They waited and watched, as the sword struck right into the heart of the force field, causing an even more massive counter effect. Sparks flew all over the place, nearly hitting both Eric and Merrick along with the two mutorgs, Rofang and Kired.

Eric's eyes widened in terror. "You're killing him!" He started to run forward fully intending to run right through it, not caring how badly it could hurt him. He needed to get Wes out of there before his friend really ended up dead, for good this time. However, Merrick wasn't going to have it, he only pulled him back from going any further.

"Just wait…" Merrick's eyes remained focused and confident, showing that there was no need to worry and that everything would be okay. "Just trust me."

In that moment that was all Eric really could do, was trust that Merrick knew what he was doing and hope and pray that his young friend would be okay. Eric's eyes remained glued on the sight, as he watched as the bright lights around the spot where Wes and Takach were slowly began to fade away, as the force field was beginning to drop. He was vaguely aware of Merrick, telling him to "Wait for it….. wait for it….."

Once the force field had diminished, they found Wes lying flat on the ground, barely moving, and Takach with the sword right through his heart. Both Rofang and Kired stepped forward; they couldn't believe it.

"Impossible…."

"He couldn't have…." Rofang exclaimed, but indeed it appeared that Merrick, the last of the ancient warriors, had somehow managed to send his sword right into Takach's heart. They watched as their comrade, their leader; screamed out in pain, as bright streaks of light began to emerge from his body.

Merrick sensed what was happening, felt it as his heart skipped a beat, knowing that they didn't have much time. "Eric, we got to move now! He's going to blow!"

"This whole place could go down." Eric glanced over to Wes, who was barely moving. Eric knew that without help Wes wasn't going to make it out of this. Whether Wes wanted their help or not, he was going to get it. "We got to get Wes!"

"Right." Merrick nodded his head and not a moment later, the two ran towards Wes, dove to the ground and scooped him up and ran like hell towards the exit. They were vaguely aware of Rofang and Kired yelling back at them.

They were only a few feet away, almost home free. Eric, with his heart racing, looked over his shoulder, and saw as Rofang and Kired began to move their hands, and watched as they formed a ball of energy, headed right at them. He took a deep breath, knowing that the next couple of seconds would either mean life or death. "Brace yourselves!"

A huge explosion emerged, the whole building was up in flames, but just before it hit the burst of the explosion sent our three heroes flying out and crashing into an alley. The hard fall caused Merrick to go into a forced demorph, and he and Eric watched as the fire burned heavily; it felt as though the heat was right on top of them.

"Do you think the explosion finished them off?"

Merrick looked into the fire but could see no sign of them, but even that wasn't good enough to know that they really had been killed. Orgs were very powerful and could survive almost anything. "I don't know, it's possible." He turned to Eric with a grim look on his face. "But it's also possible they survived."

Not exactly the answer Eric was looking for. He looked back at the fire, either way, right now, at least for now, it seemed as though they were safe, which would give him enough time to knock some sense into Wes. "You okay, Wes?" asked Eric as he moved towards his young friend who was leaning against the wall of a building, holding onto his chest, wincing in pain from the broken ribs he had gotten from his fight with the mutorg leader.

"You should have left me there….."

"You selfish self-righteous bastard!" Eric slugged Wes right in the face, as if it was his way of trying to get through to Wes. But even the hard blow didn't seem to put a dent in Wes's behavior.

Eric couldn't believe this; never in his wildest dreams did he ever think he would see the day when Wes Collins would throw in the towel and just want to give up on everything. He got right into Wes's face and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, nearly shoving him against the wall.

"Eric, this isn't really the time," announced Merrick, though he knew Wes needed some type of intervention this really wasn't the time or the place to be doing it. Not with the possibility that the mutorgs could have survived and not when they had friends in danger.

"No, we have to do this here and now." Eric knew that if this was just the beginning of the battles yet to come, he needed to make sure that he could count on Wes one-hundred percent.

"Look, just give it to me already, Eric, bash my face in…."

At that moment, all he wanted to do was bash into Wes's face, but he knew with all the injures Wes already had withstood he didn't need to add any more to them. "Look, I get it. You're messed up right now, and have gone through a lot of shit! I get that, I really do." Eric looked Wes hard in the eyes, really pinning it right into him. "But right now, we have a city that needs to be cleaned of the garbage that is still roaming around. And then there's Jen….." He watched as Wes turned his face away, just at the mention of her name. Eric sighed; it was like he didn't even recognize him anymore. The Wes he had known was gone, but a part of him wanted to believe that somewhere deep inside, he was still there. "And I thought you, more than anyone, wouldn't want anything bad to happen to her." He licked his lips and forced Wes to look right at him, eye to eye, man to man. "Which would be kind of hard to do if you're dead!"

"Get off of me!" Wes shoved Eric away and started to turn away, to get some distance, but the pain from his broken ribs caused him to drop to his knees. Though the pain was strong, it didn't compare to everything else he was feeling.

Merrick kept a close watch on the burning building. By the tone of both Wes's and Eric's voices and what he knew of the situation, they weren't going to be leaving anytime soon. At least not until everything was settled, which needed to be taken care of as soon as possible.

"If you really love her as much as you say you do, then you need to get your act together, so you can help her." Eric knew very well that Jen was Wes's breaking point and knew it might be the only way to get through to him, much like how the mutorgs used it against Wes, but in a slightly different way.

"I don't deserve her…." Wes knelt with his back towards Eric holding onto his ribs tightly. He sighed heavily; after everything he had done, all the damage and pain; all he truly felt he deserved was death and nothing else. He turned to Eric, his eyes in tears. "You were right, what you said would happen, did happen, and it's my fault. It's all my fault. They're all dead…..because of me."

Never in all his life did Eric wish so much he could take something back that he had said, even though at the time it was true, but in the end it hadn't helped things. He could still hear the very words he had said, playing over in his mind.

"A whole lot of people are going to die because of your selfish act." ….. "Nice going, hero, Daddy's going to be real proud!"

"Wes…" Eric started to reach out to him to grip Wes's shoulder, but Wes shoved his hand away.

"Just save it. After the things I've done and caused I deserve anything, from anyone…."

"Fine, you can go on believing that, that you don't deserve friends, family, a relationship, but then one day you'll get up, look in the mirror, and you will have become me." Eric walked around Wes so he could look him right in the face. "But take it from me, I'd give anything to be in your shoes. To know that I had a father and a girl who loved me no matter what kind of shit I have done."

"But all those people…."

"We all make mistakes, Wes, and even if you hadn't sent them back, people still would have died."

Wes nodded his head; Eric was right, as hard as it was to accept that, he was right. No matter what he had done, there still would have been lives lost that day. And right now his time would be better spent helping those in need, than in hating himself for those he couldn't save. "Since when did you become the sensible one?"

"Since you've been acting like an ass." Eric grinned and nudged Wes in the shoulder. "But I expect that once this is all over, that things will go back to the way they were."

"Sounds like a plan." Wes gripped onto his ribs tightly and winced at the pain. "But before we do anything, I need to do something about these ribs."

Alex and the others had been fighting non-stop, but the more cyclobots they took down, the more that just kept on appearing. It was an endless battle and time was starting to take effect; as hard as he tried, he couldn't defeat all of them, to make his way to the opening underground.

"Damnit!" Alex slashed his sword at one of the cyclobots and prepared to take on another. He glanced over at Taylor the yellow Ranger, who was having problems of her own but was the closest to making a break for it, to go help Jen and whoever else was below. "Taylor, do you think you can manage to get yourself in that opening?"

She only had a moment to see the opening; she was only a few feet away from it. The only problem was she was crowded by five or six cyclobots, who were trying to tear her limb from limb. But she was always up for a challenge, especially with lives at stake. "Yeah. I can try!" Taylor began quickening her pace, hoping to throw off the zombie-like robots, and when she saw her chance she would make a break for it.

Please be okay, Jen, just a hold out a little longer…. Alex knew if anything happened to her, he would never begin to be able to forgive himself. She might no longer love him, but that didn't stop him from loving her. She had and still was his whole world; he would have done anything for her.

A cyclobot pounded him hard in the chest, nearly causing the brave warrior to go off of his feet, but Alex quickly regained his balance. He reminded himself he needed to stay focused and not let his mind wander. The more time he spent worrying about Jen, the more chances the cyclobots would have at taking him out completely. Alright, Alex, time to get back into the game. The most feared officer in Time Force began using every move he had learned from the academy. He grabbed the cyclobot, twisting its arm and throwing it over his shoulder, sending it right into the cyclobot that Lucas had been fighting. He took a moment to catch his breath, then looked right at the blue Ranger. "Get yourself and Taylor down there right now, Jen's waited long enough!"

"About time," answered Lucas. He turned and scanned the vicinity for Taylor, it shouldn't be difficult to pick out a yellow Ranger, but with the large amount of cyclobots and lack of lighting it was making it a little difficult. And then he saw her, fighting off a few remaining cyclobots that had been near her. He started running towards her, knowing that they would only have one chance before the other cyclobots would get wind of what they were doing, they might not be the smartest of the bunch, but they sure weren't stupid.

Lucas ran like he had never run before, jumping over the other Rangers and cyclobots to get to her; once he landed on the ground he looked to her and ran. "It's go time, Taylor!" Together the two jumped into the opening that would lead them below, hoping to find Jen in one piece, but one thing was for sure, the battle was only going to get worse and more deadly.

"I sure hope Jen's okay," said Trip as he and Katie fended off their own group of cyclobots. He had been trying to use his senses to pick up on her but he had never been able to force his ability, it would do it all on its own, whether he wanted it to or not.

"You and me both," answered Katie, who was deeply concerned about her friend. She knew Jen was an excellent fighter and officer, but also knew that even Jen had her limits and with Ransik anything was possible.

"Well, that should do it for now," announced Merrick as he made sure the bandage was tightly pressed and wrapped around Wes's chest. "I know this isn't the best time to be saying this, but from here on out you need to take it easy."

"Somehow I don't think Ransik or the cyclobots are going to feel the same way," answered Wes, knowing that they would turn his injures to their advantage and use them against him.

"And there's no talking you out of this," added Eric.

"Hell no! We're in this together, no matter what happens."

Merrick knew that with Wes's injuries, it would be extremely dangerous for him to continue on with the fight, and though right now Wes was thinking straight and level-headed, there would be no way of talking him into staying out of this fight, not with Jen in trouble, not when he still felt a responsibility to see this fight through to the end. It was something Merrick understood all too well.

"We should get going," announced Eric as he helped Wes to his feet. "I think your girlfriend has waited long enough for your ass to go save her."

"I just hope that she's still there to be saved."

"You worry too much, Wes, knowing Jen she probably has the whole situation under control."

Merrick's eyes were glued onto the burning building; he gripped his hand tightly onto the sword that after the explosion had gotten thrown out and landed a few feet away from where they had been resting. "You two should go," he exclaimed. His voice was very direct and firm.

"What?" Eric turned to Merrick and started to approach him.

"You need to go!"

At first Eric didn't know what was behind Merrick's forceful words, until he saw with his own eyes a dark glowing figure coming out of the burning building. He started to reach for his blaster. "Shit!"

But Merrick stopped him and gave a hard look to Wes, telling him not to morph. "Your friend needs your help. I've got it from here."

"Are you sure?" asked Wes, all it took was one glace at the figure heading towards them to know this was even more dangerous and powerful than what they had faced inside.

"Yes. Go now, while you still have the chance." Merrick morphed right in front of them. "I'll be fine, trust me," and without another word Merrick, the silver Ranger, went charging at the figure that came from the fire.

Only for a moment did Wes and Eric watch, a part of them wanting to follow after, but knew they were needed elsewhere. "Think he'll be okay?" asked Wes.

"I think he knows what he's doing." Eric gripped Wes's shoulder. "Come on, we still have Ransik to take care of." And with that said the two took off, leaving behind their new-found friend, not knowing whether they would ever see him again.