My left eyelid was twitching, as I listened to the…

Okay he looked like a shark man. So I’m just calling him Sharkman.

The Lions Den isn’t just any bar in Night City apparently.

It’s the Exotics bar.

Exotics was the description of a type of Biomod. I knew a little bit about it, although I hadn’t actually even seen someone with them yet.

But here they are. People that used Bioware to turn themselves into animals.

I had parked in the bars parking and walking up to the entrance only to get instantly held up by Sharkman, the bouncer.

His blue tinted skin, and grinning shark maw was intimidating I guess. Although I suppose the fact he was nearly eight feet tall probably helped.

“Listen kid. This ain’t a public watering hole. Go find another bar.” He had denied me entrance instantly. Which was irritating.

“Listen I’m meeting a choom of mine-”

“If you were meeting a choom, you’d be on the invite list. You ain’t.” He stated simply arms crossing over his massive chest, which was bare. Showing off perfectly sculpted muscles.

You know if you were into Furries.

“She must have forgotten. I just want to-” Once again I was cut off by the Sharkman shaking his head instantly, and poking a finger into my chest pushing me back.

He might be the shark, but if he kept that up, he was going to lose some digits.

“Listen, not sure if you’re just curious. Or you are planning some shit, but this place doesn’t welcome standards.” He said and it took me a moment to realize he was using standard to refer to… Well everyone.

I opened my mouth to argue but I could feel someone walking up behind me so I stepped aside, letting a woman that was definitely supposed to be some type of lizard pass without any issue from Sharkman.

“This is so annoying.” I grumbled turning back to the conversation but the Sharkman seemed done.

“Go on kid, you ain’t one of us, and until you are, you ain't welcome here.”

“I’m just here to see someone. I’m not looking for trouble, choom.”

“If you don’t leave you’ll find it.” He threatened simply, and I considered it. But I wasn’t here to kill a bunch of people doing their jobs.

I backed off. Walking back to the Quadra in a huff. I would just sneak in then. There was always a back door, or a roof access.

An old Warehouse turned club wasn’t going to stop me.

So I drove down the block, found a place to park and walked back, this time making sure I was out of sight from the bouncer as I checked around the warehouse.

Two ground floor entrances I noted. The front, and a rear entrance that was an old loading dock, but had a few vehicles parked around the walled off rear parking lot, turned… Private park?

It also had security.

A camera was sweeping around over the rear door. I stuck to the shadows far from the building, hugging old storage units that were the nearest building to the club as I scoped out the place. Unfortunately the rear door was going to be difficult too.

Not just the security camera, there was activity in the back, all along the loading dock, there were tables set up, and revelers were hanging around drinking, smoking, or worse.

And all of them were Exotics.

Guys with fur, women with multiple arms and eyes, some were minor exotics. Dog or cat ears at most. Some were full bore, looking more like a werewolf than a man.

All of them were friendly and knew each other. They were all partying together, chatting or switching tables.

There were a lot more people here than expected, and I wasn’t going to be able to sneak in without instantly being noticeable. I wasn’t a regular here, I would stick out immediately.

I climbed up onto the storage units nearby and started checking out the roof of the warehouse, but that was a no go as well. There were tall walls surrounding the roof, and it took me climbing from the storage units roof to a nearby powerline before I was able to see down onto the roof.

There was a pool up there.

For fuck sake. What kind of bar was this?

I bonked my head. Exotics weren’t cheap. The mods required the risk to yourself, only rich crazy people tended to do it. It was even more of a niche culture now than it had been decades ago, Exotics haven’t been cool in like thirty years. There weren’t any exotic gangs in NC anymore, except maybe the animals, if you squinted.

So if you were an older rich person wanting to hang out with an in group? One that was no longer fashionable?

Of course they all kept their bar in top condition, private, secure, and if Regina had said was right, had an in house exotics ripper.

I sighed, running through the options.

I could go loud… I mean, I did have a Rocket Launcher… No I shook that thought away, I wasn’t going to shoot up a bar to kill one guy. I would just have to do this like Jotaro, only I had known how to kill Jotaro, here? I didn’t even know what my target looked like.

Regina. I’m going to be asking for a raise on this one I grumbled to myself as I realized this wasn’t going to be a single night gig.

Okay so Loud was out. Quiet was looking extremely unlikely… I would have to hang around for a while and see if the bar got quiet. If they closed down in the morning, I could sneak in during the off periods.

If anything else, there was another option…

I didn’t really want to consider that option.

—--

I had gone home, picked up a full selection of stakeout snacks, and then headed back up onto the roof of the storage units next to the bar so I could keep an eye out.

With my Laptop in hand, at least I could do something while I waited, so I programmed as I watched the club.

Stupid private furry club. Just let me in so I can systematically target and kill one of your people! Damn gonks!

By the time the sun was peeking up hours later I was growing annoyed. Despite it being the start of the day, people were still showing up.

People were leaving, but the amount overall seemed to stay the same.

To my annoyance, I couldn’t even sneak in as a worker. The cooks were exotics. The bartenders were exotics!

The whole damn place was exotics!

“Fuck.” I grumbled thinking of other options… I couldn’t even rely on reboot optics or something to just blind anyone that I came across.

Biomods can’t be quick hacked. Most of the exotics didn’t have a lick of chrome in them, at lest not the high end ones. Bioware only.

Okay, I wasn’t going to be able to infiltrate normally. It just wasn’t going to happen without me doing something drastic.

Let’s get more information.

With the confirmation the party never ends, I peaked out from behind the top of the storage units until I could see the camera sweeping back and forth over the rear door.

My eyes flashed as I started breaching in.

Time to see what net security was like.

The camera itself fell without too much issue, and I used it as an access point to their main system, but I immediately hit a snag.

The system security was good.

Really good. I wasn’t net diving so I couldn’t see the exact way the security revealed itself, but it wasn’t off the shelf. A Netrunner maintained the security at the club I realized as I poked around. And I was pretty sure they weren’t active in the system right now.

Which at least opened up a chance.

So I started poking through the ICE. Security alerts popping up as my searching daggers weren’t as quiet as I would have liked.

I broke through the initial ICE after about ten minutes, mostly I was just hoping the netrunner was asleep.

The breach was successful, I could feel my Wall Breaking Daemon slip in and hide within the system. That particular Perk hadn’t been as useful as I thought when I initially took it, but hopefully here it would help

I began exploring, the window in my eyes showing the directory of connected systems as I began navigating through them, trying to find…

I found it. The internal security cameras.

There were a lot of them. And there were a lot of people inside like I suspected.

The old warehouse had been completely remodeled, and there was even a basement floor! Any hope of me being able to slip in sight unseen went out the window. There were just too many exotics around.

Especially when the cameras confirmed the ripper lived in an apartment in the basement. A full ripper office, and personal room that was heavily lived in. There wasn’t a camera directly in her private room, but the door in her office was open and I could see inside a bit.

Unfortunately I couldn’t just hack into her computer from the camera either.

Everything was locked down and secured.

This Netrunner knew their stuff.

I managed to get a look at the ripper, she looked like a cat woman. Not a catgirl, that was something different, but a catwoman.

The fur must be awful to deal with, I thought with a bit of a laugh as I pulled free of the system. The only thing about this I could actually laugh at.

This gig was trash.

I tapped my chrome fingers on my knee for a while. I was only seeing a few ways I could get this to work.

I could go and spend a lot of eddies on improving my chrome, maybe getting an Optical Camo cyberware. It was on the list already…

Or I could go and get a temp cyberware so I could fit into the club. A few animal accessories, and they would let me in… Probably.

I groaned as I considered it. Both options were going to be expensive, and didn’t have a guaranteed chance of success. Even if I got the Optical Camo, that wasn’t a guarantee someone wouldn’t notice. Exotics often had enhanced senses, and Optical Camo wasn’t foolproof.

And even if I went through chipping myself with some cat ears or something, no guarantee I would be able to move around.

I did a bit of quick mental math, considering how much I would earn for this gig, versus what it would cost me to be able to complete it.

Fuck.

Honestly. Considering I wasn’t ready to get more chrome, I was going to have to do something I didn’t want to do. I gathered all the information I had gained into a file including the security cam footage I had been watching, too bad there was no way to access prior recordings, I might be able to get my man that way, and sent it to Regina.

I gave her a few minutes to look through everything, including my notes on what I was seeing when the call came in.

*Motoko.*

*Regina.*

*You aren’t able to complete the gig?* She asked her tone a little flat. She sounded a little put out.

*Not without chipping in a lot of chrome for the job. Either direct stealth chrome, or something to blend in.* I tell her honestly. *The security of this place is good, maybe if I was an elite netrunner I could get in that way, but I’m not that good. Sorry Regina. I’m pulling out. I can’t complete the gig as it stands.*

*Then you are off the gig.* She said suddenly and the line hung up.

Huh.

I shrugged.

“I’m going home to take a nap.”

—--

When I got home Jun was asleep, passed out in his bed.

Which is why I went into my bedroom, put away all my equipment, and then turned around and cannonballed his ass.

I had sworn to get revenge on Jun a while back and had forgotten about it until now, and here was a perfect opportunity.

He jolted awake as I slammed into him making a groaning shriek of complaint as he jerked up trying to free himself.

Which is why I pushed my foot into his face.

“Morning Jun-nii.” I told him casually as he struggled to defeat sleepiness.

Hah!

“Wha? MOTOKO!” He growled trying to push me off and failing as his blanket kept him just a little wrapped up.

But I wasn’t trying too hard.

Soon enough I went limp as he wrapped me up in his blankets like the burritos he so loves and then he was sitting on me.

“Heavy ass.” I mumbled a little breathless, he hadn’t been gentle. As I had noted before Sleepy Jun has no chill.

“Irritating bitch.” He snapped, and I couldn’t help but snort.

“I failed a gig tonight.” I told him then before he could get any more annoyed with me. “I’m… Frustrated. Like honestly angry about it.” I revealed bluntly, which did turn the conversation around from him being angry at me, to concerned.

“It’s too early for this.” He grumbled wiping his eyes clear, but making no move to get off me.

I didn’t say anything just stuck in a burrito with Jun sitting on me as he slowly woke up. “Fine. C’mon.” He grumbled standing up but before I could move he picked me up still in the blanket and hauled me out to the living room. He flopped me a little painfully onto the couch and walked into the kitchen, coming out with some energy drink in a can that he liked.

“Talk to me about it.”

“Fucking furry ass jerks!” I ranted Legs kicking up into the air, the only part of me I could move. “Their stupid secret private club has serious security, and unless you’re an exotic you can’t enter. I tried everything I could, but I just don’t have the equipment to get in. I could go and get some Cyberware, make myself look like an animal or something, or even some Optical Camo. But neither option guarantees I could finish the gig, and, and… It’s dumb.” I mumbled at the end.

“Still not ready to get more chrome?” He asked and I shook my head.

“I don’t know! It sounds stupid, but… I don’t like chipping in cyberware, just because a job needs it. If I add chrome, I want to do it because I wanted to.”

“Huh.” He muttered nodding a bit then he leaned down and patted me on the head. “It’s okay.” He finally said after a few moments and I scrunched up and glared at him, but Jun just kept patting me on the head.

“Stupid Onii-chan.”

“Baka Imouto.” He responded back instantly.

—--

So I took a nap after Jun finally left me alone. He was still yawning, but he left to go grab some lunch.

I was still wrapped up in the blanket though.

It was cozy, and I was so done.

First that stupid borg beating me half to death, needing Jun’s help. Not that Jun and I’s teamwork wasn’t super cool.

But then I get my first gig from Regina and I can’t even finish it.

What’s the point of having all of these skills if people could still whoop, my ass? If I could still fail at gigs!?

If I was a better Netrunner I could have gotten the data I needed, either by actually dipping into the net to access their system, or by pulling a laughing man. If I was a wizard level hacker I could just hack optics in real time, I could have pulled it off… Maybe. The exotics biomods would still make that not work…

If I was a better Techie I could have built a drone like the Flathead, and hacked into their system directly. Hell I could have made a suicide drone to kill the target as well!

If I was better at stealth I could have figured out a way in, Optical Camo would have made it possible, if not easy.

If if if.

I had been grinding my skills, and I liked doing it. It had opened up so many options for me, but while my stealth was pretty good, I still felt…

Like I should be better. My stats, my skills they should be higher!

I pulled up my stat sheet.

Level 9

/10,000

Body 7(11) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.

-Athletics 6

-Street Brawler 6

-Annihilation 4

Reflex 7

-Blades 6

-Handguns 6

-Assault 5

-Driving 6

Intelligence 8 (12) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.

-Breach Protocol 6

-Quick Hacks 4

-Programming 4

Cool 8

-Ninjutsu 8

-Cold Blood 8

-Rockerboy 5

Technical attribute 4 (8) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.

-Crafting 4

-Engineering 3

Stat point.

Skill point.

Perks.

Ambidextrous Blades 2

Quickdraw Handguns 2

Gun Nut Assault 2

Parkour Athletics 2

Grappling Street Brawler 2 Future unlock: Improvised weapons.>Gun-Fu.

Drive By Driver 2

Cat-like Athletics 5

Cool Nerves Cold Blood 2

Danger Sense Ninjutsu 2

Wall Breaking Breach Protocol 2

Cyber Security Quick Hack 2

Recoil Reduction. Annihilation 2

Cyber Ninja Ninjutsu 5

Fearless Chill. Cold Blood 5.

Improvised Weapons Street Brawler 5

Parry Blades 5

Robotics wizard Crafting 2

Drifting Driving 5

Rapid Reload Handguns 5

Design Wizard Engineering 2

Rifle Ace Assault 5

*Unused* Breach 5

Perfect Musical Memory Rockerboy 2.

Debug Programming 2

Siren Song Rockerboy 5

Cyberware:

Seacho Electronics Mk.2 *Adaptation Seacho Mk.2 0/0*

Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 1/2*

Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 3/8*

Arasaka SmartLink System. *Adaptation Smart Link 0/0*

Arasaka Ex-Disk *Adaptation Ex-Disk 0/0*

I browsed through the page. Honestly I didn’t tend to look directly at my stats very often. More often I just checked where I was at, and then went to work on whatever stat or skill I was focused on at that moment.

I still had four Skill points.

I also still had a breaching perk I hadn’t used.

“Ugh I’m such a gonk… I forgot all about my perk.” I sighed staring through the floating screen to look at the ceiling.

I had decided to hold off on using it until later when I might need something special, but I had ended up just forgetting about it.

Would a Breach perk have solved my problem?

I started looking down the list. The options I had looked at before were still there, but my understanding of systems was wider now.

I had a better idea of what I would need, and what I wouldn’t.

Strong Breach still sounded useful though. Being able to breach through a system much faster, in exchange for guaranteeing an alert would get sent off?

Well considering most systems weren’t secured well in the first place, it would give me some neat tricks.

But it wasn’t exactly what I wanted.

Let’s be honest. Speed is useful, but when it comes to netrunning, there was only one true king.

Stealth.

If no one ever realized I had breached their system, they had no hope to stop me. So I started browsing the perks.

I hadn’t seen what I was looking for last time, but I hadn’t done a perfect deep dive back then either.

Then, because I was reading through every perk. I found it.

Ghost touch: Slow and quiet, Breach through a system as a ghost, without anyone the wiser.

I thought about it for a moment.

Then I decided that fuck it, it was what I had just decided I wanted. I pushed the button accepting the Perk.

I shivered as the ideas slipped into my head. Tricks on how to not just break security, but to bypass it entirely.

I blinked.

Then I blinked again because wow. That was some serious shit.

I knew as well that as powerful as it was now, it would only grow stronger as breach leveled up. The time it would take would reduce, and my ability to ghost through systems would grow.

Yeah.

That’s right! I’m Motoko Kusanagi! My skill with a gun or a knife was great! But on a digital battlefield? I wouldn’t be matched by anyone!

I knew with a surety of self, that I was going to become the sort of super hacker that made corpo netrunners piss themselves in fear.

I rose up untangling myself from the blanket and popped my access cord out of the back of my head as I grabbed my ICE laptop.

Time to get to work.