"I thought you would want to keep it simple so..."
As the mechanic had put it, the helmet lacked any kind of decorations. That wasn’t to say it had a bland design. Its sharp edges and compact visor matched well with the jet black form of the bike.
"It looks good," Dante nodded in appreciation. "Not that I will be wearing it that much."
"You should." Megan frowned. "These streets aren’t so tame, Dante. You would get away with not wearing one."
As he stared at his reflection on the back of the helmet, an idea spawned in Dante’s mind. Using the Equip function, he would be able to put on the helmet and take it off with a thought, and he wouldn’t have to limit himself to only when he rides his bike.
Volcan made it possible to hide from surveillance systems so long as they aren’t operated by humans, but there was little he could do about people’s eyes.
’I should get a second one, though...’
That line of thought led him to consider getting an entire outfit for the sole purpose of hiding his identity. Just as he realized he was having the same thoughts as one of those superheroes -from the comics, not real life- Megan addressed him.
"I know you want to take this baby for a spin, but we need to talk about the other bikes."
"Hm? Didn’t we already?"
Dante remembered coming to an agreement with the mechanic when they discussed things the previous day over text. She would handle cleaning the bikes and their sale, and in exchange, she would get a twenty percent cut from the total revenue.
Best case scenario, he would earn 5000G, which would still be a drop in the ocean. Nevertheless, every bit mattered.
"Don’t tell me you want a bigger cut..." Dante said.
"That’s not it." The muscular woman shook her head. "I found something on one of the bikes. A tag."
Megan grabbed something from the tool box and walked over, handing it to Dante as he hung his helmet on the left handle of his new bike.
It was a small disk the size of one’s finger, white in color, with a black circle on one of its faces. A very simple tracking device, the kind attached to metallic surfaces through a magnet.
Megan’s crew likely had a Diver who handled disabling the remote tracking and control of the bike. That should have made it possible to transport them without having to worry about anyone tracking them, but to think that an exterior tracker had been placed on them at some point.
"We checked a few more times, but... only one had it," Megan said, a frown twisting her face. "Guess whoever the previous owner was, they were a lot more cautious. Good thing one of our guys caught it before getting here."
[I am confident that no such device was on any of the bikes before the time of your arrest.]
Pursing his lips, Dante thought for a moment, then looked up at the mechanic.
"You should check the truck you used to bring them here." He held up the coin-sized tracker. "I’m pretty sure this thing wasn’t there when I had Boris call you."
"... so it’s not the owner?" She asked.
"No, they didn’t weren’t that kind of smart."
The likely conclusion was that someone had placed it on the bike after he was arrested. Their goal wasn’t to steal the bikes, since that could have been done in the small window before Megan’s crew arrived. That would mean whoever added the tag wanted to know where the bikes were taken.
A dark look took over Megan’s face as she turned her gaze to a certain corner of the wide garage. There, a large white truck was parked.
[I am detecting a faint signal from the vehicle.] Said Volcan. [Apart from those originating from its systems.]
’Uh-uh... can you trace it?’
[The pursuer is nearby.]
A screen popped up on Dante’s OAM, showing a map of the surroundings. As usual, there was a blue dot representing him, a green one representing Megan, and about two blocks away, there was a red dot representing whoever it is that tracked them there.
’I expected as much...’
There was no point in thinking about the questions if he could just go get the answer. Dante glanced at his jet black ride, a forlorn expression on his face.
"Guess it’ll have to spend one more night here." He said before turning his attention to the mechanic. "I will go deal with our stalker problem."
"You will?" Megan raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I got a feeling they’re after me. Sorry for the trouble."
Crossing her arms, the muscular mechanic stared at him for a second before her pearly whites peeked through a wide grin.
"Thirty percent. Bump my cut up to that and I will call it even."
"Are you being serious right now?" Giving her a humorless look, Dante added, "Twenty-five."
Dante didn’t dwell on it too much. The mechanic already had enough trouble to deal with, so he owed her something just for the scare that tracker caused.
He glanced at his new bike one more time, the disappointment of not getting to ride it tightening its grip on his heart, squeezing out anger at whoever decided to mess with him. Whoever it was, they were going to regret ever crossing him.
That was the inevitable end of this matter, but that’s just the end. Reaching it, on the other hand, didn’t look like it’s going to be that simple. As he glared at the map on his OAM, the red dot marking the stalker suddenly vanished.
[The connection to the trackers has been terminated.] The AI said. [It seems they are aware that we have discovered their presence.]
’They figured it out...’
Dante’s eyes narrowed, and the next moment, a thought flashed in his mind. The instant that happened, his head snapped in the direction of a nearby pillar. On one of its corners, up near the ceiling, a security camera stood still, its lens pointed at him.