Nero immediately decided in his head that she was probably lying about half the things. The things that were most likely true were her identity and position. It made sense that she was an Ascendant, which made her position likely true as well. He also believed that everything that happened in the basement was classified.
The part that he did not believe was his 'teammates' were still asleep. Or maybe they were. Who knew? But the reason Nero had doubts was because it seemed like a simple trick. If Nero believed that he was the first person to give testimony of what happened in the basement, and there was anything he wanted to hide, he would likely report things the way he wanted.
He could then also level any accusations he wanted to discredit others.
By giving him this opportunity, they would allow him to play his hand, in case he wanted to hide something. Whereas in truth, everyone else might have already been debriefed.
Considering the sensitive nature of what they had discovered, Nero wouldn't be surprised if they took even more drastic measures. But he was already prepared for this. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have torn and discarded his fathers innate card.
There was still some concern about Radix Augmentation, but the test on it was meant to be deceptive anyway so that others would not be able to discover its actual use. Not unless they tried to use it on a freshly dead corpse anyway.
"I'm feeling much better," Nero said, truthfully. "How long was I asleep?"
"Twenty minutes, give or take," Ascendant Oana said.
The answer surprised Nero immensely, because not only was his body completely healed of not only its wounds, but even the sprains and various aches. Moreover he felt completely physically and mentally rejuvenated, which should not have been possible with mere 20 minutes to sleep.
The only possible answer was that they used very powerful restorative cards on them. Nero looked towards the doctor and his clipboard. They had also clearly taken tests and readings of his body to determine whether or not they had received any benefits from down there.
"That's shorter than I was expecting," Nero confessed. "I am ready to submit my report at any time."
"Good. Start from the attack in the basement on the main team. We have certain reports already, but we want to learn more about this new, unidentified threat."
Nero nodded.
"Due to the fog, we never saw the enemy coming. Jack and the rest of us were focused on opening the security door when Jessie…"
Nero systematically, and in detail, reported everything that happened. He did not hesitate to sell out 'Jessie' who first opened the Vault door, then disappeared inside. He specifically mentioned that he did not see her again a single time after that - which was technically true.
Nero was especially careful about this. His father had long briefed both him and his brother on various interrogation techniques. If the Ascendant in front of him was completely determined, then Nero could keep no secrets whatsoever. But if she did not want to cross certain barriers, then at the very least Nero could avoid major suspicion as long as he never lied.
Nero even mentioned how the situation became extremely tense between him and the others once they entered the Vault, and only after swearing an oath did they regain some semblance of trust. It couldn't be helped.
At this point, though, Nero did not mention his family background, or the fact that the Soren family had been recognised by the Vault. This was a simple omission that Nero was completely certain would be discovered by the Ascendant sooner or later.
But the point of leaving it out was because keeping secrets was natural, and to a degree, somewhat expected. By trying to hide this, he would make the Ascendant, and anyone else who read the records of his experiences in the basement, think that the secret he wanted to keep was regarding this. If they thought they knew his secrets, they would likely not dig deeper.
But if everything looked too clean, then they might try to investigate what it was he was hiding.
These were all tricks and tips his father had taught him from an early age. He didn't even need to think about it to do it.
If Nero claimed that all of them were virtuous soldiers who put their mission at the forefront even in the face of so many benefits, even he wouldn't believe it let alone someone else, so it was best to give them some kind of a lead on his own.
"Because of the oath we took, I am unable to mention any gains that any of the others made within the Vault, but I can mention my own," he said straightforwardly, and then mentioned the room with the liquid aether.
At that point, for the first time, the Ascendant asked him some questions. She asked about the size of the room, the number of liquid aether bottles he saw or estimated were in the room, how many they drank and how many they took.
Nero answered truthfully, and then proceeded to share the rest of the tale, including the trade he made with the unranked cards for the black box that allowed him to upgrade his innate ability.
"When the fog came into the Vault, Gabriel and I split from Maximilian and Arter as they didn't want to wait. But because they anticipated that the return journey would be fraught with danger, Maximilian left the bomb he had been carrying behind. We left it hidden in one of the Vault rooms so that it's out of sight and not easily discovered. We figured future missions could retrieve it."
The Ascendant made no comment on it, so Nero continued his story up to the point where they fought the tentacle monster, how they overcame it, and then the rest of the journey.
When he was finished, he waited patiently for the Ascendant to say something, who seemed like she was lost in thought.
"What you said sheds some light on certain matters," she finally said, locking eyes with him. "We came to the same conclusion as young Gabriel - the fog in the basement is there due to artificial means, so the Fair Weather card works on it. But it will not work on regular fog. Once we ascertained as much, can you guess what we did?"
Nero paused for a moment to think, and suddenly had a realisation.
"You sent someone to the Vault!" he exclaimed.
"Yes," she said, nodding. "To be more specific, I myself used the Fair Weather card to go down to the Vault. On the way, I did not miss the little ice sculpture you left behind. I must say, I am actually impressed by what you achieved. I will be sure to give you a commendation for taking down such a massive cursed beast.
"But more importantly… once I reached the Vault itself… the door that you said Jessie unsealed, had been resealed. Since it is a high security zone, even I was not able to force my way in. If it were not for that, by now I would have gotten my hands on all the remaining liquid aether. That alone could have catapulted the strength of Kolar, making it the unquestionably strongest country in the world.
As it stands, we will have to make do with the samples your group brought with you."
Nero was stunned, even though he realised he should have seen it coming. That was incredibly nefarious of Vanessa. By resealing the Vault, she prevented, or at least delayed Kolar's access to the Vault's treasures.
"Ordinarily, given how valuable the Vault is, we would have refocused our efforts into opening it once more. Since we have Fair Weather now, it would be easy. Unfortunately, the situation on the war front is not great, and the fog is set to cover half of Lumina once more. As is, we are evacuating in full, which means there is no time to attempt to change things."
Nero frowned. While he could understand why the Ascendant might share the details of the Vault being sealed - to gauge his reaction to determine if he had any involvement in it - but would she be telling him these other details? As a superior officer, there was no need for her to give him explanations.
He looked at her with a trace of doubt, and saw deep meaning in her eyes.
"Nero now that you have been debriefed, it is time to move onto other matters. At the moment, upon examining your performance and keeping in mind the various upgrades you have received from the Vault, we can easily determine you are the strongest and most capable Neophyte we have access to. As such, there is a certain time-sensitive mission that you have been assigned."
Ah, it suddenly clicked. The reason she was explaining various details to him was because they were not done with him yet.
"You have to know that certain accusations have been made against you, which is why there was a debate on whether or not you can be trusted with this mission. But keeping your recent performance, as well as a recommendation from Commander Dagon, this task ultimately fell to you."