The building that housed the Labyrinth Response Force, or L-ReF as everyone was calling it, was not especially impressive. As they walked up the steps led by an aide and flanked by the two soldiers who had driven them here, Jade thought that she could've mistaken it for any of the hundreds of non-descript office buildings that grew from city centers like weeds in a garden. At least, if it hadn't been for the barbed-wire fences, temporary barricades, armed guards, and an entire motor pool of armored vehicles surrounding it on all sides.
"Sorry about the mess!" The aide, a young man wearing a suit, called over the sound of construction. "We just relocated here a few days ago!"
"Why's that?" Naomi asked, sidestepping a group of men carrying what looked like half of a rotary cannon down the steps. She gave it a skeptical look.
"The first permanent door to the Labyrinth that appeared in the states showed up a few blocks over." He explained, leading them inside. "The director wanted quick access to it, in case that proved helpful."
"What's with all the weapons?" Luis asked. "Have monsters been coming out of this portal too?"
"A few, yes. But the number has been steadily increasing, and they're starting to show up in groups. Most entrances emerged in or near urban areas. LA, Miami, Chicago. We're fortifying them as quickly as we can. These are populated cities, so any creatures that slip out of the security cordon are a major public safety hazard."
That's one way to put it.
The prevalence of monster incursions was a little confusing to Jade. Damos hadn't said anything like that would happen when the Labyrinth finished integrating with Earth. She supposed it wasn't unusual that the odd monster would happen to wander out through a portal, but these incursions seemed to be on a different scale. Was this another manifestation of the myriad problems the Labyrinth was experiencing? Jade grimaced, following the aide up a flight of stairs. Was it too much to ask that the potentially world-ending mega-dungeon invading their world at least abide by its own rules?
They soon ended up in what had probably once been a nice office but now was so cluttered by document folders, construction equipment, and haphazardly placed furniture that there was hardly anywhere to stand. A tall woman sat behind the room's only desk, her eyes scanning one laptop screen while her fingers danced across the keyboard of a different computer. The dark-haired woman glanced up as they entered, returning her attention to her work a moment later.
"Ah… Director Holston." The aide said.
"Yes?" The woman said, without looking at him.
"The three wayfarers that emerged in Argentina arrived. Director, this is Jade Callian, Luis Espanoza, and Naomi Rosales. Everyone, this is Director Irene Holston, the head of L-Ref."
"A pleasure." she said curtly. She stopped typing long enough to pull a document from a folder and flip through it. "Please, sit."
There didn't appear to be any available surface to take a seat on in the room. Jade met eyes with Luis, who just shrugged. They waited for several long moments, but the director didn't address them again. When the silence started getting awkward, Jade spoke up.
"You… wanted to see us, Director?"
"What? Ah, yes, my apologies." She finally closed the laptop, turning to face them. Director Holston looked to be in her mid-forties, with a face that both still held onto the beauty of youth while starting to show signs of age. She had a very 'no nonsense' look about her, and Jade could immediately tell this was not a woman who played games. "I have an enormous amount on my plate right now. Resource allocation, Labyrinth exploration, recommendations for military response. I'm expected to be the expert opinion on new legislation, to have a solution to every danger the Labyrinth represents and, most importantly." she rolled her eyes. "to 'ensure that the new resources and opportunities afforded by this new land are predominantly used to further American interests.'"
That last part had the sound of a direct quote. Jade could taste the director's stress and irritation, neatly packaged and contained behind a strong wall of professional stoicism.
"That sounds like a job for more than one person." Luis observed.
"It does, doesn't it?" Director Holston graced him with a tight smile.
"What can we do for you, director?" Jade asked cautiously.
"I've arranged a meeting with a few of my colleagues at the top of the hour." she said, turning her attention to Jade. "We'd appreciate if you could share some of your experiences. I hear you made it to the second floor? And met some of the Labyrinth's inhabitants?"
"That's right."
"Then we'll be very interested to hear what you have to say."
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A short time later, Jade and her companions found themselves seated in a conference room opposite director Holston and two men: A uniformed military officer wearing a rank insignia Jade didn't recognize, and a handsome younger man who was incongruously dressed in a floral pattern Hawaiian shirt. The latter was introduced as deputy director Sam Wilson, and the former as General Bennet, military liaison to the US Labyrinth Response Force.
The general got straight to the point, wasting no time on pleasantries. He immediately began the discussion by asking detailed questions about their experiences in the Labyrinth. Jade, Luis, and Naomi alternated relating their journey, what they had learned about how the Labyrinth functioned, and the types of creatures they encountered. General Bennet was most interested in the power and threat of the monsters that resided within, grilling them with focused questions on the strengths and weaknesses of the creatures they'd fought. In contrast, director Holston was curious to learn more about the elves of Lysara and the other civilizations in the Labyrinth.
"If we're going to be successful." she said, leaning forward on the table during a lull in the discussion. "We're going to need allies. You did well to help protect this village against the creatures threatening it, that will help us establish a good relationship with them."
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"That's all well and good, director." Deputy director Wilson spoke up. "But our main focus has to be the cores. While our home is being harvested, everything else is a secondary priority. The President continues to insist we prepare an array of contingency plans, including a nuclear respon-"
"That's enough of that." the director cut him off with a sharp jerk of her hand, before shooting Jade and her companions a not-so-subtle look. "I will handle the President. Appropriate measures are being taken."
Nuclear…? Jade thought, gears turning in her head. What kind of plans are they making?
Given the immense power of the Labyrinth, and its many rules, she had a feeling that any overt attempt to subvert its mechanisms would not end well for anyone. Damos had been quite clear on that front.
"I agree that we need to remain focused on the primary objective: Stopping the Labyrinth." General Bennet said, crossing his arms. "Your experiences confirm our initial analysis. Our troops can foray into the Labyrinth, but without the benefits of being a wayfarer, progress will be slow. It will take time to develop and implement proper tactics to use against… otherworldly." Jade noticed he avoided using the word 'magical' "creatures. We have powerful weapons that are already proving effective against these beings, but we're experiencing more difficulties the deeper our forces explore into the Labyrinth."
"That's only on the first floor." Jade said, grimacing. "They get stronger on the second, and we've been told it only gets worse the higher you go."
"Exactly." The general frowned. "Initial experiments show that the enhancements those bearing wayfarer marks receive are also available to anyone who fights in this new world, but progress is far slower for normal people. This 'experience' is gained only by battle, and it appears the entity referred to as the 'Voice of the Labyrinth' applies a penalty to any battle fought using modern weapons."
That was news to Jade. She exchanged a concerned look with her companions.
"So, no rolling into the Labyrinth with a tank and blasting through everything that gets in your way?" Luis asked, disappointed.
"There may be a time and place for that, we aren't ruling anything out. But that approach won't make our people stronger."
"And if what you're telling us is true." Director Holston added. "We need as many strong fighters as we can get."
"What can we do to help?" Naomi asked.
"Our current plan is to train as many soldiers, and struggling wayfarers, as possible in the lower levels of the Labyrinth, and seeing how strong we can get them." The director continued. "According to the heralds, any force larger than a small group will attract negative attention, so we'll be limiting our initial experiments to squad sizes. While we're working on that, and keeping things under control here, we'll need assistance in two main areas."
"The first is that, given what we've heard about how this place works, we'll need floor keys." General Bennet said, taking over the conversation. "Eventually, we'll need to get our people up to where the cores are. If the initial groups of wayfarers turning up are anything to go by, we shouldn't be relying on you to take care of this for us."
"Is it that bad?" Jade asked.
"You're the second-highest level wayfarer we've heard of, since people started coming back. And you two aren't far behind." The other man said, sipping from a coffee cup. "Granted, we don't know too much yet, but from what we've gathered…"
"Most people aren't trying to fight." Director Holston explained. "The majority seem to be trying to get home. On that note, we're facilitating communication between successful wayfarers like you. I strongly recommend you network with some of them while you're here."
"You're adjusting to this quickly." Luis piped up. "I thought we'd find more denial and panic. Maybe riots? Lawlessness?"
"There was a lot of that in the first couple of weeks." Deputy director Wilson said grimly. "In some parts of the world, there still is. People are fleeing to the cities, worried about the dimensional events. Having everything you know about the world change overnight is a lot to deal with, but we don't have the luxury of panicking."
"I know the feeling." Jade muttered. She was having a hard time paying attention to the conversation. Sam, the deputy director, was annoyingly attractive. Jade was getting better at resisting her base urges, but something about the guy was making it difficult to focus on what he was saying.
Pull it together. She chided herself. What's wrong with you?
"Our armed forces are being used to keep the peace." Bennet picked up the conversation, glowering across the table at them. "The other thing we need is help locating the 'cores' we need to destroy. I'm told that only people like you can find them."
Jade glanced down at her wayfarer mark, faintly glowing on her hand.
"That's right. We have a… an ability, to find them." For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to use the word 'spell'. Now that they were back on Earth the idea of magic, enchantments, and levels seemed… silly. It felt like she wouldn't be taken seriously. Which was an odd thing to get hung up on, since they were sitting in a conference room wearing magical medieval armor, but Jade couldn't help how she felt.
The conversation continued for some time, with several more questions being asked about their journey in the Labyrinth. They confirmed their intention to continue progressing deeper into the dungeon, which obviously relieved the three L-ReF members. Finally, as the meeting was winding down, Jade and her companions were presented with a collection of documents.
"Filling these out will grant you the status of defense contractors." The general explained. "While the world might be going to shit, we still need to keep some semblance of order in how we do things. If you want help equipping yourselves with whatever we can get our hands on, we can do that through official channels."
"What, like weapons? Bombs?" Luis asked, perking up. He started scanning the papers, paging through them.
"Am I even allowed to do this…?" Naomi asked, picking up a stack as well.
"Considering the circumstances, I wouldn't worry about that." Director Holston said. "If the three of you are going to keep fighting, I imagine any help would be welcome.
"I'll definitely take a look." Jade agreed, taking her stack and stowing it in her bag. She was too worn out from a very long day to read through anything right now and was ready to finally get some rest. First, though…
"If we're done for now, does anyone have a phone I can use?" Jade asked, standing up. "I want to make some calls."
She was anxious to talk to her brother and father. To let them know she really was okay, and that she was back.
"Of course." The deputy director said, standing up as well. "You can use-"
A distant, warbling alarm sounded, interrupting him. The noise was muted by the conference room walls, but Jade could tell it was coming from outside.
"What's that?" Naomi asked, getting to her feet and looking around in concern.
"Incursion alert." The deputy director said, standing. He pulled out a radio, which crackled to life in his hand. "What's going on?" he barked into it without preamble.
Jade couldn't hear the reply, it came over an earpiece. Wilson frowned, holding one hand to his ear and listening closely. Everyone else waited in a tense silence. Outside, Jade could hear pounding footfalls and muffled shouts. Further away, the popping sounds of distant gunfire filtered through the walls.
"A group of hostile creatures just emerged from the aperture." The deputy director explained. "The security force has it under control."
"We can help." Jade said, standing. The response was automatic after over a month of venturing through the Labyrinth, fighting their way through every monster that happened upon them. It didn't even cross her mind that this was a task best left to others. Naomi and Luis nodded in agreement, moving to join her, although Naomi looked hesitant.
"Our people are equipped to handle it." The general said dismissively. "There's no need to-"
"I'm not sure they are." Director Holston cut him off, pointing out the window. Jade followed her gesture to see large, winged shapes spreading through the sky above the city. "This is new." she added with a frown.
Whatever cordon had been set up around the Labyrinth entrance apparently wasn't equipped to contain airborne monsters. That settled the issue for Jade. She wasn't about to stand by while people got hurt, not when she had the power to do something about it.
Besides, it would be a waste of experience.
"We're going."
She, Luis, and Naomi exited the room at a run, not waiting for a response.