Last time, on Mirai Sentai Time Force...

"How has time been changed?"

"I can't explain at this time, I need all of you to come with me."

"You must take up what your fate was and succeed your father as CEO of Bio-Synth, because tomorrow, your father will die."

"It's terrible that Mister Collins has been hurt so badly, but we can't just shut down Bio-Synth, the company will collapse without someone to make the top desisions."

"The problem is, who do we get to take over until he recovers."

"Wesley Collins has agreed to take his father's place. He'll be in charge until Mister Collins is well enough to return."

"I have my orders, we all do. And unfortunately for you all, those orders are that I am to be TimeRed."

Logan frowned, looking over things at the clock tower. His eyes continuously flickered to Circuit, the robotic eagle causing him something of distress for some reason. Slowly, he turned his attention to the fragile holo-screen computer, then tested it by bringing up a road map which flickered in and out. "This is the best you have?" he asked with a hollow tone, then looked around and noted the present era computer that sat in a corner. "You have resorted to using the technology of this era for your database needs, and the one unit you have from our time is in need of repairs, which have not been effected!"

"It's not like we can walk down to the city Radio Shack and get the parts," Matt rudely countered, tying to defend their situation. "Not only does no one aside from maybe the military has the technology to jury-rig repairs, how would we explain it?"

Logan turned to glare at the boy again. "You yourself hold quite a bit of pull even in this day," he replied sharply, then gestured to the V-Fire that was on Eric's wrist. "If you can build that, surely you can make repairs to our technology." Again, Logan glanced to Circuit. "And your support unit is substandard."

"Hey!" the eagle screamed in response to the insult. "Substandard? I'll have you know that I'm top of the line, with special modifications to surpass even a full temporal operations unit!"

Again, he glared, then looked to Katie. "Lieutenant, I expect you to handle things here while I return to the timeship and report back to Provider Base of our progress."

Domon growled once Logan left, then turned to Yuuri. "That man is not looking to raise morale in anyone," he spat angrily to the woman. "How the hell did he get anyone to listen to him when he was lower ranked?"

Yuuri sighed and sat down. "Domon, as far as I can remember, Logan's always been captain." And then she realized something, just as Matt was lifting his head to look over at her. "In fact," she continued, tilting her head to meet the boy's eyes. "He's been a captain ever since my father was in Time Force. But that was twenty years ago, Logan would have to be over sixty by now."

"And he doesn't look a day over thirty," Matt added, getting what Yuuri was realizing. "No human ages that good without some kind of unnatural influence..."

As the sun slowly rose from the horizon, Wes woke up after a long night of standing vigil over his father. His first reaction was to look to his father, but nothing had changed. Jeremy Collins still lay there, barely breathing on his own through the oxygen mask while the nearby heart monitor beeped softly. Wes stood up and walked to the window to see the sun outside. It was again a haunting reminder of Logan's words the day before.

"Destiny cannot be changed...this is your fate. Tomorrow, your father will die."

Day of Destiny

The sun was rising up into the sky as Jen looked out at the Guardian training grounds. Ever since the first fight with Ares, it had been a ruin. It would be weeks before the debris could be clears, possibly months before the grounds were usable again. It didn't matter much to her own ability, but for the men and women who she commanded, it was a valuable training center lost for the time being.

"Commander?"

She looked back and saw one of the Guardians walking over, Hudson according to her memory. "Little early for a workout," she cracked with a faint smile.

Hudson nodded in reply. "I came to see if you were alright," he stated, then nodded to the nearby lab building that had been decimated by Ares' attack. An entire side was blown out from the fight, the remains on the ground and had yet to be cleaned up. "You think the old man will make it?"

Jen said nothing. The place that had almost become a home to her lay before her in ruins, and the man who had been a second father to her was possibly dying. "I don't know anymore," she replied. "I honestly don't know anymore. Wes let himself get talked into taking over for his father by those sleazeballs, the guy I took out some how came back, and to top it off, someone's apparently replaced Wes as the Red Ranger."

Hudson raised his brow in reaction. "Wouldn't have thought you'd be the type to worry about people like this."

"I'm full of surprises," the mercenary said, then turned to walk away from the debris filled area. "Come on, we probably are gonn'a have a long day ahead of us."

Ares paced about in his sewer base, then turned to face Borgan. "You've done well with this new body," he remarked. Borgan gave a smile of pride. "But things have changed. Time Force is directly involved now, not just their little agents. What's the status on your project?"

"We're ready to unleash it," Borgan answered, sweeping his arm to the large cluster of shadows in the back of the lab. "I must warn you, the Hunter has been sighted returning to Silver Hills. If she gets involved with all the weapons and powers she's assimilated..."

The Maverick leader nodded. He knew very well how powerful the Quantum Hunter was now, how much of a threat she would present if she came back. And with most of those Mavericks left having been "volunteered" to become his new body, Ares had little left to hold her off with. "We have to finish this battle with Time Force," he stated firmly. "I want the Armech online now, Borgan. I have to use it or we're finished."

Despite his orders, Borgan hesitated. Both he and Ares knew what using the Armech meant, but neither said it. It was a last resort, it was all it was meant to be. But both knew that they were running out of options, this was the end of everything. He finally nodded and went back to his work. His only consolation in all this was that soon, it would be over, one way or another.

Explosions tore through Silver Hills. Even as everyone ran for safety, it mattered little to the hulking Maverick being that stormed through the city. His face was that of Ares, but so much more was added to his body. Parts of other Mavericks littered his form, parts that hadn't been there before. He laughed and fired a massive blast of plasma toward one of the large shopping centers. An enormous fireball erupted out from impact, killing everyone who was caught, and spreading debris all over the streets.

He turned to see the arrival of the Time Rangers, gave out a laugh, then began to step toward the seven. "Looks like we battle once again," the Maverick taunted, then moved his body in a way to reveal all the upgrades and changes that had happened since the last battle. "But this time, you face the amalgam of all Mavericks!"

"He's fused himself with all his buddies!" Eric exclaimed, helmet getting a scan on the Maverick's body. "How the hell are we supposed to take him out now?"

Ares laughed and fired from the cannons mounted on his body, causing all seven rangers to go flying back and to the ground. "That's just it," he hissed. "You can't beat me!" he tapped his arm and grew to massive size again, forcing the group to fall back. "This world will die!"

"Captain, we need the Time Jets!" Katie called into her Changer. On command, the five vehicles burst out from the timestream, dipping down and picking up the Time Rangers, then racing up and combining into mode Beta.

"V-Rex BattleZord!" Eric ordered to the V-Fire. "Engage systems!"

At the hospital, Wes continued to watch over his father while looking over paperwork from Bio-Synth. Already had word been given of the attack downtown, but he could do nothing about it anymore.

"Wesley?"

He looked back to see a man limp in, one he recognized. "Doctor Raimi," he greeted, setting down his briefcase to stand up. "I thought you would be down at the labs helping with the salvage work."

Raimi shook his head. "No, I thought I could do more good checking up on you and your father." He gestured to the older Collins. "He's not doing so well, is he?"

Wes gave no answer, which was more than enough. "It's only gotten worse," the young man stated, then looked back to Raimi. "I don't know what's going to happen anymore."

The scientist nodded, then gave Wes a confused look. "You know, I was surprised when I heard you took over for your father, it's not like you at all."

"It's what he would have wanted," Wes replied, looking back to his father while stepping out the room with Raimi. "Was always trying to bring me up to be his heir to the throne, probably gave him what he always wanted me to do."

Raimi knit his brow to the younger Collins. "No," he stated with a calm tone. "No, I don't think so. Your father was glad that you made your own choice, made your own life. Hell, that's how he got shot by that machine."

"What?"

The man nodded and continued. "I was there, Wes. After that robot destroyed the vaccine storage, your father tried to stop it from leaving the lab, because he wanted to protect you. He knew that he was probably going to die for it, but your father didn't care, he did it for you. He said it himself, he's proud of your breaking from his control."

Wes could say nothing, only able to look back into the room at his father. He had never thought that his father would indeed be proud with his decision, but Raimi had just told him something that all his life he had wanted to hear. "He's proud of me...all my life, I tried to do it myself, and when I thought that I couldn't do it, what I did is what made him happy."

"We all make our own destinies," Raimi added. "Nothing is set in stone, Wes, no matter what anyone says."

Energy lashed from Ares and struck hard on the gestalt TimeMega. Even with the aid of the V-Rex, they still couldn't wear down the Maverick. It was like he had the power of all the Mavericks fused with his own, and he was only getting stronger.

"Captain!" Katie called into the coms. "We can't hold out against this, Ares is draining power straight from our own grid!"

"You will not fall back, do you understand me?!" Logan's voice replied. "Ares must be destroyed, regardless of the cost!"

The Rangers couldn't believe what they had heard. "What about us?!" Syon exclaimed. "If we don't pull out, we could be-"

"I'll have no arguments!" the coms snapped. "You have your orders, now follow them!"

There was little else the team could do as the TimeMega shut down, drained of all power. Katie fought with her controls, but the gestalt did nothing, merely stand in complete silence. "Damnit!" she spat angrily, then got out of her seat. "He's reducing in size, why?! He has us!"

That's when Yuuri realized it. "Matt," she whispered in horror. "Ares is going after him before finishing with us! We have to get down there!"

She jumped out of her seat and leapt through a rear hatch in the gestalt to go flying down to the ground. With a rough landing, Yuuri drew out her Double Vector, deflected a shot from Ares, and raced toward the Maverick. She was cut off when black robots suddenly burst out of thin air, surrounding her and aiming what looked like pulse rifles. "Where did you get these things?!"

"I wish I knew," Ares replied, but he was not about to give up an advantage. "I'll handle you and your Rangers after I deal with Corbett, little girl!" He laughed and turned to continued toward Matt, who was even then taking stance to fight. "I always wanted to face you, Matthew Corbett. The mighty Ranger of Light!"

Matt readied his Cybernizer. "You seem to forget that I've taken out worse than you, Maverick!" He shifted posture, then ran forward with his weapon held back. A blast flared from the Replicant, but Matt merely leapt up and converted the Cybernizer to gun mode to return fire. Bright silver beams burst forth from the barrel of the weapon, forcing Ares to step back a bit.

"Better than I had hoped," the Maverick whispered. "This will indeed be worth the wait!"

Even with the battle raging, other parts of the city continued to operate as normal. The black stretch limo carrying Wes to another meeting drove through the streets, oblivious of the assault elsewhere. It turned a corner onto the road where Tomorrow Research lay, causing Wes to look up from his depression and see his old home.

He'd been through too much in the past day, with all the paperwork, business meetings, and being forced to be someone he was not. He need to get away from it, even if for just a bit. Jennings was bound to flip, but he wasn't the one who was forced to do this job. "Driver, pull over."

"What?" the executive hissed, but was silenced by an authoritive glare from Wes.

"I'm going for a walk," he stated firmly. "I need some fresh air, you'll get a call from me when I'm ready."

The driver pulled over to the curb when he had a chance to, allowing Wes to open the back down and step out onto the street. With a tug on his tie to loosen it, he ran across the street, hoping that his friends would be in the tower.

Blast after blast flew between Ares and the Silver Ranger. Matt snarled as he dropped down to avoid a near hit, then returned with a bright beam that missed Ares and slammed into a statue to shatter it into pieces. "Damnit!" he hissed just before diving behind a low rise wall. "I'm doing just about as much damage to the area as he is!"

"Wish to keep it up, Silver Ranger?!" Ares bellowed, then fired another burst that exploded the wall Matt was taking cover behind. He raced forward, then yelled when a shot from the Cybernizer caught him in the arm, burning a good size piece of his shoulder. "Son of a..."

"Ares!" Yuuri called, then fired with her V-Cannon to hit the Maverick directly in the chest. She held the weapon level on him, then heard her com beep and tapped the switch on her changer. "This is Asami."

"Yuuri, we have a major problem!" Circuit's voice stated, and he sounded panicked. "It's Captain Logan! He's not what we think, he-"

He was cut off suddenly. Yuuri tried to re-establish contact, but nothing could get through, the line was completely gone. "Circuit?" she cried into the Changer. "Circuit, come in!" She yelled in anger, then brought her V-Cannon up and fired rapidly at Ares. "You mechanical son of a bitch!" she screamed even as the Maverick returned fire. "You're gonn'a pay for all the horrors your Replicants have caused!"

Even as he was forced to fall back, Ares grinned, charged his main weapons, and, when all the Time Rangers were gathered to attack, fired, sending them to the ground in a violent explosion which overloaded their armors. Even Eric was forced out of morph by the blast, leaving only Matt on his feet and able to fight the Maverick. Ares turned to the boy and smile. "Just you and me now, boy!"

"Hello?!" Wes called, stepping into the clock tower loft. He looked around for any sign of his friends, but there was no one there. "Anyone here?!" he continued, but there was no answer. Save for him, the clock tower was completely empty.

He stepped over to the desk where the holo-screen computer sat, noticing Syon's hat laying there, then a small stack of photos that was sitting by the computer. Wes paused, then picked up the photos, looking through them. All were of him and the other Rangers, reminding him of how full of life he had been before everything which forced him into this life he know had to live.

And then, he came to a picture of him standing with Matt and Eric, the youngest of which was giving the camera a "v" with his fingers, and the older two showing off their Changers. It made him realize that if not for this group of people, Matt included, he never would have become such a great friend of Eric's again. He owed these people almost everything.

"Wes?" came a strained mechanical voice. The young man looked up to see Circuit barely manage to fly in the window before falling to the ground. "You're here..."

"Circuit?!" Wes ran over and picked the robot eagle up to see that sections of his chest had blow out and his hover repulsors were severely damaged. Something had thrashed Circuit around, but what? "What happened?!"

The robots blinked his optics. "Ares is...fighting the others. I was trying to get to them to warn...Wes, we've been lied to...I was a kilometer from the fight when my systems blew out. It's not the Mavericks or Ransik, it's...the ones behind everything...they...they're..."

He never got to finish before he shut down. Wes stared in shock at the off-line eagle. He couldn't believe it. Circuit was gone. The little robotic eagle which had pulled them out of so many tight spots with his tactical ability and summoning the Time Jets was gone. But above all else, he had learned who was truly behind everything, and hadn't been able to tell the others.

"I'm so sorry," the young man whispered, then set down the robot. He moved to hurry, but the voices reminding him of his determined future echoed in his mind, a haunting reminder that he could not get involved anymore. "Why do they want me to take this on?!" he yelled. "Why can't I choose, why does the future have to be set in stone?!"

"We all make our own destinies, nothing is set in stone, Wes, no matter what anyone says."

That one voice reminded him clearly of the one concrete truth in the entire matter; the future could not be written and unchanged. The one person who had told him that he had to continue to defy fate. And the one voice that reminded him that defying his fate was what made his father proud.

"He said it himself, he's proud of your breaking from his control."

"Are you going to let them win?"

Wes turned around at the voice. There was someone else there now; a young woman with long red hair and green eyes staring down at him. Dressed in a red leather jacket, black top and pants with black boots, she took a step toward him. "Who are you?" he asked.

She smiled. "Someone who knows what you are going through," the girl replied. "Wondering if any choice you make means anything. Wondering if your destiny is already mapped out and there's nothing you can do about it. Is that what they told you?"

He found something odd about her, something that just simply didn't have words to describe it. "They?" he asked. "Who's they?"

"The people from the future," she answered. "A future that tells you can't do a thing to change destiny is no future, it's an illusion." She shrugged and picked up the picture that had him, Matt and Eric, then looked back at Wes. "I don't believe that destiny is stone solid. If I did, I wouldn't be here. Hell, I wouldn't even be alive if I didn't believe something my father told me." She knelt down and looked Wes in the eyes.

"We all make our own destinies," she continued. "No one else can tell us what those destinies are. We take whatever events come at us, we make the most of them and make our choices. Even if we have a fate, it's not what the fate is that matters, it's the way we get there. So what are you going to do Wes? Are you going to fall into the role that others have casted for you, or you going to carve your own path just like you always do...TimeRanger?"

Wes just stared at this woman. He had never seen her before, but as he looked at her, he knew what she said made sense. She was right, the path to destiny was what was up to him. Perhaps he was to one day take his father's place, but he could make his own path to that destiny. There was still something though. "How do you know that I was TimeRed?"

The red head smiled as she raised up her right hand, wearing, to Wes's surprise, a device that looked exactly like the V-Fire. "I know because you happen to have someone looking out for you and the rest of your friends, who right now desperately need your help," she replied. "He thought you could use some help. And as for who I am..." She paused, then gave a gleam in her eyes. "Cassidy Lawrence, the Quantum Hunter...at your service."

Ares grinned as he circled around Matt. This was his shining moment indeed now, the moment that the future would be his to rule. "I kill you," he whispered, "and the future I suffered will never be!"

"Why me?" Matt asked. He had a good idea who he was had to do with it, but he needed to know more. "Why am I so important?!"

"The Empire." Ares flashed his smile after giving the answer. "They fear you, Corbett, they're terrified of you, all because of who you are, and the bloodline you come from. I kill you, this world will be my domain!"

With a powerful blast, Ares sent Matt flying into a nearby building, then fired again to bring the walls crashing down on the Silver Ranger. "Rest in peace," the Maverick muttered, then turned his attention back to the Time Rangers. "Time for you pathetic humans!" He brought his cannons to bare, laughed while flecks of energy pulled in to the barrels in charge up. The blast flew forwards, but missed when the group managed to dive out of the way. He roared and tried to charge again, but his main cannons were out of power. "Frak!"

"We need to take him out now!" Katie exclaimed, but Yuuri grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her head. "But Logan's orders-"

"Screw Logan's orders!" Yuuri spat, then gestured to the devastation around them. "Look around, Katie! This is what Logan's way is bringing us too! He doesn't care about the future we're fighting for, this is proof of it!"

Bradly had no answer. She respected Logan too much to outright agree, but Yuuri was right; Logan's orders had gotten them nowhere, save to cause more destruction in the past. "I...Lieutenant, I have to follow his orders."

"We don't," Domon replied, pulling himself up from the ground before helping Lucas and Syon. "I should have seen it in the first place. Katie, you may still be an officer, but we're not, we were officially relieved of duty when Ransik escaped."

"And that means," Lucas continued with a smile, "that we're not required to listen, we're on the record as freelance agents."

There was no arguing those facts. Katie knew that in the end, Logan's way was not the right way. "So, what do we do? I don't have the experience you all do."

"You know enough that this team is strongest with Wes as TimeRed," Yuuri said, finally smiling. "And to hell with Logan's orders."

"Oh, how touching!" Ares yelled, finally getting power to his weapons. "It seems that there's finally an understanding in the ranks! Too bad for you that it won't matter who cares about the future, because it's mine!"

He laughed and took a step forward, but was slammed down to the ground when someone crashed into him and rolled away. Ares snarled in anger to see that it was none other than Wes, a look of defiance in his eyes. "Shouldn't you be running some meaningless board meeting to preserve the future?"

"Fuck you and your future!" Wes hissed. He shifted his eyes to look beyond Ares and smiled. "Because to be honest, I could careless what the future is said to be. Besides, there's an old friend of yours who decided to come along with me."

Ares rose back to his feet, then turned to see the midnight blue armor standing behind him. His optics went wide the moment he saw that form, fiery red hair streaming down from the back of her helmet. "You?!" he exclaimed in shock. "No, no!"

"The future is ours to make," the young woman stated with an air of confidence in her voice. "We make our destinies, and we make the future that will come, not you or anyone else who tries to say that the future will dictate the past!"

She pulled a beamsaber from her back and raced toward Ares, energy blade crashing against the Maverick's own as the battle which was begun by Blade continued on with the Quantum Hunter. The two were like blurs, tearing across the landscape and trying to rip the other apart.

Wes took the chance to run over to the Rangers, all seven turning to the rubble of the collapsed building to see the form of the Silver Ranger at last pull himself out of the debris just before demorphing. "Matt?"

"I'll be fine," the boy winced as he did a double take to make sure that it was indeed Wes who stood with the Rangers, then chuckled. "I see there's a bit of a mutiny, Lieutenant Bradly. I'd say your options are join, or be mutinied on."

Katie looked around at the group, then slowly nodded. "I'm going to be reprimanded one way or another," she said before tapping the strap control and taking off her Changer. "May as well go out making sure the future is in good hands. It's all yours, Wes."

The moment Katie handed back the Changer, Wes smiled and accepted the device. He slapped it back on his own wrist, causing the computers to scan his DNA and relock the strap around his wrist. "Back in action," he exclaimed, fiving Eric and holding the man's hand with enthusiasm. "Let's tear this tin can a new opening!"

"It's all yours, Wes-kun!"

He nodded with those words from Yuuri. All seven took position while Katie stepped back, and, in perfect synch, brought their arms back to cross over their chest, then swung out to position arms like the hands of a clock. "Time Ranger!"

Sweeping forward, they repositioned stance, Matt gripping tightly to the globe of energy building up in his palm while Eric took his usual transformation posture. "Chrono...Morph!"

"Let's Rocket!"

"TimeFire!"

For the first time, the flow of time did not freeze around them. Energy exploded out for all seven Rangers, armor building up around their bodies in a violent fashion. Just as the transformation was complete, the influx of power left from the combined metamorph exploded behind the group, causing the fight between Ares and the Hunter to stop, both turning to see the once again united team of Rangers standing ready.

"The future is ours to decide, Ares!" Wes yelled, summoning out his Double Vector and splitting it into twin blades. "Not yours, not history, but ours!"

The Maverick growled. "It matters not who is a Ranger, humans! I know who truly controls Fate, but even if I fall here, I will know that you are all doomed to fail!"

"That's for us to choose!" the Quantum Hunter snapped, kicking Ares hard to cause him into a back stumble. "Too bad you won't be around to see us prove you wrong!"

The Maverick growled, then stepped back further. "Just try me, Hunter!"

Cassidy said nothing. She merely raised her saber, then shot forward and cut through Ares. Something was different about the attack. Instead of the blade flaring green, it pulsed with a bright white flash that caused Ares' optics to flash rapidly. He went into seizures, yelling for a moment, then collapsing dead. The stench of ozone filled the air, like the very circuits in the robot had overloaded and blown out.

The Hunter breathed heavily, then slowly relaxed and shut down her weapon before turning around to face the Rangers. "He's gone," the young woman whispered. "After everything he did, he's finally gone."

She took a step away from the hulking mass of metal, then yelled when a hand grabbed her armored leg and pulled her to the ground. "What?!" she cried before she turned over and saw Ares' body rise back to its feet and induce growth to turn into a giant while stepping back. Cassidy couldn't believe what she was seeing. She had struck Ares with an EMP slash that should have fried every prossessor and circuit in his body, there was no way he could still be operating. "No, he can't be!"

"Looks like we have our own job to do," Wes announced. "Cassidy, we'll take it from here, get to safety!" He then nodded to his fellow Rangers and shot up high to board the TimeMega. They got back into their seats to find that power had been restored, allowing Wes to disengage the gestalt back into the Time Jets. "Alright people, let's take this piece of trash down!"

The soft beep of the heart monitor continued at the hospital. Jeremy Collins still lay in a coma, condition unchanged since Wes left that morning. It seems that there would be no change in his condition at all. But then, it changed, for the worse.

The monitor slowly gave off longer intervals between beeps, reporting that Collins' heart was starting to fail rapidly. He finally came out of the coma, fighting to breath, but he couldn't; his lungs refused to work. The man choked for air, then stopped just as a nurse came by to check on him and heard the monitor give off one long continuous beep; Jeremy Collins had flat lined.

"Doctor!" she screamed, running to get help. "Doctor, we have flat line in room 106!"

Ignoring the screams of the nurse, a long figure walked through the halls of the hospital. Clad in a long white overcoat, the man's left arm gave off a soft whir sound, while in his right was a small device that was blinking rapidly. He stopped at the room where Collins lay, walked in, then paused to look at the heart monitor. "I won't let you go through what I did," he whispered softly before placing the device in his right hand on Jeremy's chest.

Within moments, a bright field of light burst out to engulf Collins, flowing into his body and through his veins. The burns and wounds on his skin suddenly vanished, leaving him as if Ares' attack had never happened. The device itself broke down and vanished while the beeping of the monitor once again began gapping to indicate heart activity.

He came to, vision blurry, but when he looked upon the face of his savior, it cleared to reveal what looked like Wes' own face looking on him with a smile. "W-Wes?" he muttered.

The figure turned and left, then vanished down another hallway just before a swarm of doctors raced to the room. To their surprise, Jeremy Collins was alive and well, looking about and smiling. One of them slowly pulled his stethoscope forward and pressed it to the man's chest, checking his heart beat. "Are you alright?"

"Never been better," Collins replied. "I...I feel better than I ever have."

It was obvious now that Ares was not the force behind his body; something else was. Blast after unrestrained blast flew out at the speeding Time Jets, but it wasn't like Ares at all in the way the body was attacking.

"Yuuri," Wes called into his Jet's coms. "How do we beat this guy?"

"Captain Logan said that Ares has a cooling shaft on his back which leads right to his main core," she replied, maneuvering sharply to avoid a blast. "We have to hit it dead on, or he'll take out the entire city in the resulting explosion."

Wes knit his brow, then smiled behind his helmet. "I think I know how to beat this thing then! Eric, bring the Rex about, I've got a crazy idea!" He then tapped on his console, then pulled back on his controls. "Initiate TimeMega sequence mode Alpha!"

Rising into the sky, the five Time Jets locked together into mode Alpha, saber bursting out from the chest gem and coming to rest in the gestalt's hand. The five gripped their controls and brought the TimeMega sailing back down while Eric, inside the V-Rex's cockpit, brought the Zord into position. Wes' plan soon became more clear when he had the TimeMega land on the Rex's back, riding the Zord toward Ares and avoiding the blasts that came from the mindless Maverick body.

"Wes!" Eric yelled to the com lines. "I sure hope you know what the hell you're doing!"

"Trust me!" TimeRed replied sharply. "Crazy always worked for us so far, let's keep that record going!"

Despite all the firepower begin flung at the two battle machines, they continued to avoid every shot, getting closer and closer with each massive bound. Finally, Wes twisted his controls and caused the TimeMega to leap up over Ares and flip around, then pushed hard to stab the saber right into the cooling shaft and impale the Maverick's core.

"Back it off!" he ordered, the five moving the TimeMega away from Ares just moments before he exploded violently into scrap. They held their breath, then let out a cheer when the explosions ended, dropping debris onto the streets below. "Alright!"

"Score another one for the home era!" Domon cried out. "That'll show you who makes history!"

They disengaged the gestalt and watched from the ground as the Time Jets shot back into the time stream. Just then, Wes remembered his father and ran off to get back to the hospital, demorphing only as an afterthought. He was about to turn a corner when a black Guardian SUV pulled up, Jen behind the wheel.

"Get in," she ordered, opening the door for him. "I'll give you a ride, let's go!"

Minutes later, he ran down the halls of the hospital, quickly reaching the room his father was in, but when he arrived, there was no one in the bed. No sign that there had been anyone in the bed, it was neatly made without a wrinkle. Wes took a step toward the bed, then collapsed to his knees, sobbing in remorse that he hadn't been there.

"Wesley?"

He snapped his head up, then turned to see his father sitting behind him in a wheelchair. "Oh my god," he whispered, unable to breath for several long seconds. When he finally was able to speak again, tears began to stream down his cheeks once more, this time in joy. "You're alive!"

Jeremy Collins nodded. "Yes, thanks to you," he replied.

"Me?"

Again, he nodded. "Yes. I remember laying here...I couldn't breath, no matter how hard I tried. I was dying, but then, everything felt like a warm day. I was able to breath again, and I saw you. I knew it was you, that I was going to be alright."

It made no sense at all to Wes. It was impossible for him to have been there, he had been with the Rangers when all of this had to have happened. "But, it couldn't have been, I...I was with..." He stopped. He shouldn't question how, he just knew that some how, Logan's statement of history had been nullified. Destiny was their own to make as they saw fit.

"I heard that you took my place in the company while I was away," Jeremy continued.

"Yeah, I did, but..."

The older Collins held up his hand to stop Wes from continuing. "Now, listen. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. But Wes, I don't want you to be a businessman for my sake, and for once, listen to your father." He gently patted his son on the shoulder. "You belong with the Rangers, like you chose."

Wes smiled, at last hearing with his own ears his father's blessing in his choice, and reached forward to hug his father. "You don't know how long I've wanted to hear that."

The waves crashed on shore as the Rangers, sans Wes, gathered before Logan. He had a neutral expression on his face, and they all knew he had his anger at what they had done. "You went back on my orders in battle, you defied the command to follow Lieutenant Bradly in the battle, and then, to top it off, you committed what can be considered small scale mutiny."

No one said anything. He paced before the group, then at last looked to them again. "But in the end, you did was best and saved this city by doing so. For that, your actions will not go punished."

"Arigatou, sem'pi," Yuuri replied, giving a small bow to the captain. "We'll continue to do our best here." She looked to the others and nodded, the six coming to attention and saluting.

Logan returned the salute, then, nodding to Katie, began to head to the timeship. He stopped when they heard Wes' voice calling, about facing to see the young man running over. "Mister Collins, I didn't expect to see you here."

"My father," Wes said, catching his breath. "He's alive and well, history changed for him. Did you have something to do with that?"

That's when Logan's eyes were filled with a dangerous flash. "Your father survived?" he asked slowly. The resulting nod confirmed that indeed, time as his history told was changed. "I'm afraid to say that no, I had no involvement in that. My job is to preserve history, not alter it, even if it is for the better. I can only surmise that some outside force aided him in recovery." He paused. "However, as perhaps this may not change things too much, I congratulate you on your triumph over a painful loss. If you will excuse me, the lieutenant and I must return to the future."

He snapped about and continued into the timeship with Katie close in tow. Wes took a step back once the massive craft powered its engines and rose of the ground, the young man joining his friends in watching the timeship rise into the sky and shot off to vanish into the timestream.

So someone else saved my father, he thought. He decided not to dwell on it, but he would find out who it was that had broken fate for him. Or rather, not broken fate, but made it so that he would follow his destiny as he chose to.

To Be Continued...