Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System

"A… what now?"

"You must have seen it at least once in some movie," Lev said. "A drug people take so they can go without for days. It's something like that."

"That… still doesn't make sense…"

This was the miracle drug, a capsule that gives people superpowers. Dante couldn't bring himself to accept that most of it was nothing more than a militarized ration.

Lev grabbed one of the small cases set to the side, opening it and taking out the blue capsule inside.

"Though I put it that way, the amount of calories contained in this little thing is way too much." He said. "You would think that one of them could sustain someone for a month, but humans aren't made to take in that many nutrients at once. It would be indigestible at best, and it would kill you at worst."

"Wait, seriously?"

"Seriously." Lev nodded. "And that brings us to these strange cells packed into the pills."

Dante turned to look at the microscope, already having an idea of what his bony friend was trying to say.

"My guess is that the cells are what cause the transformation." Lev crossed his arms. "The process likely consumes a lot of energy, and that's why the capsules are filled with that material."

"Damn…" Dante pursed his lips. "Is that why the effects are temporary?"

The fuel running out was a good explanation for the powers granted by the capsule running out, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"If that was the case, taking just one would mean instant death, since it would continue consuming the nutrients in your body until there are none."

"You mean the cells themselves have a time limit?"

"That's what it looks like."

Holding his thought, Dante thought for a moment before turning to his bony friend. Lev didn't even give him the chance to open his mouth.

"I'm a chemist, lil' bro." He shook his head. "I can't even tell what kind of cells those things are. There is no way I can reproduce them, let alone improve them in any way."

With that response, Dante watched one of his plans crumble to dust. Turns out he wasn't as ready to hear it. Grabbing a seat, Dante leaned down, hanging his head. His silence lasted for a while, and Lev didn't disturb him. When he finally seemed to regain some of his composure, Dante looked up at his bony friend, his eyes half lidded

"... you sounded like a fraud just now."

"You don't have to tell me." Lg grimaced. "You think I'm happy about it?"

Dante could only sigh and slump his shoulders.

"So… What are we going to do now?"

Recreating Catalyst wasn't a critical component of his future plants, but it would have greatly accelerated them. Not to mention that spreading it around would have pissed off Eidolon. Running into such a massive roadblock was devastating, leaving him to think of ways to surpass it.

"Well, we would need to get someone good at this biology stuff." Said Lov. "There are a few people who can contact, but…"

"Not good enough?"

"And can't be trusted."

Unlike his plan to bring down the Daggers, they couldn't bring in just anyone to help with this one. A single wrong move and Flame Guard would be hunting for their heads. Dante didn't need to give them another reason to come after him.

"You can try going after the ones who produced the drug, but…"

From the look on his face, it didn't look like the Alchemist believed that would be possible. If even Eidolon with its Genomes and vast resources couldn't track down the source of the drug, there is no way Dante would be able to do it on his own.

"So we need a biologist, huh…" Dante muttered.

"Preferably a geneticist," Lev added.

A geneticist who can be trusted. As if some parameters had been set, Dante's mind quickly filtered through a bunch of names and faces that fit the filter. Soon enough, a face appeared in his mind, and another one followed.

Seeing them for the first time in a while, Dante couldn't help but grimace.

'Genius geneticists, huh…'

Unfortunately, dead people couldn't help with the matters of the living. As he continued his search, Dante was surprised by how many names came to his mind. Unfortunately, most of them worked for his enemies, so they didn't meet the trust requirement by default.

"I… will look for a solution." He said. "There is no way I'm dropping this…"

"I'm not telling you to give up, but… It's going to be difficult."

"There gotta be someone out there who hasn't sold out to some big corpo…"

"Hah!" Lev scoffed. "As if."

It was the same situation as the Gearheads creating original bionics in the Pit. Anyone good enough would be working for the big corporations, and those left our likely didn't have the skills. Someone like Suzuka was a rare find, and expecting to find another one in a different field was simply unrealistic.

Genetic biologists are especially under more scrutiny because of the potential to create Genomes and other biological weapons. Like many other things, there was no sure way to prove it, but Dante was convinced that Eidolon had a hand in controlling that field of scientific research, allowing them to maintain a monopoly on who gets to rise and who gets murdered in a fake car crash.

"Well, if we can't find one." Placing his hands on his knees, Dante pushed himself up. "We can always snatch one."

He spoke the statement so lightly that the meaning didn't set in right away. The green glow in the depths of Lev's eyes shrank, and the corners of his mouth gradually rose.

"There you go, planning something insane again."

"What choice do we have?" Dante replied, grinning as well. "I should probably gather the necessary tools before doing it. Our geneticist will definitely need a lab."

"Talking as if it's already decided." Lev chuckled. "Not gonna lie, lil' bro, you keep on surprising me."

"Don't worry." Turning away, Dante walked to the exit. "I'm only getting started."