Disclaimer: Still don't own them.

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews! And sorry for the long wait! I've been busy (and lazy). Also, I seriously screwed myself over with this chapter, you'll see why. I'm sorry if half of this doesn't make a lot of sense, it didn't even make sense to me!

Love is in the air
Break-in

Hunter awoke the next morning when sunlight streamed in through the living room windows. With clarity, he remember his breakdown and some memories. He couldn't deal with the memories now. It was bad enough that Ben was back. He'd been pretty successful at repressing them the last years but his luck seemed to have run out. He felt like he had felt right after Ben left: broken, empty and vulnerable. He didn't want to feel like that. He had to be strong, not only for himself but also for his friends. He had to stay alert. He couldn't take trips down memory lane with danger lurking around the corner.

He pulled himself up in a sitting position on the couch and winced slightly as his muscles protested. While Dustin's couch wasn't uncomfortable, it wasn't made to sleep on either. His eyes fell on Dustin's sleeping form and he winced again. Dustin's neck was tilted back at an angle that would no doubt hurt when he woke up. One leg was on the couch, the other off the couch. The blanket was stuck somewhere between his legs and halfway his chest were he was holding it. He looked pretty adorable and Hunter couldn't help but smile. He could feel the butterflies in his stomach flutter.

He was quite torn between waking Dustin up or letting him sleep. He was going to be sore either way. He settled for pulling his knees up on the couch and just watching as his boyfriend slept. It still felt weird to call Dustin his boyfriend. He was in love with Dustin but if he was honest with himself, those feelings weren't as strong as they used to be. He could feel his heart closing down, he didn't want to get hurt again. He couldn't handle it again. He knew Dustin would never turn into Ben but when they broke up, it would still hurt emotionally. It would hurt a lot and he would crash and burn all over.

Dustin stirred and cracked open an eye. He shot upright when he noticed he was up.

"Morning. You okay?" Dustin asked. He started untangling himself from the blanket and reached up to rub his neck. His eyes stayed on Hunter.

Hunter smiled faintly. "I'm fine. Sorry about last night."

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Dustin replied, smiling softly. He moved over to where Hunter was sitting and did the only thing he could think of: he pulled Hunter into a hug. Hunter stiffened up at first but then his arms came around him and he buried his face in the crook of his neck.

Hunter felt the loss of body heat when Dustin pulled away. The younger ninja's arm remained around his shoulder and Hunter leaned into his side, somehow needing the contact and needing to be close to Dustin. Even if his feelings had somewhat changed, he wasn't about to give up the comfort that Dustin was offering because he needed it, it was as simple as that.

Dustin absently rubbed Hunter's arm, his eyes fell on the lit up numbers on his DVD-player. It was 6:30 am.

"I kind of called Blake last night. He said he'd come by at 7."

"Dustin," Hunter whined and he pulled away from Dustin to glare at him. Just what he needed, his younger brother being an over-protective and worrying idiot.

"He needed to know!"

"No, he did not. You shouldn't have called him!" Hunter flew up from the couch. He didn't know what fueled his sudden anger, maybe it was the fact they were fussing again.

"He's your-"

"Still does not give you the right! I shouldn't have come with you in the first place. God."

Dustin looked up at a clearly agitated Hunter and frowned. He didn't think letting Blake know was such a big deal but obviously it was to Hunter. Dustin couldn't blame him for being upset though. He probably felt embarrassed.

Dustin stood up and placed his hands on Hunter's shoulder and could feel how tense he was all of a sudden. He stared directly into Hunter's eyes and held his gaze. Hunter didn't look away but his deer-caught-in-the-headlights look didn't change.

"I care about you, Blake cares about you. We want to help but you have got to let us. That doesn't mean you have to talk about it but just let us be here, will you?" Dustin spoke slowly and hopefully soothingly. He could feel Hunter relax under his hands and he gave Hunter's shoulder a light squeeze. Hunter reluctantly nodded and again apologized. Dustin just leaned in and pressed his lips against Hunter's in a soft, closed-mouthed kiss.

Hunter was actually smiling when he pulled away.

"Do you want breakfast? I can probably make some toast."

"And set the kitchen on fire in the process? I think I'll just have cereals."

"Dude, I would not set the kitchen on fire making toast," Dustin said with a pout.

"You're right, you'd set the whole house on fire."

Dustin scowled and brushed past him to go to the kitchen. Hunter followed, chuckling.

At exactly 7, the doorbell rang. Hunter tensed again. Dustin squeezed his shoulder in passing and headed for the front door. He hadn't even opened the door properly or Blake brushed past him. Tori followed a little more slowly, sending a worried glance his way. Dustin gave her a small smile and closed the door.

"I'm fine, Blake," Hunter said before Blake could as much as open his mouth. He glared at his brother, daring him to call him on the obvious lie. Blake's shoulders slumped and he just sat down next to him.

--

Ben dropped his jacket on the bed of his motel room and took a sip of the steaming hot coffee he was holding in his hands. He had just gotten back after staking out the portal the entire night, trying to find a way into the Ranger's headquarters without triggering every security measurement in place. He had come up with a plan that didn't leave many room for screw-ups.

Getting through the portal wouldn't cause much trouble. He would be able to get through without anything happening, only Ninjas could go through it anyway, only good Ninjas. It wouldn't open for Lothor. He would have no problem going through as a Thunder Ninja himself. He was pretty sure that the headquarters did have security measures in place so he had checked. He had discovered multiple cameras, scattered all over the place. They would track his every movement, he knew they wouldn't be fooled by a streak. He was going to have to get in, inconspicuously. He would have to delete the footage of himself and replace it with previously shot footage. He'd have to create a loop of about an hour so that he could get away unnoticed too. He knew his way around computers so that shouldn't be a problem.

Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing if he would trigger any kind of alarm when he entered. He probably would which would mean he needed to move fast to switch it off. A blueprint would really come in handy right now but he was never going to get his hands on that. If there was an alarm, there would have to be an alarm control near the entrance which shouldn't be hard to find. He would have to turn it off before it could send a signal to the main computer. After the alarm was turned off and he'd changed the footage, things would probably go smoothly. He hoped. It was his only chance at attempting to get in contact with Lothor.

He nodded to himself and finished his coffee. That would have to do it. He closed the blinds of the motel room and crawled into bed. He needed sleep, he needed to be alert that night. He couldn't afford any mistakes.

--

Night fell over Blue Bay Harbor. Ben stood, just staring outside as darkness engulfed the street, thoughts running through his head at miles a minute and his heartbeat faster than usual. This had to work, it just had to. He would have to destroy the rangers and only then Hunter would see that they belonged together. Right now he was too wrapped in a false sense of friendship and love. They didn't care about him, didn't love him the way that he did. He would have to make him see, he would have to make him realize that.

By half past midnight, he was ready to go. He was dressed top to bottom in black, complete with black hat. He wouldn't need more.

He streaked over to the portal in under a minute and decided not to wait anymore. He easily went through and made his way over to the underground bunker. He entered their headquarters and caught a little red light flashing on his left. Probably the alarm. There was a panel nearby, one that was too easy to open and switch off. He remained standing for a couple of seconds, listening for any sounds but he was met with silence.

He moved over to the main room which was easy enough to find since it was just down the hall. This was almost too easy. He quietly made his way over to the computer and switched it on. The bright light of the screen briefly blinded him but his eyes adjusted soon enough. He had no trouble pulling up the footage from not even a minute ago. Five mini-screens popped up on the big one. He caught himself moving in everyone of them but for not more than a second in each frame

Next, he pulled up the footage from the day before, exact same time. He deleted the footage that had him moving and replaced it with the other footage. He made sure to create a loop so that it would continue showing the same footage for an hour. He was done with that within ten minutes.

"You must be Ben," a voice from behind him said.

He whirled around to find the guys with the glasses standing a couple of feet away, smiling unpleasantly at him. A second guy appeared next to him.

"Good job at getting in here and putting off the alarm. Too bad you didn't know that the alarm sends a signal to the computer in my room."

Ben paled. Why hadn't he thought of that? Getting in had been too easy, they would never have made it that easy. He shrugged and smiled easily. "My mistake."

The guy in red moved over to the entrance, clearly intending on blocking his exit. Ben snorted and raised an eyebrow at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"Telling you would kind of defeat the purpose of my plan," Ben replied.

Now it was the Green one's turn to raise his eyebrow. "You're not getting out of here, you know? It's two against one."

"Oh, gee, I hadn't noticed. Don't think that will stop me." Ben said cheerfully, preparing for the fight that was sure to come. He knew he had good chances of getting out but if he did, then his plan of contacting Lothor would fail. His entire plan would fail. He could try to kill them now but it was too soon, where was the fun in that? Maybe he should re-think his plan, take them one by one, kill them one by one. On his own terms and in his own way. That sounded like a better plan. They had taken Hunter from him, had poisoned his mind. They deserved to live long enough to feel pain, and lots of it.

"Oh no? Try us. I dare you," the one in red said, cracking his knuckles. Oh, he definitely seemed to be in the mood for a good fight. Ben was happy to oblige.

"Bring it on,"

The Green one came at him first, so fast that any normal person would have missed his movement but Ben was trained for this kind of stuff. He grabbed the fist directed at his face and shoved it out of the way, giving him the chance to plant his own fist in his gut. When he doubled over, Ben brought his knee up, hitting the Green one right in the face. His head snapped back and he landed on the floor.

The woosh of air told him the Red one was coming at him. He turned but didn't manage to duck the kick aimed for his midsection. He stumbled back against the computer. The Red one brought his arm down, Ben rolled out of the way and he caught the keyboard instead.

"Shane!" the Green one warned.

"Cam, now is not the time to worry about the freaking computer," The Red one, Shane, yelled back as he ducked one of his high kicks. Ben's legs were swiftly kicked out from under his body and he landed on his back on the floor. When Cam's leg came towards his midsection, he reached grabbed a hold of it and sent him back to the floor. He jumped up and was surprised by a fist suddenly connecting with the side of his face. It made him stumble back but he kept his balance. Shane charged at him again. Ben easily ducked his first punch and did a back flip to avoid a kick. He stood in a defensive fighting chance as both Shane and Cam charged at him.

He could easily deflect most of their blows and get a few kicks and punches in. He was quite enjoying the fight. They were good, that was true but if he really brought his best game, they'd be defenseless.

"I'm enjoying this," Ben said in between dodging a punch from Shane and kicking Cam back, "But it's time for me to go." When Shane charged at him, he kicked him back, briefly making him lose his balance and then shoved him back into Cam. While the two rangers fell to the ground, he made his exit, streaking away. He streaked around Blue Bay Harbor just to make sure they weren't following him before he returned to his hotel to revise the plan.

To be continued.

Author's note: Isn't Ben just a lovely guy? Do let me know what you thought of this chapter.