Chapter 156

Rebecca

 

That was pretty much it. Right after the weird hand thing, which the gonk was smiling like crazy over, they all left the apartment and slipped into an array of vehicles down in the garage. Motoko even invited Rebecca to ride with her, which was nice, as she didn’t have a car. Just taking N-Cart to get there.

 

It was actually kind of surprising the array of vehicles the teenagers all had.

 

Malcolm rode around in a Badlands Thornton Colby. The truck was rough and tumble and armored to hell.

 

And Motoko drove around in a Quadra Type-66. Also a nomad variant. The thing was a beast, and Rebecca was more than a little interested in getting a ride.

 

The big truck Ichi drove was interesting, but sort of normal. Hiromi joined Ichi, while Motoko yelled at Jun to get into Malcolm’s car instead of taking his Kusanagi.

 

She looked it over and nodded. Preem ride. She wouldn’t mind letting him drive her around on it sometime.

 

“Oh before we jump in.” Motoko said as she turned from the driver’s door to the trunk and then opened it up.

 

“Whoa.”

“Do you want something with a bit more kick?” The girl asked, and Rebecca had a moment where she wondered what the fuck Maine had been doing all this time.

 

Maine didn’t have a Rocket Launcher.

 

“Wha-Is that a Rocket Launcher?”

 

“My Uragan? Yep! I picked it up off some Nomads. You’d be surprised how often shooting something with heavy ordinance makes things on a gig go smoother.” She offered and no Rebecca would not be surprised, because she now knew what she wanted in her life.

 

A Rocket Launcher.

 

It was the only thing that would make her complete. She reached for it, and Motoko’s chrome hands wrapped around her wrist.

 

“Sorry. Not this gig.”

“Fuuuck.” She cursed because… It was right there.

 

“Hey if you want one, I can put you in touch with my contact. Get some eddies together and buy one.” She offered as if getting a Rocket Launcher was just… That easy… Well Rebecca realized that it kinda was.

 

“So want something else? I got an Ajax over there. Or a Carnage around here somewhere, if you want one. I think I got some-”

“I’ll take the Ajax. Sure.” She agreed. She had shot one before, the recoil wouldn’t send her flying. Good enough.

Rebecca cursed herself a bit. She really needed the arm upgrades she had been planning. But Eddies had been tight, and Pilar had been a tightwad. Needing all the eddies for his projects and shit.

 

Even if Becca knew he was blowing most of it on frivolous shit. The dumbass.

 

She grabbed the Ajax out of the panel it had been inserted into, hefted it and checked it. Yep, already loaded.

 

“Here, a few extra mags.” Motoko offered, and Rebecca nodded, stuffing them clumsily into her pockets on her jacket.

 

“We’ll need to get you some rigging or something for next time.” Motoko said suddenly, before nodding and heading back to the car.

 

Rebecca though was a little surprised.

 

For next time? Rebecca wasn’t even sure if she wanted to work with the kids… But at the same time, it was kind of flattering to have Motoko already assume Rebecca wouldn’t embarrass herself today and want them all to kick her out… And now she was feeling under qualified while hanging around a bunch of teenagers.

 

“Fuuuuuck.” She took a deep breath and headed to the passenger door.

 

With Maine it always felt like she was just an add on from Pilar. Her brother’s tech skills made him useful.

 

Rebecca though? Was the exact opposite of what Maine liked. Big, strong, brutal power.

 

Even Sasha represented what Maine liked in a netrunner. Massive powerful hacks. It was just how the big guy thought.

 

Rebecca was usually only given shit jobs. Overwatch, distraction, shit like that.

 

But Motoko had invited her right into the strike squad… Before she had walked into the apartment, she had thought the kids wanted another Solo a bit older than them to help out. To handle the dangerous bits, but seeing everything now?

No, it was Rebecca that was the amateur here. She took a breath and accepted that. Even as it pissed her off and embarrassed her, but that was just the truth.

 

She slipped into the Quadra’s passenger seat, and they all started driving out of the garage towards Arroyo.

 

Towards a massive Scav den. She could feel herself getting excited. She was ready for this.

 

“You want any grenades?” The question interrupted her thoughts and she looked over.

 

Was the kid wearing her seat belt? Why? That’s so weird.

 

“Uh… Yeah choom?” What kind of gonk said no to grenades?

“Preem. Got a box under your seat. Take whatever you like. Red Caps are frags, Blue are EMP. Probably don’t take any of those. Not sure how much of the equipment in the power plant is still active.”

 

Rebecca very carefully moved her feet and bent down. There under her seat was a box, and inside slotted into little indents to hold them was a bunch of grenades.

 

Okay sure.

 

She reached down and carefully grabbed two of the red caps, and after a moment stuffed them into a still empty pocket on her jacket.

 

She was going to need to get some actual rig if this is how Motoko rolled.

 

It was kind of embarrassing to pass on her style, but… Well… having spots to hold grenades did sound pretty nova.

 

Cause grenades.

 

“This is going to be so fun!” The girl chirped, happily smiling while her eyes were locked on the road.

 

For someone with such a high end car…

 

She kinda drove like some ancient old lady. Weird.

 

The ride over was pretty quiet. Motoko chattered a bit here and there, mostly about odd topics. What kind of weapons she liked, did she mod her own stuff. What sort of chrome she wanted to get.

 

Rebecca spent most of the ride mentally preparing herself for the battle to come and didn’t really give good answers.

 

Then they were there.

 

Everyone was already there except for Ichi in the truck. He had split off from the group to go get his toy Minotaur. Which Rebecca was still jealous that they had. She wouldn’t mind piloting a Minotaur.

 

They parked on the side of the road a block down from their target and the kid sat back, eyes closed. “What’s up?” Rebecca asked and the kid smiled.

 

“I set up some cameras last time I was here. I’m accessing them and slipping into the Scavs network again. Just to make sure nothing has changed or they found us out.”

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“Did they?”

“No.” She said while smiling. A smile that was much more bloodthirsty than the girl had shown up until now. “I’ll be pinging their system once we move in. Watch the golden lines, it’ll tell you where they are hiding. I’ll send some hacks through as well right after.”

 

“Preem. Gonna nuke them or something?”

 

“Huh? Oh you work with Sasha, right I forgot.” Motoko said, starting amused and then going quiet. “I hope she’s okay. But no. I don’t really use offensive hacks much. I prefer CC. Wipe their eyes. Disarm their guns. Makes shooting them a lot easier.”

 

“Well shit, that’s what I like to hear.” Rebecca agreed, not having Sasha kill steal everything would be kinda nice. Not that Rebecca had really gotten a chance to do much killing with Maines team.

 

They still treated her like a kid. She was eighteen! Sure she looked more like she was fourteen, but that’s just how she was. Scopshit. It’s fine. She’ll get some chrome and then Maine will stop babying her. The man always was quick to accept chrome as a solution to any problem.

 

They waited for a while. Motoko mentioned a few things off hand from time to time.

 

“Three are outside, but they move around. Two of them are moving boxes outside to a truck. Don’t worry they aren’t moving very fast. The truck won’t be ready to leave before we hit them.”

 

And Rebecca just listened. Unused to the chatter, but used to a Netrunner overwatching. In fact the constant updates was kinda nice. Sasha was usually more quiet, or just teasing as she worked.

 

Finally a familiar big truck pulled up behind them all. Ichi had arrived.

 

Motoko nodded, having noticed them despite focusing on the cameras.

 

“Okay the gates are both unlocked. Let’s get the channel started.” Then a moment later Rebecca got a call.

 

*Here.* Rebecca said as soon as the call connected, and Motoko nodded.

*I’m in.* Hiromi responded.

 

*Me too.* Jun was in.

 

*Locked and loaded!* Malcolm.

 

*Just say the word, I want to give this thing a test drive.* Ichi.

 

*Alright everyone. Gates are unlocked. Jun, Malcolm follow me. Ichi, once the shooting starts that’s your cue!* And then the car rumbled pulling away from the curb and driving down the street past the power plant, and around so they could get into the alley behind it leading around to the second gate.

 

Rebecca was ready. Ajax held in her lap.

“When you pull in, just give me an angle, I’ll drive by.” She told the kid verbally so as not to disturb everyone.

 

“Preem! The car is armored so that’s actually a great idea!” Motoko said happily, and Rebecca sort of huffed.

 

She wasn’t complete ganic. She could take a round from some scav 9… Mostly.

 

*Okay. I’m going.*

 

And then The Quadra roared, shifting from a quiet driver to someone that happily pushed the pedal to the metal the Quadra roared, and the gate ahead of them was already opening.