"How about we make a deal?"
When he heard the words, Dante’s first instinct was to give the skull-faced bastard a good punch, then let him roast for a while. Nevertheless, he could see so use for the enemy lieutenant, making him put that decision on hold.
"You want a deal?" He said, raising an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"
"How about we talk sowhere more private?" Harry said. "Go on. Dive into my MLP."
The invitation gave Dante pause, both because he didn’t understand why his enemy would suggest such a place and because he realized the skull-faced man had left his implants open despite knowing about Dante’s reputation as a deadly Diver.
’This feels like a trap...’
[Even if it is, I have no doubt about my ability to overco it,] Volcan said. [I will not be caught off guard this ti.]
’... Alright, lead the way.’
Dante closed his eyes. Right away, he experienced the sensation of plunging into a cold body of water, having arrived at the data ocean contained within the skull face’s MLP. Noticing sothing odd, he looked down at himself and noticed that he was now a muscular fish man of so kind, covered in jagged red scales as if it had been bathing in blood for a long ti. Apparently, Volcan had changed his Diving avatar at so point.
[I will handle moving you through the streams,] Volcan said. [Please do not resist.]
The avatar began to move, swimming swiftly through the dark waters. It felt the sa as the few tis Dante dove along with his resident AI, though without the fish leading the way, the fact that he wasn’t in control beca even more prominent.
Soon enough, they reached the center, where they found another humanoid fish waiting for them. Unlike Dante’s, it appeared dark and skeletal, like a dried shark corpse. Swimming up to him, Dante stood straight and raised his head.
"Talk."
"You sure got an attitude, don’t you?" Harry replied.
"Trying to buy yourself more ti?" Dante snorted. "It won’t make a difference. If you don’t have anything that interests , you will be done for before you return to the surface."
"Are you sure about that? I’m not that easy to kill. Besides," the skeletal shark looked behind him, as if sothing was supposed to be there. "I’ve got about a couple of dozen Genos waiting outside."
"Pseudo-Genos, right? Last I checked, those burn out long before they could put a scratch on my back."
"These have had the chance to practice their powers. I’m confident they will give you a good fight."
"Didn’t take you for the guy who talks too much. You gonna be done with the threats any ti soon?"
"Threats? No. I was just setting things up for our deal. You might not like it, but proper build-up is necessary for these things."
Dante was on the verge of asking Volcan to get him out so he could burn the bastard into a real black skull. Thankfully, Harry chose not test his patience any further, getting straight to the topic.
"Black Skull isn’t very stable right now."
"No shit." Dante scoffed.
"I’m not talking about the trouble you caused us." Harry shook his head. "I’m not talking about the Daggers, either."
"What? Your pedo industries aren’t as profitable anymore?"
Closing his mouth, the skeletal shark stared at Dante for a while. The last comnt seed to have hit the right cord.
"The boss is dying." He said after a while.
Dante’s eyes narrowed, and though he never intended to, he started taking the conversation seriously.
"Your boss is dying?"
"That’s right." Harry turned to the left, placing his hands behind his back an drifted slowly. "No one thought he would make it this far, but... the old scars are finally getting to him. I don’t think he would live to see the new century."
"Get to the point already," Dante said. "You want to take his place or sothing?"
"... that’s about it."
Guessing that much was easy, and guessing what cos next was easier.
"So, what does this have to do with ?" Dante asked.
"It’s simple. I want your help in securing the throne." Harry said. "I’m not exactly in a winning position right now, but if you were to eliminate the others..."
"Aren’t you being too honest for your own good?"
Hiding his real intentions and manipulating things to turn in his favor should have been the right move, but the skull face was taking a different approach. Of course, this whole thing might be a lie, but sothing told Dante that’s not the case.
"I don’t have much to lose," Harry said. "We have a common enemy here. I think we can help each other."
"You’re trying to sell out your allies?"
"Rivals. And I’m just doing what I need to secure my place."
"... Sounds to like you would be the only one benefiting from here," Dante said. "What do I get from helping you?"
"Isn’t your goal to take down our doll business?"
"That’s my thing. I’m not doing it to benefit anyone." Dante said. "If we’re going to have a deal, however, I’m gonna need to see so profits. Not about to do you favors just because you forked out so info."
Looking over his shoulder, Harry thought for a mont, then sighed.
"Understandable," he said. "How about half the earnings from the doll business? What has been gathered before you shut down the operation, of course."
"You can keep the filthy money," Dante said, his fishman face twisting into a grimace. Thinking for a mont, his expression turned serious. "I want the nas of every client your... doll business had. If you have anything on them, that’s all the better."
"Fine by ," Strangely enough, Harry replied almost instantly. "Is that all?"
Thinking for a mont, Dante decided to add one more thing.
"I want you to get in contact with whoever is selling Catalyst to you."
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