Ghost in the City

I reconnected my audio and visual link with Malcolm once I was sure it was over.

“Malcolm you there?”

*Motoko! You okay?*

“I’m fine Malcolm, just some unexpected defenses. I guess I should have known a gun shop wouldn’t ignore their net defenses as well. I’m moving in now.” Then I did just that, first stopping at the Turrets to examine what was left of their code.

I couldn’t find anything that would give them a defense against my stealth Daemons. Until I looked up and noticed there was actually a defensive system around their cubby. A few minutes of examining it and it made sense.

The turrets had their own barriers around them that turned off once they started attacking. It was actually brilliant, as they were protected right until they noticed someone. Sure with this knowledge I could probably make some adjustments and double check for such a thing in the future, but to see something new like this?

“Fascinating.”

*Motoko?*

“It’s nothing Malcolm, just some cool netrunner stuff. I’m heading in now.” I took a long moment to examine the door that led further inside and even sent a breach access into the door, just to make sure it wasn’t trapped. After confirming it was clean I opened the door and stepped through.

It was a room. Just a server room really. Files stored in digital file drawers that would be folders on normal computers.

I accessed the rooms functions after making sure there were no defenses in here, and did a search for grenade information.

A few minutes later I found the file I wanted. Blueprints to create an EMP grenade that the shop sold, at least it would be better than the junk I had messed around with so long ago. Better than just a battery overloading.

I looked around and did a few more quick searches, gathering up more details on other grenade types, and some data on silencers. Just in case I could learn something new.

Then I pulled out, making sure to cover my tracks, and running the hell away before whoever owned the shop figured out they had a digital break in.

—---

“Blegh.” I groaned as I pulled free. I was mostly okay at this point, but my brain still felt hot from all the hacks I had pushed through my deck.

“You okay?”

“Yeah yeah. Just a headache.” I grumbled, as I pulled out a MaxDoc and huffed it down. Instantly the pain faded, and I unplugged from the netrunner chair and stretched as I wandered over to the small sink in the basement. A few seconds of washing my face, and pouring cold water over my neck I felt much much better.

“So that was kinda scary.” Malcolm offered and I nodded.

“Yeah I wasn’t expecting that sort of defense. I mean most shops I breach into don’t have much security. Then again I don’t think I’ve tried to hack a gun shop before.” It was usually food stands, or hotels.

“You handled it though?”

“Yeah. I could have just disconnected from the server as well. The system couldn’t lock me in.” I threw him a thumbs up. “But more importantly. You got the data upload right?”

“Yep! Right here!” He ran back to the laptop and flipped it around, showing the blueprint of an EMP grenade. “Looks complicated.”

“Eh. Mostly I just need to know how they make it. Once I know the parts they are using I can either copy it, or make adjustments to make it cheaper… Or stronger.” I answered. “But really. Malcolm. Thanks. I appreciate the backup.” ⱤãΝÒВËṠ

“Hey, no worries. Honestly. I’m glad I was here to help, especially if you are in the net doing stuff that crazy.”

“Yeah the net is certainly a world of its own.”

—---

I treated Malcolm to lunch, and he ended up actually following me around to all the shops I had to hit to gather the parts for all the different grenades I was going to make.

Slamming all the bags onto the work bench in the basement, Malcolm was carrying bags as well, helping me save a trip all the way to the car park. He grunted as he dropped the bags, sighing and rubbing his arms.

“You really need all this?”

“Not really, but I want to make a few Laser Grenades because… That’s just cool.” I answered and Malcolm did sort of shrug and nod together at that.

“True.”

“And those things are kinda complicated. EMP stuff is pretty cheap, and that’s what I have here.”

“Preem. So are you going to make them now?”

“Yeah, I can do that. Want to watch?”

“Yeah.” He offered and I smiled as I ran over to the CAD program. First I needed to make my own design since I wasn’t using the weapon shop's exact design for the grenades.

I pulled up the design of my frag grenade that I used to print the casings in the printer, and started making adjustments.

*100 Engineering XP Gained.*

I smiled at that as I almost instantly got the alert and slammed through it. The changes were only minor really, a few additional holes cut into the casing to fit the battery that would be the source of the EMP.

Finished with the file I uploaded it and sent it to the Printer, then grabbing an old casing I plopped it into the 3d Printer and in ten minutes cut out the sections I would need.

“Here Malcolm, something you can do to help. See all these Casings? When one is finished just put it into the machine to keep making more. I’m aiming for at least a dozen of these.” The boy looked over the printer and nodded instantly.

“That I can do.”

With that I set to work. Malcolm was a big help in running around to grab things for me, as I took the blueprints I had learned from the weapon shop, and made a few minor adjustments for my own style, and then slowly put together an EMP grenade. I was extremely careful when I finally placed the battery into the casing.

Almost nervous as I purposefully rolled my chair to the far side of the basement as far from the server and netrunning stuff as I could before finally sealing it all together.

*100 Crafting XP Gained.*

“Done?”

“Yeah. First one anyways… Want to go test it?”

“Hell yes!”

We left the rest of the stuff there as we hurried out of the basement.

—--

I couldn’t exactly throw it around in the middle of the street, and while I was confident in the range of the EMP effect only being a couple of feet, I didn’t exactly want to be wrong, so we once more drove mostly out of the city until we started seeing dirt lots and open spaces, then I just pulled into a dirt lot ignoring whoever owned it as Malcolm and I stepped out of the Quadra.

“Okay Malcolm? Want to do the honors?”

“Hell yeah… Just pop and throw?”

“Just like the frags yeah. Same timer and everything.”

He popped the clip holding the timer locked, twisted the timer and chucked the grenade sending it arcing away.

We waited for a few seconds once it bounced and then a few seconds more…

Then suddenly it burst into a visible wave of light and a spark of electricity and I even got a second of fuzz in my Kiroshi, although we were far enough it didn’t do anything more.

“Whoa.” Malcolm offered and I nodded smiling.

“That is NOVA!” I screamed into the air, arms upraised.

“Totally nova.”

Malcolm and I high fived and then we hurried back to the Quadra.

—---

“I still think it was a good show.” Malcolm offered, he had decided to hang out with me despite the fact I was just working on making more and more grenades, and the distraction was actually kind of appreciated.

Except his taste in TV shows was as bad as my brothers.

“Watson Whore was literally one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. And I saw Bushido 5.”

“Bushido 5 is the best one!”

I looked away from the grenade I was fitting together to give him a look of disgust.

“They had a train top Kusanagi sword battle before the whole train exploded for no reason-”

“The minions Kusanagi landed under the train and it exploded!”

“Nothing explodes like that! It blew up the entire train!”

“I know it was so preem!”

“Then! If that wasn’t stupid enough the explosion launched the ‘hero’ into the air and he landed his Kusanagi into the bad guys AV.”

“It was such a preem scene! They didn’t use stunt doubles or anything for that! It was all practical effects!”

“That… Malcolm I literally saw some of those minions get stuck under the train!”

“Yeah the stunt guys all have Gemini and super hardened brain cases. They get torn apart all the time.”

“God that sounds horrible.” I shook my head as I went back to finishing the grenade.

“How many of those you going to make?”

“I honestly was just thinking of making as many as I can until I ran out of parts… I bought… Thirty batteries?”

Malcolm nodded wisely and then threw up a thumbs up.

Which I instantly returned. Malcolm got it.

—--

*100 Engineering XP Gained.*

*Engineering skill level up!*

I looked up from the CAD software. I had been working on designing the laser grenade and it was honestly a lot more complicated, since I needed to have the laser emitters cut through the grenade casing.

Well that and it was a much chunkier grenade, since the power source and all the emitters took up space.

But, I was making great progress and now I had a level up from it!

Engineering 6!

I leaned back away from the computer and stretched. Malcolm and I had hung out all day making grenades and talking about movies or other stuff. He had even asked me about chrome. What I had planned, and what he should get.

It was fun! But eventually he had decided to head home to check in with his folks leaving me time to design more grenades.

But maybe it was time for a break.

I got up and headed to the elevator, and then out of the SLS apartments. Just as I was walking out though I ran into a familiar face.

“Nox?”

“Motoko! Hey!” The Mox boy had some changes since I last saw him.

For one, he had gotten a set of Tech Hair which now was split in half, with Mox colors. “Nice chrome. Just the tech hair?” I asked and his face burst into a smile.

“No, I got a few other things as well. Some preem optics for one. Helps me keep track of customers and stuff.” He said flashing his eyes through a few different settings. Mostly just making them brighter.

“Preem choom. How’s business?”

“Eh. Not a lot of new content.” He said, teasing me lightly and I just shrugged.

“Yeah, most of the recent stuff is no good. Too much chance of pissing off corps or big groups. I’ll try to get something that’s workable to Judy soon.”

“Hey, whatever you can bring in will be good I’m sure!” He offered and I shrugged. I hadn’t really thought about it in a while. The BD stuff was still mostly just something for fun.

“I’ll have to reach out to Wakako and see if she has any gigs. I did a short one of me klepping a car, but nothing really happened, so I never bothered to give it to Judy.”

“Hey you know… There is one thing we could use some help with.” He suddenly asked, and I blinked.

“What’s up?”

“So Hiromi’s got the SLS working guard duty right? Well, there’s been some trouble recently. One of the sellers and his guards were beaten and everything was taken. Didn’t think much of it at first, but then it happened again.”

“Wait. The girls already brought this up. I told them to bug Hiromi.”

“Yeah, same situation, but this just happened. She hasn’t done anything yet, but the guys I have selling are getting antsy, and SLS aren’t doing much better.”

“When was the last attack?”

“Yesterday.” He said and I frowned at that. “I’ll talk to Hiromi about it, let me know if anything new happens as well. That’s not okay.”

“Thanks Motoko, I knew you’d want to get involved as soon as you heard.” He said and I realized he had purposefully been out here waiting for me.

“You wanted to go around Hiromi with this. Why?” I asked suddenly and he jumped at my words before relaxing.

“Honestly? She doesn’t care enough about my chooms that are getting beaten. You’re a street kid though. You’d understand.”

I really didn’t understand, but I sighed regardless. “I’ll talk to Hiromi again, talk to you later Nox.”

“See ya around Motoko.”

This was not the problem I wanted to deal with right now.

—--

“It’s not like that at all! Nox you fucking shit. I’m gonna fine you so hard for this shit!” Hiromi ranted a bit after I called her wanting to meet up. I was at her apartment after school, and she wasn’t happy.

“This is the same problem as before. If it was still going on, why not have me help?” I asked more curious than anything.”

“I was trying to get more info! I have some feelers out to try and find out what is going on! I’m not even sure they are being honest. The three that have been stolen from were all the lowest sellers. I had already spoken to Nox about how we might cut them loose if they couldn’t sell anymore just before this happened!”

“Hiromi.” I groaned, rubbing my face. “Just, assume this actually happened. What would you do?” Hiromi looked a little uncomfortable for a moment.

“Probably call you and Section 9 for a gig to hunt down whoever is attacking my workers.”

“Okay, so that’s what we are going to do. Call in everyone. Malcolm and I were hanging out most of the day so he should be just home with his parents. But this is a gig.”

“Wait, you and Malcolm were hanging out all day!?”

“Yeah. I needed someone to help watch my back while I did a net dive. Then when I was making more grenades we just hung out and talked. It was fun.”

Hiromi’s face went through a wild array of emotions before she went blank. “I’m glad you had a fun day.”

“Thanks Hiromi. Sorry you were stuck in class all day. Will your parents let you leave to do Section 9 stuff right now? I know you can’t always get away on school days.”

“Oh it’s fine. After the Badlands gig, my parents gave me a blanket exemption from most of the rules as long as it’s work related. I just really can’t abuse it, or else.”

“Nova!” I cheered smiling. “That's really cool. They must really trust you now.”

“Ugh. Mom is acting super proud and stuff. She even told her co-workers about me, to sort of make fun of their kids who are all idiots.”

I just snorted and nudged Hiromi. “Well let’s get to work then!”

She nodded and her eyes went yellow as she started making calls.

—---

An hour later everyone arrived at my netrunner lair.

“So that’s the situation. We are going to find out who is attacking Hiromi’s business and kick some teeth in.” I explained. But Malcolm shook his head right away.

“Motoko. If the sellers are the ones being jumped like this? They are probably moving in on someone else’s turf. Hiromi isn’t the only one selling BD’s after all.”

“I know that!” Hiromi snapped, but I put a hand on her shoulder.

“Hiromi Malcolm wasn’t being mean, just explaining something he noticed. Right?” I turned to him and he nodded.

“Yeah. It’s preem that you put together a BD business ‘Romi. You’re our Corpo, I wouldn’t shit talk you.” He added and Hiromi perked up a bit.

“Right! Sorry. I just… I feel stupid for ignoring this.”

“It’s fine! We are here to handle it now! Malcolm, Ichi, you both have a better feel for the city than us. Do you know of any groups that sell BD’s in the area that might be causing us problems?”

“Charter hill? Difficult to say. No one technically owns the territory. So it could be any minor gang. Or one of the big ones but honestly? If it was 6th St. They would have told the kids to fuck off. Then they would have beaten them.” Malcolm said and Ichi nodded.

“And if it was the TC, we wouldn’t be talking, because the poor gonk’d be dead.” Ichi added. “Most TC bosses don’t appreciate someone moving in on their income.

“Okay so in that case… We do it the old fashioned way.” I muttered looking at the netrunning chair.

“Yes!”

“Awesome!”

“I’ll go on a snack run. Just the usual stuff Malcolm, Hiromi?” Ichi asked as he rose up, and I was left as the only one in the room annoyed at the situation.

This is what I get for being skilled at things huh?

I sighed and headed over to the chair to get plugged in.

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