Jason was a common gambler running away from debt collectors. Someone like that couldn’t possibly have the resources or connections to get his hands on something that grants him superpowers the normal way, which leaves only the illegal route.
Catalyst might have been a myth before, but that changed after what happened in that underground casino.
"Well, whatever." Dante shrugged. "It’s not has anything to do with me."
If he had to be honest, he was indeed interested in learning more about Catalyst, but not at the cost of having to deal with a hero. He had a hunch that the drug would become more prevalent with time so there was no need to look into it right now.
Sadly the hero in question still refuses to get the hint.
"Guess I don’t have a choice anymore." She mumbled.
Straightening her back, Liliana turned to him with the most serious expression she could muster.
"Now that you know about it, you have to help with my investigation!"
"... Did you hit your head or something?"
Dante didn’t know how to react. No, he knew exactly how he should react. He should run, get out of there. If he let the conversation go on, there was no doubt that he would get more entangled with the hero’s affairs.
"I’m being serious!" Liliana exclaimed.
"Why the hell would I do that!?"
"Because if you help me and we find something, neither of us will get into trouble!"
"What kind of logic is that?" Dante shot back. "And you’re the only one in trouble! This has nothing to do with me!"
"You can’t drop out now! You’re already too involved!"
"Thanks to your stupidity!"
The train was approaching its next stop, and though it was far from his destination, Dante decided to get off.
"If you won’t help me, I... I would have to silence you!"
"... you got to be kidding me..."
"I-I told you! You know too much!"
Just as Dante opened his mouth to argue once more, the voice in his head spoke again.
[Dante, may I offer a proposition?]
[Please agree to help Ms. Eisenberg with her investigation.]
’You’re on her side now?’
The AI’s overly serious voice left Dante speechless.
[From what I understood, Catalyst is a rather valuable item.] The silence prompted Volcan to explain himself. [We might be able to acquire some of it during the investigation.]
The rest was easy to conclude. If he got his hands on the drug, he could then sell it for a premium and gather enough money to buy the best bionics the market has to offer. It wasn’t a bad idea, though there was a major problem with it.
’It’s too much trouble.’
The promise of quick pay always came with unavoidable risk. Putting aside the difficulty of finding and stealing the drug, peddling it would be like asking to be killed, and Dante didn’t want to go on another suicide mission so soon.
[Please consider it. I do not believe I have to remind you of the urgency of our situation.]
Dante knew Eidolon wouldn’t wait for him. Though the slow approach was more to his liking, he needed to quickly enhance himself to a point where he wouldn’t risk death every time he used the relic.
The choice would have been much easier to make if the red-haired girl wasn’t involved. Her presence alone increased the danger level drastically.
Dante weighed his options for some time. Surprisingly, neither Volcan nor Liliana said anything, as if they sensed him contemplating the matter. The train arrived at its next stop and the doors opened. No one boarded, and no one got off either. After what felt like an eternity, Dante finally made up his mind.
"Fifty thousand Gold." He said.
Staring at him, Liliana tilted her head to the side looking quite confused.
"You want my help? Open your wallet, then." He said. "I’m not doing this for free."
"You... you want me to pay you?" Liliana asked.
"Obviously." Dante scoffed. "I’m a freelancer. I don’t do free labor."
The details remained unclear to the red-haired girl, but she did understand what she thought was the important part, which was him agreeing to help her.
"Okay!" She beamed a smile. "If that’s what it takes then sure, I will pay."
Dante got off the train on the next stop with Liliana following right behind him, asking what are they doing in such a place instead of going back to Factory Town. The answer to that was very simple: until he got paid, Dante had no reason to honor their agreement.
The job wasn’t passed to him through a fixer so he needed to get half the payment upfront, and in order to do that a certain item was required.
The two stopped at a random convenience store on a random street. In the electronics section at the very back, Dante found what he was looking for. He took one along with some packed sandwiches to the counter and had the clerk scan them. Once it was time to pay, Dante turned to the red-haired girl behind him.
"... what?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
"You pay." Dante replied.
The items barely cost anything and he could have paid for it with the scraps remaining in his accounts, but why bother when he had a walking piggy bank following him around? For the duration of their agreement, Dante planned on making her pay for everything he could.
Though she gave him a complicated look, Liliana still did as he said. Only once they were outside did she ask the question on her mind.
"The food I understand, but... why would you need that?"
Dante reached into the plastic bag and took out a small box which he discarded after getting the item that was inside. It was a small electronic device the size of one’s palm, rectangular in shape and as flat as cardboard.
Such items were an essential part of everyone’s lives a couple of decades ago, but with the creation of Neural Interface and Optic Augmentation Modules, they were gradually pushed to the side, now only appearing in shows and documentaries about that era. It was the device once referred to as the smartphone.