Ghost in the City Cyberpunk Gamer SI

[Reseda]

Jackie was so funny.

Poor guy. He's been slotted into the "eccentric uncle" role.

 

[Blasterbot]

Right Jackie was with the Latina his mom set him up with before misty and that crashes and burns... Misty soothe his soul.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

Well I will say that Jackie's girlfriend was surprisingly chill about the fact that he had two women stay the night with him. Any girlfriend irl would have likely murdered a guy for that.

 

[Seras]

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

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

“You got everything done in time?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

All titanium now.

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

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

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

“Alright. Let’s do some tests. Wiggle your toes.”

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

MoorE Titanium Bones *Adaptation Titanium Bones 0/2*

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

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

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

I still had a lot of stuff to build.

—--

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

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

*100 Crafting XP Gained.*

*Crafting skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I just had to figure out how to integrate it.

The biggest issue was how the ECM systems worked.

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

A literal memetic hazard.

So this version actually needed a visual component.

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

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

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

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

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

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

On and off. On and off.

On and off?

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

I could program that.

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

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

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

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

I would need to integrate holo emitters into the armor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

—--

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

*Ringing.*

*Ringing.*

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

I answered.

“This is Motoko.”

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

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

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

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

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

—--

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

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

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

The music soon muffled that as I entered Rogues domain.

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

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

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

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

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

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

She was assessing me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Not the most emotional response I’ve ever gotten.” Rogue said casually as she took a drink.

“I’m just surprised and processing. My chooms, my team I mean, can they get in too?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I was planning on just walking out, but well…

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

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

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

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

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

But the noise the small group made was pretty loud.

Okay mostly it was Rebecca.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Becca.” Dorio started but I waved her off.

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

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

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

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

“Yeah? You tinker and program?” Sasha asked with a laugh, “You sure spread yourself around don’t you?”

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

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

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

I guess despite everything, Maines crew got along well.

It was cute.

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

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

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

“I’m adding an ECM system into my chest rigging, for me and my chooms.”

“What system? Please don’t tell me, it’s some Tyger Claw thing.”

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

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

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

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

“That’s so smart! I’ve been working on some other stuff too! We should talk shop!”

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

Becca was tech talking with me! So preem!

“Uh, sure I guess.”

I gave her a big smile.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

You know I am pretty sure Motoko is smaller than Rebecca, Or at most about the same size.

 

[Seras]

You know I am pretty sure Motoko is smaller than Rebecca, Or at most about the same size.

Motoko is way taller than Becca.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

Motoko is way taller than Becca.

So a whole half inch counts as "Way taller"? All they need is a ring and a volcano

 

[Blasterbot]

So a whole half inch counts as "Way taller"? All they need is a ring and a volcano

no no you see she got her new bones now it is at least 3 inch of height. it isn't petty now she is the tallest seras SI so haha.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

no no you see she got her new bones now it is at least 3 inch of height. it isn't petty now she is the tallest seras SI so haha.

I actually meant to mention that fact earlier, Seras wrote Motoko as complaining about being a hobbit but in Cyberpunk they have the technology to easily make you as tall as you want.

 

[Guardian Box]

I know what I'm saying right now may sound like heresy, but hear me out. If we can't get Motoko to accept cat-like armor, what about... rabbits?

look at this beauty

Spoiler

Long and tall ears to better intercept rogue sound waves, great color scheme, great memetic legacy of MURDER SLAUGHTER KILL. what's not to like?

 

[Seras]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Did you talk to Maine about it? Did he say why?”

“Apparently I’m too fucking short and shit.” She grumbled. Yeah that was true. Rebecca was very smole.

“You could fix that with chrome or bio.”

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

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

“You asking me to join your crew?”

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

“I… I don’t know. Maine is being a shit, and Pilar is a fucking scumfuck gonkfucker… But I owe Maine.”

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

“Let me… I’ll think about it. Can’t say I really want to work with kids though.”

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

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

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

“It takes time, and you have to have people to haul stuff out. You can’t exactly wait around.”

She scoffed and nodded downing her drink.

“You’re not bad Kitten.”

“Wha Kitten!?”

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

“Well too late. Just like with Whiskers, you’re Kitten now.”

“Ugh.” I denied crossing my arms in an X. “I refuse.”

“Too late!”

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

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

It was time to get back to work.

—--

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

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

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

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

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

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

But Hiromi wasn’t going anywhere near it.

“Motoko, you are being a total rust case here.”

“Hey!”

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

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

I wasn’t crazy!

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

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

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

Luckily I gave zero fucks!

“Not enough to go into a combat zone. This isn’t a life risk level thing Hiromi.”

“It’s not dangerous! Well not that dangerous. Going into Dogtown is perfectly normal Motoko!”

“For Cyberpsychos!”

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

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

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

“That doesn’t… Dammit.” I grumbled because it was sort of the answer. “Fine!”

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

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

—--

“Hey Jackie.”

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

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

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

“What’s Barghest? A gang?” I asked curious never having heard the name before.

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

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

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

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

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

“Relax Hermanita, you are too tense. It’s just Dogtown yeah?”

“Never been before, and I’ve only heard horror stories.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Barghest was it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Motoko check it.”

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

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

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

We headed back out the way we came.

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

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

“That’s so weird. I expected… Something.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Thanks Jack. For backing us up.”

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

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

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

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

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

“C’mon let’s get out of here before my nightmares of wild Cyberpsychos come true.”

—--

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

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

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

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

Which…

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

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

 

[TyrantTriumphant]

I take it from her reaction the SI hasn't played the DLC? Which makes sense I suppose since this story was started before the DLC came out.

 

[Seras]

I take it from her reaction the SI hasn't played the DLC? Which makes sense I suppose since this story was started before the DLC came out.

Correct. Motoko has no DLC knowledge other than hearing rumors it was about Militech and the combat zone.

 

[Seras]

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

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

And the new chrome was making a massive difference.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Mornin.”

“Morning Jun-Nii. Sleep well?”

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

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

“Can’t go back to sleep for a while?”

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

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

“Sure Imouto.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jun just snorted.

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

“Don’t rub it in.” He told me with a huff, and I laughed shaking my head.

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

But I was too fast!

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

“Nin-nin!”

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

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

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

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

—--

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

Everything looked good.

But I would need to actually test it.

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

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

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

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

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

Then I remotely activated the ECM unit and opened fire.

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

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

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

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

It works.

Not it was time to install.

—--

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

“Armor!”

“Yes I see that. But what are you doing?”

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

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

I was almost done!

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

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

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

“Why not just get a ECM tattoo then? They aren’t expensive.”

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

“What’s wrong with tattoos!?”

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

“Well… You should! Mine are preem!”

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

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

“My Tattoos are awesome Motoko!”

“I’m glad you like them.” I answered and he grumbled deep in his chest and my continued disinterest.

“You just aren’t preem enough to have tats.”

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

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

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

*100 Technical Ability XP Gained*

*Technical Ability Leveled up!*

Tech 6!

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

“What’s with you?”

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

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

That was perfect.

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

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

—--

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

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

But honestly. It was mostly done.

It was time to bring the chooms in.

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

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

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

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

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

*Motoko: IT WASN’T CAT EARS!*

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nope.” He interrupted me instantly completely monotone.

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

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

“The color is…”

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

“At least it matches our old suits?”

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

“Can’t I do this in the bathroom?”

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

“Alright.”

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

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

“Done?” Ichi finally called more questioning than sure.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You’ll get used to it.” I assured him as he was looking a little annoyed.

“Is this necessary?”

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

Silly! I wouldn’t do that.

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

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

“It still looks like cat ears.”

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

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

“Okay. You are all set. How does it feel?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You barely felt it. Now switch to the mic, and I’ll show you how it works.”

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

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

“So what do I do then?”

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

“Motoko? What’s with the knife? Motoko? Help?”

There is no help for you Ichi!

—--

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

I had even finished adjusting Ichi’s armor!

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

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

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

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

“Ignore him. C’mon!” I urged, pushing Malcolm into my room to get ready.

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

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

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

“See? It looks great!”

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey! Let me go! Motoko!”

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

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

Any argument about not wearing armor would immediately be ignored!

Protection was god!

“M-Motokoooo!”

 

[Blasterbot]

Protection is important! very true.

 

[Seras]

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

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

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

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

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

“Hard pass.”

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

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

“Pass me the chips?”

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

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

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

“I didn’t say that!” He snapped at Hiromi looking a little red.

“Well I don’t think I really want to watch that… Sorry Ichi.”

“It’s fine! I didn’t say I wanted to. Only that it was coming on next!”

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

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

Then we just sort of vegged out in full kit.

—--

“I don’t want to know.”

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

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

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

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

Jun just blinked and nodded slowly as if he understood.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“See, just playing.”

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

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

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

Then I stepped back and brushed myself off.

“I win.” I told her simply and that set her off.

“What!? How! Jun interfered!”

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

“That’s! That’s cheating!”

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

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

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

—--

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

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

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

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

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

“Alright Hiromi-”

“Green! Maybe flames? Can you do flames?”

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

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

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

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

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

I moved on to Ichi.

His was simpler.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ichi would get an orangish red color.

While I went pure white.

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

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

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

I bet this would look awesome on a motorcycle.

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

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

—--

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

That and I finally had time for other grinding again!

That morning I was back at the gun range.

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

Now I just needed to grind out the last bit.

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

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

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

It was a nice treat.

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

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

Then I fired again, and again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is what a rifle should be! Firepower!

Then finally I got it.

*100 Assault XP Gained.*

*Assault skill level up!*

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

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

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

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

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

I still had Handguns to level!

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

—--

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

Honestly everything was kind of quiet right now.

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

So it was just kind of quiet.

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

In fact…

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

I shifted heading towards Watson.

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

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

Heh.

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

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

That just means more demons to fight.

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

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

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

I walked up to the bar.

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

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

There was nothing quite like a Cyberpunk bar after all.

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

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

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

“Huh.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Now what’s going on?”

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

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

Gig acquired I guess.

Neat.

A/N
Hey everyone! Just a heads up. We are coming up on the holidays and things are going to be a bit hectic. I'm probably going to pause at least one of the next few chapter dates. Probably Xmas because I'm not sure how much writing I'll be able to do in the next bit. I have my birthday coming up as well. On top of the holidays, so things get a bit crazy for me. But just a short hiatus for the holidays... Maybe? It depends on how much writing I can manage between all the running around I'll be doing.

 

[Guardian Box]

A/N
Hey everyone! Just a heads up. We are coming up on the holidays and things are going to be a bit hectic. I'm probably going to pause at least one of the next few chapter dates. Probably Xmas because I'm not sure how much writing I'll be able to do in the next bit. I have my birthday coming up as well. On top of the holidays, so things get a bit crazy for me. But just a short hiatus for the holidays... Maybe? It depends on how much writing I can manage between all the running around I'll be doing.

tl;dr: Seras ruins Christmas

Can it really even be called Christmas if there's no adventures of the purple-haired loot-goblin to look forward to?

 

[Blasterbot]

Motoko saves christmas.

admittedly the fires were there before she did anything...

or you could go for the classic it was all a dream thing so she can go on a wacky adventure saving christmas from the scavs. either or.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

Feel like Motoko's friends are trying to keep up but realistically there is no way that is going to happen and sadly they are just gonna have to be left behind. That plot point would actually be sort of interesting to explore IMO, Especially since it sort of forces her to come to terms with the reality that she is not normal.

 

[Seras]

Feel like Motoko's friends are trying to keep up but realistically there is no way that is going to happen and sadly they are just gonna have to be left behind. That plot point would actually be sort of interesting to explore IMO, Especially since it sort of forces her to come to terms with the reality that she is not normal.

While I do think it's necessary to show, the vast difference between her friends and her. That is already sort of out there. It's kinda obvious.

But just because there is a gulf, doesn't mean they can't be useful. It's not their combat skills that Motoko values. It's her ability to trust them, and their other skills.

Malcolm has sharp instincts. He would be a great detective.

Hiromi has her Corpo training and desires.

Ichi, is someone she can trust behind a wheel, and has street connections especially in the TC area.

She is putting them in armor and with upgraded weapons not because she expects them to be as effective as she is in combat, but so that they are safer, when they do go into combat.