Night City Legends

by DrunkenFicker

2074, Naruto awakens to find himself in a world much stranger than his own. One with no place for heroes, only dead legends. He'll find his place among the city and carve out a path of his own to become Night City's own living Legend... that is, so long as he doesn't go screaming over the edge. Story will cover Edgerunners Anime and Cyberpunk2077 Act 1 Complete. Act 2 in progress.

18. C18: Roll the Bones - I'm Chippin in!

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Night City Legends

Act 2: Running along the Edge

Chapter Eighteen: Roll the Bones - I'm Chippin In!

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Ishibashi wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep, the last thing he remembered was stepping outside of this… hateful place and feeling a sense of relief as he stepped out into the night air. Like his entire body relaxed all at once. A sting from his forehead quickly reminded him that he had fallen down and passed out

"Hey, you awake back there?"

It took him a few moments to realize he was being carried on his savior's back, "What happened?" He questioned, wincing from his tender ribs as he shifted a bit, "Where are we?"

"Little China, pretty close to my chooms place," he answered, several people giving them odd looks as they passed by on the sidewalk. They probably were an odd sight to see, a monk being carried piggyback down the street. "Your brother should be here already,"

The man hadn't been unconscious for long, Naruto had crossed Watson in near record time via roof-hopping and had jumped down to street level once the monk started stirring. He didn't want the man to wake up while he was in mid jump and freak out.

"Thank you,"

Naruto barely heard it with all the noise around them, car horns, loud music and gonks all around them as they neared the Gomorrah Strip club across from Misty's place, "it's no problem,"

"I… I won't be able to repay you," he said slowly, almost nervously, "I don't think I could ever-"

But the blond just shook his head and cut him off, "I didn't help you because I want something," he slowed down just outside of Misty's Esoterica, which was closed at this time but with Jackie's bike still parked by the front, he knew they were still there. "Think you can walk?" When the monk said he could, the ninja knelt and let the monk ease himself off his back, wincing at any sudden moves.

Ishibashi steaded himself with his savior's help and thanked him softly once again, "If you don't mind me asking…" he sounded even more nervous than before and looked at the man with confusion, "Why did you help me?"

Naruto just looked at him for a moment then smiled "Because it's the right thing to do."

The monk stared for a moment and looked down, even more confused than before, "I see," the number of people in Night City that would help someone just because it was 'the right thing to do,' was miniscule compared to just how many lived here.

When a hand touched his shoulder lightly, Ishibashi looked up again to see him motioning towards the door, "Let's get you inside ok?"

He agreed and the pair of them walked inside, the door automatically opening for them as they neared. The inside of the shop was the same as ever, the smell of incense filling the air with a smoky floral scent that seemed to perk the monk up a bit.

Misty was at her counter as they walked in and stood up upon seeing them, "Hey Naruto, Viks seeing to your friend in his clinic," she told him before noticing the other monk trailing behind him, "you must be Ishibashi,"

"You know me?"

The woman nodded, "Your brother has been asking about you." She pushed away from the counter and walked around to him, "Bhikkhu is with the doctor but you can see him now if you want,"

He nodded quickly, "Please,"

Misty reached out slowly and took his arm softly, "Come on, I'll take you to him." She then looked towards the blond apologetically, "Sorry Naruto you can wait here if you want, only family can go in there right now. Doctor patient rules and such."

"It's fine Misty. Jackie here?"

"He's gone to grab a few things for me, I'm staying to help Vik tonight and he's gonna stay too." She started to lead the man towards the back door, "Oh and I got to meet that guy you told me about, had a great talk with him." She missed the look of confusion he shot her as she turned and led the monk outback, leaving him wondering who she meant.

"Ah hello again dear Benefactor," Naruto jumped away and spun around from the sudden voice next to him, nearly crashing into one of Misty shelves to his right.

"How the hell did you get there?" He gasped, leaning against a small display of small painted skulls and candles that rattled when he knocked into it. Looking at the other monk, who gave him a serene smile while looking at him through his yellow glasses, Naruto stopped the rattling skull next to him and straightened himself up. "No seriously, I didn't see you there." 'or sense you there' but he left that part unsaid.

"Forgive me dear Benefactor, I did not mean to cause distress," he bowed his head slightly, "As for how I got here, well… I walked over." Naruto sweatdropped, unsure if he was screwing with him or not, if he was then the man had a hell of a poker face. "Your friend has taken good care of my companion here and the owner of this establishment… She too seeks enlightenment. It is rare to find a fellow traveler seeking to aid others along their journey."

"How is he?"

"Bhikkhu will survive dear Benefactor, but I fear his soul will forever be burdened with what happened tonight." The mans face fell, his serene smile turning to a small mournful frown, "but when they are ready, I hope to take them on another journey, not for enlightenment but to heal their souls,"

"Well… they deserve better than what they got…" The blond sighed, he remembered seeing the 'operation room' while clearing All Foods, it was like a scene out of a horror vid or something he expected to see in the villages TI department used to extract Intel, "Let him know that I did what he asked, as much as I wanted to I didn't kill any of them."

The man bowed his head again, "That will ease some of his burden, dear Benefactor. I thank you as well. But do you not wish to tell him yourself?"

"Eh I'm nearly outta time," the blond shrugged, "Been going nonstop for a while and used up a lot trying to get here so fast. And I'd hate to cause a panic with everyone else around."

"I'm afraid I don't follow?"

Naruto grinned at the man and winked, "I'll see you around choom," a plume of smoke engulfed him and quickly dissipated, leaving a shocked monk standing alone inside the shop, his mouth agape and his glasses nearly falling from his nose.

-xXx-

In all her time with Militech, Meredith could look back and count all the times she was in a situation like this… granted she was usually the one holding all the cards so being on the other side of this situation was a new and rather unpleasant experience for her. The look on his face annoyed her to no end and the temptation to snatch her pistol back and shoot him was strong. But she knew she'd be dead long before she managed to rack the slide and aim, either by his hand or by the masked men around them.

"Fine," she huffed, reaching out and taking hold of her sidearm, "I'll uphold my end of the deal, just know that if you fuck with me and that data hits the Net." She took a threatening step forward and fixed him with her best glare with less than a foot between their faces, "I will end you if it's the last thing I do."

"Considering that your the one that tried to fuck with me first?" He shot back, leaning forward to return the glare with just as much heat as her own with no trace of the little grin he had before, "You just concentrate on your end of the deal and I'll handle mine, how does that sound?"

Stout narrowed her eyes but bit her tongue, holding his gaze for a few tense moments before looking away, "Fine," the words tasted like poison as she backed down and he allowed her to snatch her gun away, her corpo pride bruised after today's events. 'at least I don't have to worry about the convoy anymore, so long as the missile system is safe then the rest can be written off.'

Naruto watched her expressions change, pride, anger, annoyance, and finally acceptance as she jammed the handgun back into her holster. His own glare disappearing as he leaned back, "Good, I'm glad we can work together with this," he said with a grin on his face that made her roll her eyes, "You know if you keep scowling like that your wrinkles will get worse,"

The woman tensed, her eyes going wide then narrowing. Her grip around her weapon tightened for a moment as the temptation to shoot him grew stronger but like before, she knew he'd beat her to the punch. Was he trying to provoke her or something? Instead of falling for it she let go of the gun and fixed him with a unamused glare before turning to walk away, "Fuck you,"

She heard him snort at her response and chuckle, "With that attitude? You wish."

'Fuck it, I'm shooting him!' whirling around, she grabbed her sidearm and racked the slide smoothly thanks to years of practice. Bringing the gun up she aimed, planning on shooting him one way or another only to freeze.

He was gone.

Spinning in place, she looked to where the rest of his men were and felt a chill run up her spine as she realized that they were all gone, leaving her the only person left standing in the middle of the shipping warehouse.

-xXx-

'Damn it's getting late,' Naruto mused as he left through the open garage door that Stout and her corpo hustle came through, sweatdroping as he found himself standing in the fenced in parking lot in front of the All Foods convoy had been this close to where he started and he'd spent all that time scouring the entire factory looking for it. Oh well he also found the monk and got him out safe so it wasn't like it was a wasted effort.

'Speaking of which,' he continued, strolling towards the gate and noticing the large Militech AVs parked just outside and blocking the road, 'I should give Jackie a call and see how the other guy is… eh I'll call him on the way.'

Heading over to where he parked his bike next to the apartment building beside All Foods, he stretched, leaning back with a groan while rubbing the back of his neck with one hand while mentally going over his list of things he needed to do.

Naturally he needed to give Jackie a call and see how things went at Viks, 'gotta get him something as a thank you too now that I think about it,' he chuckled while stepping around the large Militech AVs and heading towards his bike. 'Jackie was a good dude, wonder what I should get him?'

He needed to pay Regina back too, her info was spot on and from what the old man had said, she seemed to be alright. 'Unlike a certain big eared cheapskate gonk,' he snorted at the thought, Kirk was an ass, more of a loan shark than a fixer and if he heard that the man was tricking people into opening gigs with him he wouldn't be too surprised…

As he sauntered along, he let his mind wander a bit and thought of all the decent folks he's met in his time here in Night City. When he first woke up on the streets it seemed like the only decent person was a single EMT who went out of her way to stop a random gonk like him from bleeding to death on the sidewalk. Those first days living on the streets really made him hate NC.

Then he met some new folks… Rico, Cami, Mama Welles, Pepe, Jackie, the Padre, Sid and Amy, Panam and the Aldecaldos, and more recently Randel, David, and Gloria… There were more too but they all made Night City seem so much more bearable… maybe they weren't all exactly 'good' people but they were decent as far as he was concerned and made Night City a lot more enjoyable.

'ooh this'll be the first time I've rode my bike this late before!' grinning even wider with the thought. as fun as it was during the day it would probably be even cooler at night with all of the city lights. 'I think I'll cruise through Westbrook and check out those holographic fish and trees they have after sunset'

"The hell!?" Naruto's eyes widened as he stopped in front of where he had parked his bike… at least where he had parked it. "Someone stole my bike!" He choked out dumbly while staring wide eyed at the empty spot next to the building, between a stack of water damaged cardboard boxes and a trash can with several bags of trash stacked around it.

He took back all he thought before, fuck this goddamn city.

-xXx-

Hours earlier…

-xXx-

The plan had been simple: after locating the bike the client wanted, Sasha would keep track of it until it stopped while Kiwi would link back up with them locally just in case they needed a netrunner for security. Sasha could have pulled double duty via the NET but that would eat up twice as much RAM with her cyberdeck having to juggle multiple programs at once.

When Kiwi slid him the deets on what they'd found, that the gonk who had the bike was a solo meeting with Militech and looked like he was running a gig for some corpo, Dorio had an idea. While the gonk was busy running his gig, why not klep the bike while he was distracted? Naturally, Rebecca didn't really vibe with the plan, she'd been hoping to get into a scrap but Maine had to agree that it was a smarter plan and had less of a risk that the bike got damaged.

It was almost too damn easy.

The only issue that made him uneasy was that the gonk mother fucker parked the damn thing in probably the worst fucking area he could've. Not just outside of a booster gangs hideout but fucking Maelstroms largest squat. If they were noticed by those assholes then the solo would've been the least of their problems for sure.

But oddly enough, the place was quiet for the most part. He and Dorio snatched the bike and loaded it up with Rebecca running security and were gone in less than a couple minutes, heading to where Piler was waiting to run a full scan of the bike to take care of any trackers.

"Hey El Capitan, sorry for the late call," Maine called out over the holo, with a smirk plastered across his face as sat in the passenger seat of their borrowed Villefort van. A Columbus V-something-or-another freight van with heavy duty suspension made to haul serious weight, "b But we got hold of the bike, what's the deets for delivery." He glanced over to Dorio behind the wheel and caught her eye, winking at her as she drove.

[Haha, no worries on the time choom. I eat, sleep and breathe biz. Send a picture for confirmation and I'll slide you the deets,] Maine did so, snapping a quick shot of the bike strapped down in the back of the van with Rebecca sitting against the side pouting.

[Ha ha, I knew you wouldn't disappoint!] the fixer laughed while wagging his finger happily towards the screen, [She's a real preem beauty huh, can see why the client wants it so bad. Sending you the deets now] the man's eyes lit up and Maine soon got a notification from his own holo. [Client will meet you at this location, wants to see his new baby in the chrome. No trouble with the pickup?]

"Nah no trouble at all" he snorted, thinking of just how easy it had been. The bike had no security whatsoever, just parked in an alley all alone. Yeah it was next to a Maelstrom gangoons hideout but they didn't have any trouble with them at all, almost like they hadn't even noticed they were there.

[That's what I like to hear, choom] he nodded before crossing his arms, [but I gotta ask, what's with the little one?]

Maine flipped his visor down and eyed the gremlin pouting in the back for a moment and shook his head, "She's pissed that the job went so smoothly," he told the fixer which made the girl grumble in the back, "Think she was hoping to scrap with the guy who had it."

[Ah…] the man deadpanned, having heard of the girl's explosive personality, [well the bikes in one piece so it's for the best in my book. Once I get word from the client I'll send the green your way, on and before I forget… client said to tell the security that Ramos sent you and they'll let you in. Later] , with that, the fixer ended the call.

"Got the deets on the clients location," he told the pair, "Well head that way once Piler does his thing, don't wanna give the previous owner a chance to track this thing down."

"Wouldn't be too bad if he did," came Becca's reply from the back, he could see her grinning at the idea, "Been way to long since we've had a good scrap,"

"Let's not risk getting the bike shot up eh Becca?" Dorio said with an amused smirk on her face as she headed towards the spot where Kiwi and Piler were waiting for them. It wasn't too far outside the NID so they were pretty close.

Maine nodded in agreement, "Gigs paying a premium for its condition, bullet holes cut that premium damn near in half." He adjusted the seat a bit and got comfortable, "An easy gig with easy eddies? That's nova with me."

The gremlin blew a raspberry, crossing her legs and arms while looking at the bike strapped in place next to her, "what's so special about this old gonk ass bike anyway?" There wasn't a lot of space with it back here but luckily for her, she didn't take up a lot herself so she could move around pretty easily.

"Hell if I know, corpo gonks got more eddies than brains, but hey I ain't complaining," Maine snorted, "If he wants to park it in some showcase garage and jerk off over it then so long as the funds clear, he can be my fuckin guest."

"Ew," the chem skinned girl stuck out her tongue at the idea, "man I've seen some weird ass shit but yanking your crank over a bike is definitely some corpo shit." She continued to look over the bike and noticed some weird marks on the rear fender, "Yo chooms check it out, bikes got a tramp stamp."

-xXx-

Of all the things that could've happened.

Naruto grumbled angrily as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop leaving the Northside Industrial District and heading into Kabuki. Hindsight was a bitch alright and looking back, he was a fucking idiot for leaving it just sitting there like he did. 'Should've left a clone with it and I wouldn't have to deal with this,' he continued to berate himself before stopping just past the massive highway that snaked its way through and around the entire city and let out a tired aggravated sigh.

As annoying as it was, it wasn't the end of the world, afterall he knew where it was… kinda. The seal he placed on it wasn't exactly perfect but he could use it to track the thieves down. It wasn't exactly a tracking seal like he remembered from Konoha, he'd been working on recreating that with little to no success but he came up with something a lot cruder and simpler.

It was a simple concept really, the seal contained some of his chakra, enough that he could focus and get a feel for its location. A seal like this would be absolutely worthless back home as anyone with sensory training would be able to feel it but here? Well if anyone in Night City could use or sense chakra then he really wanted to meet them.

Squatting down on the edge of the rooftop, Naruto spit over the edge and looked out at the city before him. It was really late into the night and despite that, Night City was just as busy and alive as ever. Below him in Kabuki, all he could hear was the drone of car horns, electro punk, and gunshots with the roar or AV thrusters in the sky above him.

Naruto closed his eyes and opened his senses more, getting a feel for his seal, 'Man if Iruka was here he'd already be on it,' he thought with a little laugh. 'Imagine the punks that stole it riding down the street and out pops Iruka screaming at them with his big head,' he laughed hard at the mental image and had to plop down before he fell.

"You never did teach me that trick, did ya eh sensei?" He asked softly, looking up at the sky where he could barely see any stars, "hmm… wonder what you'd say if you could see me now?" Or knew the things he did? Shaking the thoughts away he got back to the task and hand and concentrated to find that his seal was still a ways away, across the river towards the City Center most likely.

"Well let's get a move on then," he stood up and stretched, giving the area around him another once over and noticing a white AV speeding towards a massive building nearby, 'Trauma Team' clearly visible from the red glowing holographic display on the side of the vehicle. 'Oh yeah that's the MedCenter' he mused, thinking of someone else that worked there, 'Wonder what Gloria's up to?'

Shaking his head again, the blond rubbed the bridge of his nose, he had to focus. Bike first… David's hot mom later.

-xXx-

With the bike secured and the client's location picked in on the nav, the only thing to do now was for Piler to work his magic, making sure there weren't any surprises in store, especially trackers. They wouldn't want the previous owner tracking it down too easily… well at least until they got paid and the bike was the clients problem. The meet up was at one of the many No-Tell motels that littered the city, with the earlier change of plan they decided to just meet there the tech would run his scans inside the van while they kept an eye out.

"Yo Maine don't worry 'bout a thing," the lanky man grinned while adjusting the visor over his eyes, "I'll run a quick diagnostic, scrub any soft that shouldn't be there and you're good to delta."

The back door to the van slammed open and Rebecca hopped out, her newly named shotgun Guts thrown over her shoulder as she stretched. The girl looked around and saw Kiwi leaning against a Galina hatchback with a smoke, "Sup Kiwi, you been here long?"

The netrunners shook her head, "Not too long, everything was clear so I left as soon as you guys were done at All-Foods." She shrugged and blew a cloud of smoke through her mask. After a moment she looked down and brushed off some ash that stuck to her long red coat.

"My gonk bro didn't try anything did he?" The shorter woman questioned, her face twisting to a look of disgust as she shot the man in question a look as he climbed into the van with his scanner.

"Hey I heard that half-pint!" Piler stuck his arm out above the open door and flipped her off. Still pissed at him for earlier, she stepped over and kicked the door, slamming his arm against the frame with a thump "Wasn't talking to you!" She growled. The man yelped and snatched his arm back inside while the others just ignored their antics.

"Nah, after I threatened to short his chrome last time he left me alone," she mused, making the other girl smirk at the memory. While they stood nearby and kept an eye on their surroundings, Maine had moved around to the back of the van and was talking to Piler as he worked.

"So what's it looking like?"

The techie was rescanning the bike with a disbelieving look on his face, tapping the side of his custom made scanner that had the soft to pick up multiple different transmissions, "Somethings gonked choom, scanner ain't picking up anything but the basic shit…"

"Meaning?" The Merc questioned with an annoyed look, he wasn't a gear head and didn't have a clue what basic soft came on bikes.

"Gonk that had this didn't have any security on it, doesn't even look like he had a tracker on it either."

"There's no way." This bike was worth a lot of scratch and he was just cruising the streets without anything keeping it from being taken?

Piler ran the scan again, "Don't know what to say bossman, diagnostics on the onboard system says everything's nova. Only one issue I can find with it," upon seeing the questioning look, the techie reached over and tapped a keyhole, "gonk only did one thing right and took the keys with 'em"

"Clients can deal with that.," They were getting paid just for the bike, they weren't going key hunting either.

"Running one last scan and you're good to go, kinda annoyed that this is all there was." The man chuckled, waving his chrome hand at the scanner then flicking one of the cables attaching it to the bikes diagnostic port, "But hey, I won't say no to easy eddies, we are still hitting up Turbos after?"

Maine leaned against the edge of the door, his large frame making the van shift slightly and held out a fist, "Gotta keep up with our new tradition don't we,"

"Hell yeah we do," the lanky merc did the same and bumped fists just as his scanner finished, the holo flashing an all-clear to him, "Well shit, and here I thought no one in NC was dumb enough to leave their shit parked without security." He shrugged and disconnected from it, "All good to go here choom,"

"Nova, delta on over to Turbos and grab a beer, we shouldn't be too long,"

"Ya ain't gotta tell me twice," he just grinned and wrapped the cord around his scanner, sliding out of the van and whooping all the way to his beat up MaiMai, "hehe, here I come ladies!" While the others groaned or shook their heads at him. Rebecca flipped him off as he peeled off, his own hand popping out the sunroof and returning the gesture.

"I'll see you guys later," Kiwi told them while climbing into the Galena, its little engine coming to life with a whirl.

"Gonna stop by Turbos tonight right?" Maine answered while leaning down to see the woman as she rolled down the window, "dropping off the package to the client shouldnt take more than a hour, two tops depending on how gonked the traffic is.

-xXx-

*BEEP* Blinking at the notification as he sailed through the air between two towering office buildings, Naruto accepted the call upon seeing Jackie's name, "Hey Jackie, what's up?"

[Nothing much Holmes, gonna chill with Misty tonight at the shop. She's helping Vik with your monk and offered to keep an eye on him.] Over the holo, Jackie looked like he was lounging back on one of Misty's harmonization chairs again. [Misty said you stopped by with the guy's brother after I left, thought you were gonna hang around for a while.] Landing on the rooftop, Naruto stopped to get a good look over the edge to plan his next jump, all the other buildings past here were a lot smaller and he didn't want to misjudge his jump… again.

"I wish," he huffed while stepping onto the ledge. There was a surprisingly strong wind this high up that was buffeting his clothes. If his holo hadn't been connected to his chrome, he doubted that he would be able to hear the other man.

[Everything nova with your gig, something happen?] Jackie gave him a concerned look.

"Man Jackie…" Naruto groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had thought about letting him know what happened earlier but remembered an earlier convo between them. Jackie was impressed with his new wheels but had told him more than once to get some anti theft soft that would alert him as soon as something messed with it. It wouldn't stop it from being stolen exactly but he would be alerted as soon as they tried tampering with it.

"So while I was handling my gig, some gonk stole my bike." He finally grumbled, looking pointedly away as if that would stop him from seeing the other man's vid feed.

Oh come on Holmes what about that soft I told you about? Didn't it alert you?] When Naruto continues to try and look away sheepishly Jackie covered his face with his hands, [Really bro, you forgot didn't you?] The guilty look on the blond's face said it all.

"Yeah I did." He admitted after a moment, "But I've got a tracker on it and I'm heading that way,"

[You gonna tune 'em up?]

"Depends on any damage," He leapt from the rooftop and continued towards where he could feel his seal acting like a small beacon, "I mean they're still getting an ass kicking either way but I don't know just how bad yet."

-xXx-

Crossing the bridge from Watson and over to the City Center there was a distinct change in atmosphere compared to the streets of Watson, especially the closer you got to Corpo plaza. Cops had a strong presence there and actually patrolled the area around here, mainly to protect their corpo sponsors assets but some rare cops do actually try. And that was where the client was sending them, right on the edge of Corpo plaza at some high priced corpo apartments where you paid for a half of a floor, not an apartment.

"Wonder what a place here runs ya," Dorio wondered with a little whistle as they waited for the light to change," an luxury delamain taxi cab cruised past them, the AI driven car expertly navigating the road better than most drivers could

"A place here?" Maine chuckled while nodding at the towering building, "Gotta have fat stacks of eddies and little sense to get a pad here,"

Becca popped up between them, checking out the building in question while straddling the front fender of the bike "Bet we could have a hell of a party in a place like that," the idea of bringing the gonks at Turbos and annoying the shit out of these corpos making her grin harder.

"What the-" jumping at the grinning girls sudden appearance Main started to smirk at the idea of pissing off a bunch of rich corpos by throwing a wild party but quickly noticed where she was sitting, "Yo Becca off the merchandise,"

She rolled her eyes, "oh come on choom, I ain't hurting nothing," she grinned and wiggled her ass a bit on the bike, the bike moving slightly in sync with her "If anything I'm adding a little more value to it," Between his girl snickering at the gremlins antics and the gremlin herself, Maine just shook his head and looked back out the window, "Just don't do that when we meet the client."

She stuck out her tongue, "Fine but the gonk doesn't know what he's missing,"

It wasn't long before they were able to get through the rest of the late night traffic here in the City Center, the fact that the building they needed to get to was just across the street made the wait seem even longer but they couldn't just go blazing across the busy intersection no matter how much Becca whispered for Dorio to do so like the little devil on her shoulder.

"Ugh I thought we'd never move," said the gremlin groaned, having given up on being a bad influence and laid on the floor next to the bike, her shotgun under her head like a pillow.

"Sorry Becca, missed my turn, gotta loop around and wait again," Dorios statement made the girl whine and pout. Up front, the woman shot Maine a grin and winked, making him hide a snort as they pulled up to a gated entrance.

After a moment Becca looked up and realized she had been tricked, "hey!" Making the two up front laugh.

"Heads up girls we're being scanned," Maine suddenly warned, "Sasha just called, she's in position via the net. Gonna add you both to the call so you can hear her,"

[Hi chooms! Don't mind me, just gonna piggyback off of ya till I can access the buildings SubNet! Oh and I just saw building security scan ya, looks like they're sending out a coms drone.] As if to prove her point a small round drone with two high speed fans mounted on each side zipped over to them from over the gate. It was a simple Zetatech communication drone from the looks of it, a flying glowing camera lens with a speaker built in.

"What do you want?" A bored voice droned through the drone, followed by the sound of a buzzer with an announcer's voice yelling 'GAME OVER, YOU LOSE!' "Fuck you gonks distracted me, the fuck you want?!"

"Was that King of Chromefist 8?" Becca questioned in the back, leaning between them again.

"It was, before some random gonks showed up at…" there was some shuffling and the sound of something falling, "it's 12:20 in the fuckin morning why the hell are you here!"

"Ramos sent us," Maine called out, slowly playing a chrome finger against the gremlins head and easing her back so he could see.

"Ah" the guy on the other end lost all interest, weirdly enough the way the drone moved looked like it rolled its eye… or lens somehow and sighed, "Hold up, forwarding you to someone else…" before the audio was cut they heard him mutter under his breath, "someone who gives a fuck,"

"Who the hell's Ramos?" Becca asked with Dorio shrugging in return. Both looked to Maine questioningly who shrugged as well.

"No clue, " the client said to security. Maybe it's his name?" The man supplied, not really caring so long as they paid. THe lens flashed a few times and glowed again, this time a much more chipper man's voice called out to them.

"Hello there, are you here for the delivery marked… ah… Mr. Ramos?" The drone bobbed a bit back and forth as its AI controlled navigation script was disabled and another party took control.

"Yeah a bike."

"Oh yes, please follow this drone through the parking structure and I'll meet you at the elevator." With that the screen flashed and the gate blocking the entrance opened up with several dim lights along the wall lighting up. They followed the drone down the ramp and entered what was probably the cleanest parking area they'd ever seen, no graffiti on the walls, no trash strewn about, only the odd tire mark here and there marking the pavement.

Maine whistled and nodded towards a car as they passed by, "Check it out, that's a Herrera Outlaw,". While he wasn't a gear head by any means he, like many others, could appreciate the Outlaw. After all, it was one of the most exclusive and sought after cars that was actually street legal. They passed several more cars, mostly executive models and a few sports cars while following the drone which soon led them to a large elevator where three men were waiting.

Two of them looked like you typical overworked, underpaid maintenance gonks. Both smoking cigarettes with annoyed looks on their scruffy faces and wearing the same tan overalls. The other stood out from the others, young and annoyingly chipper a baby corpo, the kind that thought they were going places and wouldn't last a minute outside of their own little tower.

Dorio pulled the van over next to the waiting group and parked. Maine gave her a look and climbed out to meet them while she only opened her door, weapon in hand just in case. Behind her Becca grinned and gripped her shotgun, ready to back her chooms up if push came to shove. Until the eddies hit their account, they wouldn't risk being screwed over by some outside party.

"Hello there, I take it you're the gentleman who handled the request?" The younger man questioned with that same chipper tone as before while looking up from his dataslate.

"Yeah-" he was interrupted by the corpo, who looked away and back to the slate he held, which irritated the Merc.

"Good, good, good, I'm so glad you were able to handle it in such a prompt manner. If you don't mind, these gentlemen will handle the unloading." As he said that, the two men leaning on the wall behind him huffed and started over.

Maine eyed them for a moment and stepped away from the door as one started putting on a pair of gloves while the other wheeled over a long moving cart. "Managed to grab it without any damage," the Merc told them not letting them know just how simple and easy the job went, "As requested,"

"My employer will be happy to hear that," the two guys popped open the back door to the van and flinched back at the sight of Rebecca grinning at them, shotgun in her lap right at the edge of the door.

"Hey, don't mind me big guy," she smirked at the closest one before stretching her bare legs out like a car and exiting with a little hop, "I'll get outta your way,"

[Becca don't do that to the poor gonk] Sasha giggled over the shared com as she watched the gremlin purposely brush against his crotch as she passed, [You're gonna give him a chub!] Rebecca only grinned as she stepped around them and joined Maine who shook his head with a small smirk of his own.

They watched as the bike was expertly wheeled out of the van and carefully lowered onto the cart before the young corpo turned away from his dataslate, "My employer would like to have a word with you all, it seems like he wants to thank you personally." He stated, somehow sounding both annoyingly chipper and annoyed at the same time.

The crew shared looks but nodded. The client had already paid and didn't gain anything by screwing with them, in fact it would piss off their fixer. While not all fixers cared about their runners, El Capitan took pride in his rep on the streets. If a Client flatlined a team after completing a gig then that made him look like a gonk punk.

And as a Fixer, you lived and died by your rep in Santo.

-xXx-

"Each resident shares a few common areas within the building. There have been… complaints in the past and as such we can't simply push the bike there." Their baby corpo explained on the way up to their clients floor. Dorio had taken it upon herself to subtly restrain Becca by draping one arm around the smaller girl's shoulder while leaning against her, pinning the gremlin to the wall while Maine stood in front of them.

[B: Please please please let me shoot him just a little bit. He won't shut the hell up, I don't fucking care and I hate his voice! At least let me kick him in the sack, come on Dorio please!]

[D: No can do Becca, sorry.] The larger women had the decency to at least give her an apologetic look.

[M: Becca, ya gotta cool your chrome…I feel ya though, this gonk likes to hear his own voice]

[S: I can hack his chrome and short-circ 'em for ya!]

[B: Do it! Do it! Do it!]

[M: Chill you two, let's just meet the client and delta the fuck outta here so we can get paid.]

After what felt like an eternity of Corpo yapping over equally trashy corpo elevator music, the doors opened up. Maine let the gonks go first followed by the corpo, still running his mouth about something, they'd already stopped listening to be honest and were having their own convo via holo.

[B: So why bother with this chump anyway? Fixer has the eddies, let's just delta outta here and hit the bar]

[M: Clients loaded, always a good idea to cozy up to a gonk with more eddies than sense. Might even get another gig from em later,]

As if to prove his point, they entered into an extravagant glass hallway with streams of water running down the walls into a pool that ran the length of its base. Maine gave her a little smirk over his shades, [M: Told ya so,]

"Mr. Northom is on his way now and is very excited to see his latest acquisition," the assistant told them as the two workers wheeled the bike down a bit further, turning carefully into another room and out of sight, "No doubt he'll want to show off his collection, this is a rare opportunity for you. Not many people outside of his circle get to see it." Becca flipped him off from behind as they strolled in after them.

The room had to be larger than all of their apartments combined. From their spot in the open doorway, the Edgerunners couldn't help but stare and feel very out of place. Halfway across the room, the two workers pushed the cart across the polished stone tiled floor followed by the baby corpo but they didn't pay them much mind at all, it was the 'collection' they stared at. [S: Think the gonk's overcompensating for something?]

Arranged in a neat row along the far wall were several showroom quality racing bikes covered in sponsor decals from both big and small corporations alike. Behind each one was a matching jumpsuit mounted on the wall in a glass case with a helmet sitting on a shelf next to it. "Impressive isn't it?" the young man asked as he motioned to the room with one arm sounding like he'd said this more than a few times, "Mr. Northom has a passion for racing, his grandfather won first place in the Reno Sprint back in 43 and again in 46, he would won again but was sadly unable to finish the next one in 49,"

"Why not?" Dorio asked, deciding to humor the gonk despite not giving a shit in the slightest while the bike was being carefully picked up and lowered onto the floor.

"Because he died 20 feet from the finish line," they looked over to where a small spiral staircase was tucked into the corner of the room, almost hidden and out of sight where another man was walking down quickly. He was dressed in what had to be the loudest black and gold paisley blazer known to NC with completely gold sleeves that seemed to glitter in the light. He was surprisingly young with gelled strawberry blond hair and wore golden aviators over his eyes.

[M: Ok, maybe this gonk ain't worth a connection.]

[S: Give 'em a santo special!]

[B: He looks kinda familiar, I wonder why?]

[D: Just bare with it, might as well finish what we started,]

The man quickly made his way over to them as they spoke and thrust his hand out to the much larger merc with a grin plastered across his face, "You have no idea just how excited I am about this," he stated while Maine awkwardly shook his much smaller arm, "Laim Northam, a pleasure I'm sure." Maine cut his eyes over to Dorio who rolled her eyes at the gonk's words as he stopped and almost skipped over to where the two workers stopped what they were doing so that the gonk could look at it.

[S: What a smug cunt,]

"Oh I've been dying to get my hands on this bike for years," the man continued as started to climb on only to stop short and grimace, "On second thought I'll wait to sit on it, don't want to get anything on my pants," he sighed before walking around it to inspect the thing some more, "did you know that this is the last functioning Harlon-Dawson of this model that's not already a part of another collection?"

Rebecca huffed loudly, "So what?" she groaned dismissively while walking a little further into the open room with her arms behind her head, "What's so great about it?"

"This model was a limited production and was featured heavily on the Annihilator movie franchise," the man explained which made the Gremlin look slightly impressed, she was a fan of the action in those old vids but that was more Pilers thing, "Many of them were ruined during the production or lost to time."

Wanting to speed things up a bit, Maine stepped over towards the man, "Your appreciation is nova, but how about letting El Capitan know how much you appreciate it so we can get paid?"

Laim clapped his hands and nodded, "You got it choom," he chuckled while pointing his fingers at him, "Give me a minute to give him a buzz and I'll make sure you get paid, as a matter of fact, I'll even throw in a little bonus,"

"Won't say no to a little extra scratch," his eyes widened behind his shades as he received a notification on an incoming transfer from the gonk, an extra 9k, "But what's the catch?" He doubted it was out of the kindness in the gonk's heart.

"No catch, I honestly expected you to take a lot longer with this 'gig'. I'm leaving Night City for Europe in…" he stopped for a moment, checking his holo, "a couple of hours and I never thought I'd get to see my collection complete before leaving." the man turned and grinned at the bike for a moment, "And when I'm back, it'll be cleaned up and restored back to factory standard and showroom quality… Now if you don't mind, I'll give our fixer choom a call and let him know," Laim motioned around the room as he did, "Feel free to look around, I have a lot more in my collection aside from these. I'll only be a moment,"

[D: Why do I get the feeling he only wants to show off his shit?]

[M: Got the same feeling myself babe, glad it ain't just me.]

They hung around and waited for him to finish the call. The two workers got back to work moving the bike into place next to the others along the wall while the assistant got a call of his own and left in a hurry without a word. Maine stayed where he was talking to Dorio while Rebecca walked around with a bored look on her face while checking out what else the gonk 'collected'.

'What's the big deal with all this shit?' she grumbled to herself as she paced over to the racing bikes, 'Not like that shits real, corps rig that shit all the time and not even in a fun way.' they didn't even look bad ass either. 'Wonder what else he's got.'

"You don't seem too impressed," the man joked, finishing his call while looking at the shortest of the three who had stuffed her hands into her coat pockets and went back to staring around the room with a bored expression. Behind them, Maine's eyes lit up with a transfer from their fixer.

"Nah, never really cared about 'em," she admitted with a shrug while Dorio bit her lip and Maine shook his head. While the other two were keeping a professional air about them, both felt exactly the same as Becca. The girl turned, scanning the other items in the room, "bikes are more my gonk brothers thing and-" her eyes widened and to their surprise, the girl took off like a shot.

"Hey Becca, what're you doing?" The two lovers glanced at each other then back to their choom, who was staring at a display case mounted on the wall containing a highly customized M76-E Omaha tech pistol with a poster of Lizzy Wizzy holding the same weapon.

Liam stepped over and saw what she was excitedly looking at and smirked, "It's the real one just so you know,"

"No way!" she gasped.

"What's so special about it?" Dorio asked as she joined them only to be shocked when the girl spun around with stars in her eyes.

"This is the iron used by Lizzy Wizzy when she robbed that BioDyne factory years back!" The girl gushed, "They stole over like a thousand different implants and gave them away to whoever wanted them for free!"

The robbery in question happened several years ago and was considered one of her more controversial performances where she led a group of armed mercenaries and took full control of the factory live on holo. No cop or Corpo soldier would dare hurt or kill the star, especially live on the air so she was able to get away without any trouble. Many accused it of being faked and that she bought them and paid for the renovation that occurred afterwards, using the fact that the corporation never tried to press charges. Others say they ignored it because the entire thing gave them a ton of free publicity.

The Corpo nodded, "Indeed it is, after the heist she had what I think was her greatest show and she gave them away to lucky fans at no cost afterward."

"Eh it was great," the girl shrugged dismissively while looking over the display, "But her next concert in 71 was on a totally different level. Blew all the others outta the water with that, I mean she zeroed herself on stage, got a live five hour full chrome body replacement, then got up and sang re-start re-heart repeat as soon as it was done!"

Both Maine and Dorio could only stare at the gremlin who was excitedly going on about the mega star with stars in her eyes as she studied the display then looked around and gasped at seeing even more Lizzy items scattered around.

"You collect stuff from Lizzy Wizzy too!? You join her fan club?"

-xXx-

[S: Guys I'm not the only one hearing this right?]

[M: Thank fuck, thought I had suddenly lost it or something]

[D: Guys don't make fun of her, I'm loving this adorable side of her!]

[B: Shut up! I can hear you gonks!]

[M: …]

[D: …]

[S: … So do you guys have meet ups or something for your fanclub or what?]

[User: B. has left the call]

[S: Aww, I like Lizzy too! Hey tell her to join again guys, I'll play with her some 4AM!]

[M: I don't think that's-]

[D: Delicate Weapon would be better]

[S: ooh yeah! It makes me wanna di-ie, I wanna die...You said I ruin your li-ife]

[User: M. has left the call]

-xXx-

"Not exactly," the corpo chuckled while still smirking at the shortest Merc and unaware of the holocall going on between them, "but you could say that she's the greatest thing to ever happen to me,"

"Aw I feel the same way Liam," came soft voice from the doorway, a slightly synthetic hum just barely noticeable as she spoke, "I was wondering what's taking so long, I see your playing with your collection again,"

They turned and we're stunned to see none other than Lizzy Wizzy herself walk in carrying a small dog. For someone who changes her looks and style at the drop of a hat, the woman looked just like her posters, skin completely silver with frizzy purplish pink hair that somehow matched her strapless dress and designer handbag.

The singer turned to Rebecca who stiffened, "So you liked my Re-start, Re-heart, Repeat concert better than my earlier shows huh?" The gremlin could only nod dumbly and Lizzy turned to give the other Corpo a little smirk, "See Liam, this little girl gets it,"

The other mercs felt ice run through their veins as soon as the words left her chrome lips. Calling Rebecca short was one thing but calling her a child was a surefire way to instantly set her off. Before any of them could react and try to stop her, the gremlin had her shotgun in hand and stepped towards the singer who didn't know how much danger she was in.

Both of her crew started to rush her, to stop her from killing the singer as she raised the weapon.

"Can I have your autograph!" She nearly squealed holding out the gun shyly while the other two froze and stared in disbelief.

[S: Ooh… De-elicate weapon Ooh…Wa-ar in he-eaven- Oh… Wait. A. Minute! IS THAT LIZZY WIZZY!] Sasha yelled as she finally noticed what was going on, having gotten too into singing with Dorio earlier. [S: Oh I'm so fucking jealous choom! Doiro, please get an autograph for me too please!]

Lizzy gave Rebecca a little laugh and nodded while reaching into her purse she carried just for this reason. "Sure, you got it little girl!" She produced a silver marker from her small handbag and quickly scribbled her name along the side of the weapon. Which wasn't the weirdest thing she'd ever autographed before.

"Sorry about the wait Lizzy, I got sidetracked… but take a look my Annihilator collection is gonna be complete!" Liam announced while motioning her over to where the two maintenance guys had placed the klepped bike with the others.

[S: Hey Dorio, don't forget about my- oh shit!]

Seeing the alarmed look on his outputs face, Maine turned to her fully with a questioning look, "What's wrong?"

"Reconnect now!" She called out, getting everyone's attention except for Rebecca, who was gushing over her autographed shotgun, "Becca!" She finally snapped out of it and turned to her in confusion, "reconnect to the coms, we got trouble,"

[S: Guys we got company!] She linked a video feed from the street showing a man in all black with a blurry face walking towards the entrance. [S: It's the gonk we stole the bike from!]

"What's going on?" Lizzy questioned, raising a delicate chrome eyebrow at the commotion while readjusting her hold on her dog, patting his head as he barked once at the sudden movement.

"Bikes previous owner has seller's remorse," Maine grunted, not wanting to outright admit to stealing it in front of the singer just in case, he didn't know how involved she was with this but wanted the Client to know at least, "Looks like he's heading inside the building now."

His statement caused Laim to curse softly at first before taking a breath, "It's fine, building security won't let him pass," he said reassuringly while Maine was looking at the feed from the street cam outside, a bad feeling forming in the pit of his stomach as he watched the man look up at the building for a moment.

-xXx-

Standing just at the edge of the sidewalk, Naruto stared up at the towering building with a whistle, which attracted an offended sneer from a passing man who quickly turned away after getting a good look at him. He just couldn't help but be impressed, no matter how many times he's seen these buildings, being this close really put it into perspective as to just how massive they were compared to the ones in the village.

As close as he was now, when he concentrated he could almost pinpoint exactly where his seal was and it was quite a ways above him, "Ok now I'm really wondering who the hell stole my bike," he muttered after a moment, he'd assumed some gonk took it on a joyride or something or sell it for a quick eddie. Something else had to be up if it was in an upscale place like this, they had trees planted in their lobby from what he could see, actual living trees!

The lobby is sleek and minimalist, with a polished concrete floor, wood ceilings, and steel accents. A custom rug covers part of the floor, adding a touch of color and texture. A few art pieces are mounted here and there along the walls, creating a gallery-like atmosphere.

The glass doors slid open and Naruto strolled in, looking around as his shoes squeaked a few times on the freshly polished floor until he stepped on the rug. Sitting behind a glass desk and tapping away on a dataslate was a young woman wearing a wireless earpiece and a black dress with a badge that read 'Amy'. "Hello miss," he called out about halfway to her desk which made her visibly sigh but not look up.

"Name and reason for your visit?" She groaned as he stopped in front of her and leaned against it, looking down, he could see that she was playing some kind of card game.

"Ah yes Ma'am, it's Lin-Wang, first name Dang." Naruto nearly bit a hole in his lip to keep from laughing when she glanced up at him but managed to keep a straight face. Looking back down, she paused her game and turned to the terminal, not seeing his trembling lip when she didn't catch the name, "and I'm here to pick something up."

"Not seeing a Lin-Wang on the guest book," she drowned while typing away, "Name of the resident?"

"A Mr. Hugh… Jass I believe," he could nearly taste blood now as she typed it in and slowed down as she got to the last letter, a lot of realization spreading over her face which was too much for him.

"Cute," she sneered up at him as he laughed, holding himself up on the glass, "Don't you have anything better to do than play stupid jokes Mr Dang…" her eyes widened as she put two and two together "oh fuck you, Dang Lin-Wang my ass!" The woman cleared the terminal, "Leave before I call security,"

"Yeah about that, Ima need to head up stairs,"

"What you need to do is leave before you do so in cuffs. I'm not playing around with gonks like you, I will have security throw you out." She threatened while crossing her arms and staring him in the face.

"Come on, wouldn't hurt to let me just head right on up would it? You don't even have to do anything, I can find my own way."

She gave him the most condescending look he'd ever seen, "First off, you're now trespassing and security is on their way. Second, you ain't worth losing my job over." Amy glared at him with a look that said, 'try me' while he held up his hands in surrender.

"Yeah you're right, I'd feel pretty bad if you lost your job for helping me," He grimaced at the thought and scratched the back of his head after a moment. A nearby door slid open with a woman and two men dressed in security uniforms stepped out, "Welp, looks like I'm doing this the hard way huh?" Her eyes widened at the implication as he turned to face the guards, he couldn't be serious?

The building was so attractive to renters because of its around the clock security due to a long term contract with a trusted reputable private security company based in Night City. Having security teams on-sight at all times eased a lot of worries for their tenants who valued their safety as much as their privacy.

"Alright, who's-" he leaned and took a quick step back to avoid the first man's swing, a collapsible baton snapping out with enough force that would seriously hurt a normal gonk, "oh shit, you're not playing!" The man followed up with another swing, and the blond stepped back in, trapping the arm under his, "then I won't either!"

Naruto rared back and headbutted him dead between the eyes, stunning the man and disarming him at the same time. Palming the side of his head and bringing it down dead center of the receptionists glass desk where a spider web of cracks formed with the thud.

"Oh God!" Amy screamed, pushing herself back in her chair as she saw the blood left behind as the guard slid down and slumped to the floor at the foot of her desk, she even pulled her legs up onto the chair when he twitched and screamed. That seemed to push the other two guards to act, snapping them out of their shock at seeing their choom taken out so suddenly.

"You son of a bitch!" The woman hissed, extending her own baton with her partner doing the same soon after before charging at him.

Reaching over, he snatched the receptionist's dataslate sitting next to him on the cracked table and threw it at the woman, hoping to distract her. The guard's eyes widened but she dodged it easily enough, still giving him enough time to run towards the man, whose arms had nearly doubled in size as thick strands of synth muscle bulged out. He'd seen the damage a set of gorilla arms could do alone and with a weapon it was just plain brutal.

Naruto ducked under the baton soaring at his head to deliver a punch to the guy's stomach, making him gasp and wheeze for breath. A quick elbow to the face followed, breaking the man's nose and sending him to the floor like a broken mech before turning to the other remaining guard.

The woman was not deterred by her partner's fall. She swung her baton at his head, but the ninja blocked it with his forearm. He felt a surge of pain but ignored it as he trapped her wrist and twisted, forcing her to drop the baton that clattered loudly on the polished floor as something popped in her arm. "AH! You fucking bastard!" She grunted, getting an apologetic look from the blond.

"Oh shit I'm sorry, didn't mean to break it," he winced before pulling her to him, which got another pained yelp from her as he trapped her with his arm around her neck, "I think it's just dislocated, you'll be fine." She struggled and kicked to free herself as he squeezed and started to black out.

Amy hugged her knees tight against her chest, pale faced and horrified at what she was witnessing. In the scuffle, she finally took a good look at him and felt the beginnings of a panic attack taking hold as she watched the guards' struggles weaken and stop over the course of a horrifying few moments. Their gaze locked and she couldn't tear her eyes away, the breathless gasp, eyes full of primal fear as everything went dark… It terrified her.

Naruto felt her struggle stop and loosened his grip, "I'm just gonna leave these three here with you ok?" He spoke to the receptionist, who flinched back when he looked up and over to her. He lowered the unconscious guard to the floor and left her between the others, "Now you mind if I-"

"Whatever you want sir!" She gasped, unconsciously holding her breath from before, "Please just don't hurt me!"

He held up his hands again in a calming motion, "Geeze lady, I ain't gonna hurt you." Her eyes darted down to the three bodies then back up to him, clearly not trusting what he said. "They started it,"

She watched him step around the desk and stand in front of the large main elevator and press the glowing screen to call it. Naruto waited for a moment and admired the luxury around him, even the elevator door had very nice wood paneling to match the ceiling, "ugh what's taking so long?" He couldn't help but grumble after bit before noticing the screen had flashed red, *UNAUTHORIZED BIOMETRIC ID* "Oh… huh, that's new,"

-xXx-

"Liam what's going on?" Lizzy's partially synthetic voice had a twinge of worry in it as the people he'd brought into his home debated amongst themselves. Looking at the bike, her eyes widened "Don't tell me that you-" She glanced around and lowered her voice, "They didn't steal that for you did they?" Something like this getting out could really hurt her if the culture vultures got a peep of this.

The man laughed it off, "Don't worry Lizzy, everything's preem." His voice was confident enough that she relaxed a bit, "like I said, building security will handle it l. Besides, they won't even be able to access anything past the lobby anyway."

It was then that Maine turned and called out, "Gonk's headed up!"

"What!?" Both the singer and her manager yelped, the woman covering her face and sighing at the mess going on while the man stepped over, "How the hell?"

-xXx-

"Let's see… how about this one," Naruto muttered while manually entering 37 on the panel and waiting for the door to close for the trip up. The inside of the elevator was nice as well, keeping the same motif of wood paneling and steel accents, the only thing he didn't enjoy was the electronic hold music playing from the speakers.

"Mmm."

"Hm?" Turning to the other occupant in the elevator, Naruto winced and gave her an apologetic smile, "sorry about this but this shouldn't take long I hope, should be outta your heart just before the cops show up,"

"Mmm!" Amy glared at him, her fear of him replaced by anger and annoyance as he had taken the guards handcuffs and bound her to her office chair with her arms behind her back. She stomped her feet a couple times, the cuffs around her ankles clinking together, "Mmm!"

*Ding* The elevator doors slid open and Naruto grumbled, "Ah it's the next one," he exclaimed, once again checking for his seal, he'd already passed it once before, going up to the 50th floor then again by going to the 25th. Anyone who could see him must think that he was insane but then again, after the day he's had it might not be too far from the truth. "But hey, this way it's pretty obvious you're not helping me willingly,"

The elevator doors shut and they settled in for a short lift up, "So Amy, how do you like it here?" he asked after a moment. Her response sounded suspiciously close to a muffled 'Fuck you' so he just looked straight ahead and shrugged, "Nevermind then," the tape over her mouth was a necessity, the way she yelled at him… well lets just say that he learned some new phrases from this woman.

Reaching the 38th floor, he grinned as he felt his seal not too far away and turned to the angry receptionist who stared daggers at him, "you don't mind waiting do you?" Her eyes narrowed and he laughed while grabbing the armrest, "I'm sorry, couldn't resist." He wasn't going to leave her in the elevator just in case so the blond wheeled her out along behind him and whistled at the luxury surrounding him. "Wow this place is… what was it that Jackie said? Swanky?"

The elevator opened up into a small foyer that led up to a large penthouse like living room. Everything was clean and looked brand new compared to any other place he'd seen so far, it made his little apartment look like a shoebox in comparison. There was even a fireplace with what looked like holographic flames that changed color every now and then. Oh and was that an actual kitchen further down?

'focus!' he had to tell himself before turning to Amy and slid her over to the side, "don't move I'll be right back." She grunted something while he walked away then sighed as he turned a corner, leaving her alone next to the elevator..

-xXx-

"So do we have a deal?"

Maine didn't have to look at his crew to know that they were ready to Slammit on and go toe to toe with the gonk headed their way. Once the Corpo found out the guy had gotten past both the physical and electronic security he quickly started rambling to figure out a solution and turned to them with a question, 'you can handle this right?'

Could he? Damn straight. Would he? How much was it worth? If there was one thing you had to learn about life on the edge it was never work for free and he learned that shit years ago. Naturally, Liam was pissy about it but Maine happily reminded him that they were paid to deliver a certain bike to him and that was it. If there was one thing the man enjoyed was seeing a Corpo squirm like that, getting more and more nervous with each passing minute until he made an offer.

[B: Woo fuck yeah let's do it!] The gremlin was chanting over the holo and he didn't even have to look at her to know that she was grinning like a lunatic behind him. [D: Might as well, a little extra cred never hurt] Maine agreed with her, they always needed the extra scratch, but before he could start haggling the price, he was interrupted by a harsh bang, making everyone turn towards the sound.

The doors leading further into the managers apartment groaned, the sound of grinding metal and squealing servos ringing out as something was forced through slit between the doors and forced open slightly. "Sorry to drop in unannounced," they heard from the other side as a pair of hands slipped through and gripped the door, continuing to force them apart with a sharp crack and a spray of sparks as something broke inside, "But I think you guys have something that belongs to me!"

'So the gonks got Gorilla arms,' the merc thought as he got a good look at the man they'd klepped the bike from. Pretty average size, much smaller than him and Dorio but from his clothes he must be more suited towards covert stealth shit. A good runner always had to judge the situation before jumping and when going against another edgerunner, you had to be even slicker. There was no telling what kinda chrome someone might be packing these days.

"I don't know who you think you are!" Liam snapped at the man from his spot behind the mercs he hired, "but if you think you can just break into my home then you have another thing coming,"

[S: Hey Maine, scan 'em and I'll see what pops up] Sasha called out to the merc while piggybacking off his chrome, it was slower than using the buildings SubNet but their ICE would take too long to break though safely. Hindsight was a bitch, if she'd known this would happen she would've shredded it a lot sooner and had full access by now.

Naruto walked further into the room, looking around and letting out an impressive whistle, ignoring the man dressed in a gaudy gold jacket, "You know, I was wondering just who stole my bike and honestly, I just thought it was some dumbass that took it for a joyride." He mused before stopping half way and looking at all the expensive looking shit all over the room, most of it he didn't even know what they were to be honest, "so anyone want to try and explain things before I say fuck it and just kick every ass here?"

With that, he took a good look at each person in the room and measured them up. The three closest to him were as out of place here as he was in this ultra lux eddie hole of a suite. The first was a large man at least three to four times his own size, wearing one of those armored vests popular with a lot of edgerunners in the city. From all the seams on his arms and bare chest, Naruto knew this cyberpunk was sporting some chrome aside from his metal coated fists. 'Kinda reminds me of Bee,' he thought with a smirk, then again, this guy was probably twice B's size with all the chrome.

Beside the man was a woman that could give Bessie back at the mega building a run for her money in the buff department, standing just a foot or so shorter than the other man wearing a pair of shorts cut off at her thigh and a nice black business jacket with a purple collar. She stared at him with hard blue eyes through her blond bangs and held an overture much like his own in one hand.

The last one made him pause, she seemed kinda familiar but he couldn't quite put his finger on where. She was half the other woman's size, about two or so feet shorter than him and looked like all she wore was a black high collar Kitsch jacket, which seemed to be the most normal thing about the girl. Stark white chem dyed skin, green hair, stunning pink and yellow cyberoptics that stared at him itching for a fight, and what looked like one of those large pink tattoos that could glow under certain light. He knew this girl from somewhere but where?

"I don't know what you're talking about." snapped, the other man further passed the cyberpunks, bringing Naruto's attention to the two that looked like they should actually be here. The guy looked like one of those spoiled rich gonks from that show Cami used to make him watch with her, Watson Whore or something like that. Big gelled hair, gold aviators, and bright white pants with that gaudy jacket?

But hiding halfway behind the man was someone interesting, a completely chrome woman wearing designer clothing with pink frizzy hair holding, to his amazement a small yappy dog. He hadn't seen an actual dog the entire time he'd been here, a cat and plenty of pests but a dog! Maybe he'll pet it before he leaves!

The blond huffed, "I've had a long day so let's skip the part where you act as dumb as you look," the man gave an offended squawk but was ignored as he continued, "I came here for two things, my bike," he motioned towards said machine where the workers had stopped moving it but we're holding it steady. "And kick every ass involved with stealing it…"

Rebecca snorted, "Common choom, you think you can handle us?" she mocked while showing off her newly autographed shotgun and shouldering it with an equity mocking grin that he returned with one of his own before she frowned, "Wait… your face pisses me off… I know you?"

The others shot her weird looks while the blond hummed and looked her up and down, "I don't know, what's your name?"

"Rebecca, what's yours?"

"Naruto,"

"Naruto Uzumaki?" Dorio asked suddenly, making Rebecca look at her with a confused look. The larger woman remembered hearing the name as some other mercs were gossiping like usual at the bar one night, talking about a gonk that pissed off Rogue, the Fixer Queen herself in her own bar, knocked out her hustle and matched giving the entire bar a one finger salute. She remembered thinking that here was a gonk that managed to get into the Afterlife somehow and 'THAT's what he did? Many mercs would kill for the chance to get in there.

He laughed and scratched the back of his head, "Hehe, you know me huh?"

Rebecca looked confused but Maines felt ice flow through his veins. He'd also heard the story about what happened in the Afterlife but unlike Dorio, he knew one piece of deadly information. The Shino's real name was Naruto Uzumaki. When Sasha brought that piece of information to him at first he thought he struck paydata, there had to be a lotta gonks willing to pay for that kinda info. Then he remembered something, that day in the garage, the psycho that butchered those scavs those glowing red eyes, somehow both dead and burning with rage at the same time… and how he vanished.

Mentally, he pictured an orange mask over the bottom of his face and a old 6th Street plate carrier over his torso and grimaced, [M: Fuck]

[S: M-Maine, it's him isn't it?] Maine had been adamant that she keep that name to herself, explaining what he'd seen in the past and she did some digging of her own. Coming up on mostly rumor, speculation, and hearsay posted in various dark reaches of the Net. One of the wildest was posted by someone with a handle she suspected was related to 6th Street, describing a night during the conflict they had with the Tinos where two of their friends were tortured and burned alive by the Shino. Many called him a gonk and that he was making shit up for cred on the Net, but his reply shut them up. He posted pics of a burnt out shell of a garage, two bodies hanging from chains and she had to admit that if it was an elaborate joke then the fucker worked hard on it.

And if there was even a chance that this guy was the same person, Sasha didn't want her friends to end up in the back of a meatwagon.

Maine didn't answer her, already trying to think of a way out of this mess. They had to cut their losses here, let the corpo deal with the fallout here and get the fuck out of here, lay low for a while. "Well since we don't have your bike anymore, you ain't gotta reason for us to hang around," Maine called out, suddenly very nervous which made both Rebecca and Dorio look at him wide eyes while he motioned to the broken door beyond the blond intruder, "We'll head out and let you guys talk things over," it was a half assed plan and he knew it but hoped it worked, maybe the guy would respect that it was just a gig, nothing personal among mercs.

[D: Babe what's up?] Questioned Dorio over the com and feeling weary and wanting to know why he had her input was freaked out this much, as she palmed her pistol. [S: Guys don't fight him, dudes bad news for us!] To make matters worse, Sasha sounded freaked out as well.

Both the singer and her manager looked at the Merc, Lizzy with shock and Liam with more annoyed anger and fear, "What about the deal! You're just gonna leave us here?" The girl asked from behind the man who looked like he was torn between pulling her in front of him or running.

[M: I'll explain later, just focus on getting out of here.] He sent back before looking towards Lizzy, "Never agreed to it and we just got paid, what happens after the gig's closed ain't our problem," stated the man. He didn't want to fight this guy, for fucks sake after what he did to 6th Street they didn't stand a chance like this, maybe with the entire crew and plenty of prep work but not like this.

"Sorry choom, not happening," Naruto frowned at his fellow blond before looking over at everyone else, "Like I said before, I came here for two reasons… get my bike, then kick every ass involved with it being stolen." he nodded his head towards the mentioned bike mid sentence and the maintenance workers paled, quickly taking their hands off his motorcycle. "Although I might just let the brat off easy," he looked at the pale skinned girl for a moment and wondered if he'd seen her before, "don't really wanna beat up kids."

[S: Becca?] Sasha called out softly, her voice tinged with nervousness.

Maine could see what was coming, this exact scene had played out before him far too many times over the last few months and he just knew he had to stop it this time. They were small compared to the Shino and there was still a chance that they could talk their way outta getting a Santo Special. First things first, he had to get the shotgun out of Rebecca's hands and- Oh fuck she's raising it!

"You gonk ass cocksucker!" She hefted the shotgun up to her side and pulled the trigger, never even giving Maine a chance to stop her. Naruto was already on the move, he'd seen the damage shotguns caused on the streets and at this range the blast would be a devastating pain in the ass if it hit. Her scream of rage suddenly ended with a yelp as the recoil sent her flying backwards.

'What the hell kinda gun was that?' Naruto mentally screamed as he glanced back behind him, several glass displays were shattered by the shot and the wall shredded. Forget painful, that damn thing would probably kill him! Anyone hit by that at close range would end up as a pink mist for sure!

Both the singer and her manager screamed at the first shot and instinctively ducked before trying to scurry away and hide behind the closest solid object, which happened to be one of Liam's prized motorcycles while the four mercs fought. The fully chrome singer held her little dog securely to her chest as she hid behind both the bike and Liam, peeking over it to watch what was going on.

"Becca, you good?" Maine called out, reaching for his Militech Crusher shotgun he had holstered on his thigh like a pistol. The gonk was asking for a fight and he planned on bringing it, Shino or not he wouldn't go down quietly like a punk at least.

"Nova!" Rebecca barked back, gnashing her teeth as she scrambled to her feet for round two while Dorio distracted the other blond, "let's fuck this asshole up!" Turning back to the fight, she squeaked just moments before Dorio stumbled into her like a speeding car, knocking her over again in a tangle of limbs as the larger edgerunner tried not to crush her.

"Sorry Becca," the woman groaned as she shook her head to get rid of the static between her ears, "Gonks a lot quicker than he looks." Her muscles weren't just for show, she could go toe to toe with most gonks and win in a normal brawl but this didn't look like it was about to be normal at all.

"Not bad at all," they heard and turned to see Naruto aiming the muscled woman's revolver at them, an overture much like his own with some kind of mod attached to it. They froze at the sight but he only grinned, "You're pretty good, most muscle heads I've fought don't really know what they're doing." He opened the cylinder and dumped the cartridges out into his hand and tossing them to one side, "Here's your weapon back,"

Maine followed the pistol as it sailed through the air, taking his eyes off of the blond for only a moment without even thinking about it. It couldn't have been more than a second or two but his arm was suddenly jerked forward and his crusher ripped from his hands, "What the fu-" he managed to turn just in time for the blonde to swing the shotgun like a club, knocking the sunglasses off his face and the taste out of his mouth.

"Maine/Babe!" Yelled the two girls as he stumbled, jumping to their feet. Rebecca Growled as she chambered another shell, "I'm so gonna give you another hole to shit out of you son of a bitch!" The only reason she hadn't taken another shot was because of Maine's large frame being partly in the way.

Maine groaned from the sudden blow and staggered back a step, eyes wide at the sudden burst of speed. He'd been way too far to manage that without chrome, [M: Shit, guy's chipping a sandy!] He frantically sent through his coms, able to relay info with the crew much faster via his neuralware than saying it. [M: Sasha, fry his circs]

[S: On it!]

Naruto pressed the release and let the magazine fall to the floor, "So your names Maine huh?" Stepping on the yellow mag, he slid it across the floor behind him, "You know… you guys do look familiar…" he trailed off as he ejected the shell and tossed the gun aside, "I swear I've seen you before."

"Maine move your big ass outta the way!" Raged the gremlin, shouldering the only remaining loaded firearm which made both blond men nervous to have it aimed in their direction. "Fucking move!" Both men looked at each other for a moment before the larger of the two broke eye contact to quickly get out from in-between them.

"Oh no you don't!" Naruto snapped, following the man and reaching up to grab the back of his armored vest by the armholes. The Merc had a few hundred pounds on him at least so Naruto had to put his back into it but he managed to shock the man by overpowering him and forcing him back in between him and the girls.

A warning message popped up over eye, making him blink [Warning: Enemy Hack In Progress!] Below it was a steadily moving progress bar, 'shit gotta make this quick!' he grimaced, not sure what to do about it or what was being hacked exactly. Whatever it was, he needed to stop playing with them and put them down before the hack happened.

Pushing the man forward, he planted a solid kick into the man's back and sent him towards the pair of girls, his feet stomping the ground as he stumbled to stop himself from falling face first into the ground. Rebecca kept trying to get a good shot at the gonk but her eyes widened again as the large Merc started coming towards her, a shocked look on his face as he stumbled towards her. "Oh fuck not again," she scurried away just as the boss man crashed to the floor where she was moments before.

Following the lumbering wall of synths muscle and chrome, Naruto used him as both a distraction and cover against the cannon wielding kid, not wanting to chance getting his ass cheeks blown off by whatever she had. Seeing her move to avoid being flattened, he moved in quickly to disarm her and grabbed the middle of her gun.

"Hey!" She yelped when her arms were nearly jerked out of socket, her entire body jerking as she held onto her gun with an unshakable grip, "let go you asshole!" He lifted the weapon in an attempt to shake her off but she growled and hung on, her feet dangling a foot off the ground, "I said hands off cocksucker!" With that she swung her lower body and nailed him in the stomach with both smug satisfaction Rebecca felt ended just as quickly as she landed on the ground with a thud, smacking her head on the ground and slapping herself in the face with her own gun, "Ow ow ow," she grimaced not sure of what to rub first as she laid on the ground half stunned.

She packed a hell of a kick for a munchkin, not expecting her to hold on like she did, Naruto let go of the shotgun and stumbled back. Just as he did, his holo beeped a warning as his cyberware was hacked. "AH SON OF A BITCH THAT HURTS!" Both hands went to his ears as the audio output to his neuralware squealed, making it feel like nails on a chalkboard in his head. His eye suddenly flashed and its systems reset, leaving him blind in his left eye for just a second.

But it was all Dorio needed, her metal knuckles crashed into his cheek like a hammerblow in what would have been the perfect knockout punch followed by an uppercut that snapped the blonds head back. Spit left his mouth and the man fell back with his hand over part of his face

"Alright," the blond groaned, his voice nasally as he pulled his nose and checked for blood. His eye only stayed off for a moment but now it was back up with a few lines of data loading, "guess it's time to stop playing huh?" His hand wasn't bloody so she didn't break his nose but damn it felt like it, "But I'll admit, that was probably the best teamwork I've seen in a while." he jumped to his feet and the woman couldn't believe that he shrugged off a blow like that

"Kleping your wheels wasn't personal," Dorio grunted as he suddenly rushed her, throwing several jabs and hooks his way, all she had to do was hold him off, Sasha was calling out the progress on her hack so hopefully they could end this quickly. "It was just a job"

He weaved through her blows, blocking here and there while maneuvering himself around her, "Well sorry if I take it a little personal," he snorted sarcastically, "I mean you did steal it from me," he ducked under a left hook and returned a jab of his own, his cybernetic fist striking her side where her lowest rib was located, when her eyes widened in pain it was over.

He pressed the attack, switching from defense to offensive in a snap, each blow made her step back more and more. All she could do was defend and hope he made a mistake or Sasha short-circuited his ass but it felt like an eternity as every time she blocked one spot he struck another. Cover high he stuck low,guard low he struck high.

The ninja pulled back and cocked his fist for a final finishing blow, telegraphing his target to Dorio who covered her face and braced. But as he lunged, he hooked his arm around her waist and spun around to her back, trapping her in his grip. The woman knew it was over the moment her feet left the floor and felt her gut twist as she was picked up and thrown backwards in a textbook suplex, landing on top of Rebecca who had just enough time to squeak as she realized what was coming.

"Ow fuck," Rebecca winced as she tugged her arm free out from underneath the much larger woman and started rubbing her head, "Choom get the hell off me," she groaned while looking at her hand which was slick with blood, something had split her head open just above her hairline, probaby a part of her chrome.

"Sorry Becca," she shifted off her back and onto her side with a groan of her own, feeling a warm sensation flow over her lips as blood dripped from her nose. "Gonna need a sec," that throw rattled her chrome and she needed a second to get her shit together.

Naruto was back on his feet in a flash, looking for the last threat in the room and picking up the munchkins gun in the process. Maine hadn't been able to stop himself and had fallen on the cart used to carry the bike into the room, damaging parts of it with his heavy frame and was starting to stand up. "I think it's time we call it a day don't you think?" he called out, pulling the action back to look at what kind of shell this beast used and finding a massive metal shell stamped with '4 Bore'

The sound made everyone freeze, "Hey!" Becca cried while glaring up at him from underneath the larger woman, "That's mine ya asshole!" Dorio shifted again and the gremlin groaned, "Dorio really, get off of me!"

The sight of their opponent holding Becca's shotgun made the other woman think twice about any sudden movements as she stared at him, "I don't think that's a good idea right now," she grimaced but still tried not to press all of her weight into the smaller merc who groaned loudly and pouted.

"You know, I used to love gettin smashed on the job when I was with the Mox." she deadpanned, wiggling a little before giving up to try and light the blond gonk on fire with her glare.

"Really?" the woman couldn't help but ask above her before narrowing her eyes, "Wait, in what way?"

"Hehehe, the fun way," she giggled like a manic pixie before shooting her a grin, waggling her eyebrows.

Naruto's eyes widened, "Wait a minute, now I know where I recognized you from!" he yelled while leaning the gun against his shoulder and pointing at the gremlin, "Your the little Mox that shot me in Lizzies!" he stopped pointing and patted his side, where the girl had gotten a lucky shot in during all the chaos that night.

[M: You shot HIM!]/[S: YOU SHOT THE SHINO!] Both girls' eyes widened at the sudden scream over the com line as Sasha freaked out, [S: Oh god, he's gonna zero us all! You shot him and… oh god oh god oh god! I hacked his chrome, I am so fucked!] People died in NC for reasons a lot more petty than payback and revenge was more than a valid excuse to go after someone in this city.

Seeing the look of shock in the micro merc's pink and yellow eyes, Naruto waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill you or anything for that." he told them before looking at the other merc, "as a matter of fact, you gonks can go on and leave now… unless you want to go another round?" he'd already kicked them around a little for kleping his bike and it didn't look like they'd damaged it at all so that was enough for him.

"Nah, we're cool," Maine bit out as he climbed to his feet and wiped the blood from his nose with one hand. Naruto watched him groan and step over towards the girls and kneel down to help Dorio off of Rebecca, "Come on babe, lets delta the fuck outta here,"

She took his hand and winced as he helped her to her feet, "You don't have to tell me twice," that throw may have tweaked something and she'd have to go see the doc about it soon if it kept on. "Becca you whole?" turning to where her choom had been pinned under her, she blinked as she noticed the spot was empty and spotted Maine pinching the bridge of his nose

"Hey gonk, gimme my iron back!" Spinning around, she grimaced at the sight of Rebecca standing in front of the solo with her fists on her hips, glaring at him as he kept her Carnage shotgun against his shoulder while looking down at her with an amused smirk, "I just got it AND got it autographed. I'm not gonna leave without it!"

"That so?" He challenged, leaning down slightly, "or whatcha gonna do munchkin?" the thought of patting her head like a child crossed his mind but he wasn't that foolish, she'd probably bite his fingers or something like that. "You gonna-"

"I'll bite your dick off asshole!"

The joke he was about to say died on his lips as that left her mouth. She hit him with a toothy grin that looked deceptively shark-like and the blond could only grimace at the thought, shifting his crotch away from the girl. Even the other guys in the room shifted uncomfortably. Finally the absurdity finally got to him and Naruto couldn't help but snicker which pissed the gremlin off.

"Hey, I'm serious!"

"You know what Rebecca, fine, you can have it back and you know what?" he trailed off for a bit and looked at her team with a little grin on his face, "I'll even overlook this whole thing with you gonks stealing my stuff… but only on one condition," the momentary feeling of relief Maine and Sasha felt quickly turned to dread as his own grin started to look a little sinister.

As the boss of the crew, it fell to Maine to step up so he did, head aching but still held high he crossed his arms next to his output and grumbled, "What is it?" he didn't want the Shino pissed at them, Maelstrom or Scavs? He'd take them gunning for him any day of the week over the Shino wanting to settle a score later.

He grinned and walked around the girl, who stomped after him with a glare and stopped a few feet from the massive man, grinning up at him which only made the two lovers nervous, "Pretty soon, I'm going to contact you with a job of my own. Nothing too dangerous or difficult I promise. But you do that and all is forgiven, deal?"

Maine thought about it for a second, weighing out his options… or lack of, carefully. Agree and they run a gig for the Shino, no telling what for and there was no guarantee that they'd make it out alive. Say no and… well the Shino was NCs latest boogieman for a reason. But then again, maybe doing it would give them some cred on the street, after all who wouldn't want to hire the edgerunner team that ran a gig for 'The' Shino. Maybe he'd even throw some more work their way and open up some doors for them at the same time.

"Fine, we'll do it." he shot Dorio a look promising to explain later, "Can we go now?"

Before Naruto went to open his mouth, Rebecca cleared her throat loudly, making him turn to look at her with a raised eyebrow, "My gun?" she snapped expectantly, holding out her arms as if asking to hold a child.

Looking at it then to her, Naruto nodded once, "Just a moment," then looked at Maine, "Sure, be my guest but give me a second, I need to use this right quick," he motioned to the gun and whistled a little tune from one of those old movies back home as he moved around them and stepped over towards where Liam and Lizzy had been hiding behind one of his show bikes. "Alright you two, which one of you is responsible for this whole mess?"

When neither one looked up, he rolled his eyes and took aim at one of the other bikes, making Rebecca's annoyed look turn into an excited grin while both Maine and Dorio shared a shocked grimace. The blast was deafening, somehow the sound seemed to be reverberating in his head a lot more than before when it was shot at him. "Damn that actually hurt," he couldn't help but grimace at the stinging sensation which made the girl laugh mockingly at him, holding her stomach as she pointed at him. The recoil felt like it was trying to his arm off and even knocked him off balance but the damage it caused him paled in comparison to the damage it dealt the bike.

What was once a beautiful ARCH motorcycle, one of the first models made by the company years ago, was now laying on its side with the entire side of its plastic motor panels shredded with ripped wiring and hoses laying haphazardly all around it. Luckily the thing didn't have any CHOO in it or the blond gonk would've lost his eyebrows in the resulting fireball that couldn't.

"NO wait no please don't shoot my babies!" screamed the man in horror as he witnessed his prized collection price be reduced to scrap metal and corpo branded plastics, "Oh my god you fucking neanderthal! Look at what you've done!" He heard the shotgun be racked again and cowered as another one, a Yaiba Kusanagi Custom CT-X suffered the same fate and went from being a priceless set of wheels to a very expensive mess in record time, "NO!"

"I think we have a winner," Naruto joked after seeing how the man was reacting and turning to the laughing gremlin next to him, "Here you go, you shouldn't be needing this again." she took it and held it to her chest, "Cops should be here soon… probably already downstairs so you guys might want to head out."

"What, are you sticking around or something," Becca questioned with a raised eyebrow as she went to join her crew, as if the blond she was speaking to hadn't just been kicking their asses a few minutes prior.

"I've gotta have a word with these guys before I head out, gotta get my bike downstairs too" he replied, fixing them with a stare at the last part. "Now go on and leave, I'll catch up with you guys some other time." what he intended to be reassuring sounded pretty fucking forboading to the others who did as he suggested, leaving the way they came through the service elevator to the parking garage. "Now, guess there's only one thing left to do now,"

"Are you going to kill us?" Lizzy asked, her voice sounding more synthetic and full of fear as she stared at the man she'd just watched defeat three mercenaries like they weren't anything, all without shooting or killing them. She knew a few edgerunners when she went through her activist/terrorist vibe years back so she knew that he had to be skilled. Was this how her career was going to end, killed by some merc? There was nothing poetic about that.

"Ugh what's with you guys, no I'm not going to kill you." he groaned, "I've said it like twice or something, im taking that back and-" he appeared around the bike and in front of Liam, suckerpunching him in the face with a left hook. Unprepared whatsoever, the man fell across the bike they were behind and both went slamming into the ground. "Knock his teeth out,"

Still crouched, Lizzy lost balance and fell backwards onto her ass when Liam knocked over the bike, "Bonkers!" she cried out as the animal slipped out of her grasp and made a beeline toward the blond while barking/yapping. "Bonkers no come back here!" the superstar cursed Liam in her mind, he just had to steal a bike and cause all of this. The animal leaped over Liam's lower half and sailed on to the blonde's leg, teeth bared and ready to rip and tear the flesh from his leg.

"Ah… miss?" Naruto looked down at the tiny dog as it growled, shaking it's head violently back and forth with his pant leg clinched in it's teeth, "I really don't want to hurt this little guy," it tugged at the fabric and continued growling. She tensed when he leaned down and poked the animal in the side a few times with his right hand until it changed targets and snapped down on his finger. Lizzy felt her stomach drop, expecting the merc to hurt her Bonkers for biting him but the man picked him up gently with his other hand and held him out to her, "You mind?"

She got back up to her feet and quickly accepted her baby back, hugging him to her, "Thank you," Laim groaned on the floor laying halfway across the bike which made her look at him then back to the blond, "Was all this really over a motorcycle?" Lizzy couldn't help but ask.

"Sure was," Naruto sniped as he turned away from the singer and started walking over to where his bike was sitting pretty at the end of the row of show bikes opposite the two he destroyed. "And before you ask, was it worth it? My answer to that's the same."

She cautiously followed after him and watched as he checked over the machine and put a key in it, "But why?"

Naruto hummed and leaned on the handlebar with a thoughtful look, "Because I made myself a promise that I wouldn't let this city take anything else from me without a fight ." he admitted after a moment," he mounted the bike and leaned against the tank with a grin.

Lizzy opened her mouth but couldn't find the words to say, her mind conjuring up images of a lone soul facing off against an endless wave or a single match trying to chase off the darkness of a room, "Your in for a long fight then, you might be able to hold on the first time, maybe even the first few… but there's always something else just waiting for it's chance to take what you have." She said sadly after a few moments and looked at him.

His response was to shrug, "Then they better kill me, because I'll never stop fighting," It sounded so simple yet… At the same time, it was a monstrous undertaking. Like the match, burning itself out against an impossible foe.

"You should hurry and get out of here! Liam has Trauma Team Coverage, they should be on the way since you knocked him out." She didn't know what possessed her to warn him but she knew that Liam had upgraded his policy for the upcoming tour and that this solo edgerunner would probably be shot dead as soon as they showed up. Oddly enough, she felt a sense of relief at the thought of him getting away safely.

His eyes widened a bit at the news, "they'll show up even if he's only out cold?" She nodded, mumbling under her breath something that sounded like 'pussy' which made him shake his head. "Nevermind, anyway miss if you don't mind, I'm about to be the cause a bunch more noise complaints,"

"You… you really don't know who I am, do you?" the superstar asked with amusement… and maybe a little annoyance too, she had yet to see someone who didn't immediately recognize her after her Full-Body Replacement procedure. She might change her styles and flow when the feeling stuck to her but no matter what the masses instantly recognized her chrome with ease. After all, not many were willing or able to undergo the process for one reason or another.

Naruto took a moment to turn and look her up and down for a moment and Lizzy positioned herself slightly to match one of her more popular glamor shots that matched her most recent shoot for the upcoming tour, waiting to get the shocked reaction she was used to. But he only frowned and shook his head which stunned her, "Nope, sorry but not a clue,"

-xXx-

"So wanna bet on what's got the assholes here crying this time?" Huffed NCPD Officer Ernie Novak as he pulled up partly on the curb outside of one of one of the few legit ultralux apartment towers that actually lived up to its name. His partner, Officer Jeanette Heartwell sipped her Synthcoff and shrugged while he put the cruiser in park, leaving the lights and siren off as he did. "Who knows what gonked up shit these rich creeps get up here. Probably some highrent flatbacker kicking it from 'natural causes' and we gotta 'take a statement'" she scoffed and looked down at the cup in her hand with a curled lip "This synthcoff from the precinct is shit,"

"You want good, then spend your own eddies," the man shot back while picking his up with a smirk and shaking the cup a little "I know I did,"

They rarely had to actually respond to a call from here due to the onsite security and most residents got pissy when they showed up. Normally whenever a call came in dispatch would log it and promptly ignore it, no need to waste the CHOO budget on something that in-house Part-Timers would handle right? Should the calls continue coming in they'd send a cruiser to check it out and who should be the unlucky gonks chosen to go?

The woman's eyes narrowed in his direction "You fuckstick, I thought your synthcoff smelled different from mine!" she exclaimed

He smirked at his partners reaction and gave a dramatic sigh as he drank it, while she opened her door, "Ain't nothing synthetic in this cup bitchface, you know what they say… the best part of waking up-"

She groaned as he sang the last part before cutting him off in a singsong voice of her own, "Is spitting in your cup!" while climbing out. Novak froze and looked down at his cup suspiciously which made her snort when she looked back inside, "Come on, let's get this gonkshit out of the way, you can wonder if I spit or not later," he flipped her off as she shut the door.

He popped the door open and glanced in her direction suspiciously before shrugging and finishing off the rest of his coffee. This coffee was expensive as shit and he wasn't going to toss it. Novak climbed out and adjusted his bulky police vest as he neared her, "So no bets on why were here?" Several pedestrians glanced their way before losing interest and continuing on their way.

"Hmm can't be a resident dying, TT would be all over this before we ever got here… the banana boys aren't here so no cyberpsycho… eh it's probably what I said earlier, dead hooker." She grumbled while going over the most obvious suspects, "what do you think-" she was cut off as their uplink to dispatch chirped and connected [Unit 273 be advised, Trauma Team in on route to the location,]

"Oh of course now they show up," Heartwell snapped while throwing her hands up with an exasperated huff before grabbing the mic hooked across her shoulder and changing over to the non emergency channels where they didn't have to stick to protocol, "Dispatch what the hell? Why'd you send us here if this is Trauma's scene?"

[Sorry Heartwell, TT waited till the last second to let us know. You know how they are when it comes to-] Whatever the dispatcher was saying was instantly drowned out by the ear piercing sound of glass shattering and metal bouncing across the sidewalk, both of which was quickly drowned out by the thunderous roar of an engine. Both officers spun to face the sound and were dumbfounded to see a motorcycle barreling towards them with the rider looking just as shocked as them.

"Look out!" Novak cried out, moving to push his partner out of the way as the bike swerved and skidded to avoid them. The officer ended up tackling her to the ground, knocking her patrol cap off her head as both landed on the ground with a grunt. They heard a yell from the rider but between the squealing tires and roaring motor neither could hear what exactly was said.

"You whole?" He asked, quickly climbing to his feet and helping her up as well. She barked out an angry affirmative and both were sprinting back to their cruiser, "Let's rip that scumbag a new one!"

-xXx-

"Ok fuck, that won't a good idea!" Naruto cried out as he held onto the throttle for dear life and shook shards of broken glass off him. Running his hand through his hair, he winced as several pieces scratched his scalp and fingers but the wail of a siren behind him kept him from stopping and only urged him to go faster while taking advantage of the bikes smaller size to slip between any stopped cars.

Glancing in his mirror, the blond solo got a good look behind him and was confused as to why he only spotted one set of lights when he'd been expecting at least several, especially with all the noise and gunfire this close to Corpo Plaza. But he wouldn't complain, it made getting away a lot easier with the one car chasing him, all he had to do was lose them before any of their chooms decided to join in.

"Oh shit!" Naruto cursed as a sleek black and white Villefort turned around the corner ahead of him, it's tires skidding to a stop as he leaned hard to swerve around it, "Watch were your driving you-" he started to yell as he passed but through the darkened window, he was sure that the thing was empty. Several people walking down the sidewalks all stopped to gawk at the chase and near collision but like before, the blond was intent on making himself scarce.

Behind him, the squad car shot past the stopped Villefort, its sirens and flashing holographic panels drawing a ton of attention from the people out and about so early in the morning. They were a good distance away since he'd gotten a decent head start but there was no telling if he'd run across another parked somewhere or if they called for backup.

He smirked and turned left into a narrow alley, hoping to lose them in the maze of massive buildings and busy streets, dodging trash piles and, "Shit!" He hit the brakes when a cat hopped down from a ledge above right and landed right in his way, "Look out you little asshole!" The ninja reacted in time to miss the animal and braked, but grit his teeth when his wheels skid on some trash and he ended up slamming his side against a dumpster.

*HISS* the animal fixed him with the meanest glare it could muster and leapt up on said dumpster and hissed again, baring its teeth at him as he rubbed his leg which took the blunt of the damage, "yeah yeah, fuck you too. Sorry for trying not to flatten you Tora-chan!" Naruto snapped, calling it the worst thing he could think of for a feline.

The alley, while narrow, was still big enough for the squad car chasing him to follow and looking back, the blond could see them turning to line the vehicle up to follow, "Just stay up there ok Tora?" He grunted, pushing away from the dumpster while the cat hissed, swatting at him with a paw. Pulling back all the way on the bike's throttle, the tires squealed as he shot down the rest of the alley, leaving a small cloud in his wake before emerging onto another street with a busy intersection ahead. He had an idea, could it work again?

Continuing the chase, he accelerated and swerved into the opposite lane, heading straight for the oncoming traffic, getting several up close looks at the drivers reactions as they panicked and slammed their brakes, resulting in a chaotic scramble as a pileup was caused, making him grimace. Some hurled curses his way as he waved through the mess, some of which he hurled back as he passed but looking back again he saw that the police cruiser was trapped behind the mess.

Laughing, Naruto took the first turn he could to break their line of sight on him and shot off down another road, wanting to get out of the district ASAP and doubling back towards Watson. He'd have to go the long way around back to Santo just in case and avoid the area for a while but he had to admit.

That was fun

-xXx-

Naruto yawned as his tiredness finally caught up to him midway up the short elevator right from the underground parking structure below the Megabuilding where he'd parked his bike and covered it with the tarp he'd gotten to keep it dry if it rained. He wouldn't risk letting it sit out in the elements too much with the chance of acid rain, "Ugh I'm gonna miss cruising around the city on it," he huffed while puffing out his cheeks like a child. With his last game of chase with one of NCPDs finest he felt like he should park the Harlon-Dawson for a while just in case.

'All this because of one rich asshole,' he thought while going over the last few hours in his mind. It had been such a long day having to deal with Maelstrom, rescuing that monk, handling the Militech situation, and let's not forget about the cyberpunks that stole his ride. He had something a little special planned for them, something he came up with on the fly and would have to put together but the thought made him grin like an idiot.

"Hm?" The holo mounted on the wall of the elevator flashed a few times, catching his attention, it was mostly commercials but a banner running along the bottom had a few actual news headlines to look at.

Weather: Incoming Storm Front!/Bodycount Lottery- 39! /Wanted for Corporate Espionage: Gilchrist, Anthony!/ Watson Whore Star Faces Accusations!/

'Huh, I bet it was that weird Julio character with a… what did Cami call it…a Porn 'stache!,' he mused while shaking his head at the memory. Every Wednesday night they'd watch that show and he had to admit… he fucking hated it. Drama and hype was one thing but the entire premise of the show was simply 'what fucked up situation can we take too far this time?' One episode started off with the star going to a protest against the poor treatment of war vets and ended with what was basically hardcore porn of her trying to fuck her way into some director's new vid.

The slow elevator creaked and groaned to a stop with a little jolt that made your stomach twist no matter how many times you felt it. Another moment later and the rusty metal gates opened and the blond stepped with another yawn.

"Oh good morning Naruto," it was Gloria, standing just outside the elevator next to him, wearing her usual work clothes with her EMT jackets folded against her chest, "Your up early today,"

Seeing the little smile she gave him made one of his own appear on his lips, "just getting back actually," he told her tiredly while rubbing the back of his neck, "had a… pretty long day honestly,"

"Everything ok?" Naruto didn't know if she was doing it on purpose but the way she cocked her head slightly to the side with that little concerned look on her face when she asked that made him feel… different, "if you want we can talk about it sometime, m-maybe grab a drink again this weekend?" The redhead looked away but he could see her face turn red at her small slip up, "I mean only if you want to, I Know you're probably busy and-"

"I'd love to," she was rambling faster and faster the more she went so he cut her off. It took a moment for her to realize what she asked and his answer but she gave him a smile in return and nodded, face still a little red.

"Good! I mean I'll look forward to it." A moment passed by with them staring at each other with little smiles, until someone cleared their throat loudly beside them.

Both turned to see an annoyed older woman staring at them with a pair of older model cybereyes that seemed to be glaring in both their directions, "you mind?" She snapped, a cigarette bobbing between her lips as she spoke, "you two can stare lovingly at each other all you want but I'm gonna be late for work." The two of them stepped back and let her pass but her words made the redhead both blush and grimace.

"I gotta delta too Naruto, don't wanna be late either!" She stepped into the elevator just as the older woman started repeatedly tapping the panel to go down like it would move faster. Both of them shot her a look but we're ignored as the door began to shut, "Later Naruto,"

The blond couldn't help but grin and waved to her just before it shut, "See you later Gloria," he waited a moment and started back down the hall towards his apartment, still tired from the day but now feeling a bit lighter than before as he passed several regulars that would hang around. Some nodded in his direction, having been helped by the blond in the past while others flinched away, mostly local gangoons that had caused trouble with him in the past he ended up correcting.

"Hey M-Mr. Naruto, welcome home," spotting Randel turning the corner ahead of him, the ninja waved at the disheveled man as he approached and gave the man a friendly slap on the shoulder, "Y-you were gone for a long time today, a d-delivery came for you. G-gonk was gonna leave it at your door but I-I made sure it got to your dropbox."

"I appreciate it Randel," he really did, the guy was a good person. Now if only he could get him to feel more confident and stop stuttering completely. "Anything else happen while I was gone?" The homeless man shook his head slowly and turned to follow him back down the hall, passing several of the man's chooms who had all banded together since the blond had started paying them to deal with the trash and do odd jobs.

"No, n-not really. J-just the usual,"

They reached his apartment and Naruto took a few minutes to open up the panel to his Drop Box next to the door. Inside he found the box and saw it was the stuff he'd bought from Misty's. "Oh yeah." He exclaimed, remembering that the girl said that she would have it delivered, "thanks for making sure this for in here, would've hated for something to happen to it,"

"H-happy to help," the man gave him a small smile when looked down again, "I'll talk to you later M-Mr. Naruto, g-gotta few things to do myself,"

With that, Naruto entered his apartment and yawned as the door shut behind him, "I'm home," he sighed out to the empty room as he set the box from Misty down onto the desk next to the door and looked at the picture sitting next to the terminal, "you wouldn't believe the day I had today," picking it up he wiped the frame clean with his hand and smiled at it, "some gonks stole the motorcycle Sid gave me and I had to go and get it back. You probably would've liked them… especially the munchkin, she kinda reminded me of you…"

Carrying the photo over to his bed and stopping by his little refrigerator for a drink, a yellow and orange NiCola Fire and set them both down on the nightstand, "Met this weirdo too, her whole body was chrome… well what I could see was, didn't check to see or anything." He continued while sitting down and taking his shoes off, quickly followed by the rest of his clothes until he wore just his boxers and tank top. "Doubt you would've liked her though…"

Groaning, he flopped back onto the bed and closed his eyes with a deep breath "Goodnight Cami… I miss you baby."

*BEEP*

[Number Unknown: Me and Bonkers hope you made it out safe!]

It took him a few moments to realize who the message was from despite not knowing her name but Bonkers rang a bell. Naruto stared at the message as it popped up in his peripheral vision and just laid there across his bed in shock. The blond couldn't believe she'd send him a message like this… she witnessed him ruin two of what looked like very expensive bikes, stole one back, and knocked her boyfriend out. That particular thought made him stop, 'oh damn, now I feel bad for the dude.' he realized while covering his face and groaning.

He knocked the gonk out and the poor fuckers girlfriend was messaging him this?! Oh God was that weird chick crazy or something? 'Well on second thought she looked completely cybernetic so maybe she was.' he mused before rolling over and pulling his pillow closer. 'I just hope she isn't a weirdo and starts stalking me… hmm still don't know her name though.'

Thinking about it for a few moments, he shrugged and added the number to his contacts, entering in the only name he could think of. Little did he know that he just received the personal contact of superstar sensation Lizzy Wizzy, something many gonks across the world would kill for… and he put it under the name…

[System Message: Unknown Number saved as 'Bonkers']

-xXx-

To be continued…

-xXx-

AN: yay chapter 18 is finally done! This entire chapter came out of nowhere when I finished 17 if I'm being honest. I had planned on things being quite different and taking longer but the story kinda changed when an idea hit you know? I had fun with it and played with the fights some, so I hope you enjoyed them. And as always, I love you guys.