Ghost in the City Cyberpunk Gamer SI

[Guardian Box]

Yep! That's what makes her complaints all the funnier. To be fair part of her bugging him about it was for Juns mental wellbeing. Make him feel more human reduce the Cyberpsycho chance.

Gotta admit, annoying someone into going sane is a novel approach :V

 

[Carrot of Truth]

Gotta admit, annoying someone into going sane is a novel approach :V

She has to rep for anime little sisters everywhere.

 

[Blasterbot]

Poor Jun. he is gonna have to keep an I on motorolla's budding desire for high explosives.

shotgunner is going good. but so far my favorite car to drive is the Coyote. I like it more than the quadra and it's variants. my favorite car to drive as a gonk though is the hilarious 6 wheeled villefort.

 

[Guardian Box]

Do BD's have an option to add in a soundtrack?

Motoko could maximize her grofiteering by making some decent music unlike the shite that's on the radio under an alias, and then splice that up into the BD's as an advertising / marketing tactic.

Now she will also get some more cash for selling music as well.

 

[Seras]

Do BD's have an option to add in a soundtrack?

Motoko could maximize her grofiteering by making some decent music unlike the shite that's on the radio under an alias, and then splice that up into the BD's as an advertising / marketing tactic.

Now she will also get some more cash for selling music as well.

Considering Judy has to 'edit' the BD. Yeah I say you can in fact add in a soundtrack.

 

[Guardian Box]

Considering Judy has to 'edit' the BD. Yeah I say you can in fact add in a soundtrack.

Murderslaughtering a Smasher amount of gonks to the tunes of BFG Division. Can't wait.

Question being, would she edit the music so it fits the pace of the slaughter she recorded, or would she make the music first and then time and choreograph her murderspree to fit the music?

Ah, the dilemmas of the modern artists.

 

[Seras]

Murderslaughtering a Smasher amount of gonks to the tunes of BFG Division. Can't wait.

Question being, would she edit the music so it fits the pace of the slaughter she recorded, or would she make the music first and then time and choreograph her murderspree to fit the music?

Ah, the dilemmas of the modern artists.

Heh You'll find out.

 

[sleepy]

It`s a shame that the boat was only a place to party and look cool for Bart.. If he truly loved it then watching it explode would have been great.

 

[xachariahxx]

Maybe a question that's too unrelated, but are there any plans for meeting up with Lucy in NC?

She escapes Arasaka in what looks like her early teens, and she spends some years alone in NC. Since she joins after Sasha's death (which should be upcoming soon?), she should still be an independent agent right now. My guess is she's basically doing odd netrunner jobs in NC while keeping a low profile, or something.

Any plans for her to run into Motoko, in realspace or cyberspace? Maybe even get confused for one another via cyber-reputation. Weirdly young girls who are freakishly good netrunners can't be that common, even in Night City.

 

[Seras]

Maybe a question that's too unrelated, but are there any plans for meeting up with Lucy in NC?

She escapes Arasaka in what looks like her early teens, and she spends some years alone in NC. Since she joins after Sasha's death (which should be upcoming soon?), she should still be an independent agent right now. My guess is she's basically doing odd netrunner jobs in NC while keeping a low profile, or something.

Any plans for her to run into Motoko, in realspace or cyberspace? Maybe even get confused for one another via cyber-reputation. Weirdly young girls who are freakishly good netrunners can't be that common, even in Night City.

Yeah Lucy is in NC. She should be working with Kiwi right now. As Kiwi was mentoring Lucy around now, and Lucy joined Maines crew with Kiwi to replace Sasha.

Yes Motoko will meet Lucy, and the edgerunners cast. Night City is just really really big. Plus Motoko isn't really going looking for them. In character because it's hard to just walk up to someone like an edgerunner and say you want to join.

Out of character? I wasn't really a 'fan' of any of the Edgerunner characters other than Becca. Like literally she was the only one I actually liked. So Motoko doesn't really *want* to hang out with them.

 

[Seras]

I ended up stuck watching over the lot for an entire week as Hiromi wheeled and dealed. Selling off chrome to anyone and everyone willing to buy.

Considering the amount, it was almost lucky that the TC were interested in so much of it, because offloading it was not easy for Hiromi.

We definitely flooded the market for civilian chrome to rippers and the like.

In the end there wasn’t any trouble. Sure we had a few people sniffing around, but they all gave up when they saw the TC guys guarding everything.

Nothing big.

No kids sneaking around trying to steal it. No TC grunts trying to swipe a crate.

No Scavs showing up to get back their chrome.

Nothing.

It was quiet.

At least not toward the lot. Because I was so busy I had to pass on a gig that Jackie had been given by Wakako, which sucked, Wakako hadn’t been pleased that I wasn’t able to join in, but considering I hadn’t heard anything Jackie must have succeeded.

After we sold everything, or at least enough of the chrome that the dregs left behind weren’t really something we were going to worry about. I was able to stop lurking over the lot.

For my chooms it was a week of running around selling like crazy. They were forced to protect, transport, and sell the chrome without me as I watched over the hoard.

A week before Jun’s increasing grumpiness at me not coming home ended as the chrome was finally gone.

A week before we all finally met up to celebrate our success.

“Cheers!” Ichi called out and raised a glass. I raised my own to click with his, as Malcolm and Hiromi both joined in.

We were at the Ho-Oh Club celebrating.

“Heh! You should have told me about your little act of Piracy Motoko!” Akari whined as she downed her own beer.

“Akari let them enjoy their success.” Jun said with a roll of his eyes. Practically holding the borg back from jumping into our little group.

We were at the Ho-Oh club, because Jun wanted to basically throw a party for my success and he picked the location. Akari had somehow found out about it and decided she wanted to join.

I hadn’t had the heart to tell him I wasn’t a fan of this place, considering the old management.

But it was still a TC club, and now that it had a second floor open, that is what Jun took over for the party.

At least the second floor was nice. A bit higher class than the BD bar down below. It was more like an actual club. The couches were comfier too.

I leaned back as Jun and Akari bickered, as Hiromi continued to look super proud.

She had been on Cloud 9 since we had sold the last of the chrome. Utterly thrilled with all the work she had done.

Honestly we all were.

I was just more anxious about the repercussions. The looming threat of what the response could be. Which is why I was happily hanging out with the chooms to relax.

“Motoko! When is the BD gonna be ready?” Ichi asked, suddenly pulling me back into the present.

“Ah. I haven’t dropped it off yet. I’ve been a little busy.” I reminded them with a sigh. All my chooms nodded, unlike Jun. Ichi, Malcolm, and Hiromi had all been super relieved that I had taken up watching the loot. “I’ll go visit Judy soon.” I assured them.

“You know you could go to a TC editor.” Jun offered looking grumpy at the mention of my Mox friend.

“Nah. Judy’s preem.” I denied instantly, besides. The longer it took the BD to release the better. I had actually been really tempted not to make one of the recording. Tempted to kill the two women that Bart had been with as well.

If there had been no survivors, it would have been quieter.

But the SLS had seen, the TC had known. It would have gotten out eventually. So instead I was going to be blatant about it. Show how dangerous I was, by being almost overconfident.

Yeah I had stolen the Scav shipment. What were they going to do about it? Fight me?

That last bit was the reason I was worried.

I liked my life in Night City. I didn’t want to have to worry about even more knives in the dark.

I shook it off.

That nagging feeling of danger wasn't any of my skills or knowledge.

It was just paranoia. I took a deep breath and exhaled.

“So what is everyone going to do with your eddies?” I asked and suddenly my chooms went silent as they all considered their wealth.

We had made enough eddies to put all four of us into a new economic bracket. At least until we spent it all, but it wasn’t like street kids like us normally had tens of thousands of eddies we could blow as we liked.

“Oh, well. I’m gonna save most of it for my Grandmother just in case. I mean, maybe look into some chrome.” Ichi offered with a casual shrug, although I noted that the last bit was less a maybe and more a definitely for the teenager.

“Oh I’m getting some better chrome too. I’m thinking some subdermal… Just so I don’t have to worry so much about getting shot up.” Malcolm offered. “Otherwise… Maybe a car of my own. I wouldn’t mind having my own ride.”

“Oh! I’m going to invest it into some quality flash chrome!” Hiromi happily cheered. “I need to look the part. Father offered to take me to an Arasaka medical clinic for some real corpo chrome.”

“Oh fancy!” I said smiling, considering the Arasaka aesthetics… Yeah that would look pretty preem on Hiromi. It might change her style to a more goth style, but I bet it would look cute on her.

“What about you Motoko?”

I shrugged, I had a few things I wanted. I still wanted to get a Kusanagi Yaiba of my own.

Motorcycles were cool after all.

But I also wanted to get more chrome, and I would need to set aside thirty, maybe forty grand for a future plan.

Then I needed eddies for my engineering XP grind…

And I could do well with an even newer Cyberdeck…

I snorted. “I have so many things I have no idea!” I told my chooms earning laughs from Hiromi and Jun chuckled at me too. So that was nice. But Jun reached over and pinched me!

“Ow! Jerk!”

“Get some more chrome Motoko. You don’t have to take something from the chrome you klepped, but go get some upgrades. Promise me you’ll at least get some subdermal, Maybe a pain editor, and biomon as well. Just fit yourself out.”

“I… I’ll get the Subdermal.” I admitted and all my chooms cheered and Jun nodded pleased. I really didn’t need a pain editor. Cold Blood did an amazing job of that already, and a biomon seemed silly.

I didn’t need a damn health bar.

“Good, you should protect yourself. Is there anything else you’ve been thinking about?” He asked prodding me and I did have to nod. There was lots of stuff!

I really wanted a Sandy after all! And Optical Camo! Going invisible would be so preem! I wanted to be even sneakier! Maybe some Lynx paws of my own so I would be even quieter! I mean, sure I probably didn’t need that last one, but I could get some jumpy ankles…

Was it time to get some leg chrome? I had to consider as my mind actually remembered it was a thing.

Yeah. It might be.

I would have to talk to Vik about it. He would give me Dad level advice.

—--

I woke up the next morning in my actual bed. I had decided to take a full eight hours of sleep, just to reset myself.

It felt nice to wake up refreshed and feeling good. I guess in the end I couldn’t complain about what the future would hold.

I would just deal with it as it came, and keep preparing just in case it was dangerous.

So that was exactly what I was going to do.

I got up and headed out. Jun was already gone, he must have been tired when he drove into work this morning since he stayed up so late partying with Akari. Who was entertaining at a party while also incredibly annoying. So the usual.

The sky was falling like crazy and I noticed the streets were semi flooded.

I avoided the oncoming traffic as best I could due to all the puddles and the tendency of people in NC not to give a shit. So it took a bit longer than usual before I piled into my Quadra and headed out into the streets safe from the rain.

The streets slick with oil painting the entire road a rainbow as I drove through the traffic towards Viks.

I parked outside Misty’s Esoterica like always and rushed inside to get out of the rain, earning a laugh from Misty as she watched me pull my jacket from over my head.

“What? It’s rainy out there!”

“I know you gonk, usually people bring an umbrella when it’s raining.” She teased pointing out her own neon umbrella resting in the corner.

“Pshht! I don’t need it!” I said, although the fact I was still wiping water out of my hair had Misty giggling.

“Sure you don’t. Here to see Vik? I don’t see any bullet holes this time.” Misty offered and I grinned at her tone.

“Nope, just a visit. I was too busy doing guard duty to see him after he put in the order for all that chrome I picked up.”

“I heard about that. Vik mentioned it… You going to be okay Motoko? That was a lot of stuff you dropped off I hear. More than usual.”

“Yeah…” I muttered still wondering that myself. “I did a really big gig. I found out this rich playboy guy was working with Scavs. Holding onto their chrome in the hold of his yacht… So I klepped it. You know, thinking about it. The NCPD will have to put Piracy on my rap sheet… That’s pretty cool.” I muttered I would have to go check the NCPD sheet on me soon.

Misty just snorted at my muttering and pulled me into a hug which was nice.

“That must have been dangerous, but if you stole from Scavs. That’s a good thing.”

“Yeah… It’s big though. I’m worried about them retaliating. It’s one of the reasons I’m here to talk to Vik… I think it’s time for some new chrome. I’m ready for an upgrade.” I tell her and she just nods.

It wasn’t like people really had that much of an issue with chrome. So Misty probably just thought I was making a big deal with all the eddies I had now.

But this was me deciding to overcome my fear.

“Then you should go see him. Good to see you Motoko, come by more often okay?”

“I will! I’ll come hang out later we should get food or something!” I agreed, earning a smile as I headed through the shop down the stairs and into Vik’s lair.

“Motoko! Come in come in! You didn’t say you were going to stop by.” Vik called out as he turned down the sound of a boxing match playing on his small TV.

“Vik… I need some chrome.” I said as firm as I could and Vik noticed it. Slowly he nodded.

“You sure? No, I see that you are. Alright kid. Let’s get you chipped up. What do you need, let’s make sure I have what you need.”

“First? I need some Subdermal. The best we can get. I don’t want people putting any more holes in me if we can help it.” I told him and this time Vik frowned.

“A good choice, but I don’t have anything that high end in stock… I know a guy though, give me a sec.” He muttered as his eyes went gold and he leaned back into his chair.

Since he was obviously making a call I wandered over to the ripper chair and plopped in.

Just kicking my feet for a while as Vik tried to help me.

Good old Vik.

“I got something. A set of Militech-Armalite Ballistic Guard.”

“Armalite? Isn’t that a gun company?” I couldn’t help but ask. Armalite was a name I recognized. They made one of the most popular guns in the world. The AR rifle platform. It was always weird when I came across a company that I remembered from my last life.

“Huh? Oh, they were about a century ago. Surprised you remember that.” Vik mentioned and I had to resist starting to whistle at my accidental reveal. “They make armor for Militech now. Their subdermal is top of the line. A lot of it flooded the market after the last war.”

I nodded made sense. I bet a lot of it that hit the market wasn’t brand new either. Plenty of old NUSA soldiers dying on the street only to have their chrome stripped.

It was kinda gross, but I trusted Vik.

“Well kid anything else you are looking to get?”

“Yeah.” I pulled up my leg by the ankle and pointed at my legs. “Know any good reinforced tendon cyberware? I need to up my mobility. Um but preferably something that isn’t going to make my ankles creak as I sneak around. So big jumps but still quiet.”
“Heh that’s an old wives tale, they will be just as silent as your own ankles. But that I can do. I’m guessing you aren’t looking for something cheap?”

“I want the best of the best Vik. I have the eddies. Better to go for quality for what I’m putting in me.”

“Well kid, now you're talking my language. Check that screen, let’s go through a list and see what we can scrounge up.” He said as he rolled over and I pulled down the screen on his ripper chair watching as the options changed until it showed a listing of all sorts of leg Cyberware.

Small updates, like the reinforced tendons, to nearly full chrome legs all listed out.

I shook my head at some of the many options. “Just the reinforced tendons. I don’t want to go crazy here Vik. Not yet anyways. Maybe someday I’ll get a matching set of limbs.” I joked.

“Alright kid, don't worry. We’ll find you the chrome you are looking for, In fact… Let me check my stock, I might just have a surprise that would be perfect!” He offered with a smile that I couldn’t help but return.

I was feeling a little nervous to add more metal into me, but not because I was afraid of psychosis or anything, but just because I wanted to make sure I was taking it slow and steady.

But getting shot so much would kill me a whole lot faster than a bit of mental zaniness.

Besides, I had found plenty of ways to get XP. If nothing else I could always go Daemon hunting.

—--

It took two hours for Vik to get his delivery of the Subdermal. Which I did look over in a sort of fascination.

The armor wasn’t a solid piece like cloth, or armored panels like I expected.

The subdermal instead was a sort of hexagonal mesh that could be put together like… Well Lego wasn’t quite right, but you could add and remove the hexagons to adjust it to the exact size you wanted.

In essence, it would be put together piece by piece beneath my skin turning into a bullet resistant mesh.

Vik made sure to keep mentioning it was bullet resistant, and not bulletproof despite what the marketing would tell me.

“Trust me Vik. I know the difference between bulletproof, and bullet resistant.” I assured him but he just gave me his dad look and continued setting up the blueprint of where the mesh would be implanted in on his screen.

The reinforced tendons were easier Something he had pulled out of storage covered in dust. Vik had talked up the chrome quite a bit and I did trust him but…

“They seem kinda sketchy.” I muttered as he put down the container for the implant on the table beside me.

“These are beyond solid kid. Professional sport quality Cyberware. The stuff they fit on Night City Heat… You have no idea what that is.” He said suddenly at my blank stare.

“I have no idea what that is.” I agree.

“Kids these days. It’s the Night City Professional Basketball team!”

“I don’t watch sports Vik.” I denied his excitement turning him into a grumpy old man complaining about kids not liking the right sports ball team.

“Regardless! The chrome used to be owned by a basketball player, a kid that grew up here in heywood actually. Dante, good kid, came by every once in a while for years. A few years back he came by to have me do the upgrade. He was worried his agency was setting him up to take a fall with a new set of chrome. After I checked his chrome, I swapped him up, and he said I could keep these as payment. Funny kid. Paid me afterwards anyways.” Vik chuckled but he gave me a strong look. “These things are high end sportsware. Chrome like this is in a lot of ways even better than the top of the line stuff you could find. It’s pricy, but since you don’t care about cost, trust me. This is the chrome you want.”

“Alright Vik. I trust you. I’m ready. Let’s get Chippin.”

Vik stilled and gave me a look

I returned a firm nod.

“Alright Kid. Lay back.” Vik said reassuring me with a hand on my shoulder as he gassed me up a bit and I was out.

—--

Militech-Armalite Ballistic Guard *Adaptation Ballistic Guard 0/2*
Serano Air-Groove Ankles *Adaptation Serano Air 0/1*

I was checking my status after Vik woke me up and had me sit up.

“You all there kid?” He asked and I nodded shooing away the screen.

“Yeah, just taking it in. Bit itchy, and my ankles feel kinda big, and wobbly.”

“That’s normal. Your skin is itchy because it’s healing. Once it’s done with that, you might feel some weird stretching. You are literally bigger on the inside now after all.” Vik said joking to try and keep me calm. “The tendons is a big replacement kid. I mean this is the first time you’ve ever gotten such a big change in chrome outside of the obvious. Take it slow.” He told me firmly, but I just nodded.

It wasn’t too bad though. I had chosen this, so I was pretty comfortable with a bit of weirdness for a little.

“Now normally I wouldn’t even let you walk for a while, but that’s professional chrome made for fast healing… And you already heal fast. So make sure you do some light exercise, starting in a few days!” He cut himself off poking my chest. “Before you do something crazy, you will feel like you are running weirdly at first, and you should practice outdoors in a place it won’t be too bad if you fall to get used to your new jumping ability. I’ve seen a lot of fools fall to their death because they tried to leap across something they shouldn’t.”

“Got it. Take it slow, get used to it, and wait a few days for everything to heal, or Vik will give me his disappointed dad face.” I joked and to my surprise Vik almost jolted at my words, before a slow deep chuckle escaped him.

“Yeah that’s right kid. I’ll give you the worst disappointed dad face of your life.” He said, smiling a little as he reached out and to my surprise…

And maybe secret delight, he fluffed my hair.
“Hey!” I pouted as required by all teenage girls when someone messes their hair but he just smirked at me.

“Now take a puff of this now. It’ll help keep the pain down, and help heal up the wounds. Yes Motoko I remember you heal fast, but take it anyways. Come by tomorrow or the day after at the latest. I’ll want to check you out after you sleep.”

“Thanks Vik.” I said seriously, reaching out and grabbing his wrist for a moment. “Really thanks.”

“Heh, anytime kid.”

—--

“Hey Misty.” I called out as I walked into her shop. I was very grateful no one had seen me walking up the stairs to Viks clinic. I hadn’t fallen, but the bounciness was going to take some getting used to. It was like wearing moon boots. My ankles also felt like they were made of rubber. It was fun, but in a weird sort of way.

They also hurt a bit, but between Cold Blood and Viks drugs I wasn’t exactly bothered.

Besides, I was heading home to sleep it all off.

“Motoko! You’ve been down there a while, get some new chrome?” Misty offered as she waved me over to a table she was sitting at.

“Yeah, new ankles, and some subdermal. I kinda want to stop getting shot at all the time.” I told her and she nodded at that trying not to look uncomfortable at me getting shot.

“Vik will have taken care of you though. Do you need anything?”

“No, I’m good. I’m just gonna head home to sleep it off, and then I’ll be right as rain.” I offered before noticing the way she looked a little down at that. “But I wouldn’t mind a few minutes to rest my feet. Whatcha looking at?” I asked as I took a seat across from Misty who looked up in delight as she started chattering about the article she was reading.

“Speaking of Motoko. You sure you don’t want a Tarot reading?” Misty asked already seeming to pull out the cards but I shook my head, reaching out to pause her hold.

“No thanks. I prefer to let the future be something I make… I don’t need to be told what’s going to happen. I’d rather get the fun of experiencing it directly.” I told her and for a moment Misty looked like she wanted to argue, probably tell me I was getting it wrong, but eventually she just smiled and put the cards away.

“That’s very wise of you Motoko. Living your life as it comes.”

“It’s not like that really. I’m just too much of a gonk, if you told me something bad was going to happen, I would end up freaking out and probably just make it all worse.” I laughed, it was doubly true since Misty definitely had some ability to tell the future.

Best just avoid it though.

“I think it says a lot about you though. It means you really have your own path set out for yourself. I like it.” She offered and I beamed a little at her compliment.

“Hungry?” Misty asked suddenly, and I couldn’t help but nod which had her beaming. Five minutes later we were both set up in comfy chairs with some very zen ambient music playing as the two of us devoured some takeout Misty had run out to get from a restaurant nearby.

It was nice. Cozy.

 

[Karmic Acumen]

So I forgot, does adaptation happen on its own over time, or do you have to spend points on it.

 

[Seras]

So I forgot, does adaptation happen on its own over time, or do you have to spend points on it.

It does happen very slowly on it's own as you get used to things, but it's slow, and it has limits.

 

[Guardian Box]

"Huh? Oh, they were about a century ago. Surprised you remember that."

I think you may want to have "Surprised you knew about that".

Having it be "Surprised you remember that" implies Vic is saying he knows she's an old soul who has been around that time long ago. Which is accidentally correct, if a little wee unsettling.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

I really didn’t need a pain editor. Cold Blood did an amazing job of that already, and a biomon seemed silly.

I feel like a flag has been triggered.

 

[Seras]

I feel like a flag has been triggered.

I don't really do story flags. But I'm not actually sure what would even be the flag here. That she gets a Biomon or something?

 

[Carrot of Truth]

I don't really do story flags. But I'm not actually sure what would even be the flag here. That she gets a Biomon or something?

Joke was she said she didn't need a pain editor and that felt like tempting fate.

 

[Seras]

Home was nice. Jun was still at work when I got home but I was kind of glad because I was really wanting a nap.

My chest itched.

Like crazy.

I was forced to use Cool just to resist the irritation. So I really wanted a full sleep to hopefully remove the discomfort.

As I flopped onto the bed wincing a bit as I pulled my boots off my ankles that were all blotchy and swollen.

Despite Vik’s gentle touch he had still stuffed shit into my body. I was bruised up a bit. I didn’t even want to check my chest. My leotard thankfully had a bit of stretch to it despite the armored layer so It was wearable. It did feel a little tighter than normal, although that could just be the swelling.

So I laid back onto my bed and set myself to eight hours.

I blinked awake feeling pretty damn good. I stretched, noticing that the pain that had been just under my skin before was gone, although I winced a bit as the itching wasn’t entirely done with.

Sure it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was, but as I stretched and felt the way my skin stretched there was a bit of irritation in areas.

I scratched a bit and that seemed to end it.

For now.

I checked my ankles which… Well they didn’t quite look like how my ankles used to look. Part of that was the realskin seams over where the chrome had been added in. There were two seams, One along the top of my foot, and one about mid thigh height. The Real Skinn was a good match for my own so that was cool.

Vik did good work. I actually thought the seams were kinda cool too.

I wiggled my ankles left and right.

Up and down.

Rapid fire wiggled them.

Seems everything was good.

I stood up, rocking a bit, I did have a bit more bounce to my step. I would definitely need some practice to get the hang of everything again, but it was pretty natural to walk forward and I didn’t have too many problems.

Without thinking I did a little extra bounce that would normally have just put me an inch off the floor only to bounce my head off the ceiling.

“Ow.”

Hadn’t Vik warned me to be careful where I practice…

Fuck he could never know. The Dad look would shatter my self esteem forever.

I rubbed my head as I left my bedroom. I was gonna need some exercise.

Time to go for a jog.

—-

I was so bouncy! It was taking up my entire focus as I ran down the street. My feet felt like they wanted to lift off the ground with every step. Once I got used to just how much bounce I could get, I entertained myself by doing front flips over the terrain of Night City as I jogged around.

Startling people as I literally flipped over their heads if they were in my way.

When Vik had originally told me about the Serano, he had mentioned their quality. He hadn’t told me my hops would go to pro basketball player level. Or rather he had, but I hadn’t understood.

I was leaping high enough that my feet would be over where my head was at the apex of the leap if I was walking.

Hell. I was easily leaping six feet straight up without a lot of effort. Especially since I could probably get even higher with some training and getting used to them.

It was super awesome.

And sort of distracting. I just knew I was going to overestimate my leaps for a while until I got used to them…

Or until I burned a stat point for Adaptation. It was only a one drop for my ankles which was nice.

Both the subdermal, and the ankles being so low cost had reassured me.

I guess my arms had been so costly due to the unique circumstance.

I stretched my arms up to the sky enjoying the tension in my chest from the action. Of course as usual the chrome arms hitched, or maxed out their extension in a weird spot.

I still needed to add more points into them.

But my ability to move was certainly better than it had been. I started slipping into some parkour, leaping up over vending machines, or other obstacles, as I broke into a jog. Letting myself really see what I could do.

I was still right around the block of the apartment, but Instead of circling around. I turned and just ran.

Hitting another office or apartment building and just…

Going up.

Climbing straight up a building was a very unique experience, it wasn’t something most people ever really did.

But my hands knew exactly where to grab, my legs brought me to where I needed to move ever upward and I didn’t hesitate.

I reached the roof by flipping over the edge landing in a quiet crouch.

I grinned to the kid that had been hanging around the roof a can of something in his hand dropped as he flailed at my sudden appearance beside him from the wrong direction. Then just kept moving.

I bounced over the edge, landing on a sign board and then running along it until I leapt again. Hands gripping into concrete and metal as I climbed over the side of an upper level bridge. As always parts of Night City were multiple levels, and it was awesome to be able to reach them completely on foot.

Then I ran, jumping and climbing onto a street light, until I was on top of it.

I stood looking over the street chest rising and falling in a gentle rhythm. The fact I wasn’t out of breath, but I was breathing harder than normal, just a reminder I still needed to level body and athletics more.

I laughed at the thought, unable to hold back breaking into a long delighted laugh as I raised my hands above my head.

I loved this world.

I loved being able to be more.

As my laugh ended I turned Parkour helped me pick out the best rout. I jumped from the light pole to a building.

Everywhere I looked I could see a million paths I could run through the city.

It didn’t matter what was before me, because I could traverse it.

So I leapt again and again.

—-

My feet landed quiet as a mouse in front of my apartment building. I was definitely breathing heavily now, sweating like crazy and really feeling the exercise. I had gotten a few Body alerts popping up, having been running and parkouring through the city for the last few hours just loving the rush of movement, and getting practice with what I could now do.

I looked up at the section of the city high above the apartment that I had just came down from.

That would be a useful trick in the future.

I suddenly turned and remembered the attack that had lost me my arms. How I had tried to climb up a building to escape.

With my new ankles I would have been able to get away.

Not that it matters. I patted my shoulder holster. I was always armed now.

Of course I looked at my alerts for a moment.

*100 Body XP Gained*

*100 Body XP Gained*

I was really going to have to start seriously pushing myself if I wanted to grind more level ups.

I headed inside, wiping my forehead and running up the stairs because I might as well get a little more exercise.

I jumped into a quick shower to clean up and after slipping into a new leotard I flopped on the couch and grabbed my laptop. I still had another Quick Hack that I hadn’t ‘fixed’ yet.

Weapon Glitch.

Ping was an amazing utility, giving me information to better sneak around.

Reboot Optics was excellent at removing threats, but it was also very obvious.

Weapon Glitch? Weapon Glitch was just as good at removing threats, but it could also be prepared in advance.

No one missed when their eyes suddenly stopped working, but being able to turn off weapons before ever being revealed would give me a good advantage.

I looked at both the original Weapon Glitch I had bought from Yoko. The ‘fixed’ version I had put together which was okay, but still not great.

Then I considered how I could make it great.

I had enough experience now. Enough skill that I knew what to do. How to go about it.

I was going to make a Weapon Glitch that would just be hilarious. If I could get the hack to bounce through the network, I could definitely get it to spread to every weapon connected to whatever gonk I was fighting against.

I could potentially get it to bounce an unlimited amount of times within the network if I process the virus right.

Length and spread. That was my goal. Sure I could probably get a version that causes weapons to explode or something, at least smart weapons, causing their fuel and ammunition to cook off in the gun would be nasty, but that meant less loot!

No, I wanted a single quick hack to massively reduce the threat of a large group of people.

So I started programming.

—-

“-Mass hacking incident perpetrated by what the NCPD have decided to call the Laughing Man Hacker.”

I blinked as I watched the news report. I had remembered that there had been an actual news report about my act of piracy.

So of course I had checked it out!

Apparently hacking the optics of dozens of rich and famous had caused a bit of a wave. I had to giggle uncontrollably as some playboy singer was interviewed absolutely spitting mad about how I had blinded him.

Apparently he had been mid… Coitus when it happened, and it had been with a married woman. A woman that was his bosses wife. Blind as they had been, they hadn’t been able to split up before someone had come to help them.

I’d apologize but the guys rant was a bit much.

Temptation to assassinate rising.

But it was all hot air… I think. I made a note to check if the guy actually knew anyone that could cause me trouble.

In the end since they didn’t take too long to figure out how to fix the blindness the incident slipped off the news.

But for a short time the Laughing Man, had been big news.

Cool.

Scary, but cool.

In the end the news never figured out who I was before the whole incident was forgotten. In the end I had only killed the one person after all. Everyone else affected was just given a small optical virus that had been fixed that night.

I tapped my neck feeling the shard ports.

I still had the BD recording saved. I hadn’t handed it over yet. I could just forget about it…

No, that was fear talking. I rose up and stretched. It was getting late, but Judy should still be at Lizzies.

I got dressed and headed out enjoying the drive through the city, singing along to the radio.

Lizzies was booming when I got there. So much so that I had to drive down the street to find a parking spot. In fact there was practically a line getting in, but I did what any person does when they know the bouncer.

I walked past the line up to Rita.

She was glaring at a pair of gonk kids at the front of the line that were trying to talk their way in.

“C’mon! We’ve been out here for three hours!”

“And you’ll wait a bit longer.” Rita offered with a glare and a move that caused her baseball bat to tap against her chrome shoulder with a tink noise.

Of course I was getting attention by bypassing the line. Glares and a few irritated call outs, but they all expected Rita to halt me.

“Hey Rita.”

“Motoko.” She greeted with a single nod, before looking me over. “Business or pleasure?”

“Business. I’m here to see Judy.”

“Go on in then.” Rita said and the looks I got from the people in the line was pretty hurtful.

Wasn’t my fault I was here with actual business.

The insides were crowded as I wandered in walking past hordes of people flirting and drinking.

Luckily I was able to walk right through to the back and then down into Judy’s lair.

As I walked in, I was surprised that Judy wasn’t alone.

Suzie Q. The leader of the Mox was standing beside her, looking down at a monitor.

“Oh. Hey Judy. Should I come back later?” I asked, making sure they knew I was there.

I knew how sneaky I was, I didn’t want to get caught standing around waiting for them to notice and have people think I was spying.

“Jesus!” Judy jumped despite my attempt to not scare her. “Motoko! I’m getting a bell on you I swear to god!”

“Sorry sorry!” I flailed a bit as I apologized mostly because Suzie Q had jumped too, and she unlike Judy didn’t look amused.

Or very happy to see me.

“No come on in, Suzie was just looking over my list of new BD’s. What brings you here?” Judy waved me in, which I noticed didn’t make Suzie very happy.

But I wasn’t here to make her happy.

“I got another BD. A big one this time. I went on a big gig, stole tons and tons of scav chrome from where they were keeping it. Stole a yacht, blew it up with a rocket launcher at the end! Should be preem.” I offered, trying to act casual at the awesome tidbits I just offered.

“Wait. Stole a yacht? Motoko! Are you the Laughing Man?” Judy asked suddenly without warning! I wasn’t ready for this!

“Ugh! I can’t believe they called me that! I’m not the laughing man, I’m not a super wizard class hacker… Yet.” I muttered, I would get that power someday.

“Super wizard class hacker? What in the world is even that?” Judy struggled to ask as she laughed through the question.

“It’s a thing!” I argued but it was Suzie Q that broke in then.

“You’re the one that broke into the Gold Beach Marina? You?” She asked, looking me over, with a look saying she refused to believe me.

I shrugged. I wasn’t here to prove I had done something.

I popped the shard out of my socket and offered it up to Judy. “See for yourself.”

“Yoink!” Judy chirped, snatching the shard and pushing her chair wheeling over to her system where she inserted the shard and seemed more than willing to get to work.

“You’re the one that saved Nox.” Suzie Q muttered suddenly as if she suddenly remembered where she had seen me.

“Yeah, that’s how Nox and I met. I’ve been giving my BD’s to Judie, to fix up, and then Nox sells them.”

“That’s right. The XBD’s. I remember now… You’re also the one that took out Jotaro.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t nod, or make any acceptance of that. Just a glare on my face as I thought about that monster.

“Alright. Judy get those BD’s added to the server before you jump into that. You might not look like much, but any girl that can make the news, and murder that monster is someone welcome here.” She gave me a single firm nod as if my presence was now accepted before walking off.

“She always like that?” I couldn’t help but ask Judy.

“Yeah, that’s how Suzie is now. She used to be a lot nicer, before Lizzie died.” Judy offered, sounding distracted as her fingers ran across her keyboard.

—--

Back home I didn’t jump back into programming even if I kept having the feeling of ‘programming good’ whispered into my brain.

Inspired programmer was super useful, but it did mean I had that urge to act on it all the time.

No, instead I grabbed my guitar and my music box. I had been rushing around so much the last few weeks, first tracking the scavs, then the gig to steal from them, and then guarding the loot.

I had even jumped straight into work when I got home, but I really needed to decompress a bit.

So I hit my first note and played something actiony just to get the energy out of myself. Slowly as I finished song after song, I slipped into more relaxed music. Soothing tones and crooning vocals.

A few songs went by and then suddenly I got an alert.

*Rockerboy skill level up!*

Rockerboy 6! I smiled as I felt myself relax, as always improving made me feel better. So I just kept playing, and while I played I considered my situation.

While I still winced a bit at actually starting to get a rep, it did have benefits. There was a certain respect in the city for people who have done things.

Stealing a yacht and blowing it up counted, I guess. Maybe?

I don’t know. Night City people were fucking weird.

I now had eddies to spare. Even with the purchase of my subdermal, and new ankles I still had a ton of eddies.

It was nice, but honestly I wasn’t ready to buckle down and slam through tech yet. I was just too focused on other skills. So the eddies were pretty much just going to be sitting around for now unless something popped into my head that I wanted.

I continued to play along to songs as I relaxed, letting the sounds lull me into a calm mood.

—-

The next day I got a call from someone I wasn’t expecting.

*Yoko! What’s up?*

*Motoko. Or perhaps I should call you the laughing man?* She asked, in a teasing tone.

*Ugh. I can’t believe the news actually started calling me that, just because I used the J.D. Salinger quote.*

*It’s eye-catching, and you inflicted it upon some of the rich and famous. Of course it would become news. You should come by the server. I’ve had a lot of questions about who it was with a reboot Optic hack that could last for hours. People are interested, as someone who has been around the block? You want to come in and get some of their attention out of the way now. Unless you want to deal with everyone trying to hack you constantly over the next few months.*

*Ugh. That’s annoying! It’s not really turning them off that long. It’s just a trick.* I replied irritated.

*Oh I’m aware. You modified their user preferences, making them blind. Smart. I hadn’t even considered that before. Usually the settings don’t go that dark.*

*How do you already know? Ugh. The only reason they don’t is because the settings are purposefully limited. I just added-*

*Come to the server Motoko. There are a lot of people that want to hear all about what you did. Think of it as a congratulations party. You did something interesting enough that everyone wants to hear the story from the source.*

*Oh. Okay yeah. Sure. I’ll be there soon!*

*Excellent, then I’ll see you soon Motoko.* Yoko hung up and I smiled at that. Quickly jumping away from the couch and heading to get dressed.

There was a part of me wondering if this was a trap and the NCPD were going to attack my unconscious body, and haul me into jail, but I trusted Yoko.

Plus I was kinda wanting to show off.

 

[Abhorsen]

Home was nice. Jun was still at work when I got home but I was kind of glad because I was really wanting a nap.

My chest itched.

Like crazy.

I was forced to use Cool just to resist the irritation. So I really wanted a full sleep to hopefully remove the discomfort.

As I flopped onto the bed wincing a bit as I pulled my boots off my ankles that were all blotchy and swollen.

Despite Vik’s gentle touch he had still stuffed shit into my body. I was bruised up a bit. I didn’t even want to check my chest. My leotard thankfully had a bit of stretch to it despite the armored layer so It was wearable. It did feel a little tighter than normal, although that could just be the swelling.

So I laid back onto my bed and set myself to eight hours.

I blinked awake feeling pretty damn good. I stretched, noticing that the pain that had been just under my skin before was gone, although I winced a bit as the itching wasn’t entirely done with.

Sure it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was, but as I stretched and felt the way my skin stretched there was a bit of irritation in areas.

I scratched a bit and that seemed to end it.

For now.

I checked my ankles which… Well they didn’t quite look like how my ankles used to look. Part of that was the realskin seams over where the chrome had been added in. There were two seams, One along the top of my foot, and one about mid thigh height. The Real Skinn was a good match for my own so that was cool.

Vik did good work. I actually thought the seams were kinda cool too.

I wiggled my ankles left and right.

Up and down.

Rapid fire wiggled them.

Seems everything was good.

I stood up, rocking a bit, I did have a bit more bounce to my step. I would definitely need some practice to get the hang of everything again, but it was pretty natural to walk forward and I didn’t have too many problems.

Without thinking I did a little extra bounce that would normally have just put me an inch off the floor only to bounce my head off the ceiling.

“Ow.”

Hadn’t Vik warned me to be careful where I practice…

Fuck he could never know. The Dad look would shatter my self esteem forever.

I rubbed my head as I left my bedroom. I was gonna need some exercise.

Time to go for a jog.

—-

I was so bouncy! It was taking up my entire focus as I ran down the street. My feet felt like they wanted to lift off the ground with every step. Once I got used to just how much bounce I could get, I entertained myself by doing front flips over the terrain of Night City as I jogged around.

Startling people as I literally flipped over their heads if they were in my way.

When Vik had originally told me about the Serano, he had mentioned their quality. He hadn’t told me my hops would go to pro basketball player level. Or rather he had, but I hadn’t understood.

I was leaping high enough that my feet would be over where my head was at the apex of the leap if I was walking.

Hell. I was easily leaping six feet straight up without a lot of effort. Especially since I could probably get even higher with some training and getting used to them.

It was super awesome.

And sort of distracting. I just knew I was going to overestimate my leaps for a while until I got used to them…

Or until I burned a stat point for Adaptation. It was only a one drop for my ankles which was nice.

Both the subdermal, and the ankles being so low cost had reassured me.

I guess my arms had been so costly due to the unique circumstance.

I stretched my arms up to the sky enjoying the tension in my chest from the action. Of course as usual the chrome arms hitched, or maxed out their extension in a weird spot.

I still needed to add more points into them.

But my ability to move was certainly better than it had been. I started slipping into some parkour, leaping up over vending machines, or other obstacles, as I broke into a jog. Letting myself really see what I could do.

I was still right around the block of the apartment, but Instead of circling around. I turned and just ran.

Hitting another office or apartment building and just…

Going up.

Climbing straight up a building was a very unique experience, it wasn’t something most people ever really did.

But my hands knew exactly where to grab, my legs brought me to where I needed to move ever upward and I didn’t hesitate.

I reached the roof by flipping over the edge landing in a quiet crouch.

I grinned to the kid that had been hanging around the roof a can of something in his hand dropped as he flailed at my sudden appearance beside him from the wrong direction. Then just kept moving.

I bounced over the edge, landing on a sign board and then running along it until I leapt again. Hands gripping into concrete and metal as I climbed over the side of an upper level bridge. As always parts of Night City were multiple levels, and it was awesome to be able to reach them completely on foot.

Then I ran, jumping and climbing onto a street light, until I was on top of it.

I stood looking over the street chest rising and falling in a gentle rhythm. The fact I wasn’t out of breath, but I was breathing harder than normal, just a reminder I still needed to level body and athletics more.

I laughed at the thought, unable to hold back breaking into a long delighted laugh as I raised my hands above my head.

I loved this world.

I loved being able to be more.

As my laugh ended I turned Parkour helped me pick out the best rout. I jumped from the light pole to a building.

Everywhere I looked I could see a million paths I could run through the city.

It didn’t matter what was before me, because I could traverse it.

So I leapt again and again.

—-

My feet landed quiet as a mouse in front of my apartment building. I was definitely breathing heavily now, sweating like crazy and really feeling the exercise. I had gotten a few Body alerts popping up, having been running and parkouring through the city for the last few hours just loving the rush of movement, and getting practice with what I could now do.

I looked up at the section of the city high above the apartment that I had just came down from.

That would be a useful trick in the future.

I suddenly turned and remembered the attack that had lost me my arms. How I had tried to climb up a building to escape.

With my new ankles I would have been able to get away.

Not that it matters. I patted my shoulder holster. I was always armed now.

Of course I looked at my alerts for a moment.

*100 Body XP Gained*

*100 Body XP Gained*

I was really going to have to start seriously pushing myself if I wanted to grind more level ups.

I headed inside, wiping my forehead and running up the stairs because I might as well get a little more exercise.

I jumped into a quick shower to clean up and after slipping into a new leotard I flopped on the couch and grabbed my laptop. I still had another Quick Hack that I hadn’t ‘fixed’ yet.

Weapon Glitch.

Ping was an amazing utility, giving me information to better sneak around.

Reboot Optics was excellent at removing threats, but it was also very obvious.

Weapon Glitch? Weapon Glitch was just as good at removing threats, but it could also be prepared in advance.

No one missed when their eyes suddenly stopped working, but being able to turn off weapons before ever being revealed would give me a good advantage.

I looked at both the original Weapon Glitch I had bought from Yoko. The ‘fixed’ version I had put together which was okay, but still not great.

Then I considered how I could make it great.

I had enough experience now. Enough skill that I knew what to do. How to go about it.

I was going to make a Weapon Glitch that would just be hilarious. If I could get the hack to bounce through the network, I could definitely get it to spread to every weapon connected to whatever gonk I was fighting against.

I could potentially get it to bounce an unlimited amount of times within the network if I process the virus right.

Length and spread. That was my goal. Sure I could probably get a version that causes weapons to explode or something, at least smart weapons, causing their fuel and ammunition to cook off in the gun would be nasty, but that meant less loot!

No, I wanted a single quick hack to massively reduce the threat of a large group of people.

So I started programming.

—-

“-Mass hacking incident perpetrated by what the NCPD have decided to call the Laughing Man Hacker.”

I blinked as I watched the news report. I had remembered that there had been an actual news report about my act of piracy.

So of course I had checked it out!

Apparently hacking the optics of dozens of rich and famous had caused a bit of a wave. I had to giggle uncontrollably as some playboy singer was interviewed absolutely spitting mad about how I had blinded him.

Apparently he had been mid… Coitus when it happened, and it had been with a married woman. A woman that was his bosses wife. Blind as they had been, they hadn’t been able to split up before someone had come to help them.

I’d apologize but the guys rant was a bit much.

Temptation to assassinate rising.

But it was all hot air… I think. I made a note to check if the guy actually knew anyone that could cause me trouble.

In the end since they didn’t take too long to figure out how to fix the blindness the incident slipped off the news.

But for a short time the Laughing Man, had been big news.

Cool.

Scary, but cool.

In the end the news never figured out who I was before the whole incident was forgotten. In the end I had only killed the one person after all. Everyone else affected was just given a small optical virus that had been fixed that night.

I tapped my neck feeling the shard ports.

I still had the BD recording saved. I hadn’t handed it over yet. I could just forget about it…

No, that was fear talking. I rose up and stretched. It was getting late, but Judy should still be at Lizzies.

I got dressed and headed out enjoying the drive through the city, singing along to the radio.

Lizzies was booming when I got there. So much so that I had to drive down the street to find a parking spot. In fact there was practically a line getting in, but I did what any person does when they know the bouncer.

I walked past the line up to Rita.

She was glaring at a pair of gonk kids at the front of the line that were trying to talk their way in.

“C’mon! We’ve been out here for three hours!”

“And you’ll wait a bit longer.” Rita offered with a glare and a move that caused her baseball bat to tap against her chrome shoulder with a tink noise.

Of course I was getting attention by bypassing the line. Glares and a few irritated call outs, but they all expected Rita to halt me.

“Hey Rita.”

“Motoko.” She greeted with a single nod, before looking me over. “Business or pleasure?”

“Business. I’m here to see Judy.”

“Go on in then.” Rita said and the looks I got from the people in the line was pretty hurtful.

Wasn’t my fault I was here with actual business.

The insides were crowded as I wandered in walking past hordes of people flirting and drinking.

Luckily I was able to walk right through to the back and then down into Judy’s lair.

As I walked in, I was surprised that Judy wasn’t alone.

Suzie Q. The leader of the Mox was standing beside her, looking down at a monitor.

“Oh. Hey Judy. Should I come back later?” I asked, making sure they knew I was there.

I knew how sneaky I was, I didn’t want to get caught standing around waiting for them to notice and have people think I was spying.

“Jesus!” Judy jumped despite my attempt to not scare her. “Motoko! I’m getting a bell on you I swear to god!”

“Sorry sorry!” I flailed a bit as I apologized mostly because Suzie Q had jumped too, and she unlike Judy didn’t look amused.

Or very happy to see me.

“No come on in, Suzie was just looking over my list of new BD’s. What brings you here?” Judy waved me in, which I noticed didn’t make Suzie very happy.

But I wasn’t here to make her happy.

“I got another BD. A big one this time. I went on a big gig, stole tons and tons of scav chrome from where they were keeping it. Stole a yacht, blew it up with a rocket launcher at the end! Should be preem.” I offered, trying to act casual at the awesome tidbits I just offered.

“Wait. Stole a yacht? Motoko! Are you the Laughing Man?” Judy asked suddenly without warning! I wasn’t ready for this!

“Ugh! I can’t believe they called me that! I’m not the laughing man, I’m not a super wizard class hacker… Yet.” I muttered, I would get that power someday.

“Super wizard class hacker? What in the world is even that?” Judy struggled to ask as she laughed through the question.

“It’s a thing!” I argued but it was Suzie Q that broke in then.

“You’re the one that broke into the Gold Beach Marina? You?” She asked, looking me over, with a look saying she refused to believe me.

I shrugged. I wasn’t here to prove I had done something.

I popped the shard out of my socket and offered it up to Judy. “See for yourself.”

“Yoink!” Judy chirped, snatching the shard and pushing her chair wheeling over to her system where she inserted the shard and seemed more than willing to get to work.

“You’re the one that saved Nox.” Suzie Q muttered suddenly as if she suddenly remembered where she had seen me.

“Yeah, that’s how Nox and I met. I’ve been giving my BD’s to Judie, to fix up, and then Nox sells them.”

“That’s right. The XBD’s. I remember now… You’re also the one that took out Jotaro.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t nod, or make any acceptance of that. Just a glare on my face as I thought about that monster.

“Alright. Judy get those BD’s added to the server before you jump into that. You might not look like much, but any girl that can make the news, and murder that monster is someone welcome here.” She gave me a single firm nod as if my presence was now accepted before walking off.

“She always like that?” I couldn’t help but ask Judy.

“Yeah, that’s how Suzie is now. She used to be a lot nicer, before Lizzie died.” Judy offered, sounding distracted as her fingers ran across her keyboard.

—--

Back home I didn’t jump back into programming even if I kept having the feeling of ‘programming good’ whispered into my brain.

Inspired programmer was super useful, but it did mean I had that urge to act on it all the time.

No, instead I grabbed my guitar and my music box. I had been rushing around so much the last few weeks, first tracking the scavs, then the gig to steal from them, and then guarding the loot.

I had even jumped straight into work when I got home, but I really needed to decompress a bit.

So I hit my first note and played something actiony just to get the energy out of myself. Slowly as I finished song after song, I slipped into more relaxed music. Soothing tones and crooning vocals.

A few songs went by and then suddenly I got an alert.

*Rockerboy skill level up!*

Rockerboy 6! I smiled as I felt myself relax, as always improving made me feel better. So I just kept playing, and while I played I considered my situation.

While I still winced a bit at actually starting to get a rep, it did have benefits. There was a certain respect in the city for people who have done things.

Stealing a yacht and blowing it up counted, I guess. Maybe?

I don’t know. Night City people were fucking weird.

I now had eddies to spare. Even with the purchase of my subdermal, and new ankles I still had a ton of eddies.

It was nice, but honestly I wasn’t ready to buckle down and slam through tech yet. I was just too focused on other skills. So the eddies were pretty much just going to be sitting around for now unless something popped into my head that I wanted.

I continued to play along to songs as I relaxed, letting the sounds lull me into a calm mood.

—-

The next day I got a call from someone I wasn’t expecting.

*Yoko! What’s up?*

*Motoko. Or perhaps I should call you the laughing man?* She asked, in a teasing tone.

*Ugh. I can’t believe the news actually started calling me that, just because I used the J.D. Salinger quote.*

*It’s eye-catching, and you inflicted it upon some of the rich and famous. Of course it would become news. You should come by the server. I’ve had a lot of questions about who it was with a reboot Optic hack that could last for hours. People are interested, as someone who has been around the block? You want to come in and get some of their attention out of the way now. Unless you want to deal with everyone trying to hack you constantly over the next few months.*

*Ugh. That’s annoying! It’s not really turning them off that long. It’s just a trick.* I replied irritated.

*Oh I’m aware. You modified their user preferences, making them blind. Smart. I hadn’t even considered that before. Usually the settings don’t go that dark.*

*How do you already know? Ugh. The only reason they don’t is because the settings are purposefully limited. I just added-*

*Come to the server Motoko. There are a lot of people that want to hear all about what you did. Think of it as a congratulations party. You did something interesting enough that everyone wants to hear the story from the source.*

*Oh. Okay yeah. Sure. I’ll be there soon!*

*Excellent, then I’ll see you soon Motoko.* Yoko hung up and I smiled at that. Quickly jumping away from the couch and heading to get dressed.

There was a part of me wondering if this was a trap and the NCPD were going to attack my unconscious body, and haul me into jail, but I trusted Yoko.

Plus I was kinda wanting to show off.

Please alter the avatar to use the laughing man face, that'd be preem.

 

[Carrot of Truth]

Okay thanks too this fic I finally got Cyberpunk 2077, I find the lack of a good black trench coat to be a travesty though. There goes my JC Denton Larp.