This story is a collaboration between Cmar and MzDany. While it is action/adventure, it also contains slash, in the form of Wes/Eric and Cam/Hunter. It's based on background events in MzDany's C/H slash series and Cmar's 'Red Fire' slash series. See our profile for more of an explanation.
Rated T: some sexual content, some violence.
Silver Hills, 2004...
"I live."
That was what he said, although it wasn't true. There was no life in that dusty, forgotten basement under an abandoned warehouse in Silver Hills. There was movement, and activity, and there was even purpose. But no life, not as it is usually understood.
A tall golden robot opened its eyes, a deep glow shining in their depths. "I live," he repeated. "I am Frax, and I live."
It was a purer existence than before, purged of any trace of the humanity he had once been a part of. Dr. Louis Fericks had lost his body once before, destroyed in a fire set by Ransik. As he had rebuilt himself in gleaming metal then, so he had been rebuilt again, after his robot body was destroyed in Ransik's service.
This time, there had been less to work with, nothing left of the human brain and nerves that had once been a man. Frax's faithful cyclobots had not been stopped by that; they had found his broken remains and taken recordings of their master's mental patterns, the ones Ransik had reprogrammed to enslave him, and retreated with them to this hidden laboratory as the final battle for Silver Hills raged. While the city was almost destroyed, while Ransik surrendered, and long after the Time Force Rangers returned to their home, these few cyclobots worked on. While two more generations of Rangers gained and ultimately lost their powers, while they found adventure, danger, and sometimes love, the robots toiled quietly and tirelessly in their hiding place, building a new robot body, constructing a new brain which was, this time, entirely mechanical.
It had taken time, isolated as they were, without the proper tools and materials, but they were patient. Robots cannot help but be patient. Yet another team of Rangers was facing another menace to the peace and safety of the planet when finally the last pieces had been fit into place, the last bit of programming had been loaded and tested... and started.
"I live..." But why? The recreated Frax had only fragmented memories of his previous existence. The pain, the loss, the betrayal. He could remember hatred, and the joy of anticipated revenge, but not that Ransik had been the intended target. He could remember the last thing he had tried to accomplish, the complete destruction of the Power Rangers and of Silver Hills. What he did not remember was that Ransik had given him the order to do it.
"I must destroy!"
Reefside, a few months later...
Frax stood, staring across an expanse of water to the island he could see in the distance. Had he been human, he might have been afraid, or at least awestruck at its craggy slopes half hidden in mist, and because of his knowledge of who waited there. But he was not human, and all he felt was cold calculation.
"I will destroy," he remarked to the small group of cyclobots surrounding him. "But I can destroy sooner, faster, and better with an ally." It did not occur to him to wonder at the logic of his own statement. He did not consider the possibility that the urge he felt for a partner - in truth a leader - preferably one who was tall, had long black hair, who dressed in black and wore a mask - was a product of Ransik's modifications to his final programming. That secret was hidden in what was the robotic equivalent of a subconscious.
His attention returned to the island. "The enemy of my enemy may be my friend. Mesogog is primitive, literally a dinosaur. He is biological, and therefore flawed. But he is strong, and he wishes to destroy."
Something was happening across the expanse of water. There was the movement of some sort of large vehicle and the flare of an explosion. With a hiss, Frax triggered the teleportation device his cyclobots had built, and disappeared.
It was over by the time he found the laboratory, once impressive but now a burning shambles of wreckage. He had seen two humans run from here, escaping. It would have been good to destroy them, but there was no time, not if he wished to find Mesogog. A fast search had discovered no sign of him; the room seemed empty. The master of dinosaurs had been defeated and perhaps destroyed.
Over, yes. His ally was gone before they could join forces. Frax felt something that was his own version of cold anger. Defeated again, by Rangers no doubt, just like before. Quickly he looked about for something to salvage from this situation, some tool, some instrument, something to make his time and effort worthwhile before this place could disappear in the final explosion he could sense was coming.
Something caught his eye. He stepped closer, seeing a large jar sitting on a back shelf, half filled with liquid. It contained what at first sight seemed to be a doll, or action figure - but Frax knew better. His electronic senses told him it was a man, human although there were hints about him of power beyond the normal, alive despite his lack of movement. A man in black leather, an elaborate full mask over his face, a rope of long black hair streaming down his back. Another memory stirred, of tiny, frozen creatures, of bringing them to life and full size to fight for him. Of a tall man in black, with a mask. Of destruction.
On some robotic impulse, he pulled the stopper from the jar and poured out most of the liquid. His metal fingers hovered over the figure, a spark snapping from them as he delivered an electrical shock calculated to reenergize and revive it. The miniature man shuddered into life, blinked, and looked around in apparent panic. His small voice cried out, barely audible over the sound of flames crackling and a distant explosion.
"Help me! Get me out of here!"
"Will you help me to destroy?" Frax asked.
"Destroy the Rangers? It would be my pleasure!"
Frax lifted the jar into his arms and triggered his teleportation device again. He had come for an ally, and he had found one.
It took only a month, a very short time in which to build a reanimator capable of restoring his new ally to his original form. Lothor - for that was the man's name - did not seem to share that opinion; all he did was whine and complain about the delay. Frax did not care. Impatience was for humans, not for him. He continued to work.
"How much longer is this going to take? How much longer do I have to stay like this, small and powerless? That traitor, Mesogog... too bad the Rangers destroyed him." Lothor curled the tiny fingers of a tiny hand into a fist as he paced back and forth beneath a chair, protected from being stepped on by the cyclobots as they went about their tasks. "I would have liked to see him die slowly for what he did to me."
"Mesogog would have been a good ally," Frax said.
"Hah! I thought he was my ally, and look at the result! I hate being this small. It reminds me too much of a certain, much-hated individual." Lothor looked down at himself. "Well, at least I don't have any fur."
"Mesogog was powerful. More powerful than you."
"He - he took me by surprise! He would never have defeated me and imprisoned me in that blasted jar if I hadn't trusted him, that ungrateful reptile..."
"Perhaps you trust too easily."
"I trust no one..." Lothor glanced up at him sharply and smiled, the expression contrasting with the coldness in his eyes. "Except you, of course. You saved me. We're partners. In fact, I consider you a friend."
"We are partners."
"And together, we will defeat the Power Rangers. I will have my revenge and you will have..." He hesitated and looked up again. "What is it you want, again?"
"To destroy."
"Ah, yes, to destroy. Don't you want something a little more - interesting? Power? Money? To rule the world, maybe? Turn everyone into robots, perhaps?"
"I want to destroy."
"Hmm. A little on the simple side, but it has a certain artistic integrity about it. 'Destroy' it is, then! When are you going to make me full size again?"
"When the machine is finished."
"Are you sure that thing is going to work?"
"Whatever Mesogog used on you had an effect similar to the process Time Force used to imprison criminals in a frozen and shrunken state. This is based on the device that reactivated them. There is a 92.723 percent chance that it will restore you to full size."
"Not a hundred percent? Er - maybe we should test it. We could try it out on a cyclobot or two-"
"They are more valuable to me than you are in this form. If you have so little courage, perhaps I should search for another ally."
"No! No need for that." Lothor added in a low mutter, "And no need to be snippy about it either."
"Good. Because it is ready now."
"What? Now?"
"Yes." Frax stepped back from the machine he and the cyclobots had been working on in the depths of their hidden laboratory. It was in the form of a cylinder, large enough for a man to fit inside. One section of the curved wall slid aside to form a door. "Go inside."
Lothor approached cautiously. He stopped. "But what if-"
"At your present size you are both useless and annoying." Frax raised a golden foot.
"All right, I'm going! Better to die horribly than go on like this," Lothor grumbled as he climbed onto the platform at the base of the reanimator.
The press of a button closed the door. Not having human nerves, Frax wasted no time on hesitation as he activated the machinery, watched as bright light flashed from within it, and heard the hum of its electronics. In seconds the door slid open again. A puff of fine mist blew out. And with it came a black leather-clad form, now of a tall man with long black hair, his face behind his mask pulling into a smile, and then a laugh.
"Finally! I'm back!" Lothor stretched his arms up, fists jabbing into the air.
"Are you ready to destroy?"
"Soon, my friend, soon. First, I need to rebuild my army of kelzaks, and work on some more substantial weapons. Make my plans - I mean our plans." He looked around the room. "This place is too limited... we'll need a new base of operations. One where no one is likely to look. Mesogog's island... Even frozen and locked inside that jar, I was still aware of what went on around me. I heard things, and saw them. There was a system of caves underground that may have survived the explosions. Some of the laboratories were hidden there, with equipment we may be able to use."
"We will see. And then?"
"You want destruction?" Lothor grinned again and chuckled. "No better place to start than a city I'm very familiar with. It's called Blue Bay Harbor. I have a few scores to settle with a certain group of former Rangers."
To Be Continued...