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"Waaa, I can't believe we were just standing in front of Shinobu Nakagawa!" Ichi whispered once we had left the building proper and stepped into the garage.

"Nerve wracking." Malcolm agreed but he stretched and seemed less bothered.

"Ugh I'm just glad we got out of there. Talk about tense!" Rebecca added as well, before slapping Ichi on the back. "And don't think I didn't notice you practically shivering as you stood there in your armor!"

"I didn't!"

"I have a contact with Hayato Nakagawa." Hiromi whispered as she followed robotically behind us all. She had been doing that since she had worked up the nerve to speak to Hayato on the way down and mention she was the one in charge of setting of gigs.

"So Hayato. How'd we do?" I asked, she had followed us down and seemed set on speaking to me about something but having difficulty beginning.

"You were perfect. Grandmother will ensure word gets around that you were operating under my orders, so no one will cause any issues for you."

"Eh, I'm more irritated that more people are going to know what I'm capable of. I hate people that don't underestimate me. It's so much easier when they think I'm just a brat."

"You will be known as working under me personally. That will do a lot for your rep. Isn't that a good thing?"

"Eh, fifty-fifty. It means I have a better chance of being known while doing something, which is good or bad. Being able to intimidate is useful. But being unknown or underestimated is often better in my view. But it's nothing to worry about!" I continued on when I noticed her frowning. "It was inevitable, and getting known as working for you is a good thing. It means the Tygers should be less of an issue in the future."

"Are we often an issue?" She asked me with an honest curiosity in her voice. "I would expect, with your brother and legacy status. You should be treated well?"

"Not really." I offered back. "Jun's rep helped yeah, but most Tyger Claw guys at the bottom are jerks and don't really think before speaking."

I looked back and saw her frowning. "That is not how it should be. They should have nothing but respect for you, since your parents and brother were Tygers!"

"In a perfect world." I replied back with a smirk, saying obviously that the world wasn't perfect. "Besides I know my way around a blade and more."

"Indeed you do." Hayato confirmed actually smiling, which was a rare sight on the serious girls face. "I will have to face you with Shinai again next time we spar. If you were able to stand against Komorebi, then you were holding out on me!" She said suddenly going on the attack and pushing at my shoulder with a finger, but that didn't do much thanks to my chrome!

"Hey! I wasn't! Not really. I had two blades when I faced him and I'm good at dual wielding. I'm ambidextrous."

"Tsk. I will test that myself!" She argued back and I just laughed at her eagerness for more spars.

Then we stopped. We had wandered off a ways farther from the rest of the group, as I let Hayato guide us, and it seems we were far enough. "Hayato?"

"Motoko, you did a favor for me that I will not forget. Freeing me from that filth Kanada."

"It's not like I did it entirely altruistically." I explained but she shook her head.

"You did it when I had no one else to do so. And Grandmother has already denied me her own contacts for this business. I was stuck attempting to find my own… I will owe John-Sensei much for letting us meet."

"Well… Glad I could help."

"I know… Which is why I feel cruel for speaking further. I need to solidify my place in the Tygers. I am a daughter, and while we are not yakuza, few would see me rise up to be the next Shinobu."

I blinked because… I thought Shinobu was his name? It was a title?

Nevermind, I decided I would ask Ichi later or something so that Hayato didn't start trying to slap me again.

"You need more help."

"I would like to continue our relationship. As Client and mercenary." Hayato confirmed sounding very official.

"I don't mind." I decided. "If you need someone killed, rescued, something torched, or just a big gun fight, you know how to reach me. Maybe we'll talk to Hiromi to set up some for of retainer? Is that a thing?"

Hayato looked very pleased for half a moment her smile bright and happy before she instantly shifted back to her official face.

"I look forward to your future performance." She spoke and I shivered because I had a moment where I felt like I was working an actual job instead of doing whatever the hell I wanted.

"Sure." I offered, deciding that was the correct response and she nodded.

Unfortunately Hayato needed to head back up, so once she was gone I jumped into Ichi's truck and we all took off. Time to celebrate!

—--

"Woo!" Rebecca cheered as she showed off with her Ajax. I had intended on going to Lizzies or something, but Ichi had made a good argument.

It wasn't a good idea to party at Mox HQ after doing work for the Tygers. Even if it had been an assassination of one of them.

So instead we were out at Turbo's of all places.

Rebecca had suggested it, and since we didn't really have a hangout that wasn't just go home, or Lizzies I had no reason to argue.

It turned out to be a good idea in the end, Ichi and Malcolm both quickly fell in love with the attention, as Rebecca was a familiar enough face since this is where Maine celebrated. She was able to start the process of a party.

As everyone gathered around as Rebeca regaled them of the most recent gig. With lots of extra bits added on. I certainly don't recall her gunning down the security guards for instance.

But I guess that was half the fun of being a merc. The tall tales.

I blinked surprised as I noticed Hiromi walk over to the Turbo's little attendant, and not long after come out with a few packs of Brosefs she walked over to Rebecca.

"Hell yeah! Free booze for everyone!" Rebecca cried out and everyone cheered as the crowd Rebecca had gathered turned into an actual party.

"I didn't expect that." I told Hiromi as she wandered over and sat on the seat beside me.

"A small cost for a post gig party." She said confidently, and then stilled a bit and sent me an honest smile. "Rebecca suggested it. Apparently if you turn this sort of thing into an open party it helps with your rep. Tomorrow everyone here will be talking about the cool merc party the night before and telling everyone what we did."

I nodded at her explanation. I guess that all made sense. For a group of mercs, normally their rep was their guarantee, their hope of future work depended on it.

I was just so weird, and we had built up enough of a nestegg thanks to the helpful contributions of Scavs and Raffen that I never worried about where the next chunk of eddies would come.

"Do… Do you or the boys worry about eddies? Like… Do we make enough?" I asked, and Hiromi hummed.

"Not recently. There was Ichi's thing with his grandmother, but since we got the big truck, his morning job has paid out well." Hiromi mentioned I could see the way she was looking through me that she was doing calculations in her head.

"Before all this happened, I wanted all of us to have a meeting." I mentioned, and Hiromi blinked at my words and nodded at the memory.

"That's right. Anything in particular?"

"Us, our future." I mentioned as I stared off. "What our relationship will be like in a few years." I glanced over and Hiromi looked super red. Before I could ask her what's wrong she spoke.

"A-are you sure it's t-time for that? Are we ready?" She stuttered and I laughed a little and nudged her.

"Section 9 has grown so much already. I think it's time we start formalizing things. It's nothing to worry about." I explained looking over at Malcolm who was actually seeming to get some attention as he held a brosef in one hand and talked about some adventure he had.

"A-ah. Section 9! Of course! Right. The future of Section 9. That future."

"Hmm?" I asked and Hiromi shook her head wildly and then ran a hand over her face.

"Right. That makes sense. We've been growing a lot. The Behemoth. The Minotaur. Rebecca joining more full time."

"I'm glad she wants to work with us." I said as I turned to look where she was. Rebecca was throwing her weapon grabbing it and throwing a mag into the rifle looking pretty cool while she did so.

"You know… You never did tell me why you wanted her to work with us so much? She's admitted that she's barely got any experience with her current crew, but you threw her into a solo position."

"I just know she has it in her." I admitted purposefully not meeting Hiromi's eyes. "Plus we needed more people. I had met her, and I knew I could steal her away from Maine and his crew."

"She's also a lot older than us… She's pretty. Mature."

"I don't know of anyone that's ever called that gremlin mature before." I whispered back and Hiromi snorted and slapped my shoulder.

"Don't call her a gremlin!"

"I say it like I see it. But yeah. Rebecca is cool, and I think she's perfect to balance us out. A bit older, but that's not a bad thing, even if she doesn't look it, which sort of ruins the chances of her doing any infiltration we can't handle because of our age. I'll just have to dress up again."

"Dress up?" Hiromi asked and I realized I fucked up!

"Nothing important!"

"I think it is!" Hiromi argued with a grin and I was quick to jump off the bench and make a run for it, Hiromi right behind me shouting for answers.

I woke up the next morning feeling well rested and ready to take on the world. A full eight hours and I was ready to hammer life.

I hit the gym first. That final level for Body would mean I never have to stop at a gym again in my life. Which was a temptation that was too strong to put off.

The weights let me push and I found a good chunk of the morning disappear in a haze of aching muscles and willpower overriding my tired body.

No level ups, but it was all about the slow inexorable grind!

I spent most of the morning after that doing some clean up for the Tachikoma. Their brain was growing well, if slowly, but they were at the point where it was easy for them to follow a thought or assumption and come to incredibly wrong conclusions.

I considered calling for that meeting between my chooms that I had planned, but honestly we had been working for days straight.

Today was a rest day for sure. Plus Hiromi had school, which I really should try not to interfere with all the time. Better to give her some school time before I finish calling the meeting and get everyone on the same page.

Of course I wasn't really feeling like putting my feet up and wasting the day. So instead I pulled out my laptop and started working on some design work.

The initial use of the Tachikoma had been an amazing success, but I still needed to get their mobile function working.

Getting them capable of climbing walls was going to be complicated, although the tech definitely existed out there already. I remember the Flathead was easily doing it.

But for now I needed speed.

Wheels.

Tachikoma were supposed to have wheels on their legs and that was a skill they would need to learn to use.

Adding wheels was easy. Adding wheels into their already packed together legs while somehow powering them was harder.

But it was the fun kind of harder.

—--

When the door opened and Jun wearily stepped into the apartment I was still a long ways from completing a working design.

So I happily pushed it away and looked over at my brother.

"You look tired."

"Yep." He muttered and stomped over to the fridge.

"Any reason why?"

"Been busy." He finally offered after grabbing an XXL and throwing it in the microwave. But he wasn't going to elaborate.

"Okay?" I mentioned realizing Jun wasn't in the mood for conversation.

A minute later he settled on the couch and chomped into his burrito and life seemed to return to him.

"I've just been busy Imouto. A lot of issues came up, and I wasn't able to handle them because of… Yuto."

"Ah." I looked away. We hadn't really had a conversation about this yet. The room grew a little awkward and I considered what to do. For Jun Yuto was a friend, a companion, a brother in some ways.

And I had killed him.

"Hey Jun?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you want to set up a space in our shrine for Yuto?" I asked and Jun definitely wasn't expecting that as he choked a bit on his burrito.

I patted his back a bit and he got himself under control again. "What?"

"You heard me. Despite everything… He was a choom right?"

Jun blinked and just looked over to our shrine.

We didn't use it much, it mostly stayed in the corner and we just left it as is.

Finally Jun nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'd like that."

I smiled as Jun's mood improved and we made plans to head out to get everything we would need. I might have zero connection to the man, but to Jun… This might be the way to get over the guilt he obviously felt.

—--

As we left the apartment to head to some shops it was obvious that things had changed.

I was getting stared at. Normally when Jun and I walked around, he got all the attention with his reputation out there, but this time it was something more.

I was getting looked at, and people were whispering.

"Looks like I'm not going to be able to stay low key anymore." I muttered as we passed a few TC gonks sitting on a set of stairs and all of them jumped for Jun but ended up flinching when they saw me.

"Well you did start working with Hayato Nakagawa-Sama."

"Ugh. Don't call her that." I cringed, because it was hard to keep in mind Hayato was important when she was sort of a mess.

"You should start speaking about her with respect. It could cause issues."

"Nah. I've punched her in the face too many times to do that."

"Motoko!?"

"We spar together Jun. What do you think? I just didn't touch her?"

"No! But… I forgot you sparred with her… Is she any good?"

"She's a pain in the ass with that Keren of hers. Not as good at grappling though, but if she can set the pace of the fight she's solid."

"Huh." Jun muttered as we reached the street and headed down the sidewalk.

"Whatever happened with the 6th Street attacks?" I asked and Jun winced looking around a little before leaning in.

"Higher ups are spreading the word it was a false flag, and that 6th Street already apologized. They didn't but they also don't want to admit they were tricked. Apparently there was a big clean up among 6th Street so they are focused on internal matters."

"Just like the Tygers then." I muttered, and Jun didn't comment, but it was what he didn't say that mattered.

The reason the Tygers weren't retaliating was because they were dealing with internal trouble just as bad as 6th Street.

So both gangs were apparently happy to just ignore the entire situation. Of course neither would admit weakness, and neither would actually apologize.

Gang Wars were bad for business though, and 6th Street had already long ago become a business rather than the protectors they tried to pretend they were.

Jun switched to more casual conversation after that, as we entered the store and bought some stuff for the Shrine for Yuto, mostly just new incense.

—--

I was driving to the gun range, planning on getting another session in when the radio started a new song that made me twitch.

My voice, singing This Fffire. It was so eerie that it kept happening, but I didn't change it. Just letting the song finish.

"And that was This Fffire from Ghost in the Shell, been getting a lot of requests for that one. So I hope all you choomers enjoyed it."

I heard Ash say over the radio before finally turning off the car. I was here.

So weird.

I still wasn't sure what I was going to do about all that mess, but I did know that I would have to come up with something soon.

I can't believe I was on the radio.

Shaking it off I headed inside and started shooting. I was focusing on my Handgun skill today, as it was pretty low for one of the skills I used a lot, and I could get a lot of work done.

As I was shooting I noticed one of the other shooters eyeing me and I stopped and shifted so I was looking them straight in the eye. They flinched and looked away and I glared.

Tyger Claw. So he was staring because he had heard about me.

Stupid rep. It was better when everyone just ignored me.

—--

*100 Handguns XP Gained.*

*Handguns skill level up!*

Handguns just hit 8!

I cheered internally even as I groaned and stretched my slightly aching shoulders. I had been at it for hours!

But I really wanted that level up!

Looking around for the first time in a while I relaxed as I was alone and I took a moment to start packing up.

Processing the odd sensation of gaining muscle memory that I hadn't actually done before. Slight changes in how to hold and point, a slight shift in how I would register when to fire while aiming.

It was all good stuff.

Packing up I decided to grab some food and probably flop on the couch for a while.

As I headed out, I caught the issue. Once again a couple of Tyger Claw gonks were standing around my car.

I shifted my shoulders, giving me easy access to the Burya and stalked forward.

"Hey! Get off my ride!" I demanded and watched the men all shift to stare at me.

Weapons visible.

"Chill choom." The lead Gonk offered and actually raised his hands, but his smile told me he was mocking. "We're just here to talk."

"Talk to someone else then. Fuck off." I demanded, I didn't know who sent these fucks, but it wasn't anyone that I wanted to talk to. Everyone in the TC that I wanted to chat with had my number.

"Don't be like that, we are here with business." He explained his smug smile still stretched across his face. And when I just stared blankly he smiled like he won some game. "Here's the deal. You pissed off some important folk, and in exchange you need to work it off. See?" He explained and I nodded.

That was what this was about. I breathed in and out. My blood was boiling. It would take just a choice to calm down, handle this rationally, call Fujimura or Jun, and make sure these guys regretted trying whatever this was about.

Or I could just not.

I activated my Sandy. Everything slowed down not because I expected trouble, but because I wanted to memorize the look on this smug pricks face when my chrome fist smashed into his face. My ankles gave me plenty of force to truly lay one on this guy.

I moved on.

"Get you ass off my fucking car!" I roared as I smashed into them, one of them let out a girlish shriek as I twisted and leapt then landed a flying kick right onto his face knocking him off the hood of the Quadra.

Then I moved again, a gun was drawn, Sub-Gonk number 2 drew a Shiny Omaha, it was whipped out with far too much wasted movements, by the time the gun was clear of his pants, I had already rolled off the Quadra and lashed out, my foot smashing into his wrist and sending the pistol flying. Then I smashed another fist into the gonks chest.

"I am so sick of this shit!" I yelled out as I switched back to the leader. He was rising up shakily holding his mouth, but I didn't care and slipped into his guard and reached up grabbing the side of his head while my other grabbed under the Quadra's bumper giving me all the leverage I needed to bounce his head off the solid titanium hood.

Then I flowed into another move. The fucker that had been sitting on my car was getting up and I smashed a knee into his face putting him back down on the asphalt.

I drew a blade, not my normal knife, but a throwing dagger that was tucked into my little strap on pouches, and chucked it.

Sub-Gonk number 2 had scrambled for his dropped Omaha and now had a knife in his shoulder. Ninjutsu made the throw so easy I could have lodged it right into his eye if I wanted.

His scream of pain was all the work I needed to do. Kind of hard to pull a trigger when you disable their arm.

Wise words from a movie drill instructor.

Walking over I kicked the gun away, he had dropped it anyway unable to grip it, and reached down, jerking the knife back out earning another scream.

I stared down at the three crying injured men.

I should kill them.

I wanted to kill them. Instead I closed my eyes and made a call.

*Fujimura. You have about ten minutes to send someone to pick up these Tyger Goons that just tried to have a chat with me, before I slit their throats and let them bleed out in the streets and carry on with my day. Here's my cords.* Then I hung up and sat my own ass on the hood of the Quadra my Burya visible and keeping the goons on the ground.

—--

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

"Motoko!" Jun roared as he nearly jumped off his Kusanagi and rushed over. Akari, I noticed had been riding bitch behind him. Heh.

"I'm fine Jun. Just pissed." I explained calmly. The three men were sitting on the ground in front of my Quadra, the fight thoroughly kicked out of them.

Jun looked me over and seeing the only blood I had on me was my chrome knuckles nodded.

Then he turned slowly, practically looming over the three gonks.

"Hey, c-chill Oni, we were-URK!" Jun didn't finish listening. The man was lifted off the ground with one hand wrapped around his throat.

You know… Maybe I'll let Jun stay tall instead of cutting his legs off to make him more normal sized. Because watching my Ogre of a brother hold a struggling dumbass aloft with one hand was really funny.

"Pfft." I tried to restrain my laughter, the man's legs were kicking in the air, unable to find the ground that was a good foot away.

"You. Dare." Jun rumbled his voice deeper than normal, a rumble in his chest adding bass to the worse.

"Oh my." Akari whispered faux shocked, but as I looked her over I noticed she was very much enjoying Jun's actions.

Ugh. Gross.

"Kushan-i." The leader spoke in broken syllables still holding his face.

I might have broken his jaw.

"We-sh 'ad o'rers."

"What orders?" Jun rumbled the guy in his hand still struggling but I noticed Jun wasn't going easy on his throat. He was turning blue.

"Jush a talk!" The leader spoke quickly hands raised as Jun looked like he was about to beat a motherfucker with another motherfucker.

I watched and sighed, because Jun wasn't going to do that, or rip these guys apart. Honestly I'd have been mad if he had, because they were my XP if they were just going to be killed.

"Fujimura-sama will want to hear exactly what your orders were." Jun finally said with a growl and dropped the other gonk. Who landed badly and rolled into a ball as he gasped for air. "Motoko, Fujimura-Sama will be here soon. And we'll get to the bottom of this."

"Perfect. I'm out then." I decided as I stepped off the hood fo the Quadra. "I've wasted enough time on this shit. Let me know what three dumbasses were supposed to tell me later or something." I offered with a wave and then Jun looked like he was going to say something but ended up nodding.

"Sure."

I hesitated and sighed turned around and to Jun's surprise hugged him tight. "Thanks Jun." I told him and ran away before he could get mushy.

Jun was always Mushy.

—--

I got home and took a shower, and as the water ran over my head, I came up with an idea.

A sinister, evil idea.

It was an idea for a quick hack.

I considered it for a while, it wasn't functionally any better than Optic Reboot, but sometimes you just needed to utterly fuck with someone.

I found myself in my room, Tachikoma beside me going through a small series of digital testing grounds for it I had set up, while I used both my hands and my agent to program at rapid speed.

The fact was, I was starting to build a rep. I had to accept that it was what it was, but I wanted something that made people think twice before ever, even considering messing with me.

So I needed to start becoming something more than just an assassin.

I needed the reputation of a monster.

Optical Hack Daemon: Onryo.

I pulled the data for my stealth daemon, as the base, as the Daemons carrier function was really really good. Then instead of simply focusing on making me invisible, I had it carry a holoimage.

The program came together without any issue, and by the time the sun rose it was done.

I installed the completed hack and then just stared at the wall for a second.

"Pfftt Hahahahaha!" I broke in evil laughter at the horror I was about to unleash. Now I just needed to find some targets.2100

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