Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System

Chapter 698: Criminals Are Humans, too.

"I’m home..."

Dragging himself through the living room, Woolf dropped face first on the nearest sofa. He somehow made it that far, but he didn’t have the strength to go further.

"Welcome back." Beatrice said. "You... you look exhausted today."

"Could it be..." A curious Merry peeked over the sofa’s back. "Did you get to meet him today?"

Wolf could only raise a thumb up in response.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The devastated Merry jumped at Beatrice, pulling her into a tight hug. "Leader! Wolf stole my date!!!"

"H-hey! Cut it out already!" This time, the petite hero didn’t hesitate to free herself using her powers. "And you were the one who decided not to go this time!"

"I couldn’t help it! But... wouldn’t this mean he’s avoiding me?"

"I don’t think so." Flipping over, Wolf heaved a sigh. "He sounded a little disappointed when I told him you weren’t coming?"

"Really!?"

"Yes."

"Yippy!!!" Merry jumped a few times. "Thanks, Wolf! I would hug you, but you reek of sweat!"

"Yeah, he was a bit... intense today..."

Light faded as the brilliant hero turned into a statue.

"You’re never beating the gay allegation." Said Kafka. Though he had been sitting on the other sofa this entire time, no one noticed his presence.

"Wolf, I know you’re tired, but how about you take a shower first?" Beatrice said. "Let’s talk in my office afterword."

That was his signal to go give his report, and so he forced himself up, took a quick bath, then put on some comfortable clothes.

"I hope you have something new for me this time."

Beatrice wasn’t happy about the slow progress, especially considering she had to dictate two members of her team to this investigation. The first time, she had yelled at him for calling ahead and asking if he could meet the Cyberpunk instead of just going to the club. That led to them having to call each day until the target agreed to let them in, but it turned out that he had no intent on appearing himself, until today.

"Well, for starters, his mood seems to have improved significantly." Wolf said. "Enough for him to leave his office and talk to people."

"Did you get the reason why?"

"No one knows anything concrete." Wolf said. "That aside, something more interesting happened today."

Straightening up, Beatrice narrowed her eyes at him.

"He got some visitors today. From Gaia."

"Go on." She leaned forward with interest.

Wolf went on to recount everything that happened in that meeting, going into as much detail as he could remember, and he remembered a lot.

"That confirms it, then." Beatrice sank into her chair. "Ghost was involved in the Riovanta incident."

"Well, we still don’t have any proof."

More than Eight thousand people vanished without trace, ranging from ordinary security guards to high level scientists. Then there was the equipment, fuel, and raw materials. What was left behind had enough to uncover all the illegal Gaia Industries engaged in around that part of the world, but from the looks of it, no one was going to be brought to justice, seeing as everyone responsible vanished without a trace.

"Teleportation sure is a pain in the neck." Wolf said. "And this one doesn’t have a distance limit. Don’t know how we are supposed to deal with that."

"We are not supposed to deal with him, remember?" Beatrice said. "Flame Guard will take care of it. Worst case scenario, we might have to call over the rest of the Legion."

"Then what am I doing there?"

Leaning over the desk, Wolf rested his head on its surface and went silent. Beatrice said nothing for a while, leaving him to it.

"This is... much tougher than I thought." He said. "They’re all good people, you know?"

"Did you think they would be comic book villains?" Beatrice asked.

"No, but... They’re supposed to be criminals, you know? I never thought they would act so... so normal..."

Inferno was a relatively new organization, with the members being mostly youths inspired by the young leader. From what they gathered, the gang hadn’t engaged in that many illegal activities beside their conflict with Black Skull, and even then, one could argue that the role they played wasn’t all that significant. Long story short, they weren’t villain material. Even their boss...

"Say, do you think they got themselves wrapped in this?" Wolf asked. "Maybe they didn’t know what they were getting themselves involved in..."

"Could be." Beatrice said. "And that would earn them a settlement a the court, but not a go free card. Remember, criminals are people, too. That’s what makes what they do wrong."

"I know..."

Silence rested between the two, for a while.

"So, are you going back tomorrow?" Beatrice asked.

"Yeah, he asked me to." Wolf replied. "Said it would keep Gaia from acting against him."

"So he’s using you as a bodyguard now, huh?" Shaking her head, the petite leader sighed. "Maybe I should tag along."

"Seriously?"

"I said maybe. You’re still going with Merry."

~[ ]~

Ever sine the Gaia cyborgs showed at his door, Dante had been on high alert. He had Volcan’s androids, what little he still had, sweep the area, and they found more than a few groups lying in wait for the right time to start whatever operation they had planned. Soon after the white haired hero left, Dante put on 8-6 and went to work, portaling everyone into one of his pocket dimensions after checking that they didn’t belong to the BEO. Some were Gaia goons, others were mercs, but now, all of them were one thing: missing in action.

Dante hadn’t expected things with Gaia to escalate this quickly. That went to show Ghost was starting to attract attention, which isn’t exactly strange considering his feats over the recent months. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like the BEO intended on sending someone to interrogate him. He had waited for Caroline to give him a call, but apparently she was far too busy for that.

’Well, let’s hope this simmers down soon...’

As he sat down to enjoy a drink, the club’s door opened, and a certain someone showed up.

"Hey, been a while!"

Staring at him for a moment, Dante raised an eyebrow.

"John Catalyst?"