"....my apologies." Tyson replied.

"I... didn't even realise I'd made my way here until I was here." he admitted.

"I guess I just wanted to knock on the door and have Hal answer it like nothing was wrong..." he then said further, wistfulness and melancholy to his tone.

"If you're busy, I can... leave you be." he told her.

"I'm just going through the building to try and find people that might not have made it to the medical wing, and can still be helped." he then explained further.

Ty nodded in response.

"Well, I already found two." he told her.

"Our resident banshee, Sierra, had collapsed in her dorm, and I managed to get her to the medical wing." he said.

"The other is our own vulpine young lady, Peyton. Seems she was up in one of the records rooms when this started, and a cabinet ended up falling on her, almost crushing her." he reported.

"But I found her thanks to a text from her, and she's in the medical wing as well." he continued.

"Frankly, hearing that you've already gone through the building is a massive relief, but I feel that I should at least give it a once-over still." he then said, before pausing.

"...if nothing else, so I feel somewhat useful during this crisis." he admitted candidly, scratching the back of his head.

Tyson just nodded, and stepped into the office.

"Sure thing." he replied.

"And you want to know who's here and who isn't?" he asked.

"Well, Agent Miki Vierayen isn't in the building, as she's taken some personal mental health days recently." he told her.

"And I think Agent Anya Averina is away on assignment, so she won't be here in the building, either..." he went on, thinking about it.

"Beyond that, I'll sort through the files and let you know more as I remember it."

"Of course." Tyson replied.

"I'll do whatever I can." he told her.

With that, he began to help her as best he could, but paused after a moment.

"...Lady Remmington?" he addressed her.

"How are you holding up?" he asked.

"This whole situation can't be pleasant for you, to massively understate it."

"Fair enough." Ty responded.

"And all right, that... does makes sense." he said.

"......" he was then silent, before sighing.

"I'm not going to lie, I'm worried about Hal." he told her candidly.

"Anyone that's asked me, I've responded with 'he's tough, he'll live through this'... but... well... I don't know if I believe it." he admitted further.

"I know his very existence is based on mana-" he went on, before realising that Hollie was probably just as worried about Hal, if not MORE.

"...but I won't say anything more on it."

Tyson's first instinct was to get angry. He was livid at the thought of Hal's replacement being talked of already... but he knew why she was asking. Or, at least, he figured why she was, and he knew she'd never be callous for the sake of being callous. He knew she had valid reasons.

So he took a small breath, and let it out slowly.

"Yeah, sure." he replied.

"I've filled in for him before in the past." he reasoned.

"And Hal's always said that I'm a potential candidate to be head of the Unit if something ever happened to him." he went on, pausing again.

"...just never thought it would come up THIS soon." he admitted further.

Just as Tyson was about to respond... and as if on cue... they both heard something.

It was a voice. A familiar voice. And it was calling out for Hollie.

"...llie! HOLLIE!" Leo shouted out.

"HOLLIE!" he repeated.

"......" Tyson was silent, before looking at Hollie.

"Methinks you have someone looking for you."

Leo looked exhausted.

He was breathing heavily, and sweating profusely... probably from all the running and yelling he'd just done.

"Calm down, kid." Ty said.

"Seriously, take a few breaths." he told him, to which Leo did.

"Now... what is it?" he asked the young Order member.

"We found it!" Leo exclaimed in response.

"Violet and I! We found what's causing all this!"

"It... it's airborne." Leo said.

"The virus is airborne!?" Tyson exclaimed.

"Virus isn't the correct term." Leo responded.

"See... this IS being caused by microorganisms, yes... but it's not like a virus or a bacterium, or anything like that. It's... more like a weird parasite?" he explained. "But they travel along the air, enter organisms that have mana in them, drain them dry, and move on." he continued.

"....and Violet and Emerald brought them with them?" Ty asked.

"Well... a form of it." Leo replied.

"They're not QUITE as evolved or advanced as what ravaged her world." he said further.

Leo nodded.

"Right." he said.

"It also seems that they can go 'dormant' when there's no mana around." he told them.

"...is there any way to stop them?" Ty asked.

"I don't know." Leo replied.

"But we DO know that, apparently, they cannot survive in space." he continued.

"...really?" Ty asked.

"Hm." he mumbled.