Ghost in the City
Chapter 38

It was a very fast procedure for Vik to install a BD recorder. I already had my Kiroshi, so I really only needed the small nodule that was added to my Neural Link. You couldn’t even notice as it was just a few moments work to pop open the back of my neck where my cable ports were, install the squarish box that was software and storage for the recordings, and then close me back up.

I think the arm was even faster, he popped me open, and just did some magic with a few tools, and the dent was fine.

I didn’t even need anesthesia. It was more hardware installation, than surgery.

“Alright left and right? No twinge? No points where your neck feels like it grinds on anything? Good. All set then.” Vik says as he takes his hands off the side of my neck where he was guiding my head.

“I checked out the BD recorder myself, so I trust there isn’t anything hidden on it, which is a serious concern. I’ve seen far too many people come in, after being blackmailed when someone gave them a recorder with a backdoor. Just make sure you keep it turned off when you don’t want it on.”

“Got it. Thanks Vik. For everything.”

“Don’t look at me like that, with those puppy dog eyes. You’re a good kid. Stay alive.”

“I will. I can’t die until I get older than you!” I tease as I hop off the chair, earning a deep chuckle from the man.

“Well at least I know it will be years down the line then. Go on, I bet Misty is torturing your Mox friend.”

“Yeah, she is pretty preem like that.” I said as I walked up the stairs, my waving hand the last thing Vik could see as I walked up and into Misty’s.

“So what does that mean?” I heard as I turned the corner. Nox was sitting over an array of Tarot cards Misty had laid out.

“I told you, what it means changes depending on you. But the tarot can help guide your way, open a path. I hope it helps.”

“I still have no idea what it means.”

“It means you should listen to Misty.” I offered surprising both of them, I guess I had been too quiet?

“Oh Motoko, everything okay?”

“Yep! Vik and I just needed a talk, I’m all set and chipped with a BD Recorder.” I tell the two earning a jerk from Misty.

“BD recorder!?”

I had to bite back a giggle as Misty reacted just like Vik. “Don’t worry, nothing weird. I’m working with Nox and the Mox, doing BD’s of my merc work. Like Softcore XBD’s.” I explain earning a wrinkled nose at my words but eventually she nodded.

“You’ll be safe?”

“Course! All it means is that I’ll have a chance to make more eddies for each gig I do.” I said as I jerked my head at Nox. “You ready to go? Judy needed to set up some stuff first right?”

“Yeah! Awesome! Jude’s gonna be shocked you got chipped so fast… Thanks for uh, paying for it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Everything after this is the easy part for me, I’m just gonna do my normal jobs, you’re the one who has to sell them.” I say, laughing even though he was looking at me like I was crazy.

Why did everyone always look at me like that?

—--

“Back already?” Judy’s voice called out as we walked down into her little lab.

“Yep! Jude, Motoko got chipped! You ready?”

“Sure sure.” The girl said digging a shard out of her desk and pushing it into her computer before running a program. My eyes caught the shifting text as she typed, and I realized she was setting up a program for a BD recorder.

I walked up as she worked, and while I wasn’t perfect I was able to follow along with the program. It made me relax a bit realizing it was mostly about how much data on what to store.

“You don’t like the BD recorder's standard settings?”

“Nope, they are slop, We’ve been making so many BD’s we’ve designed our own adjustments. You don’t mind?” She asked not looking away from the computer as she worked.

“I’m not seeing anything that can activate the recorder when I don’t want it on. Mostly just sensitivity settings for emotions, and increased bandwidth for my vision?”

“About right! Standard BD virtues aren’t meant for high quality optics like those Kiroshi. They can let me increase the quality a good bit, will let me pick out more interesting things on the virtue as I edit it.”

“Cool.” I whispered, earning a snort from the older girl.

“You sound like my Grandmother.” She said suddenly, actually looking at me with a half smile. “Nobody says cool anymore.”

“I do.”

“It’s kinda… Lame.”

“I’m bringing it back!” I argued instantly, how could anyone think ‘cool’ wasn't cool slang!? It was cool!

Judy actually broke into a husky laugh then both arms holding her stomach as she chortled almost crying as I pouted at her.

“Oh choom, that’s funny!” She finally managed to stop laughing long enough to say as she went back to typing just with little giggles breaking in now and then. I pouted harder as I turned to Nox who was pointedly not looking at me.

Oh it’s on. I’m now making it a duty to say Cool at least once on every one of these stupid BD recordings, just to prove it wasn’t lame.

Take that!

“Here.” Judy finally said throwing the shard at me, and I slotted it, I did run a double check that there was nothing malicious.

I was fairly certain Judy wouldn’t pull a fast one, but it was just good ideas to check random software.

It looked fine to everything I could see, and I let it update my BD recorders settings.

“Preem. So next time I take a gig I’ll turn on the recording and bring you the… Virtue?”

“You got it. Raw BD’s are Virtues.” Judy confirmed, before she suddenly shooed me away. “Now both of you get out of here, I still have a lot of work to do, Nox take your Output upstairs have some fun or something.”

“Motoko isn’t my Output! Judy!”

“Hahahaha!” She cackled ignoring Nox’s frantic denials.

Aww she was teasing him. That’s cute.

—---

“Umm here?” Nox offered me as he settled a drink onto the table in front of me. He had led me up and offered a seat then ran off to grab a drink.

Thankfully I had made sure to mention I don't drink alcohol. So I had a can of some lemony soda.

“Thanks.” I agreed as I popped the tab. “It’s pretty impressive, coming up with the idea of Edgerunner BD’s.”

“Oh well. I’ve always wanted to sell my own BD's, you know? I came up with the idea after selling an XBD to a guy, he ended up showing up the next day, he had puked his guts out, asked if there was anything actiony like that with just less…”

“Cyberpsycho?”

“Exactly. Edgerunners are super popular you know? Everyone can talk about Blackhand, or Rogue! But not many can actually experience that. So I thought about trying to find an Edgerunner, to talk about my idea with. I was trying to find someone just you know as a side thing when I ran into you.”

“And you decided to ask me after seeing me have a fist fight with a couple kids? One I didn’t win?”

“Please Ian’s actually pretty nasty hand to hand, there is a reason I was on the ground, but I mean… You’re my age, already a merc. You walk the walk, talk the talk. It made me realize I don’t need to start at the top. Plus you’re my age, do you have any idea how many kids our age want to be an Edgerunner? To experience life as a merc even second hand? From someone their own age? That’ll be a rush.”

“I can see it.” I agreed taking a sip from my drink. “So I guess it’s in my corner now. I’ll need to find a gig, or just go out and find some trouble to record.” My words made Nox wince a bit.

“Sorry. To put everything in your lap.”

“It’s fine. Like I said, this is a good idea. It could be fun, I’ve never been a movie star before… BD star? No, that kinda has certain connotations.” I muttered causing Nox to snort into his drink.

“BD stars are a thing too. Of the non-porn style.” He offered and I chuckled nodding, there was a big BD studio here in the city too. That’s where they did that fucking crucifixion questline…

Right. Night City was fucked up. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ ɴ0velFɪre.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“Alright. I suppose I should get to work then. I’ll reach out to Wakako and see if she has anything… Or I could go hunt some Maelstrom.” Nox winced at that and quickly put his drink down.

“Maybe something less… dangerous?”

“Eh. Maelstrom are pretty easy. Most of the time their guys are watching TV, or mid BD. It’s super easy to kill someone when they are in the middle of a BD.” I say making the motion of slicing their throat that at this point was practically rote to me.

“R-right. That easy?”

“Oh sure. They are so distracted they never notice. Scavs are that way too. Always a couple in the middle of some BD relaxing while the others work. The first time I went into a Scav nest I killed two of them that way.” I offer making sure not to mention it wasn’t just my first Scav nest, but my only one. Didn’t want him to think I was some noob or something. Seriously, only one Scav Den? That was pretty noobish I think. Rookie numbers Motoko.

Nox just sort of nodded along with me as I explained how easy it was murder someone in the middle of a BD.

—--

Leaving Nox at Lizzie’s after we hung out for a while, I decided I might as well see what was going on with Wakako. I hadn’t heard from her since the whole kidnapping thing. Which surprised me, I expected her to reach out at some point for a job.

So I drove home.

Driving down the street next to the apartment I looked around as I slowly rolled down the road. It was quiet. The old man that usually ran the food cart next to the entrance of the apartment was gone.

The streets were… quiet. It made me sad. I actually kind of liked the density of Night City, to be able to just walk amongst a horde of people.

I kept going. I wasn’t going to stop at the apartment. I was here to see Wakako. I drove down and parked on the street outside Jig-Jig street. As I walked through the darkened area I couldn’t help but chuff out a laugh.

A gang war going on. The normally full streets practically empty and nearly barren.

Jig-Jig street? As busy as ever. Shaking my head I walked past the dolls that were still offering services, past the Johns that were flirting and paying for services. Past the people that wandered to different stalls buying and selling.

I noticed plenty of guards hanging around. My Kiroshi punching through the dark corners between the shops seeing men in suits, or just gangsters hanging around keeping an eye out.

I guess Wakako was well protected.

I entered her Pachinko parlor, again wondering about her choice of venue.

“Get in here girl. Stop wasting my time.” Wakako called out as I walked in, as usual not waiting for me to check if she was free.

The woman as usual was sitting back in her chair cigarette smoke haloing her as her TV ran some ancient broadcast of a show that was probably coming out when I would have been alive in my last life.

“Long time no see Wakako. How are you?” I said not sure what else to say.

She of course wasn’t enthused about my greeting.

“Sit down girl. I’m not pleased with you. Joining the Kamikaze? Foolish, a waste of your ability. I pay more.”

I opened my mouth closed it. Frowned, then rose a finger. “I didn’t though?”

An elegant eyebrow rose up, and a moment later her eyes turned gold.

A text was sent with a picture.

Oh, it was a picture of me standing with Jun after the assault we did on the Maelstrom armory.

“I hold off on sending you any jobs after your unfortunate assault. Giving you time to recover and then you join up with those fools?”

“I didn’t join them, not really, the one next to me is Jun my brother. He was being all overprotective after the kidnapping, so I went on that raid to prove I could handle myself… It didn’t really work, but I ran out after and hit another Maelstrom group on my own, and Jun… You don’t care.”

“No.”

“Right, I’m not a part of Kamikaze. Terrible name by the way.”

She hummed a little as her sharp eyes kept locked on mine, but I wasn’t about to flinch, I was telling her the truth.

Besides she was dangerous in a way, but I think she was actually pretty nice when you get past all the necessary harshness of living in Night City.

“Fine.” Her eyes went gold again and I blinked as she sent me like three different messages. “I’ve been forced to hold onto these gigs for longer than I would have liked. Complete them.”

I blinked looking at the three different gigs she had sent me reading through them quickly, all of them were pretty much the same.

Go to a place, steal something bring it to Wakako.

Easy really, but there was a complication.

“If that’s all.” She dismissed me, but I didn’t get up.

“Question.”

Her narrowed eyes prompted me to quickly get on with it. “I’ve picked up a side gig, I’m recording my gigs for BD release through the Mox… I just want to make sure none of them are sensitive, and a BD of me doing this won’t cause trouble for the client… Or you.”

My question actually surprised her. Her face didn’t shift, her body didn’t move, she gave nothing away. But the fact she didn’t have an instant answer like always told me a lot. Finally she nodded.

“Foolish, but I don’t argue with fools. A week. Don’t release the recordings for a week. For these three gigs. You will ask before recording any gig I give you in the future.”

“Will do!” I offered flashing a smile, and ignoring her remarks about me being a fool. It wasn’t about being smart or stupid! It was about doing something cool!

I stood then wandering back out into Jig-Jig street.

I guess I had some jobs to do?

—--

The first job was childishly easy.

Megabuilding H1 looked just like all the Megabuildings, just more run down since it was the oldest.

I headed up to floor 15, found the correct apartment number, and unlocked the door with practically a glance.

The standard security system on the door, was as useless as a door with a key sticking out of it. I walked in, boots utterly silent as I walked past the guy in the middle of enjoying a BD on his couch, walked over to his computer, grabbed the shard that was sticking out of the side of it, confirmed it was the right one with the verification program Wakako had given me and walked back out.

Gig complete. Poor security made it childsplay.

I did record the whole thing but I doubt anyone would get any enjoyment out of it. It only lasted like thirty seconds.

Then I moved on.

Next job was in 6th St. Territory. A guy was hiding out there, in a gang house, paying 6th street to keep him safe.

I wasn’t there to kill him though. Wakako’s gig workup explained some bare bones. Guy had blackmail on his boss, Boss wanted the blackmail taken care of.

So my job was to find the information, ensure it was recovered.

Normally it would be deleted but Wakako wanted the data. Not my business.

I pulled over a block away. The gang house was in a suburban area of run down homes. I walked down the next street over. It wasn’t hard to check a map and find the number of the house directly behind the gang house.

Once I found it I simply walked right through the small gated backyard.

It wasn’t like people had dogs anymore.

I stilled at that, realizing that was true.

I really wanted to pet a puppy…

I shook it off. Work now, sad realization later.

I climbed the fence only after looking over it and making sure no one was hanging out in the back or had a camera setup.

Nothing, I climbed over the fence in seconds drawing on my inner Jackie Chan, smiling as I managed to climb the fence just like he would as I went completely cold and hurried to the house.

Mission recommended complete stealth. Apparently the boss wanted the guy trying to blackmail him to be alive to realize his plan fell through.

Honestly I didn’t know who was the good guy here. Was the boss cruel? Evil? Was his worker trying to steal money that didn’t belong to him?

I had no idea. Nor did I really care. I wasn’t a hero.

I slipped in through the back door noticing the living room to my right was occupied, a TV going and a few people talking to each other making fun of the show. I walked past the open door without them noticing, heading for the upstairs.

I was half way up the stairs when I felt it. That shiver up my spine.

Danger sense.

I leapt off the stairs landing without even a scrape on the tiled floor as I slipped into a closet at the foot of the stairs.

The steps coming down the stairs I tracked with my ears as a new voice joined the two in the living room.

I slipped out. Continued on my path up the stairs. Two doors, I checked one, looking under the door jam, nothing I could see or hear, I stood and just barely opened the door.

Empty room.

I slipped inside. Looking to see if my target was inside. The bedroom was a wreck, I instantly realized it wasn’t the right one. This room was well lived in. My target had only just started staying with them. I checked the hall and slipped out, moving to the next room, I slipped inside once I checked it. Empty. But this one had the marks of someone having moved stuff around just recently. The computer on the desk was new.

No dust.

No lucky shards sticking in this time, but that was fine, I pulled out the cord from my neck and plugged it in.

ICE.

I blinked as the system resisted, desperate to keep me out. It actually gave me some difficulty. The ICE on this laptop was a bit more powerful than the defenses of a Vending machine.

Hell it was tougher than the security system the Netrunner Maelstrom had!

I frowned as I found myself actually needing to fight against it. I could keep it from sending any sort of alert, as it was just a mindless system not backed up by a Netrunner defending it, but it was still…

Tough. Where the hell had this guy even found this level of ICE? I frowned realizing I might actually take some time to get through this. It seems the reason this guy managed to steal this info from his boss was probably because of his netrunning skill…

Hmmm.

I could steal the computer, but without breaching in, I had no way to know if there was a backup. So I looked away for a moment and prepared myself in case I needed to delta.

Window open, path free, and the computer unhooked from a power supply, and ready to be snatched and grabbed.

Then I refocused on the digital defenses and got to work.

Security code blasted through my vision as I breached and breached, each wall of ICE seemingly more dense than the last, over and over, I broke through.

I could see the alerts for both Breach and Intelligence flowing through, as I fought against the defense.

Damn, if I had known how much experience I could get from something like this, I would have bought a ICE program myself just to break it.

Still I kept focused even as minutes passed, as the noise from downstairs continued.

I just had to hope they were occupied.

Finally something changed.

*Breach Protocol skill level up!*

I felt the inrush of instincts and knowledge, and my work went even faster. Tricks the ICE threw up that stymied me, now only slowed me for a moment, as my mind worked through problem after problem.

*Intelligence Leveled up!*

The alert came in, Intelligence 5, and if I was doing anything else I wouldn’t have noticed change.

But this time I did. Considering I was literally solving difficult equations, puzzles, and general issues the ICE was programmed to throw up.

But with Intelligence? Came clarity. Came simplicity.

The speed of me facing a new problem, and then putting forth the correct solution increased. Less wondering, less confusion, less brute force.

I blinked.

The computer was displaying its desktop. I was in.

Seconds later I had confirmation. The file I was looking for was there, and it hadn’t been copied, at least according to the metadata.

Target acquired.

I closed the laptop down, and used my already prepared getaway. I was out the window, landing in the backyard, and across the short fenced off area in moments.

Then I was on the other street, and more than capable of just walking casually to my car.

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