Chapter 108

The Alien Trap

"It should be coming up, sir," the driver called over his shoulder.

"Good, good," Anton said cheerfully. He and Elsa had already checked in to the hotel in Angel Grove, and were now en route to the Ranger party at Tanya's home. He had never been there before, but Carlos had furnished directions. Anton hadn't met very many ex-Rangers; until recently he had only ever known the identity of the Dino Thunder and Ninja Storm Rangers, even as Mesogog—good thing, too, as he shuddered to think what Mesogog would have done with that information—and he was now quite curious.

He was most interested in the Ninja Storm Rangers. Trent had told him that the Dino Rangers, particularly Conner and Kira, kept in touch with the Ninja Storm team and that the Ninja Storm Rangers harbored no ill will towards Anton or Elsa for their actions while evil. Dustin had even mailed Anton a greeting card a few days ago that said "Congratulations on Your Big Day!" on the front with the words "Glad you're not evil anymore—hope you stay that way! Dustin, the Yellow one—remember me?" scrawled inside. Anton had thought it was remarkably thoughtful of him, if a little odd.

"Anton," Elsa whispered urgently, "look." She pointed up out her window.

Anton leaned over her to peer out the tinted glass, his jaw dropping open. Ranger-colored blurs were swooping around a dark gray-purple ship of some sort, firing laser blasts at each other. More laser blasts were arching up from the ground.

"I'm pretty sure it's the next house," the driver called, oblivious to the light show.

"Um, Rodolfo, just—just let us out here," Anton said anxiously.

"Here, sir?" Rodolfo repeated in surprise, but he obediently began pulling on to the shoulder.

"Yes, we'll, ah… we'll be fine. In fact, why don't you take the rest of the night off? No sense waiting for us. We'll get a lift back to Angel Grove with, um, friends of ours and… you just… hurry away."

"All right, sir," Rodolfo said, a tad perplexed by his boss's behavior, but he'd been driving for Anton for years now and knew Anton was prone to bizarre antics and even more bizarre mood swings. The moment the car stopped, Anton and Elsa leaped out, and Rodolfo pulled away the moment Anton slammed the door shut behind them.

"What do we do?" Elsa hissed. "What is that thing?"

"I'm not sure," Anton replied. "But we'd better see if they need help."

"I don't have a laser, Anton," Elsa pointed out, "and I'm wearing heels. A few Tyrannodrones when I'm armed, sure, but I don't exactly have powers anymore and—"

"Trent's in there," Anton said tersely.

Elsa's reluctance vanished. "Tommy is too," she said by way of comfort. Anton nodded absently, following the ship with his eyes. He wasn't actually sure which house Trent was in. The aerial battle was taking place over two mansions—the one right in front of him and the one next door. The closer house looked a little battered, with a chimney missing and a few windows shattered and some sort of yellow blob blocking the patio door, while the other had a flaming waterslide in its pool and a half-melted patio and several craters in the lawn and—

"That one," Anton said, assuming the more damaged house was the object of the attack. He took off along the fence, looking for some way over and in.

"Right behind you," Elsa said, hurrying after him. They didn't have far to go; after only a few yards a blast from the spaceship hit the stone wall of the less-demolished mansion, sending bricks flying out into the street. Anton and Elsa clambered through the hole, keeping a watchful eye on the sky for anything headed their way, but the ship was now moving off over what was presumably Tanya's mansion, pursued ruthlessly by the Space Rangers.

"Hey Dr. Mercer!"

Anton turned at the sound of Conner's cheerful voice and saw Conner and three young men he didn't know, standing on the grass beside the yellow blob on the patio while a woman crouched in the shadows nearby. Large black lumps were heaped on the ground all around them.

"Conner?" Anton said blankly. He shook off his surprise and rushed across the lawn towards Conner. "Where's Trent?"

"Still inside Tanya's place," Conner replied, breathing heavily. "Don't worry; he's safe. We beeped him."

"Beeped?" Elsa repeated. Conner held up his wrist, pointing at his bracelet. "Ah. Beeped. Right. What… are these things?" She nudged a black lump with her foot.

"Troobians," hissed the woman, glaring up in the sky. "These are called Cybots. They're a common foot soldier used by the Troobian Empire."

"Are they human?" Elsa asked curiously.

"They have no hearts," said one of the three men, a Red by the look of him.

"Robots," Conner clarified. "Ethan's totally geeking out; he's helping defend Tanya's place. The Space Rangers got attacked by some sort of pirates on their way in and these guys—" he nodded at the demolished robots— "followed them here. Manx here has fought them before; she's an alien. This is Cole, Max and Danny from Wild Force, by the way; guys, this is Dr. Mercer and Principal Randall. Anyway, you two should probably hang back here with us. Occasionally the pirates drop these ball thingies that spit out the robots. Most of them land over by the Megaship, but a few have landed over here."

"We've been taking out any that overwhelm the others," Cole added. "Jason asked us to hang back and secure this area; there are civilians inside this house."

"We're staying out of the main fight cuz we don't have powers anymore," Max said. "How about you guys?"

Anton shook his head. "No, we don't," Elsa replied. "We can still fight, if we have to, but we've had a rough day."

"Who hasn't?" Conner said dryly. "Hey, I heard Reefside was overrun. What was up with that?"

"Can we come out now?" came a bedraggled voice from behind the mess of yellow fabric, barely audible under the distant sounds of battle next door. Anton frowned, vaguely recognizing the voice, but he couldn't place it.

"No, sorry," Conner called back cheerfully. "Jason will tell us when it's safe."

"Who's Jason?" the voice demanded in frustration. "And if you're right, and aliens really are attacking, shouldn't we call someone?"

"Like who? Everyone who fights aliens is already here," Danny called back.

"Please can we move, Mr. Hartford," begged another voice. "Please. I hear San Angeles is lovely."

"Hartford?" Anton repeated, astonished. "Andrew Hartford?"

"…Yes?" Andrew called hesitantly.

"It's me. Anton. Mercer."

There was a long pause. "Anton? …Aren't you dead?"

"Um, not especially, no. I was meaning to look you up, but most of my files were on the island—"

"The one that sank? Everyone said you disappeared!"

"I did. I… had a bit of a… well, it's a long story," Anton said, cringing. He'd never been very good at reconnecting with people from before his accident; he'd even put a great deal of effort into avoiding most of them, thanks to Mesogog. He hadn't wanted his alter ego to have contact with many of his friends, hence the reason most of them still thought he was missing… but that was over now, and come to think of it he had quite a few calls to make…

"What are you doing here?" Andrew asked. "Are you a friend of Tanya's?"

"Um… a friend of a friend. Remember my old grad student? Tommy Oliver?"

"Tommy, Tommy… the forgetful one with the spiky hair?"

"Yes, him. He's friends with her. How do you know her?"

"She's Gabe Sloan's daughter. She bought this mansion for him and Ada and they sold it to me awhile ago; they were headed on a long expedition to Thailand, last I heard."

"Really? She's one of those Sloans?"

"Yes, you remember them?"

"Of course, of course. Who could forget the Laos expedition?"

Andrew laughed. "Or the yacht incident."

"Or the—"

"Incoming!" Danny shouted.

Anton spun around just in time to see two tiny balls explode in the air, their shards forming into more of the robots that littered the ground. He rushed forward to attack—or rather, he thought he was rushing forward to attack. Conner, Manx, Cole, Max and Danny were all faster than he was, in spite of being far more winded. Before Anton could reach the front line of the robots all four of the boys were fighting so fiercely that Anton half-wanted to just stop and stare. Manx also leaped into the fray, but her style was less clean, harder to follow, more spinning and twisting and throwing. She seemed to have a deeply ingrained hatred for the robots, whereas Conner, Cole, Max and Danny fought with simple determined concentration, though it was no less effective than her viciousness.

Anton and Elsa teamed up against a single robot, but the moment it was down three more rushed in. Their bodies were harder than the Tyrannodrones and Triptoids Anton and Elsa had spent the day fighting, and their movements more difficult to predict. Working together, Anton and Elsa managed to take out another two, and were turning towards the third when Max grabbed it from behind and flung it through the air; it sailed towards Danny, who kicked it back to the ground, where it stayed. Anton gave him a grateful nod and turned to look for his next opponent… but, of the two dozen robots that had appeared, none were left. Conner, Cole, Max, Danny and Manx had destroyed all of them.

Anton looked at Elsa, who was visibly impressed. "No wonder we always lost against them," she muttered.

"Anton? Anton, are you there?" Andrew yelled.

"Oh… yes, yes, I'm here," he said. "Sorry, it's a bit… they told you there were aliens?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," Andrew said morosely. "It's a bit, ah… complex, living next to Tanya."

Anton smiled. "I bet. Well, maybe you could salvage some of these parts. They're using robotic foot soldiers—you did say it was your life's ambition to create a fully sentient robot."

"Haven't you learned your lesson, Dr. Mercer?" came Kira's voice from within the mansion.

"Kira? Is that you?"

"Yeah. I was the one that crashed the hang glider through Mr. Hartford's patio right before the aliens showed up. Me and Taylor did, anyway. Eric's in here too."

"Conner's brother Eric, from the ninja school?" Anton asked.

"Dude, total secret," Conner hissed.

"Andrew's an archaeologist, son—he deals in secrets," Anton replied quietly. "And I don't know how on Earth you'll keep any of this quiet." He gestured at the robot parts littering the Hartford lawn.

"Trust me, we've had worse," Conner muttered, but he shrugged and went back to watching the sky for more robotic threats, figuring that Andrew probably hadn't equated "ninja school" with "top-secret Wind Ninja Academy" anyway.

"No—Eric from Time Force," Kira called back. "He's a member of the Silver Guardians task force out in Silver Hills. Jason told him to stay here and watch over the Hartfords."

"Is Jason your commander?" Andrew asked Eric.

Eric took a moment to reply. "More or less."

"What's going on out there, Anton?" Andrew called. "Everyone's been rather cryptic."

Anton looked out over the battle site. The ship was still flying, but the Space Rangers had it surrounded and one of the laser weapons on the front was now only emitting smoke. Tanya's lawn was a mass of shifting colors, bright suits and brighter flashes from all sorts of weaponry as Rangers from various teams battled more of the robots. A Red Ranger—Anton couldn't see which—was on top of the ship, attempting to damage the wings. The ship was currently soaring over Adam and Tanya's mansion, its flight path erratic.

"It's… sort of hard to tell," Anton confessed. "It's all under control, though."

"Good thing Tanya was having a get-together of Power Rangers," Andrew said. "Usually her parties are a little more contained."

"I daresay I prefer a little more containment," Spencer grumbled.

Anton smiled. "Hi, Spencer."

"Dr. Mercer," Spencer replied.

"Listen, Anton, once this, um, alien attack is over…" Andrew began.

"Yes, of course, we should definitely catch up," Anton agreed. "I want you to meet my son, and my—"

"Son? You had a son?"

"I adopted the Fernandez boy. You remember his parents."

"I do," Andrew said. "Tragic accident. Good for you, taking him in; I can't imagine having a teenage boy around."

"Trent's a good kid. Are you planning to turn in soon?"

"Spencer and I always like to stay vigilant during Tanya's parties. They get pretty chaotic."

"So I noticed," Elsa said wryly.

"If they get any more chaotic, we're going to be filling out life insurance forms," Spencer muttered.

"I'll come by later, then, if you don't mind. I have to check in and make sure Trent's all right, but I don't think anyone would mind if I pop over to your place for a while. I'd like you to meet Elsa, too."

"Great," Andrew said. "I've given up on moving this hang glider, though—might want to try the front door."

"They've got it!" Manx howled suddenly, and everyone turned to look. A wing had tumbled off the Troobian ship, and a moment later it landed with a tremendous crunch on the roof of Tanya's garage. A cheer went up from the Rangers on Tanya's side of the fence.

"Let's go!" Conner shouted, running off across the lawn; Manx was already halfway to the garage.

"Andrew," Anton called, "they've brought the aliens down; I should go… um… do whatever one does in these situations. I'll come by in, say, an hour?"

Andrew called something affirmative; Anton didn't hear what, too concerned about getting to Tanya's and checking on Trent. He went jogging across the lawn with Elsa at his side, mindful of the robots in varying degrees of decay scattered across the grass. One even got up as Conner passed it; Cole took it out with a quick kick without bothering to slow down, Conner calling out a thank you over his shoulder. The closer they got to the boundary between the Hartford grounds and Tanya's, the thicker the bodies got, until Anton was forced to run around piles rather than just stepping over them. Here and there they caught up to other Rangers, some still in morph, others powering down.

At the garage, Ranger after Ranger was leaping up to the roof without difficulty; Manx and Cole pushed off the nearby garden wall to boost themselves up, but Conner, Max and Danny looked just as disconcerted by the height of the garage as Anton and Elsa did.

"I'll give you a boost," Danny said finally, lacing his fingers together to form a stirrup. "I'm fine with staying here."

"Don't enter the ship!" they heard Manx shout from above. "It's a Troobian Kalna—it has a self-destruct sequence!"

"RUN!" someone roared—Anton didn't know or care who, as the words "self-destruct sequence" were apparently a subconscious trigger for "run like hell." He wasn't the only person with that disposition, either—though he did turn out to be one of the slowest, and he couldn't leap off tall buildings in a single bound. Suddenly it was raining Rangers as he and Elsa dashed for the safety of Tanya's mansion, several of them startling him half to death as they hit the ground by Anton. He tried to swerve and avoid the first three, but they were far better at dodging him than the other way around, and after awhile he just kept up a straight path toward the patio doors.

"Manx!" Jen yelled. "Manx, get away from there!"

Anton turned to look over his shoulder and saw that Manx was still standing on the garage roof, staring at everyone in confusion. "Where are you going?" she called, a full two seconds before the alien ship let out a rumbling noise…

…and collapsed into a heap of scrap metal.

Everyone skidded to a halt, staring up at the hunk of useless metal in disbelief. "That's it?" demanded a Ranger Anton didn't recognize. "No sparks? No fire?"

"Why would there be fire?" Manx asked. "If they burned their ships when they destroyed them, they couldn't salvage any parts."

"Yeah, Anton," muttered someone that sounded suspiciously like Tommy.

"So—that's it, then?" said a voice that Anton vaguely recognized as one of Tommy's friends. "No explosions, no more robots, nothing?"

"Yes," Manx replied. "The ship's computer will have been wiped and the ship's pilots have been destroyed; without the commanding officers on board, there will be no one to issue more foot soldiers or order them to attack. The Troobians will count it a loss and probably won't bother coming for the ship. This isn't their solar system and Earth has Power Rangers; it isn't worth it just to salvage a few spare parts."

A Yellow Ranger a few feet away from Anton demorphed; he was utterly startled to recognize her as the famous Tanya Sloan. "Great," she complained. "How am I gonna get all that scrap iron off the roof?"

A Green one gestured broadly at the fire-slagged patio, the still-burning waterslide sticking out of the pool, and the robot bodies obscuring most of the grass. "That's what you're worried about?" He shook his head, then looked up at the pile of metal. "Think we should move the cars, Tan?"

"Where? Half the driveway's missing!"

"We're really sorry, Tanya," one of the Space Rangers called.

Tanya chuckled. "It ain't your fault. And hey, I expected as much. I'm just shocked the house is still standing."

"I'll get someone from Lightspeed over here in the morning," the Red Lightspeed Ranger told her. "We'll take care of the robots and get the ships towed out to NASADA."

"Thanks, Carter. Think you can put out the waterslide fire? The hose is in the shed." He nodded and hurried off, and Tanya turned to a Blue Ranger. "Hey, Rocky, run over to the guesthouse and check on Carmen for me, would ya?"

"Sure." He demorphed, then groaned. "Oh, man—morphing totally killed my buzz!"

A collective groan went up from the group of Rangers, but, to Anton's surprise, the mood was surprisingly merry. They were soon congratulating each other and joking and laughing, reenacting some of their finer moves from the fight while they set about clearing the majority of the robots off what was left of the patio. Anton had lost sight of Conner, and he didn't see Hayley or any of the Dino Rangers; finally he turned to a nearby Red Ranger who was still in morph and asked, "Have you seen Tommy?"

The Red Ranger stared at him for a long moment. Anton was just starting to wonder if this particular Red had any idea who Tommy was when the Red Ranger said, "I am Tommy" and his suit vanished in a burst of red light.

"Oh… right," Anton said sheepishly. Granted, he'd only seen the Red Zeo Ranger once or twice, but he couldn't help feeling foolish.

"Hi, Anton. Elsa," Tommy said. "Enjoying the party?"

Elsa gave him a bit of a glare. "No one parties quite like you, Tommy. Remind me not to put you in charge of any school functions."

"Hey, it's not my fault aliens, robots, and other freaks keep attacking," Tommy retorted playfully. "After all, I'm not the one who likes to send evil mutant creatures after perfectly innocent science teachers."

"Speaking of perfectly innocent," Anton said, "have you seen my son?"

Tommy gave him a blank look. "Uh… he's…" Conner happened to wander by and Tommy called out to him. "Hey, Conner! Go get Trent for me, will you?"

Conner nodded and thrust something out at Elsa. "Here, hold these for me," he said. She took the objects from him and was promptly horrified to realize they were rodents. "They're a little freaked out—try not to jostle them!" he said, jogging off into the house.

"What's Conner doing with… with… what are these things?" Elsa asked in disgust.

"You remember the mall story?" Tommy asked. "Hamsters, gerbils, pole dancing kits? Those are his spoils of war. The gerbil's Mongo and the hamster's Syri."

"Did he name the pole dancing kit?" Anton couldn't help asking. Elsa burst into giggles.

"May I?" Anton and Elsa turned to find Cole behind them, holding his hands out to Elsa. She looked to Tommy for confirmation; he nodded and she gratefully handed over Conner's pets. He began talking soothingly to them.

"This is Cole," Tommy said. "Red Wild Force. Has the ability to read hearts, including animals' hearts."

"That's a useful ability," Anton said, raising his eyebrows. "Where'd you learn that?"

"I was raised in the jungle," Cole replied. "My tribe believed in respecting all of nature's creatures."

"This is Dr. Anton Mercer and Elsa Randall, Cole," Tommy said.

"We've met," Cole said. "Are you friends of Tommy's?" They nodded. "Tommy is a great hero. I am proud to know him," he said. "If you'll excuse me, Zoom is wondering what all the commotion was, and there are several raccoons out front who are very upset. Adam asked me to persuade them to find a new place to live."

"He's… unique," Elsa said as Cole wandered away.

"Trust me," Tommy said wryly, "they all are."

"Trent? Trent!"

"What?" Trent groaned into his communicator. He and Alyssa had decided to save what little was left of the vodka, just in case their buzz started wearing off, and he was now dividing his time between attempting to count the floor tiles, having philosophical discussions with Alyssa, and trying to figure out a polite way to ask her to give him some privacy so that he could relieve his bladder. He wasn't thrilled that Conner was bothering him again, especially since the first time had just been some nonsense about aliens.

"Trent?" Conner's voice came again, louder this time. Trent cast a suspicious glance at his communicator; it wasn't on. "Trent?"

"What?" Trent called, raising his voice.

"Trent? Where are you?" Conner demanded. Now that he was concentrating, Trent could tell Conner's voice was coming from the hall.

"I'm staying put," Trent replied; unless the vodka was stronger than he thought, that was what Conner had wanted him to do the last time he'd bothered Trent.

"We both are," Alyssa added.

Footsteps approached the bathroom door and stopped. "Who's we?" Conner asked.

"Alyssa," she said.

"Which one are you again?"

"She's the brunette from Wild Force," Trent explained. "What do you want, Conner?"

"Your dad's here."

Trent had learned a thing or two about the body's ability to process liquor in health class, but he was pretty sure it wasn't true, because a good deal of the alcohol in his system completely vanished in that moment, replaced by a strong dose of horrified fear. "What?"

"Your dad. He and Principal Randall are here; they're down by the patio."

"Your dad's a Power Ranger?" Alyssa asked Trent curiously.

"No," Trent whimpered. "He's a reformed villain. But he's not gonna be reformed in a minute."

Alyssa peered at him in confusion. "What do you mean?" Her eyes widened in alarm as she realized the most likely cause of Trent's panic. "Oh, god! You're not twenty-one, are you?" Trent shook his head. "Oh, GOD! Get in the shower!"

Trent stared at her. "Um… what?"

"Get in the shower! If your father finds out I got you drunk… oh, god… we probably smell like a dark alley!" She twisted around and hauled herself up using the counter. "Get in the shower and toss your clothes over the bar. I'll see if I can find some perfume or something to get the smell out. Is he really an evil villain?"

Trent kicked off his sandals and staggered for the shower. "Yeah," he said apologetically. "Used to be, anyway. I had no idea he was coming. I had no idea he was invited! He was Mesogog, the villain who fought the Dino Thunder team." He pulled the shower curtain closed and yanked his shirt off.

"Then here's hoping he's not as protective of you as Ransik is of Nadira," Alyssa groaned.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you I wasn't old enough to drink."

"I should have asked," Alyssa replied tersely. "Let's just focus on getting you as sober-smelling as possible."

"What are you guys doing in there, anyway?" Conner called through the bathroom door.

"Nothing!" Trent shouted. He tossed his shirt and pants over the shower bar and threw his shorts in a corner of the tub as far from the showerhead as possible, then fumbled for the shower controls.

"Are you guys showering in there?" Conner demanded.

"Lilac Moonbeam Mist!" Alyssa crowed triumphantly, ignoring Conner. "Oh, please let there be a spare toothbrush in here, too… if not maybe you can grab some sort of snack food…"

"Do you do this a lot?" Trent asked, glad to see shampoo, conditioner and a few other bottles already in the shower, along with a bar of soap.

"Before Princess Shayla and the Animarium, I lived in a dorm room. My roommate was a partier with really strict parents who were paying for her tuition. They visited a lot. You don't mind smelling like lilacs, do you?"

"What do lilacs smell like?" Trent asked. "Never mind—anything's better than vodka at this point."

"Wish I had my purse, but it's in my car," Alyssa sighed.

"Um, Trent?" Conner called.

"Conner, I do not have time to talk right now!" Trent yelled. "Go tell my dad I'll be right down, okay?"

"Okay," Conner said uncertainly.

"Is he gonna tell on us?" Alyssa asked Trent.

"Conner? I doubt it. He probably has no idea I'm drunk."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Conner, no way is Trent cheating on Kira."

"Is too," Conner insisted.

"Is not!"

"Can you explain why he's in the shower with that chick from Wild Force, then?" Conner demanded. He'd forgotten all about Dr. Mercer on his way back from the bathroom, and had hurried to tell Ethan what he'd learned about Trent's whereabouts. "Because I think it's pretty logical."

Ethan shook his head. "Conner, look at that sentence again. 'Logical.' 'Think.' These are things your brain doesn't do."

"He was in a locked bathroom with another girl and the shower was running," Conner insisted stubbornly. "Why else—?"

"Conner!" Kira called. "Have you seen Trent?"

"Trent? Yeah. I think he's showering with that dark-haired girl," Conner replied, stressing the word "think" for Ethan's benefit. "The White Wild Force Ranger."

"What?" Kira demanded.

"He's in the shower with that chick from Wild Force," Conner repeated. "I…" Conner trailed off, his eyes widening as he realized telling Kira this was a bad idea (a realization helped along by Ethan wildly shaking his head at Conner and making panicky hand motions).

Kira marched across the living room to where Ethan and Conner were standing. "Take me to Trent. Now."

Conner opened his mouth to argue, but Kira glared so fiercely at him nothing would come out. "Get Dr. O," he muttered to Ethan, and slowly but obediently began the trek to the bathroom where Trent was.

Ethan waited until they turned the corner—loyalty to Trent was strong, but not strong enough to risk getting murdered by Kira—and then rushed out onto the patio. He spotted Dr. O talking with a group of people and raced towards him. "Dr. O, come quick! Conner found Trent showering with Alyssa and now Kira's gonna—" Ethan stopped dead as he realized just who Tommy was talking to. "Oh, um, hey, Dr. Mercer. Principal Randall."

"Ethan," Anton said, torn between amusement and outrage.

"I'm gonna go, um… run away now," Ethan said.

"I think that would be best," Elsa told him with a smirk.

Ethan turned and hurried away. Anton looked at Tommy. "So you're keeping a good eye on my son, I take it?"

Tommy swallowed. "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for this."

End Notes: The aliens are based off an idea of Gruumm's fledgling empire twenty-one years before S.P.D., with the robots being primitive versions of Krybots, hence the similar name for them.