SquidgeWorld Archive

Second Chances Saga: The Sequel
by cobalt-blue
cobalt-blue@rocketmail.com

"I have to try and get help," Marissa said. "They’ll betray us all."

"And if you go through with this, you’ll betray the Technocracy," Ship’s brain replied. "The one you seek is known only in the most feared legends of the Nephandi, and anything that scares the demons, should terrify you."

She turned and looked through the view port as D-space slipped passed her, at a speed that she wasn’t sure was altogether safe. Beneath her, she could feel the Void Engines burned what the Tass as fast as the STAR units could collect it. Actually, she didn’t have much of a choice. She had stolen the ship and blasted out of the Null B facility on Yenosia, after the Fallen had infiltrated the base and taken over. The Fallen- Void Engineers who’d gone over to the Nephandi- knew that she had seen their plans, and there was no place in Deep Universe or back on Earth that she could hide from them. She had no choice but to seek help beyond the Deep Universe. "My enemy, my ally," she quoted the title of a novel she once read as a child.

"Diane Duane is not going to get you out of this one, Marissa," the ship’s brain said.

"No she’s not, but perhaps this Covenant will," she told the ship. "I can’t go home, I can’t go back to the Technocracy, and I sure the hell can’t go back to Yenosia." She shook her head, "I couldn’t even hide in the Traditions, not that I would want to." Turning back to the view port she sighed again, "If the Fallen take the Engineers with them, then neither the NWO, nor the Syndicate will ever forgive us. We’ll be planet-bound from here on out. They’ll use it as an excuse to seal the Earth off completely and all magic will die as we stagnate."

"So you’ve said," the ship replied. "That’s the only reason I’ve agreed to help you." She could almost feel the ship’s brain considering all their options. "Still, the legends we’ve encountered say that this Covenant is an Outsider: a being from beyond our reality. That is not exactly the kind of contact the Technocracy approves of."

"Maybe so," she told it, "but they also say that he stands between the Nephandi and other worlds." She turned and looked at the settings on the scanner. While on station she’d managed to download some recent scans that came over the net from a sector of Deep Universe known to have recently had a disturbance involving this Covenant being. Actually, the disturbance wasn’t even part of Reality itself but was so far in the Deep Universe as to be totally unmapped by even the most daring of Void Engineers. All she knew of the area was from some very old legends predating even the leeches. It was called Sheol. It roughly translated to the "place of the dead".

**********************************************

To say that Adam Park was nervous was an understatement. His parents were about to get a major shock- two actually- and there was no way he could cushion it for them. The time for lies was over, now came the truth, and he wasn’t so sure they were going to deal with it very well. He felt Kyle gently reach out and touch his arm.

Looking over, his dark-haired companion smiled at him and asked in his soft Appalachian accent, "Nervous?"

Adam smiled back and swallowed, "What do you think?"

"I’d say you were about as calm as a long-tailed cat in a room full o’ rockin’ chairs." His soft accent gave his tone just enough seriousness to actually be calming to Adam.

Adam couldn’t help but chuckle. Sometimes Kyle came up with the strangest similes. "Were you this nervous when you told your dad?"

Kyle shook his head, "I never really got to come out to him." He shrugged, "Remember, I was outed by Greenup County Sheriff’s Department. It was part of the investigation into Neal’s murder investigation."

Adam mentally kicked himself for bringing up a sore subject with Kyle. Normally, he was very careful of the young Kentuckian’s feelings about his past, but today he was so nervous he wasn’t thinking straight. Then he laughed at that thought. His thinking hadn’t been straight since the night he’d kissed Kyle in his living room. Of course the fact that before the kiss could go much further, both boys had been teleported to the Command Center still locked in the embrace hadn’t helped much. "I’m sorry, Bro. I didn’t mean to bring that up."

Kyle just smiled at him, "’Sokay." He reached out and gently touched Adam’s face. "I’ve had some really good help in getting over that."

"So you think it’ll be easier when we tell YOUR dad?" Adam asked with a faint smile. The running joke between the two boys was that Kyle’s dad was already treating Adam like his son’s boyfriend.

Kyle shrugged, "I don’t know. It’s not big deal telling him that we’re dating." He looked off toward the hills above Angel Grove and said, "The other stuff, I’m not so sure about."

Adam smiled, "To be honest with you, I’m less concerned about telling my folks that we’re dating than I am telling him the other stuff too."

"Yeah, I’ve heard some of your dad’s comments about the Rangers. Especially now that there’s two teams."

"I thought we could hide that for a while," Adam said.

Kyle shook his head, "Won’t work. Our uniforms are different. Zack’s team still uses the old uniforms with the animistic helmets. Ours are more stylized. It didn’t take long for people to figure out we’re two different teams, with two different missions- backing each other up when necessary." He pulled his new Firebird into Adam’s driveway. The car had been a surprise birthday gift for him from his father after the whole Kregar mess was resolved. According to his dad, he got it for a steal because the paint job had been damaged when one of the Kregar walkers had been blown to bits near the dealership. One of the women his dad worked with knew a good body shop, and a customized paint job later, Kyle was the proud owner of the car he’d lusted after since he was twelve.

As the two teens exited the car and headed into the ranch style house that was the Park home, Adam took a deep breath and steeled himself. He wasn’t sure how his parents were going to take what they had to tell them, but it was time to do it. He chuckled softly to himself.

"What?" Kyle asked.

"I was just thinking that I’m more afraid now than when we faced Michael," Adam told him.

Kyle just shook his head, "I’ll take a hundred of these before I ever want to face that again." Adam could see a deep sorrow in Kyle’s eyes. Of all the Rangers, only Billy was more silent on what had occurred in that fight than Kyle. Adam understood. Kyle had been forced to more closely relive what had happened to the first Covenant at Michael’s hands than the other Rangers- something about him actually being another incarnation of the man who’d become Covenant. Then he was forced along with the rest of the Rangers to relive the Billy’s memories of what had happened to him. He’d also been the one that had to comfort the Blue Ranger, and that was hardest of all.

Adam smiled weakly at him, "I understand." Turning back the house he said, "Forget I said that."

Kyle smiled back and said, "I’ll do that."

"Mom? Dad?" Adam called for his parents. It was one of his dad’s rare Saturdays off, and he’d already told them that he had something he wanted to talk to them about today. He hated to ruin his dad’s day like this, but it had to be done.

"In the kitchen," his mom called.

He looked over at Kyle who winked at him as both teens took a deep breath and headed in. Adam looked around. His mom and dad both were sitting at the kitchen table with a cup each- his mother’s with her favorite tea, and his father’s a cup of black coffee- no sugar. "Hello, Kyle," his mother said as both boys entered the room- her voice just a little strained.

"Hello Mrs. Park," Kyle told her and then nodded over to Adam’s father, "Hello Mr. Park."

"Hello, Kyle," Mr. Park said with a friendly smile. "Would either of you boys like something to drink?" He rose from his seat and refilled his coffee cup.

"No thank you, sir." Kyle responded with his usual Appalachian drawl.

For long seconds the only sounds in the kitchen were that of the clock ticking over the sink and the coffee hitting Mr. Park’s cup. Finally the man sat down next to his wife and said, "You boys wanted to let us in on something?" Adam could have sworn he saw his father’s eye twinkle with mischief.

"Yes sir," Adam said swallowing hard.

"Well, sit down, both of you." He chuckled, "I promise we won’t bite you."

Adam looked back over at Kyle and then sat down across from his father. Kyle gave him a "go ahead" look. Adam smiled back and then turned to face his father, "Well Dad, you know how you told me that if I ever needed to tell you something I thought you might not want to hear that you would always listen carefully before answering?"

Mr. Park nodded, "I remember." He looked over to Adam’s mother and patted her hand, "We’re listening."

"Well, I’ve sort of got two things I need to tell you." The look in his mom’s eyes worried Adam. He shook his head, "I’m not sure how you’re going to take it though."

"How about coming right out and saying it then," Mr. Park told him.

Adam nodded and swallowed, "Okay." He glanced again over at Kyle for moral support. Feeling the other boy’s hand squeeze his under the table he turned back to his father and said, "First off, I wanted to tell you that Kyle and I are dating."

Mr. Park nodded solemnly and asked softly, "So what you’re really telling us is that you’re gay?"

Adam nodded, "Yes sir."

Mr. Park reached out and put an arm around his wife’s shoulders, "And what part of this did you think would upset us?"

Adam shrugged, feeling both relieved and somewhat betrayed. He’d imagined all kinds of arguments in his head about this talk, and his parent’s blasé reaction to the news was something of a let down. "I wasn’t sure."

"Do your parent’s know, Kyle?" Mrs. Park asked.

Kyle asked, "Do they know I’m gay or that I’m seeing Adam, ma’am?"

"Both I guess," Adam’s mom asked.

"They both know I’m gay, ma’am. My dad sort of suspects that Adam and I might be more’n jus’ friends."

The woman nodded, "And your mom?"

Adam watched Kyle take a deep breath and meet his mom’s gaze. "When my mom found out I was gay, she left. She said that if my dad wouldn’t kick me out of the house then she was leaving." Adam could hear the pain in the Yellow Ranger’s voice. He knew that Kyle’s parent’s were divorced, but had no idea that things had gotten that bad. "My parents found out in a pretty bad way. The guy I was seeing at the time was murdered, and the police found some letters we’d exchanged. They got introduced as evidence against the girl who killed him, and read in court."

Adam could see the surprise on his parent’s face. His mom’s façade suddenly softened as she reached across the table and patted Kyle’s hand. "I’m sorry."

Kyle nodded to her, "Thank you ma’am."

As if to change the subject she then turned to her son and asked, "And what was the second thing you wanted to tell us?"

Again Adam and Kyle exchanged glances. Again, Adam felt Kyle squeeze his hand and lend him support. This time there was an understanding to the support. It said: I’m going to need yours when this time comes for me. They nodded to each other and Adam said, "Dad, I already know how you feel about this subject. That’s what makes this so hard. I just hope you’re as supportive in this as you are about Kyle."

"Son, you’re not going to tell me that one of you is pregnant are you?" his father asked with a smile as he was obviously trying insert some humor into solemn mood that had descended on the Park family kitchen.

Adam found himself smiling, almost as much to what his father asked as to the sudden choking sounds Kyle was making. Even his mom was giggling slightly as she punched him the shoulder and said, "Ward!"

"No sir." Before he lost the mood, Adam quickly added, "We’re Power Rangers."

His dad’s face suddenly became solemn. "Now that’s not funny, Adam. You know how I feel about the Rangers."

"Yes sir, I know," Adam replied. "But you’re mistaken." Adam knew better than to tell his father that he was wrong. "The Rangers protect Earth. If it weren’t for them- for us- the Kregar would be running the planet now."

"We didn’t have these monster attacks in Angel Grove until they came," Mr. Park said with the conviction of a long held pet theory.

"But the Rangers were formed to fight the monsters, to keep Rita from taking over the world. Not the other way around," Adam protested.

"What about the Kregar then?" Mrs. Park asked suddenly trying to head off an argument between her husband and her son. "Why did they attack."

"That’s a long story ma’am," Kyle quickly added. "A lot of the answer to that question is a matter of faith."

"Faith in what?" Mr. Park asked carefully. Adam knew that this could head off into an arena of discussion that might not turn out too well. He knew that Kyle was from the mountains back East and had been pretty much raised in what was if not the buckle of the Bible Belt, was at least one of the close notches. His own family members were practicing Buddhists, and both his parents had had unpleasant experiences with some of the more forceful adherents to the Christian faith.

Kyle shrugged, "The nature of the Universe." He took a deep breath and looked Adam’s father straight in the eyes. "Every culture has a creation myth. There’s the Judeo/Christian/Muslim story of Genesis, the Cherokee story of the Great Spirit, and the Asatru story of the World Tree. No matter what the culture, every religion tries to explain how the Earth was created, why we’re here and, and why there’s evil and misery surrounding us."

"Go on," Mr. Park inserted. Adam was glad the Kyle was taking an oblique approach to the rather touchy subject of religion. He was reminded of an old saying Mrs. Appleby once used: Never talk about religion or politics to family and friends.

"Well, the Kregar were the foot soldiers of one of the servants of the Creator who has gone mad and was trying to take over the omniverse," Kyle said.

"What do you mean servants of the Creator?" Mr. Park asked carefully.

Kyle just shrugged seeming to understand that he was on dangerous ground. Adam had never been prouder of his teammate in his life. "Call it Jehovah, Vishnu, Allah, or the Goddess; what ever you might want to. From what we understand of the situation, each culture defines the creator in its own unique way. I don’t mean to be offensive here sir, but from what I’ve been able to grasp is that there really is no difference between all of them. They are the same being whose aspects are defined by the culture that discovers them. The culture is defined by the ecology of the area that produced it. The more extreme the ecology, the more strict the religious system. The creator’s servants are even more stringently linked to the culture that believes in it. However the changes in Western belief systems since the Age of Reason has made some of the creator’s servants just a few P.S.I. shy of optimum pressure."

Adam’s father gave the boy a strange look and then as if realizing what he meant he said, "You mean they’ve become insane."

Kyle nodded, and his accent became thicker, "As my grandmother would say; they’re crazier’n a coon-dog in a room full of polecats."

Adam watched his father raise and eyebrow and smile. "I don’t think I’ve ever heard it put that way before Kyle."

Again Kyle shrugged, "I’m a mountain-boy Mr. Park, my vocabulary has been described as somewhat colorful."

"But what does this have to do with why the Kregar attacked?" Mrs. Park asked.

Adam remembered what Ms. Hayes had told them about the Kregar and the history of the omniverse. "Because, the being who controls them wanted to co-opt this planet to use as breeding stock for its war with the rest of the omniverse."

"But how did they find out about Earth?" Mr. Park asked. "Because of the Power Rangers?"

Adam shook his head, unable to bring himself to smile, "No. If we hadn’t been here, he would have still known about us."

Mr. Park raised an eyebrow. Adam knew something had just occurred to his father. The man looked at Kyle, "You haven’t been a Ranger very long have you?"

Kyle shook his head, "No sir. I became a Ranger right after that first attack."

Adam’s father turned back to him, "Is that how Trini really died? She was the first Yellow Ranger and was killed in that attack?"

Adam nodded, "Yes sir." He looked over at Kyle and then back to his father. "We all died in that fight."

"What?" his father asked in surprise.

"We all died," Adam told him. "But we were given a second chance."

"By whom?" his mother asked incredulously.

"A being called Covenant gave us the chance to come back and fight it over. It included some rather serious upgrades in power." He looked down remembering how Trini had not chosen to come back. He remembered the conversation he had with Kyle about it. "Trini chose to go on instead of coming back."

"How could she choose death over life?" his mother asked surprised.

"You didn’t feel it Mom? Even now I can remember the pure sense of joy that was waiting for me on the other side," Adam told her.

She turned to Kyle and asked, "Did you feel this too?"

Adam and Kyle looked at each other again. He remembered Kyle telling him what he’d felt on the other side, and how it differed from the other Rangers. Kyle smiled back at Adam’s mom and said, "Uh… I was sort of a different case. I was Trini’s replacement." It wasn’t exactly a lie, but it still protected Kyle’s privacy.

"Oh," Mrs. Park said and let the matter drop. "I hadn’t considered replacement an option."

"So, you say the Rangers aren’t attracting violence but are trying to deal with it?"

"Yes, sir," Adam replied.

"But you are still using violence to solve problems," the older man pointed out.

"Actually one of the first rules we were given was to never escalate a fight. Only use as much force as necessary," Adam told his dad.

His dad raised an eyebrow, "You mean to tell me that leveling a building is not escalating a fight."

"Yes sir. If you think about it, the Zords have never been used until after the monsters we’ve fought have grown to giant size." Adam said.

For long moments the four of them sat around the kitchen table while Mr. Park actually did consider what Adam had said. After a while he looked back at them and said, "I really can’t come up with up with an example to prove if you’re right or wrong." He dropped leveled his gaze at Adam and said, "Still I’m uncomfortable with the idea of Power Rangers."

"Let me ask you something Mr. Park," Kyle said.

"Go ahead Kyle."

"You’re a police officer, right?"

Mr. Park nodded, "Yes."

"What do you do when a suspect has taken hostages into a building, and is shooting at you?" Kyle asked.

"We call for back up and try to get the suspect to talk," Mr. Park said. "But I don’t see what this has to do with the Power Rangers."

"Please bear with me sir," Kyle told him. "What if the guy’s," he looked over at Adam’s mom and quickly added, "or woman refuses to talk. Not only do they refuse to talk, but they start shooting hostages?"

"We send for the S.W.A.T. unit," Mr. Park said.

"Exactly," Kyle pointed out. "You don’t escalate the fight until you have to." He looked over at Adam, "That’s the same thing the Rangers do."

"But I’m a professional. I’m a duly deputized agent of the courts. I’m not a vigilante. There are people I answer to. People who can bring me in if I cross over the line," Mr. Park said.

"The same thing applies to us, Mr. Park." He smiled, "And trust me, I really don’t want the person we answer to coming after us."

"Has there ever been a case where a Ranger went bad?" Mrs. Park asked.

Kyle smiled at her, "Only once that I knew of. He was under an evil spell. It happened before I joined the team."

"The first Green Ranger?" Mr. Park said.

Adam nodded. "It was before I joined the team. To… Uh... the Green Ranger was under the influence of Rita. When the team broke the spell, they made him a part of the team." Adam smiled, "He’s served with distinction ever since."

"When did you join them?" Mr. Park asked.

"About six months after they first appeared. One of the other members was moving, so they needed a replacement. I got picked by Zordon to become the new Black Ranger."

"So you don’t have to be a Ranger if you don’t want to?" Mrs. Park asked.

Adam and Kyle exchanged looks again, afraid of where this line of questioning might lead. "Up until the Kregar attacked, that was true." Adam told him.

"Why isn’t it now?" Mr. Park asked.

Adam sighed and leaned back into his chair. "When we were the Morphin’ Rangers- before the attack- our powers came from Power Coins that we carried. To transfer the Power all we had to do was give our replacement the coin and they agreed to the stipulations of owning it."

"Which were?" Mr. Park asked.

"Never reveal who we are. Never use the Power for personal gain." Adam smiled, "And never escalate a fight."

"Fine," Mr. Park said. "Find someone else to give your coin to."

Adam shook his head, "That’s the problem Dad. I can’t do that now. When we died and chose to come back, we were merged with the Power. We don’t need a coin anymore. We can never give it up, because we became living incarnations of the Power. We’re stuck with it forever."

"So what you’re telling me is that you’re the Black Ranger- the one with the elephant or mastodon or whatever- and that you can’t give the power up." he looked over to Adam’s mom as if to see if he was correct before turning back to the boys.

"Actually, I don’t pilot the Mastodon anymore. The Earth Rangers have those Zords. I pilot the frog zord and the raven zord."

"So what happened to the mastodon?" Mrs. Park said.

Adam sighed, "When we fought the Kregar in the end, we needed more than just the six of us. Our new mentor recovered and reactivated the old Power Coins and gave them to six other people." He looked over at his mom and smiled, "There are now two ranger teams. The first team has become what our mentor calls the Transdimensional Rangers- that’s us. The other team is made up of new Rangers using our old Zords. They’re the Morphin’ Rangers."

The Parks looked at each others. "This is a lot to take in, Adam." Mr. Park got up and filled his coffee cup again. "I need to know that there is someone out there who’s in charge of these Rangers. Somebody you guys answer to."

"I understand Dad," Adam said. "Ms. Hayes said you might want some kind of reassurance."

"Who’s Ms. Hayes?" Mrs. Park asked.

"She’s the mentor for the TD Rangers," Kyle told her. "She’s our boss."

"Is she a Ranger?" Mr. Park asked.

Both boys smiled at each other. "No sir," Adam replied. "She’s a Time Lord."

"Oh dear," Mrs. Park said. "This is all getting confusing."

"Let me ask you something, Mr. Park." Kyle said.

From the look Adam’s father gave Kyle, Adam understood that his boyfriend had done rather well in impressing the future in-laws. When did I start thinking of Kyle as marriage material? "Go ahead."

"Do you trust Adam and his judgment?" Kyle asked.

"More than I would most boys your age," Mr. Park said.

"Do you think that he would do anything that would hurt anyone?" Kyle asked.

"No," Mr. Park shook his head, "I don’t think so."

"Then trust him here," Kyle told him. "We’re not going out to start fights, but we DO finish them. We’re not going to suddenly use the Power to rob banks or anything."

Mr. Park looked at the raven haired boy and said, "I understand that, Kyle. I also know what it’s like to be a teenager, and the idea of that much power in the hands of a teenager honestly scares me."

"It would scare me too, Dad," Adam told his father. Before he could continue, their communicators chimed. He grinned sheepishly to his father and said, "Excuse me." Hitting the stud on his wrist he said, "What’s up Ms. Hayes?"

"If you’ve finished with your parent’s we really could use you in the Command Center," Ms. Hayes said. "We’ve got an unidentified craft approaching."

"How can you have a craft approaching Sheol?" Adam asked.

"There are technologies that can traverse realities. You encountered one when Storm Quest attacked."

"You mean Shalimar’s time ship?" Adam asked.

"Exactly," the voice told him.

"We’ll be there as soon as we’re free here," Adam told her.

"What’s up son?" Mr. Park asked.

"We’re not sure. It’s not like Ms. Hayes to get spooked like that." He turned to Kyle and said, "That’s what really bothers me."

"Just answer me one question son," Mr. Park said.

"Sure Dad."

"Why tell us now?"

Adam sighed, "Because you have a right to know. Because we’re tired of having to lie to our parents." He looked over at Kyle, "And because with the exception of you and Kyle’s dad, all the other parents know."

Mr. Park nodded. "Okay, go on. We’ll talk some more later." If nothing else, Adam knew his dad understood the call of duty. He wouldn’t have been a police officer otherwise.

"Thanks Dad," Adam said as he willed himself to the Command Center in Sheol.

The Parks stood silently as their son and his friend disappeared in streaks of yellow and black light. They turned to look at each other and then Mrs. Park said. "You were right about one thing at least."

"What’s that?"

"Our son is a responsible young man."

Mr. Park smiled back. "You know, I do believe you’re right."

**********************************************

Chapter 2

AN/ This chapter sort of gives me a chance to pay homage to some of the best stories on the net. Look for the ones mentioned here. They're by people like Dagmar, Cheryl Roberts, Karen Davis, Pergrine, Mele, Girl In The Red Jacket, just to name a few. And of course a very special homage to all the Yosties out there. Love you girls.

Danny

~*~

Jason sat down across the table from Ms. Murphy. Beside him, Tommy looked around nervously. "What did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.

Jason smiled over at his best friend. Tommy nodded in encouragement and Jason turned back to her. "It’s about Billy."

He could see the concern appear on his mentor’s face. Jason had realized that over the last few months Ms. Stone had become almost as protective of Billy as he was. "What about him?" she asked.

Jason sighed and nearly threw himself back into the chair. He was almost afraid of the answer he was going to get. "When we first met, you told Kim that the multiverse had it out for Billy, that in most worlds he didn’t survive long enough to hold the Power, and that in the few that he did, many times he died or lost the Power."

Ms. Stone answered him neutrally, "Yes."

He and Tommy exchanged glances again, "We were wondering if he it was over, if the Universe was going to keep piling on him?" Jason swallowed thinking hard about the haunted look in his lover’s eyes, how the wrong touch at times would set of an anxiety attack or how certain smells would cause the Blue Ranger to shut down emotionally. What Billy had suffered at the hands of Michael had been terrible, and they both knew that the only thing that kept Billy from locking it up inside of him, was that he knew the others had shared in his pain.

Ms. Stone leaned back and seemed to consider the boys question. It had taken a lot of courage on both boys part to even discuss this question between themselves, and even more to finally bring it to their mentor. Billy HAD to heal and they wanted to make sure that he got that chance. Sighing, she said, "I’ll be honest with both of you." She shook her head, "I don’t really know. I’m inclined to believe not." Leaning forward, she took Jason’s hand, "I know that’s not what you wanted to hear, but I don’t believe in telling you something that’s not true to make you feel better."

"Why Billy? What’s so special about him that makes reality want to kick him around?" Tommy asked.

Ms. Stone shook her head, "I don’t know. I DO know that it seems to be a universal constant though."

"What are his odds?" Jason asked.

Ms. Stone raised an eyebrow, "I didn’t know you were a betting man, Jason."

"I’m not. I’m just trying to figure out how much butt I’m going to have to kick when it comes after Billy."

Murphy smiled, again, "I’m not sure. Quite a bit I’d imagine." She leaned forward in her chair and said, "Okay, across the omniverse, the worlds break down something like this. The odds of him even living long enough to wield the Power are around 190:1. After that, they don’t get much better. The chances of him surviving being a Ranger are around 110:1. He usually either dies in the line of duty or not long after giving up the Power due to some kind of injury." She leaned back and looked at both boys. "You’re going to find that in many universes the Rangers never even exist, and that things are different all around. In various universes all of you face unique challenges, it’s just that for some reason, Billy always seems to be on the receiving end of a lot of grief."

"Such as," Tommy asked the question, Jason was almost afraid to ask.

Murphy smiled at him, "Do you really want to know?"

"I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t," he said.

She sighed, and seemed to gather her thoughts, "Okay, there’s one universe where in an attempt to keep you from becoming the evil Green Ranger, Zordon leaves Billy out of the mix, and makes you the Blue Ranger. This leads to him becoming the Green Ranger because that world’s Jason isolated him so that he wouldn’t have any competition for Trini’s affections. Before that whole scenario is over, Billy dies destroying most of the evil bad guys that later Ranger teams would face. He eventually is resurrected, but only as a much darker pain-filled version of himself.

"I would never do that!" Jason protested. The very idea of him turning on Billy was a complete anathema to him. He couldn’t believe that he would be selfish enough to hurt his "Little Bro" like that. "I would never hurt him."

Murphy shook her head, "Jason, YOU wouldn’t; at least this version of you wouldn’t. But there is at least one version where you not only hurt him, you murdered him."

"What?!" Tommy asked. "Jase would never murder anybody…"

"There were extenuating circumstances there. Billy was infested with an alien parasite that HAD to be destroyed but to do it, you had to kill the host. You two drowned him in very cold water, destroyed the parasite when it came out and then revived him." She shook her head, "That particular universe really seemed to be out to get Billy, because several other incidents occurred that eventually led up to Billy simply dying in a car accident right after Jason gets married."

"What else?" Jason asked with all the dread of a man facing the gallows.

Murphy seemed not to notice but continued, "It seems that you two end up hurting him one way or another quite a bit. Jason at one point, in an attempt to destroy the Gold Powers, you and he are kidnapped. You are chemically controlled and hurt him in ways that almost destroy both of you."

"Why would I hurt Billy?" Tommy asked.

Murphy shrugged, "You don’t do it intentionally, but in one time line you’re forced to torture him to keep Mondo from killing him."

"Who’s Mondo?" Tommy asked.

"He’s a villain that comes to Earth and chases off Rita and Zedd," Ms. Stone told them.

"Is he coming to our Earth?" Jason asked worried for his other friends. The Earth had been quiet for a while with the destruction of the Kregar, and he was concerned that Zack’s team might have to face something powerful enough to frighten Rita and Zedd.

Murphy shrugged, "I don’t know. They might be that stupid. If they are, Zack’s and the rest of the team can handle them."

"What else do I do to Billy?" Tommy asked, the pain in his voice evident to even Jason.

"At one point, you’re put under cybernetic control and become the Blood Ranger. You run him through with a sword and then kill him with a surge of the Power. However, in that one he outsmarted everybody and put his mind in Jason’s dog until you can recover his body and re-fuse them." She sighed and leaned back, "But you two are also good friends to him in many worlds. For the most part."

"Jason, do you remember when I told you that you were responsible for patching that hole in the time/space continuum?"

Jason nodded, remembering their mentor telling them about the Time War and how in one universe he was responsible for patching it. "Yes ma’am."

"Well actually, you went to another dimension looking for a Billy to patch it for you. In that world, your Billy died saving you from being hit by a drunk driver. You were hurting. You were just then starting to realize that you loved him beyond being a brother. You found a world where there was a Billy that was still alive without wielding the Power and brought him back to patch the hole. In another version, he was crippled by Ravager’s attack and he’s forced to give up the Power. During his convalescence you two finally get your heads on right."

Jason wondered something, "In just how many universes do he and I end up as a couple?"

She laughed, "That’s the funny thing about the Omniverse. In a great many of them, the pairings," she made quotation marks in the air with her fingers, "tend to end up strange." She smiled. "Let’s see there are quite a few where you and Billy end up together. There are just as many where you two end up a couple." She winked at them. "You two make a cute couple." She shook her head and smiled, "In a lot of those Tommy ends up pretty close to a basket case. Then there are a few where you and Tommy tend to trade back and forth between Kim and Kat."

Both boys looked at each other winced. "Somehow I can’t imagine myself without Kim," Tommy said.

"And for most that’s the way things end up- except for the ones where she ends up with Adam, Jase or even occasionally Billy," she told Tommy and then with a smile, "But there is one I can think of where you and Billy end up together."

Jason looked over and gave his best friend a grin, "Hey, moving in on my territory?"

"He’s all yours Jase," Tommy told him with a grin. "Remember, I’m the token straight boy here."

"So what you’re saying is that the ominverse’s only constant seems to be a desire to play hell with Billy’s life?" Jason asked.

"Pretty much, Jase," Ms. Murphy told him. "It plays with all of your lives, but for some reason he seems to catch a great deal of its grief." She chuckled, "There is even one out there where you guys exist only as a television program. Even in that world, Billy catches grief. There’s this group of twisted women who call themselves Yosties who’s favorite past time is writing fiction where Billy gets tortured."

"That’s sick," Jason said.

Murphy sighed, "I know."

Jason took a deep breath and then asked his next question, "And what about the Billy of your universe?"

He could see the pain in the woman’s eyes. He knew that in her universe, Billy had been her son. She sighed as she seemed to look at something on the other side of the ceiling. "His name was Kevin William, not William Kevin, and he was my son."

Jason nodded, "That’s what we gathered."

She smiled wryly and chuckled softly, "He was as inquisitive there as he is here. He actually managed to deduce the secret identities of most of our world’s transhumans. He never used the information, it was just his hobby- following super heroes. He wanted to be one so badly that he created a suit of battle armor and went out at night to emulate some of his favorites."

"So even there he was a hero?" Tommy added, and Jason was unsure if it was for his benefit or hers.

"Yeah, he was a hero," Ms. Murphy told them. "But even there the odds were stacked against him. His father was a royal jerk. He was a prominent politician who didn’t want it to get out that he had an illegitimate son." She smiled over at the two boys. "I was fifteen when I got pregnant with Kevin. Ed Cranston was a forty year old junior senator from Georgia. I decided that I didn’t want an abortion and I didn’t want to go on welfare, so I worked my tail off to stay in school and get my diploma. Later, I went on to college and got a degree in law enforcement from Eastern Kentucky University. It was hard on Kevin, but he never complained. We couldn’t afford a lot, no special schools or anything like that, but he still managed to stay at the top of his class, and blow the curve on almost all his tests."

"Did he catch as much grief about it as Billy does?" Jason asked.

She nodded, "You better believe it. However, he ended up friends with this guy who sort of looked out for him." She chuckled, "Later I found out just how much he was looking after him."

"You mean he and Kevin were lovers?" Tommy asked looking over at Jason.

She shrugged, "I don’t know if the relationship ever reached that far. I do know that they were in love." She looked down a moment as if to collect her thoughts and emotions and then looked back up at both boys, "Jake came and told me about them right after the funeral. He felt that I needed to know."

"How did he die?" Jason asked.

"Kevin discovered what was going on with Storm Quest. He hacked into their computers, and that alerted an organization called the Richelieu Factor- a criminal organization who wanted him to work for them. They were interested in anyone who could hack into an Eyes Only British Government Facility. When he refused, they sent an assassin named Dusk after him." Jason could see the woman fighting back tears. Her fists clenched and unclenched on the table, making deep crescent shaped indentations in her palms. Finally, she gained some control, "Kevin went to bed one night and didn’t wake up the next morning."

"I’m sorry," Jason said. "I didn’t mean to…"

She shook her head and looked at him, "It’s okay. You have a right to know, Jase." She smiled at him, "You’re trying to protect Billy."

Tommy interjected, "But bringing up painful memories for you, wasn’t part of the bargain," Tommy said.

She chuckled, "You know what they say. You have to break a few eggs to make an omelet."

"Okay, so we know that Billy has an uphill battle to simply stay alive," Tommy said.

Ms. Stone smiled weakly, "At least here, he’s more powerful than he’s ever been in any other incarnation. He might actually be able to get the universe back a little." She looked over at both boys, "Now let me ask you some questions about our friend in Blue."

Jason and Tommy smiled back at each other and then in unison said, "Sure."

"How’s he doing?" she asked. "I mean, is he coping? Is he healing- emotionally?"

Jason shrugged, wondering if he should tell her about the nights that he would wake up to find Billy curled up beside him in his bed, clinging to him for dear life. He wasn’t sure if Billy was teleporting in the middle of the night subconsciously or if he was making the decision to seek out help. No matter what, it was some small comfort to him that Billy was at least reaching out to him. Of course, they hadn’t told their parents exactly what had happened in that final fight. Only that Billy had been captured and tortured. There was no way Jase was going to make Billy face his father with what really happened. "He has good days and bad."

"What do you mean, good days and bad, Jason? That could mean anything," she said. "Is he dealing with it?"

"We talk about it- sometimes. Most of the time he just wants to pretend it didn’t happen." Jase sighed and leaned back. Reaching a decision, he said, "Lately, I’ve been waking up and finding him clinging to me crying."

Murphy nodded, "Is that all?"

"What else is there?" Jason asked.

She cleared her throat and looked meaningfully at Tommy. Finally, she said, "I don’t mean to pry, but how’s the physical side of your relationship?"

"What’s that got to do with anything?" Tommy asked.

"A lot, actually," Ms. Stone told him.

Jason looked over at his best friend and blushed, "We haven’t gotten very far if that’s what you’re asking. We’ve got some hurdles to get over there."

"Sudden panic attacks when things get a little too intense?" she asked knowingly.

"Sometimes, something like that." Jase told her. "He shuts down." He blushed and added, "I mean all the way down."

"That’s to be expected, Jason," she told him. "Let’s face it. What happened to Billy leaves some pretty serious scars."

"We know," Jason said. "We’re working through them though. Most of the time it isn’t a problem so we don’t worry about it. However, I’ve noticed something about it."

"What?" Ms. Stone asked.

"When ever he does have one of these attacks, I’ve noticed he gets more aggressive. He usually spends half a day in the dojo doing either staff katas or working out with Tommy or Adam."

"Not you?" Ms. Stone asked.

Jason smiled, "Billy and I decided right after we became a couple that it would be best if he switched over to Tommy’s class. That way our dads can’t accuse of groping each other in the dojo."

She smiled, "Besides, it cuts down on potential lover’s quarrels," she joked.

Jason nodded and replied, "Something like that."

She leaned back and seemed to consider his words, "Billy was already starting to show a little more aggression before what happened. It may be an outgrowth of that, or it may be a sign of something deeper. Keep an eye on him." She looked back and forth between them, "Both of you."

"Trust us," Tommy said, "We will."

"Good." Before she could say anything else, the lights in the conference room suddenly shifted to red.

Alpha’s voice came over the intercom, "We have an unidentified craft approaching us from deep Sheol, Ms. Stone."

"We’re on our way Alpha. Patch me through to the other Rangers."

~*~

Murphy Stone watched as Billy and Jason monitored the approach of the transdimensional craft as it closed with the Ranger’s Command Center in Sheol. "Scans indicate that the vessel originated from a omniversal grid 138 by 144 by 247 by 89 by 12," Billy said to the room in general.

"Call up what we have on those universes," Jason replied. "Let’s see what kind of reality they’re from."

Murphy marveled at how quickly Billy was able to master the equipment here at the new Command Center. She of course realized that most of it was based on the extrapolations of at least ten versions of himself in various realities, but still it was a testament to his intellect that he was able to not only understand it, but to improve upon in it just a few months. He probably was the most intelligent being she’d ever encountered. Murphy glanced at the screen Billy had called up and began cursing quietly under her breath. Why did it have to be from those particular vibratory frequencies? What was it about the omniverse that it kept throwing the hardest missions at this team? The appellation on the screen read: Worlds of Darkness- Threat Level: Extreme. USE EXTREME CAUTION.

Chapter 3

"Billy, I’m not sure you want them to come here to the base in Sheol," Ms. Stone said. "Why don’t you shunt their transport to somewhere back on Earth. That way, we can let the reality of your Earth do half our work for us."

"I don’t understand," Jason said. "What difference does it make if they come here or go there. It seems to make more sense to bring them here to keep civilians from getting hurt."

Ms. Stone smiled at him, "Because here, reality is fluid. Here, although you guys have more control than any mortal over the reality of the Sheol, it is still malleable enough that the pilot of that ship may be able to pull a few surprises out of his or her hat. Down on Earth, your reality has certain rules that that pilot will have to pay a price if he or she wants to violate them. You already understand those rules so that gives you a tactical advantage."

Jason smiled at her and looked over at Billy, "Does that make sense to you?"

Billy smiled back and said, "Yes. It has to do with the nature of each reality’s vibratory frequencies. Some rules that non Transdimensional Rangers find inviolable can still be broken if the person doing so has the will and the understanding of the local sub-quantum reality strings to know how to manipulate them. As TD Rangers we don’t have to worry about any sub-quantum backlash when we manipulate them, but this pilot would." He smiled again at Jason and said, "It would give us the tactical high ground."

Jason shrugged non-committally, "If you say so, I trust it, but I still don’t like the idea of putting them where innocents can get hurt."

"Jason?" Kyle asked.

Without turning to look at the raven-haired boy who’d arrived with Adam, Jason answered, "Yeah, Bro."

"Nobody said we had to send them an engraved invitation to the prom. Why don’ you jus’ have Billy set ‘em down somewhere in the woods." He pointed to a map of the Angel Grove area that showed local National Forest. "Why not send ‘em here somewhere around this place? It looks like it’s deserted." He leaned in closer to the map, "Harper’s Gorge?"

Kim, Billy, and Jason exchanged knowing glances at each other and smiled. They all had a certain history with that particular place, and knew it well. "Good idea, Farmboy." Looking over at Billy he said, "Do it Billy."

Behind him, Tommy put his arm around Kim and leaned over and whispered to his girlfriend, "He just wants to get Adam alone in the woods."

~*~

"Marissa?" Ship said. "We are experiencing a D-Space rift."

"What?" the pilot asked. "What kind of rift?"

"Some force, one with which I’m unfamiliar is warping our D-shifting away from our target." A hologram showed up in the tank to her right. "We’re being directed toward this location." The hologram clicked in for a tight view to show a remote area in Central California somewhere between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. It was near a city marked as Angel Grove.

"Can we fight it?" Marissa asked.

"I don’t think so. Our Tass cells are about depleted. It’s going to take some time for the STAR units to recharge them. It took a lot of energy to penetrate this far into Deep Universe," the ship told her.

"Very well, ride it out and keep the scans up. We don’t want any surprises out there," Marissa told her.

"I know how to do my job, Marissa," the ship warned her good naturedly. "I don’t want to get killed any more than you do."

Marissa smiled at that thought. The QUEST ships really were alive, having a human brain hardwired into them. Granted the brains came from individuals who’d been trapped in non-functioning bodies- those with cerebral palsy, quadriplegics and such- but they were fully functioning brains. Alive they were, and had just as much of a fear of death as did their pilots.

Marissa waited quietly as a shudder went through the ship, indicating that it had slipped out of D-Space and had come to rest on the ground. "We appear to be at the base of a gorge of some kind," the ship told her.

Looking out the view port she could see the mid-Autumn hues coloring the California mountains around the gorge. The local flora was all new-growth, less than twenty years old or so, and the signs of a fire were still evident to anyone who knew what to look for. The strangest rainbow she’d ever seen streaked across the sky to land just outside the ship. As the light faded she saw in its place six forms dressed in what looked like some kind of hard armor complete with heavy helmets. Each form was a different color- red, blue, green, pink, yellow, and black. "It looks like we’ve got visitors," she said.

"A little bit of armor between your shoulder blades might not be out of place, Commander" the ship told her.

"I tend to agree," she replied as she stepped into her Impact Armor jumpsuit and pulled a laser from the armory. Unless struck the thick material of the Impact Armor looked like any other heavy utility suit worn by mechanics and technicians the world over. However, Marissa knew that any impact on the material would cause it to harden and become rigid, protecting her from attacks up to and including small arms fire.

"They are attempting to hail us," the ship said.

"Patch them in," she ordered.

"…the ship!" a male voice called. "Do you require assistance?"

"Are they armed?" Marissa asked.

"I’m getting some strange readings, Commander. I don’t detect any directed energy weapons, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have something I can’t detect," the ship replied.

Sighing heavily, Marissa checked her gear, closed the collar on her jumpsuit and walked to the door. "Here goes nothing," she said as she keyed the airlock.

It had been so long since Marissa had been on Earth, and was surprised at how the smells seemed to assault her. Accustomed to the recycled and sanitized air of deep stations and space ships the odors of a forest in Autumn was almost overwhelming. Striding down the gangplank leading from the starboard side of the ship she stopped and looked carefully at the six forms in front of her.

The armor they were wearing was in bright day-glow colors, each with white trim along its edges. She recognized the stance of seasoned soldiers, at ease with themselves but ready for action at the first sign of trouble. "My name is Commander Marissa Green, and I’m looking for a being known as Covenant."

The forms looked at each other, and then the man wearing the red armor stepped forward, "Why are you looking for Covenant?" His voice had just enough of cracking to it, for Marissa to realize that the person in the armor wasn’t quite an adult yet.

"You are?" Marissa asked.

"We’re the Power Rangers." the boy stepped forward and said boldly. "And like I said, why are you looking for Covenant."

"Do you know him?" Marissa looked around. "Is he near?" She needed to talk to Covenant, not a bunch of teenagers playing super hero.

The blue armored form reached out and put a hand on the one in red and said, "Allow me." He turned to Marissa, "If contacting Covenant is your goal, perhaps it might be best for us to exchange information as to our goals so as to best ascertain the most advantageous course to facilitate your requirements."

Marissa glanced over at him, the one dressed in green said, "huh?"

"He said," the boy in yellow said in a rich hillbilly accent, "that maybe we should tell her who we are, and she tells us what she wants to make it easier to find out how we can help her."

The boy in green shook his head, "What is it about Yellow Rangers and their being able to translate for him?"

The boy in blue turned to her and she could almost see a smile under his helmet, "This incarnation of the Power Rangers is charged with the guardianship of the force you seek. If you can tell us the nature of your quest to find Covenant, perhaps we can reach an amicable agreement."

She looked at the boy in wonder. Where in hell did he get his vocabulary. It was like talking to a dictionary. "Are you saying you’re some kind of front-line force for Covenant?"

"Not exactly," the one in red said. "However, I can guarantee you that if you don’t talk to US, you’ll never get to Covenant."

"Okay, I need his help in stopping a war," she said. "There are a group of Void Engineers who’ve betrayed the rest of technocracy and have gone over to the Nephandi." She glared at the boy, "If that makes any sense to you, then maybe you’re something more than a kid in spandex." Marissa knew it was petty, but she didn’t like dealing with kids. They had smart mouths.

"Perhaps we should talk further," the boy in blue turned to the one in red, the obvious leader.

"I’ve said what I needed to say. If you can’t figure it out, then you’re not who I’m looking for," Marissa told him.

The boy in blue turned back at him and said, "You said that someone on your side of a war has allied themselves with demons." His voice grew harder and she got the feeling that a keen intelligence behind that mask was measuring her up. "What you haven’t explained is why we should care."

Marissa raised an eyebrow, as much as to what he’d said as to the other Rangers’ around reaction. "Because if you don’t, then my reality will fall to forces of evil that are things man was not meant to know."

All the Rangers glanced at each other and then to the boy in blue. Finally the one in pink turned to her asked in the voice of a mall rat, "Are you wanting us to stop the demons or fight your war for you?" She stepped forward, "Because I’ve got news for you, we only fight to defend Earth, not to give someone else the upper hand in some kind of conflict."

"I’m not asking you to fight anything for me. I’m asking you to take me to Covenant so I can ask his help."

"Well, you see Commander Green, we’re Covenant," the boy in yellow told her.

That couldn’t be right. All her intelligence said that Covenant was a single being, one with a reputation of being somewhat dark and shadowy, not a bunch of spandex-clad super hero wanna’-bes. "That’s not what my intelligence says. Covenant is one being, not six."

"Things change," the boy in green said. "We’re now Covenant, and the question still stands. Do you want us to fight your war for you or do you want us to save your Earth?"

"I want you to stop the Nephandi from getting control of Earth," she told them. "I’m not sure you would have that much affect on any of the conflicts going on in my world."

The Rangers looked at each other and something seemed to pass between them. "Why don’t we go the Command Center and see what we can work out?" the one in Red said.

"What about my ship?" Marissa asked.

"I’m assuming you have some kind of cloaking technology," the one in blue said. She nodded silently, and he replied, "Then employ it and we’ll be on our way."

Pulling out her communicator- designed to appear as a cell phone- she called the ship and gave the appropriate commands. Turning back to the Rangers she asked, "How do we get there?"

"Like this," the one in red told her as he reached out and gently touched her arm.

The world turned to red around her. There was a sensation of speed, and cold and then she was standing in what looked like the lab of a Son of Ether mage she’d once met. "Uh, what did we just do?"

"Teleported," the girl in pink said. "It’s faster this way."

"How?" Marissa asked. "I saw no apparatus?"

"That’s because the apparatus is inside them," a new voice called from across the room. Marissa looked over and then up, and then up some more. The woman waiting across the room was huge, standing well over six feet with a long brown braid falling to near her waist; she was built like she was familiar with combat and was good at it. She towered above the Rangers like some kind of giant.

"Who are you?" Marissa asked.

"I’m Murphy Stone. I’m the Ranger’s attaché," the woman told her as she walked forward.

"Attached to what?" Marissa asked.

Stone smiled, and Marissa noticed that it didn’t quite reach her eyes. "To the Omniverse."

Marissa looked back over at the armored forms and sighed, "Look, is it possible to talk to you outside of those helmets. It’s like trying to carry on a conversation with a fishbowl."

She noticed all the Rangers looked first at each other and then finally to the one in Red, the obvious leader. Finally he turned to the woman who simply smiled at him and said, "It’s up to you. I told you that the rules sometimes had to be stretched. You’re the leader, you have to decide if this is one of those times."

The boy in red nodded and then turned to face her. Reaching up he pulled the helmet off. The face that smiled back at her had to be the most gorgeous specimen of a male she’d ever seen in her life. He had the classic features of the Adonis with midnight black eyes and a perfect smile. There was a sense of power and confidence in the way he carried himself that Marissa had to suddenly remind herself that he was too young for her. "I’m Jason."

The boy in green was next. He too was tall, but not as burly as the one named Jason. He had long brown hair and deep brown puppy dog eyes. He also had a something of a bad-boy attitude around him. He flashed an irreverent smile and in a tone that spoke volumes of his own self confidence told her, "I’m Tommy."

Next to him, the tiny girl dressed in pink removed her helmet and shook out her short brown hair. Her hazel eyes sparkled with some inner light that Marissa had only rarely seen and then only in the purest of souls. She almost bubbled with life as she did a small half curtsey and then giggled, "I’m Kim." Marissa noted that she stepped up next to Tommy, and although they didn’t quite touch they might as well had. It was plain that there was something between them.

Two other boys each looked at each other, one in yellow and the other in black, as they too simultaneously removed their helmets. The boy in black was Asian, possibly Korean, and had a sort of shy smile on his face. The other boy- the one who’d spoken in the deep hill-billy accent- was Caucasian with raven hair and the deepest blue eyes. He had an air of sadness about him that struck to her soul. "I’m Kyle," he said.

The Korean boy in black said, "I’m Kyle."

Finally, the blue ranger pulled his helmet off to reveal a sandy-haired youth with blue-green eyes. Deep in his eyes, Marissa could see an intelligence that looked directly into her soul. She noticed that he almost imperceptibly stepped up to stand behind the leader. "I’m Billy," he said. Something in their body languages told her that this was more than just a team of six teenagers, but was also team of three couples. She hated dealing with teenagers, they were overbearing and over emotional. Giving them any kind of power was usually dangerous.

"These guys are the Transdimensional Power Rangers. They’ve been charged with protecting various realities from the forces of Hell and Heaven," the Stone woman said. "They are the new Covenant."

"I thought Covenant was a single being," she told the woman, "And I don’t believe in Heaven."

The woman smiled at her, "How can you believe in hell, and not in heaven?" She looked around, and indicated the Center around them, "Because they are the same place and you’re there now."

"You’re talking nonsense woman," Marissa said.

"Be that as it may," Billy said, "Arguments over the existence of after-life residences are not what we’re here to discuss." He turned and looked at her, "You said you needed our help. Tell us about these Void Engineers and why does their making pacts with demons put your entire world at risk?"

Marissa protested, "Are you nuts? Any contact with those beings can give them an inroad to reality." She shook her head, "I don’t think you have any idea what kind of damage that kind of being can do!"

His voice grew dark, "I know exactly what they are capable of- first hand," he told her.

She saw Jason reach out and put a hand on Billy’s shoulder. The dark eyed boy looked over at her, "Look Commander Green, you came to us for help. Now, why don’t you give us what you know, and we’ll determine if it’s something we can help you with."

She shook her head, "If you can’t," and she was beginning to believe that they couldn’t, "then my world is doomed." Leaning back against the table, she began, "There is a war going on in my world. It’s a war between the technocracy and the tradition mages, at stake is the survival of the world. If the traditions win, the magic will become wild and uncontrollable, and the earth will be laid wide open for the Nephandi or worse. If we win, then we’ll seal our reality off from these forces by willing them out of existence."

She watched as these Power Rangers exchanged glances. Billy looked at his friends and then back to her. There was no challenge in his voice, only a simple statement of fact, "You don’t have that kind of will power."

She shook her head, "Not alone, no. But if enough people believe something, then it becomes the law of reality. That’s what our war is about, to make the law of the reality that demons and any other form of magic other than our own don’t exist so strong that the Nephandi can’t come to Earth."

The Murphy woman chuckled, "It won’t work."

"We’ve seen it work already," Marissa told her. "We’ve already manipulated the populace to the point that the tradition mages get slapped in the face by paradox every time they so much as try to light a candle by magic."

"I didn’t say it wouldn’t stop other mages. They’re only mortal with a mortal’s will. It won’t stop the Nephandi, their will is limitless," Murphy said. "If they don’t like what you’re doing they’ll simply change it."

"Excuse me?" Kyle asked. "But what are these Nephandi?"

Murphy turned to the boy, "Have you ever read Lovecraft?"

Kyle swallowed, "You’re not talking about C’thuloids are you?"

Murphy nodded, "Exactly."

Kyle looked over at Billy, "Do you know what they are?"

Billy just nodded, "I’ve read the stories." He shrugged, and leaned against the wall, his face still dark. "If we help her, it’ll be like facing Michael all over again."

Murphy watched as every eye turned to the blond youth, a look of hurt in their eyes. "Billy Bro, we don’t HAVE to do this," Tommy said.

Billy just looked back over at her. "You say that some of your people have made a deal with them?"

Marissa nodded, "I’m not sure what it is, but I do know that they’ve already destroyed the base at Yenosia and are heading toward Earth."

He glanced over at Jason. The two boys stared at each other. Finally, Jason gave the blond a look that said, "this isn’t over yet," and turned back to her. "Tell us about your world, Commander. If we decide to help," he turned back to Billy and said, "and that’s a big if," he turned back to her, "we need to know what kind of forces we’ll be dealing with. You mentioned mages. What other kinds of things might we come into conflict with?"

She smiled, "I’m sure the technocracy is not going to be happy about you guys." She looked at him and said, "You won’t be able to wear that spandex stuff, and reality will slap you in the face if you try to teleport in front of sleepers."

"Sleepers?" Kim asked.

"Normal humans, people who don’t know about magic, vampires, werewolves and things that go bump in the night," Marissa told her.

"Vampires and werewolves?" Tommy asked.

Marissa nodded, "Yeah, vampires, werewolves and such. We’re infested with the damned things."

"Then how can you use your magic there?" Kimberly asked.

Marissa shrugged, "I have to be careful not to use it around people who don’t know about it. If I do, it either fails or something nasty happens to me."

"Sort of a law of accepted belief?" Kyle asked. Marissa nodded.

"It won’t be a problem for us," Adam said.

"You go right on believing that boy," Marissa said. "I’ve seen what happens to people when reality hits them really hard."

Adam shook his head, and then looked at the others. "Don’t you understand. That was what Covenant was trying to tell us, what Billy said earlier. We’re not bound by the same rules as the rest of the omniverse. The Power let’s us transcend those limitation."

"He’s right," Ms. Stone said. "That is the power of Covenant, the Great Power. The Aphriem are bound by others beliefs, so are the mages of her world, but you aren’t."

"So we can take our zords?" Tommy asked.

"You could," Ms. Stone told her. "But I wouldn’t. You’d just cause mass panic. I wouldn’t go above Battlemode Two if I were you."

"That’s a big limitation, Ms. Stone," Jason protested.

"Not really," she said. "You didn’t even use the zords when you fought Michael." She chuckled, "There’s very little on her world big enough for you to fight in Battlemode Three. You managed to defeat one of the most powerful forces in the omni-verse without ever leaving Battlemode One. I don’t think thirty story robots would be much use to you in the World of Darkness."

"Look, I don’t know what Zords are, or what these battlemodes are, but I do know that if you go in there with a lot of high tech gadgetry that can’t be explained away, you’ll regret it."

"That’s okay, Commander," Billy told her. "Tell us more about these other forces we’ll have to deal with."

Marissa shrugged, "Well, there’re the werewolves. They’re a nasty bunch that wants to take the Earth back to the dark ages when they would cull humans out of the herd and keep our populations down low. It’s a good thing that they’re so busy fighting among themselves that they can’t seem to create a unified force worth dealing with."

"Werewolves?" Kyle asked with a smile.

"And vampires," she told him. "The leeches are the worst. They’ve infiltrated human society to the point that they control a great deal of wealth and resources. We of course try to weed them out when we can, but they ARE a force to be reckoned with."

"Commander Green, It is not our intention of engaging in warfare with the enemies of our technocracy. If we decide to help you, it will be to deal with the Nephandi, not the lycanthropes or undead," Billy told her.

She smiled, "Things are so intertwined and connected, that no matter what you do there, you will attract someone’s attention. I’m just letting you know what the world is like."

"What IS your world like, Commander Green," Kimberly asked. She looked over at the boys who surrounded her and then back to Marissa. "I’m not going to blindly let my friends walk into some kind of supernatural gang warfare without at first understanding the lay of the land." She turned back to Ms. Stone, "What can you tell us about this World of Darkness?"

Ms. Stone smiled at the brunette and chuckled, "What did I tell you about her being the heart and soul of your team?" Shaking her head, she turned back and said, "Follow me to the holo-tank and we’ll talk about it."

Chapter 4

AN/ Okay folks, here’s the next issue of Second Chances Saga: The Sequel. Just for those very special people who ask very nicely there is an NC 17 version of this issue. In it we hear Kimberly say, "Hmm, Tarzan, what a big vine you have,"

Kimberly sat back and thought carefully about what Ms. Stone had told her about this World of Darkness. It wasn’t really a dark world, they had daylight after all, but it was world of darkness of the soul, a world with vampires, werewolves, mages, and other monsters of the night fighting for control. It made her wonder just where normal humans fit into that equation. Pulling her knees up against her chest, she looked out over the vast expanse of Sheol that the Rangers had come to call The Grey.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Jason asked sitting down next to her.

She smiled up at one of her oldest friends, man she considered the big brother she’d never had, and smiled. "I was just thinking about what Ms. Stone told us about the world Marissa comes from. It sounds so depressing."

Jason put an arm around her shoulders and sighed. He too had been thinking a great deal about whether he wanted to expose Billy to this kind of mission so soon after what happened with Michael. He knew he couldn’t protect his lover forever, but somehow this depressing world sounded like it would just exacerbate the problems Billy had been having lately. "I know. I’m not sure I want to take Billy there."

She turned and gave him a questioning look, her soft eyes seeking answers from beneath a knitted brow. "Why?"

Jason shook his head, "I’m afraid it might depress him more. Send him further into himself, away from us," he smiled at her guiltily, "away from me." Billy had been through enough as far as he was concerned. After what Ms. Stone had told him and Tommy of the multiverse trying to kill him in as many incarnations as it could, he found himself wanting to hide the Blue Ranger somewhere away from any harm that might befall him.

"You can’t protect him forever, Jase," she told him. None of us can." She took his large hand in hers and squeezed, "And I don’t think he wants to be protected. I think he wants to stretch his wings." She looked up at him closely, "I think he needs to prove that he’s still a Ranger, still a man even." She shuddered at the memories she shared with the rest of the Rangers that Michael made sure they had of how Billy had suffered at the insane aphriem’s hands. "What happened to him was terrible, and when you think about it, it goes to the heart of what most males think it means to be a man. Combine that with the fact that he," she smiled at Jase, no censure at all in her face, "and you, are gay, and that makes for some pretty thick scars to carry."

"I just don’t want to see him hurt any more," Jase told her.

Kim shook her head, "And he doesn’t want to be hurt," she told him. "He wants to know that you love him, that you still see him as a man, not some surrogate female, not a victim," she told him.

Jason blushed as he thought back to last evening, "Trust me, I know he’s a man."

Kim chuckled. "Yeah, but do you treat him like one?" she asked. She squeezed his hand again, "Or are you so afraid of someone hurting him that you treat him like he’ll break if you drop him?"

Jason thought about what the little Pink Ranger was saying. "Has he said anything to you about this?"

Kim shook her head and finger at him simultaneously, "Uh, uh, uh. You know we agreed whatever Billy told one of us, stayed between us. I’m not going to break that promise now." Jason smiled at her. Leave it Kimberly to find a way to tell him something he needed to know without breaking her trust with Billy. She smiled at him, "Don’t treat him like he’s going to suddenly break down in tears. Billy’s strong. In some ways, I think he’s stronger than you or me. I don’t think I could have taken having that done to me." She smiled ruefully, "Tommy doesn’t either."

Jason cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I think what Michael did to him, was in some ways just as bad on us. He made us live it knowing that we couldn’t stop him." Jason hadn’t realized how close to tears he was. How much the knowledge of what was happening to Billy had hurt him in ways that he could never really come to grips with. Jason was the quintessential big brother. He’d promised himself that he would never let anyone hurt Billy, and then had to sit by and watch in his mind as the Blue Ranger had been hurt in the most horrific and humiliating way possible.

Kimberly could see the hurt in her big friend’s eyes. She knew this was eventually going to come. Everybody had been worried about how Billy was dealing with his pain, and it was easy to overlook Jason’s. She nodded to him. "He hurt your Little Bro," she said softly. "After you promised Billy that you’d never let anyone hurt him, Michael made you watch him do just that."

Jason fought back the tears those memories brought up. Unconsciously, he reached up and rubbed the growing wetness in the corner of his eyed. Swallowing hard he said, "Something like that."

"Jason," Kimberly said. "It’s alright to hurt. You’re only human. You can’t stop every bad thing from happening in the world."

"Yeah, but I should have been able to stop that," Jase told her.

"How?" Kimberly asked. "We had no idea where he was, we were still too new to the Power, we had no idea how to get to him or that we could." She reached out and gently touched his arm. "Don’t do this to yourself, Jase."

Jason looked down at his petit friend, "I just can’t help but wonder…"

"Wonder what, Jason?" Kim asked.

"I can’t help but wonder if he blames me for not rescuing him," Jason said.

Kim shook her head, "I don’t think so." She smiled and reached up and cupped the dark eyed teen’s face in her small hand. "But you need to ask him yourself. You’ll never know for sure if you don’t."

Jason smiled as he held her small hand in his against his cheek. "Thanks, Kimbert."

She smiled and returned one of their favorite games garnered from the Sunday Morning Comic strips. "Sure Jasebert." As the larger teen got up to leave, she asked, "Where’re you going?"

Jason smiled down at her, "To talk to Billy. To let him know that I don’t think he’s made of glass." He chuckled, "Maybe even spar with him some."

"Men!" she said. "You think you can solve everything with controlled violence!"

Jase gave her a half shake of his head and a smirk, "Hey, what better way can you think of to prove that I don’t think he’s fragile than to wipe up the dojo floor with his cute butt?"

"I think you’ve got other plans for his cute butt," Kimberly teased.

Jason smiled at her, knowing that he was about to shock the little sister he’d never had. "Actually it’s the other way around. He has plans for my butt."

"Jase!" she protested. "That was something I didn’t need to know!"

"I know," he told her. "But sometimes you need to be reminded that not everything is always as it seems." He turned and saw Tommy coming their way and high-fived the Green Ranger.

"What’s up Bro?" Tommy asked.

Jase looked back at Kim’s scarlet blush and said, "I just managed to shock your girlfriend, that’s all."

Tommy looked over at the deep red, Kim’s face had become and smiled. "Oh, how?"

"She was making some wrong assumptions about me and Billy." He chuckled, "And was being pretty smug about it too, so I corrected her," Jase said as he walked off.

Tommy shook his head and sat down next to Kimberly, "What was that all about?"

Flustered, she looked back at Jason and then to Tommy and released an exasperated breath. Finally she looked over at Tommy, still not quite believing not only what Jase had just told her, but that he WOULD even tell her something like that. Shaking her head, she said, "Jason, just being shocking is all I guess."

Tommy looked over his shoulder at the disappearing form of his best friend. He raised an eyebrow and asked, "I can’t believe Jase shocking."

"You know what he just told me?" Kim asked incredulously. "Or at lease intimated to me?"

Tommy shook his head, "No."

"That when he and Billy…, that when they, uh…, uh….," She shook her head again. "That when they are together that, Billy is uh…, that he’s the uh…"

Tommy smiled inwardly at himself. He’d never seen his girlfriend this flustered, and that it was Jason who’d got her that way. "That he’s what? That Billy’s what?"

Kim shook her head. She glanced past Tommy as Jason disappeared into the ever present fog of The Gray, and smiled, "I just thought that when those two were together that Jason would be the male."

Tommy gave her a confused look, "Huh? Jason is male."

"I mean," Kim said exasperated, "that he would take the active role."

Tommy thought about what she was saying and then smiled, "Oh that. You thought Jase would be the top?"

Kim blushed deeply, "Uh, yeah." Then realizing what Tommy had said, "You knew?"

Tommy nodded. "Yeah, Jase and I talked about it." He shrugged, "We talk about a lot of stuff."

She gave him a hard look. "Just what kind of stuff?" she demanded.

Tommy remembered a conversation he’d had with Billy in his lab not long after he and Jase had shared their first kiss. The Blue Ranger had let a few things slip about how much he and Kim really talked. "What kind of stuff do you talk about with Billy?"

She blushed deeply, "Evidently, I tell him more than he tells me."

Tommy chuckled, "Jase needed someone to talk to. He didn’t feel comfortable talking to you about it, and he didn’t feel that Adam was ready to hear it, and didn’t know Kyle enough to talk to him."

"So he came to you?" Kim asked.

Tommy shrugged, "He is my best Bro, after all."

"And even though Adam wasn’t ready to talk about it, you were?" Kim asked. She gave him a teasing look, "Is there something that you want to tell me? After all there ARE four gay men on this team. Are you SURE you’re the token straight boy here?"

He gave her a hurt look, "Kim! I’m his friend. He needed someone to talk to. I listened." He shook his head, "I can’t believe you’d ask that!"

She smiled, "I was just teasing, Tommy." She pulled herself over into his lap, and kissed him seriously.

"Want me to prove it to you?" Tommy asked between kisses. She could feel the effect he kisses were having on him under her thigh.

She looked at her communicator’s time setting. "My mom won’t be home for another two hours."

"What about the mission?" Tommy asked.

"Ms. Stone gave us until tomorrow to think about it." She kissed him again, this time running her hand under his shirt. We could go back to my place and discuss what ever pops up." She giggled at thought. "I even picked up a Jungle Sounds CD, Tarzan."

This time he kissed her and then pulled back slightly. "Hmmm. Me Tarzan, you Jane." They disappeared in a stream of green and pink light.

~*~

Adam and Kyle walked into the Kerry living room. Adam was surprised how neat the place was considering it was occupied by two bachelors. Billy’s place, although never truly dirty, was always just a little scruffy looking- there were none of the small touches a woman brings to a home in the Cranston residence. The Kerry residence however was cleaner, more organized. There were even small knick-knacks around the place, the kinds of mementos that one usually saw in the home of a couple. Mr. Kerry looked up as they entered and said, "Hi boys. What’s up?"

The elder Kerry was a middle aged man with a deep ruddy complexion, red hair and deep blue eyes. He looked like a man who was used to working hard for a living. The kind of man that had had life thrown him a few hard balls, and had managed to get a hit off one or two of them. "Dad?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, Kyle?" his father seemed to sense something in his son’s tone.

"Can we talk?" Kyle looked over at Adam and then back to his father. "The three of us?"

Mr. Kerry smiled. He wasn’t a stupid man, and he’d noticed how much time his son had been spending with the Park boy. Knowing his son’ sexual orientation, he’d been expecting this conversation for a couple of weeks now. He smiled inwardly at himself. Actually he was glad that his son had found someone to take his mind off Neal. "Sure, Kyle," he looked over at Adam and grinned, "sure Adam."

The boys sat down next to each other on couch, their knees almost touching. Kyle found his palms sweating. He was worried more about his father was going to take the news about his being a Power Ranger than about him finding a boyfriend. "We, uh… uh… kinda’ need to tell you somet’in’."

Kyle’s father raised an eyebrow. He was very proud of his son right now. He’d learned a hard lesson about keeping things from his parents when Neal had died- not that Levi Kerry didn’t understand how hard it must have been for Kyle to be gay in Eastern Kentucky. Still, his son was facing life head on, the truth on his lips and damned be anyone who didn’t like it. "Go ahead, boys. You can tell me anything."

Kyle smiled, maybe this was going to be easier than he thought it would. "Well, you know Adam and me," he glanced over at his boyfriend and patted his hand, "well, you know we’ve been hanging together a lot."

Mr. Kerry smiled and while Kyle was studying his shoe laces he managed a quick wink and smile to Adam before Kyle looked back up. "Go ahead, son."

"Well, we kinda’ are seein’ each other now," Kyle said.

Mr. Kerry kept his face neutral as he stood and walked to fireplace- something they didn’t really need in Southern California, but something that Levi had always wanted in a home. Turning his back to the boys more to hide the grin on his face than anything else, he said, "I see."

For a long moment, the room was silent. Finally, he said, "And does Adam’s family know about this?"

"Yes, sir," Kyle said.

"And what do they say about it?" Levi asked.

"They support us sir," Adam said. "My parents don’t have a problem with us dating."

"And you think I would, Kyle?" Levi asked bending down to adjust the screen on the fireplace.

"Well, after everythin’ that happened back home an’ all," Kyle told him, his accent getting thicker. "I was jus’ afraid you might not be too happy wit’ it."

Levi couldn’t contain himself any further, he turned around fighting to keep his face neutral. "And you think that why?"

"Well, you losin’ your job an’ all back home because o’ me…" Kyle began.

Levi shook his head and looked over at Adam and then back at his son, feeling slightly guilty for his little subterfuge. Still, it was good to know that he was not only willing to face the music over something he thought his father might have a problem with, he was also considering his father’s concerns in the matter too. That made him more proud of his son at that moment, than if he were to find out the boy had rescued somebody from one of those damnedable monster attacks. He reached out and laid a hand on his son’s shoulder and looked him in the eye, "Son, I didn’t lose my job because of you. I lost my job because there are some small minded old codgers at AK Steel. You are who you are, an’ Ah’m not about to take that kinda’ talk outta’ nobody ‘bout my flesh an’ blood." He looked over at Adam, "Now you tell me that you an’ Adam here are an item. I’m glad you you’re honest enough about things to come an’ tell me. That makes you more’n a man those folks back home any day." He pulled his startled son to him and held him. "I’m glad for you son."

Adam could see the plain honesty and truth in Mr. Kerry’s words. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected out of the man. Adam guessed that deep down inside, there was some part that thought the man might hold a similar opinion that he’d entertained Kyle having about dating a non-Caucasian back when school had stated- an erroneous thought at that. He guessed he still had a few prejudices of his own to work out. He could also see the deep love the man held for his son, and the fierce protectiveness it took to move his family three thousand miles across the country to make sure he was safe. "There’s more, Mr. Kerry," Adam told him.

Levi looked at the boy sitting by his son and smiled, "What more is there, Adam?" he asked. "My boy has already told me the hardest thing a child can tell his folks. After what we went through back home, everythin’ else is as easy as fallin’ off a log."

Adam smiled, finally realizing where Kyle got his easy sense of humor. "Well, this is a good thing, sir. It’s just a stressful thing."

Levi backed off and sat back down in the chair. "What son?" Levi asked. "You decided to start competin’ again?"

Kyle shook his head. He knew his dad had always been impressed with his acrobatic skills, and had been slightly hurt when Kyle had stopped competing. "No, sir." He smiled and continued, "It’s a little more intense than that."

Levi sat back in his chair and listened, "Go on."

"Well, you know how I sorta’ stopped wearin’ so much black lately, an’ have started to wear this yellow?" Kyle held out the sleeve of his gold polo shirt.

"Yeah," his dad asked confused.

"Well, the reason for that is I’m the new Yellow Power Ranger."

Levi chuckled, "Son I’ve seen photos of the Yellow Ranger." He gestured to his chest, "I don’t think you’ve got the same build as she does."

Kyle shook his head, "Not THAT Yellow Ranger. I’m the one on the OTHER team. That Yellow Ranger pilots the Sabertooth Tiger ‘Zord. I pilot the Raccoon ‘Zord."

Mr. Kerry smiled, "I see." He gestured to both boys and then in a patronizing voice said, "There are two teams."

Kyle and Adam looked at each other and smiled. "Ah guess we’ll jus’ have to show him," Kyle said.

"You may be right." It was Adam’s turn to wink at Mr. Kerry before he turned back to Kyle, "I guess it’s Morphin’ time." Kyle nodded and in a flash of black and yellow light the two boys were gone and in their place were the Black and Yellow Rangers Levi had seen on television. He hadn’t really paid any attention to their being two teams, he was more worried about coming home to find his son still alive and their house still in one piece. That was the reason he’d been able to get a job here so easily, and the house so cheap. With the monster attacks property values were in the basement, and the local steel plant was constantly busy recycling demolished buildings.

"How?" Levi asked in shock, "When?" He shook his head, "Ah thought you’d shocked your pa as much as you could’ve." He grinned, "Now this. If your mamma knew, she’d have me up on neglect charges."

"Dad," Kyle said. "Mamma can’t know. Nobody can know."

"Then why tell me son?" Levi asked.

"Because you have a right to know. Because I don’ want to lie to you. Because if I don’ come back one day, I don’ want the other Rangers to have to lie to you about what happened," Kyle said. "People can die doin’ this dad." He looked over at Adam and remembered what happened to Billy, "Or worse."

Levi looked at his son and the tone of his voice was deadly serious. "Are you tellin’ me that you feel called to serve boy?" Levi knew Adam probably wouldn’t understand what he was asking. Most non-mountain folk wouldn’t, but he knew that Kyle did.

Kyle nodded, "Yes, sir. I can’t serve the way most folks do, so I’m servin’ the best way I can." Kyle saw the look of confusion on Adam’s face.

"Called to serve?" Adam asked. "You mean like in a religious sense?"

Kyle shook his head. "No." He sighed, "You’re not from the Mountains. You probably won’t understand this. Most outsiders don’."

"Try me Kyle," Adam said neutrally.

"Mountainfolk, those from the Appalachians have always been called to serve in time of war. If you break down the service records of the military, especially those who died in battle, you’ll find a high, a very high percentage of them came from the mountains of Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia. They call it the Sergeant York syndrome. We may be backwoods hillbillies, but when our country calls us, we go. We go without hesitations and without question. We call that being called to serve." He shrugged, "What we’re engaged in is a war. Ms. Stone said it herself. Can you think of any better description of what happened to than to be called to serve?"

Adam shook his head in disbelief. He’d never heard that about Appalachia. To be honest, he’d never given it much thought. Now he understood a little more in why Kyle was so eager to put his life on the line to save his friends. It was sobering. He gave the raven haired a long look before he said, "Well, don’t you go do anything stupid, just because it’s in your blood."

Kyle chuckled. "Don’t worry, I won’t."

Adam smiled, "Good, because I’ve got plans on keeping you around for quite a while Farmboy."

~*~

When it was over Kim collapsed on top of Tommy feeling drained and completed. This was how things were supposed to be; her with Tommy, body mind and soul. Their lovemaking had been long in build-up and intense in its pleasure. Now came the part that she liked almost as much as the act itself. The long languid stretch out beside him, their bodies’ in gentle contact with each other.

"Tommy?"

"Huh?"

"I was teasing you earlier."

"I know, Beautiful."

"Tommy?"

"Yes?" Tommy asked.

"Do you think it’s the same for Jase and Billy?"

Tommy chuckled beside her. "I don’t think it’s quite the same. I mean the physics are a little different."

Kim momentarily thought of teasing Tommy again, but decided against it. "I mean the feelings."

She could almost see the grin on the Green Ranger’s face. "I know the feelings are the same."

She propped herself up on her elbows and looked at him. "How do you know?"

Tommy smiled and tapped her lightly on the nose, "Because, I told you. Jase and I talk."

"About your feelings?" Kim asked incredulously.

Tommy nodded, "About his feelings for Billy," he said. Tommy smiled and laughed again, "About a week ago, I went over to Billy’s house to ask him about some readings we were getting in the Command Center." He blushed deeply. "I guess I should have called first, but I really didn’t think. I just teleported into Billy’s bedroom without thinking."

"Oh no!" Kim said. "You didn’t?"

Tommy nodded and smiled. He at least had the good graces to blush in embarrassment. "Fortunately they were finished." He looked at her, shook his head and smiled. "They were lying there in each other’s arms asleep. It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen; Jason’s arms around Billy, Billy cuddled up with his head resting on Jase’s chest, in his heart. The look on their faces was exactly the same look you get when you fall asleep in my arms."

"What did you do?" Kim asked.

"I teleported back to the Command Center, waited twenty minutes and then called Billy."

"That was sweet of you."

Tommy chuckled, "Hey, I needed the info, but I didn’t need it THAT bad." He smiled, "Besides, if I’d woken them, I think both of them would have kicked my ass." She just chuckled, "Speaking of kicking my ass, you’re mom’s due home in about ten minutes. I’d better get moving, or she’ll catch us, and kick it."

"Ohmygosh," Kim sat up and checked the clock. Tommy was right. Her mom was due back any minute. "You’d better go," she told him.

Pulling his clothes on, he kissed her quickly as the sound of a car entered the garage below them. "I’d better teleport outta’ here," he said, and in a quick flash of green was gone.

end part 4