CHAPTER 98: NOT ENOUGH TO STAND OUT

Theo slouched into the screening hall with his hands in his pockets, eyes scanning the rows of recruits seated in front of long tables. The atmosphere was strangely tense - silent, except for the occasional shuffling of papers and the scratch of pens.

Someone handed him a clipboard and a pen as he entered. "Written exams first. Follow the sequence."

"Got it," Theo muttered, taking the seat assigned to him.

The first page looked like a typical multiple-choice test. Straightforward but clearly meant to gauge instincts and judgment under pressure.

Question 1: You and your team encounter a Meteorborn while escorting civilians to safety. Your squadmate is injured, and you only have time for one action. What do you do?

A) Secure the civilians and abandon the injured

B) Take down the Meteorborn alone and hope the civilians survive

C) Call for backup and delay the creature

D) Send someone with the civilians while you cover the injured squadmate

Theo sighed, tapping the pen on his chin. Trick question. In reality, none of these options would work unless you had power and luck.

He shaded D.

Better to split and save what you can. One person staying behind might buy time for both sides to survive.

Next page.

Question 2: You suspect a fellow AMS operative is hiding a UMS relative within the base. What’s your response?

A) Report to command immediately

B) Keep quiet and confront them privately

C) Monitor silently and collect more evidence

D) Help them escape

Theo scoffed quietly. Nice try.

He shaded C. Too many lives were lost from rushing assumptions.

His eyes drifted up for a moment. Two seats down, a tall guy was biting the end of his pen nervously, and someone across the room had already raised a hand, asking for a new test paper.

Theo yawned. It wasn’t that the test was hard, it was just too theoretical for someone like him who had actually entered red zones without protocol, backup, or orders. These were the kind of exams designed to see how well you followed the rules, not how well you survived breaking them.

He rubbed his eye, keeping one hand scribbling on the answer sheet.

Question 5: You’re inside a compromised facility. A young child infected with an unknown strain is pleading for help. What do you do?

A) Terminate the subject before mutation begins

B) Attempt to isolate and transport to lab

C) Wait for superior’s decision

D) Administer unauthorized serum and risk backlash

Theo paused, staring at the last option.

’D... That’s what I did for Aries.’

He shaded D without hesitation.

Page after page, the questions kept coming. Moral dilemmas, emergency response decisions, tactical planning. He could almost feel someone watching through the one-way glass installed above. Probably Marlon? Or maybe some officers handling the recruits.

He didn’t mind. He wasn’t here to impress. He was here because someone had to be.

He cracked his knuckles as he turned to the last page.

"Almost done," he muttered.

It was kind of funny. A few weeks ago, he was sneaking into Red Zones like a criminal. Now here he was, taking a government screening exam and yawning halfway through.

He finished the last question and leaned back with a sigh. "Done."

Next stop: physical tests.

***

The buzz of activity filled the training grounds just outside the exam hall. Recruits moved in organized lines toward designated lanes where AMSO operatives evaluated their performance, speed drills, strength testing, reaction simulations, and elemental control demonstrations.

Theo stood to the side, watching quietly with his arms crossed. His gaze swept across the field, analyzing every move. Some recruits were clearly nervous, overexerting themselves to impress. Others tried to show off with flashy displays of power... minor flames, bursts of wind, weak shields, mostly unstable, mostly predictable.

’So that’s the bar for new operatives,’ Theo thought.

A woman slammed her palm into a kinetic pad. The reading was barely mid-tier. Another guy failed to hold a static barrier for more than ten seconds before it cracked.

’If I go all out here, they’ll shove me straight into the spotlight,’ Theo mused.

That was the last thing he wanted. Not because he wasn’t confident, he had more power in one core than most of them combined, but because he wasn’t ready to expose everything. Not the Mutation Abyss System. Not the dozens of abilities he had no business unlocking this early.

He just needed one thing: clearance. As long as he qualified for Class 4 - Operative Rank, he’d be allowed access to Red Zones, join missions, and legally train under AMSO without being tracked like a rogue UMS.

Class 4 meant discipline. Reliability. Field-ready but still in development. Someone trusted to operate under command. Steel Blue with a Silver Trim.

He eyed a uniform on a nearby bench. It wasn’t flashy, but it was respected. Enough to give him freedom. Good enough for now.

He inhaled deeply, rolling his shoulders as one of the staff called out, "Next batch! Physical test line-up, Group B-7!"

Theo moved forward and blended in with the rest.

He wouldn’t go all out.

He’d show just enough.

Let them underestimate him for now. Because when it really mattered, power wasn’t proven in exams, it was proven when lives were on the line.

Theo lined up with the other recruits at the edge of the track, his hands casually tucked behind his back. The instructor, an AMSO agent with a data pad and dark shades, barked instructions.

"Three laps around the track. No powers. Just run. We’re testing endurance. Next up is obstacle and reaction drills. Fall behind, you’re out."

Theo barely reacted. His posture was calm, bored even. Beside him, a tall, broad-shouldered man started stretching dramatically.

"Hope you can keep up," he muttered with a smirk. Theo just nodded faintly.

The whistle blew.

The recruits took off, some sprinted too hard early on, while others paced themselves carefully. Theo stayed in the middle of the pack at first, matching their tempo. His breathing didn’t even shift.

By the second lap, many started to pant. A few fell behind.

’I could finish this in less than a minute if I used Ember Step or Aerodash,’ Theo thought, but he stayed within human range - fast, sure, but not suspicious. After all, the instruction was clear.... No power.

Near the instructor’s booth, Lexa stood with a tablet, casually reviewing results. She wasn’t in charge of the physical test directly but had stopped by as requested by Leon.

Her eyes scanned down the ranks, half-focused until she spotted him.

Her breath caught. "Theo?"

Theo was running smoothly, effortlessly, even yawning at one point. She blinked. That’s not right. She remembered how he fought at the campus... fast, precise, devastating. Even back then, without seeing everything, she’d known he wasn’t normal.

And now... here he was, moving like he was just another recruit. Average. Underwhelming.

Lexa narrowed her eyes. ’He’s holding back. But why?’

She watched closely as Theo jumped over the first wave of obstacle beams. He scaled the wall in one motion but did it slightly slower than she knew he could. During the reaction drills, he deliberately missed one of the moving dummies by a few inches, just enough to pass, but not enough to stand out.