Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 526: Heavenly Bliss. (Part Three)

A faint ripple spread over the surface of an auburn liquid filling a clear glass. Silence filled the room, defied only by the quiet melody of a recorded violin. The dimly lit bar was still for a very long second, and the few people scattered across it stared at the ceiling for a while. Their eyes then moved to the person closest to them, and after a few confused looks were exchanged, the merry mood quickly returned.

One man heaved a long sigh, then picked up his glass, a nervous smile on his face.

"I wonder what that was just now." He said. "Hope it’s not another one of them EIs fighting nearby."

"It came from below, right?" Asked the woman sitting next to him.

"Maybe? Well, it felt too far for that to be the case. Might be an earthquake for all we know."

He tried to calm his nerves, then quickly moved to change the topic. What the blonde beauty said made it difficult to ignore the likely truth. As a regular at the Heavenly Bliss, he knew exactly what happened in the basement of such a place. Adding to that, the rumors spreading around and the likelihood of an explosion happening right under them seemed hard to deny.

Right now, he wanted to leave as soon as possible. The problem was the blonde beauty he was trying to pick up tonight. He had noticed her assets the moment he entered, and he wasn’t about to give up on them now. He was going to score tonight, and that can’t happen if he made himself look like a wuss.

"Come to think of it," he said, a wild thought appearing in his mind. "Have you heard about the serial killer?"

His date paused, her glass touching those bright red lips of hers. Lowering it slowly, she turned to him, an alluring smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"A serial killer?" She asked. "You mean the one hunting in Red Hill?"

"Oh, so you have heard of him?" He asked.

"Yeah, but I don’t think it’s a him." She said.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Because all the victims were men." Leaving that thought to simmer in his head, she picked up her cup and took a small sip. "All of them were high-profile businessmen who liked to play a night. From time to time, they find a toy they like so much that they take it home without a second thought."

"O-oh..."

"Of course, they happened to choose the wrong one time." The blonde beauty said. "But that was all it took."

He couldn’t help but stare at her in shock, feeling a little unsettled. When he saw her turn to him with a teasing smile, he felt the tension drain from his body.

"Did I scare you?" She asked.

"Honesty, yeah," he heaved a sigh. "Usually, it’s the man who turns out to be the psychopath in such stories."

"Is that so?" Raising her cup, she took another sip before looking into his eyes. "You would still take me home, would you not?"

He stared at her for a long moment, then raised the corner of his mouth.

"I wouldn’t mind if you turned out to be the one."

Gracing him with a refined chuckle, she then held her glass up to him for a toast. Drinking some more, the gorgeous blonde stood up.

"Let me go and refresh first," she said. "We can head out afterward."

"Sure," he replied. "Take your time."

Seeing her disappear behind the door leading to the toilets, a grin began to spread over his face, distorting the skull tattoo taking over the left side of his face. Turning around, he held up his right hand to get the bartender’s attention.

"Get me another shot," he said before raising another finger. "Make it two. Gonna need that fuel for tonight."

Soon after, he would come to realize that he should have asked for another one, or maybe a whole bottle. The gorgeous blonde had gone to the bathroom just as she had said, but when she came out, she decided to take a detour through the staff area.

The earlier explosion came from a car that had been parked in one of the alleys flanking Heavenly Bliss. The explosion wasn’t big enough to do any damage, but it served as a distraction, drawing the attention of the goons guarding the establishment, and as a signal to the one who set it, informing her that the time had come to start her mission.

~[ ]~

Light began to fade, and the underground theater gradually returned to normal. One by one, the guests stood up. After an explosion that large, one would expect them to be in a rush to get out. Instead, they all turned to the stage.

Strangely enough, nothing seemed to have changed about it. There was heat, there was light, and the shot was certainly felt. Despite that, the stage was the same. If anything was different from before, it would be that the blood the hostess had spilled was now gone, and the ghost that had manifested was resting in the corner, entirely motionless, as if he were a corpse. The cloak draped over him was in tatters, and the armor under it looked like a piece of scrap.

"I have a really good source, so I know that this is far from enough to take you out." The hostess said. Despite her proximity to the explosion, she didn’t seem to have moved a single inch. "C’mon, hero slayer." She said. "Show us what you truly got."

As if to respond to her provocation, a sudden pressure fell on the theater. The guests felt it all at once, and each of them tensed up. James appeared beside the hostess, one hand on the floor as if preparing to lunge.

"Damn," he said. "Guess we really pissed him off."

"At least we now know he is a human." She said. "Be careful. I was told he could take on ten of you at the same time."

James glanced at her then clicked his tongue, turning to face their opponent. The infiltrator slowly stood, pieces of his armor falling and turning into particles of light. As he straightened up, the torn cloak disappeared, and the light spread to the rest of his armor, turning into white threads that shifted around like currents in a storm.

The storm soon calmed, and the light began to fade. The Ghost form was once again visible, but his destroyed armor was gone, replaced by one made from pure white.