“Don’t slow down now!” I called out and Malcolm grunted as he continued jogging, although I could tell he was flagging.

Eventually he gave up and walked over to lean against a SCSM to gasp for air.

“Don’t stop moving. Keep walking around a little.” I warned him, and after a glare he did so.

“I-I should get some Synth Lungs.” He gasped out and I laughed and just shrugged. While it wasn’t something I would recommend as the exercise was sort of the point, extra stamina would mean I could work him harder. “This sucks.”

I just laughed at his defeated tone.

“It gets easier! Besides, it's good for you! Exercise is something everyone needs.”

“No. Food, drink? That’s stuff we need. Exercise is a mistake.” He grumbled and I just sent him a smirk.

He was saying that, but it had been his idea to ask me for help, and there was no way he was going to give up now.

I wouldn’t let him for one, but more importantly, I don’t think he would let himself.

I reached past him and hit the button on the SCSM and he jerked a bit as a drink popped out.

“Take that and cool off, but don’t stop walking, you don’t want to cramp up.” I told him and he nodded but followed my orders.

Then while he was doing that I started my own exercise.

We were in a quiet spot under an overpass, so I was going to use it to my advantage. I started running and then started tumbling. Back flip after backflip into a spin and I landed and then turned around and did the same thing back.

I was pushing for that next level of Athletics. Plus it might get me some Body xp too. I continued pushing, warmed up from the run. I pushed myself hard, using the stretch of sidewalk to just move as much and as fast as possible.

I only paused, finishing a fun spin to land in front of Malcolm. “You ready to continue?” I asked him cheerily.

“Fuck that.” He said instead and I laughed at him, despite the fact my own breath was coming out a bit hard.

“Relax choom. That’s my exercise, not yours. C’mon you’re breathing more normally, time to jog some more.”

“Fuuuck.” He grumbled and we both started running, I would break into flips, or start doing some parkour on things whenever I could just to get a bit more out of it. Much to Malcolms grumbled dislike. “Show off.”

“Keep working out and you’ll be able to do it too! You’d be amazed at how often a flip, or just coming at someone from a weird angle will give you the advantage in a fight.” I commented, breathing a little hard with how much I was going at it.

“Motoko, I’ve seen you fight before. Hell, I've cleaned up after your fights before.”

“Cleaned up? You mean looted.” I teased.

“Tomato, Tomato.” He gasped out and I couldn’t help but laugh, slowing down a bit to match his slowing pace.

“How’re you feeling?” I asked quietly, and Malcolm stopped again and started bending over to breathe.

The Kang Tao attack had been a shock.

“I hate… I hate getting shot at.” He eventually said, an answer to a question I hadn’t really been asking.

“It does suck.” I agreed, bullets hurt.

“No, but… I couldn’t do anything. You fought back. You got us out. Ichi reacted. But I froze up and took cover.”

“Taking cover is a good instinct.”

“But I couldn’t… I should have got up and fought back, but I was freaking out. Becca got shot and I just.”

“You reacted just fine. No one was expecting that sort of shit… If you’re that worried then we’ll keep training. I can probably find some paintball guns or something, and do some tactical training.”

“Motoko, you’re such an old lady. Just get a training shard. Or a BD.” He said, giving me a look and I just huffed.

“Doing something yourself is more valuable than some shard or Braindance.”

“Says the girl that makes BD’s?”

“Which goes to show I know what I’m talking about!” I called out proclaiming my victory.

He rolled his eyes which meant I won.

“C’mon. Get moving again.” I demanded and he groaned and started trotting after me.

As we carried on, I finally got what I wanted out of it.

*100 Athletics XP Gained.*

*Athletics skill level up!*

Athletics 8. I felt my breath even out, and the way I breathed shifted to make intaking oxygen easier.

Yeah. That would be useful.

—---

“You already decided that Section 9 should have an actual work day. So what’s the difference here?” Hiromi asked and I sighed as I was defeated by my own logic.

“Fine. I’ll let you schedule some time weekly where I do music stuff. I mean. I have some songs I could put together, but I’m not really in the mood for like, a big gig.” I reminded her and she waved it off.

“Of course not! I… I messed up before, so I’m not going to push for that sort of thing again. This is your pace, but as your manager I still want to make sure you get everything out of this you can. Which means more songs and practice. And we can use that to meet other artists!” Hiromi cheered at the end.

“What does that have to do with anything?” I asked confused and Hiromi gave me a superior look before stopping and seemingly catching herself.

“You might need actual bandmates for some songs, or just want to play with other people. You really enjoyed jamming out with Mr. Fox… And if you meet another artist that likes you, we might get you a spot as an opening act!” She admitted and I laughed at her minor reveal.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Let’s table that last bit for a while… Jun did mention that Alice wanted me to play some music with her band. But there might be some trouble with that. The Band might be going through some drama.”

“Ooh! Drama means an opening!” Hiromi said and I snorted.

“It means a massive pain in the ass that I don’t want to deal with.” I countered and she opened her mouth to argue before sighing.

“Yeah that’s fair. But still! Music time?”

“Fine. I have some ideas for something more electronic than my rock stuff.” I said and Hiromi was interested immediately.

“Tell me everything!”

“I’m not sure yet… It’s kinda complicated… I’ll need my music box, but I might be able to generate what I need? I kinda need some specific samples that I might have to make myself… Which is kind of a weird thought.” I mumbled, but Hiromi thankfully wasn’t a music person so she didn’t understand how weird what I just said was.

“We can reserve a sound stage if you want?” She said already looking like she was about to do it.

I hesitated but nodded. I’d need better recording equipment anyways.

“Go ahead. I’ll grab my stuff.” I said pointing to where my music equipment was sitting in the corner, including my music box.

“Yeees!” Hiromi cheered as she turned away to start making whatever calls she needed.

“Makes us, Harder~” I sang quietly to myself. Yeah that should be an interesting chore.

—--

“Like this?”

“Yeah, go ahead and pull that out, We’ll need to rebuild it.” I confirmed as I was already putting the information into my 3D printer.

“Preem.” Rebecca said as she pulled out part of the gas exchange system on an old HMG. I wasn’t going to question where she got one, not with all the different paints covering it, she must have had it for a long time, but she had mentioned she was struggling to get it repaired and I had offered to help.

“You really know your stuff.” She said as she finally got the piece disassembled and we could both see the crack through the part.

“I’ve had to fix up my HMG after a gig before.” I explained simply.

“Heh. You want a drink?”

“Oh please.” I answered back even as I was still working with the CAD system to get the 3d Printer to print out what I needed.

Rebecca got off her couch and headed to her fridge. I was over at her apartment. The one she shared with Pilar, and boy was it a bit weird to see the place.

I remember seeing it in Edgerunners. Although that had been a long time now, and then afterwards I had gone into the game and checked out the place as well, even if it had been owned by a corrupt cop by then.

But it was still kinda weird to see it for real.

Then the door suddenly opened and I blinked in surprise as Pilar himself stepped in.

“Whoa. Who the gonk?” He called out a little startled at my appearance.

“Pilar!” Rebecca called out in surprise and actually ran up to him, but stopped before she seemed about to jump into a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Eh, finally got the all clear from Maine. We’re free from any issues with Biotechnica. So I’m home to enjoy my own bed for a change.” He replied lazily, but I could tell his optics visor was focused on me.

“Preem! Motoko was just working with me on fixing my old HMG.” She explained to him, at his obvious interest at my appearance.

“Hey. Nice to see you again.” I greeted calmly, but I was still focused on getting the part printed.

“Huh. Well whatever. Don’t break that shit. I’m not fixing it.” He said and Rebecca instantly started glaring.

“It’s already broken you gonk! Remember! You said you’d fix it like a year ago!”

“Eh, I’d get around to it.” He replied, but that was definitely a lie, even I could pick up on it.

“Whatever. Motoko and I are doing it. We need my HMG for gigs anyways.”

“Fuck that. Do you remember the last time you took that thing on a gig? You nearly flatlined Maine!”

“I did not! There was a Strom sneaking up on him!”

“You lost your footing. Nearly blew Maines hair off.”

“Fucking! That’s not what happened!” She screamed back at him in anger, and then Pilar scoffed.

“Dammit Becca, You’re too emotional for this shit! You yell and scream and freak out on gigs!” Pilar snarled back, but where Rebecca was furious he was more cool.

Ah. He was doing it on purpose, to show the difference, his cool anger and her boiling rage.

“Fuck off!” She snapped and Pilar just scoffed.

“See? You’re just like-”

“Don’t fucking say it!”

“Our Mom.” He finished and Rebecca went quiet, but her jaw was clenched and her teeth barred.

The room went quiet and Pilar just scoffed. “Cut this shit out, you don’t have the damn brain to be an Edgerunner. So just chill.”

“Fuck you!” She snapped out finger up and out, but Pilar was walking away.

“Rebecca has what it takes to make a great Solo. Edgerunner or not.” I called out, knowing getting involved was probably a bad idea, but fuck it.

“And you! I don’t give a shit, but stop dragging my sister into shit.” He said, ignoring my words and instead pointing with his long fingers.

“She’s not dragging me into shit! Fuck you Bro!”

“Whatever. You heard me.” He demanded but it wasn’t like I was going to listen to this guy.

“That’s up to Rebecca. I don’t take orders from you.” I said simply.

He didn’t respond but I got a look that I’m pretty sure was a glare. But it was hard to tell with his visor obscuring his face.

Rebecca growled, started pacing back and forth and I considered what to say but instead of trying to comfort her, or anything. I instead pulled out the completed part.

“Done. Let’s get this HMG fixed. Yeah?” I offered instead. If Rebecca wanted to be an Edgerunner she’d always have a spot with me. She was skilled, and more importantly loyal. There weren’t a lot of people in Night City I’d trust with my back more than her.

She blinked at my words, seemingly trying to figure out what they meant before scoffing.

“Yeah. Gotta get it ready for next time.” She said and I nodded. Exactly.

—--

I didn’t want to admit it, but starting this song had left it itching in the back of my head, so I was once more at Denny’s studio slowly reforging a song piece by piece.

Cutting and sampling in a way. Despite the fact I was actually sampling music for the song I was going to create outright

Ugh. This sort of work was so complicated, and I really did prefer just old Rock, but some songs were just more than a genre.

I was actually making the bones for multiple songs as I worked. Jumping on a guitar and just making the samples I would need for more than just one.

It was more efficient than just focusing on one song at a time.

Of course I was surprised as I moved into the actual studio to see a familiar face.

A face I wasn’t happy to see.

“Denny.” I offered back, and there was obviously some unhappiness in my voice. The woman raised an eyebrow at me from under her massive afro.

“What’s got your panties in a bunch?”

“You turned Tank into a dick ad music!” I snapped back and she blinked before letting out a chuckle and then to my annoyance just shrugging.

“Is that what they used it on? Ah well. It happens.”

“The fuck it does.” I grumbled at her, and was annoyed that she was in front of the equipment that I needed to use, looking over the tracks I was recording.

“It does. Even Mr. Studd needs jingles. Trust me kid, you make music, you’re going to hear a song you slaved away for that took all your creative energy used to sell scop burgers, or worse. It’s just how it is.”

“Tank’s a good song, and I’ll never get to play it again without people thinking I’m the Mr. Studd artist.”

“Pfft. Yeah. Yeah.” She agreed and there was some obvious melancholy there but just because she sympathized somewhat didn’t mean I was happy.

“Can I help you? I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

“Yeah I noticed your name, and thought I’d step in, check what you’re working on, but this… This isn’t a song.”

“It is, but I’m certainly not selling this one to you.” I offered and made it pointed by stopping the playback she was listening to by hitting stop.

“Oh it’s like that? You think there are other people interested in buying?”

“Denny I don’t care if no one ever buys one of my songs again. I’ll still play them. I’ll still scream to the heavens every note. I’m a merc. I’m not in this for eddies.”

“Yeah? You mean that don’t you.” She offered with a little smirk on her face, but in the end she shrugged. “Keep that fire kid, but be prepared for everyone to try and snuff it out. This industry doesn’t make firebrands like that anymore.”

“Maybe it should.” I argued back. Not that I was interested in burning down the music industry if I had to.

I’d rather just turn the entire thing into a bloodbath if I was honest.

Hard to kill an industry, much easier to cut out the rot.

“Maybe it should.” She agreed and then waved behind her shoulder as she walked out. What an uncomfortable meeting.

She’s lucky I didn’t break her stupid face for buying my song to make dick music. That was something I would never forgive.