Chapter 16

I was practically humming when I went for my jog the next day. I had some more eddies in my pocket. I had leveled up, and had a stat and skill point I needed to figure out, and my arm didn’t hurt anymore.

I definitely didn’t make any massive blunders like not searching for new wheels. Nope. That was some other Motoko.

Definitely.

Knocking over the Scav den was in every respect a good thing. My morals hiding in the corner after I beat them like a red headed step child aside.

Scavs were monsters. So even that didn’t bother me too much. Walk through a scav den and see the dead ripped apart bodies of the people inside, and you won’t have much difficulties committing murder as well.

Now I just needed to find more scavs. I jogged down the block as I plotted. I had unfortunately run through my knowledge of scav locations.

I considered going to Wakako to ask if she had any info, but it was probably best if I relax and let myself decompress. I did just murder a lot of people. It was probably bad for my mental health to instantly look for more people to kill.

So instead I jogged around the block going slow on my way to the Gym. Every device I walked past I tried Quick Hacking with Ping. Time to train! Even if I couldn’t level Quick hacking itself yet, I still needed to grind Intelligence.

Plus after an hour of slowly making my way to the gym, I would have some time to hammer at a sandbag!

—-

Back at home after a shower.

I still had a smile on my face because of my level up at the gym.

*Street Brawler skill level up!*

Level 4 felt great. Combined with Grapple, I felt actually pretty confident in a brawl. I mean not against a gorilla arms borg or something, but if a Scav grabbed me, I think I’ll survive.

When I settled onto the couch I looked first at my baby, the HMG and then at the radio.

Intelligence. I reminded myself. As fun as playing with the HMG would be.

I really needed to get to the point where I could actually do some netrunning stuff.

Intelligence. I got XP for it whenever I trained Breach or Quick Hack. Which was the most consistent method I had figured out, but it was slow.

I needed to raise Netrunning. I could have handled the fight with the borg a lot easier if I could hack his optics, or just shut his Cyberware down.

So I headed out into the city. Pinging, and Breaching every Vending machine I could find again.

—–

That night I gained four Intelligence XP alerts.

But not a level.

It was just on the edge of being too mindless for me to enjoy the grind. But every time I got the alert it made me feel better.

Plus since I was literally breaking into every vending machine I walked past. I did get myself some treats from time to time.

Over the next two days I really didn’t do much more than grind.

I had even taken to trying to sneak around while breaching. Training myself on how best to move while hacking to keep myself out of sight.

I hadn’t earned anything for Ninjutsu yet, but considering I was pretty visibly walking down the street and pretending to sneak around…

I just did my best to pretend no one could see me acting like a massive dork.

It even let me work some athletics training in, as I was jogging around the city.

But grinding can’t go on forever.

I was mid Breach on a vending machine when it happened. I got a text.

*Wakako: Come to my parlor. We need to talk.*

That was it. Not a woman of many words Wakako. I shrugged, finished up my breach and rose up from where I had been crouching behind a trashcan. Ignored the old guy next to me that was fencing stolen clothes by the looks of it, pretended he didn’t exist as I walked casually down the sidewalk.

I was pretty far from home, would have to take a train on the way back.

But I wondered what Wakako wanted?

A short train ride back to my area I walked down Jig-jig street, bypassed the dolls, and ignored the lecherous looks from the gonks, walked into Wakako’s parlor.

“Good you’re here. Come in, stop wasting time.” Wakako called out before I could even walk up to her receptionist. Shrugging, I passed through Wakako’s bead door.

To my surprise though, Wakako wasn’t alone.

A man was lounging in the chair in front of Wakako, looking bored. Although as he looked over his shoulder his eyes shot up.

“You’re kidding. She’s a kid.”

“I am not.” Wakako said bluntly. “You wanted a gun for hire. Here she is.” Wakako answered as she pointed a well manicured finger at me. “Meet Motoko Kusanagi. Fourteen. Three days ago she raided a Scav den. Alone. I verified this myself. No footage unfortunately, but 11 scavs were recovered from the site.”

“Twelve.” I couldn’t help but admit after Wakako finished. She looked at me suddenly, eyes hard. “I uh… Stashed one in a fridge. They probably just thought he was a victim.”

Wakako nodded in acceptance of my words and turned back to the man.

The man hummed a little but shook his head. “That’s great, impressive and all. I don’t work with kids.” He answered flatly, pointing at me.

“I don’t even know what is going on.” I interrupted again, looking to Wakako. “Can I get brought in on the sitch?”

“This is Scorpion, a Nomad. Due to some circumstances he came to me for help on a gig.” Wakako said simply waving at me. “You don’t have time to overly argue about what help you can get. You wanted someone that could watch your back for the eddies you offered? Out of my pool of talent few would even hear you out at the price you offer. The girl has proven herself that I am recommending her for your job. Here is my offer. Take it or leave it.”

“What’s the gig?” I interrupt again. “Before he hems and haws about it, maybe I should find out if I’m even willing to take it?” I turn to look at the man. “No offense.”

“None taken.” He grumbled looking to Wakako and she once again pointed to me. “Fine. Here are the deets. I got a deal going on. Gotta keep it… Low. The family wouldn’t like it. Basically got a Raffen Shiv that owes me a favor. Saved his life a year back. Despite all the bad blood… he used to be an Aldecaldos. Knew him as a kid. Little snot-nosed brat.” The man sighed rubbing at his bald head.

“I get it.” I prompted and the man got himself back together.

“Yeah well, I saved his ass during a storm. We talked some shit. He won’t be welcome back, but… He got in contact with me a week ago. Said the Raffen found something preem. Something I would very much like. Now it’s not that I trust him. I don’t, but I don’t think he is trying to ambush me either. He has something I want, I have some eddies and… Well family stuff. Anyway. I’ll need someone to watch my back. Just in case, we are going to Raffen territory after all.”

“So since you can’t bring the Aldecaldos into it, considering you came to Wakako to hire a gun.” I confirmed.

“About sums it up.”

“What’s the pay?”

“Not really sure it matters.”

“You need someone you can trust at your back in a potential firefight. I might be a Street Kid. But I’m a professional. I’ll fight to get us both out of there if something goes bad.” I answered simply. “That of course depends on the pay.” I add in at the end with a shrug.

“Two-thou.” He offered but I sensed it immediately.

We were haggling.

“Three. You are putting me in the path of the Raffen.” I added. The fuckin Scav nomads. Or better they were crazy Mad Max villains traveling the dusty roads and thieving murdering and raping their way through the desert.

“Two-two. Good chance it will just be a long quiet drive and a nice paycheck.”

“Two-three. And I’ll not ask you for ammo pay.” I countered.

He was quiet for a minute before he sighed. “Two-three.” Agreeing to bring me along.

“Excellent. Now both of you. Get out.” Wakako ordered with the irritation only an old woman can give when forced to stay around younger people.

“Thanks.” Scorpion offered with a roll of his eyes at her, but his eyes went blue a moment later and Wakako nodded.

Seemed she got her payment.

I followed Scorpion out of the Parlor before he turned on me. “Listen… It’s against my better judgment to bring you on. I don’t… The nomads don’t bring kids into dangerous situations like this.”

“I’ve gone solo into a Scav den. It’s not my first gig.”

“Right… Alright, listen it’s already late, and I’m not looking to have to camp out in the desert. So we will head out tomorrow morning. Sounds good?”

“Yeah, it sounds fine.” We flashed each other our contact information. A weird feeling that I was starting to get used to.

“Perfect.” He grumbled as he headed out into the darkness of Jig Jig street.

“Raffen huh. Fuckin scavs.” I whispered thinking about this gig. The Solo’s guide said I should determine what level of violence to bring to a table for every Gig. And prepare to kill if necessary.

Yeah I think I was ready to kill in this case.

I went home and sent Jun a text asking if he would be home tonight.

I never did get a response.

—–

The next morning Scorpion and I confirmed after a quick back and forth how our meetup was gonna go.

He was not pleased that I didn’t have a ride, and he had to come pick me up.

Nomads. Practically married to their rides and expect everyone else to be too.

Of course I got to see his irritation at waiting out on the sidewalk for me disappear into a sort of awed shock.

Because I was bringing my new baby.

With two arms it wasn’t too bad to walk out of the apartment much to the fearful gaze of all the people I walked past as I carried my HMG at my side. SMG around my chest all fully loaded and ready for war.

Honestly, I think Cold Blood was active, because I felt completely calm as I walked around Scorpion’s cute little hatchback car.

It was a Thorton Galena according to the information that I had picked up from living in the city, but it was heavily modified.

Obviously.

“Damn.” Scorpion muttered looking me over, as I settled my baby in the back seat. Before pulling the seat back in place.

“I like to be prepared. Just be happy you aren’t paying for ammo.” I told him as I settled into the seat.

It was then I noticed.

He had his jacket hood up. I shrugged. If he liked driving around with a hood over his head, I wasn’t going to comment.

“Alright then.” He uttered, actually sounding a little impressed, “Well get comfortable, it’ll be about four hours for us to hit the meeting site… And it might be a while before he shows up. So I hope you ate.”

I sighed at his words and gave him an apologetic smile.

We stopped at a diner before leaving the city limits.

—–

Other than needling each other about our choice in music stations it was a quiet drive. Scorpion was obviously used to driving alone. So I kept that in mind, besides even if this was the easy part, I was on a job.

I kept my eyes out on the world around us and myself prepared for a battle. I had thought keeping focused for so long would be difficult, or draining, but it wasn’t. I simply felt that coolness in my mind that made it so easy to stay focused and alert.

I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to stay cool forever. Yet. But it would last more than long enough for this gig. I would relax more on the way back.

Eventually a few hours into the drive as we drove through long desert roads Scorpion broke the silence.

“So what made you into a merc? Not a normal job for a kid your age.”

“A couple things I guess, but really it just felt right. I have some skill, and I wanted to do something with it.” I offered with a shrug. “Better than sitting around doing nothing I guess.”

“Crazy. Mercs die you know?”

“Everyone dies.” I countered looking over to him. “I don’t go out to die, but I know it can happen. Honestly I was more afraid of killing someone else, than dying myself at first. Or having someone I care about die. So that’s what drives me. If I can get better, get good equipment, get good cyberware. I’m more likely to be able to save my friends and family when something goes wrong.”

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“You sound like a Nomad.” He offered with a chuckle.

“Nah. I like putting my feet up in my air conditioned apartment too much for that.”