Hard Edge

The peace and quiet could never last for long. It was early in the morning, right as the rush hour traffic peaked when the news trickled through to your sophisticated surveillance system; aka watching the internet and news. But much to your surprise, the person responsible for this attack isn't Sundar.

It's Faust.

You arrive armoured up and ready to fight. He stands atop a pile of burning rubble with a smug smirk on his face. You scowl at the braggadocious buffoon, "What the hell are you up to now?"

"I will not repeat my previous humiliation. I have come to rid the world of you, opening the path for our glorious conquest of your people!"

"Yeah, whatever you say."

He points his finger down at you, summoning several armoured goons from nowhere to try and take you down. The problem for them being that you've been training hardcore for weeks now, and combined with the power of the Herarmor you can now easily blast through enemies like these without even needing to summon someone to assist you.

You clobber one with a right hook, before swinging your hips around and roundhouse kicking another. Chun-Li has taught you a few of her moves, though you're nowhere near good enough to put them into action in a real fight. The speed and the way that she contorts her body is beyond you. The bodies of the robotic drones hit the floor in their dozens, as you intersperse the hand to hand combat with a shot or two from the sledgehammer.

Faust stands and stews in frustration as his pack of nobodies struggle to beat you, a man who's already destroyed several of their more advanced robotic soldiers. You grip one by the neck and throw it down to the ground – splitting it clean in two. Another tries to hit you from behind with a metal club, but it glances off of your armour harmlessly. You punch through its stomach and disembowel it, ripping cords and components free like a gore-seeking maniac.

On the periphery of the fight, you notice several people recording it using their phones. They really ought to have heeded the police's warnings and stayed away from this! You step between the enemy force and them, blocking their way with several warning shots. Your HUD flashes with markers for your current card collection.

"Alright, come give me a hand Motoko."

The voice activation system responds and ejects her card into your hand.

"MOTOKO KUSANAGI! SHATTERING!" The purple haired cyborg appears in a flash of colour. She takes a second to get her bearings.

You motion back to the assembled audience, "Major, I need a hand evacuating these civilians."

"Leave it to me."

She sprints away at an inhuman speed and begins corralling the onlookers away from the battlefield. Motoko knows how to scare people into line, and that allows you to worry about taking care of Faust's attack force. Another leaps at you from above, you put your hands up and stop it mid-flight, bringing it down over your knee and severing its mechanical spine. You almost feel bad for the poor thing.

"Enough! I'll take you on myself!" Faust descends from his hiding place and draws his blade. In the link of an eye he dashes towards you and swings down, you hold up your arms and block the blow – but it hurts. Guh! This guy is surprisingly strong for such a moron! You keep him away by sweeping at his legs with one of Chun's low kicks.

"If you're such a tough guy, why are you wasting my time with these piles of junk?"

You clash again, trying to overpower one another using raw strength. He grits his sharp teeth and scowls, "It would be unbecoming for the likes of me to duel an unworthy cretin like you!"

"Oh? I guess I'm worth the time suddenly!"

You pull back and headbutt him, knocking him off balance and allowing you to blow him back into the side of a nearby car with a jumping kick. Spittle flies from his mouth as his feet leave the ground. Crash! The windows shatter and the metal bends beneath his body. It isn't enough to put him down though – he leaps right back to his feet and rushes in for another round.

The edge of his blade glows with blue energy. You sense incoming danger and dodge back just in time for the blade to cut through the front panel on your chest. The HUD lights up with red warning signals as critical systems start receiving damage. A huge gash runs left to right, potentially exposing you to fatal attack.

"You're pathetic!" you yell. "You're just a lazy asshole!"

"I trained for years in the art of swordsmanship!"

"And now you kick back and let other people do the hard work for you!"

He growls in anger and swings down at you again, you dodge to the left as the blade slices through the tarmac below like a knife through butter. This is too dangerous – you can't risk getting hit by whatever kind of energy weapon he's using! You open a gap between you and fire ranged attacks, but he easily bats them aside using the blunt edge. His reaction speed is crazy.

"You aren't so strong without that armour," he concludes, "I can tear it apart, piece by piece, and see the soft flesh that cowers inside."

"Who's cowering exactly?"

Faust laughs, "I can see it in the way that you move. Now that you know my blade is capable of cutting through that primitive armour, you've lost all of that misplaced confidence. Why don't you go ahead and summon some of those slaves of yours? I would be more than happy to send them to the other side."

Man, you really want to shut this guy up. His eyes widen and he leaps away, blocking several gunshots that were aimed squarely at his chest.

Motoko is back, and she's very pissed off.

"Slave? I'd like you to repeat that to my face."

You smirk inside of your helmet, "Here's your chance Faust. You feel like sending the Major to hell?" His stance loosens. He was just running his mouth. He doesn't want to fight you while Motoko is keeping him busy with incredibly accurate covering fire like that.

"Gr. I'll see you both again soon enough."

He disappears through a black portal.

You sigh and relax. What a mess! The entire street has been torn to shit, and there are dead robot bodies everywhere you look. Motoko leaps down from her vantage point and inspects the damage for herself. Her eyes focus on the big cut running across your chest. It didn't go deep enough to cause major damage to your body or the second layer of internal plating.

"Thanks Major."

She crosses her arms, "You can call me Motoko if you want."

Not even her last name? "Feels a bit disrespectful."

"I've spent a lot of time overseas," she explains, "Motoko is fine."

"Alright. Thanks Motoko."

She smiles and pats you on the back. Sometimes you forget that she has a more casual side. She follows you back to your motorcycle and hops on the back as you rev the engine, "Oh, you want to come along for the ride?"

"While I'm here."

She clenches the side of the bike using her robotic thighs. No arms around your waist on this occasion. You slip down an alleyway and out onto the opposite street where the police haven't established a full cordon just yet. You accelerate and easily slip between two of the parked vehicles. The police shout and yell to try and get you to stop. You're already out of sight by the time they get back into the driver's seat.

"You okay back there?"

"No problem! I noticed that Mitsuru made some of those modifications I suggested!" She reaches out and pokes her finger through one of the ring loops that now hang from your ribcage. Small enough to not be noticed, but large enough for super tough fibre or rope to slip through.

"She's been experimenting with some new traversal systems for tall buildings," you explain over the noise of the engine. "Mitsuru doesn't say it, but she takes any criticism of her work as a serious challenge!"

The tall offices soon switch over into industrial wasteland as you approach the garage. You circle the block a few times to make sure that nobody has followed you back. When you're sure it's safe – you drift over to a blind spot where there are no surveillance cameras in operation and disable your armour. From there it's a two-minute journey back. Pulling up to the dilapidated old building when you're making so much money feels wrong.

What Mitsuru had spent a huge portion of the money on was purchasing all of the land surrounding it. There are several empty buildings that used to house businesses here, and those that stuck around have moved out into new digs thanks to her generous offer of cash. The entire block is yours to play with – not that the rusty shacks and rolling iron doors instil much in the way of inspiration. You slot the bike into its usual hiding spot and cover it up with the white sheet. Motoko stretches out, as if she has muscles to consider in that body of hers…

Mitsuru isn't here. You check the status screen and find that Venelana has been summoned recently – they must be off making money somewhere without you. Motoko has an unusual look on her face that only grows more disconcerting the longer it endures.

You sit down on one of the plush chairs and try to relax, "What's up?"

Motoko looks away like a classic tsundere, "Nothing."

You stare at her in defiance. One idea comes to mind. Getting to live out a fantasy, fighting with you and spending time with you – Mitsuru did say that all of the people you summon are in love with you, or will fall in love with you in time. Whether they're willing to fulfil that fantasy and join the harem right away is perhaps dependent on their individual personalities.

What is she thinking about right now? Is she embarrassed about 'breaking character' and just going with the flow? It's not like she knows anyone in this world to make fun of her for deciding to start a full-on relationship. She could keep it a total secret.

"You see right through me, don't you?" she sighs.

"A little; I think. You usually keep your cards close to your chest."

"You have to in my line of work."

"But out here you aren't in Section 9."

"Do I look like the type of woman who engages in flights of fancy?"

"No."

Motoko chews on her own tongue, "Fine. I'll tell you. I've started to come around to this whole… situation. Until now I was just denying how much I was enjoying it. I'm still stuck in a place where I have to hide this hobby from other people."

"There's nothing wrong with that. Everyone has a secret or two."

She glances back down at you, "I don't do romance. I don't have the time. I've slept with friends, just for fun, but never committed myself to anything serious."

"So are you willing to give it a try now?"

Her eyes narrow. She grunts, "Seeing those other girls climb all over you may have made me feel a slight pang of jealousy. You're here in front of me – so consider this your final warning. I'm going to make you mine."

You smile, "Please take care of me, Motoko."