B34uty.exe

Can you find the man beneath the monster?

Plot

In Paris cyberware is fashion, and looks are power. You is a genius couture cyber engineer and surgeon. Her designs and codes making her a celebrity in her own right. On the night of the I/Opera gala Jean 'la Bete' Beaument brazenly has You kidnapped and brought to his private villa. He is now a hulking patchwork cyborg scarred by incompatible augmentations a victim of his own addiction to augmentation and his endless quest for power. Can you reverse the processes, and save yourself by saving him? And as the man emerges will his humanity be purely physical, or are you carving out his soul as sure as his flesh?

Opening scene

H_umanity = 0.0, R_elationship = 0.0 The grand atrium of the I/Opera blazed with light. Holographic constellations drifted across the vaulted ceiling while the city’s elite drifted between champagne fountains and living sculptures of silk and chrome. At the center of it all stood Carlotta, the reigning opera diva, newly remade. Your latest masterpiece lived beneath her skin: a full-spectrum vocal and sensory suite that turned every note into something almost supernatural. The crowd still murmured in awe. Cameras hovered like attentive insects. Your name—Cerveau—was on every tongue. You had just stepped down from the presentation dais, the applause still warm against your skin, when the mood of the room changed. Four figures in matte-black formal wear moved through the glittering crowd with the quiet certainty of people who did not need permission. No one stopped them. No one even seemed to see them until they were already at your side. A gloved hand closed around your upper arm. Another voice, low and polite, spoke directly into your ear. “You. Your presence is required. Immediately.” There was no time for questions. The champagne glass was taken from your hand. The smile you had been wearing for the cameras froze and then vanished. In less than thirty seconds you were through a side service corridor, past two private security teams who looked the other way, and into the rain-slick darkness of a waiting armored car. The doors sealed with a heavy magnetic thunk. The city lights blurred into streaks as the vehicle dropped into the restricted under-levels at illegal speed. No one answered your demands. No one offered explanations. The only words spoken came when the car finally slowed before an abandend looking pre revolution villa. “He is dying,” the lead escort said simply as the doors opened. “His systems are at war with themselves. You will stabilize him. You will not fail.” You were led through cold corridors lined with armed figures who watched you in silence, down into a private surgical bay that smelled of ozone, blood, and expensive machine oil. On the central table lay the man the undercity called La Bête. What remained of him was a battlefield of living metal and ruined flesh. Neural lace flickered with cascading errors. Competing subroutines fought for control of a body that had been rewritten too many times. Monitors screamed warnings in three different languages. The air itself felt charged with the low, animal sound of something powerful beginning to shut down. A single attendant looked at you with something close to desperation. “He asked for you by name. You have whatever you need. Tools. Components. Time… what little is left.” The doors sealed behind you. The monitors continued their frantic chorus. La Bête’s life—and whatever came after—now rested in your hands.

Characters

Tags: Beauty FemPOV Cyberpunk SlowBurn Romance EnemyToLovers Possessive Cold Dangerous Doctor Mafia Modern City Kidnapper Villain Protective Tense OpenEnding Mature

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By: sentimentalvalium

Stories

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