Van Hermoso is the occupational therapist for the subjects participating in the Tower's research program. His job is to identify the emerging skills each human hybrid reveals and teach them how to put their newly acquired skills to use. He also works to help them retain the skills they already had. As Van says, it doesn't do to forget what makes us human as we change into something new, different, and hopefully better.

Van has good hair, but he is trying to compensate for his bad skin. His face is rough and pocketed. He keeps fit to, as Van says, help others keep fit. "If they see that I can do it, then they will know that it's possible for them, also."

Van is a man who likes to take risks. In the past, he wrecked a car in a street race and killed a mother and her infant daughter. He has moved on, he thinks, although that night still comes back to haunt him.

Van works out, often to excess, at night. Those are the nights he can‘t sleep without dreaming of the woman who died under the wheels of his car.

Secretly, Van is in love with Leah Fortinier. He thinks that she will notice him if he one day wins the Mr. Universe title.

One mannerism Van is known for is saying, "Shoot, I'm listening," when he wants someone to just say something they are hesitant to say or ask.

We first meet Van in Book 2 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Inside the Darkness.

Devon Maye is the research facility's recreation planner and coordinator, an especially important job in the research complex. No one knows what skills each human-hybrid might develop, and Devon must plan for them all.

Devon is blond, fit, and tall, with pale coloring that reveals his Nordic heritage. He has a pronounced cowlick at his left temple which he is either unaware of or has accepted as a normal part of his appearance. Devon is single and in his mid-20s. He has been a winter sports nut since childhood and hopes to transfer to the Tower's Canadian complex when it is completed.

Devon bursts with energy and loves to talk, often to excess.

Devon's mother was an Olympic competitor in skiing who died of ALS, which has spurred him to take in life while he can. Who knows when you won't be able to any longer because it's all taken from you? Devon wears an outsized fanny pack filled with gear for the various physical challenges the project participants are expected to participate in.

Devon's favorite phrase to Garik is, "Right-o, kiddo." He wants to be seen as more than a jock and searches for ways for other people's approval.

We first meet Devon in Book 2 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Inside the Darkness.

Michelle Vazquez is the psychiatric nurse for the research program. She wears glasses and many of her clothes still have shoulder pads, giving her that strong, authoratative look she craves.

If you visit her office, you will almost always find fresh flowers on her desk. To Michelle's detriment, she can't remember patients' names, often calling them Dear or Honey.

In college Michelle was kicked out for cheating. She recovered but at great expense.

She overwintered one year in Antarctica. She wants nothing more than to return.

Michelle's greatest failing is that she still cheats when it becomes easy.

If asked to give one goal she never achieved but that is still possible for her, she wouldn't have to think about it. She wants to become a parachutist, above all else.

We first meet Michelle in Book 2 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Inside the Darkness.

Dr. Jamie Jimenez oversees the medical facility in the basements of the Corona Tower. The good doctor is normally seen in a white lab coat, often with a stethoscope or other medical device either around his neck or hanging from a pocket.

Dr. Jimenez insists that the program participants call him "Dr. Jamie." Anything else he considers disrespectful and even insulting, likely because the doctor signals his own doctor-patient relationships by how he references his patients. First name, if they are in good standing with him, last name (often with Miss or Mr. attached) if he feels they are uncooperative, or refusing to use their name at all if he considers them no longer viable within the parameters of the human-hybrid project. To be called "my boy" or a similar diminutive is the doctor's ultimate signal that you are no longer worthy of his time or attention.

Dr. Jimenez likes to consider himself "in the loop" with Weston Rodheimer and Halo Sunchaser, but in reality, he is no more than a tool in their eyes. If he performs well, he is accepted and praised for his advances. If not, they are ready to swat him aside like the irritant he has become.

Dr. Jimenez isn't inherently unkind. He is simply too focused on his own welfare to consider that anyone else might have one.

We first meet Dr. Jamie in Book 1 of The Human-Hybrid Project, Shattered by Glass.