Ghost in the City Cyberpunk Gamer SI

[Seras]

After spending a night watching terrible movies Hiromi left in the morning, unfortunately her parents wanted her home.


So I settled in for some more tech work.


First thing first I noticed I had an odd bit next to my stats.


Technical attribute 1(5)

Crafting 1


It was the first thing I noticed when I opened my stat page. I decided to check through my alerts, because I had gotten a few when Vik installed my new optics.


*Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4. Technical Attribute.*


I blinked, what did maximum value mean?


I had no idea.


I continued through the alerts. Most of them were simply describing the uninstallation of my old optics, and installation of my new ones.


Except for one message.


*Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 0/2*


What the hell was Adaptation!?


I checked my stats page and it did have a Cyberware section. Under it I had two options currently. Although I did have plenty of minor bits and bobs that everyone tended toward.


I guess like V the Gamer only tracked the bigger stuff.


Militech Paraline *Adaptation Militech Paraline 0/0*

Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 0/2*


Okay so what was adaptation? And why did the Paraline Cyberdeck have a 0/0.


I tried clicking on it and to my happiness I got something, if not a complete answer.


*Spend 1 Stat point to improve Adaptation?*


No. I pulled back. I needed my stat points. And for now I had no idea what adaptation meant. I mean I could guess. Adapting my Cyberware? But I already had it installed. It was working as it should.


I shrugged. I would mess with it another time. At least I had one question answered. Ish.


Then I moved back to the stat page. Why does my Tech have a number next to it? I honestly couldn’t get an answer. There wasn’t a damn options menu, or a players guide with this Gamer system.


So I shrugged it off. It had something to do with my eyes, and bigger numbers were better. So I would just accept it was a good thing and move on.


But I did notice one last thing since I was playing with my stat sheet. I still had a perk to choose. Well two actually.


Blades and Street Brawler.


Both were easy choices.


Parry: With a blade in hand, deflect attacks.


Honestly there was only one reason to pick this Perk. Eventually I could parry bullets. Listen, if anyone ever says they don’t think cutting a bullet out of the air with a katana is cool. They are lying. Sure it would cost me a few perks, but I didn’t really plan on running around with a Katana very often, and defense was always super important.


Then there was Street Brawler. Which I also already had my path picked out.


Improvised Weapons: Sometimes in a brawl anything you can grab needs to be used, know the best way to fight with day to day items.


One more perk in that tree away from Gun-Fu.


Instantly though my mind was a whirl. I looked around at all the tech stuff I had been planning on tinkering with and I kinda cringed at just how deadly everything around me could be.


That could both come in handy, and be a little distracting, if everything I looked at was processed as a weapon first.


I shook it away. First I needed to continue disassembling all this tech. I smiled as I familiarized myself with old junk and slowly I got more and more alerts.


Until finally, the sun setting long ago I got the alert I wanted.


*Technical Attribute Leveled up!*


Tech 2? Yes! Now I could level Crafting more!


I yawned despite myself and looked around, realizing I had barely eaten all day. I stretched and groaned a bit as my spine popped as I decided to grab some chow before I hit the hay.


—--


I was glaring. My hands were completely calm despite my constant desire to start throwing stuff.


*Jun: I’m alive.*


That’s it. After so long? After not knowing if Jun was dead in a Maelstrom base somewhere? He just sends I’m alive?


And he refused to respond to any messages back either.


I was gripping my soldering iron a little too tightly as I slowly turned it off and set it down.


I needed to go kill something.


No. I shook that thought away. I was not going to turn to murder for stress relief. That is absolutely where I draw the line. I took a deep breath and let it out. Deciding to grab something to eat instead. As I was getting dressed I considered it.


Jun was alive. That was good. But he was withdrawing, and I had no idea what the Claws were doing to him, or making him do.


Considering Jun’s personality? I had no doubt that next time I see him, he will have a lot more chrome. If that was the case. Next time. Would I be dealing with Jun as he lost himself? Cyberpsychosis?


“If the Tyger Claws don’t take care of Jun. I will end them.” I whispered to myself, unable to stop the words slipping from my mouth.


I honestly wasn’t a fan of the claws in general. The whole sex work thing tends to piss me off. Even if Judy’s plan in the game was destined for failure.


Mine wouldn’t. I wouldn’t go after their business. I would just kill them until they stopped existing if they let Jun get hurt.


I sighed pushing myself away from the table to head to the bathroom. I was getting worked up. So I walked in and turned on the tap. I washed my face a bit and looked into the mirror. Almost flinching as reddish purple eyes stared back.


I had forgotten for a second that I changed my eye color last night. It wasn’t hard, Kiroshi was top of the line. Of course they would have an option to adjust color.


They still felt weird. I realized it was that little thing in the back of your mind, an irritation that told you something wasn’t quite right. Like something is in your eye but doesn’t hurt, but you still know something is wrong.


I suppose that was how I would process Cyberware. A slight discomfort.


I think I had figured out what Adaptation was. I closed my eyes letting myself breath for a minute.


It wasn’t bad. Just different. I’d live.


I stepped away, turning back to my table. There was a part of me begging to go outside with a gun in hand. To go find some more scavs, or take a job.


I shook that part away. Settled down on my couch.


I had taken apart most of the scrap I had gathered by now. Learning a ton as I did. Or rather ‘learning’ as the XP continued to flow. I had a few ideas of neat toys that could help me out on jobs, but all of the actually useful stuff was way outside of my skill level, much less a price range.


But I now had parts. So I took a laptop, broken and stripped for now. And started putting it together. Simple really I had scrapped multiple of them from the dump so I had all the parts I needed, and as I worked, the XP both Tech, and Crafting flowed in.


I guess my system liked me actually making something rather than just disassembling.


It took me a bit but when I was done. I turned it on, and the OS actually started.


I was using the Hard drive that was in one of the laptops and it started up. Asking for a password.


Half a second later I pulled out my connect cord from my neck and plugged it in. A moment to breach it and I was in.


There wasn’t anything interesting. This laptop belonged to some woman a nobody. I mean there was literally nothing but crappy games, useless stuff like that.


I restarted the system and started wiping the data.


Who knows maybe I’ll just sell the laptop? Could make some eddies.


When it was done I nodded and put it to the side.


“Now what else can I fix?”


—--


I had a fan now. It buzzed merrily away next to the radio, and I basically just controlled it by hacking it every time I wanted to change its settings.


It was cool.


Heh.


But more importantly, putting junk together gave me that sweet sweet XP alerts.


So much so that Crafting had leveled up!


*Crafting skill level up!*


*1 Perk Point Gained.*


I was giggly because perks let me hyper focus, or gain stuff that my normal skill didn’t cover. In this case the options were crazy!


Crafting was so… Wide. There was perks that spread out into tons of stuff.


Salvager. Get an eye for locating scrap.


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


And so much more. There were a lot of perks I wanted in crafting, but I would have to pick what I thought would be the most useful. Which is why as I browsed through the lists I came across the one thing that had me grinning.


Robotics wizard. Others make machines. You make life.


I knew it was premature. I didn’t have the skill to be making robots. But at the same time. There had been an idea I had that I couldn’t just ignore.


It was possible. Dangerous. Stupid maybe. But possible. I even had an idea on how to solve the whole lack of processing power that would have made my idea impossible.


So I picked it.


Worse comes to worse, I end up not using it much.


Instantly though my mind was full of knowledge. This time it was kinda weird. Not just how to make robots, because part of that was covered under base Crafting. But how to make them better.


“Heh. I could probably sign on as an engineer at a Corporation and design Cyber limbs.” And it was true. Sure I couldn’t use most of the higher end stuff from the perk, but it still gave me an eye and experience in smoothing robotic designs that would make me a very useful cog in a corpo machine.


“Oh well.” I shrugged, settling back onto the couch. Looking up to hack into the TV to change the channel to something mindless so I could go back to work tinkering when I got an alert.


*Breach Protocol skill level up!*


Breach 3 huh. That was lucky!


—--


“Bitch!” I cursed as I waved my finger. I had just zapped my finger like a gonk.


“Idiot! Moron! Don’t touch the fucking active electric wire you… you!” I cursed as I danced around the room. Fuck was I electroBOOM now?


“Okay I need a break… Also stop talking to myself.” I rumbled as I walked over and powered everything down. I had been tinkering all day. Mostly just grinding out Technical Attribute since I was maxed in crafting.


It was slow. Sometimes painful work.


But I was close to another level, so it was all worth it.


I opened up my contacts. Unfortunately Hiromi was locked down again. Her parents were worried about her running around with the active, and escalating gang war burning down the city every day, so she was stuck in school.


Ichi was still working for Shobo.


And Jun wasn’t responding.


I didn’t really have anyone else.


That thought made me sad. For about five seconds.


I wasn’t going to let that get me down! So I decided to wander out into the city. I had stats to grind. Things to improve at! I wasn’t going to let myself get worn down by Jun being a massive pain in the ass!


As I headed out I started quick hacking stuff again. Pinging every device I could find mostly just for something to do. It was sorta relaxing in a way, to just… Interface with everything around me.


Even if all I was doing was sending a ping through the system it felt like I was a piece of the network. It was nice.


Of course the actual quick hack XP was a little slow. So I started pinging people as I jogged past. Enjoying the small web of lights my Kiroshi’s displayed across my vision as I pinged more and more systems around me. Soon it felt like I was jogging through a spider web, seeing how so many things were connected.


Really. A lot of stuff was connected. Vending machines were a dizzying maze of connections between them. I stopped and just watched for a minute.


*Intelligence Leveled up!*


I stopped double checking that alert. Intelligence 4?


Already!? How did Intelligence level up so quickly? I hadn’t even gotten a quick hack level!


I went back through my alerts, and yeah I got a pretty nice little surge of Intelligence XP as I was jogging. But why? Sure I was pinging people as well as electronics I could see, but that doesn’t explain the sudden surge.


What did I know about the intelligence stat? Well not much. In the game it was the control stat for hacking. It also gave you more Ram for every point. No wait I remember reading the actual stat description in the game.


“Determines netrunning proficiency.” I muttered thinking back to all the stats in Cyberpunk.


Intelligence wasn’t… Well intelligence, or how smart you were exactly. It was processing speed… But more. It was understanding!


“I realized everything was connected… If almost everything is connected, even through different internets… Then that opens a lot of possibilities doesn’t it?” I muttered looking up as I got an alert.


*100 Intelligence XP Gained*


“I guess I’m on the right track.” So I had been thinking of Intelligence wrong from the start. I was thinking it was how smart I am, but that isn’t right at all. It’s more about netrunning! Understanding, processing power. All of that fell under intelligence.


After all I remember a lot of skills I would normally think of falling under Intelligence fell under Tech in Cyberpunk.


I looked over at a vending machine, following its network connection to the roof of a nearby building. That was the network node then. Where a lot of the vending machines were connected through.


I instantly found a way up using a nearby fence and grabbing onto the edge of the building I clambered up. Settling next to the node.


I pulled out the cord from my neck and clicked it into place.


Security blocked me out, but I wasn’t exactly hacking into Arasaka tower.


A few minutes of slowly peeling through the ICE, I breached in. There wasn’t much there, Internet traffic mostly sending and receiving data from the vending machines, nothing I was too interested in, no I was more focused on the connections themselves.


I stood and pinged the node, with the security already punched through it activated instantly.


A spiderweb erupted from the satellite dish it was connected to.


Reaching out from it in all directions. I looked around, staring at the connections just taking in the sight of something so ethereal.


I looked at the web and decided to try out an idea. I was already at its central node. Where everything connected through. So I should be able to… I closed my eyes. I hadn't actually done this yet, letting myself enter the net in a way. Actual Netrunning… I closed my eyes and let myself fall through the cord.


Suddenly I was in a world of light. Of data. My body wasn’t even there, Instead I was just an awareness. My connection was not good enough to form an actual digital avatar. Still I was there. In the net.


Connected.


I can’t even describe where I was. Nothing was solid. Just lights, and data transferring on connections making bridges, a web streaking out into pure darkness, but I could move through them. I accessed one of the connections letting me move from the node I was out to one of the peripheries. A vending machine from the data I was able to access with a mental touch.


With a thought I activated ping. Quick hacking the device I was literally inside the CPU of. A wave of light. A mass of data erupting in a wave that ran up the spideweb before bouncing around more and more.


It was Beautiful.


So this was the net. This is what it looked like in Cyberpunk.


No wonder people were so interested in it. To see it. Experience it as more than just a window on a screen.


To be data.


I pulled back, going back up the connection to the node, and unjacking.


I couldn’t even pull the pull the jack out before I was on my ass gasping.


“Fuck!” I hissed my head felt like it was on fire! I reached back and felt the port that had my Cyberdeck installed in it, and I had to hiss.


The entire area was hot. Like an overheating computer.


“Fuck.” I cursed again standing up a little woozily as I rushed down the building, a single glance had a vending machine dispensing some cold drink I had no name for. I had already breached the entire system after all.


I pressed the can against the back of my head, letting its icy coldness combat the heat.


“No wonder they use the damn icebaths.” I grumbled. As I sat on a bench and just let my head cool down.


So that was the net. A net I had taken my first step into. A child in netrunners terms.


“So where does the child go from here? The Net is truly vast and infinite.” I whispered, out an old quote leaning back and staring up into the sky.


—--


After cooling off I went home, an eye on my alerts told me I had gained a ton just from my brief foray into the net.


*Quickhacking skill level up!*


Which put me at level 3 for that, and a ton of Intelligence alerts.


I was almost ready for the next level. That was how much I had learned about the net with just stepping a toe into its depths.


Of course my head was still warm, and I wasn’t exactly up for trying that again. At least not without an upgrade, or an ice bath prepared.


Considering my apartment didn’t even have a bath, that made things more difficult.


I flopped onto the couch staring at my wild assortment of tech that I had been tinkering with reached out and grabbed the wire that had shocked me this morning.


Time to get back to work. I kept at it until late when I decided to sleep so I would be ready for the next day.


That night I was woken up by shooting.

 

[Seras]

It wasn’t unusual to have gunfire going through the city but for it to be close enough that I actually woke up? I was glad I wasn’t injured, so when I startled awake in the middle of the night, I was able to move instantly. Grabbing my Unity from my belt hanging on the desk chair in my room. I snagged an extra magazine as I hurried to the window to peak out from the armored shutters.


There was a war going on outside my apartment.


I could recognize Tyger Claw Kusanagi’s and a Maelstrom truck as the two forces went at each other.


At first I wasn’t sure what to do. Did I even want to get involved in this? I didn’t see Jun, but he could be down there fighting.


Then one of the Strom Borgs fired a damn rocket out of his arm, and it slammed into my apartment building. The building shook and I had a moment looking around wondering if my apartment was about to collapse.


Thankfully it didn’t. But I could hear screams from below! There were people in this building!


I rushed out. Rushing down stairs and while the security gate normally would have stopped me from going to a floor below. It wasn’t like I hadn’t already breached the security of the entire building. It opened for me, and I rushed to the apartment that had just been hit.


I hammered on the door for a moment but I couldn’t hear anything over the gunfire.


So I ‘looked’ at the door a bit harder and it popped open, surely it must be from all the explosions! I would never break into everyone's security systems! That would be wrong.


So I had broken into her security before, and since Wall Breaking was a great perk, I already had a backdoor.


The door opened into a warzone. The window normally covered in security blinds was destroyed, metal shards and bits of brick laying across the apartment.


More importantly, was the injured older woman laying across the floor covered in rubble. She had probably been doing the same thing I had. Peeping out the window to see what was going on.


I ran forward doing my best to stay low so I wouldn’t be spotted through the hole and landed next to her. She was breathing.


Barely.


I didn’t have my med supplies on me either. Glaring at myself for not grabbing any more of my gear, I ducked as a spray of bullets came through the hole. It wasn’t even at me, just the general mayhem outside. I couldn’t stay here, and neither could she.


Moving someone injured like this was a bad idea, but hell if her spine was broken she could buy a new one. I heaved up her arms and dragged her through the apartment back out into the hallway. Then through the security gate.


The stairwell was the most armored part of the building, she should be safe here. I checked her pulse again and she was breathing, but I wasn’t a doctor. I rushed back upstairs grabbing a Bounce Back out of my supplies. I would have to buy more med supplies soon. I had only gotten so much from the scavs.


Back into the stairwell I could hear people from the building freaking out. I ignored it as I rushed back down the stairs. As I reached her, I popped the lid off the Bounce back and jabbed it into her chest pressing down on the button.


She gasped, and shook a bit, but her breath evened out and sounded fuller.


Bounce Back was awesome like that.


Whatever science magic was inside, would hopefully keep her alive. But I still had some things to take care of. I rushed back into the lady's apartment, and took a moment to look out the massive hole.


Tyger Claws on bikes and a Maelstrom kill truck. The damn thing was more like an armored carrier than a truck.


I wasn’t sure who had hit who, but considering I could see the mangled wreck of a Kusanagi under the wheels of the truck I could guess.


Fine.


At a glance Parkour told me everything I needed to know.


Three stories up?


No problem. I jumped. Instant coolness washing over me, as I fell.


There were plenty of things to leap down from as I moved, each floor had AC units or just jutting ledges.


It was easy. Three hops and I was in the air falling through the sky.


I landed feet first into the back of one of the borgs. It was the surprise that knocked him off his feet more than anything. No one expects the second floor double drop kick. I had picked this borg specifically out of all of them.


My Unity wouldn’t do shit against them. The Tygers pistols were bouncing rounds already. So I slipped my Unity into the back of my pants making sure it was safe.


Didn’t want to blow my own ass off.


I had picked one of the borgs that had a weapon I could use.


As I slammed into him I reached out grabbing the end of his gun. As he fell he automatically let go. Everyone does. They reach out to halt their fall, it’s instinct, even for a Borg.


Unfortunately that meant I was able to spin his Carnage shotgun into my arms as I literally stood on his back.


He was cursing, climbing up to his knees when he must have felt the shotgun press against the back of his head.


I pulled the trigger and it was only thanks to recoil control that I didn’t get knocked right off him. But I didn’t. Instead his head disappeared, and I was now standing in the middle of a gunfight.


*1000 XP Gained.*


But now the Strom were on the back foot. The Tyger Claws now, no longer completely on defense.


I moved leaping off the borg as I pumped the shotgun, the noise monstrously loud to my ears as I ducked and rolled under the Maelstroms truck. Disappearing just in time as suddenly one of the Borgs opened up with a machine gun where I had been standing tearing up the asphalt.


Mostly concealed, I brought the shotgun up and fired. Shooting another Borg in the leg.


Although it didn’t do what I wanted and blow his leg off, he still fell to the ground screaming, as I pumped the shotgun again.


From the weight of the gun I knew I only had one more round. Gun nut once again helping me out.


I continued rolling moving out from under the truck, but now on the opposite side.


They had lost sight of me.


That would cost them. Especially since the door to their truck was still open. I slipped in, unseen by both groups as they continued to fire on eachother. The inside of the truck stunk of drugs, and blood.


Charming.


I slipped over to the drivers side, easily taking over the truck.


The morons had hit the Claws jumped out and started gunning them down.


But now I had their wheels.


I floored it. Turning the wheel as I did so I smashed into the surprised face of a Maelstrom borg, the truck rocking as I hit him and kept going.


We stared at each other. My purplish eyes meeting his red glowing optics as he hung onto the front of the truck as I continued to floor it.


I could see him gathering his wits, pulling out a pistol.


He must have been confused though, as he watched me reach behind me and even as I accelerated I threw the seatbelt over my chest.


A moment after we slammed into a brick wall.


Everything was chaos for a moment as I was jerked around and smashed against the drivers seat.


But I had a seatbelt on.


The car quieted a few moments later and I glanced up, ignoring the feeling of blood rolling down the side of my head after I had bashed my head against the door. I looked into the glowing red eyes of the borg.


“Still alive huh?” I asked my voice sounding a little distant. Probably a concussion.


“B-biiitch.” He gasped out in a staticy pained voice.


I reached over and grabbed the Shotgun.


“W-wa-it.”


I did not wait.


I pointed and fired.


*1000 XP Gained.*


“No.” I answered only after I was sure he wasn’t a threat. Seriously, only idiots stopped to talk and monologue during a gun fight. Shoot first, then say the witty one liner.


Wasn’t like you were saying the one liner for them anyways.


I pulled the seatbelt off with a groan my body was not happy with me. As I pushed the drivers door.


No give. I ended up having to crawl out through the broken windshield hissing a bit at the cuts on my hands and feet.


“Should have put on my boots.” I grumbled as I stepped out of the truck. I turned to look at the firefight, but it was wrapping up. Maelstrom had more people at first, and they got the drop on the Claws, but we were in Claw territory.


Where at first there had only been five Claws fighting against about that number in Borgs, now there was three times the amount of claws pulling up on their bikes and firing into the three borgs that now had no way to escape.


The gun fire stopped not long after. When a borged out Tyger Claw pulled out a set of Mantis blades and went in.


Bloody work.


I started walking up and I winced.


There hadn’t been just five Claws at first. Looks like seven. A pair of bodies were being looked over. But with just a flash scan I could tell they weren’t breathing.


That’s a shame.


I walked into the group of claws that were all talking and shouting amongst themselves ignoring them entirely as I walked to the Borg I had killed.


He should have some more ammo for this thing, and I was growing kind of fond of the Carnage. I totally get why Rebecca liked it now. Sure it was ugly, and a little smashed together, but it shot good.


I liked it.


As I knelt down and started searching through his dirty coat, I was unfortunately noticed.


“The fuck is this?” A loud voice called out and then a blur of japanese that I only recognized as a lot of cursing. But the Bosozoku brat was also pointing a katana at me.


Was I gonna have to flatline this kid?


Oh! This borg had a shotgun shell bandolier!? Okay I have to admit, that’s pretty fuckin preem. I quickly unlatch it and with a bit of effort I yanked it off him and whipped it up and over my shoulder.


Mine now.


Always wanted one of these.


“Who the hell are you!?”


“Nobody important.” I offered as I rose up the guys Katana was drawing a little too close for my comfort.


“Chill out Higa. This girl is crazy, came in and flatlined that Strom literally dropped on him from above.” A girl said as she hurried over. “Put your Katana away, the Maelstrom are already dead.”


As he looked away I idly swiped a shell from the bandolier and slipped it into the shotgun.


Just in case. Then since he was just that distracted despite standing close to me, I went ahead and loaded a few more.


This guy was kinda… Blind.


“I don’t know this bitch! She is standing in the middle of our battle! Looting!”


“Enough.” A voice said from beside me, and I blinked, I hadn't noticed. Not a sound had come from the guy until that moment. Sneaky!


I looked over and the Tyger Claw borg was standing beside me. “Don’t.” Although he wasn’t looking at the kid.


He was looking at me. So I was looking at him. If he thought he was going to win a staring contest, jokes on him.


I didn’t need to blink anymore. Our eyes met, and I could tell he was figuring out the fastest way to kill me. I could just tell. Maybe a Ninjutsu thing.


His eyes were neon I noticed. Changing colors along with his tats that shifted and looked like the animals were readying to attack.


“Yeah yeah. It was just in case.” I finally waved him off. As I stopped readying to pop the katana kid.


Instead I turned back to checking the borgs pockets.


Unfortunately other than a credit shard which I happily klepped, he only had drugs.


A lot of drugs.


I sighed and left them. Not my style.


“Fuckin’ you just gonna let her?”


“It was her kill.” The borg offered with a shrug. “She can take what she kills.” He said simply.


“Tsk, Fine whatever.” He grumbled as his Katana lowered.


“You happen to know Jun… Ah Junichirou Kusanagi?” I asked as I looked the borg over.


The man was silent as he took in my question before slowly nodding. “I know of him.”


“He’s my brother. You haven’t seen him in the last week or so have you? He’s been out of contact.”


“No.” He said simply and I noticed the way he said it… Yeah this guy was suffering from Cyberpsychosis. I just felt it. The man was struggling to care about anyone around him the social apathy, and worse.


The sociopathy. He was still considering how to kill me. I could see it, the way his hands were flexing the joints of his Mantis Blades popping just a tiny bit.


Yep. I’m out of here.


“Cya around Tyger Claws. Try not to get killed on my street next time.” I called out to the group as I turned and headed back to the apartment. Ignoring the bloody footprints I was leaving behind. Stupid glass. Oh well I got a new gun, and getting new guns did make me happy. I might even try to mod it a bit. I bet I could do something similar to Rebecca's Guts. Absolutely max out the recoil and firepower.


Could be fun, all I would really need is to double check the barrel and receiver to make sure it can handle a stronger load.


I couldn’t help but start whistling a bit as I made it to the apartment. Taking the elevator up to my floor I was about to enter the apartment before I stopped.I turned peeking down the stairs and I sighed. The woman I had left there was gone. I headed down looking around.


I really hoped someone hadn’t grabbed her while she was unconscious. But as I came down the floor the apartment door was open and I could see her standing there just looking at her apartment.


“You okay?” I asked and she jumped wincing as she clutched her head but she turned to look at me.


Yeah she didn’t look okay.


“You’re bleeding.”


“Just a flesh wound. You should see the other guy.” I couldn’t help but add. “Really you gonna be okay? I pulled you out of there and gave you a Bounce Back but that isn’t a miracle. You need a hospital?”


The older woman sort of blinked as she looked at me as if my words were just incomprehensible.


“Who are you?” She finally asked and I simply stared at her for a minute.


“Motoko, I’m your neighbor.” I finally decided on as I pointed upwards. “Alright, well I tried. I’m going to sleep. Have a good night.” I told her as I stepped back and then up the stairs. She was looking at me like I was gonna attack her or something.


Weird.


So I entered my apartment sighed as I realized I would need to check my foot and probably take one of my last Max Doc’s before I tried to sleep otherwise I would bleed all over my bed. So I headed into the bathroom cleaning my feet and my head wound, and finding I did have a piece of glass still stuck in my foot.


Ow.


A maxdoc stopped my bleeding, and I then sighed again as I had to get a bucket and clean up the floor, bloody footprints marched across the ground.


With a sigh I finished cleaning up and settled on the couch. Was I forgetting something? I felt like I was. So I settled onto the couch and decided I would enjoy a good eight hours of shut eye. The NCPD lights just now starting to play across my apartments wall.


Guess they finally showed up to cart away the corpses.


—---


I woke up mid afternoon the next day and as I was rubbing the sleep out of my eyes and stretching I finally realized what I had forgotten.


“Jun!” I cursed as I hurriedly pulled up my phone system and sent him a text.


*There was a Strom attack on the street outside the apartment, I’m fine, no injuries, apartment below us had some damage. Just wanted you to know I was okay so you wouldn’t freak… Haven’t heard from you in a while.*


I sat down on the couch and just kinda waited for a bit, hoping that Jun would at least respond back.


Then I realized I was being stupid. Jun was still a teenage boy and was definitely out all night hunting Maelstrom.


He was 100% still asleep. It wasn’t even noon yet.


So I shook that away and looked at my alerts.


*Body Leveled up!*


*Annihilation skill level up!*


Body 6, and Annihilation 4. Finally I had gotten Body to level up again. I guess all the shotgun shooting had finally gained the last bits of XP I needed.


*Driving skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

I pointedly ignored that one since literally all I did was crash a truck… On purpose! I crashed a truck on purpose! That was the plan! Okay I would look at perks later.


But I took a moment to look over my body. The increase to body had some effects. I looked… Muscular. I had actual biceps when I flexed. Motoko strong! I giggled as I did a few stretches enjoying the feeling of my stronger muscles.


I decided to get some exercise in while I got breakfast. Slipping out of the apartment I jogged around the block picking up some food at my favorite little street vendors.


Yet even as I did I could tell that things were changing. The gang war was getting bad. People were more skittish than usual, which is saying something in Night City. People. I could see the damage from the attack still on the street outside the apartment, I pointedly didn’t look at the brick wall I had smashed through with the truck.


That was Maelstrom’s fault, not mine. Definitely not mine. At all.


But things were getting tense.


After breakfast I decided it was time to get something done I had been putting off as I threw myself into crafting.


I drove out to the little netrunners shop carrying my netsuit in hand.


—--


“That’s a lot of holes.” Was the first thing the old asian lady at the little shop I had bought my Netrunner suit from muttered at me as I flopped the suit on the table.


“Yeah people like to shoot at me.” I said as she looked over my suit.


“People like to hit you too.” She told me and I shrugged.


“Hazards of the job.”


“The armor didn’t do much I see.” She muttered as looked over the suit.


“Noticed that. Figured I was just getting hit with something too big to stop. Might be why I’m still alive though.”


“No.” She answered instantly, and I could hear a hint of anger in her voice. “No. Look, the interior panels… They are fake.” She growled, the little old woman was practically leaking smoke as she hissed, her pipe glowing red as she sucked in the smoke.


“Fake?”


“The armor liner is supposed to have a layer of kevlar. This? This isn’t Kevlar.” she peeled the armor apart, and showed me the liner which as she spoke she pulled apart and showed… Cardboard? Well probably not, but something close to it. Her fingers pulled bits apart with just that tiny effort.


“This wouldn’t stop a needle from poking you, much less a bullet.” She looked away from the leotard, meeting my eyes. “I sold you defective goods.” She growled a bit as she threw the leotard onto the table. “When I get my hands on that supplier…” She growled a bit, and considering she hung out in a shop that catered to netrunners, not exactly people well known for not getting revenge I had a feeling her supplier was about to have a really bad week.


“I didn’t even notice.” I added as I leaned down to look over the leotard. Poking at the holes. My Kiroshi scans didn’t notice anything out of place, which was weird. It was only when I pulled the cardboard-like inner liner out and scanned it did I get a scan of what the material was made out of.


“You didn’t notice bullets were slipping through your armor?”


“I had other things on my mind whenever I got shot.” I joked as I looked over the gunk. How did my eyes never notice this? I’ve scanned my leotard before… But I guess I hadn’t really been looking for anything.


This was a good lesson, my Kiroshi were amazing, but they weren’t magic. I still needed to pay attention.


The woman was silent for a moment. Then her eyes went blue, and I blinked as a pretty hefty chunk of eddies was handed into my account. “The eddies. For the trouble, and as an apology.” The old woman offered and I just sorta shrugged.


She didn’t give me the feel of someone that was lying. She seemed to be earnest about not knowing.


“The armor, did you use it on anyone else's gear?”


The woman blinked before cursing. “A moment please.” Her eyes went yellow, but she came back after a minute. Must have been sending a text.


“I can send your measurements to another I know that does modifications.” She offered out of the blue, throwing me for a loop.


“Huh?”


“So you can get your suit replaced?”


“Why would I go somewhere else? I already have a shop right here.” I told her with a calm face. She was probably embarrassed about this whole thing. I know I would be.


“You would still trust my work?”


“Other than the armor, it was comfortable and exactly what I wanted. So let’s fix that, and we are good to go. I need a couple more of them in fact, and I was gonna ask how to repair them if you could show me? I’m a bit of a techie as well, but maybe I won’t have to if the new ones actually have armor?”


“I’ll show you anyway. We can use this one since it’s… Well trash. Come.” She ordered hopping off a little chair and dragging me into a backroom with a workbench and a bunch of equipment.


Oh the woman was less a normal seamstress and more a techie herself. Makes sense there were a lot of components in a normal net suit.


Cool!


“Can you teach me a bit about this? Putting together a netrunner suit I mean?”


She looked me over before shrugging. “I can show you the basics. Everything else I will only teach my children… You are too young for my son.” She informed me flatly as she waved her pipe at a chair. “Sit.”


I chuckled a bit as I settled in. The woman was a master, and I know I only understood bits of what she was sharing, but it was still fascinating to learn.


*100 Technical Attribute XP Gained*

 

[Seras]

It took a few hours, but I walked out of the shop wearing a new Leotard, and a bag with a few spares. It had also cost me way less than the first one. So that was nice. Rather than head directly home I decided to look around, maybe stop at a cafe or something to eat something different.


I didn’t want to turn into Jun and his Vendor Burrito aficionado status. The thought stopped me cold for a moment before I let it go.


I would always worry about Jun, but all I could do is keep moving forward.


I ended up stopping at a nice little cafe and eating a quiet lunch. The many Mox in the area were… Different. Thankfully despite being asian, no one bothered me since I wasn’t exactly looking like a normal Tyger Claw.


So, I got to people watch all the Mox that were everywhere in the area.


Pastel and neon. Weird combo, but I could respect it. The Mox were… Interesting. On one hand they were still sort of at the point in a gang's life where the original idea to actually make things better was still active. But at the same time it was starting to die off. Greed changed everything.


Instead of helping people like the Mox had been founded on, they were now shifting to helping the Mox and no one else.


Funny how that goes. Soon it would shift more and the Mox would be like 6th St. Using force to keep their income stream safe and active.


I finished up my lunch and left the little cafe, walking down the street just sort of taking in the sights of the area. Even here though it was tense. Mox were heavily armed. People were scurrying around for the most part. Shops all had extra security either in guards, or equipment.


Everyone was afraid of the gangs right now. Tyger Claws were being aggressive as Strom poked them with a stick, and it was having a knock on effect. Tyger Claws being angry and hyper aggressive meant Mox were running into trouble, which was cutting off Mox areas from other gangs.


Most of the other gangs wouldn’t admit it, but it was making getting BD’s that the Mox sold difficult, and so that was causing tension everywhere.


Crazy to think that basically lack of porn was causing an issue throughout the city, but there you go. Night City folks.


I was walking down through a small park area when I heard it.



A cry of pain, the sound of flesh being struck, and angry voices. I felt myself tense, a stream of instincts all coming out to play as I lowered myself down to better control my center of gravity and crept along.


My boots became absolutely silent on the concrete path.


Thankfully it wasn’t anything serious. I turned around a bush on the path and frowned as I saw a bunch of teenagers. Three boys all standing around a fourth who was on the ground.


And bruised and beaten up.


“Trying to fuck us over again, huh Nox?” One of the boys said as he kicked the figure on the ground. “I think I’ll just take what BD’s you have instead. Teach you a lesson, yeah?”


The boy on the ground groaned and curled up around a backpack.


I sighed, a teenage brawl? A sale of BD’s gone wrong? Well I didn’t see any guns, or knives. So I was pretty uninterested…


But it would be the right thing to do wouldn’t it? To help out the guy on the ground… I considered it. I didn’t really think of myself as a hero. I was kinda too selfish for that. But I had been doing a lot of murder, even if they all deserved it.


Saving someone in trouble would be a good act.


My shoulders slumped.


“Alright I think that’s enough of that!” I called out as I came around the corner. The three boys still standing all startled for half a second before looking between each other and me incredulously.


“Who the hell is this?”


“Never seen her before, you Ian?”


“Nope. Hey fuck off.” One of them called out throwing me a middle finger.


I looked the three boys over. “No. Don’t know what’s going on, but I’m interfering. Head off, I think you’ve beaten the kid enough for today.”


“Maybe I haven’t choom. Why don’t you fuck off, before we take you over to those bushes and play XBD?”


My nose crinkled. Disgusting. Just for that. I wasn’t gonna let them walk away.


I sighed as I adjusted my gloves a bit ensuring they were tight, stretching my neck a bit to make sure I was limbered up.


And then while the three gonks were all trying to square up and act like tough guys. I simply moved.


Unfortunately this was Night City. Teenagers knew how to fight here more often than not. They startled at my sudden aggression but didn’t run, instead they attacked.


I wasn’t able to throw the first punch.


Stupid long boy arms. But I had a few levels in Street Brawling. Blocking a punch was nothing fancy. I took the hit on my forearms and ducked in, a right jab into his gut caused him to burst into a wheeze as he folded over.


Wow, did this kid not know how to take a punch?


I barely got my arm up in time to block a punch from my right. My eyes caught where he was looking, the accuracy of my Kiroshi making it childsplay to lift a leg and catch his kick on my shin.


The third guy was quicker than I thought. He didn’t go for a punch, instead he grabbed my left arm in a harsh grip, since I was already on one foot he managed to move me pretty easily, almost throwing me to the ground, but I kept my feet by grabbing his wrist that was holding me.


Then to my surprise I squeezed, and with a twist of my hand was able to rip his hand off my arm. Since I had him now, I pulled tugging him into a knee that I slammed into his stomach.


Turning to fight kick boy I didn’t quite manage to dodge a punch.


I winced as his blow slammed not into me, but into the Burya holstered under my jacket.


Ow!


I wheezed a bit as he just punched a hunk of metal into my chest, but he was getting the worse off. As he was staggering back cradling his hand.


“Time out.” I managed to wheeze as I waved him off reaching up under my jacket and wincing.


He punched the Burya into my tit!


Ow!


“I think you just broke my hand!” He whined as he bent over his clutching his wrist “Let… Let’s call it done?” He asked after a minute of painful breathing as he struggled not to make too much noise.


I had bent over the little stone wall that surrounded the park. Clutching my chest as it throbbed in pain. “Deal. Take your Chooms and get lost.” I waved him off as I breathed, and after a few moments the three boys turned tail and ran.


Ow! Sure Cold Blood could make me not feel it, but c’mon going all cold for a couple of kids seemed so pointless! But still… Ow!


“Hey you alive?” I asked once the three were gone as I walked over to the beaten boy.


Huh. Beaten Mox boy. That was definitely their colors.


“I’ll… Live.” He muttered as he looked me over from a single eye, the other one already swollen shut. At some point he had stopped curling up and moved into a sitting position with his back resting against the stone wall.


“Good.” I muttered, turning to walk away. I was so done here. Time to go check my bruised tit in my car.


Even with the alerts for Street Brawling I hadn’t exactly been looking around for a fist fight.


Also my tit hurt.


“W-wait!” The teen gasped out as He sort of fumbled to stand. I turned and sort of stared at him helpless to even get up and sighed. “I owe you one, let me thank you!” He begged as he rose up it was obvious he was weak but he managed to get to his feet, as he did he gasped as his bag was held wrong.


Everything inside fell to the ground in a torrent.


Condoms?!?


No wait. Those were BD’s. They were in condom wrapping because someone had a sense of humor.


“F-fuck.” He muttered, bending down into the dirt and stuffing them back into his bag.


I watched for a minute before I finally decided to speak up. “You should just leave them, I think you need to get to a Ripper or something first.”


“No! I can-can’t. Any of the BD’s I lose, I’ll have to pay for!” He gasped out as he was struggling to find them all.


I sighed and with a single glance of my scanner I had them all. Three of them were hidden under a bush, but after a moment and a confirmation from my scanner we had them all.


“Damn…Are those Kiroshis? That’s preem ware.” He muttered, having noticed me looking around and scanning the ground.


“Thanks.” I stood up having grabbed the last of the BD’s and wiped my pants. I had just turned when I had a hand grab at my wrist.


“H-hey! Wait! Hold on, Umm I owe you one! I’m gonna go to Lizzie’s to get checked out, you should come, I’m sure I can get you a reward for saving me.”


“I don’t really need a reward, thanks though.” I offered but the boy wasn’t letting me walk away.


“C-Cmon even if you won’t accept a reward, you really saved me, come by the bar, I can introduce you to Mateo, cheap drinks?”


“I don’t drink.” I refused, waving my hands but again he wasn’t taking no for an answer.


“Then at least come with, let everyone know who helped out a Mox. We don’t forget people who did us a favor.” He begged.


I was going to refuse again, but just as I was about to say it, he sort of limped and almost tripped.


“Fuck.” He cursed wincing at his ankle which I noticed with a glance was swelling up.


“Looks sprained… C’mon. I’ll give you a ride at least. My car isn’t far.” I muttered. This is what I get for being the hero. A bruised tit, and having to do more work.


He looked up, his face flashing into a smile… Which wasn’t the best to look at with all the swelling. “Yes! Hey I’m Nox the Mox.” He… Introduced himself.


“Nox the Mox?” I asked as I felt my face flattening into a deadpan.


“Yep! I’m a seller, a good one, a catchy name means people remember you when they want something. Trust me, it sounds a bit weird, but my name alone has got me a ton of business!” He practically chirped as he limped along until I helped stabilize him.


“Motoko. I don’t run with a gang, so I guess I’m Motoko the Merc.”


“Oh? A merc? I guess that explains the moves and the chrome.” He said adding a little karate chops to his words.


“Yeah, something like that.” I muttered as we turned a corner and came up to my car. I could feel the moment he noticed it as he sorta pulled away a bit.


“U-um, nice car. I might want to just walk…” I chuckled a little at his response because I really needed to get my ride painted.


“Don’t worry I’m not a Wraith, despite what my ride says. I had a job that took me out to the Badlands. It turned into a bit of a mess but I flatlined the previous owner, and now I have his ride… I really need to get it painted.”


“Right.. Okay sure.” He muttered, sounding a little suspicious, but I shrugged and helped him into the car as I went around.


With a flick of my mind I switched to map mode and made up a path to Lizzie’s Bar.


“So, a Merc huh? What’s that like?”


“Pay goes from good to complete shit usually depending on how much someone shoots you.” I told him truthfully as I pulled out to the street and started driving to the bar. “What’s a BD salesman like?”


“It’s good eddies when I have a buyer, but it’s just enny’s most of the time. Nothing like Merc work.”


“Trust me merc stuff can be fun, but it also has moments where you do a lot of work or get in dangerous situations and get paid close to nothing.” I said, remembering a certain job with a group of teenage gangers.


That had been a bit of a mess.


Thankfully the bar wasn’t far, and I didn't have to share more than a few more bits about jobs I had done before I pulled slowly into the parking lot of Lizzie’s Bar.


Of course pulling up in a very obviously painted ride drew attention. I could see the bouncer Rita, if I remembered her name right, go from relaxing at the door to carrying her baseball bat with a vengeance.


Still I ignored that instead stepping out and walking over to help Nox get out of the car as he was having a bit of trouble with his foot. Once he was upright I didn’t need to move anymore as Rita was there, baseball bat still held tightly in one hand as she looked over the two of us.


“Nox. What’s going on?”


“Rita hey. Umm you know I ran into Ian’s group. They uh. Weren’t happy with my price, and thought klepping would be cheaper.” He spoke before pointing at me. “Motoko here saved my ass, fought them off and sent them packing, even helped me pack up my stock.”


“The stock, that you were specifically told to stop taking out? That stock?” Rita snapped, but sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Let’s get you inside and cleaned up. Suzie can decide what to do about you and your sticky fingers.” The Bouncer said as she reached over and helped Nox by grabbing his other arm.


She stopped from moving though as she looks me over. “We don’t let Wraiths into the Bar.”


“Not a Wraith. Just a merc. The previous owner of the car totaled my old one.” I offered lying.


I didn’t have a previous car, but it made me sound more mature rather than saying I stole it because I didn’t have a ride and was sick of taking the bus and train.


“Right.”


“Anyway it doesn’t matter. I was just making sure Nox got somewhere for help. I’ll just head out.” I added moving to walk away when a hand once again grabbed at me.


“No! Rita! Motoko saved me! The least we can do is invite her in!” Nox asked and I felt my shoulders slump a bit. I turned around.


“That really isn’t necessary. I-.”


“It is! You did a Mox a massive favor, we don’t just send people away who do that! Suzie should hear! Let her decide.” He begged, and I honestly didn’t want to deal with this anymore, but Rita’s shoulders slumped a bit as she started walking.


“Fine she can come in. Just don’t cause any trouble.” Rita demanded and I really considered just leaving, but Nox was throwing me a thumbs up and waving me to follow and I sighed as I followed in after them.


I didn’t even like bars! Much less a BD bar that was one step away from a Doll house!


I followed in after all. Mostly because I was kinda curious if I would see Judy. So I walked into Lizzie’s Bar. We went instantly to the left and into a small side room off the entrance, where Nox was lowered onto a couch and Rita went around a bunch of lockers and grabbed a med kit.


I looked around and was staring at an array of computers along the wall. Security, or was it the lights and music controls? I wasn’t sure, and I wasn’t about to go snooping. So I ignored it, and I watched as Rita with surprisingly careful hands considering her arms were all chrome and covered in spikes she slathered some goop on Nox’s face and gave him a few bandages.


“Thanks Rita.”


“You are always trouble kid, try not to piss people off so much.” She instantly retorted as she rose. “I’ll get Mateo to bring in something to drink and maybe something for the pain, and I’ll call Suzie. She is gonna deal with this from here. I need to get back outside.” She stood and as she walked past me she still and gave me a look. “Don’t cause any trouble.” She spoke bluntly, absolutely a threat but I just shrugged.


“I’m not on a job, not much of a troublemaker otherwise.” I assured her and she sorta nodded without doing so.


“I think she likes you.” Nox offered as he lay back on the couch sort of sighing.


“I think you need to get your head checked.” I said as I sat in the desk chair. “You gonna be good?”


“Yeah Mateo will bring me something good for the pain and I’ll be square. But soon Suzie will be here and she can slip you a nice reward.”


“I don’t really need anything, a reward sounds a little silly.”


“Nonsense! You saved a Mox, the least we should do. Besides, I haven't gotten your number yet! What do I do if I need to hire a merc if I don’t get your number?” He asked, flashing me a crooked smile that had nothing to do with his bruised and bloody lip.


“Talk to a Fixer.” I retorted simply which caused his smile to twitch and deflate at my instant refusal.


The noise of the club picked up suddenly as the door opened.


“Nox.”


“Hey Suz!” He called out sounding cheerful even if he was only looking at her with one eye.


She gave a sigh as she looked him over for a moment before seeming to decide he would live.


She turned to me. Suzie Q. The leader of the Mox. Also a woman that didn’t seem to be happy to deal with this shit right now.


“You are?”


“Motoko. Just someone that saw Nox getting in trouble and decided to help out.”I offered with a shrug which didn’t seem to satisfy the woman. She kept her eyes locked on me, as if trying to will me to fess up, or alter my story.


But I literally had no idea what she wanted.


“Your help is appreciated then. You helped the Mox. We will remember.” She offered simply, and I shrugged.


“No worries. I just saw someone getting beat up and decided to step in.” I turned towards the door. “Alright. I’m heading out. Nox, heal well, try not to pick fights with people that are stronger than you… Or more numerous.”


“Aww c’mon Motoko, at least give me your number! I might have some jobs for you!”


I sighed as I moved to open the door as I bent my head over my shoulder letting my eyes go gold.


“There. See ya around.” I called after sending him a handshake exchange. His information and mine shared between us.


“Preem!” He called out as I headed out, swiftly running from the bar, and the many people giving me looks.


It wasn’t my fault I had a Wraiths car. I mean… It was that I hadn’t gotten it painted yet.


Okay fine. I guess it was my fault.


I hurried to my car noticing a Mox girl hiding by the drivers door as she dug through her bag, a clink of spray cans reaching my ears. I sighed and hurried getting there just in time to slip the can out of her hand as she reached to start graffitiing my car.


“The old paint job is terrible, I know, but I already have plans to get a new one. Let’s leave it at that.” I tell the younger girl. She was probably 12, 13? Smaller than me as she hastily accepted my offer of her spray can back before she took off. I just let her run off. No point in causing a scene. Even if Rita, had looked like she was about to hurry over and protect the little girl.


This city needed to relax a little.


I slipped into the car ignoring everything else as I slowly backed out of the spot so I wouldn’t hit anyone and sedately drove to the street access, a flip of my turn signal, and a double check to make sure I had space let me slip onto the road and slowly accelerate off the property.


—--


The next morning I was back to grinding tech. I had spent the afternoon after dealing with the Nox situation heading out to the dump to find some goodies.


Thankfully it had done some good. New pieces of tech to work on had made the alerts start popping up again.


I was so close to another level!


I also still hadn’t heard from Jun.


But I was doing my best to ignore that.


Hiromi was in class, and I really had nothing to do but just keep grinding away.


I munched on mystery meat stick as I continued to tinker on getting the laptop working. My current plan was to take a few of the laptops I had managed to get working again, and try to learn how to make my own Quickhacks.


I hadn’t gained any knowledge on them from Crafting, so there must be a new skill hidden there in the system for me to learn, and I needed more numbers! Numbers for the numbers God!


I took a break and stretched a long yawn pulling from my throat as I decided to get some lunch. With Hiromi in school I wouldn't be able to eat with her, but I figured I could head out and find something tasty and after maybe I should get my car painted.


“Probably should do that sooner rather than later.” I grumbled, as I headed out. Paint first. Then food.


—--


So I did eventually find a shop, and in the future of Cyberpunk it only took about two hours for a full paint job.


But I was running into some trouble.


“It’s not a Wraith car. It’s mine.”


“Why’s it got Wraiths on it then?”


“Cause it used to belong to a Wraith. Then I flatlined him. Now it’s mine.” I explained. Again.


The man sitting behind a little desk in the ‘office’ of the mechanics shop was chewing on a cigarette as he leaned back. A mechanical leg propped up on a cushion every bit the grungy mechanic.


“And what happens when they find out we painted their ride? Not looking for trouble like that.”


“Kinda hard to find something out when you were left in the desert to die.” I answered suggestively. “His whole crew ended that way. Nothing to worry about. I just want people to stop trying to mess with my car when I leave it.”


“Two grand.”


“You have your prices listed right there.”


“Still two grand. I’m taking on risk.”


“Ugh. Even if I spend an hour explaining to you that there is no risk you aren’t gonna listen are you?”


“Nope. Two grand.”


“Fine. As long as it doesn’t look like shit.”


“Alright.” His eyes went gold as he let his people know, and I could see my car get moved into the painting bay. The whole thing was practically automatic, and the length was really just for the paint to dry.


“Any good food places around here?”


“Nope.”


“Lovely.”


—--


He was right. The food around here was terrible. I ended up with a grumbling belly as I waited for the paint job to be finished.


I was sitting in a old musty chair in the office watching the TV along with the shop owner who was completely ignoring me when it happened.


“This is Network News 54 interrupting our regularly scheduled program of ‘Will it chip?’ with an emergency announcement from the NCPD.” The anchor appeared, interrupting the absolute mind melting stupidity of the previous show.


“The NCPD are now declaring the District of Pacifica as a No-go zone. The danger has escalated from High, to Extreme. All travel from the district will be fired upon, and treated as a threat to the security of Night City. Gun fire continues currently in the district and anyone who lives nearby should make sure to close their security blinds in case of stray fire.”


“Damn.” The shop owner grumbled as he heard the news.


“I don’t get it. Don’t the NCPD normally call Pacifica a no go zone anyways?”


“Yeah but switching it to extreme? Means there is a massive problem probably with the Combat zone.”


I felt myself frown. The Combat zone… I knew bits about it, but it wasn’t something that was accessible in the game.


“Kids.” He grumbled at me. “It means they likely lost containment. The NCPD put Cyberpsychoes inside when they can’t, or don’t want to deal with them any other way.”


“I thought that was a rumor.”


“Pfft. Rumor, or truth? Who knows. All I know is that anytime something crazy happens with the Combat Zone Pacifica gets locked down. But it’s worse than that kid. To put together a full blockade of Pacifica NCPD are going to be busy on that side of the city, what do you think that means for the rest of us? With a Gang war already going on? Get ready kid. Shit in Night City is about to get wild for a while.” The older man offered sighing as he reached behind him and grabbed his Tactician. The shotgun had been resting against the wall until then.


Then as if it was an everyday occurrence he pulled out a box of shotgun shells and started loading the sidesaddle. Making sure he would have all the ammunition he might need in case of trouble.


“It’s gonna get that bad?” I couldn’t help but ask the way he was acting...


“Tonight’s gonna be hell kid. The Gangs will know that tonight they get a free pass. NCPD will bunker down and let the rest of the city go to hell until Pacifica is taken care of. That little gang war between the Claws and Strom? Tonight we will see a real gang war. They will go all out.” He sighed. “Gonna tell the guys to finish up and head home. Suggest you do the same girl.”

 

[Seras]

Chapter 24

—---


Driving my newly painted black Quadra Type-66 was nice. The fact the city was almost shockingly quiet meant I couldn’t enjoy it.


I had already made a few texts. Hiromi was bunkering down with her parents. Apparently school was canceled until the state of emergency was over.


Ichi said he would be working for Shobo, running supplies. He had even asked if I wanted to join him.


I hadn’t answered back yet.


Because Jun…


Normally with something like this I would have settled into the apartment and just ignored it. As bad as it was going to be, I wasn’t a member of the Tyger Claws. I wasn’t a member of the Maelstrom. Their gang war had very little to do with me directly.


But Jun would be out there. Somewhere. Alone. Probably throwing himself into murdering Maelstrom.


The temptation to join with Ichi, to maybe run into Jun on Ichi’s resupply runs…


It was tempting.


So as I drove home I made a call. The same call I made every day, in hopes I would get an answer.


Like always the call wasn’t answered.


Fine. I would just have to join Ichi and run around the city in the middle of a gang war to find my idiot brother! That would show him!


I was practically gnashing my teeth as I pulled into the parking garage. Taking up my space… Jun’s space. No, what should be our space, but wasn’t.


Stupid Jun!


I stomped into the apartment suiting up in my new Edgerunner outfit. Every bit the Motoko Kusanagi that I wanted to be. I loaded up, grabbing what weapons I thought I would need. I loaded up the Tactician I had grabbed from the kids so long ago, really annoyed that I had passed on the Satara that I had let Ichi have. I could have used a Tech Shotgun right now.


Stupid Maelstrom. Stupid metal faces.


I was just about to give Ichi a call to let him know I was on my way when someone called me.


*Ringing*


I blinked, almost dropping my Tactician.


*Jun!*


*Motoko.*


Jun had actually called me!


*Jun! Where have you been! What have you been doing!? Are you okay? I have a car now! If you need me to pick you up just tell me! Do you need rescuing?! Tell me what Strom I have to go flatline and I’ll be there in a few minutes!* I rambled a bit at him.


*Motoko. Enough. I want you to stay home tonight. Lock the door. Don’t leave until I tell you.*


*Wha, Jun! I know it’s going to be crazy tonight, but I’m worried about you! I haven’t heard from you in… Forever!*


*I’ve been busy Motoko. Now promise me you will stay home.*


*No! Not unless you promise me you will actually come home! Jun! Yo-*


*Motoko! I don’t have time to baby you! Get in the apartment and don’t leave! Do as I say!* He yelled, although the audio wasn’t actually verbal so it couldn’t really get that loud.


But I got it loud and clear. Jun just snapped at me.


*Jun?*


*Do it Motoko. I have to go.*


*Wait! Jun!* I called out but the call was over.


“What the fuck.” I cursed as I looked around my brain seemingly unable to process for a moment. The desire to slam a phone on the hook filled me, but was unfortunately impossible. Stupid future where was a century old lan line when you need one?


I finally heard from Jun only for him to basically tell me to stay out of it? Well obviously I didn’t want to get involved in this shit, but Jun was being stupid!


I picked up my shotgun glaring at the Tactician for a moment before breathing out a breath letting the frustration go with it.


Jun was still alive. Obviously he wanted me to be safe… I just wanted him to be safe too.


I put the shotgun on the dining room table. Having to push aside all the junk I had been tinkering with.

Fine. I would stay home tonight. For now. But I would be keeping an ear to the ground just in case.


*Ringing*


*Hey Ichi, I can’t go tonight. Jun wants me to stay home, but do me a favor. Send me some updates throughout the night. If you need help, or something crazy starts happening let me know?*


*... Yeah. Alright. I’ll call you if we need an extra gun. Stay safe Motoko. Everyone is saying it’s gonna get crazy for a while.*


*You too Ichi. You’ll need it more than me tonight.*


—---


Angry tinkering followed. I took apart my Carnage and with the knowledge I had from Gun Nut, and a lot of extra scrap now lying around the house…


Okay so maybe it was a good thing Jun wasn’t home.


I basically started fixing the parts on the gun that often had problems. The cocking handle got stuck because they put a plastic doohickey inside a shotgun designed to be as unsmooth as possible.


So I took it out and basically made my own. Using a bit of scrap metal and a hand held cutting torch that was in the tool box I cut out a new part. So I had to fabricate a copy of the doohickey that kept the shotguns pump handle from just falling out of alignment and letting you actually pump the shotgun.


After a few minutes of struggling to get it right, I managed to replace the plastic piece.


With that while pumping the shotgun still felt like I was fighting an angry squirrel, but it would keep working for a lot longer without just breaking down. As the plastic had a tendency to just shatter with the forces the Carnage put itself under.


Technical Attribute XP had been flowing in, as I basically just went to a weak point in the carnage and just… Fixed it. My anger crafting actually worked out as when I finished installing the part I got the alert.


*Technical Attribute Leveled up!*


I blinked as I took in the new information. I looked at the toolbox. The toolbox that had tools that I hadn’t used because I had no idea what they were.


Still didn't know what all of them were, but I knew a little more now. Enough to know that I had a better solution than what I had just done.


Angry repair shop lady’s toolbox had been my source of fixing stuff so far, but I realized she really hadn’t screwed me over as much as I had thought.


Well I didn’t know the price of the tools yet, but I knew how useful some of them were. One was literally a miniature 3d printer of sorts.


Except it could print metal.


Put something that wasn’t absolute top of the line metals into the hopper, it would break down the metal and then print out whatever design you needed…


That had potential!


I picked up the device that was about as big as a loaf of bread and settled it flat onto the table.


Pulling out my connector port and hooked it in, and within a few moments thanks to my Kiroshi I was able to basically upload a schematic of the doohickey I needed. I didn’t have to think about dimensions, or tolerances. As the Kiroshi’s scan of the plastic version handled almost all of that, with a bit of my own knowledge adjusting it, until I had the schematic of the doohickey I needed.


I put in a bit of steel into the hopper, and watched as the device quickly began producing the part I needed.


Future tech!


I smiled as I already got another crafting alert.


Doing something new earned a faster level up I remembered. I grinned before an explosion outside dimmed my happiness.


That wasn’t the first explosion of the night.


Nor would it be the last. I stood and peaked out the guard blinds. I couldn't see the source of the explosion, too far away, but the noise didn’t end. Gunshots. Explosions. I had turned off the news when the reports started coming in.


I was tempted. An urge was there to just head out into the night. There was a lot of XP I could gain out there. Stopping crimes. Killing borgs.


But I didn’t.


I was sneaky, but it was one thing to sneak through a den of sleepy scavs, and another to sneak up on a group ready and looking for a fight. So I stayed inside, and had to deal with the fact that I decided not to head out.


If I was a hero I would go out. To save even a few people.


If I was a villain, I would go out. To kill and get more loot and power.


But I wasn’t either of those things. I had walked past plenty of homeless people in the city before. I hadn’t stopped to save them.


I had killed people, but I like to believe I had done it for more than just the XP. More than just my own personal benefit. I had killed on a job, or because I wanted to stop the scavs.


So I wasn’t a hero or a villain. I was Motoko, and Motoko would listen to Jun. At least for tonight.


But tomorrow? Well. That was a whole other day, and Jun had better be prepared.


—--


The news chattered away as I continued to tinker. Crafting had been leveling fast as I messed with my equipment. My Unity was given a going over and I even replaced some of the older parts. It had been a weapon Jun had got for me more for personal protection than for running through Scav dens.


So I did some work on it, messed with the trigger, replaced the spring, even took a few minutes to design an extended magazine and make one.


I was no longer limited to twelve rounds! I now had… Fifteen! Whoo!


I giggled at my own pleasure at such a minor improvement overall, but it did give me a nice alert.


*100 Crafting XP Gained.*


So that was nice. But while I was cozy in my apartment the city was burning. Often literally.


The news had a few reports about the Pacifica thing, and while it was obviously heavily propagandized there was a hint that all the positive reports were bullshit. Considering the cordon was still active.


So I waited. I did get messages from Ichi through the night. He was nice enough to give me little updates. Thankfully all he was really doing was transporting ammunition and staying away from the bad war zones. So he and Malcolm were tired but fine.


Hiromi had taken to sending me paragraph length texts about how bored she was.


So she was fine.


Nothing yet from Jun.


So I just continued to tinker. I had plenty of parts right now. Lot’s of scrap to mess with, so I just went to work. I did some adjustment on my weapons sights, making sure they were more accurate. Repaired damaged parts, and cleaned all my weapons.


Since I had so many now, and they were all previously owned by scavs, or Raffen some were quite messy.


And so I spent the day. Working with my hands and blocking out the world. Enjoying the feeling of bringing life back to my equipment.


*Crafting skill level up!*


The alert came mid afternoon, and I sighed, Crafting 3 meant I was once more at my Tech Attributes cap.


Once again I was stuck trying to level Tech rather than the skill.


At least the surge of new information meant I had plenty of new things to tinker with. One of the laptops that I had found had an issue I now knew the solution for, and I was going to do that first.


Just as I was soldering a new power line for the laptop, having realized the issue was the power source wasn’t connecting right anymore the door opened.


I instantly reached for a gun, my Carnage was closest as I went to grab it only to get tangled in the laptop and end up overbalanced, I turned it into a tumble where I landed on my back with the carnage pointed at the door.


“Motoko.”


“Jun-Nii.” I replied to his greeting as I lowered the shotgun. “Welcome home.” I said unable to get my tongue to say anything else.


Jun. Jun hadn’t taken my advice to stop chipping in new chrome.


He nodded almost… Coldly. As he entered the apartment. Looking around at my mess of guns and parts, and other equipment.


But I was staring at all the new pieces.


His arms I had seen before. His legs were new, he was wearing pants, but they hung lower on his hips showing the chrome peeking up from his legs.


His eyes were different.


He definitely had subdermal armor as well. A large chunk of his stomach was now fake. A black carbon fiber look to his new ‘abs’ that meant they were definitely chipped in.


He carried a new Katana on his hip. That wasn’t our Otou-sans Katana. It was the more military style that Arasaka produced.


I thought it looked cool, but it wasn’t our family's weapon. The weapon Jun had carried with him religiously.


“Jun.”


“Motoko. You’ve made a mess. Clean it up.”


“Well sorry since I was the only one living here, I made it my own!” I snapped at him before stopping and taking a breath. “Jun what did you do to yourself? That’s way too much chrome that fast! You’re gonna lose your mind!”


“I don’t need your opinion Motoko! I didn’t ask for it either. I’m here because you were going to do something stupid. Threatening to go after the Maelstrom with everything going on! Are you stupid?” He snapped at me, that coldness turning into Jun’s normal hot headedness.


“Don’t tell me about stupid Jun. How much chrome have you chipped in the last month? How many drugs do they have you on? Any? Was that chrome even good stuff, or just garbage you took from the Strom?”


“I said I don’t need your opinion!” He snapped, “‘m doing what I have to!” He snapped at me back.


But I wasn’t going to let this go.


“Jun! You don’t have to do this! Stop it! Stay home. Get your bearings again. Get used to your chrome-”


“Enough!” He roared and punched out. I could tell it wasn’t heading for me so I didn’t move but Juns armored fist smashed into the kitchen divider wall blowing a hole right through it. “You never listen! I’m not going to baby you forever Motoko! Grow up! Learn to take care of yourself for once!”


I flinched back at that. For the first time he actually said something that actually hurt me.


Sure. I had relied on Jun to take care of me. I mean he was one paying for the apartment. Rent, food, clothes. Anything I needed he took care of.


And now he was throwing that into my face.


“I know! I know I rely on you! I’m trying to move past that, but I still want you in my life! I don’t want to see you dead!”


Jun didn’t say anything. He was sort of staring past me, at the hole in the wall and then down at his shaking hands.


“Jun. You’ve pushed too far. Too hard. Why don’t you sit down, we can… Talk this out. Just for a little while. Okay?”


It took a moment but as I slowly reached out for his hand that he was staring at he jerked away from me. “Stop trying to get in my way. I have to do this.”


“What is ‘this’? What is it that you have to do that you’ll tear yourself apart to do it?”


“I’ll kill them Motoko, all of them. I won’t stop until they are all dead. Nothing can get in my way. Not even you.” He pointed at me then. “Stay out of it. Stop bothering me!” He hissed, and it sounded more like an older brother telling his little sister to stop bothering him and his friends.


That wasn’t what was happening though. This was Jun trying to cut out all of his connections.


“No.” I tell his back as he moves to walk out of the apartment only to stop. “I won’t stop trying to reach you. To try and make you stop. This isn’t you Jun, this doesn’t have to be you!”


His fists clenched as he turned on me. “You always get in the way!”


“Good! I will always get in the way of you trying to kill yourself! You think you are doing this for your friend? Or to avenge them? You aren’t. This is suicide! Suicide by Maelstrom! I won’t sit here and let you die!”


“I won’t die. Not before I kill them.” He answered and I could tell he was actually trying to sound cool.


“Fuckin’ gonk, what kind of edgelord bullshit is that!?” I screamed at him but he didn’t stop and left the apartment. I chased after him. No way was I letting this end here.


He was fast though. Stupid cyber legged idiot. I caught him outside as he climbed onto his bike.


“Jun!”


“Goodbye Motoko.” He said before the engine of his bike started up, and even as I chased after trying to leap onto his bike so he couldn’t escape he was gone. Driving down the road. Away from me.


“IDIOT!” I screamed as I did my best to chase after him, but as I hit the road I had to leap back onto the sidewalk to dodge a van that was speeding down the street.


By the time I turned back to Jun he was gone.


“Fuck.”


—--


I was back upstairs not long after. Loading everything I would need.

Why the hell would I let Jun race off into the sunset knowing he is going to suicide by Maelstrom Borg? It wasn’t going to be easy tracking him down, but I had wheels and I could follow the gunshots. I would keep hitting every firefight between Tyger Claws and Strom until I found him.


Even if I had to murder every Strom in the city first…


Something about that twigged at my mind, something about that thought was hypocritical, but I shook it away. Save idiot Jun first.


I cocked my Carnage, the action much smoother than it had been before I went to work on it. Loaded and ready I put it to the side, already I had a bag full of weapons and gear I was going to bring with me.


And a lot of ammo.


I shouldered the large bag now full of weapons, I had found hidden away in my closet and after removing the weird Tyger Claw swag I had a good enough gun bag.


Then I took it downstairs across the street and into the parking garage.


I loaded it all up in the passenger seat of my ride, “Alright Motoko. Go get suited up and let’s rescue Jun.” I whispered to myself patting my casual clothes clear of the dust and grime they had accumulated from all my tinkering.


I took two steps to do that when I bonked my head. “Idiot.” I forgot the meds! I had already been low after my desert adventure and I had bought some more in the following days. But I needed to load up more than just the emergency inhaler that was in my strap on pockets.


I was about to go on a roaring rampage of revenge! Err. I mean Justice! A rampage of justice!


Yeah!


I was definitely going to get hurt hunting Jun and killing Strom.


I would need to load that up first, then suit up. I walked out of the garage considering if there was anything else I wanted to bring along. I already had most of my stuff stuffed into my car. So I was probably just overthinking it.


As I moved to cross the street I felt it. A warning sign. Danger sense. Someone was about to spot me?


I looked around but it wasn’t until I looked back towards the road I realized what danger I was in.


Maelstrom. A large Maelstrom truck roared down the street along with two bikers as they raced down. I backed up but realized instantly that I was in trouble.


They were looking at me. They were coming for me.


I drew my Unity, the only weapon I had on hand, and started firing. Four rounds into the trucks driver side window didn’t get me anything, but the bikers were more affected as I watched rounds bounce off their body, but one went through one of the bikers leg in a burst of blood.


He didn’t lose control but he definitely slowed down after that.


Then the other biker was on me. A pipe in his hand swung from his motorcycle, I leapt to the side rolling away from him as his tires squealed as he turned.


This was bad. I turned and ran back towards the garage. They would catch up if I went through the entrance. So I looked up.


Parkour guided me, clambering up an advertisement then leaping to the second floor of the building, starting to climb up when a roar echoed out, the concrete above it exploding sending shrapnel into my face.


And I was falling. I crashed into the concrete below, just managing to roll as I hit the ground.


Did Cat-like just save my life? I think it did. I love Cat-like. Cat-like is love.


I came back up ready to fight my hand reaching for a weapon only for nothing to be there.


Not because of a lack of weapons. My Unity was back in my holster. I could feel it.


But because of a lack of hand.


My hand was gone.


Where was my hand? There was nothing but bloody gristle and… Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. I felt Cool rush through me, icing my veins and calming my freakout. My hand! I needed that. I did all my stuff with my hand! Coolness flushed even that thought away. Calming and centering me.


But it still took me a moment.


I was so thrown for that moment, that I slowed just enough that the biker caught me. I raised my hands… My arms. Just in time blocking the pipe with my forearm, and giving me a nasty crunch that sent a shock of pain up my arms as I crashed and rolled across the cement again.


Before I could get up I was pinned. Bloody leg borg grabbed my hair and smashed me into the concrete.


Ow.


Unfortunately for him. I still had a hand! Just the one, but it was enough!


He raised me up and I slipped my knife below his armpit. I was right. He might have subdermal armor, but he didn’t have it everywhere.


He didn’t have the armor covering his armpit. Which was really stupid. That is a nasty place to get stabbed. I twisted and pulled a jet of white borg blood shooting out as I did. He immediately howled and started bashing my face into the concrete.


Ow. Ow. Ow.


I could feel myself blacking out as he continued to batter me for a moment before he suddenly grew weak and fell over.


*1000 XP Gained.*


Ah good. He died.


I coughed a bit, blood splattering the concrete as I tried to push myself up, only to find out it really hurts when you push a bloody stump into the ground. It knocked the wind out of me for a moment even through Cold Blood, as I fell back down.


“Damn. She got Sixstroke. Fuckin more dangerous than I thought, this her?”


“Yeah definitely the Oni’s family. Sister I think. I saw them together this morning while I was tailing the Oni.”


“Well stop her from bleeding out and load her up. Don’t want the claws to show up do we?”


“You got it.” He chuckled as I felt hands hold me down, and a nasty piece of cloth was wrapped around my forearm.


“Wait. Hold her down. I don’t want any more trouble.” The voice called back and a moment later I felt like a full grown borg was pressing down on me holding me still as I moaned a bit out of my battered face.


Then something flashed.


Oh.


I guess I will need a hand from now on. Because I was out of them.

 

[Seras]

I don’t know how long it was before I woke up, but I knew I wasn’t rested. In fact I felt pretty awful. I was hanging in the air. It took me a minute to realize I had a chain around my chest and under my arms and I was hanging in the air as my feet waved a bit below me.


All Foods? I wondered as I looked around.


No, I noticed as I looked around. It didn't look like a food place. Or the All Foods Factory. This was more…


Warehouse.


“Oh finally awake huh? Good.” An unfamiliar voice called out and I looked around.


Suddenly I was jerked to the side and my eyes met the glowing red spider optics of a fully borged out Maelstrom.


“We already called the Oni out. Let him know we have his little sister. Hopefully he comes soon, I really want to rip him into pieces. Think I’ll even chip in his arms. They belonged to a choom I knew. Good chrome. It’ll be nice to wear it.” He spoke smiling with an awful smile. I could smell chemicals and death on his breath.


That’s right Maelstrom liked their drugs and chrome.


“The fuckhs an’ Onhi?” I asked, my face was puffed up and it felt like my lips were numb. Yeah I had gotten hit pretty hard there.


“The Oni! Oni! The fuck are you trying to pull!” He suddenly screamed at me as he shook me around. “Hey Ratchet, chill out big guy. Chill here, have a hit from this, it’s good shit.” A new voice called out as a still borged out strom walked in, but at least he wasn’t an imminent Cyberpsycho like this other guy.


I hoped.


He tossed the borg an inhaler who dropped me letting me swing a bit from the chain as he took a hit.


“Heh. Bad luck girl. Oni has been chopping our choombas up for the last month, so we are solving that today. If your brother doesn’t show up in an hour we are throwing you to the scavenging pit. You got some preem peepers. I know lots of chooms that will happily carve them out of your skull.”


“Chathming.” I muttered, earring a chuckle from the man who walked up and steadied me.


“Sorry about the hands. But eh, they were meat anyways. Who knows if you kill someone in the pit we will let you take theirs, how about it. Sounds like a nice deal right?” He chuckled at me as I glared back at him. “Don’t be like that, I mean, it’s a chance for you to survive, better than nothing eh?” He asked then chuckled darkly.


Yeah real funny, how was I supposed to kill someone without hands?


“Weapthons?” I asked finally as he was just waiting around watching me with a sinister smile on his lips.


If he thought I would cry or beg, or something he was in for a surprise.


“Heh! Feisty! No weapons, at least no guns. It’s about chrome on chrome… But tell you what girl.” He said as he walked away towards a table.


Ah. My stuff.


He grinned as he pulled out my knife. Still coated in white borg blood he waved it around before pointing it at me. “I’ll let you take this into the ring, what do you say? Yes… Or no?”


I didn’t hesitate. He was definitely trying to play me, but without that knife I was dead.


“Yes.” he smiled and then he stabbed me. I grunted as he plowed the knife into my right forearm. I couldn’t see it as my arms were stuck back behind me, but I felt it.


I hung there for a moment letting cool completely coat my mind not a sound escaped me.


“‘M gonna kill ya’ fer dat.” I rasped after a minute and the man burst into a happy smile.


“I love when they say yes.” He whispered into my ear before walking out of the room.


Leaving me hanging there.


Ow.


—--


A long period of time passed where I was forced to just hang there under the watchful eyes of the Cyberpsycho who would take a hit from his inhaler every couple of minutes. I had time to think. To consider. I had tried to call, but I wasn’t able to get anything to go through. Texts bounced back as well. Probably some kind of jammer up.

I opened my stat menu. I had a skill and stat point. Time to use it. Because I won’t get another chance if I die. I had wanted to level ninjutsu again. But they weren’t leaving me unsupervised. The psycho was staring at me. It was creepy.


So I only had one real option, something to give me the highest chance in the fight to come.


Reflex 6. Blades 6.


I let the knowledge flow through me. I don’t know if it would be enough, but I could only hope it was.


The door opened again. A long painful time later.


“Well it’s past our deadline! Time to face the Scavenging pit! Shame the Oni didn’t come. But eh, we’ll get him next time!” The bastard said as he jerked his head, and the psycho stood up and easily lifted me off the hook that I had been hanging from. I winced as he wasn’t gentle, and he definitely hit the knife, jostling it on purpose.


Ow.


So Jun’s Nickname was the Oni? That’s pretty cool. Good job Jun, you became famous.


Fuck my everything hurt. I think the fuckers broke my nose too.


They dragged me out of the back room they kept me in which had probably been the warehouse’s office, into a riot of activity.


A party was going on. Or something like it. I was carried through the crowd and more than a few Maelstrom laughed or even reached out to give me a punch as they carried me through the crowd.


Ow.


But it wasn’t all Maelstrom. Plenty of normals were hanging around, getting drunk or taking drugs. The room wasn’t packed exactly, but it was definitely a party.


Then I was dropped into a pit. Cat-like saving me once again as I landed well enough not to splatter my skull across the concrete. I was in a charnel house. Old dried blood was everywhere, and I could see body parts still littering the ground.


Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. If you are going to have a fighting pit at least have some fucking class.


“Haha! Welcome everyone! We have a surprise for tonight! The Sister of the Oni!” he called out and the crowd went wild as I slowly rose up to my knees. They had pulled off the chain from around my chest when they threw me in. So I was finally able to bring my arms forward.


To look at my stumps.


At least they had actually put something over the ends, the white bandages were stained red as I looked them over.


Oh man I was so glad I felt cold as ice right now. I know I would be wanting to puke if not for that. The fact my arms didn’t shake was probably solely thanks to Cool Veins. It would be enough.


It would have to be enough.


“Tonight the Scavenging pit is open to all! This little demoness has a set of Kiroshi! So who wants to dig in!” He laughed menacingly as the crowd erupted in eagerness.


I rested, getting blood back into my shoulders as I waited for what was going to come.


Finally though the borg that was running this, the bastard called for quiet. The crowd went silent, and I looked around realizing that all of the Maelstrom I could see were armed.


Right. This was a trap for Jun.


“A chance for good chrome. A chance to get revenge on our brothers and sisters. Who will face the little demoness? You?” He asked throwing a finger and the kid he pointed too flexed his artificial muscles.


“You!?” He shifted pointing to another kid who cheered at the offer showing a toothy smile as he turned to me and flipped me off.


I did the same back but I didn’t have hands… The realization shocked me. That instinct…


Phantom limb. I shivered I could feel my hand flipping him off back. I could FEEL it. I swallowed back bile.


No. Keep it Cool. I breathed in and out. The pain was there but distant. I would not break.


*100 Cool XP Gained*


I almost chuckled at the alert. Yeah. I got this.


“Yes! Our hunter of the chrome has been chosen!” The man roared and the kid that flipped me off leapt into the pit.


I looked him over and winced.


The kid looked like a chop shop went to town on his body, his arms were too big, heavily muscled Gorilla Arms. The sort that were probably designed for someone a lot larger. But the rest of him was chromed as well.


The kid was probably more metal than meat.


I scoffed at myself. I said kid, but he was probably late teens early twenties. Easily twice my size before he borged out on Maelstrom chrome.


“The rules of the pit for our newest competitor. There aren’t any! Kill or be killed! Begin!” The Bastard called out and instantly the crowd started cheering and taunting me.


Good thing I really didn't care. I wasn’t going to die here.


The kid though didn’t care. He was showboating for the crowd.


I guess that was fair. To him and the crowd this wasn’t a cage match. It was an execution.


It gave me time to prepare. I couldn’t do shit without my weapon. So I turned towards my right arm. Where a knife was sticking out of my bicep. As the kid showboated I took a deep breath and let it out then I bent down and gripped the knife in my teeth.


Biting down as hard as I could enough to practically feel my teeth crack I yanked.


The knife came free. I was armed… I was no longer weaponless.


“Haha! Oh man, look at you! What are you going to do? Gnaw at me to death?” The kid laughed practically crying at the sight of my only method of attack.


I charged. Ignoring everything else. If I waited I was dead. He jerked at my sudden approach, but he calmed instantly a cocky smile on his face. I juked, making it look like I was coming in to try and stab his face, but instead dropping sliding under the punch he threw at me.


My blade cut across the inside of his thigh at the same time that he kicked out, hammering me away. The crowd roared at the sight of blood as I came to a stop on the floor coughing out the knife in my mouth as I groaned. He had kicked me in the stomach. I felt like my stomach was now inside my lungs.


But I couldn’t stay defenseless. I reached down with my stupid stumps and stumbled the knife between them getting it back in my teeth just in time to roll away as he stomped down where my head had been.


“Bitch! I’m gonna squeeze your head until those eyes pop right out!” He screamed as he charged right after, chasing me down as I rolled and scrambled to get to my feet.


Ow.


Finally he caught up and I turned around. Going in again. This time he wasn’t going for a punch.


No, the kid was serious about squeezing the life out of me. He was desperately trying to grab me as I just managed to stay outside of the range of his grasping fingers.


He was getting closer. I realized in that moment all of my instincts, all of the experience I had gained in actual combat, and from leveling told me this was the only moment I had.


If I didn’t do anything now. I was dead.


So instead of running like he expected I charged in. His hands grasping just behind my head as I jerked my whole body ending with my head to stab the knife right into the side of his neck.


It went in.


I almost thought I had done it. It went in. But then a pair of hands wrapped around my skull. The pressure was so intense my jaw clicked open despite myself and I was pulled away from his neck.


“B-Bitch!” He rasped once again as I had definitely pierced through something fleshy in his throat just not deep enough.


Then he began squeezing. I stopped hearing the crowd because all I could hear was my own skull creaking.


So I did the only thing I could. I lifted my legs up to my chest and kicked with everything I had.


Right onto the hilt of my knife still hanging in his throat. It went deeper and then tore. Ripping itself free of his synth flesh.


The white blood flowed. A torrent that immediately eased up the pressure on my skull as I was dropped to the ground. Gasping as my head spun. I breathed for a moment just regaining my awareness as I slowly stopped feeling like my brain was leaking out my ears.


I looked over as the kid flopped to the ground.


Yeah. Blades 6 had actually taught me something interesting. The best way to slit a throat wasn’t a cut.


It was a stab, and then a punch. Don’t cut the throat.


Rip it out.


*1000 XP Gained.*


I rose. The crowd was cheering and booing in equal measure but I wasn’t done. I knew that. Whatever this bastard had planned I was just a toy to him. So I took a few steps over to the kid and with a bit of difficulty I managed to get the knife in between my stumps.


Then I brought it up to my teeth.


I wouldn’t die here. Not tonight. Not like this.


I would just rip and tear until it was done.


“Bravo!” He called out then. The glare on his face instantly shifting to something more showy and fake. “Give a round of applause to our newest winner of the scavenging pit! You all know the rules don’t you!?” He called and the crowd roared back in response.


“YOU KEEP WHAT YOU KILL!”


He let the crowd roar for a moment before regaining control. “That’s right! We are borgs of our word. Bring her up here. It’s time for her to get chipped!” He called out and I noticed that same Cyberpscyho that had dragged me out here jumped into the pit.


Fuck.


I tried to struggle but the guy was too fast, and too strong. The moment his hands touched me it was over and I was pinned and struggled desperately as he hauled me out of the pit.


The kids body dragged along as well. I was pushed into a ripper doc chair. And strapped down legs hips and neck and locked down my arms though…


They didn’t seem to care much about that.


“What do you think Cyberweb? Think you can do something for this poor girl made of meat?” The Bastard said to the open air.


If I didn’t have cool on at full blast I absolutely would have been freaking out as lights lit up in the dark ceiling and a cyber spider crawled down the wall over my head.


“Oh I think we can do something for this pathetic meat. Bring the chrome….” And the way the spider trailed off as it looked over the crowd…


The whole crowd screamed along with him a moment later.


“LET’S GET CHIPPIN!”


“When I get out of this. I’m going to murder all of you.” I tell him as the spider chuckles. One of its legs lifted up showing a circular saw. That instantly began revving up.


“If you survive maybe.” It chuckled at me as it began cutting.


The fact I didn’t scream seemed to make the crowd lose a lot of interest.


But every sadistic cut, and eager grin hardened my resolve.


Okay Maelstrom. Now it’s personal.


—--


It took a few hours even with their spider Ripper.


Then they threw me back into the pit.


I was not handling what they had done to me well.


The arms were oversized bulging things that looked overlarge on the kid that I had killed, but probably looked grotesque on me.


But I wasn’t thinking about the look of bulging synth muscle, and chrome.


I was struggling against the feeling they were giving me. Pain. Burning cold, and heat. Like every nerve in the arms were suffering.


The fucker hadn’t connected them right. Considering they had laughed at my responses while chipping them in. I knew that was on purpose. They had given me the arms alright.


But tried to make them as useless and crippling as possible.


The crowd burst back into a roar as their game was going to continue.


Fuck. How many times were they going to rip me apart before this little game of theirs was over?


How much of me would even be left? I had already lost both of my arms.


The spider fucker had cut off both of my arms! Gone! He had sawed off what was left.


I was going to kill him.


I shivered as the pressure of the connection between me and my ‘new’ limbs was just too much. I could barely think. Barely breathe.


Even if the pain wasn’t crippling me like they had hoped the connection was… Wrong. Like someone had connected the arms backwards and to the wrong part of my body, and then made every sensation feel backwards or wrong.


Right now they were just twitching hunks of chrome and synth meat connected to me, an anchor on each side of me.


And they were dragging me down just as an anchor would.


“Well well! She survived! The little Demoness survived her first gift from the Scavenging pit! Let’s see if she can do it again! Who is up next!?” The bastard called out and the crowd went wild, but I couldn’t focus on that I kept feeling the color pink out of my left wrist, and the sound of an A flat from my right shoulder.


The roar of the crowd barely even reached me.


So this is what it felt like when someone had bad chrome. Like up was down, and down was up.


Like everything would be better if they just died.


My nose was bleeding.


My head was spinning. One of my eyes was twitching. A jerking spasm to the right that meant I struggled to see straight.


I puked a bit, a splash of watery bile escaped me, but that was all I had in my stomach.


I would survive this. I would. I would.

This is not how I was going to die. Not in a pit. Not before I could even do anything!


Gunfire. Explosions. Screams.


I blinked or tried to. I blinked as I looked up. The crowd wasn’t roaring as they watched me. They were screaming or yelling expletives.


I wasn’t able to really focus. I could just tell that gunfire and explosions were going on. Screams and roars of rage.


All the while I lay there barely able to get my head off the concrete. I don’t really know how long it took before everything grew quiet.


The world spun. Everything shifted. I was still struggling to process. Too much was coming from the arms. I could make out what my eyes were telling me, because my left pinky was trying to tell my brain it was where it should take its vision from.


It wasn’t exactly working.


But then even as my left eye twitched I saw him.


Jun. Holding me crying out. The words were muffled and gibberish.


It was getting worse. My brain was in trouble.


Jun as always was an idiot.


Of course he needed his cute and brilliant little sister to remind him to get to work.


So I did the only thing my body could still do.


I jerked forward and headbutted him as hard as I could. Which probably wasn’t that hard.


“Guth fo em!” I tried and even to my own ears I realized my voice was coming out wrong. The words weren’t right.


C’mon cool. Every inch of that coldness I needed it, even if I passed out after, even if it was too much to stay alive after I needed to say this. I needed Jun to get to work and not freak out.


“GETH THM OFFFFF!” I screamed as loud and strong as I could. I blanked out after.


Sight, sound, feeling everything was a kaleidoscope of… Gibberish.


—--


Jun POV


Jun took a deep breath as he held Motoko. The assault above him was going well, but his heart could only focus on his sister.


Holding her limp, twitching form in his arms. He felt his breath coming out hot, as he once again held his sister after a kidnapping.


“C’mon Oni! No time to stand around get your sis out of here, we got Strom to kill!” A cackling voice reminded him he wasn’t safe.


That Motoko wasn’t safe. That thought burned him. This was his fault. It was always his fault!


He should have been there. Should have protected her.


Should have protected her. For a moment the Motoko in his arms was replaced by Kasumi. Her last breath breathing out against his lips as her heart stopped no matter how hard Jun tried to put pressure against her bleeding wounds.


Then a gonk smashing into the concrete beside him brought him back.


He was holding Motoko. Not Kasumi. She was still in danger.


Because of him.


He rose and leapt, the pit hardly deep enough to slow him even carrying his sister.


He did his best to hold onto the bulging arms that were now connected to her, that were probably killing her with every moment they were latched on.


He ran through the fight, as many of the Maelstrom died from swift blades around him. His team, ensuring he would get through.


It had taken weeks to prove himself enough to join the Kamikaze. They weren’t the true elites in the Tyger Claws. No they were the closest to Cyberpsychos. The craziest. The ones that killed the most.


So Jun had joined. Willingly chipping himself with anything he could find to prove he was one of them.


It had been tough to get them to come. He had argued for some time, begging them for help in rescuing his sister. In the end, their own desire to kill Strom was what brought them. They were here, along with plenty of Tyger Claw regulars. If only the preparation for this assault hadn’t taken so long!


He jumped into cover as a gonk sprayed at him, the bullets bouncing around him as the strom wasn’t the most accurate. The fighting was intense. A moment later he died as a grenade bounced past his foot. Many of the Tyger Claws had been outfitted with grenades. The initial assault had seen more than half of the Maelstrom die from explosions.


Packed people at a party didn’t do well with so many explosions.


The Kamikaze had ensured the regulars could get that close. Killing the guards outside, and shutting down the exterior security.


He rushed past the fighting, thankful that the surprise assault had been so successful. Jun was just thankful Motoko was still alive. He had been so terrified he would be late. The first emotion other than rage he had felt in a while.


He hadn’t wanted to let the Maelstrom Deadline go past. He knew what they would do to his sister. What they were definitely already doing.


Akari had been forced to restrain Jun from rushing ahead as the deadline had drawn closer.


But Akari like the rest of the Kamikaze, didn’t care for his emotions. Only killing Maelstrom. So she had held him back from disrupting their attack. Her usual cackling and jokes gone in exchange for a simple almost alien coolness as she restrained him.


He clung to Motoko harder. He was so glad that he wasn’t too late. That she was alive. This time he would get her to a good doctor. A good Ripper. There would be no second Coma… He prayed.


—--


Awareness came in a drowsy haze. Eventually I was blinking realizing something was wrong.


“Unfamiliar ceiling.”


“Motoko!” Jun’s voice called out and suddenly he was there. Ah.


“Hi Jun.” I offered as I raised my hand to wave at him, but it just sort of flopped.


I looked at it.


It looked at me.


No wait that wasn’t right. It just sort of flopped.


Hehe silly wrist, you aren’t supposed to floppy flop.


Oh it was actually pretty cool looking all armored Cyborg style. Although it looked… I narrowed my eyes at the floppy wrist.


“Militech Condor.” I read aloud as my wrist sort of floppy woppyed at me.


“Motoko?”


“She is still on a lot of painkillers Jun. She probably doesn’t even realize what is going on.” A womans voice called out and I turned my head, my hand following to look too.


“Hello.” I offered and my wrist sort of flopped a greeting. “Very rude Mr. hand. You should greet someone properly.” I scolded it as it continued to just sort of twist around. Oh wow Mr. Hands ball joint let him go all the way around.


Gross!


I giggled a bit at it before I realized Jun was talking to the lady. Laaaady.


“She’ll be okay?”


“The surgery… Well it went as well as could be expected. There shouldn’t be any permanent neurological damage, despite the Strom’s best attempts. Your sister has a strong will. I… Well what I saw when I dug those arms off her. They were trying to break her Jun. We are lucky.”


“I’ll kill them. I’ll hunt those bastards down. They did this because of me!” Jun growled and I could see his fists clenching and unclenching.


Ah. Jun was upset. Hold on. I was a little loopy.


A wave of cold washed over me. Even if it felt… Tired? I was pretty sure I was running very close to the edge of what Cool 8 could handle. I mean. How long had I had the cold freezing my veins, keeping me cool and collected even when they cut of my fucking ARMS!


“MOTHER FUCKERS!” I cursed as I jerked off the bed. Only to sort of slide sideways as I was still strapped down.

“Motoko!?”


“Those assholes! I’ll fuckin’ kill them!” I cursed as everything came rushing back to me clear and focused with the drugs suddenly not making everything loopy.


“Motoko!” Jun yelled as he grabbed me and stopped me from sort of mashing my new cyber arms against the straps trying to get them off.


“Hey Jun. gimme a second. I need to go murder some BASTARDS!” I screamed as I still ineffectually tried to get the straps off.


“Drugs are still pumping. Your sister is… surprisingly resistant.” The Ripper? I think she was a ripper anyways said as she checked a monitor beside me.


“Calm down Motoko!”


“No, you calm down!” I surprised him with my intellectual rebuttal. Finally I gave up raising my floppy mechanical wrists up to my face.


“Why are these not working!?” I demanded.


“Please lay back down.” The ripper spoke as she walked up beside, although I noticed she kept her distance.


Out of punching range.


Clever girl.


“The surgery was successful, but your body took a lot of… Stress. It will take some time for everything to smooth out. A human body isn’t meant to undergo two emergency cyberization surgeries only hours apart. Please lay back down so you don’t hurt yourself.”


“Motoko lay down. Please fo-”


“Yeah sounds good. I can always commit genocide later.” I agree with the doctor as I let my body relax and stop fighting Jun.


“Genocide?”


“It’s what you call it when you plan to exterminate an entire group.” I informed her promptly. “I would say extermination, but I will acknowledge Maelstrom are still people.”


“They are just people that are all going to die.”


“Just.. Lay back Imouto.” Jun whispered soothingly as he held me in his stupid Cyberarms. They weren’t very comfortable to be held in.


“Jun you need Real skinn, you give terrible hugs right now. Just awful.” I told him as I rested back. Huh that was kinda weird. Where did all my anger go? Oooh. Cool was tired. I couldn’t hold it.


“Uuuh. Sure Motoko. Sure.” He whispered soothingly slowly stroking my hair which yeah that was nice, but it could be better.


“Reeeaaal skinn. Need that +5 to hugs Jun.” I tell him with a yawn as I feel myself sort of losing track of everything again.


“Okay Imouto okay.” He continued whispering and I was really tired.


I blanked out again.

 

[Seras]

I woke up, who knows how long later. I was still drugged up but not as badly. I could feel it making everything seem sort of muffled or fluffy, but I wasn’t having conversations with my wrist anymore.


Probably for the best. I could feel my cheeks heating up a bit as I remembered that fact.


Then it died when I remembered what had happened.


The medical bay I was in was pretty small, a back room ripper office like I expected. The many many pieces of Tyger Claw stuff strewn around told me a lot.


I guess Jun had taken me to his Ripper.


I was still strapped down, I noticed as I looked around the little room. I slowly raised my arm, which wasn’t easy.


Yep. Still there. Still chrome. I felt a shiver down my spine.


It wasn’t right. The feeling it gave as I slowly managed to form a fist and then spread ‘my’ fingers.


So that was it. I had been planning on some chrome arms. It had been my plan. Probably a set of Mantis blades, or a cool Monowire, or gorilla arms for the utility there had been so many options I hadn’t decided.


I guess the decision had come and gone.


“Oh finally up are we?” The woman from before the Ripper asked as she entered. She was an older woman. Not quite graying, but probably close to that. Her face lined in a few wrinkles, but the shining chrome lines up and down her cheeks showed just how much chrome she had.


“Yeah… Jun?” I asked, looking around and not seeing him.


“I managed to convince him to sit in a chair outside about an hour ago. He passed out nearly instantly. Your brother doesn’t sleep much even when his little sister isn’t in my clinic.


I nodded at that. Jun being too stubborn to actually sleep when he needs to didn’t surprise me at all. “And me? How… How bad is it?” I asked as I raised my arm… I shivered as it didn’t feel ‘right’ It felt like I had four arms. Or more, the feeling of phantom limb meant even as I tried to move my arm it moved slower than my expectations leaving me with a feeling of my limb being in the wrong spot.


“Better than you would expect.” She answered simply as she sat down in a chair beside me. “Considering what they did to you, I expected you to be brain dead. But you managed to keep from having an aneurysm. I pulled the connections as fast as I could, which is why your arms feel off. I wasn’t exactly gentle. Speed was more important. But that will heal. Give it a few days and your kinesthesia should feel normal.”


“Yeah. It’s a little off.”


“Nerve damage or sorts. Those… Things they put on you were overloading your nervous system. It will be tender.” She shrugged at that. “You are alive and not brain dead. It’s more than most could hope for.”


“Yeah.” I muttered as I looked up at the unfamiliar ceiling.


That had been some shit. It was probably the drugs I was on leaving me feeling sort of fluffy, but I could feel it. The anxiety and nervousness bubbling up under it.


I would probably be a little frantic for a while. I really hadn’t been expecting a kidnapping attempt in the middle of the day right in front of my home.


“Fuckin’ Night City.”


“A phrase I hear often.” The Ripper chuckled, as she reached out and without a word started poking her tools into my shoulder I would have flinched if I wasn’t feeling so mellow from the drugs.


“What are you doing?”


“Checking on the connections. The Condor is a solid piece of chrome, but your circumstances make it complicated.”


“Militech Condor. That’s what it’s called right?” I asked as I scanned the other arm she wasn’t working on. I had no idea what a Militech Condor was. Or what it could do. Unfortunately my scan didn’t tell me the things I really wanted to know.


Was it a good arm? Was it garbage? Would I have to worry about it failing on me? Or breaking?


“Never heard of them before? Not much of a Chrome head are you?”


“No. I know some things, but not a lot about specific cyberware.”


“Alright, I’ll give you the rundown. The Condor is a few gens old. It was popular before the Unification War, but Militech came out with the Orion at the beginning of the war as a surprise for Arasaka. The Condor wasn’t able to compete so they got sold off as work pieces. Lot of factories in Watson bought up the stock after the war and started chippin’ them in.” The woman spoke in a quiet voice which I realized she was probably doing to distract me.


But I kinda wanted to know this anyway.


“They do just fine there, but as you would expect a lot of factories sell off stock, or lose people over the years. They may be a decade old, but there isn’t anything wrong with them. They just don’t quite compete with the later advancements. Don’t worry. You won’t have any issues with them. They are better than your old fleshware.” The woman offered and I blinked.


“Fleshware?”


“Yeah. You’ve got Cyberware. And Fleshware.” She said, chuckling as she pointed first at my arm. Then she poked me in the stomach. “Sorry. It’s a Ripper joke.” She added afterwards as I just kinda looked at her blankly.


“Right.”


“Well you won’t have any issues. They are rated for combat, so they won’t break the first time you have to punch some Strom lowlife.”


“Good to know.” I whispered quietly as I looked them over. They looked. Utilitarian. The metal was a sort of polished steel finish. They sort of reminded me of Johnny's arm, at least in color. They were definitely more realistic than his arm though. A smooth contour between the digits on the fingers meant the whole thing looked more like a normal arm just dipped in metal and plastic.


I looked away. What else could I do? I wasn’t ready for this. At least not like this. I had wanted my first foray into Cyberware, into transhumanism, to be a momentous moment for me. Something that meant I took a huge plunge into the future. Into a dream I had since I was a kid.


Cyborgs were cool.


“I didn’t ask for this.” I whispered quietly. Yeah. I feel you Adam. I get it.


“Hmm?”


“Nothing important.” I responded quietly as I lowered my arm. I would just have to deal. Roll with the punches.


“Alright. This one looks good. The connections are healing well. Just make sure you take it very slow for at least a week.” She orders with a firm look as she spins around the ripper chair I was in, and she starts working on my other shoulder. Seeing her open up my shoulder the metal plates shifting letting her access the insides was… Weird.


I did my best to just ignore the feeling.


It was just another thing I would have to get used to… I guess.


The door suddenly opened, and I looked over expecting Jun.


Only that wasn’t Jun. The man and I used that term lightly that stepped inside, was more chrome than flesh. Legs, arms, chest, even his face was chromed out.


“So the kid lived.” He said his voice sounded robotic, and… lifeless.


“She did. Tougher than she looks.” The Ripper said as she rose up away from my shoulder instantly as he came in. “How can I assist you today Fujimura-Sama?” She asked with a bow after she stood before him.


“Leg is acting up again.” He stated simply, and the Ripper nodded gesturing for another chair in her little clinic that he swiftly settled into. As she instantly began opening up his right leg and checking things out.


She could have at least closed up my shoulder first…


The room was quiet for a while as I watched the Ripper work on the Borgs leg.


Suddenly the borg turned his head towards me. “Your brother used up a lot of favors to get you in here. Hope you appreciate that.” He suddenly spoke to me, his blazing eyes a swirl of color.


“Yeah. I’ll owe Jun a lot.”


“You owe the Tygers a lot. We take care of our own, but as much as we give, we expect just as much back.” He said his eyes locked to mine.


A promise, and a threat in one.


—--


Hours later, after the Ripper had checked over the borg who hadn’t said a word to me following his declaration, and after she had checked me over. Jun suddenly burst into the room.


“Motoko!”


“Present.” I responded as I looked away from the TV that the Ripper had kindly turned on for me. I would have just left, but she told me to stay resting. She didn’t want me walking around putting any pressure on the recovering nerves.


“I… Motoko. I…” Jun babbled a bit. The last time I had seen him he had been so cold, but now it was like all the frost had melted away.


Just leaving the terrified teenager beneath. Poor Jun. I would just have to be a good little sister and help him recover.


“Thank you Jun. For saving me.” I told him with a smile and a twitch of my arm as I instinctively tried to give him a thumbs up.


“Motoko. I didn’t save you. I got you put there in the first place! I knew I shouldn’t have come to the apartment! Everyone warned me to stay away. That if I went back they could track me to you! I should have listened!” He cursed his fist clenching and looked like he was going to punch something.


“Nah that’s dumb.” I told him firmly, cutting right through everything. “Avoiding someone to try and protect them doesn’t really protect them. Like ever. You should have just told me. We could have figured something out… but I’m not going to berate you Jun. What happened wasn’t your fault. You didn’t kidnap me, or mean for it to happen.” I shook my head wiping away that irritation at Jun avoiding me like the plague to ‘protect’ me.


I knew that wasn’t the full truth. Jun had been… Cold the last time I saw him, I was still really worried about how he was handling all of his new chrome.


I was feeling it too. The different senses. The way everything wasn’t quite right. That niggling on your brain as something foreign pressed against it.


I could see how people lost their minds


“They wouldn’t have known you even existed if I hadn’t…”


“If I hadn’t bothered you so much and threatened to run out in the gang war to find you? It’s funny if they had jumped me about a minute earlier things would have been different. I had just packed all my guns in the car.” I told him with a chuckle as I imagined those borgs faces if they had been facing me with a carnage and a bit more equipment.


“When did you get a car? No, I mean how?” Jun asked looking confused but before I could answer he waved his own question off. “Never mind. That isn’t important right now. Imouto. Just rest. I promise. I’ll find the ones who did this to you. I’ll kill them. You will never have to worry about them again. I promise.” He said his voice turned to gravel as he growled out his promise.


“Denied.” I immediately cut in. Jun was hot headed if I didn’t immediately squish his vengeful rampage he would really go do it.


“What?” He asked kinda surprised, and I really wish I had control of my arms because I would be crossing them in an X right then.


“I’ve already got a blood vendetta against them. So until I cut off like all of their limbs no one else can kill them. Denied.” I answered simply with a nod. Yep. I was hunting those borg fucks once I recovered. Especially that spider motherfucker. Cut off my arms? I’ll cut off all eight of your legs and your arms.


Jun sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose in obvious irritation. “This isn’t… This isn’t a game Motoko. These men are dangerous. You should know that. You aren’t going to be able to just kill them.”

“Sure I will.” I told him, but it was then I realized.


Jun had no idea how much of an asskicker I was! I had done all these gigs, but Jun kept being Jun and not being around!


“I’m pretty cool, you know? I’ve done all sorts of cool stuff since you've been gone, I went on a gig for Wakako even!”


Jun blinked at that before wincing. “You bothered Wakako!? She hates Oka-san, Motoko! Why would you go to her?”


“Cause she was right around the corner… Really? She hates our mom? Weird. Do you know why?”


“It’s not important. Motoko. Imouto. I don’t care how many jobs you have done. We will talk about that later. But you aren’t going after the Maelstrom. They are dangerous!”


I had to bite back on my instant retort of ‘But you do it!’ that never works on people.


Ever.


“Jun. You remember how you left to go kill a bunch of Maelstrom because your choom died, and I kept trying to tell you to stop and come home so you don’t end up a Cyberpsycho or die?” I asked him describing all of his actions over the last while.


“No… That’s now what happened. Or how I would describe it.”


“Right. But that feeling you got whenever I told you to stop? Yeah. That’s what I’m feeling. I love you Jun, and I promise I’ll be safe.” And then I felt that coldness freeze my soul.


My hands were still wonky, more floppy than useful but I was able to do this. I reached out and wrapped my hand around Jun’s jacket and pulled him just a bit closer so he could see the surety in my eyes.


“But I will not be satisfied until I beat them both to death with their own limbs, and nothing not even you will get in my way of murdering those monsters.” I swore to him letting him see just how serious I was before I let go of his jacket, wincing a bit at the difficulty in getting my hand to actually release. I ended up sort of tugging on his jacket for a moment until I finally seemed to get the right connection across and the hand popped open.


“Sorry about that.” I told him as I settled my arm back on the Ripper Chair I had been resting on.


“No.” He said as he pulled me into a hug that felt crushing as I felt him bury his face into my hair, as he held me tight. “I won’t let you throw yourself into danger Imouto.” He whispered into my hair.


This time I decided not to say anything. Jun didn’t understand yet. But he would. A bit of time for my body to recover. Maybe a full night's sleep sometime soon, a bit of practice to make sure my arms… Well worked.


And I would go hunting. That dark sinister part of me that I kept pushing away when I considered my proclivity for murder rose up.


This time I didn’t push it down. This time I didn’t justify it to myself. Sure they were evil. They had done a great evil to me.


But in order to find them I was fully prepared to commit even greater evils against anyone that stood between me and them.


I felt no sympathy for all the Maelstrom gangers that I would soon run into.


Only eagerness.


—--


Eventually Jun’s hovering drove even the Ripper doc mad, and she proclaimed that I was well enough to not sit around here anymore.


So Jun decided to take me home.


But not our home. While Jun tried to force me into a wheelchair once I was finally released from the Chair I wasn’t having it. It was my arms that were floopy, not my legs. With a double set of slings to keep my arms from jostling my wounded shoulders I followed Jun out of the room, through a basement with a bunch of servers, and a large couch and TV to rest on, up a flight up stairs into…


A Dojo?


“This is Deravaja Dojo. Don’t tell anyone this is where we are.” Jun tells me as he shows me around the building.


“Why?”


“Because no one outside the higher ups in the Tyger Claws know this is where we are resting, or where we go to recover.” Jun says, sounding a little proud as he shows me around. He seemed… Irritated about having to do it, but then every time he seemed to be growing annoyed he would look at me, and suddenly, the old Jun would be back.


I guess having his kid sister cut up was cutting through his… Well I wasn’t going to deny it, his budding Cyberpsychosis.


“Who is we? I’m not important, and I didn’t think you were either… No offense.”


My hurried addition came too late, because Jun was actually looking a little offended as he puffed up a little. “We are the Kamikaze. The force that crushes a Maelstrom.” He answered, sounding all proud.


But I just couldn’t help but think it was some serious weeb shit, and coming from me that said a lot. So I just nodded and kept my mouth shut.


Jun sounded proud of his weeb club, so I wasn’t going to make fun of it.


Aloud anyways.


“So the Tyger Claws put together a group of people with heavy Cyberware to fight against the Maelstrom Borgs?”


“Exactly. This is our HQ and medical station. Which is why you can’t tell anyone where you are. Promise me Imouto.”


“Promise.” I answered simply, it wasn’t really a big deal for me.


“Good. Come. I will show you where you will be staying.” He said as he walked me out the Dojo through a side door, into an alley. There were food vendors sizzling things around the edge of the fence, but Jun walked in between two vendors who simply ignored Juns presence as if he didn’t exist. Behind the vendors was a small little nook between the large complex next door and the Dojo, mostly filled with trash, and nothing else.


No door.


But Jun didn’t slow walking up to the building he knocked on a window and after a few moments it opened. With a little help from Jun I made it through into a small break room for the building. The woman that sat at a desk beside the window was simply tapping away and ignoring our presence as Jun guided me out of the break room and into a hallway. Then he walked into an apartment.


“This is where you will be staying until Maelstrom are gone. I’ll go out to gather some clothes and things from the apartment later.” Jun informed me as I looked around the small mostly barren apartment that had a few of Juns things laying around. His jacket that he rarely wore was thrown over the coffee table and there was a mess of old food containers littering a small table.


“So this is where you’ve been staying?”


“Yes. C’mon I’ll get you settled in. You can take the bed.” He says simply as he guides me into a small bedroom that was equally barren besides a few pieces of Jun’s clothing scattered around.


“Home sweet home.” I told him as I looked around.


I just wanted to go back to the apartment. I had so much stuff to do. But for now I would go along with Jun’s crazy secret apartment hideaway.


—--


I didn’t get a full night's sleep. It seems dumb since I could literally sleep as long as I wanted instantly, but I chose specifically not to do that.


I would need to see a Ripper again probably very soon, and it would be fairly obvious if I walked in with new arms, yet not a single hint of the surgery still existing.


So I would deal with a bit of early rising grumpiness.


The few hours I had allowed myself did help. Washing out more of the pain meds that only made me fuzzy instead of really helping.


Although my arms were still floppy. That would take a few days more to recover from. I carefully put my arms back in their slings as I left the room that Jun had given up for me, only to find Jun resting on the couch staring at the TV whispering a news channel with a particularly blank look on his face.


He didn’t even notice as I stepped out. Just sitting there. Quietly. Alone.


“Couldn’t sleep either huh?” I asked him despite the fact I could have slept the whole day away if I really wanted.


He didn’t startle but seemed to blink a little as if he wasn’t sure where he was. It took him a moment of staring before he spoke. “Motoko. You should go back to sleep. You need to rest.”


“I think I’ve slept all I’m gonna get tonight.” I offered as I walked over and settled in next to him on the couch. “You should sleep yourself. Staring blankly at a TV isn’t going to make you feel better.”


“Don’t tell me wh-” He cut himself off as his voice rose in that cold way that I was becoming more familiar with.


“You back with me?” I asked after a moment and he really did twitch this time.


“I never left. I’m fine.”


“You can lie to me Jun. But you shouldn’t lie to yourself. It’s unhealthy.”


“I’m fine! I’m not going Cyberpsycho!”


“The fact you already know what I’m suspecting is a bad sign Jun-Nii.” I tell him, causing him to sort of glare and sort of cringe at the same time.


So instead of saying anything else I just scooted in, much to Jun’s discomfort. Ignoring whatever was going through his head I acted like all little sisters and just flopped against him.


Little sisters and cats. Very similar in many mysterious ways.


It took a while but eventually Jun relaxed and the tension I could in him slowly eased.


Eventually he spoke.


“It’s just the shakes, and I zone out sometimes. Nothing… Crazy.”


“Jun. Please don’t add in any more chrome. Not even one thing. Please. For me.”


My begging didn’t get a response for a long time as we sat there in the dark, lit only by the Newscaster.


“I’ll… I’ll think about it.”


“Good… Good.”


“What about you?” He asked suddenly, a little gruffly, but gentle as he reached out and poked gently at my chrome shoulders.


I opened my mouth to deny any issues. To tell him I was fine, and I would be ready to go kill some stroms soon.


But I had just told him, he shouldn’t lie to himself.


I couldn’t exactly go and instantly make myself a hypocrite.


“I’m alive.” I told him which earned me his full interest as something must have come out in my voice. “I didn’t… I didn’t have time to think about it while I was there. Too much fighting off the pain, or trying to survive. I don’t know if I’m really finished processing it… So maybe But I… I really hate that it happened to me… That, that it happened to me again.”


“I thought… when you got kidnapped again. I thought… I didn’t think I could get lucky enough to save you twice. I’m glad. That you aren’t dead. That you aren’t crazy… That I don’t have to meet you again for the third time.”


“I’m sorry I’m not the Motoko you originally knew.” I admitted quietly, a part of me well aware I wasn’t entirely his sister. That I was just playing pretend with the teenager who was going through so much.


I had felt sad for Jun from the first time I walked into our little apartment and realized that he was alone.


All he had was me, and all I had was him.


“Please.” He whispered quietly into the dimly lit room. “Just take care I don’t want you doing something… Like me, and losing you. I can’t.”


I leaned into him heavily for a moment taking in the raw… Fear. That was in his voice. But I didn’t respond. Because I knew I would recover soon. That I would be ready to get my own… Revenge. I wouldn’t lie to myself.


I wanted revenge, and with the gamer system pushing me forward I was gonna get it.


“Right now, I could just use a hug.” I told him instead, which meant a few moments later his arm was wrapped over my shoulder.


“Stupid Jun-Nii. Get some Real Skinn already. Your arms are the worst at hugs.” I told him, but I didn’t let him pull away.

 

[Seras]

—--


I think my sense of time towards how long a wound takes to heal was a bit off. The next morning after once again not sleeping a full eight hours Jun dragged me back through the window and into the Dojo then downstairs into the surprise Ripper clinic.


The same ripper checked me over, gave me some meds including some drugs to acclimate to the new limbs, and told me that she wouldn’t have to see me again unless something went wrong.


That was the good part.


“It should be another two or three days before everything feels normal, and probably another two weeks after that before you can start really using your arms for more than light work.” She informed me as she air hypoed me with whatever drugs she wanted me to have.


“That’s way too long! I’ll be fine sooner than that!” I argued but Jun and the Ripper weren’t having it.


“Normally a surgery like this wouldn’t take that long to recover from, a few days at most, but you went through two surgeries back to back. Trust me Motoko. You need to take it very easy for a while. Let your shoulders heal unless you want to deal with permanent damage. You are lucky that the Tyger Claws decided to allow you the use of some of our Speed Heal. If not for Jun’s contribution to the Tyger Claws it would not have been offered considering how low our stock is.” The ripper informed me as she checked over a medical monitor.


“Wait. Is that expensive or something? I can pay for it… Actually I should pay for all of this. How much? I have a chunk of eddies already, and I can go get more.” My mind instantly turned to how much loot I would be collecting from the dead Maelstrom I would soon be mowing through.


“Don’t worry about it Imouto. It’s all taken care of.” Jun stated simply trying to end the conversation but I just ignored him and kept looking at the ripper.


“Hard to say, I’m not running a normal clinic here. I’m only here to work with the Kamikaze. But Speed Heal is currently almost impossible to find on the streets. You can guess why. Plus those arms of yours might have come from something your brother collected, but they still belonged to the Claws.” She looked at me for a moment. “It was an expensive procedure.”


“Fill out a statement of how much when you get a chance. I’ll take care of it.” I told her with a shrug. She was already basically wiping her hands of dealing with me, so I was more than happy to pay eddies not to have Tyger Claw feeling like I owed them hanging over my head.


“You will not! It has already been taken care of Motoko. You don’t need to worry about anything.” Jun butts in, trying to cut me off. Jun was doing the overprotective big brother thing so that was nice.


But I was a bratty kid sister.


“So just make sure you get that to me soon.” I told her, completely ignoring Jun, before slipping off the chair. She was done looking me over, and frankly.


I had things I wanted to do, and people I wanted to see.


“Hey Jun. You said you were gonna go to the apartment to pick stuff up right? So can I come with?” I decided to change the subject as Jun was glaring at me with his cold emotionless eyes.


It quickly warmed up as I changed the subject. He hesitated a moment before sighing a bit at my puppy dog eyes. “Fine. We will be going incognito anyways. C’mon. I borrowed a car.”


“Probably a good idea. I can’t exactly drive my car like this.” I agreed, and the reminder seemed to make Jun twitch a bit.


“Right. A car. How exactly did you afford a car?”


“It’s a long story. I was on a job for Wakako.”


“I still don’t know how you pulled that off. Wakako isn’t exactly our biggest fan.”


“She was nice enough. I mean, old lady rude, but I could deal. She even said I was a valuable agent last time we talked!” I argued as Jun guided me out of the dojo, back through the apartment block this time I was led into an underground parking garage that was obviously blocked off for Tyger Claw use with a lowered gate. I was settled into an unmarked heavily tinted Arche Hella. And Jun started the engine and we were out in the city.


To my surprise Jun actually drove like a normal person.


“Have to pretend we are unimportant. I don’t want any Maelstrom to track us.” He mentioned, after noticing my surprised look.


“So that’s what it takes to get you to drive safely. Interesting.” I teased him, earning a scowl as he continued down the road.


“Before we stop at home, there is a place I need to go.” I told him now that we were already on the road and it would be harder to refuse. “Need to go to Little China.” I told him earning a very unimpressed look from Jun.


“We aren’t going on a side trip. What do you even need in Little China?”


My eyes went gold as I sent him a text for the location. “My ripper. Vik is one of the best in Night City, and I mean that honestly. He’s a legend for those in the know.” I told him as he looked at me like I was…


Well his amnesiac kid sister making grand proclamations.


“Listen. Just… Please. I know you have your Ripper doc that you brought me too, but I don’t… I would feel a lot more comfortable with a checkup from Vik… Please Jun?” I begged.


He was definitely glaring, and I could see his chromed hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.


“Fine. But first you have to tell me why you even went to a ripper, or how you know this guy.”


“Oh. You didn’t notice? My eyes Jun. I got a set of Kiroshi’s Vik managed to find them for me.”


“Ow.” I muttered as I barely stopped myself from bonking my head on the dash. Really glad I had my seatbelt on.


Jun had hit the breaks. Hard.


“What?! When? How!? Kiroshi aren’t cheap! I don’t even have a set of Kiroshi!”


“All of which is basically the same answer Jun. I told you. I’ve been doing gigs for Wakako… And some side biz. It’s your fault you know! I wanted to tell you all about the adventures I’ve been having but you wouldn’t even answer your phone!”


“I couldn’t I was on the job! You can be tracked through calls by a skilled Netrunner. I was trying to protect you!” His voice rose up into a shout at the end. “Now I find out you were doing jobs for Wakako! That you met some creepy back alley ripper!? That you chipped new chrome and I didn’t even know!?” He was roaring, his fist rocked out and smashed into the dash electronics and buttons pinged around for a moment.


I wasn’t really surprised. I mean it wasn’t the first time that Jun had expressed his anger by punching something.


We really should work on that, it was a bad way to release stress. But it was what he said that made me sad, or maybe what he was saying.


“I was safe. Hiromi was with me when Vik chipped me. She was super sus too. But Vik’s good people. Like an honestly good person. So I was fine. And yeah Wakako is surprisingly nice to me. I mean she is really to the point, we don’t chit chat… And she may have sent me on some really boring gofer missions. I should tell you about the wedding ring fiasco… Anyway. I’m okay Jun. Honest. And I’ll be okay moving forward. What happened yesterday wasn’t your fault.”


He slowly pulled his fist out of the dash. His fist clenching and unclenching.


I realized then.


Jun for all of his attempts to be cool was struggling with all his new chrome just like I was.


I reached out without a word. Even if it was still floppy I put my hand in his clenching fist.


I held his hand the rest of the way. Slowly feeling the tension in his fingers die down.


Which was super weird by the way because I was still getting a really bad phantom limb sensation, so I barely even felt like we were holding hands at times.


But I kept cool. I was trying to comfort my stupid brother after all.


Finally after a few minutes of driving through Night City traffic Jun spoke. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there, Motoko. I’ll… I’ll be there from now on. I promise.”


“Don’t worry. And just give me some space, showing up to a gig with my big brother peering over my shoulder would be embarrassing. Almost as embarrassing as the time I had to take the bus to a job and the people I was trying to collect from literally watched me get off the bus… I thought I was gonna die.”


“Pfft.” A noise escaped Jun and I pouted at him as his little burst of amusement turned into a chuckle as he processed what I had just told him. “They really saw you get off the bus?”


“Yep. They were at the gas station right there. I had to do a long walk over to them too.”


“Hahaha!” Jun’s laughter was nice. It had been a while since I heard him laugh as he took endless joy at my suffering.


“At least you’ve been safe… Until yesterday.”


“Yeah I only got shot like once.” Well more than that, but I had successfully covered up the bullet wounds every other time! Because I was a genius and master of disguise!


That was about when Jun once again slammed on the breaks.

“YOU WHAT!?”


—--


Jun pulling the car in front of Misty’s Esoterica was a relief. He had been seething for the last few minutes.


“It was just a flesh wound.” I mumbled. Quietly. Very quietly. Because the last time I had said that Jun almost smashed the car into a pole because he was yelling at me. Jun might have already parked, but I didn’t trust him not to start throttling me if I tried to say it again.


Apparently the reveal that I had been shot on a job was not doing good things to Jun’s blood pressure.


I was gonna ask Vik to check over Jun now too. Because his face going so red probably wasn’t healthy.


“Oh my! Motoko!?” A voice called out and I turned to see Misty having come out of her shop after seeing me.


“Hey Misty. How’s the biz?” I asked, but that was ignored as she rushed up to me.


“Your arms! Vik didn’t tell me you were getting that much work done! Is everything connected well? No problems?”


“Ah. Well it wasn’t Vik. I got klepped by some Malestrom, they were pretty pissed so they decided to cut me up a bit. I'm here for a checkup from Vik. I trust him to make sure everything is good.”


“Oh.. Oh! Motoko. I’m sorry.” Misty gasped as she looked from my arms still held in their slings then up to my face. “Are you… Are you gonna be okay? Do you want to talk? I have some really nice soothing ambience shards that really help in meditation, and a f-”


“I’m alright.” I interrupted her. “I just want to get Vik to check me over. I don’t know the ripper that ended up fixing me up… Oh by the way this is my brother Jun.” I say shifting sideways since I couldn’t really point very well. Misty sort of blinked in that foggy way she tended towards as she looked Jun over.


The fact he was wearing a big heavy shirt to cover most of his tattoos, yet still looked like a yakuza on vacation probably ran through Misty's head. “Nice to meet you.” She seemed to settle on and Jun just gave a disinterested nod. He was grumpy at me still.


“Is Vik in?”

“Oh of course, come on, I’ll walk you down. This is so serious. I can’t believe that the Maelstrom grabbed you. I mean, I’ve heard they do that sometimes, but that is…” She trailed off again with a sad little sigh.


“Yeah it was pretty rough. I wish I had been a little less surprised. I would have been able to fight back a lot better, but I wasn’t exactly prepared… Which I guess is my fault. Always be prepared right? Eh. I’ll remember it for the future.” I told her with confidence.


It didn’t seem to help as she was nibbling at her finger nail nervously.


But we all walked through her shop and down into Viks clinic. Jun was looking around, obviously unhappy with the aesthetics.


Hiromi and Jun were both so alike sometimes! No reason to be so skeptical. Just because Viks clinic was underground, in an alley, in a storage unit and not a building! No reason to be so sketched out! Vik was amazing!


I led us down as Misty followed behind along with Jun who was looking all over the place.


“Hey Vik!” I called out sounding a little chipper. I felt way more comfortable here than I had in the Tyger Claw Rippers chair.


Seriously the lady felt like a back alley yakuza doc. Which I guess she kinda was.


“Oh? Is that Motoko, what’s going on kid, any-What the hell?” He stopped as he looked me over and noticed that both of my arms were in a sling.


“Hey Vik. Lot of stuff happened. I kinda need a check up.” I offered looking down at my arms.


“Damn kid that’s a hell of a job to have done… No that ain't right. What happened?” He asked his voice changing from surprise to anger as he actually got off his rolly chair and stalked over. Jun seemed to step closer, but I just moved away from him so Vik could see. His hand pulled up the shoulder of the generic T-shirt Jun had given me to wear as his eyes narrowed.


“This was a hackjob. What absolute piece of shit did this work on you.”


“Well first was a Spider Ripper with Maelstrom. He cut my arms off and decided to add some Sketch Chrome. It was set up to drive me Psycho. Jun my brother, Say hi Jun! Rescued me and took me to his Tyger Claw Ripper. She got the arms off and chipped in these Condors so at least I would have limbs… I’m just wanting a check up from someone I trust. Make sure everything was handled right.”


Vik was real quiet for a moment, as I watched his jaw clench. I realized he wasn’t looking anymore, but instead was staring off into the distance.


Oh Vik was real angry.


“Vik?” I prompted forcing him to come back.


“Yeah. Sorry. C’mon kid. Take a seat, let’s check everything. I’ll make sure everything is squared away… Don’t worry.” Vik said going full dad energy as he helped me get settled onto the chair and started dragging equipment over. Jun was still hovering but Vik’s obvious skill was shining through even to me. So Jun, who had been under the knife of more Rippers than I had, must have noticed as he slowly started letting the tension drain out of him.


Vik was in full doctor mode.


It was funny Vik was usually a jovial guy, quick to make dad jokes at the drop of a hat.


But he was also an amazing Ripper. No. An amazing Doctor.


And right now he seemed to be… Anger Doctoring? Hate Doctoring? He was still kinda scowling, but his hands were absolutely dancing over his tools as he scanned my shoulders and the chrome all at the same time.


Vik was possessed.


It was Nova.


Finally Vik with a quiet mutter to himself rose up and grabbed a few things from a few different containers around his office, before rolling back over.

“Gonna port in here. The ripper did a half decent job, but I can see a few quick fixes that… Well they work, but they can be done better. Take a seat son, you’re gonna be here for an hour or so. Misty, can you get some water for everyone?” Vik called out as first looked to Jun and then Misty as he tapped a few things on the shoulder of my new arm, and a port opened, where he plugged in a scanning tool of some kind, and then with the work of a man that had done this a million times, he poked and prodded and inside.


“Need to find out what she gave you before I can give you any anesthesia. Don’t trust some docs doses. They either undercut, or give too much to seem like a ‘safer’ doc. Quick blood test, and we will get started. Some of the nerve connectors are doubled up. It’s faster, and doesn’t really cause big issues, but it does mean the nerves not connected will either die off, losing some sense of touch, or you start getting pains as they start sending signals that something is wrong.”


“Thanks Vik.” I told him with a smile and a sigh of relief. Even Jun seemed… Impressed at Viks skill as he balanced multiple different scans with the effortlessness of a man that was truly in his element. An hour later Vik had calmed down enough he was cracking bad jokes making even Jun have a smirk on his face as Vik finally pulled away from my other shoulder.


“I’ve done everything I can to make sure the interface is stable, and all the connections are done correctly… It’ll be a few days before you start feeling normal again. The injury and multiple surgeries takes time to heal. But it should heal fine from here.” He added wiping his head a bit as he reached out and took a drink to quench his thirst.


“Great. Thanks Vik. I really appreciate you checking me over… Can you do Jun as well?”


“What? Motoko. I don’t need a checkup.” Jun interrupted instantly once he understood what I said.


But I ignored his stupid statement. “All of his chrome is new. I’m worried they might not have put everything together right.”


“Motoko stop ignoring me.” Jun growled.


So I ignored him.


Vik watched the byplay with a bit of amusement. “I wouldn’t mind, but maybe another time. I’m gonna need at least a few to stretch my legs.” He joked with a smile and I blinked.


“Oh! Right. Sorry I didn’t mean to overwork you.”


“Nothing to worry about. How about it Jun? Want a checkup?”


“I’m fine!”


“But your ripper didn’t do all of my connections right. Vik fixed them right?” I asked, turning to the man who nodded slowly. “So maybe she skipped some steps with you too! For me Jun, please get a checkup. Vik is… amazing. He can make sure all of your chrome isn’t causing you any issues. You’ve been irritable since you started getting chrome.”


“Irritability? Is that something new?” Vik asked cutting in looking concerned. He turned to Jun. “Have you been noticing any unusual emotional control problems? Irritability, shortness of temper?”


“No! I am in perfect control!” Jun snapped. Losing control.


He quirked an eyebrow turning to me.


“It’s not that unusual. Jun has always been a hothead. It’s the coldness that is more concerning.” I offered and Jun was definitely unhappy about being talked about as he stepped closer and slapped a hand over my mouth.


A hand that I really couldn’t do much about… Vik had numbed my shoulders and arms while he worked.


“Mwh fue!” I called out telling him this wasn’t fair as Jun suddenly returned back to that look.


The big brother taking pleasure in siblings torture look.


“I am fine.” He said turning to Vik. “But I might seek out a checkup at some point. Your skill was… Impressive.”

“Sooner is better than later son. Really. The one thing you don’t want is to leave a problem to fester. With Cyberware that never, and I mean never, ends well.” Vik repeated himself before smiling at my plight.


He was in on it! Traitor!


“I am curious though. I… I have been absent from Motoko’s life… But how did she meet you? It must be a recent relationship.” Jun asked now that I could say anything.


“Oh, it was an interesting day alright. She-”


“Mgh fnto!” I tried to tell Vik to shut his mouth because Jun was gonna freak out! I would have been cutting a hand across my throat as well if I could move my arms.


Unfortunately I could not. And Vik had no mercy.


“-Came in with boxes of Cyberware. Tons of stuff. She offered it to me so I could do something good with it.”


“Boxes of Cyberware?” Jun asked blinking. “Where did she get that much Cyberware? Where did you get that much Cyberware?” He asked head tilting down towards me.


My attempts to keep Vik from speaking failed.


“Scav raid from what she said… You didn't know?”


“SCAV!? MOTOKO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?” Jun roared his flamey eyes really making him look like a demon as he glared down at me.


Ah. Is that why they called him the Oni? I guess that answers that question!


—--


The drive from Viks was very quiet. Jun had not taken the story about the Scav raid well.


And I mean really not well.


He had exploded at first. Stalking back and forth as I explained what I had done. Then he had gone quiet. Eventually just ordered me to the car when he was done. Vik had been a little apologetic, but I just gave him a smile telling him it was no big.


Jun got angry, and was overprotective. Nothing to be upset about. It would have come out eventually.


“Exactly what jobs did you do for Wakako? The one you got shot. What happened?” He finally said as we were half way to home.


To the apartment to pick up stuff I would need for a while.


So I started telling him about the job. About Scorpion, the gig. That I had brought an HMG with me. Which had earned me a startled look from Jun and me yelling at him to watch the road as we almost crashed.


I told him how the gig had gone, the chase, firing the HMG out the side of the car.


The car crash. That I had been shot trying to rescue Scorpion.


How I hadn’t let the gig end there. That I had chased after him through the desert. Finding the Raffens location.


How I had gone in and murdered each and every one of them. Unlike with Hiromi, unlike with everyone I went into the whole thing. Every detail I explained the best I could.


The kills, and how I had done it.


By the end of my story we were at the apartment Jun pulled into the parking garage and stopped because my car was in his spot.


“Do you like it? My Quadra?” I asked a little nervously, he hadn’t said anything since I had finished my story.


He pulled into the spot next to it, and stepped out without a word.


Which was annoying because getting the door was awkward. Eventually I got it, and slipped out Jun was just standing there looking into the darkness of the garage.


“Jun?”


“I didn’t want you to put yourself at risk Motoko.” He said quietly, practically whispering to the quiet stillness of the underground garage. “You were supposed to be home safe. Taken care of. Little gigs with your friends that weren’t supposed to be dangerous. You weren’t supposed to have to kill. I messed that up before I even left, but this is… It’s not right.”


He turned towards me. “Why, why can’t you just be safe? Why are you throwing yourself into this life? I don’t want this for you! Not you! Not my little Motoko who always rushes into things! That wanted to be a Tyger Claw more than I ever did… Who shouldn’t have ever been caught by Scavs, and shouldn't have ever had to stain her hands!”


He was ranting… And not quite but almost crying. Damn. I hadn’t wanted to shock Jun this much! I already expected he was in a sensitive state.


Okay Motoko. Time to calm Jun down.


Before he could say anything else I pushed into his space and forced him to hug me. My arms were still floppy, but I could move them enough for him to get the idea.


“You didn’t fail Jun. You didn’t mess up. You didn’t do anything wrong. You saved me. Took care of me. You made me happy even when I was scared about everything around me. Not knowing anything I was really scared but you made that fear go away.” I spoke loud enough to be heard despite pushing my face into his chest. His arms slowly wrapped around my shoulders.


His hands were shaking.


“You didn’t fail. I was never going to be safe Jun. I was never going to stay at home and hide away. The best way to keep me safe was for me to learn how to fight. The only way to learn is to do.” I told him as I felt his arms continue to shake.


“You aren’t responsible for what happened. You didn’t ask for it to happen, and you tried to prevent it. You can’t blame yourself for other people's actions. You also can’t protect me from the world. Not even if you were… Not even if our last name was Arasaka would I be safe. So I’ve been learning to make myself safe.”


“You shouldn’t have to! You should be safe!” He finally spoke, repeating himself blindly.


I shook my head making sure he could feel the motion.


“The only way I’ll be safe Jun is to become able to protect myself. Which is exactly what I’m gonna do. I wasn’t paying attention and let the Strom get the jump on me. That won’t happen next time. I’ll be prepared and if anyone ever tries to jump me again I’ll make them regret ever trying. I’ll make them die.” I tell him confidently.


That burning sensation in my chest. That disgust and horror at what they had done to me was locked up tight.


But not gone. Never gone. That night had been an offense against me I would never forgive.


Scavs. Raffen. Maelstrom.


All of them were at the same level. Maelstrom I had tried to give the benefit of the doubt in some ways. Sure they did horrible things. I knew about their AI rituals. I knew that they tried to force chrome on people like the monk.


I knew they were scum, but I had mentally put them into another category from scum that needs to die. I had placed them above that, because I didn’t hate their desire to gain more chrome. I mean. I liked the Mechanicus in some ways too. I can understand their motivation.


But my face had been firmly rubbed in the fact they were no better than the Scavs. So I would treat them that way. I would hunt them. Unlike Jun and his little band of borgs. I wasn’t limited.


I was a Gamer. A superweapon the likes of which the world had never seen. I stepped away from Jun then. His hands had finally stopped shaking so much although he was still obviously lost in thoughts just like I had been.


Now if only my hands would stop clenching so hard. I was struggling to get them to relax. They were both clenched into fists.


“C’mon Jun let’s go get some stuff okay?”


He blinked a bit as if remembering where he was before he nodded quietly. Juns protective arm over my shoulder was nice as we crossed the street.


The bloodstains were still there.


I did my best to ignore them. Maelstrom would pay for every drop of blood they took from me.

 

[Seras]

—---


With Juns help we gathered up a bunch of stuff from the apartment. I really wasn’t able to help much as even a backpack would go over my still injured shoulders.


Still he gathered up a bunch of things including some of my repair work and tools, and we left the apartment.


It was kinda sad. I knew we would come back, eventually, but it was still sad to be sort of moving away from home.


It was where I felt safe.


Jun didn’t talk much on the way back to the Dojo apartments. Only speaking up about getting some food, which we stopped at on the way.


To my absolute shock Jun didn’t order a XXL Burrito.


Has Jun gone completely Cyberpsycho? Now I was actually worried, but he seemed normal as we ate on the drive back.


Truly watching Jun eat something other than XXL Burritos was too weird for this world!


We drove around instead of going straight to the apartment. Through a few heavy Tyger Claw zones as I could see them literally walking the street.


“Anyone following us will be spotted and removed.” Jun explained at my curious look as we finally made it down to the Dojo.


After hauling my stuff inside the apartment Jun left to do some Tyger Claw stuff.


His words.


I settled in for a sleep. It was time to do a full heal, see how well I would handle having new arms.


And start preparing for my revenge.


—--


I blinked awake, as always using the menu to sleep for eight hours left me feeling 100% rested, and wide awake. I sat up looking around. I had purposefully fallen asleep on the couch so that Jun could keep his bed so I didn’t see him as I looked around. Checking the clock I noticed it was only nine pm. Late, but not too late. Jun was probably still up even. With that I looked down to my arms and tried to move them.


That sluggish feeling was gone. But it still wasn’t right. Wasn’t normal.


I lifted my right arm and felt… Off. The feeling of a phantom limb struck me heavily. As I lifted my arm it felt like it was a second too slow, leaving my brain telling me my arm should be there, but it hadn’t made it.


I tested the same with my left arm finding the noodly arm effect was gone, but the foreignness was still present.


I stood up shaking myself loose from my slings that I had fallen asleep with. I felt my breath come out shaky. A tightness behind my eyes.


It was scary. What I had gone through, what they had done to me, and now the effects of which I was still dealing with.


I was scared.


I exhaled ice. The coldness creeping up my veins freezing my anxiety. My fears. I could deal with this. Hundreds of thousands of people live in Night City with Chrome arms. It wasn’t weird. Or impossible. Just a short time to get used to it and I would be fine.


It was just a change. Just one more change. Just like all the changes I had made since I woke up in the hospital. Just one more tiny alteration in my life.


I let the ice melt. Let my feelings slowly slip back into my thoughts.


I was scared. But not because I hated the cyborg arms. But because it hadn’t been my choice.


I had wanted this, but at my pace. I exhaled warmth. No tears threatened to come out. “Okay Motoko. Step one. Get used to the limbs.”Closing my eyes I stretched my arms out then opened them. Looking at them for the first time as mine.


They weren’t Militech Condors. They weren’t Chrome.


They were my arms.


My fingers were thin. The Ripper must have adjusted the… My arms, to suit a woman. I spread my arms sideways getting a feel for my wingspan. It was… About the same? Not an easy thing to tell, but it was there. My fingers were longer now. I realized I could clench my fists and my fingers didn’t rest at the same place they would have before.


I played with my fingers for a moment. Pressing each finger to my thumb one after another wiggled the digits, and even threw up a middle finger.


Just to make sure for next time.


Then I moved to my palms. They weren’t flesh. Instead a smooth stainless steel, or aluminum, but covered at parts with a rubberized grip. I could feel it. The sensors of the Cyberware gave me an almost accurate sense of touch.


The foreignness was still there, and I had to close my eyes and just breathe as I felt new sensations for old actions.


Touching my own palm shouldn’t cause me this much discomfort. Shouldn’t feel so wrong.


But I exhaled. Let myself simply adjust. Let the feeling of it flow through me. This was what my hand felt like. I pushed my hands together letting the feeling flow through my mind.


This was me.


I let my palms drift apart. Now I focused on my wrists. Feeling their range of motion. Every angle I would ever need as I slowly shifted my wrist this way and that.


My wrist was strong.


My old… No. My wrists before. My wrists before had been kinda weak. Not helped by the feeling of them breaking whenever I shot my Burya.


But I could feel how much stronger they were. The tension of pushing them to their limit actually a nice feeling. Yes it was strange but it didn’t hurt, like when you stretched with meat, a nice feeling.


I moved on


My forearms were coated smooth steel. Small gaps in the exterior showed the muscle underneath. I could see the synth muscle contract and shift as I moved my wrists, I let myself grow used to the sight, and feeling.


My elbow was weird. The range of motion was a lot wider. Able to go a bit beyond an elbows normal range of motion on the extension. I repeated the motion for a while simply growing used to the differences.


My biceps were defined. The military nature of the limb was in full view, but it didn’t bother me. I had muscles before from all the Body training.


There wasn’t much to think about. It’s not like you really think about your bicep very often. The length was about right. And I could feel the muscles contracting as I curled my hands to my shoulders.


My shoulders were different. Obviously. They had a texture to them, my shoulders had an almost armored section. It wasn’t large, but it made my shoulder feel larger in my peripheral vision that was so clear with my Kiroshi.


I could feel the metal cool against my skin that ran from my shoulder to above my breast. The length of how far the arms had extended into my chest? Or just how the arms connected to my nerves?


No idea.


I exhaled letting the feeling pass.


These were my arms.


I opened my stat menu.


—--


Level 5

4750/6000


Body 6(10) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.

-Athletics 5

-Street Brawler 5

-Annihilation 4


Reflex 6

-Blades 6

-Handguns 4

Assault 3

-Driving 4



Intelligence 4

-Breach Protocol 3

-Quick Hacks 3


Cool 8

-Ninjutsu 7

-Cold Blood 6


Technical attribute 3(7) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.

-Crafting 3


0 Stat point.

0 Skill point.



Perks.

Ambidextrous Blades 2

Quickdraw Handguns 2

Gun Nut Assault 2

Parkour Athletics 2

Grappling Street Brawler 2

Drive By Driver 2

Cat-like Athletics 5

Cool Nerves Cold Blood 2

Danger Sense Ninjutsu 2

Wall Breaking Breach Protocol 2

Cyber Security Quick Hack 2

Recoil Reduction. Annihilation 2

Cyber Ninja Ninjutsu 5

Fearless Chill. Cold Blood 5.

Improvised Weapons Street Brawler 5

Parry Blades 5

Robotics wizard Crafting 2


Cyberware:

Militech Paraline *Adaptation Militech Paraline 0/0*

Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 0/2*

Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 0/10*


The numbers soothed me. There weren’t any negatives, or loss of stats. It means I was okay. That I could grind out a bit and be back to where I was… No, be even better.


I liked that. The chrome hadn’t been my choice, but I had always meant to do it. To be better. I clenched my first and felt the pressure within the grip.


I blinked my eyes and sighed. I guess I could understand why chipping in chrome would drive you nuts.


My eyes still felt weird when blinking to the extent that not blinking felt more comfortable, but my body still wanted to blink. It was a struggle to keep from doing it.


Now I also had my arms feeling off. Every part of them worked. I could feel everything. The sensors were actually really advanced, but…


It wasn’t the same. And that feeling of offness was distracting.


Irritating.


Like if your arm fell asleep and you tried using it to do a normal task. You could, but the lack of normal sensation left you uncomfortable. Yeah. That was what it was like. I decided.


“Fine. I just have to get used to it.” I affirmed to myself once more, extending my arms and running through a test of my fingers. “Time to grind.” I muttered as I fell back on my Street Brawler knowledge. The knowledge of how to train to fight.


I threw a punch. It whipped out. It wasn’t right. The phantom limb was still there making the punch feel slow. Off.


I pulled back and threw it again.


And again.


And again.


I would grow used to it mentally even if I can’t physically. Adaptation was probably going to be a very important stat for me right now. My hopes were pinning on the stat making everything go back to feeling normal.


That meant I had only one choice.


Kill.


Good thing I already had plenty of acceptable targets.


“What are you doing!?” Jun’s voice suddenly interrupted me as I punched, making me stop. I looked over he had just entered the apartment, and was looking at me in concern.


“Punching?”


“Sit down! You are still healing! Are you an idiot!?... Of course you are.” He muttered as he practically picked me up and sat me on the couch. A moment later he came back with a bag full of my tech stuff I had asked him to bring from the apartment.


“Light duty only! What part of that didn’t make it through your gonk head?” He cursed at me actually sounding pretty pissed as he slammed the bag on the table.


I winced. That wasn’t good for my tools Jun.


But I was wise! I kept my mouth shut and nodded along as Jun stalked around the apartment.


I would just wait for him to leave.


Until then I pulled out some of my tools and had a very strange session making some pieces that I was gonna use to modify my Unity. The old gun had been with me for a while. It was about time I spent a little time working on it.


It was almost an hour later when I finished the new trigger that would be a bit smoother than the old one, holding the part up to the light admiring its look when I realized.


My Unity was gone.


I put the trigger down and had to wipe my eyes.


—-


I was so bored.


Jun was still mother henning me. So I wasn’t able to do any real exercise or grinding when he was around, and he had patently refused to let me go anywhere. So I had been stuck inside playing with the few pieces of tech I had. I had already breached the security on every device in the apartment, and many of them in the building itself.


Bored, Bored, bored!


Jun though was a good big brother. He must have a Brother-Sense because as I was slowly losing my mind he pulled me out of the apartment and brought me over to the Dojo.


I was feeling relieved and happy, I might get some exercise done, until he walked me over to an older man that had on a Gi.


And a lot of Tyger Claw tattoos. But that was more the norm than not here.


“Sensei. This is Motoko.” Jun suddenly introduced me.


“Hmph.” Was the only noise he made as he looked me over. “I am Ozeki Sensei. Those arms of yours are new.” He said and it took me a moment to realize he was asking a question with how gravely his voice was.


“Yes.”


“Then you will be helpless as a babe until you learn them.” He said simply as he turned and grabbed a shinai off a rack and then threw it at me.


It wasn’t a gentle throw. I managed to keep from yelping as I jerked, my arms raising to catch them, but the timing was off. My hand wasn’t where I needed it to be and the sword ended up getting caught on my fingers and nearly smacking me in the face.


But I managed to seal both hands around the sword wincing as it creaked a bit but it was fine.


“Sensei… Light duty only.” Jun hinted loudly looking a little irritated but Ozeki Sensei just turned towards me.


“Kusanagi. You have a task to complete.” He dismissed Jun with a single sentence and even Jun realized it as he frowned but gave a small bow before turning and walking away.


Wait Jun. I was feeling very unsafe! Protect me!


“Now. Show me your stance!” He barked his voice so growly that I instantly did as I was told. Feeling myself falling into a neutral stance, shinai held out before me.


“Now Strike!” He demanded and I swung.


He didn’t like that. He ran me through the wringer.


I was supposed to be on light duty! Even if I was actually fine now! This was unfair!


—--


I had gained a few blade alerts by the time I was ‘released’ and allowed to run away back to the apartment.


It wasn’t like I was that tired or anything. It wasn’t that what he had me do was unlike what I normally do when I grind.


He was just intimidating! He growled and glared constantly! I work best with positive reinforcement you know!?


Still it was done. I escaped and went home, tinkered with my spare parts until Jun came back.


“I’ll be gone tonight. And most of tomorrow. Don’t leave the apartments. You can go to the Dojo, or speak to the secretary in the break room if you need something.” He ordered before I could even greet him as he rushed into his room and then came out carrying his weapons.


I realized he was going out to kill Maelstrom. Instantly I felt the itch to follow him. I could help. A lot. I could make sure Jun would be safe.


But Jun would never accept that. Not after what had just happened. I would need to ‘recover’ enough that I could push past his initial refusals.


I would need to grind.


“Jun-Nii. Be safe.” I demanded as he almost walked out the door, but I stopped him with a behind hug.


“I will. Imouto.” He answered softly, his voice breaking from that cold icy tone he kept falling back into. But he couldn’t stay he broke off and headed out of the apartment right after.


Once he was gone I turned around.


I picked up the table in front of the couch and moved it out of the way.


So I had at least twelve hours or more before Jun came back. Time to work through everything I knew until my arms could do what I expected them to.


I dropped down and started doing push ups. Then I pushed myself to my feet. Throwing punches into the air. I grabbed a pistol that Jun had left behind for me. He had noticed that I didn’t have my Unity anymore.


A Lexington. It felt close enough to my old Unity, if not quite the same, and after grabbing my old holster and fitting it in, I went back to it. Pushups, jumping jacks, punches, quick drawing. Everything I knew I would need. I even started juggling the magazine of the lexington between my hands to make sure I could catch things.


And quickly reload the gun.


That foreign feeling never left. The Phantom limbs never lined up right.


But that was fine. I could live with it. As long as my arms did what I needed. As long as I could shoot, and punch and stab.


As long as I could kill.


—---


The next morning I went back to the dojo. The Sensei wasn’t alone. Another borg was there going through some Taichi if the knowledge from Street Brawling was reliable.


The fact she was seeming to hesitate a bit on some of the motions.


Yeah. She had been injured. New chrome. She was going through something similar to me.


But unlike me she was a borg. She had the weird leg blades that some of the Tyger Claw borged out women had and was doing her best to remain stable as she went through the movements. I watched for a while as Sensei led her through the kata.


“Who’s the kid?” The woman finally asked, her voice sounding completely electronic.


“Focus!” Sensei barked not answering until the woman was back in form.


“Motoko is Jun Kusanagi’s sister.” He finally offered only once the woman had proven she was focused again.


“Huh the kid's kid sister huh?” She muttered looking over to me before Sensei made a noise of displeasure and she refocused.


I continued watching until Sensei spoke up.


“Motoko. Join us.” He demanded. It wasn’t a request. I sighed internally, but rose up and slipped into the kata without issue.


Street Brawling hadn’t given me the direct knowledge on how to do it, but I could easily follow a new Kata. Especially one as slow and relatively simple as Tai-chi.


I followed along finding the rhythm without any issue. It wasn’t any more mindless than grinding with the punching machine so I quickly fell into the zone of just following Sensei’s moves.


*100 Street Brawler XP Gained.*


I blinked and felt a smile coming to my lips as the alert popped in.


“Motoko was it? Those arms of yours are new.” The woman said suddenly as we both followed the motions.


“Yeah. Strom decided it would be fun to cut my arms off and put on a set of cyberarms wrong. So I got a new set now. Trying to get used to them… It’s your hip right?” I pointed out, the woman had been favoring her left leg and the way she moved it was like her balance was off.


“Good eye.” She offered after a moment. “I took a round that punched through. Blew off my leg. Managed to pull myself out of the action. Got a refit and here I am. Getting used to the changes. Sensei is the best at getting us back up and running again. There is a reason we are camping out in his Dojo.”


“Hmph.” He grunted, eyeing us both as very specifically did a motion we hadn’t copied right.


Both of us jumped back to it but it seemed he was displeased.


“Akari. Motoko. You will spar.” He demanded instantly, and I looked at the woman. Akari I supposed to wonder what he meant, but she was smirking a bit at me.


“Sorry kid. I’ll go easy on you, but what Sensei says goes.” She said as her hands formed into fists.


Suddenly a Shinai was thrown at me. I only caught the motion due to my Kiroshi, I nearly fumbled as he had chucked it quite hard at me. I managed to get the grip and turn it into a flourish as I faced the woman.


“Hoh? Not bad kid. Try to keep up.” Akari offered before she… Moved.


Even with my Kiroshi I was barely able to react fast enough to fist arcing towards me. I wasn’t fast enough.


I wasn’t fast enough.


The fist stopped as it tapped my nose.


“Never fought someone with a Sandy before, have ya?” She asked with an utterly arrogant smile. “Gotta move quick kid, otherwise you get flatlined.”


“Fool.” Sensei said as he whacked the back of Akaris head. The older woman yelped and turned with a thunderous glare before seemingly calming after a moment. “What good is a spar if you use such tricks. Back to your place.”

“Yes Sensei.” Akari offered but there was a hint of angry rebellion in her voice.


“It’s okay. She’s right. I never faced Sandevistan. It’s good to see what it can do.” I offered trying to lower the tension that had suddenly appeared.


“Spar. Begin.” Sensei offered without any further words, and I refocused on Akari who didn’t seem to have any hesitation on her mind.


She rushed me, her fists clenched, but this time it was at a more normal speed.


I soon learned the Shinai wasn’t going to stop her, her Cyber arms were more than capable of blocking the Shinai without a care and sending a fist rushing for my stomach.


Since she wasn’t moving at sandy level speeds I managed to jump away, but then she was on me. Punches thrown at me in a barrage, fast and strong, her arms weren’t gorilla arms, but that hardly matters at a certain point. It was still a metal clad fist rushing me.


And so we sparred. She was better than me. Faster than me. Stronger than me.


It didn't take long until I was taking blows that left nasty bruises on my chest. My arms the only part of me strong enough to stop her fists from crashing into me. Even my Parry perk was simply knocked aside. The Shinai simply couldn’t last against her hits whenever I used it to try and parry her fists away, the faux bamboo creaking at the stress each time as I was forced to give up on the parry.


Finally I managed to get into a position that my thrust with the shinai wasn’t something she could ignore. The thrust would have slammed into her throat.


And then suddenly she wasn’t there. I blinked.


Actually blinked because it took me that moment to realize what she had done.


“Did you just do a backflip?”


“Course. My arms are more than strong enough to catch me. And my legs are way stronger. I’ve cut down Strom completely on my hands before.” Akari offered as she looked up towards me. Her body in a sort of scorpion pose with her arms holding her up. Her legs pointed towards me like she was going to strike and stab me.


Well… I could do that! Athletics, parkour, and even Cat-like gave me a solid understanding on how to move.


I rushed her this time.


Her legs flicked out, the pointed cyberware more than strong enough to knock me senseless.


I spun letting the blow pass me as I crouched down swiping at her left arm to force her to lift it to block.


Then I leapt rolling sideways over her striking leg flipping in the air as I landed on her other side. The shinai swiping out while it wasn’t strong enough to truly hurt her, it was more than strong enough to jerk her arm back as I slammed it into the inside of her elbow.


She fell, her other arm still returning down to regain stability as She took a tumble, instantly she rolled with the motion, her cyberware the only thing keeping her from a neck injury as she rolled back to her feet and attacked me.


I back flipped landing on my new arms with only a slight bit of wobble to avoid her leg slashing through where I had just been.


This was fun!


I got back to my feet just in time to block a few kicks and punches with my shinai. Akari though wasn’t happy.


She looked kinda pissed.


“Akari!” Sensei suddenly barked out as I dodged another strike from the womans feet, but she wasn’t listening.


Oh.


Oh I guess this was suddenly not a spar.


She moved.


Fast. A blur of colors as she approached and struck.


I had only barely got my arms crossed to block the punch that sent me tumbling. I let myself roll a few times even with my breath taken from me before I extended my legs catching the matt floors to break my momentum. I used my arms to make sure I wasn’t smashing my face into the ground.


When I stopped I was already staring at her, ready to leap back up from my split leg position, my hands gripping the mat ready to launch me into the air if need be.


“Akari!” Sensei was pissed but the woman just stood there, seeming to take a minute to calm herself.


“Well kid, how’re the arms. Still have the phantom limbs?” She asked and in that moment… No.


The speed of the attacks and the focus on fighting had blurred the sensation.


I was breathing heavily as I caught my breath so I couldn’t say much.


That was okay Sensei had enough words for me.


“Akari. Meditation! You obviously lack control over your spirit. Go!” He barked at the end and even the borged out woman jumped a little at his words.


“Yes Sensei. Keep it up kid. You might just be worth keeping around.”


“You wouldn’t say that if I was coming from out of sight.” I grumbled quietly, as I finally pushed myself back to my feet. Rubbing my chest I grumbled a little. “Supposed to be on light duty.”


“That is unnecessary. You have already healed plenty.” Sensei suddenly said from beside me, startling me at his sudden appearance.


“How’d you know?”


“I deal with many men and women that need physical adjustment to their chrome. I know what an injury looks like. Your chest?” It took me a moment to realize he was asking after my injury.


I shrugged but he didn’t look satisfied so I did a few stretches and breathed deeply and while it was sore and painful I was fine. “It’s fine.”


“Good. Akari is usually more in control. It will not happen again.” He said with a growl.


“It was fine. She isn’t the first borg I’ve fought.” I shrugged. Honestly it was good practice. A reminder that despite my benefits I could still be overpowered.


He looked me over before nodding. “Come. You could use meditation as well. Akari will walk you through it.” He called out and I could hear the woman grumble from the sidelines where she had moved away and sat cross legged.


“C’mon kid. Time to bring yourself into alignment as Sensei likes to say.”


I shrugged. As I settled in.


To my surprise Akari wasn’t a bad teacher, and I realized long after I settled in cross legged with my hands formed into different poses to let myself align. That this entire thing was a course for potential Cyberpsychos. Jun was with them, and Akari was a member of Kamikaze as well.


They were all here under Sensei’s watchful eye. Kept healthy and stable as the Tyger Claws could get them.


Huh. I was kinda surprised. You don’t expect a gang to care that much, but I guess when you put in thousands of eddies worth of equipment into them, keeping them from completely losing it was in your best interest.

 

[Seras]

Meditating in the corner was… weird. Akari had walked me through a few steps and then zoned out on her own. But I wasn’t the type to meditate while sitting in a yoga pose.


So I didn’t bother trying. Instead I slowly shifted my arms. Feeling the differences as I waved them around quietly. Just… Processing. It was funny, I had so much knowledge in my head from such a vast array of topics, yet none of them could really help me with this. I had tried some of the martial arts I had gained from Street Brawler, and it helped. But it wasn’t a panacea.


Only time could truly help.


Well that or more stat points. I had a bet that Adaptation would help quite a bit. But that was for the future. I still needed to grow at least comfortable enough that I was able to gain those points. My accuracy was still off, my balance, everything.


It might seem odd, but it was true. While training my quickdraw the night before I realized that slightly different length arms. Fingers that were longer but stronger, and the phantom limb, meant my gun was ending up pointed in the wrong spot. I was forcing myself to untrain habits I had developed.


So here I was. Faking meditation as I ran through some of the Taichi kata with my arms. Just letting myself adapt.


Hopefully.


Sitting here doing nothing did have some benefits though.


Sensei wasn’t just helping Akari, and I.


While apparently most of the Dojo’s students were sent away, either too busy with the war, or simply not trusted enough to know that the dojo was in use. That didn’t mean there weren't others.


I got to watch Borgs fight each other.


The Kamikaze group were more than a dozen, borgs I had seen so far. As they came in, usually in small groups I got to watch them relax around the dojo. Spar, or in some cases sit by themselves as they glared or zoned out.


Cyberpsycho. Almost all of them had some of the symptoms. Irritability. Blankness. Some twitched or shook.


It was interesting to see. I could see some of the same traits that Jun had picked up. But at least he wasn’t as bad as most of them.


He also wasn’t nearly as chromed out as most of them were.


But that wasn’t what all of them did. Some would meet in the middle of the dojo floor and spar. Considering the amount of chrome involved, it was nothing like a fight between humans.


So I watched. I learned. I noticed the ones with internal weapons, or augments. I watched how they used them. When, and what tells they had.


That guy and his mantis blades. He would alway twist his wrist before the blades deployed. A twitch, or part of the mechanism?


That woman with the same blade legs as Akari. Seeing it from the side I could see the way she had to shift her balance forward. Too far forward. Her legs were powerful but had little surface friction to work with. So she was either fully charging forward, or forced to stand up practically straight to keep upright.


I guess that explains why Akari learned to fight on her hands.


But seeing it from the outside? It meant next time I had ideas of how to fight against that. Well… Mostly. Whenever a Sandevistan or some of the other speed enhancers came into play…


Fine.


When fighting Borgs rule 1. Never let them realize they were in a fight. Until I had a sandy in order to keep up, I just wouldn’t fight them. Couldn’t fight them. My Burya would still be with me, but if I was in a Maelstrom den killing borgs then the moment I fired game over I would have to run, or die.


So I would assassinate them. I nodded to myself. Decision made. Fall back on what I am good at. So I would need to go quiet. And be better at it. Problem was. A blade wasn’t always good enough against borgs but I wasn’t the only person with that same problem!


Now I needed more information. Lucky for me. I was literally in a place for it. I rose up and started looking for my former sparring partner.


I wasn’t the only person with that same problem!


“Hey Akari?” I asked, finally finding the woman that had left an hour into her meditation downstairs in the breakroom, chomping down on something from the vending machines.


“Huh? Kid. What do you want? I’m not here to play with you.” She muttered her voice still electronic as she continued eating.


“You use blades right? Mantis, and your legs. How do you kill a really borged up gonk? I mean… How do you get your blades through their armor?”


“Stupid question kid.” She said and suddenly her arm shifted into a blade that looked as deadly as I am sure it was. “These babies are made for cutting chaff, Nano filament cuts right through, but sometimes it can get stuck. If I am against something a bit heavier? Gotta use the upgrade!” She laughed as her blade suddenly Started glowing. A harsh wave of heat washed over my face as the blades ignited to an incredibly high temperature. “Stab these babies in, and not even fuckers with thermal resistance Real Skinn will survive cooking from the inside. That’s how you kill borgs. Cut ‘em, and if you can’t? Boil ‘em!” She broke into a pretty scary laugh.


But I couldn’t help but nod along.


“Know where I could get a Thermal Katana?” I asked and her laugh changed to a different tone. She wasn’t laughing at her evil thoughts, she was just laughing at me.


Rood.


“I’m not your momma. Get it yourself.” She finally offered and waved me away.


Fine.


—--


I continued practicing while I waited for Jun to come back. Unfortunately every time Sensei would see me practicing he would throw a Shinai at me, or pull me into Tai-Chi, or whatever other exercise he was doing.


It was like he expected me to get into trouble the moment I was out of his sight or left unattended.


Which, okay teenager. Sure I could understand it, but it was still annoying.


That night Jun came home, and I couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief. “Jun-Nii!” I called out as I noticed him out of the corner of my eye coming in with a group of four.


All four of them had obviously seen a fight.


Luckily it looked like only minor injuries, and it was a bit of a shock to see Jun in full war gear.


He wore actual armor over his chest for one. Jun’s tendency to show off his chest had been something I had planned on teasing him about in the coming days.


But more interesting was the mask he wore.


I guess I know for sure now why they called him the Oni. He wore a japanese Oni mask across his jaw, giving him a sharp toothed grin.


At my call he slowed his walk and pulled down the mask showing his face and how tired he looked.


Seeing the rest of his little group all look to him, and none of them seemed happy I just waved him off to go with his little team.


We would talk after.


—--


“The Maelstrom broke as soon as we showed up. But they had enough heavy guns to keep us from doing much. We killed a few borgs and dropped them off at the rippers, and that’s about it.” He offered an hour or two later when he had finally come to find me. Apparently his little team had been doing an after action report of some kind.


Huh I guess Tyger Claws knew at least a bit about keeping everything running, even when dealing with a bunch of gangster kids.


“What about you Imouto. How was your day? How are the shoulders, any pain? Be honest.”


“Nope. No pain. I’m healing quick.” I told him as I bit into my XXL burrito and did my best to pretend it didn’t taste like refried sick.


I don’t know how Jun could seemingly happily take big bites of the meal.


“Good. Good. Just don’t go overboard.” He demanded pointing his burrito at me which I almost wanted to parry away.


What a powerful weapon.


“Anyway Jun-Nii. Where did you get your Katana? I’m looking to buy one. Probably a Thermal one.” I chirped at him suddenly, his chewing slows before he swallows his bite.


“No.”


I blew up my cheeks at him in offense at his instant denial.


“I’m not asking you to buy it or something. I have money! I just need to know where I can get one.”


“Still no. You are staying here. Safe.” He offered and I glared a bit.


“I’m not going to stay here forever. Another few days I’ll be back to fighting fit. Then I’m heading out.”


“No.”


“You can’t just say no!” I shrieked at him pointing my burrito.


“No.” He said doing exactly what I told him he couldn’t!


I huffed at him as I took another bite and chewed it for a moment. I didn’t want to fall into sibling spat here. Jun needed to understand that he couldn’t huddle me into an apartment to hide away.


“Jun. I know you want to protect me, but I’m not going to live in this place. Once I’m healed up… I’m going to get hunting down The Bastard. And the Spider Ripper. Once I have both of their skulls on sticks I might chill, but that’s the limit of my chill at the moment.”


“Chill?” He seemed to ask himself as he was working out what I mean. “Still no.”


I stood up slamming my hands on the table which actually made a very sharp noise throughout the breakroom. We glared at each other for a minute.


“I’m not asking. If you won’t help. I’ll do it without you. I’m sure Hiromi caaaaaan! Fuck!” I cursed my anger disappearing. I hadn’t messaged Hiromi! It had been days! I had been completely out of contact. I instantly called her, only to get a noise in my ear and a “This call could not be completed.” message.


“Idiot. This whole place has a jammer up to make sure the Maelstrom can’t track us here.” Jun cut in my rising panic as my yellow eyes zipped to him. “Hiromi can wait. Unt- Dammit Motoko! Stop!” he rose up and yelled but I was already heading up the stairs.


I knew Hiromi pretty well by this point, we were best chooms. If she heard that I had gotten kidnapped!? If she couldn’t get in touch with me or Jun she might do something stupid!


I rushed up stairs ignoring Jun as I ran to the entrance of the dojo and then out onto the street.


Still no good. I turned and started running down the street. I could hear Jun running after me and he quickly tried to grab me but I slapped his hands away.


We both had chrome hands now. “Not now Jun!”

“Motoko! Stop being stupid! We aren’t supposed to make calls from here!”


“Then get your bike! Hiromi is an idiot Jun she will definitely do something stupid if I don’t tell her I’m alive!”


“Ugh.” Jun offered with a grunt as he realized I was right.


And because of that he realized I wasn’t going to stop.


“Fine. Come with me. Now!” he barked and I followed after as we headed back into the dojo, and then into the apartment. We actually slipped back into the car that we had used to move everything and Jun drove us out into the city.


Finally a few blocks away as we passed through the city Jun told me to try and call again.


*Motoko! Where have you been! My calls haven’t connected!*


I breathed out a sigh of relief. Hiromi didn’t sound like she was freaking out, or anything.


*Hey Hiromi. Sorry a lot of stuff happened. I’m with Jun right now, but they are keeping him in a place that has jammers up. I realized it all happened without telling you. I was worried you would be freaking out with me out of contact.*


*Oh good! You should always remember your bestest choom! How is Jun? He alright? Not injured?*


*No. He is grumpy, but we actually went through a lot. Listen Hiromi. Don’t go around the apartment okay? Jun stopped by and Maelstrom tracked him. They decided to kidnap me and I ended up getting rescued. So stay away in c-*


*What the FUCK!? What do you mean Kidnapped!? Are you alright! Motoko! You can’t get kidnapped again! What the fuck? Fuck!*


*Hey hey! I’m okay… Honest. The Strom did cut me up a bit but I’m all in one piece, and after the Tyger Claw Ripper that Jun took me to put me back together, I even went to Vik’s and had him double check. I’m fine.*


*Motoko… If you had to go to a ripper… You got chrome? How much? What happened?*


*Just my arms. Nothing serious.*


*Fuck… Motoko… Toko. Don’t try to protect me okay? We are chooms. How bad? What happened?*


I sighed a bit as I rubbed my thumb and fingers together feeling the odd sensations.


*It was pretty bad while it happened, they got lucky that I didn’t have my anti-borg weapon when they jumped me. They cut me up, and threw me into a fighting pit. I killed the kid they pit me against and they ended up chipping in some bad chrome arms. Jun rescued me around then, and took me to a Tyger Claw ripper. I’m alright now. Honest.*


*Shit. I didn’t even know. I’ve been trapped at home this whole week. Dammit!* Hiromi cursed for a while as I listened, just sighing trying to ignore Jun’s questioning look.


*Listen Hiromi. I’m glad you heard about this from me, and not from out in the wild. I was really worried you would have found out and gone off on a crusade to try and rescue me or something. Please just. Stay safe okay? I’ve got Jun being super protective right now too. So I get the parents thing.*


*Fuck. Toko, you got kidnapped again and I couldn’t even… I didn’t even find out!* Hiromi made a sound of just pure frustration over the line.


I really didn’t know what to say.


*I’m okay.*


*I’m not… I’m glad you're okay though, Toko. Fuck that’s so! Ugh!*


*I know. But I’m glad you're safe too. I think Jun is getting done with being patient though. Listen I’ll be out of touch a bunch. Tyger Claws really like their jammers, but I won’t be staying with Jun for long. Once I finish recovering I’ll message you. Okay?*


*Yeah… yeah. I get it. Stay safe, Toko. Promise?*


*Of course! I promise!*


I ended the call and flopped back into the seat.


“Okay. Hiromi is okay, she didn’t even know. I’m really… I’m really glad she is safe.”


“She’s your choom… It’s fine.” Jun said as we started making our way back towards the dojo along the streets.


I was quiet for a while before I decided to continue where we had left off.


“I won’t stay at the dojo for long.”


“You will. It is safe there.” He said instantly his fists gripping the steering wheel as he slowly drove through the traffic.


“Jun-Nii. I love you. I want you to be happy. I know that you just want to protect me. I love that. I do, but that’s not going to stop me from doing what I need to do…” I opened my mouth, my mind shooting to anything that I could use to convince him. A hard headed teen like Jun. He wouldn’t accept any answer but his.


Unless I agreed with him, Jun would do everything he could to stop me…


Well if he could. I was strong. A lot stronger than he probably thought.


“You don’t think I can take care of myself.” I muttered aloud realization flashing through me.


“You are my little sister, you aren’t going out to fight Maelstrom! It doesn’t matter what jobs you’ve done for Wakako. Or… Anything else. You are not ready for that.”


“But you are?” I said the words without a thought. I knew what I would need to convince Jun, and there was only one way to reach it.


“Yes. I have experience you lack. Advantages you do not have. Stay in the apartment where it is safe. I will handle your revenge. The trash that took you. They will die.”


“Yeah they will. By me.” I told him instantly denying him his victory, but I was smiling. Jun was so sweet. Trying to keep his little sister safe, even willing to hunt down the Strom that hurt me.


It was just too bad I was far from helpless.


“When we get to the dojo spar with me. If you beat me, I’ll shut up and stay inside. For now.” I offered as I stared out onto the road. Just watching as these passed us by.


I would have to prove to Jun that I wasn’t just his kid sister anymore. It’s just too bad I couldn’t start off from stealth. It would make this a lot easier.


Jun was quiet for a while as we pulled through a few dark alley ways to make sure no one was following before we traveled into the underground parking lot.


“You are injured. I will not hurt you.”


“I’m fine. And if you want to keep me from leaving. Then you are gonna have to.” I told him as we pulled into the spot. “I’ll meet you inside.” I said simply as I slipped out of the car ignoring him calling my name as I hurried inside then out the window to the Dojo.


Inside it was just as active as it had been before, but I ignored that. Instead focusing on what was coming. Jun was probably going to beat my ass. I honestly don’t even know if he had a sandy, or a reflex booster.


But I was a gamer. If he beat me today, it would make me stronger for tomorrow. If he beat me tomorrow it would make me stronger for the next day.


Jun was being an ass, so even if he won, I was still going to leave him with some bruises. I grabbed one of the Shinai off the racks along the edge of the room, nodding as it was in good condition.


Jun was walking in then. Looking towards me and his perpetual grumpy frown was stronger than ever.


But he seemed to realize I wasn’t budging. He walked over across from me and grabbed his own Shinai. The katana on his hip was taken off and placed against the wall.


Our actions seemed to get some attention as Sensei noticed the two of us preparing. He looked from me to Jun before nodding. Without a word he opened up the space in the dojo pulling off the other Tyger Claw borgs who were meditating, or doing Tai-chi under Sensei’s instruction.


Then once it was clear we both knew. Swordsman instinct maybe?


Or just siblings knowing each others tells.


We moved. Rushing towards the center without a word. Jun with his stupid long teenage boy arms was in range first, but Parry was in full effect.


Jun wasn’t overwhelmingly fast like Akari. But he was a lot stronger. My shinai easily caught his first strike, but actually deflecting it took a bit of effort. Then I was on the attack. He reacted instantly shifting into his own deflections as my Shinai became a blur of attacks, slashing stabbing, sliding against his blade to try and smash into his stupid face.


My attacks took him off guard and instantly Jun was back pedaling as I pushed him. Despite his greater strength he was treating my shinai as an actual blade.


Good he was taking this seriously.


But as much as I pushed, nothing made it through. Jun was good. Then to my surprise Jun locked his blade with mine and in that moment he reached out and grabbed my dominant hand on my shinai.


I noticed it. The shift in his balance. I had dealt with this exact situation again!


I wasn’t going to have my chest broken again!


Juns kick was blocked when I just leapt into the air and landed both of my feet against his leg leaving me hanging in the air completely at his mercy.


But at least he hadn’t kicked me!


Jun’s grip on my first hardened and then he threw me to the side launching me across the room.


My instinctual reaction surprised me.


I let go of the Shinai. A part of me reminding myself there were tons of them around the room to grab so instead his throw was turned into a tumble through the air, and then a few backflips as I hit the ground to create distance until I was at the wall.


I nearly chuckled at Juns flabbergasted look, his dropped jaw was literally making this entire thing worth it.


Hah! Bet you didn’t know your little sister had athletics 5! I was at least a moderately good acrobat!


But then I was done playing.


I reached out and grabbed two Shinai.


The first Blades Perk I had grabbed had been Ambidextrous. And my arms were now much much stronger than a normal girl my age.


The feeling of my arms might not be perfect, but I was about to beat some big brother ass. I stomped back towards Jun doing a few flourishes with my Shinai to tell him that I wasn’t playing at dual wielding. Then I was on him and Jun was once more back pedaling as I absolutely stormed into a series of attacks against him.


My breath was still fairly even. Jun might have more chrome, but I was in better shape than my burrito loving brother.


The sharp snapping of faux bamboo on faux bamboo echoed through the room, as with two Shinai I finally started slipping past Jun’s defenses.


My first blow slipped past and hit his shoulder, then another hitting his wrist, but it was all chrome, and he seemed to be growing really annoyed. I could see his eyebrows narrowing and his face turning into a scowl.


He pushed me back and swung. I blocked but still ended up thrown off my feet at the blow as he put all of his strength into the swing.


I rolled away and then jumped back to my feet, jumping right back at him.


It quickly became obvious Jun had the strength to send me flying, but I was faster, and with two shinai, he was struggling to resist my flurry of blows.


Once more Jun went for a grab, but I had literally taken a perk in grappling!


His hand was grabbed as I discarded a shinai and then I was leaping my leg arcing over his bicep and suddenly my leg was wrapped around his neck. I tugged and unbalanced him, the two of us went tumbling as he dropped his shinai, with me so close it was easy to grab me. And then we were rolling on the ground, both of us grabbing at the other rolling and grunting as we grabbed, forcing the other to release and grab each other again.


Jun pinching my thigh to make me release his neck earned him a fist grinding into his side that was still meat which made him flinch and break his grip on my other arm that he had been working into a pin, then I grabbed his ankle which was close by and twister, while it wasn’t flesh anymore, it would still hurt, I then yelped as as he found a pressure point in my side which earned him a knee to his stomach for his troubles and then we were rolling around again I managed to mash his face into the mat with the palm of my hand before he flipped me onto my back and and arm wrapped around my throat.


Considering how much I knew about choking someone out like that, I wasn’t hard to elbow just below his armpit, weakening the grip, even with a chrome arm, as I kicked up and flipped under his arm my leg once again in place around his neck but then suddenly I was pulled off him with a yelp as someone grabbed the back of my shirt and just lifted me out of the pile.


“Oh hey Sensei.” I offered in greeting toward the very irritated man.


“Both of you come with me. Now!” he barked, making Jun twitch as much as I did as I was dropped back to my feet.


We were put in time out.


Like literal time out. Sensei set us down in a corner and made us meditate. Akari and some of the other Tyger Claws laughing on the sidelines at our sibling moment.

(A/N)
Sorry to say going on a short hiatus over the holidays. So I'll be continuing my upload schedule in the beginning of January sometime. Just haven't had time to do a lot of writing so far this month, and I'm falling a bit behind on my backlog.

 

[Seras]

“You aren’t leaving.” Jun said, the first words we had spoken since we had been put in time out. We had just finished walking into the apartment hours later after being forced to meditate on our mistakes.


“Not yet. But soon.” I told him as I flopped onto the couch before facing him.


“You didn’t defeat me.” He grumbled from the door.


“You didn’t defeat me either. The deal was if you beat me I would shut up and stay. Jun… I know what I’m trying to do is dangerous. I know it sounds crazy! I know. But I can do it. I can do this and come home every night. I have the skill.”


“You don’t! You just got out of the hospital! You lost your memory!” Jun practically ranted as he waved his arms above his head.


“I’ve killed more than twenty people. Scavs. Raffen. Maelstrom. Normal and Borgs.” I said practically punching him in the face with what I have done.


“You are my little sister! You don’t have to kill anyone! I will do it for you! Stay here! Where it is safe, I’ll… I’ll put you into a school! I can even do Arasaka Academy! You can go to school with Hiromi where it is safe! Where you don’t have to stain your hands with blood! Where you don’t have to worry about-”


I stood up at his rant and pulled him into a strong hug. Burying my face into his chest as I held him tight.


“I love you too Jun.” I told him, cutting off whatever he was trying to desperately say. Then I pulled away so he could see me. “But I like killing. I’m not going to stop.” I watched as he tried to process that for a moment and as he opened his mouth I reached up and poked his lips. “No. Listen.” I demanded as I stepped away and dragged him to the couch.


I waited until he settled in as I sat on the little table so we could face each other.


“I really like killing, fighting. I like doing jobs. I like sneaking through a Valentino chopshop to steal information. I like going out as a bodyguard for a Nomad who ends up being a pretty cool guy. I liked when we got chased by Raffen. I liked grabbing my HMG and firing it watching big tough Raffen scream in terror as they get turned into a splatter in the desert. I loved that after, when they left me for dead. When I chased them through the desert, and snuck into their camp. I have never had more fun in my life! Then when I was slowly hunting them through their camp. I killed every man in the camp without any of them managing to call for help or even cry out. I loved when I had their leader at my mercy at the end and I stole his car. And then I shot him.”


I was quiet at that, watching as Jun’s eyes had widened massively as I spoke as I revealed just a bit of what I had been up to.


“How?” He finally asked quietly, looking a little shook. “How did you do that? How did you survive? You were never that good with a Katana.”


“I learned.” I answered simply, it was true in a way. “Killing someone is easy. The trick is just surviving long enough that you learn how to do it better. And a bit of luck.” I added with a casual shrug. “I know you worry. I worry about you too… but I can’t stop you from going out there to hunt Maelstrom in revenge. Just like you can’t stop me from doing the same.”


I stared into his face as emotions roiled over him, his fists clenching over and over as he tried to fight back his own instincts.


“Come out with me.” I told him then, cutting off his inner battle with himself. “Let me show you what I can do. That you don’t have to be afraid. I want you to be part of my life Jun-Nii, and I want to be part of yours. But you’ll have to let me go make my own mistakes. Or my own glory.”


“You can die!”

“I can also die walking down the street, or be gunned down in the middle of a gangwar while driving down the freeway. I’m not gonna be safe if I hide Jun. But, at least I can have some safety if I prove I have the ability to kill any gonk stupid enough to try.” I kind of fluttered my legs a bit as I sat on the table wondering what else I could say.


What else could I do to prove to Jun that I was able to walk in the same circles that he did. That just as he had done plenty of raids against Maelstrom, I could do that too.


“Tomorrow night.” He said finally quietly. “Kamikaze are going to hit a few Maelstrom dens, If… I will ask if they will allow you to come. If you… If you prove to me you are capable after… I’ll…”


“Okay.” I told him he didn’t have to finish, he was struggling to let me go, which wasn’t a surprise. Jun was pretty stubborn after all. So instead of any more tense conversations I pulled Jun into a big warm hug.


Seriously gotta get that Real Skinn, Jun. Your arms are very unhuggable right now.


—--


Apparently the one in charge of the Kamikaze approved of me joining them for an outing, although from the way Jun phrased it, it was less that I could come, and more that they simply didn’t care if I died trying.


Jokes on them. I have no intention of dying. Not until I’ve murdered every spider eyed asshole in this city. It was a shame. I liked spiders….


Wait! If I killed all of them, that means I could take their symbol for myself right? “I’ll become the Black Widow… wait I’m already Motoko.” I muttered to myself as I finished loading my Burya.


My lovely perfect Burya that I was never going anywhere without… That thought struck me and I realized I probably needed a shower gun now too… I’m sure I could put a carnage in there. That thing doesn’t care if it gets rusty.


I nodded at that. Shower Shotgun sounds perfect.


Stupid Night city.


I pulled her into my shoulder holster and stretched. It felt good to be back in my gear again. Even if the feel of the Lexington in my back holster wasn’t quite the same as my Unity.


I miss that gun.


At least I still had my knife. I patted my hip where it rested. That thing had kept me alive in the pit. It was nice that one of the borgs in Kamikaze had grabbed it while looting.


“Motoko.”


“Jun-Nii. All set?” I asked as I turned to him, noticing the weird look on his face.


“Oh this is the first time Jun has seen my work clothes huh?” I asked him as I did a little pirouette that would make a ballerina nod at how good it was.


Thank you Athletics.


“What are you wearing? Put a real jacket on and a shirt.” Then without waiting he turns and walks out.


“F-fuckin’ jerk!” I yelled back at him utterly shocked at how instantly he had cut down my cute Motoko cospl-Outfit. My outfit!


I chased after him, and it was only as I entered the main room of the apartment that I caught the slight smirk on his face.


Oh! Jun was being an asshole big brother.


Jerk!


“Idiot!” I yelled at him as I made a move to brush past him.


His arm wrapping me up in a hug pulling me off my feet stopped that. Then with the casualness of a big brother he walked me back to the bedroom and plopped me on the bed.


“I have something for you.” He said after a moment as I glared at him for carrying me around. Just because he had stupid gorilla arms, and I wasn’t heavy enough to stop him!


It wasn’t fair!


“What?” I demanded a little petulantly, which probably didn’t help my case of trying to get Jun to trust me as a professional, but he was being stupid. So there.


“I want you to be safe.” He said simply as he headed into the closet in the bedroom, something I hadn’t messed with.


I honestly didn’t think anything was actually in there.


But there was, in fact. It was an armory.


“Ooh Goodies!” I chirped only to be denied instantly with an outstretched hand.


“My stuff. Don’t touch.” He said in that exact older sibling voice that told me I had probably snuck into his stuff too many times to count.


Yeah that’s fair.


I settled down as he went back in and pulled something out that I perked up at.


“It’s my spare… Please do not ruin it. They are expensive.” He tells me as he pulls out a fucking Katana.


Oooh man. I was gonna weeb these Maelstroms to death… wait that sounds wrong.


I shook that stupid thought out as I stood up and took the Katana Jun was holding out for me. The same military style as the one he had. I popped it out of the sheath just an inch seeing the incredibly sharp blade before nodding. Luckily it had a belt on the sheath, so after a moment I had it wrapped around my hips.


I was starting to have a few too many straps on me, Shoulder holster, rear holster and now sword belt.


It’s fine though.


Cause it looked fuckin badass.


“Thanks Jun.”


“It’s a thermal Katana like you wanted. The button is on the side. Don’t cut off a limb, or burn yourself… Or a building down. Better yet, just don’t use it.” He said moving to take it away which I promptly slapped his hand and then he was mushing his hand into my face and I was kicking at his dumb stupid plastic abs.


We finally broke away a few minutes later after Jun put me in a headlock, which I hip tossed him over my shoulder for daring and the loud thump as he almost crashed into the living room table startled us both.


“Truce.” I demanded, and Jun huffed a quiet laugh before he agreed as we split up and straightened up.


Jun had mussed my hair. The jerk. After a quick stop in the bathroom to reorder my hair we both left the apartment down into the parking garage.


There the rest of Kamikaze were already waiting. Although I noticed they weren’t hanging around their own rides, or vehicles that looked like something the Tyger Claws would drive.


Unmarked vans, and cars were idling waiting.


Luckily we weren’t the last to show up. “Jun. Good, still waiting on a few stragglers.” The borg I had met in the Ripper doc said as Jun approached. This time the man wasn’t heading into a ripper. He was armed and armored up.


The flak jacket he wore was actually open showing off his chest, and holographic neon tattoos. I was pretty sure the jacket was less defense than the obvious subdermal armor meaning it was more for looks than utility.


“Hai. Fujimura-Sama.” Jun offered with a bow. Ah that was the Borg's name. Right, the doctor said that as well.


“The girl will be your responsibility.” He added nodding to me, and Jun simply bowed lower in agreement.


I nodded to Jun. I wasn’t about to cause any problems. We all had Maelstrom to kill.


The wait was mostly quiet, most of the Kamikaze were heavily borged, and none of them seemed sociable. Mostly they just hung around, checked their gear.


Or stared into nothing.


Yeah. This was definitely the Psychos of the Tyger Claws.


Dammit Jun. I wasn’t going to let you fall prey to that.


So we ended up settling in, Jun was driving another one of the inconspicuous cars and I was sitting in the back despite no one else in the car.


“Why do I have to sit back here? I called shotgun.” I grumbled at my brother who was starting to stare into nothing as time went by.


So I was using sisterly petulance to distract him.


“Akari makes me drive. Don’t bother her when she gets here.” Jun replied with a tired sigh.


But it was emotion. It wasn’t that coolness that took over his voice at times.


“Finally.” Akari suddenly uttered as she swung the passenger door open and flopped in. The woman looked more like a plastic robot than a human. She was even wearing a mask to hide away what little flesh there was left on her face. All bright red and white plastic, despite knowing it was actually as strong as steel it still made her look fragile. “You’re so slow Jun-kun, making me wait. Well let’s go. Don’t want to piss off Fujimura-Sama anymore than you already have.” She said as she leaned back arms behind her head.


“You are the one that is late, and the one Fujimura-Sama is angry with Akari… Again.” He offered as he started driving out of the garage following a few of the other vehicles. Although once out on the street everyone began driving in different directions.


Sneaky. If everyone had a different route there was less chance of a whole cavalcade being spotted.


“That’s just what you like to believe, Jun.” Akari offered nodding her doll-like head before she turned around in her seat. “How about that? You actually brought your little killer. Fujimura-Sama allowed that?”


“He did. Motoko is allowed to come today. As a test.”


“Hah! She doesn’t have the chrome to join Kamikaze.”


“I’m not really planning on joining. Jun just needs reassurance, I know how to fight.” I cut in. I wanted to make sure these crazy psychos didn’t think I was one of them. That would be terrible if they thought I was as crazy as them!


I was just here to murder people.


“Oh she just needs to reassure her Oniiiii-chaaan.” Akari teased as she looked to Jun. “Despite getting his butt whooped?”


“She did not whoop my butt.” Jun muttered, but I wasn’t going to pick a fight right now.


So I let it pass even as Akari continued teasing Jun.


I looked out the window instead, watching the city go by. My hands slowly opened and closed as I warmed up my joints. I was really looking forward to killing some Strom tonight, ripping them apart, and getting just an ounce of the payment they owed me back.


The drive didn’t take very long. Slowly we pulled into a garage, parking deep into the structure that already had a few of the other Kamikaze’s vehicles parked and empty. I followed Jun as he followed Akari who led us around the structure, Akari was quiet and focused for once, Jun and I followed her lead. Although I wasn’t going cool, I let my footsteps quiet until they practically disappeared.


The parking garage connected to some sort of office building, or maybe they were apartments. It was hard to tell, I felt like the building changed its zoning with every few steps. Eventually we were let into a room on the north side of the building that was on the second floor. There a few of the Kamikaze were preparing. Armoring and fitting weapons into holsters as they prepared.


I followed Jun as he seemed to lead me to the window and point out. I peaked out and there wasn’t much to see, another building right next to us, and a dirty alley below.


“The place down the alleyway is a Strom armory. Hauling loot they collected from raids there. We are here to clear them out and hold the place down long enough for everything to be taken back.” Jun explained to me quietly as I looked down the alley. It was… Well it was an old shop. Whatever it had once been was long gone, the place looked busted up. The Strom probably hadn’t asked to take over the store.


But if that was an armory?


Motoko like.


“Numbers?” I asked and Jun just shrugged which had me puff out a bit of air in irritation. Planning an assault without knowing the numbers they would be facing?


Psychos. Of the non-Cyber variety.


“Doesn’t matter.” Akari said as she walked up her plastic face expressionless as her voice as she looked out the window with her glowing eyes. “We will kill them. That’s our job. Don’t get in our way, little killer.” She said a sinister threat in her voice at the end.


I noticed Jun straightening and moving to stand between us.


How sweet.


But unnecessary. “I won’t.” I offered simply turning back to the window for a second. “We have anyone breaching their security already?”


“We do. Stay out of it. I don’t want a kid getting in my way of the dive.” A voice full of static called out, and one of the Kamikaze, one who I hadn’t seen much of or spoken to yet said. The man was just as borged out as all of them, but he was also I noticed, hooked into a few pieces of tech. It took me a few seconds of scanning to realize.


It was all refrigeration units. The borg had a portable ice bath for when he dived into the net.


“Understood.” I agreed. Everyone was so snappy. But I guess that was just part of working with people one step into Cyber Psychosis.


“We have movement.” Akari called out suddenly and everyone turned towards the window to peek.


Cyberpsycho or not everyone was curious. We all watched a big box truck pull up, drivers window down with a Maelstrom smoking up a storm as he backed up to the front of the store.


“Good timing.” A man's voice called out through the room grabbing everyone's attention. Fujimura the Borg was there.


“Fujimura-Sama.” A few greetings came out from the group, Jun included. But most were quiet, lost in their own little worlds.

“Kamikaze! We strike now before they can unload the truck. Tomaru make sure the driver can’t escape. The rest of you. Strike!” He roared as he charged straight forward making me jerk and jump to the side along with Jun and Akari as he jumped straight through the window we had been looking out of.


A moment later most of the group was gone. Some moving at incredible speeds, others simply bloodthirsty ready to fight.


Jun gave me a single look ensuring I was alright, “Stay behind us.” Before he followed out the window.


Then I was left in the room alone with the netrunner who was probably the furthest from me, if you counted awareness.


“You dicks. We are on the second floor!” I cursed at them as I stuck my head out the now broken window, the sound of gunfire and screams already starting up.


It took me half a second to find a way down and I backed up before leaping out. Parkour made the jump a fearless move. I leapt across to the opposite side of the alley, a fire escape easily grabbed onto and then in a few seconds I was dropping down catching the escape and then dropping to the floor.


Then I was chasing after. The end of the alley faced the shop the Maelstrom had taken, and I could see gunfire and death coming from within.


The driver of the truck slumped over the wheel, a hole through the windshield. I ignored him and instead rushed forward into the now even more broken front window as gunfire came out in sharp notes from within. I slipped inside, feeling cool flow over me. My Kiroshi easily pierced the darkness and gave me sight inside.


The Kamikaze had definitely surprised the Maelstrom, but this place was well defended. A turret was rotating around from the back of the store, the HMG placed inside it having shattered the Kamikaze assault as everyone had jumped into cover.


I sighed this is why you found out the numbers before you rushed in.


Thankfully a moment later as I was running through ways to break the damn thing I was surprised.


Akari disappeared from where she had been zipping forward the HMG firing at her avoided by simply not being where the bullets landed as she surged forward and then her blade cut through the HMG ending its threat.


The Maelstrom cursed at their now destroyed defense as weapons fire burst out towards Akari who was now much slower as she ducked and dodged trying to break line of sight.


The Kamikaze moved in response. Fujimura was first. The massive borg rushed forward smashing through a wall to take two Maelstrom by surprise as he began beating them to a pulp by smashing them together.


Jun was there I noticed, his blade cutting out and leaving blood trails as he passed.


The others were moving as well.


I blinked before I realized it.


They were stealing my XP!


“Fuck.” I cursed as I jumped up Burya quickdrawn in an instant as my baby’s retort echoed through the room. My Kiroshi had a Maelstrom highlighted through a wall. The guy had a nasty looking LMG that he was firing non stop filling the room with lead.


Aiming at Jun.


I fired once. Missed. Then twice. Then again, and again. I was already reloading even as my last round burst a hole through the wall.


My new arms and Recoil Reduction meant I wasn’t even in pain. Sure it almost pushed me back a step with each shot, but Recoil Reduction already taught me exactly how to handle that.


*500 XP Gained.*


I frowned. The one I had targeted through the wall had only been a weakling? I jerked back just in time, catching a Borg rise up with a shotgun pointed at me, breaking the terrible concrete O was hiding behind into powder.


A Burya makes a fair bit of noise. I guess even with Kamikaze rushing in, I had got some attention.


I finished reloading, my eyes already highlighted the gonk that had shot at me, and I was about to shoot when I stopped.


Jun was there, cutting the guy in half. Then again. And again.


Oh. Jun was maaad.


Stupid though. I jumped up and aimed. The Maelstrom gonk that was aiming at my very angry idiot brother. A shot from my Burya ended the threat, even if it wasn’t a great shot. I had been aiming for his chest, and instead hit him in the pelvis he dropped with a cry as his legs stopped working.


Another round into his prone body was all I needed.


*500 XP Gained.*


I looked around for another target, but everyone was dying, or dead. I tsked as I reloaded my Burya slowly as I slipped into the building. Keeping an eye out for any movement as I started checking the dead as I walked up closer and closer to Jun who was glaring furiously at the very dead lump of flesh that was the Maelstrom idiot that shot at me.


“Jun, you with me?” I asked as I stepped closer to him, my Burya still ready to fire in case of any surprises.


“I never left!” He snapped a bit but with a deep breath he swished his blade to clear it of blood and sheathed it.


“Preem.” I offered calmly, no point poking Jun when he was being prickly. My loot senses were immediately active though. I made my way through the area clearing all the corpses and checking in the side rooms and bathrooms just to make sure.


Thankfully the store was clear, while Kamikaze went to work recovering. One of the other borgs, a guy I hadn’t spoken with, that carried around an Ajax, had been hit. A trail of white blood ran down his side.


Looks like would survive but he would need a trip to a ripper.


But I just poked around. The back of the shop was definitely an armory, plenty of weapons and equipment was laying around. My fingers wiggled. One of the first times since I got these new arms I felt fully in tune with my chrome.


They wouldn’t notice if a few pieces went into my pockets… I giggled a little as I reached out to grab a nice looking Nekomata Sniper rifle, something I didn’t have in my arsenal as of yet. When the front door banged open. I jerked away like a kid caught with her hand in a cookie jar as I looked behind me and noticed a lot of Tyger Claw members, saunter in.


I sighed as they instantly went to the gear and started loading everything up into a few trucks that had pulled up. The Maelstrom Truck was already on its way down the street as someone had jumped in, pushed the dead driver out and started it up.


“C’mon Motoko. We are just keeping an eye out while everything is cleared out.” Jun said as he walked up to me, as he noticed me looking around wondering what to do.


“Ah sure sure.” I muttered a little irritated. This wasn’t very fun. Sure I got to flatline two gonks, but I barely got any XP, and it was already over.


Killing the Raffen had been more fun, even if murdering the Maelstrom warmed a little part of me that wanted to genocide the entire group.


“You got two huh?” Akari asked as she suddenly approached her voice still holding that sinister coldness of someone not fully there.


“Only two.” I confirmed, irritated. “I’m not used to working with a group like this, I was a little too slow.” I added grumbling as I berated myself while looking at all the corpses.


So much missed XP!


“Heh, there’s always more.” She offered her voice almost musical despite being electronic. The sense of bloodlust was intense.


“Stop fucking around. Eyes out.” A rolling gravel voice interrupted Akari’s teasing as she stilled and pulled away from me to do just that.


Fujimura. The borg ‘leader’ of Kamikaze was glaring towards me. But well. It wasn’t focused on me. Just in general.


I did as he suggested mostly because I could see how short the guy's fuse was. I followed Jun outside and we took in the empty street. The gunfire had done well to make sure everyone got away.


“Be more careful.” Jun demanded of me a moment after earning a blink as the non-sequitur threw me for a loop.


“I was fine. Nothing even got close to hitting me.”


“You almost got shot.” He retorted instantly his body tense. Anxiety coloring his voice and body, he was practically pacing unable to stop moving. “I don’t want you doing this. You don’t have enough chrome, or enough armor. After this go back to the apartment. And hunker down. We can find something for you to do when I get home. I’m-”


“No.” I cut in immediately turning to look up into his face. He was wearing an Oni mask around his jaw. The sharp hungry grin didn’t intimidate me though. “I already told you Jun. I’m not just gonna sit at home.”


“I don’t want you to just sit at home! But this is dangerous!”


“I know.” I agree. I looked away from Jun trying to keep my irritation at bay. I didn’t want to turn this into a fight. I knew Jun was trying to protect me, trying to be the big brother, the parent really. That he wanted to be.


But right now it was annoying.


I gathered myself back up idly stroking a thumb up along my chromed palm of my other hand. The irritation of everything was hitting me. Making it hard to keep my own cool. I took a breath and activated Cold Blood. Letting my emotions freeze. Letting my mind attack the problem.


I didn’t get far. I turned back to Jun. He was not quite pacing, but obviously trying to figure out something to say to me, but it was the Kamikaze Netrunner whose name I still didn’t know that broke in. Calling all of us instantly.


“Maelstrom assault incoming. We need to move.” The call buzzed in and then ended. Instantly the Tyger Claws started running, quickly grabbing whatever they had on hand and disappearing it into the trucks, as they started driving off.


“Let’s move.” Fujimura called out and instantly the Kamikaze started moving back through the alley.


“Wait, that's it?” I asked Jun as I jogged to keep up with him as he followed.


“Yeah. The Maelstrom assault will be more than we can handle so we fade away. It’s part of the plan. We poke them like this, steal what we can weaken and kill and fade away when they try to retaliate. Now that we have confirmation one of their big forces is coming here to wipe us out, another group will smash another location.” He turned to look at me as we all reached a back door to the apartment complex we had first arrived in.


Fujimura had already smashed the door open. “C’mon we need to leave before the Maelstrom arrive.” Jun said as I started lagging behind.


“No. You go.” I told him an idea forming in my mind. A terrible perfect idea. My smile must have looked quite bloody as I pushed Jun through the door. “Go on Jun. I’ll be okay.” I tell him and I manage two steps before a pair of hands grabbed both of my biceps, pinned my arms to my sides and lifted me up.


“No. We’re leaving.” Jun said with a growl as he quickly hooked me under his arm and jogged back into the building.


“Jun-Nii. You are really killing my murder boner right now.” I told him, purposefully making the situation as uncomfortable as I could in protest. But he ignored me, despite Akari chuckling in her synthetic voice as she followed along. We made it to the car and I allowed Jun to stuff me in the back seat without too much protest as we peeled out, following the last of the Kamikaze vehicles.


“I’m submitting an official complaint.” I told him after he had slowed down and joined normal traffic.


“Denied.” He retorted instantly.


“Murder Blocking me is rude.” I growled at him from the back seat as I pouted. I had wanted to sneak into one of the Maelstrom trucks and let them lead me to their base, then I would murder everyone!


“Know your limits!” He snapped Jun losing his temper as I could hear the steering wheel in his hands creek. “Are you trying to get yourself killed? Are you trying to die?”


“I would have been fine.” I countered with every ounce of irritation leaking out only for Jun to bark out a laugh.


“Next time don’t try to attack a full on Maelstrom Counter hit squad, and I might believe you!”


I didn’t argue again as Jun drove us back.


It’s fine. It just meant I really couldn’t stick with Jun to go murder anyone.


I would just have to go on my own!

----
----

(A/N)
Sorry about the wait! Holidays were a little crazy, so I'm glad I took a break. Patreon Is up and running. Again no advanced chapters, or anything, but the poll is up. If you can't, or don't want to support, no pressure!

Thank you all so much for enjoying my stories and helping me improve my writing. I hope everyone had some good holidays!

 

[Seras]

We stopped at the garage and as I grumpily made my way out of the car Jun grabbed me stopping me from stomping off to the apartment.

“Stop being grumpy. You’re like a cat. C’mon, after action meeting.” He told me as he waited for me to stop resisting before I sighed and followed after.

“Fine.” I grump at him, but followed after as we went out the window to the Dojo.

We headed straight downstairs from the side entrance and into the server room, there arrayed around the TV on old couches Kamikaze were waiting as Fujimura stood in front of the TV looming over the gathering.

Unfortunately there was no more space on the couches so Jun and I waited behind, while Akari just slipped into the lap of one of the borgs.

Not that it seemed to be welcome as he grumbled and tried to shove her off only to earn a sharp foot curling up and nearly skewering his throat. The two of them fought for a moment. A bladed foot, and a chromed out hand practically sparking off eachother, before Fujimura growled a low noise that seemed to vibrate the room and cut out the attempted homicide.

“Failure. We took a wound from a basic op. I’m disappointed.” He said and I realized he was basically giving us a score on how well we had all done.

Rude. He was the one in charge. If we failed, it was his fault… If they failed. I wasn’t really a part of this. Why was I even here?

“He’ll live! It was just a 9mm, went under his subdermals. Doc is already checking him out.” Akari called out but was silenced with a look.

“We are the Kamikaze, we shouldn’t be taking wounds from chaff. I expect all of you to receive a session with Ozeki Sensei.” He demanded and all the hardened killers and murders, the somewhat emotionless borgs all groaned.

“Kusanagi! You got distracted. If you can’t keep your focus, put down your mask.” He demanded suddenly singling out… Jun. Thankfully. As he was staring at Jun and not me.

“I will not fail again Fujimura-Sama.”

“Your sister fighting beside you had better not distract you again. Girl. You killed two with that hand cannon of yours. You should have killed at least three.”

“Yeah I know. I’m super annoyed! I only killed two you know? I was gonna stay behind and murder some of their reinforcements too, but Jun pulled me away.”

“A common Maelstrom assault group is more than forty borgs girl.”

“Really?! So many? Aww man… Now I’m really disappointed.” I grumbled as I purposefully turned away from Jun. So much XP! Ruined! Seriously I could have just snuck into their cars while they were distracted, then they would take me back to their headquarters. I would just slowly ghost them one by one, until they were all dead! It would have worked!

I mean sure, so many could make it hard… But I could do it!

The room was silent for a while as I grumbled staring at the wall before Fujimura finally seemed to continue.

“Right. We will have another job tomorrow. Prepare.” He demanded and then stomped out of the room.

“Ack!” I cried out instantly as Jun grabbed the top of my head with his stupid chrome hand.

“You aren’t going to fight forty borgs!” He hissed as he pushed me out of the room back towards the apartment.

Shows what he knows.

—--

I wasn’t tired. Honestly I didn’t even feel the need to sleep, normally I would have just grabbed some tech and started working.

But I wanted blood.

Jun had gone to sleep and I went ahead and napped for an hour. Which is the reason Jun had no idea that I had gotten up afterwards and suited back up.

I left.

I loved Jun cause he was such a dumb older brother, but I wasn’t going to live my life his way. I couldn’t.

So I slipped out of the apartment, out onto the street and then headed a few blocks away to get out from the jammer, and to make sure what I did next wouldn’t lead back to the Dojo.

I called my car.

It was something that still took me by surprise. Self driving cars were still kinda wild. I waited for about ten minutes for my Quadra to turn the corner and stop in front of me, with a beep of its horn letting me know it had arrived.

I slipped into the driver's seat with a grin.

I was only 250 XP away from a level up. My foot touched the gas pedal and I was off. Driving into the city actually feeling alone for the first time in almost a week. I felt free. No Tyger Claws hovering around, no Jun almost smothering me in protectiveness.

I was actually relieved to just be away.

I drove north. Up into Watson. Towards Maelstrom turf. I had no idea where I could find them, but I bet just driving around would find me a few targets to prey upon. The city was in an active war right now.

Unfortunately for the first long while, I didn’t find much. The streets were quiet, broken only by gunshots blocks away that by the time I came anywhere near, I couldn’t find the source.

Annoying to say the least.

I drove around. Only finding the tail ends of skirmishes. I guess even in a gang war there wasn’t constant mass fighting going on.

Shame.

Finally though, action found me. I turned a corner only to come across a road block. Three cars on fire and burning as a squad of Maelstrom gonks hung around them guns out.

I only had a second to react, because the goons were already raising their guns.

Cool dropped over me. Everything became clear.

I hit the accelerator. The fact I turned their little trap immediately back on them is why I didn’t get absolutely destroyed, and why some of them jumped out of the way instead of shooting up my ride.

Not that they didn’t try. A few bullets ricocheted off my Quadra’s armor.

So I accelerated towards the road block, the four sets of spider optics all reacting in different ways.

I flipped the steering wheel at the last second. My Quadra’s back end slipped out at the sudden adjustment, as the car spun.

A loud *Thunk thunk* echoing out from behind me, as my wheels ran over a prone maelstrom gonk who had thought jumping away from where I had been aiming would save him.

Then my driver's door opened with a flip of the handle, and before the car had even come to a complete stop I was stepping out.

Burya already raised and aiming. My Kiroshi kept track of all of them.

The thunderous retort of my handcannon smashed into the first Borg, the fucker that had started shooting at my car with his Lexington in a spray of bullets. I was lucky, despite my Quick draw aim being off, the second of adjustment I had to make as I stepped out of the Quadra let me adjust.

My one bullet did the trick.

I turned to the next one. And again my Burya barked into the night and the screams of Maelstrom being sent straight to their digital gods cut out.

Of course my assault wasn’t perfect. I hadn’t exactly expected a road block ambush. I winced as a round from one of the goons on the other side of the barrier slammed into my chest. His panicked fire wasn’t accurate, but it was unfortunately painful.

The SMG skittered bullets across the pavement as I moved, rushing him. I could feel another round pound into my chest, but I ignored it. Even if it knocked the air out of me, I could still move.

I slid over the back of one of the burning cars and then I was right next to him. His red eyes were unable to widen in terror, but I could see the look on his face.

It warmed my frozen heart for a moment.

Then my Katana blurred a superheated red line through the darkness.

And his arms fell with a splat onto the ground. White blood splashing over my boots.

“Fuuuck!” he screamed, falling to the ground and rolling around after I disarmed him. Instinctually he screamed curses at the pain as I watched on.

I took a moment to catch my breath, each gasp was coming out a little painfully. I checked my side and winced as I pulled out a bullet from the side of my leotard.

At least the armor was working. Still hurt though. Felt like I had gotten punched in the ribs. The armless gonk was still screaming which was annoying though. I walked over and without a word smashed my boot into his side. Katana held point down towards his stupid throat.

His screams turned into, wheezing cries of pain but that was all I needed. “You are only alive because I need something from you. You want to stay alive? Answer my question. Where can I find the Spider Ripper doc?”

The Maelstrom gonk was still whining in pain but he seemed to hear me.

“Fuck you!” He finally said, as he tried to spit at me.

His head rolled away a moment later.

“Should have left two of them alive. That way I can kill one in front of the other and get my answers.” I muttered to myself as I sheathed the Katana.

I like Katana. Katana is good.

I sighed, rubbing my ribs, bullets hurt. Stupid Maelstrom. Looking around at the dead bodies and the burned out wrecks, I realized I should probably do something. Normally I would call the NCPD, but that wasn’t really… a thing right now.

So instead I got looting. Checking the bodies, grabbing weapons and throwing them in the trunk of my Quadra before dragging the bodies off the street. With the Quadra I nudged the burning wrecks out of the road opening it back up.

Satisfied I jumped back into my ride and floored it through the former roadblock.

All the while I smiled. I had leveled up!

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*Level up achieved!*

*One Stat Point Gained.*

*One Skill Point Gained.*

Level 6! I had also leveled up driving and Handguns!

*Driving skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

*Handguns skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

With my awesome driving attack I had hit Driving 5, and Handguns 5. Two perks!

Both were easy picks.

Since I was driving a high end car I wanted something to make sure I could handle it as best as I could when I needed to really move.

Plus I just thought it was cool.

Drifting: Never spill a drop of Tofu water. You have a prescient knowledge of how to go into, and pull out of a drift.

The second perk was just as easy. Considering I now knew some perks could carry over to other weapons and guns, a perk I had considered okay was now super needed.

Rapid Reload: Never drop a mag, or fumble a reload. Reloading your gun will never slow down your rate of fire.

That would work for all of my guns.

I shook the instincts and muscle memory out of my head for a moment after I picked both back to back.

I was ready to continue my hunt.

Now if only my arms weren’t so… Weird. My eyes wandered to adaptation…

Not yet. I could fight like this, and I didn’t know what adaptation would do. Best to try new things when I am at home safe.

So I simply kept going. This was opening up to be a good night!

—--

This was not a good night fuckers, dented my car!

I had found more Maelstrom.

Or rather they had found me. Again. I think driving a jet black Quadra wasn’t a good idea for stealth.

I had stopped at a light. Driving safe was important after all. When a van full of Maelstrom had turned a corner ahead veering left and right down the road, van doors opened and the gonks cheering and roaring as they smashed cars and anything they could reach with pipes or tire irons.

They were driving on the wrong side of the road aiming straight for me.

I realized it just in time to flip my Quadra into reverse and hit the gas, just managing to turn the car so the van didn’t hit me full on. Instead they scraped past my Quadra before stopping not far away. A bunch of the gonks jumping out brandishing melee weapons, or hand guns.

I growled even as Cool flowed over me. Angry, very angry, but a cold furious rage.

Those fuckers dented my car!

So as the Maelstrom fucks approached, I did something they probably weren’t expecting. I hit the gas straight at them.

They never seemed to expect the aggressive acceleration.

The first Gonk was smashed into my hood, his stupid red eyes looking up at me in horror as I drove him down the street. He was hanging on for dear life trying to stay on as I accelerated much faster than he probably expected.

I drove for a moment longer, long enough for the Maelstroms gunfire behind me to fall silent before I opened my driver's door. Burya peeked out to say hello. The poor gonks face stilled in terror as he came face to face with my hand cannon.

I was really thankful that the Quadra didn’t have a windshield, but instead an armored chassis and a digital screen, because the blood splatter would have taken minutes to get rid of with windshield wipers.

*500 XP Gained.*

I looked back, the other Maelstrom had rushed to their van and were chasing me.

I hummed a little as I hit the accelerator. My hands danced over the steering wheel, as I took a turn in a drift. I looked into my rear view mirror expecting to see them chasing me, Only to realize a problem.

They were fucking slow.

Just that drift, and my acceleration alone meant they were already losing me.

I couldn’t accept that.

These fuckers had tried to kill me! They had scratched and dented my car! I just spent thousand of eddies fixing that! And killing people was my job!

These gonks were so slow. I accelerated again. Drifting into an alley between two parked cars I raced to the next street, and then took a left, and another left.

I slowed down around the next corner. Lights off. Turning down the street and seeing the stupid Maelstrom Van slow rolling past the alley I had raced down. But they realized I had lost them. I grinned as I turned the engine off, and slipped into a parking space. Waiting as I watched the gonks pile out of the van to pick up their poor friend off the road. Eventually they grabbed him and dragged him into the van, a trail of blood running across the blacktop.

Once they all piled in, they started driving off.

I started up my engine keeping the lights off and did the same.

That’s right, you gonks. Lead me to some more XP.

 

[Seras]

Did you know following someone is actually a lot harder than you might think?


Get too far away and they could turn a corner and I might lose sight of them, stay too close and they might notice the rumble of my engine behind them. I got really lucky. I didn’t have any specific skill set helping here, but Driving and Ninjutsu came together to make sure I managed to keep on them through the streets of Night City.


All the way to their little lot, tucked away between industrial parks. I made sure to park and disappear as I watched them turn in, wait for the gate to open and then finish driving inside.


“Perfect.” I practically growled hands reflexively clenching at the slaughter that I was now eagerly looking forward to. I reached over to the bag of guns that was still sitting on my passenger seat and opened it up, only to frown.


All of it looked nice, sure, but I still learned my lesson from the Kamikaze. If I went in loud I might not walk out.


I took a deep breath and patted my poor Carnage and Tactician, I kept collecting shotguns, and not really using them.


I would have to figure out something to do with them soon.


But instead I secured the Katana on my hip once more, and made sure my Burya was loaded and ready, with plenty of ammo in my thigh pockets, along with my medical pouches.


Then I disappeared into the night. The entire area was poorly lit, old industrial parks and massive empty structures. I dashed down the sidewalk, my feet not making a single noise as I crept up to the gate the van had disappeared into. Peaking my head inside, I instantly jerked back.


The gate led to a small lot area with two buildings on each side, the one to the left was unconnected to the main structure, looking more like an office attachment. Then there was the main structure, which had a rolling garage door that was closing. There were guards, but like I expected the Maelstrom weren’t so much looking around as just lazing around the area. One was on the ground floor, back against the office building sitting in a broken old lawn chair, a little TV on a stand in front of him that he was watching.


But there were cameras. And I had noticed someone standing on top of the garage as well, turning and walking away from the courtyard. Probably having checked on the Van coming in before disappearing back over the roof..


I peeked twice more, thankfully the streets weren’t well lit out here, so I was able to scope out a few of the cameras. A quick scan using my Kiroshi told me everything I needed to know.


They were definitely connected to a secure system.


If I tried to breach them they would definitely signal an intrusion because even with a glance I could see they were more secure than I would normally attribute to Maelstrom. Luckily Ping was still safe to use. My eyes flashed as I peeked out and Pinged the camera hanging over the actual entrance door to the garage.


A moment later the Quick Hack went through and My vision even through the wall suddenly had a golden line showing me where to go.


I still loved seeing the wi-fi connections between all the systems. Although this time I was impressed. They definitely had an actual netrunner running things, because my Ping, only had a single connection point.


According to all the knowledge I had gained on Netrunning, that meant the system was secured. Each Camera might have a single hub system, but each spoke was cut off meaning I couldn’t just see every camera or security system on the system. I would have to breach the hub to be able to do that.


Unfortunately the line led inside, which means I would have to sneak in with the cameras still active and take it out and the Netrunner without sounding an alarm.


I pulled up my stat screen for a moment. I did have a stat and skill point…


It was just one more point… I could always start saving for the adaptation right after… Plus I might even get enough kills…


My finger aimed to hit the button, even if it was all virtual but I did like the feeling of actually pushing the buttons, but I stalled.


No. I could do this. I needed to experiment with Adaptation when I got home. The foreign feeling of my new arms made this an absolute priority.


Even if it would put my Cool all the way to nine… Such a big number…


I shook it away. I could still level Ninjutsu without spending a point right now.


Time to work for it. So I shook the idea out of my head and decided to find a way in. There wasn’t anything on this side of the gate, so I backed up a bit and did a fun little acrobatic somersault. I tumbled forward and then back to my feet on the other side of the gate. So fast and in the dark I knew the gonk watching TV couldn’t have seen me.


I smiled as I got an athletics alert, but I immediately started moving silently again. Time to sneak through this Maelstrom base.


I paced around the outside of the lot. The concrete wall surrounding the place was topped by barbed wire but after searching around I found an alley on the back side that had another gate leading from it, and from here, I was in even greater shadow. With it I could scope out the layout including keeping an eye for the guy on the roof.


After a minute of peeking and checking out the layout, I realized I was gonna have to kill the guy on the roof If I was going to get in. He had moved away from the edge, but with a bit of effort and pulling myself up on the concrete wall carefully avoiding the wire and peeking over I had spotted him.


He was camped in a little structure they had set up on the roof. I could faintly hear a TV going from up there as well, so both guards were distracted.


The easiest way to get up there was from the concrete wall which only had a small gap to the roof, but the barbed wire was in the way. I couldn’t exactly walk through that, it would slice me to ribbons… Or just knock me down like it did in the game…


No wait. This wasn’t a game! I rolled my eyes because bonking my head might make noise, and it would definitely be motion which was anathema to stealth. Stillness is sightless. I slipped past the rear gate towards the back corner of the property. The darkest quietest section.


It was also well hidden from any of the cameras.


With a grin I pulled out my Katana. The blazing hot edge glowing in the darkness.


I held it up and slowly cut through the razor wire. The heat slowly melted through the strand, and after a minute I had sliced two cuts into the wire. Then came the hard part, slowly before the wire could fall and make a racket I turned off the heat blade and used the sword to slowly gather up the small section of the wire I had cut, then mostly thanks to the strength in my new arms I lifted it off the wall and slowly let it fall to the ground outside the complex.


I breathed a sigh of relief when I was done, sheathing my Katana and stretching my back because that had been pretty rough on my shoulder muscles. The tension in between my shoulder blades felt horrible. I roled my shoulders, but that didn’t do anything, not like it used to, they weren’t even attached to the muscles in the same way. The tension simply sat there like a rock.


I could feel my fingers practically twitching as I felt muscles try to contract and shift try to adjust against unyielding chrome.


I shook it away, deep breath in and out. I now had a way in. Focus on the mission.


I quickly jumped the fence, Parkour making the whole thing childs play as I then basically stepped onto the roof of the garage. My trusty knife was pulled free as I lowered myself to the ground and almost crawled up to the little hidden structure.


It was a couple pieces of garbage nailed together resting on an AC unit. The whole thing was just wide enough for him to sit inside on a chair with a little TV and a table.


Luckily he was distracted by the TV. I scanned him first, making sure he wasn’t protected with Subdermal armor.


I was starting to hate running into cheaters who used subdermal armor!


He wasn’t. At least not everywhere. Knife went in and out, and his TV got sprayed with arterial blood but it was quiet. I made sure he slumped over in his chair. No one would ever notice.


*750 XP Gained.*


I blinked. That was weird, I almost never got that XP. It was usually only 500, or 1000. Why was this guy an odd number? Maybe it was the partial armor? He would be tougher than a normal gonk on the street, even if his subdermal wasn’t a full covering.


But as I started looking around I noticed it.


“Ah.” I whispered breathlessly. I reached out and took the rifle that was resting against the ‘door’ of the hide.


A Nekomata! The moment I touched her I knew she was loaded and ready, practically purring to be used. I had missed my opportunity earlier, but not again! But I shook my head. Too loud.


“Next time.” I whispered silently against her barrel as I held a toy that I was going to have so much fun with. A sniper rifle!


Oh man I was gonna get so many head shots!


But that was later. I set the Nekomata down where I could collect it later and started exploring. This guy wouldn’t be up here without a way down, and I found it. There was a door on the roof, that was a staircase access.


It was unlocked and I slipped in.


The noise inside was louder, heavy metal that the Maelstrom were rocking out to, and the general noise of people. I slipped down the stairway slowly. Making sure to check every corner. I had to be very very careful of cameras.


The stairs led to a second floor room that was overlooking the garage area, where most of the gonks were hanging around. I could hear a few curses, and raised voices from there. But that wasn’t my goal. I was following the golden light.


The first room I came to was a break room. Couches around an entertainment station, food and drinks, an old microwave.


Everything a gang would need to keep their people going. It wasn’t empty. A Maelstrom gonk was grumbling as he ripped apart some food packaging to put in the microwave.


I checked for cameras and since it was clear I moved in. This guy had better Subdermals. At least he did around his neck.


There was a serious problem with borgs. You never knew if they had a second heart or something.


Thankfully I had a way around it. My katana was drawn without a noise. The thermal blade heated up instantly to a withering temperature. As I approached something alerted him whether the heat from the blade, a noise, or a flickering of something out of the corner of his optics.


Hell it could have been a reflection in the shiny microwave.


It didn’t save him though. He started turning as my Katana flashed, cutting and burning through his armored neck. It was hard, tough, his Subdermal trying to stall out my blade, but it was kind of hard to scream when your throat was being burned away.


I jerked the blade free and he slumped to the ground, head not quite unattached, but definitely dead.


*1000 XP Gained.*


Oh yeah. That’s the good stuff.


I sheathed my Katana, asI hauled him up as best I could, grunting a bit at the weight as I pulled him into a dark corner.


Then I stood up, and continued on following that golden line. I couldn’t keep the smile off my face as I slipped through the shadows. I was… happy. Thrilled, excited and every positive emotion I could imagine. There was probably something wrong with that, but I didn’t care!


I guess I had been honest with Jun.


I really did love killing.


I walked out onto a catwalk overlooking the garage, and I could see them hauling the dead Maelstrom from the Van and into a small room in the back. I couldn’t quite make out what everyone was saying, the music was too loud.


I would have to do something about that, maybe a cyberware to let me make out sound better? That actually could be useful. I made a note for myself before continuing across the catwalk not a single noise was made as I stepped onto the metal grate floors. I traveled across the entire building, following the golden light. To a small room in the upper corner of the building.


I licked my lips as I got closer and closer to my target. Pressing myself up against the wall next to the see-through armored door that was so popular in Night City, I peeked in, only to still.


Empty. Whatever Netrunner ran the security here wasn’t in.


I pouted, I had been looking forward to that kill. I kind of wanted to steal some Netrunning gear.


I slipped into the room without any trouble, and looked around the array of computers. With a few minutes of work I was breaching into the security system. The cameras all turned off, while I uploaded my Daemon.


I could practically see the Daemon slipping into the network back hacking to every member of Maelstrom that was hooked into the security. Their visuals of me would distort and disappear.


I pulled out the jack from the computer rig, and had just clicked it back into my neck when I felt it.


Danger sense!


I moved, flattening myself against the wall next to the door, as the glass door opened, and a Maelstrom gonk walked in, wearing a netrunning suit.


I hadn’t seen him before, where had he been? In the small room they had taken the dead gonk from before?


It didn’t matter. I wasn’t exactly hidden from where I stood and he would see me as soon as he sat at the computer.


So I never gave him the chance. I reached out, both of my armored hands grabbing a different side of his head before I jerked.


The echoing snap of his neck shattering from the force broke the silence and I simply held his body for a moment as he twitched and shivered in his death throes.


*1000 XP Gained.*


Okay that made this easier. I also smiled at the ninjutsu alerts I was getting for the stealth kills.


I let him flop onto the ground as I stretched my back. Holding someone up by his head was hard even with Cyber arms. I walked back over to the system, and brought up the security cams.


I started scanning and counting, getting the numbers of the Strom in their little hideout, looking for the actual dangerous ones.


Marking everything I could see with the cameras, I shut them back down and slipped back out of the room.


The first Maelstrom didn’t even see me, he was looking through a tool box, digging through it as he struggled to find the tool he needed. When I dropped down from above Katana blazing the force sliced completely through his neck.


His head fell into the tool box as I pushed his body to fall away from the stuff. The noise of his body falling was completely covered up by the heavy music filling the garage.


*500 XP Gained.*


I slipped away, already heading towards the next target. A woman this time. She was in the cab of a truck that had the hood up. Another Strom working on the inside of the cab. I could hear him call out from time to time to tell her to give it some gas or test something.


With the cab door open it was a cake walk. I slipped in my knife glinting for just a moment as I ripped her throat apart pushing her to fall into the passenger seat as she bled out with quiet gasps not loud enough to be heard over the music.


*500 XP Gained.*


With her gone the guy working on the engine was next. I slipped back out and around and while his face was stuck inside the hood he got to feel a knife ripping open his throat as well. I left him there, leaking blood into the engine.


*500 XP Gained.*


Unfortunately as good as I was, I wasn’t perfect.


“FUCK!” A voice roared out and I jerked back. The Strom I had head chopped had been found.


I grumbled, stupid NPC’s! Don’t you know you are supposed to stay put? I had completely missed one! So I rushed him.


“CARL IS DEAD! FUCK WE GO-” His cry was cut off as I leapt at him, knife sinking into his throat as I twisted around him for a moment, using the centrifugal force to rip the knife right back out. He fell like I had cut his strings.


*500 XP Gained.*


*Level up achieved!*


*One Stat Point Gained.*


*One Skill Point Gained.*


I grinned despite being caught as a few Maelstrom rushed from whatever they were doing to check out what the yelling was about.


They found me there. Already moving, knife dripping with blood as I raced through the mess of vehicles and parts aiming for one thing in particular. I dodged through instinctive bullets that were arcing closer and closer to me. But I made it.


I hit the light switch and then slashed it with my Katana.


Darkness instantly smothering the entire garage beside a few electronic lights still active, radios and such.


But with darkness came a moment, where they would lose sight of me. Their optics having to react to the change in lighting, I continued running, ignoring the gun fire that splattered where I had been.


Plus I grinned, my Daemon was working through their network. I wonder what they were thinking? When despite being able to see in the dark with their stupid optics, I seemed to disappear into the shadows?

 

[Seras]

William “FrostGuard” Frost


FrostGuard was pretty pissed. A fuckin jap was tearing up the boys. Damn Tyger Claws were attacking in the middle of the night with fuckin ninjas!


He had only seen the one. Just one, and a kid at that. The girl was fast. After Jackshift had called out everyone had grabbed a weapon, but Jack hadn’t lived long after that.


Good kid Jack, bit stupid, but he did right in the end he put out the alarm.


But now Frost had a fuckin ninja jap killing everyone. There were only six Strom left. Everyone else FrostGuard had called didn’t pick up. Hell even Byte wasn’t picking up.


Fuckin Ninja already killed their Netrunner. Fuck. Brick was gonna be pissed. Byte had been important. Not every gonk on the street can act as a serious Netrunner.


“Stay close!” He yelled out as he forced his Ajax to keep aiming around the dark room. Bitch had disappeared as soon as the boys started calling out for her.


Then she cut the fucking lights!


If they were any of the other gangs it might have worked, but the Spyder Optics the Maelstrom chipped into every member could see in the dark just fine.


Except, somehow she had disappeared. One moment he was staring at her as she raced off into the side of the garage, and then next his optics simply couldn’t keep track of her, or more like she had simply shifted into smoke and disappeared.


Fuckin bullshit.


Some sort of Optical Camo? He wasn’t sure, hadn’t seen any of the usual shifting from that.


“Where the fuck did she go!?” RustProof called out and Frost snorted at the panicked tone as some of the fuckers lost their cool. Firing blindly into the darkness.


They were panicking. Frost realized right then that if he stuck around he was just as likely to get shot in the back as he was the front. He started shifting back towards the entrance, optics wide to look for her. She had to still be here right?


Maybe she had just delta’d once she got spotted?


Possible, but Frost wasn’t going to count on it. He had already sent out an alert, all he had to do was survive until the response showed up.


“H-hey! Where did StickShift go?!” RustProof called out suddenly as he spun around, and Frost looked around his Ajax following his sight as he looked to where Oil that fuck had been standing.


He wasn’t there anymore.


Realizing what had happened Frost let instincts from the war take over. He shifted and fired, shattering the Radios that had been filling the garage with music the whole time.


The music that had covered the ninjas assault.


The sudden quiet was almost oppressive and Frost, Rust, and the other two remaining Maelstrom all quickly gathered together in a group guns out. Even if Frost and his Ajax was the biggest piece among them.


He sighed, realized they were all cluttering him because they wanted him to save them.


Cowards.


But he didn’t know what to say, so instead of trying to take control of the idiots, he continued backing up towards the door. Hopefully they will be able to hear her now.


But the garage was quiet besides the whispering and clanking of the idiots surrounding him.


Fuck this. Frost kept walking backwards towards the door. Yet nothing was moving. Just a quiet that had settled on the garage.


Finally he reached the door and with one hand burst it open as he hurried outside the other four right along with him.


Outside it was quiet, and Frost caught his breath for a second as he looked around. OilSlicks post on the ground floor was knocked over as he had come running at the alert, but Frost hadn’t seen TriggerFinger. He looked up but other than the faint sound of his TV playing, he wasn’t around.


Dead then.


Damn she had snuck up on that old war dog?


“Alright. C’mon stay together you idiots!” He barked as his little group had started splitting apart, but his call brought them back together. “We hold out here. She can’t sneak up on us here, we just have to wait for reinforcements. See how this ninja bitch likes trying her hand against forty of us!” He yelled the number. If the Ninja was still here, hopefully the idea of forty men all hunting her would scare her off. Even if it wasn't likely he would receive that kind of response. Hopefully the Jap didn’t know that. Then with a few pointed fingers and barked orders, he had everyone in place.


There were only two ways out of the Garage, well three if you counted the massive roller doors. Otherwise it was the roof, and the ground floor door that they had just walked out of.


She was trapped in there. All he had to do was keep the place secure until more guns showed up.


At least that is what he thought.


He turned around to look over everyone making sure everyone was where they should be.


When a gunshot startled everyone as the gonk he had sent up onto the roof to watch the roof access came falling off the edge of the roof falling with a splat as he had a massive hole in his chest.


“Damn Gonk!” He cursed him for being stupid enough to get shot. His Ajax came up and peppered the roof, causing the others to join him. If she was up there, they only had to hit her once!


Four Maelstrom unloading on the roof had to be enough!


He flipped his empty magazine out and grabbed his spare from his jacket pocket.


He would be out after this. Dammit. He wasn’t exactly loaded for war while he had his feet up inside the safe house!


“Anyone see her?” He roared which slowly caused everyone to stop firing as they all reloaded but all he got back was shaking heads.


“Well don’t just stand there! Go-” he was cut off as a gunshot rang out, one that he recognized this time.


TriggerFingers Sniper Rifle. Fuck.


One of the boys, head still shaking, suddenly only had a spray of blood in place of his skull. Slowly he flopped down onto the ground.


Ajax raised he started firing towards where the gunshot had come from, but as his round bounced off concrete he realized what had happened.


The bitch. She was shooting through the walls!


“She’s shooting through the walls! Move! Don’t stand still! Her optics can’t lock you if you keep moving!” He roared out and it was only barely enough to save OilSlick as he shifted and moved just in time for a round to punch through the wall of the garage.


The bitch had gone back inside?


Fine!


He roared as he rushed back into the door, he wasn’t going to stand around and get ripped apart. If she was running around with a Nekomata it would slow her down, they weren’t exactly the most mobile weapons considering how long and heavy they were.


He kicked the door back open his optics again cutting through the darkness as he searched for her. A flicker of movement and he opened fire his Ajax barked again and again as he filled the area with bullets.


She disappeared again jumping behind the Van as he stopped firing waiting for her to appear only to realize she had somehow vanished!


“Hey Gonks! She is on the run stay together!” He roared through the walls as he rushed not to follow her, but to the little office he had taken over when they claimed this old garage as a base.


He keyed open the door and slipped inside, quickly grabbing his old vest that had his extra mags and slipped into it, all the while shifting around to make sure she couldn’t pop him through a wall.


Of course a moment later gunshots started echoing around. Tiny blips of his buddies' peashooters, and the big echoing retorts of the Nekomata.


He ran to get back outside, but by the time he kicked the door open again it was quiet.


They were dead. OilSlick well on his way to being an OilStain as he bled out.


“Bitch! Come on then! You’ve cut down these gonks! You think you’re hard!? They are chaff! I’ll rip you apart!” He roared out as he kept moving searching for her. How does one ninja jap do this? Kill his entire squad?


He really wished his reinforcements would show up already.


It was pure luck in the end, the faint hint of something glinting in the corner of his optics he immediately dove into a roll bringing up his Ajax and firing. The shot from the Nekomata missed him by inches. She was back on the roof, hiding in TriggerFingers little shack. He lit it up, not stopping the automatic fire until his mag was empty and he quickly reloaded and started firing again.


Nothing. He waited, unable to see well if she was still in there, but not willing to climb the ladder that would take him up to the roof.


He waited, and it was only when his optics spotted blood that he started to relax.


“Got ya huh bitch?” He called out with a chuckle as he kept his rifle up. Never relax until the body is confirmed dead. Usually with a double tap.


But with how many rounds he had punched into the little shack she would have to be dead. Surely.


A gunshot and he grunted back as the round slammed into him, his Subdermal and chest rig barely stopping the round from blowing a hole through him, but it still knocked him on his ass. He rolled instantly rushing for cover.


How the fuck was she still alive!?


“How are you still alive!?” He roared rising and once more unloading a magazine into the shack, this time he didn’t stay still. Using his gunfire to keep her pinned as he climbed up onto some of the old oil barrels that had been laying around since before they moved in.


He kept firing as he rose up, enough to actually see into the shed even as he continued firing into his mag emptied.


He looked in.


Where was she? TriggerFinger was there, looking pretty awful thanks to all the rounds that had ripped through him, but he didn't see the ninja.


Wait.


Wait!


If TriggerFinger was dead, why was there an arm sticking out from his body pointing a handgun right at Frost?


The round punctured through this time. His vest wasn’t able to stop a second high caliber round, and his subdermal failed.


He died before he hit the ground.


—--


I coughed up blood as I pushed the corpse off me. “Ow!” I whined as I poked the multiple holes in me. Most of them in my legs, one unfortunately in my chest where my poor Leotard had finally given up, unable to stop the bullets. Unfortunately while I was small enough to hide behind the bulk of an armored borg as rounds hammered into my hidey hole. Even the borgs armor had to give up eventually. A few rounds penetrating few had slammed into me as the fucker with the Ajax just kept on firing.


Jerk.


I yanked my med pocket open and grabbed a MaxDoc. Quickly inhaling it I instantly felt better.


“That was the second one I had to burn.” I reminded myself. I only had one left on me. This last borg was way more skilled than I expected. Plus he had actually taken a Nekomata round to the chest, Even if I hadn’t had time to charge it up. It had just been a normal round which was the only reason he hadn’t died.


I grunted as I pushed the corpse off me. “Thanks Choom.” I told him despite how horrible his corpse looked now, he had really saved my tail.


“I really like it more when I just kill them all without them noticing.” I grumble as I grab the fallen Nekomata and head towards the side of the roof. I winced a bit as I dropped down to the ground level. My legs still sore. I guess one MaxDoc didn’t cover everything. I thought about using another but I wasn’t bleeding anywhere.


Better to save it.


I sighed, as much as I wanted to call Ichi and try to have him come help loot this place to the bedrock I knew I didn’t have time.


The Strom leader had mentioned he had called for help.


“Quick loot Motoko.” I told myself with a deep breath as I quickly ran to the first body. As my hands danced through pockets I called my car which drove from down the street to stop in front of the open gate. I grabbed the guns and anything else I could find and hold in my arms as I raced to the car and dumped it into the passenger seat before rushing back for more.


Two runs to grab everything outside, and I headed in. Considering the time limit I raced upstairs first, Netrunner was number one priority.


I wanted to see if he had any netrunning stuff!


As soon as I hit his body I unfortunately gave up on stealing his Netrunning suit.


I didn’t have time or desire to strip a corpse like that right now. Instead I started popping shards out of his skull passing them into my pocket. I did check his skull and he did indeed have a netdeck…


I considered yanking it. I could. It would take a few minutes, but I could totally do that.


But something about ripping chrome right out of someone's body… It didn't sit right with me. If I had more time maybe I would call in the calvary and they would probably do some ripping, but I let it go. Instead I focused on his gear. I plugged into his computer and yanked the data into a shard. I would go over it later, but hopefully it would have some information on where I could find the Spider Ripper, and the Bastard.


Then as I started grabbing more goodies, I heard an engine outside.


Instantly I went cold as I dropped everything and headed back to the roof. Whoever was showing up was about to get ripped apart. I had only heard one engine.


That meant the numbers were doable. More loot?


More loot.


I crept along the roof. Whoever it was was walking around the courtyard, they were slow, cautious. I couldn’t hear any conversation, and only one set of footsteps crunching into the gravel.


Only one? Well it didn’t matter.


I reached the edge, but I missed them by a second. They had just walked into the building below me.


I went full cold just so I wouldn’t make a grunt of pain and dropped. Falling into a silent crouch just outside the door.


My Katana was already flashing, red edge arcing through darkness to give me just a few more points of XP.


I stilled.


My breath came out in a soft pant.


“Jun!?” I cried out, causing him to jump practically out of his skin, his own Katana coming up to as if to defend only to realize I was standing literally behind him, my Katana inches from taking his head.


Jun shrieked in a hilariously girly voice, but once he realized who it was he gasped in shock. “Motoko!?”


Gonna remember that one for later, that scream was hilarious! but now wasn’t the time for that.


Because Jun’s face hardened and he was glaring now. “Motoko! What do you think you are doing!?”


“Murder?” I answered honestly before my mind could catch up with my mouth. I clamped my mouth shut as my answer seemed to knock the wind out of Jun’s anger. I looked around, knowing he must have already seen all the dead bodies. All the people I had murdered.


We were both silent, staring at each other for a moment before I lowered my shoulders sheathing my Katana. “Okay let’s be honest. I mean… Is this even the worst thing you ever caught me doing?” I asked, hoping my former pre-coma self really was the hellion I suspected she was.


Jun did not in fact agree.


His exasperated expression only lasted a moment before it turned to anger. “What are you thinking? What are you even doing? You could have died! You are still recovering! You are… What? Chasing Maelstrom around the city!?” He roared after a sound of pure frustrated anger as he turned and hammered a fist into the wall of the garage. The poor garage did not stand up well.


“How did you even find me?” I interrupted his battering of the poor garage.


“I followed your tracker! What else would I do when you sneak out in the middle of the night!”


I blinked. “I have a tracker?” I frowned. That was… Not okay.


“Of course Oka-san gave us both trackers when we were kids.” He answered simply going silent for a moment at the mention of our mother. “You don’t remember.”


I felt my lips down into a frown. The idea that I had some tracker in me was… I really didn’t like it. At the same time it wasn’t Jun’s fault so I just breathed it out. I would get back to that later.


Before I could even start on what was next though. We both heard it, engines.


“We need to go.”


“Let’s run!” We both said to each other before rushing towards the exit. The engines were too close.

 

[Seras]

By the time we hit the gate we both realized what happened.


Slowing to a stop, surrounding my car and Jun’s Bike, both blocking the entrance to the gate, were three Maelstrom trucks.


Already I could see the red eyed borgs climbing out to look around.


“Cover me!” I called out as I rushed forward. Burya drawn and aimed, and only when they noticed me did I fire. Three rounds echoed, sending borgs scurrying as I rushed to my car. While my shots had sent a few running for cover a few of the borgs were starting to aim at me, so I did the smart thing. I put up my arms to guard my face and jumped into the still open passenger door ignoring the stray bullets slammed into my arms.


I reached down under my passenger seat for a box that I had filled from the Raffen raid, and never really used.


Popping it open I started grabbing grenades.


I glanced out the door seeing Jun in full rage mode as he offhanded a Shingen, a smart SMG that I didn’t even know he had. It must collapse down or something. Still he was shooting mini missiles into the crowd roaring and drawing attention.


Stupid Jun. He was gonna get shot doin’ that.


I flipped the switches, pressed the buttons, or pulled the pin for the grenades as I started chucking them wildly out of the car towards the Maelstrom trucks.


It took a moment and then the explosions started going off, and the screams and cries of dying Maelstrom finally overrode the sound of gunfire.


I turned back towards Jun to tell him to get on his Kusanagi and get out of here, but he had already unsheathed his Katana and was going wild on the now utterly disrupted Maelstrom. One of their trucks was burning from an incendiary grenade highlighting the fight as he rushed in and started cutting.


Well, if he wanted to murder all of these Maelstrom, I wasn’t going to be left behind. I slipped out of my car, Katana drawn, and moved.


Quickly leaping up onto the hood of my car and then forward to cut the arm off a Maelstrom gonk aiming a shotgun at Jun. The thermal blade cut right through, and his head was parted a moment later before he could even scream with a casual swipe. Then I was among them, and between Jun and I? The grenades having thrown them around killing or maiming?


It was wheat to a scythe. Jun drew their eyes, the Oni. I could practically taste their terror as he kept among them, not letting them get any clear shots as he cut them into pieces with pure power.


While that happened. I ghosted them. Heads parted from necks, limbs were lost suddenly, and then lives a moment later. While I did get shot again, this time in the back the fucker lost his arm and then head a moment later. While Jun was just tanking everything.


By the time I caught up to Jun it was over. He was dueling a large borg with a nasty looking sawn off shotgun fit for a cyborg, and a chain sword of all things trying to keep Jun from bisecting him.


Unfortunately I don’t believe in honorable duels. The Borg died in moments after my Katana surged out the front of his neck as I stabbed him through his spine. My face a rictus grin as I managed to kill steal from Jun.


I was laughing, my cold breaking as Jun practically jumped at my sudden appearance once again. I could see him instantly look around, but I threw him a thumbs up. “I confirmed kills on everyone else. We’re clear.” I told him. His eyes continued to rove around as if he didn’t fully believe me, which was fair, always good to verify yourself.


But yeah.


I killed them all.


The fools half blown up by grenades. The ones desperately trying to run. The Gonks that tried to attack me. I cut them all down. Between the fires, and Jun it was easy. They were so shell shocked I waltzed through them like a ghost.


“We should probably grab what we can and go.” I told him only to see he wasn’t just breathing hard but actually wincing. I quickly pushed in and with deft fingers found the problem. “Right through the Subdermal.” I told him after got his hands away from the bullet hole in his thigh.


“Thanks I hadn’t noticed.” He growled a bit but a moment later he had a maxdoc in his mouth.


“Take that, and hop in the car. Send your bike home without you, you can’t drive like that.”


“It’s a bullet hole. I can ride just fine.” He grumbled, but I wasn’t having any of that and quickly pulled him along his limping steps, unable to resist as I pulled him towards the passenger seat of my ride.


I winced a little at how much junk was now strewn across it, but he sighed and settled in as I threw a roll of bandages I had in my medical pouch at him as I raced back to the driver side.


“Buckle up.” I reminded him as I hammered the gear and hit the gas instantly roaring down the street causing Jun to yelp as I absolutely floored it.


Had to get Jun back to the dojo. He was bleeding!


“Slow down!”


“No!” I barked back as I zipped through the city, absolutely flooring my engine. The mostly empty streets thanks to all the shootings meant I rarely had to slow for traffic, and so I raced through the city more like I was playing… Well Cyberpunk.


Well if the driving in the game was any good anyways.


“Please slow down!” He begged as I came up to a red light with a bit of traffic, we were in a busier section, lots of bars and clubs around here, and even with a gang war people were still partying.


His pleading switched to Japanese and I honestly couldn’t keep up, as I slipped in between two cars idling at the red, flowed into a drift barely sliding right behind a truck my front bumper almost kissing the rear of the bumper before I slipped around the truck and cut in front of it before flooring it disappearing down the street with a roar of my Quadra’s engine.


“Please please please slow down!” He begged and I scoffed. We were almost there. Just a few smaller side streets that were covered in little shops. Most were closed and empty. I didn’t even slow down as I flew down the darkened street. The few people I could see hearing me coming and getting out of the way.


Which was smart.


I came around the corner of the dojo in a rush and only slowed a tiny bit as I drifted down into the parking garage for the apartment complex.


I quickly found a space and slowed to gently park into one close to the elevator to the first floor. “C’mon Jun, let’s get you to your ripper.” I told him as I jumped out of the car to run around towards his side, he was already climbing out when I reached him, and as I tried to get close to help him his hand reached out and pushed my face away.


“Jwun!”


“Motoko. Stop smothering me… Also you are never allowed to drive again. Ever.” He told me as he started walking just with a hefty limp towards the elevator.


“That’s not fair! I’m pretty good at driving!”


“Terrifying.”


“Everyone complains about me driving slow, but when I actually drive fast you complain too!?” I argued as I kept with him, happy to use the conversation to keep him distracted.


“That’s because no one knows how terrifying you driving fast is. Where did you even learn to drive like that?”


“Playing around mostly.” I answered truthfully… From a certain point of view.


“Terrifying.” He deadpanned as he rested back against the elevator seemingly exhausted.


Oh. Right. Jun had been awake all day, fought with me. Fought during the Kamikaze raid, and then chased me out too.


Dang. I actually felt super sorry for him now. “Let’s get you into the ripper and get you a nap. You look tired.” I told him as I sidled up to him resting my head on his shoulder for a moment.


“I wonder why that is?” He snarked at me, seemingly too tired to get angry. Huh I guess sleepy Jun is snarky Jun.


I opened my mouth to respond but closed it. I hadn’t really needed Jun, but I understood it was difficult for him to understand just what I could do. What a Gamer was capable of.


“Thanks for coming to help me Jun… I promise I won’t run off in the middle of the night again. I’ll let you know when I go out, so you… Well you’ll probably still worry, but at least I won’t just vanish on you.”


Jun’s hands clenched but then loosened.


“When you killed that last Strom. You were laughing.”


“Yeah. I was having fun. We work well together… You just need to work on getting shot less.” I told him, resisting the urge to poke at him with a finger. He was injured so I wasn’t going to poke his bullet wounds. That would be rude, even if the urge to mess with my brother was almost irresistible.


“I didn’t believe you before. When you said you enjoyed it.”


I scratched at my cheek a bit embarrassed as Jun was staring at me as the elevator came to a stop. “Yeah well… I guess It’s just one of those things. I’m good at it… Plus I have my own reasons to enjoy killing them.”


“Yeah.” He was quiet as he hobbled out, my attempts to help more getting in his way, than really helping. As I tried to get him to the window that we could climb out of. It was a bit difficult, but we managed to get him through and the vendors on the other side quickly noticed and actually helped out, not saying a word as they took an arm and helped Jun into the Dojo’s side entrance and downstairs into the ripper clinic.


“What the? Kusanagi!?” The female ripper was sitting at a chair and jumped up when Jun was carried in, she took a moment to look me over as well. I was still covered in blood, but I waved her towards Jun and she didn’t need any further prompting to ignore me.


He was settled onto the ripper chair, and she went to work cleaning the bullet holes, and starting to work. I settled onto a normal chair nearby and decided to hang out. It wasn’t like I was gonna do anything but go take a nap when I got back to the room anyways.


Might as well make sure Jun is okay.


Jun basically started napping as the doc worked. She was alright, but she didn’t have that amazing deftness that Vik had.


I really should have just hauled him to Viks.


“Kusanagi!” A voice called out just as soon as the door opened, and Fujimura stomped in. The guy was a bit bleary eyed, and his hair was messy.


I guess someone woke him up.


“Fujimura-Sama.” Jun responded, his eyes snapping open and he made to sit up only to be pushed down by the Doc.


“Stay down while I work.” She demanded glaring before giving a sitting bow to Fujimura. Seemingly letting him know he could continue.


“I didn’t set up any further raids. The battle was over, I thought I was clear that you were supposed to be resting. Now I find out you went out and got injured. You damage not just yourself, but the Kamikaze! Explain!” He barked stomping up to Jun, and I got the feeling he was only seconds away from dragging Jun out of the chair by his… well Jun didn’t have a shirt on, but the same idea stood.


Jun of course spoke quickly, before I could. “Apologies. A family matter came up.”


Fujimura instantly looked to me, his eyes glaring and face full of rage.


Of course I wasn’t impressed. Bedhead wasn’t exactly intimidating.


“You once again cause trouble?”


“I didn’t do anything. Jun was just being overprotective and decided to foll-” I was cut off as the man actually backhanded me.


He hit me.


It almost knocked me right out of the chair considering how strong he was. I could practically feel a tooth loosen as well as I sat back up. I wiggled my jaw a bit and spit out some of the blood onto the floor.


Stupid idiot made me bite my cheek.


I went cold. No, I went arctic. I caught his eyes and held them as I spoke. “You strike me again, and I’ll take the hand.”


He watched me for a moment before snorting. “Accept your punishment with grace. You damage the Kamikaze with your foolishness? You receive a reminder. Your brother is important to the Tyger Claws. Important to Kamikaze. You were brought here by our kindness, but that is twice now you have cost the Kamikaze.”


“Fujimura-sama! Motoko is my sister. She is not yours to discipline!” Jun growled, he had sat up when I was struck. Much to the irritation of the Doc.


“Then ensure that she does not damage the Kamikaze again, and I will not feel the need to interfere in family affairs!” The man barked back without any give.


“Motoko did nothing wrong. Fujimura-sama. It was my own weakness that led to injury.” Jun said, barely keeping his voice from an angry bark as he glared up at the borg.


The man finally turned from my stare which was dangerous of him.


I was still figuring out whether dismembering him would be the best way to get my point across.


“I expect a fast recovery Kusanagi. The Kamikaze have work to do.” He finally said after a few moments of imperious glaring, before he stomped out of the room.


“Jun… Your boss is an asshole.” I finally told him which caused my brother to slowly lean back onto the chair with a groan.


—--


Once Jun was fully fixed up, he fell asleep with a few meds from the doc. Considering he was passed out and practically drooling, I decided to head back to the apartment.


But not before taking a picture of his drooling face. Blackmail get!


The silliness helped soothe the irritation and the pain of my cheek.


I walked into the apartment and only once the door closed did I sigh.


I was still hurting. Bullets might get blocked by the armor, and I was mostly healed up from the Maxdoc, but I was still sore.


Plus the worst part?


“Ugh all the blood dried.” I grumbled as I ran a few fingers through my hair only to get tangled in the bloody matted strands. I wouldn’t be able to take a nap without cleaning up first.


So with a tired grunt I walked into the apartment's little bathroom that also had a washer dryer. I stripped down to my panties and stuffed the dirty clothes into the washer noticing my boots were going to need some serious attention too.


Dangit.


So as I started the cycle I grabbed some cleaning gunk and sat down in front of the washer with my boots. Slowly wiping the poor abused footwear clean of dirty Maelstrom blood.


At least one benefit of being in such a hellish future is that bloodstains weren’t an issue. The cleaning gunk I rubbed into the boots pulled the blood right out.


Groaning, as my shoulders ached, I headed into a shower and dunked my head into the nice hot water for a moment stretching a bit to start scrubbing the blood off. I zoned out for a bit just letting the heat flow into my bones, well and my arms. Cyberware felt cool to the skin and the night was getting cooler. So feeling the metal warm under the spray was actually pretty nice.


My chest always feels a little chilly now with the Cyberware installed. But right now it felt good, even if water flowing over my arms felt wrong.


Which reminded me about what I had gained tonight.


I couldn’t help but whistle as I opened the alerts. I hadn’t checked between looting and then Jun.


The XP gains went down for a while. But it was the level I had gained that I was smiling about. Three levels in one night!? I giggled a little as I did a little dance under the shower, hell yeah!


*Level up achieved!*


*One Stat Point Gained.*


*One Skill Point Gained.*


I giggled as I looked at the alert. Glancing at my stat page just to see where I am at.


Level 8

2500/9000


Very nice. Plus the three Stat and Skill points that were saved up!


But that wasn’t even close to everything! So many improvements!


*Athletics skill level up!*


It was midway down the list, so I guess all the running and jumping around I had done, had some benefits. Athletics 6 was awesome!


*Handguns skill level up!*


Handguns had gone up to six, which made sense. I had been firing the Burya so much lately. It really was an integral part of my toolkit. I really needed to take her apart and give her a thorough checkup.


Even happier for me, was Assault. Assault 4 thanks to my new Nekomata. I finally had a good weapon for leveling that skill.


While Ninjutsu and Cool itself didn’t level, Cold Blood had gone up to 7. Matching up with Ninjutsu. So that was fun! Less pain for me was a good thing!


Then I blinked.


Then I blinked again. Then I dug into the alert list to figure out what the hell happened.


“This doesn’t make any sense! Stupid system! I want to talk to an admin! I want a refund!” I screeched a bit as practically jumped up and down in anger.


*Engineering Experience Gained.*


*Skill not unlocked, no XP gained.*


*Engineering Unlocked.*


*Engineering skill level up!*


*Engineering skill level up!*


*1 Perk Point Gained.*


I didn’t build anything!? But apparently grenades counted for Engineering!? What? How does that work!?


I had definitely used grenades before! Why was I only now getting XP for Engineering if they were connected to that!?


I thought back to the last time I had used grenades, and I had to go all the way to the Scav raid. That’s right, I had brought a few with me…


Then I remembered how often the damn things were kicked back at me… “Did… did I not actually hit anyone with a grenade!?” No I had! The two at the end, the ones hiding in the computer room, I remembered throwing the grenade in and then leaping in after to shoot them…


But they had been hiding in cover… I hadn’t actually hit anyone with a grenade until now!?


I pushed my back up against the side of the shower and slid down it groaning. If I had known that I could level Engineering by killing people with grenades! I could have done so much! Now that I had accepted the alert, I could feel the information sliding in, and it was dense. Which was weird because usually the knowledge came right then, but I guess engineering was so dense, it waited until it was out of combat?


Well I guess the system wasn’t too bad then. I would hold off on my demand for refunds for now…


Besides, Motoko likes numbers.


I blinked away water as I came back to myself after who knows how long when the washing machine beeped. I did a quick shampoo wash of my hair to make sure the blood was out, before jumping out of the shower and throwing my clothes into the dryer.


Grabbing a few towels to start drying off, I wandered onto the couch and opened up the menu again.


I hadn’t gained any other stat increases. I had been hoping for a reflex improvement, but it hadn’t come. Plenty of alerts for it, and it was getting close, but I wasn’t there yet.


Which opened up the next question.


What do I spend my Stat and skill points on. To start, I already knew where my stat points would go.


A few button presses and I was on the Adaptation page.


Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 0/10*


I didn’t hesitate. Not this time. Pushing the button.


*Spend 1 Stat point to improve Adaptation?*


*Y/N*


I hit the yes option, and instantly the numbers changed.


Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 1/10*


I shivered. Not from the cold, the apartment was just fine, and I was warm from the shower. No, I shivered because the Phantom limb I had been fighting against since I got my arms stopped. I had gotten… well not used to it, but I got to the point I could move my arm without it throwing me off.


And now? Now it was gone. I let out a noisy sigh as I flopped back on the couch.


Wow that felt… Nice.


I brought my arm up to my face and opened and closed a fist. So much was still off. The sensations were wrong. The fact it was the wrong length, or that my fingers settled in the wrong spot. Still nagged at me, made me feel like something was off.


But now at least it felt like mine.


I opened the page adding another point.


Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 2/10*


Muscles in my back unclenched. My shoulders, all mechanical at this point, shifted, settling differently. I gasped, an exhale of relief. I hadn’t even realized I had kept my shoulders tense, trying to force them into the same position my old arms would have been, but the Condor had longer shoulders. I realized I had literally been hunching up on myself for days.


I relaxed and it felt. Right? No. Normal. It felt normal. For the first time since I woke up on the rippers chair, I felt slightly normal. That little part of you that unclenches after something terrible when your body and mind finally realize everything is going to be okay.


I was going to be okay.


I swallowed a little as I threw my forearm over my eyes. Jun was’t here, but I didn’t want anyone to see me crying. Tears started falling and I very quickly started sobbing, crying and crying, an ugly noise escaping me as I let the pain that had infested me. Made me so angry, and made me want to just stay cold forever slowly seep away.


As I felt my heart unfreeze fully for the first time.


I hadn’t even realized I had been doing it. How could I? Cold Blood wasn’t just some weird gamer power, it was a skill. Knowledge that I was practically a master at.


It was the equivalent to spending years and years hardening your heart. Freezing your emotions so that nothing could interfere with your thoughts.


Of course the trauma would make me fall back on it, even subconsciously. It wasn’t like I could split where Motoko ends, and the knowledge I had gained through the system began.


There was no difference. It was my knowledge and experience. I just had a lot of weird skills. Extra experience.


So I finally subconsciously relaxed, felt safe. So I let it go, and so I bawled. The stress and horror of what happened. My worry for Jun, and just the pain all pouring out of me.


I cried and I cried. Until finally I just couldn’t anymore.


Thankfully I was already wrapped up in a towel so I was able to wipe my now gooey arm, and my gooier face. Blowing my nose loud and wetly let me breath again as I stood up. I went back to the laundry room, and threw both towels in, after quickly washing my face, and my arm. I felt…


Good. Cathartic.


I grabbed some comfy old clothes out of what Jun had grabbed from the apartment and flopped onto the couch. I turned on the TV and just switched it to some Cartoon channel. Something mindless. I got comfy as it played, as I looked at the stat menu again.


I still had one Stat Point left. I thought about it. I could use it for Reflex which was a struggle to level, or Tech which would be great.


But this was more important. I wasn’t some idiot Edgerunner wanting to burn out in a blaze of glory.


I wasn’t.


I really wasn’t. I wanted to live, because you can’t have fun when you die. So I decided I would spend it on Adaptation again.


But not to my arms.


*Spend 1 Stat point to improve Adaptation?*


I accepted, and my stats changed.


Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 1/2*


I blinked.


Then I blinked again. Then again. It was still weird, but that cold sensation of my eyelids flowing over a waterproof eye didn’t bother me as much. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn't like much was.


But when I closed my eyes, it didn’t feel uncomfortable. It didn’t make me itch or want to leave my eyes open all night.


Without my auto sleep, I very likely would not have been able to sleep well with my Kiroshi.


But now?


I relaxed curled up in a big fluffy blanket watching cartoons I dozed off, for the first time in a while sleeping peacefully without needing to insta sleep.


ZZzzZZ

 

[Seras]

“Whusa?” I mumbled as I startled awake at the sound of a door opening. I sat covered in blankets and one eye caked shut cold drool on my chin which I quickly wiped away.


“Real cute.” Jun told me dryly as he caught sight of my sleepy face.


“Jerk.” I snapped at him, cut off by a big yawn as I stretched arm high and wide letting the muscles in my upper back stretch out a bit.


It wasn’t like stretching my Cyberware mattered. Although I did notice my right arm wasn’t right. But it wasn’t the usual discomfort, I glanced at it and noticed the dent.


Right. I had gotten shot last night in the arm… Which reminded me about someone else being shot.


“Jun? Are you all healed up?”


“Mostly.” He confirmed plopping down on the couch beside me and peeling his burrito from a wrapper.


“I’m glad.” I told him gently as he took a big bite. “Sorry I didn’t come back, I was gonna but… well I had my own little thing.” I told him quietly with a smile as I relaxed my shoulders getting to feel my arms settle.


It wasn’t how they would have settled before, but it was how they settled now, and that fact didn’t bother me so much right then.


“You okay?” He mumbled from between bites and I gave him a smile and a nod.


“Yep! I had a big cry… Everything sort of hit me last night. But I’m feeling a lot better.”


“Good. That’s good.” He told me quietly, and while I could feel the emotion in his voice he was definitely fighting back another emotion.


“You wanna talk about me running off last night?” I prompted and I could see him take a deep breath and let it out.


“Yeah. I do.”


“Okay. I’m not going anywhere. So let’s… Let’s really talk Jun.” I rose up off the couch pulling my blanket with me to flop on the other side of the table as I settled in, letting us talk face to face.


He was quiet for a while as he chewed but the way he was staring I knew he was thinking.


“You didn’t need me last night.”


“Maybe. Maybe not.” I shrugged a weird feeling now that I was holding my shoulders lower. “I was looting when you showed up, but I might have gotten greedy and stuck around too long.”


“Motoko… You didn’t need me.” He said bluntly, sounding sad as he put the empty burrito wrapper on the table. “You handle yourself like a pro… I left you behind during the raid because I didn’t want you there. I didn’t want you in danger. But you still caught up. You still killed. I hated it. I hate it. Seeing you do that. Putting blood on your hands… But no matter what I do, you’re still gonna do it.”


“Yeah.” I confirmed with a sad smile as I looked at my brother really fighting himself. Jun wasn’t an emotional guy. At least not like this. He was a hothead. Not an empathetic thinker.


But he was trying.


“I can’t stop you. I want to. I… I would kill anyone to stop you, but that won’t change anything. You will still do what you want. Just like always.” He sighed his hands seemingly not able to sit still as he kept opening and closing them, or pushing them together. “I’m scared Motoko. Scared that you will get hurt. I can’t protect you if you put yourself in danger.” His leg was bouncing as he started talking knee up and down in a rapid succession.


“I’m scared for you too Jun… But I can’t stop you. You joined the Kamikaze, which… Man, that name has some connotations.” I grumbled. “But I have to trust you. I have to believe you will stay safe, because I can’t… I can’t physically stop you.”


“And I can’t physically stop you.” He agreed, the two of us looking each other over with matching quirks of our lips.


“What a pair we make huh Jun-Nii?”


“Yeah Imouto.” He chuckled a little, actually sounding like… Well Jun. Before everything. “A real pair. We both have a death wish.”


“No.” I told him instantly, standing up and reaching across the table to put both my hands on his cheeks. “Not a death wish. Just a bloody path ahead of each of us… It’s not a death wish. We might die. We might not. But Jun-Nii. I promise. I won’t throw my life away. If I die, it will be doing something I believe is right. And maybe something I love. Cause I do like it.”


“Little Killer.” He finally said with a huffed out laugh as he reached forward and suddenly I wasn’t standing on the other side of the table. No, I was squeezed tight against Jun’s chest as he held me. I laughed, and hugged him back.


We were both broken. Maybe even crazy. But the world was crazy too.


So we would survive.


—--


“Ow!” I growled as I zapped myself once again. After the nice long hug from Jun, and a bit of sibling bonding Jun had gone into his room to take a nap, still tired from the drugs and his bullet holes, while I went to work on my newest skill!


Engineering!


With Engineering my Crafting had suddenly linked with the knowledge and had exploded.


Two halves of the same coin. Crafting was slapping shit together. How good are you at physically making something? Do you know the right tolerances, the right diameter to make something just work?


But Engineering? Engineering was planning. Design. Engineering was creation. It was the difference between the tinker in his home lab shaving away a few millimeters on something to make it work better, to the engineer that designed the whole thing in a lab.


Together they synced, I was both of those people. The creator, and the end user. Plus with my other skills I was the operator.


How many people could say they were a true Renaissance woman? I could do it all! Although I still couldn’t paint.


So with just how flexible my knowledge was, first step was to mess with my equipment.


I had done some tinkering with my guns already, but I had a lot to do.


First I went out to the car and grabbed all the loot from the Maelstrom garage.


The Nekomata was first. I had looked it over, but there wasn’t much I could change, the previous user knew his gun. It was a solid piece of work. The modifications it had were all solid improvements.


At least for now.


Instead I had a bunch of tech scrap that I already had ideas for.


If I was going to level Engineering, I might as well do it easily.


Grenades!


An explosive, a trigger, and a casing, honestly with my 3D printer I could make everything but the explosives, but those were easy.


I had stolen a bunch of grenade stuff from the Raffen base, and now I was actually motivated to use it. The shard I klepped that had the crazy grenade Raffens tips and tricks on how to create grenades was actually easy to understand with my Engineering knowledge.


Which is why I was putting together homemade grenades. After half a dozen frag grenades I decided that a couple EMP grenades might be really useful.


The discharge for it was pretty standard stuff. I grab a battery that I could find in most devices, and basically set it into a supercharger that would cause it to explode, put that in a case, and set it all up from a button.


Voila EMP grenade. I guess that says a lot about power sources in Cyberpunk that with a few modifications you could turn them into a dangerous explosive.


Honestly the scrap metal I had was running low considering how simple Grenade interiors were.


“What the hell is that?” Jun said suddenly looking at me from the door, his fire hair limp and sticking out at weird angles from a nap.


“Grenade.”


He blinked. Then he blinked again as he looked down towards the wires that I was holding in my hands as I was wiring up an EMP grenade.


“Not in the house.”


“It’s safe!”


“Not in the house.” He said again before slowly backing back into his room.


“Fine!” I grumbled as I undid all the wiring before tossing the grenades in pieces back into my parts section. Not about to leave an unfinished halfway put together grenade in my box.


That’s stupid.


But now I had nothing to do. The Maelstrom would all be sleeping with the sun still up…


I blinked.


Why did I think I had nothing to do? I had a car. A city, friends…


That’s right. I had friends.


I snorted at myself. I had been so stressed out, so focusing on killing I had practically forgotten.


I stood up and stretched feeling the play of muscles in my back loosen up from my hunched over position.


“Hey Jun! I’m gonna go see Hiromi!”


Jun’s head popped out of his room a moment later as he instantly looked to the table, not seeing whatever he was looking for he seemed to relax.


“You shouldn’t be running around. It’s dangerous out there.”


“Hiromi is stuck at home, at least last I talked to her. I’ll go visit. My car is armored so unless I’m jumped by an entire attack squadron of Strom, I’ll be fine. Besides… I should probably get out and do something other than hyperfocus on the Maelstrom.” I threw Jun a thumbs up and gave him a big smile. “I’ll be careful!”


He slowly nodded as he stepped out, walked over and to my surprise pulled me into a hug. He ended it nearly instantly without a word as he walked into the kitchen to grab a drink.


“Love you too Jun-nii!” I called back as I ran around gathering some stuff. Mostly my jacket and guns. I did decide to bring my Katana though. Maybe Hiromi and I could practice?


A few blocks away from the Dojo I called Hiromi.


*Motoko! Are you okay? Everything alright?*


*Hey Hiromi! I’m okay! How are you? Still stuck at home?*


*Uh, Yeah… My ‘rents are still super protective right now.* She said but there was something in her voice a tremor, or… I wasn’t sure.


*Want to hang out?*


*Yes! Save me Motoko! I’m so bored!*


*Well I’m on my way over. I can tell you what I’ve been up to.*


*Perfect! Seriously, it’s been the wooorst! Both of my parents are working from home to avoid any gang problems!* Hiromi started chattering, which was actually pretty soothing as I continued the drive. By the time I was pulling into a parking spot in Hiromi’s apartment's garage, she seemed normal-happy and chattering away.


I guess she really had been lonely.


I shouldn’t have let myself spiral into my own issues… Hiromi was my Choom. Being stuck inside, practically locked away all day? That sucked.


We ended the call as I parked, and I hurried to the elevator. The long wait as it rose up had me tapping my foot, but finally it opened, and there was Hiromi already rushing me.


“Motokooooo!” She cried out in delight as she slammed into me in a massive hug.


I couldn't help but laugh as I had to spin her around a few times to bleed off the momentum. Finally her feet were back on the floor and she looked me over for a moment looking at my new arms. I brought my right arm up and flexed a bit.


“It’s taken a bit to get used to, but I’m starting to feel comfortable with them.”

Hiromi wasn’t smiling though. Her smile had turned into a frown, before she shook herself Which is when I noticed her hair wasn’t in her usual Mohawk. Instead it was sort of laid down, much more casual than I had ever seen her hair. And her Neon whisker marks weren’t on, leaving her cheeks chrome, but sort of bare. But I knew something was wrong when she tried to smile at me. Only for it to fold. “I’m sorry… I wasn’t there, I…”


“Heey. It’s okay, honestly! I actually started feeling better about it last night… I uh, had a cry last night.” I revealed, a little embarrassed.


“Gonk.” She whispered gently, as she was obviously fighting back tears, but she took a deep breath and let it out. She reached out and grabbed my hand and started pulling me along. “C’mon we can hang out in my room, and you can tell me everything!”


“Sure!” I chirped as I was tugged along, Hiromi was shorter than me, but she tugged me along without any trouble. Her wild girl was showing a bit of a return. That was good. Hiromi was acting weird.


I was tugged into her big fancy apartment, past her mother who was looking on to see what was going on with a blank look. I gave her a wave and she simply nodded before Hiromi pulled me fully into her room. She spun me around and pushed me onto her bed before closing her door.


“Tell me everything!” She demanded standing over me with her hands on her hips and I giggled at her expression.


“Sure. So it started when Jun came home-”


—--


We ended up sprawled on her bed as I told my story. Half way through my story Hiromi had grabbed my hand and refused to give it back. Now she was running her fingers along my chrome which felt… Weird.


Ticklish? But not. I hadn’t really had many people touch me gently since I got my arms, besides Jun, and his arms were just as chrome as mine.


So to feel actual human flesh running a finger up my palm was really strange.


Goosebumps were running all along my back.


“Wish I had been there.” She muttered finally as I finished my story of everything I had done.


“I don’t.” I told her bluntly. “Outnumbered and outgunned, I tried to run and I couldn’t make it. It was a hit squad. I’m just lucky they were stupid enough to kidnap me, and not just flatline me then and there.” I said and Hiromi’s fingers gripped hard against my hand.


“You’re my best choom Motoko. You can’t die okay?” She spoke quietly as she grabbed my attention with how desperate her voice was.


“I have no intention of having a drink named after me in the Afterlife.” I told her not really able to promise not to die. “I’ll be as safe as I can be.”


“Hah! No way, when you do finally bite it, they will definitely give you a drink, you’re gonna be a bad bitch Edgerunner. And I’ll be your cunning and beautiful corpo contact that no one can be sure is on their side!” Hiromi offered with a chuckle, but I was frowning.


Hiromi had never in the time I had known her said she was going to be a corpo.


Ever.


Quite the opposite in fact.


“Hiromi?” I asked, voice quiet and she just sort of looked away.


“It’s nothing Toko… Just everything.” But I smelled a problem, so I didn’t let up. I squeezed her hand back and tugged her hand until she looked up.


Finally she spoke. “It started with parent stuff. Them being here constantly, means they… Well I’m forced to deal with them constantly now. Not like before. Dad was always away before, but having him constantly in my face… Telling me what I am going to do in the future. Showing me his work, and what to do… But it’s not that.”


She visibly swallowed as she curled up, her legs pulling up to her chest as she held my hand like a lifeline.


“I went out.” She said quietly in a whisper. “It was late, and I wanted… I just wanted to rebel I guess. I snuck outside, and jumped on my bike, and I went for a drive. It was fine at first. I had my Katana, and I was… I was stupid. Confident. I didn’t even think anything could happen…”


“Did someone hurt you?” I practically growled, my eyes narrowed and I could feel my teeth grinding. If someone hurt Hiromi!


“No.” She shook her head which nearly instantly poured water over the black rage building up. “It’s pathetic. I can’t even-” She was definitely starting to cry a bit, but that was not okay!


“Hey, hey! It’s okay. Hiromi what’s got you so bothered? Tell me? Best Chooms don’t judge best chooms.” I assure her as I did my best to comfort her.


Suddenly she was shaking her head looking down at her knees, but she started talking, never taking her eyes away from the ground.


“I got scared. I was driving along thinking I was some bad bitch. A gun fight started up. Wasn’t even Tyger Claws, or Maelstrom. Just some stupid fuckbags robbing some store getting shot at. I drove past as they started shooting. Scared the absolute shit of me. I… I jerked, lost control, crashed my bike. I wasn’t hurt, but… I hid Motoko. Just that, just gunshots near me sent me hiding in a fuckin dumpster… I don’t I don’t really know how long I was hiding. Eventually I… Eventually I got together enough to get back on my bike and ride home.”


She looked up, tears in her eyes as she revealed her story. “I’m a coward Motoko… I couldn’t… I couldn’t go out and actually be a StreetKid. I’m just a corpo brat after all! That’s… that’s all I’ll ever be.”


“But I’m complaining about stupid shit… You’re the one that got kidnapped again, and had horrible things happen. I just had to take a shower when I got ho-”


I ignored Hiromi’s attempts to push away from her problems, and instead squeezed her into a tight hug.


“You’re wrong. There is nothing wrong, or shameful about being scared.” I whisper into her hair as I hold her, and absolutely refuse to release her, until she gives in and starts hugging me back.


“Ichi went out, Malcolm went out. You went out. I couldn’t Motoko. I thought… I thought with you back everything would be great, we would be a duo, but I can’t… I’m a coward, how can I be your partner if I can’t even go outside?”


“Well… Then you can be my Fixer!”


Hiromi snorted, and then started chuckling until she laughed and laughed as she hugged me back.


“Gonk!”


“Nope. I’m a Best Choom.” I tell her earning more giggles as she nods along


“That’s true I guess… It’s okay? That I…”


“Hiromi. You’re my first friend. And I say that as someone who literally had amnesia and only knew Jun in the whole world. You came in and made friends with me, remember? No matter what you choose to do, or choose to be, I’ll always be your best choom. Even if I have to sneak into Araska tower to hang out with you at work. Or if you are my go to fixer, or just my go to couch, to crash on and play games and watch bad movies.”


She started crying again.

 

[Seras]

Hiromi eventually calmed down and we just hung out for a while as she recovered. Eventually she felt better and wiped her eyes and like a switch we were back to happy Hiromi.


Or at least Hiromi that pretended to be happy.


We were interrupted while Hiromi was telling me about how her online classes were when suddenly her bedroom door opened.


“Hiromi.”


“Mom! It’s called knocking! I know you know how to do it!” Hiromi snapped as she sat up but didn’t let go of my hand.


“We are having dinner, your father is eating with us… Motoko. You are welcome to join us.” She offered to me her eyes hyperfocusing on me for a moment before she stepped in, approaching Hiromi and reaching down to wipe a bit at Hiromi’s face with her thumb. “You should wash up first. Never show them weakness Hiromi, a put together face is an armor all on its own.” She said before standing up and leaving without another word.


“Your mom is a little intense.” I whispered.


“Yeah.” Hiromi grumbled as sat up. “But she is right, I should clean up a bit.” She finally pulled away from me as she rose. Stomping over to a connected bathroom. The light turning on let me see the insides of her bathroom, and I could only roll my eyes.


It was very Hiromi.


Tyger Claw stickers littered her mirror, and there was a ton of hair stuff that let her wear her typical mohawk. Plus piles and piles of makeup. That looked mostly unused but stacked up like towers.


She didn’t do much, just washed her face a bit to get rid of the tear tracks and she was back out, looking…


Well like she had been crying a bit, but more firm. “Hungry? You can delta if you don’t want to deal with the ‘rents.”


“I’ll come. I haven’t met your dad yet.”


“Oh yeah, you don’t remember meeting him. That’s gonna be interesting.” Hiromi said, sounding like it would be anything but. I followed her out of her room. Adjusting my holsters a bit to settle more comfortably as I headed into the massive dining room. A steaming dinner was already set out, with four spots. As I walked in, a pair of men wearing suits were packing up a cart that they had brought the food in on, and were heading out.


I guess this complex was ritzy enough to have room service.


“C’mon Motoko, sit here.” Hiromi guided me to a spot and pushed me in as she took the next closest spot, scooting her chair and food over so she was closer.

“Ah there is Hiromi’s friend.” A slick voice called out from behind me as I turned, a man wearing a suit stepped out of an office, every piece of him perfectly in place as he walked in and patted Hiromi on the shoulder smiling in a way that seemed…


Fake.


Even Hiromi sent her dad a glare for it which he seemed to ignore. “It was… Motoko?”


“Motoko Kusanagi.” I introduced myself and he nodded.


“That’s right. That’s right, It’s been years since I last saw you. Well you certainly changed your style. My dear lovely wife tells me you have been working as a Mercenary? That’s a useful job.” He offered with a smile that was absolutely fake.


But he was also Hiromi’s dad. So I just nodded as he and his wife settled into their seats


“Yeah. I’ve been doing some work with Wakako. Mostly minor stuff, some bodyguard work and asset acquisition.” I told him. Earning a blink from Hiromi at my words, and then Hiromi’s dad started laughing.


“Asset Acquisition! An excellent way to put it! You should see what you can do for Arasaka, with that quick wit!” His smile didn’t reach his eyes but Hiromi’s mother asked Hiromi a question about her schoolwork after that and I was able to look down at the meal.


Looked like something I would have eaten in my past life. Even if the piece of meat that looked like a chunk cut off from a roast, was definitely not Pork or Beef. It looked like it, but the taste was wrong.


“What about you Motoko? Any school in your life? Education is important for young girls, You will need it to get anywhere in life.” Hiromi’s mother asked me suddenly as Hiromi did her best to not answer anything about her own education.


“Nothing official. I don’t go to school exactly, but I’m not sitting around all day. Netrunning, Tinkering, Gunsmithing. I dabble a little with everything.” I told her after swallowing a bite of Mashed Potatoes. Definitely not real potato. It tasted like the boxed stuff. Not terrible, and it was at least a familiar taste and texture.


“Oh? That’s a diverse skillset for a girl your age. I find people that try to do everything, end up failing to do anything.” Hiromi’s father cut in, with a smile.


I swear I think the guy just smiled through whatever he was saying or doing just out of habit.


“I think I focus on everything in a way. I’ve been interested in Robotics with my tinkering. I want to create a drone system for my… Job.” I admit. It was something I had in mind for a while, but it was… complicated. Drones in cyberpunk were amazing, but there was an issue with cost, to effectiveness. That and intelligence.


“Drones? Militech spends billions a year trying to come out with the next great Drone system. The problem always comes down to size. Make it smart enough to be useful, and the AI takes up too much room, and too much power, so their little drones always balloon in size. Or end up just another drone system needing a big truck to make it work.” He said with a shake of his head.


“True. I do want something closer in size to their Flathead, but that is hardly on the open market.”


I took another bite of mashed potatoes, something I hadn’t had since waking up in Night City, but it was the sudden silence that had me look up and notice the narrowed eyes of both adults.


Hiromi beside me had noticed something was up, but obviously had as much of a clue as I did.


“How are you aware of a Militech experimental Drone system?” Hiromi’s father asked casually.


I blinked. That’s right. The Flathead was an experimental item when you get one in 2077. That was why the quest was such a pain. Maelstrom stole one, from Millitech which is why you were trying to get it from them.


That was in 2077. Two years early? It was probably still in development. Maybe not even an actualized product.


“Came across it. It sounded useful, so I’ve been thinking of making something similar.”


“What exactly do you know about the Flathead?” Once again that voice of forced casualness, made me realize he was digging.


“It’s small, probably remote operated. To bypass the AI size issue. Something about a camo system.” I tell him using my hands to give about the size of what the Flathead should be. Honestly it was the size of a smallish dog.


“Interesting. If you find out any more, or if you happen to have any concrete data, I would be happy to be informed of a competitor's work. I would be happy to pay you for hard data.” He said his eyes locked on mine. He wasn’t smiling.


I nodded.


“Sure. If I come across any Corpo stuff on my jobs, I’ll make sure you can get a look at it. For Hiromi.” I answered and finished with another bite of my dinner.


Then that fake smile was back on his face. “Excellent. Looks like my dear Buttercup made a very useful friend indeed, excellent work Hiromi, and here I thought you failed your Human Resources course.” Her father said with a loud laugh as he swallowed a bit of his wine. Hiromi’s mother was quiet just with a small fake smile on her face as well, but her eyes were sharp like a hawk.


“I did fail it Dad.” Hiromi muttered, irritated.


Awkward.


—--


Hiromi and I hung out the rest of the day, never talking about anything serious, just playing games, or spending some time with Hiromi painting my nails.


“Even if you are full chrome now, still gotta look like a bad bitch Motoko. Besides Green an-”


“No Tyger Claw colors! I already have enough issues with Jun and where I am staying now.”


“Fiiine. Purple is more your color anyways.” She admitted with a grin.


But as it grew late I did leave. Hiromi, still stuck at home, forced me to promise to call and visit more, which I assured her I would. As I walked back to the Quadra feeling kinda normal I couldn’t help but smile a bit.


Today had been nice. I mean Hiromi having a meltdown wasn’t, but it was nice to be pulled away from Maelstrom. Away from the harsh reality I had been feeling since the Maelstrom kidnapping, and back towards the realization that just because bad stuff happened to me, didn’t mean I had to let it control my entire life, that…


That I wanted to be happy.


I wanted to enjoy my life. I just had to accept that even through the bad things.


I kept that little smile on my face as I made the circuitous route back towards the Dojo. Jun wasn’t in the apartment when I got home, and I was tired from the emotional rollercoaster with Hiromi, so I just decided to go to sleep.


Tomorrow would be a new day.


—--


“So do you have it?” I asked. I wasn’t going to hide in the apartment, nor was I going to only head out to murder people.


I still had a life to live. That meant going shopping!


“Hmm. Interesting request, sit tight for a few minutes, let me go through my private collection.” Yoko said as she adjusted her round glasses. I had traveled to the Dewdrop Inn in order to find a program, but not a netrunning one.


The thing was, Netrunners main job wasn’t just throwing out quickhacks or breaking into security.


It was data theft.


Data was knowledge.


And knowledge was power.


So since I had finally unlocked Engineering, I needed something specific, something I hadn’t run across.


Turns out the reason why, was because CAD, or design programing was almost always proprietary.


Every Corp would use its own private program, locked down, and hardcoded.


Not that a Netrunner couldn’t break into that and swipe data, but how often did they steal the entire program itself? Why bother? Netrunners aren’t engineers, and the people that want the data, have their own program that they use


So here I was, going to the only Netrunner cafe, that I really trusted. Yoko being someone at the very least that would hold data for V even after T-Bug died.


So she was at least semi reliable.


Hopefully.


I looked around the room the Netrunning chairs in the back were both occupied, but they weren’t anyone I knew, and I wasn't about to go poking them. So I just sort of hung around as Yoko disappeared into the back of her shop.


Thankfully she wasn’t gone for too long.


“I have something.” She appeared saying putting down a shard case. “Arasaka design software. Not a common piece of data, but I did have a copy.” She said as she slid it across the desk towards me. Hand pinning the shard case to the table. “This sort of stuff has plenty of protections. Arasaka won’t be happy if they ever find out you used it.”


“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks Yoko, how much do I owe you?”


“No no, this data? Not something eddies can buy. You wanted to be a Netrunner? We don’t deal in just eddies. Information. Data. Something useful.” She slid down her dark sunglasses as she said it.


Her hand was still on the shard case. Waiting.


Fuck. I wasn’t a normal Netrunner! It wasn’t like I practiced by sneaking into corpo systems, stealing little bits and pieces of data!


I was a gamer! I just grinded! But then I remembered!


My hands instantly went to my pouches.


Pulling out bits and bobs.


Mostly ammo…


Okay like a lot of ammo.


One pouch for my Burya, another for my Unity… Lexington.


For my Lexington.


I even had some shotgun shells in another, but then in that pouch I found my goal.


A handful of shards without a case were spilled across the counter.


“There they are!” I said happily as I brushed the shotgun shells off the shards and pushed them towards Yoko.


All I got was an upturned eyebrow in turn.


“I klepped these off a Maelstrom Netrunner the other night. He was solid, full gear, full setup. His security was tight. I did check them, but they didn’t have what I was looking for. But it was full of his Net logs-”


“I’ll accept it.” She said, interrupting me, but I could tell it was more out of pity than interest. Her lips were twitching a bit despite the way she was squeezing them together a bit.


She was laughing at me!


“I’ll uh… keep an eye out for data you’ll like.” I offered. I didn’t really like when people thought I was a novice. I mean I was, but only because grinding Netrunner stuff was difficult, but soon I would be amazing!


“Good. Get out of here kid. Happy Netrunning.” She said as she gathered up the shards. Leaving me a moment to put everything back in my pouches.


I slipped the shard into one of my emptier pocket pouches. Tugging on it to make sure it was sealed.


Didn’t want to lose that.


As I stepped out onto the Kabuki Roundabout I took a moment to just look around.


It was emptier than usual, much emptier in fact, but even during a gang war Night City has to continue on. Walking around the structure to head towards where I had parked I passed some people still willing to go out and do their job, or just willing to shop.


In fact I slowed at a little food stand and had a cup of some noodle thing in a styrofoam cup to eat out of as I continued my walk.


Which was when I was suddenly stopped as a Mox girl stomped out in front of me. The Kitsch clothing, well what there was of it anyways. In pastel. The tattoos despite her young age, all told me she was definitely Mox.


The glare was weird though.


“You’re Nox’s ‘savior’ right? Purple hair, a Leotard, and plenty of hardware. That fits you to a T.” She said abruptly as she practically invaded my personal space.


I blinked looking around, noticing the girl had been at a table full of Mox, all of them looking curiously at what their friend was up to.


It took me a moment to parse out what she had said as she forced me to switch gears from relaxing to talking.


“Wha? Nox? Yeah I know him… I wouldn’t really say savior though, it was just some bullying.”


“Well, it was kinda fucked to ghost him like that. I know he is a bit of a pain in the ass, but you could at least tell him before you blocked him or something. He’s been hyping you up to the Mox, vouching for you and shit. But then you just vanish on him?” She hissed a bit, eyes narrowed.


What?


“What?” I blinked a bit at her words trying to make heads or tails of the sudden hostility, before it came to me.


Ah, I was being stupid.


“That’s right… It must’ve looked like I dropped off the edge of the world.” I spoke the realization before chuckling a little. “Listen, it's not like that… Nox is… well I’m not sure I would call him a friend, but he was nice enough. But with everything going on, I’ve been out of touch.”


“Yeah whatever. Not like I really care. I just agreed to stop you if I ever saw you.”


“Right…” I muttered as I opened my phone system.


I hadn’t really checked my stuff, but as I pulled up the system and actually looked at it, I noticed I had plenty of messages.


Missed calls, texts, even Voicemail alerts.


I winced a bit. My system had updated when I first ran out of the jammer to call Hiromi, but I had been hyperfocused on my gonk friend, that I had thought would be rushing around Night City looking for me. Then I had been too distracted with the desire to kill the Maelstrom fuckers.


I hadn’t bothered to actually notice all the other messages.


I had a few from Ichi, mostly just a few alerts on how his work had been going the first few nights of the war, but that trailed off not long after.


I guess my lack of response had meant he stopped messaging me.


But I had a ton from Nox.


He was a texter.


I had a barrage of texts that trailed off when he must have realized I wasn’t responding.


Most interestingly though was that the texts said he had a gig for me. I considered it. Would a gig from a kid that pushes BD’s really be worth my time? Then I remembered two very important things.


First, I was still mostly unknown. Wakako might have some respect for my skills, and maybe the Tyger Claws might realize I was pretty useful, but that was about it.


Second? Side quests are fun! It’s not always about the reward, or the money!


So I opened up a text message.


*Hey, sorry for being out of touch so long. I was under a jammer and recovering. What’s this about a gig?*


I nodded once that was done. Realizing I had been standing there right in front of all the Mox. I Waved at them trying to ignore that they were all looking at me, as I started heading back towards the car remembering to finish off my noodle cup as I went. I hadn’t even made it back to my Quadra when I got a response.


*Ringing*


Nox was calling me, I shrugged, it would be easier through a phone call anyways.


*Hey Nox.*


*Motoko! I’m glad you messaged me! How are you? Everything Preem? I’ve been trying to reach out, you said you were recovering? You alright?-*


*Yeah, I noticed sorry about not responding, I’ve been hanging out under a jammer.* I cut in, as Nox was also apparently a bit of a blabber mouth. *Just some Maelstrom issues. I just noticed your messages. You mentioned a gig?*


*Yes! I had this brain wave, a preem idea. The preemest! So listen, umm can you come by Lizzie’s? It’s way easier if I show you rather than try to explain it… I guess? Is that nova? Not too pushy?*


*Sure. I’m free, I can stop by.* I agreed, side quest, get!

 

[Seras]

Despite being midday, Lizzie's was already busy.


That’s just Night City for you. As I pulled into a parking spot I could see Rita the bouncer throwing some drunk out of the club. The poor guy not able to fight back against the borg woman who happily tossed him on his ass onto the asphalt.


I walked up stepping over the groaning drunk as I headed up to the door only to be stopped by Rita as she sauntered into my path.


“Nox finally found ya huh?” She seemed to question her eyes locked on mine.


“Yeah, I had someone let me know he was trying to get in touch.” I told her as I stopped, as the way she was looking told me she wasn’t happy.


“We aren’t the type to be pissed with avoiding someone you aren’t interested in, but it’s fucked not to at least let him down easy.” She said with a little glare. Telling me in no uncertain terms that my disappearance wasn’t taken well.


Jeez what is it with these Mox? “There was nothing like that. I was out of touch because of some Maelstrom trouble. I was under a Jammer. I didn’t even know he was trying to contact me.”


She snorted a bit but stepped aside letting me in. Thankfully it seems she wasn’t taking the matter into her own hands.


I decided to ignore every Mox’s weird assumptions and just get back to business.


Side Quest!


I walked through the entrance without stopping at the desk. I wasn’t here to buy BD’s after all.


Honestly BD stuff kinda creeped me out. The fact that you could feel other peoples emotions during a BD, rather than your own? It was like…


Art that forces a perspective on you. Which was sorta weird. Imagine watching a TV show, but instead of enjoying it from your own perspective, you felt the emotions of the main character, watched from their eyes.


It was just weird.


One of the reasons I hadn’t done any Brain Dance stuff since I woke up in Night City, normal TV and games was good enough for me.


No need to stick other people's emotions in my head.


The main room was actually surprisingly full. Again the fact it was mid day seemed to have no effect on Night City debauchery.


But I didn’t see Nox.


So I did what any gun toting merc does when you enter a bar.


I walked up to the bartender and settled into a chair, waiting for him to finish an order before walking over.


“What can I get you?”


“Just information. I’m looking for Nox, he asked me to meet him.”


“Ah. That’s right, you’re that one girl.” The bartender gave a chuckle as his eyes went yellow. “I let him know, he’ll be here in a minute.”


I shrugged, I could have sent a text too.


“So Mox tends to be defensive about the kids… Might be a good idea to let the kid down flat if you aren’t interested instead of ghosting him.” The man offered as he wiped a glass clean.


“Wait.” I couldn’t help but ask as I brought up my hand to the guy to stop him from saying anything further. “Did Nox tell everyone that I ghosted him or something? You’re the third Mox I’ve met today that mentioned that.”


“Well less he told us, and more he has been mopin-”


“THANKS MATEO!” Nox yelled as the boy practically jumped the bar to try and shut the bartender up. “Hey Motoko! Glad you made it. C’mon I have something preem to show you.” He said glaring at the bartender who was smiling behind the teenager's hand as waved his hands in a ‘go on then’ motion.


“Sure.” I offered shrugging which grabbed Nox’s attention.


“Whoa. That’s fresh chrome. Double full arm replacement?” He asked, looking curiously at my arms.


“Yeah, the reason no messages went through. I got kidnapped by Maelstrom. Ended up needing some ripper work done after. Been under a jammer for the bit. Sorry about that.” I explained. Hopefully the explanation would stop making every Mox I ran into tell me off for ignoring Nox.


Seriously Suzie didn’t seem to be too happy with Nox, but considering everyone's reaction, he must be pretty loved by the Mox.


“Damn.” He muttered looking shocked as he took in my arms.


But I wasn't about to get into it right now, especially with someone I wasn’t super close to. “So the gig?”


“R-right. Yeah c’mon it’s this way.” He offered slowly seeming to come to some conclusion as he finally slipped off the bar and waved me to follow.


We went through the back down some halls until we came to a place I actually remembered.


Down a set of dark steps into a server room. The room that carried all the Mox’s BD’s probably, considering they literally ran a BD club it made sense they would need a ton of storage, and processing.


But this was the realm of a certain character.


“Judes!” Nox yelled out as he hurried forward rushing into the next room as I hesitated.


I don’t know if I was ready to meet Judy!


I’d seen her naked!


Well I mean. It was a video game but still!


She was real here. How do you respond to someone that you’ve basically seen in a porn!?


I resisted slapping myself but only just, as I shook my head. “Focus Motoko.” I demanded as I let cool slip over. Then I walked into the room where Nox was standing next to Judy Alvarez.


She was… Younger. It struck me then, that Judy was pretty young in 2077. Right now, she practically looked like a teenager, or only just out of it.


“Motoko! This is Judy, she is absolutely NOVA at anything tech, but she is the best BD Maestro in Night City. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Jude, this is Motoko, she backed me up before, didn’t even try to cred me. She is running as an Cyberpunk, and would be perfect for that idea I talked to you about.”


“Yeah I remember Nox. Didn’t she ghost you?” Judy asked as she pulled up a BD wreathe set and set it on the desk she was sitting at.


“N-no! It wasn’t like that. She got into some trouble that’s all… Her arms weren’t chrome before.” He offered the end quietly, practically whispering it, but I picked it up without much trouble.


Judy’s eyes shifted to me, to my arms back to him, and I could just make out through a side profile that Nox was looking… Worried?


“Right moving on from that.” Judy grabbed her wreathe and sort of pointed it at me. “You know anything about Virtue?”


I blinked at the random question, I opened my mouth to answer then closed it. The word was familiar, and it was on the tip of my tongue. But Judy didn’t wait.


“Virtues are raw BD’s unedited. The base recording. Then a BD editor like me goes through, fixes it up, gets rid of the dangerous highs, or the uncomfortable lows. Makes it usable for people.”


“And Judy is the best!” Nox offered with a grin as he sat back on the desk. “But there are a lot of markets for BD’s. Not just… Porn.” He offered chuckling a little with a blush across his cheeks.


“Right. I get that… So what’s the gig?”


“Nox’s idea. Wants to move into Edgerunner BD’s. They are extremely popular, although usually, they are snuff films.” Judy offered looking at me.


Oh!


“Oooh. You want me to record BD’s?”


“Exactly!” Nox offered rushing up to me practically bouncing on his feet. “You were nova when you fought Ian and his assholes. It gave me the idea see! What if we start putting out Preem BD’s of Edgerunners on gigs. With the best BD editor in Night City cleaning them up, we can offer the experience to people that they can’t get outside of XBD’s.”


“Not that we expect you to do something crazy right away.” Judy interrupted, waving her hands a bit as she tried to calm Nox down. “We don’t want you doing something crazy and flatlining, but whatever is normal is fine, the goal is to sort of…” Judy trailed off as she rolled her wrist as she searched for the right word.


“My goal is to build up a catalog, and brand. Right now there aren't really any BD’s of Edgerunners working that isn’t an XBD. The only BD’s that come close are like Jimmy Kurosaki’s Edgerunner, but those are all Cyberpsycho shit.” Nox said, shaking his head as Judy nodded along.


I guess the Mox had an issue with that sort of BD?


“I mean sure, sending out an edgerunner to do gigs while we record is asking for some deaths. But I want to make a BD that a normal person can enjoy, a taste of, ‘What it's like to be an edgerunner.’ Nox said, speaking quickly and almost rambling, I could hear the excitement in his voice as he talked.


“So you want me?”


“Of course! You’re preem! You fight really well, you’re a good person, and…” Nox trailed off blushing a little as he tried to figure out what to say.


“You are good looking.” Judy interrupted with a smirk causing Nox to jump and glare at her. “You’d be surprised how many people enjoy a BD from the perspective of someone good looking.”


“That… and the pay probably won’t be great at first?” Nox added, looking apologetic. “It’s gonna cost to get everything started. Shards to store it on, Judy’s services, which aren’t free.”


“Hey I know I’m good, and I already work all day doing this.”


“I know I know!” Nox offered hands up. “Anyway, yeah… So the pay is gonna be shit?” He said questioningly looking towards me.


Ah I see.


The real reason behind choosing me.


“I’m a young Edgerunner, someone you know, and probably the only person that heard your deal and then heard the pay and didn’t walk out.” I said, smirking myself as Judy chuckled as she seemed to watch what was happening with no intention of getting involved.


Nox on the other hand was going red in the face from embarrassment.


“I…”


“Sure. Sounds fun.” I interrupted as I looked around the place. “So this is your setup? Preem. Judy very Preem. I don’t even recognize all of this stuff.”


“Most of it is tweaked under the box, only the cases are standard.” She offered with a grin as I seemed to ignore Nox’s confusion as he looked around like the world wasn’t on its right axle.


“You will?”


“Sure. It’s not like I don’t already go out and take gigs. Making extra money on the side for some of them? Sounds like a good idea. Just as long as the eddies do end up in my pocket once everything has started.”


“Deal! I promise you won’t regret this!”

“Cool. So what do I need to record a BD, I don’t have the Cyberware for that.”


“Right… About that?” Nox asked, once more wincing.


“Kid’s broke, and a good BD recorder is about 500 eddies.” Judy interrupted with a flat response.


I gave Nox a scowl that he looked like he desperately wanted to do something to fix before I sighed.


“I’ll go talk to my Ripper.”


“You do that! Come around once you are chipped.” Judy says waving from above her chair as the woman had put back on her BD wreath and was getting back to work.


“Thank you.” Nox said as he sort of followed me as I decided to leave Judy to her work.


“Don’t worry about it. Besides… It’s smart.” I turned on him suddenly poking my finger right into his face which had him freak as he backpedaled in retreat. “I respect the entrepreneurial spirit. Honestly it’s a nova idea, something I can do, and it’s extra eddies for something I’m already doing. But Nox. I like blunt honesty more than hype. Next time if you have an idea and there is a problem just talk to me.”


Then as he stood that mouth opening and closing trying to find the words I held out my hand. “Partner?”


His mouth clicked shut and his spine straightened out.


“Partners!” We shook hands and I gave him a firm nod.


“Now I’m off to my ripper.”


“Oh! Mind if I come?”


“Sure.” I agreed. It would be nice to get to know Nox more anyways.


—--


“Your taste in music is kinda bad.” Nox told me as I puffed up my cheeks a bit. He redened a bit too as his words finally seemed to reach his brain. Realizing he was being rude!


Just because I thought the Samurai songs were still cool. It wasn’t my fault! He grew up in a world where they were old before he even was born! For me they were catchy new songs, and while Silverhand was a jackass, he was a talented jackass.


“I just like what I like!”


“Right.” He muttered, trying to awkwardly end the conversation he was kinda fidgeting which I could see out of the corner of my eye thanks to my wide vision. I let it go Ididn’t really feel like arguing my music preferences. Instead I found a parking spot in front of Misty’s Esoterica.


“C’mon this is it.” I told him as I slipped out of my car, watching as he looked around confused.


“I thought you said you were going to see a ripper?”


“I am.” I replied smiling as I stepped into Misty’s shop and called out. “Misty?”


“Oh is that Motoko?” Misty’s voice called out from the back as her fluffy hair poked around the corner with the rest of her following as she stepped out I noticed the… Buddhist? Statue she was carrying?


I noticed she was struggling and instantly I was rushing up to her, easily grabbing the statue and lifting it out of her arms.


Misty really needed to work out more, even before I got my arms, I could have lifted the statue.


“Oh! Thank you Motoko. You’re pretty strong huh?” She asked, looking surprised as I lifted it up and I just shrugged.


“Cyberarms, and healthy exercise.” I gave her a response with a big smile. “Where does this go?”


“Oh here, thank you… Oh and you have a friend? Welcome to Misty’s Esoterica!” She called out to Nox who was looking around with the same look Hiromi had on when I first brought her here. I was giggling as I placed the statue down in the place Misty wanted it.


“Is Vik in?”


“He is! Watching the game from what I heard when I walked past the stairs… Are you okay?” Misty asked suddenly as she seemed to appear in my personal space and place a hand on my shoulder. “You don’t seem to be in any pain anymore, but…”


“I’m great Misty. Vik took perfect care of me, and I healed all up.” I assured her with a smile, pulling up my Leotard around my shoulder so she could see the connection of Chrome and flesh.


I let her poke her nose in for a moment before she nodded “I don’t see any injury. You healed quick.”


“Yeah well. If I’m honest I was having a rough time of it at first, but I stopped trying to think of my arms as the same as my flesh ones… I realized I was different now, but my ghost can’t be hurt with a little metal.” I told her, even if it still wasn’t 100%. I still had flashes of discomfort, not pain, but shoving heavy metal arms into my shoulders left me with plenty of little issues.


But Adaptation had helped so much, I felt incredible. More… Normal.


Misty looked into my face for a moment before she nodded. “I’m glad. If you need some spiritual guidance… I would be honored if you let me help in any way I can. I’m not Vik. I can't fix your body, but there are plenty of options to help fix your spirit. Or your ghost? I’m not familiar with that belief.” Misty said but it was definitely a question.


Shit did I say Ghost? Oh fuck, what do I do? I can’t be honest then I would have to admit I’m a fucking nerd!


Like a super nerd!


“Ah-Eh, well, it’s…” I stuttered along before Misty seemed to get my discomfort and just sort of chuckled at me… No with me. I broke into a laugh along with her. “I’ll tell you about it sometime. It’s kinda embarrassing.”


“I look forward to it. Hearing about different beliefs is why I opened my shop.” She said waving her arms a bit showing off the decor.


“So she isn’t your Ripper?”


“No, Misty is just awesome.” I told Nox as Misty laughed at my response before throwing me a wink.


“I sometimes work as Vik’s nurse, but I’m not a ripper. C’mon I’ll walk you down.” Misty offered, threading her arm with mine. I happily joined her laughing as we walked out the back and down the steps.


“Vik? You have customers!” Misty called down which again made me think she was more than just a sometimes Nurse.


More like a Nurse, assistant, and secretary all in one. Well plus his Landlord, as if I remembered right she was the owner of the little basement storage that Vik used.


Nox was frowning in the same way Hiromi did as he followed us down.


Vik, we need to talk about your aesthetics! I couldn’t help but joke in my head as the gate was unlocked and Vik saw me.


“Motoko! Glad to see you up and about, how’re the arms, any weakness, flashing pains? Come sit, I’ll take a look.” He offered instantly swiveling his chair to his ripper seat as he waved me forward.


Could I admit that I absolutely loved these two? Vik was total dad energy, and Misty was total big sister energy.


That’s it. I’m adopting them both.


I barked out a laugh to my own thoughts confusing everyone, but I didn’t care.


I happily walked over and plopped in the chair. “Vik, Nox, no Nox I refuse to introduce you using your tagline.” I offered at the boys pout but to my distress he interrupted.


“Nox the Mox!” He threw a wink at Misty which…


He was cruising for a bruising flirting with Jackie's girl…. Well soon to be girl I am pretty sure they weren’t dating yet, at least I hadn’t seen him… That just meant I would have to protect her for him then! Jackie Misty OTP!


“Hmm. That’s odd.” Vik muttered beside me, and I realized he was checking my shoulder.


Fuck of course he would notice how fast I healed.


“Hey Misty, can you do me a favor? Take Nox upstairs for a few minutes?” I asked with an apologetic smile, and the boy despite being a teenager seemed to realize that I was asking her to get him out of here for a bit.


Misty nodded once sharply. “Course! C’mon Nox, have you ever had your fortune read?”


“Umm, no. But it could be fun?”


“That’s the spirit!” Misty offered with a grin as they headed up.


Vik though hadn’t been looking at the byplay, no he was already grabbing multiple other tools and taking a look at my shoulder very closely.


Finally he pulled his face from the little pad he had his nose buried in, as his other hand pushed a weird probe against my shoulder scanning it.


“Motoko. How are you completely healed? There isn’t even any scar tissue left.” He asked, his hand on the prob still.


I opened my mouth to answer then closed it.


I had kinda thought I would eventually be asked about all my weirdness, I just hadn’t even thought about it this time. But of course Vik would notice, I could have come back in six months, and he likely still would have noticed something was weird.


“Fast Heal, or other drugs don’t heal like this, completely. I would swear if asked that you were born with this chrome. Which is impossible.”


I opened my mouth again, to say something, to come up with some answer that would make sense.


I just didn’t have one. Instant healing… No instant perfect healing? There wasn’t anything quite like it.


“I know it’s weird, but I can’t really explain it.” I decided instead. I just… Didn’t want to lie to him. Vik was a good person, had done me a serious favor when he fixed up my arms.


He sat back a bit looking me over as he ran his hand over his cheeks and chin, I noticed it was not the hand covered in Ripper gear.


“You in any danger kid?”


“No! I uh… I’m safe Vik. No one knows I can heal fast. I even kept it from Jun… I uh… When I woke up from a Coma? A year long coma, I was able to walk again in like a week.” I told him and I watched his eye brows come together in shock.


“Impossible.”


“I heal fast… I can basically fully recover from just about anything with a full nights rest. Eight hours of sleep, and pop, I’m good to go.”


“Fuck.” He whispered, causing me to giggle as he realized what he had said. “Shit.. No wait. Sorry. Sorry Kid. Okay you can’t tell me how?”


“I know how… But I really can’t talk about it. I trust you Vik, don’t think I don’t, I mean, you’re basically my full time doctor now. But I just can’t really explain it.”


“Healing at this level? Hell kid that would put me out of a job, in a good way. You can’t tell me anything?”


“It’s not transferable, and there isn’t any way to copy it as far as I know.” I offered, actually sad at the idea. I hadn’t really considered how useful Gamer Healing could be, but Vik had instantly gone to other people, about how this could help them.


I really wasn’t a hero I guess.


“Alright.” He took a deep breath and shook it off. “If you want me to be your ripper, I’m gonna need to know what this is. Maybe an overnight after an injury so I can get some scans, or figure out what is happening, it makes me nervous to do anything if I don’t know how the healing process will be.”


“Okay.” I told him which must have surprised him at my easy agreement. “I trust you.” I answered by giving him a thumbs up. “So yeah… That’s my big secret. I heal fast, that's one of the reasons why I’m not afraid to work as a merc.”


“Well kid, for a secret, it’s a hell of a big one… Alright. Alright. Enough of this, Your shoulder looks great. And you obviously came here for something?”


“BD recorder.” I said laughing at Vik’s surprised look before he flushed.


Literally the guy went fully red. “Kid… I get you might be getting a good deal with the Mox, but maybe… Is that kind of work really what you-”


“Vik. My friend, doctor, and someone I respect. Before you embarrass yourself anymore. The idea is to record while I’m on gigs for a sort of softcore XBD release. Killing and doing Merc work, not normal Mox stuff.”


“Oh thank Christ.” He exhaled practically whopping as the air rushed out of him, but that was completely muffled by my absolute giggle fit.


“Oh also… Can you check my arms? I got a bit dinged up by some Maelstrom the other night, and my right arm has this hitch when I try to-”


“Yeah kid, shush, I’ll take care of it. Giving me a heart attack…” He grumbled but he was hiding a smirk.


I matched him. It was nice. To be able to just… Reveal the truth. “Thanks Vik.” I whispered, feeling my eyes water a little as he took care of me. Total dad energy.

 

[Seras]

It was a very fast procedure for Vik to install a BD recorder. I already had my Kiroshi, so I really only needed the small nodule that was added to my Neural Link. You couldn’t even notice as it was just a few moments work to pop open the back of my neck where my cable ports were, install the squarish box that was software and storage for the recordings, and then close me back up.


I think the arm was even faster, he popped me open, and just did some magic with a few tools, and the dent was fine.


I didn’t even need anesthesia. It was more hardware installation, than surgery.


“Alright left and right? No twinge? No points where your neck feels like it grinds on anything? Good. All set then.” Vik says as he takes his hands off the side of my neck where he was guiding my head.


“I checked out the BD recorder myself, so I trust there isn’t anything hidden on it, which is a serious concern. I’ve seen far too many people come in, after being blackmailed when someone gave them a recorder with a backdoor. Just make sure you keep it turned off when you don’t want it on.”


“Got it. Thanks Vik. For everything.”


“Don’t look at me like that, with those puppy dog eyes. You’re a good kid. Stay alive.”


“I will. I can’t die until I get older than you!” I tease as I hop off the chair, earning a deep chuckle from the man.


“Well at least I know it will be years down the line then. Go on, I bet Misty is torturing your Mox friend.”


“Yeah, she is pretty preem like that.” I said as I walked up the stairs, my waving hand the last thing Vik could see as I walked up and into Misty’s.


“So what does that mean?” I heard as I turned the corner. Nox was sitting over an array of Tarot cards Misty had laid out.


“I told you, what it means changes depending on you. But the tarot can help guide your way, open a path. I hope it helps.”


“I still have no idea what it means.”


“It means you should listen to Misty.” I offered surprising both of them, I guess I had been too quiet?


“Oh Motoko, everything okay?”


“Yep! Vik and I just needed a talk, I’m all set and chipped with a BD Recorder.” I tell the two earning a jerk from Misty.


“BD recorder!?”


I had to bite back a giggle as Misty reacted just like Vik. “Don’t worry, nothing weird. I’m working with Nox and the Mox, doing BD’s of my merc work. Like Softcore XBD’s.” I explain earning a wrinkled nose at my words but eventually she nodded.


“You’ll be safe?”


“Course! All it means is that I’ll have a chance to make more eddies for each gig I do.” I said as I jerked my head at Nox. “You ready to go? Judy needed to set up some stuff first right?”


“Yeah! Awesome! Jude’s gonna be shocked you got chipped so fast… Thanks for uh, paying for it.”


“Don’t worry about it, Everything after this is the easy part for me, I’m just gonna do my normal jobs, you’re the one who has to sell them.” I say, laughing even though he was looking at me like I was crazy.


Why did everyone always look at me like that?


—--


“Back already?” Judy’s voice called out as we walked down into her little lab.


“Yep! Jude, Motoko got chipped! You ready?”


“Sure sure.” The girl said digging a shard out of her desk and pushing it into her computer before running a program. My eyes caught the shifting text as she typed, and I realized she was setting up a program for a BD recorder.


I walked up as she worked, and while I wasn’t perfect I was able to follow along with the program. It made me relax a bit realizing it was mostly about how much data on what to store.


“You don’t like the BD recorder's standard settings?”


“Nope, they are slop, We’ve been making so many BD’s we’ve designed our own adjustments. You don’t mind?” She asked not looking away from the computer as she worked.


“I’m not seeing anything that can activate the recorder when I don’t want it on. Mostly just sensitivity settings for emotions, and increased bandwidth for my vision?”


“About right! Standard BD virtues aren’t meant for high quality optics like those Kiroshi. They can let me increase the quality a good bit, will let me pick out more interesting things on the virtue as I edit it.”


“Cool.” I whispered, earning a snort from the older girl.


“You sound like my Grandmother.” She said suddenly, actually looking at me with a half smile. “Nobody says cool anymore.”


“I do.”


“It’s kinda… Lame.”


“I’m bringing it back!” I argued instantly, how could anyone think ‘cool’ wasn't cool slang!? It was cool!


Judy actually broke into a husky laugh then both arms holding her stomach as she chortled almost crying as I pouted at her.


“Oh choom, that’s funny!” She finally managed to stop laughing long enough to say as she went back to typing just with little giggles breaking in now and then. I pouted harder as I turned to Nox who was pointedly not looking at me.


Oh it’s on. I’m not making it a duty to say Cool at least once on every one of these stupid BD recordings, just to prove it wasn’t lame.


Take that!


“Here.” Judy finally said throwing the shard at me, and I slotted it, I did run a double check that there was nothing malicious.


I was fairly certain Judy wouldn’t pull a fast one, but it was just good ideas to check random software.


It looked fine to everything I could see, and I let it update my BD recorders settings.


“Preem. So next time I take a gig I’ll turn on the recording and bring you the… Virtue?”


“You got it. Raw BD’s are Virtues.” Judy confirmed, before she suddenly shooed me away. “Now both of you get out of here, I still have a lot of work to do, Nox take your Output upstairs have some fun or something.”


“Motoko isn’t my Output! Judy!”


“Hahahaha!” She cackled ignoring Nox’s frantic denials.


Aww she was teasing him. That’s cute.


—---


“Umm here?” Nox offered me as he settled a drink onto the table in front of me. He had led me up and offered a seat then ran off to grab a drink.


Thankfully I had made sure to mention I don't drink alcohol. So I had a can of some lemony soda.

“Thanks.” I agreed as I popped the tab. “It’s pretty impressive, coming up with the idea of Edgerunner BD’s.”


“Oh well. I’ve always wanted to sell my own BD's, you know? I came up with the idea after selling an XBD to a guy, he ended up showing up the next day, he had puked his guts out, asked if there was anything actiony like that with just less…”


“Cyberpsycho?”


“Exactly. Edgerunners are super popular you know? Everyone can talk about Blackhand, or Rogue! But not many can actually experience that. So I thought about trying to find an Edgerunner, to talk about my idea with. I was trying to find someone just you know as a side thing when I ran into you.”


“And you decided to ask me after seeing me have a fist fight with a couple kids? One I didn’t win?”


“Please Ian’s actually pretty nasty hand to hand, there is a reason I was on the ground, but I mean… You’re my age, already a merc. You walk the walk, talk the talk. It made me realize I don’t need to start at the top. Plus you’re my age, do you have any idea how many kids our age want to be an Edgerunner? To experience life as a merc even second hand? From someone their own age? That’ll be a rush.”


“I can see it.” I agreed taking a sip from my drink. “So I guess it’s in my corner now. I’ll need to find a gig, or just go out and find some trouble to record.” My words made Nox wince a bit.


“Sorry. To put everything in your lap.”


“It’s fine. Like I said, this is a good idea. It could be fun, I’ve never been a movie star before… BD star? No, that kinda has certain connotations.” I muttered causing Nox to snort into his drink.


“BD stars are a thing too. Of the non-porn style.” He offered and I chuckled nodding, there was a big BD studio here in the city too. That’s where they did that fucking crucifixion questline…


Right. Night City was fucked up.


“Alright. I suppose I should get to work then. I’ll reach out to Wakako and see if she has anything… Or I could go hunt some Maelstrom.” Nox winced at that and quickly put his drink down.


“Maybe something less… dangerous?”


“Eh. Maelstrom are pretty easy. Most of the time their guys are watching TV, or mid BD. It’s super easy to kill someone when they are in the middle of a BD.” I say making the motion of slicing their throat that at this point was practically rote to me.


“R-right. That easy?”


“Oh sure. They are so distracted they never notice. Scavs are that way too. Always a couple in the middle of some BD relaxing while the others work. The first time I went into a Scav nest I killed two of them that way.” I offer making sure not to mention it wasn’t just my first Scav nest, but my only one. Didn’t want him to think I was some noob or something. Seriously, only one Scav Den? That was pretty noobish I think. Rookie numbers Motoko.


Nox just sort of nodded along with me as I explained how easy it was murder someone in the middle of a BD.


—--


Leaving Nox at Lizzie’s after we hung out for a while, I decided I might as well see what was going on with Wakako. I hadn’t heard from her since the whole kidnapping thing. Which surprised me, I expected her to reach out at some point for a job.


So I drove home.


Driving down the street next to the apartment I looked around as I slowly rolled down the road. It was quiet. The old man that usually ran the food cart next to the entrance of the apartment was gone.


The streets were… quiet. It made me sad. I actually kind of liked the density of Night City, to be able to just walk amongst a horde of people.


I kept going. I wasn’t going to stop at the apartment. I was here to see Wakako. I drove down and parked on the street outside Jig-Jig street. As I walked through the darkened area I couldn’t help but chuff out a laugh.


A gang war going on. The normally full streets practically empty and nearly barren.


Jig-Jig street? As busy as ever. Shaking my head I walked past the dolls that were still offering services, past the Johns that were flirting and paying for services. Pass the people that wandered to different stalls buying and selling.


I noticed plenty of guards hanging around. My Kiroshi punching through the dark corners between the shops seeing men in suits, or just gangsters hanging around keeping an eye out.


I guess Wakako was well protected.


I entered her Pachinko parlor, again wondering about her choice of venue.


“Get in here girl. Stop wasting my time.” Wakako called out as I walked in, as usual not waiting for me to check if she was free.


The woman as usual was sitting back in her chair cigarette smoke haloing her as her TV ran some ancient broadcast of a show that was probably coming out when I would have been alive in my last life.


“Long time no see Wakako. How are you?” I said not sure what else to say.


She of course wasn’t enthused about my greeting.


“Sit down girl. I’m not pleased with you. Joining the Kamikaze? Foolish, a waste of your ability. I pay more.”


I opened my mouth closed it. Frowned, then rose a finger. “I didn’t though?”


An elegant eyebrow rose up, and a moment later her eyes turned gold.


A text was sent with a picture.


Oh, it was a picture of me standing with Jun after the assault we did on the Maelstrom armory.


“I hold off on sending you any jobs after your unfortunate assault. Giving you time to recover and then you join up with those fools?”


“I didn’t join them, not really, the one next to me is Jun my brother. He was being all overprotective after the kidnapping, so I went on that raid to prove I could handle myself… It didn’t really work, but I ran out after and hit another Maelstrom group on my own, and Jun… You don’t care.”


“No.”


“Right, I’m not a part of Kamikaze. Terrible name by the way.”


She hummed a little as her sharp eyes kept locked on mine, but I wasn’t about to flinch, I was telling her the truth.


Besides she was dangerous in a way, but I think she was actually pretty nice when you get past all the necessary harshness of living in Night City.


“Fine.” Her eyes went gold again and I blinked as she sent me like three different messages. “I’ve been forced to hold onto these gigs for longer than I would have liked. Complete them.”


I blinked looking at the three different gigs she had sent me reading through them quickly, all of them were pretty much the same.


Go to a place, steal something bring it to Wakako.


Easy really, but there was a complication.


“If that’s all.” She dismissed me, but I didn’t get up.


“Question.”


Her narrowed eyes prompted me to quickly get on with it. “I’ve picked up a side gig, I’m recording my gigs for BD release through the Mox… I just want to make sure none of them are sensitive, and a BD of me doing this won’t cause trouble for the client… Or you.”


My question actually surprised her. Her face didn’t shift, her body didn’t move, she gave nothing away. But the fact she didn’t have an instant answer like always told me a lot. Finally she nodded.


“Foolish, but I don’t argue with fools. A week. Don’t release the recordings for a week. For these three gigs. You will ask before recording any gig I give you in the future.”


“Will do!” I offered flashing a smile, and ignoring her remarks about me being a fool. It wasn’t about being smart or stupid! It was about doing something cool!


I stood then wandering back out into Jig-Jig street.


I guess I had some jobs to do?


—--


The first job was childishly easy.


Megabuilding H1 looked just like all the Megabuildings, just more run down since it was the oldest.


I headed up to floor 15, found the correct apartment number, and unlocked the door with practically a glance.


The standard security system on the door, was as useless as a door with a key sticking out of it. I walked in, boots utterly silent as I walked past the guy in the middle of enjoying a BD on his couch, walked over to his computer, grabbed the shard that was sticking out of the side of it, confirmed it was the right one with the verification program Wakako had given me and walked back out.


Gig complete. Poor security made it childsplay.


I did record the whole thing but I doubt anyone would get any enjoyment out of it. It only lasted like thirty seconds.


Then I moved on.


Next job was in 6th St. Territory. A guy was hiding out there, in a gang house, paying 6th street to keep him safe.


I wasn’t there to kill him though. Wakako’s gig workup explained some bare bones. Guy had blackmail on his boss, Boss wanted the blackmail taken care of.


So my job was to find the information, ensure it was recovered.


Normally it would be deleted but Wakako wanted the data. Not my business.


I pulled over a block away. The gang house was in a suburban area of run down homes. I walked down the next street over. It wasn’t hard to check a map and find the number of the house directly behind the gang house.


Once I found it I simply walked right through the small gated backyard.


It wasn’t like people had dogs anymore.


I stilled at that, realizing that was true.


I really wanted to pet a puppy…


I shook it off. Work now, sad realization later.


I climbed the fence only after looking over it and making sure no one was hanging out in the back or had a camera setup.


Nothing, I climbed over the fence in seconds drawing on my inner Jackie Chan, smiling as I managed to climb the fence just like he would as I went completely cold and hurried to the house.


Mission recommended complete stealth. Apparently the boss wanted the guy trying to blackmail him to be alive to realize his plan fell through.


Honestly I didn’t know who was the good guy here. Was the boss cruel? Evil? Was his worker trying to steal money that didn’t belong to him?


I had no idea. Nor did I really care. I wasn’t a hero.


I slipped in through the back door noticing the living room to my right was occupied, a TV going and a few people talking to each other making fun of the show. I walked past the open door without them noticing, heading for the upstairs.


I was half way up the stairs when I felt it. That shiver up my spine.


Danger sense.


I leapt off the stairs landing without even a scrape on the tiled floor as I slipped into a closet at the foot of the stairs.


The steps coming down the stairs I tracked with my ears as a new voice joined the two in the living room.


I slipped out. Continued on my path up the stairs. Two doors, I checked one, looking under the door jam, nothing I could see or hear, I stood and just barely opened the door.


Empty room.


I slipped inside. Looking to see if my target was inside. The bedroom was a wreck, I instantly realized it wasn’t the right one. This room was well lived in. My target had only just started staying with them. I checked the hall and slipped out, moving to the next room, I slipped inside once I checked it. Empty. But this one had the marks of someone having moved stuff around just recently. The computer on the desk was new.


No dust.


No lucky shards sticking in this time, but that was fine, I pulled out the chord from my neck and plugged it in.


ICE.


I blinked as the system resisted, desperate to keep me out. It actually gave me some difficulty. The ICE on this laptop was a bit more powerful than the defenses of a Vending machine.


Hell it was tougher than the security system the Netrunner Maelstrom had!


I frowned as I found myself actually needing to fight against it. I could keep it from sending any sort of alert, as it was just a mindless system not backed up by a Netrunner defending it, but it was still…


Tough. Where the hell had this guy even found this level of ICE? I frowned realizing I might actually take some time to get through this. It seems the reason this guy managed to steal this info from his boss was probably because of his netrunning skill…


Hmmm.


I could steal the computer, but without breaching in, I had no way to know if there was a backup. So I looked away for a moment and prepared myself in case I needed to delta.


Window open, path free, and the computer unhooked from a power supply, and ready to be snatched and grabbed.


Then I refocused on the digital defenses and got to work.


Security code blasted through my vision as I breached and breached, each wall of ICE seemingly more dense than the last, over and over, I broke through.


I could see the alerts for both Breach and Intelligence flowing through, as I fought against the defense.


Damn, if I had known how much experience I could get from something like this, I would have bought a ICE program myself just to break it.


Still I kept focused even as minutes passed, as the noise from downstairs continued.


I just had to hope they were occupied.


Finally something changed.


*Breach Protocol skill level up!*


I felt the inrush of instincts and knowledge, and my work went even faster. Tricks the ICE threw up that stymied me, now only slowed me for a moment, as my mind worked through problem after problem.


*Intelligence Leveled up!*


The alert came in, Intelligence 5, and if I was doing anything else I wouldn’t have noticed change.


But this time I did. Considering I was literally solving difficult equations, puzzles, and general issues the ICE was programmed to throw up.


But with Intelligence? Came clarity. Came simplicity.


The speed of me facing a new problem, and then putting forth the correct solution increased. Less wondering, less confusion, less brute force.


I blinked.


The computer was displaying its desktop. I was in.


Seconds later I had confirmation. The file I was looking for was there, and it hadn’t been copied, at least according to the metadata.


Target acquired.


I closed the laptop down, and used my already prepared getaway. I was out the window, landing in the backyard, and across the short fenced off area in moments.


Then I was on the other street, and more than capable of just walking casually to my car.

 

[Seras]

The third job involved stealing something…

Wakako… is this going to be a theme? Problem was I had to steal something from someone rich. I parked down the street from my target at a little shopping area. Grabbed some dinner and looked at the skyscraper that my target lived in.

This corpo was rich, had security, and owned a weird statue that my client wanted. I read through the mission brief again, shaking my head that I was literally stealing some fancy art piece for another rich guy to crow about.

Problem? This was a secure building. Like Hiromi’s home, but even more fancy. There would be serious security including actual people to keep everyone out.

So I needed to figure out a way through all of that, into the guys apartment, find the object, steal it, and escape without any issues.

I could do that… Probably?

I walked past the entrance of the building, scanning everything inside and checking what the bottom floor security was like.

It was tough. A receptionist. Two LMG turrets hidden in the roof. And a camera over the receptionist's head.

The building was pretty big though, it had tons of little shops on the bottom floor. Rather than rush in, I decided to actually look around, a walk around the block to scope out the area.

There was a little alleyway cut into the side of the building with loading docks, and garbage dumpsters.

But it had a security camera watching over it. Of course.

“This is gonna be annoying.” I muttered as I completed my circuit. I had a few options, but none of them were very appetizing.

So I started poking. I walked to the alleyway and did something I hadn’t used yet. I breached into the camera from afar using the Breach Quickhack instead of the direct function, then once its systems were under my control? I turned it off. With that done I hid between a few dumpsters to see what would happen. If the security system was in any way well designed someone would come out to check on the downed camera…

Right?

I breached their system, and I wasn’t elegant about it, surely it would send an alert to their security room and someone would come take a look.

Right?

An hour later I felt utterly irritated.

What is this security!? Their system gets hacked and they just ignore it!?

I got up and stomped towards the rear door.

It had a keypad that I poked my chord into and started breaching.

It popped open.

“Mother fucker!” I hissed. This security was fake! It was radioshack level shit that someone had screwed in place to make the security seem tighter!

It was like those old padlocks you could just smack with a hammer and have them pop open. The image of security more than the fact.

I went cold as I stepped in. Fine, they have shit security, just makes my job easier… Even if I could still smell the trash I had been sitting next to for the last hour.

The back room was a loading area probably for the entire building, and not just the apartments.

It was also thankfully empty. With a few doors leading out, I started checking them.

Broom Closet, Kitchen, Main hallway, I could see the main street I had first walked up to the building from. And the elevators.

I smiled as I walked out of the back room, no one even looking my way and the only camera in the area in the front room not even looking at the elevators.

I pushed the request and it denied me.

Ah, stupid thing needed a passkey…

I thought about snooping around a bit, I bet I could find a few extra pass shards, in the lobby or something, but I just pulled out my cord and plugged it in.

The elevator opened up.

When I finished this job I was going to send a complaint about this building's security. This wasn’t even fun.

I pushed the eight on the touchpad, and waited as it took me up. The target had a private floor for his home, so once I was up there, security might be harder. Might actually give me a challenge.

The elevator opened and I could already hear voices.

The elevator opened into a small entrance lobby, with a single door leading into the apartment. I peeked out of the elevator, searched for cameras quickly before walking out of the elevator.

Nothing.

The door had a little code lock just like the building's back door.

I frowned, sticking my cord inside I breached.

The door clicked open.

I was glad I was feeling cold right then, because that was so dumb. You live in Night city! Why don’t you have security!?

I slipped inside. Two voices.

A male and a female. Head on a swivel I kept searching for any security, There was actually an HMG turret recessed into the floor in the first room…

But it was off, and manually controlled from what my scan was showing. So I didn’t have to worry about it unless the owner noticed me.

I walked past it, started scanning everything looking for the object that Wakako’s Client wanted.

Nothing in the front lobby, I slipped a peek towards the… Kitchenette? No a bar. The apartment owner had company… I think that was a Doll. Or a Joytoy. She reminded me of Evelyn Parker from the game. Similar style, very neoskitch.

Definitely an escort. I looked away, that should keep them busy for a bit. I slipped past the open door to the long hallway and started checking rooms. First room was a small office. A laptop called me, but it wasn’t what I was here for. Next room was an entertainment room, a big couch, a large TV, even a BD wreath on a table.

Guy liked his fun.

But not my target. Stupid little statue thing!

I had to slowly maneuver myself upstairs thankfully just out of sight from the bar, and started checking the rooms up there. Interestingly, the first room I checked was a massive bathroom, like huge. A pool more than a bathtub.

Instant jealousy. I wanted a massive hot tub bathtub! I pouted, I didn’t even have time to look around it, no statue, so I slipped out to the next room.

As I was about to open the door I heard them.

“C’mon Hellena, let me show you something.” I stilled waiting. Were they coming up or staying on the ground floor?

The moment I heard a foot step on the stairs I got my answer. I slipped into the room I was about to enter and slowly inched the door shut then I turned around.

“Fuck.”

Bedroom.

I glanced around, I needed a hiding spot. Bed? No it was a massive thing that was attached to the floor. Doors? Two, one definitely attached to the bathroom.

I checked the other one, slipping into the closet. It was a walk-in closet, practically a room on its own. Tons of clothes on hangers and shoes. It smelled like a store.

I just inched the door shut when the bedroom door opened.

Giggling and whispered nothings.

Oh.

Eww.

I sighed silently as I heard the bed start creaking.

This was going to be a while.

It was not a while.

Ten minutes later, both of them were breathless although I could tell the Joytoy was faking it, and they both got up and slipped into the bathroom.

Thank fuck the guy didn’t have a Mr. Studd.

Once I was sure they were both in the bathroom and its stupid massive pool bathtub, I slipped out of the closet.

The statue wasn’t here.

I slipped out into the hallway without a sound and looked around. Now that they were in one room, I could check around.

It didn’t take long. The statue was on a little cabinet in the room with the bar. I hadn’t been able to see it from the entrance.

I checked it for security.

Nothing. I grabbed the damn thing and headed for the elevator, wanting to stomp the whole time.

I was glad that was over.

—--

I pulled up to Jig-Jig street having cooled off a bit.

Seriously, how can they allow such poor security!?

I walked into Wakako’s parlor arms full of stuff as I walked into her office.

As usual she was already waiting for me, her eyebrow raised as she saw my arms full.

“Here is everything.” I told her placing the statue in front of her, along with the laptop, and a shard in a row. “Also you would think better security systems would be important in Night City, but people really don’t focus on it.” I vented to Wakako.

“Netrunners are required to stop another netrunner. Usual policy is to hire guards if you want something protected.” She offered, surprising me as she actually responded to my whining.

I blinked at Wakakos response.

“Makes sense I guess.”

“Good work.” She finally offered, examining all three items on her desk. “Your death would have been a pointless waste. Don’t allow yourself to be taken by surprise again. It’s irritating to find someone capable of doing a job without bullets involved.”

“Thanks?”

She nodded, eyes suddenly glowing gold as a huge amount of eddies was dropped into my account.

“Pay for the gigs, and the bonus for all three. Get out of here, I’ll let you know when I have another gig ready for you.” She said waving me off, but again I didn’t run away instantly.

“Thanks Wakako. I’ll make sure to be safe.” I tell her with a smile earning a scoff as she waves me off.

Wakako didn’t want to admit it, but she had actually seemed worried about me. Old Dragon Lady she might be, but she wasn’t terrible.

Probably.

—--

I flopped onto the couch at the Dojo apartments tired.

“What have you been up to all day?” Jun asked quietly as he turned down the volume of the TV he was watching. The news oddly enough.

“Well I went out to get some design software… I want to make some robot stuff. It’s a long term project. I picked that up, then I ran into the Mox, which… Did I tell you about Nox?”

“Nox… Is that a gang?”

“No Not the-... Nox is a Mox. Total nerd. I met him rescuing him from some jerks trying to sell the BD’s he was trying to sell.” I tell him as I lay on my back on the couch my arms waving above me as I speak. “Anyway I hadn’t talked to him since before the kidnapping, and I ran into a Mox girl that was annoyed that I had ghosted her friend… So I called him up, met up with him, and he offered me a gig.”

“A kid selling BD’s offering you a job? What does he want you to sell BD’s too? Absolutely not.”

I opened my mouth.

I closed my mouth.

I knew exactly what it would sound like if I said what I was about to say. Twice already I had gotten to surprise people with it.

I should rephrase it.

I should be clear when I speak.

But where is the fun in that? Third times the charm!

“He wanted me to make BD’s for the Mox and I agreed.” I felt my lips twitching. Despite myself not even Cold Blood 7 could stop me from almost laughing at the look on Jun’s face.

First it was a nod, like hearing me doing something other than merc work was good. Then his nodding head stilled as my words registered.

“NO!” He shouted raising up and reaching out to grab at me, I let him his hands wrapping around my shoulders. “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

I couldn’t help it.

The look on his face!

I burst out into laughter, the noise absolutely ripping itself out of me. As Jun pinned me to the couch.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I laughed practically crying as I felt Jun’s hands loosen up realizing I was messing with him.

“Don’t joke about that stuff!”

“Sorry sorry!” I gasped deep breaths finally seeing Jun’s angry face through my tears as I wiped them away. “It’s kinda true though. Just said in the worst way possible. I’m going to be recording BD’s while I am doing mercenary gigs. Basically when I work with Wakako, who is a slave driver by the way, she threw THREE gigs in my face today! I had to do all three of them back to back I’m-”

“What do you mean, recording BD’s!? Focus on the important part, Imouto.” He demanded shaking me a little making me giggle.

“Alright, sorry, anyway, The idea is to sell BD’s of me doing merc stuff, like XBD’s but cleaner. No Cyberpsycho stuff that everyone buys, but just clean gigs giving people a taste of what it’s like. I mean, I’m a teenager so the hope is that kids will be interested in it.”

“That’s…” He stopped whatever he was about to say. “Just be careful about that. If someone finds out you were the one to rob them, or kill their buddy, they might…”

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about that. I’m gonna talk to Judy. Judy is the Mox’s BD Maestro. About making sure any direct visuals of me are left out. Let people just feel what it’s like. I wonder… Can you mess with a BD so any reflections would look like the user's face?”

Jun gave me a look before flicking my forehead. “Do I look like I know anything about BD editing? But you should ask, if that’s possible, it’ll keep you a lot safer.” He said and pulled me up from where I was laying on the couch to pull me into a hug. I snuggled in a little, liking the affection even if his arms still sucked.

“You really need to get some Real Skinn… Go see Vik.” I grumbled at him poking him in his stupid plastic abs which of course didn’t do much.

His arm clamping down on me until I could barely breathe in retaliation.

“J-erk.” I gasped out.

“Ah, if only my Imouto was cute.”

“B-ich, ‘m Dorable!” I countered barely audible as I struggled to get away from his stupid gorilla arm.

Stupid gorilla!

Finally he let me go and I kicked him a few times before we settled back in to hang out and watch the news.

—---

Considering I was all ‘caught up’ on Wakako’s jobs, I had some time on my hands.

I found myself tapping my fingers together considering.

Revenge.

It feels good. Satisfying. To do harm to someone that harmed you. But it’s not an easy thing to do. I still wanted that Spider Ripper to die. That Maelstrom Bastard needed to lose a few of his limbs.

But how much effort was I going to give to them? How much of myself was I going to give over to the task of hunting them?

If I had asked myself before the adaptation, I wouldn’t have even listened, just made plans to keep killing them. I was so angry. So hurt.

The Adaptation didn’t fix me. Didn’t fix the problem. I still had that burning hatred in my stomach.

Yet…

I breathed in and out.

I wanted to live. I wanted to have fun! I wanted to be lazy sometimes!

Revenge was surprisingly tedious. You had to keep that burning hatred lit at all times, because if you started letting it burn out, you started realizing it was kinda pointless to be that obsessed.

So yes. I would hunt that Spider Ripper. And the Bastard. I would murder them. Hell I would torture them, if I had the time. Because in the end I’m not a hero. Not a good person.

But I wouldn’t exist to do it. I wouldn’t spend my life around killing them. They had already taken my arms.

They wouldn’t take my life.

With that I nodded. It was enough. Something I could accept. That caused that urge to go kill Maelstrom to ease off. To let other things take the stage.

So since I didn’t feel like murder right now, I decided to settle in and work on some skills.

With my CAD program, and a laptop that I removed any remote access from by physically tearing out the ‘wi-fi’ connections. I had an off the grid system, that I could pull up Arasaka’s CAD system.

Then I learned that just because I have some knowledge about engineering, doesn’t mean I’m any good at it.

Robotics wizard helped a little despite being more about putting together robots. But even then.

“That’s not gonna work.” I grumbled at myself, looking at the Tachikoma Prototype design.

“If I actually built this, I would have to immediately put it out of its misery.” I told myself as I grimaced at just how bad it was.

Designing a robot was… Complicated.

At least I was getting Engineering Alerts really consistently from it.

So I went back to the drawing board.

“Let’s just work on a limb to start us off.” I muttered as I designed to narrow my focus for a bit. The triple fingered Tachikoma limb, that could shoot, and extend out was impossible considering I wasn’t building a SUV sized armored support system.

Instead I was thinking… A bit smaller to start out. I still remember how useful the Flathead was in the game, even if you only get it for the one mission, what would some of the missions be like if you had a small army of them that were also AI?

AI.

I hadn’t considered that problem yet. I could probably design a remote control version of them… Eventually.

But an AI? I didn’t have a lot of knowledge on how to even design one, but I knew the hardware requirements of an AI were crazy high. I mean Delamain’s AI was housed in a massive room sized core.

A robot that didn’t even reach my knees couldn’t possibly reach that point. Even if I programmed the AI to be incredibly efficient.

“Motoko.” Jun suddenly called out pulling my head away from the screen as I peek up over the couch where I had made a little nest for myself.

“Jun-Nii?”

“There is another raid tonight… You… You can come.” He told me hesitating a bit at the reveal.

I blinked.

I didn’t want to go murder Strom right now! I wanted to design robots! Stupid Jun!

But at the same time. I could use the XP, and… My head was clearer. I didn’t need to rush in and kill every Strom myself. Even if it’s only a kill or two, that’s still making an improvement. Levels will come.

Then I remembered!

“Sure! I’ll bring my Nekomata!” I called out suddenly eagerly! I could shoot tons of people through walls while the Kamikaze ran around like bulls in a china shop!

Jun actually suddenly looked pleased. “Good! Get ready!” He ordered pointing firmly as he turned away looking pleased.

I guess Jun was happy to keep me away from the fight. But he was silly. I would have happily stayed home tonight.

 

[Seras]

I really should have stayed home tonight.

We had gone out to hit a Maelstrom attack. Apparently, someone had managed to get information that the Strom were going to hit a Tyger Claw business, specifically a little gun shop that supplied quite a few Tyger Claws with firearms.

So Kamikaze were sent to take out the attack. What that entailed was everyone piling into four cars in a nearby alley and being as quiet as possible as we waited.

Which meant putting a group of budding Cyberpsychoes into close proximity to each other with the anxiety of future conflict.

I was with Jun and Akari again and just with that, I was ready to kill someone. Akari was getting snippy. Jun was surprisingly handling his anger really well.

Honestly he was handling Akari poking him with her sharp feet, or continuously trying to turn on the radio over and over despite all of us supposed to be quiet really well.

I however was not.

Akari kept pushing her passenger seat back into me, and whenever I moved behind Jun she would start trying to poke ME with her feet blades.

I was half a minute away from bashing my Nekomata in the back of her head to get some peace, when both Jun and Akari stilled.

I glanced around the seat, both of their eyes were yellow.

I rolled my eyes at not being included and just leaned back Jun would tell me what the call was about.

“Alright, the Maelstrom trucks are a minute out. Get ready.” Jun said and I nodded.

Then I instantly opened the door to Jun’s shock.

“Motoko?” He whispered at me as I climbed out.

“I’ll be on the roof. I’ll wait for you guys to start attacking before firing.” I tell them, pointing to the old buildings we were parked between, I could get up onto the roof and have an overwatch position. If you were willing to do a couple of tricky leaps.

I stuck the Nekomata over my shoulder and rushed away before Jun could say anything else.

I was honestly needing my own space. Akari was fun in short doses.

Short doses.

I tightened my gloves as I started climbing up the building. Sliding from a dumpster to an AC unit, then along the window ledge to jump to the next floor, where I grabbed an overhand and climbed up with a bit of effort.

Parkour made it a simple process of just pulling myself up after a jump each jump and leap climbing me higher and higher in the shortest time.

Then I was on the roof, and I hurried to overlook the Tyger Claw shop. Crouching up to the edge, I pulled off my Nekomata and started checking it over. Gun Nut already told me it was fine, but knowing, and ‘Knowing’, are two different things. Loaded, with the safety off, I rose up, having already chosen the best place to keep myself completely out of view. A shade from a sign put me entirely into shadow, and the brick I was pushed up against was colorful from Graffiti, so I would be invisible without a lot of attention.

I eased my eye over the scope. I could hear them.

The Maelstrom trucks were old beaters, hyper tuned monsters, or just loud. Loud and driven angrily.

They came around the corner in a mess, two of them even scraping against each other as they took the turn too sharply but neither driver seemed to care. The cavalcade roared down the street stopping around the shop, the Maelstrom actually managing an okay semi circle around it, to isolate it.

I waited. Kiroshi already scanning the gangsters. My NCPD File Search letting my scan not just tell me what the Strom were using for weapons, and some of their Cyberware, but also their rap sheet.

The more I scanned the more I smiled.

Cleaning up scum was a duty to all lovers of Peace and Justice after all. I scanned them as I waited, nothing really surprising popping out.

Murder, kidnapping and illegal squatting.

But I waited.

The Maelstrom borgs were hollering as if they already won, as they stepped out, a few guns firing into the air, or into the front of the shop seemingly just for fun.

I waited.

And then finally as the door opened, it happened.

The first Borg to try and enter got ripped apart as an HMG began firing from within the building. Instantly the Maelstrom jumped for cover and started firing back into the store. The forceful response more than the borgs expected.

Which is when I saw them.

Kamikaze, rushing in head first from behind. I sighed as I kept both eyes open, one through the scope, and one without as I watched, waited.

The first Maelstrom to notice the enemies at his back and turn around, was my target. His shotgun was raised.

I exhaled, a stream of what felt like freezing air escaping my lips. It was so easy.

My scope was already adjusted for range.

My arms held perfectly still. I couldn’t design a better weapons platform than my own body at that moment. I pulled the trigger.

The borg lost his head, his Shotgun falling out of his hands as his body followed. Bleeding out across the pavement.

I specifically ignored the alerts coming through. Making sure they wouldn’t be caught on the BD I was scrolling.

I shifted, my firing had unfortunately caused a few of the Maelstrom gonks to turn around hearing the rifle, but Kamikaze were on them now. Jun just behind Fujimura. Katana blazing red as he leapt over the back of one of the pickups, cutting down the Maelstrom gonk that was standing up on the bed, and then putting himself into the group.

But I was overwatch and I saw everything.

The Kamikaze gonkhead that hadn’t properly checked his ass and didn’t notice the driver of one of the trucks step out and start aiming at his back. The Kamikaze was punching a borg into scrap despite the body being quite dead. Hazards of Cyberpsychos I supposed.

Then I fired.

The driver slammed face first into his truck's rear door, as my round burst through his chest, he slipped to the pavement without resistance.

I shifted again.

It was funny. I rarely tended to use rifles, but with all of my skills and perks. They did synergize well. I fired again.

The gonk that Fujimura was wrestling with, had been just as big as the angry Kamikaze leader. They had tangled on the floor each trying to rip the other apart with their cyberware and strength.

I had a clear shot and took it. The Maelstroms spider like head came apart in two splattering Fujimura in white borg blood.

I moved on, uncaring that I could see Fujimura’s angry glare looking towards me.

But instead of firing I dropped. A barrage of bullets slamming into my previous position, I rolled along completely unbothered by the stone shrapnel as I kept the Nekomata closed.

Chrome arms made rolling on the ground surprisingly painless.

The burst of automatic fire was pulled away, but that was all I needed. As soon as it stopped I sprung up. Jogging sideways along the edge of the rooftop, stealth no longer needed, lining up the shot, the gonk that had just shot at me, while still distracted as he was being shot at, noticed and started aiming towards me.

Too slow.

I fired.

The fucker ducked away just in time his own response wildly missing even when mine punched a quarter sized hole into the side of the truck he was now taking cover behind.

I didn’t wait. My hands already dancing, as I grabbed another magazine from a hip pouch, dropping the empty magazine, and slamming the new one home. I was already aiming in once I stabilized from the reload I fired. Punching through the truck, and the moron that thought a few bits of car siding would stop a tech Sniper Rifle.

I didn’t stop moving, instead focusing on my next target, but it was already over.

Kamikaze were tearing the last few Maelstrom members into pieces.

A quick look over the battlefield to make sure no one was playing dead, and I nodded.

Mission complete.

I threw the Nekomata over my shoulder taking a moment to scope out my path and leapt off the side of the building, landing on a sign, I slipped off that to another lower sign, and then onto a ledge of the building, then simply stepped off and landed on the concrete.

I exhaled.

That felt good.

I took a moment to glance at the alerts after I shut off the BD scrolling. Looking through the list of alerts, very pleased with what I saw.

*500 XP Gained.*

*100 Assault XP Gained.*

*100 Assault XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*100 Assault XP Gained.*

*Assault skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

*1000 XP Gained.*

*100 Assault XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

A new perk! Yay! I would have to check on that later, for now I focused on the scene around me.

I jogged up, noticing the Kamikaze were twitchy, all of them looking for more bloodshed. I ignored their glares and wandered up to Jun.

“You okay Jun-nii? Get hit at all?” I asked already reaching for my medical pouch, but he waved me off.

“Nothing my Subdermal didn’t catch.” He mentioned, as I looked towards his plastic abs, a ragged scrape cut through the flesh, but I could see it was only skin deep. The bullet ricocheted.

Ow. That still looked painful.

“You sure? I got a MaxDoc, got some painkillers.” I mumbled pulling out some stuff I had picked up at the random pharmacy I had stopped at before all of this.

“I don’t feel it. I have a Pain Editor.” He told me with a shrug, and I had nothing on that, just nodding. Even if my fingers twitched to tie a bandage around it.

I looked around at the carnage then. The twenty or so Maelstrom borgs were torn to pieces. Blood dripped and ran down the road. A few of the Kamikaze were injured, only one seriously, a shotgun had clipped one of the female members. She was down an arm, but otherwise fine.

A visit to a ripper and she would be right as rain.

Funny how combat was in the future. Vicious bloody affairs.

A few vans roaring down the roads had me twitching but the Kamikaze around us waved them forward and they stopped.

Instantly Tyger Claw grunts jumped out of the back of the familiar moving vans.

It was like the ones Ichi had borrowed for the Scav raid.

No. I blinked, feeling the cool dryness of my Kiroshi. Not like the Vans.

The same van, because there in the driver seat, which I could only make out due to my Kiroshi was Ichi.

“Jun. I’m gonna go see how Ichi is doing, you alright?”

“Huh? Oh your choom. Go on, I’m fine. Stop hovering.” He ordered waving me off, but it was in a joking manner that made me smile as I threw him a thumbs up and ran up to the van.

Happily jumping up onto the door and sticking my crossed arms onto the rim so I could stick my head in.

“Long time no see!” I cried out instantly causing Ichi to yelp like a girl and scrambled around as he tried and failed to fumble a gun out of his holster.

“Motoko?”

“You should either practice that draw a bit more, or store a gun somewhere you can grab easily.” I informed him with a grin. As the boy sighed out all of his air and seemed to check his heart.

“Please don’t do that! These jobs are tense.”

“Why? All the Maelstrom gonks are dead.”
“Yeah maybe. They aren’t always, and reinforcements are a thing.”

“Well then you should definitely work on that draw. How you been Ichi? I haven’t heard from you since… Well.”

“Since the war heated up yeah… Motoko. Is that chrome?” He asked, blinking in shock as he took in my arms resting on the door.

“Yeah. I got klepped by the Maelstrom, they were trying to draw out Jun. Apparently he killed enough of the Strom to make a mark.”

“Klepped… Again!?” He asked, looking horrified.
“Yeah. Right outside the apartment. Shot me up, and cut off my hands.” I waved my hands a bit wiggling the fingers. “It really sucked, they took me to this pit fight thing. It’s… Well I don’t really want to talk about it. Eventually Jun got enough people together to come get me. I was alive… Mostly. I’m fixed up… Mostly.” I admitted actually feeling my voice go a little heavy at the end there.

He looked me over for a moment, nodding, “You’re strong. You’ll be okay. But if you need anything, we are still chooms.”

I smiled at that. What else could I do? I didn’t really have many chooms. “Thanks Ichi. Where is Malcolm anyways? I thought he was your co-pilot while you worked?”
“Malcolm bailed… We got shot up a few nights into everything, neither of us got hit, but one of the guys in the back got torn up. Malcolm tried to stabilize the guy but it didn’t work out. He took it hard. He’s been staying home ever since.”

I frowned a bit. I wasn’t really close to Malcolm, but he was part of our little kiddy gang. “I should call him, or visit maybe?”

Ichi looked surprised at my question. “You would do that?”

“Of course! We… I mean, I’m not really close to you or him, or Omaeda, but you guys are still my chooms… I mean, You’ve known me since before the coma right? And we were a little pack of troublemakers. I got to look out for you guys, or at least… At least offer an ear.” Honestly something I probably should have been doing before… I had been a little self focused, ignoring making friends or my old chooms.

Ichi was quiet for a moment before he smiled. “Malcolm would like that. Really.”

“How about you then? The Tyger Claw loot recovery job doing well?” I asked, putting on a teasing smile as he chuffed a bit.

“Honestly? You paid better.”

I cackled at that, both of us breaking into laughter.

“Well maybe I should hire you full time. I hit this Maelstrom place the other night, and with everything including Jun showing up tracking me down I had to leave sooo much loot. I was so sad.” I told him as I plopped my chin down on the door. “Leaving loot behind is wrong!”

“Well obviously you need to hire a professional loot recovery agent… Unfortunately I’m all booked.” He said giving the length just long enough to get my hopes up.

“Mean!”

“So you and the Kamikaze? You know those guys are..”

“Cyberpsychos? No, I totally missed that, and thought they were all perfectly reasonable people.” I said tonelessly, managing to draw a snort from him.

“Well, be careful. They are useful, and effective, but all the guys that work with them tell horror stories. Sometimes they go off on the retrieval guys.”

“I can see it. ” I nod thinking on the few times that they seemed to start losing it. “But I just gotta keep an eye on Jun. He… Well he wasn’t in a good place.”

“Well you gotta stick with your brother… I never would have thought they would let you in though. You have to be seriously chromed up for them to even consider.”

“I’m not… Joined, I mean. I’m more like a… ghost. That follows Jun around. That’s all.”

“Pfft. Yeah more like an Onryo.” He joked and it took me a moment to remember what that meant.

“Hey! I don’t crawl out of TVs! And my hair is nice!”

He just shook his head at me smiling which earned him a light tap on the shoulder, that he winced and rubbed. It was only a baby tap… With my chrome knuckles.

“Ow… I’m sorry. I didn’t hear about the kidnapping thing. I just thought you were busy doing crazy shit again. I should have reached out.” He mumbled after a while of silence between us.

“I was under a jammer for a long while… But I should have reached out and checked on you too. I visited Hiromi, but I didn’t even call… Sorry. Not much of a choom I guess.”

“Eh. You’re better than you used to be. Scarier, funnily enough, even if old you was more interested in being intimidating, but you manage it better.”

Interesting! “Really? How would you describe old me?” I asked, I hadn’t really gotten much from anyone about how I used to be. Who I used to be.

He hesitated for a bit but shrugged. “Listen I liked you, we were chooms and we got into trouble together, but you were kinda a bitch. You got us into so much trouble that we could have avoided by just not starting shit.”

“Wow. Hiromi never mentioned that!”

“She wouldn’t… Hiromi has always been i- Ah never mind. Look, your brother is trying to get your attention.” He instantly switched topics pointing.

As interested as I was in what he had been about to say I turned and saw Jun waving for me.

“Well he is my current ride, so I better delta. Keep in touch Ichi. We are still chooms!”

“Same to you Motoko.”

I nodded as I jumped off and hurried after Jun.

—--

“Girl! You are coming too.” Fujimura demanded as we all piled out of the cars. I had been heading back towards the apartment to put up my equipment, and probably clean my Nekomata, but Fujimura had suddenly called out, specifically at me.

“After action report?”

“Yeah. Guess Fujimura-Sama wants you there. You must have done well.” Jun offered with a smile as Akari suddenly poked her head in between us.

“Or terrible! Maybe he’ll cut you up for messing up so bad?”

“I don’t think I messed up?” I told her as we walked but she was quick to run in front of me and walk backwards which seemed to take some effort with her feet blades.

“Ooh but you ran off! Fujimura-Sama haaates when people do something he didn’t tell them to. Motoko is in troooouble.” She mocked as we reached the window that let us into the Dojo area.

“Shut up Akari.” Jun grumbled at her, but then we were there, in the downstairs area of the dojo. With the couches and little plastic chairs arrayed around Fujimura that stood.

“Another injury, pathetic.” He growled out as he looked over the people. “Injuries are expected, serious injuries are not. If you are incapable of not losing a limb, then get better chrome, or die so someone more skilled can use yours.” He demanded pulling no punches.

Also wow. What an asshole thing to say.

“Girl!” He said suddenly pulled me away from my thoughts. I was standing behind Jun who was sitting on one of the plastic chairs in the circle.

“Yes?”

“You nearly shot me tonight.” He said bluntly and I couldn’t help but wonder what the hell he was talking about.

“No I didn’t.”

“Your bullet passed less then a foot from my head.”

“Yeah? It didn’t come anywhere close to you. I mean, I’m not a crack shot or anything, but at that range? I could probably get the round to kiss you if I wanted.” I replied getting a little grumbly. This guy was such an asshole, and I was kind of sick of it.

He looked me over before nodding. “Kamikaze don’t have a marksman. That skillset doesn’t tend to come hand in hand with our purpose. Kusanagi! Your sister is acceptably useful. You didn’t waste our time having us save her.” He offered and then just…

Turned away and started squeezing everyone through the wringer on their fuckups. Jun and I both weren’t exempt. Apparently I fired too slow…

Well yeah. I only had Assault 5! I wasn’t going to shoot any faster. I might friendly fire!

Well… I could still level it up some more. It was fun.

By the time I settled onto the couch that night, blanket pulled up to my chin and ready for a sleep to get the muscle pain in my back to go away. I had a thought.

“Wait… Does he think I’m a member now!? But I’m not a Cyberpsycho!”