“And your meto capacity is… 0”

Words that stung deep within Ken's heart. Something he couldn't believe or just take in. That one number drew all of their attention. Eyes that felt like they were piercing his back. A feeling of being looked down upon hadn't hit him this hard till now.

“Wait, I think there is some mistake. A… a Zero?” Ken asked in a frantic voice. It was expected. A zero was something that was never recorded in history. He couldn't just accept it. Me2 looked at the monitor himself, confused.

“Indeed, quite the mystery."

His face began loading, trying to process the information.

"Could you take of f your hand?"

"Sure."

Me2 reprogrammed the orb once again. The orb came back to its default value, which is 1000.

"Now place your hand once again."

Ken felt hesitant. He took a deep breath, calming down his nerves, as his eyes glow with a red aura. He placed his hand once again on the orb. The numbers ticked once more. This time, he felt he would at least get something average.

"Your meto capacity is 0". The computer displayed that number once again. Me2, despite being a high level, AI couldn't detect the problem.

“Umm, I do not know what to do with this. Give me a moment.” He floated away towards the top. Ken stared at his palm, shaking intensively. He couldn’t find the courage to look back at them.

“This is it. I’m royally screwed.” he thought to himself.

“He literally is worse than an ant. Even an ant has a meto capacity of 1.0000023.”

He could hear Dan’s laugh from the back. But what could he do now? He went back to his position and noticed everyone except Dan laughing at him. The others seem to not care at all. Maybe it didn’t matter to them if there was extra baggage. But if this was true, then he wouldn’t be able to lead them like he wanted. Back on the top, Me2 pulled out a sort of usb plug and connected to his monitor like face. The usb plug had given him access to contact Solaris.

“Sir, it seems I have encountered an enormous problem.” he said.

Solaris put down his glass of wine and listened to the call with utmost attention.

“What is it?” he asked

“I seem to have found a contestant whose meto capacity is completely 0, as if he doesn’t have meto at all.”

Hearing that, Solaris’s eyes widened up as stood up from his seat.

“Are you completely sure?” he asked once again.

“Yes sir. I have tested it.”

A huge grin formed on Solaris’s face. He could not help but laugh. If someone saw his expression, one would assume he was waiting for this laugh for a very long time.

“Assign him to a role you seem fit. Do not in any circumstance disqualify him.” He said, sitting down.

Me2 came down and opened up the holographic screen once again.

“Well then, I will be now be assigning different roles to you. Akane Kurohi, you will be the sniper/shooter of the group, as you requested.”

She only nodded in return.

“Ryu Tatagane. You may not have high meto, but your other specs are extremely valuable, which is why you will be given the second-in-command title.”

Ryu nodded as well, flipping a page.

“Wait what?!” Sora objected, hearing something like that.

"Why didn’t I get second in command?" he shouted.

"Well, your battle skills are quite high, but if... um, well, let's say that it's not worthy to be second in command. We not only take battle experience in to consideration but overall IQ, social skills, influence, etc."

Sora couldn't object to that. Thus, become quiet. He was still pissed off. But not that it mattered. Me2 continued.

“Miku, with your superior intellect, you are selected as the engineer of the group. As for Dan Mo, you are selected as the watcher. Sora Beltrum, you will be the Swordsman and Ken Kawasaki"

Ken looked up as his name was called. He wasn't sure what Me2 was about to give him. He clenched his fist, ready to accept whatever he was given.

"you will be a spare member acting only how your captain wants you to and do tasks as he commands and finally Axel blayke you will be the captain who will lead this group.”

Ken had a slight disappointment hearing that. A sense of vulnerability, loss of all, clouded his mind. Now your ship is at the far corner of the city. You may change anything you desire in those moments, even crew members, if you don’t like it.”

Those words sent shivers down Ken’s spine.

" but until you leave this planet, you are under our policies, so do not create or engage in any violence”

The door in front of them opened as they slowly left the city. The harsh cold weather in front of them had no effect on any of them except for Ken. Dan wrapped his hand around Ken with his jolly expressions.

“Don’t worry Ken. No one wants to get rid of you… yet.”

He bursted out laughing at his own words

"When we get out of this planet, oh, I can't wait to see how they kick you out. It's gonna be epic”

Dan then interacts with the others. Ken stood still, thinking of what he could do, what he should do. He looked at his chest, gently touching it with his hands. As they left the cityscape, Ryu closed his book and asked,

“Axel, I had something to ask?”

“Call me captain from now on Ryu, and what is it?”

“You know something’s been bugging me lately and I can’t seem to get rid of it”

Ken felt a quiver, thinking it was about him. Fighting against his crew was a last option he didn't want to take. But if it had to come down to it, he had to do it.

“And what is it about?” Axel asked.

“It's about you.”

“Me? Whats there to be bugged by me? Or are you unhappy you didn’t get to be captain?”

“Not at all. I couldn't care less about what position I am granted. During our introduction, you said something quite peculiar.”

“Oh, really?”

“The void center is the most mysterious part of the entire universe. A place not explored, not conquered, not known by any outlaw. But for you to know where the emerald core is located, it felt quite odd”

“oh that. I just got that info when I hacked into government facility.”

‘Well, that’s the thing. The location of the emerald core is not given in any documents. It’s a location shared by high-level encryption data that only high-ranking officers of the government have access to. I know because I worked for one back in the day.”

“Oh, you worked for the military back in the day?”

“In a way. I was part of their shadow organizations and in one of my missions I saw a person and i...”

He paused for a moment and processed to say “am a person who never forgets faces. So I will ask you Axel Blyke, why the hell is a high-ranking government officer doing in an outlaw program?”

Just hearing Ryu’s words, everyone stopped walking. The suspense was and tension in the air had filled up to the brim. “You're suspecting me while you admit of being part of the shadow organization?”

“There is a difference between your work and mine. Everyone knows what the shadow organization is truly meant for. It's not the government's puppet unlike you…”

Axel went quiet for a few seconds. He turned back and bursted out laughing.

“Man, I can’t do this anymore. You outlaw sure know your thing.”

All of them except Ken took a fighting stance as they became vigilant of Axel.

“Ah, looks like the plan has to start sooner than expected,” Axel said, grabbing his own hair and letting out a sadistic smile.

“Begin Mission Blackout! Execute them all!”