Chapter 723: Another Time.

"Well, it still wasn’t enough."

Frustration ate at Wolf, and he felt like punching something. Even at such an important moment, he couldn’t overcome the hurdle blocking his path and stumbled back into a defeat that was starting to feel inevitable. As he gritted his teeth, the Cyberpunk’s easygoing voice reached him.

"Are you sure about that?"

Wolf’s canine ears twitched, and he raised his head to look at his opponent. The Cyberpunk was looking at his bionic arms, both of which had cracks running through their green plating. Though not entirely broken, it seemed like they had received quite a bit of damage.

This was the first time this had happened. Before, no matter how hard he hit him, Wolf had never succeeded in damaging those bionic limbs, but now...

"Damn, this is really pissing me off." heaving a sigh, the Cyberpunk. "Alright, we will count it as your win."

"Wha..."

Words caught in the hero’s throat, and he could only stare jaw-slacked.

"What’s gotten into you all of a sudden?" The red head clicked his tongue. "Creepy freak."

"Wha- Hey! There was no need for that!" Wolf shot back.

"I have about a couple dozen slurs saved just for you. Do you want me to use something different?"

It felt a bit off to give away the win only to turn around and act all pissed about it. Wolf guessed that the damage he dealt to those bionic arms was the likely cause. He remembered the Cyberpunk say they were custom made, meaning they couldn’t easily be replaced.

"Stop gawking and ask your damn question already." He said."I need to send these in for repair."

"R-right..."

This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for. A single question, and an honest answer. Having ended up on his back just like every other time they had sparred, he had thought that his chance was lost forever. Never did he expect that it was till within his grasp.

Recalling the question that had been on his mind, he felt ready to ask it, and so he opened his mouth. Strangely enough, the words refused to form, and once again he was left with his mouth open. A few seconds later, he cast his gaze down.

"You know what, let’s leave it for another time."

"You... got to be kidding me..." The frown on the Cyberpunk’s face got deeper all of a sudden.

"What? I don’t have anything I want to know now." Wolf replied.

"I do!" Having walked into the cage just then, Merry raised a hand in the air. "What’s your birthday!?"

Bella was also there, and she quickly rushed to her boss’s side, looking worried. Glancing at her for a second, the Cyberpunk then turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"That’s it?"

Wolf almost replied on instinct, but he managed to hold it at the last moment.

"That’s her question, no mine!"

That was close. He was almost tricked into wasting his opportunity, and going by what the way the red haired demon clicked his tongue, it was cleat that that’s exactly what he had been aiming for.

"Well, if you aren’t going to ask anything." Sounding more than a bit annoying, he started walking toward the exit. "I’ll get going now."

"Hey, what about my question!?" Merry called.

"July the fifth."

Wolf just sat there and watched him go. He thought his orange haired teammate would follow after him, but she just stood there, hands behind her back as she looked in the same direction.

"So, what was that about?" She asked.

"What?"

"You had something you wanted to ask him, didn’t you?"

"I..."

There was more than one reason for why he held back, her presence being one of them. Still, if he had to be honest...

"I’m not strong enough..."

What if he asked him and it turns out that he truly had done it? What would they do then? He couldn’t defeat him in a sparring match, so would he be able to win in a serious fight?

"And here I was thinking you were going to ask him how he feels about you."

Merry’s comment was like a hammer that shattered the solemn mood guiding his thought. To this day, he still didn’t understand why people thought he was into other men.

"What about you?" Tired of fighting the allegations, Wolf had gotten into the habbit of just ignoring them. "When are you going to tell him?"

He expected her to blush and get all embarrassed, but instead, Merry turned to him with a smug grin.

"The date has already been set."

Wolf stared at her for a moment before his eyebrows shot up.

"Don’t tell me... his birthday?"

"That’s right!" With both hands on her hips, she suddenly beamed, her light illuminating some of the audience stands. "I will prepare such a wonderful gift that he wouldn’t be able to resist falling for me!"

Once again, Wolf found himself speechless, and he was starting to regret keeping her in the dark. To this day, it still baffles him that she had feelings for a villain. They had all thought she would lose interest in him once she got to see his other side, but from the looks of it, that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

"Still..." Thinking for a moment, Wolf frowned as he looked up at his glowing teammate. "You only have one week left. Are you sure that’s enough time?"

This time, it was his turn to use the metaphorical hammer to shatter her mood.

~[ ]~

"Mind closing the door for me?"

Arriving at his office, walked over to his desk. As soon as he heard the click of the lock, he gave the command to change 4-3’s module with 5-3’s. When he sat down, he noticed Bella staring at him with wide eyes, causing him to look down at the sharp plating of his now black arm. After a moment of thought, he decided there was no point in explaining it to her. Knowing about Storage would likely push her into a satisfying explanation.

"I just wanted to get away from them." He said with a shrug. "They can get annoying sometimes."

"That... certainly is the case." Bella said.

The fight almost took a drastic turn near the end. Before he dealt the final blow, Dante got a warning from Volcan that the furry freak was harnessing the Aether in both the atmosphere and inside his body. That was what granted him that sudden boost in strength and durability, but thankfully, it didn’t seem like he could control it.

’He’s going to be a threat in the future...’ Dante thought. ’Maybe I should just take him out of the picture and get it over with...’

"Boss..."

Pulled out of his thoughts, Dante looked up at his raven haired subordinate. He saw the hesitation in her eyes as she looked down, and as he silence lingered longer than it should have, she finally seemed to gather the courage to speak her mind.

"I’ve been wonder... why do you keep them around?" She asked. "Their presence poses far too great a danger, not just for the gang, but..."

She does have a point. He had already messed up far too many times, and with a bunch of heroes hanging around all the time, access to several of his abilities was cut. With a mental command, Dante brought up the feed from the clubs security cameras. He saw Merry dragging the werewolf away as he attempted to tell Carlos something. The two were soon out of the building, and he heaved a sigh, relieved that he no longer has to worry about that mutt accidentally hearing him.

"I need them for a few things, that’s all." Dante said. "Once I’m done, we would no longer have to worry about them."

The disgust Dante felt toward the pair was growing exponentially by the day. Even Merry whom he had a soft spot for was starting to get on his nerves, and it looked like he wouldn’t be able to ignore the fact that she was one of those freaks for long.

"I... I see..."

For some reason, Bella seemed to brighten a little after hearing his answer. He was aware that she didn’t like Merry that much, despite the latter being friendlier than most. Hearing that he would soon cut ties with her must have been quite the good news.

Just as he was about to close the screens with the camera feed, Dante saw someone walk up the stairs to the second floor. Though familiar, she wasn’t someone he had expected to visit him in his office.

Bella opened the door after hearing a knock, and the visitor came in. The troubled look on her face was one Dante has never seen before.

"Did something happen, Lissa?"

The dark-skinned bartender opened her mouth to speak, but then she fell silent. The topic clearly wasn’t the kind to take lightly.

"It’s... it’s about Ross..." She said. "The police came this morning and... they took him..."