Catalyst
by Peregrine

"This place is MASSIVE!" Zack exclaimed as they walked through the domes. "I don't get it ... where did it come from?"

Kathy chuckled. "Officially or unofficially? Officially, we built all of it ... unofficially, the major part of the superstructure was, er ... a gift from an alien species." She looked at them and was surprised that they didn't seem surprised.

Rocky grinned. "Hey, we grew up here in Angel Grove. Power Rangers and weird aliens knocking the place down every day? Nothing like that would surprise us."

Kathy relaxed a little. "I guess that would make sense at that. It's an old colony biosphere. The Kerovans were not sure how to renovate it themselves as this technology became irrelevant once they had colonised. We are not even sure if they were the original owners and neither are they, but it is essentially designed to reach a habitable world, land and have a ready-established City from which the people can then expand outwards, as well as ecological stores and environments that are self-regulating and stable. The Forest Dome is nearly complete," she gestured as they entered the habitat. "We even have lakes set up in here."

Aisha was keenly interested and looked at the seemingly totally natural environments. "These are works of art!" she marvelled, looking around in wonder. "A self-regulating ecological system! Very impressive."

"Thank you." Kathy nodded, accepting the credit. "The Biosphere integrity is much of what I work on. Will has been working on the infrastructure of the entire place and the engines problem." She shook her head ruefully. "There is unfortunately a gap in the information we were given. We've been struggling to figure it out for a long time now. The propulsion team have been trying to work out why the engines won't fire. They seem complete from the schematics." She shrugged. "They just won't start for some reason. Will got dragged into that problem, otherwise he's just been fixing whatever problems come up on a daily basis."

"So what is it that Billy actually does again?" Tanya asked curiously.

"Basically everything and anything. I've never known a guy that seems to know so much about everything," Kathy said, her eyes aglow with obvious admiration.

That's Billy, alright." Tommy grinned as they travelled through a connecting tube. "What happens if they don't get it going?"

"Then the whole Terra Venture project is a flop," Kathy replied pragmatically. "Biggest bust since the Star Wars initiative. The Stanton Foundation has poured billions into this project. We 'brains' don't come cheap ... and neither do several million tonnes of raw material. Think the investors are getting antsy, though. They expected results before now, even though we performed miracles."

"Youch." Adam sympathised. "We had that with the dojo until I landed the stunt contracts and Rocky and I bought them out with our ... er, silent partner."

Kim grinned at them. "I don't see why you guys still think it is funny that I backed you and Tommy backed Kat and Zack."

Rocky shrugged. "Just bizarre, seeing Tommy backing a dance and choreography centre and YOU the martial arts school."

They all chuckled over that one and all of them looked around as a phone trilled, reaching for their mobiles. It turned out to be Chris's, and he answered it with an apologetic look to the others.

"What's that up there?" Trini pointed upwards to a large edifice that loomed in the distance.

"That's the 'bridge'... we'll go up later," Kathy promised.

"What's up, Chris?" Her manager had just finished the call on his mobile phone. And returned with a slight frown on his face.

"Emergency meeting in the City Dome. Bernard is issuing a royal decree, I think. I'm sorry about this, but if you'll just bear with us for ten minutes, we can finish the tour afterwards," Chris apologised.

The ex-Rangers exchanged glances and shrugs. "Sure. We'll wait," Tommy replied. "We don't want to be too late getting back for Jason and Billy, though."

" It won't take too long, I'm sure. Why don't you take a rest by the lake and we'll pick you up again after the announcement," Kathy suggested, shrewdly realising that the announcement may not be for just anyone to hear.

The group agreed and sat down on the shores of the lake to wait as their escort made their way hurriedly to the city dome.

~*~

Jason and Billy were dropped at the gate by the slightly speeding taxi. Jason fumbled around for his wallet and threw some money at the man, impatient to get on. He and Billy stood and stared at the mighty mushroom-shaped structure above them.

"Okay, how do we defuse these bombs?" queried Jason, helping Billy over the tarmac to the most obvious building entrance.

"I don't think we can," Billy answered painfully. "Ahh ... ow ... get me to that door!" He tapped in a security code and dragged Jason in, staggering to an elevator. Billy typed in another code and leant against the wall, breathing hard, as they began speeding upwards. "Jase, there's too many of them. I saw at least a dozen. It must have taken all day to put them up there, but.." he frowned as pieces started to fall into place. "The only way that could happen was if there was someone on the inside allowing for this to happen."

"Then how do we STOP this!" Jason demanded fiercely.

"I don't know! Dammit, I just don't KNOW!" Billy snapped back, looking stretched to the limits. "I don't have ALL the answers all the time!"

"But you will," Jason said, his voice ringing with confidence. "You will."

The elevator went up and up, by far the longest ride Jason had ever taken before eventually disgorging its occupants.

"So where are we ... ah." Jason looked at the place that had the unmistakable look of a command chamber or a central area.

Billy limped to a console. "L4 recognise Cranston, William ... password Bluewolf. Full surveillance. Biodome scans. Under structure analysis. Scan for anomalies against original blueprints," he ordered, typing frantically.

Half a dozen different environments flicked into view, scanning through different angles.

"There ... I saw Trini ... there!" Jason pointed out, indicating the screen.

"Forest dome ... lock surveillance reference 7," Billy ordered. "There, what's going on there? Lock the City Dome central plaza."

"Jesus! What are they all doing there? The place is packed!" Jason exclaimed, looking at the crowd in the City Dome with horror.

"The main screen is active. Hold on ..." Billy piped in the feed so they could see that, too, and hear the announcement.

"... unfortunate circumstances that have led to this day. You should know that this is nothing personal and that no reflection on the team, but it is with deep regret that I must announce the termination of the Terra Venture project."

There was a sound of protestation from the assembled group. The man on the screen paused before adding "... and the termination of its staff."

"What?" Kathy didn't like the sound of that.

"Goodbye. I would sign you all off, but I have taken a more literal approach to the saying. 'you're fired'. Besides, I will profit even more from your tragic deaths from terrorist activity." The man gave a truly unpleasant smile and alarms went off everywhere.

"Warning, warning, biosphere integrity compromised ... level one containment measures in progress ... warning ... warning ... "

Billy fought desperately against the lockdown, cursing as his friends were sealed inside the dome.

He hit the console. "I can't shut down the containment in time. There's an encrypted top level firewall against it. There's only three people with that access ... and one hacker, which is me". He grimaced. "Only, it takes me at least 30 minutes to break their security if I ever need to do it. We don't have that amount of time. We need a different solution."

There was a beep from the computer and data flooded the screens.

"Scan complete. 13 anomalies found," the computer suddenly announced. A schematic showed their position and even Jason could tell there was no way they could defuse them all. If they had a day maybe ... but they had minutes at most.

"Billy?" Jason looked at him hopefully. Billy shook his head, still working frantically.

Jason glanced around and saw a PA system and clicked it on. "Guys ... guys, this is Jason. Billy and I are trying to stop this, but there appear to be bombs on the supports. Primed to blow."

The scientists listening in the city dome went very pale, realising more what this would mean than the ex-Rangers, but realistically it didn't need much more than the word "bomb" to get them into action.

"See if you can get out of the dome!" Jason said before turning to help his friend.

"Could this really destroy Angel Grove?" Jason asked worriedly as his instinct flared again, clamouring for him to run, leave, get far, far away.

"If the engines crack as I saw ... then ... that's a conservative estimate," Billy said calmly as his mind moved at a speed that was beyond the imagining of most people.

How to stop this? They could not remove the bombs from the supports and the dome.

So they needed to remove the dome from the bombs ... and that meant solving the problem that had plagued them for months in a few minutes. Getting the engines to fire ...

A familiar feeling crept over him as he leant over the console, his tiredness and pain starting to fade in the rush of frantic mental calculation.

Jason recognised that look. It was as if he had slipped backwards in time a good few years to the middle of a battle against Rita, Zedd or Mondo. It also meant that Billy had an idea.

"Is there anything I can do?" he asked hopefully, hating the thought of being stuck here and the others, trapped, helpless to do anything.

"I'm going to need to get to the engine core through that door ... but I think it's locked down ... can you get it open?" Billy responded absently.

"Sure ..." and Jason went to wrestle with the door as Billy wrestled against time and the difficult problem.

~*~

"There, if we get out here." Trini pointed to a barely noticeable gap in the infrastructure. "Hope you guys have been slimming," she added lightly, desperate to find Jason. What was he doing here? AND Billy? He wasn't even meant to be awake! They started wriggling through the gap and with a little heaving and pulling and a good covering of thick grease they emerged in the walkway area.

There was a loud roar and the ground shook, sending them stumbling.

"Move!" Tommy yelled and they ran towards the City Dome in a close group. They managed to unlock the hatch from the outside of the City Dome and crowded in to find the entire Terra Venture team trapped, having tried the exits already.

"What the hell is going on?" Aisha yelled as they sprinted up.

" Looks like the Powers that Be decided we were a lost cause, fabricated this whole terrorist scam to collect on some non-completion clause," Kathy said bitterly. "They have no idea what this place could do if it is destroyed!"

"Where are Billy and Jason?" Trini asked rapidly.

"Probably up on the bridge," Chris replied before turning to face in that direction. "Where we should be. Come on!"

~*~

"What was that?" Jason said, alarmed, as the place shook dramatically. He carried on hauling against the door, straining his muscles.

"A premature explosion," Billy replied, concentrating.

Jason snorted. "Man, I'm sorry."

"Jase, if we get out of this ... I'll get you for that!" Billy replied, smiling slightly as he worked frantically. The lights flickered and Jason was able to yank the doors to the engine core open in the brief power outage, but the consoles started shorting out under Billys hands.

"Shit ... ow!" Billy flinched away from the sparks, nearly toppling as he injudiciously stepped back on his injured leg.

"Billy ... get away from the console! It could blow!" Jason warned, concerned.

Billy gave a short painful laugh. "You forget I have experience with console explosions."

As the words left his mouth, he froze.

"Billy?" Jason halted, wondering if he was having another seizure or something.

Console explosions, and antiprotons ... He was saturated in antimatter contained in magnetised pockets of the Power in his body ... antimatter meeting ordinary matter produced a high energy reaction, annihilating the matter, creating a high energy false vacuum ... Space abhorred that and would stretch and warp ... forming an antigravity field that could be maintained, it was just the antiprotons that were needed to catalyse the formation of the bubble ... the tubes under Terra Venture were for an anti-gravity warp!

"So damn simple I missed it! Bloody negative bloody protons!!" Billy cursed violently.

"Missed what, Billy?" Jason asked as the former Ranger wheeled unsteadily towards him.

"Jase, get me to the engine core ... hurry!" Billy demanded, oblivious to the fact that the other ex-Rangers had nearly reached the bridge in their quest to find them.

Jason obliged, by neatly grabbing him in a fireman's lift and moving swiftly to the non-functioning engine core. The Core chamber was filled with rainbow magnetic fields shimmering uselessly.

Billy hit the Core entrance control button, programming a rapid sequence of commands into the control panel as the group of Terra Venture scientists pursued them. He had just completed the instructions when there was a massive explosion that threw him and Jason to the floor, and they both instinctively knew without the benefit of visions or mysterious senses what had occurred.

The supports had blown, the dome disc was beginning to impale on the engine strut.

Billy looked panicked and glanced at Jason, thought of the others and then his expression became calm.

"Jase, throw me in there ... NOW!" Billy demanded forcefully.

Jason nearly hesitated and then trusted his instinct that showed this to be the lesser danger. He was also trusting Billy knew what he was doing; he lifted him and hurled him into the web of magnetic force.

Billy hung there, suspended as the fields moulded around him, and he began to twist and writhe as the negative protons, antiprotons were stripped from his body forcibly, surrounding him in an aura of electric blue fire as he twisted and groaned.

The metal structure tilted and Jason slid as the others clambered in.

"What the hell?" Tommy gasped, taking in the sight of Billy. The former Blue Ranger was floating in the heart of the Engine core, seemingly chained by rainbows, suspended in front of them and bleeding blue fire through his skin.

"Will? What are you doing?" Kathy yelled. "It's too late!"

"Fire ... fire the engines ... now ..." Billy moaned. The blue particles were streaming from his leg as he floated in magnetic fields tuned to specific frequencies. Jason's expression looked stricken. What had he done? God, what had he done?

"No!" Kathy protested. "What good will that do?"

"Antiprotons ... Now!" Billy pleaded, struggling to speak.

It was Tommy who looked at the others solemnly, took a deep breath and thumped the large green start button to activate the ignition process.

An influx of accelerated protons streamed into the core, hitting the buffer of newly emerged antiprotons and producing a high energy reaction which ballooned space behind the core in a massive loop. This antigravity force was channelled under Terra Venture and at the same time a spike of energy flared forth to ignite the space engines. The Core chamber disappeared in a blaze of white-beyond-white light, consuming everything, including the suspended figure as the protective shield came up automatically, blocking their view.

"Oh Billy ..." Jason groaned, his heart aching as the core vanished from sight. "It's not fair... this wasn't meant to be the last chance ... no ..."

Kathy had tears in her eyes but turned again, still appreciating one fundemental problem that Billy had not solved in his drastic action. "Anyone know how to fly a city?" she asked in a level voice. "Otherwise all this will be for nothing." She wiped her eyes swiftly as they all stood there, shocked.

"Damn ... come on, guys!" Jason yelled. And they ran swiftly back to the bridge, looking for controls as Terra Venture rose majestically, slowly but erratically, above the rapidly diminishing Angel Grove and the burning wrecks of the massive metal supports.

"These controls seem familiar ..." Kat murmured, sitting down at a console. The others took up positions, and it clicked. It was like controlling one of the Megazords.

"We can do this!" Trini said, determined they would make this work. "We remember how ... come on!"

The group slipped back into old habits, old memories flooding back whilst the Terra Venture team looked on, frankly amazed.

"How can they do that ...?" Neil whispered. "They shouldn't be able to do that!" He looked at a fellow consultant for verification.

"Hell, Neil, I'm not going to argue if they can bring this down in one piece." Mary said, shaking her head, noticing how they all moved together in almost perfect co-ordination.

"Mega ...Terra Venture stabilised," Adam announced, barely catching himself. "We are high in the atmosphere. Jase, Tommy, steering is over to you."

The pair of them stood side by side at the main controls and could have been the same person, the way their hands flickered over the controls in perfect harmony. "Taking her back down." Tommy said aloud.

The leviathan of a spacefaring world banked slowly and began a carefully regulated descent back towards Angel Grove. Their expressions were grave, however, as they attended to their task. They could not forget what had just happened and already, now that the crisis was passing, the emotional shock was starting to seep in.

A minor alert tripped up and went unnoticed for a little while. Rocky frowned. "Guys ... this is a new one for me?" he said anxiously, looking around for backup.

"Put it on the main display ..." Jason said in unison with Tommy.

A glowing message appeared in front of them .

Catalyst function obsolete Remove\Purge\Replace?

"Catalyst?" Tommy frowned "What catalyst?"

"Billy," Jason said shortly.

"Oh my god ..." Kathy reacted suddenly as if realising something. "Remove! Remove!" she said and took off to the engine room as the computer obeyed.

"What? What's she so excited about ...?" Tanya asked. She had no desire to see the cremated remnants of her friend. She was trying hard not to think about it.

Trini looked around, her mind suddenly providing her with information. "Oh ... maybe ...catalysts are meant to not be affected by the reaction they trigger." She looked up at Jason, seeing a shift towards hope in his expression.

"Hold her in place ..." Jason took off to the engine room as well.

Kathy was at the console, frowning and working swiftly as she did so. A complex sequence was taking place, a magnetic bottle of force was being extruded from the Core chamber.

Kathy manipulated the controls and the shimmering rainbow egg of force popped, revealing its precious contents; the tightly curled form of Billy ... seemingly intact.

"Billy?" Jason was perplexed. Surely he couldn't be alive?.Really? There had been the light and the reaction and the way the fields were twisting him ...

Kathy was on her knees, checking for a pulse and signs of breathing. The ex-Ranger joined her as together they uncoiled Billy from his foetal position, pulling the injured leg out gently. However, that was what elicited a groan and a resurgence to consciousness and Jason's entire body seemed to relax. He hadn't killed him, he hadn't after all that.

Billy's eyes opened, looking a little glazed and moved his lips a couple of times before eventually saying aloud, "Did ... we make it?"

"Billy ... are you alright?" Jason asked immediately.

"Jase? I feel ... f ...pretty damn terrible, actually," Billy admitted weakly. " My ... sight is blurry ... the light ... I can't see very well. Everything feels twisted. It hurts ... a bit."

"That should pass," Kathy said soothingly. "Weren't quick enough shutting your eyes, were you?"

Billy shook his head slightly. He reached out with a hand, feeling for contact and Jason grabbed hold of him and pulled him into a hug.

"Don't you EVER ask me to do something like that again to you!" Jason demanded, holding him tight. "That was ..." he ran out of words to describe what he felt and settled instead for continuing the bone-crushing hug.

"Easy ... easy ... I'm not going anywhere," Billy choked out.

"Damn right you're not. We only just got you back, and you seem to be doing your level best to get yourself killed," Jason reprimanded in a curiously warm tone. "Could there be a connection?"

"Pure coincidence." Billy was shaking a bit now, whether from shock, reaction or a side effect, Jason didn't know.

He looked at Kathy a little concernedly, and she smiled. "Bit of scrambling of nerve signals from the magnetic field," she whispered to reassure Jason.

"To go with the scrambled brain," Billy mumbled, closing his eyes, having heard the exchange. "I can't move yet ...are we still airborne?"

"Well, we haven't hit the ground yet," Jason answered, relief still in his voice. "Mind you, Tommy is steering."

"This does not fill me with confidence," Billy replied, still shaking uncontrollably. "He ... he came off the track 5 times last season!"

Jason suddenly realised something. "They all think you are dead. They'll kill me! Can I move him?" he asked Kathy anxiously.

"Yes ... be careful, though." She was looking thoughtful, as if thinking over a few things.

"Hup we go, Billy ..." Jason lifted his friend, who lacked the muscle responses to do little else than flop bonelessly in his arms.

"This is so undignified," Billy commented as Jason walked to the lift. "I feel like something out of a cheesy soap opera."

Kathy sniggered. "Can I yell "Oh god, he was too young to die?" she asked lightly.

"He is too young to die," Jason said fiercely, unconsciously tightening his grip.

They walked onto the Bridge and the others stopped and stared in horror at the tableau before them. Jason found himself inexplicably lost for words as he faced all of Billy's friends, past and present.

"Oh Billy ..." Kim's voice sounded choked up.

"Kim?" Billy queried weakly, seeking her voice, still unable to see.

There was a momentary pause as the realisation sank in and then a veritable stampede launched, before all of them converged on their friend, wanting to touch him, to hug him, just to prove he was alive.

Billy smiled, still unable to see them properly, and eventually said, "Um ... if you are all saying 'you're alive' to me ... who's flying Terra Venture?"

"Oops!" Rocky exclaimed and they hurried back to their posts, this time smiling.

Jason sat, refusing to relinquish Billy quite yet. "You sure you're all right, bro?" he asked quietly, still feeling the shakes under his arms.

"Ye ... yes" Billy said. "No-one was hurt, were they? I still can't see more than interesting blobs of light. I didn't w- want anyone hurt."

"They are all fine, and all your work colleagues, too," Jason reassured him.

"Then what about Bernard Howard?" Billy asked, shivering. "He'll know by know that his plan didn't work."

"Geez ... of course ... I'm just going to put you down and talk with the others," Jason replied, laying him out on the floor and providing him with his top as a pillow. After getting him comfortable, Jason got up and addressed the others.

"Guys, Billy just pointed out that the evil villain of this industrial sabotage has likely discovered that Terra Venture has made a miraculous escape. We need to stop him before he tries anything else ... and get Billy back in hospital."

"I heard that!" Billy said from across the room.

"Stop eavesdropping," Jason chastised him. "Bad habit ...so ... where would this guy go?"

"What would he do, more to the point? He didn't seem overly concerned about lives," Adam asked worriedly. "Is there any way he might still finish off Terra Venture?"

Chris was thinking rapidly. "The database at the research offices. We lose that, we are working in the dark ... that could take the project out of business."

"That's right!" Kathy exclaimed. "We lose the data, we might just have to shut down ... though now we have a working energy system and antigravity ..." she still seemed amazed by that. She turned sharply. "How did that happen, anyway? There is no way that Will could have had antiprotons inside of him ... matter cannot exist in the same area as antimatter! It just doesn't! It's against the laws of physics!"

Billy suppressed a snort, hearing that last phrase repeated in his head in a Scottish accent. Then he grimaced where he was lying on the floor. Kathy and the others were way too intelligent to accept a half-hearted explanation. She wouldn't leave it alone, he was sure.

"And..." Kathy continued, looking around piercingly. "How do all of you ... martial artists ... dancers, diplomatic liaison, world class gymnast to name but a few, know how to fly a city ship as if you've been practising for years? Hmm?"

There were some worried glances between the ex-Rangers. Tommy prepared to lie on their behalf, stammering out a feeble excuse that frankly cut no ice with the Terra Venture team.

"We are not stupid, you know," Neil pointed out as Tommy blundered through an explanation.

"Tell them," Billy said from his vantage point on the floor. "Not like there isn't a precedent, is there? Not after Carlos and the others."

"You sure?" Tommy asked worriedly, fighting against that fundamental precept that Zordon had tasked them with.

"Yes." Billy still stared upwards blindly. "They are smart enough to put most of it together, anyway. Trust me."

Tommy sighed. "Okay ... truth time. We were ... the Power Rangers," he confessed as everyone coughed, looked away and busily flew the city towards the offices of Terra Venture, leaving him essentially to it.

"But you were not the ones revealed?" Kathy said, perplexed. "We saw who they were."

"We ... Zack, Billy, Trini, Kim and I were the original team " Jason supplied. Kathy looked across at Billy sharply. "Then Tommy ... then Aisha, Adam and Rocky ... then Kat and Tanya, swapping in ..."

"The antiprotons?" Kathy queried in a still disbelieving tone

Tommy spoke up once again. "There was a crisis. The Command Centre exploded ... and Billy threw himself in front of a morphin' console to protect us. Apparently it bombarded him with negative protons." Tommy still looked troubled at the memory, seeing Billy's unmoving form lying on the ground in his memories

"They were encapsulated by residuals of the Blue Power in my system, like tiny sealed magnetic bubbles in my body. It was ... uncomfortable." Billy supplied the additional information, aware he hadn't shared all this information with the others.

"I bet ... all it needed was one vesicle to break down and ... walking timebomb," Kathy scoffed bluntly.

"I know," Billy said flatly, unable to see the looks of horror on the faces of his friends, but imagining their expression. "One reason I didn't stay. Especially when I started degenerating so rapidly."

"You and I," Kim said aghast to Billy, "are going to have a SERIOUS talk when this is over."

"Speaking of which ..." Kat replied, cutting in. "We're here."

Tommy and Jason snapped into action. "This guy is likely to be dangerous. We will need a guide in there."

"I'll do it." Kathy said immediately before the others could say a word.

"I've 'parked' it so the rim is butted up against the roof... it's still a fair drop, though," Kat informed them from across the room.

"Who has abseiling experience? Tommy and Adam, I know you have ... and Kim." Jason grinned at that, remembering a particularly disastrous but amusing weekend when he had tried to teach them.

Aisha put up a hand. "I have, too. Ninja, remember?" she smiled.

"Right ... we'll go after this guy with Kathy, you look after Billy and this place, huh?" Tommy said, he and Jason swapping in and out of the leadership role fluidly

"Just be careful, or I may have to kill you myself," Trini warned, going over to sit with Billy as Jason and the others left.

They rappelled off the edge of the Dome platter onto the rooftop, Jason making it look like second nature even with his passenger of Kathy clinging to his back.

"Where would he be?" Tommy asked urgently as they unclipped.

"The main databanks ... he would have to destroy them physically to be sure there was no chance of data recovery," Kathy said thoughtfully. "They are on the eleventh floor."

The group moved out silently and scurried down the building carefully, adrenalin pumping. They didn't have the Power to shield them any longer, so they were more wary of the danger to them. Jason took point, using his sense with more confidence than ever before and signalled them into frozen statues as they found the room and registered danger inside. There was the sound of sloshing and a smell of petrol or lighter fluid ...some volatile liquid seeping out through the door.

The group crept in the entrance, seeing a man in a business suit placing full canisters of fuel next to computers, servers and data storage towers. He had unscrewed a canister and was preparing to slosh it around haphazardly over the carpet and a data bank he had obviously tried attacking with a baseball bat. Jason prepared to sneak up on the guy ... should be easy enough ... and ... instinct spike.

"Stop right there!" a strident voice called out behind him.

Jason hissed. "Kathy ...!"

The man turned. "What the hell are you doing here?" he spat at them venomously. "Couldn't just die, could you? Do you know how much I stood to gain? And still will get if you just get the hell out of here? Fifty million just for me ... if they think it is goddamn terrorists. Couldn't you all just DIE? Goddam brainiacs."

"You destroyed an entire building for that? You kill people for money? You intended to kill our entire group for that?!" Kathy yelled vehemently.

"Oh, keep your precious 'for the good of all mankind' morality," Bernard sneered at them. "That line might be the Stanton Foundations propaganda, but they are in it for the money as much as anyone. They will have more profit from adapted tech than Microsoft! Especially now you seem to have suddenly got the thing working. I knew you were holding out on us ... If you had just delivered a month ago, then no one need have died!" He sighed and turned. "Well, I guess that you will just all have to be some hapless terrorists that got caught in the explosion ...of their own fire. "

A gun appeared almost magically in his hand and Jason groaned as the barrel tracked across them. Abruptly he noticed Aisha had slipped like a shadow around to the side of the man.

Ninja move, damn handy sometimes, must get her to teach me that ... he smiled to himself when Aisha swept out at the man's feet and he staggered backwards as Jason leapt for him, forcing the gun upwards and away from the others.

The open canister sloshed flammable liquid all over them both, Tommy swore and leapt, knocking Jason out of the way as the man fired. The spark from the muzzleblast ignited the fuel all over the gun and livid flames flared on the gun and then pounced onto the man hungrily.

He screamed, dropping the flaming gun near one of the other fuel containers, beating at the fire, setting his own hands alight, blistering and burning as he careened aimlessly around the room.

Jason's instinct spiked. "Kim, Kathy ... move the fuel away!! Now!"

The ex-Rangers jumped to it as Tommy pulled Jason away when he tried to run unthinkingly towards the flames to help.

"Stay clear, you're covered in fuel ... uggh ..." The former Ranger wrinkled his nose in disgust.

The man still screamed, the nauseating smell of burning flesh filling the air as he writhed, screaming in pain. Aisha desperately tried to beat out the flames but amazingly the man managed to run from his additional 'tormentor' and straight into the damaged data bank.. The bank shorted out, electrocuting the man in a flurry of sparks and he collapsed just as the fire alarms triggered and dry powder extinguisher automatically flooded the place.

Adam turned the body over, nearly gagging as he saw the face, blistered beyond recognition. "He's dead," he announced sadly, having still optimistically searched for a pulse. Kim and Kathy returned, looking sick as Aisha smothered all remaining signs of fire with a hand-held powder extinguisher.

"All those deaths ... just for money," Jason said, disgusted "Billy hurt for one man's greed ..." He sighed, shaking his head, unable to believe that the man had not been able to see the true worth of the project.

There was a wail of sirens from outside as the police and fire engines appeared, summoned by the automatic alarms. "Let's tell the others we're okay," Jason suggested and Kim obligingly pulled out a miniature mobile phone. She shrugged as she saw the few looks she was given around the room.

"Hey ...I helped advertise it ...got to support my own product, and if you had carried the one I gave you, you would not have had any trouble yesterday," she scolded, trying to lift the atmosphere of death that hung thick in the room.

Jason groaned. "But Kim, it's pink! A Navy SEAL with a pink mobile?"

The others smiled a little despite themselves.

"Hey, only guy tough enough to stop 'em laughing," Kim shrugged. "Hi Kat ..." she spoke into the phone and arched an eyebrow at Jason questioningly.

"Just tell them it's all over and to get Billy to a hospital as soon as possible." There was the sound of approaching sirens and the clatter of people approaching up the stairs. The ex-Ranger sighed again. "We are going to be a while, I think," Jason added wearily as the authorities finally arrived.

~*~

Billy woke again in hospital, this time to a very crowded room. All his friends had attempted to cram in there, and it had reached the stage of people sitting on each other's laps just to fit in. At least that was what they maintained when he challenged them on it shortly after waking. Billy lay, still a little shaky, but a lot of his muscle control coming back and his vision returned except for the odd lingering rainbow shimmer. His leg was immobilised in dressings and painful, but not unbearably so, and all in all he felt, despite all this, better than he had since Cestria had been killed.

The others filled him in on what had happened and he took most of it in, but was still a little dazed at suddenly finding that acceptance he had longed for ... even before he had found Cestria and then lost her. He listened and nodded and laughed with them all, treasuring each moment, realising there was nothing that he needed more than this right now. From this closeness, he might once again learn to trust himself - and in trusting himself open up his heart to another. Someday.

Eventually most of them left, their departure obviously occasioned by some prearranged signal that Billy thought he must have missed, leaving him alone with Trini.

"Well, that was subtle," Billy commented, looking around at the suddenly deserted room.

Trini laughed and patted his arm gently. "There was a time, Billy, when you wouldn't have noticed."

"I've changed," Billy said wryly.

"Yes. Yes, you have," Trini answered him seriously. She pushed back a stray lock of hair from his forehead absently. "We all wanted to get a few things clear, and I got elected to say them." She regarded him with serious dark eyes. Billy returned the look evenly and nodded his assent for her to continue.

"Never ever push us away again. Let us make the decision that you are dangerous, or whatever," she said firmly. "We are adults, too."

"Even Rocky?" Billy asked, to cover his swelling emotion.

Trini smiled. "Even Rocky. Billy, we care about you ...and if you need help, we want first call on giving it, alright?"

Billy nodded obediently, smiling a familiar half smile.

Trini took a deep breath. "Try not to ask Jason to do something that would hurt you again or kill you? Or any of us, for that matter. We're not ready to lose you, Billy. We never will be. When you lose someone it hurts, as you well know, and frankly the more of that we can avoid, the better. We want you safe and with us. Okay?"

"Okay," Billy responded with a tremor in his voice and Trini squeezed his hand gently in reassurance.

"And I wanted to know ..." Trini paused, choosing her words carefully. "How you felt about Jason and I ... It's funny, but I really need to know you are all right with this, because there was a time when I know that you ... cared about me ... but ..."

"Trini, you don't have to explain it to me," Billy said softly. "You love him, don't you?"

She nodded slowly, watching his face carefully.

"And he loves you." Billy shrugged as if saying that was an end to the matter. "I used to know what that felt like ... and maybe now, if I can let go of the guilt, I can remember the good memories of Cestria and I." His expression bordered on barely concealed sorrow as he said this.

"She wouldn't have wanted you to be alone," Trini whispered gently, watching her old friend with great compassion.

"But I'm not any more, am I?" Billy replied into the silence that followed. He smiled. "Or at least I'm only as alone as I want to be."

"Hopefully you don't want too much of that now ... now you know we trust you," Trini said. "And I have much to thank you for. Because of you I have realised that what Jason does is part of the reason I love him, not an obstacle to loving him. I still worry, but now I know that he has a degree of protection in this ability, I feel safe enough to agree to what he wants."

Billy nodded. "I'm glad for you both," he commented with genuine affection for her and Jason. "So - when's the wedding?" he asked with a sense of contentment creeping into the empty places in his heart left by Cestria and their lost future.

"We were thinking June next year ..." Trini's face lit up with uncharacteristic excitement.

Billy chuckled knowingly. "Do I get to give the bride one kiss before the groom returns?"

Trini nodded, knowing this was Billy's farewell to a teenage crush. She lowered her head towards him, smiling at her found again friend as he lifted himself to kiss her.

Billy very gently touched his lips to Trini's soft cheek and ...

Flash of images -

Billy opened his eyes and chuckled to himself, unable to stop, finally accepting the gift from the catalyst of the Gold Powers as something good.

"What?" Trini asked, concerned. "Did you see something? What?"

"It's going to be a very eventful wedding day ..." Billy replied, laughing to himself. "Very eventful indeed!"

End

Author's Note: Hope you liked it. Should it interest anyone the antigravity explanation is based on fact. There are such things as anti-protons - however the moment they come into contact with ordinary matter they annihilate each other. I took liberties with the Power to explain why Billy was still around. But a high energy false vacuum of space does cause an apparent ballooning of space and a local alteration of the gravitational constant. (in theory). Anyway if you want to know more, I read that in various physics texts, including "The Whole She-bang". Read it if you doubt this! Otherwise I just hope you enjoyed this!

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