Wes blinked sleepily at the morning sun slanting in through the window blinds, half-remembered restless dreams still fogging his mind. For a moment he wondered where he was and why he was sitting in an uncomfortable chair instead of lying in his bed. Then awareness returned with a rush of panic. The hospital. His father.
He leaned forward, back twinging painfully, to look at his father. There was no visible change, just the same pale, drawn face, the same oxygen tube under his nose, and the various wires attached to his body. Wes watched closely for a few minutes, to reassure himself that Collins was breathing.
Getting up stiffly, he went to the window and peered out at a beautiful scene, the sun just above the horizon, the autumn sky still scattered with pinks and reds. He turned away, remembering Alex’s words. “Tomorrow, your father will die.” Tomorrow was now today.
Under the same morning sky, Eric threw two suitcases into the back seat of his car. Like Wes, he had spent a night that left him gloomy and tired. And the day promised to be no better. Going into the back yard, he found Alice, the little girl from next door, wiggling her fingers through the bars of the cage housing his two pet birds.
He walked up and watched for a moment. When she looked up at him, he asked, “Did your mother say it was all right?”
“Yes. She said we can keep them as long as you want.”
“Good.” He lifted the cage off its hook and gave it to her. “Take good care of them for me.”
“Why do you have to go?” she asked plaintively.
Eric found he had no answer she was likely to understand. Because my new boss will get rid of me as soon as he can. And maybe I can’t blame him. “I just… have to,” he finally said. It seemed to be good enough, she only nodded.
“How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a long time.”
“I’ll miss you.” She put down the cage and hugged him around the waist. It occurred to Eric that he couldn’t remember the last time another person had touched him with real affection. After a moment he gently returned the embrace.
When Alice released him he lightly touched her cheek and quickly turned to walk away, not trusting his voice to say goodbye. Before getting into his car he waved and smiled, and took a last look at the first real home he had ever had. The smile disappeared as soon as he knew she could no longer see him.
Jen stood at one of the clock tower windows, looking out at the morning sky. She had been unable to sleep, and had been watching the sunrise. Hearing a footstep behind her, she looked over her shoulder to see Alex. He stepped up to the window beside her.
“It’s beautiful,” he said softly.
She nodded and tried to smile. She hid the photograph of Wes she had been looking at with her hand, but not before Alex saw it. To her surprise, he smiled slightly.
“You like him, don’t you,” he asked.
“He’s my teammate. Or was. And a good friend. We couldn’t have done any of this without him.”
“If it means anything, I respect Wes. But -- for your own sake, Jen, don’t get too close to him.”
Something in his voice alarmed her. “Why?” she asked. “Is something going to happen to him?”
He hesitated for a moment, his eyes sliding away from hers. “Your mission here is almost over. Soon you’ll be leaving. You’ll never see him again.”
Jen looked away, the thought of never seeing Wes again suddenly very hard to bear. She looked back when Alex took her left hand, touching the engagement ring she still wore.
“I gave this same ring to my Jen, only a few days before she died. I’m glad you’re still wearing it. Maybe someday you can think of it as coming from me. I really am almost the same person as your Alex, after all…” He blinked and turned away from the window. “We need to be ready. The Dragon flyer will attack again this morning.”
Confused and overwhelmed by sadness, Jen only nodded.
Wes looked up at a soft knock on the door. Michael Zaskin, on crutches, stood in the doorway uncertainly.
“Mind some company?” he asked.
“I could use company,” Wes said. “Come on in.” He got up to pull another chair over.
“He’s not doing too well, is he?” Zaskin asked. Wes shook his head, his face crumpling slightly.
Perhaps to change the subject, Zaskin went on, “I was surprised to hear you stepped in at Bio-Lab. I thought you didn’t want to be involved in the business any more.”
“I don’t, really. But Dad would have wanted me to take over. And Taylor said the company needs me.”
“Taylor just wants someone he thinks he can control. And -- your Dad was proud of what you’ve done with your life. I don’t think he’d want you to give it up for his sake.”
“Dad -- proud of me?”
“Yes. That’s how he got hurt. He was trying to protect you. Ransik came after the serum, and Alan -- your father -- tried to stop him. He said how you had tried to make him get rid of the serum, but he hadn’t listened. He said he knew now he was wrong, and how proud he was that you’ve chosen your own path, that you’re doing something so important.” He watched Wes for a moment and added, “He’s very proud of you.”
Wes was silent, looking at the motionless form in the bed. How little he knew his own father, the man he had lived with all his life, up until now. If only they had talked, really talked about what was important to them. Now it was too late.
Eric walked slowly through the empty storage yards behind the Bio-Lab headquarters building. He had intended to head out of town but somehow had found himself here, the same spot where he and Wes had argued and fought over the Quantum morpher months ago.
He stopped in the open area where they had faced each other. Wes’s words came back to him, as they had many times before in his darker moments. Accusing him of selfishness, of not deserving the Quantum powers. Unwillingly he also remembered Jen’s voice, saying he only cared about himself.
Maybe it’s true. He had tried to use the morpher to help other people. But maybe he was really doing it for himself, to feel important, to feel -- powerful. And now -- wasn’t he proving they were right by running away, and taking the morpher with him?
Eric sighed heavily, and sat on a crate, staring at the back of the Bio-Lab main building. I thought I had found a place here. I thought I fit in. Found people who at least tolerate me. He thought uneasily of Mr. Collins, who had done so much for him. He was leaving without even knowing for sure if Collins was going to die. He was leaving the Guardians without leadership when they needed it most. And, judging by the flying tank they had been fighting when he joined the previous day’s battle, he was leaving the Rangers when they needed his help desperately. Whether or not he liked them, or they liked him, they were all on the same side. Most of all, he was running out on the people of Silver Hills, like Alice and her parents, and Michael Zaskin.
He raised his left arm, and looked at the morpher. He had taken it because he wanted power and the respect he thought would go with it, because of his envy and resentment of Wes, maybe because he had some misguided idea of becoming a hero. He hadn’t thought of it as a responsibility. But that’s what it was, and it weighed heavily. And yet -- he couldn’t imagine giving it up.
Eric straightened. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Myers. You’ve turned your life around before, under worse conditions. He could do it again. Wes wasn’t completely unreasonable. He could convince him that Silver Hills needed the Quantum Ranger, and that Bio-Lab needed Eric Myers. He could even be respectful if he had to. And maybe Wes deserved some respect for a change.
Standing up, Eric started back to his car.
“The Dragon machine has been sighted on the outskirts of the city,” Circuit announced. It gave them the exact location.
“Get ready. We must stop it and destroy it this time,” Alex said.
They raced to the scene in silence on their Timeflyers. The Dragon was flying over a suburban area, not yet attacking. The Rangers altered course to fly parallel. The Dragon turned and flew closer to them.
“Lead it away from the buildings.” Alex commanded. “Head for the fields north of Bio-Lab.” The Rangers flew over an area of unused fields and a few scattered, empty buildings only minutes later, leading the Dragon before looping around to fire on it.
“Attack in formation!” Alex ordered. Reluctantly, the team obeyed. At first it seemed to work, as they fired in unison, damaging the Dragon at several places, none of them serious, and darting away before it could target them. But Jen knew it was only a matter of time.
Wes started guiltily out of a half-sleep, checked his father, and stretched his aching body. Something had awakened him. He had turned the radio on earlier to distract himself, and now he realized an excited voice was coming from it instead of music. He turned up the volume.
“Another tremendous battle is going on, as the Power Rangers try to stop the same Dragon-painted flying tank that attacked Bio-Lab yesterday. The fight seems as unequal as yesterday, when the Rangers were only able to drive it off with the help of the Q-Rex. Today, there’s no sign of the Quantum Ranger yet.”
Wes turned off the radio and turned to the bed. He leaned down to briefly take his father’s hand. “I don’t want to leave, Dad,” he said softly. “But you said you were proud of the choices I’ve made. And right now -- I choose to help my friends.”
Eric had barely pulled onto the street leading into town and to the hospital when he saw an explosion in the distance, north of Bio-Lab. He turned off to drive closer, and soon saw the aerial battle between the Dragon flyer he recognized from yesterday and the Timeflyers. Once again, the Rangers needed his help. And he was ready to give it, glad to have the chance to prove that he was necessary, at least in battle. Pulling over, he parked and got out.
Alex was a competent tactician, he realized they were not doing any significant damage to the Dragon and ordered them to break off. They began to play a high-speed game of cat and mice, with one of them baiting the machine into a chase, then leading it into a position where the others could attack. By taking turns, they attempted to exhaust its ammunition and energy supply. For a while they were successful. Fortunately Frax had not built the Dragon with a high degree of intelligence; it seemed not to learn from experience.
Jen was the first to run into trouble. As she flew low over the ground, she found her flyer suddenly and rapidly losing power. She tried in vain to gain altitude, but she knew she could not stay airborne if the flyer’s power continued to fade. Using all of her considerable skill, she brought it to a rough but safe landing.
The others saw her go down and flew lower to check on her, only to lose power in their own flyers just as unexpectedly. They landed as best they could, and climbed out to group together.
“What happened?” Jen asked. “I just lost power, for no reason.”
“The rest of us did too,” Trip said. “Something’s drained our energy. Check your morphers, they’re low on energy too.” They looked up to see the Dragon circling low above them. As they watched, it headed up again. The Q-Rex had appeared high in the sky, giving them a much-needed reprieve.
“Look,” Alex said quietly. They turned to see Frax walking toward them, pointing a large, strangely designed rifle-like weapon at them and followed by several cyclobots. He moved closer. They materialized their blasters and started for him.
“Fire!” Alex said. They obeyed. The energy beams were dim and had almost no effect. Alex ran forward and commanded, “Fire!” again.
“Alex, wait! We don’t know what’s going on here,” Jen cried.
“Don’t question me! Fire!” They fired again, with the same result. Frax aimed the build-in blaster in his arm at them and fired. His energy beam struck them hard, forcing them back and knocking the Green and Pink Rangers off their feet.
Frax stepped closer. “Not so tough now, are you?” he said. “How do you like my energy drainer? Brilliant, isn’t it?” He gestured to the cyclobots following him. “Cyclobots! Attack the Rangers!”
The cyclobots ran to obey, ignoring the ineffective blaster beams the Rangers sent at them. Alex moved forward to meet them, methodically kicking two down. The others disposed of the rest quickly, their suits still giving them the advantage. As the last cyclobot was put out of action Frax stepped forward and fired again, this time sending them all collapsing to the ground.
Alex was the first to recover. “Get up!” he shouted at the others. “Fight! What’s wrong with you? Don’t you care what happens if we lose?”
Anger gave Lucas the strength to get up. He strode up to Alex and shouted, “I’ve had enough of you!”
Katie was right behind him. “You’re the one who doesn’t care! If you did, you wouldn’t have replaced Wes!”
“The team is stronger this way.” Alex looked at Jen, who was standing with Trip.
She looked at him, feeling compassion. “They’re right. We don’t know you. And you don’t know us. We were stronger with Wes.”
Frax interrupted them. “What’s this? Dissension in the ranks? Well, don’t worry. You won’t have to put up with each other much longer.”
As Frax moved closer, raising his energy-draining rifle, an energy beam struck him from the side, sending him reeling to the ground, dropping his weapon. They all turned to look, and saw Wes several yards away in front of a small group of buildings, his motorcycle behind him. He was holding Trip’s Turbobooster.
Jen shouted to him, “Wes! Don’t come any closer! Destroy his weapon!” He obeyed instantly, firing a blast that struck it and left it blackened and sparking.
As Wes aimed for him, Frax cried, “You’ve destroyed my energy drainer, but your weapons are weakened. The Dragon will still defeat you!” Triggering his teleporter, he vanished.
Jen stepped close to Alex as the others ran back to their flyers. “Alex, please,” she said. Alex looked at her for a long moment, and then slowly raised his arm and demorphed in a quick burst of light. There was no anger in his face, only sadness and resignation. He nodded silently, removed his morpher and handed it to her.
Taking it with a smile, she turned to Wes, who had stopped a few feet away. She tossed it to him. Wes caught the morpher and paused long enough to give a grateful nod to Alex before putting it on. A moment later he was joining his partners in the air.