2014

Cruger walked through the park of Newtech City, wearing his long cloak, covering his face, not wanting to be noticed by anyone. Whether for privacy or the hidden fear that one of Gruumm's men could be out lurking around searching for him, he didn't know. A lot had happened in the past seven years. SPD had become one of the most promising military police task forces across the galaxy. They were overflowing with applications ranging from ages fifteen and up, all wanting to participate in the academy - from not just Earth, but all over the galaxy. Of course the minors would attend school base classes while attending the academy. When they graduated they all had the option to enter into the police academy to cecome officers.

The A squad ranger team, the team that both Commanders Collins and Myers had trained, had proven themselves time and time again to be extraordinary rangers. Although it was hard for them at first adjusting to everything, going into battles, assisting other planets which were at war, and all the hardships that came with being a ranger; they had come out on top. Cruger was proud of them and knew that Wes and Eric had both made a wise decision when selecting them. Although the A squad would never say anything, he knew that they missed the presence of their former commanders, and at times even he missed them too. ….Even Eric, who had been a strong presence at SPD. Cruger oftene wondered if he should have gone after Eric that day and stopped him from leaving. He knew that Eric could have been of great help in these last years.

The A squad who all have been recently promoted were already in the beginning stages of training their replacements. They have served seven years and would have three more years left to be A squad rangers; after that they would have the option of retiring or remaining with SPD as top veteran officers in their newly promoted ranks. It almost seemed hard to believe that in the near future they would be selecting new A squad rangers, it seemed like just yesterday that it was the A squad rangers' first day at the academy.

"No, leave me alone. Don't touch me!"

Cruger moved quickly when he heard what sounded like a female child. And that's when he saw her; it was a girl who couldn't be any older than twelve, being tormented by an alien. He watched for a moment closely, eyeing the girl; something was different about her. He could tell, could almost smell it; she was no ordinary human. His eyes widened when he realized who she was. It's her.

"Help, somebody help me!" she screamed.

Cruger went running, quicker than light towards her. It was the first time in years since he had gone into any kind of combat that went beyond just training and drilling with cadets and officers. He drew his blaster and shot the alien mugger down to the ground.

"Little girl-" By the time he turned around she was gone. She must have taken off when she saw him coming to her rescue. He started to search for her, wanted to check, make sure she was okay, but he never found her. The only thing he found was a silver necklace lying on the ground, with the letter Z. "Z..." He held it in his hands, eyeing it closely. "Hmm, Elizabeth Delgado. I my suspension were right, it was her. One of the children."

It was one of the children Andros had told him about years ago. One of the children whose parents had fallen victim to an accident that happened at Bio-Lab in 2001. It would be a few more years until Z would join the academy, but even now he could feel just how powerful she truly was. With her at the academy, SPD would surely be unstoppable. He just hoped that the other children would be the same.

But it seemed odd that he had come to find her out here. She and her parents had been missing for years. Collins had lost track of the girl's parents. The last time anyone had heard from the Delgados was back when SPD was coming into place. Back when the families of the children were contacted asking for their cooperation in allowing their children to go to the academy, at age fifteen. The families had all agreeded back then believing it would benefit their children whe they were older and would help the, control their abilities. Had the Delgados resurfaced or was something else going on? He couldn't be sure.

His communicator began beeping. "This is Cruger, go ahead."

"Doggie, you need to come back to the base. Something….something has happened and I think you should hear it in person."

By the sound of her voice he knew it wasn't good, something bad had happened. "I'm on my way back now, Kat." Cruger looked at the necklace once more, tucking it away in his cloak for safekeeping, knowing that one day he would be able to return it to its rightful owner.

"I got you, Uncle Tommy!" laughed seven year old Megan happily as she jumped off the couch and landed right on top of him. "Come on Erin, help me!" She called for her little sister.

Five year old Erin, Eric and Hayley's second child, joined with her sister in using their uncle as a jungle gym, giggling happily. This had become their favorite pastime whenever Tommy showed up; they insisted that he play jungle gym with them. And of course, having a soft spot for his little nices, he never objected. He loved them both to death.

"Hey Eric, a little help," laughed Tommy as he tried to get to his feet, but found himself being pushed back down.

"Oh no. You got yourself into this mess, you can get out," announced Eric. "Besides, you're a legend, you should be able to handle two little girls." Eric grinned as he held his eight month old son in his lap, while watching his daughters double team Tommy.

Tommy rolled over and quickly scooped both of the girls into his arms and stood up. "Yes, but they're not just any little girls, they're your little girls."

"Hey. No fair!" poured Erin.

"Yeah, you cheated, Uncle Tommy!" Megan exclaimed.

Tommy laughed and gently put both girls back down on the ground. "Oh, I'm sorry." He took their hands and kissed them gently. "You forgive me?" He smiled that charming smile of his that they had come to love.

"We forgive you," said Megan as she and her sister both hugged Tommy.

"Tommy, you really need to find girls your own age. Whatever happened to Karen?" asked Eric.

"Karen? " He rolled his eyes at the mention of her name. "Oh Karen, the blind date you and Hayley set up for me… she was a little too dramatic for me."

"Or she wasn't a certain pink ranger," smirked Eric.

"Very funny." Tommy walked over and sat down on the couch next to Eric, letting out a big yawn.

"Come on, Uncle Tommy, let's play some more." Erin tugged at her uncle's arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but Uncle Tommy is tired. You wore him out." He picked her up and set her in his lap. Not a moment later Megan joined them and went to sit next to her father and baby brother.

"Daddy, can I hold Wesley?" asked Megan.

"Sure, honey. Just remember to be very careful." Eric gently set his son into Megan's arms.

Tommy smiled as he watched Eric with the kids. A lot had happened in the past seven years. He had watched as Eric's family grew from just one child to three now. Little Wesley had completed the Myers family children, several months ago. He was happy for Eric and Hayley; both of them were doing a lot better than when they first came back here. They both had great jobs; Eric worked as a security officer for the Reefside Police. It wasn't as exciting as his old job had been, but he had never heard Eric complain about it. As for Hayley, she reopened the Cyber Café, but would still do small programming jobs for places such as NASA, the FBI and the CIA. She wanted to be able to be home more for her children.

At times he did envy what they had. They had been married a little over seven years with three beautiful children. Something he didn't have. He had been on dates, dated on and off for the last few years with a couple different girls, but had never found someone who he felt he could spend the rest of his life with. And he wasn't getting any younger.

Even the kids were married or engaged. Kira and Trent had been married for over a year now. And they were both very successful; Kira had had a few albums released, and had been one of the top ten artists in the last five years. Trent had a franchise of comic books and had offers to make a movie of one of his series.

Conner's soccer program had been going great, and in a few years would be all over the country. That was how Conner meant Jena, a young single mother raising twin eight year old boys, at first it just started out as Conner being someone to hang out with the boys, whose father had abandoned them, but then he began spending more time with their mother and before anyone knew it they had gotten engaged, and married a year later.

As for Ethan, he just recently asked Karen Brooks, a girl he went to high school with and had danced with at the prom, to marry him. They would be getting married sometime next fall, shortly after the release of his big computer security program which would be used by all military forces, one of them being SPD.

Everyone seemed to be creating a family. Something he hadn't done. Sure, he had Hayley, Eric and the kids. And he was grateful to be a part of their lives, but….he couldn't help but feel the want for something of his own. His brother had died years ago, and though he still had his adoptive parents and loved them more than anything, he felt something was missing.

The phone began ringing. "I'll get it," they heard Hayley call out to them. "Hello… What?... When… Yes of course, …I understand… Thank you for calling us, Philips."

"What did Philips want?" asked Eric as he gently took his son from his daughter's lap, watching as his wife walked into the living room to join them.

"Eric," she sighed heavily knowing this was going to be very difficult for him to hear. "We need to go back to Silver Hills." She gulped, still not even able to believe it herself. "Alec had a massive heart attack last night… He died this morning."

The room fell silent. It was as if everything had stold still. Eric sighed heavily, replaying what his wife had just told them. "What..." He bowed his head down, not being able to believe it. Alec was gone. The man who was the closest thing he had to a father was gone. "Sky?" He looked up at Hayley.

"He's doing okay," she told him. "But we need to get back there, as of now we're his guardians."

Collins Mansion

"I don't understand why you can't just be my guardian, Philips," remarked fourteen year old Sky as he punched the punching bag hard with his fist. It had been two days now since his grandfather's passing, the funeral would be held in a couple of days. "Batman's butler became his guardian."

"It was your grandfather's wishes that your uncle be your guardian in case anything happened to him," answered Philips holding the punching bag as he has done many time over these last few years. "As for Batman, there was no one else to care for him."

"Yeah, whatever," Sky muttered under his breath not at all thrilled with the situation. "And he's not my uncle! We're not even related, I haven't seen or heard from him in years." They had tried to keep in contact with each other, but the distance drew them apart and soon it was phone calls, and a few birthday and Christmas cards, until it was as if they were total strangers.

Philips sighed, understanding the boy's frustration and anger. All his life had been about losses; first his mother, then his father, shortly afterwards his step-mother Lisa, who he heard from every now and then. The last they had heard from her, she had remarried and was pregnant, but it's been a while since then. Eric and Hayley would follow and though in the beginning everyone made an effort to stay in tight contact; things hadn't stayed thst way, and now his grandfather. He couldn't blame him for feeling the way he did.

"What would your father want?" Philips asked him looking into Sky's eyes.

Sky stopped his routine and grabbed his towel and water bottle. He didn't want to get into what his father would want with Philips right now. "I'm going to go take Trip for a walk." He patted his dog on the head. "Come on, Trip, let's get out of here."

"But Master Sky, Eric and Hayley will be here with their children soon," he called after him.

"Tell them I went out."

"He is more and more like his grandfather everyday," sighed Philips, watching him go. Sky was so different from how Wes had been after the death of his mother; it had been easy to talk to Wes, but Sky seemed to shut everyone out, as if his very genetic power shielded him from ever allowing anyone in. He was a good boy, always ready to lend a helping hand, but when it came to his own personal affair, it seemed Sky would rather face them alone.

"Eric," Hayley called, searching for her husband throughout the house. "Eric…" She found him sitting at the counter on a chair. "Oh, there you are. What are you doing? The kids are in the car, it's time to go."

"I… I just can't believe he's gone." Hayley sat down next to him and put her arm around him. "I didn't even get to talk to him, say goodbye," he said softly. How had they let the time pass them by? "The last time I talked to him was when we told him you were pregnant again. He never knew who we named our son after…" He never got to tell him that they had name their son after Wes.

"Eric." She gently stroked his cheek. "Don't do this." They couldn't go down this road agian.

He stood up. "We should have never left," he exclaimed. "It's my fault! I should have been there."

Hayley stood up and wrapped her arms around him. "Eric, this isn't your fault. None of this is."

He pushed her away. "Yes it is. It was too hard for him to handle, his heart couldn't take it. It's my fault, just like it was with Wes." She started towards him again. After seven years of happiness it was all coming out again, the sorrow, the guilt, and the pain.

"Eric, this isn't your fault," exclaimed Hayley who wasn't about to let her husband do this to himself again. "There was nothing you could have done, for Alec or Wes."

He pushed away from her and snapped right into her face, "You weren't there, Hayley. You have no idea what went on that day!"

And that's when it all came out, full blast. All the frustration she had held in for years from that day. "Because you won't talk about it, not to our marriage councilor, not to Tommy…. not to me." Her eyes filled up with tears. "Eric, for the last seven years you've pretended like that day never happened, and you used our own children as a way of getting out of talking about it." She looked right at him. "And don't say you don't, because you know I'm right."

"You have no idea what-"

"Daddy, are we going to go now?" asked Megan, walking up to her father and tugging at his arm.

Eric sighed heavily and glanced slightly at Hayley before giving his daughter a faint smile. "Yeah, we're going to go." He picked her up and started towards the front door.

Hayley stood there for a moment, knowing this was only the beginning. After all, it had been years since they had last seen Sky. He would be older, and the small boy they had once known and loved might not be the same boy they would find now.