Somewhere in the Unknown Desert

In the middle of the desert was a square building with the most simple design. In this building there were even and smooth walls and there was nothing except the door. It was a one-story building of a dark, metallic color.

There was only one road leading to this building. There were no trees or plants. At a distance of 100 km from all directions, except for this building, there was nothing and no one.

There was also a minimal number of rooms inside. Only one large hall and several rooms for human needs. There was nothing in the large hall except simple chairs and tables. No wardrobe or fancy furniture. All electronic devices were small and hidden.

There were video cameras all over the building and little dog-sized drones that moved on wheels. These drones were controlled by both artificial intelligence and humans, whose whereabouts no one knew. Maybe they were in another desert with the same conditions.

The airspace around the building was closed, and any aircraft that flew there would be shot down by air defense systems.

You could see many people were sitting in this building in the great hall. They were brought here in helicopters, but no one spoke to anyone until the helicopters left the 100 kilometer zone. As soon as the helicopters took off, the meeting of the new World Council could begin.

Each member of this council had to drink a medicine for concentration  that they had to bring with them. After they drank the medicine, they approached a special drone and gave their blood for analysis. Blood was taken from random places, such as various fingers, an arm or even a leg.

All this was done to combat the influence on the minds of the members of the Council. Every country in the world had such a place with different levels of protection for holding government meetings.

The dead body of a changed person who could influence the mind scared everyone. When the Marshal showed the dead woman and told what happened to him, new security regulations were put in place all over the world.

"I declare the meeting of the World Council open!" Said Marshal, who was sitting in the hall. Sitting next to him was Yancy Becket as his assistant at this meeting.

In the last 8 months, Marshal became a member of the council and was even able to lead it. This added work to him, but the situation was critical and people themselves turned to him with this request.

"Mr. Pentecost. Any information on Torterra? Are there any changes?" Someone from the Council asked the Marshal.

  "Unfortunately no. We only recently found him. He sleeps deep underwater in a crevasse. His wounds have already healed, but he does not wake up. Near it, we discovered an illegal disposal of radiation, but it is quite small and has already exhausted itself.

As far as I remember, you were a member of the previous composition of the World Council. Why are you suddenly so concerned about Torterra after trying to kill him?"

In this meeting there were most of the new participants, but there were also those who tried to kill Torterra. Politics is a complicated thing...

"You know the situation in the world. It is no longer a question of dominating the planet and it is not a question of preventing possible threats. We need him now and I'm glad he wasn't killed. I must note that the woman who suggested killing Torterra has disappeared and Interpol cannot find her.

You should also know that we have been under the influence since, your insinuations hurt me. I, like you, was a victim."

"All of us here have suffered from these fanatics. But I wonder if we can somehow wake him up?" Another person from the hall spoke up.

  "Do you think he would want to help us after what people have done? Imagine if you were helping someone and you were constantly being nuked or sent assassins to kill you. Would you continue to help after that?" Marshall tried to remind people that they were walking on a knife edge when they did something like that. All that separates people from falling is just one thought in Torterra's head.

Torterry only had to think and he would have gone over to the dark side. Instead of helping, he would destroy, but people always think that kindness is weakness and take advantage of it. A good person can become evil very quickly, he only has to think about it. Considering the fickle minds of humans, it was surprising that Torethra hadn't broken yet. That is, of course, if his way of thinking is the same as that of humans.

"We have no choice but to hope for his good will. Since you know him best, would you be able to advise us on how to win back his favor?" Another council member asked with a small smile on his face.

"It's good that you asked about it! There is actually something you can do. You stopped supplying radiation to him. I know you wanted to limit his power, but it doesn't matter now. I suggest putting highly radioactive substances near him. My scientists say the radiation will hasten his awakening. Also, you should resume the supply of radioactive elements to the Marshall Islands." All these conversations and accusations were conducted by the Marshal just for this. Ruby also needed radiation. She had grown by 30% in recent months and given her character, Marshal wanted to develop her as another protector of humanity.

  "I think this is misunderstanding. Torterra absorbed the radiation so quickly that we simply had nothing to offer him."

"I am not interested in details. If you are ready to do this, then we will move on to discuss the next problem. The clones are not controlled and so far no one is in prison for the disaster that the first clone caused," Marshall continued.

"But you must admit that while this illegal project did a lot of damage, it also stopped the White Thorns from advancing further into northern Africa and South America." The marshal grimaced at the thought of what price humanity would pay for such an outcome. He couldn't argue with this man. The clones did stop the advance of the White Thorns. They ate them and stayed in the zones where people dropped nuclear bombs, absorbing the radiation.

It was a primitive tactic. People dropped a nuclear bomb and the clone occupied that area, guarding the epicenter of the explosion for its own needs. The clone destroyed everything around. He attacked both humans and White Thorns.

There were quite a few clones, although they were not large. The largest grew to 40 meters (131 ft). The rest were 30 meters (98 ft) each. But by eating the White Thorns and absorbing the radiation, they grew rapidly, though they would never be able to catch up with Torterra in size. But for the Jaegers, they will be a problem in the future.

It was also not possible to control them. The most people have been able to do is implant a device in their brain that makes them fall asleep. The rest of the controls met resistance from the Clones.

The Half-Titans on the other hand were more peaceful. Although they killed people, they did not do it purposefully. But they were weaker and smaller than the clones. The white thorns were not afraid of them and could kill them. After the Half-Titans were released in Africa, more than half died. Only those that had some sort of ability survived, such as the Turtle armor or the spiders that caught the White Thorns in their webs.

Unfortunately, everyone understood that these animals would multiply and become a problem in the future, but there was no choice. The people were losing, so Marshall and the rest of the World Council started funding these projects and releasing the beasts in Africa.

Marshall was surprised by the variety of animals that managed to change their DNA. The most terrible were reptiles and insects. Flying animals were decided not to be released, because they could fly between continents and they did not need to fight the White Thorns.

Laboratories with such animals and clones were all over the world. When this information was revealed, it turned out that such experiments were conducted by almost every country that could afford it. This was done not only for weapons. The Crocodile-Titan hybrid gave humans an extremely powerful antibiotic, so this research could pay off in the future.

  "Are you saying that if a serial killer is useful, he can be let go?" This was the dilemma people in the room were appealing to. Marshall understood that many doctors in history had killed people for their research and saved other people. But they weren't doctors and Clones weren't medicine!

"I don't think that the heads of the cloning program in China can be called serial killers. It was an accident."

"Our world is based on laws! Disobeying laws leads to anarchy. There must be justice for the people who died in that disaster. I will also remind you that Torterra was involved in this incident and he must to see that we get our affairs in order. We can't just bribe him with radiation. Everyone who had anything to do with the attacks on him should be in prison! I refuse to ask him for help until I can show him that!"

The people in this room were concerned about Marshall's statement. It was indeed fair, but the people who had previously caused the disaster were now heroes. But somehow they understood that only Torterra could deal with this mess that was happening.

"We will do as you say," answered the members of the World Council.

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