Chapter Four:

Benton's Mistake

The Crime Big Four sat together, shackled up, in the back of an EAGLE transport, being taken to a high security prison somewhere in the world. Captain UFO was busying himself by staring around at all the little lights and knobs he could see with rapt interest.

"Look at all this EAGLE technology," he said. "What I wouldn't do with some of this—"

Hell Boxer beside him rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Do you have to be so . . . you, all the time?"

"Oh, most certainly," UFO replied without pulling his attention away from a monitor on the wall above him.

"Can you at least not do it near me?"

"Oh, shut up, the both of you, will you?" General Sahara said. He leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes. "I don't intend to listen to you bicker for the next forty years."

"He's the one who—"

Hell Boxer cut off as a strange whistling filled the caravan, growing louder and louder by the second. "Sir?" Baron Iron Mask said, looking around for the source.

Captain UFO tilted his ear to it, a smile spreading across his face. "I know that whistle."

A bright glow appeared at the top of the transport, gliding across the ceiling, over the four's heads and into the driver's section. The vehicle came to a sudden and abrupt halt, making the tires below screech. "What the?" they heard one of the drivers shout, immediately followed by the sound of machinery coming to life. Deafening screams soon filled the vehicle, followed by what sounded like two human bodies being ripped apart.

Silence fell as the strange glow moved back into the Big Four's compartment, splitting four ways toward each of the four members. Hell Boxer struggled and strained to get away. "No, no, get it off of me!"

The light moved up his seat and into his shackles, as it did for the other three. The four watched in tense apprehension as the light grew brighter and brighter, until finally, the shackles burst into a dozen tiny pieces each.

"What the—?" Baron Iron Mask said.

The door at the back of the transport unlocked and popped open of its own accord. "Humans known as the Crime Big Four," a strange ethereal voice said. "Follow me if you wish for freedom and power."

The four looked at each other, confused but interested. One by one, they got to their feet and stepped out of the caravan.

Back in the base, Benton looked over the remains of his ruined lab. The Shine had covered its tracks, destroying every computer and burning up all of his papers. The container that had once held the Shine was shattered, the glass orb inside crushed into dust.

"What did we do?" Kenny asked Benton, standing by his side. Benton looked up at his best friend, his face pale.

"Joshua and Peggy are on their way back," Gordon said.

Everyone in the room turned as the old Red and Pink Rangers appeared in the doorway, their birdies shutting off. Joshua deactivated his suit and stepped inside. "We lost track of it a few miles out. We've got General Kenpachi monitoring for any notable power surges."

Peggy, by his side, kept her suit on, marching straight into the lab and grabbing Benton by the throat.

"Hey, whoa, whoa," several different voices shouted as Peggy lifted Benton off the ground and pressed him up against the wall.

"What exactly did that thing mean when it called you its servant?" she demanded. "That you gave it what it needed."

"I don't know," Benton gasped, grasping at her hand. Her fingers tightened.

"You better not have betrayed us," she said. "I've dealt with enough traitors in my life. I don't plan on being tolerant of another."

"Peggy, let him go!" Kenny shouted, grabbing her arm and trying to pull her off. "He didn't do anything!"

Peggy glared at him. "Don't try me today, Kenny!" she snapped. "You're not off the hook right now either."

"Peggy, let him down!" Joshua's voice commanded.

Peggy scowled, but did as her commanding officer ordered, opening her fingers and letting Benton drop to the ground. Benton gasped and rubbed his throat as Peggy stepped back.

"She does bring up a good point though," Karen said, stepping up and looking over her teammate. "What exactly did it mean?"

Benton looked up at the crowd of faces gathered around him, the team he'd worked with for months, the old team he'd looked up to, and a handful of other non-ranger friends. "I—I may have done something bad," he said, getting to his feet.

"But he didn't mean to," Kenny cut in, stepping up in front of his friend. "He was just trying to help Agent Ten?"

Dayton raised an eyebrow. "Agent Ten?" he asked. "What does she have to do with any of this?"

Benton looked around at the destroyed lab, picking up a stack of burned papers. "I was . . . I was trying to recreate Doctor Kuchar's nanite formula. To help her."

He looked down at the papers, remembering the math that had come together in his head only a few hours before. He squinted at them, something not feeling right. Like the math somehow didn't make sense anymore, even though he knew it had at the time. "Some of the notes we had on the Shine's properties, they lined up with Doctor Kuchar's nanite work. I thought I could—I thought I had a chance of completing his work."

Peggy crossed her arms. "You didn't even consider it might be a bad idea? That thing was evil. It was made by the Vader Clan."

"Now, hey," Rio said, interrupting her and stepping up to stand beside Benton. "I had that thing inside me for days, and I had no idea it was alive. As far as any of us knew, it was just an alien power source. Benton couldn't have known this would happen."

"Maybe so," Joshua said, his face serious. "But his actions were still reckless and stupid." He looked between Benton and Kenny. "The both of you should have known better."

Both green rangers looked down, feeling ashamed. "Yes, we should have," Benton said. "I'm sorry."

The room was silent for a brief moment. Then Katie spoke up. "There is another question we need to ask," she said.

Everyone in the room looked back at her.

"Back there in the battle, the Shine was able to disable Rio. I assume that was because it had been inside him before. If so, then why was it able to affect Kenny and Benton too?"

Everyone looked at each other, remembering the event. Benton and Kenny looked at each other, Benton looking around at the destroyed computers all over the room. He remembered the moment, the Shine letting out a loud scream that made his body freeze up. Then he remembered being in the lab hours before, making his calculations while that obnoxious whistle filled his ears—

Benton looked up at Kenny again. "The whistling," he said.

Dayton raised an eyebrow. "The whistling?" he asked.

Benton looked around the room. "There was a whistling in here, when we were in here working," he said. "I think it was the same frequency and tone as the scream the Shine used on us. Do we have any cameras or recordings from here or in the commons room where the party was?"

Before anyone could answer, Joshua's communicator buzzed. He raised it to his ear and answered it. "This is Cage."

The rangers and their teammates waited as Joshua listened, responding with short phrases of "Yes" and "What" and "I understand." Finally, he switched off the comm and looked back at them all. "The Big Four have escaped."

"What?" Sean said, jumping to his feet.

Joshua shook his head. "The convoy appears to have been attacked. All the soldiers escorting them were found dead, their vehicles disabled. The Four were nowhere to be found."

The room fell silent, every ranger thinking the same thought. There was no way it was a coincidence. "Sounds like the Shine just recruited four new followers," Gordon said.

Several hundred miles away, the Big Four stepped into the abandoned CRIME laboratory where the Devil Machines were built. "Why have you brought us back here?" General Sahara shouted to the empty room. "This will be the first place they come to look for us."

"Fear not, my friends," that same strange voice said. "We will be leaving soon. I just wanted to gather a few things."

"Who exactly are you?" Hell Boxer shouted. "I don't plan on working for just anybody."

One of the few remaining Devil Machine capsules lit up with a bright glow, its door activating and sliding open. The Big Four stumbled back as a Devil Killer stepped out, its entire body glowing from the inside out. The robot raised its head, glowing yellow eyes taking them all in. "Oh, but the four of you already know me," it said. "And I have known you. You refer to me as the Shine."