Ghost in the City: Cyberpunk Gamer SI

[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.

 

[Seras]

"Okay, you had me at Netrunner Combat Zone." Malcolm said after I had gone on a long explanation of what I would be doing.

"That was easy." I muttered as I settled onto the net chair, idly grabbing the cooling cap I had hanging from the chair now. I had bought it before coming in, since this was my first time doing some real netrunning since I lost my Seacho Netdeck.

And maybe Hiromi's remarks about it being like armor had hit their mark, but I would never admit that.

"C'mon Motoko, netrunning is wild. I mean I don't have a Cyberdeck, for me, netrunning is just… Some weird thing some people can do. Getting to see it in action? That's pretty nova."

"Well you know what to do if something goes wrong, right?"

"Activate the disengage, and pull you out only once it allows… And if I have any issues, call Yoko."

"Great. See you on the web." I offered and flopped back. When I opened my eyes I was in my lobby.

I looked around and then stopped.

The Tachikoma data kernel was growing quickly.

The Tachikoma was wandering around, and as I watched it even did a little leap to climb up on top of the small table in the center of the couches.

*What is that?* Malcolm asked, as I was streaming my sight to the laptop.

"A digital form of the Tachikoma AI I'm developing. It's growing really well over here. I'm going to need to do something about that soon." If I didn't get some better hardware for the Tachikoma to run off of, it would slow down its development pretty soon.

Shaking it off, I disappeared into the net. A few quick hops and I was then walking down the dark corner of the web into the netrunner bar.

*Whoa. It looks like a normal club.* Malcolm chattered in my ear as I walked into the lobby.

"Yeah." I agreed, but this time I wasn't going to listen to Sasha that jerk! I walked up to the woman at the counter. "Hi. Umm. I've been here before, but I'll be honest, my… Choom brought me in without explaining shit to me."

The woman behind the counter blinked from her quad eye set up. Each one blinked in a different pattern.

"Saw your match. Surprised you are still alive, hell of a burnout." She said suddenly and then nodded. "Heard that you were new, and the Stray Cat dragged you in without giving you a heads up. Not supposed to do that. Talk to Admin. Follow the IMP." She offered, and opened her eyes, a small IMP Daemon appeared.

It looked like a hovering ball of light and spiraling data, but it floated around and then started into the club.

"Thanks." I followed it in, as it led me through the light crowd of the place before floating over to a man, alighting onto his outstretched hand and disappearing.

"Well if it isn't Ghost in the Shell herself." he greeted, a deep brassy voice, but not unkind. He sounded older than even his digital avatar portrayed though. "Surprised you are still alive, after you got Derezzed."

"I had some chooms keeping my brain from melting." I explained as I walked over, but hesitated before sitting.

"Slide in, slide in. You wanted some data on the rules and regs? Good idea. It was a real shock when you fried yourself for the win."

"Yeah well… I wasn't intending on jumping in head first like that."

"No, nor should you." He added, sounding unhappy. "Normally, I don't just offer easy answers. Young runners come in all the time and the usual path is for them to trade for info, but as an apology for what happened, let me give you a simple run down." He offered, flicking his fingers, and a Shard appeared in his hands.

Obviously a digital representation, but it got the point across.

I took it, and did a thorough scan before accessing the data. It was clear, but not entirely bug free. I wiped what I found and then did another pass just to be sure. Before accessing it.

"Heh, you have no idea how often kids just jam whatever data is offered to them right into their brain." Admin said almost wistfully.

Ignoring the old man's words I instead checked over the data.

It was a… Brochure? I mean that wasn't quite it, but it was close enough. Basically a spiel on what the netrunner Combat Zone was and how it worked.

The dive into the combat server had a protection system built in. Anything too bad would be stopped before it could reach a user, unless of course the user did something stupid and overheated themselves.

That part wasn't in there, but I read between the lines.

It also taught me there were a few access commands I could have used things like auto logout, and a few other features.

"This would have been nice to know." I snarked and the old man hummed in agreement.

Then when he spoke next he didn't sound pleased at all.

"What that Stray Cat did broke multiple rules. She isn't welcome around here at the moment." He said his deep voice sounded rather ticked off.

And for just a moment I felt some sympathy for Sasha. Sure, she wasn't my favorite person at the moment, but…

"It's not… Entirely her fault? I don't think she is handling her current situation very well. I hope it's not a permanent ban? Although I actually don't know how often she comes here." I admitted. Was this like a normal thing for Sasha, or just something she does to blow off steam sometimes?

I knew so little about the woman despite… Well despite seeing her die.

"It's not permanent. She was simply told not to come back until she cooled off." He replied firmly. "Does this satisfy you? Normally one would request more of a harsher punishment."

"No. That's more than enough." I waved it off.

If any punishment was going to be meted out, it should be from me, not some random guy I've never met.

"Thanks." I offered and rose up, receiving a single nod from the man as I wandered over to one of the other booths and settled in, a screen popping up as I settled showing the inside of the arena. It was quiet currently, no battles taking place, but there was an option to view past matches.

"You getting this Malcolm?"

*Fuck yeah I am." Malcolm replied back instantly, as I started the most recent match, settling in to watch how they fought, and generally how this whole thing worked…

You know without being dropped into it.

—--

Junichirou Kusanagi

"C'mon Jun-Chan!"

"Yuto. You know I want to help you."

"Then just do it!"

"Motoko will literally kill you." Jun offered, as he reached up and rubbed at his face.

Yuto getting out of jail was a surprise, he hadn't even remembered his old choom. Not with everything that had happened in his life.

Moving up in the TC, breaking out of the low level runners that he and his chooms had done for so long. The Casino. Kasumi. He stilled as the name ran through him. The white hot rage that had once consumed him, feeling like it was burning him alive was only embers. Still there.

Always there.

But it didn't fill every moment with rage and hate anymore. It couldn't. Lashing out at everyone around him, had almost… Almost hurt Motoko.

So he had let the fire dim, learned to keep it down, how to breathe and for the first time in his life, Jun had learned how to control his anger.

What was the point at getting angry with minor things? Not after he learned what true anger was.

It was why Fujimura-Sama had grown to trust him so much.

From kid drug runner, to Casino worker, to Kamikaze, to trusted lieutenant. And now, an old choom was asking him to potentially throw it all away.

Motoko was right.

Yet, Jun owed Yuto. The boy had saved Jun's life more than once. He owed him. Honor and Jun's own wants to help a friend.

But trying to murder the kid of one of the higher ups was suicide.

"Yuto, let it go. Fuck him. You're out now. You got the whole rest of your life ahead of you. Go find an output and live."

"Fuck that! He disrespected me Jun! You can't let that kind of shit go! You know that!" The boy, no… The man. Yuto and Jun were both men now.

One through death, one through prison. Both had changed, and yet.

Yuto wasn't being reasonable. His desire to flatline Kisaru Moritaka was shortsighted.

Jun sighed, looking around the bar. Thankfully while it was a TC bar, no one really knew who Yuto was yelling about. Yuto was pretty drunk at this point, enjoying his freedom.

And so quick to throw it away.

"Yuto."

"Don't fucking Yuto me Junichirou! We swore to always back eachother up! I know you couldn't do shit to get me out of the slammer, but fuck man! You're borged out! Fucking cold blooded killer now, help me kill this fuck!"

Jun just sighed, looking down into his drink.

Motoko was going to kill him. Or Yuto.

Probably both.

"Yuto. How about we do this the right way. We go down and talk to Wakako. Motoko has a good connection with her."

"Fuck man. What kind of bitch brings a fixer into this shit? I'm not some punk Jun-chan! I can kill a gonk fucker!"

"Yeah, but if you do, you spend the rest of your short life being chased around. Get Wakako in on it, and problem solved."

"I don't have that kind of eddies. Fuck man, you know that." Yuto snapped obviously frustrated with Jun's constant attempts to get him to calm the fuck down.

"How about we try it? I have eddies."

"Fuck Jun. I feel like everything is crazy now. Used to be, you would be the first to jump at a chance to flatline some fuck that crossed us. Now you are arguing against it, and… Everyone else already left."

"They have jobs Yuto."

Yuto looked at Jun with a look that would have killed if it could. "You gonks were my chooms. What happened?"

Jun flinched at the accusation for a moment before firming up.

Things had changed.

But Jun wasn't sure it wasn't for the better.

"We grew up Yuto."

The man exhaled like he was punched. Jun sympathized.

"Come on choom. Let's get out of here, get some sleep. We've been celebrating you being back all night."

Yuto was quiet, staring down into his drink for a long while.

"Do you remember Jun-chan, when we knocked over that Tino shipment?"

"Of course. Craziest night of my life until then. We stole a truck smashed into them, and flatlined them. Stole the drugs and sold it all. Made enough eddies we could buy our own rides." Jun said fondly. Motoko…

The old Motoko, had been absolutely awed at her brother's payday. Had been so proud of him for doing it, and proving he was worth something.

That was the start of his rise in the TC.

Yuto had been the one who planned it all. Jun had just been the muscle. A boy, gonk enough to climb into a stolen truck planning to crash it.

"We didn't used to think. We didn't used to let death scare us. We did it, because it was how we made the world see us." Yuto went on, and Jun frowned.

They had done it to be rich. To be famous. Back then Rep had been all there was.

"Rep is everything." Jun said and Yuto looked up and both men's eyes met.

Jun had believed that for so long. He still did… To an extent.

Jun had once believed nothing was more important. That rep was your life, and without it, you were nothing.

But Jun had come to a realization that he would have burned his rep to the ground to protect Motoko. That he would have left the TC in a heartbeat to protect her.

So rep wasn't everything.

"Rep isn't everything to me anymore Yuto. I found things in life that were more important." Jun stopped as he realized what he had just said.

What it meant for him. He had lost Kasumi, and thrown it all away, but Motoko had made him realize he still had things to live for.

Jun… Jun wanted more than to just burn out into nothing. When he was younger he had been too angry and brash to really live. Raising Motoko had been a constant struggle. But it was worth it.

He felt his lips tugging up into a smile. "I made a life for myself, Yuto. C'mon, I'll let you crash on my couch. I'll introduce you to my boss Fujimura-Sama. We can find you some work, and you'll realize there is more to life than rep too."

Jun tugged Yuto along, regardless if the man wanted to or not. Yuto was half Jun's size now.

Yuto was his choom. He would show him how to live his life too if he had to.

—--

Rebecca

"Any issues?" Hiromi asked, and Rebecca just stared at the younger girl like she was some sort of fucking Hydra.

"Choom, I thought Kitten was the weirdest of your little group, but I think you take that cake."

"I'm not weird! And neither is Motoko!"

"Sure." She replied back with a scoff. She looked down at the box of equipment that Hiromi had just dropped off.

"It's not as good as what we have of course. But I figure if there is an emergency gig over the next while until we get the full package, this will help. Let me know if there are any issues. We can send it to Motoko for alterations."

Hiromi had put together an armor kit. Actual armor, expensive shit even, just handed over. To her. Given to Rebecca who wasn't really a full timer in their group. She hadn't asked, or even known about this until Hiromi had called asking for a meeting.

Rebecca nodded, feeling a little weird. She wanted to thank the girl, and also she wanted to run away. So instead Rebecca fell back on what she always did.

"Thanks Choom! I'll pay you back."

"Why? It's part of our Section 9 funds, and Motoko wants you to go out with us. She… Is always happy to chatter about you coming with." Hiromi added, sounding a little peeved.

"Heh. Still can't admit your crush huh?"

"Shut up! Don't! Don't say that! Motoko might hear! You never know what she is doing, she could be testing a new listening bug or something!"

"I kinda doubt it."

"I don't! Just don't… Okay? Don't."

"Alright just teasing Crush, just teasing. What's this then?"

"Oh! Motoko mentioned she scrolls BD's of the gigs she does right?"

"Oh, yeah. This them?"

"Yep! And the newest one! Sorry to say, you only show up as a blur. You're a bit too distinct, but you are on that one."

"Wait, there's a BD of the raid?"

"Yep! But all of Motoko's BD's are in there. Anyway Rebecca, I need to go. I have class in twenty."

"Well shit choom don't let me keep you… Class? Fucking weird." She muttered as Hiromi jumped back into a sleek corpo car and drove off.

The fucking kid had a personal driver and shit. Some ganger kid Rebecca hadn't seen before. And Crush thought she wasn't the strangest of the entire group?

"Heh." She turned around and walked back inside. Her apartment was the same as always, quieter with Pilar still in hiding, but that was looking to end soon.

She dropped the box on her bed and grabbed her BD wreath.

What was Kitten up to?

She settled in and popped in the first BD.

Instantly Rebecca was staring at glowing letters.

Section 9

And then it started. Rebecca felt her heart calm as she settled into a new skin.

She was Motoko she realized, the thrum of her Quadra suddenly revving up.

She felt the way her arms shifted, her feet pushing the gas and brake, pressing the clutch and then they were sideways. Rebecca remembered it herself, but where she remembered being startled at the motion, to Motoko it felt…

Perfect. She knew exactly what to do. There was no confusion, no unintended motions. The entire drift had been perfectly controlled.

Rebecca felt herself already moving. The sound of gunfire, an Ajax, her Ajax going but only after Motoko had already left the seat and leapt, one jump taking her over the Quadra onto a broken wall, and then leaping across to another broken segment, letting her practically walk into the second floor of the destroyed building.

In her vision she suddenly saw a netrunner protocol, slipping into the Scavs system, and her own voice, husky and sexy slipping out.

*I plucked their eyes. Go.* Rebecca didn't remember Motoko sounding like that…

She was pretty sure she would have remembered.

Her rifle was brought up casually and fired, and the first Scav took three shots before Motoko walked over and casually kicked them off the edge.

No. Before Rebecca kicked them off the edge. She couldn't even properly keep herself separate, whoever edited this BD was a master. Rebecca moved, firing a few times and then seeing the Minotaur. Its twin guns spooled up and then the HMG fire got everyone's attention.

But there was no rush of fear, just excitement, as she leapt. The jump was intense, the feeling of her belly doing flips, but that was all Rebecca, because the BD just sent a sense of pure confidence.

No fear.

She landed, bounced, and then was on top of the Minotaur firing into the Scavs.

Fuck, Motoko was right. This was preem.

She watched through the rest of the BD ending before they even went underground.

Ending with another little message.

Section 9
Do you want to know more?
NETDIR://Section9.Web

"Fucking corpo!" Rebecca wheezed as the BD ended, laughing as she realized just how fucking crazy Hiromi was. "A fucking website!"

Rebecca continued to chuckle as she lay on her bed. Feeling the sensation of Motoko's movements still shadowed over her body.

Rebecca had experienced a lot of BD's. She liked the combat ones of course. To experience battle, feeling the adrenaline slam through her, shooting anyone and everyone.

Unfortunately they usually ended with the poor gonk who scrolled it getting flatlined.

Rebecca wasn't a fan of that.

So Rebecca had used a lot of BD's, she knew good ones. The ones that had a real Maestro editing them together.

Motoko had a serious BD editor working with her. "Holy shit." She muttered as she pulled out the BD and swapped it for another one.

"Inner Universe?" She muttered, wondering what this one was like.

Rebecca started it, and instantly wind brushed across her face. She opened her eyes to the city skyline. Far above the streets.

Her eyes tracked down to a shard in her hands.

Inner Universe. It was even etched in the same style that the BD came in.

Heh.

She slotted it and music started, an interesting song, but not really her thing. Yet she didn't get time to enjoy it, as suddenly she was moving. A shift in her muscles, that made her want to gasp even as her heart refused to beat out of rhythm.

Motoko had jumped off a fucking building!

She was free falling, motionless as the wind whipped past her, and then it was all action.

Reaching out to break her fall on a pipe, she grinded herself into slowing her speed and then once more into nothing. She landed in a roll and then leapt to her feet rushing across the top of one of the walkway bridges between scrapers.

Rebecca forgot herself. Lost in the motion of the world around her, being so unthreatening.

There was no fear, just a self assuredness that flowed into everything.

Rebecca wasn't there anymore. She didn't exist. Just the movement.

She didn't really remember herself until Ramen hit her taste buds at the end of it. Startling her a bit as the salty splash of broth pulled her out of the intense feeling of her body moving perfectly.

She pulled off the wreath with a gasp. Body shaking and shivering as she lay on her bed.

 

[Seras]

Malcolm

"You're actually going to take part?" He asked as he continued to look through Motoko's eyes.

*Yeah. I want to practice it a bit. They have an external connection here. So I'm going to disconnect and let you watch through their cameras. If you see me start dying or something you know what to do.*

"I'll watch your back." He assured her as he threw a few more Shwabshwab back. Blue was the best flavor after all.

*I know.* She replied back with a surety that would have made Malcolm blush if she was looking at him.

Motoko was pretty intense, but there wasn't anyone that Malcolm trusted more. When it came to a serious situation Motoko was the most reliable person he knew. Which still freaked him out sometimes but that was just life.

The video on the laptop shifted loading for a few seconds before it showed an arena. It loaded for a few seconds, terrain forming up until it became a desert space. Bushes and hills becoming the only cover.

*Ghost in the Shell Vs. Hamm3r.* A pop up appeared and then it was on.

A fucking netrunner match. Malcolm popped more ants into his mouth chewing as he watched.

Malcolm didn't even know you could see this sort of shit!

The arena started and Motokoed instantly started moving. Rushing forward, and to the side, once she was a ways away she kneeled down and started… Doing something?

He wasn't sure, but it only took her about thirty seconds before whatever she was doing was complete. He watched as the opponent was moving cautiously out of his spawn point. Looking all around him, and even behind him, as he started activating Daemons.

Glowing orbs appeared around him, and then set off. Seemingly searching around while stopping to scan anything and everything.

They didn't look very smart. He saw the same Daemon scan the same bush twice as it backtracked.

Motoko stood up and Malcolm now knew what she had been up to.

*System Breached!* Appeared on his screen attached to Motoko's half, and suddenly a Minimap was on the screen he could see.

So… Motoko had breached into the system? That was good, he guessed. It must be if Motoko had decided to do it, but it was still weird.

Then Motoko seemed to explode, from her form something hard to see popped out, and scattered, seemingly vanishing into the floor of the server.

It looked kinda gnarly, and there was no update about what Motoko had just done. Instead she started moving. Slowly circling around the arena, seemingly purposefully in the opposite way that the opponent was going around.

Malcolm kept expecting something exciting to happen, but…

It was slow.

Motoko was stalking around. She didn't seem to have any interest in attacking, instead she just seemed to follow in the shadows of the arena, not that there were any, but she seemed to keep a hill between her and the other guy at all times.

Then Motoko came across one of the Daemons. The orb literally floated right past her.

"What?" Malcolm had to wonder, because those things had scanned literally everything. Motoko seemed to be testing it. Walking around it, even moving in front of it, but the Daemon was stupid. When it bounced into her, it just shifted directions to wander further.

Motoko shrugged, something he had seen her do pretty often, and then in her hands a burst of fire slammed into the Daemon.

It melted. That's the only thing Malcolm could think of. The Data steaming from it, as it melted away.

Motoko was obviously pleased. She had a little smile on her face, the most amount of emotion he usually saw from her, when she was in serious mode.

But the attack had an effect. The other guy. Hamm3r? He must have been alerted to the Daemons attack.

Instead of wandering, all of the orbs started rushing straight towards where she was.

She obviously noticed it, as she looked over but instead of running she just took a step back and waited.

The Daemons all floated over a hill. Looking red and angry as they started scanning around, but to Malcolm's surprise they continued to just miss Motoko. Like she was a Ghost standing among them.

They floated towards where the burning remains of the other Daemon was, and it took a few moments, as Motoko wandered around them. Obviously preparing something.

And then it happened.

As the Daemons gathered closer to the flaming Daemon corpse she sent seemingly multiple bursts of her fire into them from different directions. The Daemons reacted, but it was too slow. Only one of them turned and actually started trying to attack back before they all burned.

The one attack was blocked by a wall of weirdness Motoko made, that took the hit and just seemingly fizzled it out.

The enemy runner obviously noticed what had happened, as he stopped charging towards where Motoko was and instead started summoning in even more Daemons. This time they weren't small orbs exploring. He instead took longer, slowly forming a Daemon that resembled…

A thug? It looked kind of like a gangster, but Malcolm realized why this was the Daemon that was summoned, as a moment later it pulled out a gun.

This Daemon seemed to be smarter, instead of running off, it stuck to the runner guarding his back. Satisfied, the runner started forming another one.

It took a while and Motoko was seemingly watching what was happening through the mini map, content to give this runner time.

So Malcolm watched as nothing really happened. Motoko seemed satisfied to wait, and the runner seemed content to spend time generating more and more of his Daemons.

*FlAm3r: Both of these n3rds need to get on with it.* A message suddenly popped on the side of the screen, and Malcolm almost freaked out wondering if someone was hacking him, when a second message happened.

*B/\it: Tell me about it. Ghost is acting weird, but Hamm3r is a fucking noob. Stop playing with the little shit. I saw her last match, she could easily wipe this kid.*

And Malcolm realized there was some sort of chat? He typed into the keyboard and the words instantly went into a previously invisible chat field.

Huh.

He noticed he didn't have a username, and just before he started trying to make one he realized he was literally talking about a netrunner system…

He decided to not respond and just continue watching, even as a few more runners shit talked about the situation.

Finally Hamm3r started moving. Groups of his Daemons gathered together and started hunting. Leaving four of them with him, while an equal sized group left.

He waited and watched as Motoko finally reacted. Moving steadily towards the Daemons.

*B/\it: Why is she focused on the Daemons? If she wanted to attack him, she should have done it while he was summoning. Fucking loser.*

*R0ck4tr3ss: Shitstain fuckin shut up. You always complain and whine about other people but bitch out and never step into the arena. It's obvious she is testing to see what Hamm3r can do.*

Malcolm nodded as he watched the fight continue. Motoko hunted the four Daemons down, murdering all of them with fire seemingly without any real issue. Especially since they couldn't seem to see her.

*R0ck4tr3ss: Why aren't the Daemons responding to her? Some sort of optical hack?*

*Admin: Ghost dropped a Daemon into the arena when she breached the system. I don't want to go poking too deep while she is actively battling, but it seems to remove her from the sight of digital constructs. It does seem to work on Hamm3r as well to an extent.*

*B/\it: The lord speaketh! Hail the Admin!*

*FlAm3r: I've never heard of a hack like that. You got any deets @Admin?*

*Admin: You don't have the funds to pay for such information. Best to leave it.*

*FlAm3r: Fuck off!*

*B/\it: LEL Flamer more like Flamed.*

Malcolm looked away from the chat as it was filled with people laughing and not much else, to focus on Motoko.

He looked over and she was still laying seemingly asleep on the chair. Completely calm. A quick check and her Cyberdeck was still just warm and not overheating her. Everything was fine.

She finished fighting the daemons, and then slipped away. Seemingly waiting to see how the runner would react.

Angrily it seems.

Hamm3r rushed towards where Motoko was. The wait seemingly getting to him as he reached the bubbling mass of his former Daemons burned into flaming puddles he looked around.

*Come out! Stop sneaking around!* He roared looking around but then. Nothing.

Motoko definitely heard him, but she wasn't moving. Pissed, the guy summoned up another mass of Daemons, the orbs again, appearing much faster than the guys in suits, and then they sent out again. Searching.

But it was obvious to Malcolm that Hamm3r was seething.

Once a dozen of the IMPS were summoned, he stopped and started creating the larger Daemons again.

Though Malcolm noticed summoning each one was much much slower than before.

He looked towards the chat wondering if anyone would talk about it? Maybe he could get some answers.

Nothing. They were all just arguing about some random shit Malcolm had no idea what about.

So he just settled in to watch.

—--

Hamm3r I decided was really easy to piss off.

I felt a little bad for Malcolm as he was probably a bit bored, but grinding XP was not for everyone.

I was settled in a corner of the map just letting my deck stay cool, as I watched Hamm3r struggle to summon more Daemons.

Which was weird? I hadn't done much with Daemons, besides the free code for the facehuggers that I got from the perk, but I knew the basics. Each Daemon took a certain amount of Space on your deck to summon. But in exchange you had a program backing you up. Usually with a built in hack of its own to attack with.

Some were of course specialized like my face huggers, or the IMPs that were summoned to search for me. And yeah there was a limit to how many Daemons you could run at once off a deck, but… Was Hamm3r already hitting his limit?

The last two guys hadn't had any issues, but they had both been way more skilled than this guy.

Hamm3r was sort of outclassed. I had realized it when he had tried to breach into the system, and I hadn't even needed to intrude for him to fail.

It was kind of embarrassing.

Still, he was angry, and doing exactly what I wanted. Summoning XP for me.

I followed an IMP as it wandered around until it was far enough away and killed it. Hell Flame ending deleting its data too quickly for it to start any hacks against me.

Once again this set off the IMPs, but I noticed instead of all charging at the last spot they gathered up with Hamm3r as he hurried towards the spot.

I considered leaving a trap, but he would see it, and that would just be a waste of heat.

It was funny but I had learned something from the last time I was here.

RAM might be mana, but the heat of your Cyberdeck was mana burn.

You can't just go all out constantly, or you'll burn yourself out. So I just had to balance my cooldowns, and adjust my mana spending!

Thinking about it like a game, or like how I would if I was playing a wizard or something in an MMO helped.

Besides, I had a different objective than poor Hamm3r. I was here to farm him.

When he reached the burned corpse of his IMP he found nothing.

And that made him even angrier.

The poor kid was already overheating. While he had tried to breach into the server to get the Minimap info. I had breached him back.

Something he hadn't even noticed considering how sneaky I had been.

To my surprise though, when I breached, a lot of stuff had been blocked off by a firewall, and instead I had been given a screen just like the Minimap.

Which had things like his Cyberdecks RAM usage, and current temp.

The arena was an interesting bit of code. I was gonna have to speak to Admin about seeing under the hood. It was kinda cool.

But regardless, each Daemon he summoned cost him a chunk out of his Cyberdeck's RAM to keep up, and it was heating him up constantly.

He wasn't overheating himself yet, but he was getting close.

But still I didn't approach.

I just kept poking.

His IMPs once more wandered around, this time in sets of twos, trying to track me.

He seemed distracted, instead of summoning more I noticed on the minimap the Daemons were moving with more intelligence.

I guess he decided to switch to an RTS?

Finding a pair of IMPs that were far enough away wasn't hard, and once again I snuck up on them, and then blasted them with Hell Flame.

*250 XP Gained.*

*250 XP Gained.*

Smirking, I hurried away once again as all the Daemons rushed towards their death once again.

Poor Hamm3r.

I could hear him cussing at me through the entire arena. Digital shit talking that I just ignored.

Hamm3r tried. He loaded up more Daemons together. I killed them.

He tried staying with them, but after a while where I just didn't do anything he split them up and tried keeping them in larger groups again.

In the end, Hamm3r started absolutely raging at me. At the lack of my appearance, or doing anything.

I noticed he stopped summoning more Daemons.

Which was the moment he rang his own deathknell. If he wasn't going to give me more XP to farm? Then this match was over.

Slowly I came out of hiding, just approaching the man that was pissed and fiery, shouting expletives into the air.

Walking closer and closer, it was inevitable that he would notice me, even if he wasn't looking, the digital scape wasn't like the real world. You didn't entirely see with just your eyes.

He jerked away from me, shocked and startled, and that was when I moved.

Sandevistan activated. A Breach jumped, and a moment later he was down, and his Daemons were burning.

*Ghost Wins!*

—--

When I reappeared in the club I was met with looks of both amusement, and irritation.

"You sure took your time!" One of them yelled out and I just shrugged, but it was a curse from behind me that caught my attention.

"Bitch!" Hamm3r was there, red in the face and really pissed. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" He demanded as he charged forward, but he stopped when Admin was suddenly there hand in front of him blocking him from advancing.

"No fighting here." Admin demanded the older man firm and then he looked to me, and Hamm3r to make sure we both understood.

What could I say? What should I say?

I sighed, really wishing I could run a hand through my hair.

"Sorry, I was trying things out. I didn't think of the time it might take." I offered but Hamm3r just scoffed and flipped me off.

"Never going in a match with you again." He threw out as he turned and headed away quickly disappearing in a log out.

"That was rather cruel of you Ghost." Admin offered and I flinched.

"I didn't mean it like that. I was just…" I trailed off, because how do I explain that I was hunting his Daemons?"

Admin shrugged. "It was a competition, and you just showed how time can be an advantage netrunners often don't get the chance to take advantage of. If you continue to battle in such a way, just be aware of the effects it will have on your reputation."

"Right." I offered quietly.

Because honestly I probably was going to act like that as long as I was fighting someone that used Daemons.

The XP had been too good to ignore. Over 5000xp from all the Daemons in just one match!

It was a massive increase, and if not for the fact Malcolm was waiting on the line I would be tempted to throw myself into another match.

Which is probably why it was such a good thing he was here. I should cool off and take in what I learned.

"Thank you for the opportunity. This was actually very helpful." I offered to the older netrunner and I could see him react with a blink before he formed a smile.

"Well that isn't something I hear often. You are very welcome, Ghost."

I nodded at that and disappeared in my own logout.

—--

"That was kinda interesting, and kinda boring." Malcolm offered when I sat up, and I winced at the words.

"Sorry. You were really useful to have here though."

"Hey don't take it like that. I got to see a netrunner battle on the net, you have any idea how rare that is?"

"Is it?" I asked confused. "I mean, if that combat zone exists, then shouldn't there be recordings?"

"Never seen one." Malcolm replied with a shrug. "It was kinda cool though."

"Huh." I muttered, maybe I'd talk to Hiromi about it. Could be something interesting for the BD market? Or at least a video side of it.

I shrugged and got up stretching, feeling pretty good. A big chunk of xp always left me feeling better.

"Want to get some food?" I asked, and Malcolm nodded instantly.

"I could eat."

 

[Seras]

I can't believe this was happening.

"The Caliburn is the best!" Malcolm argued with this random gonk at the diner pointing at him with a french fry like he was going to stab him,

"Bull shit. It's overpriced, over hyped garbage. Also it's digital acceleration is fucking broken!"

"The fuck it is! It drives perfectly!"

"It's complete dogshit, and you would know if you weren't some gonk fuck street kid Rayfield fuckboy that has never been in a Caliburn."

"Bitch I own one!" Malcolm roared standing up and I just put my head in my hands.

I just wanted lunch. I was even paying. So why couldn't Malcolm just leave the stupid looking guy at the diners bar talking shit about the Rayfield commercial alone?

"What is your last name Arasaka or something? Bullshit lying little punk!"

"Oh I'll fucking prove it choom, I'll have you apologize and grovel to the best car in Night City when it arrives!" He called out, I could already see his eyes having flashed to call his Caliburn here.

Dammit Malcolm, I didn't want to stay here all afternoon. I had…

Okay I didn't have anything else to do, it's not like I had a normal job, but the point stands!

In the end I just flopped my head onto the table as I waited for the car to show up, and did my best to ignore the fact that Malcolm and this random gonk would not stop fucking arguing about it.

Gearheads are the most obtuse of all super fans I decided.

Besides everyone knows the Quadra was the best.

The arguing continued and I was sure both of these idiots would have been thrown out if we weren't the only people in the diner at the moment.

Then about twenty minutes later Malcolms Rayfield pulled into the lot.

"What the fuck." The guy said as he had been looking out the window behind Malcolm and saw it arrive.

"Hah! Get ready to weep choom, because I do own a Caliburn!" Malcolm crowed out his Victory as he sauntered out the door and walked up to the car. The door opened at his approach.

"No fucking way."

"Way." I answered as I rose up and threw some eddies at the owner for the food. I walked out and Malcolm was leaning up against the car with a cocky grin staring at the windows of the diner.

"Malcolm, your ego is showing." I muttered as I walked past him to my Quadra. Right next to the rather modded out Quadra Sport R-7.

I had a feeling I knew the other guy's choice in vehicles.

"Alright choom. Alright. You win on this one. You're daddy certainly has a lot of eddies." The other guy calls out, and that just sets Malcolm off.

"Fuck you! This is my car you gonk bitch!"

"Yeah, I doubt it kid. How about we prove it. A nice little race, my R-7 and your Rayfield, you know how to drive that thing don't you?"

"Course I do!" Malcolm said knowing damn well that he didn't. I sighed as the two boys got into an argument that led to me sitting in the Rayfield next to Malcolm as he squeezed the steering wheel tightly. The R-7 was beside us, engine rumbling as we waited for the light to change.

"I turned on launch control. I'm gonna blow this gonk fucker away." Malcolm muttered and I hummed a bit.

I had a feeling Malcolm was about to get left in the dust.

"Just don't risk your car for a race that doesn't matter."

"It'll be fine Motoko! Just trust me!"

I very specifically tugged on the seatbelt reminding him I was wearing it.

"Fuck off." He grumbled, but then he focused up.

The lights were changing, The R-7 rumbled its engine and I instantly knew what was about to happen.

The Rayfield's launch control relied on the engine being idle before it activated.

Instantly Malcolm, rumbled his engine back, The Turbo charged V10 of the Caliburn roared up, and the launch control activated trying to launch the car at the same time as the brake was held down, then the light changed. The R-7 was gone, burning rubber off the street line, as Malcolms Caliburn sputtered forward and nearly stalled out, before he managed to adjust it and take off.

"No no no no!" He howled as he roared after, but the R-7 was modded and it was obvious that Malcolm wouldn't catch up before they hit the next light.

"That… Was both very smart, and an asshole move." I mentioned as I considered how much car knowledge it took to do that kind of shit.

"I don't want to hear it!" Malcolm snapped as he continued trying to catch up, but by the time we got anywhere near the R-7 it was already slowing down after the next light and pulling over. Then Malcolm pulled in behind the R-7, and jumped out

"What the fuck!" He yelled at the guy that was also, stepping out, with a cocky grin.

"What? You got smoked kid. Better learn to use Daddys car before trying to race it."

"You fucking asshole!"

"Hey Malcolm, chill." I demanded as I hurried around the car and grabbed him. Malcolm was seething, looking like he was going to throw fists over this.

"Hey brats. Watch yourself, or else." The man demanded and I stilled.

Turning around I saw the man holding a gun in his hand having drawn it.

The Nova he was using to intimidate a couple of brat kids. Okay. At this point in time the guy had passed over the realm of acceptable conduct.

He forced Malcolm into a race, tricked him, and then when Malcolm was pissed pulled a gun despite Malcolm not being anywhere near him.

It took half a second to turn his gun into a nice paperweight as my eyes flashed into hacking the damn thing, and then I pushed Malcolm back and stalked forward.

"What? You some crazy bitch? Don't think I-Hey!" He yelped as I continued to approach, he aimed the gun at my center mass and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Which is right when I grabbed his outstretched wrist, twisted, pulled, unbalanced him and launched my other fist right into his face.

Ignoring the scream from inside of his date I enjoyed the moment as he crashed into the asphalt.

"Fuck you asshole." I said simply as I turned back to Malcolm. Malcolm who looked a little conflicted.

"I really wanted to do that."

"Eh, you shouldn't have tried to punch him for tricking you. That was a dick move, but acceptable. Live and learn. But some gonk pulling a gun is a different story. C'mon let's get out of here."

Malcolm didn't move at first. The guy cursed and thrashed as he rose back to his feet, blood pouring down his nose, but eventually Malcolm scoffed and smirked and walked back to the Caliburn.

Then we were off.

"Satisfied?" I asked as he floored it past the R-7 and the fucker.

"No. Not at all actually. I… I got tricked like a fucking gonk, and it's my fault."

"Mistakes happen." I said as comfortingly as I could.

"I just… I feel like a fucking gonk. I should have known better."

"Experience is important… Why don't you start racing and stuff. Practice it I mean?" I remembered there were races all over the place.

Didn't I get invited to a race once? I vaguely recall it happening.

"Maybe I will! Thanks Motoko. For… You know, backing me up."

"No problem."

—--

It was kinda weird, but I felt a bit bored.

I had spent some more time once I got home fixing up the Tachikoma AI some more. It was growing as well as it could, but honestly I was just bored.

I considered calling up Wakako for a gig, but the idea struck me as I was looking out the window and I made a decision.

Getting dressed, arming up I headed out grabbing a bit of my secondary kit. I dragged my armor kit with me to the car but didn't put it on yet.

Then after a quick drive across the city, I walked down the steps into the Afterlife. The pounding music, the Edgerunners all working and planning and plotting. I smiled and ended up settling at the bar.

Then I just waited for a while. Idly I continued to do some more programming work, just some leftover stuff from Yoko as I waited for time to pass.

I was sucking a soda through a straw the bartender had given me when it happened. The whole room went electric, everyone looked up from what they were doing.

Rogue arrived. Just like last time she strode through the bar like she was Queen and the rest of us mere mortals. Groups of edgerunners hurried after her, looking for work, and then either rushed back to their little teams, or started calling out for additional skills.

Then a call came out and I knew I had to accept.

"I need an infiltrator!" The call went out and I turned to look.

Black man, punk style, big trench coat. I nodded. Rising up I decided to avoid all the difficulty with my age.

A slight adjustment, and when I spoke a much more mature, sexier voice came out.

"I can cover that." I called and his eyes turned to me. They instantly glowed as he scanned, but for some reason despite my age, he didn't hesitate to nod at me. "Names Bishop. Give me a minute."

Then he turned right around to talk to Rogue. Two minutes later he came out and jerked his head to follow.

I sauntered after, towards the side room right near the entrance. The tables were mostly empty as it was still midday, but a group of edgerunners were already gathered up.

They looked me over at the same time I looked them all over.

They were an eclectic group.

One guy was in a business suit. He reminded me of Hiromi's dad. Only this guy was armed considering the bulge in his jacket. Also his arms were definitely Mantis Blades. He looked up as Bishop walked over and then looked at me.

Instantly his eyes flashed, and I could tell he was scanning me.

I looked away and at the rest of the group. If he wanted to scan before introductions that was fine.

The next woman was… wild.

A tattered T-shirt showed her bra at multiple points. The image of shark teeth on the front of the shirt looked unique. Maybe something she had made herself? Her jacket was a pretty standard Street Samurai coat, the sort of thing game V always wore, but the big case next to her was definitely her weapon.

The last was another guy. TC? He reminded me of it. Even had a Katana at his hip. His hair reminded me of Juns, only it wasn't fire, and instead some electronic effect. He gave me a once over and didn't say anything, nor did he give off any emotion. Simply observing.

"Alright. This is Motoko. She's an infiltrator. Rogue approved so she's on the team for the gig. Introduce yourself." Bishop seemed to order as he looked over the grouping.

"Samuel Perry." The corpo introduced himself, and then he looked to Bishop. "Are you sure? She's young."

"She's also here." Bishop waved a hand as if it didn't matter. "Rogue vouches for her. That's that."

"Very well. I'm the one that handles diplomacy and my former employment with Militech left me with plenty of contacts." He introduced himself with a casual air, but his eyes were sharp, always staring at me.

"Call me Mira. I'm the sharpshooter." She said, all teeth, which I then noticed were shark teeth.

Bit on the nose, but okay.

"Hakase." The Street Samurai introduced but then an echoing void came up after. Luckily Bishop spoke up.

"He doesn't talk much, but he's damn good with that blade."

"I can tell." I answered, giving the man a look over. "I'm Motoko. I'm an infiltrator, but I'm also a solo, and Netrunner. I look forward to working with you."

"Jeeze, where did you find this kid?" Mira called out but I wasn't really bothered. It's hard to be insulted by someone you don't know, and don't care what their opinion of you is.

"Right, let's get down to it. Two days ago a Kang Tao scientist jumped ship. He is trying to sell some info for protection to the corps, obviously Kang Tao isn't letting this go, but that isn't our concern. Rogue wants the guy gathered up, the info is Rogues to sell as far as she's concerned." Bishop spoke with a confident cadence, and his crew all nodded in understanding.

No confusion, no hesitation. They had worked together for a long time then.

"The problem comes in the pick up. The guy is hiding out in a high end apartment building here in City Central. Normally not an issue, but our target wasn't entirely stupid. He hired some animals for protection."

Bishop handed over a shard, first to Samuel, the corp who plugged it in looked it over for a few minutes and nodded, frowning a bit. Then to Mira who barely glanced at the shard before tossing it to Hakase.

He looked it over for a while before handing it to me.

Inside I understood. It was details about the building, the target, and some information about the animals protecting him, and why this was a problem.

Squad of twenty animals had locked down the top floor of this apartment building. From a tiny clip of camera footage that was on it, it showed the animals carrying LMG's checking the elevator every time it stopped on that floor.

The place was locked down, and somehow we had to extract the guy in charge.

"So can you get to the security system? We'll need a distraction while we get up in the elevator." Bishop asked and I nodded idly as I looked through things.

"You plan on going in guns blazing?" I asked, and the team nodded confidently. "Then I can definitely get you onto the top floor, can probably blind and disable the elevator guards as well remotely."

"You weren't kidding about being a netrunner huh?" Mira asked, and I shook my head.

"No, I'm pretty good. Not elite tier, but good. Only issue is if the security is protected by a netrunner as well. I don't see any information if the Animals brought one, or if the hotel has one on site."

"We don't know, so we go in with a blank spot. Will that stop you from infiltrating and getting us up there?"
"No." I answered back. I could do that even if there was a security runner, but something caught my eye.

"Hang on. Why don't we skip the elevator entirely."

"I'm not walking up twenty stories." Mira denied instantly and I smiled as I shook my head.

"Not what I mean. North east side of the building, there's some heating units sticking out, should be an easy climb up to the top floor. Quieter than using the elevator."

"Let me see." Bishop called, and I popped out the shard and handed it back over. He slotted it and started examining the data, going over it much longer than the first time.

Then slowly he nodded.

"Could work. Would leave the initial arrival a lot less dicey."

"Aww I like Dicey." Mira mocked, and then Samuel was handed the shard to look as Bishop popped it out.

"Doable I suppose. Doesn't really change much. We still need the security opened so we can use the elevator."

"The elevator, is a E6-551. It's got a backdoor by default. I'll be able to unlock the elevator even without touching security. Although I'll still need to infiltrate, unless you want NCPD arriving at the sound of gunfire."

"We don't." Bishop confirmed.

"Then I'll head in and shut down the silent alarms as planned, get you elevator access. Might be able to join you if you like?" I offered, but Bishop shook his head.

"Better to stay with the security and pull netrunner shit from there."

I considered arguing, but shrugged. "Sure." Bishop's group was his group, and I was intruding. Better not to push it.

With that settled the group started moving.

 

[Seras]

The security on the hotel wasn't impressive. Pressing myself against the rear door as the camera swiveled above me, I took a few seconds to breach the security pad, I knew the design, and I knew how to get through without problems.

They all had a factory default admin code from the producers.

I entered it and it popped the door open without even needing to breach it.

Sliding inside, I ducked down and hurried down the hall, the large window that had a staff break room didn't even see me as I moved right past.

The security room was three doors down, and I made it without seeing anyone.

Security here was tougher, whoever had set up the secure room knew what they were doing.

Unfortunately, the security guy was probably from ten or more years ago and long since fired.

The security panel was top of the line about that long ago. I hit the button on the bottom of the panel, flipped it open, licked my fingers and pressed against two of the wire ports.

A zip went through my arm, and the door popped open.

Security, security never changes.

Flipping the panel closed again, I slipped inside, and pushed the sliding door closed. Then as the room was empty I walked over to the rolly chair and slipped inside.

*I'm in the security room. Giving you all credentials now. Go ahead and move towards the elevator.* I spoke into the call that all of us were in.

I did a few checks to find out if there was a netrunner connected to the system, but after nothing pinged me back I relaxed, mostly.

Time to get to work. Entering in elevator credentials was super easy, something done hundreds of times a week.

I easily added the group in, and then started accessing the rest of the system. Locking down any NCPD alerts that would be sent out was almost childs play. It was literally on a toggle. I guess the hotel owner wanted to be able to ensure that sometimes his residents weren't able to call for help through the hotel security.

Moving on I accessed the camera system, and hooked in.

I was the eye in the sky, looking through the camera system on the top floor. The animals were still wandering around, most of them were doing a pretty good job on keeping watch, but at least half were fucking around. One was working out, pumping a dumbbell, another was making a sandwich.

It worked for me. Made it easier.

*Pinging all enemy locations now. Please let me know if there are any optical glitches.* I spoke into the call and then sent a ping through. The golden lights were a bit weird from my perspective, considering I was so many floors below, but it would look fine for the team.

*Wait, each of these lines is an Animal?* Mira asked, suddenly sounding eager.

*Or the target, he is on the security channel with the Animals as well.*

*Huh.*

*Never worked with a runner before Mira?* Sam asked over the line and I heard her scoff in return.

Then it went silent, as I watched through the cameras as they accessed the elevator.

*Straight run to floor 19, best access point looks like room 196. It's empty at the moment, door is unlocked.* I mentioned, as I prepped their path forward. Then I had nothing else to do but focus on the top floor.

Switching between the different cameras I checked where all of the Animals were located as best I could.

Unfortunately there weren't a lot of cameras to access up there.

Instead I started getting things ready.

Weapon Glitch uploaded and sent, letting it bounce around the animals up there. Preparing for the eventual gun fight.

Then I waited. I lost the team on cameras, so I just followed them with what I knew of their route.

Waiting wasn't fun, but it was what I had to do. I was the woman in the chair this time. It was an interesting experience, but I didn't much like it.

The sound of a gunshot coming through the camera meant it was time.

I dropped the Short Circuit into the group, and watched multiple Animals fall over.

Waiting, I saw Hakase for a moment, his Katana shining as it cut through an Animal like butter.

Then it was basically over. I watched on the elevator camera as they dragged an unconscious man into the elevator, and then they were down. The Animals were injured, dead, or still being shocked prone.

I quickly cleared footage, deleting the entire days recordings, and left a small apology message for the netrunner they would bring in to find out what happened.

Then I disconnected from the system and walked back out the way I came. Hitting the alley, I jogged down a bit and slid into my Quadra.

*I'm out.* I confirmed into the line, and started driving. The meeting place after was the Afterlife.

—--

I got there first, which wasn't a shock. They had to drop off the package for Rogue to pick up. Waiting for only ten minutes was no big deal when finally Bishop and his crew came sauntering down the steps. Swagger on full blast.

"Gig complete!" He called out as he walked past the bar, and grabbed a bottle of Brosef that the bartender passed him, then another couple for each member in his gig.

Then Bishop walked over and stood on top of a table bottle in the air.

I was kinda curious about what was going on as he raised the bottle up, his team mimicking him.

"To another gig! To survival for another day! For another blaze of glory!"

"To another!" His team repeated at the end, and I watched on a little discomforted.

Edgerunners.

But I was alone. The other edgerunners around us raised glasses, or clapped a few times at his announcement, a few even wolf whistled.

This was the culture that I missed out on, that I never really understood. To these men and women, it wasn't a celebration of their life, but that the gig didn't have the blaze big enough to end them.

That they could go on to bigger things.

That was what I picked up from them, and this group I had just met that I barely knew… I felt so completely apart from them it was almost enough to make me nauseous.

"And there is our newest assistant! Infiltrator!" Bishop called out, and the team looked at me as I spun slowly around on the bar stool, a soda in my hand. "You do good work." Bishop decided, finally stepping down from the table and walking over with his team.

"Thanks." I offered back, sipping my drink again.

"I'll be straight with you. You handled everything perfectly, no complaints from me. I ran it past the group, and we wouldn't mind running another gig or two with you. See how you fit, if you'd like to join more full time."

I blinked at the offer, glanced over at the faces of the other members, I only saw a smattering of respect.

I was young, but they acknowledged I had done the job.

"I appreciate it. I wouldn't mind backing you up in the future, but I don't think I'm really a joiner." I decided. "I have my own crew that I work with usually. Today was just me being bored and deciding to earn some eddies rather than be lazy on the couch." I explained honestly.

Bishop blinked his glowing eyes flickering for a moment before he chuckled.

"You hear that? The infiltrator takes gigs to not be bored."

"Well damn, I can't blame her. Sneaking into a comfy office and watching through the cameras must be a real preem gig. Kinda wish I was a runner now." Mira offered, but it was joking, she smiled toothily, which I returned in kind.

"It was an easy gig for an infiltrator, but it could have taken much longer, and been more difficult for the rest of us." Samuel the corp offered nodding towards me, as he raised his Brosef taking a seat a few down the bar. "To long developed skills."

I raised my drink in exchange. "To no doubt dealing with really annoying people on the daily. I don't envy your skills." I sent back and the previously cold man, broke into a smirk at my words.

"See at least someone acknowledges the difficulty of working with people."

"Oh God, don't get him started. He'll whine for hours about all the assholes and make us listen to it." Mira begged.

And slowly the group melded into the bar, and I realized why on the flipside why Edgerunners were what everyone wanted to be.

There were few friendships stronger than those forged in the heat of combat.

"So what's with all the chrome anyways? No Realskinn?" Mira asked a few minutes later as the conversation turned to everyone simply chattering about the gig. I had thought about leaving, but I was being included enough that it felt nice.

"I like chrome."

"Gross. Should get some Bioware! You'd look great as… A lizard maybe? Get some scales? Oh no! I know, maybe a wolf, there is something lovely about a cute wolf girl!" Mira gushed and I realized with horror what she was.

"Exotic!" I snapped finger pointing, she didn't just have shark teeth as an aesthetic choice, but because she was one of them!

"Heh? Yeah duh? Didn't the teeth clue you in."

"No! Ugh." I groaned as I remembered the stupid Exotic club, and the failed gig. How annoying that had been. I had been forced to watch that club for hours trying to find a way in!

"Oooh? You got a problem with Exotics?"

"It's so annoying! Can't hack them, can't stealth by them unless you do something about scent. They tend to have upgraded bioeyes, so even normal stealth isn't as good. Again, you can't blind them with a quick hack! It's so frustrating!" I whined and looked at her, eyes meeting hers with a glare.

Her own glare went from harsh to blinking in surprise and then fighting back a smirk.

"Wait… So you don't like exotics cause-"

"Cause they are so hard to stealth around! I had a gig I failed because it involved an exotic bar that I couldn't infiltrate! I ended up having to call Regina and tell her I couldn't do it. Never heard from her again."
"Wait. The Lions Den?"

"Don't remind me! I spent so long trying to find a way in!"

"Pfft! Ahahaha!" She broke into laughter and I glared at her, but she didn't care and just laughed harder.

"It's not funny."

"It's hilarious! Okay! Okay! You are officially invited, you should join me at the Den sometime. You're a bit young, but fuck it, you're an Afterlife merc. You should enjoy yourself. I have to bring you around, and tell everyone!"

"Hell no."

"Aww c'mon it's great! So many people to pet!"

"Mira, lay off. The kid's a teenager."

"So? There are kid's her age that are Exotic!"

"You know that wasn't what you were offering." Bishop responded rolling his eyes, and I just huffed.

"If I ever have to sneak in, I'll remember you."

"Hah! Good luck. We got some great security… As you know!" She cackled teeth flashing wide.

Tsk!

—--

Back home with a fresh pocketful of eddies, I realized that my sense of money was skewed.

I had been given a couple grand of eddies, not a bad payout I think? But for me it was kinda light for a full gig.

If it had been Section 9, the weapons, and equipment the Animals had 'left' behind would have been another couple grand easy.

But that was fine. We were a bit different, more willing to scrounge for the eddies. I had a feeling it wasn't considered 'cool' to do that sort of thing.

I shrugged. I didn't care about being thought of as cool, as long as people know I wasn't someone they could fuck with.

Home again, I noticed Jun wasn't home, and I was once again feeling bored. Grabbing my guitar I strummed a few notes thinking about what to play.

I was feeling pretty mellow, something chill…

Fingers started strumming and I smiled as I heard the notes. I knew what to play.

"Underneath the bridge. Tarp has sprung a leak. And the animals I've trapped. Have all become my pets." I mumbled aloud, as I just let myself remember another Nirvana song.

'Something in the Way' was very simple, but it just… Felt nice.

I played through the song once, and then just let it trail off.

"Need to actually record that… And the rest of the Nirvana songs." I hummed a bit, a familiar refrain and I laughed as I decided I might as well.

I grabbed my music box, plugged it all in, and started working. My Cyberdeck handled the cutting and editing of the tracks, adjusting the sound levels as I sang and sang and sang.

—--

"No, I don't have a gun! No, I don't have a guuuun!" Come as you are belted out with all the emotion I could pack into the song continued on. Every riff was locked into my brain, burned into my memories and the emotions I remember with every sung word coming out as heavily as I could.

Which is when the door opened.

"Sorry." Jun greeted me as I stopped mid word.

"That's okay. Welcome home!" I greeted as I stretched, but then I looked over and frowned. "Jun?"

"It's nothing Imouto." He responded back, but I could tell he wasn't okay. I rose up and padded after him, as he went to the fridge and grabbed some food, and he rolled his eyes as he noticed me looking at him. "It's just Yuto, I tried calling him, and haven't heard from him… I'm worried he's doing something stupid." He tells me and I relax.

"Oh okay then." I moved away, if it was just worry about his choom that wasn't something I could really help with. I headed back to the couch, and picked up my guitar might as well finish the song, when Jun settled in.

"That tune… You played it before right? A long time ago. You've improved a lot."

"It… Yeah, I've gotten a lot better. Figured it all out basically." I muttered, feeling my ears redden, Jun remembered me playing badly!

He laughed at my embarrassment and then settled onto the couch, but I could see that he wasn't relaxing, his eyes flashed as he was making calls.

So I did my best not to disturb him, focusing on editing some tracks and getting it right.

I had finished Something in the Way. So maybe I'll play that for Jun once he was done?

But before I could jump into it, Jun stood up with a sigh, and started leaving.

"Jun?" I asked, but he didn't say anything just dropping a heavy hand on my head to reassure me, before heading right back out.

It was going to be one of those days then huh?

Jun left, and I got back to it.

 

[Seras]

The next morning I was attacked first thing in the morning.

"Motokoooo!" Hiromi whined as she launched herself at me as soon as I opened the door. Swinging the Motoko seeking ballistic missile around to bleed off the momentum, I closed the door with a kick and settled the Door Shotgun back in place as I hugged Hiromi tight.

"Fun day! I demand it!" She said while her face was buried in my shoulder.

"Okay. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. You decide." She responded back and I just laughed.

"Well I'm afraid I wasn't planning on much today, I got the music bug and I was just recording some songs, but we can go-"

"Yes!" She demanded and rushed over to the couch to flop on it. "Serenade me!"

I scoffed at her demand but smiled regardless. "Okay, this is Come as you are." I informed her and set up the song to play through the music box as I settled in, and then I started up that famous intro. The deep tones were good. Not perfect, I really needed something acoustic, if I wanted to really hit the best notes, but my guitar could fake it well enough.

Well enough for this anyways.

Then I opened my eyes, locked them onto Hiromi, and crooned. "Come, as you are, as you were, as I want you to be!"

The song ended with me letting the last note drift for a while, and then I smiled at Hiromi, because playing music like this was just… Fun.

It was fun.

"God Motoko." She breathed and then shook herself off. "Okay that's it! I'm done! That's it!" She nearly screamed as she rose up and paced and I blinked, nearly stepping back in shock.

"What? Hiromi? What's wrong?"

"The fact you don't do this more! You… Motoko. You sold a song to Denny! To a major label! I mean… You should do this more! It's amazing! Put a band together! Put on shows!"

"I don't… I like music as my hobby, Hiromi, but I'm not really… Crowds and stuff you know?"

"Ughhhhhh." She whined, smashing her face into the couch and screaming. "Why are you so…"

"You just gestured at all of me." I joked, heh. Hiccup. Aw man, I haven't seen that movie in… Well it's gone now I think..

No, I shook it off, focus on Hiromi.

"I don't know what to say Hiromi."

"Don't say anything just… Listen for a second? Put some songs together. Like just a few! And let me set up a gig for you. Pleeeease. If you have stage fright, we can work with that. But Motoko! You have so much talent here, it's killing me to see you just not use it." She pleaded and I looked away.

"Hiromi. I'm a merc, not a Rockerboy."

"Be both!" She denied my argument instantly. "You like Silverhand! You can't argue this. You like him!"
"Comparing me to Johnny Silverhand is pretty rude." I muttered, but Hiromi wasn't having my nonsense.

"Motoko, I'm serious. Please for me? As a super special present, let me put together a gig for you. A real one, on a stage somewhere. I'll set it all up, all you have to do is prep the songs, and then I'll do the rest."

"Hiromi-"

"For my Birthday!" She demanded and I blinked. What?

"Wait, is your birthday coming up? Hiromi! You have to tell me these things, I don't remember anything!"

"Yep that's right! My birthday is coming up!." She begged and I flinched because…

Super uncomfortable, Hiromi! This… I wasn't comfortable with this!

She realized it at the same time, something on my face showed it and she slumped.

"Nevermind."

"It's not… I don't…" I shut up, and actually considered it. I had started the music thing purely for myself, a hobby, and a remembrance of what I had… Lost.

And also as a way to return myself to who I should be. A reminder of the good things in life, and that I shouldn't just drop into the endless void of chrome and combat.

It was great. I loved it…

But what was the reason I didn't want to share? Guilt? None of the songs were really mine, but I was the only one that knew them. Was it worse to let them never be, or claim them as my own?

Difficult, but not really that hard for me in the end.

No, the real reason? It was because I was fucking scared. Me. Badass, Afterlife Merc. I'd gone toe to toe with borgs with a smile on my face, been shot and just glared or cussed out who had done it, but I was afraid of people listening to me play a song.

Hiromi, wasn't being fair trying to push this either, but at the same time.

I knew Hiromi. She wasn't doing this because of eddies, she really thought it would be good for me to do it. She was proud of me, and wanted to show the world. She was excited to be there.

Dammit.

"O-one gig." I agreed, and suddenly Hiromi who had been looking dejected as she realized she had pushed too much jerked up.

"Really?"

"Yeah… I, I'm afraid, but it's stupid fears, not real ones. You can set up a gig… I guess I need to figure out a set."

"I'll do it! You won't regret this Motoko. I swear it. You'll love it! The crowd and the music, and everything! Oh! I'm so excited! We need to figure out an outfit for you too!"

"What's wrong with my outfit?" I asked, looking at my super cool tactical leotard, and jeans.

"Nothing, for merc work, but it's not Rockerboy! Don't worry I'll help! No! I need to call the boys! They need to get in on this, and I'll need their help as muscle! Eeeee!" Hiromi bounced around the room, and all I could think was that this was a mistake.

—--

The embarrassing level of excitement from everyone was getting to me. Malcolm had arrived not long after the call went out, but Ichi was working so it took him a while, but Malcolm had only thrown fuel on the fire of brazer Hiromi.

So now I was dealing with her absolutely freaking out, as I went through my list of recorded songs to make a playlist…

What songs should I pick?

I had made a pretty good selection by now. Rise was definitely going on the list, I really liked it.. Maybe This Fffire next? It was a very Cyberpunk song…

Let you Down. It had to be on the set. Probably towards the end was the best bet, then Nirvana after? I could start with Smells like Teen Spirt, and end with Come as you are?

No, I should do The Pretender… But where to put it? Just after This Fffire? No wait, Smells like Teen Spirit… I had to move it.

I groaned. Rockerboy was actually helping me here. Setlists, performance, was all part of the skill, but a part of it that I pretended didn't exist most of the time.

Looking up from my Music box, I winced and looked away from Malcolm and Hiromi colluding, They were both standing close to each other with toothy smiles as they plotted.

This was my life now… Wasn't it?

I sighed, and finalized the list.

Smells like Teen spirit, Rise, This Fffire, The Pretender, and Let you Down

Five songs that I could play together… Now I just had to psych myself up for an actual concert…

No, I should probably edit the songs, with better equipment. I could really bring a lot out of them with some real instruments.

"Hiromi." I spoke up for the first time in a while. "I think I'm going to need a recording studio, to clean these songs up if I'm going to play them on stage, so-"

"Yes!" Hiromi cheered. "Okay! Let's go! We can text Ichi the new meet up spot. C'mon!" She demanded pulling at me, and I sighed as Hiromi tugged me away.

"Do you even know of a recording studio we can use?" I asked, and Hiromi threw me a grin.

"Of course I do! Denny's one! The one you wrote Tank at!"

"That place is expensive." I muttered as Hiromi continued to drag me along Malcolm following along nothing but amused.

"It's not that expensive, Motoko! Besides, you get a deal for use of the rooms. It was part of the contract I put together for Tank."

"Wait, why don't I know about this?"

"I sent you the contract Motoko." Hiromi reminded me with a flat face, and I did my best not to look away awkwardly. I had read through it… A little. At least enough to know I wasn't selling my soul.

"This is why I'm your manager." She said and this time she said it with a happy smile. Hiromi was happiest, when she was showing off her skills after all.

"You know I'll need my guitar and stuff." I mentioned, as Hiromi had pulled me out of the apartment and down the hall by this point. She turned, realizing I didn't have my instrument.

"Ah."

—--

We drove through the city, finally reaching the parking spots near Denny's recording studio, and I felt kinda awkward, carrying my equipment, down the alley way and into the same blank faced door. Somehow during the drive over Hiromi had already scheduled one of the studio's for me, and so we had access. The door opened and we walked into the same long white hall.

"Room 1-16." Hiromi called out as I headed that way, and slipped inside.

The studio was empty. Just for me. Staring at the space I felt myself actually warm up. Sure my Music box was good, but electronic simulation of different instruments was only so good.

There was nothing quite like the original.

I settled my guitar and Music box to the side and headed out immediately for the instrument room.

"Motoko?"

"I need some stuff! Malcolm, I could use some hands." I asked, and he followed after. It took a while to move and set up the drum set, but it felt great to have it there set up and shiny.

Then I checked over and grabbed a few more instruments, once that was done it was time. I settled, pulling up the tracks I had already recorded. I went to work.

The quality of the microphones alone made a massive difference, better instruments would enhance that, and finally the actual recording equipment, was much higher end, than the program I had made my music box out of.

But it didn't matter. The Music box was still incredibly useful, saving the recordings for later.

And I went to work. Playing through the songs over and over, removing errors from the early tracks I had recorded, adding some flare to each instrument, in a way I couldn't before.

The vocal tracks were sung, recorded, and edited with much finer equipment than I had before.

All the while, I let myself fall into the utter focus required to handle all the tasks. I lost track of my friends.

By the time I was doing the drum track for Smells Like Teen Spirits, and just absolutely going to town on for it, I noticed Ichi was standing in the recording room as well.

So I hit it even harder. This was the first song of the story I was telling, I had to draw attention while playing it, otherwise I might not keep them for all the songs.

And so I continued on, hammering through the songs over and over, cleaning every technical piece of the song I could, over and over and over.

It all ran into itself and it was only when I had to stop to go to the bathroom that my chooms grabbed me and sat me down.

"Easy Motoko, you need anything? Food? Here, have some water." Hiromi demanded, while Malcolm handed it over.

I rolled my eyes at their worry, but drank down the water anyway.

"I'm fine. Just in the zone to get this all done."

"You got some time Motoko, it'll take me a while to find a location and set it up."

"Red Dirt." I finally said, decision made. "Can you set up the gig for that bar?" I asked, and Hiromi blinked, looking confused.

"Maybe? Where is it?"

"Arroyo."

"Wait, I know that place. It's fucking ancient." Ichi spoke up and I flashed him a smile.

"Yep. It was the first place Samurai ever played at."

"Ugh." Hiromi groaned, but she nodded. "Okay fine. If that's where you want to play… I was going to try Lizzies or something."

"Nah, maybe after, if I do another gig." Red Dirt wasn't just the first place Samurai played, it was also small…

Hopefully the smaller crowd would help.

I stood up and went back to work. I didn't want to keep spending money considering I knew just how much these recording studios cost.

—--

Malcolm

"You know… I knew Motoko's kinda bullshit sometimes. Sometimes I wonder, how the fuck did she do all this. How can she learn all these crazy skills so fast… Then I see her do shit like this, and I don't think it's that crazy anymore." He uttered, staring at Motoko, just a teenager same as him.

A girl that has less than a year of memories? He watched as she didn't just play multiple instruments, but absolutely destroyed them. Energy she usually reserved for the middle of combat, coming out as she sang and played with a frantic energy that she had kept up with for hours already.

Just watching her made Malcolm exhausted.

"She's amazing." Hiromi added, which was just such a Hiromi thing to say. Of course the girl with the biggest crush in the city would think her crush was the best thing ever.

But fuck if Malcolm wasn't feeling some feelings for her right now either.

The energy, and force Motoko put into the songs, and he had listened to the complete track of the first few she went through was already amazing.

Dammit, why did his best friend that was a girl have to be kinda hot?

He shook it off. If Hiromi found out he even thought that, she would make his life hell.

He glanced to Ichi, who passed over a look.

Yeah.

They both looked away, knowing Hiromi wouldn't have noticed, she was the one most enthralled with Motoko's inexhaustible energy.

"So… I'm gonna call everyone I know and tell them to show up for this gig. You?"
"Obviously. We have to tell Jun. He'd kill us if we kept him out of it."

"Oh don't worry." Hiromi added. "I have complete confidence in Motoko. I'll throw up some fliers as well. We'll turn Motoko's first gig into a blast!"

Malcolm winced. He knew Motoko well enough to know she had liked the idea of the gig being in a small place to get away from the massive crowds.

Sorry Motoko. You shouldn't have stolen Hiromi's heart if you didn't want her to use her massive corpo powers to your benefit... Or detriment.

"I like this one." Ichi offered, and Malcolm listened in nodding along as Motoko had switched to singing, and absolutely roared along to the rock song. Taking the headset he put it on, and listened to the song playing along as Motoko sang.

The lyrics… Yeah that was a cool song, felt very old school. No electronic beats or anything just pure instruments, and lyrics, but it still felt exciting, there was so much going on.

"I called the Red Dirt. Got a slot. They agreed pretty quickly, the pay is shit though, but they wouldn't budge." Hiromi grumbled suddenly and Malcolm realized that while Hiromi was staring at Motoko like a particularly nice looking XXL burrito, she was also handling business.

Hiromi really scared him. It was a good thing she was on their side.

"Want to tell Motoko?"

"After this, she'll get distracted if I tell her now. Best to let her finish." She offered and Malcolm had to nod. For a girl that was so confident, she got embarrassed easy.

But Malcolm went back to just listening to the song and nodding his head along with the beat.

Preem.

—--

"I can't believe you already set it up!" I whined, as I wiped a towel over my head.

Not sure where Hiromi had found a towel, but I wasn't going to question it.

"Of course! I'm your agent, and manager. It's my job." She said and I took particular note of the additional title Hiromi had given herself, but didn't bring it up.

"I thought I would have a bit more time to settle with the idea." I grumbled, but Hiromi shook her head.

"You already made the decision, and I've never known you to back off once you make one!" She said looking proudly, and I didn't have the heart to tell her, I had been thinking of calling it all off.

Dammit.

"So you finished all the songs?" Ichi asked, having been looking at my Music box as it beeped away.

"They were already done, but with actual instruments, and better equipment. I was able to clean them up." I walked over and picked up the music box, the update was complete. "I'll need to do some hologram work, to make sure everything matches up, but I can do that anywhere."

"So who are you going to tell about your gig, other than Jun?" Ichi asked, and I hissed, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, which was impossible as that Neural Link covered the whole section, but I still felt it!
"No one! Tell no one! Especially not Jun! Never Jun!" I demanded, and got kind of awkward looks in turn.

They wouldn't tell Jun, or else!

Sending a firm look to all of them, I nodded and then looked at all the equipment left in the room.

"I guess I have to clean up."

"Leave that to us." Ichi offered instantly, standing up. "Just make sure we don't break anything?" He asked as he headed into the room, and I smiled.

"Sure."

Hiromi I noticed was distracted on a call, so I left her to it, as I went to help the boys put everything away.

 

[Seras]

I had finished the modifications on the holograms that night, before finally going to sleep and enjoying my eight hours of instant sleep. Waking up feeling refreshed, I knew I would need to get out of the apartment, or I would pick at the songs trying to fix them, when they were already great.

Feeling antsy, I knew that I needed something that would keep me moving.

Squats while holding dumbbells ended up being the exercise of choice. Hidden away in the TC gym downstairs in a corner, I was given some privacy so no one could see just how much effort I was putting into the work.

Dripping with sweat, my legs felt like they were butter, but I needed just a few more reps to be satisfied.

I didn't exactly enjoy the exercise, but there was a knowledge that if I could just hit the next level, and then level 10, I wouldn't need to do this ever again.

Perfect physical fitness for as long as I lived was a very tempting proposition to just keep pushing a few more.

I winced as I felt my leg finally give, unable to keep myself going.

I gently placed the weights down and took a second to stretch.

Then because muscle pain sucks, I pulled a MaxDoc out of my pocket, I took a second to huff it, and instantly felt a tingle go down my legs.

Muscles abused and at their utter limit, tingled as they were refreshed, feeling like I had just gotten up that morning.

Stretching my muscles I let myself get ready, and then picked up the weights again.

I had checked, and John, wasn't around today and so behind the little corner, out of sight I went back to it. This time doing crunches.

Body 9. The plan was I would earn it today! I went at it. Inhaling and exhaling as I moved, abs hauling me up and down, the extra weight in my arms making it all the harder. Slowly my muscles refreshed from the MaxDoc started to burn, started to weaken and tire, but pain was temporary, especially when you can literally just take some medicine and feel fine a moment later.

There was something very freeing about knowing that any pain I had to deal with could end in moments.

Something that you knew would end, and end quickly had less fear to it.

What was my body besides just a machine? What was Motoko, but a girl in the shell?

I changed exercises, push ups were easier, as my arms were chrome, but they still worked the core, and some of the muscles in my back.

I was sweating, as I lowered myself to the concrete over and over. Drops falling down my nose, running over my eyes, but my Kiroshi didn't sting from the sweat, so I ignored it, and just continued on, down and up. Up and down.

Muscles pushed to their limits and their limits ignored.

I was cool, frozen solid as I continued to work.

*100 Body XP Gained*

*Body Leveled up!*

Collapsing onto the concrete I lay there for a minute just breathing trying to catch my breath. I had done it.

Body 9.

I struggled for a few moments to pull another MaxDoc out of my pocket and huffed it down, and then I rose up and stretched feeling just fine.

Frowning at how sweaty I was, I decided it was time to get a shower…

I pressed a hand along my Leotard…

Gonna need to get this adjusted a bit. It was kinda tight all of a sudden.

—--

Spending the day getting my outfits adjusted to make sure it fit wasn't what I had planned, but it kept me out of the apartment.

But only for so long. As I walked inside, I stared at the guitar sitting innocently against the living room table, and felt it creeping up my spine. The realization of what was coming.

I had agreed to go out on a stage and play songs for people. Living actual people.

People I didn't know!

I walked over to the couch, fell to my knees, grabbed one of the cushions and slammed my face into the cushion as I screamed.

What was I doing!?

Only once I was done did I rise up gasping for air and then centering myself. I had agreed to do this. Hiromi was right, I was being such a gonk about it. There was nothing to be afraid of, and there was a part of me, that wanted to get up on stage and be a fucking rock star.

But that part was currently quivering behind a mental couch pretending it didn't exist for getting me into this!

I shook it off. Slapping my cheeks with my cool chrome hands and breathing in and out. "I'm not fucking Bocchi." I reminded myself. If that girl could do it, so can I! Totally ignoring Bocchi being a manga character!

It still counted!

"Shake it off." I ordered myself. Having gone over all the songs already I had cleaned them up as much as I could. Each of the five tracks were ready, I was ready…

Well, the songs were ready anyways.

Stalking around the apartment a few minutes later I realized I was getting lost in my own head and I needed to do something.

I got up and walked straight out of the house. I didn't want to bother Hiromi or the boys, they were supportive about this, but also a bit too close.

Jun was out too, because he couldn't know! So who else could I go and chat with… Wakako?

The fact that thought had gone through my head told me how rattled this had made me. No, that was silly, but I did have someone else I could chat with.

Jumping into the Quadra I gunned it out of the garage, heading straight towards Kabuki.

—--

Lizzies was active, the start of their after work rush was just starting as I arrived, but I managed to slip into a spot without trouble and then went hunting.

Rita should be here… Well if not Rita, then Judy, but honestly Judy wasn't one I would really go to for advice. Girl doesn't exactly have her own shit together.

She wasn't the outdoor bouncer, and there wasn't a line yet, so I was able to walk up to the woman at the entrance.

"Is Rita here tonight?" I asked, and the woman looked me up and down.

"Who wants to know?"

"Motoko! Rita's a choom."

"Hmm. If you say so. She's inside, check the roof."

"Thanks!" I called out rushing past and doing just that, hitting the stairs up and then bursting outside to see a basketball game going full blast, and Rita watching over the roof.

Why the Mox had someone up here keeping an eye on things didn't make sense to me, but I wasn't about to question my good luck.

"Rita!" I called out as I hurried over, she had been leaning up against one of the AC units just watching the game.

"Motoko? Haven't seen you in a while kid."

"Yeah it feels like it's been forever. I haven't really done gigs that work as BD's so I haven't stopped by for Judy in a bit… But um… You got a minute?"

Rita looked me over not seeing me injured or anything and she shrugged. "Sure, you want some privacy?" She offered and I waved her off. It was fine.

"No it's nothing like that. So… I've been making some songs and stuff. One of them I made got the interest of Denny! The drummer from Samurai, it was Jazz and fun and stuck in my head, but she wanted to buy it, so I said yes."

"That's… Preem!" Rita offered perking up in surprise.

"Yeah, Hiromi did a great job getting a good deal too, but that's not it… Hiromi talked to me, after hearing another song I was making a new one technically… She convinced me to… Well get up on stage. I have an actual gig scheduled and everything, but I'm totally freaking out about it!"

I turned to her, sort of looking for something, advice, wise words, anything!

Instead Rita started laughing at me.

"That's amazing!" She said, offered out between giggles. Actual giggles.

"I was really hoping for more than that." I pouted.

"I'm sorry! It's not! You just look so freaked!" She continued to giggle and I pouted, and finally she managed to control herself wiping a chrome hand over her mouth to try and stop the smile across her lips. "Okay, I'm good. Sorry."

"Mean." I mumbled back.

"Oh come on, it's funny! Motoko, I've heard you play before, you're good. And if you already sold a song, that's amazing. You have nothing to worry about, and hey, even if you fumble it, or make a mistake it's fine! You're a kid. You can only do well out there." She offered, trying to sound mature, but the way she kept wanting to break into laughter wasn't helping.

"Thanks I guess." I mumbled. So much for Rita's big sis energy… No wait, this was literal Big Sis energy. Fuck, I needed like, Mom Energy right now or something.

"So you are going to play your songs? Where at. I'd have heard about it if it was here."

"No, I don't know if my stuff fits Lizzies. I picked a bar, Red Dirt in Arroyo. It's where Samurai had their first gig, so it's special. I wanted to play there."

"When at?"

"Tomorrow night." I whispered, revealing the truth. I had so little time to mentally prepare myself! Or as was probably more likely, time to find a way to run the fuck away. "I don't feel like I'm ready for this. If I'm really cut out to be a Rockerboy. I don't even like crowds!"

"Alright, I see you need some real words here. So here it is. Tomorrow night Motoko, take your guitar and get up on that stage and play your songs. Play them, loud and with all the emotion you can so that even the corps at the top of their towers hear you. That's what it means to be a Rockerboy." Rita said, her tone serious as she reached out and put both hands on my shoulders.

Chrome to chrome.

"I will. I just feel anxious." I said and then I stopped and took a breath in and out. "No. It's not anxiety… It's excitement." I told myself. Good advice from a past life.

"Hey! That's what I want to see. That's right!" Rita agreed, smiling. "Of course you realize I'll have to show up now."
"I mean… If you want? You were the person that gave me the idea to play music, so if anyone deserves to hear it… It's you." I told her, looking up into her eyes, and I watched as her chrome face normally still shifted, into a look of surprise.

"God kid. Pull shit like that tomorrow, and you won't have any issues." She said, and then so quiet I couldn't quite make it out, and I'm sure I heard it wrong, she said something that sounded like. "Damn Heartbreakers."

—---

My luck of course didn't hold out.

I kept expecting there to be some random occurrence, a Scav attack. Maelstrom war. Or anything that would interrupt the time of the gig.

Or maybe I just hoped it would, but nothing happened.

So I slipped into the Quadra, guitar in the passenger seat, music box on the floor and drove over to the Red Dirt Bar.

It was time to head over, talk to the owner, and set up. At least that is what Hiromi told me. She was already there apparently?

I have no idea what madness Hiromi was plotting, but the fact she was there already told me a lot. The drive over didn't last long enough, and before I knew it I was pulling into the little parking lot beside the Red Dirt Bar. I could even see Malcolm already out there…

Beside his Rayfield… Malcolm you fucking gonk, you're gonna get that thing stolen out here!

I pulled up beside him and stepped out.

"Malcolm, why did you drive that?"

"Heh! You're kidding right? I'm going to a rock party tonight! Of course I need to show up!" He said waving his hand at the car.

"Malcolm if someone steals your car I'm not hunting it down."

"Okay one… Please? And two, I doubt it! The Rayfield has amazing security!" I just stared at him for a while, before he sighed. "Should I send it home first? Catch a ride home with Ichi or something?" He asked quietly, like a kicked dog.

I stared for a while, there were people starting to arrive, and it was obvious Malcolm was getting attention… I sighed, running a hand over my face to keep myself from smiling.

"If someone steals your car I'll help you get it back. Go get 'em tiger." I said, slapping him on the shoulder.

There were quite a few people looking at Malcolm with interest. Good luck buddy.

I headed to the passenger seat and pulled out my Guitar and Music box.

Deep breaths. I turned and headed inside. The bar was tiny. One main room, a set of stairs to the second floor that was just a viewing level.

One tiny bathroom, and a small storage room that led back outside. Bar to my left, and there it was…

The stage looked so much smaller than I remember.

The massive Samurai mural was there, but the rest of it felt like it was barely big enough for me, much less an entire band.

"Motoko!" Hiromi cheered at me from the bar. "Come over! Meet the owner!"

Walking over the older man behind the bar gave me a look over and a nod. "So you're Motoko Kusanagi. Well, I wish you luck kid. Payment'll get sent to your manager when you're done." He offered and then turned to take an order from an early patron.

"See! All set!" Hiromi offered and I nodded, looking away over the bar.

Why was I doing this?

"Just relax Motoko! Here, c'mon!" Hiromi demanded pulling me away and towards the little storage room. I let her lead me away and then once the door was closed she spun on me. "Motoko! You can do this!"

"I know! I'm just… It's embarrassing!" I whined childishly rubbing my face.

"Pfft. I guess even you lose some of your cool sometimes too huh?" She teased and I stuck my tongue out at her which she returned, and soon we were both giggling.

"You can do it."

"I know."

"Good! Then get dressed. Where is the outfit we got for you."

"I'm not wearing it." I told her firmly. The monstrosity that Ichi, Malcolm, and Hiromi had decided was somehow going to be my Rockerboy outfit was a definite no.

"Aww, it was sexy though."

"It's fine. This is what I'm comfortable with anyway." I was wearing my jeans, and Leotard, with my jacket on top, and I even had my fingerless gloves. Hadn't worn them in a while since I didn't need them anymore, but it felt right.

"At least the-"

"Hiromi, I know you think it's sexy, but it's really not me." I denied her. The less said about the hat the better.

"Fine, it's your gig after all. We have a seat up front, you should come hang out for a while." Then she leaned in with a smirk. "Ichi has been flirting with a waitress for the last ten minutes, and fumbling with it every time."

"Okay, that I have to see." I agreed and we both smirked as I followed Hiromi back into the main room. I looked around and nodded. It wasn't very active, less than twenty people so far.

Everything was good. That size of a crowd I could deal with.

Settling onto the table I noticed that Malcolm was inside now, and both boys jolted as Hiromi and I arrived, and then pretended nothing was wrong.

"What are you two up to?"

"Nothing!" Both boys denied at once, only making it more obvious they were hiding something.

"Okay sure." I argued with a snort, and slipped onto the stool seating. Heaving my guitar on top along with my Music box.

Now… Now I wait.

It was actually pretty fun.

Ichi was failing at flirting with the waitress indeed, his own overeagerness was hilarious, especially since I could scan the woman and know she was twice his age.

Double hilarity.

Malcolm actually had some attention from the men and women that had seen him come in with a Rayfield. Although to Malcolms annoyance, it was mostly questions about what his dad did for a living.

Hiromi though was busy, barely taking any part in the conversation as she was constantly on calls.

Then, it grew closer. Twenty minutes until I was up.

And in walked Junichirou Kusanagi.

"Who squealed?" I demanded, harshly looking at my chooms. "Just tell me, I'll only kill you a little!" I hissed at the little traitors, and all three of them looked away.

"So it's treason then." I whispered out, realizing they had all betrayed me.

"Of course we had to tell Jun, Motoko! He'd have killed us if we didn't!" Ichi finally squealed first, as Hiromi waved at Jun but was distracted on a call still.

I growled at the two boys before flushing as Jun walked over and pulled me into a tight hug.

"I'm so proud of you." He whispered into my ear, which was just outright breaking the rules!

"So why this shit hole?" The person that had accompanied Jun asked. Alice looked over the place with a look of distaste.

"Hey!" The owner called out, but Alice just ignored him as he turned to just grumble to himself instead.

"I didn't expect you Alice… And I wanted a small place for my first gig." I answered back. She nodded at that.

"Well it is small. And Jun asked me to come, when I heard it was you playing I had to come." She offered, but I could tell that wasn't the truth, she was making eyes at Jun the whole time.

Fair enough. Jun probably asked her to come since she was more musically inclined, and she knew me, not realizing Alice didn't give a shit about me.

But Jun was here now! Dammit!

This was supposed to be a small event!

Minutes passed as Jun and Alice settled in, at another table. There wasn't enough room at the one my chooms had claimed.

To my discomfort more people were coming in, already the stereo was playing Samurai songs, and the noise was drawing in the crowd.

My fingers tapping away at the table must have been obvious but not one bothered me.

And time moved ever closer.

 

[Seras]

A/N: If you want to listen along to the songs, check out my Motoko's Music Box Playlist here on youtube. I think listening to the songs as the chapter plays will be fun!

Motoko's Music Box

Partagez vos vidéos avec vos amis, vos proches et le monde entier

www.youtube.com

----

I was just starting to relax when even more people I knew came inside the small bar. At least this time some of them were expected.

"Rita!" I called out to the woman who was already making her way over, although Nox alongside her was unexpected, along with a few of the other Mox members I didn't know.

"Hey kid. I'm on time right?" She asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah about ten minutes until showtime." I answered back weakly, and she sent me a gentle smile and a pat on the back.

Then Nox was there.

"Nova! Motoko! You didn't tell me you were playing a gig! Sup 'Romi."

"Call me Boss!" She demanded and Nox just scoffed ignoring her. I was distracted from their little spat though because Rita had seen Jun.

"Hey Tyger Boy." She greeted with a sultry sound that every Mox jerked at including Nox. All of them staring in shock.

"Hey Mox Girl." Jun greeted back, maybe for the first time ever making me willing to admit that Jun might, for just a little bit, have some actual game.

Rita looked at me and I shooed her off, knowing what she wanted.

Besides, I was too anxious to deal with this right now.

I idly watched as Alice and Rita realized they were both at odds, and the awkward atmosphere that Jun completely missed as he happily chatted with both women.

Jun was so dense.

"Motoko?" Hiromi asked, and I looked at her. Nox was also looking at me eagerly.

"Sorry, I was distracted, what's up?"
"Tell Nox that I'm his boss." Hiromi demanded, and then Nox interrupted.

"You aren't my boss! Motoko and I are partners! Tell her Motoko, we had a good thing right? I handled distribution!" The boy pleaded and I looked at both of them for a moment before just laughing at their silly argument.

It helped ground me a bit, reminded me I was just a teenager, and it was okay to have teenager problems.

"You're both great." I told them instead with a smile, and that at least stopped the argument, although why Jun was rolling his eyes at me was annoying when he was the one with two girls currently flirting with him!

I rolled my eyes at him back which had him chuckle.

The time ticked down and down, and finally.

I rose up, guitar in hand, music box in the other.

—--

The bar had gone quiet. The stereo behind me playing Samurai had turned off, and it was now under my control as I plugged my Music box into it.

The lights were off, and there were more people here than I would have liked. I peeked behind me as I fiddled with the music box and could make out the crowd in the shadowed bar.

A general murmur was going through it. I could hear a lot of people asking questions about my age, and why I was at this sort of bar.

Lot of people were wondering if I was going to play some shitty pop music or something. This was a rock bar after all.

I pulled out the personal link cord, and stuck it into the Music box, then I pulled another one and slipped it into my guitar I was hooked up.

Deep breath.

Exhale.

I stood up, and looked up at the lights, technically I had been given access to the lighting system, but I had no set up for it. So I just hacked into the equipment, and threw a few changes at the rather straightforward program it was inbuilt with.

The lights shifted, most of them angling sort of around the stage, as my holograms would work best in lower light.

It was time.

Turn on my BD Recorder. Take a few steps towards the mic, feeling my Personal link stretch a bit, but it was fine, I had plenty of cord left.

"Hi, I'm Motoko, and I'm going to play a set tonight. I uh… Don't really have a band name picked out yet… And uh, I'm a solo act for now until I get some band mates. So for tonight uh… Just bear with me." I offered, feeling like my throat was dry as I spoke in front of the whole crowd.

Come on! I've murdered more people than this in one go! Why was I so worked up?

Cool. Be Cool. I stretched a bit and then it was time, behind me the holograms activated.

Images of me, showing much more confidence, than I felt right now appeared. Drummer Motoko even spun the sticks like I had programmed her to, showing an easy confidence.

"This first song is called, Smells Like Teen Spirit." I explained, then without waiting my strumming began. The opening chords that Kobain had wowed the world with so long ago.

A few moments later the drums started, and the energy of the room picked up. Then mellowed for a moment, as it was time to sing.

"Load up on guns, bring your friends! It's fun to lose and to pretend!" I sang, and there was an electricity in the room.

I realized then, just how much Rockerboy taught beyond just music. My eyes roved through the crowd, settling on faces, as I sang directly to them, drawing them in, the music distracting them from everything else until it was just them, and me.

I shifted the way I moved, a motion almost like dancing, a consistent motion that mirrored the song, a motion that drew people into following along.

Yet without a full band, I was climbing uphill. I should have the rest of the band showing off their energy synergizing, but the music box holograms could only show what I had programmed, and I hadn't considered everything that I would need.

So it was all on me, the energy, the motion, the song.

And I didn't let myself hesitate, or slow.

I was the front runner, and I could do this.

"Our little group it's always been, and always will until the end."

These lyrics I emphasized heavily, singing them loud and clear.

Smells Like Teen Spirit had a lot of nonsensical lyrics, it was supposed to, but until someone understood that, it was a bit weird. But here? With those lyrics, they all understood.

All of the people in this club had probably been Street Kids. Had lived with a crew, and had probably lost some of them.

I called to them, a siren song to their past, I played the song of teen Spirit, and the crowd reacted.

More and more people were head banging along. I glanced up and the second floor were actually coming from their tables and resting against the bannister, and I sang to them all.

My friends, my family, were an oasis for my eyes, because they were into it entirely. Hiromi was practically falling off her stool with how much she was into it. Jun had the biggest smile on his face.

Rita looked shocked and was head banging along with the rhythm.

It was right. This felt good. Even with everyone else around.

"A DENIAL!" I roared out the last lyric, as the music finally came to an end, the last chord slowly fading away in the bar.

It was quiet, for a moment, and then Hiromi practically jumped up on her stool and whistled, and the crowd reacted cheering and pounding feet, or slapping brosef bottles on the bannister.

"This next song." I started, because I didn't want the energy to fade, and instantly the crowd was quiet. "This next song, is called Rise. Little less Rock, but bear with me." I added, again, and got a laugh from Ichi at my remark, so it was good.

I activated the Music box, selecting the song. Rise, was a weird song. League of Legends hadn't been my game, but the song was pretty nova.

Then holograms changed, different instruments, mostly electronic sounds now although it still had normal instruments as well.

Then the sound started, without waiting and the crowd watched as I walked to the mic.

"Welcome to the world, no heroes and villains!"

I could see the more pop sounding song wasn't as instantly engaging, as Nirvana was to a dive bar, but that was fine.

It was my voice that was going to drag them in this time.

When I sang, I saw the shock on everyone's face.

Smells Like Teen Spirit, was a ballad about teenagers. So of course I had let my voice out as a teenager.

But this? This was the next step. When a teenager becomes something more.

My voice was huskier, deeper, no longer the same, and the obvious change had dragged all the attention on to me as I sang. As my own voice played back up for me from the speakers, I sang, drawing them into the story.

Drawing them into what they had all seen.

"Prove yourself and Rise! RISE! MAKE THEM REMEMBER YOU!" I roared, my voice changing again as the song hit its apex. Getting older, getting stronger!

Making them see the connection between the songs, letting them know, I wasn't just playing random songs, but telling a story.

The moment the song was over, I walked away from the mic. Showing that I was doing something else. Quickly changing the lights to a different hue, the sudden shift startled everyone, but I had to capitalize, before they could even process, I started again. The tapping of cymbals was heard.

"Eyes, burning away to me." I crooned as I turned, my voice sounded older again, husky and mature, and as I turned I dragged their attention onto me again.

The more pop sound of Rise, into the rock of This Fffire, by Franz Ferdinand echoed off the walls.

"Noooow there is a fire in me! A fire that buuuuuuurns!" It was perfect, I had drawn them all in, all eyes were on me, and they were all listening.

So I gave them it all.

"This fire is outta control! I'm gonna burn this city! Burn this city!" My gaze went out over the crowd, and I sang to them all, releasing my emotions onto the crowd. Cool and Rockerboy Synergizing letting me go full out.

I demanded their attention, my motions forced them into my rhythm, my siren song stole their minds. It was more than just playing. Rockerboy wasn't just playing a song, it was a performance.

Although I was alone, It was enough. The unexpected songs, the tricks with lining them up without rest. The way I kept the noise lively and new.

Then it ended, once more the note trailed off, and I had sucked in the wonder of everyone present.

"That was This Fffire." I said, and the crowd roared. The song was a titular Rockerboy song. The exact sort of thing a bar dedicated to Samurai would die for.

Realizing my thirst, I looked over and saw Hiromi, I made a grabbing motion to her, and as always she was right on it. She grabbed a bottle of water and chucked it at me, I fumbled the catch with only one hand as I had to leap for it, a moment later I managed to snag it, and earned a laugh from the crowd.

I spun the bottle around popped it open with a thumb and chugged the water down for a few moments, before placing it on the floor and then getting ready.

"The Pretender." I whispered huskily as the lights shifted to red, and white, and then the gentle strums of the Foo Fighters song began.

"Keep you in the dark, you know they all pretend." I sang softly, like a lullaby, once more the shift in tone drawing eyes as people wondered what was going to happen, but then drummer Motoko started absolutely beating the shit out of the drums.

The speed picked up, and I stopped singing softly.

"Send in your skeletons, sing as their bones go marching in! Again!"

The pick up and return to rock had absolutely enthralled the crowd, and I was in it, going full out, letting my real anger seep through as I roared it out.

"What if I say, I'm not like the others!? What if I say I'm not just another of your plays!? You're the Pretender! What if I say that I'll never surrender!"

And soon the crowd was actually roaring back. Singing along to the refrains they knew, as I thrust a fist into the sky watching as they all copied me. From Hiromi to Jun, to every nameless face.

First time the song had ever been played in Night City outside of my room, and the crowd was already going wild.

That's Dave Grohl for you I guess.

Then it cut. Going quiet, as I whispered the lyric, I could see the crowd go silent to hear, and then my eyes flashed. The lights above me went from red behind me, and white infront to nothing but red as the song went full out.

"What if I say I'm not like the others!" The crowd roared back, I wasn't roaring at the crowd, I was roaring along with them, against the bullshit day to day, against the corps pushing down.

"SO WHO ARE YOU!?" I screamed pointing out over the crowd and they roared right back.

I was on my knees, finger pointing as the song ended, and the crowd was into it. I was breathing heavily despite how fit I was, that was a lot of yelling and moving around.

Now… Now to end it.

The lights flashed off, then slowly, they each shifted behind me, each of them a different color, and pattern.

A Kaleidoscope, as best as I could make one.

The song began. The massive change from the rock track grabbed attention, and I saw some of the mood bleed out of the room.

That was fine.

It was actually better. This was the ending. The eventual path that all those that try to be Edgerunners find.

Teenage arrogance. The Rise of someone walking the path. The Fffirey heart of someone at the top. The anger at the betrayal of a Pretender… And the heart crushing realization of when you are let down.

Let you Down by Dawid Podsiadło. Sasha's song. The emotional connection I had to Sasha was complicated to say the least.

So I used it.

"Feel the rhythm of the streets. Neon lights, and neon dreams." I crooned, this time my Sexy Motoko voice on full tilt. I made my voice as husky, as mature as I could.

This was the end.

"Forgive me for letting you down." I crooned, and I met Jun's eyes. He remembered this song. I remember he thought it was for him, not realizing just what it truly was.

But that's okay. This isn't just Sasha's song anymore. It's a song for any Edgerunner.

The end of the path.

"They will finally feel the flames, the flames that run down through my veins. I will make the city burn." I sang a fun call back to This Fffire, but then it continued. "We're not planning to return."

And that was it. The moment that every song built up to.

The moment some Edgerunner decides to make a statement in their death.

Dawid had certainly written an amazing Cyberpunk song.

Slowly, as the song ended, The Kaleidoscope of lights died out.

One by one the colors faded. Then as the last note died, so did the set.

I took a step away from the mic. Even as the crowd realized it was over stirred and roared their approval. I stood there, sweaty, and out of breath, and just took stock of how it had gone.

"That last song is called Let you Down." I spoke into the mic using my normal voice, and then it was over. "Thank you all for listening. That was the end of my set."

I turned away from the crowd feeling floaty as I kneeled down by my music box to unplug it, even as the crowd cheered my chooms loudest of all.

My mind was filled with what I had just done, but most of all. It was towards an alert I had received.

*100 Cool XP Gained*

*Cool Leveled up!*

Cool 10.

—--

"That was the craziest thing I've ever done." I told my chooms as I stared into a soda.

"It was amazing!" Hiromi argued, and Malcolm nodded but I couldn't look at them.

We were still at the bar, hanging out at the table we had claimed, but it was just too much. Jun had taken to shooing away the strangers that had come up to congratulate me, because it was just too much.

I felt hot, my ears were burning, and I couldn't believe I had actually done that.

Hiromi had talked me into it, I had agreed, but I couldn't believe I had gone through with it.

"I made a complete fool of myself." I whispered, and Jun suddenly dropped an arm over my shoulder.

"Never. That was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. You were perfect. What was that you did with your voice?"

"I just altered my voice a little, it's not that hard." I whispered, unable to tear my hands away from my face.

"Heh. I can't do it." He offered, and then Malcolm was there, punching me in the shoulder, which had him wince a moment later as he hit my chrome.

"Ow… Don't freak out Motoko. That was amazing. Those songs were absolutely nova. I hadn't heard all of them yet." He offered but I just kept my head in my hands.

Everyone was staring at me! Everyone had heard me play.

"Aaaaaa." I whispered, and a moment later Jun chuckled at me.

"It's cute how embarrassed you get about this stuff." He explained to me, and I finally jerked up to glare at him.

"I'm not cute when I'm embarrassed!"

"Kinda."

"Yep." Hiromi and Malcolm both cut in and I turned to glare at them, but both of my chooms just sent me smirks.

"I'm back!" Ichi called out dropping off some more drinks for everyone including a new soda for me. "You know if nothing else. Getting Motoko to play so we get free drinks is pretty nova."

"Oh! Yeah! We should make Motoko play every time we go to a bar so we all drink free!" Hiromi chirped, and I sent her a look of horror that only had her smirking at me all the wider.

"You have my vote." Ichi offered, and Malcolm, despite already chugging his drink, threw up a hand to signal he was agreeing.

"Hey!" I snapped, but none of my chooms seemed to mind my existential breakdown!

"Hey kid." A voice from behind us drew my eyes away from my chooms. Jun looked the man over and stepped aside, letting me see the barman.

"Yeah?"

"You did good work. Wasn't sure about it when I heard you didn't have a full band, but you did a good job bringing the energy up." The older man offered, rubbing at his chin. "You ever want to play again, you call me up. The Red Dirt will be happy to host you, but if you want some advice? Get a band to play with. I think you got something there, and a real band will really bring it out."

I felt my throat clench up as the idea of having a band was a little too much, instead I just nodded at his words. He seemed to pick up on my anxiety and just laughed.

"You'll get used to it. All the great's do." He assured me, then he looked over to Hiromi, and his eyes flashed. "Payment for the work." He offered and Hiromi had a look of the cat that caught the canary.