“The boss didn’t give any orders.”
Eden couldn’t help but roll her eyes in exasperation. Of course, Dante wouldn’t have cared about Jack or Circé. Still, Rolf’s completely neutral tone was annoying. At times, he was so much like an android, it was scary. It was as if the building could explode, and Rolf would still wait right there until Dante gave him the order to leave... just like a perfectly trained dog. About half a dozen Italians, including George, were in the room, but Eden paid them no attention. Instead, she kept staring at Rolf, crossing her arms.
“Can you please give them a place to change or something?” she insisted.
“Sure.”
She hadn’t expected such an easy answer. Yet, Rolf did give orders right away for two of the men to prepare a guest room for Circé and Jack to have a place to shower and change into something else. She was in shock.
“Didn’t you say Dante didn’t tell you anything?” she asked, baffled.
“He said to do what you want.”
Eden was rendered speechless once again. So Dante had put all his men at her service... which she didn’t know how to feel about. Instead, Eden shook her head, trying to chase those thoughts away, and brushed her hair back.
“Fine, whatever. ...Where is he?”
Rolf pointed to one of the doors at the end of the room. Eden had never noticed that door before, but she followed him as he walked there, crossing paths with Jack.
“Hun...” he whispered, visibly a bit nervous.
“Just go, don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll see you later.”
“Okay...”
Jack was still holding the pups in his arms and tight against his chest, almost as if they were comfort plushies. Neither Beer nor Bullet even bothered to wake up, sleeping soundly in Jack’s sturdy embrace. Eden pet the two of them quickly before she walked away to follow Rolf. Seeing the two puppies sleeping was a strange reminder of how her brutal world could also be peaceful. She couldn’t help but envy them a little...
While Circé and Jack were escorted out on the other side of the room, Rolf entered a code on a panel to open the door, not hiding it at all from Eden. She really did have access to everything here. The door opened to a not so different room. Except, there was no one controlling the machines in this one, and instead of a Dive Hacking area, a large table was there, with Dante laying on it.
“Dante,” she gasped, immediately rushing to it.
Eden had never seen a surgery monitor before. There was a robot on top of Dante, moving its several arms over his body, making all sorts of noise and moving quickly. She approached, a bit taken back by the strange machine, but it was clearly healing Dante. One arm was quickly stitching up a cut on the side, another was spraying something that smelled like disinfectant, two others were like small tongs removing little pieces of metal or glass from an open injury. There was one arm for everything, all of them linked to a bigger machine on the other side of that strange bed. It looked like a giant metallic spider moving on top of him. Eden could see his heartbeat and several numbers on the monitors, which finally allowed her to calm down a little. He was obviously fine, and in fact, almost done. She let out a little sigh and stood close. There were already scars all over, but one of the arms was trying to erase them with some sort of skin-colored tattoo thing. It was a good enough illusion for anyone that would have been a bit further away, but from where she stood, Eden could clearly see all the irregularities, bumps, and dents the machine couldn’t erase. She had already felt most of them under her fingers when she caressed his torso, but under the bright light of the surgery machine, it was even more obvious.
Dante seemed almost asleep, with his eyes closed and his heavy breathing. Yet, as soon as she got close, he grabbed her hand gently without hesitation. Eden didn’t push him away, her eyes only going down to their locked fingers. She let out a little sigh, and sat next to him on that table, against his hips.
“...Leave us.”
Rolf nodded and walked away, closing the door behind him.
For a few long minutes, neither of them said anything. Eden watched the surgery machine work, not disgusted at all by his open injuries or the blood pumping in and out. Her own heartbeat quickly adjusted to the one on the monitor. She lifted her knee so she could rest her cheek on it, the other one still hanging down. She was still a bit tired but feeling a lot better now.
“How are you?” he asked softly.
His thumb was now caressing her other hand gently, while Eden had stuck the other one between her cheek and her knee.
“Better than you,” she sighed. “...Did you know? About the memory tech?”
“No.”
She didn’t question his answer. Dante didn’t look surprised when they found those documents, but she knew he could hardly be surprised by anything. Instead, she let out a faint sigh, her eyes on the spot between his eyebrows. She could remember his injury, and the headaches he chronically suffered from too... In fact, she was afraid to ask. Memory manipulation was taboo, even for experienced hackers. It violated several laws, natural and federal ones, not even talking about the most basic human rights... Eden let out another sigh, a bit tired. Why did she only feel calm now, by holding his hand and being with him? She hated how she had grown used to Dante, somewhat needy even. Yet, he wouldn’t let go of her hand at all, even if he laid completely still. Several minutes passed like that, in complete silence, only rhythmed by the slow beeping of machines at work.
“What happened after that?”
“We split the weapons as agreed. The Core bombed the place again after we left.”
“Damn savages...”
“That woman said they were probably after you.”
