Ghost in the City: Cyberpunk Gamer SI

[Seras]

"Hello there, Night City! Stanley here with ya, and we got another day ahead of us in this city of Dreams!" I brushed my teeth listening to the radio and nodded.

"You tell 'em Stanley." I whispered, finishing brushing and looking myself over. After a shower and eight hours, any sign of me getting my face beat in was gone, and I smiled, teeth practically gleaming.

"God I love being alive." I stretched, tossing my tooth brush into the cup near the sink, and walked out of the bathroom. Jun was already gone for the day. Fujimura was apparently needing his enforcer today, and I was clear for most of the day until this evening.

Another MSM thing. Blegh.

I wandered around, my feet padding quietly on the tiles, as I reached the couch and leapt, my ankles giving me that wonderful little bounce, enough to throw me completely over the back of the couch and lad with a heavy oomph on the cushions.

"TV sucks. Not in the mood for Music… I guess I should go talk to Judy?" I reached up and felt the ports on the side of my head. I did have the new XBD to drop off… It had been a while, Hiromi would probably be delighted, and the idea of surprising her with a new BD and seeing her face light up, sounded fun.

I didn't want to get right back up though.

Rolling onto my back I raised my hands up in front of my face. Clean chrome stared back at me. Last night these hands had ripped through a group of salty 6th Street, but today they were quiet.

I glanced at my agent bringing it up and showing me the results from last night's little fight.

The XP was good, but it was the skill XP that was more important.

Street Brawler had gotten two updates from that fight, which was absurd. I guess fighting a guy in a real no holds barred brawl had really helped. Or maybe it was the action kicks I'd done to the 6th Street Gonks just after?

"Oh man, I actually really want to rewatch the BD now. That guy crying as I surfed him off the building was so good!" I giggled, unable to resist the blubbering.

Honestly if the gonk hadn't pulled a gun on me and tried to kill me, I might have felt bad, but since he had, he got what he deserved.

"Okay okay. I'll get up." Groaning as I sat up and then, since why not, I leaned back and did a cool ninja kip up to my feet on the couch, and then flipped sidewise off the couch landing utterly silently on the floor. "Nin-Nin." I whispered smiling as I ninja dashed around the room.

Today… Today was a good day.

—---

Unfortunately it was early in the day, so Rita wasn't around Lizzies, but I was let in with only a few narrowed eyes, as I hurried down to see Judy. The club was quiet, practically dead, and I almost expected Judy to be sleeping by now.

Instead I found her awake, and definitely on her third or forth energy drink.

"You look like shit, you slept yet?"

"What? Motoko? No, not yet, it's not that late." She grumbled at me spinning in her chair to look at me as I walked in. To my surprise though she wasn't alone

"The sun is up Judes." I told her, as I looked at… Evelyn Parker. The blue haired Doll that had caused the entire Konpeki Heist in the future. "Who'se your friend?"

"Who is your friend Judy?" Evelyn asked, doing that I'm so mysterious routine as she crossed her arms and smoked a cig.

I carefully maneuvered away from her cause ew, and instead plopped my ass on Judy's desk next to her.

"Eve, this is Motoko Kusanagi, she's a merc, and a good one despite her age. I do XBD work for her. Motoko, this is Evelyn Parker. She works at Clouds."

"Nice to meet you." I offered simply, not quite sure what to think of her. Not sure what to feel about her. She was the type to stab you in the back, but also she was in a bit of a shit situation. Such was life in Night City.

"To you as well. Judy, I'll talk to you about that thing later."

"Huh.. Oh sure Eve."

Evelyn sauntered out and I got the feeling she was annoyed that I showed up.

"You should get some sleep."

"Eh maybe, I'm not tired yet." Judy grumbled at me, looking annoyed at my comments.

"That's probably the energy drinks talking more than anything."

"I don't need advice alright?"

"Sure, sorry. Sorry. I came cause I scrolled a new BD last night."

"It's been a while. Figured you stopped that." She muttered staring at me kinda blearily. Her eyes bloodshot, but she waved her hand at me, and I popped the shard out of my neck and handed it over.

"Nah, just haven't done a lot of gigs recently that I could actually show off. Sometimes you don't want people knowing you did some work, you know?"

"I do rip your identifying info out."

"Eeeh. That only gives protection in some ways." I said because the big corps, or gangs wouldn't care.

This one was probably a bit risky too, but to be fair, they had pulled iron during a neutral ground anyway, so them getting flatlined is just on them.

At least I hoped the gang would see it that way. No point in trying to hide it, plenty of people had seen me surf the guy off the building.

Which I kept reminding myself had happened, cause it was fucking awesome.

"Alright sure, I'll clean it up. There ain't no like, eyeballs in this one right?"

"A fist fight, some knife work, and I kicked a guy off a building, and then rode another guy off the edge. No eyeballs."

She blinked at me for a while as she seemed to try and process what I had just said before just shaking her head.

"I'll look into it."

"Preem… Maybe a nap first?

"You're not my Mom, get the fuck out."

"Going! Going! Take care of yourself Judy!" I called out as I hurried away. Maybe I should send a text to Rita?

Seriously Judy needed a fucking time out or something she looked exhausted.

—--

"Malcolm. Ichi."

"Motoko."

"Motoko." The two boys looked at me, and I looked at them. My eyes shifted Scanning for any sign, any twitch. Then we all moved. My Sandy activated, giving me all the time in the world I might need arms swung. Once, twice, and thrice, and then my inevitable victory was assured.

"Cheat!"

"You definitely cheated."

"I don't know what you're talking about." I said sniffing my flat hand held out, as all three of us completed our rock paper scissors to determine who would win for today.

"How did she cheat?" Malcolm whispered to Ichi who was glaring at me.

"I don't know. I just know she did."

"You two always accuse me of cheating. It's unfair."

"You always cheat."

"Stop cheating then." The two repeated back and I staggered back like I was struck.

Just because I could slow time, and with Quick Draw my hands were incredibly fast, so I could literally see what the boys were going to choose for Rock, Paper, Scissor and always select the one that would grant me victory was no reason to call me a cheater!

"We're eating Ramen!"

"Fiiine." Malcolm grumbled, but it was fake, he liked Ramen too.

"Ugh. Alright. You're buying though."

"I won the game! I shouldn't have to buy too!"

"Nah the Boss buys."

"You are our Boss, aren't you? Motoko? Boss?" Ichi replied looking innocent as he stared into my eyes.

I couldn't help but look away.

"Now who's cheating? Jerks. Fine I'll pay."

"Nova. I'm starving."

"Saaaame. Oh hey, Motoko, the Minotaur needs some work done on it." Ichi told me, as we all headed through the crowd towards the Ramen stall. Meeting up at the Sakura market and choosing a place to eat was something we did sometimes.

Hiromi sometimes joined, and sometimes not, but today it was just the boys and I.

"What? What's wrong with the Minotaur?"

"It's left ankle is acting up." Ichi told me, and I stopped dead in the rows of people making him stop as I turned to face him fully.

"Ichi… The last time we used the Minotaur I went over it, and it was fine. Why is the ankle acting up?"

"I mean… I practice with it… It's why I keep it at home, you know?"

I felt my eyes narrow.

My Minotaur, the cool mecha that I had specifically risked my life to hijack instead of just blowing it up… The one I'd only gotten a few minor chances to even use…

And Ichi was using it enough to incur maintenance issues!?

"You jerk!"

"Ah! Hey!" Ichi scrambled away as I swiped a clawed hand at him.

"That's mine!" I roared, and before I could get him Malcolm was there.

"Run! I got her!"

"You're my best choom I'll never forget your sacrifice!" Ichi called out fake crying as he jogged away through the crowd as Malcolm grabbed onto me and held me tight stopping me from chasing.

"You realize you'll die now."

"Yeah, but you know, when your choom needs it, you gotta jump in." He explained calmly, acting like he wasn't holding me around my waist and trying to keep me from touching the floor.

I considered how to handle this and decided to just sigh.

"Your true act of friendship has moved something in my cold heart. I'll let Ichi live."

"Hey really?"

"No." Then I shifted, twisting Malcolm's wrist and shifting him away before bringing him in and sliding along his back. A moment later both my arms were wrapped around his head.

"Ack!-Motoko! Air!" He gasped, and I just sighed.

"I'm sorry you have to die like this. It was nice knowing you." I whispered sadly, and Malcolm reached up and smacked my arm tapping out.

I released him, as he nearly fell forward gasping.

"Jesus, loosen up."

"Heh. You were fine. I was only half choking you. Come on, let's get to the Ramen place and order. We can even pretend we don't know Ichi when he shows up to get some food."

"Hell yeah! Oh wait, we should pretend he died or something."

"I can almost hear the voice of my old Choom Ichinose. He was always such a good boy." I whispered sniffling and Malcolm cackled as we both dashed for the Ramen shop.

Sliding into a booth I threw up a hand at the chef and he nodded.

He knew what I wanted.

Malcolm checked the menu and then called out his own.

"So how's the whole… Music thing?"

"I'll probably have to kill some people… I like the equipment, the studio is crazy, if only they'd stop trying to edit the song."

"Hiromi mentioned that. You got them by the chrome though right?" He asked, making a gripping gesture.

"Hehe. Yeah. Hiromi gave me creative freedom… The food is good."

"Oh hell yeah?"

"Yeah. There is this restaurant, we did a show at, real food… It was so good."

"We should go there then. Instead of this shit hole." Malcolm said, earning a snapped up look from the chef. I reached over and dope slapped him and threw an apologetic look at the chef.

"Malcolm!"

"Hey just saying, you can just go do that sort of stuff now right?"

"I… Yeah I guess."

"Sweet, take me to some richy rich restaurant some time instead of Ramen Joint."

"I like Ramen." I grumbled, and he laughed.

"Sure but I bet super expensive Ramen is good."

"That does sound like something I want to try." I admitted, but… It also sounded expensive, and I didn't want to just blow all my eddies on food.

"What's with the face?"

"What face?" I argued back and he sent me a look.

"The constipated face you get when you want to do something, but also don't."

"I don't have a constipated face!"

"Suuuure. Anyways, what's wrong with going to richy places? You got the eddies, and you're famous now."

"Look around, do you see screaming groupies? No one knows me."

"Becoming famous, whatever. It's gonna happen." The Ramen arrived, although Malcolm got a glare from the chef, and I was half sure either the chef had spit it in, or he'd made it particularly good to force Malcolm to shut up.

Either way the boy dug in without a care.

I dug in myself quietly, enjoying the warm salty broth. Even if it was kinda chemically…

"You've been all weird about the music thing. So what's the deal?"

"I'm not-"

"Motoko. Seriously."

"I… I don't know! It's annoying. I hate being responsible for it, and having people tell me what to do. And all the work I have to do to go into it. I just wanted to like… Make music."

"Okay, so don't do the rest."

"I kinda have to."

"Then make them pay for it. You got that fancy real food right?"

"Yeah that was a perk."

"Sounds like you just need to focus on the perks and deal with the crap. I know you never had a real job and stuff.'

"I've had a job!"

"Come on Motoko, I don't mean like Section 9 gig stuff, that's preem, but it's not normal. I mean like… Working as an underling in the Claws, and stuff. Ichi and I did that. It sucked, they treated us like shit, but the perks were awesome. We got left alone, or treated with respect. Like that."

"I guess… I do like the food, and maybe… Just a little, getting up on stage is fun."

He sent me a smug look so I punched him.

"Ow ow ow. Motoko! Chrome hands."

"All the better to punch you with!"

"Ease up, That hurt."

"Fine… Sorry."

"It's cool. So you like parts of it and hate the rest? Motoko, that's like normal job stuff, choom. Just enjoy the perks, and if it ever gets to the point the perks stop coming, or they don't outweigh the bad? Just quit."

"Just like that huh?"

"Sure why not. I quit, Ichi quit. No big deal."

"No big deal huh." I mumbled stuffing some noodles in my face. Chewing the noodles honestly wasn't filling me.

It left me hungry for real food. While there were negatives, and maybe I hyperfocused on those a bit… There were benefits to the whole MSM thing. Eddies I guess, but access to other stuff. Food, the whole Militech deal. I mean trying to klep a pair of brand new Eagle Cyberarms would be a pain, doable of course, but a pain.

Heh. I was still going to rob Militech though.

But… "Other than food, and some deal I'm getting with Militech, what other perks do I get?"

"Choom, seriously? You get to meet all the rich and famous people."

"Who I don't care about."

"No Motoko, you aren't thinking about it right. If I had access to all the famous people. More importantly, to the rich people? I'd start looking for those that need stuff done. Section 9 stuff."

"You think?"

"Motoko, we kill people for a living. Killing some scav gonk, ain't much different from killing some rich asshole that tears people apart too. Fuck em. Find someone that can pay and let's do some gigs to make some real eddies. The only thing I have to say about rich people? Fuck em."

"Fuck em." I agreed. Grabbing my drink and raising it up to tap against his.

"Who are we fucking?"

"Oh man, Malcolm did you hear that? On the breeze? It was like our old friend Ichinose spoke from beyond! If only he'd listened, and worn his seatbelt! The car accident was so terrible."

"Yeah choom. Let's go see his Niche in the Columbarium after this. Sniff, he was gone so young. Ow!" Ichi smacked Malcolm up the side of his head as he took the seat.

"Don't kill me off assholes! Seriously, I was hiding for like ten minutes. I expected you to come running around the corner."

"Nah, Malcolm's earnest plea for your life moved my heart. So you get to live today."

"Preem. I'm starving."
I just chuffed.

"But seriously, you fucked up the Minotaur? Dammit Ichi."
"It's not my fault! I was just practicing with it. The leg seized up."

"Ugh. Fine, I have a few hours before I have to deal with MSM stuff, so after this let's hit your place, and I'll take a look."

"Preem."
"Yeah I can do that." Malcolm agreed, and the three of us settled in to eat with only minor bodily harm inflicted on each other through the rest of the conversation.

—--

Judy Alvaraz

The rush was as always there, messy, the emotions bleeding over, a clean Virtu was like that. All raw energy and almost overwhelming. It was like being on a drug. Judy's favorite drug.

The music only accentuated the feel as she hopped around in an old pool. The absolute beast of a chrome hound across from her didn't even feel like a threat. The fear Judy would have felt was washed away in the eagerness, the spilling swirling emotions of a woman that just wanted to beat something.

The acrid taste of beer on her tongue only heightened it all. Judy made a mental note as she slowed the virtue giving her a moment as herself to heighten that feeling. Then she scrolled it back up, and the fight hit her.

Blows were dodged, and taken, and her heart was pounding calmly in her chest.

This fight was brutal, and yet every motion there was no fear, only an iron hard confidence, and an enjoyment of it all.

Every blow to the face was matched with a surge of almost delight, but not from the pain, but just from the knowledge she could push through it.

Pain was temporary, that feeling was strongly implied.

This was nothing. Just punch and punch until he fell.

The moment it happened, was instantaneous, a knowledge of exactly when to act.

The Sandy caused everything to blur, but the BD kept everything clear. Judy slowed it down anyways, making some edits, highlighting just how much everything had slowed down. Judy could drop the speed of the BD here a bit, let everything feel slow motion, she'd have to edit the emotion line to make sure it stayed solid, but Motoko was reliable about her emotional state.

It didn't vary much. If she was angry she was angry, and if she was happy she was happy. It didn't sway much.

Judy brought the speed back up just in time to feel herself punch into the chrome heads brain case. He crumpled, the blow punching straight through whatever chrome he had.

The delight wasn't so much for winning, but just delighting in a fight.

The win hadn't been important. It was the act. The knowledge that she could win. Judy could beat anyone that she faced against! Nothing could stop her!

She dialed back a bit, shaking herself physically to remind her just where Judy ended, and Motoko began.

Then continued.

There was almost no chance for Judy to even feel fear as the Sixth Street members running the racket stood up guns pulled.

There was no hesitation, as Judy was just trying to process, Motoko's mind had already calculated.

A quick hack went out, as easily as breathing, notations in her vision turning each gun red showing they were offline.

But before she could do more, a shout.

"Stand Alone Complex!" Judy turned, the guy was calling out Motoko, he was a fan. Judy sent him a wave, the actual shift in emotion, an awkward sort of feeling made Judy chuckle aloud.

"~There is a fire in me! A fire that buuuuuurns!" The song was in her ear, and Judy knew what would happen next.

She moved, leaping up flipping and moving into the first gonk, with a delighted shift kicking him straight off the roof. His scream echoing off the building noted, but mostly ignored as she instead just kept moving.

The knife was in her hand, without a thought, surprising Judy at just how fast it had appeared.

Then it was on, knife to the jugular, a motion Judy recognized, Motoko liked doing that.

Then a shift, rolling around the goon she'd just killed, using him as cover before coming around, knife was thrown landing in the chest of a ganger trying to shoot her, the gun from the first goon now in her hands.

The bullets didn't feel like anything.

In most BD's gunfire was matched with a surge, adrenaline, fear, maybe worse emotions.

Not here. Motoko only felt that same satisfaction, at a challenge that was being overcome.

The bullets took out another to slow to move, and then Judy realized there was one left.

She ran prowling forward as he raised his gun and just chucked it at her, it missed, she leapt, even as he nearly stumbled backwards, and there was a feeling, a confident little smug idea.

Feet first, hand down grabbing the gonks stupid shirt. This was the leader of the Sixth Street, the one that had tried to fire at her.

And now her body slammed into him, feet on his chest and groin, holding him steady as there was suddenly nothing but air.

The feeling of Judy's stomach flipping wasn't in the BD. Instead for Motoko it was just a perfect confidence that this was fine. That even leaping off a building couldn't stop her.

The man started crying the moment he realized what was happening.

Judy paused the scroll right alongside the recoil as they hit the ground.

"Fuck… Fucking hell."

 

[Seras]

It was the small things that got to me sometimes.

I was in the shower, slowly washing up when I reached for my shampoo, but…

Instead of the crap Jun and I had been using, the cheap two in one combo which could be picked up from every market store for the people in Night City who even bothered anyway.

There were four fancy slim bottles.

The names were pretentious cursive and I was fairly certain each would be a couple hundred eddies each.

It was a fucking lot for just my hair.

I took the first one, and just…

It smelled pretty good, not overpowering thankfully otherwise I wouldn't use it. Can't sneak around when even normies could sniff you out, much less any gonk with a scent tracker nose.

Either way I started washing. Each one in order, going through soaking in and then rinsed off just like the makeup lady had walked me through when she gave me the bag of gunk I was expected to use.

When it happened I had been a bit of a bitch about it. But that was stupid. It made my hair super shiny, and nice looking, and that was preem. This was a perk.

I never expected to take wisdom from Malcolm of all people, but he was right. Everyone had stupid jobs they had to do, and the goal was to find the perks in them.

The big one of course was the eddies. Even if Section 9 was doing really well, more eddies were always nice.

On top of that were the other perks. Real food, contacts with the rich and famous to get some new gigs from, equipment.

I looked at my palms. Covered in suds. My Condors were old. Maybe even older than me, to be honest. They did everything I needed. Armored, EMP resistant. For all that I'd never run into that issue.

They were the durable type of arms that nothing would stop. I actually liked that about them. Mantis Blades might look cool, but they were also goofy as all hell, and good luck fitting much armor on your cyberlimbs when it was full of extendo blade action.

I pushed my hand into the water and then as the suds disappeared did the same to my head.

This was a new day, and I was going to look at it from a different perspective.

Today was all about the perks.

Stepping out of the shower I reached the mirror and sighed. One negative about having completely chrome hands. Even with my rubberized grip along my palm and fingers, it wasn't like I could easily wipe steam from a mirror.

I grabbed a towel and wiped it down, and then looked at myself.

Purple hair wiped backwards, reddish purple eyes, inhuman in how perfect they were. The black Arasaka Chrome wrapping around my neck.

None of it felt wrong.

I threw my image an arrogant smirk.

"Baddest Bitch in NC." I reminded myself, then went serious, shifting my face into an emotionless facade. "Truly the net is vast and infinite."

"Huehuhehehe." I broke character a moment later. Man I might be Motoko, but I certainly wasn't that Motoko.

I still had too many fleshy bits for one. Shaking myself a bit. Best hurry up if Jun heard me weebing out at the mirror he would never let me live it down.

Grabbing a fresh Leotard, armored, and ready I finished drying off as I slipped into it. It was still a bit snug, really needed to go see the old lady for another alteration, but once I zipped it up I was once more locked and ready.

"Find the perks." I reminded myself.

Today was one of the days the perks were coming into play.

Today… I was getting a new set of arms.

—---

"Hiromi." I greeted, relieved for once. She was actually here. I knew Alex had fucked with her a few times so far, but he was standing fairly close by looking like the assistant he was meant to be for once.

Maybe he'd finally gotten a clue?

Nah. He was up to something.

"Motoko. Right on time." She said confidently, and shot Alex a look. Ah, were they playing a game of who could control me better, because honestly, it was Hiromi. She bossed me around all the time and I just did whatever she said for the most part…

Wait that sounded wron-Nevermind, that was going in the box.

"Right on time indeed. Despite the restrictions, MSM, and Militech have worked out an acceptable compromise." He explained and I instantly frowned, looking at Hiromi.

"It's fine. And Vik already agreed." She said, and I did relax at that.

"Okay, so what's going on?" We were outside Misty's Esoterica, and there were quite a few vehicles around, Vans, and things. It was like the whole area was a bit sectioned off…

"While Militech didn't like the idea of having this installed by a Ripper." Alex began, and Hiromi nodded accepting his explanation so I relaxed and did the same. "They agreed after an idea was launched. Militech, reliable, even in the worst circumstances." He waved his hand like he was seeing it on a billboard.

Riiiight. I looked at Hiromi.

"They are going to video the whole thing and turn it into a PR win. If even a back alley ripper can install Militech cyberarms reliably, that must mean they are good… Or whatever drivel they are trying to drip feed to the people. Just don't worry about it, they're going to record the operation, and it'll be spliced into a commercial."

My slight frown must have clued Hiromi in, but Alex didn't get the memo.

"Just keep smiling and stay confident, we have a real doctor in case there is any issue. But we put together a few comments that should help." He tried to send me a file and once again I really felt like melting his brain or something.

But I cleared it of the general trackers, it was clean, and then looked it over.

"I'm not saying that."

"But-"

"And you don't have to, but try and think of something in your own words that'll sound good." Hiromi offered, already knowing I was irritated. These catch phrases were cringe!

"At least try a few of them, they workshopped very well, and they'll make Militech happy." Alex explained butting in, and I just rolled my eyes.

Whatever dude.

Finally the rumble of an engine had all of us look up.

A Chevilion Emperor rounded the corner. The type that meant only one thing. Corpo.

It pulled in taking up most of the road uncaring how it blocked others in.

Then the door opened and for a moment I was having a flashback.

A very familiar face…

This couldn't be fucking real, right? I was staring for a moment, but then as the three people settled out of the car, two guards, and a Corpo woman…

Our eyes met, even with the sunglasses.

I don't know if it was the way I was looking, or something else, but we both went still processing.

Hands ready for a quick draw and a shootout if needed.

While everyone else around us made their greetings our eyes stayed locked. The threat had been registered, and it looks like they were trying to figure out what to do.

"Motoko?"

"Thomas, Motherfucking Anderson." I cursed loud enough everyone stopped and looked, including the corpo woman that looked like she was having her own irritation with Hiromi.

"Didn't I kill you?"

"Bitch, your weak ass stab and kicking me out of a twelfth floor window is weak if you want me dead. Try harder next time, asshole!" I cursed him.

Thomas Anderson in his stupid Sunglasses and trench coat, totally looking like a Matrix knockoff…

It was totally not fair how cool he looked.

I wanted a Trench Coat! The Major had some cool ones, I was gonna get one now.

"Is there a problem?" The Corpo woman asked, looking between us, but my eyes never left him, and his eyes never left me.

Then slowly he shook his head.

"No. Old business."

"Nah fuck it. I'm not worried about this loser. He couldn't even kill a defenseless teenager." I mocked him and I noticed him twitch.

Still sensitive about that huh?

The two of us agreed to stop preparing to kill each other. It was body language more than anything, our hands shifting not away from our weapons, but saying, you aren't worth drawing on.

The Militech corpo looked between us for a moment, her eyes sharp, but instead just looked at me. Sizing me up.

I did the same to her, finally taking my eyes off Thomas. She was… She kinda reminded me of the one Militech Corpo V met. What's her face? The woman that was a total Dom…

Shit now I was thinking about Dommy Mommy and staring at a woman that could absolutely put one of us over her knee and-

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Hiromi Mitsunashi, Manager of Stand Alone Complex. I'm sure we'll be able to handle today's event to both of our satisfaction." Hiromi offered, and I looked at her, she looked pleased as punch to be chatting up an older Corpo…

Be careful Hiromi, don't fall for her Dommy Mommy wiles, that-

"Is this a joke?" The woman responded, looking at Hiromi with a serious scowl. "An Arasaka Student? What is MSM playing at here?"

"Apologies, Ms. Katalina. MSM takes no side in any sort of… Business between Arasaka, and Militech, but Mitsunashi here is a member of the Management team for our Ms. Kusanagi's team."

"I'm not working with an Arasaka brat on this. I don't appreciate whatever game is going on here. Come on, we're leaving." She turned to do just that, leaving Hiromi a bit stupified as she seemed shocked. She hadn't expected that, but I noticed someone else reacted instantly.

Someone else had expected that.

"Please wait Ms. Katalina, this deal is already confirmed, Militech has already paid a substantial sum, and MSM will of course do whatever is needed to make sure today's event goes smoothly."

"Anything will you? Well first off, get rid of the kid, then we're going to nee-"

"Stuff it up your ass, right alongside the dick you already have up there." I called out instantly and loudly as I stepped forward cutting Alex's faux obsequience, he just wanted Hiromi gone. The corpo woman, Ms. Katalina, apparently turned on me with a look like she was going to have me killed.

"Do you have any-"

"No. Nor do I care. Don't bother finishing the sentence. You're a middle manager at best. Now put your big girl branded Militech panties on, stop causing fucking trouble. We're here to do an ad, the deal is already through. And-"

Thomas stepped forward because I had, slipping in front of the Corpo a moment before I reached her.

I'd only intended on poking her a bit, but I stopped, and smirked at him.

"We doing round two choom? No windows to throw me out this time."

"No windows to save your life this time, apparently."

I just grinned at him. all teeth.

"Enough!" Hiromi barked out, and I instantly stepped back. "This absolutely is a game, Ms. Katalina but not one you're the player of, just a piece. The joke is on me, this time it seems." Hiromi said, sauntering forward. She shot Alex a look which he returned with a fake apology. "Fifty thousand, four hundred and thirty seven."

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Katalina asked, as Hiromi walked right up to her and looked up into her eyes… Good job Hiromi but be careful she might use her height to dominate you!

"It should. That's your loss projections so far if you turn around and walk away. I'm sure it's nothing to you of course, but I doubt your projection report to your higher ups will look good. What exactly will you put on the report for this event's failure? Refused because an Arasaka student was there?" Hiromi pressed and the woman's face shifted into an even greater sneer.

"A nice story to tell yourself, but let me tell you what will actually happen. I'll leave here and go do real business, and in turn MSM will come crawling back to us, realizing that they sent a child to do a business deal with Militech."

"Oh sure, but see, I'm Motoko's Manager, nothing happens without my permission. When MSM comes crawling to you, and you hold their feet to a fire, you force a better deal on them, which is I'm sure, just a happy coincidence and not your plan. But I'll tell Motoko to refuse anything and everything. And she'll do it."

"She's right." I agreed, backing up Hiromi.

I noticed the corpos eyes flicked to me, and I just looked smug.

"Then of course. That report will need to be filed. And questions will be asked, about why a deal already hammered out and accepted suddenly turned into a continuing issue. So go ahead. Leave, I'll go home and put my feet up for the rest of the day while managing a Rockerboy. It's easy." She said, the last part almost like a knife thrust right into the woman's chest.

This was definitely some corpo thing because Katalina's eyes narrowed like she was going to attack.

Then she shifted, all of it fell away.

"For an Arasaka brat, you're not half bad. Ever consider Militech?" The question hung in the air as Hiromi too stepped back shedding the threatening pose and into a confident little smile.

"I've heard about the benefits, but never did receive a direct one on one offer."

"Then while this Event proceeds, how about we discuss cost-benefit?"

"I am willing to hear your proposition." Hiromi demurred, and… Oh no! I was right, Hiromi! Don't fall prey to the wiles of an elder corpo dommy mommy!

—--

After that awkward start, I was pulled away by the makeup team, into Misty's who thankfully didn't seem to mind all the movement through her shop… Had they paid her for this? That might explain why she was smiling happily from behind her counter.

While I was worked on. Hiromi and Katalina chatted… Well cattily at each other. I could hear the barbs traded back and forth, but Hiromi was actually smiling.

Careful Hiromi!

Thomas was hovering around, but our eyes kept catching, and every time we'd size each other up for round 2.

But then a makeup artist would cross over and that would be that.

I hadn't even considered the fact that I was doing a brand deal for Militech while working with Hiromi.

Oof.

Either way I was getting all cleaned up like I was going to be on TV instead of getting my arms replaced…

I was going to be doing both. Shit. I took a breath. It's fine. The negative for the perk. Free arm upgrades, all for the low cost of being a walking ad. It was fine.

And then as I was getting ready, the second guard walked past carrying a large case with Militech branded on it, and my eyes traced the box.

That was it. My arms.

They were taking them down, where Vik would probably look them over…

Actually I really hoped he did.

"Are we done yet?" I asked, purposefully saying it kindly instead of bitching at the makeup artists.

"Not just yet, a little more." They urged, and I sighed and let them get back to it.

Either way. Everything was going well. Alex was pouting that his little plot didn't work. Obviously Militech should have been informed about Hiromi's corporate ties.

And then there was Thomas.

"So serial killer to corpo bodyguard is a bit of a downgrade… Or upgrade? Not sure how you'd compare it. How'd that happen?" I called out, he'd been watching everything, but he was close enough for me to yell at, and I was bored.

"Getting back in bed with Militech was the only way to keep Arasaka off my back." He said simply, which honestly, I was surprised. I didn't expect a response.

"That sucks." I offered a bit of commiseration.

"It happens kid. Sometimes you have to get in bed with a bad deal, to save yourself from another."

"Nah, if the Corpo's ever came after me, I'd win." I said, and he looked at me and I grinned fakely.

It was a joke, I wasn't stupid, but I still wanted to mess with him. "I'd have just charged Arasaka Tower and taken everyone out or something. Not run to Militech."

He didn't respond, but I got the feeling he was rolling his eyes at me.

"If you ever want to go freelance again, Section 9 is hiring."

"I don't work with kids."

"Too competent for you? I guess if I was used to working with morons I'd be uncomfortable with sheer brilliance too."

"Attitude like that'll just get you killed. Like I almost did."

"Pfft. Please You had me down for like a couple hours. I was fine."

"I stabbed you in the chest, and kicked you out a window."

"Skill issue." I decided to say solemnly and delighted in the irritation that passed over his face, those sunglasses gave him a bit of protection but I still saw it.

"That's it Ms. Kusanagi."

"Ah perfect, thanks." I offered to the woman that had been working on my face. I got up and walked over to Thomas. He was taller than me which was annoying, but he still locked his eyes on me despite the height difference. "If there's ever a next time… I'll kill you." I promised him as I walked past him down into the back alley.

I wanted to check with Vik before everything got started.

Leaving Thomas behind and out of my mind. I maneuvered through the stairs down to Viks; wires and equipment lined the stair well.

Jeeze, how much equipment did they need to do a simple recording?

Oh.

Vik's poor clinic was completely covered in different lights, and cameras. It looked nothing like his normal dingy basement clinic.

I saw him thankfully, and he was indeed looking over his arms. Two men surrounded him, one a guard of some kind, massive bulging arms and the clothes of a NUSA soldier glaring down at Vik, the other a doctor.

I hurried over just catching Vik's words.

"And I told you, I'm going to look over it. I do it for all equipment that gets chipped in my clinic."

"This is ridiculous! You're going to ruin the warranty if you do that!"

"Son, I've popped open Militech chrome since before you were born. It won't hurt it."

"Vik! I'm sorry." I called out interrupting as I squirmed in and basically pushed both men away from Vik as he worked. "I didn't expect all this. They haven't broken anything right?"

"Hey Kid." He said, smiling at me in that Vik way as he seemed to relax a bit as he looked me over. "They certainly dolled you up. It's fine kid. I was the one that agreed to all this, and besides, I'm getting paid so it's not too bad."

"That's a relief then." I said a bit awkwardly. It was still a mess. I'd hang around after and help him put everything back if nothing else. Then I looked down. "That's them?"

"It is. Militech Eagle, Mark V's, brand new, these are straight off the factory. Top of the line. You ever see Orbital Crystal before? They used a bit to reinforce the bones-"

"Please do not take it apart! That will void the warranty!" The doctor guy called out to stop Vik from doing just that, and we looked from him then to each other, both of us amused.

Warranty? What the fuck was I going to do with a warranty?

"Maybe another time then." I offered since the doctor was annoying. "It has everything? And no issues?"

"Just like you asked." He confirmed, and slid the cast over so I could look closer.

"Additional armor just like your Condor. Although these will be a bit slimmer than your Condors, even with the armor. The Crystal reinforcement means they could remove a bit of the needed steel. Hardened Shielding, so no EMP can knock your arms out. Although with how much Chrome you have that doesn't mean you'll be safe."

"I know Vik. I'll try to get some EMP stuff soon to balance it all out. I don't like the idea of my Optics, or Neural Link getting shorted out either." I told him, although mostly I was waiting for the Sandy upgrade. That massive Spinal Neural Link would be EMP hardened already… Probably.

It would be kinda stupid for it not to be… Wait didn't David get short circuited by the BD guy?

Eh maybe not, whatever I'll get some upgrades for that.

"Well other than that, you got the Subdermal Grip obviously. It's a low cut version, so it doesn't take up much room."

"That's good."

"It also has Thickened Myomer. You'll notice a strength difference right away. We'll do some boxing training sometime soon to get you used to your new strength."

"I'd like that." I agreed instantly, happy at Vik's offer.

"And finally… Militech CE-3K Myomer Enhancement module. Or Gorilla mod as they are often called."

"Please do not call them that. The Arasaka brand "Gorilla Arms" Are a copyrighted property and also nowhere near as good as the Militech competitor." The doctor offered and I twitched at the same time as Vik.

Literally everyone just called them Gorilla arms. No one cared that Arasaka branded the-Nevermind. Corpo gonna corpo.

"Right. But with this. I should be hitting a whole lot harder."

"Combined with the Myomer upgrade? You'll rip doors off their hinges if you want. Or sometimes when you don't want. Like I said, we'll do some training soon to help you acclimate to the strength changes. Be careful, especially at first."

"I will Vik." I agreed quickly he was using his dad tone!

"Alright, well let me finish checking these over." He said and I nodded, stepping back purposefully pushing the doctor and guard away a bit to give him some space.

He'd be checking for spyware or worse, and I didn't want anyone distracting him for that…

I felt nervous, it was a big change, but… It was time.

 

[Seras]

"Hey kid, take it slow." Vik's voice called out, as I opened my eyes. I hadn't slept, hadn't had any sleepy juice, or even just forced myself to sleep for an hour. The change had been while I was wide awake.

But, honestly it wasn't that bad. All Vik had done was remove my old arms, alter some of the attachments and then re-attach my new arms.

All while the camera's rolled, and I had an annoying Militech Corpo in my ear, urging me to say tag lines, like 'With these Militech Arms, I'll be invincible!' And stupid shit like that.

It was super cringey so I didn't. Instead I went through the surgery mostly quiet, laughing and joking with Vik while he worked so he knew I was okay, but otherwise keeping it more intimate.

And then I slowly sat up. The Silver Chrome arms shifted, having finally had their connections completed, as I brought them up to my face and looked my new palms over.

It would take some getting used to, but all the little dings and scrapes, things my Condors had from even before I ran them through the wringer were gone. Clean untouched chrome.

"How they feel kid?"
"Like a million eddies." I said, loud enough to finally make the woman in my ear chattering shut up, as I showed them off a bit more for myself than the camera's but they were tracking every movement in multiple directions as well.

And then I closed them into a tight fist.

Yeah that strength felt different. In a good way.

"They feel like I can take on the world." I admitted, the least cringey thing closest to what Militech wanted… "Or at least a small Corp." I said with a smirk, and Vik chuckled.

There.

Good enough.

—--

It wasn't enough for the corpo's but a few additional lines they had me repeat over and over from different angles, and me going full cold to keep from losing my temper at how fake it felt, and we were finally done.

Militech was happy enough, and I'd have the tour planned for next week, so that would be interesting.

But it was over. I hung around as the camera equipment started disappearing hauled by men that must do it quite often.

"At least they're quick to pack up." I muttered to Vik and he chuffed.

"They're just doing their job." He reminded me. He was having me go through dozens of little tests, finger touches, punches, and shifting each joint.

It honestly felt amazing. No… Better than amazing.

There was a flexibility in these arms I had never had with my Condors. Not only could I still spin my hand around, I could almost do the same with my elbow. Which was kinda weird at first, but it wasn't disruptive or anything. In fact as I went through the motions it all felt… Completely natural?

I blinked over as I continued the motions under Vik's watchful eye, checking my system, and then I was surprised.

Militech Eagle MKV *Adaptation Militech Eagle 4/4*

The condor spot in my adaptation list was different… Wait..

Oh.

Condors used to take 5/5, but the Eagles only took four adaptations, and…

I had a stat point.

It had refunded me, the point! Nice!

1 Stat point.
3 Skill point.

Hmm. That gave me some ideas, but… Last thing I'd done had been an intelligence point which means this point should just go back into Adaptation…

Looking over my chrome list, and what needed more Adaptation, there really was only one good option.

Everything else was already fairly well invested, but…

Dynalar Sandevistan Mk.2 *Adaptation Dynalar Sandevistan 2/4*

I knew I would be updating Sandy's soon, and when I did that… I highly doubt that monstrous thing was going to stay at 4 required adaptation points.

I dropped my free stat point in, bringing it to 3/4. I already burned my Sandy pretty hard, but this should make it much easier to deal with.

It didn't feel any different as I put in the point, but I wasn't using it right now either.

"Alright kid. I don't see any issues… At all, that thing must be really easy on the nerves. I'm not noticing any tearing, or inflammation. You're handling it great."

"Thanks Vik. I guess I've gotten used to the chrome since I had the Condors for so long." I said, the best explanation I could offer with people still around.

"Maybe." He said, his eyes locking onto me for a moment before just nodding and turning away to check his screens. "Well I'm pleased with how you're handling it. Light work only for a day or two, even with how well it's going alright? Take it slow kid, you really aren't used to the differences in strength alright?"

"I will. Promise. I'll go home and put my feet up and be lazy for a few days."

"Heh, well maybe not that light. Do some stretches, a few pushups every few hours or so, get your body used to the changes. Oh, and here." He dropped a pill bottle on my lap. "Take one of those before bed."

"You sure?"

"Kid that's already an incredibly light dose, but I'm still going to take care of you."

"Yes sir." I said firmly, throwing him a salute, and he just laughed.

"Motoko!" Hiromi called out as she sauntered into the clinic from the stairs. She'd disappeared upstairs at some point during the surgery.

"Hey Hiromi, all good?"

"All good. Oh you should see Alex, he's seething right now." Hiromi whispered pleased with herself, then frowned. "I should have expected the Militech issue. Even if it was just pressure for a deal, if I had made sure it was clear beforehand they couldn't have tried to push things." She whispered to me admitting her mistake.

I just shrugged.

"Mistakes happen. As long as you learn from them, who cares?" I said with a shrug, which felt a bit weird, but not a bad weird. I rolled my shoulders a bit more, getting a feel for how the motion was settled slightly lower than I was used to. The Eagles were sleeker and they were more feminine as well.

Where the Condors had been off the shelf, throw them on. The Eagles were designed with special forces in mind, and making sure a woman's arms would fit her better was probably with the extra alterations in Militech's mind.

"Yeah I won't make that mistake again… I keep getting swept up in that assholes rhythm. He sets up the deals behind my back and then I have to rush to keep any control over things."

"He knows what he's doing. It's a shame he isn't working with you instead of against you. Want me to kill him yet?"

"No, not yet. I don't know who the higher ups will send to replace him, and he's still fumbling as well, trying to get control over you. As long as he can't, he's an annoyance, rather than a problem."
"And he can't."

"Exactly." Hiromi said haughtily, and I grinned. It was nice that she knew I wouldn't work with this guy.

I mean… He was causing trouble for Hiromi, and only I got to do that!

"Speak of the devil." I muttered quietly, and Hiromi looked towards the entrance.

Alex walked down the steps a sleazy smile on his face as he approached.

"Motoko, how are you doing? Any problems?" He asked, half looking at Vik, and then looking around further as if expecting another face.

"Fine. Vik does excellent work."

"Good! Good! We should have enough for the commercial, although the Militech guys were thinking of maybe adding some music to it. I was thinking-"

"Music is good, Rise would probably be best. Showing Motoko rising up with the new arms." Hiromi offered, and I hummed at the thought, pointedly enjoying how she had cut off Alex.

I didn't really care, they could figure it out I'm sure.

"I'll let them know your suggestion." Alex offered, but I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever."

"It was surprising that we ran into Thomas Anderson again." Hiromi offered out of nowhere, and I looked up to see her ignoring Alex who was frowning a bit.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting that. I guess since we aren't protecting his target, he's not interested in continuing." I said, going with whatever Hiromi was up to.

"Indeed. If they knew a bit more about our past that might have been treated as an insult. It's too bad, there was the other issue that Katalina jumped on." She explained then sent a look at Alex.

"What is the connection between you and the Militech guard. You said he threw you out a window? Will there be an issue?"

"Eh, he was trying to kill someone. I was stopping him from doing that. It's fine. If we didn't fight today we probably won't." I waved him off staying calm and Hiromi was smirking.

"I didn't realize your… Gigs as a mercenary are so dangerous." He commented and I looked at him, then at Hiromi. It's your game Hiromi.

"Oh Motoko was rarely in any danger." Hiromi commented, sounding like she was trying to downplay what I could do.

"Well that's good. We certainly don't want our talent put at risk. We should speak about those gigs in fact. While keeping a Mercenary image is good, gunfights tend to be high risk."

"You don't have to worry about that. Motoko is very competent! She's only been shot at a few times. Nothing to worry about." Hiromi said smiling, and I could see Alex twitch a bit… What were you planning Hiromi?

Oh well. Whatever she was up to, I would let her do it.

"I'm going to help Vik put his clinic back to normal. Everyone should get out of here now that this is all over." I said firmly, as I noticed Hiromi looked pleased with whatever she was up to. Alex headed off, quiet. Obviously thinking about something.

I decided to let Hiromi have whatever plot she was in the middle of, and went to help out.

"Honestly kid, you should be resting. I don't want you straining those shoulders." Vik said the instant I walked over to help him pick up a box.

"I'll pick up the lightest ones." I offered doing just that and helping.

He just chuffed and got back to cleaning up.

—--

"Nice arms." Jun said a bit flatly for my taste. I mean, sure I'd entered the apartment walked right up to him and then basically showed my arms into his face by climbing over the back of the couch, but that didn't mean I wanted him to appreciate my new chrome or something!

"Thanks!" I chirped and then slipped a bit away but waved them a bit in front of me showing off the range of motion. "Militech Eagle. Mark Fives. Got a Militech Gorilla arm module integrated."

"That tracks."

I narrowed my eyes at his comment, but sniffed.

"Vik said I'm to be careful for a few days, I wouldn't want to accidentally hurt you." I decided calmly, and Jun sent me a smug look, but didn't actually push.

"The whole… Militech thing… Went well?"

"Yep. Ran into an old… Enemy? Did I tell you about the guy who defenestrated me?"

"Yeeees." Jun said, slowly eyes narrowed.

I nodded. I was really glad Jun didn't know what defenestrated means, because I don't think he would take well to having me thrown out a window. I'm pretty sure I never mentioned it to him when it happened?

Eh, probably not he would have gotten all worried about it.

"Anyways, it was alright it'll be an ad, but in exchange I get the arms."

"You should bring them down. Make sure they don't have any bugs or something in them."

"Vik already looked them over. You think I'd let anything get chipped in that he hadn't cleared? You think he would let me!?"

"Motoko, I know you like the guy and he is talented, but he's not the one that decides what chrome you have."

I looked at Jun. Poor simple idiotic Jun. That went to a ripper that would just stick any back alley scop into his body.

Heh. If only he had a legendary Ripper to keep watch over him.

"Why are you shooting me that stupid arrogant look? Just because you have to take it easy doesn't mean I won't throw your ass around."

"Just thinking of how much more you have to learn about Night City." I said, sighing sadly at my poor brother's foolishness.

"Whatever… So it all went well."

"Mhmm. There was a bit of trouble, that Alex guy is trying to cause trouble and then swoop in to fix it. But Hiromi handled it… And she told him a bit about my merc work, but only in like… I don't know, she's trying to mess with him somehow, but I don't get it."

"Hiromi is smart, she'll probably be okay. Just make sure when it all blows up in her face you pick her up and run."

"Right?" We both agreed at what would happen with a simple nod.

"Alright! I'm going to take a nap, and do some of the practice stuff Vik told me to do for my arms."

"Pfft. No one does those. It's dumb."

"You're dumb! Literally!" I yelled back, already slipping into my door as Jun spoke.

He was so dumb!

—---

The next day I woke up feeling right as rain. There wasn't any of the weirdness from having new chrome or anything, I stretched feeling the slight differences in my arms, but nothing that felt wrong.

Then I was off.

"Motoko! Don't run just yet." Jun called out as I stepped out of the bathroom cleaned up and ready for the day.

"What's up?"

"I need a favor. Don't come to the apartment today until at least five, okay?" He said, looking over the couch and I felt my nose wrinkle

"Ew."

"I'm not! Jeeze. Motoko get your head out of the gutter! I just need it for some business stuff. Not until five, okay?"

"Yeah… Yeah alright."

"Oh! And dinner will be at five so get your ass here then. Not before! At five."

"I can't come home until five, but only after five, not before? Jeeze Jun."

"It's a business meeting. Should have some left overs though. But if you're late I'll eat them all."

"The hell you will!" I snapped at him, finger pointed. "You better save me some!"

"Five! On the dot!"

"Fine! I won't come in until after five. But I'll be here! Anyway I'm going to Vik's!"

"You getting chipped?"

"What? No. Jun I just got new arms. Vik is going to run me through some boxing practice to make sure I know my new strength."

"Just do it. You don't need a ripper for that… Go hang out with your friends today."

"I'm going to Vik's! Stop telling me what to do. Weirdo." I grumbled at him as I headed out. Jun was so weird.

—--

"Alright kid, nice and easy." Vik called out, we were standing in the alley outside his clinic, Misty watching us with a smile from inside her shop as Vik held out a pair of mitts. I wasn't sure what they were called, but they were the opposite of the boxing gloves. The ones to protect someone's hands as I punched them.

Training Mitts I guess.

I threw a jab, sharp and it smacked into the mitt and instantly Vik swiped at me, forcing me to Juke down head low to avoid it and then I swung the other fist.

Over and over we went as we fell into a rhythm.

"Good, keep the guard up, you got it, weave with the swipes." He commented, as we worked, his voice a low drone, despite the exercise, his voice stayed calm and his breathing light.

Seriously, Vik was a monster.

I was adjusting my punches, getting a feel for just how much strength I had in my arms.

It was a lot, honestly. Even without activating the Gorilla Mod, my arm strength was probably twice what it had been, I hadn't even switched on the mod yet.

"Alright Kid, pull out the stops, let me see what you got." He called out, stepping back and I did just that. A slight twist in my wrists and my forearms expanded. Myomer strands held under tension, I could compress them with a thought giving me immense grip strength, or enough additional torque to yank a door open.

Or I could release it in a single motion and add even more to my punching power.

I did just that. Cocking back and sending it. Vik had stepped back so even my full punch couldn't reach him, but the punch still jerked his hand back from the force as I thwaked into the mitt.

"Nice. You held back there."
"I did."

"Well I'm not gonna break, torque it up. I want to feel what you can give me."

"Hehe! Prepare yourself Vik!" I called out, and this time I didn't hold back. Smacking his mitt as I unleashed the strained Myomers, it basically made my fist jut out another inch or two like a jack hammer as I struck, but unfortunately the timing was slightly off.

Still it send Vik back a few steps as he laughed. Shaking his had.

"Haha! Now that's a punch, alright Kid, let's get that timing down, you felt it right?"

"Yeah I was off." I confirmed, and settled in for more training. Honestly, it was soothing, moving my body hammering out punches.

And every once in a while getting a little alert.

*100 Street Brawling XP Gained.*

I grinned in delight at every update. It was coming in fairly fast as well. I'd trained with Vik before, but he was really driving me today and finally I heard it.

*100 Street Brawler XP Gained.*

*Street Brawler skill level up!*

Aaah what a good feeling! A level up! I loved level ups!

Street Brawler 9. I felt the shift in my head, the experience guiding me through what I was doing. It wasn't drastically noticeable. It wasn't like I was suddenly punching better, It was instinct and experience.

"Alright kid, alright. I think my hand is going numb, so let's take a break, how's the shoulders holding up?" He asked me, backing up a few minutes later with his hands raised and I laughed.

"Perfect, not a hitch or a tingle feels great."

"Well that's good news, come on I want to give a look even so."

"Sure Vik."
I followed after him watching as he took a moment to grab a towel to wipe his forehead, and grab a drink. "Ah I love this time of year, the air is crisp and cold, lets you train a bit harder." He said, sounding pleased and I shared his smile.

"Yeah I hate when it gets too hot. At least we get the ocean breeze through the year."

"Yeah, that does help. Alright, let me see that shoulder of yours. While I do that, you tell me about a rumor I heard about a girl beating up a street fighter, then cutting through an entire pack of 6th Street?"

"Ah… Hehehe!" I laughed awkwardly, but Vik was giving me a dad look!

Crap!

"Okay so that sounds way worse than it ended up being."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeeeah." Oh god it was actually worse than that. I rode a guy over the edge of a building. Vik would not be impressed! Crap!

—--

"Seriously, what is it with everyone today?" I sighed, as I slipped into the apartment elevator and headed up. It was five-oh five. So if Jun was still doing his business meeting that was on him now.

But first Hiromi having cancelled all the events today, not that there was much just another recording session, but that was cancelled then she told me she was busy for the day. Then Malcolm and Ichi both said they were doing stuff today.

I'd called Hayato, but she hadn't been up for a spar either. Probably for the best, but I'd told her about my new arms and she had sounded half furious and absolutely ready to throw hands with me anyways.

Hayato was like that.

So after a morning with Vik. I'd just sort of idled around the city. Bored.

I'd considered getting a gig set up, but Hiromi would frown at me if I took a gig without the rest of the crew, and well… I was still getting used to my arms.

I'd almost torqued the Kusanagi's gas a little too high while driving today.

It wasn't too bad, but the increase in strength was something I was adapting to. Heh. Adapting.

The elevator stopped and I headed to the apartment. Jun's meeting better be done, I was going to yell at him if it-

I opened the door, and the moment I did it all happened at once. The lights came on, and I leapt.

The room was full and-

"Surprise!" The screams of my friends echoed out, as I stared at them. Then they stared at me.

"Okay this is seriously your fault." I told them, as I hung from the ceiling, one hand pierced through the ceiling to hold onto whatever beams I could reach, the other already pointing my Burya at them. Only instinct kept me from shooting.

"Motoko! Sorry! Oh we didn't mean to scare you." Hiromi called out rushing over.

"Scare her? I'm the one pissing myself." Malcolm commented but he was actually looking completely calm drinking… Punch? Why was there punch?

The banner hanging from the ceiling tied to the entertainment system, and the kitchen drawer…

"Happy Birthday?"

"Happy Birthday!" Jun called out then chucked a pillow at me, and I yelped and fell. "Now get down from the ceiling, you Gorilla!"

 

[Seras]

I looked around the room. Jun was casually waving a hand over the back of the couch, Ichi had thrown confetti into the air, with Hiromi, Malcolm looked like he had half-heartedly joined in.

"I didn't know." I mentioned slowly coming down hanging by one hand for a moment as I holstered the Burya and then dropped the rest of the way back to the ground.

Let's just ignore the hole in the ceiling and the mess that left behind.

"Sorry! I just wanted it to be a surprise." Hiromi offered looking a little nervous after my reaction, so I just laughed and hurried over scooping her up into a hug and spinning around, she had a moment to start laughing.

Then I chucked her ass on the couch.

"Motokooo!" She shrieked, as she bounced around, and… Oh Rebecca was here too, drinking some of the punch and sitting next to Jun.

"Oh hi Becca."

"Sup choom." She greeted back, barely taking her eyes off my brother who was looking a bit nervous.

As he should be. Rebecca was like a shark, and she was obviously interested.

"Motokooo!" Hiromi shouted at me as she got back up and flailed at me a bit, but I just danced away from her blows laughing.

"You did all this for me? I've been trying to hang out with you gonks all day."

"Hiromi grabbed all of us, sorry choom." Ichi offered, and passed me a cup of punch, which I took. Ignoring Hiromi's glare.

"So… This is my birthday huh?" I muttered, it felt weird to think this was my fifteenth birthday.

"Yep. I didn't get you anything, cause I forgot… But I figure since you did too, that covers me." Malcolm called out, and Hiromi turned from glaring at the back of my head to glare at him.

"I told you to get something!"

"Eh." He shrugged then looked actually nervous for a second. "Not that I didn't want to or anything choom. I just figured some rushed thing I picked up today wouldn't be a preem gift."

"It's cool choom. I… Apparently forgot everyone's birthday, so I think you're clear."

"That's what I said!" He called out glaring at Hiromi who glared back.

"I told you it was today!"

"Yeah yeah."

I sipped at the punch and choked, spitting it back out while coughing.

"Wow choom. There's like barely any alcohol in this, was that too much for you?" Rebecca asked, as I coughed.

"I didn't think it was alcoholic! I don't like drinking."

"You have to! It's a birthday bash!"

"I don't really drink Becca."

"Nope!" Ichi was at my side.

"Yeah, you can't refuse today." Malcolm agreed on my other side.

"I can tear through both of you like butter." I whispered threateningly at them, but both boys just grinned.

"Drink drink drink." They started chanting in tandem, and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not-"

"Drink drink drink!" Hiromi called out, and now that I got a better look at her, she looked a little flushed already.

"I'm-"

"Drink choom! Drink drink drink!" Rebecca called out as well shouting from the couch.

I looked at Jun, who stared at me for a while, before he slowly started smirking.

"Drink drink drink." He repeated in monotone, and I glared at him!

"FINE!" I yelled throwing slaps at both Malcolm and Ichi to get them to go away. "This is stupid I don't even like alcohol!"

"Hahaha!" The boys laughed like gremlins as they grabbed their drinks and raised them up.

"To another year!" Malcolm called out in a toast.

"Malcolm, new years is in like two week-""

"Hey hey hey! No arguing! It's a toast." He told Hiromi, and I just shrugged.

"To a new year." I agreed, cup raised.

"Hell yeah! To a new year!" Rebecca called out excited and then I drank.

Eww. The punch was sweet, but the alcohol in it was awful.

Whatever. The only way to solve this was to drink it all fast enough that I wouldn't have the nasty taste on my mouth anymore.

—--

I groaned a bit as I woke up, stretching feeling my thighs stretch out and my chest flex a bit. Not having fleshy shoulders meant stretching my arms was instinctive but not really the comforting feeling it used to be.

Opening my eyes I looked around my room…

I shrugged. Well time to get up. It was another great day in Night City after all.

Yawning, I got up and padded across my room, passing Tachikoma, who was still working on whatever it was working on.

And opened the door…

"What the hell happened here?" I whispered, the entire room was a disaster zone. My chooms were completely out, laying like a tornado had picked them up and just thrown them somewhere.

Hiromi was hanging off the kitchen counter, her arm and leg hanging.

Ichi was on the couch, but more rolled over it like he'd been thrown and just gave up, and Malcolm was… Oh he was over there under the table…

"Jeeze guys. You really partied yourself out huh?" I wondered, and my voice got a few moans… I guess they were all hungover. Better start cleaning up.

I did my best not to disturb them too much as I padded around and grabbed some bags to pick up trash but the ruffling of the plastic had them groaning in pain and slowly coming too.

As I worked picking things up…

Yeah I don't remember much past some makeshift Karaoke where I had started singing… Something?

I don't remember, then I think Rebecca had stuffed a bottle of something in my hand.

Oh well. I felt fine. Honestly though these guys sure left a mess…

"Uuugh." I looked up as Ichi, slowly shifted, and then sort of rolled off the couch groaning the whole time.

Hungover huh?

"Kill me." Yeah fair enough.

I sighed. Let me get some shoes. I'll pick up some breakfast junk food for them.

—---

When I got back with dozens of meat sticks from the guy downstairs no one had really moved.

Gathering a clean plate I dumped the meat sticks and brought them over to the couch table. Then I started helping my chooms. Ichi was still looking rather uncomfortable, so I helped him shift around a bit. He groaned at every touch as he was waking up and then tried to weakly slap my hands away as I got him mostly sitting normally on the couch.

So I just pushed a meat stick into his hand and a bottle of water into the other.

That seemed to wake him up as the smell hit him, and he groaned, blinking before looking at me and flinching.

"Morning choom." I whispered to him and he winced, reaching up pushing the meat stick into his hair as he clutched his forehead.

Poor boy. I walked over and carefully pulled Malcolm out from under the table holding a hand over his head as he jerked when I started tugging on him and he nearly bashed his head into the table.

He started groaning but I got him out and onto the couch beside Ichi, with his own wake up meatstick and water.

Then I wandered over and with Hiromi just scooped her off the kitchen counter, not sure why she was up here.

She groaned instantly, but I carried her over and set her next to the boys, and did the same for her.

Each of them flinched when they opened their eyes and saw me.

Was it too bright? I went to grab some sheets to throw over the windows to help dim it a bit, the Cali sun was pretty bright.

And slowly my chooms came too. Looking like death warmed over as I made sure they had water, and I put a trash bag nearby.

"If you have to puke, use this." I told them and just got a flinch from all of them. I just rolled my eyes. "Honestly, if you are this weak the next day why did you even drink that much?"

"H-ow." Malcolm croaked, looking at me with red shot eyes. "How are you so fine? Yo-You drank more than al-Urph!" He reached for the bag and I helped him as he lost himself to puking.

"Please. I'm a very moderate drinker." I told him. I didn't like drinking so I didn't do it, so obviously I was fine.

I got glares from Hiromi, and Ichi until finally Malcolm finished puking.

Ew.

Okay let me put that in the bathroom to take out later.

"Seriously you three shouldn't drink this much." I told them, putting on a serious tone. "What would you do if someone attacked you in this state?"

"Puke on them." Malcolm replied instantly and I… Well yeah that's true. Fair enough.

"She did all that, and she's fine… This is fucking cursed." Ichi whispered and Hiromi and Malcolm both groaned in agreement.

"Huh? What? Last thing I remember was singing karaoke on the table." I pointed at the table in question and then all three of them looked from it to me, before shaking their heads.

"Nope."

"Fuck that."

"I'll never tell." Hiromi said haggardly… Then she perked up, weakly as it was. "Motoko… You're never allowed to drink around anyone but us ever." She declared pointing at me, and I just tilted my head.

"Oookay. Why?"

"She did all that, and she's fine? This is fucking cursed." Ichi repeated quietly dropping his head onto his knees.

"Yeah I agree. No drinking… Uuugh, ever again maybe, this sucks."

"Eat some meat sticks, the grease should help, and drink the water. And when you three are done acting so weird maybe you can share what happened."

"Never."

"No."

"So cursed."

"Whatever. Fine." I rolled my eyes at my three idiots and continued cleaning up and helping them recover.

Then the door opened. I looked up and stilled.

Rebecca walked out in just her bra and panties…

"Is that breakfast?" She asked with a yawn, as she sauntered towards the meat sticks grabbed a few and two bottles of water. She gathered it all under one arm as she walked past me.

*Slap*

"Yeek!" I yowled as Rebecca slapped me on the ass hard!

"What the fuck!?" I demanded spinning on her, but she was grinning cheekily.

"Ooow."

"No noise."

"Cursed." My idiots all groaned at my noise and Rebecca sauntered away before turning to look at me with a grin.

"Last night was wild Strings, you're going to break a lot of hearts ya know?"

"What?" I whispered shocked at what just happened and then… Jun was there in the doorway… Were those scratch marks on his-Nope! I turned away and very pointedly didn't process Rebecca returning to my brother's room.

—--

"So what the fuck happened?" I hissed but Hiromi continued to just flush a little brighter, and look away never answering.

I glared at the other two traitors.

None of my chooms would tell me what the fuck happened last night!

The only thing I could get out of them was them telling me not to drink around anyone else!

Obviously I wouldn't I don't even like drinking but now I was-

I took a breath and let it out. They were fucking with me or something. I probably sang for a while and passed out. I was back in my room, so they probably continued partying without me… I didn't have like marker across my face did I?

No, but… Did I put on lipstick last night? I walked into the bathroom, and had a bit left on my lips, so I washed that off… Weird.

Whatever.

It was totally whatever! They were just going to be jerks!

I took out more bags of trash and vomit out to the actual dumpsters. Not that the entire place wasn't absolutely packed with trash, but I did try and place them where they would actually get taken away.

Night City Sanitation wasn't exactly impressive though.

And slowly my chooms came back alive. Stuffing them full of greasy food, and water they slowly came alive.

"You guys want a ride home?" I offered, but all three of them just shook their heads, looked a bit sick for doing that.

"No, I'll drive!"

"I'm good! Don't need it!"

"No thanks!" They all seemed a bit eager to not have me go with them which was weird…

I shrugged. "Drive safe and have a bag or something to puke in just in case." I told them and sent them off.

I continued cleaning up and eventually Rebecca came out wearing her big jacket and she sent me a smug look.

"See ya later Charmer. Happy Birthday again."

"Charmer?"

"It's what I should change your nickname too after last night! Hahaha!" She disappeared and I just…

"What happened last night?" I called out and didn't get a response.

Whatever.

"Motoko."

"Jun… I should kill you, but I am repressing what just happened."

"Preem." He agreed and both of us had a sibling moment where we just decided to pretend nothing happened.

—--

I spent most of the day cleaning up, the confetti that Ichi had thrown really had gotten everywhere.

Then well… Hiromi had cleared today from the MSM schedule, but I felt kinda bored just hanging around the apartment…

And maybe I really wanted to escape from hanging around Jun because holy shit he'd totally-Nope.

That thought was not being completed.

I guess I could go do some electronic stuff…

I had wanted to do some Daft Punk, and with the full recording studio at MSM, I totally could…

Shrugging it was a better idea than just doing nothing. I could listen to One More Time, or maybe that Pentatonix song, sure that was A cappella style, but I could combine that with some actual electronic sounds. It had stymied me before, as I'd had to basically generate every line without any of the sources, but still.

I liked Daft Punk.

I took the Kusanagi out, driving out onto the streets of Night City, slipping though traffic to the MSM building. Once more I easily got through security with a scan, and found a spot before sliding into the elevator. As I was going up one of the floors the elevator stopped early.

Blinking a bit at the Rockerboys that slipped into the elevator, their eyes glanced over me before moving on so I did the same.

They hit the same floor I'd already hit, and so I just relaxed until we hit the floor. They moved out first, and I followed.

Let's see… It was recording room… 48. I popped open the door noticing the band entering the room behind me, and they noticed me. I just glanced at them and moved in.

Just because they didn't recognize me wasn't my concern.

Alright. It was quiet for once. Usually when I got here there was the entire band, and of course the audio manager constantly trying to alter my shit.

But I knew how this all worked. I flipped some switches, setting it to electronic control, and pulled out my Personal Link, drawing the cord out of my neck and slipping it in. Okay set control to automatic and… Done.

I pulled out and headed inside. Grabbing my guitar off my back and settling it in, I walked around to the instruments.

I was going to start with one more time, and the sample to start was three parts…

This, I thought with a laugh, this was going to take a while.

At least I knew the sound perfectly. I just needed to recreate it.

—--

"Ooone more time." I sang, altering how I sang it again, taking the track and layering it in.

"No, not quite there." I grumbled. Altering a bit more settings, before trying again.

"One more Tiime!" I tried it again and just frowned… Close, but not…

I slipped into the system of the recording area and started altering some settings. Thankfully Rockerboy did give me the knowledge of how to alter this, and I'd been hanging around the guy they got doing it for a while with Stand Alone Complex.

Okay, try that.

"One more time!" I sang and this time when I played it over… Yeah, that would work.

I took off the headset and just had it play over the speakers.

Bobbing my head as the sound came through. That was it. One More Time. Now I just needed to finish the lyric track.

So I started working. It wasn't that hard really, only a few lines but I had to alter and adjust them to fit into the song perfectly.

And then after all that work, getting all the tracks…

I took off the headset and just set the song to play.

I didn't hesitate in reaching over grabbing my guitar and just strumming along, singing with myself and a song from a childhood long lost.

And then it was over.

I did it. The most complex song I've ever made. Completely from scratch, every sample had to be completely crafted trying to get it perfectly right.

*100 Rockerboy XP Gained.*

*Rockerboy skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

Level 10 Rockerboy. I'd done it.

"Heh! Hahaha! Yes!" I cheered into the recording booth. I'd done it!

Level ten! I could play it all! No matter how complex, or difficult no song could escape me!

I closed my eyes just humming as I opened the system. Taking a look at the perks. There were a lot to choose from. But…

When I first went through these perks, I'd ignored a bunch of them. Of course I had, I had no interest in some of what Rockerboy gave, but…

I was a Rockerboy for real now. I went up on stage and if I did, then just like everything I did, I wanted to be the best.

I looked through the perks shaking my head at a lot of them. But…

Yeah. If I wanted to make the best shows I would need this.

Force of Personality: While performing, you know exactly what to do to draw the eye, to force the attention upon you. Stand on a stage and throw a hand in the air, and none will resist you.

It was… It made me nervous, but it would help. Sure I performed on stage as best I could, but I could be better. Do better.

I selected it, and shivered a bit as the know how, the experience, heck even the training settled in.

Opening my eyes I shook it off and instead headed for the recording room. I could grab a copy of One More Time, and show Hiromi or something later and-

Clapping. "What are you doing here?"

"Watching a performance of course!" Alex offered, with a wide smile that made me want to punch him. There was the guy always trying to fuck with my songs, at the booth, he was running settings, and.

"If you change that song I'll shoot you."

"Hey, no worries. We want a raw edit." Alex said, trying to re-assure me, and the fat annoying guy threw me a thumbs up.

"I won't touch it yet. I like the idea, create samples and then treat them like an electronic recording. It's fun. Usually you don't see people make their own samples like that."

"You've been watching?"

"Yep, had a band across the way say they saw someone sneak in, but they just didn't recognize you, once security let me know I had to come down and see." He was grinning, but his eyes told me it was all greed.

"Yeah well." I waved him off, I was going to grab a copy of the original, and leave.

"You know, there is something that might interest you. Now I know Ms. Mitsunashi is your manager, and I'll talk with her about this too, but I didn't know you could do this before. There is a movie coming out. MSM is doing the music." He said but I was getting my copy, which thankfully they'd been truthful no editing. Just the song perfectly recorded.

"Motoko?"

"What?"

"I was saying, there is a large bonus involved for any of our artists whose song gets picked for film. It also does very well for sales, and future projections. If you can be inspired to make a track like this, you could do well with it."

"I'll think about it, but-"

"Hiromi will decide?" He said, smirking as if he knew something. "As I said, I'll let Ms. Mitsunashi know all about it. But think about it."

I left after that, not wanting to be around the guy without need.

A movie soundtrack? Okay? Who cares?

Whatever.

 

[Seras]

"Music for a movie. According to the contract it would be a big bonus for you… Well for Stand Alone Complex as a whole." Hiromi explained and I hummed.

"Well he seemed weird about it."

"It would be a big feather in his cap. Right now the band is at a bit of a low state. MSM is putting eddies into you, but we haven't exploded yet. Although according to the metrics MSM has provided a bit unwillingly I'll admit, you are rising in popularity, and the band has been getting more and more radio time."

I hummed, and then just shook my head. "Okay I won't stress too much about it."

"Good! You should be relaxed and having fun! We have a bigger gig this weekend. You're ready right?"

"The radio thing?"

"Yeah the radio thing." She confirmed, and I sighed. Morro Rock was hosting a sort of concert and we were going to get a timeslot.

It wasn't big times, not at all, in fact sort of a middle sized place, a few up and coming bands, not just from MSM were coming.

A literal battle of the bands, as different brands were throwing their up and comers at each other to see who got the most attention.

It would also be broadcast on Morrow Rock as a live radio event. So… There we go.

I looked at Hiromi, we were hanging out at my place the next day, she'd taken another day off from school, and her excuse was there, so I didn't have it in me to berate her right now.

"Don't be nervous." She said to me, hitting the exact thing I was in fact suffering from.

"I'm cool, and collected, and definitely don't get nervous." I told her, with an arrogant sniff, which Hiromi grinned at me.

"Suuuure. Want a distraction?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, why don't we try and get the boys together and we can do a gig, or a training session or something."

"Do you have a gig idea?" I asked, perking up and she shook her head.

"I haven't really been looking Motoko, between school, and the MSM business, trying to play catch up, I-"

"No. Hiromi. You're doing great. You didn't do anything wrong. No worries." I said waving my hands at her like trying to calm a kitten. The way she had started talking was half way into a rant.

"I just… I'm trying."

"You are the best. The absolute pinnacle I am in awe of the work you do. You don't have to stress out trying to do more." I assured her, sliding over and grabbing her up and pulling her into a tight hug. "Seriously, I owe you a ton, I'd be a total mess without you. So don't go crazy about it. If it's too much then pare down what you do."

"I'm okay. Just can't really do much fixer stuff with how much time MSM is taking up."
"Are they messing with you? I'll kill them."

"No, well Alex is, but you already know that. No, the problem is just all the stuff I don't know. Setting up a gig at a bar is something I can do, but I'm absolutely out of my element trying to do a concert like this. Thankfully I wasn't hosting it, but I still had a lot of paperwork to go through. The insurance agreements alone."

"Insurance?"

"Stuff like making sure the concert isn't responsible if someone shoots you or the band." Hiromi explained and I blinked, cause that was kinda-"

"It's standard. Cyberpsycho's are labelled under a different section, but normal people sometimes want to kill the rich and famous. Of course there are plenty of scanners, and everyone is checked, but-"

"Someone could have an internal weapon hidden away, or whatever."

"Right."

"I should wear my Katana then, in case someone tries to shoot me."

"Absolutely." Hiromi said without hesitation, and I don't think it was because she was worried about my protection.

I sighed, and nodded. Okay I should be ready for the stupid concert. Alice and the others… I don't know. The next few days were going to be full of practice, Hiromi's excuse for taking today off had been setting it all up, and getting prepared for it.

"Practice sounds nice. Oh you know what!? We should go find an abandoned building and clear it out as practice!" It could be like how armies trained! Real training and maybe more than just Malcolm would actually participate.

"I'll find a building we can use!" Hiromi said, ever helpful, but I reached out and instead just patted her head.

"Nope." I denied her. "That'll be part of my job. You just relax." I told her, and she sent me a look before shaking her head.

"Okay Motoko. I'll let you handle this." The way she said that meant she didn't think I could handle it? How hard could finding an empty building in Night City be? This place was dilapidated as fuck in some areas."

—--

"We there yet?" Malcolm's voice asked over the group call and I really wanted to brake hard and go assault his car.

"Malcolm, that joke got old almost a century ago." I grumbled at him, as I looked around. I hadn't wanted to go to Pacifica or Dogtown for obvious reasons so I'd searched more in the industrial sector in the north west of Night City but…

Maelstrom Haunt. Maelstrom Haunt. Shanty town. Shanty town. Maelstrom Haunt…

"This is annoying!" I grumbled looking around.

"Empty buildings are rather rare, Motoko." Hiromi offered.

"I should just make them empty." I hissed glaring at the Maelstrom gangers that were hanging out on a car along the side of the road.

I revved my Quadra's engine as I continued down the streets. Come on, I just needed to find an empty industrial building to use for training! This should be this hard!

I braked…

That could work.

"Motoko?"

"Think I found it, wait here." I decided, slipping out, wearing my full tactical gear. Looking over the abandoned warehouse. It had a fence around the whole place, a large building in the center in an L shape, and a lot with old cars rusted husks hanging around. But more importantly. The place seemed dead.

I moved over to the fence, the locked and still secured fence, and leapt over.

Security systems were broken. Cameras long since rusted over, but I moved through the place with tactical efficiency. Crossing the open yard, I moved up to the actual building, checking the first door and finding it locked.

Like normal locked. Not even electronically locked.

I could pick it, but I didn't have anything on me, and it would be faster to go around.

I backed up and leapt up to the second floor. The building had a catwalk around the outside of it, and with a leap and vault I was on it. Landing quietly, I stilled as the catwalk groaned a bit.

Okay that could be a bit dangerous.

Oh well.

I hurried on checking the windows along the edge. They were dusty and completely impossible to see through. Dang.

I went to the door and while it was locked… I jammed my hand into where the knob would meet the edge and just popped it open.

Flexing my hand I looked over at the still shiny unmarked chrome.

Yeah. That had been pretty fun.

I slipped inside, looking over the area, and noticing the homeless camp set up inside, but…

No one was here.

"Looks mostly clear, but someone has been living here, we'll use it anyways. I'm going to check the rest of it. Go ahead and pull everything up to the gate and block it off so Maelstrom and anyone else knows to fuck off."

"Roger." Ichi called out and I nodded, he'd handle positioning everyone. Working in transport had given him a lot of training on just how to do that.

Either way, I continued looking around and after five minutes I cleared the whole place…

"Well it's dirty and stinks, but that's actually a benefit." I called out over the line as I reached the front door unlocking it and opening it to see everyone inside the yard poking around.

Rebecca had declined to come, but Malcolm had picked up David.

"It's a shit hole. But whatever." Ichi offered, looking around. I noticed he was clutching his pistol a bit tight.

"It's cool choom. I cleared everything inside. Whoever normally lives here is probably out for now, and I doubt they'll mess with us with all the hardware we came with."

"This is nova." David whispered, standing a bit awkwardly next to everyone.

Unlike the others, he was only really wearing a bulletproof vest and a crappy helmet. Malcolm had apparently found the stuff for him at some point.

"Alright. Here is what we will do. We'll split into groups. One trying to get in, one trying to defend, and play gun tag. The goal is to work on sweeping the insides of a building and not getting shot by the people inside before you shoot them."

"What do we get if we win?" Malcolm asked, smirking and I glared at him.

"This is training Malcolm, the goal is to practice important skills. While it's semi-competitive thats not the-" I stopped as everyone was pouting at me. Except David, but literally pouting. "Fifty Eddies, and you get to pick where we go for dinner."

"Yes." Malcolm cheered, Ichi and Hiromi looked pleased too. I just glared at them before shaking it off.

"Okay so as I was saying, we'll go in teams."

"Aww, but you're going to win." Ichi pointed out, and I shook my head.

"Nope. I'm the trainer today. I'll be going in with the teams moving in, walking them through what to do, and how to move, and of course judging shots and things."

"Preem!" David called out, and I sent him a nod. For a boy that we picked up from school, he was more energetic than most of my usual team.

"Alright! Everyone line up! Guns displayed! We're removing all bullets from our guns before we start. Keep the magazine on you and only re-insert it when we are done!" I walked through making sure the guns were completely empty as I went.

This should be fun!

"Okay team-"

"I'm taking Malcolm!" Hiromi called out, which would leave Ichi with David?

"I think Malcolm and David should team up." I denied her. Malcolm was definitely the most skilled solo of the teams, and David the least.

Hiromi pouted at me.

Then I realized… She'd wanted to win for the fifty eddies, and dinner… Dangit Hiromi! This was about training not winning!

This was going to be a mess.

—--

David and Malcolm moved in. David trailing very awkwardly which wasn't good, I reached over and raised his gun up as he kept dropping his arm and walking around with the Unity he was using like it was a summer luncheon, instead of tactical training.

"Is the ground what you're shooting at? Keep the gun up."

"Sorry!"

"Shhh!" Malcolm hissed at us but I ignored him.

Stealth was kinda pointless Malcolm. Ichi and Hiromi knew we were coming.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

I looked up.

"Well played." I agreed. Before Malcolm could open the door Ichi and Hiromi had 'fired' down at them from the second floor catwalk.

"We didn't even make it inside!" Malcolm raged at them, flipping them off.

"Okay! Team switch! Go go go!" I called out."

—--

"Malcolm! I'm going to kill you!"

"Natural environment." He argued with a shrug.

"Malcolm… Put that back wherever you found it." I demanded, a bit disgusted. Whatever homeless guy that had been sleeping here had a nasty old blanket and Malcolm had used it like an old Ninja trick to hide against the wall in the dingy light it had worked, but… Ew.

"Yeah, probably a good idea." I muttered.

"And wash your hands!"

"Here? Are you crazy?"

—--

I reached over and without hesitation, twisted David's wrist. "Hey- ow!"

"It's called aiming." I said with a hiss. Turning your pistol sideways was stupid.

"Sorry! I just… I saw a guy do-"

"David. Don't finish that sentence. You aren't trying to be a gangoon, or a thug. We're a tactical spec ops team. We do not spray wildly. Aim your fucking pistol."

"Yes Ma'am!"

"Good.

—--

"Okay so have we learned something today?"
I asked and other than David got nothing but groans.

"I learned a lot!"

"Thank you David, at least someone paid attention."

"Can we go now? I'm tired." Hiromi whined, and I sighed.

"Yes, let's clear out." I said, waving everyone towards the vehicles, but Malcolm, Ichi, and Hiromi didn't move.

Instead all three were grinning.

I sighed.

"Okay, Ichi, here is fifty Eddies, and you get to-"

"What!? How did Ichi win!?"

"Yeah I should have won!" Hiromi and Malcolm complained and I just shrugged.

"He was actually doing a fairly good job on everything, and to be fair Malcolm, whenever you died, David was right after so Ichi picked up a few double kills."

"Agh!" Malcolm groaned, and I could see David looking a little concerned as he realized he'd dragged Malcolm down, but Malcolm shook it off. "Next time we'll win! Right David?"

"Yeah! Definitely choom!" David fist pumped strongly, and Malcolm nodded.

"Okay so where are we eating Ichi?"

"Oh I have some ideas."

—--

"Uuuh. Chooms?"

"What's up David, not used to a XB bar?"

"Why here?" I asked, looking around Lizzies. The food wasn't even good!
"I was really craving nachos, and they are kinda awesome here." Ichi said, defending himself, but I lifted an eye at him.

Our meal came with some 'free' BD time as well…

Ichi that's gross, choom. I conveyed through my eyes. He just looked away.

"Ugh whatever." Hiromi complained, looking through the bar's menu. "I'll get just a couple drinks and go home then."

"No drinking and driving!" I demanded, finger of absolute judgement pointing at her, but Hiromi sent me her unimpressed look.

"I drive better drunk!"

"She does drive better drunk." Malcolm added, and David looked up.

"Really?"

"Yeah it's kinda-"

"No! No one drives better drunk! No drunk driving, that's stupid!" I argued, almost throwing something at Malcolm.

"Heh. You're just jealous." Hiromi said confidently, and I looked at her flatly.

"I don't like drinking Hiromi, and besides I drive just fine."

"Not as good as I do when I'm drunk."

"That's not a thing!"

"It-"

"Not a thing!"

My chooms looked at me, and then at each other and just shrugged.

I'm not insane, they're insane!
"So I can order whatever I want?" David asked hesitantly, changing the topic and I waved him off.

"Help yourself choom. Enjoy."

"Nova! I will! Ah man, I've never been to a place like this!"

"Seriously? Swanky Arasaka student never goes slumming it?"

"Ah well-"

"Nah Ichi, lay off. He's a street kid, his Mom just wants him to do well." Malcolm argued.

"Oh, that how it is? Gotcha, if my Grandma could have gotten me into Arasaka Academy she would have too." Ichi offered, and I watched David's shoulders relax a little.

The poor kid didn't really have many friends, not with the corpo elites judging him, and the street kids normally doing the same.

Hopefully he'd keep himself alive with the training we offered him?

Oh who am I kidding? David is a fucking moron. If he stays with Arasaka, then he's dead the moment someone above him wants him gone, and if he leaves dies in a blaze of Glory.

I sighed. Looking at Hiromi who looked at me with her eyebrow raised.

I sent her a pleading look.

He's just a stupid puppy Hiromi. You have to save him!

She gave me a disgusted look, probably not picking up everything I was trying to convey.

But finally she sighed.

"David, take it from me. You're top of your class at the academy. Stop listening to Katsuo, you'll be placed in a valuable spot in the company when you graduate simply for your skills, just open your eyes and don't be stupid."

"Uhh… Thanks Hiromi?"

"It's Boss to you!" She grumbled, taking a sip of…

"Hiromi! No drinking and driving."

"It's only one!"

"One is too many!"

"Blah blah, It's-"
"Oh Crap!" David suddenly yelped, as his eyes flashed yellow, and he started talking on his agent.

"Mom! I'm fine, I'm just out with some friends. From school! Yeah! Where am I…?" He looked up at us like he hoped for an answer.

Like I said, a moron. Any street kid would have instantly fucking lied, saying some random restaurant or something.

David? He panics for just a second too long.

"Just at some restaurant. Motoko is paying." He offered and I quirked my eyebrow at him.

I looked at Hiromi and she was honestly delighting in Davids slow crumbling situation.

"Today was fun. Thanks Hiromi."

"Hmhmm! What do you think your Manager is for? Gotta take care of the talent."

"Yeah but tomorrow is going to be a lot of work."

"Yeah."

"Ah! No you don't have to pick me up! My choom Malcolm will drop me off!" David nearly squealed, and everyone looked at each other and started laughing.

Oh man, his Mama was gonna be pissed if she found out where he was. But… Other than Malcolm no one else really had parents to do that sort of thing with…

It was nostalgic for me.

Malcolm would cover for him… Probably. But for me? Today was my last day of fun for a bit. A concert, the Militech Showroom, and preparation to set up the heist. I'd be busy.

I took a sip of my own drink, which was just a soda. Time to get to work.