Time Skip

Months later :

"Y'know, I thought it was a bit sus for you to ask me out on an actual date, but this is nice... Chill compared to everythin' else going on." Ori smiles across from Rebecca, who returned it while sipping her drink. Most of their dates consisted of them staying at home, Braindancing and screwing until the bed breaks... They'd restricted their public outings after the ambush last time...

To be honest, compared to how things were when Max and Six were around, it'd practically been a vacation. Koch either hadn't realised her mercs were dead or hadn't cared enough to send more assassins, Tyger Claws hadn't made any big moves despite Wakako's warnings, and he'd even managed to buy the prototype Cyberware Charlie needed.

It was currently being shipped from Japan but should arrive in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully after that Charlie would be good as new, he'd fulfil his promise to Max and Six... Though, he wasn't entirely sure how he'd raise the girl.

He'd seen well enough how his job put people he loved at risk, especially after Cat and Bats' kidnapping. Even then, he probably wouldn't have time to properly look after her. At the moment he had no solid plans, but he was pretty sure he'd end up pawning her off on Cat.

She was 'very' pregnant nowadays, and would probably jump at the chance to get a head start on parenting. At the least it'd keep her mind off of the distance he'd put between them, for obvious reasons.

"You're the one having us hunt those gonk Cyberpsychos." Rebecca drawls, "If we just did regular gigs we'd be richer and less stressed."

Ori shakes his head, "I want to find a cure, I'm not smart enough to do it myself so Regina'll have to do... I don't want to lose any more friends to it." he grumbles into his drink.

She sighs, "I don't know where that kiddy-thinkin' comes from. I thought you'd have grown outta it by now. Cyberpsychos can't be cured." she states with certainty, "Once they go past that point there's no hope, and wasting our time with some dumb one-eyed dyke ain't gonna change that."

"Is that what you tell yourself... Make yourself feel better after Six?"

"No. Maybe he coulda been helped, but I'm not gonna keep cryin' about it. You either move forward or die, that's how this city runs. You know this, I know this, this whole thing about a cure is your way of dealin' with it. I shoot people, Pilar fucks, Maine smokes, Sash' plays with her pussy," she snickers, "And you? You go all emo until the mood passes."

...

"Do you honestly think there's no hope...?" he quietly asks. "What if Pilar went psycho? Or Sasha? Or me?"

"... Then, I guess someone's gonna die." she stubbornly states, refusing to give any ground that Cyberpsychos could be brought back. Ori wasn't entirely sure where her hatred of them came from, whether it be from Six or the many they'd hunted at this point, but it was a headache to deal with whenever the topic was brought up.

He looks down, away from her, ending up staring at his arm... He wasn't exactly human anymore, considering all the upgrades he'd been through. It wouldn't be wrong to call him an abomination since he and the nanites had ended up integrating many facets from many different creatures.

His skin alone had the influence of around twelve, including sharks, crocodiles, armadillos, hippos, elephants, etc. At a distance, it still looked like regular, if tanned skin. But under a microscope, you'd find billions, maybe even trillions of microscopic scales. And the flesh under that was akin to animal hide. All of this combined made his skin look unblemished and somewhat shiny under certain light.

His muscles had been enhanced further, integrating facets from apes, gorillas, bears, and even whales in some areas. Not to mention his bones that'd slowly been fused with iron after the nanites found information on some sort of sea snail. If metal detectors were still around they'd go off whenever he'd go through.

If that wasn't it, fuckin' bots even had the bright idea to give venom sacks... Literal fucking venom sacks from snakes. Effects vary from neurotoxin to necrosis, all from biting someone. Honestly, if he ever got to the point of biting he was probably fucked anyway, poison or not.

Last but not least was a 'prototype' the nanites called it. Combining what they'd found about horned animals like deer, gazelle, goats, etc, with other shit like some 'Wolverine frog', they'd created some weird shit.

Essentially, it was a bone that could shoot out of his elbow, out from next to the bundle of nerves you call the funny bone. It was the size of a small knife and wasn't all that sharp, but with enough force it'd be useful as a last-ditch weapon. He was pretty sure they'd added it due to the ambush that involved him losing his guns...

The only shit part about it was the fact he'd need to 'shed' the bone once extended. He wasn't a superhero, he couldn't retract it into his body after the fact, not without surgery at least. After being used it'd take a day or two to regrow.

"Some date, you want me to grab a mirror so you can jerk it to yourself?" Rebecca sourly remarks as he continued to stare at himself.

"Hey, just admiring the goods. You've got good taste." he cheekily responds flexing his arm, "I'm still surprised though, thought you would've taken us someplace where you could dance." he adds, glancing around the shabby bar with little to no guests.

Rebecca rubs the back of her head, "Aha, oh yeah...?" she awkwardly laughs but trails off as data fills her eyes, "Er, one minute?" she says, grabbing her drink and getting to her feet.