Driving my newly painted black Quadra Type-66 was nice. The fact the city was almost shockingly quiet meant I couldn’t enjoy it.

I had already made a few texts. Hiromi was bunkering down with her parents. Apparently school was canceled until the state of emergency was over.

Ichi said he would be working for Shobo, running supplies. He had even asked if I wanted to join him.

I hadn’t answered back yet.

Because Jun…

Normally with something like this I would have settled into the apartment and just ignored it. As bad as it was going to be, I wasn’t a member of the Tyger Claws. I wasn’t a member of the Maelstrom. Their gang war had very little to do with me directly.

But Jun would be out there. Somewhere. Alone. Probably throwing himself into murdering Maelstrom.

The temptation to join with Ichi, to maybe run into Jun on Ichi’s resupply runs…

It was tempting.

So as I drove home I made a call. The same call I made every day, in hopes I would get an answer.

Like always the call wasn’t answered.

Fine. I would just have to join Ichi and run around the city in the middle of a gang war to find my idiot brother! That would show him!

I was practically gnashing my teeth as I pulled into the parking garage. Taking up my space… Jun’s space. No, what should be our space, but wasn’t.

Stupid Jun!

I stomped into the apartment suiting up in my new Edgerunner outfit. Every bit the Motoko Kusanagi that I wanted to be. I loaded up, grabbing what weapons I thought I would need. I loaded up the Tactician I had grabbed from the kids so long ago, really annoyed that I had passed on the Satara that I had let Ichi have. I could have used a Tech Shotgun right now.

Stupid Maelstrom. Stupid metal faces.

I was just about to give Ichi a call to let him know I was on my way when someone called me.

*Ringing*

I blinked, almost dropping my Tactician.

*Jun!*

*Motoko.*

Jun had actually called me!

*Jun! Where have you been! What have you been doing!? Are you okay? I have a car now! If you need me to pick you up just tell me! Do you need rescuing?! Tell me what Strom I have to go flatline and I’ll be there in a few minutes!* I rambled a bit at him.

*Motoko. Enough. I want you to stay home tonight. Lock the door. Don’t leave until I tell you.*

*Wha, Jun! I know it’s going to be crazy tonight, but I’m worried about you! I haven’t heard from you in… Forever!*

*I’ve been busy Motoko. Now promise me you will stay home.*

*No! Not unless you promise me you will actually come home! Jun! Yo-*

*Motoko! I don’t have time to baby you! Get in the apartment and don’t leave! Do as I say!* He yelled, although the audio wasn’t actually verbal so it couldn’t really get that loud.

But I got it loud and clear. Jun just snapped at me.

*Jun?*

*Do it Motoko. I have to go.*

*Wait! Jun!* I called out but the call was over.

“What the fuck.” I cursed as I looked around my brain seemingly unable to process for a moment. The desire to slam a phone on the hook filled me, but was unfortunately impossible. Stupid future where was a century old landline when you need one?

I finally heard from Jun only for him to basically tell me to stay out of it? Well obviously I didn’t want to get involved in this shit, but Jun was being stupid!

I picked up my shotgun glaring at the Tactician for a moment before breathing out a breath letting the frustration go with it.

Jun was still alive. Obviously he wanted me to be safe… I just wanted him to be safe too.

I put the shotgun on the dining room table. Having to push aside all the junk I had been tinkering with.

Fine. I would stay home tonight. For now. But I would be keeping an ear to the ground just in case.

*Ringing*

*Hey Ichi, I can’t go tonight. Jun wants me to stay home, but do me a favor. Send me some updates throughout the night. If you need help, or something crazy starts happening let me know?*

*... Yeah. Alright. I’ll call you if we need an extra gun. Stay safe Motoko. Everyone is saying it’s gonna get crazy for a while.*

*You too Ichi. You’ll need it more than me tonight.*

—---

Angry tinkering followed. I took apart my Carnage and with the knowledge I had from Gun Nut, and a lot of extra scrap now lying around the house…

Okay so maybe it was a good thing Jun wasn’t home.

I basically started fixing the parts on the gun that often had problems. The cocking handle got stuck because they put a plastic doohickey inside a shotgun designed to be as unsmooth as possible.

So I took it out and basically made my own. Using a bit of scrap metal and a hand held cutting torch that was in the tool box I cut out a new part. So I had to fabricate a copy of the doohickey that kept the shotguns pump handle from just falling out of alignment and letting you actually pump the shotgun.

After a few minutes of struggling to get it right, I managed to replace the plastic piece.

With that while pumping the shotgun still felt like I was fighting an angry squirrel, but it would keep working for a lot longer without just breaking down. As the plastic had a tendency to just shatter with the forces the Carnage put itself under.

Technical Attribute XP had been flowing in, as I basically just went to a weak point in the carnage and just… Fixed it. My anger crafting actually worked out as when I finished installing the part I got the alert.

*Technical Attribute Leveled up!*

I blinked as I took in the new information. I looked at the toolbox. The toolbox that had tools that I hadn’t used because I had no idea what they were.

Still didn't know what all of them were, but I knew a little more now. Enough to know that I had a better solution than what I had just done.

Angry repair shop lady’s toolbox had been my source of fixing stuff so far, but I realized she really hadn’t screwed me over as much as I had thought.

Well I didn’t know the price of the tools yet, but I knew how useful some of them were. One was literally a miniature 3d printer of sorts.

Except it could print metal.

Put something that wasn’t absolute top of the line metals into the hopper, it would break down the metal and then print out whatever design you needed…

That had potential!

I picked up the device that was about as big as a loaf of bread and settled it flat onto the table.

Pulling out my connector port and hooked it in, and within a few moments thanks to my Kiroshi I was able to basically upload a schematic of the doohickey I needed. I didn’t have to think about dimensions, or tolerances. As the Kiroshi’s scan of the plastic version handled almost all of that, with a bit of my own knowledge adjusting it, until I had the schematic of the doohickey I needed.

I put in a bit of steel into the hopper, and watched as the device quickly began producing the part I needed.

Future tech!

I smiled as I already got another crafting alert.

Doing something new earned a faster level up I remembered. I grinned before an explosion outside dimmed my happiness.

That wasn’t the first explosion of the night.

Nor would it be the last. I stood and peeked out the guard blinds. I couldn't see the source of the explosion, too far away, but the noise didn’t end. Gunshots. Explosions. I had turned off the news when the reports started coming in.

I was tempted. An urge was there to just head out into the night. There was a lot of XP I could gain out there. Stopping crimes. Killing borgs.

But I didn’t.

I was sneaky, but it was one thing to sneak through a den of sleepy scavs, and another to sneak up on a group ready and looking for a fight. So I stayed inside, and had to deal with the fact that I decided not to head out.

If I was a hero I would go out. To save even a few people.

If I was a villain, I would go out. To kill and get more loot and power.

But I wasn’t either of those things. I had walked past plenty of homeless people in the city before. I hadn’t stopped to save them.

I had killed people, but I like to believe I had done it for more than just the XP. More than just my own personal benefit. I had killed on a job, or because I wanted to stop the scavs.

So I wasn’t a hero or a villain. I was Motoko, and Motoko would listen to Jun. At least for tonight.

But tomorrow? Well. That was a whole other day, and Jun had better be prepared.

—--

The news chattered away as I continued to tinker. Crafting had been leveling fast as I messed with my equipment. My Unity was given a going over and I even replaced some of the older parts. It had been a weapon Jun had got for me more for personal protection than for running through Scav dens.

So I did some work on it, messed with the trigger, replaced the spring, even took a few minutes to design an extended magazine and make one.

I was no longer limited to twelve rounds! I now had… Fifteen! Whoo!

I giggled at my own pleasure at such a minor improvement overall, but it did give me a nice alert.

*100 Crafting XP Gained.*

So that was nice. But while I was cozy in my apartment the city was burning. Often literally.

The news had a few reports about the Pacifica thing, and while it was obviously heavily propagandized there was a hint that all the positive reports were bullshit. Considering the cordon was still active.

So I waited. I did get messages from Ichi through the night. He was nice enough to give me little updates. Thankfully all he was really doing was transporting ammunition and staying away from the bad war zones. So he and Malcolm were tired but fine.

Hiromi had taken to sending me paragraph length texts about how bored she was.

So she was fine.

Nothing yet from Jun.

So I just continued to tinker. I had plenty of parts right now. Lot’s of scrap to mess with, so I just went to work. I did some adjustment on my weapons sights, making sure they were more accurate. Repaired damaged parts, and cleaned all my weapons.

Since I had so many now, and they were all previously owned by scavs, or Raffen some were quite messy.

And so I spent the day. Working with my hands and blocking out the world. Enjoying the feeling of bringing life back to my equipment.

*Crafting skill level up!*

The alert came mid afternoon, and I sighed, Crafting 3 meant I was once more at my Tech Attributes cap.

Once again I was stuck trying to level Tech rather than the skill.

At least the surge of new information meant I had plenty of new things to tinker with. One of the laptops that I had found had an issue I now knew the solution for, and I was going to do that first.

Just as I was soldering a new power line for the laptop, having realized the issue was the power source wasn’t connecting right anymore the door opened.

I instantly reached for a gun, my Carnage was closest as I went to grab it only to get tangled in the laptop and end up overbalanced, I turned it into a tumble where I landed on my back with the Carnage pointed at the door.

“Motoko.”

“Jun-Nii.” I replied to his greeting as I lowered the shotgun. “Welcome home.” I said unable to get my tongue to say anything else.

Jun. Jun hadn’t taken my advice to stop chipping in new chrome.

He nodded almost… Coldly. As he entered the apartment. Looking around at my mess of guns and parts, and other equipment.

But I was staring at all the new pieces.

His arms I had seen before. His legs were new, he was wearing pants, but they hung lower on his hips showing the chrome peeking up from his legs.

His eyes were different.

He definitely had subdermal armor as well. A large chunk of his stomach was now fake. A black carbon fiber look to his new ‘abs’ that meant they were definitely chipped in.

He carried a new Katana on his hip. That wasn’t our Otou-sans Katana. It was the more military style that Arasaka produced.

I thought it looked cool, but it wasn’t our family's weapon. The weapon Jun had carried with him religiously.

“Jun.”“Motoko. You’ve made a mess. Clean it up.”

“Well sorry since I was the only one living here, I made it my own!” I snapped at him before stopping and taking a breath. “Jun what did you do to yourself? That’s way too much chrome that fast! You’re gonna lose your mind!”

“I don’t need your opinion Motoko! I didn’t ask for it either. I’m here because you were going to do something stupid. Threatening to go after the Maelstrom with everything going on! Are you stupid?” He snapped at me, that coldness turning into Jun’s normal hot headedness.

“Don’t tell me about stupid Jun. How much chrome have you chipped in the last month? How many drugs do they have you on? Any? Was that chrome even good stuff, or just garbage you took from the Strom?”

“I said I don’t need your opinion!” He snapped, “‘m doing what I have to!” He snapped at me back.

But I wasn’t going to let this go.

“Jun! You don’t have to do this! Stop it! Stay home. Get your bearings again. Get used to your chrome-”

“Enough!” He roared and punched out. I could tell it wasn’t heading for me, so I didn’t move but Jun's armored fist smashed into the kitchen divider wall blowing a hole right through it. “You never listen! I’m not going to baby you forever Motoko! Grow up! Learn to take care of yourself for once!”

I flinched back at that. For the first time he actually said something that actually hurt me.

Sure. I had relied on Jun to take care of me. I mean he was one paying for the apartment. Rent, food, clothes. Anything I needed he took care of.

And now he was throwing that into my face.

“I know! I know I rely on you! I’m trying to move past that, but I still want you in my life! I don’t want to see you dead!”

Jun didn’t say anything. He was sort of staring past me, at the hole in the wall and then down at his shaking hands.

“Jun. You’ve pushed too far. Too hard. Why don’t you sit down, we can… Talk this out. Just for a little while. Okay?”

It took a moment but as I slowly reached out for his hand that he was staring at he jerked away from me. “Stop trying to get in my way. I have to do this.”

“What is ‘this’? What is it that you have to do that you’ll tear yourself apart to do it?”

“I’ll kill them Motoko, all of them. I won’t stop until they are all dead. Nothing can get in my way. Not even you.” He pointed at me then. “Stay out of it. Stop bothering me!” He hissed, and it sounded more like an older brother telling his little sister to stop bothering him and his friends.

That wasn’t what was happening though. This was Jun trying to cut out all of his connections.

“No.” I tell his back as he moves to walk out of the apartment only to stop. “I won’t stop trying to reach you. To try and make you stop. This isn’t you Jun, this doesn’t have to be you!”

His fists clenched as he turned on me. “You always get in the way!”

“Good! I will always get in the way of you trying to kill yourself! You think you are doing this for your friend? Or to avenge them? You aren’t. This is suicide! Suicide by Maelstrom! I won’t sit here and let you die!”

“I won’t die. Not before I kill them.” He answered and I could tell he was actually trying to sound cool.

“Fuckin’ gonk, what kind of edgelord bullshit is that!?” I screamed at him but he didn’t stop and left the apartment. I chased after him. No way was I letting this end here.

He was fast though. Stupid cyber legged idiot. I caught him outside as he climbed onto his bike.

“Jun!”

“Goodbye Motoko.” He said before the engine of his bike started up, and even as I chased after trying to leap onto his bike so he couldn’t escape he was gone. Driving down the road. Away from me.

“IDIOT!” I screamed as I did my best to chase after him, but as I hit the road I had to leap back onto the sidewalk to dodge a van that was speeding down the street.

By the time I turned back to Jun he was gone.

“Fuck.”

—--

I was back upstairs not long after. Loading everything I would need.

Why the hell would I let Jun race off into the sunset knowing he is going to suicide by Maelstrom Borg? It wasn’t going to be easy tracking him down, but I had wheels and I could follow the gunshots. I would keep hitting every firefight between Tyger Claws and Strom until I found him.

Even if I had to murder every Strom in the city first…

Something about that twigged at my mind, something about that thought was hypocritical, but I shook it away. Save idiot Jun first.

I cocked my Carnage, the action much smoother than it had been before I went to work on it. Loaded and ready I put it to the side, already I had a bag full of weapons and gear I was going to bring with me.

And a lot of ammo.

I shouldered the large bag now full of weapons, I had found hidden away in my closet and after removing the weird Tyger Claw swag I had a good enough gun bag.

Then I took it downstairs across the street and into the parking garage.

I loaded it all up in the passenger seat of my ride, “Alright Motoko. Go get suited up and let’s rescue Jun.” I whispered to myself patting my casual clothes clear of the dust and grime they had accumulated from all my tinkering.

I took two steps to do that when I bonked my head. “Idiot.” I forgot the meds! I had already been low after my desert adventure and I had bought some more in the following days. But I needed to load up more than just the emergency inhaler that was in my strap on pockets.

I was about to go on a roaring rampage of revenge! Err. I mean Justice! A rampage of justice!

Yeah!

I was definitely going to get hurt hunting Jun and killing Strom.

I would need to load that up first, then suit up. I walked out of the garage considering if there was anything else I wanted to bring along. I already had most of my stuff stuffed into my car. So I was probably just overthinking it.

As I moved to cross the street I felt it. A warning sign. Danger sense. Someone was about to spot me?

I looked around but it wasn’t until I looked back towards the road I realized what danger I was in.

Maelstrom. A large Maelstrom truck roared down the street along with two bikers as they raced down. I backed up but realized instantly that I was in trouble.

They were looking at me. They were coming for me.

I drew my Unity, the only weapon I had on hand, and started firing. Four rounds into the trucks driver side window didn’t get me anything, but the bikers were more affected as I watched rounds bounce off their body, but one went through one of the bikers leg in a burst of blood.

He didn’t lose control but he definitely slowed down after that.

Then the other biker was on me. A pipe in his hand swung from his motorcycle, I leapt to the side rolling away from him as his tires squealed as he turned.

This was bad. I turned and ran back towards the garage. They would catch up if I went through the entrance. So I looked up.

Parkour guided me, clambering up an advertisement then leaping to the second floor of the building, starting to climb up when a roar echoed out, the concrete above it exploding sending shrapnel into my face.

And I was falling. I crashed into the concrete below, just managing to roll as I hit the ground.

Did Cat-like just save my life? I think it did. I love Cat-like. Cat-like is love.

I came back up ready to fight my hand reaching for a weapon only for nothing to be there.

Not because of a lack of weapons. My Unity was back in my holster. I could feel it.

But because of a lack of hand.

My hand was gone.

Where was my hand? There was nothing but bloody gristle and… Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. I felt Cool rush through me, icing my veins and calming my freakout. My hand! I needed that. I did all my stuff with my hand! Coolness flushed even that thought away. Calming and centering me.

But it still took me a moment.

I was so thrown for that moment, that I slowed just enough that the biker caught me. I raised my hands… My arms. Just in time blocking the pipe with my forearm, and giving me a nasty crunch that sent a shock of pain up my arms as I crashed and rolled across the cement again.

Before I could get up I was pinned. Bloody leg borg grabbed my hair and smashed me into the concrete.

Ow.

Unfortunately for him. I still had a hand! Just the one, but it was enough!

He raised me up and I slipped my knife below his armpit. I was right. He might have subdermal armor, but he didn’t have it everywhere.

He didn’t have the armor covering his armpit. Which was really stupid. That is a nasty place to get stabbed. I twisted and pulled a jet of white borg blood shooting out as I did. He immediately howled and started bashing my face into the concrete.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

I could feel myself blacking out as he continued to batter me for a moment before he suddenly grew weak and fell over.

*1000 XP Gained.*

Ah good. He died.

I coughed a bit, blood splattering the concrete as I tried to push myself up, only to find out it really hurts when you push a bloody stump into the ground. It knocked the wind out of me for a moment even through Cold Blood, as I fell back down.

“Damn. She got Sixstroke. Fuckin more dangerous than I thought, this her?”

“Yeah definitely the Oni’s family. Sister I think. I saw them together this morning while I was tailing the Oni.”

“Well stop her from bleeding out and load her up. Don’t want the claws to show up do we?”

“You got it.” He chuckled as I felt hands hold me down, and a nasty piece of cloth was wrapped around my forearm.

“Wait. Hold her down. I don’t want any more trouble.” The voice called back and a moment later I felt like a full grown borg was pressing down on me holding me still as I moaned a bit out of my battered face.

Then something flashed.

Oh.

I guess I will need a hand from now on. Because I was out of them.