Second site of the night.

The first location hadn’t even been a real Scav Den. Just a small storage unit that three gonks that were definitely not official Scavs, just fuckers willing to do horrible things to people.

They were all dead now, and I had the XP to prove it.

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

I don’t care if you were official Scavs, or just some assholes ripping people apart for eddies. They were all fucking trash in my opinion.

But that had just been on the way to Heywood. The building I was parked just down the street from was the bigger place I had ended up skipping to go to the Maelstrom meeting.

Once again. I accessed the system. Pinged them all, and had the entire place scoped out.

I was once again stacked up on the door. I waited half a second to see if Jun would call me to interrupt again, but it never came.

Go time. I surged through, rifle leading the way. I couldn’t just shoot through the walls this time. The basement they were hiding in was all solid concrete.. Unless I was using my Nekomata or my Burya I wouldn’t get any rounds through.

But I didn’t need that.

The first room was a garage. Two gonks inside. One working on a van. Obviously their meat wagon. The other was sitting in the driver seat obviously helping out.

Both were too slow to avoid my Copperhead as I unloaded on them both as I rushed them. The driver coated the windscreen in blood and the mechanic fell into his tool box very dead.

I didn’t pay attention to the noise of my system telling me I had gotten XP.

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

I didn’t slow down. I still had half a magazine and more Scavs.

Obviously the gun shots would alert them. So I didn’t slow down. At the back of the garage was a door that led into the basement area itself. This building had once been some sort of shop. The top floor had big open windows and butted against the street. Obviously they didn’t use it, but this basement was basically a loading and storage area.

The next room now was just a big empty space full of Scavs, and dead bodies. And all their equipment to rip people apart.

I leapt into the room using all my strength and my chrome ankles bouncing well past the door where instantly a few of the Scavs fired trying to kill me.

They missed. Then their guns stopped firing as I shut that down with a toothy grin.

I loved being a Netrunner. One of them I noticed did respond. A faint effort to fight back against the hack on the digital scape, but he was far too slow to stop it as it pinged him, then his chooms, then him again and again and again.

I rolled along the concrete, until I slowed enough. I rose up. Lines of golden light already telling me where to aim.

I popped up and three rounds echoed through the room, The light I was using as a guide post vanished, along with earning an alert.

*500 XP Gained.*

I rolled, slipping out of view behind the plastic sheets they had hanging from the ceiling all over the place to section off Ripper chairs.

To keep the blood splatter down.

Yeah it would still be useful now.

I flipped around, lined up my rifle with the golden lights and just started plugging away.

I got another one, before the others ducked behind cover realizing their weapons were dead.

*500 XP Gained.*

“Who the fuck is attacking us!?” A voice called out sounding terrified and I could practically hear the noise of metal on metal as he desperately tried to get his malfunctioning gun to work.

“Some bitch! Watch out for more! They got a Netrunner!”

“Don’t worry!” I called out in return, using my sexy Motoko voice as well, I was recording after all. “I’m the one who is going to send you all to hell!” I yelled out excited for what came next.

I shifted back up to my feet still crouched and then leapt.

The plastic sheet kept me from view until the last moment when I hit it at the apex of my jump and then ripped through.

They freaked, leaping out of cover desperately pointing weapons that weren’t functional. Only one had a smart idea and grabbed a big fucking machete knife and charged at me.

I hit the ground, rolled forward and he reached me just as my rifle was brought up.

I unloaded on him, easily blasting him away from me with the remainder of my magazine.

*500 XP Gained.*

I dropped the rifle. Reload would take too long, and I had other options.

Lexington was quickdrawn to a position right against my chest as I turned and unloaded into another Scav that was trying to attack me from behind. He cried out as his chest turned into swiss cheese.

Then he died.

*500 XP Gained.*

I started chasing the rest, killing another one who was hiding under a table as if he could just disappear there, and then to my irritation two of them were smart.

*500 XP Gained.*

They delta’ed. I ran at a door that the two had slipped into and was brought to a complete halt as I slammed into it and it didn’t budge.

I slammed the handle again and pushed but the door barely budged.

They had thrown something heavy on the other side.

“Fuckers!”

I turned and ran. I would have to head out the garage and get around the building. They were escaping out the front!

Even with all my speed by the time I made it to the front of the store their car was already nearly down the street, their golden lines fading away as they got too far away from the building net, and already well past the range I could quickhack as I could see them directly.

My Quadra was parked around the back. It would take too long to get into it, and then chase them.

Two escaped.

Two Scavs escaped me.

I had done this because I wanted to practice going loud. But I let two Scavs escape!

I should have blinded them. I should have shown up with my HMG.

I should have stealthed the whole group.

I should have… I should have…

I stepped back and pushed myself against the front of the old boarded up storefront.

Cool.

Get cool.

I exhaled arctic air and suddenly the absolute fit I had been half way into stalled out.

“I’m okay. Mistakes happen, and we learn from them.” I told myself. I had almost just had a complete freakout over letting two Scavs get away.

Yeah that wasn’t a healthy sign.

“Fuck.”

—--

I ignored everything as I headed home.

I still had more Scav dens I could hit, but I was obviously not handling this whole situation as well as I thought I was.

The apartment was quiet as I stomped in flipping off my boots at the door with a few wobbling bounces as I then stripped out of my armor letting it just drop to the floor.

There was a ton of floor space. Plenty of space to leave things for later.

I stripped out of my Section 9 clothes, the armored weight feeling far too restricting right now. Both jacket and pants were thrown onto the floor leaving me feeling a lot cooler as I wiped some sweat off my head.

Then I flopped face first onto the couch.

The couch wasn’t right. It was too cushiony. It didn’t smell like home either.

I screamed into the cushion slamming my fist down into it over and over until I was out of air.

Then I rolled off the couch and stood up. Annoyed at the stupid inset couch I had to climb out of just to get back on the floor.

I ran into my room. There was only one solution to this frustration I was feeling.

I grabbed my guitar and my music box.

I could have stayed in my room, but I didn’t want to be in there right now. So I hooked myself into my Music box and dropped the box onto the couch as I paced around the back of the couch.

I wanted something angry. Something fitting, but I wasn’t sure what to play.

I felt frustrated. Burned on the inside because everything that was happening just…

“I’m going to burn this city.” I muttered the song coming to mind instantly. Not exactly my favorite band. Not even my favorite song, but I couldn’t deny that there was a reason it fit Edgerunners so well.

And right now I was feeling full of fire too. Franz Ferdinand’s This Fire… Yeah I could make it work.

I switched up my voice, I wasn’t going to try and copy the singer from Franz Ferdinand… At least I was pretty sure that was just the band name and not the artist…

Oh well. No way for me to know now.

And so my voice went huskier. Heavier. I wasn’t going to play the song with the almost joyful chaos feeling the original had.

I was angry.

So I let that out.

I practically growled out the first line. Letting the anger and frustration at the Scavs. At Jun and his stupid new apartment. At everything.

“I’m going to burn this city!” I roared, slamming the guitar to get the notes just right. And I just let it all out. Like Rita had said. A hobby was important. A way to feel the emotions I kept locked up tight with Cold Blood.

Catharsis.

“I’ll burn it down!” I said the last lyric, before rolling into shredding the guitar, Hyping the noise up louder and louder, faster and faster until it just stopped.

I exhaled and flopped onto the back of the couch, feet resting on the cushions as I just hunched over and exhaled all the fire in my belly.

I ran a chrome hand through my hair. The unique texture was always a weird feeling and I practically luxuriated in it for that moment. Sweat sticking to the metal as I breathed and cooled off.

I didn’t feel very calm even still.

It wasn’t that they escaped. That was just the trigger. The fact was I didn’t like change very much. I liked my routines, and any change that happened was okay as long as it was my choice.

I pulled my music box over. The vocal and Guitar track would both need some work, trying a brand new vocal and guitar style on a song was kinda new to me.

I went to work. Both as something to distract myself with, and also I guess I just wanted to hear it as well.

—--

I stopped as I heard something loud bonk into the door. I quickly pulled off my guitar and grabbed my Lexington aiming at the door, because that had been a really weird noise.

Then the doorbell rang.

I quickly stacked up at the side of the door and then in a flash I opened it, the pneumatic door popping out of the way and I was aiming before quickly yanking my gun into the air to keep it from aiming at who had rang the bell.

“Hiromi?”

“H-Hey Motoko…” She said and we both stared at each other.

Hiromi had a big red mark on her forehead.

It took me a moment to realize what had happened.

“You don’t have the door key here yet.” I reminded her and her semi pout turned into a tearful look as if demanding me to take back what I had just said as she held a hand over her forehead.

I quickly holstered my Lexington and pulled her inside and into a hug.

“That never happened.” She demanded and I made all the right noises of acceptance. “I wanted to surprise you! I got excited.” She explained and I just nodded and rubbed her back as she buried her face into my shoulder.

She was so used to having the key to our place that she had tried to rush the door. The door hadn’t opened.

Poor Hiromi.

I brought her over to the couch and settled her in. Ignoring her faux sniffle that she pointedly threw a look at me after demanding I don’t acknowledge it.

“How did you know where the new place was? I thought I would have to come pick you up and show you.”She seemed to shake herself a bit and sat up straight. “I called Ichi of course. He helped you move, so I got the address and everything. I couldn’t use the elevator, so I had to use the stairs.” She whined at me, I actually blinked at that.

“You should have just called. I would have come down to get you.”

“I wanted to surprise you!” She whined and I couldn’t help but start laughing.

“You did!” I told her with a big smile and then she realized I was teasing her and whined at me in distress.

“Jerk! Gonk! You aren’t! Ugh! You have your guitar out! Play a song for me!” She finally demanded as she turned a bit red, but not as red as the mark on her forehead.

“Hiromi, I don-”“Pleeeease.” She whined, putting her hands up to her chest and begging.

“Fine. I’m working on something new anyways, I could use a separate ear.”

“Yeeeees!” She hissed, wiggling and kicking. “Serenade me!” She demanded as she sprawled out on the couch looking eager.

“Not really that kind of song.” I muttered. I hadn’t completed the drum track just yet, but I could still just enjoy doing another vocals and guitar play through.

First I went into my room and came out with the speakers and Amp for the guitar. I had recorded everything digitally so I wouldn’t disturb my neighbors. Even if musician neighbor might not mind.

So I picked up my guitar plugged it into my music box, plugged that into the speakers and amp, and then I started another rendition of This Fire.

I played. I roared, and sang and slammed my guitar. The emotions hadn’t diminished, only been released a little and so I raged a little while I sang. I turned the almost peppy song into something darker.

A threat.

“This fire is out of control!.

I’m going to burn this city, burn this city!”

And so I played for Hiromi, but mostly I played for me.

For the Motoko that didn’t want to obsess with killing every Scav in the city and just wanted to do whatever crazy thing that came to my mind.

For the Motoko that as much as she wanted to fight and kill, didn’t like at all that others could turn it back on her. Could harm her. Could harm her friends. Her family.

I was breathing heavily when I finished the song. I closed my eyes, I couldn’t look at Hiromi. Because I couldn’t handle someone not liking the song at that moment. I pulled off the guitar and stood up, taking a moment to remember where the fridge was. I grabbed a can of… Whatever the hell this was. The logo and stuff was so artsy I couldn’t tell. I popped it and drank it down.

Eh. I’ve had worse, but I felt off. Weird. It took a moment as I pulled up my system to realize what had happened.

*Cool Leveled up!*

Cool 9. No wonder I felt… Better. Was it that? No, not better. Not exactly, but… Cooler. Like the stress wasn’t hurting me as bad.

Then I turned around running a hand through my hair, “So what did you-oof!” I grunted as Hiromi slammed into me and squealed.

“Eeeeee!”

“I guess you liked it then?”

“You are going to be world famous, I’m gonna be your super awesome manager and it’s gonna be the best!” She cheered in delight and broke into a few chuckles. Not exactly what I was hoping would be her response, but I guess as long as Hiromi was happy.

No wait. I don’t want to be world famous!

Dangit Hiromi!

—-

“So how long until the whole song is done?” Hiromi asked as she sat beside me on the couch. I had grabbed the laptop to once again allow Hiromi to see what I was doing on the Music box as I recorded the digital tracks to finish the song.

“Not sure… I’m sorta trying something different on this song. Originally.. Well it was supposed to be more upbeat almost? It sounds weird, but yeah. I’m just making it darker. More Samurai, less Us Cracks.” I explained and Hiromi giggled at my description.

“You should make an Us Cracks version! Jun would listen to it!”

“Ugh. Please don’t remind me.” I grumbled at her, but in the end I shrugged. “I think I’ve got most of it. I’m mostly just… fiddling now. Making sure I didn’t flub anything, and making sure all the tracks line up and actually flow.”

“It’s so crazy how good you are at everything.” She muttered, and I actually stilled a little.

This wasn’t the first time Hiromi had said something similar. Not the first time someone had noticed that I was picking up on things too fast.

“I… I just-” I started to stutter tensing up, but Hiromi practically leapt on me in response.“Whoa. Ah. I didn’t mean anything by it Motoko! You’re so amazing. I’m just a little jealous! You can do basically anything it’s just a little… intimidating? I guess. Trying to keep up.”

I quickly shoved my guitar off my shoulder and reached over to grab at Hiromi to her surprise as I pulled her bodily into a hug.

A tight one so she couldn’t escape.

“It’s not a race… And I’m way behind in tons of things, but I don’t… Please don’t think you need to compete. I need my best choom.”I said burying my face into her neck as I used everyone lick of knowledge to grapple Hiromi in an unbreakable hug.

“Hey! No way am I going anywhere! You are stuck with me forever!” Hiromi responded and I nodded into her shoulder as I still refused to let go. Hiromi didn’t seem to mind just patting my back this time. “You okay Motoko? The song, and now this… You seem a little… Stressed?”

“I don’t think I’m handling all the stuff that happened as well as I would like.” I admit speaking into her jacket letting the texture muffle the words a little and create the disconnect that lets me share. “I hate that we got attacked at home, and now, Jun moved us here, and I didn’t want to move Hiromi. I miss home already.”

“Oh.” Hiromi whispered and then tightened her hug on me as well.

—---

“Sorry.” I ended up saying a while later when I finally pulled away from Hiromi. I hadn’t cried, but it was definitely a close call. Thanks Cool.

“You don’t have to apologize! I’m just… No, that's gonna come out wrong.” She said and then flushed at even saying that.

“What?”

“I just… It’s nice that you aren’t completely put together? Getting homesick after a move… I guess it just means I don’t have to be perfect yet either? Sorry that sounds stupid since this is obviously bothering you, but…”

“Nah. It’s okay.” I bumped her shoulder to add weight to my words.

Hiromi perked up, obviously deciding to change topics. “I like your new song! It’s very Rockerboy! Are you going to record it into a BD like the last one? Or are you finally ready to let your number one Manager Hiromi set up a gi-”

“Nope.”

“Aww.” She whined, but I was laughing.

“Number one Manager?”

“Hey, just being honest.” She said with a wink and we both broke into laughter.

“You gonna stay the night tonight?” I asked suddenly, and Hiromi nodded firmly. Good. I could use the company.