"...ey... ge.... Hey... get up," A voice rang in the darkness, drawing Liliana’s consciousness out of the dream world. "We’re here..."
The voice sounded close, way too close. Not only that but it was also a man’s voice. Tearing her eyes open, Liliana snapped upright. A rush of heat quickly enveloped her face as she met the speaker’s gaze.
"Did you sleep well, princess?" He said without an ounce of humor in his voice.
She didn’t know what to say. Supposedly, her physical enhancements should have allowed her to stay awake for days without any complications. Despite that, she ended up dozing off. One truly doesn’t know they fell asleep until they wake up, but in her case, she didn’t even remember feeling sleepy.
And as if that wasn’t bad enough, she fell asleep in a public place, next to a guy she met barely a day ago, and even used his shoulder as a pillow. Embarrassment and shame quickly buried their claws deep into her skin, breaking the control she had over her ability. A sudden heat wave washed over the carriage, instantly banishing the chilly night air. To the other passengers, it felt like things got a little warmer and nothing more, but to the young man sitting next to her, it was as if he had been pressed close to an oven, causing his face to twist in a grimace.
Try as she might, the heat refused to obey her words. The best she could do was stop herself from literally bursting into flames.
"What a mess..." The youth sighed and shook his head.
Liliana didn’t understand. While she was on the verge of burning from embarrassment, the young man beside her remained calm, entirely unaffected by the situation. It was as if he didn’t care at all.
’I mean, he did say he doesn’t like me, but...’
The two only met, and when she considered that she didn’t give a good first impression -she beat three people right in front of him-, Liliana felt that understood why he wouldn’t like her. Still, to not even react at all.
’He... he really doesn’t like me, huh...’
Just as the train slowed to a halt, her temperature began to drop. Liliana quickly fastened her grasp on her powers. She still couldn’t bring herself to think of anything other than what had just happened.
’Why... why didn’t he wake me up earlier?’
The train ride couldn’t have been more than a few minutes. Seeing as he had been rude and mean to her ever since they met, she expected him to wake her up the moment she leaned against him. The exact opposite happened, however.
’I guess... I guess he isn’t that bad...’
The way he spoke to her was quite annoying, but if she were to look past that, nothing he did was all that bad. Not once did her intuition warn her about him, either. He might be a rude and foul-mouthed boy, but he wasn’t a bad person.
The doors had opened and the passengers began descending. The youth got up from his seat and walked to the exit only to stop after a couple steps.
"Get your ass moving already." He turned to her with that, annoyance filling his voice. "You aren’t the only one tired here."
A pang of anger sparked in her mind.
’Nope.’ She thought as she got on her feet. ’He definitely is a bad person.’
She said nothing and walked onto the platform, her glaring eyes piercing his back the entire time. As they made their way outside, something suddenly caught her notice.
’Come to think of it... he hasn’t told me his name yet...’
Having returned to Factory Town, the first thing the duo did was hide in the shadows and assess the situation. Volcan quickly reconnected to the local security systems, scanning for anything out of the ordinary.
Word of what happened in the Den has already spread through the district. A lot of arrests were made, but most had to do with the illegal activities carried out in that place. Jason’s name didn’t come up so it was a little difficult to confirm whether he got caught, or if he’s still alive. The only way to get a clearer picture would be to visit Fifth Street once more, but Dante had no intention of doing so.
Another thing that caught his attention was a number of strange vehicles roaming the streets. They all felt out of place, and one look at the black suits riding them was enough to confirm they weren’t locals. Dante knew without a hint of doubt that they were Eidolon’s henchmen, or maybe a bunch hired to look for the missing Eisenberg girl.
According to Volcan, more than a few drones had swarmed the district. Unlike the surveillance systems they were used to, they were much tougher to crack, meaning they no longer had the same freedom of movement as before.
In the hour they had to waste before the train, Dante came up with a quick plan and informed Liliana. Volcan was still keeping tabs on the henchmen that stalked them a few hours ago, tracking every path they took and every place they stopped at. They were going to pay those gangsters a quick visit and see what intel they could get.
Of course, he only told Ms. Hero that he got they were going after random gangsters and that he bought the details on them from an informant, claiming that he needed the advanced payment just to do that.
The nearest target was still far away from the station they arrived at, which forced them to take another bus ride. While waiting to arrive at one of their stops, Dante spotted one of the drones Volcan mentioned, but instead of hovering menacingly as it swept the area, it was on the ground being smashed by bats and metal pipes.
Apparently, some of the locals weren’t so keen on having those things wandering around doing who knows one.
Soon enough, Dante and Liliana arrived at their destination.