Remus was sick of going through the whole 'this-is-who-we're-fighting-and-a-boring-explanation' speech. The first time was bad enough. He was so unbelievably bored. How could anyone sit there and listen to Thomas talk on and on like that. The second time was a little entertaining because Roman liked to add his little spin and Thomas didn't appreciate it as much as Roman thought he did. The third time was no fun at all. Patton, though he knew about the fight a decade ago that had ended with only one Ranger surviving, he still didn't exactly know who this new 'Prince Virgilius' was.

Now, it was the fourth time around and Remus felt he could recite it to Dee himself without any help. He didn't want to do that because he was still pissed at Dee-leave it to Remus to hold grudges-but he still could explain it by memory nonetheless.

"The Dragon Witch." Thomas began.

The Rangers plus Thomas were sat in Thomas's basement that doubled as a little hideout for the Rangers. It was decorated like an old 90's dream club house. Patton and Roman sat in paw print patterned bean bags, sharing a chocolate bar. Logan stood at his conspiracy wall-he didn't call it that, but Remus knew all too well it was a conspiracy wall. And Dee was sat down on the pink inflatable couch.

"She began her attack on Earth hundreds of years ago. This you know from your average history class. Back then Power Rangers were all over the globe. Essentially one Ranger per continent. Though Antarctica didn't quite need to be covered."

"No one messes with penguins!" Patton chimed in goofily. This got a laugh out of Roman and a small smile from Thomas.

"Then the Power Rangers disappeared for a century. No explanation, no help for the public, nothing." Thomas tried to continue.

"The Red Century." Logan said plainly from where he stood.

"Yes. That's when the Red Century began. The Red Century however, abruptly ended when the Dragon Witch pulled her armies and stopped her attack all together." Thomas stated. "That was until the early 1900s when she began to specifically attack America. Then centralizing Florida, then our town. We didn't quite know why, until the Rangers of the 30s began to fight back."

"Since then, the Rangers have been chosen from generation to generation." Thomas moved over to stand by Logan's timeline. "A little over 20 years ago, my friends and I became the Rangers you knew as a child."

"Valerie, Red Ranger. Dominic, Green Ranger. Terrence, Yellow Ranger. Joan, Blue Ranger. Talyn, Pink Ranger. And Thomas, the Black Ranger." Logan pointed to pictures of each of the Rangers as he says their name.

"Until ten years ago, when, uhm-" Thomas's voice wavered.Remus saw him look to Patton who gave a small smile and turned to Dee, getting out of his bean bag and walking to the fridge by Logan's conspiracy board.

"Do you remember ten years ago when the Rangers disappeared?" Patton asked. "Everyone thought the Red Century was starting again."

"Of course. It was chaos," Dee sat back on the couch. "until the Black Ranger, or Thomas I guess, started fighting again."

"I was in recovery for a few months after we battled the Dragon Witch herself. The others didn't uh. . . di-didn't make it. I was the only Ranger until, well Roman and Remus." Thomas gestured to the twins.

Dee was avoiding Remus's eye. It was so deliberate Remus just wanted to shout 'You're really bad at this! It's so pathetic you're making me feel sorry for you. Just say something! Coward.'

"And now I'm-" Dee took a breath. "The Yellow Ranger."

"Whoop!!" Patton raised a Mountain Dew from the fridge in the air in a cheer.

"Mountain Dew?" Logan asked. "Should you be drinking that, when was the last time the drinks in there were replenished?"

"I'm sorry, but Mountain Dew from forever ago? Does there happen to be any red Mountain Dew in there?"

"Is this another The Prom reference?" Logan asked in an annoyed tone.

"No, Be More Chill, but good for you, guessing a Broadway show." Roman smiled.

"Well you don't talk about much other than Broadway so one can only assume." Logan mumbled and turned back to the board.

"What else in the world is worth talking about?!" Roman exclaimed. "Other than Lizzo and/or Zendaya."

"Cheers to that!" Patton lightly threw a Red Mountain Dew to Roman who missed the catch but snatched it off the floor with a bit of a deflated look.

"And this, Prince, that we're fighting he-"

"Prince Virgilius. He started leading the Dragon Witch's armies four years ago. I'm honestly not sure where he came from or what his true powers are. The teleportation has been something he's always had, but the fire, is new as of a few months ago." Thomas informed him.

"So far, no idea as to where he came from-"

"Where he'll go!" Roman cut in.

"Where he's come from Cotton Eye Joe." Patton finished.

"I feel this should be a more serious discussion." Logan said plainly to Thomas.

"Lo-Lo, we're sitting on inflatable furniture in a decked out, early 90s, fever dream." Remus pointed out. "You're not gonna get serious while down here. Throw me a soda Pat?"

"Please never call me that." Logan rolled his eyes.

Patton chuckled and threw a Mountain Dew to Remus. His ability to catch was no better than Roman's, so the soda hit him in the chest as his arms fumbled to catch it.

"Sorry Remus." Patton recoiled and apologized.

"How are you guys Power Rangers? You can't catch a thing! At least Patton can throw." Dee scoffed.

"Dee, please, we're gay, we can't catch for anything." Roman sighed.

"Bet! I can catch hands!" Remus opened his soda and took a long sip.

"Alright bet!" Roman stood.

"Well this isn't a very hero-like conversation." Emile giggled from the stairs.

"What are you doing down here? You shouldn't be listening to this." Thomas crosses his arms.

"Yeah well, you're all loud." Emile stated cheerfully. "Besides, I don't see why I can't listen. I already know everything."

"It's true he does." Patton shrugged. "However, Emile, you shouldn't really have to worry about any of this."

"You knew all of this when you were younger than me." Emile argued.

"Yeah, um, how's that?" Dee asked.

Patton walked back to his bean bag and sat down. "Talyn was my adoptive parent. My birth mother in South Korea was unable to keep me. So, a while after I was born, Talyn adopted me. I grew up around the Rangers."

"Patton dreamed of being a Ranger. For years that was all you would hear about." Thomas chuckled fondly.

"Six years after Talyn got Patton, my dad here, got me." Emile sat next to Patton on the bean bag.

"Then, after the Rangers fought the Dragon Witch, and Talyn didn't make it," Patton's voice broke a little, but he recovered quickly. "I was put in foster care."

"Luckily I was able to make a deal with the FBI about Patton's foster family." Thomas said.

"FBI?"

"What?" Thomas turned back around to see everyone in the room looking at him confused. "Did you all really think we were some group of hero's that reported to no one? It's a bit like the Avengers, they reported to shield who had to follow special guidelines set by the government. The Rangers are in contact with the government to protect our identities and to keep track of us."

It was silent. Remus looked around, Roman and Patton seemed to be having a silent conversation while Logan looked like the human version of a computer trying to calculate some weird math thing. Dee just looked a little overwhelmed by all of what was happening. But Remus wouldn't really know what that expression looks like on Dee. He definitely wasn't reading Dee like a picture book.

"If we're the avengers then Logan is Tony Stark and Patton is Steve." Emile said softly, attempting to relieve a little bit of the tension.

"Oh my god!" Roman looked to Emile. "And you're their son Peter Parker."

"Yes!" Emile pointed to Roman in agreement.

"What?" Logan squeaked.

"I love it!" Patton said suddenly, eyes bright. He moved to Emile and wrapped him in a hug.

"Logan look at our beautiful son!"

Remus burst into laughter. "Logan looks like a malfunctioning computer! Oh my god!!" Logan's ears turned bright pink and he turned away. However, this only resulted in Remus laughing more. He laughed so hard he fell to the floor, almost in tears. Roman was clearly having a hard time holding in his laughter while Dee shamelessly snorted at Logan's expression.

"Now don't be mean." Patton scolded jokingly.

"I will never understand you kids." Thomas shook his head.

"You're a guidance counselor." Emile pointed out.

"Doesn't mean I'm any good." Thomas shrugged turning back to Logan's board.

The laughter died down, but Remus for the life of him couldn't wipe his smile off his face. It felt good to smile with everyone.

. . .

Remus still didn't talk to Dee that much and he stopped interacting with Kayley all together because of it. The only tome he really felt sorry about it was when he overheard Kayley lashing out at Dee for messing up so she couldn't get her stuff any more. Remus didn't really feel much remorse for him though. It was Dee's fault after all, right?  He figured Dee would say something sooner or later, so it was best to just get on with his life. Besides, he already was forced to see Dee more than he would have liked, what with their weekly Power Ranger meetings.

It had been a few weeks since Dee joined the team, and Remus had to admit, they worked together well enough. In that time Logan had decided there must be a pattern to Virgilius's attacks. It would seem random to anyone just casually observing, but Logan was convinced there was something behind it. The most likely theory was posed by Patton, he thought it had something to do with the moon rotation, but that still didn't sit well with Logan.

Surprising to everyone including himself, Remus discovered a pattern.

"The last attack on the upper east side of the town," Logan pointed to that side of a map of the town. "was September 14th."

"Mhm." Patton nodded along.

"Then he once again attacked the upper east side on September 30th." Logan stated. "However, the most recent attack was on the west side of town, two weeks ago on the 3rd."

Remus sighed. He pulled out his phone and stopped paying attention. He never contributed to these strategy talks anyway. This was for the others really. They were the ones who knew stuff. Remus just punched stuff.

As Dee joined the conversation, proposing the location of attacks could be the real pattern, Remus looked up to see Logan making a list. One column was dated of attacks and the other was where in the town the attacks took place. Remus looked back down at his phone, popping in a blue tooth ear bud and listening to a few of the more recent chapters of a fan fiction he was following.

Then, it hit him.

"I know the pattern!!!" Remus jumped up. "I know it! I know what his pattern is!!"

"Wh-what?" Dee asked.

"Remus, explain." Logan looked at his skeptical.

"Preferable less yelling next time kiddo."

"Yeah Pat, sure." Remus gave Patton a nod and walked up to the three at Logan's conspiracy board. "Here, there's this really popular fan fiction-"

Dee and Roman snorted before Patton and Remus shot them both dirty looks.

"Anyway! There's this really popular fanfic called Downright. It's about reddie, ya know Richie and Eddie from It." Remus went on. "I don't really read it, I listen to the audio version on YouTube."

"Get to the point please." Dee rolled his eyes.

Remus scoffed but did so anyway. "Look, here, since August, every attack has been a day after a new chapter is posted. I mean, this can't be a coincidence."

Remus handed Logan his phone who went to reaffirm Remus's hypotheses. Logan mumbled each chapter title posted since August and the date they were posted. Then matched it with an attack.

"Here, look, the author had been trying for a few months to post regularly, but took a break here." Remus pointed on the phone. "Then that Prince dude stopped."

"Around the time I became a Ranger." Patton noted, writing on the board.

"Then she posts another chapter and boom! A day after he's back at it!" Remus pointed to the place Logan had marked on his map of the town that corresponded to the attack Remus was talking about.

"So what does this mean, the Prince is some kind of fanboy?" Roman asked from his seat.

"Well, from this information we can assume that not only does our general study humans but takes interest in human things, to the point where he's, um, reading fanfiction about it." Logan began. "We can start a profile of Virgilius. If we have an idea of who he is, then predicting what he'll do next will only be easier."

"Ooo, this is like an episode of Sherlock!" Patton beamed.

"You watch Sherlock?" Logan questioned.

"I'm getting into it." Patton shrugged. "I can relate to Watson a lot."

"He's the bi one!" Roman declared. "Right? Sherlock's gay and Watson's bi?"

"Well, I've never posed that question. However! Not the topic of conversation we should be focusing on." Logan turned to Remus, handing him back the phone. "What can you tell us about people who typically read this, uh, fanfiction?"

"Well, to be honest, most of them are repressed gays. Definitely has a Tumblr blog, that's likely where he found the fic. Um, a horror fan but not classic horror, modern horror, and is probably pretty progressive. Because he's reading this fic it means he wasn't happy with the ending of It Chapter 2." Remus started.

"Meaning he had to somehow see the movie!" Patton continued jotting stuff down.

"Really, there's not much. It's not like other fandoms. He's definitely not in Thomas's generation because they aren't exactly fans of Reddie." Remus looked away. "He could either be a younger millennial or older gen-z. But other than that I can't say much else. People in the It fandom don't have any stereotypes like other fandoms. I mean some of them are insane 12 year olds."

"We can rule that one out." Logan dismissed. "However, Remus, what you said is more helpful than you think. We've got a rough profile of what he's like. We can use that to predict his moves. Granted, it's not the best information, but something is better than nothing."

"Plus, we've got Remus." Roman got up and walked over with the others. "You can tell us when the author uploads a chapter and we'll be prepared for the next day."

"Yeah, but she's almost done with the work. Like three chapters left at the most." Remus said, abruptly killing the mood.

It was quiet for a beat too long.

"Well, in the time we have, we've just gotta try our best to learn as much as we can about him!" Patton smiled through it.

"Besides, since we know he bases his attacks off of when something he likes is released, we can find another thing he might be interested in and use that as a predictor." Logan looked to his board, now adorning a list of attributes the Rangers know about Virgilius.

"Hey kids! I've got pizza bagels." Thomas yelled from the kitchen.

Patton and Roman cheered and raced up the stairs. Logan chuckled and followed the two with a fond expression. Remus watched them go. He couldn't help but feel a smile on his face. It felt kinda nice to help them. Granted they still were losers-well, not Patton-but Remus had to admit, having more than Dee to care about him felt good.

"Remus?"

Speak of the devil.

Remus peered at Dee from the side of his eye before moving to the stairs.

"Remus, hang on okay! This is so childish." Dee scoffed.

"What's childish? Me? You can add that to your list." Remus sneered and Dee flinched from his comment.

"No-I. . ." Dee looked away, Remus wondered if he was deciding whether he was annoyed or sorry. "I'm sorry I said those things."

Sorry it is.

"I mean it, I am. I should have know how hurt they would make you feel." Dee admitted. "I've never really apologized to anyone so I'm not too good at this-"

"But you're trying." Remus cut him off. "Look, Patton and I have been talking. He's trying to help me get into the college I like."

"That one for design and fashion?" Dee asked hesitantly.

"Yeah." Remus smiles a little when he said that. "You remembered."

"Mhm." Dee nodded.

"Well, yeah. I don't exactly have the chance of getting in if I keep doing," Remus gestured to himself. "this. So, I'm gonna forgive you. You don't deserve it frankly, cause I know you've said even worse stuff about me in the past, I just never said anything. But, Patton is certain that if I act all nice and stuff like this, then I'll have an easier time getting in. So, it's fine. I forgive you and everything."

"Oh. Well, okay. So, we're cool?" Dee looked a little dumbfounded. Remus wished he could take a picture.

"Yeah sure." Remus shrugged.

If you asked Remus why he lied to Dee he wouldn't be able to give you an answer. He could say that he didn't lie, but he had. There was no talk with Patton about being nice. The two did talk about college because Patton has an insufferable habit of helping people, but Patton had never mentioned Remus forgiving Dee. So, why would he say that? Simply put, Remus doesn't know. He doesn't know why he forgave Dee for saying those things. He's sure he shouldn't have, that Dee didn't truly care and forgiving him would be a mistake.

Then he saw Dee's face. He had just looked so disappointed. Though, not in Remus. Remus really didn't know why that struck him so hard, but he forgave the boy and moved on. Letting it go. Why he lied and said Patton told him too? Well, a boy must keep up his reputation.