An hour later I was sitting in Viks chair getting checked over. I had absolutely refused to go see the TC Ripper even saying I would drive myself over to mine if I had to. In the end Fujimura of all people had driven me over to Viks. The massive Cyberpsycho borg had left only after Vik had started taking care of me, seemingly satisfied he knew what he was doing.

What a weird night.

“Motoko?”

“What?”

“I asked, if you were gonna be alright, with your sleep healing?” Vik asked, making me realize he had been forced to repeat himself.

“Yeah. Yeah I should be fine. Why?”

“Cause other than some serious surgeries, there isn’t anything else I can do about all of this.” He said seriously, face pinched into a look of honest concern.

“Oh yeah I’ll just sleep then. You don’t mind?”

“Nah kid. Here. I’ll give you some stuff for the pain-”

“Nah it’s fine Vik. I’ll just sleep and be fine in the morning, thanks though. For looking me over. I would be worried about sleeping around any other ripper. So… Thanks Doc.” I told him, smiling as he fussed over me like a worried dad.

Ah Viks Dad energy so stronk!

“Motoko. I usually have to talk my patients into taking less medication, not more. You… Considering the scans of your injuries I took, you should be completely disabled thanks to the pain. Your injury is something I usually see when pedestrians are hit by cars.” He explained not quite calmly.

“Yeah the borg hit like a truck. Literally, he knocked a car on its side with one hit.” I muttered which made Vik fuss but I waved him off, a little weakly I’ll admit.

“Alright let me take a nap, and you can check on me in the morning? Sorry for coming so late.”“Don’t apologize Motoko. I just wish I could do a bit more for you.” He muttered, reaching out and to my surprise patting me on my head!

I smiled and had to bite back a chuckle because laughing really hurt.

“G’night Vik.” I muttered and let my eyes close as I put myself to sleep for an eight hour nap.

I awoke instantly like always, feeling great, the injuries healed, and to my surprise there were voices talking away in the clinic.

I opened my eyes and took in the room, and had to still to keep myself from squealing.

Because leaning nonchalantly against Viks desk as he chattered away was Jackie Welles. He was pretty much the same as he looked in the game. His voice had that same joking manner that made him so easy to make friends with.

Although I did have to translate the spanish in my head, nearly every other word. Well what spanish I actually understood anyways.

“C’mon Vik, you said we were going to get some training in today.” He whined pleading with the older man.

“I’ve got a patient Jackie, you know the rules, that comes first.”

“Ah they won’t even notice, they are passed out quiet, let’s go to the ring, I know you want to get some jabs in yeah?”

“I don’t mind.” I called out interrupting as Vik was gonna definitely say no.

“Motoko!” Vik called out happily as he spun his chair around. “Finally awake, how’re you feeling?”

I sat up on the chair a bit and stretched, feeling my abs flex as I checked myself over. “Feel like a hundred bucks like always.” I told him with a smile, but even as I was talking I was sending a message to Jun. I hope he was alright.

“Well that’s good.” He said rolling over and starting to check me out even if I was trying to get up, Vik gently pushing me back down had me rolling my eyes and letting him work.

“See the little Senorita is just fine, C’mon Vik! You know I’ve been looking forward to this all week.” Jackie whined, literally whined like a kid, but it came off more charming than irritating.

“Vik I’m fine. Go play with your friend.” I tell him, shooing him with my hand as I smiled at him.

“Motoko.” Vik said, giving me a look of disappointment.

Which only made me laugh of course.

“Sit tight for a bit Jackie, let me give Motoko a look over, then since she will probably be running away, we’ll get to the lesson.” Vik offered as he rolled across the concrete over to me. Quickly pulling up some scanners and taking a look.

“Aw C’mon Vik. I’m fine. I’m tough, you know?”

He instantly poked me with his needle hand.

“Ow! Ow ow ow!” I whined at him before he pulled away.

“I thought you were tough.”

“Says the guy sticking me with needles randomly!”

“Hehe. Yeah Vik you can’t just go- Okay I’ll stay out of it. Sorry Hermana.” Jackie said cut off from Vik turning to give Jackie a look, the much larger man raised both hands in surrender at Viks irritation.

“Hehe.” I chuckled too because it was a nice little atmosphere. “So how's it look, Vik? All good?”

“No. Your arm is still out of alignment. That hit you took knocked your chrome in along your upper shoulder. You're lucky it didn’t just break every bone from your shoulder into your chest.”

I winced. Yeah that sounded painful.

A long whistle came from Jackie. “Jeez Hermana, what hit you? A truck?”

“He might as well have been. This guy was like eight feet tall and all chrome, he probably weighed a ton. I wasn’t even the target. The guy just wanted to assassinate someone next to me and my brother.” I said looking over at Vik as he worked on fixing the damage to my chrome.

Jackie frowned at that. “Fuckin’ Cyberpsychos.” He muttered, but I had to shake my head.

“No, he was clear headed. It was a professional hit. Guy was just borged up. Scariest fucker I’ve ever seen.” I admitted and even Vik looked concerned. I hadn’t mentioned to Vik yet about just what brought me in late last night.

“Real Edgerunner shit then? Sorry you got caught up in that then Hermana.” Jackie offered, to my surprise, before I understood what he meant.

“Oh don’t worry. He might have got the drop on us, but between Jun my Brother and I? We walked away. He didn’t.” I said with a smile that was all teeth.

Jackie’s eyes widened a bit as he obviously had to take what I was saying and process it.

I mean. Wrapped up in bandages sitting in Viks chair without a weapon in reach, because Vik refused to let me keep my Burya or anything while he worked. It meant I didn’t exactly scream dangerous merc.

“Huh. You actually fought someone like that?”

“Me and my brother… I’ll admit Jun did more than me. I just couldn’t stand up to the guy's strength. He was throwing me around like a ragdoll.” I said holding up my right arm that Vik wasn’t working on and flexing it a bit.

I wasn’t strong enough.

Honestly it could have been disheartening.

It could have been terrifying.

But me? It just kinda made me excited. If I was weak? Gain Strength. It was that simple.

I still had plenty more grinding I could do to level Body.

If my body stat had been higher, he wouldn’t have knocked me around like a child. If my reflex was higher, he never would have touched me.

There was so much I could do to grow stronger.

So I would.

“Alright kid. Run through a few stretches with that arm, tell me if it’s catching anywhere.” Vik said cutting off my internal thoughts and I did as he said, stretching and shifting my arm in different ways.

It felt good.

“Looks good Vik.”

“Great. In that case. You are good to go whenever.” He said, reaching out and patting my shoulder earning a smile from me.

“Yes! C’mon Vik. You owe me some time in the ring, Hermano.” Jackie said smiling like a kid getting permission to hang out with his dad…

Actually, didn't Jackie have a bad relationship with his father? I remember something like that from the game.

I guess I wasn’t the only one that was treating Vik as a pseudo dad.

“Alright kid. Alright. Motoko, You’ll be alright?”

“Course! But no way am I leaving. I want to see this! You guys are going to box a bit right?” I say as I sit up and I was already starting to get dressed again. Pulling my Leotard up over the bandages that Vik had covered me in last night.

I would take a moment to remove them later when I wasn’t around a couple of old guys. But after a moment my Leotard was zipped back up, and I was as modest as usual.

“Heh! C’mon then Hermana, you’ll get a treat see me beat up on the old timer.” Jackie joked, throwing me a wink, and while Vik had looked a moment away from trying to convince me to leave, Jackie distracted him.

“Oh you think so huh kid? Alright then.” Vik offered as he took off his Ripper tools and pulled out a set of boxing gloves from his desk. Then he threw another pair at Jackie. “Get gloved up Jackie. I think you need a few lessons from this old timer.” He said and I laughed at the look Jackie had on his face.

‘Oh I fucked up.’ Pictured in pure stark relief stretched across his face.

—--

To my surprise the boys didn’t just go at it right in Viks clinic. Instead they headed into the building Misty’s shop was in, right next door, and took the elevator up to the roof. There they prepped themselves and I rooted Vik on, as Jackie and him went at each other.

Well it wasn’t quite that brutal, it was a teaching thing. Vik was working Jackie over. Punching and jabbing forcing the bigger man to block and shift on his feet, every set amount of time Vik would switch to defense and Jackie would go at him.

It was fun. Entertaining, and surprisingly useful.

*100 Street Brawler XP Gained.*

I actually got an alert just from watching and listening. As Vik walked Jackie through mistakes, or prompted him to change his rhythm.

It was fun!

“Alright Jackie. Give me a break. My old man's bones are tired.” Vik teased as he rested back against the wall and wiped some sweat from his brow.

Jackie, looking almost as tired, wiped his forehead as well and gave Vik that charming boyish smile of his. “You’ll be fine. Probably outlive us all.” Jackie said with a chuckle, and I couldn’t help but wince at that.

Yeah.

“Why don’t you show me some jabs, you’re left is messing with your guard still. Make sure you practice it a bit more.” Vik said and Jackie sighed but did as he said, raising his gloves and starting to swing.

But I could see it, just as easily as Vik. Jackie kept dropping his right guard whenever he jabbed with his left.

“Vik throw me the gloves.” I called out hopping off the edge of the roof that I had been sitting on and walking over to Jackie.

“Motoko-”

“I know how to box Vik, I’ll admit you both are better than me, but I can help with this.” I called out but it was Jackie that interrupted next.

“I don’t know Hermana, I don’t want to hurt ya you know?”

“Don’t stress.” I waved him off and Vik sighed but threw me the gloves. They weren’t boxing gloves, but coaching gloves. Padded to fit an open palm so you could take the strike without pain. I slipped them on as I stood in front of Jackie. “My arms are chrome, so you’ll be more likely to feel it if I don’t give enough C’mon show me that jab again.”

I raised the gloves and Jackie still hesitated, before I moved in and threw a few jabs of myself, not enough to hit, but to force him into the rhythm. Then he moved.

Jackie was surprisingly fast with his fists, and his form was solid. Power and speed.

It made sense why Vik took the time to help him train a bit. He was a natural.

But I was a gamer.

I easily blocked the first three jabs he gave and then despite hesitating for a moment after he fell into the flow that I had no trouble keeping up.

I was just giving him spots to hit after all. We fell into the flow, and when I baited the left jab I reached out and tapped his cheek with my right glove as I blocked with the left.

“Open.”

He blinked, stepping back in surprise at the sudden assault. Jackie blinked for a moment processing what had just happened, before nodding. Then he moved back in, and the flow resumed. A few moments later I once more baited the jab, and the same thing happened, he jabbed, lowered his right glove, and I gave him a tap on his chin.

“Open.”

“His eyes narrowed, but it wasn’t in anger. It was an acknowledgement. We went into it again. Jackie's fists were flying, and I noticed the change this time as he went for the jab, his right glove stayed up, and when I purposefully chose to make the move, his glove blocked me.

“Better. Again?” I asked and to my surprise Vik nodded looking on happily.

Jackie? Jackie was beaming. “Hell yeah Hermana, let’s do it.” He said, chuckling loudly as he squared up, and I nodded. His glove cracked against my own as he started into a routine.

*100 Street Brawler XP Gained.*

—--

*100 Body XP Gained*

I brushed off the alert as I stretched. Jackie had been a bit too fast a few times and tagged me. If my arms, or shoulders were still flesh I would definitely be bruised, instead I was just a little sore where the chrome met flesh. Like my muscles had been pulled a bit.

“Sorry about that Choom. You’ll be alright?” He asked, looking concerned. Made sense. Jackie was a big guy, and I was very much a small girl.

“I’m fine. Nice workout. I haven’t been hitting the gym enough recently.” I told him while wiping sweat from my brow.

Jackie and I were both sweaty, having worked ourselves pretty hard. Vik had come in, guided us both on some improvements, and then took the elevator back down before we finally had enough.

“Your endurance is good.” I teased him a bit as he was now sitting back on one of the lawn chairs that someone had left up here.

“No way, you stayed on me the whole time. I’m exhausted ‘Toko. You said you were what, fourteen?”

“Yep.” I agreed, and he shook his head.

“Damn. You certainly got some skill. You’d fit right into the merc scene. Maybe in a few years you’ll be earning rep instead of just boosting wheels, or whatever kids do these days.” He said laughing as he described something he probably did himself at my age.

“Gonk. I’m already a merc.” I scoffed at his unintentional insult. “I’m good at infiltration, a bit of netrunning, and I’m pretty good with a blade, or a gun.” I counted off my chrome fingers at each one. “I hunted down a serial killer on my last gig. Ever heard of the Meat Man?” I asked, and to my pleasure Jackie actually looked serious as he nodded.

“Heard they finally got him. NN54 had a whole thing about it. That was you?”

“Wait… My kill was on the news!?” I gasped as I rose up. “I need to record it! Or see it!” I called out, waving my arms a bit in happiness.

I was on the news!

“Whoa Hermana, easy. You can go to their site, should be easy enough to take a look at. You really killed that bastardo?” He asked surprised and I nodded.

“Sniped him with my Nekomata. Rescued the people he had kidnapped, even called in the NCPD so they could take care of it all. Ended up waiting around in handcuffs for a couple hours, but it was worth it in the end.”

“Well damn. Not bad, not bad at all little ‘Toko. You’ll make an edgerunner out of yourself someday.” He said laughing with a smile.

“Pfft. I’m never gonna be an edgerunner. I don’t plan on going out in some blaze of glory. I’ll be the next Morgan Blackhand. I’ll live until I’m a hundred and thirty and still wipe the floor with all the gonk kids.” I tell him laughing at my mental image of myself as some ancient hag whacking kids with the back end of a Thermal katana.

“Heh. Not me. I’m gonna make this city remember me hermana. I’ll have a drink in the afterlife, and I’ll live forever.” He said looking up at the sky smiling at his dream.

I was grateful that he wasn’t looking at me.

My face couldn’t be pleasant to look at as I watched on.

I had watched this man die. Watched his final moments, seen his funeral, and all the pain it had caused.

Jackie. Jackie was a street kid of Night City through and through.

Even if I told him, even if I explained how much it would hurt his family, he wouldn’t stop racing along the edge.

The disgusting culture in this city, to throw your life away in a moment of glory. There would be no convincing Jackie that his life would have far more meaning if he stayed alive. Lived his life, had a family.

Because he had been raised on the idea that a drink in a bar was the pinnacle.

Disgusting.

But nothing I could do right now. No words I could say, nothing I could show him. We weren't even chooms yet. Just two people that knew a guy.

“Well how about you then Jackie? What happened on your last gig?”

“Oh? Oh yeah that was a fun one. Had to chase down this Pendejo to pay his bar tab funnily enough. It was all going well, tracked him down, got him in my grip, but then I realized he had chooms!”

—--

Jackie and I ended up getting distracted as Jackie told stories of all the jobs he had done. I realized pretty quickly that while he tried to hype them up, most of them were low level jobs. It startled me when I realized the truth.

Jackie for all his talk, was pretty low level in the grand scheme of the merc hierarchy. I mean he was no Maine. No David.

He was way less borged out for one.

For another he talked himself up a lot, but he only really did low level gigs. It was his words near the end that made me realize the vast gulf between us.

And maybe just how odd what I had been doing was.

“So Padre set me up with a chance to meet Wakako. Got a big gig coming up, if I do well, he’ll put me in touch with her. The Dragon of Westbrook you know?”

“I’ve never heard anyone call Wakako that before.” I muttered surprised. “Usually it’s the lady of Westbrook.”

“Yeah well… I just came up with it. She is, you know? The most dangerous woman in Westbrook. She deserves a title like that. Makes her sound as dangerous as she is.” He sort of rambled and I couldn’t help but chuckle at him as he sort of tried to defend his weird title.

“It sounds cool Jackie, I’ll make sure to tell her about it next time I see her.” I tell him with a quiet chuckle.

“Pfft. Yeah you’ll just walk into her parlor and talk to her, tell her about a preem new title she can use. But seriously don’t do that. Fixers like Wakako are dangerous people. And don’t like being bothered for shit.” He said, shaking a finger at me.

Making me realize that Jackie had no idea I already worked with Wakako.

I thought about telling him.

I really did. I could probably help him out even give him some good hype with her.

But then a thought happened. An evil. Funny thought.

“Hey Jackie. You said you got a gig from Padre right? What are you doing? Need someone to watch your back?” I asked, with a smile but Jackie instantly shook his head.

“No way Hermana. I’m not dragging a kid into something dangerous. No way.”

“Aw C’mon Jackie. Having someone watching your back is way safer than going it alone. I’ve done work with the Tyger Claws before. I helped out during the war. Let me watch your back. You won’t even know I’m there.”

He hesitated before sighing. “Listen, Motoko. I know what it’s like. Being a kid, wanting to be great, wanting to have your name in the sky, and everyone knowing who you are.” He shook his head. “But you shouldn’t rush into it. Being an edgerunner is one thing, but losing your life before you’re even old enough to live it is a waste.” He said firmly.

Ah he wasn’t gonna budge.

The jerk!

Fine. I’ll just troll him then.

“Fine. Well Jackie, this has been super fun. We should get together and do some more boxing again some time. It's been a while since I had this much exercise.” I said stretching my back as I started walking off waving behind me. “I’ll see you again soon!” I called out.

Sooner than he would think.