After getting confirmation from Wakako that she had the target, we both got wired the eddies as I was driving back home.

“So what did you think?” I asked, Jackie had been quiet for a while, mostly just smiling to himself at the reward for the gig.

“You’re certainly the best overwatch I’ve ever been with. You helped every step of the way.” Jackie muttered quietly, obviously the big man was thinking.

“Yep, and I couldn’t have done it without you. Trying to haul that guy out by myself would have been a disaster. Like I said before, I need someone to work with. I’m best as either outright infiltrator, or an overwatch position. So want to keep working together?”

“Heh. Alright Hermanita. You’ve proven your point. You know how to handle yourself, even if I still think you are too young. What is that cannon you are packing by the way? When you fired that thing I thought my head was going to ring.”

“Ah! My Burya!” I mentioned as I pulled her out of the holster and passed her over.

“That’s… A big gun.” Jackie said, looking surprised at my girl.

“Hah! I don’t go anywhere without her… Anymore. Never know when you’ll come face to face with a borg that needs something with oomph.”

“Never needed anything bigger than my Nue personally.” Jackie said, slinging his pistol out and even twirling it on his finger.

Gonk.

But I was smiling even so.

“Nue are good guns. Honestly if I came across one while on a gig I would snatch it. But my Lexington is nice, it balances my Burya. I got the big loud hand cannon for big stuff, and the automatic pistol for small fry.”

“Heh smart. I’m surprised you can even shoot this thing. I mean, I’ve heard horror stories about gonks trying it without the right chrome. I know you got your arms, but is that enough?”

“Honestly? No. But when I first got it, I nearly broke every bone in my arm firing it… Don’t tell my brother I told you that, he still doesn’t know. Anyway, I figured out a trick on how to handle the recoil so I can actually use it.” I sort of rolled my right wrist showing Jackie. “It’s all in how you lock your joints and the give in your body.”

“Huh.” He mentioned looking at the Burya with a glimmer in his eye that I couldn’t help but laugh at.

“If you want to give it a try, I don’t mind, but before you go buying more iron, how about some new chrome? Those optics you got could use an upgrade, what even are they? My scan says Omicron Zeta Something or other.” I mentioned earning a chuckle from Jackie.

“Yeah my OZ Soul 3.0 They aren’t the best optics on the market, but they got the best soulful look, you’d be amazed at how many times these eyes got me out of trouble. Just a minute of my soulful stare works wonders, every time. With a bit of old boy politeness of course.” He said, chuckling.

“Gonk.” I could help but laugh. “I’m pretty sure a pair of Kiroshi would serve you a lot more.”

“Eh maybe. I’ll ask Vik about it sometime.” He said with a shrug and I let it go, we weren’t really partners yet. No point in trying to push things.

“Alright this is our stop.” I mentioned as I pulled into the parking garage of my apartment. “Sure you don’t want to celebrate our gig with a meal?”

“Next time Hermanita.” Jackie assures me as he reaches over and shakes my shoulder. “I’ve got plans already for tonight. Got a date.” He offers laughing and I smile.

“Oh? Girlfriend?”

“Of course! Camilla has been on my ass all week about going out on a big date, and I finally got the eddies. Have a good night Motoko.” He offered as he stepped out, but I was too shocked.

Right. Jackie wasn’t dating Misty.

They weren’t even friends yet.

Oh.

I really didn’t want to get involved in getting a gonk like Jackie dating his true girl.

Eh. It’ll sort itself out… Right?

—--

“Welcome back.” Jun called out as I entered the apartment.

“Hey Jun. You still around?”

“No work until tonight. You good? Your gig go well with that gorilla?”

“Pfft!” I burst into laughter. “What is it with you an gorilla’s recently? You called me that too.”

“It just fits is all.” He said as I joined him on the couch, he had been watching some TV show his feet up on the table. Letting me see the way his feet were covered in that grayish plastic that meant it was chrome, but hadn’t been covered in Real Skinn.

“Alright but out of the two of us only you look like a gorilla.” I teased him, grabbing his attention away from the TV to give me a grumpy look.

“I might look like one, but you have the personality of one.” Jun said bluntly and then turned back to the TV.

That…

Absolute asshole!

I punched him in the side which he ignored!

Stupid borg!

I punched him again, and again, tenderizing his side until finally he got annoyed and grabbed at me, which led both of us wrestling on the couch.

“You are proving my point!” He growled at me, but I ignored his words!

In the end Jun won the wrestling match and I retreated to my room to lick my wounds from once again being defeated by my stupid brother.

It wasn’t fair!

Flopping on my bed I looked around the room, at all the stuff that I had collected.

The stuff that sort of sat on top of the old Motoko’s stuff.

Old Tyger Claw junk hidden under guns or equipment I had nabbed.

I even reached under the bed and patted the Uragan case. Just making sure it was still there.

What was my next goal?

Probably jump back into programming again. I thought. I still wanted to upgrade my Reboot Optics, and Weapon Glitch hacks. If I could get both working, being able to interfere with multiple people at once, I would go from only being able to disable eight or nine gonks back to back before my poor Seacho couldn't handle it, to dozens.

Of course my programming laptop was out in the living room, so I got back up off my bed and headed out.

As soon as I appeared Jun noticed and raised both hands in knife hands as if he expected me to attack him!

“Gonk.” I told him before ignoring his presence and grabbing my laptop.

“Ah so you calmed down good. Wild gorilla- Oof.” He grunted as I didn’t punch him, just chucked a pillow into his face.

“Stop instigating. I have work to do.” I told him as if I was the adult and he was the child.

He huffed and ignored me though going back to his show.

While I dug into the program that I had found incredibly useful.

Reboot Optics.

My previous work on it made me cringe as I looked at it. I could do better, so much better.

So just like Ping I decided to just start from scratch.

Reboot Optics at its most simple was a virus. Infesting optical systems and causing them to reboot, or overload, depending on the chrome.

It worked, but it could be better.

There was something I had learned from using computers in the past. Most users had no idea what the tech they were using actually did, or how it worked.

They knew enough to use the basic functions they were familiar with and that is it. Any actual in depth knowledge was completely beyond them.

So rather than attacking the system causing it to reboot, which was a pretty common method, I wanted to hit them with a double whammy.

It wouldn’t work on every optical system, but the idea had hit me as soon as I started writing the program.

Inspired Programmer coming in clutch.

Instead of the virus just causing a reboot, it did one other small change into the system while it was rebooting.

It was going to set the visual brightness of the chrome to zero.

I hadn’t been surprised that dimming effects on optics were very popular. Being able to dim your eyes when things got bright was a common enough feature in most optics, and those that don’t have it, still had settings to adjust how the brain processed the image.

All I had to do was make it so the system when it rebooted would still show nothing but a black, or incredibly dark picture to the brain.

The normal gonk would freak out when their eyes suddenly rebooted, only to then still be blind when their system starts back up.

Sure all they would have to do is go into their settings to adjust the vision… Their hud system would still work as normal…

Unless I adjusted the color of the Hud to match the dimmed visuals…

Heh.

But I would bet money that most people didn’t even know a settings menu existed in their optics.

It wouldn’t work for long against people who knew what they were doing, but it would still take time to fix their eyes themselves.

Time in a gunfight that could prove lethal.

Sure the program was going to need to be completely remodeled to do the double load, but that just required a bit of work. It’s what good programming could do. Instead of ballooning the program too much, when I was done, my Reboot Optics would hopefully be even slimmer than the off the shelf shovelware I had been using.

And it could affect multiple people at once.

Of course unlike Ping, which had only taken a couple of days to program up.

Reboot Optics was going to take a while. There were no quick shortcuts here. Each piece of the coding would need a lot of attention to make sure it worked.

But thanks to my perks, not only was it doable, not only was it going to be amazing when it was done!

But it was actually really fun!

Watching my coding turn into a weapon. That image so long ago of me crafting a magical sword was stuck in my head.

I guess Inspired Programmer knew what I needed to stay engaged, because I was going to make the best magical eye gouging digital sword I could.

“Hey.” Jun interrupted me, waving his hand in front of my face making me look away from my line of code with a glare.

“What?”

“Been calling you for a minute. I’m heading out, got some easy work… Don’t stay up all night, and get some food and stuff. I don’t want to see you totally spaced out in the same spot again when I get home.” He ordered waving a finger in my face.

Like all teenagers everywhere I rolled my eyes, but did set an alarm in my hud.

“Alarm is set, I’ll eat and sleep. Be safe.” I demanded in return and Jun smiled confidently before patting me on the head.

“I’ll see you in the morning Motoko.” Jun offered and I threw up a thumps up in return which he chuckled at as he walked out of the apartment.

I quickly got up and stretched a bit and headed into the kitchen, a can of something sugary and carbonated was collected and opened.

Time to get back to work.

—--

I did end up going to sleep when my alarm went off, if for no other reason that Jun would bug me if I didn’t.

But before I could get back to programming, I got a call from Hiromi.

*Motoko! You busy?*

*Not overly?* I said looking at the laptop that was just begging me to come and finish more work.

*Great! Meet me at the Straight Lane Apartments?*

*What? You okay?*

*Course! But I need to talk to Richard and I would rather have my favorite bodyguard with me!* Hiromi teased, but I laughed because honestly it was pretty true.

*Alright. I’m on my way.*

—--

Like before the apartment didn’t have close parking so I ended up parking half a block away and having to walk.

When I got there Hiromi was already waiting outside, she wasn’t alone though.

The girls that had bothered me the first time I had returned to the apartment were surrounding Hiromi, and I narrowed my eyes. I remember how aggressive they had been to me, but if they were threatening Hiromi I was gonna have to give a beatdown.

I went cold and snuck closer, my boots going utterly silent on the concrete as I approached from the girls blind spot.

Hiromi of course spotted me, and I could spot how her spine straightened a bit.

As I stalked closer I could hear Hiromi speaking in a rush. “-Not interested. Richard and your gang are a good contact, I’m not interested in putting out orders. Not my style.”

“Yeah? Well it’s not my style to listen to some corpo rat either, and don’t think I don’t know that, you got the stink of a corp all over you.” The smaller of the two girls muttered her shotgun in her hands in a way that made me twitchy.

Besides, Hiromi actually looked hurt from that. She was still sensitive about it, despite her origin not mattering.

Hiromi is Hiromi.

So before she had to open her mouth and defend her birth I was there. Chrome hands gripping harshly on the barrels of Shotguns and holding them down firmly.

“Wha!”

“Hey!”

“I think that’s enough… Mary right?” I asked the taller girl the only one that had given her name last time.

“Hey! Bitch, let go!” The smaller girl was fighting my grip on her shotgun, but she may as well have been a child. She was a lot smaller than me, and I had weight, and chrome on my side.

And an athleticism that put me far over the average teenage girl.

“No. You were bothering my choom, so I get to interfere. Hiromi? You cool?”

Despite the seriousness, Hiromi snorted at me. “I’m cool Motoko.” She assures me purposefully smiling at my words.

Cool was still cool!

“You can let go, we weren’t trying to threaten her.” The taller girl, Mary said, despite glaring at me for holding her gun down.

“Alright.” I agreed and let go of both barrels, although I kept my hands close to my chest.

If I needed to quickdraw my Burya I could fire before they bring the barrels up.

I was sure.

“Fuck. Spooky quiet bitch.” The short girl hissed as she backed up but seemed to look to Mary who just shook her head and despite seething, she didn’t attack.

“Why were you messing with my choom?”

“We weren’t messing with her. Just making sure she understood we aren’t her toys.”

“I never said you were.” Hiromi argued, obviously irritated as she growled a bit. “I told you, I’m just gonna be helping you guys get gigs, like a fixer. Richard is still your boss, you know the guy that agreed to work with me, and is expecting me for a conversation, that Richard?”

“Whatever. Just remember what we said.” Mary offered and turned to walk into the apartment, I glared at them as they walked to the elevator. Considering I had control of the system I had to stop myself from stopping the elevator somewhere and just getting them stuck in there for a few hours.

“Thanks Motoko. You saved me again.” Hiromi offered as she leaned in against my shoulder for a moment, seemingly taking energy from the contact.

“Yeah… Don’t come here alone again. I don’t like those two, they tried to threaten me too.”

“I think they are Richards girls… Or at least the tall one.” Hiromi offered and I nodded taking in the information.

“They don’t like that we are girls?”

“Yep.” Hiromi shrugged. “They’ll get easier to deal with as long as we don’t flirt with their guy.” She said and I snorted at the very idea.

Richard was way too much of a gonk for me to be interested… And Hiromi was way too good for him.

We ended up waiting for the elevator to come back down as of course the girls had gone up to the fifth floor where we were going.

The fifth floor, the level that the gang had completely commandeered for their own.

I hadn’t been there yet, only seen it through windows on the outside, or from the cameras that were around, and I hadn’t yet found out why they chose that floor.

But honestly it didn’t matter.

It wasn’t any of my business.

We rode up mostly in silence. Hiromi was psyching herself up and so I was just quiet support. There to make sure she was safe.

The door opened into a pretty standard apartment hallway. Trash was growing up the walls in places, but that was the norm for most apartments.

Waiting for us were the two girls, both looking irritated, and as we stepped off the shorter one spoke. “Follow us, Richard is waiting.” She grumbled, obviously annoyed at being the one to guide us.

Hiromi and I followed down the hallway. Most of the apartment doors were open, not that it mattered, holes were in the walls letting anyone see inside.

Or out.

Kids were all over the place, but so were adults. One of the apartments had an old lady in a chair watching the TV ignoring the group of kids in the apartment playing some sort of game.

Or the man that was in another hunched over a desk and working on fixing something or other.

I guess while Wakako’s original brief that the gang had kicked out everyone on the floor wasn’t entirely accurate.

We were led to a doorway that had been entirely busted down, the stupid bead curtains the only protection for it, and inside was…

Well a throne room wasn’t quite right, but a gathering place.

Richard was seated in what had once been this apartment's circular entertainment bar. But stools and tables surrounded the room, and many of them were filled. As we approached Richard waved for us to join him in the circular couch which was empty except for him, and now us.

Well Hiromi, I stood behind her instead, just like the girls we followed had moved to stand behind Richard.

“You said you wanted to talk.” Hiromi offered instantly leaning back trying to pull off the badass fixer vibe.

Considering these were a bunch of teens, I think it worked.

“I did.” Richard confirmed, and I noticed all of a sudden that the amount of people surrounding him was a lot smaller than it had been that night on the roof. “Shit hasn’t been great since Morgan and V3L died. I’ve had a lot of people just delta on me, and some who have stolen from us. That last part is a problem. I want to get back some of the stuff that belongs to us.”

“And that is where we come in?” Hiromi asked bluntly, not sounding very interested.

“Right, yeah. The problem isn’t just that they stole from us. We can ignore some weapons going missing, I’ll consider that stuff square. But someone stole something a bit bigger. A vehicle. Morgans old car. I had taken it for myself, but it went missing, and Carter klepped it. Had someone get eyes on him driving it around.” Richard sounded pretty pissed at this.

Wait. Was this entire meeting because a street gang politics?

“You expect a gig like that to be on our radar? C’mon.” Hiromi almost mocked as went from relaxing back to glaring and sitting forward. “Why would we care?”

“Because. Your choom, Motoko, you wanted protection. Being able to leave your stuff in the basement and trust none of us mess with it? I can’t be disrespected like this and still be the leader.” He says just as blunt. “Unless I do something and soon, the gang will splinter even more, and then any deal you have with me, won’t matter much to whoever takes over the Straight Lane Apartments after.”

“Sounds like blackmail.” Hiromi said not smiling which was rare for the girl.

“Call it whatever you want, but I’m being serious. That’s what will happen if something doesn’t change.”

“Why not go after it yourself? You have weapons, people.” Hiromi pointed out sounding annoyed at the situation, probably more than I was.

“Carter went and joined another gang.” He said with a scowl. “I don’t exactly want to piss of the Claws.” Richard said scowling and I was surprised to hear that.

“No way this Carter guy managed to get into the TC in any respects in such a short time.” Hiromi argued, being a former TC wannabe Hiromi understand exactly how difficult it was to actually join the TC.“Unless he showed up with high end weapons, an expensive car, and a group all willing to follow him.” Richard said, pointing out that Hiromi was wrong.

“How many weapons did he steal from you?” I asked interrupting for the first time.

“A crate. Some of the good stuff.” Richard said, scowling and looking away, unable to meet our face.

Must be pretty embarrassing to have your gang splinter and get a bunch of stuff stolen.

“Then what do you think we can do about it. I’m not planning on picking a fight with the TC either.” Hiromi offered, and Richard scowled.

“I don’t know! But that’s what’s going to happen, and since you went to so much effort to protect your stuff in the basement, I figured you should at least be told. Maybe you could do something about it.”

Hiromi sighed looking towards me and her eyes went gold as she called me.

*What do you think?*

*I think that we either need to find a new place to set up my Netrunning gear, or we need to get this gonk his car back.*

*From the TC? They won’t like that.*

*Well we have a few options I guess… We could just try talking to this Carter, or the TC he is with.*

*No way some street kid gives up a preem ride Motoko.*

*Then we could always just klep it.*

*That could lead to the TC getting pissed with us, if Carter did impress enough to get in, then stealing his ride would be like stealing from the TC.*

*Sounds like we need info. We should go talk to Carter and his boss. Figure out what the situation is.* I offered and Hiromi nodded.

“Richard, we will look into it, but no promises, but if we do return ‘your’ car, let’s talk about payment. And we don’t come cheap.” Hiromi said with a sinister smile.

Hiromi was going to leave this kid destitute.