\+/ Tales From Night City \+/ Chapter 23 - This is Me
Brian screeches the Butte to a halt. They find themselves on the outskirts of Night City in the Badlands... He hops out of the car and walks in front of it gazing out at the distant, silent glow of NC... with feint green plumes of aftermath smoke off in the far distance. With his adrenaline rushing he hears Zaunya's passenger door open. He looks back directly at her before B-Lining it up to her pissed off, her shout stops him in his tracks right in front of her as he irately listens.
"WE GOT WHAT WE CAME FOR..." She yells in a raised defensive tone. "This was the-"
"What THE FUCK was going through your head back there!? That was a fuckin Petrochem warehouse buried in the FUCKIN GROUND!"
"We just needed the data to the!-"
Brian leans in close to her lowering his voice and looking directly into her eyes instinctually making her step back and intimidating her. He yells through his teeth in an angered tone. "Petrochem's a fucking MEGACORP! They're gonna have eyes all over this! Corpos don't give a fuck about the first strike... they make sure they take the last one... and for WHAT!?" Brian pauses briefly.
"You're not a merc, you're a fuckin' terrorist."
He proclaims under his breath before stepping away and turning his back to her. The pair seperate and share a long pause..allowing the ambient sounds of the baron badlands to take over briefly. Zaunya finally speaks in a softened, forthcoming tone... narrating her own recollections.
"I was born in Night City... not how most are though... there wasn't much in the way of a childhood where i'm from..." You hear Zaunya's boots kick rocks and scrape gravel as she walks toward the edge of the cliff, looking out into silent glow of Night City. She continues.
"I come from a legacy family of security... Protectors of some of the most high-value assets in the city. My grandfather was shield to the PetroChem CEO himself. His abilities were second to none...Heightened sense of awareness, sharp reflexes... but most importantly... unwavering loyalty to the corp. These gifts... abilities... permeated throughout the family... raising our status and value overtime beyond that of even some of the most valued corpos in the city. Fear and success... kept us safe... gave us access to a life lived by few and desired by all..."
"My mom was shield to a PetroChem board executive... one of the highest ranking members of the company... born into it of course." Zaunya says as a flashback begins:
Zaunya's mom is seen engaged in combat training in various scenarios against various opponents. Skillfully stopping or immobilizing each one after the other with brutal technique while using her cyberware augmentations to maximum efficiency.
"Training was life. The only driving motivation we had was to do everything in our power to keep PetroChem HVTs safe."
Zaunya's mom is next seen at a high level corpo meeting taking place in a neon soaked bar in Night City, stood behind an executive she is protecting. An assassin, almost resembling that of someone gone cyberpsycho storms in at break neck speed toward her executive. Several other security are decapitated as he lunges for the executive. Zaunya's mom quickly steps in between the two of them causing her to be impaled by the assassin's mantis blade through the gut. She instinctually shrieks in pain before shoving the mantis blade deeper into her own gut pulling the psycho in closer allowing her to grab his head with her gorilla arms, squeezing and crushing it into an explosion of blood that covers her face before she falls facedown, lifeless on top of the corpse.
"Sacrifice... was our purpose of living."
Several other PetroChem bodyguards swarm the area in the aftermath around Zaunya's mom rushing to her aid, rolling her over, and securing the perimeter around her and the executive.
"They wouldn't give us names... We needed to be expendable. Nothing more than a write-off if... anything were to happen to us... It was like we never existed. How we were viewed to the corp in public was nothing like how we were viewed in private.. even amongst those of status and absolute power. Such a contrast... fucked with our heads."
You next hear Zaunya's mother's high-heels tapping across a marble floor in an executive office while she wears a thin gold slip accentuating her curves and highlighting her long legs. She opens a concealed door on the wall toward the back of the office, leading into a hidden room.
The room housed a bed with bright neon pink lights surrounding it... flooding the room with vibrancy, pink silk sheets that shined in the dim light with various mirrors surrounding the room all focused on the bed. The Petro executive, leaned back on the bed with no shirt on watches her enter the room with fire and lust in his eyes. He looks her up and down... slowly gazing at her face all the way down her body to her feet. Zaunya's mom slides the door closed.
"After things started to settle down... Petro execs needed less protection and more... service."
Zaunya pauses and takes a deep breath, struggling to find the words that she wants to say next. Brian continues to listen from the hood of the Butte, watching her stare off into the city from behind her. He sees her long black hair lightly blowing in the wind along with the tail flaps of her black leather kuomori. She continues.
"I was cleaning the execs office one evening at the end of the day... Hadn't seen my mom all day. I just... pressed up against the wall lightly by accident and the door slid open... scared the shit out of me."
Young Zaunya walks into the hidden room where she is met with a neon pink ambient glow and a spotless bedroom setup. It grabs ahold of her curiosity and draws her in.. The door slides closed behind her as she slowly walks throughout the room covering herself in neon pink ambient lighting and slowly taking it all in with her mouth agape...wondering what the hell this is...it was almost as if she had stepped into another world.
Zaunya hears the front door to the executive office beep and slide open. She then hears the sound of a man talking loudly with a slurred speech and a woman giggling alongside of him. She recognizes her mother's giggle and instinctually dives under the bed to hide. Her heart begins to race as the tandem steps of dress shoes and high heels on the marble floor grow closer toward the hidden door. Before she can even think, the door slides open and the pair bring their outting energy into the bedroom. Zaunya sees only her mother's feet in high heels next to a pair of dress shoes as she giggles while being pushed onto the bed in which the exectuive quickly follows behind her. The combined weight of the two slams onto the bed forcing it down slightly on top of Zaunya making her jump and opening her eyes wide. She forces her hand over her mouth before she hears her mom speak while giggling.
"You've had too much. I can tell." She says to the executive while giggling.
"Ahh... too much. Never! hahahaha!... never too much of you!" The executive responds before beginning to make out with her mom on the bed.
As the action progresses. Zaunya hears the sounds of moaning in ecsctacy turn to fear and turmoil. As the executives tempo increases, so do his grunts of pleasure as do Zaunya's mom's grunts of pain. The bed continues to give under their combined weight lightly pressing down and touching Zaunya's back.
"S-slow down! What are you d-doing!? S-STOP!" Zaunya's mom struggles to say. The executive grabs and pins her down to the bed by her throat and one of her arms with all of his strength continuing to pump harder and harder.
"S-STOP! PLEASE!" Zaunya's mother struggles to yell through her teeth as she shrieks and her breath is being taken away as the executive continues to grunt even louder. Zaunya's mom goes silent as the executive continues holding her down by her neck and pumping as hard as he can. Zaunya under the bed covers her ears with her arms as the bed presses down on top of her repeatedly.
Zaunya takes another drag of her smoke before closing her eyes tight, forcing tears down the side of her cheeks as she turns her head to the side. The distant neon glow of Night City catches a slight reflection off of her tears. She continues.
Young Zaunya is now seen sat at the opposite end of the executives desk subtley staring at the hidden door while in a trance. She is now surrounded by a bunch of suits who have gathered around her for a meeting. The executive's new assistance speaks to her in a softened, feminine tone feinting excitement.
"Good morning Zaunya! I hope you're having a good day. We just wanted to come together to share some great news with you!" Zaunya looks up at the woman..staring at her manufactured smile.
"Your mother has been assigned to PetroChem abroad! This is one of the highest honors to be sure! She'll be responsible for overseeing all of the most important protection and safety initiatives of the entire company and will have her own personal team under her leadership!"
Little Zaunya, intimidated by the imposing suits around her, is forced to sit and listen to the woman. As the sound of the woman's voice fades into the background, Zaunya looks back over at the hidden door as her tension begins to grow..rendering her unable to breath as her body begins to hyperventilate anyway. The sound of the woman repeatedly calling her name snaps her out of it, causing her to quickly look up at the lady.
"Zaunya...? Zaunya? Your mother even took the time to leave you a message!" Zaunya, confused quickly sits up in her seat and focuses in on the laptop in front of her as her eyes begin to well-up. She sees her mom sat at a blank brown desk with a muted black background behind her in a pre-recorded video. Her mom gathers herself on the video slightly before speaking.
"Uhm...Hi Zaunya! Sorry I couldn't see you before I left." She pauses and glances at several of the people off camera.
"I've been told that my services are in high demand throughout the companies' various locations and they'll be needing me far outside of Night City." She pauses again, at a loss for words... struggling to find the next ones before continuing.
"I'm... i'm not sure when i'll be back sweetie..." Another pause.
"Please take care of yourself... my... my sweet baby girl." She says half smiling and half crying.
She pauses even longer as her and Zaunya stare each other deep in the eyes through the screen before continuing in a somber tone... cracking her voice.
"...I love you honey."
The video cuts. Leaving nothing behind but a blank screensaver that reads: 'PETROCHEM'