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She covered his mouth before he could really shout. Unlike her friend, all of Dante’s men were extremely calm and composed. Perhaps they were used to receiving such orders because none of them seemed surprised. At best, a couple of them glanced toward the strange quartet very discreetly.
While Rolf began explaining what information they had on the Snake so far, Eden was only half-listening. She already knew all of this, but she was more curious to know if Dante would actually go along with her idea rather than his. Rolf’s explanation wasn’t anything they wouldn’t have been able to figure out themselves, either. The Tiger’s and the Snake’s territories were far enough from each other that the two didn’t have much to fight over usually; however, tonight, it was more about gaining an advantage to get to the Dragon...
“...Is this about your money issue?” whispered Jack, leaning toward her.
Eden glared back. She didn’t want Jack to start speaking now. He was the only one there who knew what her issues were truly about, and she hoped he would realize they were probably not in a safe enough place to talk. Who knew which of Dante’s men could hear them, or where they had put secret mics and the likes...
“This isn’t about money,” she whispered, a bit annoyed.
“Wait, you’re sleeping with him and not getting anything?” scoffed Rose. “Wow, I thought he was an idiot with poor taste, but now I think I might have mistaken who the real idiot was...”
Eden rolled her eyes. Did those two ever keep their tongues properly tied... Eden tried to reassure herself, affirming that she hadn’t asked Dante for money because she didn’t want to owe him anything, but... she knew this would have been nothing but lies. She still needed that money, desperately. The reason she hadn’t asked was that she had actually managed to forget about it for the last couple of crazy days they had just spent together...
“...What are ya really here for then, Eden?” whispered Jack.
Eden stared daggers back, annoyed. Couldn’t he at least wait until Dante and his men weren’t here to ask? Jack was legitimately lost about her current situation, but a little discretion would have been great... Eden still considered herself to be in a very awkward position, and having three of her friends within Dante’s reach wasn’t helping at all. She was almost certain he wouldn’t do anything to them, but she was also sure he would use them against her without any hesitation if he felt the need to.
She stared at his men, and their attitudes contrasted with the aloof, composed Dante. Eden was no child; she had enough experience to tell when men were actually intimidated. All the Italians lined up there were not just playing mafia; they were genuinely lowering their heads out of fear or respect for their boss. Dante could pretend with her, but she knew his men’s attitudes were a dead giveaway about his true nature. Regardless of their newfound closeness, she didn’t want to be hung out to dry.
While listening to Rolf exposing the known details about the Snake’s residence, its defenses, and their forces, she stared at Dante. She usually avoided his gaze, but now she could watch him from afar. She was aware of Jack sending her worried glances, but Eden ignored him and focused on one of her rare opportunities to watch the Tiger instead... It was strange how she could feel the boss of the Italian Mafia, even as they were standing apart like this; he had a deeper connection to her than anyone else in the room. Eden couldn’t describe it, but she felt like she had to constantly resist a magnetic force that pulled her toward him. She took a deep breath and forced herself to look elsewhere, pretending to be interested in Bullet as the pup was playing with Loir’s fingers at her feet. The hacker was strangely crouched down at the edge of his seat while making weird noises and faces to excite the baby dog, his long black painted nails serving as bait.
“Cute little puppy... Chew-chew and nib-nib... That’s right... Catchy! Catchy!”
“Loir, what do you think about attacking the Snake?” she asked him in a low voice.
“We’re attacking the Snake?” he asked as if he had only understood now. “Oh my, does that mean we’re having dim sum for dinner?”
“Dim sum is Chinese,” she sighed.
“Are you sure? …I think she’s lying to have it all for herself,” he whispered to the pup.
“...What do you think about Yasumoto?”
“He’s stingy with money, very whiny, and he doesn’t like kitties... He has a big ego too. Huuuuuge ego. Probably his Slytherin side… Do you think it’s because he’s got a tiny snakey, Bullet-chan?”
Eden frowned. Indeed, she didn’t have one good memory from the times she had worked for the Japanese Yakuza. She knew she had only survived her two missions because she had done exactly what he had asked of Ghost, and gotten out of there before he could ask for more or kill her. However, Loir had declined the missions when he could, and there was probably a good reason for that.
Suddenly, a silence fell upon the room as Rolf had just finished exposing the bits of information they had. Dante turned his head toward Eden.
“You had a plan?” he said with a faint smile.
Immediately, all eyes went to her, and Eden sighed. She nodded and stepped forward, putting the pup down.
“Loir, show us a map of his residence.”
“Right away, Kitty Boss!”
Eden crossed her arms and Loir immediately activated the Apple gifted by Pan. Several men in the room couldn’t contain their awe and made sounds of surprise. Eden heard Jack gasp behind her, but she didn’t have time to explain. Loir quickly zoomed in on the large residence, showing how incredibly precise the Map was in its three-dimensional representation of the area.
“This is the Snake’s main residence, called the Red Temple. The Yakuza bought this land after the Second American Civil War bombs had destroyed it, as Rolf explained, and built their headquarters there, after settling the Japanese into most of the neighborhood. A few decades ago, there were only a few families, but many fled from the South Confederation to come here, making the Japanese population of Chicago almost as big as the Vietnamese one. However, they are not all fond of the Snake. The current leader, Yasumoto, drifted away from the core principles observed by the previous Yakuza heads and is not much different from a bandit playing around with his swords. Not only does he reign by fear over his people, he has actually been selling weapons to the Core, and made his clan rich this way.”
“Wait, this bastard actually works with the Core?” repeated George, surprised.
“Exactly. He had me work for him once, as a hacker; that’s when my partner and I got a look at those transactions. Under the Temple, the previous Japanese leaders, wanting to learn from the bombs, built several underground bunkers, now mainly used to manufacture weapons. Yasumoto buys plastic waste and metal from the outside or the local recycling centers, transforms them, and sells the weapons to the Chicago Core at a high price.”
Dante smiled. This partially explained why Eden had eventually agreed to attack another Zodiac. She knew that if they could beat the Snake, they would also be inflicting a major blow to the Core, destroying one of their weapon providers.
Eden stepped closer to the Map, showing the gardens around the main building.
