With Jun's help we gathered up a bunch of stuff from the apartment. I really wasn’t able to help much as even a backpack would go over my still injured shoulders.
Still he gathered up a bunch of things including some of my repair work and tools, and we left the apartment.
It was kinda sad. I knew we would come back, eventually, but it was still sad to be sort of moving away from home.
It was where I felt safe.
Jun didn’t talk much on the way back to the Dojo apartments. Only speaking up about getting some food, which we stopped at on the way.
To my absolute shock Jun didn’t order a XXL Burrito.
Has Jun gone completely Cyberpsycho? Now I was actually worried, but he seemed normal as we ate on the drive back.
Truly watching Jun eat something other than XXL Burritos was too weird for this world!
We drove around instead of going straight to the apartment. Through a few heavy Tyger Claw zones as I could see them literally walking the street.
“Anyone following us will be spotted and removed.” Jun explained at my curious look as we finally made it down to the Dojo.
After hauling my stuff inside the apartment Jun left to do some Tyger Claw stuff.
His words.
I settled in for a sleep. It was time to do a full heal, see how well I would handle having new arms.
And start preparing for my revenge.
—--
I blinked awake, as always using the menu to sleep for eight hours left me feeling 100% rested, and wide awake. I sat up looking around. I had purposefully fallen asleep on the couch so that Jun could keep his bed so I didn’t see him as I looked around. Checking the clock I noticed it was only nine pm. Late, but not too late. Jun was probably still up even. With that I looked down to my arms and tried to move them.
That sluggish feeling was gone. But it still wasn’t right. Wasn’t normal.
I lifted my right arm and felt… Off. The feeling of a phantom limb struck me heavily. As I lifted my arm it felt like it was a second too slow, leaving my brain telling me my arm should be there, but it hadn’t made it.
I tested the same with my left arm finding the noodly arm effect was gone, but the foreignness was still present.
I stood up shaking myself loose from my slings that I had fallen asleep with. I felt my breath come out shaky. A tightness behind my eyes.
It was scary. What I had gone through, what they had done to me, and now the effects of which I was still dealing with.
I was scared.
I exhaled ice. The coldness creeping up my veins freezing my anxiety. My fears. I could deal with this. Hundreds of thousands of people live in Night City with Chrome arms. It wasn’t weird. Or impossible. Just a short time to get used to it and I would be fine.
It was just a change. Just one more change. Just like all the changes I had made since I woke up in the hospital. Just one more tiny alteration in my life.
I let the ice melt. Let my feelings slowly slip back into my thoughts.
I was scared. But not because I hated the cyborg arms. But because it hadn’t been my choice.
I had wanted this, but at my pace. I exhaled warmth. No tears threatened to come out. “Okay Motoko. Step one. Get used to the limbs.”Closing my eyes I stretched my arms out then opened them. Looking at them for the first time as mine.
They weren’t Militech Condors. They weren’t Chrome.
They were my arms.
My fingers were thin. The Ripper must have adjusted the… My arms, to suit a woman. I spread my arms sideways getting a feel for my wingspan. It was… About the same? Not an easy thing to tell, but it was there. My fingers were longer now. I realized I could clench my fists and my fingers didn’t rest at the same place they would have before.
I played with my fingers for a moment. Pressing each finger to my thumb one after another wiggled the digits, and even threw up a middle finger.
Just to make sure for next time.
Then I moved to my palms. They weren’t flesh. Instead a smooth stainless steel, or aluminum, but covered at parts with a rubberized grip. I could feel it. The sensors of the Cyberware gave me an almost accurate sense of touch.
The foreignness was still there, and I had to close my eyes and just breathe as I felt new sensations for old actions.
Touching my own palm shouldn’t cause me this much discomfort. Shouldn’t feel so wrong.
But I exhaled. Let myself simply adjust. Let the feeling of it flow through me. This was what my hand felt like. I pushed my hands together letting the feeling flow through my mind.
This was me.
I let my palms drift apart. Now I focused on my wrists. Feeling their range of motion. Every angle I would ever need as I slowly shifted my wrist this way and that.
My wrist was strong.
My old… No. My wrists before. My wrists before had been kinda weak. Not helped by the feeling of them breaking whenever I shot my Burya.
But I could feel how much stronger they were. The tension of pushing them to their limit actually a nice feeling. Yes it was strange but it didn’t hurt, like when you stretched with meat, a nice feeling.
I moved on
My forearms were coated smooth steel. Small gaps in the exterior showed the muscle underneath. I could see the synth muscle contract and shift as I moved my wrists, I let myself grow used to the sight, and feeling.
My elbow was weird. The range of motion was a lot wider. Able to go a bit beyond an elbow's normal range of motion on the extension. I repeated the motion for a while simply growing used to the differences.
My biceps were defined. The military nature of the limb was in full view, but it didn’t bother me. I had muscles before from all the Body training.
There wasn’t much to think about. It’s not like you really think about your bicep very often. The length was about right. And I could feel the muscles contracting as I curled my hands to my shoulders.
My shoulders were different. Obviously. They had a texture to them, my shoulders had an almost armored section. It wasn’t large, but it made my shoulder feel larger in my peripheral vision that was so clear with my Kiroshi.
I could feel the metal cool against my skin that ran from my shoulder to above my breast. The length of how far the arms had extended into my chest? Or just how the arms connected to my nerves?
No idea.
I exhaled letting the feeling pass.
These were my arms.
I opened my stat menu.
—--
Level 5
4750/6000
Body 6(10) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
-Athletics 5
-Street Brawler 5
-Annihilation 4
Reflex 6
-Blades 6
-Handguns 4
-Assault 3
-Driving 4
Intelligence 4
-Breach Protocol 3
-Quick Hacks 3
Cool 8
-Ninjutsu 7
-Cold Blood 6
Technical attribute 3(7) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
-Crafting 3
0 Stat point.
0 Skill point.
Perks.
Ambidextrous Blades 2
Quickdraw Handguns 2
Gun Nut Assault 2
Parkour Athletics 2
Grappling Street Brawler 2
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
Cyberware:
Militech Paraline *Adaptation Militech Paraline 0/0*
Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 0/2*
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 0/10*
The numbers soothed me. There weren’t any negatives, or loss of stats. It means I was okay. That I could grind out a bit and be back to where I was… No, be even better.
I liked that. The chrome hadn’t been my choice, but I had always meant to do it. To be better. I clenched my first and felt the pressure within the grip.
I blinked my eyes and sighed. I guess I could understand why chipping in chrome would drive you nuts.
My eyes still felt weird when blinking to the extent that not blinking felt more comfortable, but my body still wanted to blink. It was a struggle to keep from doing it.
Now I also had my arms feeling off. Every part of them worked. I could feel everything. The sensors were actually really advanced, but…
It wasn’t the same. And that feeling of offness was distracting.
Irritating.
Like if your arm fell asleep and you tried using it to do a normal task. You could, but the lack of normal sensation left you uncomfortable. Yeah. That was what it was like. I decided.
“Fine. I just have to get used to it.” I affirmed to myself once more, extending my arms and running through a test of my fingers. “Time to grind.” I muttered as I fell back on my Street Brawler knowledge. The knowledge of how to train to fight.
I threw a punch. It whipped out. It wasn’t right. The phantom limb was still there making the punch feel slow. Off.
I pulled back and threw it again.
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And again.
And again.
I would grow used to it mentally even if I can’t physically. Adaptation was probably going to be a very important stat for me right now. My hopes were pinning on the stat making everything go back to feeling normal.
That meant I had only one choice.
Kill.
Good thing I already had plenty of acceptable targets.
“What are you doing!?” Jun’s voice suddenly interrupted me as I punched, making me stop. I looked over he had just entered the apartment, and was looking at me in concern.
“Punching?”
“Sit down! You are still healing! Are you an idiot!?... Of course you are.” He muttered as he practically picked me up and sat me on the couch. A moment later he came back with a bag full of my tech stuff I had asked him to bring from the apartment.
“Light duty only! What part of that didn’t make it through your gonk head?” He cursed at me actually sounding pretty pissed as he slammed the bag on the table.
I winced. That wasn’t good for my tools Jun.
But I was wise! I kept my mouth shut and nodded along as Jun stalked around the apartment.
I would just wait for him to leave.
Until then I pulled out some of my tools and had a very strange session making some pieces that I was gonna use to modify my Unity. The old gun had been with me for a while. It was about time I spent a little time working on it.
It was almost an hour later when I finished the new trigger that would be a bit smoother than the old one, holding the part up to the light admiring its look when I realized.
My Unity was gone.
I put the trigger down and had to wipe my eyes.
—-
I was so bored.
Jun was still mother henning me. So I wasn’t able to do any real exercise or grinding when he was around, and he had patently refused to let me go anywhere. So I had been stuck inside playing with the few pieces of tech I had. I had already breached the security on every device in the apartment, and many of them in the building itself.
Bored, Bored, bored!
Jun though was a good big brother. He must have a Brother-Sense because as I was slowly losing my mind he pulled me out of the apartment and brought me over to the Dojo.
I was feeling relieved and happy, I might get some exercise done, until he walked me over to an older man that had on a Gi.
And a lot of Tyger Claw tattoos. But that was more the norm than not here.
“Sensei. This is Motoko.” Jun suddenly introduced me.
“Hmph.” Was the only noise he made as he looked me over. “I am Ozeki Sensei. Those arms of yours are new.” He said and it took me a moment to realize he was asking a question with how gravely his voice was.
“Yes.”
“Then you will be helpless as a babe until you learn them.” He said simply as he turned and grabbed a shinai off a rack and then threw it at me.
It wasn’t a gentle throw. I managed to keep from yelping as I jerked, my arms raising to catch them, but the timing was off. My hand wasn’t where I needed it to be and the sword ended up getting caught on my fingers and nearly smacking me in the face.
But I managed to seal both hands around the sword wincing as it creaked a bit but it was fine.
“Sensei… Light duty only.” Jun hinted loudly looking a little irritated but Ozeki Sensei just turned towards me.
“Kusanagi. You have a task to complete.” He dismissed Jun with a single sentence and even Jun realized it as he frowned but gave a small bow before turning and walking away.
Wait Jun. I was feeling very unsafe! Protect me!
“Now. Show me your stance!” He barked his voice so growly that I instantly did as I was told. Feeling myself falling into a neutral stance, shinai held out before me.
“Now Strike!” He demanded and I swung.
He didn’t like that. He ran me through the wringer.
I was supposed to be on light duty! Even if I was actually fine now! This was unfair!
—--
I had gained a few blade alerts by the time I was ‘released’ and allowed to run away back to the apartment.
It wasn’t like I was that tired or anything. It wasn’t that what he had me do was unlike what I normally do when I grind.
He was just intimidating! He growled and glared constantly! I work best with positive reinforcement you know!?
Still it was done. I escaped and went home, tinkered with my spare parts until Jun came back.
“I’ll be gone tonight. And most of tomorrow. Don’t leave the apartments. You can go to the Dojo, or speak to the secretary in the break room if you need something.” He ordered before I could even greet him as he rushed into his room and then came out carrying his weapons.
I realized he was going out to kill Maelstrom. Instantly I felt the itch to follow him. I could help. A lot. I could make sure Jun would be safe.
But Jun would never accept that. Not after what had just happened. I would need to ‘recover’ enough that I could push past his initial refusals.
I would need to grind.
“Jun-Nii. Be safe.” I demanded as he almost walked out the door, but I stopped him with a behind hug.
“I will. Imouto.” He answered softly, his voice breaking from that cold icy tone he kept falling back into. But he couldn’t stay he broke off and headed out of the apartment right after.
Once he was gone I turned around.
I picked up the table in front of the couch and moved it out of the way.
So I had at least twelve hours or more before Jun came back. Time to work through everything I knew until my arms could do what I expected them to.
I dropped down and started doing push ups. Then I pushed myself to my feet. Throwing punches into the air. I grabbed a pistol that Jun had left behind for me. He had noticed that I didn’t have my Unity anymore.
A Lexington. It felt close enough to my old Unity, if not quite the same, and after grabbing my old holster and fitting it in, I went back to it. Pushups, jumping jacks, punches, quick drawing. Everything I knew I would need. I even started juggling the magazine of the Lexington between my hands to make sure I could catch things.
And quickly reload the gun.
That foreign feeling never left. The Phantom limbs never lined up right.
But that was fine. I could live with it. As long as my arms did what I needed. As long as I could shoot, and punch and stab.
As long as I could kill.
—---
The next morning I went back to the dojo. The Sensei wasn’t alone. Another borg was there going through some Taichi if the knowledge from Street Brawling was reliable.
The fact she was seeming to hesitate a bit on some of the motions.
Yeah. She had been injured. New chrome. She was going through something similar to me.
But unlike me she was a borg. She had the weird leg blades that some of the Tyger Claw borged out women had and was doing her best to remain stable as she went through the movements. I watched for a while as Sensei led her through the kata.
“Who’s the kid?” The woman finally asked, her voice sounding completely electronic.
“Focus!” Sensei barked not answering until the woman was back in form.
“Motoko is Jun Kusanagi’s sister.” He finally offered only once the woman had proven she was focused again.
“Huh the kid's kid sister huh?” She muttered looking over to me before Sensei made a noise of displeasure and she refocused.
I continued watching until Sensei spoke up.
“Motoko. Join us.” He demanded. It wasn’t a request. I sighed internally, but rose up and slipped into the kata without issue.
Street Brawling hadn’t given me the direct knowledge on how to do it, but I could easily follow a new Kata. Especially one as slow and relatively simple as Tai-chi.
I followed along finding the rhythm without any issue. It wasn’t any more mindless than grinding with the punching machine so I quickly fell into the zone of just following Sensei’s moves.
*100 Street Brawler XP Gained.*
I blinked and felt a smile coming to my lips as the alert popped in.
“Motoko was it? Those arms of yours are new.” The woman said suddenly as we both followed the motions.
“Yeah. Strom decided it would be fun to cut my arms off and put on a set of cyberarms wrong. So I got a new set now. Trying to get used to them… It’s your hip right?” I pointed out, the woman had been favoring her left leg and the way she moved it was like her balance was off.
“Good eye.” She offered after a moment. “I took a round that punched through. Blew off my leg. Managed to pull myself out of the action. Got a refit and here I am. Getting used to the changes. Sensei is the best at getting us back up and running again. There is a reason we are camping out in his Dojo.”
“Hmph.” He grunted, eyeing us both as very specifically did a motion we hadn’t copied right.
Both of us jumped back to it but it seemed he was displeased.
“Akari. Motoko. You will spar.” He demanded instantly, and I looked at the woman. Akari I supposed to wonder what he meant, but she was smirking a bit at me.
“Sorry kid. I’ll go easy on you, but what Sensei says goes.” She said as her hands formed into fists.
Suddenly a Shinai was thrown at me. I only caught the motion due to my Kiroshi, I nearly fumbled as he had chucked it quite hard at me. I managed to get the grip and turn it into a flourish as I faced the woman.
“Hoh? Not bad kid. Try to keep up.” Akari offered before she… Moved.
Even with my Kiroshi I was barely able to react fast enough to fist arcing towards me. I wasn’t fast enough.
I wasn’t fast enough.
The fist stopped as it tapped my nose.
“Never fought someone with a Sandy before, have ya?” She asked with an utterly arrogant smile. “Gotta move quick kid, otherwise you get flatlined.”
“Fool.” Sensei said as he whacked the back of Akaris head. The older woman yelped and turned with a thunderous glare before seemingly calming after a moment. “What good is a spar if you use such tricks. Back to your place.”
“Yes Sensei.” Akari offered but there was a hint of angry rebellion in her voice.
“It’s okay. She’s right. I never faced Sandevistan. It’s good to see what it can do.” I offered trying to lower the tension that had suddenly appeared.
“Spar. Begin.” Sensei offered without any further words, and I refocused on Akari who didn’t seem to have any hesitation on her mind.
She rushed me, her fists clenched, but this time it was at a more normal speed.
I soon learned the Shinai wasn’t going to stop her, her Cyber arms were more than capable of blocking the Shinai without a care and sending a fist rushing for my stomach.
Since she wasn’t moving at sandy level speeds I managed to jump away, but then she was on me. Punches thrown at me in a barrage, fast and strong, her arms weren’t gorilla arms, but that hardly matters at a certain point. It was still a metal clad fist rushing me.
And so we sparred. She was better than me. Faster than me. Stronger than me.
It didn't take long until I was taking blows that left nasty bruises on my chest. My arms the only part of me strong enough to stop her fists from crashing into me. Even my Parry perk was simply knocked aside. The Shinai simply couldn’t last against her hits whenever I used it to try and parry her fists away, the faux bamboo creaking at the stress each time as I was forced to give up on the parry.
Finally I managed to get into a position that my thrust with the shinai wasn’t something she could ignore. The thrust would have slammed into her throat.
And then suddenly she wasn’t there. I blinked.
Actually blinked because it took me that moment to realize what she had done.
“Did you just do a backflip?”
“Course. My arms are more than strong enough to catch me. And my legs are way stronger. I’ve cut down Strom completely on my hands before.” Akari offered as she looked up towards me. Her body in a sort of scorpion pose with her arms holding her up. Her legs pointed towards me like she was going to strike and stab me.
Well… I could do that! Athletics, parkour, and even Cat-like gave me a solid understanding on how to move.
I rushed her this time.
Her legs flicked out, the pointed cyberware more than strong enough to knock me senseless.
I spun letting the blow pass me as I crouched down swiping at her left arm to force her to lift it to block.
Then I leapt rolling sideways over her striking leg flipping in the air as I landed on her other side. The shinai swiping out while it wasn’t strong enough to truly hurt her, it was more than strong enough to jerk her arm back as I slammed it into the inside of her elbow.
She fell, her other arm still returning down to regain stability as She took a tumble, instantly she rolled with the motion, her cyberware the only thing keeping her from a neck injury as she rolled back to her feet and attacked me.
I back flipped landing on my new arms with only a slight bit of wobble to avoid her leg slashing through where I had just been.
This was fun!
I got back to my feet just in time to block a few kicks and punches with my shinai. Akari though wasn’t happy.
She looked kinda pissed.
“Akari!” Sensei suddenly barked out as I dodged another strike from the womans feet, but she wasn’t listening.
Oh.
Oh I guess this was suddenly not a spar.
She moved.
Fast. A blur of colors as she approached and struck.
I had only barely got my arms crossed to block the punch that sent me tumbling. I let myself roll a few times even with my breath taken from me before I extended my legs catching the matt floors to break my momentum. I used my arms to make sure I wasn’t smashing my face into the ground.
When I stopped I was already staring at her, ready to leap back up from my split leg position, my hands gripping the mat ready to launch me into the air if need be.
“Akari!” Sensei was pissed but the woman just stood there, seeming to take a minute to calm herself.
“Well kid, how’re the arms. Still have the phantom limbs?” She asked and in that moment… No.
The speed of the attacks and the focus on fighting had blurred the sensation.
I was breathing heavily as I caught my breath so I couldn’t say much.
That was okay Sensei had enough words for me.
“Akari. Meditation! You obviously lack control over your spirit. Go!” He barked at the end and even the borged out woman jumped a little at his words.
“Yes Sensei. Keep it up kid. You might just be worth keeping around.”
“You wouldn’t say that if I was coming from out of sight.” I grumbled quietly, as I finally pushed myself back to my feet. Rubbing my chest I grumbled a little. “Supposed to be on light duty.”
“That is unnecessary. You have already healed plenty.” Sensei suddenly said from beside me, startling me at his sudden appearance.
“How’d you know?”
“I deal with many men and women that need physical adjustment to their chrome. I know what an injury looks like. Your chest?” It took me a moment to realize he was asking after my injury.
I shrugged but he didn’t look satisfied so I did a few stretches and breathed deeply and while it was sore and painful I was fine. “It’s fine.”
“Good. Akari is usually more in control. It will not happen again.” He said with a growl.
“It was fine. She isn’t the first borg I’ve fought.” I shrugged. Honestly it was good practice. A reminder that despite my benefits I could still be overpowered.
He looked me over before nodding. “Come. You could use meditation as well. Akari will walk you through it.” He called out and I could hear the woman grumble from the sidelines where she had moved away and sat cross legged.
“C’mon kid. Time to bring yourself into alignment as Sensei likes to say.”
I shrugged. As I settled in.
To my surprise Akari wasn’t a bad teacher, and I realized long after I settled in cross legged with my hands formed into different poses to let myself align. That this entire thing was a course for potential Cyberpsychos. Jun was with them, and Akari was a member of Kamikaze as well.
They were all here under Sensei’s watchful eye. Kept healthy and stable as the Tyger Claws could get them.
Huh. I was kinda surprised. You don’t expect a gang to care that much, but I guess when you put in thousands of eddies worth of equipment into them, keeping them from completely losing it was in your best interest.