Mesogog's destruction, our first priority is to find his new base. That's the most likely place he would be holding the others."
Cam nodded. "We should talk to the Rangers who battled Ransik and Frax, then. Maybe they would know of a secret lair, an abandoned hideout, something like that. If the records show that Frax was destroyed, he might feel safe enough to return to an old hiding place – if he thinks no one is looking for him anymore."
"It's a possibility." Hunter looked back at the computer screen. "Do you have any data on those...what were they called again?"
"Time Force Rangers. I'm pulling it up right now." A few more key strokes and Frax's rotating picture was replaced with half a dozen close-up headshots of four men and two women.
Cam pointed. "Well, there were six of them altogether. According to the archives, four of them returned back to their own time to bring Ransik to trial. Two of them stayed behind because they weren't from the future but actually from this time period."
The blond ninja peered at the pictures. "Which ones?"
Cam isolated two headshots; the image of a blond young man with a lighthearted grin and another one of a black-haired, hard-faced man with Asian eyes and a scowl on his face. Ying and Yang immediately came to Cam's mind, but he said, "Wesley Collins, the Red Time Force Ranger, and Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger. Says here they are still active. They are working for a company called Bio-Lab in Silver Hills."
Hunter pushed away from the console. "Just a streak away. Let's go."
Silver Hills, Eric Myers' house...
"Man, Dad and his meetings," Wes complained as the two of them walked from Eric's car to his front door. "Figures he'd call one for just before lunch and expect both of us to be there."
"At least he fed us. Saves some time," Eric answered as he dug in his pocket for his keys.
"And money, right?" Wes grinned.
Eric gave him a quick scowl. Had to keep up his image and pretend to be irritated by Wes's teasing about his fondness for saving money, not that his partner was fooled for a moment. "Just hurry up," he growled as the door opened. "We don't have all day."
"Always the romantic, aren't you?"
"Get your butt in here." He closed the door behind them.
Wes kissed him, hard, the moment the lock clicked, and began to pull him towards the bedroom. He fumbled with the buttons of Eric's uniform jacket, not an easy task with their bodies pressed together. "Since you're in such a hurry, I'll just rip your clothes off..." he murmured.
"Are you nuts? You know how much these things cost?"
"Yeah, I sign the purchase orders, remember?"
They wrestled with the uniforms, trying to undress each other and only getting in each other's way. Eric managed to get Wes's jacket open and pulled it down around his elbows. At least they had already gotten out of the equipment harnesses; he could just picture one of their blasters going off accidentally at an inappropriate time.
Clumsily they bumped into the bed; Eric pushed Wes onto it and triumphantly climbed on to straddle him, reaching up to yank his own t-shirt off. The trousers required another struggle, both of them laughing now before Wes threw him off and pulled down his pants and underwear, and Eric returned the favor. Another few seconds to shed their boots, and then the laughing stopped as they stretched out, skin to skin and mouth to mouth, anticipation melting into reality...
The doorbell rang. They both froze.
"Don't answer. They'll go away," Wes whispered, as if whoever it was could hear them.
The bell rang again, followed by impatient knocking. "Apparently they won't," Eric muttered.
"Are you expecting anyone?"
"Hell, no. Wasn't even expecting to be here myself."
"So just pretend nobody's home."
"Kinda hard to do when my car's parked in the driveway." The bell rang again. Reluctantly Eric got up. "Goddamn it, who the hell goes around bothering people at home...?" he muttered ferociously, reaching for his pants. "Stay there; I'll get rid of them."
"No hitting."
"I'll try to control myself." Unfortunately the sight of his lover on the bed, naked and waiting, did nothing to sooth his annoyance at the interruption. Still grumbling, Eric pulled on his t-shirt, paused at the door long enough to fasten his belt, and peered through the peephole. Two completely unfamiliar faces waited outside, two young men, one dark and one blond. Impatiently, Eric opened the door and glared at them.
They stared at each other for a moment. One of the newcomers was an Asian man wearing glasses, about his own height and a few years younger. The other was a little taller and looked maybe twenty at most.
"Eric Myers?" the Asian man asked.
"Yeah. Who are you and what do you want?"
"My name is Cameron Watanabe. And this is Hunter Bradley." He held out a hand. Eric ignored it. "We're - uh - from Blue Bay Harbor. We came here looking for you and Wesley Collins."
"What the hell for?"
"Look, could we come in and talk?"
"No. If it's Silver Guardian business, call my office and make an appointment." Eric stepped back, reaching to slam the door shut.
To his surprise, the blond man was faster; he pushed forward and matched Eric glare for glare. "I thought Rangers were supposed to help people, not slam doors in their faces," he said in a low but angry voice.
"Listen, kid, me being a Ranger doesn't give you the right to come knocking on my door-"
"Eric, what's the problem?" Wes's voice came from behind him. Eric watched the two visitors sharply as his partner stepped to his side. Their eyes moved from Wes to him and back, but with no visible sign of suspicion.
"Are you Wes Collins?" the blond asked.
"Yeah." With a half-smile, Wes reached out to shake hands. "What can we do for you?"
The Asian man sighed, raising a hand to a green pendant on a cord around his neck. The blond held up his arm, revealing a device strapped to his wrist, a device Eric immediately recognized although it was different in the details of its design from his and Wes's morphers. "We're Rangers, too. Or we were. And we need your help."
To Be Continued...