Blasterbot
Well-known member
eh they just maelstrom anyways. that makes them free XP anyways.
Ghost in the City Cyberpunk Gamer SI
- Thread starter Seras
- Start date
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- Tags
- cyberpunk gamer self-insert
Chapter 33
Seras
Well-known member
William “FrostGuard” Frost
FrostGuard was pretty pissed. A fuckin jap was tearing up the boys. Damn Tyger Claws were attacking in the middle of the night with fuckin ninjas!
He had only seen the one. Just one, and a kid at that. The girl was fast. After Jackshift had called out everyone had grabbed a weapon, but Jack hadn’t lived long after that.
Good kid Jack, bit stupid, but he did right in the end he put out the alarm.
But now Frost had a fuckin ninja jap killing everyone. There were only six Strom left. Everyone else FrostGuard had called didn’t pick up. Hell even Byte wasn’t picking up.
Fuckin Ninja already killed their Netrunner. Fuck. Brick was gonna be pissed. Byte had been important. Not every gonk on the street can act as a serious Netrunner.
“Stay close!” He yelled out as he forced his Ajax to keep aiming around the dark room. Bitch had disappeared as soon as the boys started calling out for her.
Then she cut the fucking lights!
If they were any of the other gangs it might have worked, but the Spyder Optics the Maelstrom chipped into every member could see in the dark just fine.
Except, somehow she had disappeared. One moment he was staring at her as she raced off into the side of the garage, and then next his optics simply couldn’t keep track of her, or more like she had simply shifted into smoke and disappeared.
Fuckin bullshit.
Some sort of Optical Camo? He wasn’t sure, hadn’t seen any of the usual shifting from that.
“Where the fuck did she go!?” RustProof called out and Frost snorted at the panicked tone as some of the fuckers lost their cool. Firing blindly into the darkness.
They were panicking. Frost realized right then that if he stuck around he was just as likely to get shot in the back as he was the front. He started shifting back towards the entrance, optics wide to look for her. She had to still be here right?
Maybe she had just delta’d once she got spotted?
Possible, but Frost wasn’t going to count on it. He had already sent out an alert, all he had to do was survive until the response showed up.
“H-hey! Where did StickShift go?!” RustProof called out suddenly as he spun around, and Frost looked around his Ajax following his sight as he looked to where Oil that fuck had been standing.
He wasn’t there anymore.
Realizing what had happened Frost let instincts from the war take over. He shifted and fired, shattering the Radios that had been filling the garage with music the whole time.
The music that had covered the ninjas assault.
The sudden quiet was almost oppressive and Frost, Rust, and the other two remaining Maelstrom all quickly gathered together in a group guns out. Even if Frost and his Ajax was the biggest piece among them.
He sighed, realized they were all cluttering him because they wanted him to save them.
Cowards.
But he didn’t know what to say, so instead of trying to take control of the idiots, he continued backing up towards the door. Hopefully they will be able to hear her now.
But the garage was quiet besides the whispering and clanking of the idiots surrounding him.
Fuck this. Frost kept walking backwards towards the door. Yet nothing was moving. Just a quiet that had settled on the garage.
Finally he reached the door and with one hand burst it open as he hurried outside the other four right along with him.
Outside it was quiet, and Frost caught his breath for a second as he looked around. OilSlicks post on the ground floor was knocked over as he had come running at the alert, but Frost hadn’t seen TriggerFinger. He looked up but other than the faint sound of his TV playing, he wasn’t around.
Dead then.
Damn she had snuck up on that old war dog?
“Alright. C’mon stay together you idiots!” He barked as his little group had started splitting apart, but his call brought them back together. “We hold out here. She can’t sneak up on us here, we just have to wait for reinforcements. See how this ninja bitch likes trying her hand against forty of us!” He yelled the number. If the Ninja was still here, hopefully the idea of forty men all hunting her would scare her off. Even if it wasn't likely he would receive that kind of response. Hopefully the Jap didn’t know that. Then with a few pointed fingers and barked orders, he had everyone in place.
There were only two ways out of the Garage, well three if you counted the massive roller doors. Otherwise it was the roof, and the ground floor door that they had just walked out of.
She was trapped in there. All he had to do was keep the place secure until more guns showed up.
At least that is what he thought.
He turned around to look over everyone making sure everyone was where they should be.
When a gunshot startled everyone as the gonk he had sent up onto the roof to watch the roof access came falling off the edge of the roof falling with a splat as he had a massive hole in his chest.
“Damn Gonk!” He cursed him for being stupid enough to get shot. His Ajax came up and peppered the roof, causing the others to join him. If she was up there, they only had to hit her once!
Four Maelstrom unloading on the roof had to be enough!
He flipped his empty magazine out and grabbed his spare from his jacket pocket.
He would be out after this. Dammit. He wasn’t exactly loaded for war while he had his feet up inside the safe house!
“Anyone see her?” He roared which slowly caused everyone to stop firing as they all reloaded but all he got back was shaking heads.
“Well don’t just stand there! Go-” he was cut off as a gunshot rang out, one that he recognized this time.
TriggerFingers Sniper Rifle. Fuck.
One of the boys, head still shaking, suddenly only had a spray of blood in place of his skull. Slowly he flopped down onto the ground.
Ajax raised he started firing towards where the gunshot had come from, but as his round bounced off concrete he realized what had happened.
The bitch. She was shooting through the walls!
“She’s shooting through the walls! Move! Don’t stand still! Her optics can’t lock you if you keep moving!” He roared out and it was only barely enough to save OilSlick as he shifted and moved just in time for a round to punch through the wall of the garage.
The bitch had gone back inside?
Fine!
He roared as he rushed back into the door, he wasn’t going to stand around and get ripped apart. If she was running around with a Nekomata it would slow her down, they weren’t exactly the most mobile weapons considering how long and heavy they were.
He kicked the door back open his optics again cutting through the darkness as he searched for her. A flicker of movement and he opened fire his Ajax barked again and again as he filled the area with bullets.
She disappeared again jumping behind the Van as he stopped firing waiting for her to appear only to realize she had somehow vanished!
“Hey Gonks! She is on the run stay together!” He roared through the walls as he rushed not to follow her, but to the little office he had taken over when they claimed this old garage as a base.
He keyed open the door and slipped inside, quickly grabbing his old vest that had his extra mags and slipped into it, all the while shifting around to make sure she couldn’t pop him through a wall.
Of course a moment later gunshots started echoing around. Tiny blips of his buddies' peashooters, and the big echoing retorts of the Nekomata.
He ran to get back outside, but by the time he kicked the door open again it was quiet.
They were dead. OilSlick well on his way to being an OilStain as he bled out.
“Bitch! Come on then! You’ve cut down these gonks! You think you’re hard!? They are chaff! I’ll rip you apart!” He roared out as he kept moving searching for her. How does one ninja jap do this? Kill his entire squad?
He really wished his reinforcements would show up already.
It was pure luck in the end, the faint hint of something glinting in the corner of his optics he immediately dove into a roll bringing up his Ajax and firing. The shot from the Nekomata missed him by inches. She was back on the roof, hiding in TriggerFingers little shack. He lit it up, not stopping the automatic fire until his mag was empty and he quickly reloaded and started firing again.
Nothing. He waited, unable to see well if she was still in there, but not willing to climb the ladder that would take him up to the roof.
He waited, and it was only when his optics spotted blood that he started to relax.
“Got ya huh bitch?” He called out with a chuckle as he kept his rifle up. Never relax until the body is confirmed dead. Usually with a double tap.
But with how many rounds he had punched into the little shack she would have to be dead. Surely.
A gunshot and he grunted back as the round slammed into him, his Subdermal and chest rig barely stopping the round from blowing a hole through him, but it still knocked him on his ass. He rolled instantly rushing for cover.
How the fuck was she still alive!?
“How are you still alive!?” He roared rising and once more unloading a magazine into the shack, this time he didn’t stay still. Using his gunfire to keep her pinned as he climbed up onto some of the old oil barrels that had been laying around since before they moved in.
He kept firing as he rose up, enough to actually see into the shed even as he continued firing into his mag emptied.
He looked in.
Where was she? TriggerFinger was there, looking pretty awful thanks to all the rounds that had ripped through him, but he didn't see the ninja.
Wait.
Wait!
If TriggerFinger was dead, why was there an arm sticking out from his body pointing a handgun right at Frost?
The round punctured through this time. His vest wasn’t able to stop a second high caliber round, and his subdermal failed.
He died before he hit the ground.
—--
I coughed up blood as I pushed the corpse off me. “Ow!” I whined as I poked the multiple holes in me. Most of them in my legs, one unfortunately in my chest where my poor Leotard had finally given up, unable to stop the bullets. Unfortunately while I was small enough to hide behind the bulk of an armored borg as rounds hammered into my hidey hole. Even the borgs armor had to give up eventually. A few rounds penetrating few had slammed into me as the fucker with the Ajax just kept on firing.
Jerk.
I yanked my med pocket open and grabbed a MaxDoc. Quickly inhaling it I instantly felt better.
“That was the second one I had to burn.” I reminded myself. I only had one left on me. This last borg was way more skilled than I expected. Plus he had actually taken a Nekomata round to the chest, Even if I hadn’t had time to charge it up. It had just been a normal round which was the only reason he hadn’t died.
I grunted as I pushed the corpse off me. “Thanks Choom.” I told him despite how horrible his corpse looked now, he had really saved my tail.
“I really like it more when I just kill them all without them noticing.” I grumble as I grab the fallen Nekomata and head towards the side of the roof. I winced a bit as I dropped down to the ground level. My legs still sore. I guess one MaxDoc didn’t cover everything. I thought about using another but I wasn’t bleeding anywhere.
Better to save it.
I sighed, as much as I wanted to call Ichi and try to have him come help loot this place to the bedrock I knew I didn’t have time.
The Strom leader had mentioned he had called for help.
“Quick loot Motoko.” I told myself with a deep breath as I quickly ran to the first body. As my hands danced through pockets I called my car which drove from down the street to stop in front of the open gate. I grabbed the guns and anything else I could find and hold in my arms as I raced to the car and dumped it into the passenger seat before rushing back for more.
Two runs to grab everything outside, and I headed in. Considering the time limit I raced upstairs first, Netrunner was number one priority.
I wanted to see if he had any netrunning stuff!
As soon as I hit his body I unfortunately gave up on stealing his Netrunning suit.
I didn’t have time or desire to strip a corpse like that right now. Instead I started popping shards out of his skull passing them into my pocket. I did check his skull and he did indeed have a netdeck…
I considered yanking it. I could. It would take a few minutes, but I could totally do that.
But something about ripping chrome right out of someone's body… It didn't sit right with me. If I had more time maybe I would call in the calvary and they would probably do some ripping, but I let it go. Instead I focused on his gear. I plugged into his computer and yanked the data into a shard. I would go over it later, but hopefully it would have some information on where I could find the Spider Ripper, and the Bastard.
Then as I started grabbing more goodies, I heard an engine outside.
Instantly I went cold as I dropped everything and headed back to the roof. Whoever was showing up was about to get ripped apart. I had only heard one engine.
That meant the numbers were doable. More loot?
More loot.
I crept along the roof. Whoever it was was walking around the courtyard, they were slow, cautious. I couldn’t hear any conversation, and only one set of footsteps crunching into the gravel.
Only one? Well it didn’t matter.
I reached the edge, but I missed them by a second. They had just walked into the building below me.
I went full cold just so I wouldn’t make a grunt of pain and dropped. Falling into a silent crouch just outside the door.
My Katana was already flashing, red edge arcing through darkness to give me just a few more points of XP.
I stilled.
My breath came out in a soft pant.
“Jun!?” I cried out, causing him to jump practically out of his skin, his own Katana coming up to as if to defend only to realize I was standing literally behind him, my Katana inches from taking his head.
Jun shrieked in a hilariously girly voice, but once he realized who it was he gasped in shock. “Motoko!?”
Gonna remember that one for later, that scream was hilarious! but now wasn’t the time for that.
Because Jun’s face hardened and he was glaring now. “Motoko! What do you think you are doing!?”
“Murder?” I answered honestly before my mind could catch up with my mouth. I clamped my mouth shut as my answer seemed to knock the wind out of Jun’s anger. I looked around, knowing he must have already seen all the dead bodies. All the people I had murdered.
We were both silent, staring at each other for a moment before I lowered my shoulders sheathing my Katana. “Okay let’s be honest. I mean… Is this even the worst thing you ever caught me doing?” I asked, hoping my former pre-coma self really was the hellion I suspected she was.
Jun did not in fact agree.
His exasperated expression only lasted a moment before it turned to anger. “What are you thinking? What are you even doing? You could have died! You are still recovering! You are… What? Chasing Maelstrom around the city!?” He roared after a sound of pure frustrated anger as he turned and hammered a fist into the wall of the garage. The poor garage did not stand up well.
“How did you even find me?” I interrupted his battering of the poor garage.
“I followed your tracker! What else would I do when you sneak out in the middle of the night!”
I blinked. “I have a tracker?” I frowned. That was… Not okay.
“Of course Oka-san gave us both trackers when we were kids.” He answered simply going silent for a moment at the mention of our mother. “You don’t remember.”
I felt my lips down into a frown. The idea that I had some tracker in me was… I really didn’t like it. At the same time it wasn’t Jun’s fault so I just breathed it out. I would get back to that later.
Before I could even start on what was next though. We both heard it, engines.
“We need to go.”
“Let’s run!” We both said to each other before rushing towards the exit. The engines were too close.
FrostGuard was pretty pissed. A fuckin jap was tearing up the boys. Damn Tyger Claws were attacking in the middle of the night with fuckin ninjas!
He had only seen the one. Just one, and a kid at that. The girl was fast. After Jackshift had called out everyone had grabbed a weapon, but Jack hadn’t lived long after that.
Good kid Jack, bit stupid, but he did right in the end he put out the alarm.
But now Frost had a fuckin ninja jap killing everyone. There were only six Strom left. Everyone else FrostGuard had called didn’t pick up. Hell even Byte wasn’t picking up.
Fuckin Ninja already killed their Netrunner. Fuck. Brick was gonna be pissed. Byte had been important. Not every gonk on the street can act as a serious Netrunner.
“Stay close!” He yelled out as he forced his Ajax to keep aiming around the dark room. Bitch had disappeared as soon as the boys started calling out for her.
Then she cut the fucking lights!
If they were any of the other gangs it might have worked, but the Spyder Optics the Maelstrom chipped into every member could see in the dark just fine.
Except, somehow she had disappeared. One moment he was staring at her as she raced off into the side of the garage, and then next his optics simply couldn’t keep track of her, or more like she had simply shifted into smoke and disappeared.
Fuckin bullshit.
Some sort of Optical Camo? He wasn’t sure, hadn’t seen any of the usual shifting from that.
“Where the fuck did she go!?” RustProof called out and Frost snorted at the panicked tone as some of the fuckers lost their cool. Firing blindly into the darkness.
They were panicking. Frost realized right then that if he stuck around he was just as likely to get shot in the back as he was the front. He started shifting back towards the entrance, optics wide to look for her. She had to still be here right?
Maybe she had just delta’d once she got spotted?
Possible, but Frost wasn’t going to count on it. He had already sent out an alert, all he had to do was survive until the response showed up.
“H-hey! Where did StickShift go?!” RustProof called out suddenly as he spun around, and Frost looked around his Ajax following his sight as he looked to where Oil that fuck had been standing.
He wasn’t there anymore.
Realizing what had happened Frost let instincts from the war take over. He shifted and fired, shattering the Radios that had been filling the garage with music the whole time.
The music that had covered the ninjas assault.
The sudden quiet was almost oppressive and Frost, Rust, and the other two remaining Maelstrom all quickly gathered together in a group guns out. Even if Frost and his Ajax was the biggest piece among them.
He sighed, realized they were all cluttering him because they wanted him to save them.
Cowards.
But he didn’t know what to say, so instead of trying to take control of the idiots, he continued backing up towards the door. Hopefully they will be able to hear her now.
But the garage was quiet besides the whispering and clanking of the idiots surrounding him.
Fuck this. Frost kept walking backwards towards the door. Yet nothing was moving. Just a quiet that had settled on the garage.
Finally he reached the door and with one hand burst it open as he hurried outside the other four right along with him.
Outside it was quiet, and Frost caught his breath for a second as he looked around. OilSlicks post on the ground floor was knocked over as he had come running at the alert, but Frost hadn’t seen TriggerFinger. He looked up but other than the faint sound of his TV playing, he wasn’t around.
Dead then.
Damn she had snuck up on that old war dog?
“Alright. C’mon stay together you idiots!” He barked as his little group had started splitting apart, but his call brought them back together. “We hold out here. She can’t sneak up on us here, we just have to wait for reinforcements. See how this ninja bitch likes trying her hand against forty of us!” He yelled the number. If the Ninja was still here, hopefully the idea of forty men all hunting her would scare her off. Even if it wasn't likely he would receive that kind of response. Hopefully the Jap didn’t know that. Then with a few pointed fingers and barked orders, he had everyone in place.
There were only two ways out of the Garage, well three if you counted the massive roller doors. Otherwise it was the roof, and the ground floor door that they had just walked out of.
She was trapped in there. All he had to do was keep the place secure until more guns showed up.
At least that is what he thought.
He turned around to look over everyone making sure everyone was where they should be.
When a gunshot startled everyone as the gonk he had sent up onto the roof to watch the roof access came falling off the edge of the roof falling with a splat as he had a massive hole in his chest.
“Damn Gonk!” He cursed him for being stupid enough to get shot. His Ajax came up and peppered the roof, causing the others to join him. If she was up there, they only had to hit her once!
Four Maelstrom unloading on the roof had to be enough!
He flipped his empty magazine out and grabbed his spare from his jacket pocket.
He would be out after this. Dammit. He wasn’t exactly loaded for war while he had his feet up inside the safe house!
“Anyone see her?” He roared which slowly caused everyone to stop firing as they all reloaded but all he got back was shaking heads.
“Well don’t just stand there! Go-” he was cut off as a gunshot rang out, one that he recognized this time.
TriggerFingers Sniper Rifle. Fuck.
One of the boys, head still shaking, suddenly only had a spray of blood in place of his skull. Slowly he flopped down onto the ground.
Ajax raised he started firing towards where the gunshot had come from, but as his round bounced off concrete he realized what had happened.
The bitch. She was shooting through the walls!
“She’s shooting through the walls! Move! Don’t stand still! Her optics can’t lock you if you keep moving!” He roared out and it was only barely enough to save OilSlick as he shifted and moved just in time for a round to punch through the wall of the garage.
The bitch had gone back inside?
Fine!
He roared as he rushed back into the door, he wasn’t going to stand around and get ripped apart. If she was running around with a Nekomata it would slow her down, they weren’t exactly the most mobile weapons considering how long and heavy they were.
He kicked the door back open his optics again cutting through the darkness as he searched for her. A flicker of movement and he opened fire his Ajax barked again and again as he filled the area with bullets.
She disappeared again jumping behind the Van as he stopped firing waiting for her to appear only to realize she had somehow vanished!
“Hey Gonks! She is on the run stay together!” He roared through the walls as he rushed not to follow her, but to the little office he had taken over when they claimed this old garage as a base.
He keyed open the door and slipped inside, quickly grabbing his old vest that had his extra mags and slipped into it, all the while shifting around to make sure she couldn’t pop him through a wall.
Of course a moment later gunshots started echoing around. Tiny blips of his buddies' peashooters, and the big echoing retorts of the Nekomata.
He ran to get back outside, but by the time he kicked the door open again it was quiet.
They were dead. OilSlick well on his way to being an OilStain as he bled out.
“Bitch! Come on then! You’ve cut down these gonks! You think you’re hard!? They are chaff! I’ll rip you apart!” He roared out as he kept moving searching for her. How does one ninja jap do this? Kill his entire squad?
He really wished his reinforcements would show up already.
It was pure luck in the end, the faint hint of something glinting in the corner of his optics he immediately dove into a roll bringing up his Ajax and firing. The shot from the Nekomata missed him by inches. She was back on the roof, hiding in TriggerFingers little shack. He lit it up, not stopping the automatic fire until his mag was empty and he quickly reloaded and started firing again.
Nothing. He waited, unable to see well if she was still in there, but not willing to climb the ladder that would take him up to the roof.
He waited, and it was only when his optics spotted blood that he started to relax.
“Got ya huh bitch?” He called out with a chuckle as he kept his rifle up. Never relax until the body is confirmed dead. Usually with a double tap.
But with how many rounds he had punched into the little shack she would have to be dead. Surely.
A gunshot and he grunted back as the round slammed into him, his Subdermal and chest rig barely stopping the round from blowing a hole through him, but it still knocked him on his ass. He rolled instantly rushing for cover.
How the fuck was she still alive!?
“How are you still alive!?” He roared rising and once more unloading a magazine into the shack, this time he didn’t stay still. Using his gunfire to keep her pinned as he climbed up onto some of the old oil barrels that had been laying around since before they moved in.
He kept firing as he rose up, enough to actually see into the shed even as he continued firing into his mag emptied.
He looked in.
Where was she? TriggerFinger was there, looking pretty awful thanks to all the rounds that had ripped through him, but he didn't see the ninja.
Wait.
Wait!
If TriggerFinger was dead, why was there an arm sticking out from his body pointing a handgun right at Frost?
The round punctured through this time. His vest wasn’t able to stop a second high caliber round, and his subdermal failed.
He died before he hit the ground.
—--
I coughed up blood as I pushed the corpse off me. “Ow!” I whined as I poked the multiple holes in me. Most of them in my legs, one unfortunately in my chest where my poor Leotard had finally given up, unable to stop the bullets. Unfortunately while I was small enough to hide behind the bulk of an armored borg as rounds hammered into my hidey hole. Even the borgs armor had to give up eventually. A few rounds penetrating few had slammed into me as the fucker with the Ajax just kept on firing.
Jerk.
I yanked my med pocket open and grabbed a MaxDoc. Quickly inhaling it I instantly felt better.
“That was the second one I had to burn.” I reminded myself. I only had one left on me. This last borg was way more skilled than I expected. Plus he had actually taken a Nekomata round to the chest, Even if I hadn’t had time to charge it up. It had just been a normal round which was the only reason he hadn’t died.
I grunted as I pushed the corpse off me. “Thanks Choom.” I told him despite how horrible his corpse looked now, he had really saved my tail.
“I really like it more when I just kill them all without them noticing.” I grumble as I grab the fallen Nekomata and head towards the side of the roof. I winced a bit as I dropped down to the ground level. My legs still sore. I guess one MaxDoc didn’t cover everything. I thought about using another but I wasn’t bleeding anywhere.
Better to save it.
I sighed, as much as I wanted to call Ichi and try to have him come help loot this place to the bedrock I knew I didn’t have time.
The Strom leader had mentioned he had called for help.
“Quick loot Motoko.” I told myself with a deep breath as I quickly ran to the first body. As my hands danced through pockets I called my car which drove from down the street to stop in front of the open gate. I grabbed the guns and anything else I could find and hold in my arms as I raced to the car and dumped it into the passenger seat before rushing back for more.
Two runs to grab everything outside, and I headed in. Considering the time limit I raced upstairs first, Netrunner was number one priority.
I wanted to see if he had any netrunning stuff!
As soon as I hit his body I unfortunately gave up on stealing his Netrunning suit.
I didn’t have time or desire to strip a corpse like that right now. Instead I started popping shards out of his skull passing them into my pocket. I did check his skull and he did indeed have a netdeck…
I considered yanking it. I could. It would take a few minutes, but I could totally do that.
But something about ripping chrome right out of someone's body… It didn't sit right with me. If I had more time maybe I would call in the calvary and they would probably do some ripping, but I let it go. Instead I focused on his gear. I plugged into his computer and yanked the data into a shard. I would go over it later, but hopefully it would have some information on where I could find the Spider Ripper, and the Bastard.
Then as I started grabbing more goodies, I heard an engine outside.
Instantly I went cold as I dropped everything and headed back to the roof. Whoever was showing up was about to get ripped apart. I had only heard one engine.
That meant the numbers were doable. More loot?
More loot.
I crept along the roof. Whoever it was was walking around the courtyard, they were slow, cautious. I couldn’t hear any conversation, and only one set of footsteps crunching into the gravel.
Only one? Well it didn’t matter.
I reached the edge, but I missed them by a second. They had just walked into the building below me.
I went full cold just so I wouldn’t make a grunt of pain and dropped. Falling into a silent crouch just outside the door.
My Katana was already flashing, red edge arcing through darkness to give me just a few more points of XP.
I stilled.
My breath came out in a soft pant.
“Jun!?” I cried out, causing him to jump practically out of his skin, his own Katana coming up to as if to defend only to realize I was standing literally behind him, my Katana inches from taking his head.
Jun shrieked in a hilariously girly voice, but once he realized who it was he gasped in shock. “Motoko!?”
Gonna remember that one for later, that scream was hilarious! but now wasn’t the time for that.
Because Jun’s face hardened and he was glaring now. “Motoko! What do you think you are doing!?”
“Murder?” I answered honestly before my mind could catch up with my mouth. I clamped my mouth shut as my answer seemed to knock the wind out of Jun’s anger. I looked around, knowing he must have already seen all the dead bodies. All the people I had murdered.
We were both silent, staring at each other for a moment before I lowered my shoulders sheathing my Katana. “Okay let’s be honest. I mean… Is this even the worst thing you ever caught me doing?” I asked, hoping my former pre-coma self really was the hellion I suspected she was.
Jun did not in fact agree.
His exasperated expression only lasted a moment before it turned to anger. “What are you thinking? What are you even doing? You could have died! You are still recovering! You are… What? Chasing Maelstrom around the city!?” He roared after a sound of pure frustrated anger as he turned and hammered a fist into the wall of the garage. The poor garage did not stand up well.
“How did you even find me?” I interrupted his battering of the poor garage.
“I followed your tracker! What else would I do when you sneak out in the middle of the night!”
I blinked. “I have a tracker?” I frowned. That was… Not okay.
“Of course Oka-san gave us both trackers when we were kids.” He answered simply going silent for a moment at the mention of our mother. “You don’t remember.”
I felt my lips down into a frown. The idea that I had some tracker in me was… I really didn’t like it. At the same time it wasn’t Jun’s fault so I just breathed it out. I would get back to that later.
Before I could even start on what was next though. We both heard it, engines.
“We need to go.”
“Let’s run!” We both said to each other before rushing towards the exit. The engines were too close.
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Blasterbot
Well-known member
Yes Motoko. Yes it is. definitely fun to see how different this Motoko acts from the other Vickies. They all kinda view the worlds they end up going native to a degree.
Seras
Well-known member
I'm glad you think so! Going native is something I do try to show, that despite having some aspects of our modern world in her thought process my SI really do tend to adapt to the world they live in.
posh-goofiness
Well-known member
I actually thought her sharp slide into murderhobo in the last few chapters was the first stages of cyberpsychosis. To me, it seems like she's become much more unhinged/blasé about offing people.
I gotta agree, what with the whole, "Murder is fun!" vibe we're getting now.
Blasterbot
Well-known member
the other side of that is the heavy investment in COOL. it definitely had a huge impact on her personality.
Chapter 34
Seras
Well-known member
By the time we hit the gate we both realized what happened.
Slowing to a stop, surrounding my car and Jun’s Bike, both blocking the entrance to the gate, were three Maelstrom trucks.
Already I could see the red eyed borgs climbing out to look around.
“Cover me!” I called out as I rushed forward. Burya drawn and aimed, and only when they noticed me did I fire. Three rounds echoed, sending borgs scurrying as I rushed to my car. While my shots had sent a few running for cover a few of the borgs were starting to aim at me, so I did the smart thing. I put up my arms to guard my face and jumped into the still open passenger door ignoring the stray bullets slammed into my arms.
I reached down under my passenger seat for a box that I had filled from the Raffen raid, and never really used.
Popping it open I started grabbing grenades.
I glanced out the door seeing Jun in full rage mode as he offhanded a Shingen, a smart SMG that I didn’t even know he had. It must collapse down or something. Still he was shooting mini missiles into the crowd roaring and drawing attention.
Stupid Jun. He was gonna get shot doin’ that.
I flipped the switches, pressed the buttons, or pulled the pin for the grenades as I started chucking them wildly out of the car towards the Maelstrom trucks.
It took a moment and then the explosions started going off, and the screams and cries of dying Maelstrom finally overrode the sound of gunfire.
I turned back towards Jun to tell him to get on his Kusanagi and get out of here, but he had already unsheathed his Katana and was going wild on the now utterly disrupted Maelstrom. One of their trucks was burning from an incendiary grenade highlighting the fight as he rushed in and started cutting.
Well, if he wanted to murder all of these Maelstrom, I wasn’t going to be left behind. I slipped out of my car, Katana drawn, and moved.
Quickly leaping up onto the hood of my car and then forward to cut the arm off a Maelstrom gonk aiming a shotgun at Jun. The thermal blade cut right through, and his head was parted a moment later before he could even scream with a casual swipe. Then I was among them, and between Jun and I? The grenades having thrown them around killing or maiming?
It was wheat to a scythe. Jun drew their eyes, the Oni. I could practically taste their terror as he kept among them, not letting them get any clear shots as he cut them into pieces with pure power.
While that happened. I ghosted them. Heads parted from necks, limbs were lost suddenly, and then lives a moment later. While I did get shot again, this time in the back the fucker lost his arm and then head a moment later. While Jun was just tanking everything.
By the time I caught up to Jun it was over. He was dueling a large borg with a nasty looking sawn off shotgun fit for a cyborg, and a chain sword of all things trying to keep Jun from bisecting him.
Unfortunately I don’t believe in honorable duels. The Borg died in moments after my Katana surged out the front of his neck as I stabbed him through his spine. My face a rictus grin as I managed to kill steal from Jun.
I was laughing, my cold breaking as Jun practically jumped at my sudden appearance once again. I could see him instantly look around, but I threw him a thumbs up. “I confirmed kills on everyone else. We’re clear.” I told him. His eyes continued to rove around as if he didn’t fully believe me, which was fair, always good to verify yourself.
But yeah.
I killed them all.
The fools half blown up by grenades. The ones desperately trying to run. The Gonks that tried to attack me. I cut them all down. Between the fires, and Jun it was easy. They were so shell shocked I waltzed through them like a ghost.
“We should probably grab what we can and go.” I told him only to see he wasn’t just breathing hard but actually wincing. I quickly pushed in and with deft fingers found the problem. “Right through the Subdermal.” I told him after got his hands away from the bullet hole in his thigh.
“Thanks I hadn’t noticed.” He growled a bit but a moment later he had a maxdoc in his mouth.
“Take that, and hop in the car. Send your bike home without you, you can’t drive like that.”
“It’s a bullet hole. I can ride just fine.” He grumbled, but I wasn’t having any of that and quickly pulled him along his limping steps, unable to resist as I pulled him towards the passenger seat of my ride.
I winced a little at how much junk was now strewn across it, but he sighed and settled in as I threw a roll of bandages I had in my medical pouch at him as I raced back to the driver side.
“Buckle up.” I reminded him as I hammered the gear and hit the gas instantly roaring down the street causing Jun to yelp as I absolutely floored it.
Had to get Jun back to the dojo. He was bleeding!
“Slow down!”
“No!” I barked back as I zipped through the city, absolutely flooring my engine. The mostly empty streets thanks to all the shootings meant I rarely had to slow for traffic, and so I raced through the city more like I was playing… Well Cyberpunk.
Well if the driving in the game was any good anyways.
“Please slow down!” He begged as I came up to a red light with a bit of traffic, we were in a busier section, lots of bars and clubs around here, and even with a gang war people were still partying.
His pleading switched to Japanese and I honestly couldn’t keep up, as I slipped in between two cars idling at the red, flowed into a drift barely sliding right behind a truck my front bumper almost kissing the rear of the bumper before I slipped around the truck and cut in front of it before flooring it disappearing down the street with a roar of my Quadra’s engine.
“Please please please slow down!” He begged and I scoffed. We were almost there. Just a few smaller side streets that were covered in little shops. Most were closed and empty. I didn’t even slow down as I flew down the darkened street. The few people I could see hearing me coming and getting out of the way.
Which was smart.
I came around the corner of the dojo in a rush and only slowed a tiny bit as I drifted down into the parking garage for the apartment complex.
I quickly found a space and slowed to gently park into one close to the elevator to the first floor. “C’mon Jun, let’s get you to your ripper.” I told him as I jumped out of the car to run around towards his side, he was already climbing out when I reached him, and as I tried to get close to help him his hand reached out and pushed my face away.
“Jwun!”
“Motoko. Stop smothering me… Also you are never allowed to drive again. Ever.” He told me as he started walking just with a hefty limp towards the elevator.
“That’s not fair! I’m pretty good at driving!”
“Terrifying.”
“Everyone complains about me driving slow, but when I actually drive fast you complain too!?” I argued as I kept with him, happy to use the conversation to keep him distracted.
“That’s because no one knows how terrifying you driving fast is. Where did you even learn to drive like that?”
“Playing around mostly.” I answered truthfully… From a certain point of view.
“Terrifying.” He deadpanned as he rested back against the elevator seemingly exhausted.
Oh. Right. Jun had been awake all day, fought with me. Fought during the Kamikaze raid, and then chased me out too.
Dang. I actually felt super sorry for him now. “Let’s get you into the ripper and get you a nap. You look tired.” I told him as I sidled up to him resting my head on his shoulder for a moment.
“I wonder why that is?” He snarked at me, seemingly too tired to get angry. Huh I guess sleepy Jun is snarky Jun.
I opened my mouth to respond but closed it. I hadn’t really needed Jun, but I understood it was difficult for him to understand just what I could do. What a Gamer was capable of.
“Thanks for coming to help me Jun… I promise I won’t run off in the middle of the night again. I’ll let you know when I go out, so you… Well you’ll probably still worry, but at least I won’t just vanish on you.”
Jun’s hands clenched but then loosened.
“When you killed that last Strom. You were laughing.”
“Yeah. I was having fun. We work well together… You just need to work on getting shot less.” I told him, resisting the urge to poke at him with a finger. He was injured so I wasn’t going to poke his bullet wounds. That would be rude, even if the urge to mess with my brother was almost irresistible.
“I didn’t believe you before. When you said you enjoyed it.”
I scratched at my cheek a bit embarrassed as Jun was staring at me as the elevator came to a stop. “Yeah well… I guess It’s just one of those things. I’m good at it… Plus I have my own reasons to enjoy killing them.”
“Yeah.” He was quiet as he hobbled out, my attempts to help more getting in his way, than really helping. As I tried to get him to the window that we could climb out of. It was a bit difficult, but we managed to get him through and the vendors on the other side quickly noticed and actually helped out, not saying a word as they took an arm and helped Jun into the Dojo’s side entrance and downstairs into the ripper clinic.
“What the? Kusanagi!?” The female ripper was sitting at a chair and jumped up when Jun was carried in, she took a moment to look me over as well. I was still covered in blood, but I waved her towards Jun and she didn’t need any further prompting to ignore me.
He was settled onto the ripper chair, and she went to work cleaning the bullet holes, and starting to work. I settled onto a normal chair nearby and decided to hang out. It wasn’t like I was gonna do anything but go take a nap when I got back to the room anyways.
Might as well make sure Jun is okay.
Jun basically started napping as the doc worked. She was alright, but she didn’t have that amazing deftness that Vik had.
I really should have just hauled him to Viks.
“Kusanagi!” A voice called out just as soon as the door opened, and Fujimura stomped in. The guy was a bit bleary eyed, and his hair was messy.
I guess someone woke him up.
“Fujimura-Sama.” Jun responded, his eyes snapping open and he made to sit up only to be pushed down by the Doc.
“Stay down while I work.” She demanded glaring before giving a sitting bow to Fujimura. Seemingly letting him know he could continue.
“I didn’t set up any further raids. The battle was over, I thought I was clear that you were supposed to be resting. Now I find out you went out and got injured. You damage not just yourself, but the Kamikaze! Explain!” He barked stomping up to Jun, and I got the feeling he was only seconds away from dragging Jun out of the chair by his… well Jun didn’t have a shirt on, but the same idea stood.
Jun of course spoke quickly, before I could. “Apologies. A family matter came up.”
Fujimura instantly looked to me, his eyes glaring and face full of rage.
Of course I wasn’t impressed. Bedhead wasn’t exactly intimidating.
“You once again cause trouble?”
“I didn’t do anything. Jun was just being overprotective and decided to foll-” I was cut off as the man actually backhanded me.
He hit me.
It almost knocked me right out of the chair considering how strong he was. I could practically feel a tooth loosen as well as I sat back up. I wiggled my jaw a bit and spit out some of the blood onto the floor.
Stupid idiot made me bite my cheek.
I went cold. No, I went arctic. I caught his eyes and held them as I spoke. “You strike me again, and I’ll take the hand.”
He watched me for a moment before snorting. “Accept your punishment with grace. You damage the Kamikaze with your foolishness? You receive a reminder. Your brother is important to the Tyger Claws. Important to Kamikaze. You were brought here by our kindness, but that is twice now you have cost the Kamikaze.”
“Fujimura-sama! Motoko is my sister. She is not yours to discipline!” Jun growled, he had sat up when I was struck. Much to the irritation of the Doc.
“Then ensure that she does not damage the Kamikaze again, and I will not feel the need to interfere in family affairs!” The man barked back without any give.
“Motoko did nothing wrong. Fujimura-sama. It was my own weakness that led to injury.” Jun said, barely keeping his voice from an angry bark as he glared up at the borg.
The man finally turned from my stare which was dangerous of him.
I was still figuring out whether dismembering him would be the best way to get my point across.
“I expect a fast recovery Kusanagi. The Kamikaze have work to do.” He finally said after a few moments of imperious glaring, before he stomped out of the room.
“Jun… Your boss is an asshole.” I finally told him which caused my brother to slowly lean back onto the chair with a groan.
—--
Once Jun was fully fixed up, he fell asleep with a few meds from the doc. Considering he was passed out and practically drooling, I decided to head back to the apartment.
But not before taking a picture of his drooling face. Blackmail get!
The silliness helped soothe the irritation and the pain of my cheek.
I walked into the apartment and only once the door closed did I sigh.
I was still hurting. Bullets might get blocked by the armor, and I was mostly healed up from the Maxdoc, but I was still sore.
Plus the worst part?
“Ugh all the blood dried.” I grumbled as I ran a few fingers through my hair only to get tangled in the bloody matted strands. I wouldn’t be able to take a nap without cleaning up first.
So with a tired grunt I walked into the apartment's little bathroom that also had a washer dryer. I stripped down to my panties and stuffed the dirty clothes into the washer noticing my boots were going to need some serious attention too.
Dangit.
So as I started the cycle I grabbed some cleaning gunk and sat down in front of the washer with my boots. Slowly wiping the poor abused footwear clean of dirty Maelstrom blood.
At least one benefit of being in such a hellish future is that bloodstains weren’t an issue. The cleaning gunk I rubbed into the boots pulled the blood right out.
Groaning, as my shoulders ached, I headed into a shower and dunked my head into the nice hot water for a moment stretching a bit to start scrubbing the blood off. I zoned out for a bit just letting the heat flow into my bones, well and my arms. Cyberware felt cool to the skin and the night was getting cooler. So feeling the metal warm under the spray was actually pretty nice.
My chest always feels a little chilly now with the Cyberware installed. But right now it felt good, even if water flowing over my arms felt wrong.
Which reminded me about what I had gained tonight.
I couldn’t help but whistle as I opened the alerts. I hadn’t checked between looting and then Jun.
The XP gains went down for a while. But it was the level I had gained that I was smiling about. Three levels in one night!? I giggled a little as I did a little dance under the shower, hell yeah!
*Level up achieved!*
*One Stat Point Gained.*
*One Skill Point Gained.*
I giggled as I looked at the alert. Glancing at my stat page just to see where I am at.
Level 8
2500/9000
Very nice. Plus the three Stat and Skill points that were saved up!
But that wasn’t even close to everything! So many improvements!
*Athletics skill level up!*
It was midway down the list, so I guess all the running and jumping around I had done, had some benefits. Athletics 6 was awesome!
*Handguns skill level up!*
Handguns had gone up to six, which made sense. I had been firing the Burya so much lately. It really was an integral part of my toolkit. I really needed to take her apart and give her a thorough checkup.
Even happier for me, was Assault. Assault 4 thanks to my new Nekomata. I finally had a good weapon for leveling that skill.
While Ninjutsu and Cool itself didn’t level, Cold Blood had gone up to 7. Matching up with Ninjutsu. So that was fun! Less pain for me was a good thing!
Then I blinked.
Then I blinked again. Then I dug into the alert list to figure out what the hell happened.
“This doesn’t make any sense! Stupid system! I want to talk to an admin! I want a refund!” I screeched a bit as practically jumped up and down in anger.
*Engineering Experience Gained.*
*Skill not unlocked, no XP gained.*
*Engineering Unlocked.*
*Engineering skill level up!*
*Engineering skill level up!*
*1 Perk Point Gained.*
I didn’t build anything!? But apparently grenades counted for Engineering!? What? How does that work!?
I had definitely used grenades before! Why was I only now getting XP for Engineering if they were connected to that!?
I thought back to the last time I had used grenades, and I had to go all the way to the Scav raid. That’s right, I had brought a few with me…
Then I remembered how often the damn things were kicked back at me… “Did… did I not actually hit anyone with a grenade!?” No I had! The two at the end, the ones hiding in the computer room, I remembered throwing the grenade in and then leaping in after to shoot them…
But they had been hiding in cover… I hadn’t actually hit anyone with a grenade until now!?
I pushed my back up against the side of the shower and slid down it groaning. If I had known that I could level Engineering by killing people with grenades! I could have done so much! Now that I had accepted the alert, I could feel the information sliding in, and it was dense. Which was weird because usually the knowledge came right then, but I guess engineering was so dense, it waited until it was out of combat?
Well I guess the system wasn’t too bad then. I would hold off on my demand for refunds for now…
Besides, Motoko likes numbers.
I blinked away water as I came back to myself after who knows how long when the washing machine beeped. I did a quick shampoo wash of my hair to make sure the blood was out, before jumping out of the shower and throwing my clothes into the dryer.
Grabbing a few towels to start drying off, I wandered onto the couch and opened up the menu again.
I hadn’t gained any other stat increases. I had been hoping for a reflex improvement, but it hadn’t come. Plenty of alerts for it, and it was getting close, but I wasn’t there yet.
Which opened up the next question.
What do I spend my Stat and skill points on. To start, I already knew where my stat points would go.
A few button presses and I was on the Adaptation page.
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 0/10*
I didn’t hesitate. Not this time. Pushing the button.
*Spend 1 Stat point to improve Adaptation?*
*Y/N*
I hit the yes option, and instantly the numbers changed.
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 1/10*
I shivered. Not from the cold, the apartment was just fine, and I was warm from the shower. No, I shivered because the Phantom limb I had been fighting against since I got my arms stopped. I had gotten… well not used to it, but I got to the point I could move my arm without it throwing me off.
And now? Now it was gone. I let out a noisy sigh as I flopped back on the couch.
Wow that felt… Nice.
I brought my arm up to my face and opened and closed a fist. So much was still off. The sensations were wrong. The fact it was the wrong length, or that my fingers settled in the wrong spot. Still nagged at me, made me feel like something was off.
But now at least it felt like mine.
I opened the page adding another point.
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 2/10*
Muscles in my back unclenched. My shoulders, all mechanical at this point, shifted, settling differently. I gasped, an exhale of relief. I hadn’t even realized I had kept my shoulders tense, trying to force them into the same position my old arms would have been, but the Condor had longer shoulders. I realized I had literally been hunching up on myself for days.
I relaxed and it felt. Right? No. Normal. It felt normal. For the first time since I woke up on the rippers chair, I felt slightly normal. That little part of you that unclenches after something terrible when your body and mind finally realize everything is going to be okay.
I was going to be okay.
I swallowed a little as I threw my forearm over my eyes. Jun was’t here, but I didn’t want anyone to see me crying. Tears started falling and I very quickly started sobbing, crying and crying, an ugly noise escaping me as I let the pain that had infested me. Made me so angry, and made me want to just stay cold forever slowly seep away.
As I felt my heart unfreeze fully for the first time.
I hadn’t even realized I had been doing it. How could I? Cold Blood wasn’t just some weird gamer power, it was a skill. Knowledge that I was practically a master at.
It was the equivalent to spending years and years hardening your heart. Freezing your emotions so that nothing could interfere with your thoughts.
Of course the trauma would make me fall back on it, even subconsciously. It wasn’t like I could split where Motoko ends, and the knowledge I had gained through the system began.
There was no difference. It was my knowledge and experience. I just had a lot of weird skills. Extra experience.
So I finally subconsciously relaxed, felt safe. So I let it go, and so I bawled. The stress and horror of what happened. My worry for Jun, and just the pain all pouring out of me.
I cried and I cried. Until finally I just couldn’t anymore.
Thankfully I was already wrapped up in a towel so I was able to wipe my now gooey arm, and my gooier face. Blowing my nose loud and wetly let me breath again as I stood up. I went back to the laundry room, and threw both towels in, after quickly washing my face, and my arm. I felt…
Good. Cathartic.
I grabbed some comfy old clothes out of what Jun had grabbed from the apartment and flopped onto the couch. I turned on the TV and just switched it to some Cartoon channel. Something mindless. I got comfy as it played, as I looked at the stat menu again.
I still had one Stat Point left. I thought about it. I could use it for Reflex which was a struggle to level, or Tech which would be great.
But this was more important. I wasn’t some idiot Edgerunner wanting to burn out in a blaze of glory.
I wasn’t.
I really wasn’t. I wanted to live, because you can’t have fun when you die. So I decided I would spend it on Adaptation again.
But not to my arms.
*Spend 1 Stat point to improve Adaptation?*
I accepted, and my stats changed.
Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 1/2*
I blinked.
Then I blinked again. Then again. It was still weird, but that cold sensation of my eyelids flowing over a waterproof eye didn’t bother me as much. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn't like much was.
But when I closed my eyes, it didn’t feel uncomfortable. It didn’t make me itch or want to leave my eyes open all night.
Without my auto sleep, I very likely would not have been able to sleep well with my Kiroshi.
But now?
I relaxed curled up in a big fluffy blanket watching cartoons I dozed off, for the first time in a while sleeping peacefully without needing to insta sleep.
ZZzzZZ
Slowing to a stop, surrounding my car and Jun’s Bike, both blocking the entrance to the gate, were three Maelstrom trucks.
Already I could see the red eyed borgs climbing out to look around.
“Cover me!” I called out as I rushed forward. Burya drawn and aimed, and only when they noticed me did I fire. Three rounds echoed, sending borgs scurrying as I rushed to my car. While my shots had sent a few running for cover a few of the borgs were starting to aim at me, so I did the smart thing. I put up my arms to guard my face and jumped into the still open passenger door ignoring the stray bullets slammed into my arms.
I reached down under my passenger seat for a box that I had filled from the Raffen raid, and never really used.
Popping it open I started grabbing grenades.
I glanced out the door seeing Jun in full rage mode as he offhanded a Shingen, a smart SMG that I didn’t even know he had. It must collapse down or something. Still he was shooting mini missiles into the crowd roaring and drawing attention.
Stupid Jun. He was gonna get shot doin’ that.
I flipped the switches, pressed the buttons, or pulled the pin for the grenades as I started chucking them wildly out of the car towards the Maelstrom trucks.
It took a moment and then the explosions started going off, and the screams and cries of dying Maelstrom finally overrode the sound of gunfire.
I turned back towards Jun to tell him to get on his Kusanagi and get out of here, but he had already unsheathed his Katana and was going wild on the now utterly disrupted Maelstrom. One of their trucks was burning from an incendiary grenade highlighting the fight as he rushed in and started cutting.
Well, if he wanted to murder all of these Maelstrom, I wasn’t going to be left behind. I slipped out of my car, Katana drawn, and moved.
Quickly leaping up onto the hood of my car and then forward to cut the arm off a Maelstrom gonk aiming a shotgun at Jun. The thermal blade cut right through, and his head was parted a moment later before he could even scream with a casual swipe. Then I was among them, and between Jun and I? The grenades having thrown them around killing or maiming?
It was wheat to a scythe. Jun drew their eyes, the Oni. I could practically taste their terror as he kept among them, not letting them get any clear shots as he cut them into pieces with pure power.
While that happened. I ghosted them. Heads parted from necks, limbs were lost suddenly, and then lives a moment later. While I did get shot again, this time in the back the fucker lost his arm and then head a moment later. While Jun was just tanking everything.
By the time I caught up to Jun it was over. He was dueling a large borg with a nasty looking sawn off shotgun fit for a cyborg, and a chain sword of all things trying to keep Jun from bisecting him.
Unfortunately I don’t believe in honorable duels. The Borg died in moments after my Katana surged out the front of his neck as I stabbed him through his spine. My face a rictus grin as I managed to kill steal from Jun.
I was laughing, my cold breaking as Jun practically jumped at my sudden appearance once again. I could see him instantly look around, but I threw him a thumbs up. “I confirmed kills on everyone else. We’re clear.” I told him. His eyes continued to rove around as if he didn’t fully believe me, which was fair, always good to verify yourself.
But yeah.
I killed them all.
The fools half blown up by grenades. The ones desperately trying to run. The Gonks that tried to attack me. I cut them all down. Between the fires, and Jun it was easy. They were so shell shocked I waltzed through them like a ghost.
“We should probably grab what we can and go.” I told him only to see he wasn’t just breathing hard but actually wincing. I quickly pushed in and with deft fingers found the problem. “Right through the Subdermal.” I told him after got his hands away from the bullet hole in his thigh.
“Thanks I hadn’t noticed.” He growled a bit but a moment later he had a maxdoc in his mouth.
“Take that, and hop in the car. Send your bike home without you, you can’t drive like that.”
“It’s a bullet hole. I can ride just fine.” He grumbled, but I wasn’t having any of that and quickly pulled him along his limping steps, unable to resist as I pulled him towards the passenger seat of my ride.
I winced a little at how much junk was now strewn across it, but he sighed and settled in as I threw a roll of bandages I had in my medical pouch at him as I raced back to the driver side.
“Buckle up.” I reminded him as I hammered the gear and hit the gas instantly roaring down the street causing Jun to yelp as I absolutely floored it.
Had to get Jun back to the dojo. He was bleeding!
“Slow down!”
“No!” I barked back as I zipped through the city, absolutely flooring my engine. The mostly empty streets thanks to all the shootings meant I rarely had to slow for traffic, and so I raced through the city more like I was playing… Well Cyberpunk.
Well if the driving in the game was any good anyways.
“Please slow down!” He begged as I came up to a red light with a bit of traffic, we were in a busier section, lots of bars and clubs around here, and even with a gang war people were still partying.
His pleading switched to Japanese and I honestly couldn’t keep up, as I slipped in between two cars idling at the red, flowed into a drift barely sliding right behind a truck my front bumper almost kissing the rear of the bumper before I slipped around the truck and cut in front of it before flooring it disappearing down the street with a roar of my Quadra’s engine.
“Please please please slow down!” He begged and I scoffed. We were almost there. Just a few smaller side streets that were covered in little shops. Most were closed and empty. I didn’t even slow down as I flew down the darkened street. The few people I could see hearing me coming and getting out of the way.
Which was smart.
I came around the corner of the dojo in a rush and only slowed a tiny bit as I drifted down into the parking garage for the apartment complex.
I quickly found a space and slowed to gently park into one close to the elevator to the first floor. “C’mon Jun, let’s get you to your ripper.” I told him as I jumped out of the car to run around towards his side, he was already climbing out when I reached him, and as I tried to get close to help him his hand reached out and pushed my face away.
“Jwun!”
“Motoko. Stop smothering me… Also you are never allowed to drive again. Ever.” He told me as he started walking just with a hefty limp towards the elevator.
“That’s not fair! I’m pretty good at driving!”
“Terrifying.”
“Everyone complains about me driving slow, but when I actually drive fast you complain too!?” I argued as I kept with him, happy to use the conversation to keep him distracted.
“That’s because no one knows how terrifying you driving fast is. Where did you even learn to drive like that?”
“Playing around mostly.” I answered truthfully… From a certain point of view.
“Terrifying.” He deadpanned as he rested back against the elevator seemingly exhausted.
Oh. Right. Jun had been awake all day, fought with me. Fought during the Kamikaze raid, and then chased me out too.
Dang. I actually felt super sorry for him now. “Let’s get you into the ripper and get you a nap. You look tired.” I told him as I sidled up to him resting my head on his shoulder for a moment.
“I wonder why that is?” He snarked at me, seemingly too tired to get angry. Huh I guess sleepy Jun is snarky Jun.
I opened my mouth to respond but closed it. I hadn’t really needed Jun, but I understood it was difficult for him to understand just what I could do. What a Gamer was capable of.
“Thanks for coming to help me Jun… I promise I won’t run off in the middle of the night again. I’ll let you know when I go out, so you… Well you’ll probably still worry, but at least I won’t just vanish on you.”
Jun’s hands clenched but then loosened.
“When you killed that last Strom. You were laughing.”
“Yeah. I was having fun. We work well together… You just need to work on getting shot less.” I told him, resisting the urge to poke at him with a finger. He was injured so I wasn’t going to poke his bullet wounds. That would be rude, even if the urge to mess with my brother was almost irresistible.
“I didn’t believe you before. When you said you enjoyed it.”
I scratched at my cheek a bit embarrassed as Jun was staring at me as the elevator came to a stop. “Yeah well… I guess It’s just one of those things. I’m good at it… Plus I have my own reasons to enjoy killing them.”
“Yeah.” He was quiet as he hobbled out, my attempts to help more getting in his way, than really helping. As I tried to get him to the window that we could climb out of. It was a bit difficult, but we managed to get him through and the vendors on the other side quickly noticed and actually helped out, not saying a word as they took an arm and helped Jun into the Dojo’s side entrance and downstairs into the ripper clinic.
“What the? Kusanagi!?” The female ripper was sitting at a chair and jumped up when Jun was carried in, she took a moment to look me over as well. I was still covered in blood, but I waved her towards Jun and she didn’t need any further prompting to ignore me.
He was settled onto the ripper chair, and she went to work cleaning the bullet holes, and starting to work. I settled onto a normal chair nearby and decided to hang out. It wasn’t like I was gonna do anything but go take a nap when I got back to the room anyways.
Might as well make sure Jun is okay.
Jun basically started napping as the doc worked. She was alright, but she didn’t have that amazing deftness that Vik had.
I really should have just hauled him to Viks.
“Kusanagi!” A voice called out just as soon as the door opened, and Fujimura stomped in. The guy was a bit bleary eyed, and his hair was messy.
I guess someone woke him up.
“Fujimura-Sama.” Jun responded, his eyes snapping open and he made to sit up only to be pushed down by the Doc.
“Stay down while I work.” She demanded glaring before giving a sitting bow to Fujimura. Seemingly letting him know he could continue.
“I didn’t set up any further raids. The battle was over, I thought I was clear that you were supposed to be resting. Now I find out you went out and got injured. You damage not just yourself, but the Kamikaze! Explain!” He barked stomping up to Jun, and I got the feeling he was only seconds away from dragging Jun out of the chair by his… well Jun didn’t have a shirt on, but the same idea stood.
Jun of course spoke quickly, before I could. “Apologies. A family matter came up.”
Fujimura instantly looked to me, his eyes glaring and face full of rage.
Of course I wasn’t impressed. Bedhead wasn’t exactly intimidating.
“You once again cause trouble?”
“I didn’t do anything. Jun was just being overprotective and decided to foll-” I was cut off as the man actually backhanded me.
He hit me.
It almost knocked me right out of the chair considering how strong he was. I could practically feel a tooth loosen as well as I sat back up. I wiggled my jaw a bit and spit out some of the blood onto the floor.
Stupid idiot made me bite my cheek.
I went cold. No, I went arctic. I caught his eyes and held them as I spoke. “You strike me again, and I’ll take the hand.”
He watched me for a moment before snorting. “Accept your punishment with grace. You damage the Kamikaze with your foolishness? You receive a reminder. Your brother is important to the Tyger Claws. Important to Kamikaze. You were brought here by our kindness, but that is twice now you have cost the Kamikaze.”
“Fujimura-sama! Motoko is my sister. She is not yours to discipline!” Jun growled, he had sat up when I was struck. Much to the irritation of the Doc.
“Then ensure that she does not damage the Kamikaze again, and I will not feel the need to interfere in family affairs!” The man barked back without any give.
“Motoko did nothing wrong. Fujimura-sama. It was my own weakness that led to injury.” Jun said, barely keeping his voice from an angry bark as he glared up at the borg.
The man finally turned from my stare which was dangerous of him.
I was still figuring out whether dismembering him would be the best way to get my point across.
“I expect a fast recovery Kusanagi. The Kamikaze have work to do.” He finally said after a few moments of imperious glaring, before he stomped out of the room.
“Jun… Your boss is an asshole.” I finally told him which caused my brother to slowly lean back onto the chair with a groan.
—--
Once Jun was fully fixed up, he fell asleep with a few meds from the doc. Considering he was passed out and practically drooling, I decided to head back to the apartment.
But not before taking a picture of his drooling face. Blackmail get!
The silliness helped soothe the irritation and the pain of my cheek.
I walked into the apartment and only once the door closed did I sigh.
I was still hurting. Bullets might get blocked by the armor, and I was mostly healed up from the Maxdoc, but I was still sore.
Plus the worst part?
“Ugh all the blood dried.” I grumbled as I ran a few fingers through my hair only to get tangled in the bloody matted strands. I wouldn’t be able to take a nap without cleaning up first.
So with a tired grunt I walked into the apartment's little bathroom that also had a washer dryer. I stripped down to my panties and stuffed the dirty clothes into the washer noticing my boots were going to need some serious attention too.
Dangit.
So as I started the cycle I grabbed some cleaning gunk and sat down in front of the washer with my boots. Slowly wiping the poor abused footwear clean of dirty Maelstrom blood.
At least one benefit of being in such a hellish future is that bloodstains weren’t an issue. The cleaning gunk I rubbed into the boots pulled the blood right out.
Groaning, as my shoulders ached, I headed into a shower and dunked my head into the nice hot water for a moment stretching a bit to start scrubbing the blood off. I zoned out for a bit just letting the heat flow into my bones, well and my arms. Cyberware felt cool to the skin and the night was getting cooler. So feeling the metal warm under the spray was actually pretty nice.
My chest always feels a little chilly now with the Cyberware installed. But right now it felt good, even if water flowing over my arms felt wrong.
Which reminded me about what I had gained tonight.
I couldn’t help but whistle as I opened the alerts. I hadn’t checked between looting and then Jun.
The XP gains went down for a while. But it was the level I had gained that I was smiling about. Three levels in one night!? I giggled a little as I did a little dance under the shower, hell yeah!
*Level up achieved!*
*One Stat Point Gained.*
*One Skill Point Gained.*
I giggled as I looked at the alert. Glancing at my stat page just to see where I am at.
Level 8
2500/9000
Very nice. Plus the three Stat and Skill points that were saved up!
But that wasn’t even close to everything! So many improvements!
*Athletics skill level up!*
It was midway down the list, so I guess all the running and jumping around I had done, had some benefits. Athletics 6 was awesome!
*Handguns skill level up!*
Handguns had gone up to six, which made sense. I had been firing the Burya so much lately. It really was an integral part of my toolkit. I really needed to take her apart and give her a thorough checkup.
Even happier for me, was Assault. Assault 4 thanks to my new Nekomata. I finally had a good weapon for leveling that skill.
While Ninjutsu and Cool itself didn’t level, Cold Blood had gone up to 7. Matching up with Ninjutsu. So that was fun! Less pain for me was a good thing!
Then I blinked.
Then I blinked again. Then I dug into the alert list to figure out what the hell happened.
“This doesn’t make any sense! Stupid system! I want to talk to an admin! I want a refund!” I screeched a bit as practically jumped up and down in anger.
*Engineering Experience Gained.*
*Skill not unlocked, no XP gained.*
*Engineering Unlocked.*
*Engineering skill level up!*
*Engineering skill level up!*
*1 Perk Point Gained.*
I didn’t build anything!? But apparently grenades counted for Engineering!? What? How does that work!?
I had definitely used grenades before! Why was I only now getting XP for Engineering if they were connected to that!?
I thought back to the last time I had used grenades, and I had to go all the way to the Scav raid. That’s right, I had brought a few with me…
Then I remembered how often the damn things were kicked back at me… “Did… did I not actually hit anyone with a grenade!?” No I had! The two at the end, the ones hiding in the computer room, I remembered throwing the grenade in and then leaping in after to shoot them…
But they had been hiding in cover… I hadn’t actually hit anyone with a grenade until now!?
I pushed my back up against the side of the shower and slid down it groaning. If I had known that I could level Engineering by killing people with grenades! I could have done so much! Now that I had accepted the alert, I could feel the information sliding in, and it was dense. Which was weird because usually the knowledge came right then, but I guess engineering was so dense, it waited until it was out of combat?
Well I guess the system wasn’t too bad then. I would hold off on my demand for refunds for now…
Besides, Motoko likes numbers.
I blinked away water as I came back to myself after who knows how long when the washing machine beeped. I did a quick shampoo wash of my hair to make sure the blood was out, before jumping out of the shower and throwing my clothes into the dryer.
Grabbing a few towels to start drying off, I wandered onto the couch and opened up the menu again.
I hadn’t gained any other stat increases. I had been hoping for a reflex improvement, but it hadn’t come. Plenty of alerts for it, and it was getting close, but I wasn’t there yet.
Which opened up the next question.
What do I spend my Stat and skill points on. To start, I already knew where my stat points would go.
A few button presses and I was on the Adaptation page.
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 0/10*
I didn’t hesitate. Not this time. Pushing the button.
*Spend 1 Stat point to improve Adaptation?*
*Y/N*
I hit the yes option, and instantly the numbers changed.
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 1/10*
I shivered. Not from the cold, the apartment was just fine, and I was warm from the shower. No, I shivered because the Phantom limb I had been fighting against since I got my arms stopped. I had gotten… well not used to it, but I got to the point I could move my arm without it throwing me off.
And now? Now it was gone. I let out a noisy sigh as I flopped back on the couch.
Wow that felt… Nice.
I brought my arm up to my face and opened and closed a fist. So much was still off. The sensations were wrong. The fact it was the wrong length, or that my fingers settled in the wrong spot. Still nagged at me, made me feel like something was off.
But now at least it felt like mine.
I opened the page adding another point.
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 2/10*
Muscles in my back unclenched. My shoulders, all mechanical at this point, shifted, settling differently. I gasped, an exhale of relief. I hadn’t even realized I had kept my shoulders tense, trying to force them into the same position my old arms would have been, but the Condor had longer shoulders. I realized I had literally been hunching up on myself for days.
I relaxed and it felt. Right? No. Normal. It felt normal. For the first time since I woke up on the rippers chair, I felt slightly normal. That little part of you that unclenches after something terrible when your body and mind finally realize everything is going to be okay.
I was going to be okay.
I swallowed a little as I threw my forearm over my eyes. Jun was’t here, but I didn’t want anyone to see me crying. Tears started falling and I very quickly started sobbing, crying and crying, an ugly noise escaping me as I let the pain that had infested me. Made me so angry, and made me want to just stay cold forever slowly seep away.
As I felt my heart unfreeze fully for the first time.
I hadn’t even realized I had been doing it. How could I? Cold Blood wasn’t just some weird gamer power, it was a skill. Knowledge that I was practically a master at.
It was the equivalent to spending years and years hardening your heart. Freezing your emotions so that nothing could interfere with your thoughts.
Of course the trauma would make me fall back on it, even subconsciously. It wasn’t like I could split where Motoko ends, and the knowledge I had gained through the system began.
There was no difference. It was my knowledge and experience. I just had a lot of weird skills. Extra experience.
So I finally subconsciously relaxed, felt safe. So I let it go, and so I bawled. The stress and horror of what happened. My worry for Jun, and just the pain all pouring out of me.
I cried and I cried. Until finally I just couldn’t anymore.
Thankfully I was already wrapped up in a towel so I was able to wipe my now gooey arm, and my gooier face. Blowing my nose loud and wetly let me breath again as I stood up. I went back to the laundry room, and threw both towels in, after quickly washing my face, and my arm. I felt…
Good. Cathartic.
I grabbed some comfy old clothes out of what Jun had grabbed from the apartment and flopped onto the couch. I turned on the TV and just switched it to some Cartoon channel. Something mindless. I got comfy as it played, as I looked at the stat menu again.
I still had one Stat Point left. I thought about it. I could use it for Reflex which was a struggle to level, or Tech which would be great.
But this was more important. I wasn’t some idiot Edgerunner wanting to burn out in a blaze of glory.
I wasn’t.
I really wasn’t. I wanted to live, because you can’t have fun when you die. So I decided I would spend it on Adaptation again.
But not to my arms.
*Spend 1 Stat point to improve Adaptation?*
I accepted, and my stats changed.
Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 1/2*
I blinked.
Then I blinked again. Then again. It was still weird, but that cold sensation of my eyelids flowing over a waterproof eye didn’t bother me as much. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn't like much was.
But when I closed my eyes, it didn’t feel uncomfortable. It didn’t make me itch or want to leave my eyes open all night.
Without my auto sleep, I very likely would not have been able to sleep well with my Kiroshi.
But now?
I relaxed curled up in a big fluffy blanket watching cartoons I dozed off, for the first time in a while sleeping peacefully without needing to insta sleep.
ZZzzZZ
posh-goofiness
Well-known member
Huh, that implies a lot about cyberpsychosis, doesn't it. Without it, she needed to just shut down 24/7. Without her gamer cheat power she'd be even worse off.
Blasterbot
Well-known member
honestly it sounds like she probably would have gone psycho by now without that gamer power. itchy eyes when you are trying to sleep all the time.
PeaceMaker 03
Well-known member
Makes sense if you chop chop chop and have no physical or occupational therapy for weeks to help adjust. Drugs are a bandaid for the symptom.
Something the TC recognize with their Zen master trainer.
Something the TC recognize with their Zen master trainer.
Chapter 35
Seras
Well-known member
“Whusa?” I mumbled as I startled awake at the sound of a door opening. I sat covered in blankets and one eye caked shut cold drool on my chin which I quickly wiped away.
“Real cute.” Jun told me dryly as he caught sight of my sleepy face.
“Jerk.” I snapped at him, cut off by a big yawn as I stretched arm high and wide letting the muscles in my upper back stretch out a bit.
It wasn’t like stretching my Cyberware mattered. Although I did notice my right arm wasn’t right. But it wasn’t the usual discomfort, I glanced at it and noticed the dent.
Right. I had gotten shot last night in the arm… Which reminded me about someone else being shot.
“Jun? Are you all healed up?”
“Mostly.” He confirmed plopping down on the couch beside me and peeling his burrito from a wrapper.
“I’m glad.” I told him gently as he took a big bite. “Sorry I didn’t come back, I was gonna but… well I had my own little thing.” I told him quietly with a smile as I relaxed my shoulders getting to feel my arms settle.
It wasn’t how they would have settled before, but it was how they settled now, and that fact didn’t bother me so much right then.
“You okay?” He mumbled from between bites and I gave him a smile and a nod.
“Yep! I had a big cry… Everything sort of hit me last night. But I’m feeling a lot better.”
“Good. That’s good.” He told me quietly, and while I could feel the emotion in his voice he was definitely fighting back another emotion.
“You wanna talk about me running off last night?” I prompted and I could see him take a deep breath and let it out.
“Yeah. I do.”
“Okay. I’m not going anywhere. So let’s… Let’s really talk Jun.” I rose up off the couch pulling my blanket with me to flop on the other side of the table as I settled in, letting us talk face to face.
He was quiet for a while as he chewed but the way he was staring I knew he was thinking.
“You didn’t need me last night.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” I shrugged a weird feeling now that I was holding my shoulders lower. “I was looting when you showed up, but I might have gotten greedy and stuck around too long.”
“Motoko… You didn’t need me.” He said bluntly, sounding sad as he put the empty burrito wrapper on the table. “You handle yourself like a pro… I left you behind during the raid because I didn’t want you there. I didn’t want you in danger. But you still caught up. You still killed. I hated it. I hate it. Seeing you do that. Putting blood on your hands… But no matter what I do, you’re still gonna do it.”
“Yeah.” I confirmed with a sad smile as I looked at my brother really fighting himself. Jun wasn’t an emotional guy. At least not like this. He was a hothead. Not an empathetic thinker.
But he was trying.
“I can’t stop you. I want to. I… I would kill anyone to stop you, but that won’t change anything. You will still do what you want. Just like always.” He sighed his hands seemingly not able to sit still as he kept opening and closing them, or pushing them together. “I’m scared Motoko. Scared that you will get hurt. I can’t protect you if you put yourself in danger.” His leg was bouncing as he started talking knee up and down in a rapid succession.
“I’m scared for you too Jun… But I can’t stop you. You joined the Kamikaze, which… Man, that name has some connotations.” I grumbled. “But I have to trust you. I have to believe you will stay safe, because I can’t… I can’t physically stop you.”
“And I can’t physically stop you.” He agreed, the two of us looking each other over with matching quirks of our lips.
“What a pair we make huh Jun-Nii?”
“Yeah Imouto.” He chuckled a little, actually sounding like… Well Jun. Before everything. “A real pair. We both have a death wish.”
“No.” I told him instantly, standing up and reaching across the table to put both my hands on his cheeks. “Not a death wish. Just a bloody path ahead of each of us… It’s not a death wish. We might die. We might not. But Jun-Nii. I promise. I won’t throw my life away. If I die, it will be doing something I believe is right. And maybe something I love. Cause I do like it.”
“Little Killer.” He finally said with a huffed out laugh as he reached forward and suddenly I wasn’t standing on the other side of the table. No, I was squeezed tight against Jun’s chest as he held me. I laughed, and hugged him back.
We were both broken. Maybe even crazy. But the world was crazy too.
So we would survive.
—--
“Ow!” I growled as I zapped myself once again. After the nice long hug from Jun, and a bit of sibling bonding Jun had gone into his room to take a nap, still tired from the drugs and his bullet holes, while I went to work on my newest skill!
Engineering!
With Engineering my Crafting had suddenly linked with the knowledge and had exploded.
Two halves of the same coin. Crafting was slapping shit together. How good are you at physically making something? Do you know the right tolerances, the right diameter to make something just work?
But Engineering? Engineering was planning. Design. Engineering was creation. It was the difference between the tinker in his home lab shaving away a few millimeters on something to make it work better, to the engineer that designed the whole thing in a lab.
Together they synced, I was both of those people. The creator, and the end user. Plus with my other skills I was the operator.
How many people could say they were a true Renaissance woman? I could do it all! Although I still couldn’t paint.
So with just how flexible my knowledge was, first step was to mess with my equipment.
I had done some tinkering with my guns already, but I had a lot to do.
First I went out to the car and grabbed all the loot from the Maelstrom garage.
The Nekomata was first. I had looked it over, but there wasn’t much I could change, the previous user knew his gun. It was a solid piece of work. The modifications it had were all solid improvements.
At least for now.
Instead I had a bunch of tech scrap that I already had ideas for.
If I was going to level Engineering, I might as well do it easily.
Grenades!
An explosive, a trigger, and a casing, honestly with my 3D printer I could make everything but the explosives, but those were easy.
I had stolen a bunch of grenade stuff from the Raffen base, and now I was actually motivated to use it. The shard I klepped that had the crazy grenade Raffens tips and tricks on how to create grenades was actually easy to understand with my Engineering knowledge.
Which is why I was putting together homemade grenades. After half a dozen frag grenades I decided that a couple EMP grenades might be really useful.
The discharge for it was pretty standard stuff. I grab a battery that I could find in most devices, and basically set it into a supercharger that would cause it to explode, put that in a case, and set it all up from a button.
Voila EMP grenade. I guess that says a lot about power sources in Cyberpunk that with a few modifications you could turn them into a dangerous explosive.
Honestly the scrap metal I had was running low considering how simple Grenade interiors were.
“What the hell is that?” Jun said suddenly looking at me from the door, his fire hair limp and sticking out at weird angles from a nap.
“Grenade.”
He blinked. Then he blinked again as he looked down towards the wires that I was holding in my hands as I was wiring up an EMP grenade.
“Not in the house.”
“It’s safe!”
“Not in the house.” He said again before slowly backing back into his room.
“Fine!” I grumbled as I undid all the wiring before tossing the grenades in pieces back into my parts section. Not about to leave an unfinished halfway put together grenade in my box.
That’s stupid.
But now I had nothing to do. The Maelstrom would all be sleeping with the sun still up…
I blinked.
Why did I think I had nothing to do? I had a car. A city, friends…
That’s right. I had friends.
I snorted at myself. I had been so stressed out, so focusing on killing I had practically forgotten.
I stood up and stretched feeling the play of muscles in my back loosen up from my hunched over position.
“Hey Jun! I’m gonna go see Hiromi!”
Jun’s head popped out of his room a moment later as he instantly looked to the table, not seeing whatever he was looking for he seemed to relax.
“You shouldn’t be running around. It’s dangerous out there.”
“Hiromi is stuck at home, at least last I talked to her. I’ll go visit. My car is armored so unless I’m jumped by an entire attack squadron of Strom, I’ll be fine. Besides… I should probably get out and do something other than hyperfocus on the Maelstrom.” I threw Jun a thumbs up and gave him a big smile. “I’ll be careful!”
He slowly nodded as he stepped out, walked over and to my surprise pulled me into a hug. He ended it nearly instantly without a word as he walked into the kitchen to grab a drink.
“Love you too Jun-nii!” I called back as I ran around gathering some stuff. Mostly my jacket and guns. I did decide to bring my Katana though. Maybe Hiromi and I could practice?
A few blocks away from the Dojo I called Hiromi.
*Motoko! Are you okay? Everything alright?*
*Hey Hiromi! I’m okay! How are you? Still stuck at home?*
*Uh, Yeah… My ‘rents are still super protective right now.* She said but there was something in her voice a tremor, or… I wasn’t sure.
*Want to hang out?*
*Yes! Save me Motoko! I’m so bored!*
*Well I’m on my way over. I can tell you what I’ve been up to.*
*Perfect! Seriously, it’s been the wooorst! Both of my parents are working from home to avoid any gang problems!* Hiromi started chattering, which was actually pretty soothing as I continued the drive. By the time I was pulling into a parking spot in Hiromi’s apartment's garage, she seemed normal-happy and chattering away.
I guess she really had been lonely.
I shouldn’t have let myself spiral into my own issues… Hiromi was my Choom. Being stuck inside, practically locked away all day? That sucked.
We ended the call as I parked, and I hurried to the elevator. The long wait as it rose up had me tapping my foot, but finally it opened, and there was Hiromi already rushing me.
“Motokooooo!” She cried out in delight as she slammed into me in a massive hug.
I couldn't help but laugh as I had to spin her around a few times to bleed off the momentum. Finally her feet were back on the floor and she looked me over for a moment looking at my new arms. I brought my right arm up and flexed a bit.
“It’s taken a bit to get used to, but I’m starting to feel comfortable with them.”
Hiromi wasn’t smiling though. Her smile had turned into a frown, before she shook herself Which is when I noticed her hair wasn’t in her usual Mohawk. Instead it was sort of laid down, much more casual than I had ever seen her hair. And her Neon whisker marks weren’t on, leaving her cheeks chrome, but sort of bare. But I knew something was wrong when she tried to smile at me. Only for it to fold. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t there, I…”
“Heey. It’s okay, honestly! I actually started feeling better about it last night… I uh, had a cry last night.” I revealed, a little embarrassed.
“Gonk.” She whispered gently, as she was obviously fighting back tears, but she took a deep breath and let it out. She reached out and grabbed my hand and started pulling me along. “C’mon we can hang out in my room, and you can tell me everything!”
“Sure!” I chirped as I was tugged along, Hiromi was shorter than me, but she tugged me along without any trouble. Her wild girl was showing a bit of a return. That was good. Hiromi was acting weird.
I was tugged into her big fancy apartment, past her mother who was looking on to see what was going on with a blank look. I gave her a wave and she simply nodded before Hiromi pulled me fully into her room. She spun me around and pushed me onto her bed before closing her door.
“Tell me everything!” She demanded standing over me with her hands on her hips and I giggled at her expression.
“Sure. So it started when Jun came home-”
—--
We ended up sprawled on her bed as I told my story. Half way through my story Hiromi had grabbed my hand and refused to give it back. Now she was running her fingers along my chrome which felt… Weird.
Ticklish? But not. I hadn’t really had many people touch me gently since I got my arms, besides Jun, and his arms were just as chrome as mine.
So to feel actual human flesh running a finger up my palm was really strange.
Goosebumps were running all along my back.
“Wish I had been there.” She muttered finally as I finished my story of everything I had done.
“I don’t.” I told her bluntly. “Outnumbered and outgunned, I tried to run and I couldn’t make it. It was a hit squad. I’m just lucky they were stupid enough to kidnap me, and not just flatline me then and there.” I said and Hiromi’s fingers gripped hard against my hand.
“You’re my best choom Motoko. You can’t die okay?” She spoke quietly as she grabbed my attention with how desperate her voice was.
“I have no intention of having a drink named after me in the Afterlife.” I told her not really able to promise not to die. “I’ll be as safe as I can be.”
“Hah! No way, when you do finally bite it, they will definitely give you a drink, you’re gonna be a bad bitch Edgerunner. And I’ll be your cunning and beautiful corpo contact that no one can be sure is on their side!” Hiromi offered with a chuckle, but I was frowning.
Hiromi had never in the time I had known her said she was going to be a corpo.
Ever.
Quite the opposite in fact.
“Hiromi?” I asked, voice quiet and she just sort of looked away.
“It’s nothing Toko… Just everything.” But I smelled a problem, so I didn’t let up. I squeezed her hand back and tugged her hand until she looked up.
Finally she spoke. “It started with parent stuff. Them being here constantly, means they… Well I’m forced to deal with them constantly now. Not like before. Dad was always away before, but having him constantly in my face… Telling me what I am going to do in the future. Showing me his work, and what to do… But it’s not that.”
She visibly swallowed as she curled up, her legs pulling up to her chest as she held my hand like a lifeline.
“I went out.” She said quietly in a whisper. “It was late, and I wanted… I just wanted to rebel I guess. I snuck outside, and jumped on my bike, and I went for a drive. It was fine at first. I had my Katana, and I was… I was stupid. Confident. I didn’t even think anything could happen…”
“Did someone hurt you?” I practically growled, my eyes narrowed and I could feel my teeth grinding. If someone hurt Hiromi!
“No.” She shook her head which nearly instantly poured water over the black rage building up. “It’s pathetic. I can’t even-” She was definitely starting to cry a bit, but that was not okay!
“Hey, hey! It’s okay. Hiromi what’s got you so bothered? Tell me? Best Chooms don’t judge best chooms.” I assure her as I did my best to comfort her.
Suddenly she was shaking her head looking down at her knees, but she started talking, never taking her eyes away from the ground.
“I got scared. I was driving along thinking I was some bad bitch. A gun fight started up. Wasn’t even Tyger Claws, or Maelstrom. Just some stupid fuckbags robbing some store getting shot at. I drove past as they started shooting. Scared the absolute shit of me. I… I jerked, lost control, crashed my bike. I wasn’t hurt, but… I hid Motoko. Just that, just gunshots near me sent me hiding in a fuckin dumpster… I don’t I don’t really know how long I was hiding. Eventually I… Eventually I got together enough to get back on my bike and ride home.”
She looked up, tears in her eyes as she revealed her story. “I’m a coward Motoko… I couldn’t… I couldn’t go out and actually be a StreetKid. I’m just a corpo brat after all! That’s… that’s all I’ll ever be.”
“But I’m complaining about stupid shit… You’re the one that got kidnapped again, and had horrible things happen. I just had to take a shower when I got ho-”
I ignored Hiromi’s attempts to push away from her problems, and instead squeezed her into a tight hug.
“You’re wrong. There is nothing wrong, or shameful about being scared.” I whisper into her hair as I hold her, and absolutely refuse to release her, until she gives in and starts hugging me back.
“Ichi went out, Malcolm went out. You went out. I couldn’t Motoko. I thought… I thought with you back everything would be great, we would be a duo, but I can’t… I’m a coward, how can I be your partner if I can’t even go outside?”
“Well… Then you can be my Fixer!”
Hiromi snorted, and then started chuckling until she laughed and laughed as she hugged me back.
“Gonk!”
“Nope. I’m a Best Choom.” I tell her earning more giggles as she nods along
“That’s true I guess… It’s okay? That I…”
“Hiromi. You’re my first friend. And I say that as someone who literally had amnesia and only knew Jun in the whole world. You came in and made friends with me, remember? No matter what you choose to do, or choose to be, I’ll always be your best choom. Even if I have to sneak into Araska tower to hang out with you at work. Or if you are my go to fixer, or just my go to couch, to crash on and play games and watch bad movies.”
She started crying again.
“Real cute.” Jun told me dryly as he caught sight of my sleepy face.
“Jerk.” I snapped at him, cut off by a big yawn as I stretched arm high and wide letting the muscles in my upper back stretch out a bit.
It wasn’t like stretching my Cyberware mattered. Although I did notice my right arm wasn’t right. But it wasn’t the usual discomfort, I glanced at it and noticed the dent.
Right. I had gotten shot last night in the arm… Which reminded me about someone else being shot.
“Jun? Are you all healed up?”
“Mostly.” He confirmed plopping down on the couch beside me and peeling his burrito from a wrapper.
“I’m glad.” I told him gently as he took a big bite. “Sorry I didn’t come back, I was gonna but… well I had my own little thing.” I told him quietly with a smile as I relaxed my shoulders getting to feel my arms settle.
It wasn’t how they would have settled before, but it was how they settled now, and that fact didn’t bother me so much right then.
“You okay?” He mumbled from between bites and I gave him a smile and a nod.
“Yep! I had a big cry… Everything sort of hit me last night. But I’m feeling a lot better.”
“Good. That’s good.” He told me quietly, and while I could feel the emotion in his voice he was definitely fighting back another emotion.
“You wanna talk about me running off last night?” I prompted and I could see him take a deep breath and let it out.
“Yeah. I do.”
“Okay. I’m not going anywhere. So let’s… Let’s really talk Jun.” I rose up off the couch pulling my blanket with me to flop on the other side of the table as I settled in, letting us talk face to face.
He was quiet for a while as he chewed but the way he was staring I knew he was thinking.
“You didn’t need me last night.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” I shrugged a weird feeling now that I was holding my shoulders lower. “I was looting when you showed up, but I might have gotten greedy and stuck around too long.”
“Motoko… You didn’t need me.” He said bluntly, sounding sad as he put the empty burrito wrapper on the table. “You handle yourself like a pro… I left you behind during the raid because I didn’t want you there. I didn’t want you in danger. But you still caught up. You still killed. I hated it. I hate it. Seeing you do that. Putting blood on your hands… But no matter what I do, you’re still gonna do it.”
“Yeah.” I confirmed with a sad smile as I looked at my brother really fighting himself. Jun wasn’t an emotional guy. At least not like this. He was a hothead. Not an empathetic thinker.
But he was trying.
“I can’t stop you. I want to. I… I would kill anyone to stop you, but that won’t change anything. You will still do what you want. Just like always.” He sighed his hands seemingly not able to sit still as he kept opening and closing them, or pushing them together. “I’m scared Motoko. Scared that you will get hurt. I can’t protect you if you put yourself in danger.” His leg was bouncing as he started talking knee up and down in a rapid succession.
“I’m scared for you too Jun… But I can’t stop you. You joined the Kamikaze, which… Man, that name has some connotations.” I grumbled. “But I have to trust you. I have to believe you will stay safe, because I can’t… I can’t physically stop you.”
“And I can’t physically stop you.” He agreed, the two of us looking each other over with matching quirks of our lips.
“What a pair we make huh Jun-Nii?”
“Yeah Imouto.” He chuckled a little, actually sounding like… Well Jun. Before everything. “A real pair. We both have a death wish.”
“No.” I told him instantly, standing up and reaching across the table to put both my hands on his cheeks. “Not a death wish. Just a bloody path ahead of each of us… It’s not a death wish. We might die. We might not. But Jun-Nii. I promise. I won’t throw my life away. If I die, it will be doing something I believe is right. And maybe something I love. Cause I do like it.”
“Little Killer.” He finally said with a huffed out laugh as he reached forward and suddenly I wasn’t standing on the other side of the table. No, I was squeezed tight against Jun’s chest as he held me. I laughed, and hugged him back.
We were both broken. Maybe even crazy. But the world was crazy too.
So we would survive.
—--
“Ow!” I growled as I zapped myself once again. After the nice long hug from Jun, and a bit of sibling bonding Jun had gone into his room to take a nap, still tired from the drugs and his bullet holes, while I went to work on my newest skill!
Engineering!
With Engineering my Crafting had suddenly linked with the knowledge and had exploded.
Two halves of the same coin. Crafting was slapping shit together. How good are you at physically making something? Do you know the right tolerances, the right diameter to make something just work?
But Engineering? Engineering was planning. Design. Engineering was creation. It was the difference between the tinker in his home lab shaving away a few millimeters on something to make it work better, to the engineer that designed the whole thing in a lab.
Together they synced, I was both of those people. The creator, and the end user. Plus with my other skills I was the operator.
How many people could say they were a true Renaissance woman? I could do it all! Although I still couldn’t paint.
So with just how flexible my knowledge was, first step was to mess with my equipment.
I had done some tinkering with my guns already, but I had a lot to do.
First I went out to the car and grabbed all the loot from the Maelstrom garage.
The Nekomata was first. I had looked it over, but there wasn’t much I could change, the previous user knew his gun. It was a solid piece of work. The modifications it had were all solid improvements.
At least for now.
Instead I had a bunch of tech scrap that I already had ideas for.
If I was going to level Engineering, I might as well do it easily.
Grenades!
An explosive, a trigger, and a casing, honestly with my 3D printer I could make everything but the explosives, but those were easy.
I had stolen a bunch of grenade stuff from the Raffen base, and now I was actually motivated to use it. The shard I klepped that had the crazy grenade Raffens tips and tricks on how to create grenades was actually easy to understand with my Engineering knowledge.
Which is why I was putting together homemade grenades. After half a dozen frag grenades I decided that a couple EMP grenades might be really useful.
The discharge for it was pretty standard stuff. I grab a battery that I could find in most devices, and basically set it into a supercharger that would cause it to explode, put that in a case, and set it all up from a button.
Voila EMP grenade. I guess that says a lot about power sources in Cyberpunk that with a few modifications you could turn them into a dangerous explosive.
Honestly the scrap metal I had was running low considering how simple Grenade interiors were.
“What the hell is that?” Jun said suddenly looking at me from the door, his fire hair limp and sticking out at weird angles from a nap.
“Grenade.”
He blinked. Then he blinked again as he looked down towards the wires that I was holding in my hands as I was wiring up an EMP grenade.
“Not in the house.”
“It’s safe!”
“Not in the house.” He said again before slowly backing back into his room.
“Fine!” I grumbled as I undid all the wiring before tossing the grenades in pieces back into my parts section. Not about to leave an unfinished halfway put together grenade in my box.
That’s stupid.
But now I had nothing to do. The Maelstrom would all be sleeping with the sun still up…
I blinked.
Why did I think I had nothing to do? I had a car. A city, friends…
That’s right. I had friends.
I snorted at myself. I had been so stressed out, so focusing on killing I had practically forgotten.
I stood up and stretched feeling the play of muscles in my back loosen up from my hunched over position.
“Hey Jun! I’m gonna go see Hiromi!”
Jun’s head popped out of his room a moment later as he instantly looked to the table, not seeing whatever he was looking for he seemed to relax.
“You shouldn’t be running around. It’s dangerous out there.”
“Hiromi is stuck at home, at least last I talked to her. I’ll go visit. My car is armored so unless I’m jumped by an entire attack squadron of Strom, I’ll be fine. Besides… I should probably get out and do something other than hyperfocus on the Maelstrom.” I threw Jun a thumbs up and gave him a big smile. “I’ll be careful!”
He slowly nodded as he stepped out, walked over and to my surprise pulled me into a hug. He ended it nearly instantly without a word as he walked into the kitchen to grab a drink.
“Love you too Jun-nii!” I called back as I ran around gathering some stuff. Mostly my jacket and guns. I did decide to bring my Katana though. Maybe Hiromi and I could practice?
A few blocks away from the Dojo I called Hiromi.
*Motoko! Are you okay? Everything alright?*
*Hey Hiromi! I’m okay! How are you? Still stuck at home?*
*Uh, Yeah… My ‘rents are still super protective right now.* She said but there was something in her voice a tremor, or… I wasn’t sure.
*Want to hang out?*
*Yes! Save me Motoko! I’m so bored!*
*Well I’m on my way over. I can tell you what I’ve been up to.*
*Perfect! Seriously, it’s been the wooorst! Both of my parents are working from home to avoid any gang problems!* Hiromi started chattering, which was actually pretty soothing as I continued the drive. By the time I was pulling into a parking spot in Hiromi’s apartment's garage, she seemed normal-happy and chattering away.
I guess she really had been lonely.
I shouldn’t have let myself spiral into my own issues… Hiromi was my Choom. Being stuck inside, practically locked away all day? That sucked.
We ended the call as I parked, and I hurried to the elevator. The long wait as it rose up had me tapping my foot, but finally it opened, and there was Hiromi already rushing me.
“Motokooooo!” She cried out in delight as she slammed into me in a massive hug.
I couldn't help but laugh as I had to spin her around a few times to bleed off the momentum. Finally her feet were back on the floor and she looked me over for a moment looking at my new arms. I brought my right arm up and flexed a bit.
“It’s taken a bit to get used to, but I’m starting to feel comfortable with them.”
Hiromi wasn’t smiling though. Her smile had turned into a frown, before she shook herself Which is when I noticed her hair wasn’t in her usual Mohawk. Instead it was sort of laid down, much more casual than I had ever seen her hair. And her Neon whisker marks weren’t on, leaving her cheeks chrome, but sort of bare. But I knew something was wrong when she tried to smile at me. Only for it to fold. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t there, I…”
“Heey. It’s okay, honestly! I actually started feeling better about it last night… I uh, had a cry last night.” I revealed, a little embarrassed.
“Gonk.” She whispered gently, as she was obviously fighting back tears, but she took a deep breath and let it out. She reached out and grabbed my hand and started pulling me along. “C’mon we can hang out in my room, and you can tell me everything!”
“Sure!” I chirped as I was tugged along, Hiromi was shorter than me, but she tugged me along without any trouble. Her wild girl was showing a bit of a return. That was good. Hiromi was acting weird.
I was tugged into her big fancy apartment, past her mother who was looking on to see what was going on with a blank look. I gave her a wave and she simply nodded before Hiromi pulled me fully into her room. She spun me around and pushed me onto her bed before closing her door.
“Tell me everything!” She demanded standing over me with her hands on her hips and I giggled at her expression.
“Sure. So it started when Jun came home-”
—--
We ended up sprawled on her bed as I told my story. Half way through my story Hiromi had grabbed my hand and refused to give it back. Now she was running her fingers along my chrome which felt… Weird.
Ticklish? But not. I hadn’t really had many people touch me gently since I got my arms, besides Jun, and his arms were just as chrome as mine.
So to feel actual human flesh running a finger up my palm was really strange.
Goosebumps were running all along my back.
“Wish I had been there.” She muttered finally as I finished my story of everything I had done.
“I don’t.” I told her bluntly. “Outnumbered and outgunned, I tried to run and I couldn’t make it. It was a hit squad. I’m just lucky they were stupid enough to kidnap me, and not just flatline me then and there.” I said and Hiromi’s fingers gripped hard against my hand.
“You’re my best choom Motoko. You can’t die okay?” She spoke quietly as she grabbed my attention with how desperate her voice was.
“I have no intention of having a drink named after me in the Afterlife.” I told her not really able to promise not to die. “I’ll be as safe as I can be.”
“Hah! No way, when you do finally bite it, they will definitely give you a drink, you’re gonna be a bad bitch Edgerunner. And I’ll be your cunning and beautiful corpo contact that no one can be sure is on their side!” Hiromi offered with a chuckle, but I was frowning.
Hiromi had never in the time I had known her said she was going to be a corpo.
Ever.
Quite the opposite in fact.
“Hiromi?” I asked, voice quiet and she just sort of looked away.
“It’s nothing Toko… Just everything.” But I smelled a problem, so I didn’t let up. I squeezed her hand back and tugged her hand until she looked up.
Finally she spoke. “It started with parent stuff. Them being here constantly, means they… Well I’m forced to deal with them constantly now. Not like before. Dad was always away before, but having him constantly in my face… Telling me what I am going to do in the future. Showing me his work, and what to do… But it’s not that.”
She visibly swallowed as she curled up, her legs pulling up to her chest as she held my hand like a lifeline.
“I went out.” She said quietly in a whisper. “It was late, and I wanted… I just wanted to rebel I guess. I snuck outside, and jumped on my bike, and I went for a drive. It was fine at first. I had my Katana, and I was… I was stupid. Confident. I didn’t even think anything could happen…”
“Did someone hurt you?” I practically growled, my eyes narrowed and I could feel my teeth grinding. If someone hurt Hiromi!
“No.” She shook her head which nearly instantly poured water over the black rage building up. “It’s pathetic. I can’t even-” She was definitely starting to cry a bit, but that was not okay!
“Hey, hey! It’s okay. Hiromi what’s got you so bothered? Tell me? Best Chooms don’t judge best chooms.” I assure her as I did my best to comfort her.
Suddenly she was shaking her head looking down at her knees, but she started talking, never taking her eyes away from the ground.
“I got scared. I was driving along thinking I was some bad bitch. A gun fight started up. Wasn’t even Tyger Claws, or Maelstrom. Just some stupid fuckbags robbing some store getting shot at. I drove past as they started shooting. Scared the absolute shit of me. I… I jerked, lost control, crashed my bike. I wasn’t hurt, but… I hid Motoko. Just that, just gunshots near me sent me hiding in a fuckin dumpster… I don’t I don’t really know how long I was hiding. Eventually I… Eventually I got together enough to get back on my bike and ride home.”
She looked up, tears in her eyes as she revealed her story. “I’m a coward Motoko… I couldn’t… I couldn’t go out and actually be a StreetKid. I’m just a corpo brat after all! That’s… that’s all I’ll ever be.”
“But I’m complaining about stupid shit… You’re the one that got kidnapped again, and had horrible things happen. I just had to take a shower when I got ho-”
I ignored Hiromi’s attempts to push away from her problems, and instead squeezed her into a tight hug.
“You’re wrong. There is nothing wrong, or shameful about being scared.” I whisper into her hair as I hold her, and absolutely refuse to release her, until she gives in and starts hugging me back.
“Ichi went out, Malcolm went out. You went out. I couldn’t Motoko. I thought… I thought with you back everything would be great, we would be a duo, but I can’t… I’m a coward, how can I be your partner if I can’t even go outside?”
“Well… Then you can be my Fixer!”
Hiromi snorted, and then started chuckling until she laughed and laughed as she hugged me back.
“Gonk!”
“Nope. I’m a Best Choom.” I tell her earning more giggles as she nods along
“That’s true I guess… It’s okay? That I…”
“Hiromi. You’re my first friend. And I say that as someone who literally had amnesia and only knew Jun in the whole world. You came in and made friends with me, remember? No matter what you choose to do, or choose to be, I’ll always be your best choom. Even if I have to sneak into Araska tower to hang out with you at work. Or if you are my go to fixer, or just my go to couch, to crash on and play games and watch bad movies.”
She started crying again.
Last edited:
Seras
Well-known member
Thank you! I was kinda nervous about it, since it just sorta happens all off screen.
"The Power of the Dark Side."
Seras
Well-known member
Realized I didn't update this here. So enjoy Motoko deciding to Cosplay Vader.
-----
The screams behind them were all they needed to keep moving. Arasaka elites. Assasins. Hit Squads. The best of the best. Running as fast and as far as possible to escape.
It shouldn't be this way! A slip of a girl shouldn't be able to walk into Arasaka tower! Shouldn't be able to cut down some of the best trained soldiers in the world!
Katsuo slowed his pace, breath coming out evenly despite his fear. His Neural mods, and Cyber Lungs meaning he could run forever if he really wanted.
But he slowed because infront of him the guards were idling.
A blast door had fallen.
"What's going on! Open the door!"
"We can't! It's jammed! Someone in maintenance is getting blacklisted!" Someone from the front yelled out, and Katsuo would have snorted if he found anything about his current situation funny. Blacklisted? They were all dead already.
Suddenly the long corridor, which was meant to connect the main building to an armory section wasn't a protective hallway with plenty of long fire lanes to kill intruding enemies.
It was a kill box.
They had already tried long fire lines. Had tried explosives. Melee, Drones, they had even pulled out power armor, exosuits. Everything and anything Arasaka had on hand to kill anyone who dared to enter their headquarters. Hell they had tried Smasher. Last Katsuo had seen that had failed too. That had been when the elite soldiers had started running. Hoping to get to the armory to get something bigger.
Did they even have anything bigger than Smasher? A tank maybe?
Katsuo knew they did not.
Realizing what that meant...
He started moving towards the door. He would try to cut through it if he had to, but he was certainly not going to be at the end of the line. His men gave way for him, some with more hesitation than others.
He didn't bother trying to remember names. Now wasn't the time for that.
Then he heard it.
Footsteps.
The problem was they were too close. The steps should have been heard long before this, but it was like they had suddenly turned on the audio. No in fact the footsteps were loud. Echoing.
He turned to look and wished he hadn't.
Standing in the darkness the red emergency lights illuminating just the barest hint of her, like she was cloaked in shadows.
And in her hand? Held in her left hand?
Adam Fucking Smashers head. Just barely seen through the red light surrounding her.
A moment later A noise sent a shiver down his spine.
*Pssshhew*
A sword, burning red ignited held in her right hand, and then with a casual move Adams head split in two.
Adam Smasher wasn't just defeated. He was dead.
Katsuo couldn't describe the sudden surge of fear that swept through him and his men. Smasher wasn't just a member of Araska. He was a symbol. The biggest rock. The statement of "You and what army?"
"Who are you? What do you want?" A brave soldier asked near the end of the line.
She didn't say anything. Face cloaked in darkness, only her red eyes glowing in the light of her sword.
"Fuck this!" Rifles were lifted.
Rifles were fired.
Nothing touched her. Her sword twirled. It blazed in the shadows and sparks surged down the tunnel.
But nothing seemed to touch her. No in fact she had started moving forward despite the torrent of bullets. A Sandevistan. It had to be. Or a Kerenzikov. Or something.
Humans couldn't just move that fast! Not without Cyberware that couldn't be found on an average gonk.
Yet despite her ability to dodge and deflect every round. She moved forward at a steady pace.
One foot infront of the other.
Then she was amongst them, and Katsuo having only made it half way through the squad of his men was suddenly drenched in blood.
He watched as brave men rushed forward their own Katana working to cut this monster down.
Their blades touched nothing but darkness.
The cowards fled, pushing to retreat.
Their escape was pointless as they were cut into pieces.
And all the while it was a slow steady pace, with echoing footsteps. Drawing closer, and closer.
This monster was toying with them.
Katsuo saw one of his men grab grenades, but after activating them he made to throw them only for his arm to refuse to let go.
Katsuo flinched from the explosion and spray of blood. The last sight of the man had been him struggling with his own hand desperate to let go of the grenade.
Speedsters of their own tried. Arasaka Sandevistans top of the line, and synergizing with some of the best Cyberware a soldier could chip, rushed in, and were swept aside like their speed was nothing.
Netrunners attacked. Two of them in his squad, each highly trained, top of the line equipment, attacked as one desperate to hack into this monsters system. To shut her down.
Katsuo felt some relief. Defending against two seperate Cyber Attacks while under assault? Having to defend against a spray of bullets? Impossible.
Then the Netrunner on his right grabbed his pistol brought it up to his head, and blew his brain out.
The one on his left turned and started trying to rip out another soldiers throat with her teeth.
She was put down.
Was there anything this monster couldn't do? Anything that could even harm her? Was she some Militech super Soldier?! A response to Smasher? An AI controlled super weapon!? WHAT? What could possible make this possible!?
Katsuo had continued backing away, even as his mens resistance grew weaker. Even as less and less bullets were fired. Finally he found his back against the blast door.
He watched terrified, realizing there was nothing he could do as his men died. Some tried to escape past her. Some gave up but none were spared.
Finally the man standing next to Katsuo died.
A massive retort from a Burya of all things that had been drawn at the end.
As if this monster was tired of playing with an elite Arasaka hit squad.
She walked up and just before she reached him, the door opened. He fell backwards landing on his and then more as she simply walked past him...
Why had the door opened then!?
Why had the monster not killed him? She had killed everyone else!
Then he heard it.
When the door opens there was always a pnuematic hiss.
And when the door closes? He realized then. The door hadn't failed from improper maintenance.
She had kept it closed. She had hacked the door and kept it closed the entire time.
He didn't get to think much more on his terror in that statement when the door shut on him.
Then he heard it.
"Eeee! That was so cool!"
And he thought for the last time.
-----
The screams behind them were all they needed to keep moving. Arasaka elites. Assasins. Hit Squads. The best of the best. Running as fast and as far as possible to escape.
It shouldn't be this way! A slip of a girl shouldn't be able to walk into Arasaka tower! Shouldn't be able to cut down some of the best trained soldiers in the world!
Katsuo slowed his pace, breath coming out evenly despite his fear. His Neural mods, and Cyber Lungs meaning he could run forever if he really wanted.
But he slowed because infront of him the guards were idling.
A blast door had fallen.
"What's going on! Open the door!"
"We can't! It's jammed! Someone in maintenance is getting blacklisted!" Someone from the front yelled out, and Katsuo would have snorted if he found anything about his current situation funny. Blacklisted? They were all dead already.
Suddenly the long corridor, which was meant to connect the main building to an armory section wasn't a protective hallway with plenty of long fire lanes to kill intruding enemies.
It was a kill box.
They had already tried long fire lines. Had tried explosives. Melee, Drones, they had even pulled out power armor, exosuits. Everything and anything Arasaka had on hand to kill anyone who dared to enter their headquarters. Hell they had tried Smasher. Last Katsuo had seen that had failed too. That had been when the elite soldiers had started running. Hoping to get to the armory to get something bigger.
Did they even have anything bigger than Smasher? A tank maybe?
Katsuo knew they did not.
Realizing what that meant...
He started moving towards the door. He would try to cut through it if he had to, but he was certainly not going to be at the end of the line. His men gave way for him, some with more hesitation than others.
He didn't bother trying to remember names. Now wasn't the time for that.
Then he heard it.
Footsteps.
The problem was they were too close. The steps should have been heard long before this, but it was like they had suddenly turned on the audio. No in fact the footsteps were loud. Echoing.
He turned to look and wished he hadn't.
Standing in the darkness the red emergency lights illuminating just the barest hint of her, like she was cloaked in shadows.
And in her hand? Held in her left hand?
Adam Fucking Smashers head. Just barely seen through the red light surrounding her.
A moment later A noise sent a shiver down his spine.
*Pssshhew*
A sword, burning red ignited held in her right hand, and then with a casual move Adams head split in two.
Adam Smasher wasn't just defeated. He was dead.
Katsuo couldn't describe the sudden surge of fear that swept through him and his men. Smasher wasn't just a member of Araska. He was a symbol. The biggest rock. The statement of "You and what army?"
"Who are you? What do you want?" A brave soldier asked near the end of the line.
She didn't say anything. Face cloaked in darkness, only her red eyes glowing in the light of her sword.
"Fuck this!" Rifles were lifted.
Rifles were fired.
Nothing touched her. Her sword twirled. It blazed in the shadows and sparks surged down the tunnel.
But nothing seemed to touch her. No in fact she had started moving forward despite the torrent of bullets. A Sandevistan. It had to be. Or a Kerenzikov. Or something.
Humans couldn't just move that fast! Not without Cyberware that couldn't be found on an average gonk.
Yet despite her ability to dodge and deflect every round. She moved forward at a steady pace.
One foot infront of the other.
Then she was amongst them, and Katsuo having only made it half way through the squad of his men was suddenly drenched in blood.
He watched as brave men rushed forward their own Katana working to cut this monster down.
Their blades touched nothing but darkness.
The cowards fled, pushing to retreat.
Their escape was pointless as they were cut into pieces.
And all the while it was a slow steady pace, with echoing footsteps. Drawing closer, and closer.
This monster was toying with them.
Katsuo saw one of his men grab grenades, but after activating them he made to throw them only for his arm to refuse to let go.
Katsuo flinched from the explosion and spray of blood. The last sight of the man had been him struggling with his own hand desperate to let go of the grenade.
Speedsters of their own tried. Arasaka Sandevistans top of the line, and synergizing with some of the best Cyberware a soldier could chip, rushed in, and were swept aside like their speed was nothing.
Netrunners attacked. Two of them in his squad, each highly trained, top of the line equipment, attacked as one desperate to hack into this monsters system. To shut her down.
Katsuo felt some relief. Defending against two seperate Cyber Attacks while under assault? Having to defend against a spray of bullets? Impossible.
Then the Netrunner on his right grabbed his pistol brought it up to his head, and blew his brain out.
The one on his left turned and started trying to rip out another soldiers throat with her teeth.
She was put down.
Was there anything this monster couldn't do? Anything that could even harm her? Was she some Militech super Soldier?! A response to Smasher? An AI controlled super weapon!? WHAT? What could possible make this possible!?
Katsuo had continued backing away, even as his mens resistance grew weaker. Even as less and less bullets were fired. Finally he found his back against the blast door.
He watched terrified, realizing there was nothing he could do as his men died. Some tried to escape past her. Some gave up but none were spared.
Finally the man standing next to Katsuo died.
A massive retort from a Burya of all things that had been drawn at the end.
As if this monster was tired of playing with an elite Arasaka hit squad.
She walked up and just before she reached him, the door opened. He fell backwards landing on his and then more as she simply walked past him...
Why had the door opened then!?
Why had the monster not killed him? She had killed everyone else!
Then he heard it.
When the door opens there was always a pnuematic hiss.
And when the door closes? He realized then. The door hadn't failed from improper maintenance.
She had kept it closed. She had hacked the door and kept it closed the entire time.
He didn't get to think much more on his terror in that statement when the door shut on him.
Then he heard it.
"Eeee! That was so cool!"
And he thought for the last time.
Blasterbot
Well-known member
she had it. and then she ruined it with that one line. kill the witness so that none may know.
xachariahxx
Well-known member
Thank you. I understand why this site would be down on the priority list for updates given the user count, but I much prefer reading and interacting here. It feels much more chill and positive. Not in a hugbox way, if you've seen people discussing Battltech mech builds, but just... more constructive.
(And ever since SpaceBattles has decided their forum account needs as much security as my online banking, I can't login there anymore anyways.)
I appreciate effort you do for the extra crossposting, and the story in general. Thanks again.
posh-goofiness
Well-known member
I'm surprised they haven't banned you for membership on this forum.