“Hayato, sit down dear. Motoko, child. Politics will not go away, take it from me. Once you are involved you will be so for a long time despite your wants.” Wakako offered and I grimaced. Yeah that was what I was afraid of Wakako! “Now, despite the difficulties it will bring, I wish to hire you for a long term gig.”

“Okay?”

“I wish to hire you on a long term basis, to not assassinate Moritaka Kuwabara.” She spoke the words that instantly made me frown.

“Okay one. I’ve never taken a gig to not kill someone before.”

“It’s not so unusual when dealing with a skilled mercenary that has come into their reputation.” Wakako answered and I was frowning because this was weird.

Hayato thought so too. “Grandmother? What are you talking about? Motoko is skilled, but she couldn’t kill Moritaka-Oji.”

“Oji?” I whispered to myself, but Wakako looked at Hayato for a moment.

“It would not be the first member she killed.” Wakako said, and I had to use Cold Blood to freeze myself solid so I didn’t give any tells.

Instead I raised an eyebrow. “News to me.” I spoke plainly. Wakako looked to me at my words, at the same time Hayato looked justified and looked back at Wakako as if she was right.

“The only thing that is news to you girl is that I am speaking of it. Jotaro was cleanly done, to this day only a few select people know about the situation.” Wakako added calmly and I noticed Hayato looking between us in confusion.

Her head shooting back and forth rapid fire was pretty funny.

“Jotaro? The club owner? Ichi’s Boss?” I questioned purposefully acting confused, controlling my emotions to fake it, but Wakako just smiled at me, as if she didn’t believe me at all.

Hayato though was looking between the two of us confused.

“Grandmother?”

“Motoko Kusanagi, is a very competent killer Granddaughter. An Assassin by trade in fact. If she sets her mind to it, I have no doubt that Moritaka will die.”

The room was silent for a moment. “I am an assassin, yes.” I said more for Hayato’s confused look than anything. “But that has nothing to do with Jotaro, which I was definitely not involved with. I have an alibi.”

“Of course, I am sure it is quite solid.” Wakako offered casually. “The issue has long been resolved, and assumptions on who did it have spread. None expect the teenaged assassin I employ from time to time. Nor will they.” Wakako added waving a hand and sending the smoke of her cigarette swirling.

“Good.” I said back a little defensive cause I really didn’t need more shit.

“You… Are an assassin?” Hayato asked, the surprise in her voice making me focus on her.

“Sometimes.” I answered Hayato’s question with a shrug. “I mean, technically I prefer to think of myself as an infiltrator. I like sneaking into places, but killing someone after sneaking up on them is kind of assassin one-oh-one.”

Hayato looked at me. Up and down, and her face shifted into a look of disbelief.

“Hey! That’s rude! What part of me makes you think I’m not an assassin! Wakako you tell her!” I demanded, getting a little outraged about the disbelief on Hayato’s face.

Wakako just rolled her eyes, ignoring me, and then snapped. “Focus. I am hiring you for a job.”

I tilted my head at her.

“One condition.” I demanded and Wakako nodded as if it was expected.

“Jun stays safe. If Moritaka leaves Jun alone, I’ll consider the gig in place. He causes any more trouble for my brother and the bets are off.”

“I will speak to my son in law. Junichirou will face no repercussions for his failure, and Moritaka will settle down from his aggressive actions against Fujimura. He’ll likely already be getting a talk about that. Foolish man.” Wakako grumbled and I nodded slowly.

I did want the man dead, but doing so would just cause more trouble in the long run. So if we could end any trouble now? I sighed. It sucked, killing leveled me up, but also time gave me time to kill more and get stronger. One day I’d be Adam Smasher. Able to simply kill anyone I please without considering repercussions, but I wasn’t that yet.

“Okay fine. Deal. I’ll let him live.”

“Let him?” Hayato continued to sound disbelieving about my skills which kind of hurt, but Wakako nodded.

“In that case, I believe your brother is already leaving.” I perked up at that and decided it was time to go then.

“Alright Wakako. I’ll leave… Thanks, for helping out. I was starting to consider drastic actions.” I said and earned a glare at the very idea.

“Don’t be a fool. You are useful, and I will not allow you to throw away your life so pointlessly.”

“Yes yes. I understand. I have no intention of dying.” I said to Wakako as I rolled my eyes, but I did send her an honest thankful smile as I stood. “See ya later Hayato.” I waved with a happy smile to the girl's irritation as she glared at me at my chipper tone.

Outside I saw that Fujimura was leaving. Jun and Akari at his side and I hurried over.

“Good. We are leaving.” He said and just rolled my hand at him because that was obvious.

And we left. I collected my weapons and Jun was quiet as we headed down the elevator.

“I wish to hire you.” Fujimura said suddenly and I frowned.

“What is it with everyone wanting to hire me today? Maybe I’m not in the mood to take gigs for the Tyger Claws right now? Ever think of that?” I grumbled and Jun reached out and cuffed the back of my head. I retaliated with a swipe at him in turn.

Fujimura just continued, as if Jun and I weren’t being siblings in such close proximity to him. “Yoto needs to die, your capabilities in tracking would make this easier.”

“Fujimura-Sama.” Jun offered a token protest but it sounded weak. Pathetic.

I instantly hated hearing my brother sound like that.

“Kusanagi.” Fujimura snapped back and Jun flinched, and I glared, but I closed my eye and thought it through.

I considered it. Just saying yes. I mean, I had offered to do that for Jun before, but this was different now.

Everything was different now.

The Tyger Claws had made their mark on me, and I wasn’t going to let that go for nothing.

“You’ll have to reach out to Hiromi Mitsunashi. She’s Section 9’s Fixer contact. She’ll quote you a price. Don’t expect any discounts this time.” I said firmly. I could trust Hiromi to make sure this sort of thing didn’t come cheap.

“If Yuto strikes again, or in the worst circumstances manages to finish his goal, Junichirou will not be let off.” Fujimura reminded me sternly, but I just threw him a raised eyebrow.

“That argument would have worked better this morning. Before I had people I thought I had some level of trust towards trying to use me as a political piece. I don’t take kidnapping attempts as a joke, Fujimura.”

The elevator was quiet, and I hadn’t actually turned to look at Fujimura the whole time. Using a piece of the reflective stainless steel in the elevator to get just a bare hint of his face.

“I understand. You hold me to blame, and there is truth to that. But I wasn’t the one that caused this. Your brother is a useful subordinate, I wish to keep him alive.”

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

“Maybe a small discount then.” Was what I said as the elevator opened and I walked out.

“Motoko?”

“I’ll talk to you later, okay Jun? Take care of yourself.” I said, I needed some space from all of this.

*Motoko!* Hiromi yelled as I called and noticed that all my chooms were already on a line.

*Hey everyone, sorry about the scare. Everything got crazy for a while.*

*Are you okay!?* Hiromi demanded and I laughed as I settled into the Quadra and started driving. I wanted to get out of this TC bastion as fast as possible.

*I’m alright, and unhurt. I’ll give you a full rundown, but Hiromi you might get a call from Jun’s boss Fujimura. It’ll be a Section 9 job to hunt down someone… Don’t hesitate to grill him a bit, but offer him a discount at the end… A small one. The gig is for Jun, but I’m pissed with them right now.*

*Got it, but-*

*Are you all together?*

*Yeah we met up at Hiromi’s place. Considering your warning.* Ichi cut in.

*Alright. Should I head there, or should we go somewhere else? Things are calm now.*

*My rents are out, so come over Motoko. Besides… It’s safe here, so I want you here.*

*Alright. Since I’m driving let me give you a rundown of what happened.*

—--

“Huh, is that new?”

“Yeah, the Rents always buy new entertainment systems. I don’t use them much.” Hiromi said and I chuckled because they were certainly getting some use now. Ichi and Malcolm were both playing some VR game.

“I can’t believe they would do that!” Hiromi vented at me as I followed her inside. “How dare they!”

“Well the gonks that tried it are either dead, or in a lot of pain, and the one in charge… Well I can’t touch them. So I’m just ignoring it.”

“I got a message from Fujimura already.” Hiromi added as I walked over and flopped onto the couch.

“Well, you know my opinion on it.”

“Yeah. Looks like we’ll need to do some hunting, but it’s very likely, if Yuto is with 6th St. right now. That we are going to be the ones to take him out. To avoid any TC connections.”

I just shrugged. “We’ll kill him then. He caused enough trouble to piss me off.”

“Hey Motoko!” Malcolm called as he pulled off the VR set. “Didn’t hear you get in. Ichi, finish up Motoko is here.

I laughed at the boys as they disentangled themselves from the game they had started.

“I see you boys kept busy while I was dealing with things.” I teased.

“Nah, we only started after you called. We were worried.” Ichi said as he took his headset off. “You okay? No injuries?”

“It’s fine. Just casually getting attacked by a squad of Tyger Claw brats, and then sword fighting one of their elite. I’m okay.” I bragged a bit before going very very cold. “But I don’t take this as a joke. The Tyger Claws are on my shit list.” I spoke practically arctic air as I looked at all my chooms to make sure they understood.

Hiromi was the only one who looked as furious as I was on the inside.

“All this because they wanted Jun?” Ichi asked.

“I think…” I muttered trailing off as I sighed letting myself get warmer. “I think there is more going on that I can really understand. Wakako specifically wanted me to not go after revenge for this, and I think the fucker that did this got in trouble for it… I think this all stems from the stupidest thing humanity ever created… Politics.”

Hiromi spoke up then. “I don’t think we have the clout to really let the Tyger Claws know our displeasure… Yet. Don’t worry Motoko. I’ll remember this.” I almost felt bad because Hiromi was much more vindictive than I was.

I waved it off. “That’s… That’s later stuff. What did Fujimura say exactly?”

“The hit for Yuto Gonzales. Fujimura wants him found and killed. Proof of death is required… Bring him in bodily or at least his head. They want real confirmation of his death here.”

I waved it off. I could do that. “The problem is where he is.”

“Right, intel that Fujimura provided.” Hiromi said her eyes glowed blue as she started sending me a file transfer request.

I of course accepted, but went through the file very very carefully before opening it. Only the normal sort of bugs were on the program and those were zapped. Hiromi wouldn’t have even noticed them with her Arasaka soft protecting her.

I’d really have to do something about that though. I didn’t like how trusting Hiromi was with just taking files.

That was for another time though. Browsing through what Fujimura had sent me I nodded. It was actually not bad. He must have found someone solid to hunt down Yuto, or more likely the TC as a whole were pissed about this and they pulled their serious runners.

They knew where in Arroyo he had been hiding out, at least as of the day before he tried again to kill Kisaru.

So that meant I would have to check if he was still there, and if he was, finish this. Otherwise start hunting.

“Alright. This safehouse he was at. Ichi, what do you know about the area?” I asked and instantly as Ichi checked out the cleaned file I sent over he shook his head.

“Not much. I sometimes do some stuff in Arroyo, but not up there. Rancho Coronado is mega 6th St. Territory. Anything in the shadow of the damn belongs to them.”

“Then I’ll have to go in on foot and check it out.” I decided. I tapped at my thigh for a while. I remember how awful hunting shit down in Arroyo had been last time, and that had been in industrial areas. They might have more cameras, but I could guarantee they’d have a lot of netrunner defenses.

“I’ll head in from the highway. Not a terrible jog over from a good way away. I’ll do it tonight.” I decided and everyone nodded. “I’ll want some backup just in case… And then I actually smirked. “I know the perfect thing.”

—--

Fully equipped, relying on the night vision of my Kiroshi and doing my best to avoid any sensor nets that might be put up. I was slowly creeping down the desert mountain around Rancho Coronado. RC was surrounded by a mountain that a dam was built into, but it meant that other than some drops, there were plenty of places I could sneak into the area from once I was dropped off on the freeway above.

The others were close by including the secret surprise in case I found any trouble, but hopefully that simply wouldn’t be needed.

I needed this to go clean. The best resolution for this entire series of events was me killing Yuto, Fujimura taking credit for it, which would help balance out Jun’s ‘mistake’ which was a bullshit thing to blame him for.

Then it would be square, Jun could continue his life without this bullshit, Wakako would clear up the issue with Moritaka, at least she said she would, and I could go back to being proud of myself for never really joining the Tyger Claws after all.

Because this was all bullshit.

I dropped down and used some old shrubs for cover as I noticed a light. Just someone smoking on a balcony, but if they had good Optics, or just happened to catch some moonlight they could spot me.

I flipped on my directional mic, just in case anything was spoken aloud and waited. Five minutes later, without more than some grumbled curses at some game on their agent. The cigarette was put out, and the person headed back inside their little apartment.

Then I double checked to make sure I hadn’t missed anything and continued on.

Slipping out of the shadows like a snake I continued moving. I hadn’t noticed any sort of sensor defenses so far. It was a far bet that 6th St. would bother considering in turn they’d get hits on their net every time a kid ran around to play, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

And this time I was in luck. I made it all the way to the back yards around the ramshackle housing and from there, it was practically childs play to start slipping into the shadows and staying out of sight.

Luckily Yuto had been hiding out in one of the basement sections along the outer street.

At least if the intel was good, and I wasn’t going to walk into an ambush or something.

While there weren’t a lot of people out and about on the streets this late at night, on the floors above there were.

Small gatherings around burn barrels, and kids playing along the rooftops under the watchful eyes of their parents. The whole thing had a very run down feeling even for Night City.

For all the 6th St. Gang talked about improving neighborhoods, the fact they had fallen into drug dealing and other gang activities meant any improvement they had made to their homes had eventually dried up.

It was sad.

I kept moving, making sure to hide not just in the shadows, but behind objects as well. The quality of optics in the area could be terrible, or ex-special forces depending on who is around.

So I took it slow and careful and made my way to the building that Yuto might be in.

Crawling on the ground wasn’t fun. But it did make use of the two foot wall that bordered the building just before Yuto, so I was crawling along when I heard.

A noise that wasn’t odd anywhere else, but was here. A vehicle.

I laid lower, blending in with a bunch of garbage which was gross, but it let me break up my outline even more as I felt something approaching.

The noise of the truck marked it as something big. I heard it getting closer and closer, and just really didn’t want it to be some pickup for Yuto or something, but then it came right past me, and then kept going, towards the the other side of the block.

I peeked up and narrowed my eyes as a horde of 6th St. Guys climbed out and headed into one of the hab blocks.

Eventually everything went quiet again.

Whatever that was, it wasn’t for me.

I moved on.

I didn’t head directly for the stairs leading down into the basement area, instead I crawled around the outside of the building looking for any windows into the basement, or something.

Other than one window that was completely covered there was nothing.

Irritated at the failed attempt I headed back towards the basement stairs. Giving it a slow approach I kept an eye on the roofs around the building so no one would accidentally see, and then slowly slipped down the stairs brutal concrete stair ways were actually good for hiding, as the light that should have shined down on the stairs was long burned out, or broken.

I approached the bottom, and there was a monstrous steel door. Armored and secured, and I glared as I realized this might take a while.

I quickly scanned it through and realized with a relief that it had electronic security.

If it had been an old style key, or worse relying on someone on the other side to open it, this could have gotten irritating. I found the security pad and hummed.

Militech base, slightly modified, but old even so. With a moments work I popped open the metal front and looked into its guts, careful not to let it separate too much or else a wire might come loose and send an alert. Carefully taking my knife I slipped it into the gap careful not to cut anything wrong and slipped it in deep. Until the tip touched one of the connections deep inside.

With my other hand, I licked my thumb and awkwardly slipped it in, until my thumb touched another connection and then I tapped my knife against my thumb for just a second.

I heard the security lock release. And pulled my knife free and resecured the security case.

With a bit of work I quietly slipped the security door open, and moved inside, Copperhead brought up leading my way.

The hallway inside was dark, but quickly opened into one massive basement that had been converted into a studio apartment. The open space had a few couches around an entertainment system and a bed in the corner.

But otherwise it was empty.

I hugged the walls before checking the one other door in the room, but it was a bathroom, and was also empty.

So where was Yuto?

The room had no signs of where he could have gone at a glance. So I started digging.

Buck a Slice box on the table. Along with some half drained Brosef.

No easy laptops, or security systems to hack into. I checked around the bed, but didn’t find anything obvious. Just old bedding that hadn’t been made.

I explored the whole room without finding anything.

Honestly it didn’t look like Yuto had been here at all. I narrowed my eyes, it was always possible this was a trap, or at least bad intel. I hadn’t gathered it myself after all.

Finally I gave up finding any clues and was about to head out when I heard it. Bootsteps on concrete. Looking around I realized there weren't any good hiding places in the mostly bare room. The entire place was too open.

Then I looked up.

A moment later I leapt up into the ceiling, where old pipes, and A/C vents spiderwebbed across. With a bit of work I wedged myself inside, and went quiet. Time to see who was visiting.