Orion was working on his duties at BioPort somewhat diligently. Being a decent employee kept suspicion down well enough. The majority of people left him be, save for Phalaris who continued to try to bother him any chance he could get, but he couldn’t do much.

Orion’s foresight kept them from meeting when avoidable and his coworkers favored his work ethic far too much to let Phalaris interfere. Orion couldn’t be certain if it were for the fact that Dr. P knew Orionis Ab, but Dr. P also favored him well enough. 

Orion was just cleaning up the work bench when Dr. P entered the room. Dr. P leaned against the wall for a moment before sliding unceremoniously to the floor. Exhaling out in a rather exaggerated fashion.

“You know it’s still not safe in here even if I am mostly done working.” Orion cautioned. Not even bothering to mention that the floor was not exactly the best place to be sitting in a chemistry lab. Dr. P would just tell him to stop nagging as he had done some time before under similar circumstances.

“I just can’t bear to watch him do that anymore.” Dr. P sighed, head in hands. Orion could just barely hear the next words. “They shouldn’t be treated like that.”

“I thought you didn't care about the subjects.” Orion said.

“Well, that's, not necessarily true… I may be a volunteer but, I’m not really like that.” Dr. P tried to say nonchalantly.

“Oh?” Orion was a tad surprised.

“I wouldn’t say this to just anyone, but there’s something about you. Like, maybe you’d be the kind of person who'd understand.” Dr. P started to look a bit nervous, “You're not human, but you don't talk down to us. Not that Phalaris is a good example, but the others are like that too.”

“BioPort isn't exactly known for being a gathering of well-meaning people.” Orion said.

“That's the thing though, BioPort cares more about merit than anything else. So why do people like that get preferential treatment despite doing jack all for the company?” Dr. P groaned. “All he does is terrorize the subjects and screw with our data. It's whatever, but I really hate that guy.”

“He's not given me much choice but to hate him myself.” Orion nodded.

“Not to agree with Levitas, but I think the subjects don't deserve to be treated like that. Some things have to change around here.” Dr. P said appearing as though he were testing the waters. “You agree with that much at least right?”

“I suppose.” Orion had no intention of disclosing his opinions directly, it wasn’t safe to do so, even if Dr. P seemed a little outside the norm.

“You know, after looking at a lot of your old research it's hard to imagine you would be working here.” Dr. P continued.

“A job is a job.” Orion stated flatly.

“Hurting for money? To that extent?” Dr. P asked. “It's the same for me honestly.”

“Something like that.” Orion said.

“You know there's a few others like us. Not particularly fond of how BioPort is run. I think you’d get along well with them.” Dr. P finally got back up to his feet. “Now don't go trying to report me for being all sympathetic or whatever, if you do I’ll tell Phalaris all your secret hiding spots.”

“Is that a threat?” Orion laughed.

“I’m sure you wouldn't but I still have to protect my own ass, don't I?” Dr. P said quietly before leaving Orion to his work.

“Well that's interesting.” Claire murmured.

“I can't say I’m too surprised by that sentiment.” Orion responded. He began clearing of the counter and putting everything away for the day.

A few minutes passed in silence before it started to get really loud in the next room over. Someone was being admonished for being excessively violent with the subjects. He heard a loud noise and a scream.

“What's going on Orion?” Claire asked.

“I think someone got hurt.” Orion went to check it out in case someone needed him to call first aid.

It was Phalaris, a few subjects scared out of their wits and a scientist sprawled out on the ground having been hit by some blunt object that lay on the floor next to him.

Orion pushed the emergency button and explained the situation.

“It's Phalaris again.” He said to them stepping out of the lab carefully so as to avoid being spotted but they made eye contact for a split second. ‘That fucking imbecile.’ Orion thought dreading another encounter.

“What did you just call me?” Phalaris was suddenly next to him gripping his lab coat. Catching him completely off guard.

“A-a-ll I said was your name.” Orion replied frantically. He was unsure how he managed to close the distance between them so quickly. Orion swatted his hand away. “You're so touchy, damn.”

“You're lucky I don't have time for you today.” Phalaris said as he pushed Orion out of the doorway and made his way out.

“What was that about?” Orion brushed himself off and went to check if the victim managed to survive the incident.

They didn't seem to have a pulse but Orion wasn't necessarily an expert on that subject.

“What exactly happened?” He asked one of the subjects nearby.

“They were fighting, like normal… but suddenly he called her a traitor and killed her.” They said he whispered to the others then turned back to Orion. “He seems to think there are other traitors you should be careful.”

“I should be careful? What's that supposed to mean?” Orion asked.

“You really can't hide anything from us, you know.” They said pointing towards where his core should be. “You're like them, even if you’re not one of them.”

“Like who?” Orion tried to ask but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening once more.

The emergency response team had arrived, or more so the clean up team. The Eta subjects were ushered back towards their quarters and Orion hung around only for long enough to confirm the man was dead and to explain what happened. The team didn't really seem to care for the details if anything the seemed quite sick of having to deal with the ramifications of Phalaris’s temper.

Luckily, Orion no longer had to avoid Phalaris since he was too focused on his new self-imposed mission of finding traitors. But he had no idea how long this reprieve would last, according to Claire he hadn't so much as looked at any of Spectra’s members, so it was hard to say if they had enough time left to complete this phase of the mission.