Five Years Later

"Why is no one going in?" Thomas roared as he stood in the middle of the Command Center and the mentors looked at him. No one questioned them, it was something that bothered him most about the Power Ranger hierarchy. He seemed to be the only person in the Power Ranger structure that was willing to question what the mentors thought was best. "Those…those are my friends. Why aren't you sending a team to extract them?"

"We don't have anyone to send and you don't have powers. Our options are limited," another mentor said as Thomas let out a low growl. The only reason he didn't have powers was because they had purposefully kept him away from every team that had been chosen over the last five years. Sure, the powers could come find him, but it was far easier when potential options were in the room. Theo and Amelia had insisted that he would not get powers the traditional way, but he was so tired of hearing that. What use was he if he could not save anyone?

"Then send me in. I will not watch…no one else will go through what I went through because we didn't send in the best person for the job," Thomas growled as he grabbed a communicator and the mentor shook his head. Thomas then grabbed him and slammed him into the console. The other mentors moved to swarm him, but he froze them in place. While he knew that his residual powers were far less stable now that Kimberly was gone, he hoped he could keep them still long enough to drive his point home. "Send. Me. In."

"We have orders to not do that," mentor replied as he tried to pry Thomas off of him and he watched as Thomas pressed in a teleportation sequence for himself. They had all forgotten that if he could just get to the console- he could get where he needed to go. Thomas disappeared in a flash of light and they all stumbled out of his hold as his powers left the building. "Shit. Call Theo and Robert."

"Why?" another mentor asked as he shook his head.

"They may be the only ones that can actually pull him back from this. And we need him alive."

Thomas landed outside the building and he slowly stood up. He didn't see anything that would give away that this is where his friends would be, but as he stilled the silence was deafening. The silence let him know that there was an evil here. He listened carefully before he heard a scream rip through the air. Torture. They were being tortured. That meant there had to be enough beings to entrap the rangers and keep them there. Sure- the vast majority of the force could have left, but he was not going to count on it.

"Thomas- turn around- come back." Theo barked and Thomas looked down at his communicator, took it off and hurled it away from himself. They were not going to prevent him from saving people he cared about this time. "Thomas!"

"Sorry, Dad. I have to do this."

Thomas spotted an entrance as he heard another scream and he quickly looked around to see if there were other ways to get into this building. It would be smart to only have one way in and one way out, but it could be deadly for him. He spotted a vent system and barely shook his head. It might lead no where, but it certainly gave him some sort of element of surprise that he desperately needed. He removed the grate and then crawled in before loosely securing it behind him. Once in the metal tunnel- the screams were heightened and he knew that all he had to do was move towards them. He also knew that there was no back up coming and that he was the only chance his friends would get. He had to make the most of his chance to free them.

Time stood still as he crept along, the air vent was barely big enough for him to fit at some points, but the screams were consistent and he kept moving. He glanced down through large grates and saw various rooms. Some were filled with soldiers and others were completely empty. His heart sunk as he realized that all of the rangers might not be together, but he couldn't concentrate on that right now. He stilled as the screams died down and instead he heard an alarm rip through the facility. They knew. They knew that someone had breached the facility and he scurried forward, resting his face over a vent and seeing the rangers strapped to various tables. The pink ranger and Trini seemed to have taken the brunt of the torture- it was obvious that they thought they'd get more out of Rocky, Zack, and Jason if that was how they attacked them.

Thomas watched as most of the guards and torturers sprinted from the room and he chuckled to himself. While the rangers were mostly incapacitated- leaving only one guard was idiotic. He slowly slipped the grate open, focusing on making as little noise as possible. He still was going to need the element of surprise. He had no powers and was going to need to minimize his chances of getting hurt. He might have been reckless to come in here, but he planned on making it home to JJ. He would always make it home to JJ. He locked eyes with Jason and saw the relief flood his best friend's face. He didn't have to waste motion to tell him to be quiet- these rangers were some of the best trained in decades thanks to him and Theo.

The being waltzed under the grate and Thomas took in a deep breath before he dropped in and tackled it to the ground. He grabbed the beings blaster and quickly shot it into its neck, incapacitating it. He glanced around at the rangers and quickly evaluated that he needed to get at least one of the male rangers loose first. He walked over to Jason and began yanking at his hand restraints. He worked in silence and quickly got both of his hands undone before he went to one foot and Jason took care of the other.

"I've never been so glad to see you." Thomas moved on to Rocky and Jason searched for weapons. Thomas didn't know it, but their powers had left them. They had all felt it and they were going to need something to help them get out of here.

"Why aren't you morphing?" Thomas asked as he continued over to Zack and Jason just shook his head. "You can't?"

"Our powers weren't strong enough for this. We're going to have to fight our way out of here the old fashioned way," Jason said as he held up swords and blasters. Thomas shook his head as Zack and Rocky freed the two female rangers and he looked at the weapons in front of him. "Why did you come?"

"No one is dying today," Thomas muttered as Jason gave him a concerned look as he picked up a sword and a blaster. "She saw all of you having a long life ahead of you. Today isn't your day."

"You're not a ranger," the pink ranger whispered as he looked over at her and nodded as he twirled the sword. The other rangers seemed to be thrilled to see him, but she only knew him as someone that they were forced to spar with on occasion. She rarely had any one on one time with him and didn't understand the relief in the room.

"We need to go. I'm sure there's an anti-teleportation zone around this place. No one gets left behind," Thomas made a point as the rangers nodded. "Jason, Rocky- ride herd. Zack, with me. The two of you- aim true- I don't want to die by friendly fire."

"Open up the power vault," Theo demanded as Judah and Robert stood in front of him and shook their heads. "You want all of them to die?"

"He knew we couldn't do this, Theo. We have to trust that he's been trained enough to do this. If anyone can pull it off- it's Thomas," Judah remarked as Theo glared at the both of them before he strode back to the Command Center. He'd teleport himself in before he would let Thomas face this alone. Robert and Judah must have caught what he was thinking as they each grabbed an arm and started hauling him away.

"I promised her I would keep him alive," Theo argued as he struggled against them and he caught a glimpse of his wife out of the corner of his eye. "Amelia- tell them. Tell them that…"

"Thomas' powers will not come from that vault. If this is the day he gets them- he's going to do something extraordinary. You can't protect him. You can't go in there and pull our boy out of this fire, Theo. You have to do what every father has done with every son here- you have to trust that he can do this and you have to wait," Amelia said as she cupped his face and he felt her calming him. He wanted to fight it, but fighting her had always been useless. The calm rushed over him and Judah and Robert let him go. "I'm worried too, but Thomas is the best we've ever seen. He can do this."

Thomas, alone, continued to take down monster after monster. The others were now sprinting for the open door and would provide him cover as soon as they got clear. He then heard the door slam closed and glanced back to see that it was being barred from the inside. He had done his job, but now he was in here, alone, with whatever this monster was. He took a deep breath and then set his mind. They were in here with him. They were in here with him- and none of them would survive.

Thomas let out a war cry and the building shook. He watched as the beings scattered and he stared at the ground. Beams of light shot up around him and began taking out the beings. He stalked towards the main foe and watched as he tried to get away. Why was he scared now? Thomas saw a light headed straight for him and ducked, but not in time as it pummeled into his chest. He held himself up on all fours as something bonded with his body and he looked down at his hands and saw white gloves. Powers. His powers had found him. He tilted his head up as the foe stared at him and started to beg for mercy. He'd show mercy some other time. For now- he was going to make any being think twice before it came after anyone that he cared for. Ever again.

AN: Thank you for reading about this alternate universe. If you've enjoyed it- you can see more of Thomas and his world in Generations Rise which is currently being published.