Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

Thinking about their conversation that had led up to this point, Avery wanted to refuse Mercedes' abrupt offer to join his crew.

Still, the logical part of his brain kept him from doing so.

For all of her quirks, Dr. Raiti was still a leading figure in her field and her expertise would not doubt come in handy.

Avery was certain that most mercenary groups would be willing to do just about anything to have someone of her caliber join them.

'The only real problem is what she really wants out of this.' Avery thought, gulping loudly as he thought about it.

The object of her interest was him, and not in any good way so far as Avery was considered.

Once she had started talking, the number of his body parts that she wanted to cut off and examine had been staggering.

Sure, he had the special organ that could manufacture cells that allowed him to regenerate parts of his body in ways a normal human could not. But that did not mean he wanted to be cut up just because he would eventually recover.

'I can't only consider myself. Dr. Raiti's curiosity in me might be unsettling, but if I think about the overall health of my team, it's an insignificant matter.'

Once he obtained his new carrier ship, Avery going to have a much larger group of people he would be responsible for.

As the leader he needed to be able to make the correct choices for everyone's wellbeing, even if it was somewhat uncomfortable for him.

At some point he knew that he would need to head to Kasandra and Kaiden's home and deal with the issues there.

Except, there was no telling if there might be unknown diseases or lifeforms there. On the off chance that something unexpected occurred, having someone like Dr. Raiti around could mean the difference between life and death for a lot of people. And the only price Avery needed to pay to have someone as exceptional as her around was to be her guinea pig on occasion.

'Am I really talking myself into this?' Avery thought, a suddenly grim look on his face.

Unfortunately, he already knew the answer.

It was one thing when Mercedes' aim was only going to be affecting him, but now that there was a chance to positively impact the members of his team, he had to take it.

"Very well, I'd be happy for you to join my team. I can't afford to let an opportunity like this pass me by." Avery said, a somewhat sour look on his face.

Having gotten what she wanted, Mercedes' expression bloomed as she smiled brightly. In contrast to how Avery's lips had twisted into a frown.

However, before she started raving about what she planned to do with him, Avery drew a line at removing any of his body parts.

He would agree to let her do detailed scans, and take less intrusive things like blood samples, but that was it.

"Fine, I suppose those are acceptable terms. I would not feel satisfied if this was only a one-time thing, but I'll have plenty of access to you in the future."

Avery unconscious shivered as Mercedes stared at him.

Some might have been charmed by the delighted grin on her face, but Avery could already picture what was going through her head right now.

'I think I'm already starting to regret my decision here.' Avery thought.

Kasandra had kept quiet this entire time, but now that the negotiations had seemed to wrap up, she approached Avery with her own concerns.

"Are you sure about this? I don't think anyone would blame you for rejecting her offer. I know that she's capable, but you should not force yourself like this. Plenty of mercenary groups get by perfectly fine without an expert like her around. In fact, I'd be surprised if there are any with someone on her level."

"You're right, but I want to rise through the ranks of the Mercenary Association. I'm going to need impeccable personnel to achieve this goal, so I can't just let such an amazing person slip by."

Seeing that Avery had made his decision, Kasandra did not say anything else on the matter. Even if she was still a little bit worried.

"If you two are done, there are a couple matters to discuss. I need to know the size of your carrier ship and how much space I'll be getting for my lab." Dr. Raiti said, getting right down to business.

She figured that she was certainly going to have to downsize.

Her current base of operations was fairly large. Just a bit smaller than the largest warships used by the Alliance Police.

Unless Avery dedicated practically all of the available space on his carrier vessel to her lab, her facilities were not going to be anywhere near the same size. Though honestly, she was not utilizing all of the space that she currently had and would be fine downsizing so long as certain requirements were met.

"I'm going to need at least a bare minimum of fifteen thousand square meters of floor space, and at certain points the height will need to be at least forty meters or some of my equipment won't fit."

Mercedes looked ready to give more details about what sort of environment she was going to require, but Avery held a hand up to stop her.

"This isn't the time or place to hash out details like this. I don't even know if the ship has even begun construction yet, and if it has, then it's still only at the beginning stages. We'll need to go talk with Storren Corp. later to figure these things out. But for now, we have something else to attend to." Avery said, glancing over at Kasandra.

He knew that she really wanted to meet Nianni Taador, and he had some questions for her of his own.

There was still plenty of time to address Dr. Raiti's wishes considering the carrier vessel. But if they dallied her much longer, they would miss the scheduled time that Nianni was going to be meeting with the competitors and their crews.

"I understand. Then it will have to be another time. I'm assuming that you'll be busy for at least so long as this competition is going on. Contact me again when you're free. Though, don't take too long or I'm going to have to come and find you again."

With that vaguely threatening last line, Mercedes opened the door to the room that they were in and walked out.

Yet, the moment that the three of them entered the hallway, Kasandra's ears started twitching as she heard some unusual noises in the distance.

Suddenly her heightened perception abilities picked up movement nearby, and she turned her head just in time to see a person fully covered in black body armor leveling a laser rifle at them.

"Get down." Kasandra shouted as she tackled Dr. Raiti to the ground.

Less than a second later, a laser streak through the space where Mercedes' head had just been.

Unlike Avery and Kasandra who had personal shield generators on them, that blast would have been fatal for the unprotected Dr. Raiti.

"This is two two four. I've got-"

The masked assailant began speaking into a communication device while firing his laser rifle.

Almost certainly he thought that he would be able to eliminate the unexpected variables that had just appeared, but something else occurred instead.

Using his shield generator to absorb the blows, Avery had closed the distance between the two of them at an astounding speed. Not allowing the laser rifle wielding man to finish his report before grabbing him by the neck and slamming him into the ground.

The man's body armor absorbed most of the impact, and his training and experience allowed him to regain his bearing quickly and try to bring up his laser rifle to counterattack.

Unfortunately for him, Avery was not going to give him any reprieve.

Slamming his left foot down, he pulverized the man's arm that was holding his weapon. Shattering his bones and causing his skin to burst from the pressure.

It was an astonishing feat of power from Avery.

The assailant attempted to scream due to the immense pain, but Avery tightened his grip on the man's throat so that no sound could come out.

"Two two four. Report in. What is going on?" A voice on the other end of the communication device asked.

Not wanting to give anything away, Avery smashed the communicator and rendered the person he had caught unconscious.

His body armor was decent, but it could not absorb the full force of Avery's blows.

"It looks like we found that trouble you were so worried about." Kasandra said sardonically as she approached with Mercedes.

Considering she had just been shot at, Dr. Raiti looked fairly unperturbed.

In fact, her attention was more on Avery than anything else.

"You really are quite something. Your speed and strength are astounding, more so than what should be expected from the augmentation I gave you."

"Not really the time for you to be analyzing me. We've got a lot more to worry about. This guy's part of some group, and I'm guessing that they're pretty good to have gotten through all of the security here." Avery said, peeling the gear off the person that had attacked them.

When he removed the mask, he vaguely recognized the man's face.

This guy was part of one of the sponsors' entourages.

"Things always have to get complicated, don't they." Avery grumbled before letting out a long sigh.