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Ghost in the City: Cyberpunk Gamer SI by Seras Chapter 199 Fiction Page Report ChapterIt appears that you've backtracked! Do you want to move your Reading Progress to this chapter? Set Progress Preferences Previous

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Chapter Advertisement RemoveReportI woke up the next morning feeling well rested and ready to take on the world. A full eight hours and I was ready to hammer life.

I hit the gym first. That final level for Body would mean I never have to stop at a gym again in my life. Which was a temptation that was too strong to put off.

The weights let me push and I found a good chunk of the morning disappear in a haze of aching muscles and willpower overriding my tired body.

No level ups, but it was all about the slow inexorable grind!

I spent most of the morning after that doing some clean up for the Tachikoma. Their brain was growing well, if slowly, but they were at the point where it was easy for them to follow a thought or assumption and come to incredibly wrong conclusions.

I considered calling for that meeting between my chooms that I had planned, but honestly we had been working for days straight.

Today was a rest day for sure. Plus Hiromi had school, which I really should try not to interfere with all the time. Better to give her some school time before I finish calling the meeting and get everyone on the same page.

Of course I wasn't really feeling like putting my feet up and wasting the day. So instead I pulled out my laptop and started working on some design work.

The initial use of the Tachikoma had been an amazing success, but I still needed to get their mobile function working.

Getting them capable of climbing walls was going to be complicated, although the tech definitely existed out there already. I remember the Flathead was easily doing it.

But for now I needed speed.

Wheels.

Tachikoma were supposed to have wheels on their legs and that was a skill they would need to learn to use.

Adding wheels was easy. Adding wheels into their already packed together legs while somehow powering them was harder.

But it was the fun kind of harder.

—--

When the door opened and Jun wearily stepped into the apartment I was still a long ways from completing a working design.

So I happily pushed it away and looked over at my brother.

"You look tired."

"Yep." He muttered and stomped over to the fridge.

"Any reason why?"

"Been busy." He finally offered after grabbing an XXL and throwing it in the microwave. But he wasn't going to elaborate.

"Okay?" I mentioned realizing Jun wasn't in the mood for conversation.

A minute later he settled on the couch and chomped into his burrito and life seemed to return to him.

"I've just been busy Imouto. A lot of issues came up, and I wasn't able to handle them because of… Yuto."

"Ah." I looked away. We hadn't really had a conversation about this yet. The room grew a little awkward and I considered what to do. For Jun Yuto was a friend, a companion, a brother in some ways.

And I had killed him.

"Hey Jun?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you want to set up a space in our shrine for Yuto?" I asked and Jun definitely wasn't expecting that as he choked a bit on his burrito.

I patted his back a bit and he got himself under control again. "What?"

"You heard me. Despite everything… He was a choom right?"

Jun blinked and just looked over to our shrine.

We didn't use it much, it mostly stayed in the corner and we just left it as is.

Finally Jun nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'd like that."

I smiled as Jun's mood improved and we made plans to head out to get everything we would need. I might have zero connection to the man, but to Jun… This might be the way to get over the guilt he obviously felt.

—--

As we left the apartment to head to some shops it was obvious that things had changed.

I was getting stared at. Normally when Jun and I walked around, he got all the attention with his reputation out there, but this time it was something more.

I was getting looked at, and people were whispering.

"Looks like I'm not going to be able to stay low key anymore." I muttered as we passed a few TC gonks sitting on a set of stairs and all of them jumped for Jun but ended up flinching when they saw me.

"Well you did start working with Hayato Nakagawa-Sama."

"Ugh. Don't call her that." I cringed, because it was hard to keep in mind Hayato was important when she was sort of a mess.

"You should start speaking about her with respect. It could cause issues."

"Nah. I've punched her in the face too many times to do that."

"Motoko!?"

"We spar together Jun. What do you think? I just didn't touch her?"

"No! But… I forgot you sparred with her… Is she any good?"

"She's a pain in the ass with that Keren of hers. Not as good at grappling though, but if she can set the pace of the fight she's solid."

"Huh." Jun muttered as we reached the street and headed down the sidewalk.

"Whatever happened with the 6th Street attacks?" I asked and Jun winced looking around a little before leaning in.

"Higher ups are spreading the word it was a false flag, and that 6th Street already apologized. They didn't but they also don't want to admit they were tricked. Apparently there was a big clean up among 6th Street so they are focused on internal matters."

"Just like the Tygers then." I muttered, and Jun didn't comment, but it was what he didn't say that mattered.

The reason the Tygers weren't retaliating was because they were dealing with internal trouble just as bad as 6th Street.

So both gangs were apparently happy to just ignore the entire situation. Of course neither would admit weakness, and neither would actually apologize.

Gang Wars were bad for business though, and 6th Street had already long ago become a business rather than the protectors they tried to pretend they were.

Jun switched to more casual conversation after that, as we entered the store and bought some stuff for the Shrine for Yuto, mostly just new incense.

—--

I was driving to the gun range, planning on getting another session in when the radio started a new song that made me twitch.

My voice, singing This Fffire. It was so eerie that it kept happening, but I didn't change it. Just letting the song finish.

"And that was This Fffire from Ghost in the Shell, been getting a lot of requests for that one. So I hope all you choomers enjoyed it."

I heard Ash say over the radio before finally turning off the car. I was here.

So weird.

I still wasn't sure what I was going to do about all that mess, but I did know that I would have to come up with something soon.

I can't believe I was on the radio.

Shaking it off I headed inside and started shooting. I was focusing on my Handgun skill today, as it was pretty low for one of the skills I used a lot, and I could get a lot of work done.

As I was shooting I noticed one of the other shooters eyeing me and I stopped and shifted so I was looking them straight in the eye. They flinched and looked away and I glared.

Tyger Claw. So he was staring because he had heard about me.

Stupid rep. It was better when everyone just ignored me.

—--

*100 Handguns XP Gained.*

*Handguns skill level up!*

Handguns just hit 8!

I cheered internally even as I groaned and stretched my slightly aching shoulders. I had been at it for hours!

But I really wanted that level up!

Looking around for the first time in a while I relaxed as I was alone and I took a moment to start packing up.

Processing the odd sensation of gaining muscle memory that I hadn't actually done before. Slight changes in how to hold and point, a slight shift in how I would register when to fire while aiming.

It was all good stuff.

Packing up I decided to grab some food and probably flop on the couch for a while.

As I headed out, I caught the issue. Once again a couple of Tyger Claw gonks were standing around my car.

I shifted my shoulders, giving me easy access to the Burya and stalked forward.

"Hey! Get off my ride!" I demanded and watched the men all shift to stare at me.

Weapons visible.

"Chill choom." The lead Gonk offered and actually raised his hands, but his smile told me he was mocking. "We're just here to talk."

"Talk to someone else then. Fuck off." I demanded, I didn't know who sent these fucks, but it wasn't anyone that I wanted to talk to. Everyone in the TC that I wanted to chat with had my number.

"Don't be like that, we are here with business." He explained his smug smile still stretched across his face. And when I just stared blankly he smiled like he won some game. "Here's the deal. You pissed off some important folk, and in exchange you need to work it off. See?" He explained and I nodded.

That was what this was about. I breathed in and out. My blood was boiling. It would take just a choice to calm down, handle this rationally, call Fujimura or Jun, and make sure these guys regretted trying whatever this was about.

Or I could just not.

I activated my Sandy. Everything slowed down not because I expected trouble, but because I wanted to memorize the look on this smug pricks face when my chrome fist smashed into his face. My ankles gave me plenty of force to truly lay one on this guy.

I moved on.

"Get you ass off my fucking car!" I roared as I smashed into them, one of them let out a girlish shriek as I twisted and leapt then landed a flying kick right onto his face knocking him off the hood of the Quadra.

Then I moved again, a gun was drawn, Sub-Gonk number 2 drew a Shiny Omaha, it was whipped out with far too much wasted movements, by the time the gun was clear of his pants, I had already rolled off the Quadra and lashed out, my foot smashing into his wrist and sending the pistol flying. Then I smashed another fist into the gonks chest.

"I am so sick of this shit!" I yelled out as I switched back to the leader. He was rising up shakily holding his mouth, but I didn't care and slipped into his guard and reached up grabbing the side of his head while my other grabbed under the Quadra's bumper giving me all the leverage I needed to bounce his head off the solid titanium hood.

Then I flowed into another move. The fucker that had been sitting on my car was getting up and I smashed a knee into his face putting him back down on the asphalt.

I drew a blade, not my normal knife, but a throwing dagger that was tucked into my little strap on pouches, and chucked it.

Sub-Gonk number 2 had scrambled for his dropped Omaha and now had a knife in his shoulder. Ninjutsu made the throw so easy I could have lodged it right into his eye if I wanted.

His scream of pain was all the work I needed to do. Kind of hard to pull a trigger when you disable their arm.

Wise words from a movie drill instructor.

Walking over I kicked the gun away, he had dropped it anyway unable to grip it, and reached down, jerking the knife back out earning another scream.

I stared down at the three crying injured men.

I should kill them.

I wanted to kill them. Instead I closed my eyes and made a call.

*Fujimura. You have about ten minutes to send someone to pick up these Tyger Goons that just tried to have a chat with me, before I slit their throats and let them bleed out in the streets and carry on with my day. Here's my cords.* Then I hung up and sat my own ass on the hood of the Quadra my Burya visible and keeping the goons on the ground.

—--

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

"Motoko!" Jun roared as he nearly jumped off his Kusanagi and rushed over. Akari, I noticed had been riding bitch behind him. Heh.

"I'm fine Jun. Just pissed." I explained calmly. The three men were sitting on the ground in front of my Quadra, the fight thoroughly kicked out of them.

Jun looked me over and seeing the only blood I had on me was my chrome knuckles nodded.

Then he turned slowly, practically looming over the three gonks.

"Hey, c-chill Oni, we were-URK!" Jun didn't finish listening. The man was lifted off the ground with one hand wrapped around his throat.

You know… Maybe I'll let Jun stay tall instead of cutting his legs off to make him more normal sized. Because watching my Ogre of a brother hold a struggling dumbass aloft with one hand was really funny.

"Pfft." I tried to restrain my laughter, the man's legs were kicking in the air, unable to find the ground that was a good foot away.

"You. Dare." Jun rumbled his voice deeper than normal, a rumble in his chest adding bass to the worse.

"Oh my." Akari whispered faux shocked, but as I looked her over I noticed she was very much enjoying Jun's actions.

Ugh. Gross.

"Kushan-i." The leader spoke in broken syllables still holding his face.

I might have broken his jaw.

"We-sh 'ad o'rers."

"What orders?" Jun rumbled the guy in his hand still struggling but I noticed Jun wasn't going easy on his throat. He was turning blue.

"Jush a talk!" The leader spoke quickly hands raised as Jun looked like he was about to beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker.

I watched and sighed, because Jun wasn't going to do that, or rip these guys apart. Honestly I'd have been mad if he had, because they were my XP if they were just going to be killed.

"Fujimura-sama will want to hear exactly what your orders were." Jun finally said with a growl and dropped the other gonk. Who landed badly and rolled into a ball as he gasped for air. "Motoko, Fujimura-Sama will be here soon. And we'll get to the bottom of this."

"Perfect. I'm out then." I decided as I stepped off the hood fo the Quadra. "I've wasted enough time on this shit. Let me know what three dumbasses were supposed to tell me later or something." I offered with a wave and then Jun looked like he was going to say something but ended up nodding.

"Sure."

I hesitated and sighed turned around and to Jun's surprise hugged him tight. "Thanks Jun." I told him and ran away before he could get mushy.

Jun was always Mushy.

—--

I got home and took a shower, and as the water ran over my head, I came up with an idea.

A sinister, evil idea.

It was an idea for a quick hack.

I considered it for a while, it wasn't functionally any better than Optic Reboot, but sometimes you just needed to utterly fuck with someone.

I found myself in my room, Tachikoma beside me going through a small series of digital testing grounds for it I had set up, while I used both my hands and my agent to program at rapid speed.

The fact was, I was starting to build a rep. I had to accept that it was what it was, but I wanted something that made people think twice before ever, even considering messing with me.

So I needed to start becoming something more than just an assassin.

I needed the reputation of a monster.

Optical Hack Daemon: Onryo.

I pulled the data for my stealth daemon, as the base, as the Daemons carrier function was really really good. Then instead of simply focusing on making me invisible, I had it carry a holoimage.

The program came together without any issue, and by the time the sun rose it was done.

I installed the completed hack and then just stared at the wall for a second.

"Pfftt Hahahahaha!" I broke in evil laughter at the horror I was about to unleash. Now I just needed to find some targets.

Royal Road

SomethingOtherThanRain

Ghost in the City: Cyberpunk Gamer SI by Seras

Chapter 200

Report

I considered going out and using it right away, but I needed to test it first, and I had perfectly good guinea pigs.

I mean friends!

Ichi and Malcolm were summoned!

The little food place I had called them too was nice enough, but I wasn't inside. Instead I was on a roof across the way watching the two boys arrive, look around not seeing me, and slide into a booth.

I quickly hacked into both of them and slipped in the Daemon , making sure to set it to the lowest setting.

I didn't want to give them a heart attack after all! This was just some minor fuckery-Teasing. Just minor teasing! Between chooms!

Watching the two it didn't take long before Ichi jerked in his seat and looked around as if searching for something.

Malcolm asked him a question and Ichi just shook his head and they went back to their discussion. Then Malcolm jumped nearly out of the booth as he patted at his legs and then ducked under the booth but came up looking confused.

The two boys settled back in, and then it just kept happening. Odd twitches, or slight movement.

Closing my eyes I opened it again, connecting to the Daemons so they'd send the data to me as well.

I thought about the Laughing Man a lot when it comes to hacking. The ability to just remove yourself from someone's vision, or change how you look in real time is incredibly powerful in a world where everyone has cyberware vision.

I wasn't at that point yet. Altering someone's vision in real time was insanely resource intensive, at least as far as I understood it. Of course that understanding could change as I leveled up more and more.

But that didn't mean I couldn't touch on that sort of Hack.

Onryo was very simple. Slowly over time the user's vision would have flashes of something, in the corner of their eye, or in the shadows of a table below them.

A ghostly shadowed version of me with white hair and glowing red eyes, and claws and fangs.

I had gone all out.

If the Tyger Claws wanted to call me Onryo, then I was going to scare the shit out of my enemies.

So I watched as a faint version appeared over Malcolm's shoulder, a hand reaching out, not in Malcolms vision, but in Ichi's. He twitched and called out, Malcolm reacted, his hand slapping his own shoulder right through the image making it vanish. Not that Malcolm saw it… Hmm.

Both boys looked at each other and then spoke.

Then I got a call.

Oops. I think they figured it out.

I leapt off the building without answering and crossed the street before entering the diner.

"Motoko! Was this you?" Malcolm demanded and I raised my hands in surrender.

"Sorry! Sorry! I'll pay for lunch so forgive me okay?" I pleaded giving the boys a cute look.

"You were already going to pay for lunch!" Ichi joined in as I joined them and slumped.

"Dinner?"

"And snacks!" Malcolm added and I nodded in surrender. I had been fucking with them after all.

"So what was that?"

"My new quick hack! Version 1, anyways. While watching you all react, I realize it has some weaknesses. Shared network alterations are a must if this is going to work on a group of people, and I need something to induce a physical feeling." I muttered, already my vision was covered by the code as I started fiddling with it.

"Jeeze. That scared the shit out of me. Why make a quick hack that just makes you look like a ghost?"

"Mostly to terrify my enemies. It's an Onryo." I explained and both boys nodded. They had heard that nickname for me before. "Basically I don't even have to attack a group. I can just hack them, and if they don't have a netrunner capable of realizing what's going on. They'll be too busy chasing ghosts to stop me from doing whatever I want."

The boys both nodded along as I spoke, but then I revealed the truth. "Of course an Optic Reboot would be more efficient. Just blind them and get to whatever I need to do, but sometimes you just want to scare the shit out of a group of assholes."

"Hear hear!" Ichi cheered and the boys clinked their glasses together.

Great, I was forgiven.

—--

"Ah, there you are." Jun greeted me as I got home. I threw my jacket over the back of the couch as I leapt over to flop into the cushions beside him.

"Sup, Jun?"

"Those fuckers that were trying to mess with you? Don't worry about it. Fujimura-Sama made sure that it won't happen again."

"Yeah? The fuck did they want anyways?"

"Nothing. Just… Stupid shit."

"Blackmail?" I asked, because it had felt like I was about to be blackmailed.

"Not, exactly. I think he wanted to try and weaken Fujimura-Sama by stealing you away. I think he was trying to recruit you."

"What? Why? I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"Motoko, Moritaka isn't the sort of man that would allow his feelings to get in the way of his goals." Jun said and I frowned a bit at that.

He didn't seem that way when I met him.

Jun noticed my disbelieving look and just rolled his eyes at me.

"Don't worry about it. I took care of it and Moritaka is getting talked to by Nakagawa-Sama. He overstepped a bit this time. Especially since they started a fight with you." Jun said idly, and then threw me a wink.

Ah. I see. "Yep. They started the fight. Definitely." I assured him having picked up the context.

He smiled and that was that.

I relaxed the irritation of it all sliding off my shoulders. I knew that I wasn't done with Tyger Claw nonsense again, but at least I could kick it down the road a bit more.

That was the goal. Just keep pushing the things I can't deal with safely now until later, until I could deal with them.

The fact lit a fire under me again and I hurried to my room.

Time to get some work done.

I scooped up the Tachikoma that was practicing something with its blocks and shut it down for a bit. I needed to do an upgrade. Luckily I had the parts from when I made the directional mics.

I popped off the out shell with a few screws and looked at the internals.

Flashed my eyes at my laptop and accessed it remotely pulling up the CAD software. As I worked I rolled around my room grabbing the parts from different places. A spare mic that had rolled under my dresser.

Some wires in the top drawer right next to my underwear. The soldering iron was somewhere, and it took a minute to find it in my closet hidden under some clothes.

Grabbing everything I rolled back to my work desk as I finished up the design.

I really just had to make sure it had some room, everything else was already in place. An hour later I was done.

The Tachikoma now had access to a microphone. Able to pick up sounds, so it wouldn't be deaf. A few holes drilled into the case would let it hear, and it was done. Put back together. I set it on the table and started programming.

Just because it had the hardware didn't mean it knew how to use it.

Luckily I didn't even really need to program the whole thing. Microphone software to let a program 'hear' was old code.

I ripped it from a few different devices just in the apartment, including the TV and my radio. Fiddled with the code so it was actually functional to my needs, and not full of garbage and then updated the Tachikoma.

I accepted the alerts that popped up over the little project.

*100 Engineering XP Gained.*

*100 Crafting XP Gained.*

*100 Technical Ability XP Gained*

I got a few alerts for each one. But no level ups.

That was fine. It was an easy project, and the system always liked when I finished something, but it wasn't exactly complicated.

Just a minor update to the Tachikoma Chassis.

I wish I had the hardware upgrades for its mind. I hadn't heard anything from Hiromi about it since I brought it up a while back.

Sure, the Tachikoma were functional as scouting drones right now, but if I wanted a scout drone, I'd have bought some off the shelf garbage. The Tachikoma were more than that.

Shaking it off, I made a note to bring it up with Hiromi sometime soon, and instead rolled over to my programming laptop.

I turned on the Tachikoma, and basically pushed it through some tests for its new mic. While I went to work on the Onryo Hack.

Like I had told the boys it wasn't really that efficient. Blinding people would work better than just fucking with their vision. But efficiency wasn't always the right path in every situation.

Now I had to figure out how to craft a hack that had another sense involved. Touch was… Difficult.

Sure, if they had Real Skinn, or other similar products, it would be easier. Real Skinn had sensors to transmit touch, but tapping into that and keeping it all in sync with the visual changes…

No wait. I didn't need to have it actually interact with Real Skinn.

The flash of inspiration had me cackling as I checked my own hardware to make sure it was functional.

Funny thing about Neural Links, and Agents. Agents had silent alerts and notifications integral to the system.

Guess what it could do? It could make a buzzing, or a shock feeling on a palm, or something like that, but it wasn't really doing anything to that part of your body, it was just sending an electrical signal to the brain.

I could co opt that. Agents were touted as being pretty difficult to get into, but it just wasn't the case. The on board AI wasn't really great. They were good at learning habits and behaviors, and assisting their user, but they weren't intelligent enough to counter a foreign install.

I went to work. Watching over the Tachikoma with one eye as it ran around exploring sounds and registering them into its system.

I winced as I noticed the file growing exponentially, and had to take a break to stop it and work with the Tachikoma, to register an easier way to process sounds.

I couldn't have it create a file library of every sound it heard. If the Tachikoma did that, it would bloat so large the Tachikoma's mind would break under the weight of its own memories.

Well. It would crash until I fixed it, but the point remained.

So instead, I needed it to process sounds not as a copy pasted registry, but as an inquisitive module.

Take in the sound, Look to register what it was and process accordingly. Except for speech, which would be in a registry library.

Those were pretty small though. People were more than capable of fitting an entire language software in their agents alone…

I should probably get more languages myself actually.

It almost made me stop working, but I shook it off. I'll make a note to pick up a few of the common ones. Japanese would probably help a lot when dealing with the Weebs.

—-

"Hey, Motoko! Your song is on!" Jun called out suddenly and I looked away from my programming to faintly hear my own voice coming from the living room. Rising up I stepped outside and indeed it was true.

This Fffire was playing. And Jun was doing his proud older brother thing as he looked from the radio to me.

It still felt weird to hear my own voice.

Jun was quiet as the song played through, just looking all proud that it was on, and only when it was over and Ash came over the air did he turn to me.

"So? What do you think?"

"I think it still sounds awful and I hate it." I told him, but that was actually lying, and he caught that. Giving me a look.

"C'mon don't be like that."

"It's weird." I answered truthfully. "I should probably do some more songs soon."

"Oh!? You have some more ideas?" He asked, sounding interested which made it a bit awkward when they weren't exactly 'ideas' in the creative sense.

"Yeah something like that. I'm sure Hiromi is going to bug me soon about putting out more songs… Or doing more gigs." I groaned at that idea.

"Heh." Jun just chuckled at me and stood up throwing an arm over my shoulder pulling me in for a hug. "I think you'll somehow live." He teased and I gently elbowed him, but didn't really pull away.

"Shut up. It's not like I want to come up with an entire new set list or anything… Even though I have some ideas." I mumbled, and that was my mistake.

Talking to Jun. That was the mistake.

"Hehe!" He said and suddenly I was lifted up, hands under my armpits as Jun spun me around in the air. "I look forward to hearing it! When are you going to be done? Need any help?"

"Nooo!" I groaned as I kicked a little, but Jun was lifting me up and it wasn't like I wanted to really dick kick him or something. So I could only really pout and look away from him as he hefted me up like I was a toy.

Stupid light body. I was going to get a full body conversion and weigh a ton or something and laugh as Jun failed to mess with me like this!

Then Jun put me down and sort of looked embarrassed. "I was uh, talking to Alice the other day. She mentioned that she wanted to ask if you wanted to play a song with her band sometime." He offered and I blinked.

"Really?"

"Really. Her band, Violet Hemorrhage is going through some shit. So she's looking for people to play with. You know?"

"Violent Hemorrhage." I corrected him, and shook myself a bit after he put me back down, adjusting my clothes. "And I don't know Jun. If they are having band trouble. I don't want to stick my nose in it."

"Maybe just a jam session then? I bet she'd be happy to help you play some of your songs."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You just want me to focus on Rockerboy stuff so I'm not getting into fights."

"I think you have an amazing talent, and want you to be happy… And I want you to focus on Rockerboy stuff, so you aren't getting into fights." He said and I scoffed but couldn't help but chuckle. I'm pretty sure I had used that one on Jun before.

"Tell her, I don't mind jamming or maybe doing some stuff together sometime… I guess."

"Preem. I'll call her and let her know, but before that. Tell me about this new set!"

"Ugh. I don't… I haven't really thought about it." I said truthfully, but now that I was… I could pull something together… Or I could fuck with Jun. "I'll write some love songs! All about love and sex and-Urk!"

"No love songs!" Jun demanded grabbing for me which I ducked and dodged, he swiped at me, getting more serious as I started humming a tune as I slipped around, and then jumped flying over his head in a flip.

"You can't stop me!" I called out, and starting singing. "I'm in love with the shape of you! We push and pull like Magnet do, although my heart is falling too, I'm in love with your body!" I sang running around and struggling not to die laughing as Jun groaned with every line chasing after me, he was far less nimble over the couch.

"Motoko!"

"C'mon Jun. You know I'm not really interested in doing a love song." I offered, laughing, and Jun sighed out seeming to relax a bit.

"Thank God."

"But I'll likely put one out eventually. I mean, love songs are super popular." I admitted and Jun just glared at me, but I laughed at his look. "Relax Jun. Maybe I'll get someone else to sing it, and I'll just give it to someone."

"No love songs." He grumbled at me, which made me cackle and I shook my head refusing to accept his demand. Not that I had much interest in them.

"Alright. I'm getting back to work. Talk to you later Jun." I waved him off laughing at our little rough housing as I headed back into my room.

—--

I pulled up to the parking area near the Straight Lane Apartments, and hummed the first few bars of a random song.

I had spoken with Hiromi about formalizing stuff, so here it was.

The first official gig day of Section 9.

Grabbing some gear I headed down the street humming all along as I reached the entrance, and noticed some familiar faces hanging around. The girls that tried to get overly protective of their gang leader. They noticed me and sort of looked away.

Preem, not dealing with that today.

I walked past and to the elevator heading down not surprised to see Hiromi already there, along with someone that did surprise me. Rebecca.

"Hey Becca." I greeted happily and she looked up from where she was sort of looking over Hiromi's shoulder at the laptop she was working on to wave. Hiromi quickly looked up and smiled.

"Motoko! Great timing. We got the work details. This should be something fun. We are retaking some data that some Maelstrom stole." Hiromi offered and I perked up.

Hey, that sounded like fun. Also fuck Maelstrom.

I walked over and stood behind Hiromi to look over her other shoulder from Rebecca and see. "Hmmm. That's not a large group either."

"O-of course! They brought a lot of heat on their heads. So they are hiding out. We can move in and clear them out and make some good eddies."

"Preem. Who's the Fixer?" I asked and Hiromi went a bit quiet so I looked away from the computer to her. "Hiromi?"

"Regina." Hiromi finally said and I blinked in surprise.

"Huh, I didn't think she wanted to work with me."

"I uh, don't actually know. I didn't tell her that you were involved." Hiromi admitted and I shrugged.

"Okay. That's fine. I don't like dealing with that part of the gig anyways. I'll leave it to you."

"Yeah! You can leave it to me!" Hiromi said with a big dopey smile. I smiled back and heard the elevator start up.

"That's the boys." I confirmed it with a quick check of the lobby camera.

"Good, I was about to start puking." Rebecca said and I shifted to her.

"What? Are you sick?" I asked worried and Rebeeca stilled before looking away.

"Nah, just I'm good. Don't worry about it. We're about to kill some gonks, and make some eddies!" Rebecca cheered, sounding normal… She didn't look sick…

I shook it off as Ichi arrived, with Malcolm in tow, both of them looked ready. Already mostly kitted out.

"Perfect! Everyone suit up. I'll do an initial sweep of their system before we hit them."

A note from Seras

Thank you for reading for so long! The big 200!

It's amazing that I've been writing GitC for such a long time. I originally opened the file for GitC in October of 2022, so it's nearly been two years that I've written this story.

Whew! What a long time!

About the author

Seras

24/07/2024 10:00

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