[Two hostile entities detected. Beginning evaluation.]

Volcan's voice rang in Dante's mind as he went on the move. He didn't have to wait for his resident AI to get an idea of what he was up against—with the night vision his bionic eyes grant him, he was able to watch as the form of his enemy shifted before they clashed.

Sharp claws scratched the plating of his bionic arm scattering orange sparks that briefly illuminated the surroundings. He caught sight of a tail swaying behind his opponent, and going by the low growl they let out instead of spoken threats, Dante already had an idea.

'Another furry. Just my luck.'

The two clashed once more, with Dante deflecting everything the dog in black threw at him. The other one tried going around him, aiming for Lev, but a fist piercing the wall right in front of his face told him that he couldn't get past the Red Demon, not unless they somehow managed to beat him.

[Level 3 Prime Genome.] Volcan sounded disinterested he gave the results. [Level 3 Ascended Genome.]

Two red tags appeared, each kinked to one of the men in black. His resident AI evaluated them as Genomes confirmed Dante's suspicion, but one remained despite that. Were they agents of Eidolon? Why would the corporate send a separate task force when they already have heroes on the scene?

The question seemed destined to go unanswered. Dante wasn't about to waste time on a bunch of Level 3 freaks, and so he moved to crush them right away.

Parrying the dog's claw attack, he reached out and grabbed him by the collar, yanking him forward before hammering him with a quick combo. Six punches landed at almost the exact same time, the impact enough to shatter bones. The mutt was still standing by the end of it, but a kick to the head sent him flying face first into a wall, and it would be a while before he woke up.

The second ninja wasn't as eager to have his ass handed to him. After Dante blocked his path the first time, he retreated a few steps and observed, a throwing knife in each of his hands. He appeared to be glaring at Dante the entire time, and a couple of seconds after his partner was defeated, he said a single word.

"Cyberpunk…"

If it wasn't personal before, the bastard in black had just made it so. Dante equipped a gun and shot several bullets into the collapsed Genome, intending to completely incapacitate him. His partner jumped in just then, shielding him from the bullets. From the looks of it, he had a speed type ability, one that could keep up with bullets. But that was it.

Dante appeared before him, caught the hand bringing a knife down on his shoulder, and snapped the guy's wrist. He grabed the falling knife, he went on to stab him thirty times as if they were two black guys in a prison.

Stabbing the knife into the Bastard's shoulder, Dante slapped him aside then went about breaking the dog's legs. At first, he considered killing them on the spot, but then it occured to him that they might serve as a good distraction in case the police found the tunnel. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"Let's go."

Lev snapped back to the real world, and the two went back to running.

"Damn lil' bro, didn't know you could move like that."

"Yeah, it's not much."

Dante kept his attention on the two Genomes until they were outside the range of his Absolute Awareness. Thankfully, it didn't look like there were more intruders lying in ambush.

"Looks like Eidolon is taking this personally." Dante said. "Did you really have to make that stuff?"

"Hey, man, you are the one who brought me the pills." Lev said. "You even told me to find a way to make them last longer!"

"I did?"

"You did! What happened to the plan anyway? I thought you were getting us some biologists?"

"Oh, right…"

A while back, Viktor gave Dante a list of potential scientists they could ask for help in their little science project. Dante planned to grab a few, but things didn't work out.

"I was a little busy."

The war against the Daggers and Black Skull had been his main concern all this time, then he went and created Inferno, adding more to his to do list. Though he managed to get some info on the organization that supplied Black Skull with the miracle drug, Dante failed to follow up on his investigation. After everything he went through, he was far from stable enough to handle such a sensitive matter.

"We will get back to it soon." Dante said. "I'm hoping they would come to me next now that I crushed two of their fronts."

The faction producing Catalyst was as powerful as it was secretive, but from the looks of it, they seemed to be moving toward acting in the open more often. The attack on Eidolon's branch showed as much, and in a way, Dante got the feeling that the trouble they would bring his way might be a little too much.

~[ ]~

"Guh… fucking… hell…"

Left in the dark tunnel, one of the men in black groaned, struggling to move as blood seeped from the thirty holes in his chest. He reached for the pouck attached to his belt and took out an injecter and pressed it to his neck. Soon after the liquid it contained seeped into his veins, his wounds began to close. The dizziness brought upon him by bloodloss didn't leave, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Nanomeds don't resupply the lost blood.

"Hey, you good?" He asked.

"That… piece of shit!" His partner growled. "I'm gonna… kill him…"

The second one was on his knees and elbows, shaking as if he was trying to blast something out of his rear hole. His legs, which had been snapped in half, gradually returned to their natural shape. As amazing as that was, the constant groaning and heavy breathing revealed the kind of pain he was in.

Struggling to stand up, he turned in the direction their target ran in and took a shaky step.

"Let's… go… we need… we need to catch them…"

"Hold un." Though he had recovered from the arguably worse injury, the first one looked in a much better shape. "I think we should report this first."

The suggestion earned him a snarl and a glare.

"You said he's that Cyberpunk, right? Then what's the problem? Both are on the list!"

"Yes, but now we know they're working together." The first one said. "Remember what happened the other day?"

The second one continued to glare for a while, but then his eyes shot wide open.

"You aren't saying…"

"Yeah. I'm sure the masters would want to hear about this."

~[ ]~

Lev's secret tunnel led straight to the edge of White Hill. The exit opened on the side of Red River, which was dry, luckily. It was a good place to hide it, but things would have gotten messy if they were still in the heart of winter.

By that point, they were already outside the range of the freak blocking Dante's teleportation. The only reason they continued all the way was to leave a trail that would throw off anyone trying to follow them, wasting even more of their time.

"Well, make yourself at home."

After considering where to take the Alchemist, Dante decided that the best place to hide him was nowhere inside the city. That is why he portaled them to his office in the pocket dimension replica of Red Oni Street.

"Damn, lil' bro." Lev said as he plopped down on a couch. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner!?"

"Cause I'm the only one who can open the door to this place." Dante said. "I usually don't leave people here, unless I'm sure I don't mind them dying."

It wasn't once or twice that he forgot all about people he left in pocket dimensions only to find them dead later on. Thankfully, Volcan was there to remind him when it came to people he actually cares about.

"This is awesome!" Lev exclaimed. "You can build an entire factory in this place! And no one would find about it!"

"You sure about that? There can be a lot of unforseen problems with places like this."

Heat and air were some of those problems. Pocket dimensions were entirely closed off, which means energy has nowhere to go, and air could easily be burned.

"Lil' bro, I've been working in a hole underground for years now. With this much space, I can definitely make it work. I wouldn't have to worry about the cops!"

"You sure you want to be trapped here?" Dante raised an eyebrow. "What if something happened to me?"

"That is a gamble I'm willing to take." Turning to him with his usual toothy grin, Lev made a request. "So, what do you say, lil' bro? Mind renting me this place?"

"I… don't know… "