Now, what kind of crew would that sound like?

Short, grim, and to the point. Such is the life of one who runs the edge.

MOTOKO

The person in front of me was not Haruka Itami.

I'd been tricked, but it was understandable why. The netrunner wasn't just good, she was one of the best, as far as I could tell. Masking faces, replacing credentials, tricking gonks, and erasing trails. An amateur didn't roll like that - and Sasha Yakovleva wasn't anywhere near amateur. She'd pinned the theft on a fall guy, but I was a fairly decent sleuth. I mean really, the thief had a Tyger Claw sticker on his car? Come on, choom.

It was funny thought.

The problem was that when we'd gone to confront the netrunner behind the whole shebang, the situation had gotten sticky. Not only was Section 9 irritated because it had taken a long time to track down the real crew behind the heist, but when we'd dragged Jun and Akari along, they'd brought their own backup. Two full vans full of angry Claw bangers, backed by my oaf of an onii-brother, and his cyberpsycho of a friend, who also happened to be a girl. I resolutely ignored any building relationship tensions, this was a Christian fanfiction, choom.

We'd rocked into the storage yard in Santo Domingo, and for a moment I was struck by a pang of distant familiarity. Why was I getting a sense of deja vu? Well, because when the first of the faceless bangers kicked open the door, they were turned into a red smear on the ground.

"Fuck 'em up!"

The massive form that squeezed out of the door, shotgun blasting, was Maine, and he wasn't alone. Following behind him was his entire crew; stalwart Dorio, Pilar the pervert, catgirl Sasha, and totally-not-Harley-expy Rebecca. Fuck. FUCK! I had not intended for things to end up this way! What the fuck did I do?

Worse, the situation had already spiralled out of control, far beyond the tense good-bad-ugly standoff I was expecting. Who knew that rolling with a driveby posse right up to a mercenary's hideout was a bad idea? Why would they shoot first, and ask questions later? Night City, right. Or maybe it was common sense, but there wasn't an option to invest ability points in that. Stupid gamer system.

"Nobody messes with my crew!"

Maine was roaring like an angry bull. He'd already flatlined three people, and he was armoured enough to ignore pretty much every small calibre weapon aimed his way. It was like fighting the garage borg, except this was Maine. Jun seemed to have figured that out as well, as he rushed in with a scream, mono-katana drawn. Maine blocked the first swipe with his shotgun, which was split in half by the superheated sword edge. He caught the second, and snapped the blade in his oversized palms. Jun wasn't deterred, as he engaged in a grapple.

Dorio and Sasha were double teaming Akari, who was not doing well to a combination of quickhacks, and women just as nimble as she was. I was more distracted by the long armed gonk appearing in the midst of Section 9. "Ya messed with the wrong gonks, you little shits! いったい私を何者だと思っているの! / Just who in the hell do you think I am!" Hiromi let out a scream as she was punched into unconsciousness by a rapid barrage, and he turned his attention on the boys. I levelled the Lexington at him, and after a moment of hesitation, emptied the magazine into his back. Fortunately, his vest seemed to be armoured, so it wasn't lethal - but it was enough to take him out of the fight for the moment.

A scream of rage drew my attention away from the downed form, but we dove for cover due to the following hail of bullets. Rebecca hadn't taken that lightly. Shit, she actually cared about him? Did anime lie to me? The boys weren't having it though, and they returned fire at her.

"Motoko, stop standing there and help us!" Damn it, no! I couldn't just kill her! But she was trying to kill us...

And Jun wasn't doing too hot either. While he'd managed to gain an advantage over Maine - whose hand to hand skills weren't stellar, it was because the big man was drawing him into a trap. I knew what was coming next, but I couldn't do anything to stop the projectile launcher that popped out of Maine's arm, levelled directly at Jun's face.

"JUN! NO!"