The man/crow hybrid remained static for a few seconds, then, like a monstrosity crawling out of the darkest depths of hell, it swiftly slid in Dante’s direction. The entrance to the containment tent parted, and though the creature’s form was finally visible, it turned out to be no less frightening than the dark silhouette.
The thing was dressed in a filthy patchwork of a robe, held together by countless stitches and quite a bit of tape. Thick gloves reached up to its elbows, but the arms extending from them seemed to be half as thick.
Nevertheless, the most eye-catching thing about it was without a doubt the cone-shaped mask which, when bent slightly, resembled a massive beak. The tubes extending from under it reached behind the creature, adding to the horror of the sight, and as if that wasn’t enough, the large goggles right above it seemed to glow with the same ghastly green light coming from the tent.
Dante couldn’t help but shudder, feeling the creature’s gaze fall on him. Their standoff lasted a few seconds, then, shattering the atmosphere that had surrounded it up to that point, the nightmarish entity raised its arms in the air and let out a muffled cry.
Before he could react, it lunged toward him only to hit the brakes halfway through. Backing away, it reached up to its shoulders, undid some clasps, then pulled on the gloves.
A bony hand emerged from within the dirty robe and pushed the beak-shaped mask up. An instant later, like a skin that had been shed, the entire entity dropped to the floor with an audible thud, leaving in its place a tall skeleton dressed in blue shorts and a white tank top.
"DANTE! IT’S REALLY YOU!"
It spoke, and with the same enthusiasm as before, it dashed toward Dante and wrapped its arms around him in a tight hug.
Well, as frightening as it might have seemed at first, the skeleton wasn’t truly a skeleton. One needed muscles to move bones, and though his were practically nonexistent, the man still had some under his deathly pale skin.
"Hey, Lev," Dante felt the corners of his mouth pull up. "It has been a while."
The arms holding him loosened, and the man’s bony hands grasped his shoulders and pushed him back a little.
"The hell do you mean a while? It’s been forever!"
Lev Alkimov. Although he looked no different from a weathered corpse, the grin on his face occupied half of it, and whenever he spoke, his jaw seemed to drop farther than that of a normal human, stretching it even further.
In the dimly lit basement, his eyes looked like nothing more than two pools of endless darkness with a single spec of green light shimmering in their depths. That’s because he technically didn’t have eyes. Those had long since burned because of a careless mistake and had to be replaced by a pair of optic implants, which were custom-made to create the unsettling effect.
The strangest part about him had to be his flowing wheat-blond hair, which was as long as he was tall, reaching all the way to the floor. Somehow, it survived everything that had pushed his body to its current state. A true miracle.
"For god’s sake, Lev. Put on some pants before hugging people." Boris sighed and shook his head, sounding quite exasperated.
"SHUT UP!" Lev’s big grin turned into a deep frown. "Can’t you see I’m talking to my buddy over here, fatso!?"
His right hand rose and fell on Dante’s shoulder, dealing him a tolerable amount of pain.
"Keep it down, will ya? Remember why they sniffed you out last time?"
"Hah! As if I would let that happen again!" Shifting his sight back to Dante, he flipped his frown back to a grin. "Glad to see you again, lil bro. Victor said you were doing fine, but I just had to see for myself."
"Same, Lev." Dante reached out and gripped his arm. "Glad to see you haven’t suffocated yourself."
"That’s what my new lungs are for!" The bony guy pointed to a scar along his sternum. "I gave in and got those expensive filters, too. I’m starting to learn why people liked clean, fresh air so much back in the day!"
"Isn’t that obvious?"
The joke must’ve gone over Boris’s head, seeing as he was the only one who didn’t laugh. He let them to it for a few seconds then cleared his throat loudly and held up the package he was carrying.
"Ooooh! You finally brought it!"
Lev swiftly snatched the white box and retreated to the other side of the room. "About goddamn time! I used the last drop just yesterday!"
"Yeah, we’ve had some trouble getting it this time." Boris clicked his tongue. "Boss had to pull some strings to get you this batch. The next one might take some time."
"Seriously!? Man, how am I supposed to work !?"
"We’ll try. In the meantime, see if you can get some through your own channels."
"You think I would be asking you if I had other suppliers? Well, guess I have no choice."
Lev soon returned with a small pack, which he carelessly tossed to Boris.
"Damn those DEA bastards. They keep tightening the noose every day." Throwing an arm around Dante’s shoulders, he let his voice grow somber. "At this rate, I might be forced to throw in the towel."
"Is it for real this time?" Dante asked.
"Nah," He waved his hand dismissively then laughed for a while. Stopping to catch his breath, the bony man pulled him closer and spoke again, this time his voice a little restrained. "Say, Dante. I heard that you got your hands on some interesting toys."
Dante glanced at him with a raised eyebrow. Noticing his confusion, Lev continued, lowering his voice even further.
"Those machines you’re trying to sell. The list you gave Victor has some of the stuff I lost when they raided my last lab. That’s why... I was hoping you would save them for me."