--

Wes burst into the room as Eric struggled to a sitting position despite Jen's protests, the Red Ranger smiled in relief. "You're looking better."

Eric glanced over at him, he was still considerably pale but not nearly as weak; a few hours had passed since they had retrieved the antidote, although Wes had only just returned after defeating another one of Sordna's mutants.

"Wes."

He looked up to see Eric staring at him, obviously not wanting to say those two words, so Wes didn't make him. "You're welcome, Eric. We're even now, I guess."

Eric smiled. "'Til next time anyway," he said. "Something tells me we're not out of the woods yet."

"Definitely not," Wes agreed. "You rest, we'll do the work for now."

He held out his hand to Jen, who joined him—bringing an even broader smile to Eric's face; they left the hospital and went back to the Collins house. It was getting late and they were both tired, but neither seemed interested in sleep as he led her up to his bedroom.

"So, Jen," Wes said, yawning. "What'd you wanna do now?"

"Ohh . . . I don't know." Jen smiled as she shut the door, locking it behind her. "But I think we could probably come up with something, don't you?"

Swiftly, he lifted her and held her securely in his arms, carrying her to his bed; he kissed her gently at first, they had never done this before, their parting was sealed by a tight hug nine years ago. They sat on the bed and kissed for a while, their arms wrapped around one another; then they slowly lay down and began to undress . . .

--

Alex spent the night outside, patrolling to streets in his crisp, white uniform with his defender strapped at his hip; the others had all but begged him not to go, but he had insisted and walked off into the night alone. He was glad no one had come with him, he needed time to think; despite the years that had gone by, he had still clinged onto hope that maybe—someday—Jen would . . .

Well, there was no chance of that now. He had seen the look she and Wes exchanged before hurrying upstairs, their hands clasped tightly together. Alex shook his head, smiling softly as he remembered . . .

2995

"My name is Alex Collins, I'll be your instructor for the next three weeks—until Commander Stanford can return."

He scanned the room quickly, it was easy for him to tell who showed promise in the military and who didn't stand a chance. The first person he noticed was a strong-looking girl whom he later found out was named Katie, she showed definite promise; he wasn't too fond of Lucas, but sensed he could get the job done.

And then he saw her.

Jennifer Scotts, still only in her teenage years; at the time she had dark, dark brown hair—which would later lighten after spending time on the sunny beaches. She was in excellent health, strong arms and legs, she was not afraid of anything, and the screaming sergeants at training didn't seem to phase her in the least. Alex was amazed.

He was assigned to help her learn how to shoot properly, and immediately there was a strong attraction, from the moment they introduced themselves.

"Lieutenant Collins."

"Recruit Scotts."

"Yes, I know." Alex paused. "I'm here to teach you how to shoot."

"I know how."

"Let's see."

She raised her blaster and aimed for a split second, then let loose with five consecutive shots; there was a circle in the middle of the target and her five shots were neatly within it.

"Very good," Alex said. "Now let me try."

Five shots. One hole. Jen's eyes widened in shock, each shot had hit the exact same spot; she looked at Alex and sputtered: "H—How did you do that?"

"I shot, Recruit."

Her eyes flashed angrily, but Alex's simple smile calmed her immediately; he took her hands and positioned the blaster, saying softly, "Let me show you . . . "

Alex sighed, leaning against a tall building and gazing out over the city, more tired than he would've liked to admit. He knew what Jen was doing at that moment, and all the memories of the relationship he had once shared with her come back; they had thought it was unbreakable. No one had counted on a man from the past stealing her heart, how Alex cursed the day he told her to go after Ransik! He often wondered if things would've been different for her if he had died that day . . .

'Don't you dare think in that direction,' he scolded himself.

Alex vowed he would never regret the day Time Force brought him back; he had been dead, but Time Force had given him life.

"Well, well, well—if it isn't the Lone Ranger!"

He jumped and turned to see Sordna standing not five feet before him, he gritted his teeth and braced himself when he saw the cyclobots behind her, there were at least ten.

"Get him," Sordna muttered.

"Bring it on, Sordna," Alex said confidently.

With a shout, he performed a sharp tornado kick, knocking over two cyclobots; then went straight through them and to another. As he fought off that one, two others grabbed his arms and held him back; Sordna chuckled indulgently as she raised her staff and aimed it at him. Alex brought his leg up quickly and his boot hit Sordna's right in her stomach, doubling her over; he twisted out of the cyclobots grips and kicked them both away.

He grabbed his blaster and aimed it evenly at Sordna's head, he spoke harshly, finding himself out of breath. "What now, Sordna?"

His enemy was silent as she stared at the blaster pointed at her, as much as she hated to admit it, she was impressed by this human. He was an incredible fighter . . . she could use him.

"Impressive, Ranger," she said. "But, you see, I am not defeated yet."

Quickly, she knocked his blaster away and fired her staff, striking him in the chest; his face was one of shock at first, then he was completely blank. He slowly crumbled to the ground, his eyes still open; but as Sordna came to stand over him, they slowly slid closed.

"Sleep well," she said, roughly nudging him in the side with her boot. "Get him back to the base. We can heal him there. Something tells me he will be of great use to us."

--

"Guys," Trip said, "I—I've got some more bad news."

Wes looked up sharply as he buttoned his shirt, the bad news just kept coming and coming . . . "What is it?" he asked.

"Alex—" Trip sighed "—he went patrolling last night and . . . he never came back."

Jen's expression was one of surprise, she walked up to Wes and folded her arms. "He went alone? Why did you let him do that?"

"Don't be ridiculous, Jen," Katie said. "You know how Alex gets."

"He said he'd call if he needed help," Lucas pointed out.

"Did he?"

"Well . . . no," Sherrin said quietly.

Jen frowned, glancing up at Wes, who was obviously running through the possibilites in his mind; he spoke in barely a whisper. "Anything could've happened to him. But I'm guessing he was taken by Sordna, she—"

"We got trouble!" Wisnosky cried, running in.

In the city, Sordna stood with a smug smirk on her face, surrounded by her soldiers; she spoke before the Rangers could get a word in. "What took you so long? I assume you're looking for your comrade. Well, I can assure you, he's in perfect health."

"What have you done with him?" Jen demanded.

"Nothing, Jen—" Alex stepped out from behind Sordna "—I'm right here."

A flash of red appeared briefly in his eyes and Wes held Jen back when she took a step to him. "I don't think this is Alex we're dealing with."

"Get on with the reunion," Sordna said.

The Rangers never saw Alex reach for his blaster, in a second they were lying on the ground; the former Red Ranger was advancing steadily, his eyes blank as he stared at his fallen comrades. Wes struggled to his feet and met Alex halfway there; Jen got up as Alex easily knocked Wes aside, she knew that her ex-fiance was far stronger than Wes.

Jen froze when Alex aimed his blaster at her, never had she ever been threatened by him, no matter how angry he got.

"Alex, please—"

Wes stood in front of Alex, still as could be, hard as a rock; he and Alex met eyes, neither wavered in the least.

"Let's see you get by me, Alex," Wes said.

Something within Alex made him sense Wes would be a more formidable opponent when Jen was at stake, but that didn't mean he stood a chance against the highly-trained officer. Alex's fist felt like a hammer when it slammed into Wes' gut, he cringed and lost his balance slightly; but he knew Jen was behind him, and hit much worse by Alex's first shot than him . . . he had to defend her.

"No, Alex," he said, "You're not getting to her."

As one, they prepared to fight, Wes dreading every move, knowing he was fighting someone who had no control over his actions; he knew, however, that Alex would've told him to do so—even perhaps kill the leader—if necessary.

If he could.

"Hyah!" His foot hit Alex across his jaw and he heard a loud pop, Alex cried out slightly, but retaliated quicker than Wes would have expected. He swiped Wes' legs out from under him and the Red Ranger landed hard on the concrete; Alex dug his knee into Wes' chest, bringing a gasp and then a small cry of pain.

Wes twisted around to see the other Rangers finally regaining their senses and rushing to help him, Alex quickly got up and backed away from Wes to avoid the others. But there was no avoiding Wisnosky and Sherrin, who posed more of a threat, having been just as well trained.

"We can't hurt him," Sherrin muttered.

"We have to," Wisnosky replied. "Just be careful."

Alex attacked first, hitting Sherrin across the face and bringing him to the ground; Wisnosky grabbed his arms and pulled him away from his friend, then knocked him over, wincing when he saw Alex's head hit the ground. But Alex jumped back up, ignoring the blood seeping from his dark hair; one swipe with his boot and Wisnosky knew he had broken a few ribs, causing Alex to fall to his knees in pain. But before they could try to help, Sordna grabbed him and hissed, "We'll be back."