Chapter 44

Chapter 44

I did the smart thing after waking up the next day and stayed inside.

I was really lucky, without my ability to fall asleep at will, I definitely wouldnt have managed to get much sleep. The constant NCPD sirens throughout the night meant when I finally did wake up, it was to a groggy Jun drinking some caffeinated drink he had grabbed out of a vending machine while watching the news.

Me though? After eight hours I was perky.

Couldnt sleep? I chirped at him as I rose up and stretched.

No. He grunted as he took another sip as I sat up and stretched. Then I hopped out and cleaned up a bit before grabbing my new testing laptop.

I settled onto the couch cross legged right next to Jun as I slotted my cord in, and went to work on another set of ICE.

What are you doing? He eventually asked, distracting me a bit, but I kept myself from getting booted out of the Breach.

Netrunning training! Im getting used to breaching through ICE. I told him with a smile, one eye on him, the other taken over by a screen displaying the ICE countermeasures.

Huh. He offered, turning back to the news and taking another sip of his drink.

Silly Jun. I would have to get him a pair of earmuffs or something, if he kept having trouble sleeping.

I was practically buzzing though. I really wanting to go out and do something, but knew it was a bad idea. So instead I fell back on what was my favorite activity when I was stuck inside.

Grinding!

Although

Hey Jun?

Yeah?

Do you mind if I mess with you a bit? I asked only to have Jun slowly turn towards me, mouth still buried in the can.

Whatever you are thinking No. He responded after a moment deadpan.

Aww. I whined at him. You dont even know what I was thinking.

And I know I wouldnt enjoy it so no.

I just wanted to send my quick hacks at you for practice. You probably have better ICE than most people I would see on the street. Right? You do have ICE right?

I have the ICE provided for me, and my ECM.

Oh right. The tattoos were actually not just tattoos but a ECM system the Tyger Claws preferred.

Preem. I told him. So can I quick hack you? Its just Ping.

No.

You are boring when you are sleepy. I grumbled at him, but went back to my Breaching

Of course. He might not even notice I looked towards him out of the corner of my eye and just before I managed to send the Quickhack his hand reached out and grabbed my face covering my eyes.

Ow ow ow ow! I hissed as he squeezed a bit.

I said no.

I give! Surrender! I whined not really wanting to start a fight with my laptop in my lap.

Plus Jun was obviously grumpy right now. And I wasnt sure I wanted to mess with Grumpy Jun.

He let go and I sighed as he gave me a single look before turning back to the news.

Fine. See if I ever act as a Netrunner for you. Youll be like Motoko! My beautiful and genius little sister, please save me by hacking into this evil mainframe! And Ill just be like No way you jerky faced older brother! You didnt believe in your glorious and slightly eccentric little sister!

I would never say that. More like Annoying brat. Jun replied and that I couldnt allow that. So I kicked him which unfortunately was a mistake.

Grumpy Jun had no chill.

Okay if I offer a cease fire can I at least reach my laptop? I mumbled into the couch from beneath Jun.

The jerk had literally sat on me, and knocked my laptop out of my lap in the scuffle. So I wasnt even able to grind!

Trapped beneath my stupid heavy brother who was definitely eating too many burritos.The original appearance of this chapter can be found at Ñøv€lß1n.

The fatty.

I managed to swivel my head a bit and catch his eye. Then I realized to my horror what I was seeing. Those werent my Nii-chans eyes. They were the eyes of a Cyberpsycho.

Jun was too far gone.

No. He told me smiling the look of a monster as he reached down and continued to poke my face.

I couldnt even retaliate! He had managed to pin both my arms while I was still playing around!

My Vengeance Will be legendary. I told him but he didnt seem to mind.

A few minutes of my pleading getting nowhere, we were both interrupted by the door to the apartment opening.

My inability to grab a gun and do anything was the only reason I wasnt pointing my Lexington at whoever walked in without knocking.

Akari. The door was closed. Jun said grumpily as he glared towards the door which is when Alari appeared in my view.

Go back to normal? If anything could go back to normal. If I thought I was feeling a little confused about all the changes that were happening. Jun looked like someone had tugged the rug out from under him down a massive flight of stairs.

He was just kinda Staring into the distance.

I walked over since the borgs were milling around or wandering out of the room, and plopped next to Jun. I didnt say anything. I didn't need to. He was feeling lost. His goal pulled out from under him. Its okay Jun. We can figure out what to do next.

Together.

---

I followed Jun around for the next while as he finally stood up and headed back to the apartment. Once he was inside he made to move back to his room but I finally spoke up.

Jun! I called out loudly enough to startle him.

Motoko?

Take your time. Get some sleep, and dont worry. We will figure everything out. Ill be here when you are ready to talk. I told him before walking over and flopping on the couch. He watched me for a minute before snorting, and then turning and walking back inside his room.

Idiot. He said as he entered his room, but I let that pass.

I was totally going to wake him up in a day or two by jumping on him. Let him get settled and not think about the revenge that was coming.

Until then I had some grinding to do. I really wanted another point in intelligence. It was time for the system to properly acknowledge my brain!

I spent the rest of the day grinding out alerts, but it was coming in a lot slower, plus Jun kept interrupting me with watching the TV which kept drawing my attention away from my grind.

--

Another afternoon passed with me grinding away trying to get enough Intelligence alerts.

When suddenly my head started beeping.

I was getting messages. I looked at the small list of messages, some from Hiromi, mostly just talking about how boring her classes were.

But I got a few from Nox, and one from Judy as well!

*Nox: Got some clients lined up. No sales yet, like you said, but Im putting out feelers!*

*Nox: Managed to snag a few more kids interested in your gigs, havent gotten any responses back yet!*

*Nox: Hey! Havent heard from you, that Jammer again? Gave someone a sneak peak, interest was super high! Even managed to get him on the line all four BDs.*

*Nox: Big day today! Word is getting around! The NCPD coming back is making things hard though. Might be slow sales at first. Since itll be dangerous to get around. Shame. If we could have the BDs on the market now all the people stuck at home would have something to check out. Havent heard from you*

I nodded along at Noxs messages. I would have to send him a text letting him know the jammer was down Well for once I might want to hold off on that just yet, he was a Mox. So I continued on reading the other messages.

*Judy: Motoko, I feel like I was a bit bitchy last time we talked. Just wanted to make sure you know, you are welcome with the Mox. Regardless of your TC connections. I was just freaking out a bit.*

Oh. That was kinda sweet of Judy. I didnt really feel that I couldnt. I mean she had just been threatened by the TC with kidnapping. Id be a little uncomfortable too.

As I was browsing through the sudden deluge of messages, Jun came out of his room. Jammer is down. He said suddenly as he walked past the couch towards the fridge pulling out a drink and hammering it down.

Yeah, I just got a ton of texts. Ill have to call Hiromi!

Do it after, pack up first. We're going home. He said and I actually whooped as I jumped off the couch. It would be sorta nice to return to normality, that and the jammer was such a massive pain in the ass!

I hurriedly gathered up everything, arms overflowing with my treasures, as I raced it down to the car.

It took a few trips.

With that Jun slipped onto his Kusanagi, my Quadra ended up being stuffed with junk that Jun had gathered since he left since he couldnt carry it on his motorcycle.

Then we raced home.

Well Jun did. I followed the traffic laws, and at the first red light that Jun blew through I lost him.

Seriously Jun. I dont care if your butt is made of metal, you are on a motorcycle, drive safely!

Finally I reached home.

I parked out on the curb, where Jun was waiting. I stayed with the car to make sure nothing got klepped as Jun ran up and down the stairs toting everything inside.

Then I parked in the garage and headed inside.

Home.

The streets were crazy busy, I couldnt help but notice as I crossed the street, even more than usual. Its like with the NCPD returning everything that hadnt wanted to leave their homes were now on the sidewalks. That and I supposed with the curfew no one wanted to be caught outside after dark when the NCPD were feeling more trigger happy than normal.

I walked through the throng of people, some heading towards the Cherry Blossom Market, some to other shops down the street, and some just hanging out.

It was nice. The tense atmosphere of the city was gone, returned to this constant mishmash of people.

I ran up the stairs and entered the apartment to hear Jun shuffling around in his room. I peeked in and saw him going through a backpack of stuff. Slowly taking it out looking it over, running his fingers over the items and then putting them somewhere around the room.

It felt like a personal moment so I went ninja and slipped into my room without him noticing.

Ninja skills were useful for something other than on gigs!

Inside I shut the door and looked around. My bags and stuff were in a pile at the entrance.

I walked inside. It felt Odd to be here. This had been my room since I woke up here in Night City. It wasnt quite nostalgic, but it felt good to be here. I decided not to unpack anything yet, instead I walked over and flopped onto the bed.

I lay there for a bit just sort of taking in the familiar ceiling.