I drove into Bukicho, a sub-district of Little Yukoto often called ‘Sleepless’. When the majority of people think of Little Yukoto, this is the place they thought of. Unlike the rest of the district, this little patch of land was pristine. It almost seemed like a corpo area.

Almost. There were still quite a few things that made it stand out, such as the graffiti across every surface. The stench too. Burning drugs were only undercut by the pollution covering the land. It was overwhelming how many mixed together, everything from Tosta to Kook.

A tag in particular stood out. It was a neon dragon’s head, done artfully in bright green. The paint itself glowed in the dim ambiance that was almost second nature to Aythryn City. The rest of the dragon’s body was coiled behind it as if the beast was in mid-lunge with glowing fangs outstretched. It was nova sure, but it stood out thanks to how common it was. Almost every building held the neon tag, though only a few actually glowed.

The tag was quite present throughout Little Yukoto, though nowhere near as active as it was in Bukicho. It made sense. The Jade Fang were more present in Bukicho than anywhere else, even if half of the district was their territory.

I found a parking garage close to my destination. Most garages had screens placed periodically throughout them to display ads. This one did too, but the majority of the screens had been hacked at some point and just showed the Jade Fang tag. It was a common mark of land amongst gangs.

Motorcycles were everywhere here, so mine didn’t stand out as I parked it and headed out towards the streets. Before I went to my destination, I stopped by a street vendor for a synth pretzel.

Ichiban was the most dominant street in Bukicho. Its buildings were slapped with neon signs, most being in Ukiyonese. Red was the predominant color, followed closely by vibrant greens. A massive holographic tori gate sat at the entrance with a green dragon twirled around it. The entrance was probably one of the most iconic things about Ichiban. Whoever had set it up and designed it deserved a lot of respect.

The street was packed with people. Throngs of civs, corporate underdogs, low-end gangers, and out-of-uniform FSA troops took up the entire street. I could even spot the telltale half armor of Blue Crusade Squires patrolling around. The entire place was a mesh of styles and lights that almost made my eyes bleed.

And of course, the Jade Fang had a high presence. This was their street after all. This entire place was the HQ and primary income point for the gang. I could spot them everywhere, their glowing dragon tattoos a dead giveaway even if the other varied gang paraphernalia wasn’t. Neo-grease was the style those between the middle and low-class subscribed to, wearing a mess of leather jackets and jeans mashed together with neon and lights. Flashy and flamboyant chrome was almost a requirement of the Neo-grease style. The katanas and tantos were even more evidence of their gang membership.

As for why so many people were here in the heart of gang territory? The people of Aythryn City loved to have a good time. The Fangs capitalized on that desire the most out of any other gang. The entire Ichiban street was lined with bars, love hotels, brothels, gambling dens, and clubs. Even arcades in the vein of pre-WWIII were present. There was literally something for everyone on this street. And if not on the street, then the levels above.

The Blue Crusade Squires ‘patrolling’ weren’t actually looking to make any arrests, even if there were less than legal activities going on ‘round here. It was common knowledge that they tended to not enforce low-end crimes in gang territory unless specifically asked. That and this place was favored by a bunch of corpos. An attack on Bukicho was a surefire way for Blue Crusade Inc. to lose their policing contract to some other company; the Golden Spine Consortium perhaps. They were starting to edge into the city.

I parted through the throngs of people, slowly but surely making my way to the center of Ichiban. It wasn’t too hard. My typical wardrobe had quite a bit of Jade Fang paraphernalia, so most people gave me space even if I wasn’t a ‘real’ Fang.

It wasn’t long till I made my way to an indented part of the street. A large dragon’s head gate blocked the path forward with several Jade Fangs standing guard, turning away almost everyone but Fangs. More than usual with heavier arms stood guard.

I approached. One of them, a rather young-looking guy whose skin was still red, stopped me. “Fangs only, gon-”

A rather buff guy with a massive frame wrapped a chrome arm around the younger guy's shoulder as he waved at me. “Shiro! It's been a while since I saw you last… don’t mind the new guy. Still learning faces and names.”

I flashed a smile towards the man. For however intimidating the guy looked, he was really just a teddy bear. At least if you didn’t piss him off. He could quite quickly turn into a grizzly with a vengeance. “Shinobu! Your arm treating you well?”

“‘Course. Thanks for recommending that clinic to me. Turns out the Fang’s Medech messed up the nerve connections. Damn aho.” He rubbed his arm affectionately. “Good as new now! It's like I never even lost it. Ishimaru-sama call you in?”

I nodded. “‘Course, never come around otherwise.” I really didn’t like Ichiban. The scents alone were overwhelming, and add on to that the high amount of illegal goings-on ‘round here made me hesitant to come in my free time.

“Right, right… listen, maybe don’t accept thi-”

“If it ain’t my favorite merc!” A voice cut off the big guy as Ishimaru stumbled out towards the gate. He looked like the stereotypical elder hailing from the Kaij continent. Jade Fang's robes clad him, covering his frame as his katana dangled haphazardly at his hip. “She’sh with me, guysh.”

Shinobu nodded at me and mouthed ‘good luck’ before returning to guard duty.

I walked into the small courtyard of the Jade Fang's primary HQ, the Dragoon Saloon. Holographic sakura trees sat all around the yard, dropping little pink petals of light on occasion. Green, lush synthgrass covered the entirety of the courtyard with Fangs scattered about sitting on it. Most had drinks of some kind, as they relaxed under the admittedly beautiful courtyard.

Off to the side sat a small fountain waterfall, trickling endlessly below ground. There was even a micro sun - giving off real heat - free floating just above the center of the courtyard. Every time I saw it I was impressed. Probably a magitech item of some kind.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Pagodas sat around, gentle-smelling candles gently swaying inside. Plants, real plants, were everywhere, showing off the wealth that the Jade Fangs had. It was almost like walking into a botanical garden. A real one, not the holographic ones that were everywhere.

An arm wrapped around my shoulder and I barely resisted the urge to shake it off. Then I felt almost the entirety of Ishimaru’s weight as he used me like a walker while we headed to the bar. “Ya’ know, you shure do look prettshy today. You… you cut your hair or shomethin’?”

Ah, good ole Ishimaru. Sloshed as always. At least he was a kind drunk, if a bit ridiculous at times, so I could bear with him. That and he could probably slice my body in two even while barely walking. “No, my hair is the same length since the last time you saw me… you said you had a job?”

“Oh yesh! Lesh- lesh get inshide.” He stopped leaning on me and ambled towards the bar on the other side of the gate. It was designed to look like an ancient Ukiyonese pavilion. It even had the black-gray clay tiles and redwood that came to mind when imagining such a building. Or at least the first three floors did. Then it was a sheer building just like its surroundings.

As distracted as I was, I didn’t notice Ishimaru going down till I heard the thunk of his face meeting the synth wood floors. A bunch of Fangs glanced over, but no one laughed as I helped the drunk up. The people around here respect the guy too much to laugh at his sorry state.

“Thanksh Shiro. Who put that shtep there anyway? Sho reidikulu- redickulu- ridicul- dick. Heh.” He chuckled at himself as he nearly stumbled again.

I barely managed to support him as we headed off to a corner booth. The Dragoon Saloon was packed to the brim with Fangs, but the corner booth was Ishimaru's reserved table.

“You had a job?” I asked again. It was best to be patient with the guy, especially considering his position as an elder in the Jade Fangs.

“‘Course! Yesh. Um- I think, I think, hmm…” He rubbed his hands across his body as he sloppily checked his pockets. “Ah, right! I forgot thish thing wash built-in now.” His eyes glowed followed shortly by my phone buzzing.

He raised his hand, calling over a server. “You- you checksh that out. ‘Mma get a drink. Shtarting to get parshed.”

I nodded along with him as I pulled out my phone and checked the message. It was a picture of several torn-apart Jade Fangs tossed into a pile between two walls. A burning ‘1%’ sat behind the mound as seven men tossed something onto the corpses. Neo-Jokers by the looks of it. They even had the sculpted bright red hair associated with the gang.

“T-this… this is out of my expertise, Ishimaru. You know I've yet to do anything but-”

He raised a hand cutting me off as a serious look entered his eyes for the first time. “Look. I don’t like shending people to die. Thatsh not how the Jade Fangsh operate. We received that messhhage the other day. All we need from you ish to go to the placesh and check them out. The Matriarch doeshn’t want to attack the Neo-Jokersh off of a picture.”

“Aren’t there better-”

“Not that aren’t full membersh. You’re the besht affiliate at getting around undetected, which ish why we called you. Before you refushe, pay is a thoushand Rayn. The Matriarch needsh thish done now, and dishcreetly. And, uh, no one will shushpect a kid…”

Damn! The Jade Fangs were serious if they were offering a thousand Rayn. That wasn’t the kind of money a gig like this entailed. Maybe two or three hundred at best. But why pay me so much-

Ah, I see. Plausible deniability. They don’t want to send a Fang into BrickTown, the Neo-Joker’s territory, without first making sure they actually did the deed. Gang wars tended to be lose-lose even if there was a winner especially if a corpo or other gang took the chance to encroach.

The Matriarch must be suspecting a setup. Not that the Neo-Jokers wouldn’t do something so blatant, just that it could be a third group trying to take advantage of the potential gang war. Hence they hire me, or some other affiliate, to go check out the crime scene and see if I can’t find something odd.

‘Cept, I wasn’t really even an associate. My relationship with the Jade Fangs was complicated at best. My parents died as members, and the Fangs were the ones paying for my container home. I didn’t even want to join the gang, but…

I saw it more as going to a fixer than trying to become a member. Maybe not how they see it, but they hadn’t pressed me yet. Probably out of honor to my parents… Still, since I was more a merc hired occasionally by the gang instead of an associate, it became far easier to send me and still have plausible deniability.

Good ole gangs. Looking to make you consider them a family, then using and abusing till you’re no longer useful. If only they didn’t pay so much, I would’ve never come to them for work in the first place. It truly is a major flaw to live in Aythryn City with too few connections.

At the end of the day, the Rayn was good, and working for the Jade Fangs far exceeded being a flatbacker. That, and Ishimaru had always taken pretty good care of me all things considered. Very rarely was I given a job with excessive danger. Sure I lost some money because of this, but I was still alive and relatively unharmed.

A thousand Rayn though... That was a lot of money. It would go a long way to paying off some of my debts. Or I could put some of it to a firepower upgrade. Or even upgrading the tools at my disposal. I had always wanted some more tech stuff like a drone or something.

By the time I looked up from the image again, Ishimaru had already downed several cups of alcohol. I swear, his blood was more saki than anything else. I had never seen him sober in the close to seven years I was under his employ.

“Is there anything I should be wary of? Suspected Kinetics, Adepts, or Magus?” I intentionally try to avoid anything regarding the more magical side of the city. Mostly out of fear of the unknown, but they were just unsettling to be around.

“Probably not if itsh the Neo-Jokersh. And you shouldn’t even have to fight. Jusht look around.”

Right, they were the type of gang that looked down on everything but Apothecaries and Kinetics. He also made a good point. This was just looking around. “Hm… send me the detes and I’ll check it out.” At the end of the day, I couldn’t just pass up a thousand Rayn. It was more than I might make on several jobs.

“Yeah yeah…” His eyes glowed and I received another message. “How long? Matriarch is very intereshted in thish.”

I looked down at the message. The Jade Fang Netrunners had narrowed down the scope, but I would still have to end up searching five spots across the Sintith sub-district for the picture’s location. And then they assumed I could actually find something? I was at best a pickpocket and petty kleptoid, not a badge.

“A day maybe. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to find something though.” I said.

He downed another cup. “Donshu, worry ‘bout that. Jusht take shome picturesh of the schene. We’re also gonna’ let yoush borrow a few toolsh and shtuff to help out. Jusht try to bring it back in one piece?”

I wonder what kind of tools they’re giving me? “‘Course. I’d have to pay otherwise.”

“Great! Go to Taru and tell him I shent you. He’ll getcha loaded up.”

Just before he stood up, I handed him the phone I pulled from the briefcase. “Could you get one of the runners to check this out? I want to know if there's some kind of tracker or something on it. I’ll owe you a favor.”

“‘Courshe.” He stood, grabbed a bottle, and staggered off to another group without as much as a goodbye.

The dismissal was evident, so I also got up and headed out of the Dragoon Saloon. Taru was the gun range owner, and gun dealer extraordinaire, just down the street from the bar, so I headed there and picked up the bag without any hassle. Now then, on to grab some of my tools, changing into less Fangy attire, and hopefully not getting pulled into an alley and shanked by a Neo-Joker. Yay, work!