The director's chuckle lightened the mood slightly, though the gravity of their situation lingered in the air. "It's like what I said, once you come here, you can't simply leave. We wouldn't kill you or anything; you'll just take some desk job, working admin stuff forever, ensuring supply lines and whatnot are taken care of.
It's only the most dangerous people that end up locked where that, dare I say, zombie is locked away..."
Jade, processing this, nodded. "Oh, I suppose that makes sense, in a way."
Her mind, always racing towards the next concern, quickly shifted gears. "Hey, so if the military gets involved, who exactly will be getting dragged in? Like, just the army or Marines? Or other countries as well?"
The director waited for the elevator door to open before answering, stepping out into the brighter, more bustling environment as he did. "Good question. We would only be looking out for each other at the end of the day, and each country would be responsible for their own safety nets.
And those from MARSOC or special forces would come in first for training, then higher-ups to facilitate training classes on these creatures, but this is only in the event the machines break and the barriers fail."
"I see, do you think Ty's Father will get dragged into this?" Jade asked, her concern evident in her voice.
The director looked at her, a hint of confusion in his expression. "Is he in the military or something?"
Jade nodded, "Yeah, I believe he's in the Marine Corps as a reservist now. He's probably around 18 years in now or something, but he's not MARSOC or anything crazy."
Understanding the situation better, the director replied, "I will look into that. I haven't looked into his or your family much like I should have been."
He then shifted the focus back to their immediate tasks. "Well, I will follow up with you in a few days. Please focus on your research, and I will keep you updated on when I hear back from Ash on her travel to the Brazil region."
V leaned back, his voice taking on a reflective tone. "Usually, the worlds with mortal beings, or as you call them, humans, are always ruled by like one person who is somewhat weak or sometimes really, really strong.
I even faced a world of mortals who had managed to figure out how to use their abilities, and it took us a long time to defeat them, but they too fail like the rest until now."
Jade's question about the director's perspective prompted V to reflect on their interactions. "He was only concerned with the information I could give him.
After the whole cube incident, my memory has been a bit foggy, and the exact events are hard to recall, but I can still remember key details of how things fell for the tougher mortal worlds. And there are still a handful left, so as time goes on, they will focus on attacking the weaker ones."
He then added a curious piece of information, "Though, I can't recall that the King of Nothing proclaimed there was a different reason than just eating humans, and I just haven't fully recalled what it is yet."
Jade, absorbing this, nodded. "I see, and how often do one of you go rogue and help humans?" she asked, stretching before collapsing onto the bed in a mix of exhaustion and curiosity.
"To my knowledge, it has never happened. But someone who uncubes what the King of Nothing cubed has also never happened before, so I suppose it's hard to say what will come next," V responded, hinting at the unprecedented nature of their current situation.
"Well, let's get some sleep. I will be needing your help with experiments," Jade said, signaling the end of their conversation for the night.
V, still a bit confused by human customs like lying down to sleep, complied and almost instantly fell asleep after doing so.
Over the next week, Jade threw herself into her experiments, analyzing everything from the crystal to the shard, and eventually the flesh, but with little to show for it. Even with her enhanced vision, revealing only the molecules of the structure and some components beyond her understanding, the breakthrough she hoped for remained elusive.
This period of intense focus underscored the complexity of their challenge, pushing Jade to the limits of her scientific knowledge and beyond.