The stealthy approach was starting to get on Dante’s nerves. More than once he was forced to take a detour around an enemy patrol, and he had long since lost count of the number of close calls he had had.
Strangely enough, he had yet to be discovered even once. If only his luck didn’t run out by the time he crossed the third basement floor and reached the stairs leading to the second.
Caligo’s hideout had six underground floors. Dante had used Type 8-3’s portals to climb up from the sixth to the fourth, and from there he made his way to the stairs leading to the third. There were no guards stationed at that point, allowing him to pass without trouble, but by the time he crossed the dark maze, two gangsters were awaiting him at the bottom of the stairs.
After confirming that they weren’t moving from the area, Dante retreated to the corner of a nearby room and sat down to think.
’... Volcan, give me 8-3’
At the moment, making sure the enemy didn’t discover his whereabouts was crucial. He was almost at his first stop as well, so Dante saw no problem in donning the armor now.
Light enveloped his body and a second later he was back in the embrace of the dark shroud. Almost immediately, pain assaulted his entire body, forcing him to remain still as his mind filtered it out.
That gave Volcan enough time to gather new data using the Spatial Awareness ability of the armor and update the three-dimensional model of the hideout.
As expected, most of the yellow dots had scattered across the six underground floors. While some were stationed around the stairs, the rest were searching the rooms in groups of twos and threes.
Dante looked around for the three red dots representing Epsilon and his two lackeys. To his surprise, they were in the room with the hexagonal cage, only a short distance from the green dot representing the Eisenberg girl.
’Huh, I thought he would have run away by now...’
Epsilon was one of Caligo’s higher-ups, or at the very least a member of the inner circle. It wasn’t smart for someone like that to remain in a place where an elusive enemy was on the loose.
’Is he trying to make things easier for me?’
A pang of pain ripped through his thoughts, preventing him from focusing too much on the small details. He already had a plan and he intended on sticking to it as much as possible. Standing up, he activated Rift Creation. A black dot appeared on the wall to his right then expanded till it was large enough for him to walk through it without bowing his head
"I can’t believe you fell for it..."
Delta held a hand to her forehead and heaved a sigh. Epsilon, who was pacing around, came to a stop and turned to her. His mask lacked the pixelated emoticons he liked to use, which showed how dire the situation was.
"And how was I supposed to predict it, exactly?"
"Why would a powerless nobody be wandering around with one of Eidolon’s products?" She scoffed. "Of course he’s one as well."
As the event had been held on short notice, there hadn’t been that many who came to watch it in person. The audience seats were empty now that all the important people had been evacuated.
The only ones left in the arena were the two core members, their guards, and the few underlings chosen to participate in the ad Caligo intends to create for its product.
"I still don’t understand. He was a Level 0 when you brought him in, right?"
"We scanned him, alright?" Epsilon hissed. "The bastard was a basic! He only had the standard stuff and a cheap bone plating on his hands!"
"Genomes don’t follow the old logic, remember?" Delta sighed. "You should have taken him apart just in case."
Unlike Cyborgs whose Threat Level increases the lower their Baseline Retention gets, Genomes didn’t follow the same pattern. Theoretically speaking, it was possible for the latter to achieve Level 4 or 5 while still retaining 70% or more of their human cells, so long as only the right body part benefits from the mutation.
"Whatever the case, we need to deal with this and quickly." Delta faced the hexagon cage. "Though I have to say, how are we supposed to catch someone who can create portals?"
Beyond the glass wall, the young hero known as Flare was standing in a corner with a water bottle in her hand. The second fight had to be delayed because of the current emergency, leading to her break being extended.
The obvious move should have been to sedate her and relocate, but with the Eisenbergs swarming the city with their drones, the danger of being caught couldn’t be underestimated.
Delta once again wondered if what they were doing was worth the trouble, but as she continued to stare at her, the red-haired girl suddenly sank into the ground and disappeared.
Struck with horror, the cloaked woman turned to shout an order. Before the words would leave her mouth, however, she caught sight of the red hair again, and this time it was outside the boundaries of the hexagonal cage.
The young hero dropped out of thin air and landed gracefully on the floor, the water bottle she dropped bouncing noisily beside her. Still crouched, she raised her head and started looking around frantically before her eyes landed on the small gathering a few meters away.
Gunfire roared the next instant as everyone with a weapon in hand shot without a second thought. Nevertheless, their bullets only struck the floor and walls as the red-haired hero burst out of their range, disappearing behind the dais below the hexagon cage.
"Stop!" Delta raised her right arm and gave the signal. She worked her mind for a quick solution and turned to her guards. "Split up and-"
Before she could finish the order, the peculiar sensation of falling from a great height surged through her body. The floor had disappeared from beneath her at some point, and before she could even think of doing something about it, she plummeted down, only to stop a second later.
Petrified, Delta didn’t dare to move an inch. The floor never appeared so close before. As her confusion continued to rise, a dark red patch slowly spread under her nose. She tried to look down, but the most she could manage was moving her eyes.
The sight made her feel as if she was floating in a pool. Her head was above the surface while the rest of her body was submerged underneath, only she couldn’t feel the coolness of the water on her skin, nor could she feel or move any of her limbs.
The rest of her body was gone, and all that remained was her cleanly severed head.