Chapter 1

“Unfamiliar ceiling.” I muttered, staring upwards as I slowly woke up. The faint beeping of a heartbeat monitor and my own absolute weakness told me that something serious had happened. I didn’t go to hospitals, ever.

I blinked.

I could see the ceiling… I wasn’t wearing my glasses. I hadn’t seen anything this clearly more than a foot from my face without my glasses in a decade.

Too many years staring at a computer screen would do that.

“What?” I asked, my throat raw and dry, but instantly, I was even more on edge than before.

That wasn’t my voice.

I jerked upward, gasping as I realized I could barely move. I exhaled, a shocked gasp escaping me. The heart rate monitor started beeping, as my heart rate skyrocketed.

Moments later a doctor wearing the strangest clothes I had ever seen entered my room, his face covered in a plastic face guard I couldn’t see through! He quickly went to work on me. My gasped questions were ignored with clinical detachment. Until suddenly I felt myself passing out. The Doctor… He had drugged meeeee.

 

—–

I had learned a few things since I woke up from a coma.

One. I wasn’t me. Or I was a me that wasn’t me. It got complicated so I stopped thinking about it. I’m a me that was me. Good enough.

Second. This wasn’t my earth. My home. My people.

The first time I had a doctor enter my room after I woke up for the second time but his entire right arm was a twitching monstrous looking limb full of needles and grabbers had me damn near jump out of bed from him.

I definitely didn’t cry though. Fuck you.

Third. The thing that explained all of it. It was the year 2075. I wasn’t in the United States. No this was the Free City of Night City. Something a doctor had explained gruffly after they all realized I had ‘amnesia’ from my stint in a coma.

Night City though? That was something I knew about. Cyberpunk. I knew all about Night City. That alone scared the shit out of me more than anything, because that meant I was in danger. My body was worse than atrophied. The doctors refused to explain what had actually happened to me, simply telling me that my family would explain when they arrived.

That it wasn’t their job.

It made me feel even more helpless. Realizing that these doctors taking care of me, they literally didn’t care about me. Didn’t even pretend to.

Thankfully my ‘family’ arrived about four hours after I woke up for the second time.

I had been laying in my cramped little room fingers weakly picking at my neck where I had an actual USB style port into the back of my head.

It felt weird. But also kinda cool.

My eyes were also crazy good. Perfect vision, and the ability to telescope a bit. I spent most of the few hours laying in bed unable to raise myself into a sitting position playing with my vision.

Until the door suddenly burst open. The noise from the hallway suddenly reached in through the soundproofing.

Although I realized the soundproofing was probably meant more to keep the noise from inside the rooms from the outside rather than the other way around.

But a man entered the room practically pushing past one of the doctors, cursing at him in Japanese that my mind instantly translated into english without a thought.

“Bastard! Get out of my face! Don’t think I won’t cut you down!” He cursed as the doctor seemed to finally back off a bit. The man that entered, well the older teenager. I could still see the youth on his face, as he was trying to grow a pretty crappy beard.

But it was the outfit, the style. The fact he was wearing an Oni mask around his neck obviously having taken it off as he entered that twigged in my mind hard.

Tyger Claws? This guy was a ganger. A Japanese gang straight out of Akira.

Hell they even had the bikes…

“Imouto.” He said his voice going a little soft as he noticed me staring.

I blinked, raising my hand up to point at my face. “Me?”

He blinked in return looking surprised. His hair which glowed in different colors as if made of fire kept catching my attention even as the boy turned to the doctor.

The fact he had a damn sword on his hip probably the reason the doctor quickly raised his hands. “As I was trying to tell you before you entered. Your Sister seems to have short term amnesia from the Coma… Or the circumstances that led her there. We didn’t detect any brain damage from our scans. So she will likely recover.”

“Dammit!” He cursed in Japanese which I instantly translated before he seemed to take his hand away from his Katana as he sauntered over to my bed.

Despite myself I felt a hint of fear at his glaring face and even flinched a bit as he drew near which caused him to slow his face blanking out as I took in the lines of metal that coated his cheeks making it look like he had a tigers fangs on his cheeks.

“You… You don’t need to worry, Motoko. You are safe. I-I’m sorry.” He whispered as he took a seat and simply stared at me for a while as if expecting something.

“Motoko?” I asked. That was a new one. “Is that me?” I couldn’t help but add on.

He stared at me in shock for a moment before reaching up and rubbing his face as he took a moment to try and recover from his surprise. “Yeah. You are Kusanagi Motoko. My little sister… Don’t… Don’t fear Imouto. I made sure everything will be alright.”

Motoko Kusanagi? Like Ghost in the Shell? I reached up weakly to check my hair. Black. Not purple. Dang. That would have been kinda cool. I nodded a little to him, what else was I supposed to do?

I guess this was my older brother? I mean, I didn’t even know his name…

“What’s your name?” I asked a little weakly mostly because I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be taken well.

It wasn’t the boy looked like I had just stabbed him for a moment.

“Junichiro. Kusanagi Junichiro. Your elder brother.”

“Jun.” I agreed instantly, which had him snort after I said it.

“Say Jun-Nii, I’m your brother.”

“Jun-Nii then.” I agreed easily.

He frowned a little as I went quiet just sort of looking him over. He was antsy, foot tapping a rhythm and his hands never not moving. He was wearing a neon green jacket asian dragons on the shoulders every inch a japanese biker gang member. Tattoos on his chest that I could see under his armored vest? Yep he had those too.

This guy was straight out of Akira. If he started screaming Tetsuo I was out of here. I decided with a nod to myself which seemed to attract his attention as he had just been staring as I looked him over.

“The people that took you are dead. They might have grabbed your Cyberware, but that can be replaced. Has been replaced. Mostly. Just hang in there imouto. You will be out of the hospital soon.” He told me firmly, as he stood. Seemingly unable to sit still anymore he left the hospital room in a rush and as the door closed behind him, I could just make out his raised voice talking to the doctor before it shut closed and cut me off from the outside again.

How weird.

—–

“This is home.-” He told me three days later when apparently the insurance I was on had decided that now that I was no longer in a coma they weren’t paying anymore.

Welcome to Night City.

He had picked me up in a weird car, and old Mahir Supron. I learned from the badge on the car. Basically a van. But the sort that was cheap as cheap could be.

“I borrowed it from a neighbor. Your wheel chair wouldn’t fit on my bike.” He informed me, sounding embarrassed at driving the thing, but he had helped me inside, put my new wheelchair into the back and drove me out of the hospital parking lot and into the city.

The very crowded, smelly, and dangerous city.

A city where anyone can die at any time, and no one would care.

I shivered at the thought.

But then he pulled me from my fears by pulling into a parking garage. Honestly this part of the city was 80% trash and garbage piled up, and 20% neon signs.

It felt super surreal as Jun pushed me over the sidewalks glaring at anyone who dared take a second look at me as he pushed me down the street towards a building that looked like any other to me.

“This is home. Do you remember it?” He asked again. Prompting me from the moments of introspection I had been in.

“No. It looks like everything else.” I told him. Looking over my shoulder I could tell he was frowning. “This has been our home for years, since Oka-san and Otou-san died.” He tells me and I nod.

I guess I would have had parents then. I returned to looking forward as he wheels me into the entrance way. As we entered two older asian men were playing some board game in the corner to my left. And the lobby was dimly lit and a little smoky.

I wrinkled my nose a bit at the smell as well.

What a dump.

Jun brought us towards the elevator which to my surprise did work and he hit the button for the fifth floor.

The door to the left of the elevator was ours. He wheeled me inside and I couldn’t help but look around in interest. It was a small apartment, full of lots of asian stuff. Posters for asian music groups. Knick knacks. A place to light incense directly in front of us as we entered.

It was an odd mix of modern, and future tech I noticed. The whole place. The apartment, the city it all felt like that.

“Home.” He spoke wheeling me around. The bedroom was on our right. A single large room with the weird bed emplacement that Night City seemed to like. Including though was a small closet like room that was apparently my own bedroom.

I blinked as I entered as the entire room was full of Tyger Claw memorabilia.

“I really liked the Tyger Claws huh?” I asked him, earning a laugh from Jun.

“Of course! Our family has been part of the gang since Otou-san was your age. We have always been with them. You were… You will join them too once you recover and get a little older.” He assured me trying to sound sure of himself.

But I had caught the hesitation.

I had heard the doctors. They hadn’t bothered trying to hide my circumstances during the three days of quiet.

Scavs. The sort of people that would be considered grave robbers in any other century. At least we would call them that, if they actually waited for someone to die first.

They were kidnappers. People that took those with Cyberware, or not off the street and… scavenged the Cyberware or organs. Even if the person was still alive.

That is what happened to me. It was why my body was so fucked up after the coma. They hadn’t bothered to be gentle when digging out the little cyberware I must have had. Even if apparently I had been ‘rescued’ after.

I still don’t know how. I hadn’t had the heart to bring it up with Jun. Every mention of my circumstances would leave him glaring and looking as if he was ready to commit… Well a murder.

Anyway between the Scavs, loss of Cyberware and the coma my body was fucked. Weak as a kitten. I couldn’t even walk without assistance. Not that the hospital had seemed to care.

Luckily Jun had gotten most of the basic stuff replaced. My eyes were working after all.

I couldn’t imagine waking up only to realize my tech eyes were literally just pieces of junk unable to work, after since the scavs had pulled the processors right out of my head.

“Oh here.” Jun offered putting a bag of stuff onto the table beside my small bed in my little closet bedroom. “Your stuff… everything you had on you when you entered the hospital. I don’t know… I don’t know if it will help, but maybe something in there will jog your memory. Love you ‘Toko.” He said quietly pushing a kiss onto the top of my head as he seemed to once more get too antsy to stand around. He walked out of the room sort of stomping a bit.

Poor kid. His little sister gets kidnapped, put into a coma and wakes up with amnesia.

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Rough.

Well I might as well. Maybe I can learn a bit about who I was. About Motoko.

I pulled open the bag and winced. Yep. Tyger Claw Fangirl. Every piece of clothing had some japanese biker gang icon, or sticker. Or something. A jacket that had a tiger on the back.

How original.

At least it looked warm. I went through the stuff. To my discomfort the clothes were… well not looking great. Like they had been worn as a girl was kidnapped and had scavs take her cyberware. The pair of socks inside the bag for example were basically brown. Even if they had originally been white.

I grimaced as I decided to throw those away.

I hoped it was just my blood, but I had a feeling it hadn’t been stained by ‘just’ my blood. A little grossed out I decided to finish it up. Putting the socks to the side I pulled out the jacket that was looking a little rough and set it on a desk.

I don’t think Jun was very rich so I would probably have to deal with it regardless.

Shoes. Pants, that were hard to look at considering how neon they were. Then I found actual stuff at the bottom.

A small baggie of shards. The data transfer devices of the future basically super USB drives. There were two of them, no idea what was on them. A few pieces of jewelry. A piercing that I realized was probably a nose stud after a few moments of looking at it.

Did my nose have a hole in it?

I would have to check later.

Then at the bottom. A little case. This was a weird thing, because it didn’t look like anything else she had. This case was smooth and unblemished. A single word across the top in japanese.

“Gema. Gamer.” I repeated. In english after a moment. Opening the case it had a shard inside. A lot of shards were kept in cases like this, well nicer shards anyways.

Considering I had nothing else to do I popped the shard out of the soft foam and with a bit of a shiver because it still made me wig out a bit. I pushed the shard into the slot on the side of my neck just behind my ear.

*Gamer System Initializing.*

—–

I blinked as I jerked awake. “Hey! Motoko. You okay?” Jun was there kneeling in front of me as I looked around. I was in the room in my wheelchair with the bag of stuff I had been looking through on my lap.

His terrified face made me blink “I’m okay?” I offered simply rubbing my eyes a bit.

Did I fall asleep? No. No I didn’t. The shard! I reached for the back of my head to push the shard out but there was nothing there.

My fingers felt empty ports.

“Don’t scare me like that. If you get tired, get into bed. Or if you can’t call me, I will help you.” He nearly growled as he stood up and seemed to pace for a bit to calm down.

“Sorry.” I told him firmly as I pushed the bag out of my arms. “I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep.”

“C’mon I got dinner you hungry?” He asked as he finally stopped pacing and turned to me.

“Ah… Sure.” I nodded as he got behind my wheelchair and pushed me out of the room to the other side of the apartment, where a small kitchen nook was located. Right next to the bathroom I noticed.

Nice job architect. Sure that doesn’t cause problems. Especially since the bathroom didn’t even have a door.

I was wheeled out in front of the table and a burrito was placed in front of me. Jun grabbed his own and started eating.

Right… Cyberpunk people don’t really cook. It was all street and vendor food.

I unwrapped the burrito, and after a few bites realized I must have a taste for it from before. Because part of me felt a little grossed out at the inside, another part just chowed it down without any discomfort.

Oh well.

When in Rome.

After a quiet meal Jun cleaned up and threw the trash away before walking over to me. “You remember the exercises the doctors gave you?” He demanded and I nodded.

It wasn’t so much something they taught me as they threw a shard at me that had an exercise routine I should do to help regain some muscle so I could actually walk.

“Yeah.”

“Well get to it. Best to do it right after eating… I need to head out. I got some work I need to do. Don’t hurt yourself. You have my number right?” He once more demanded and I nodded. It was sort of weird having a phone system in your eyes but I did have Jun’s number.

“Good. Call me if you need anything. And Ms. Kagura next door knows she might need to help you out with stuff… You good?” He asked and I gave him a thumbs up. I might be pretty weak, but I didn’t feel like I just got out of a coma… Or maybe this is what it was like out of a coma and I had in my head TV Coma patients? Who knows.

I watched Jun hurry around the apartment grabbing his gear. Putting everything on until he looked like the Tyger Claw that he was. Oni mask and Katana on his hip included.

He even grabbed a pistol out from his room and holstered it on a chest rig.

“Be safe.” I told him, earning a startled look from him at my words before his smile melted into something soft.

“I will.”

Then all was quiet and I had a task ahead of me.

A set of exercises to try and build up enough muscle in the hopes I would get out of this chair.

I pushed myself back from the table and started raising up my right leg. Grimacing at just how hard it was just to hold it out in front of me. My tiny stick like leg might as well be nothing but bone.

After that I let it down slowly and did it with my left. Over and over I raised them until my thighs were burning red hot.