"You're running your own gang now, right, lil' bro?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Then you should already know how these things go."

As if he forgot all about the army waiting for them outside, Lev lay down on an old couch, resting his head on his hand. Dante, on the other hand, had to go around putting the Alchemist's equipment into his inventory. A few portals would have made it a whole lot easier, and just knowing that made him regret not killing that dwarf freak when he had the chance.

"Once you get to a certain size, the big players come knocking on your door." Said Lev. "They teach you that you aren't at the top of the world, and that there is always bigger fish in the pond and bla bla bla."

"Didn't take you for someone who would give a shit about those things," Dante said.

"Of course not." Lev waved a dismissive hand. "Your big bro turned out to be a shark, so everyone practically steps over each other to try and do business with me."

"You need to work on your allegories."

Dante was done with one machine the function of which he didn't know and moved on to the next.

"Well, long story short," Lev frowned, his mood ruined for some reason. "I had enough influence that people wanted me to owe them, and so they gave me a lot of useful things, including info on police and hero movements."

"I see…" Looking over his shoulder, Dante raised an eyebrow. "So? What changed?"

"Turns out a crazy fish made it into the pond and started murdering the fish who used to run things from the deeper parts."

"Enough with the fish man…" Just as he was about to sigh, Dante seemed to realize something. "Don't tell me…"

"I'm sure you already heard about him," Lev spoke with a smirk. "They call him the Red Demon. Reeeeeeeally scary guy. He killed thousands in a week, and the heroes couldn't do anything about it! Gangsters, civilians, politicians, no one was safe from him. The people who saw him said he had red horns and claws for hands and legs. Literally a demon from hell!"

Dante couldn't help but groan.

"I get it already."

The truth was that, in his anger, he hadn't bothered to look into the people. He had a list of names, and he crossed out those that had been confirmed to have sought Black Skull's disgusting services or helped maintain them. What they could do or what might happen once he was done with them never even crossed his mind. He wanted them dead, and so he killed them, consequences be damned.

"Sorry, Lev, but…"

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming you or anything." Lev cut him off. "The bastards had to go. I'm not gonna sit here and play lawyer for them."

"... Okay…"

Just as he was about to let a sigh of relief, the Alchemist shot him another one.

"The White Whales, however…"

"They had to go as well."

"C'mon, man, do you know how difficult it is to ship all my products?"

"Just give me a call, and I will handle it," Dante said.

"Oh, right. Vik said something like that." Lev replied. "Still, lil' bro, you've been causing a lot of trouble lately. Aren't you moving too fast?"

"Believe it or not, I'm trying to hold back."

"A few months ago, you were still doing bottom bin gigs for big V, but now you're waging war against almost everyone. I know what you're trying to do, but… isn't this a bit too much?"

"It's clearly not enough."

If it was a matter of moving fast, Dante believed he wasn't moving fast enough. A different way to put it would be that the results he's looking for aren't coming fast enough. Some things can't be rushed, and going too fast might lead to ruin, but is he expected to slow down and make sure everything is done right?

"I don't know if I have enough time."

He already wasted more than five years taking detours, and now that his goal had changed, he couldn't afford to move at the same pace anymore.

[Dante, I am sensing vibrations that suggest the barrier outside is under attack.]

'Got it…'

6-4's barrier could withstand attacks from Level 5s, but it had a time limit that shrank each time it absorbed damage. They had to worry and leave the place, so Dante tried to hurry with storing the lab equipment.

Next was a stack of boxes. One of them was in the process of being loaded before the mess started, so it was left on the workbench along with a pile of the product. Dante was about to shove the rest into the box when something caught his attention.

"Let me handle that, lil' bro!" Before he knew it, Lev was right beside him. "You handle the big machines. I will organize this stuff."

The bony man reached for the box, but Dante grabbed him by the wrist. He remained still for a moment, then reached down, grabbing one of the many tubes lined on the bench. Staring at it for a moment, Dante slowly turned to look at his friend.

"Lev, what is this?"

"J-just another one of my products, lil' bro." Said the Alchemist. "You know what I do, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

The Alchemist was a villain known for recreating any and all drugs, manufacturing them himself or selling the formulas to those wishing to do so themselves. Be it pharmaceutical or recreational, there was no drug he couldn't recreate.

"This one looks familiar, though." Dante held up the injection pen to his eye level. "I've only seen it once, though." Pushing, he shifted his gaze to the bony man, his eyes narrowing. "On one of the Black Skulls."

Catalyst was a powerful drug that granted those who took it Genome-like powers, but its downside was the time limit. To those tasked with selling it, that downside was more of a feature. If it meant they could sell both the drug and something to extend its time limit. That line of thought allowed Dante to accept the existence of boosters, but it never even occurred to him that they might not share the same producer as the miracle drug.

'He got you. He got you good!'