Spin

Alice considered what Rick had said, debating the best plan of attack. From the sounds of things, any sort of attack would be a surprise, which was good. What was not so good was that they had no way of knowing what sort of forces they faced. She knew there had to be four clones with The Master -- what had been found at the TOI told her that much. The question was, were there any Cyclobots remaining? Hordak had possessed some, true, and Frax's entire force had been the bronze robots, but she was more than aware that neither piece of information conclusively proved The Master had some at his disposal now.

What they needed was more reconnaissance. Time was short, true, but it would be beyond dumb to go in, all guns blazing and find it was overkill. Or worse, find that they were walking right into a trap.

"All right," she said. "Nam; can you sneak into the building and take a look around?"

Namir grinned. "Easy."

Alice smiled tightly. "Good. Do it." She looked around the rest of the group. "Everyone else; let's morph. As soon as Nam confirms what we're facing, we're gonna go in; hotter than hell and twice as mean."

Zaskin studied the man on the stasis couch. Alex Collins. He knew that with time travel, anything was possible and that even men who had been dead for ten years could suddenly show up, but still it surprised him.

What was it about him that had their joint captor so irrational as to believe that he, Dr Michael Zaskin, could physically change DNA? It wasn't just the impossible nature of the task that got him, but the insistence that it had to be done.

He shook his head. None of this made sense.

Namir made his way wraithlike into the ore processing plant. Morphed and in stealth mode, he was undetectable to most forms of sensor -- only his body head could give him away, and being morphed greatly reduced even that risk -- which made infiltration very easy for him, and made him the logical candidate for this job. Even so, he felt almost absurdly pleased that Alice had trusted him with this mission. He also felt nervous. There was a lot resting on him, it seemed. Part of him knew that Alice wouldn't have asked him to do it, obvious candidate or not, if she hadn't thought he was up to it. Part of him was scared he'd screw up.

A concrete apron and various outbuildings surrounded the actual plant building. He took care to check none of the outbuildings he passed had any occupants, but most of them were little more than ruined rubble-piles. Finally reaching the main plant building, he paused and looked for an actual entry point. Off to his left, at the edge of a crumbling loading bay, was a fire door, so swollen and misshapen from years of neglect that it was barely closed. That looked like a good candidate.

Smiling to himself, he crossed to it and cautiously eased it open a fraction. There were no wires or alarm trips visible and no-one was behind it. He eased it open a fraction more and slid through the gap.

Lucas was tempted to throw his scanner at the wall. "Damn it!" he muttered.

"No trace?" Rob offered.

"Some trace," said Lucas. "A little blood. The sort of amount you might expect if someone had, maybe, fallen over and cut their head."

"In other words," Paul began, "he got knocked off his feet when the bomb went off, hit his head..."

"...and The Master abducted him," Lucas finished off, grimacing. "That's my guess."

"Oh shit," said Paul.

Lucas couldn't disagree.

John lay on the crest of a hill, directly overlooking the ore processing plant. He wondered just how it was that his father had known about this place. There was something that Alice knew about the information that she wasn't saying. He frowned. He didn't like being kept in the dark. When this was all over, he was going to demand a few answers.

Movement distracted him from his thoughts. A door opened and out came a clone; it had to be, seeing as John had only to glance to his left to see the real Rick, lying in a similar position to the one he'd adopted.

Over the comm. he said, "Definitely got clones down there."

Alice's voice came back, "I see him. Stay sharp."

John smiled faintly and continued to watch as the Rick clone stretched and yawned. He suddenly half turned, then looked back, over his shoulder, at the doorway. A moment later and the cause was immediately apparent as the Lexia clone stepped through and out onto the concrete. She grabbed the Rick clone by the arm and tugged. Visibly annoyed, the Rick clone gave in and allowed himself to be drawn back inside.

"What was all that about?" JJ wondered.

"I don't think I want to know," Rick answered.

"At least she didn't kiss him," Lexia pointed out, prompting a chorus of 'ews' from the rest of the Vengeance Rangers.

The chat subsided and John refocused his attention on the processing plant. Just how had his father known about this place?

Wes stared at Trip, not daring to believe him. "You've got it?"

Trip nodded vigorously. "It's a variant of malaria. A...a super malaria, if you like."

"And Biolab's one of the leaders in malarial research," Wes realised. "We've got it!" He suddenly felt light-headed. "We've really got it!"

Trip grinned. "We've got it," he agreed.

"How soon can we work up a treatment plan?" Wes asked.

"If you can get me the latest data on Biolab's research," Trip answered, "we can get it done within an hour."

It was dim inside the processing plant, Namir discovered. The hallway he found himself in had an air of painful neglect to it. Strip lights should have lighted it, but as far as he could see, there were only a couple of lights actually working, and they were so grimy and grunge covered that they might as well not have bothered.

Nice place, Namir decided as he started along the hallway. Over the comm., he heard John report a sighting of a couple of clones. The ensuing conversation made him smile a little bit, but it also made him even more cautious. By his estimate, he was heading straight for the area the clones had been seen in.

Sure enough, the next moment, he rounded a corner and found himself looking at the retreating back of the Rick clone. Namir froze in position as the clone stopped and slowly turned back.

"Come on!" called the Lexia clone. "He wants us now, Rick."

"I thought I heard something," the Rick clone answered, looking straight at -- and through -- Namir.

"There's nothing there," snorted the Lexia clone. "Come on. He's pissed as it is without you making him madder."

The Rick clone gave Namir's position another glare then turned away again. "All right, all right, already." Grumbling under his breath, the Rick clone headed away.

Namir didn't so much as breathe until he was sure that both clones were well out of earshot. Too close.

Nadira took one look at Jen's expression as the other woman hobbled into the break room and knew that Wes had gone too far.

"What happened?" she asked, gently helping Jen to sit down.

Jen just shook her head. "It's like...like I don't know him any more." Her eyes filled with tears. "It's like he's not the man I married."

"What did he say?" Nadira asked, almost dreading the answer.

Jen shook her head again, tears now rolling heedless down her cheeks. "It...it wasn't what he said," she whispered. "It was...was just as if...if he doesn't care about anything any more."

"Jen?"

"He...he was so cold...so angry...so...so mean. And nothing I said...or did...made any difference." Jen swallowed heavily, then added softly, "And I don't know what I'm going to do about it."

JJ lay behind a clump of scrubby bushes. The grey colour of his Ranger uniform helped him to blend in with the patchy vegetation and earth of the ore plant's surrounds, which meant Alice had given him the position closest to the plant. The instant trust, even of someone who was completely new to being a Ranger, felt weird to him. He'd been a Guardian for two years before this mess had begun and although he had become one of the registered drivers for the organisation, that had been a relatively recent promotion. There was trust in him to do his job, but he was still only trusted with the basics of that job. Whereas now, not only was he forward reconnaissance, he was also Namir's back up. If Alice decided that a second infiltration was required, he was the one who would go.

He had balked a little at Alice's order. "I've never done this before; I don't know how to do any of this!" he had objected.

Alice had just grinned. "When you morph for the first time, you'll get a whole bunch of information. Trust me, you'll know how."

She'd been right. JJ now found himself with knowledge of stealth tactics and infiltration that he certainly hadn't had before. He also had a basic knowledge of field medicine, field communications and some very elementary demolitions techniques. It meant he could, at least temporarily, take over from any of the other Vengeance Rangers if the need arose.

"News from home," Rick announced, breaking the comm. silence that had fallen. "Lucas has confirmed Dr Zaskin is The Master's prisoner."

"No real surprise there," Alice responded. "But nice to know for certain."

"Also," Rick continued and JJ could hear a smile in the Red Ranger's voice, "Lucas says that Trip and dad have found a cure for Redemption."

"Now that," said John, "is definitely good news."

JJ opened his mouth to contribute, but a sudden movement just in front of him made him freeze. Tracking the movement, he found that the loading bay doors were slowly opening with an eerily silent motion. And from between them, he saw the first Cyclobot exit the processing plant.

"Uh, guys," he said, "I think we're about to have company."

"This is Mandi Ohlin, reporting live from Silverhills' main hospital where the first batch of vaccine for what Biolab employees are dubbing the Redemption Virus is expected shortly. The vaccine's development came after a sudden breakthrough in research this morning. Although this will come too late for some, for many, this is just the news they have been praying for. Biolab have said that they will be putting out a statement for the press this afternoon, giving details of the breakthrough and the vaccine.

"In related news, the police investigation into last Friday's explosion at the Silver Guardian Headquarters has determined that it was caused by explosives, planted in a trash can, that caused the damage. As yet, however, this remains a motiveless and suspectless crime. More news as and when I get it."

Kimberly clicked off the television. "They've done it," she said, glancing at Al. "They've really found the cure."

Al gave a lopsided smile. "I never doubted it."

Namir heard Rick's announcement about Zaskin and made a note of it. Though Alice hadn't said anything about it, he knew that it was going to be his responsibility to find Zaskin and rescue the scientist. I hope I can do it. He rounded another corner and found himself entering a large, open hall.

The room had been set up as a scientist's lab. Banks of computers and more bench space than Namir thought any scientist could possibly use lined the hall. Hunched over one of the computers at the far end of the hall was a man in a lab coat that may once have been white. Bet that's Zaskin, Namir decided, stepping forwards.

As he moved further into the room, though, his eyes were drawn to a stasis couch in the centre of the room.

For a full minute, Namir stared at it; unable to believe what his eyes were telling him. The occupant of the couch was Alex Collins. Alex Collins was dead. It shouldn't be possible.

"Uh, guys?" JJ's voice sounded strained. "I think we're about to have company."

"Shit!" John's exclamation was a mix of surprised and angry. "Metal heads."

"Then let's give it to 'em, hotter'n hell," was Alice's command. "Nam, you know what to do."

Shaken from his shock by the comm. comments, Namir opened his mouth to give an affirmative when the hall was filled with the sort of maniacal chuckle that sent a shiver of fear straight down his spine.

"I really have to say," said a voice from immediately behind Namir, "that I do love it when a plan comes together."

The image of the hall, the scientist and the stasis couch all flickered out, revealing the real room Namir had stepped into as nothing more than a large, but ultimately empty, store room. Holographs. But... Namir spun round and found himself facing a man no taller than he was and who was wearing a hooded robe that most effectively obscured his face.

"You must be Namir," said the man in an almost friendly tone of voice.

Namir stared, open mouthed. He knew he was still in stealth mode; the man in front of him shouldn't have been able to see him.

"Power Down," the man stated, and to Namir's surprise, he found himself demorphing. "That's better."

"What the hell?"

The man laughed. "I created you. You don't seriously think that your tricks and training would let you get past me, do you?"

"Who are you?"

"Can't you guess?" The man asked, reaching up to draw back his hood. "I'm The Master."

And Namir found himself staring at the face of Alex Collins.

TO BE CONTINUED...