Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Now that the concert was over, the competitors and the crew members they had brought along with them were led to the backstage area where a lounge had been set up for all of them.

This would be their first chance to really interact with each other, and after about half an hour, the star of the show, Nianni was supposed to arrive as well.

There were going to be a few promotional pictures taken between her and the competitors, but other than that everyone was free to do as they wished.

Naturally, Avery wanted to get to the bottom of what he had experienced during Nianni's performance.

It obviously had not been a normal outcome, judging by how surprised the star herself had appeared.

'I know that my mind was almost pulled into something. Similar to most of the audience, including Kasandra. But while it felt unsettling, I never sensed anything malicious.' Avery thought, deeply contemplating the unusual situation.

Yet, as he was lost in his own thoughts, something wholly unexpected occurred.

Avery was caught off-guard as someone from an intersecting hallway rushed towards him and grabbed ahold of him.

Normally he would have been able to notice their approach and react in time to prevent them from seizing him. And had they been a normal person, even as preoccupied with his thoughts as he was, Avery would have had plenty of time to avoid the individual.

Except, the woman that had latched onto him with a vicelike grip was far from average. In fact, she was the one that had given Avery his bionic augmentations in the first place.

"You're not an easy man to get ahold of. But I've caught you now." Mercedes said, tightening her grip on Avery's arm.

It did not particularly hurt, but Avery could tell that she had a solid hold on him.

"Dr. Raiti, why are you here, and what the hell do you think that you're doing right now?"

Kasandra was the first to respond to the absurd situation that they found themselves in. Glowering at Mercedes while questioning her.

Ever the shameless person, she merely smiled back at Kasandra as if she had done nothing wrong.

"I'm just her to collect an unruly sampl-, patient of mine that refuses to answer my messages or calls anymore. I believe that I did say multiple times that I needed to look into Avery's condition some more." Mercedes said, suddenly wearing an expression of deep concern.

Of course, both Avery and Kasandra knew that this was all an act. She had almost just called Avery a sample and only switched to patient when she realized how bad that would sound.

There was also the fact that Mercedes herself had already admitted the Avery's condition was not anything dangerous and was actually positive. The augmentations he had been given had simply set in better than anticipated.

Every medical scan he had taken showed that there was nothing wrong, and trustfully he was healthier than ever. There was no reason to worry. No matter how much Mercedes had tried to backpedal and get Avery to come back to her lab. It was obvious what her real interest was.

"Come on! I'm not asking for all that much! I just want to examine you a bit more!"

Mercedes began whining loudly and throwing a fit that was unbecoming of her age.

While she may have looked to still be a young woman, she was already nearly seventy.

With all her strength she tried pulling Avery away, but he was not budging an inch.

Certainly, she had augmented herself already, but the job she had done on Avery made him stronger than she was.

For herself she had mostly focused on improving bodily functions and halting the aging process as much as possible. She had not enhanced her muscles nearly enough to move Avery against his will.

Still, the scene that Mercedes was causing had certainly attracted a lot of unwanted attention.

The other competitors and their crews were all staring at what appeared to be a short young woman clinging to Avery desperately.

Some of them looked utterly confused by what was going on, while others were watching in amusement. Clearly enjoying the annoyance that Avery was dealing with.

"Do you think that it's some kind of lover's quarrel?"

"Yeah, I bet that he dumped that shorty for the other girl with him. He looks like the type to use 'em and lose 'em."

Avery could hear some of the other competitors and their crew members gossiping about the situation. Twisting what was going on into something that was wildly far from the truth.

A part of him wanted to shout back that he was actually very loyal and devoted. But he knew that was going to only escalate things.

At first, he had hoped that the staff escorting them would deal with Dr. Raiti for him, but they had not made any moves to do so.

Somehow, she had gotten ahold of an all-access backstage pass herself. So, while she was making a bit of a scene right now, it was not enough to get her kicked out.

Realizing that he was going to need to deal with this issue. Avery lifted his arm up higher and pulled Dr. Raiti up into the air with it.

Her grip on him had not loosened, but at least now she was unable to pull on him anymore since her feet no longer touched the ground.

"I'm going to go deal with this. I'll catch up later." Avery said before dashing down a side hall.

Kasandra followed after him, and thankfully, no one else did.

They were still allowed in this area and nothing compelled any of the competitors to do anything today if they did not want to. Technically it was a day of rest in the middle of the competition.

Finding an empty room, Avery opened the door with the pass he had been given headed inside with Mercedes still dangling from his arm.

Kasandra entered after him and sealed the door. Now the three of them were alone.

"Okay, you can let go of me now. I'm not going to run away. Let's just talk this out reasonably."

Avery shook his arm a little and Dr. Raiti let go of him and gracefully dropped to the floor.

"I'm going to hold you to that. If you try and escape, I'll attach myself to you permanently until you give in." Mercedes said, a sinister smile on her face.

Avery wanted to believe that she was just joking about this, but the shiver running down his spine as he looked into her eyes told him that she was serious.

"Got it, there's no need for anything drastic." Avery said waving his hands defensively in front of him. As if trying to ward off some sort of wild animal.

"So how did you even get in here? Only competitors and their crews, and certain sponsors are supposed to have received all-access passes." Kasandra asked.

"Oh, that's simple. I have my connections. An offer to do a little bit of work for free was all it took for one of those oh so important sponsors to fork over this pass to me."

Mercedes nodded her head proudly as she explained how she had gotten the pass.

Of course, this meant that she could have approached Avery before or during the concert, but she had figured that it would be much more difficult to get ahold of him then.

A disruption that might have delayed or interrupted the performances was a lot less likely to be ignored than what she had done after the show. And if she had shown up beforehand and revealed herself, Avery and Kasandra would have been wary of her presence.

Considering how things had gone, she considered her little ambush to have been a success.

"Do that's how you got in here, but how'd you find us in the first place?" Avery asked.

Though he had told Dr. Raiti they would be doing some work in the capital system, he had never given her any details.

This was a big and crowded place to be looking for one person.

"I enhanced your cognitive abilities, but I guess that didn't help with your commonsense." Mercedes said scathingly. "You just had an interview on the largest broadcasting network in the Dramid Alliance. I'd have to have been living under a rock not to have seen that. Well, I suppose that I technically do live in a rock since I carved out an asteroid for my lab, but that's beside the point. Tracking you down after I knew where you were and what you would be doing was incredibly easy."

Hearing this, Avery had no rebuttal. Right now, if someone wanted to find him, it would not be very difficult. His location had been transmitted across the entire Dramid Alliance.

Nevertheless, there was not too much to be worried about in this regard.

It would be difficult for someone truly hostile to attack him.

The capital system's defenses were the best in the entire Alliance and trying to get to him would mean getting through a lot of security.

While Dr. Raiti had ambushed him, she was not any real threat. What she wanted had nothing to do with harming Avery. Or at least, he did not think that was what she was after.

"So, what is it that you want? And I'm just going to start by saying I'm not going back to your lab so you can experiment on me. No matter what"