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.
"Well?" Hunter asked for at least the tenth time.
"Almost." Cam looked up for a second to catch his teammate and lover's eye with a reassuring glance before bending over his laptop again, trying to narrow in on the homing signal that CyberCam's tweaked program was transmitting. Beside him at the table in the Collins living room they were using as a workspace, Trip was mumbling something to himself as he made some adjustment to his own scanning equipment. "I've got a direction and a distance. Just have to locate it on the map..."
"Reefside," Trip said.
"Huh?"
"A town called Reefside, not far from here." He looked up. "CyberCam's tracking signal is coming from just outside it. A small island, it looks like."
"Christ! Mesogog's island!" Hunter exclaimed. "Why didn't we think of that? Lothor teamed up with Mesogog; he was probably there before!"
"Looks like an underground location," Trip continued.
"So it could have survived the explosion of Mesogog's fortress," Cam said. "Might even have some leftover equipment and stuff, and it would be a good place to hold prisoners. Yeah, it makes sense."
"Well - let's go!" Wes said.
"Can't argue with that," Jen said with a grim smile. "We can summon the Time Flyers and get there in a few minutes."
"Excuse me, sirs?" They all looked up to see Philips in the entrance, his eyes wide and his expression uncharacteristically flustered. "Ladies..." he added with a nod at Jen and Katie. "I am very sorry to interrupt, but perhaps you should turn on the television."
I must destroy... Frax did not feel satisfaction in the human sense as his new robot stalked the downtown streets of Silver Hills with footsteps as heavy as thunder, only the sensation of his programming completing itself. The zord swung a long arm into the top of a building, crumbling the masonry to a chorus of screams from fleeing humans.
It was just as Ransik had ordered. He was back in the year 2001, the images of that time blending into the dust and debris he saw now. "I must destroy," he repeated mechanically from his familiar position inside Doomtron, and continued on his way.
"For those just tuning in... It's like a scene from four years ago, as a giant robot attacks the center of the city... We have no reports of casualties yet, but that's sure to change." The television reporter's voice quavered, barely holding on to a professional tone. "The big question this time is - can the two Rangers who are left defeat this monster? Will the rest of the team show up for this crisis?"
"This has to be Frax's work," Alex said grimly. "We have to stop that attack. Sorry, Cam, Hunter."
"But if Frax and probably Lothor are away from the island, this is the perfect time to save our friends!" Hunter objected.
Alex's eyes were unyielding as he pointed to the mob of shoppers fleeing a mall on the television. "There are lives at stake, Hunter, innocent civilians' lives. Their safety has to be our priority."
"He's right," Cam said. "The two of us can go and free our team. It's lucky we brought their morphers for you to recharge; we can take them along. Then, all of us can join you to stop Frax and Lothor."
"He's got a point," Jen said. "It's a good plan."
"Except - you could get there faster on the Eagle," Wes said. He faced Eric, seeing him frown. "It's the fastest and smallest transportation we have. It would save time, and it has the best chance of getting onto that island without attracting attention."
"And - and I can program your morpher to detect CyberCam's program, so you can find him quickly," Trip chimed in.
"With the Q-Rex gone back to our time and decommissioned after it was damaged in 2001, Eric has no really big weaponry," Alex said, ignoring the Quantum Ranger's increasingly annoyed expression. "It makes sense for him to go, with one of you."
"Which one?" Hunter asked, as he and Cam exchanged a long look.
"I'll notify Captain Logan in our time to send the Time Flyers and the Time Shadow, but if either of you has any kind of heavy weapon he should stay here to help us."
"Then I'll go." Hunter held Cam's eyes. "My zord's gone, but you have the Samurai Star still ready, and you can use it now that you can morph again. That could be useful fighting Frax and whatever Lothor may have up his sleeve."
"All right." Wes saw Cam swallow. He could imagine why; he wasn't entirely happy having himself and Eric split up either, plus of course the ninja would probably rather be rescuing his father. And there was the factor of Eric and Hunter's mutual hostility...
"Hey - don't I get anything to say about it?" Eric demanded.
"Of course," Wes said. "What do you think?"
"I think I don't like it, but it makes sense. Let's go."
A few minutes later, after final preparations, they had all trouped outside. As Cam and Hunter drew away from the others, Wes pulled Eric aside, far enough for privacy. "Good luck," he said. "Be careful."
"Getting those guys out should be a piece of cake. You're the one going into a dangerous situation." Eric's eyes were concerned. "I wish I was staying."
"Hopefully you'll be back soon, with reinforcements. And remember, Lothor may still be there, so you may be walking into a fight yourself." Wes smiled and touched his partner's arm lightly. "Speaking of fighting... You and Hunter just try not to kill each other, okay?"
Eric shrugged, his eyes turning in the direction of the two ninja Rangers. "He's all right, for a kid. Besides, I'd hate to bust up a matched set like that."
"You picked up on the two of them, then. I was wondering how well your gaydar's working these days."
"I knew about you, didn't I?" Eric's face softened into a quick smile before they both headed back and waited for Cam and Hunter to finish their own conversation before their hopefully brief separation.
A few yards away, Cam handed Hunter a small black pouch. Knowing it contained the now active morphers for the rest of the team, Hunter fastened it around his waist, then looked over Cam's shoulder, mindful of the potential spectators slowly assembling in Wes's front yard. His blue eyes fixed the samurai with a sizzling gaze that had to suffice in place of the kiss he so sorely wanted to place onto his lover's lips, and Cam looked back at him with the same heat from behind his glasses. He leaned closer to the blond man.
"When this is all over, we'll go back to Disneyland where we'll check into the same hotel and won't leave the room the entire weekend. We'll live off room service and some much-deserved loving."
Hunter blinked.
Cam didn't.
It took a moment, but then the Thunder ninja's face split into a huge grin. "Sure you don't just want to go back to Disneyland to go on those rides again?"
"We won't be seeing any of Disneyland this second time, believe me, and you're the only ride I'm interested in." Cam grinned back at him, then pulled him in for a quick hug before he stepped back.
"Watch yourself out there."
"You, too."
"Everybody ready? Let's get this show on the road, then," Eric called. He stepped back, raised his morpher, and said, "Quantum Power!" As the light of his transformation faded, the others triggered their own, until all nine were standing in their Ranger suits. Eric spoke into his morpher again, this time calling, "TF Eagle!" A small, stubby - and decidedly one-man - flyer swept down and landed neatly a few feet away. Eric started for it, and without breaking stride leaped up onto the wing.
Hunter followed, took a better look, and stopped abruptly. "Hey!" He pointed as Eric turned back, one foot inside the tiny cockpit. "There's no room. Where am I supposed to sit?"
"Right there." Eric gestured down at the wing. "Make yourself comfortable."
"You've got to be kidding!"
"Nope." Wes's voice came from the ground. "Just hold on real tight. You'll be fine."
Hunter retracted his visor and glared at them. "You guys are nuts! No way!"
"Wes did it, right through a timehole and back." Eric's voice wasn't quite scornful as he slid into the pilot's seat. "But if you don't think you can handle it..."
Hunter's visor shut again with an audible snap. "I can handle anything you can give out." He lay down on the wing, finding a small handhold on the front edge. "Bring it on."
There was just a faint chuckle from inside the cockpit as the little aircraft's bubble top closed. Hunter tensed, holding on with white-knuckled intensity as it lifted smoothly and alarmingly quickly into the air. He was not reassured by Eric's voice, pitched low enough that only he could hear.
"Don't worry; if you don't like it I can arrange a fast trip down for you."
Back on the ground, Cam watched, still staring into the sky even though the Eagle had already disappeared. A little distance away, the Time Force Rangers would now be looking to Alex for the next move, and he would have to join in. As he saw Hunter leave, he had realized he was almost completely unfamiliar with the Time Force Rangers' abilities and fighting styles. Plus he was used to being the oldest and presumably wisest of his team, despite the fact that Shane was the ninja Rangers' leader. Now - with the possible exception of Trip, they were all his age or older, and he was certainly the one with the least experience as a Ranger.
"Feels weird, working with another team, I guess."
Cam looked around at the sound of Wes's voice. "A little."
"I thought you seemed kind of - remote."
"I guess it's not a good time to be unsure of myself. But you guys all know each other, and you've been Rangers longer than I have. I was only the Samurai Ranger for a few months, before Lothor took my powers."
"Doesn't matter. You saw how well you and Hunter worked with me and Eric. I've teamed up with Rangers from ten generations... and we're all really one team, when you get down to it."
Cam nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks."
"Here they are," Alex said, looking up as five small, multicolored aircraft and a larger jet appeared in the sky and zoomed to a halt overhead. He glanced at Cam. "You can come with me in the Shadow Winger."
"No need." He smiled inside his helmet, pointing to the high-speed helicopter that had arrived right behind the other vehicles. With the help of the Samurai Star, at least he could hold his own with the Time Force team so far. "My own ride's here."
Hunter barely managed to hold on as the Eagle dived for the ground, leveled off, and came to an abrupt halt. Feeling his fingers cramp as he unwrapped them from his grip on the wing, he snapped, "Jesus, couldn't you take it easy? I could have fallen off!"
Eric was already climbing out and stepping over him. "Sorry, kid, but we had to land fast in case they detected us coming in. Besides, I knew you could do it. Now move your butt."
Hunter opened his mouth for a retort, and then closed it again, unsure of whether he had just been complimented. He got up and followed Eric as he jumped down to the ground. "So what now?" he asked, looking around. They were at the edge of what seemed to be the remnants of a large building which had been violently destroyed.
"My morpher's picking up CyberCam's signal from almost right underneath us." All business now, Eric started into the ruins. "This must be what's left of Mesogog's headquarters; whatever underground rooms he had set up, the entrance is probably here somewhere. Start looking."
After several minutes, Hunter was almost ready to give up. This place was big... and it was essentially a pile of rubble. It would take weeks to dig through all of it and find some buried entrance. Lothor and Frax were probably getting in and out by teleportation; there might not be any way in...
And then he got lucky, although he didn't realize that at first. Hunter yelped in surprise and alarm as the surface under his feet shifted and gave way, sending him tumbling down, hitting an exposed wooden beam and sliding under it into a hidden opening in the midst of a shower of pebbles. He fell into darkness, yelling again before he landed on a hard surface and lay dazed, blinking up at a small patch of light above him.
A shadow blocked the illumination. "Hunter, are you all right?" Eric's voice called.
"Yeah, I guess. Man, where am I?"
There was movement, and then a thump as Eric landed beside him. Hunter looked around, seeing dusty steps a few feet away climbing back up to the surface, and a passageway carved out of the rock leading off into the darkness.
"Good work, kid. You found it."
Any satisfaction Cam might have felt at being back in the Samurai Star vanished as soon as they began their flight over Silver Hills and spotted a trail of destruction leading right into the heart of downtown. He could hear the others, dismayed murmurs fading into angry exclamations as they came into sight of the cause, a huge bronze robot which was still striding through the streets, randomly driving the heavy, claw-like hooks it had in place of hands into the buildings as it passed.
"It's Doomtron! Frax has rebuilt it!"
"Just like four years ago..."
"Dammit! We've got to stop this right now!" That was Wes's voice from his red Time Flyer.
"I'll use the Winger's weapons to try to drive it into the park." Alex's similar voice was calm but determined. "Then we can fight it with a minimum of destruction to the city."
"I'll help," Cam said, and activated the weapons built into the Star. He took his cue from Alex, following the sleek Shadow Winger as it circled the giant robot, hitting it with a line of explosive blasts, trying to target the same spots. If they could weaken it...
Doomtron staggered, off-balance as fireballs surrounded it. Turning to face them, it straightened, bringing up a set of cannon mounted on its chest. "Watch out!" Alex shouted. They both dodged, barely in time, as energy beams shot out at them and into the sky. But at least Doomtron was moving in the right direction. Cam flew closer to Alex again, retreating as the golden robot pursued them, feeling his heart thump as they avoided another blast. Then...
"Time Flyers! Jet mode!" Wes called. The five small aircraft, each in its piloting Ranger's color, pulled together in formation, linked, and joined; reforming into a larger jet.
"Tornado attack!" Jen commanded. "Get it away from the buildings!"
Cam watched, steering clear as the now-large jet whirled in a circle at eye-blurring speed. A small funnel of wind formed inside, rapidly grew, and then stabbed down to surround Doomtron. It swept the robot up, lifting it into the air, and tossed it, struggling, to arc over the last buildings and crash back to earth in a cloud of dust.
They all followed, seeing their opponent struggle back to its metallic feet. They had it outnumbered. Cam had no doubt they would win. But the fight was far from over. And - he suddenly realized they had seen no sign of Lothor. At least not yet. He could only hope the evil ninja did not have some unpleasant surprise waiting for them.
"Hey, you called me Hunter."
Eric gave him a glance, knowing the crimson Ranger couldn't see the amused expression on his helmeted face. "Why not? That's your name, isn't it?"
"I mean, you called me Hunter instead of 'kid'."
"Just a moment of weakness, kid."
A few seconds of silence passed, broken only by the crunching of their boots on the dirt and gravel-floored tunnel, before Hunter's voice came again. He sounded both puzzled and slightly resentful. "How come a nice guy like Wes puts up with you, anyway?"
"Leave Wes out of this."
"It's cool with me, you know. I mean, Wes and you."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Eric stopped and swung around to face him.
"I mean, you and Wes being together. I heard what that girl, Katie, said about you. Not that we couldn't guess anyway, after we found you guys in your house looking like you just got dressed in a hurry." Hunter crossed his arms, his voice smirking as much as his hidden face probably was. "Like I said, it's cool. Cam and I are together too."
Eric snorted, partly at Katie and her big mouth. "Yeah, right, kid. It's cool."
"Yeah, it is." As Eric shrugged and started to turn away, he added sarcastically, "What's the matter, you don't believe that either? Do you want me to prove I'm gay, too?"
Eric looked Hunter up and down and crossed his own arms. "Thanks for the offer, jailbait, but I'll pass."
"What? I was so not offering anything! And I'm totally legal!"
"For how long, a whole year?" As Hunter started another angry protest, Eric laughed. "Calm down, kid. I'm just yanking your chain."
"Well, cut it out."
"Why, when you make it so easy?" He reached to tap Hunter's shoulder. "Come on, we're wasting time."
They jogged down the murky corridor, mindful of any surprise ambushes, but the tunnel, as well as every side tunnel they peeked into along the way, was empty. After a few yards, Eric halted and put a hand on the side of his helmet. "Morpher, activate search for hologram program pattern one."
Before their departure, Trip had programmed his morpher with CyberCam's unique holographic code provided by Cam, and now the screen on the inside of his visor switched to reveal a complex pattern of green infrared-looking lines. For a few moments, it looked like a complete chaos of rapidly moving vertical and horizontal lines, but gradually, the screen re-shaped to reveal the outlines of the corridor they were presently in - as well as a steadily blinking dot.
"Target located," came the pleasant female voice of his morpher from inside his helmet. "Coordinates seventy-three yards west/south-west of present location."
Eric elbowed Hunter. "Come on, this way." Then he took off down the tunnel, the Crimson Ranger right behind him.
Two side tunnels later, they were quickly closing in on the prisoners' location and only a few moments later came to a stop in front of a heavy, double-bolted steel door. Together they threw back both bolts and pushed open the heavy door. Hunter was first over the threshold. Eric could hear the chorus of voices before he even stepped into the room.
"Hunter!"
"Oh my god, your morpher's working!"
"Sweet, dude!"
"CyberCam was kinda vague about the morpher part..."
"'bout time you showed up. This ain't exactly the Ritz Carlton, you know."
Eric chuckled as he entered the cell, seeing three young men and a young woman clustered around the Crimson Ranger, all hugging and backslapping him. Behind his open visor, Hunter had a huge, relieved grin on his face. Eric couldn't help but smile again as Hunter enveloped the short, black-haired boy from his wallet pictures in a bear hug.
"Not just my morpher's working; all of yours are, too," the blond Ranger said, reaching into the pouch around his waist and distributing the other morphers to his friends, who all cheered and strapped the devices onto their wrists with expressions of pride and joy.
The Quantum Ranger gave the four leather-clad young ninjas only a quick once-over, but at the sight of the older, dignified Asian man in his flowing robes he bowed. "Sensei Watanabe, your son is anxious to see you again."
Sensei bowed back, then clasped Eric's gloved hand with both of his own. "I don't know who you are, but thank you for your aid."
Hunter was suddenly next to his former teacher. "Sensei, this is Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger. Eric, this is..."
The sudden sound of alarm klaxons filled the hallway outside with an earsplitting wail. CyberCam dashed to the door. "Uh..oh, boltbrain and paintbrush-head alert, y'all. Coming right at us."
Hunter and Eric were peering over the hologram's shoulders an instant later. From a side corridor, dozens of cyclobots and kelzaks were already spilling into the hallway to the left of them, every single one of them armed and heading for the cell door. They formed an impenetrable wave of opponents. Eric's helmeted head swiveled from the approaching drones to the ceiling, then to the opposite side of the hallway before he turned to Hunter. "You take the kids that way." He pointed to the right, towards their only escape route. "I'll hold off the metal-heads."
"No, there's too many," Hunter protested, even as the other ninja Rangers crowded behind him, raising their morphers. "Together we can take down more of them..."
Eric grabbed his arm, effectively silencing him. "No, you guys need to get to Silver Hills fast and stop Frax and Lothor there. I know what I'm doing, Hunter, don't worry. I'll catch up with you. Now go!" He said this to the Crimson Ranger as much as to the rest of the team, who had by now all assembled around them by the door. Eric drew his blaster and jumped out into the hallway, taking down two cyclobots and a kelzak before the bronze robots even began returning fire.
Seeing the futility of any further argument, Hunter turned to the others, made a let's go gesture with his head and took off down the corridor towards the only other door set into the stone walls further down the tunnel.
Meanwhile, Eric concentrated his firepower on the cyclobots; he did not want to risk any of them getting off a lucky shot from their lasergun-blades and accidentally hitting one of the ninjas behind him. But the ratio of cyclobots to kelzaks was almost double and despite his best endeavors, the wave of mechanical bodies drew closer. Eric's eyes darted to the ceiling once more; he knew they were underground, and it looked like hardly any work had gone into fortifying the honeycomb of tunnels and rooms down here. This gave him an idea... He risked a quick look over his shoulder to find that the ninjas had made it to the door down the hall and were just filing through it into the unknown room beyond.
With them out of the way, Eric felt it safe enough to raise his blaster and fire a rapid succession of maximum power shots into the rough stone above. As the ceiling began to crumble, he took a few steps backwards, keeping up his assault on the rocks over him and steadily, more and larger chunks of stone began raining down into the corridor and onto the cyclobots and kelzaks. The dust was getting denser, beginning to obstruct Eric's view of the enemy, but as he kept up his steady retreat he saw neither robots nor drones stepping through the curtain of grey. Suddenly, a large stone fell to the ground not two inches in front of him and Eric took an involuntary leap backwards. A steady rumbling could be heard now, faint but getting undeniably louder.
The whole ceiling's gonna cave in, Eric realized with a start. He turned and hurried down the corridor after the ninja team.
The room turned out to be familiar to at least one of them in the group. CyberCam pointed towards Lothor's empty throne-like seat. "Hey, this is Lothor-dude's command room," he exclaimed, hurrying towards the door the evil space ninja had disappeared through earlier on. "This way, guys!"
Following his lead, they spilled through the door and into a smaller side chamber filled with several large pieces of machinery, all humming loudly.
"The generator room," Blake deduced, and everyone went on to examine the individual machines a little closer. CyberCam was the one who came upon the control panel for the transporter device. "Hey, over here," he called, already punching keys and pressing buttons while the rest of the gang assembled around him. "Sweet! This thing still has the coordinates of the Wind Academy saved in it. Probably from the attack."
The thumping of boots announced the Quantum Ranger's arrival in the room at the same time as the first tremor ran through the small chamber.
Together with everyone else, Shane looked up and around. "Why do I have the feeling that this place suddenly isn't so safe anymore?" he wondered out loud.
"Probably because it's all getting ready to cave in at any moment," came Eric's urgent reply from behind his helmet. "Better get that transporter ready now."
"Went a little overboard out there in the hallway, huh?" Hunter said.
Eric threw him an unseen glare. "It's keeping the robots and the drones away, isn't it?"
CyberCam was pushing the last button and an instant later, an invisaportal materialized amid a bright flash of light. The ninjas and Sensei wordlessly dashed towards it, vanishing one after the other as the first showerings of pebbles and smaller stones from the ceiling began. Hunter was the last one to go through, but he hesitated. "You coming, too?" he asked Eric, but the Quantum Ranger shook his head.
"I'll get back to Silver Hills in the Eagle, and besides, once you've gone through, I want to make sure that was the last transport this machine will ever make," he replied, pointing at the control panel with his blaster.
Hunter shook his head. "But the ceiling's coming down already..."
"Kid, will ya go already?" Eric's voice was impatient, but then he nodded towards another, half-ajar door at the far side of the room. "My morpher's detecting the Eagle almost right above us; all I need is to get through there and up the stairs. I'll be fine." He gave Hunter a slap on the shoulder. "Now go. I'll see you in Silver Hills. Don't take too long."
Hunter was debating on another retort when he saw the portal begin to flicker, ready to destabilize. "All right. We'll get our Tsunami Cycles and then meet you over there." He took one large stride towards it, the portal's bright energy swallowing him up instantly.
Eric nodded, satisfied, pumped several well-aimed blaster rounds into the control panel and was through the exit door before the massive gadget even began to explode.
It took him less than two minutes to reach daylight, but by then, dozens of cracks were already appearing all across the island's surface.
Eric wasted no time sprinting towards his flyer. The tremors beneath his boots were growing more violent with each passing moment and the Quantum Ranger breathed a sigh of relief once the Eagle was airborne. As it gained altitude, Eric took a last look back. The island was visibly collapsing upon itself, slowly sinking into the sea.
With a grim determination, he sped ahead, towards Silver Hills.
To Be Continued...