Cyberpunk: Ultimate Cyborg System

"By the way." Just as he stood up to leave, Dante remembered to ask an important question. "Is Mr. Pike still out of the country?"

"I asked him to contact me when he's around, but…" Viktor shook his head. "Doesn't seem like he's back yet."

"Well, that sucks. Just say I need him for some business."

"I know, I know." Viktor grinned. "I can already tell what kind of business you're talking about."

"Of course you do." Dante opened the door and leaned out of the office. "Hey, little shit! We're going!"

Finn appeared from the end of the corridor a second later, carrying his yellow gym bag.

"We could tell you were eavesdropping, by the way."

Dante's remark turned into an obstacle that almost caused the boy to trip and fall. With his room being on the second floor, getting whatever he needed wouldn't have taken more than a couple of minutes. Dante and Viktor were talking for almost an hour. The boy hadn't interrupted them, and there is no way he was just waiting patiently somewhere else.

"I barely heard anything…" Finn muttered.

"Yeah, yeah, just make sure to keep it to yourself."

~[ ]~

Breaks were important, especially after finishing a major step of a plan. Jeremy Brighton's corpse was delivered to Black Skull, leading to Nate Grime's murder. For the time being, that was more than a big enough log tossed into the fire, so all that was left was to wait and see if it caught on fire.

In the meantime, Dante decided to work on other things.

After dropping by the Bowl of Fortune for some lunch, Dante left for a certain spot while Finn returned to his apartment. He had been spending a lot more time, which showed in how he had transformed one of the corners into a makeshift workshop. Dante didn't care enough to berate him, but he feared that it might start getting on his nerves soon.

Winter hadn't been kind to the borders. The stench only got worse, and the streets were so dirty that one would think sewage pipes were bursting all over the place. The sight made Dante rethink his idea, but he steeled his resolve and continued.

It took some time but he finally found what he was looking for—a manhole cover. It wasn't just any manhole, though. This

'... Well, this is better than I thought…'

Before leaving Viktor's office, he had bought the city's sewer and drainage system schematic from him, after being made to pay what he owed, of course. The documents were old and didn't contain any updates about the collapsed tunnels, but Dante believed they were sufficient for his needs. After all, what he wanted was a place where people wouldn't be able to see what he does, and an underground tunnel was the best he could get right now.

After walking around for a few minutes, his face covered in a gas mask he took out of his storage, Dante looked around and decided that that was the appropriate spot.

'Was it 8-4? Or was it 8-5?' Dante thought as he sat down at the kitchen table, a mug of coffee in his hand. 'Volcan, give me the status screen of 8-4.'

[Understood.]

Every now and then, Dante would sit down to study VOLCAN's armors with his resident AI. As he had nowhere to practice using them at the moment, the best he could do was study their designs and inquire about the abilities they have.

A translucent red window appeared in front of him. The 3D model of the armor was contained in a box on on side. It had the same aesthetics as 8-3, though it appeared larger and had bulkier plating. At the center of the chest area was a small circle glowing with white light, which reminded Dante of how the relic had been before integrating with him.

Turning his attention to the left side, Dante went through the armor's stats, which were in fact his stats in addition to the bonus provided by the armor.

[

Name: Dante

Species: Human

Threat Level: 1

Baseline Retention: Intermediate (82%)

Stats:

Strength: 6 (+45)

Durability: 21 (+50)

Agility: 6 (+35)

Dexterity: 4 (+20)

Computing Power: 7 (+70)

Energy: 0 (+700/700)

Implants:

Neural Interface Module (C)

Optic Augmentation Module (C)

Diamond Fist (D)

Kinetic Absorption Protective Sub-Layer Generation 15 (C)

RespiraCore Series V (D)

NephroCore Series X (D)

Armor: Type 8-5

Abilities:

Spatial Awareness

Spatial lock

Spatial Distortion

Spatial severing

Rift creation

Spatial Pocket

Void Lance

]

Dante didn't care all that much about the stats themselves, so his eyes went immediately to the list of abilities the armor has. The one he had in mind was second to last, a Level 4 ability he had never used before.

'Spatial Pocket… You said it creates pocket dimensions, right?'

[Yes.] Volcan answered curtly.

'And… how is this… pocket dimension?' Dante asked. 'Does it have land? Gravity? Air?'

[If you are wondering whether it is suitable for human life, then yes. It is.]

'Alright! Let's give it a try.'

[Are you sure you want to equip Type 8-4?]

'Yes.'

[Understood.]

Threads of light erupted from Dante's chest and quickly enveloped him in a cocoon. A second later, he was clad in an imposing heavy armor covered in intricate black plating. As with other Type 8 armors, the helmet had a large visor, one that resembled an astronaut's.

Opening and closing his right palm, Dante turned his sight toward the tunnel.

'Activate Spatial Pocket.'

[Please select the area you would like to cover.]

A circle appeared in front of Dante, it's border neon blue. It reminded him of the selection function that precede opening a gate using Rift Creation. Since the commands worked pretty much the same, Dante adjusted the circle until it became a tube almost the size of the tunnel.

[Since you would like to have ground to stand on, I suggest increasing its size until it encompasses a part of the floor and ceiling.]

'Got it…'