Ghost in the City

Sasha

She paced. What else could she do? She had taken a total noob, one that had some serious talent, but was still just a kid and nearly got her killed.

“Chill whiskers, Motoko is fine.”

“I know more about netrunning and what a cyberdeck overheating does to someone than you do Becca. Motoko might be okay, but she isn’t okay.” She responded back, almost snapping as she continued to pace.

All because she had wanted to fight, to feel alive. Her arm twitched and she wanted nothing more than to smash it to pieces.

She hated the way it made her feel. Her mother had always told her how her arm was out to get her, that it was why…

Sasha shook it off. She didn't want to think like that. It was Securicine that had caused all of that. Her mother had always been so kinda before the war, and even when she came back. It had been the slow after effect that had left her…

Sasha reached up to touch her nose.

It wasn’t bleeding. There was no blood. Her mother hadn’t had another rage and hit her. But her arm, it terrified her, what if… What if she was like her mother, what if it wasn’t Securicine that had caused her mothers fits?

What if it made her blank out and beat Rebecca to a pulp? What if it made her drag a perfectly nice kid, that had a so obvious crush on her it was the most adorable thing ever and drag her into a mess that almost got her killed?

“Fuck.” She hissed wanting to smash something, but that was odd too, Sasha wasn’t the physical destruction type. She hadn’t wanted to be like how her mother was at the end. Smashing things because she couldn’t control herself in her anger.

“Hey.” A voice, deep and baritone and a strong hand on her shoulder made her stop. “Ease up Sasha. Ain’t nothing wrong that can’t be fixed.”

“I almost got the kid killed Maine.”

“Sounds like she almost got herself killed to me.”

“She wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t literally tricked her into it! She was even telling me that she wasn’t interested! I just didn’t care! I was so selfish I just wanted a fight! Something to do!”

“Sounds like an apology then. Nothing to get this worked up over.” He rumbled but he also didn’t understand. Maines entire perspective on Netrunning was action movie bullshit. Where the sexy femme fatal sidekick opened doors for the slick solo.

Sasha loved those movies, even if they were complete scop.

“I agree with Maine, Whiskers.” Becca cut in. “I’ve only known Motoko for a bit so I can’t guarantee nothin’ but she’s pretty chill, and she’s not bothered by fuckups.”

Sasha shook her head, it wasn’t just what she had done.

Noobs were everywhere on the net, and when you took one under your wing, you’re supposed to watch out for them. You don’t kick them into a Combat Zone without even knowing their actual skill level!

That fucking fox was going to kill her.

“I can’t apologize when she won’t pick up.” She admitted, and Whiskers nodded.

“It might take a bit choom. You betrayed her trust. Massive gonk move.”

“I know.” She flopped onto the couch and just stared up at the ceiling. What a fucking mess. “My arm itches.” She whispered aloud, one of the first times she had admitted to the problems with her chrome.

Maine didn’t get it. Even now he looked at her like he wanted to just tell her to scratch it then.

But Becca was smart. Surprisingly empathetic when she wanted to. She understood.

“Just a little longer choom. Then Bio-Technica will be off your tail, and we can swap you for some meat. Ease back on the chrome.” Rebecca offered trying to be the mature young woman she was on the inside.

“I know.” Just a little longer. Just a little longer.

Just a little longer.

—---

Ichi and Malcolm both reached out to check on me after letting my chooms know what happened, but I hadn’t needed to have everyone over to look at how not injured I was.

Instead Hiromi and I hung out until she finally relaxed realizing I was okay, and then when she left that night I fell asleep early.

A day passed with me mostly tinkering with Tachikoma, lazing around, and avoiding going out. Giving myself a faux time to ‘heal’ from any damage.

I slept again mostly just to skip time

The next morning I woke up, stretched and forced myself up. I still could do more work on the Tachikoma, but what I really needed was to start searching for a new Cyberdeck.

As I hit the shower and got dressed I sent a message to Vik. Unfortunately when he got back it wasn’t good news.

*Vik: I have some decks, and managed to source a Seacho Mk.1. Not as good as what you had, but it’s workable. But I have a feeling that’s not what you want. Suggest asking around and putting your ear to the ground. I’ll keep checking for you.*

Not what I wanted, but Vik was only a miracle worker with one of his skills.

*Motoko: Thanks Vik. I’m going to look around.*

With that I sent a text to another source.

*Motoko: Hey Wakako. I had a thing, and I need a new Cyberdeck. Do you have any leads?*

I was just putting on my boots when I got a response.

*Wakako: You are more useful to me with all your tricks so I will help with this. Stop by.*

Well that sounded good.

I hurried out of the apartment, noticing that Jun was home, but sleeping. A few minutes later I pulled up to the entrance of Jig-jig street and headed inside.

The crowds were as dense as always. But my eyes kept being drawn over to the vending machines on the sides of the street.

I couldn’t hack them. It was something I had grown so incredibly used to. It felt weird not having access to the net. Cameras around me were still noticed with my Kiroshi, but I couldn’t turn them off with a thought anymore. I couldn’t blind anyone I faced, or simply shocked them all unconscious.

I wanted to get a Cyberdeck ASAP.

Wakako’s parlor was the same as always, and I walked right in. This time she wasn’t on a call, or even pretending to ignore me. She pointed at the chair across from her and I sat.

“So you burned yourself out? Surprising you aren’t dead.” She said and I sighed as I realized she was going to grill me first.

Dangit.

“I had some plans in place in case I ever overheated. They saved me from any permanent damage. Although my head still hurts.” I lied to her and she watched me with her sharp eyes for a moment before nodding.

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“At least you were wise enough not to get your fool self killed. Truly, what a waste that would have been.” She said and it took me a second to realize that was actually a compliment.

“Thanks.”

“Hardly a compliment. Keeping yourself alive is the first step, fool girl. But you need a new Cyberdeck.”

“Yep. I’m offline at the moment.”

“Hmm.” She responded, but didn’t actually say anything more as she took a drag on her cigarette. “I don’t have anything I can offer. Dr. Vector's request for information on a new high end deck has already been passed on. There are those that are happy to work with the Doctor, to find what he requests, but it’s quiet currently.”

“Oh.”

“You will likely need to source one directly.” She said puffing away and I frowned.

“I don’t really like to take people's chrome.” I said honestly and Wakako just scoffed.

“You are the oddest killer I have ever met.” She nearly snapped, but still she seemed to calm herself. “Be careful fool girl. Without your usual equipment, death is around any corner. I’ve seen many netrunners die due to being in between equipment.”

I looked at her.

She looked at me, and basically waved me off with her cigarette.

“Wait.”

“You should leave girl.” Wakako said noticeably as I came to a realization.

“You called me down here after I told you about me needing a deck, but you don’t even have one! You just wanted to check on me!” I said finger pointing. Wakako took a breath and glared.

“I simply wished to make sure my agent didn’t melt her fool brain out of her ears. When I was informed about what happened, I had started writing you off, believing you would need help going to the bathroom for the rest of your life.” She said and I blinked.

“It’s not that bad.” I demurred.

“I was a doctor in my youth girl. I know exactly ‘how bad’ an overheated Cyberdeck is. Especially in some fools tiny head. Perhaps your lack of brains kept you alive?”

“Okay okay! I get it. You are grumpy. I’ll leave.” I said standing up with my hands raised, Wakako was getting nasty, but I stopped at the door. “Thanks for worrying.” I told her and smirked as I walked out, because her answering scoff was great.

Okay in that case…

I needed to go see Yoko.

—--

“The resurrection of the dead was true.” Yoko said to me bluntly as I walked into her shop.

“I didn’t die.”

“No you didn’t. Good. I was cross when I saw what happened. Your battle strategy needs more work.” She told me, but despite her monotone tone, there was a hint of teasing from the older woman.

“I’ll work on it, especially when I was thrown in without any idea what was going on.”

“Yes… I heard.” Yoko’s usual monotone was gone, and she nearly scowled which was unusual to see on her real face. “Sasha Yakovleva is not my favorite person at the moment.”

I considered defending her, but honestly?

“Yeah me neither. I would have loved to take part in a cool netrunner battle if she hadn’t thrown me in without any idea what was going on.”

Yoko nodded. “I had considered introducing you to it myself, but you are like a cat that only dips its toes in the waters of the net when you must.”

“I go into the net!”

She simply stared at me past her tiny dark sunglasses.

“Okay sure, I don’t like hang out in it.” I mumbled.

She smirked at me, a faint thing but it was there.

“You have been a unique apprentice to the net. I often have to shoo overly dedicated, but unskilled runners to take time to improve their skills. Not wait for far too long before a stray cat struts back into my temple.”

I scoffed. “Don’t you start either. I’ve already had to tell Sasha to stop calling me Kitten. I’m not a cat. Much less a stray one!”

“We’ll see, I suppose.” She offered but then frowned, her hand rose up and beckoned me over. Curious, I stepped0 close, and she gently placed a hand on the nape of my neck, feeling and confirming the obvious. “You lost your Cyberdeck.”

“Damaged, more expensive to fix it then just find an upgrade.”

“The damage you did to yourself is worse than I thought then… How did you survive?”

“I have good chooms, and I got lucky.” She watched me from behind her dark glasses before pulling her hand away.

“Good medicine, and a skilled ripper too. Good. A Netrunner needs all of these things. You need a new deck.”

“Yeah. Vik, couldn’t find one, and I talked to Wakako already-”

“I’m aware. I do keep my ear to the ripper information network. Vik is a pleasing Ripper to work with. He is already well aware we are in the network and often throws out requests through it for cyberware.” She said with a faint smile. “But what you are asking for isn’t easy to find.”

“I figured.”

“Well, considering your performance, you certainly have the skills to use a higher end deck.” She said and I felt a surge of hope because Yoko was looking like she was playing a trick.

“You know of one?”

“I have my ear to the pulse of the whole city. I know where many high end decks are that you could collect. Normally, I would tell you one of the more difficult locations. Maybe put you through a gig collecting something for me.” She offered teasing, in that monotone way of hers.

But then she leaned in. “But you are my apprentice, and I won’t let that stray cat with more ardor than brains stake a claim on you. I’ll send you the deets. It’ll cost you though, the owner isn’t a runner, so it’ll be in eddies.”

“Eddies, I can do.”

“Good. Go on then Motoko, go become the Ghost in the Shell again.” She offered and I almost jerked.

“How did you know that? I only told Sasha that!”

“You think people weren’t watching? It’s a cute name. A good one.” She assured me, and then waved her hand for me to get going.

Embarrassed despite myself I nodded as I got the text and headed out. Time to make a deal…

Then I realized that was a bad idea, and made a call.

*Hiromi, I can use your help once your class is over. I need to buy a new deck and-*

*Don’t say another word. I’m in. Come pick me up, I’ll be out of class in a few minutes.*

*What? Hiromi you should finish your classes, it’s not that big a rush.*

*Nope! This is definitely important! You without a Cyberdeck is a weakness I’m not comfortable with! Come pick me up! Bye!* And the call ended without me being able to argue further.

I just sighed and shrugged. Fine.

—--

When I picked up Hiromi she had instantly asked for the message I sent, and had then gone on to make a call to the contact, to set up the meeting. Something I hadn’t thought about…

I was just going to go there and meet them…

“Hmm. The details are set, and we got a location. Your netrunner choom seems to have come through.” Hiromi added and I just shook my head at her antics.

“I mean, you saw what it was.” The details had come with what I was going to collect, and I had been very surprised.

Yoko hadn’t just found me a cyberdeck, she had found a top of the line deck that fit my speciality.

“Don’t remind me. I don’t even want to know how a Mk.4 Shadow got out of the company.” Hiromi muttered.

The Arasaka Shadow. It was one of the specialty Cyberdecks made by Arasaka, and it was basically custom made for corporate espionage. Stealth, and data gathering, a lightning fast response time, and enough RAM to carry a plethora of programs and Daemons.

All usually locked up tight in an Arasaka agent's skull.

Honestly I was half way suspecting we were about to meet someone that had either flatlined an Arasaka corpo, or had shown up at the right time after one got flatlined. Either way it was a benefit to me, and if Yoko gave me the information, it wasn’t likely going to end up as a trap.

Not that I wouldn’t prepare anyways.

Especially with where we had to go.

Dogtown.

I almost called Hiromi back, telling her I wasn’t picking her up when I had read through the details Yoko had sent me.

Instead I forced myself to relax. I had been there, Dogtown was safe enough. My instant reaction had been an overreaction. Just like the overreaction at Sasha’s death.

So I was going to prepare, I would be safe, but I would follow ‘common sense’ that everyone told me, that Dogtown was fine.

“You have your gun right?”

“Of course. It’s right here. I keep it in the armory during classes. Don’t go anywhere without a weapon, Motoko.” Hiromi said, showing her bag that had her Yukimura holstered inside.

“Good good… Make sure you put that on. Just in case.” I said trying not to get twitchy with the idea of taking Hiromi to Dogtown with only a pistol and no armor. “You think we should call the boys in?”

“Motoko, it’s just a trade deal. I’ll be fine with you watching my back.” She assured me, and that settled it. Even if the idea of calling in Jackie, Jun, the rest of Section 9, and even Rebecca sounded like a good idea to me.

My neck hurt.

I rubbed it lightly feeling that crick in my back again. I did have a stat point leftover still… As I drove I considered it. I was planning on putting points into my adaptation anyways. So I might as well do it now.

My own stat point disappeared and was dropped into my ODA Neural Link.

Arasaka ODA Neural Link Mk3 *Adaptation ODA Mk.3 1/2*

Yeah that looked better.

I played with my neck as I drove and frowned. The crick in my neck was still there, but as I worked it, it seemed to untense, and I almost sighed in relief.

At least if it came back I could relax my neck without needing to sleep to make myself feel normal.

“Motoko?” Hiromi asked, having been looking over at me, as I seemed to be rolling my neck around.

“Just a crick in my neck that finally let go.” I admitted with a smile.

Then as we drove down the roads we finally reached the Dogtown entrance.

“Your pass still works right?”

“Yeah it should.” Hiromi said and then as we pulled up we were scanned, checked, and allowed through without any issue.

And then once more I was on the roads of Dogtown.

“Heavy Hearts is over there.” Hiromi added, reminding me of something I already knew, but I just nodded and turned left down the road from the entrance.

Hiromi often repeated things like that while nervous. So it seems despite her confidence in Dogtown she got nervous about coming here too.

I pulled up to a parking spot out front, and stepped out, eyes narrowed as I scanned everything around me, wishing once again I had my Cyberdeck already installed.

Hiromi stepped out and adjusted herself. She had slipped out of her Arasaka academy jacket, and was wearing one of her usual ones. Even if the slacks and dress shirt underneath hinted at her corpo origins.

I quickly joined her and we both walked towards the entrance. The concrete stairs were surprisingly empty of trash, as we walked up and into a small entrance area.

With a Barghest man leaning against the side of the door.

There were a few people idling around, some seemed to be waiting, some looked irritated, glancing at the guard over and over.

“Beat it kids.” He offered as we approached, and I could see the way Hiromi’s back stiffened at the insult.

“We have business in the club.” I cut off, before Hiromi could give him a talking to.

“You and half of the Night City brats that come by wanting an easy drink.” The guard replied back, barely even paying attention to us.

“We are not-”

“Hiromi, chill.” I pulled back my choom who was getting heated up at treatment. “We have a number for our contact. I’ll send them a heads up. Nothing to stress about.”

Hiromi, continued to glare, but thought better of saying anything and nodded, straightening up her clothes as I led her off to the side.

I sent off a text. Letting them know there was an issue entering the club.

Then we settled in to wait.

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