New Game Plus (NOT CANON)
It wasn't fair.
There was nothing for me to grab onto. My chest was sliced open. There wasn't enough time to do anything.
My life was currently one of excruciating pain as I plummeted downward. I only had a few seconds to review my life and the choices I made that led to this moment as I accelerated straight towards hard asphalt.
I regretted not telling Jun that I loved him more often. I regretted not being more cautious about the gig. I regretted not staying alive long enough to make more of a difference in the lives of Sasha and Jackie and V before they faced their own meetings with the reaper. I know my brother would lose what was left of his humanity when he discovered my fate. I felt horrible because I knew Hiromi would never forgive herself when she saw my carcass splattered on the street.
In the end, despite all my unique advantages, it looked like I would be just another Night City statistic and all I could feel was despair.
For a single microsecond, I could feel the shockwave of the collision resonating through my broken body then all I knew was blissful silence.
…
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[The Player Has Flatlined]
[Reloading Universal Server Configuration]
…
…
[Unlocked New Game + Mode!]
[Game Mode Details: You can begin a new playthrough from an earlier starting point. You will keep your current character level, skill levels, and perks but not your weapons, vehicles, cyberware or any other items.]
[Would you like to activate New Game + Mode? - Y/N]
…
…
[Y has been selected for you!]
[Selecting New Starting Point]
[Loading Map…]
[Have Fun and Try to Last Longer This Time Choom!]
…
Darkness.
Then blinding pain. Countless memories roared like a raging river into me and my brain could barely keep up with the stimulus tsunami.
Waking up in the hospital…meeting Jun-ni and Hiromi for the first time…exercising so I could walk again…Jun teaching me how to use a unity in our old apartment…the grumpy ripperdoc that reset the settings for my chrome eyes…Hiromi dragging me to Ho-Oh to meet Ichie and Malcolm and Omaeda…the first time I drove Hiromi home from the club and unlocked the driving skill…meeting Vik and Misty for the first time…killing Shobo under a disguise…annoying V at Jackie's gig…the gang war that I was dragged into…killing Raffen and gaining my Quadra…saving scorpion and befriending the Aldecaldos…recording my first BD…
I screamed and shot up. I leaned against a nearby wall. I was hyperventilating and my eyes quickly scanned the room I was in.
I was greeted by a grimy floor and disgusting stalls. The overwhelming stench of stale urine greeted me. I could hear the slightly muffled beats of loud techno music vibrating in the air.
I was in a club bathroom. Huh.
What the hell just happened? How the fuck did I go from unscheduled skydiving to waking up in a scene in a bad music video?
More memories assaulted my brain as I cringed and held my aching head with a groan.
I died. I actually died.
Was this purgatory? If so it was honestly kinda lame. Just a nasty public bathroom? It looked like a typical restroom in NC.
Wait.
If it looked like I was in NC, and it felt like I was in NC, and it certainly smelled like I was in NC…
That's because I was in Night City.
I am the best deducer!
But of course that left a pertinent question. How did I get back despite turning into a pancake?
I paused for a moment and recalled faint recollections of weird text that flashed before my eyes after the memory deluge had receded.
Holy crap.
New Game Plus is a thing?! Since when? That wasn't a thing in the original 2077 game as far as I could recall!
"Wait, the bitch is waking up. Shit shit shit, look just…just give me a minute and I'll knock her out again! Don't tell Lewis!"
I wasn't alone.
I awkwardly turned my head to see the back of a nondescript looking woman desperately searching through an old gym bag before taking out a syringe and duct tape.
Wait, did this woman knock me out?
The stranger seemed to be on a call with someone over her internal agent as she fiddled with the needle in the syringe. "...Fucking worthless pills…I guess this is what I get for trying to be cheap with my sources…yeah yeah, I know you warned me…"
She turned to look at me and I instantly entered combat mode.
A holographic clown face with a red Glasgow smile greeted me.
Scav.
It was a fucking Scav.
She lunged at me, but I was faster. My body moved on pure instinct as my Cool and Reflexes immediately took over. My head and neck easily dodged the thrusted needle and my legs kicked against the floor which allowed me to tackle the enemy head on.
She yelled in surprise as my girth knocked her into the ground. She desperately reached for a switchblade in her pocket.
Oh please. I quickly grabbed her head and smashed it against the floor hard. Twice. Three times. Blood splattered on the cheap tiling. She screamed in pain as her mask flickered on and off but that shock allowed me to knock the tape out of her hand with a hard strike. I grabbed her wrist before she knew what was happening and roughly flipped her over on her belly with my other hand.
She struggled and squealed like a pig in a slaughterhouse which I considered to be fitting. I reached for her switchblade in her back pocket and pulled it out. Glanced at the simple but adequate knife for a second. Yep, it should be big and strong enough.
If I'm being honest, my high Blade skill did most of what happened next.
I gripped the blade firmly and, with one plunge, penetrated the back of her neck at just the perfect angle and velocity to cleanly sever her spinal cord where the bone and gristle was thinnest. Her screams abruptly halted and I finished the job with a generous swipe to the left and then the right, making sure to dig in deeper to piece her larynx with my final thrust.
The only noise that could be heard in the dingy bathroom was my calm breathing and the wet gurgles of my victim's paralyzed body drowning in her own blood.
After some seconds, I was the only one breathing.
Her corpse began twitching with death convulsions as I lazily stood up and observed my work with pride.
The entire encounter took about 27 seconds. The actual knife work was only 4 seconds.
Honestly, not bad. I rate this kill a solid hmmm…7.5 out of 10. Considering the circumstances, I think I did a damn fine job!
I was also gleeful, after checking my stat screen, that my levels were exactly as they were the last time I checked.
I was already loving NG+!
I then noticed my hand was covered in blood and traces of spinal fluid. Yuck! I got Scav body fluids on me! Double Yuck!
I walked over to a sink and quickly washed my hands. I glanced at the mirror and stood still.
I didn't recognize who I was looking at.
What stood in front of me was a girl with a short mohawk of black and green striped hair. A silver nose stud was visible. Vivid patterns were flowing down her cheek and she had glowing cat whiskers on her face. Shimmering optics - not Kiroshi but definitely better than the standard Arasaka model I woke up with originally in the hospital bed.
Suddenly, it clicked for me as I remembered pictures that Hiromi showed me when we first met.
My face.
My old face before the Scavs got their hands on me.
The text did mention something about sending me back to an 'earlier starting point' but holy poop.
I stared in awe and poked at my face at random. I looked down on the rest of my body.
I was wearing a bright yellow jacket adorned with TC stickers and a large leaping Tiger in the back. Bright red neon sneakers. Ripped jeans and a holster for…
Wait. I had to fight off a sudden swell of righteous indignation.
I glanced around the bathroom aggressively before finding what I was looking for. Knocked into the far corner of the bathroom was a standard steel Arasaka katana. A small purple charm hung from the hilt.
My mother's blade. Motoko's…My…blade when she died.
In my first life in NC, the Scav I just killed and her friends had sold my sword at a dropoff long ago by the time I woke up from my coma, but things were decidedly different this time around.
It was not a thermo katana, but that didn't matter- it was one of a kind and priceless to the original Motoko.
I picked up the sword reverently and slowly touched the hardened steel with my fingers to feel its smoothness. Its coldness against the natural warmth of my fingers.
Wait a minute. I let out a light gasp as I finally realized why my arms felt off earlier when I first woke up.
Moisture was now definitely forming around my eyes as I lowered my blade so I could touch my own, fully ganic, hands again.
The fact that my arms were once again meat was…conflicting for me.
On one hand, I was unbelievably happy. The horrors of what Maelstrom did to me was finally undone with no effort on my part. At least physically, their marks on me were finally removed in its totality, as if it never happened.
But on the other hand, for better and worse, I did genuinely like my surplus Militech replacements. It was just as much a part of me as these old (new?) arms were. And of course objectively, my chrome arms were just better than these ganic ones I was born with.
This was all so confusing.
Everything was just so…what happened?
I leaned against the dirty wall as the first tears began to flow down my face.
Fear, terror, dread, surprise, shock, joy. So many emotions in such a quick succession.
I just wasn't prepared for this. The emotional whiplash was overcoming me.
I was just doing a harder than normal gig. That was it. Just something fast so that Hiromi's rep wouldn't get hurt with her corpo friends. Afterwards I was planning to go back and continue to work on hacks to possibly prevent Sasha's death.
How did this end with me somehow going back in time almost...what…two years?
I heard several footsteps moving towards the bathroom door and I quickly wiped away the evidence of my small emotional outburst.
Evidently Miss Scav had backup. I allowed my high Blade and Cold Blood skills to flow through me as my posture adjusted itself in small ways to maximize my lethality with the sword in my hands.
I was now potentially the most ripped and dangerous 13 year old in Night City.
New Game Plus sure was a hell of a thing.
The bathroom door banged open and one, two, four, five women rushed in. All wearing boring clothing in intentionally forgettable colors - shirts and pants in pale browns, black, blues, etc. Probably meant to be a cheap form of social camouflage. I really didn't care. What I did care about was that they all have holographic clown masks and they were clearly pissed off.
"What the…? How di- What the fuck did you do to Stacy?!" The leading Scav screeched out in a synthesized voice as she pulled out a rusty machete from her back.
I shrugged my shoulders. Like I was going to give them the satisfaction of a clear answer.
The other women started pulling out knives and machetes of their own. Their leader was literally vibrating in pure rage when she saw the pool of blood surrounding the dead Scav on the floor.
"Let's get something clear here you stupid tyger fuck, you will suffer dearly for this. By the time I have you stapped down on our butcher table, you're going to wish you were fucking dead!"
Uh huh. I smiled gamely and stretched out my arm towards them before waving my fingers towards myself.
The women roared and rushed towards me.
43 seconds.
Again, not my best time but meh, I could live with that.
I was washing my hands again as I contently whistled to myself. I made extra sure to gently wipe down my precious katana as well. No baby of mine would be allowed to stay covered in Scav filth if I can help it!
I know by now that I assimilated to the Night City way of life because I barely noticed all the cooling corpses around me in the public bathroom turned improtou Scav morgue.
I didn't plan for it, but I got the opportunity to finally get my retroactive vengeance on these fools and I took it happily and with both hands. No year-long stay at the hospital this time baby!
However, I wasn't so far gone that I didn't realize just how suspicious this all was. No, not the fact that I went back in time. That's an entirely different can of worms. I meant the fact that this one club had so many fucking Scavs in it and that apparently it was fine for them to roam around the premises with their distinct masks already activated.
This was no club. Or if it was, their main income definitely wasn't legit.
This was a Scav hunting ground and the owners of this joint was also clearly in on it or was one themselves - shit, just how much of a naive hellion was the original Motoko to get into this situation to begin with? Were there a fleet of white vans in the parking lot outside with "free candy" written on the sides?
I already checked some of the bodies. Got a decent amount of eddies and some interesting intel on some shards, but none of them had any iron.
And I really doubt I offed all of them. There had to be more and there was a good chance some of them were carrying heat.
Crap.
I mean, the situation really wasn't that bad. Being a coward was always an option. I could just sneak out and just go home. My Stealth and Ninjutsu was definitely at a high enough level to make simply leaving a real proposition. But there was a problem even with that.
My current appearance was less than ideal. I was completely covered in blood and gore.
I winced in disgust as I picked up a piece of brain that lodged in my hair.
I mean, I could just not care and ignore the stares as I went on my way, but I now look like your textbook cyberpsycho and it would be such a bother to deal with NCPD if they spotted me.
And the idea of just leaving behind a still functional Scav nest just rankled me on a deep level. Especially because these were the assholes that completely changed my life and Jun's so flippantly out of greed.
Hmmm what to do, what to do.
I looked down at one of the cleaner corpses. Based on her damaged cyberdeck (a lucky slash on my part), it looked like she was also their netrunner.
She was the smallest of the gang and her clothing was the closest in size to mine.
Yep, I made up my mind on how I was going to handle this.
But for this to work, I was going to need more intel.
I knelt down and began looking for any more shards in her pockets.
I hit the jackpot when I pulled out a hidden nylon bag full of shards from a secret pant pocket near her feet. And just as quickly I gagged when I began viewing their contents.
Lets just say that little miss netrunner was into some kinky stuff and leave it at that.
On the plus side? I found a ton of access codes and a list of all current members and their schedules for the week. Apparently they recently hired a new gun and the orientation shards were meant for her.
Which meant I now knew where they all were in the building and how to get to them.
I allowed myself a devilish grin.
Alias: John Doe
Real name: Lewis Santana
Gang Affiliation: Scavengers
Role: Hyena Packleader
Lewis stretched his arms and yawned inside his heavily armored and secured office. It was a quiet day and quiet days ticked him off. Quiet days meant less prey for the pack to hunt down. Less meat to dissect meant less eddies.
It looks like word of their true nature was starting to leak out. People were coming to their club less and less. If this kept up, his pack was going to have to move out soon to new pasture to set up shop. It was either that or starve until the Tyger Claws finally realized who they actually were. Dealing with an enforcer squad sent to collect "taxes" wasn't something the Northside Hyenas wanted to deal with.
He was going to have to talk with the pack tonight about possible locations they could relocate too. Maybe Chinatown?
At least today wouldn't be a total waste. Stacy brought back a suitable snack for the pack to feast on. Some idiotic TC groupie with more fuzz than brain in her head.
Her chrome wasn't anything amazing, but there was always someone willing to buy EMP threading and light tattoos. However, her optics were the most valuable prize - Yari model 2's weren't exactly cheap and would bring the pack a good chunk of money for little work. Her katana wasn't bad either. He knew some collectors that would be interested in the weapon.
Stacy was a veteran at this so he didn't worry about her.
What was annoying him more was the growing silence around the club. He was seeing a lot of empty positions in his security cams. The cams that were working anyway.
Why were so many of the club's cameras suddenly offline? Granted, their network has been a mess lately after they bagged that drugged up borg who managed to free himself and smash up their server room three weeks ago, but that should have been fixed by now. Why were the cameras acting up again?
Even if he ignored that, the cameras that were working showed him that his girls were not where they were supposed to be.
Where the hell was everyone?
Bridget and Tammy were supposed to be watching the entrance so they could act as sirens for unsuspecting prey but they weren't at their post yet. He saw Trist, their main netrunner, running down the hallway at some point but the rest of the pack were becoming scarce. And Stacy, his second-in-command, was absent.
He heard some yelling earlier near the bathrooms but that was several minutes ago. After the noise died down he figured the situation was handled, whatever it was, but now he wasn't so sure.
Something was wrong - he could sense it.
Lewis lowered the volume of the club music from his controls and slowly reached for his external burner agent with his gloved hands. Gonks kept saying he was overly paranoid for refusing to get an internal agent chipped in, but he has yet to change his mind on that matter. In his line of business, being able to run without leaving traces of past events connected to himself was absolutely invaluable.
He took pride in his instincts and they were currently blaring at him to pay attention.
He pressed in Stacy's agent number and waited.
*Ringing.*
*Ringing.*
*Ringing.*
Every ring ramped up his stress. Why wasn't Stacy responding to her agent? It was inside of her brain for fuck's sake!
Lewis blinked when he noticed that Trist was now calling him. What was going on?!
He angrily accepted the call. He wanted answers and he wanted them now!
"Sorry about the radio silence boss, shit got a little hairy with the brat but the situation is under control." Trist answered in a raspy voice.
"What the hell is going on there Trist? Why didn't Stacy return her call?"
He listened to Trist coughing loudly for a second before she replied. "The target was a netrunner with a covert cyberdeck. She hacked our internal agents before we realized what was happening. I'm the only one besides you to have an external agent, hence why I am calling you now."
Oh shit. This could be bad.
"Did she call for help?" He asked in trepidation.
"Nah, don't worry, we didn't give her a chance. I'm checking our logs right now and our communication firewall wasn't touched." She replied smugly.
Lewis allowed himself a modicum of relief. That was way too close for his comfort.
But…
There was something else sticking out to him. Something was off here.
"Trist, what happened to your voice?" He asked cooly.
"Oh that, the target kicked me in the neck. Honestly, I'm not even that mad. It was an insanely nova kick - something out of a kung fu movie. She was so preen!" Trist gushed out loud.
Lewis blinked in surprise. That was...actually pretty in character for Trist. She had certain…odd hobbies and tended to have unusual reactions to physical injury - and she had never bothered trying to hide her tendencies from the crew. Lewis didn't care for it personally and what Trist did in her free time wasn't any of his business.
It would appear he was speaking to the real deal then.
"What's the status of the target presently?" He demanded.
"Dead. It's not like we needed her alive to get her chrome and she was too resistant to go down quietly."
Dammit. There was now a big risk to any possible organ sales as their surgery suite wouldn't be ready for operation for a few more hours.
"If you're thinking about the meat parts, I wouldn't worry. Stacy already sealed up the body and dumped it into an ice bath. We're mostly just cleaning up the bathroom now."
Lewis sighed and leaned against his office chair in relief. Alright, their morsel was more trouble than expected but it seems like his girls had the situation handled.
He needed a hard drink to sooth his nerves. He was now wishing things would get quiet again.
How did Stacy fuck up this badly? She was usually better than this.
"Fine then. Could you pass the agent to Stacy? I want her to explain to me what happened."
"Um…sure thing boss."
He heard static and movement on the line. A whole lot of coughing followed.
"I'm sorry Lewis! Don't worry, the situation is under control now. I'm just…so, so sorry how out of control things got. By the time I saw the cyberdeck everything went haywire and the other girls had to run in to help me take her out." Stacy's pleading voice both annoyed and soothed the pack leader.
He was annoyed that she uncharacteristically messed up like this but he was pleased that his lingering fear of an imposter was just paranoia on his part. He recognized Stacy's cute voice anywhere.
His internal red flag finally stopped waving.
"Let's focus on the most important factor. How did the target wake up?" He asked in genuine curiosity.
"The pills I dissolved in her drink were way weaker than normal. I think we might have been cheated by Dom." Stacy muttered darkly in her distinctive Seattle accent.
Lewis snarled in response. Oh Dom, you insipid crackpot. Do you think you could give shit products to the Northside Hyenas and walk away free?
"Let's add that to the agenda for tonight's meetup. It's clear to me we have a lot to talk about."
He glanced at the malfunctioning camera screens again in irritation
"Stacy, when you get a chance could you do a sitrep and get Trist to fix the cams? It's her fucking job and I'm not paying her to sit around and get her jollies off getting punched in the face or whatever other weird BD porn she's into this week."
Stacy laughed out loud.
"Got it boss. I'll light a fire under her ass."
"Careful Stace, she might be into it." Lewis couldn't help but snarkily add.
Stacy laughed louder this time before hanging up.
What a crazy afternoon. Lewis scowled but returned to his report for the day. At least it wasn't a total waste. They got chrome and maybe a few organs to show for their work so today wasn't a bust.
After a few minutes, Lewis glanced at the cameras again and his eyes narrowed.
All the cameras were now offline.
What the hell.
Trist was calling him on his agent again.
'Oh, this better be good' Lewis growled to himself. A certain someone was begging for a pay cut.
"My dearest Trist, whatever could be the matter now?" Lewis stated angrily.
"Boss, I think the target might have uploaded some kind of daemon into our network. I've quarantined it in a subsystem but I'm shutting down our security systems and resetting them manually with new protocols to make sure the virus doesn't spread further." Trist didn't seem to notice his tone and answered in a bored voice.
Oh you gotta be kidding me.
Okay, yet another topic for the meetup. If any future target gives even the tiniest hint of netrunning ability, they will be left alone because he was getting sick of this hacker bullshit.
He sighed into his palms in defeat.
"Fine, when do you think we will be done?" he muttered tiredly.
"Probably an hour, maybe two at most." Trist responded simply.
Huh, that wasn't so bad actually. "Do I need to do anything?" He asked.
"Just let me in your office when I arrive. I want to start there to make sure all our most important data stays safe." Trist answered promptly.
Lewis nodded his head in approval. "Good call, just knock and I'll let you in."
"Got it, on my way now." Trist then abruptly hung up.
Lewis sighed.
To hell with it.
He dismissed his report and reached for his secret bourbon. He earned it at this point.
Gentle knocks against bullet proof glass echoed in the room. Lewis startled as he saw Trist waiting outside while holding a netrunner case in one hand and a shopping bag on the other. Strangely, the large bag was overflowing with random tech so haphazardly organized that it almost looked like she was on a looting spree. Additionally, she also had her "work" mask active and the hood of her jacket was up to completely cover her bald head.
The Hyena leader rolled his eyes and granted her access with a button press. Honestly, Trist and her damn eccentricities.
As a Scavenger leader, he couldn't afford to be picky. Decent help was always difficult to obtain and capable netrunners that could also double as techies were hard to come by even for normal gigs. If tolerating Trists's…'Tristiness' was the price he had to pay then so be it.
The short woman waddled in and placed the case on his office floor while leaving her bag in the hallway. Lewis focuses on preparing his drink.
"Long day boss?" She began conversationally as she opened the case and reached inside.
"You could say that." He muttered dryly.
"Well, I can promise you that you will never have to go through this again." The netrunner stated happily.
And in a completely different voice.
Lewis's head shot up in alarm and just in time to greet a shotgun blast to his face.
I blinked my eyes in exhaustion as I finally arrived at my apartment just as the sun was going down.
Welp, I'm back home from Hiromi's gig. In a cosmic sort of way.
What was in front of me was the old apartment block that our parents used to live in and where I spent the majority of my first life before Jun and I moved into the new apartment complex with the help of Fujimura.
It was so weird being back after all this time. Same garbage mounds, same graffiti, same old men playing cards on the table by lantern light - It's really like nothing has changed which, granted, was a stupid observation because of course nothing has changed, but still though!
I parked my newly acquired ride in the resident garage and just…sat there for a moment to let myself experience intense deja-vu. And also to avoid thinking about my new van in general.
I just drove all the way home in the most secure looking vehicle I could klep in the club's lot - a pale white Mahir Supron FS3 - I know, the jokes write themselves. At least there was no suspicious writing on the sides to attract the unwary.
On a more positive note, my first day of my second life in Night City was quite productive! I did a moral good by completely wiping out a Scav den and a financial good by gaining a lot of assets on my first day back.
I grinned happily at the piles of chrome, guns, and tech stuffed behind me. Hmm, I love the smell of sweet loot! It smelt like victory!
And after looking through every cranny, breaking into every computer in the club, and finding a key shard for a badly hidden safe, I'm now roughly fifteen thousand Ennys richer. Not bad for a thirteen year old street rat if I say so!
Now to get inside, take a shower, and start planning for the future. I had a mental list of objectives and it was freakin' huge.
I had so much to do. New chooms to meet again and old ones to reconnect to, stupid cyberware to remove and new cyberware to replace it, I needed a new wardrobe, I had to start a new training regime so I could kill certain Matrix cosplayer the next time I met him, I had to restablish contacts with all the fixers again…
Sigh.
One thing at a time.
First, shower time!
I happily stripped myself of the stupid Scav outfit I was wearing and dumped it against the wall. I arranged it so that what's-her-face's jacket covered all the other blood-covered parts of her ensemble. I'll burn it later outside.
I spent the next couple of minutes in bliss as hot water washed over my almost entirely organic body. I couldn't help but hug myself with my very fleshy arms. Oh, I would never take this for granted ever again!
I mean, I was still planning on going full borg eventually, but I was determined to enjoy my meatiness while I still could!
Eventually my pleasure had to end as I didn't want Jun to whine over the water bill. I turned off the faucet and crossed over the bathroom beads on my way to my room.
The second I entered my bedroom, I paused to take in the manifestation of what domestic comfort meant to a Tyger Claw fangirl. The room was practically overflowing with TC related memorabilia.
Oh yeah. I went through this already.
I reflected on my situation as I put on TC tagged clothing due to lack of options. I get the pleasure of intensely cleaning out my room all over again. I already removed my nose stud, but evidently that was the tip of the iceberg.
Joy.
I was preparing to set up cardboard boxes when the front door suddenly opened up. I jumped up in surprise.
"Toko, I'm home." It was Jun!
"Wait, whose clothes are these? Did you bring someone over imouto?" My brother suddenly remarked playfully.
The tone of his voice was so...light. Where was the constant low-level crankiness in his voice that I was used to?
I walked to the living room with uncharacteristic nervousness. Right in front of me was a confused Jun.
He looked…like my brother. But not at the same time. His tech hair emitted green light. He had a bright blue jacket and his stupid demon mask. But his arms and legs were fully ganic and his expression was soft. It was so soft and kind and I shivered.
We just stared at one another. I with a blank face and him with a confused smile.
He looked…younger…and carefree and just…happier in general.
Was this what my brother was like before everything with me happened?
I never truly appreciated just how insanely stressed out Jun-ni must have been after all the tragedy he went through during this stage of his life. It was only fully hitting me now as I saw the relative innocence of his face compared to what I was familiar with.
So many things happened and it all started going wrong on this exact day.
My sudden disappearance. Jun finding my abused and looted body in a Scav den. The insane financial burden of paying for my stay at a hospital for an entire year. The fact that I woke up with "amnesia" and didn't even remember him. Then he lost his secret input that I didn't know about at the time during the opening acts of the gang war. Then my subsequent kidnapping and mutilation at the hands of the Maelstrom which made my brother almost lose it completely. Then the Scav attack at our apartment which almost cost him his head.
Jun-ni has really gone through a lot, hasn't he?
We both did. So much suffering, tears, and fights. So many physical and mental scars we collected together after my first awakening.
And now here we both were, baby faced, as if it never happened.
Like it had all just been a bad dream.
Jun's expression suddenly looked horrified. "Sister, why are you crying?"
Shit, I was crying.
It was the full ugly crying package. My nose was full of snot, my eye sockets were puffy red, and I couldn't find it in me to care.
He tentatively raised his hand to wipe away my tears and my limited self control snapped.
I leaped into his arms and held him as tightly as I could.
Poor Jun was completely flabbergasted, but embraced me back nonetheless.
I recall regretting not telling Jun I loved him more often.
I was going to change that.
This was way longer than I thought it would be.
For the record, I seriously doubt our favorite cosplaying gremlin is dead. It's just that I've been thinking about doing a time travel snippet like this for a while and the events of the latest chapter seemed like a good opportunity to strike while the iron was hot.
In case you're wondering, no I have no idea how Motoko is going to explain to her brother that she killed a dozen Scavs and looted their nest clean at the tender age of 13. Or how she gained several pounds of muscles and turned into a cyber ninja overnight. I'm sure she'll think of something!