-Should You Choose to Accept it-

So, today was a shadow government day.

Three separate coded transmissions, all going to and from the same geographic area. K assumed that the Soup didn't care about her knowing which country they were interfering with. Otherwise, they'd only have given her snippets of the code to decrypt. Sometimes she wondered if they threw fake ones at her, just to keep her on her game and be certain she was working at optimal capacity. Unlikely. There's no way they were smart enough to create codes good enough to fool her. The real ones were already barely a challenge.

Having flipped through the third set of codes for the day, K at last turned to her main project- the Ranger Series exoskeletal robotic suits. Ever since she'd awoken, the pull of the computer had been calling her like a siren. A beckoning song that teased her, lured her, all with the one thing she craved most.

Knowledge.

The codes? They were easy, child's play. Memorize enough algorithms and soon she could see the obvious patterns with her eyes closed. But this, this was a challenge.

A true test of her mind.

These suits were the Moriarty to K's Sherlock, the Buffalo Bill to her Hannibal Lector. Their secrets eluded her, enticing her to look further. It was her first love, the first problem she couldn't solve, and ever since that existed only to captivate K's imagination. To dance through her dreams, swirling with possible equations.

And her excitement had only grown as she'd discovered the first key to the lock. A universal bioelectric field, the grid that linked all living entities. It was perfect; a match made in heaven. The marriage of engineering that strove to enhance human ability, and the natural forces harnessed to make it work.

Of course, not all partnerships were perfect.

"Hi, Doc!"

"How're you?"

Their voices grated her ears, her spine snapping straight as K grimaced and turned to her two compatriots.

The Guinee Pigs.

"Gem," K acknowledged coldly. "Gemma."

"We heard you wanted to…" Gem grinned.

"… run more tests today!"

Clearly, when picking candidates, the Soup had been more focused on the body than the mind, given these two barely shared one. They'd told her that they'd been raised in the Soup, just like her, but given their severely stunted mental age, K's working hypothesis was that they'd both been flashed-grown in vats.

Still, she supposed it didn't diminish their value as test pilots. And as far as her day-to-day went, they were the only two people who spoke to her with a smile. With any joy or collegiality. With no expectations.

They were the only people to have ever given her a gift.

Squeezing the half-ground, oversized pencil in her grip, K punched the keys on the computer as the prototype readouts unfolded in front of her.

"Today we'll be doing a full body test-morph, testing side-effects of short-term Biofield exposure," K told them. "You'll morph, hold for thirty seconds, then power down."

"No problem, K," Gem smiled. "We go…"

"…on your command!"

As the two eager beavers collected their Morphers and skipped off to the testing site, K couldn't help but feel a lightness in her chest. It was a long road, but at last, she was getting somewhere. If the tests on the Gold and Silver series were successful, K could begin working on the more stripped-back, baseline Ranger models. A fully sealed exoskeleton, running on the power of the world very itself.

If these were successful, then perhaps, just maybe, she could use them to one day go outside.

-5 Hours, 40 Minutes to Judgement Day-

Jen led them around the table, Trip already queuing up the briefing and getting it ready to go. She knew what was coming, what was a stake. But it was only as Logan said the words to Carter and Dana that their magnitude truly hit her.

The end of the world.

Five Hours.

And it was all in her hands.

Selecting the team had been simple enough. The Silver Guardians liaised with them so regularly that Wes and Eric were practically Time Force officers anyway. Besides, it was their timeline that they were fighting for, there was no way Jen could leave them out. Hell, they were half the reason they'd been able to learn so much about the Event in the first place.

When they'd started outlining and realized the nature of the operation, Carter and Dana had been the next no-brainers. Two trained specialists who shared plenty of history with the rest of the team. Wes and Carter had plenty of battle stories, and Jen and Dana had their own share of times fighting back-to-back. For an operation of this nature, the more the team knew each other, the better.

They had no time to spare on hesitation.

The briefing was mostly for their benefit, the last read-in on what they were walking into while waiting for the final checks on the Timeship. But that didn't make Jen any less uneasy about the two newcomers. It was Wes who'd suggested reading them in; a former soldier and a civilian programmer. The first she minded less, Kyle Mason was a Ranger after all and Wes had once fought beside him. However, since that time, Mason had been depowered, greatly reducing his value to the team. But a declawed former Ranger was far from her greatest concern; it was of the other that Jen was far less sure of.

Even now, as Benson followed them in, almost bumbling beside the confident Rangers, Jen's eyes rolled at the thought of having to babysit the two. But Wes had vouched for them, both of them, and Jen never could say no to him.

"We first encountered the anomaly six months ago," Logan explained as the holo-table burst to life. The air filled with projections of graphs and charts, one of them expanding as Trip zoomed in closer and a point began blinking. "Scanners picked up time jump in November 2009; above the skies of Cranston City, California. Immediate follow-up scans presented a problem; the jump had no destination."

"They quickly brought me in for a closer look," said Trip. "Circuit and I have started doing extensive upgrades on the monitoring station. They were hoping they'd missed something; that it was a mistake."

"But they hadn't," Jen added. "What they'd found was as real as the nose on your face."

"Or beak," Circuit chimed in.

"We had a chance to correct calculations when we picked up two more jumps from a similar time and place," Logan continued. "These were both in the city's square and much closer together. By the time we registered the final two jumps, bearing the hallmarks of arrival instead of departure, our worst suspicions were confirmed. They'd jumped to a near future that we didn't know existed. As far as the timeline of the past is concerned, Time Force's future no longer exists."

At the mention, Wes nodded across the table at Benson, and slowly all eyes moved in the direction of the programmer. He shied away, just for a moment, before gulping down to explain.

"The second jump was the Data Squad Rangers," he said. "Our enemy had been experimenting with time travel, and having sent some of his generals into the future then sent the monster to keep my team busy. The monster's device malfunctioned, and accidentally propelled the Rangers forward in time."

"So, what was the third jump?" Dana asked.

"That would have been me," Kyle Mason interjected. "Doc here came up with a way to follow the Rangers and sent me after them. A trail of tachy… somethings."

"So, you've been there?" Carter realized. "You've seen the future they're talking about?"

Mason nodded. "You ever seen Mad Max? The Terminator? Well, now imagine them both rolled into one. The world's been shattered into a barren wasteland, and I found out later I was lucky to be wandering in one of the less irradiated areas. All that remains of humanity is holed up in a domed city, desperately fighting for survival. All because some super-computer got loose and brought all machinery under their control."

"Maybe it would be better if they showed you," Benson suggested, nodding over to Trip. The display clicked over, and both Lightspeed Rangers gasped at the sight. The footage was grainy, flickering through the frames. But unmistakable.

A city in ruins, ground reduced to rubble and dust. Robots crawling from the walls. Jen looked away, averting her eyes almost on instinct despite her familiarity with it. That was what awaited humanity. All they had built; their whole civilization.

Reduced to nothing.

"This was all I could recover Rangers' Helmet cams," Benson admitted. "But you can tell from the signage that it's Cranston City. Or will be. That this is what everywhere will become if that virus gets loose."

"Venjix," Mason added quietly, almost an involuntary utterance as all heads turned back to him. Noting their curiosity, he repeated, "Its name is Venjix."

An icy shiver clawed up her spine as the name curled in Jen's ear. A strange, eerie foreboding that she couldn't shake. A familiarity she couldn't place. She shook aside the feeling as Carter signaled a question.

"I know that name," he realized. "Why is that familiar."

"The General of the Machine Empire," Wes confirmed. "The one who was trying to raise Serpenterra that we fought on the moon. But whether there's any connection, we've got no idea."

"There's something I'm missing," Dana interrupted. "If your future no longer exists, how come you're still here? How come we're talking right now?"

"Our future still exists," Jen corrected before Logan or Trip could answer. "Your timeline is just no longer on track to becoming it. Something has caused the path of your present to alter, and from what Benson has told us, it's currently gunning top speed towards a full-blown apocalypse."

"But the future hasn't settled yet," Circuit continued. "Whatever causes this change is already in motion, resulting in Benson's Ranger team arriving in that future. But the event that cements that change hasn't happened yet. The future can still be altered."

"But how do you know that?" Dana asked. "How do you know we've got a chance?"

"As Carter pointed out," Trip explained. "We're still here, your present still has contact with Time Force. Which means there's still a possible future where it exists."

It was at that point that all three faces went blank, eyes widening with complete bewilderment. Only Benson seemed to be nodding along.

"Okay," Mason suggested. "Try explaining it to us like we're five."

"It's called Quantum Linking," said Trip.

The camera feed died and the holo-table lit up with a new display. Two horizontal lines, parallel and shimmering like they were in motion. Two years popped above each, Three Thousand up top, and Two Thousand beneath it.

"You need to imagine that past, present, and future all exist simultaneously with each other," Trip explained. "That the relativity of it means that while you're experiencing your personal present, someone in the Year Three-Thousand, your future, is experiencing theirs as well."

"People think that means that Time is immovable," Circuit added. "But they'd be wro-ong…"

"When using stable time travel, a chronological link is established between the two points in history," Trip continued. As he did, a thin diagonal line traced across the display, linking the parallels. "It works kind of like a bridge, allowing stable transport and communication between the separate timelines. But this bridge isn't anchored to a fixed point in time, it's instead latched onto the chronological flow of the two timelines. That means that when you move between time periods, whatever time passes in one stream…"

"Also passes in the other," Circuit finished.

The three of them nodded, so far all following.

"So, what's the catch?" Carter asked.

"The catch is the bridge is only active so long as the further timeline remains the future of the present," Logan warned. "If something were to happen in the past to alter the course…"

"…then the link would break," Benson realized. "Your future would go on existing, but all possible contact and travel with the past beyond that point would be severed."

Even thinking about made Jen's stomach churn. Every single Time Force officer had the same warning drilled into their heads from Day One. Protect the Timeline at all costs; continuity was paramount. The future must be preserved.

All through her pursuit of Ransik, the mantra had echoed in her mind; knowing full well that if Ransik succeeded he'd be able to shake Time Force from his trail for good. But then Jen had found her own reason to fight for the future. As the others nodded, Jen dared a look across the table, catching Wes doing the same. A fearful glance that they both averted in regret. An acknowledgment of what was at stake.

For them.

If they failed, if Venjix was truly released on the world and history irreparably altered, then Wes would be trapped. Stuck in a nightmarish hellscape with little hope of survival. And Jen would be separated from him for good. He'd be gone.

"I feel like I'm going to regret asking this," Kyle asked. "But you're Time Force, traveling back is kind of your thing. Even if we do fail, what's to stop you from just jumping in your machine and trying again?"

"We can't stop that future from existing," Trip explained. "It's already happened, somewhere, some point in time. But what we can change is it happening to you, to sever it from the Timeline that you're on, and make that the new default timeline-trajectory. But once something happens in the past it becomes embedded, coded into time. Which means our interference becomes part of the timeline, and if we were to travel back we'd be interacting with our own past operation."

Mason's face went white, eyes zoning out as he momentarily considered imagining what it would even look at. Rookie mistake. "I'm guessing that would be bad?"

"Right now," Jen told him. "We're trying to stop the end of the world. If we fail and then try to go back, we'd be risking the end of time."

"Changes to time cause damage to the fabric of reality," Trip clarified. "It can heal, even from massive changes, but repeated pressure on the same point can cause a break. And once the break becomes an open wound, reality would start hemorrhaging out of it."

"Right," Mason gulped. "So, that kind of bad."

A future too dangerous to think of; a risk to not just one timeline, but all of them. To all of reality itself. A grim silence fell upon the table; a shared understanding of the full brevity of stakes.

"Okay, so we've only got one shot." Dana conceded finally. "I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but how do we know we can stop it? How do we know we can change the future?"

"So long as you know what's going to happen, you always have a chance to change your destiny," Wes said firmly.

Through all the solemn discussion, Jen couldn't but let a smile creep to her lips. That same resolve that had pulled Wes charging into a fight, time after time. That same determination that had led her to cross time and stand beside him in defiance of fate.

The same idealism that caused him to slowly steal her heart.

"Speaking more practically," Benson interjected. "We know because we've since had one other contact with that timeline. A few months later, we tried contacting veteran ranger teams to help us with some resurrected villains. I jury-rigged the original time travel device that sent my Rangers into the future in hopes of contacting Rangers across time."

"You got a reply?" Carter realized.

Benson nodded. "Two."

"How is that even possible?" Dana gasped.

Again some tapping, this time zooming on the lower line as the end split into a dual-pronged fork.

"Currently the timeline is in flux," Trip explained. "The first ranger, calling himself Ziggy, was the Green Ranger from the period that the Data Squad Rangers encountered. The second Ranger, Officer Sky Tate of the SPD, is from our timeline. He was from slightly later in the twenty-first century, we have him in records."

"What it means," Eric concluded. "Is that right now the timeline could go either way."

"And what we do here and now matters," Wes agreed.

The four guests all nodded in agreement. All had stared down evil and darkness. All of them had won. There was no need to tell anyone who'd ever been or fought alongside Power Rangers the importance of their mission.

"Having detected the multiple breaches," Logan continued, returning to the briefing. "We contacted the Silver Guardians. They were nearby and as citizens of timeline would be able to investigate more discreetly."

"That was when we first made contact with Doctor Benson, here," Wes explained. "He briefed us on the situation and gave us the clue we needed. He gave us this."

"When my Rangers returned from the future," Benson explained. "They were carrying this letter. A warning of what's coming, as well as a way to stop it."

Wes nodded at Benson, as Trip changed the display and a letter flashed into view. The handwriting flashed, word for word as the cleanly typed sentences enlarged themselves for those around the table to read.

But Jen didn't need to read it, she knew what it said. She'd already scrubbed it a hundred times for anything that could help. Help them stop it. And more importantly, for an answer that had been twisting at her ever since they'd learned of the impending apocalypse.

How?

Time didn't just change. Left on its own, it would always continue to flow from one event to the next, every event, every choice, every outcome. Always unfolding the same. It was impossible to divert direction without some sort of influence, the kind that could only occur through some sort of interaction with the future. But Time Force was fastidious; there wasn't a single jump in or out of the twentieth century that they didn't already know about. Which meant that influence had to have already been there.

And as she'd turned the possibilities around in her mind, as Jen scrubbed every record for some idea as to how this could all have started, one journey stood out to her. It came up, again and again, no matter how many times she desperately looked for a different answer, a differing explanation for how it all could have come undone. The one journey where the consequences were still to be fully understood.

Her own.

The jump Jen had made to return to the past, defying Time Force's orders in her determination to save the Twenty-First Century from Ransik. To save Wes. She'd crossed Time for him, even after he'd sent her away in hopes of saving her. And now, her vain attempt to save his life could well have doomed him instead.

"What's Alphabet Soup?" Dana queried, squinting to examine the letter more closely.

"It's a military think-tank," Benson explained. "They went dark following an incident at a California research station a few years ago. Ever since then, they've been off the books; hidden behind layers of security clearances."

"Then if the letter says it's still operating," Carter concluded. "That means we're dealing with some kind of black site operation."

An operation that didn't want to be found, and wasn't the only worrying piece of information. It wasn't just in Wes' time that they were untraceable, Time Force had no records for them either. And could only mean one thing, a dreading realization that sent fresh, twisting from the pit of Jen's stomach- in her future, they never existed at all.

But there was still a timeline where they did, and that was where they'd caught a break.

"Any luck finding them?" Dana enquired.

"It wasn't easy," Wes admitted. "They've gone to a lot of effort to cover their tracks. It was only when Benson was able to connect us with a local military contact, Lieutenant Avery Freeman, that we finally got a shot at peeling back the classified layers and tracking them down. We only got the confirmed location an hour ago; that was when we called you in."

The holograms shifted again, this time rising into a large landscape of a sandy valley. Bustled against a mountain slope, deep in a bowled canyon, was a small village of iron warehouses, two parallel runways stretching beside them. The entire complex was surrounded by a tall, chain-link fence.

"They're operating out of an air force base in the Nevadan desert," Eric told them. "Whilst its official designation is Groom Lake, it's more affectionately referred to by locals as…"

"Area Fifty-One," Kyle scoffed, cutting the Quantum Ranger off in realization. "Because of course that's where they are."

"Mason has given us a description of the asset, we've tried to recreate her appearance as best we could," Logan told them, as the hologram summoned a sketched drawing of a woman. Her face was young, but her eyes were old, her black hair cut into a crudely shorn bob. "Going only by the letter K, by our reckoning she currently can't be any older than fourteen. In her letter, she identifies herself as the mastermind behind the Venjix virus. The mission priority is to find her on-site and prepare for extraction. Given the nature of this operation, we decided it best to bring in Lightspeed. Scotts and Collins insist that there's no one better when it comes to rescue operations."

Carter shot an affirming look across the table. "It's an honor."

"We'll do whatever we can," Dana agreed.

The decision had been quick and easy. Carter was an expert in extraction, of retrieving those in hazardous environments, while Dana's medical knowledge made her essential for assessing K's wellbeing. Jen hated to admit it, but Time Force and the Silver Guardians were merely muscle. This was a rescue operation, first and foremost, and luckily Carter and Dana were the best in the business.

With the briefing finished, the holo-feed died and the lights resumed their normal glow. All bodies turned to Logan while Trip rose with a tray in his hands, revealing seven wristwatches laid in a row.

"Using the readings from the initial jumps, as well as the chronal-echo of both the letter and the vehicle the Data Rangers returned in," Trip explained. "We've been able to calculate the exact moment of permanent timeline-divergence. These watches will allow you to track your proximity to the event."

"I don't think I need to tell you that time is of the essence," Logan added.

Jen reached for the watch and slapped it on her wrist, a device to match the Chrono-Morpher on her left. She hit the button bottom and the display lit up; four red digits that read: 05:20.

"I've just got word from Agent Kendal that the Time Ship is ready to go," Logan explained. "It's stocked and armed, serving as a mobile base with which to make your approach. Agent Trip will provide mission control from onboard, assisted by Dr. Benson."

A cool, unknowing breath whistled from Jen's lips. Good, she was worried she'd have to babysit. But as she was about to turn and order the team to move out, the programmer began shaking his head.

"No," Benson insisted. "I'm going with them."

"No, you're not," said Jen. "This isn't going to be some summer stroll. This is a high-stakes military operation. We're trying to infiltrate a secure enemy compound with limited time and resources. We don't have time for you to sightsee."

Between them, she noticed both Wes and Mason's eyes widen, both looking back and forth as Jen and Benson stared each other down. Carter looked ready to intervene, stopped only by Dana who appeared willing to let things play out. Eric looked ready to grab the popcorn.

"You don't need to tell me what's at stake," Benson warned. "But that's exactly why I need to come. K reached out to me, and that means that in some way she knows who I am. That I'm someone she trusts. There's no telling what's been done to her in there, a familiar face might be exactly what we need to convince her to trust us. If she's got any to give at all."

Through gritted teeth, Jen shot a look at Wes. He was the one who had brought the two in and had no doubt anticipated Benson's insistence. Mason made sense; he'd been to that future. The sketch was based on his description, and he was their best chance to positively ID the asset. But Benson was a wildcard she wasn't ready for.

For a moment, Jen half-expected him to look to Wes, hoping their comradery would convince him to help sway her. But instead, Benson kept his eyes fixed on her, both staring the other down in a contest that each refused to relent. Likewise, Wes remained stonefaced, knowing that it was ultimately not his call to make, not when it was her op. And apparently, Benson's argument wasn't finished.

"Besides," he added. "unless anyone else here has managed to hack through Alphabet Soup's firewalls, you're going to need me on site in case remote access is impossible. I'm going."

His gaze shifted, not to Wes but over Jen's shoulder to Logan. Going above her; Benson had guile, she'd give him that.

"I agree," Logan replied. "We don't know what contact we'll have once boots hit the ground. If we need a way into their systems it could well need direct access. He's going. Time Ship's wheels go up in twenty."

With the decision made, all eyes turned once again to Jen. With the briefing done, it was her show now, and all of them knew it. All they needed were her words, her encouragement. Her resolve.

"I won't lie to you," Jen told them. "This mission will be dangerous. We've all faced down the end of the world before, but this time it could be for good. We're flying blind, and we're on a clock. Our enemy might well know we're coming, and odds are we could be riding right into the jaws of hell. But that's what we signed up for when we put on those Morphers. But this isn't about any of us. In that compound is a scared little girl; a girl who's about to make the ultimate mistake in a desperate bid to escape her abusers. She is the priority, and once she's secured, we can get the job done. We're going to get K out of there, find out what the Soup has been planning, and put an end to it. All of it. This battle, it's not just about bringing down Alphabet Soup; it's about fighting for the future that we want to see. Wheels are up in twenty, so take this moment to collect yourselves, and prepare. Good luck Rangers, and may the power protect you."

They parted, with Eric immediately moving to direct the others to the armory. Still seething at their unexpected teammate, Jen was all set to inspect the plane as she turned to see Wes leaning against the holo-table.

"This is a bad idea," she warned him. "This mission's dangerous enough as it is. It's one thing to bring Mason along when he can't morph, but it's a whole different risk bringing an untrained civilian."

Wes nodded softly, understanding but not necessarily agreeing. She hated it when he did that; it made her feel validated, all the while warning her she was about to be wrong.

"If you were warned that the future was going to be changed forever," Wes said, "but were told to sit on the sidelines while others risked their lives to stop it, could you do it?"

No, no Jen knew she couldn't. Because that one time she'd had the chance to walk away, she dove right back in. Just as Wes had.

"That was different," Jen replied. "I returned to fight by your side. The Professor over there can't even fight at all. I can't be watching my own back if too busy watching his."

"Like you wouldn't be watching it anyway, even if he could handle himself," Wes pointed out. "You do it for the rest of your team."

"That's not the point."

Except it was. If her team went in, Jen would bring them out. All of them. Jen hated it when Wes made sense.

"Don't think I don't know why you're hanging back by the way," Jen told him, deciding to change the subject instead of openly acknowledging defeat. "And you know my answer's going to be the same."

Wes' face softened, his knowing smile slackening to sadness as again he nodded. This time, it was his turn to relent. "I know, but I owe it to myself to try."

"Wes, I'm already leading this team."

"Something that Eric and I can both easily do as well," Wes replied. "You're not letting anyone down by sitting this one out."

There was a strain to his voice; a desperate plead Wes only ever used when he knew it was a hopeless case. The vain hope that Jen would change her mind. He knew what he was asking, just as he knew that it was more than he had any right to. But Wes did, just the same, even if it was just to tell himself that he had.

"Jen," he pleaded, his hands softly cupping her shoulders and squeezing tight. "Please don't come on this."

But she had to; for all the same reasons he wanted her to stay. They both wanted the same thing, but only one was going to get it. Looking deep into his eyes, seeing the shimmer as he tried to hold his composure, Jen brushed her fingers against his hand while reaching up to gently touch his cheek.

"Wes," she said softly. "I know why you want me to stay; I do. But that doesn't mean I'm going to change my mind."

"If we fail," Wes told her. "Then any hope of getting back to your future will be gone. If you come with me, you'll be trapped in an apocalypse. At least I know that if you stay here, then even if we fail, you'll be safe."

Just like it had been on the Timeship, all those years ago. Back then Wes had chosen for her, for all of them. He'd chosen Jen's future over his own; a choice that had cost him his life. Until she went back and saved him. Now Wes knew better than to choose for her, that Jen was just as entitled to choosing destiny as he was. But Jen also knew that he'd do all he could to convince her otherwise; even already knowing the attempts were doomed.

With her heart thumping the walls of her chest, every breath a shudder as her hand left his cheek, Jen pulled Wes into a kiss. She didn't blame him; she knew that if their roles were reversed she'd be asking the same thing of him. But if the world was going to end, if their timelines were going to be irrevocably torn apart, then Jen was exactly where she wanted to be.

"I'm going," she said. "Because if you think I'm going to let the man I love face the end of the world without me, then you've got another thing coming. Because there's nowhere else I'd rather be than by your side. Because I don't want any part of a future that doesn't have you in it."

Wes' only reply was to return her kiss, to bring his lips hers in somber acquiescence. A kiss for good luck; or perhaps goodbye. And as Jen kissed him back, surrendering herself to the depth of his embrace, she wasn't sure which one she was saying either.