"Hey… you're gonna crush my arm…"
Try as he might, Dante couldn't pull his arm out of Liliana's grasp. He almost dislocated his shoulder in one attempt. The girl kept glaring at him, and though her face was flushed red, the determination in her eyes refused to waver.
"I'm not going to let you go until you tell me!" She hissed.
"Tell you what!!?" Dante shot back. "What makes you think I know anything?"
"My intuition! And you have been acting suspiciously since this morning!"
By now the sun was already down and the stars came out to play. For Dante, the day had been far more stressful than he had anticipated. Having wandered the streets of Factory Town since noon, and adding to that the fight against the Enhanced Jason, Dante was exhausted. The strain from wearing Type 3-2 contributed to that as well.
Dante never wanted to deal with the rich wannabe hero in the first place. Because of that, his anger kept rising at an alarming rate.
[Dante.] Volcan's voice was like cold water spilled on a searing stone. [Someone is spying on you from around the corner.]
Though he heard the AI, Dante didn't show any reaction on the outside.
'... Are you sure?'
[Yes. I deduced that, since you sought a secluded area for your conversation with Liliana Eisenberg, you wished for no one to hear you. For that reason, I have been monitoring the area to ensure you have privacy.]
A new screen popped up on Dante's OAM. It displayed the feed from a camera that faced the alleyway they stood in. Going by the distance and the angle, one could guess that the device wasn't meant to monitor outside traffic.
[There are no surveillance cameras on this street.] Volcan explained. [I had to access the security system of a nearby building.]
It didn't matter how he got the footage—what's important is that he caught someone peeking at them from around the corner. Dante had to fight the urge to look behind him as he considered how he should react. After a moment of thought, he looked down at the red-haired girl.
'Could it be… is he after her?'
That sounded more plausible.
"I will never let you go." Said the girl as she tightened her grip on him.
All of a sudden, Dante's exhaustion doubled.
"You know this looks really weird, right?" He said. "Clinging to a man you just met like that."
"Of course I know!" Liliana shot back. "I'm dying from embarrassment right now!"
"Then how about you let go of me?"
"No! Not until-"
The words got caught in her throat as Dante leaned toward her without a warning, bringing his face extremely close to hers.
"Someone is listening." He whispered in her ear. "Be careful with what you say."
The startled Liliana remained frozen long after he backed away. When she snapped out of it, she tried to look around for the eavesdropper. Dante stood in her way and pierced her with a stern gaze, which helped her realize the mistake she was making.
'How long was he there?' Dante asked internally.
[He arrived approximately forty-six seconds ago.] Volcan replied. [It is doubtful that he heard your conversation, but I can't be sure.]
If the stalker had been following them from the start then he should have arrived much earlier than that. The only explanation would be that he has something that allows him to track others, and since he came close instead of keeping his distance, it is unlikely that he has a way to listen in on them from afar.
"Well? What do you want to do?" Liliana asked.
Even now she still refused to let go of his arm. Dante frowned in response. All he wanted was to ditch the girl and get out of there. Nevertheless, with how persistent she proved to be, he had a hunch that he wouldn't be able to get rid of her any time soon.
"Listen, I'm still busy with something right now." He said. "You head to the station first. I will catch up with you once I'm done."
Furrowing her brows, Liliana gave him a doubtful look.
"And you expect me to believe that?"
"I have a feeling we would still run into each other even if I moved to the other side of the word.." he gestured with his eyes to the side. "You can cling to me all you want after that."
For a moment, Dante considered exchanging contact info with her, but that would've added a lot more complications. The last thing he wanted was to give a hero something they could track him with.
Liliana remained doubtful, but after a few seconds, she nodded and slowly released her hold on his arm. Rotating it to check if anything was broken, Dante heaved a long sigh.
'Now, what should I do...'
Not knowing how much the stalker had heard made it difficult to come up with a more concrete plan. Depending on whether he got the part about the girl being a hero or not, the approach they would have to take could change entirely.
"I… I will wait at the station…" Liliana said. "You better not run away."
"Yeah yeah, just go already."
Reluctant as she was, the girl walked away with slow steps. She kept glancing over her shoulders as if afraid he would disappear. Shaking his head, Dante turned to walk in the opposite direction.
[The spy has retreated a short distance. He is hiding behind a nearby vehicle.] Volcan noted.
'Are you able to get into his NIM?' Dante asked. 'See if you can find anything useful?'
[Normally that would require you to be in close proximity to the target, but thankfully I have already hijacked the signal from his NIM and established a connection through the internet. I will tell you if I find anything.]
Once again, Volcan continues to show how impressive his abilities are. Armors aside, an AI that's capable of this much hacking puts him on the same playing field as some of the most skilled Divers. With someone like that on his team, Dante was sure that a lot of his future jobs wouldn't be much of a challenge.
Just as he turned the corner on the other side, Dante heard the AI's strangely human voice again.
[I was able to extract some text logs. Apparently, he has been following Liliana Eisenberg for hours on the orders of someone registered as Caligo.]