“No way Simon makes it this time. This is his third try.” I argue even gesturing with my hands at Wakako.

“He is scrappy, and he has a great desire. I think he will make it.” Wakako offered taking a drag as we argued about the show she had been watching.

Apparently Wakako was really into this weird mix of Price is Right, and Takashis Castle, gameshow.

Night City Televison was fucking weird.

One segment will have these people trying to win prizes in strange games, and the next segment would be them getting their ass beat by A borg dressed up like a Kabuki actor with a massive only slightly padded Kanabo.

I was pretty sure a few people had died even with the fuzzy Kanabo blunting the strikes.

Fucking wild ass mix of boring American, and unhinged Japanese TV show.

But it was both kinda interesting, and boring as fuck in equal measures. I just didn’t get future TV.

“Ah. He is here.” Wakako offered, glancing up and I noticed that she knew long before I could hear the sound of the parlor door opening.

Someone was keeping an eye on things for her. Sneaky Wakako.

I relaxed in my seat with a smirk as I waited for Jackie to enter.

I could hear him chatting with the receptionist Wakako hired, and then I realized the gonk was actually flirting with her.

Was Jackie flirting just his instinct when he was nervous? I’m pretty sure it was, although I could see Wakako wasn’t pleased.

But a few moments later he got shot down, and was told to enter the room, and I could barely suppress my grin, instead staying cool thanks to Cold Blood to keep myself with only a small smirk.

Jackie stepped in through the beaded curtain, obviously trying to hide how nervous he was, but Wakako and I could both tell as he rose to his full height. He opened his mouth to speak before stuttering to a stop as he noticed me sitting in the room as well.

Our eyes met, and I just kept smirking.

“Jackie Welles. You completed the gig I assigned, got me the information I desired.” Wakako said, suddenly cutting off our little moment. “The gig was difficult, meant to see if you have what it takes to work under me. I’ve decided to give you a chance.” She offered and I could see the energy rush into Jackie at the words.

“I… I won’t let you down Wakako, You can count on me.” He said, tearing his eyes off me, to focus on Wakako.

Smart move.

“Perhaps.” She said and then she started going into a spiel about what she would be expecting from him working under her.

It was interesting because she hadn’t done something like this for me. I guess my infiltration talents meant she didn’t feel the need…

Or I guess Wakako had just not expected much from me at the start, until I actually succeeded and made my skills evident.

I focused back on the conversation as she seemed to come to the end of her spiel.

“You will also be given some gigs to complete in the coming days. I will be assigning one of my agents to assist you during the gigs, and ensure you are as capable as I expect. She may also bring you onto her own gigs if she feels your skills will be useful. Motoko?”

“Thanks Wakako!” I said smiling, turning to Jackie and seeing the confusion on his face. Soaking in the look of utter incomprehension on his face, but also the desire not actually admit he had no idea what was going on.

Ah. That was the feeling of satisfaction of revenge from being underestimated alright.

“Jackie, nice to see you again. I’ll be expecting you to help me out from now on. I have high hopes for you.” I say with a grin and simply delighted in how Jackie’s confusion only grew.

“Ah… I look forward to it, Hermana?” He said, although his tone made it come out a question.

“Wakako anything for him today?” I asked, and she shook her head as I rose up out of the seat. “Great. Then I’ll get him out of your hair!” I chirped standing up and waving for Jackie to follow me, but just as I was about to leave the door I stuck my head back through the beads.

“Simon failed again. Told you. He hurt his ankle during the previous fall. No way he could make it.”

Wakako bit back a curse, smashing her cigarette into her ashtray, as she turned back to her show, turning up the volume so it could be heard again.

—--

“Hermana? What-?”

“You hungry? I’m hungry. There’s a noodle shop in the Cherry Blossom Market that I like, C’mon my treat. I’ll fill you in.” I told him with a smile as I happily sauntered down the dark streets of Jig-jig street knowing Jackie would follow.

Man messing with him had been so satisfying. Totally worth two grand…

Wait. Fuck. I had literally spent two grand to fuck with someone.

Okay new rule. That was dumb don’t do that anymore…

Satisfying though.

We walked out of Jig-jig street and down into Cherry Blossom the atmosphere was brighter, and less dangerous. In the end we settled into the Ramen bar and had put in our orders before I started.

“So I work for Wakako as one of her mercs, I’m an infiltrator. When I offered to help on your gig for Wakako, I wasn’t just messing around. I’m not just a kid wanting a taste of being a merc. I was actually really offering to help you.” I told him as he took a sip of the drink that was placed down in front of him. My own quickly joined it.

“Damn.” He muttered and I could see behind his eyes as he was repackaging both our previous interaction, and this one. “So Wakako trusts you a lot.”

“Ah well… I might have agreed to a pay cut on the next gig so I could be in the room when she met you.” I explained and he blinked at that, before chuckling, slowly at first, but then letting it grow into a belly laugh.

“I must have really pissed you off then!”

“No, no, I wasn’t angry, more amused than anything. Maybe I wanted to rub it in your face a little.” I offered holding up my fingers with just the tiniest gap between them.

“Well you definitely got me Hermana. I wasn’t expecting to see you in there. Thought I was losing it at first.” He said taking another drink and I couldn’t help but chuckle this time.

“Yeah it was great! So yeah let me break it down for you, cause I’m sure your head is all over the place. I asked Wakako to let me work with you on a few gigs. Mine or yours. Not just because I want to help you, but because I want you to help me. I’m not exactly a bruiser, and getting into a firefight is a pain in the ass. I would like to know I have backup in case it ever happens.”

“So you want to work together? Well, test it out to see if we work well together?”

“Exactly! It if doesn’t work out, you don't need to worry. Wakako will still have gigs for you. But if it works out, I can always use an extra gun on my gigs, So could be double the work. Interested?”

This time Jackie was quiet as he took another drink.

“Wakako wouldn’t use you if you don’t have the skill, but I’m picky about who I work with.” He offered and I almost snorted, because I remember the nomad origin in the game. Jackie you’ll team up with anyone for the eddies you gonk.

But I didn’t say that. Instead I shrugged.

“Well Wakako wants us partnered for the first few gigs. We can see how well we mesh, if everything works out, great. We both have someone to watch our backs. If you don’t like me, just say it, and I’ll delta. There are plenty of gonks with a gun, and in need of eddies.” I said and he nodded at that.

“Still a bit awkward about the idea is all. You’re so young.” He muttered and I nodded.

“And you’re so old!” I gasped in faux shock. Before smoothing out my expression. “Age has nothing to do with it. You’re a merc, you know that a kid can kill just as well as any merc.” I said looking off to the side just taking in the movement of the bar.

“I just don’t like it. Kids should be boosting cars, or getting in trouble, not…”

“Not risking their lives? I’m not a fan of that either Jackie. Which is why I would love to have a shooter that I can trust to watch my back.” He didn't seem to have a good reply to that, and a few moments later we were interrupted as the server came by.

The noodles arriving distracted us, making Jackie and I both happy as we dug in for a moment, but after his first bite Jackie seemed to come to a decision, he reached over and grabbed his beer.

“To potential partnerships.” He offered and I smiled as I grabbed my soda and tapped it to his own.

—--

I picked up the tab like I said I would, and after sharing numbers Jackie and I split up. We would meet up soon when Wakako had her first gig ready, and Jackie needed some time to process.

On the other hand that meant I had to figure out what I wanted to work on.

I ended up walking around the market for a bit browsing some of the little stalls, but not finding much that really interested me.

It wasn’t like there was a mercenary shop among the stalls.

I did stop over at the tech repair shop. The lady that I had bought my tool kit from was sitting out there like normal. We both had grown to an agreement, I would ignore her, and she would ignore me.

But that didn't mean her stock wasn’t useful. I browsed through her items, old tech junk, nothing that really interested me, but I did find some parts, and materials I wanted. Buying some feeder items for my Printer, I paid the eddies and headed home.

A nice jog back to the apartment felt nice, a return to those early days, and then I was there, on the couch feeding the metals and plastics I had bought into the printer, processing it into easy to use cubes, and pieces.

Then I pulled out my box of things I’m not allowed to play with in the apartment.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

I still had plenty of my own grenades, but Jackie didn’t carry them from what I saw. If he was going to be my backup, or vice versa, I wanted to make sure he had the tools.

Plus it was good practice.

But I did follow the rules, I grabbed everything and hauled it to the car. I would work on it in the Netrunning basement.

That way Jun couldn’t yell at me.

—--

I stretched as I flopped into my Netrunning chair. I had spent the last few hours putting together an array of grenades, and then stored them all in my Quadra.

It would be a nice surprise for Jackie when we went on some gigs. A bit of extra firepower just in case.

I finished plugging myself into my netrunning chair and blinked, returning once more to the net.

I zipped over to the Dewdrop Inn server.

Yoko had told me last time after our practice that she would have something special for me.

So I was kinda excited. As soon as I entered I got a request to enter Yoko’s private room, and the japanese door clacked open in front of me letting me walk right inside.

“Yoko! How goes?”

“Motoko. I’m fine, thank you.” She said, sounding amused at my normal greeting despite the situation. Yoko was sitting on a throne in the middle of her private shrine lobby, and there was someone there with her.

The netrunner looked like me, with a blank avatar beside the face, and he seemed more interested in an array of neon windows that floated around him that he was tapping away and inspecting.

“Who’s your friend?”

“Walk3r, this is Motoko. Motoko this is Walk3r.” Yoko introduced us, but I noticed she was purposefully not telling me what was going on.

I quirked an eyebrow at the Kitsune and only got a smirk in return.

“What’s going on Yoko? You told me you had a surprise.”

“Ah. Indeed I do. Walk3r, is someone who owed me a favor, and I owed him a favor in turn.” She said and that was when I started feeling nervous.

“Okay? I’m guessing that has something to do with the server information he is browsing?” I asked, having read the neon window she was looking over, although reading them backwards wasn’t easy…

Okay I cheated. I had taken a picture… Or a screenshot? It was hard to explain, but then I just reversed the image.

I was inside a computer at the moment after all.

“Indeed it does!” He said, finally turning away from his screens to see me. “I pulled a corrupted server out of a black market auction a few months ago. Haven’t had time to clean it up yet, so I went to Yoko, and don’t you know it? She has a netrunner looking for training in everything, including deep dives. So you are going to be our guinea pig.”

I looked to Yoko with a very unimpressed look and she gave me a sultry giggle.

Stupid sexy Kitsune.

“Don’t be so put out Motoko. We have both already sent in Daemon to look over the server, and it’s clear of anything truly malignant. But the data is still locked behind a mess of overactive corrupted Daemons, and mashed together code. So you will go in, destroy the daemons while breaching into the information inside. This isn’t just good practice, it’s the truest test for netrunners. You want to be more than just a kid playing with scripts? This is what you need to learn.” She said and then pointed to her side, and a portal opened.

“Fine. But if I die, I’m gonna be so mad.” I told her pointing at my eyes and then to hers.

Yoko snorted at my words but nodded in agreement, and I slipped into the portal, which was just a connection to the physical server that Walk3r had set up.

Inside the world shifted. If the internet of Night City was a city in appearance, Then this was simply a mess. Odd shapes and artifacts hung in the air. A display of just how damaged this server was.

Unfortunately my attempt to gather my bearings was forced to be put aside, as the Daemons that Yoko had mentioned had noticed my intrusion.

Just like the server itself, they were damaged, disfigured creatures that charged at me, as they sent odd programs at me. I reacted, throwing up ICE and my barriers to still the assault, while launching a barrage of fire, to smash into the Daemons. The whole thing took on a truly eldritch cast as the server was so distorted the data wasn’t translating right.

But I ignored it, rapid firing my programs as fast as my Seacho MkII could handle.

The Daemons kept coming though. The only reason I wasn’t overrun is because their very nature had been damaged, many of the attacks they sent fizzled out against my ICE, or barriers without any further effect. The programs they used were too damaged to actually initialize, but that didn’t make them safe.

Twice a program was launched at me, and instead of being halted, it exploded, seemingly ripping the server apart into an even more convoluted space. Literally dragging space into a twisted shatterpoint.

The program they had used was probably running into some sort of memory leak, or loop that the server was forced to try and handle.

I focused on those Daemons first.

But I was being overrun, and I had to fall back on another skill besides Quick hacks.

Quick Hacks were unique abilities. Programming was magic, altering the fundamentals of the world.

Breach was movement. It was knowing how to move in the web, how to bypass the natural traps and pitfalls. The very nature of it being a digital space.

Higher levels of Breach meant you were close to being a digital entity yourself in a way.

So instead of staying on this level of the server, I jumped, breaching into a different section, the damaged ICE not able to stop me from basically teleporting through the server.

And since I was moving fast I built myself enough time to actually catch my breath and look around. The new section of the server looked different, obviously I was now in some sort of personal lobby that no longer existed, and had deteriorated. It looked like the floor of an office building, if the missing roof showing a broken sky, and everything distorted and broken was the norms.

In the distance I could see buildings that might have once looked like Night City melted like candles, or had broken into floating pieces, or stretched like taffy. The sky overhead, that I could see through the rest of what had once been part of a building above me, had a massive jagged gash running through it, showing a different time of day within the tear.

This space was unstable.

Also why did I feel like I had been transported to a zombie apocalypse world!?

I shook it off, I only had a few moments before the Daemons followed, enough time for my Seacho to cool down and let me batter them again.

It also gave me time for some setup. With a bit of adjustment I activated my Hell Flame program, loading it to have a much longer lasting activation period, and a quick alteration to its shape.

The Fire was not just my strongest offensive hack, but it would be doubly effective against the already deteriorated Daemons. Deleting data should put them down much faster.

Program loaded, and activated, and in my hand appeared a sword. A flaming longsword that I was thankful couldn’t harm me, because I grabbed it without hesitating.

The first Daemon that slipped into my new section of the server was a broken Imp. The Daemon should have been a ball of light, but wasn’t, instead it appeared as a distorted shape, telling just how damaged it was.

The digital sword in my hand lashed out and cut through it, seemingly burning it away, where it struck and slowly the Daemon flickered before popping into shards of light.

But that was only the first.

More Daemons started popping in, as they took longer to traverse the server. But the numbers were lower, instead of a single overwhelming horde waiting at the entrance, it took time for the damaged Daemon to find me, and they came in a trickle instead of an overwhelming tide.

I stuck mostly to using the sword to destroy the Daemon, and my barriers as a shield, I was forced to activate to block the long range attacks, although for the most part it wasn’t needed as I simply cut through the horde, moving fast.

If only moving in cyberspace was the same as moving in the real world, I wouldn’t be having any difficulties at all, the Daemons moved like… Robots. So it was only because I was forced to fight on the digital scape that I even had any trouble. After all despite me swinging my sword, what I was actually doing was hacking and damaging programs.

It just looked and felt like a physical attack.

Still it did feel nice to have a sword in my hand.

Again and again the Daemon came, and despite my skill with a sword since it didn’t translate over, I was struck. The first time it was a fire program sent out by an Imp that I hadn’t spotted, and I was forced to go fully defensive as I had to ICE and counter breach the Overheat Quickhack that had just struck me.

I winced as my netrunner chair gave me an update saying I was overheating quite badly.

Eventually I got it back under control, and continued on.

Another was a much bigger Thug Daemon, that surprised me with a corrupted attack I didn’t see coming. The program attacked my connection, giving me a sort of double vision, and a lag spike that left me groaning in pain as I fought the effects, killed the Thug and did my best to keep myself defended while I purged the virus that was attacking me.

But thanks to my breach skill, I did have the ability to regain my system, pushing out the assault.

I would be paying for it afterwards though. An eight hour nap had my name on it when this was over, because I was suddenly not feeling well, and if the state of my body was translating into the digital, that wasn’t a good sign.

I shook it off. I would recover after, so I focused on my battle slashing and breaking up corrupted Daemon after Daemon.

I swung and blasted until it was done.

Finally I was left standing in a hellscape. The scattered remnants of the Daemons data covered the floor around me, digital viscera and as I waited, but nothing else came.

It grew quiet, but I didn’t rush it. Waiting as I let my Seacho cool down from the strain of what I had just gone through.

Eventually I was sure nothing else was coming, I relaxed, and then because I was already here I started exploring.

I mean, I wasn’t feeling great, but my chair sent me back plenty of biodata so I knew I wasn’t dying.

The data within the server was a mess, scattered over multiple hubs and lobbies, but I was here to explore, to try and get what I could.

So I started gathering. Loading everything that was even semi legible, and clearing paths to the different data connections.

Most of the time that meant me having to destroy data ‘rubble’ that blocked my path, or even create a path when the section I was trying to traverse was literally just an infinite pit.

I was just lucky that the ‘traps’ that would have slowed me, or even attacked me were mostly digital detritus. I passed over a spike trap, or at least that was how my I saw it, but it had been a rather nasty section of Black ICE that would try to murder anyone foolish enough to fall into it.

The program was still there, hence why I could see it, but the activation subroutine was gone, hence why it was just a revealed piece of terrain I was able to walk around.

Honestly, walking through tunnels to reach different sections of the tunnel reminded me of a dungeon crawl.

I was a rogue-like protagonist now.

I giggled at the thought as I reached another room that would have data, the fact the room was sideways the tunnel I was using to reach it, twisted horrifically at the end, nearly disconnecting from the section of the server, telling about how badly the data had been damaged in this area of the server.

But I did notice that inside it wasn’t that badly damaged.

As I hopped into the lobby, gravity asserted itself and I landed on my feet actually looking at a rather normal room.

I blinked. Everything inside looked… Fine. Sure the connections to the room were fucked, but the data inside looked perfectly normal!

It looked like a high end smoking room. Big wingback chairs surrounded a fireplace, everything was dark wood, or at least meant to look like it, and the walls were covered in books.

I instantly registered the library as just that, a repository for data done in a visual style.

Nice.

I walked up to the shelves, the data wa still intact.

Nice. I poked it basically doing a check for anything nasty, but there wasn’t anything I could see, no traps. No ICE or anything.

So I pulled a book off the shelf, about to check the data when. The light in the room shifted.

I looked up just in time to see something hulking and massive, start to crawl out of the fireplace. Something I recognized. How could I not?

It was a Tolkien Balrog.

A fucking Balrog.

“Nope.” I muttered as I used up every drop of RAM in my Cyberdeck to ICE up the Daemon and then ran, attempting to get the fuck out of this server.

The library didn’t have a programmed trap, it just had a fucking Balrog sitting hidden in the digital flame waiting for someone unregistered to access the data.

Fuck. That was sneaky!

I leapt slipping onto the sideways twisted hallway that was the exit out of the room incredibly grateful that my breaching skill let me slipp into the twisted damaged connection port.

“YOKO! I need an exit!” I sent a message out as I leapt into the twisted hallway, but I could hear my ICE breaking as the Daemon gave zero fucks about my defenses, as it released a digital roar.

Fucker! I know that sound! That was Godzilla!

I ignored the Balrog using a fucking Godzilla scream.wav file as it chased after me. It’s body too big for the twisting hallway, but that didn’t seem to matter as it literally bashed its way through the distorted space ripping the server apart with its power. Probably permanently breaking the ability to access the smoking room.

Fuck that.

I was desperately trying to find a clear path to disconnect from the server.

The Daemons I had fought up until now were low level programs. That Balrog was exactly what it looked like, just a single glance told me the thing was a truly massive digital entity. Probably the closest thing to an AI without actually being one. A true fucking monster, and I was the dwarves in this instance. I had dug too deep.

Thankfully, while it was powerful, and more than capable of smashing the programs I threw over my shoulder at it, it wasn’t able to move as fast as I could.

The server architecture slowed it down, as despite being a digital entity, it didn’t know how to travel through this distorted hellscape.

Plus I was literally just backtracking, using paths and steps I had left behind me.

Slowly I gained more and more distance, its godzilla scream left far behind me as I reached the initial lobby.

“Yoko! Stop fucking around!” I yelled out, the two netrunners had obviously been watching me dive, and I was right. A few moments later a portal opened and I confirmed it was Yoko and Walk3r.

I jumped in, my sight blurred for a moment before spitting me out in Yoko’s Shrine.

“Fuck.” I cursed as I sort of caught my breath and didn’t at the same time. I could feel my heart pounding, but not.

Huh, Cold Blood was still effective while netrunning, but my disconnect from my body meant there was still some weird kick back.

My relief at not dying was basically ignored though.

“Well that’s a bust.” Walk3r said with a sigh, I looked up seeing the screen he was watching that displayed the Balrog going berserk in the digital space I had just left. Smashing and crushing everything.

“It was always a risk. You gained some data did you not?” Yoko offered simply.

“Yeah but not enough. Not… Not as much as I could have, that repository could have been…” He sighed, shaking his head.

“What?” I asked as I let my avatar flop onto the ground. It didn't feel like I was sitting, exactly, but I really wanted to just be close to the ground for a moment.

“The Balron you just found, destroyed the data as it passed through the server. You tripped a very powerful trap. You are lucky you escaped with your life.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. Balron? Stupid name… ” I grumbled, taking note of the name she used apparently they weren’t just calling it a Balrog? Was it a copyright issue? The idea seemed funny to me Hackers creating Daemons worried about the Tolkien estate. “So everything was deleted?”

“Yes, at least the room you were in, is no longer accessible, so it’s about the same.”

“Yeah he was smashing the already broken tunnel to the room. There could be another access point.” I pointed out, but only received a shaken head from W3lker.

“Unlikely. That was a secure storage space. No, that was the only path.”

“Can’t we build a new one to connect to it?”

Walk3r snorted. “Not a chance. The data was likely corrupted the moment, the pathway to it was fully broken. Even if I could get access again, it would be just as bad as the rest of the server now.”

“Sorry.” I offered, actually feeling heartfelt. It wasn’t my fault, exactly, no way for me to know about the massive Balrog hiding in the digital fireplace, but I was still the one there.

“It’s fine kid. The server was a mess and I doubted I would get anything out of it safely, which is why I agreed to this, Yoko gave me some good stuff to use the server as a training ground. The data would have just been a perk.” He offered and I nodded looking to Yoko who was still resting back on her throne.

“I learned a lot, but I feel like that wasn’t the norm when diving into a data server.”

“Oh no. The corruption of the data within made it a very unique experience… But it does resemble in a far safer version what diving into the deep net would be like. Considering I agreed to offer you as much mentorship as I could as a netrunner, I figured gaining such an experience would be worth it. Don’t you agree?”

“It was certainly… Unique. But I think I need to log. I’m pretty sure my brain was half fried when I took that Overheat.”

“Honestly I’m surprised you are still conscious. When the hack struck through your barriers, I expected to have to pull you out. V3L’s rig must be better at protecting its user than I expected. Or I should say your rig.” Yoko offered and I shrugged. I was pretty tough after all, so I wasn’t all that surprised, but I didn’t want to get into that with Yoko.

I waved her goodbye as I pulled myself out of the server back across the net to my lobby and I blinked with my real eyes.

Then I blinked again because my face was a mess.

Blood ran down my nose, and I think from my eyes as well. The fact my Kiroshi weren’t biological the only reason they were still working.

I was fucked up.

I thought about getting up and cleaning up, but I was in rough shape, so instead I decided to kick it down eight hours.

I went to sleep.