Meditating in the corner was… weird. Akari had walked me through a few steps and then zoned out on her own. But I wasn’t the type to meditate while sitting in a yoga pose.

So I didn’t bother trying. Instead I slowly shifted my arms. Feeling the differences as I waved them around quietly. Just… Processing. It was funny, I had so much knowledge in my head from such a vast array of topics, yet none of them could really help me with this. I had tried some of the martial arts I had gained from Street Brawler, and it helped. But it wasn’t a panacea.

Only time could truly help.

Well that or more stat points. I had a bet that Adaptation would help quite a bit. But that was for the future. I still needed to grow at least comfortable enough that I was able to gain those points. My accuracy was still off, my balance, everything.

It might seem odd, but it was true. While training my quickdraw the night before I realized that slightly different length arms. Fingers that were longer but stronger, and the phantom limb, meant my gun was ending up pointed in the wrong spot. I was forcing myself to untrain habits I had developed.

So here I was. Faking meditation as I ran through some of the Taichi kata with my arms. Just letting myself adapt.

Hopefully.

Sitting here doing nothing did have some benefits though.

Sensei wasn’t just helping Akari, and I.

While apparently most of the Dojo’s students were sent away, either too busy with the war, or simply not trusted enough to know that the dojo was in use. That didn’t mean there weren't others.

I got to watch Borgs fight each other.

The Kamikaze group were more than the dozen borgs, I had seen so far. As they came in, usually in small groups I got to watch them relax around the dojo. Spar, or in some cases sit by themselves as they glared or zoned out.

Cyberpsycho. Almost all of them had some of the symptoms. Irritability. Blankness. Some twitched or shook.

It was interesting to see. I could see some of the same traits that Jun had picked up. But at least he wasn’t as bad as most of them.

He also wasn’t nearly as chromed out as most of them were.

But that wasn’t what all of them did. Some would meet in the middle of the dojo floor and spar. Considering the amount of chrome involved, it was nothing like a fight between humans.

So I watched. I learned. I noticed the ones with internal weapons, or augments. I watched how they used them. When, and what tells they had.

That guy and his mantis blades. He would alway twist his wrist before the blades deployed. A twitch, or part of the mechanism?

That woman with the same blade legs as Akari. Seeing it from the side I could see the way she had to shift her balance forward. Too far forward. Her legs were powerful but had little surface friction to work with. So she was either fully charging forward, or forced to stand up practically straight to keep upright.

I guess that explains why Akari learned to fight on her hands.

But seeing it from the outside? It meant next time I had ideas of how to fight against that. Well… Mostly. Whenever a Sandevistan or some of the other speed enhancers came into play…

Fine.

When fighting Borgs rule 1. Never let them realize they were in a fight. Until I had a sandy in order to keep up, I just wouldn’t fight them. Couldn’t fight them. My Burya would still be with me, but if I was in a Maelstrom den killing borgs then the moment I fired game over I would have to run, or die.

So I would assassinate them. I nodded to myself. Decision made. Fall back on what I am good at. So I would need to go quiet. And be better at it. Problem was. A blade wasn’t always good enough against borgs but I wasn’t the only person with that same problem!

Now I needed more information. Lucky for me. I was literally in a place for it. I rose up and started looking for my former sparring partner.

I wasn’t the only person with that same problem!

“Hey Akari?” I asked, finally finding the woman that had left an hour into her meditation downstairs in the breakroom, chomping down on something from the vending machines.

“Huh? Kid. What do you want? I’m not here to play with you.” She muttered her voice still electronic as she continued eating.“You use blades right? Mantis, and your legs. How do you kill a really borged up gonk? I mean… How do you get your blades through their armor?”

“Stupid question kid.” She said and suddenly her arm shifted into a blade that looked as deadly as I am sure it was. “These babies are made for cutting chaff, Nano filament cuts right through, but sometimes it can get stuck. If I am against something a bit heavier? Gotta use the upgrade!” She laughed as her blade suddenly Started glowing. A harsh wave of heat washed over my face as the blades ignited to an incredibly high temperature. “Stab these babies in, and not even fuckers with thermal resistance Real Skinn will survive cooking from the inside. That’s how you kill borgs. Cut ‘em, and if you can’t? Boil ‘em!” She broke into a pretty scary laugh.

But I couldn’t help but nod along.

“Know where I could get a Thermal Katana?” I asked and her laugh changed to a different tone. She wasn’t laughing at her evil thoughts, she was just laughing at me.

Rood.

“I’m not your momma. Get it yourself.” She finally offered and waved me away.

Fine.

—--

I continued practicing while I waited for Jun to come back. Unfortunately every time Sensei would see me practicing he would throw a Shinai at me, or pull me into Tai-Chi, or whatever other exercise he was doing.

It was like he expected me to get into trouble the moment I was out of his sight or left unattended.

Which, okay teenager. Sure I could understand it, but it was still annoying.

That night Jun came home, and I couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief. “Jun-Nii!” I called out as I noticed him out of the corner of my eye coming in with a group of four.

All four of them had obviously seen a fight.

Luckily it looked like only minor injuries, and it was a bit of a shock to see Jun in full war gear.

He wore actual armor over his chest for one. Jun’s tendency to show off his chest had been something I had planned on teasing him about in the coming days.

But more interesting was the mask he wore.

I guess I know for sure now why they called him the Oni. He wore a japanese Oni mask across his jaw, giving him a sharp toothed grin.

At my call he slowed his walk and pulled down the mask showing his face and how tired he looked.

Seeing the rest of his little group all look to him, and none of them seemed happy I just waved him off to go with his little team.

We would talk after.

—--

“The Maelstrom broke as soon as we showed up. But they had enough heavy guns to keep us from doing much. We killed a few borgs and dropped them off at the rippers, and that’s about it.” He offered an hour or two later when he had finally come to find me. Apparently his little team had been doing an after action report of some kind.

Huh I guess Tyger Claws knew at least a bit about keeping everything running, even when dealing with a bunch of gangster kids.

“What about you Imouto. How was your day? How are the shoulders, any pain? Be honest.”

“Nope. No pain. I’m healing quick.” I told him as I bit into my XXL burrito and did my best to pretend it didn’t taste like refried sick.

I don’t know how Jun could seemingly happily take big bites of the meal.

“Good. Good. Just don’t go overboard.” He demanded pointing his burrito at me which I almost wanted to parry away.

What a powerful weapon.

“Anyway Jun-Nii. Where did you get your Katana? I’m looking to buy one. Probably a Thermal one.” I chirped at him suddenly, his chewing slows before he swallows his bite.

“No.”

I blew up my cheeks at him in offense at his instant denial.

“I’m not asking you to buy it or something. I have money! I just need to know where I can get one.”

“Still no. You are staying here. Safe.” He offered and I glared a bit.

“I’m not going to stay here forever. Another few days I’ll be back to fighting fit. Then I’m heading out.”

“No.”

“You can’t just say no!” I shrieked at him pointing my burrito.

“No.” He said doing exactly what I told him he couldn’t!

I huffed at him as I took another bite and chewed it for a moment. I didn’t want to fall into sibling spat here. Jun needed to understand that he couldn’t huddle me into an apartment to hide away.

“Jun. I know you want to protect me, but I’m not going to live in this place. Once I’m healed up… I’m going to get hunting down The Bastard. And the Spider Ripper. Once I have both of their skulls on sticks I might chill, but that’s the limit of my chill at the moment.”

“Chill?” He seemed to ask himself as he was working out what I mean. “Still no.”

I stood up slamming my hands on the table which actually made a very sharp noise throughout the breakroom. We glared at each other for a minute.

“I’m not asking. If you won’t help. I’ll do it without you. I’m sure Hiromi caaaaaan! Fuck!” I cursed my anger disappearing. I hadn’t messaged Hiromi! It had been days! I had been completely out of contact. I instantly called her, only to get a noise in my ear and a “This call could not be completed.” message.

“Idiot. This whole place has a jammer up to make sure the Maelstrom can’t track us here.” Jun cut in my rising panic as my yellow eyes zipped to him. “Hiromi can wait. Unt- Dammit Motoko! Stop!” he rose up and yelled but I was already heading up the stairs.

I knew Hiromi pretty well by this point, we were best chooms. If she heard that I had gotten kidnapped!? If she couldn’t get in touch with me or Jun she might do something stupid!

I rushed up stairs ignoring Jun as I ran to the entrance of the dojo and then out onto the street.

Still no good. I turned and started running down the street. I could hear Jun running after me and he quickly tried to grab me but I slapped his hands away.

We both had chrome hands now. “Not now Jun!”

“Motoko! Stop being stupid! We aren’t supposed to make calls from here!”

“Then get your bike! Hiromi is an idiot Jun she will definitely do something stupid if I don’t tell her I’m alive!”

“Ugh.” Jun offered with a grunt as he realized I was right.

And because of that he realized I wasn’t going to stop.

“Fine. Come with me. Now!” he barked and I followed after as we headed back into the dojo, and then into the apartment. We actually slipped back into the car that we had used to move everything and Jun drove us out into the city.

Finally a few blocks away as we passed through the city Jun told me to try and call again.

*Motoko! Where have you been! My calls haven’t connected!*

I breathed out a sigh of relief. Hiromi didn’t sound like she was freaking out, or anything.

*Hey Hiromi. Sorry a lot of stuff happened. I’m with Jun right now, but they are keeping him in a place that has jammers up. I realized it all happened without telling you. I was worried you would be freaking out with me out of contact.*

*Oh good! You should always remember your bestest choom! How is Jun? He alright? Not injured?*

*No. He is grumpy, but we actually went through a lot. Listen Hiromi. Don’t go around the apartment okay? Jun stopped by and Maelstrom tracked him. They decided to kidnap me and I ended up getting rescued. So stay away in c-*

*What the FUCK!? What do you mean Kidnapped!? Are you alright! Motoko! You can’t get kidnapped again! What the fuck? Fuck!*

*Hey hey! I’m okay… Honest. The Strom did cut me up a bit but I’m all in one piece, and after the Tyger Claw Ripper that Jun took me to put me back together, I even went to Vik’s and had him double check. I’m fine.*

*Motoko… If you had to go to a ripper… You got chrome? How much? What happened?*

*Just my arms. Nothing serious.*

*Fuck… Motoko… Toko. Don’t try to protect me okay? We are chooms. How bad? What happened?*

I sighed a bit as I rubbed my thumb and fingers together feeling the odd sensations.

*It was pretty bad while it happened, they got lucky that I didn’t have my anti-borg weapon when they jumped me. They cut me up, and threw me into a fighting pit. I killed the kid they pit me against and they ended up chipping in some bad chrome arms. Jun rescued me around then, and took me to a Tyger Claw ripper. I’m alright now. Honest.*

*Shit. I didn’t even know. I’ve been trapped at home this whole week. Dammit!* Hiromi cursed for a while as I listened, just sighing trying to ignore Jun’s questioning look.

*Listen Hiromi. I’m glad you heard about this from me, and not from out in the wild. I was really worried you would have found out and gone off on a crusade to try and rescue me or something. Please just. Stay safe okay? I’ve got Jun being super protective right now too. So I get the parents thing.*

*Fuck. Toko, you got kidnapped again and I couldn’t even… I didn’t even find out!* Hiromi made a sound of just pure frustration over the line.

I really didn’t know what to say.

*I’m okay.*

*I’m not… I’m glad you're okay though, Toko. Fuck that’s so! Ugh!*

*I know. But I’m glad you're safe too. I think Jun is getting done with being patient though. Listen I’ll be out of touch a bunch. Tyger Claws really like their jammers, but I won’t be staying with Jun for long. Once I finish recovering I’ll message you. Okay?*

*Yeah… yeah. I get it. Stay safe, Toko. Promise?*

*Of course! I promise!*

I ended the call and flopped back into the seat.

“Okay. Hiromi is okay, she didn’t even know. I’m really… I’m really glad she is safe.”

“She’s your choom… It’s fine.” Jun said as we started making our way back towards the dojo along the streets.

I was quiet for a while before I decided to continue where we had left off.

“I won’t stay at the dojo for long.”

“You will. It is safe there.” He said instantly his fists gripping the steering wheel as he slowly drove through the traffic.

“Jun-Nii. I love you. I want you to be happy. I know that you just want to protect me. I love that. I do, but that’s not going to stop me from doing what I need to do…” I opened my mouth, my mind shooting to anything that I could use to convince him. A hard headed teen like Jun. He wouldn’t accept any answer but his.

Unless I agreed with him, Jun would do everything he could to stop me…

Well if he could. I was strong. A lot stronger than he probably thought.

“You don’t think I can take care of myself.” I muttered aloud realization flashing through me.

“You are my little sister, you aren’t going out to fight Maelstrom! It doesn’t matter what jobs you’ve done for Wakako. Or… Anything else. You are not ready for that.”

“But you are?” I said the words without a thought. I knew what I would need to convince Jun, and there was only one way to reach it.

“Yes. I have experience you lack. Advantages you do not have. Stay in the apartment where it is safe. I will handle your revenge. The trash that took you. They will die.”

“Yeah they will. By me.” I told him instantly denying him his victory, but I was smiling. Jun was so sweet. Trying to keep his little sister safe, even willing to hunt down the Strom that hurt me.

It was just too bad I was far from helpless.

“When we get to the dojo spar with me. If you beat me, I’ll shut up and stay inside. For now.” I offered as I stared out onto the road. Just watching as these passed us by.

I would have to prove to Jun that I wasn’t just his kid sister anymore. It’s just too bad I couldn’t start off from stealth. It would make this a lot easier.

Jun was quiet for a while as we pulled through a few dark alley ways to make sure no one was following before we traveled into the underground parking lot.

“You are injured. I will not hurt you.”

“I’m fine. And if you want to keep me from leaving. Then you are gonna have to.” I told him as we pulled into the spot. “I’ll meet you inside.” I said simply as I slipped out of the car ignoring him calling my name as I hurried inside then out the window to the Dojo.

Inside it was just as active as it had been before, but I ignored that. Instead focusing on what was coming. Jun was probably going to beat my ass. I honestly don’t even know if he had a sandy, or a reflex booster.

But I was a gamer. If he beat me today, it would make me stronger for tomorrow. If he beat me tomorrow it would make me stronger for the next day.

Jun was being an ass, so even if he won, I was still going to leave him with some bruises. I grabbed one of the Shinai off the racks along the edge of the room, nodding as it was in good condition.

Jun was walking in then. Looking towards me and his perpetual grumpy frown was stronger than ever.

But he seemed to realize I wasn’t budging. He walked over across from me and grabbed his own Shinai. The katana on his hip was taken off and placed against the wall.

Our actions seemed to get some attention as Sensei noticed the two of us preparing. He looked from me to Jun before nodding. Without a word he opened up the space in the dojo pulling off the other Tyger Claw borgs who were meditating, or doing Tai-chi under Sensei’s instruction.

Then once it was clear we both knew. Swordsman instinct maybe?

Or just siblings knowing each others tells.

We moved. Rushing towards the center without a word. Jun with his stupid long teenage boy arms was in range first, but Parry was in full effect.

Jun wasn’t overwhelmingly fast like Akari. But he was a lot stronger. My shinai easily caught his first strike, but actually deflecting it took a bit of effort. Then I was on the attack. He reacted instantly shifting into his own deflections as my Shinai became a blur of attacks, slashing stabbing, sliding against his blade to try and smash into his stupid face.

My attacks took him off guard and instantly Jun was back pedaling as I pushed him. Despite his greater strength he was treating my shinai as an actual blade.

Good he was taking this seriously.

But as much as I pushed, nothing made it through. Jun was good. Then to my surprise Jun locked his blade with mine and in that moment he reached out and grabbed my dominant hand on my shinai.

I noticed it. The shift in his balance. I had dealt with this exact situation again!

I wasn’t going to have my chest broken again!

Jun's kick was blocked when I just leapt into the air and landed both of my feet against his leg leaving me hanging in the air completely at his mercy.

But at least he hadn’t kicked me!

Jun’s grip on my fist hardened and then he threw me to the side launching me across the room.

My instinctual reaction surprised me.

I let go of the Shinai. A part of me reminding myself there were tons of them around the room to grab so instead his throw was turned into a tumble through the air, and then a few backflips as I hit the ground to create distance until I was at the wall.

I nearly chuckled at Jun's flabbergasted look, his dropped jaw was literally making this entire thing worth it.

Hah! Bet you didn’t know your little sister had athletics 5! I was at least a moderately good acrobat!

But then I was done playing.

I reached out and grabbed two Shinai.

The first Blades Perk I had grabbed had been Ambidextrous. And my arms were now much much stronger than a normal girl my age.

The feeling of my arms might not be perfect, but I was about to beat some big brother ass. I stomped back towards Jun doing a few flourishes with my Shinai to tell him that I wasn’t playing at dual wielding. Then I was on him and Jun was once more back pedaling as I absolutely stormed into a series of attacks against him.

My breath was still fairly even. Jun might have more chrome, but I was in better shape than my burrito loving brother.

The sharp snapping of faux bamboo on faux bamboo echoed through the room, as with two Shinai I finally started slipping past Jun’s defenses.

My first blow slipped past and hit his shoulder, then another hitting his wrist, but it was all chrome, and he seemed to be growing really annoyed. I could see his eyebrows narrowing and his face turning into a scowl.

He pushed me back and swung. I blocked but still ended up thrown off my feet at the blow as he put all of his strength into the swing.

I rolled away and then jumped back to my feet, jumping right back at him.

It quickly became obvious Jun had the strength to send me flying, but I was faster, and with two shinai, he was struggling to resist my flurry of blows.

Once more Jun went for a grab, but I had literally taken a perk in grappling!

His hand was grabbed as I discarded a shinai and then I was leaping my leg arcing over his bicep and suddenly my leg was wrapped around his neck. I tugged and unbalanced him, the two of us went tumbling as he dropped his shinai, with me so close it was easy to grab me. And then we were rolling on the ground, both of us grabbing at the other rolling and grunting as we grabbed, forcing the other to release and grab each other again.

Jun pinching my thigh to make me release his neck earned him a fist grinding into his side that was still meat which made him flinch and break his grip on my other arm that he had been working into a pin, then I grabbed his ankle which was close by and twister, while it wasn’t flesh anymore, it would still hurt, I then yelped as as he found a pressure point in my side which earned him a knee to his stomach for his troubles and then we were rolling around again I managed to mash his face into the mat with the palm of my hand before he flipped me onto my back and and arm wrapped around my throat.

Considering how much I knew about choking someone out like that, I wasn’t hard to elbow just below his armpit, weakening the grip, even with a chrome arm, as I kicked up and flipped under his arm my leg once again in place around his neck but then suddenly I was pulled off him with a yelp as someone grabbed the back of my shirt and just lifted me out of the pile.

“Oh hey Sensei.” I offered in greeting toward the very irritated man.

“Both of you come with me. Now!” he barked, making Jun twitch as much as I did as I was dropped back to my feet.

We were put in time out.

Like literal time out. Sensei set us down in a corner and made us meditate. Akari and some of the other Tyger Claws laughing on the sidelines at our sibling moment.