“Thank you, Claire.” Orion muttered.

“It’s hard for some people to understand how cosmic timelines work. The fixed parts make them feel like their actions don’t matter which is frustrating to people like Ricky who wants to do whatever he can to protect the people he knows, even when he can’t.” Claire looked over some logs on her screen while making some coffee.

“Right.” Orion flipped through the notes, but he didn’t absorb any of it.

“And the flexible portions make people feel like they should be doing even more to prevent things on a much wider scale. Like you.” She said rotating a cup of coffee in her hands, “But you both have the same goal, to change the parts that cannot be changed and to protect what you think needs to be protected.”

“What are you trying to say?” He looked up at her.

“I think you both need to step away from this project to get your priorities squared away before the next mission. The mission itself comes before protecting anything, protecting is a side effect of the mission not the goal.” She finally took a drink of her coffee glaring at Orion. “It’s not our job to do that.”

“I see…” Orion seemed a bit puzzled.

“I won’t let you go back there, even if you really want to help them.” She finally clarified.

“I know that already. I didn’t need an additional lecture about it.” Orion shook his head and sighed.

“She’s just worried about you Orion. And I am too.” Imani, who had been unnoticed up until this point finally came out of the corner of the room to join them at the table. “Even if you don’t notice it yourself, you aren’t exactly mentally well right now.”

“I just woke up from literally dying, of course I’m not well right now.” He put down the clip board in his hands, he couldn’t manage to read it anyway.

“You might think that, but you woke up almost a week ago.” Claire informed him.

“Oh, don’t tell me that.” He sighed putting his head in his hands.

“It's going to take some time to heal. Don't be too hard on yourself.” Imani put a hand on his shoulder, “You did a good job.”

While Orion was not involved in clearing out BioPort directly, he helped out a lot behind the scenes. He helped to deal with documenting the remaining subjects and leading them to resources.

The Lambda subjects, however, could not be saved. In spite of his efforts, there was nothing Orion or anyone else could do to help them.

Had they been able to combine the capabilities and behavioral modifications of the Lambda subjects with the enhancements of the Rho-Eta subjects they likely would have been unstoppable. But it would never come to pass, all of the data on site and at the aggregate locations were destroyed.

It couldn't be certain no one out in the world had any remnants of it. But considering how tight lipped BioPort was, it was unlikely any remaining data would contain enough information to replicate the project. Even if they did, they would no longer be able to reach that stage before the dimension collapses regardless, so Orion wasn’t too worried about it.

Another unfortunate circumstance, a considerable amount of the subjects had been sold by their families, orphaned, homeless or otherwise abandoned. No one was looking for them, they had nowhere to go and needed some consultation.

One of the Eta Subjects was sitting in the stairwell, likely waiting for an appointment to try and figure out what to do next. On closer inspection it was the very same one that had barged into his room, and he was crying something fierce with his head on his knees.

“Are you alright?” Orion sat down next to him.

“Not really…” He didn't look up.

“What’s wrong?” Orion asked.

“I lost everything and everyone. It's all my fault. I shouldn't have tried to run away back then.” He said, he looked up for a moment and recognized Orion then shook his head. “He killed my sister. My dad doesn't even recognize me anymore from shock… It's all my fault.”

“It's not your fault, if anything it’s my fault.” Orion sighed placing a hand on his shoulder trying to reassure him. He wished he could tell him that his father would get better, but he honestly wasn't sure if that was true.

“How is it your fault? I’m the one that got you involved back there.” He cried.

“No, no, I screwed up way before that. If you need someone to hate, hate me for catching Phalaris’s attention, he wasn't even supposed to stay on site until I came along.” Orion explained. It was true, based on the information Spectra was able to uncover, Phalaris had intended to go out for ‘field research’ aka finding people to feed on. But when he saw Orion, he realized food would be coming to him. But he couldn't wait any longer, which is the real reason he started to purge the Eta Lab, them being traitors was just a convenient excuse for him.

Phalaris’s motive for even being involved with BioPort or the Lambda experiments in the first place was still unknown and something they'll never be able to figure out now that he's dead.

“That doesn't change anything.” Rho said wiping his eyes off before continuing on a nonsensical tirade of either self-defeating rhetoric or general self-hate and various mixtures of the two.

Orion wasn't sure if he would ever stop talking but it was probably better for him to let it out. He couldn't even get a word in if he tried. So, he just let him go on and on until he finally stopped.

“I know I didn't take your offer to beat you up, but that doesn't mean you should beat yourself up.” Orion said jokingly.

“Ugh. Don't remind me, I can't even believe I said that.” He groaned. “I have to go now, please. Just erase that from your memory.”

“I just might.” Orion said watching the man get up and start on his way.

“But my full name is now Shiroé Levitas.” He turned back and pointed towards him. “Remember that okay.”

“I probably won't, I’m bad with names but I’m sure we'll cross paths again.” He wasn't just sure he knew it.

Piecing together the story hadn't been too difficult. Orion already knew a fair amount from the data Spectra collected. Dr. Levitas, his mother, was ‘recruited’ alongside her child by BioPort while she was pregnant with her second child.

Dr. Levitas struggled to gain control of the Eta lab for the sake of her kids and the many others that were taken from their families. She did everything in her power to protect them.

Dr. P, who was his father, tried to get his family back by infiltrating BioPort through a group working independently of Spectra. The group and the Eta scientists that composed it ultimately failed because of Phalaris.

But their failure was just what Spectra needed to come in and annihilate BioPort’s management, who’d become complacent after their small victory. They didn't think anyone was match for Phalaris.

Orion could only hope things would get better for him. There was only so much reassurance he had to offer given how much Shiroé had been through. He could only imagine how awful it would be to lose his own sister, and the poor guy was living that nightmare.