Ghost in the City: Early chapter 228

I got home and flopped on the couch. That netdive had taken a lot out of me, and I honestly felt ready for a nap, but first.

I looked at my stat screen.

During the dive I’d destroyed so many Daemons I’d actually hit a level up.

Level up achieved!

One Stat Point Gained.

One Skill Point Gained.

Heh. It made me kick my feet a bit as I stretched out on my stomach on the couch. 

Levels levels levels!

And it was time to put the point into my stats as well, so what did I want to level?

Intelligence again? Very tempting. 16 in my netrunning stats sounded pretty strong, but…

It was also a lot already. Maxing out a stat probably was a smart thing. If I could get my Netrunning maxed out, I’d be… Scary.

But… Was that what I wanted? Body, and Reflex were both maxed out, and ready for a level up… Ugh I really needed some Cyberware to add some Cyberization to Cool. Otherwise I’d pick that in a heartbeat. Stealth was still my favorite thing.

So… What do I choose? Try to maximize Netrunning? But with Sasha’s thing done, I was free to do my own thing for a while…

Or I could max Netrunning to try and get more Daemon hunting grounds for more XP.

Blegh. I hate making decisions!

I perked up as the door opened and I pushed myself up looking over the back of the couch as Jun walked in.

“Hey Jun.”

“Motoko.” He greeted as he dropped off his stuff, his jacket thrown at me, and I reacted, rolling forward and dodging it.

“You were supposed to grab it.” He grumbled at me.

“No I wasn’t, you were trying to cover me with your stinky jacket.”

“It’s not stinky!” He snapped instantly, sounding actually offended.

“Stinky Jun~”

“Oh you're in that sort of mood.” He grumbled, as he hit the fridge and pulled a beer out and then walked over to flop on the couch.

“What kind of mood? I’m not in a mood!” I hissed at him, my fingers itching to start poking him for daring to say I was in a mood!

“That kind.” He pointed out which was really offensive! As he fended off my fingers. “Not right now Motoko. I’m tired.” He groaned as he put his feet up on the living room table and I did stop but not because he asked or anything! He just looked done.

His beer ran up and rested against his forehead for a second.

“Something going on?”

“Nothing crazy. Just had to run around a lot. Fujimura is running us all a little ragged… It’s nothing you have to worry about. I see that look.”

“Is it some gonk klepping shit again? I can kill them.”

“Heh. Not this time. We’re getting close to the end of the year, so the numbers for everything are being double checked.”

I blinked. I guess that made sense?

“What is he worried about Taxes?”

“Taxes?” Jun asked almost tasting the world as if he couldn’t quite figure it out. “Where do you get these things? No, the end of the year is when the bosses meet up and hold a big party. All the numbers everyone ran through the year get brought up.”

“Ah. Christmas Bonuses.” I whispered, and Jun sent me another funny look before chuckling. 

“I guess you could call it that. Or Christmas beheadings… You know?”

“Does that happen?”

“Not unless people haven’t been reporting things. Which is why I’m double checking all the little side work that Fujimura runs.”

“Makes sense I guess.” I whispered, and then since Jun was relaxing.

“What do you think is the most important? Being Strong, being quick, or being smar-” I of course didn’t get to finish my question as Jun simply brought up his arm at the first question and flexed showing off his stupid fake muscles.

Which… I guess I should have expected that.

I rolled my eyes and instead turned towards the TV as he flipped the channel on.

“Ugh I hate this show.” I whined, but Jun just scoffed at me. 

“Then go somewhere else.”

“I was here first!”

“I’m older, so I was here first.”

“Fuck off!” I hissed, sticking a heel right into his side as he dared say that shit to me.

He winced and soon he was grabbing at my foot as we dueled.

Him picking me up and throwing me across the room was totally uncalled for.

—---

“So you think that’s good for the set list?” I asked the band. 

Klein, Alice, and Jared all considered what I had said. 

“Are you sure we should do Everlong? Wouldn’t the other song, I Won’t be Ignored, fit better?”

“It’s called Faint. Are you sure?” I looked over the list. Hiromi and Alice of course had been working on the actual gig, and we’d gotten a gig from a rock bar. Not Red Dirt, but another of the bars that played that sort of music. A bigger club as well.

“I think it fits better. Everlong is more…” Alice started.

“It’s a rock song.” Klein called out spinning his drumsticks.

“It’s a love song.” Jared argued.

“It’s a breakup song!” I argued and Alice scoffed just laughing.

“Right. Anyway, while this isn’t the Totentanz, they’re looking for something harder. Heathens is already going to be a bit more low key.”

“Fine. We’ll cut Everlong for the set, and… Yeah we can do Faint. You got the backup vocals?”

“Yeah I got it.” Alice confirmed. She’d practiced Mike’s part of the song, while I would take the incredible burden of trying to bring Chesters sound back to life.

“Alright. We’ll add it in.” I confirmed, the set list was easy enough, no great story arc this time, which was a bit disappointing, but if we ever did an album I could set the songs up to tell a story there.

Either way. Faint… Yeah alright. Smells Like Teen Spirit, Rise, Heathens, This Fffire, and The Pretender, then Faint. Maybe Let You Down? Depending on how much the audience was into it. Similar to the normal set, but adding in the new music… Yeah that would work for now.

We hadn’t practiced No One Knows, enough to my satisfaction so that would have to wait. 

And… Maybe I’ll do Everlong at the end, if an encore is called for, cause I really did want to play it.

“Everyone satisfied?”

“I’m good.” Jared said, tapping his bass. “I know you’re wanting shit to be perfect Motoko, but I just want to get back up on stage.”

“I feel that!” Klein called out, smacking his sticks together. “We got this. Not our first gig. We’ll pull through.”

I nodded not wanting to admit I had more hesitation than they seemed to. But I looked at Alice, and she was in it. There was no doubt in my mind she wanted this.

Which did reassure me a little. “Alright, in that case. Let’s play through the set. Fair?”

“Yeah.”

All of us found a spot, and the sound of music began. The storage unit wasn’t the best place ever, but no one was complaining about the noise, and so we played through the night.

—--

“I swear it’s taunting me.” I grumbled, looking at the little stat in my character sheet. I just needed to pick. Just pick one. It was fine. I’d level all of them eventually. Just pick one.

I was feeling a little antsy the next morning. We’d practiced all night until the others had needed to stop and actually sleep. The gig was tonight.

And yet, despite that, the anxiety was seeping into other things. I should just pick an option. Live with it, and move on, but the point… 

I should just go full Cold Blood, let everything become crystal clear, but I didn’t want to live my life like that. 

Sometimes being anxious about a choice was okay, and I shouldn’t just control my emotions like that to dodge it.

Still sucked though.

Hiromi was at school, she wouldn’t get off until later, and Ichi and Malcolm were doing guy things today. 

Fairly certain they were at Lizzies, but I wasn’t going to out them to Hiromi.

So I was just lonely today…

Huh.

Fine, instead of getting stuck in my head about this, I should go out and do something.

I pulled myself off the couch and grabbed my shoes. I had no idea where I was going, but I was going somewhere…

Right?

I took the elevator down, and stepped out into the cool December air. It was still California so it wasn’t really getting cold, cold, but it was cooler than it was.

To think, it had been almost a year since I woke up in Night City.

I headed for the garage, deciding to get on my bike. It was perfect motorcycle weather right now. 

My Kusanagi rumbled to life, and I delighted in revving her up a bit as I pulled out of the garage and onto the street. Let’s see… Traffic wasn’t super good, so there wasn’t going to be any real speeding around unless I started really breaking traffic laws, and that wasn’t worth it.

I ended up stuck in traffic rather quickly staring at the red light far in front wishing it would just turn red.

“Resist hacking the city traffic. Resist Motoko. You shouldn’t do that.” I whispered to myself, and finally the light went green. I waited, and waited, and traffic barely started moving when the light turned yellow.

“Resist shooting the traffic lights. Resist Motoko. You shouldn’t do that.”

—--

“Hmph! You get fat?”

“It’s muscle.”

“Yes of course. Fatty.” The old woman hissed at me poking at my sides and I rolled my eyes, she was teasing, but still.

“Can you do it?”

“Me? Of course! I can make the clothes fit any gorilla.”

I sent a very firm glare at the old lady and her scowl shifted into a smirk that I couldn’t help but mimic. 

“Thanks Granny.”

“I am not that old!”

“Forgetting your own age again? That Dementia is hitting you harder and harder every time we meet.”

“Little brat!” She tsked at me, but nodded. “I’ll start a new set for your new dimensions. No more of that Animal slop if you get any bigger no leotard in the world will fit you!”

“I’m not taking drugs! I’ve been working out!”

“Hmm, perhaps the Gorilla DNA?”

“What’s got your mood all shitty today?” I asked her, and she stilled for a second. 

“Ah, forgive me. I have been irritated.”

“Nah it’s fine. You’re just teasing… Anything you need help with?”

“No. No child, nothing anyone can do. It is no matter. My grandsons are fools. Nothing anyone can do now. You’ll leave this to me, and I’ll get you sorted out. Your pants need to be adjusted as well. That I will not help you with.”

“Yeah I know a place where I can buy some pants. I guess I’ll do that now.”

“Hmph!”

I tossed the eddies over and left, the old lady was the teasing type. Apparently after I’d forgiven her for using shit armor weave at first, she’d decided I was one step from family and was like that every time I walked in.

—--

I flopped on the couch bags of new jeans and other things that would fit better dropped on the bed.

“Okay. No more shopping.” I decided. I had to go to a few stores to get everything updated.

Oh well.

I sat back up and considered what I should do for the rest of the day. We had a gig later. Back on stage…

Ugh. I rolled over and pushed my face into my blankets. I didn’t want to think about that right now. 

Stats.

Okay fine make a choice Motoko. I was tempted to add one into reflex because moving fast was really useful, but… Was getting another point in Blades something I needed right now?

If I dumped another point into Intelligence, I could raise everything to 16 with the skill points I had right now…

Making choices was hard.

I closed my eyes and clicked.

Opening them.

Intelligence 16 (20) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 10. 

-Breach Protocol 14

-Quick Hacks 12

-Programming 15 

Fine. It was fine. Sure Intelligence was lame, but hacking was fun, and it was the best way to get more XP currently.

I decided to throw a point into Breach Protocol too. 

Breach Protocol 15

1 Perk Point Gained.

I weathered the storm of new information for a while. And now I had another choice to make. What sort of perk did I want for Breach? I had stealth, and I had the ability to break down most barriers… I’d just had a lot of time online, so I should have a sense of what I needed.

I thought back to the three Netrunners I’d just watched breach into a heavy data fortress.

Kiwi, Lucy, and Sasha all breached a little differently. 

But Kiwi and Lucy had taught me something interesting. Working together on the same goal could create some synergy.

Sasha preferred delineated roles. One for breaching, one for wiping out Daemons, but Lucy and Kiwi shared roles, doing both, which…

Was probably the normal way a netrunner would operate. 

No one would fully trust someone else to protect their back unless you were like Sasha, or me.

So… I looked through the perk list and found it. 

Team Breach. Know how to work in a team of netrunners to break through even the strongest firewalls.

I wasn’t going to be like Sasha, and I wasn’t going to be like Kiwi and Lucy.

Teamwork was a power that none of them really tried to work with. I hummed as the perk knowledge flowed through me. How to work together with other runners while breaching systems. The know how filled me, when and how to strike a system to let another runner maximize their ability, and in turn how to guide other runners to take up system resources to give you an advantage. 

It wasn’t as strong as Strong Breach, or as difficult to deal with as Ghost Touch. 

But, this was the perk of someone that knew how useful team work could be. Sasha owed me one, and next time I had to break a data fortress I knew who to call on, and the two of us would be on another level.

Especially once I finished leveling even more!

—-

Finding a spot I parked the Quadra, it was nearly time for the gig. The place was called the Electric Orgasm… Cute. But whatever. It was a club, and I was here to play. 

I stepped out noticing the crowds gathered around, but I ignored them. Hopefully no one would be gonk brained enough to go after my Quadra, again.

I took a moment to grab my guitar and some of the easier to carry stuff as I headed towards the door. There was already a line forming, and I could hear music from inside the open door.

We weren’t the first act after all.

“Hold up there.” The Bouncer called out hand raised and looked me over through a pair of dark sunglasses. 

“I’m playing tonight. Stand Alone Complex.” I told him while I watched him scan me down. He took a second and then nodded. 

“Go on in.”

“Thanks.” I moved past him and entered into a blistering array of noise. 

There was a stage immediately to my right down a set of steps. Laser lights shooting down at it, and the band up there already was a bit…

Yeah. Loud would be putting it mildly.

I circled around heading to the bar and smiled a bit in relief as I noticed a familiar face. 

“Yo Klein.”

“Oh! Motoko!” He raised a drink up at me. “Got here early huh? Come to enjoy the free drinks for entertainers?” He teased laughing as I sent him a sour look.

“Yeah no.” I brought my guitar in close and took the seat next to him. Glancing over at his Wild Hair, flashing colors, and very bright outfit. Not his usual jeans and a T-shirt. No he was wearing an expensive Holo Jacket, flashing some demonic looking thing on the back, he had lights running down his arms from a series of bracelets that all glowed and strobed. 

“Like em?”

“Eh.”

“Hah! They help a bit. Hard to see the drummer behind everything, but add some lights and you give the peeps a light show while you sit there.” He explained and I nodded along. Made sense to me. I looked down at my own clothes, and how bland I looked in comparison…

Eh. That wasn’t me. 

“Jared said he’d be running a little late, but Alice should be here soon. Unless she runs off to grab him.” He added after taking another drink and I just nodded pleased at that. 

We had to wait for the other band to leave, but I was starting to get that antsy feeling. Excitement, and fear all coiled into one. 

“Well now. That’s a face I've been wanting to meet.” I looked away from Klein, and into the aviators, of a man I hadn’t yet had a chance to meet yet.

“Dino Dinovic.” I greeted the Fixer. City Centers very own boss of bosses. 

“Motoko Kusanagi.” He returned smirking, the rocker jacket he wore gave him the look of someone just here to rock out, but this guy was serious. As powerful in some ways as Wakako. “You know I’ve heard a lot about you. About this scary kid making a name for herself.”

“Thanks. I’ve heard of you too.” I replied, and he smirked at that.

“Only good things I hope.”

“Something like that.” I honestly didn’t know much about him. Just that he was ‘the’ fixer of City Central, and to control the center of the city meant he was serious biz.

“Good. When I heard you were going to be playing I had to be here. Looking forward to you play, and more importantly. Looking forward to talking with you after. There could be a little work that someone like you could handle, been wanting to touch base, maybe add you to my payroll.”

“I’ll hear you out but no promises.”

“Hey, that's good enough for me. Oh also, little tip?” He looked down the bar for a second, just a flash of his eyes. “Don’t look, but you may have some real producer types here tonight. The band after you has been getting some attention. Maybe you can steal some for yourself if you play well.”

“Eh.” I shrugged. “I play because I like it, not to get famous…”

“Speak for yourself.” Klein offered smirking into his drink.

“Hey! That’s how it should be! Rockerboys should go wild!” Dino exclaimed, laughing. “Keep shooting up kid. Maybe you’ll be the next big thing.”

“Thanks Dino.” I decided to say instead of repeating I wasn’t that interested.

This was… I don’t know anymore, but I couldn’t deny that I did like getting up on stage.

I felt my fingers tap at the counter. I’d have to give my all tonight, not because I wanted to be famous or cared about a producer.

I just wanted to play the songs I liked.

----

A/N Just a heads up. There might be another skip next week. I'm not going to be at home for the next few days. I'll try to get a chapter written up on my laptop, but we'll see.