"Lil' bro, you need to listen to me…"

Lev slowly backed away, holding his hands up. "It hasn't been that long since I finished it."

"And when were you planning to tell me?"

"When you calmed down a little? I mean, c'mon, you know what I do. I've never been clean. You can't do what I-"

A violent quake shook the underground hideout, sending plumes of dust falling from the ceiling. The place had once been a bomb shelter, and those weren't easily affected by anything small.

'Volcan?'

[One of the Genomes is attacking the barrier.] A screen popped up, showing a view from the outside. [From what I can see, they seem to have an ability capable of creating powerful seismic waves.]

'How long until the barrier collapses?'

[We have five minutes.]

Watching the scenes outside, Dante turned his sight to the rest of the secret lab, then to his bony friend.

"Let's get out of here first. We will discuss the rest later."

'Give us a distraction.'

[Understood.]

The place shook again, bringing back the fear of the ceiling collapsing on their heads. Not wasting any more time, Dante went about moving the remaining equipment into his Storage. The secret lab continued to quake in the meantime, and from the looks of it, the shaking only got stronger over time.

Outside, the tortoise tanks started moving on their own, firing random shots at the surrounding buildings, as well as the heroes. It seems that Volcan had set a few to attack the dwarven freak blocking their spatial abilities, but the other freaks came to his rescue, using their abilities to shield him.

'It's almost as if they were expecting me to be here…'

There shouldn't have been any clues linking Ghost to the Alchemist, and spatial abilities weren't that common, so it didn't make sense for the authorities to be on guard against him in this case. As another machine entered his inventory, he continued pondering the matter while moving on to the next, and it was when it occurred to him—he had been looking at the link a couple of minutes ago.

"Goddamn it, Lev…"

"Hey, man, I'm sorry, okay? I was going to tell you, but then-"

"No, it's not about that…"

Ghost's first appearance was in Factory Town, where he took down Caligo, the first gang spreading Catalyst through Neo-Vatra. He stole a stockpile of the miracle drug at the time, then his lackey, the Red Demon, went on to crush another gang distributing the drug. At the same time, the world's best cook came up with a blend that lets people extend its time limit.

"I… think they think you work for me…"

"What!?" Lev exclaimed in shock, then calmed down right away. "Doesn't the other way around make more sense?"

The Alchemist had been around for much longer, so it only makes sense that the new villain would be a subordinate of his, not the other way around.

"It doesn't matter. What's important is that they knew I'm involved in this."

If they hadn't known before, then his putting up a barrier around the building made it more than a little obvious.

[Dante, I believe they are about to penetrate the barrier.]

'Wha-'

No sooner had Volcan covered his warning than the quaking suddenly jumped to a new level, as if whatever had dampened it was gone. The barrier didn't break entirely, but from the looks of it, the hero with the seismic wave ability managed to put a hole in it. The rest rushed in after him, leaving behind the tanks that apparently went berserk.

"We're done here," Dante said. "You got an escape route?"

"Wha-!!? What about the rest of my-"

"I'll buy you the rest by the end of the day! Just show me the goddamn route!"

"C'mon, lil' bro. You should've said that from the start!"

With a big grin on his face, Lev ran over to a corner and slammed it with his hand. A patch slid down to reveal a control panel. He tapped it a few times with one of his bony fingers, causing it to turn green. Immediately after, the wall split, revealing the entrance to a long tunnel.

"C'mon, we need this to close before they get here."

Dante wanted to chew him for not having it ready sooner, but he held back. What's important now is that they get out of there before the freak squad spots them.

The tunnel didn't seem to be a part of the shelter originally, meaning the Alchemist had added it when he moved in. It only made sense for a villain's secret hideout to have an escape route hidden behind a secret door. The thought made Dante recall the time he wanted to make a secret hideout of his own. Hollowstreet had served that function for a while since then, but now it was entirely flattened.

'I need a new place…'

Lev wasn't much of a runner, being close to a Basic human despite what his appearance might suggest. Dante considered picking him up and making a run for it, but then-

" —!!!"

Something shifted at the edge of his Absolute Awareness, and Dante jumped in, deflecting it with the green plating of his 4-3 Module. The projectile, a small dagger, pierced one of the ceiling lights, causing a patch of darkness to fall on the two. More daggers followed, this time aimed at the remaining lights. In just a couple of seconds, the entire tunnel was shrouded in darkness.

Lev shrank down and moved to hide behind Dante.

A frown warped Dante's face as he studied the dagger stuck above them. He didn't like the first thought that occurred to him, but when two figures clad in black, skin-tight suits appeared before him, his annoyance grew several-fold. Ninjas were the last thing he wanted to deal with right now, and he certainly didn't like being ambushed at such a place. Equipping his oni mask, he was about to activate its Silent Breath, intending to end things quickly. That was when the two ninjas did something that took him off guard.