While the Rangers were trying to figure out just what exactly Benag was up to, Cruger decided to launch his own investigation before heading to the canyons. Not that he doubted the abilities of his Rangers, but he knew Benag. Out of all the generals, he was the most loyal to the empire...to Grumm. If Benag was out, then whatever he was up to had to have something to do with getting Grumm busted out. On the other hand, Benag was almost as prideful as Grumm, which meant that he'll rescue his emperor after settling his scores, and avenging Grumm's incarceration. That meant he wasn't the only one on his list; on the top, yes, but not the only one. That was why, rather than head straight for the canyons, he made a slight detour to Piggy's, cloaked, just to check up on him. The alien informant played a critical part in bringing down Grumm and Omni, the Troobians' pet project turned power behind the throne. The giant brain inside the Troobian flagship, Magnificence, was supposed to be an enhancer for Grumm's power, but Omni developed a will of its own and took control of the empire, Grumm serving as nothing more than a figurehead. Now, Omni and the Magnificence were destroyed in the final battle, freeing Grumm from its control. No doubt Benag would be after Piggy's head for his "betrayal" of Grumm. Heh, it was only betrayal if he was loyal to Grumm at some point. When he got to the desituted restaurant, it was filled with its usual colorful clientle. Cruger looked around until he saw the restuarant's pork-like proprietor walking around. When Piggy finally got to Cruger, he almost had a heart attack when he recognized him.
"Sweet rings of Saturn!" he shouted. Cruger had to shush Piggy to avoid being exposed. Piggy got the message and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Commander? What are you doing here?"
"We need to talk." Cruger replied, his own voice lowered so only Piggy could hear him.
"What, here? With all my customers?"
"I could always remove the cloak, but I figure I be more considerate for you and not drive your...patrons away."
"Uh...nevermind." Piggy then sat down and looked around his restaurant. "So, what does SPD's leader possibly want with little ole me?"
"You hear a lot fom your patrons. Anyone released from Antari lately?"
"Antari?" Cruger nodded. "Hmm...I think I have a cousin's friend's sister's roommate's partner who's got a contact on Antari who gives me all sorts of info. Why?" At that moment, laser shots flew in the restaurant and it was clear they were aimed at Piggy, but they missed.
"That's why." Cruger explained when he shoved Piggy under a table. The patrons were already fleeing. "By the way, you need a new contact."
"What the hell is going on here!"
"In case you didn't know, Benag's broken out, and from those laser blasts, is a little peeved at you for helping us take out Grumm."
"Benag? General Benag? Is that what this is all about?"
"Afraid so. Stay put, and you just might live."
Piggy gulped and nodded as he took refuge from the next bout of laser blasts. Help SPD a little and get marked for life, and no show of graitude! Sheesh, having any sort of morality was troublesome. All he could do was watch as Cruger deflected the blasts and morphed promptly. The Shadow Ranger then began scanning the area for the source of those blasts and eventually found it in a rifle-wielding alien.
"Die!" he screamed as he fired all over the place. "Death to all traitors of the empire!" Cruger stared in shock for a moment before he deflected the shots back towards the offending alien.
"Colonel Nyal." Cruger stated, recognizing Benag's old aide and one of the very few Troobians yet to be apprehended. Nyal just giggled in sadistic glee.
"Ah I see my reputation has perceded me! Prepare to die, Ranger! For the empire!" With that, Nyal charged towards Cruger only to be completely bounced back into a wall. Cruger had to groan; Nyal was an arrogant lemming who would do almost anything for what was deemed the good of the Troobian empire. The 'almost' part happened to be him, the one who took out Grumm's horns. Last he checked, Nyal was terrified of Cruger, but he didn't appear to recognize him. First things first, he had to get the psycho path out of here, now.
"Why yes it has! But I wouldn't think of someone such as yourself targeting civilians, no matter how badly they've treated the empire."
"He is a traitor who has caused our great Emperor Grumm to fall from grace!"
"You want to avenge Grumm, you go through me Nyal! Or are you too scared to avenge your emperor?"
"No one calls me a coward! DIE!" So they fought, if Nyal being thrown all over the place could be called fighting. Eventually, they ended up in the canyons where the only thing that was there was another transporter device.
"What the--" Nyal then started to cackle.
"General Benag will avenge our emperor by destroying his enemies starting with the weakest! There is nothing you can do to stop us, Shadow Ranger!"
"Impossible! We had a deal!"
"Do you really think the general would waste his time fighting you! Hah! Never!" With that, Cruger tossed Nyal aside and destroyed the transporter device.
"It no longer matters! The general will avenge our emperor, your fight with him is useless!"
"Then I guess you'll have to take his place." Cruger then drew out his Shadow Saber, causing Nyal to become pale.
"What! Wait, that sword! Where did you get that sword...?"
"Don't you remember, Nyal? This was the sword that disfigured your precious emperor and took out several of your comrades." With that, Cruger powered down and Nyal stared in horrid realization.
"No...no, it can't be! Doggie Cruger! You're supposed to be dead!" Cruger just gave a feral grin as he grabbed Nyal's wrist.
"Hello, Nyal. It's been a while. Where's Benag?" By then, Nyal was shaking.
"I-I-I'll never tell you!" Cruger just responded by breaking one of Nyal's fingers and repeating his question. "AUGH! Stop, you can't do this! This is police brutality!"
"I'll let you know when I give a damn." CRACK Another finger went. "Where's Benag?"
"Wait...Doggie, think about this. Even if you figure it out, you'll still be too late."
"That doesn't exactly matter in your case, does it Nyal? Now Where.CRACKIs.CRACKBenag?CRACK"
"AHHHHHH!" By then, all of his fingers were all broken. "I don't know! I swear to you I don't know!"
"We can keep this up all day, Nyal, and this time I have nothing to lose." Cruger was about to proceed with the wrist when Nyal started screaming.
"Wait! General Benag...he, he's in one of two places." That prompted Cruger to stop and bring Nyal's face to his own.
"Start talking."
"The-the escape plan has been fabricated since the general was captured and sent to Antari! It took months, but-but he was able to contact me and we made three-three transporter devices. The-the first was smuggled to Earth, the second-second was sneaked into Central Command. The general--he kept the third in one of the transports."
"Why Central Command?"
"The general kept track of the war since his incarceration. He knew the Emperor would be sent to where security would be the tightest and--and where the execution would take place. We knew SPD would destroy the Emperor in the event of capture..."
"So you set this up both as revenge and a rescue mission. Where's the transporter in Central?"
"I--I don't know! I never set it up! We--the general had one of the Krybots set it up, to avoid being exposed!" Cruger just growled in disgust and placed Nyal in containment. Then he contacted Kat.
"Kat, get Central Command on the line! There's been a compromise! Benag's planning to infiltrate them and bust Grumm out! And destroy that transporter device!"
"On it, sir." Kat replied as she started to relay the message. Suddenly, alarms started blaring at the academy. Kat did a quick scan of the base. "Oh no..."
"Kat? Kat! What's going on over there!"
"It's Benag...he's in the docking bay!"
"Send the Rangers! I'll be there soon!" With that, he broke off communications and morphed back, knowing the Ranger power would give him a boost in speed.