\+/ Tales From Night City \+/ Chapter 39 - Just Another Tale From Night City
The heavy rain on the car windows settles in as the Galena slows to a stop. Brian and Netty gaze out at a lone, isolated warehouse with several service vehicles parked out front of a towering, fenced off, brick building. Its clear Brian and Netty have had several conversations before arriving. The kid is anxious and intimidated at the imposing site causing him to begin to tense up and take deep breaths while doing his best to stay focused. He feels a heavy hand be placed on his shoulder causing him to jolt and look over at Brian.
"Easy kid. Stay focused. Besides.. your ass isn't leavin' that seat."
"What?"
"Slot this shard." Brian replies as he hands him a light blue, blinking shard. Netty grabs it hesitantly and holds it out in front of him staring at it. Brian silently watches.
"Is this a-"
"Tracker." Brian replies. "You never know with ops like this... Anything can happen."
The kid scoffs: "Psh.. what, you mean like me running off? I ain't no coward man."
"Better safe than sorry choom. The last thing i need to be worryin' about during some shit like this is where you ran off too.."
"I ain't runnin' off!" The kid shouts frustrated.
"Link into comms and let me know when you've got ahold of the building. Nothin' starts without your say so." Brian says as he opens the door to the car letting in a heavy flow of rain. The two share a brief silence as Brian hops out of the car and turns back to face Netty with his hand on the roof.
"You're up kid... It's time." He says raising his eyebrows and looking Netty straight in the eyes. Netty returns the look with a determined face to prove himself as Brian closes the door.
"How long have they been over there." Audrey asks BugBear as you see the pair of them scoping out Audrey's clinic from a safe unseen distance... watching as the corpos loiter around like some Afterlife rockerboys on a smoke break.
"No more than 20 minutes... I called as soon as they pulled up. I was on my way out when i got no answer from you. Good thing i was gone before they got there..." BugBear says as she takes another drag of her smoke.
"What'd ya get?" Audrey asks
"Leader looks to be one Molly Seeker. PetroChem employee, job title redacted, no public record... shes even got corpo immunity... 'Do Not Delay, Detain or Arrest For Any Offense.' huh... that's a rare one... Must be a heavy hitter.. Guessing a lot of collateral damage follows wherever she goes. The badge and her personal huscle didn't turn up much. A few write-ups for insubordination, corporate misconduct... the usual... Typical dogs in debt to be lead around on a leash at her service."
"Molly Seeker... fuck, why does that sound so familiar?" Audrey says to herself
"Well, judging by what i've picked up so far just by watching them over there she's impatient... wirey. In that little of 20 minutes i've already seen her chew out her own corpo security and grab the NCPD badge by the throat and slap him twice in the face." BugBear says as she raises her eyebrows and tilts her head slightly with a smirk. "She must be running out of time."
"Thanks Bear.." She says as she gets up and begins to leave toward the corpos. BugBear quickly reaches and grabs Audrey's wrist stopping her.
"Hey! What are you doing..? Aren't you gonna tell me what this is all about? You seem to know more than I do at least."
"I can't... not yet." Audrey replies as the two share a pause. BugBear slowly lets go of her wrist and looks at Audrey feeling dejected. Audrey grabs BugBear's hand causing her to look at her.
"Wait here... watch my back yeah?" Audrey asks causing BugBear to nod silently and look over at the group of corpos.
BugBear and Netty simultaneously say: =Can you hear me?=
Brian and Audrey simultaneously say: =Loud and clear.= as each pair connect via their respective holos.
=Alright. Now! GO!= Netty shouts to Brian over the holo. Brian quickly hops the chain link fence making loud clanking noises being masked by the now heavy rain falling. He lands on the other side and quickly takes cover behind a stack of crates. He looks up to see a camera above a door several yards away staring right at him. He instinctually points his Nue at it. =Yo! Chill choom! Its me! See?= Netty says as he moves the camera up and down as the light on it turns green. =Front room is clear, move up!= Netty says as he opens the door for Brian whom quickly sneaks in.
"Can I help you?" Audrey shouts as she approaches her shop in the heavy rain causing all the corpos to look over at her as she steps under the building overhang toward them. She is met halfway by a woman sporting a black blazer with a matching black thigh high corpo skirt hugging her curves tightly. Audrey listens to the sound of her corpo high heels tap heavy on the pavement as she approaches. Her hair is a long, flowing silverish white and she sports several subtle but clear face tattoos. "A corpo with face tats...? that's another rare one" Audrey thinks to herself as the woman approaches with her hand out for a shake.
"Audrey Presca?"
"Yes?"
"Molly Seeker. PetroChem auditor. Investigations Department. Its nice to finally meet you!" She says with a big greeting smile on her face.
"What's uhh.. all this about?" Audrey says raising her eyebrows and glancing at all of the huscle and the NCPD badge tending to his face.
"Oh! Just my babysitters.. Don't mind them! I asked if all of this was necessary and they told me 'absolutely in Night City'. Odd i thought" Molly says with a light giggle.
"Investingations? Did something happen?"
Molly continuing to grin with the same big smile pauses for a second while staring deep into Audrey's eyes to an odd and uncomfortable extent making Audrey uncomfortable... She lowers her eyebrows and points with her thumb over her shoulder and finally replies. "There was... a huge explosion. Not too long ago?"
"Oh! That! Right! Yeah. Just another day in NC!" Audrey replies as the pair laugh together.
"Great, well i'm actually here for a check-up doc! Didn't have the chance to get around to it before i took off. Do you mind? You come recommended by some of the best on file." Molly asks still grinning big as she begins to walk toward the shop entrance as Audrey forceably follows.
=There's 2 in the room up ahead. Hang tight till they pass by.= Netty says as Brian patiently waits crouched behind a desk with his knife out.
=Shit! They split! one of them is headed to your room! now!= Brian quickly gets up and moves to the side of the door and presses his back up against the wall. The door slides open as one of the huscle steps in.
The lights in the room cut off leaving it darkened with little to no visibility causing the guard to flinch. Brian grabs him by the neck from behind with his left arm and quickly stabs him in the throat twice causing him to squeal as blood comes squirting out of the wounds onto Brian's arm and shoulder. He slowly brings him to ground as he lets out another gargle and his body begins to shut down. Brian yanks the knife out of his throat causing the blood to run and pool in the small office room.
"You weren't waiting too long out in that rain i hope?" Audrey asks as she turns on the lights to the lab and takes her jacket off. Molly steps past her toward the ripper doc chair and slowly removes her blazer revealing her tight white corpo dress shirt while shaking out her hair. As she does this; Audrey can't help but check out her well toned body from head to toe... She slowly gazes at her tight figure from behind... down past her tight skirt squeezing her curves... to the back of her bare legs as she watches her slowly shift her weight in her high-heels. She quickly gathers herself before Molly responds.
"Not at all! Sorry for not contacting you ahead of time. This entire thing was pretty last minute so they've been briefing me since touchdown. Things feel like they're about to start getting pretty antsy up at the top."
"Whys that?"
Molly looks over at Audrey as she sits in the ripper chair and crosses her bare legs.. catching Audrey's eye. "Because i'm here...I'm not brought in unless someone fucked up nearly beyond repair and would rather few knew about it...whether off record or not."
"I see. socket please."
"Ooo... not even going to buy me a drink first?" Molly says seductively with a smile as she casually flips her long white hair out of the way and gently turns her head to the side allowing Audrey to jack in and get to work. She continues, changing the tone.
"You know... i've never been to Night City before... From what i hear, it checks all the boxes... Depravity, deception, debauchery, degeneracy. Hmm... some city of dreams you guys have here."
"I'd say the sooner you can get out of this city the better... For most thats just a pipe dream."
"A pipe dream? Hahaha you say that like its a prison cell... Why not just leave?"
Audrey pauses for a fair amount of time Leaving Molly curious for an answer. "...I think thats a question all of us struggle to find an answer to. Whether its one reason or another... this city has a way of grabbing ahold of you and not letting go..."
=There's 2 more in the room now! They're coming back!= Brian quickly darts out of the room and charges at one of the huscle tackling and slamming him to the ground as he begins to wrestle with him. The other huscle draws his iron as you see sparks fly out of his neuro sockets causing him to tense up and shriek in pain. He fights through it and points the iron at Brian as his neuro sockets explode letting out sparks of electricity and black smoke causing him to drop to the ground dead with a heavy thud. His iron scrapes across the cement warehouse floor as blood leeks out of his mouth, ears and eyes. Brian strangles the man hes wrestling with on the floor overwhelming him with his size and strength and crushes his wind pipe. He then drags the two corpos into the room and piles them on top of each other. =Thanks kid.= Brian says while breahting heavy.
The kid stumbling over his words does his best to keep himself together in the heat of the moment. =There's uhhm..there's no more i can see in or around the office- wait... I see him! I see the rat! Hes outside!= Netty shouts as he stares at the corpo pull up in an unmarked Chevillon. Netty gets a clear look at the short corpo as he exits the vehicle and looks around paranoid... sporting the chrome Kiroshi Oracle with a sleek, gold finish.
=I've got this.= Netty says with certainty while opening the door.
=NO! Plant your ass right there! I'm comin' back out!= Netty ignores him and disconnects the call as he jumps out of the car. He races across the street in pursuit of the corpo.
He gets to the end of an alley way with chainlink fence on both sides and sees the rat with his 2 huscle turn a corner heading into the warehouse casually. Netty begins to walk deeper into the darkened alleyway in the heavy rain with little more than the few dim and flickering street lights for visibility. One of the huscle unexpectedly comes back around the corner and is met by the kid standing about 10 yards away. This startles Netty as he instinctually stops in his tracks and turns around to quickly walk away.
"HEY! STOP RIGHT THERE!" The huscle yells at the top of his lungs as he draws his iron.
"PetroChem bringing in special agents for public events like this doesn't happen too often... If you end up finding anyway i can help ya out. Please feel free to Let me know." Audrey says subtly checking her out and fanning Molly's ego a bit as she finishes her check-up and disconnects from one of her neuroports.
"Oh! I'm certain that won't be necessary doc... I'm sure you've got no place in any of this" Molly says with a big smile while chuckling and looking over at her and resting on the edge of the ripper chair.
Netty quickhacks the huscle.. "AGHH! I CAN'T FUCKIN SEE!" he screams as he drops his rifle onto the gravel below with a hard rocky thud. The man then charges in Netty's direction at full speed and trips over himself running head first into the chainlink fence making a loud clanking noise as he falls to ground rolling around.
Netty, with his eyes still glowing red feels a sharp pain enter his head causing him to close his eyes tight and shriek. He turns around to see the other huscle, a netrunner, attempting to quickhack him. He wore a blood red netrunner visor that glowed bright in the dim alleyway. The quickhack distorts Netty's vision briefly before he turns to face him. As he focuses in on the corpo runner it causes him to scream loudly in extreme pain while holding onto his head. Netty slowly walks toward the corpo runner with an intense, violent death glare on his face. He screams even louder as smoke begins to emit from his ears and mouth as he falls to his knees in immense pain. The corpo runner's visor explodes with a bright red shock as he lets out a final shriek of pain before collapsing to the ground lifeless while Netty stands over him.
"Although, how fun would it be if our paths DID cross again because of this operation!" Molly says to Audrey with a big smile on her face.
Netty stands over him still quickhacking before he is tackled to the ground from behind with full force. The weight of the impact knocks the wind out of him as he looks to see the first corpo he blinded now on top of him. The corpo punches Netty in the face with full force nearly knocking him unconcious as he pulls his iron and points it directly at his face. Before he is able to pull the trigger, his head explodes in a shower of blood that fills the dimly lit air and covers Netty's face. The corpo's body falls off of Netty to the side as he sees Brian standing over him holding his Nue to his side. Netty looks at Brian with a traumatized face as Brian yanks him up by his hoodie.
"I told you to stay in the CAR!" Brian yells through his teeth as Netty finds his footing and looks back down at the 2 dead huscle they're standing over.
"The honest, specialty corpo, ripperdoc contractor..." Molly says as she leans in closer toward Audrey.
You see Brian slowly open the door to the main office as the rat stands there holding his Lexington and shaking uncontrollably. Brian raises his Nue without hesitation and unloads 5 shots into his chest sending him flying back over the desk. The 2 approach as Brian focuses in on the golden eye attempting to get his fingers into the dead corpos eye socket. "Rippin' without a ripper? What are ya? A scav?" Netty chuckles.
"Who turned out to be behind the whole thing." Molly says at Audrey staring deep into her eyes and leaning in even closer while still smiling and building the tension.
Brian grabs a machete off of the office table and begins to hack the corpo's head off... sending blood flying and causing Netty to gag and throw up in a corner of the room.
"But I guess that'd just be another tale from night city huh." Molly concludes with a smirk in a softened tone.
Lightning flickers into the dark office while Brian holds up the severed head of the corpo rat as Netty watches blood drip from the base of it.