Even though it appeared that he had gotten away with it, Dante didn’t make the mistake of thinking that he had cleared himself of all suspicion. If it were that easy to fool, they wouldn’t have bothered interrogating him with truth magic.
While going on with his job, he thought everything through and came up with things he needed to do and others he had to pay attention to.
Nothing out of the ordinary happened for the rest of his shift. Thanks to the Productivity enhancement app not allowing any gossip, he was spared from having to answer any questions his coworkers might ask. Once it was 17:00, he ignored Ben’s usual tirade and left the dish pit.
The first thing Dante did after leaving the hotel was send a message to Victor detailing what happened. He also told him about the power used against him, keeping things vague and hiding the fact that he knew it was magic.
As expected, the fixer wasn’t too happy with the news. He sent back a list of instructions that can be boiled down to "keep going with your life as if nothing happened."
To avoid sabotaging the heist any further, Dante was barred from making any contact with the other members of the crew, meaning he wouldn’t be attending the follow-up meetings they were going to have in the next few days. He couldn’t visit the Triple Jackpot either, since that would risk implicating the others.
There was no way to tell how far the hotel’s security would go to figure out if he was truly a problem. They might keep an eye on him only when he’s washing plates, or they might send some of their wizards to monitor him while he’s off the clock. Either way, unless he’s absolutely sure, he had no choice but to pretend that he was just a normal guy forced to wash dishes for a living.
’I have to do this for twenty-five more days, huh...’ lying down on his bed, Dante stared at the ceiling as he thought. He wasn’t really staring at the ceiling but at the plethora of screens projected through his OAM. Each showed the live feed from the security cameras in the streets surrounding his building.
It was just another meaningless waste of time, just like washing all those dishes in that wretched hotel. Would magic-wielding wizards allow themselves to be caught? And would they not notice any of the twenty spider-bots -the ones he stole from that brat- which he had Volcan scatter around Hollowgrid? Even if they were to be caught on one of the cameras, would he be able to notice it in time? That part can be handled by his resident AI, so why bother with all this trouble?
Depression drew a long sigh out of Dante, one born from feeling absolutely useless. His part of the plan wasn’t by any means critical, but now that he was under suspicion, he wouldn’t be able to pull even that off.
Getting the promotion that would allow him to move around the hotel freely was out of the question, meaning he would be stuck washing dishes while the others are doing their job, guaranteeing that he would be entirely useless.
[This might be for the better.] Volcan said. [Now that the enemy has their attention on you, they might pay less attention to the other members.]
’Yeah, I doubt they would do that...’
The prince of an international conglomerate wasn’t so low on funds that his security could only focus on one target.
’I just have to be patient...’ After letting his thoughts wander, that was the conclusion he arrived at. ’No need to do anything...’
It didn’t truly matter. He was getting paid either way, so long as no one complained that he hadn’t contributed at all, and if the heist was successfully pulled off. That said, he wasn’t so sure that they could do it anymore. They were up against Level 3 wizards for god’s sake. How the hell are they supposed to work around that?
’I wonder if the police already know about this...’
He was sure they did, and if they didn’t, the BEO is guaranteed to be in the know. What’s the point of an organization dedicated to keeping Enhanced Individuals under control if they aren’t even aware of a third type?
’This might be the biggest EI incident we will have this year.’
[No doubt about it.] Volcan replied.
The number of heroes was on the rise, and as if to mirror it, the number of incidents involving Enhanced Individuals was increasing as well. Right now, most of the conflict between EIs is either Cyborg on Cyborg, or Genome VS Cyborg if the heroes produced by Eidolon were involved. There might have been some that involved Aetherions, too, but those were likely covered up one way or another, hence why no one knows about them.
The world was gradually turning into the same disaster-infested worlds one would see in those comic books and movies. Soon enough, crimes committed by EIs will be as common as random shootings and gang wars, and people will start fearing Genomes more than they fear guns.
As he contemplated the future he would be forced to live through, Dante swiped away all the screens jamming his field of vision and turned his focus to the [S] Icon on the bottom left corner, summoning his status window.
Baseline Retention: Intermediate (95%)
Neural Interface Module (C)
Optic Augmentation Module (C)
’... I need to get stronger...’
Hearing his resident AI reply to that thought brought a sudden wave of shame and irritation. Shaking it off, Dante added in his mind.
’That’s why we can’t let this heist fail. I will do whatever it takes to get that dagger.’
With renewed determination, Dante gave his stats another look then closed the screen and opened a different one. He had spent the last few days looking through every item on the lists Larry had given him, and after careful consideration, he had finally made his pick.
Staring at the implant of his choice, Dante thought for a moment then sent his doctor a message. It was time to schedule another enhancement surgery.