Seras
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Ghost in the City: Early Chapter 224
🕑 Added 2025-04-19 17:00:32 +0000 UTC“Kawaii-Kitten-Koh-”
“Sasha, stop it.” I interrupted her flatly with a glare. “Seriously.”
“Ah.” She hesitated a bit and slumped pouting at me. “Fine… Motoko.”
“Thank you.” I offered back feeling a little better already. “You ready?” I asked her, and she grinned at me.
“Yes! Another trip into the No/Brainer server!” She called out and pointed at the server in question.
We both walked in, and as much as I wanted to instantly start crushing Daemons…
That wasn’t my job this time.
I started breaching the server, even as Sasha and I rushed along, the both of us breaking through the first rooms very fast, Sasha’s tendency to use massive overwhelming hacks finally made some sense.
You enter a new room, and release something large wiping out if not all the defenses, a huge majority of them, and then clear out the weakened defenses, take your time doing whatever you need, and by the time you’re done you move onto the next room and repeat.
It worked I guess…
“Ah, can we slow down a little Kitten?”
“Getting old Cat?” I asked back as I had already breached through this room's defenses, opening up the gate to the next network node, but Sasha hadn’t had time to relax yet.
“No bullying Sasha!” She demanded and I rolled my eyes, but slowed down. “Hmph! You got new hardware.”
“Yeah, a full set of stuff. Ex-Disk upgrade, RAM, Got a Camillo.”
“Ooh!”
“And ICE.”
“Hmm, you got that sneaky kitten Shadow Deck. So you’ve what? Doubled your available RAM?” She asked, noticing it instantly, as we slowly ‘walked’ to the next room.
“Just about. It’s… Noticeable.”
“Yeah Sasha bets it is! You’re crushing the Breach… It’s making Sasha annoyed. She took longer to let Kitten kill all the Daemons like she wanted, and now Sasha is looking slow.”
“Heh.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “I think you’re a very strong Runner Sasha.” I offered, because frankly, those massive hacks she threw around like candy were…
Clean. The Quick Hack themselves weren’t anything to write home about, but Sasha wasn’t a programmer. She was a Netrunner. Everything she did was… Clean. Practiced, and with all the mistakes removed over years of practice.
She’d tear me apart if we fought. I might be able to escape her, but she was just that much better than me when it came to the essence of being a netrunner.
“Heehee! Sasha is happy!”
“And those feelings are gone. Stop talking about yourself in the third person, it’s creepy.”
“Bullying again!?” She whined and I knew that whatever it was that made her act this way was going to be a constant thing.
“Ready for the next room?”
“Yes!” She chirped happily and raced ahead, and by the time I entered the room the faux heat wave of her program rippling across the room washed over me. Thankfully it was entirely visual, a distortion of the server as it handled a massive load increase.
“I’ll get the bridge.” I called out wishing I could just slay Daemons cause XP, but I needed to prove to Sasha I could handle both sides of what was needed.
I rushed to the access node, the glowing bit of data was already clear of Daemons, but its defenses were active.
It instantly tried to lock down on me, but I threw its probes into my new ICE and let it get chewed up there, letting me attack without distraction as I Breached through, instantly an array of security systems rushed over my eyes, but I wasn’t bothered.
This was ancient shit.
I didn’t even need to actually crack it like Sasha had. This was a twenty year old defense program minimum, and likely older than that.
I could have simply inputted a security key from the manufacturer, and altered the IFF of the server defenses.
But that would be cheating, and wouldn’t show off what I could for Sasha. This was a test to see how well we could work together, and how well we each could handle the job.
I was the apprentice here. Even if I refused to let Sasha think of me like that… She totally already did.
But still!
So I was proving my place.
All so I could beat Kiwi in a silly game just because…
I killed the distractions in my head, and simply attacked. The security gate whined as I pinned its grasping defenses one by one before reaching the core, and flipping the switch.
The Moat bridge appeared.
“Way to goooo!” Sasha cheered, even as she continued to wipe out the slowly returning daemons.
I pulled away.
“No sweat.” I assured her, and we both raced across, I did manage to get a few Daemon kills on the way.
—--
“Hmm? Kitten isn’t done?” Sasha asked, after we left the server, having run through it without any issue.
“I’m going to run it solo, get some practice.”
“You sure? Sasha can come with?”
I was going to deny her, but… “If you aren’t doing anything you’re welcome to follow along.” I offered, and she lit up brightly, smile stretching across her face.
“Yes! That sounds fun!” She offered for once not sounding like she was trying to be cute.
“Come on then. Let me handle everything unless I totally mess it all up.”
“Heeheehee!” She laughed. “Don’t take it bad Kitten, but I almost hope you do, just so I can see it. But your Senpai believes in you!”
“Thanks.” I said flatly and slipped back into the server.
I had way more RAM, and better yet, the hardware to keep my Cyberdeck from overuse.
So when I entered the first room, I went all out.
Unlike Sasha, who used massive node clearing hacks, so she didn’t have to aim, or set up any sort of use process. I did the opposite. Dozens of low RAM hacks instantly loaded up.
I felt the strain of it for a second and instantly began adjusting the workload processes.
The program would load RAM from each of my pieces of Cyberware Even the Self-ICE had enough RAM it could run a double load of [HEAT Bullet] Which meant instead of overloading my Cyberdeck running so many consecutive programs, It was actually only the initial activation, and then aiming that was loaded on my Cyberdeck.
Then the program list went from a dozen to two, and exploded out of me, racing across the server like fireballs, each of them smashing two or three into Daemons that had been already heading towards me.
Sasha had been right.
Overwhelm the initial defenders and by the time you were ready to move on, you were cooled for the next room. That’s the sort of netrunner knowledge that my system didn’t really show me as such.
250 XP Gained.
250 XP Gained.
250 XP Gained.
250 XP Gained.
250 XP Gained.
Level up achieved!
One Stat Point Gained.
One Skill Point Gained.
250 XP Gained.
250 XP Gained.
I grinned as the information flowed through me.
Yeah. That’s the stuff. Sorry Sasha. I won’t need your help this time.
—--
“Okay so you got it?” I asked, and Klein nodded, spun his drum sticks around with a flourish and repeated the beat this time… Well it was better. “Alright let’s try that again.” I asked, and got nods from everyone.
Everlong. I needed the actual studio version, so… As part of practice and to reveal the full version for our next gig, we were doing it.
“Hello! I’m waiting here for you!” I sang my hands dancing over the strings, Klein kept the fast snare run going.
Jared and Alice both kept their guitars going, the beat sounded good, a little flat at parts, but that was what practice was for.
“I promise I’ll stop when I say when.” I crooned letting the song trail off as Klein finished up the last of the song on the drums.
I turned and everyone was looking a little tired.
“That was a lot better.” I confirmed, it felt weird being in charge. Especially since everyone was older than me, but I was treating it like a gig. Well, like a combat gig.
Messups were tolerated in training, but needed to be fixed so I was being more proactive than usual. I was actually calling out issues, and working to fix it, which did feel uncomfortable, but it had to be done.
“Thoughts? Feelings?” I asked as I grabbed a water bottle to hydrate a bit as I looked over everyone.
“I’m getting it, I think.” Klein called out and did a quick repeat of Everlongs snare run. “Should be good.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“It’s a bit… Old school. No real flare to it.” Alice finally said. “I know you said it’s done, but maybe a bit of a sound machine, add a bit more vibe to it?” She asked, and while my first instinct was to tell her hell no, how dare she try to ruin Everlong.
I swallowed it, and instead moved to her.
“We can try a few things, I mean, I have the acoustic version as well, so a different sound isn’t bad.” I offered and she lit up. Right. This wasn’t just me, these were musicians that wanted to stretch their musical talents too.
“Great! Let me mess with a few things.” She rushed over to the recording studio, and considering…
“Klein, you mind if I take drums for this?”
“You want to drum? Fair enough.” He confirmed, wiping a hand through his hair that glowed and pulsed. The fact he was wearing pretty normal clothes gave him a funny sort of feel. Although that was just because we were practicing and not actually playing a gig. He dressed up in tons of the current fashion when it was time to play.
I replaced him and spun the sticks. I actually kinda liked drumming funnily enough. Something about just bashing away with a pair of sticks called to me.
I didn’t hesitate as Alice was still fucking around, to just start laying out Everlongs drums.
Jared nodded, and started playing the Bass right along, and Klein picked up my Guitar after a nod, and we all started jamming out.
No vocals, just the three of us playing.
Alice rolled her eyes but not long after, some additional noise started echoing through the booth.
I don't think I really liked it, not really. But Alice was jamming out doing it live, and frankly that was okay.
This whole band thing was… Well it was a bit stressful, but playing music was fun.
We did that for a good twenty minutes just playing the song over and over as Alice fucked with an electronic back track, but eventually everyone stopped, and I finished off the song alongside them.
“Need a longer break?”
“An actual one would be good.” Jared called out laughing as he rubbed his shoulders.
“No problem Choom, take a break.” I called out waving the sticks and Klein followed him out. They’d probably hit the bar, and come back playing not quite as good as they had before.
Drunk musicians weren’t my favorite, but that was just how it was.
Alice though was obviously still playing with her back track for Everlong, and instead I just sat at the drums.
My sticks started tapping, just nonsense, no real song, but my brain found a rhythm, and I let it start playing out.
I tapped at the cymbals, before the song came to me.
I could hear it. The shriek of an electronic guitar, and the iconic vocals of Mike Shinoda, and Chester. Which I of course sang along with.
“I am, a little bit of loneliness, a little bit of disregard.”
Fully into it, I started hammering away, keeping the beat just on drums without a touch of any other instrument, but all of them were playing in my head.
“I’ll be here, ‘cause you’re all that I’ve got!”
And the transition led to it all out.
“I can’t feel the way I did before! Don’t turn your back on me! I WON’T BE IGNORED!” Chester’s iconic scream ripped out of me, even as I hammered the drums. Smashing everything out.
Linkin Park had been my jam, and I now had the actual ability to play it.
Repressed teenage emotions doubly so since I was a teenager again raced through me.
“I WON’T BE IGNORED!” I spun the sticks as I slammed the final notes and sat back, letting myself go a bit limp as I stared up at the ceiling before closing my eyes.
Ah, Linkin Park fucked hard.
“Okay seriously? Another song?” I blinked, opening my eyes and looking to see Alice had walked back into the booth. “What the hell was that?”
“Faint… That’s the name of the song.” I offered, in a weak explanation, but she was just looking at me like I was some monster.
“Let me guess, you got the guitar and bass track planned out too.”
“And the electronic track.” I offered because I wasn’t really in the mood to be “Are you complaining I have more songs I want to play?” I asked a little aggressively, considering the circumstances.
I was literally paying her for this after all.
“No! I’m just like… Frustrated! It’s fucking annoying okay!” She hissed pointing at me and then pulling the hand back and running it through her hair. “That song… It sounded nova. Are we going to play it?”
“... Yeah. It’s… We’re going to play it. Maybe not at our next gig.”
“Why not? It could be a thing if you want to keep pulling songs out of yo-Out every day. Make it so every gig has a new song played at the end. It’d be the sort of gimmick that draws a lot of attention.”
I blinked at the idea. It sounded cool in theory but… “Can we get everyone to learn a new song every time before we have to play?”
She winced a bit. “That’s… You know what? Fuck it. Yes, we can. We’ll fucking do it if we have to.” She said obviously Alice found her spine and wasn’t quite glaring at me, but I got the feeling she was feeling slighted.
I’d insulted her in a way, not directly I think, but because I was pulling out songs and she had probably struggled…
Yeah I felt bad. She was a shit singer, but still a musician. Still someone who wanted to live making music.
“Okay then. That’s the plan from now on.” I agreed and she blinked.
“Really?”
“Alice. I have no fucking idea how to run a band, what the band is capable of, or what’s the wrong or right way to handle this. I’ve been trying to be more exacting tonight, to get everyone to where they should be, but I don’t know if I fucked up, or insulted someone or what… I just want to play music, and your band was the first to really make me deal with other people.”
I wiped my head, I was sweating pretty heavily and stepped off the drums, setting everything down and then facing her. “So yeah. If that’s what you think. Then let’s try it.”
I could see her brain was processing, pieces of something were slotting into place, but whatever she had figured out or decided she didn’t share with me.
“Alright. C’mon. Let’s take a break and talk to the others.” She waved for me to follow and so I did. Heading up through the elevator into the nice bar area. The two boys were already drinking over the bar and they both looked up as Alice and I arrived.
“So we’ve come up with an idea for our gigs. It’s gonna be a lot of work, but we can do it.” Alice said before any other words were spared and then flagged down the bartender for a drink. “Violent hemorrhage might be dead, but we’re still Rockerboys! Let’s remind Night City we won’t be ignored.” She offered and threw me a wink at the words.
Heh. Linkin Park reference.
I nodded and got my own drink, and decided to actually sit and talk with my new band.
If I was going to be working with these guys, I think we needed to know each other a bit better.
—--
David Martinez
“Martinez.” The tone wasn’t too bad so he hadn’t pissed off the girl. Good. He turned to see Hiromi looking at him, and then nudging her head to follow.
So he followed. She might be a shitty boss, but she paid.
They rounded a corner to have a bit of privacy and Hiromi opened her bag and revealed an entire package of BD’s. “Take these and start passing them around.”
“Whoa. A new Ghost BD?” He asked, smirking as he took the plastic wrapped package and noticed the name on the wrapper. “Don’t Steal My Car?”
“Motoko and I had an issue in Dogtown. She reacted to it strongly. Just add them to the sale list.”
“Alright, I’ll need to check them out first… So I know how to sell it.” He added as the girl's glare sharpened, but she sighed and nodded.
“Agreed.” Then like usual doing the same corpo shit they were taught in class she turned and walked off without a word, a power play.
Whatever Hiromi. He’d taken the same classes last year, and passed them with an A. Despite what Hiromi liked to think, he’d seen her grades, she wasn’t a straight A student like he was…
Then again, she also ran multiple businesses and made tons of eddies.
David slumped, yeah fair.
The rest of the day ran by quickly as he kept feeling that buzz to watch a fresh BD until finally he was let out, and he raced to the Tram line. There was a moment he thought he saw her. That girl, the one who always grabbed his attention but in the end it was just a flash.
Once he was home he pulled on his new Wreath, bought because Hiromi had been annoyed that he was using an old shitty one that didn’t have the resolution and tactile sensitivities high enough to handle the BD’s correct.
And slipped into the Ghost.
Murder followed. Cold blooded, almost cruel murder, and it was the best shit. David’s heart was beating in a rush as he cut down scavs, as he became the terror.
Then after causing a scary borged up scav to literally go Cyberpsycho and murder his own chooms!
Fucking nova! He didn’t even know that was possible!
He felt himself prepare as he took the elevator up.
“The Perfect Cut.” The words whispered out of his mouth, as the elevator doors opened, and his hands gripped the Katana preparing to draw.
Holy shit! Some real Samurai shit! Hell yeah Ghost!
A bit of netrunning spread across their network and David recognized it as the hacks that caused guns to stop working.
Holy shit. He was going to buzzsaw through these scavs! Was this a return to ‘The Only Thing They Fear?’
He hoped so.
Then she went over the edge. Cool. A sense of utter calmness enveloped him. His heart skipped a beat.
Sandevistan!? Fuck yeah! She moved a blur to his senses even slowed down for the BD, and the first Scav was cut down that felt like a damn perfect cut to him!
Then another and the last cut down in a blur of motion that David already felt like he wanted to practice.
It was all Zoom, and Shlink!
But the feelings of the BD filled David and there was a sense of hunger.
This… This was a feeling David knew. A need for more. Something he lived with all his life.
It centered him and he felt like jerking as Ghost moved, almost dancing, every motion so controlled there was no sound. Nothing slowing her.
Cut, even grabbing a decapitated head and using it to knock a Scav right off the skyscraper.
Nova. So fucking NOVA!
Then more, and more. Scav came out of every hole and they were cut down no hesitation, no discussion, she was a monster and they were her prey.
Then finally they ended up on a bridge, a final scav, their leader? Running away in terror. He wasn’t the first, but David was into it. That’s right! Run! Flee! That feeling of power of being the terrifying thing to people that normally caused terror?
It was a high unlike any other.
“Going somewhere?” The first words spoken during the entire slaughter of the skyscraper, just loud enough the running Scav heard it, and turned.
“Fuck! Bitch!” He called out and raised a holy shit! That’s like the Ghosts! A fucking Hand cannon!
But there was no fear in the Ghost. The gun refused to fire and David felt a sinister delight as his gun was raised.
“Mines Better.”
The first round blew the gun into shattering falling pieces, and then…
She felt nothing but disgust. There was no sense of joy at the idea of this Scav.
She didn’t bother to cut him down. A second bullet rang out and he splattered across the bridge.
David jolted as he came out of the BD. His heart was beating like crazy as he looked around at his room. His ordinary normal room.
Fuck.
That was so nova. Hiromi actually knew the Ghost. Motoko, just another kid like him, even younger even yet… She could do all that?
His hands shook as he ran a hand through his hair.
He could do that too right? Be some crazy edgerunner. K-kill people and stuff? If she could why couldn’t he? Right?
He looked around at his normal room, in his normal apartment, and that hunger that had burned in Motoko burned in him. That need for more.
Yet…
He flopped back on his bed.
“I better play it again… So I can tell everyone about it.” He muttered, pulling the wreath back over his eyes.
One more time to feel dangerous. One more time to leave his normal life behind.
Comments
Shain Oleson
Here are some songs that I think would be cool for her to cover. These may have been suggested before. The Hand that Feeds by Nine Inch nails, Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes, Battleflag cover by the Low Fidelity Allstars (Rage mix by Tom Morello), Down with the Sickness by Disturbed, and Enter Sandman by Metallica.
Joyeus
Tftc
Robert Apgar
But a different fanfic had Katsuo hack his new wreath so it could still happen naturally if not exactly the same.
Robert Apgar
We will probably find out in that chappy if removing the old sandy refunds the adaptation points or applies them to the new sandy. It would be a good moment to have that issue creep up again though before she drops in points.
Robert Apgar
Idk what she notices, but you can make a "it should've been me" meme with it
Robert Apgar
Seras has laid it down pretty hard that Motoko is NOT an edgerunner and thinks that lifestyle is dumb af. There is nothing really holding Seras back from killing off some characters but at the end of the day, is it even necessary? Alice can get got but Hiromi, Murdergremlin? Nah bruh.
W Maxwell Cassity-Guilliom
Is this a mistake or intentional? “I promise I’ll stop when I say when.” > the original lyrics are "you gotta promise not to stop when I say when", so I'm wondering if Motoko changed the meaning on purpose to kinda be the opposite.
Chase
Yeah I was wondering if we were going to get a interlude of her picking up don't steal my car from David's room and watching it.
Breaker_p16
Pretty sure this isn't that kind of story
Delakar
I've really been enjoying the series, how ever it has been missing some core cyberpunk themes. People. don't. matter. The thing that seperates a true edge runner and everyone else is they die, thus Afterlife. I do hope we start getting some serious character deaths.
Vg7
Reay curious to see how Motoko will influence Martinez and V stories
Fortunis
Watch. Motoko's professionalism where her music is concerned is going to drag this shitty band in to the Legendary category. David is still a moron. It still amazes me that people wana be Edgerunners with a life expectancy of a may fly.
Konner Morris
I love how Motoko is going to be the push for David to start chipping in. At the very least she can provide a better authority figure regarding Chrome. Better than someone like Maine passing on his self destructive lifestyle.
Daniel Andrews
Hmm I wish there was more time spent on the cyber training with Sasha
Bryan
Just getting David an updated wreath derails the whole plot. Only reason they got caught in that Animals shoot out was Gloria having to pick David up after the fried BD wreath thing.
JaxWolf4
Is she going to get the apogee? It's almost edgerunners time.
Robert Apgar
The condors also felt crazy til she had adaptation points in it I'd assume a 10+ is actively trying to make you a cyberpsycho
Jørgen
Me too for some weird reason 🎇🥰
Jørgen
Oh yeah, this chapter is cult worthy for sure, it's epic...
Jørgen
Lover this... How did you get this good??? There are released books out there that are written a lot worse. Keep it up please🥰
Robbie Mathieson
Aaand it's 6am and here I am listening to linkin park over my morning cup of tea. If anyone could replace chaser it would have to be someone who can mimic voices perfectly.
Seras
No, we aren't there yet.
lizard King
In my opinion having a band or being part of one. Is helping motoko to become more responsible after all being part of a band is a big responsibility which requires commitment to get gigs and to get their name out. Section 9 is helping but in comparison to a band it is simpler. For the most part more straightforward than compared to be a musician. getting job and work for her friends is a regular endeavor but for the most part they got that cover with both long-term contracts or other small projects to keep the money flowing. Not only that the big jobs when they come they pay out good both in short term income and a long-term income from the selling of all the items they looted. In comparison music and band work is a bit more complicated in essence it is forcing motoko to become more than she currently is in terms of maturity and becoming more responsible. Which is. my opinion good form of character development. Hey Seras's this is my thought of a potential big gig like the yacht height. Basic rundown a wraiths and Scavengers base in free state of Nevada. Disjoint partnership of these two groups are vehicles cyberware and all the other goodies. But the main thing is that they are secretly funded by several corporation to steal novel but experimental cyberware from smaller corporations including the prototypes and the research data. This novels everywhere nothing too Grand not quite military grade very close but generally is a novel endeavor no breakthrough but using pre-existing technologies in a novel way with promising potential and performance. True happenstance or she could be doing a concert in the state motoko became aware of it. She took an interest. And by the looks of it she and section 9 won't be able to do this alone. So she need to got some help. This is the setup who she gets helps with that's the fun part. She might get Sasha Lucy maybe get maine entire crew to help out and some friends like Jackie and V perhaps her brother and some tigerclaw members. Please let me know what do you think of the general concept is it interesting or not. Thank you for the chapter and thank you for the story. You received this message a lot but cannot be restated this story is very good and I am forever grateful for the great privilege to enjoy your work. Keep up and live life well.
Andrew Armstrong
Why do I feel like Motoko is going to need to rescue David from himself sometime soon? Also glad that we see Motoko growing as a person regardless of her being a murder hobo at times.
J A.D
Harder! Better! Faster! Stronger! Would be a super funky number for Motoko or something like Deepche Mode
The Laughing Potato !!!
I wonder if David’s mom notices any of this
Garm88
Linkin Park is probably in the top 5 best bands of all time and will never be the same without Chester. RIP to one of the greatest vocalists ever. If Motorola really wants to blow people away she should just perform Hybrid Theory.
Kim Pekkanen
Could you have her ask V toto co voice a song from the idea from Ch 99. V probably owes her a favour or two at this point.
reeen
thanks for the chapter! I hope David doesn't eventually end up doing some gonk shit to try and chase that BD high by himself.
Tan
Thanks for the chapter!
AnonymousJohn
She should just straight-up hire Gloria on retainer for Section 9. Having a med-tech on call seems useful.
Nobody
Did we just see the alternative opening to Edgerunners?
DarkRegret
Such a pleasantly short wait this time, thank you.
Kim Pekkanen
Nice chapter. I wouldn't mind if you deviate from the lore with David and others
Aaron Greene
Yay!
Straven
Delightful read, thank you very much for it.
Zzernex
Thanks for the chapter!
SnakeDoctor
David, choom, I feel ya wanna change your life, but being an Edgerunner aint the way to go!
outlaw
Hellllll yea!
eddy miot
again a good chapter. thank for your work the story is very good to read.
MikeL
96
Nef Mccrimmon
Ty for chappy
Velleity
Does anybody remember which chapters have V in them? I want to go back and read them but I can't seem to find them. As much as I love this story, I don't feel like reading another 800,000 words just to find like the 3 chapters that have V in them at the moment lol.
Just A Dude
I mean, he's not as "built different" as Smasher... because NOBODY is built like Smasher... but he's got a truly impressive level of chrome tolerance. With something to actually anchor him and keep him from going off the deep end, he'll have a much better chance of making it long term.
TheOne320
Nearly there if he is seeing Lucy on the train.
wanderer117
There's more than one way to understand Edgerunners but my take was David, while sometimes a gonk, was making things work till he lost his connections to the people he cared about. Everything looks different if he still has a loving mother and a stable crew that has his back rather then Maine's mercenaries.
Nisiris
Agree, the thing is both corporate and any organization big enough utilize talent headhunters, no reason for thinking that big corps like Arasaka, militech and others don't have their own talent programs, after all, talents are just different kind of product they can flaunt around their competitors.
wanderer117
Hiromi might need a push to help. She's jealous / envious the way Motoko acts around David. Maybe this will finally be the push she needs to declare her feelings, but probably not.
wanderer117
David's lost his chance of getting that military grade Sandevistan but he has better connections than in the show with people who can help him get into edgerunning, hopefully without him falling off the edge.
wanderer117
@David edgerunners kinda shows that Arasaka exes do pay attention to kids in the academy. Or their staff does then tells them. Hirmoi has been drawing attention, specifically from Tanaka. No reason to think anyone has made the next jump to looking at Motoko, but that could change if the wrong people see her fight.
Lishmael
Oof... That's not the healthiest attitude, David...
bryan k
Lucy is the apprentice to Kiwi in the upcoming netrunner scuffle they were practicing in this chap, so plenty of hijynx and timeline fuckery incoming!
wanderer117
I'm a little worried it might push her over the edge. She's been riding within 3 or 4 adaptation points of her own personal cyberpsychoses and that Sandy has a rept for driving otherwise stable people over the edge. On the other hand she knows that so maybe she'll save up some points before having Bic install it?
Velleity
Fuck yes, so how far are we from Edgerunners at this point? A couple of months at most? Oh this is gonna be so good.
Jordan A Drawbond
Loving the story! I feel like we've been on side missions for a couple dozen chapters now though. I'd love a new major arc to sink our teeth into, maybe getting David's sandy that Moto has been alluding to for ages now? Run in with Smasher?
Halycon404
I don't see David as having potential. What David got was a cursed artifact. It made him seem like he had potential sitting there. But the power wasn't his. It wasn't earned. It was granted power, which he misused and relied on instead of trying to become someone worthy of it.
Z H
7 is probably a good estimate for it considering it should be higher than "normal" with it being a prototype that's still getting the bugs worked out, but still lower than unwillingly chipped chrome like Motoko's arms were. It'll be interesting to see.
David Hoyt
Seras went to high school.
Z H
God damn Robert, no need to call us all out like that 😭 /jk
Z H
The old guys count as a whole nother faction of the cult. Now the old monks and the street kids will fight it out to see who follows the true Motorola!
Cole Deucalion
What do you mean by the backstory comment please?
David Hoyt
I'd say too goth. But Amy Lee's a bit more than not, and someone has a backstory.
Z H
It would be cute to see Motoko delving more into electronica songs to let Alice have something she's more confident to play around with.
Z H
Section 9 health insurance coverage for the win! Full-borg Gemini body badass Gloria is just around the corner!
Z H
Sure but immediately after she went full Tusken Raider on them and while they still saw her as dangerous, all the seriousness fed the room pretty quickly.
David Hoyt
That will cut down the population of gonks.
David Hoyt
If Kiwi gets Lucy
Halycon404
I'd rather see David and Gloria stay out of it. If nothing else Motoko does know Cyberpunk as a setting is a tragedy. The entire world works on an updated classic greek literature ruleset. Getting him through school, a little money to help out as a BD salesman in a safe-ish location. It is the best she can give him. Pulling him into his own storyline and trying to subvert it sounds cool, but the downfall of David Martinez was himself. The seed of failure existed before Gloria. Pulling him in just sets him on his path. Again, we're in Greek Tragedy Rules. And this chapter kinda proves it.
Spartanstoryteller
I like how David is described here a lot. Edgerunners wasn’t very long but David went far in Night City and I like how that drive and hunger that pushed him to get surgery while conscious so he could be a danger is present here
David Hoyt
Urp
David Hoyt
She needs to let Lucy grab David before that happens. Even if Gloria survives, David wants to be an edgerunner. Nihilism or sacrificing his ego to the corp are his only options. And the Ghost just rattled is cage.
David Hoyt
He's still on the train.
David Hoyt
V knows, but not the rest of A. If anyone bothered to pay attention to Hiromi, maybe. But no one would stoop to paying attention to a high school daughter of some midlevel.
David Hoyt
Lucy's on the train
MikeL
Does the old guys obsessing over her sword cut on a piece of paper count as a cult?
Happy
Nice.
Heidao
So long as his fated Sandi is still floating around, he could still get dragged in. Though this POV really shows the hunger that existed in David in the show, that if the circumstances around his life was stable even before his mother's death, there was a part of him that wanted to follow down the path of an edgerunner. Motoko would just be that catalyst now, an upgraded and modern headgear means the timing for his mom needing to pick him up just before the shootout never happens. He'd probably try things even without a Sandi, hopefully S9 is open to recruitment
Adam
TFTC
Nisiris
Yes, but see and feel are little different kind of crazy, for all they seen, they could think she hiddes her nervousness well, but to feel how she feels while doing it?
Mr Mouse
Given the current one was 4, and my gut says the limit is 10 based on the Militech Condors starting there after the shitshow that was their installation, I'm gonna split the difference and say 7
wanderer117
David's already a party of the Mitsunashi copo family. He'll probably get a promotion from distribution to section 9 at some point, although he was kind of a gonk and definitely would have died without his Sandevistan several times over. Maybe some training and a slower chrome uptake.
Jairo Enrique Quevedo
I can't wait until Motoko gets her hands on the prototype Sandi. Soon she will be unstoppable!
Mr Mouse
Tron, both as a sound track and a netrunner game seems like a match made in heaven
Robert Apgar
They have seen her be scary af, she blew up that Kang Tao AV in their faces. They dont need a BD to know she is unhinged.
Robert Apgar
Motoko definetely values his survival since he has so much potential. She just needs to keep him from being a gonk af chrome-junkie due to Maine.
Robert Apgar
Any bets on how much adaptation it will need?
Firefly Fanatic
I adore these music chapters, can't wait for her next gig
Robert Apgar
Daft Punk could show up too, the Discovery Album was fun as hell.
Robert Apgar
Yeah maybe Motoko needs to snatch up Lucy too if David is gonna be weird about this lol.
Nisiris
Hm, I would really love if V saw Motokos BDs, or even Jackie, not to recruit her or anything but to when they see her they would be unable to comprehend how the loot gremlin as her could as scary when on job... Hm... Fuck... From all this, from outside point of view, Motoko could be viewed as perfect Arasaka assassin protege, innocent and playful on the outside, and cold killer in inside, plus with her asian looks, the fucking Emperor himself could have interest in her.
John Sanders
Motoko said she was going to pay the bills to get Gloria proper treatment
Robert Apgar
Or she will stop that drive-by with overwhelming violence.
Rake1810
better?
Carrotglace
He may have lost his chance at being an edgerunner but I'm sure motoko got his mom proper health insurance to save her life
Robert Apgar
Just do something sane like rewatching edgerunners 20 times and digging through every single edgerunners fanfic and leaving hateful comments if they didn't save Sasha, Gloria, and Rebecca. It's totally normal trust me.
Thomas
I'm super looking forward to more Vicky Black. I kind of hope that for one of the years she creates an artificial Fey, or Fay, or Fae realm that absolutely wrecks the mind of anyone who enters and gives the slightest bit of permission. You know, by lets say eating food, or thanking someone, or offering to help. You know a spell that would totally get censored by the Ministry.
Robert Apgar
I'm so interested in how Motoko is going to navigate the Edgerunners storyline, it seems off the rails already so almost everything can be changed.
SunyLaw1
Seems like the Edgerunners timeline is about to start if David is ghost spotting Lucy around. Hope Gloria doesn't bite the dust D=
Mr Mouse
TFTC
Seras
LOLOL
Mr Mouse
Given the more upbeat thread of Seras' writing, hopefully even if it's a lull, Motoko'll pull him out when he gets in over his head
Robert Apgar
His future will be longer than it was before she got involved. The only question in my mind is how long it'll take for him to end up in section 9.
Gardor
"It centered him and he felt like jerking as Ghost moved," ...oh? You feel like doing WHAT, David? Gosh darn teenagers.
Jared Obermeyer
With Alice on electronic sounds, we might have a situation where something attracts the attention of the Us Cracks.
Miguel Garcia
If Martinez starts getting addicted to BD’s, think Hiromi would help him? She wouldn’t want to burn a useful resource and if she abandoned an employee in need then Motoko might be disappointed in her!
DurzoMandragoran
HAAAANK! DONT ABBREVIATE CYBERPUNK! HAAAAAAAAAANNNNNKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Celestin
I get Alice's frustration. To her Motoko is Mozart and she isn't even Salieri.
GrimV
Would be the funniest shit if David got into edge running after all but through want, not just need, all because of motoko. Weird fate works. God, I love GitC
JTP
Oh man. This is getting me stoked for the start of the edgerunners time. Will David join the crew? Will all of Maine's crew switch to Motokos? Will David still go psycho without Maine's influence? Good stuff seras!
Necrotyr
Woops David is becoming addicted
Alex
Same! I've been waiting for LP to make an appearance here. Meteora was my JAM back in the day.
PseudoSim
Some likely already have.
Duke of Coffee
Heh Motoko having fun with Sasha the cat and her band. 🐈 🥁 Hopefully it doesn't consume her life too much that it becomes stress instead of happiness. Anyway David is now Motoko Batou, consume her BDs like it is catnip? 😜 And he was close to meeting Lucy in the train if he is seeing her before getting his shard get stolen but hopefully he gets her without the Sandy. 😉
HikinBear
And that, Boys and Girls, is how we form a Cult. Yeah, this can't end well. Great chapter!
Mr Fuzzknuckle
I almost feel like a BD junkie yearning for another fix waiting on these chapter releases. With the timeline catching up to Edgerunners I'm both scared and excited to see how the butterfly effect will pan out in the Motoko-verse. Thank you ever so much for the chapter!
wylie99998
BDs would be insanely intense, I can't even imagine it.
SDCard
Well at least he'll live beyond his teen years... and Motoko is planning to save his mom, that's definitely more important to him
Garrett Cannon
omg davids reaction to the BD is amazing. I love the way ur building up the band. Idk how u r going to write the netrunner part of the story but im excited
Abrissgurke
He is going to do something stupid and need rescue, isn't he...
Thomas
Martinez is ruined now. He is addicted to Motoko's BDs. His future cut short by helping him, and stealing the chrome he would find later. RIP Martinez.
TheForgottenKing
The new sandy we've been looking forward to is getting closer by the chapter wooo! 🙏
intata
Oof. David's normal life is poking him. Thanks for the chapter!
Smitty
TFTC
Ya Boi
More pov stuff! And i also love the music arc! Gotta say motokos taste in music is peak
Bosparan
Thanks for the amazing chapter! Loved the bandwork
Sevitar
Thanks for the chapter, Seras! I hope you are getting enough rest, cause holy shit you have been going off lately!
M0och
Careful David! Not everyone can be like Motoko. He's going to get himself killed trying to emulate her isn't he?
Endymion2314
Poor David, youre just another Dave for the Dave Conspiracy.
MacDoc-101
When do we get a BD of Motoko cutting down bullets even if it’s just an omake. The craze that takes the city as hordes of gangers all try to start deflecting bullets
SirTacitus
Ah, Martinez really is just a kid at the end of the day.
Rake1810
Hybrid Theory and Meteora scream Cyberpunk to me, love that we're seeing them in the story. Perfect timing, they ran back around my random to play list this week. Thanks for the chapter
runedead56
Good morning night City
Cole Deucalion
Something about this makes me want to see motoko belt out some evenescence
Ya Boi
Yay! Tftc
bryan k
Yussssa
chris elkins
My day just got even better thank you
Jaksterzoo
Thanks for the chapter
