The Devilish Assassin Meets The Angelic Detective

"The Supremo of the Skull Gang, he is on the other line right now! He wanted to talk to you and negotiate!" Alfonso informed the Dark Lord as he raised his phone in his hand.

Black Shadow who was preparing to accept his death and waiting for the bullet to pierce his head was astounded after hearing the words "Supremo of the Skull Gang".

He thought this would be the end for him but suddenly Alfonso received a call coming from James. Black Shadow had mixed emotions right now. He had no hopes and he didn't expect that James would try to make a move.

'Did James call them in order to save my life?' Black Shadow pondered at that thought.

After he recovered from that shock, Black Shadow gazed up to see Kelsy's face. He wanted to tell her, 'See, I'm important to them. I'm not just a sacrificial piece to them. They value me as their friend and comrade.'

He wanted to brag that at Kelsy but he needed to make sure first that this negotiation was related to him. Soon, Alfonso gave the phone to the Dark Lord but he just told him to put the phone on speaker so that everyone could hear it.

"Dark Lord, I know you are listening. I have a proposal for you. Hear me out," James said from the other line. His voice was very serious.

Unknown to them, James also put the phone on speaker. Elle was with him right now together with Spike and Brother Yu. They were able to contact Alfonso through Edson Tyler. He was the one who gave them Alfonso's phone number.

The Dark Lord signaled Alfonso to answer him. Alfonso complied with the Dark Lord's order.

"Go ahead and tell us," Alfonso said, waiting for their response. Both Kelsy and Black Shadow were anticipating what the Supremo was about to say.

"It's about the bio-weapons we stole from you. If you want to get it back then return Black Shadow to us unscathed." James emphasized every word.

Everyone in the room including the Dark Lord was stupefied after hearing his demand.

"What do you mean? Are you serious? Are you planning to return the bioweapons in exchange for his life?" Alfonso asked again with disbelief.

"Yes! Definitely! You heard me, right? I'm damn serious."

Black Shadow still felt like he was dreaming. James was willing to return the bio-weapon just to save his life. He knew how important these bio-weapons were for the Skull Gang. 

They would use it to inform the government about these hidden facilities. Then they would encourage the government to take action and catch the Dark Knights, putting them in prison. It would be the start of the Dark Knight's downfall.

This bio-weapon would be their secret weapon to destroy the Dark Knight Organization but they chose to save him and use bio-weapons in exchange for his life, instead of going according to their plan.

"See, I told you! They won't forget me. They will try to save me. You lose, Kelsy," Black Shadow said with a triumphant smile on his face. He just proved her wrong. The Skull Gang cared for him.

She really appreciated James's initiative and willingness to do this. He felt touched by his action. Little did he know that Elle was the one who thought about this idea because she was worried for Black Shadow.

"Do you think we will trust you because you say so? What if you are just deceiving us. How sure are we that we can get the exact amount and number of bio-weapons you stole from us? We don't trust you," Alfonso complained to him.

After saying that, James told them the total number of supplies of bio-weapons in their hands. They made the inventory this morning.

Upon receiving the total numbers of supplies, Alfonso and the Dark Lord were convinced because that number was equivalent to the number of remaining supplies for their last inventory after they pulled out the numbers of orders made by the Red Dragon.

"Why are you doing this? Is his life that valuable to your organization more than the bio-weapons?" Alfonso was still in doubt.

"Because he is one of my comrades. Okay, if you don't want to believe and if you did something to hurt Black Shadow then we had no choice but to bring this proof to the government so that they will take action against you," James was revealing to them their true plan to frighten the Dark Lord as well as Alfonso and others.

Black Shadow was taken aback once again. They just revealed their plan to the Dark Knight. He did that for them to convince the dark Lord to accept the EXCHANGE.

Meanwhile, the Dark Lord was pissed off after hearing that. He knew the consequences they would be facing once the government found out about their bioweapons facilities.

This was the last thing they wanted to happen. As much as possible, they didn't want the government to be involved with this. The current administration was not under the power of the Dark Knight.

They would surely take measures to stop the Dark Knight. Bio-weapon was taboo in this country. They could tolerate and ignored the minor cases like the use of illegal firearms but not the operations of Bio-weapon's facility.

The government would ask the help and assistant from the INTERPOL. This one would give them another hassle and disadvantage to their side, especially now that they were still having an on-going war with the Skull Gang. 

To retrieve the stolen bio-weapons was more important than killing one member of their enemy.

The Dark Lord finally spoke up. "I don't trust you. I want assurance that you will not play a trick on us and backstab us at the end of this negotiation. You might have already prepared the evidence and are about to send it to the Palace."

"I will do that if and only if you hurt Black Shadow. You need to bring him to us alive and unscathed. I give you my words. You will get all these bio-weapons including the ones we stole from Red Dragon. Just bring back my comrade!"

"If you don't want to cooperate then we have no choice, the government will learn about your operation. We don't want to sacrifice his life but remember, you are the one who refuses to cooperate." James threatened the Dark Lord once again.

There was a moment of silence. The Dark Lord was still contemplating this. He was thinking about the pros and cons. Then he finally made up his mind.

"Alright. I will accept your proposal. When and where are we going to do the exchange?" The Dark Lord asked James.

"As soon as possible. You decide when and where." James let him decide to reassure him that they won't try to do anything against them. They just wanted Black Shadow's life.

The Dark Lord smirked after hearing that. It looked like the Supremo was not bluffing. He was really determined to get his comrade back. He couldn't understand why they were doing this. They could have sacrificed him already for their benefits but they didn't do it.