Wes, Eric, Kat, 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.
Nick Tate, while technically canon, is mine in the form he appears in here.

Rated T: Be warned, there is some strong language and talk about sex.

This story is slash, meaning sexual and romantic relationships between men. If that's not something you're okay with, don't read it.

The Secret of BioSynth

Revelation

- - -

Nick sat on the bed, head bowed, and stared at what he held in his hand. The letter. It was quiet, almost hushed, inside Jake's small bedroom. The calm before the storm he knew was about to start, when he confronted his brother-in-law. From outside the door he could hear voices. A laugh, trailing away. Footsteps approached. He drew in a deep breath.

Jake's reaction of guilt when he had seen Wes there had opened Nick's eyes. Suddenly it was obvious. Who else knew about the accident, and thought the project should be stopped, and had the opportunity to have found his letter? Who else but Jake? So Nick had slipped away during preparations for lunch, and come here. Fortunately Jake hadn't brought many possessions with him, and it had only taken a few minutes to find it, hidden underneath a drawer in the night table.

He looked up as the door opened, and as Jake froze, guilt again written clearly across his face. "It's you, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

"I - I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't even try. You were always a lousy liar." Nick held up the letter. "You found this, and tried to use it to - to blackmail me."

Jake closed the door behind him and leaned against it. "I was just trying to do the right thing. Make Kat stop the research before anyone else gets hurt."

"So you threaten my marriage to do it? Your sister's marriage?"

"It's all just a fake, anyway, isn't it?" Jake said in a furious whisper. "You have no right to complain! If you had told Lyn the truth years ago," he waved at the letter, "and given her the chance to decide whether she wanted to be with a - a person like you - well, there wouldn't be anything to threaten you with!"

"I thought you were my friend!"

"I thought so too! But you lied to me, and to my sister! Hiding what you really are!"

"And what's that exactly? When you meet a woman, do you tell her about all your former relationships? Why should it be different for me?"

"Because you're gay, dammit!"

"I'm bisexual. I love Lyn; I'm not just pretending with her, if that's what you think."

"You still had sex with men! At least with that one! Maybe you've started up again with him, now that you're conveniently working in the same place-"

Nick was up and grabbing his shirt to pull him roughly face to face. With an effort he controlled himself, and kept his voice low. "Let's get this straight. Whatever I am, whoever I've been with in the past; I love Lyn and I love Sky, and I'm going to do my best to make sure they never get hurt, not by me - and not by you." He let go. "I'm bisexual, yes. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with me, and it doesn't mean I can't be as faithful to your sister as anyone else."

"Okay," Jake said after a moment as Nick turned away. "Okay, maybe you're right about that part of it. But what about the rest? What about the accident?"

- - -

"There was an accident," Kat said. "It happened in 2001, soon after we started the project."

"What kind of accident?" Wes prompted her when she paused.

"We were working on morpher technology. Trying to build new ones with the abilities that yours have, and improve on them. Trying to use the various kinds of morphers that have been made in the past - specifically Lightspeed and yours, the others seemed impossible to duplicate - as a base, and come up with something even better. Something that would be more than a suit, that would bond with the wearer's body at a cellular level to protect and strengthen them." She sighed. "Maybe I pushed too hard. We got careless. It was my fault, and I take full responsibility."

"Just tell us what happened," Eric said impatiently.

"We were experimenting with cellular enhancement agents, powerful ones. There was a leak in one of the sealed containers. I don't know exactly how long it lasted, but my team and I were exposed over a period of several weeks, at least. And then - during a chemical procedure most of the team was working on, it broke. Nothing spectacular, it looked like a flash of light as the compound vaporized, but it exposed us to radiation as well.

"There seemed to be no harm done. At first. We repaired our equipment, set up a monitoring system to make sure it didn't happen again. Everyone seemed to be fine. As time passed we forgot all about it, went on with our work, and with our lives. Some of us married, and started families. Everything was normal - until two months ago, when we realized there was something - different - about Nick Tate's son."

- - -

"Can't you see the research has to be stopped?" Jake was saying. "What if it happens again? What if something worse happens next time?"

"Kat's made sure it won't." Nick tried to quiet his anger, and make his voice calm and confidant. "Look, it was an accident. Sometimes they happen. Things could have been a lot worse. Now we know what the risks are, and we can prevent anything-"

"Risks? It's already happened! We've been exposed to radiation and cellular modifiers! What if Kat's wrong and we get sick because of it? What if we change, and get like Sky? What's going to happen to the Carsons' kid? We don't even know! How can you just accept what happened like that, when it's your son who's affected! Your kid who's a freak because of it!"

"Don't call Sky a freak!" Nick had raised his voice, and no longer cared. He glared at Jake. "He's a perfectly normal, healthy baby!"

"Normal?" Jake was shouting now, out of control, his face enraged. "The damn kid can - can project some kind of force field! I've seen it! I've felt it!"

"That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with him!"

"Face it, he's a freak, a monster, and he'll never be normal or healthy!"

"Damn you..."

But Nick's exclamation was cut off by the sound of the door being thrown open. Lyn stood there. One look at her face told him she must have heard the last few shouts through the door, and her words proved it. "What the hell did you say about my child?" she hissed, glaring at her brother. "Say that again, to my face!"

"I..." Jake backed away from her. "I'm sorry, but it's true, you know it's true..."

"My son is not a freak. So what if he can do things other people can't? He's still my baby! He's still your nephew!"

"Don't you think I know that? Don't you think I remember that every time I wonder if I'll ever have children?" Jake's face crumpled, before he covered it with his hands. "What if I have a kid someday, and it turns out like that - not normal, not - not human, not right, with some kind of weird powers; I don't know, I couldn't handle it, I couldn't..."

"Jacob Samuel Walsh!" Lyn's strong voice silenced him. "Are you telling me you can't accept a person being different? You wouldn't even be able to love your own child if he wasn't your definition of normal?"

"I don't know... I'm sorry, but I can't..."

Her face was determined and her tone was firm as she said, "If you can't look at Sky and love him just the same as any other child - you're no longer my brother." After a moment, she turned and walked out.

- - -

"I tested all of my team, and found changes in their DNA," Kat went on, her face somber. "Nothing harmful. Nothing that will make them get cancer or any other disease. No, the effects - the mutation - is passed on, and comes out in their children. In Sky's case at least, in the form of an extra ability."

"What can he do?" Wes asked.

"As far as I can tell, he can project force fields and use them as a barrier. It's very intermittent, but he seems to be able to control it. As he gets older, it'll be fascinating to see how the power develops. No indication of any harmful effects so far, but..." She sighed. "After we found out about Sky, I ran tests on Paul Carson's son, Bridge. They showed the same kind of genetic changes. In his case there are no really obvious effects, but he shows abnormal brain patterns and some strange reactions to being touched. In a way it's worse than Sky, since his mind may be affected but we don't know how yet.

"I have no idea what might happen with the other children, the children of the other team members. As more are born and grow up, they could turn out like Sky, with some sort of power, but they could also have genetic defects and develop diseases. It's also possible they could have some sort of ability that becomes dangerous and destructive."

"Or they could be completely normal."

Kat shook her head. "Doubtful. The DNA changes are too extensive. It's almost certain that some obvious mutation will show up sooner or later in all of those children. All we can do is hope that they're not harmful."

"Wow. That must be hard on your team."

"It is." She crossed her arms, frowning at the floor. "Some couldn't take it. David Landors and his wife had been trying for a baby. Maria Delgado had been thinking about it too. They're both gone. Another woman, Callie Drew, discovered she's pregnant last week, and she's leaving. Nick and Paul have stayed, despite the situation with their children, but obviously Jake isn't handling it as well as I hoped."

"I see." Wes exchanged a glance with his partner.

"And you expect us to keep all this a secret?" Eric asked. "Why? Why not come out in the open?"

"Several reasons. You should be able to guess some of them." Kat met their eyes. "If this gets out, there may be an investigation. It was an accident, that's true, but with children involved there could be a strong public reaction. You know what the media is like. My research could be stopped or delayed. There could be bad publicity for Bio-Lab. And... on a more personal level, think of the effects on those kids and their parents."

- - -

"Have you stopped to think about what you're doing?" Nick demanded, staring down at Jake, who was now sitting with slumped shoulders on his bed. "If you expose Kat and her project, you're also exposing us. Lyn and me, and Sky. If other people start thinking of him the same way you do - as a freak - what's that going to do to us? To him, when he's old enough to understand? How's he going to have a normal life?"

"He'll never have a normal life. That's my point."

"And letting the whole world know he has this ability is going to help how, exactly? No, this is all about you, isn't it? You don't want kids who are different. You're scared. You're angry. Well, don't take it out on us!" He stopped for a breath. "Has it occurred to you that there'd be dozens of doctors and scientists testing Sky? Poking and prodding at him, if they don't just take him away from us? Or that all of us would be examined and studied, too? After all, all of our DNA was changed. We're all mutants now, including you; you're just as much of a freak as Sky, even if it doesn't show!"

"Shut up!" Jake glared at him before dropping his head again.

"The truth is you can't tell anyone, can you?"

"No... I just wanted it to stop!" Jake seemed on the verge of tears. "I just wanted Kat to pay for doing this to us. I just wanted to do - something!"

"You're pathetic. You know that."

"Pathetic... I suppose I am." Suddenly Jake was on his feet, pushing past and yanking the door open.

"Where are you going?" Nick called after him.

"What do you care?" He didn't even slow down.

Nick followed, and saw him run through the living room and out the front door. He stopped, wondering whether to go after him. There was no sign of Lyn, she was probably with the baby, trying to comfort him - and herself - after all the angry shouting.

The sound of a car engine came to his ears, rumbled by and quickly faded. Jake had taken off. It would be easiest to let him go, and hope he never came back. But - what did he intend to do? A whole history of past incidents jumbled through Nick's mind... Little things, mostly, but Jake had always tended to overreact, to go too far... Had he always been unstable? In his frame of mind, what might he be capable of? On impulse, Nick hunted for his car keys, and then ran out.

- - -

"Well..." Eric frowned at Kat. "I see your point about the kids. Wouldn't do Sky or his parents any good to have everyone know about him. But maybe your research should be stopped. Make sure there aren't any more accidents."

"He's right," Wes said. "You can shut down and take another look at your safety procedures. You can always start again in a year or so."

"No." She shook her head. "The project must continue. We can't afford to lose a year, or even a few months."

"Why?" Wes asked, with a glance at Eric. "What's so important?"

Kat looked up at them, again hesitating. "You may not believe me..." she said.

"We're kind of experts at unbelievable things," Wes said. "Whatever it is, we'll hear you out."

What she said next seemed unrelated. "You've met Andros. The Space red Ranger. You've been in space yourselves."

Wes exchanged another puzzled look with Eric. "I don't know how you knew about that-"

"We've been watching Earth. For quite some time. We've studied you Rangers. Your morphers. Realized the potential in them, for protection, and defense." Her green eyes were shuttered as she looked down. "And for war."

"Who's 'we'? And what war? Against who?"

Kat took a deep breath, and continued in a steady voice. "His name is Gruumm. He calls himself an emperor. In fact, he's a warlord. A conqueror. His army has spread destruction over dozens of planets so far, and nothing seems able to stop him. Certainly we haven't. He'll just keep going..."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Eric demanded.

"Gruumm already attacked my planet. We who survived were forced to flee, and scatter across the allied systems." She looked up again and went on very quietly. "I'm an alien. The 'from another planet' kind of an alien."

Eric snorted. "And you expect us to--"

He trailed off into shocked silence. Wes stared as Kat raised a hand to the locket she wore on a chain around her neck, and pressed what was obviously a control of some kind. Her image wavered and blurred for just a moment. When it solidified again, she was - different.

"Holy shit," Eric said softly.

Strangely, the first thought in Wes's mind was that Kat Manx had been a dead giveaway as a name. The woman who looked back at them now had large, lightly furred, pointed ears, the tips poking through her hair. The pupils of her green eyes were no longer round and human, they were as slitted as a cat's. A scattering of dark spots decorated the sides of her face. And her teeth - she smiled, just enough for them to see the fangs.

- - -

"Damn it..." Nick muttered a few more curses as another traffic light stopped him. He decided he'd make a lousy detective; he had stayed so far back behind Jake's car to avoid being spotted that he had lost him. But maybe that didn't really matter. It was already obvious where his brother-in-law was headed.

Five minutes later he was parking in the almost-empty Bio-Lab lot. Jake had left his car here, but there was no sign of him. He must have gone inside. Whatever he was planning to do - he had to be stopped. Quickly Nick headed for the laboratories.

- - -

"So, let me get this straight." Eric still sounded skeptical, despite the visual evidence of an alien standing in front of them. "This Gruumm character is a big shot in something called the Troobian Empire. They've already attacked and conquered a bunch of inhabited planets, including yours. Right now they're going after Sirius, the place where this Space Patrol Delta outfit you work for has its headquarters. And you think they're on their way here?"

"Gruumm and his forces are moving in this direction. Yes," Kat said quietly. "According to our information they will focus on Earth in the near future."

"Why Earth? What would they want here?" Wes asked.

She shook her head. "We don't know yet, not for sure. However, we believe Earth is both in a convenient location for him and contains resources he needs. That he hopes to establish a base here, from which he can control this part of the galaxy."

"When? How long do we have?"

"Maybe fifteen years. Maybe twenty. SPD is doing its best to hold them back."

"And that's why you're here? To stop them?"

"Yes." She nodded at their morphers. "That's why my project is so important. If we can build improved versions of your weaponry, we may have a better chance to make a stand here, on Earth."

"But..." Eric was frowning. "What difference are morphers going to make against a - a whole space army?"

"If I can develop the technology, I can base larger, more powerful weapons on it. We've already seen how effective Rangers can be against even very large forces. And that's only part of it - we need to prepare Earth to cooperate with the rest of the civilized worlds in this area of the universe, to accept aliens openly, and work with us." She met their eyes. "I could use your help. Let me study your morphers."

"I..." Wes hesitated. "I don't know if we can."

"Because they're from the future?" Kat went on as he blinked in surprise. "While we don't have time travel - yet - we can detect it. Which we did, in 2001, here in Silver Hills."

"Then you know it might be dangerous to use technology from the future."

"Maybe. But I know for a fact it'll be dangerous not to. If we can't stop him, Gruumm will conquer Earth, as he did to my planet, and destroy it. Isn't it worth the risk to prevent that? In fact, how do you know those morphers weren't left in this time just for this purpose?"

"I dunno," Eric said. "This is a lot to-"

"What was that?" Kat said, interrupting him.

"What was what?"

"I heard something." Disconcertingly, her ears moved, swiveling towards the door even as she reached for the hidden control in her locket again. "The lab!"

- - -

"Is something wrong, sir?"

"Huh? Uh... no." Nick realized he must have reacted at seeing Jake's name on the weekend sign-in sheet. For a moment he considered asking the guard to go with him - but he had no proof that Jake was up to anything wrong. No, he'd find him, and calm him down, and get him out of there... Then figure out what to do about him...

He kept to a quick walk until he was out of sight of the guard post, and then broke into a trot. The lab was the logical place to look. A moment later he realized he was right; heart jumping as he hurried down the last stretch of hallway, and heard the sizzle and crack of a small explosion from behind the entry doors.

There he was - Jake had taken one of their projects, a high-energy hand-held blaster, from the workbench where the team had left it. He had already used it; in the center of the room the testing chamber containing their first prototype morpher was heavily damaged, one side blown away, the morpher itself visible and unprotected. As Nick pushed through the doors and started across the room, Jake raised the weapon again.

"Jake! What the hell are you doing?" he shouted.

"Don't come any closer!" The blaster moved to point at him. Nick stopped abruptly. "I'm doing what we all should have done years ago. Stopping this project."

"Don't do it." Nick's eyes moved nervously to the chamber as a spark crackled inside it. "You know how much energy is stored in that morpher. Blow it up and the explosion could destroy this whole room."

"I know." Jake's eyes moved to him. "I don't want to hurt you, Nick. Get out. Now."

"And let you kill yourself, and destroy everything all of us have been working for all these years?"

"That's the idea."

"You're not thinking clearly... Please, put the blaster down, and we'll find Kat and talk about this." Nick edged a little closer.

"No! Sky will never be normal... Lyn hates me... I'm going to stop all of this now!"

"Put down the weapon! Now!" Nick jumped and turned at the sound of Eric's voice. Just inside the laboratory doors were Eric and Wes, with Kat right behind them. As he stared at them, the two Silver Guardians raised their arms.

"Quantum Power!"

"Time for Time Force!"

In a wave of light, they both transformed into the red-suited Rangers he had until then only seen on television. Inanely, he found himself wishing he had time to be impressed. Instead, he turned back to his brother-in-law.

"Don't try to stop me!" Jake was yelling. He held the blaster higher, against his chest. "This is still in development! Hit it with an energy beam and it's likely to explode, and take all of us with it!"

"He's right." Kat's voice was grim but calm. "Both the morpher and the blast weapon are still unstable. You can't take the chance of shooting at it."

"Our suits should protect us," Wes said. "You two get to safety. We'll take care of this."

"No!" Nick said. "I'm not going to let you do this, Jake." He took a step forward.

"Get out! Get out while you still can!" Jake aimed for the morpher, his eyes wild.

"No! We all put our lives into this work. We all sacrificed, and we'll go on sacrificing, not just us, but our families. Our children. Yes, Sky is the way he is because of this. If it's all destroyed - all of it will have been for nothing! I'm not going to let you make what happened to him, to all of us, useless and meaningless!" Nick took a breath and another step. "Put down the blaster, Jake."

"No! Just go!"

"Nick..." It was Eric's voice from behind him. "Please, do what he says before you get hurt. Let us handle this."

Nick ignored him. "What about Lyn, Jake? What's it going to do to her if you kill yourself and the last words you spoke to each other were in anger?"

"Just get out and let me do this!"

"No. You'll have to kill me. Leave your sister a widow and your nephew an orphan. Is that what you want?"

There was no answer, just the sound of Jake's ragged breathing. Resolutely, Nick walked forward, his heart thumping painfully hard. He reached his old friend and brother-in-law, and simply put out his hands. For a moment he was sure it would all be over in a flash of light and a fiery burst of energy, no time to think, no time for fear... But then Jake seemed to crumple, his head bowing and body slumping. Without a word, he dropped the blaster into Nick's waiting hands.

- - -

TBC...