Faced with the potential annihilation of his team he sent Texas to help extract the Infected, fully aware that it left him open to attack. He had hoped the L.G.D would arrive in time to back them up but it was not too be.

The sentry he was facing looked ready to snap a few bones in order to capture him. The Doctor's fingers brushed against the syringe in his coat pocket as he remembered a very popular saying circulating among his medical staff. When faced with death a patient would often see their life flash before their eyes.

Life...In his case there wasn't much to recall. After all, it hadn't been that long since he had woken up without any memory of who he was.

Rhodes Island had provided him with several pieces of the puzzle but not everything seemed to fit together.

He was a medical professional and he quickly found that science, especially anything concerning neurology, did indeed come easily to him. The rest was simply baffling. He'd received a hero's welcome and everyone acted like he was some kind of military genius. Yet here was, a cornered rat with nowhere to run. A murderer who had probably killed thousands and yet he couldn't remember them.

It made him feel a little sick, knowing he was about to die without truly getting to know who he was.

"Will you place your trust in me? Just like you used to?" A gentle voice called out to him. He could see her smiling face as vividly as if she were in front of him. His very first memory. It rose from the unknown depths within himself. It was warm and he clung to it in a sea of deep uncertainty, just as he had clung to her on that fateful day in Ursus.

It lasted but a moment. A brief flash of clarity as his sanity was besieged by doubt.

He quickly seized on the opportunity.

"...Concentrate," The Doctor reminded himself as he carefully wrapped his fingers around the syringe. Now wasn't the time for another identity crisis. The enemy was here and, unlike him, they were confident in their abilities and their place in the world. If he failed to pacify him, Rhodes Island was sure to suffer the consequences.

The counterattack had to be timed just right.

"You did me a solid, Doctor...now, go to sleep for a while!" The man grinned before swinging the blade.

Rhodes Island Infrastructure Complex

Third Level

Two light knocks at the door brought his rest to an abrupt end.

"Doctor? Have you awakened yet?" A small, toneless voice asked from outside.

"Enter"

He sat up, feeling a bit groggy. It was difficult to move with so many cables hooked up to his body. The monitors crowded around his bed started beeping with the increase in his activity. Most of them seemed specifically geared to track his mental state and were loaded with a bunch of medical jargon. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he read a few of the more easier ones to understand.

Heart Rate: 70 BPM

Room Detoxification: Every 2 Hours

"Apologetic. Excuse me for interrupting your sleep, Doctor. I'm here to perform your daily Bioscan," Carrying a clipboard against their chest, the silhouette grew bigger as they approached his bedside.

"Ah, give me a minute," At the foot of his bed, he found his usual face shield waiting for him. Putting it on was a simple matter, after which he allowed his visitor to draw apart the curtains protecting his privacy. His caretaker, Ptilopsis, was a young Liberi with an ID tag from Rhine's Lab pinned to her white coat.

"...Where's Dr. Kal'tsit?" He asked, confused that there was someone different here today. Ever since his arrival, Rhodes Island had been very strict about the medical personnel allowed to treat him.

"Uncertain. I was asked to assist you in her stead but..." She paused. "Wait a moment. Accessing schedule."

She stood very still while the two large ears on top of her head twitched wildly, almost as if they were trying to catch some kind of signal. The Doctor couldn't help but be a little amused by them, especially when paired with such a serious facial expression. Unfortunately, it didn't take her very long to find what she was looking for.

"Dr. Kal'tsit is currently performing a surgery in Operating Room D," She suddenly. "Should I postpone your daily checkup until she is available?"

"No, no. That won't be necessary," The Doctor blurted out.

"Surprised," Ptilopsis said, her head tilting slightly to the side. "Then, may I proceed with today's Bioscan? I will just need a few samples of blood."

He rolled up the sleeve of his jacket for her. With a simple touch of the screen, the computer on the counter next to his bed came alive and Ptilopsis quickly submitted a password. As she worked, the Doctor couldn't help but wonder what it was she had done to pinpoint Kal'tsit's location from thin air. Rhodes Island was in a league of its own when it came to medical tech. It never ceased to amaze him. The program Ptilopsis was using was another good example. If you had a sample of blood, Bioscanning was a quick and accurate way of analyzing a patient's condition and suggesting whether a more in-depth test was necessary.

"You are curious about my ability to track a schedule?" She repeated when he asked her about it. "I'm part of the medical team but primarily concern myself with managing data within our Neural Network. Since I work with every bit of medical data that's recorded in Rhodes Island, it's a simple matter to track doctors on duty, as well as access your medical file. I believe the latter is why Dr. Kal'tsit selected me to be her substitute for today."

"It must be difficult handling so much information by yourself," The Doctor observed. Rhodes Island accepted and treated countless of patients. Organizing and securing that data was bound to be an enormous task.

"Contentment. The PRTS A.I programmed by Closure is infinitely helpful with my work."

Ptilopsis approached with the needle and he felt just a little uncomfortable as they got started. It wasn't that he had a fear of needles but rather that the one administering it kept staring a hole into his arm. Her hand was shaking.

"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked her.

"Hesitation," The Liberi said, her gaze shifting to the ground beside her. "My last known patient interaction was one year and seven months ago. My apologies, I need to consult my memory bank for the notes on this procedure. Please wait."

"That long...?" The Doctor looked down at his arm. "All you need to do now is pick a vein, withdraw the blood and the program will take care rest."

"A vein...That is indeed the next step I remember but..." Ptilopsis drew closer in search of one. "Doctor, your veins are fairly easy to spot. I was expecting the search to be a bit more difficult."

"Good for some practice, right?"

Once she decided on one Ptilopsis carefully disinfected the area and moved the needle into position. Her hand still shaking too much. At this rate he was sure she'd miss her target.

Using his free hand, he tried to steady her by holding her wrist.

"Relax," The Doctor told her. "You're doing just fine. I trust you."

It took a few moments for her to calm down but his strategy soon began to pay off. Ptilopsis's hand gradually became a lot steadier the longer he held on to her.

"Embarrassed," Ptilopsis said quietly. "Doctor, is this your way of picking up women?"

"What?" He released her immediately, feeling his face growing red underneath his face shield. As someone with a bit more experience he had meant to support her getting back into medicine, but it seems his actions had somehow been read in a different light. One that hadn't even crossed his mind. "Um, it was...purely instructional," The Doctor began.

"I was joking," The Liberi cut him off, who had suddenly traded places with him as the calmer one. "I couldn't resist teasing you a little bit."

"Hey now...I thought you were the serious-type," The Doctor complained as Ptilopsis prepared the needle again. At least she seemed a bit more relaxed now.

"Warning. My data suggests this will cause some discomfort," He met her eyes underneath his mask as she sought his approval to proceed. "Please excuse me."

"Go ahead," The Doctor nodded.

The needle was injected and he watched as Ptilopsis silently extracted enough to fill several test tubes to accommodate future tests. Because of their physical characteristics the Liberi were very often compared with owls. This was the first time he'd ever worked with one of them and he could see the resemblance. With a set of ears on top of her head and white hair that fell down to her shoulders, the Data Analyst fit the many depictions of a Liberi he'd read about in his medical textbooks. He was especially mesmerized by her bright orange eyes. They never seemed to blink.

"Relief. Everything seems stable at the moment," The samples submitted, Ptilopsis studied the results on her computer before making several notes on her clipboard. "It says here you're to receive a Boost but..."

"Ah, they're in that drawer over there." He pointed at the ones behind her. "Could you grab me a syringe?"

She did as she was told. "This is..."

"It helps clear my head a bit," The Doctor explained. "I get some pretty nasty headaches sometimes."

He put out his arm for her again. "Sorry. Can I trust you again? I'm really useless in the morning."

"Confident," Ptilopsis plopped on the seat next to him with the syringe. "Please wait a moment." Even though she said that, the Doctor could see that she still had a bit more to go. Her hand was visibly shaking again. He was perfectly capable of doing all this himself but it was probably best to have her do it and get some practice. Ptilopsis pushed slighly on the syringe and a few droplets came through, confirming that there was nothing wrong with the instrument.

As she clumsily injected the drug into his system, the Doctor wondered about the operation he had overseen. Now that he was awake, there was a lot he wanted to catch up on. Had the team managed to make it out alive?

"Do you know if Skyfire's team extracted safely?" He asked her, hoping for news.

"Retrieving operation data. It is estimated that the raiding party captured ninety percent of the deserters at the warehouse," Ptiopsis recited. "Despite the loss of the warehouse itself, Lungmen Leader Wei deemed it insignificant given that several victims were rescued and all Operators were successfully extracted. After making changes to the team's composition, Dr. Kal'tsit has allowed the party to assist the L.G.D in crafting a followup operation."

"Really?" The Doctor smiled underneath his face shield. "Then they all made it. And they're going to add more people this time?"

"Confirmed. Dr. Kal'tsit has added several operators to the project," She nodded. "The total manpower is now twelve operators under Team Leader Vigna."

"Vigna's the Leader now?" He raised an eyebrow. "But that means..."

"Dr. Kal'tsit has approved Operator Skyfire's demotion. She's currently awaiting further instruction," Ptilopsis informed him as she withdrew the needle and began to put a band-aid over the wound.

Given that Kal'tsit had reviewed the battle, it was no surprise she'd taken issue with Skyfire's lack of leadership. As the one in charge of the Operaton though, the Doctor couldn't help but take the majority of the blame. If he had reacted quicker to the developments on the ground, he might've been able to steer her in the right direction.

The Doctor sighed.

"Observation. Are you tired?" Ptilopsis stared at him. "You should rest until Dr. Kal'tsit is available to check on you."

"Mmn...I don't know about that. She's kinda..." His sentence soon disintegrated as the object of their conversation slipped into the room.

"Kind of? What were you going to say, Doctor?" Kal'tsit approached his bedside, her hands inside her coat pockets. She looked tired, with several lines under her piercing, light green eyes. If his workload had fallen on her shoulders, it seemed likely that she had silently pushed herself the entire time he'd been in recovery. She was just that type of person, willing to drop dead before admitting to any weakness or asking for help.

"Dr. Kal'tsit," He acknowledged her formally. He didn't want to seem cold but he just didn't know how to deal with her most of time. "I'm guessing the surgery went well today?"

"The patient is stable and recovering," She informed him. "What about you? I've had your patients constantly ask after you, as well as most of our Operators."

"Did they now...? It was only a minor scrap. Nothing for everyone to get so worked up about," Being connected to so many people was a bit overwhelming sometimes. He was still trying to get used to it all.

So far he had been given two main duties at Rhodes Island. Amiya was adamant that all military operations should be overseen by him and trusted him without question. Stressful didn't even begin to describe it. It was a lot of pressure, trying to save lives whenever possible while constantly butting heads with an unknown version of himself from the past. He hated it and yet somehow...just seeing Amiya work so hard made him want to keep trying to support her.

On the other hand, Kal'tsit was anything but encouraging when it came time to practice his true craft. Not only did she take his personal treatment into her hands, but she was there supervising him when he saw his own patients. She didn't believe he was ready to practice on his own again and he had a hunch that she was looking for the slightest mistake to rip his license to pieces. Ironically enough, he only ever came close to making them in her presence. There hadn't been any problems with the consultations he'd done behind her back.

"Thank you for taking over on such short notice, Ptilopsis," Kal'tsit dismissed her helper. "I can finish things here."

"Grateful," Ptilipsis's ears twitched as she gave them a slight bow. "I appreciate your guidance today, Doctor. Farewell."

The Doctor watched with dread as she disappeared out into the hall. He had wanted to spend a bit more time getting to know her. More importantly though, he just wanted to avoid being alone with Kal'tsit whenever possible. The monitor measuring his heart rate beeped slightly louder as Kal'tsit took the Data Analyst's spot on the chair.

"Looks like your condition is fairly stable at the moment," Kal'tsit said, examining the data that Ptilopsis had left open for her on the computer.

"Kal'tsit...you replaced Skyfire without knowing all the circumstances down there," The Doctor observed. "I haven't even filled out a debrief yet."

He wanted to get down to business as quickly as possible and end this conversation.

"Ptilopsis told you? I guess it's not surprising. She is exceptionally compatible with our neural network so she must've seen the data," Kal'tsit crossed her legs. "Aside from checking up on your status, I intended to notify you about those changes. Skyfire must be taken off the field."

"It wasn't Skyfire's fault. I failed to direct them properly,"

"She acted on her own and left her team to fend for themselves in a critical situation."

"My reaction time was off. If I had reached her just a bit sooner, Skyfire would've listened," He insisted.

"Adrian," Kal'tsit called his name firmly. "There's no worming out of it. Her violent and impulsive nature was well documented even before this debacle, as was her lack of empathy for the Infected. If you continue to try and cover for her, Rhodes Island is bound to get into some serious legal trouble with our contacts and that will affect everybody living in this place. Sick or not. Is that what you want?"

He imagined Amiya's troubled expression as she sought to untangle a mess of that magnitude. They were constantly dealing with some pretty big companies and jurisdictions. He didn't want to do that to her...but at the same time, he believed he was doing the right thing.

"Skyfire can be taught. Her disdain for the Infected can be treated. We have a contract with the King's Wand so it wouldn't be right to just keep her on the sidelines and forget about her. Just like it isn't right to isolate Blue Poison on a Habitat because we don't fully understand her ability." The Doctor told her. They were Operators of Rhodes Island and he believed all of them held promise in the fight against Reunion. Regardless of personality, rank or race. "We have a duty to guide them. To help them grow."

"But not to put everything we've worked for at risk," Kal'tsit rose from her seat. "You're too soft on them, Adrian. You used to keep them on such a tight leash that they regularly complained to me about it."

"...You're wrong," The Doctor said quietly. "I would never do that."

"...I suppose not. Not anymore. A lot of things are...different," She paused in front of the door, her fingers brushing against small, broken sections of its flat surface. She sighed. "Listen, Rhodes Island has strict rules in place and they must be followed by everyone who works here. That includes Skyfire."

"..." The Doctor said nothing, but stared at the wall on the other end of the room.

"Be reasonable," Kal'tsit said."I've transferred her to the research department for now. It's where she's bound to do some good," And with that she departed, leaving the Doctor alone with his thoughts.