Kill the Sun

After Carl introduced Nick, nobody reacted.

"Nick," Carl said in an authoritative voice, turning to Nick again. "During this mission, you are part of my team. When we are outside, it is imperative that you listen to my orders. I would also ask you to minimize the chatter unless it is mission-related. Do you understand?"

Nick nodded. "Of course."

"Will you follow my orders?" Carl asked.

"I will," Nick answered neutrally.

Carl nodded. "Good. The mission will most likely take between 16 to 24 hours. Can you afford to stay away for this period of time?"

"I can," Nick said.

"Then, we're going to leave right now. Nick, your position is beside Mark. Stay close to him and keep an eye out."

"Yes," Nick answered as he approached Mark, the Mid Veteran Manipulator with his two guns.

Mark threw a short and polite smile at Nick, but it immediately vanished as soon as he looked away from Nick again.

It was not difficult for Nick to see what the team's true opinions were.

They were not trying to keep their opinions secret.

This was a team that had worked together for years, and the last time they had had a fourth member was over a decade ago.

The three of them relied on each other, and all of them trusted everyone else with their lives.

This was Solace's most experienced team, and they had been in the outside world over a hundred times over the years.

And now, they had to escort an inexperienced and young Veteran from another Manufacturer because of politics.

The three of them had a job, which was to find and capture Specters.

Where did it state in their contracts that they now also had to be babysitters?

If Nick died outside, the fallout for Solace would be tremendous.

Sure, Dark Dream was not huge, but they still gave Solace help worth over ten million credits per month.

Additionally, while the group didn't have a high opinion of Nick, they had a very high opinion of Julian, and killing Nick might anger Julian.

They essentially had to carry Nick around outside, and they couldn't afford to let him die.

Sadly, they didn't have a choice.

Hera had a very high opinion of Nick, and she kept telling Carl that Nick would be a great help to them outside.

Additionally, helping Dark Dream was equivalent to helping themselves.

Even more, she kept telling Carl not to underestimate Nick.

Dark Dream had come out of nothing, and Nick had been their CZE for nine years by now.

Dark Dream had grown a scary amount within this time, and without a great CZE, they would have long since stopped existing.

Carl believed Hera that Nick was probably an amazing CZE.

However, traveling around outside was something completely different from running a Manufacturer.

A CZE had to know how Specters operated, how to run a business, how to work with Specters, how to organize, and a couple more things related to the business.

CZEs did not need to be strong in battle.

CZEs did not need to know how the outside world works.

Sure, Nick might be an amazing CZE, but due to his young age and his inexperience, he couldn't possibly have the skillset required to go on such a big mission outside.

Nick was supposed to look around the five kilometers surrounding the city to get a feel for the outside world.

Meanwhile, Carl and his team always went far away from the city to search for Specters.

These areas were not properly mapped, and they could fall prey to any unknown Specter.

Additionally, when they were so far away from the city, there was also a chance that they would meet somebody from another city.

That was almost always bad.

The rules dictated that nobody was allowed to kill another Extractor from the city.

There was nothing about not killing someone from a different city.

Extractors that traveled so far away from their cities were powerful and rich.

Just their Barriers cost millions of credits.

And since it was not exactly illegal to kill people from different cities, they could actually sell those Barriers.

Carl's team of four was worth over 30 million credits.

Even Specialists would be interested in that much money unless it required a lot of work to attain the money.

Going far away from the city was extremely dangerous, and the last thing the team needed was some deadweight that they had to carry with them, like Nick.

So, yeah, all in all, the team did not hold a high opinion of Nick.

Carl left the building, and Mark followed after him.

Naturally, Nick stayed close to Mark.

The last person leaving was Irwin.

"Just stay close, and everything will be fine," Mark said with a friendly tone to Nick.

Nick nodded. "Of course."

Mark smiled, but his smile quickly vanished again when he looked away.

Obviously, he was just trying to be nice when, in truth, he really didn't want to.

The four of them quickly ran around the megastructure until they were north of it.

Then, they walked toward the edge of the city.

"Have you jumped over the gap before?" Mark suddenly asked.

"No," Nick said.

"That's fine," Mark added. "Carl will make sure to catch you."

Nick just nodded again.

The four of them stopped near the northern edge of the city.

"Nick, you go after Mark. When jumping, err on the side of using too much instead of too little power," Carl said. "Remember to always keep your eyes closed. Close them before you jump, and don't open them until you hit the ground."

"Understood," Nick said.

Carl nodded.

SHING!

And then, he suddenly shot towards the north at insane speeds.

In an instant, he broke through the red curtain of mist.

"Just do it like I do," Mark told Nick as he readied himself.

BANG!

Then, Mark charged forward, and after a couple of steps, he jumped forward with all of his power.

Just like Carl, Mark vanished in the red mist.