When he had heard from Fujimura-sensei how many fixers Motoko had gotten in contact with he was honestly flabbergasted.
Most fixers tended to stick to mercs they knew they could trust. The only time they reached out to untested, unknown mercs was when all they needed were meat shields. When they expected them to mess up and not complete the gig. They certainly wouldn't be lining jobs by the dozens, especially if they knew that the merc was getting jobs from others as well.
So, the next time Motoko came back to the apartment, walking past the guard standing in front of the empty doorframe, covered in blood, oil, and viscera, he had to ask, "How did you get all these fixers to work with you?"
She turned to him while removing the repurposed armor and grinned mischievously. "Oh that's easy. You just find them where they are at their most comfortable, and you pop in their blind spot. At that point, they can't refuse... because of the implication."
"Eh?"
"Think about it. They were where they felt safest, and suddenly there is some person that they don't know just right beside them, and all they see is someone armed for bear inside their perimeter, what are they gonna do? Say no?" she laughed.
"Sis... that's really dangerous!"
She looked a bit puzzled, "I think you're misunderstanding me bro. See, no one is going to immediately open fire on the cyber-ninja who is that close. Obviously if they cancel the gig at that point, the gig is cancelled. But the thing is that they are not gonna cancel, they're never gonna cancel, because of the implication," she finished, her face becoming just slightly deranged.
Jun took a deep breath, concerned. "You've said that word, implication, a few times. What implication?"
A dangerous smile appeared on her face. "The implication that something might go wrong for them if they bail on me. Not that things will go wrong for them, but they're thinking that it will."
"It sounds like these fixers don't want to work with you."
"What aren't you understanding here?" she asked with some heat entering her voice. "These fixers just don't know that they want to work with me, that's not the issue here!"
He stepped closer to her and put his arms on her shoulders. "Are you going to hurt these people?"
"No! I'm not going to be hurting them! I feel like you are not getting this at all!" she reeled back, but didn't break the contact. Turning her attention to the guard, she noticed that he was looking directly at them with an alarmed look on his face. "Don't you look at me like that! You're certainly not in any danger!" she huffed at him.
"So they are in danger?!"
"No! No one is any danger! How could I make this any more clear for you? It's the implication of danger!"