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Title: Last Act
Fandom: Power Rangers Time Force
Pairing: Briefly mentions Jen/Alex
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Today is Alex’s last day. Failed Experiments don’t get to live.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers. It’s not my toy box, I’m merely playing.
A/N: Written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
angst_bingo prompt Dystopian. Had to go with Time Force for that since they were supposed to be living in a Utopia that clearly wasn't one.
Warning: Implies char death (Alex).
Last Act:
Their Utopia has cracks. It had to, to have been able to fester a villain such as Ransik. If the world was truly perfect then Alex knew he wouldn’t exist, a failed experiment in the search for the perfect hero. If the world was kind he wouldn’t have lived when he sent Jen, Lucas, Katie and Trip into the past.
He wants to say this as Tori greets him, then turns back to the young boy sitting at the table with her, book opened in front of them.
“No,” Tori tells him, “You can’t call yourself Dude.”
The little boy, with a mop of curls framing his face, pouts at her.
Alex smiles, despite the reason he’s here.
“Finally picking out your name?” Alex teases.
“Alex!” the little boys squeals as he’s suddenly out of the chair and throwing himself on Alex. Alex catches him in a firm hug and then puts him back in his chair.
“What options do you have?”
“Not Dude,” Tori says.
“How did you pick your name?” the little boy asks Tori.
Alex sits down even though he knows how Tori picked her name, even as a part of him says he’s stalling the inevitable.
“We’re all made from two rangers,” Tori tells the little boy.
“I know,” he replies with an exaggerated sigh, “All of us experiments are made from two rangers, even the new baby.”
Alex looks at Tori questioningly. There are five of them now and the Department of Ranger Affairs only runs five experiments at once. He hadn't thought they might be terminating him because of numbers, but then he hadn't known about the baby.
“A blend of the first red ranger, Jason, and the first green ranger, Tommy,” Tori explains, “They’ve designated him 1012015.”
Alex nods. The little boy wrinkled his nose, “He can’t play yet and he’s too young to rapidly grow yet.”
“And they’ve aged you up to five,” Alex asks.
“Yeah! I get to pick a name! No more 421201 for me!”
Tori smiles and Alex reminds her that she was explaining her name.
“I’m a blend of the yellow dino thunder ranger, Kira, and the blue wind ninja ranger, Tori. I was made to look more like Kira so I took the name Tori.”
The little boy nods then turns to Alex, “And you’re name?”
Alex shrugs, “I liked Alex.”
“I like Dude,” the little boy announces grinning.
“They’re not going to let you go with Dude,” Alex tells him, backing up Tori.
The little boy frowns, “Well I look more like Dustin. Is Taylor a boy’s name?”
“It can be,” Tori reassures.
“Then I’m Taylor?”
“If you want to be,” Alex tells him.
“No more 421201. I’m Taylor,” Taylor tells them.
Tori smiles at him and sets him off to play before she goes to log his designation change. Alex follows and lets himself be introduced to the new baby. Tori stands by the crib with him and tells him, “He’s going to be the last blend of two rangers. They think they’ve found a way to blend three rangers. They’re talking about finishing their first experiment tomorrow.”
Alex nods, “It explains why they’re…it explains why they’ve asked me to come in.”
Why can’t he even say it? He’s an experiment, always has been and now he’s about to be terminated. He’d always know this day would come, why does it feel as though it’s such a surprise? Why had he ever thought that if he managed a normal life that he’d have a chance towards it?
Tori’s grip on the crib tightens as she whispers, “If you can’t live up to their ‘perfect ranger’ expectations, how are any of us suppose to do it? You’ve actually seen the outside world.”
Alex pulls her into a hug and uses it to cover shoving a disk into her hand. She stares at him wide eyed for a moment and it reminds him that she’s barely sixteen and at that he’s not sure if she’ll be able to get the two children out of here on her own, but he can’t, not when he’s been called in. Her grip closes around the disk and he can’t help but think that the little bit of money he’s been able to set aside, the apartment no one knows about that is two towns over might not be enough. She’s so young and she’s never seen the outside world. How can he ask her to go out into it and raise two children? Will she even be able to stay hidden?
Alex gives her one more hug, knowing he can’t linger.
He leaves her and goes back to the exam room. It isn’t long before Anson is hovering his way into the room. Alex watches him pensively, taking in the only ‘failed experiment’ to live after the project no longer wanted him to become a Power Ranger. He’d once been told that Anson was the mixture of the first blue ranger, Billy, and the Green Samurai ranger, Cam. All he really knew was that the young man had blond hair and a constant scowl and that he’d lost the ability to use his legs in an experiment gone wrong. However he’d been able to prove himself worthy in perfecting other experiments and had slowly wormed his way into nearly running the department even though he was still considered an experiment himself.
“I want to run a few last tests on you before your termination,” Anson tells him.
Alex nods. In a perfect world Trip would’ve found the few things Alex had left in his apartment as a goodbye, located him and the Time Force team would be showing up and rescuing the kids and Tori, but this wasn’t a perfect world and he was going to die today.
“I must admit I thought you would attempt to escape,” Anson says eying him carefully as he leads him to another room.
Alex shrugs, “Where would I go?”
As Alex sits on the examination table as Anson begins to run scans.
“I wasn’t supposed to live was I?” Alex finally asks.
Anson tilts his head to the side as he looks at his scanner, “Explain.”
“What?”
“Explain your question.”
“When Ransik ‘killed me’ and I sent the others to the past I wasn’t suppose to live,” Alex clarifies.
“No, you weren’t,” Anson agrees as he presses several buttons on his scanner.
Alex stares down at his hands, struggling to find the strength of the other questions he wants to ask, “I wasn’t made as part of the project to make the perfect ranger, was I?”
“Everyone is,” Anson dismisses.
“But I wasn’t,” Alex disagrees.
Anson glances at him, “And why do you think you’re so special.”
“The others went to the past. Wes unlocked my morpher,” Alex glares, “I was made so that they could do that, so Wes could lead them.”
Anson says nothing.
“Am I actually a blend of Wes and Eric or am I only made from Wes?”
“Everyone is a blend,” Anson tells him, “You were altered slightly so that you were made more from Wes. Differences between you and Wes are there and we used Eric for that, but you had to be similar enough to him that the morpher would recognize him.”
Alex nods, not sure what to think of this new information. Not that there is much you can do with it, Alex tells himself.
Anson runs the scanner over him again, then moves to a computer.
“How do…” Alex starts.
“Alex,” Anson interrupts, “Do you really think asking me several annoying questions is going to prolong the inevitable?”
“Maybe I wanted answers before I die,” Alex glares.
Anson shrugs, “I fail to see how the truth would benefit you now.”
Alex frowns and knows he won’t get anything more. He watches Anson finish up on the computer. What more is there to say?
“What color is Taylor?” he asks. He already knows Tori is yellow.
Anson frowns at him a moment before he says, “Yes, he changed his designation today. He’s the first blend of two yellows that managed to be yellow instead of pink.”
“Did you ever think one of those pinks could’ve been the perfect ranger your looking for?”
Anson smirks, “I highly doubt it.”
A part of Alex wants to point out all the pinks that have proved themselves over the years, but he’s stopped by the thought that it might make someone look at Jen more closely. He closes his eyes tightly and sighs.
“Someone will be with you shortly,” Anson tells him as he leaves the room.
Alex stares at his hands and then closes his eyes. He thinks about the world he got to live in for several years and wonders at the illusion of perfection. He thinks about Jen and the love they could’ve shared. He thinks about teammates he could’ve had, friendships he missed out on. He wishes he had more time. He thinks about Tori, Taylor and the new baby and wonders if they’ll manage to find the life he never had.
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arytra wrote a sequel to this piece: Saving Alex
Fandom: Power Rangers Time Force
Pairing: Briefly mentions Jen/Alex
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Today is Alex’s last day. Failed Experiments don’t get to live.
Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers. It’s not my toy box, I’m merely playing.
A/N: Written for the
angst_bingo prompt Dystopian. Had to go with Time Force for that since they were supposed to be living in a Utopia that clearly wasn't one. Warning: Implies char death (Alex).
Last Act:
Their Utopia has cracks. It had to, to have been able to fester a villain such as Ransik. If the world was truly perfect then Alex knew he wouldn’t exist, a failed experiment in the search for the perfect hero. If the world was kind he wouldn’t have lived when he sent Jen, Lucas, Katie and Trip into the past.
He wants to say this as Tori greets him, then turns back to the young boy sitting at the table with her, book opened in front of them.
“No,” Tori tells him, “You can’t call yourself Dude.”
The little boy, with a mop of curls framing his face, pouts at her.
Alex smiles, despite the reason he’s here.
“Finally picking out your name?” Alex teases.
“Alex!” the little boys squeals as he’s suddenly out of the chair and throwing himself on Alex. Alex catches him in a firm hug and then puts him back in his chair.
“What options do you have?”
“Not Dude,” Tori says.
“How did you pick your name?” the little boy asks Tori.
Alex sits down even though he knows how Tori picked her name, even as a part of him says he’s stalling the inevitable.
“We’re all made from two rangers,” Tori tells the little boy.
“I know,” he replies with an exaggerated sigh, “All of us experiments are made from two rangers, even the new baby.”
Alex looks at Tori questioningly. There are five of them now and the Department of Ranger Affairs only runs five experiments at once. He hadn't thought they might be terminating him because of numbers, but then he hadn't known about the baby.
“A blend of the first red ranger, Jason, and the first green ranger, Tommy,” Tori explains, “They’ve designated him 1012015.”
Alex nods. The little boy wrinkled his nose, “He can’t play yet and he’s too young to rapidly grow yet.”
“And they’ve aged you up to five,” Alex asks.
“Yeah! I get to pick a name! No more 421201 for me!”
Tori smiles and Alex reminds her that she was explaining her name.
“I’m a blend of the yellow dino thunder ranger, Kira, and the blue wind ninja ranger, Tori. I was made to look more like Kira so I took the name Tori.”
The little boy nods then turns to Alex, “And you’re name?”
Alex shrugs, “I liked Alex.”
“I like Dude,” the little boy announces grinning.
“They’re not going to let you go with Dude,” Alex tells him, backing up Tori.
The little boy frowns, “Well I look more like Dustin. Is Taylor a boy’s name?”
“It can be,” Tori reassures.
“Then I’m Taylor?”
“If you want to be,” Alex tells him.
“No more 421201. I’m Taylor,” Taylor tells them.
Tori smiles at him and sets him off to play before she goes to log his designation change. Alex follows and lets himself be introduced to the new baby. Tori stands by the crib with him and tells him, “He’s going to be the last blend of two rangers. They think they’ve found a way to blend three rangers. They’re talking about finishing their first experiment tomorrow.”
Alex nods, “It explains why they’re…it explains why they’ve asked me to come in.”
Why can’t he even say it? He’s an experiment, always has been and now he’s about to be terminated. He’d always know this day would come, why does it feel as though it’s such a surprise? Why had he ever thought that if he managed a normal life that he’d have a chance towards it?
Tori’s grip on the crib tightens as she whispers, “If you can’t live up to their ‘perfect ranger’ expectations, how are any of us suppose to do it? You’ve actually seen the outside world.”
Alex pulls her into a hug and uses it to cover shoving a disk into her hand. She stares at him wide eyed for a moment and it reminds him that she’s barely sixteen and at that he’s not sure if she’ll be able to get the two children out of here on her own, but he can’t, not when he’s been called in. Her grip closes around the disk and he can’t help but think that the little bit of money he’s been able to set aside, the apartment no one knows about that is two towns over might not be enough. She’s so young and she’s never seen the outside world. How can he ask her to go out into it and raise two children? Will she even be able to stay hidden?
Alex gives her one more hug, knowing he can’t linger.
He leaves her and goes back to the exam room. It isn’t long before Anson is hovering his way into the room. Alex watches him pensively, taking in the only ‘failed experiment’ to live after the project no longer wanted him to become a Power Ranger. He’d once been told that Anson was the mixture of the first blue ranger, Billy, and the Green Samurai ranger, Cam. All he really knew was that the young man had blond hair and a constant scowl and that he’d lost the ability to use his legs in an experiment gone wrong. However he’d been able to prove himself worthy in perfecting other experiments and had slowly wormed his way into nearly running the department even though he was still considered an experiment himself.
“I want to run a few last tests on you before your termination,” Anson tells him.
Alex nods. In a perfect world Trip would’ve found the few things Alex had left in his apartment as a goodbye, located him and the Time Force team would be showing up and rescuing the kids and Tori, but this wasn’t a perfect world and he was going to die today.
“I must admit I thought you would attempt to escape,” Anson says eying him carefully as he leads him to another room.
Alex shrugs, “Where would I go?”
As Alex sits on the examination table as Anson begins to run scans.
“I wasn’t supposed to live was I?” Alex finally asks.
Anson tilts his head to the side as he looks at his scanner, “Explain.”
“What?”
“Explain your question.”
“When Ransik ‘killed me’ and I sent the others to the past I wasn’t suppose to live,” Alex clarifies.
“No, you weren’t,” Anson agrees as he presses several buttons on his scanner.
Alex stares down at his hands, struggling to find the strength of the other questions he wants to ask, “I wasn’t made as part of the project to make the perfect ranger, was I?”
“Everyone is,” Anson dismisses.
“But I wasn’t,” Alex disagrees.
Anson glances at him, “And why do you think you’re so special.”
“The others went to the past. Wes unlocked my morpher,” Alex glares, “I was made so that they could do that, so Wes could lead them.”
Anson says nothing.
“Am I actually a blend of Wes and Eric or am I only made from Wes?”
“Everyone is a blend,” Anson tells him, “You were altered slightly so that you were made more from Wes. Differences between you and Wes are there and we used Eric for that, but you had to be similar enough to him that the morpher would recognize him.”
Alex nods, not sure what to think of this new information. Not that there is much you can do with it, Alex tells himself.
Anson runs the scanner over him again, then moves to a computer.
“How do…” Alex starts.
“Alex,” Anson interrupts, “Do you really think asking me several annoying questions is going to prolong the inevitable?”
“Maybe I wanted answers before I die,” Alex glares.
Anson shrugs, “I fail to see how the truth would benefit you now.”
Alex frowns and knows he won’t get anything more. He watches Anson finish up on the computer. What more is there to say?
“What color is Taylor?” he asks. He already knows Tori is yellow.
Anson frowns at him a moment before he says, “Yes, he changed his designation today. He’s the first blend of two yellows that managed to be yellow instead of pink.”
“Did you ever think one of those pinks could’ve been the perfect ranger your looking for?”
Anson smirks, “I highly doubt it.”
A part of Alex wants to point out all the pinks that have proved themselves over the years, but he’s stopped by the thought that it might make someone look at Jen more closely. He closes his eyes tightly and sighs.
“Someone will be with you shortly,” Anson tells him as he leaves the room.
Alex stares at his hands and then closes his eyes. He thinks about the world he got to live in for several years and wonders at the illusion of perfection. He thinks about Jen and the love they could’ve shared. He thinks about teammates he could’ve had, friendships he missed out on. He wishes he had more time. He thinks about Tori, Taylor and the new baby and wonders if they’ll manage to find the life he never had.
arytra wrote a sequel to this piece: Saving Alex