Jolana smiled at Max sweetly, "I just received a message from Sam... You have a request."

Glancing up from his experiment regarding the refraction of light, he peered at her curiously, "Oh? Something Alex here can't handle using the sims already?"

"Correct. While we were busy in here, there was another guest that came through. You may have noticed a faint lag spike here and there."

"Ah, yes. Those seem to have cleared up now, so I am assuming said guest has left. Anyway, go on?"

"Well, they want to go through a sim drilling against the Mars AI mechs. Problem is, we don't have the specs, or battle footage, or tactic records..."

"... And I have all of those things." Max smirked as he dismissed the array of mirors and lights, something more interesting having caught his attention, "Youo do know those are government secrets, right?"

"Oh pshaw, better you oversee us then Alex try and hack databases." Grinning, Jolana floated through the air, having stopped in the middle of an experiment regarding mass and density, "Besides, this guy making the request was a veteran, he will know if the sims are legit."

"Wait. What?" Staring up at her, Max crossed his arms, "That makes this interesting... Not too many vets around, after all. He may have even used my software, back in the day." Sighing, he nodded, "... And Alex really would just go and hack something anyway, knowing you lot. Fine, I will send over mech schematics and tactic analysis. I will... Consider helping with the actual AI."

Jolana grinned triumphantly, passing the good news to Alex through a message, "Thanks, Max."

"Any time, Jo." Mind buzzing with the idea, Max opened up a connection back to his labs, seeing if he could access any of the data remotely to start trying it out.

As Max retired to one of the few remaining guest rooms, Alex blearily ducked their head into the hallway, whispering, "Clear?"

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Glancing up, Jolana laughed softly, "You're safe." Walking over, she followed alongside Alex as they made their way to the other own rooms, "Feeling okay?"

Nodding, Alex groaned, "Brain is sore, might need to stay in bed for a few extra hours tomorrow. Other than that, I'm fine." Glancing up at her, Alex smiled slightly, "some of those experiments you guys thought up were kinda fun, though."

"Well, yeah. Not everyday you can bend the laws of reality to your will~" Giggling, she stopped by her doorway, "I forget all that goes inside that brain of yours, and how... Different that is."

Alex laughd tiredly, "Certainly one of a kind. Speaking of... I'm not sure if I should be handling those Mars sims, though."

"Hmm? Oh, you will be fine. You have held a live weapon of mass destruction before, after all."

"... Wait, when?"

"Remember that time you helped Hope fire the PEWPEW? You got head damage from it?"

Alex blinked, "... I guess I technically did hold a WoMD, yeah. Guess a little battle tactics can't hurt."

Jolana hugged alex gently with a smile, "And you have run monster AI before, in game settings. Just think of it like that."

Sighing, Alex hugged her back, smiling as they relaxed, "Yeah... Thank you. I'm surrised Max had all the stuff you asked for, though."

"Really? You haven't background checked him yet?" Glncing up, Jolana smirked, "Let's just say, Max has some interesting connections. Old Tom probably actually would recognise his name."

Alex paled, "Oh. I... Did not look him up. Remind me to do that tomorrow, after I have rested." Giggling, Jolana nodded, giving one last hug before slipping off to bed.

Alex trudged down the hall, head still spinning from the day's events... And feeling incredibly curious as to Max's past.