’You know, I have been thinking... can’t we just do all of this from home?’
[That is indeed possible, but I believe this is for the better.]
About five days have passed since the surgery. Having dropped the act of being gravely injured, Dante was back to his usual routine of wandering around the city on his bike. Though he still worries about the pursuit of the Stahlkops and everyone else, he knew that staying cooped up in his apartment wasn’t going to help that much.
He also needed to move around a little so he could get used to the armor planted under his skin.
Currently, Dante was on the roof of a random building in New City. Volcan had tapped into some of the security cameras in the areas and he was using them to observe a few things.
Of course, he hadn’t picked just some random location to watch some random people. This was the heart of the Dagger’s territory, and most of the screens on his OAM displayed some of its members or the shops and establishments they tended to spend their time at, according to the info Victor provided him with.
With time on his hands and no desire to take on any jobs, Dante had to spend his free time investigating the gang and its members. Nothing that would draw attention, of course. He had no plans on tackling the gang any time soon, but the guilt of not following on his promise to that brat Finn was stating to get to him, and that’s why he was here.
A gentle breeze blew by, prompting Dante to close his eyes and sigh.
’This is the third day and still no sign of Jaguar.’
[Going by their reputation, I believe it is understandable for the upper echelon of the organization to avoid appearing in public.]
’I guss you have a point.’
It wasn’t that he expected to run into the famous skull eater on the streets－he simply found it boring that there wasn’t much to see despite it being the territory of one of the most vicious gangs in Neo-Vatra. Then again, this was one of the wealthier parts of the city. One shouldn’t expect to see a bunch of thugs going around and causing trouble for regular people.
’Maybe I should come at night...’
[That would be a better idea.]
A notification appeared just then, showing that Victor had sent a message.
[Victor: Emergency meeting. Come to the Golden Hummingbird.]
As he stared at the message, Dante drew his brows together. A meeting held at the bar meant it involved the heist. After his blunder the other day, he had been left out of those to avoid implicating the the others. He was still hesitant to go even now, but seeing as the fixer had asked for him specifically, Dante guessed that the reason might be worth the risk.
’I have a bad feeling about this...’
Arriving at the Golden Hummingbird, Dante greeted Thomas then went to the second floor right away. Victor was waiting in the meeting room along with the rest of the crew, but when he went through the members, Dante noticed that a certain someone was missing.
"I’ll get straight to the point." Victor said soon after the door closed behind him. "Greg... Shark is dead."
He hadn’t given them a chance to ask anything before dropping the bomb.
"Victor... are you sure?" Mr. Pike asked.
The fixer’s expression turned grim, and it took him a few seconds to reply.
"The BEO tracked his location while he was Diving into Blue Ember’s network. The last message he sent named the hero who reached him, and said that he wasn’t going to let them to capture him alive."
Messages alone were far from sufficient proof, but that mattered little right now. Taking into account what they were trying to do, being captured by the BEO was no different getting killed.
"I guess that’s it, huh?" Kirk broke the silence. "You wouldn’t have called us here if you have a backup plan."
No one argued the tall man’s point. A big part of the plan depended on the crew’s Diver and the support he could provide. Dante only met the guy once and the impression he left was not very good. That said, he seemed to have been quite the skilled Diver, and now that he was gone, it could be said that the heist was done for.
"I wanted you to know so we can be prepared for the future." Said Victor. "I will try to do something about it. In the meantime, I want the rest of you to keep going as if nothing had changed."
Currently, Rose and Mr. Pike have already infiltrated Blue Ember, acting as a recently engaged couple. Kirk was accompanying them as a bodyguard, while Dante remained outside. In a way, there was no need for them to do anything until the day when the plan would be executed. The problem was that, without a capable Diver, getting to that step would be impossible.
’We have control over the hotel’s AI, right?’
[Yes.] Volcan answered. [And we still do.]
In a way, Volcan had already done Shark’s job and more. Currently, they have the security system under their control, and with Type 9 in his hands, Dante should be capable of breaking the barrier surrounding the thirty seventh floor. That meant they were ready to execute the heist, but for that to happen, he could have to tell the others first.
Dante wasn’t so keen on revealing his true capabilities, however. Right now, he was playing the role of a solo merc who only knows how to shoot guns. Coming out and revealing that he has exceptional Diving skills and ways to deal with magic would make him more than a little suspicious.
’We need to a way to disguise it...’
There was no need for him to rush and offer a solution. Finding a way around this problem was Victor’s job. He was the fixer organizing the heist, after all, and it didn’t look like he was ready to give up on it.