Trip had been right, the return flight, going forward in time’s natural direction, was much easier than the previous journey had been. Wes had no trouble holding on, and his morpher was undrained when they arrived, sailing back out of the timehole above Silver Hills. Eric headed back to the roof of the Silver Guardians’ headquarters. Below, they saw the other Rangers, racing toward them on their Time Flyers.
Wes leaned close to the Eagle’s cockpit top and called, “Hey, Eric!”
“What?” Eric sounded irritated.
“Thanks again. I knew you wouldn’t let me down back there.”
“No, but I’ll let you down right here! See ya!” As they swooped over the rooftop, he suddenly tilted the Eagle, catching Wes off balance and rudely dumping him. Wes yelped in alarm as he fell and hit the roof hard enough to be shaken up, but not injured.
As the Red Ranger picked himself up from his second fall of the day, the other Rangers swept in for a landing. Quickly they jumped off the flyers and ran to him.
“Wes! You made it!” Jen said, helping him up. There were joy and relief in her voice.
“Just barely.”
“That was stupid,” Jen went on, now sounding angry and echoing Eric’s words. “Even your suit can’t protect you from the forces inside a timehole. You could have fallen off and died in there. We would never have been able to get you back.”
“I guess I wasn’t thinking,” Wes admitted.
Jen got back to business. “The Quantasaurus came through just before you did. Is Eric controlling it?”
“No! Conwing got to it first. I think he’s got control. We’ve got to stop it.” Jen nodded. Quickly Wes used his morpher to summon his flyer as the others ran back to theirs.
They flew over the area for the next half hour, searching. They saw Eric also searching in his TF Eagle, obviously no longer able to trace the Q-Rex with his morpher, but he kept his distance. The Quantasaurus had disappeared, but they had no doubt it would be back.
An hour later, after a quick shower and change of uniform, Eric was in his boss’s office, giving him an only slightly edited version of how he had come to be a Ranger. He finished with, “The Ranger powers will make the Guardians more effective, increase the demand for our services. The more visible I am as a Ranger, the better. There’s no one better qualified to lead the Silver Guardians, now.”
Collins sat back, considering this. “I agree it would be useful to have the Guardians led by a Ranger,” he said thoughtfully. “But there are five more Rangers, with more experience than you. Wesley turned the job down. He refuses to work with us. But someday that situation may change.”
Having no answer to this -- at least none he could repeat to Wes’s father -- Eric saluted and turned to go. He paused and turned back to ask, “And what if I get control of the Q-Rex?”
“Well. That would be impressive,” Collins answered.
Eric smiled slightly and turned to go. Again he had to fight for something Wes had thrown away. He had to get the Q-Rex. And he would show Wes -- and his father -- who was the better man.
“Ransik must be using something to block the Quantum morpher’s control of the Q-Rex. If we only had the morpher, maybe I could find a way to override it.”
Jen heard Trip out, then turned to Wes. “We need to get that morpher back. Maybe you should talk to Eric alone this time. You know each other. And maybe he’ll be more reasonable if he doesn’t think we’re teaming up against him.”
Wes frowned. “I don’t know. You didn’t see the way he acted on our trip to the past. He wouldn’t listen to a word I said. And he’s obsessed with getting the Q-Rex himself. I thought he was going to kill me when he thought I was after it.”
“Well, we have to try,” Jen said. “We’ll go with you and keep out of sight. Just in case.”
Wes waited in the Bio-Lab reception area. He had asked for Eric at the desk ten minutes ago and been told he would be right out. It was just like Eric to keep him waiting. He sat on a bench in the busy lobby, watching people, many of whom recognized him and nodded, go back and forth. He nervously wondered whether his father would happen to come by. But he had to do this, unpleasant as it was. They needed the Quantum morpher, and Eric was too dangerous and unpredictable to count on as an ally.
After what seemed like a long time, Eric appeared, coming down the main stairway. Wes watched him, the image of the boy he had known in school coming back to his mind. Eric had frequently been hostile and arrogant then, but he was worse now, all traces of a softer side gone. He walked up to Wes, who stood to face him.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve coming here, after the way you disrespected your father,” he said, smiling unpleasantly.
“We need to talk. Not here.”
A few minutes later, they were walking through the large and mostly deserted storage yards behind Bio-Lab. Eric seemed to know his way around and led Wes through the maze of buildings. There was no one else in sight. Eric and Wes stopped on opposite sides of an open area.
“Now, what’s so important?” Eric asked.
“The Q-Rex will be back any minute. My friends need to get control of it. You’ve got to give me that morpher!” Wes said urgently.
“What makes you think you can control it if I can’t?” Eric asked. “You just don’t want me to be a Ranger.”
“This isn’t about us!”
“Isn’t it? You’ve always looked down on me, thought I wasn’t good enough for you and your friends.”
“That’s crazy! I never felt that way.”
“It really burns you to see me with as much power as you, doesn’t it, Collins?” Wes said nothing, but he knew his angry expression answered for him.
“If you were really so concerned about helping your friends, you wouldn’t have treated your father the way you did,” Eric continued.
Wes stared at him. “What are you talking about?”
Eric walked toward him slowly. “Your friends want one thing, and that’s to capture Ransik. With your father’s money and technology, and the Guardians’ help, they’d do it a lot faster. If it weren’t for you, they could get that help.” He paused face to face with Wes, watching as his words hit home. “Your father won’t help them while you’re on the team. The truth is, your friends would be better off without you.” He smiled maliciously and walked away, to lean casually against a crate. “You never thought about it, did you? That’s the trouble with you, Wes. You never think about anything but yourself. You’re still just a typical spoiled rich kid.”
Wes fought down his rage and the doubts Eric’s words had raised. He couldn’t help remembering that the Time Force officers had been forced to make him a Ranger because his DNA happened to match the red morpher. And maybe Eric was right that his father could help them more than he could… but he forced himself to focus on his purpose here.
“I came here for the morpher,” he said.
“All of you already have morphers. How many do you need? Why shouldn’t I keep this one?”
“Because you’re a selfish, power-hungry bastard. You don’t care what happens to anyone as long as you get what you want. You don’t deserve that kind of power!”
Wes saw Eric’s face blaze with fury and real hatred. Eric held up his left arm, with the morpher, and snarled, “You want it? You’re going to have to take it from me!”
“If that’s the way it has to be.”
They both started forward, and came together hard. Wes spun to kick at Eric, who blocked the blow and landed a hard kick to Wes’s hip, driving him back. Wes ducked under the next kick and punched Eric in the ribs. But he hardly seemed to feel it and leaped at Wes, bringing them both down to the ground. Both rolled free, quickly sprang to their feet and continued the fight, Eric now punching viciously at Wes’s face.
Suddenly they were distracted by the noise of an explosion in the distance. Looking up, they could see the Q-Rex flying to the attack. Breaking away, Eric shouted into his morpher, transforming into the Quantum Ranger. Wes followed his example a second later.
Wes shouted, “You’ve got to give me that morpher, right now!”
In a quick, smooth motion, the Quantum Ranger drew his Defender and fired at the Red Ranger’s feet, the energy impact knocking him down again and stunning him momentarily. Eric walked a few steps closer to Wes, steadily aiming the deadly blaster at him. For the second time that day, Wes wondered if Eric was capable of murder.
“Don’t cross me again, Wes, I’m warning you.” His voice was tight with anger.
“Wes!” They both turned as they heard Jen’s shout. The other four Rangers ran toward them, blasters drawn.
“Hold it right there!” Eric turned the Quantum Defender on them. They stopped a few yards away, aiming at him.
“Don’t try it, Eric,” Lucas said calmly. “It’s five against one.”
“Just put the blaster away and leave Wes alone,” Jen added.
After a tense moment, Eric lowered his weapon. “You think I was really gonna shoot him, don’t you?” he said bitterly. He holstered the Defender and spread his arms with a defiant movement. The others lowered their weapons cautiously and Wes warily circled him to join them.
“Come on, we’re wasting time!” Jen said. “We have a job to do. Let’s do it!”
The team ran to their cycles. Wes looked back at Eric for a moment and saw him still standing, alone, watching them.
The Q-Rex was blasting a Bio-lab factory complex on the outskirts of Silver Hills. Fortunately it was late in the day and most of the workers had left, so there were relatively few people caught in the attack. When the Quantum Ranger arrived, he found the Q-Rex had converted into its dinosaur-like walking mode. Wes and the others had summoned their flyers and were buzzing the Q-Rex, firing at it with the Time Flyers’ blasters. It had stopped attacking the buildings and was shooting back at the Rangers, who so far had dodged the shots. Whenever the Q-Rex zeroed in on one target, the other Rangers attacked and distracted it.
Eric yelled into the Quantum morpher, “Quantasaurus Rex! I order you to stop! Right now!” There was no effect.
He ‘heard’ the morpher tell him, “Quantum Ranger. Voice command of the Quantasaurus is blocked.”
“Blocked? I don’t understand.” He ran to keep up with the Q-Rex as it moved away.
The Rangers continued to blast the Q-Rex, flying as close as they dared to hit it repeatedly. It faltered, and finally retreated. They pursued it, still firing and evading its return blasts. But their luck didn’t hold, and a series of blasts caught them grouped together, sending them falling to the ground. They demorphed on impact, their flyers scattered around them.
Eric, watching from the roof of the closest building he could find, saw the Q-Rex approaching for another shot, directly at the defenseless Rangers. Frustration and guilt ran through him. He had to do something or the other Rangers would be killed, and it would be at least partially his fault. He shouted into his morpher, “Q-Rex! Obey me! I order you to stop!”
“The Q-Rex voice command is blocked,” the morpher informed him unhelpfully.
“I know! What can I do?”
“Destroy the blocking device to unblock voice command.”
“Why didn’t you say that before? And where the hell is the blocking device?” Eric cried. He drew the Quantum Defender. He couldn’t wait any longer; the Q-Rex was about to fire. He shot the powerful blaster at the machine, doing no significant damage but directing it at a new threat.
“Oh, shit…” he gasped as it swung around and targeted him. Instinctively he fell back a few steps, and faintly heard Wes’s voice shouting a warning from the street. As the Q-Rex’s guns swept in his direction, the morpher answered his question by displaying a blinking readout inside his helmet, clearly showing him a small device attached to a front face of the nose section. The blocking device.
Without conscious thought he aimed and fired, cleanly striking and destroying it. With a quick mental thanks for all the target practice he’d ever done, he lifted the morpher again and yelled, “Q-Rex! Listen to me! I order you to stop!”
For a breathless moment, the battlewagon continued to move closer… and then the morpher chimed, and that infuriatingly calm voice announced, “Voice identification confirmed.” The Q-Rex froze, its guns trained on him.
In the street below, the other Rangers had watched the showdown, expecting to see Eric blown to bits at any moment, and helpless to stop it. They saw him blast something off the Q-Rex, saw it stop, and a few moments later saw him leap triumphantly onto the nose section.
The Q-Rex turned toward Conwing, who was watching from another rooftop. Having lost control of the situation, the mutant swiftly disappeared in a twinkle of teleportation light.
“It looks like Eric has gotten complete control of the Q-Rex!” Trip said, excited.
“Sure looks like it. And it makes him more powerful than ever,” Wes responded more soberly.
“But how’s someone like Eric going to handle that kind of power?” Lucas asked.
“I don’t know. He’s a loose cannon. And you know what they say. Power corrupts...” Wes said.
“The Quantum morpher was supposed to help us,” Jen said bitterly. “Now we’re back where we started. And Eric may become as much of a problem as Ransik.”
Trip was optimistic. “I have a feeling he’s not so bad. He could surprise us, and show a different side, now that he’s gotten what he wants.”
“I really hope you’re right,” Wes said softly.
Eric entered Alan Collins’ office and saluted. Without preamble, he announced, “I’ve got control of the Q-Rex.”
Collins smiled and stood up. “I’m glad to see I’m not the only one around here with a little ambition.” He walked to Eric and offered his hand, adding, “You’re the new commander of the Silver Guardians.”
Eric smiled politely as they shook hands. His smile deepened with triumph as he turned to go.