“Okay, you had me at Netrunner Combat Zone.” Malcolm said after I had gone on a long explanation of what I would be doing.

“That was easy.” I muttered as I settled onto the net chair, idly grabbing the cooling cap I had hanging from the chair now. I had bought it before coming in, since this was my first time doing some real netrunning since I lost my Seacho Netdeck.

And maybe Hiromi’s remarks about it being like armor had hit their mark, but I would never admit that.

“C’mon Motoko, netrunning is wild. I mean I don’t have a Cyberdeck, for me, netrunning is just… Some weird thing some people can do. Getting to see it in action? That’s pretty nova.”

“Well you know what to do if something goes wrong, right?”

“Activate the disengage, and pull you out only once it allows… And if I have any issues, call Yoko.”

“Great. See you on the web.” I offered and flopped back. When I opened my eyes I was in my lobby.

I looked around and then stopped.

The Tachikoma data kernel was growing quickly.

The Tachikoma was wandering around, and as I watched it even did a little leap to climb up on top of the small table in the center of the couches.

*What is that?* Malcolm asked, as I was streaming my sight to the laptop.

“A digital form of the Tachikoma AI I’m developing. It’s growing really well over here. I’m going to need to do something about that soon.” If I didn’t get some better hardware for the Tachikoma to run off of, it would slow down its development pretty soon.

Shaking it off, I disappeared into the net. A few quick hops and I was then walking down the dark corner of the web into the netrunner bar.

*Whoa. It looks like a normal club.* Malcolm chattered in my ear as I walked into the lobby.

“Yeah.” I agreed, but this time I wasn’t going to listen to Sasha that jerk! I walked up to the woman at the counter. “Hi. Umm. I’ve been here before, but I’ll be honest, my… Choom brought me in without explaining shit to me.”

The woman behind the counter blinked from her quad eye set up. Each one blinked in a different pattern.

“Saw your match. Surprised you are still alive, hell of a burnout.” She said suddenly and then nodded. “Heard that you were new, and the Stray Cat dragged you in without giving you a heads up. Not supposed to do that. Talk to Admin. Follow the IMP.” She offered, and opened her eyes, a small IMP Daemon appeared.

It looked like a hovering ball of light and spiraling data, but it floated around and then started into the club.

“Thanks.” I followed it in, as it led me through the light crowd of the place before floating over to a man, alighting onto his outstretched hand and disappearing.

“Well if it isn’t Ghost in the Shell herself.” he greeted, a deep brassy voice, but not unkind. He sounded older than even his digital avatar portrayed though. “Surprised you are still alive, after you got Derezzed.”

“I had some chooms keeping my brain from melting.” I explained as I walked over, but hesitated before sitting.

“Slide in, slide in. You wanted some data on the rules and regs? Good idea. It was a real shock when you fried yourself for the win.”

“Yeah well… I wasn’t intending on jumping in head first like that.”

“No, nor should you.” He added, sounding unhappy. “Normally, I don’t just offer easy answers. Young runners come in all the time and the usual path is for them to trade for info, but as an apology for what happened, let me give you a simple run down.” He offered, flicking his fingers, and a Shard appeared in his hands.

Obviously a digital representation, but it got the point across.

I took it, and did a thorough scan before accessing the data. It was clear, but not entirely bug free. I wiped what I found and then did another pass just to be sure. Before accessing it.

“Heh, you have no idea how often kids just jam whatever data is offered to them right into their brain.” Admin said almost wistfully.

Ignoring the old man's words I instead checked over the data.

It was a… Brochure? I mean that wasn’t quite it, but it was close enough. Basically a spiel on what the netrunner Combat Zone was and how it worked.

The dive into the combat server had a protection system built in. Anything too bad would be stopped before it could reach a user, unless of course the user did something stupid and overheated themselves.

That part wasn’t in there, but I read between the lines.

It also taught me there were a few access commands I could have used things like auto logout, and a few other features.

“This would have been nice to know.” I snarked and the old man hummed in agreement.

Then when he spoke next he didn’t sound pleased at all.

“What that Stray Cat did broke multiple rules. She isn’t welcome around here at the moment.” He said his deep voice sounded rather ticked off.

And for just a moment I felt some sympathy for Sasha. Sure, she wasn’t my favorite person at the moment, but…

“It’s not… Entirely her fault? I don’t think she is handling her current situation very well. I hope it’s not a permanent ban? Although I actually don’t know how often she comes here.” I admitted. Was this like a normal thing for Sasha, or just something she does to blow off steam sometimes?

I knew so little about the woman despite… Well despite seeing her die.

“It’s not permanent. She was simply told not to come back until she cooled off.” He replied firmly. “Does this satisfy you? Normally one would request more of a harsher punishment.”

“No. That’s more than enough.” I waved it off.

If any punishment was going to be meted out, it should be from me, not some random guy I’ve never met.

“Thanks.” I offered and rose up, receiving a single nod from the man as I wandered over to one of the other booths and settled in, a screen popping up as I settled showing the inside of the arena. It was quiet currently, no battles taking place, but there was an option to view past matches.

“You getting this Malcolm?”

*Fuck yeah I am.” Malcolm replied back instantly, as I started the most recent match, settling in to watch how they fought, and generally how this whole thing worked…

You know without being dropped into it.

—--

Junichirou Kusanagi

“C’mon Jun-Chan!”

“Yuto. You know I want to help you.”

“Then just do it!”

“Motoko will literally kill you.” Jun offered, as he reached up and rubbed at his face.

Yuto getting out of jail was a surprise, he hadn’t even remembered his old choom. Not with everything that had happened in his life.

Moving up in the TC, breaking out of the low level runners that he and his chooms had done for so long. The Casino. Kasumi. He stilled as the name ran through him. The white hot rage that had once consumed him, feeling like it was burning him alive was only embers. Still there.

Always there.

But it didn’t fill every moment with rage and hate anymore. It couldn’t. Lashing out at everyone around him, had almost… Almost hurt Motoko.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

So he had let the fire dim, learned to keep it down, how to breathe and for the first time in his life, Jun had learned how to control his anger.

What was the point at getting angry with minor things? Not after he learned what true anger was.

It was why Fujimura-Sama had grown to trust him so much.

From kid drug runner, to Casino worker, to Kamikaze, to trusted lieutenant. And now, an old choom was asking him to potentially throw it all away.

Motoko was right.

Yet, Jun owed Yuto. The boy had saved Jun’s life more than once. He owed him. Honor and Jun’s own wants to help a friend.

But trying to murder the kid of one of the higher ups was suicide.

“Yuto, let it go. Fuck him. You’re out now. You got the whole rest of your life ahead of you. Go find an output and live.”

“Fuck that! He disrespected me Jun! You can’t let that kind of shit go! You know that!” The boy, no… The man. Yuto and Jun were both men now.

One through death, one through prison. Both had changed, and yet.

Yuto wasn’t being reasonable. His desire to flatline Kisaru Moritaka was shortsighted.

Jun sighed, looking around the bar. Thankfully while it was a TC bar, no one really knew who Yuto was yelling about. Yuto was pretty drunk at this point, enjoying his freedom.

And so quick to throw it away.

“Yuto.”

“Don’t fucking Yuto me Junichirou! We swore to always back eachother up! I know you couldn’t do shit to get me out of the slammer, but fuck man! You’re borged out! Fucking cold blooded killer now, help me kill this fuck!”

Jun just sighed, looking down into his drink.

Motoko was going to kill him. Or Yuto.

Probably both.

“Yuto. How about we do this the right way. We go down and talk to Wakako. Motoko has a good connection with her.”

“Fuck man. What kind of bitch brings a fixer into this shit? I’m not some punk Jun-chan! I can kill a gonk fucker!”

“Yeah, but if you do, you spend the rest of your short life being chased around. Get Wakako in on it, and problem solved.”

“I don’t have that kind of eddies. Fuck man, you know that.” Yuto snapped obviously frustrated with Jun’s constant attempts to get him to calm the fuck down.

“How about we try it? I have eddies.”

“Fuck Jun. I feel like everything is crazy now. Used to be, you would be the first to jump at a chance to flatline some fuck that crossed us. Now you are arguing against it, and… Everyone else already left.”

“They have jobs Yuto.”

Yuto looked at Jun with a look that would have killed if it could. “You gonks were my chooms. What happened?”

Jun flinched at the accusation for a moment before firming up.

Things had changed.

But Jun wasn’t sure it wasn’t for the better.

“We grew up Yuto.”

The man exhaled like he was punched. Jun sympathized.

“Come on choom. Let's get out of here, get some sleep. We've been celebrating you being back all night.”

Yuto was quiet, staring down into his drink for a long while.

“Do you remember Jun-chan, when we knocked over that Tino shipment?”

“Of course. Craziest night of my life until then. We stole a truck smashed into them, and flatlined them. Stole the drugs and sold it all. Made enough eddies we could buy our own rides.” Jun said fondly. Motoko…

The old Motoko, had been absolutely awed at her brother's payday. Had been so proud of him for doing it, and proving he was worth something.

That was the start of his rise in the TC.

Yuto had been the one who planned it all. Jun had just been the muscle. A boy, gonk enough to climb into a stolen truck planning to crash it.

“We didn’t used to think. We didn’t used to let death scare us. We did it, because it was how we made the world see us.” Yuto went on, and Jun frowned.

They had done it to be rich. To be famous. Back then Rep had been all there was.

“Rep is everything.” Jun said and Yuto looked up and both men’s eyes met.

Jun had believed that for so long. He still did… To an extent.

Jun had once believed nothing was more important. That rep was your life, and without it, you were nothing.

But Jun had come to a realization that he would have burned his rep to the ground to protect Motoko. That he would have left the TC in a heartbeat to protect her.

So rep wasn’t everything.

“Rep isn’t everything to me anymore Yuto. I found things in life that were more important.” Jun stopped as he realized what he had just said.

What it meant for him. He had lost Kasumi, and thrown it all away, but Motoko had made him realize he still had things to live for.

Jun… Jun wanted more than to just burn out into nothing. When he was younger he had been too angry and brash to really live. Raising Motoko had been a constant struggle. But it was worth it.

He felt his lips tugging up into a smile. “I made a life for myself, Yuto. C’mon, I’ll let you crash on my couch. I’ll introduce you to my boss Fujimura-Sama. We can find you some work, and you’ll realize there is more to life than rep too.”

Jun tugged Yuto along, regardless if the man wanted to or not. Yuto was half Jun’s size now.

Yuto was his choom. He would show him how to live his life too if he had to.

—--

Rebecca

“Any issues?” Hiromi asked, and Rebecca just stared at the younger girl like she was some sort of fucking Hydra.

“Choom, I thought Kitten was the weirdest of your little group, but I think you take that cake.”

“I’m not weird! And neither is Motoko!”

“Sure.” She replied back with a scoff. She looked down at the box of equipment that Hiromi had just dropped off.

“It’s not as good as what we have of course. But I figure if there is an emergency gig over the next while until we get the full package, this will help. Let me know if there are any issues. We can send it to Motoko for alterations.”

Hiromi had put together an armor kit. Actual armor, expensive shit even, just handed over. To her. Given to Rebecca who wasn’t really a full timer in their group. She hadn’t asked, or even known about this until Hiromi had called asking for a meeting.

Rebecca nodded, feeling a little weird. She wanted to thank the girl, and also she wanted to run away. So instead Rebecca fell back on what she always did.

“Thanks Choom! I’ll pay you back.”

“Why? It’s part of our Section 9 funds, and Motoko wants you to go out with us. She… Is always happy to chatter about you coming with.” Hiromi added, sounding a little peeved.

“Heh. Still can’t admit your crush huh?”

“Shut up! Don’t! Don’t say that! Motoko might hear! You never know what she is doing, she could be testing a new listening bug or something!”

“I kinda doubt it.”

“I don’t! Just don’t… Okay? Don’t.”

“Alright just teasing Crush, just teasing. What’s this then?”

“Oh! Motoko mentioned she scrolls BD’s of the gigs she does right?”

“Oh, yeah. This them?”

“Yep! And the newest one! Sorry to say, you only show up as a blur. You’re a bit too distinct, but you are on that one.”

“Wait, there's a BD of the raid?”

“Yep! But all of Motoko’s BD’s are in there. Anyway Rebecca, I need to go. I have class in twenty.”

“Well shit choom don’t let me keep you… Class? Fucking weird.” She muttered as Hiromi jumped back into a sleek corpo car and drove off.

The fucking kid had a personal driver and shit. Some ganger kid Rebecca hadn’t seen before. And Crush thought she wasn’t the strangest of the entire group?

“Heh.” She turned around and walked back inside. Her apartment was the same as always, quieter with Pilar still in hiding, but that was looking to end soon.

She dropped the box on her bed and grabbed her BD wreath.

What was Kitten up to?

She settled in and popped in the first BD.

Instantly Rebecca was staring at glowing letters.

Section 9

And then it started. Rebecca felt her heart calm as she settled into a new skin.

She was Motoko she realized, the thrum of her Quadra suddenly revving up.

She felt the way her arms shifted, her feet pushing the gas and brake, pressing the clutch and then they were sideways. Rebecca remembered it herself, but where she remembered being startled at the motion, to Motoko it felt…

Perfect. She knew exactly what to do. There was no confusion, no unintended motions. The entire drift had been perfectly controlled.

Rebecca felt herself already moving. The sound of gunfire, an Ajax, her Ajax going but only after Motoko had already left the seat and leapt, one jump taking her over the Quadra onto a broken wall, and then leaping across to another broken segment, letting her practically walk into the second floor of the destroyed building.

In her vision she suddenly saw a netrunner protocol, slipping into the Scavs system, and her own voice, husky and sexy slipping out.

*I plucked their eyes. Go.* Rebecca didn’t remember Motoko sounding like that…

She was pretty sure she would have remembered.

Her rifle was brought up casually and fired, and the first Scav took three shots before Motoko walked over and casually kicked them off the edge.

No. Before Rebecca kicked them off the edge. She couldn’t even properly keep herself separate, whoever edited this BD was a master. Rebecca moved, firing a few times and then seeing the Minotaur. Its twin guns spooled up and then the HMG fire got everyone's attention.

But there was no rush of fear, just excitement, as she leapt. The jump was intense, the feeling of her belly doing flips, but that was all Rebecca, because the BD just sent a sense of pure confidence.

No fear.

She landed, bounced, and then was on top of the Minotaur firing into the Scavs.

Fuck, Motoko was right. This was preem.

She watched through the rest of the BD ending before they even went underground.

Ending with another little message.

Section 9

Do you want to know more?

NETDIR://Section9.Web

“Fucking corpo!” Rebecca wheezed as the BD ended, laughing as she realized just how fucking crazy Hiromi was. “A fucking website!”

Rebecca continued to chuckle as she lay on her bed. Feeling the sensation of Motoko’s movements still shadowed over her body.

Rebecca had experienced a lot of BD’s. She liked the combat ones of course. To experience battle, feeling the adrenaline slam through her, shooting anyone and everyone.

Unfortunately they usually ended with the poor gonk who scrolled it getting flatlined.

Rebecca wasn’t a fan of that.

So Rebecca had used a lot of BD’s, she knew good ones. The ones that had a real Maestro editing them together.

Motoko had a serious BD editor working with her. “Holy shit.” She muttered as she pulled out the BD and swapped it for another one.

“Inner Universe?” She muttered, wondering what this one was like.

Rebecca started it, and instantly wind brushed across her face. She opened her eyes to the city skyline. Far above the streets.

Her eyes tracked down to a shard in her hands.

Inner Universe. It was even etched in the same style that the BD came in.

Heh.

She slotted it and music started, an interesting song, but not really her thing. Yet she didn’t get time to enjoy it, as suddenly she was moving. A shift in her muscles, that made her want to gasp even as her heart refused to beat out of rhythm.

Motoko had jumped off a fucking building!

She was free falling, motionless as the wind whipped past her, and then it was all action.

Reaching out to break her fall on a pipe, she grinded herself into slowing her speed and then once more into nothing. She landed in a roll and then leapt to her feet rushing across the top of one of the walkway bridges between scrapers.

Rebecca forgot herself. Lost in the motion of the world around her, being so unthreatening.

There was no fear, just a self assuredness that flowed into everything.

Rebecca wasn’t there anymore. She didn’t exist. Just the movement.

She didn’t really remember herself until Ramen hit her taste buds at the end of it. Startling her a bit as the salty splash of broth pulled her out of the intense feeling of her body moving perfectly.

She pulled off the wreath with a gasp. Body shaking and shivering as she lay on her bed.