Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System-Chapter 549: What About The Boss?

The bar was already enveloped in chaos, with people rushing around preparing their weapons, when the door was blasted open. They all froze in place, turning to confirm who it was that dared to invade their territory.

Riot walked inside with slow steps, bathing in the attention he drew. Standing at the center of the bar, he looked left and right, then up, taking a deep breath before releasing a roar.

"Listen well, you dumbfucks! We have questions we want answered! Better line up and prepare to give us what we want!"

A deafening silence followed his announcement. The bar was mostly filled with Black Skull members, mostly foot soldiers. They stared at the muscular giant for a while, as if unsure of what to do. Their weapons snapped in his direction the next instant, and a cacophony of gunfire followed.

The bar turned into a warzone in less than a second. Riot was unfazed, evading the bullets with practiced ease. One by one, he broke their arms along with the weapons they held. Some of the bullets hit him, but they bounced off his skin like they were made out of rubber.

The beatdown didn’t last more than a couple of minutes. When it became clear that they didn’t have a chance at winning, the Black Skull goons turned around to flee. The first one to do so was the highest-ranked among them, as shown by the skull tattoo covering the left half of his face. Before he could make it far, he slammed into a solid wall, then was grabbed by the collar before he could fall on his behind. Looking up, he saw a red-haired youth glaring down at him.

"Hey! Forget about those!" Dante said. "We just caught a big fish!"

Ignoring him, Riot went on with the beatdown. It took some time, but he eventually stopped when no one was left standing.

Sighing, Dante glanced at the Black Skull in his hands. A creek drew his attention to the right, and when he looked, he saw Oliver dragging a chair over.

Dante slammed the sergeant onto it, then fixed him with a glare.

"Talk."

The sergeant glared back at him, then pulled his head back. Enhancing his perception, Dante caught the moment the bastard tried to spit on him and moved out of the way. Though he wasn’t hit, his anger still flared, and he turned to the bastard with newfound hatred.

As if reading his thoughts, Oliver grabbed the bastard by the shoulders and pulled him back against the chair’s back. As he turned to glare at him, the bastard’s eyes went wide as his entire body stiffened.

Dante moved his foot as if he was trying to crush something under it, and since that thing was between the bastard’s legs, the pained screaming that followed was to be expected.

"And here I thought you were a little smart when you ran away," Dante said, leaning on the foot he was stomping the guy’s nuts with. "I’m not gonna ask a third time. Talk."

"Maybe...maybe you should ask him some questions first?" Riot said. He had moved behind their captive and restrained his arms, not allowing him to move.

"C’mon, you telling me he doesn’t know why we’re here?"

Dante pressed on the guy’s nuts some more.

[I have retraced the paths he took in the past few months.] Volcan said. [They seem to be missing some parts, which would suggest that his NIM was turned off at the time.]

’As expected...’

Turning his sight to the sergeant, Dante stared at him for a second.

"You’re pretty high up in the ladder," he said. "Who do you answer to?"

"Eat... shit..."

Not the answer Dante wanted to hear, and so he put a little more force into his foot.

"You can contact your superior, right? How about you show us how? Maybe do it right now, ask them to come save you?"

"Fuu...ck... you..."

The bastard gritted his teeth and groaned, tears streaming down his cheeks as he glared at Dante.

"You know what’s going to happen from here on, right?" Dante pulled his foot and backed away. "Keep this up, and we’re going to kill you. But... if you tell us what we want, I’m willing to let you go."

The bastard didn’t reply.

"It should be obvious that they don’t really care about you, right? Why else do they hide themselves and let you take on the problems they cause?"

Still no reply. Dante knew it would take some time, but his patience was running out. He waited some more, then reached out, grabbing the bastard with his right hand. His fingers appeared more slender than usual, and the alloy encasing them was red in color.

"How about I cut you a deal?" He said. A faint red glow enveloped his hand, and faint whisps of smoke began to rise from under his fingers. "You tell me something I can use, let’s say... how to get in touch with your higher-ups. Do that, and you’ll get to live."

The bastard was trying to scream at this point, but with Dante holding his mouth shut, all he could do was tremble and desperately try to release himself. He seemed to remember that he had legs just then, but when he tried to kick, he realized that they had been bound to the chair. Oliver cut the tape and moved on to the arms, quickly binding them to the armrests. Where did he get the roll of tape? Dante didn’t know.

Losing focus risked them killing their captive, so Dante relaxed his hand a little, holding back on the energy he was putting into Dragon Claw.

He had no particular reason for why he chose to equip 1-2’s module today, though its abilities seem well-suited for interrogation. He had intended to use 1-3’s, but walking around with a dragon head for an arm didn’t feel right.

"Still not talking?"

The red aura on Dante’s hand expanded, forming sharp claws that slowly dug into the gangster’s face. As the sharp tips reached the bone underneath, the pain seemed to reach an unbearable point, and the bastard finally broke.

[Alright! Alright! I will talk!]

The message was typed on the messenger app Volcan had summoned for him to use.

"Great!"

Dante let go of his face and noted the hand-shaped print he left behind. Being burned was still one of the worst pains one could experience, so one couldn’t fault him for breaking.

"Start with who you work under. If you can contact them, say that we’re waiting for them here." 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The bastard spent a couple of minutes panting for air, as if he was being strangled. Then, when he finally calmed down, he clicked his tongue and looked at the floor.

"We... we work for someone called Harry. He handles the muscle in the gang."

"Really?" Dante raised an eyebrow, not sure how the scrawny fellow in front of him could be considered muscle. Then again, Volcan had evaluated him as a Level 2 Intermediate Cyborg. Though that wasn’t much to brag about in Dante’s opinion, it was still something impressive on the streets.

"I... I don’t have a way to contact him." The bastard said. "He usually leaves us to take care of things on our own and... well, he sends us instructions by email from time to time."

A look of doubt fell on Dante’s face. The muscle guy working remotely didn’t sound right.

"We... we have a monthly meeting. That’s the only time we meet the lieutenant."

"What about the boss?" Dante asked.

"No one has ever seen the boss." The bastard said. "There is... There is even a rumor that he never existed, and that the four lieutenants run the entire gang on their own."

Dante didn’t believe that to be the case. Viktor knew more about Black Skull’s history than most people, and according to him, it started just like any other street gang. He also knew that it got its name from a burn wound their founder had, and since the fixer never received any news about that man dying or stepping down as the boss.

"This meeting you mentioned, when is the next one?"

"At.... It’s at the end of the month..."

"And where?"

"I... don’t know..." the bastard replied. "They send us the location only a day before."

"Really now..."

Dante’s eyes narrowed as he looked down at him. Using Absolute Awareness, he is able to notice a lot of signs that reveal whether someone was lying or not. The bastard was being truthful, but that did little to calm the growing anger in Dante’s heart.

After a moment of thought, Dante approached him once more. His hand shot out and grabbed the Bastard’s face, and without delay, he activated Dragon Claw. The ethereal glow manifested, quickly forming into sharp nails that dug into the bastard’s cheeks.

"One more thing," Dante spoke in a cold tone, contrasting the heat released from his hand. "Black Skull runs a bunch of child brothels. Did you know about them before you joined, or did you find out later?"