Chapter Nine

--

Her foot hit the pad she had hung up on the tree, hard enough to make a thud and almost enough to hurt; she let out a yell and flipped around, then kicked fiercely at the air. A second later, she heard a whistle and turned to see Jason Scott approaching her.

"Hey," he said.

"Hello, sir—" she began.

"No, no, no," Jason laughed. "Everyone else is calling me that and it's driving me crazy. Just 'Jason'."

"Come out here to practice?" Jen asked.

Jason shook his head slightly, and Jen didn't miss the small flinch, she bit her lip, sensing she had said something wrong; he spoke first. "No, I . . . uh, can't really do that anymore." He saw her discomfort and smiled. "Relax, it's okay. I got injured pretty badly a few years ago. Just not the same as I was before that."

"Sorry for bringing it up," Jen said.

"No big deal." Jason leaned back against the tree. "Why don't I just watch you for a while? Bet I could think of a lot of criticism."

"Oh really?"

Jen launched into a fight with an invisible opponent, Jason watching her every move carefully; he was glad she seemed to be concentrating on something other than Wes, who after two days still was not doing much better. He studied her posture, the mixture of emotions on her face: Anger, worry, hatred—

"So, what was it like?"

"Huh?" he asked, startled.

"Being in the original team," Jen continued. "I mean, it was all new back then. Where I'm from, it's a common fact of life."

"It was . . . quite an experience," Jason said. "I'll never forget it." He chuckled. "It's been almost twenty years since I got my powers."

There was a moment of silence, Jen staring up at the man that was a legend in her time: The original Red Ranger, the teenage boy that led the first five Rangers in battle against Rita Repulsa. They were taught about him and the other Rangers in Time Force Academy. She smirked, imagining that would come as quite a surprise to him.

"You're quite the legend in my time," she commented. "You and the other five."

"Really?" Jason shook his head, laughing. "Wouldn't Tommy get a kick out of that?"

"It's getting late," Jen said, glancing at her watch. "Katie probably has lunch ready."

Katie was setting the table when they entered, Cole jumped to his feet immediately and went over to Jason, smiling. "It's good to see you again."

"You too, Cole," Jason said. "How've you been?"

"All right." Cole looked around. "Are you gonna stick around? Maybe give us some help?"

"Well, I've never fought anyone like Sordna before," Jason said. "I wouldn't be much help."

"Sure you would!" Trip said excitedly. "Whether or not you've ever fought Sordna before, you're still a veteran Ranger. I'm sure you have plenty of helpful hints."

"Oh, come on," Katie said. "Stick around."

Jason sighed, smiling slightly. "I'll do what I can," he said.

Jason left the room as Jen communicated with Admiral Fuller in the future, updating him on their situation; the former Red Ranger was stunned by the advances made in the years since he had served with the other five under Zordon. Seven young adults had traveled from the 31st Century to protect the past and keep their own world from being altered . . . two were now dead, and one was on the enemy's side.

"Hey, Trip—" he stopped the youngest Ranger. "Any luck yet?"

"No." Trip sighed. "I just can't seem to figure it out!"

"Don't worry about it," Jason said. "You're doing your best." The boy reminded of Billy in a few ways, he was the brains of the team, and took everything so hard when he couldn't crack a code or solve a mystery. He placed his hand on Trip's shoulder, seeing the frustration in his eyes; then he went upstairs to check on Wes, who was being looked after by Alyssa.

"How is he?" Jason asked.

"Not getting any better." Alyssa shook her head as she gently wiped Wes' forehead. "It was close-range, and the Time Force weapons are more powerful than ours."

Jason took a deep breath, slightly amused with himself for—despite being in his mid-thirties—wishing that Zordon, the father figure, was there. He knew the younger Rangers looked up to him, expected him to know exactly what to do and when; the truth was, he felt just as inexperienced as them.

Jen met him in the hallway, a look of complete despair on her face. "Admiral Fuller says there's no way to break the control Sordna has over Alex . . . except to kill him."

Jason felt sick at her words, he didn't know Alex, but he couldn't imagine having to kill a fellow Ranger; he knew from the others that Jen had once been engaged to Alex, her pain was the greatest. Nine years ago, shortly before teaming up with the other Red Rangers, Jason had lost his fiancee . . .

He winced, thinking of the beautiful Vietnamese girl he had fallen in love with during High School, how her life was cut short.

"I—I can't," Jen said. "I can't kill Alex."

"I know," Jason's voice was heavy with sympathy.

"Donavan . . . " Jen's voice trailed off, but she managed to continue: "I—I think he could do it. But how—fuck, I can't believe I'm planning Alex's death!"

She broke down and Jason did the first thing that came to mind: Wrapped his strong arms around her tiny frame and held her close as the tears streamed down her cheeks. Her shoulders shook with sobs as she buried her face; Jason could see down the hall that Katie was shocked by Jen's breakdown, the Yellow Ranger stood still for a moment, then went into another room with the others.

"Listen to me," Jason said firmly. "We will find a way to get this thing out of him. I won't let you lose him until we've tried everything possible, okay?"

Jen nodded, but said anyway: "We couldn't even find—"

"None of that," Jason said with a gentle smile. "You'd be surprised what us primitive, twenty-first Century folk can come up with. Now, why don't you take a nap while we get to work?"

Jen managed a smile and started to her room, glancing back and pausing. "Thank you, Jason."

--

Alex moaned in his sleep and tossed himself onto his side, bringing a small cry; Sordna walked in slowly to study him. His handsome face was lined with pain, his eyes were squeezed shut and his fists clenched; Sordna went over to him and shook him without the slightest bit of gentleness.

"Wake up," she ordered through their bond.

Alex flinched and slowly opened his eyes, trying to focus but again not succeeding; he sat up and reached out his hand for her, finally finding her figure.

"What is wrong?"

"I—I don't know." he could feel himself begin to fall, and the last thing he heard was her quiet gasp as he collapsed on the floor . . .

--

Jen slept peacefully through the night, curled up under the covers, a soft breeze blowing through the half-open window. She heard the birds chirping and voices downstairs, but slept on anyway, despite knowing it was morning.

Then she felt soft lips press to her forehead, and a gentle voice. "It's time to wake up, Jen."

Her eyes flew open and she sat up to see Wes standing by her bed, Katie holding his arm, supporting him; Jen stood carefully and gingerly wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You're okay," she whispered.

"Yeah," he said.

"He got a lot better last night," Katie put in. "Pretty quickly too. I guess it just took him a while to make up his mind."

Wes smiled as he placed another kiss on Jen's forehead, then her lips met his and stayed there as they both sat down, Wes rather gratefully. He was obviously exhausted, the dark circles under his eyes and lines on his face proved that, but he was alive . . .

"You gave us quite a scare, Wesley Collins," Jen scolded.

"Sorry," he murmured.

"I think I can forgive you." She kissed him gently, placing her hand on the back of his neck to draw him nearer; when they parted, however, her voice became stern. "Now, back to bed with you!"

She lowered him onto her bed and pulled the blanket over him, then gave him one last kiss before going to get dressed. When she returned, Wes was already asleep; she left the room and went downstairs, in considerably better spirits than the previous day.

"What's up?" she asked as she entered the kitchen.

"Well, we've come up with a possible solution for Alex," Trip said.

"Really?" Jen nearly dropped the box of cereal she had taken out of the cabinet. "What is it?"

"Pain," Jason said simply.

"It's happened a few times," Sherrin spoke up. "When someone is being controlled by some sort of creature inside them. That creature obviously doesn't like pain, and usually will leave it's host's body when pain is inflicted."

Jen raised her eyebrow as she joined them at the table. "So, how do we inflict pain without actually hurting him?"

"We might not have to," Trip said. "Remember how he was in so much pain after that one attack? Well, maybe he's still going through that."

"You don't think Sordna would've healed him?" Taylor said incredulously.

"She might not know that anything is wrong with him," Cole suggested.

"Um, guys?" Katie said. "Did it ever occur to you that maybe Alex isn't suffering from an injury?"

Jason was the first to speak. "What'd you mean?"

"I—I didn't mean to overhear anything," Katie explained. "But I heard Alex talking to Admiral Fuller while I was in the library. He didn't really explain, just that he would soon be unable to work and was about to resign from Time Force."

"He's sick?" Jen said, shocked.

"It sounded like it," Katie admitted.

Jason was surprised, by the 31st Century he would've expected all diseases to have been cured, he silently wondered which ones hadn't been.

"You think Sordna's creature will leave him if this . . . disease progresses?" he assumed.

"Yes," Katie said.

As she spoke, Jen's communicator went off, she pressed it. "Yes?"

"It's Eric," came the Quantum Ranger's voice. "I'm in the park. Sordna is attacking."

"We're on our way . . . "

--

. . . the Rangers arrived in the park a few minutes later, finding Eric trying to fight off the cyclobots by himself, and not succeeding. Jen joined him and they both kicked away a cyclobot, only to find another coming after them.

"Maybe soon Wes can join us again," Jen said.

"What?"

"Katie says he recovered almost completely."

"Overnight?"

"Yes."

"Took him long enough." Eric elbowed a cyclobot in the face, sending it reeling back. "But, no, he won't be joining us soon. Not if I have anything to say about it."

"You know he'll ignore that—."

"He needs time to get his strength back."

"—Just like you."

"Just like all Rangers."

"Just like all men." Jen rolled her eyes as she brought up her knee sharply and hit a cyclobot.

Then they saw him: Alex was standing next to Sordna, a blank expression on his face, his eyes unfocused—he looked blind.

Jen couldn't hold it back, she took a step forward and cried out his name; Alex stiffened and looked in her direction, but right over her shoulder. Jen's voice was breaking as she spoke his name again, there was something different about him this time; Sordna nudged Alex roughly in the side and—to Jen's surprise—he cried out sharply.

Jen raised her blaster on instinct and shot . . .

. . . she hit Sordna. The villianess fell to the sidewalk with a gasp, landing by Alex's feet; he looked around, as if trying to find her.

"Alex?" Jen repeated. "Listen to me, you've got to overcome this. Please, fight it! You're stronger than this!"

Alex turned to her almost mechanically, as he did, his knees buckled and he fell face-forward to the ground; Jen rushed to his side and gently rolled him onto his back. He was unconscious.

"Katie!" Jen yelled.

But the Yellow Ranger was engaged in battle with a mutant, and was unable to hear Jen; Sordna stirred and awoke to see the Pink Ranger kneeling by Alex, a flash of anger ran through her. With lightning speed, her heeled boot connected with Jen's back and she fell forward onto Alex.

The Ranger recovered quickly however, and met Sordna face-to-face for the fight; Alex started to wake up, his once-glowing eyes now beginning to clear. As Jen prepared to attack, she was distracted by the scream of pain that came from her ex-fiancee, who curled up on the ground as an eel-like creature made its way out of his ear . . .

"Oh my god, Alex!" Jen gasped.

The former Red Ranger lie still for a moment as Sordna launched an attack on Jen, hearing her cry, he immediately snapped back to reality and forced himself to stand. Jen looked at him in shock as he whispered "I love you, Jen" then snatched his blaster and fired—

—Sordna raised her staff immediately to deflect the blow, and Jen had to duck as an explosion racked the small battlefield . . .

--