"Is it really done?"
The gruff voice had a tallic ring to it. In the cold, underground storage space, it felt strangely strangely sharp, like hundreds of small grass shards being constantly ground.
Finn didn’t like that voice. He hated that voice. His wish was to never hear it again, and so he sought to silence it.
"Damn, that’s only one week. Guess you really improved in those two years."
Finn didn’t say anything. He kept his gaze to the floor, afraid that, if he laid eyes on those tal jaws, he would lose control over his anger.
The truth was, he could have finished days ago. Black Shield had so impressive cyber defenses, but with the tricks Dante had thought him, he could have easily bypassed them. His reason for making such delay was simple—he wanted them to believe that the second machine won’t be ready for another week.
He might have overestimated the chances of his plan succeeding, which is why he ended up in this bind. Turns out stealing a couple war machines wasn’t so easy to pull off, even if you are a genius Diver. Still, he couldn’t just give up now.
"Say, Finn," The voice spoke again. "You are planning sothing, aren’t you?"
A chill rolled over the boy. Was he exposed? No, that can’t be. He was sure he hadn’t ssed up, and Jake knew how to hide his traces well. There is no way it could have been sothing he did.
"You really take after her. That bitch mother of yours."
A single spark reignited his anger, and fire quickly consud him, banishing the fear he had felt.
"I wasn’t that surprised when you ran away. That’s what she tried to do too, you know?"
As the fire heated up, Finn could only clench his fists. He couldn’t blow up now. He hadn’t waited all this ti just to fall for a simple provocation.
"I though soone would co and get you, but... it has been a week already. Did they give up on you? Maybe you were just a pawn, and they couldn’t bother saving you."
Biting his lips, Finn let him talk.
"Your new boss is a tough guy. He’s in big trouble with the BEO. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t co to get you. I would have asked you about him, but... You probably never t the guy. Clearly you don’t matter enough."
For a while now, people had been asking him about a guy nad Ghost. They say he’s a very powerful geno who can’t be caught on caras, can enter any place, and worst of all, he can make people disappear. Apparently the Daggers think this Ghost is a powerful villain who’s trying to wipe them out and take over their territories, and since they had no way to deal with him, they had been in a state of panic for a while now, grasping at anything that might give them sothing to work with.
Finn could already guess who this Ghost is, and Ghost Mode was the only clue he needed to figure it out. It was surprising to hear that the Daggers already knew about him, but they were a big gang and had their sourced, so maybe it’s not that much of a surprise. They didn’t seem to have connected the dots, however.
Either way, this Ghost was making the Daggers quake in their boots, so much so that their boss ca to check on the progress of his Diving progress daily. That told him they didn’t have much confidence in their chances, which is why they want the war machines to be ready.
’Just you wait,’ The boy thought. ’We gonna crush you completely, and then-’
A hand fell on his head. A cold massive hand.
"Don’t bother." The voice ca again, this ti closer to his ears. "You won’t pull it off this ti. Nothing you do will escape my watch."
The weight on his head pushed him down, threatening to crush him. It wasn’t the mass of a bionic limb prid for battle, but the pressure of a monster staring down at its prey.
"I will catch that bastard, and I will crush him completely, and then..." A mont of silence passed, then the hand pressing him down was lifted. "I will rule this city."
Finn kept his gaze down, not moving. His anger had faded, and the fear remained, but there was sothing else. A strange clarity, and a spark of courage.
Before he knew it, he was raising his his head. In front of that giant, he was nothing but an ant. This ant was going to bring him down, however.
’Rule this city?’ Looking the bastard in the eyes, a few words ran in his mind. ’You wish.’
The man with the tal jaw stared back at him, but Finn didn’t look away. He refused to look away.
"... Guess you have so of my blood as well." Said Jaguar.
The bastard had the gall to pat him on the head. That arm will be the first thing he cuts before putting a bullet in that brain.
tal Face turned away from him, looking at the rest of his pack.
"Pack everything." He said. "We will be finishing this on the road."
It was as if a bucket of icy water was spilled on his head.
’... what?’
As he stood there in shock, tal Face turned to look at him. His face was the sa, and his expression barely changed. Sohow, Finn got the feeling that he was grinning at him.
"You will be working from a truck going forward." He said. "You better hurry up. I want the second suit ready before the next attack."
~[ ]~
Once Nara got off the car, Dante turned to the officer and told him to drive. He didn’t specify the destination, but the officer had a feeling he wasn’t expected to head for the station. Because of that, they just kept driving for a while.
"Jonah Johanson." Dante eventually said. "Do you know where he is?"
The officer nodded without saying anything.
"Take to him."
Dante got a bad feeling when Nara showed up at the noodle shop. The fat bastard didn’t have the courage to co after him after that one ti in the station, which made it obvious that sothing had happened. When he found himself standing inside a hospital room, he wished his guess had been wrong.
In front of him was a hospital bed, one of the four stuffed into that single six by six room. On it was the motionless body of a man. His skin was dark and full of wrinkles, his hair white and cut short. A breathing tube was forced through his mouth, and several others extended from under his blanket. Several old machines surrounded him. One of them displayed a single green line. It rose high before dipping down, drawing a jagged line on the screen. As it settled at the center, drawing a long straight horizontal line, one couldn’t help but be overco with horror.
"The station was attacked."
Hearing a familiar voice, Dante looked behind him and found a petite old woman. Her expression was grave as she held his gaze, and with a sigh, she made her way to the patient’s side.
"It happened the day before you collapsed. So bastards stord the place to free the prisoners kept inside. Jonah stood up to them, but..."
"... is he going make it?"
"We don’t know." Nobara shook her head. "He’s... He’s tired. It has been quit tough on him these days."
"... who did it?"
"... You already know the answer."
That he did.
As he turned around to leave, Dante was t with a nurse waiting at the door. Her face was so pale it seed she could pass out at any mont, and the tablet in her hand told him the reason by. Taking it from her hands, Dante scanned the QR code and paid the fine for the off hours visitation. He then turned the page and checked Jonah’s care plan.
As a police officer, Jonah had proper endurance paid for by the governnt. Unfortunately, the care it provided him was barely above the minimum. Dante’s savings ha dropped below the million, but he still had more than what an honest police officer would save his entire life.
Not thinking about it twice, he upgraded the old officer’s care plan to the VIP and paid for a month in advance. If that wasn’t enough, he would return later and extend it for as long as necessary.
The officer who drove him to the hospital waited with the car at the sa place he had parked earlier. Dante got on the back seat and sat there in silence. As he sat there in silence, his resident AI spoke to him. He showed him a few videos he found, and as soon as he saw what they contained, a suffocating pressure fell on the entire area.
The pressure continued to mount for a while, then it vanished, as if it was never there. Lifting his gaze, Dante looked into the backview mirror. The officer was looking at his reflection, but as soon as their eyes t, he looked down at the steering wheel. Right after, a single word echoed inside the vehicle.
"Drive."
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