The Doc’s Intrigue And A Street Rat’s Dream.

In the heart of the city's sprawling metropolis, where the neon lights painted the streets in vibrant hues and the constant hum of activity filled the air, I found myself standing before the imposing doors of a cyberware doctor's clinic. Just to get out of Heavy Rain I had to bribe police officers and hide myself but when I parked my bike and stood there on the clean streets, and looked up at the open skies and floating mansions, I felt at peace. No longer suffocated by the four walls of the shitbox apartments.

"Fuck! This feels like when I was a kid and I could breathe in some fresh air." I almost shouted as my expression loosened from the clear air.

The doctor I had arrived at was a renowned surgeon throughout the city for his expertise in cyberware augmentation, but it wasn't just his skill that drew me there – it was his rumored knowledge about technology beyond the reach of ordinary mortals. A technology to have come across in the den of the Moyatas.

I arrived at the receptionist.

"How may I help you today, si-" she stopped and gave my outfit and appearance a deep look. Cheap joggers, shoes, and a plain black shirt were all I had on and they were dirty, to say the least. Not to mention my hair and slight beard were overgrown.

"Are you sure this is the right place for you? Why don't you try Dumbo's rip-you-up a few thousand km from here?" she said with a look of disdain.

"What's the installation fee?" I replied nonchalantly.

Her expression tweaked slightly from being ignored and then she humphed a number.

"Five thousand credits for consultation and the doctor decides the installation fee!"

"Five thousand?!" my indifference broke apart. It had to be said that five thousand was more than I made a year working more than a hundred hours a week!

"Hmph!, the prices are set in chrome, either pay or leave!" she said with an almost proud expression.

"Fuck me! If he can't put this in I'll put a bullet through his head!" I said as I scanned my wrist and walked in.

"Wha-" she stood there looking surprised long after I reached the doctor.

In an extremely clean room filled with machines of extreme intricacy and complex design sat a short man with white hair and thick glasses. As I sat down opposite him, holograms with my information appeared to him.

"Hey, doc," I said while thinking about the five thousand credits I had thrown into the air.

"Welcome Mr...John Crane. Let me check a few things first. Hair: black, eyes: burgundy, weight: 120lbs/55kg, severely underweight. Height:192cm/6'3. Blood type O negative. Orphaned by the cataclysm, been in jail a few times, lost his sister to the cataclysm, has an extremely rare disease Abyss phys-"

"Doc, if you keep talking your head won't be whole much longer. Focus on why I'm here." I said.

"Y-yes forgive me, I know that subject can be a bit… anyways, how can I help you today?"

"I need you to install this for me," I said as I handed him the black box.

After he opened his expression froze and he looked at me with shock in his eyes.

"T-t-t-t-this! Where? How? Did you get this?!"

"Why are you so shocked, isn't it just an old rare military-grade cyberware?"

"No! You don't understand there are only three of its kind in existence! It's the rarest amongst the already rare full spinal replacement cyberware! Made from a unique metal found only in the earliest dungeons and manufactured with the latest most cutting-edge technology! Not to mention that most of it is made from the bones of abyssal dragons and the fallen scales of the cataclysm dragon! It's closer to an artifact or treasure than just cyberware!" he shouted with a full-on fanatic tone.

"You've got me riled up doc! Just plug it in already!" I replied in excitement.

"What? No! This is deadly, out of the 80-thousand subjects that it was tested on only 2 people survived! Only those two SSS-Rank hunters from the entirety of the human race can withstand such a thing! Just sell it to me, and I'll give you 20 million for it!" he replied.

For a short bit, I was amazed by the 20 million credits he offered but soon I sobered up.

"No! I want it implanted!" I replied.

"*Sigh* you don't seem to understand, the mortality rate for the now-extinct full spine replacement cyberware is 90%, and for this one, it's a 0.0025% chance of you not dying. No matter how I spin the numbers, your death is guaranteed."

"Stop the bullshit doc, I want it implanted, how much will that set me back?"

"….fuck it! If you die I'll just take it off your corpse. The price is forty thousand credits if you survive."

"There, I've transferred them, you've gotten me all riled up, so get to work!"

"*Sigh* it's your funeral."

Some set up later I was laying face down being pumped full of sedatives through needles to my spine by a machine. Soon after it split my back and began to slowly remove my bones while cauterizing the wound the moment it happened, in that time the doctor would place the purple-steel parts of the cyberware in piece by piece, and place the parts, part by part.

"Heartbeat is stable let's get started."

"Yes, sir." replied the Ai machine.

As they began the world slowly got darker and darker.

*Thump..Thump…..Thump...Thump...Thump....Thump...….*

[You have die- Error ERROR ERROR]

"Warning doctor, the patient is deceased."

"*Sigh* I tried to warn him, commence retrieval I've got a new piece for my collectio-"

*Thump…Thump.Thump…Thump.Thump!….THUMP!..THUMP!*

"Doctor, the patient has stabilized. Is this a medical miracle?"

"I d-don't know, immediately commence next phase! We have to get this implemented!"

Soon the doctor continued.

16 HOURS OF SURGERY LATER.

As I awakened from the haze of anesthesia, the sterile scent of antiseptic assaulting my senses, I could feel a surge of power coursing through my veins, a strength and vitality beyond anything I'd ever known. Dr. Eld looked at me with a mixture of awe and trepidation, muttering something about the implant being closer to a [Gift] of human creation than mere cyberware. His body drenched in sweat and his expression displaying a deathly tiredness.

"It worked didn't it doc! I told you to trust me." I said with glee.

"…you're a monster, you died 18 times during that operation but every time your heart would start beating again. Once was a miracle twice another miracle…three times would be a curse but 18 times? That's not comprehensible."

"Every man has secrets do-"

And then it hit me – a rush of energy, a primal force unleashed from the depths of my being. With a newfound sense of purpose, I rose from the operating table, my body feeling like a weapon of unimaginable power.

"This feels crazy!"

But it wasn't just strength that I had gained. As I stood before the mirror, I could see it – a faint glow emanating from the tips of the purple-steel implant in my spine, a testament to the power within.

"It's only 10% assimilated currently so listen to me closely now."

I sat back down and focused.

"This implant has only been successful twice and the two it worked on gained extremely different almost opposite effects from it, therefore I can't tell what it'll do. It's currently 10% assimilated with your body, normally this would be impossible as you'd be dead but the artifact is almost consciously limiting the assimilation as if it's waiting for your body to be able to withstand it. This is simply put impossible but i'm also talking to a dead man." he said seriously.

I smiled and put on my clothes.

"You've seen my file doc, do I look like someone who'll achieve anything?" I asked.

"Truthfully no. Never even, even you being able to pay the consultation fee is far-fetched."

"I know doc but I can't help it. I want it.." I said with a smile.

"What? You want money? You want strength? You want a mansion in the sky? Those are just dreams."

"But I want it all doc. I want everything in this world and beyond! I want to bring back the dead and I want to be the first Heavy Rain orphan to stand in the sky! The first to be called a legend!"

"…you're a greedy one. I'll be real with you unless you have a hundred lives it's not happening."

"Exactly, so be it killing myself, dying, or implanting failed products! Anything that gets me closer, anything that pushes me an inch forward, I'll do it all!"

"…I like your dream, John Mcclain but there are no happy endings in this world."

"I know, I'll be the first."

I left with those final words still in the air.

"*Sigh* another one with such a dream and that same implant…I wonder if they'll meet one day."

…..

I was already on the road with a dungeon in mind to let loose.