Chapter 242

“Hey kid, take it slow.” Vik’s voice called out, as I opened my eyes. I hadn’t slept, hadn’t had any sleepy juice, or even just forced myself to sleep for an hour. The change had been while I was wide awake.

But, honestly it wasn’t that bad. All Vik had done was remove my old arms, alter some of the attachments and then re-attach my new arms.

All while the camera’s rolled, and I had an annoying Militech Corpo in my ear, urging me to say tag lines, like ‘With these Militech Arms, I’ll be invincible!’ And stupid shit like that.

It was super cringey so I didn’t. Instead I went through the surgery mostly quiet, laughing and joking with Vik while he worked so he knew I was okay, but otherwise keeping it more intimate.

And then I slowly sat up. The Silver Chrome arms shifted, having finally had their connections completed, as I brought them up to my face and looked my new palms over.

It would take some getting used to, but all the little dings and scrapes, things my Condors had from even before I ran them through the wringer were gone. Clean untouched chrome.

“How they feel kid?”

“Like a million eddies.” I said, loud enough to finally make the woman in my ear chattering shut up, as I showed them off a bit more for myself than the camera’s but they were tracking every movement in multiple directions as well.

And then I closed them into a tight fist.

Yeah that strength felt different. In a good way.

“They feel like I can take on the world.” I admitted, the least cringey thing closest to what Militech wanted… “Or at least a small Corp.” I said with a smirk, and Vik chuckled.

There.

Good enough.

—–

It wasn’t enough for the corpo’s but a few additional lines they had me repeat over and over from different angles, and me going full cold to keep from losing my temper at how fake it felt, and we were finally done.

Militech was happy enough, and I’d have the tour planned for next week, so that would be interesting.

But it was over. I hung around as the camera equipment started disappearing hauled by men that must do it quite often.

“At least they’re quick to pack up.” I muttered to Vik and he chuffed.

“They’re just doing their job.” He reminded me. He was having me go through dozens of little tests, finger touches, punches, and shifting each joint.

It honestly felt amazing. No… Better than amazing.

There was a flexibility in these arms I had never had with my Condors. Not only could I still spin my hand around, I could almost do the same with my elbow. Which was kinda weird at first, but it wasn’t disruptive or anything. In fact as I went through the motions it all felt… Completely natural?

I blinked over as I continued the motions under Vik’s watchful eye, checking my system, and then I was surprised.

Militech Eagle MKV *Adaptation Militech Eagle 4/4*

The condor spot in my adaptation list was different… Wait..

Oh.

Condors used to take 5/5, but the Eagles only took four adaptations, and…

I had a stat point.

It had refunded me, the point! Nice!

1 Stat point.

3 Skill point.

Hmm. That gave me some ideas, but… Last thing I’d done had been an intelligence point which means this point should just go back into Adaptation…

Looking over my chrome list, and what needed more Adaptation, there really was only one good option.

Everything else was already fairly well invested, but…

Dynalar Sandevistan Mk.2 *Adaptation Dynalar Sandevistan 2/4*

I knew I would be updating Sandy’s soon, and when I did that… I highly doubt that monstrous thing was going to stay at 4 required adaptation points.

I dropped my free stat point in, bringing it to 3/4. I already burned my Sandy pretty hard, but this should make it much easier to deal with.

It didn’t feel any different as I put in the point, but I wasn’t using it right now either.

“Alright kid. I don’t see any issues… At all, that thing must be really easy on the nerves. I’m not noticing any tearing, or inflammation. You’re handling it great.”

“Thanks Vik. I guess I’ve gotten used to the chrome since I had the Condors for so long.” I said, the best explanation I could offer with people still around.

“Maybe.” He said, his eyes locking onto me for a moment before just nodding and turning away to check his screens. “Well I’m pleased with how you’re handling it. Light work only for a day or two, even with how well it’s going alright? Take it slow kid, you really aren’t used to the differences in strength alright?”

“I will. Promise. I’ll go home and put my feet up and be lazy for a few days.”

“Heh, well maybe not that light. Do some stretches, a few pushups every few hours or so, get your body used to the changes. Oh, and here.” He dropped a pill bottle on my lap. “Take one of those before bed.”

“You sure?”

“Kid that’s already an incredibly light dose, but I’m still going to take care of you.”

“Yes sir.” I said firmly, throwing him a salute, and he just laughed.

“Motoko!” Hiromi called out as she sauntered into the clinic from the stairs. She’d disappeared upstairs at some point during the surgery.

“Hey Hiromi, all good?”

“All good. Oh you should see Alex, he’s seething right now.” Hiromi whispered pleased with herself, then frowned. “I should have expected the Militech issue. Even if it was just pressure for a deal, if I had made sure it was clear beforehand they couldn’t have tried to push things.” She whispered to me admitting her mistake.

I just shrugged.

“Mistakes happen. As long as you learn from them, who cares?” I said with a shrug, which felt a bit weird, but not a bad weird. I rolled my shoulders a bit more, getting a feel for how the motion was settled slightly lower than I was used to. The Eagles were sleeker and they were more feminine as well.

Where the Condors had been off the shelf, throw them on. The Eagles were designed with special forces in mind, and making sure a woman’s arms would fit her better was probably with the extra alterations in Militech’s mind.

“Yeah I won’t make that mistake again… I keep getting swept up in that assholes rhythm. He sets up the deals behind my back and then I have to rush to keep any control over things.”

“He knows what he’s doing. It’s a shame he isn’t working with you instead of against you. Want me to kill him yet?”

“No, not yet. I don’t know who the higher ups will send to replace him, and he’s still fumbling as well, trying to get control over you. As long as he can’t, he’s an annoyance, rather than a problem.”

“And he can’t.”

“Exactly.” Hiromi said haughtily, and I grinned. It was nice that she knew I wouldn’t work with this guy.

I mean… He was causing trouble for Hiromi, and only I got to do that!

“Speak of the devil.” I muttered quietly, and Hiromi looked towards the entrance.

Alex walked down the steps a sleazy smile on his face as he approached.

“Motoko, how are you doing? Any problems?” He asked, half looking at Vik, and then looking around further as if expecting another face.

“Fine. Vik does excellent work.”

“Good! Good! We should have enough for the commercial, although the Militech guys were thinking of maybe adding some music to it. I was thinking-”

“Music is good, Rise would probably be best. Showing Motoko rising up with the new arms.” Hiromi offered, and I hummed at the thought, pointedly enjoying how she had cut off Alex.

I didn’t really care, they could figure it out I’m sure.

“I’ll let them know your suggestion.” Alex offered, but I rolled my eyes.

“Whatever.”

“It was surprising that we ran into Thomas Anderson again.” Hiromi offered out of nowhere, and I looked up to see her ignoring Alex who was frowning a bit.

“Yeah, I wasn’t expecting that. I guess since we aren’t protecting his target, he’s not interested in continuing.” I said, going with whatever Hiromi was up to.

“Indeed. If they knew a bit more about our past that might have been treated as an insult. It’s too bad, there was the other issue that Katalina jumped on.” She explained then sent a look at Alex.

“What is the connection between you and the Militech guard. You said he threw you out a window? Will there be an issue?”

“Eh, he was trying to kill someone. I was stopping him from doing that. It’s fine. If we didn’t fight today we probably won’t.” I waved him off staying calm and Hiromi was smirking.

“I didn’t realize your… Gigs as a mercenary are so dangerous.” He commented and I looked at him, then at Hiromi. It’s your game Hiromi.

“Oh Motoko was rarely in any danger.” Hiromi commented, sounding like she was trying to downplay what I could do.

“Well that’s good. We certainly don’t want our talent put at risk. We should speak about those gigs in fact. While keeping a Mercenary image is good, gunfights tend to be high risk.”

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“You don’t have to worry about that. Motoko is very competent! She’s only been shot at a few times. Nothing to worry about.” Hiromi said smiling, and I could see Alex twitch a bit… What were you planning Hiromi?

Oh well. Whatever she was up to, I would let her do it.

“I’m going to help Vik put his clinic back to normal. Everyone should get out of here now that this is all over.” I said firmly, as I noticed Hiromi looked pleased with whatever she was up to. Alex headed off, quiet. Obviously thinking about something.

I decided to let Hiromi have whatever plot she was in the middle of, and went to help out.

“Honestly kid, you should be resting. I don’t want you straining those shoulders.” Vik said the instant I walked over to help him pick up a box.

“I’ll pick up the lightest ones.” I offered doing just that and helping.