“The patient is- “The doctor began only for the man he called boss to cut him off suddenly by raising his hand, “Could you excuse us for a second doc?” He asked – of course, his question was one with no room for rejection from the doctor.

The man silently nodded and hung his head as he left the room, Haley observed the man as he walked next to him.

Muscular yet leanly built but no matter from what angle Haley looked at him he appeared to be a normal man, yet this was the aspect that made him most dangerous in Haley’s eyes. Someone who could become the boss of a mercenary group was most likely one of the most skilled fighters the group possessed, the fact that this man could hide his aura so skilfully simply showed his expertise as a fighter.

“He only his himself to blame for his current situation.” Where the first words out of his mouth, he didn’t even glance at Haley but kept his eyes on Antares as he scanned the boys body with interest like he was looking at an interesting toy.

Haley shook his head angrily, “If your people hadn’t left him unsupervised this wouldn’t have happened, I paid you to train him not slack off.” His voice was calm, yet his voice had an undertone of hidden rage as he tried to stop himself from causing a commotion.

For the first time since he’d entered the room the man turned to look at him, his crimson red eyes caused Haley to be surprised at first but after a moment to recollect himself his disposition didn’t change as he glared at him.

The man seemed to be equally surprised as his eyes looked Haley up and down before giving a thoughtful nod, “I thought Ben was exaggerating when he said you broke our door with your bare fist but it seems I underestimated you.”

Haley didn’t do anything in response and simply continued to stare at him, “My name is Lewis, may I know your name?” He asked politely as he stretched out his hand for a handshake to Haley. Haley looked slightly surprised as this wasn’t something, he’d been expecting but nonetheless he didn’t let it show on his face.

Begrudgingly he shook the hand and replied, “Zero.” If Lewis was surprise at him using a fake name he didn’t show it on his face and simply nodded before turning his attention back to Antares who was still unconscious on the bed.
“I’d like to recruit this boy.” Lewis said after a while, “No.” Haley denied immediately without a second thought, ‘Let’s see just how badly they want him, this could prove useful in the future’ these were his true thoughts as he eyed Lewis

“5 Million Lunas.” Lewis stated, it was double the price that Haley had paid for Antares to attend their training, it was certainly a good price but even so it was impossible to buy a Luna with such a meagre amount of money considering they numbered so few in the galaxy.

Haley shook his head, “I’m not selling the kid.” He said simply, Lewis looked at him with some surprise.

Haley didn’t know that because of his response Lewis had begun to revaluate him, Lewis had assumed that Haley was only concerned about them having hurt the kid because of the money he’d spent on having them train him; although not entirely wrong it was still somewhat off the mark, Haley was sure that they hadn’t yet discovered Antares had the potential to become a powerful Luna but they probably had some sort of suspicion.

“What do you want for him?” Lewis asked, ‘Everyone has a price, someone with so much potential shouldn’t be wasted like this.’ He thought, his eyes were beginning to hold hostility which, of course, didn’t go unnoticed by Haley but he simply ignored it and glanced at Antares.

“The kid isn’t for sale, are you stupid?” He asked calmly with a playful smile, the hostility in Lewis’s eyes was becoming increasingly obvious but that was exactly why Haley was being so difficult – he wanted to see how much this man could bear before he exploded, someone who didn’t know when to take a step back wasn’t worth his time.

He wasn’t against Antares working for them, he just wanted to ensure that he wouldn’t be making a loss by letting Antares work for the wrong kind of person – if he worked for someone who didn’t truly value the kid then working with him would he useless.

If it wasn’t for the fact that he knew Antares was completely under his control due to the influence of 001 then he wouldn’t have considered it for even a second; the fact that Antares was, according to 001, unable to betray him no matter the orders that he gave it gave him the perfect opportunity to allow the kid to infiltrate without worrying about him having his own ideas in the future.

It was impossible for Antares to betray him but that was something that they had no way of knowing, they could do anything to try and bribe him to be loyal to them but at the end of the day the only person he’d listen to unconditionally was himself.

‘These people aren’t simple either, if the kid can gain power in such a group in the future it’ll only be beneficial for me.’ He thought scheming as he intently watched Lewis’s reaction to his attitude.

Lewis, of course, had no clue that Haley was planning to make use of him for his own purposes – if he did it was possible that he’d attack Haley on the spot out of anger.

Lewis was very close to simply trying to kill Haley but in an attempt to remain some notion of civility he tried a softer approach in an attempt to pry Antares from him, “A boy of this talent shouldn’t be wasted, just think of the future – if he grows to become a powerhouse then he’ll owe you a favour!” He said goadingly, Haley had the urge to chuckle as he looked at Lewis; he had to suppress a mocking expression from appearing on his face and pretended to be deep in thought.

Lewis looked satisfied upon seeing this, ‘That’s only if you’re still alive by then.’ He thought viciously as he glanced at the boy – specifically at the boy’s shoulder; there was a brand marking #420, the mark of a slave. As a mercenary he had seen such marks many times, but it was hard to suppress his rage upon seeing such a young child having such a history.

This was the reason for him taking such a hostile stance towards Haley, he had tried to be polite at first and buy the boys freedom but because of Haley’s attitude he was determined to kill the man the moment he signed over Antares’s rights to him – a slave without a master was considered a fugitive after all and it was an incredibly lengthy process to go through the proper procedures to redeem their freedom.

Of course, Lewis didn’t know that Antares was an illegal slave – someone not registered in official systems, if he did maybe he would’ve already tried to kill Haley or realised that Haley didn’t ‘own’ the boy to begin with.

After a few moments Haley eventually replied, “Sure, throw in 10 Million Lunas and you have a deal.” Just because it was part of a plan didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try and make the most of the opportunity presented to him.