\+/ Tales From Night City \+/ Chapter 24 - Dead To Rights
The cold silence of the badlands has the pair in silent, deep thought. Brian is seen leaned up against Graves' Butte clearly impacted by Zaunya's story. He remains silent as he watches her gaze upon the distant neon glow of Night City as her black leather koumori gently flutters in the breeze. He carries an expression of disbelief before looking down in mourning. Zaunya continues.
"I was trapped... I had... no one. Nowhere to run, nowhere to go. Confined to the will of the megacorp that killed my mom." Zaunya begins to pace back and forth again, pouring her inner thoughts out in a way Brian didn't even think was possible for her based on his understanding of who she is. She cracks her voice while shouting.
"They gave me her position; treated it like a FUCKING GIFT! I was by his side constantly. He never brought another woman around us; and he never looked at me. All of our communications were done through proxy... even though i was right by his side. His guilt did nothing but enrage me." She squats down, still looking at the city with her back turned to Brian as the wind gently continues to blow her long black hair and leather Koumori.
"I retreated into my training... Being shield to one of the 'highest valued' execs on the board came with perks... tch, they treated me like fucking royalty. Tried to give me my own handlers, high-end, experimental cyberware upgrades, master level security clearances, the works. I always knew it was him; the way he'd look at me... it was almost as if he knew i knew." Brian crosses his arms and shifts his weight leaned up against the Butte. She continues
"Years went by like this. As i grew up, I just became... numb to it. Stopped thinking about ways out... and started focusing on ways in." She says gritting her teeth, clinching her fists and shifting her tone from somber to angry as you see a close-up of her green eyes reflecting the glowing image of Night City within them as she stares deeply off into it.
"What'd you do." Brian speaks for the first time asking interested in a serious tone shes never heard before. Zaunya finally breaks focus on the city off in the distance and turns back to look directly at Brian over her shoulder for the first time with a serious expression, shrouded in growing rage, saying nothing. A flashback begins:
Zaunya is seen barefoot, slowly walking in the hidden room at the back of the executive's office. The light pitter patter of her feet on the marble floor is combined with the loud snoring of the executive passed out in the middle of the bed naked. The executive is tied to the bed by each limb as he comfortably sleeps completely worn out. Shes wearing a red slip, accentuating her curves and her long legs as it lightly flows behind her from her walking speed. The neon-pink hue of the room warms the space as Zaunya receives a text message from Audrey:
=Jammers up. Delta the fuck out of there... Now.=
Zaunya glances at the text before glancing back at the executive. She looks back at the table shes standing in front of and grabs the K-Bar formerly belonging to her mother before looking back and walking towards him. She gently mounts on top of the executive and rests on his stomach, deeply staring down at his unconcious face. She grabs the K-Bar with both hands and raises it up as high as she can before bringing it down and driving it deep into his abdomen. The force of the stab jolts him awake instantly opening his eyes as wide as possible and making him shriek in pain. Zaunya jolts in fear at the sudden onset of brutality as he desperately triggers his sandevistan in an instinctual attempt to flee. He attempts to lift his right hand and swings at her with all of his strength while triggering a blade in the plam of his hand catching Zaunya's neck and up to her jaw, cutting her deep. The jolt of his quick incapacitated movements knocks Zaunya off balance as the tension of the rope holding his arm re-tightens and yanks it back down. As he continues to repeatedly fire the Sandy, the chrome begins to short circ. Zaunya panics while scrambling to get back on top of him and begins to repeatedly stab him with all of her stregnth. With each stab the pair of them let out feral shrieks and grunts.
The executive's shrieks eventually stop as the tension on the ropes holding him down begins to loosen as he lay there lifeless. Zaunya continues to stab him with all of her stregnth with her eyes wide open gritting her teeth. She stabs him in the neck, face, chest as the overwhelming amount of blood begins to spray out of his neck and face completely covering her nearly naked body. The feral sounds of her grunts and screams as she continues to stab only stop due to her exhaustion. As her grip strains, she lets go of the knife while still sat atop of the now barely recognizable executive. The silence in the room allows you to hear only Zaunya's deep labored breathing. She continues to stare deeply at the naked, now faceless and throatless executive.
A long pause takes place with Zaunya in a trance on top of the executive as she slows her breathing. Zaunya then grabs the knife again and raises it towards him as she begins to slice and hack his body in half working her way past various chrome and ganic flesh. She removes the top part of his head seeing the various s.o.s and trauma team pings triggering unsucssesfully due to the jammer. She bags the executives torso before throwing a bunch of various items and trinkets on top of it she collected overtime. The final thing being a picture of her smiling in her mother's arms in front of a PetroChem corporate building. Ending the flashback
Zaunya is seen again staring out into Night City. "I could have just... ran." She pauses briefly.
"But there's nowhere to run to like Night City... A cesspool of chaos where yesterday's events are tomorrow's forgotten history." Zaunya begins to open her mouth to speak but is unable to find the words as she begins to be overcome with emotion.
She hears the sound of Brian's footsteps behind her kicking rocks and scraping dirt as he approaches. She turns to face him as tears start to run down her face. "She could've killed him.." she says cracking her voice. Brian pulls Zaunya in to his chest, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tight as she begins to cry. "SHE COULD'VE KILLED HIM!" She yells into his chest as she begins to fall into him. The momentum drives the two of them to their knees holding each other tightly as she cries uncontrollably into his chest.
You see only their silhouettes as they hold each other tightly in the darkened Badlands... overlooking the towering and imposing Night City glow... awaiting their return.