Ghost in the City: Early Chapter 224

“Kawaii-Kitten-Koh-”

“Sasha, stop it.” I interrupted her flatly with a glare. “Seriously.”

“Ah.” She hesitated a bit and slumped pouting at me. “Fine… Motoko.”

“Thank you.” I offered back feeling a little better already. “You ready?” I asked her, and she grinned at me. 

“Yes! Another trip into the No/Brainer server!” She called out and pointed at the server in question.

We both walked in, and as much as I wanted to instantly start crushing Daemons…

That wasn’t my job this time.

I started breaching the server, even as Sasha and I rushed along, the both of us breaking through the first rooms very fast, Sasha’s tendency to use massive overwhelming hacks finally made some sense.

You enter a new room, and release something large wiping out if not all the defenses, a huge majority of them, and then clear out the weakened defenses, take your time doing whatever you need, and by the time you’re done you move onto the next room and repeat.

It worked I guess…

“Ah, can we slow down a little Kitten?”

“Getting old Cat?” I asked back as I had already breached through this room's defenses, opening up the gate to the next network node, but Sasha hadn’t had time to relax yet.

“No bullying Sasha!” She demanded and I rolled my eyes, but slowed down. “Hmph! You got new hardware.”

“Yeah, a full set of stuff. Ex-Disk upgrade, RAM, Got a Camillo.”

“Ooh!”

“And ICE.”

“Hmm, you got that sneaky kitten Shadow Deck. So you’ve what? Doubled your available RAM?” She asked, noticing it instantly, as we slowly ‘walked’ to the next room.

“Just about. It’s… Noticeable.”

“Yeah Sasha bets it is! You’re crushing the Breach… It’s making Sasha annoyed. She took longer to let Kitten kill all the Daemons like she wanted, and now Sasha is looking slow.”

“Heh.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. “I think you’re a very strong Runner Sasha.” I offered, because frankly, those massive hacks she threw around like candy were…

Clean. The Quick Hack themselves weren’t anything to write home about, but Sasha wasn’t a programmer. She was a Netrunner. Everything she did was… Clean. Practiced, and with all the mistakes removed over years of practice.

She’d tear me apart if we fought. I might be able to escape her, but she was just that much better than me when it came to the essence of being a netrunner.

“Heehee! Sasha is happy!”

“And those feelings are gone. Stop talking about yourself in the third person, it’s creepy.”

“Bullying again!?” She whined and I knew that whatever it was that made her act this way was going to be a constant thing.

“Ready for the next room?”

“Yes!” She chirped happily and raced ahead, and by the time I entered the room the faux heat wave of her program rippling across the room washed over me. Thankfully it was entirely visual, a distortion of the server as it handled a massive load increase.

“I’ll get the bridge.” I called out wishing I could just slay Daemons cause XP, but I needed to prove to Sasha I could handle both sides of what was needed.

I rushed to the access node, the glowing bit of data was already clear of Daemons, but its defenses were active.

It instantly tried to lock down on me, but I threw its probes into my new ICE and let it get chewed up there, letting me attack without distraction as I Breached through, instantly an array of security systems rushed over my eyes, but I wasn’t bothered.

This was ancient shit.

I didn’t even need to actually crack it like Sasha had. This was a twenty year old defense program minimum, and likely older than that. 

I could have simply inputted a security key from the manufacturer, and altered the IFF of the server defenses.

But that would be cheating, and wouldn’t show off what I could for Sasha. This was a test to see how well we could work together, and how well we each could handle the job.

I was the apprentice here. Even if I refused to let Sasha think of me like that… She totally already did.

But still!

So I was proving my place.

All so I could beat Kiwi in a silly game just because…

I killed the distractions in my head, and simply attacked. The security gate whined as I pinned its grasping defenses one by one before reaching the core, and flipping the switch.

The Moat bridge appeared.

“Way to goooo!” Sasha cheered, even as she continued to wipe out the slowly returning daemons.

I pulled away.

“No sweat.” I assured her, and we both raced across, I did manage to get a few Daemon kills on the way.

—--

“Hmm? Kitten isn’t done?” Sasha asked, after we left the server, having run through it without any issue.

“I’m going to run it solo, get some practice.”

“You sure? Sasha can come with?”

I was going to deny her, but… “If you aren’t doing anything you’re welcome to follow along.” I offered, and she lit up brightly, smile stretching across her face.

“Yes! That sounds fun!” She offered for once not sounding like she was trying to be cute.

“Come on then. Let me handle everything unless I totally mess it all up.”

“Heeheehee!” She laughed. “Don’t take it bad Kitten, but I almost hope you do, just so I can see it. But your Senpai believes in you!”

“Thanks.” I said flatly and slipped back into the server.

I had way more RAM, and better yet, the hardware to keep my Cyberdeck from overuse. 

So when I entered the first room, I went all out.

Unlike Sasha, who used massive node clearing hacks, so she didn’t have to aim, or set up any sort of use process. I did the opposite. Dozens of low RAM hacks instantly loaded up.

I felt the strain of it for a second and instantly began adjusting the workload processes.

The program would load RAM from each of my pieces of Cyberware Even the Self-ICE had enough RAM it could run a double load of [HEAT Bullet] Which meant instead of overloading my Cyberdeck running so many consecutive programs, It was actually only the initial activation, and then aiming that was loaded on my Cyberdeck.

Then the program list went from a dozen to two, and exploded out of me, racing across the server like fireballs, each of them smashing two or three into Daemons that had been already heading towards me.

Sasha had been right. 

Overwhelm the initial defenders and by the time you were ready to move on, you were cooled for the next room. That’s the sort of netrunner knowledge that my system didn’t really show me as such.

250 XP Gained.

250 XP Gained.

250 XP Gained.

250 XP Gained.

250 XP Gained.

Level up achieved!

One Stat Point Gained.

One Skill Point Gained.

250 XP Gained.

250 XP Gained.

I grinned as the information flowed through me.

Yeah. That’s the stuff. Sorry Sasha. I won’t need your help this time.

—--

“Okay so you got it?” I asked, and Klein nodded, spun his drum sticks around with a flourish and repeated the beat this time… Well it was better. “Alright let’s try that again.” I asked, and got nods from everyone. 

Everlong. I needed the actual studio version, so… As part of practice and to reveal the full version for our next gig, we were doing it. 

“Hello! I’m waiting here for you!” I sang my hands dancing over the strings, Klein kept the fast snare run going. 

Jared and Alice both kept their guitars going, the beat sounded good, a little flat at parts, but that was what practice was for.

“I promise I’ll stop when I say when.” I crooned letting the song trail off as Klein finished up the last of the song on the drums.

I turned and everyone was looking a little tired.

“That was a lot better.” I confirmed, it felt weird being in charge. Especially since everyone was older than me, but I was treating it like a gig. Well, like a combat gig. 

Messups were tolerated in training, but needed to be fixed so I was being more proactive than usual. I was actually calling out issues, and working to fix it, which did feel uncomfortable, but it had to be done.

“Thoughts? Feelings?” I asked as I grabbed a water bottle to hydrate a bit as I looked over everyone. 

“I’m getting it, I think.” Klein called out and did a quick repeat of Everlongs snare run. “Should be good.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“It’s a bit… Old school. No real flare to it.” Alice finally said. “I know you said it’s done, but maybe a bit of a sound machine, add a bit more vibe to it?” She asked, and while my first instinct was to tell her hell no, how dare she try to ruin Everlong.

I swallowed it, and instead moved to her. 

“We can try a few things, I mean, I have the acoustic version as well, so a different sound isn’t bad.” I offered and she lit up. Right. This wasn’t just me, these were musicians that wanted to stretch their musical talents too.

“Great! Let me mess with a few things.” She rushed over to the recording studio, and considering… 

“Klein, you mind if I take drums for this?”

“You want to drum? Fair enough.” He confirmed, wiping a hand through his hair that glowed and pulsed. The fact he was wearing pretty normal clothes gave him a funny sort of feel. Although that was just because we were practicing and not actually playing a gig. He dressed up in tons of the current fashion when it was time to play.

I replaced him and spun the sticks. I actually kinda liked drumming funnily enough. Something about just bashing away with a pair of sticks called to me.

I didn’t hesitate as Alice was still fucking around, to just start laying out Everlongs drums.

Jared nodded, and started playing the Bass right along, and Klein picked up my Guitar after a nod, and we all started jamming out. 

No vocals, just the three of us playing.

Alice rolled her eyes but not long after, some additional noise started echoing through the booth. 

I don't think I really liked it, not really. But Alice was jamming out doing it live, and frankly that was okay.

This whole band thing was… Well it was a bit stressful, but playing music was fun.

We did that for a good twenty minutes just playing the song over and over as Alice fucked with an electronic back track, but eventually everyone stopped, and I finished off the song alongside them.

“Need a longer break?”

“An actual one would be good.” Jared called out laughing as he rubbed his shoulders. 

“No problem Choom, take a break.” I called out waving the sticks and Klein followed him out. They’d probably hit the bar, and come back playing not quite as good as they had before.

Drunk musicians weren’t my favorite, but that was just how it was.

Alice though was obviously still playing with her back track for Everlong, and instead I just sat at the drums.

My sticks started tapping, just nonsense, no real song, but my brain found a rhythm, and I let it start playing out. 

I tapped at the cymbals, before the song came to me.

I could hear it. The shriek of an electronic guitar, and the iconic vocals of Mike Shinoda, and Chester. Which I of course sang along with.

“I am, a little bit of loneliness, a little bit of disregard.” 

Fully into it, I started hammering away, keeping the beat just on drums without a touch of any other instrument, but all of them were playing in my head. 

“I’ll be here, ‘cause you’re all that I’ve got!”

And the transition led to it all out. 

“I can’t feel the way I did before! Don’t turn your back on me! I WON’T BE IGNORED!” Chester’s iconic scream ripped out of me, even as I hammered the drums. Smashing everything out. 

Linkin Park had been my jam, and I now had the actual ability to play it. 

Repressed teenage emotions doubly so since I was a teenager again raced through me.

“I WON’T BE IGNORED!” I spun the sticks as I slammed the final notes and sat back, letting myself go a bit limp as I stared up at the ceiling before closing my eyes.

Ah, Linkin Park fucked hard.

“Okay seriously? Another song?” I blinked, opening my eyes and looking to see Alice had walked back into the booth. “What the hell was that?”

“Faint… That’s the name of the song.” I offered, in a weak explanation, but she was just looking at me like I was some monster. 

“Let me guess, you got the guitar and bass track planned out too.”

“And the electronic track.” I offered because I wasn’t really in the mood to be  “Are you complaining I have more songs I want to play?” I asked a little aggressively, considering the circumstances.

I was literally paying her for this after all.

“No! I’m just like… Frustrated! It’s fucking annoying okay!” She hissed pointing at me and then pulling the hand back and running it through her hair. “That song… It sounded nova. Are we going to play it?”

“... Yeah. It’s… We’re going to play it. Maybe not at our next gig.”

“Why not? It could be a thing if you want to keep pulling songs out of yo-Out every day. Make it so every gig has a new song played at the end. It’d be the sort of gimmick that draws a lot of attention.”

I blinked at the idea. It sounded cool in theory but… “Can we get everyone to learn a new song every time before we have to play?”

She winced a bit. “That’s… You know what? Fuck it. Yes, we can. We’ll fucking do it if we have to.” She said obviously Alice found her spine and wasn’t quite glaring at me, but I got the feeling she was feeling slighted. 

I’d insulted her in a way, not directly I think, but because I was pulling out songs and she had probably struggled…

Yeah I felt bad. She was a shit singer, but still a musician. Still someone who wanted to live making music. 

“Okay then. That’s the plan from now on.” I agreed and she blinked. 

“Really?”

“Alice. I have no fucking idea how to run a band, what the band is capable of, or what’s the wrong or right way to handle this. I’ve been trying to be more exacting tonight, to get everyone to where they should be, but I don’t know if I fucked up, or insulted someone or what… I just want to play music, and your band was the first to really make me deal with other people.”

I wiped my head, I was sweating pretty heavily and stepped off the drums, setting everything down and then facing her. “So yeah. If that’s what you think. Then let’s try it.”

I could see her brain was processing, pieces of something were slotting into place, but whatever she had figured out or decided she didn’t share with me.

“Alright. C’mon. Let’s take a break and talk to the others.” She waved for me to follow and so I did. Heading up through the elevator into the nice bar area. The two boys were already drinking over the bar and they both looked up as Alice and I arrived. 

“So we’ve come up with an idea for our gigs. It’s gonna be a lot of work, but we can do it.” Alice said before any other words were spared and then flagged down the bartender for a drink. “Violent hemorrhage might be dead, but we’re still Rockerboys! Let’s remind Night City we won’t be ignored.” She offered and threw me a wink at the words.

Heh. Linkin Park reference.

I nodded and got my own drink, and decided to actually sit and talk with my new band. 

If I was going to be working with these guys, I think we needed to know each other a bit better.

—--

David Martinez

“Martinez.” The tone wasn’t too bad so he hadn’t pissed off the girl. Good. He turned to see Hiromi looking at him, and then nudging her head to follow. 

So he followed. She might be a shitty boss, but she paid.

They rounded a corner to have a bit of privacy and Hiromi opened her bag and revealed an entire package of BD’s. “Take these and start passing them around.”

“Whoa. A new Ghost BD?” He asked, smirking as he took the plastic wrapped package and noticed the name on the wrapper. “Don’t Steal My Car?”

“Motoko and I had an issue in Dogtown. She reacted to it strongly. Just add them to the sale list.”

“Alright, I’ll need to check them out first… So I know how to sell it.” He added as the girl's glare sharpened, but she sighed and nodded. 

“Agreed.” Then like usual doing the same corpo shit they were taught in class she turned and walked off without a word, a power play.

Whatever Hiromi. He’d taken the same classes last year, and passed them with an A. Despite what Hiromi liked to think, he’d seen her grades, she wasn’t a straight A student like he was…

Then again, she also ran multiple businesses and made tons of eddies. 

David slumped, yeah fair.

The rest of the day ran by quickly as he kept feeling that buzz to watch a fresh BD until finally he was let out, and he raced to the Tram line. There was a moment he thought he saw her. That girl, the one who always grabbed his attention but in the end it was just a flash.

Once he was home he pulled on his new Wreath, bought because Hiromi had been annoyed that he was using an old shitty one that didn’t have the resolution and tactile sensitivities high enough to handle the BD’s correct. 

And slipped into the Ghost.

Murder followed. Cold blooded, almost cruel murder, and it was the best shit. David’s heart was beating in a rush as he cut down scavs, as he became the terror. 

Then after causing a scary borged up scav to literally go Cyberpsycho and murder his own chooms!

Fucking nova! He didn’t even know that was possible!

He felt himself prepare as he took the elevator up. 

“The Perfect Cut.” The words whispered out of his mouth, as the elevator doors opened, and his hands gripped the Katana preparing to draw.

Holy shit! Some real Samurai shit! Hell yeah Ghost!

A bit of netrunning spread across their network and David recognized it as the hacks that caused guns to stop working.

Holy shit. He was going to buzzsaw through these scavs! Was this a return to ‘The Only Thing They Fear?’

He hoped so.

Then she went over the edge. Cool. A sense of utter calmness enveloped him. His heart skipped a beat. 

Sandevistan!? Fuck yeah! She moved a blur to his senses even slowed down for the BD, and the first Scav was cut down that felt like a damn perfect cut to him!

Then another and the last cut down in a blur of motion that David already felt like he wanted to practice.

It was all Zoom, and Shlink!

But the feelings of the BD filled David and there was a sense of hunger.

This… This was a feeling David knew. A need for more. Something he lived with all his life.

It centered him and he felt like jerking as Ghost moved, almost dancing, every motion so controlled there was no sound. Nothing slowing her.

Cut, even grabbing a decapitated head and using it to knock a Scav right off the skyscraper.

Nova. So fucking NOVA!

Then more, and more. Scav came out of every hole and they were cut down no hesitation, no discussion, she was a monster and they were her prey.

Then finally they ended up on a bridge, a final scav, their leader? Running away in terror. He wasn’t the first, but David was into it. That’s right! Run! Flee! That feeling of power of being the terrifying thing to people that normally caused terror?

It was a high unlike any other.

“Going somewhere?” The first words spoken during the entire slaughter of the skyscraper, just loud enough the running Scav heard it, and turned.

“Fuck! Bitch!” He called out and raised a holy shit! That’s like the Ghosts! A fucking Hand cannon!

But there was no fear in the Ghost. The gun refused to fire and David felt a sinister delight as his gun was raised.

“Mines Better.” 

The first round blew the gun into shattering falling pieces, and then…

She felt nothing but disgust. There was no sense of joy at the idea of this Scav.

She didn’t bother to cut him down. A second bullet rang out and he splattered across the bridge. 

David jolted as he came out of the BD. His heart was beating like crazy as he looked around at his room. His ordinary normal room. 

Fuck.

That was so nova. Hiromi actually knew the Ghost. Motoko, just another kid like him, even younger even yet… She could do all that?

His hands shook as he ran a hand through his hair. 

He could do that too right? Be some crazy edgerunner. K-kill people and stuff? If she could why couldn’t he? Right?

He looked around at his normal room, in his normal apartment, and that hunger that had burned in Motoko burned in him. That need for more. 

Yet…

He flopped back on his bed. 

“I better play it again… So I can tell everyone about it.” He muttered, pulling the wreath back over his eyes. 

One more time to feel dangerous. One more time to leave his normal life behind.