Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System

"Good job."

Done with her job, Suzuka returned to the room where Dante was waiting for her. Despite being in there for less than an hour, she was already looking rather exhausted.

"Never make me do this again."

Julia had long since suspected that her husband was a member of the Daggers, though she chose to keep it to herself. She tricked herself into believing that he wasn't involved in anything dangerous, but reality was already catching up with her.

"I already handed her the money." Said Suzuka. "The rest is up to you."

"Thanks. We will take it from here."

Even now that her husband had been murdered, there was still a big chance of Black Skull coming after Julia and her daughter. Using her child's safety as an argument, Suzuka managed to convince her to move out of the country, giving her a whole million Gold to start a new life away from the danger Nate had dragged them into.

The money came from Dante's pocket, of course. Giving away that much did sting quite a bit, but it was worth not having to think about the matter anymore. All they had to do now was ensure that the mother and her daughter got out of the country and it would all be done.

'Volcan.'

[Yes?]

'Keep an eye on her, notify me if she steps back into the city.'

[You mean Julia Grimes?]

'Yes.'

As he escorted her to the door, Suzuka gave Dante a disapproving side look.

"I've known you for less than two weeks," She said, "And just when I realize you were involved in something insane, you show me another."

"Oh, I'm only getting started." Dante grinned.

"Just… don't get yourself killed. You still owe me that favor."

"Speaking of which, how's my order coming along?"

"Still working on the design. That type of implant is much trickier than it appears."

"Really?"

"Don't worry, I already placed an order for the materials, so the production will start as soon as I'm done."

"Alright."

"Did you get the MLP I suggested?" She asked.

"Still looking," Dante replied. "I'm kinda busy at the moment, so I might delay the surgery for a while."

"Suit yourself. You're the one who said he's in a hurry."

A self-driving cab was waiting outside. Getting in, Suzuka lowered the window, adding one more thing before departing.

"Being busy doesn't mean you can avoid fulfilling your promises. I will need to look at one of your suits before I begin production."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll drop by when I can."

When he went back inside, Dante gave Megan a call and asked her to help him organize some things. He had to hire people from the Los Aros gang to keep an eye on Julia and ensure that she got on her flight on time. After that, Volcan would take on the role of monitoring her location.

With that, the first move in the plan was over. Depending on the impact it has, there might be a need to do something similar a few more times, stoking the flames between the two gangs. For the time being, all they had to do was wait and see, so Dante decided he might as well take care of other things.

DING!

'Speaking of the devil…'

Just as he considered checking on him, Lev sent a message asking if they could talk. It has already been a week since Dante gave him the Catalyst capsules. The Alchemist said to give him two weeks to replicate it, which was already far too short, so Dante didn't believe a single week would be enough for him to be done.

'Don't tell me he couldn't…'

~[ ]~

"I couldn't do it."

Lev prided himself on being capable of replicating any drug no matter how complicated it was. That ability was what earned him his status and infamy, so to hear him give up just like that was shocking enough to leave Dante frozen in his place.

Remaining static for a while, he finally snapped out of his daze and gave the statement some more thought.

"Explain it like I'm five," Dante said. "Why can't you do it, exactly?"

Crossing his arms, Lev tilted his head little by little until it reached an angle beyond what's humanly possible. As if a light bulb lit up above him, he straightened up and raised a finger.

"Biology!"

Dante flipped the words a few times in his mind, but he still didn't understand.

"Biology?"

"That's right!" Lev nodded, pointing at a nearby workbench. "Just to be clear, I've pretty much figured out most of the capsule's contents. It's just that the thing likely responsible for giving people superpowers is out of my field."

Hunching over, the bony man looked into a microscope, adjusting it a little before backing away and motioning for Dante to approach. Frowning, Dante stared at the device, hesitating to approach it. He hated those things, and he was sure that there was no point in his looking through one. It wasn't like seeing what they showed would make him understand more than if it were explained to him using words.

Reluctantly, Dante approached the device and leaned over it, closing one eye and lining the other with the eyepiece lens. As expected, what he saw provided little explanation. Strange, round things floated on a white background.

They appeared like colorful scribbles made by a toddler with new crayons. Because of that, it took Dante a while to realize what he was looking at.

"Are these… cells?"

"That's right," Lev replied. "And before you ask, they aren't mine, or anyone else's." Pausing, he crossed his arms once more. "I got them from the capsules you gave me."

"... the capsules?"

"Yup." Lev nodded. "I thought it was just some contamination, but then I found the same thing in the second and third capsules. Each had a single one of those, but it only got weirder when I analyzed the rest of the contents."

As his confusion grew once more, Dante backed away from the microscope and turned a questioning look at his bony friend.

"It's all sustenance," Lev said. "The entire capsule is nothing more than a concentrated calorie bomb."