Chapter 33

Name:Ghost in the City Author:
Chapter 33

William FrostGuard Frost

FrostGuard was pretty pissed. A fuckin jap was tearing up the boys. Damn Tyger Claws were attacking in the middle of the night with fuckin ninjas!

He had only seen the one. Just one, and a kid at that. The girl was fast. After Jackshift had called out everyone had grabbed a weapon, but Jack hadnt lived long after that.

Good kid Jack, bit stupid, but he did right in the end he put out the alarm.

But now Frost had a fuckin ninja jap killing everyone. There were only six Strom left. Everyone else FrostGuard had called didnt pick up. Hell even Byte wasnt picking up.

Fuckin Ninja already killed their Netrunner. Fuck. Brick was gonna be pissed. Byte had been important. Not every gonk on the street can act as a serious Netrunner.

Stay close! He yelled out as he forced his Ajax to keep aiming around the dark room. Bitch had disappeared as soon as the boys started calling out for her.

Then she cut the fucking lights!

If they were any of the other gangs it might have worked, but the Spyder Optics the Maelstrom chipped into every member could see in the dark just fine.

Except, somehow she had disappeared. One moment he was staring at her as she raced off into the side of the garage, and then next his optics simply couldnt keep track of her, or more like she had simply shifted into smoke and disappeared.

Fuckin bullshit.

Some sort of Optical Camo? He wasnt sure, hadnt seen any of the usual shifting from that.

Where the fuck did she go!? RustProof called out and Frost snorted at the panicked tone as some of the fuckers lost their cool. Firing blindly into the darkness.

They were panicking. Frost realized right then that if he stuck around he was just as likely to get shot in the back as he was the front. He started shifting back towards the entrance, optics wide to look for her. She had to still be here right?

Maybe she had just deltad once she got spotted?

Possible, but Frost wasnt going to count on it. He had already sent out an alert, all he had to do was survive until the response showed up.

H-hey! Where did StickShift go?! RustProof called out suddenly as he spun around, and Frost looked around his Ajax following his sight as he looked to where Oil that fuck had been standing.

He wasnt there anymore.

Realizing what had happened Frost let instincts from the war take over. He shifted and fired, shattering the Radios that had been filling the garage with music the whole time.

The music that had covered the ninjas assault.

The sudden quiet was almost oppressive and Frost, Rust, and the other two remaining Maelstrom all quickly gathered together in a group guns out. Even if Frost and his Ajax was the biggest piece among them.

He sighed, realized they were all cluttering him because they wanted him to save them.

Cowards.

But he didnt know what to say, so instead of trying to take control of the idiots, he continued backing up towards the door. Hopefully they will be able to hear her now.

But the garage was quiet besides the whispering and clanking of the idiots surrounding him.

Fuck this. Frost kept walking backwards towards the door. Yet nothing was moving. Just a quiet that had settled on the garage.

Finally he reached the door and with one hand burst it open as he hurried outside the other four right along with him.

Outside it was quiet, and Frost caught his breath for a second as he looked around. OilSlicks post on the ground floor was knocked over as he had come running at the alert, but Frost hadnt seen TriggerFinger. He looked up but other than the faint sound of his TV playing, he wasnt around.

Dead then.

Damn she had snuck up on that old war dog?

Alright. Cmon stay together you idiots! He barked as his little group had started splitting apart, but his call brought them back together. We hold out here. She cant sneak up on us here, we just have to wait for reinforcements. See how this ninja bitch likes trying her hand against forty of us! He yelled the number. If the Ninja was still here, hopefully the idea of forty men all hunting her would scare her off. Even if it wasn't likely he would receive that kind of response. Hopefully the Jap didnt know that. Then with a few pointed fingers and barked orders, he had everyone in place.

There were only two ways out of the Garage, well three if you counted the massive roller doors. Otherwise it was the roof, and the ground floor door that they had just walked out of.

She was trapped in there. All he had to do was keep the place secure until more guns showed up.

At least that is what he thought.

He turned around to look over everyone making sure everyone was where they should be.

When a gunshot startled everyone as the gonk he had sent up onto the roof to watch the roof access came falling off the edge of the roof falling with a splat as he had a massive hole in his chest.

Damn Gonk! He cursed him for being stupid enough to get shot. His Ajax came up and peppered the roof, causing the others to join him. If she was up there, they only had to hit her once!

Four Maelstrom unloading on the roof had to be enough!

He flipped his empty magazine out and grabbed his spare from his jacket pocket.

That was the second one I had to burn. I reminded myself. I only had one left on me. This last borg was way more skilled than I expected. Plus he had actually taken a Nekomata round to the chest, Even if I hadnt had time to charge it up. It had just been a normal round which was the only reason he hadnt died.

I grunted as I pushed the corpse off me. Thanks Choom. I told him despite how horrible his corpse looked now, he had really saved my tail.

I really like it more when I just kill them all without them noticing. I grumble as I grab the fallen Nekomata and head towards the side of the roof. I winced a bit as I dropped down to the ground level. My legs still sore. I guess one MaxDoc didnt cover everything. I thought about using another but I wasnt bleeding anywhere.

Better to save it.

I sighed, as much as I wanted to call Ichi and try to have him come help loot this place to the bedrock I knew I didnt have time.

The Strom leader had mentioned he had called for help.

Quick loot Motoko. I told myself with a deep breath as I quickly ran to the first body. As my hands danced through pockets I called my car which drove from down the street to stop in front of the open gate. I grabbed the guns and anything else I could find and hold in my arms as I raced to the car and dumped it into the passenger seat before rushing back for more.

Two runs to grab everything outside, and I headed in. Considering the time limit I raced upstairs first, Netrunner was number one priority.

I wanted to see if he had any netrunning stuff!

As soon as I hit his body I unfortunately gave up on stealing his Netrunning suit.

I didnt have time or desire to strip a corpse like that right now. Instead I started popping shards out of his skull passing them into my pocket. I did check his skull and he did indeed have a netdeck

I considered yanking it. I could. It would take a few minutes, but I could totally do that.

But something about ripping chrome right out of someone's body It didn't sit right with me. If I had more time maybe I would call in the calvary and they would probably do some ripping, but I let it go. Instead I focused on his gear. I plugged into his computer and yanked the data into a shard. I would go over it later, but hopefully it would have some information on where I could find the Spider Ripper, and the Bastard.

Then as I started grabbing more goodies, I heard an engine outside.

Instantly I went cold as I dropped everything and headed back to the roof. Whoever was showing up was about to get ripped apart. I had only heard one engine.

That meant the numbers were doable. More loot?

More loot.

I crept along the roof. Whoever it was was walking around the courtyard, they were slow, cautious. I couldnt hear any conversation, and only one set of footsteps crunching into the gravel.

Only one? Well it didnt matter.

I reached the edge, but I missed them by a second. They had just walked into the building below me.

I went full cold just so I wouldnt make a grunt of pain and dropped. Falling into a silent crouch just outside the door.

My Katana was already flashing, red edge arcing through darkness to give me just a few more points of XP.

I stilled.

My breath came out in a soft pant.

Jun!? I cried out, causing him to jump practically out of his skin, his own Katana coming up to as if to defend only to realize I was standing literally behind him, my Katana inches from taking his head.

Jun shrieked in a hilariously girly voice, but once he realized who it was he gasped in shock. Motoko!?

Gonna remember that one for later, that scream was hilarious! but now wasnt the time for that.

Because Juns face hardened and he was glaring now. Motoko! What do you think you are doing!?

Murder? I answered honestly before my mind could catch up with my mouth. I clamped my mouth shut as my answer seemed to knock the wind out of Juns anger. I looked around, knowing he must have already seen all the dead bodies. All the people I had murdered.

We were both silent, staring at each other for a moment before I lowered my shoulders sheathing my Katana. Okay lets be honest. I mean Is this even the worst thing you ever caught me doing? I asked, hoping my former pre-coma self really was the hellion I suspected she was.

Jun did not in fact agree.

His exasperated expression only lasted a moment before it turned to anger. What are you thinking? What are you even doing? You could have died! You are still recovering! You are What? Chasing Maelstrom around the city!? He roared after a sound of pure frustrated anger as he turned and hammered a fist into the wall of the garage. The poor garage did not stand up well.

How did you even find me? I interrupted his battering of the poor garage.

I followed your tracker! What else would I do when you sneak out in the middle of the night!

I blinked. I have a tracker? I frowned. That was Not okay.

Of course Oka-san gave us both trackers when we were kids. He answered simply going silent for a moment at the mention of our mother. You dont remember.

I felt my lips down into a frown. The idea that I had some tracker in me was I really didnt like it. At the same time it wasnt Juns fault so I just breathed it out. I would get back to that later.

Before I could even start on what was next though. We both heard it, engines.

We need to go.

Lets run! We both said to each other before rushing towards the exit. The engines were too close.