Michael 'Magos' Sobronov
"Magos-san." The bandana wearing Tyger Claw nodded lightly as I approached her and the empty megabuilding elevator.
Naturally, I settled on my usual greeting "Gangoon-chan!"
She twitched, still embarrassed but not so utterly terrified of me to try and hide it again.
Not that she suddenly turned stupid enough to not treat me with due caution, we were simply used to each other by now.
Comfort tended to do that, I've learned, lull you into a sense of security even when faced with something dangerous, so long as the danger was persistent. It was a survival mechanism, and an utterly insidious one at that.
I stopped my hand from moving to my necklace and gave the woman a quick once-over, immediately noticing the bags under her eyes "Hard day?"
Briefly, she seemed to startle, before her shoulders slumped a bit "Yeah."
"Hm." I voiced "Guessing the mess with Maelstrom isn't all that fun for the rank and file."
Her face twisted in a way that indicated she was scowling below the bandana "Most of the gonks are excited for some action."
Folding my arms, I leaned against the elevator wall "Don't count yourself among that number?"
"Not all of us are eager to get into a shootout with a bunch of cyberpsychos." She tsked before she realized what she said and her eyes widened in panic "I am of course going to fight if orde-"
"Relax." I waved her down "I have better things to do than snitch to Jugo about your 'lack of devotion.'" The tone I used for the last bit made it plain what I thought of such things.
The poor woman's shoulders slumped and she mumbled a quiet "Thanks."
"Doubt he will be sending you out anyway." I shrugged and she immediately perked up "You are useful where you are now and you haven't fucked up... much."
Her relief was immediately replaced with embarrassment "That was one time." She muttered.
"Hehehe." I couldn't help but chuckle.
No doubt thanking whatever god she prayed to for for having most of her face covered, she looked away and grumbled.
"Still." I asked a bit more seriously this time "How good are your chooms at fighting the psycho cult really?"
For all her airheadedness, she seemed to be one of the more sensible members of the local Tygers, and so as one might expect my question made her frown, eyes turning dark.
"Most of the upper ranks with proven skills and good chrome can fight them on equal terms." She said "But the majority of the gonks are either too stupid or too underequipped so all they can really do is rely on numbers to bring the less chromed out Maelstrommers down."
"The rest..." She trailed off before looking away and jerkily shrugging her shoulders.
Clicking my tongue at the mental image I couldn't help but ask "And your bosses aren't doing anything to change that? No tactics or weapon updates?"
I couldn't really expect Jugo to chrome them out but at least he could arm them. Buryas were relatively cheap, right?
"We are a gang, Magos-san." Senko shook her head, an odd look on her face "Not some corpo security squad. The Captain knows where to put us when he needs to, but sometimes the 'strommers just don't give us the choice."
"And." She added morbidly "A lot of the gonks that get flatlined usually kill themselves by trying to act out their favorite Bushido scene, while being shot at, so there is just no saving some people."
Giving her a bemused look, I remembered my previous conversation with Rebecca and snorted "Well I can fix a lot of things, but there is simply no cure for being a gonk."
"Hah." Her quiet bark of laughter carried quite a bit of bitterness to it, and she turned silent.
'She probably lost someone in that exact way, with how these things usually go.' I concluded, and did not press further.
The rest of our ride to the upper floors was spent in silence.
-----
The manor sized dojo and home of the Okadas was still just as impressive as the first time I visited, though the obvious tension made the atmosphere quite a bit less pleasant.
I had been back here all of three times since first being invited, and only at the most ungodly hours possible, as I didn't want to deal with the Tyger Claw rank and file gawking at me while Jugo's Swordmaster (yes, that was his actual title in the gang) gave me a few pointers.
Cranky old shit liked to complain, but I was serious enough about what little practice I got in that he soon started lamenting I was not dedicating myself to the 'way of the blade' in full instead.
Even the old men in the gang just couldn't help themselves it seemed.
It wasn't like I was particularly talented with the weapon anyways, my hand eye coordination was simply that superior to most others it simply appeared as if I was.
Though still getting thrashed by the coot repeatedly despite that fact reminded me I'd need to come up with some form of optimized muscle memory subroutine if I wanted to develop any kind of real cybernetic martial art instead of relying on the shitty meat version.
Their style was still solid, mind. Adapted to the use of cyberware over time and the fact it was generally widespread amongst the upper ranks of the Tygers meant it had to be doing something right.
But they simply did not have the same upper hardware limit I did, and optimizing was rarely a waste of time.
... Should probably get my hands on a heavier weapon too. Even after all this time, my katana still felt flimsy in my grip, like it wanted to snap with each swing I made, despite me knowing for a fact it wouldn't.
An act that would doubtless make old man Takeda and Jugo cry tears of blood but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
But that was for future Michael to worry about.
The dozen of reasonably alert mid-ranking Tygers on guard around the dojo all tensed as I entered, the duo currently sparring pausing their moves immediately and twisting to face me with their guards up.
"Gentlemen." I greeted, still perfectly at ease.
A beat passed as we stared each other down, my hand ever so slowly leaning against the grip of my own sword. Not fast enough to threaten but visibly enough to emphasize.
The two sparring partners lowered their weapons and the others started to relax a bit. Senko, who was still next to me letting out a relieved breath despite knowing nothing would actually happen here.
The leader of the guard detail, a man that looked like a mix between a biker and a neo-samurai with his leather jacket and the red menpo covering his face, grunted part in recognition part in annoyance at seeing me and simply said in heavily accented English "Captain is waiting for you."
Nodding, I wordlessly passed the small group by, my escort still on my heels, and entered the mansion proper.
Before we got to the balcony where Jugo was waiting, Senko stopped in her tracks "I'll wait here."
"That's..." I trailed off briefly before nodding "Probably for the best." She was relatively high ranked, having actual underlings of her own, but if she ended up overhearing something she shouldn't that would just bring unneeded heat on her head.
The setting sun painted the view in a beautiful orange as I stepped out into the open, revealing the scene of Jugo sitting next to his wife, the two of them staring into the distance while a couple of their guards watched on from hidden spots nearby.
'Already stretched so thin?' I wondered.
I wasn't given too much time to ponder it as I was almost immediately noticed by the Tyger boss who quickly waved me over.
"Michael-san." Akari Okada greeted me first "It is good to have you back."
"My thanks for your hospitality as always, Akari-san." I damn near recited back.
The woman smiled at me playing along and stood up "I will go and make you two some tea."
I simply remained standing behind Jugo who was still staring into the distance for a while as she left.
"She insisted on staying." He answered my unspoken question "Jin is visiting family in Japan though, there was no debating that."
"Is that really smart? Letting her stay, I mean." I asked.
"You try telling her no when she puts her foot down." He chuckled and waved me forward again "Come on, sit."
Shrugging my shoulders, I did as he asked and took a seat on the actual wooden bench before getting a look at the man in question.
The skin of his face was wrinkled in a way that spoke of both a lot of grins and frowns in recent days, and while the grins were completely expected from the madman, actual concern was not.
Naturally, all of my worry died a rapid death as I finished scanning the rest of his face and found his eyes sparkling with his personal brand of barely contained mad excitement.
"What did you do?" I asked, holding back a sigh.
His flat expression immediately twisted into a grin "What could you possibly mean?"
"Jugo." I said "If you don't tell me what you did right now I'll tell your wife you are planning on doing something stupid."
His rising amusement vanished as he completely stilled and slowly turned to fully look at me "You wouldn't..."
"Try me." I deadpanned.
The man pretended to be scared for a brief moment longer before finally huffing in amusement and shaking his head "Don't worry, I don't plan on keeping you in the dark."
Taking a final sip of his cold drink he began "Shobo and I have been biding our time, gathering intel and letting the soldiers have their fun before deciding where to press Maelstrom into backing down."
"Find a good spot, blow it up." He explained as if discussing the weather "Followed by a few raids across the rest of their territory, grab a few of them off the streets, spread fear, the usual."
"Not a terribly complex plan." 'Simple did not mean bad after all.' I nodded along "What changed?"
"Powerpump contacted us." He says, his grin threatening to split his face.
My face twisted into an annoyed scowl. Some of the names the Maelstrommers picked were... truly creative.
"Their leader?" I asked.
Jugo frowned "How can you not already know?"
"Maelstrom also changes bosses like I change coats, and I have better things to think about." I shrugged and pointed at him before he could respond "Or are you going to tell me there ever was a period in the gang where their leaders lasted over a few years tops?"
"Hah!" He laughed before pointing at me "True. But you should still inform yourself just in case."
"Yeah, yeah." I nodded, he wasn't exactly wrong there "So what did Powerpump want?"
"A meeting in two days." Jugo said "Between us leaders, a negotiation for peace."
"You do know that is a fucking trap, right?" I deadpanned.
"Of course." He nodded flatly before his more jovial expression returned and he spread his arms like a preacher "But think my dear street samurai. If he went through so much effort to set it all up, how can I so rudely miss the chance to set it all on fire?"
"So what? You want to ambush the ambusher?" I asked, not exactly against the idea.
"Exactly." He snapped his fingers before leaning in conspiratorially "And if it just so happens my dear comrade at arms Jotaro Shobo ends up a smear on the ground, an unfortunate one with his chrome agonizingly burned out from the inside... By say, a rogue Maelstrommer netrunner?"
Ah. So much for his vaunted truce.
"Well." Jugo shrugged 'innocently' "I'd be very sad to lose a comrade of his standing but we all can only hope to die for our glorious brotherhood."
"Right." I said dryly "And are you sure your forces can take the Maelstrom down? What if you fail and all you end up doing is making the gang war even worse?"
'What if you die?' An irritating part of me wanted to ask.
"The gang war will get worse no matter what we do." Jugo shrugged the question off seemingly without a care "I'm not so stupid as to expect cutting the head of the snake will make the rest of it die. But it will give us an advantage."
My eyes narrowed "And what makes you think I want to be anywhere near your little suicide run against the Maelstrom now that I am doing actual work? Especially since it will just escalate things."
I may have told him I wouldn't backstab him (a bit of a redundant statement in retrospect), but this went way beyond that.
"Because, Mike. Even if we weren't already allies." He said pointedly, not even registering the implied 'betrayal' like his guards did "We Tyger Claws are by far your better option when your alternative is Maelstrom. At least we know not to poke the sleeping bear that is Night Corp by bringing our shit to their megabuildings."
We both had to suppress shivers at what happened to the last bunch of gonks who decided to blow out the side of a megabuilding. MaxTac feasted well on that day...
"Those crazy gonks?" Jugo brought me back from my thoughts as he pointed his thumb in the general direction of northern Watson where Maelstrom held control "You'd be lucky if they left you alone for a month, tops."
I knew he wasn't threatening me here, but the implication behind his words still rattled me something fierce.
"And where is this meeting supposed to take place?" I asked, deciding to just move on from that train of thought.
His response came without a single beat missed.
"Totentanz."
The table under my hand cracked slightly as I ever so slowly turned to face the insane fucking gangster "Care to run that one by me again, Isamu? I don't think my Audioreceptors caught that."
His shiteating expression did not ease for even a moment "Totentanz."
I just stared for a long, long moment before dazedly speaking "So let me get this straight... You want to accept a meeting." I waved my hand for emphasis "At one of the most known Maelstrom gathering spots."
"Already accepted." Jugo 'corrected' "But yes."
"And then." I went on as if he didn't say a thing "You want to start a fight while in the middle of that, possibly while you are completely surrounded by angry Maelstrom..."
"Indeed." He nodded 'serenely.'
"And you want me to be there, in their subnet." I finished "To kill your most powerful ally."
Finally his playful exterior broke as his face twitched in disgust.
"Did I get all that? Or is there something else absurd you want to add?" I asked.
"You say that like you don't like my idea." He smirked.
My look practically screamed 'You think?!'
He just pointed at me "Then why do you sound excited?"
Pausing, I immediately replayed the conversation in my mind and realized he wasn't fucking with me.
Did that bullet rattle something in my brain?
Distraction go! "And what about Shobo?" I asked, he seemed unconcerned but it was best to make sure.
That and I was grasping at straws at this point.
"Doesn't he need to accept the meeting too?"
"He has no choice but to." Jugo said simply "Or he proves himself the coward I have been calling him for months now."
'How brilliant.' I thought dryly.
"Of course, it goes without saying that as an Associate, I can't exactly force you into battle against your wishes." Jugo went on once more without missing a beat "So how does one mil and full access to shobo's data sound for services rendered?"
"Could have just lead with that you fucking asshole." I grumbled just as Akari Okada returned from the kitchen.
"Hah." Jugo snorted "Now where is the fun in that?"
---
Our talks turned to much more innocent topics once Jugo's wife returned, and we spent a good hour just talking about what we were up to whenever we were not participating in the planning or enacting of gratuitous amounts of violence.
Before long however, his lieutenants started arriving and I quickly made my excuses to get the hell out of there. Sure his subordinates knew not to be uppity around me but while listening in on their planning session would be productive I wasn't about to stand still for hours while doing so.
Besides, I was already hacked into all of them, and doing overwatch for the night, so it isn't like I was going to miss something.
Instead, I found myself doing my netrunning while going on errands on the lower floors, grabbing the materials my mom requested while also picking up my fresh order of heavily armored clothing from the Tygers' workshop, and a few modifications for my ride while I was at it.
On my way home, halfway through the lift ride up, I kept listening in on the meeting and immediately frowned, because Jugo, the cunt, decided to assign me a guard detail while I did my netrunning.
And of course he assigned the five who were 'closest' to me from the gang.
Meaning Senko and her goons.
One of these days, I was going to punch that madman's face off, army of Tygers or not.
-------
Its rock o clock.
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