Bill hated these updates. He hated that he would willingly go see the monster who threatened him and his family. He hated that he had to provide her with information that would inevitably help her twisted plans come to life.

"So?" Oedius asked him, knowing that if she didn't prompt him to talk, he might stall. Though she had nowhere to be, she didn't like waiting on information.

"So far, so good," Bill said, speaking more from Oedius' perspective than his own. "I don't think they suspect anything."

"What makes you say that?"

"I had a lovely breakfast with my wife, daughter and her girlfriend," Bill said. "After that, their friends came over. They told me everything."

"Everything?" Oedius asked. "So now they know you know?"

"They know I know what they told me," Bill said. "They're the Power Rangers. It was Sarah's clone technology that Galvanax used in the attacks that killed me."

Bill's blood started to boil there. While he had already known all this, hearing his daughter tell him her biggest regret, and how it had weighed heavily on her angered him. He didn't blame her for his "death". He always knew his daughter's inventive spirit might land her into a bit of trouble, especially if her tools fell into the wrong hands. It was a fear of inventors everywhere. However, he had seen Sarah grow up. He knew there wasn't a malicious bone in her body. She never would have allowed her technology to be used in such a destructive way.

But she blamed herself, and because of Oedius, Bill couldn't be there to comfort her.

"Did they tell you anything else?" Oedius asked. It was no surprise to Bill that she didn't care about anything he said unless it provided her with information that she needed to take over this planet. His family's pain meant nothing.

"Not yet. I think they're going to let this sink in first," Bill said. "See how I handle it before I get the more sensitive stuff."

"You're a good mole," Oedius said with a smile. "Keep it up, and we might be able to renegotiate something a little more in your favour."

As Oedius walked away, Bill stood, shocked by what he had heard. Oedius planned on giving him a little more? She was willing to renegotiate as long as he was a willing participant in her plan? Well, willing in the loosest sense of the word. If Bill had his way, none of this would be happening. However, if he continued to provide her with true information and gained her trust, she would be more willing to give him what he wanted. Maybe, this could work for him. Maybe, the more control he let Oedius think she had, the more control he could gain for himself.

He knew he had to tread lightly, but with little to lose, he couldn't see a reason not to test this out. At the very least, as long as he did as Oedius asked, she had promised Sarah's survival.

-Ninja-Steel-

Mick scratched his head, then was about to say something, but stopped himself and scratched his head again. He looked to Sarah, then to the other Rangers, started to say something, but stopped himself and frowned.

"We know it's risky," Kelly finally spoke, knowing Mick could keep this up for at least another five minutes. "We've been fooled by a plan like this already, but we thought if we control the information that gets out, we might be able to… figure this out."

"If we give him a few days to sit on this and Oedius doesn't push anything, we can reveal a little more," Brody said. "Like the false location of our Ranger base."

"I get that part," Mick nodded his head. "It's just… I don't understand how he can be alive."

He turned his attention to Sarah. She was the only other person who had been on the scene of her father's death. While she hadn't seen it happen for herself, she knew his condition – how badly injured he had been – and the danger that surrounded them. While she still argued that if they had gotten her father to the present time, they would be able to help him, she had since relented that the odds of his survival were very slim, even by her standards. As much as she wanted to hold on to hope, Mick knew a part of Sarah was aware that her mission wouldn't have ended the way she wanted.

"Stranger things have happened," Sarah said. "Levi turned out to be Aiden. How did dad surviving any less likely than that?"

"Aiden was never presumed dead," Mick said. "He simply disappeared."

"As a child," Sarah countered. "How many missing kids turn up alive after ten years?"

"Uh, guys, I am in the room, you know," Levi reminded them, and they gave him apologetic glances.

"Sarah, I watched your father die," Mick told her. "I saw his condition and… Even if it was possible for a perfectly healthy and strong man to survive being crushed by a giant Galvanax's foot, in your father's state it just… he couldn't have made it. Then to be buried under all that rubble…"

"But there has to be a way, Mick," Sarah said. "Look, I'm not going to cross out the possibility that Oedius has her hand in this somehow. I'm not saying that since I think this is dad, we need to trust him. I know we shouldn't. I'm just saying it's possible that this really is my dad. It's not a robot or a fake. He's the real deal."

"Real?" Mick said with a frown, the scratched his chin as he turned away from the Rangers. "Real, huh?"

"Yeah. Like the man who claims to be my dad is my dad. The real deal."

"No, no, I get that," Mick said. "It's just… thinking back to… well, when he died, your dad said something about being real. Or… not real or… give me a minute to think about it."

"He said something?" Sarah asked but was shushed by Mick as he tapped his fist to his forehead, trying to jog his memory of the day. It had been absolute chaos, and his sole focus had been keeping himself and Sarah alive long enough to make it back home. The rest of the details were fuzzy, but Mick did remember Bill saying something about being real.

"I'm not real," Bill said and Mick frowned. "Please, don't let anything happen to her for me. It's not worth it."

"You're not real?"

Mick remembered being baffled by this statement. How could Bill not be real?

"Mick, what did my dad say?" Sarah asked, growing impatient.

"He said he wasn't real," Mick told her, and Sarah seemed just as confused as he felt. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. "I don't know what he meant. He was in such a bad way, it could have just been nonsense."

"But it's something to consider," Brody said. "There's no way Sarah's dad could be buried, and then return almost like nothing ever happened."

"So one of them was a fake," Calvin nodded. "We just have to find out which one."

"I guess we keep feeding him information, bit by bit, as he earns it," Preston suggested. They really didn't have any other options, unfortunately. They had no know of knowing if Sarah's father was a real or not. Not wanting to make the same mistake they did with Aiden; the Rangers didn't want to be too trusting until they were absolutely sure Bill was the real deal. However, sensitive to the conflict it would cause Sarah, they also didn't want to assume that Bill was a fake, or a traitor until that could be confirmed. They were in a limbo of sorts, and they only thing they could agree on as a way out was to slowly feed Bill information, whether credible or false, to see what he did – how he reacted.

"Yeah, sounds good," Sarah agreed, and the Ranger meeting concluded. As everyone cleared out of the Romero Barn, Sarah hung back. Brody saw her looking a little glum and stayed with her. He put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know it's got to suck," he said. "Feels like he's in arm's reach but still just a little too far."

"It kinda feels exactly like that," Sarah nodded her head. "I just… I want to know, one way or the other, what the deal is."

"It's rough," Brody agreed. "I think that's why I was so insistent on believing Aiden when he said he was my brother. I waited so long to see him again and I didn't want to wait any longer if I didn't have to."

"Do you regret it?" Sarah asked.

"Regret what?"

"Trusting him so readily? Even if he wasn't the real Aiden, at least for a time if felt like you had your brother back."

"But he wasn't my brother," Brody said. "Maybe it's different because we found Levi, the real Aiden, so soon after but… I do regret it. If I could go back in time and change something…"

"No recommended," Sarah interrupted with a little chuckle. "Just, from experience, I mean."

"Right," Brody smiled. "But if I could, I'd have taken your warnings about him a bit more seriously. I'd have done the limbo thing, like you're doing now. As tough as it would have been, I think the fallout would have hurt less, and the payoff would have been that much sweeter."

"You think?"

"Well, you can't be betrayed by someone you didn't trust," Brody said. "You can still be hurt, still feel like a fool, but at least you're kind of ready for it. That has to soften the blow even a little bit."

"I'll let you know."

"And, if it turns out he is the real deal, imagine how good it's going to feel to have him back and know, without a doubt, that it's him."

"Can we just fast-forward to that?" Sarah asked and Brody chuckled lightly.

"I think the consequences of traveling forward in time are the same as going back." He gave Sarah a tight, comforting hug, then looked her in the eyes with a smile as he pulled away. "Just hang on a little longer and we'll get you the answer you need."

"Whether I like it or not."

"Yeah. But at least, whatever happens, you still have your mom, and Kelly and the rest of us," Brody nodded. "You'll come out of this ahead, no matter what."