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Eden nodded, and their strange little group walked behind more mafiosos, some visibly acting like their bodyguards, in a kind of shield formation ahead of them. In fact, it wasn’t a clear path once they had left the room, but the dozens of people who had gone before had cleared most of the way, and they only had to jump over the debris and avoid tripping over the remains of the Red Temple. Eden felt a little bit gutted that none of the beautiful garden from before was left. In fact, not only was what was real wiped out by the explosions and gathered in a pile of rubbish, but the projectors that maintained the illusions were out of service. In a faraway corner near the wall, only one little square remained, with the pretty grass perfectly layered and some stones next to a piece of the river. But the river had turned a mud red, and everything else around revealed the truth: dried-out soil and the scattered remains of the Japanese garden from before...
She looked back once, just to see the collapsed Red Temple , a single wall hanging on in a corner. Other than that, it was just a mountain of bricks, metal, wood, and bodies...
For a long while, as they ran away, they had to rush into the streets, stick their back against the walls of the Asian district, and watch cars pass. Or more like, drive in a completely chaotic manner until they crashed somewhere. She could hear Loir having a lot of fun jumping in control of one car, driving it until it went off the road and was completely wrecked, then hacking the next one... The Core would probably regret sending those cars for a hacker to literally toy with it in the middle of Chinatown, but she couldn’t have cared less right now. In fact, she was following Dante and his men’s lead without thinking much, listening for any sounds of gunshots that would have ended the truce. It felt like they had passed dozens and dozens of streets when they finally got to one of the Italian cars. Eden climbed in, just realizing then Dante had been holding her hand all along. His fingers were covered with blood, but he didn’t let go for a single second, and she could feel his large, warm hand enveloping hers. It was as if they were stuck together, and she didn’t think twice while squeezing herself next to him in the back seat, with Circé on the other side and Jack in front with Rolf.
Only when the car drove off did she let out a long sigh of relief, exhausted.
After everything that had happened, being able to simply drive off and watch the familiar streets of Chinatown fly past the window felt strangely unreal. Aside from Loir’s strident voice in her ear, the whole car was quiet, everyone exhausted, mentally and physically. Eden could feel the pain echoing in her ribs each time they drove over a pothole, but the vibrations of the car otherwise were just... strangely soothing.
Without thinking, she leaned her head against Dante’s shoulder, closing her eyes. She didn’t care anymore. She could feel his fingers still tightly clasped with hers, not moving at all. That’s all she needed until they could reach a safe place. Dante was her safe place for now. She had dozens of questions about why the Italians would have used the memory technology and everything, just not right now. For now, she just wanted to go back to that old building, leave the mess behind them, get stitched up, cleaned, and changed. Dante’s wound definitely needed medical attention, but he showed none of it as if it wasn’t on his body. His other hand was still on the gun, his golden eyes watching outside for a threat.
“Damn... I really liked those shoes,” sighed Jack.
After so much had happened, it was no surprise that Eden had fallen asleep without noticing. Still, she was a bit mad at herself once she woke up and slowly remembered the past day’s events. She sat up in a panic and realized where she was, alone and back in Dante’s bedroom. It was as if they had simply laid her there and left…
She looked around, and her eyes caught the sun going down through the windows. How much time had passed? She looked down, noticing she was wearing the same clothes, in a horrible state at that. There was blood on her flank, but she couldn’t remember having an open injury there, and after she checked, there was none indeed. Eden felt a sudden wave of panic rising inside, and her breathing accelerated. What had happened, and whose blood was it? She knew Dante was injured, badly.
Eden got up, a bit too fast as she began to see some black and white dots, but she didn’t care. She needed to know what had happened after she fell asleep.
“Loir?” she called out, suddenly remembering her SIN was still active.
“Good evening, our sleeping Kitty! Had a good nap?”
“Where’s Dante?” she asked right away.
“Oh, he’s in surgery right now. Your favorite Tiger is getting all patched up! It should be over in about... fifteen minutes?”
“How is he?” Eden asked, the bundle of worry growing in her stomach.
She rushed to the wardrobe, grabbing any shirt without thinking. It turned out to be a men’s white one, but she didn’t care much. She looked for some women’s underwear, which she found, brand new once again. Had Dante gathered this for her? She really didn’t want to think too deeply about this at the moment. Instead, she rushed to the bathroom, taking a quick shower while listening to Loir.
“Oh, he’s fine, he’s fine. Our sugar daddy is tougher than a few bullets and a few holes in his body! Plus, he’s got all the green kaching-kaching to get himself patched up in no time! If you had slept a bit more, I’m sure he would have brought you dinner in bed! And then you would have probably done something my innocent ears can’t listen to. Although I’d still listen, of course. You naughty little kitties...”
“Pervert...” grumbled Eden, washing the ashes off her hair.
The color of the water going down the drain was an alarming mix of red and brown, but she really didn’t want to spend more time than necessary on herself. She grimaced when the water went over her injuries, and carefully checked her bruises all over.
“What about everyone else? Jack, and Circé?”
“Oh, Jacquie is here with your puppies, and Circé is... here too. I mean, the old hag lady who shall not be named is presently standing behind me, very close to me, and literally staring at me. I swear, Kitty, I can feel her eyes on the back of my neck. Is that weird? Because it does feel weird. You know, like when you walk, and you can feel someone following you. Well, she’s not following me, but she is behind me. And staring hard. Staring a lot. ...Can you come and help me? Please? She’s scary. I am scared. Pretty please?”
Eden wasn’t surprised, nor would she blame the woman. She ignored his rant while trying to wash quickly. After all, Circé had no SIN now, and she had just found the ex-partner who had sold her out to the Core before vanishing, basically... Even if he claimed it was involuntarily, with Loir, one could never really be sure... He was too crazy and unpredictable to keep track of.
As soon as she was clean enough, Eden walked out of the shower, quickly putting on the new underwear and drying her hair. That shirt was definitely meant for Dante, and too long for her, but it went down to her mid-thigh, enough to cover her, she thought. After all, even though they looked like it, those legs weren’t real and nothing would change that, not even the fake skin camouflage . Eden didn’t bother looking for pants or shorts, and rushed to the corridor, her hair still half-wet on her shoulders, in search of Dante and the others. She could now tell exactly where to go, which elevator to take to go back down to Loir’s new lair. She met a few of Dante’s men on the way, but all of them carefully looked away as soon as they spotted her almost naked legs. Eden didn’t care and ignored them all the same.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, she rushed out, walking quickly with her bare feet on the white marble. Finally, Eden walked into Loir’s room, a frown on.
“Kitty!” exclaimed Loir, raising his hands in the air with a big smile.
“...You do know you don’t have any pants on, right?” said Circé, who was indeed standing behind him with her arms crossed.
Unlike her, the other hacker hadn’t taken the time to change or clean herself up. Perhaps because she was now clean herself, Eden noticed how bad Circé looked, with her hair in a complete mess, the dark soot all over her face, and her clothes ripped or stained.
“Eden!” exclaimed Jack’s voice from the other side.
He was seated at the edge of the area for Dive Hacking, both puppies quietly napping on his lap. He looked just as exhausted. Eden turned angry eyes toward Rolf. Dante’s second-in-command was standing next to the door, his expression as empty as usual. Unlike them, he had taken off his dirty coat, rolled up his sleeves, and looked fine, although there were still visible bloodstains on his arms, hands, and neck.
“They didn’t even get to shower or change?” she asked, a bit annoyed.
