5 - cure

The day of the meeting arrived.. At the front of Dante's shop a luxurious car stopped with a secondary car behind it.

The first car was the Lamborghini Reventón, that Dante had asked for payment on completion and the second was a four door armoured BMW.

Out of the second car came two security guards, one approached the building while the other opened the door for his boss, that sat in the Lamborghini.

They were there to guard him and make sure nothing went wrong with the agreement their boss had made with the owner of the clinic.. their security team had investigated the place and found out that while it was small the owner and the one preforming the surgery was a medical professional, having degrees in field containing to most medicine..

At first they thought the documents where fake, as such a talented doctor wouldn't work in such a shabby place and instead be working for a mayor hospital, but every document seemed legit…

The place that they had agreed to meet, and where they were standing now was his clinic, the clinic had opened two months prior and seemed to be liked by the local community, but the appearance of the place raised concern with the bodyguards..

The clinic was seemingly normal on the outside, but had, from what they had heard, some strange equipment inside that most didn't recognise.. the owner, Dante explained to every patient who asked that that was specialised equipment, but they had send someone the day before and found out that the equipment didn't match with anything they had seen before..

That with the fact that he was offering services that no one else provided kept the securities concern high.

"Mr. Calabresi, are you sure that you wish to undergo the surgery?" the guard who opened the vehicle door questioned as Antonio Calabresi got out of the car.

"I drove here didn't I?" Antonio walked to the entrance where the other security guard stood waiting.

"But sir, it could be dangerous.. what if he kills you while doing the surgery?"

"You think there is a hit on me?"

Antonio Calabresi, a Italian billionaire who lived in seclusion, liking the peace and quite of normal live, in his mansion with servants.. he didn't have any enemies or business rivals as he owned and managed a investment agency that held mayor stock in some companies.. he also didn't have any kids to inherit his wealth.. to top it al off his wife would lose more by killing him that letting him die naturally..

"No, but we aren't sure of his expertise.." They didn't know why he worked alone and thought it was to hide something, as there must have been a reason not to work for a bigger hospital.

"I have seen his qualifications, and what do I got to lose anyway.."

Antonio was expected to die within the year as his deceased progressed to the point where it would be fatal..

-

Inside the shop Dante was idly sitting behind the main desk playing a game on his mobile phone, he would be doing something more productive, but alas he was waiting for someone to arrive.. the appointment was supposed to be at two, but looking at the clock it seemed that Antonio would be late..

'Should I increase the price..' Dante pondered on gaining more as he closed the application, as he saw two cars arrive at the front of the building trough a camera... he had purchased the phone the other day as to get a phone number by which people could contact him.. his interface could also be used, but the number of that was somewhat strange..

Dante was planning on rerouting his new phone number to his interface but that would take some work and Dante simply didn't have the time, as he focused on running his clinic and inventing new cyberware..

The doors opened as a guard entered the clinic with Antonio behind him, one guard was waiting outside making sure no one would intervene.

"Its nice to meet you Mr Antonio.. you are a little late, but we can immediately start if you are ready?" Dante put on his best business smile as to appear friendly, causing the security to be on guard, as the face Dante made would not be considered friendly.. to him, the face appeared to be a demonic grin of a beast who just saw prey enter its trap..

--

Antonio looked around, he had seen photos of the clinic online but being there in person was something else, the equipment and machines strown about inside the clinic were somewhat disturbing, but he couldn't say he hadn't seen worse while on his search for a cure..

The owner of the clinic seemed welcoming, but also a bit strange.. his bodyguards didn't seem to like him getting al stressed while they entered, and just as he had expected, it caused a issue.

"Leaving would be a security risk!" the security guard that entered with Antonio looked to be in turmoil as his employer requested he leave at the behest of the surgeon.

"Like Mr Ripper said. He cant concentrate if you are interrupting the process and distracting him of his work.." Antonio seemed to agree with Dante's stance, he also personally knew that security was distracting in any circumstance, partly being the reason why he lived a life of seclusion outside the public eye.

"But.." The security still seemed hesitant but Dante interjected as to get things going.

"..it is for the best that you leave.. while I understand your concerns I have made a contract with mister Antonio.. and I don't give promises that I cant keep.." Dante had prepared everything before hand and sat ready to operate…

"Fine.. I will be waiting just outside.." The guard reluctantly left, leaving his boss and the surgeon alone..

"Before we begin.. can I ask you something that has been on my mind?" Antonio seemed to want to ask something for a while and jumped at the chance to do in alone

"Go ahead.. just sit down while I give the anastatic.." Dante pointed at the seat that Antonio would be lying on while he operated on him.

"How did you manage to get my records.. and where does everything come from?" Antonio sat down while asking the questions that had been burning in his mind..

"Well like I said.. I found your records and this.. this is just specialised for technologies that isn't commonly used.." Dante injected the anastatic into Antonio's body while he talked..

"But what is it use..." The anastatic did its job, knocking Antonio unconscious..

"Now Lets begin…" Dante put on a mask and started the operation.

The process of swapping out the heart was a easy one, as cutting someone open and taking organs out was the simple part.. the blood vessels were somewhat different though.. he would need to inject Antonio with precise cuts on some parts of his body and install the tubes..

The only reason as to why it was difficult was because of the issue of blood loss and it effecting the patient, but with time everything worked out and Dante completed the operation..

The heart he had installed would work as normal but wasn't completely organic so Dante fabricated a document explaining that he had a metal plate in his body due to his ribs breaking in some places and called it a day… Antonio would wake up in a couple of minutes and Dante had to clean up the equipment he had used..

…

Antonio woke up, he was asking questions to the surgeon that would be preforming on him but passed out before he could ask everything he wanted but looking at the situation it seemed as thought the operation was a success.. or that he had at least not died while getting surgery…

Looking at the surgeon in question Antonio could see him staring blankly at into nothing..

"Excuse me?" Just as the words came out of his mouth, Antonio could see live returning to Dante's eyes..

"Yes.. sorry I was just thinking of something.." Dante had been watching the news and other sides containing information on some interesting things..

Apparently a new mutant had awakened in New York queens, having the power to excrete acid from the sweat he excreted from his feet.. he apparently awakened while doing track and field with some friends of his.. apparently causing his shoes to disintegrate and someone to get hurt because of the panic that it caused..

The mutant was now on the run, as he escaped the scene and ran away from home leafing footprints one the ground for a while until the tracks stopped.

Other news included some billionaire that got back doing some crazy shit and his stock going down.. the story felt familiar but so did this world so Dante didn't mind it much..

"Did the surgery go well… no problems anymore right?" Antonio seemed to not feel the usual pressure of his heart but still wanted to confirm.

"Ohh.. yes everything went well no problems if everything runs as it should.." Dante walked to the equipment seeing that he had left one piece uncleaned..

"What do you mean.. can it still fail?" doubt began to creep into Antonio while Dante just finished up the cleaning.

"No I did my job perfectly and everything is in order, but your body could have abnormal reactions… it is rare but can happened.. you just need to call me if anything comes up.." Dante put the last piece of the used equipment back into place and looked at Antonio.

"What kind of abnormal reactions…" Antonio looked kind of scared thinking that his live could still be in danger.

"Well your heart and blood vessels are running smoothly, but you could experience sudden surges or lack there of with it being new to your body… so you could be getting blood dumping's or just abnormal boners either way just call and I will look if everything is running properly, alright?"

Antonio heaved a sigh of relieve as Dante just stared at him..

"Soo I finished the job.. you know what that means.. right?" Dante made it quite clear with some added hand movements as he looked dead straight at Antonio..

"yes of course let me get the keys and papers.." Antonio left, leaving Dante to wait for the payment inside..

After a while Antonio returned with him being three items.. car keys.. some papers for the car.. and lastly a package..

Antonio smiled while placing everything down on one of the empty tables in the operating room..

"Here is everything.. plus a bonus for your discretion…" Antonio pointed out the package..

"Well.. it was great doing business with you Mr. Calabresi.. if you need anything in the future be sure to call me.." Dante smiled while imagining what the bonus could be.. perhaps cash, or maybe a check..

"I will be sure to do that.." with a final goodbye Antonio Calabresi left

After Dante made sure that he left, he finally checked everything over to make sure that he was not getting scammed.. the Keys seemed legit as the car that was his payment was still out front and the papers seemed to check out with a quick search but the package seemed strange, inside was a small box, not something that would be used to store cash, but rather something to store jewellery..

And just as suspected, in the box sat a extremely luxurious watch.. with a quick search online.. Dante found that the watch was one of the Rolex Daytona Unicorn series costing around 6 million dollars..

"How lovely.." Dante appreciate the gesture but internally he was complaining

'This is fucking useless.. I always know the time.. even as a accessory it only looks good..'

Dante didn't plan on selling it though as that would be cruel even if he didn't really like the gift..

…

Dante wasn't expecting anyone else to come that day but still had his clinic open as he watched some news on the Tv downstairs… it didn't contain anything of note other than some repeats from earlier in the day..

As he was idly watching a message popped up on his interface containing a job for him..

The job.. was more like a request.. the job entailed finding bugs or entrances in a newly created system for some pharmaceutical company managed by a certain Warren Worthington that seemed to have created a new cure for something and wanted it separate from the rest of their system..

"Well isn't that interesting.." Dante looked trough the assignment some more but didn't find much..

The payment would be at a base of a couple hundred dollars and promising a reward of ten thousand per mistake found…

Deciding that it was worth a watch, Dante got on his operating chair and dived into the web, leaving some of his conciseness behind to notice if someone entered..

Moving through the web of internet pages, Dante eventually reached the network where he was supposed to plug any possible holes..

Being in cyberspace made it easy to find gaps in security.. from a first look there seemed to be two mayor holes in security.. one was the excess to the network and the other was the operating key left behind by the company that created it…

The entrance could be hacked by using brute force.. digging in the page to find some left over information and the backdoor key was well hidden from what Dante had seen of companies but still findable in public files… other problems remained but those would need someone extreme effort to find..

Noting the two down, and returning to reality Dante was just in time to see someone approach via the security at the entrance..

It was a somewhat tall boy probably being in his early twenties, looking to be in a somewhat distressed state..

Walking to the front of the clinic, Dante enters just as the other person does..

"Good evening.. what would be the reason for you coming in at this hour?" Dante looked him up and down spotting the peculiar looking feet that the person before him had..

"Please… can you help me… I didn't know where to go and everything else is closed.." his speech was choppy being the culmination of stress and exhaustion from what Dante could see.

"Well I am a doctor… has it something to do with your feet or is it something else that distresses you…" Dante observed the feet closely.. seeing a striking resemblance to those of a animal..

"Yes.." He seems to doubt his own answer for a second but quickly follows up with. "Can you cut them off?"

The obscurity of the question was evident on Dante's face as more despair filled Jacobs eyes..

"Please!" Panic replaced the despair as Jacob began hyperventilating..

"I can… but why?" Dante was never one to waist potential and cutting a body part off wasn't something he recommended even if he was in the market of selling prosthetics..

"I can't life with these feet.. I much rather cut them off and pretend this has never happened.." the hyperventilating had slowed down somewhat allowing Jacob to speak..

"Would it not be wasting a opportunity.. from what I see your feet are the only part that has visually changed but seeing as to how it looks might not be the only part that has changed.."

"What do you mean?" Jacob searched his body trying to find something off with it..

"Well.. getting some shoes that fit would be a start.. but first would you like a check-up.. for free as you are in a state of distress.." The free part was originally not part of his plan but he could see that doing a check-up wasn't something he wanted to be doing in the first place..

"If you promise to cut of my feet after.."

"If you still want it after the check-up I will do it for you.." Dante agreed, letting Jacob heave a sigh of relieve.

Getting Jacob onto the operating chair.. Dante first started with a using his eyes to scan Jacob.. revealing no injuries even with all his cut up clothing.. Getting the physical scanner ready Dante talked to Jacob for a bit..

"So what happened?" Dante wanted to get an idea of what went through the boy as he got everything ready..

"..I was training.. when I got into a altercation with some people from school… after the pushed me I noticed something wrong with my feet.. and..." Jacob began to explain but stopped after a bit..

"Where there any problems before that?"

"Yes.. my feet had been feeling weird all day.. no even the night before.."

"Ok… so after the discovery.. you ran.. I presume?" Dante had connected the earlier news report with the happenings now so he could draw from both sources to find the truth.

"Yes.. I kept running until it got dark…" Jacob seemed to doubt his own account but knew it to be true..

"That seems to check out yes.." The result of the check came up on his Hud, showing what Dante had suspected

"What do you mean.." Jacob asked, doubt and fear still preferent in his voice..

"I had guessed that you had an enhanced physique and it appears to be true.. having better stamina and skin being resistant to acid that is produced inside of your body.."

Jacob seemed to recall some memories while nodding along..

"Your acid can be expelled trough your feet.. more specifically your toes.. or fangs as you have them now… cutting of your feet would result in you needing to expel the acid some other way.. that being trough sweat or other liquids.." Dante finished the explanation looking at the somewhat defeated Jacob.