Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 484: A Normal Life.

Less than twelve hours after Dante left the NVPD headquarters, the commissioner came to see him at the old Red Fist bar. His attitude had changed entirely compared to their first meeting, which signaled to Dante that his little gift had worked.

The Red Garden incident had been reported as just another terrorist attack with unknown motives, and the number of important people who died in it only helped cement that idea. Now, what would happen if it came out that those important people were preying on children barely the age of ten? What would people think of the supposed terrorist going after those people, and the heroes who tried to protect them?

Long story short, the other side agreed to all his demands. His involvement in the Daggers’ incident off the record, and no heroes will be deployed to spy on him. Of course, Dante wasn’t that much of an idiot that he would believe their promises. The conditions were nothing more than camouflage to hide his true intent, so he didn’t care if they broke them or not.

A little problem they faced right away was the payment for the Black Shield power suits. Due to the nature of Gold, no government-affiliated organization could gather such a large amount, which left them with no choice but to offer to pay him in another currency. Anticipating things to go that way, Viktor prepared an account in a well-respected Orvakian Bank, one that the Radmir Union would find impossible to reach.

No matter the currency, Dante was still going to get a fortune of 350 million Gold. The number would have shocked him unconscious back in the day, but considering that a quarter of that was going to Suzuka as payment for the MBIs, he could already see what remained following suit once she’s done with the rest of the set.

They agreed that the money would be transferred in a week, and only once that happens would he give them the power suits. Dante’s excitement died down when it was time to discuss the corpses.

To continue the act of his not having any say in what happened, Dante informed the commissioner that he had yet to get a reply on the matter. He planned on extending the matter after that by revealing that Red Bull was alive, buying them some more time.

The commissioner was obviously not happy, but Dante didn’t give a fuck before, and he was about to start now.

~[ ]~

Once he saw the commissioner off, Dante heaved a long sigh and went back inside. Once he made it to his office on the second floor, he found someone waiting for him there.

"When did you get here?"

"Just now," Finn replied. "Heard you some big shot was paying you a visit, so I waited in the next room."

"Is that so?"

Rummaging through his Storage, Dante took out a pillow and tossed it on the sofa. His body followed right after. He was tired—really tired. Though he was losing the ability to feel physical exhaustion, the mental kind was still going strong. He almost fell asleep when he remembered that someone else was with him in the room.

"Don’t tell me you came here for therapy." Danty sighed.

"Not really." Finn shook his head. He kept his silence for a while before asking a vague question. "I thought you would ask it by now."

"Ask what?"

"How it felt." The boy let his gaze fall to the floor. "Revenge."

"If you start getting philosophical with me, I will beat your face in," Dante replied.

Silence returned to the office.

"Just to be clear, I’m not doing this because it will make me feel good," Dante said. "I have a score to settle, and that’s what I’m going to do. How I feel about it doesn’t matter."

"Right..."

Finn went silent again, but the sandman had already left, and Dante no longer felt like sleeping.

"I... kinda feel lost right now..." Said the boy.

"Didn’t I just tell you not to get philosophical with me?"

"C’mon! The least you could do is listen!"

"You achieved your goal, and now you feel empty inside."

Finn opened his mouth to retort, but the words betrayed him.

"You’re twelve. Your life hasn’t even started." Dante said. "Just go back to school or something. Make friends, get a girlfriend."

Left speechless for a while, Finn sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"I turned fifteen last week, you know?"

"Well, happy birthday. Want me to hire you a prostitute or something?"

"Now you’re just making things weird." Finn frowned. "And why are you acting like this is over? We still have Black Skull to deal with, right?"

"Yeah..."

"How’s Rose doing, anyway?"

"Haven’t heard from her in a while," Dante said. "She isn’t replying to my texts."

"That’s... odd? Did you try asking her on a date or-"

"Enough about that." Cutting him off, Dante got up and walked to the fridge in the corner, taking out two beer cans. He tossed one to the boy, then popped the other one open.

Finn stared at the can in his hands for a couple of seconds, then looked up with a grimace.

"Should you really be giving this to me?"

"You blew your father’s brain. Quit being a pussy."

"So... about Black Skull..."

"I’m thinking of keeping the Dagger around," Dante said.

"... what?"

Not in a hurry to clarify himself, Dante took a few gulps from the cold one as he walked back to his seat.

"The plan was to kill their boss and rob them blind, but things have changed." He said. "You want something to do? Go be their new boss."

"... You kidding, right?" Finn asked.

"Jaguar has a bunch of kids beside you, but you’re the one who killed him. No one will challenge you." Taking a few more gulps, Dante placed the half-empty can on the coffee table. "Well, I say you’re gonna be their new boss, but Henry will be doing most of the work. You’ll just be a figurehead."

"Didn’t you think you should run this by me first before deciding?"

"That’s what I’m doing now. We can just let the whole thing collapse and have Henry rebuild from the start."

"Let’s go with that," Finn replied right away.

"... you sure?"

"The last thing I want is to be involved with those bastards."

"Suit yourself."

Dante finished his drink and lay down once more.

"Oh, right." He said, remembering something. "There is this game I have been working on-"

"Game?" Finn interrupted, his face switching from surprise to confusion. "I thought you hated games?"

"I will tell you the details later," Dante said. "Anyway, it’s almost done, so I was thinking of starting a company to sell it."

"Of all the ways you could have gone from here, this is the one I expected the least." Said Finn. "A game? Really?"

"Well, I’m thinking of doing cyber security, too," Dante said. "Either way, having a boy genius as the company’s face should get us some PR."

"I think the guy doing Kong-fu would be better for that."

"Keep it up, and I’m gonna Kong-fu your ass."

"Sorry."

The silence returned, and Dante found himself drifting away once more. He replayed his conversation with the boy, which brought him back to a point he keeps returning to every now and then.

His plans for the future weren’t as concrete as he believed them to be. He had immediate plans, but he found himself reluctant to make ones for the long term, mainly because the final battle might drop on his head at any moment. This should have been the case since the moment he got his hands on that relic, but he just had to go and accelerate things further.

"I was serious, by the way." He said, feeling like he wouldn’t be awake for long. "You should go to school, try to live a normal life. You can cut us off if that’s what it takes. I got them to wipe you off the records just for that."

Finn almost replied on reflex, yet he stopped himself at the last moment, closing his mouth as he gave the matter some more thought. The frown on his face kept getting deeper, showing how conflicted he was. He still didn’t seem to resolve it till the end.

"What kinda stupid ass question is that?"

His voice echoed in the office, and a few seconds later, Dante raised his head and looked at him.

"What did you say?"

"I piloted a giant mech just a couple of days ago," Finn said. "You think I can go live a normal life after that?"

Dante was lost for words.

"In the first place, there is no way I can live a normal life. I never had one to begin with."

"... you sure you don’t want to try it out?"

"Well, I might give Suzuka’s college a try. But don’t count me out just because of that." Wiping the frown from his face, the boy raised one corner of his mouth in a smirk. "I’m not letting you have fun all by yourself."

Dante gazed at him for a moment, then snorted, letting his head fall on the pillow.

"Suit yourself."

He had a smile on his face as he said those, but the next ones he heard wiped it away.

"It’s all your fault."

Jumping up, Dante whipped his head in the boy’s direction.

"Wh-what’s wrong?" Finn asked, looking a bit startled.

"... nothing..." Dante replied.

It took him a moment, but he soon realized that the voice he heard belonged to him. Falling back onto the sofa, he stared at the ceiling for a while, afraid to close his eyes. Eventually, he could no longer resist the pull, and his mind drifted away toward the dream world. He didn’t have any nightmares, nor did he have any dreams. He usually considered that to be a good thing, but just this one time, Dante wished he had found himself in that car instead.