[Content warning: Self injury]

Claire had been compiling data and preparing for the extraction. The team was almost on site and things were running smoothly. Based on the conversation between Orion and the Rho-Eta subject she was able to figure out enough information to relay to the teams on how to best navigate Phalaris.

“Orion, you said you had an idea of what Phalaris might be. Have you figured it out yet?” Claire asked, she could see the Rho-Eta subject just behind him on the camera. He was curiously staring at Claire through the monitor.

“Yeah, I don’t think it has a name in Lucidian or human languages.” Orion stared at the wall next to him intensely. Rho also stared at the wall, likely trying to figure out what was so interesting about it.

“Whatever happened to Dr. P and those other agents seems to be spreading do you have any idea why?” Claire swiped through several screens that all seemed to be showing the same scenes of disoriented scientists and a few that didn't survive the encounter.

“Do you know anything at all about what kind of technology he's using or perhaps what he’s doing to them?” Ricky followed up before he had the chance to respond.

“He's not human… I’ve seen before.” Rho mentioned. He drew something on a page, but it was no easier to understand than a child's drawing. “like this.”

“Uh… Right.” Claire frowned. “Orion?”

Orion whispered softly. “He's not human.”

“We know that much, can you elaborate?” Claire continued.

Rho said something else, but it wasn't clear enough for Claire to hear what it was.

“He's not human… not… human…” Claire could hear Orion muttering something, but it was barely audible he seemed to be zoning out.

“Orion are you alright?” Claire asked worried his injuries might have been a bit too severe to stay focused.

“Yeah it's just…” He started muttering again but, in another language, the only word Claire could make out was ‘eating’

“Eating what Orion?” Claire asked.

“Something like that, the only thing I can think of now is… That's… That's not good.” Orion said with a sudden urgency in his voice. “It makes perfect sense... I wish it weren't true… but that's what it smells like. smell? But it is isnt it? That's right. And the only way around that would be. Exactly. There's not a lot of time left.”

“Orion, care to include me in your conversation?” Claire prodded lightly. She couldn't tell if he was talking to Rho or himself, but Rho didn't seem to understand it either.

“How many agents do we have on site that are Lucidian?” Orion asked urgently, Claire could hear him shuffling around on his desk for a moment.

“There's three on site, why?” Ricky replied.

“I don't think that's going to be enough.” Orion nodded to himself.

“Enough for what? What are you planning?” Claire asked, “You're being extracted soon, so we can reconvene when you return to base.”

“No that will be too late.” Orion shook his head. “He already knows about Spectra. The raid will fail if we don’t do something.”

“If he's already figured it out, why hasn't he done anything about it?” Ricky asked.

“He's luring us into a false sense of security.” Orion said, “He can read minds, he's known since the beginning.”

“What do you suggest?” Claire asked.

“We don't have enough bodies capable of fending him off. I might have to do this myself.” Orion took a deep breath.

“You're in no state to do anything.” Claire argued.

“No. I’m in the perfect state for this.” Orion said confidently. “Just Protect Rho at all costs.”

“Is there really no other options?” Claire asked. “Put the raid team on pause and wait for more manpower?”

“No. If the raid doesn't occur as planned the whole timeline is screwed. We can't change that, but we can minimize casualties if I do this.” Orion pinched the bridge of his nose just under his glasses. “We're already so off course, we can't afford to miss anything else. Phalaris was never supposed to be an obstacle for this mission.”

“Right.” Claire breathed. “If any one of BioPort executives manages to slip away their project will accelerate the distortion.”

“We don't have nearly enough Lucidians to subjugate that type of creature, but it doesn't require nearly that much for a feral shadow and a feral shadow would have no issue destroying him.” Orion began looking for something on the desk in front of him. “This is the worst game of rock paper scissors ever.”

“I’ll let you know when everything is in place, try to hold off until then.” Claire said.

“Yes ma’am.” Orion replied.

“Secure the subject for immediate extraction leave Orion behind.” Claire said to the other team.

“You're just going to let him go like that?” Ricky questioned. “Orion what do you even plan to do against him.”

“We have our own priorities, Ricky, whatever happens next is not our problem as long as we have our target.” Claire said flatly. “What would you even suggest?”

“Suggest? He's marching to his death right now and you're just letting him get killed for no reason?” Ricky argued. “There's got to be something we can do about that.”

“There is something we can do and that's to focus on what's at stake here.” Claire sighed, Ricky and her never seemed to see eye to eye on these things, emotional when the situation required logic and logical when the situation required emotions. “Why are you always like this?”

“What if he dies?” Ricky asked, “What happens to everything afterwards?”

“There's a contingency plan for that.” Claire looked at the screens in front of her. Soon settling on the broadcast frequency. “Evacuate and block off the west quarter of the facility. Figure out whatever excuses you can, fire, gas leak, explosive chemical spill. Just clear the area, you have thirty minutes.”

“What are you doing?” Ricky asked.

Claire quickly changed frequencies, “Contacting Lucidian base team, were expecting a feral shadow situation within the next hour or so, I have already sent the coordinates. The light source is unknown, if perceived feral, kill on sight.”

“Unknown but” Claire covered Ricky’s mouth before he could say more, only releasing him after she made sure the channel was closed. “So, you're not just letting him die, you're making sure he does.”

“You have no idea what's about to happen. You don't know anything about shadows.” Claire replied coldly. “You should leave if you can't handle it.”

“Do you think he could survive being killed?” Imani asked.

“I thought you were still asleep; you should still be asleep.” Claire looked at her, she still looked quite tired. Humans need sleep far too often and Imani always showed it quite well in her face when she did.

“It's hard to sleep with the two of you yelling.” She yawned. “You think he'll survive?”

“I wouldn't bet on it. But it is a nonzero chance.” Claire sighed.

“Why are you so calm about this?” Ricky contorted his face in some semblance of disbelief.

“He's not an ordinary shadow, his light source is a star.” Imani recalled. “From what I've read shadows like that are quite different when it comes to regenerative capabilities and other stuff.”

“If he's lucky the Lucidians killing him will just make him go dormant until he's regained the strength to regenerate properly. If he's not, he’ll just die.” Claire said. “This was always going to be the worst-case scenario but unfortunately the circumstances require it.”

Roughly thirty minutes later Orion came up upon Phalaris, who had just eliminated another Eta scientist.

"Come back for round 2 already?” Phalaris laughed, “Well, I have some traitors to deal with so it will have to wait." 

"What makes you think I'm not a traitor?" Orion asked.

"Because you're not a threat." He laughed.

"What makes you so certain?" He widened his eyes.

"Oh, interesting and here I thought you kept your eyes narrowed to protect yourself from me." Phalaris inched closer lifting Orion’s chin with his finger to make their eyes meet., "Your vision must be overwhelming with possibilities and yet in all of those possible futures there's not a single one in which you win against me."

"That may be so, but there's several in which you don't win either." Orion swatted away his hand.

"Surely you wouldn't risk your life just to get back at me, I thought you were smarter than that." Phalaris teased.

"The fate of everything is in jeopardy if I leave you alone, things have gone far too off course already. But if I take you down here, the Lucidians still have a chance to fix it." 

"And you trust them?" Phalaris asked, “They don't even trust you and you know it.”

"That's not important.” Orion said.

“Are you sure? Of all the memories I’ve taken from you, that one has been the most delicious.” Phalaris eyed him gleefully.

“That's none of your business.” Orion snapped.

“The area is clear, and the subject has been extracted, act as you see fit.” Claire quietly said to Orion through the earpiece.

“Right.” Orion said pulling out his pen which was somewhat similar to a pocketknife. He released the blade and looked it over carefully.

“Do you think that little pen knife can do anything to me?” Phalaris scoffed.

“Oh this? This isn't for you.” Orion smirked looking directly at him. “Can you not tell?”

“What are up to now?” Phalaris growled.

“Shadows usually block injuries that have the capacity to kill or cause damage greater than the typical regeneration rate can compensate for, anything less would drain too much energy.” Orion said running the knife along his finger, “Which is why a cut like this wouldn't be blocked.” He paused, a loud slicing sound could be heard through the audio feed. “But a cut like this normally is, but I’m low on energy.”

“What kind of cheap intimidation tactics is this supposed to be?” Phalaris glared at him.

“And you see, regeneration goes on overdrive at a certain percentage of injury. Aside from that it heals at roughly the same rate as a human. That's the results of ‘experiment’ you wanted to find out.” Orion continued. “But the fun part is, when you run out of regenerative capacity, shadows can't hold their form. And in desperation to gain enough energy to regenerate and restore themselves, sometimes… they go feral.”

“What the hell are you doing?” Phalaris asked unamused. It was clear it irked him that Orion’s behavior was completely unreadable.

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t be able to read this, just like when I tried to blow you up.” Shadows began leaking from his body. “I never thought dissociation would be good for anything but getting in my own way. This is the end of the line for you.”

“Stop that.” Phalaris tried to grab the knife from him.

“It's already too late for that.” Shadows leaked out of Orion’s body en masse.