Ghost in the City Cyberpunk Gamer SI

[Seras]

When I finally felt like doing something again I opened up my menu and made a call.

*Ringing*

*Hey hey! Motoko!*

*Hey Hiromi! How are you? With the NCPD back on the streets, did your parents lift the lockdown?*

*Ugh. Not just yet. But school is opening next week with normal classes so they have to by then. How about you? How are the TC reacting?*

*Not sure about most of them, but Kamikaze are spreading back out, the secret headquarters they were using is emptying out. Jun and I are actually back home.*

*Whoa, Nova. So it really is over then?*

*Looks like at least the gang war is over. Not the killing. Lot of the Kamikaze still looked ready to go hunt more Maelstrom… Jun among them, but it’s okay. I think everything is getting better with him. He seems more stable now.*

*That’s great! I know you were worried, but I knew Jun would be okay! He is too cute to Cyberpsycho.* She said and I could tell she was teasing me.

*Gag me with a spoon, Hiromi.* Her giggles were my only response for a while until finally they ended with her going quiet for a bit.

*So hey. Choom. Choomer. Choomiest?* Hiromi suddenly asked, sounding a little quiet.

*What do you need Hiromi?* I answered, trying to keep from laughing at her words.

*My bike is still wrecked… Can’t exactly drive it right now, and I’m gonna wait a bit to give an excuse to the ‘rents so they don’t freak on me… Mind giving me a ride to class and back?*

*Huh. You want your Street Punk Merc friend drive you right up to Arasaka Tower? I’m down.* I answered after a pause, making her laugh back at me.

*Thanks Choom. Just for a day or two? I can tell my parents I crashed after that, and get my bike fixed up.*

*No worries. I’ll act as a chauffeur. Will M’lady need anything dry cleaned as well? Or perhaps someone assassinated?* I asked, trying to sound as snooty as I could which caused Hiromi to break into giggles.

*You’re such a gonk!*

*Speaking of damaged vehicles though. I should probably take my Quadra into the shop.*

*Wait what? Why? What happened?*

*Didn’t I tell you? That night I hit the Maelstrom, the damn gonks side swiped me.*

*Oh that’s right… Is the damage bad? I know you were pretty pissed about it.*

*It’s not terrible, the car is armored, paint and dents mostly, I’ll just need t-* I stopped.

Wait.

Fuckin hold on a second.

I could fix it. Mechanic work was well within the bounds of all the knowledge dumps I had been getting from the System.

*Toko? Helloooo?*

*I’m here! I just realized I actually do know how to fix it. I think… I think I’ll go fix up my car. It’ll be a nice little grind session.* I said without thinking.

*Grind? Why would you need to grind your car?*

*Oh! Uhhh. No? No, grind like doing a task and keeping at it until it’s done.* I added, making up an excuse. Thank you Slang being so common in Night City.

*Alright. Let me know how it goes… Do you think you could fix my bike? I mean-*

*Probably! I’ll have to look it over, but I can do that for my choom!* Plus! If I could repair it that means more grinding! Motoko you’re a genius!

*Preem. If I don’t have to make an excuse for my ‘rents that would be best. They are fully up my ass still. How has it been out there? Is it… Better?*

*People are everywhere! More than usual, all the people that were hiding are out on the streets now. The TC knew the NCPD were coming and hid away, and so Maelstrom got hit hard, they are making peace even.*

*Wait! Maelstrom and Tyger Claws are making peace!? Why didn’t you tell me!*

*I just did though?*

*Ugh. Motoko!*

*Sorry! I didn’t think about it. Yeah the Kamikaze leader told everyone, apparently there is going to be an end to the TC-Strom war. At least officially.*

*Wow. That’s huge! I actually… I actually should let my ‘rents know. That might be useful to them. Listen, call me later? If not, see you Monday?*

*Sure! Chat with me later Hiromi!*

The call clicked off and I nodded, already jumping to my feet. I had some grinding to do!

I grabbed my toolbox from where Jun had dumped it on the floor of my bedroom, and rushed back out.

“Going out to the parking garage! Call me if you need me!” I called out to Jun who was now in the kitchen going through the fridge, and I was off clanking down the stairs as I carried the toolbox I ran across the street, although my head was swiveling, and my right hand free in order to quickdraw if I needed.

Not going to make that mistake again. Burya was in its holster and ready to go if needed.

But nothing happened. I ran into the garage and reached the car.

The side of my Quadra was still suffering from a nasty dent all along the side. The paint utterly ripped off.

Fucking Maelstrom.

But I knelt down, popping my tool box open. With a deftness I grabbed the needed tools, Instantly my hands went to work humming lightly as I slowly worked out the dents in the armored side. Honestly the fact it was armored made my job harder, but it just needed more force to even out, and the few places that some internal circuitry was crushed I simply spent a few minutes scanning and then remaking a replacement, a bit of testing to make sure it worked and I was set.

I hadn’t even known that one of my rear lights was out! That was so dangerous! What if someone rear ended me!

Well it was fixed now. I stood up, sure the paint was more trashed than it had been before, but with a few going over of a magnetic tool that let me smooth out the plate. It was done.

Now to check on all the spots that had been hit… And probably a carwash, I forgot about the whole blowing someone's head off on the hood. The bits of gore still stuck on the hood was a little gnarly…

I probably should have taken that to a carwash before this… Ew.

I almost turned and walked all the way back inside when I remembered.

My eyes turned gold.

*Motoko? What’s wrong?* Jun responded nearly instantly.

*Nothing! Nothing. I’m okay. Just calling to let you know, I’m gonna need to hit a carwash… I uh. Forgot to clean up my poor Quadra after everything.*

*Oh… Thank you for telling me. Drive safe.*

*Will do!*

I slipped out into the heavy traffic of the city, easily winding a safe path through the city, enjoying the quiet ride.

Then I realized it didn’t have to be quiet. I turned on the radio, and instantly started nodding along to Body Heat Radio.

Listen… It had some good songs as long as that Pon pon shit wasn’t playing… Wait, wasn't the song literally Ponpon shit? I meant Ponpon shit, shit. Because I hate that song. Luckily I don’t think it has been released yet. Body Heat was a pretty solid choice when I wasn’t in the mood for Samurai.

Anyway I found a nice carwash, went through and did my best to pretend there wasn’t a massive wave of red bloody water flowing off my car as I went through.

The one attendant that was sitting behind a bullet proof glass was doing his best not to notice. So I pretended it wasn’t happening too.

Best for everyone.

—---

As I went through the car wash I had some time to think about what else I needed to do, which reminded me of a promise I had made.

But then I realized I had no idea where to go.

So I made a call.

*Motoko?* Ichi’s voice answered after a few moments, and he sounded sleepy.

*Ichi! Heya choom. How’s things? Did I wake you? Sorry about that. Also can you slip me Malcolms address? I want to stop by and check on him.*

*Oh yeah, you did say you were gonna do that… Sure Motoko.” He mumbled obviously groggy enough my rapid fire took him a minute to parse.

I got a text from Ichi a moment later.

*Thanks Choom… Maybe tonight we can all meet up again? I can probably get Hiromi free too. Omaeda too maybe? Are you working tonight?*

The line was quiet for a minute.

*Y-yeah… If you… If Malcolm is willing. I’m down. It’ll be nice… To just… Hang out again.*

*These last few weeks were rough on you huh Ichi?* I couldn’t help but ask. While he had said he wasn’t working with Malcolm anymore. The way he spoke…

They had a fight. Definitely.

*Heh. I guess I could say the same to you. If you can get Hiromi and Malcolm that would be great… Ho-oh Club?*

*Ugh. That place gives me a headache, but I get it. Sure we can hang there.* I answered, it was ‘our’ spot I guess… Actually I had no idea. Had we hung out there before the coma? Or just after?

*Alright… I’m gonna crash for a few more hours.*

*Sounds good! Cya!*

I hung up and started up the engine. Malcolm wasn’t too far. Made sense. We were all in the same area. Street kids that grew up together.

I drove out into the streets, following the path to Malcolms address.

The small apartment complex a couple blocks north of the Cherry Blossom Market. It took me a while to find a good parking spot, but it didn’t take me long to slip inside and find apartment J24.

I rapped my chrome knuckles on the door. Waiting, I could hear something.

The door was suddenly pulled open, a large man with a tired expression and holding a Tactician in his arms was there. Whatever he was trying to say was cut off mid sentence when he noticed me.

“We are- oh… hello?”

“Hello. I’m Motoko, is Malcolm in?” I chirped trying to look cute and innocent.

Despite being fully armed.

“Yeah… One second.” He turned away from the door. “MALCOLM!” He yelled and I could hear a yelp and a bit of cursing.

“WHAT!?”

“DOOR!” The man yelled back and I was laughing a bit at how… normal it seemed. Doesn’t matter if it's the 2000's, or 2070’s parents and teenagers really don’t change.

I heard a bit of grumbling as things were knocked around before Malcolm suddenly jogged into view. A BD wreath around his neck he was about to yell at his pops when he noticed me.

“Motoko?”

“Hey Malcolm!” I waved a bit and Malcolm’s father looked from me to his son.

“Well don’t be a gonk invite the girl in.” The old man rumbled before walking into the house.

“D-Dad! It’s not like that!”

I just laughed. His dad seemed pretty happy, so I guess Malcolm wasn’t bringing cute girls home very often.

“Motoko? What are you doing here?”

“Stuff got crazy, you know? With everything… I figured it was a good idea to see all the chooms. How you doing Malcolm?” I asked and my question seemed to really confuse him for a minute.

“I’m… Alright?”

“I’m glad.” I nodded to myself for a few moments, the silence between us lengthening.

“Moron! Invite the girl in!” The loud call from behind Malcolm caused him to jump before he turned back inside.

“Dad! Shut up!” Malcolm instantly called back but after a moment he sighed. “Want to come in?”

“Sure!” I chirped following Malcolm inside his apartment, we ended up settled on his couch where he had obviously just been watching a BD.

“Anything good?” I prompted miming towards my neck.

“Wha? Oh. The Wreath, yeah some neat stuff. I uh. Haven’t had much of a taste for intense BD’s since… Everything.”

“Ichi told me a bit, about what happened, I mean.”

“Course Ichi couldn’t keep his trap shut.” Malcolm grumbled.

“It’s not like that. I asked. You okay?”

“Fine.” He said, indicating he was anything but fine. “What happened to you? New chrome?” He asked indicating my forearms there were obviously no longer flesh.

“I got kidnapped by the Maelstrom, and they cut my arms off.” I answered, and then I sighed. “It was kind of a thing.”

“Fuck.” He said face going a little pale at my casual reveal.

“Yeah.” I agreed with him as he shifted a bit, from being hunched over and defensive.

“You… You okay?”

“Surprisingly, I’m doing pretty good. I uh… Tried to pretend I was fine at first. But all that did was make me angry. So I focused on that, and… Yeah. I’m doing better. It still sucks.” I answered with a shrug. “What about you?”

“Better than that. I still got all my meat.”

“Don’t need to compare bad things choom. Serious. Talk to me?”

Malcolm went quiet for a while playing with the wreath which he slowly took off from around his neck and placed on the table.

“Not much to say. Sam was cool. Older kid. Like Ichi, well liked by the Claws. We got some fire from some random Maelstrom gonk. I just remember being terrified. I was in the back of the truck with Sam, Ichi up front. Driving away as fast as we can and suddenly… Bullet Holes through the sides of the truck. I screamed, and when it was over Sam was dying. Nothing I could do.”

Malcolms eyes were growing wet by the end of his story.

“Ever had someone you know flatline like that?” I asked, as Malcolm had grown silent at the end.

“No. It scared me Motoko. Not something you have to deal with.” He grumbled wiping his eyes.

“I get scared too Malcolm.” I said as gently as I could.

“Motoko. I’ve seen you after you flatlined a scav den solo. You don’t have a scared bone in your body.”

“Not true. Not true at all.” I mumbled towards the end. I just wasn’t afraid of the same things everyone else was…

How could I? I had already died once. Once you know what’s on the other side, how can you be afraid?

But I was afraid of things still. Just not death.

“Listen. I want all of us to get together tonight. You, Ichi, Hiromi, Omaeda if he wants. All of us at the club… A lot has happened. But we are still chooms. We still ran together. Please come?” Malcolm looked up, our eyes met and we sat for a while as he thought.

“Sure.”

I smiled and threw out a fist, which unfortunately took a moment for him to get before he scoffed and bumped my fist. “You are so weird.”

I pouted at him, and we both got a chuckle at that.

Malcolm and I hung out for a while. Just kind of getting to know each other. He was more lowkey than he ever had been before, but at the same time as we talked, I started seeing that same energy that he had before.

I guess he just needed a friend.

I guess we all did.

—--

“So can Hiromi come?” I asked Hiromi’s mother who had answered the door.

The Corpo woman was looking at me like I was some crazy person coming up to the door to borrow sugar or something weird.

I guess I probably shouldn’t have opened with ‘Can Hiromi come out to play?’

Fuckin’ brain. Why do you do this to me?

The woman finally spoke, interrupting my silent meltdown.

“You want to take Hiromi to that club, went to with all of her other… Street friends?”

“Yeah! Now that the NCPD is back, and it’s safer… We all went through a lot. Hiromi too! So I figured it would be nice to have all of us gather back up again. A reunion, a… A chance to be with our chooms.”

“The streets are still dangerous.”

“Nothing will touch her.” I said suddenly. Feeling cold flowing through me. “I’ll kill anyone stupid enough to think they can even make the attempt.” I promised.

“Motoko!” Hiromi called out suddenly as she ran past her mom and jumped me in a hug.

“Hiromi!” I cheered back as we hugged for a moment.

“Save me! I’m bored… Moooom. Don’t be weird with Motoko, you should have said she was here.” Hiromi turned on her mother, scowling.

“Motoko was asking if you could leave tonight to go visit that club of yours.” The woman interrupted Hiromi. “Do you wish to go?”

“Wa-! Yes! Please!”

“Very well. Motoko, will be your bodyguard for the night. Don’t leave her side. I expect that is an acceptable requirement Motoko?” The woman asked to my surprise.

“Of course.”

“Then you may go.” The older woman said simply turning around and heading back inside like the matter was finished.

“Does your mom actually like me?” I couldn’t help but whisper to Hiromi, because it almost felt like that.

“Not sure. I think Mom thinks someone well armed is a good thing for me? I wouldn’t… I wouldn’t say they like you. More like they want to use you.” Hiromi muttered a little irritated at the end.

“Eh, whatever! Let’s go!” I urged her on and Hiromi actually smiled as she grabbed me and pulled me inside. She needed to get ready to head outside.

As she was in the bathroom doing her hair a bit, although not into her usual mohawk, I remembered I had something!

“Oh Hiromi! I have the BDs from my gigs. I’ll leave them here on your desk.”

“Wha!” She called out as she poked her head through the bathroom bead curtain.

Stupid bead curtain.

“You got them! I want to see! Right now!”

“We don’t have time.” I told her. It was already getting late, and we were supposed to meet Ichi and Malcolm soon.

“Uuuugh!” She whined but spun back into the bathroom. To finish up.

It was just lucky her makeup was mostly cyberware neon lights, so I didn’t have to wait long as she finished.

 

[Brutus]

Anyway I found a nice carwash, went through and did my best to pretend there wasn’t a massive wave of red bloody water flowing off my car as I went through.

The one attendant that was sitting behind a bullet proof glass was doing his best not to notice. So I pretended it wasn’t happening too.

Best for everyone.

I bet they have a good policy.
If the water is red, everything's fine.

 

[Bear Ribs]

I bet they have a good policy.
If the water is red, everything's fine.

If the customer comes in and their car is filthy with mud, charge extra. If the customer is chromed to the teeth and their car is splattered in blood and viscera, free cleaning on the house.

 

[Seras]

The Quadra purred as I pulled up to the Ho-oh Club.

I almost preferred Lizzies…

No, I actually don’t. I sighed to myself why did my chooms all want to hang out in sleazy clubs and bars?

Well at least they were BD clubs, and not… Clouds.

As I stepped out Hiromi happily bounced out a moment after as she had been in full energy since we left her apartment. I noticed the damage to the club had been fully repaired, in fact there were now more concrete barricades blocking part of the tunnel entrance to the club.

I guess Shobo or whatever his name is, had done some work increasing the defenses of the club.

As we entered, the place was actually pretty packed. Plenty of Tyger Claws hanging around drinking and having a good time, alongside some civvies.

I guess the gang war ending was spreading around, and now everyone wanted to blow off some steam.

“Is Ichi or Malcolm here yet?” I asked Hiromi and she shrugged looking towards our normal table that was occupied by some random people.

“Let’s check the bar?” I asked, and she was already walking that way as I kept up. The bartender nodded to the two of us, ready to take our orders.

No one cared about serving alcohol to minors in Night City. Especially not a gang hangout like this.

“Hey, we’re looking for Ichi. Has he come in yet?” I asked the bartender but got a shaken head.

“Haven’t seen him girls. You want something to drink?”

“Yeees!” Hiromi instantly jumped and started ordering something extremely alcoholic. I just ordered something fizzy.

“I’ll text him.” I tell her as she is already happily watching her drink be made.

*At Ho-oh.*

Then since I didn’t get an immediate response I settled into the stool at the bar besides Hiromi who was already happily chattering with a few of the Tyger Claws sitting at the bar.

Hiromi is gonna Hiromi I guess.

A few minutes later I got an update from Ichi.

*Ichi: Runnin’ a little late. Malcolm and I had it out a bit. Be there soon.*

I blinked.

“Ichi says he’ll be here soon.” I told Hiromi who turned away from the Tyger Claw guy she was chattering at that was visibly getting irritated at her chatter.

“Preem! Bout time we’ve been here forever already Toko!” Hiromi whined at me, and she purposefully made her voice annoying as she leaned into me.

And that I guess was just enough. The Tyger Claw sitting beside Hiromi that she had been annoying for the last few minutes pounded a fist into the table.

“Will you shut the fuck up you punk! You’ve been blabbering away! Fuckin’ punk brats thinking they are hard shit ruining my buzz!” He snapped, rising up. His buddy on his other side was also standing up.

Which is when I slipped past Hiromi, stepping in front of her.

I didn’t say anything, just making sure that I was between Hiromi and this gonk.

“Hey fuck off yourself then you gonk!” Hiromi instantly replied. I guess her previous scare wasn’t affecting her at the moment. Made sense. This was our club too. She had been going here for a while.

While she and the gonk got into it, I stayed between them. My increased vision took it all in. The two gonks, the Tyger Claws in the club all looking quite ready to jump into a fight. I noticed a few of the old timers, the ones that had been coming here before the war look over, and look like they were going to get involved, only to sit down as the emotions of the club turned against us.

This wasn’t the same club Hiromi and I were used to. The Tyger Claws were more on edge.

I guess the war hadn’t been easy on them.

It wasn’t just Hiromi that was getting looked at angrily. Hiromi wasn’t as decked out as she usually was, a lot of her TC gear left at home. She was almost… Dressing down from her usual. But I wasn’t wearing anything that marked me as Tyger Claw.

I didn’t even have my Katana on me.

This could get dicey.

Diplomacy, or shock and awe? I considered my options. Even as Hiromi kept barking back at the guy, obviously getting pissed at how he was acting like she was an outsider. She was even making fun of the guys dick at this point. Which definitely wasn’t going to calm things down.

This was gonna go bad swiftly. I could see how everyone was reacting. Hiromi was definitely playing with fire.

But fuck them. Hiromi and I weren’t TC, but she had done plenty of jobs with Ichi, who was. And I? Well I did fight with the Kamikaze… Even if I definitely 100% wasn’t one of them! At all!

The first guy grabbed a beer bottle. But not to take a drink. He grabbed it around the top, ready to smash it into what must be in his eyes, a pair of punks.

Eh.

I was no good at diplomacy anyways.

I waited. Just staring. Ready.

And the idiot set me up perfectly.

With one hand still holding the bottle, he reached out and grabbed at the collar of my jacket. Probably trying to throw me to the side so he could smash Hiromi with the bottle.

I looked at his hand holding me up, practically hauling me off my feet. Then back at him.

Then my hands moved.

Street Brawler wasn’t something I used much but I had spent a good chunk of time grinding it. Hadn’t had much need for it, as getting close was only my goal from stealth.

But it was very satisfying when I pulled an Alita.

I had always wanted to do that.

One of my arms gripped his forearm twisting just so as my fingers dug in, weakening his grip and letting me pull in closer.

Putting his neck into reach.

My grip was instant and unrelenting, and then since I now had him by two points it was child's play to shift him. I might not be very heavy, but my Chrome arms gave me plenty of torque.

The bar rocked as I went ahead and doinked his head off the bar. Which unfortunately didn’t break, the noise echoed through the bar.

And then… Well I guess it was time for a bar fight.

His buddy swung at me, but I was a master of improvised weapons!

I stole the beer bottle his buddy had been holding, and ducked his fist. A moment later he had a bottle smash into his face.

Then with a smile of pure happiness on my face, I simply fell into the rhythm.

Because more and more Tyger Claws were coming at me. The fights were perfectly clear. My emotions, despite raging inside, kept completely in check with Cold Blood.

Not that I wasn’t utterly enjoying myself. I always wanted to be in a bar fight.

But I didn’t make it unscathed.

A chair was smashed into me.

I took a few punches from a martial artist Claw.

Some crazy gonk smashed a bottle into my arms which peppered me with little bits of glass.

But as much as they gave, I returned.

Chair gonk was smashed in the face with a flying bottle that I stole from Hiromi as she was standing on the bar cursing everyone one out and to my utter delight was double fisting her middle fingers to the entire room.

Stirring up shit in the middle of an outnumbered bar fight? That was my crazy bitch alright.

Martial artist fucker knew how to fight, and he was even better than me. His longer arms and legs also helped. But he managed to slip in and started beating on me. Cold Blood fully active was the only reason I wasn’t crying out in pain as he managed to slam a few good fists into my face.

But a Martial Artist wasn’t always a good Street Brawler. So when I grabbed a stool, I threw off his assault, and then it was my turn.

“I don’t want no trouble!” I yelled out happily, purposefully playing up the chinese accent, and not sounding at all like that was true. While screaming that out I used the stool to keep catching his fists until I managed to tangle him up just right and smash the flat rim into his nose sending him to the ground.

Bottle guy got his neck grabbed after smashing the bottle on my arms, because he got too close and a flying knee broke his face.

I felt a grin on my face, as I was getting alerts for not just body, but a full level up from Street Brawler!

Street Brawler 6! Just for a bar fight? I would have to do this more often!

But then one of the gonks ruined it.

He pulled iron.

The room went still as the bastard drew his pistol with a japanese shout at me.

Everyone was waiting to see what would happen.

Everything went still, but I wasn’t intimidated. The unkept fucked up rusted piece of shit Lexington wasn’t the piece that was going to flatline me not today, not ever.

So I reached up, put a thumb to my nostril and blew out a glob of blood before speaking. “Careful. I’m armed too.” I warned him as I gently opened my jacket with my left hand showing the Burya in its holster. “Don’t turn this into a gunfight.”

“Bitch! You think you can come in here! Fuck with us!? I’ll sell you on the street as a whore! I’ll turn you into a fuck-”

“Enough.” The voice cut through despite the man yelling and every Tyger Claw in the bar stiffened, as Jotaro walked into the bar proper from the back. “What exactly is happening here?” He demanded looking around, first towards his guy that had his gun out, then towards me.

Listen it wasn’t my fault I was surrounded by groaning Tyger Claw men, they shouldn’t have started it.

“Listen, I don't want no trouble.” I offered despite my own brain telling me to just stay quiet.

But dammit I never got a chance to make such perfect Jackie Chan references before, so I guess my mouth was going to take its chances. It was also pulling into a smirk at the words. Seeing the gunman lowering his weapon, waiting for Jotaro to say something, I took a few steps back and settled against the bar. Hiromi was looking at me in shock from over the bar.

She had totally bailed over at the gunman pulling his pistol. Smart girl.

I threw her a smile and turned back to the boss.

He looked pissed. I flashed him a smile when he turned to look at me.

What can I say? A fight actually put me in a good mood. At least until the dumbass decided to pull a gun. I was still ready to quickdraw my Burya in an instant if he decided to raise that pistol back up.

“Clean this mess up. All of you. Does this look like a fighting pit?” Jotaro demanded and he was definitely pissed, his eyes kept flashing to the non Tyger Claw people that were cowering in the corners trying to avoid getting dragged into a gunfight.

Ah I guess, he wasn’t happy about potentially losing customers over this.

Only after all the Tyger Claws started cleaning things up and returning the club to order did he stalk over towards me.

“And you? Do you think you can walk into my club, and cause such a commotion?” He said only after fully entering my personal space, his voice a hissed whisper.

“Listen choom. This guy decided to start the fight, I’m on the job protecting my client, so this is his fault not mine.” I tell him idly poking my boot at the poor gonk whose face now decorated the bar.

Jotaro’s eyes narrowed. “It is… Kusanagi? Is it not? I remember the face. Do you think that what you have done here will go without punishment? Do you think this sort of disrespect will be tolerated?” The man was pissed. I could see it in his eyes. The hatred and wrath.

“Disrespect?” I questioned coldly, wondering what the hell he was talking about.

“That’s right. My club! This place is under my control, nothing happens here without my permission.” He reaches out and snags my jaw.

And puts himself at about four seconds away from losing the hand. I was gonna start collecting Tyger Claw fuckheads hands if this kept up.

“And I didn’t give you permission to beat my men, to damage my club. I think this will cost y-”

“Motoko! Oh! Shobo-sama!” Ichi suddenly called out as he rushed over having probably seen someone looming over me, but not realizing it was his boss. Malcolm just behind him looked confused at the whole situation.

Funnily enough both boys looked a little ruffled too. Like they had just been in a fight.

Fucking gonks.

“Hey Ichi. Hey Malcolm.” I mumbled out a bit, the gonk still had my chin in his hand.

“Ichinose. You’re choom here, caused a commotion in my club.” Jotaro said, trying to sound calm and collected, but there was an edge to his voice. This guy was crazy, I realized.

Ichi hesitated for a moment as Jotaro looked at him, as if he wasn’t sure what to say.

I didn’t hesitate.

“Perhaps you should remind your people not to pick fights with teenagers then. It might end up embarrassing for them.” I said pointedly. I didn’t like the way Jotaro was looking at me and Hiromi.

It was making my trigger finger itch.

“Motoko! Be polite to Shobo-Sama! You know he is important to the Tyger Claws! Even if you are with the Kamikaze you shouldn’t pick fights.” Ichi suddenly said almost too quickly to be natural.

That was weird.

I wasn’t a member of Kamikaze… I wasn’t! But Ichi knew that. I had told him that last time. And the way he said it, it was like…

“Kamikaze?” Jotaro asked, and he finally let go of my chin. While I was trying to figure out what was going on, Ichi managed to snatch the initiative.

“Indeed Shobo-Sama. Motoko works with the Kamikaze. I saw her assisting them in an assault just a few nights ago. Her brother Jun is also a member. You may have heard of him. They have started calling him the Oni?” Ichi offered loudly, something about the way he was talking…

“Stupid name.” I muttered, my mouth as always free to do as it liked as I thought.

But Jotaro must have heard the name, because suddenly he was standing up straight, and acting affable.

“I see, I see! Then this isn’t just someone causing trouble, but an honored member of the Kamikaze. I see. I will ensure my men learn not to pick fights with our honored warriors.” He said chuckling fakely.

He wasn’t happy though. His eyes never stopped glaring at me, even as he started calling out to everyone to clean everything up, in his own words. “The show is over! Let’s return to celebrating!”

Ichi hovered beside me as I kept my eyes on the man, who was walking around a bit settling things back to normal. Malcolm settled into a stool that he picked up beside the bar, looking to Hiromi who only gave him a shrug.

“Motoko!” Ichi whispered into my ear. “What are you thinking! Do you want to end up flatlined!?”

Ah. I see. Ichi was actually afraid of his boss. He didn’t just not want to piss him off for his job or something.

No, that was real fear. That was why he threw the Kamikaze name around.

“I wasn’t in any danger. If it came down to a gunfight, I would be alright.” I assured him, but I couldn’t help but wonder why he was so afraid. Jotaro was probably one of the least dangerous guys in the club, he didn’t have the movement of a fighter. “What was the deal there? Your boss seemed pretty… Unstable there, and you’re scared of him.” I asked, whispering quietly.

“Shobo-sama is extremely talented in managing businesses, but he has a dangerous reputation for a reason.” Ichi whispered to me.

I turned to look at Hiromi who was still hanging out on the other side of the bar looking a little spooked at the sudden bar brawl turning almost gun fight. I flashed her a smile and a thumbs up, which earned me a whispered “Gonk” in return.

But she did crawl back over the bar and settle into a chair next to Ichi Malcolm and I. Malcolm was doing a great job actually. Despite everything settling down his head was looking around the room, and I could see the way his hand kept close to the pistol hidden in his jacket.

“Doesn’t strike me as the dangerous type… Not exactly a fighter.” I mentioned, Jotaro was soft. He didn’t have any of the muscles, or movement of a fight. I could tell. Every inch of him was the rich man used to sending others to die.

“Shobo-sama can be plenty dangerous. He is very useful to the Tyger Claws. Every business he takes over starts making massive profits… He gets away with a lot because of it.” Ichi answered before he sighed and took a seat at the bar flicking a finger at the bartender who obviously recognized him.

The bartender had returned now that everything had calmed down. The moment the fight started, he had rushed for the back.

Smart guy.

He dropped off a bottle of beer for Ichi, and then started passing a few more to Hiromi and Malcolm. I refused one that he offered me, and instead just ordered another fizzy drink.

My first one was laying on the floor.

Hiromi kind of fussed over me, trying to put a wet cloth up to my nose that had been bleeding a bit, but I was waving her away.

I’d be fine with a shower and a nap.

But then the four of us all sort of become aware of each other.

“It’s been a while since we have all been together.” I mentioned, with a chuckle and my declaration had the whole group sort of relax.

“Yeah no shit! To the four of us!” Hiromi offered, instantly raising up her bottle which the boys hesitated but it was with a resigned air that they brought their bottles up. My can clinked among them.

“It’s been a hell of a time for all of us.” I started realizing what we all needed. “Did you know I got my arms chopped off? It sucked. How about you Hiromi?” I immediately pinned the next target for sharing.

It took her a moment as she was mid swig making her choke a bit as I threw the attention at her.

“Wha-? Motoko!”

“C’mon choom. Share! You’ll feel better after. We’ve all been through some real shit.”

“What? Motoko I… Nothing happened to me!”

“C’mon Hiromi. You told me. How long have we all been friends? I mean. I only remember so much, but we are all chooms.”

“You have to be kidding.” She hissed at me, her eyes shooting from me to Malcolm and Ichi, who were looking on confused. “I’m not telling them!”

“Why not? Chooms are chooms even through the hard times Hiromi. If they don’t respect you… No if they make fun of you, or treat you badly, because of something bad that happened, then at least you know they aren’t your chooms. Better to know, then to find out at a worse time. C’mon everyone… This whole thing, the war? It’s been rough on all of us.”

I looked to Malcolm, then Ichi.

“When I got chipped with these arms, I went totally crazy. All I wanted to do was kill Maelstrom. I was so angry, and hurt, and all I could think about was taking out that pain on the ones that hurt me… but I don’t live for them. I live for me. To have good days. To have bad days. But they are mine.”

I opened my mouth, but I didn’t have anything else to share. I just… I just wanted to share with my friends?

“Fine! Fuckin gonk with your stupid smile!” Hiromi almost roared, drawing some attention but we were far enough away from everyone that no one could overhear as she slammed back the last of the beer chugging it down. “I ran out one night. My ‘rents been keeping me locked up, but I went out anyways to prove how hard I was… I ended up crashing my bike practically pissing my pants, and hiding in the trash… I wasn’t even the one being shot at. But I realized I’m just a poser. Motoko… She already told me to just be me. So there. I’m not brave enough to run out there when shit gets real.”

She immediately looked like she wanted to take another swig of beer but she was empty. I let everyone process what she said. Then before anyone could say anything, I elbowed Ichi.

He looked to me.

Then over my shoulder. To Malcolm.

“I ran trucks. It sucked. People died. I, I caused people to die, because I wasn’t fast enough, or smart enough… It made me cold. Because if I cared? Then I wouldn’t be able to keep doing it. I ended up causing a fight with my best choom because I was… Because I was scared and angry, and lashing out, and… I couldn’t be there for him when he needed me. I… I’m sorry Malcolm. What I said. Really… I wish I had been there for you choom.”

Malcolm had an utterly hilarious expression on his face as it looked like he was holding back tears.

“I went out with my best choom. We were gonna make eddies, prove our rep. But shit got real. Getting shot at? That ain't something anyone is ready for. A guy that was guiding us got flatlined. Died in my arms. I… I tried to get my choom to go to the hospital, to a ripper… But he was already dead, and… Ichi you were right. He was already dead. I knew that. I just couldn’t accept it. I freaked on you when you refused.”

The two chooms were both teary eyed and then suddenly I was pushed aside a bit as two guys hugged it out, back slapping each other and hiding tears.

Adorable.

Once they were settled I had moved over to let them sit together as they knocked back the beers. I decided to break the tension.

“I killed a guy with a knife in my teeth. It was after they cut off my hands. They threw me into this pit and forced me to fight to the death… But I did it with a knife in my teeth. It was preem.” I told them out of nowhere, earning shocked looks from the group.

“Yeah? Well I ran over this Maelstrom borg with the truck, Malcolm was there.”

“Oh yeah! When you did that I was hanging off the back and as we drove by I was flipping the Borg off, and telling him to suck my-”

“That’s so not fair… All I did was trick that gonk Tomaru into loading up an XBD in the middle of class.” She grumbled, but instantly both of the boys were on her.

“Deets!”

“C’mon Hiromi! I want to hear about you burning this corpo gonk!”

“I’m interested as well.” I told her with a smile.

 

[Blasterbot]

Hiromi wins this round. geting an XBD played in class > killing some gonk with a knife without hands. get good Motoko.

 

[xachariahxx]

Hiromi wins this round. geting an XBD played in class > killing some gonk with a knife without hands. get good Motoko.

I think that Ichi and Malcolm jumped on it because they don't believe Motoko was telling the truth, so they also told lies (or wild eggerations). Getting an XBD played though, that's real.

 

[Yinko]

Proving once again that she's an equal opportunity violent maniac.

 

[posh-goofiness]

I'm curious to know whether Hiromi's parents will watch Motoko's gig BDs since she just left them there.

 

[Seras]

I'm curious to know whether Hiromi's parents will watch Motoko's gig BDs since she just left them there.

So many people asked me that. It really wasn't my intention to hint towards that. They really wouldn't go checking on random BDs in their daughters room... That could lead to awkward situations. Considering the Mox wrapping it would be more likely they just take them away. But not really what I was aiming for on that. I just wanted to signal that Motoko did give them to Hiromi.

 

[Rukatin]

I'm waiting for when Wakako calls up Motoko with a fresh gig.

 

[xachariahxx]

I'd forgotten that Tomaru was the corpo kid from early on in the story.

In retrospect, I think that maybe Tomaru was sweet on Hiromi, and he's really shitty at flirting, like kids at that age are. Back then (ch11), Tomaru basically called her a poser and that she was just playing pretend, which is accurate and mirrors Hiromi's eventual realization. It's interesting that he paid better attention to Hiromi than anyone else in the story. And it's also interesting that Hiromi tricked him into loading an XBD, which means they're still interacting and on good enough terms to swap BDs.

On the first read of the scene, it's colored heavily because Motoko as a narrator was all about seeing if she'd need to kill them* but it's a totally different scene if Hiromi and Tomaru are frenemies/crushes. When you look at it from that lens, (and account for ego and sniping insults) their club confrontation from way back when takes on a different timbre.

He shows up at the club that Hiromi finally showed up to wearing all the Tyger Claw gear Hiromi thinks is cool. She mentions that he's bragged to her about how great of a ladies man he is to her, then she gleefully shoots down those claims. He calls Hiromi beautiful, then he says that they're both the same (corpo kids slumming it with their parents' money). Then he agrees with Motoko that they should calm things down and complains that he hasn't been able to see Hiromi enough. He does toss an insult, but then when Hiromi tosses one back he just seems to smile because he's gets her full attention. Then when they part his last words are that they should get together and talk again.

All of this feels very reminiscent of a high schooler still in that halfway point between pulling on a girl's pigtail to get attention, but they haven't yet gotten into the realm of successfully flirting. And it's actually kinda cute.

I could be totally off base, but I want to believe.
TLDR; I'm rooting for the SS HiroXTom as a ship in this story, although it's possibly just one-sided. Ganbatte.

* - As an aside, Motoko reads that the girl with mantis arms is pissed with her because she pulled a gun, but none of the other crew are. I think Motoko may have misread and instead the girl was jealous because Tomaru tried to hit on Motoko, but she's was too gamer to read into it.

 

[Martenzo]

So many people asked me that. It really wasn't my intention to hint towards that. They really wouldn't go checking on random BDs in their daughters room... That could lead to awkward situations. Considering the Mox wrapping it would be more likely they just take them away. But not really what I was aiming for on that. I just wanted to signal that Motoko did give them to Hiromi.

I'll be honest, given that it was shown there was effort going into making it so Motoko isn't identifiable in the XBD, I thought that was all foreshadowing for how loose lips with friends (from both Nox and Motoko) are going to leak Motoko as the star of that XBD and cause trouble down the line.

 

[posh-goofiness]

I'll be honest, given that it was shown there was effort going into making it so Motoko isn't identifiable in the XBD, I thought that was all foreshadowing for how loose lips with friends (from both Nox and Motoko) are going to leak Motoko as the star of that XBD and cause trouble down the line.

This. Also, it might have been interesting to see what veteran players in the whole Corpo side of things make of a kid that's got the instincts of a veteran edgerunner. And how she's already so tangled with their daughter.

 

[PeaceMaker 03]

Who says Daddy will not investigate the condom wrappers on his daughter's desk?

Then watches the BD’s of Moto.....

 

[Seras]

Hours later I was driving a much drunker Hiromi home.

A night out had been… Nice. We all ended up sharing the stories of what happened to us over the past weeks. We all shared the good and the bad, and in the end?

We actually felt like Chooms.

It was really nice.

Pulling up to Hiromi’s apartment, it took a bit of cajoling to get the drunk girl out of the car, and eventually I was forced to princess carry her as she kept falling and giggling.

Did I mention she was drunk?

It was a little awkward knocking on the door to her apartment, waiting for someone to answer.

Her mother didn’t say a word, just an unhappy glare as I carried her almost snoring daughter into the apartment. After a minute of settling her on her bed, making sure she was laying on her side and finding a trash can that would work as a bucket, I hurried out of the dark apartment under the heavy eyes of the corpo woman.

But I was safe!

I escaped back out to the city where there weren't angry corpo mom glares.

Instead there was freedom.

I mean sure freedom sounded like NCPD sirens, which still hadn’t entirely let up. The NCPD were practically leaving the sirens going through the night just to make sure their presence was felt.

But I shook that feeling away. Time to go home.

I was humming when I got home. Never Fade Away drifting in the air as I walked into the apartment and threw up a hand to say hello to Jun who was sitting on the couch when he leapt from the couch startling me.

“Motoko! What happened!? Are you okay? Who did this? I’ll kill them!”

“Wha?” I asked before blinking, reaching up to my nose.

Riiiight.

Bar fight. I forgot. Sure the pain was there, but it was so little, I wasn’t even paying attention to it. Considering how high my Cold Blood skill was, It wasn’t even enough I needed to really use the skill to not feel it. And a nights sleep would set me right…

Fuck.

“Uhh. You should see the other guy?”

Much to my shock this did not set my brother at ease.

“Who did this?” He demanded in a growl holding onto my shoulders.

“Some gonks at the club. Hiromi annoyed them by talking or something, and they decided to start a fight. It’s okay Jun, really. It was kinda fun honestly. Besides. I won.” I inform him ending in a bright smile as I manage to shake off his hands a bit so I could flex my arm.

Not that I had any natural muscle, there, but the image was important.

“The club? Ho-oh?”

“Yeah. Some TC Gonks.”

“They touched you? You!?” He growled and I realized Jun was actually getting pretty pissed, like Psycho level angry, not his usual hotheadedness.

So I reached up and grabbed his face between my hands.

“Hey! Jun. Come on, come back. Everyone is fine. Deep breaths Jun-Nii. Deep breaths.” I ordered, and while he instantly looked to fight, I didn’t let him.

Chrome hands were stronk.

“Jun-Nii? You back with me?”

He let out a long breath out of his mouth that came out more of a hiss than anything else.

“I never left!” He snapped back, but I could tell he was back. His eyes were seeing me and not anyone else.

“Right!” I chirped at him as I let go, getting glared at all the while.

“They should not have touched you! Not a Tyger Claw!”

“I kinda beat their ass Jun… Plus it was fun.”
“Tsk. Ho-oh Club? That means… Jotaro Shobo? That is the man in charge there?”

“Yeah good memory. Hiromi and I had a bit of a run in with him after the bar fight. He was super mad. Talking about ‘punishment’ and stuff. Ichi showed up then, and name dropped the Kamikaze… I’d rather him not spread around that I worked with them, but it made Mr. White suit back off.”

“The Devil of Kabuki, said he would punish you? I’ll kill him.” Jun growled, his fists clenching and unclenching as he must have imagined murdering the Devi-

“Devil of Kabuki?” I asked before I felt it.

Realization.

Jotaro Shobo. The Devil of Kabuki.

The Devil of Kabuki. Jotaro Shobo.

“That disgusting Mother Fuck-” I cut myself off as my own hands clenched and I had to rely on Cold Blood to keep from punching walls and cursing up a storm.

I remembered that fucker now!

I had only done that quest once. But I remember! The Mox had wanted him dead, because he was a monster. That motherfucker kidnapped people only to torture them to make XBDs!

I made XBDs as well, but I murdered people that deserved it. Not kidnapped people that hadn’t done anything. Not people just down on their luck nabbed by assholes like Jotaro Shobo.

“You know of him?” Jun suddenly asked, pulling me out of my rapid fire thoughts as I stopped my pacing in the living room.

“Yeah. I’ve heard of the Devil of Kabuki before! And the fucked up shit he does.” I muttered. All the times I had met Jotaro Shobo sliding into my realization.

Of course I remembered the Ho-oh club now. I had thought the name was familiar. It was where you go to kill the Devil of Kabuki. A job that… Regina? the fixer gives you on behalf of the Mox.

Jotaro had no problem kidnapping even Moxes to scroll XBDs of.

Jotaro Shobo?

Jotaro Shobo was a dead man walking.

The decision was made. All I had to do was figure out how I wanted to get it done? Loud or quiet?

No, I took a breath. I would need some advice on this. This would be complicated. Very very complicated, my connections with the TC was useful at times, and at others it was a noose.

So I shook the disgust at myself for talking to that man, and not knowing away. I was in the moment.

“It’s okay Jun.” I told him, Jun having been hovering around as I went off in my own head at the realization of who I had been interacting with.

“Doesn’t seem okay. Motoko? Imouto?” Jun asked, his face worried and I could see the stiff way he held his hands as if wanting to grab me, but not sure if he should.

“Really Jun-Nii. I’m okay. I think I’ll probably go talk to Wakako tomorrow about it. Might get some advice. But… I guess I just wasn’t really ready… To actually been hanging around someone like that, and I hadn’t even noticed.”

Of course. The truth was worse than that.

I had forgotten.

Jotaro Shobo was a monster, but only a side quest. A little gig you could do, that unless you actually paid attention, you wouldn’t even need to hear the guys name.

How many horrible people, monsters, or evil things happened in the game that I wasn’t remembering?

I brushed past Jun and headed into my room. I had taken to mostly sleeping on the couch surrounded by parts and pieces of my tinkering or my laptops to grind with, but what I needed now was no distractions.

I sighed once the door closed behind me. I started stripping weapons settled on a dresser, their holsters ready to be buckled on when I got dressed, as I slipped out of my Leotard, out of my armored clothing that made me feel like a badass, and into something comfy.

Then I sat on the bed and laid back. “What else did I forget?” So rather than sleep. Rather than spend a night grinding, I started thinking back to the game. To the anime.

To everything I hadn’t been thinking about as I’d been either having too much fun grinding, or too murderous to think about.

Jotaro was just one mission. Were there any other gigs that I should remember? So I started thinking back.

The first thing that popped into my head?

“That fucking sick fuck!” I gasped remembering the farm. River and his stupid quest. The creepy fuckin cartoon that I swore if I ever had to watch again I was gonna uninstall the damn game.

The creepy bastard and his farm… Fuck. I don’t remember the name of the farm. I would have to jump onto the map I had installed, and see if I can’t find it. Hopefully it will actually be listed.

I took a deep breath and let it out.

Okay. That was one thing that needed to be dealt with, maybe even sooner than Jotaro.

What else?

Wait. That Scav Ripper… Shit. I can’t remember what his name was, but he shouldn’t be hard to find. He had an open Ripper shop. Hopefully he is already set up, and I’ll go and put an end to his bullshit, anyone willing to pretend to be a doctor only to rip them apart for pieces for scavs deserved a messy death.

Maybe even get some more Scav den data from it.

That made me think of Fingers.

He was disgusting, and I definitely felt like putting a bullet in his head, but he wasn’t scaving people. Just being a disgusting molesting fuck.

But the Joytoys that go to him, do it because he was ‘cheap’ thanks to what he did…

I would have to talk to Vik. He would know best. Would killing Fingers actually be a net good?

Fuck. This is why I said I wasn’t a hero. I don’t like these kinds of complex good and evil choices. I hated Good and Evil alignment choices in games.

I guess… I guess it was good that I didn’t have one.

I couldn’t think of anything else directly relevant at the moment. Except for Edgerunners… Faraday was on my list too. That four eyed fucker needed to get put in the dirt, but he was dangerous. He had plenty of guards.

That was enough for now. I had my targets.

I should sleep. Let the night pass and be ready the next day.

But that kidnapping fuck was out there. Right now.

I pulled up my map. Farms in the badlands, it took an hour to narrow down my options. Unfortunately it had been way too long since I had actually played 2077.

I didn’t remember which farm it was and despite most of them closing down, there were still a few of them around the city.

So I had a list. I would just hit all of them until I found it.

I should sleep. I could do it. Just a push of a button and I would be out for eight hours.

But my knee was bouncing. My fingers tapping. Every piece of me wanted to get up and go kill that creepy fuck.

Fuck it.

I wasn’t some hero, but I wasn’t going to let that bastard live for another day if I could help it. Making me watch that creepy cartoon in the game was enough to earn his death certificate, even without the kidnapping and creepy shit he does.

I got up and started packing my equipment back on. I stepped out as I zipped the leotard back up to see Jun was still up watching TV with a half eaten burrito in his hand.

“I thought you went to bed?” He asked, noticing I was arming back up. I even had my Nekomata over my back.

“I was. But something came up. Don’t wait up for me. I might not come back in before morning. Might take a while to find him.” I say as I finish strapping everything on and walk over to Jun to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later-”

The hand gripping the back of my Jacket kept me from walking.

“Not a chance. It’s late, what are you doing?”

“Gotta kill a guy. Gonna take a while to hunt him down first.” I answered truthfully which unfortunately didn’t earn me my release.

“Details. Now.” He said standing up to block my way.

“Fine! I got some info on a serial killer. Some crazy fuck that kidnaps kids does weird shit to them. I know… Generally where he is. Gonna need to hit a few locations to find him, but I’m going to assassinate him, and rescue anyone he has kidnapped.”

Jun blinked at my response. My reveal obviously surprised him as he seemed to mull it over.

“Fine. I’m coming too.”

I sighed. I really didn’t need Jun and his big stompy feet following me around.

“Juuuuun!” Whined at him irritated at him trying to interfere in my mur-assasination.

It’s an assassination. One is a job, the other is mental sickness.

“No. It’s late, and I know I can’t talk you out of leaving.” He said standing up and looming over me. “Since I know how you are, I’m coming with. Someone to watch your back.”

“Fine. I’ll wait for you to get ready. It’s gonna be more of a stealth job you know? The guy has like a ton of mines and turrets defending his farm last I heard.”

He looked at me for a moment and then he slapped the back of my head!

“If that is the case you definitely need someone there to watch your back. Imouto. You can rely on me. You have other chooms as well. Stop trying to take on everything alone.” He added as I gaped at him as he walked off.

“I can handle myself just fine!” I called out to him, but he ignored me as he headed into his room to grab his gear.

I stood there at the door a little huffy rubbing the back of my head. Jerk. Stupidface!

A few minutes later Jun walked out, yawning a bit as he was now kitted up in his Kamikaze gear, facemask included.

I rolled my eyes and headed down. Jun following after. Jun kept yawning so I actually stopped at a vending machine and bought a couple of drinks stuffing a few into his arms, making sure they were the type he liked before heading to the garage.

He didn’t say anything but he was giving me an amused smirk as he followed after.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” He replied instantly, but he was still smirking.

Jerk!

We reached the car, but Jun was walking over towards his Kusanagi. “Jun! C’mon.” I pointed at my car as I set the cans down on the roof for a moment as I opened the door and started arranging my Nekomata.

“I’ll just follow you.” He said side eyeing me.

“Not a chance. We are leaving the city. Unless you want to drive your Kusanagi through the badlands?” I asked, and I saw him wince a little.

NC streets could be bad enough with potholes, and general debris, but the roads out of the city were… Rough.

The Nomads drove their cars with offroad tires, and alterations for a reason.

Like my Quadra.

“C’mon.”

“Just… Drive slowly.” He demanded, as he relented and moved to the passenger seat.

“I always drive safely!”

—--

Driving out of the city was easy enough. It wasn’t like many people drove out of Night City in the middle of the night.

If only Jun would stop trying to change the radio.

“Jun if you change my radio to that garbage one more time, I’m gonna start driving fast just to end this torture.” I told him out of the corner of his eye.

Jun wasn’t a fan of ‘oldies’ which. Samurai were. Technically.

I mean they were over fifty years old. Of course kids that grew up in NC thought the music was for old people.

They just had no taste! The original sounds? Johnny might be a real piece of shit, but he had some monster vocals and Guitar work.

“Ugh. Why do you listen to this scop. It’s terrible.” He grumbled at me.

“As someone who listens to Us Cracks, you have no right to talk about my music preferences.”

“Us Cracks are at least modern.”

I groaned as the argument went around again.

But I finally had an actual distraction.

“Heads up.” I said suddenly turning off the engine. The headlights had already been turned off as we left the city.

My Kiroshi could see just fine and there wasn’t exactly a lot of traffic.

Jun sat up from where he had been slouching in the seat.

“What is it?”

“First of the potential targets. Poppy Farm. Be careful. If this is it, the crazy fucker put up mines.”

“You already told me.” he said, rolling his eyes. “I won’t forget a warning about landmines Motoko.”
I nodded but I was narrowing my eyes.

The road went right past the only structure around.

I frowned as I noticed the fires highlighting the massive graffiti covering the front.

‘Wraiths’

Not exactly what I was looking for. “This isn’t it.” I admitted as we cruised down the road without a sound. No mines. No defenses.

But Wraiths.

A couple of Wraith vehicles parked around, a barrel on fire lighting up the exterior. A few milling around drinking beers.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Not this farm… Still tempted to clear them out though.” I admitted. They were obviously winding down, sitting around drinking or sleeping.

They wouldn’t know what hit them.

“Starting a firefight for what? Imouto… As I learned. You need to bank the fire of your bloodlust.” He said, surprising me.

The car finally came to a stop, still invisible to the Wraiths in the night but I looked away from the farm to Jun.

“Okay, who told you that? That didn’t sound like you at all.” I demanded and to my delight he actually looked a little embarrassed.

“Sensei.”

I snorted before chuckling at him, Jun was soon pouting at me.

“Alright. Alright. I guess… I guess we can just ignore them.” I said, sighing a bit. Fuckin Wraiths.

“I didn’t say that.” Jun offered after a few moments and I blinked at him, as he smirked at me. “I simply wanted to be sure you weren’t rushing into a fight for nothing. What do you hope to gain?”

Numbers?

No, I couldn't exactly tell him that. Plus..

He was right. Morgan's Solo Guide. That book I never even finished reading way back when. I had taken some of the words to heart, made my rules, only to forget them when I got kidnapped.

I wasn’t some psycho, killing for fun.

I was a merc. A Solo. Someone that did what she did for a reason, and what reasons do I have for killing a bunch of Wraiths?

“I know a Nomad. We clear this camp, we can let him know. Probably make some good eddies for the sale of the Wraith cars. That plus we get any weapons, and eddies the Wraith have on them.”

“And what is the risk?”

I blinked.

Risk? From a bunch of sleeping Wraiths in the middle of the night?

“Jun you are vastly overestimating those gonks, or underestimating me. I could probably kill every wraith in that camp without them ever knowing I was there.”

His quirked eyebrow told me he didn’t believe me.

I felt an actual smile stretching my lips.

“I bet you complete control over the radio, I can do it.” I offered which surprised him for a moment but then he chuffed out a laugh.

“If you can’t. I control the radio not just on this trip, but from now on.”

I winced. If I messed up and had to listen to the Us Cracks and the Pon Pon Shit or something? I might actually go Cyberpsycho…

But proving I was a badass and winning a bet against Jun? Totally worth the risk.

“Deal. Just stay here. Unless you hear gunshots. Shouldn’t take me long.” I told him, then I looked forward and blinked as I activated the BD recorder. Might as well get another benefit from this little side quest.

Then I slipped out of the car and into the darkness of the dusty desert road. Cactus and bushes surrounded me, and I could hear the sound of a radio in the distance. My blood turned to ice as I crept forward.

My eyes let me see just fine, but it was because of that, that I knew I had to be even better.

If even one Wraith had good optics and noticed me creeping along?

Jun would win our bet!

Plus they would shoot at me. That too I guess.

But as I moved in closer and closer stalking amongst the bushes and cactus, I knew this would work.

These guys were even more confident than the Maelstrom had been. After all, The Raffen were the predators of the Badlands. As much as the Nomads liked to talk big and tough, the Raffen were feeding on the Nomads, not the other way around.

So I crept in. My eyes flashing in scans looking for any defenses, only to find nothing.

Not even cameras. Just nothing.

Just a few Raffen outside, and probably more inside.

So I crept closer every inch of my body working in tandem to keep me out of sight. To keep me quiet. Until I was in the shadows of the barn.

I slipped inside.

No one noticed. No one even heard my footsteps as I slipped around the open barn doors and I was inside. The lights inside were old. Most didn’t work.

A perfect environment for my work.

I went to the far back of the barn. Just to check for any security.

Nothing. Just a few of the old barn stables filled with tents, or sleeping bags. This was obviously not the Raffens' home. Just a place to spend the night despite the giant painted on Wraiths outside the barn.

Their vehicles were also inside. I went around to each of them just to make sure they were all empty.

All but one.

The poor Raffen sleeping in his back seat didn’t notice me as I poked my head over the side door to stare at him for a moment. His door was locked.

His security wasn’t good enough to stop me. I didn’t even bother closing the door when I was done just pulling him mostly out of the car so he wouldn’t bleed on the interior.

Then it was time.

The poor Raffen were split up. Sleeping or hanging around drinking and whiling the night away. It made sense. It was getting late.

A glance at my integrated clock in my Kiroshi, something I didn’t tend to think about, showed the time.

2:07AM

A good time.

The second guy lost his life to a knife through the throat while he was sleeping in his little sleeping bag.

The next I killed by cutting through his tent rather than trying to unzip it. He died just as quickly.

I didn’t feel much as I slowly cleaved through the sleeping Raffen.

They weren’t even a threat as the sleeping men died one after another.

Six sleepers in total.

3000 xp.

Then I had to deal with the three outside.

I considered how to do it. They were split apart, but all chatting with each other.

Difficult.

I could grab my gun, but that wasn’t how I wanted to run this.

So I turned back inside and searched a few of the corpses for what I wanted.

I smiled as I found plenty of what I needed.

Then I stood up from the shadows.

I loved stealth. I loved sneaking around, but there was something truly freeing about walking openly out of the barn up to the first guy who was sitting down on some old garbage.

One of his buddies noticed me as I walked up to him and let my knife slam into his throat and out.

My other hand was already moving. The knife I had looted whistled through the air. Hitting…

Mostly where I wanted. It was a little off.

I really needed to up my Reflexes some more.

On the other hand, even as one man died, and the other gasped as a blade appeared in his chest I was pulling a third blade from my waist.

With a little flourish I lined it up even as the third Raffen tried to react. Tried to rise up and draw her rifle sitting at his side.

The whistling blade put an end to that, as she fell crying out breathlessly. I swiftly threw another blade, this one actually landed where I wanted. Her throat suddenly blocked by a solid piece of metal put an end to her as she writhed on the floor dying.

I had checked every inch of the inside of the farm, and I hadn’t seen any of them wandering around in the night so I was fairly confident I was done.

My eyes turned gold.

*Motoko?*

I reached down and slipped my blade into the second Raffens throat, he was bleeding out on the ground a knife in his chest, lung pierced, but I put him out of his misery as I answered Jun.

*All Clear Jun-nii! Come on over, let’s loot up.* I told him before dropping the call. I could hear my Quadra’s engine start up a few moments later as the car rumbled off the road and towards the farm.

Perfect.

Loot. XP. And I could send a message to Scorpion. Maybe the Aldecaldos could use a few more cars? I peeked into the barn noticing there were a few Raffen vehicles now ownerless.

 

[Blasterbot]

the name of this isekai is "My Little Sister Won't Let Me Control the Radio Even If She Has To Solo All the Side Quests". I can relate to both sides of this feel as a middle child.

 

[Tel Janin Aman]

Would johnny be proud that someone wasted a camp of gangoons just to listen to his music? Probably

 

[Blasterbot]

I am not joking. last time I rode with my brother it was 3 hours of anime openings and endings. mostly from mediocre harem animes. last time I rode with my sister it was more than an hour of LGBTQAIP+ music that I honestly couldn't tell you the genre of it changed so much and was mediocre. I literally heard the lyrics "Fuck You Dad I'ma tie you up with duct tape so you can watch my boyfriend fuck me in the garden." I have no idea how to unpack that so she is not allowed the radio.

 

[Yinko]

the name of this isekai

Jun's secretly an isekai protagonist who's gone through his painful arc of becoming strong... only to get shownup by his baby sister.

So, Jun's obviously going cyber-psycho. Is there anything Motoko can do to fix that? Something I read in a fanfic was that the different corps programmed their hardware to not work well with rival stuff, thus inducing psycho more easily if you mixed manufacturers.

 

[Blasterbot]

Jun's secretly an isekai protagonist who's gone through his painful arc of becoming strong... only to get shownup by his baby sister.

So, Jun's obviously going cyber-psycho. Is there anything Motoko can do to fix that? Something I read in a fanfic was that the different corps programmed their hardware to not work well with rival stuff, thus inducing psycho more easily if you mixed manufacturers.

therepy and leveling up EMP are how you can deal with it in game. TC gave him a zen guy to keep him relatively OK while the war is going on. don't know if that is still going on now that war is over. being a bratty imouto and keeping him grounded is prolly the best she can do. prolly shouldn't show off the XBDs she makes wit the Mox though. that will inflict SAN damage.