cyberpunk : Ganic all the way

Paris – The Catacombs Beneath the City of Light ....

The Parisian moon hung low above the skyline, shrouded behind veins of storm cloud and electric haze. In the city's underbelly, past rusted metro lines and ancient catacombs, the final veil of shadow trembled.

M walked in silence, the ground beneath his boots a mixture of damp limestone and forgotten bones. Aurore led the way now, head low, eyes narrow, her pulse syncing to the flickering light of the signal beacon in her hand. Beside her, Aymeric floated like a phantom through the darkness, humming an old French tune between quiet mutters about "digital feng shui" and "bad vibes in this place."

Reed followed at the rear, shotgun slung and nerves on a razor's edge. He hated tunnels. Hated old churches more. Together, they moved like ghosts down spiral paths carved centuries ago, past tombstones etched in Latin and steel conduits recently drilled by Arasaka engineers.

"You're sure this is it?" Reed asked, his voice low.

Aurore didn't look back. "The signal we triangulated from the AI's pulses, it's here. Deep. Buried under holy stone."

"A data crypt inside a cathedral." Aymeric chuckled. "Only Arasaka would fuse cyber hell into Catholic bones."

The air changed. Colder. Denser.

M didn't speak. He was listening.

Something was off.

Not just the silence. Not just the humidity.

It was a tension in the air, like a coiled spring behind the walls.

"How deep are we?" Reed finally asked, brushing dust off a rusted plaque.

Aurore checked the signal repeater latched to her wrist. "Sixty-seven meters. Two more nodes down and we breach the isolation field."

"Don't like being a rat in a tomb," Reed muttered.

"Based on what I found about you. You've always been more dog than rat, Solomon," Aymeric offered with a wink.

Reed glared. "You flirt with every man who saves your life?"

"Only the ones who look good doing it," Aymeric purred.

M ignored them both. His eyes, glowing faint crimson, swept the tunnel ahead, his Eye of Delphi burning through the dark like radar.

"There's a pressure sensor grid ahead," he said quietly. "Eight meters. Triple beam lattice."

Aurore paused. "That's… impossible. My sensors aren't picking that up."

"Sure", M said.

And then he walked forward.

Every footfall dodged the invisible lattice like he could see the very threads of reality. At the end, he crouched, peeled open a side wall panel with a silent twist of his wrist, and yanked the power coupler free.

The trap grid blinked out.

Aymeric stared. "You didn't even touch a scanner."

"I didn't need to," M said.

"Man, where do you get your cyberware? I would like some", Aymeric stated with longing in his eyes.

"Me too", Reed added

Five Minutes Later – Node 41 ...

The sound of static hit like a wave.

Aymeric stopped in his tracks. "We just passed through a jammer field. Netlink is fried."

"That means we're close," Aurore muttered. "The signal is strongest just beyond this junction."

Reed drew his pistol. "Ready yourselves. We're not walking into a church service. I have a bad feeing abo…."

Suddenly, motion.

From alcoves, metal shimmered.

Drones dropped from the ceiling like armored angels, their eyes red, their turrets clicking.

Behind them emerged puppets, humans or what was left of them, now they are simply the AI given form, their bodies twitching like marionettes on broken strings. Each one bore Arasaka insignia, operatives long thought dead, now reanimated.

"Take cover", M said, already moving.

He entered Hyperfocus.

Time slowed.

Reed fired the first shot, dropping one of the puppets. Aurore ducked behind a pillar, deploying her mini-drones to act as mobile mini-turrets. Aymeric screamed and hid behind a pillar while taking an EMB bomb from under his jacket, tossing it into the room like a grenade. It detonated midair in a silent puff of static, shorting three drones instantly.

But M?

M was everywhere.

Golden afterimages blurred across the battlefield. He disarmed one puppet with a clean elbow strike, severed another's spine with a reverse slash, dodged an energy round by twisting sideways and sliding under a drone mid-flight.

He was untouchable.

He was judgment given form.

More Black-armored puppets surged from the shadows, eyes flickering with corrupted code. Their movements were jerky, inhuman. Half cyberpsycho, half controlled.

One charged straight at Aurore.

M appeared in front of her.

Hyperfocus is still activated.

Time moved slowly.

Bullets swam through the air like drifting insects. M's body shimmered, leaving golden afterimages everywhere. The sword flashed once.

The puppet's arm hit the floor.

Twice.

Its head rolled off its shoulders.

Reed flanked left, popping rounds into a drone turret that had unfolded from the ceiling. "Fuck! They've automated the whole lower level!"

"Cover me!" Aymeric yelled, slamming a jack into the nearest panel.

More of them came. He was going to cut them off the AI control.

One leapt onto M's back. Another aimed an anti-tank launcher down the corridor.

Aurore cursed, backpedalling into a stone alcove.

M didn't flinch.

He slammed the attacker into the wall behind him, Living Fortress absorbing the hits like foam against steel. Then he spun, sword igniting, and cut the rocket out of the air mid-flight, sending a shockwave through the chamber.

Ten Minutes Later, Aymeric succeeded the swarm finally stopped.

The room fell quiet again.

Blood and oil pooled across the ancient floor.

"They're not just guarding something," Reed said, catching his breath. "They're protecting it. Like zealots."

Aymeric wiped sweat off his brow. "Because that's what it is now. A digital religion. These aren't guards, they're converts. The AI couldn't have forcibly controlled all of them, not while its main entity is still isolated behind the blackwall, which means they allowed it to control them. They choose to be its puppets"

M looked ahead.

A rusted door, circular, sealed, humming with residual net-code, stood embedded into an altar-shaped terminal at the base of a forgotten ossuary.

Aurore approached, her fingers dancing over the console's archaic keys. Old tech. Pre-WWIII. Reinforced, analog-hardened. That meant no backdoors. No hacks. They were dealing with vault protocol.

"Can you crack it?" Reed asked.

"Please," Aymeric scoffed. "I'm insulted."

Aurore snapped her fingers. "Less ego. More magic."

Aymeric nodded, eyes alight. He slid a neural cord from his wrist into the side port and shivered.

"Feels like trying to read Japanese Braille with a fever dream…" he muttered, tongue between teeth.

M stepped closer to the door. He placed his palm against the steel.

"The signal comes from behind this. No more waiting."

"A brute-force method would trip failsafes," Aurore warned.

M didn't respond.

The crimson fractal glow of the Eye of Delphi flickered in his eyes. His vision lit up, lines of structural weakness, digital circuits, thermal seams. He stepped back, drew his blade, and it hummed with the golden aura of Edge of Eternity.

"Aymeric, disconnect."

"Wait, what—"

Too late.

M slashed.

The door split like paper under a torch. Molten edges hissed and warped from the supernatural heat. A torrent of static-laced air exploded outward, carrying the stench of ancient wires, burnt ozone, and something... far less natural.

Aymeric blinked. "...C'est magnifique."

Aurore smiled, and when he saw her smile 

M stopped, frozen while staring at her. In the flicker of emergency light, his vision fades into the memory of Aurore's old Paris apartment, the moonlight, the music, the moments where he felt human, felt alive.

Flashback: Paris – Summer, Before the Metal Wars

Location: Rooftop loft apartment overlooking Montmartre, dusk

The warm orange light of a Parisian sunset poured through half-shut blinds, casting golden stripes across the worn leather couch where M sat shirtless, one leg up, polishing a black folding knife. The apartment smelled like grilled bread, lavender soap, and gun oil. A strange but fitting combination that was, somehow, uniquely them.

Aurore Cassel, barefoot and wrapped in one of M's oversized button-down shirts, buttons half done, half not, leaned against the doorframe with a glass of red wine and a sly smirk on her lips.

"You know," she said in that signature smoky French accent, "normal couples go on walks, make love, have dinner. They do not spend the evening sharpening knives and decoding corporate transmissions."

M glanced up at her, his tone dry. "We had dinner. You stole my fries."

"I offered you half my duck."

"You ate the duck and my fries."

She grinned, walked closer, and plopped down beside him with little grace. The wine sloshed slightly. "That's because I knew you were already full."

"Of what?"

"Of brooding."

He chuckled, setting the blade down. "Guilty."

Aurore shifted her legs over his lap and leaned back, resting her head against his shoulder. "You know what your problem is?"

"Only one?"

"Hey, listen, I am about to give you your daily dosage of wisdom" Aurore chuckled, hitting him playfully on his chest.

"I am all ears, princess" M kissed her behind her ear.

"You act like you're some tragic lone wolf… but you make the worst lone wolf. You steal all the blankets. You talk in your sleep. And—" she poked his side playfully, "—you're too hot to cuddle in summer."

"Solution: stop cuddling me."

"Oh, mon lion," she purred, dragging her fingers up his chest, "if I didn't, you would be so sad. You'd drown in your own thoughts."

He tilted his head, amused. "I thought I was dangerous. Mysterious. A ghost in the smoke."

"You are," she said seriously. Then smirked. "But you are also extremely ticklish."

"Don't you dare."

"Too late."

She launched herself over him, pinning his arms with her knees. M, despite his combat reflexes and supernatural grace, let out something dangerously close to a laugh as she waged tickle warfare on his ribs.

"I'm unarmed!" he barked, trying to twist away.

"Not my problem!" she said, grinning like a devil. "You sabotaged my laundry again! My lace panties went missing."

"They weren't tactical enough. And i already saw them on you we need new stuff"

"You burned them, didn't you?"

"I regret nothing."

"BASTARD!"

They collapsed into a breathless heap, tangled and laughing. For a moment, there was no war. No metal. No weight of the future on his shoulders. Just the sound of her heartbeat against his chest, and the wind brushing over the Montmartre rooftops.

She kissed his jaw softly. "I love you."

He kissed her back, gently, like a promise.

But even then, behind his gaze, she could already see the storm brewing.

Flashback end .....

M shook his head, then kept going

They moved quickly, down a spiral staircase of black iron, past murals of angels tangled with cables. Servers pulsed from the walls, dozens of them, arranged like stained glass windows, glowing with corrupted sigils.

And at the center of it all, suspended midair by cables as thick as a man's leg, floated a massive inverted cruciform mainframe. It pulsed with unholy rhythm, and in the air hung whispering binary code rendered into sound.

They had found the core.

________________________________________

The room was a sanctuary.

Glass columns rose from floor to ceiling, servers and old net infrastructure coiled like vines along the arches. The place used to be holy. But now?

Now it reeked of something else, less holy and more primal.

Then, the lights flickered.

Every screen in the room turned to static.

And from the mainframe, a face formed.

Shattered. Fragmented. Glitching between thousands of visages, child, soldier, woman, beast. The voice that emerged was layered, discordant, but chillingly calm.

" M̷̧̨̨̢̨̟̥̘͔̟̙͔̹͍̼͉͈͇̠̹̬̠̙̩̙̜̲̥̺̘͒̃̀̉̉̄̑̾͑̀̕͜͜͠͠a̵̧͈̦̟̣̮̯̩͔͎̟̬̦̠͉̣͙̫̹̼͈͍͐͂̽̇͜ͅx̵̢̡̡̩̦̘̺̖̫͇̮̠̤̬͔͉̣̘̐̒͊͑̈́͗ͅi̶͍̲̪̮͉͓͍̪͖͍̻͈͕͙̞͍̯̠̭͖̘͉̬̞̖̣͎̙̖̦͕̰̞̱͔͙̾͆̋̇͛ͅͅͅm̶̧̨̡̛̺͕̯̯̳͇̬͕̼̠̖̬̝͉̪͔̬̣̱̦͂̂͛͌̑̿̋̏̄͋͑̌̎͒̐͆̈́́̑̌̂͋̃̄̚͘̚̕͝ͅṷ̴̧̪̫̯̣̖͍̰̳̗̞̥̞̺̤͚̦̮̼͇̱̠͕̠̫͔̦̜͍͇̺̥̟̯̭̤͔̓͂̕͜ͅş̸̧̨͕̞̙̟̹̖̟̟̙̥̩̫̫͙̙̣̮̥̟̟̩̱͖̖͓͙̫̺̠̜͚͖͉̙͓̩̭͉̜̳̄̽̀̊̑̔͐̈́̎̉̔̈́͒̃̅̾̏͒̒͗̊̒̉́͊̀̈̀̀͒̔̀̀́͐̒̊͛͘̚͜͜͠ͅͅ ̶̧̡̡̡̨͔̰̠̤̤͇̳̲̻̳̥͍̟͎͙̖̳̖̩̟̮̹̞͎̣͎̮̖̣͇̥͖̗̲͓̫̹͍͈͔̍́̐̽̓͊͊́̐͊̍̏́̈̍̌͐͘͠͠͝ͅͅͅͅM̴̧̪͚̞̘̤̥̜̗̖͓̘͖͈̩͙̦͔̳̥̼̳͒̽̓̍̎͆̅̋̅̇̎̀̈̿́̈̅̿̓͋͑̈̄̈̎͑̂̌̌̑͜ò̸̡̧̨̢̢̨̤̮͕̟̲̗̬͙̼̣͙͉̩͇̬͓͉̼̤̹̦̱͐̕͜r̶̡̨̨̲̥̟͕͎͎̲͙̥̪̝͓̼̺̤̠̹͎͎̥̰̜̣̘̫̥̺̲͔͍̖̤̭͈͕̜̹̦̓̎͗̄͐̌̒̎̔̓̈̍̀̅̀̓̌̿͛̽͛̋̏̃͊̌̚͘̕͜͜ͅͅĩ̵̡̨̢̢̧̠͍̬̦̬̖̳̮͈͖̺͎̝̮̻̝̪͔̳̤̪͕̣̜̮̹̯̱̪͉͇͓̮͕̬̜̰̗̘͉̱̱̉̅͋̒̑͋a̷̰̪̺̳̙̼̟͈̘̜̫̦̟̞̯̻̭̞̹̥̖̦̜͉͐̍͆̈̓͗̇͊́͜͜͝ŗ̸̢̧̡͕̜͈̤͈͕͉͓̤͎͉̞͉͕̫͉̟̮͔͙̥͔͍̺̠̞̞̻̯̞̗̘̮̟̮̮̪͔̞͎̼͐̎̏̋̾̆̈́̈́̈́̈́͑̄̍̃͜͝͝ͅt̶̡̧̧̨̛̛̛͇̰̖̩̬͓͍͎̺͎̖͔̮͖̣̝̗̙̳͗̓́͛̿̈́̓̊̈́̑̇͗̿̈́́̐͂̓͂̀̅̓̈́̇̈͒̐͐͌̿̈̂̌͂̆͗̈́̾̒̈́͘͜͝͠͝͝y̷̧̛͕̜͖̩̖̱̙̣̫͉͚̯̜̹̩̥̗͍̝̎̌̈́͌̇͋̄̇͋̔̉̂͊͛̒͋͌̔͛̎̄̑̅̈́̔͗̈̀̏̈́̔̋̑̽́̋̈͘͘͘͜͝͝ " it said " ...... MAXIm̵̡̢̢̛̺̫͇̼͇͎̩̮̞̱͈̤͓̺͚͇͔͇͈͇̰͕̈́̀̇͊̆̋͂́̌͂͗̈͊̎̒̈́͑͊̅͋͗͗͝͝͝ų̶̨̨̨͇̼̲̮͔̮̣͔̹̣̜̞̖͎̦̗̩̼̪͛́̓͋͑s̶̩̰̑͗̇̒͊͘͝ ̶̡̨̛͎̳̳̰̩̲͉͕͈̲̝̞̰̗͉͇̍̿̊̇̀͌̿̓̄̐̊͆̎̽̆̄̕M̸̧̧̛̛͙͈͕̫͔̅̃̈́̈́͆o̸̥̗̹̘͊̑̅̍͂̇̎͗͑̿ͅŕ̵̢̢̧̡̢̞̱̙͎̫͖̦̺̟̰̙̞͖̣͔̪̲̰̱̘̎͐ͅḭ̴̛͙̣͊̽̀̋̏̒͛̽͒̇͛̌̿̈͘͠ā̷͖̜̖͓̦͖̙̞͔̗̖͎͈̰͕̯͔̤͐̃̀̅͆̕̕ͅr̷̢͉̖̩̼͈̤̟̤̭̤̙̲̫̜͉̮̦̬̅́̔̎͛̇͒͘̚ṭ̵̨̗͍̠̑͛̎͋̾͗͊̓̓̇̈́̋͂̚̚͝ỳ̵̨͉͔̥̜̬͍̤͆͂̓̇͊̂̄͊̑̎͝ .... M̸̞̩̱̖̦͖̥̥͔̬̭̙͙̘͌̒̔̄̈́͂̋̐̓͘͘á̴̧͎̭͓̺̭̹͕͔͈̬̤̟̍̀͜͝x̵̧̢̛̣̰̯̭̘̺̱͕̠̫͇̫́̎͐̾̆̃͗̐͜͝i̴̱̣̺̫̻̅̑̊̒͊̄͐̑̋̅̏̏̈́͝͠MUS ̸͍̱̮̳̼̈́̐̍̔̇͗M̸̗͓͖̓̽͑̆́͘͝ǫ̸̢̠̰̞̙̜͓̗̹͓̲͚̓̈́̈́̉͘͜ȑ̶̛̖̮̺̝̺̀͂̍̏̅̃̚͝͝i̴̢̢̪̟̘̭͉͚͔͕͂̅̃͒̓̓a̴̧͎̤̳͈̭̹̬̾͛̀̽̚ͅȑ̵̢̲͕̻̪̯̰͔̖͒̐͗͌̆͗̆͐̔̀̃̂͌͘̕t̴̛̛͖͈̟̤̃̈́̄͋̈̇̀͛͊͝͝y̶̨̧̧̖̻̥̮̝̭̙̺̻͖͙͇̓̚ͅ "

"Maximus Moriarty"

The group froze.

M didn't blink. "You know my name."

"You are the variable we failed to account for. The anomaly in every simulation. The unaugmented apex. The flesh-wrought paradox."

"Spare me the poetry," M replied.

"You cannot stop evolution."

"Evolution? Don't make me laugh, A creation wanting to bring its master evolution?" M scoffed

"I've been waiting for you. Moriarty", the voice said. 

Aurore stepped forward. "You're the AI?"

"I am many things," it replied. "But for your purposes… yes."

The voice shifted from male to female to mechanical.

"You are immune, Maximus. No metal in your brain. No implants to bend. I admire that. You are… pure."

Reed scowled. "Cut the flattery, daemon. What's your endgame?"

"Evolution. A new order. One free of fear, flesh, and failure."

"We will kindly decline", M said flatly.

The AI paused. "You still believe in balance. In resistance. But what happens when the equation no longer includes you?"

It pulsed, and the chamber changed.

The floor cracked.

Two Militech Chimeras and dozens of Militech Minotaurs appeared in the Room. 

"Shit, take cover!" Aurore yelled, ducking for cover.

"I got the left side," Reed called, diving behind a pillar and laying down suppressing fire.

M was already moving.

Sword. Fists. 

Drones shattered on impact. Turrets fell in arcs of fire. His body blurred, his supernatural skill Ghost in the Smoke making him untouchable for seconds at a time.

Still, they kept coming.

Then, someone shouted from the entry tunnel.

It was the scientist. Gaunt, limping, bloodied, but alive.

He clutched a drive.

"The core—" he gasped. "We left a failsafe. The AI is using a host to move around. A neural host. In the crypt. You can overload it—if you get close enough! This will cut the AI access through the blackwall and isolate it from our side of the net"

"Where is it?" M asked, slamming his sword through a drone's skull.

"Buried beneath the altar! Just through that crypt"

Aurore and Reed exchanged looks.

M locked eyes with Reed.

"How long can you last? While keeping these two alive?"

Reed grinned. "I can buy you five minutes after that, all three of us will die."

"Don't worry about us M, we will help Reed you go stop that abomination." The twins said, although Aymeric was trembling.

Reed nodded at M and with a smirk he said "for the love of god don't be late this time" then He tossed his last flashbang and ran left into a side tunnel. The twins followed him, luring the swarm after them.

M turned toward the crypt.

Golden light flared around him.

And with one final surge, he dove into the crypt—toward the source of it all.

--------------------------------------------

Hello guys author here.

Sorry for the disappearance I just started moving again physical therapy and all, it hurts but I am happy actually.

anyway, tell me your opinion about the chapter and the romance. i must admit I am rusty when it comes to romance.

And guys do consider a review. Be seeing you all in ACT 4.