Antonio slowly opened his eyes, squinting under the blinding light above, his head felt like he was swimming throu soup, every muscle in his body holding a dull throbbing ache, he groaned on the rattling gurney, the feeling of needles spearing into his spine turning to flashes of burning pain as he attempted to stand sit up.
But he didn't get very far before the pain became too much, sending him crashing back down onto the bed
"Oh fuck......he's awake!" Someone called out, their voice ringing in Antonios ears when suddenly Mantis appeared above him, looking at him upsidedown as she hovered over the top of the gurney
"Hey you" she sighed with a shaky breath, gently cupping his cheek with a smile
"Hey.....have....i ever told you that.....waking up to you is the best?" Antonio slurred, Mantis laughed once as she wiped her red damp eyes
Clearly whatever they used to knock him out was still in his system.
"Where......oh thank God!" Came another familiar screeching voice as Kat suddenly appeared over top of him now, both their heads now blocking the operating light
"Thanks girls.....that light....was getting annoying" he said with a weak chuckle, Mantis rolled her eyes and Kat playfully slapped his shoulder, the sound of metal against metal pinging as she did, as well as a blinding pain shooting up and down his body filled his senses
"Oh shit, sorry, you must be tender" Kat apologized, gently caressing down his arm and over his chest, the sound of metal rubbing against metal filling the small room as she did so, something wasn't right, Antonio noted that the sounds didn't match what Kat was doing.
"Tender?, why would I be tender, and what's with that metal scraping sound?" He asked, his breathing beginning to become more rapid
"Hey hey hey, don't go going cyber psycho on me dude, il drop you where you stand" came a deep male voice, now he really panicked, who the hell was that and why would Antonio go Cyber psycho, grunting and groaning as he sat up he looked either side of himself to see Mantis and Kat with their hands braced against his back, worry in their faces.
Antonio leaned on his arms, despite being tender and stiff they seemed to work fine, as he placed his hands on the metalic railing Antonio heard the heavy collision of metal again, looking around in confusion he stopped when he felt something he never felt before, in his arm, looking down Antonio almost fell off the gurney at what he saw.
His arm was gone, completely gone, replaced with a black Cybernetic implant, it's structure made of thousands of small black hexagons, formed into plates replicating the size and shape of the muscles throughout the arm, shifting and sliding over and under eachother as he lifted the new appendage into the air, large red wires could be seen in the gaps of the outer shell, silver mechanical parts visible within, shifting and flexing as he moved, his elbow was open, a motor and various cup links and mechanical pistons and other small moving parts connecting the bicep to the forearm, large red springs on either side flexing and contracting as he examined himself.
His forearm was intricately designed, the top made out of several solid black plates, all designed to fold and slide away from each other to open his arm for something, each plate made of the same hexagon material, the muscle design resuming underneath, with the same red clustered five wires and silver mechanisms underneath, the forearm seeming to be more tightly packed with small intricately placed parts, solid ridged tubing and metal encased wiring poking through the tough black playing, and then there was his hand, flexing his new fingers against the light, surprised by their quick movements and response times.
His hand was a solid plate on top, with thick silver disks on his knuckles, his fingers long and slender, black with a red wire running to the tip of each finger, connecting together into two strips on his palm, his palm and fingers seemed to have some sort of sensory padding system, as he was able to feel the air around his new arm, Kat's touch the cold metal of the gurney beneath him.
"I know it's Alot to take in, but that there is top of the line Cyberware, Kat here spared no expense fixing you up" the guy called out again, Antonio looked at Kat with wide eyes, she shrugged and waved her hand off
"It was nothing, just making sure you got back on your feet quickly" she said with a nonchalant tone, Antonio reached out and put his cybernetic hand on her shoulder
"Il pay you back...... somehow" he chuckled, Kat bursting out into a giggling fit
"You better, my units have seen better days let me tell you" she chuckled, before composing herself
"No really, in all seriousness I'd say we're square, you saved my business by leading Kovastov's boys downtown, and got that little psycho out of my building, so this once we'll call the life saving implants a freebie"
"Wait....implants as in more than one?" He asked, now looking over to Mantis for confirmation, he watched as she looked over to where the guys voice had come from and gave a sigh
"Yeah....almost everything you had was busted up, your data chips were in tact thank fuck, but a majority of your equipment was beyond repair, as well as some of the other parts of your body" she said with a sad sigh.
Antonio was up like a shot at that point, his head spinning wildly as he spun himself over the edge of the gurney, landing firmly on his feet, a solid bang of metal sounding as he did, hastily looking down he was stunned into silence at the extent of his modification.
His feet were now Cybernetic constructed from the same muscle shaped black hexagon material as his arm, the ball of his heels a solid silver sphere with multiple red wires woven together into a single strip running along the top of his feet, metal jacket wiring running along it's mechanical interior.
But that wasn't the end of his enhancements from what he could see, Antonio now had black metallic ribs emerging from along his new Cybernetic spine, before merging with his new mentality enhanced skeleton on the inside at his front, as well as a large patch of black flexible hexagon material on his abdomen, shaped muscular and strong, flexing and sliding over each other's as he moved, now more curious than panicked Antonio decided to check his new systems:
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[HARDWARE: Synth-weave tissue(5 slots)]
[1: Cybernetic muscle (MILITARY GRADE)]
[2: KOSHI neural interface MK3]
[3: Second heart]
[4: Cyberweave bone marrow]
[5: High caliber plates (MILITARY GRADE)]
[SOFTWARE: Switch-box(3 slots)]
[1: Bio-electronic nerve system]
[2: Cyberlink neural network]
[3: Cybernetic shield (UNKNOWN MODEL)]
[IMPLANTS: KOSHI Catapult drive(4 slots)]
[1: KOSHI Cyberlimbs (MILITARY GRADE)]
[2: Drive storage]|
[3: High caliber Cyberlauncher (MILITARY GRADE)].
[4: Sandavistan MK2]
[DATA CHIPS]----[Chronivac.EXE]
[Cybercard storage MK2]
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"Wow!" Antonio breathed, looking in awe at the sheer scale of Cybernetic enhancement he had undergone, but then he noticed a new HUD display in his peripheral
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[SYNTHETIC BLOOD- 97%]
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Confused Antonio turned to Kat with a puzzled look on his face
"What the hell is synthetic blood?" He asked,Kat looking at him for a moment before letting out a sigh, reaching into her back pocket and pulled out a small can sized container filled with white liquid and tossed it to him, Antonio catching it in his cybernetic hand with surprising ease and accuracy
"Synth blood is what keeps certain cybernetics going, expensive stuff, people who have extensive Cybernetic implants need it to stay fully functional" she explained as she walked over, Antonio passing her back the container as she wordlessly pressed down oh his left pec, a small panel opening up to reveal his two cybernetic hearts inside, Kat then plugged the container into the hatch and twisted it, a warm feeling filling Antonio as the liquid drained slightly stopping when a green light lit up around the cylinder container, untwisting it and closing his hatch Kat stuffed the container back into her pocket.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
[SYNTHETIC BLOOD- 100%]
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"Whenever that display gets low, make sure you top up, otherwise your systems will shut down and it won't be fun coming back from the grid" she sighed, before putting on a smile and wrapping her arms around his neck, Pressing her plump, soft lips against his in a tender kiss, Antonio closed his eyes and returned her kiss, cupping her face as he deepened their kiss, dipping his tongue into her mouth to tangle with her own
"Hey don't forget about me" Mantis chimed in, tapping Antonio's shoulder, Antonio parting from Kats mouth leaving her gasping for air before devouring Mantis's lips with a heated desperation, moaning into his lips Mantis wrapped her arms around him before pulling away with a satisfied look.
"Promise us Antonio, promise you'll be careful" she said in a concerned whisper, her finger on his lips, Antonio gave her a nod and took her hand in his as he began walking out towards the shops front door.
Stepping out onto the street Antonio breathed in the air, Mantis and Kat closed behind him, Kat offering him the bullet proof vest he wore in the attack, better than nothing he figured, throwing it on and strapping it tight around his body before they began walking down the street together
"You sure it's wise being out in the open like this?" Antonio said, caution edging his voice as his eyes darted around, his muscles and organs still sore from his mass implants, grunting and wincing as they walked
Mantis looked him up and down with concern
"Yeah, you can thank Kat for that, once our car wrecked, the little psycho decided to have a bit of fun, took your arm, messed you up pretty fucking good, then Kat arrived and saved our asses, hit that cyber freak with the grill of her car" she grinned, holding her fist out to Kat who fist bumped her immediately
"Should have seen her face as she had a good look at my car" she chuckled
"So anyway, Kat comes in like a badass, saves our necks and then calls up the big boss himself"
"Kovastov" Antonio snarled, clenching his fists tight as they walked, Mantis nodded, affirming his words
"Immediately he wanted to know if you guys were dead, so I told him where he can go stick a socket wrench, then I made a deal with him" she sighed
"He leaves you guys alone, if you stay out of his business and return his property" she said before smirking up at Antonio
"So I let him have what was left after I ran back and forth over it a few times" she said with an evil laugh, Antonio couldn't help but chuckle in approval.
__________________________________________________
After what felt like an eternity of driving they finally arrived back at Kats building, stepping out of Kat's car as they took in the damage, police holographic tape across the doors, Mantis gave a sigh, putting her hand over her face
"Great the NCPD finally show up when Kovastov's boys have shot up the place and split" she said with a huff
"Fucking typical" Kat groaned, clicking her tongue in a tut
"Well let's get started on cleaning up this shit"