Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
We got Boyz n the Hood Cyberpunk edition here.
Ghost in the City Cyberpunk Gamer SI
- Thread starter Seras
- Start date
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- Tags
- cyberpunk gamer self-insert
Blasterbot
Well-known member
Just because Motorolla would handle it just so her gonk brother doesn't get dragged into that clusterfuck doesn't mean ex-prisoner-san isn't a strong independent gonk who needs others to flatline a gonk for him. that is why he isn't trying to recruit his borged out well connected choom to take a dive for him.
Jun is handling this rather well, actually, this guy is an old choom of his, after all, and chooms stick up for each other, but he's being smart about it, having realized that there is more to life than rep and status games. In short, Jun is *growing up* and becoming the big brother he needs to be.
Frankly, I actually rather like his character arc.
Frankly, I actually rather like his character arc.
UberIguana
Well-known member
The only thing missing from recent chapters is bullying Judy with more XBDs. She's done parkour, she's done ultraviolence, what does she do next?
I'm still waiting for Hiromi's butthurt classmate to pull something and end up in over his head.
I'm still waiting for Hiromi's butthurt classmate to pull something and end up in over his head.
Chapter 175
New
Seras
Well-known member
Malcolm
“You’re actually going to take part?” He asked as he continued to look through Motoko’s eyes.
*Yeah. I want to practice it a bit. They have an external connection here. So I’m going to disconnect and let you watch through their cameras. If you see me start dying or something you know what to do.*
“I’ll watch your back.” He assured her as he threw a few more Shwabshwab back. Blue was the best flavor after all.
*I know.* She replied back with a surety that would have made Malcolm blush if she was looking at him.
Motoko was pretty intense, but there wasn’t anyone that Malcolm trusted more. When it came to a serious situation Motoko was the most reliable person he knew. Which still freaked him out sometimes but that was just life.
The video on the laptop shifted loading for a few seconds before it showed an arena. It loaded for a few seconds, terrain forming up until it became a desert space. Bushes and hills becoming the only cover.
*Ghost in the Shell Vs. Hamm3r.* A pop up appeared and then it was on.
A fucking netrunner match. Malcolm popped more ants into his mouth chewing as he watched.
Malcolm didn’t even know you could see this sort of shit!
The arena started and Motokoed instantly started moving. Rushing forward, and to the side, once she was a ways away she kneeled down and started… Doing something?
He wasn’t sure, but it only took her about thirty seconds before whatever she was doing was complete. He watched as the opponent was moving cautiously out of his spawn point. Looking all around him, and even behind him, as he started activating Daemons.
Glowing orbs appeared around him, and then set off. Seemingly searching around while stopping to scan anything and everything.
They didn’t look very smart. He saw the same Daemon scan the same bush twice as it backtracked.
Motoko stood up and Malcolm now knew what she had been up to.
*System Breached!* Appeared on his screen attached to Motoko’s half, and suddenly a Minimap was on the screen he could see.
So… Motoko had breached into the system? That was good, he guessed. It must be if Motoko had decided to do it, but it was still weird.
Then Motoko seemed to explode, from her form something hard to see popped out, and scattered, seemingly vanishing into the floor of the server.
It looked kinda gnarly, and there was no update about what Motoko had just done. Instead she started moving. Slowly circling around the arena, seemingly purposefully in the opposite way that the opponent was going around.
Malcolm kept expecting something exciting to happen, but…
It was slow.
Motoko was stalking around. She didn’t seem to have any interest in attacking, instead she just seemed to follow in the shadows of the arena, not that there were any, but she seemed to keep a hill between her and the other guy at all times.
Then Motoko came across one of the Daemons. The orb literally floated right past her.
“What?” Malcolm had to wonder, because those things had scanned literally everything. Motoko seemed to be testing it. Walking around it, even moving in front of it, but the Daemon was stupid. When it bounced into her, it just shifted directions to wander further.
Motoko shrugged, something he had seen her do pretty often, and then in her hands a burst of fire slammed into the Daemon.
It melted. That’s the only thing Malcolm could think of. The Data steaming from it, as it melted away.
Motoko was obviously pleased. She had a little smile on her face, the most amount of emotion he usually saw from her, when she was in serious mode.
But the attack had an effect. The other guy. Hamm3r? He must have been alerted to the Daemons attack.
Instead of wandering, all of the orbs started rushing straight towards where she was.
She obviously noticed it, as she looked over but instead of running she just took a step back and waited.
The Daemons all floated over a hill. Looking red and angry as they started scanning around, but to Malcolm’s surprise they continued to just miss Motoko. Like she was a Ghost standing among them.
They floated towards where the burning remains of the other Daemon was, and it took a few moments, as Motoko wandered around them. Obviously preparing something.
And then it happened.
As the Daemons gathered closer to the flaming Daemon corpse she sent seemingly multiple bursts of her fire into them from different directions. The Daemons reacted, but it was too slow. Only one of them turned and actually started trying to attack back before they all burned.
The one attack was blocked by a wall of weirdness Motoko made, that took the hit and just seemingly fizzled it out.
The enemy runner obviously noticed what had happened, as he stopped charging towards where Motoko was and instead started summoning in even more Daemons. This time they weren’t small orbs exploring. He instead took longer, slowly forming a Daemon that resembled…
A thug? It looked kind of like a gangster, but Malcolm realized why this was the Daemon that was summoned, as a moment later it pulled out a gun.
This Daemon seemed to be smarter, instead of running off, it stuck to the runner guarding his back. Satisfied, the runner started forming another one.
It took a while and Motoko was seemingly watching what was happening through the mini map, content to give this runner time.
So Malcolm watched as nothing really happened. Motoko seemed satisfied to wait, and the runner seemed content to spend time generating more and more of his Daemons.
*FlAm3r: Both of these n3rds need to get on with it.* A message suddenly popped on the side of the screen, and Malcolm almost freaked out wondering if someone was hacking him, when a second message happened.
*B/\it: Tell me about it. Ghost is acting weird, but Hamm3r is a fucking noob. Stop playing with the little shit. I saw her last match, she could easily wipe this kid.*
And Malcolm realized there was some sort of chat? He typed into the keyboard and the words instantly went into a previously invisible chat field.
Huh.
He noticed he didn’t have a username, and just before he started trying to make one he realized he was literally talking about a netrunner system…
He decided to not respond and just continue watching, even as a few more runners shit talked about the situation.
Finally Hamm3r started moving. Groups of his Daemons gathered together and started hunting. Leaving four of them with him, while an equal sized group left.
He waited and watched as Motoko finally reacted. Moving steadily towards the Daemons.
*B/\it: Why is she focused on the Daemons? If she wanted to attack him, she should have done it while he was summoning. Fucking loser.*
*R0ck4tr3ss: Shitstain fuckin shut up. You always complain and whine about other people but bitch out and never step into the arena. It’s obvious she is testing to see what Hamm3r can do.*
Malcolm nodded as he watched the fight continue. Motoko hunted the four Daemons down, murdering all of them with fire seemingly without any real issue. Especially since they couldn’t seem to see her.
*R0ck4tr3ss: Why aren’t the Daemons responding to her? Some sort of optical hack?*
*Admin: Ghost dropped a Daemon into the arena when she breached the system. I don’t want to go poking too deep while she is actively battling, but it seems to remove her from the sight of digital constructs. It does seem to work on Hamm3r as well to an extent.*
*B/\it: The lord speaketh! Hail the Admin!*
*FlAm3r: I’ve never heard of a hack like that. You got any deets @Admin?*
*Admin: You don’t have the funds to pay for such information. Best to leave it.*
*FlAm3r: Fuck off!*
*B/\it: LEL Flamer more like Flamed.*
Malcolm looked away from the chat as it was filled with people laughing and not much else, to focus on Motoko.
He looked over and she was still laying seemingly asleep on the chair. Completely calm. A quick check and her Cyberdeck was still just warm and not overheating her. Everything was fine.
She finished fighting the daemons, and then slipped away. Seemingly waiting to see how the runner would react.
Angrily it seems.
Hamm3r rushed towards where Motoko was. The wait seemingly getting to him as he reached the bubbling mass of his former Daemons burned into flaming puddles he looked around.
*Come out! Stop sneaking around!* He roared looking around but then. Nothing.
Motoko definitely heard him, but she wasn’t moving. Pissed, the guy summoned up another mass of Daemons, the orbs again, appearing much faster than the guys in suits, and then they sent out again. Searching.
But it was obvious to Malcolm that Hamm3r was seething.
Once a dozen of the IMPS were summoned, he stopped and started creating the larger Daemons again.
Though Malcolm noticed summoning each one was much much slower than before.
He looked towards the chat wondering if anyone would talk about it? Maybe he could get some answers.
Nothing. They were all just arguing about some random shit Malcolm had no idea what about.
So he just settled in to watch.
—--
Hamm3r I decided was really easy to piss off.
I felt a little bad for Malcolm as he was probably a bit bored, but grinding XP was not for everyone.
I was settled in a corner of the map just letting my deck stay cool, as I watched Hamm3r struggle to summon more Daemons.
Which was weird? I hadn’t done much with Daemons, besides the free code for the facehuggers that I got from the perk, but I knew the basics. Each Daemon took a certain amount of Space on your deck to summon. But in exchange you had a program backing you up. Usually with a built in hack of its own to attack with.
Some were of course specialized like my face huggers, or the IMPs that were summoned to search for me. And yeah there was a limit to how many Daemons you could run at once off a deck, but… Was Hamm3r already hitting his limit?
The last two guys hadn’t had any issues, but they had both been way more skilled than this guy.
Hamm3r was sort of outclassed. I had realized it when he had tried to breach into the system, and I hadn’t even needed to intrude for him to fail.
It was kind of embarrassing.
Still, he was angry, and doing exactly what I wanted. Summoning XP for me.
I followed an IMP as it wandered around until it was far enough away and killed it. Hell Flame ending deleting its data too quickly for it to start any hacks against me.
Once again this set off the IMPs, but I noticed instead of all charging at the last spot they gathered up with Hamm3r as he hurried towards the spot.
I considered leaving a trap, but he would see it, and that would just be a waste of heat.
It was funny but I had learned something from the last time I was here.
RAM might be mana, but the heat of your Cyberdeck was mana burn.
You can’t just go all out constantly, or you’ll burn yourself out. So I just had to balance my cooldowns, and adjust my mana spending!
Thinking about it like a game, or like how I would if I was playing a wizard or something in an MMO helped.
Besides, I had a different objective than poor Hamm3r. I was here to farm him.
When he reached the burned corpse of his IMP he found nothing.
And that made him even angrier.
The poor kid was already overheating. While he had tried to breach into the server to get the Minimap info. I had breached him back.
Something he hadn’t even noticed considering how sneaky I had been.
To my surprise though, when I breached, a lot of stuff had been blocked off by a firewall, and instead I had been given a screen just like the Minimap.
Which had things like his Cyberdecks RAM usage, and current temp.
The arena was an interesting bit of code. I was gonna have to speak to Admin about seeing under the hood. It was kinda cool.
But regardless, each Daemon he summoned cost him a chunk out of his Cyberdeck’s RAM to keep up, and it was heating him up constantly.
He wasn’t overheating himself yet, but he was getting close.
But still I didn’t approach.
I just kept poking.
His IMPs once more wandered around, this time in sets of twos, trying to track me.
He seemed distracted, instead of summoning more I noticed on the minimap the Daemons were moving with more intelligence.
I guess he decided to switch to an RTS?
Finding a pair of IMPs that were far enough away wasn’t hard, and once again I snuck up on them, and then blasted them with Hell Flame.
*250 XP Gained.*
*250 XP Gained.*
Smirking, I hurried away once again as all the Daemons rushed towards their death once again.
Poor Hamm3r.
I could hear him cussing at me through the entire arena. Digital shit talking that I just ignored.
Hamm3r tried. He loaded up more Daemons together. I killed them.
He tried staying with them, but after a while where I just didn’t do anything he split them up and tried keeping them in larger groups again.
In the end, Hamm3r started absolutely raging at me. At the lack of my appearance, or doing anything.
I noticed he stopped summoning more Daemons.
Which was the moment he rang his own deathknell. If he wasn’t going to give me more XP to farm? Then this match was over.
Slowly I came out of hiding, just approaching the man that was pissed and fiery, shouting expletives into the air.
Walking closer and closer, it was inevitable that he would notice me, even if he wasn’t looking, the digital scape wasn’t like the real world. You didn’t entirely see with just your eyes.
He jerked away from me, shocked and startled, and that was when I moved.
Sandevistan activated. A Breach jumped, and a moment later he was down, and his Daemons were burning.
*Ghost Wins!*
—--
When I reappeared in the club I was met with looks of both amusement, and irritation.
“You sure took your time!” One of them yelled out and I just shrugged, but it was a curse from behind me that caught my attention.
“Bitch!” Hamm3r was there, red in the face and really pissed. “What the fuck is wrong with you!” He demanded as he charged forward, but he stopped when Admin was suddenly there hand in front of him blocking him from advancing.
“No fighting here.” Admin demanded the older man firm and then he looked to me, and Hamm3r to make sure we both understood.
What could I say? What should I say?
I sighed, really wishing I could run a hand through my hair.
“Sorry, I was trying things out. I didn’t think of the time it might take.” I offered but Hamm3r just scoffed and flipped me off.
“Never going in a match with you again.” He threw out as he turned and headed away quickly disappearing in a log out.
“That was rather cruel of you Ghost.” Admin offered and I flinched.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I was just…” I trailed off, because how do I explain that I was hunting his Daemons?”
Admin shrugged. “It was a competition, and you just showed how time can be an advantage netrunners often don’t get the chance to take advantage of. If you continue to battle in such a way, just be aware of the effects it will have on your reputation.”
“Right.” I offered quietly.
Because honestly I probably was going to act like that as long as I was fighting someone that used Daemons.
The XP had been too good to ignore. Over 5000xp from all the Daemons in just one match!
It was a massive increase, and if not for the fact Malcolm was waiting on the line I would be tempted to throw myself into another match.
Which is probably why it was such a good thing he was here. I should cool off and take in what I learned.
“Thank you for the opportunity. This was actually very helpful.” I offered to the older netrunner and I could see him react with a blink before he formed a smile.
“Well that isn’t something I hear often. You are very welcome, Ghost.”
I nodded at that and disappeared in my own logout.
—--
“That was kinda interesting, and kinda boring.” Malcolm offered when I sat up, and I winced at the words.
“Sorry. You were really useful to have here though.”
“Hey don’t take it like that. I got to see a netrunner battle on the net, you have any idea how rare that is?”
“Is it?” I asked confused. “I mean, if that combat zone exists, then shouldn’t there be recordings?”
“Never seen one.” Malcolm replied with a shrug. “It was kinda cool though.”
“Huh.” I muttered, maybe I’d talk to Hiromi about it. Could be something interesting for the BD market? Or at least a video side of it.
I shrugged and got up stretching, feeling pretty good. A big chunk of xp always left me feeling better.
“Want to get some food?” I asked, and Malcolm nodded instantly.
“I could eat.”
“You’re actually going to take part?” He asked as he continued to look through Motoko’s eyes.
*Yeah. I want to practice it a bit. They have an external connection here. So I’m going to disconnect and let you watch through their cameras. If you see me start dying or something you know what to do.*
“I’ll watch your back.” He assured her as he threw a few more Shwabshwab back. Blue was the best flavor after all.
*I know.* She replied back with a surety that would have made Malcolm blush if she was looking at him.
Motoko was pretty intense, but there wasn’t anyone that Malcolm trusted more. When it came to a serious situation Motoko was the most reliable person he knew. Which still freaked him out sometimes but that was just life.
The video on the laptop shifted loading for a few seconds before it showed an arena. It loaded for a few seconds, terrain forming up until it became a desert space. Bushes and hills becoming the only cover.
*Ghost in the Shell Vs. Hamm3r.* A pop up appeared and then it was on.
A fucking netrunner match. Malcolm popped more ants into his mouth chewing as he watched.
Malcolm didn’t even know you could see this sort of shit!
The arena started and Motokoed instantly started moving. Rushing forward, and to the side, once she was a ways away she kneeled down and started… Doing something?
He wasn’t sure, but it only took her about thirty seconds before whatever she was doing was complete. He watched as the opponent was moving cautiously out of his spawn point. Looking all around him, and even behind him, as he started activating Daemons.
Glowing orbs appeared around him, and then set off. Seemingly searching around while stopping to scan anything and everything.
They didn’t look very smart. He saw the same Daemon scan the same bush twice as it backtracked.
Motoko stood up and Malcolm now knew what she had been up to.
*System Breached!* Appeared on his screen attached to Motoko’s half, and suddenly a Minimap was on the screen he could see.
So… Motoko had breached into the system? That was good, he guessed. It must be if Motoko had decided to do it, but it was still weird.
Then Motoko seemed to explode, from her form something hard to see popped out, and scattered, seemingly vanishing into the floor of the server.
It looked kinda gnarly, and there was no update about what Motoko had just done. Instead she started moving. Slowly circling around the arena, seemingly purposefully in the opposite way that the opponent was going around.
Malcolm kept expecting something exciting to happen, but…
It was slow.
Motoko was stalking around. She didn’t seem to have any interest in attacking, instead she just seemed to follow in the shadows of the arena, not that there were any, but she seemed to keep a hill between her and the other guy at all times.
Then Motoko came across one of the Daemons. The orb literally floated right past her.
“What?” Malcolm had to wonder, because those things had scanned literally everything. Motoko seemed to be testing it. Walking around it, even moving in front of it, but the Daemon was stupid. When it bounced into her, it just shifted directions to wander further.
Motoko shrugged, something he had seen her do pretty often, and then in her hands a burst of fire slammed into the Daemon.
It melted. That’s the only thing Malcolm could think of. The Data steaming from it, as it melted away.
Motoko was obviously pleased. She had a little smile on her face, the most amount of emotion he usually saw from her, when she was in serious mode.
But the attack had an effect. The other guy. Hamm3r? He must have been alerted to the Daemons attack.
Instead of wandering, all of the orbs started rushing straight towards where she was.
She obviously noticed it, as she looked over but instead of running she just took a step back and waited.
The Daemons all floated over a hill. Looking red and angry as they started scanning around, but to Malcolm’s surprise they continued to just miss Motoko. Like she was a Ghost standing among them.
They floated towards where the burning remains of the other Daemon was, and it took a few moments, as Motoko wandered around them. Obviously preparing something.
And then it happened.
As the Daemons gathered closer to the flaming Daemon corpse she sent seemingly multiple bursts of her fire into them from different directions. The Daemons reacted, but it was too slow. Only one of them turned and actually started trying to attack back before they all burned.
The one attack was blocked by a wall of weirdness Motoko made, that took the hit and just seemingly fizzled it out.
The enemy runner obviously noticed what had happened, as he stopped charging towards where Motoko was and instead started summoning in even more Daemons. This time they weren’t small orbs exploring. He instead took longer, slowly forming a Daemon that resembled…
A thug? It looked kind of like a gangster, but Malcolm realized why this was the Daemon that was summoned, as a moment later it pulled out a gun.
This Daemon seemed to be smarter, instead of running off, it stuck to the runner guarding his back. Satisfied, the runner started forming another one.
It took a while and Motoko was seemingly watching what was happening through the mini map, content to give this runner time.
So Malcolm watched as nothing really happened. Motoko seemed satisfied to wait, and the runner seemed content to spend time generating more and more of his Daemons.
*FlAm3r: Both of these n3rds need to get on with it.* A message suddenly popped on the side of the screen, and Malcolm almost freaked out wondering if someone was hacking him, when a second message happened.
*B/\it: Tell me about it. Ghost is acting weird, but Hamm3r is a fucking noob. Stop playing with the little shit. I saw her last match, she could easily wipe this kid.*
And Malcolm realized there was some sort of chat? He typed into the keyboard and the words instantly went into a previously invisible chat field.
Huh.
He noticed he didn’t have a username, and just before he started trying to make one he realized he was literally talking about a netrunner system…
He decided to not respond and just continue watching, even as a few more runners shit talked about the situation.
Finally Hamm3r started moving. Groups of his Daemons gathered together and started hunting. Leaving four of them with him, while an equal sized group left.
He waited and watched as Motoko finally reacted. Moving steadily towards the Daemons.
*B/\it: Why is she focused on the Daemons? If she wanted to attack him, she should have done it while he was summoning. Fucking loser.*
*R0ck4tr3ss: Shitstain fuckin shut up. You always complain and whine about other people but bitch out and never step into the arena. It’s obvious she is testing to see what Hamm3r can do.*
Malcolm nodded as he watched the fight continue. Motoko hunted the four Daemons down, murdering all of them with fire seemingly without any real issue. Especially since they couldn’t seem to see her.
*R0ck4tr3ss: Why aren’t the Daemons responding to her? Some sort of optical hack?*
*Admin: Ghost dropped a Daemon into the arena when she breached the system. I don’t want to go poking too deep while she is actively battling, but it seems to remove her from the sight of digital constructs. It does seem to work on Hamm3r as well to an extent.*
*B/\it: The lord speaketh! Hail the Admin!*
*FlAm3r: I’ve never heard of a hack like that. You got any deets @Admin?*
*Admin: You don’t have the funds to pay for such information. Best to leave it.*
*FlAm3r: Fuck off!*
*B/\it: LEL Flamer more like Flamed.*
Malcolm looked away from the chat as it was filled with people laughing and not much else, to focus on Motoko.
He looked over and she was still laying seemingly asleep on the chair. Completely calm. A quick check and her Cyberdeck was still just warm and not overheating her. Everything was fine.
She finished fighting the daemons, and then slipped away. Seemingly waiting to see how the runner would react.
Angrily it seems.
Hamm3r rushed towards where Motoko was. The wait seemingly getting to him as he reached the bubbling mass of his former Daemons burned into flaming puddles he looked around.
*Come out! Stop sneaking around!* He roared looking around but then. Nothing.
Motoko definitely heard him, but she wasn’t moving. Pissed, the guy summoned up another mass of Daemons, the orbs again, appearing much faster than the guys in suits, and then they sent out again. Searching.
But it was obvious to Malcolm that Hamm3r was seething.
Once a dozen of the IMPS were summoned, he stopped and started creating the larger Daemons again.
Though Malcolm noticed summoning each one was much much slower than before.
He looked towards the chat wondering if anyone would talk about it? Maybe he could get some answers.
Nothing. They were all just arguing about some random shit Malcolm had no idea what about.
So he just settled in to watch.
—--
Hamm3r I decided was really easy to piss off.
I felt a little bad for Malcolm as he was probably a bit bored, but grinding XP was not for everyone.
I was settled in a corner of the map just letting my deck stay cool, as I watched Hamm3r struggle to summon more Daemons.
Which was weird? I hadn’t done much with Daemons, besides the free code for the facehuggers that I got from the perk, but I knew the basics. Each Daemon took a certain amount of Space on your deck to summon. But in exchange you had a program backing you up. Usually with a built in hack of its own to attack with.
Some were of course specialized like my face huggers, or the IMPs that were summoned to search for me. And yeah there was a limit to how many Daemons you could run at once off a deck, but… Was Hamm3r already hitting his limit?
The last two guys hadn’t had any issues, but they had both been way more skilled than this guy.
Hamm3r was sort of outclassed. I had realized it when he had tried to breach into the system, and I hadn’t even needed to intrude for him to fail.
It was kind of embarrassing.
Still, he was angry, and doing exactly what I wanted. Summoning XP for me.
I followed an IMP as it wandered around until it was far enough away and killed it. Hell Flame ending deleting its data too quickly for it to start any hacks against me.
Once again this set off the IMPs, but I noticed instead of all charging at the last spot they gathered up with Hamm3r as he hurried towards the spot.
I considered leaving a trap, but he would see it, and that would just be a waste of heat.
It was funny but I had learned something from the last time I was here.
RAM might be mana, but the heat of your Cyberdeck was mana burn.
You can’t just go all out constantly, or you’ll burn yourself out. So I just had to balance my cooldowns, and adjust my mana spending!
Thinking about it like a game, or like how I would if I was playing a wizard or something in an MMO helped.
Besides, I had a different objective than poor Hamm3r. I was here to farm him.
When he reached the burned corpse of his IMP he found nothing.
And that made him even angrier.
The poor kid was already overheating. While he had tried to breach into the server to get the Minimap info. I had breached him back.
Something he hadn’t even noticed considering how sneaky I had been.
To my surprise though, when I breached, a lot of stuff had been blocked off by a firewall, and instead I had been given a screen just like the Minimap.
Which had things like his Cyberdecks RAM usage, and current temp.
The arena was an interesting bit of code. I was gonna have to speak to Admin about seeing under the hood. It was kinda cool.
But regardless, each Daemon he summoned cost him a chunk out of his Cyberdeck’s RAM to keep up, and it was heating him up constantly.
He wasn’t overheating himself yet, but he was getting close.
But still I didn’t approach.
I just kept poking.
His IMPs once more wandered around, this time in sets of twos, trying to track me.
He seemed distracted, instead of summoning more I noticed on the minimap the Daemons were moving with more intelligence.
I guess he decided to switch to an RTS?
Finding a pair of IMPs that were far enough away wasn’t hard, and once again I snuck up on them, and then blasted them with Hell Flame.
*250 XP Gained.*
*250 XP Gained.*
Smirking, I hurried away once again as all the Daemons rushed towards their death once again.
Poor Hamm3r.
I could hear him cussing at me through the entire arena. Digital shit talking that I just ignored.
Hamm3r tried. He loaded up more Daemons together. I killed them.
He tried staying with them, but after a while where I just didn’t do anything he split them up and tried keeping them in larger groups again.
In the end, Hamm3r started absolutely raging at me. At the lack of my appearance, or doing anything.
I noticed he stopped summoning more Daemons.
Which was the moment he rang his own deathknell. If he wasn’t going to give me more XP to farm? Then this match was over.
Slowly I came out of hiding, just approaching the man that was pissed and fiery, shouting expletives into the air.
Walking closer and closer, it was inevitable that he would notice me, even if he wasn’t looking, the digital scape wasn’t like the real world. You didn’t entirely see with just your eyes.
He jerked away from me, shocked and startled, and that was when I moved.
Sandevistan activated. A Breach jumped, and a moment later he was down, and his Daemons were burning.
*Ghost Wins!*
—--
When I reappeared in the club I was met with looks of both amusement, and irritation.
“You sure took your time!” One of them yelled out and I just shrugged, but it was a curse from behind me that caught my attention.
“Bitch!” Hamm3r was there, red in the face and really pissed. “What the fuck is wrong with you!” He demanded as he charged forward, but he stopped when Admin was suddenly there hand in front of him blocking him from advancing.
“No fighting here.” Admin demanded the older man firm and then he looked to me, and Hamm3r to make sure we both understood.
What could I say? What should I say?
I sighed, really wishing I could run a hand through my hair.
“Sorry, I was trying things out. I didn’t think of the time it might take.” I offered but Hamm3r just scoffed and flipped me off.
“Never going in a match with you again.” He threw out as he turned and headed away quickly disappearing in a log out.
“That was rather cruel of you Ghost.” Admin offered and I flinched.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I was just…” I trailed off, because how do I explain that I was hunting his Daemons?”
Admin shrugged. “It was a competition, and you just showed how time can be an advantage netrunners often don’t get the chance to take advantage of. If you continue to battle in such a way, just be aware of the effects it will have on your reputation.”
“Right.” I offered quietly.
Because honestly I probably was going to act like that as long as I was fighting someone that used Daemons.
The XP had been too good to ignore. Over 5000xp from all the Daemons in just one match!
It was a massive increase, and if not for the fact Malcolm was waiting on the line I would be tempted to throw myself into another match.
Which is probably why it was such a good thing he was here. I should cool off and take in what I learned.
“Thank you for the opportunity. This was actually very helpful.” I offered to the older netrunner and I could see him react with a blink before he formed a smile.
“Well that isn’t something I hear often. You are very welcome, Ghost.”
I nodded at that and disappeared in my own logout.
—--
“That was kinda interesting, and kinda boring.” Malcolm offered when I sat up, and I winced at the words.
“Sorry. You were really useful to have here though.”
“Hey don’t take it like that. I got to see a netrunner battle on the net, you have any idea how rare that is?”
“Is it?” I asked confused. “I mean, if that combat zone exists, then shouldn’t there be recordings?”
“Never seen one.” Malcolm replied with a shrug. “It was kinda cool though.”
“Huh.” I muttered, maybe I’d talk to Hiromi about it. Could be something interesting for the BD market? Or at least a video side of it.
I shrugged and got up stretching, feeling pretty good. A big chunk of xp always left me feeling better.
“Want to get some food?” I asked, and Malcolm nodded instantly.
“I could eat.”
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
You know since she's in Cyberspace should she be calling it "Activating overclock" instead of Sandevistan?
UberIguana
Well-known member
How long before she realises she can get higher level 'matches' and thus more XP by giving corpo servers a good poke and seeing what comes out? Maybe a bonus if she accidentally steals something valuable.
New XBD trolling idea: That time [REDACTED] stole Arakasa's entire R&D personnel roster. That one wouldn't make it to market - the Mox would know how much heat that would bring them, but Motoko not realising this before giving it to Judy seems like something she'd do.
New XBD trolling idea: That time [REDACTED] stole Arakasa's entire R&D personnel roster. That one wouldn't make it to market - the Mox would know how much heat that would bring them, but Motoko not realising this before giving it to Judy seems like something she'd do.
Chapter 176
New
Seras
Well-known member
I can’t believe this was happening.
“The Caliburn is the best!” Malcolm argued with this random gonk at the diner pointing at him with a french fry like he was going to stab him,
“Bull shit. It’s overpriced, over hyped garbage. Also it’s digital acceleration is fucking broken!”
“The fuck it is! It drives perfectly!”
“It’s complete dogshit, and you would know if you weren’t some gonk fuck street kid Rayfield fuckboy that has never been in a Caliburn.”
“Bitch I own one!” Malcolm roared standing up and I just put my head in my hands.
I just wanted lunch. I was even paying. So why couldn’t Malcolm just leave the stupid looking guy at the diners bar talking shit about the Rayfield commercial alone?
“What is your last name Arasaka or something? Bullshit lying little punk!”
“Oh I’ll fucking prove it choom, I’ll have you apologize and grovel to the best car in Night City when it arrives!” He called out, I could already see his eyes having flashed to call his Caliburn here.
Dammit Malcolm, I didn’t want to stay here all afternoon. I had…
Okay I didn’t have anything else to do, it’s not like I had a normal job, but the point stands!
In the end I just flopped my head onto the table as I waited for the car to show up, and did my best to ignore the fact that Malcolm and this random gonk would not stop fucking arguing about it.
Gearheads are the most obtuse of all super fans I decided.
Besides everyone knows the Quadra was the best.
The arguing continued and I was sure both of these idiots would have been thrown out if we weren’t the only people in the diner at the moment.
Then about twenty minutes later Malcolms Rayfield pulled into the lot.
“What the fuck.” The guy said as he had been looking out the window behind Malcolm and saw it arrive.
“Hah! Get ready to weep choom, because I do own a Caliburn!” Malcolm crowed out his Victory as he sauntered out the door and walked up to the car. The door opened at his approach.
“No fucking way.”
“Way.” I answered as I rose up and threw some eddies at the owner for the food. I walked out and Malcolm was leaning up against the car with a cocky grin staring at the windows of the diner.
“Malcolm, your ego is showing.” I muttered as I walked past him to my Quadra. Right next to the rather modded out Quadra Sport R-7.
I had a feeling I knew the other guy's choice in vehicles.
“Alright choom. Alright. You win on this one. You’re daddy certainly has a lot of eddies.” The other guy calls out, and that just sets Malcolm off.
“Fuck you! This is my car you gonk bitch!”
“Yeah, I doubt it kid. How about we prove it. A nice little race, my R-7 and your Rayfield, you know how to drive that thing don’t you?”
“Course I do!” Malcolm said knowing damn well that he didn’t. I sighed as the two boys got into an argument that led to me sitting in the Rayfield next to Malcolm as he squeezed the steering wheel tightly. The R-7 was beside us, engine rumbling as we waited for the light to change.
“I turned on launch control. I’m gonna blow this gonk fucker away.” Malcolm muttered and I hummed a bit.
I had a feeling Malcolm was about to get left in the dust.
“Just don’t risk your car for a race that doesn’t matter.”
“It’ll be fine Motoko! Just trust me!”
I very specifically tugged on the seatbelt reminding him I was wearing it.
“Fuck off.” He grumbled, but then he focused up.
The lights were changing, The R-7 rumbled its engine and I instantly knew what was about to happen.
The Rayfield’s launch control relied on the engine being idle before it activated.
Instantly Malcolm, rumbled his engine back, The Turbo charged V10 of the Caliburn roared up, and the launch control activated trying to launch the car at the same time as the brake was held down, then the light changed. The R-7 was gone, burning rubber off the street line, as Malcolms Caliburn sputtered forward and nearly stalled out, before he managed to adjust it and take off.
“No no no no!” He howled as he roared after, but the R-7 was modded and it was obvious that Malcolm wouldn’t catch up before they hit the next light.
“That… Was both very smart, and an asshole move.” I mentioned as I considered how much car knowledge it took to do that kind of shit.
“I don’t want to hear it!” Malcolm snapped as he continued trying to catch up, but by the time we got anywhere near the R-7 it was already slowing down after the next light and pulling over. Then Malcolm pulled in behind the R-7, and jumped out
“What the fuck!” He yelled at the guy that was also, stepping out, with a cocky grin.
“What? You got smoked kid. Better learn to use Daddys car before trying to race it.”
“You fucking asshole!”
“Hey Malcolm, chill.” I demanded as I hurried around the car and grabbed him. Malcolm was seething, looking like he was going to throw fists over this.
“Hey brats. Watch yourself, or else.” The man demanded and I stilled.
Turning around I saw the man holding a gun in his hand having drawn it.
The Nova he was using to intimidate a couple of brat kids. Okay. At this point in time the guy had passed over the realm of acceptable conduct.
He forced Malcolm into a race, tricked him, and then when Malcolm was pissed pulled a gun despite Malcolm not being anywhere near him.
It took half a second to turn his gun into a nice paperweight as my eyes flashed into hacking the damn thing, and then I pushed Malcolm back and stalked forward.
“What? You some crazy bitch? Don’t think I-Hey!” He yelped as I continued to approach, he aimed the gun at my center mass and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Which is right when I grabbed his outstretched wrist, twisted, pulled, unbalanced him and launched my other fist right into his face.
Ignoring the scream from inside of his date I enjoyed the moment as he crashed into the asphalt.
“Fuck you asshole.” I said simply as I turned back to Malcolm. Malcolm who looked a little conflicted.
“I really wanted to do that.”
“Eh, you shouldn’t have tried to punch him for tricking you. That was a dick move, but acceptable. Live and learn. But some gonk pulling a gun is a different story. C’mon let’s get out of here.”
Malcolm didn’t move at first. The guy cursed and thrashed as he rose back to his feet, blood pouring down his nose, but eventually Malcolm scoffed and smirked and walked back to the Caliburn.
Then we were off.
“Satisfied?” I asked as he floored it past the R-7 and the fucker.
“No. Not at all actually. I… I got tricked like a fucking gonk, and it’s my fault.”
“Mistakes happen.” I said as comfortingly as I could.
“I just… I feel like a fucking gonk. I should have known better.”
“Experience is important… Why don’t you start racing and stuff. Practice it I mean?” I remembered there were races all over the place.
Didn’t I get invited to a race once? I vaguely recall it happening.
“Maybe I will! Thanks Motoko. For… You know, backing me up.”
“No problem.”
—--
It was kinda weird, but I felt a bit bored.
I had spent some more time once I got home fixing up the Tachikoma AI some more. It was growing as well as it could, but honestly I was just bored.
I considered calling up Wakako for a gig, but the idea struck me as I was looking out the window and I made a decision.
Getting dressed, arming up I headed out grabbing a bit of my secondary kit. I dragged my armor kit with me to the car but didn’t put it on yet.
Then after a quick drive across the city, I walked down the steps into the Afterlife. The pounding music, the Edgerunners all working and planning and plotting. I smiled and ended up settling at the bar.
Then I just waited for a while. Idly I continued to do some more programming work, just some leftover stuff from Yoko as I waited for time to pass.
I was sucking a soda through a straw the bartender had given me when it happened. The whole room went electric, everyone looked up from what they were doing.
Rogue arrived. Just like last time she strode through the bar like she was Queen and the rest of us mere mortals. Groups of edgerunners hurried after her, looking for work, and then either rushed back to their little teams, or started calling out for additional skills.
Then a call came out and I knew I had to accept.
“I need an infiltrator!” The call went out and I turned to look.
Black man, punk style, big trench coat. I nodded. Rising up I decided to avoid all the difficulty with my age.
A slight adjustment, and when I spoke a much more mature, sexier voice came out.
“I can cover that.” I called and his eyes turned to me. They instantly glowed as he scanned, but for some reason despite my age, he didn’t hesitate to nod at me. “Names Bishop. Give me a minute.”
Then he turned right around to talk to Rogue. Two minutes later he came out and jerked his head to follow.
I sauntered after, towards the side room right near the entrance. The tables were mostly empty as it was still midday, but a group of edgerunners were already gathered up.
They looked me over at the same time I looked them all over.
They were an eclectic group.
One guy was in a business suit. He reminded me of Hiromi’s dad. Only this guy was armed considering the bulge in his jacket. Also his arms were definitely Mantis Blades. He looked up as Bishop walked over and then looked at me.
Instantly his eyes flashed, and I could tell he was scanning me.
I looked away and at the rest of the group. If he wanted to scan before introductions that was fine.
The next woman was… wild.
A tattered T-shirt showed her bra at multiple points. The image of shark teeth on the front of the shirt looked unique. Maybe something she had made herself? Her jacket was a pretty standard Street Samurai coat, the sort of thing game V always wore, but the big case next to her was definitely her weapon.
The last was another guy. TC? He reminded me of it. Even had a Katana at his hip. His hair reminded me of Juns, only it wasn’t fire, and instead some electronic effect. He gave me a once over and didn’t say anything, nor did he give off any emotion. Simply observing.
“Alright. This is Motoko. She’s an infiltrator. Rogue approved so she’s on the team for the gig. Introduce yourself.” Bishop seemed to order as he looked over the grouping.
“Samuel Perry.” The corpo introduced himself, and then he looked to Bishop. “Are you sure? She’s young.”
“She’s also here.” Bishop waved a hand as if it didn’t matter. “Rogue vouches for her. That’s that.”
“Very well. I’m the one that handles diplomacy and my former employment with Militech left me with plenty of contacts.” He introduced himself with a casual air, but his eyes were sharp, always staring at me.
“Call me Mira. I’m the sharpshooter.” She said, all teeth, which I then noticed were shark teeth.
Bit on the nose, but okay.
“Hakase.” The Street Samurai introduced but then an echoing void came up after. Luckily Bishop spoke up.
“He doesn’t talk much, but he’s damn good with that blade.”
“I can tell.” I answered, giving the man a look over. “I’m Motoko. I’m an infiltrator, but I’m also a solo, and Netrunner. I look forward to working with you.”
“Jeeze, where did you find this kid?” Mira called out but I wasn’t really bothered. It’s hard to be insulted by someone you don’t know, and don’t care what their opinion of you is.
“Right, let’s get down to it. Two days ago a Kang Tao scientist jumped ship. He is trying to sell some info for protection to the corps, obviously Kang Tao isn’t letting this go, but that isn’t our concern. Rogue wants the guy gathered up, the info is Rogues to sell as far as she’s concerned.” Bishop spoke with a confident cadence, and his crew all nodded in understanding.
No confusion, no hesitation. They had worked together for a long time then.
“The problem comes in the pick up. The guy is hiding out in a high end apartment building here in City Central. Normally not an issue, but our target wasn't entirely stupid. He hired some animals for protection.”
Bishop handed over a shard, first to Samuel, the corp who plugged it in looked it over for a few minutes and nodded, frowning a bit. Then to Mira who barely glanced at the shard before tossing it to Hakase.
He looked it over for a while before handing it to me.
Inside I understood. It was details about the building, the target, and some information about the animals protecting him, and why this was a problem.
Squad of twenty animals had locked down the top floor of this apartment building. From a tiny clip of camera footage that was on it, it showed the animals carrying LMG’s checking the elevator every time it stopped on that floor.
The place was locked down, and somehow we had to extract the guy in charge.
“So can you get to the security system? We’ll need a distraction while we get up in the elevator.” Bishop asked and I nodded idly as I looked through things.
“You plan on going in guns blazing?” I asked, and the team nodded confidently. “Then I can definitely get you onto the top floor, can probably blind and disable the elevator guards as well remotely.”
“You weren’t kidding about being a netrunner huh?” Mira asked, and I shook my head.
“No, I’m pretty good. Not elite tier, but good. Only issue is if the security is protected by a netrunner as well. I don’t see any information if the Animals brought one, or if the hotel has one on site.”
“We don’t know, so we go in with a blank spot. Will that stop you from infiltrating and getting us up there?”
“No.” I answered back. I could do that even if there was a security runner, but something caught my eye.
“Hang on. Why don’t we skip the elevator entirely.”
“I’m not walking up twenty stories.” Mira denied instantly and I smiled as I shook my head.
“Not what I mean. North east side of the building, there’s some heating units sticking out, should be an easy climb up to the top floor. Quieter than using the elevator.”
“Let me see.” Bishop called, and I popped out the shard and handed it back over. He slotted it and started examining the data, going over it much longer than the first time.
Then slowly he nodded.
“Could work. Would leave the initial arrival a lot less dicey.”
“Aww I like Dicey.” Mira mocked, and then Samuel was handed the shard to look as Bishop popped it out.
“Doable I suppose. Doesn’t really change much. We still need the security opened so we can use the elevator.”
“The elevator, is a E6-551. It’s got a backdoor by default. I’ll be able to unlock the elevator even without touching security. Although I’ll still need to infiltrate, unless you want NCPD arriving at the sound of gunfire.”
“We don’t.” Bishop confirmed.
“Then I’ll head in and shut down the silent alarms as planned, get you elevator access. Might be able to join you if you like?” I offered, but Bishop shook his head.
“Better to stay with the security and pull netrunner shit from there.”
I considered arguing, but shrugged. “Sure.” Bishop’s group was his group, and I was intruding. Better not to push it.
With that settled the group started moving.
“The Caliburn is the best!” Malcolm argued with this random gonk at the diner pointing at him with a french fry like he was going to stab him,
“Bull shit. It’s overpriced, over hyped garbage. Also it’s digital acceleration is fucking broken!”
“The fuck it is! It drives perfectly!”
“It’s complete dogshit, and you would know if you weren’t some gonk fuck street kid Rayfield fuckboy that has never been in a Caliburn.”
“Bitch I own one!” Malcolm roared standing up and I just put my head in my hands.
I just wanted lunch. I was even paying. So why couldn’t Malcolm just leave the stupid looking guy at the diners bar talking shit about the Rayfield commercial alone?
“What is your last name Arasaka or something? Bullshit lying little punk!”
“Oh I’ll fucking prove it choom, I’ll have you apologize and grovel to the best car in Night City when it arrives!” He called out, I could already see his eyes having flashed to call his Caliburn here.
Dammit Malcolm, I didn’t want to stay here all afternoon. I had…
Okay I didn’t have anything else to do, it’s not like I had a normal job, but the point stands!
In the end I just flopped my head onto the table as I waited for the car to show up, and did my best to ignore the fact that Malcolm and this random gonk would not stop fucking arguing about it.
Gearheads are the most obtuse of all super fans I decided.
Besides everyone knows the Quadra was the best.
The arguing continued and I was sure both of these idiots would have been thrown out if we weren’t the only people in the diner at the moment.
Then about twenty minutes later Malcolms Rayfield pulled into the lot.
“What the fuck.” The guy said as he had been looking out the window behind Malcolm and saw it arrive.
“Hah! Get ready to weep choom, because I do own a Caliburn!” Malcolm crowed out his Victory as he sauntered out the door and walked up to the car. The door opened at his approach.
“No fucking way.”
“Way.” I answered as I rose up and threw some eddies at the owner for the food. I walked out and Malcolm was leaning up against the car with a cocky grin staring at the windows of the diner.
“Malcolm, your ego is showing.” I muttered as I walked past him to my Quadra. Right next to the rather modded out Quadra Sport R-7.
I had a feeling I knew the other guy's choice in vehicles.
“Alright choom. Alright. You win on this one. You’re daddy certainly has a lot of eddies.” The other guy calls out, and that just sets Malcolm off.
“Fuck you! This is my car you gonk bitch!”
“Yeah, I doubt it kid. How about we prove it. A nice little race, my R-7 and your Rayfield, you know how to drive that thing don’t you?”
“Course I do!” Malcolm said knowing damn well that he didn’t. I sighed as the two boys got into an argument that led to me sitting in the Rayfield next to Malcolm as he squeezed the steering wheel tightly. The R-7 was beside us, engine rumbling as we waited for the light to change.
“I turned on launch control. I’m gonna blow this gonk fucker away.” Malcolm muttered and I hummed a bit.
I had a feeling Malcolm was about to get left in the dust.
“Just don’t risk your car for a race that doesn’t matter.”
“It’ll be fine Motoko! Just trust me!”
I very specifically tugged on the seatbelt reminding him I was wearing it.
“Fuck off.” He grumbled, but then he focused up.
The lights were changing, The R-7 rumbled its engine and I instantly knew what was about to happen.
The Rayfield’s launch control relied on the engine being idle before it activated.
Instantly Malcolm, rumbled his engine back, The Turbo charged V10 of the Caliburn roared up, and the launch control activated trying to launch the car at the same time as the brake was held down, then the light changed. The R-7 was gone, burning rubber off the street line, as Malcolms Caliburn sputtered forward and nearly stalled out, before he managed to adjust it and take off.
“No no no no!” He howled as he roared after, but the R-7 was modded and it was obvious that Malcolm wouldn’t catch up before they hit the next light.
“That… Was both very smart, and an asshole move.” I mentioned as I considered how much car knowledge it took to do that kind of shit.
“I don’t want to hear it!” Malcolm snapped as he continued trying to catch up, but by the time we got anywhere near the R-7 it was already slowing down after the next light and pulling over. Then Malcolm pulled in behind the R-7, and jumped out
“What the fuck!” He yelled at the guy that was also, stepping out, with a cocky grin.
“What? You got smoked kid. Better learn to use Daddys car before trying to race it.”
“You fucking asshole!”
“Hey Malcolm, chill.” I demanded as I hurried around the car and grabbed him. Malcolm was seething, looking like he was going to throw fists over this.
“Hey brats. Watch yourself, or else.” The man demanded and I stilled.
Turning around I saw the man holding a gun in his hand having drawn it.
The Nova he was using to intimidate a couple of brat kids. Okay. At this point in time the guy had passed over the realm of acceptable conduct.
He forced Malcolm into a race, tricked him, and then when Malcolm was pissed pulled a gun despite Malcolm not being anywhere near him.
It took half a second to turn his gun into a nice paperweight as my eyes flashed into hacking the damn thing, and then I pushed Malcolm back and stalked forward.
“What? You some crazy bitch? Don’t think I-Hey!” He yelped as I continued to approach, he aimed the gun at my center mass and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Which is right when I grabbed his outstretched wrist, twisted, pulled, unbalanced him and launched my other fist right into his face.
Ignoring the scream from inside of his date I enjoyed the moment as he crashed into the asphalt.
“Fuck you asshole.” I said simply as I turned back to Malcolm. Malcolm who looked a little conflicted.
“I really wanted to do that.”
“Eh, you shouldn’t have tried to punch him for tricking you. That was a dick move, but acceptable. Live and learn. But some gonk pulling a gun is a different story. C’mon let’s get out of here.”
Malcolm didn’t move at first. The guy cursed and thrashed as he rose back to his feet, blood pouring down his nose, but eventually Malcolm scoffed and smirked and walked back to the Caliburn.
Then we were off.
“Satisfied?” I asked as he floored it past the R-7 and the fucker.
“No. Not at all actually. I… I got tricked like a fucking gonk, and it’s my fault.”
“Mistakes happen.” I said as comfortingly as I could.
“I just… I feel like a fucking gonk. I should have known better.”
“Experience is important… Why don’t you start racing and stuff. Practice it I mean?” I remembered there were races all over the place.
Didn’t I get invited to a race once? I vaguely recall it happening.
“Maybe I will! Thanks Motoko. For… You know, backing me up.”
“No problem.”
—--
It was kinda weird, but I felt a bit bored.
I had spent some more time once I got home fixing up the Tachikoma AI some more. It was growing as well as it could, but honestly I was just bored.
I considered calling up Wakako for a gig, but the idea struck me as I was looking out the window and I made a decision.
Getting dressed, arming up I headed out grabbing a bit of my secondary kit. I dragged my armor kit with me to the car but didn’t put it on yet.
Then after a quick drive across the city, I walked down the steps into the Afterlife. The pounding music, the Edgerunners all working and planning and plotting. I smiled and ended up settling at the bar.
Then I just waited for a while. Idly I continued to do some more programming work, just some leftover stuff from Yoko as I waited for time to pass.
I was sucking a soda through a straw the bartender had given me when it happened. The whole room went electric, everyone looked up from what they were doing.
Rogue arrived. Just like last time she strode through the bar like she was Queen and the rest of us mere mortals. Groups of edgerunners hurried after her, looking for work, and then either rushed back to their little teams, or started calling out for additional skills.
Then a call came out and I knew I had to accept.
“I need an infiltrator!” The call went out and I turned to look.
Black man, punk style, big trench coat. I nodded. Rising up I decided to avoid all the difficulty with my age.
A slight adjustment, and when I spoke a much more mature, sexier voice came out.
“I can cover that.” I called and his eyes turned to me. They instantly glowed as he scanned, but for some reason despite my age, he didn’t hesitate to nod at me. “Names Bishop. Give me a minute.”
Then he turned right around to talk to Rogue. Two minutes later he came out and jerked his head to follow.
I sauntered after, towards the side room right near the entrance. The tables were mostly empty as it was still midday, but a group of edgerunners were already gathered up.
They looked me over at the same time I looked them all over.
They were an eclectic group.
One guy was in a business suit. He reminded me of Hiromi’s dad. Only this guy was armed considering the bulge in his jacket. Also his arms were definitely Mantis Blades. He looked up as Bishop walked over and then looked at me.
Instantly his eyes flashed, and I could tell he was scanning me.
I looked away and at the rest of the group. If he wanted to scan before introductions that was fine.
The next woman was… wild.
A tattered T-shirt showed her bra at multiple points. The image of shark teeth on the front of the shirt looked unique. Maybe something she had made herself? Her jacket was a pretty standard Street Samurai coat, the sort of thing game V always wore, but the big case next to her was definitely her weapon.
The last was another guy. TC? He reminded me of it. Even had a Katana at his hip. His hair reminded me of Juns, only it wasn’t fire, and instead some electronic effect. He gave me a once over and didn’t say anything, nor did he give off any emotion. Simply observing.
“Alright. This is Motoko. She’s an infiltrator. Rogue approved so she’s on the team for the gig. Introduce yourself.” Bishop seemed to order as he looked over the grouping.
“Samuel Perry.” The corpo introduced himself, and then he looked to Bishop. “Are you sure? She’s young.”
“She’s also here.” Bishop waved a hand as if it didn’t matter. “Rogue vouches for her. That’s that.”
“Very well. I’m the one that handles diplomacy and my former employment with Militech left me with plenty of contacts.” He introduced himself with a casual air, but his eyes were sharp, always staring at me.
“Call me Mira. I’m the sharpshooter.” She said, all teeth, which I then noticed were shark teeth.
Bit on the nose, but okay.
“Hakase.” The Street Samurai introduced but then an echoing void came up after. Luckily Bishop spoke up.
“He doesn’t talk much, but he’s damn good with that blade.”
“I can tell.” I answered, giving the man a look over. “I’m Motoko. I’m an infiltrator, but I’m also a solo, and Netrunner. I look forward to working with you.”
“Jeeze, where did you find this kid?” Mira called out but I wasn’t really bothered. It’s hard to be insulted by someone you don’t know, and don’t care what their opinion of you is.
“Right, let’s get down to it. Two days ago a Kang Tao scientist jumped ship. He is trying to sell some info for protection to the corps, obviously Kang Tao isn’t letting this go, but that isn’t our concern. Rogue wants the guy gathered up, the info is Rogues to sell as far as she’s concerned.” Bishop spoke with a confident cadence, and his crew all nodded in understanding.
No confusion, no hesitation. They had worked together for a long time then.
“The problem comes in the pick up. The guy is hiding out in a high end apartment building here in City Central. Normally not an issue, but our target wasn't entirely stupid. He hired some animals for protection.”
Bishop handed over a shard, first to Samuel, the corp who plugged it in looked it over for a few minutes and nodded, frowning a bit. Then to Mira who barely glanced at the shard before tossing it to Hakase.
He looked it over for a while before handing it to me.
Inside I understood. It was details about the building, the target, and some information about the animals protecting him, and why this was a problem.
Squad of twenty animals had locked down the top floor of this apartment building. From a tiny clip of camera footage that was on it, it showed the animals carrying LMG’s checking the elevator every time it stopped on that floor.
The place was locked down, and somehow we had to extract the guy in charge.
“So can you get to the security system? We’ll need a distraction while we get up in the elevator.” Bishop asked and I nodded idly as I looked through things.
“You plan on going in guns blazing?” I asked, and the team nodded confidently. “Then I can definitely get you onto the top floor, can probably blind and disable the elevator guards as well remotely.”
“You weren’t kidding about being a netrunner huh?” Mira asked, and I shook my head.
“No, I’m pretty good. Not elite tier, but good. Only issue is if the security is protected by a netrunner as well. I don’t see any information if the Animals brought one, or if the hotel has one on site.”
“We don’t know, so we go in with a blank spot. Will that stop you from infiltrating and getting us up there?”
“No.” I answered back. I could do that even if there was a security runner, but something caught my eye.
“Hang on. Why don’t we skip the elevator entirely.”
“I’m not walking up twenty stories.” Mira denied instantly and I smiled as I shook my head.
“Not what I mean. North east side of the building, there’s some heating units sticking out, should be an easy climb up to the top floor. Quieter than using the elevator.”
“Let me see.” Bishop called, and I popped out the shard and handed it back over. He slotted it and started examining the data, going over it much longer than the first time.
Then slowly he nodded.
“Could work. Would leave the initial arrival a lot less dicey.”
“Aww I like Dicey.” Mira mocked, and then Samuel was handed the shard to look as Bishop popped it out.
“Doable I suppose. Doesn’t really change much. We still need the security opened so we can use the elevator.”
“The elevator, is a E6-551. It’s got a backdoor by default. I’ll be able to unlock the elevator even without touching security. Although I’ll still need to infiltrate, unless you want NCPD arriving at the sound of gunfire.”
“We don’t.” Bishop confirmed.
“Then I’ll head in and shut down the silent alarms as planned, get you elevator access. Might be able to join you if you like?” I offered, but Bishop shook his head.
“Better to stay with the security and pull netrunner shit from there.”
I considered arguing, but shrugged. “Sure.” Bishop’s group was his group, and I was intruding. Better not to push it.
With that settled the group started moving.
Rest of the group dies in a tragic traffic accident and Toko has to finish the gig solo calling it now.
UberIguana
Well-known member
When I read the first part my first thought was that Malcolm was being set up for some sort of con. Considering they're a bunch of kids with money to throw around I'm actually a little surprised how few attempts there have been at that.
Seras
Well-known member
It kinda was in a way. I mean, if the guy had flatlined Malcolm, do you think he wouldn't move on to stealing his extremely expensive car?
Blasterbot
Well-known member
Malcolm >nuhuh my car is better than your car
Gonk >no it isn't that car is super expensive and a gonk like you could never afford it you poor person
Motorolla >this is bait and only a gonk would fall for it. my choom please don't be a gonk
Malcolm >see I do have a super expensive awesome car you gonk
Gonk > hey kid wanna race for totally not nefarious reasons?
Malcolm >DO I?
Motorola > Malcolm no.
Malcolm > Malcolm Yes!
Motorolla > my chooms are all gonks...
Gonk >no it isn't that car is super expensive and a gonk like you could never afford it you poor person
Motorolla >this is bait and only a gonk would fall for it. my choom please don't be a gonk
Malcolm >see I do have a super expensive awesome car you gonk
Gonk > hey kid wanna race for totally not nefarious reasons?
Malcolm >DO I?
Motorola > Malcolm no.
Malcolm > Malcolm Yes!
Motorolla > my chooms are all gonks...
Nice to see Malcolm get some screentime, but he totally should have let Motoko drive 
Nice to see Motoko-chan finally get an Afterlife gig. This is going to be easy! What could possibly go wrong! It'll be a cakewalk, totally not worthy of an XBD! Why is everybody glaring at me?
Nice to see Motoko-chan finally get an Afterlife gig. This is going to be easy! What could possibly go wrong! It'll be a cakewalk, totally not worthy of an XBD! Why is everybody glaring at me?
Chapter 177
New
Seras
Well-known member
The security on the hotel wasn’t impressive. Pressing myself against the rear door as the camera swiveled above me, I took a few seconds to breach the security pad, I knew the design, and I knew how to get through without problems.
They all had a factory default admin code from the producers.
I entered it and it popped the door open without even needing to breach it.
Sliding inside, I ducked down and hurried down the hall, the large window that had a staff break room didn’t even see me as I moved right past.
The security room was three doors down, and I made it without seeing anyone.
Security here was tougher, whoever had set up the secure room knew what they were doing.
Unfortunately, the security guy was probably from ten or more years ago and long since fired.
The security panel was top of the line about that long ago. I hit the button on the bottom of the panel, flipped it open, licked my fingers and pressed against two of the wire ports.
A zip went through my arm, and the door popped open.
Security, security never changes.
Flipping the panel closed again, I slipped inside, and pushed the sliding door closed. Then as the room was empty I walked over to the rolly chair and slipped inside.
*I’m in the security room. Giving you all credentials now. Go ahead and move towards the elevator.* I spoke into the call that all of us were in.
I did a few checks to find out if there was a netrunner connected to the system, but after nothing pinged me back I relaxed, mostly.
Time to get to work. Entering in elevator credentials was super easy, something done hundreds of times a week.
I easily added the group in, and then started accessing the rest of the system. Locking down any NCPD alerts that would be sent out was almost childs play. It was literally on a toggle. I guess the hotel owner wanted to be able to ensure that sometimes his residents weren’t able to call for help through the hotel security.
Moving on I accessed the camera system, and hooked in.
I was the eye in the sky, looking through the camera system on the top floor. The animals were still wandering around, most of them were doing a pretty good job on keeping watch, but at least half were fucking around. One was working out, pumping a dumbbell, another was making a sandwich.
It worked for me. Made it easier.
*Pinging all enemy locations now. Please let me know if there are any optical glitches.* I spoke into the call and then sent a ping through. The golden lights were a bit weird from my perspective, considering I was so many floors below, but it would look fine for the team.
*Wait, each of these lines is an Animal?* Mira asked, suddenly sounding eager.
*Or the target, he is on the security channel with the Animals as well.*
*Huh.*
*Never worked with a runner before Mira?* Sam asked over the line and I heard her scoff in return.
Then it went silent, as I watched through the cameras as they accessed the elevator.
*Straight run to floor 19, best access point looks like room 196. It’s empty at the moment, door is unlocked.* I mentioned, as I prepped their path forward. Then I had nothing else to do but focus on the top floor.
Switching between the different cameras I checked where all of the Animals were located as best I could.
Unfortunately there weren’t a lot of cameras to access up there.
Instead I started getting things ready.
Weapon Glitch uploaded and sent, letting it bounce around the animals up there. Preparing for the eventual gun fight.
Then I waited. I lost the team on cameras, so I just followed them with what I knew of their route.
Waiting wasn’t fun, but it was what I had to do. I was the woman in the chair this time. It was an interesting experience, but I didn’t much like it.
The sound of a gunshot coming through the camera meant it was time.
I dropped the Short Circuit into the group, and watched multiple Animals fall over.
Waiting, I saw Hakase for a moment, his Katana shining as it cut through an Animal like butter.
Then it was basically over. I watched on the elevator camera as they dragged an unconscious man into the elevator, and then they were down. The Animals were injured, dead, or still being shocked prone.
I quickly cleared footage, deleting the entire days recordings, and left a small apology message for the netrunner they would bring in to find out what happened.
Then I disconnected from the system and walked back out the way I came. Hitting the alley, I jogged down a bit and slid into my Quadra.
*I’m out.* I confirmed into the line, and started driving. The meeting place after was the Afterlife.
—--
I got there first, which wasn’t a shock. They had to drop off the package for Rogue to pick up. Waiting for only ten minutes was no big deal when finally Bishop and his crew came sauntering down the steps. Swagger on full blast.
“Gig complete!” He called out as he walked past the bar, and grabbed a bottle of Brosef that the bartender passed him, then another couple for each member in his gig.
Then Bishop walked over and stood on top of a table bottle in the air.
I was kinda curious about what was going on as he raised the bottle up, his team mimicking him.
“To another gig! To survival for another day! For another blaze of glory!”
“To another!” His team repeated at the end, and I watched on a little discomforted.
Edgerunners.
But I was alone. The other edgerunners around us raised glasses, or clapped a few times at his announcement, a few even wolf whistled.
This was the culture that I missed out on, that I never really understood. To these men and women, it wasn’t a celebration of their life, but that the gig didn’t have the blaze big enough to end them.
That they could go on to bigger things.
That was what I picked up from them, and this group I had just met that I barely knew… I felt so completely apart from them it was almost enough to make me nauseous.
“And there is our newest assistant! Infiltrator!” Bishop called out, and the team looked at me as I spun slowly around on the bar stool, a soda in my hand. “You do good work.” Bishop decided, finally stepping down from the table and walking over with his team.
“Thanks.” I offered back, sipping my drink again.
“I’ll be straight with you. You handled everything perfectly, no complaints from me. I ran it past the group, and we wouldn’t mind running another gig or two with you. See how you fit, if you’d like to join more full time.”
I blinked at the offer, glanced over at the faces of the other members, I only saw a smattering of respect.
I was young, but they acknowledged I had done the job.
“I appreciate it. I wouldn’t mind backing you up in the future, but I don’t think I'm really a joiner.” I decided. “I have my own crew that I work with usually. Today was just me being bored and deciding to earn some eddies rather than be lazy on the couch.” I explained honestly.
Bishop blinked his glowing eyes flickering for a moment before he chuckled.
“You hear that? The infiltrator takes gigs to not be bored.”
“Well damn, I can’t blame her. Sneaking into a comfy office and watching through the cameras must be a real preem gig. Kinda wish I was a runner now.” Mira offered, but it was joking, she smiled toothily, which I returned in kind.
“It was an easy gig for an infiltrator, but it could have taken much longer, and been more difficult for the rest of us.” Samuel the corp offered nodding towards me, as he raised his Brosef taking a seat a few down the bar. “To long developed skills.”
I raised my drink in exchange. “To no doubt dealing with really annoying people on the daily. I don’t envy your skills.” I sent back and the previously cold man, broke into a smirk at my words.
“See at least someone acknowledges the difficulty of working with people.”
“Oh God, don’t get him started. He’ll whine for hours about all the assholes and make us listen to it.” Mira begged.
And slowly the group melded into the bar, and I realized why on the flipside why Edgerunners were what everyone wanted to be.
There were few friendships stronger than those forged in the heat of combat.
“So what’s with all the chrome anyways? No Realskinn?” Mira asked a few minutes later as the conversation turned to everyone simply chattering about the gig. I had thought about leaving, but I was being included enough that it felt nice.
“I like chrome.”
“Gross. Should get some Bioware! You’d look great as… A lizard maybe? Get some scales? Oh no! I know, maybe a wolf, there is something lovely about a cute wolf girl!” Mira gushed and I realized with horror what she was.
“Exotic!” I snapped finger pointing, she didn’t just have shark teeth as an aesthetic choice, but because she was one of them!
“Heh? Yeah duh? Didn’t the teeth clue you in.”
“No! Ugh.” I groaned as I remembered the stupid Exotic club, and the failed gig. How annoying that had been. I had been forced to watch that club for hours trying to find a way in!
“Oooh? You got a problem with Exotics?”
“It’s so annoying! Can’t hack them, can’t stealth by them unless you do something about scent. They tend to have upgraded bioeyes, so even normal stealth isn’t as good. Again, you can’t blind them with a quick hack! It’s so frustrating!” I whined and looked at her, eyes meeting hers with a glare.
Her own glare went from harsh to blinking in surprise and then fighting back a smirk.
“Wait… So you don’t like exotics cause-”
“Cause they are so hard to stealth around! I had a gig I failed because it involved an exotic bar that I couldn’t infiltrate! I ended up having to call Regina and tell her I couldn’t do it. Never heard from her again.”
“Wait. The Lions Den?”
“Don’t remind me! I spent so long trying to find a way in!”
“Pfft! Ahahaha!” She broke into laughter and I glared at her, but she didn’t care and just laughed harder.
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s hilarious! Okay! Okay! You are officially invited, you should join me at the Den sometime. You’re a bit young, but fuck it, you’re an Afterlife merc. You should enjoy yourself. I have to bring you around, and tell everyone!”
“Hell no.”
“Aww c’mon it’s great! So many people to pet!”
“Mira, lay off. The kid’s a teenager.”
“So? There are kid’s her age that are Exotic!”
“You know that wasn’t what you were offering.” Bishop responded rolling his eyes, and I just huffed.
“If I ever have to sneak in, I’ll remember you.”
“Hah! Good luck. We got some great security… As you know!” She cackled teeth flashing wide.
Tsk!
—--
Back home with a fresh pocketful of eddies, I realized that my sense of money was skewed.
I had been given a couple grand of eddies, not a bad payout I think? But for me it was kinda light for a full gig.
If it had been Section 9, the weapons, and equipment the Animals had ‘left’ behind would have been another couple grand easy.
But that was fine. We were a bit different, more willing to scrounge for the eddies. I had a feeling it wasn’t considered ‘cool’ to do that sort of thing.
I shrugged. I didn’t care about being thought of as cool, as long as people know I wasn’t someone they could fuck with.
Home again, I noticed Jun wasn’t home, and I was once again feeling bored. Grabbing my guitar I strummed a few notes thinking about what to play.
I was feeling pretty mellow, something chill…
Fingers started strumming and I smiled as I heard the notes. I knew what to play.
“Underneath the bridge. Tarp has sprung a leak. And the animals I’ve trapped. Have all become my pets.” I mumbled aloud, as I just let myself remember another Nirvana song.
‘Something in the Way’ was very simple, but it just… Felt nice.
I played through the song once, and then just let it trail off.
“Need to actually record that… And the rest of the Nirvana songs.” I hummed a bit, a familiar refrain and I laughed as I decided I might as well.
I grabbed my music box, plugged it all in, and started working. My Cyberdeck handled the cutting and editing of the tracks, adjusting the sound levels as I sang and sang and sang.
—--
“No, I don’t have a gun! No, I don’t have a guuuun!” Come as you are belted out with all the emotion I could pack into the song continued on. Every riff was locked into my brain, burned into my memories and the emotions I remember with every sung word coming out as heavily as I could.
Which is when the door opened.
“Sorry.” Jun greeted me as I stopped mid word.
“That’s okay. Welcome home!” I greeted as I stretched, but then I looked over and frowned. “Jun?”
“It’s nothing Imouto.” He responded back, but I could tell he wasn’t okay. I rose up and padded after him, as he went to the fridge and grabbed some food, and he rolled his eyes as he noticed me looking at him. “It’s just Yuto, I tried calling him, and haven’t heard from him… I’m worried he’s doing something stupid.” He tells me and I relax.
“Oh okay then.” I moved away, if it was just worry about his choom that wasn’t something I could really help with. I headed back to the couch, and picked up my guitar might as well finish the song, when Jun settled in.
“That tune… You played it before right? A long time ago. You’ve improved a lot.”
“It… Yeah, I’ve gotten a lot better. Figured it all out basically.” I muttered, feeling my ears redden, Jun remembered me playing badly!
He laughed at my embarrassment and then settled onto the couch, but I could see that he wasn’t relaxing, his eyes flashed as he was making calls.
So I did my best not to disturb him, focusing on editing some tracks and getting it right.
I had finished Something in the Way. So maybe I’ll play that for Jun once he was done?
But before I could jump into it, Jun stood up with a sigh, and started leaving.
“Jun?” I asked, but he didn’t say anything just dropping a heavy hand on my head to reassure me, before heading right back out.
It was going to be one of those days then huh?
Jun left, and I got back to it.
They all had a factory default admin code from the producers.
I entered it and it popped the door open without even needing to breach it.
Sliding inside, I ducked down and hurried down the hall, the large window that had a staff break room didn’t even see me as I moved right past.
The security room was three doors down, and I made it without seeing anyone.
Security here was tougher, whoever had set up the secure room knew what they were doing.
Unfortunately, the security guy was probably from ten or more years ago and long since fired.
The security panel was top of the line about that long ago. I hit the button on the bottom of the panel, flipped it open, licked my fingers and pressed against two of the wire ports.
A zip went through my arm, and the door popped open.
Security, security never changes.
Flipping the panel closed again, I slipped inside, and pushed the sliding door closed. Then as the room was empty I walked over to the rolly chair and slipped inside.
*I’m in the security room. Giving you all credentials now. Go ahead and move towards the elevator.* I spoke into the call that all of us were in.
I did a few checks to find out if there was a netrunner connected to the system, but after nothing pinged me back I relaxed, mostly.
Time to get to work. Entering in elevator credentials was super easy, something done hundreds of times a week.
I easily added the group in, and then started accessing the rest of the system. Locking down any NCPD alerts that would be sent out was almost childs play. It was literally on a toggle. I guess the hotel owner wanted to be able to ensure that sometimes his residents weren’t able to call for help through the hotel security.
Moving on I accessed the camera system, and hooked in.
I was the eye in the sky, looking through the camera system on the top floor. The animals were still wandering around, most of them were doing a pretty good job on keeping watch, but at least half were fucking around. One was working out, pumping a dumbbell, another was making a sandwich.
It worked for me. Made it easier.
*Pinging all enemy locations now. Please let me know if there are any optical glitches.* I spoke into the call and then sent a ping through. The golden lights were a bit weird from my perspective, considering I was so many floors below, but it would look fine for the team.
*Wait, each of these lines is an Animal?* Mira asked, suddenly sounding eager.
*Or the target, he is on the security channel with the Animals as well.*
*Huh.*
*Never worked with a runner before Mira?* Sam asked over the line and I heard her scoff in return.
Then it went silent, as I watched through the cameras as they accessed the elevator.
*Straight run to floor 19, best access point looks like room 196. It’s empty at the moment, door is unlocked.* I mentioned, as I prepped their path forward. Then I had nothing else to do but focus on the top floor.
Switching between the different cameras I checked where all of the Animals were located as best I could.
Unfortunately there weren’t a lot of cameras to access up there.
Instead I started getting things ready.
Weapon Glitch uploaded and sent, letting it bounce around the animals up there. Preparing for the eventual gun fight.
Then I waited. I lost the team on cameras, so I just followed them with what I knew of their route.
Waiting wasn’t fun, but it was what I had to do. I was the woman in the chair this time. It was an interesting experience, but I didn’t much like it.
The sound of a gunshot coming through the camera meant it was time.
I dropped the Short Circuit into the group, and watched multiple Animals fall over.
Waiting, I saw Hakase for a moment, his Katana shining as it cut through an Animal like butter.
Then it was basically over. I watched on the elevator camera as they dragged an unconscious man into the elevator, and then they were down. The Animals were injured, dead, or still being shocked prone.
I quickly cleared footage, deleting the entire days recordings, and left a small apology message for the netrunner they would bring in to find out what happened.
Then I disconnected from the system and walked back out the way I came. Hitting the alley, I jogged down a bit and slid into my Quadra.
*I’m out.* I confirmed into the line, and started driving. The meeting place after was the Afterlife.
—--
I got there first, which wasn’t a shock. They had to drop off the package for Rogue to pick up. Waiting for only ten minutes was no big deal when finally Bishop and his crew came sauntering down the steps. Swagger on full blast.
“Gig complete!” He called out as he walked past the bar, and grabbed a bottle of Brosef that the bartender passed him, then another couple for each member in his gig.
Then Bishop walked over and stood on top of a table bottle in the air.
I was kinda curious about what was going on as he raised the bottle up, his team mimicking him.
“To another gig! To survival for another day! For another blaze of glory!”
“To another!” His team repeated at the end, and I watched on a little discomforted.
Edgerunners.
But I was alone. The other edgerunners around us raised glasses, or clapped a few times at his announcement, a few even wolf whistled.
This was the culture that I missed out on, that I never really understood. To these men and women, it wasn’t a celebration of their life, but that the gig didn’t have the blaze big enough to end them.
That they could go on to bigger things.
That was what I picked up from them, and this group I had just met that I barely knew… I felt so completely apart from them it was almost enough to make me nauseous.
“And there is our newest assistant! Infiltrator!” Bishop called out, and the team looked at me as I spun slowly around on the bar stool, a soda in my hand. “You do good work.” Bishop decided, finally stepping down from the table and walking over with his team.
“Thanks.” I offered back, sipping my drink again.
“I’ll be straight with you. You handled everything perfectly, no complaints from me. I ran it past the group, and we wouldn’t mind running another gig or two with you. See how you fit, if you’d like to join more full time.”
I blinked at the offer, glanced over at the faces of the other members, I only saw a smattering of respect.
I was young, but they acknowledged I had done the job.
“I appreciate it. I wouldn’t mind backing you up in the future, but I don’t think I'm really a joiner.” I decided. “I have my own crew that I work with usually. Today was just me being bored and deciding to earn some eddies rather than be lazy on the couch.” I explained honestly.
Bishop blinked his glowing eyes flickering for a moment before he chuckled.
“You hear that? The infiltrator takes gigs to not be bored.”
“Well damn, I can’t blame her. Sneaking into a comfy office and watching through the cameras must be a real preem gig. Kinda wish I was a runner now.” Mira offered, but it was joking, she smiled toothily, which I returned in kind.
“It was an easy gig for an infiltrator, but it could have taken much longer, and been more difficult for the rest of us.” Samuel the corp offered nodding towards me, as he raised his Brosef taking a seat a few down the bar. “To long developed skills.”
I raised my drink in exchange. “To no doubt dealing with really annoying people on the daily. I don’t envy your skills.” I sent back and the previously cold man, broke into a smirk at my words.
“See at least someone acknowledges the difficulty of working with people.”
“Oh God, don’t get him started. He’ll whine for hours about all the assholes and make us listen to it.” Mira begged.
And slowly the group melded into the bar, and I realized why on the flipside why Edgerunners were what everyone wanted to be.
There were few friendships stronger than those forged in the heat of combat.
“So what’s with all the chrome anyways? No Realskinn?” Mira asked a few minutes later as the conversation turned to everyone simply chattering about the gig. I had thought about leaving, but I was being included enough that it felt nice.
“I like chrome.”
“Gross. Should get some Bioware! You’d look great as… A lizard maybe? Get some scales? Oh no! I know, maybe a wolf, there is something lovely about a cute wolf girl!” Mira gushed and I realized with horror what she was.
“Exotic!” I snapped finger pointing, she didn’t just have shark teeth as an aesthetic choice, but because she was one of them!
“Heh? Yeah duh? Didn’t the teeth clue you in.”
“No! Ugh.” I groaned as I remembered the stupid Exotic club, and the failed gig. How annoying that had been. I had been forced to watch that club for hours trying to find a way in!
“Oooh? You got a problem with Exotics?”
“It’s so annoying! Can’t hack them, can’t stealth by them unless you do something about scent. They tend to have upgraded bioeyes, so even normal stealth isn’t as good. Again, you can’t blind them with a quick hack! It’s so frustrating!” I whined and looked at her, eyes meeting hers with a glare.
Her own glare went from harsh to blinking in surprise and then fighting back a smirk.
“Wait… So you don’t like exotics cause-”
“Cause they are so hard to stealth around! I had a gig I failed because it involved an exotic bar that I couldn’t infiltrate! I ended up having to call Regina and tell her I couldn’t do it. Never heard from her again.”
“Wait. The Lions Den?”
“Don’t remind me! I spent so long trying to find a way in!”
“Pfft! Ahahaha!” She broke into laughter and I glared at her, but she didn’t care and just laughed harder.
“It’s not funny.”
“It’s hilarious! Okay! Okay! You are officially invited, you should join me at the Den sometime. You’re a bit young, but fuck it, you’re an Afterlife merc. You should enjoy yourself. I have to bring you around, and tell everyone!”
“Hell no.”
“Aww c’mon it’s great! So many people to pet!”
“Mira, lay off. The kid’s a teenager.”
“So? There are kid’s her age that are Exotic!”
“You know that wasn’t what you were offering.” Bishop responded rolling his eyes, and I just huffed.
“If I ever have to sneak in, I’ll remember you.”
“Hah! Good luck. We got some great security… As you know!” She cackled teeth flashing wide.
Tsk!
—--
Back home with a fresh pocketful of eddies, I realized that my sense of money was skewed.
I had been given a couple grand of eddies, not a bad payout I think? But for me it was kinda light for a full gig.
If it had been Section 9, the weapons, and equipment the Animals had ‘left’ behind would have been another couple grand easy.
But that was fine. We were a bit different, more willing to scrounge for the eddies. I had a feeling it wasn’t considered ‘cool’ to do that sort of thing.
I shrugged. I didn’t care about being thought of as cool, as long as people know I wasn’t someone they could fuck with.
Home again, I noticed Jun wasn’t home, and I was once again feeling bored. Grabbing my guitar I strummed a few notes thinking about what to play.
I was feeling pretty mellow, something chill…
Fingers started strumming and I smiled as I heard the notes. I knew what to play.
“Underneath the bridge. Tarp has sprung a leak. And the animals I’ve trapped. Have all become my pets.” I mumbled aloud, as I just let myself remember another Nirvana song.
‘Something in the Way’ was very simple, but it just… Felt nice.
I played through the song once, and then just let it trail off.
“Need to actually record that… And the rest of the Nirvana songs.” I hummed a bit, a familiar refrain and I laughed as I decided I might as well.
I grabbed my music box, plugged it all in, and started working. My Cyberdeck handled the cutting and editing of the tracks, adjusting the sound levels as I sang and sang and sang.
—--
“No, I don’t have a gun! No, I don’t have a guuuun!” Come as you are belted out with all the emotion I could pack into the song continued on. Every riff was locked into my brain, burned into my memories and the emotions I remember with every sung word coming out as heavily as I could.
Which is when the door opened.
“Sorry.” Jun greeted me as I stopped mid word.
“That’s okay. Welcome home!” I greeted as I stretched, but then I looked over and frowned. “Jun?”
“It’s nothing Imouto.” He responded back, but I could tell he wasn’t okay. I rose up and padded after him, as he went to the fridge and grabbed some food, and he rolled his eyes as he noticed me looking at him. “It’s just Yuto, I tried calling him, and haven’t heard from him… I’m worried he’s doing something stupid.” He tells me and I relax.
“Oh okay then.” I moved away, if it was just worry about his choom that wasn’t something I could really help with. I headed back to the couch, and picked up my guitar might as well finish the song, when Jun settled in.
“That tune… You played it before right? A long time ago. You’ve improved a lot.”
“It… Yeah, I’ve gotten a lot better. Figured it all out basically.” I muttered, feeling my ears redden, Jun remembered me playing badly!
He laughed at my embarrassment and then settled onto the couch, but I could see that he wasn’t relaxing, his eyes flashed as he was making calls.
So I did my best not to disturb him, focusing on editing some tracks and getting it right.
I had finished Something in the Way. So maybe I’ll play that for Jun once he was done?
But before I could jump into it, Jun stood up with a sigh, and started leaving.
“Jun?” I asked, but he didn’t say anything just dropping a heavy hand on my head to reassure me, before heading right back out.
It was going to be one of those days then huh?
Jun left, and I got back to it.
Bigking321
Well-known member
No Jun! Don't check on your friend and get stuck in the middle of a bad hit!
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
I just realized Motoko's worse nightmare, V having the hots for Jun. Although that might be cradle robbing since I don't know how old either of them are.
Blasterbot
Well-known member
Jun's rizz is too strong. some might call such powers unnatural. but it requires a dedicated man to develop such a dad bod using microwave burritos.
Carrot of Truth
War is Peace
No Zoomer slang allowed! It should be a bannable offense!
Blasterbot
Well-known member
Nice simple gig, loved the callback to the failed infiltration LOL. And Jun, Jun, Jun, you know that Motoko is a high tier netrunner, you could have very easily asked your imouto to track your gonk of a chum to make sure he's not doing something gonk-ish.