Hours later I was driving a much drunker Hiromi home.

A night out had been… Nice. We all ended up sharing the stories of what happened to us over the past weeks. We all shared the good and the bad, and in the end?

We actually felt like Chooms.

It was really nice.

Pulling up to Hiromi’s apartment, it took a bit of cajoling to get the drunk girl out of the car, and eventually I was forced to princess carry her as she kept falling and giggling.

Did I mention she was drunk?

It was a little awkward knocking on the door to her apartment, waiting for someone to answer.

Her mother didn’t say a word, just an unhappy glare as I carried her almost snoring daughter into the apartment. After a minute of settling her on her bed, making sure she was laying on her side and finding a trash can that would work as a bucket, I hurried out of the dark apartment under the heavy eyes of the corpo woman.

But I was safe!

I escaped back out to the city where there weren't angry corpo mom glares.

Instead there was freedom.

I mean sure freedom sounded like NCPD sirens, which still hadn’t entirely let up. The NCPD were practically leaving the sirens going through the night just to make sure their presence was felt.

But I shook that feeling away. Time to go home.

I was humming when I got home. Never Fade Away drifting in the air as I walked into the apartment and threw up a hand to say hello to Jun who was sitting on the couch when he leapt from the couch startling me.

“Motoko! What happened!? Are you okay? Who did this? I’ll kill them!”

“Wha?” I asked before blinking, reaching up to my nose.

Riiiight.

Bar fight. I forgot. Sure the pain was there, but it was so little, I wasn’t even paying attention to it. Considering how high my Cold Blood skill was, It wasn’t even enough I needed to really use the skill to not feel it. And a nights sleep would set me right…

Fuck.

“Uhh. You should see the other guy?”

Much to my shock this did not set my brother at ease.

“Who did this?” He demanded in a growl holding onto my shoulders.

“Some gonks at the club. Hiromi annoyed them by talking or something, and they decided to start a fight. It’s okay Jun, really. It was kinda fun honestly. Besides. I won.” I inform him ending in a bright smile as I manage to shake off his hands a bit so I could flex my arm.

Not that I had any natural muscle, there, but the image was important.

“The club? Ho-oh?”

“Yeah. Some TC Gonks.”

“They touched you? You!?” He growled and I realized Jun was actually getting pretty pissed, like Psycho level angry, not his usual hotheadedness.

So I reached up and grabbed his face between my hands.

“Hey! Jun. Come on, come back. Everyone is fine. Deep breaths Jun-Nii. Deep breaths.” I ordered, and while he instantly looked to fight, I didn’t let him.

Chrome hands were stronk.

“Jun-Nii? You back with me?”

He let out a long breath out of his mouth that came out more of a hiss than anything else.

“I never left!” He snapped back, but I could tell he was back. His eyes were seeing me and not anyone else.

“Right!” I chirped at him as I let go, getting glared at all the while.

“They should not have touched you! Not a Tyger Claw!”

“I kinda beat their ass Jun… Plus it was fun.”

“Tsk. Ho-oh Club? That means… Jotaro Shobo? That is the man in charge there?”

“Yeah good memory. Hiromi and I had a bit of a run in with him after the bar fight. He was super mad. Talking about ‘punishment’ and stuff. Ichi showed up then, and name dropped the Kamikaze… I’d rather him not spread around that I worked with them, but it made Mr. White suit back off.”

“The Devil of Kabuki, said he would punish you? I’ll kill him.” Jun growled, his fists clenching and unclenching as he must have imagined murdering the Devi-

“Devil of Kabuki?” I asked before I felt it.

Realization.

Jotaro Shobo. The Devil of Kabuki.

The Devil of Kabuki. Jotaro Shobo.

“That disgusting Mother Fuck-” I cut myself off as my own hands clenched and I had to rely on Cold Blood to keep from punching walls and cursing up a storm.

I remembered that fucker now!

I had only done that quest once. But I remember! The Mox had wanted him dead, because he was a monster. That motherfucker kidnapped people only to torture them to make XBDs!

I made XBDs as well, but I murdered people that deserved it. Not kidnapped people that hadn’t done anything. Not people just down on their luck nabbed by assholes like Jotaro Shobo.

“You know of him?” Jun suddenly asked, pulling me out of my rapid fire thoughts as I stopped my pacing in the living room.

“Yeah. I’ve heard of the Devil of Kabuki before! And the fucked up shit he does.” I muttered. All the times I had met Jotaro Shobo sliding into my realization.

Of course I remembered the Ho-oh club now. I had thought the name was familiar. It was where you go to kill the Devil of Kabuki. A job that… Regina? the fixer gives you on behalf of the Mox.

Jotaro had no problem kidnapping even Moxes to scroll XBDs of.

Jotaro Shobo?

Jotaro Shobo was a dead man walking.

The decision was made. All I had to do was figure out how I wanted to get it done? Loud or quiet?

No, I took a breath. I would need some advice on this. This would be complicated. Very very complicated, my connections with the TC was useful at times, and at others it was a noose.

So I shook the disgust at myself for talking to that man, and not knowing away. I was in the moment.

“It’s okay Jun.” I told him, Jun having been hovering around as I went off in my own head at the realization of who I had been interacting with.

“Doesn’t seem okay. Motoko? Imouto?” Jun asked, his face worried and I could see the stiff way he held his hands as if wanting to grab me, but not sure if he should.

“Really Jun-Nii. I’m okay. I think I’ll probably go talk to Wakako tomorrow about it. Might get some advice. But… I guess I just wasn’t really ready… To actually been hanging around someone like that, and I hadn’t even noticed.”

Of course. The truth was worse than that.

I had forgotten.

Jotaro Shobo was a monster, but only a side quest. A little gig you could do, that unless you actually paid attention, you wouldn’t even need to hear the guys name.

How many horrible people, monsters, or evil things happened in the game that I wasn’t remembering?

I brushed past Jun and headed into my room. I had taken to mostly sleeping on the couch surrounded by parts and pieces of my tinkering or my laptops to grind with, but what I needed now was no distractions.

I sighed once the door closed behind me. I started stripping weapons settled on a dresser, their holsters ready to be buckled on when I got dressed, as I slipped out of my Leotard, out of my armored clothing that made me feel like a badass, and into something comfy.

Then I sat on the bed and laid back. “What else did I forget?” So rather than sleep. Rather than spend a night grinding, I started thinking back to the game. To the anime.

To everything I hadn’t been thinking about as I’d been either having too much fun grinding, or too murderous to think about.

Jotaro was just one mission. Were there any other gigs that I should remember? So I started thinking back.

The first thing that popped into my head?

“That fucking sick fuck!” I gasped remembering the farm. River and his stupid quest. The creepy fuckin cartoon that I swore if I ever had to watch again I was gonna uninstall the damn game.

The creepy bastard and his farm… Fuck. I don’t remember the name of the farm. I would have to jump onto the map I had installed, and see if I can’t find it. Hopefully it will actually be listed.

I took a deep breath and let it out.

Okay. That was one thing that needed to be dealt with, maybe even sooner than Jotaro.

What else?

Wait. That Scav Ripper… Shit. I can’t remember what his name was, but he shouldn’t be hard to find. He had an open Ripper shop. Hopefully he is already set up, and I’ll go and put an end to his bullshit, anyone willing to pretend to be a doctor only to rip them apart for pieces for scavs deserved a messy death.

Maybe even get some more Scav den data from it.

That made me think of Fingers.

He was disgusting, and I definitely felt like putting a bullet in his head, but he wasn’t scaving people. Just being a disgusting molesting fuck.

But the Joytoys that go to him, do it because he was ‘cheap’ thanks to what he did…

I would have to talk to Vik. He would know best. Would killing Fingers actually be a net good?

Fuck. This is why I said I wasn’t a hero. I don’t like these kinds of complex good and evil choices. I hated Good and Evil alignment choices in games.

I guess… I guess it was good that I didn’t have one.

I couldn’t think of anything else directly relevant at the moment. Except for Edgerunners… Faraday was on my list too. That four eyed fucker needed to get put in the dirt, but he was dangerous. He had plenty of guards.

That was enough for now. I had my targets.

I should sleep. Let the night pass and be ready the next day.

But that kidnapping fuck was out there. Right now.

I pulled up my map. Farms in the badlands, it took an hour to narrow down my options. Unfortunately it had been way too long since I had actually played 2077.

I didn’t remember which farm it was and despite most of them closing down, there were still a few of them around the city.

So I had a list. I would just hit all of them until I found it.

I should sleep. I could do it. Just a push of a button and I would be out for eight hours.

But my knee was bouncing. My fingers tapping. Every piece of me wanted to get up and go kill that creepy fuck.

Fuck it.

I wasn’t some hero, but I wasn’t going to let that bastard live for another day if I could help it. Making me watch that creepy cartoon in the game was enough to earn his death certificate, even without the kidnapping and creepy shit he does.

I got up and started packing my equipment back on. I stepped out as I zipped the leotard back up to see Jun was still up watching TV with a half eaten burrito in his hand.

“I thought you went to bed?” He asked, noticing I was arming back up. I even had my Nekomata over my back.

“I was. But something came up. Don’t wait up for me. I might not come back in before morning. Might take a while to find him.” I say as I finish strapping everything on and walk over to Jun to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later-”

The hand gripping the back of my Jacket kept me from walking.

“Not a chance. It’s late, what are you doing?”

“Gotta kill a guy. Gonna take a while to hunt him down first.” I answered truthfully which unfortunately didn’t earn me my release.

“Details. Now.” He said standing up to block my way.

“Fine! I got some info on a serial killer. Some crazy fuck that kidnaps kids does weird shit to them. I know… Generally where he is. Gonna need to hit a few locations to find him, but I’m going to assassinate him, and rescue anyone he has kidnapped.”

Jun blinked at my response. My reveal obviously surprised him as he seemed to mull it over.

“Fine. I’m coming too.”

I sighed. I really didn’t need Jun and his big stompy feet following me around.

“Juuuuun!” Whined at him irritated at him trying to interfere in my mur-assasination.

It’s an assassination. One is a job, the other is mental sickness.

“No. It’s late, and I know I can’t talk you out of leaving.” He said standing up and looming over me. “Since I know how you are, I’m coming with. Someone to watch your back.”

“Fine. I’ll wait for you to get ready. It’s gonna be more of a stealth job you know? The guy has like a ton of mines and turrets defending his farm last I heard.”

He looked at me for a moment and then he slapped the back of my head!

“If that is the case you definitely need someone there to watch your back. Imouto. You can rely on me. You have other chooms as well. Stop trying to take on everything alone.” He added as I gaped at him as he walked off.

“I can handle myself just fine!” I called out to him, but he ignored me as he headed into his room to grab his gear.

I stood there at the door a little huffy rubbing the back of my head. Jerk. Stupidface!

A few minutes later Jun walked out, yawning a bit as he was now kitted up in his Kamikaze gear, facemask included.

I rolled my eyes and headed down. Jun following after. Jun kept yawning so I actually stopped at a vending machine and bought a couple of drinks stuffing a few into his arms, making sure they were the type he liked before heading to the garage.

He didn’t say anything but he was giving me an amused smirk as he followed after.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” He replied instantly, but he was still smirking.

Jerk!

We reached the car, but Jun was walking over towards his Kusanagi. “Jun! C’mon.” I pointed at my car as I set the cans down on the roof for a moment as I opened the door and started arranging my Nekomata.

“I’ll just follow you.” He said side eyeing me.

“Not a chance. We are leaving the city. Unless you want to drive your Kusanagi through the badlands?” I asked, and I saw him wince a little.

NC streets could be bad enough with potholes, and general debris, but the roads out of the city were… Rough.

The Nomads drove their cars with offroad tires, and alterations for a reason.

Like my Quadra.

“C’mon.”

“Just… Drive slowly.” He demanded, as he relented and moved to the passenger seat.

“I always drive safely!”

—--

Driving out of the city was easy enough. It wasn’t like many people drove out of Night City in the middle of the night.

If only Jun would stop trying to change the radio.

“Jun if you change my radio to that garbage one more time, I’m gonna start driving fast just to end this torture.” I told him out of the corner of his eye.

Jun wasn’t a fan of ‘oldies’ which. Samurai were. Technically.

I mean they were over fifty years old. Of course kids that grew up in NC thought the music was for old people.

They just had no taste! The original sounds? Johnny might be a real piece of shit, but he had some monster vocals and Guitar work.

“Ugh. Why do you listen to this scop. It’s terrible.” He grumbled at me.

“As someone who listens to Us Cracks, you have no right to talk about my music preferences.”

“Us Cracks are at least modern.”

I groaned as the argument went around again.

But I finally had an actual distraction.

“Heads up.” I said suddenly turning off the engine. The headlights had already been turned off as we left the city.

My Kiroshi could see just fine and there wasn’t exactly a lot of traffic.

Jun sat up from where he had been slouching in the seat.

“What is it?”

“First of the potential targets. Poppy Farm. Be careful. If this is it, the crazy fucker put up mines.”

“You already told me.” he said, rolling his eyes. “I won’t forget a warning about landmines Motoko.”

I nodded but I was narrowing my eyes.

The road went right past the only structure around.

I frowned as I noticed the fires highlighting the massive graffiti covering the front.

‘Wraiths’

Not exactly what I was looking for. “This isn’t it.” I admitted as we cruised down the road without a sound. No mines. No defenses.

But Wraiths.

A couple of Wraith vehicles parked around, a barrel on fire lighting up the exterior. A few milling around drinking beers.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Not this farm… Still tempted to clear them out though.” I admitted. They were obviously winding down, sitting around drinking or sleeping.

They wouldn’t know what hit them.

“Starting a firefight for what? Imouto… As I learned. You need to bank the fire of your bloodlust.” He said, surprising me.

The car finally came to a stop, still invisible to the Wraiths in the night but I looked away from the farm to Jun.

“Okay, who told you that? That didn’t sound like you at all.” I demanded and to my delight he actually looked a little embarrassed.

“Sensei.”

I snorted before chuckling at him, Jun was soon pouting at me.

“Alright. Alright. I guess… I guess we can just ignore them.” I said, sighing a bit. Fuckin Wraiths.

“I didn’t say that.” Jun offered after a few moments and I blinked at him, as he smirked at me. “I simply wanted to be sure you weren’t rushing into a fight for nothing. What do you hope to gain?”

Numbers?

No, I couldn't exactly tell him that. Plus..

He was right. Morgan's Solo Guide. That book I never even finished reading way back when. I had taken some of the words to heart, made my rules, only to forget them when I got kidnapped.

I wasn’t some psycho, killing for fun.

I was a merc. A Solo. Someone that did what she did for a reason, and what reasons do I have for killing a bunch of Wraiths?

“I know a Nomad. We clear this camp, we can let him know. Probably make some good eddies for the sale of the Wraith cars. That plus we get any weapons, and eddies the Wraith have on them.”

“And what is the risk?”

I blinked.

Risk? From a bunch of sleeping Wraiths in the middle of the night?

“Jun you are vastly overestimating those gonks, or underestimating me. I could probably kill every wraith in that camp without them ever knowing I was there.”

His quirked eyebrow told me he didn’t believe me.

I felt an actual smile stretching my lips.

“I bet you complete control over the radio, I can do it.” I offered which surprised him for a moment but then he chuffed out a laugh.

“If you can’t. I control the radio not just on this trip, but from now on.”

I winced. If I messed up and had to listen to the Us Cracks and the Pon Pon Shit or something? I might actually go Cyberpsycho…

But proving I was a badass and winning a bet against Jun? Totally worth the risk.

“Deal. Just stay here. Unless you hear gunshots. Shouldn’t take me long.” I told him, then I looked forward and blinked as I activated the BD recorder. Might as well get another benefit from this little side quest.

Then I slipped out of the car and into the darkness of the dusty desert road. Cactus and bushes surrounded me, and I could hear the sound of a radio in the distance. My blood turned to ice as I crept forward.

My eyes let me see just fine, but it was because of that, that I knew I had to be even better.

If even one Wraith had good optics and noticed me creeping along?

Jun would win our bet!

Plus they would shoot at me. That too I guess.

But as I moved in closer and closer stalking amongst the bushes and cactus, I knew this would work.

These guys were even more confident than the Maelstrom had been. After all, The Raffen were the predators of the Badlands. As much as the Nomads liked to talk big and tough, the Raffen were feeding on the Nomads, not the other way around.

So I crept in. My eyes flashing in scans looking for any defenses, only to find nothing.

Not even cameras. Just nothing.

Just a few Raffen outside, and probably more inside.

So I crept closer every inch of my body working in tandem to keep me out of sight. To keep me quiet. Until I was in the shadows of the barn.

I slipped inside.

No one noticed. No one even heard my footsteps as I slipped around the open barn doors and I was inside. The lights inside were old. Most didn’t work.

A perfect environment for my work.

I went to the far back of the barn. Just to check for any security.

Nothing. Just a few of the old barn stables filled with tents, or sleeping bags. This was obviously not the Raffens' home. Just a place to spend the night despite the giant painted on Wraiths outside the barn.

Their vehicles were also inside. I went around to each of them just to make sure they were all empty.

All but one.

The poor Raffen sleeping in his back seat didn’t notice me as I poked my head over the side door to stare at him for a moment. His door was locked.

His security wasn’t good enough to stop me. I didn’t even bother closing the door when I was done just pulling him mostly out of the car so he wouldn’t bleed on the interior.

Then it was time.

The poor Raffen were split up. Sleeping or hanging around drinking and whiling the night away. It made sense. It was getting late.

A glance at my integrated clock in my Kiroshi, something I didn’t tend to think about, showed the time.

:07AM

A good time.

The second guy lost his life to a knife through the throat while he was sleeping in his little sleeping bag.

The next I killed by cutting through his tent rather than trying to unzip it. He died just as quickly.

I didn’t feel much as I slowly cleaved through the sleeping Raffen.

They weren’t even a threat as the sleeping men died one after another.

Six sleepers in total.

xp.

Then I had to deal with the three outside.

I considered how to do it. They were split apart, but all chatting with each other.

Difficult.

I could grab my gun, but that wasn’t how I wanted to run this.

So I turned back inside and searched a few of the corpses for what I wanted.

I smiled as I found plenty of what I needed.

Then I stood up from the shadows.

I loved stealth. I loved sneaking around, but there was something truly freeing about walking openly out of the barn up to the first guy who was sitting down on some old garbage.

One of his buddies noticed me as I walked up to him and let my knife slam into his throat and out.

My other hand was already moving. The knife I had looted whistled through the air. Hitting…

Mostly where I wanted. It was a little off.

I really needed to up my Reflexes some more.

On the other hand, even as one man died, and the other gasped as a blade appeared in his chest I was pulling a third blade from my waist.

With a little flourish I lined it up even as the third Raffen tried to react. Tried to rise up and draw her rifle sitting at his side.

The whistling blade put an end to that, as she fell crying out breathlessly. I swiftly threw another blade, this one actually landed where I wanted. Her throat suddenly blocked by a solid piece of metal put an end to her as she writhed on the floor dying.

I had checked every inch of the inside of the farm, and I hadn’t seen any of them wandering around in the night so I was fairly confident I was done.

My eyes turned gold.

*Motoko?*

I reached down and slipped my blade into the second Raffens throat, he was bleeding out on the ground a knife in his chest, lung pierced, but I put him out of his misery as I answered Jun.

*All Clear Jun-nii! Come on over, let’s loot up.* I told him before dropping the call. I could hear my Quadra’s engine start up a few moments later as the car rumbled off the road and towards the farm.

Perfect.

Loot. XP. And I could send a message to Scorpion. Maybe the Aldecaldos could use a few more cars? I peeked into the barn noticing there were a few Raffen vehicles now ownerless.