And thats it! Great job! Hiromi called out as the last box in the truck was dumped off at the foot of a Ripper and we were finally done.
Yes! Whoo! I cheered, jumping into the air a little. We had done it! Sold our loot! It actually felt like sothing an adventurer would do after clearing so Goblin cave or sothing! I an sure Scavs arent exactly Goblins Mostly
But it was the feeling it gave!
Payday! Malcolm cheered, hand out and flat towards Hiromi giving her a cheerful look.
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Not here you gonk. Cmon lets go to Motokos place and we can split the eddies. She said ignoring Malcolms whine for money as she climbed back into my Quadra.
Wait, why are we eting at my apartnt?
Ichi lives with his Grandmother. Malcolm has his parents, and we arent going to my place. Hiromi answers simply.
Sounds good to .
I agree. The boys both say with a grin as they jump into the truck and start driving away!
Why did everyone just drive off on ! Bullying gonks!
I huffed but got in my Quadra and started driving ho. I hope Jun wasnt ho.
--
So the split is completely even. Each of us gets 25%. I doubt anyone is unhappy with the number? Hiromi asked as she passed us a pretty hefty chunk of change each.
My own bank account was grateful and it was more than I would have made doing three gigs for Wakako!
This was amazing. Malcolm said as he flopped back onto the floor of my apartnt. We were all sitting around the living room table. Ichi and Malcolm both on the floor while Hiromi and I had the couch.
Uh. Malcolm, that floor isnt super clean, you might not want to lay back like that. I said unable to not ntion the dusty floors.
Listen. I still rember how dirty it was when I was doing pushups, and neither Jun nor I had really done any cleaning outside of fixing up our sses
Okay mostly picking up tech, or guns laying around, but the point still stood.
Yeah its kinda dusty down here.
Ichi cut in then shaking his head as Malcolm dusted himself off a bit. Either way Motoko. Hiromi. Malcolm. Thank you. I was really hurting for eddies, and I couldnt have made anything like this much in such a short amount of ti. Motoko You still pay better than any other boss Ive worked for. Thanks.
I grinned at Ichis sincerity as he bowed his head a little but Malcolm spoke first, throwing an arm over his friend's shoulder. Anyti choom! I needed so cash too, I gotta admit, other than the terror and chance of death Which we already dealt with during the war. The pay is certainly better. When are we doing this again?
I blinked.
My crew all looked to , and I realized what they wanted.
I an
I have the computers that the scavs and the ripper were using Ill start digging and see if there is any info on another den? I offered with a shy shrug.
Oh oh! Ill reach out to my contacts, because I have those now, and see what I can find out! Hiromi offered, putting both of her hands on her hips and flipping her hair a bit as she looked all pleased with herself. She seriously looked like her mom right there.
I decided I wasnt going to ntion that.
Huh. Well Ill call up so of the TC guys I worked with during the war Ill see what they say. Ichi offered looking happy to be involved.
Oh fuck all of you. I dont have any cool contacts. Malcolm said as he slumped over the table.
Dont worry Malcolm, not everyone is good at gathering information! Why dont you see Vik and get so upgrades. Ill probably do that soti soon too.
Yeah Yeah I can do that. Itll be preem to actually have so real chro. I an! Mantis blades you know!? We all laughed as he started faux swinging his arms around as if he was using the blades.
We ended up just kind of hanging out sorta mini celebrating a job well done when Jun finally ca ho.
Which of course distracted completely.
GASP! I yelled out as I looked at Jun, and he rolled his eyes at .
I said I was going to Viks. He said and it was true. His arms looked mostly real now!
Hug! I demand as I jump up and clamber over Hiromi as Jun sighs but gives in and wraps his now fleshy arms around .
Much better! Did Vik give you a checkup as well, hows the chro?
He did Better. He did a good job settled, so issues I didnt even know I had You were right. Dont let it go to your head. He mutters and I just giggle happy that Vik took care of him.
Looking good Jun-Nii. Hiromi offered with a wink and Jun rolled his eyes at her flirtations.
Thank you Hiromi. Good to see you too. Doing sothing new with the hair?
Well the mohawk wasnt anymore. She demurred a bit as she ran a hand through her hair. Her hair was growing out everywhere but she still had the long mohawk laying sideways.
It looked good even so. Hiromi was one of those girls that always looked pretty no matter what she did.
Ah Ichi, and Malcolm, right. He said and the boys nodded at their na. What are all of you doing?
Celebrating! Malcolm called out cheering a bit as he raised his drink into the air, and Hiromi reached over to clink her can with his. It wasnt alcohol, but we were having fun regardless.
Oh good news on the sales?
Yeah! With Hiromis help we made lots of eddies! I cheered showing Jun just how much we had all made. He smiled and patted my head, looking proud of .
Yeeessss.
--
A few hours later I was resting on the couch. Everyone had headed out, probably to spend their newly found eddies.
Jun had claid the TV and was watching so weird ass future show that I just couldnt understand why he liked it.
Part of wanted to do so more music, but even I wasnt a brat enough to do that while Jun was in the middle of his show, so instead I grabbed the shard I had downloaded all of the Scav data to, and started going through it.
I hadnt just stolen the scavs emails, but the computer's history as well. So as I sorted them out I started looking for anything that would lead to more scavs.
As I buried myself searching through the data for sothing I could use, ti flowed past .
In the end I ca up with nothing.
No emails to Charles about who the boss was, or where I could hunt him down. In fact it was almost as if the Scavs had purposefully kept any connecting info to another den off the systems.
Irritating.
Ugh. I groaned as I leaned back away from the laptop. That was a good couple of hours wasted.
Whats wrong? Jun asked, although he didnt tear his eyes away from the TV.
Just went through all the computer records the Scavs had at the den, trying to hunt down a lead to find more of them.
Not that easy. One thing they are good at is keeping to themselves. They cant ever get enough power in one area to hold territory or anything, but it makes them impossible to remove.
Yeah. I grumbled, as I reached over and closed all the files I had been burning through. Instead I closed that laptop and grabbed my ICE laptop. Plugged in and started burning down the ICE instead. At least with this I could make progress.
And in fact I made quick progress. My new Cyberdeck was amazing!
The ICE was still there. The task was just as hard as always, but I had so much more flexibility. More speed. I really had been needing an upgrade for a while. I was forced to admit to myself as my speed of cracking ICE more than doubled, simply because of how much faster my deck was.
--
The next day I was bumming around the apartnt again.
Mostly mixing up my grind between playing so random song that I rember from before or trying to get my programming all fixed up.
I had also checked through the alerts for the scav den. Other than the XP I hadnt paid any attention to what else I had earned! I really should have because one of the alerts, wasnt just an XP notification but an actual level up!
*Reflex Leveled up!*
Reflex 7.
I was in shock! I hadnt even realized such an important stat had leveled! Aweso! Unfortunately since my Blades skill had already been maxed out, I hadnt gotten any Blade alerts, but still! Reflex! I could update my Handgun skill again!
I was so proud of myself I almost ran out of the apartnt to go shoot things before rembering that I was taking it easy-ish today. Only minor stuff on my to do list.
I had sent a text to Regina asking for info about the hold up on the gig, but all she had sent back was that it was taking a bit longer than expected.
So I had been sending texts out to people between grinds.
Hiromi was back in school. Ichi was free, but he was following through on his idea. Speaking to so of the old tirs he knew about Scav hideouts.
But it was Nox that I was texting with the most.
Turns out he had finally hit the point where he was making more eddies than he had put into the project. That was cool.
It was still nothing to what I made on a gig alone, but the BDs were getting around out there.
Which reminded I had a few more BDs for Judy, including the Ichi one which I needed to get made to give to Malcolm and Hiromi.
Deciding to get out of the house I got dressed and headed over to Lizzies.
To my relief as I pulled into the parking lot Rita was hanging around outside. I parked and hurried over waving a bit as I approached her, earning a quirk of her lips in return.
Hey Motoko, doing alright?
Yep! Hey Rita. I wanted to say, thank you. I said when I got close enough to talk quietly with the Mox. Your advice was really good! I ended up finding a new relaxing hobby to do in between all my rc work. So Thanks.
Oh, well Im glad. She said, looking pleased at my words, her smile turning completely genuine. Im glad I could help. What have you started doing?
I flushed a little at her question scratching at the ports on the back of my head as I hesitated, but if anyone deserved to know it was Rita. I started playing music, I picked up a guitar, and I sing a bit I guess Just dont tell anyone. I said seriously and she giggled. Actually giggled at .
Deal. I wont say a word. You any good?
I Well Im getting there I guess? I offered, dancing back and forth a little on my feet. Which seed to make Rita even more amused.
Then youll have to play sothing for soti. But no rush, you here to see Judy? She asked and I nodded, reminded of what I needed to do.
Yeah I have so BDs to drop off.
More gigs?
I looked around a bit to make sure no one was listening in. My Chooms and I hit a Scav Den a few days ago, cleared the whole place out too.
Rita scowled at hearing about the scavs but then smirked at the rest. Good. Fucking scum suckers. You all alright?
Oh yeah it was easy only ten of the guys I took them all out without them even realizing, easy. I waved off the concern. As if I was in danger from a couple of scavs!
She looked over for a while before nodding. Well its good to hear there are a few less of them in the city. She reached out and patted my shoulder looking proud.
Ack! Too many people being proud of !
We chatted for a few more minutes about Rita dealing with gonks that needed to be thrown out of the club before I headed inside to find Judy.
Judy! I called out as I entered, making sure to make noise long before I walked into her lair. I didnt want to startle her again.
Huh? Oh hey Motoko, howre you? She asked as she looked away from the computer she had been staring at as I entered as always she looked like she lived down here, with her desktop covered in cans piling up.
Not too bad! I have so BDs to drop off, and I wondered if I could ask for a favor about a small BD edit?
Hmm? Whatd ya an? She had turned around from her computer giving her complete attention. I couldnt help but smirk a bit at the thought of what she was going to see.
Okay so I have this BD I made about a prank I pulled on a friend
--
Walking out of Lizzies a few hours later I was still giggling at the BD in my pocket, even if my wallet was lighter. Judy was more than willing to do a BD edit for like a minute long Virtu, but it wasnt free.
I shrugged. It was good enough. Now I could tornt Ichi.
Heh Mr. Studd. Thats never going to get old. I muttered to myself as I drove ho, still giggling. Judy had also been given the scav den Virtu to fix up and hand to Nox.
Well that little job was done. Considering how close I was I considered heading over to Yaiba tower and talking to Regina but in the end she would contact with a gig. If she didnt want to give gigs, it wasnt a problem for . I wasnt hurting for eddies.
No, instead I headed towards my favorite ripper. After everything Vik had gone through the chro we had dropped off and found a few pieces that I had put away. I dont think I was ready for all of it, but there was still a few little updates I wanted to chip in.
I stopped in to see Misty of course, we had a fun conversation about so article she was reading in her magazine about the Net and souls.
But then I went down to Vik.
Oh? Finally ready for those upgrades huh?
Yeah, but first! I demanded as I stomped up and pulled Vik into a big hug. Thanks for helping my brother. I told him and he looked a little flustered as he patted on the shoulder.
You know there isnt any reason to thank . I didnt do anything most other rippers couldnt do.
It was special to . I told him simply ignoring his attempts to break free until I was satisfied my thankfulness was understood.
Then when I broke away I moved over to his ripper chair and settled in.
Lets do this.
The smart link system took only a few monts to install. My Condor arms were designed to accept one after all.
But the Ex-Disk was a bit more of a job. Vik put out as he was dealing with my neural link, but I woke up feeling perfectly fine.
Just with a new piece of tal in my head that gave so more RAM for my Netdeck.
Is it working? I couldnt help but ask, as I didnt feel any different and Vik just chuckled.
You wont notice much yourself, it mostly boosts your Netdeck. Just keep an eye on your RAM usage while you're out and you should notice a difference. Hows the head? Any headache? The neck? Sotis the headache shows as a stiff neck. He suddenly asked as he rolled over with a inhaler and prompted to take a hit.
No? I feel fine. Nothing seems wrong. I said checking my head and neck.
Hmm. Usually youd have sothing after an install like that. Noticed you werent having a problem with your Cyberdeck install last ti either. I dont expect the Smart Link to cause any problem, but a new Neuralware is usually a quick road to a headache for a few days even with my care. Vik muttered as he started running scanners over my head and seed to be checking out.
I quickly pulled up my status page while he worked.
First thing I noticed quickly was that my Cyberization number had gone up for Intelligence.
Intelligence 7 (11) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
It used to only be increased by 2. So I guess the EX-Disk made a difference?
But also.
Arasaka SmartLink System. *Adaptation SmartLink 0/0*
Arasaka Ex-Disk *Adatapation Ex-Disk 0/0*
Neither of the two Cyberware had an adaptation cost?
I could only humm to myself as Vik worked on checking out, but I felt fine. Better than fine really.
Eventually after taking all the scans. Like literally all of them, Vik let go. He was relieved that he wasnt finding anything, but also sorta grumpy that he wasnt finding what he expected.
So I left him to his grumpiness but only after thanking him, and handing over so money for the work. Then I went ho again. I was feeling the need to grind so more. Plus I really wanted to level my programming so I could make my music box idea work.
Even if it was stupid and just for my music hobby, it would be really cool if it worked! No! When it worked!
I humd along to the radio as I drove ho.
-
So I was taking a break from programming Ping. Instead I had pulled out my toy. I an my very important directional microphone! That was for super important gig work! And not a toy!
But I was trying to program the damn thing.
All I was trying to do was get it smart enough to be able to focus the audio on what I wanted to hear, and filter out any background noise.
Programming is hard though.
I wasnt making much progress, at least not efficient progress. Everything I typed out was twigging my Debug knowledge telling it was going to be a ss to work with.
But that didnt really matter. I just needed to keep grinding and eventually.
*Programming skill level up!*
That would happen!
Programming 4! I enjoyed the surge of knowledge as I nodded along considering what had just been dumped in my head.
Then I took the program for the mic I had been working on and deleted almost all of it.
Yep. It was dogshit.
Then I started again, using the best bits of the last build. I would get this to work!
-
Will never fade away. I crooned as I had taken a break from my programming to strum my guitar and sing.
I wasnt so much stuck on the programming as just needing to let my mind do sothing else for a while. So many numbers.
Plus with my two perks filling in for . I could basically shut down my brain and play a song and not really have to think about it. Letting my brain cool down from the math overload.
*100 Rockerboy XP Gained.*
The ssage popped in after I finished the song, I couldnt help but smile because Rockerboy leveled up super fast. Even though I wasnt getting alerts after every song, or even every other song, it didnt really matter. I played the songs simply enjoying the music and the alerts ca in. Plus it helped that I kept adding more and more to my play.
First it was just strumming and singing badly along, then my instruntal cleaned up, and now I have Siren Song. My voice was so much better, so I was actually singing smoothly
It was fun now! I didnt feel like a grind anymore. When I played it really was just because I wanted to hear the song.
The only thing that annoyed was that I only had a guitar. I still needed to get my music box programd so I could start doing the rest of the songs too.
I sighed as I put the guitar down.
Back to work.
--
The next day, long after Jun had left for work again, I was standing on the couch and screaming at the top of my lungs while I rocked out.
I was just a little irritated at the programming not coming together.
But at least I had a nice outlet. The squeal of my guitar echoed around the apartnt as I finished the song and flopped onto the couch to catch my breath.
I needed
I dont know. More things to tweak, more programming to grind with. My microphone work had helped, but it wasnt enough. I either needed to get an example of soone already having programd a directional mic, or I needed to level up a lot more.
It was irritating. Even if I was still getting skill alerts while failing.
I put the guitar on the stand and stood up. The music helped break how stuck I was so now I had an idea. It was ti to go talk to Yoko.
Suiting up in my normal outfit, and a quick drive later I walked into the Dewdrop Inn to see Yoko as always at the counter.
Yoko. I just got an upgrade to my deck, I need so Quick hacks to fill it up Whatcha got? I asked as I leaned over the counter and she nodded.
Heres my selection. She offered, pulling out a data pad, and handing it over and there listed out were all of the programs she had.
In this case she was actually selling them for eddies, but I noticed there was a second tab for better hacks that were only tradable with knowledge.
Luckily I had the eddies. So I quickly started browsing.
Most of it was just stuff from the ga I recognized, although there were so different hacks. So were ant only for Netrunning. Like ICE Shield which could create a temporary barrier against threats, hopefully giving you so ti to jack out, or escape in the net.
Or Distract which created Well junk data Daemons. That would spread out through a system and try to interfere with everything, filling files with bad data.
But I wasnt looking for Netrunning code. Mostly because I had yet to really dip my feet into netrunning.
It wasnt that I was nervous or anything, I just didnt really need it. Most netrunners couldnt just infiltrate a building and breach into their network directly bypassing any real worry about Black ICE killing them or anything.
Ill take a Weapon Glitch, and a Reboot Optics. I said confidently. Both were pretty base level programs, but I could fiddle with them, and more importantly, they could both be used in combat when I screwed up and got spotted. Being able to jam so gonks' guns, or blind them would be an amazing help.
I paid quickly and was already installing the programs in my deck as I walked out.
Now I had so new programs to play with and level up!
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