dhs

"Yeah well shit has a tendency to spread." I grumbled a bit as I considered what to do. I had a phone number, which I could track if I went into the net, but that would require the guy to even pick up.

Which meant killing this guy was the best bet…

But that sort of went against the idea of trying not to cause a gangwar.

I was about to decide when I noticed it. Pushing my hostage's vision down so he couldn't see I took note of something interesting.

The account on the TV just got kicked off, because someone else had logged into it.

I stared at it for a bit long enough my hostage started getting visibly nervous, but a plan was coming together. I breached the TV and confirmed the account details, saved it to a shard, and smirked once more full of teeth.

Well that just made my life easier.

"Alright pal. Here is what's going to happen. We are going to make a call to your choom. Stay quiet okay? I'd hate to make this friendly phone call a homicide."

"S-sure."

I hacked once more into his agent and routed my call through him.

A few moments later the call picked up.

*Grant what'd ya want?*

*Hello Mr. Almeda." I answered using my Sexy Motoko Voice. *You are currently harboring someone that I would very much like to find.*

*Shit. What'd ya do to Grant? Huh, you asian cunt! I'll fuckin' kill you!*

*Currently nothing. Nor do I really have much desire to harm him. I'm a professional. I don't leave a trail of corpses. How much for you to walk away and let Yuto meet his fate?* I asked, because as funny as it was to remember from time to time. I was doing pretty well for myself. And eddies could save me a lot of time.

*Fuck you. I'm not accepting shit from some corpo bitch.*

*I'm a freelance merc Mr. Almeda. Hardly a corp. C'mon what's the point. You know Yuto is going to get what's coming to him. Just walk away you can make some eddies, and go back home to your real chooms, and not the gonk Wannabe Tyger Claw.*

*Fuck. You.*

*Well it was worth a try. Just so you know, while I don't kill anyone outside my target, if you are protecting him, that does put you under the scope.*

*Heh! I'm a Lieutenant. You want to try and off me? Come and get it bitch. I have an army at my back!*

*I doubt 6th Street will do much more than a meager amount to protect Yuto. We both know that.*

*Then come and try bitch!*

*Tell me where you are, and I'll happily do so!* I mocked, knowing the coming answer.

*Fucking find me!* And the line went dead.

"Alright… Grant was it?"

"T-that's me."

"Alright. I've gotten everything I can here, which is disappointing, so it's time for me to leave. Luckily for you, I have nothing against you, so we can make this easy. I have two ways to keep you out of the way for a bit. One is painless, but lasts longer, the other hurts, but you'll be good to go in about ten minutes. Your choice."

"Uh… Painless?" He asked, and before he even finished his optics went out, and I rose up, he jerked away and swept his hands around as he realized what had happened, but I was already heading out.

It didn't take me long to slip through the security door, and lock it behind me.

Maybe a bit mean, since with his optics out, there was little chance he would be able to get out without assistance.

But I'm pretty sure he had lied to me, so fuck him.

With that I slipped back out of the building. Grants muffled yells for help well hidden by the building's thick floors and walls. Without eyes, and without any ability to call someone, he'd be stuck in there for at least a while.

—---

"So we don't have anything?" Ichi asked, and I shook my head.

"Actually, I think I know exactly how to track Yuto right to his safehouse, but it'll take some netrunning, and maybe some favors. The NCTV service could be protected pretty well."

"NCTV?" Hiromi asked. I nodded looking around the gas station across the Arroyo. We had stopped here to discuss what I had found. Turbo's bright light hung down on us, but thankfully the place was quiet.

"Yuto the dumbass is still logging into his NCTV sub wherever he is. I literally saw him do it in real time, because Grant the guy in the basement logged in, and it kicked him out. That means he's actively using it wherever he goes… Even if he bolts I'd put eddies that Yuto is a complete dumbfuck and so we'll always be able to track him given enough time… If I can get into the NCTV system and track the address."

"Fuck yeah!" Malcolm shouted, startling all of us. "That's what I'm talking about!" Malcolm whooped as he jumped and cheered.

I blinked at him, before laughing, I couldn't help it. All of this shit going on, but Malcolm was just excited to do our job.

"Alright. I need to go into the net, so I'd like at least one of you with me. Malcolm, still needs to put his car away." I said, eyeing the rocket launchers set up on top of Malcolm's car.

That was the secret to my exfil if shit had gotten bad. 6th Street would have faced heavy artillery if I ever needed a real escape.

"Aww. Alright. I'll probably catch up with you after though."

"I'll go with you Motoko! Besides, I'll be the one to inform Fujimura about when we complete the gig so it's best if I stay close." Hiromi added with a smile.

"I'll come with." Ichi offered with a shrug, and with that everything was decided.

We drove off not long after, and I sent a text to Jun to let him know we were on the trail.

*I'm glad you're safe.* Was all I got back and I knew from the lacking response that Jun was still feeling conflicted about this.

Yuto was his choom. What if someone told me I had to hunt down Malcolm or something?

I'd refuse and start shooting, but…

I wasn't Jun, I had no attachment to this guy, and this all could have been avoided if the dumbass had just not decided to get revenge against an important guy in a powerful gang with no backing.

Hell, I could have assassinated this guy without any real problem. Yuto just didn't have the skills to back up his actions.

I felt a momentary conflict myself.

I didn't like the TC. I didn't like killing someone for them, after what they had done. And this was Jun's old friend.

There was a bit of history there with old Motoko as well… What would she have felt? Would she be calling for Yuto's head, or would she be trying to protect him?

I shook it off.

That was that, and this was this.

I was me.

Shaking off the moral concerns, I focused on what I was going to do. Which was the job I had agreed to do, and the Tyger Claws would uphold their side of it. Wakako had my back, and Fujimura… Well he obviously wanted Jun as an underling. So Yuto would die, and things would go back to normal.

And maybe in the future I would assassinate someone once Wakako stopped paying me to not do so.

I could wait.

Tomorrow. A year, ten? What does it really matter? That was the thing about revenge, people were always in a rush to get it, but I felt my blood pump through my heart cold.

I could be patient when it came to revenge. When I wasn't being paid, and it really didn't matter if they lived or died. A little wait to get them later when they weren't expecting it? That was no problem to me.

As long as they didn't cause any more problems I was content to wait.

I wondered… When they saw me ten years from now, what would the person I killed face look like? Would they even remember? Would they realize that I had patiently counted down the time?

"Heh… Hehehe!" I laughed to myself as I drove through the Neon of Night City.

"Huh? Motoko?"

"Urk, Nothing!" I assured Hiromi as I waved off her concerns at my sudden evil laughter.

—--

I slipped into the web with a blink and let myself adapt for a moment before jumping out into the web and heading towards my first stop.

The NCTV Services Site, just needed to check it's security and if I could slip in I would, if I couldn't I could always go talk to Yoko.

The site was huge, which was well within my expectation. Practically everyone in Night City needed a sub to watch TV. So of course the server would need the capacity to handle all of that traffic.

I slipped into the main entrance along with normal traffic. Just accessing the website. Yep, just going to check my bill. Nothing to see here.

The server was pretty bare bones visually. It certainly wasn't a site meant to cater to Netrunners. So the front page looked like an empty room with a few options to access symbolized by a terminal, and then doors.

Locked doors. I took a moment in the lobby just to feel around. I had no doubt there would be a runner on this server. The question was how active they were, what kind of security they had, and if they'd notice my increased load.

Probably not considering how large the server is, but you never know. Some people kept an eye on the smallest of things.

Walking around since the lobby was netrunner-less, I pressed a hand against the locked door. This was a login terminal. But instead of even trying to enter credentials. I just started breaching in. It was hard, really hard. Instantly the security didn't so much fight back, as just act as a nearly impenetrable wall.

The login system was the biggest entry point for normal people after all. It had to handle a crazy amount of traffic.

Slowly I seeped in tendrils. Bit's of data accessing through the Login systems, UI. The redirect to access the password reset system was where I made my entry point, and a moment later I was in the door and into the main server.

Already my facehuggers were dashing into the server to try and hide me, and I did everything I could to limit my impact on the server. Slowly I let my sense of the server around me grow, and I realized that I wasn't alone.

There were definitely netrunners here.

I didn't have long then. I quickly started breaching into the admin section of the server.

I needed to access Yuto's account data. They'd definitely have the address where the service was going to on the backend. I just needed to find it.

I moved, going through a few hallways full of daemons that thankfully didn't notice me as I crept through their guard and into another section of the server, I found it. The admin access point.

It looked like a cube, with a bunch of chains around it securing a big lock. A bit on the nose, but I started hacking, doing my best to keep it subtle.

The security was good, but wasn't the best. I realized pretty quickly it was an old security program. One of those corporate programs with catchy slogans like 'Ultra-secure' or something like that.

I cracked it in forty seconds taking a look around and not seeing anything paying any attention to this section of the data fortress I poked my hand in.

Finding his account was easy since I had his information from seeing him log in. A few moments later I gathered the address data including the most recent activation.

Saved and stored I pulled free and took two steps before I threw up an ICE Barrier.

The splash of code that sizzled off it was a fairly nasty worm that would happily chew your data into junk.

"Got you." A netrunner said and even as I watched another showed up, and I could practically feel the attention of more coming.

"Not bad." I commented in turn as I poked my head out from behind my shield. "Let me guess, some sort of additional code required when accessing the admin server?" I questioned realizing the truth of it instantly.

"That's right. Now you are going to tell me exactly what account you gave infinite access to, otherwise I'm going to trap you here until you squeal."

I blinked.

"What?"

"What do you mean what? What account did you just give an upgrade to? If you make me search through the server myself I swear to god!" The Netrunner growled practically sending death code at me with just his eyes.

"Okay hold up. I didn't alter any account data."

"Bullshit!"

"No, seriously. That's now why I'm here. Let's talk, yeah? I'm already done, so we can be cool." I stepped out from around my data and held my hands up. Not quite the same thing as it was in the real world, but netrunners were human. We all understood what it meant.

"Talk then. And tell me what you did." The netrunner that caught me glared, the guy had a visor over his eyes, so I couldn't see that. But his mouth was caught in a snarl.

"Right. I'm a merc. Hunting down a guy that kept trying to assassinate some guy he shouldn't have. I managed to find where the guy had been before, but he was already gone… But he's a moron. He had logged into his NCTV account at his safehouse. Guess what I saw while looking for clues? He logged in at his new safe house." I laughed, because it was still hilarious. "So I just grabbed the address from his account. That's it."

The Runner looked to his chooms that still looked ready to attack before he waved them back a bit.

"Prove it."

I rolled my eyes, and pulled up a file of what I had grabbed. It appeared in my hands as a shard and I tossed it over.

He didn't touch it at first. Letting it sort of hover in front of him as he scanned it down before eventually he risked it and seemed to nod.

"It checks out?"

"See, not a scammer, just a headhunter." I offered. "Listen, I want to go and catch this guy, but I know you guys catching me here is a bunch of work. How about I give you the log of my access points, you can do some cleaning up and you can tell your bosses you ripped the data out of me or something?"

The three men and one woman all looked at each other before sort of shrugging.

"Gonna cost you more than that." The lead runner said after a moment.

"Alright. How about a code debugging for each of you. I'll give you an RSS, you send me the code, I'll clean it up for you, and in exchange we're square."

"Seriously?"

"It's something I'm pretty good at. Yoko, from the Roundabout uses my services." I enticed them and that seemed to get them all looking around in surprise. I guess Yoko was known to them.

"Deal, and I'll be contacting Yoko if you flake on us! She'll enforce the deal!" The main runner demanded and I shrugged.

"That's fine. Here. Use this, send the code over whenever. One program each." I offered flicking some deets, and then I threw my access log over as well. "There. We good?"

It took a moment, but he nodded. "Yeah. We're square as long as you leave and don't cause any-."

"Perfect." Then in a blur I vanished, Breach jumping four times straight through them and through their security pretending it didn't even exist, until I was back at the lobby and then out.

They probably got a huge surge from that move, but I had things to do. I jumped back home.

Time to hunt down Yuto.

—-

NCTV Corporate Security Netrunner Andrew Markone

"The fuck?"

"Dammit! That was a huge surge in traffic. I'm going to need to check the servers!"

"No seriously, what the fuck, did she just vanish?"

"I think that was… Holy fuck, that was multiple Breach Jumps through the server and security instantly. She's gone. Long gone." He muttered to himself staring at the server data and just…

"Glad she didn't fucking flatline us."

"Yeah. I don't get paid enough for that."

2260"I can't believe this jackass was trying to hide under our nose." Malcolm grumbled. I had been gone long enough for him to catch up, as we gathered in the netrunner cave.

"Tell me about it." I hissed. Yuto had been hiding in the same apartment complex that Jun and I had used to live in. Right in the middle of Japantown!

Yuto was lucky that he hadn't actually bought our old apartment. If he had I would have taken that a bit personally…

It made me think back to our old home. I still kinda missed it, but… I did like all the extra room in the new apartment, and the nicer building.

Dangit. I could never let Jun know that I agreed with his decision about the new apartment now.

We were moving in to take him out. Yuto and Roger were both hiding out inside from what I could gather, so it made things complicated.

Would killing Roger cause issues with 6th St?

Would disabling him even be possible, the guy was mid way up in 6th St. he could be borged out, or just a guy with some army training. So we set up the plan. Ichi and Malcolm would stay at the bottom floor in full rig while I went up to the second floor to find these assholes.

I had my quick hacks ready, but I wasn't going to hesitate to fire as well. I'd rather they both be dead and have this issue solved with some Tyger-6th St. issues, then let it continue on.

I parked my Quadra while Ichi's van parked behind me and all three of us jumped out with Hiromi staying in the Quadra as overwatch for the boys.

Then we charged in. Just as planned Ichi and Malcolm both took the entrance, one facing out, and one facing inward. While I rushed the stairs.

The security remembered its master, and opened without hesitation as I rushed up to the second floor on silent footsteps. Rushing to the room at the end of the hall, I posted up.

There was a security pad, but this apartment's entire security system had been under my thumb for a long time. I prepared and the door popped open as I charged in rifle raised.

Empty?

I quickly checked the bedrooms, and even rolled into the kitchen to sweep the bathroom.

Empty!?

I rushed back to the main room and looked around. This apartment was empty. Not lived in…. Something was wrong. The address for the access had been here.

I looked over at the entertainment system and scanned it. Nothing, but no. There was something.

The cable line that ran to the wall! I scanned it and followed it along and instantly noticed it was running into a black box before splitting off… Someone stole cable from this apartment in the past, rerouting everything through. This was old work. So likely Yuto wouldn't have even… The next door apartment!

I heard a crash and instantly Hiromi spoke up.

*I see him! He just jumped out of the second floor window!*

I heard gun fire and cursed as I rushed to the other apartment down the hall, it opened just as quickly. I rushed to the open window and jumped out. A second floor drop was nothing, and as I fellI caught sight of him across the street.

Yuto leapt into a beat up car, parked down the street. One that I hadn't registered as anything unusual and started driving away.

I hit the floor with an easy landing.

*Hiromi!*

I called out, but she was already on it. The Quadra roared to life, and the passenger door opened as she spun the wheels to let me enter. I jumped in, and we were off.

I glanced back at the boys and Ichi and Malcolm were rushing for his truck.

*Try to catch up!* I called to them and heard their acceptance as we were off.

I focused on Archer Quartz that Yuto had leapt in that was tearing up the road ahead of us.

My Quadra was faster, but I also wasn't driving. I threw on the seatbelt and leaned out the still open door bracing my Copperhead on the edge of the car.

Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot. Hiromi was playing catch up, and the heavy traffic meant I was being careful with my aim.

When Yuto hit the first red light, he just drove up onto the sidewalk to avoid the traffic, scaring off pedestrians, and I winced as one person got clipped.

"Careful!" I called out to Hiromi as she went to chase him.

Ahead Yuto floored into the street and cut off another car, the Galena spun out to avoid him, and Hiromi slowed to avoid it, giving Yuto another lead.

I lined up a few times and fired a few bursts into the back window, but it cracked across the armored rear glass, and caused Yuto to drive even crazier.

The Quartz he was in was definitely modded. Probably Rogers.

I growled as the asshole literally just turned off the road and drove straight through a strip mall.

"Don't follow him!" I yelped as Hiromi made to follow, but eventually decided not to, instead staying mostly on the road as she gave chase.

I kept my rifle pointed, but between the pedestrians stalls, and the chairs and tables sent flying as he rammed them I couldn't get a clear shot.

"Try to stay on him!"

"I am!" Hiromi snapped back and I nodded, as I watched his Quartz hit a set of stairs a bit roughly, but managed to drive up and then skid back onto the road.

I glared at the red that stained the front of his car. He hadn't cared about not hitting people.

Then he took off, and despite our efforts, he was getting a strong lead as we were stuck weaving through traffic.

Slowly though we started catching up. Yuto faced the same traffic and crowded streets that we did, meant that we were able to make use of the paths he created through the sidewalk or through muscling against cars pushing them out of the way.

I brought up the Copperhead and aimed.

We had a straight away, and ahead Yuto had to slow to push a Galena out of the way.

I fired, then again, and the passenger windshield cracked but held.

It also startled Yuto into accelerating and just bulldozing his past a few cars.

It wasn't exactly doing well for his car though. And I could see sparks underneath as something was hanging down and scraping now.

But I felt my eyes narrow as I realized where we were going.

Arroyo.

"He's making a break for 6th St. Territory." I told Hiromi, who cursed.

"They might interfere if he gets there!"

"Then let's not let him." I took aim again and breathed in and out. I pulled the trigger and his back window gained another spider crack.

Just had to keep it up.

Every time I got a shot I took it. Even if it wasn't a good one. I just needed enough to stop Yuto one way or another.

He started taking more and more risks, and his Quartz suffered from it. His front wheel started rocking badly after he slammed into a concrete barrier trying to push through a traffic block.

The Quartz started losing a lot of oil or gas out the back when he hit a curb and he nearly lost control as the Quartz bounced around.

The Quadra handled it all better even if it was a bigger car, and so it took us time to get through the same spaces he had punched through.

The game of cat and mouse continued with the shots of my Copperhead weakening the armored glass more and more.

Finally Yuto made it out of Japantown and across the bridge to Arroyo, and we chased after him. The roar of the Quadra catching us up much faster than Yuto's damaged Quartz Archer.

Finally we got close enough and a straight enough path.

I flipped the selector and braced and opened up. The Copperhead roared as round after round smashed into the back of the Quartz.

More and more until finally the rear windshield broke, it simply couldn't take any more and Yuto jerked as rounds started firing into the cabin and into the front windshield and hopefully into him.

I reloaded but he spun the wheel and took a turn much faster than he should have.

He slammed into a wall protecting an industrial park, and Hiromi slowed to keep from crashing and then we were there.

It was time.

The Quadra slowed to a stop. I kept the Copperhead up as I started walking over to the seemingly disabled car.

But before I could get there. Cars rumbled down the road and I glared.

6th Street was here.

The trucks had men hanging off the side assault rifles ready and I glanced around realizing what the situation was.

Hiromi was here, and while I was kitted up. This was a major move from 6th Street.

I'd have to take this carefully.

The trucks rumbled to a stop before I could get to Yuto and suddenly I was surrounded. But no one had started firing yet.

"Howdy." One of them called out as they walked over and I took in his cocky confident stride and Overture on his hip.

A cowboy.

Great.

I tilted my copperhead a bit making sure to show that it wasn't pointed at the guys.

"Can I help you?" I asked loudly, even as the soldiers turned gangsters approached.

"Sure, head on out and lose yourself in someone else's turf." The Cowboy offered as he settled into an arrogant stance, his thumbs dug into his belt.

"I'll be happy to leave… Once this one is taken care of." I offered, but from the ways the men continued to approach me, I knew that wasn't the plan they had in mind.

"'Fraid that ain't happening. This is 6th Street turf, if we had random Tyger Claw fuckers showing up and just let them cause trouble it wouldn't be our turf for long."

"I'm not Tyger Claw. I'm a merc. Just doin' a gig. I don't think we have any business unless he's one of yours." I pointed and Yuto was struggling to climb out of the Archer Quartz he had absolutely mulched.

"Maybe we do."

"You sure?" I asked pointedly. "Because that gonk's been trying to assassinate a higher up in the Tygers over the last couple weeks. I was told 6th Street had nothing to do with it when I took the gig to hunt him down. It'd be really strange if that wasn't the case." I said coolly, even as I had started working, I needed to disable as many of the weapons pointed at me as I could. Just in case.

"Well you heard right. But I still stand by what I said. We don't let other punks show up and murder gonks in our territory." I noticed two of the soldiers grab Yuto and drag him out of the car. He was bleeding, I must have winged him at least once. "So I think it's time for you to head off. Unless you want trouble."

I kept my face blank as I heard Ichi and Malcolm arrive, but thankfully he had been smart enough to park as he turned the corner and not charge in. It added another element into the situation, hopefully a good one. I sent him a quick message to sit tight.

"No, but maybe an offer. How much to let me take that one?" I asked and that caused the Cowboy hat to shift a little. Surprise. He hadn't expected a monetary offer.

"Yeah? I don't think you got the eddies for it."

"You'd be surprised. Rogue pays well." I said throwing out her name to try and keep them off balance.

So far more than half the group's weapons would be disabled at a thought. But the question was if I should even let this come to combat.

Thinking it over I realized that the gig wasn't to shoot up a bunch of 6th Street thugs.

At least not this time.

"Well I do. C'mon he's nothing to you or 6th Street. The guy is former Tyger Claw."

"Yeah maybe." The Cowboy said before shrugging. "But no matter what he was, right now, the fact is this is Arroyo, and we don't let shit like this slide. It's part of our good neighbor program."

I caught his eye, staring him down and knew that this guy was feeding me bullshit. They had been called in to save him, and were throwing their weight around to keep him alive.

For some reason. Why does 6th Street want Yuto?

"Alright then. I'm not paid enough to fight 6th Street over it." I lied, with a smile on my face as I backed up.

I could see a few of the gonks wanted to push. To get into a fight, or maybe take us along, but Cowboy just smiled and waved as I slowly walked backwards to the Quadra. And slipped inside the passenger seat.

"Get us out of here. Drive slow, casual." I told Hiromi who nodded and started doing just that. The Quadra slowly backed off and then out onto the street and rumbled past Ichi who quickly followed us, all of us heading down the street until we once more crossed the bridge out of Arroyo.

"Motoko?"

"I don't know." I answered back. While I knew we would be able to find Yuto again, especially through his NCTV access. That didn't mean this wasn't a problem.

"We need to tell Fujimura."

"I'll call him." Hiromi confirmed and I nodded while still glaring out the window.

—--

We didn't head back to the netrunner cave, instead we headed home.

Yuto was injured. He wouldn't be active for a while, likely if 6th Street wanted him alive, they would want to take him to a ripper and put him back together first.

We had a bit of time.

That was why Jun suddenly had four annoyed teenagers armed in heavy equipment drag their feet into the apartment and flop around the couch.

"Hello Motoko. I'm glad you are having a nice day. Oh my day? It's been fine." Jun said after about thirty seconds of all of us flopping around on the couches.

"We almost had Yuto." I answered back and Jun flinched, bad.

"What?"

"Oh you 'almost' caught him?" Akari asked, almost mocking.

"He managed to get into a car and made it to Arroyo. 6th Street jumped in just as we had him, and protected him." I said, a little annoyed at Akari. "Which means that this is even more complicated than we thought. 6th Street are protecting Yuto. What do you think that means?"

"Shit." Jun curses and stands up pacing. "Did you tell-?"

"Fujimura was informed." Hiromi spoke up from where she had been laying flat on her back. FInally she grumbled and sat up pulling some of the gear free. "He isn't happy, and is going to send a few messages to his contacts in 6th Street, to try and find out what is going on."

"It's not a good look." Ichi said then. "If that starts spreading, and the low totem Tygers start thinking 6th Street is behind the assassination attempts… It means they will retaliate, which will drag everyone into a new war."

"That's not going to happen, because we are going to catch Yuto and the whole thing will end with that." I said instead.

Jun though was throwing puppy dog eyes at me. He hadn't had the will to tell me to stop chasing Yuto, but he still didn't like it.

But while he had tried to get me to promise to leave Yuto alone, I hadn't actually done it. So that means I wasn't bound by it! That's sibling rule number four!

But I had no doubt that if 6th Street wanted him alive, they'd be guarding him…

Fuck.

"What's on TV?" Malcolm asked, and a few moments later Jun turned on the TV and everyone seemed to be satisfied to drown themselves in stupid for a while.

I closed my eyes and just let myself process what had happened.

Why had Yuto been in the wrong apartment? If he had just been in the right apartment when I came in that would be it.

My frustration at the completely random freak chance of some old apartment dweller stealing cable meant that I hit the wrong place, and somehow Yuto had known. That was the part that pissed me off the most. How had he known? I hadn't exactly been loud when I entered the apartment.

"I should go check out the apartment. Maybe find out what was going on, how he heard me. Did he have a camera or something? It-" I started to say, but Hiromi waved me down.

"Motoko." Hiromi said and I stopped. "It was just a freak accident. Fujimura will send people to the apartments to look around. If you want we can ask them what they find, but… It's not your fault. We'll get him next time."

I swallowed the words that wanted to bite out of my throat and nodded. Flopping back down.

"I hate losing."

—--

"Roger Almeda." I growled glaring at the dossier that Fujimura had sent over.

Turns out the guy wasn't just some off the street 6th Street gonk.

He was apparently ex-Militech Special forces. He was the crazy kind of Solo that followed Blackhands words religiously. The whole sleeping in a new location every time, and sometimes that meant sleeping in a cardboard box in an alley that's even better because people can't track you to it.

"He's known to us. Dangerous and methodical." Fujimura of all people said. He had arrived at the apartment and handed over the information they had gained himself.

"How did Yuto of all people meet this guy? I thought they met in prison!"

"They did." Fujimura agreed and then there was a glare on his face. "This is conjecture, but Yuto meeting Roger Almeda in prison could have been targeted. He isn't the first young man in prison that has been filled with poison for his arrest."

"Yeah well. Great job." I grumbled as I stared at the info in my Agent.

The second apartment had been heavily secured, and it turned out Yuto's apartment had been watched by some small spy cameras not in the apartment, but secured to the outside of the building across the street.

Roger had an eye on the apartment, and when we arrived it had sent an alert to Yuto causing him to bolt.

Great. I had flubbed it too.

"Whatever." I decided, shaking it off. "I'll find him soon, and this time I'll just put a bullet in him." I said and Fujimura nodded.

"While we would prefer him delivered to us… I'll accept the contract if you can secure his death. We will still need proof."

"Does a BD recording work?" I asked, and Fujimura after a moment, a slight twitch to his lips.

"It does." He finally said after a few moments and Hiromi snickered as she watched on.

"Alright. Then we are back to waiting a bit to see when Yuto pops up again. I'll keep an eye out, but I'm pretty sure our current way of tracking him will still work." I said and Fujimura curled an eyebrow at me, but I refused to say more.

As it stood only my chooms knew how we had tracked Yuto, and I was going to keep it that way.

"You should have called in assistance once you realized where he was." Fujimura suddenly said, causing the room to go quiet as everyone looked between us.

I sighed, raising my hand up I ran my fingers across my face, scratching idly against my forehead with my cool chrome.

"You're right." I acknowledged. "This gig wasn't just for reputation, it was personal. I should have brought you in the moment I realized where he was. More people would have kept him from escaping."

"Hmm. Then I will leave it at that. In this instance. Kusanagi. I want this completed. No matter what resources are needed."

"Understood." With that Fujimura turned away from me and walked over to Jun. They spoke quietly for a bit, but I purposefully didn't listen in.

Time to get back to work.

---

A/N UH OH! Not authors notes again!

Alright. So, bit of a real talk. I've been struggling more and more with GitC. (Don't worry! This isn't a cancellation notice.) But the fact is it takes a lot of energy per chapter. I can usually grind through 3 pages a day for it, Which isn't a lot per day, but kept me pushing out a 10ish page chapter every three days. But with everything that's happened this year my backlog is dwindling and there are times I have low energy towards the story and write even less. And sometimes where I write way more.

Right now, I'm struggling with it. Balancing the story lines is complicated.

So TLDR I'm going to be changing the post rate slightly. Instead of every 3 days, I'm going to push it to every 4 days and see how that works. I'm hoping that having an extra day in there can help me start building the backlog back up, and if I get back to my minimum backlog. (Which I'm way under right now.) I can maybe go back to every 3 days.

So next chapter will, instead of being the 25th. Will be the 26th, then the 30th. Hopefully I'll hit some fun scene and write a whole bunch for it soon, but right now I'm struggling a lot with Motoko's journey.

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