"Zaunya..."
Audrey whispers in exhale surprised... she quickly rushes over to her and gently grabs her face to look into her eyes while tending to her balance. Netty gets up off the couch and approaches himself and begins to scans her concerned.
Audrey and Netty glance back as Brian slowly approaches.. causing them to each take a step out of the way. He stands before Zaunya and embraces her... She braces with her forearms on his chest as he raises her face to get a better look at her... the two share a moment. A quick flash of Marilyn's face enters Brian's mind as he looks her over.
He's never seen Zaunya under this level of duress... the brutal nature of Night City has the ability to keep even the strongest in check. Scary part is it doesn't even take much to do it... the right amount of force... applied to just the right place... at just the right time. Should keep you honest... keep you on your toes... a reminder there is no one true way that rules all in this game of Night City rock paper scissors.
"Hey..." Brian whispers.. his tone deep and gentle... smile on his face.
Zaunya hears his voice and gives him a big hug... holding him tight and burying her face into his chest. Audrey and Netty glance at each other. Zaunya finally speaks:
"I.. need a smoke.."
Some time has passed along with the tone in the room as the pitter patter of rain settles in outside the windows of the hideout with rolling thunder. The hideout's warm and cozy... the house music's mellow... a stark contrast to the cold, harsh elements outside trying to get in.
Audrey sits at a desk with a bright light beaming down on the severed head of the corpo rat... bloody and disheveled. She turns on an even brighter point light that rests on a monocle like strap on her eye... hyper focusing on his unsightly mug. She begins to skillfully carve in and around the golden Oracle eye causing stray blood to occasionally squirt out as they hear her slice and rip chunks away from the face, carving deep into the skull... being sure to avoid the high-end cables and wiring. Brian paces back and forth through gently wafting cigarette smoke.. occasionally glancing out the window and back at a resting, lethargic Zaunya as all 3 smoke cigs.
Netty glances down onto the coffee table at Brian's pack of Death Styx. He grabs the black pack and looks at it with curiosity... staring at the famous white skull on the front smirking at him and giving him the middlefinger. Beneath the skull rested the name of the flavor - 'Shoot You In The Fucking Face Menthol', causing him to lower his eyebrows. He flips the pack over to check out the back: 'Take a dive on some of our other deathlightful flavors such as 'Crush Your Fucking Skull Cranberry' or our latest and now most popular: 'Slit Your Fucking Throat Cinnamon'! Remember, with Death Styx, Ya Can't Miss! He glances up at everyone puffing away on these things taken aback. He pulls one out and looks at it's black paper and bone white filter closely before taking a sniff of it and gagging. It gets a genuine chuckle out of Zaunya having kept an eye on him even in her hazed state.
Further time passes by deep into the night... the rain really begins to pick up... the pattering on the roofs and asphalt in the alleyways intensifies as the rain plays in the puddles. The 4 of them hear an abrupt knock at the backdoor making them all to glance up at it. Audrey puts down her tools and quickly gets up to answer. She sees BugBear standing there, sporting her red netrunner jumpsuit tucked under a pair of black jeans with a cyberpunk yellow riding jacket on. She speaks while stepping in out of the heavy rain.
"Geez.. wasn't easy finding this place. I knocked half expecting no answer."
"Come in quick." Audrey says ushering her in and quickly sliding the door closed behind her. BugBear glances at everyone in the room as she walks in... she sees Zaunya resting on the couch.
"ZAUNYA!?" She shouts with her eyes open wide cracking her voice as she instinctually rushes over to her. She wraps her arms around Zaunya tight and buries her face into her shoulder and starts sobbing. "When I couldn't f-find you... I thought... I thought-"
"I know honey... I know... I'm ok." Zaunya says exhaling in a soft tone being held tightly by BugBear.
"She must've put the jammer up for them that night..." Brian silently thinks to himself connecting dots and saying nothing.
A bit more time passes as the group gathers in the living room. BugBear takes a drag of her smoke sitting on the couch as Brian continues to rest near the window watching the street through pattering rain. The warm calmness of the energy in the hideout highlights the heavy rain pouring down outside.
As everyone listens attentively, BugBear speaks.
"I stuck around for a while... when Audrey didn't show, i took off. They rolled up not even 2 minutes after I split."
"We're you followed here." Brian says slightly changing subject as his paranoia gets the better of him.
"...One of the earliest things I learned being a runner is how to not be followed... in or out of the net.." She responds looking over at him.
He reluctantly lets it go as he continues to occasionally glance out of the apartment window. She continues on topic.
"I watched them pretty closely before I called... The amount of huscle she had with her didn't sit right... didn't make much sense... even moreso with a random NCPD badge alongside her. She looked lost, this corpo woman. It was clear to me she didn't know where she was... y'know, there's a lot of benefits to being a Night City native. Outsiders can't help but stand out. The harder they try not to... the easier they are to spot. She wasn't trying though. Almost gave off the energy of a feral animal in unfamiliar territory."
"You're right. Shes not from here... told me this is her first time in NC... PetroChem auditor... investigations department she said."
Brian closes his eyes tight and subtly shakes his head. "And you're telling me they don't know shit?" He says in a frustrated tone to Audrey. Before Audrey can shout back shes interrupted by Zaunya.
"-There's a lot of layers and factors to shit like this. In the corporate world.. whenever there's big, uncontrollable mishaps damage control can get tricky... Goals and intentions can splinter throughout everyone involved... it gives way to miscommunication... leading to distrust and mistakes... finger pointing... and eventually betrayal... these are our points of attack."
Brian Chimes in "Sounds kinda warped. In my experience.. corporations as big as PetroChem run like a well oiled machine regardless of the event... there's protocols in place... contingency plans... unlimited database access... an unlimited well of huscle and operators on speed dial... their reach and influence seems fuckin' limitless."
"Its a front. Trust me-"
"-Explain..." He responds skeptical.
Zaunya sits up on the couch resting her forearms on her lap and crossing her long legs.
"Why do you think they're considered so powerful..? Is it because they're omnipotent...? Invincible...? No... it's because those they rest their boots on the necks of have NOTHING. If you ever see quick, rampant escalation happening so high up in the chain of command.. then its running on borrowed time. Desperation has hit and someone's racing to avoid catching the falling knife. They'll exhaust every avenue of their often limited reach and resources to make it go away... or at the very least pass the problem off to someone else. The bigger the corp... the more varied the interests of all those involved... its volatile." Zaunya pauses briefly as they all take this valuable information in. She concludes:
"Corpos are only as powerful as their enemies are weak..... and we're not weak." Zaunya closes her eyes tight as she exhales... feeling a deep, sharp pain.
"Zaunya!" BugBear shouts as she grabs her forearm and looks her over. "What happened!?"
"My... back.." Zaunya winces in pain.. holding her head and falling back into the couch cushions. Audrey instinctually moves closer and gently cradles her... holding her tightly before She feels a sudden hand on her shoulder... causing her to look up.
"I've got this." Netty says in a softened tone looking down at Audrey with a genuine look. "I'm gonna need some of your hardware though." BugBear puts her arm out in front of the slightly taller than her kid and gets inbetween him and Zaunya.
"Uhm- I'm sorry. Who is this kid?" BugBear says glancing at Audrey and then over at Brian.
Audrey raises her eyebrows and responds after a brief pause... a slight smirk on her lips. "That's NTK"
BugBear's eyes open wide as she looks over at him. "WHAT!?" she shouts causing Netty to look over at her.
"Heh, yeah... we plucked him outta the jaws of a corpo rat nest. I honestly think-"
"-Bullshit. Show me." BugBear says cutting Audrey off in a serious tone as she stands up. They look at each other as her eyes glow and flicker blue... Netty's eyes do the same. He quickly shows her a private key signature confirming his identity.
"Holy shit!" Bugbear says in exhale and complete shock... the look on her face serious with marvel. "The Militech datafortress? I heard about that Cytech hardware catastrophe too! The Dynalar black lab momento!"
Netty listens on feeling slightly embarrassed. Apparently to trained eyes in the know, he's not as out of the spotlight as he may have thought.
BugBear pauses briefly and takes a few steps back... still looking directly at Netty... completely changing the tone and the energy of the room. The heavy rain outside pattering on the roof and windows of the hideout takes over with occasional rolling thunder. She gathers herself and prepares for what shes about to say next.
"And the Black Wall..." She says causing Netty to look over at her with a serious expression and say nothing. She continues
"Shit... I heard Netwatch has an entire specialized team dedicated to YOUR spot on the wall... corpo runners scanning and scratching their heads about it like junior ammys during a college course. Fucking NOVA man."
"Black wall...?" Zaunya asks curious.
"Its a barrier... kind of like a virtual border that's meant to protect runners on the net... think of it kinda like two sides... the traditional net you or I would use on one side... and the untamed remnants of a forgotten age of the net lying just past that. To most, going beyond it is plainly considered suicide... the rogue a.i's that exist on that side are relentless... rabid. Some of the greatest, highest skilled runners out there that've dared to go beyond it are simply looked at as slow, helpless maggots... strays... fragments of outdated code with no significance... to be purged and removed... fried to a crisp. Anyone crazy enough to go beyond it let alone TOUCH IT... has gotta have a deathwish. Netwatch put the thing up back after the datakrash n' things were really starting to get outta hand. There's a lot of debate and theories about it these days amongst runners under the surface... back and forths about who and why but one things clear... No One fucks with the Black Wall... Nobody... Except i guess... NTK."
The energy of the room shifts as everyone listens raptured in the tale. BugBear inevitably continues.
"How the fuck did you-?"
"-Its a long story... don't really wanna talk about it." Netty responds dismissively in a serious tone thinking deeply.
"PSH! Don't wanna talk about it? You're-" She says as she catches a look from Brian subtly shaking his head at her signaling not to pry causing her to stop. Brian picks up on Netty's dismissive reaction and takes mental note of it.
"We should get started." Netty says looking over at Zaunya. The pair of them get up and begin making their way to Audrey's room in the hideout. Audrey promptly starts to follow the pair to the room but is abruptly stopped by Zaunya with a look over her shoulder.
"Alone." Zaunya demands in a serious tone... causing Audrey to reluctantly stop in her tracks.
The pair enter the room... sliding the door closed behind them.