Chapter 28

With Jun’s help we gathered up a bunch of stuff from the apartment. I really wasn’t able to help much as even a backpack would go over my still injured shoulders.

Still he gathered up a bunch of things including some of my repair work and tools, and we left the apartment.

It was kinda sad. I knew we would come back, eventually, but it was still sad to be sort of moving away from home.

It was where I felt safe.

Jun didn’t talk much on the way back to the Dojo apartments. Only speaking up about getting some food, which we stopped at on the way.

To my absolute shock Jun didn’t order a XXL Burrito.

Has Jun gone completely Cyberpsycho? Now I was actually worried, but he seemed normal as we ate on the drive back.

Truly watching Jun eat something other than XXL Burritos was too weird for this world!

We drove around instead of going straight to the apartment. Through a few heavy Tyger Claw zones as I could see them literally walking the street.

“Anyone following us will be spotted and removed.” Jun explained at my curious look as we finally made it down to the Dojo.

After hauling my stuff inside the apartment Jun left to do some Tyger Claw stuff.

His words.

I settled in for a sleep. It was time to do a full heal, see how well I would handle having new arms.

And start preparing for my revenge.

—–

I blinked awake, as always using the menu to sleep for eight hours left me feeling 100% rested, and wide awake. I sat up looking around. I had purposefully fallen asleep on the couch so that Jun could keep his bed so I didn’t see him as I looked around. Checking the clock I noticed it was only nine pm. Late, but not too late. Jun was probably still up even. With that I looked down to my arms and tried to move them.

That sluggish feeling was gone. But it still wasn’t right. Wasn’t normal.

I lifted my right arm and felt… Off. The feeling of a phantom limb struck me heavily. As I lifted my arm it felt like it was a second too slow, leaving my brain telling me my arm should be there, but it hadn’t made it.

I tested the same with my left arm finding the noodly arm effect was gone, but the foreignness was still present.

I stood up shaking myself loose from my slings that I had fallen asleep with. I felt my breath come out shaky. A tightness behind my eyes.

It was scary. What I had gone through, what they had done to me, and now the effects of which I was still dealing with.

I was scared.

I exhaled ice. The coldness creeping up my veins freezing my anxiety. My fears. I could deal with this. Hundreds of thousands of people live in Night City with Chrome arms. It wasn’t weird. Or impossible. Just a short time to get used to it and I would be fine.

It was just a change. Just one more change. Just like all the changes I had made since I woke up in the hospital. Just one more tiny alteration in my life.

I let the ice melt. Let my feelings slowly slip back into my thoughts.

I was scared. But not because I hated the cyborg arms. But because it hadn’t been my choice.

I had wanted this, but at my pace. I exhaled warmth. No tears threatened to come out. “Okay Motoko. Step one. Get used to the limbs.”Closing my eyes I stretched my arms out then opened them. Looking at them for the first time as mine.

They weren’t Militech Condors. They weren’t Chrome.

They were my arms.

My fingers were thin. The Ripper must have adjusted the… My arms, to suit a woman. I spread my arms sideways getting a feel for my wingspan. It was… About the same? Not an easy thing to tell, but it was there. My fingers were longer now. I realized I could clench my fists and my fingers didn’t rest at the same place they would have before.

I played with my fingers for a moment. Pressing each finger to my thumb one after another wiggled the digits, and even threw up a middle finger.

Just to make sure for next time.

Then I moved to my palms. They weren’t flesh. Instead a smooth stainless steel, or aluminum, but covered at parts with a rubberized grip. I could feel it. The sensors of the Cyberware gave me an almost accurate sense of touch.

The foreignness was still there, and I had to close my eyes and just breathe as I felt new sensations for old actions.

Touching my own palm shouldn’t cause me this much discomfort. Shouldn’t feel so wrong.

But I exhaled. Let myself simply adjust. Let the feeling of it flow through me. This was what my hand felt like. I pushed my hands together letting the feeling flow through my mind.

This was me.

I let my palms drift apart. Now I focused on my wrists. Feeling their range of motion. Every angle I would ever need as I slowly shifted my wrist this way and that.

My wrist was strong.

My old… No. My wrists before. My wrists before had been kinda weak. Not helped by the feeling of them breaking whenever I shot my Burya.

But I could feel how much stronger they were. The tension of pushing them to their limit actually a nice feeling. Yes it was strange but it didn’t hurt, like when you stretched with meat, a nice feeling.

I moved on

My forearms were coated smooth steel. Small gaps in the exterior showed the muscle underneath. I could see the synth muscle contract and shift as I moved my wrists, I let myself grow used to the sight, and feeling.

My elbow was weird. The range of motion was a lot wider. Able to go a bit beyond an elbow’s normal range of motion on the extension. I repeated the motion for a while simply growing used to the differences.

My biceps were defined. The military nature of the limb was in full view, but it didn’t bother me. I had muscles before from all the Body training.

There wasn’t much to think about. It’s not like you really think about your bicep very often. The length was about right. And I could feel the muscles contracting as I curled my hands to my shoulders.

My shoulders were different. Obviously. They had a texture to them, my shoulders had an almost armored section. It wasn’t large, but it made my shoulder feel larger in my peripheral vision that was so clear with my Kiroshi.

I could feel the metal cool against my skin that ran from my shoulder to above my breast. The length of how far the arms had extended into my chest? Or just how the arms connected to my nerves?

No idea.

I exhaled letting the feeling pass.

These were my arms.

I opened my stat menu.

—–

Level 5
4750/6000

Body 6(10) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
-Athletics 5
-Street Brawler 5
-Annihilation 4

Reflex 6
-Blades 6
-Handguns 4
-Assault 3
-Driving 4

Intelligence 4
-Breach Protocol 3
-Quick Hacks 3

Cool 8
-Ninjutsu 7
-Cold Blood 6

Technical attribute 3(7) Due to Cyberization, Maximum value has increased by 4.
-Crafting 3

0 Stat point.
0 Skill point.

Perks.
Ambidextrous Blades 2
Quickdraw Handguns 2
Gun Nut Assault 2
Parkour Athletics 2
Grappling Street Brawler 2
Drive By Driver 2
Cat-like Athletics 5
Cool Nerves Cold Blood 2
Danger Sense Ninjutsu 2
Wall Breaking Breach Protocol 2
Cyber Security Quick Hack 2
Recoil Reduction. Annihilation 2
Cyber Ninja Ninjutsu 5
Fearless Chill. Cold Blood 5.
Improvised Weapons Street Brawler 5
Parry Blades 5
Robotics wizard Crafting 2

Cyberware:
Militech Paraline *Adaptation Militech Paraline 0/0*
Kiroshi Mk1 *Adaptation Kiroshi Mk1 0/2*
Militech Condor *Adaptation Militech Condor 0/10*

The numbers soothed me. There weren’t any negatives, or loss of stats. It means I was okay. That I could grind out a bit and be back to where I was… No, be even better.

I liked that. The chrome hadn’t been my choice, but I had always meant to do it. To be better. I clenched my first and felt the pressure within the grip.

I blinked my eyes and sighed. I guess I could understand why chipping in chrome would drive you nuts.

My eyes still felt weird when blinking to the extent that not blinking felt more comfortable, but my body still wanted to blink. It was a struggle to keep from doing it.

Now I also had my arms feeling off. Every part of them worked. I could feel everything. The sensors were actually really advanced, but…

It wasn’t the same. And that feeling of offness was distracting.

Irritating.

Like if your arm fell asleep and you tried using it to do a normal task. You could, but the lack of normal sensation left you uncomfortable. Yeah. That was what it was like. I decided.

“Fine. I just have to get used to it.” I affirmed to myself once more, extending my arms and running through a test of my fingers. “Time to grind.” I muttered as I fell back on my Street Brawler knowledge. The knowledge of how to train to fight.

I threw a punch. It whipped out. It wasn’t right. The phantom limb was still there making the punch feel slow. Off.

I pulled back and threw it again.

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And again.

And again.

I would grow used to it mentally even if I can’t physically. Adaptation was probably going to be a very important stat for me right now. My hopes were pinning on the stat making everything go back to feeling normal.

That meant I had only one choice.

Kill.

Good thing I already had plenty of acceptable targets.

“What are you doing!?” Jun’s voice suddenly interrupted me as I punched, making me stop. I looked over he had just entered the apartment, and was looking at me in concern.

“Punching?”

“Sit down! You are still healing! Are you an idiot!?… Of course you are.” He muttered as he practically picked me up and sat me on the couch. A moment later he came back with a bag full of my tech stuff I had asked him to bring from the apartment.

“Light duty only! What part of that didn’t make it through your gonk head?” He cursed at me actually sounding pretty pissed as he slammed the bag on the table.

I winced. That wasn’t good for my tools Jun.

But I was wise! I kept my mouth shut and nodded along as Jun stalked around the apartment.

I would just wait for him to leave.

Until then I pulled out some of my tools and had a very strange session making some pieces that I was gonna use to modify my Unity. The old gun had been with me for a while. It was about time I spent a little time working on it.

It was almost an hour later when I finished the new trigger that would be a bit smoother than the old one, holding the part up to the light admiring its look when I realized.

My Unity was gone.

I put the trigger down and had to wipe my eyes.

—-

I was so bored.

Jun was still mother henning me. So I wasn’t able to do any real exercise or grinding when he was around, and he had patently refused to let me go anywhere. So I had been stuck inside playing with the few pieces of tech I had. I had already breached the security on every device in the apartment, and many of them in the building itself.

Bored, Bored, bored!

Jun though was a good big brother. He must have a Brother-Sense because as I was slowly losing my mind he pulled me out of the apartment and brought me over to the Dojo.

I was feeling relieved and happy, I might get some exercise done, until he walked me over to an older man that had on a Gi.

And a lot of Tyger Claw tattoos. But that was more the norm than not here.

“Sensei. This is Motoko.” Jun suddenly introduced me.

“Hmph.” Was the only noise he made as he looked me over. “I am Ozeki Sensei. Those arms of yours are new.” He said and it took me a moment to realize he was asking a question with how gravely his voice was.

“Yes.”

“Then you will be helpless as a babe until you learn them.” He said simply as he turned and grabbed a shinai off a rack and then threw it at me.

It wasn’t a gentle throw. I managed to keep from yelping as I jerked, my arms raising to catch them, but the timing was off. My hand wasn’t where I needed it to be and the sword ended up getting caught on my fingers and nearly smacking me in the face.

But I managed to seal both hands around the sword wincing as it creaked a bit but it was fine.

“Sensei… Light duty only.” Jun hinted loudly looking a little irritated but Ozeki Sensei just turned towards me.