Brenda Rucker

A heavyset woman, Brenda ties her brown hair back in a bun above matching brown eyes. Her everyday getup pairs a red-and-white plaid button-up shirt with pale blue jeans and black sneakers.

Brenda is a shrewd operator who freely admits the war has been good for trade, and she has no qualms about charging steep prices to anyone who looks like an outsider. She drives a hard bargain, brushing off complaints with the reminder that she too has a living to make, and she keeps hiking her rates whenever a new customer seems willing to pay.

When GHOST rolls into the area, Batou strikes up a conversation about her stall, and she cheerfully credits the fighting for her steady business. Pegging him as a newcomer, she talks him into three of her house specials, then names a price of a thousand for the lot. Batou balks at the figure but pays anyway and moves on while she waves off things only she can see. The next day Togusa tries to pry information out of her and gets nowhere, so he asks after her prices instead and walks off the moment she quotes fifteen hundred. Digging through nearby surveillance, he finds her cyberbrain completely exposed, her organs pledged as B-minus-rated collateral for that very implant, and roughly four-fifths of its storage given over to a lifelog. Running a recognition sweep, he pulls intelligence on both Batou and the Major from it, and by way of thanks buys a portion of her food, paying even after she tacks on another three hundred.