More interested than before, Forge then asked: “Why is she so stron'?”

Leaning back on the cafeteria wall, Rob replied: “You see... Breege's just like her mum... who was also ridiculously strong. Not to mention, she also trained hard to be this good.”

Forge continued his questions: “I-Is that why she's so famous? Ar' ther' other reasons...?”

“Also 'cause of her mum, mostly. You see-” Rob began explaining, before he was interrupted by the approaching Officer Ernst.

“Hello, Lochen City Team... and foreigner...”

“Hey, Reggie. What's up?” Rob greeted as casually as before.

Officer Ernst ignored Rob's greeting and explained:

“I was sent here to make sure you were indeed with the foreigner.”

“Well... yes, we are.” Ben noted the obvious.

“But where's Officer Latymer?” asked Ernst.

Maroon explained: “She went out for a moment, she'll be back soon.”

“She better be... Either way, I hope all goes well for you.” Ernst said as he began to leave.

“Wait!!! Do you have any new info on that thing we fought?” Rob interrupted him.

“Oh yeah... that...” admitted Ernst.

“Not that again...” Maroon lamented.

“Have the tests revealed... anything?” Rob asked Ernst.

“The Creature's DNA appears to be based off of Nikean DNA.” explained “Reggie”.

“What!?” asked Rob, Ben and Maroon in unison, while Forge slightly widened his eyes in surprise.

“That thing was a nikean!?” asked Maroon.

“It's DNA appears to be very modified Nikean DNA, but it's still similar enough to be obvious.” explained Ernst.

“That explains a lot...” noted Rob.

“Tha's... disturbin'...” commented Forge, not knowing what to say.

“Going by the tissue samples and it's general anatomy... they say we could describe this creature as, in a sense, a disembodied organ modified and fitted to act on it's own.”

Maroon shivered at that.

“But... how... where did it come from? And who could've made it?” wondered Ben.

“They believe this creature was deliberately put here. But by who, it's uncertain.” clarified Ernst.

“Probably some foreigners.” mentioned Maroon.

“Obviously... but which? That's not specific enough.” noted Ben.

Rob theorized: “Could it have been... the Sawbones?”

“Maybe... the analysts did mention them.” acknowledged Ernst.

“Th-The Sawbones? Can you... 'refresh' my memory?” asked Forge, semi-sarcastically.

Rob told him: “Some sort of... organization. We don't know exactly what they are or where they are from... only that they like creating lab freaks... among other things.”

“About the creature... the analysts have called it a 'Homunculus'.” Ernst explained.

“Th-Tha's ridonculus!!!! Hahaha...” joked Forge, only for all four to awkwardly stare at him in silence.

Sighing, Forge said: “Go on...”

Maroon then asked: “How did that thing get in this place anyway?”

“We aren't sure, it probably entered through an airlock or stowed away inside some ship... back when it was smaller.” explained “Reggie”.

“B-But... wher' did it reelly c-come from? Wh-Wha' if mor' are sent!?” asked Forge, somewhat alarmed at this.

“...No need to worry... foreigner... The only reason it became so dangerous was us not seeing it as a threat at first. Next time we're on a similar situation, we'll just neutralize it before it becomes a bigger problem.” clarified Officer Ernst.

“Yeah... if we attack it early... it could easily be killed.” added Rob.

At that moment, Brigitte returned, saying: “Alright, alright... what's the discussion about now?”

“Officer Latymer, you're back...” noted Ernst.

Maroon explained: “He was just telling us that... the thing we fought? Partly nikean.”

“What!?” Brigitte asked, confused.

Ernst repeated: “The Creature's DNA appears to be heavily modified Nikean DNA.”

“...That does explain it's strength... and it's blood.” admitted Brigitte, disquieted.

“But just what was that thing's... goal? What did it actually want? Food?” asked Ben.

“This creature, this... homunculus... seemingly only had two goals: kill nikeans and consume biomass. They often intersected.” Officer Ernst continued.

“How can you possibly know that?” asked Brigitte.

“It's reported behavior and anatomy suggests this. In fact, those 'tentacles' it had? Those were actually heavily modified intestines, all connected to a 'stomach'.” “Reggie” explained.

“Yipe!!! That's gross.” exclaimed Maroon.

“Wait... if it needed food that badly, why didn't it just... break into a supermarket or something?” questioned Ben.

“The creature initially did attack markets and food courts, but this always drew attention. The analysts hypothesize it must've seen First Level food as not worth the risk, so it avoided it.” replied Officer Ernst.

“That tank full of food it broke into... it wasn't on the First Level, was it?” asked Maroon.

“Organic Disposal Tanks receive discarded food items from the First Level. Had it destroyed one, people up here would've noticed.” Ernst answered.

“That's why it didn't break into it before. It only decided to risk it when it was out of options, desperate to obtain more biomass.” pointed out Rob.

Brigitte asked: “But... why did this thing do all this stuff? Did whoever make it... told it to?”

“Maybe this 'homunculus' was, in a sense, designed to mainly crave Nikean flesh. So eating nikeans was... instinctual.” added Rob.

“But... if it needed Nikean flesh, or whatever, that much... why did it leave so many bones behind? It's lair had bones scattered all over.” Ben pointed out.

“Maybe it was like... a trap? So people would be like 'wow bones, so creepy' and then... BAM, get eaten.” Maroon opined.

“Huh, that... actually makes sense.” admitted Rob.

“Doesn't matter anymore, it's dead. Anyways, I have to get going. If you've got any more questions, you know where to find me... in my office.” repeated Ernst as he left.

“C-Can you jus'... mak' a creatur' to do jus' that?” Forge asked.

“Ugh... I hated that thing... making us go down there...” expressed Brigitte.

“I wonder... whoever or whatever made that creature... what else have they made?” Rob asked.

“Th-They coul' be makin' whol' armies by now...” theorized Forge.

“Well... if they are, there's not much we could do to stop it.” noted Ben.

“Especially not me, not now...” agreed Maroon

“H-Hey... uhhhh... I got a questin... Wh-What happen' to your other clothes, the bloodstein' ones?” asked Forge, trying to change the distressing subject.

“Those things? Mostly discarded... but they weren't really stained. All police outfits are coated, down to the gloves, specifically to prevent staining.” explained Rob.

“Well, that's... efficien'?” commented the Man in the Jacket.

Maroon said: “Thanks to that, our clothes always look clean, spotless and, not to forget, respectable.”

“I don' really get that...” Forge admitted.

“Sure you don't...” Brigitte whispered, sarcastically.

The Man in the Jacket sighed and said: “Man, I... I wanted a drink...”

“Didn't you spill it?” asked Rob.

“N-No, that...  'very polite' Server did...” Forge replied, scorn in his tone.

Rob asked again: “Your sure it wasn't just you being clumsy?”

“N-NO, I...” Forge thought for a moment, before saying “J-Jus'... forget it...”.

“Wait... if I'm remembering right... Have you drunk nothing for over a week?” asked Ben.

Forge simply responded: “D-Don' worry, I drank from the shower, wh-when I was bathin'...”

“...You drank from the shower?” asked Rob, surprised.

Raising an eyebrow, Maroon asked: “...Wait, so foreigners actually take baths?”

“Y-Yes, of course they do!!! St-Stop assumin' things you know nothin' 'bout!!!” Forge snapped back, tired of her comments.

A surprised Maroon simply replied: “...Thanks for telling me...”

“You walked right into that one...” a smirking Brigitte whispered to her.

As they talked, the Cafeteria's Radio was changed to a more familiar channel:

“-you're all feeling well!!! Here at Rowhedge we have a saying: 'Either think or sleep.' Yes people, too much thinking only brings sleepless nights. People all around Reglom wonder and worry about something all the time... from the biggest things, to the most trivial things imaginable. This... we aren't built to torment ourselves like this. It's just too much...”

Having introduced himself, Macville then continued with another subject.

“And speaking of 'too much', Fulgence Studios have announced that a sequel to the hit photoplay 'Not Enough' is finally in the works, which will deal with, I quote, 'Exploring the emotional landscape after the events of the first'. Wanna guess just what they're calling it?” there was a small pause before Macville answered with “If you guessed 'Too Much', you're wrong. They're calling it 'Still Not Enough'.”.

“Ooohhhh, they're making a sequel, finally!!! I always wanted to know what happened to Geoffrey!!!” Maroon cheerfully commented, before adding “They better not ruin his character completely or, even worse, kill him off right at the start of the photoplay...”

Rob looked about to say something, but ultimately decided against it.

Ben asked: “Wasn't that the photoplay in which the protagonist turned out to be dreaming the whole story?”

“What the- No!!! Where did you even...?” pointed out Maroon.

Macville kept talking, having changed the subject further: “Meanwhile, the Mossam Region has had more and more people moving in from Bakkesnol at Reglom North than ever before, but the reason for this isn't really clear. It's theorized it may be due to the political climate in the region... or maybe they just liked rifts. Either way, maybe we'll get some traditional Bakkesnolian food here at the West, hahaha!!!”

Unknowing, Forge asked: “Th-They... 'jus' liked reefts? Wha' does 'reefts' mean?”

“The Mossam Region runs alongside a rift... Basically, a gigantic canyon many kilometers deep, at least.” explained Rob.

“W-Won' their houses an' everythin' jus'... fall down?” Forge cluelessly asked.

The nikeans just stared at him in confusion, before Rob replied:

“...Most of the buildings are set beside the rift, with the rest being built specifically to not fall in.”

“Oh, yeah...” the Man in the Jacket acknowledged, then asked “...D-Do you guys like livin' near... great heighs'?”.

“Near great heights? Near great heights is where our kind comes from. Sort of.” Rob responded.

Forge nodded and said: “Th-That explains that big structur' at Lochen City... I hav' 'nother questin... wh-wha's a... 'photoplay'?”

“It's... a recording that features people acting out a story.” Maroon explained.

“S-So it's a movie.” the Man in the Jacket replied.

“...That's what you people call 'em?” asked Rob.

Maroon thought for a moment, then asked:

“Does that word... derive from the term 'moving picture'?”

“...Actully, yes.” replied Forge, impressed.

“I thought so.” boasted Maroon.

After this, there was a long and awkward silence. Forge mostly just stared at his empty food bowl, not saying anything. The others didn't fail to notice.

“Uhhhh, hey, don't you have... anything else to say?” asked Rob.

Forge replied with: “I just... I dunno wha' else to say...”

“Is this a common foreigner thing?” Rob asked.

“NO!!! Again...” Forge replied, continuing with “...I jus'... dunno wha' to say... tha's all.”.

“...You foreigners are weird...” commented Rob.

From the radio, Macville continued his talk: “Alright. The time has come to read fan mail. Here we have a message from Herbert Blair, it says 'What do you make of the rumors that claim a secret foreigner oligarchy is pulling the strings behind the world's leaders?' Remember what I said, the whole worrying about the most trivial things imaginable? We shouldn't worry about what some wackos consider a problem, Herbert.”

“Heh, the things some idiots ask...” commented Brigitte.

“Didn't they make a photoplay based on that?” pointed out Maroon.

“And here's another, from Bill Upton: 'Hey, Macville. Love your radio show. I've got a question. Do you think it's better to wear white gloves or brown ones?' I respond... I'd rather not wear gloves at all. But to each their own.” Macville continued.

“Hey, I just remembered... how do you fly? Like, what's the mechanism?” Rob asked Forge.

The Man in the Jacket responded: “I... I jus'... do it. I focus an'... I tak' off. I only activate it an'... it's hard to 'splain...”

“Sounds much like how we do it...” pointed out Rob.

“I-I guess...” Forge said.

The ever-curious nikean continued: “Oh and... how's your room? Is it nice?”

Forge replied: “...O-Of all the rooms Iv' been in, it's certanly one of 'em.”

“What does that mean?” asked Maroon.

The Man in the Jacket went into detail: “I-It's terrible. Dust everywher', broken chairs, lights that don' work a-an' explodin' showers.”

“...Exploding showers?” asked Brigitte.

“Wh-When I tried to shower, i-it only worked for a short whil'. Soon the... p-pipes began to hiss and... burst, shootin' water all over.” explained Forge.

“That's just... hilarious.” commented Maroon.

Forge frowned and said: “...I'd say otherwis'... but... I... I hop' they fix it...”

Maroon asked: “They said they'd do it?”

“Y-Yes, they tol' me they woul'.” replied Forge, unsure at the truth.

“At that room? ...I dunno, foreigner...” said Rob, doubting this.

The Man in the Jacket then asked: “C-Can' you at leas' call me by my name, for once?” 

“Well... your name's 'Forge'... it's such a silly name!!! You should thank us we aren't calling you by that.” said Rob, shaking his head and smiling dismissively.

“What!?” asked Forge, offended.

Rob began to say: “I mean... seriously? 'Forge'? What kind of name-”

“I-It's alredy bad 'nough that my name gets spell'd wron'... y-ya gotta mak' fun of it, too?” protested Forge.

“Come on, man... your name is funny...” said Rob, not taking him seriously.

Forge groaned, saying: “You people...”

Rob didn't stop: “I never knew foreigners could have such silly names!!!”

They were interrupted by a certain grey-suited officer calling out for Forge: 

“Hey, foreigner, time to go back to your room.”

Forge sighed, stood up and walked towards the guards waiting for him, including the same grey-suited man that first escorted him to the HQ.

“Al-Alrite... let's go...” the Man in the Jacket said.

“Good.” expressed the grey-suited officer.

Forge was walked back to his room, where he was told:

“You'll be called back later in the day... maybe.”

The Man in the Blue Jacket locked himself in the room and dropped himself on the bed, tired of dealing with nikeans.

He whispered to himself: “Se fuerte, Forge... don' forget, you wer' a convict a day ago... Just stay on their good sides...”

Lying on the bed, Forge noticed a small poster on a wall, featuring a well-dressed cat with the phrase:

“Don't worry, you are worth all.” 

He felt uplifted for a second, before he read the bottom part, which said:

“You're a Nikean after all.”

Forge groaned.