They had driven, at first, but as they got closer to the center of town the streets became impassible, too much rubble and debris from damaged buildings, too many wrecked or abandoned cars. They got out and walked, mostly in silence, except for when Collins stopped to shout Wes’s name. After a while he stopped. Eric hardly noticed.

They found a few victims alive and injured amid the destruction, Eric using his headset to call for medical and rescue teams. They found more who were beyond help, and left them, trudging on through a landscape of dust and smoke. At least there was no sign of either Doomtron or the Q-Rex. But the cyclobots were still active.

Eric stayed in contact with the Guardians, directing them to cooperate with the police to form groups of rescue workers and protect them as they moved through the area, picking up victims. They passed firefighters, saw the first of the National Guard arrive, saw and heard fighter jets overhead. But the fight was far from over, he realized as they heard both gunfire and blaster shots in the distance.

After they had searched the location of the explosion where the two giant robots had last been seen, he had had enough. “We have to head back, sir,” he said. “It’s not safe here.”

“You go on. The Guardians need you. I’ll keep looking.”

“No way I’m leaving you out here, sir.”

Collins looked at him. He had discarded his business jacket, his expensive suit was dusty and dirty, and fear lurked in his eyes. “I’m sorry, Eric. But I have to find him.”

“I understand. But we have no idea where to look, and you’re risking both our lives. I’ve alerted the Guardians and the police. I’ll come back and search with them. We’ll find him.”

“Wait.” Collins pointed. “The clock tower. It’s not far. Maybe that’s where they went.”

“Well…” It made sense. And if it would make him happy… “Okay. But then I’m getting you somewhere safe. No arguments.”

“Yes, sir,” Collins said, briefly smiling and patting his arm before they started walking again.

“We can’t even get through,” Wes said. “Too much stuff in the street, even for the vectorcycle. How’s your morpher?”

“Usable. I should be able to morph for a while.”

They had spent close to an hour traveling through clogged streets in the general direction of Bio-Lab. Attempts to help a few victims and an encounter with a group of cyclobots had slowed them down. Along with Alex’s weakened condition.

“Good. Let’s just take the Eagle. We can be there in a few minutes.”

“I suppose.”

Wes watched Alex as he dismounted from the ‘cycle, shuffled a few steps away, and raised his morpher. The Ranger was obviously in bad shape. If they didn’t need the Q-Rex… But they did, and Alex had no choice but to stay in action.

“Wait!” he said, as a faint sound alerted his senses. Blaster fire, and a shout, in a familiar voice. “Come on!” He yanked at the vectorcycle, then gave up on it and started to run.

“Are we ready?”

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” Lucas answered.

“Okay.” Jen took a deep and deliberate breath. They had prepared. Nadira had her printouts and was ready to run the projection and simulation programs again if necessary. Trip had brought the video record from Alex’s ship, and the serum. Katie was standing by with heavy-duty handcuffs. “Spread out,” she said. “Morph, and have your weapons ready.” Ransik might be sick, but she didn’t intend to take chances.

After following her own instructions, she nodded to Nadira. The mutant lifted the containment vessel -- the same one that had held Venomark, Jen noted, judging from the warning markings -- and pressed the restoration key sequence. A cone of pale light spread from the bottom, illuminating a circle of floor in the hijacked prison ship. And a form appeared in the circle. A man, large and black-haired, hunched over and on his knees in an attitude of pain. Ransik’s body solidified and began to move. His face turned up, his eyes swiftly took them all in. He tensed.

“Don’t move,” Jen said. “There’s four of us, and we won’t hesitate to shoot.”

“Nadira?” he gasped.

“Daddy, please, do what they say.”

At another nod from Jen, Katie stepped forward, handing her blaster to Lucas who aimed at Ransik double-handed. She reached for Ransik’s arm. He snarled and swung at her. Without flinching she blocked him, brought an elbow down hard on the back of his neck, and pulled his arms behind his back, locking the cuffs on.

“You wouldn’t dare treat me like this if I wasn’t sick!” Ransik shouted, gasping, shaking his head. He groaned.

Jen noticed the bluish blotches on his skin, and let him moan for a few moments. “All right. Nadira, give him the serum.”

She hurried to comply, tilting the tube Trip handed her into her father’s mouth.

“It’s not enough,” Ransik muttered. “This isn’t enough!”

“Half a dose. It’ll keep you well enough to listen.”

“What could you possibly have to tell me that I’d want to hear?”

“Not us. Now shut up. Your daughter has something to tell you.”

“Dad!” Wes shouted, reaching for his morpher in the same instant. His father was down the street, a block away, Eric beside him, the two of them surrounded by cyclobots. Eric was putting up a good fight with his blaster, but there were too many. Wes sprinted forward as soon as he was morphed.

He slammed into one, jumping into a smooth kick that sent it flying, continuing into a leg sweep that knocked another over, then a punch, ducking under a swinging metal arm, grabbing and yanking it to flip the robot over his shoulders. He saw blasts; Alex was morphed and picking the cyclobots off until they got too close.

Ahead of him, Eric also was involved in hand-to-hand combat, snarling viciously as he leaped into a spin kick, then blocked a punch, grunting at the impact. Collins was behind him, back to back, struggling against a robot that was trying to pull him away. Wes aimed quickly and shot it, seeing it go down in burst of sparks before a hard blow from behind took him unawares.

It turned into a blur of punches and kicks, his reflexes taking over, bracing himself on a robot back and vaulting over it to crash feet-first into metal bodies, kicking them back, using his blaster when he had the chance. He fired at another, looked around, and saw none left standing, only robot ‘bodies’ strewn around and the four of them, breathing hard and looking at each other.

“Power down,” he heard from behind him. Alex stepped to his side.

Wes demorphed also and started forward, exclaiming, “Dad! What are you doing out here like this? It’s too dangerous…”

The next moment he had been caught in a tight hug, as his father said, “I was looking for you. Thank God you’re all right...” He trailed off, staring with a shocked and astonished expression, his eyes moving from Wes’s face to Alex… “What -- what is this?” he stammered.

“It’s okay, Dad. This is Alex.”

“Got to me too, at first,” Eric said. “The way they look alike.”

“Look alike! They’re like twins… Wes, what’s going on? Who is that?”

“He’s a friend, Dad. No time to explain. We have to get you somewhere safe.” He shot a look at Eric. “How could you let him come out here?”

“Did you ever try to stop him doing anything he wants, wiseass?”

“Good point,” Wes admitted.

“Wes, what-” his father started again.

“Watch out!”

The cry had come from Eric. Wes whirled to see one of the cyclobots back on its feet, they hadn’t been careful, should have kept an eye out, too late now, it had a blaster, and it was firing, the thin line of deadly energy reaching for them… But someone was in the way, blocking it, a beam blasting the robot, Eric shooting it down as Alex cried out, a flare of light bursting around him, leaving him slowly sagging to the ground.

“No, you’re lying! You’re wrong!” Ransik turned his face away from Nadira and glared at the Rangers. “You’ve brainwashed her somehow! Made her do this!”

“Daddy, no, it’s the truth…”

“Quiet, little girl! You know nothing about this!”

“I do know! More than you!” Nadira jumped to her feet, her eyes blazing down at her father as he sat in his chair in the prison ship workroom. “All my life, I’ve looked up to you, Daddy, thought you were such a great man! Thought you would do anything for our people, make any sacrifice! I thought you would lead us, make the world better for us!”

“I’ve tried…”

“No! All you’ve done is hate! All you could think about was revenge, and killing, and power! You’re so blind, you won’t see the truth when it’s right in front of you! Look!” She snatched up a handful of papers and shoved them in his face. “Look at this, really look! It’s all here, but you won’t see… You’ll let everyone die, before you admit you’re wrong…” She threw the papers to the floor and stepped back. Jen saw the sparkle of tears in her eyes, and heard them in her voice as she went on, almost in a whisper. “I’m ashamed to be your daughter…”

Ransik looked as if she had slapped him. He watched silently as she turned and ran from the room. There was silence as her footsteps faded away. His shoulders rose and fell in a heavy sigh. Then he looked up at Jen, his face vulnerable, just for a moment. “Would you show me those readouts again?” he asked quietly.

“Of course. And we have more proof, too, if you’re willing to look.”

Nadira bent over a console, shuddering, letting the tears come. She sobbed, a lonely sound in a room that seemed to echo with emptiness… but it wasn’t empty; she jumped as a voice spoke her name.

“Lucas…?”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

“It’s okay. I, uh…” She wiped at her face, suddenly conscious of the tears streaking it. “I shouldn’t cry.”

“Why not?”

“Makes my nose all red…”

He stared for a moment, and then grinned. “It’s the end of the world, and you’re worrying about a red nose?” But his voice was more teasing than disapproving.

“Silly, isn’t it? But if the world’s going to end, I might as well look good for it.” She smiled shakily as he grinned again, suddenly aware of how amazingly handsome he was. Strange, that she had never noticed before.

“You’re a woman after my own heart,” he murmured almost flirtatiously. “That was some speech you gave in there.”

Her smile fading, she dropped her gaze to the floor. “I guess you think it was all an act.”

“No, of course not. I believe you. And maybe it did the trick, Ransik’s back there, going over your calculations again. And Jen’s about to show him the recording of the time wave from Alex’s ship. I think he just might be convinced.”

“You really think so? You really think there’s a chance this will work?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Daddy actually listened to me?” She said it almost to herself.

“We should get back,” he said. As she smiled, he held out a hand. Hesitantly, she reached to take it. “And you should never be ashamed,” he added, giving her that beautiful smile again.

Jen watched, horrified. There was no sound in the small room as they all stared at the monitor showing the video from Alex’s trip. At first, the familiar view of the Time Force hangar as the ship lifted from the field, spinning dizzyingly as it turned, then receding. They saw a small group of people watching, Captain Logan’s tall form easily identifiable.

And then it happened, something wrong, something changing. A shiver seemed to run through the air itself, or maybe through something more fundamental, as one reality melted into another. The human forms seemed to dry and shrink, becoming insubstantial dust, then vanishing as if they had never been. And the rest of it…

The Time Force buildings were gone, replaced by the ruined remnants of some strange structures, so damaged she couldn’t tell what they had once been. The ground was bare dirt, no grass, only the blasted, dead stumps of trees. The view spun again, rotated, bringing Silver City into view. Or what was left of it. She heard a gasp as the picture steadied, a skyline of crumbling and fallen towers, burnt and blackened by some unimaginable torch, a place where only decay could live…

“Dust to dust…” The soft voice belonged to Trip.

“Oh, God…” She barely recognized her own voice. Alex had seen this… She felt a rush of pity for him, and of understanding.

“We have instrument readings also,” Trip said, his voice still trembling slightly. “No life bigger than a bacterium. Residue from chemical weapons. Radioactivity levels. Would you like to see them?”

“No.” Ransik sounded tired, defeated. “No, that’s enough.” He sighed deeply. “Nadira, you were right. I’ve been blinded by hatred, and it’s almost cost everything... not just for me.”

“You can still make it right, Daddy.”

“Not for all the victims of this attack. But…” He looked up, his eyes brightening. “The first thing I can do is call off the cyclobots. And if you’ll trust me, I’ll do whatever else I can to help.”

Wes watched Alex collapse limply to the pavement with a feeling of helpless horror. He ran forward and bent over him, shuddering inwardly at the strange sensation of seeing his double lying so badly injured, almost like seeing himself. A muttered exclamation behind him told him his father had the same impression. Eric knelt and expertly felt for a pulse. It was unnecessary, Alex moaned and moved his head, blinking blearily up at them.

“We’ve got to get help for him,” Wes said.

Eric was already talking quietly on his headset. After a few sentences he looked up. “There’s a squad in the area, with a couple of paramedics. They’ll be here in a few minutes, if they don’t run into trouble.”

“No...” Alex’s voice was strained and weak. “No, we have to get to Bio-Lab...” He raised his head with obvious effort, only to fall back with a low moan.

“The only place you’re going is a hospital room,” Eric said firmly.

“The clock tower,” Wes said. “Your medical equipment...”

“No time. Wouldn’t help much anyway, I’m too weak. Doomtron will be back... Have to fight it...”

“Alex, relax. I’ll find Jen and the others. We’ll take care of it,” Wes said.

“You... without the Q-Rex, you won’t have a chance...”

Wes exchanged a grim glance with Eric, and saw the look of fear on his father’s face. He knew it was true. The loss of Alex could mean they were beaten. But... “I’m not giving up,” he said. “We’ll find a way.” He smiled as reassuringly as he could. “It’ll be okay,” he said again, as movement caught his eye; a group of people approaching, the blue uniforms of Guardians and a couple of white-suited EMT’s. “Here they come. I’d better get going, find Jen and the others.” He started to stand.

“Wait!” Alex had reached out, clutching his sleeve. “You need the Quantum Ranger...” he said.

“Alex, you can’t...”

But Alex was bringing his morpher to his face, eyes meeting Wes’s as he said, slowly, “Release voice lock.” There was a soft chirp, and he added, “Confirm.” Then he was fumbling with the strap, unfastening it. “Take care of Jen for me,” he said softly. His eyes moved. And he held the morpher out to Eric.

“What? Me?” Eric looked so astonished Wes almost found himself smiling.

“Yes... We need both... red and Quantum Rangers... The morpher communicates telepathically. Just talk to it. It’ll help you, suggest strategy... You’ll be fine.”

“I... You’d trust me with this?”

“You’ve proved you can be trusted. You’re trained for combat. Brave. Loyal. A good fighter. Take it.”

Eric accepted it hesitantly, stared at it for a moment, before putting it on his wrist. His eyes widened slightly as he looked up at them, and said, “You’re right! I can hear it!”

“Stand up. Say it...”

Eric stood and backed up a few steps. With a sudden smile, he raised the morpher to his face and said it proudly and confidently, as if it was what he had always been meant to do.

“Quantum Power!”