Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 534: PinChapter

Dante heaved a long sigh. He had teleported to Hollowstreet a couple of minutes ago and located Rose’s location. She was currently with the children Volcan had saved, gathered inside one of the empty apartments. Only five hours had passed since the incident at Heavenly Bliss, so it couldn’t have been that hard on them. Nevertheless, there was no avoiding the fear of being left in a post-apocalyptic land.

Though he already come this far, Dante didn’t really know what to do next. Casually approaching someone in his pocket dimension felt a bit surreal, and he wasn’t looking forward to explaining what the place was and how they got there, as well as his relation to Ghost. He also didn’t want to explain what happened to his eyes.

Time passed, and his feelings on the matter didn’t change. It didn’t look like they were going to change any time soon, so he forced himself to swallow his hesitation and went down.

When he showed up at the door, one of the little girls was the first to notice him, and the terrified scream she let out startled the others. The next instant, a blonde woman appeared at the door, standing protectively in front of the others as she whipped out a pistol. An instant later, her eyes went wide with recognition.

"... Dante?"

Silence fell between them, and for a moment, all they did was stare at each other. Well, Dante’s eyes were closed the entire time, so one couldn’t really say he was staring. The corners of his mouth fell after a while, and he tilted his head a little.

"Are you really Rose?"

His question seemed to snap her out of her daze, but her response didn’t come right away.

"Can’t you tell?" She heaved a sigh, visibly relaxing.

"Well, the Rose I know isn’t blond," Dante replied. "And she usually jumps at me whenever-"

His words halted as he was suddenly enveloped in a tight embrace. It was a familiar sensation, but also different. Stunned for a moment, Dante felt a smile form on his lips as he returned the hug.

~[ ]~

After introducing himself to the girls and explaining what’s happening, Dante took Rose outside so they could discuss things. Though he had a lot to say, words seemed to leave his mind when the time came. The two just sat in silence for a while, and as he was busy looking for the right words, Rose decided to take the initiative.

"What happened to your eyes?"

Dante turned to face her, his eyebrows raised. His eyes didn’t open, though, so he was left looking like a blind person.

"Oh, my eyes? Well, I kinda messed up and turned them into mush."

"Why... why are you talking as if it’s not a big deal?"

"I planned on replacing them anyway," Dante shrugged.

"Replacing them..." Rose looked down at his hands. "I... heard that you had a few more upgrades since we last met."

"What about you?" Dante asked. "Did you give in and get some cosmetic surgery?"

Hair color wasn’t the only thing that had changed about his friend. She looked like an entirely different person, with facial features unlike what he was used to."

"I needed a new face, that’s all," Rose replied.

"I see..."

"Really?" She let out a chuckle. "Even without your eyes?"

"Even without my eyes." Dante sighed wistfully. "A lot had happened in the month since we last talked."

"I can tell," Glancing at him, Rose smirked. "So, how come you’re the leader of a gang now?"

"Didn’t really plan it. The chance showed itself and... well, I thought it might come in handy."

"Is that so?" Casting her gaze down, she kept her silence for a few seconds. "By the way, how’s Finn doing?"

"Just fine. We’re looking into getting him into university soon." Dante said. "Now that he had his revenge on Jaguar, it might do him well to live a normal life."

"Wouldn’t going to middle school be better if that’s the case?" Rose asked. "O maybe high school?"

"His brain is too big for either." Dante paused. "Well, we still have Black Skull to deal with, so we aren’t exactly in a hurry."

Rose looked like she had something to say, but her mouth closed, and she turned away. Dante gave her some time, but when it didn’t look like she would speak, he did so instead.

"We had a deal," He said. "Didn’t we say we would take out Black Skull together?"

"..."

"I might have been busy for some time, but did you really have to charge in on your own?"

"..."

"You did a great job, really. Finding you wasn’t easy at all."

"..."

"Hey, don’t you have something to say?"

"... Black Skull isn’t your problem..."

Dante’s expression darkened. He had expected that kind of reply, but when faced with it, he didn’t know how to react.

"Are you sure about that?" He said. "I helped you kidnap a bunch of their sergeants, and I killed a bunch of their members just yesterday."

"So I heard..."

Standing up, Rose took a step forward, turning her back to him.

"I... never intended for things to get to this." She said. "Sorry for dragging you into it. I will be fine on my own, so..."

This time, it was Dante’s turn to be left speechless. He could only look at her back, feeling conflicted. That feeling soon turned into mild anger, and before he knew it, his hand was reaching out.

"HYAAAH!!!"

Rose jumped away, then turned around, holding both hands to her behind while looking like her heart almost jumped out of her throat.

"W-w-what did you do that for!?"

"Because you have been acting weird," Dante said, making a pinching motion with his right hand. "Don’t tell me you went back to thinking of me like a kid."

"That’s..." Pursing her lips, she looked away from him once more.

"Looks like you forgot a few things," Dante said. "Should I remind you?"

~[ ]~

A cracked ceiling filled her vision. Rose was lost, staring at it without a thought in her mind. Her breath had settled some time ago, and she was slowly coming back to her senses. After some time, she pushed herself up, holding the blanket to her bare chest as she turned to the young man lying beside her.

"... You got an upgrade down there, too?" She said, looking at him with half-lidded eyes.

"My doctor sneaked it in during the operation," Dante replied. "This is the first time I’m trying it out, though."

Dante was sure he had never requested it, so imagine his shock when he finally noticed the Eroscore Series V (C) on the list of his new implant. Larry had a strange sense of humor, but Dante could never have expected him to add a "performance" enhancement implant to the list of bionics he had to install.

Though many would argue that its main function was protecting one’s nuts from accidentally getting cracked, everyone knew what the true purpose of such implants was. Dante never had performance problems, but now that he had this implant installed, he couldn’t help but feel that he wasn’t anything special before. Rose felt the difference, too. Felt it too much, in fact.

"Seriously..."

With a huff, Rose lowered herself and rested her head on his shoulder. She said nothing for a while, staring at the green plating of his dock and the scar that marked the start of his skin. Running a finger over it, she then heaved a sigh.

"This isn’t comfortable at all," She said.

"Hm?"

"Your shoulder," She said. "Your hands, too. They’re hard and cold now. This is why I told you to hold back on the implants."

"Does it make that much difference?" Dante asked.

"It does," Rose frowned. "You can’t feel me right now, right? Are you really okay with that?"

"I... guess you have a point," Dante said.

In truth, he could feel her in his arms just fine, thanks to Absolute Awareness and Volcan’s sensory input program. Now, even if he swaps his entire body for alloy, he would still feel things just like he did with normal skin. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said about the way others perceived him.

"Can’t say if I’m fine with it or not, but..." He said. "If this is the price I must pay, then I’m willing to pay it."

"Look at you, trying to sound cool," Rose snickered. "Guess you’re still a kid."

"You’re still saying that?" Dante frowned. "Don’t tell me you hadn’t have enough yet?"

"Don’t even joke about it," she gave him a light slap. "Do you want to break me or something?"

"So a kid is enough to break you?"

"You have no delicacy, just like a kid." Pulling herself up, Rose turned away from him.

Sending the change in the mood, Dante got up well. He stared at her bare back for a while. This time, he just waited for her to talk.

"Say, Dante," She said after a while. "Why do you think I want to take down Black Skull?"