Late. Hayato snapped at , her voice coming out too fast, in a rush. She was obviously getting antsy.
I nodded. Traffic was slow. I offered, as an explanation, although it didnt satisfy her.
Hayato, like , already had a layer of sweat on her forehead. A Shinai in one hand that she was still going through a slow, set of motions for.
Sensei has you practicing super slow?
Yes. She snapped out, and I could see her face shift between irritation, before blanking. I would enjoy a spar.
Sure, want to do brawling, or Shinai? I offered pointing at her blade.
She reddened and reacted instantly.
Do not speak with such disrespect to the art of swordsmanship!
So you want to fight with the Shinai? I repeated and she pointed the blade at .
I nodded, walking over and grabbing one off the rack. As I walked back I noticed Sensei watching us both, only once I stood across from Hayato did I shift into an actual stance.
If I rember right, she had seen doing forms under Senseis eye before, but hadnt seen actually fight.
My Blades skill might not be as good as Street Brawler, but I wasnt a slouch.
Especially since Parry, my second Blades Perk was perfect for this sort of thing.
Nodding we both understood the spar was on, and she charged.
Once more relying on her Keren to be able to adjust to any incoming change I just breathed in and out, and started parrying.
Swing after swing, I guided Hayatos blade away from . It wasnt easy. I think I was actually better skilled when it ca to pure blade work, but she was so damn fast.
Still, I kept her back. The clack of Shinai that she continued to hamr against , never reached its target.
I was really really good at deflecting blades. Parry coming in clutch, completely negating Hayatos speed and skill.
And she wasnt happy.
Stopthat! She yelled, speaking so fast her words blended in together.
So I did. Pushing her back after another parry, I activated my Sandevistan.
Ti stopped. The warmth spread from my neck, and I moved.
I could see the mont Hayato realized what had happened, her eyes widening, but her Keren only gave her the chance to realize what was happening before it was over.
With a flick of my wrists her Shinai was launched out of her hands, and mine was thrust just past her head.
I turned off my Sandy, feeling everything go back to normal, even as the uncomfortable warmth continued to hold across my neck.
Wha-You got a Sandevistan! You should have told ! She broke out of her surprise quickly slapping my Shinai away and poking . If I had known I would have held back less! So you chose a Sandevistan in the end?
I needed to get used to it. And the sooner I started. The more experience I would have. I offered and she nodded.
Good! Excellent! You have just beco a useful sparring partner then! I need more practice against another using boosterware. She nodded, hands on her hip and nodding with an imperious look.
Honestly it just made want to pat her on the head and give her a cookie or sothing.
Yeah. I could use more practice with the sa. More Shinai work, or switch to fists?
Hmmph! I will strike you before I allow this spar to end. She decided, turning and stomping over to her Shinai.
I nodded, and we got back to it.
--
I dont want to talk to you. She argued as I offered her a drink.
Cmon dont be like that. Defense is sothing Im really good at with a blade. I offered, but she refused to talk to
So I pressed the cold can against the side of her neck.
Eeee! She shrieked loud enough everyone in the hall jerked, and a man I noticed along the edges reached for a gun in his suit before calming as Hayato turned to glare at . Don't do that!
I dont know. That was kinda cute. Ill have to do that more now. I decided and settled in beside her, popping the can of my soda as well.
You! Utterly outrageous! She snapped but grabbed the drink and popped it open to drink from.
Its your fault. I told you I was ambidextrous.
Outrageous! She repeated, and I had to smile. I had made a crack about how I was better with two Shinai and she had demanded that I did so.
Hayato hadnt done well after that.
How is your Sandevistan? You didnt use it again. She asked, and I felt my fingers reach up to my neck. Chro digits touching against the chro. I felt a bit of the heat still there.
Im not really used to it yet. I feel like I burn myself each ti.
Hmph. That is normal. She offered and I nodded.
I know, my ripper said the sa, but it makes uncomfortable.
Especially since when I used a maxdoc it went away, which ant it was so sort of injury.
You will adapt, an-I have to leave. She said, her speech cutting off for only a millisecond as she changed what she was saying. Her guard along the walls was already moving over as well.
Sure. Chat with you later Hayato.
Motoko. She agreed and then hurried away.
I rested for another minute just to cool off before rising up. Ti to head ho.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
--
When I got ho I made a al and was humming a song, all while I was programming.
Hiromi had ntioned why I didnt just remote control the Tachikoma, and I couldnt deny it was a good idea.
While I wouldnt always be as confident in controlling their bodies as they would eventually beco. I could show them how to do things it might take a while to develop naturally.
So I was working on the control interface. It wasnt simple tech, but I had the copy of the Minotaur system, and was basically copying Militechs howork while changing it enough the teacher wouldnt mind.
Progress was going pretty fast, as I was going through the code and setting it up. I finished eating, and even went and took a shower while I was working on it, just tapping away in my ntal digital space as code flowed over my eyes.
Then, as I was drying off it was finished.
I looked over at the Tachikoma, and slipped the update for the control access, and then took it over.
I went to take a few steps and instead of moving it just sort of twitched and then fell flat.
Right. The Minotaur used a control crown to better handle the human to machine interface.
I sighed as I considered what to do. I could probably put one of those together? No, that sort of defeated the whole point of being able to use the Tachikoma stealthily.
I shrugged. I would just have to adapt the learning system to learning how to handle my own inputs now.
Not a huge deal, just another little thing I would need to work on Unless I went and bought an off the shelf drone? No, I realized, it might help, but even then, it wouldnt have the sa control system. The Tachikomas unique design would make it a bit more complicated.
I shrugged, deciding to just open a new branch of the AI learning, for it to adapt to the new concept.
I looked at the laptop. It was doing an acceptable job of giving the Tachikoma the extra processing power it needed, but it was an issue that was going to beco more and more of a problem.
Might need to actually go out and find so leads apart from Hiromi. Might lead to so fun gigs or sothing I guess.
I flopped onto the bed and continued working on the Tachikoma remote connection.
--
The next morning I woke up and stretched. Ignoring the Tachikoma that was laying on my stomach I moved it over and set it on the ground as I left the room looking for breakfast.
Motoko.
Oh hey Jun. I muttered sleepily, as I stared at not just Jun but like. Four TC gonks all hanging out on the couch.
Eddies, drugs, and guns were all over the living room table, and I could tell from one look that Jun hadnt slept yet.
I blinked at him, and he winced as he realized how it looked.
I dont want to know. I decided and Jun looked relieved, and sort of broken at the words.
Hey! Its little Motoko!, heh! Havent seen you in a while, kid! Why dont you co over here and say hello to Big bro Yuto! He called out happily then turned to Jun. Whenre you going to finally bring her in eh Jun? Shes old enough now! Looking like a real woman already.
Never. Motoko doesnt have much interest in this stuff. He said, with a bit of a growl in his voice as a warning. So drop it. Jun snapped, and the man sort of flinched back at Juns tone.
Hey, no worries Jun-chan, no worries. But Motoko, not into the Claws? When did this happen? The man asked, waving his hands trying to keep Juns burning glare to calm down.
Yuto. He snapped, but cald down after a second. I told you Motoko was in a coma.
Yeah yeah, I rember just shit. She used to be the one pushing you into shit. Whenever I had trouble getting you involved, Id just poke Little Motoko! The man laughed uproariously at the joke.
Jun just rolled his eyes, but I noticed he was actually pretty comfortable with the guy.
I shrugged. None of my business. Wandering into the kitchen I threaded my chro fingers through my hair, straightening it a bit as I pulled out a soda and started drinking it down.
Co to think of it, as I watched the n on the couch. I hadnt seen Jun bring over friends much.
Chooms of yours Jun-nii? I asked and he looked back towards , as did the boys.
Oh shit, you really dont rember eh Little Motoko? Co over here and sit down, Let big Bro Yuto see how much youve changed.
I continued to sip my drink as I threw a look at Jun.
Yuto was my best choom growing up, Motoko. We ran together when we were kids.
Hah! We still run together Jun-chan! Now that Im out of the slamr! He cheered and the boys around him cheered alongside him.
Huh. I muttered wandering over. This wasnt entirely uninteresting.
How long were you in jail? I asked as I hopped over the couch settling in besides Jun.
Three years, ti served! More like ti taken. Yuto muttered darkly. But Im out now! Jun-chan is a Kamikaze! Bozo and dipshit are still just shit-muscle.
Hey! Fuck you Yuto!
The other guy just flipped his choom off and they all laughed, even Jun.
Huh.
Well boys and bitches, this was fun. Fuck I havent had a real drink since they locked up. Yuto offered with a tired grin as he stretched towards the ceiling.
Heh. Fuckin hell Yuto, it was never the sa without you. One of the other guys ntioned with a grin.
Then Jun spoke. Yuto. Im glad youre out.
Well shit Jun-chan you are going to get crying if you keep that shit up. Although boys, there is sothing you can do for , you know, as a favor to an old choom.
The three boys all looked curious, and Yuto smiled. Help flatline the gonk fuck that stabbed in the back and got sent to the slamr eh?
I watched on as the three boys all reacted. Jun didnt say much. Just sort of frowning seriously, while the other two were a bit more arguntative.
Fuck Yuto, we cant do that shit. One of them offered, and the other nodded along agreeing.
Fuck you both then! No wonder you gonk fucks arent anything but lackeys still. Jun-Chan. Bro. I need this.
You know I cant. Kisaru is high up. The whole reason you got pegged with it, was because he had the power to get out of it. Jun said softly, uncomfortable at what he was saying.
Exactly! He thinks hes all that hot shit! Made take the fall for the drugs! Just because I was carrying them to the fucking buyers! If the fucker had just kept his mouth shut, thatd be one thing, but he fucking squealed. You know he did!
Kisaru was cleared of that. Besides, Kisaru is a Lieutenant now. We are honor bound not to touch him. You know what happens if we do. Theyll kill you. Us. Jun offered weakly.
Very weakly.
Dont fucking-No, you know whats up. Jun. Im calling in the favor. You owe for this! You co with, I can get to Kisaru easy as shit and flatline that gonk.
Yuto.
You fucking owe Jun! You dont have a choice! So dont be a bit-Fuck! He squealed when I ca up behind him and stuck my knife right into his trachea.
If youre dead, then Jun-nii wont owe you shit. Cant owe sothing to a corpse. I explained simply.
The room went silent, and I was getting looks from everyone, but I wasnt playing this ga.
Motoko. Jun said, but I ignored him, because was about to be talked into stupid shit by a fucking gonk ass old friend.
Shit like this was how everything always went wrong.
H-hey, Little Motoko, we don- I jabbed a bit harder.
You shush. Listen to now. Jun is doing better, but his life doesnt need this sort of shit. He is way too connected to the TC to go murder soone high up and not have so shit fall on his head. So no, Jun isnt going to help you get revenge. If you ask him again, I will remove you from the entire situation. Permanently.
Motoko. Jun muttered, but I noticed wasnt actually trying to stop .
Do you understand Yuto?
Yeah, yeah I hear it. He said a little strained. For a guy that went to jail he wasnt really all that strong willed.
Good. Jun, having chooms is good, but you arent allowed to ruin your life because of revenge. We both We both had to put revenge behind us yeah? I told him seriously, then I let go.
Fuck. Holy shit. Yuto muttered rubbing at his neck, checking for blood.
Which was silly, I didnt want to cut him, so I didnt.
Then fuck was that? He demanded, and I just stared at him blankly.
A warning? I answered truthfully wondering how that had sohow gone over the guys head. Deciding that my point was made I spun the knife on my fingers and then holstered it away before stretching out a bit. Gonna do so more programming, have fun with your friends Jun Just not too much fun.
Motoko. Go to your room. Jun said grumpily and I nodded, yeah that sounded good.
I really wanted to do so work on my net hacks.
--
I looked at the code as I did a final scan.
Overheat was a pretty common online hack. There were a few different versions. So were a virus causing Cyberware to basically go crazy overclocking themselves, and so like this one, dumped a huge amount of junk data into the netrunners connection making their system overheat them and lag out at the sa ti.
The original one Yoko had given was pretty terrible. Large RAM cost, Slow upload rate, easily stalled out.
I needed a hack I could use on a netrunner so it had to be more than just a baseline hack.
So I had sat down and decided to improve on every aspect of the hack.
Reducing its size with a few alterations to the code. Massively lowering the RAM cost. I was pretty proud of that one.
Instead of sending a large packet of data over with the upload to lag the system, instead what this version did was alter so of the configuration settings of the enemy netrunner.
It caused their own system to fill with junk data on their own side. Much faster upload, much cheaper to do, and much more effective.
One small protocol alteration caused everything to co crashing down.
It was Well it wasnt amazing. I wouldnt call it anything more than a middle of the road hack.
It wasnt as powerful or effective as my Hell Fla hack.
But it was also much much smaller, and more focused.
And I could rapid fire the hack without nearly as many issues as Hell Fla gave .
It was an easy go to hold out weapon. I stretched out satisfied as it finished and I installed it into my deck.
[HEAT Bullet Mk.01] Installed and looked like it would work just fine.
Stretching out I wandered back out of my room. The living room was still a ss. Empty cans, trash, and so what I think was leftover drugs?
Jesus Jun, this is way worse than my firearms ss.
I wandered around cleaning most of it, but leaving the drugs alone. Cant say I was happy about it, but I was assuming the boys would be back to get their shit.
I finished cleaning up and decided to test out my new hack.
Down in the garage, sliding onto my Kusanagi, I hesitated. Forgetting sothing important. I had promised to be more careful.
So I sent out a text and when I got a response I smiled and gunned it. Heading out into the city towards my netrunning lair.
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