Episode 6

Sibling Rivalry

Hilary yawned as she looked up from her laptop, stretching lazily as she looked around to see what the others were. Deciding that the Shak was starting to get too busy on Saturday afternoon, the Rangers had instead opted to hang out at the warehouse. Though in hindsight, "hang out" wasn't really accurate. It was more of a "do your own thing in the comfort of your own command center" kind of arrangement.

Ray was sitting beside her, lightly strumming his acoustic guitar while staring blankly into space. Jake and Johnny had hit the crashmats; their recent tangles with Byte Bots and Cyrax's attempt to catch them off guard had instilled a new drive in the Green Ranger to improve his hand-to-hand combat skills. Johnny was more than happy to be an obliging practice partner.

Her brother, meanwhile, was once again working on his car. As always.

When he'd pushed up the roller door and revved the vehicle inside, it had taken all her self-control to not roll her eyes so hard they'd fall out her head. She supposed she should have been grateful; he was at least far enough away that the gagging stench of gas couldn't waft over to where she was trying to concentrate.

She knew all siblings had their differences, but they weren't usually that different. There was usually something other than blood that they shared, like how Johnny and his sister had their love of music. But outside of the ability for each to dig beneath the other's skin, Ben and Hilary had absolutely nothing in common.

She'd concede that they were both Rangers, but also insist that that didn't count. Where she loved books and computers, he loved cars. She occasionally loved to sit down at the piano, while he loved his cars. She could sit for hours at night, staring up at the stars and wondering what else there was to learn in the universe, where he loved to think about… his cars.

In fact, cars seemed to be his singular interest, other than the great delight he took in irritating her at all times. While she focused hard to keep her grades as high as she could, her brother would slack off and somehow still manage to scrape through a pass. She strived to get her chores at home finished to give herself time to spare, while their parents had to nag Ben into completing the most basic of tasks. She could get up on time every morning, whereas Ben would be racing into the school as the bell was chiming.

"Hilary? Hilary, are you there?"

Hilary snapped back to reality as Ray's voice cut through her thoughts. It seemed like he'd been talking to her for the past five minutes.

"I asked if you had any requests. It gets kind of boring when the same songs run through my head."

"Oh right," she realized, smiling at the offer as she mentally ran through her own lists of simple songs for a guitar. That was one good thing about her brother; his best friend was Ray. "Umm… know any Oasis?"

With a straight face that desperately tried not to betray every busker's annoyance at that song, Ray nodded politely and softly strummed the opening chords. Hilary watched his hands as they moved gracefully across the guitar, shifting across the frets as they slowly danced between the notes.

He exhaled a resigned breath and opened his mouth to begin the lyrics, only for Hilary to cut him off.

"Okay, I've tortured you enough," she giggled. "I know how much hate that song."

Ray bowed his head in a pleading thank you, before looking at her with a melting smile. "Still waiting on that request then."

Hilary paused for a moment before deciding, "I've always loved some Goo Goo Dolls."

"As you wish."

Ray went back to playing, brushing against the lighter notes to help a delightful calm rising within her chest. With her smile broadening to the soothing sound of his voice, Hilary glanced back at her laptop to see the community events newsletter had just dropped into her inbox. Her heart jumped a beat later, clicking to see the announcement at the top of the page.

"OH MY GOD!" she squeaked, leaping from her chair to do a victory dance. The outburst caught Ray by surprise, making him nearly topple off his chair. Down the other end, Ben smacked his head on the open car hood.

"OW!" he yelled before shooting a seething look at his sister. "What gives?"

"Sorry," she said ecstatically. "It's just this super famous computer programmer is touring around to promote this new software he designed, and he's holding a seminar at the Museum of Modern Science!"

"Was that really worth jumping up and down?" Ben growled, still rubbing the back of his head. "What's the big deal? He's just some nerd."

While Hilary snapped a glare at her brother, Ray was more courteous. "So, when's the seminar on?"

"Tomorrow at four o'clock. I need to hurry and see if I can still get tickets!"

"Just leave me out of it," said Ben, "I'd probably just fall asleep."

"Actually," said Doc as he looked up from his desk. "I don't think you've got a choice."

There was a worry in his voice, a note of caution as beside her, Ray caught it too and narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Doc flipped around the monitor to show an older man with frizzy white hair and a lab coat. He was standing by an enormous collection of monitors, like a mural for the computer obsessed.

"This is the guy?" he asked. "Professor Isaac Murphy?"

Hilary nodded. "That's him."

"Well, I've been going over the public previews for his new program," Doc explained, "and if this thing can do what they're boasting, then I think he could be an easy target for Gideon."

"But doesn't he already have heaps of computer knowledge?" Jake asked as he and Johnny wandered over. "What does he need this guy for?"

"Gideon's smart, but he doesn't know everything," Doc replied. "You guys have handled every virus he's thrown at you; it would make sense if he's looking for an upgrade."

"The presentation tomorrow would be the easiest time to target him," Hilary realized. "Professor Murphy could be in serious danger!"

"Then I guess we should probably make sure he's got an adequate security detail," Ray suggested, looking back to Hilary with a devilish glint in his eye. He was right, she really would have to go to that seminar. It was the safest plan, really. Such. A. Hardship.

Not everyone was happy with the idea, notably Ben, who groaned from his car. "So, we have to go listen to some boring computer geek talk for two hours, just so we're ready if Gideon gets any bright ideas?"

"Well, I wouldn't have put it that way," Doc agreed, "but yes, yes you do."


The next afternoon, Ray and Hilary filed into the museum's auditorium with the rest of the crowd. After some quick strategizing, they'd decided that splitting up was the best course of action. The other three were outside in the museum's main hall, keeping guard on the doors and watching anyone approaching. Hopefully, as lookouts, they could head off any problems before they reached the crowded hall. It also meant that if were attacked, the team still had some people who could easily morph without the worry of being caught. If pushed, Ray and Hilary would have to rely on their civilian forms to protect the Professor.

"So, what else has this guy done?" asked Ray as they took their seats in the second row.

He'd barely got the question about she started gushing.

"He's helped design a lot of military programs," she explained excitedly. "You know, better auto-pilot systems, improved user interfaces for hardware terminals. He was single-handedly responsible for pushing the military's Cy-Sec ahead by at least two decades. Some people think he went digging around in Angel Grove after the alien invasion and reverse-engineered the technology he found there. He was even behind the trans-navigational interface they built into Terra Venture!"

"You won't hit me if I just smile and nod, right?" Ray asked with a cheeky grin.

Hilary couldn't help but laugh and smiled back, lightly socking him in the arm. Truth be told, while she was easily the first volunteer for providing security within the lecture, she knew the others would likely be drawing straws. It had taken her completely by surprise when Ray volunteered to sit with her, all without even losing Rock-Paper-Scissors to the other three boys.

"So why did you decide to come along again?" she asked.

"Well seeing as Ben would do nothing but complain at you," he pointed out. "And Jake would just be checking out any of the girls he saw. So, I sort of figured that I should go with you and let Johnny be the one to control Jake."

"Oh, right." That made sense. Jake's brain would often disappear at the sight of a pretty girl, and if there were any in the lecture hall then the surveying he'd be doing would be purely selfish. Ray really did have a good lid on how to manage the team.

"Besides," Ray added, surprising Hilary that there was more to his reasoning. "I wanted to check out what it was that made you so excited. It must be really special for you to get this wound up."

Oh. He…wanted to see what it was. She snapped her gaze away as the warmth flushed to her cheeks, perfectly timed to the dimming of the light.

"Right," she said nervously as she fixed her eyes on the front. "We better quiet, I think it's starting."


If there was any feeling that Ben hated, it was the numbing his brain felt during the slow, gradual decline into utter boredom. Sure, come along to the museum; it'll be great. Do you want to go to the boring talk, or stand outside and do nothing? Great options, so much fun.

No movement, nothing suspicious. For the last hour, all he'd seen were ordinary people walking between the exhibits. The closest thing he'd seen to sinister was a small baby throw its half-finished ice cream on the ground and scream until he received a fresh, full one.

Real evil there.

There wasn't even anything going to happen. Just an excuse for Hilary to drag them all to some stupid museum that none of them wanted to go to. At least Ray had jumped on the grenade of keeping company, which meant he didn't need to keep himself awake through the snore-fest. Although, he suspected that Ray's motives had very little to do with being a good best friend. An ulterior motive, perhaps?

"Are we even sure the Gideon's going to make a move?" he groaned toward the others. "You'd think he'd have done it by now."

Johnny just shrugged before his eyes darted to Jake, who'd spotted a pretty girl and was now intently discussing the physics of aerodynamics in the context of football.

"I better go get him back on track," he sighed as he wandered over.

Torn between watching Jake's impending embarrassment and the sheer boredom of continuing to wait, Ben decided to have a walk into the observatory hall. The tall central column of the museum, planets, and spacecraft hung from the ceiling beside the long winding ramp that ascended to the tower's very top. At the bottom of the ramp was a large model rocket, all its ignition stages separated for closer viewing.

Now that was an engine!

He was about to step closer for another look when a figure caught his eye. They were staring at the ground, the hood of their jumper poking from their jacket and pulling over the top of their head. And they were shuffling toward a section marked RESTRICTED.

He carefully pulled his Morpher to his lips, "Guys, I think I've got something."

He tucked it away before hearing the response, slinking behind the figure as they stepped into the shadowy hall. Whoever this was, they definitely didn't work for the museum.

The others hadn't replied. Either they hadn't gotten the message or they'd also found something suspicious. Which left Ben to deal with this discovery alone. Better make a move. If he was wrong, he could pass it off as being lost. Worst case scenario, maybe he'd see some action to break up his dragging day.

He tapped the figure's shoulder.

"Hey, do you know where we are? Because I don't think I'm meant to be in here."

And then he immediately regretted his wish for things to get exciting as the figure turned around…


For the entire hour, Hilary was glued to Murphy's speech as he went through the intricate details of his programming. The man was a genius! No wonder Doc was worried about Gideon targeting him. If she wound up even half as smart as this guy then she knew that she'd be pretty damn proud of herself.

Yet as enthralling as it was, Hilary couldn't help but continue to look over at Ray. He was struggling to pay attention; this was highly advanced computer stuff and probably going in one ear and out another. His eyes were definitely glazing over at times. Yet he was still trying to listen.

Trying to understand.

And understand what mattered to her…

"And I'm now going to open up the floor for questions."

Her mind snapped back to the present as the audience burst into applause. But as they did, Ray nudged her side and nodded in front of them. "Over there."

Hilary looked over to where he was indicating. Four people were sitting in the row in front, each of them wearing caps and gloves. But Hilary looked closer, peering at the gap between their hair and the collars of their shirts, and she realized that their skin wasn't skin at all. The gap revealed the thinnest sliver of orange metal.

Byte-Bots.

They weren't going to burst in; they were already here!

"Trojans," she hissed to herself as she looked at Ray. His Morpher was already in his hand, thumb having moved to the distress beacon to alert the others. He looked at her, confused. "Damnit, I should have seen it."

"What?"

"They came in disguised as something else," she said quickly. "Just like the horse in Greek Mythology. Or a computer virus, carted into a system by another file. This whole place could be crawling with them!"

Her eyes shot to Murphy, who proudly stood before the crowd and vivaciously responded to their queries. Then Hilary's spine tingled as the Byte Bot in front of her raised its hand.

"And one last question," Murphey decided. "Yes, you."

The Byte Bot stood, hat and wig falling away to reveal the robotic face. The crowd gasped as they scampered back, and three bots rushed into the aisle. "Will you come with us the easy way or the hard way?"

Ray and Hilary lunged. Vaulting from the seats, they crashed the Byte-Bot into the forward seats before leaping in front of Professor Murphy. Both teens raised their fists, shifting into defensive fighting stances as they stared down the recovering henchmen.

"We're going to have to go with the hard way," Hilary sneered defiantly.

The audience screamed and scattered, rushing to the back of the hall as the doors flew open and more Byte-Bots surged into the room.

The two teens wasted no time, smacking back the robots in front of them before vaulting to the stairs and fighting back-to-back to hold the chokepoint. But all too quickly, the bots moved past them, focused intently on their target: Murphy.

Oh no, you don't!

Hilary flipped backward, cartwheeling to crack her heel into a foot-soldier reaching for the cowering professor. The robot went careening into the seats as Hilary snapped to her feet and stood in front of Murphy in a guarded stance.

There were just too many of them, certainly if they had to guard Murphy at the same time. A realized Ray had also concluded.

"Run!" he ordered at Hilary and the Professor, "I'll hold them off."

Hilary took a glance at the rest of the room. The panicking crowd had managed to stampede out through the doors, and at least with the Professor out of view, Ray would be safe to morph. It was no longer the time for fighting, right now the best strategy was retreat.

"Follow me!" Hilary told the professor, grasping his hand and rushing to the door beside the lectern, kicking it open to reveal a maze of concrete corridors. "Come on!"

Nodding frightfully, the professor dashed after and into the corridor. Moments later, the Byte-Bots followed.


The android swung out at Ben, so close he barely dodged. His arm snapped up to parry, winding into and punch that knocked the robot back. He could fight it here but knew they'd be more. He turned and ran, bringing the Morpher to his lips.

"Heads up guys, we've got company!"

He burst back into the main hall to see Jake and Johnny flanked on all sides. Jake had rushed to the dinosaur exhibit, diving into the ribcage of a skeleton and swinging around the bone to land a mighty kick into a chasing bot. Johnny had run into the restaurant, snatching a food cart and spinning it around, hauling it out like a ram before ducking around and flipping through it.

Some were moving to the door, pushing past the fleeing audience to get into the auditorium.

"I'm sorry," Ben told them as he snapped between them, "This event is bookings only. I'll need to punch your tickets."

The bot replied with a punch to the face. He blocked with an X, grabbing the assaulting arm and spinning around, kicking the Byte-bot back into its brethren. He was about race up the wall to get a drop on them when a voice called from the Morpher in his hand.

"No powers!" Doc warned them. "I haven't cut the cameras yet. Right now, you're just teenagers with attitude, but you get those powers on tape and we'll have a whole new set of problems!"

"Then how do we morph?" Ben demanded as he swung under another series of blows.

"I'm working on it!"

He kicked up, the Byte-Bot's head snapping back as it stumbled. But the next ones came in just as quickly.

Then came the halleluiah.

"Cameras are down!" Doc announced. "Morphing's good to go!"

Permission granted, Jake slammed the Byte-Bots with a wave of force as Johnny rocketed to the other end of the room.

"Time kick this up a notch?" Ben suggested.

"Couldn't agree more," said Johnny as he pulled up his Morpher. "Ready?"

"Ready!"

"Data Squad! Digitize!"

The triple-colored light surrounded them as their suits appeared and they rushed to reengage the Byte Bots.

"We've got these guys!" said Johnny, modem blade swinging wide to carve into the horde. "You go help Ray and Hilary!"

Ben nodded and spun around, leaping into the auditorium to see Ray morphed and sword in hand. He'd certainly been keeping himself busy, but even with the ground littered with fallen Byte-bots, the numbers weren't relenting.

"Where'd Hilary go?" Ben demanded.

Ray pointed to the open doors at the side of the room, ducking beneath a blow before swinging back into a strike. "She ran down there with the professor, go help her!"

Without wasting another second, Ben took off into the hall, desperate to find his sister.


Two more Byte-Bots were already charging down the corridor. Hilary got to them first, reaching for the janitor's cart against the wall and reefing out the mop. Now armed, she snapped up the makeshift weapon, catching both strikes and pushing them back. Flipping the pole around, she cracked it into the first Byte-Bot's, and then took out the second with a powerful kick to the chest.

Professor Murphy could only stare at her in wide-eyed admiration.

"Who… are you?" Murphy stammered.

"Not important right now," she said. "We need to get you out of here."

"We?"

"Less questions, more running!"

They skidded to a halt as the corridor split into a T. Just as he was about to turn, a voice echoed up the hall behind them.

"Professor!"

It was Ben, full-morphed with his Modem Blaster at the ready.

"Thanks for your help ma'am," he said to Hilary. "I'll take it from here."

Ma'am?

Hilary was about to argue when she remembered they still had an audience. Not the time; she'd just give him hell later.

Instead, Hilary simply nodded and ran down the corridor. Once she was sure that Ben and the Professor we far enough ahead, she snapped against the wall and pulled out her Morpher.

"Data Squad! Digitize!"

The narrow hall was filled with golden light, basking her in the glow as the suit encased her body. Freshly armed and ready, she then took off down the hall to catch up.

Ben and Murphy had taken the left turn, immediately stumped by the next series of corridors.

"You're going the wrong way!" she called to them.

"I'm sorry," Ben retorted. "I was a little more concerned with the whole running for our lives than where to go."

"Well then let's go, we need to get him outside!"

Grabbing Murphy by the hand, Hilary led the way as her brother and her idol followed. But all it led them to was yet another T.

This place really was a maze!

"Okay lets, go left" she decided

"No," Ben disagreed. "I remember this place, we need to go right."

"Blue, I spend a lot more time here than you do, we need to go left!"

"You spend a lot more time with your nose buried in an exhibit," Ben snapped back. "But if you were paying attention you'd know that turn you want is blocked off!"

"Umm, excuse me?" Murphey suggested.

"WHAT?!"

As both of them snapped at the Professor they saw what he'd been pointing behind them. Yet. More. Byte-Bots!

"Not good," said Ben.

"Shut up!"

The two Rangers lunged into the horde. They just didn't end! Every time Hilary would take one down, another two would appear behind it. Every time forcing her to push deeper and deeper into the hall, just to keep them back. Beside her, Ben was doing to same, mounting the pressure as best they could, just to keep the robot forces at bay. And every step took them further and further away from Professor Murphy.

"Fools," chuckled a menacing voice behind them. "You really are too easy!"

Hilary's heart stopped. No!

She and Ben spun to see Cyrax standing triumphant, holding the Professor by the neck.

"You," He snarled to the human in his grip. "You're coming with me."

"Get your hands off him!" growled Hilary.

Cyrax whipped out his blaster. "One at a time, please."

The pistol boomed, light flaring the barrel as the round shot toward them. In such tight confines, Ben and Hilary had nowhere to dodge, the resulting blast hurling the pair of them backward and slamming them into the wall.

"Come along Professor," Cyrax laughed, "I have a friend that would very much like to pick your brain."

And the warrior's laughter echoed through the corridor as he and his forces vanished in a flash of emerald light.

"Guys?" Ray suddenly called over the Radio, "What just happened to you guys? The Byte-Bots just disappeared."

Hilary and Ben could only stare at each other in disbelieving horror.

Crap.