The next morning I headed out to go see Judy. I did at least wait until afternoon, as I was pretty sure Judy wasn’t a morning person. She just gave me that vibe.

Pulling up into Lizzies I was greeted at the door by a different bouncer than usual. Rita wasn’t there. But I was waved through and I headed into the back and down the stairs.

I slipped into Judy's studio, only to find Judy mid BD.

I shrugged and grabbed a chair and settled in waiting for her to finish her editing. Or whatever she was doing. Unfortunately this was boring, and it wasn’t like I could go and hack into her system. Judy wasn’t Hiromi.

So I just waited. Minutes passed as I watched Judy sort of mumble to herself as she rested on the chair.

Finally she shifted, slipping the wreath up away from her eyes and letting her stretch a bit.

“Hey Judy.”

“EEEEEee!” She shrieked as I accidentally startled her.

I should probably stop doing that.

“Sorry Judy, you okay?” I asked after a moment as Judy was gasping for air and holding her heart.

“Don’t do that!” She hissed at me, hand clutched to her heart.

“Sorry! I just didn’t want to disturb you while you were working.”

She muttered a few expletives in spanish under her breath as she slowly rose up and took a few steps around as if gathering herself again.

“You are way too quiet. Those Lynx Paws of yours must be high end.” She finally said and I tilted my head.

“I don’t have a pair of Lynx Paws. I thought about getting them, they would definitely help me be sneaky, but I haven’t picked them up yet.”

“What? That’s not right, you’re already super quiet. What do you have that lets you do that?”

“Practice mostly.” I answered semi-truthfully, I even pulled up my boots and undid one to show my normal fleshy foot. “See.”

“Shit!” she blinked before shaking herself a bit. “What crazy corpo black ops training did you crawl out of? Half the stuff on the BD, I have no idea how you even do it. Really Motoko… It was eye opening. Where did you learn to move like that?”

I decided a lie was perfect here. Let people draw their own conclusions. “Well my Mom used to be a Netrunner, and my dad was a Solo. They worked together.” I decided to offer with a shrug, as if that explained everything.

Nailed it.

“Right… Crazy. Anyway. You here for the BDs?”

“Yeah! Did you finish them?”

“I did… I spent all night editing them. The side jobs were smooth, I actually thought they were pretty interesting. The Maelstrom one? It was preem work. Terrifying but preem. Took forever to edit the virtu, but it was good… You, uh… Do that a lot? Killing people?” She asked nonchalantly as she was busying herself with her system, leaning back and pushing some keys on a keyboard.

I hummed a bit. “Sometimes. Depends on the gig and the people. I’ve killed a lot of Maelstrom recently, but that’s more for personal reasons.” I replied, wiggling my hand a little to show what I meant.

“Right. Right. Preem.” She muttered, obviously uncomfortable with the thought.

“Not really your thing huh?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“I don’t like XBDs. There’s a reason I do BD work for the Mox, and not anyone else.” She mentions pushing a final key and looking over to me, her expression was still uncomfortable, but I could see her try to get over it.

I winced a bit. “Sorry. Should Nox and I find a different editor?”

“No, no nothing like that. It just makes me uncomfortable, but it ain’t the first time I scrolled some fucked up shit. This was less fucked up than most to be fair. Really it was the surprise at how it felt more than anything. You’re more deadly than you let on. You know?” She said quietly, looking me over as if… Well I guess she was comparing the me that was sitting in a chair in front of her, to the one she had seen in the BD.

I could only shrug and smile at that. “I try.”

“Yeah.” Judy said awkwardly before pulling herself together, she reached over and hit a button on a machine connected to her system, a short buzzing noise echoed out, and I blinked when I recognized it. A BD file producer.

As I watched a few BDs started clunking out, each of them wrapped in that stupid condom wrapper.

Four in total.

“Well here you go. The first of your BDs.” She said, swiping them up and offering them to me. I quickly grabbed each of them, gently looking them over. I couldn’t help but snort as the wrapper had Mox colors, and well… The packaging wasn’t really matching. But I knew how to be polite, and it was a Nox problem.

“Thanks Judy.”

“Hey don’t mention it. Nox is the one who bribed me to do this, so it’s not like you owe me anything.”

“Still thanks. I can’t wait to show these to my Choom Hiromi. I hope it cheers her up a bit.”

“XBDs would cheer her up?” Judy asked, sounding a little skeptical.

“Not that! Not exactly, but like. Seeing what I do because she’s been a little trapped and… it’s a long story.”

“Right, not my bizz. I-”

“JUDY! I’m here!” Nox suddenly called out as he ran down the steps, his hair a bit in disarray.

“Did you just get out of bed?” I couldn’t help but ask as I noticed the way his hair was everywhere and he looked half asleep.

“Yes! Hey Motoko, I was up all night waiting… but I’m here! Judy, you finished the BDs?”

“Yep, a while ago, they weren’t super long, not like a long session… Anyways. You need to make them though. You aren’t burning through my printer.”

“Aww. C’mon Jude, You know Suzie charges me!”

“It costs money to make BD’s Nox, you know that.”

“How much? I have some cash I can put in.” I offered, interrupting as Nox was going full puppy dog.

“Hey I can’t do that Motoko… You already put in enough eddies!”

“It’s not a big deal Nox.” I offered my eyes going blue as I threw a couple grand towards Nox. “There you go. That should be enough to get started right?”

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“A-a-eh!” He choked a bit but Judy just snorted at his reaction.

“Just make sure you make more than you spend Nox.” She tells him as she pulls a shard out of her computer. “Here. These are the four files. Go on, I got some work to finish up… After my break.” She muttered rubbing her eyes a bit. I guess I had been proven wrong, Judy was a morning person, she just stayed up all night to be one.

“R-right. C’mon Motoko! Let’s go! I’ll show you how to make some BDs.”

I shrugged, willing to take a look.

The puppy-I mean, Nox led me upstairs chattering away at how he had already put some buyers together, and if sales went well, he knew some street kids that would sell them on his behalf.

Nox definitely had some ideas about spreading them around.

It was cute how excited he was about it.

He led me up and into one of the BD booths upstairs, where I did my best to ignore the music and the partying going on around me.

He put the shard into a machine along the wall, and with a few options selected, BDs began flowing out.

“I’ll start with like ten of each, spread it around, let some interest build up. I hope it’ll explode right out, but sometimes it takes a bit before buyers will start biting, word of mouth and stuff… That okay?” He asked over the blaring music and I threw him a thumbs up.

“Yeah nothing happens instantly. Just let me know. I don’t know when my next gig will be, but I’ll let you know once I have some more cool recordings.

“Great! Okay! All done.” He said the same backpack he had when I first rescued him was now full of BD wrappers.

“Do you… Want to come along? See the process?” He asked, sounding a little nervous. Was he worried about getting jumped again?

“Sorry I have some other stops to make, but if anyone causes you any trouble call me. I’ll come help.” I told him. While he smiled at my reply, it was a bit of a weak one.

“Right. I guess I’ll see you later?”

“Of course. Keep in touch Nox, let me know how the sales go! I’m super excited to hear about it.”

“I’ll… I’ll send texts every day, to uhh. Update you?”

“Preem!”

—--

Funnily enough, it was Hiromi that gave me the idea for my next grinding session.

Her Arasaka ICE had been a good whetstone to grind against for my overall Netrunning skills.

So I headed over to Yoko’s for my next adventure. The Netrunning Cafe was as busy as always, only one of the chairs was actually in use.

But as always Yoko was standing there already watching me behind her glasses as I entered.

“Oh? Back already?”

“I need some ICE. Preferably something pretty high end.” I told her and flashed her a smile.

“You already know what I deal in. Any information to trade?” Yoko’s question made me wince. I really didn’t have anything.

“I don’t suppose what I just asked for is something I can buy with Eddies?”

“Not unless you want some over the counter WET.” She said with a blank look behind her sunglasses.

“Wet?” I couldn’t help but ask. The way she said it was weird.

“ICE that’s melted. Already been solved. Useless.” She informed me and I nodded. That was good to know. It also gave me an idea.

“Actually… WET would be just fine. Do you have something that was solid before it was solved?”

Yoko seemed to take in my words with a sort of confused stare, before she shrugged.

“Sure Motoko, I have some old copies of everything, it’s sort of my thing. What do you want?”

“How much will…. Two grand get me?” I asked checking my account. Wakako had given me some good eddies for the gigs I had done plus bonuses. I could spend a little here. Splurge really.

“I’ll go get you a stack.” She replies laughing a little as she disappears into the back.

Cool!

—---

So I now had a ton of shards that had ICE programs.

But I needed something to run them on, and I had a good option…

But it involved going home.

I still had another repaired laptop in the apartment. But I hadn’t been back alone since…

So I took a deep breath and drove over. Sliding into my parking spot in the parking garage, and checking my guns. Making sure my Burya was loaded… I also grabbed my Carnage.

Just to make sure.

Then I walked up to the apartment fully loaded for war. It earned me a few looks, but I was just happy there were people around again. In fact!

I happily took a slight skip in my goal as the food cart guy that sold the tasty mystery meat balls on a stick was in his usual spot out the front door.

“Morning!” I greeted, as I passed over some eddies and got my usual order in return.

“Glad to see you’re alive, kid.” He offered with a nod, but that was all the words he offered and I wasn’t waiting around.

I headed inside. Passed the piled up trash, that was actually worse than normal. A few of the old asian guys that were playing chess just inside were back in their normal spots.

It was almost like before. Just without the protection of the NCPD ever arriving if something went wrong.

I took the stairs easily racing up the flights until I arrived home.

The door opened easily.

Home.

I took a deep breath and let it out.

I finished off my meat stick, placed my Carnage on the table and flopped onto the couch.

It was good to be home. The last time where we just grabbed stuff wasn’t the same thing.

Still I wasn’t here to relax.

I was here to grind.

I grabbed my Laptop, I had planned on selling this one, but using it as training was good too.

I installed one of the WET ICE from the pile of shards, and locked down the laptop.

Just because the ICE was solved, and wouldn’t stop any Netrunner that knew what they were doing, doesn’t mean it wasn’t still good security if they didn’t have the solution. It was like a lock that everyone had a key for. But if you chose not to use a key and instead tried to picklock it… Well it was still a lock.

Really it just meant I could pull out my cord and jack in, and start hammering the security.

It didn’t matter if the ICE noticed.

It didn’t matter if I failed, or succeeded.

If I failed, I just tried again. If I succeeded then I could just uninstal the ICE, chuck the shard in the trash, and grab a fresh one.

I wasn’t going to stay at home the whole day. So after just a couple hours of intense grinding, I locked everything down and decided to head back to the dojo. I couldn't let Jun start freaking out when I didn’t come back.

But I left with plenty of alerts.

*Intelligence Leveled up!*

Intelligence 6.

*Breach Protocol skill level up!*

*1 Perk Point Gained.*

*Breach Protocol skill level up!*

Breach Protocol leveled twice in just that amount of time. Since I was breaking ICE without worrying about alerting someone, or having some Black ICE catch me unaware, I was able to go all out. Uncaring about mistakes, or caution.

I learned a lot, even without the levels, but with them?

Breach Protocol 6. I was filled to the brim with knowledge about breaching system security. In a way I was at the point where I finally realized how little I knew about it.

I shook off the knowledge of the mountain I was staring up at when it came to the knowledge of the net, and instead focused on getting back to Jun.

I decided to keep the perk saved for now. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what I wanted out of it yet. A little time to think about it would do me some good.

—--

After a winding route back home, carefully making sure I wasn’t followed I made it back to the dojo apartments. Finding Jun already napping in his bedroom, I crashed on the couch and decided I would join him.

My brain was tired from all the Netrunning. I didn’t like puzzles, and Breaching systems was like the worlds most complicated puzzle game.

I just had to deal with it for now until I got good enough that the puzzles were all easy mode.

I set myself a sleep schedule for eight hours and activated it, passing out instantly.

I did not sleep for eight hours.

I startled awake.

Something was wrong.

I looked around, having grabbed my Burya off the living room table as I rose up. The TV was off, there weren't any noises. No intruders no movement…

But something had struck that chord in me to wake up. I blinked the tiredness out of my eyes, since I didn’t get my full eight hours I was groggy.

But then I heard it.

Sirens.

I ran to the window, but couldn’t see anything.

But I could hear them.

I turned on the TV, switched to the news and got my confirmation.

“-Are once more on the streets. A full deployment of all NCPD forces have been released onto the city to once more secure a peaceful Night City. The Curfew is in full effect. NCPD has asked us to remind all citizens, that the safest action they can take is to head home and lock their doors until NCPD once more secures any and all troublemakers in our fair city-”

I turned away from it then, opening Jun’s room to see him still passed out as I flipped on the lights.

“Wha!” He surged up and looked around confused.

“Jun! The NCPD are back. Listen!” I demanded and he blinked confused at me for a moment until he heard the sirens as well.

“Shit!” He cursed as he jumped out of bed and grabbed the first clothes he could find. Before rushing out of his room and towards the dojo.

Since I was wondering what the Tyger Claw response was. I decided to follow. Benefits of Jun being higher up in the gang I guess.

We both slipped into the dojo, only to discover it was surprisingly calm.

Jun looked around before finding Sensei.

“Sensei!”

“Kusanagi… Kusanagi.” He greeted us both but focused on Jun. “So you heard?”

“Motoko woke me. Are there any orders?”

“No.” The voice that responded wasn’t Sensei. Instead Fujimura, walked out from around the corner, if memory serves, there was an office over there. “We knew exactly when the NCPD would return. The word went out, and all contacts are going to ground tonight. The NCPD will not find the Tyger Claws in their sights. So stay off the streets.” He rumbled out a metal finger pointing, but not quite making contact with Jun’s chest.

“Understood Fujimura-Sama.”

I shrugged, fair enough. I wasn’t about to run out on the streets with the NCPD probably arresting anyone and everyone.

With that Jun started a conversation with Fujimura, that I didn’t care about, and I wandered off.

The dojo was quiet and Sensei just gave me a little nod showing he saw me, but he was speaking with Jun and Fujimura as well.

So I went back to the apartment. Settling back onto the couch and turning on the news.

Of course the news was filled with ‘positive’ situations happening throughout the city. It was all bullshit propaganda, but it did give me an idea of how fast NCPD was spreading across the city.

I couldn’t help but wonder how the return of law enforcement would affect Night City.