As soon as Nick explained what had happened, Steve's rage vanished.
It was like a bucket of cold water was emptied over him.
His angry sneer turned into shock.
And then, it turned into anger again, but this time, his anger was directed inward.
He knew he had messed up, and he felt like the biggest idiot.
"Sorry," Steve said in a low voice. "Let's go back to the tutor. You can explain the details there."
Nick wasn't surprised by Steve's reaction.
Steve might have forgotten himself at the moment due to all of the pressure and uncertainty surrounding him, but he was still an adult with decades of experience.
He could see that his anger was misplaced and that he had messed up.
Was Nick angry?
Of course.
One of Nick's teammates had uncovered his spot due to idiocy, putting him in potentially life-threatening danger.
However, Nick could also see that Steve did not do it on purpose.
Was Steve an asshole?
Yes.
Did Steve try way too hard to seem impressive?
Yes.
Did Steve want to kill Nick?
No.
He just lost control.
Naturally, Nick's anger told him to give Steve a good punch.
Of course, such a punch would feel amazing and incredibly relieving.
But that was not how adults solved conflicts.
This was how teenagers solved conflicts.
Nick walked past Steve, and the ten people behind him followed him.
He left the torso on the ground, and Steve picked it up a moment later.
The Specter's core was inside the torso, but it had become way too weak to use its ability.
Additionally, it had very quickly realized that further resisting Nick would kill it.
It had seen into the minds of many people, and it could tell that Nick would kill it if it made things any more difficult.
Lastly, it knew that its ability wouldn't work on Nick.
Why not?
The answer was actually rather simple.
Nick's Barrier.
The Bird Watcher's ability could get through most Barriers, but Nick's Barrier was far too advanced.
As soon as the Bird Watcher had seen Nick, it had tried to pull him into its domain, but Nick's Barrier simply activated, and the Bird Watcher's ability was stopped.
In fact, the Barriers of the other three trainees would also block the ability.
While their Barriers were not nearly as good as Nick's Barrier, they were still vastly superior to the Barriers of almost every person living in Country Roads City.
The four of them stepped out of the cavern while the ten people behind them started to slowly regain some clarity of mind.
Four of them had been in the haze of dementia for a day, while the others had been inside it for years.
It was a bit difficult to regain one's faculties after such an experience.
But that wasn't Nick's job.
Some time later, the group arrived back at the Manufacturer that had given them the mission, and they saw Shirley standing beside the CEO.
When the CEO saw his CZE, he looked like the perfect representation of relief one could paint.
He even almost fell to the ground.
There was no denying that this had been a real mission, not an artificial one.
The group gave the confused Extractors to the CEO and said their goodbyes.
Shirley had already collected the payment.
Finally, the group left Country Roads City and stopped on a random rock several kilometers away.
The squad gathered in front of Shirley, who focused on Steve. "Report!"
"We arrived in Country Roads City at…"
Steve began to retell everything that had happened that day, including his talk with the CEO and the exact words exchanged between him and his team.
He also came clean about his mistake and accurately reported what error he had committed.
In the end, Shirley nodded with a neutral expression. "How would you rate your performance?"
"Zero," Steve said.
"Why?" Shirley asked.
"My idiocy has unnecessarily endangered one of my teammates," he answered.
Shirley nodded once again.
Then, she turned to Nick. "How would you rate his performance?" she asked.
Steve prepared himself.
"Three out of ten," Nick said.
This surprised Steve, and his serious expression gave way to a shocked one.
"Why?" Shirley asked.
"While we do know each other, we have not been on a mission before," Nick explained. "He did not know what kind of ability I have or if I am reliable on a mission or not. He asked for more information a couple of times because he didn't have a read on me."
"One mistake was that instead of trusting me, he mistrusted me. Another error was that he didn't ask the requester for more information. We did not know how deep the cavern is or how many people were around the Specter."
"He sent me in without a backup plan and told me to find the Specter. He did not tell me what I should do with that information. Naturally, the worst part was that his voice unveiled me and put me in danger."
"However, when confronted, he accepted the truth and realized his mistake. He made a horrible mistake, but he also did a couple of things correctly. Additionally, there was no real malice in his actions."
"Therefore, it's a three out of ten. Still unacceptable, but not horrendously atrocious," Nick explained calmly.
Nick's words had a mixed effect on Steve.
On the one hand, he felt relieved that Nick didn't completely obliterate him with criticism, but on the other hand, Nick's cold and factual evaluation ringed with nothing but truth, having no hint of exaggeration.
Naturally, that made the feedback sting that much more.
Shirley nodded and turned to Cynthia. "How would you rate his performance?"
"One out of ten," she said coldly with narrowed eyes. "Putting your teammates at risk is the worst thing you can do as a leader."
Then, Shirley turned to Mendor.
Mendor just smiled awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. "I think the others said enough."
Shirley just nodded.
Mendor obviously didn't want to get involved in the drama.
Finally, Shirley turned to Steve. "You heard it yourself. You did not perform well today."
Steve didn't answer.
"Try to do better the next time."
Steve furrowed his brows. "Tutor, I'm not certain that there should be a next time."
"What?" Shirley asked with a snort. "You believe that every leader who puts one of their people's lives at risk should never be a leader again? If that's true, we wouldn't have any leaders left."
Shirley turned to Nick. "Have you put one of your people's life needlessly at risk before?"
Nick immediately nodded.
He had done that many times.
Back when he had walked around with his team on the mountain before being ambushed by the Abductor.
When he had sent weaker Extractors to work with stronger Specters.
"Mistakes happen," Shirley said, looking back at Steve. "The important thing is that you learn from them. You are a trainee, not an executive. You are here to train. Making mistakes is more forgivable in your situation than in any other."
"Take this as a learning opportunity."
Steve just nodded with a frown.
The things that Nick and Shirley had said made sense, but that didn't improve the burning feeling of self-hatred raging inside his chest.
He had let his emotions take control of him, which led to a horrible mistake.
He believed that he was stronger than that.
"Steve," Shirley said with a different tone.
Steve looked up.
"It might not be my place, but I have been in a very similar situation to you in the past," Shirley spoke in a polite, firm, but also gentle voice. "If you are willing to talk about some troubling things, you are free to look for me in my office."
"I am here to teach all of you, and that includes teaching you about dealing with personal issues as well."
Steve didn't look comfortable. "Sure," he answered.
Yet, that sure might as well have been a no.
Shirley did her best to suppress a sigh. "We're going back!"
The team nodded, and everyone started the journey back to Aegis' headquarters.
Shirley and Nick had enough experience to see Steve's issues.
Steve was an outstanding person.
He was extremely strong, reliable, and had a powerful will.
He was the only other trainee who had had enough points to work with the Bone Pile.
Yet, that was not how he perceived himself.
In his mind, he only saw his flaws.
He was not good enough.
He was never good enough.
He tried to prove to himself and the world that he was good enough.
And because of that, he put unreasonably high standards on himself.
Most of the time, he acted perfectly.
Yet, when he made a small mistake, everything broke apart, and he felt like he was the most useless person in existence.
Shirley had once been in a similar situation.
Due to her very feminine name and her tiny frame, she had often had difficulties in establishing authority in a group.
But compared to Steve, she managed to deal with her issues already.