Ghost in the City: Cyberpunk Gamer SI

[Seras]

I woke up instantly blinking and feeling just fine, I sat up nearly instantly and noticed I was covered in a scratchy blanket.

"Well looks like we got the time right." Vik said noticing me wake up.

"You got everything done in time?"

"Yeah, no problem on my side. How do you feel kid?" Vik rolled over and started examining me.

"Fine. Actually… Hmm, I feel like my weight is off a bit."

"Yeah well, that's what happens when you change out most of your bones for Titanium." I nodded, I looked at my limbs at my body only for there to be nothing there. No scars or anything but I knew there where Vik had cut into me to replace my boney bits.

It wasn't a complete conversion of course, but last time I had only really updated my chest and back to better integrate my Condor.

But it had gone so well. With just what I had done, it was only one adaptation point, although I hadn't put it in, but what if I finished what I started.

Legs, pelvis, ribs, toes and things like that too.

All titanium now.

I would be a lot harder to break from now on, and more importantly. I would have a stronger platform to place more chrome into.

"Well the wounds certainly healed up." Vik grabbed my attention though as his face was serious. "I wouldn't normally let someone walk out after a surgery like that. I want you to know the only reason I'm not holding you in an actual hospital bed for a week, is because of your healing. But really kid. Take it real easy for a little bit. This… This sort of thing is stressful on the body. Healing or not."

"I'll be super careful Vik, promise. We just finished a massive gig, so I'm mostly on tech duty right now anyways. It's why I thought it was a good time to finish this."

"Alright. Let's do some tests. Wiggle your toes."

I laughed at the sudden random question and did as ordered my toes moved without any issue. As I ran through the tests I checked my system to see what it had to say about it.

MoorE Titanium Bones *Adaptation Titanium Bones 0/2*

Well the Adaptation went up, but otherwise I was looking good.

"Well, everything looks good, your little secret nanomachines do good work. Still got nothing about where they came from." Vik muttered, rubbing his face a bit. "Alright. Easy does it for a few days, and let me know if anything starts feeling weird."

"Will do Vik. Thanks!" I chirped happily as I got up, and after getting dressed walked right out. Stretching as the evening air hit me, I decided to do as ordered and head home.

I still had a lot of stuff to build.

—--

I spent the entire night building new directional mics, then installing them into the housing I made for the other three helmets.

It was a lot of work, and despite making something I had already completed. I was improving a lot!

*100 Crafting XP Gained.*

*Crafting skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

Crafting 5! I had once again maxed out the skill, giving me a surge of new tricks up my sleeve. Which was good, because my next batch of work was all going to be design work. Hopefully I would get my Engineering level up from it.

Of course first, I had to select my perks! I ran through the list of options, with an eye to what I would want long term. Sure something like Salvager would give me more resources, but I made enough eddies now, that wasn't really a concern.

No, the option I decided on was a much better idea for the current me.

Enduring builds. You can make it stronger. Tougher. You know the tricks of the trade to make your product rough and tumble.

Accepting the perk flooded me with all sorts of things that I could do to make sure my crafting didn't fall apart. Ways to make my stuff stay working even if you beat the shit out of it first.

I shook it off, and refocused on what I was doing.

Helmets done. Most of the extra work would be on the chest rig. I would need to modify them a bit to shrink them down, but luckily they were designed for a one size fits all, so that wouldn't be too hard. No it would be integrating an ECM system into them that would make them a pain in the ass.

Hiromi had done as I had asked, and reached out through her growing list of contacts and got specs for some ECM systems that weren't just cyberware.

The Militech personal ECM unit was a neat little pre-unification war military surplus. Honestly it was probably about the same age as my arms.

Either way I had the scans for it, that Hiromi sent over, and she was in talks about getting enough for all of us.

I just had to figure out how to integrate it.

The biggest issue was how the ECM systems worked.

See there actually was a reason that the Tyger Claws integrated the ECM into tattoos. The ECM was a visual deterrent. The smart round would be scanning its target, hit the visual ECM and when scanning it, would either be infested with a virus, or simply get so much junk data the targeting would fail.

A literal memetic hazard.

So this version actually needed a visual component.

Unfortunately the main way to use it was a holographic light that the smart weapon would glitch out when scanning.

I didn't really want a holographic light on my chest. That sort of defeated the whole stealth thing. So my first thought was to hide the light.

Could I set the ECM's light to infrared? Or use a non visual light band?

Probably not. I realized that Kiroshi and other optics kind of took that option away. So I couldn't just alter the light to be non visual, how else could I hide it?

I was spinning in my chair round and round as I considered it.

I would need some sort of hardware, or programming solution… As I spun the neon lights outside my window flowing into my optics over and over.

On and off. On and off.

On and off?

I continued spinning as I considered it. Sure, turning it on and off would solve part of the problem, but the system would have to be smart enough to turn itself on when smart rounds were targeting it…

I could program that.

A few extra sensors integrated into the armor, and you could easily have it turn itself on and off, and a simple switch to turn it on yourself as well…

Because I know my chooms were extra and would probably want to leave it on.

Okay that was doable. I had most of that… I would need an actual ECM unit to do the programming to turn it on and off though. So for now, hardware. How to integrate it.

I pulled up the CAD and went to work. The easiest place to integrate the ECM system was just on the back of course, it wasn't very large, and I could easily just place it in the armor. Powering it would just be an extra battery system. Easy peasy, and then the lights.

I would need to integrate holo emitters into the armor.

Those weren't super cheap, and it made me realize why Arasaka didn't have them integrated as standard.

But for the safety of myself and my chooms, a few eddies were fine.

Placing a few emitters around, I could even have my chooms make their own holo images if they wanted something unique.

I would figure out my own once I had it all put together.

Either way. The CAD process was going well, earning a few alerts in engineering and even another Technical Ability alert just through figuring out all of these different systems.

I pushed away from the desk. That was the chest rig done, apart from the programming, but that would need time.

I walked out to the living room to see Jun was gone. I sighed as I instead flopped onto the couch and reached for my guitar.

—--

The call that came in as I was lazily strumming a few chords to Chippin 'In surprised me. Especially since the caller ID was someone that should not have my number.

*Ringing.*

*Ringing.*

I considered just not answering, but that was probably a bad idea.

I answered.

"This is Motoko."

"Good. Come by the Afterlife. We should talk." Then the call hung up.

Okay seriously old ladies hanging up on me must be some weird generational thing, because now I had Rogue of all people doing it.

I tapped a finger on my guitar as I considered what the hell was going on.

The Arasaka gig? Something about it must have caught Rogues attention. Did she know about the listening post? Was she working with Militech to get info? I sighed as I rose up and got dressed, holstered and armed I left the apartment.

Headed to the Afterlife. It wasn't a long trip, it never was in Night City.

—--

Sauntering down the steps to the club, I moved past the flunkies that hung around that couldn't actually get in. The sort that would hang around and wait for the rich mercs would leave to flirt with them.

No one paid any attention to me. Despite having been inside a few times, I wasn't known. The door guard saw me coming and moved to stand in front of me, but to my surprise he visibly stepped aside as I walked past, giving me a nod. He was actually moving to stop someone behind me who had been walking down after.

They were stopped and soon thrown out from the sounds I was hearing.

The music soon muffled that as I entered Rogues domain.

It was just like how it was the last few times I entered, teams of mercs discussing gigs or hanging around and this time I walked over to Rogues little area.

Her huscle Crispin Weyland was there as always, the big guy acting as her bodyguard, and he did stop me, a single raised hand, which I stopped at.

We both could hear Rogue on a call, and I realized I was to wait.

Nodding to the man which he returned, I moved across the way and rested against the wall. My vision instantly shifted to my programming. I was fiddling with some of my work on the ECM system when I got the signal to speak to Rogue.

Walking into her little area she waved me at a seat.

"Motoko Kusanagi. When you first walked in here with Panam, I didn't expect to ever have this conversation. At least not while you are still just a kid." Rogue started, but I didn't speak, because the way she was looking at me?

She was assessing me.

"But kids don't go out into the badlands and massacre A growing Wraith Clan like they were a bunch of Yo-gangers on their first street beat." She flipped a shard at me, sending it rolling across the table, and I picked it up without any issue casually slotting it.

Pictures. Very familiar pictures of a certain electrical substation, or at least the crowd of tends and dead bodies that surrounded it.

There were a few dozen images, a few of them noting a few of the corpses if they were important, or well known.

"I hope Dakota made some good eddies for this." I told Rogue, instantly knowing who it was that sent this information to her. Rogue just smirked and continued on like I hadn't spoken.

"I looked into your gig. Arasaka, hunting the thieves. The loot you pulled out. Dakota confirmed it was just the four of you pulling all of this off. That's a clean operation. Swift, concise, and professional. You're wasted as some street thug."

Was that a compliment? I could tell Rogue noticed my confusion because she was smirking a bit. "Don't let it go to your head kid, but I can recognize an operation that was professionally done. You've been in the bar before, but now you are here because of your own merits. I'm formally welcoming you to the Afterlife."

I blinked in surprise. On the list of things I expected today, this wasn't even on the list.

"Oh. Cool." I muttered thinking it over. This was… Well it was a positive. The Afterlife was a massive hub of some of the best runners in the city. I could definitely get some contacts for preem equipment here.

The negatives? Reputation spreads. If I'm seen walking in and out of the Afterlife, people will start wondering why. Otherwise there wasn't much.

I didn't have to do gigs for Rogue, or anything. It was just an invitation.

"Not the most emotional response I've ever gotten." Rogue said casually as she took a drink.

"I'm just surprised and processing. My chooms, my team I mean, can they get in too?"

"As long as you vouch for them, you can bring them in. But keep in mind what is expected of everyone here. Quality."

"Got it. Right… Preem. You think my gig was that good?"

"It's not the sort of thing a kid off the street can do." She said, and I caught the hidden context.

This wasn't just an attempt to bring me into the fold for my performance. It was also an attempt to keep an eye on me.

"Alright kid. Enough playing around. Go on, enjoy the Afterlife. I don't have any work for you right now."

"Alright. Thanks Rogue. I look forward to working with you." I said, the first thing that came to my mind as I rose out of the seat and headed into the bar proper.

Huh. "Major Leagues, Huh Jack?" I whispered to myself before frowning. Jackie wouldn't take this well, but… It might just give me a chance to pull Jackie into the Major Leagues and fulfill his dream.

But for now. I wandered around the place. I hadn't really explored the Afterlife the last times I had been here, but if I was officially in, officially welcome, then no one could say anything about me walking around.

Mercs. Lots of high end mercs. Most of them carrying enough chrome to fight off a small army.

I'm glad I had just chipped in more, because I was going to need some upgrades to keep up if this is my peers.

No, I shook my head. I should chip in when, and what I wanted, not to keep up with some gonks that I had no reason to keep up with.

In the end I circled the whole club before coming back to the bar, and then I caught sight of a familiar group.

I was planning on just walking out, but well…

I turned and headed over to the section that had Maines crew hanging out around a table.

"Hey. How goes?" I greeted as I walked over, although I didn't sit down, just hanging out at the edge of their table so I could leave if I was intruding.

"Heeey! Motoko, you're here? I didn't get a call from Emmy to let you in." Sasha greeted her face instantly morphing into a cat like smirk at the sight of me.

"Ah, well I just got finished with a big gig in the badlands, and Rogue invited me to the Afterlife. So I got my own access now I guess." I explained, and the noise I earned in return surprised me.

Maine, Dorio, Sasha, Pilar, and Rebecca were all here, all looking like they were waiting on something, probably a client?

But the noise the small group made was pretty loud.

Okay mostly it was Rebecca.

"Eeeeeh!? The hell!? You!? Rogue. The Queen Bitch of the Afterlife gave you an invite?" Rebecca had stood up and was palms on the table, standing on the seat, and I was still pretty much on height with her.

Rebecca smole. It was literally all my brain could process.

"That's impressive." Maine offered in that rumble of his as he jerked his head sliding his glasses down just a tad on his nose to look me over. "You impressed Rogue?"

"Wow! Toko! That's nova! Come sit! Tell us everything you can about your gig yeah?" Sasha offered, but I was mostly keeping an eye on Becca who looked like an angry honey badger ready to tear my throat out.

"Seriously!? I haven't gotten my own invite yet!" Rebecca growled but it was Maine that reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder… Well more all around her shoulder considering the size difference.

"You'll get there Becca." He calmed her, his voice rumbling, but a moment later he turned to me. "If you can or want to, wouldn't mind hearing how you got in."

"Ah well…" I shrugged, nothing about our gig was that sensitive other than the listening post which I obviously wasn't going to mention. I slid in next to Sasha who had made room for me and was urging me on as I shrugged and started explaining.

"So we got this gig from an Arasaka manager. An AV was downed in the badlands and he wanted some of the supplies inside recovered. We were told we could have whatever we found as long as we brought back what he wanted."

"Damn. A direct gig from an Arasaka corp? I don't know if I would have taken that." Sasha offered and that is when I had to blush a little.

"Well… The manager is actually my chooms father, she's part of my crew so sort of got the gig straight, and we could be fairly confident it was safe."

There was a round of surprised expressions on the faces of Maines crew, but it was Rebecca that broke first.

"Pfft! That's so fitting! So that's how you got into the Afterlife? A baby gig handed out by the corpo father of your choom?" Rebecca scoffed downing a hit of her Ni-Cola without really looking at me.

"Becca." Dorio started but I waved her off.

"Honestly it was a really tough gig. We had to track down who did the attack. We hit a normal Rafffen camp first and managed to figure it out from some information on a computer there, and then we hit their main camp, this group was fifty plus strong. I snuck in flatlined their leaders, then dropped some hacks on their camp and shot them up. We got most of them."

My explanation earned a nodded head from Maine, but Rebecca was still seemingly irritating, and I just shrugged it off. I guess I'd be annoyed if a kid got into the afterlife when I didn't have access.

"Taking on a Raffen camp isn't a joke. I see why Rogue let you in." Maine replied earning another scoff from Rebecca, but he ignored her. "To the newest merc in the Afterlife." He said raising his glass and his team, even Rebecca did the same which had me blushing a bit.

"It's not that big a deal… Anyway we found the supplies and managed to loot practically an entire Arasaka AV worth of equipment. So I've mostly been setting up equipment for the last few days." I offered trying to change the topic.

"Yeah? You tinker and program?" Sasha asked with a laugh, "You sure spread yourself around don't you?"

"They are pretty closely connected. I've had to do programming for some gadgets I've made. I just want my team to be ready in case something bad happens."

"Heh. A good Techie is worth their weight in gold. Too bad all we have is Pilar." Dorio offered, the last bit teasing, and dragging the techie into the conversation.

"Fuck off!" He offered both middle fingers to Dorio. "I'd like to see you gonks do half the work I do!" He snapped, but everyone was just laughing, and soon enough he was smirking too.

I guess despite everything, Maines crew got along well.

It was cute.

"So you tinker with stuff too? What have you been working on?" Sasha prompted me, even as Dorio and Pilar got into an arm wrestling match that was obvious to everyone who was going to win.

"Oh I picked up these sets of Arasaka troop rigging. The armor is good, but its… Cheap isn't the right word, but they keep things pretty cheap. I updated the helmet with a direction mic, so we can listen in on conversations, and I'm updating the chest rigging with an ECM system. So we'll have some protection against smart weapons."

"Wait, what?" Rebecca asked suddenly, having been focusing on Pilar's suffering at being thrown around by Dorio.

"I'm adding an ECM system into my chest rigging, for me and my chooms."

"What system? Please don't tell me, it's some Tyger Claw thing."

"No. Militech, the Light Aegis. Three-seven." I said, recalling the name from memory.

"Huh." Rebecca suddenly was focused on me. "You got the deets on that?"

"Yeah." I shrugged and flashed a shard with what I had for the ECM system and the chest armor so far and handed it over. After a few moments she nodded.

"Three-seven is solid, I like your integration. Customizing the emitters is preem. You could use a KangTao Battery bank. The new ones they've been putting out? It's flexible, used in armor and stuff you could probably attach it to the bottom of the chest rig. Probably won't hurt as much if you fall on it." She offered and I was instantly there, hands grabbing her own.

"That's so smart! I've been working on some other stuff too! We should talk shop!"

"Ah?" Rebecca squirmed as I practically bounced in my chair.

Becca was tech talking with me! So preem!

"Uh, sure I guess."

I gave her a big smile.

 

[Seras]

"Stealth is still the superior tactic." I argued and once again Rebecca scoffed.

"Some gigs you need to be sneaky, but nothing beats overwhelming firepower!" She argued. It turns out that Rebecca didn't have a lot of chrome. Besides the obvious Chem skin and stuff, but she had all of her chrome plotted out. Like how people would plan out every part of their perfect car, or all the pieces to make up their perfect gun.

Funnily enough I already knew most of her desires, having seen her future self.

"Firepower is great, I carry my Burya around in case I run into some borg fuck. But there is nothing better than sneaking up on somebody and just flatlining them without them noticing." I argued. And she scoffed.

"Optical Camo is mid."
"You take that back!" I demanded and she just cackled as she was going to nothing of the sort.

We had moved away from Maines crew after a client had shown up, so Becca and I were hanging out at the bar, and to my delight we were getting along much better than we had at the start.

"Hey. Listen, I'm pissed that Rogue hasn't given me an invite yet, it has nothing to do with you specifically. The fact you were able to get an invite is preem." She admitted suddenly, swirling around her drink and I realized she must have been a bit embarrassed at how she had acted.

"It's fine Becca. I have another choom Jackie that gets the same way. I don't take it personally. It's gotta be frustrating."

"It is! I go on some of the gigs with Maine, but… Fucking Pilar makes sure I can't get involved. Maine brings me in as a distraction or some shit sometimes, but I'm never a shooter."

"Did you talk to Maine about it? Did he say why?"

"Apparently I'm too fucking short and shit." She grumbled. Yeah that was true. Rebecca was very smole.

"You could fix that with chrome or bio."

"Tch. I don't… I don't hate that I'm short. It's fun sometimes. I just want to blow gonks fucking heads off. I'm not a kid anymore. I'm eighteen!"

"Ever think about… Branching out?" I asked and instantly got a look from her

"You asking me to join your crew?"

"Not specifically like that. See I got my core crew, but we don't have every skillset. We got a driver. A Fixer, and a secondary Solo. While I cover the net, and solo duties. But I have my choom Jackie that's a big fuck he's a solo I brought him in once, and I want to do it more, and I want to increase the size of my team, even if it's just temp mercs… How about it? Want to go on a gig with a different team sometime?"

"I… I don't know. Maine is being a shit, and Pilar is a fucking scumfuck gonkfucker… But I owe Maine."

"Hey, I'm not saying to betray your chooms. Just a job offer. Make some eddies, get more chrome, get some experience."

"Let me… I'll think about it. Can't say I really want to work with kids though."

"Hey! We made hundreds of thousands of eddies on our last gig. Mostly from selling off loot, vehicles and weapons."

"Wait. How much!?" My Answer shocked Becca and I couldn't help but laugh as I went into some detail on how Section 9 functioned.

"Fuck. Maine never loots the place like that… I'll have to do that next time." She muttered to herself, hand covering her lips.

"It takes time, and you have to have people to haul stuff out. You can't exactly wait around."

She scoffed and nodded downing her drink.

"You're not bad Kitten."

"Wha Kitten!?"

"Hehe! You told me about your helmet." She pointed out with a wicked grin and a pointed finger.
"It's completely accidental that it looks like cat ears! I already told my chooms that it's not cat ears!"

"Well too late. Just like with Whiskers, you're Kitten now."

"Ugh." I denied crossing my arms in an X. "I refuse."

"Too late!"

She cackled as I pouted at her. Rebecca was fun.

We continued to shoot the shit for a while until Maines crew finally got up to leave and Rebecca followed. All of us waving a goodbye.

It was time to get back to work.

—--

"Are you serious? No!" I demanded arms crossed into an X in absolute denial. Hiromi just rolled her eyes at me.

"I already talked to the dealer. We got a trader pass to get through the checkpoint."

"Hiromi. I am not taking you anywhere near the combat zone! That place is full of Cyberpsychos!"

"Dogtown is the best place in Night City to get gear Motoko, and you were the one that wanted the ECM system. I found someone selling them, but they are in Dogtown and they aren't coming out."

"Then we do without, or find a different seller." I argued.

I didn't know much about the Combat zone. At least not the modern version of it. What I did know was that NCPD didn't go in there. That death was everywhere, and it was rumored that's where all the Cyberpsychos were 'put' but the corps. Either as a test, or some sick experiment.

But Hiromi wasn't going anywhere near it.

"Motoko, you are being a total rust case here."

"Hey!"

Hiromi raised her hands to silence me and took a deep breath. "Right. Sorry. That was mean, but you are way more dangerous than some gonks in the Dogtown. Plus we are going to the arena. Lots of trade goes on there. It's got the biggest blackmarket in NC."

"It's a fucking combat zone Hiromi!" I snapped at her pacing around the front of the Quadra. She had asked me to come pick her up, but there was no way I was driving into the Combat Zone!

I wasn't crazy!

"Ugh." Hiromi groaned as she followed me around as I paced around the car. Hiromi's parking garage was thankfully empty so no one was able to hear our fight.

I ran a chrome palm over my face, the cool metal soothing my temper. Seriously! Going out and fighting Raffen was one thing, but going into a damn combat zone was another!

"We need the ECM systems." Hiromi argued, and I instantly knew what was happening. She was trying to attack the conversation from the side.

Luckily I gave zero fucks!

"Not enough to go into a combat zone. This isn't a life risk level thing Hiromi."

"It's not dangerous! Well not that dangerous. Going into Dogtown is perfectly normal Motoko!"

"For Cyberpsychos!"

"Motoko, that is just a weird rumor, and not at all the truth. I even got information on Dogtown at the academy. As long as we stick to the main areas we will be fine. Barghest want people to come in and out. Dogtown is a wonderful spot for some black market trading."

I grit my teeth and wanted to yell at her some more. Didn't she understand!? I'm normally all for jumping into danger, but I knew nothing about the Combat zone. Which was called Dogtown apparently. All I knew is that it was super mega dangerous and you don't fucking go there, so why was Hiromi so eager to run right towards it?

"Fine." She offered and I felt my breath come out in relief. Finally! I had gotten through to her! "We'll just hire some additional protection. Problem solved!"

"That doesn't… Dammit." I grumbled because it was sort of the answer. "Fine!"

"Good!" She offered in return smiling as if she had won.

I grumbled under my breath as her eyes went yellow as she made some phone calls.

—--

"Hey Jackie."

"Hermanita! I hear you are heading into Dogtown and want some guards huh?" The big man offered with a hearty chuckle. We were all meeting up at Hiromi's place, including the extra guards.

"More for Hiromi than anything. The combat zone is dangerous, and I know very little about it."

"Eh, it's not so bad. The Barghest pendejos are annoying, but as long as you aren't causing trouble they leave ya alone."

"What's Barghest? A gang?" I asked curious never having heard the name before.

"Eh? Yes and no." Jackie offered waving his hand. "Barghest are ex-Militech. They came to attack Night City during the war, ended up being ordered to leave because of Arasaka, but they never did. Just settled into Dogtown. Took it over. They live like the kings of Dogtown." Jackie offered with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "They mostly just keep the peace, and earn eddies from the blackmarket."

I scoffed and wanted to growl and snarl. Hiromi was still coming, and I still had very little knowledge of what we were heading into.

I shook it off. Hiromi was driving in with Malcolm in the Caliburn. I was leading in the Quadra, and Jacke and Ichi would be our tail.

A three car cavalcade to ensure that anyone that noticed us would think twice before trying anything.

I still wasn't comfortable bringing my chooms into a Combat Zone, but they all had smart weapons, besides Ichi who hadn't gotten a Smart Link yet, but he had his truck.

"Relax Hermanita, you are too tense. It's just Dogtown yeah?"

"Never been before, and I've only heard horror stories."

"Eh. It's not like that. Lot's of folks head in for the Black Market, Hell maybe you'll find something you want as well. They have some real preem black market chrome there."

I just grunted as finally Malcolm arrived with his Caliburn, and we all synced up. I slid into the Quadra, and soon after we were all driving through the city towards Pacifica.

There was a low level chatter as my chooms talked amongst themselves, but I kept quiet, Too anxious to really want to talk to anyone. Especially since I didn't want to do this.

But I pushed it away and focused on protecting my chooms.

We drove through the city reaching Pacifica and I made sure to double my watch. The roads were quiet though. No NCPD around to cause trouble, and no Voodoo boys jumping out to rob us. Instead we drove through the streets as we came to the checkpoint to the Combat Zone.

Dogtown. I only vaguely remembered the name being used, so I really knew nothing about this place. It hadn't existed in the game that I played.

We pulled through a guard checkpoint, men in armor standing around. All of it painted and non standard. Skulls were common as were images of snarling dogs.

Barghest was it?

Eventually we pulled into an entrance way and slowly we were allowed through. The entrance was covered in defenses, HMG turrets, and weapons of all sorts. Since I went in first, I got to see it all. They stopped my Quadra did a scan and after checking the access token that Hiromi had set up, they waved me through.

Into the Combat zone which… It was run down, but not really more than Pacifica itself. And there were people just hanging around. Normal people. A scan showed they weren't the super chromed out borgs I was expecting…

Was this it? Where was the dark hellscape full of the screams of people being torn into pieces by cyberpsychos? Gangs constantly fighting and dying for eddies or something? That was the image I had in my head of a Combat Zone. Not… This.

I pulled to the side until Malcolm's Caliburn, and then Ichi's truck all pulled through the checkpoint, and I followed the guide path Hiromi had set up leading us through the streets towards the massive stadium the place that dominated the skyline, apart from the massive pair of skyscrapers.

The Stadium was apparently where the black market was run out of. The entire place was one big blackmarket according to Hiromi.

It was quiet. The streets weren't full of gunshots, and nothing really happened. I pulled into a parking garage just off the arena, and we all parked in a corner off to the side, Ichi's truck parked in just the right way to have his turrets be usable in case of any trouble.

"See! I told you there was nothing to worry about!" Hiromi called out as she ran over and nudged me with her shoulder. I just glowered a bit at her, but that only made her smile wider.

"Alright, Hermanita, little boss. You ready to go?" Jackie asked and Hiromi smiled brightly at being called boss.

"Yes. Ichi and Malcolm will guard the vehicles. Motoko and Mr. Welles please follow me." Hiromi said with a big smirk on her face as she sauntered forward.

I didn't grumble, instead quickly taking up position on her right. Armed and armored although just in my Kang Tao equipment, and not the Arasaka stuff. It wasn't ready yet, even if it would be better armor.

Jackie easily took her left, and the big man did a lot to make sure our path was clear as we crossed the street, and then walked up the many steps into the old stadium.

Barghest checkpoints dotted around, but they ignored us. Simply standing around in armor to keep the peace I guess.

Hiromi guided us in. Her face casual as she walked through the small crowds that littered the entrance of the arena. We walked past a few food stalls that surprised me. Then into a lobby, and Hiromi took only a moment to pick a direction leading us to the left and then into a long hallway that was full of more than just food stalls.

Weapons, equipment… Everything. I was thankful for my tech gogs as it hid my rapidly scanning eyes as I took in all the equipment laying around. We walked into a space that was absolutely loaded with weapons. HIgh end stuff too. HMG's and rifles. Militech surplus, and more.

Hiromi walked right up to the woman that was behind a counter.

"Here for a pick up, under Mitsunashi." She offered and the woman scanned her, before nodding. A nodded head to one of the toughs that seemed to be her guards and he went into the back area, coming out with a crate that he dropped on the ground in front of us.

"Motoko check it."

I nodded without a word, and popped the latches. Inside was exactly what we expected.

Multiple Militech ECM systems. I quickly checked them all, and while not in perfect condition, they were all functional, and repairable.

I gave Hiromi a nod, and that was that. Her eyes went blue, and some eddies were passed over, and then Jackie did the gentlemanly thing and picked up the crate.

We headed back out the way we came.

Honestly my surprise only grew when we met back up with Ichi and Malcolm.

"Things are quiet. Not even some of the druggies over there came to bother us." Ichi told me as we were loading the crate up into his truck.

"That's so weird. I expected… Something."

"Barghest doesn't want people messing with the black market. That's where they make a lot of their eddies." Hiromi cut in, once more reminding me, that my understanding of this entire section of the city was off. "C'mon let's get out of here. Unless you want to go back in to look around."

I instantly shook my head. I can't say I wasn't interested in looking around, but not with Hiromi and my chooms hanging around.

"No, let's get out of here… And you were right. Sorry." I told Hiromi who blew into a massive smile at my admittance.

"Of course! You should know by now that I'm always right!" She cheered herself bursting into full on ojou laughter after which it took me a moment to realize she was doing specifically to fuck with us.

I just rolled my eyes and nudged her, sending her almost sprawling. "Alright get loaded up then Ms. always right. I want to get out of here."

"Hehe!" She offered as she ran to jump into Malcolms Caliburn.

"Thanks Jack. For backing us up."

"Eh, not a bad gig. You're little choomba boss pays good." The large man admitted rubbing a thumb over his nose.

"Good. I trust you. So I hope you come join us for gigs in the future too."

"Heh! I just might Hermanita. Just gotta get used to working with kids."

I shrugged. I get it. Jackie was almost thirty. Still stuck doing shit gigs. He never made it to the Major Leagues in his own words until the end.

Hopefully I could drag him along, because he actually was a solid solo.

"C'mon let's get out of here before my nightmares of wild Cyberpsychos come true."

—--

Jackie was paid, the chooms split off and I had a crate of Militech ECM units to adapt to our armor.

I spent an hour going over the first ECM unit. Checking first the hardware making sure everything would work, while performing some minor maintenance mostly just cleaning out the things, as it was obvious they had been in storage for a while.

Then I pulled open the program that ran the ECM and narrowed my eyes as I looked through it. I had my suspicions that Militech would have some way to get around this. Either an outright backdoor. Or more likely, a master code that would make the ECM useless against their own smart rounds.

It wouldn't be easy to find though. It would be hidden deep into the code.

Which…

Well fortunately for me, I was just getting an idea on how the program worked, and then I grabbed my laptop, plugged my personal link into it, and started writing a new program from scratch.

If I couldn't trust the program, then I would just make my own.

 

[Seras]

I was back outside the next morning, after spending all night working on the program I was out at the gym. Pushing myself as hard as I could to try and get more Body XP.

There was no John bothering me today thankfully. Just me and the weights that I was pushing myself against.

And the new chrome was making a massive difference.

I was pushing weight I never would have managed before. My arms were connected to my body far more intrinsically now. No more tingling feeling around my shoulders telling me I was pulling at my bones a bit too much.

No, I felt strong. My chrome secured into the whole making Motoko stronk.

I finally put down the weights, wiping my forehead on a towel, as I then wiped down the weights.

That was a good physical workout, but I had more to grind.

I cleaned up a bit and double checked my boots were secure before I started jogging.

Down the neon lit stairs and to the street and then I turned right and started moving. Pushing myself to keep going despite already being tired. I jogged all the way to where the road ended, Jig Jig street just below, I took the elevator keeping myself moving as it went down by shadowboxing and keeping my heart rate up.

When it opened I was out and moving, jogging quickly through the dark street of Jig Jig, ignoring the looks I was getting as I ran through and then ended up at Sakura Market. Though this time I didn't stop for Ramen.

Instead I ran up the concrete stairs, ending back up on the upper levels, I ran towards home. Sprinting and jogging in bursts to try and push myself even more.

By the time I made it back, I had earned some alerts for Athletics, and Body, but no level ups.

I sighed, heading upstairs ignoring the noise of Rockerboy Neighbor playing her music again and headed in for a shower.

As I finished that, head half covered in a towel, Jun was up. Jun was making himself breakfast, and looking at me tiredly.

"Mornin."

"Morning Jun-Nii. Sleep well?"

He blinked at me, both eyelids closing at slightly different paces.

"Slept okay. Not enough." He grumbled, and I nodded, walking over and patting his back.

"Can't go back to sleep for a while?"

"Got a gig from Fujimura-Sama. Just bodyguard stuff like usual, but he wants me."

"Hmm. Well if you start feeling too tired, you tell him that you need a break to get some sleep." I ordered as I wandered away. I knew Jun wouldn't and couldn't do that, but I cared more for Jun's health than I did Fujimura's wants.

"Sure Imouto."

I laughed at his obviously insincere reply, but that was fine. I buzzed around Jun, making sure his XXL burrito was warmed enough but not too hot before plopping it in his hand, which he stared at in surprise for a moment before looking happy as he took a bite.

My own breakfast was a mix of a few other things I liked that I could find in vending machines in the area.

I choked it all down as fast as I could, ignoring the taste as most food in Night City I could only just stomach, and certainly didn't enjoy.

But food was food, and while it didn't taste good, one thing NC did have was a dietary fulfilling foodstuffs.

Jun seemed to finally wake up a bit after his breakfast, looked at me as I was sitting at the living room table tinkering with the ECM program. "What about you? Doing anything today?"

"Mostly programming this Militech ECM unit. It's gonna take a while, but everything is quiet at the moment. I told you about the eddies we made in the badlands, so we aren't exactly hurting right now."

Jun just snorted.

That gig made more than Jun made in a year and then some.

"Don't rub it in." He told me with a huff, and I laughed shaking my head.

"I wasn't! Although if you ever want to leave the gangoon biz Section 9 would consider your resume… Consider it." I offered, eyes narrowed like I was judging him and he instantly grabbed a pillow off the couch and launched it at me.

But I was too fast!

I saw it coming, and leapt leaping backwards from where I was sitting to land crouched on the back of the couch having dodged his attack!

"Nin-nin!"

"Fuck off!" He snapped half serious and half laughing at me as he wandered to the bathroom for his own shower.

I was actually a little disappointed that Jun didn't want to rough house, but he was pretty tired.

I'd make sure he got a good nights sleep tonight and wake him up with a pillow to the face tomorrow for daring to attack me!

I was grinning evilly as I settled back onto the couch to continue the programming.

—--

I ran the program through the ECM unit, seeing it turn on, I cobbled together a holo emitter to get it to actually display showing just a circle of light that activated.

Everything looked good.

But I would need to actually test it.

Gathering up a unit, as well as grabbing a spare Yukimura from the Arasaka equipment, I loaded it up and left the apartment.

Couldn't exactly do any shooting in here. In fact I couldn't do it in most places.

I loaded up and drove north. Taking the long circuitous road out to Westbrook. It didn't take too long to find a side of the road that was full of trash and empty enough I could do some practice.

I plopped the ECM unit on an old crate, and then walked away, hooking the Yukimura up into my Smart link and then placing a target to the side of the ECM.

I didn't exactly want to shoot it after all.

Then I remotely activated the ECM unit and opened fire.

Pretty much instantly the rounds shot forward and then simply went wild as their targeting systems fed them nothing but false data.

Bullets instead of shooting straight went wild thunking and slamming into the ground, one even got so turned around it spun towards me, and I had to duck out of the way as it zipped past.

"Well that was… A thing." I muttered. Quickly checking the ECM System and checking the programming. Finding out how it handled actually being targeted.

Most of that was stripped wholesale from the original programming. So it handled it just fine. A few quick tests, and a few more rounds shot towards the ECM, and I was convinced.

It works.

Not it was time to install.

—--

"What are you doing?" Jun asked as he got home that night. I looked up from the chest rig I was rigging the holo emitters through to shake it at him.

"Armor!"

"Yes I see that. But what are you doing?"

"The little boxes right there? ECM modules. I'm outfitting the chest rigging with the holo emitters it needs to spoof Smart weapon tracking right now. The dang things are fiddly."

He nodded as he picked one up that I already finished and settled in its place, looking it over as I continued to work.

I was almost done!

The hardest part had been peeling apart the cloth sections, to slip wires through to power the emitters. I had to do actual sewing, but sewing with Kevlar wasn't easy.

"The work looks good. Why do you need holo emitters?"

"Same reason your tattoos glow. The smart weapons tracking gets spoofed by the data in the hologram."

"Why not just get a ECM tattoo then? They aren't expensive."

"While having an ECM on me at all times could be useful… I don't like tattoos." I said and Jun actually looked shocked at what I just said.

"What's wrong with tattoos!?"

"I just don't like them." I finally got the wire to go through! Quickly soldering it into the power system, I started sewing kevlar closed again.

"Well… You should! Mine are preem!"

I looked over to Jun. His stupid vest-like jacket that didn't cover his chest or arms to show off his chrome muscles, and the dragon tattoos across his chest…

"If you say so." I answered, earning an honest squawk of outrage from Jun.

"My Tattoos are awesome Motoko!"

"I'm glad you like them." I answered and he grumbled deep in his chest and my continued disinterest.

"You just aren't preem enough to have tats."

"Reverse psychology? I wouldn't want them even if they were offered." I replied, continuing to sew up the armor. C'mon so close to being done!

Jun's big hand suddenly reached over and fell over my head patting me lightly and I scoffed a bit, but leaned in and nudged him to show that I appreciated the attention.

"Done!" I proclaimed holding up the complete chest rig and then just as I expected. I got the alert I needed.

*100 Technical Ability XP Gained*

*Technical Ability Leveled up!*

Tech 6!

I giggled and clutched the rig tight as I luxuriated in a job well done!

"What's with you?"

"I finished it! Well okay no I still have a lot of work to do, but I finished the ECM units! These were such a pain in the ass Jun!"

"Well that's good. I'm proud of you." He offered awkwardly, not sure what else to say, but honestly?

That was perfect.

I threw him a bright smile as I rose up holding the rig. "I still need to color, adjust, and do some tinkering on these so I'm not done done, but this was a big step!" I informed him proudly as I sauntered back to my room.

Now I just needed to fix the helmets so they didn't look like kitty ears. Which they don't. My chooms are just dumb!

—--

Sleeping in past noon was my duty as a teenager, and I really needed eight hours after all the work I had done.

Painting, and doing adjustments to the armor to fit my chooms. I had even spent a little time in CAD adjusting the directional mic housing so I would stop getting teased.

But honestly. It was mostly done.

It was time to bring the chooms in.

*Motoko: Section 9! Assemble at my place for final adjustments to our new armor!*

This time there could be no confusion! They had totally failed my original assembly call, but this time!

*Hiromi: Okay. I'll be on my way after class.*

*Ichi: Okay. I'm just hanging out today. I'll come over.*

*Malcolm: Yeeees! I'm in! Gonna suit up! You got rid of the cat ears right?*

*Motoko: IT WASN'T CAT EARS!*

I promptly ignored all the messages in return because my chooms were definitely going to mess with me!

Instead I ran around prepping some snacks and things for everyone. It might take a bit of time to adjust everything to each person after all.

Ichi arrived first knocking on the door and I smiled as it opened to him.

"Ichi! Come in! I wanted to get one of you suited up first anyways. The others can be surprised at how nova you look when they get here."

"Ah… I'm the guinea pig." He said flatly, nodding along as I ignored his words and dragged him into my room.

"Okay everything should be straight forward. You know how to wear armor right? Go ahead and suit up and-"

"Nope." He interrupted me instantly completely monotone.

"And I'll show you! Easy! Nothing to worry about choom, not everyone knows how to wear good armor after all." I redirected instantly without worry.

Ichi then laughed at me, but nodded and I grabbed the first set of armor and showed it to him.

"The color is…"

"Listen. I had to think about what color scheme to use and since all of you wanted bright colors, I used my rights as the one who is updating these things to pick a nice gray and black camouflage."

"At least it matches our old suits?"

"That's the spirit!" I chirped as I started throwing the base layer at him. Even though it didn't have a Netrunner suit to properly armor him, I threw the pair of pants and the upper jacket. And then turned around and whistled so he could get changed.

"Can't I do this in the bathroom?"

"Ugh. Fine I'll walk out of the room, just call me when you are decent!" I rushed outside my bedroom and tapped my foot impatiently. C'mon Ichi!

"Alright."

"Great! Now this." I threw the boots at him which he juggled for a second but slipped off his old shoes and into the combat boots. As he was struggling to get them secured, as they used a weird not-Velcro system. I ran around and prepped the outer layers. The chest rig wasn't just a chest rig, and actually connected to the pants with some kinda neat future faulds. Although I had slimmed down the chest rig by removing most of the pouches.

Pouches were good, but if they stuck out too much it made it harder to comfortably hold a gun! Silly Arasaka. This was the sort of design issue mandated by a boardroom and not by soldiers.

"Done?" Ichi finally called more questioning than sure.

"Great. Chest rig next. Slide into it, and then I'll show you how it secures on the sides.

"Right." He muttered as he slipped in, the armored future-gorget taking a second for him to get used to. I had to adjust it down so he could actually look down without just getting stuck on it.

Yep Ichi was definitely shorter than the last person to wear this stuff.

"Here are the straps. Just tighten these, and it will keep your faulds in place."

He did so with a bit of trouble and then I had him walk around a bit getting used to the armor.

It was thick. That was the first thing I noticed he struggled with. He kept brushing his arms against the chest rig as he moved around.

"You'll get used to it." I assured him as he was looking a little annoyed.

"Is this necessary?"

"If I pulled out my Lexington and shot you right now, you would be fine." I explained in very blunt terms and for some reason Ichi looked nervous like I was going to actually shoot him.

Silly! I wouldn't do that.

"Okay here are the gloves. They are nice and bulky, good for punching, and protecting your hands."

I helped him slip those on, as he adjusted to the fit, I brought out the last item.

"It still looks like cat ears."

"I am going to give you the benefit of pretending I didn't hear that." I told him as I handed off the helmet. He slipped it on, struggling a bit with the face mask part of it. The helmet had a built in menpo, an armored face guard.

As always Arasaka made all their stuff look like future samurai, which was pretty cool. But it was always kinda hard to get situated right.

"Okay. You are all set. How does it feel?"

"Uh… Not too uncomfortable?" He said, sounding a little confused as he turned this way and that, feeling the range of movement he now had.

"You'll get used to it. Now, take your personal link and slide it into the helmet right here. That will download the command codes for the radio."

I helped him plug in, and then he had access to the radio.

"I've messed with the settings. Channel 1 is our personal radio contact. You won't need to change from it very often. Channel 2 isn't the radio at all, but the Directional mic built into the helmet… No, it's still not cat ears."

I could see him smirking behind the helmet, and so since he was properly armored I punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

"Ow! Motoko!" He yelped, rubbing his shoulder but giving up on it pretty quickly.

"You barely felt it. Now switch to the mic, and I'll show you how it works."

I quickly ran Ichi through the process walking all the way across the apartment and then whispering. The fact he could still hear me throwing me a thumbs up when I asked for it was all I needed.

"Perfect! Now we just need to make some minor adjustments. Make sure everything is fitting exactly how it should.

"So what do I do then?"

"You? Stand very still." Then just to fuck with him I pulled out my knife, and moved behind him. Of course I instantly put the knife away, but he didn't know that.

"Motoko? What's with the knife? Motoko? Help?"

There is no help for you Ichi!

—--

"Whoa. That actually looks pretty scary." Malcolm commented as he finally arrived over an hour later.

I had even finished adjusting Ichi's armor!

"Malcolm! You are late!" I proclaimed finger pointed as I stood up.

"Sorry choom. My dad needed help with something." He offered actually sounding a little contrite, and I instantly lost my irritation.

"No no! That's fine. Parent stuff is important. Anyway we are still waiting on Hiromi. C'mon let me show you how to suit up."

"Good luck." Ichi said from the couch where he was splayed out acting as if he was exhausted.

"Ignore him. C'mon!" I urged, pushing Malcolm into my room to get ready.

Half way through, Hiromi finally appeared cheerfully bouncing into the apartment and calling out her arrival.

"Give me a sec Hiromi! Malcolm is almost done!" I called out, as I was helping Malcolm secure the armored faulds.

A little later Malcolm finished suiting up and I pushed him out into the living room to show off.

"See? It looks great!"

"It makes me feel like I have a corporate hit squad… I love it!" Hiromi chirped, smiling brightly as she looked at the two boys. Ichi just slumped deeper into the couch, still not getting up while Malcolm stood tall and puffed himself out.

"Just remember to pay your henchmen well or else!" Malcolm proclaimed and Hiromi immediately faux gasped.

"No! My henchmen are betraying me! Quick! Help! Motoko! My right hand and ever loyal minion! Discipline this unruly henchman!"

"Pfft. Motoko should join us and get paid bett-H-hey!" I walked behind Malcolm and just lifted him off his feet. Malcolm might be a little taller than me, and a bit more with the boots and rig on, but I was fucking fit! My arms went around his waist and I just picked him right off the floor.

"As you wish my Corporate overlord." I stated in an utterly flat voice earning a delighted giggle from Hiromi as Malcolm struggled in my grip.

"Hey! Let me go! Motoko!"

"Hehehe." I eventually couldn't hold it in and started laughing at Malcolms attempts to get back on his feet. He was new to the armor and was like a turtle stuck on its back. Eventually I dropped him. "Okay. Enough playing around, Hiromi come on. Time to suit up."

"I'm the fixer Motoko, I can't go around wearing armor like that, everyone will think I'm some-Eep!" I ignored Hiromi picking her up like a sack of potatoes throwing her over my shoulder and walking into my room.

Any argument about not wearing armor would immediately be ignored!

Protection was god!

"M-Motokoooo!"

 

[Seras]

Once my chooms were all suited up I disappeared into my room after pushing Hiromi out to get changed myself. Of course I had the actual Netrunner undersuit!

So instead of pants and armored jacket, I slipped on a suit, leaving me in skintight flexible armor! Then I threw on the boots, and chest rig. I had to make some quick adjustments for the faulds since I wasn't wearing the silly pants that came with it, and instead wrapped the straps around my legs with some velcro-like material I had.

Then I adjusted the chest rig, threw on the armored gloves, and then the helmet.

I stalked out of my room and stood before my mostly still armored chooms. Malcolm had taken off his helmet to eat, and Hiromi was half slid out of her chest rig.

"And this is what it will look like when you guys stop being weird and put on the skin tight armored netrunner suit!" I proclaimed showing off the much tighter fit of the armor and my improved maneuverability!
"Pass."

"Hard pass."

"I don't mind you using it, but I like pants." Hiromi added and I huffed at all of them.

"Fine! Wear your subpar armor!" I then promptly walked over and flopped onto the couch and wiggled to get my helmet off too.

"Pass me the chips?"

"Yeah alright." Ichi muttered lazily, reaching over and throwing me a back of some sort of pseudo potato chips I pulled from a vending machine.

"What are we watching?" The TV was on, and Ichi and Malcolm were sort of zoned out watching it.

"Some comedy show thing? Not sure. Apparently Ichi wants to watch Watson Whore after."

"I didn't say that!" He snapped at Hiromi looking a little red.

"Well I don't think I really want to watch that… Sorry Ichi."

"It's fine! I didn't say I wanted to. Only that it was coming on next!"

"And then he refused to let us change the channel." Hiromi whispered into my ear, and I giggled.

I quickly changed the channel through the expedited power of I had hacked all of the entertainment system forever ago.

Then we just sort of vegged out in full kit.

—--

"I don't want to know."

"I do! This looks like the weirdest start to some XBD I've ever seen!" Akari called out right behind Jun as they both walked in and stopped looking at the pile of armored teens spread across the couch.

"Don't say that!" I shrieked blushing red at Akari who instantly broke into her cackling laugh at my outrage. My chooms were all flushing at the idea too!

"Is that your new armor? The one you klept from the Arasaka shipment?" Jun asked but Hiromi jumped in.

"We gathered all of this completely legally as per our contract with Arasaka management in recovery of the critical data that was stolen from their klepped shipment."

Jun just blinked and nodded slowly as if he understood.

"Wow she is a little corpo aint she?" Akari asked, and Jun just nodded. Ignoring how Hiromi was pouting, I decided to show off. Standing up and resettling the helmet back on my head.

"So what do you think? Preem right? High end armor. ECM integrated, with a directional mic embedded into the helmet! We haven't messed with the ECM emitters yet, but we will be able to personalize that as well!"

"You look like a doughgirl." Akari offered instantly, with zero hesitation or empathy.

So I of course attacked her. "I'll show you dough girl!" I roared as I jumped at her, earning an honest squeak from Akari as she wasn't expecting my lack of chill and then I slammed into her.

Akari of course fought dirty and instantly tried to stab me in the eyes, but I had a helmet!

Her probing attacks were deflected and I started grappling, which wasn't easy since she was all chrome as well, but then something lifted us bodily apart.

Jun was holding me up by the back of my rig, and Akari back by her arm, Akari was smiling teeth fully exposed, like she was ready to tear my throat out.

I would have done the same back, but I had my helmet blocking my mouth.

"Alright cut it out. Akari, calm down please, Motoko is playing."

"Call me a doughgirl again! You-" And then Jun just shook me up and down a few times.

"See, just playing."

"Pfft! You look like a strangled cat like that!" Akari offered cackling and I just pouted at Jun which was blocked by my helmet…

Okay the helmet was a problem. But I took a deep breath and decided to be the bigger person.

"I'm done. Let me go Jun." I said calmly, and he looked at me with narrowed eyes as if he suspected I was lying, but eventually he let me go, although funnily enough he didn't let go of Akari who had noticed and was giving him a petulant look.

Then I stepped back and brushed myself off.

"I win." I told her simply and that set her off.

"What!? How! Jun interfered!"

"Exactly. Jun as my older brother is obviously my secret weapon. Any time he interferes it means I win."

"That's! That's cheating!"

I shrugged and strutted back to my chooms who had been watching with interest.

"You okay?" Hiromi asked and I just laughed as I tugged off the helmet.

"I'm fine. Although I really need to wear my tech gogs under this helmet or something. Akari going for my eyes was a bit of a scare."

—--

"Okay so you want… This?" I asked Malcolm as his holo emitters activated.

Yellow lights flowed around him, with some silver here and there as well.

"You look like your car." Ichi called out teasing and Malcolm just flipped him off.

"The Caliburn yellow and silver is an excellent color combination! They tested it!"

"Boo!" Hiromi called out, earning a glare from Malcolm, but I just moved on. If this is what he wanted, it was good enough for me.

"Alright Hiromi-"

"Green! Maybe flames? Can you do flames?"

"I can do flames. It's a slightly upjumped holo emitter after all. Green flames it is." I offered as I started designing the hologram that would flow over her, to activate the ECM system.

Within a few minutes Hiromi looked like she had green fire flowing out of her hands and around her hips up her back. More than enough coverage to make sure the ECM protection would kick in.

"Mwahahahaha!" She cackled evilly, suddenly startling everyone before she looked at all of us. "How was that? Did I get it right?"

"Boo." Malcolm called in turn and tossed some of his chips at her.

Ignoring Malcolm and Hiromi getting into a fight, neither could really hurt each other with all the armor.

I moved on to Ichi.

His was simpler.

"Just make it not look stupid like their choices." He called out, just loud enough that Hiromi and Malcolm could hear him.

Which of course changed the target as Malcolm attacked Ichi from behind and Hiromi joined in.

I ignored the wrestling match happening right next to me, and focused on the hologram design.

Well Ichi could get a copy of what I was doing then.

Lines of light flowing up through the body. Of course I wasn't just going to keep it as a stable source.

The activation would have the light flow upwards from the feet and hands until it reached the head in just a moment increasing the light and keeping it stable.

Okay so I was basically just pulling a Tron, but Tron was pretty Cyberpunk! And it looked so cool!

Ichi would get an orangish red color.

While I went pure white.

Then I activated both of our colors. Malcolm and Hiromi jerking back as Ichi's holograms started, the light flowing up his arms and into his chest,

My own white lines arcing up my legs and forming a cool outline.

"There. All done!" I chirped happily rocking back and forth a little to see the holo emitters do an okay job keeping up with the movement.

I bet this would look awesome on a motorcycle.

"It's nova." Ichi said, playing with moving around and seeing the light arc off him as well.

"I like my fire more. But it does look preem… Although Ichi you need to change, you can't just match with Motoko!' Hiromi argued, but Ichi and I both just ignored her.

—--

We all had a good time after everything was done playing around and ignoring Jun and Akari, as Akari kept interfering, but eventually everyone had gone home with their armor and equipment, and my room was suddenly much emptier.

That and I finally had time for other grinding again!

That morning I was back at the gun range.

Thanks to the Raffen gig, I was actually pretty close to leveling reflex. Shooting all the Raffen running around blindly in their camp had taken some effort, and had given me a lot of alerts.

Now I just needed to grind out the last bit.

Settling into the gun range I had been going to, I quickly loaded up the magazines I had for my Copperhead. But that wasn't all that I had brought.

The Arasaka Masamune was a gun I had wanted to play with for a while.

Sure it was overly engineered, but I wasn't really planning on using it in the field. I liked guns that could get half blown up and still fire for that. But for a gun range?

It was a nice treat.

I pulled it out of the case and grabbed a few of the stupid Arasaka logo marked magazines, and started loading those up as well. I set the Copperhead to the side for a minute. Instead I slipped the mag into the Masamune and took aim. The holo sight was already perfectly on point. No need for any zeroing.

I fired. And in a three round burst that I barely felt it punched holes through the hologram targets.

Then I fired again, and again.

I don't really like three round bursts. I switched it to single shot and started plinking away as well. It was irritating. It actually was possible to mod the rifle to be full auto, but I hadn't done it with this one yet.

Probably a project I would do once I went home, cause three round burst was blegh!

Either way I burned through the expensive Arasaka branded ammo I had brought with me and then put the Masamune away.

Pulling out the Copperhead I was actually smiling, as I flipped off the safety took aim and held the trigger down.

Full auto silenced fire burst from the gun and I easily held her in control, putting rounds right through the holograms without any effort as my arms kept the recoil completely controlled.

Then as soon as I was about to run out of ammo, I dropped the magazine, quick-loading in another and just started firing again.

I had made sure there was a round still in the chamber, so it only took half a second to put in a new mag and I was off again.

I almost felt like cackling as I kept firing full auto.

This is what a rifle should be! Firepower!

Then finally I got it.

*100 Assault XP Gained.*

*Assault skill level up!*

Yay! I nearly cheered at the level up! Assault 8!

Wait… I wasn't here to grind assault! I was trying to grind Reflex!

I took a second for that thought to flow through my head before I did actually break out into giggles.

I shifted my grip on the rifle a little, slightly more secure, a tiny synergy with Rifle Ace to be able to line up a shot that tiny millisecond faster.

My poor Copperhead was a bit overheated, so since I had just maxed out what I could do with it. I unloaded it, and set it back to the side.

I still had Handguns to level!

Smiling, I pulled out my Lexington and whistled as I fitted the silencer.

—--

I didn't quite manage the Reflex level, or the Handgun one, before I decided to take a break. Heading home I took the scenic route. Driving through the heavy city traffic and just enjoying the feel of my Quadra rumbling along.

Honestly everything was kind of quiet right now.

Section 9 was flush with cash. We had lots of new equipment. My armor build for the team was done, and Hiromi was the only one still doing any real work as she was setting up deals to sell off some of the stuff we didn't need.

So it was just kind of quiet.

I had considered picking up a new gig from Wakako or another fixer, but I was kind of enjoying the grind time. A bit of me time, just for myself between gigs. It felt nice.

In fact…

I didn't want to go home. Bit weird, as I was a bit of a homebody. I wanted to go out and do something. Hiromi was in class. Ichi and Malcolm could be fun, but you know what? I was a cool Afterlife merc!

I shifted heading towards Watson.

Traffic got pretty bad on the way, enough that I was tempted to just park and maybe call my Kusanagi so I could just swerve around, but I was feeling pretty chill after all that reflex training so I just relaxed into the comfy Quadra seating and inched my way to the club.

When I finally arrived, there was plenty of open parking and I grabbed a spot and sauntered down the steps into the Afterlife.

Heh.

As if this place was going to be my afterlife. No, mine would probably be a digital landscape, full of daemons to fight or something.

Hell. I'm saying I'm probably going to hell, but eh.

That just means more demons to fight.

The bouncer gave me a nod not even needing to scan me, as he stepped aside letting me in.

He must have a good memory, it's not like I had been around much. Either way I walked into the heavy music of the club, and felt the atmosphere. Like always there were mercs all over the place, although this time there was no one dying on a table so that was nice.

No, I guess being midday the place was more quiet and preparing for the night raids than anything else.

I walked up to the bar.

It wasn't Claire behind the bar, but another guy that I didn't recognize but I just ordered a soda and settled in.

I was honestly just planning on staring into the bottom of my drink for a while. Not because I was in a depressed mood, but just to enjoy the ambience.

There was nothing quite like a Cyberpunk bar after all.

I was just chilling out enjoying the music and vibes when the queen herself walked in. Rogue sauntered in, and I could feel the ripple of attention she brought with her. Mercs all over the club glanced up as she walked in and towards her little booth area.

It was interesting, but more than that. I noticed a few of the mercs around the bar stand up, they sort of… Got in line?

Well they talked to Rogues guard to set up a meeting I guess.

"Huh."

"You need anything else, honey?" I blinked at the question from the bartender before shaking my head.

"Not really, just noticed everyone got up to go talk to Rogue as soon as she came in. You'd think they would just like, send her a text if they needed something from her."

"Hah! Send the boss a text, that's a good one. Nah honey, if you are looking for an Afterlife gig, you come to Rogue in person. Same if you need something from her. She doesn't do biz over the line, never know who's watching, and with someone like Rogue?"

"A lot of people are probably watching. Yeah, makes sense." I muttered. Before looking at the bartender again. "So Rogue hands out gigs if you come talk to her?"

"Yeah, sometimes. Not always, and not to every crew. You have to have the skills she needs yeah? But if you talk to her, you can find out if you got what she needs for a gig."

"Weird." I uttered before shrugging. Not interested anyways, and honestly if I want a gig that bad, I'll just go make one. Sure there could be more blowback without a fixer, but the pay was real preem.

"Hey! Anyone in here a Techie? We need one!" A voice called out and I was doubly surprised as heads popped up all over.

"Now what's going on?"

"Heh, that honey is someone told by Rogue they need a skillset they don't got. They might be able to tap in a free merc, or steal someone from another team. It's all part of the game." She offered and I nodded. That made sense.

I watched as an obvious techie with a set of body armor that was covered in tools wandered over to the guy that had called out and a few moments later they shook hands and wandered back to Rogue who was rolling her eyes and tossed the man a shard.

Gig acquired I guess.

Neat.

 

[Seras]

I left the club after hanging out for a while. Afterlife was neat, but I had spent my social batteries. Instead I decided to focus on what I wanted to do next, having used the time at the bar to figure it out. Getting home, I wandered over to my workbench inside my room and plopped down into the chair.

I wanted to level my Tech ability more.

Between my work on the armor for Section 9, and the tools I had made I made a big advancement, but I still wanted more.

So I plopped down the bag of supplies I had bought on my way home, and went to work.

CAD first.

Connecting my personal link into the laptop, I was able to do a lot of work without even touching the keyboard or mouse now, just letting my mental netrunning work on what I needed, as my hands parted out parts for what I was going to do.

I had a lot of money so I was going to basically burn a lot of it for experience.

The parts I had bought were everything I would need to make rudimentary drones.

Design Wizard, A.I. Whisperer and Robotics Wizard all synergized extremely well with what I was doing.

On the laptops screen a very simple drone was coming together. I still wanted Tachikoma. I couldn't really cosplay the major without them!

So I was going to start. Even if a lot of the work would be wasted when I leveled up my tech, I could still start iterating on the design, start working on the AI. Of course at first it wouldn't be an AI. I couldn't possibly make something with AGI levels of awareness on what little processing power I had.

No, first it would all just be algorithms. A few learning scripts, to develop walking patterns, and things that my good little boys and girls would need.

But like all children, they would use the first steps of these algorithms to iterate from themselves.

But first, I needed a drone to start the process.

I basically was going to make something as similar to a full size Tachikoma that I could, just much smaller. Two feet or so across, maybe a foot tall at the head bulb. I likely wouldn't add the back compartment in yet. That would simplify it for the first iteration.

I just needed to make the drone, and then start filling in the details with programming.

The CAD program took up my attention, once I parsed out the parts I needed I focused fully on that.

My 3d printer would be getting a lot of work tonight.

I kept tinkering away at it, the legs were a lot of work on their own, they had to be capable of the range of motion needed, plus needed enough power to actually actuate. Power sources thankfully weren't too bad, although with the battery systems I could buy off the shelf, I would have some battery life concerns especially once I started running smarter and smarter systems to control the drone.

But for now it was a night of slowly building the internals of the drone, through the CAD program one piece at a time.

—--

*100 Engineering XP Gained.*

*Engineering skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

I blinked at the alert that came as I was working on the internal musculature of the drone. Multiple limbs meant, I either needed the electric motors to spread their strength, or have one for each limb.

I stepped back from the design to stretch, even and let my brain cool down. Working for hours on this design was definitely a lot of work, and I was only getting through because of my Perks.

My actual engineering skill was only just capable of keeping up with the exacting details of what I was working on.

Sure most people could kludge together a drone out of parts with a bit of effort, but I needed something capable of some pretty extreme performance.

It had four articulating legs, which had wheels, so I had to draw power for the drones to drive. They had to be able to jump. I wanted to work on a wall climbing function for their legs. Something to let them stick, or grab onto walls and climb vertically. I still wanted to do a stealth function, but I was leaving that out for a later design. I simply didn't know enough about Optical Camo to get it to work.

Anyways, it was hard!

So to get another perk? Well that was something truly useful.

I once again skipped the grenade focused perks, because I still had no idea why Engineering was so focused on explosives, instead I scrolled through the perk list to where I went into the design focused perks.

Last time I had picked Design Wizard, vastly improving the quality of my designs.

I ran down the list skipping more than a few before I found the one that caught my eye.

Robotics Engineering: The robotic form is as familiar to you as your own.

Since my main desire was to make Tachikoma it seemed to be the best choice.

The moment I picked it I knew I had made the right choice.

I already had Robotics Wizard from Crafting, which was all about putting a robot together. Now I had the opposite, a synergy immediately began and I gasped as I realized how many tiny things could be done to enhance a robotic form.

I went from someone that could put a robot together, to someone who could design something that was more than just a robot.

It honestly made me think of Battle Bots. That show on TV that was so popular in my last life. Before I would have been one of the gen 1 bots. The ones that half the time caused their own downfall or something.

Now I was fully aware I could make a bot that would have crushed the entire competition. It was that much of a difference. Understanding the nuances of physics on the robotic form.

How easy it would be for their body to exert the forces I would need.

I looked at my own chrome arm for a moment and realized how… inadequate it was. How badly they had restrained the power the arm could exert, to make it easier to quickly replace in a desperate situation.

I shook it off, although it did create that burning desire to make myself better again. The desire for more chrome. To grow stronger.

I shook it off. Tachikoma first.

I went back to the CAD design I had made so far, and started reworking large sections of it. I didn't need for each limb to have their own motor, I could use a muscle structure instead to make a single much more powerful motor supply the power.

Instead of each limb being fully robotic, I would just add synthetic muscles instead! It took up less room, which meant I could make the battery bigger! Fixing one of the supply issues!

Mwahahaha!

—---

As much as I wanted to really focus down and get the Tachikoma done, I still had other things distractions in my life, but that was okay. It was a good thing. Staying cooped up all day wasn't good for you!

That is why I was waiting on the corner around Arasaka tower for Hiromi to meet me for lunch.

She had called and wanted to vent about her classes.

So I was hanging out besides a 25/7 with food already waiting in the passenger seat for Hiromi to get out of class.

I was only pecking at my own meal while I waited so we could eat together.

Which is of course when I jerked up at the sight of someone I had only seen from afar.

"David Martinez."

The boy was walking over to the grassy section across the street and looked like he was both eating his lunch, and to my amusement set up a backpack next to him and started selling XBD's.

The first boy that walked up to him to buy was handed a compact tablet and after a few moments the boy poked away and then handed it back. David nodded, seemed to confirm payment, and handed out one of the condom wrappers to the kid.

I grabbed the food, and stepped out of the Quadra, heading across the street when I got a chance.

I really really wanted to see this for myself.

"Selling BD's?" I asked as I sauntered over, catching David's attention. The poor kid was half a second into biting into an XXL burrito and he gave it a look of yearning before turning to me.

"That's right. Best BD's in the city. None of that Scav scop. Mox work, and some really preem work that you can't get anywhere else." He offered as he once more reached into the bag and pulled out the tablet and handed it to me.

I was practically snickering at the situation, and there was no way I could end it here. I set the food down on the bench beside him and grabbed the tablet.

"First tab is all normal BD's good stuff still. Inner Universe is one of our top sellers, It'll make you think you can fly." He said and I nearly ruptured something as I kept myself from laughing at such a corpo sounding sales pitch.

David was a riot!

"I've seen it. The Parkour is a little kludged at times, but the music is amazing."

"What? No way! Inner Universe was perfect! The parkour, the death defying jumps!" He nearly jumped off the bench as he spoke. "The Ghost is preem stuff. Nothing else compares really." He offered and I felt myself smile happily.

See! They got my name right!

"Well it's preem that you like them. How's working with Hiromi? She isn't too bad is she?" I asked, changing the subject as I handed the tablet back.

"You know Hiromi?" He shot back surprised, and maybe a little suspicious.

"Yeah, she's one of my best chooms. I'm actually here waiting for her. Saw you selling BD's and wanted to come see."

"Ah well, she's great. Sure." He said in a way that left me with the opposite feeling.

"Ah, she's a bit too much?"

He just gave me a look and didn't say anything.

"That's fair. I hope she wasn't too mean to you. She can get a little hyper focused. I'll talk to her, make sure she is nicer to you and Nox."

"You know Nox too?"

"Yeah? We are… Sorta chooms? I'm Motoko."

David's eyes instantly widened and I realized if he knew Nox, it was likely that he knew who I was.

"You're the Ghost!" He said breathlessly.

"That's my Netrunner name, and I guess Hiromi used it for the marketing of the BD's too."

"Holy shit! You're nova! I've watched The Only Thing They Fear like a million times." He blurted out, and I just winced.

"Ah, probably shouldn't watch that one too much. I was totally agro in it. I just wanted to test out the song and stuff."

"No way! It was the best. Especially the end, with the Cut-o-Matic!"

"Heh. Chainswords do hold a special place in my heart."

"Yeah! You were like. Raaagh! And the Scavs were like Eeeee!"

I burst into laughter at the noises David was making. They had kinda sounded like that when I had the Chainsword.

Of course my laughter was interrupted a moment later by a Hiromi missile as I was slammed into.

"Motoko!" Hiromi called out suddenly as she instantly wrapped her arm around mine. "Did you wait for 'me' long?" She asked, emphasizing her sentence weirdly as she looked at David.

"Not super long, and I got distracted by David here. He did a good job trying to sell me the BD's."

"Which he doesn't need to do, because Motoko gets any of the BD's she wants for free. Obviously." Hiromi said, continuing to look at David who was looking more and more nervous.

Don't worry David! I'll talk you up to Hiromi! Make you look good to your boss!

"It's okay Hiromi, he didn't know at first, but he did a great job. I was actually tempted to buy some of the BD's even if they aren't my thing! He's a good salesman." I offered throwing a wink to David over Hiromi's head although for some reason he just kept looking even more nervous.

Ah, Hiromi, you are holding on pretty tight there. I reached over and patted her head, distracting her, enough to get free and then settling onto the bench.

"Don't forget your lunch Hiromi." I said lifting the bag and shaking it. "Why don't we hang out with David while we eat? I interrupted his lunch as well." I said as I settled onto the bench next to him and then pulled open the bag of food on my other side, so Hiromi could get access to it as well, although she didn't seem to want to sit down for a moment before eventually settling in.

"We should go eat somewhere else, let David get back to work." She almost hissed out the last bit, but I just laughed at her.

"It's lunch time Hiromi, let him eat. Besides I want to hear about how he's found working under you. I mean, since he is working for you, he is basically part of Section 9. Obliquely."

"No. No he isn't." Hiromi said, but she was finally starting to eat.

Poor Hiromi must be Hangry.

"So David. Have you been making good eddies? Any problems? Anyone bothering you or anything?" I asked, and the boy once more stopped burrito halfway to his mouth.

Which… On one hand, I'm sorry for interrupting his meal, but it was an XXL.

Realizing this I reached over and grabbed one of the cartons of noodles I had planned on eating myself and handed it over.

"Here, have this instead." I offered smiling, and he looked surprised for a moment before flashing me a boyish smile and taking the food.

"Hey, thanks."

"No problem." I offered, and he quickly started eating, which gave me time to look to Hiromi.

"So classes have been rough today?"

"Ugh! It's those brats in class! No one believes that I've managed a major Op for my father! They just scoffed at me!"

"Well you did, and it's probably on your record right? So no need to worry about what they think. They are your peers, not your bosses right?"

Hiromi just grumbled a bit but nodded accepting my words as she stuffed some Lo Mein in her mouth.

"Wait, you did an Op?" David asked, and Hiromi actually smirked looking oh so superior for a moment as she sat up straight.

"That's right! My father hired our group Section 9, and we not only recovered the data that he wanted, but we brought home so much loot."

"I'm still super excited to play with the Minotaur." I whispered with a sigh. It was so fun! You just put on the head set, click in the control shard, and suddenly you were a massive walker ready to stomp on anyone in your way!

It was like all my dreams come true!

Of course it wasn't my real body, so it was only a fun diversion. Someday I'd end up in a Dai-Oni, or something and then I would be the stompy bot!

"Really Motoko, what are we even going to do with that thing? It's almost too heavy to move even in Ichi's truck."

"I don't know, but I'm sure it will come in handy someday!"

"Ugh. I'll have to figure out something." She mumbled something after that I didn't catch as David interrupted.

"Whoa. That's so preem. You guys are like total edgerunners!"

"Nah." I instantly denied, scrunching my nose at the thought. "Edgerunners are idiots who just want to die. Trust me David, you might some day decide to do Merc work, but remember something super important okay? Going home to the ones you love after a gig, is the only way to plan things out. If your end goal ends with you dead, then you failed step one."

He didn't look like he quite understood, but I shrugged. I would do my best to guide the gonk away from leaping off the edge, but some people were just dedicated to killing themselves.

"Did you make a BD of this gig? The one that you did for Arasaka."

"No." I shook my head. "I thought about it, but some gigs you are dealing with things that are too dangerous. The less people that know about that gig the better. So no BD."

"Aw. I wanted to see it from your perspective." Hiromi muttered and I just laughed at her.

"I didn't say I didn't scroll the BD. Just that I don't plan on handing it to Judy. But maybe we can get it properly adjusted some time."

Hiromi flashed me a smile and I went back to eating. In the end, I hung out with Hiromi and David until they had to go back to class, but I think my task to raise Hiromi's estimation of David had worked, at least she had gotten real close to him on the way back to Arasaka tower. So they must have talked about something.

—--

I had a complete blueprint of the first draft of the Tachikoma.

It definitely wasn't perfect, but after realizing the supply and price of some parts would be… Difficult. I downgraded a lot.

This was a testbed.

But the CAD design was done.

Tachikoma Mk.0.1.

My system liked it when I completed a design, and I had gotten a nice Engineering, and Technical Ability alert as I finished.

Now it was time to put one together.

The 3d printer went to work. Piece by piece, but that takes time so I didn't want to just sit in front of the desk staring at it. Instead I switched to another grind.

"What are you doing?"

"Practice!" I chirped to Jun. He was sitting on the couch watching some TV show he liked, while I was practicing my Athletics.

Mostly I was just tumbling, Back Handsprings across the living room until I stopped at a wall, and then turning and doing it again.

Grinding!

"Alright… Just don't break anything." He rumbled but went back to his show after a bit.

"I won't!" I said, as I completed a circuit. It was kinda intense flipping around so much, but since it was a newish exercise. I had done something like this before after all, but I hadn't really grinded it like this much, but the alerts were coming in.

Mostly Athletics, although I did get a body alert on my tenth circuit, so that was nice!

I finally took a break, flopping down onto the ground to catch my breath as I felt my chest heave.

"Finally done?"

"For now!" I offered waving my wrist at Jun weakly.

"What are you practicing anyways?"

"Acrobatics! It's useful!"

"I suppose with those ankles of yours it would be."

"It's just useful in general! Never know when you might need to leap into cover or something. Plus it's good exercise in general!" I said, looking over to Jun and boring my eyes into him as I finished.

He of course swiftly turned away and continued snacking as he watched TV.

"You really need to exercise more Jun."

"I'm already strong."
"Only some of you! Chrome doesn't count! You will get all flabby if you keep relying on it."

"I'll just chrome out the flab. We got plenty of eddies, between Fujimura-Sama giving me more for gigs, the cheaper apartment, you no longer needing an allowance."

I grumbled at the last one. I had only needed a little money from Jun! Then I made my own! He was probably talking about old Motoko for the most part.

"You really shouldn't joke about that Jun. You need a lot more time before you can chrome up any more." I said quietly, more seriously.

This time he just grumbled at me. I snorted at him, finally standing up and walking over to sit on the couch beside him. Without hesitation I reached into the bag of snacks he was munching.

"So what are we watching any-ACK!" I choked as I threw the food into my mouth, instantly the taste registered and I spit it right back out.

"Motoko!" Jun yelped but I was too busy rushing to the bathroom.

Jun was snacking on Shwabshwab! It was ants! I had put ants in my mouth!

Hacking and spitting to remove as much as possible.

"W-why!? Why do they taste like ketchup!" I moaned as I rushed back out to get something to drink to wash the taste out with.

"I like the Ketchup flavored ones! Motoko! You are cleaning this up!" Jun yelled, pointing at the spray of spit and red colored ketchup flavored ants sprayed across the living room table.

"I'm dying!" I moaned desperately, popping one of Jun's Ni-Cola just to wash the taste out, which didn't really help as I was just replacing it with the horrid taste of cough medicine.

"Die after you clean it up!" He demanded grumbling at me.

 

[Seras]

Hiromi Mitsunashi

"So treat Motoko as if she was me." Hiromi added with a glare. To find her Motoko sitting on a bench besides Martinez of all people! Martinez who even Hiromi could admit was good looking and had a tendency to attract attention even from the other corpo girls! Not that any of them allowed themselves time with a boy with no future.

Martinez was smart. Too smart. Martinez was also poor. Too poor.

"Yeah, I got it. She's the Ghost! I can't believe I actually met the Ghost, and she's a teenager too?" Martinez still looked a little bewildered, and awed at the sudden meeting, something Hiromi could only accept.

Motoko had that effect on her-People. Motoko had that effect on people. Especially when she was being all cuddly and leaned in close with a smile, and she was sure that Motoko was going to press her lip-"Buee!" she nearly squealed, shaking her head and pressing her cool fingers against her cheeks to try and cool off.

Motoko was too strong!

"Hiromi?"

"It's still Boss, Martinez." She didn't quite snap, but reminded him. It was important to make sure underlings understood their positions in any company.

"Sure. Boss." He responded full of sarcasm.

Martinez was… a difficult underling. Some days he was completely out of sync, almost depressed, some days he was snarky, and those were the days that got him in trouble with the rest of the class.

Hiromi didn't care though, because Martinez was a good salesman once she had gotten him to stop trying to sell BD's out of dark corners, and constantly looking around like the NCPD were coming to collect his stock.

Fucking gonk. This was Arasaka Academy. There were no teachers or staff here that would disrupt a small business! We were the future of Arasaka NC! Of course we had to understand how businesses functioned, including success and failure.

Everyone had thought he was doing something creepy while selling his BD's so despite having pretty good stock through his old source he had barely managed any sales.

Cause Martinez was the dumbest smart person Hiromi had ever met.

He had zero street smarts. Which was really shocking for a kid that was so poor.

Hiromi had only had to see Mrs. Martinez once, to understand though.

David was fucking spoiled.

If Hiromi's mother acted even half as affectionate as Gloria Martinez, Hiromi was sure she would have died in embarrassment.

"Remember the eddies Martinez. Now. I have work to do. Excuse me." She added and the mention of money jerked the boy's spine right up. Sure Martinez was a moody kid, but well…

Eddies got him nice and compliant.

It was chump change honestly. Even without Section 9's cash flow the money for the BD's and XBD's was literally pocket change, but for Martinez?

It meant he had pocket change for a change, and Hiromi was very free with employee percentages.

Right now her goal wasn't to pull every eddy to profit, but to expand.

Martinez was a part of it. Covering Arasaka Academy from the inside.

Nox was another, as both supplier of the Mox collection, as well as a pseudo partner, although she had long ago taken over the leadership position.

He still griped about it, but only until the weekly profits came in. That always shut him up.

Straight Lane Shooters acting as a third connection to her burgeoning XBD empire. The gang was still working on their income streams, but Hiromi had cut them in. Letting them sell her stock for a majority of the profit in exchange for another benefit.

Hustle. Hired Muscle.

Nox often had two of the bigger SLS boys guarding his ass, and it had worked extremely well.

The SLS were expanding in their area, not through hostile acts, but through being a supplier of easy entertainment.

Hiromi had even set up a local net site, where customers could order over the Citinet, and a SLS boy would drop off their desired BD's right to their door!

Considering how many BD Junkies there were in NC? Oh yeah. Every new customer was a nice bundle of eddies on the weekly.

And all of the revenue streams zipped up the tree right into her hands.

"Heh… Hehehehehehe!" She burst in laughter at how well everything was going. Hiromi had used to think corpo shit like this had been boring, but that was before she had created a company underneath her!

Well her and Motoko, and even Malcolm and Ichi. In her mind the two boys were sub leaders more than anything.

Motoko of course was co-leader. Hiromi might be proud of her work building income streams, but Motoko is the one that made it all happen. That and the real income was from Section 9 duty, and Motoko was undoubtedly in charge there.

Ah! The sight of Motoko being all serious, and deadly serious, and utterly utterly lethal…

Hiromi cooled her cheeks once again. Hiromi had once been interested in Jun a little. Enough at least to use him to tease Motoko. Enjoying how the girl had always become outraged that Hiromi flirted with her older brother. Well before the coma anyways. Afterwards she hadn't cared at all that Hiromi tried to flirt with Jun.

But Hiromi hadn't needed to feign interest in the dangerous gangster boy. Not when Motoko had turned herself into such a deadly woman.

Hiromi still checked every Motoko BD, and was still thrilled every time at the casual lethal grace Motoko now moved with.

You wouldn't notice it at first, or at least she hadn't, but feeling every muscle shift and move as Motoko scaled a wall, or battered scavs to death was an intimate experience.

"Mistunashi." A voice interrupted her daydream and she scowled.

"Hmm? Oh, it's you Tanaka." She confirmed. The boy wasn't someone Hiromi usually would have needed to interact with. Being a year ahead of her, same as Martinez, but she had to for her employee.

That was how Hiromi had first interacted with Katsuo Tanaka. She almost wished she hadn't had to.

"You've done an acceptable job handling Martinez. He hasn't caused nearly as many issues since you took him under your wing. My congratulations." The boy offered snootily, that ugly smirk on his face only making Hiromi want to punch him.

"What do you want Tanaka?" She demanded, not at all interested in dealing with this. Idly she reached up and adjusted her tie. The Arasaka academy uniform wasn't the most comfortable thing. She almost envied Martinez and his casual disdain for dress code.
"Simply to request a meeting. Tonight? Dinner, my treat of course. Dark Matter? My father has an open pass of course. I figured we can discuss… Business."

Hiromi was flabbergasted, caught completely flat footed.

"What?" She asked and then instantly shook her head, stupid question. "What are you talking about Tanaka, we don't have any business together."

"Not so. Not so. Father mentioned how impressed he was with your handling of the downed AV cargo. The fact you are already leading a mercenary strike team? When he heard that it was one of my peers. Well Father wanted us to have a closer relationship."

You mean, your father realized how much of a disappointment you are for not being on my level. Was what Hiromi really wanted to say. To watch Tanaka crumble into the petulant child he really was.

The funny thing was, despite all the problems he gave David, Katsuo was one of the least respected members of the Academy.

He just couldn't do anything without his father holding his hand.

"Listen. Tanaka. I'm busy with work, and I don't have any interest in cutting you in, or joining up with you. You just don't bring any value in my eyes for a merger." Hiromi said, eyes looking down on the taller boy with every ounce of apathy she could bring.

Tanaka took it as well as he did any critique.

"You wannabe street rat bitch! You think I actually want to be around you? You stink like Martinez. My father was wrong. You have no value, and I'll make sure you remember that!"

"Sure Tanaka. We done? Yes. We are." She decided to not even give him the power to argue the point. She walked away.

She was surrounded by kids playing at being corpos. The thought made her scoff as she was practically one of them.

No way could Hiromi have done this without Motoko handling the difficult bits. But having valued personnel was a skill all on its own, something she had learned that had changed her world.

She might never rise as high as Tanaka in the company, because he would be pulled up by his father, but that was fine. Because Tanaka would never be more than just a company boy.

Hiromi? Hiromi would have her own assets, her own company, and her own projects. She would stay with Arasaka, but she wouldn't be just another drone like Tanaka.

—--

We were hanging out on the couch together watching some TV, but it wasn't a relaxing experience.

Jun wass purposefully ruffling the bag of ants! They were ants! Ants are ants! Not food! He was doing it just to watch me jerk away from them.

I didn't even want to look at the damned things! They had been in my mouth! I now knew the texture of ants!

"Heh." Jun chuckled as he grabbed a handful and tossed them into his mouth. He was doing it on purpose!

"I hate you."

"Heh!"

I considered punching him, but Jun still had a nuclear weapon in his lap. What if… What if he chucked them at me or something!? I could get them in my hair! I don't think I could mentally handle that!

So I just casually moved away from him, yep super casual. Not squirming and flinching at all. Nope!

"I'm gonna go do something! In my room!" I decided that a tactical retreat was in order and Jun just kept smirking at me as I flipped over the back of the couch, sliding into a tumble to let me land on my feet at my door.

Yep. Just going to avoid that whole thing.

Inside my room the Tachikoma piece was nearly finished, but I didn't want to sit there and just look at it, so I grabbed my guitar and hooked it into my amp.

To get back at Jun just a little I belted into the opening strings to Chippin in.

Singing it at the top of my lungs just utterly belting it out made me feel better and probably annoyed Jun so there you go.

Then on my third repeat of the song my 3d printer finally finished, and I hurried over, quickly pulling out the piece of casing and putting in the feeder material for the next section, loading it up and then starting it up again.

Then because I wanted to be a little shit, I walked back to where I was grabbed my guitar and started the song back exactly where I had left off.

That finally got me a reaction.

"MOTOKO! CUT IT OUT!" Jun yelled from the living room, loud enough I could actually hear it over the song. That finally earned him some relief as I stopped playing and toned down the volume before jumping back into it, at a much more reasonable level.

I was trolling Jun, not trying to be an asshole.

But then as I was starting up, there was a knock on the door. None of my chooms were supposed to be coming over. I put the guitar down and grabbed my Lexington from the holster and met Jun who just rolled his eyes as he saw me come out of my room armed as he walked to the door.

At least grab the door gun Jun! The Tactician was for this exact thing!

But he ignored it and opened the door.

"Uh, hey." Jun offered looking surprised and I concealed my lexington in the back of my pants as I wandered over to see.

"Hey neighbor. I was uh… Oh." She remarked upon seeing me.

It was Rockerboy Neighbor. She was standing at the door, hand idly twirling a bit of her techhair that was flashing slowly to her heartbeat…

FLIRTING! RED ALERT!

I glared as I hurried over grabbing Jun's arm and narrowing my eyes a bit at her.

"Can we help you?" I asked, making my point clear. She just looked a little awkward for a second before seeming to cool down and then flashed a smile.

"Hey I just heard you playing and stuff. Samurai? That's nova, oldschool, but nova, we should jam sometime-" She started speaking and the moment I realized what she was going for, I instantly started laughing. Practically busting a gut because she hadn't been looking at me while saying that.

Worse? Jun looked like someone had fed him something sour.

The look of confusion on the girls was great, and I just laughed and laughed in delight at the natural 1 she just rolled.

"I don't play guitar." Jun offered after a moment saving the girl a bit of confusion. "Motoko is nova though. She can play anything."

I could see the flush go up the girl's pale cheeks at Jun's statement, and even worse her cool confidence was a bit broken.

She had definitely come here for a chance to flirt with Jun about music.

"Motoko, it's rude to laugh at people." Jun pointed out to me, because I was absolutely busting a gut.

I brought myself under control, as much as I wanted to just point at Jun and tell him the look on his face was forever my favorite thing. But instead I calmed down to just softer chuckles. "Sorry. Sorry. Yeah Jun." I said getting myself under control.

I looked at the girl who looked a little lost and felt a bit bad.

She had been rude on our first meeting, but I could be the better person.

Besides that look of disgust on Jun's face was never going to be forgotten. Mostly because I took a picture.

"That was you?" She finally asked and I nodded.

"Yeah Jun hates Samurai, so I was messing with him by playing it. Wanna jam together?" I asked, surprising the girl with my sudden offer.

"Oh? That would be nice, Motoko's never played with anyone else before." Jun said, dropping one of his stupid big hands over the top of my head.

It took only half a second for the girl to realize that Jun was a good big brother, and that would be her way in.

"Preem. Sure, I have some time to jam a bit. Let me get my guitar." She said walking away quickly, and I was pretty sure she needed a moment to reset her plan.

She had definitely come for Jun. I had no doubt she was going to want to play in front of Jun.

I rolled my eyes, silly Rockerboys.

Heading back to my room I grabbed my amp and equipment and hauled it out to the living room.

No way was I letting some random Rockerboy gonk in my room.

A minute later there was another knock at the door, and Jun answered it as I was setting up my stuff.

Rockerboy neighbor was there with a flirty smile for Jun.

"Huh. That's not the Orphean you had at your gig." I mentioned cutting in a bit. She was carrying an old beat up Washburn guitar.

She looked to me, and shook her head. "Course not. That's not a guitar you use while playing around."

"Gotcha! Well come on in, feel free to plug into the amp. Jun come sit!"

"Yeah yeah." He muttered laughing as he walked over and flopped onto the couch, although since it was a big circle he had to sit sideways to see. Rockerboy neighbor instantly hurried over and plugged in, and the moment she did I could see she was actually plugged into the guitar as well. Her hair instantly shifted, and as she strummed a few chords to check the sound her hair shifted with her.

That was kinda nova. Should I get Tech Hair like that? Lucy had something like that too and I always thought it was cool.

I shook it off as she strummed a few chords and from the sound I knew she was all set.

So I instantly started into the intro to her own song. The one Violent Hemorrhage had opened their gig with although I didn't know the name of it.

The look on her face as she jerked up at the sound as I played it perfectly made me smirk. I had to repeat the refrain twice before she shook herself loose and finally joined in.

Then we just jammed. I played the songs Violent Hemorrhage had played the night of their gig. Playing along from memory, and every time I kept up, Rockerboy neighbor looked more and more surprised.

Jun looked sort of meh about the song choices, but I could tell that she didn't really notice that. Only that his attention was on her, and she strutted under my brother's eyes.

We took a break after a few songs and Jun was a good boy bringing both of us drinks.

"Thanks Jun." I said as I drank my soda, while Rockerboy neighbor flirted, leaning in a bit as she took the drink.

"Yeah. Thanks." She offered, and I think even Jun wasn't dense enough not to notice that level of flirtation.

"Uh. Sure, anytime." He offered back, and that only made the girl smirk even more wicked.

"So what's… Okay seriously how do you know every song my band plays? You a super fan or something?"

"No? I saw you play a gig once. The songs were alright, not really my thing." I admitted with a shrug. "I tend to like older rock more. Or more electronic stuff. I guess."

"That's…" She trailed off, glancing at Jun. Probably wondering how to call me a liar or something. It was pretty crazy.

"Motoko is a genius." Jun said with a smile reaching out and ruffling my hair.

The girl looked like she wanted to argue. Which… Yeah I could feel that. I mean, I had just perfectly played her own songs having only heard them once?

Well I had heard them a few times vaguely, I supposed. She did practice in her apartment, but that was rarely clear enough to do more than vaguely recall the song she was playing.

But that brought me up to another issue.

"So what's your name anyways?" I asked, and the girl nearly spewed her drink out as she was taking a drink as I asked.

"What you don't know?"
"You never introduced yourself, and I only know you from the one time I heard you play."

"Yeah but…" She shook her head. "Alice. Fujimura Alice."

My eyes narrowed but Jun made an 'ah' noise as if it just dawned on him. "Fujimura-Sama's niece. I remember now. He mentioned you lived on this floor too."

"Yeah. Oji-san let me stay here while I get my band together. Since it's closer to all the clubs." she offered with a shrug.

My narrow eyed look eventually relented and I shrugged. The fact she was related to that jerk face Fujimura didn't matter much. She was more like me than anything. TC connections but not actually a member.

Couldn't really get annoyed with it considering that was very similar to me and Jun.

"Alice then, nova. I'm Motoko, since I didn't actually say that, but you already heard Jun call me that."

"Yeah. The Kusanagi siblings. I remember Oji-san told me about you when you first moved in. Said the Oni was a good underling, but his sister was difficult."

"That sounds about right." I agreed without hesitation. Earning an actual amused look from the girl.

"So know anything besides your own songs?"

"I know a couple songs." She offered and started up something I had never heard before.

Thankfully with Perfect Musical Memory I caught on and on the second play through I was matching her tempo.

To my surprise, she seemed actually pretty happy to jam out with me.

 

[Seras]

After a few songs Alice called for a break, and then casually flopped onto the couch next to Jun.

Flirting.

I rolled my eyes, but she had been surprisingly nice this time, so I decided to give her a bit of space.

I wasn't exactly thrilled that Fujimura's niece was into Jun, but I would just rely on my brother's denseness to romance.

Instead I headed into my room.

The Tachikoma part was completed, so I prepped the next piece, messing with the printer making sure it was good to go, and started it up.

Considering I was giving Alice some space with Jun I decided to be semi productive and look at my stat sheet.

Level 17

Body 8(16) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 8.
-Athletics 7
-Street Brawler 8
-Annihilation 5

Reflex 8
-Blades 7
-Handguns 7
-Assault 8
-Driving 7

Intelligence 11 (14) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
-Breach Protocol 9
-Quick Hacks 8
-Programming 11

Cool 9
-Ninjutsu 9
-Cold Blood 8
-Rockerboy 8

Technical Ability 6 (10) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
-Crafting 5
-Engineering 5

1 Stat point.
6 Skill point.


Perks.
Ambidextrous Blades 2
Quickdraw Handguns 2
Gun Nut Assault 2
Parkour Athletics 2
Grappling Street Brawler 2
Drive By Driving 2
Cat-like Athletics 5
Cool Nerves Cold Blood 2
Danger Sense Ninjutsu 2
Wall Breaking Breach Protocol 2
Cyber Security Quick Hack 2
Recoil Reduction. Annihilation 2
Cyber Ninja Ninjutsu 5
Fearless Chill. Cold Blood 5.
Improvised Weapons Street Brawler 5
Parry Blades 5
Robotics wizard Crafting 2
Drifting Driving 5
Rapid Reload Handguns 5
Design Wizard Engineering 2
Rifle Ace Assault 5
Ghost touch Breach 5
Perfect Musical Memory Rockerboy 2.
Debug Programming 2
Siren Song Rockerboy 5
Hacking Wizard Quick Hacks 5
Inspired Programmer Programming 5
A.I. Whisperer Programming 10
Slam Fire Annihilation 5
Enduring Builds Crafting 5

That was where I currently was. I looked through my stat block to try and figure out what I wanted to grind next.

Weapons popped to mind. I was a bit behind on gun skills still. But I wasn't sure I wanted to go to the range again.

Actually I did have Annihilation. I could grab a shotgun, or a machine gun… Actually no, no machine guns. Shotguns were good though.

Also Engineering and Crafting still stood out… Okay. Grenade time.

I gathered some parts I had. I would stop at a shop and head to the Straight Lane Apartments, to make some grenades since Jun still refused to let me make them in the apartment.

I was low on grenades after that one kid stole them from my Quadra.

I walked out to see Jun looking pretty uncomfortable, as Alice flirted with him, her hair was throbbing pretty quickly to the beat of her heart.

Oooh. Jun was in trouble.

Be strong Jun-nii. It's only a rockstar going for your innocence! I'm sure no rockstar has ever defiled an innocent maiden before…

"Heh." I snickered as I walked through the apartment. "I'm heading out. Gonna go build some grenades. You want any?"

"What, you're leaving? Are you sur- Wait!? What was that about grenades!?" Jun called trying to rise up but I was already out the door.

I guess that means he doesn't want any.

Slipping into the garage from the elevator I walked over to my Quadra and slipped in. Uncaring about the TC toughs that still hung out down here. I guess it was safe? Being down here kept the kids from being targeted by other gangs I guess.

I roared out of the garage, enjoying the way the Quadra got a little air at the exit every time, I whooped as I slid into the street and then slowed down to the speed limit and drove to the gun store.

Buying a metric ton of supplies I carried the heavy box out of the shop and into the passenger seat of the Quadra before heading to the Straight Lane Apartments.

Time to get to work.

—--

Tinkering with grenades was a surprisingly soothing experience. Future tech meant they were actually pretty safe, like handling C4. You pretty much knew exactly what it would take to cause an explosion and as long as you didn't do that one thing you were good.

I made a dozen of them using old parts before I ran into the problem of lack of supplies for the casings. Sure I had all the internals, and the triggers, but I had run out of the casings to hold everything.

I frowned. Normally I would head back to the apartment to run the 3D printer, but that was already in use…

Did I want to buy a new one? I was making a lot more stuff. I could probably get a way higher quality printer as well…

I considered it as I spun around in the chair and took in the sight of the netrunning basement.

I shrugged. It wasn't like I could get any more work done here without either going out and buying casings wholesale, or making them myself. I packed up the grenades, noted that I had earned a Crafting and Tech alert from the dozen completed grenades, and grabbed the box of completed explosives to take with me.

My Quadra was running low on big boom after all.

Heading up, I was stopped as the elevator opened by a pair of girls that I recognized.

"Ah it's you two."

"And it's you." The smaller one hissed glaring, but the taller girl rested a hand on her shoulder to calm her. "We were waiting for you, hoping you might be willing to discuss something." She asked, and I felt my eyes narrow.

Last time I had met these two, they had threatened Hiromi, and hadn't been happy to have us around. It had been a while since then though. So I guess something had changed.

"I don't really have a lot of time." I lied, "But if you make it quick I'll hear you out."

"Perfect. We are having an issue with a rival gang causing some problems. While we can certainly defend our territory… We are a bit outgunned this time, and wanted to hire you."

"Call Hiromi then, and run the gig through her. She's my fixer." I replied and made to move but the girl moved in.

"Wait! We… We told Hiromi we had everything under control! If she realizes we are struggling with our end of the deal we might lose the deal entirely. Please. It's just one group. We don't even need them flatlined or anything! They have higher end weapons is all. They made some deal with 6th St. So they have rifles and things. We just need them to lose the weapons. If they do, everything goes back to normal."

I sighed. This was dumb. Like literally dumb.

"Okay listen. Hiromi is my best choom, so let's be real, hiring me is still going to alert her. So let's cut all the shit. You guys are street kids. You aren't meant to handle something like 6th St. Hiromi knows that. Just call her, tell her what's up. I'll send her a text right now. To look into it, and that we'll help out."

The taller girl looked nervous before sighing. "Please."

"Great. Call her! If she is being a bitch I'll talk to her, but I doubt she's gonna drop you guys like that." Hiromi had mentioned from time to time that the SLS was acting as her low level muscle. No way Hiromi would drop them just because…

Wait, did these kids think Hiromi was some super fixer like Wakako or something… Heh.

I turned and walked away to hide my smirk and my desire to giggle. I was gonna tease Hiromi so bad about how everyone thought she was some elite fixer!

—--

"Best model you can find on the market! The Militech marketplace also offers a wide variety of printable options for the discerning customer!" The man said, patting a 3D printer with one hand.

This was now the third Militech branded printer he had shown me.

"That's great, but I don't need a Militech marketplace. I'm looking for something I can run on my own. Which this one won't. As I have to upload my blueprints to be able to print them." I argued for the third time. It was actually a good marketing ploy.

The printer was cheaper, and pretty good quality. So by tying it into a local net marketplace Militech got free product to sell, and a constant income.

And I'm pretty sure I could jailbreak it, but I didn't want to deal with this! I just wanted it to work!

"The Militech marketplace is the greatest concentration of-"

"Choom. I'm not interested."

The man shut his mouth and then breathed out.

"Yeah alright kid. You want something a bit more flexible, we got that too. C'mon." His tone had completely changed from the corpo tag line he had been hawking at me.

He led me over to the side of the shop that was sort of tucked away, and there I finally found what I wanted.

"These don't have any corp support for production, but you know that."

"I do." I said checking out the varieties he had. These printers would only work if I could input the model myself without any of the libraries that some of the other printers offered.

"This one." I said pointing at a Vance T-Form. I had never heard of Vance before, but just checking out the printing details this is the one I wanted.

"Figured you'd grab that. The T are good, but be careful about buildup. They have a really shit cleaning system, so you'll want to do it yourself. But if you do. They are solid." He offered hefting up the box that was pretty large, definitely some do it yourself building involved, but I paid and hauled it out to the Quadra to take… Home.

I would flip the printers around. This one could keep working on the Tachikoma, I would need tighter tolerances there anyways, while the old printer could be sent over to the Netrunner lair for grenade parts.

—---

Jun wasn't home when I got back, which made me wonder if Alice had actually gotten her claws into him. But I ignored it heading into my room, taking out the Tachikoma part that was done. And unplugging and moving the old printer, to make room for the much much larger new one.

I started cackling as I put it together. So much power! So much building! Tachikoma!

Once I had it all settled and ran a quick test part to see.

It came out smooth and within my actual tolerances. Usually the printer made things a bit wonky, but not this time. It was nearly exactly what I wanted.

Perfect.

Satisfied I started on another part, and the timer for completion was certainly better than before.

Well, I still had my old one.

I popped the second printer onto the floor and started printing out grenade casings. Slowly working through the process as the new printer buzzed quietly working much much faster than this old one.

An hour later I swapped out the part being constructed for another build and took all the Tachikoma parts so far and started fitting them together.

I had enough of the outer casing done now that I could start putting together the brain and start fitting it together. I had the parts already, especially since it wasn't like I was building an AI here.

A SCSM would have about the same level of intelligence as my Tachikoma, at least to start.

Then again Brendan was a S.C.S.M. Yet he was smart enough to make people think he was alive.

It would all come down to the iterative design, and my skill as a programmer.

The brain came together, just some hardware capable of running an OS. It was honestly basic, but it didn't need to be complex. I just needed the start.

With the brain put together, even with the body still only half completed. I grabbed my laptop and started programming.

—--

I dumped the box of grenade casings onto the table down in the netrunner cave. I had a few hours before the piece of Tachikoma was done. So I had some time to grind more crafting points.

I had made a lot of casings, enough that I wouldn't need more for a long time. But really it was just a grinding method. I probably wouldn't even keep all the grenades live.

My hands grabbed the basic tools I need and I went to work. Explosive fitted into the casing, electronic trigger connected to the mechanical one, and then a final twist of a screwdriver sealing it all together.

I gave it a little scan with my Kiroshi, confirming it was live, and then put it to the side.

Then moved on to the next one.

And the next. All the while XP came in small bursts.

*100 Technical Ability XP Gained*

*100 Crafting XP Gained.*

—--

*100 Crafting XP Gained.*

*Crafting skill level up!*

Crafting six? Nice!

I had stilled as the alert came in, slowly putting down the grenade I had been working on. I had dozens of the things now. Each one lined up to the side ready to be used.

I stretched raising my arms high above my head and groaned as I felt my muscles in my back stretch.

That had been a good grinding session!

Now what was I going to do with all of these grenades?

The idea struck me and I laughed, instantly pulling up my agent to make a call.

*Ringing.* I hummed a bit as the call went through, already gathering up the grenades into a box for transport.

*Ringing.*

*Hello? Motoko?*

*Ichi! Glad you picked up. You doing anything right now?*

*Nothing I can't put down, what's up?*

*I have a ton of grenades and I figured having some stored in your truck would be a good idea. Just in case you need something with a bit more boom, than the HMG.*

*Grenades? Motoko I don't really… I don't think I'm comfortable with that.*

*What? Why? They're just grenades Ichi.*

*I've never handled grenades before Motoko. I don't exactly want to blow my hand off or something.*

I looked at my box of grenades, ones I had just been planning on storing and using sparingly…

Then I started grabbing all of them and throwing them into the box.

*Ichi meet me at the Straight Lane Apartments. I'm calling Hiromi and Malcolm as well! We are running a grenade course.*

*Fuck… Uh can I opt out?*

*Nope! This is an important skill! Plus it gives me an excuse to actually have so many grenades! So Jun can't yell at me anymore.*

*Where did you even get all these grenades from? Did you do a gig without telling us?*

*What? No. I just made them.*

*You… Made them? Motoko-*

*Yep! It's easy. Like super easy. Don't worry they are safe! Hell they are safer than the ones you can buy bulk from gun stores and stuff. Don't worry! I made the whole thing myself!*

*Oh god.* He whispered quietly, but this was happening Ichi. Your boss at Section 9 demanded it!

*Okay! Hurry up. I'm calling everyone in.*

—--

"I don't like this idea." Hiromi muttered but I ignored her whining as well. Only Malcolm had been all for the idea of practicing with grenades.

But I had gotten them all here now so it was too late!

"Welcome to the Section 9 grenade testing range!" I called out waving behind me at the bare desert."

"This is just the Badlands."

"Section 9 grenade testing range!" I repeated, ignoring Ichi's remarks.

"Yeah!" Malcolm called out, the only one of my chooms that was actually here to have fun.

I kicked the box I was standing over knocking off the lid, and all of my chooms even Malcolm jerked back.

Scaredy cats! Just because it was a crate of grenades!

"Alright! So everyone come up and grab a grenade, just don't twist the top and we won't have any issues. If you do accidently twist it just throw it far away, but let's not do that! First off. Get a feel for the heft of the grenades! They aren't that heavy!"

Malcolm instantly walked up to grab a grenade, while Hiromi and Malcolm both stayed far back.

"C'mon! Both of you! They aren't going to hurt you unless you don't know what you're doing and that's why we are here!"

"As a fixer, I don't think grenade usage falls under my job description." Hiromi tried to argue.

"I just drive. I don't do combat much. So I don't think I need to know this." Ichi added a moment later.

"Don't be silly! Hiromi! Combat skills are very important even to a fixer. What are you going to do against some corporate hatchetman squad coming to kill you if you don't know how to toss high explosives at the bad guys until they are just chunky burrito mix?" I said while pointing at Hiromi, then I switched to Ichi making him flinch.

"And you! Throwing grenades out of your car's window at gonks chasing you is a very useful skill! You both are learning this." I demanded stomping my foot causing the crate to shift and Ichi and Hiromi both flinched back.

"Wow this is pretty nova Motoko. You made this?" Malcolm asked, looking over the grenade he had picked up.

"Yep! The cap on the top is a timer. The more you twist it the shorter the fuse, while the large pin is the safety. As long as you are holding that no explosion. The timer can't go under one and a half second. So you should be able to throw it far enough to be safe as well. At the max it has a ten second timer!"

"Why so long?"

"Traps! Pop two or three set the timer and run. Ten seconds is a long time, more than enough for most gonks to think wherever you were is safe to run to now."

Malcolm nodded, taking in my wisdom.

Hiromi and Ichi were still too far away.

"Get over here and grab a grenade or I'm throwing them at you!" I called out, and that finally got my chooms moving. Hiromi first, with Ichi following behind as both of them walked up to the crate and gently pulled a grenade out.

"Okay so like I said, get a feel for it. First thing we are doing is some test throws! Without popping the timer we are going to see how far you can throw it!"

"Preem." Malcolm said walking over to where I was on a little hill, and then chucked it over to the other side. Malcolm had a good arm!

"Nice distance! You'll be able to really freak people out with surprise grenades!" I said while throwing him a thumbs up.

Malcolm smiled happily at my words.

"Hiromi and Ichi's turn!"

They both tossed the grenade and I winced as Hiromi's didn't quite go right, instead throwing almost too far up, as it landed on the hill and then rolled back towards her.

"A-ah!?"

"It's okay." I called out walking over and grabbed the rolling grenade, I checked just to be safe, but the primer wasn't started. "We'll work on your throw first." I mentioned without saying that Hiromi would have blown herself up with that throw.

 

[Seras]

The explosion of the grenade going off sent dust and debris flying everywhere, but we were all safe.

"Woo! Yeah! Nova!" Malcolm called out as he bounced on his feet. He had already thrown a half dozen grenades, but still cheered every time.

The others had even started to get into it too. Hiromi actually had a really good throw once she got a little practice. Turned out her chrome hands had been to blame as it messed with her throw. Something she hadn't even known until now.

Ichi had finally gotten comfortable, and the two boys were seeing who could throw the farthest.

It was nice that everything was coming together!
"Motoko! We got company!" Ichi called out, and I looked over and frowned. We were pretty far out in the middle of nowhere. Specifically because hey we were throwing grenades around. We had even driven off the main highway into the desert to do our training. And now a few cars spewing dust up behind them were driving towards us.

"Ichi! Get in your van and hide out. Malcolm! You have your weapons?"

"Yeah."

"Load up. Hiromi get in the Quadra." I ordered as I hurried to the Quadra's trunk.

I wasn't exactly armored up at the moment, but I grabbed my Copperhead and a spare magazine in one hand, and my own Shingen in the other, which I quickly passed over to Hiromi.

She nodded, holstering her own pistol and grabbing the Smart SMG as she hunkered down in the armored vehicle. I noticed with a bit of amusement she was still gripping a grenade in her off hand.

Then I turned to the approaching cars, which as they approached I noticed were in fact Wraith markings covering them.

Well this just got more interesting, and a lot more dangerous.

I walked a bit away from the Quadra and let myself go casual. Hiromi was hidden in the Quadra. Ichi had his HMG's ready to go, and Malcolm? Malcolm was being smart.

He was hiding! I was actually really impressed for a moment, as he had hunkered down under the truck. Using brush to break up his outline. Shingen poking out and just waiting.

The two Wraith vehicles pulled up in a sliding skid, sending dirt and gravel flying, and then a moment later out stepped four gonks. Two from each vehicle.

I quickly scanned all four as the dust cleared. Each of them was armed, and swaggered out, only hesitating a tiny amount when they saw my Copperhead. One of them nudged the other and pointed me out, pointing out that I was armed.

"Drop the gun kid." The apparent leader called out waving around an Ajax. Something I noticed he had experience handling.

Like most of the Wraiths, these guys were a small step above the normal Night City gangs. Better weapons, usually some military training.

So I dropped the Copperhead.

I didn't need it, and it would make them let down their guard a bit. "Satisfied? Now what do you want?"

"Yeah, I am. You're out here using up our turf, fucking around on Wraith territory. I know you Night City kids don't think much of us Nomads, but out here? Well this isn't Night City. This is our home, and now you owe us a nice Juicy tax." The man said, but to my surprise he wasn't talking about eddies. "Preem ride. Where'd you get her?"

My eyes narrowed and my hackles rose up. Because he was looking squarely at my Quadra.

"It's a bit of a long story, and if I tell you, I'll have to kill you." I answered back, sounding like I was joking.

I wasn't joking.

"Hah! Nice one kid, but those are nomad wheels, and you don't look like any nomad I know of. You Clan?"

"No. Night City brat through and through." I admited with a laugh.

"Even more interesting, but I think that'll do, just hand over the wheels, and you lot can go home, and tell everyone about the big scary Wraiths. It'll be a fun story to tell your chooms."

He demanded, his focus on me shifting as he looked away. His three other buddies were split, looking at me, or at Ichi in the cab of the truck who had been faux hiding.

Making enough noise and moving around that they knew he was there. I wonder if Malcolm had asked him to do that.

Since everyone was in position and these gonks thought they had won. It was time to act.

The leader had his back turned, and none of them had visible speedware.

So I quick drew the Burya and punched a hole through the leader.

*750 XP Gained.*

I must have hit something serious, because I got the XP alert instantly.

"Fuc-" I was already moving, leaping up and over the Quadra, drawing the idiots attention to me, and away from the truck.

The truck that even as I started taking some fire, suddenly opened up. The idiots didn't even hear it, too focused on me, and then the noise of their rifles was drowned out.

The roar of the HMG's firing in unison echoed out, despite the fact they weren't super accurate, rate of fire had a charm of it's own. The three gonks despite moving a bit into cover to surround the Quadra were soon mulched without me even needing to do more than take cover. Malcolm was firing as well, so even as they tried to slip into new cover the Smart rounds pelted down onto them.

Then everything went quiet.

"Kill check!" I called out as I stepped out from around the Quadra to quickly look over the four bodies. I popped bullets into the three extras just to be sure, but they were dead.

"Everyone alright?" I called out, and Malcolm and Ichi both confirmed they were okay. Malcolm took a moment longer to slide out from under the truck.

But as I walked over to the Quadra, Hiromi still hadn't spoken up. I hurried to the car and popped it open only to relax, Hiromi was shaking a bit, and looking…

She wiped at her eyes, but she was okay.

I leaned in and pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're okay. Everything's fine."

"It's stupid. They weren't even shooting at me." She whispered back and I just hugged her tighter. For a while until she eventually calmed down and nodded quietly, pushing me away and stepping out.

"You okay?" Ichi asked Hiromi gently and she nodded.

"I'll be fine. Ugh. Look at this mess." She said instead, staring at the corpses.

"Well… I mean…" I trailed off looking at the Wraith vehicles. Considering how many of them we had already sold off these probably wouldn't net us much…. "Who wants to throw grenades at the cars until they explode?"

"Oh! Me me me!" Malcolm called out jumping up and down like a little kid, and even Ichi snuffed out a laugh before raising his own hand.

"Oh fine." Hiromi added herself. Stomping over to grab some grenades.

"Okay, first let's check them for loot, then let's turn this into good practice. Try to aim into the cabin!" I called out as my chooms all grabbed high explosives.

This was such a good day.

—--

I flopped onto the couch beside Jun when I got home that evening. We had used up all the grenades I had crafted, turning the Wraith vehicles into hunks of scrap.

Fuck the Wraiths.

"Welcome home. You've been out in the badlands?" Jun asked, I looked up and he was looking me over. Huh. Did he scan me?

"Gonk. You don't have to scan me, you can just ask where I've been."

"I didn't! I just noticed all the dust on you." He answered back trying to sound cool, but I was barely dusty anymore. So I just kept staring at him until he got awkward.

"Okay I did a small scan."

"Goooonk. But yeah, Section 9 didn't know how to use grenades so I made a whole bunch of them, and we went out into the desert and blew shit up. It was kinda nova."

"You could have invited me."

"Jun I love you, but inviting my brother along with my chooms is weird." Then because I really didn't care about being weird… Well mostly… Sometimes… I shook my head. "You can come next time."

Jun smiled at my offer and reached over, dropping a hand into my hair.

"Next time then. What are your plans for the rest of the night?" He asked and in return I smiled and adjusted myself so I was laying sideways on the couch.

"Well first, I'm going to veg out on the couch with my gonk brother and watch his crappy TV shows. Then I'll probably do some more work on my drone."

"Heh. Well this gonk brother knows there is going to be a new show starting tonight!"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah it's about a drug dealer in-"

"Blegh." I answered instantly. "That sounds like total scop. I don't want to watch that." I grumbled, but Jun was by now well used to ignoring my complaints about any and all TV shows in the future.

He just continued to ramble on about what he had heard about this new show.

I ended up watching the first episode.

I wanted to kill the director.

—---

The Tachikoma Chassis was done.

I had finished every piece, and put it all together, even uploaded the very basic program into its little brain the moment it was finished I got a burst of alerts. Programming. Engineering. Technical Ability. The system liked when I finished a big project.

Then I set the tiny drone onto its four limbs and flipped it on.

It ran through its check process. It's eye rolling around as it checked the rotation. Limbs one at a time stretching and moving gathering range of motion data.

Then it was off. Taking a wavering slow step forward, then another leg moved, and another and soon despite how unsteady it was, the program I had created was learning, and it walked, and walked. And…

Touched the wall. Then it just kept trying to walk forward…

I waited a minute, hopeful the program would figure out something was in the way.

But no.

"Oookay. That needs to be fixed." I reached down and picked it up, and despite being lifted it still just tried to walk forward.

I grabbed my personal link and plugged it in….

Yep it had gotten stuck on the basic walking program I had made. It hadn't actually switched over to the learning process….

Oh. It wasn't a programming fault.

It was hardware.

"Fucker sold me an off brand CPU." I grumbled. It literally wasn't strong enough to run both sides of the program, which meant I needed to buy a new one, and or get creative.

I sighed as I grabbed a personal link cord and my laptop.

"Time to offload some of that thinking little Tachikoma."

—--

While I watched the Tachikoma slowly walk in circles hampered by a length of cord, I at least was happy enough.

It was definitely learning now.

The laptop was basically running the learning part of the program, and the chassis was running the actual movement.

It was a bit of a gonk setup, but at least it was improving. Slowly becoming more and more capable of taking the steps with surety.

The learning program was just something I had nabbed out of a SCSM. Basically the same thing that would have likely evolved into the program Brendan used to learn about people. Well with a few years of advancement.

It wasn't anywhere near an actual AI of course. We were talking low level iterative learning. Half the time I had to plug into the laptop and make the adjustment manually before the Tachikoma would actually learn it.

But that's okay. It wasn't about what it could do now. It was just the first step. Tachikoma V0.000001.

"Okay while you keep figuring out walking. I'm going to go make more grenades." I reached down and patted the Tachikoma on its head. "Ganbatte Tachikoma-Chan!"

Satisfied I had cheered on my little bot I headed out. I would need to stop at the store for more parts though.

Thankfully the new printer was hammering out the grenade casings I would need.

—---

The sun came up long before I took another break. The Netrunner lair was now stocked up on a good amount of grenades. I pushed the second box full of them under the table and out of the way.

But I was all smiles despite the long session.

*100 Technical Ability XP Gained*

*Technical Ability Leveled up!*

That was Tech 7. And since it had upgraded. I was finding myself excited to do even more builds.

Mostly because despite getting one Crafting alert after leveling, the grenade grind was nearing its limits.

I needed to make something new.

Well my first idea was to go sideways more than anything. Right now all I was doing was making frag grenades, but grenades in Night City were crazy. Laser grenades. Poison grenades. All sorts of different stuff.

And EMP grenades could be super useful against borgs.

Unfortunately I didn't actually have the blueprints for them, and I wasn't going to try and make explosives, especially an EMP in my netrunner cave.

So that meant it was time to go on the net.

I stretched and wandered over to my net chair. I needed some data, so of course I was going to steal it!

Plugging in I shivered a bit, as the coolant started flowing through my leotard, but then I paused… I should be smart about this… Yeah… Smart! I could do that!

*Ringing,*

*Ringing.*

*Motoko?*

*Hey Malcolm, you doing anything right now?*

*Noo?*

*Preem. Hiromi is at school, so I had to call someone. Want to help me with some netrunning? I can't promise it'll be exciting, but I'm going to steal some weapon blueprints, so I-"

"Stop talking. You had me at stealing. Your netrunning lair?*

*Yeah. I'm already here.*

*Alright on my way!*

—--

"Okay so what do I do?" Malcolm asked as he arrived and I just pointed him at the laptop station that my chooms had used to monitor the videos while we hunted people down.

"Really simple. Mostly just take data that I sent to the server. Make sure it has what we need, and if I start flatlining. Save my butt."

"Right. Sure, how do I do that?"

"Well, mostly unplug me and call for Vik."

"Preem. That I can do."

"Alright I'm diving. Thanks Malcolm, I know this might be kinda boring, but I appreciate having someone to watch my back."

"Hey, that's what Section 9 is all about." He said and I flashed him a massive smile.

They were calling themselves Section 9 now! Eeeee!

I quickly flopped back, shivered as the coolant once more started up, and then blinked.

I was no longer in the basement. No, I was in my private lobby. A classy Tron like meeting room.

"I love this place."

*It's kinda cool I guess.* Malcolm replied and I laughed, having not expected him to hear me.

"You going to watch over my shoulder?"

*I figure I might as well… That okay?*

"Sure, enjoy the sights of the net."

*It doesn't look all that. Whoa.*

I had opened the wall of my lobby revealing the actual net space. The digital city of moving lights, and data streams, and Malcolm was basically seeing what I was seeing. If not in great quality.

"I'll probably not keep the camera going once things get started Malcolm. I'll need the bandwidth."

*Oh sure. Don't let me hold you back.*

"Nah, choom. You are definitely pushing me forward. Alright let's go." I jumped, disappearing into a search engine as I went looking for what I needed.

Thankfully it wasn't exactly like I was trying to steal military secrets. So I slipped into the search engine and found exactly what I wanted.

A weapon store that sold the grenades that I wanted.

It was a Gun O' Rama. I came up to their website and entered. The digital interface schized out and I rolled my eyes at the terrible web maintenance, as I walked into basically a white room with a menu screen.

Whoever ran this place, definitely didn't have a netrunner on tap.

I bypassed the shitty website and walked right behind it to the sealed door.

Ten seconds of breaching, and the door opened, and I was into their system.

The back end of the shop made me still instantly. It was an actual net space. I was wrong. This place did have a netrunner on retainer, they just didn't actually jazz up the front end. There were defenses all over, Daemons awake and active.

The room reminded me of some level out of doom. Gray concrete stone, and a single door to continue on the other end of the room, worse?

Most of the Daemons were off the shelf defenses, but not all of them.

I looked across and grimaced at the two 'turrets' that were already unfolding from their defenses. Some kind of protected Daemon? They didn't have my stealth Daemons attached to them. They had seen me.

I'd have to examine those to figure out how they had bypassed my own hack after this.

I instantly raised a Barrier as the system came to life. The two turrets alerting the horde to my presence.

A few random bits of code slammed into the barrier and slowed to a crawl, the attacks from the blinded Daemons weren't entirely focused. Shooting in my general area thankfully, but that would go away once they got a lock.

I would have to act fast.

[Hell Fire] Was activated and I lashed it out, focusing on the most dangerous Daemons. A set of Guards that looked like men in trench coats. Their guns raised and lashing out with purple beams of coded death. The fire hit the first one, and instantly it started melting, its code turning into spaghetti.

*250 XP Gained.*

Of course my own assault had broken the stealth effect of my Daemons. The facehuggers basically stopped working as I attacked. Something else I should probably have learned before this. But my own lack of netrunning experience was biting me. All the daemons focused on me, and the wriggling blinding Daemons all turned into particles. Their ability to hamper my enemies gone.

*Dropping connection for a minute Malcolm!* I called as I cut his video monitor. I needed all the bandwidth I could get, instantly I got a small boost in speed, and used it.

I activated my ICE Shield to create a wall of scrap data that the Daemons were forced to chew through. Giving me some protection from the purple beams of death, small Imp Daemons throwing digital fireballs, and the two automated turrets. I've never seen turret Daemons like that before, but I realized just how dangerous they were when they started firing.

They shot the same weapons as the Guard Daemons, but in rapid fire. I did a quick scan, and realized the hack they were sending out was a really nasty sort Short Circuit. Trying to fry me right out of their system.

I threw up more ICE Shield And moved, hiding behind the wall of ice that was quickly disintegrating despite my new additions and fired another [Hell Fire] at the Guards.

*250 XP Gained.*

Then another, turning the main guards into puddles of dead code.

But this system seriously had a lot of defense Daemons. Whoever set this up was a fucking maniac about their private information.

Imp fireballs started getting closer and closer, but the turrets were the biggest threat.

I threw up another barrier and winced, hearing the warning from my system about my body heating up as I was burning through programs, but I didn't have any other choice, unless I wanted to just run away.

Hell Fire was activated again, and this time I was able to aim towards one of the turrets, watching it melt down.

*250 XP Gained.*

With only one more turret, despite the Imps moving in, I had more breathing room, and was able to rebuild my defenses for a few moments. Throwing out more ICE walls, and Barriers to fortify up. Despite the turret still chewing through with its constant attacks. Wincing at the way even through cyberspace I could feel my body heating up.

Once I was more secure. I took a bit of time to try and cool off, before sending out another Hell Fire was activated again and again, as soon as I could without frying myself, as I burned first the turret, and then through the horde of Imps.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

Finally the room was quiet, and I took a deep breath despite being a digital avatar at the moment. That was a lot.

 

[Seras]

I reconnected my audio and visual link with Malcolm once I was sure it was over.

"Malcolm you there?"

*Motoko! You okay?*

"I'm fine Malcolm, just some unexpected defenses. I guess I should have known a gun shop wouldn't ignore their net defenses as well. I'm moving in now." Then I did just that, first stopping at the Turrets to examine what was left of their code.

I couldn't find anything that would give them a defense against my stealth Daemons. Until I looked up and noticed there was actually a defensive system around their cubby. A few minutes of examining it and it made sense.

The turrets had their own barriers around them that turned off once they started attacking. It was actually brilliant, as they were protected right until they noticed someone. Sure with this knowledge I could probably make some adjustments and double check for such a thing in the future, but to see something new like this?

"Fascinating."

*Motoko?*

"It's nothing Malcolm, just some cool netrunner stuff. I'm heading in now." I took a long moment to examine the door that led further inside and even sent a breach access into the door, just to make sure it wasn't trapped. After confirming it was clean I opened the door and stepped through.

It was a room. Just a server room really. Files stored in digital file drawers that would be folders on normal computers.

I accessed the rooms functions after making sure there were no defenses in here, and did a search for grenade information.

A few minutes later I found the file I wanted. Blueprints to create an EMP grenade that the shop sold, at least it would be better than the junk I had messed around with so long ago. Better than just a battery overloading.

I looked around and did a few more quick searches, gathering up more details on other grenade types, and some data on silencers. Just in case I could learn something new.

Then I pulled out, making sure to cover my tracks, and running the hell away before whoever owned the shop figured out they had a digital break in.

—---

"Blegh." I groaned as I pulled free. I was mostly okay at this point, but my brain still felt hot from all the hacks I had pushed through my deck.

"You okay?"

"Yeah yeah. Just a headache." I grumbled, as I pulled out a MaxDoc and huffed it down. Instantly the pain faded, and I unplugged from the netrunner chair and stretched as I wandered over to the small sink in the basement. A few seconds of washing my face, and pouring cold water over my neck I felt much much better.

"So that was kinda scary." Malcolm offered and I nodded.

"Yeah I wasn't expecting that sort of defense. I mean most shops I breach into don't have much security. Then again I don't think I've tried to hack a gun shop before." It was usually food stands, or hotels.

"You handled it though?"

"Yeah. I could have just disconnected from the server as well. The system couldn't lock me in." I threw him a thumbs up. "But more importantly. You got the data upload right?"

"Yep! Right here!" He ran back to the laptop and flipped it around, showing the blueprint of an EMP grenade. "Looks complicated."

"Eh. Mostly I just need to know how they make it. Once I know the parts they are using I can either copy it, or make adjustments to make it cheaper… Or stronger." I answered. "But really. Malcolm. Thanks. I appreciate the backup."

"Hey, no worries. Honestly. I'm glad I was here to help, especially if you are in the net doing stuff that crazy."

"Yeah the net is certainly a world of its own."

—---

I treated Malcolm to lunch, and he ended up actually following me around to all the shops I had to hit to gather the parts for all the different grenades I was going to make.

Slamming all the bags onto the work bench in the basement, Malcolm was carrying bags as well, helping me save a trip all the way to the car park. He grunted as he dropped the bags, sighing and rubbing his arms.

"You really need all this?"

"Not really, but I want to make a few Laser Grenades because… That's just cool." I answered and Malcolm did sort of shrug and nod together at that.

"True."

"And those things are kinda complicated. EMP stuff is pretty cheap, and that's what I have here."

"Preem. So are you going to make them now?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Want to watch?"
"Yeah." He offered and I smiled as I ran over to the CAD program. First I needed to make my own design since I wasn't using the weapon shop's exact design for the grenades.

I pulled up the design of my frag grenade that I used to print the casings in the printer, and started making adjustments.

*100 Engineering XP Gained.*

I smiled at that as I almost instantly got the alert and slammed through it. The changes were only minor really, a few additional holes cut into the casing to fit the battery that would be the source of the EMP.

Finished with the file I uploaded it and sent it to the Printer, then grabbing an old casing I plopped it into the 3d Printer and in ten minutes cut out the sections I would need.

"Here Malcolm, something you can do to help. See all these Casings? When one is finished just put it into the machine to keep making more. I'm aiming for at least a dozen of these." The boy looked over the printer and nodded instantly.

"That I can do."

With that I set to work. Malcolm was a big help in running around to grab things for me, as I took the blueprints I had learned from the weapon shop, and made a few minor adjustments for my own style, and then slowly put together an EMP grenade. I was extremely careful when I finally placed the battery into the casing.

Almost nervous as I purposefully rolled my chair to the far side of the basement as far from the server and netrunning stuff as I could before finally sealing it all together.

*100 Crafting XP Gained.*

"Done?"

"Yeah. First one anyways… Want to go test it?"
"Hell yes!"

We left the rest of the stuff there as we hurried out of the basement.

—--

I couldn't exactly throw it around in the middle of the street, and while I was confident in the range of the EMP effect only being a couple of feet, I didn't exactly want to be wrong, so we once more drove mostly out of the city until we started seeing dirt lots and open spaces, then I just pulled into a dirt lot ignoring whoever owned it as Malcolm and I stepped out of the Quadra.

"Okay Malcolm? Want to do the honors?"

"Hell yeah… Just pop and throw?"

"Just like the frags yeah. Same timer and everything."

He popped the clip holding the timer locked, twisted the timer and chucked the grenade sending it arcing away.

We waited for a few seconds once it bounced and then a few seconds more…

Then suddenly it burst into a visible wave of light and a spark of electricity and I even got a second of fuzz in my Kiroshi, although we were far enough it didn't do anything more.

"Whoa." Malcolm offered and I nodded smiling.

"That is NOVA!" I screamed into the air, arms upraised.

"Totally nova."

Malcolm and I high fived and then we hurried back to the Quadra.

—---

"I still think it was a good show." Malcolm offered, he had decided to hang out with me despite the fact I was just working on making more and more grenades, and the distraction was actually kind of appreciated.

Except his taste in TV shows was as bad as my brothers.

"Watson Whore was literally one of the worst things I've ever seen. And I saw Bushido 5."

"Bushido 5 is the best one!"

I looked away from the grenade I was fitting together to give him a look of disgust.

"They had a train top Kusanagi sword battle before the whole train exploded for no reason-"

"The minions Kusanagi landed under the train and it exploded!"

"Nothing explodes like that! It blew up the entire train!"

"I know it was so preem!"

"Then! If that wasn't stupid enough the explosion launched the 'hero' into the air and he landed his Kusanagi into the bad guys AV."

"It was such a preem scene! They didn't use stunt doubles or anything for that! It was all practical effects!"

"That… Malcolm I literally saw some of those minions get stuck under the train!"

"Yeah the stunt guys all have Gemini and super hardened brain cases. They get torn apart all the time."

"God that sounds horrible." I shook my head as I went back to finishing the grenade.

"How many of those you going to make?"

"I honestly was just thinking of making as many as I can until I ran out of parts… I bought… Thirty batteries?"

Malcolm nodded wisely and then threw up a thumbs up.

Which I instantly returned. Malcolm got it.

—--

*100 Engineering XP Gained.*

*Engineering skill level up!*

I looked up from the CAD software. I had been working on designing the laser grenade and it was honestly a lot more complicated, since I needed to have the laser emitters cut through the grenade casing.

Well that and it was a much chunkier grenade, since the power source and all the emitters took up space.

But, I was making great progress and now I had a level up from it!

Engineering 6!

I leaned back away from the computer and stretched. Malcolm and I had hung out all day making grenades and talking about movies or other stuff. He had even asked me about chrome. What I had planned, and what he should get.

It was fun! But eventually he had decided to head home to check in with his folks leaving me time to design more grenades.

But maybe it was time for a break.

I got up and headed to the elevator, and then out of the SLS apartments. Just as I was walking out though I ran into a familiar face.

"Nox?"

"Motoko! Hey!" The Mox boy had some changes since I last saw him.

For one, he had gotten a set of Tech Hair which now was split in half, with Mox colors. "Nice chrome. Just the tech hair?" I asked and his face burst into a smile.

"No, I got a few other things as well. Some preem optics for one. Helps me keep track of customers and stuff." He said flashing his eyes through a few different settings. Mostly just making them brighter.

"Preem choom. How's business?"

"Eh. Not a lot of new content." He said, teasing me lightly and I just shrugged.

"Yeah, most of the recent stuff is no good. Too much chance of pissing off corps or big groups. I'll try to get something that's workable to Judy soon."

"Hey, whatever you can bring in will be good I'm sure!" He offered and I shrugged. I hadn't really thought about it in a while. The BD stuff was still mostly just something for fun.

"I'll have to reach out to Wakako and see if she has any gigs. I did a short one of me klepping a car, but nothing really happened, so I never bothered to give it to Judy."

"Hey you know… There is one thing we could use some help with." He suddenly asked, and I blinked.

"What's up?"

"So Hiromi's got the SLS working guard duty right? Well, there's been some trouble recently. One of the sellers and his guards were beaten and everything was taken. Didn't think much of it at first, but then it happened again."

"Wait. The girls already brought this up. I told them to bug Hiromi."

"Yeah, same situation, but this just happened. She hasn't done anything yet, but the guys I have selling are getting antsy, and SLS aren't doing much better."

"When was the last attack?"

"Yesterday." He said and I frowned at that. "I'll talk to Hiromi about it, let me know if anything new happens as well. That's not okay."

"Thanks Motoko, I knew you'd want to get involved as soon as you heard." He said and I realized he had purposefully been out here waiting for me.

"You wanted to go around Hiromi with this. Why?" I asked suddenly and he jumped at my words before relaxing.

"Honestly? She doesn't care enough about my chooms that are getting beaten. You're a street kid though. You'd understand."

I really didn't understand, but I sighed regardless. "I'll talk to Hiromi again, talk to you later Nox."

"See ya around Motoko."

This was not the problem I wanted to deal with right now.

—--

"It's not like that at all! Nox you fucking shit. I'm gonna fine you so hard for this shit!" Hiromi ranted a bit after I called her wanting to meet up. I was at her apartment after school, and she wasn't happy.

"This is the same problem as before. If it was still going on, why not have me help?" I asked more curious than anything."

"I was trying to get more info! I have some feelers out to try and find out what is going on! I'm not even sure they are being honest. The three that have been stolen from were all the lowest sellers. I had already spoken to Nox about how we might cut them loose if they couldn't sell anymore just before this happened!"

"Hiromi." I groaned, rubbing my face. "Just, assume this actually happened. What would you do?" Hiromi looked a little uncomfortable for a moment.

"Probably call you and Section 9 for a gig to hunt down whoever is attacking my workers."

"Okay, so that's what we are going to do. Call in everyone. Malcolm and I were hanging out most of the day so he should be just home with his parents. But this is a gig."

"Wait, you and Malcolm were hanging out all day!?"

"Yeah. I needed someone to help watch my back while I did a net dive. Then when I was making more grenades we just hung out and talked. It was fun."

Hiromi's face went through a wild array of emotions before she went blank. "I'm glad you had a fun day."

"Thanks Hiromi. Sorry you were stuck in class all day. Will your parents let you leave to do Section 9 stuff right now? I know you can't always get away on school days."

"Oh it's fine. After the Badlands gig, my parents gave me a blanket exemption from most of the rules as long as it's work related. I just really can't abuse it, or else."

"Nova!" I cheered smiling. "That's really cool. They must really trust you now."

"Ugh. Mom is acting super proud and stuff. She even told her co-workers about me, to sort of make fun of their kids who are all idiots."

I just snorted and nudged Hiromi. "Well let's get to work then!"

She nodded and her eyes went yellow as she started making calls.

—---

An hour later everyone arrived at my netrunner lair.

"So that's the situation. We are going to find out who is attacking Hiromi's business and kick some teeth in." I explained. But Malcolm shook his head right away.

"Motoko. If the sellers are the ones being jumped like this? They are probably moving in on someone else's turf. Hiromi isn't the only one selling BD's after all."

"I know that!" Hiromi snapped, but I put a hand on her shoulder.

"Hiromi Malcolm wasn't being mean, just explaining something he noticed. Right?" I turned to him and he nodded.

"Yeah. It's preem that you put together a BD business 'Romi. You're our Corpo, I wouldn't shit talk you." He added and Hiromi perked up a bit.

"Right! Sorry. I just… I feel stupid for ignoring this."

"It's fine! We are here to handle it now! Malcolm, Ichi, you both have a better feel for the city than us. Do you know of any groups that sell BD's in the area that might be causing us problems?"

"Charter hill? Difficult to say. No one technically owns the territory. So it could be any minor gang. Or one of the big ones but honestly? If it was 6th St. They would have told the kids to fuck off. Then they would have beaten them." Malcolm said and Ichi nodded.

"And if it was the TC, we wouldn't be talking, because the poor gonk'd be dead." Ichi added. "Most TC bosses don't appreciate someone moving in on their income.

"Okay so in that case… We do it the old fashioned way." I muttered looking at the netrunning chair.

"Yes!"

"Awesome!"

"I'll go on a snack run. Just the usual stuff Malcolm, Hiromi?" Ichi asked as he rose up, and I was left as the only one in the room annoyed at the situation.

This is what I get for being skilled at things huh?

I sighed and headed over to the chair to get plugged in.

 

[Seras]

The last attack on the SLS had happened in an alleyway just off Lele st. This was Charter Hill. One of the richy rich places in Night City. Which is why I was struggling to find a good camera to peep through.

Most of the camera systems in the area were controlled by whatever corp owned the building. Or were heavily protected by building security.

I quickly slipped out of another server as I could see a netrunner beginning to look around at the increased server load of me wandering around on it.

"Another bust."

*Dangit! We'll try to find another business.* Hiromi added and I nodded as I hid myself in a corner of the digital city. This area was cleaner than most other sections of the net. The net felt clearer, and faster.

But it was also much more dangerous.

City Center hadn't even been this bad, although that was because there were lots of little private shops all through the area.

Not so much here. Most of the stuff was all kept controlled by the corporations in charge.

I was watching the data move around, trying to find new access points, when I noticed it.

"Heya." I called out casually, as I rested against the side of a digital skyscraper.

"Never seen you around here before." A response came as a netrunner stepped out of the shadows.

"On a gig. Not looking for any trouble."

"Well that all depends." She offered. I looked into the rainbow colored blazing eyes, and fiery burning hair.

I readied myself. I didn't like threats. Especially not on the net.

"I don't like threats. Get processing choom." I said, even using a fun bit of netrunning jargon.

"Pfft. You entered into a server I got under contract. You slipped inside without me even noticing, and then you were out. Not long enough to grab anything. So what's the deal? You scoping out? Am I gonna have to worry about an attack? I want some answers, and I'-"

"Nah. I'm trying to get eyes on an alley on this street. One of my clients was attacked a few days ago. I'm tracking the attacker. Nothing to do with you." I answered back much more calmly. This wasn't going to turn into a battle after all.

The woman looked confused at my words like I was talking nonsense.

"What? So you try to slip into protected servers to what? Peek through the cameras?"

"Basically."

"That's crazy." She answered instantly. "You'll run into ICE and get brain fried. No one is stupid enough to do that."

"I kinda do it all the time." I answered honestly, mostly because the look on her face as I said it made me grin.

"You… Slip into servers all the time just to check their cameras."

"It's really useful for tracking gonks down. I don't suppose you'd let me peek at your outdoor cameras on the server you protect?"

"Not a chance."

"Figured. Hey, you must know the area pretty well."

"I don't like where this is going." She interrupted sighing.

"Know of any small businesses in the area that have cameras peeking at the alley on Lele, between-"

"I know the alley. There is one. And… Well it's not my hide either way. Sure there is an access point to a transport business down there. They have an external camera. If you are trying to keep an eye on the alley, that's the way to do it… But it's not like they don't have ICE and stuff. You can't seriously just jump in."

"Sure I can! Thanks Choom. I'm Ghost by the way." I introduced myself since we weren't going to fight. Awesome that saved me so much time hunting down the access point.

"Blazed." She answers and then to my surprise she follows me as I head down the steps she had pointed out. As I walked down into the steps. I instead came out into an open space stepping out of the darkness of the transfer.

The web was really silly sometimes.

"Ah there it is." I confirmed finding the access point without any fuss as I could see the data traveling through it.

"Yeah."

"You following me for a reason?"

"I kinda want to see you get stuck in the ICE and brain fried." She answered and I scoffed out a laugh as I decided to just ignore her then.

I walked to the point, and after a few moments I breached the defenses, opening it up, and sending my Daemon into the system. A few moments later I waved at Blazed and slipped inside.

I nodded pleased. The security in this server was waaay lighter than the others in the area.

I slipped past a blinded Security Daemon. And then to a password secured connection to the camera system.

Less than a second later, I was breached into the door, the password accepting an admin password for this particular model of camera and letting me bypass the ten seconds it would take to breach it normally. Then I was into the camera security logs, and I pulled up the date and general time.

I copied an hour chunk and sent that on to my chooms to begin examining.

Then I just walked right back out.

If we needed a different time period, I could always slip back on, but the longer I was on the server the more likely the increased load of my presence would be noticed.

I stepped back out into the small open space, and to my surprise Blazed was still there.

"Bullshit."

"What?"
"No way you just slipped the data that fast. That was what? Thirty seconds?"

"I mean. I just needed to copy an hour chunk of the camera logs, it wasn't really hard."

"Bullshit, that's bullshit!"
"Okay? Anyway, thanks for the help-"

"Fuck no. Hold on. I have to see this." She demanded and then she walked over to the access point, and started poking at it.

The seconds tore on, and I waited, and winced, as I could see her breach attempt. It was working, sure, but it was kinda slow.

"How the fuck. Did you fix their security or something? How'd you breach so fast?"

"There's a bypass in that version of ICE they are using." I answered and she looked to me, before scoffing and just stepping away. Ending her breach attempt.

"Ghost?"

"Yeah?"

"Never heard of you. At least I don't think so, I mean you aren't the only gonk calling themselves Ghost or a Ghost."

"Yeah I don't really hang out much on the net… I mostly hang out with Yoko at the Roundabout? I do programming work."

"Shit. You program too? You any good?"

"I'm pretty good! I do a lot of commissioned Debugging work! Yoko bugs me all the time to fix her code."

"Yoko? Nova. Alright, I'll take it back. You aren't some 2-bit. I'm Blazed. Mostly contract security. Here."

I blinked as she sent me contact info.

"Umm. Thanks?" I responded a little confused. Was I supposed to send my info back? Was this some sort of netrunner thing?

It seemed so, as a moment later of me waffling trying to figure out what to do, her face shifted from a smile into a frown.

"Not in your league huh?" She responded and I just shook my head.

"Umm. I just don't know what's going on. I really don't interact with people on the net much. I kinda just hop on to get whatever gig I'm doing done, and then jump off."

"Wait seriously? I mean… How many hours on the net you got? I'm hitting about 21k. Mostly server security. They got me doing 12's every day."

"Umm… Yeah I have no idea. I never kept track." I said instead of admitting it was less than 100 hours or something. The long camera hopping days had taken up most of that.

"Right. Yeah makes sense. It's pretty common, if you run into a runner and you make contact a lot of time we share contact info. Increase our contacts you know? Someday I might call you up and offer a favor for work, or you can call me, and do the same. Usually we give each other heads up if we might need to agro their server or something."

"Oh! Sure, here." I passed over the same contact info that Yoko used for my netrunner work. Mostly an email to send programming work to, but Blazed seemed pleased at that.

"Nova. Alright. I gotta get back to work then. Nice meeting you Ghost."

"You too!" I offered, smiling as she disappeared back into the depths of the stairs.

*I don't like her!* I jumped at the sudden words in my ear.

*Motoko trying to get a new Output while on the job? For shame.* Malcolm spoke up next, his tone absolutely teasing.

"What?" I asked wondering what these gonks were talking about!

*Motoko watching you flirt up a girl is entertaining, but maybe we should focus on the gig?* Ichi added in next and I heard Hiromi then choking for a minute.

"I wasn't flirting!"

*Suuuure.* Ichi responded back really rolling with the sarcasm.

"I wasn't!" Then I remembered they were fucking with me. I rolled my eyes at the boys teasing, as I focused instead on the gig. "Okay tell me you found our suspect."

*Found. The time was about right. Showing you what we got… You uh. Probably aren't going to like this.* Malcolm offered, and I watched as a video was sent to me, it popped up on a screen in front of me and I watched in interest. As a van pulled up at the end of the alley.

Our seller was sitting on a loading dock in the alley with his bag open. I have to give Hiromi credit. It actually did look like he was slacking off more than trying to sell stuff, but I wasn't a BD seller, so who knows how that worked.

The van let out two men from the side door and I frowned.

It wouldn't have been noticed in person. But the same function in my Kiroshi that blurred my face was in use on these men.

I felt my hands tightening and I was glad we were in the net because otherwise my chrome hands would be creaking with how hard I was gripping.

The two men walked over and one instantly punched the seller, throwing him around, as the other grabbed the bag, and then once they roughed up the kid they turned and left.

The fact the seller didn't have a SLS guard was the reason this happened. The two men got back in their van and then took off. Not even in a hurry just casually driving away.

*Motoko?*

"I know what's going on." I answered back furious. The video ended thankfully I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply, the virtual air not satisfying me in the way I wanted.

The two men had the same glowing masks that all Scavs tended to use.

Fucking Scavs.

—---

I didn't have time to jump out of the net and deal with my fury of once more facing Scavs. No, instead I needed to track that van.

It wasn't easy. But since I wasn't trying to look down a specific alley. I had a lot more options for systems to slip into.

A cafe down the street, a clothing shop that had melted ICE for security, a food stand on the street that had a security camera pointed at the street that could see the four way intersection.

We tracked them right down.

As usual Scavs never expected retribution. Especially not for something this low level. Who would care about a single teenager selling XBD's in an alley?

I would. Especially when they worked for my friend.

I would. When they were attacked by Scavs.

And so unfortunately for these fucks, they had someone actively hunting them and they never even knew it.

They took a right onto Pardey, not far from the assault, and then headed over the bridge to Arroyo.

I lost them right after, because North Arroyo was all industrial parks, and there was no street level cameras to peer through. I searched for hours, trying to find something on the other side of the bridge that would give me eyes on which way the van went.

The only thing I could guarantee was that the Van didn't take Republic way into City Center. They traveled through Arroyo.

We even tried Malcolms back tracing idea. Following them from the other direction, but they actually just came from the same direction, and we lost them at the same place.

*What do we do now?* Hiromi asked, and I hummed as I sat on the steps of a digital building to think. Watching the traffic slip by. Digital information traffic was kinda soothing to watch.

Scavs… What were they doing? BD stuff? They didn't kill the kid which was interesting. Why not? Northern Arroyo? What was in Northern Arroyo that would interest Scavs? Industrial parks. Mostly abandoned, and 6th st. claimed most of them.

I felt like something was there. Just on the edge of my tongue. I just couldn't solidify it.

"Any smart ideas Malcolm?" I asked, and he laughed, but I could hear the denial.

*I got nothing here Motoko. Nothing fast anyways… You made those spy cameras right? Maybe we go out and put a few of them in the area. See if we can't get eyes on the same van later?*

"The license plate was blocked. We would be tracking every van that travels through the area. That's a bit more work than I'm willing to do."
*Yeah… Then a trap? We send out another seller, and bait them into attacking?* He offered and I hummed.

"Could work."
*Not really. No way my sellers would let themselves be bait. I might not have accepted this actually was the truth before, but the sellers have. I've been getting requests for more security, and I think I'll have to do that now.* Hiromi added with a sigh.

*Duh, then we just have one of us do it.*

"Absolutely not. The Scavs were gentle before. But there is no telling what they will do in the future. If this is their way of saying stay off their territory, then…" I trailed off letting my chooms fill in the blanks.

*Right. You're right. We can't do that.*

"Alright. I'm done here. I'm coming out." I called out, as I stood up and leapt into the data streams sending me back to my lobby in a flash of data.

—--

"Oooh that feels good." I moaned as I shoveled warm food into my mouth. "Ichi you get a promotion."

"Nice."

"Hey!" Malcolm said as he pouted. "I got the food too!"

"But Ichi got me this food, so he gets the promotion."

I ignored Malcolms faux outraged mumbling before I laughed and just stuffed more food into my face.

"So let's put together what we learned. Scavs attacked the XBD sellers. We know they come and go from northern Arroyo." I added and left off looking around.

"We know that they have something to do with BD's. These aren't Scav targets they are after. They were only interested in the BD's." Hiromi added in.

"The van they were driving was set up to look as common as possible. Nothing defining on it. I couldn't even see any scratches or something we could use for verification." Ichi added in.

"Okay so we have a bunch of Scavs hiding in Arroyo… Can we call in any contacts? Anyone that could give us more information?" Malcolm asked.

"I can reach out." Hiromi said, looking fierce. She obviously wasn't happy about the entire situation happening under her nose.

"Alright. I need a break. Let's call it here tonight. We'll meet up in a few days if we get more info." I offered with a groan as I stretched out my legs a bit. "I think I'm done for the day." I called out as I headed out, to the calls of goodbyes from everyone. They were all packing up as I entered the elevator and headed out.

The drive home was quick and it left me feeling refreshed.

I got home and threw my jacket over the couch as I headed for the fridge pushing aside all the XXL burritos to get a soda that I had hidden in the back.

No Jun huh? I shrugged, it wasn't that late yet, instead I headed into my room, and had to stop and giggle.

The Tachikoma drone had somehow ended up on its back. Its legs wiggling in the air weakly.

"Silly thing." I cooed, as I picked it up and carried it over to the laptop. I would go over what it had learned so far today and make some improvements!

—--

"Motoko?"

"Jun! Welcome home!" I called out, the Tachikoma code had evolved a lot, although not that much with it getting stuck on its back and then sending the entire thing into a loop.

But that was okay. It had a few hours of growth for me to trim and improve.

"What's that you're working on?" He asked as he poked his head into my room. I spun my chair away from the laptop I had been working on and instead lifted the Tachikoma drone from my lap. Lifting it over my head I spun the chair and sang

"Dooo dooo do doooo! It's a Tachikoma! A drone prototype!" I answered after I stopped spinning.

"Huh." He uttered a little confused, but as always Jun liked to be supportive so he walked into my room to get a closer look.

"That's preem. What can it do?"

"Right now? Walk and get stuck on its back when it hits a wall. But the goal is to have it running a SCSM. Mostly sneaking into places, maybe some assassination work. I'm going to install a gun into the chassis, once I got the kinks worked out."

"Why not just buy a drone? Those floaty ones are everywhere."

"The Bombus? Those are garbage. It was originally a caretaker drone that people realized was cheap enough to duct tape a bomb onto. Tachikoma are meant to be fully autonomous recon assistants!"

"Right. Why blue?"

"It's cuter this way!" I chirped, showing off the blue paint scheme.

Jun just snorted and patted me on the head. "Well as long as it's keeping you busy and out of trouble."

"Eh. Only partially. I stole blueprints for a bunch of grenades from a really protected gun store server, and then found out that Hiromi's BD peddlers have been attacked by Scavs. So we went on a hunt for-"

"Motoko… Just call me if you need help." Jun interrupted sounding tired, and I laughed at him.

"Sure Jun. We are hunting down the Scavs right now. But they are sneaky, hiding in Arroyo… Or maybe Northern Arroyo, it's hard to tell. Once we find them, want to come slaughter some Scavs with me?"
He blinked, and I was honestly a little surprised as well. I hadn't really invited Jun to come on a raid before, and the words had left my mouth without me thinking about it.

"Sure."

I smiled brightly. Jun might be a kill stealer, but this could be fun. Now I just had to find some damn Scavs, with a connection to BD's in Arroyo, I mean, the only connection I remember from the game would be the-

"Fuck." I uttered as the lightning bolt of awareness hit me.

I knew. I knew exactly where these Scavs would be hiding, and more importantly? I would happily murder all of them for the horrible shit they did.

"Motoko?"
"I know where the Scavs are. I think. Pretty sure. Ninety percent. Jun hold on a second." I demanded putting my Tachikoma back on the floor as I started pacing.

The same location that the Scavs had holed up in, the place that V would someday in the future break into, murder blending everyone to find Evelyn. The place Scavs were setting up XBD's with captured people.

I had forgotten about it. I shouldn't have! I had done that quest in the game enough times. I should have remembered!

"Motoko." Jun said but I ignored him because the fucking scavs had been there this whole time!

I stomped as I paced around. How could I have forgotten something so obvious!? Those fuckers had been allowed to work completely unopposed! That should have been my first tar-

"Motoko!" Jun demanded arms wrapped around me and lifting me entirely off the ground. I went still in his grip as he hug-grabbed me. "Are you okay?"

I breathed in, which was hard with Jun's arms pinning my back to his chest, but then I exhaled. Cool.

Feel cold. Control the emotions, don't let them control you.

"Yeah. I'm better. Sorry Jun. I had the clues I needed to know where a big Scav setup is at, and I totally spaced it." Slowly I was lowered down to my feet and was released.

Jun looked worried.

I exhaled again. "Don't give me that look, I'm okay. Not Cyberpsycho or anything, just angry. And mad at myself. I know where a group of Scavs are taking people and using them to make XBD's. And funnily enough. It's the same group that was attacking Hiromi's BD sellers. I literally spent hours searching for them on the net… But I knew where they were the whole time." I grumbled. Jun nodded then slowly, and pulled me in for a more normal hug.

"We'll get them."

"Hell yeah we will." I whispered back.

 

[Seras]

So my night was a bit off from there. I ended up camping out on the couch with Jun, as he watched TV. We didn't talk much more about the Scavs. I just tried to relax, but that was only that night.

After a good night's rest, I headed out. First things first, I needed verification. Driving over to Arroyo on my Kusanagi I parked far down the street, and instead of walking down the street which would leave me far too open. I leapt into the industrial parks and used my ankles and Parkour to leap through the abandoned factories until I was on the roof overlooking the Electric Corp power plant.

There I leaned down, hiding in the shadows of old brickwork to watch.

The factory as I expected was active. Tires tracks ran through an old gate in the destroyed asphalt and dirt loading area.

I waited for a while, simply looking down into it. For now the rolling door was closed, and no sound escaped from within.

The camera to the side of the door told me this wasn't as abandoned as it appeared. I began breaching, carefully, utterly slow and quiet.

Slipping in, I accessed the camera, seeing the loading area through its eye, I then moved to the other cameras in the system.

Smiling as just inside the plant there was a very familiar looking van. I couldn't be 100% sure it was the same one, but hell. I was willing to bet.

I took pictures of everything. Going through every camera and gathering everything they could see. Then since I was fairly confident I was right. I pulled free of the cameras.

There were men and women inside, and it hadn't taken but a single NCPD database check to verify they were wanted for Scav related activities.

This was it.

I had found the assholes that hadn't liked Hiromi moving in on the XBD market.

I slipped away without a sound. As I jumped through old rusted metal landing on the concrete far down the street, I brushed myself clean. Taking a moment. I sent a single picture to my chooms. The van parked in the dark plant, and a message.

*Found them.*

—---

"Motoko! You did it!" Hiromi cheered as she slammed into me laughing in delight.

"I did. Jun gave me a reminder of some other info I had and I put it together, and then I went and checked it out." I said as I spun Hiromi around. We were all meeting up at my place, and Hiromi was last as she had school today so she had to finish that up first.

"This place is nova. An old power plant? Kinda pissed the Scavs claimed it." Malcolm added from the couch. "Motoko says it goes down pretty deep."

"Yeah definitely some sublevels. I'm going to need backup just to secure the whole place. Which is where you guys come in." I then looked to Jun who I had invited to join us, since I had offered him a friendly sibling murder session. "And Jun agreed to help out too."

"Perfect! Jun! Thank you for helping!" Hiromi added throwing him a smile but he just waved her off.

"Don't worry about Hiromi. I'm just glad to keep Motoko out of trouble."

"Which is an absolute lie! I'm never in trouble!" I lied confidently as I jumped back onto the couch. "Now we have some external images and we'll need to figure out how we are going to hit this."

"Go in kill everyone?" Jun asked, and everyone looked at him like he was crazy but I was nodding along.

"The most straightforward method." I confirmed.

"I mean do we really need to do anything more than that?" Ichi asked, looking between Jun and I. "Motoko clears out places like this before breakfast, and Jun is the Oni."

"Of course not!" Jun answered while I cut him off.

"Of course we do!" I roared louder than Jun and even slammed my fist into the table lightly the metal on metal sound echoing.

"Wha?" Jun asked but I ignored him pointing at my chooms.

"We can't ever get complacent! It's one of my own weaknesses! So I need my chooms to keep reminding me! We plan, we prepare, it's an advantage we might not need, but it's not something we should throw away through overconfidence!"

Thankfully Malcolm responded. "She's right. Just because we don't need it every time doesn't mean we shouldn't prepare as much as we can, we are still talking about a gun fight. What if they have a bomb or something and it blows up. If we just sit back and expect Motoko to handle it, how can we move in to help if she gets hurt or something."

"Exactly! We prepare and gather every advantage we can before we move in!" I called out. "And also it's totally your guy's job to remind me to do that when I get too excited." I added offhandedly.

"Oh so it's our job is it?" Ichi asked sarcastically and I just threw him a thumbs up.

"Yep!"

"That's fine! We can all remind Motoko to be careful and prepare before rushing in. We all want Section 9 to keep going for years and years after all." Hiromi added and I nodded along with Malcolms eager nod.

"Right. That's true. Okay so what can we do to prepare?" Ichi asked.

"Well I do have more gadgets now, but none of them are directly going to help this time. Not yet at least. The Tachikoma are still in alpha testing."

"The what?" Hiromi asked, looking confused, and I smiled brightly because it was the perfect excuse!

I leapt off the couch jumping over Hiromi's head as I did so and ran over to my room and then came out holding my little walky bot.

"The Tachikoma Drone system!" I called out and placed it on the table in front of everyone.

Where it immediately started walking much smoother than it had before.

Until it hit the edge of the table and just fell right off.

"Umm…"

"It's an alpha product! I haven't done edges yet!" I said happily as I picked it back up and placed it on the table again. Where it walked off.

"Motoko?"

"Hold on. It's got this." Then I placed it on the table again, and this time, as it walked forward it stopped at the edge, one of its legs reaching out to check the edge.

Then it walked off again.

"Right." Hiromi said flatly.

"It's learning! Give it some time."

"Motoko… Is that an AI?" Jun asked, utterly serious and I started laughing at such a foolish question.

"Jun the Tachikoma is running a small CPU, and the extra processing power of my laptop in my room. Your XXL Burrito SCSM has more processing power."

"That didn't really answer the question."

"It's a learning system, but not an AI. I would need like… Four of the servers I have down in my netrunner cave to even process a small AI." I answered truthfully. Well… Not exactly that much. I could do it with a lot less, if I used some different processing choices.

But this? Tachikoma wasn't an AI. No Ghost. Not yet anyways.

"Anyway! The Tachikoma are cute, but aren't ready for the battlefield yet, but give me a bit and we'll have our own battlefield reconnaissance drones!" I cheered, just as my agent lit up with a call.

A call with a very familiar name, but not one I expected.

"Hold on chooms. I'm getting a call." I turned away from everyone to answer.

*Hello?*

*Yo Kitten.*

*Becca I told you I wasn't accepting that as my nickname.*

*Too late.* She said but she wasn't the rambunctious girl she normally was. Something was wrong. *I'm not calling for fun though. Since you're chooms with Sasha I think… Well I figure you should know.*

Rebecca started quietly, there was honest dread in her voice.

No. Please don't be… Please don't be that. I took a breath and then asked the question I had to know, but wasn't sure I was ready for.

*Please don't tell me she's dead.* Had the Biotechnica job happened!? I hurried over to the TV and turned it on to the N54 news channel, only for a segment on the weather to be playing.

Right this wasn't a movie where the big topic of conversation is the most important thing in the world.

*Not dead. But she did get worked over pretty bad on a gig. She's in and out at the moment, so I figured I'd call to let you know. Cause you guys were close right?*

I took a moment to just process, staring at the news report before shutting it off as my brain turned back on.

*She's alive?* I asked in shock exhaling loudly as I almost fell back onto my butt from where I had been pacing the moment the topic came up. Was it the gig? Or just something else? I still didn't know! I rushed to my room to grab my laptop flipping open to the N54 news site. Nothing on the front page, but a moment later I typed it in.

Securicine. The medicine that started it all. That had killed Sasha's mother. The fact Biotechnica had hidden the side effect, and when Sasha discovered it while infiltrating Biotechnica's system she hadn't just let it go. Sacrificing her life to send it to the news.

There. A brand new news article.

Securicine, and its hidden side effects.

Posted this morning.

It had happened.

*Motoko?*

*Sorry. I'm just a little out of it. Sasha's okay?*

*She's hurt, but alive. Getting taken care of. Maine is making sure she's being treated real nice.*

*Can I see her?* I asked before I could think about it.

*I… Listen. Sasha was on a big gig, like massive, and she pissed off a big corp. We aren't sure what they are going to do, so Maine and them have gone to ground. I don't even know where she is just in case. My bro told me what's up, and I remember you two were close. So… Yeah.*

*Rebecca… Thank you. Really, I really… I'm really glad you told me she's okay. I would have absolutely freaked otherwise.* Not true. I would have continued to worry about what would happen to her. Whether she would live, but… I had done.

What little I had done had enough knock on effects. That night. Let Me Down, wouldn't happen. I had changed it.

*Hey, yeah sure choom.* The line kind of went silent for a moment as we both awkwardly didn't talk about anything.

I was about to thank her again and say goodbye, when I realized what Rebecca had actually said.

Maine and the group were in hiding. Rebecca wasn't.

*Hey Becca? You ever thought about that offer I made last time? To do a gig?*

*Uh.. Yeah, I've thought about it.*

*Well me and my chooms were literally prepping for a raid… You want to come over? Take a look. No pressure if you don't want to take part, but I mean… I wouldn't mind an extra shooter.*

The line went quiet and I looked to my chooms who had thankfully stopped focusing on me, and were instead being led by Malcolm into prepping a plan of attack.

Good job Malcolm.

*What's the pay?*

*We split everything equally.*

*What? Seriously? No 10% share and all that shit?*

*I don't even know what that is… No, everything gets split, we only make so much on our gigs because we all work together, and then try to get everything out. If someone isn't going to get more for working harder… Why would they?*

*Fuck it. I'm in choom.*

*Alright I'll send you the address!* I cheered, we hung up just after and I turned to my chooms.

"I got us another solo! Rebecca is going to join us and see if she likes working with Section 9! I'm trying to recruit her, so please be nice." I begged my friends.

"Sure." Malcolm offered shrugging, and Ichi just nodded, but Hiromi was giving me a puffy cheeked glare.

"Whose Rebecca?" Hiromi demanded, eyes narrowed.

"She's a member of this Edgerunner crew I met at the Afterlife. She's very small, but pretty fierce, and she's cool." I looked over at the pictures that Malcolm had been pointing to. "So what did you come up with?"
"Well first we all realized we were being stupid. So we are going to bring the Minotaur."

"Absolutely not. We don't even know how to use that thing!" I interrupted instantly, besides the Minotaur was mine! My cute little stompy bot!

"Well that isn't exactly the truth." Ichi answered back a little awkwardly.

I stilled and then I felt myself glaring at the boy.

"What did you do?" I demanded my own eyes narrowed as I glared into the increasingly nervous boy.

"I might have been practicing with it… Malcolm too!" He said throwing his friend under the rampaging bus without hesitation or shame.

I glared at Malcolm who just coughed fakely. "We might have pulled it out of storage and been learning how to use it… For Section 9 of course. It's an important skill to have. Hiromi knew!" Malcolm continued the process throwing Hiromi under the bus now.

"What!? Don't tell her that!" Hiromi snapped and then looked shy as I turned my glare on her. "Th-they asked me for fuel money! To be on Section 9's eddie since it was practice for the future. I accepted! You were too busy to learn how to use it, and having a Minotaur isn't something we could just ignore!"

"Huh. Can I get a turn with it?" I immediately whipped over to glare at Jun who had just said something absolutely ridiculous! If anyone else got a turn it was going to be me!

"Of course Jun!" Hiromi chirped and that was when I could take no more.

"This isn't fair! It's supposed to be mine!"

—---

We were mostly prepped with a new idea for our tactical assault when the doorbell rang.

"That must be Becca!" I whooped happily leaping over the couch, for a second I was tempted to open the door with the barrel of my Burya in her face, but while it had been funny she had done that to David, it had also been a bit mean.

I did check the camera before opening the door. Seeing her outside I quickly pulled it open.

"Becca!"

"Uh. Hey. Sup choom." She greeted, and I smiled at her awkwardness as I reached out and tugged on her hand pulling her in.

"Everyone! This is Rebecca, she's going to join us on our raid today!" I called out, and I noticed all of my chooms heads looking over the back of the couch to see.

Rebecca was very small so everyone had to sort of tilt their head downward.

Jun especially.

"Rebecca, this is my team, Malcolm, Ichi, Hiromi, and my brother Jun." I introduced all of them as I pointed out all of them, each of them greeting her back with a wave or something until Jun who smiled at her from how he was looking over the back of the couch.

"Any choom of my sister is welcome. Feel free to come and take a seat." He offered and I looked down towards Rebecca only to see her disappearing as she sauntered over to the couch and took a seat rather close to Jun.

"Hey Tats. Call me Becca okayyy?" She trailed off with a teasing trill to her voice.

Oh no.

"U-uh. Sure?"

"Nova." She offered back with a smirk on her face that I recognized.

I screamed internally. No! Jun! Not another one! Not Becca! This couldn't be happening!

 

[Seras]

This couldn't stand! I couldn't allow this! I had to distract!
"Okay! So the gig we are doing we already scouted the place, and we are putting together the attack plan, Rebecca, so let me fill you in!" I said hurrying back to the living room table and popping a shard out of my neck and handing it to her.

She took it after a moment of smiling up at Jun and then slotted it. Then she blinked.

"So, the first thing you'll notice is the target information. Not sure if it's in there, but we are hunting a group of Scavs that attacked Hiromi's XBD pushers." I explained waving at Hiromi who smiled proudly at the acknowledgement.

"Scavs? Doesn't seem… Whoa." She muttered as she continued to look through the pics of where this was taking place.

"Scavs aren't really a threat, but we still treat everything seriously." My voice was completely serious as I said this.

"Well no shit, you guys have a Minotaur!? How!?"

Oh, she had skipped ahead bypassing the pics of the location. Not very Edgerunner of you… Or maybe very Edgerunner of her? Hard to say with that group. I wanted to sigh, but instead I stayed focused!

"We captured it during a gig we did. Ichi is currently the pilot as he has some hours in its use." I explained then glared at Ichi again for good measure.

Unfortunately his smugness at me acknowledging him being the pilot ruined the effect of my glare.

"Shit. Can I use it? I've always wanted to pilot a Minotaur." Rebecca asked and I sighed, shoulders slumped.

"Yes, but after." I agreed then shook myself. "Okay, so here is what we are going to do. The outside and ground floor of the plant will probably be staffed by a few Scavs." I pulled up the images myself. "Image Four is a good one to see the whole grounds."

I waited until everyone was nodding along before continuing.

"Jun and I will clean up as quietly as possible and then everyone will move in. The people who built the plant weren't expecting it to need to be defensible. The top floor of the elevator is actually the floor below. So Ichi and everyone will move in afterwards and basically secure the place. No Scav will be able to leave without getting past a heavily armed walker."

"Motoko, I don't like this plan. I want to test out the Minotaur in combat. This is basically me just walking in after to secure the exits." Ichi argued, and I turned to my choom, only for another voice to call out.

"What about me? I want to kill some Scavs as well." Malcolm added, and as I turned to him another voice added.

"I'm not really interested in just being on guard duty." Rebecca added and I slumped as everyone went against me!

"Yeah we should have them come with." Jun added and I was outvoted by everyone. Except Hiromi who was just watching.

"Guys, I-"

"No. Motoko… You've always been in front of us so far, but… Section 9 can't help you if we don't get some experience." Malcolm added. "You set us up with armor and weapons. Let us use them."

I slumped realizing I was defeated.

"Okay Ichi will need someone to watch his back while using the Minotaur. Hiromi?"

"Yep! I'll be suited up of course."

"Alright. In that case, we'll use plan B. We attack loud. We'll spit into two groups, and hit each side of the compound at the same time. We can set it up so the gates will be open beforehand. Jun Rebecca and I will take the North side, Hiromi, Ichi and Malcolm will take the other. We hit at the same time. I'll overwatch with Netrunning and should be able to disable all the weapons at once. Then we move in. Ichi on Minotaur and Malcolm will join up with us as we clear the inside of the plant."

"Hmm. Could work." Rebecca said sounding interested, but not really impressed.

"It'll be the four of us that head down into the basement." I told her calmly. "I don't have a complete map of the place, but we should have little problems mowing through what's down there. Jun will be the frontman. Then Malcolm and I. Then Rebecca. Unless you have some armor already Becca?" I asked, looking at her current outfit which was the opposite of protective.

"Ah… Just my Skinweave." She offered and I nodded.

"Then you are backline until we can get you some gear… If you want to keep coming out with us I mean." I added not wanting to assume.

She just nodded, not agreeing and I moved on.

"In that case weapons… I was planning on going silent, but if we are going loud… Well that changes things." I added. And Jun looked pleased. He wasn't much of a stealth guy. "Well I guess… Go wild, bring whatever you want? Rebecca if you want to borrow something feel free."I offered as well with a thumbs up. "Suit up!" I told my chooms who all sighed and nodded.

"Suit up?" Rebecca asked and I nodded.

"I made some custom adjustments to some armor for everyone! So everyone needs to go put it on and then we can go." I said pointing to the bathroom and my room which Hiromi had disappeared into, while Malcolm and Ichi were taking turns.

Rebecca nodded before doing the one thing I didn't want.

She turned her eyes on Jun.

"So Tats, helping out your little sister? That's pretty nova." She offered and Jun just smiled a little.

"I always worry about her, but Motoko has most things under control. I'm really just coming for fun. She doesn't need my help." He explained the last part looking at me proudly, making me flush.

Stupid Jun! Don't say nice things about me while I'm right here!

Or do! But not around other people!

"That's… Heh well Kitten, I look forward to seeing what kind of claws you've got." Rebecca said, looking to me. I scoffed at the nickname, but then Jun chuckled at it, and I glared at both of them.

"That nickname isn't a thing!" I denied firmly. I already had a cool nickname!

"Kitten." Jun said then laughed and I glared, but he just turned to Rebecca. "You call her Kitten?"

"Heh, well I met her through a choom of mine Sasha who I call Whiskers, and Sasha was acting all proud about having a kohai, and there is Motoko. I mean.. Look at her. Total cat energy."

"Heh." Jun chuckled shoulders shaking as he kept looking at me his eye practically twinkling in amusement.

I was gonna kick him.

"Bringing you both along was a mistake." I grumbled, and then Hiromi came walking out of my room suited up. Helmet under one arm.

"Room is clear Motoko." She said even as she rested against the doorway.

"Whoa." Rebecca called out as she took in Hiromi's appearance. "That's… What is that?"

"Formerly a set of Arasaka guard armor, but I made some modifications!" I said happily as I rushed over and grabbed Hiromi who yelped as I manhandled her closer.

"See! I added in an ECM system, and modified the armor to fit my chooms. Although they keep wanting to wear pants instead of a Netrunner suit."

"I don't wear skin tight outfits Motoko. Not all of us walk around with a six pack." Hiromi grumbled and I scoffed.

"It's just a little workout! Do you want to try to exercise more? I could be your personal trainer!" I offered and Hiromi made a keening noise as she shook her head. "Oh. Never mind then?" I guess Hiromi really was a couch potato. That's alright, she was the desk jockey anyways!

"Jeeze choom you got it bad fo-Mrble!" Hiromi leaped away from me to press her gloved hand against Rebecca's mouth.

"Shhhh!" She demanded and I just quirked an eyebrow at the weirdness.

"Guys?"

"It's nothing Motoko! Why don't you get suited up and you can show Rebecca your armor!" Hiromi added even as Rebecca was glaring at her, but… Okay sure. I wasn't going to interfere with whatever Hiromi was up to.

"Jun! You too!" I demanded and he looked up and blinked.

"Motoko I don't have any-Hey! Don't throw stuff!" He snapped, but I ignored him.

The original set of armor I had pulled off the Kang Tao way back was more than capable of stretching to fit Jun.

"Wear that!" I demanded and he looked at it like I just handed him something foul.

"Motoko this ruins my style."

"You don't have a style! Moron! Idiot! Gonk! Put on the armor or stay home!" I ordered as I turned around to get suited up myself.

—--

Rebecca

"So don't tell her that!" Hiromi? Pretty sure that was her name. Becca was tempted just to call her Crush and see how that worked out. The girl was a little high strung, but the way Kitten had her own little follower was cute.

Really though Becca wished the girl would chill so she could get back to eyeing up the candy machine that was sitting next to her.

He had a real cute smile despite being a Tyger gonk. But the fact he was good with his little sister, something she could attest told a lot about an older brother, meant he was probably safe enough to flirt with…

And she didn't mind the way his fiery hair swept down over his eyes… Yummy. The fact he was easily twice her size wasn't a bad little addition eith- "Are you even listening?" Hiromi interrupted Rebecca's fuck me eyes at the ganger.

"Not really, but relax choom. I'm not gonna blow your crush into the open." She offered. The girl reacted in an interesting way, because where before she was dealing with a frantic teenager, the next moment she was dealing with someone that had a rather cold look in her eye.

"Motoko vouched for you to come in. That's good. I trust Motoko's instincts… Most of the time. But if you cause us any trouble, it won't be up to her. I'll just have you disappeared. Don't forget that." Hiromi said with all the sinister casualness as any of the corpo's Becca had met.

"Scary." She mocked, but acknowledged the risk as well. Seems this entire group was at least semi more interesting than expected.

"Alright all done." One of the boys called out, and Becca turned and… Hmm. If he was a little older she might consider it.

The whole armor set was sleek. Sleeker than anything she had seen the Corp's use. But it turned the casual, almost rumpled teenager, into someone that looks dangerous.

Damn her attraction to dangerous cuties.

"Nice armor choom." She offered, and he smiled bashfully.

"Thanks!" He offered and then walked over and opened a case that had been pushed into the corner and started loading up on a small armory.

Becca blinked as the boy grabbed a smart SMG that she knew were pricey for any merc to casually pull out, and then grenades as well. Loading up his armor with only a bit of hesitation.

Idly Becca noticed that Hiromi also had an expensive Smart pistol on her hip.

"Okay back!" Kitten herself re-apperaed, and Becca was a little taken aback.

That was a lot of guns.

"Got enough weapons there Motoko?" Jun called out and Motoko stuck her tongue out at him as she took a second to pose, helmet under her arm and showing off. "We aren't going quiet this time! So I can finally go all out!" She said and HIromi wondered what she was going all out against, an entire Corp hit squad?

On each thigh was a Unity pistol, slotted into holsters tied into the armor. Along with a few reloads for each stuck in the webbing. On her left hip was a Katana, not something you usually see with groups wearing armor like that unless you were in Arasaka.

Then there was the right hip where a Burya was holstered.

Against her chest was a Copperhead despite the fact this was supposed to be a loud and proud gig it had a silencer on it.

Then on her back was a Carnage…

"You can never have enough guns!" She chirped happily practically bouncing on her toes, a habit Rebecca had noticed the girl tended to do a lot.

"Motoko. Put the shotgun away." Jun tried to argue, but Motoko just ignored him with a roll of her eyes.

"Having a backup shotgun is very useful Jun!" Then her hands blurred, and she wasn't holding the Copperhead which had just fallen to her chest, its straps keeping it close.

But in her hands was the carnage which had a moment before been over her shoulder. That had been fast.

"See?" She offered a chilling smile.

"That… Was fast. What chipset you got for that?" Rebecca asked and Motoko just sort of blinked guilelessly at her.

"I don't use skill chips." She answered in response, and Rebecca barely kept herself from scoffing. That sort of move wasn't something a teenager just pulled off.

"Bullshit." Rebecca decided to say instead seriously, she kinda wanted whatever Skill Chip had given her hands that fast. Motoko just continued to look at her without really saying anything. "Prove it! Let me see!" She demanded.

At Motoko's shrug, Rebecca climbed over the back of the couch, and then made grabby hands at the girl.

Motoko relented surprisingly easily. She kneeled down letting Rebecca see her neck. Rebecca looked over the Neural Link, and the Chip Slots.

There were a few shards in there, and car keys but… Nothing. Definitely not a skill Chip. You couldn't really confuse the two.

"How did you do that then!?" She asked half outraged and more just shocked.

"Practice! You have to train really hard to be a solo you know? I practiced quick drawing weapons a whole bunch until I got the hang of it." Motoko said with a bright smile even making a little motion with her hands as if quick drawing a pistol.

Even that was kinda stupidly fast.

"Fuck." Rebecca cursed and stomped a few steps away. She had agreed to this because she thought it would be just a bunch of kids fucking around, even if Motoko had been surprisingly skilled she hadn't…

Rebecca hadn't expected to be this outclassed. Her shoulders slumped. No wonder Maine always hesitated to bring her into an actual gun fight. If Motoko was what she should be… She felt her spine straighten.

No, if that was her real skill, then Motoko was scary good. Not the norm at all. Her chooms didn't have her chops, even if they had better equipment than any teenage gangoon squad should have. "No wonder you got Rogues attention. You aren't just some gangoon." She called out to the girl who smiled happily at the compliment.

"Thanks!" She chirped out as happy seeming as always, although Rebecca noticed her chooms perked up at the mention of Rogue.

"Show me what you got then. I want to see this." Rebecca offered staring at the taller girl seriously, the girl whose eyes widened at her words before smiling brightly and nodding.

"Well I'll be right in front of you, so look all you like!" She replied, only for her choom to instantly react. Hiromi jumped off the couch where she had settled in looking outraged at her chooms words.

Heh, Crush was certainly crushing hard.

"But not too close! You have to shoot and stuff first! Yeah! Keep an eye on the gig and not on Motoko! Far away from Motoko!"

"Hiromi? I mean, she's going to be watching my six though?" Motoko said guilessly, the kid was… Fuck the kid was a natural heartbreaker wasn't she? That look on her face, of open honesty would be pretty attractive to any gonk that made friends with her.

Not too many people in Night City that were just completely open books.

But there was no way Rebecca would leave such an opening.

"Yeah Hiromi. Don't worry. I'll be watching her six alright." Rebecca threw Hiromi a wink that made her choke and sputter.

Motoko just looked confused as her head went from one to the other.

"Anyway!" Malcolm called out seemingly heading off a disaster as Hiromi had been growing redder and redder. "Looks like Ichi is done. So let's head out." He interrupted and Rebecca turned to see Ichi also coming out of the bathroom wearing his suit and looking all fearsome.

Damn. These kids cleaned up nice.

"We can't leave yet! Everyone huddle in!" Motoko called out earnestly and Rebecca just wondered what was going on, but her chooms seemed to know.

"Oh c'mon Motoko." Ichi whinged, but she ignored him instead, waving for Jun to join too. Rebecca watched on, confused as Motoko helped arrange everyone into a circle, even grabbing her hand and pulling her in too so she was part of it.

The others besides Jun seemed to know what to do. Even if they all sighed and looked embarrassed about it, they did it anyway. Motoko stretched her hand into the middle, and then her chooms did the same.

Then the girl made eager little motions with her head, and Rebecca decided to hell with it, and threw her hand on top. Jun's warm hand landing on top of her own caused Rebecca a moment's distraction.

"Section Nine!" Motoko cried out and threw her hand into the air. Her chooms joined in, and Rebecca was just left wondering what the hell she had gotten into.

 

[Seras]

Rebecca

That was pretty much it. Right after the weird hand thing, which the gonk was smiling like crazy over, they all left the apartment and slipped into an array of vehicles down in the garage. Motoko even invited Rebecca to ride with her, which was nice, as she didn't have a car. Just taking N-Cart to get there.

It was actually kind of surprising the array of vehicles the teenagers all had.

Malcolm rode around in a Badlands Thornton Colby. The truck was rough and tumble and armored to hell.

And Motoko drove around in a Quadra Type-66. Also a nomad variant. The thing was a beast, and Rebecca was more than a little interested in getting a ride.

The big truck Ichi drove was interesting, but sort of normal. Hiromi joined Ichi, while Motoko yelled at Jun to get into Malcolm's car instead of taking his Kusanagi.

She looked it over and nodded. Preem ride. She wouldn't mind letting him drive her around on it sometime.

"Oh before we jump in." Motoko said as she turned from the driver's door to the trunk and then opened it up.

"Whoa."

"Do you want something with a bit more kick?" The girl asked, and Rebecca had a moment where she wondered what the fuck Maine had been doing all this time.

Maine didn't have a Rocket Launcher.

"Wha-Is that a Rocket Launcher?"

"My Uragan? Yep! I picked it up off some Nomads. You'd be surprised how often shooting something with heavy ordinance makes things on a gig go smoother." She offered and no Rebecca would not be surprised, because she now knew what she wanted in her life.

A Rocket Launcher.

It was the only thing that would make her complete. She reached for it, and Motoko's chrome hands wrapped around her wrist.

"Sorry. Not this gig."

"Fuuuck." She cursed because… It was right there.

"Hey if you want one, I can put you in touch with my contact. Get some eddies together and buy one." She offered as if getting a Rocket Launcher was just… That easy… Well Rebecca realized that it kinda was.

"So want something else? I got an Ajax over there. Or a Carnage around here somewhere, if you want one. I think I got some-"

"I'll take the Ajax. Sure." She agreed. She had shot one before, the recoil wouldn't send her flying. Good enough.

Rebecca cursed herself a bit. She really needed the arm upgrades she had been planning. But Eddies had been tight, and Pilar had been a tightwad. Needing all the eddies for his projects and shit.

Even if Becca knew he was blowing most of it on frivolous shit. The dumbass.

She grabbed the Ajax out of the panel it had been inserted into, hefted it and checked it. Yep, already loaded.

"Here, a few extra mags." Motoko offered, and Rebecca nodded, stuffing them clumsily into her pockets on her jacket.

"We'll need to get you some rigging or something for next time." Motoko said suddenly, before nodding and heading back to the car.

Rebecca though was a little surprised.

For next time? Rebecca wasn't even sure if she wanted to work with the kids… But at the same time, it was kind of flattering to have Motoko already assume Rebecca wouldn't embarrass herself today and want them all to kick her out… And now she was feeling under qualified while hanging around a bunch of teenagers.

"Fuuuuuck." She took a deep breath and headed to the passenger door.

With Maine it always felt like she was just an add on from Pilar. Her brother's tech skills made him useful.

Rebecca though? Was the exact opposite of what Maine liked. Big, strong, brutal power.

Even Sasha represented what Maine liked in a netrunner. Massive powerful hacks. It was just how the big guy thought.

Rebecca was usually only given shit jobs. Overwatch, distraction, shit like that.

But Motoko had invited her right into the strike squad… Before she had walked into the apartment, she had thought the kids wanted another Solo a bit older than them to help out. To handle the dangerous bits, but seeing everything now?

No, it was Rebecca that was the amateur here. She took a breath and accepted that. Even as it pissed her off and embarrassed her, but that was just the truth.

She slipped into the Quadra's passenger seat, and they all started driving out of the garage towards Arroyo.

Towards a massive Scav den. She could feel herself getting excited. She was ready for this.

"You want any grenades?" The question interrupted her thoughts and she looked over.

Was the kid wearing her seat belt? Why? That's so weird.

"Uh… Yeah choom?" What kind of gonk said no to grenades?

"Preem. Got a box under your seat. Take whatever you like. Red Caps are frags, Blue are EMP. Probably don't take any of those. Not sure how much of the equipment in the power plant is still active."

Rebecca very carefully moved her feet and bent down. There under her seat was a box, and inside slotted into little indents to hold them was a bunch of grenades.

Okay sure.

She reached down and carefully grabbed two of the red caps, and after a moment stuffed them into a still empty pocket on her jacket.

She was going to need to get some actual rig if this is how Motoko rolled.

It was kind of embarrassing to pass on her style, but… Well… having spots to hold grenades did sound pretty nova.

Cause grenades.

"This is going to be so fun!" The girl chirped, happily smiling while her eyes were locked on the road.

For someone with such a high end car…

She kinda drove like some ancient old lady. Weird.

The ride over was pretty quiet. Motoko chattered a bit here and there, mostly about odd topics. What kind of weapons she liked, did she mod her own stuff. What sort of chrome she wanted to get.

Rebecca spent most of the ride mentally preparing herself for the battle to come and didn't really give good answers.

Then they were there.

Everyone was already there except for Ichi in the truck. He had split off from the group to go get his toy Minotaur. Which Rebecca was still jealous that they had. She wouldn't mind piloting a Minotaur.

They parked on the side of the road a block down from their target and the kid sat back, eyes closed. "What's up?" Rebecca asked and the kid smiled.

"I set up some cameras last time I was here. I'm accessing them and slipping into the Scavs network again. Just to make sure nothing has changed or they found us out."

"Did they?"
"No." She said while smiling. A smile that was much more bloodthirsty than the girl had shown up until now. "I'll be pinging their system once we move in. Watch the golden lines, it'll tell you where they are hiding. I'll send some hacks through as well right after."

"Preem. Gonna nuke them or something?"

"Huh? Oh you work with Sasha, right I forgot." Motoko said, starting amused and then going quiet. "I hope she's okay. But no. I don't really use offensive hacks much. I prefer CC. Wipe their eyes. Disarm their guns. Makes shooting them a lot easier."

"Well shit, that's what I like to hear." Rebecca agreed, not having Sasha kill steal everything would be kinda nice. Not that Rebecca had really gotten a chance to do much killing with Maines team.

They still treated her like a kid. She was eighteen! Sure she looked more like she was fourteen, but that's just how she was. Scopshit. It's fine. She'll get some chrome and then Maine will stop babying her. The man always was quick to accept chrome as a solution to any problem.

They waited for a while. Motoko mentioned a few things off hand from time to time.

"Three are outside, but they move around. Two of them are moving boxes outside to a truck. Don't worry they aren't moving very fast. The truck won't be ready to leave before we hit them."

And Rebecca just listened. Unused to the chatter, but used to a Netrunner overwatching. In fact the constant updates was kinda nice. Sasha was usually more quiet, or just teasing as she worked.

Finally a familiar big truck pulled up behind them all. Ichi had arrived.

Motoko nodded, having noticed them despite focusing on the cameras.

"Okay the gates are both unlocked. Let's get the channel started." Then a moment later Rebecca got a call.

*Here.* Rebecca said as soon as the call connected, and Motoko nodded.

*I'm in.* Hiromi responded.

*Me too.* Jun was in.

*Locked and loaded!* Malcolm.

*Just say the word, I want to give this thing a test drive.* Ichi.

*Alright everyone. Gates are unlocked. Jun, Malcolm follow me. Ichi, once the shooting starts that's your cue!* And then the car rumbled pulling away from the curb and driving down the street past the power plant, and around so they could get into the alley behind it leading around to the second gate.

Rebecca was ready. Ajax held in her lap.

"When you pull in, just give me an angle, I'll drive by." She told the kid verbally so as not to disturb everyone.

"Preem! The car is armored so that's actually a great idea!" Motoko said happily, and Rebecca sort of huffed.

She wasn't complete ganic. She could take a round from some scav 9… Mostly.

*Okay. I'm going.*

And then The Quadra roared, shifting from a quiet driver to someone that happily pushed the pedal to the metal the Quadra roared, and the gate ahead of them was already opening.

Netrunners were preem like that. The Quadra suddenly shifted and Rebecca yelped, kicking out with her legs to hold her against the dashboard and grabbing the center console to hold her steady as it started drifting sideways.

A moment later the car stopped and she realized the kid had actually set her up perfectly with the passenger door facing the insides of the power plant entry lot.

Rebecca righted herself and pushed the Ajax out the now open door.

They weren't ready. Already lines filled her vision showing where all the Scavs were at.

That… That was useful. Sasha didn't usually ping for the team like that.

Then all hell broke loose as Rebecca opened fire.

Above them some scav hiding in a burned out building across from the plant itself started firing.

Across the way Ichi's truck finished backing in, and suddenly the rear door opened. Revealing A Minotaur that stepped out and slammed into the dirt lot.

The noise was already attracting attention. The front of the plant opened up, and Scavs popped out, hiding behind whatever cover they could find and firing. And Rebecca could see the lines of light shifting as more Scavs were coming.

Then they started screaming, not because of the Minotaur, but because suddenly they were stumbling around, dropping behind whatever cover they could find.

*I plucked their eyes. Go.* And the rest arrived. Jun was suddenly leaping over the Quadra barely wearing the armored plate vest that Motoko had given him, but indeed wearing it even if she was pretty sure he hadn't bothered to actually zip it up.

He reached the first Scav hiding behind some concrete and just ripped the fucker apart. Grabbing an arm and a leg and just pulling.

Fuck. She had seen Maine do something like that, the big fuck, but he had been bitched out by Dorio for it.

A little too Cyberpsycho.

Rebecca thought it was pretty nova though.

Then a scream echoed out and a Scav slammed into the ground, twitched and went still. Rebecca peaked up and out and nearly flinched. She looked behind her and noticed that Motoko was gone.

She hadn't heard the girl even leave the car.

Now she was two floors above her, having just thrown a Scav off a building and was overwatching with that Copperhead, silent rounds firing constantly as she started shooting at scavs from behind their cover.

That… That was nova. Rebecca focused up and started firing as well. Popping a Scav inside the plant, and then focusing on another firing into his cover as he trembled and couldn't move to save himself.

Malcolm ended up taking that kill, a smart round shot close to her, and then sped around the cover slamming into the body.

She looked and Malcolm was using the front of the Quadra as cover and firing his very preem Shingen. Damn, that was a quality piece.

The sudden loud roar of HMG's filled the lot as the Minotaur stepped into play. Simply moving slowly step by step towards the entrance of the plant, and firing at anything that moved.

A surge above her and she gasped.

Motoko had just leapt off the building, traveling all the way across the lot, to land behind the Minotaur and then she popped up from a roll and landed on its back. Her Copperhead aimed past it, as she held onto its ass and started firing.

*Motoko! You are unbalancing me!* Ichi's voice called out with some staring through the channel.

*Be a good weapons platform and just stay still.* She retorted back without a hint of stress in her mental voice as she just fired into the dark power plant.

Rebecca decided that she had the right idea. She leapt out of the Quadra, rushing up to the side of the power plant and posting up on the outside quickly seeing some gonk on the second floor catwalk and shooting him full of holes.

This! This was it! This was what Rebecca fucking lived for.

"HAHAHAHA! GET FUCKED!" She roared out in delight as she opened up with her assault rifle.

—---

I felt my own smile stretch across my face in time with Rebecca finally losing her shit and going full berserk.

This assault was going incredibly well. The Scavs that were checking the cameras right now wondering what the fuck was happening must be shitting their pants.

I almost wondered what they were thinking was happening? Did anyone expect a response like Section 9?

I dropped a mag and reloaded which was difficult while staying on the back of the Minotaur, *Jun! Up front, we are moving in. Malcolm move it!* I demanded over the line, as I jumped off the Minotaur and landed behind Jun. To his surprise I posted up behind him. Hand on his back letting him know where I was, as I basically used him as cover.

The gonk wanted to be the big target, then that's what he would be.

*Here.* Malcolm confirmed posting up behind me and I nodded.

*Rebecca! We are moving in. Ichi hold the lot down. Hiromi keep an eye on Ichi and run if you have to. No risks. Let's move.* I said as I pushed Jun forward which he audibly grumbled at, but then we moved. Jun leading the way into the Power Plant, and the three Solo's backing him up.

The fact I had disabled the Scav's weapons was doing a lot to ensure our charge was uninterrupted.

While Jun slammed into a guy on the ground floor. The three of us twisted around. Firing into the scaffolding, or in Malcolms case firing and then having the Smart rounds twist around and land on top of the hiding Scavs.

We slaughtered them. Moving constantly, in a barrage of bullets. Ping meaning even amateurs like us could act like a unified team. Rebeccca quickly matched our pace despite having to move a bit more with her shorter legs, but she was keeping up perfectly, twisting and firing, as she followed the flashes of light from a fresh Ping.

Of course as easy as it was to slaughter these fucks there were problems.

Teething issues.

Malcolm tripped, nearly knocking me off my feet, and forcing me to struggle and lift him back up. Rebecca got a little trigger happy and nearly shot Jun, who was rushing around.

Jun was running off on his own, and not staying together so we could support him, ending up with him getting stabbed by a very very brave but stupid scav that managed to surprise him.

Yet we kept moving. Malcolm slowed his twisting pace, and kept his feet better after his fuckup.

Rebecca stopped to aim before firing, ensuring no friendly fire. And Jun grumbled and mostly ignored the fact he got stabbed and just kept doing what he was doing…

The after action report would be filled with me kicking him in the head to get it through his denseness. But that's fine.

We moved on. Having cleared the entrance to the plant, we ended up not immediately hitting the downstairs. Instead we broke through a door in the rear of the factory where a clump of scavs had been hiding behind to enter into a sort of warehouse and main plant.

I actually almost stopped as I entered, because this whole section of the power plant didn't exist in the game. It was just one of those doors that was door shaped, but was actually a wall.

But inside was a storage area. Obviously the stuff too heavy to take down into the underground. Boxes of what I instantly registered as loot, but that wasn't all, tables next to chemical equipment…

A drug lab?

I shrugged it off and opened fire along with everyone besides Jun who was going full Oni mode and either cutting people down with his Katana that he had drawn, or just battering Scavs into paste.

Both were pretty effective honestly.

"Motoko?" Malcolm called out, but I shook my head immediately.

"Ignore it! This side is clear we move down now!" I called out even if Malcolm was looking shocked at everything we had found.

Scav business, XBD business, and a drug lab? These scavs sured liked to dip their toes into everything.

Whatever was going on here, was something for later.

We turned after clearing out the area that the Scavs were using and instead rushed towards the undergroundstairs. This time Jun was slower and I was in the lead. I noticed two lines shifting as I got close to the stairs, two gonks, very close, probably hiding in a corner.

So I popped a grenade off my rig.

*Hold! Frag out* I called out over the line, and Jun actually stopped for once. I popped the pin and chucked it down the stairs hard enough it would bounce down and into the bottom of the steps.

A few seconds later the noise buffeted us and I almost giggled as the lights leading to the two winked out.

*Let's go!* I called out and Jun raced ahead which I realized was him being protective again. I rolled my eyes and moved, sticking together with Malcolm with Rebecca following us. *Good job Malcolm, Rebecca!*

*Course!*

*Easy shit.* Rebecca agreed, sounding almost calm, but when I turned to look her face was locked into a full on rictus grin.

Heh. We moved on, Jun rushing again again like a dummy. We walked through a no entry door and then past the hallway that led to the elevator, but while I could hack the thing, it would take time, and it wasn't like they were going anywhere. Not with the Minotaur already moving into the Plant to watch the stairs.

Then we moved through a trash area, covered in old clothes and garbage. Every piece of clothing told the story of another death at the hands of these Scavs.

But Jun didn't care, he moved right through opening doors and rushing through, and so we followed. The next area was a ripper room. The plastic sheeting scavs were so proud of, along with three beams of light leading to Scavs.

Jun of course followed straight towards them, but instantly they opened fire. My hack didn't work? I slammed another Optic Reboot at them, But felt the hands of another runner. Someone was plugged into the network, fighting me off.

Jun hadn't stopped at the gun fire, just charging through it and slamming into a ripper chair knocking it over and onto a Scav firing at him. He screamed as it pinned him to the ground and then the screaming stopped as Jun slammed a boot down onto him. Malcolm and I focused on the others. Far more accurate fire than the Scavs were putting out thanks to the Ping meant they were scattering for cover but that didn't save them from Malcolm.

*They have a netrunner! My hacks won't be as effective. Destroy any cameras as soon as you see them.* I called out, doing just that as I swung around and fired a round into a camera that was watching the ripper room.

*Got it!* Rebecca confirmed, while Malcolm just nodded.

*Jun? You alright?*

*Just some scratches.* He actually said standing up and showing it was a bit more than that. He was definitely bleeding a bit.

*You are on the backline now, pick up a gun. No more rushing forward or I'll leave you blind and go on without you.* I said completely calm, cool keeping me from absolutely ranting at him for being an idiot.

He looked like he was going to argue, but I didn't give him a chance. I popped my Carnage off my back and tossed it at him.

There see? It was totally worth bringing it along.

I reloaded again and nodded as Malcolm did the same and then we moved on to the next room.

 

[Seras]

This room was one I definitely remembered from the game. This was the Scavs rec room, the place they hung out. It also had crates of weapons and other supplies so they were ready for us here.

The lights from Ping gave us numbers, and locations so I didn't have to call it out.

Six guys.

*Going to frag again. Rebecca you too.* I called as I found a position to post up before. Running into the room. Rebecca and I both stood next to one of the metal security blinds, and once she was ready with Jun and Malcolm both holding the entrance. I hacked the blinds and forced them open.

We both tossed. I made sure to toss my grenade in a different direction from Rebecca towards a different group of people.

Our synergy wasn't great. I hadn't thought to have us call out which group to target.

Despite my skill this was a new experience for me, just like it was for most of Section 9. We would have to do some team training soon.

The side thoughts were blown away with the explosions of two grenades, and the screams of agony from dying gonks.

Jun and Malcolm both charged. Malcolm I noticed as I turned to follow was hugging directly behind Jun. Using him as cover and rapid firing into groups that Jun wasn't focused on.

Good work!

Rebecca and I came around a second later, and her smile was already stretching across her face as she let loose.

The Ajax roared and she caught two in a spray of bullets that weren't fast enough to hide behind some crates in the middle of the room they were using as cover.

It wouldn't work against me either.

I leapt straight up, my head nearly touching the ceiling as I raised my copperhead and just fired into them from above. More Scavs were killed, and I think our assault finally started breaking any hope the scavs had of winning. They started running, not many of them got far.

Not with everyone shooting into their fleeing backs.

Rebecca had climbed up on top of a crate and was laughing hysterically as she went full auto down the tunnel the Scavs were trying to flee down.

I just chased after them while firing. The copperhead tight to my shoulder as I raced forward firing at the fleeing gonks.

One dropped, I took a second to lower the barrel and confirm the kill by blowing out the back of his head. Then moved on. I could hear Rebecca struggling down from the crate behind me as Jun continued to beat a poor Scav into a pulp.

Even without looking I knew he was already dead.

*Jun focus up!*

But that was all the attention I was willing to give.

I turned the corner down the hall, and some of the scavs had been smart enough to turn to try and shoot me.

I juked and my Copperhead jerked in my grip as the silent rounds started tearing out of the barrel.

I felt a round wing me, and then another got me in the chest, but I was wearing armor.

They weren't.

A second later the hallway was clear. None of them had escaped.

"Motoko!"
*Jun. Comms you gonk!* I yelled at him over the call and he slowed to a stop and seemed to regain some of his humanity as he saw me perfectly fine and glaring at him… Oh wait I was wearing the tech gogs with my helmet. He couldn't see me glaring.

*Right… Right. You okay?*

*I'm fine. Check! Any injuries?*

*Nope I'm fine.*

*Didn't get touched.* Malcolm and Rebecca both confirmed and then I looked at my gonk brother.

*Do I need to pull you out?*

*It's just some scratches.* He denied.

Yeah the bullet hole in his arm was not a scratch.

But I noticed the old Kang Tao armor had actually caught a few rounds for him. Even if he had done everything he could to show off his plastic abs.

I rolled my eyes and tossed him a roll of bandages.

*Cover those.*

*I'm fine.* He tried to argue and I just cut him off.

*Do it or leave.*

He grumbled and after a minute did as he was told.

*Everyone gather back up. Let's finish clearing this place. We aren't done.*

*Awesome!* Rebecca cheered out as she ran down the hall. I quirked an eyebrow.

She now had a Saratoga strapped to her back.

*What?*

*Nothing.* I said, chuckling quietly as I focused up. We weren't done.

—---

Ichinose

The stairs had not been easy to maneuver down, but he had done it. The Minotaur was staring into the doors of the elevator just waiting for someone to be stupid enough to come up.

*Anything up there Hiromi?*

*Nope, still clear.* She said and he relaxed a little. Controlling the Minotaur was an interesting experience. Despite the fact he was still just sitting in the driver's seat of his van it felt like he was actually far away.

Hiromi watching over him at least made this doable. He didn't want to imagine what it would be like to get killed because he was focused on the Minotaur, but then again what kind of idiot would lose complete track of his surroundings without someone watching over them in a dangerous area?

The elevator shifted. He could 'hear' it through the Minotaurs pickups.

*Someone is using the elevator.* He called out both in the channel between Hiromi and him, and to Motoko's squad.

God thinking about it in terms like that still caught him off guard. This whole thing. This wasn't some group of gonk kids fucking around. This was a corp level op.

They were badasses.

*Not one of us. If anyone is in there, take them out.* Motoko answered back cooly, not a hint of the strain of being in combat in her voice.

Once again Ichi just had to shake his head. Motoko Kusanagi was an enigma, she had come back so different from the coma, and that had only grown with the time since. It was almost hard to remember what she used to be like.

But it was her almost clinical detachment when dealing with violence that still made him nervous.

Motoko the gonk that didn't like alcohol, and would happily get into arguments about the best character in a movie with Malcolm. Would in a second transform into a killer. He had never understood the idea of a 'cold blooded killer' before. Every murder he had ever seen had been passionate acting out, or just gang stuff which was usually full of shouting and yelling.

Although he knew Jotaro had been the same, but seeing that look on Motoko's face as she talked about murdering her enemies always made Ichi… Not nervous. He wasn't afraid of her, but he was… Wary of her.

He watched the elevator doors open, and five scavs stepped out. These were the leaders. The netrunner among them told Ichi that. The fact they were escaping was rather telling as well.

He felt his HMG's activate. The targeting software easily pinging all five.

"FUCK!" The Netrunner managed to scream as the group realized what it was that was standing in the shadows in front of them.

Then Ichi fired.

Yeah. This was the fun part.

They tried. One scav must have some training, he raised a Metel the clunky Techtronika revolver fired twice before he had so many holes in him that the pistol fell from his grip.

*Five Scavs took the elevator. They're dead.* He called out and he could hear Hiromi cheer. He could imagine her pumping her fist at that.

*Confirmed.* Motoko offered back, once more calm and controlled despite the fact he could vaguely hear gunfire still coming from down below.

He settled in again. Motoko had this under control.

—--

I felt like I had no control over what was happening.

Jun was once more racing off. Malcolm was doing his best to stay with him using him as cover. Rebecca had gone completely gun crazy and was just firing full auto at everything that moved.

I was forced to run multiple positions and tasks.

That scav aiming at Jun's back? Quickdraw the Burya fire twice.

Rebecca running out of ammo and struggling to reload with how many weapons she now had strapped to her?

Jump up and tackle her off the table she had found to give her some height. Cover her with my body so the return fire from the scavs hit me and not her. Land, and fire through the cover at the fucker that just shot me.

Reload Burya, ensure Rebecca was okay visually. Rise.

Fire into fucking dirty scavs until they die.

"Sorry." I heard quietly as I looked back and saw Rebecca.

The fury was quenched and I was cool once more.

"It's fine. We work as a team to watch out for each other. We all have things to learn." Then because I was just holding my Burya I reached out a hand for her. She had landed on her ass after everything. "We aren't done yet."

She looked up at me, and smiled evilly. "Right!" And then I was hauling her back to her feet, and we went to town.

This last section of the Scav base was a fucking maze. Broken walls. Scaffolding. Large machines to hide around.

There weren't that many Scavs down here, but they were all hiding in nooks and crannies to ambush us.

Thankfully Ping still worked, and between Jun and I we hunted them all down, pulling them out and murdering them mercilessly.

Especially after we checked the side rooms and found all the killing rooms.

Or rather the Scavs BD rooms. The horrific locals were something I expected, but it made Jun go real quiet and I could see him tighten his hands over and over. The view had Rebecca lose it too. Malcolm though was probably inured to seeing Scav holes. He just kept trying to kill them.

But finally we cleared the entire underground. Each corner was checked, and we went through the whole complex, including in rooms that I remember from the game had been 'dead' doors. Many of the side paths were full of gear or equipment, or just corpse storage.

But it was done.

*Looks like we are clear down here. Hiromi, Malcolm, let's move onto the most important part. Looting.*

I got a laugh from Malcolm at my words, but Rebecca mostly gave me a funny look when I said the most important part.

Obviously Maine didn't know how to make the real eddies. There was a lot of gear down here.

—--

Ichi and I switched places, although I didn't have the Minotaur, I was just on overwatch upstairs, keeping an eye on things in case any random scavs returned.

To my amusement Jun had been roped in by Hiromi, and she was ordering him around as he lifted heavy stuff. While Malcolm and Ichi started going through rooms gathering up interesting pieces. Rebecca had also wanted to help, but her stature had gotten in the way and so she had finally given up and was heading up to the surface.

I was on the second floor of the broken down building looking over the power plants lot when she finally came up and then headed up to where I was hiding out.

"You're up here right?" She asked as she came up and I reached up over my head, revealing my hiding place between some boxes cutting me entirely off from sight.

"Umm what are you doing?" She asked as she walked over and climbed up onto the boxes to look down on me.

"Overwatch!"

"Yeah I get that, but why are you hiding?"

"Because if I see anyone coming in and they don't see me, that gives me a tactical advantage."

"Right… Right." She answered and then to my surprise she shimmied over the box and landed in my little hidey hole and rested against the box. "That was… Pretty crazy."

"One of the biggest raids we've done for sure. Not the biggest, but one of them. Definitely the first one with our new equipment." I offered, looking her over, happy to see she hadn't taken any wounds. I had already checked over my armor poking fingers into little holes in the chest rig, and some random shrapnel I had picked up from ricochets somewhere.

"I wanted to say thanks." She finally admitted after a minute of quiet. "You didn't treat me like some random extra you were just bringing along, or give me some random gonk work. You just gave me a gun and expected me to use it."

"Well yeah? You work with Maine and Sasha right?"

"Sometimes." She said weakly, and that sometimes sounded more like. Never. Or not in the way she wanted.

"Well Section 9 is always looking to hire good shooters. Malcolm is shaping up well to be my backup but we could use another solid gun…. Not saying you have to stop working with Maine or anything! I just mean if you-"

"Yeah.. Listen. Motoko, you got something going here, that's kinda wild. Not the sort of shit I expected from a teenager, even one that can walk into the Afterlife, but I get why Rogue has her eye on you now. You don't… You keep bringing up Maine, and Maine is great. He has army training, and is an absolute beast, but he doesn't… The planning you did? That's way beyond his normal prep. You passed out equipment that blows away anything Maine and crew use. My brother is Maine's Techie. The gonk that makes sure they have whatever random tool they need, but he certainly doesn't have a Minotaur."

"That's pretty recent, and sort of a surprise to us too."

"Yeah but… Maine wouldn't have kept it, if he got one. It would have just been sold off." Rebecca added and then seemed to struggle with herself. "I'm not good at this kind of shit. I'm not saying it right… Maine cares for his crew, he's protective yeah, but he doesn't force them into high end armor. Doesn't get Minotaurs for the non-shooters to be able to do something. That's not normal. Like at all. It's crazy… I like that kind of crazy."

I looked at Rebecca's red eyes and I understood. "It'll take a bit for us to get a fresh set of armor. I'll talk to Hiromi, we might be able to buy a set fresh. A bit of time on top of that, the ECM emitters will take some time to source again, but that's not a huge issue. So give me some time, and the armor will be done."

"Armor?"

"Your armor. Can't continue to work with us without armor." I added and Rebecca seemed sort of shocked at how casually I had just accepted her into the crew.

"That sounds expensive."

"Nah, Section 9 will handle the expenses." I assured her she wouldn't have to pay for it, and that did something, because a second later she started laughing.

"You're really fucking weird!"

"Thanks?"

—--

Despite expecting some massive Scav response. Nothing happened. Instead Rebecca and I switched off on overwatch to make sure nothing continued to happen, while Section 9 went to work.

Well besides Jun, One of the times he had come up I noticed he was still bleeding. I had ordered him to go to a ripper and get checked up, ignoring any and all of his arguments about it.

Then to my surprise as I helped haul some heavy crates up the stairs, Ichi wasn't there and his van was gone, including the Minotaur.

"Where's Ichi?"

"He went to get us more transport space." Hiromi said. She was going through all the crates seemingly making lists of all the crap we were taking out.

I shrugged, figuring he would just come back with his normal truck empty, but instead an hour later he came pulling into the lot with the massive Behemoth.

"Huh. You didn't sell it?" I asked Hiromi absolutely surprised to see that thing again.

"I set up a rental plan as part of an agreement with a SCSM stocking service. Apparently having something armored like the Behemoth heavily decreases injuries. I called it back in before we left. I had a feeling we would need all the space we could fit." Hiromi said looking pleased with herself as Ichi came out of the cab with a proud look as well.

"You've been practicing." I called out to Ichi and he smiled.

"I have! Hiromi has had me working with a SCSM company. They use the truck and in exchange don't have to worry about getting shot at as much."

I instantly looked at Hiromi who smiled even more slyly. "I might have also rented out Ichi."

"You!" I called out before bursting into laughter. "You sneaky corpo!" I yelled out and chased at her.

"Hehehe!" She giggled back flashing a bright smile as she escaped my grabbing hands.

"Well you certainly drive it like you've got some experience now." I called out as I gave up on the chase.

"Yeah it took a while." Ichi agreed, then he looked over all the crates already stacking up. "I'll lower the ramp, let's start getting stocked up."

I nodded in agreement, and soon we were working together hauling up the heavy crates into the truck.

"I'm still surprised you didn't sell it. Aren't these things difficult to get a hold of."

"Yeah. Militech only sells it to big corps, or governments." Hiromi agreed, nodding a moment later had her smile going sly. "Which is why I decided that Section 9 should keep it for ourselves. Something like this isn't a vehicle we could just buy again later. Armored transports aren't easy to get."

"Well I can't complain." I shrugged. I mean, I hadn't even noticed that Hiromi hadn't sold it…

Was that another sign I was bad with money, or a hint that I had way too much money and should spend it?

Both. Probably both.

I traded out loading the truck with Rebecca every once in a while giving me a break to rest and watch over the lot, while she helped out.

And slowly we cleared out the entire place.

At least anything we actually wanted to take. Then long into the night. Ichi piled into the cab of the Behemoth, and we all slipped away into the night. Rebecca once more joined me in the Quadra as we followed along behind the truck.

 

[Seras]

"Jun? You're home already?"

"I told you it was just scratches." He grumbled at me. I had dropped off Rebecca at home after we stored the Behemoth for the night. All of us too tired to want to unpack everything just to pack it all back up again.

Hiromi had apparently made a deal with the SCSM company for a garage to store it. Which we could use as a space for our loot. So it was secure enough.

Now I was home ready for a shower but Jun was already on the couch.

I walked over and inspected him and narrowed my eyes at the very obvious bandages on his chest.

"Yes I'm sure scratches bleed even after being checked over by a ripper." I said snidely, noticing red on the white bandages.

"It's fine." He grumbled looking me over. "You?"

"Nothing went through. Armor worked like it was supposed to." I assured him. Although I had gotten a few scratches, a Maxdoc had cleared that up.

Satisfied my brother had actually gotten his medical attention I wandered into the bathroom to take a shower.

This whole situation had gone really well. Even if the fact Sasha had survived was setting in. What was going to change from that one act?

Maines crew had made an enemy of Biotechnica. I had no idea how much, or if they would be able to let everything cool off, but Kiwi and Lucy might never be hired by Maine now.

This was… Going to be an interesting situation.

Also, the most important thing. We were only a few months away from a very important point. The start of Edgerunners.

I would need to figure out what to do about what's his face. The original owner of David's Sandevistan. The fact was, I wanted it. That wasn't some run of the mill street sandy that I could pick up. That thing was absolutely top of the line.

And I wasn't David, I wasn't going to lose my mind to chrome and overuse and turn the biggest advantage into a weakness.

But until then…

I looked down at my body as the water flowed over me. Muscles and chrome, but I was flawless. No scars, or markings. Vik and my sleep healing had taken care of me.

I looked at my alerts. Plenty of killing had been done. Plenty of XP.

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

On it went.

Fourteen kills directly to me. That wasn't a lot, and yet it was all at the same time.

7000 XP.

I hadn't gotten any direct level ups, Assault was unfortunately already maxed, but I did get a Quick Hack alert. So that was one more step closer to a level.

But as I looked away from the alerts and back to my body…

I think it's time to get some more chrome. I've been doing a lot of prep chrome. My Titanium bones were great, but I wanted something with a bit more….

Flash.

The idea stuck with me, as I finished the shower. Undecided. I could probably get some Gorilla arms mods for my Condor. They were already a bit full though. The EMP and Armor took up a lot of room.

I walked out of the bathroom clothed and drying my hair, and then decided since I couldn't figure it out on my own I was gonna ask the chrome head.

"Hey Jun?"

"Motoko?"

"I'm trying to figure out what chrome I should get next. Any suggestions?"

"Extra heart?"

"I do want one, but I'm thinking more flash. All of my chrome feels like just…"

"Ah I see. Get a Sandy. It'll make you killer." He said without missing a beat.

"I kinda have one lined up, but it'll be a few months before I can get it." I answered honestly. Admitting it aloud made it more real.

I was going to take 'Davids' Sandy from him. He would never chip it in. In exchange I would make sure Gloria survived. I'm sure he would trade the chrome for his mother alive and well.

"If you have to wait so long, just chip in a sandy now, get used to it, and upgrade later. You have the eddies." He said it like it was that simple.

"I just… I don't want to chip in some scop Sandy Jun. The one I have my eye on is like… Super top of the line. I just have to wait a bit."

"Dummy." He said and to my surprise reached out and tapped me on top of my head. "Speedware is useful shit. The only reason I don't have one is because I stopped chipping in new chrome for a while to get used to everything. But you… You're fine. Go chip in a Sandy, get used to it, for when you chip in something real nova."

"But that'll…" I stopped. How do I explain the idea of how I understood adaptation, and Humanity loss by Cyberware without explaining it's all a game.

"Motoko? You handle chrome better than anyone I've ever seen." He said, his eyes locked on me. "You've been a little skittish about it. I get that. But you've got nothing to be afraid of. Besides, Hiromi already sent me a quote on what we made today. You can get plenty of good chrome with just your cut of today's profits. Hell, it's more than I make normally by a long shot." He said almost laughing. "Who'd have thought little Hiromi would some day be bossing me around on a gig?"

I blinked at the almost wistful tone before Jun looked to me and smiled.

"Spend the eddies. Get an upgrade. At least it'll increase your chances of surviving until you get your hands on the Sandy you really want. Upgrades are normal, they won't hurt."

I blinked and realized that… I really should be upgrading my chrome. I had a lot of eddies just sitting in my account. And a lot of chrome that could use an upgrade. My Cyberdeck was a midline at best for instance.

An upgrade to my Cyberdeck would do a lot in making me even scarier.

But I also wanted to spend more money on tech stuff… No, I realized. I had eddies. I had a ton of eddies. That was just an excuse. I was letting my fear control me. I was afraid of chrome in a way. Sure I was feeling much much better about it now, but the kidnapping still haunted me.

I hated that idea.

I breathed in and out. Being wise about chrome wasn't bad though. Balance. I just needed balance.

"I'm going to bed. I'll probably be working with Hiromi all day tomorrow to sell the loot." I said instead, rising up.

"Nice! I'm looking forward to my cut! Going to buy an upgrade for my ride. But you should set it up Motoko. Call your ripper, Vik. Give him time to find some chrome. Go on. Go to bed."

I just rolled my eyes at Jun's stupid Mizuchi.

"I'll send a message to Vik." I decided, even sending him a message about what I was looking for and a request for a checkup and new install.

"Good night Motoko… And hey. This gig you pulled off today? I was impressed. Super impressed. You didn't even need me, you could have done it without me… It was a relief."

I scoffed even as I felt my cheeks heat up. "Section 9 is amazing! Of course we don't need a gonk like you! Even if you were a big help and it was cool how you worked with us, when you weren't charging ahead and getting shot at! Maybe Section 9 will offer more gigs to you in the future… If you get some armor!" I yelled and then stomped away into my room. Jun was laughing.

I checked on Tachikoma before I went to bed. Its walking process was starting to really come together. It was moving at a much faster rate now. Much more confidently.

"Good job." I told it despite not being able to hear me, and did some quick pruning of the process before slipping into bed.

—---

The next day was a barrage of running around. Thankfully since Ichi could drive the Behemoth. I was mostly the bodyguard. Keeping Hiromi safe as she sold equipment all over the city. The eddies flowed in as we dropped off piece after piece.

While we drove around, I spent some time going over the gig with everyone. With the BD recorder I could even review things I had seen.

Talking to Malcolm about when he tripped. Telling him to remind me sometime for some practice with walking through a dark space with a rifle in hands.

Ichi mostly got a slap on the back.

Hiromi too.

Jun I just sent a picture of him getting shot with a quick caption. 'Don't be the idiot that runs ahead.'

He didn't respond with anything useful. Just a glare emoji.

Rebecca didn't have time to talk so we would have to go over everything another time, unfortunately it also meant Rebecca wasn't able to join us.

When we finally called it a night, we took some time to celebrate. Hitting a diner and ordering all the food we could eat.

"Seriously! That guy was such scop. I'm pretty sure he was a Scav himself!" I grumbled out but Hiromi just laughed.

"You just didn't like how he was flirting with me!" Hiromi said with a bit too much eagerness, and I shuddered.

"Of course I was upset! The guy was like thirty. He was gross Hiromi. You shouldn't have led him on."

"It let me fleece him for another two grand. So…"

"It's gross. I'll have to give that guy a late night visit sometime soon." I said feeling rather murderous. Fucking sicko.

"Don't you dare! He was buying a lot of the equipment! We'll keep feeding him more of our loot! For the eddies!"

"Don't worry about it Motoko. He'll do something stupid some day either get himself killed, or we will flatline him." Ichi cut in. "I would put money on him trying to steal from us someday."

"He wouldn't! The equipment we are selling is super cheap! He wo-"

"He totally will." I agreed. The guy was skeevy.

"Yep." Ichi agreed, I raised my drink to him and he did the same.

"Ugh." Hiromi just huffed and Ichi and I started laughing.

"So what are you spending your eddies on Ichi? Any chrome?" I asked mostly as a segway, but I was interested in his answer as well.

"Ah, well I got the smart link, and that wasn't too bad. Even if using the Minotaur meant I didn't get to use it much. But I do like the Yukimura. Since I've been wearing it, just seeing it on my hip has settled a lot of friction." He said laughing, slapping the holster on his side that carried his smart gun.

"Heh. At least some gonks are smart enough not to mess with the guy that has homing bullets." I giggled and he nodded in turn.

"But for what I'm going to do with these eddies… I don't know. Maybe some Subdermal, or Skinweave?"

"You should reach out to Vik then, see what he has on offer. He'll take care of you."

"Sure, maybe I'll reach out. How about you?" He asked and that was the topic I wanted to bring up, mostly because I was kinda nervous.

"I'd planned on holding off for a while longer. I have a chance at a really high end Sandy that will open up in a few months, but… I think I'm going to chip in a lower quality Sandy with Vik tomorrow."

"Whoa! Really?" Hiromi asked, looked excited. "That would be preem Motoko! Sandy are expensive chrome, but they're great!"

"Yeah. I was gonna hold off until I got something really top of the line, but…" Powergaming vs. realistic upgrades.

The powergamer in me said not to upgrade until I could get the best. But I wanted to be safe, and strong enough to protect myself and my chooms.

"So yeah. I'll go in tomorrow morning. Vik got back to me that he found something that I'll like."

"Nice! I want to see! As soon as you are done!" Hiromi demanded, and I waved her off.

"Maybe. I'll probably head home after and sleep it off or something. But I'll show you once I feel better."

"Deal!" She agreed, smiling while Ichi nodded in tandem.

"How about you Hiromi? Anything in mind for your eddies?"

"Most of it is going into payroll unfortunately. But I'll be making a nice profit that will go into private accounts." Hiromi said but Ichi and I just looked at each other.

"Coooorppppoooo." We both teased and Hiromi instantly went red and slapped at both of us.

—--

The next morning I got ready and headed to Viks.

There was a bit of anxiety there. Because I wouldn't be chipping in the 'best' of something. Just what I could get my hands on, with a bit of work, and that wasn't something I really appreciated, but…

Upgrades. A few upgrades now could make future gigs easier, make me more eddies, and more XP.

It was for the best. That old gamer mentality of not upgrading to anything until I either had to, or until I had all the stat points to make use of the best stuff was holding me back.

But this wasn't a game.

"Hey Misty!" I called out as I entered her Esoterica and she looked up and smiled brightly at me, making my day instantly better as she waved me down.

"Motoko, I saw you actually scheduled an appointment looking for more chrome today. That's unusual. Something happen?" She asked kindly, waving me over as she was sitting behind her little reception.

"Not exactly. I just had the idea the other night and wanted to warn Vik."

"Well he appreciates it, and as his sometimes secretary I appreciate it too." She said teasing.

"Heh. He's got you taking calls for him now too?" I asked, teasing back and she shrugged. "Sort of. Just as an emergency thing. Sometimes he isn't around, so if someone is calling for emergency help well… If he isn't around to answer, I'll be able to warn them from showing up."

"Right. That makes sense. Did Vik mention what he got for me?"

"He did. Vik has contacts all over, and you have the eddies to actually pay." She winked at me then. "He always goes above and beyond for the best customers."

"Vik's the best ripper. Of course I have to treat him right." I answered back and we both smiled.

"Go on. I know you want to see what he was able to wrangle up for you." She said waving a hand at the back and I did just that waving goodbye as I hurried into the alley then down the stairs.

"Vik!"
"Hey Kid, 'bout time, I was wondering if you would keep me waiting, come in, let me show you what I picked up for you this morning. Called in a favor with some old rippers I knew to get the deets and had to do a bit of trading, but I got it."

Then he pulled out a plastic bag, and there it was.

A tiny little chip that was actually the Sandevistan.

"They always look so small."
"Heh. Well big things come in small packages kid. This is a Dynalar Sandevistan. It's not the best of the best. QianT usually hold that mantle, Militech can be top of the line if you can snatch their good stuff, at least they put up a fight. The Falcon is a preem piece of chrome." He chattered as he started prepping everything, but I was struggling to tear my eyes off it.

A Sandevistan. Speedware. The piece of chrome that every likely was the most important piece of chrome I would get.

It was a midline Sandy. Like Vik said this wasn't a Falcon. Or… Whatever the fuck Davids Sandy was.

Well whatever it was, I would find out eventually. For now? This would do. This would do nicely.

"Alright Vik. I'm Ready."

"Heh. Nice that you are mentally, but you aren't ready just yet, come take a look at this as well. I need to ask if this is the right fit for you." He said pulling out a second plastic package. The plastic was obviously not original the sort of thing I had seen in Scav shops for how they store cyberware to keep it clean.

And he dropped it on the table it took me a second… "A neural link?" I asked confused at the sight of it.

"Your neural link is a civilian version." Vik answers and then points at the second piece of cyberware in a plastic bag. It wasn't massive. At least not that massive, but I instantly realized it wasn't just nothing either.

"That looks a bit high end."

"Heh, caught that huh? Yeah. Your Sandevistan isn't anything special, not that it was easy to get my hands on, they don't come cheap. But you already got a Cyberdeck, and I bet you wanted to keep it right?"

I instantly reached up to the back of my neck. There in the neural link that I had woken up with in this world in a small port that near my chipslots was my current Cyberdeck.

A cyberdeck that I knew was taking up a lot of the hardware of my neural link to run.

The neural link may be the most integral cyberware that existed. It was the piece of tech that connected the brain and nervous system to cyberware.

The basic civilian one wasn't really capable of much. It wouldn't limit a cyberdeck at my level, but Sandevistan, Cyberdecks, and many other powerful pieces of chrome all needed space in a neural link.

Hell, the Sandevistan David had chipped in, had needed the massive spinal neural link, or at least had come with it just to help handle the power that little chip could push out.

This one wasn't nearly as big, but looking it over. The chrome gleaming in the muddy light of Vik's shop. I came to a realization.

I licked my lips.

"I want it."

"You sure? This might be the one I had access to, but I can find something different. This is a big step for you-"

"I want it. It's perfect. Hell there is only one other neural link I can think of that I want more, and that's coming along with that Sandy I've been hunting. Vik. Chip it." I confirmed, absolutely sure.

This was going to be huge, but with adaptation, and my own desire for the chrome. I was confident this was perfect for me.

"Alright kid. In that case, I'm all set up. Take a seat."

I nodded and did just that, settling into the chair.

"I'll call Misty down as well once we are done. Not too good at haircuts." He joked and I just laughed, as I rolled over showing the back of my neck.

A few moments later I was asleep.

 

[Seras]

"It's not too bad.. Right?"

"I think it suits you." Misty assured me. It was a full twenty hours after I went under the knife. Vik had done a lot of work, and after eight hours I felt… Perfect.

My neck was a little weird, but that was something adaptation would help with.

I looked in the little hand held mirror and what gazed back at me, was something more than human.

The Neural Link Vik had chipped into me was an Arasaka brand. So the chrome was the usual black with little red ports for everything.

I knew Hiromi would love it. But it wasn't just a few chip slots hidden beneath the flesh that had long grown over it.

This was heavy duty chrome, and I didn't like hiding my chrome.

So the entire back of my neck, from just above where my Occipital bun as Vik had called it, but it was just the bump on the back of my head. Everything below that was chrome to just above my shoulder blades. I even had some cool chrome stretching into the sides of my throat giving me a bit of flash there.

And now Misty was cleaning up my hair on the back of my head, and there it was.

The largest chunk of myself other than my arms, that wasn't natural, something I wouldn't be hidden away beneath my boots like my ankles.

And I low key fucking loved it.

"Vik did a great job. It looks amazing." I said… Okay so maybe it was more like high key I loved it.

"Hehe, it really suits you. You always carried that Neo-Mil look. Well it looks even more so now."

I felt myself smiling even wider as I turned the mirror so I could see Misty.

"Thanks Misty."

"Of course. You'll make sure to take all the drugs Vik gave you in exchange."

I kept myself from laughing too hard as Misty was cutting my hair a bit but I flashed her a smile. "Sure you bet."

"Good. You're one of the patients that actually listen to all the recovery instructions. You have no idea how hard it is to get a bunch of gonks to take their medicine correctly."

I giggled all the louder as Misty ranted, happily telling me horror stories of idiots not listening to Viks orders and coming back with their body rejecting chrome or worse.

"All done… It looks about the same as before, but from the back… Well it definitely stands out… In a good way!"

"Hold the mirror?" I asked her and she nodded as I walked over to a wall mirror and with Misty's help was able to actually see it.

Heh. I'm really glad that Vik or whoever owned it previously got rid of the Arasaka symbol on the back, instead of looking tacky, my chrome looked… Sinister.

Cool.

"Remember to follow Viks instructions!" Misty demanded, and I nodded in agreement, the feeling felt weird as my neck no longer moved in the same way.

But I would get used to it.

Finally Misty let me free, and I would follow Viks instructions, only the actual instructions he had given me. We hadn't wanted to tell Misty that I had already healed post surgery, so Vik had given me different instructions before I had left.

I walked out and breathed in the Night City air. People walked past me, in a blur of neon and suspicion clad faces.

But I didn't care. Because today? I had just done something amazing. Time to go home. Despite the heal, I was still ordered to go very easy on my Cyberdeck, and not to even think about using my Sandy.

Even if the urge was there.

—--

"You're staring."

"Of course I am. My little sister got a nova upgrade." Jun agreed as he had intercepted me as I got home.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" I said, flushing a little at the attention.

"I have the day off. Show me." He demanded but it was with a gentle smile and I huffed and did just that. Settling onto the couch.

"It's an Arasaka Neural Link, an ODA apparently. The Sandy's a Dynalar. Just a Mk.2."

"Nova. That's good chrome." Jun confirmed as he spun around me so he could get a better look.

"He did a good job on the install, I can barely see the wounds." I nodded slightly at that. He had done an amazing job, but the real reason there weren't any wounds was because I had slept eight hours after the install.

"Anyway, I haven't used it yet of course. I need to give it some time for everything to settle in. Docs orders. So I'll be working on stuff around the house… Do you need anything done… Armor for instance." I hinted and Jun just happily ignored me as he patted me on the shoulder.

"Nah don't worry about it. That armor just got in the way. It was interesting, but not for me-Ow! Motoko!"

"I'm sorry I just happened to hit you right where you got shot the other day! Oops! Wow too bad you weren't wearing the armor properly or it would have blocked that bullet and only given you a bruise!" I hissed at him, and while Jun looked like he was about to pick me up and throw me, he hesitated, glancing up at my neck.

I reached up and rubbed my neck too and that put a damper on it. Jun wasn't going to rough house while I was healing.

"I wish you would wear more armor." I told him seriously. "Look at how effective it was for us. I got shot a few times in that fight Jun, but it didn't even slow me down."

He didn't say anything in turn at my turn towards the serious. Instead just patting me on the head. "Don't forget to call Hiromi. She'll freak."

"Hehe! I'll do that now. Maybe she wants to spend the night?" I wondered and jumped off the couch to run to my room to make the call.

—--

"That kinda tickles."

"It's so cool. Arasaka brand and everything! I'm so proud." Hiromi said faux sniffling as she continued to poke at the back of my neck. I rolled my eyes.

"It's not the best link on the market, just the one that I have." I tried to argue, but Hiromi just ignored me. Happy that I had some Araska chrome. Honestly we sort of matched. Her own Neural link wasn't the heavy duty one that I had, but she did have a strip of black chrome hidden under her hair along the back of her neck. Her chip ports were set into it.

"There is a problem though." I grumbled.

"What? What happened? Something wrong? Bad chrome!? I'll kill that old man ripper of yours!"

"No! What? Hiromi, chill choom. Vik is amazing. No, I used to have my Personal link cords on the back of my neck remember?"

"Oh yeah, you picked that weird install. They still there?"

"Yeah, but the ODA's have a slightly different link design. Here see?" I said as I reached behind my head and felt around until I found it, then showed it to Hiromi.

The ODA had a lot of modularity despite being Arasaka branded. Not something you would expect from them, but it was actually sort of one of their trademarks. Other than the black and red design.

The personal link cord wasn't in quite the same spot as it used to be. It now detached from a recess along the right or left side of the neural link. Meaning it was more on the side of my neck behind my ears, than it used to be directly behind on the back.

"Tehee!" Hiromi giggled as she popped the personal link out of my neck and then put it back in a few times.

"That kinda tickles Hiromi." I told her and that just made her giggle more and keep doing it until I swiped her hands away.

"It looks nova Motoko! And with a Sandy our work is going to be even smoother!" Hiromi said with glee kicking her legs as she raised them off the floor.

"It'll definitely increase safety. It'll be nice not to be pushed back by every speedware user now."

"Heh. And that one TC girl you spar with! You'll be able to beat her ass now! Which you should! Definitely beat her ass!"

"Oh, yeah Hayato. I haven't talked to her recently. I'll have to reach out. She'll be a great test for using the Sandy in a fight… My sandy." I repeated, because it bore repeating. I had a sandy now.

Sandevistan. One of my own.

It wasn't Davids OP as fuck secret black project sandy, but it was fine.

"Yep! Well in that case, I'll focus on the BD stuff for a while. Not like we can go on gigs while you are still recovering from your chrome." HIromi added shrugging.

"Oh yeah. I still have the BD from the Power Plant. Think I should delete it?" I asked. Things had gotten a bit serious on the gig. And it could be dangerous to have it come back to us.

"Wait.. You made a BD of that?"

"Yeah of course I did. I always turn my BD tuner on before doing something. I just delete it if it's boring or in the case of the Badlands gig… Well if things get crazy."

"Definitely! Oh oh! I have a good idea! It'll be perfect! Gimme! Gimme!"

"Wha-hold on Hiromi, I'll need to take it to Judy to get fixed up."

"I know! That's why give it to me, I'll take it! I have an idea."

"Okay sure!" I said laughing as Hiromi was practically reaching for my chip slots like she could just pull it from my head. I quickly flashed a shard and after a moment of it saving I handed her the raw BD.

"Perfect! Hehehehe!" She cackled as she rose to her feet, like full on maniacal laughter.

"I really don't think I want to know what your idea is."

"Don't worry! It's perfect!" Then before I could say anything else, she ran out of the apartment.

"Was that Hiromi?" Jun asked, poking his head out of his room looking confused. I just sent him a look of confusion in turn. "Wasn't she spending the night?"

"I honestly don't know."

—--

I flopped on my bed just after Hiromi left. With any sort of heavy work taken off the field, I didn't have much to do. Sure David had chipped in his Sandy then used it right away, but he also fucked himself up enough to pass out doing that, and was a fucking gonk.

I was going to follow my doctor's orders to take it easy for a few days, even with my instant heal.

I looked over and Tachikoma was steadily working.

The programming was clearing up. The program had learned what it was trying to learn, and so actual improvement was going pretty quick. I purposefully pulled up the data on my laptop and didn't link in to go ahead and do more pruning.

Getting rid of incorrect data, or repeats, cleaning it up and making it streamlined. But it was getting to be time to add more into the program.

So I walked over and picked up a chunk of steel, and placed it in front of the Tachikoma.

A moment later the small addition to its programming I had added started up.

It moved to the sphere and stopped… Then it rammed it.

But steel was heavy.

Nope little guy. If you want to learn how to pick things up you need to do better than that.

Setting the program to run I ended up just laying on my bed staring at the ceiling for a while.

My neck… Well it felt kinda stiff. Like I wanted to stretch it, but I couldn't.

The negative side to chrome. But I relaxed. I would put in some adaptation and be good to go.

And in exchange for this discomfort… A Sandy.

Which I couldn't use yet…

"Jun! I'm going to sleep for a while!" I yelled out from my bed without getting up.

"Okay! Sleep well!" Jun called back. Cool.

Another eight hours would make the time until Sandy usage go down a lot.

So I closed my eyes and drifted off.

I awoke instantly and blinked. The light in the room was off, not that there wasn't enough light from my printers and laptop. So I rose up and blinked.

"That… Isn't quite it little guy." I muttered staring at the Tachikoma that had failed at lifting the block… It was using its little grippers on the block and was just… Sort of jerking itself forward and back. But the block wasn't going anywhere, because it was using the extension I had built into the grippers… Kinda cute though. I stood up and moved to the computer. Oh yeah, that was a glitch alright.

A few moments later I sent the update and the Tachikoma stopped and then with a bit of prodding on my behalf through code, it finally managed to lift the block. Then it started walking and dropped it.

"Ganbatte, Tachikoma-chan." I whispered to my drone and looked at the screen. I really should sit down and put in some actual work on the Tachikoma interface…

Just thinking about it instantly brought ideas to my mind thanks to inspired programmer… And it was like 2 am so I might as well get something done.

I shrugged and even if I couldn't program with my cyberdeck, I could still do it the old way.

I started typing, getting lost in the synergy between the VI I was creating from the Tachikoma, and a program to manually control them.

I would need to get the Minotaur interface tomorrow to look that one over as well. I could copy some of the program…

Where was the Minotaur anyways? Last I saw it, Ichi had… Ichi! That little sneak! I realized that Ichi had definitely stolen the Minotaur away from me! Well we would see about that.

I knew where he lived!

—--

Ichinose

Ichi woke up to his alarm blaring.

Sighing into his pillow he blinked up his agent and then shut it down. He sighed into his pillow as he mustered up the energy to get up. Slowly he rose, eyes blinking, one of the benefits of optics, is that he didn't feel like he could barely see anything when he first woke up, everything was clear from the light coming in from his open window.

Which was weird, Ichi never left his window open. Something he had learned as a kid. He narrowed his eyes at it, and reached over to flip the switch, closing it back down. Nodding at that, he rose unsteadily to his feet, and took a few moments to stretch and groan.

He didn't want to get up this early, but Hiromi had dragged him into that SCSM job, and well…

It wasn't about the pay so much, but it was a good experience. Ichi really liked driving through the city, seeing new places, and meeting people.

Malcolm might talk up his massively overpriced supercar, but he was also the idiot that could barely ever drive his car anywhere.

Ichi drove through the whole city whenever he wanted.

As he slipped into the bathroom he made the call to his new 'partner.' even if the guy liked to try and get Ichi to call him boss.

Max was the guy that ran the SCSM shop. He was alright, but since Hiromi was technically Ichi's boss, it gave him a lot of leeway.

*Hey kid! You coming in today or not? You caused a real issue yesterday!*

*Hey Max, yeah I'm getting ready to come in. I'll have the Behemoth. Won't have full capacity though.*

*Fuck. How much room do I got?*

*About seventy percent, maybe eighty.*

Ichi ignored the cursing coming over the line, quickly washing up his hair and then once he was soap free stepping out, and grabbing a towel, quickly drying off he checked his mirror, doing a bit of work on his hair to even it all.

*Fine. But we'll have to haul ass to get a full route done in that case! I expect you in soon kid!*

*It'll be about thirty minutes Max." Ichi refuted the man's demands casually, pretty used to him now. It was kinda cool to be a teenager able to tell grown men to fuck off. It wasn't like Max had any other trucks with the same amount of armor, or capacity. And Hiromi had made it clear to the man that Ichi was the one in charge of the truck, full stop.

Not that Ichi went out of his way to piss him off. The extra storage area and secure holding for the truck was worth a lot on its own.

He stepped out of the bathroom, glad he had his own private one since this was an older style home pushing the beads out of the way he made two steps and then stopped cold.

"M-Motoko?" He asked, because there sitting on his bed, with her feet up was Motoko. Along with his Yukimura in her lap, that she was fiddling with.

"Ichi." She greeted back calmly and Ichi felt a bit of discomfort, because Motoko was acting weird.

For one she was literally in his room.

"Motoko? What's going on?" He asked a little awkwardly, making sure his towel was properly tightened around his waist. Dangit Motoko he just got out of the shower! Had Grandma let her in!?

She rose with a predator's grace, something she had started to show more and more lately, and almost languidly stalked him across the room.

Ichi felt his back hit the cold wall as she stalked him right into a dead end, and then she grabbed his hand and put his Yukimura into his palm.

"You should really have more weapons on hand Ichi, I was able to take your pistol while you slept and you didn't even notice." She said almost jokingly and he relaxed a bit about to make a joke before asking her to get the hell out but suddenly her palms slammed into the wall beside his head.

Oh.

Oh no.

"Ichi?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Where's my Minotaur?" She said with sinister intent and all Ichi could do was swallow, the emotions running through him in that moment complicated and unknowable.

"I uh… Can show you?"
"Perfect, get dressed." She agreed back to happy Motoko as she walked out of his room.

Ichi slumped nearly sliding down the wall.

What the fuck?

 

[Seras]

"I guess it's okay." I mumbled, Ichi had led me outside, into his little backyard. It had actually been a surprise that Ichi lived out in Arroyo, because I had always thought he had rented near the rest of us, but apparently this was his Grandmother's home.

It even had a little garage outback, with dirt cutting through the grass leading through a side gate.

He quickly opened it up, and showed his van.

His van that still had my Minotaur in it.

"Umm… So do you need it for something?"

"Not the Minotaur itself. I'm going to grab the control program, and see what it's made of." I explained as I hefted myself up into the van, noticing the control crown and plopping it on my head.

"Oh, great. So is that new chrome?" He asked suddenly and I threw him a smile as I showed off my neck.

"Sure is! New Neural Link, and Sandy."

"Whoa. Sandevistan? What'd you get?"

"Just a Dynalar. I was going to wait on chipping one until I had the perfect one, but… Jun reminded me I should be looking at the short term as much as the long term."

"That's preem Motoko. What's it like?"

"I don't know!" I laughed at the reveal. "I'm not allowed to turn it on yet, docs orders. Install is still fresh."

"Oh, tell me about it once you use it."

"Why? Thinking about one yourself?"

"Speedware is useful for drivers." He answered in turn before humming. "Do you need me? I got work."

"Just give me one minute, and I'll get out of here." I looked at Ichi who looked relieved. "The SCSM job?" I asked for clarification as I worked.

"Yeah, I kinda like it, I guess. It's simple enough, lets me drive around and I don't get shot at. At least not yet."

"That sounds nice. Make sure you bring your gun though. You never know when you'll need to shoot back."

"Obviously." He agreed and seemed to relax. Ichi had been kinda high strung this morning. I wonder if he just didn't process well in the mornings? Needed a cup of coffee or something first?

While I was talking to him, I was plugged into the control crown for the Minotaur, pulling the data, downloading all of it, into a set of shards I had plugged into my new chip slots.

I was downloading into multiple shards at once a barrage of data flowing into me much faster than my old system could have done. The new neural link was definitely an upgrade even at a base level from what I used to own. It was very very cool.

"Okay all done. Before I leave, what security do you have for the garage?"

"Uh… A lock?" He answered and I nodded, reaching into my back pouches and pulling out a TachiCama.

"Here, let's set it up somewhere it can see your garage, just remember to charge the battery once a week. Set a reminder or something okay?" I offered as I started examining the back porch on his home to find a place to hook it in.

"Uh. Sure. I can do that… Thanks Motoko."

"No problem." I muttered as I found a good hidden place in the rafters where it could see the garage while being mostly hidden. Once its cute little feet were clamped on I turned to Ichi who was still sort of nervously moving from foot to foot.

Okay fine.

I reached out and flicked his forehead suddenly.

"Ow! Motoko!"

"That's for totally stealing my cool Minotaur, that I totally wanted to use myself. Also-" I interrupted myself, walked over and slapped him on the back. "Good job finding something you can do to be extra useful." There. That should solve the problem with his nervousness. Seriously it was like he expected me to attack him for stealing my Minotaur or something.

"Alright I'm out! Have fun at work!" I called out, waving an arm over my head as I headed out.

"Uhh."

—--

I was back home looking over the program for juicy bits when I got a message from Hiromi. Checking it I nodded.

Payday. Enough of the equipment from the gig had been sold off, Hiromi sent out the first quarter… Wait no, there were six of us. The first sixth of the payday.

It was pretty juicy and I nodded pleased before refocusing on my program. I was still using my chrome as little as possible so I was just looking over the programming as I displayed it on my laptop.

But suddenly I had a call come in.

*Ringing.*

Rebecca? Preem! I quickly accepted before the second ring.

*Hey choom.*

*What the fuck?*

*Uh… I don't know?* I asked in turn and had a moment of quiet before Rebecca responded again.

*I just got the pay from your choom for the gig. What the fuck?* She repeated almost breathlessly.

*Oh! Now I get it! Relax,that's not the full payment! Hiromi hasn't sold off everything yet, but she sold enough of the loot to give us part of it.*

*Yeah I know! I read her message, but what the fuck! That's more eddies than I've ever earned before from a gig! By a lot! So what the fuck!?*

*That's just a sixth of what we earned from selling the loot. Why? I don-*

*A sixth… This is a sixth!?*

*Uh yeah? We split the eddies evenly between everyone I told you that remember?*

*I thought you meant it was a split of the percentage!*

The line went quiet for a while and I was almost wondering if she had hung up when a quiet voice that I was pretty sure I wasn't supposed to catch spoke.

*These kids are fucking nuts.* Then she spoke up clearly again. *Okay seriously, is this like a first time bonus or something? How do you do anything?*

*No? We always just split the eddies evenly. I thought it was a good idea. That way everyone knows the more we make the more they make. I mean the gigs we do, everyone has some danger, so it's hazard pay.*

*Hazard pay… That's hilarious choom.* She said and then actually broke into cackles. *Okay okay, seriously though. How do you pay for anything!? Ripper costs? Tech prep. Ammo?*

*Well Ammo we just buy for ourselves? Ripper costs haven't really come up, but we have a great ripper in Vik and he takes care of us… Tech I just buy that myself. It's one of the things I take care of in the team.*

*Bribes for information? I mean, I want to ask about a bunch of other stuff too, but hell you guys seriously just split the fucking loot… That's fucking crazy.*

*Um… I usually do the information myself, so it's free other than time.*

*Netrunner… That's right. Fuck.. Wait. Sasha never does that for us! That bitch!* Rebecca cursed a bit and I actually laughed at her foul language. *Fuck you're weird. Fucking hell. Alright fine. When is the next gig? Eddies like this are pretty nova.*

*No idea. One of the downsides to the way we operate, we have to hunt our targets ourselves. I mean, sure I could probably talk to Wakako… Maybe Rogue too? I'm not sure what the Rogue situation is yet, she said she might offer me gigs, but we haven't talked since… Anyway! We find our targets and clear them out. So it can be a little bit. One of the reasons the pay is so good.*

* No Fixer pay? Well fuck… But a good fuck. Even if it's not all the time, a payday like that ain't something I regret. Damn choom. Just damn.*

*We still need to get your armor sorted out as well.* I reminded her, and she went quiet again.

*You really are a good kid huh? Heart of gold and all that.*

*No I'm not! I'm a badass merc that kills people for money!*

*And worries about her allies acting like a mother hen! It's cute as shit. You're a funny one Motoko… Hey listen, change of topic a bit. You doing anything right now?*

*No! What's up? Want to hang out choom?*

*Something like that. I got a call from my brother. I've been kept away from their safehouse until now, but things are cooling off, and my bro wants me to bring some shit. So you want to come see Sasha? I know you were worried about her.*

*Yeah! Yeah I really do! Is that… Is that okay? Will Maine even allow that?*

*I'll message him, it'll be fine. I vouch for you. Not like you are going to tell Biotechnica where she's hiding out. Meet up at my place? A ride would save some time.*

I paused for a second before cracking into a smile.

*Is the main reason you are asking me to come with, because you don't want to haul whatever your brother asked you to bring on the N-Cart?*

*I don't know what you are talking about.* She said airly.

Yep, that was 100% it.

I laughed at her making sure it went over the agent. *Sure choom, send me the address?*

*Already done.*

I nodded, it was indeed. And I rose up and stretched. Time to check on Sasha.

—--

"Whoa choom. New chrome?"

"Yeah I picked up a Sandy, but I needed an upgrade to my Neural link." I confirmed as Rebecca flopped into my passenger seat a large duffel bag full of stuff plopped onto her lap.

"Head towards Arroyo, I'll guide you there. They don't want any digital info on where it is." She said suddenly and I nodded as I set off. "That's preem. You doing okay?"

"Yeah, Vik is amazing, and I'm not allowed to use the Sandy or anything yet. It's still settling in."

"Heh, you're so funny. You got this bad ass killer vibe one second, and the next you're all rule abiding the next. I can't quite pin you down."

"A lot of rules are there to keep everyone safe." I said pointedly looking at her complete lack of seatbelt.

"Pfft. Who needs a seatbelt? Those things just-Whoa!" I of course was speeding up unnoticed, and when she refused I just slammed the brakes.

"That's not funny." She told me, looking up from the passenger footwell glaring up at me.

I just smiled.

"I beg to differ."

"I'm not putting on the seatbelt."

"I'm not promising you won't go flying a few more times through the ride." I retorted back instantly, and she glared, and to my pleasure regained her seat and put on her seatbelt.

I didn't tease her any further as she was sending me glares, instead I threw on the radio and just settled in to drive all the way from Watson down to Arroyo.

"Get off at MLK… We're going into Rancho Coronado." She added as we hit Arroyo and I nodded. I knew the place. The pink flamingos were something that was hard for me to forget. Delemains offshoot that hated them as it drove around the suburbs had made me laugh while playing the game.

Maybe I'd run one over in memory of that fragment.

I pulled off at MLK Blvd and down into the suburbs. Going around a bit, following Rebecca's 'directions' that got us lost twice, as we tried to figure out where the address was, before finally finding it.

A house that looked like any of the houses in the area. There was a whole bunch of trash built up around the edges of the fence, hiding what was inside, and as we pulled in, I noticed that despite being a run down sort of place, it did have a few much newer looking security cameras hidden in places.

"This is it?" Rebecca whispered, looking a little confused, but I think I understood.

"This is the address right?" I said as I turned off the engine and stepped out, but before I got far A familiar face poked out through the front door and then relaxed, opening the door the rest of the way, showing Dorio was holding an Overture.

"There you are Becca, and I see you brought a choom." Dorio greeted, as Rebecca walked up with her arms behind her head.

"Yep, I needed a ride, plus I figured Sasha wouldn't mind a distraction." She offered and Dorio just sighed before letting us in. Shutting and then locking the door behind us.

"Hey, listen kid. This isn't some place we want shared around. So-"

"It's a safehouse, where Sasha is lying low after the Biotechnica gig. Don't worry. I won't tell anyone." I assured the larger woman who blinked at me in concern before looking to Rebecca.

"Don't look at me, I didn't tell her!" Rebecca denied, but I just ignored that because stepping up out of the basement was the girl in question.

Sasha had looked better.

Instantly I could tell what had happened. One of her arms, the left one from the middle of her bicep down was all chrome now. New chrome.

New enough she hadn't even gotten Real Skinn, with red irritated skin surrounding where the chrome met flesh.

"Hey Sasha." I greeted gently, and I watched as the woman actually jumped a little in surprise. She obviously hadn't noticed there were visitors.

She looked at me with wide surprised eyes for a moment before noticing Rebecca, and then she blinked and she smirked.

"Hey Kitten. How's my little Kohai doing?" She called out, faking a much happier attitude than she had a moment before.

"Good." I said instead of what I wanted to say which was 'Better than you.'

"Becca." Maine rumbled echoing through the house from the living room. Maine was sitting on a couch making it look more like a single person reclined. "Why did you bring the kid?"
"What was I supposed to walk here?" Rebecca asked and then scoffed. "Besides, Motoko is Sasha's choom. She was even worried sick when I told her that Sasha was hiding out."

"This isn't a place where I rolled out the fucking welcome mat." Maine rumbled and sensing some issue I decided to step in.

"Hey, I know me showing up wasn't on the books. Sorry about that. Honest, this is your safe house so the more people that know about it the less safe it actually is. I totally get the frustration. But I mean… Isn't it less conspicuous if I drive Becca here, instead of making her walk?"

Maine looked to me, and the man who was easily four of me in size didn't look like he agreed.

"Easy Mainey! We needed to bring in Rebecca to get some stuff, and Motoko only makes that easier yeah?" Sasha intervened, and the big man held his glare for a few moments before sighing.

"Just don't tell anyone." He demanded finger pointing at me.

"I won't. Promise." I added which didn't seem to add much to Maine's confidence.

"There you are! Did you bring it?" Pilar demanded coming down from the upstairs practically leaping down the stairs as he charged at Rebecca.

"Ugh get off me you fucking gonk." She snapped, but did reach over to the duffel bag and slide open the zipper, letting Pilar laugh insanely as he reached in and came out holding a toolkit.

"My babies!" He cried out and then disappeared back up the stairs, and Rebecca just rolled her eyes at his actions.

I kept my mouth shut despite my desire to yell at Pilar for being so rude. If Jun treated me like that I would have kicked his ass.

Pilar hadn't said anything to Rebecca after getting his tools.

But I shook it off and instead looked to Sasha. "How're you holding up?"

"What? I'm fine!" She denied, but I mean that was obviously a lie. But then she perked up and sent me a smile. "But I've been super duper bored! So hey! Distraction!" She called out as she grabbed my arm and started tugging me along, her new arm was weaker than her old one only gently pulling as I let her lead me away.

"Ah, Sasha! Hey Rebecca-"

"Don't worry choom. I knew Whiskers would do this. I'll catch up, wanna talk to Maine." Rebecca responded, throwing the duffel bag onto the kitchen table clearing off tons of empty food boxes.

"Yeah! C'mon!" Sasha demanded and I followed letting her pull me downstairs into a small barely there netrunner setup.

"You've been out on the net?"

"Only a little!" She said and I frowned, because if I had Biotechnica after me, I wouldn't be going anywhere near the net.

"Oh don't worry." She answered as if reading my mind. "I've already reached out to an old contact at Biotechnica. The company barely cares about what I did. They sent out a kill team, and if they find me, they'll kill me, but they aren't looking real hard. Give it a month, and that order will be removed from their system after a small 'update' goes through." She said with a shrug, and I was reminded that despite Sasha's personality this was a woman that was an elite netrunner.

"Will they really just let it go?"

"They will." She said her voice going from sugary sweet to dark and angry. "They barely even noticed… Biotechnica stock didn't even dip." She said and I frowned at that. I did remember that the Securicine reveal hadn't done much damage to the company, but nothing?

"Nothing?"

"Barely anything. They made a public apology, and fired one of the managers in charge, for damage control but… It's Biotechnica. They are untouchable as long as they're producing food, medicine, and Chooh2." She said as she flopped into a chair in front of a laptop and taped fingers to an almost manic anxious beat.

Food, Medicine, and Fuel. Biotechnica were the creators of Chooh2, as long as the world relied on it for fuel…

Yeah I guess I can figure out what happened. Everyone in the know, just ignored the securicine update, no government wanted to make waves. It was like the middle east and oil. The money just kept flowing in, and no matter what nonsense they got up to, as long as it kept going, they were untouchable.

"That stinks."

"It's bullshit." She agreed darkly and then she turned and her face turned into a smirk. "So little Kohai! Want to keep your Senpai Sasha-chan company?"

"Um… Sure?"

 

[Seras]

"Nova! Absolutely qualitatively nova! I've been sooooo bored." Sasha whined at me, with a laugh throwing her arm over my shoulders only to wince. It was her chrome arm she had used, and there were obviously some issues with it.

"Still getting used to it?"

"It's nothing. I'm fine." She said a little too fast as she slipped her arm away from my shoulder and instead pulled a shower curtain away from what I was definitely not expecting to see.

"An Ice Bath?"

"Yeah! I'm gonna jump on the net obviously. Want to join me?" Sasha asked, her eyebrows moving in a waggling wave.

"I mean, I could go to my netrunner den I guess. I don't use a Ice bath. I have a chair." I said as I walked over and crouched down by the bathtub. It was already full of half melted ice cubes, I could tell it would be absolutely freezing.

I really didn't like the idea of using this method.

"You have a netrunning chair?" Sasha asked surprised and I nodded.

"Yeah I had a gig from Wakako to kill this guy. He was a runner, good too. Had a bunch of equipment, since I flatlined him, I took it for myself. Big server, Chair, everything I needed."

"You have a server!? How big!" I shrugged and sent her the details on the server set up and I looked up to see her choking on nothing.

"N-Not fair! Sasha doesn't have a server! How does her Kohai have one!" She whined childishly which had me laugh at her.

"You really don't have a server? Why not?"

"Eh. I'm not a data runner. The only data I grab is for a gig, or to immediately trade out." She answered calmly, the childish act disappearing. Then as suddenly as her calm answer appeared it disappeared. "Waaa! Maine! My Kohai is bullying me!" She whined loudly towards the stairs and then ran up the wooden steps.

"What?"

Then I blinked realizing I could hear her faux crying up the stairs that she had taken two at a time. I hurried after her, mostly because I was so confused.

Is this what it was like dealing with me, when I was being a little shit? No. Everyone liked when I was a shit.

Except Jun of course, but he doesn't count.

I made it up the stairs and blinked as Sasha was sitting on the couch besides Maine looking up at him with big crocodile tears in her eyes.

"-Need a server! I can't be bullied by my cute little Kohai! Just a little one is okay!" She begged and Maine took a sip from his beer.

"Maybe when you're older." Maine offered cooly. The look of outrage on Sasha's face at the absolute burn from Maine had Rebecca start cackling and Dorio's chest started heaving as well.

"Maine!" She eventually squawked out in outrage, slapping the larger man's chromed out arm, but that did less than nothing.

"Don't get upset when someone teases you back." He retorted and she huffed crossing her arms, but her chrome one didn't move as easily, and she sort of flubbed the whole thing. Looking down at her arm. A change went over her face.

I don't think Sasha was handling her loss that well.

"Next time I have to flatline a netrunner, I'll keep an eye out for another server for you?" I offered and my words startled everyone in the room but Rebecca who just looked thoughtful and then nodded.

"I gotta admit, Kitten, klepping everything after wiping a place, even the stuff bolted down, certainly made for a nice payday." Rebecca agreed and I nodded, throwing her a thumbs up.

"It's not klepping Becca! Once you kill them it's looting!"

She looked at me, I looked at her, and we both broke into cackles of laughter.

"'M I missing something here?" Maine asked, and Becca nodded.

"Yeah. While you guys have been out of touch. Kitten here called me up and asked if I wanted to join in on a gig. Let me tell you Maine. The payday took a few days, but when it came in? Way more than I ever made working under you. Maybe I'll find myself a new crew." Rebecca said but her tone showed she was teasing.

Even so Maine and Dorio both looked shocked while Sasha was just curious.

"You took a gig?" Dorio managed to ask first and Rebecca nodded.

"Wiping Scavs. Honestly the way Kitten here ran the gig it was… Pretty smooth. I still want a chance to play with that Minotaur." She said, turning to me.

All I could do was huff. "So do I. Ichi basically stole it! I'm the one that had to fight it while some Raffen gonk was using it while trying not to damage it cause… I mean it's awesome."

"Wait wait. A Militech Minotaur?" Maine asked, his sun glasses instantly sliding down his nose to lock eyes on first Rebecca and then me.

"Yeah. The gig that got me into the Afterlife? They shot down an Arasaka AV and captured a bunch of stuff, including an Arasaka brand Minotaur. It's mine now… When my choom isn't stealing it out from under me."

"It was nova to have on that gig though. When you jumped on the back of it for mobile cover? Fuck it was preem. Made me jealous that I didn't think of it." Rebecca offered and I smiled because it had been fuckin cool.

"You just… Used a Minotaur against Scavs?" Maine asked, sounding a bit shell shocked.

"It was a big base. They were a major group. Selling XBD's of the people they murdered out on the market. Lots of eddies involved." I answered. "It was pretty effective in drawing attention, letting us wipe them out while they pissed themselves at the mech."

"And Becca you went on this gig?"

"Yep! Actually was one of the four solo's. Right up front.. Well second line. The Kittens brother is the Oni. You know the Tyger Claw one with the rep."

"Kamikaze or something right?" Dorio asked, looking worried. Between Rebecca and me. "It was okay?"

"Jun isn't a cyberpsycho." I butt in quickly. "He had some problems, he uh… Lost someone important to him and went a bit wild, but he's actually stabilizing really well."

Becca kinda snorted. "He seemed fine outside of the fight, but when shit got wild so did he. I get why they call him the Oni now."

"Yeah Jun is still a moron." I agreed, and Becca just scoffed.

"He's an older brother, are they ever not morons?"

"Nope." I said and we both looked at eachother with shared tooth filled grins.

"Right." Maine muttered seemingly a little lost.

"Well it was nice to be treated as part of the team at least." Rebecca suddenly added, rather directly, and Main stiffened.

"You are part of the team."

"Maine… You don't ever use me as a shooter. I can do it." Rebecca added and Maine and her both stared at each other for a moment before Maine looked away.

"We'll talk about it for the next gig." He offered, and Rebecca didn't look like she was going to accept before shrugging.

"I'll hold you to that."

"Ah! My Kohai is so skilled! She's even got Rebecca on her side!" Sasha interrupted rising up and to my surprise pulled me into a tight hug. Squeezed tightly at least with one arm into her chest. "I'm soooo proud!"

"Wha!"

Then before I could even start struggling I was pushed away.

"We should go on a dive together! I want to see how good you are!" Sasha demanded and I blinked.

She smiled.

I shrugged. "Okay? Sure, sounds fun."

"Yay! You can use the extra Ice bath… Unless you want to join me in mine." Sasha teased me with a big smile, but I scoffed and chuckled before remembering and stilling.

"Ah I can't today. I just got this Neural Link chipped in, and my ripper has me on a few days of rest before I can do anything heavy with it. So… Couple day rain check?" I offered and Sasha looked at me like I was crazy.

"You actually listen to that nonsense?" Maine asked suddenly, his rumbling voice cutting off whatever Sasha was about to say. "If you're tough you can handle it. Never seen someone actually listen to that garbage."

I instantly frowned. Deeply.

I turned from Sasha and marched right up to Maine. Maine that even if he was sitting on a couch was still nearly twice my height.

"Taking care of your health isn't weak! And ignoring doctors' experience with medical matters doesn't make you tough, it makes you dumb! I chipped in a new Neural Link, and a Sandy and was told to give it a few days to make sure it settles into my nerve endings. Of course I'm going to wait. Otherwise I could burn out or injure myself, making myself weaker over time!" I snapped at him practically poking him.

Maine didn't appreciate that though, and reached out, pushing my finger off him, which I let him do without complaint.

"Careful kid, don't go poking me like that." Maine rumbled out, but I had made my point and turned away from him.

"Hey Becca, I think I'm gonna head out. Sasha. Call me in a few days and we can do that net dive okay?"

"Sure Kitten." Sasha offered and Rebecca nodded, but didn't say anything, as my leaving was watched over by a silent grumpy Maine.

I don't think I liked Maine very much,

—--

I got home and flopped onto the couch. Jun wasn't around so I had the place to myself. I didn't really feel like doing much just yet. My neck had a weird tenseness that made me feel like I wanted to crack it, but couldn't. The larger Neural link didn't diminish my range of movement, but it did make me feel all stiff.

So I did what I always did when I felt a little annoyed.

I grabbed my guitar. I had to go easy with my Neural Link so direct programming with my cyberdeck was out, but I could still work on a new song.

I lay there on my back tapping on my guitar as I ran through all the songs I knew, which one did I want to play right now?

Strumming a few notes here and there as I considered, before I could even figure it out, the door opened, and I sat up to see. Jun and… Alice. Rockerboy girl herself.

They walked in, although it was obvious to me that it hadn't been planned. Jun was looking a little awkward as Alice followed along behind him.

"Hey Jun. Alice."

"Hey kid! You like music, tell your brother he should take my advice! I'm inviting him to a recording session! He gets to hear professionals at work!" Alice called out to me, and Jun sent me a look.

Ah, that's right.

Jun's taste in music was trash. He probably hated Alice's sound.

"Jun! I'm disappointed in you!" I called out, as I rose up, smirk already stretching across my face. "You love music!"

Jun's pleading look turned into a promise to murder me after this, but that was fine.

"See! You love music!" Alice agreed, uncaring about the truth. "Come with! You'll get to meet some famous Rockerboys and enjoy some music! As my plus one of course." She offered and Jun continued to prove he was the densest person in any room he entered.

"I wouldn't want to intrude, if you are doing music stuff, I'm not good with that sort of thing. But if you want someone that will be good with the music, you should take Motoko! She's amazing with that stuff." He offered, and I could literally see the look of frustration on her face as he continued to not notice she was into him.

"Oh no I couldn't Jun. Alice is your choom." I replied doing at least a little to keep Alice from just dying on the spot at my brother's inability to notice interest in him.

"I see." He said and Alice's face brightened up in delight as he seemed like he was finally understanding.

He didn't of course. I would have told her that, but Jun did it himself before I got a chance.

"Why don't we all go then? Motoko likes music, it'll be a good chance for her to meet some other musicians. Maybe get someone to 'jam out' with you?" He said, looking at me.

Jun. Brother of mine with the mental density of a black hole. I don't want to 'Jam out' with people, and the way you said it was super cringe.

Alice had a similar look on her face, the full body cringe was there.

But Jun's charisma was stronk. Before the disgust could kill her ardor he turned to Alice, and smiled.

Damn Jun. Throwing deadly smiles like that around, you were going to melt hearts… Along with something else.

Not that Jun was attractive or anything. He was ugly, and fat, and he ate XXL Burritos.

"How about it? Wouldn't that be more fun?" He asked, smiling at Alice and she broke.

"S-sure? Sounds fine I mean. Yeah. I can uh… Get her a pass in too?"

"I didn't even say I wanted to go?" I offered but Jun just threw another look at me.

"You've been practicing your music stuff so much, but you never do anything with it! This is a chance to meet other musicians, and maybe you'll like the idea of joining a band." Jun offered and I realized what was going through his mind.

"Jun, you gonk, even if I join a band, which I'm totally not. I'd still do merc work."
"Maybe." he said with a shrug.

I rolled my eyes and rose up. "Alright, fine. I'll go." Only because I knew if I refused he wouldn't want to go, and I felt some distance sympathy for Alice right now.

Which is how I ended up sitting in the back seat of Alice's run down Mahir Supron. Practically riding on top of her band equipment.

"This is an interesting ride." I commented as we went over a bump, my head nearly slamming into the roof.

"It's cheap, and I spend most of my money on music stuff." She answered back a little hotly. "It runs on hopes and dreams, and carries my shit."

"It's fine." Jun tempered her. "It wasn't until recently that either of us had a car. We just used our bikes for the longest time."

"You'll have to give me a ride sometime." She shot back flirtatiously. "Uncle always threw a fit when I said I might get one."

"Uh… Sure? They aren't the best bikes to start on, but I can-"
I rolled my eyes as I zoned out Jun's misunderstanding. He thought she wanted a lesson on driving a Kusanagi, instead of just wanting to ride one…

Heh. A very specific Kusanagi in fact.

—--

Alice drove us down into City Center, and then into a small strip mall, but instead of going into a shop she walked down an alley and towards a side door, up a small set of concrete steps.

"Don't tell people about this place." Alice suddenly said. "A lot of big names come here, so they don't want fans and stuff to know about it." Then she opened the door and I relaxed.

It really was a music studio. We just used a back door for some reason. White hallways dotted with doors. Small pieces of the door were glass letting me see inside to small studio rooms full of sound equipment. I could just make out the small performance rooms as well. No sound escaped them though as everything seemed to be soundproofed.

We walked pretty deep into the building, passing by door after door, that inside I could just see through the small window on each door were often occupied.

I guess music was big business in Night City.

No one I recognized was inside though, but then I could only really see the editing room and not the performance box.

Then Alice waved at a man that I did sorta recognize. I'm pretty sure he was one of Alice's bandmates? I vaguely remembered him from the gig I watched.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." She called and the man looked over at Jun and I with a quirked eyebrow.

"Don't even. This is Jun, The Oni." She said proudly at Jun's nickname, which even Jun looked a little embarrassed at being called out like that.

"Riiiight." The guy shot back. "Who's the kid?"

"The kid is… Actually pretty good. Jun's sister." And I realized that Alice probably forgot my name.

"I'm Motoko. Don't mind me. I'm mostly here because my brother thinks I need to get into music to escape my life of crime."

The man blinked and then laughed a bit at my joke.

"Funny. Too many late night joy rides in klepped cars?"

"Nah. I have my own car. Mostly it's the shootouts." I answered truthfully and then looked at the door. "So what's going on exactly?" The guy looked a little off but shrugged it away after a moment.

"A friend of ours got a big gig, making a song for a Ni-Cola advert. He wanted us as his band. So we get to set up here." He explained with a curious look to Alice. "You brought them without explaining?"

"It sorta went that way." She shrugged completely unashamed at the situation. She wanted to hang out with Jun after all. The way she entwined her arm with Jun's said a lot.

So did Jun's very confused look towards his arm wondering what was going on.

"Well alright. C'mon, Tessa is already in the booth." He offered and opened the door. Inside was a small studio, a few chairs and a ton of equipment. And beyond that the small room that was soundproofed where a man was seemingly already working.

I didn't recognize him. Or anyone else in the room.

But that was fine. It was kinda just interesting to see a real studio like this.

"Ah, there you are!" A heavyset man in an ill fitting suit and enough gold chains on his neck to hang himself with pointed a set of pudgy fingers at Alice. "Kept us waiting."

"I'm on time. You just wanted me here early. Violent Hemorrhage is here to perform."

"Well get to it. No, hold on. This is a good line." He ordered and turned back to the equipment. A headset half off put back on, as he hit a few buttons.

There was a man, the sort of guy that looked like a titular Rockerboy fancy clothes, and styled hair, and probably a grand or more on accessories, and even more on fancy chrome. His styled hair buzzed with electricity as he sang.

But I couldn't hear him so I just shrugged. Alice pulled Jun inside, and we were put into a corner, as Alice was prepping to enter the booth, but at least she gave us a pair of headsets so we could listen.

I put it on, and instantly frowned. Electro-hair was doing the same shit that Alice did. It was all the chrome's work. His voice was shit.

Sure, it sounded okay, but if you knew what you were listening for you could hear him missing notes or just slurring the song a bit too much.

Bad auto-tune. That's what it reminded me of. The fatty producer didn't seem to mind, and I could tell Jun didn't seem to notice bobbing his head a bit to the song. Then they cut, and Alice and her bandmate entered, quickly grabbing some instruments already set up, and this time they played together with the singer. Checking harmony and timing from what I was hearing the producer guy, and another guy on the equipment mutter to each other.

Honestly it was kinda interesting I guess. Similar to what I do, but I don't need some weird guy to do it for me.

I sighed. That was just because of the system. So I shouldn't bad mouth people just trying to do their thing. I shook off the sense of arrogance and instead listened. What would I do to improve the song?

I'm actually not sure. Rockerboy gives me a lot of information to work with, but I've never tried to edit a song that had bad singing before.

So instead I focused on what the producer? I'm not sure what his actual job was, but I watched him work.

It was interesting, and made me want to play with it too. But I kept out. No way he would want some teenager messing with his equipment while he was putting together a song.

I wouldn't want someone interfering in my work. So I stayed back, Jun and I listened for a good thirty minutes as they ran through the song multiple times before they took a break.

 

[Seras]

When they finally took a break, Alice came out of the sound stage and nearly bounced her way over to Jun.

She was sweating a bit, but looked amped up, energized and excited.

Oh my. Jun brother of mine, you might finally understand that Alice is interested in you tonight if you aren't careful.

"How does it sound Simon?"

"Sounds smooth Carmen my boy. I'll send this copy down Ni-Cola and see what they think ya?" The producer offered up pulling out a shard and throwing a heavy arm over the Rockerboy who looked excited.

"Great! Let me know what they say, we can definitely make some changes, and-"

"Hey hey no worries kid. You let me handle that." He waved off and then the two left along with most of Alice's band.

"Hey Jun! What do you think huh? I mean it was kinda cheesy stuff, but our music might be all over the city next week." Alice offered with a chirp in her voice.

"It was nova. I liked it." Jun agreed, and Alice beamed, even if she didn't realize that Jun's bad taste in music meant he wasn't saying she did good, but that he did actually like the commercial music.

I cringed down to my toes at the idea. But Jun's taste in music was well known to me.

"Thanks, hey, listen, everyone is going to be going back and forth over and over. There's a bar upstairs we can use. So why don't we go relax for a little." She gestured for us to follow and we headed out, back down the white hall.

Alice had Jun's arm in her grip as she tugged him along.

For once Jun just seemed happy to go along with it, obviously picking up how happy she was at that moment.

We went up an elevator and came out in a large bar. The cozy atmosphere was actually pretty nice. Much more classy than some of the places I had been dragged into.

High end too. With the entire wall having open windows, and a stage up in a corner, although it was empty for now.

But the bar wasn't. Lots of Rockerboys hung around, some drinking, some chatting, some drugging. I ignored them all, instead splitting off from Jun and hitting the bar, sliding into a stool.

"Something for you?"

"Just a soda is fine." I answered and I got a funny look from the bartender, a very pretty woman that was a bit obsessed with silver chrome, but I got my drink and that was good enough for me.

I noticed Alice looking at me from a booth with Jun and the rest of her crew and threw her a wink.

There. That's all I will do to help you with Jun. Don't say I never did anything for you.

She nodded in turn and then focused on Jun smiling.

"Not a regular are you?" The Bartender asked, and I noticed I was the only one still at the bar itself.

"Nope. Following my gonk of a brother and the Rockerboy girl that's into him, not that he noticed. Bit dense. Place is kinda cool though. Wouldn't mind using a sound stage like that sometime."

"Hey. Well the prices are crazy, but you get some perks. There's an instrument room downstairs you can use."

"Instrument room?" I asked suddenly, because that sounded more fun than just sitting at a bar.

"Yeah, they got everything. Rental comes with the membership."

"Hmm." I mumbled. I wasn't about to pay a membership, but if this place ran that sort of stuff off a computer…

I got up. "Thanks." I threw her a few dozen eddies and wandered back downstairs. I should be able to track down the instrument room without too much issue.

—--

I walked into the instrument room. The computer beeped confirming my access. I smirked at the noise.

Finding the control room, and breaching in from inside was easy peasy. The place did have some pretty solid ICE, if I was attacking from outside the building I might have been troubled by it.

I felt the back of my neck. No overheating issues, or problems from my Neural Link.

I rolled my neck as best as I could and while it still wasn't comfortable, the actual performance had been fine.

The instrument room lights turned on, and I whistled.

That was a lot of gear. Guitars, drum sets. Common Rockerboy things were there, but that wasn't all.

Piano's, a full brass section, and some other string instruments, were all stored in the room.

I understood why they had such high security for this room. It would be an expensive heist. Luckily I didn't steal things. Only looted. So it was all safe from me.

Instead I was just perusing. Mostly just wasting time as Jun was flirted at. I popped open a case that had a trumpet, and just snorted. It wasn't a normal trumpet, but an electro trumpet.

Something that seemed utterly silly to me, but I did have the instincts on how it worked as I thought about it.

I put it away. I didn't need a trumpet that would do all the work for me. Instead I opened another case, older, much older.

It was worn, and probably needed a good polish, but it was a trumpet all right.

I moved on, checking out different instruments. Trombone, Saxophone, the list went on.

Not that I was all that interested. I didn't have a lot of songs that I had any interest in that used a brass section.

I started humming, an ear worm in my mind as I checked on the Piano, tinkering on the keys and shaking my head. Just an electric Piano pretending to be an antique.

The ear worm was digging at me. Something my brain was trying to remember, but not getting there. Right on the tip of my tongue.

The door opened, and a man I didn't recognize entered carrying a guitar. He didn't notice me, and I took two steps to the side sliding in amongst the racks, and now he never would.

"Get everyone together, and the stuff! Don't leave anything behind this time asshole!" He yelled out as he popped the guitar into the case and then headed out.

The brainwave connected.

"Get everybody and the stuff together… Okay, Three, two, one, Let's jam." I repeated softly the only lyrics from a song I remembered vividly. One that every ounce of my being wanted to recreate.

I loved that song.

Instantly I went to work. I would need a space, and luckily I was in the perfect place to get this done. I walked out of the room, and headed back into the empty control room that quickly opened at my approach. There I simply accessed the system, and checked which of the sound stages would be open.

A small adjustment and the one empty room was now reserved.

Okay, let's blow this scene. I practically giggled as I hurried back to the instrument room and started gathering what I would need. Trumpet, Trombone, Sax, Drums. That took a few trips back and forth. Chello, I had to grab an electric one, but it would do.

Back and forth I hauled everything inside the soundproofed room, and then since I would be doing this solo, I walked over to the equipment in the production room and slipped my personal link in.

Ah good. I wasn't the only Rockerboy that wanted to handle the editing in real time, or by themselves.

I unplugged and headed inside, plugging into the internal connection and then started setting everything up. I hummed the song as I prepped, going through every line, every note.

I started on the chello. No bow, just plucking the strings, I activated the recording, and played the notes perfectly to what I knew they needed to be. I had heard this song before after all.

I knew it. As intimately as I did the palm of my hand, chrome or not.

Drums were next, then trumpet, to really get going. All the while I was using my personal link to manage the song recording in real time. Recording, pausing, cutting all as I played through the song. Copying it all to a single track when I was sure it was right. Some tracks needed multiple copies, trumpets, and the like. It wouldn't sound right without multiple players, so I played just that slightly differently on another track, merging them together into a big band jazz sound.

Over and over I played the song. Getting every track with real instruments, and just blasting out the noise of Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts, remade.

I was doing another play through on the Sax when I caught it out of the corner of my eye.

I stopped.

Someone was in the control room.

I looked on, and they looked at me.

That… Holy shit.

I recognized her.

She looked none too pleased either, and seeing me stop she walked over and opened the door.

"Lot of chrome tits to walk into my Studio klep my personal recording booth, and grab about half my equipment." The woman offered arms crossed.

"You're Denny. From Samurai." I said, because that was honestly all I could say.

She quirked up an eyebrow at me, under her massive afro and then just rolled her eyes.

"Yes. How the hell some teenager recognizes me from Samurai, and not any of my other bands. Sure whatever. Now focus gonk, cause I'm deciding whether to kick your ass out with a boot between the ass cheeks, or call security and let them escort you out the hard way."

"Let's not get your security killed for something this stupid. Sorry, I was just bored, and I did a bit of hacking, noticed this booth wasn't reserved, so I figured no one would mind. Honest, didn't mean to cause any trouble. Figured I would put everything back after and no one would even know."

Denny's eyes scanned me down. Literally, they glowed as she obviously checked me out, and I could see her notice my weapons, armored clothing.

"You're either a psycho little shit, or you aren't a little shit at all."

"Motoko Kusanagi, Mercenary… Ah, well I guess technically I'm an Afterlife merc." That didn't get a visual reaction, but Denny was thinking, and thinking hard.

"Was listening to you play. Weird shit. Then I saw you putting the track together. Finish it. I want to hear. If it's shit, I'm not taking calling security on your gonk ass off the table." She demanded and then to my surprise she walked out of the room, and then I watched as she put on the headset and started messing with some settings. I was still plugged in so I saw what she was doing. A few adjustments, that… Yeah that probably would sound better, on the track.

I nodded and then restarted the Sax track. Adding it into the piece.

—--

"Okay, three, two, one, let's jam." I spoke into the mic, making my voice as husky as I could, I checked the vocals and nodded. Sounded good. Different from the original but good.

I was finished. I took a moment to play the completed song, letting the sound of Tank flow through my agent into my ears.

It sounded good, not perfect. It lost something with only one instrument for the brass section, even repeated over and over, but it was tank. Unmistakably so.

*100 Rockerboy XP Gained.*

*Rockerboy skill level up!*

Slowly I let out a breath as I checked my system. I did it! Another level! Level 9. There wasn't much left of Rockerboy for me to learn. I let the information flow into me. More and more on how to play to bring the best sound out. How to maximize my charisma on the stage. I shook it off.

I looked up. Denny had been listening to it as well. She had done some work on the song as I worked, adjusting a few things to make the different repeats of the brace sound slightly different, understanding what I had intended.

I slipped my personal link from the connection port in the room and then walked out. Denny was still listening, a head set slid into her afro. Then finally the song ended and she took it off her head.

"You got some real soul kid." She offered and I just shrugged. Hard to explain that jazz wasn't my usual preference, but everyone loved Tank.

"Sorry again, about the whole taking your space thing."

"Clean it up." She demanded suddenly. "Put everything away, clean it up, and maybe I'll forgive you."

"Sure." I answered back without really minding. I had pulled the instruments, of course I should put them back.

"Afterlife merc huh? You play with Violent Hemorrhage?"

"Oh, no. Alice, the lead singer, is our neighbor. She likes my brother. Jun wants to get me out of merc work, so he tries to drag me into Rockerboy stuff. It's my hobby. Playing music." I shrugged.

"Right." She offered, obviously not that interested in my life. "Well damn. I was expecting this to be another shitty teenager thing but this isn't bad. It sounds old. Sort of jazz I'd have heard a century ago."

"Yeah well… I just had it stuck in my head."

"Had to get it out?" She asked back and I nodded.

"More like I had a chance to get it out, I only have a guitar and some equipment, hard to do brass with that."

"Yeah electronic brass never sounds right. Especially for Jazz." She agreed, but her foot was tapping and she was looking distracted. "Alright. Clean up, and don't let me catch you in here again. You want to use the equipment? Then sign up."

"Right. Sure." I answered but it looked like she wasn't completely ready for the conversation to end. Her finger tapped on the equipment as she watched me.

"What's that song called?"

"Tank." I answered back instantly without really thinking.

Then I hurried to clean everything up. Hurrying back in and packing up a few instruments, and walking out, past Denny who was fiddling with the equipment, ignoring me as I entered the white hallway, which wasn't empty.

"Hey Jun." I said as I walked behind him to the instrument room.

"Motoko! There you are! Where've you been?"

"Mostly getting in trouble!" I called back and entered the equipment room and settled the cases into place before hurrying back.

"Motoko, what did you do?"

"Broke into a room that belonged to the owner. She wasn't happy, but she let me finish the song I was making." I said as I hurried past, but he followed, and so Alice did as well.

I entered, and Denny was now inside the booth, tapping away at the drums.

Weird. I looked at the track and realized she was playing to Tank!

I jerked and hurried inside, not really caring about the sound proofing.

Inside Denny was in the groove. Slamming the drum beats, while my rendition of Tank played through the speakers above.

"What is that?" Alice asked, having come up behind Jun to see what was going on, but I just ignored her.

Denny was jamming out…

Fuck it.

I walked over to the Sax that was still out, and threw it on, and plugged into the system. Pausing the sax track so that when it came up.

I just played it myself.

Denny wasn't playing the exact track instead jamming out, and I did the same. Entwining the sounds with her drums. We jammed out, ignoring anything else for a few minutes until the song ended.

"Not bad kid." Denny agreed and then looked over Jun and Alice with a frown.

Jun only had eyes for me, smiling proudly, but Alice was looking at Denny in awe.

"Denny." She uttered in shock at seeing the woman step away from her drum set.

"Random gonks that all wandered into my private space. Jeeze what kind of night is this where every street kid has the chromed out balls to just move about as they please?" The woman scoffed out looking at me. "How much?"

"Hmm?" I asked as I was breaking down the sax, pulling out the mouthpiece, and the reed.

"For the song kid. How much?"

I stilled because that was a random and very uncomfortable question.

"What?"

"Wait, that song? Is that something you wrote Motoko?" Jun interrupted, definitely not knowing who he was in the same room as. Jun didn't like Samurai to start with.

"Yeah, I uh. Snuck in here and started it, but this is Denny's private booth. Which makes sense in hindsight, being the only room without a reservation…" Really smart there Motoko.

"Yeah yeah, explain after. How much for the rights to the song. I like it. Not really modern, but because it isn't I think that's why I want it."

I opened my mouth to give some blaze answer. How was I supposed to know how much a song could be worth? But then in my head, an image of Hiromi popped up. Black chrome gleaming as she frowned at me.

"Don't make any decisions about money Motoko! You are terrible with money! Let me do it instead!"

Right. Mind Hiromi was probably right…

"I'll have to ask my manager?" I questioned, not at all convincingly.

"You have a manager?" Denny asked, emphasizing her disbelief.

"I have a manager… Probably." I answered back, only muttering the last part.

She snorted and flicked me a number. "Have your manager call my firm. Mention the song name, and they won't just hang up on you. Now really… Clean up and get out of my booth!" Denny demanded and everyone except Jun jumped. He just looked like Christmas came early.

"Right, let's go… Don't want to ruin your vibe or anything." Alice spoke, trying to sound casual, but it was obvious she was a bit star struck. "Come on Jun, we don't want to bother Denny!" She demanded but could barely tear her eyes away from the woman to grab Jun's arm to pull at him.

Jun didn't budge an inch instead looking at me.

We did the sibling communication thing, I just threw him a small smile.

"I'll finish cleaning up." I offered and Denny nodded as if that was obvious.

Jun nodded and let Alice pull him out, and I got to work, packing up the instruments and moving them back. Denny didn't stick around, instead leaving back out the door.

Ten minutes later everything was put away, I wandered over to find Jun. The moment I opened the recording room Alice was on me.

"What the hell was that? You know Denny?"

"We just met tonight." I answered, and frowned as she was tugging on my jacket.

"What the fuck! Denny talked to you! Wanted to buy your song? What song!?"

"Tank."

"What the fuck." She exhaled and shook herself. "I want to hear that song again. Pop it in." She demanded pointing at the recording booth.

I didn't move.

I kinda, sorta, maybe a little liked Alice. She was doing the musician thing, and while she was bitchy she had the charisma it came off more amusing than anything.

But I didn't just play music on command, and certainly not when ordered.

"Motoko?" Jun interrupted as the moment between Alice and I stretched and she realized I wasn't going to do what she wanted.

"Jun?"

"Can we hear your new song? I only heard a bit there."

I scoffed at Jun's obvious attempt to settle things, but I also couldn't just deny Jun like that.

I pulled a shard out of my neck and stuck it into the recording booth system, and set it to play. The speakers in the booth came alive. Instantly with the sound of horns, and then a thrumming chello.

Alice jerked at the instant noise and then settled in to listen. Looking to me at the vocals, but then just listening foot tapping at the beat.

"That's certainly different." She said finally as the song ended, but Jun just threw an arm over my shoulder in a side hug.

"Awesome job Motoko."

"It's nothing." I mumbled, a little embarrassed that everyone had heard it. I hadn't wanted anyone to hear it! I shook it off. "I'm going to head home Jun."

"Hmm. I guess it is getting late. Let's go home." He agreed, and I could see Alice twitch at his words, but he then did something that surprised me. He turned to Alice and threw her a smile. "Thanks Alice, this was interesting."

"Ah… Yeah sure! Anytime!" She agreed, and Jun and I headed out.

What a weird night.

 

[Seras]

I woke up and slowly stretched out. I had decided to sleep after we got home last night, and now I was ready to start the day.

More importantly, I was ready to test out my new chrome!

Viks time limit was over.

I stood up and felt for the mental toggle for the Sandy.

I flipped it on, and winced as I felt my body react.

Nerves lit up on fire, adrenaline spiked. Biological, and mechanical responses activated and suddenly everything was slow.

I moved, running towards my bedroom wall, but it felt like I was moving through molasses.

Yet, I was still moving fast. Even faster than I could have before my movement felt slow, and I knew that this Sandy wasn't as good at letting me cut through the sense of slowed down time.

I nearly reached the wall and made to stop, only for my feet to slide a bit on the floor.

I blinked stars out of my eyes.

"What the hell was that!?" Jun demanded as he burst into my room.

Had I? I blinked again. Yep. I had slammed into the wall so hard I knocked myself silly.

"I'm okay!" I called out arm up in the air from where I was laying on my back.

"You don't look okay. Your nose is bleeding. Motoko, what the hell?"

"I uh, miscalculated my Sandy." I mentioned, and instantly Jun's worry vanished.

"Gonk! Don't practice new chrome in the house! Look at the wall!"

I didn't want to look at the wall, thank you Jun. If I can't see the hole in the wall where my head smashed into it, it doesn't exist!

Jun looked down on me for a moment longer before sighing, and disappearing. I slowly rose up, and noticed my nose was bleeding. Groaning in annoyance, I was gonna go find something to clean it up but Jun walked in with a towel and a moment later he was gently holding my head and pressing the towel against my nose.

"Ow."

"I know it hurts, you might have broken your nose."

"I don't think so." I muttered, it didn't hurt like I broke it.

"Well that's good." He said and then glared at me. "This was dumb."

"Sorry."

He nodded at my apology, and that was that.

—--

I huffed a Maxdox after Jun stopped fussing and I was fully healed. But I had learned my lesson.

Sandy are difficult to use.

I considered dropping my one stat point into it, but my neck was also still super stiff, and I was tempted to drop a point into that for comfort.

So instead I didn't do either. I got dressed for the day and left the apartment before Jun could notice my sudden healing.

I walked the streets for a bit. Heading down towards Jig Jig street. While I walked. I did some testing.

I activated the Sandy and just tried walking. I could feel the hitch in my step as everything grew slow and my steps had to be forced to keep pumping through the thick air.

I turned it off, and the feeling left my heart beating and a warmth in my neck.

I walked on. Just cataloging the feelings the Sandy left in its wake. I shivered a bit as the heat from its activation didn't really go away. A hand pressed onto the chrome on the back of my neck, right where the chip for the Sandy was, gave me a rather uncomfortable feeling in my stomach.

There was no heat in the chrome left. The heat I was feeling was my nerves. Probably inflamed from the forced acceleration the Sandy caused. Needing to find out how long the effect lasted, I finished my walk to the Sakura Market, and ordered breakfast slurping down some nice Ramen.

Unfortunately I didn't really feel any better after my meal. My neck still felt hot and it was making me a little nervous. Yet before I went running to Viks to get checked out, I decided to pop another MaxDoc.

Instantly a sense of coolness ran down my spine and I stretched and adjusted myself. Throwing the used inhaler into a nearby trash can, I headed back home and once more cataloged the feeling.

I felt okay. No further heat or pain. But that didn't mean I wasn't going to look into this issue.

*Motoko: Hey Vik, not an emergency, but I activated my Sandy for the first time. Want to come in for a checkup.*

*Viktor Vector: If something is wrong come in kid, I'm at my office now. It's a slow morning.*

*Motoko: Yeah, okay. I'm on my way over. I'm okay though, I just want a check up.*

And with that I had the first stop today.

—--

"And you said a Maxdoc removed the feeling?"

"Yeah. I thought the Sandy was just overheating at first, but after a few minutes the feeling didn't go away and the Sandy cooled off."

"Not unusual. Probably just put a lot of unusual stress on your nervous system." He mumbled out as he set me up for a scan. A few minutes of him just mumbling to himself he came back to himself. "Everything looks good." He determined looking to me.

"That's a relief." I exhaled shoulders slumping.

"Well it looks fine now, so your healing obviously helped, but I would like to get a scan of you while you activate that Sandy of yours." He said, and I threw him a thumbs up.

"Sure, just tell me when."

"Go for it." He answered instantly, turning to look at a screen, and I activated the Sandy.

Instantly everything slowed down. I blinked my eyelids felt heavy and slow at the motion.

I could basically 'feel' the cooldown on the Sandy tick down. A sense of energy or time limit built into the chrome that fed information to me through the Neural Link.

Then it deactivated and I gasped as I realized my heart was beating fast from the adrenaline surge,

"Alright, do you feel the heat again?" Vik asked, and I focused on my neck and nodded.

"A little? Maybe? I think I didn't really notice it until I used it twice."

"Alright, let's do that then. Go ahead whenever it's ready, kid."

I nodded, feeling the Sandy's cooldown finish its long cool down cycle and then I activated it again.

The experience was truly unique. Each time I activated the Sandy, I noticed something new. How air felt a little heavier making it harder to breathe. But it was actually just my sense of touch and my sense of time conflicting.

The Sandy turned off, and I was more ready for the feeling of the adrenaline surge ending as I calmed myself and just let my adrenaline fade away.

"I would bet you are feeling that now." Vik muttered as I shivered, my neck hot.

"Yeah."

"Well good news and bad news. Good news, this is pretty normal. It's nerve strain, pretty common with reflex boosters. As long as you give yourself time to recover you'll be fine. Bad news? It's not likely to go away. It's just how your body responds to the chrome."

"When I used a MaxDoc, I was fine after, does that mean I can keep doing that?" I asked, normally I wouldn't want to abuse my body's limitations, but only being able to use a Sandy twice sounded pretty useless.

"Honestly? I don't know kid. I wouldn't recommend it. Better to not risk it, but your healing is so unique, and filled with unknowns to start with. Be careful."

"I will. Thanks Vik. I appreciate the check up."

"Honestly, it's a nice change of pace, having a customer come in before the problem spiraled out of control." He joked, but there was a twinge of seriousness in this comment.

"Well I have the best ripper in Night City checking my chrome. Seems silly not to ask him for help."

Vik to my delight did a little scoff at my words, but his ears got a little red. I thought about teasing him, but no. I didn't want to embarrass him.

Thanking him once again I headed out.

I had a lunch date after all!

—--

"What!? Oh my god, Motoko! Eeee!" Hiromi rambled and squealed in happiness while we sat across from Arasaka tower in the City Center park. I had asked Hiromi if we could meet during her lunch. So we were enjoying a meal I had brought with.

"It was kinda awkward more than anything. But Denny liked Tank… I don't know if I want to sell it though? I mean, Tank is… I don't know, special I guess. So can you help? Act as my manager or somet-"

"Yes! I am your manager now." She demanded poking my chest with a finger. "No music deals of any kind without going through me! I know how you are with deals!" She ordered and I just laughed at her, because she was so serious about it.

"Okay okay. You win. I'm a bit of a gonk with eddies, I know."

"Good. Then I'll reach out after class, I'll need to do some research as well!" She said before turning to her food and stuffing some noodles into her mouth with the energy of someone in a rush.

I felt a little uncomfortable though. Hiromi already did a lot of work for me. Acting as a Fixer for Section 9, even doing all the selling and buying for Section 9.

And all of that on top of going to school. Taking classes, homework and schoolwork.

I reached out and pulled Hiromi into a hug. Ignoring her surprised noise as I pulled her in while making sure she wasn't going to drop her food. "Hiromi. Just don't overwork yourself okay? Definitely not for me, and not for something this silly. I've been throwing a lot on your plate and I just want to make sure you don't get too stressed okay?"

"Wha-t-this is nothing! I can do all of this and more! You can rely on me!" She stuttered before nearly jumping to her feet in her eagerness to assure me, but I wasn't happy to hear that. I frowned at her, and then reached out before she could get away, chrome palms trapping her cheeks so she had to look into my eyes.

"Don't overwork yourself." I demanded and she nodded slowly looking almost embarrassed at my firm tone.

At least she understood now. I would be really mad if she made herself sick or something over this!

"Okay. The music thing can wait, it's not really important." I said flippantly, but Hiromi whined in her throat.

"I'll deal with it tonight! Do you have any idea what that number means?" She asked and I shook my head and she sighed. "It means that I now have a contact in the music industry. When I call, the manager will try to trip me up, I'll haggle, and we'll end up with lots of eddies, and a new name. A contact I can reach out to speak to for any information in the music industry. Contacts are better than eddies Motoko!"

"Well just… Don't work on it too hard." I said, not really understanding how a business deal would turn into contacts in the future. But that was Hiromi's thing so I would take her word on it. "I mean… It's a lot of work for nothing."

"Nothing?" And then Hiromi surprised me, by instantly pushing into my personal space, her face reddened but she did it anyways poking me in the cheek with her face really close. "I'm taking twenty percent off the top." She said almost sinisterly and then settled back onto the bench with a cackle.

Hiromi around eddies was scary!

—--

With the music issue passed off to Hiromi, and my chrome settled and functional, I made a call.

*Kitten! What's my little Kohai calling about?" Sasha said cheerfully, although it did sound a little forced.

*Well you asked me to netrun with you last time. Just got my final checkup from my ripper, if you still want some company?*

*Yeeees! It's so boring! The only thing I'm allowed to do is Netdive or watch TV! Okay! You come over and use the bath?*

*I'd much rather just head to my place, and we can meet on the net? My chair is way more comfortable.*

*Pfft. That's right you are so prissy about it! It's kinda cute! Very moe-moe point! Okay fine you can have your senpai stuck with crappy ice baths while you get your fancy equipment, it won't matter. I'll show you what a real netrunner is like, chu!*

Did she just kiss noise at me?

*Right?*

*Hehe! Okay where should we meet? Should I give you my lobby code? Did I clean it up! What if I left dirty laundry laying around!* She fake gasped at that, and I couldn't help but laugh.

*How about we meet at the Roundabout? Yoko is a choom of mine.*

*Ugh. The foxs den? Paaaass. Here I know a fun net club. I'll send you the IP. Meet me at the bar yeah?*

*Sure.*

*Preeem! Now I gotta go get dressed up for our date! Bye!*

*Wha- It's not a d-* The call ended.

"That cat is going to be trouble." I whispered to myself, suddenly feeling like I had just invited a stray cat into my home.

—--

Plugged in, I dived into the net and landed in the casual atmosphere of my lobby, stretching my body. I took a moment to feel the slight differences that new chrome brought with.

Sure, my cyberdeck was the same, but a new neural link did make a difference.

My old one was a civilian model, something kids would get. My new one wasn't state of the art, but it was vastly improved.

But now wasn't the time to enjoy the slight difference in latency I could feel. I stepped out of my lobby and into a search engine and then I was across the city in a blaze, connection after connection, until I appeared in a blink on a busy digital street.

The server was somewhere in Charter Hill, and there was a ton of traffic through the streets. Mostly business traffic, large massive data streams that were more like trains to my senses than a normal user's connection demanded priority in the air above.

But I wasn't going up there. No, the IP that Sasha had given me tugged my attention down. I was at the top of a set of stairs that led down into darkness.

The IP matched, so I took a step, and then another. Deeper into the darkness. I came out upside down which was an irritating fact, stepping 'up' out of what had been down a moment before until I was level, and then I stepped off the last step that ended in empty air.

I felt the world flip around, and I was right side up, landing on digital concrete. I was in an alley now. Faux trash cans, and dumpsters lined the sides, with fire escapes leading to nothing looming overhead. But it was a single difference that caught my eye. A warm yellow light, like from a lightbulb streaked across the alley from a small round window in a door, indented into the side of the alley.

I walked over and even as I approached I could hear laughter, and noises like you would expect before walking into a bar.

Someone went to a lot of work to get that track right. Digital as it was. I opened the door, and the noise changed, soft strobing electronic music, and another set of stairs.

This server Sasha invited me to was seriously deep in the net. Down again, this time into a warm burgundy carpeted entrance.

"Welcome to Elysium." A woman greeted me, sitting behind the counter. Her eyes hidden behind a magazine. Like an actual paper magazine. A glance closer showed it was just a file she was reading, made to look like that, but it was still weird.

"Thanks. I'm here to-"

"Ah-ah-ah." She interrupted. "That's none of my bizz. Go on in. No trouble, or I introduce you to Elysiums darkest Black ICE. All the other rules should be self evident if you found the server."

I nodded in exchange and walked through the door, instantly I was blasted by heavy music, the entire server set up so the music felt like it was right there.

It was actually kind of overbearing, but I powered through it and looked around. The club actually looked less techno than what I would expect from a runners club. Instead everything was more old school. Hard wood and warm colors. The lights actually looked like lightbulbs giving the place a warm glow.

But it was obviously fake. The facade peeled and cracked in the dark corners. As data shone through.

The server was old. That was what I came to realize as I looked around. Unlike Yoko's club, this was the sort of place that had been around for a long time.

But I shook that off and headed for the bar. I frowned when I realized there was no Sasha. Had I beat her here? I shrugged it off and took a chair. A bartender behind the counter wasn't actually a person, just a daemon watching over everything.

It would definitely agro the moment someone caused trouble.

I hadn't managed to sit down for more than a few moments before a back door of the bar opened and out came a giggly Sasha.

"Yay!" She cheered happily bouncing around. Her appearance and cheer caused a few of the netrunners sitting in booths around the bar to groan and feign outrage at her.

"Kohai!" She cheered, noticing me and bouncing over.

Instantly I realized the difference between Sasha in real life, and Sasha on the net.

She was happy here. Or at least faking it way better.

"Sa-"

"Nenene!" She demanded a finger hovering over my lips, not that her finger would have reached me anyways. "I'm Mysterious Neko-Nyan!<3 on the net." She demanded with a wink.

"Shut up Sasha you gonk!" A man called out from across the room and Sasha instantly zipped away to glare at the man.

"Don't do that, you rusty pipe!" She hissed very much like a cat but he just laughed at her.

"Okay Neko. Wh-"

"Neko-Nyan<3!" She demanded and I glared. The fact she had added a fucking emote into her speech and my brain actually processed it as such was toxic.

"No." I said and she huffed a sigh, before looking pleased as punch and reaching out to fake poke at me.

"Fine Kitten, we-"

"Ghost. On the net I'm Ghost." I poked back right on her nose.

"Eeee, Cringe! You and like fifty others! Whiskers is better!" She denied and I huffed at her.

"It's what I called myself before, and it's what I'm using. Ghost is cool…" I said ignoring the look of disgust she was giving me. "But if I have to, It's Ghost in the Shell." I answered. Adding a bit more onto it so I wasn't just all the other 'Ghosts' on the net.

"Hmmm… Less Cringe, but not very cute. Very 4/10. Not very Nova-Preem of you."

I visibly cringed in response, what else could I do. She had said that like some old out of touch lady trying to be cool.

"Hehehe!" She giggled at my obvious disgust.

"Why are you like this?"
"Cause it's fun, Duh!" She chirped, before looking more serious. "Okay so! Elysium isn't just a hangout, it's a gambling den! We are here to make Sasha some eddies! And you! Don't worry Senpai won't cheat you!"

"I don't gamble."

"Psh. Don't worry, it's not gambling when we will definitely win!"

"Said every gambling addict ever." I mumbled a little annoyed. What was up with this? Sasha hadn't mentioned gambling.

"You are such a cute little kid! Don't worry so much! You don't have to do anything! I just need a second body so I can go into doubles. Single battles aren't making me as much anymore, but you are fresh! Odds should be preem."

I just looked at her for a minute before feeling like I wanted to rub my nose. "Sasha what is even going on. What double battles?"

"Oooh, you are so new! Like a shiny fresh Daemon just created and naive to the ways of the netrunner! Elysium is the number one Netrunner combat zone in NC."

 

[Seras]

"We go in, beat up some low rank rezzers, and make some fun eddies! It's a good way to get your name out too!" Sasha offered practically bouncing despite being in cyberspace.

"What kind of battles? I don't like the sound of Combat Zone, and Sasha, really I need some deets before I do something like this."

She looked at me for a moment before sighing. "Okay come with me." She demanded and faux grabbed my wrist to tug me along. I eventually relented and rose to follow. She led me back through the door she had entered and into a… It reminded me of a locker room.

"Okay Motoko, here is the deal. We are 2v2. There will be a couple of amateurs on the other side. We beat them. No killing, but you do your hacks to disable them. They will get tugged out by the system if something goes bad. It's all safe as can be. Hasn't been a death in the Combat Zone in years. And that was practically a suicide. Follow me so far?"

"Sort of. Why, though? Why would a netrunner show off their hacks like that? Isn't that dumb?"

"Eh. You don't really bring in the best of the best stuff that you want to keep secret, and kiddy scripts aren't going to be new to anyone. But yeah if you got something special you come in show it off, and you might get someone, or multiple someones interested, then you trade for better hacks, or data, or equipment."

"I never heard about this place before."

"Which is weird!" She suddenly exclaimed, arms waving. "Even kiddy scripters hear about it! The fact you don't know is super weird! So here we are! You back me up. I can handle this myself if I have to, but I have to bring a +1 for the double battles. So just sit back and let Senpai Neko-Nyan<3 show you how it's done!"

"I'm not sure I want to jump right in Sasha, I'd kinda rather watch to get an idea of what's going on first. Besides my hacks aren-"

"Oh it's too late for that." She interrupted, and then suddenly I felt it. I was pulled from the server I had been on before, and instantly moved to another section. I couldn't even fight it, as it felt more like the entire server section I was in dropped deeper into the net.

Which was a truly uncomfortable feeling. This server wasn't normal. The restrictions, and setup was odd. Truly odd. I could feel foreign code slam down. Rules of the server architecture that…

It was a game. I was in a game. I twitched, wanting to rip the entire thing apart and get out of here, but I mean…

It was a little intrusive with how I had just dropped in, and I didn't know the rules, but I quickly pinged the system and confirmed that the rules would keep anything from going too wrong.

Suddenly the far wall of the locker room burst apart into data revealing what looked like a recreation of a garbage dump beyond.

"Sasha." I said flatly not at all amused. "Did you just walk me into the arena while explaining what this place even is?"

"Yep! Put down a bet on your behalf as well!" She said with a wink.

"Don't kill her Motoko. Don't kill her." I whispered to myself. I just saved her. Killing her would be a mistake…

"Wooo!" Sasha cried out as she charged ahead, and then threw out a hack. The data coalesced from her hand in a stream of white hot plasma that ripped a hole straight across the arena towards the other side. The blast distorted the data in the way, smashing through every piece of terrain the arena had created.

A moment later she snapped her fingers. "Aww. That sometimes works. Killing them before they leave their starting zone."

"Great. I'm teamed up with a spawn camper." I muttered in realization.

Sasha was a toxic gamer.

Fuck.

I hurried to escape the spawn point not sure what the fuck was gonna happen in retaliation, and I did so just in time.

A… Missile? It looked like a missile, or lots of them anyways, shot over the terrain and then came down in a mass towards our entrance. Slamming into the little locker room and exploding constantly, a barrage of damage, that I was able to see beyond the display, and realize it was tearing apart data that was struck. A virus, and a nasty one.

Looking around I realized that Sasha was completely missing.

"Bitch." I muttered and then breached into the server around me. Its defenses were strong. Probably to stop people from doing just what I was up to, but I hadn't been seen, and I wasn't going to.

I could hear explosions and sounds of fire, and wind, and even the noise of many footsteps all rushing around, but I remained hidden. Using everything I knew about staying invisible to keep me out of this mess as I started breaching. Whoever we were against wouldn't have access to the server right? They would have to breach in too, so they shouldn't notice?

Fuck if I know. Fuck if Sasha had given me a chance to figure out what the fuck was happening!

Finally I broke through. The entire server architecture displayed before my eyes.

Then it reconfigured, and… Those fucking gonks.

I was looking at a minimap. Whoever designed this arena planned for a breach of access and set it up so that if you slipped through the defenses you could get a mini map…

Which meant someone might know where I was. I quickly removed my information from the system, my stealth Daemon activating as I had access now. It appeared beside me since the breach was complete. The Face Hugger burst away from me, going invisible as it did, and it spread, each Daemon it would find it would help blind me in their eyes.

That left Sasha and…

Two were still there, two big red dots that were netrunners. Dozens of smaller ones that were Daemons, and one green one. Sasha.

Sasha was fighting them. I could see her green dot running around blasting massive server breaking attacks at them, but together they seemed to be defending.

I considered it. I could just fucking leave. Let Sasha take the loss…

But I was also pretty competitive, and while this was a mess I had walked into, it was also Sasha.

For the girl I had watched die so many times… Yeah fine. I would deal with this.

But I didn't have the programs for this. What Sasha and the enemy netrunners were throwing around was way beyond what I had.

The programs I had picked up from V3L0CITY way back, had been on his server storage. They weren't his best, but hacks he didn't use anymore, or just found and thought they were interesting. I wasn't throwing Kamehameha waves around like Sasha had just done! My hacks were mostly Anti-Daemon tools. Sure Hell Flame wasn't something a netrunner wanted to touch, but it was easily defended against by anyone competent.

So I would just have to be sneaky.

I couldn't program something fast enough to matter here, but I could at least act as support, and maybe an assassin.

So I got up and started moving. As I did I walked around a corner and had to duck backwards. A Daemon. The netrunners we were fighting must have activated it. It was a pretty common grunt Daemon, but it was designed to look like a soldier, and came in a squad of five.

Their faces were already covered by my face hugger daemon so they didn't notice me… That gave me a chance.

I breached one of them. If I had a Cyberpsychosis hack I could probably cause them some trouble, but I didn't have anything like that installed.

Considering what I did have installed…

I walked up behind them, made a quick modification of the upload rate of my hack and activated it, feeling the heat of the flame almost echo the heat of my Cyberdeck heating up.

I cast the hack five times, each of them only barely moving. Just a flame sort of hanging in the air, before I released them all at once.

The fire shot forward towards the five Daemons that were walking away from me, and had no clue I was around.

Instantly all four took the hit and burned into nothing.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

I blinked at the little menu pop up.

That's right.

Daemons killed meant XP for me… Okay maybe after bitching out Sasha after this I might think about forgiving her.

I took off, moving through the server as fast as I could. I wasn't so much walking, as forcing my position to change on the digital landscape. It was an aspect of breaching. Basically instead of using my normal virtual movement, I was just force moving myself through the architecture.

Then I landed on top of the highest point, giving me not just a minimap view, but also an actual view of the arena.

It was a giant circle. Trash piles meant to block sight and movement. With paths in between.

And I could see the battle. Sasha was zipping around sending out massive attacks that disrupted the terrain every time. While the two netrunners worked together on defense, assisting each other.

One was constantly activating more Daemons. The soldiers I saw before, a search program shaped like a dog, and a mass amount of flying I.M.Ps.

The daemons weren't doing much as most of them searched the arena, probably for me. But the rest focused on Sasha, disrupting her mass AOE hacks, forcing her to stop attacking the runners and protect herself.

I should probably go help.

On the other hand. She wanted to handle it on her own and got herself into this situation. And that was a lot of Daemons wandering around.

I turned and leapt, disappearing as I breached close to another group of soldiers.

A few moments later they burned into digital slag.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

And that was worth it all. XP. Easy XP. Non murder focused XP.

I didn't have the equipment for this really. I was only able to ambush the Daemons, because of my own. But I couldn't really mass kill them as fast as I would like.

And it seems I couldn't do it stealthily. Before I even moved away from the latest kills, I heard it. Scrambling claws.

The Daemons had reacted to the loss of each other and was coming to investigate.

I moved, hiding away and throwing up some garbage data to conceal myself, as three of the scout dogs arrived. They sniffed at the melted still on fire remains of the daemons I had hit and then started their search subroutine.

They were actually pretty low tier. I could tell that just from one look at them. Their bodies were slim, but had bulky sections where inefficient code left them awkward. And their search function was literally to just go in circles from the start point. They were circling around in ever expanding circles trying to find me.

Fortunately they were also already infested with my Daemon.

Which made these weak daemons completely incapable of being a threat to me, as I threw out my ICE hack. Instantly the one I targeted was coated in digital ice, slowing it down to a crawl as I charged in.

I pulled up a modification of my Hell Flame hack I had once made in a rush so long ago, and a longsword made of flame arced out of my hand as I cut through the daemon.

Its data deleted in a massive arc caused the digital program to collapse.

*250 XP Gained.*

The two dogs left both turned to me. My Daemon might keep myself out of sight, make it harder to see me, but something like this would still break the stealth.

Both dogs howled. Alerting the netrunners that they had discovered me, and then charged.

One slammed into a shield, its form distorting a bit as it was bogged down by junk data, while I focused on the other one, I sent off another Hell Flame, blasting the Daemon as it jumped at me. And it landed in a heap half burned away already.

Then I walked over and cut down the last dog that was too bogged down.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

Everything went quiet for a moment, which was good, because I also had another alert that was taking up all my attention.

*100 Quick Hack XP Gained.*

*Quick Hack skill level up!*

Quick Hack 9. I had been using so many hacks on the net I must have finally clicked over. I luxuriated in the moment of knowledge slipping through. But I refocused, I wasn't safe here. I checked the update from my net chair, showing me my internal temperature was raised, but nothing terrible. I was okay still.

"Ah there you are." A voice called out and I looked up to see another netrunner standing on top of the pile of garbage. "Have fun derezzing my search programs?"

"Honestly it's kinda fun. Nice to meet you." I offered a friendly greeting. Just because this was a weird betting arena, didn't mean we shouldn't be civil.

"Aww. aren't you a cute one. Some one-byte runner that the stray cat dragged along? Yeah, I looked you up already. You don't have a record in the arena. Sorry about that one. The cat has a rep… Listen, we can't be gentle about this as long as you don't quit, just how the game is played you know? Nothing personal."

Then I heard it. A heavy stomping. I looked towards where the dogs had come running and cursed.

"These guys are just rezzers." I mocked. "It'll be easy, just let me handle it." I continued as I stared at the burning Daemon that was a digital hazard, melting the trash around it, as it deleted and warped data in a space around it.

A Balrog.

I had only faced one of these before, and it had sent me scurrying away. This one wasn't set into a dying server. The netrunner looked proud as his Daemon finished loading and then it locked onto me.

"Oh fuck this." I muttered and took off. Using every bit of my breaching skill to move as far from that thing as I could.

It followed, roaring a challenge as it stomped after me.

It was slow. Much slower than I was, so I quickly decided on a battle plan.

Just stay the fuck away from it.

It lost direct sight of me quickly enough, and instead of trying to hide, I knew what I had to do.

Sasha might have pulled me into this nonsense, but if I ignored it, then good chance, she would have to face it as well. That Daemon is not something she could handle along with both netrunners at the same time.

So I would be the bait keeping it busy.

And while I did that, I would go murder a bunch of Daemons. I had a minimap after all.

I turned and ran up some garbage leaping over it and then right into an array of five of the soldier daemons.

One was blasted from a full strength Hell Flame. Another was cut in half and it distorted its form glitching unable to stay coherent. I continued on and turned slamming up an ICE shield, letting it absorb the array of lights the three remaining Daemons fired at me.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

The three couldn't reach me though. Despite their shared attacks, my ICE wall absorbed attack after attack.

I used that moment to cool down. I could feel my Cyberdeck cycling and only once I was cooled off did I prep another three attacks melting the daemons down.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

I checked the minimap.

Sasha was still fighting, and the two netrunners were back together.

I guess they didn't expect me to be able to handle their Daemon. The daemon I noticed was catching up to me.

I moved at a normal speed, trying to give my cyberdeck cool down time. As I considered what I could do.

Sure I could run around and clear up the groups of small Daemons they had sent out. And it would benefit me, but it wouldn't do much for Sasha…

"Ugh!" I groaned, aloud because despite my own greed at having XP bags just wandering around. Sasha was on her own, and whether people died or not…

Sasha was still my choom. Even if she didn't know me well, and I didn't know her well. Even if she had put herself into this situation, even if she didn't understand why I was so connected to her.

The image of her falling. Of glass glittering around her, ran through my mind.

An image of her smile. The smile she carried into death.

It was stupid. I barely knew her, and she barely knew me, but… Dammit I respected her even if she was a pain in the ass.

I couldn't handle this Daemon, but I bet Sasha could.

I shifted where I was going.

I arrived as another of the missile barrages slammed into the area Sasha had just been standing.

When the smoke cleared almost instantly after Sasha was fine, a barrier of light stood before her. Immovable.

"That the best you got!?" She screamed out in challenge, but the two netrunners didn't react, just stayed together. Both men worked in sync to prep more attacks, to prep more Daemons to distract her and me with.

Probably more a distraction for me than anything.

The moment after, a group of Daemons spawned in, the soldiers instantly pointed and started pelting shots at Sasha.

I could see her frustration.

Which is why I teleported in right next to her, instantly my defenses activated, ICE wall absorbed the shots, and started spawning in Barriers as well.

"Wha? Kitten!"

"It's Ghost. I'm on defense. Also a big Daemon is coming. I don't have anything that can handle it." I warned, but Sasha just laughed. "You leave offense to me then! Maybe breach the server if you can! I could use some info!"

"What? Oh, I breached the server already!" I called in response, as I started throwing up ICE and barriers wherever I could as another missile barrage arced in, and those were nasty. My Barriers slowed them, but I had to remake the ICE each time a missile struck them.

Playing defense was already starting to overwhelm me, but it gave Sasha the moment she needed.

I nearly flinched as she lobbed what looked like a star straight towards the runners. And the attacks instantly stopped as they desperately switched to defense.

It smashed into them, and a howling noise of distorted data reached my ears.

Pretty terrifying considering just where we were.

"Hehe! See Kitten! Look at how amazing Senpai is!" Sasha crowed out in delight at her attack, but I just huffed at her.

"They blocked it! Do something else!"

 

[Seras]

I was wincing internally as I was getting alerts from my netrunner chair about my temp.

My Cyberdeck wasn't made for shit like this! It specialized in quick hacks, for breaking and entering! Not… Video games!

Fucking Sasha! My GPU was ten years out of date, and you threw me into a next gen max graphic game!

I almost burst into laughter at the thought, but the Balrog coming through the trash pile to our left, literally blasting through junk data, burning a hole through everything in its way was rather distracting.

"Sasha! Balrog!"

"Bal-what? Oh. Yeah." She said turning from where she was… Cooling off.

This fucking! She really didn't do anything but the biggest most RAM intensive hacks she could! I was going to kill her! I'll drown her in her probably boiling ice bath!

"Relax kitten!" She said throwing me a smile despite the fact I was already preparing defenses for an attack I could see coming in.

She went to work, even as I blocked another barrage of missiles, and a newly growing squad of Daemon grunts. She activated her hack, that big energy attack prepped appeared, even as the Balrog charged at me. I put my faith in her and focused on keeping her safe, and just as the Daemon started melting my ICE walls the attack went out.

The destructive data wave hit the Daemon, and instantly ripped a hole through it, literally ripped apart, as its data was systematically merged into itself. To my eyes it looked like its insides had been blended, and that disrupted the Daemon enough it fell, instantly shattering into broken data.

"See? Nothing to worry abou-" Sasha mid sentence stopped. We both looked down, where through her chest there was now a large hole as wide as my fist.

I looked over at the netrunners. And one was pointing a finger at her, where the beam of energy had come from.

They had some sort of sniping hack? I couldn't help but wonder how that worked. How had it cut through my defenses? I could think of a few ways to do something similar. I guess it was definitely possible, definitely something I could make myself.

Sasha fell beside me and instantly burst into light.

*NEKO OUT!* A voice boomed out over the arena.

She wasn't dead.

She wasn't. She wasn't wasn't wasn't dead. I hadn't done what I could to save her, to have her die in this stupid game.

She wasn't dead, she said it herself. It was safe. I could see that she hadn't been sent out of the net, just pulled from the arena. That was definitely part of the system that meant she was alive.

Right.

Right.

Right.

Right!

"FUCKERS!" I roared aloud.

I wasn't an ace netrunner. I was good. Probably better than 90% of the runners out there, but I was limited in that I focused more on real life use from a cyberdeck.

My hacks weren't ones I made myself in here. My deck wasn't suited for it, these two absolutely should beat me.

But none of that entered my mind as I roared out every ounce of rage, and simultaneously activated my Sandevistan.

They had killed Sasha, I'd fucking end them!

—--

Sasha

"Ow ow ow ow!" She whined as she appeared in the waiting room. The hack that struck her was an altered overheat. So she was definitely going to be feeling that once she disconnected! From her system check she was bleeding from her eyes again.

Dangit! Maine always freaked when she did that, and Dorio would tease her about getting so emotional about the net she would cry blood again! She wanted to punch something. Preferably with her left arm her original left arm. With what was left of her actual flesh and blood and not the fucked up feeling of this chrome one, that she woke up some nights feeling as if it was crawling up her shoulder. Consuming more of her.

Like she had always thought her mothers chrome had consumed her.

But it hadn't been chrome, it was the medicine. She knew that now! She shook herself.

She didn't have a cyberware phobia! She had a cyberdeck! She installed scratchers! Her arms had mods for extra strength! It was just…

Her mother had cyber arms after the military…

She blinked, forcing herself to look back at the arena. With a flick of her wrist she changed the view to look at poor Kitten all alone without her senpai!

Shit she had really fucked this one up. She had just wanted some excitement! Being stuck inside all day, and Kitten was such a little noob! It was cute! To find someone at the start of their net journey after already being a badass? It was hilarious! Teasing material!

Of course Sasha only had Rogue's estimation, and little Becca's story to know how good Motoko really was. The kid was a bit of an enigma….

Also her crush was so cute! She hadn't gotten all stuttery again after that first time, but eeee! So cute.

She watched as Motoko reacted to her loss.

Sorry Kohai! You can do it though! Just fight on! You'll lose but as long as you look cute doing it it's okay!

Then Motoko screamed.

Sasha's smile dropped.

Sasha may be alone in her box, but there were easily hundreds of people watching this match. And Sasha knew that people would not be happy with her after this.

Motoko… Did Motoko think she was actually dead?

She had explained it right! That people don't die in this?

Shit. She had thought it would be cute to drag Motoko in while she was arguing against gambling, but now?

Motoko didn't know what was going on. No wonder she had disappeared for so long in the match.

Fuck.

The atmosphere in the arena shifted, as Motoko turned her eyes, once so full of life and delight and now? Now they were a glare of pure hatred.

Becca had told her that Motoko was a killer. Motoko being welcomed to the Afterlife, should have confirmed that.

But it was only now as Sasha looked into Motoko's eyes. Through the screen. Where Motoko couldn't see her back, she was sure.

Motoko was a killer, just like she was.

Then Sasha gasped, as Motoko blurred. Speedware!

The kid had activated speedware online. Not unusual, but it left a noticeable effect. Her body distorted, as the server was forced to try and keep up with micro movement of the sent data.

Then Motoko moved.

Sasha blinked in shock and then gasped, because in just a split moment, she had appeared behind the other netrunners.

That was high end breaching! Good shit! Right, Motoko had even breached the server on her own! Not something she would have expected.

A common strategy was to send out Daemons as a distraction, and Breach into the system to get the Minimap first, so you could hide your position from the opposing side. But that wasn't an easy task for anyone without a lot of experience.

Sasha herself didn't bother with it, as it took too long. Better to just blast the enemies into bytes and win!

But Motoko had done it solo, without ever seeing the server before. Which now that Sasha was able to think was… Impressive.

The girl didn't stop, her body glitching, she turned and Sasha flinched.

[HELL FLAME Anh. 2.132]

She had recognized the program. It wasn't bad, a bit out of date, but its ability to eat into data servers was well liked by runners that had to do anything against AI. Sasha had never done a Blackwall dive, but she knew how it worked. Often throwing up something that could cause server damage would distract the AI for a time letting the runner escape.

But she also knew the hack was pretty RAM intensive.

Around Motoko, in an instant multiple orbs appeared, right after a server jump?

The rezzers reacted, shields were brought up, but it hardly mattered.

A moment later Motoko buzzed around them. Multiple Breach jumps in a row? That was a high end trick, and it left Sasha burned out when she had to do it.

Doing that while also summoning in hacks, as fireballs slammed into each side of the runners shield.

Then before it was even done, she summoned more.

Hell Flame was already eating away at their shields, causing the runners to realize they were in trouble, but the kid wasn't done. More and more of the Hell Flame built up.

Finally they realized she had them properly pinned and did the smart thing.

They vanished, Breach jumping themselves to escape the flame filled zone.

Well at least Motoko had gotten them to split up, maybe she could-and Sasha gasped, as Suddenly Motoko was just there.

Both of them split up when they jumped, one ended up on the other side of the junk data terrain, while the other split farther off.

But it didn't matter, before the poor kid had a chance to breathe, Motoko was already there.

A modified Hell Flame, configured into a blade slamming through his defenseless form.

His body distorted.

*D3viant out!*

Fuck. That was fast!

Then Motoko was gone again. Breach jumping over and over until she ran straight towards the second runner.

Sasha was starting to feel more than a little worried. Motoko didn't have a deck capable of this sort of output. That meant she was overloading. The heat output would be intense… Fuck. Even as she watched she sent a message to Becca.

The second runner had used his moments to prepare, obviously spooked that his choom was taken out so quickly after the breach jump.

Then, Motoko was there.

Skidding to a halt, digital detritus kicked up at her feet as she appeared, already Hell Flame orbs spawned and ready.

He defended, Sasha recognized the shield hack. Some Militech piece of tech, it was alright. Solid defense, but it locked itself in place, no movement in it. It made sense why the rezzer used it. Between him and his choom they had a solid combo. Which is why they were giving her so much grief before.

Unfortunately Motoko had already found a method of cracking it.

Four explosions of fire arced up over it nearly instantly as Motoko breach jumped to each side of the shield, and then even as it burned down she readied a fifth.

"That won't work twice!" The rezzer yelled, and activated that missile strike attack.

It shot off.

Sasha felt herself stepping closer to the screen. At long range those missiles were just dumbfire data bursts, but with the rezzer right there they locked on.

Yet Motoko didn't seem to care. Even as the missiles fired off, she stepped back and despite the digital constructs aiming for her, she simply breach jumped through them. Blurring through the barrage of missiles as if dodging rain drops.

Fuck.

Fuck that was… Okay. So maybe Motoko might be a noob, but she certainly wasn't a rezzer.

That took skill, and Sasha knew for a fact she couldn't copy that.

She also knew that Motoko shouldn't be able to keep it up either.

Breach Jumps took a lot of hardware to pull off. Script kiddies couldn't hope to do it, and most high enders could only do it a few times.

Motoko was burning herself out.

Fuck. Fuck!

Rebecca you better have got her message!

And then it was over.

The barrage ended, and the Hell Flames continued burning down. The Rezzer tried to run for it, and before he could take a step after a Breach Jump that took a long few seconds for him to even activate, she was there cutting him down.

*Mod3d out!*

*Ghost wins!*

And then Sasha was moved. Both Motoko and her were back in the locker room.

"Motoko! Hey! Kid! Fuck!" She charged over, but Motoko took one look at her, and stopped Sasha flat.

She swallowed because…

And then Motoko logged out. The burst of digital static indicating a pretty nasty forced disconnect.

Motoko would have a nasty headache…

If she was even still alive.

Sasha jumped out herself, ignoring the fact she had eddies to collect for a victory. The only person who was supposed to be risking themselves was her! She had to make sure her kohai hadn't just burned herself alive.

—--

"Fugle." I cursed as I finally jumped out.

I felt melted, and I could smell burning pork, and I felt bad. Like heat stroke but worse.

I fumbled at my pockets, fingers feeling dumb and useless until I managed to get one into my mouth and huffed it down.

Instantly I felt better. Despite wincing at the heat coming off my neck. Flinching as the heat seemed to surge, but it was actually just my nerves coming back alive.

Weakly I flopped down. The coolant running through my suit was helping, but it was barely enough, I could feel myself still practically sizzling.

Dammit. I had probably damaged my Cyberdeck, and my new neural link.

Fuck, Vik was going to kill me. With that realization I stood up disengaging and hurrying across the room wincing with every step as I turned on the faucet to the sink and instantly just jumping up onto the counter and dunking my head under it.

The near sizzling of the water touching my chrome was really not a good sign.

Double fuck.

That was stupid Motoko, you gonk! You knew she wasn't dead. You knew she was fine…

I sighed just pressing my head against the cool metal almost wincing at how cold it felt to my definitely overheated brain.

Thinking was hard. Just cool down. I grabbed another MaxDoc, the last one I had on me, and only once I was sure the chrome had cooled off, did I pop it.

The brain fog cleared and I sighed in relief.

I needed to make a call.

*Ringing.*

*Ringing.*

*Ringing.*

*Kid? You alright?*

*Vik, I'm okay-ish. But I need a check up… I definitely overdid it with my cyberdeck. I overheated… It's bad.*

*Shit. Where are you? Do you need a ride?*

*No, I'm… Feeling better now. And I cooled down already, but I'm worried about my chrome… You in the shop?*

*I will be, meet me there, as soon as you can. Dammit kid.* Vik suddenly hung up, and I sighed partly in relief, and partly for knowing the Vik was going to chew my ass out.

Poking at the back of my neck I could feel the heat still there in my chrome, but it had cooled, now it just felt like I was using it too much.

Dammit. Now my neck felt stiff too, I tried to pop it and got nowhere, which only made the whole situation worse.

Rising up I nearly broke the sink with how quickly I slammed it off.

"Stupid. Fucking stupid." I cursed myself. I should have just given up. What fucking gonk does that sort of stupid shit!

I rose up and realized I didn't have a towel here. Sighing at how wet I now was, I just walked out. This day literally couldn't get any worse.

*Ringing.*

Hmm? Jun?

*Ringing.*

*Jun? What's up?* I asked as the elevator closed in front of me with a clatter.

*ARE YOU ALIVE!? MOTOKO!* Jun's voice came through making me flinch, luckily my own agent kept the noise down to a reasonable level, so instead of blasting out my ears, it just startled me.

*What? Jun, what's going on?*

*You're okay!?*

*Yeeees… Ish.*

*Motoko!*

*What is going on, who told you I was hurt?*

*I got a call from your choom, the little one Rebecca. She told me you were netrunning and to check on you right now!*

*Sasha is such a fucking tattle-tale… Yeah I overheated. I just spent a few minutes under a faucet cooling off, and I'm heading to-*

*Go to your ripper! Now!*

*That's where I'm going. I already called Vik and I'm on my way.* I assured him as I stepped out of the elevator ignoring the looks of some of the SLS kids hanging around and walked out. I didn't want to walk to my car. So I just called it.

*Fucking hell. Motoko! If you are going to do netrunner stuff, make sure you tell me! Or call one of your chooms! Someone that can cool you off or pull you out!* Jun ranted at me, and I nodded to myself, that was a good idea. If someone had been around to dunk water over my head or something I would have felt a lot better.

I didn't respond, instead just letting Jun rant as I waited for my Quadra to drive over from the parking space down the street.

It arrived and beeped before Jun had finished ranting at me.

*-this, you could just think a little before-"

*Jun!* I said loudly, cutting him off. *I'm climbing into my car to drive to Viks. If Rebecca calls again, just let her know I'm with my ripper. Don't say anything else for me okay? Lot of stuff is going on, and I'll talk to her soon to calm everything down.*

The line was quiet before Jun sighed. *Okay fine. But I want to see you once you finish up with your ripper.*

*Okay I'll head home after.* I promised, and we ended the call with some I love you's and then the Quadra throttled up.

 

[Seras]

"Well kid, I can tell you right now, I'm surprised you're still alive." Vik explained almost a little harshly, and I winced as he had me on my stomach as he examined my Neural link and Cyberdeck.

"Yeah, I overdid it. Definitely pushed too hard… Is my Cyberdeck okay?"

"Honestly? No." He answered back. "I'm seeing heat damage on the outer connections, some of the internals aren't going to be doing well. This is either an expensive repair job, or…"

"Or I buy a new one… Damn…" I muttered as I plopped my forehead into the cushion.

I had lost my cool at seeing Sasha 'die' and then… Why had I lost my cool so badly?

The question nagged at me, even as Vik slowly extracted the cyberdeck and I winced as I could still smell cooked meat coming out with it, I might have healed, but the smell would remain.

"Alright kid. Well… I'm not seeing any permanent damage in there." He muttered as he inspected my port with his eyes and his scanner. "But I'm not comfortable with the amount of detritus I pulled out with that deck."

"Yeah… I was probably cooking pretty bad. I had to use a MaxDoc before I could even get off the netchair."

"Shit." He muttered, as he settled down and rolled around until I could see him.

Fuck he was giving the the maximum dad glare.

"I know already. I messed up. I just… I thought my choom died… Even though I know she didn't, it was just… I freaked out." I admitted and I looked away unable to handle the shift from disappointed face to worried.

Why, though? Why had I acted like that?

I wanted to growl at myself, I had destroyed myself just to fight, and the whole thing was dumb. What was the point? I hadn't gained anything…

Okay so I had gained something.

*500 XP Gained.*

*100 Breach Protocol XP Gained.*

*Breach Protocol skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

Breach protocol level 10. I had maxed it. As I realized it, the data drop activated and I gained an understanding of system architecture in a way I had never thought of before.

There was more to the net than just the ones and zeroes. More than just the level the net ran on. More than even the deep dives hit. It was like there was an under layer, a metaphysical layer.

One that I now had… Not an understanding, or a surety of, but I knew it existed. I knew there was more to the net than most netrunners ever realized.

I blinked away the information. I wasn't going to be exploring the underside of the net anytime soon.

And again, it came back to why.

Why had I acted like that? My Cool stat gave me self control bordering on the super human. Well, almost anyways. Yet, I had absolutely lost myself in the feelings from seeing Sasha die.

I shuddered out a breath and tried to shift my neck only to grumble as once again the stiffness made my upper shoulder muscles ache.

"Kid?"

"It's okay Vik. I'm glad I'm alive, and I did something stupid. Really stupid. I'll need some time, that's all… Just some time, and a new cyberdeck."

"Well… Alright. Listen kid, normally if someone came in with this much damage, I wouldn't even think of helping them get another deck, especially not so soon… But I also know you'll go get one regardless, and I'd rather help out." He sighed, rubbing a hand through his hair. "That and you are usually good about following my instructions, which is admittedly pretty nice."

"Heh. Glad I can help." I teased before just slapping my face back into the padding.

"I'm guessing you are going to want something a bit higher spec than this poor Seacho."

"Yeah."

"Well that'll be harder. I'll ask around my contacts, but if you want something truly high end? That's gonna take some leg work."

"Got anything short term?" I asked, looking up from the cushion, and he nodded.

"Yeah I got some older Paralines somewhere."

"Gross."

"Hah! That's what every runner I offer that old thing to says. Relax for now kid." Then he leaned in and whispered. "Miracle healing or not, you aren't at one hundred percent." Then he rose up. "Should I call your brother to pick you up?"

"Ugh. No, he drives like shit, and he doesn't have an actual car yet… I can drive. It's even soothing. Thanks Vik."

"Yeah yeah. Thank me by not showing up to my shop with your brain half melted or something next time."

I nodded, grabbed my jacket and threw it on, and then… Home.

—--

"Motoko!"

"Hey Jun." I greeted and then because he was looking a little frantic I walked over to him as he was getting up off the couch to see me and instead pushed into him for a hug, pushing him back against the couch. "There see. I'm fine."

The fact Jun held me tight probably meant he didn't agree, but it was still nice regardless.

"You alright?"

"I'll be okay. But I used a trick I don't want getting out, so if anyone asks, I'm okay but not up to chatting with anyone… I need a new Cyberdeck."

"What happened to your old one?" He asked, pointedly as his gorilla arms held me tight.

"It was damaged. Too much heat."

"Jesus, Motoko. I'm not a runner but I know what that sort of thing does to someone!"

"I'm alright. Vik agrees. Like I said, I used a trick I'm keeping on the downlow. So just… Play along? Please?"

"Of course." He agreed then sighed. "You need help getting a new one? I can reach out to Fujimura."

"Heh. No thanks. Vik is going to look for me, and after a few days I think I'll put the word out to some contacts I have."

"Heh. It still seems funny to me that you have contacts. Going to ask Wakako?"

"Maybe? Probably should. She'll probably make me do a gig first, but she might be able to get me in contact with someone with the good stuff… Or I could ask Sasha, it's sort of her fault this happened."

"What? Who is Sasha?"
"Oh." I muttered looking up from where I was burying my head into Jun's jacket. It was all fwuffy at the collar, and it was nice. "Sasha is a netrunner, and edgerunner actually. She's cool, but kinda a gonk. I was with her, she dragged me into a Netrunner arena thing… She lost, and I… I don't know Jun, I thought she was dead, but I knew she wasn't, and I just couldn't get over that."

"Sounds like she dragged you into a mess…" He rumbled and I laughed as it made his chest practically hum.

"Yeah a little, but it was my fault that I got hurt. I overreacted… I still don't even know why! I was just so mad, and angry, and sure she had died, after everything and I just… I knew she was alive but I couldn't get my brain to realize it."

"Sounds like me. When I was… struggling. That's how I felt. I knew I was going to punch you, and I couldn't do that, but I tried anyway." Jun offered bluntly, and I flinched.

I sat up and locked eyes with Jun because I was seriously shaken by his words.

It made sense.

A quick check of my system later I confirmed. I had 10 points of open adaptation right now. The last time I had even gotten close to that much was when I first got my arms, and I hadn't been doing well then either.

The ache in my neck brought myself back to focus.

Had I had a Cyberpsychosis fit? Was that how the effect manifested in me? Random bursts of surety of something that I also knew was false?

I had acted like Sasha actually died, even while knowing she hadn't, and yet… I had been sure I had just watched her die.

"Fuck." I muttered more than a little tilted. "I'm gonna go crash Jun. Thanks for the hug."

"Alright. Rest well. I'll make sure none of your chooms bother you?"

"Yeah, for a few days I'll need to rest." I agreed, mostly because I didn't want anyone asking me questions like how I'm okay after melting my old Cyberdeck.

Fuck.

—--

Eight hours later I was awake, but not sure what to do. I lay there in my bed, listening to the quiet noise of the Tachikoma's clacking walk as it moved around my room.

But I didn't want to get up.

I had a lot of adaptation points I needed to fill, and only one stat point. I closed my eyes and sighed. I felt okay right now. The sleep always left me feeling refreshed, and the aches and irritation that built up over time had disappeared thanks to my nap.

My neck didn't ache yet, but I knew as soon as I got up and started moving around it would start again. My shoulders would tighten up around the titanium bones, and overall I would just start feeling irritated and bad.

So I needed stat points, and I needed them stat.

Heh.

I sighed and finally rose up, I couldn't just lay in bed all day….

Well I could, being able to sleep at will was pretty handy, but I didn't want to. Instead I walked over to my laptop and settled in. Without my Cyberdeck I was limited in some things, but I could still work over some code.

I checked over the Tachikoma code and nodded. It was cleaner. The Tachikoma's development was going really well, and I guess… Since I was stuck inside for a bit I could get some work done on it, some focused development would be good for it.

"Let's clean up your learning subroutines, and maybe expand them a bit." I muttered as I settled in to start typing. There were some lines in the learning code, that I could clean up easily, and I really should.

The Tachikoma had figured out how to pick things up and move them around, and it had done it mostly on its own. The actual kernel that was its learning process was really starting to come together naturally. Soon the Tachikoma would be able to learn things on its own without my input.

With just a little more help anyways.

—--

"Motoko? You up?" Jun asked, knocking quietly on my door and I pulled back from the laptop that I had been in depth working through.

"Yeah Jun. Come on in. What's up?" I asked and he opened the door, looking me over and seemingly being satisfied.

"You sleep okay?"

"Perfectly. What's up?"

"Heading out. Got some work. You'll be okay?"

"Yeah I probably won't go anywhere, unless Vik gets back to me."

"Alright… Rest! Oh and your choom Rebecca called a few times. She's worried. Send her a message or something soon?"

"Oh… yeah I can do that. Thanks Jun." He nodded and then disappeared and I needed to do some damage control.

I stepped away from the laptop to flop on my bed. Bypassing the Tachikoma that was putting blocks of steel on top of eachother into a Pyramid.

"Good job." I told it, despite it not really being able to understand verbal commands yet.

Sighing into my pillow I sent out a text.

*Motoko: Hey Becca.* I waited and I was relieved that Becca responded back nearly instantly.

*Rebecca: MOTOKO! You okay choom? Sasha was freaking worried you melted your brains out of your skull!*

*Motoko: Yeah, I went overboard for sure. My cyberdeck was damaged, which, Yeah, not great. I was alright though. Had someone watching, and then made sure I didn't fry myself.* I lied with that, but it was the easiest explanation on why I didn't melt my own brain.

*Rebecca: Well good. I'll tell Sasha, she was freaking out. Like really freaking out. Wouldn't go into what happened, just that you had probably killed yourself. Scared the shit out of me.*

*Motoko: Sasha had me go to a Netrunner Combat Zone. Then while I was saying I'm not that interested in trying that out, especially since I've never seen it before. She tricked me into walking into the access Lobby, which threw me into the battle arena. Sasha isn't my favorite person right now.*

*Rebecca: Fuck Fuck! Sasha pulls shit like this sometimes, tricks people into shit. I'm sorry. Shit.*

*Motoko: Not your fault choom… And not Sasha's entirely either. I saw her get beaten, in the arena and I reacted badly. I thought she was dead, but I knew she wasn't. It's stupid I reacted bad, burned myself because of it. Tell her, it's not entirely her fault.*

*Rebecca: You should, maybe tell her yourself? She's really upset.*

I sighed, my face buried into my pillow. I brought my hand up and rubbed at my hair. The cool chrome felt nice. I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk to Sasha.

The feeling of betrayal wasn't entirely accurate. But I still felt it. After trying to save her life, and succeeding, she had pulled that shit on me.

It was a fact that I was going to have to decide if Sasha was still going to be someone I wanted to be around after this. The fact she threw me into a Combat Zone like that without warning wasn't okay.

*Motoko: I'll think about it. Tell her I'm okay for now. I just can't go on the net until I get a new Cyberdeck.*

*Rebecca: Shit, that's serious damage for a Cyberdeck, feel better okay choom? You need anything? I don't have a ride, but I can get around if I need to.*

*Motoko: I appreciate it Rebecca, but I have Jun around if I need something. And I'll probably call up Hiromi and the gang and let them know what's up. So I'll be flooded with people soon.*

*Rebecca: Okay. Okay I'll talk to Sasha, and bitch her out too. That shits not cool. See you?*

*Motoko: For sure! We'll hang out soon.*

I pulled away from the pillow. Sasha was bothered by what she had done? Good. She should be, but… Dammit.

*Motoko: I'm alive, and okay. Cyberdeck is wrecked… That's not your fault. Not entirely anyways. I'm not really in the mood to chat, so… We'll talk another time.*

There. I ignored if I would get a response to that and instead sent some messages to my chooms.

—--

I was sitting on my couch mostly just vegging out, when my front door opened.

"Motoko!" Hiromi's warcry echoed through the apartment and I sat up so she could see me. Then she rushed me.

"Hey, easy!" I said as she nearly leapt over the couch to pull me into a hug.

"You're okay? Not dead? No brain damage? Promise!?"

"I'm okay. Vik checked me over, and other than trashing my Cyberdeck, I'll be okay with some rest."

"Lucky! Lucky lucky! Idiot! To get your cyberdeck hot enough to damage it means it was hot enough to cause heatstroke if not worse! You are so lucky you are… Not drooling mindlessly!"

"I know. I know." I agreed and Hiromi looked me over checking to make sure before seemingly calming down when she didn't see anything wrong. Then she reached for my neck and I let her examine my Cyberdeck port.

"It's fine Hiromi."

"I took a class on overusing netrunners and the damage it causes! Considering how valuable a trained netrunner can be, it's something we are warned not to let them burn out unless necessary! I saw video Motoko! Heads catching on fire was one of the least horrible things!"

"And I'm okay."

Finally satisfied, she nodded firmly. "Lucky."

"I'll be even luckier if I can rely on my chooms as spotters in the future whenever I go into the net. I'll probably set up an emergency coolant in the future."

"Emergency coolant?" She asked with a look.

"Yep! A bucket of Ice water you can dunk my head into if I start overheating!"

"Gonk." Hiromi replied but she was acting, I could see the way her shoulders shook a bit to hold back her laughter.

"It's a good idea you know!"

"It's dumb. I'll put out word for some improved cooling systems, maybe a netrunning cap?"

"Ugh. Those are so ugly though. I'll look dumb with one of those on."

"Wha… You gonk! Armor isn't a suggestion it's mandatory! Isn't that what you told us!?" She said suddenly leaping at me, her fingers reaching for my throat. Yelping a bit I managed to fend her off as she leapt on top of me.

"Hiromi!"

"Wear your stupid netrunner armor you gonk!" She demanded trying to overpower me, but like…

Hiromi wasn't in the best shape so I easily held her hands off.

"Okay okay! You win. I'll wear the dumb Netrunner cap."

"Good! Those are meant to run coolant to your head you numbskull!"

I nodded and then since Hiromi was distracted it was time.

"A chance!" I cried out, surprising Hiromi as I maneuvered my foot up into her stomach and gently flipped her right off me.

She flopped onto the couch with a quiet oof, and then I kicked up.

I landed softly making sure not to land on Hiromi directly as I had flipped our position, pinning her to the couch.

"Heh! You are a thousand years too early to out wrestle me." I told her firmly and then winked as I stood up. "You want a drink? I'm not really planning on going out or anything today, so if you want to hang out, that's cool."

Hiromi was quiet. Sorry Hiromi! Gotta work on that body if you want to defeat me!

 

[Seras]

Sasha

She paced. What else could she do? She had taken a total noob, one that had some serious talent, but was still just a kid and nearly got her killed.

"Chill whiskers, Motoko is fine."

"I know more about netrunning and what a cyberdeck overheating does to someone than you do Becca. Motoko might be okay, but she isn't okay." She responded back, almost snapping as she continued to pace.

All because she had wanted to fight, to feel alive. Her arm twitched and she wanted nothing more than to smash it to pieces.

She hated the way it made her feel. Her mother had always told her how her arm was out to get her, that it was why…

Sasha shook it off. She didn't want to think like that. It was Securicine that had caused all of that. Her mother had always been so kinda before the war, and even when she came back. It had been the slow after effect that had left her…

Sasha reached up to touch her nose.

It wasn't bleeding. There was no blood. Her mother hadn't had another rage and hit her. But her arm, it terrified her, what if… What if she was like her mother, what if it wasn't Securicine that had caused her mothers fits?

What if it made her blank out and beat Rebecca to a pulp? What if it made her drag a perfectly nice kid, that had a so obvious crush on her it was the most adorable thing ever and drag her into a mess that almost got her killed?

"Fuck." She hissed wanting to smash something, but that was odd too, Sasha wasn't the physical destruction type. She hadn't wanted to be like how her mother was at the end. Smashing things because she couldn't control herself in her anger.

"Hey." A voice, deep and baritone and a strong hand on her shoulder made her stop. "Ease up Sasha. Ain't nothing wrong that can't be fixed."

"I almost got the kid killed Maine."

"Sounds like she almost got herself killed to me."

"She wouldn't have been there if I hadn't literally tricked her into it! She was even telling me that she wasn't interested! I just didn't care! I was so selfish I just wanted a fight! Something to do!"

"Sounds like an apology then. Nothing to get this worked up over." He rumbled but he also didn't understand. Maines entire perspective on Netrunning was action movie bullshit. Where the sexy femme fatal sidekick opened doors for the slick solo.

Sasha loved those movies, even if they were complete scop.

"I agree with Maine, Whiskers." Becca cut in. "I've only known Motoko for a bit so I can't guarantee nothin' but she's pretty chill, and she's not bothered by fuckups."
Sasha shook her head, it wasn't just what she had done.

Noobs were everywhere on the net, and when you took one under your wing, you're supposed to watch out for them. You don't kick them into a Combat Zone without even knowing their actual skill level!

That fucking fox was going to kill her.

"I can't apologize when she won't pick up." She admitted, and Whiskers nodded.

"It might take a bit choom. You betrayed her trust. Massive gonk move."

"I know." She flopped onto the couch and just stared up at the ceiling. What a fucking mess. "My arm itches." She whispered aloud, one of the first times she had admitted to the problems with her chrome.

Maine didn't get it. Even now he looked at her like he wanted to just tell her to scratch it then.

But Becca was smart. Surprisingly empathetic when she wanted to. She understood.

"Just a little longer choom. Then Bio-Technica will be off your tail, and we can swap you for some meat. Ease back on the chrome." Rebecca offered trying to be the mature young woman she was on the inside.

"I know." Just a little longer. Just a little longer.

Just a little longer.

—---

Ichi and Malcolm both reached out to check on me after letting my chooms know what happened, but I hadn't needed to have everyone over to look at how not injured I was.

Instead Hiromi and I hung out until she finally relaxed realizing I was okay, and then when she left that night I fell asleep early.

A day passed with me mostly tinkering with Tachikoma, lazing around, and avoiding going out. Giving myself a faux time to 'heal' from any damage.

I slept again mostly just to skip time

The next morning I woke up, stretched and forced myself up. I still could do more work on the Tachikoma, but what I really needed was to start searching for a new Cyberdeck.

As I hit the shower and got dressed I sent a message to Vik. Unfortunately when he got back it wasn't good news.

*Vik: I have some decks, and managed to source a Seacho Mk.1. Not as good as what you had, but it's workable. But I have a feeling that's not what you want. Suggest asking around and putting your ear to the ground. I'll keep checking for you.*

Not what I wanted, but Vik was only a miracle worker with one of his skills.

*Motoko: Thanks Vik. I'm going to look around.*

With that I sent a text to another source.

*Motoko: Hey Wakako. I had a thing, and I need a new Cyberdeck. Do you have any leads?*

I was just putting on my boots when I got a response.

*Wakako: You are more useful to me with all your tricks so I will help with this. Stop by.*

Well that sounded good.

I hurried out of the apartment, noticing that Jun was home, but sleeping. A few minutes later I pulled up to the entrance of Jig-jig street and headed inside.

The crowds were as dense as always. But my eyes kept being drawn over to the vending machines on the sides of the street.

I couldn't hack them. It was something I had grown so incredibly used to. It felt weird not having access to the net. Cameras around me were still noticed with my Kiroshi, but I couldn't turn them off with a thought anymore. I couldn't blind anyone I faced, or simply shocked them all unconscious.

I wanted to get a Cyberdeck ASAP.

Wakako's parlor was the same as always, and I walked right in. This time she wasn't on a call, or even pretending to ignore me. She pointed at the chair across from her and I sat.

"So you burned yourself out? Surprising you aren't dead." She said and I sighed as I realized she was going to grill me first.

Dangit.

"I had some plans in place in case I ever overheated. They saved me from any permanent damage. Although my head still hurts." I lied to her and she watched me with her sharp eyes for a moment before nodding.

"At least you were wise enough not to get your fool self killed. Truly, what a waste that would have been." She said and it took me a second to realize that was actually a compliment.

"Thanks."

"Hardly a compliment. Keeping yourself alive is the first step, fool girl. But you need a new Cyberdeck."

"Yep. I'm offline at the moment."

"Hmm." She responded, but didn't actually say anything more as she took a drag on her cigarette. "I don't have anything I can offer. Dr. Vector's request for information on a new high end deck has already been passed on. There are those that are happy to work with the Doctor, to find what he requests, but it's quiet currently."

"Oh."

"You will likely need to source one directly." She said puffing away and I frowned.

"I don't really like to take people's chrome." I said honestly and Wakako just scoffed.

"You are the oddest killer I have ever met." She nearly snapped, but still she seemed to calm herself. "Be careful fool girl. Without your usual equipment, death is around any corner. I've seen many netrunners die due to being in between equipment."

I looked at her.

She looked at me, and basically waved me off with her cigarette.

"Wait."

"You should leave girl." Wakako said noticeably as I came to a realization.

"You called me down here after I told you about me needing a deck, but you don't even have one! You just wanted to check on me!" I said finger pointing. Wakako took a breath and glared.

"I simply wished to make sure my agent didn't melt her fool brain out of her ears. When I was informed about what happened, I had started writing you off, believing you would need help going to the bathroom for the rest of your life." She said and I blinked.

"It's not that bad." I demurred.

"I was a doctor in my youth girl. I know exactly 'how bad' an overheated Cyberdeck is. Especially in some fools tiny head. Perhaps your lack of brains kept you alive?"
"Okay okay! I get it. You are grumpy. I'll leave." I said standing up with my hands raised, Wakako was getting nasty, but I stopped at the door. "Thanks for worrying." I told her and smirked as I walked out, because her answering scoff was great.

Okay in that case…

I needed to go see Yoko.

—--

"The resurrection of the dead was true." Yoko said to me bluntly as I walked into her shop.

"I didn't die."

"No you didn't. Good. I was cross when I saw what happened. Your battle strategy needs more work." She told me, but despite her monotone tone, there was a hint of teasing from the older woman.

"I'll work on it, especially when I was thrown in without any idea what was going on."

"Yes… I heard." Yoko's usual monotone was gone, and she nearly scowled which was unusual to see on her real face. "Sasha Yakovleva is not my favorite person at the moment."

I considered defending her, but honestly?

"Yeah me neither. I would have loved to take part in a cool netrunner battle if she hadn't thrown me in without any idea what was going on."

Yoko nodded. "I had considered introducing you to it myself, but you are like a cat that only dips its toes in the waters of the net when you must."

"I go into the net!"

She simply stared at me past her tiny dark sunglasses.

"Okay sure, I don't like hang out in it." I mumbled.

She smirked at me, a faint thing but it was there.

"You have been a unique apprentice to the net. I often have to shoo overly dedicated, but unskilled runners to take time to improve their skills. Not wait for far too long before a stray cat struts back into my temple."

I scoffed. "Don't you start either. I've already had to tell Sasha to stop calling me Kitten. I'm not a cat. Much less a stray one!"

"We'll see, I suppose." She offered but then frowned, her hand rose up and beckoned me over. Curious, I stepped0 close, and she gently placed a hand on the nape of my neck, feeling and confirming the obvious. "You lost your Cyberdeck."

"Damaged, more expensive to fix it then just find an upgrade."

"The damage you did to yourself is worse than I thought then… How did you survive?"

"I have good chooms, and I got lucky." She watched me from behind her dark glasses before pulling her hand away.

"Good medicine, and a skilled ripper too. Good. A Netrunner needs all of these things. You need a new deck."

"Yeah. Vik, couldn't find one, and I talked to Wakako already-"

"I'm aware. I do keep my ear to the ripper information network. Vik is a pleasing Ripper to work with. He is already well aware we are in the network and often throws out requests through it for cyberware." She said with a faint smile. "But what you are asking for isn't easy to find."

"I figured."

"Well, considering your performance, you certainly have the skills to use a higher end deck." She said and I felt a surge of hope because Yoko was looking like she was playing a trick.

"You know of one?"
"I have my ear to the pulse of the whole city. I know where many high end decks are that you could collect. Normally, I would tell you one of the more difficult locations. Maybe put you through a gig collecting something for me." She offered teasing, in that monotone way of hers.

But then she leaned in. "But you are my apprentice, and I won't let that stray cat with more ardor than brains stake a claim on you. I'll send you the deets. It'll cost you though, the owner isn't a runner, so it'll be in eddies."

"Eddies, I can do."

"Good. Go on then Motoko, go become the Ghost in the Shell again." She offered and I almost jerked.

"How did you know that? I only told Sasha that!"

"You think people weren't watching? It's a cute name. A good one." She assured me, and then waved her hand for me to get going.

Embarrassed despite myself I nodded as I got the text and headed out. Time to make a deal…

Then I realized that was a bad idea, and made a call.

*Hiromi, I can use your help once your class is over. I need to buy a new deck and-*

*Don't say another word. I'm in. Come pick me up, I'll be out of class in a few minutes.*

*What? Hiromi you should finish your classes, it's not that big a rush.*

*Nope! This is definitely important! You without a Cyberdeck is a weakness I'm not comfortable with! Come pick me up! Bye!* And the call ended without me being able to argue further.

I just sighed and shrugged. Fine.

—--

When I picked up Hiromi she had instantly asked for the message I sent, and had then gone on to make a call to the contact, to set up the meeting. Something I hadn't thought about…

I was just going to go there and meet them…

"Hmm. The details are set, and we got a location. Your netrunner choom seems to have come through." Hiromi added and I just shook my head at her antics.

"I mean, you saw what it was." The details had come with what I was going to collect, and I had been very surprised.

Yoko hadn't just found me a cyberdeck, she had found a top of the line deck that fit my speciality.

"Don't remind me. I don't even want to know how a Mk.4 Shadow got out of the company." Hiromi muttered.

The Arasaka Shadow. It was one of the specialty Cyberdecks made by Arasaka, and it was basically custom made for corporate espionage. Stealth, and data gathering, a lightning fast response time, and enough RAM to carry a plethora of programs and Daemons.

All usually locked up tight in an Arasaka agent's skull.

Honestly I was half way suspecting we were about to meet someone that had either flatlined an Arasaka corpo, or had shown up at the right time after one got flatlined. Either way it was a benefit to me, and if Yoko gave me the information, it wasn't likely going to end up as a trap.

Not that I wouldn't prepare anyways.

Especially with where we had to go.

Dogtown.

I almost called Hiromi back, telling her I wasn't picking her up when I had read through the details Yoko had sent me.

Instead I forced myself to relax. I had been there, Dogtown was safe enough. My instant reaction had been an overreaction. Just like the overreaction at Sasha's death.

So I was going to prepare, I would be safe, but I would follow 'common sense' that everyone told me, that Dogtown was fine.

"You have your gun right?"

"Of course. It's right here. I keep it in the armory during classes. Don't go anywhere without a weapon, Motoko." Hiromi said, showing her bag that had her Yukimura holstered inside.

"Good good… Make sure you put that on. Just in case." I said trying not to get twitchy with the idea of taking Hiromi to Dogtown with only a pistol and no armor. "You think we should call the boys in?"

"Motoko, it's just a trade deal. I'll be fine with you watching my back." She assured me, and that settled it. Even if the idea of calling in Jackie, Jun, the rest of Section 9, and even Rebecca sounded like a good idea to me.

My neck hurt.

I rubbed it lightly feeling that crick in my back again. I did have a stat point leftover still… As I drove I considered it. I was planning on putting points into my adaptation anyways. So I might as well do it now.

My own stat point disappeared and was dropped into my ODA Neural Link.

Arasaka ODA Neural Link Mk3 *Adaptation ODA Mk.3 1/2*

Yeah that looked better.

I played with my neck as I drove and frowned. The crick in my neck was still there, but as I worked it, it seemed to untense, and I almost sighed in relief.

At least if it came back I could relax my neck without needing to sleep to make myself feel normal.

"Motoko?" Hiromi asked, having been looking over at me, as I seemed to be rolling my neck around.

"Just a crick in my neck that finally let go." I admitted with a smile.

Then as we drove down the roads we finally reached the Dogtown entrance.

"Your pass still works right?"

"Yeah it should." Hiromi said and then as we pulled up we were scanned, checked, and allowed through without any issue.

And then once more I was on the roads of Dogtown.

"Heavy Hearts is over there." Hiromi added, reminding me of something I already knew, but I just nodded and turned left down the road from the entrance.

Hiromi often repeated things like that while nervous. So it seems despite her confidence in Dogtown she got nervous about coming here too.

I pulled up to a parking spot out front, and stepped out, eyes narrowed as I scanned everything around me, wishing once again I had my Cyberdeck already installed.

Hiromi stepped out and adjusted herself. She had slipped out of her Arasaka academy jacket, and was wearing one of her usual ones. Even if the slacks and dress shirt underneath hinted at her corpo origins.

I quickly joined her and we both walked towards the entrance. The concrete stairs were surprisingly empty of trash, as we walked up and into a small entrance area.

With a Barghest man leaning against the side of the door.

There were a few people idling around, some seemed to be waiting, some looked irritated, glancing at the guard over and over.

"Beat it kids." He offered as we approached, and I could see the way Hiromi's back stiffened at the insult.

"We have business in the club." I cut off, before Hiromi could give him a talking to.

"You and half of the Night City brats that come by wanting an easy drink." The guard replied back, barely even paying attention to us.

"We are not-"

"Hiromi, chill." I pulled back my choom who was getting heated up at treatment. "We have a number for our contact. I'll send them a heads up. Nothing to stress about."

Hiromi, continued to glare, but thought better of saying anything and nodded, straightening up her clothes as I led her off to the side.

I sent off a text. Letting them know there was an issue entering the club.

Then we settled in to wait.

 

[Seras]

Hiromi didn't say anything, but her constant pacing was evidence of her irritation.

"It's not that big a deal." I whispered to her quietly, avoiding the glare of the door guard.

"I know. It's just frustrating to be treated like a child! We have more rep than half of the people in that club I'd bet."

"It's the problem with still being a teenager. We'll grow. Besides, it also means people underestimate us." I added, with a smile. I really wish I had my Cyberdeck right now. I'd have been able to blind the guard, or distract him or something. Giving us a path inside.

I suppose I could go check around for a rear entrance as well, but I wasn't here to kill someone, so I didn't want to treat it like that.

The door to the club opened and a man stepped out, suit and dark glasses, he looked like every guard I had ever seen. He was even carrying a pistol in the small of his back. I watched him carefully as the music flowed out behind him as he looked around. A few moments later he frowned which I caught out of the corner of my eye, before I suddenly got a text.

*Elis: I'm at the entrance where are you?*

I blinked looking at the man, before shrugging and pulling Hiromi out of her pacing.

"Right here." I called out looking at the man.

The obvious guard looked at us, and I could see the confusion in his eyes.

"I'm assuming it's your boss that has the item? Shall we?" I asked, and he stared for a while longer before nodding slowly.

Hiromi shot me a smile and a nod, obviously proud at how I had handled it.

This time the Barghest guard didn't say anything as we were led inside. And I tugged Hiromi fast before she could do more than glare at him.

The club was large, a dance floor, a bar, and lots of seating. This was definitely the largest of all the clubs I had gone into, not even touching on the higher floors.

This place was massive.

We followed the guard as he led us to a door on the left side of the building, and then up a set of stairs.

We were led into a private room just off the stairs. It opened and he stepped inside, holding the door open behind him.

"Well I think we found our contact." I told Hiromi as I stepped inside.

The man inside wasn't someone I recognized. It was just a rich kid.

Well, he was in his twenties, but he wore enough high end chrome, and clothes that it felt like he was trying to shove his wealth into my face.

"The fuck?" He asked, and I instantly felt myself die inside. This wasn't going to be fun. "Who are the kids?"

"The ones that responded to the message boss." The Guard offered simply and he kept staring at us.

I was pretty sure I could take him if I had to.

"Yoko put us in contact. You have something we are interested in purchasing, and we have the eddies you want." Hiromi cut in, smoothly stepping forward towards the little club couches the kid was sitting on. I decided to put myself into position as well. Across the door from the guard I took position, casually standing there, with everyone in the room in my sights.

Hiromi settled down casually throwing her jacket over the back of the couch she settled on as she crossed her legs and settled herself comfortably. She looked every inch the corporate woman she was.

While Hiromi settled in, I did the same, and caught the way the guard in glasses was side eyeing me. The man was suddenly much more tense with the awareness of what I was doing.

I wasn't just some kid, but Hiromi's guard. I didn't bother to hide that my hands were close to my weapons.

The guard shifted similarly, and we both continued to side eye each other.

"Fucking hell. Yoko said she had a buyer for this shit… You got any eddies kid?"

"Yoko wouldn't have put us in touch if there was an issue with that. Now, do you have the item?" Hiromi said instead. I could practically see the way her mind was working, following a script in her head about how to handle business deals. She was acting overly casual, despite the tenseness of her shoulder I could see. As she struggled to make her movements sleek and confident.

"Pfft. Course I do. One Arasaka Mk.4 Cyberdeck. The Arasaka Shadow! Heh, can't even tell you how I got the thing, you understand." He offered smugly, as he reached into his jacket, and pulled out a Cyberdeck canister.

At least he was carrying it safely.

"I'll need to check it."

"I'll need to make sure you have eddies." The man cut off. Seemingly going stubborn.

"Let's talk potential price then." Hiromi agreed, and I watched as the two started haggling out a price, depending on quality, and if the Cyberdeck had any damage.

It was fascinating to watch.

I tensed, as I heard it, the door opening to my side. My hand was instantly on my Burya, and the other guard had shifted as well, whether because he noticed it, or because he had noticed me.

The door opened.

"The bottle that was requested." A chipper voice called out as a woman in a uniform stepped in and then stopped as she noticed me and the guard.

I scanned her, checking everything over, but before I could finish the kid called out.

"Finally! Gimme that, been waiting ten minutes!" He grumbled and the guard and I both stared at each other.

I let go of my gun first and relaxed back, and a moment later the guard did the same.

We watched on as the bottle of champagne was dropped off, and then the deal continued while the man got his glass filled up.

"Alright, alright, fine. Scan the damn thing." He grumbled, as Hiromi finally locked him into a price as long as the quality of the cyberware was good.

I watched as she popped open the container pulling out the black and red Cyberdeck giving it a thorough look over before closing it back down.

"It looks good. A little wear and tear, but nothing that can't be cleaned up. I'll accept the price." Hiromi said and the man looked her over before scoffing out and shaking his head.

"Brats with too many eddies to their name. Alright, pass it over and the deck is yours. How'd some corpo brat get in with Yoko anyways?" He asked, suddenly and Hiromi took a moment to consider before speaking.

"My choom is a very skilled netrunner." Hiromi added simply glancing at me, and I just nodded in turn.

"Huh. So the deck is for you then? Guess that fits. Can't say I'm not happy to see that thing go. Can't tell you how I got it, but it's good that it's out of my hands. Seriously Yoko, sending a couple brats at me like this? Whatever, You're eddies are good, and that means I can go party. Get out of here." He demanded waving us off, and Hiromi nodded, carrying the Cyberdeck and walking out.

I let her out first and then made sure to keep an eye on the guard, but nothing happened, and we were out.

"Let's get out of here." I said and Hiromi nodded, as we walked back out to the car, and then out of Dogtown.

—--

"Whew, kid. This is a good find." Vik offered an hour later as I drove straight to his clinic. Hiromi had been super proud the whole way. Nose up in the air and constantly remarking about how good the deal was.

I just nodded, paid the number she had told me to, and got my deck. Eddies were just eddies, and I could make a bunch of eddies just by taking a job to flatline someone, so it wasn't really a big deal.

But a new Cyberdeck? That was a big deal.

So of course I knew what Hiromi wanted.

"Hiromi did a great job on haggling for it. Got it for a steal." I told Vik who looked up from the Cyberdeck to me, before smiling.

"Did she? Well excellent job kid." Vik offered, looking to Hiromi who sat up straight at the attention.

"It was nothing!" She assured us but the way she was practically preening told us both a different story. I smirked at Vik and he winked back.

"Well let me go over this thing. I'll want to clean it up, and give it a scan, you never know what malware someone might have gotten stuck on used chrome."

"The Arasaka 'Shadow' Mk.4 Cyberdeck system has top of the line anti-virus programming. You won't find anything on it." Hiromi said confidently.

"Well, this one's probably been cracked, so you never know what the guy who used it last was up to."

"Oh… I didn't consider that." She said, sounding a little embarrassed but I sent her a smile even so.

"It's fine. Vik's a pro, that's why I go to him." I looked to the older man and smiled and he actually looked pleased with my confidence in him.

"Well I'll do alright, but I'm not the best in the city." He demurred, but I ignored him, because that was a lie. Vik being humble. There was no one better, and anyone who tried to convince me otherwise was lying. "Still… This is a high end deck kid. Hell of a find. You better be careful, something like this is still fresh enough, whoever owned it before might still be registered to it."

"If you mean the previous Arasaka user? Then I wouldn't worry too much. I plan on sending in a notification saying I came across it while making a deal and pulled it off the free market." Hiromi said and I looked to her, as Vik did the same thing.

"You sure that's a good idea kid?"

"I don't know if that's a good idea Hiromi." Vik and I both spoke but she just waved me off.

"Relax, I'm not going to tell them who has it now, because it'll just be registered to me, and I can just say I sold it off after. Nothing weird. It happens all the time. I'll talk to my Dad about it just to make sure it's all done correctly. I'll put in a statement about how I came across it, but Dogtown dealer is a standard dropdown on the form."

"Just don't put anything that can lead back to the dealer. I don't want to piss off Yoko…"

"I won't, don't worry. I know to keep contacts safe." She assured me and eventually I nodded.

"Can't say I'm used to having someone with so many Arasaka connections around. Bit of a weird feeling." Vik offered and I nodded to him as well. It was weird.

"Alright let me look into this, should take me a bit kid I'm going to want to do a deep dive on it."

"That's fine I'm not in a rush. Thanks Vik."

"Sure kid." He smiled at me, as he continued to go over the Cyberdeck with his scanner.

I would have happily sat there for a while, but Hiromi was getting anxious just sitting around. Her knee was tapping so I rose up.

"I think I'll go for a bit of a walk, maybe get some food. Let me know when you're ready Vik?"

"Sure kid. Say hi to Misty for me." He said with a smile telling me he knew exactly what I was up to.

"Huh?" Hiromi asked as I walked past her and waved for her to join me.

"Come on." I called out and soon Hiromi led me up into Misty's shop.

"Oh hello! It's.. Hiromi! I remembered." Misty greeted as she saw us step in from her back door.

"Nice to meet you again." Hiromi offered back a little stiffly.

"Misty! You hungry? Vik is going over my new deck with a fine toothed comb, so I figured we could eat and hang out, if you aren't busy?"

"Nope. Food sounds nice, it'll be a nice distraction!" Misty said as she flipped closed the magazine she was looking at.

"Preem! I'll go grab some stuff. Oh Misty! You should do Hiromi's fortune! Your tarot is awesome. I'll be back okay!" I said not leaving Hiromi any choice as I hurried away.

Misty was great at relieving tension, and making everyone relax. Hiromi was a little tense, so some spirit time would do her good.

—--

When I got back, bags of food in my hands I stopped.

Hiromi and Misty both looked at me, and started giggling.

"What?" I asked looking around behind me, not seeing anything then looking over my body. I didn't have anything weird on me! My clothes weren't ripped. I looked up and both of them just refused to say anything, just shaking their head.

"Mean." I grumbled, but wandered over, Misty's tarot cards were out but put away and I almost asked, but decided Hiromi would share if she felt the need.

"I'm glad you brought Hiromi, Motoko. It was nice to have someone to chat with." Misty offered as her only explanation for the giggling.

"Hiromi doesn't look as tense either… Although she is a little red? Did you have some weird medical thing… Not that what you do is weird Misty!"

Misty just giggled and Hiromi groaned.

Not sure what that was all about. Either way we settled in to eat, and I slurped up my tasty noodles, as we all started chatting. Misty sharing tidbits about strang clients coming in. Although she did run out of those quickly enough.

We settled in for a good veg session, and it was pretty nice. Misty had awesome big sister energy, and Hiromi to my surprise was responding to it really well. I guess she was an only child. It would make Misty's gentle teasing pretty new.

Eventually though it was time. Vik sent a text, and I rose up instantly. "Gotta go! I'll be back!" I called out as I hurried out the back of Misty's shop.

Cyberdeck! New Cyberdeck!

I skipped down the stairs bouncing to a stop.

"It's ready?"

"It's ready." Vik confirmed. "I cleaned up some connections, and checked the OS. It was definitely cracked. Someone used it after they took it from its original owner. I cleared up the scum and put in my own program. Mine isn't full of Malware but I suggest you check things over."
"You are the best Vik." I said as I took a deep breath and then moved forward. It was time to get a limb back.

I settled in, and Vik got to work. I didn't need to sleep for the install, and my port was already empty. Vik popped open my Cyberdeck port in my head, and then slipped the chip inside. It felt like nothing except strange pressure moving my head around until it locked in place, and connected to the chip.

My agent flashed with the confirmed connection, and a blast of data scrolled across my eyes as it connected and installed, and then the chip activated.

I sighed in relief, because it really did feel like a lost limb restored. I looked around and the radio was mine. Instantly. Far far faster than I could have before.

"Looks good." I muttered and Vik just chuckled.

"You should really wait for me to do a few checks before starting it up." He said half jokingly, as he continued to press scanners to my head connecting to my neural link and checking everything.

"Looks good. Install complete."

I nodded, checking my status.

The old status had been replaced.

Seacho Electronics Mk.2 *Adaptation Seacho Mk.2 0/0* (WARNING DAMAGED)

I wouldn't be seeing that anymore.

Now it looked like this.

Arasaka Corporation Cyberdeck 'Shadow' Mk.4 *Adaptation 'Shadow' Mk.4 0/0*

There it was. Everything was… Good.

"It's great Vik."

"I only installed it kid, you're the one who found it." He waved off. Not realizing how big having Vik there to fix me up meant to me. I threw him a smile and then because fuck it. I jumped off the chair and through my arms around the old ripper.

"Thank you." I told him, hugging him tightly not letting him get away.

"H-Hey, c'mon kid." Vik stuttered, sounding a little strangled, so I let go, and got to see Vik's face blushing at my affection.

"You're awesome Vik. I owe you one."

"You pay me kid, don't make it that big a deal." He tried to downplay but I just smiled and he looked defeated. "Alright get out of here, someone sees you turning me into a big softy, gonna ruin my rep." He said with a wink at the end. I just cackled and ran off, so much more room in my cyberdeck! I would have to install some new hacks first thing, but the whole world was my oyster!

 

[Seras]

I ended up hanging out with Misty and Hiromi for a couple of hours. The three of us just all hanging out.

Misty sometimes looked a little embarrassed about hanging out with a couple of girls much younger than her, but in the end Hiromi and I were cool, and Misty relaxed and enjoyed sending out her big sister energy.

Hiromi definitely liked it. I guess being an only child meant you didn't normally get to experience some things.

Afterwards I dropped Hiromi off at home. She still had school tomorrow, and I headed to my netrunner cave.

Pulling a fresh batch of hacks off my server when I got there, I spent a little bit installing all of my normal hacks so I was back in action. Yet even with all the hacks installed I still had a lot more space in my new deck.

I made a mental note that I should buy some new hacks and fill it out… In fact I should do that right now.

I jumped onto my netchair and started hooking myself up, before wincing at the smell.

I had sweat like a pig while overheating.

Grabbing a scrubby brush I found under the sink and a bucket I got to work. Cleaning out the pads and making the chair not smell like a locker room.

When I was done, bucket emptied I looked over the chair. It would take a bit to dry, which sort of stymied my plan… I sighed, and grabbed a roller chair, then another, and with a bit of work was able to plug myself in while laying across the roller chairs and leaving the pads on the netrunner chair to dry.

Then I closed my eyes and opened them in the net.

I sighed in relief at returning here. Walking over to the window I looked out over the digital cityscape for a while.

The streaming lights of digital information flowing through this world was as always an interesting sight.

So… Here I was. Back in the net again. With an upgraded Cyberdeck, hacks installed, but… Was I better than I was?

Sure my Cyberdeck was better, I would be able to send out far more hacks before overheating, but…

I had basically been killed if not for my fast healing.

Again.

I'll admit I hadn't really worked overly hard to improve my netrunning recently. I enjoyed casually playing around. Making eddies doing some grinds from time to time…

But I was kind of sick of nearly getting killed.

I looked at my stats.

Level 17

Body 8(16) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 8.
-Athletics 7
-Street Brawler 8
-Annihilation 5

Reflex 8(14) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 6.
-Blades 7
-Handguns 7
-Assault 8
-Driving 7

Intelligence 11 (14) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
-Breach Protocol 10
-Quick Hacks 9
-Programming 11

Cool 9
-Ninjutsu 9
-Cold Blood 8
-Rockerboy 9

Technical Ability 7 (11) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
-Crafting 6
-Engineering 6

0 Stat point.
6 Skill point.


Perks.
Ambidextrous Blades 2
Quickdraw Handguns 2
Gun Nut Assault 2
Parkour Athletics 2
Grappling Street Brawler 2
Drive By Driving 2
Cat-like Athletics 5
Cool Nerves Cold Blood 2
Danger Sense Ninjutsu 2
Wall Breaking Breach Protocol 2
Cyber Security Quick Hack 2
Recoil Reduction Annihilation 2
Cyber Ninja Ninjutsu 5
Fearless Chill Cold Blood 5
Improvised Weapons Street Brawler 5
Parry Blades 5
Robotics wizard Crafting 2
Drifting Driving 5
Rapid Reload Handguns 5
Design Wizard Engineering 2
Rifle Ace Assault 5
Ghost touch Breach 5
Perfect Musical Memory Rockerboy 2
Debug Programming 2
Siren Song Rockerboy 5
Hacking Wizard Quick Hacks 5
Inspired Programmer Programming 5
A.I. Whisperer Programming 10
Slam Fire Annihilation 5
Enduring Builds Crafting 5
Robotics Engineering Engineering 5
*Unselected* Breach 10

Cyberware:
Arasaka Corporation Cyberdeck 'Shadow' Mk.4 *Adaptation 'Shadow' Mk.4 0/0*
Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 1/2*
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 6/6*
Arasaka Smart Link System. *Adaptation Smart Link 0/0*
Arasaka Ex-Disk *Adaptation Ex-Disk 0/0*
Militech-Armalite Ballistic Guard *Adaptation Ballistic Guard 1/2*
Serano Air-Groove Ankles *Adaptation Serano Air 1/1*
MoorE Titanium Bones (Shoulders, back, and ribs. +Legs, Pelvis, and Ribs.) *Adaptation Titanium Bones 0/2*
Biotechnica Muscle and Bone Lace *Adaptation Muscle and Bone Lace 0/0*
Arasaka ODA Neural Link Mk3 *Adaptation ODA Mk.3 1/2*
Dynalar Sandevistan Mk.2 *Adaptation Dynalar Sandevistan 0/4*

I needed another 9 adaptation to cover my chrome. I had no idea if it was going over 10 'open' adaptation had caused the issue, or if it was just my own issues coming to light…

At least my neck didn't bother me anymore. I shook it off and focused on what was important.

Obviously the first thing I needed to deal with was my perk. Breach 10. That was gonna be a big upgrade. Not least because Breach was so integral to net running.

In the end, there was only one that still stuck out to me, at least only one that I could unlock without prerequisites.

Strong Breach: A door is only as strong as the wall. Damage code, break data make your own path.

It would allow me to break into nearly any system, only it would definitely alert anyone on the system something was wrong. Like taking a canon to the front door.

I picked it anyway.

I shivered as the knowledge flooded me. I had a new understanding about server architecture, how fragile it really was. How easy it would be with a virus, to delete just one bit of code and have all the defenses tumble down.

Every system had a weakness. Every system was just code iterative on top of older code, and older.

That would be useful for the future. With that done I focused on everything else.

Eleven was my highest stat. Before I had nearly got killed in the net that hadn't bothered me. Now it did, but I also knew I still had stats that needed to catch up. I was close to bringing a lot of my stats and skills to ten.

I had been playing around a lot recently.

The fact was that playing around let me stay happy. Let me live a life that I wasn't ashamed of so I wasn't upset at the fact, but in order to continue to be able to play around, I needed strength.

I stepped back from the digital landscape.

"Spend some time improving." I whispered a promise to myself.

Then I stepped out, and jumped to the Kabuki Roundabout.

The digital server welcomed me, and I walked up into the Dewdrop Inn. Rolling my eyes at the music that played loudly in my ears, I tweaked my connection, shutting it up to almost nothing, and moved on.

Where was Yoko? I wondered, looking, I didn't see her, but I hadn't exactly been hiding my connection request. A few moments later I saw her, stepping out from a door that led to nowhere. Or to her private space if she wanted. Our eyes met and I nodded to her, and she jerked her head to follow. Back through the shrine door.

I hurried to catch up and stepped through, transferred to that same shrine space I had seen before. "Your deck seems to be serving you well." She offered and I nodded.

"Thank you."

"It was nothing. I got something as the middleman, and paid a debt to you." She waved off, her tails around her twitching as she shifted.

"It wasn't nothing to me… It's nice. To be on the net again, to have a Cyberdeck again. Feels like I just got an arm back."

"Heh. It's been so long since I've disconnected completely I don't think I could properly contemplate it." She agreed and I moved to settle beside her on the stone bench she was resting on, right inside her little shrine space.

"I was hoping to get some… Well information, but more advice than anything." I said and she looked at me, her eyes twisting in rainbow colors.

"Oh?"

"I don't want to nearly get killed like that again. I've spent enough time playing around. I need better weapons. I need information on how netrunners fight, both normally, and in the Combat Zone, and hacks that you'd suggest that I can rewrite for myself."

"Well well. This is unexpected. But not unwelcome. I'll give you all of it for a cheap price. I have a hack I am putting together I could use some debugging on. A new set of eyes to clean it up."

I wanted to groan but nodded. "Deal."

"Well then, Ghost in the Shell. Let's get started. Let's talk about your own performance." She said and with a wave of her hand the space between the Torii gates shifted into a screen.

And I was there. Just my digital avatar, but it was the battle with Sasha.

I settled in despite not getting tired by standing, to watch. But as it went on… It wasn't… Fun.

It was really not fun.

I watched it all the way through from the outsiders perspective. There was a lot I could have done differently, but mostly it was preparing things. I wasn't set up to face Netrunners in that sort of battle.

But to my surprise Yoko didn't share the same thoughts. "Explain your movement here." She asked, and I looked as I saw myself run from the Balrog.

"I moved myself through breaching the server to a new position."

"Yes, but why? Why run?"

"I don't think I can take that thing."

"Why? Because it is fearsome? Because you have no defenses? Why did you run?"

I blinked. "That Daemon would have beaten me."

"You believe so?" She asked, and I was almost wondering if I was wrong, but no.

I was sure. My instincts and knowledge all knew that facing the Balrog was a bad idea.

"Yeah."

"Hmm. You are correct. [HELL FLAME Anh. 2.132] Would not have beaten the Balron in any length of time." She said and I blinked as her speech had shifted from her to a sort of digital statement of what the hack's name was.

It was kinda silly, but okay sure, I wouldn't want to remember the version for something either. But more interesting was that the Balrog was called a Balron? Okay sure.

"Yeah, the Balron had a defensive hack, the fire. The Hell Flame would have just eaten at that, leaving the Daemon plenty of time to do whatever it wanted." I explained, the knowledge I had followed instinctively coming out.

"Indeed. You were able to notice that, that's good. You have good eyes. But why Breach Jump? You could have likely outran the Balron normally. Your speed was greater than the daemon."

I blinked, thinking back to what I had been thinking at the time.

"I think I just wanted to lead it around back to Sasha?"

"Hmm… Your first instinct was the Breach Jump?" She questioned, but it was quiet more to herself.

"I guess?"

"Breach Jumping is a skill. An advanced skill. You used it before, when I let you access the damaged server." She reminded me. "But the use of it then, and the way you used it now are two very different things." She muttered staring, but then she waved and shifted the screen again.

This time, to when I hacked into the server at the start.

"You breached the server quickly. Your opponents hadn't even gotten ready to try and you were already in. Can you do this while defending yourself?"

"I don't know, maybe? Depends on how much defenses I put up, and how much this new deck speeds me up."

"Little to moderately depending." She answered back."With your skill likely little. The Seacho was already good at that." She answered before shrugging again. "My suggestion to you, Motoko? Gaining knowledge of the net is the best thing you can do. Breach whatever server you are on first. Cracking the server means you crack the world itself. You can alter the battlefield, or at least see the battlefield for what it truly is if the defenses are too great."

I nodded, taking that information in.

Slowly Yoko ran me through the battle, questioning different things I did, mostly to see what I thought about them, and offering her own advice after.

It was… Surprisingly useful.

In the end Yoko dumped a lot of data onto me, which took a moment to save it to my server…

Then I narrowed my eyes and glared at her, which she noticed and smiled happily.

"I was wondering if you would catch that." She admitted shamelessly as I cut the Daemon she had sent through, to spy on me.

"Well it's squished now."

"Good. If you only ever listen to one thing from me, then listen to this Ghost in the Shell. Never trust any data you are given by anyone, even someone you trust. Check, double check, and then assume you missed something. Always." She told me, and then suddenly I was forcefully moved outside the Shrine back at the entrance to the roundabout.

I nodded. Good advice.

I jumped back home. Time to get some work done.

—--

I had worked through the night debugging the program Yoko had needed work done on, and I wasn't even going to point out to her that it wasn't her work.

Whoever originally programmed it and then handed it to Yoko for a check over was in for a treat, because I had done a great job fixing all the problems it had.

The program was a virus meant to shut down power supply to an entire building for about five minutes including the back up power.

I wished them luck at whatever gig they were planning. It wasn't my business.

That took up a while but now that it was the next day I was working on the programs that Yoko had given me.

She had sent me a few low level scop hacks. Stuff new runners would use, and I was going through one of them, an offensive hack that was designed to force a logout onto whoever it infested.

Basically against Daemons, it would delete them, as it caused their connection to whatever server they were on to be canceled, kicking them off which would lead to them just being deleted as data.

Netrunners would be harder to deal with, but it was basically the most basics of netrunner battle hacks.

Hack the runner, boot them from the server.

Of course against a runner it would be a fight to see who was the most skilled to get it to work. As any netrunner beyond a complete beginner would be able to try and cancel the forced boot.

I had already considered ways to mitigate it outright, a good Breach Jump would put me in a different section of the server, and so break the servers ability to try and force me out.

Once again Breach showed itself as an incredibly powerful skill while on the net.

Anyway, I was working on making it faster, more compact, and more likely to work when I decided it was probably a good idea to get some food and get away from the net.

Standing up and stretching I took a second to look at my Tachikoma. Its block Pyramid was finished, and it had moved on to exploring different things in my room. Picking things up and examining them. Its system was full of queries about what each object was. I might actually need to connect it to an encyclopedia soon.. Or maybe start adding the system to develop a personality?

The idea of a Tachikoma talking to me asking questions was pretty fucking cute.

I headed out throwing on my jacket and taking the elevator down to the garage. My neck was feeling better, but I still felt more tense than I liked.

The need for more adaptation points was on my mind as I slipped onto my bike and roared out of the garage.

I was thinking back to the Netrunner combat zone. But I felt awkward about it.

Maybe if Sasha hadn't been so Sasha I would have asked her to show me it.

But that was rather burned at the moment. I don't really feel like talking to her. I thought about a few other contacts I had, but none were someone I would really trust like that.

I sighed as I pulled up outside the Sakura market and found a spot to park before heading in for a meal.

I was on the stairs when I got a call from someone that I couldn't just leave hanging.

Especially since she probably knew exactly where I was.

*Hi Wakako.*

*Stop in. Now, I have a job for you on a time limit.*

The call clicked off and I turned and bounded back up the stairs and across the street. Jig jig was the same as always and I jogged to Wakako's parlor, but for once Wakako didn't keep me waiting, she was actually standing outside, smoking a cigarette and making everyone extremely nervous with her glare.

"Say nothing. Take this. Complete the task, I will make it worth your while." She said simply handing me a shard, and I nodded, slotting it.

Hmmm..

Oh. Well that explains the rush.

"I'm on it." I said turning and jogging off.

I almost felt like whistling, because this was going to be fun.

 

[Seras]

Susan Shinama. She was a contact for Wakako. The type that would slip into gangs and send her information. Quite literally a spy.

And right now she was in deep shit.

Someone had caught her, or at least she had sent a message saying someone had blown her cover, and then she had gone radio silent.

That meant Wakako needed her recovered, and the best part? I didn't even need to go do netrunning crap to find her! Wakako had her location.

I had almost gone straight there, the urge to potentially get some xp incredibly tempting, but I had taken a breath, and actually remembered what Jun would say if he found out I ran off by myself without even gearing up.

So I drove home, raced up to the apartment, got armored up, and then switched to the Quadra as I drove to where Susan had gone missing.

It was… A night club.

It felt almost cliche, but she had picked up a gig at a night club run by the Valentinos.

El Jefa. It wasn't like the usual tino bars. The quiet sort of dive bar, Like the Coyote.

No, this was more of a strip club, or a BD bar. The entrance was a set of stairs set into the ground floor of a building that was crowded by other businesses, a Strip Mall. The information Wakako gave me was pretty complete, but it wasn't like I was going to walk into the entrance in broad daylight.

I pulled up to a parking space, and was doubly glad that my Quadra had armored everything, So I was able to see out, but no one could see in.

With Wakako's information I was already in the perfect spot. Right across from me, just over a bunch of plants and junk in the middle of the strip mall's main path was the entrance. Disappearing down into the darkness, but the reason I had parked here? My eyes locked onto a camera just above the entrance, and after a careful moment to breach as quietly as I could, I was in.

The camera didn't pan. Just locked in place above the entrance to the club, but of course it shared the system with all the other cameras in the network. I made to swap over, but mentally stilled.

The server I was in? I wasn't alone.

Very slowly I did everything I could to diminish my presence on the network. The quality of the camera image dropped in quality, sending me far less data so I wouldn't show as large as a blip.

Then I switched to the next camera, and waited. I couldn't swap rapidly through the network without creating additional drain.

So I was staring at the next camera, the bottom of the stairs, an entrance way into the club. A few people walking in. Stopping to pay, and then going in.

I waited for a while just letting the load of the camera be normalized before finally switching.

Next camera was in the club proper. There wasn't the massive dance floor I would see in most TC clubs. Instead it was smaller booths, some set up like BD booths, with a fully closing door. It reminded me of the Heavy Hearts. Private rooms to spend private time in.

The club was a strange shape. A sort of curved hallway that led in a big circle. In the middle there was an elevator. Which was interesting. I wonder where that led. But as I swapped camera's I noticed another room that was sort of like the VIP section.

Ah, I found someone on my info sheet. Julio Hernandez. The man that was in charge of the club. If nothing else, he would know where Susan is.

But then I stilled as I switched to the next camera and I found my current difficulty.

There was a security room that had a netrunner jacked in.

I watched him for a few minutes. I couldn't poke any further into his current actions without alerting him, but at least I knew where he was. First floor, through a security door.

Now how was I going to get to him?

This club had two entrances. The main club entrance with the stairs, and the elevator, which I wasn't sure where it connected to.

I tapped a finger on my knee as I pulled out of the camera system as quietly as I had entered it. How did I want to handle this? Susan was inside somewhere, and I couldn't find her without getting rid of that Netrunner somehow.

I was staring at the entrance to the club when I saw it.

One of the workers there walked up the stairs, pink heels clicking. Pink plastic miniskirt, her top nearly see through. She looked exhausted as she headed out and towards the parking lot…

"Well that's certainly an option." I muttered considering it.

On one hand infiltration. On the other stripper clothes…

Ah who was I kidding. Doing a stealth infiltration was always hilarious. I hurriedly pulled my gear off.

Time to stealth run this bitch.

—--

"Stupid lady stilts." I mumbled as I walked back onto the strip mall.

Melody would wake up eventually with a bit of a shock, being almost naked and all, but I had stuffed her into her own car, and left her with a grand in eddies as an apology.

Wearing this stripper outfit was a bit awkward, the worst part was Melody had a much bigger chest than I did, so I had to stuff the damn top.

It was super embarrassing, especially since my muscles made the rest of the outfit stretch.

I really felt like I was going to tear my way out of it.

This was a stupid plan. I decided as I reached the steps down.

I took a second, adjusted my stance, to add a sexy sway, shifting into Sexy Motoko voice so I wouldn't get called out stupidly, and sauntered down anyways.

The Stealth Daemon I had uploaded on breaching the camera system should help keep the netrunner from noticing me until it was too late.

The steps led into the entrance lobby, and I walked right through it. The worker only looked up to notice me as I was already through the door on the way into the long halls that made up the club.

I took a left and continued on my way. There weren't a lot of guards around or anything, this was a club after all. I walked past guests sending a flirty smile as I was called out to, by a guy way too drunk for me to want to deal with.

"Sorry darling!" I called back, walking right past him then around the corner.

Security door spotted.

Realizing I was going to have to figure out a way through I walked past before smiling and stepping into one of the side rooms. This one was empty, and I stepped inside using the lack of line of sight to turn around and start slowly hacking through the security door across the hall.

I was slowly hacking my way when someone walked into the room I was in.

"Ah. Someone already got this room… Wait, I don't know you." She asked, looking me up and down.

"I'm new, covering for Melody." I said with a warm drawl thanks to my Sexy Motoko voice on full blast! I just needed to get this woman to go away and keep hacking the door at the same time.

"Hmm, well don't slack off. C'mon start cleaning up already we need this room ready for the next customers." She said haughtily and I smiled despite wanting to do anything but, as I turned and started gathering up the leftover garbage, mostly empty bottles, as the older woman threw her long pastel pink hair over a shoulder and started helping.

"I'm surprised they hired a new person, I mean, I guess it makes sense, we lost Susan." She sighed, shaking her head, and I twitched at that.

"Oh? Someone decided to find better work?" I asked teasingly.

"Pfft. Please. No, Susan did something, not sure. They dragged her downstairs last night." She whispered, giving me a serious look. "So make sure you don't fuck around. The boys treat us alright, we aren't joytoys after all, but they find you fucking around they'll replace you too." She said enunciating 'replace' heavily.

I nodded along seriously, playing into my roll as I continued to help clean up. Grabbing bottles and trash and even using some wipes hidden in the seating that 'Mariana' showed me.

Then it happened. I reached out, and she did the same for a bottle, and our hands bumped into each other.

I didn't notice it right away, but as I pulled up the bottle I looked at her, and I knew.

My arms, I had covered them in the plastic jacket thing, but my hands were still visible. A girl working at this sort of place would have Synthskin, or chrome that looked pleasing.

My Condors were military issue completely out of place.

She looked at me. I looked at her. I considered what to do. She must have realized it as well.

"You aren't covering for Melody."

"No. Melody is sleeping in her car right now. She'll be fine." I answered simply, still holding the bottle…

The door to the room was closed. I could knock her out, and these rooms were soundproof for a reason.

She realized what danger she was in. She swallowed and I could see her mind running through choices.

"Relax. I'm not here for you." I offered, but it didn't help.

She made a break for it trying to scream for help.

I was on her a moment later, long before she reached the door. Her hands reached out at empty air, scrambling to open the door as I locked my arm around her throat. She gasped and then twitched as I pressed just the right way.

Huh. It's been a while since I did a lot of takedowns, but my Condor actually made it a lot easier.

I brought her to the ground as I considered what to do..

I dropped a Optica reboot on her and then just stuffed her into the corner.

That should keep her out of trouble for a while. Especially since these booths were sound proofed.
Now that I had some time to actually work, I refocused on the door across the way.

Forty uninterrupted seconds later I was through. Taking a moment I casually walked out of the room, no one was looking down the hall, and I walked across. The security door opened as I approached and closed behind me.

"Hello." I whispered to the netrunner. Poor guy had no idea what was about to happen to him.

Luckily for him, I had learned something important a while back from Blazed. Netrunners tended to have a code around each other. This guy didn't look like he was Valentino, probably just a rando. Hired on to watch their stuff in exchange, for security to surf the net without worrying about his body.

His poor defenseless body. I almost giggled as I walked over. I wasn't going to kill him, but he definitely wasn't going to appreciate what was about to happen.

I found the system his net chair was hooked into, and with a few presses began emergency booting him.

Being forced out like that would be disorienting, as his mind was pulled right back into his body uncontrollably.

Then just before he would have woken up, I reached over and yanked his connection.

He spazzed out. If I had done that without forcing the boot he would've had a stroke. But I was being nice.

Then while he was absolutely defenseless I sent a gentle and non-lethal Short Circuit.

He spazzed out worse as electricity started frying him, jerked out moans escaping him randomly as he was rather completely rendered helpless.

I was just about to get into the system to find Susan when I noticed it.

An xp alert.

I looked right towards the netrunner seeing he was still alive and frantically checked the alerts before seeing what it was, and relaxing.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

*Level up achieved!*

*One Stat Point Gained.*

*One Skill Point Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

"That's right. I get XP for knockouts! I realized I had just gained enough for a level up! Suddenly feeling much much better about everything. I walked over and patted the netrunner on the head. "Just for that, I'll not trash your stuff." I told him not that he heard me, as he was still unconscious and jerking randomly as the short circuit caused another surge.

"I almost feel bad about the headache you're gonna have." I explained and then turned to get back to work. I accessed the system and since I was in the security center that meant it was all open to me. I added myself into the elevator security with a thought, and checked for additional security cameras.

There were none. Whatever was down stairs was going to be entirely up to me to handle.

Adding in a few adjustments to the security system for the future I was ready to go.

Walking out without a care having direct access to the cameras meant I could walk through the whole place without anyone seeing me. The elevators opened as I approached and I slipped in.

Flipping up the plastic skirt I had been wearing I pulled out my Unity and a few mags from my thigh where they had been hidden.

Adjusting everything to be easier to work with, I slipped the silencer onto the barrel while whistling a few notes and just waited for the doors to open to the sub floor 2.

They opened to a well lit hallway and carpeted floors. Some sort of office space. I walked out slowing as I came to a set of windows looking into the hallway, old blinds failing to properly hide what was inside.

First room was an office. A desk and computer with a guy glaring at the screen.

I considered moving past him. I considered just opening the door and popping him, but honestly?

I walked over hiding my pistol in the the small of my back and knocked.

"What?"

"It's Melody from upstairs?" She called out waiting. She could hear the man get up and stomped to the door.

"Dumb bitch! What part of 'don't come down here' was too hard to understand?" He demanded as he slammed the door open.

"Sorry Sir. I was told to, by Mr. Hernandez? He's been trying to reach you?"

"What? My Agent is fine! What shit is this?" He demanded and turned around to head to his desk.

The door closed behind me with a click as I was already on him. Slipping out of the heels I slammed a foot into the back of his knee at the same time as I wrapped my arms around his throat.

He struggled for a few seconds, but he didn't have the chrome to protect his throat, and with my chrome arms, there was no chance of really resisting. A few seconds was all it took. The blood interrupted to his brain and he passed out.

I dropped him and dropped a reboot optics on him too.

Mostly just cause it was funny.

*250 XP Gained.*

I smirked as I turned and strutted back out. The next office was empty, and I strolled past, then down the hall I came across my prize.

A hidden party room. The VIP of VIP spaces.

The place made me want to gag, it was gaudy and looked cheap, but it also had a stripper pole surrounded by couches, and handcuffed to the pole hanging limply, was Susan. I grumbled, she had definitely been beaten.

I glanced around. Getting eyes on everyone inside. Eight guys? That's a lot for just watching a kidnapped girl, but I realized after a moment of watching, no. It was two guys watching Susan, and the other six partying.

But any threat these people might have been was already gone.

I had eyes on them.

Weapon Glitch was activated, disabling weapons in the room as I sauntered over to the door. Stopping just before entering, how did I want to handle this?

I considered guns blazing. Extra XP would be nice, but this wasn't an assassination. I sighed and nodded, entering the door, and striding in. I was noticed as the door opened, but I walked in casually straight towards the two hanging around Susan, like a working girl just coming in with a message, I leaned in behind one of them like I was going to whisper in his ear.

The man even tilted his head to hear what I was going to say, and instead got a pistol against his throat.

"Evening gentleman. You have something of mine." I whispered to him, and I could see the way his eyes flicked from me to Susan.

"You're crazy. You can't just wander in here like this." He said voice level, but incredibly tense. I could see his buddy realizing what was happening going for his gun.

That of course caused the other guys that were just here having fun to go for their weapons, but I had confirmed all of their weapons were glitched out already.

"You boys are all very very lucky." I explained, keeping the gun right into the man's trachea. "I'm not here to kill you all." I offered out with a smile and a sultry tone.

"What do you want?" The man I had at gunpoint asked after a moment, I could see the boys start moving surrounding me.

"Susan here is a package, I'm here to collect. She comes with me, we both part happy and with all of our blood on the inside. Sounds good?" I offered cheerfully, almost hoping they refused.

"Fuck no. You aren't going anywhere." One of the boys called out confidently. "Look around bitch!"

"Yeah I know. That's why I walked in here without any fear. You're missing at least a dozen guys to make it a more fair fight." I offered haughtily, practically daring these gonk gangsters to come at me.

Wait… No, that was exactly what I was doing. I should have walked in, dropped a short circuit on them and moved on.

Why was I talking to them?

Ah, because a part of me wanted to punch someone. I rolled the thought around in my head for a second and sighed.

Dammit.

"Get the bitch!" Too late to fix my situation. The boys' guns clicked empty, but the fact they were about to fire caused the two actual men in the room to flinch. The one in my arms wasn't going anywhere, but the other moved to leap out of the way when nothing happened catching him by surprise.

Well then.

I squeezed his neck feeling him slump practically instantly, and then I rose up.

Mine was the only gun in the room that still worked.

"Surrender." I offered, and that only made the boy who had been calling the shots angry.

He threw his gun at me, which I jerked to the side to avoid and he pulled out a knife.

I really wished I was still wearing my gear now.

It was the only thing I could think of as I moved in to counter the attack. I slipped my gun in between my tits so I could use both arms. His knife swept horizontally out, but I blocked his wrist with my forearm, avoiding the blade as I reached out. He was pretty strong. A big guy. Worked out, or had some bioware to buff him up.

But he was an amateur, and his wrist bent nice and easily backwards as I pressured him, his knife fell out of his hand with a cry of pain, and I snatched it out of the air before it hit the ground, flipping around, I used his arm to slam him into the couch and brought the knife down with brutal force.

Right through the collar of his jacket and into the couch.

"Now boys. As much as I enjoy a good dance, you aren't nearly ready to be my dance partner." I offered, slapping the boy on his ass as I turned towards the others, most had hesitated when their choom started swiping a knife around. The others had been ready to jump on me to help, but when I had the knife they had also hesitated.

Boys playing gangster. Sure I had no doubt they would kill me given a chance, but risk to them? They were cowards. Here for the fun, not the danger.

They milled around me, not sure what to do without their leader.

So I made the decision for them, pulling the gun out and leveling it right at the back of the dumbasses head.

"Unless you want to let this dance continue to play out?" I asked and the room stilled.

This guy? I wasn't sure who he was. Not important to me, but the other guys around his age had all been following his lead. He was definitely the leader of this little group.

Other than the other guard. The one watching Susan. He was on his feet, still clutching his pistol, but he was watching me with a controlled glare.

"Alright." One of the boys said, arms raising up. "Chill choom. No need to get worked up yeah? Carlos? Tell her to take the girl and get out of here." He called out, but Carlos wasn't listening. Practically snapping as he was trying to get the knife out of the couch with little success. He had almost no leverage from his bent over angle.

"Carlos?" I called and pushed the barrel against the back of his head. "Your choom asked you a question."

"Fuck off… Take the bitch!"
"Excellent! See how easy that was?" I offered cheerfully as I stepped away, gun still at the ready and moved over towards Susan.

"Where are the keys for the cuffs?" I asked, and the guard took a moment to pull them from a pocket and chuck them at me.

Catching them easily with one hand as the other pointed my gun. I threw him a wink and took a few seconds to pop Susan loose.

She fell and I caught her. The girl was still unconscious, face beaten in. I wasn't surprised she wasn't awake.

I hefted her up over my shoulder with a bit of work and looked around the room. Everyone was still standing looking pissed, but not sure what to do.

"Boys." I offered a farewell as I walked out the door, and then hurrying to the elevator.

Thankfully I had already infested the security, so the elevator was already open and waiting to send me up to the next floor.

I could practically see the calls being sent out from the boys as they called the men upstairs to let them know what was going on.

The elevator doors closed and I prepared. Checking the camera systems through the direct access I had to their security seeing the people upstairs were already frantically moving towards the elevator.

Then before the doors opened I dropped Optic Reboot on the entire place. I watched through cameras as men previously hurrying towards the elevator stumbled and tripped over each other.

The doors opened and I sauntered out, glad I wasn't wearing those stupid lady stilts anymore. I should have just kept my damn boots on. Going barefoot was so weird in Night City I was constantly worried I was gonna step on something gross.

I walked out, only slowed a little by the stairs that took me out of the club.

Then I hurried over to my car, ignoring the looks people sent me.

Packing Susan into the passenger seat, I was off not long after.

*Wakako. Package retrieved.* I spoke as soon as Wakako picked up.

 

[Seras]

"You handled that without killing anyone…" Wakako spoke the not quite question, as I was sitting across from her, not at our usual spot.

Wakako had sent me a drop off that ended up being an old apartment complex. A few men, obviously TC, or at least with their looks helped carry Susan out of my car and into an apartment that had two other people.

One was a ripper, and the other was Wakako.

"I thought about it honestly. I could have killed them all, almost did. But they weren't Scavs, even if they tortured your contact. I uh… Figured it was cleaner this way."

"You did well." She said after a while, taking a puff on her cigarette. "Padre is already annoyed with the discovery of my agent. The lack of bodies to clean up will make our next communication more civil than it would have been." She explained casually.

"Those guys were Padres?"

"They were Valentino." She responded as if that answered the question and I guess it did.

Every Tyger Claw was probably under Wakako's thumb in a similar way at least to her mind.

"Should I call him and apologize for roughing up the guys?"

"No." She answered back simply and I nodded. "Motoko." Wakako said suddenly as I was looking over at the ripper taking care of Susan, making sure she wouldn't die.

"Yeah?"

"I don't enjoy offering surprise gigs like this, without warning and demanding it from you. It's unprofessional. You took it without complaint and did what I needed." She took another puff of her cigarette. "You've grown from the fool who walked into my office earlier this year."

"Oh, thanks." I said, a little happy despite myself. Wakako was like my strict asian Grandma… Well my Yakuza Grandma.

"You haven't done any work at the Afterlife yet." She said suddenly, and I perked up and looked over.

"No. Rogue gave me the invite, but I haven't really needed to do much work. Recently. I've been doing other things."

"I suppose you wouldn't, with Ms. Mitsunashi's jobs keeping you busy." She said and I smiled as Hiromi was acknowledged.

"The last one was pretty fun."

"I heard about it. 6th St. Were quite unhappy with your interference. Although none of them wanted to interrupt, considering the armament you brought along."

"The Minotaur is so cool." I replied back smiling because it fucking was!

"Wakako? The patient is waking up." The ripper called and Wakako turned her attention away.

"Motoko. Payment will come through soon, Just give me a few hours."

"Hey, don't worry about it. You got something else to do first." I assured her and got up, stretching a bit, and accidentally hearing a tearing noise. "Dangit, this stripper gear is shit!" I cursed earning an actual scoff from the older lady.

"That isn't stripper apparel, dear. You are far too dressed for that." She snarked at me, and I couldn't help but laugh at the older woman's words, but I also really didn't want to ask how she knew that in case I would be subjected to mental trauma so I headed out with a wave.

Wakako seemed pretty gentle with Susan…

She wasn't a relative or something… Right?

—--

"Please don't ask any questions." I sighed. I had decided to change once I was back in the apartment. Changing in the car hadn't been very comfortable the first time, but even with my normal jacket over my shoulders, and carrying my gear in my arms. I still looked like I just left my job as a stripper.

And Jun was not just home, but had been walking back to the couch with a burrito in his hand when I opened the door, no chance for me to sneak in.

"I have so many questions." He said going directly against what I had asked as he turned away from the couch towards me. "Let's start with-"

"Nope! No, questions. I need to get changed and throw this away. It's not mine, and doesn't fit."

"Well yeah, of course it doesn't fit, you had to stuff the shit out of that top." Jun snarked back and I felt my jaw drop as I brought my holsters and leotard up to my chest to hide it.

"No I didn't!"

"Motoko." Jun said in a monotone, and then added nothing else. As if saying my name would make me realize how silly I was!

But jokes on Jun! I'm capable of bringing up his weakness! The nuclear option in this situation!

"We are not talking about my tits right now." I demanded, and Jun flinched, deciding that the better part of valor was to run away.

Which I also did hurrying to my room to take off the stripper wear and get dressed in comfortable leotard.

Definitely covering more skin… I looked down. Actually when I didn't wear the jeans with it, I think I actually showed more skin…

Nope. That thought was going to be shoved into a dark corner and never thought of again.

Stepping out fully dressed I noticed Jun was still waiting for me, with a look on his face demanding answers.

"Ugh! Okay I'll say this once, and we never talk about it again! Wakako called for an emergency gig. Had to pick up a contact that got ratted out. They were holding her in a club, like a BD bar. I had to sneak in. They had a netrunner watching the cams, so I couldn't just walk in normally. I saw one of the girls leaving and… acquired her uniform. That's it. We are never speaking of this again."

"Motoko."

"What?"

"You looked like a stripper."

"Jun."

"Yeah?"

"You look like a two bit yakuza." I offered back and Jun actually flinched looking down at his clothes.

"What part of me is two bit? Motoko! Hey don't walk away, what part of me is two bit!?"

—--

Tachikoma was doing well. I had spent the night after the gig working on building a personality kernel. The small seed wasn't anything big yet, still far too early to really do much, but of course I wanted my Tachikoma to be cute when it was done!

I couldn't run it yet. I didn't have the processing power on my hardware on hand. But I had a plan for that.

Long before the sun was rising, I was heading out. Driving across the city to the netrunner cave!

There I plugged not just my laptop into the server, but the Tachikoma as well.

The server synced in just a moment, and I edited my lobby to allow the Tachikoma access. With a bit of work it was ready, and I went and plugged into my netrunner chair. Making sure to fully hook in. I wasn't doing a deep dive, but I was going to do a lot of work.

A moment later I was in a digital landscape.

There was a… Well it was more like a mess of squiggles than any specific shape. The Tachikoma didn't have a sense of self, or even a digital avatar. It wasn't even at the level of a Daemon yet.

It was probably about 70% on its way to having enough data to be considered an IMP. Of course unlike an IMP it would be capable of improving.

I was going to speed that up. First thing I did was bring in the dimensions for the Tachikoma and sync up the digital connection.

The digital mess buzzed for a second as it shifted into the form of a Tachikoma.

It took a second, but the learning module activated as it took a step. And then another, and then it was walking around.

It wasn't quite right to call it exploring, there was no impetus in the motion yet.

That was what I was here for. Personality was actually really easy. Anything digital had some personality now after all. The thought made me think of Brendan the SCSM capable of so accurately pretending to be alive people thought it was a full AI.

There were even personality systems for Agents, to let them talk to their users.

I didn't have one, myself, or at least I had never activated one. I didn't need a second voice in my head.

Anyway, with the Tachikoma settled I pulled up a digital screen.

There were plenty of personality matrices out there. I could go to any shop and buy one that would let my agent, or my clock, or whatever talk to me in some famous actor's voice.

But that was crap. I wasn't making some dirt tier program.

I was raising a Tachikoma! Settling into the lounge chairs I started working. Mentally running multiple keyboards as I used my new cyberdeck to modify the personality kernel.

It was actually pretty easy. It was just a seed. The beginnings of how the Tachikoma would develop its personality. It was easy to start, but it would take a long time to grow.

But I stopped as I was just starting to get going.

A long time.

I don't think I wanted to wait a long time. The longer it took the longer I would be without my backup Tachikoma squad.

I looked at the little digital avatar wandering around. Completely without awareness, completely without a ghost.

I knew how to make an AI grow faster. I just couldn't do it yet.

Lack of equipment, lack of skill. The fact was, I couldn't think like a digital entity. I had started moving towards that with Intelligence, over 10. That was basically what Intelligence did once it went past the human limit. It let me act as if the digital was my native space.

It's how I was able to run multiple keyboards at once despite how difficult that was.

I pulled up my stat screen.

One Stat point.

Sighing, I shook it off. Decisions decisions. Make myself stronger, or make myself mentally safer? I didn't exactly want another episode. Burning my cyberdeck out for nothing wasn't a fun experience.

I hummed as I settled back, letting myself just think.

My neck didn't get tense on the web. My body was far enough away that sort of thing wouldn't be noticed. It hadn't been as bad since I dropped a stat point into my neural link, but I really wanted to get stronger too.

Cyberware, or advancement? It was a choice I was coming across more and more, and once all my stats were over ten…

Yeah that was going to be tough to choose. I really needed to figure this out.

So I decided like all important choices.

"One for you. One for me." I said. Unless something crazy was happening I would spend my stat points like that. Last point had gone into Adaptation, and I was feeling better with that. So the next point was for stats.

Nodding, I dropped the point into Intelligence. Bringing that up to twelve!

But that was only the stat. It was time to level the skills, I was about to dump points into stuff before stopping.

"Dumbass, remember what happened last time?" I cursed myself. No more leveling stats more than one at a time with long rests in between.

One point went into Breach Protocol. Bringing me up to 11, and another in Programming keeping me at my max of 12.

The influx was intense, and I felt the way I programmed change irrevocably.

It was one thing to still use a physical system as preference. It was another to know that you didn't need them.

I had programming on my mind.

—--

"Motoko!" Hiromi cheered as I opened the door, earning an arm full of my bestie as she hugged me.

"I'm free!" She cried out and I nodded.

Friday afternoon. No more school.

"I have good news as well." She offered as she raced over to the couch and leapt onto it flopping down and sighing in relief.

"Hello to you Hiromi. I'm glad you had a good day at school. Oh you had that for lunch? That's nice." I teased as I joined Hiromi who just grumbled at me.

"Business Motoko! Business! We have a meeting tomorrow, to finalize the sale of your song." She explained and I nodded remembering that was a thing, yes.

"Okay? You need me?"

"You have to sign it over. We haven't entered any official paperwork on the books to make me your manager." She explained and then rolled over to look at me with a firm look.

"So I have to go?"

"So you have to go!" She demanded pointing at me. "And to make sure you do, I'm spending the night and hanging out with you all day! Hiromi time!" She demanded and I acquiesced easily. Hiromi had it hard with school and all the responsibilities that I heaped on her.

"Hiromi time." I agreed, and the bright smile told me I had made the right call. "So, shall we go out, get a bunch of food, hang out on the couch?"

"Oooh that does sound nice!" She sighed, raising her hands. "Help me up?"

I grabbed her upraised arms and easily hauled her to her feet. Hiromi was so light.

"C'mon I'll drive." I offered, and Hiromi whined.

"But you drive slooooow."

"I drive safe." instantly replied back.

—--

"So you need better data storage?"

"At least for the Tachikoma." I admitted. Hiromi was playing with my Tachikoma as it walked around in her lap, interested in my drone experiment.

"Hmm. That's tough, not as easy to get off the back of a truck as weapons." She explained and I nodded.

"It's not a rush, but I can't really make them smart and autonomous at the moment. I can basically just do one or the other."

"Can't you do a remote connection and control them that way?"

"Yeeees?" I offered. Technically that was the Militech solution to their Flathead. Just remote connect it, and don't worry about needing an on board AI.

But I didn't want a Flathead, I wanted a Tachikoma.

"I can do that for a stop gap, might even be a good idea to do it, so I can help teach it what I need it to do, but I'm looking for an autonomous system."

"I'll keep an eye out. Maybe we'll hit a storage yard, or just knock over a transport?"

"Pfft!" I giggled at Hiromi's words. "Just knock over stuff huh? Steal it? You're so bad!"

"What? That's literally what we do!"

"I know! But it sounds funny coming from you and saying it like that!" I giggled as I turned to my noodles and kept eating. The TV show currently playing was honestly being ignored by both of us.

Me because I didn't like it, and Hiromi, because she was showing that corpo personality. Always wanting to push more.

"Hmph! Maybe I will make sure when I find the chips you need, the gig requires a transport truck heist! Just to show you!"

"That would be cool. Ichi could be the driver in the Behemoth, and Malcolm could use his Nomad car, the one with the rockets. I could do a cool jump from Ichi's truck onto the transport and take it over."

"Or just make them pull over so you don't get yourself killed!" Hiromi shrieked at me, and I just laughed.

This was nice, the stress from the week disappeared off my shoulders as Hiromi and I hung out making fun of bad TV and eating ourselves sick.

 

[Seras]

Hiromi the next day marched me down to City Center. Practically buzzing with excitement, as she guided me towards a specific building into its garage, using an access code she supplied, to enter into the building's garage.

"Must be exciting. To be doing like a real business deal." I offered to her, as we slipped into the elevator.

"I've done business deals before." She replied semi distracted, but I could see her cheeks flushing.

"Yeah but that was on the street, this is like the real deal. Bet no one in your class has ever gotten even close to this sort of thing." I whispered teasingly at the end.

"Definitely not. Those losers and over inflated egotists!" She chirped, pleased, and then focused up as the elevator ride ended, the doors opened onto a fancy upscale reception, carpeted and warmly lit. At the end of the hallway was a woman with tasteful cyberware, elegant and attractive sitting behind a desk.

The big company icon above her head was rather telling.

I followed along after Hiromi, who had shifted her face into a mask of confident arrogance.

Neither woman spoke up at first. Hiromi's eyes flashing, and the womans did as well, before her cement-like smile broke.

"You are right on time Ms. Mitsunashi. Keiko will guide you to the conference room." She replied and another woman dressed in the same way stepped out of a side door throwing a fake smile and bowing.

We both followed Hiromi staying confident and cool, but I could see the tension in how she walked from knowing her.

I was basically uninterested in the pageantry. I wouldn't even be here if not for Hiromi asking me to.

I just didn't need the eddies, or the fame, but if I could help out Hiromi's dream by giving her access to the rich and powerful, I wasn't going to deny her.

We were guided down the hall, Keiko smiling fakely, her voice chipper and happy as she talked up her company.

Blah blah blah. It all went in one ear and out the other.

I've heard enough corpo jargon in my life. I didn't need more.

Finally the door was held open for us, and we walked into a brightly lit conference room. An entire side of the wall were open windows showing the towers of City Central.

But I was more interested in the other end of the table. The one man sitting. Expensive suit, and more expensive smile.

But it was the two standing behind him that caught my eye.

They looked like accountants. Standing behind him with tablets, and even some actual papers in their arms.

But I recognized the stance, the way they held their arms.

They were armed. Bodyguards?

I stopped behind Hiromi as she took a seat across from the man, earning a confused look from her as there was a chair beside her for me, but I was fully in bodyguard mode myself now.

"Ms. Mitsunashi. I am Sam Henson. It is a pleasure to see you face to face. Rarely do I get such riveting back and forth for something so simple as a small music deal."

"Small or large, hardly matters. Not when it comes to who is asking for this deal." Hiromi seemingly reposted, bringing up Denny in her first line.

Ah, if Hiromi had been getting back and forth, then likely the company was trying to screw me?

Heh.

"Our contract is welcomed by many up and coming artists." He replied back, but Hiromi laughed fakely.

"Artists, am I right? They never know what they want. Or what they need." She shrugged, and I actually almost looked at her myself, because that almost sounded like a bit of a dig towards me.

I'm sorry Hiromi, I just don't like all the attention!

"Well, we've run your contract edits through legal, and they were denied of course." He offered casually. "I've taken the liberty of going through the edits you desired and altering them into something that will work for us."

Hiromi didn't frown, she didn't smile either. Simply waited, as the man's eyes went blue as he sent over a file to Hiromi.

I could practically see the file transfer over, but before Hiromi could open it I attacked.

Slipping into the network transfer to Hiromi, I popped up a small text file on her agent into her sight.

*Motoko: Give me a second. Checking the file.*

*Hiromi: Okay.*

"A moment then to look it over." She replied verbally, and I checked over the file searching through it before deciding it was clean. Yoko was right, checking file transfers first was a good idea.

Hiromi nodded, popping it open, and I pulled out of her system leaving her to check it over.

The room was quiet as Hiromi's eyes continued to glow telling everyone she was reading through a document.

I kept an eye on the other guards, but neither seemed to register me as an actual threat.

Which was kinda hilarious, but I just took it as a good thing and continued to stand guard as Hiromi browsed, finally she slapped a hand onto the table.

"Ridiculous." She said instantly. "We are selling a song to Master-Space Records. Not selling the musicians rights. You want to be able to sell the song without giving attention to its songwriter. That doesn't work for my client."

"It's a standard part of our contracts Ms. Mitsunashi, we need to be able to sell the song without any issues from a musician's public stunts. The contract will make 'Tank' a full and complete ownership to Master-Space."

"You want to have someone else 'create' the song and sell it as theirs." Hiromi argued, and I was just following along not really seeing the issue.

Wasn't that what selling the song to them meant? Hiromi, stop getting fiery!

"Correct. That is a standard in our business Ms. Mitsunashi, we understand that you are new to the music industry, and not properly licensed to deal in contract law, so we are being understanding of your limitations."

Wow, what a great way to belittle someone. I was really starting to not like this guy.

"I have enough experience to see when my client is being taken advantage of. We are here at the request of your company, as you wish to purchase my client's work. If this is the best you can offer. I can reach out to other agencies. It honestly isn't an issue for us." Hiromi states plainly.

But Sam wasn't seemingly intimidated.

"The door is behind you Ms. Mitsunashi."

"Then I'll leave explaining the situation to Denny to you." Hiromi added, rising up, and there was a tension in the room, the two guards behind Sam shifted.

I didn't move. Better to let them think I'm nothing in case I needed to move. If either of them reached for a weapon they would be dead before their hand touched it.

"Hold on Ms. Mitsunashi." Sam demanded and Hiromi calmly finished rising to her feet.

"Do we have any further business Mr. Henson?"

"Allow me a few moments to make a call. It would be a shame to lose your client out of such a profitable enterprise." He explained with a smile that was as fake as his attempted kindness.

"I can wait a few minutes." Hiromi replied back drily, confidence in every inch of her. She had definitely won that exchange.

"Enjoy some snacks while we wait." Sam offered. Pointing to a table that had…

I guess they were snacks? I don't really get it. Hiromi nodded, and actually walked over. Grabbing a soda out of a mini fridge I hadn't even realized was a fridge and then taking some of the weird… Wafers?

Rich people food was fucking weird.

She grabbed one and bit into it, and looked to me, but I just shook my head and remained standing in place.

I still didn't like the look of the guards.

Time stretched on and eventually Hiromi got sick of standing so she retook her seat.

And then Mr. Henson's eyes finished glowing.

"We will acquiesce on the matter of copyright, Ms. Kusanagi's name will be attached to the song. In regards to your second alteration which I know you will harp on. We will allow a royalty payment into the contract. Although the gross will drop significantly." He replied with an unhappy smile.

"I will be happy to look over the contract again."

Sam nodded and instantly Hiromi received another file. After checking it again, I allowed Hiromi access to it.

She looked it over for a good five minutes. Much longer than she had the first time.

"One minor alteration to line 140b." She demanded, and the two played back and forth file sharing for a minute before Sam nodded.

"Master-Space records agrees to the alteration." And then to my surprise an actual paper document was put forward by one of the guards onto the table and Hiromi, took it, looked it over and nodded.

"Sign here." She told me, and I hesitated, looking it over for myself.

It was basically a paper sign of 'You agree to the terms of the digital agreement.' Seemed sort of extraneous to me, but I shrugged. Looking to Hiromi she nodded, looking pleased.

Alright.

I signed my name.

"Thank you ladies." Sam said as he stood. "The deposit will be made promptly, Ms. Mitsunashi, the Royalty processing system will be opened to you and your client. Master-Space Records welcomes you both to a fruitful partnership.

There was a lot of back and forth between Hiromi and Sam after. They both made snide remarks hidden in flattery thing, but Hiromi was happy, and I didn't think Denny was trying to play me.

And really in the end? If they did play me, I would either shrug and go on with my life because who cares, or decide to bomb their offices or something.

It's kinda funny how little things like being stabbed in the back hardly mattered when you knew without a doubt you could murder everyone in the room without breaking a sweat.

In the end Hiromi accepted the lack of a congratulatory party as was the norm for these types of meetings. And we left the tower the same way we came in.

Hiromi was quiet all the way down the elevator and then into the car.

Only when the doors shut did she instantly start squealing and bouncing around.

"I did it! I did it! Motoko! We just made a huge deal! Oh my god! I have to tell my parents! I have to tell the school! I did it!" She cried out bouncing around all the tension in her leaving her a mess of over excited feelings.

I grinned and gunned it. Time to get out of here, and party. Section 9 style.

—--

"Whoa." Malcolm offered, looking surprised. We were all at my apartment. Having called the boys on the way home, they were surprised at the sudden party until Hiromi had shyly explained what she had done.

"Damn." Ichi exclaimed. "That's big times for sure. Was it a lot of eddies?"

"It wasn't as much as it could have been." Hiromi responded. "But I got a royalty agreement, and they have to acknowledge Motoko as the original creator." She looked pleased at this.

Honestly I didn't care much. I still wasn't sure if I even wanted to have my name out in the music sphere.

Seemed like a good way to get the wrong sort of attention, but I shrugged, it was good for Hiromi.

"Damn." Ichi repeated, and I laughed at his shocked look.

"Here choom, have a drink, this is a party for Hiromi after all! Doing such a great job with her business deal!"

"What? No, Motoko you gonk, this is your party! You made a song and sold it to a major label! You, you!" She said, poking me in the cheek with an outstretched finger.

"Eh." I responded with a shrug. "I think going through a contract and forcing a major label to accept the changes is more impressive." I said, meeting her eyes and smiling. "So proud of you!"

"Hiromi flushed at the praise and looked away.

"That's crazy. I mean, I know Motoko picked up the whole music thing. She's played her songs for us a few times, but wow." Malcolm added looking at me, and this time it was my turn to be a little shy. "Guess I know a future Rockerboy."

"Not." I denied crossing my arms in an X. "I just do songs sometimes. Being all famous and stuff would be awful. It would be so hard to go around and kill people for a living like that." I offered, and Ichi instantly broke into a laugh, and then louder.

"Jesus Motoko, only you would turn down a nice gig making music being famous and everything so you can keep being a merc. You know some Rockerboys still act as mercs and stuff right?"

"Rarely, and that's not what I mean… I just don't like the idea of being famous."

Ichi just shrugged. "You do you. But it's preem regardless."

"Thanks." I said, happy that Ichi at least wasn't going to keep poking.

We ended up partying all afternoon, and then Jun walked in, he came inside to the sight of us laughing hilariously at the stupid show that was on.

Well the others were laughing. I was mostly just groaning in horror at how terrible the jokes were.

"Jun!"

"What's going on… You guys have another gig?" He asked as he pulled himself slowly out of his jacket and threw it on a table.

"We are celebrating. Tired?"

"Just a bit. Sensei called me in for slacking." He replied and I nodded at that. Good. Jun needed the exercise.

"He said you should go in soon." Jun said, and I slumped.

"I guess I can go in tomorrow…"

"So what are you celebrating? Oh, pass me those?" Jun asked as he slumped onto the couch and Malcolm handed over the carton of fried rice to Jun.

Well they called it fried rice anyways.

"Motoko sold a song to a record label today."

"What?" Jun asked, looking up from the food, Rice falling from his chin in surprise.

"It's not that big Jun. Remember when I met Denny at the recording place? You already knew I sold her the song, we just finalized it today. Hiromi helped me deal with all the contracts and corpo stuff. So we are celebrating her work."

"You had to do like a contract and stuff? Why didn't you just get the eddies?" He asked and Hiromi groaned.

"Jun! Business is more than just eddies swapping hands!"

He just shrugged. "I guess."

"Don't bother trying to argue with him Hiromi. Jun is a dummy." I offered, knowing that I would get a reaction as Jun glared at me.

"Motoko."

"Yes Jun-nii?" I chirped teasing and he glared before scoffing.

"Well it's good. You going to try and write more songs to sell, or play? You should. Hiromi, get Motoko to put on a show or something."

"Jun! Stop trying to make me a Rockerboy! I'm a mercenary!"

"Got it Hiromi?" Jun asked, ignoring me. I threw a pillow at him, but he just grinned ignoring my refusal.

"I'll do my best Jun!"

"Hiromi!"

—--

The next morning as the sun rose, I changed into workout clothes and headed out for a jog. I had enjoyed the party with my chooms, but it was nice to have the whole selling the song thing not hanging over my head anymore.

Even if Hiromi refused to stop bugging me about it.

I jogged all the way down to the Sakura market, enjoying the early morning sounds of Night City. Once there I stopped for some breakfast, and then jogged back. Warmup complete. I hit the Gym area.

"Haven't seen you in a while." John found me an hour in, as I was using some free weights and squats.

"Been busy."

"I see that. New chrome."

"Yeah. Got. A. Sandy." I told him in between squats.

"Heh. The kid'll be happy to see that. Or she'll be annoyed. You talked to Hayato recently?"

"Not. For. A. Bit."
"You should call her up and set up another spar or something. She'd appreciate it."

I heard what the real words were behind John's offer.

"I'll. Text her. Now." I offered and John smiled, nodding and moving away, letting me refocus.

A spar did sound nice.

*Motoko: You want to meet up for a spar?* I sent out, and nearly instantly got a response back.

*Hayato: That would be acceptable.*

I chuffed out a laugh. Hayato and her Keren were kinda funny to deal with.

*Motoko: Working out now, but I can head to the Dojo anytime.*

*Hayato: I'm already here for my morning workout. Do not keep me waiting.*

Nodding at that, I racked the weights, rose up and stretched. TIme to go play.

 

[Seras]

"Late." Hayato snapped at me, her voice coming out too fast, in a rush. She was obviously getting antsy.

I nodded. "Traffic was slow." I offered, as an explanation, although it didn't satisfy her.

Hayato, like me, already had a layer of sweat on her forehead. A Shinai in one hand that she was still going through a slow, set of motions for.

"Sensei has you practicing super slow?"

"Yes." She snapped out, and I could see her face shift between irritation, before blanking. "I would enjoy a spar."

"Sure, want to do brawling, or Shinai?" I offered pointing at her blade.

She reddened and reacted instantly.

"Do not speak with such disrespect to the art of swordsmanship!"

"So you want to fight me with the Shinai?" I repeated and she pointed the blade at me.

I nodded, walking over and grabbing one off the rack. As I walked back I noticed Sensei watching us both, only once I stood across from Hayato did I shift into an actual stance.

If I remember right, she had seen me doing forms under Sensei's eye before, but hadn't seen me actually fight.

My Blades skill might not be as good as Street Brawler, but I wasn't a slouch.

Especially since Parry, my second Blades Perk was perfect for this sort of thing.

Nodding we both understood the spar was on, and she charged.

Once more relying on her Keren to be able to adjust to any incoming change I just breathed in and out, and started parrying.

Swing after swing, I guided Hayato's blade away from me. It wasn't easy. I think I was actually better skilled when it came to pure blade work, but she was so damn fast.

Still, I kept her back. The clack of Shinai that she continued to hammer against me, never reached its target.

I was really really good at deflecting blades. Parry coming in clutch, completely negating Hayato's speed and skill.

And she wasn't happy.

"Stopthat!" She yelled, speaking so fast her words blended in together.

So I did. Pushing her back after another parry, I activated my Sandevistan.

Time stopped. The warmth spread from my neck, and I moved.

I could see the moment Hayato realized what had happened, her eyes widening, but her Keren only gave her the chance to realize what was happening before it was over.

With a flick of my wrists her Shinai was launched out of her hands, and mine was thrust just past her head.

I turned off my Sandy, feeling everything go back to normal, even as the uncomfortable warmth continued to hold across my neck.

"Wha-You got a Sandevistan! You should have told me!" She broke out of her surprise quickly slapping my Shinai away and poking me. "If I had known I would have held back less! So you chose a Sandevistan in the end?"

"I needed to get used to it. And the sooner I started. The more experience I would have." I offered and she nodded.

"Good! Excellent! You have just become a useful sparring partner then! I need more practice against another using boosterware." She nodded, hands on her hip and nodding with an imperious look.

Honestly it just made me want to pat her on the head and give her a cookie or something.

"Yeah. I could use more practice with the same. More Shinai work, or switch to fists?"

"Hmmph! I will strike you before I allow this spar to end." She decided, turning and stomping over to her Shinai.

I nodded, and we got back to it.

—--

"I don't want to talk to you." She argued as I offered her a drink.

"C'mon don't be like that. Defense is something I'm really good at with a blade." I offered, but she refused to talk to me…

So I pressed the cold can against the side of her neck.

"Eeee!" She shrieked loud enough everyone in the hall jerked, and a man I noticed along the edges reached for a gun in his suit before calming as Hayato turned to glare at me. "Don't do that!"

"I don't know. That was kinda cute. I'll have to do that more now." I decided and settled in beside her, popping the can of my soda as well.

"You! Utterly outrageous!" She snapped but grabbed the drink and popped it open to drink from.

"It's your fault. I told you I was ambidextrous."

"Outrageous!" She repeated, and I had to smile. I had made a crack about how I was better with two Shinai and she had demanded that I did so.

Hayato hadn't done well after that.

"How is your Sandevistan? You didn't use it again." She asked, and I felt my fingers reach up to my neck. Chrome digits touching against the chrome. I felt a bit of the heat still there.

"I'm not really used to it yet. I feel like I burn myself each time."

"Hmph. That is normal." She offered and I nodded.

"I know, my ripper said the same, but it makes me uncomfortable.

Especially since when I used a maxdoc it went away, which meant it was some sort of injury.

"You will adapt, an-I have to leave." She said, her speech cutting off for only a millisecond as she changed what she was saying. Her guard along the walls was already moving over as well.

"Sure. Chat with you later Hayato."

"Motoko." She agreed and then hurried away.

I rested for another minute just to cool off before rising up. Time to head home.

—--

When I got home I made a meal and was humming a song, all while I was programming.

Hiromi had mentioned why I didn't just remote control the Tachikoma, and I couldn't deny it was a good idea.

While I wouldn't always be as confident in controlling their bodies as they would eventually become. I could show them how to do things it might take a while to develop naturally.

So I was working on the control interface. It wasn't simple tech, but I had the copy of the Minotaur system, and was basically copying Militech's homework while changing it enough the teacher wouldn't mind.

Progress was going pretty fast, as I was going through the code and setting it up. I finished eating, and even went and took a shower while I was working on it, just tapping away in my mental digital space as code flowed over my eyes.

Then, as I was drying off it was finished.

I looked over at the Tachikoma, and slipped the update for the control access, and then took it over.

I went to take a few steps and instead of moving it just sort of twitched and then fell flat.

Right. The Minotaur used a control crown to better handle the human to machine interface.

I sighed as I considered what to do. I could probably put one of those together? No, that sort of defeated the whole point of being able to use the Tachikoma stealthily.

I shrugged. I would just have to adapt the learning system to learning how to handle my own inputs now.

Not a huge deal, just another little thing I would need to work on… Unless I went and bought an off the shelf drone? No, I realized, it might help, but even then, it wouldn't have the same control system. The Tachikoma's unique design would make it a bit more complicated.

I shrugged, deciding to just open a new branch of the AI learning, for it to adapt to the new concept.

I looked at the laptop. It was doing an acceptable job of giving the Tachikoma the extra processing power it needed, but it was an issue that was going to become more and more of a problem.

Might need to actually go out and find some leads apart from Hiromi. Might lead to some fun gigs or something I guess.

I flopped onto the bed and continued working on the Tachikoma remote connection.

—--

The next morning I woke up and stretched. Ignoring the Tachikoma that was laying on my stomach I moved it over and set it on the ground as I left the room looking for breakfast.

"Motoko."

"Oh hey Jun." I muttered sleepily, as I stared at not just Jun but like. Four TC gonks all hanging out on the couch.

Eddies, drugs, and guns were all over the living room table, and I could tell from one look that Jun hadn't slept yet.

I blinked at him, and he winced as he realized how it looked.

"I don't want to know." I decided and Jun looked relieved, and sort of broken at the words.

"Hey! It's little Motoko!, heh! Haven't seen you in a while, kid! Why don't you come over here and say hello to Big bro Yuto!" He called out happily then turned to Jun. "When're you going to finally bring her in eh Jun? She's old enough now! Looking like a real woman already."

"Never. Motoko doesn't have much interest in this stuff." He said, with a bit of a growl in his voice as a warning. "So drop it." Jun snapped, and the man sort of flinched back at Jun's tone.

"Hey, no worries Jun-chan, no worries. But Motoko, not into the Claws? When did this happen?" The man asked, waving his hands trying to keep Jun's burning glare to calm down.

"Yuto." He snapped, but calmed down after a second. "I told you Motoko was in a coma."

"Yeah yeah, I remember just shit. She used to be the one pushing you into shit. Whenever I had trouble getting you involved, I'd just poke Little Motoko!" The man laughed uproariously at the joke.

Jun just rolled his eyes, but I noticed he was actually pretty comfortable with the guy.

I shrugged. None of my business. Wandering into the kitchen I threaded my chrome fingers through my hair, straightening it a bit as I pulled out a soda and started drinking it down.

Come to think of it, as I watched the men on the couch. I hadn't seen Jun bring over friends much.

"Chooms of yours Jun-nii?" I asked and he looked back towards me, as did the boys.

"Oh shit, you really don't remember eh Little Motoko? Come over here and sit down, Let big Bro Yuto see how much you've changed."

I continued to sip my drink as I threw a look at Jun.

"Yuto was my best choom growing up, Motoko. We ran together when we were kids."

"Hah! We still run together Jun-chan! Now that I'm out of the slammer!" He cheered and the boys around him cheered alongside him.

"Huh." I muttered wandering over. This wasn't entirely uninteresting.

"How long were you in jail?" I asked as I hopped over the couch settling in besides Jun.

"Three years, time served! More like time taken." Yuto muttered darkly. "But I'm out now! Jun-chan is a Kamikaze! Bozo and dipshit are still just shit-muscle."

"Hey! Fuck you Yuto!"

The other guy just flipped his choom off and they all laughed, even Jun.

Huh.

"Well boys and bitches, this was fun. Fuck I haven't had a real drink since they locked me up." Yuto offered with a tired grin as he stretched towards the ceiling.

"Heh. Fuckin' hell Yuto, it was never the same without you." One of the other guys mentioned with a grin.

Then Jun spoke. "Yuto. I'm glad you're out."

"Well shit Jun-chan you are going to get me crying if you keep that shit up. Although boys, there is something you can do for me, you know, as a favor to an old choom."

The three boys all looked curious, and Yuto smiled. "Help me flatline the gonk fuck that stabbed me in the back and got me sent to the slammer eh?"

I watched on as the three boys all reacted. Jun didn't say much. Just sort of frowning seriously, while the other two were a bit more argumentative.

"Fuck Yuto, we can't do that shit." One of them offered, and the other nodded along agreeing.

"Fuck you both then! No wonder you gonk fucks aren't anything but lackeys still. Jun-Chan. Bro. I need this."

"You know I can't. Kisaru is high up. The whole reason you got pegged with it, was because he had the power to get out of it." Jun said softly, uncomfortable at what he was saying.

"Exactly! He thinks he's all that hot shit! Made me take the fall for the drugs! Just because I was carrying them to the fucking buyers! If the fucker had just kept his mouth shut, that'd be one thing, but he fucking squealed. You know he did!"

"Kisaru was cleared of that. Besides, Kisaru is a Lieutenant now. We are honor bound not to touch him. You know what happens if we do. They'll kill you. Us." Jun offered weakly.

Very weakly.

"Don't fucking-No, you know what's up. Jun. I'm calling in the favor. You owe me for this! You come with, I can get to Kisaru easy as shit and flatline that gonk."

"Yuto."

"You fucking owe me Jun! You don't have a choice! So don't be a bit-Fuck!" He squealed when I came up behind him and stuck my knife right into his trachea.

"If you're dead, then Jun-nii won't owe you shit. Can't owe something to a corpse." I explained simply.

The room went silent, and I was getting looks from everyone, but I wasn't playing this game.

"Motoko." Jun said, but I ignored him, because was about to be talked into stupid shit by a fucking gonk ass old friend.

Shit like this was how everything always went wrong.

"H-hey, Little Motoko, we don-" I jabbed a bit harder.

"You shush. Listen to me now. Jun is doing better, but his life doesn't need this sort of shit. He is way too connected to the TC to go murder someone high up and not have some shit fall on his head. So no, Jun isn't going to help you get revenge. If you ask him again, I will remove you from the entire situation. Permanently."

"Motoko." Jun muttered, but I noticed wasn't actually trying to stop me.

"Do you understand Yuto?"

"Yeah, yeah I hear it." He said a little strained. For a guy that went to jail he wasn't really all that strong willed.

"Good. Jun, having chooms is good, but you aren't allowed to ruin your life because of revenge. We both… We both had to put revenge behind us yeah?" I told him seriously, then I let go.

"Fuck. Holy shit." Yuto muttered rubbing at his neck, checking for blood.

Which was silly, I didn't want to cut him, so I didn't.

"Then fuck was that?" He demanded, and I just stared at him blankly.

"A warning?" I answered truthfully wondering how that had somehow gone over the guys head. Deciding that my point was made I spun the knife on my fingers and then holstered it away before stretching out a bit. "Gonna do some more programming, have fun with your friends Jun… Just not too much fun."

"Motoko. Go to your room." Jun said grumpily and I nodded, yeah that sounded good.

I really wanted to do some work on my net hacks.

—--

I looked at the code as I did a final scan.

Overheat was a pretty common online hack. There were a few different versions. Some were a virus causing Cyberware to basically go crazy overclocking themselves, and some like this one, dumped a huge amount of junk data into the netrunners connection making their system overheat them and lag out at the same time.

The original one Yoko had given was pretty terrible. Large RAM cost, Slow upload rate, easily stalled out.

I needed a hack I could use on a netrunner so it had to be more than just a baseline hack.

So I had sat down and decided to improve on every aspect of the hack.

Reducing its size with a few alterations to the code. Massively lowering the RAM cost. I was pretty proud of that one.

Instead of sending a large packet of data over with the upload to lag the system, instead what this version did was alter some of the configuration settings of the enemy netrunner.

It caused their own system to fill with junk data on their own side. Much faster upload, much cheaper to do, and much more effective.

One small protocol alteration caused everything to come crashing down.

It was… Well it wasn't amazing. I wouldn't call it anything more than a middle of the road hack.

It wasn't as powerful or effective as my Hell Flame hack.

But it was also much much smaller, and more focused.

And I could rapid fire the hack without nearly as many issues as Hell Flame gave me.

It was an easy go to hold out weapon. I stretched out satisfied as it finished and I installed it into my deck.

[HEAT Bullet Mk.01] Installed and looked like it would work just fine.

Stretching out I wandered back out of my room. The living room was still a mess. Empty cans, trash, and some what I think was leftover drugs?

Jesus Jun, this is way worse than my firearms mess.

I wandered around cleaning most of it, but leaving the drugs alone. Can't say I was happy about it, but I was assuming the boys would be back to get their shit.

I finished cleaning up and decided to test out my new hack.

Down in the garage, sliding onto my Kusanagi, I hesitated. Forgetting something important. I had promised to be more careful.

So I sent out a text and when I got a response I smiled and gunned it. Heading out into the city towards my netrunning lair.