“Jun? You’re home already?”

“I told you it was just scratches.” He grumbled at me. I had dropped off Rebecca at home after we stored the Behemoth for the night. All of us too tired to want to unpack everything just to pack it all back up again.

Hiromi had apparently made a deal with the SCSM company for a garage to store it. Which we could use as a space for our loot. So it was secure enough.

Now I was home ready for a shower but Jun was already on the couch.

I walked over and inspected him and narrowed my eyes at the very obvious bandages on his chest.

“Yes I’m sure scratches bleed even after being checked over by a ripper.” I said snidely, noticing red on the white bandages.

“It’s fine.” He grumbled looking me over. “You?”

“Nothing went through. Armor worked like it was supposed to.” I assured him. Although I had gotten a few scratches, a Maxdoc had cleared that up.

Satisfied my brother had actually gotten his medical attention I wandered into the bathroom to take a shower.

This whole situation had gone really well. Even if the fact Sasha had survived was setting in. What was going to change from that one act?

Maines crew had made an enemy of Biotechnica. I had no idea how much, or if they would be able to let everything cool off, but Kiwi and Lucy might never be hired by Maine now.

This was… Going to be an interesting situation.

Also, the most important thing. We were only a few months away from a very important point. The start of Edgerunners.

I would need to figure out what to do about what's his face. The original owner of David's Sandevistan. The fact was, I wanted it. That wasn’t some run of the mill street sandy that I could pick up. That thing was absolutely top of the line.

And I wasn’t David, I wasn’t going to lose my mind to chrome and overuse and turn the biggest advantage into a weakness.

But until then…

I looked down at my body as the water flowed over me. Muscles and chrome, but I was flawless. No scars, or markings. Vik and my sleep healing had taken care of me.

I looked at my alerts. Plenty of killing had been done. Plenty of XP.

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

*500 XP Gained.*

On it went.

Fourteen kills directly to me. That wasn’t a lot, and yet it was all at the same time.

XP.

I hadn’t gotten any direct level ups, Assault was unfortunately already maxed, but I did get a Quick Hack alert. So that was one more step closer to a level.

But as I looked away from the alerts and back to my body…

I think it’s time to get some more chrome. I’ve been doing a lot of prep chrome. My Titanium bones were great, but I wanted something with a bit more….

Flash.

The idea stuck with me, as I finished the shower. Undecided. I could probably get some Gorilla arms mods for my Condor. They were already a bit full though. The EMP and Armor took up a lot of room.

I walked out of the bathroom clothed and drying my hair, and then decided since I couldn’t figure it out on my own I was gonna ask the chrome head.

“Hey Jun?”

“Motoko?”“I’m trying to figure out what chrome I should get next. Any suggestions?”“Extra heart?”

“I do want one, but I’m thinking more flash. All of my chrome feels like just…”

“Ah I see. Get a Sandy. It’ll make you killer.” He said without missing a beat.

“I kinda have one lined up, but it’ll be a few months before I can get it.” I answered honestly. Admitting it aloud made it more real.

I was going to take ‘Davids’ Sandy from him. He would never chip it in. In exchange I would make sure Gloria survived. I’m sure he would trade the chrome for his mother alive and well.

“If you have to wait so long, just chip in a sandy now, get used to it, and upgrade later. You have the eddies.” He said it like it was that simple.

“I just… I don’t want to chip in some scop Sandy Jun. The one I have my eye on is like… Super top of the line. I just have to wait a bit.”

“Dummy.” He said and to my surprise reached out and tapped me on top of my head. “Speedware is useful shit. The only reason I don’t have one is because I stopped chipping in new chrome for a while to get used to everything. But you… You’re fine. Go chip in a Sandy, get used to it, for when you chip in something real nova.”

“But that’ll…” I stopped. How do I explain the idea of how I understood adaptation, and Humanity loss by Cyberware without explaining it’s all a game.

“Motoko? You handle chrome better than anyone I’ve ever seen.” He said, his eyes locked on me. “You’ve been a little skittish about it. I get that. But you’ve got nothing to be afraid of. Besides, Hiromi already sent me a quote on what we made today. You can get plenty of good chrome with just your cut of today's profits. Hell, it’s more than I make normally by a long shot.” He said almost laughing. “Who’d have thought little Hiromi would some day be bossing me around on a gig?”

I blinked at the almost wistful tone before Jun looked to me and smiled.

“Spend the eddies. Get an upgrade. At least it’ll increase your chances of surviving until you get your hands on the Sandy you really want. Upgrades are normal, they won’t hurt.”

I blinked and realized that… I really should be upgrading my chrome. I had a lot of eddies just sitting in my account. And a lot of chrome that could use an upgrade. My Cyberdeck was a midline at best for instance.

An upgrade to my Cyberdeck would do a lot in making me even scarier.

But I also wanted to spend more money on tech stuff… No, I realized. I had eddies. I had a ton of eddies. That was just an excuse. I was letting my fear control me. I was afraid of chrome in a way. Sure I was feeling much much better about it now, but the kidnapping still haunted me.This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

I hated that idea.

I breathed in and out. Being wise about chrome wasn’t bad though. Balance. I just needed balance.

“I’m going to bed. I’ll probably be working with Hiromi all day tomorrow to sell the loot.” I said instead, rising up.“Nice! I’m looking forward to my cut! Going to buy an upgrade for my ride. But you should set it up Motoko. Call your ripper, Vik. Give him time to find some chrome. Go on. Go to bed.”

I just rolled my eyes at Jun’s stupid Mizuchi.

“I’ll send a message to Vik.” I decided, even sending him a message about what I was looking for and a request for a checkup and new install.

“Good night Motoko… And hey. This gig you pulled off today? I was impressed. Super impressed. You didn’t even need me, you could have done it without me… It was a relief.”

I scoffed even as I felt my cheeks heat up. “Section 9 is amazing! Of course we don’t need a gonk like you! Even if you were a big help and it was cool how you worked with us, when you weren’t charging ahead and getting shot at! Maybe Section 9 will offer more gigs to you in the future… If you get some armor!” I yelled and then stomped away into my room. Jun was laughing.

I checked on Tachikoma before I went to bed. Its walking process was starting to really come together. It was moving at a much faster rate now. Much more confidently.

“Good job.” I told it despite not being able to hear me, and did some quick pruning of the process before slipping into bed.

—---

The next day was a barrage of running around. Thankfully since Ichi could drive the Behemoth. I was mostly the bodyguard. Keeping Hiromi safe as she sold equipment all over the city. The eddies flowed in as we dropped off piece after piece.

While we drove around, I spent some time going over the gig with everyone. With the BD recorder I could even review things I had seen.

Talking to Malcolm about when he tripped. Telling him to remind me sometime for some practice with walking through a dark space with a rifle in hands.

Ichi mostly got a slap on the back.

Hiromi too.

Jun I just sent a picture of him getting shot with a quick caption. ‘Don’t be the idiot that runs ahead.’

He didn’t respond with anything useful. Just a glare emoji.

Rebecca didn’t have time to talk so we would have to go over everything another time, unfortunately it also meant Rebecca wasn’t able to join us.

When we finally called it a night, we took some time to celebrate. Hitting a diner and ordering all the food we could eat.

“Seriously! That guy was such scop. I’m pretty sure he was a Scav himself!” I grumbled out but Hiromi just laughed.

“You just didn’t like how he was flirting with me!” Hiromi said with a bit too much eagerness, and I shuddered.

“Of course I was upset! The guy was like thirty. He was gross Hiromi. You shouldn’t have led him on.”

“It let me fleece him for another two grand. So…”“It’s gross. I’ll have to give that guy a late night visit sometime soon.” I said feeling rather murderous. Fucking sicko.

“Don’t you dare! He was buying a lot of the equipment! We’ll keep feeding him more of our loot! For the eddies!”

“Don’t worry about it Motoko. He’ll do something stupid some day either get himself killed, or we will flatline him.” Ichi cut in. “I would put money on him trying to steal from us someday.”

“He wouldn’t! The equipment we are selling is super cheap! He wo-”“He totally will.” I agreed. The guy was skeevy.

“Yep.” Ichi agreed, I raised my drink to him and he did the same.

“Ugh.” Hiromi just huffed and Ichi and I started laughing.

“So what are you spending your eddies on Ichi? Any chrome?” I asked mostly as a segway, but I was interested in his answer as well.

“Ah, well I got the smart link, and that wasn’t too bad. Even if using the Minotaur meant I didn’t get to use it much. But I do like the Yukimura. Since I’ve been wearing it, just seeing it on my hip has settled a lot of friction.” He said laughing, slapping the holster on his side that carried his smart gun.

“Heh. At least some gonks are smart enough not to mess with the guy that has homing bullets.” I giggled and he nodded in turn.

“But for what I’m going to do with these eddies… I don’t know. Maybe some Subdermal, or Skinweave?”

“You should reach out to Vik then, see what he has on offer. He’ll take care of you.”“Sure, maybe I’ll reach out. How about you?” He asked and that was the topic I wanted to bring up, mostly because I was kinda nervous.

“I’d planned on holding off for a while longer. I have a chance at a really high end Sandy that will open up in a few months, but… I think I’m going to chip in a lower quality Sandy with Vik tomorrow.”

“Whoa! Really?” Hiromi asked, looked excited. “That would be preem Motoko! Sandy are expensive chrome, but they’re great!”

“Yeah. I was gonna hold off until I got something really top of the line, but…” Powergaming vs. realistic upgrades.

The powergamer in me said not to upgrade until I could get the best. But I wanted to be safe, and strong enough to protect myself and my chooms.

“So yeah. I’ll go in tomorrow morning. Vik got back to me that he found something that I’ll like.”

“Nice! I want to see! As soon as you are done!” Hiromi demanded, and I waved her off.

“Maybe. I’ll probably head home after and sleep it off or something. But I’ll show you once I feel better.”

“Deal!” She agreed, smiling while Ichi nodded in tandem.

“How about you Hiromi? Anything in mind for your eddies?”“Most of it is going into payroll unfortunately. But I’ll be making a nice profit that will go into private accounts.” Hiromi said but Ichi and I just looked at each other.

“Coooorppppoooo.” We both teased and Hiromi instantly went red and slapped at both of us.

—--

The next morning I got ready and headed to Viks.

There was a bit of anxiety there. Because I wouldn’t be chipping in the ‘best’ of something. Just what I could get my hands on, with a bit of work, and that wasn’t something I really appreciated, but…

Upgrades. A few upgrades now could make future gigs easier, make me more eddies, and more XP.

It was for the best. That old gamer mentality of not upgrading to anything until I either had to, or until I had all the stat points to make use of the best stuff was holding me back.

But this wasn’t a game.

“Hey Misty!” I called out as I entered her Esoterica and she looked up and smiled brightly at me, making my day instantly better as she waved me down.

“Motoko, I saw you actually scheduled an appointment looking for more chrome today. That’s unusual. Something happen?” She asked kindly, waving me over as she was sitting behind her little reception.

“Not exactly. I just had the idea the other night and wanted to warn Vik.”

“Well he appreciates it, and as his sometimes secretary I appreciate it too.” She said teasing.

“Heh. He’s got you taking calls for him now too?” I asked, teasing back and she shrugged. “Sort of. Just as an emergency thing. Sometimes he isn’t around, so if someone is calling for emergency help well… If he isn’t around to answer, I’ll be able to warn them from showing up.”

“Right. That makes sense. Did Vik mention what he got for me?”

“He did. Vik has contacts all over, and you have the eddies to actually pay.” She winked at me then. “He always goes above and beyond for the best customers.”

“Vik’s the best ripper. Of course I have to treat him right.” I answered back and we both smiled.

“Go on. I know you want to see what he was able to wrangle up for you.” She said waving a hand at the back and I did just that waving goodbye as I hurried into the alley then down the stairs.

“Vik!”

“Hey Kid, ‘bout time, I was wondering if you would keep me waiting, come in, let me show you what I picked up for you this morning. Called in a favor with some old rippers I knew to get the deets and had to do a bit of trading, but I got it.”

Then he pulled out a plastic bag, and there it was.

A tiny little chip that was actually the Sandevistan.

“They always look so small.”

“Heh. Well big things come in small packages kid. This is a Dynalar Sandevistan. It’s not the best of the best. QianT usually hold that mantle, Militech can be top of the line if you can snatch their good stuff, at least they put up a fight. The Falcon is a preem piece of chrome.” He chattered as he started prepping everything, but I was struggling to tear my eyes off it.

A Sandevistan. Speedware. The piece of chrome that every likely was the most important piece of chrome I would get.

It was a midline Sandy. Like Vik said this wasn’t a Falcon. Or… Whatever the fuck Davids Sandy was. Well whatever it was, I would find out eventually. For now? This would do. This would do nicely.

“Alright Vik. I’m Ready.”

“Heh. Nice that you are mentally, but you aren’t ready just yet, come take a look at this as well. I need to ask if this is the right fit for you.” He said pulling out a second plastic package. The plastic was obviously not original the sort of thing I had seen in Scav shops for how they store cyberware to keep it clean.

And he dropped it on the table it took me a second… “A neural link?” I asked confused at the sight of it.

“Your neural link is a civilian version.” Vik answers and then points at the second piece of cyberware in a plastic bag. It wasn’t massive. At least not that massive, but I instantly realized it wasn’t just nothing either.

“That looks a bit high end.”

“Heh, caught that huh? Yeah. Your Sandevistan isn’t anything special, not that it was easy to get my hands on, they don’t come cheap. But you already got a Cyberdeck, and I bet you wanted to keep it right?”I instantly reached up to the back of my neck. There in the neural link that I had woken up with in this world in a small port that near my chipslots was my current Cyberdeck.

A cyberdeck that I knew was taking up a lot of the hardware of my neural link to run.

The neural link may be the most integral cyberware that existed. It was the piece of tech that connected the brain and nervous system to cyberware.

The basic civilian one wasn’t really capable of much. It wouldn’t limit a cyberdeck at my level, but Sandevistan, Cyberdecks, and many other powerful pieces of chrome all needed space in a neural link.

Hell, the Sandevistan David had chipped in, had needed the massive spinal neural link, or at least had come with it just to help handle the power that little chip could push out.

This one wasn’t nearly as big, but looking it over. The chrome gleaming in the muddy light of Vik’s shop. I came to a realization.

I licked my lips.

“I want it.”

“You sure? This might be the one I had access to, but I can find something different. This is a big step for you-”“I want it. It’s perfect. Hell there is only one other neural link I can think of that I want more, and that’s coming along with that Sandy I’ve been hunting. Vik. Chip it.” I confirmed, absolutely sure.

This was going to be huge, but with adaptation, and my own desire for the chrome. I was confident this was perfect for me.

“Alright kid. In that case, I’m all set up. Take a seat.”

I nodded and did just that, settling into the chair. “I’ll call Misty down as well once we are done. Not too good at haircuts.” He joked and I just laughed, as I rolled over showing the back of my neck.

A few moments later I was asleep.