Eric walked slowly into the main room of the Collins mansion using his crutches. It had been just over a month now since he learned about what happened to Wes. It seemed so unreal to him. He half expected to see Wes coming down the stairs, with a charming smile, greeting him like he always had. But, not this time. He would never again see his friends charming smile. And unlike while he was in the hospital and could just pretend that none of this had happened, that everything was fine, he couldn't. Now that he was out, it was time to face reality. It was time to accept that Wes was really gone.
"Eric, it's good to see you," announced Collins, walking up to him and briefly giving him a hug, trying not to cause any pain. "You gave us all quite a scare." He felt bad about not visiting him in the SPD hospital, but he just hadn't been able to leave Sky and after what happened with Wes, Sky wasn't ready to go back to even visit with Eric. It was as if he were afraid of it happening all over again and his little heart just couldn't take it.
"It's good to see you too, Alec," Eric responded. His face ceciming very grim and full of guilt. "I'm sorry. I should have gotten him out sooner, maybe-"
"None of this is your fault." He gripped Eric's shoulder, needing him to know that none of this was his fault. "We both know he wouldn't have listened." Collins smiled faintly. "All he ever wanted to do was help people." He gulped in hard, holding back his tears, knowing if he started now he might never be able to stop.
"Yeah," Eric replied softly, bowing his head, knowing that Alec was right. Once Wes had his mind made up there was little anyone could do or say to change it. He just wished he could go back to that day and fix all of this somehow.
"Alec." Hayley walked up to them holding Megan. "Where's Sky?"
"He's out back practicing the moves Wes was teaching him, just before…" He sighed heavily, holding back his tears. "I'm sorry. If you'll excuse me I have a phone call I need to make."
"Of course." Hayley watched as he walked up the stairs slowly, as if he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Eric?" Hayley turned back to where Eric was standing, but he was no longer there. She turned around and found him already moving towards the back of the house that led to the backyard.
"Not doing so well, are they?"
"No." Hayley turned around and found Philips standing behind her. "How are you doing? I mean, I know you and Wes were close."
Philips nodded his head. "Yes, ever since he was born." He had been with Wes ever since the beginning from a small innocent baby, to a wide eyed toddler, to a broken hearted boy, to a determined teenager, to the kind hearted brave young man he died as.
It wasn't until now that Hayley had realized just how hard this was on Philips. The old kind-hearted butler, who had practically helped raise Wes after the death of Mrs. Collins. "He was like a son to you, wasn't he?"
Philips smiled faintly. He would never say it out loud, but yes, Wes had been like a son to him. He was the son he never had and he wouldn't trade a moment that the spent with him. If he could he would have given his own life for Wes.
Eric made his way over to Sky, nice and easy, still getting used to the crutches. It was a big adjustment for him. He hated having people always keeping an eye on him as if he were made of glass.
He watched as Sky continued to punch the punching bag he and Wes had set up sometime last year for Sky. The young boy had improved a lot since then.
"Hey pal."
Sky stopped and turned to Eric, staring up at him blankly, not saying a word. He didn't know what to say or do. Eric had been the last person to see his father alive, besides the one who was responsible for his father's death, but no one would tell him who that was.
Eric sighed heavily. In a way he knew what Sky was going through; when he was Sky's age he had lost both of his parents, or more likely was taken away from them and placed in foster homes. Several of them, no one seemed to have wanted him. But for Sky it was different, Wes had wanted him. Jen had wanted him. It seemed as if that was all Sky's life had been about, losses. And he was only seven years old. No child should ever have to experience such loss. It wan't fair.
"I'm sorry about your dad," Eric told him. Sky still didn't answer he just continued to stare blankly up at him, as if the world had stopped moving. "I'm sure you've heard that a lot. Doesn't help, much. Does it?"
Sky sighed and put his head down. He was so young; he didn't quite understand why all of this was happening. It all seemed just so unfair. His father meant the world to him. His father had been his hero. His dad promised that they would always be together, thst nothing could ever keep them apart.
Eric put all his weight on one of his crutches and used his free hand to pat Sky on the shoulder. "I want you to know that your dad fought bravely." Eric paused for a moment, not even sure if Sky understood what he was saying or even if he really cared at that moment. "No one's braver than your dad."
Sky nodded his head, still not saying one word. Eric smiled and looked over at the punching bag. "Come on. How bout you show me how this thing works?"
That got a smile on Sky's face. "Okay. I bet I can hit it harder than you."
Eric laughed and messed with Sky's hair. "I'm sure you could, seeing as I can barely lift a spoon." Eric stood aside and watched as Sky punched and kicked the bag harder and harder each and every time.
Trip, Sky's puppy, sat watching the two, wagging his tail and barking happily.
"Good. Keep it up; it won't be long until you'll be able to whip my butt."
From inside Hayley watched Sky and Eric. She was happy to see them together, having fun and smiling. It seemed far too long since she seen Eric smile. She was beginning to worry about him; lately he seemed so tense around her. He hadn't even gone to Wes's grave. She had tried to get him to go, to get some closure, but he refused and would use some excuse. He wouldn't even talk about what had happened to her, to anyone for that matter.
She kept on telling herself that it's going to take time. But somehow, she felt the longer Eric kept his wall up, the worse it was going to get.
Later that night Eric sat on the couch reading the newspaper while Hayley was in the kitchen putting away the dishes. After she was done she joined him.
"You know, I was thinking that tomorrow we should go to the grave site. It's supposed to be a nice day."
Eric turned to the newspaper. "Not according to the weather report."
"Okay then, the next day," replied Hayley not ready to give up on the subject.
"It's supposed to be bad all week."
Now he was just making excuses. "Eric, stop this."
"Stop what? I haven't done anything!" He exclaimed.
"That's exactly what I'm talking about, Eric." She raised her voice. It was getting to the point where she could no longer stand it. She needed to get him to talk, to open up to her like he used to. "You're shutting me out. Ever since I told you about-"
"Don't you dare bring him into this! He has nothing to do with it," he snapped.
"He has everything to do with it!" She knew she was overreacting, but she just couldn't take it anymore. She was at her breaking point with him. "You won't even-" A loud cry rang through the air. Their yelling had woken up Megan from her sleep. Eric stood up grabbed his crutches and started towards the stairs. "Where are you going?"
"To check on our daughter. Thanks to you're yelling she woke up," he responded harshly.
Hayley started to go after him, but decided not to, knowing that they both needed some time to cool down. That's how most of their fights had ended, with him always using Megan as a way to break away, at least until the next fight. They had never fought like this before and it only seemed to be going from bad to worse.
SPD Academy
"What do you mean I can't see him?" yelled Eric into the face of the officer who was standing in front of the entrance to the command center.
"Commander Myers, you can't go in there right now," the officer continued to tell him.
"Out of my way!" exclaimed Eric as he shoved the officer out of the way and swung open the door knocking a cadet to the floor. Eric stepped over the cadet, limping slightly as he made his way over to Commanders Cruger. It had been a couple of months now since he'd come out of his coma and had been released. He was off his crutches now, but only could walk for a short periods of time and had been put to desk work until he was fully recovered.
"Eric, what is the meaning of barging in here like this?" demanded Commander Cruger. "I told you I could not meet with you until late next week."
"Where is he?" Eric's face was firm. He wanted to know. He wanted him to pay and he hadn't been sitting on his ass for weeks gathering up his strength for nothing. He wanted to take action and he wanted to do it now.
"Where is who?"
"Don't play games with me!" Eric got right into Cruger's face. "You old dog." He was angry, more angry then he ever had been in his life, angry with himself, with Mirloc, with Cruger, maybe even angry with Wes. "You know damn well who I'm talking about!"
Cruger glared at Eric in the eyes. "Commander Myers, I don't like your tone and as your commanding officer, I demand you rephrase yourself."
"Where's Mirloc?"
"I'm sorry, but I am not permitted to provide you with his location," announced Cruger firmly.
"The hell you aren't." Eric pulled out his blaster and pointed it right at Cruger's face. Several of the officers started for their own blasters, but Cruger waved for them to stop. "I'm only going to ask you this once; where is he?"
Cruger sighed. He knew how hard this was on Eric. Eric had been the last one to see Wes alive. He had been Wes's partner and best friend. But he couldn't be allowed to see Mirloc; especially in the state of mind he was in, it would be too dangerous. "Again I am sorry, but I cannot tell you his location of where he is being held. Given your condition and emotional state-"
Eric looked Cruger hard in the eyes. He was angry with Cruger, he wanted him to pay, but it wasn't him he wanted to kill. Mirloc was the one he wanted to kill. Not Cruger. Eric sighed heavy, he and Cruger always had a complicated relationship and now things were worse then ever. He knew from this moment forward things would be different between them. Cruger may not have killed Wes, but Eric felt that Cruger was responsible.
"You bastard! You cold hearted bastard." Maybe he was being irrational, overacting, but at that moment he didn't care. All that mattered to him was his best friend was gone. "A little boy no longer has a father." Eric eyed him coldly. "How does that make you feel?" He shook his head as he put his blaster back in its holster. "You're nothing but a coward."
Cruger bowed his head down, not responding. He wanted to say it made him feel terrible, but he knew that wouldn't be enough for Eric. It had never been enough. From day one Eric had always held something against him. The two had never gotten along and now without Wes playing peacemaker things could only go from bad to worse.
Eric could feel his voice breaking. "Why'd you have to call him? It was his day off?" He went on coldly, saying, "You knew he'd respond to your call. You knew he'd come." Eric was filled with so much anger that he didn't even know what he was saying. "How many more rangers are you going to get killed? With Wes gone, that makes seven? How many more will die because of you, because you won't go out and fight?" Eric then ripped his badge off his uniform, and threw it at Cruger. "I"m done! Find someone else who's willing to die for you, becasue I sure as hell won't!" And with those final words Eric marched out of the room, without even looking back.
"Eric. Wait-" But it was too late, he was gone. Cruger bowed his head down, sighing. He had known it was only a matter of time until Eric's emotions got the best of him, but he had never suspected that this would happen. He had never expected for a lot to happen.
The cadets in the room all stared at their Commander in disbelief and shock. They couldn't believe that Commander Myers, the Quantum Ranger had just quit. "What are you all looking at?" he barked the second he caught all of them staring at him. "Get back to work!" He then stormed out of the command center, with Kat marching after him.
"Doggie!"
He stopped and slightly turned his head. "Do you have something to add, Dr. Manx?"
"Yes. Don't take your frustration out on the cadets; they have done nothing wrong."
"No." He turned to face her. "But I suppose you think I have." He eyed her carefully. "You think I made a mistake calling Wes Collins for help, instead of going out myself?"
Kat's face softened. "It doesn't matter what I think," she answered knowing nothing anyone said or did now would change what happened. "What's done is done, there's no changing it. We just all have to move on."
"Yes, we do." He nodded his head and turned around, but stopped for a moment. "Are the A squad morphers complete?"
"Yes. I need to run a few more tests, but they should be ready in a few months."
"Make them ready in a few hours. It's time to put the ranger squad to good use."
"But sir..." But he had already turned down the hall. Although she didn't like it, they didn't have much of a choice, they needed Rangers. She just hoped that they were ready for the next step of becoming full active rangers, especially without Commander Myers and Commander Collins to guide them.
Tanner and Culby were entering into the academy and passed by Eric as he stormed out the door. "Commander Myers," called Culby, but Eric didn't answer or even look back. It was as if his mind was on other things. "What do you think that was about?"
Tanner shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me."
"Would the ranger squad please report to deck five."
"Deck five? That's the main lab." Culby looked at Tanner, confused. What would they need to go up there for? "What do you think we're going to do there?"
"Only one way to find out."
The two headed towards the elevator and went up to deck five where they found their teammates. "Do you know what this is about?" asked Tanner as he and Culby walked out of the elevator.
Dash shook his head. "No. No idea."
"You know Commander Myers seemed really upset when we saw him," announced Culby, still wondering what could have been bothering him so much that he ignored their calls. It wasn't like him not to acknowledge them.
"You saw Commander Myers?" asked Heather.
Both Tanner and Culby nodded their heads. "Yeah, just a few minutes ago."
"How was he? Did he look okay?" asked Gina. "I mean it's just been a couple of months now since he's come out of the coma."
Culby was getting ready to respond, when Cruger walked up to them. "Ah. Good, cadets, you're all here. Now if you all will follow me, we'll get the operation underway."
"Operation?" Dash looked at his commander, confused. "Commander Cruger, what are you talking about?"
"You're all moving up to ranger mode immediately, starting today," he announced. "Now please follow me, Dr. Manx is waiting."
Looks of disbelief and doubt came across their faces. They still had several months of training until they were supposed to become Rangers. "What?" Tanner said. The others followed with similar expressions, as they followed Cruger to where Dr. Manx was waiting for them. None of them could believe thst today would be the day they would be given their morphers.
Culby stopped. Something didn't seem right, something was wrong, otherwise they wouldn't be moving up to full ranger mode when they hadn't even fully prepared for it. "Wait, what about Commander Myers?"
The others stopped. They agreed with him. Where was their Commander, who had been with them through this whole process? He should be here for this. He and Commander Collins had trailed and hand picked them to be Rangers. Something wasn't right. "Yeah, where is Commander Myers, shouldn't he be here for this?" asked Gina.
"Yeah." Heather looked to Culby. "Culby, you said you saw him, what-"
Cruger turned to face them. "Commander Myers no longer is with SPD. You won't be seeing him again," Cruger exclaimed wanting to put the manner of Commander Myers to rest. "Now, we have wasted enough time as it is. So if you will, please follow me." After that no one said a word. Cruger had made it clear he didn't want it brought up again.
He showed them into a room where Kat was working near a table where five morphers rested on the table. This was it. This was the moment they all had waited for, so why were they all feeling so uneasy about this? Was it too soon? Or was something missing? "Fall in line," ordered Cruger.
They did as they were told, stood tall and firm and kept their eyes locked with their commander's. "Due to recent events, I had no choice but to call you five up. Now I know you may feel that it's too soon, but I have the strong belief that you will not disappoint me. You all have trained hard and earned this honor to become Rangers, like those before you." He eyed them all closely as he walked past each of them. "But only one of you will receive the rank of team leader. I thought hard and long about this, so with that said, the leader will be…."
"You did what?" yelled Hayley into her husband's face. She couldn't believe that he could be so arrogant and stubborn. Okay, she could believe it, but this time it was different. This time it was his job they were talking about. "You're going to turn around and march right back into Cruger's office and get your job back. Even if I have to drag you myself!" She would not let him lose his job over what had happened.
"No!" he snapped. "I'm not going to work for that son-of-a-bitch." He looked her right in the eyes. "So you can just forget it. I'm not going back." He had made up his mind he was done with SPD, he was done with Cruger.
Hayley sighed heavily. "Please tell me your quitting has to do with your feelings towards Cruger, and not what happened to Wes." She would not let him quit because of Wes's death.
"Would it make a difference?"
"Eric, don't do this." Her voice softened. "Please talk to me."
"What for? For you to tell me what to do?" He looked her hard in the eyes. "Forget it. I made my decision and I'm not working for SPD anymore."
"Does that include Bio-Lab? Because they're a part of SPD too now," she reminded him. Although Collins still owned Bio-Lab, SPD had become a part of it, being a smaller location for the business, in science and defense research, plus the Silver Guardians.
"I'm going for a walk."
"Eric, wait!" she called after him as she tried to stop him from leaving, but he slammed the door in her face. She watched helplessly from the window, watching as he walked away, limping slightly. Not a second later, she heard Megan crying. "Hang on, honey, Mommy's coming."