After a night's rest in accommodations provided by the L-ReF taskforce, plus a healthy dose of Naomi's healing magic, Jade was feeling much better. Taking a cannon round through the chest was a new experience for her, and one she wasn't eager to repeat. Fortunately, the Labyrinth's enhancements to her fortitude had ensured that it wasn't her last experience. As it was, Jade marveled at the strength and recovery rate of her new body. A burst of minigun rounds and a two story drop onto hard concrete would have killed any normal person twice over, but she was already up and about not even one day later.
In her human form, Jade's fortitude was only an '11', a mere 4 points higher than she'd begun her journey with. Despite the modest improvements, she'd found any score in the double digits to easily place one in the 'superhuman' range, at least for the physical stats. Jade wondered what it would be like at higher levels as she increased her physical stats into the twenties and thirties. Would normal attacks even be able to harm her anymore? Maybe Serrethis could tell her what to expect.
One good thing had come from the incident. The leadership of L-Ref made it clear that they didn't want to push her while she was recovering from a serious injury, so they had offered to transport her, Luis, and Naomi to visit their families on government expense. In return, they were expected to come back after a couple of days to continue sharing information on the Labyrinth and to coordinate with other wayfarers that were currently on Earth. That would also give them time to complete the veritable mountain of paperwork foisted upon them by various L-Ref functionaries. Jade and her companions happily accepted the deal, eager to be reunited with their loved ones.
"Seriously?" Jade asked, flipping through an L-ReF binder and scanning the contents as she and her companions waited for aircraft to be prepped for them. The three of them were back at the military airfield, preparing to separate for the first time since they'd joined forces on the first floor of the Labyrinth. It would only be for a short period of time, but it was still an odd feeling. "Do we really need to complete a form that attests that we won't 'use any Labyrinth materials, items, or enhancements to subvert the authority of any legitimate Earth government, up to and including aiding in the pursuit of world domination'?"
Jade sighed, snapping the binder shut and rolling her eyes.
"Sounds reasonable to me." Luis said, munching on a bag of chips beside her. The man had been eating almost nonstop since their return, and she was growing envious of his seeming ability to consume endless calories without any impact to his physique.
Maybe it's his high strength and fortitude scores… Jade mused. I should make those a higher priority.
The throbbing ache in her chest, and the newly formed scar in the center of it, were another reminder of the importance of high defenses. Jade wondered how she would have fared if she'd been wearing her new armor and in her succubus form, rather than disguised as a human. If she was going to be fighting on Earth, it might be best to find a way to reveal her nature to the authorities after all. She hadn't expected the disadvantages of remaining disguised to manifest so quickly.
"No one who was going to try and overthrow the government will look at this document and say 'damn, they got me. Well, I guess I can't do it now." Jade complained.
A noise of surprise came from Jade's other side, drawing her attention. Naomi was staring at a phone she'd been issued by L-ReF to ensure they could stay in touch, her eyes wide.
"What is it?" Jade asked, leaning in to look over her shoulder.
"You know how I said I was auditioning for a spot with that pop group?" She asked, sounding a little woozy.
"Yeah, why?"
"I had… Well, still have, I guess, a YouTube channel. I'd upload some music and songs, just indie stuff in my spare time, when I wasn't busy with school or work. I was hoping it'd help me get my foot in the door, if I could build a following. Never really made much progress. I'd only hit about 25k subscribers after a year of working on it."
"What, did more people find it while you were gone?" Luis asked, sliding over to join them.
Naomi held up her phone screen without a word. It showed a YouTube page with her face as the profile picture. Under it…
"Five hundred thousand?" Jade asked, incredulously.
"Someone connected the news broadcast yesterday with my account." Naomi said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Nice!" Luis said, slapping her on the back enthusiastically. "You're famous now! When we're done with all this, I bet you'll be able to land a spot in whatever group you want."
"Or start your own." Jade added. "I bet magic concerts would be popular."
"If only I could livestream our fights…" Naomi sighed. "That boost I got yesterday was incredible! Would be nice to have that on demand."
"Maybe L-ReF can figure something out for that, once they're done making sure the country doesn't fall apart." Jade said thoughtfully. Naomi's ability allowed her to boost her spells and talents up to two ranks higher, if enough people were watching her. Yesterday's fight showed just how big a difference that could make. It was worth investigating, although she had no idea how that would work across different dimensions.
They were interrupted by the door to the tarmac opening. A soldier waved to get their attention, calling them over. It was time to go.
"See you in a few days?" Jade said, getting to her feet.
"Yeah. This feels weird, after all the time we've spent together." Naomi said.
Jade was just as bad at good-byes as she was with people. She hesitated awkwardly, unsure if there was something else she should say. Unable to think of anything better, she held out her hand. Instead of shaking it, Luis grabbed her arm and pulled her and Naomi into a hug.
"Ow!" Jade winced. "Easy. I just got shot, remember?"
"You're fine. Naomi healed you!"
"Don't do anything crazy, Jade, okay? I mean it this time." Naomi said, hugging them back. "At least wait until we're back together."
"Hey, it's me." Jade smiled, embracing her friends as well. "You've got nothing to worry about."
"That is what I’m worried about."
----------------------------------------
"I understand, Madame President. I'll have an update for you tonight."
Irene Holston killed the call, dropping her cell phone onto her desk and sinking back in her chair. She hunched over, rubbing at her temples in an attempt to banish a rapidly growing headache.
"Is something wrong, director?"
Sam was standing in the door to her office, a pair of steaming cups of coffee in his hands. He held one up, raising an eyebrow.
"The President is insisting on an immediate solution to the crisis." Irene sighed, shifting to sit upright and accepting the offered mug with a grateful nod. "She doesn't seem to understand that if I could magically fix this by waving my hand, I'd have done that weeks ago."
"She doesn't like the idea of working our way through the Cores one floor at a time?"
"None of us like the idea of that, Sam." Irene replied tersely. "Especially not when we're relying on a few thousand civilians to clear the way for us. But what choice do we have? Did you see the report from the platoon we sent through the Seattle gateway two days ago?"
"I did, yes." Sam nodded, his grim expression at odds with his cheerful, colorful shirt.
As a test, the military had sent in a fifty-man strong infantry platoon to explore the other side of a Labyrinth gateway. Unlike with smaller forces, the larger group was immediately set upon by a ceaseless swarm of monsters. They'd been forced back out of the portal in less than two hours, with more than half the force wounded.
"Brute forcing our way through this isn't an option." Irene said, drinking deeply from the warm, life-giving coffee. "What a mess…"
Sam placed his hands against the back of the chair opposite her, leaning against it.
"Irene, I think we have to seriously consider alternative solutions to this problem."
"Like what?" Irene asked wearily, although she already knew where this was going. General Bennet had broached the same topic with her that very morning.
"If our conventional forces can't eliminate the Labyrinth Cores in a reasonable amount of time, and if we can't rely on a substantial portion of the wayfarers who are supposed to be seeing to this task, then we have to consider deploying strategic assets."
"Sam, the damn Labyrinth responds to a few dozen soldiers grouped together with overwhelming force. How do you think it will retaliate against weapons of mass destruction being lobbed at it?"
"Would that retaliation be worse than allowing its mechanisms to strip our world bare of resources? Destroy our infrastructure? Displace untold millions of people?"
"I don't think anyone can know that. But once we go down that road, we can't go back."
"I'm not advocating for us to immediately jump to drastic measures." Sam placated her with a raised hand. "But we should be prepared to implement them should they prove necessary."
Irene had always been a cautious woman. That trait was one of the reasons why she'd been placed in the senior levels of the Central Intelligence Agency until the current crisis had prompted her reassignment. The idea of tossing nuclear weapons at a problem they were only starting to understand without any idea of the consequences was foolhardy. The Labyrinth's response aside, there were entire civilizations reportedly living inside that world. People of unknown disposition and capability that they were now neighbors with.
And yet… Perhaps her deputy director had a point. He was being earnest and genuine, and his advice had already proven to be sound on other matters. There was no harm in at least considering alternatives.
"Work with General Bennet to draft some contingency plans." Irene relented, leaning back in her seat. "This is a last resort, but you're right. We should be prepared for the worst."
No doubt China and Russia would be considering similar responses. Emergency sessions were currently underway at the UN, and Irene fervently hoped that cooler heads would prevail. It was too soon to be taking such dramatic steps. Some wayfarers were performing well, exceptionally so, considering the circumstances. With the proper support, they could be turned into a vanguard that cleared the way for teams that could take on the Labyrinth's challenge.
"Of course, Director." Sam nodded, a tight smile on his face. "I'll see to it."
He departed, closing the door to her office behind him and leaving Irene to ponder her troubled thoughts.