Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 505: Ring a Bell.

"... I think you are misunderstanding something here," Dante said. "First of all, I don't care what you or your client believes. And second," Fixing the lawyer with a glare, he added. "This isn't Riot you're dealing with, and neither is it Red Rage."

The lawyer was silent for a moment.

"I understand that you are undergoing some changes, but-"

"No, I don't think you understand." Dante cut him off. "Red Rage is gone. You know, the organization you made made whatever deal you made with? Gone. This here is not Red Rage. We have no deals. There are no agreements between us."

"... So, let me get this right," The lawyer put down his briefcase and went about adjusting his necktie. "You defeated Red Rage, took all of their assets, members, and control over their… territory, but none of their obligations?"

"Oh, so you get it after all." Dante scoffed. "Honestly, I don't know what you were hoping to achieve by coming here. Did you seriously think people would listen to you just because you had a deal with the big bastard?"

"No, that is not the case." The lawyer said. "We were under the impression that Red Rage was undergoing a rebranding, that is all."

"Well, you are wrong."

"In that case, we will discuss the matter of Mr. Moreno's debt with him at a later time. Though I imagine you will hear about it soon enough, considering he is currently a subordinate of yours."

"If you have the papers, then you can go ahead and sue him or something," Dante said. "Though I doubt you're foolish enough to ink down a deal with criminals."

Despite everything he said, Dante was well aware that this wasn't that kind of problem. Riot took money in exchange for the promise of causing trouble and lowering the property value. There were no written agreements, so it wasn't like anyone could come after him through the legal route, but that's not how these things are handled.

Simply put, if Riot fails to do his job, the lawyer and his client would simply pull their funds and back his rivals. They might even hire someone else to take him out, and since Dante knocked Riot out and took his place, they were trying to see if he would cooperate, or if they needed to get rid of him.

"Now, Mr. Sokolov," The lawyer said. "Since you seem to have a good understanding of the situation, may we discuss a new agreement?"

"Didn't I just say I don't want to work with you?"

"Indeed, but I believe you only said as much because you have yet to hear our offer."

"Yeah, I doubt you have anything that might catch my attention."

"What if we offer to cover all your expenses?"

"Already got that taken care of," Dante replied.

"We can offer weapons and enhancements impossible to acquire through normal channels."

"Unless you can get me how Eidolon creates their freaks, you have nothing to brag about."

"You really are a tough customer," The lawyer said, and his annoying smile returned. "Then, that leaves us only one card to play."

Everything from his tone to the expression on his face was the same as before, yet something about it was causing Dante to raise his guard. The lawyer took his sweet time to speak, as if to let the tension build. When he finally spoke, his words came out like sparks falling into a tank of oil.

"Wilhelm Cipher Alistair," He said. "Does that name ring a bell?"

The tension in the room ignited, and the pressure exploded, turning into an indescribable weight that expanded outward, falling onto everything that could breathe in the area. Everyone felt it at once, but none were as affected as the lawyer.

Martin Maxwel was just any lawyer. As someone successful enough to represent some of the wealthiest groups in the world, he had met his fair share of powerful people—individuals who had the world in their grasp, capable of ending countless lives with the press of a button. He had been on their good side, and he had been on their bad side. That's what he thought until now, at the very least.

As darkness enveloped his world, the realization hit him: he was a nobody—an insect whose existence was never relevant to anything he had ever done, like a cog one ever pays attention to so long as it does its job properly. In his twenty years of playing that role, this might be the first time his existence had been acknowledged, and as the breath caught in his throat, he wished that it had never happened.

As he stood in a world filled with nothing but darkness, Martin looked up, and his heart almost stopped as his eyes locked with a giant pair of clear blue Irises.

"Leave."

A faint yet loud voice pierced his ears, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting on the floor. The darkness disappeared, and he was back in the small office. His head whipped left and right as he tried to make sense of his surroundings, but his gaze inevitably fell on Dante, who was looking down at him from his place on the sofa.

"I said," his eyes narrowed. "Leave."

The lawyer jerked up, and as the horror he had just felt returned to him, he grabbed his briefcase and ran for it. On his way, he tripped once, then slammed into the wall, struggled with the door handle, then tripped once more, slamming face-first into someone before running away.

Dante watched him go in silence, then turned his attention to the other person standing at the door.

"Was that Marten?"

The man was so large that he had to bend down and slide sideways to fit through the door. His head was entirely shaved, and his clothes looked like they were one flex away from being ripped.

"Man, that guy doesn't know when to shut up," He said. "What did he do to piss you off that much?"

Dante stared at him for a moment, then clicked his tongue.

"And here I thought you ran away."

"Run away? Why would I do that?" Walking over, the wall of muscles plopped down on the other sofa. Resting his arms on the back, Riot gazed at Dante, then let a grin split his face. "I didn't have that much fun in a long time."