He had been chewed out twice now. Twice, by two different women.

Bill expected it from his wife. Jenny wasn't happy with the decision he had made to keep her and Sarah safe. She couldn't understand why he would choose to work with Madam Oedius, or why he would allow her to kill another Ranger parent. Jenny didn't understand and Bill didn't expect her to.

He thought he would get a different response from Kathryn. She herself would admit she could never win mother of the year. She had screwed up from the start – to the point where it seemed she had two children taken from her. Bill didn't know about the other – about Sarah's half-sibling – but still, to have a child taken from you completely, you had to be a really bad parent.

Kathryn had moved on from Sarah. She stopped fighting for custody shortly after Bill won and he didn't hear much from her since. He thought that meant she didn't care for her daughter anymore, and while that wasn't what he wanted, he figured she might have some advice for how to let go. He was doing what he thought was right for Sarah, even if she didn't like it. He didn't need her to love and adore him right now. He only needed her safe.

But that was still hard to do when he cared so much about being loved by his daughter. He wanted her to see that though he was making tough, hurtful choices, he was doing it to help her and her friends.

Instead, Kathryn had chewed him out, claiming that he was just as bad a parent as she was. She couldn't believe he would side against his daughter in a war that was likely to kill her.

That had come as a bit of a reality check. If this wasn't the decision Kathryn, a well-known bad mother, would make for her daughter… was Bill really doing the right thing?

"Dammit, I knew this wouldn't work," Oedius said, mostly to herself, as she and Bill watched a fight on the monitor. She had just sent out her latest monster to fight the Rangers, certain that he would be able to do some damage to them while they were still reeling from the white Ranger's mother's death, but it seemed like, instead, they were taking this as an opportunity to let off some steam. The green and the white Ranger especially were fighting hard. They were relentless in their attacks. Nothing seemed to tire them out.

Her monster was strong, but she didn't really expect him to win. Bill knew a lot of the time, she sent out monsters she knew would lose because she cared more about the long-term damage to the Rangers than allowing those monsters to win her battle. Causing a rift in their friendship, even breaking a few bones and weakening the team long enough to guarantee her a win against them was all she needed. Unlike Galvanax, she didn't need to prove she was the strongest and the best warrior. She just needed everyone to see that she couldn't be defeated. They would be loyal and serve her, or they would be met with severe punishment.

It had worked on him, after all. At least, to a certain extent. Certain this monster wouldn't survive the fight, and certain the Rangers weren't going to be any worse off for fighting him, Oedius turned her attention away from the monitor and walked off. Bill knew she was going to plot her next move. He kept watching.

Like Oedius, he knew the monster was going to lose. It was only a matter of time. He didn't think it made a difference if he watched or not, but he was glad he did. He saw the monster go after Sarah in an attack. This wasn't too worrying for him. He had a deal with Oedius. The monsters could attack Sarah, but they couldn't kill her – or severely hurt her. Still, they could act like they would. Oedius said it pushed the other Rangers to come to her defense, making them vulnerable.

But this monster didn't pretend. He found an opening and swung, cutting through her suit. When he saw blood, he was supposed to back off. Instead, he swung again. Kelly jumped to Sarah's defense, protecting her until the others could finish off the monster, but Bill was done. He stormed off, following Oedius down to her room. He stormed through the door.

"He almost killed my daughter!"

"I'm sure you're exaggerating," Oedius said dismissively. She didn't even look up at Bill.

"I just watched him! No blood. You promised!"

"It happens in fights," Oedius told him. "You can't have a battle for the planet without a few drops of blood. Your daughter must have pushed him."

"He didn't back off," Bill frowned. "We had a deal. I work for you, you don't put my daughter in danger. You told that monster that if he drew blood to back off, right?"

"If we made a deal, then I must have," Oedius said as she finally turned to face Bill. "After all, you've been loyal to me. Why would I want to risk that?"

"So then why didn't he stop?" Bill asked. "Why did it take Kelly jumping in to get him to back off?"

"You'll have to ask him," Oedius shrugged just as there was a cry from down the hall, where a few of the foot soldiers had still been watching the battle – too stupid to understand it was a losing one. Their cries indicated the monster had been defeated. "Well, I guess we'll never know."

"You need to make sure you tell every monster not to hurt my daughter," Bill growled as he stepped toward Oedius threateningly. "You make that a priority and you tell them if they do, they won't live long enough to brag about it."

"Excuse me?" Oedius stood up. Now Bill had her full attention. "Are you telling me what to do?"

"We had a deal."

"And is your daughter still alive?" Oedius asked. "Have I not followed through with my end of the bargain?"

"Well…"

"While you're off, talking to your daughter, your wife, your ex-lover…"

"You know about that?"

"I know everything, you idiot!" Oedius shouted. "You don't think that after Aiden, after Drex, that I wouldn't make sure to follow you around to ensure you don't do anything stupid!"

"I…"

"Your loyalty wavers, slave, while I hold up my promise of keeping your precious daughter alive!" Oedius shouted at him. "But if we're going to argue the finer details of this bargain, I may just have to make some new arrangements…"

"I…"

"You could lose everything if you cross me," Oedius reminded him. "You ever question me, or speak to me like that again, and I'll strip you of all the freedom I've granted you and I'll have you chained up, watching helplessly as I slowly and painfully kill your daughter with my own hands. Do you understand me?"

"Y-Yes," Bill answered, his voice wavering as he ducked out of Oedius' room cowardly.

-Ninja-Steel-

"It doesn't look deep," Kelly said as she examined Sarah's fresh wound after their battle. It was routine for them all to be checked up after a fight to be sure there were no lasting injuries. Cuts, scraps and bruises were common, but despite usually being non-threatening, there was always a chance that they indicated something more. When there was blood, the Rangers always wanted to be careful. "I don't think it'll need stitches."

"But it hurts," Sarah whined and looked up at her girlfriend painfully. Kelly chuckled as she started to wrap the wound.

"I used to think of you as superwoman," she said. "When did you let cuts start to hurt you?"

"When she knew she could get you to buy her ice-cream if she whined enough," Calvin said with a bit of a laugh. Sarah frowned at him.

"You're ruining my plan," she said softly.

"Sorry," he answered back teasingly.

"So you really are fine?" Kelly asked the pink Ranger, who nodded her head.

"Yeah… unfortunately," Sarah inspected the bandage when Kelly was done, then sulked as the green Ranger put the first aid kit away.

"No one else needs this, right?"

"We're all good," Brody nodded. "We did really well together, today."

"We do well all the time," Preston said. "Is it just me or, does it feel like Oedius is going easy on us a bit?"

"You think this is easy?" Hayley asked. She still felt a little out of breath. She knew she had put more energy into the battle that she probably should have, but it wasn't often she got to take out her anger over her mother's death on a monster that she could actually kill. "I mean, it hasn't been especially tough but…"

"I don't mean easy like let's stop morphing and tell jokes while we're fighting easy," Preston said. "I just mean… I don't see any of the latest monsters being real threats to us."

"Maybe your dad does really have a deal with Oedius going?" Levi suggested to Sarah, who immediately frowned at the suggestion. Levi chuckled. "I mean, he's got to have a deal going for him to turn like that but… maybe it really is a sweet deal. Maybe… it's possible he's actually trying to help?"

"By killing Anne?"

"I'm just saying," Levi put his hands up defensively as Sarah continued to glare at him. All the Rangers knew to mention her father as little as possible, but Levi thought it needed to be said. "Maybe, if this keeps up, we hear him out next time he reaches out."

"He's reached out," Sarah said.

"And?"

"Nothing justifies what he did."

"I'm not saying that," Levi assured her. "It's just… I've been Oedius' prisoner. I know what she can do. Maybe your dad managed to play his cards right and earn a bit of her trust."

Sarah pointed to her bandage, "I'm the one dad's protecting and I'm the one bleeding. I highly doubt this would be part of the deal he arranged. All these soft monsters have to just be a coincidence."

"Coincidence? Really?" Preston asked. He agreed with Sarah. If her father really had turned on the Rangers, with the big picture being he was really trying to protect them, it didn't make sense that Sarah would return from any battle with injuries – even if they weren't serious. Still, he had known Sarah long enough. She was a woman of science. Everything had to have an explanation. Everything had to have a reason. There was no coincidence for her. "You believe it's a coincidence?"

"I don't believe we have enough evidence to assume dad is really doing everything he can to help us," Sarah said. "And he's not willing to accept our help getting him away from Oedius."

"Sarah…"

"Just let it go," Sarah got up, grabbed her hoverboard and turned to Kelly. "I'll give you a ride home."

"You're okay to…"

"Let's go," Sarah barked at the green Ranger, who quickly reached for her bag and helmet and hurried off after her girlfriend.

"Great," Calvin said, throwing his arms up in the air as he turned to Levi and Preston, "You just had to piss her off with that dad stuff, didn't you?"

"I was just suggesting," Levi said. "I mean, it's got to be more than a coincidence that all these monsters have been a bit too easy, right?"

"Yeah, but you had to say it out loud?" Calvin asked. "Now when I drop Hayley off, I've got to stop for ice-cream on the way."

"Sarah isn't your girlfriend, though."

"Calvin's the ice-cream man," Hayley explained.

"Dude, if Sarah's pissed, all the girls are going to be pissed," Calvin said. "And when you're the only dude in two couples, all the ice-cream duties fall on you."

"Very true," Hayley nodded. "Though, this time can we pick up mint chip. I'm a little tired of strawberry."

"But Sarah's the one upset," Calvin said.

"But I'm your girlfriend," Hayley told him.

"You owe me," Calvin told Levi and Preston as they walked out.