\+/ Tales From Night City \+/ Chapter 60 - Company Policy

The slow rolling tires of a Chevillon Emperor come to a screeching halt in front of a high end skyscraper mid sunny day. Molly arrives, dressed in her corpo best... Her long white hair was slicked back and tied up in a professional corpo style, the reflection of the light glimmered off her polished, corpo black high heels as they stomp down a marble floored hallway.

Shes Escorted by Manny and her unnecessarily large entourage of corpo handlers through their base of operations, an entire floor of a high-end city center skyscraper draped in blood red carpets and white marble decor with gold trim. Molly and Manny exit an elevator and make their way down a long, pristine hallway toward the main room at a brisk pace with purpose. Molly feels the fabric of her white corpo dress shirt rubbing up hard against her deep back scratches and bite mark. She ignores the pain, keeping an all business look on her face as her high heels continue to tap heavy on polished marble floor.

While entering the mainroom with the rest of her personal team waiting patiently for her, they stop their scrambling around and idle conversations with each other before quickly sitting up straight and attentive. There are several stacks of documents, datashards and different pictures with paperwork pertaining to the Petrochem warehouse explosion scattered all over the large conference room table. Some of the various intel includes old records of past operations, former associates turned enemies, various rival corporate executives of interest and their loyal huscle, you name it. An entire private team's worth of investigative work gathered including current active leads. Molly sits down at the head of the table and kicks her high-heeled feet up onto it.

As everyone sits silently waiting for her to speak she glances around at them for a brief moment impatiently.

"...Well..?" She asks lowering her eyebrows in an expecting tone causing the various suits in the room to perk up.

"Hello ma'am." One of them says, clearing their throat "Good to see you're ok. Here we've compiled the various data we've accumulated since you touched down including the information you acquired out in the badlands."

"The long and short of it is this. We were provided a description of 2 people of interest from the receptionist. She informed me that the 2 we're interested in were indeed the occupants of that Colby Butte we found burned and stashed out there. Said they left the motel several days later in a different vehicle after burning the Butte... Of course.. not sure of which one. She also said that wasn't something all that uncommon out there." Molly says chuckling in amusement.

"So we're unfortunately unable to know who the owner of the Butte may have been. Nor do we know the vehicle they left with" One of the suits in the room says at the table chiming in.

"Fuck the small breadcrumbs. Whoever they are, they've already proven they can play that game well. Following a small lead at a time will get us nowhere at best and running in circles at worst." Molly says before pulling out a smoke and crossing her bare legs in her corpo black thigh high skirt. Manny quickly produces a lighter and lights her smoke for her before standing back at attention behind her. She continues in a relaxed tone after taking a drag.

"Lets think back to the original action... The potential motives are few and far between. Nothing as far as we know was taken... It was clearly a forced breach in security and NOT an accident. This was a completely unmarked location of interest and access was obtained through a very specific pathway... through very specific means." She takes another drag of her smoke before continuing.

"This tells me it was someone with inside knowledge and understanding."

"An insider ma'am?" One of the corpo women in the room asks curious

"Mm. One who knows how to hit where it hurts... I've seen my fair share of blackmail attempts, inner company sabotage, and coordinated regime takeovers but this... this is different... This feels... personal... emotional." Molly replies as the conversation in the conference room continues to flow.

"There's any number of enemies we've made in the industry over the years that can have an interest in hurting us in any way possible. Sovoil doesn't skip my mind for a second." Another suit in the room says.

"The known enemy strikes where you're prepared to be hit... the unknown enemy strikes where you dread to even be grazed..." She says looking over at the suit before she takes another drag of her smoke while they all ponder. She continues.

"Needless to say, i'd go as far as to wager this isn't competition... oh no... this... this is a punch in the face... an assault from someone who not only wants to make the company hurt... but is more than likely hurt themselves. Hmm..."

"We have several other pieces of intel in the way of events of the week ma'am. This city is entrenched in serious fuckin' chaos. I almost didn't believe the amount of corpo involved violence activity reports we pulled but one in particular stood out. A car chase that occurred days prior to the warehouse sabotage involved several PetroChem contractors tasked with security of our particular warehouse. They pursued a T66 Avenger driven by an unknown occupant through a slum neighborhood... however they never reported back. Both vehicles had been mostly stripped before the area could be thoroughly secured and investigated."

"Mmm.. Now THERE'S something." Molly replies while reaching onto the white marble conference table. She then slots the waiting black and gold datashard with the team's gathered intel as her eyes begin to glow blue. With her feet still kicked up, she takes a few more puffs of smoke while various other suits light their own cigs amidst the waiting silence. After a few drags, one of them breaks it.

"We're ready for your next steps ma'am."

Molly continues to silently sift through various pieces of thoroughly gathered data with her eyes glowing blue. The team glances around at each other in their red leather chairs in the silent high-end conference room awaiting a call from Molly. She takes several more minutes of assessment before her eyes stop glowing blue causing the rest of the corpo team to perk up and listen.

"This is clearly a delicate investigation. The people involved in this are intelligent, highly capable and motivated for currently unknown reasons. Due to the unique... extreme nature of the environment this case resides in, as well as various in-house factors, i'll be unable to approach this conventionally. In order to ensure the highest probability of success, it'll work to my advantage to continue light in this investigation, and proceed without further encumbrance by an unnecessarily large operation and security detail."

You can cut the silent tension in the air with a knife... Molly pauses while taking a heavy drag of her smoke before putting it out in a pristine, unused, glass PetroChem ashtray... Stamping the burning cherry out right in the center of the logo.

"I'm hereby officially deeming this black project's classification to: Redacted. Under article 9, subsection PCx dash 726: Company Policy."

The statement causes several of the suits in the room to subtly gasp and look at each other with disbelief and angst. She continues.

"I will be submitting a formal request to extend my investigation into this matter until further notice. I, along with Manny will thoroughly parse through the provided data, and pursue the various leads in a manner appropriate to the required process necessary to succeed in this investigation." Molly concludes in a serious, professional tone we've never heard before causing the various suits in the room to quickly glance around at each other in silent confusion.

Molly removes her feet from the table. "Yeah, that's correct. You're all fired."

She gets up out of the chair causing the various suits sat around the conference table to quickly stand up and bow their heads in silence. She makes for the exit with Manny promptly following behind her leaving them speechless in the conference room.

"Please feel free to disregard the associated mandatory debriefing. Oh, and don't worry about me, resources and Huscle are but a holobuzz away... i'm sure you're all no doubt DEATHLY concerned for my well being." She says sarcastically. "Note that your re-assignments will be sure to come in due time. Thank you all, of course, for your efforts and continued faithful service to blah blah blah blah." Molly concludes dismissively as you hear her high heels tapping on the marble floor exiting the conference room.

She presses a button on the elevator to the ground floor as it hums slowly heading down.

"I am fucking starving.." Molly says with a tired exhale before glancing over at Manny. She notices him smiling with his big arms crossed.

"What is it?" She asks.

"Company Policy classification huh?... Heard thats only been done like 3 times in PetroChem's history... Under redacted even?... heh... I've always known you to be a bit of a wildcard but even for you this is pretty fuckin' close to the edge."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Sure it is. Remember Colombia? Germany?... San Francisco?"

"Eh.. maybe... This feels different though... This city is unpredictable... chaotic. Too many layers... too many factors at play to keep up with. We're gonna need to consolidate and be thorough. Intel usually doesn't tend to splinter and scatter about like it has here... constantly changing even. Trust here seems more like an imaginative concept than a real one... More of a tool or a weapon as apposed to a pillar of morality. Gonna need you focused and ready for x-factors... need you to trust me."

"Heh, When have I ever not?... Consider it a uhh... personal 'Company Policy' classification of mine." Manny replies in a deep tone causing the pair to giggle amongst each other... sharing a brief, wholesome moment together before the gentle hum of the elevator takes back over.

"What are you STILL smiling about?" Molly asks laughing with a smile.

"Just love when you take charge of an op ma'am. Results speak for themselves... You know i've got your back." Manny says looking forward.

The elevator dings open, cutting to black.