Maya then continued pointing to the girl beside her. "Emília Matarazzo."

She had short, straight hair in a bob style; a thin face, with high cheekbones, and surprisingly green eyes. Her expression was focused too, as if she were posing for a photo.

The Italian flag was beside her.

"Is she a model or something? She looks like a model." Jonathan asked me, curious as he looked at her features and expression — reminding him of those super skinny, tall models.

"No, she's not a model." Maya then pointed to the next one. "This is Xiao Xun'er."

In the image, a girl with Asian features, short hair in a masculine style, sharp yet soft traits. Her gaze was serious, like a professional photo. If anything, she gave Jonathan the impression of being some kind of young master.

The Chinese flag was beside her.

"Is it just me, or are you feeling the young Chinese master vibes here?" he commented, looking at her image and her expression.

"No, you're not the only one." Vanessa replied, also looking curiously at the image.

"You're not wrong. Currently, Xiao Xun'er is the heir to a Chinese conglomerate." Maia confirmed.

She then once again pointed to the next girl. "This is Nalini Kumar."

This girl had caramel-toned skin, long wavy brown hair, and eyes of the same color. She was quite pretty, with slightly thicker eyebrows, reminding him of Rani at his school.

Her expression was strangely pouting, with two fingers raised forming a "V." She was posing as if she were really taking a photo.

This time, neither Jonathan nor Vanessa said anything. They just stared silently. It was already clear that the person projecting those holograms was doing it on purpose, and that only made them look at Maia suspiciously.

Coughing into her fist in a futile attempt to hide it, she continued pointing to the last one, with a weak smile. "And, last but not least, Vanessa Williams."

There, Vanessa herself appeared, with the American flag symbol beside her image.

But, just like Jonathan, her expression was strange: instead of a weird seductive look, she had her brow furrowed, head slightly lowered, face serious — as if she were trying to look intimidating.

"I like it. That's quite an imposing expression, isn't it?" Vanessa nodded to herself with a satisfied smile.

Seeing her image trying to be intimidating, Jonathan raised an eyebrow. "Looks more like you have a stomach ache and are trying not to crap your pants."

"Pff." Maya huffed, trying to hold back laughter, but the way her body shook while covering her mouth gave away exactly what she thought of it.

And she wasn't the only one — this time, a good number of the women who had stayed silent at the other tables couldn't hold back and let out muffled laughs too.

Frowning at him, Vanessa replied, clearly irritated. "Oh, really? And yours looks like someone's shoving a finger up your ass."

The muffled sounds of laughter echoed from nearby tables again, with Vanessa smiling mockingly at him.

Jonathan just looked at his own image, contemplative, hand on his chin. "You think so? Hmm… Actually, I'd say it's more like you're projecting, and in your vast experience with this, you confused my expression because that's the face I make when you used to suck me, you know? She had quite a naughty little mouth, by the way." He raised his eyebrows at her with a meaningful smile.

"What did you say? You looking for a fight?" Vanessa stepped toward him, as if she were about to start one.

Jonathan waved his hands quickly. "No, no, no, far from me to hit a fragile woman." He emphasized, knowing very well what the result would be.

"You—" Vanessa started moving closer, clearly angry, but was interrupted.

"Okay, okay, you two, that's enough." Maya interrupted them, preventing it from turning into a physical confrontation.

Vanessa shot one last cold look at Jonathan, who returned it with a friendly smile and an innocent wave.

"That said, now you know your allies."

"Alright, I have a question." Jonathan spoke, raising his hand as if he were in school.

Exhaling lightly amused, Maia nodded. "Go ahead, Jonathan."

Jonathan pointed at the images.

"Why do they all have flag symbols next to their faces? Why are they all from different nationalities? Also, where are the others? I assumed everyone was here in the United States."

Maia nodded slightly. "Actually, it's simple. They are of different nationalities because those are the nationalities of their parents — at least one of them. And they're not here because each was assigned to their parents' country of origin. This was a secondary form of protection. Even if you were under interdimensional protection provided by COIN."

Hearing that, Jonathan made a confused expression. "Okay, but if each was assigned to a parent's country of origin, why am I in the United States if Vanessa is already here?"

"The reason has to do with what happened right after your birth." Maia began. "After the project was completed, it was decided that the scientists would become responsible for each of you, acting as parents. But, specifically in your case, Jonathan, your father was a close friend of Dr. Blake — perhaps the one who understood you best, aside from Eva herself. Because of that closeness, he didn't return immediately to his country of origin. He stayed in America with your mother while trying to finish his projects himself."

"But that was their mistake. A few months after the Restoration project was completed, Dr. Eva discovered you and started a hunt. The result was that your parents had to abandon you. Otherwise, you and they would have been killed."

"Right… now that makes sense." Jonathan scratched his chin, thoughtful. "So that's why my parents disappeared a few months after my 'birth'…"

He remembered his childhood vividly — his life as a newborn and the following months. The sense of distance he felt from them now made sense; they had known what he was from the beginning.

As she explained what happened months later, his parents left him in an orphanage and disappeared.

"And now I get why." Jonathan murmured. "They didn't abandon me. Most likely, they were found and killed."

Vanessa let out a deep sigh.

"So that means…"

"Yes. The scientists who helped Dr. Blake were found and killed."

Silence fell over the two.

"Shit…" Jonathan murmured with a heavy tone.

"You don't need to feel sorry. They were convinced in their actions. They knew the consequences."

Jonathan and Vanessa nodded silently.

"Alright, cutting this depressing mood, when will we meet our interdimensional compatriots?" Jonathan asked, turning his gaze back to the holograms.

"Soon. Now I will explain exactly what you will do." Maia slid her hand over the table, and the hologram changed again — a small disk appeared.

"I'll tell you your real purpose. Besides dimensional acclimation, the Doctor gave you a second purpose, the second part of the Restoration project. The Correction Disk."

She made the hologram expand. "Basically, its effect is to reinforce your dimensional imprint and accelerate acclimation. For an instant."

"An instant? Like literally?" Jonathan asked just to be sure.

"Yes. An instant."

"Alright, and where is this disk now?" Jonathan already imagined the predictable answer.

"It wasn't fully built due to Dr. Blake's death. The scientists — your parents — were responsible for finishing the project. But, since they were being hunted, they decided to take off to their countries, each carrying a part of the disk. It was then that they were found and killed."

"And here I thought it was the cliché of it being destroyed, though now it seems we're in some Mission Impossible scenario doing random missions around the world." Jonathan looked at the hologram.

"And what happened to the pieces? Did they take them?" Vanessa asked.

Maia shook her head. "Not all. They have some pieces, we have others, and the rest is still hidden where the scientists left it."

Jonathan crossed his arms. "So our goal is to stay alive while gathering the rest of the machine and completing it. Right?"

"Basically."

"Alright, but clear something up for me. Does this machine only work if we all use it?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

After a moment, Maia answered. "No. It doesn't need all of you. Just one is enough to activate the machine. But don't go spreading that. It's a secret."

Jonathan looked around at the other women, but didn't comment. 'If she's saying this here, it's because she trusts no one will tell.'

"I have a question too." Vanessa crossed her arms. "You implied that Eva and Adam were dead by the way you spoke, confirming it just now, but what I want to know is how this change went unnoticed if the whole world changed. How did that happen? How does the Space-Time Collider make this change?"

Maia nodded.

"The change was instant. One moment, the world was as you knew it. The next, it was what it is today, as if it had always been that way."

Vanessa narrowed her eyes. "Okay, but how did they remember the old reality if it was altered?"

"The Doctor said they retained consciousness precisely because they were aware of what Eva was trying to do. That protected them."

"So the memories changed, but the knowledge they had about the cause of this change kept them conscious?" Jonathan asked, scratching his head.

Maya nodded.

"Okay. Got it, to summarize, crazy scientist changes the world, crazy scientist's husband tries to stop it, gathers other scientists, they create the interdimensional Power Rangers project, and now we have to find the pieces of the bibbidi-bobbidi-boo disk to restore the world. Sounds easy." Jonathan smiled to himself.

"You'll meet your companions soon." Maya chuckled softly.

"And what do we do until then?" Vanessa asked.

"Live your life normally. It won't take long." Maya slid her hand over the table, making the hologram disappear. "Any more questions?"

Jonathan and Vanessa shook their heads.

"Great. In that case, you're free to explore the base. When you want to leave, come to me."

Without saying anything else, she turned and went to another table, activating a holographic computer.

Vanessa turned and went straight for the glass door, exiting and quickly looking around with eyes sparkling with childlike curiosity before literally running off somewhere.

Seeing that, Jonathan gave Maya one last look and left too.

In the corridor, he saw a woman fiddling with a laser pen near a table full of gadgets — and approached with the same childlike curiosity as Vanessa.

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