(A.N. This is a bit of a shorter one so I'm also going to upload the next chapter as well. So here's chapter 2, I hope you enjoy and please feel free to let me know what you think or how you're liking the story :) )

The Time Shadow

It had been a rough battle but they'd finally won and were back at the clock tower, talking to the captain in the future. Jen remained stoic and serious as she informed him. "The time shadow performed well sir."

Trip gasped, shaking his head with exaggerated hand movements. "oh no no no, she means it was awesome. Thanks!"

"I wish I could take the credit."

Katie looked at him curiously. "But if time force didn't send it, then who did?"

"I don't know." The captain replied. "But I'm going to find out." And with that, the call ended.

Jen crossed her arms, deep in thought as the call cut out. She stood up, staring blankly, which caught the attention of the other rangers. She shook her head, shaking herself out of her thoughts before she turned to address them. "We don't have time to worry about who sent it. The important thing is that we have it on our side." She sighed before she said. "But we had a close call today. If the time shadow hadn't shown up to help us, we would've been done for. We would've been destroyed and this time and our own would've been in great danger."

"But we're still here." Trip said. "We're ok and we'll keep fighting, isn't that what matters?"

She shook her head. "That's not enough Trip, we can't afford to be in that position again. We can't have any more close calls."

"Yeah it was a close call," Wes started. "But we can do this. We're all time force officers and as long as we stick together, we can handle anything that Ransik and Frax throw at us."

Jen had to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Whilst I admire your optimism, you have to be realistic. We have your time and ours to protect, we need to make sure one hundred percent of our focus is on protecting the city and taking down Ransik."

With that final sentence, Jen walked away and left the rangers thinking. She was right, they knew that, but there was something about that last sentence that left a sinking feeling in their stomachs.

Jen found herself sitting out on the roof again immersed in her thoughts. She could hear the rangers engaging in some activity inside and from the commotion, she knew that none of them would be coming up to talk to her. It would be one of the few moments she got all to herself. And in that moment, it was both comforting and disconcerting.

She found herself thinking about the conversation she'd just finished with the rangers and wasn't ready to admit how much of it was really directed to herself rather than them. The truth was, she didn't blame them for anything that happened that day, she blamed herself. Had she have been giving this mission that necessary attention, would any of it have happened? Would they have realised the importance of the Zyrium powder and prevented Frax from ever getting his hands on it? Could they have prevented that robot from ever attacking the city had she just been paying more attention?

She shook her head, contemplating the 'what ifs' would get her nowhere. She couldn't change what they hadn't done but she sure as hell was going to change her actions for the future. Her thumb instinctively started twisting the ring on her finger as it had done so many times since she'd arrived in the year 2001 and her heart clenched as she thought about the future – her future – or at least what it should've been. Her unresolved anger rose inside her but she fought hard to suppress it.

Her hands clenched as she came to a resolution. 'Any action I make in the present is going to affect my future and it's my job to make sure that I make that future the best I can.' She looked inside where she caught a glimpse of the group – specifically Wes – and she felt her heart clench once more. 'He doesn't need to know about my feelings, it's better this way. My mission is to take down Ransik and protect the city to save our future and that's what I'm going to do.' She vowed that one hundred percent of her focus would be on defeating the mutants, nothing was more important than completing her mission as she'd promised.

With her resolve set, however, she still had one question: who sent the time shadow?