Seras
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Ghost in the City: Early Chapter 220
🕑 Added 2025-03-26 17:00:24 +0000 UTCWe were making good progress and frankly there was a lot of stuff. Ichi was actually considering heading out with his van and coming back with the Behemoth and Hiromi was angling for that, but I kind of wanted to just get the good stuff and get out.
I took a break from grabbing loot to head to my Quadra, my old Shard literally didn’t work anymore, and that alone pissed me off all over again. I’d ended up breaking into my own car just to figure out what the hell had happened.
That device the gonk that stole my car had, really was a shard writer, it reset the vehicle to a new shard, basically re-keying the car.
The fact was my old shard really was useless. I had to flash a new shard as I wasn’t sure which of the gonks had actually kept my car's new shard and I didn’t want to find out.
Re-keying my car took a while and when I finally opened the car I rolled my eyes at the mess inside.
The fucker had obviously been going through some shit, mostly my grenade box was opened, and from the way it looked… I’d put money on him realizing it was a bunch of grenades and doing everything possible to ignore that fact.
People were so squeamish about explosives in the same car as them.
But there was something missing.
“Tachikoma?” I’d set it on guard mode, but… Where was it? I reached out with the control shard and it did instantly connect which had me relaxing, but when I looked through the Tachikoma’s eyes I could only see darkness…
I bent down and stuck my head entirely under the seat.
“How did you get back there?” I couldn’t help but wonder as it was not just under the seat stuck as it struggled weakly trying to move, but was even upside down.
I reached in and with a bit of untangling got it free and flipped back right side up.
It wiggled a little.
Hmm. It must have reacted to the intrusion on the car but… Got itself stuck under the seat?
“We really need to work on your thought process.” I told it, as I settled it on the passenger seat, and double checked my car's computer. The re-keying device was very brute force, and the last thing I needed was my poor car to fry its own computer.
Thankfully whoever had made the thing was talented. It hadn’t fried anything, simply disrupted the normal system long enough to switch keys.
“All good choom?” Rebecca called out as she stuck her head in the cab.
“Yeah, I re-keyed my car, and thankfully nothing is fried or broken.”
“Damn. You said this was from a piece of tech.” She asked, and I pulled the carjacker out from my jacket pocket and handed it to her.
“Wait really? This thing stole your car?”
“Yeah it took a bit, it needs to break the security and then slowly convince the car that a new shard is the key, but that’s what it does.”
“Huh.” Rebecca whispered, folding it over in her hands as she looked at it in interest.
“You want it?” I offered, because that was a greedy look on her face alright.
“Wait really? You sure?”
“I don’t need it Becca, if I want to break into a car and steal it I just break into it and steal it. That thing would take like ten twenty minutes minimum on most vehicles, and I doubt it’ll work on the real top of the line stuff. Malcolm’s Caliburn is safe.”
“Heh. I bet he’d shit his pants if I pulled up one day driving his baby.” Becca whispered evilly, and I couldn’t help but giggle at the thought.
“No stealing Malcolms baby, I really don’t want to get a call from him freaking out. Again.”
“Alright alright. Thanks Choom. I mean I got my own car now, but…” She grinned a bit evilly. “There’s this one car I’ve had my eyes on, but never really had the eddies for you know?”
“Just don’t get caught, or better yet have some backup or something.”
“Nah I know the owner. A real asshole. Used to make fun of me for always walking when Pilar took the car.”
“Ah. Revenge. Got it.”
The moment was ruined as I heard a heavy engine rumbling getting close suddenly. Rebecca instantly reacted, rushing to grab her HMG while I stood up to see what was happening.
BARGHEST was here.
The former Militech soldiers had very specific colors and mods to their rides, and one of their rides just turned the corner onto the ramp down into the construction site. The thing looked like someone took a truck, put a Van on top of the frame, and then stuffed it with armor and weapons.
Dangerous.
Very dangerous.
Ichi, Malcolm, we have company of the unfriendly variety. I called out to the both of them on our call channel, and then casually took a position at the back of the Quadra leaning against it as I watched the vehicle slow down, and a few Barghest guards clambered out.
Kids. They were basically kids. Not that much older than I was. Three boys touting Copperheads and body armor to try and look mature. But I doubt any of them could even shave, and one older guy. Definitely an actual soldier. He had the look in his eyes.
“Evening.” I called out loud enough for them to hear as I continued to lean against the back of the Quadra.
“You’re not Daniil, or a member of his group.” The big guy called out, he was carrying a nice Crusher, the Militech Shotgun. Definitely modded out too.
“Nope.” I responded just as calmly. “If you’re talking about the scav group that used to live here, they came down with an unfortunate case of dying horribly.” My words had the intended effect. The old soldier didn’t bat an eye, but the three kids were pointing out the dead bodies still lying out where they had fallen.
Joking around and whispering to each other about the bodies.
“Focus up!” The old man snapped, and the kids went rigid, their joking ending, and their guns all settling into grips ready to fire if needed.
Good training, but not that good.
I’d been hacking them from the moment they stepped out of their beast of a rig after all.
The big guy stepped closer, close enough we were no longer shouting at each other, and he looked me up and down.
There was a flicker in his face. No doubt he was trying to square the situation. Teenage girl with a lot of chrome sitting in the middle of a former Scav base that was now a graveyard.
His brain was no doubt fighting against the reality of what was in front of him.
To my surprise, he nodded simply.
“Not gonna ask why you felt the need, not my bizz, not Barghests bizz, but they were affiliates. Taking ‘em out? That’s gonna cost you.” He rumbled out in a gravely voice.
Was this guy trying to get eddies out of me or something?
“Not sure what you want, these gonks stole from me, I came back to collect. Far as I’m concerned, the business is done. If Barghest wants something, then Barghest is going to need to be frank about what, and why. Cause I’m just not seeing where they would get a cut.”
“Heh. You just came to clear out all these slime fucks, without a Fixer? That’s not very smart.”
“They stole from me.” I repeated and the man actually had a smirk on his face at my words.
“Hmm I can respect that. Even appreciate it. Not like these scop suckers are worth much. But still. Barghest had a deal with them. We like to keep things peaceful. People that break the peace? Disrupt the way things are? It causes us trouble. We have to explain why something happened when things are supposed to be quiet, peaceful.”
“And what does Barghest want? Cause I don’t talk eddies or deals. The only thing I deal in is death.” I repeated, because I hated this sort of stuff. Just tell me what you were trying to rip me off for and we could go from there.
Oh wait that actually sounded pretty cool. Good job Motoko! You said something preem!
The Barghest kids were chuckling at what I said, but weren’t taking me seriously, but the older man? He just nodded.
“The cost for something like this is standardized. I’ll pass the deets.” He offered somewhat kindly, in the gruff manner the man had, and I got a text which had…
Actually costs for attacks and things on Dogtown grounds.
This was… You had to be fucking kidding me
“This is the weirdest shit I’ve ever seen. NCPD has never tried to demand bribes so blatantly.”
“NCPD are a bunch of morons. Colonel knows what’s up.”
“Alright give me a minute. I’ll send this to my numbers gal. This is fucking hilarious.” I sent the message to Hiromi, along with an explanation, and just continued to lean back against the Quadra.
It took a minute but I got a response back, and Hiromi telling me to give her a minute to look everything over.
So I just relaxed, waiting.
The soldier chilled out. Even though I noticed that his eyes flickered to Becca who was staying mostly hidden every once in a while.
“Don’t worry. If a fight breaks out you’ll be too busy dealing with me, to worry about her.” I offered to the man, and there was that flicker in his eyes of surprise, before his face broke into a grin.
“Yeah, I think you’re right on that.” He gruffed out a laugh, and actually seemed to truly relax. “Never liked these assholes. Always caused problems, liked to grab people they shouldn’t and pretend they hadn’t done shit. Bizz is bizz, but I appreciate them being gone. Hell of a lot of gonks to flatline in an afternoon.”
“Eh. It wasn’t too bad actually. I had to rush things a bit at first, cause they had my car. Some gonk stole it from the Stadium parking lot, and I had to rush all the way here to make sure they didn’t sell it off, or start taking it apart. After that, it was just systematic.” I shrugged and my low key response gave me a respectful nod.
“Hell of a job with just a few. You got what three, four upstairs? And that one with the HMG?”
“Oh they arrived after. I cleared the place before they got here. They’re just here to get a return on my time investment.” I offered, smiling at the semi-corpo speak.
Hiromi would have been so proud if she heard me just then.
“Just you?”
“Just me.” I assured him, and the kids were scoffing none too quietly.
“Don’t believe me?” I asked them and one of them spoke to me, only after glancing at the old man.
“Fuck no. You’re a kid, no hardware or shit. Those shitty arms of yours aren’t impressing.” The kid offered showing off his own left arm which was a pretty high end Militech prosthetic.
“I’ve never had any issues with my Condors. Good Militech hardware. Solid.” I responded back, and to my surprise the old man nodded.
“Good replacements. Nothing flashy, but easy to install and handle.”
“Exactly, and just for your information. I recorded a brain dance of the whole thing. Give it a few days or so, and it should hit the market. You can see for yourself what this ‘kid’ can do.” I smirked, although I guess I shouldn’t be too judgey. I’d been thinking of him as a kid the whole time as well.
“No shit?” He asked, and his buddies looked interested as well. But my eyes flashed as I got a call.
“Mind if I take this?” I asked, and got a shaken head.
Motoko! I got it handled, jeeze. How dare these idiots think they can try to push-
Hiromi. Focus please.
Oh Right. Sorry. Everything is paid, and not these extortionist rates. I contacted Barghest’s guest services and got it taken care of. Tell them it’s sorted.
“My number girl says everything is sorted with your guest services.”
“Tsk. Dammit Sarge!” One of the kids cursed. “Fuck that, I wanted to get paid!”
“Not how it works. I’ll check in and if that’s the case we’re done here.” The old man offered and I nodded, and then not a few minutes later he nodded to me, his eyes turning back to normal as he turned and headed to the vehicle they had come in on.
“Man! You’re so lucky! We’d have taken you out!” One of the kids offered pointing a finger at me, and making a shooting noise.
So I shrugged, popped open my truck and hefted out my Uragan.
“Not if I took you and your giant target out first.” I explained and that caused all three kids to jump, and the ‘Sarge’ to shift looking ready to fight before I simply put my Rocket Launcher back in the trunk.
They hurried out of there, but not before the Sarge gave me a look with all sorts of meaning.
Ichi, Malcolm. Hurry up. I don’t know how much longer we’ll have for things to be quiet.
—--
After the Barghest thing we decided to pack up what we had and get out of there. Ichi Malcolm and Rebecca split off to leave Dog Town while I went to pick up Hiromi from the Heavy Hearts.
As I pulled up she was already waiting outside, which wasn’t great, I’d prefer if she had stayed hidden inside, but she walked over as I popped the door and stepped half out.
“Hey. Sorry for the wait.”
Hiromi gave me a once over and nodded and slipped into the Quadra without a word.
Strange.
I got back in, and started off, Hiromi wasn’t on a call or anything. I made it to the checkpoint and then through before finally poking her.
“Everything okay?”
“No.” She replied back, and that didn’t sound good.
“Hiromi? What’s wrong?”
“This is my fault. You’ve been warning me about Dog Town from the start, and I blew it off. It’s supposed to be pretty safe, but Barghest didn’t do anything! They just watched your car get stolen and then!”
Hiromi fell into a quiet rant as I drove through the city.
“It’s not that-”
“Motoko! It’s… You’re the one that takes care of things when things go bad, but I just ignored you, and so your car got klepped while I was left standing there with nothing I could do.”
“Hiromi, someone could have stolen my Quadra anywhere. This… This isn’t a Dog Town thing, and that pains me to say it because I have been warning you that Dog Town is dangerous… But it’s not that dangerous. Not really. I’m overblowing it. I know that.” I grumbled.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. You didn’t do anything wrong. You still have my new chrome right?”
“Yeah?”
“Then it was all very worth it. Besides, we made some more eddies, and I had fun.”
“You had fun?”
“I had fun.” I confirmed smiling at her, and that thankfully earned a small smile in turn. “Now, are we heading home, or do you want to come with me while I bug Vik for a late chip in?”
“I’ll come with.” She said firmly, and I nodded. It was always good to have backup when going under the ripper's knife, even if I trusted Vik completely.
It was a quiet drive into Watson, finding a parking spot was actually the hardest part. The entire area was busy since the sun was going down and all the bars and clubs were filling up.
This time, making sure my Tachikoma knew to actually alert me in case of any trouble, I set it up and left walking down the street arm in arm with Hiromi as both of us carried the bags of cyberware.
We got plenty of eyes, because not just everyone walks down the street with an arm full of stuff, but none tried anything. I still had a sword on my hip, and luckily the weapon seemed enough to keep everyone off.
Instead of going through Misty’s we entered through the alley entrance, as that was just closer to where we had parked the quadra, and entered down the old steps into Vik’s clinic.
“Vik!” I called out as I entered, breaking away from Hiromi gently to run up to the older man.
“Hey Kid. I was getting worried, I expected you here hours ago.” He rumbled out with that easy smile. “I’ve even finished watching the evening's matches.”
“Sorry! My car got klepped just after we bought the Cyberware, and I had to chase it down, and then well… No point leaving good eddies on the floor.” I explained with a happy smile that Vik looked a little discomforted by.
“You alright? Any injuries?”
“Nah, the Scavs my car ended up with never even saw me. Literally! I used a new quick hack. It was fun.” I gently started putting some of the cyberware bags on the table besides Vik letting him eye up the chrome.
“Ooh. Now that’s a pretty piece.” He mumbled, looking at the Camillo. “Gen Four?”
“Yeah.” I confirmed as Hiromi walked over and placed the two pieces of chrome she’d carried in next to the others.
“Oh? You really went all out Kid. Ex-Disk, RAM, ICE? Nice choice.” He mumbled, shifting a bit in his chair to look up at me. “That one does my heart some good. A good defense is better than more offense a lot of the time.”
“Hehe!” I couldn’t help but flush a little at the pride in Vik’s voice. I got praised!
“She only bought it because it gives her more RAM.” Hiromi whispered quietly half behind her upraised hand.
“Rude!”
“Hahaha!” Vik busted into a big chuckle at Hiromi’s snitching! “I figured it was something like that. It’s good anyways. Alright, kid let me do a full clean and check on these parts. Especially since you bought them from Dog Town.”
“Yes please! The guy we bought them from was… A bit sketchy.”
“He held an official trade spot in the stadium! He wasn’t sketchy!” Hiromi argued instantly, almost offended at how I considered her little trader.
“He sold out of the back of a van. Super sketchy.” I whispered, holding up a hand to cover my mouth just like Hiromi had done before.
“Motoko!” She half shrieked and went to slap at me, but I avoided her attack and danced away laughing as she gave chase a little.
“Alright, this’ll take a few minutes. Why don’t you kids have fun.” Vik called out and I took the chance and ducked for the stairs Hiromi followed after me in a sprint.
“You brat!” She shriek-giggling at me, and I laughed just as happily as I easily raced up the stairs even doing a flip at the top of the stairs to turn me around so I could see Hiromi only half way up chasing after me.
“B-Bullshit!” She groaned at me, pointing and I just laughed at her irritation.
“No way slow Hiromi can ever catch me!” I teased, and her face scrunched up in irritation.
“Slow Hiromi? Fuck that Motoko! Get your ass over here!” She snapped and charged and I just broke in laughter as I let her chase after me, never quite managing a catch.
Hiromi’s failure made her face get more and more red, and her hands curl into claws as she was definitely going to make me pay for messing with her. I stuck my tongue out at her, because if I was already in trouble I should definitely make it worth it!
“Motoko!” Hiromi screamed and started chasing, but we were both interrupted by a familiar voice.
“What’s going on out here?” Misty asked, sticking her head out of the back of her shop, and I realized we were probably making a lot of noise, if Misty had a customer that wouldn’t be very zen.
I smiled and made my move, Hiromi charging for me, actually hit me which surprised her, and so I grabbed her thighs as she hit my back, and spun around until she grabbed on and then once I had a Hiromi back pack I stopped and smiled at Misty.
“Hey Misty, sorry for the noise. Just hanging out with my Choom.” I offered and made my way over. Hiromi adjusted herself against my back even if her arm around my neck was a bit tight as she grumbled in my ear.
“Motoko, and Hiromi, nice to see you both again… Want to come in?” She offered, and I nodded following her into the shop. It would be a good thing to waste some time with until Vik checked everything over.
—--
“Well it’s all clean now. Nothing too bad before. This Ex-Disk would have given you a nasty infection if you’d just stuck it in your head, and the RAM had a bug, but it was old. So probably wasn’t your sketchy trader.”
“He wasn’t sketchy.” Hiromi grumbled, and Misty and I shared a look and giggled. I might have been riling up Hiromi explaining the day to Misty and she was all grumpy about it.
“Thanks Vik. I don’t know what’d I’d do without you.”
“Well, let’s not find out. You ready for all of this? It’s a lot of chrome, and you were trying to take things slow.”
“I am. I’ve been taking it slow, but I do need to upgrade my rig a bit. I’ve got a netrunner challenge coming up, and I’ll need the upgrade.” My words didn’t really earn me any points, and Vik looked me over for a long moment, before nodding slowly.
“Alright Kid. I’ll trust you, but you know if it causes issues, you show up here, and I can pull it without much trouble. Always better to handle Chrome slow. I’ll do my best to handle any conflicts, but this is four different pieces that all need to talk to each other.”
“I know. I think I’ll be okay, but I’ll take it slow.”
He nodded and patted the chair and I slid in, as he adjusted me up, to get access to my neural link, and then like usual his calm bedside manner took over, and he spoke soothingly, as he explained that he was pumping me with drugs, that would loosen me up to make sure I didn’t move while he was installing.
Then after a quick pinprick as the drugs were injected I felt my whole body go loose, and he adjusted my head and started working.
It was… Sort of soothing actually? I could feel it, almost from a distance, like dental work after you're completely numbed up. I could feel the vibrations and the effects of him moving my neck around, popping the access panels on my neck, but there was no pain, or real feeling of it.
“Almost got the old Ex-Disk out. I’ll put it aside and you can decide what to do with that after.” He spoke into my ear, and if I could I’d have smiled. He could have it. It wasn’t much good to me, and I didn’t mind.
I could feel my agent and system alert me to the cyberware removal, and my head felt a little empty for a few moments, before I could feel something else being inserted, and slotted in.
“You okay Motoko?” Hiromi asked from the side, and I really wanted to smile at her or roll my eyes, but everything was pretty loosey, so instead I just sent her a quick text.
Motoko: :P
“I think that’s a yes.” She whispered, and Vik chuckled lightly, but I noticed it didn’t even cause his hands to shake.
“She’s fine. The kid’s a champ under the knife. A real chrome head if I’ve ever met one. It’s a good thing she knows restraint. I’ve seen a lot of kids like her lose themselves.”
“Motoko will never do that.” Hiromi argued instantly but she went quiet when Vik sent her a quick look I could just barely see out of the corner of my eye.
“That’s what they all think. Don’t worry Motoko’s a good one, and I’ll do what I can to make sure she’s on the straight and narrow. You do the same? And she’ll be right as rain. Now let me get this RAM Upgrade in, you’ll feel a little pinch.”
The RAM slotted and I felt the increase in functionality like someone just made my arm longer, or my hand stronger.
I loved it.
Yeah Vik was right. I was a chrome head.
Comments
chris elkins
I was having a good day and then I saw this chapter come out and it was just like the cherry on top thank you so much
Zeroingdark
If we take Hanson’s rank as an indicator, he was likely leading a large battalion (normally 400 to 1200) or a smaller regiment (2k to 8k). Which makes numbers sense for night city. Not all of said regiment likely stayed and if it was a smaller one made out of 4 or 5 smaller battalions, that would explain how they took over dogtown and kept it if he managed to keep a core of a battalion or two. Over time, especially if he’s also hunting for secrets like the miltech secret base there as well as fighting the other gangs (VB and scavs for example), he would have to recruit local talent to maintain numbers. Then his elite force would be the older operators, with the lower ranks (like privates) that stayed becoming the leaders of said squads unless they found some real talent.
Zeroingdark
@Gardor Likely yes. He knows she kills scavs and its considered a good thing by 99.999% of people. Scav’s will straight up kidnap you, kill you, and steal your cyberware, and not always in that order. Raffen are very similar, except nomad. They’re seen as scum by everyone. That said, he knows she’s a merc and likely an assassin. However, he’s also friendly with Jackie as well. He knows what they do for a living. Morality in cyberpunk is not our world. All my friends are heathens would apply well to everyone there.
Neferyti
If MC tells Judy that this was the first field test, Judy might try to get MC as an honorary Mox. If nothing else, try to make a deal with Tiger Princess that she won't send the scary ninja to gaslight them. Just mercy kill because that sort of mind games would be a war crime.
lizard King
What's going to make this work if this was a test run. Of the hack this is not the completed version of this instant of this hack. Which means the completed version will be more terrifying. Judy most likely already know mc is experimenting with her own hack. So with that knowledge in hands she has a quite vivid example of the potential of the hack just by this test run alone. So she could easily imagine how terrifying the completed version will be. Judy is probably going to want some strong sleeping pills or make mc make a BD of her concerts as additional compensation.
Neferyti
I wonder if Judy will be further traumatized by this brain dance? Judy was traumatized by RIP AND TEAR, and the one with heights (fair enough on that one). But this one is one I think is going to make Judy and those who understand cybernetics tremble in fear. The common consumer will think that she is a super ninja but those who understand what she did (if not how) will be buying ICE like crazy. This street tiger kitten went into a den and took on everyone by making them not able to trust their own eyes, ears, and touch. Judy is smart and will likely understand what is going on. She will not be sleeping well, if at all, after editing this.
KarmaA
Get rid of any manufacturer backdoors, change the admin key requirements to dump the hardware into maintenance mode, make electrical surge protection or EMP detection more responsive, streamline signal processing and pass-through, prioritize certain signals from specific hardware, create protocols for if she’s unconscious after enabling combat mode, specific overclocks or extended performance limits based on what her gamer system tells her about the hardware, give herself the extra boost when needed (and can do thorough maintenance afterwards), dig deep into her Sandy to make it safer or better able to help her friends if they end up getting them, etc. There’s a ton that can be done when she strips down something filled with bloatware, user monitoring, and product development. It that was designed for clunky plug and play functionality (with poorly created adapters and converters). Instead of dealing with firmware designed for a level of performance that won’t get them sued she can optimize to make it work the way she wants it to.
W Maxwell Cassity-Guilliom
y'know, I realized Hiromi has the same number of syllables as Virginia, and 'Catholic girls' same as 'Corporate girls' at least the way Billy sings it. The only problem with an NC version of Only The Good Die Young, there aren't really any goody two shoes to be the song's subject
Ambrosinae
I'm pretty sure Vik's seen worse and treated "worse" people, to be honest. He's a ripperdoc living in Night City. And Motoko literally only kills "deserving" targets so she's probably squeaky clean in that regard compared to other clients Vik might have. He might be worried about her sanity, but I think he also sees the goodness in her (relative to the Night City standard, of course).
Just A Dude
Back then, Doc Brown pronouncing it as "jiggawatt" wasn't even considered wrong, officially.
Robert Apgar
Company element is like 100ish battalion is like 500ish brigade is like 2000ish division can get pretty thick tho like 30-80k There is also pike 2 more sizes above these in America for whatever thats worth.
lizard King
Motoko optimizing the firmware of her implants. Refund adaptation points to optimize firmware of the implant. Decreases adaptation requirements to all new and preexisting implants. Beneficial side effects decrease risk of cyber psychosis by 20%.
Joyeus
Tftc Motoko is ruining this girl I can’t. Ugh I love it. When Hiromi snaps it’s going to be great. But that does lees me to question if Hiromi would try to corporatize the harem, with her as the ceo of course, and Motoko would be none the wiser. Picture it. Hiromi: so you wish to have Friday from 8:00am to 2:00pm of Motoko time? But I just don’t think you’ve done enough to justify granting you such a coveted time slot, especially after you were already allotted the Wednesday later afternoon time slot. Nox: please, I’ll work double shift next week please grant me an advancement on my time slot!! Hiromi: unfortunately I can’t do that Motoko and I are already scheduled to hang out at that time, we’re getting smoothies. Nox:Nooo!!!
lizard King
Motoko had two distinct size. The Lovable dork who's gets embarrassed from mentioning her own songs. And the Cold blood ruthless killer. These are sides to her and her friends and people who know her well are aware of it. So to numb the same person who is a bloodthirsty and professional killer. Also a very lovable dork her two sides are contrast so the people who know her knowing both sides of her is easier to accept the darker side if you know the lighter side very well. And most people who are friends with her meet her light side before meeting her dark side. So it is way easier to accept. Doesn't help that night city is pretty apathetic to most forms of a extreme super violence. That does help a lot but most important part is the fact that she's also a lovable dork. That part makes it way easier for people to accept her. In my opinion.
Joyeus
Savs, like chomos, aren’t people. They lose any consideration due to the actions they commit. Motoko does take it too far sometimes due to her stats giving control of her own emotions, cyberware usage, and conditions of night city. But I kind of like that about this story, there are consequences to her actions, even beneficial ones, and some of them she just has to live with. As for others reaction to her that was already cemented with ‘the only thing they fear’ XBD, but most XBDs make snuff films look normal, just look at the one David watches in the edgerunners anime that’s what’s considered an normal thrill, it really is that apathetic. And this is a world where corporate run slavery exists, bio plagues have ravaged the ecosystem, nuclear fire pained the sky red for an entire generation, and ai turned the internet into a dangerous hellscape. Life is cheap and morality is a privilege you can afford.
Crinisen
I expect that with her success there are already a dozen copycats out there to help a little bit, but I agree. On one hand, people might leave her alone if they know what she’s capable of, on the other hand they might just rocket launcher her apartment out of the blue. People taking you seriously has some drawbacks, even if they probably outweigh being dismissed somewhere like Night City.
Gardor
Think i edited this little zinger in after your comment, so: if Vic saw the brain dance of her torturing these scavs, would he still keep her as a client? He's the moral guide post of the world. Also, "knowing what kind of monster Motoko can be" and "being alright with the shit she does" are two very different things. Especially for Malcom, he's not a corpo trained sociopath.
Mystearical
No, she isn't entering "straight-up villain" territory. Not least because the concept of a "villain" is defined by its surroundings. An act isn't villainous if it's the norm, and in Night City what she did was only outside the norm in terms of scale. It is normal in this setting to leap to lethal force at the drop of a hat, and it's normal even in our reality to take pleasure in doing well something you're skilled at. Also... they're scavs. Just because they're helpless against Motoko doesn't mean they aren't a massive threat to most other people. Imagine how many people they've kidnapped off the street and stripped for parts? Suddenly even if Night City wasn't the way it is her actions would still be more anti-hero than villain. Yes, Night City most certainly is this apathetic. You sound like someone who hasn't played the game saying that.
Seras
I mean Motoko sort of crossed that post "The Only Thing They Fear is You." Which Malcolm and Hiromi at least both watched... Soooo yeah. They don't care that much and are already well understanding what sort of monster Motoko can be. Then they see her act like a total gonk dork so it balances out. This is Night City in a nutshell.
Gardor
"but I kind of wanted to just get the good stuff and get out." -> is stealing from scavs...OK? Seems almost like scav-ing by another name. I know there isn't a lot of moral nuance in night city, but is whoever they resell this stuff to gonna be happy with how it all became second hand? Speaking of morality: I'm not sure if it's intentional, but Motoko is crossing lines into "straight up villain" territory, right? Being amoral and killing easily is one thing, but cackling as your cybermagic ghost tortures people is another. It's the difference between practicality and a "it's a job" mindset, and getting joy from the suffering of people helpless against her, imo. Not sure if that's an ironclad rule, but I guess that's my personal line in the sand for an alignment chart. This isn't the first time I've had this thought, but I think it is the worst example so far. I'm not saying that you shouldn't write the character like this (although tonally you're still portraying her as a hero which is a little discordant), but I am thinking that people should start reacting and/or commenting on the fact. Whoever sees her BDs should be terrified of her. What does Malcom think when he's looting some guy who scratched his own face off in terror? Not everyone she knows is a psycho like she is. If Vic ever saw this braindance would he still keep her as a client? Night City is a cold place, but I'm not sure it's this apathetic. These actions make more sense from an MC who's trapped in a virtual world and has absolutely no empathy for any of the NPCs, ya know? "They're not real people and this is just a game" sorta stuff, which just isn't really...I dunno there is a way to write fucked up shit that the character doesn't care about, but also doesn't excuse it? It just conflicts with other scenes, more than just her being a multi faceted character, more like it's contradictory and impossible. Just been a minute since i offered my unasked for opinion, my thumbs were itching to make a whiney comment. Also tyftc, omg love GitC, idk my BFF jill
Kyle Pemberton
Ready for the brain dance 'Don't Steal My Car'. Should be pretty fun to see the reaction to the new quick-hack.
Seras
That's something Patreon is doing. I don't know why. I've had to go back and delete it a few times now, but I forgot.
Seras
Barghest are 100% just a gang. They just so happen to have had a full Militech... Battalion? Regiment? Whatever it was, when they went gang. The fact they recruit street kids in Dogtown is a plot point in the game. So I just wanted to show that you have these former soldiers babying these gang kids basically.
Tan
Thanks for the chapter!
runedead56
Be polite. Please.
Duke of Coffee
When different pieces of software and hardware are talking to each other, it is in gibberish not in one language... no wonder people go cyberpsycho in 2077....
Duke of Coffee
So the Barghest did send someone to the disturbance... it was an Militech APC with someone inside, a bunch of gang kids in training and an old man... tells you that they are nothing more than gangsters. Motoko would've taken them out. 😜 Especially that cocky kid. Anyway more Hiromi and Motoko bonding time~ and the installation date went well since nothing happened or the gonks were deterred by Motoko katana. A good conclusion to a recovery mission. 👌
Halycon404
Holdover from the 80s when the tabletop game was made. They needed a replacement for Mana so the mages of the game couldn't spam 'spells' and back then no one expected RAM to become what it is today. It's also why the amounts are so low. A gig of ram back then was an unbelievable amount. System RAM was still being measured in kilobytes, most people didn't know what a gig was. RAM speed wasn't a thing people worried about either, it may as well have not existed as a spec. No one has changed it because it's a major resource pool and the entire game system has been balanced against those numbers.
Zeroingdark
The former soldiers are pretty much a gang, they for the most part don’t care what happens to the scavs. Had shit hit the lords of dog town, yes it would have been extremely dumb. Scavs though, most dont give a shit about. At this point, most if not all the big gangs know about her. She also doesn’t release most of the bd’s she scrolls especially if they are corpo type jobs.
Zeroingdark
Thats what I was thinking. Your average person, does not an idea. That said, she does scroll her jobs but not all of them are released. Case in point the 6th street TC one. It saved a gang war from breaking out. And most of the big gangs have an idea who it is. Corpos may have an idea but as long as she doesnt release the bd’s, they know they could ignore her for the most part, even hire her to get the weak spot or do the same to their enemies.
Apollo Above
You used bold ooc text for the first paragraph. You revealing that you are adult Motoko that learned how to get outside the Wall?
Alexander Jonsson
One thing I disliked about how CP2077 handled RAM, was that it was just ram, more sticks, not faster or more efficient, like I have less RAM, I went from 32GB of DDR4 to 16GB of DDR5, and its more than twice as fast, not a LOT faster but still faster, same company same model, just newer. Having 48GB of DDR3 ain't gonna compete with 16GB of DDR5 or DDR6. Also it's not a straight thing, can't plug modern gen gear into previous gen boards, RAM and CPU have different sizes. Like having more RAM in other components makes sense, like RAM in sound and graphics cards, but that RAM is specialised, for that specific component. I'm just whining about canon really, can just ignore this. Just kinda digs at the back of my mind when I see it in stories or in-game.
Apeljohn
Motoko was correct: the idea of Barghest having a standardised price list for anyone taking out a scav gang on their turf was indeed hilarious. Also a missed opportunity for Hiromi to Do Business: offer Barghest a slightly less viciously-haggled rate in future if they were the ones to provide Section 9 with the scavs' location... A Motoko with scavs to kill is a happy Motoko.
Robert Apgar
The Hiromi backpack was truly scandalous
Apeljohn
_Deliberately_ partially incompatible, so that anyone who tried to migrate away from their kit piece-by-piece would suffer
Alex Moffatt
What, you brought a gun to a rocket launcher fight? Oops :-P
That Warden
That's good for when she started out but as her rep has gone up she should be able to show her face, the BD's will only make her rep even better and soon, thinking "yeah let's go fuck with motoko" should be looked at like a crazy idea.
Zeroingdark
At least ask nicely :P
Happy
Nice. Also nice that the barghest dude wasn’t a dumb prick.
Robert Apgar
Some big chapters recently, we over-adapted and refunded points which is huge, learned that the upper limit is not a suggestion (and are about to learn if removing cyberware refunds the adaptation points maybe, which is huge and can be planned around), Sasha is back on screen(!!!), gonna really meet up with Lucy(!!!) and then Motoko got to go back to her roots creatively killing SCAVs for existing(!!!!!!!). Judy might even enjoy this BD, she seems like the type to watch horror films to relax.
Kedrick Hebert
Yea, essentially every different corp had proprietary software in their cyberware that was partially incompatible with cyberware from other corps
KarmaA
Agreed, I think it’d be fun to read about her writing custom firmware. Make it faster, more secure, enable more options, or make it interface with her other hardware more smoothly. She can probably run Doom on her eyes or create arm macros.
Sup3r J4k3
"Art is an EXPLOSION!" -Some blonde edgelord (ik who) P.S. {Sorry, my brain demanded I respond with that...}
Scholar of Endless Knowledge
Thanks for the chapter! GIVE US MORE!!!!
Sup3r J4k3
Nah, if she's gonna go net-runner, she needs a mono-wire.
Sup3r J4k3
What, like conflicting code is causing it?
Mark
How long has it been since a Judy chapter? Is she going to be pissed that Motoko dropped off the map?
Mark
So we’d like to buy insurance - that even if we accidentally offend you- that you will have your numbers person reach out so we can resolve things peacefully… Have that incident fee back…
W Maxwell Cassity-Guilliom
It's always been more like an open secret. One of the first BDs was a Maelstrom hit she did with the Kamikaze, from that one alone anyone with good information reach could figure out her identity
Mercury313
Lmao
Gilgamesh Archer
Woot Woot! More GitC! Thanks for the chapter. Interesting that Motoko revealed that the bds are hers. I was under the impression that she was still mostly keeping that private.
Garrett Cannon
Seras i wanna thank you for making the days u drop a chapter for any of your stories a much better day. From the bottom of my heart thank you
Garrett Cannon
I cant wait to see what judy and hiromi has to say about that BD. wonder if we can see if a Bargast higher tier leader or a fixer in Dogtown will reach out for Motoko after thay watch the BD
meatybyte
Fair enough, in my mind I could see them taking one around for a walk to remind people they are not just another gang. But something that has real hardware backing them. Still something to look forward to in the future.
Garrett Cannon
those kids will never sh*t talk an edgerunner again
Wargen
Thanks for the chapter! You have spoiled us ❤️
Argivian
Motoko linking her BD identity with her personal one feels like a really dumb mistake for her to make. Sure, the squad could have happened on her BD by chance, but conforming it to their faces means that the Barghest as an organization are going to know what jobs she's taking. She blurred out her face for a reason!
Hangwind
The address line is the closest toaster/vending machine. (Not coffee maker unless Motoko wants to start a war.)
Will Iam
The onryo replies, yes all checked out, here let me send you a link
N0ct3m
Ok now I'm feeling dang spoiled lol. Tyftc!
Giperman
Very lewd. Potentially perverted behavior.
Kara Nina
The Chimera wouldn't show up at the market where the Barghest are trying to ensure a safe atmosphere for business. Motoko might consider checking out dogtown eventually, but not without a reason.
Christopher Cha
He's also an original BARGHEST vet, so he probably is slotting her into "Arasaka ninja, possibly former, possibly just freelancing = above my paygrade" especially after she pulled the RL out of the car.
Just A Dude
Nah, pretty sure her cardio isn't all that bad. Motoko just has the body of a super-soldier.
Just A Dude
The kiddies posture like hoodrats in the background while Motoko and the actual soldier are sharing the same "battle-hardened veteran" wavelength was a great scene. Really showcases how far her Cool has come.
meatybyte
I'm still sad Motoko hasn't seen a Chimera yet after all her visits to Dogtown. I'm pretty sure Bargast has 2 or more around town. The reaction will be joyous to read. The GiTS fan within her must crave a rematch.
Suls
Thanks for the new chapter!!!!!
Esotericbill
OMG we seem to be getting back to a chapter every 3 days again. The quantity of happiness this elicits is extreme.
Kara Nina
This will put Motoko pretty close to the edge again. Good thing she's about to kill a lot of Daemons.
Kara Nina
Judging by the fact that he was an older adult man he's much smarter than the average gang member in night city.
Gear-2557
Time to hand off the BD to Judy. She probably has a vomit bucket at the ready by now.
Hangwind
*Sarge watches the BD* *Calls the squad in* "Have any of you run a check on your chrome yet?"
Kedrick Hebert
I think it might be an interesting plot piece/ side arc of Motoko investigating the software on her chrome, given how good her programming is. I read an edgerunners story recently that used this as a way to explain a factor of cyber psychosis. Not saying you should rip the story line or anything, just think there’s potential there. Tftc
Green0Photon
Love the interactions with the old guy. So fun to finally have someone genre savvy on the other who knows to just clock in and clock out.
michael stitcher
Yay! Updates and chrome. Needs new gorrilla arms.
Connor Higdon
Tyftc
Zadkiel
Yooooooooooooo! Love this thanks for another chapter
meatybyte
Ha! It's all fun and games until one side pulls out a missile launcher. Really boys, let this be a lesson, don't start unzipping unless you know yours is bigger. Oooh, arm in arm you say. That is just a few degrees from hand holding, careful with the ToS there, we're getting rather close.
PlasmaticPi
Loved this chapter. Great way to show-off how Barghest operates and have just a fun scene with Hiromi.
Breaker_p16
Always a good day when GitC updates
Silberkinn
Motoko being badass in front of others is a mood I can get behind
LongtailedOne
🤎🤎🤎
Straven
Now that little surprise meeting was interesting, especially with her putting out that there'll be a new bd out showing just what she did! Any bets some kid soldiers need a change of clothes afterwards!?
intata
Thanks for the chapter!
Jared Obermeyer
Careful Hiromi. I almost thought Makoto could do the next version on Onryo with your clawed hands and red face. Get some cardio in and you might avoid that fate.
heh
Motoko actually doing some dick measuring for once! Fun!
Meaning Yellow
Needs more Uragan. <3 'Engineering' is Art and all that.
