Sai experimented with this new shell, the plates moving independently before he tugged at the lapels of his new coat. Tai asked him, 'Is the jacket entirely necessary, Father?'

Sai grumbled, 'I seriously need to talk with Tak about this because...' He trailed off and was annoyed at the laugh that Tai gave in response. Given that he was in an artificial body, he and his 'son' could speak freely and internally without issue. He had been informed of what had happened with the rest, but wasn't sure if he should play coy about it. Tai seemed intent to let him process this himself. Instead, he responded to his companion, 'I know. She has a new name now. I just need time to adjust my thinking.'

As he did, Dean stepped into the workshop with a dour look on his face, offering a device to him. "Good to have you back. Would love to chat, but I need to get your opinion on something. You have a spot I can plug this in?" Sai rolled his eyes and used one of his many different interface tools to latch onto the device and absorb the report in its entirety. He paused which caused Dean to grow pointlessly anxious. "I'm sorry that we-"

Sai cut him off, "It isn't your fault. Or his. Not really." Thinking through the events that happened, knowing that Sienna was dead and without having ever remembered their history, it chilled him. He wanted to divide those emotions from himself. He never knew her. She never knew him. They were total strangers. But Shawn's memories and emotions were as real as his own. So real he almost missed the most important aspect. "Wait, he used callouts. Specifically..." Remembering they were in the HQ and being recorded, he kept his processing internal, but a brief nod from Dean told him that he was just as worried as Sai was.

Sai knew all the callouts by heart, quite literally. It was the only way to make sure they couldn't simply be stolen by body snatchers and mind readers. They could still be used by someone who had learned them other ways, but it was the closest solution for time travel and dimensional crossbleed to prevent pretenders. That said, those callouts were Shawn's. Specifically for when he needed to let everyone know he was doing the right thing in a crisis situation. Prevented his friends from mistaking morally grey decisions for a fall into villainy even if they were causing things to get worse. Sai knew better than anyone that there were only two people who would know those responses. Three now that he was alive...

'Tai, mark target Phoenix Emperor as the Bastard moving forward.' Sai couldn't be certain who this person was but with only two suspects on his list, the rest would have to come from context clues.

Tai asked, 'Who is this Phoenix King you keep thinking of?' Sai was annoyed at this new dynamic because he did appreciate some mystery and nuance to his behaviors, but since Tai wasn't a replica like him, he didn't have a proper understanding. Sai debated responding but pushed ahead anyway. Tai, realizing he wasn't getting the answer right this minute, stated, 'Target The Bastard has just left Anisa's holding cell with the Captain in tow. Would you like me to navigate you to their location?' Sai gave approval and a mini map of the floor layout as well as a visual overlay played out in front of him. Man, this was Blaze's old model? No wonder he was so impressive in the field. How many secrets had his old mentor taught him? Regardless, Sai nodded discreetly to be excused, much to Dean's confusion before a beeping on the officer's badge made clear he was being summoned to his boss' office. That suited Sai just fine.

“Not your crew. That cheap photocopy isn’t worth a damn.” The Bastard laughed sardonically, “I remember the previous timeline. That’s a bad copy of a worse man.”

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“I would resent that if you weren’t right about that selfish bastard.” So far, this was to be expected from both. Impossible to read just yet. Leithan jolted as Sai walked up behind them. It was time to throw a jab and see how the man responded. “Just a totally clueless idiot. So focused on his mission that he didn’t bother to live his own life. By the time he realized it, it was far too late. When he comes back I’m going to kick his ass on his own behalf.” The Bastard seemed to be fuming, but there was a disconnect. It wasn't his words, but possibly that he had snuck up on him that bothered his target.

Those venomous eyes tried to rip Sai apart joint by joint. Tai threw his own thoughts in, 'Given his repeated comments about you being a copy, do you think that's why he hates you?'

'Negative. Whichever one this is, they would hate me for who I am a copy of more than me being a copy.' He elaborated, 'One hates Shawn for what Shawn appears to be and the other hates him for who he is. And he has chosen the perfect moniker. Leithan was the true name of the Phoenix King before he disowned it to claim his old title, Equinox. And both parties knew that about him. And both didn't care.'

Realizing that Anisa was surprised by his new body, he motioned to it and chuckled, “Despite this man’s complaints, his pet arms dealer contacted a Bioelectric Living Automaton for a new body. Far more articulation, military grade armor plating. Even optimized circuits to let the energy from my crystal flow more cleanly.” It was an odd choice to put him in contact with the Automata, but what interested Sai more was the response the man gave.

“You look stupid, Calamity Jane.” The Bastard glowered before turning away, his eyes growing dark. That was interesting. He continued, “And I need you optimal for where we are going next. If you aren’t at your prime then if things go sideways I won’t have the backup I need. Not that Zora here isn’t enough firepower. You are a body. Nothing more. Now keep up. We have a lot of prep to do.” The tone was again cold and disconnected. Jaded and broken. While this could still be either suspect, Sai's intuition gave him a strong theory. Either one would do all they could to throw off the trail and both would know that Dean would blab. But still, it was a darkness that Sai was familiar with.

In fact, when he turned to look at Anisa he saw the same darkness in her. Disconcerting to say the least. Trying to probe the shadows and see if she was in there, he whispered, “Good to see you, Cap. Haven’t had time to debrief on the mission with anyone yet. Snazzy new armor. I dig it. That said, are you okay?” No response. She had fallen into her self-loathing again. He had seen this so much when they were kids, but... no. No he had seen this a lot in Shawn's memories. It wasn't his place and he knew that. “You do you, I guess. Just don’t expect everyone else to let it slide either. That said, Permiso is about as dead as a Supernova can kill a person.” Anisa paused mid-step to his absentminded comment and he could only assume that she was not ready to face it. Shaking her head and continuing her walk, he sighed again and matched her pace. It wasn't his place. She would figure it out in her own time.

As they entered the hanger, Sai was surprised at the entire crew being here. Not just from the Ziegfried but some old faces from Shawn's past. Ra'cil, the smuggler who had been Shawn's first partner. The first friend Shawn had been forced to kill when Ra'cil betrayed him. But more than that, he saw something that chilled him to the bone and nearly froze him in place. There Gena stood, the gold scorpion hairpin that had taken Anisa and started this whole mess proudly in her hair. Her body shifted into some kind of hybrid between herself and this parasite. There she was, acting entirely normally. No drive for murder, no violent responses, and as his eyes locked with hers, memories of an entire childhood that was never his overtook him and he could feel his world grow distant. Too many questions. Too many unresolved problems. He could feel his displays start to shut down as he tried to process all of this.