Later in the evening, Brian and Zaunya sat in Graves' Butte scope the sixth street block finishing some smokes. Its clear another conversation has taken place between them prior to this. Although the evening hue of Night City brings with it a shifted tone to it's inhabitants... the energy... the danger only increases. Mellow lulls before flashes of action in the simmering pan of the black asphalt and slabbed concrete... this flow of motion that exists within Night City... is one that takes some getting used to if learned before its too late. To their surprise, attentively as they watch, they don't see any foot traffic in or out of the house all afternoon bleeding into the late evening. Brian decides its time to go by simply opening his door with no signal; Zaunya follows.
With the sun now set and work commuters turned in for the night to tuck dirtkids into bed, Zaunya and Brian walk with purpose through the mellowed streets of Arroyo... just on the border of Rancho Coranado. Stepping over dorph heads coughing and huffing skezzed out their minds... and past kids running around breaking into abandoned buildings and busting windows... trying to start fires. Local pedestrians making their way hold their gaze on this towering couple as they pass by.. one local giant's familiar but the other's presence with him is drawing excess eyes. The two share a silence.. walking a steady, determined pace side by side as she follows his lead up the street... neither with a need to talk at this point, the plan is clear. They reach the sixth street house... a huge purple skull with a giant six on the forehead lay spray painted onto the wall silently glaring at them. They glance at each other before ascending the porch steps.
Brian takes a brief pause before banging on the door with force. It startles Zaunya a bit.
"WHO THE FUCK IS IT!!?" A loud, scruff voice yells through the door seemingly across the house.
"Its Brian, open up." He shouts matching the tone.
A long pause happens as the pair outside waiting glance at each other... they hear heavy locks and chains release with metal scrapes. Footsteps shuffle around on the other side of the door before it finally opens. A short, older man with a brown leather bomber jacket and a white cowboy hat slides the door open. A huge smile takes over his face:
"BRIAAANN!!! LOOK AT YOU! GOOD TO SEE YA!!!"
"Rick." Brian mutters in greeting, attempting to walk into the home. Rick stops him in his tracks with a hand on his chest. Brian immediately snatches his wrist with quick force, stepping towards him with squinted his eyes and gritted teeth. Rick unbothered, turns his full attention to Zaunya as they disengage.
Rick leans the forearm of his blue steel prosthetic up against the door frame and crosses one of his short legs over the other.. looking her up and down. "And you sweetheart? who do I have the pleasure of meeting?" He asks in a lowered monotone feigning sexy. She looks down into the man's eyes, a serious expression.
"Z" She mutters flatly
"Z huh..? haha- alright, fair enough." Rick continues to smile big raising his eyebrows.. letting his kiroshis caress the length of her legs... stepping out of the door frame letting the pair in. He watches Zaunya walk past as he takes a deep sniff, finishing with a grunt.
The three make their way through the sixth street hangout. They feel the warmth of the building hit them immediately.. a direct contrast from the chilling streets just outside. With Morro Rock blaring obnoxiously loud in the background they pass through an overused clubhouse... scattered Broseph and polished off Whisky bottles lay everywhere. The place smelled of tobacco and spilled liquor...'Live Free or Die' spraypainted in blue in the main room with various sixth street gear and clothing scattered about. Rick speaks as they follow.
"Hey... some pretty crazy shit a couple days back huh? Did ya see ALL that corpo huscle? Tch... sniffin' around here like bloodhounds i tell ya... pretty much scraped the entire damn place clean! Funny how some'a these rats like to keep things 'extra' tidy at times."
He stops abruptly in his tracks with a look back at the pair of them remembering something. "And hey Brian... sorry about your dad."
His tone drops... he looks down and away briefly in mourning.
"We lost a real soldier with that one..."
A slight pause.. before he keeps walking.
"You checked on Nick at all since? Better to before he strings himself up first. Know he never really wanted to be out here.-"
Rick continues to ramble as the pair silently scan the area following behind him. Stacks of various crates and boxes with old military tech are piled up in the corners with an endless assortment of weapons laying about everywhere... Some being taken apart and layed in pieces to be cleaned, others mounted on the walls like trophies... some belonging to other gangs: A Tyger Claw katana, A Turquoise metal bat from The Mox, even a golden Valentino prosthetic arm formerly belonging to some unfortunate choom. Rick sits at a desk displaying the trophies overhead behind him as Brian and Zaunya take seats across from him.
With the music turned down and cigar smoke from Rick's stogie tacking the room completely out, he continues to ramble to the two of them about the car chase and shootout from a few days back. Brian and Zaunya struggle to remain patient.. sitting back attentively listening to Ricks verbal diarrhea drone on and on almost turning into background noise. The pair glance at each other before Brian finally engages while Rick's mid laugh.
"So where's everybody at..?"
"Crews out workin right now... badlands."
"Still got em out there rollin' around in the dirt huh." Brian chuckles
"Hey, eds are eds Brian... nomads are usually good for it. Last fuck up turned out to be on OUR end... flatlined that trash though. Fucker had the audacity to look me straight in the eyes and lie to me... RIGHT in my face... i mean... can you believe that? I don't even think the-"
"-Did you find anything out there after the badges split Rick... we're lookin' for an access card." Brian cuts him off before he can get going with another ramble.
Rick abruptly stops... taking a long drag of his stogie leaning back into his chair making it creak... his facial expression shifts.
The pause in conversation allows the radio to take back over, making Brian and Zaunya refocus.
Rick takes a final puff... tamping the stogie out in a dirty, littered ashtray looking like a graveyard for smokes. He reaches over in to the top drawer... pulling out the access card. With a sleek all black finish and gold trim throughout, it shined even under the dim lights of the hangout. No identifying markings, brands or logos on it at all... just a clean piece of metal he promptly shoves into his pants pocket. He finally speaks... a shifted tone more in line with who he really is.
"Sent Angela over there after things got quiet... didn't tell her to go snoopin' through people's backyards though... she's a real go getter that one."
"Mm. And what do want for it." Brian asks
Rick wrinkles his eyebrows and crosses his arms... leaned back in his chair, he nods upward.
"Where's Graves at these-"
"-Dead." Brian snap responds with a flat tone, looking Rick straight in the eyes.
Rick raises his eyebrows surprised in the pause... he looks down n' away briefly.. then back at Brian.
"...You know he owed right?"
"No, I didn't Rick... the hell does that have to do with-"
"-He'd been your fuckin' choom since the sandbox Brian. I remember seein' you little shits runnin' around this block all the time. Was he chasin' scratch..? You'd know. He better have been, Shit. We might need to take a look through that apartment of his tomorrow when everybody gets back."
Brian blankly stares at Rick stone cold... expertly buried emotions... with no reaction.
Without a response, Rick sits in the silence before breaking eye contact with him. He looks over at Zaunya... leaning forward in his chair, he switches subject.
"Sweetheart... let me ask you somethin'... do you have... any idea who it is you're runnin' around with? Hm?"
Zaunya sat back in her chair with both legs and arms crossed doesn't respond.
Rick continues... gesturing toward Brian.
"This is the son of Enrique Varga!... haha... of course you don't know who Enrique Varga is... but if you did... you'd damn sure know who his son is." Rick giggles softly.. reaching over and grabbing a bottle of Massy. He continues
"Something I picked up servin' always stuck with me... everytime I think about it... makes me think of you." Rick mutters, glancing over at Brian and pouring a glass of Massy for himself. The sound of the liquor filling the glass takes over the room's silence... he raises it.
"Talent... talent hits a target that nobody else can hit... Genius hits a target that nobody else can see." Rick takes a swig... continuing with a serious look of conviction into Zaunya's eyes... raising her attention as he leans in.
"You see... Brian is a brain. Alright...?... He's not someone you're gonna find on the receiving end. Any conflict you have in the streets leads back to a thought. A thought someone, somewhere once had that manifests itself into action. In our world... our game... in this city... its not the guy whose gonna pull the trigger you have to worry about... its the guy who plans it."
Brian finally breaks his stare... looking away slightly bothered.
Rick takes a final swig finishing the glass with a grunt. "I still say to this day you would've been the best damn thing to happen to this outfit Brian. Your dad made sure that never happened of course... unfortunately."
"What do you want for the card Rick.."
He completely ignores him... eyes trained on Zaunya. "He disappeared into NC once upon a time... don't know what the fuck happened but when he came back, well..."
He reaches over and creaks open the same drawer he pulled the access card out of.
He pulls Brian's blood red, crimson Nue out of the drawer... gently laying it on the desk in front of them... it's heavy weight making it knock down to the table hard.
Zaunya and Brian both watch the Nue shine and glimmer even in the dimly lit hangout. Brian stares deeply at his iron... almost as if seeing someone he buried... got rid of for good long ago.
Rick proclaims: "Graves ain't the only one that owed."
Brian staring at it doesn't react, keeping a straight face. It represents a multitude of things in his life... past successes... past failures... past regrets. The sight of it sends a flood of memories back through his head... most he's chosen to bury away to no avail... others that he'd luckily forgotten return with vigor and clarity. Rick breaks the silence snapping Brian out of his trance.
"I mean... how could I have ever said no to THIS." Rick giggles to Zaunya with a smirk. He grabs the Nue and raises it up toward the light tilting it back and forth making the dim light reflect.
"I gotta say Brian... every damn time I look at this thing... well... she's a real looker alright... definitely one worth a display hm?" He looks back with raised eyebrows at the various iron, chrome and tech mounted on the back wall like trophies.
"As good as she looks... doesn't really fit the criteria for the wall... you bein' a nobody n' all." Rick places the Nue back onto the desk hearing that heavy knock. "I'm guessin'... he never told you why he came back did he?" Rick says to Zaunya before finally turning his attention back over to Brian... looking directly at him, he squints his eyes.
"Care to tell her Brian? Hm? Care to tell her what sent ya scurrying back to daddy in Arroyo? I'm sure we'd all like to know at this point. Or maybe tell her about what six street did for you when you had nowhere else to turn."
Rick pauses... looking deep into Brians eyes and leaning forward onto the desk.
"Who are you now Brian."
"The card Rick... what do you-" Brian says pressured, raising voice tired of his rambling.
"-You don't have aaanything I want Brian!..." Rick laughs.. leaning back in his chair.
"I know damn well ya got no eds! As good as you were... this city chewed you up and spit you back out. Ha... honestly thought when you left i'd never see you again. As fate would have it... here you are."
He looks over at Zaunya... again scanning up and down her long legs and lanky frame.
"Your friend here on the other hand... 'Z' was it..? How bout you do me a favor and take that mask off hm?" Rick says licking his lips and leaning forward in his chair.
"Shit, I'll give ya the card... no idea what its for... don't care either. I just wanna see that deliciously beautiful face i know you're hiding." The chair creaks as he gets upHe gets up and starts walking around the desk... both Brian and Zaunya sit up in their seats and shift posture.
Zaunya looking directly at Rick standing in front of her feels a tension nip at the back of her neck as her heart rate increases... she lowers her eyebrows frozen in the audacity of the moment.. trying to stick to Brian's plan.
Rick leans in uncomfortably close... she instinctually leans back... a rapid succession of memories suddenly crash into her mind.. flashing by in a blink.
She sees her mom smiling.. cheering in celebration... she sees a corporate executive office with muted blue colors and lighting... She then sees a bed with bright neon pink lights surrounding it... flooding the room with vibrancy, pink silk sheets that shined in the neon light... and the unforgettable sound of dress shoes tapping across the marbled floor step after step after step... Rick's voice snaps her out of the flashing memories.
"Come on... why hide your beauty..? Is it really worth that much? Hm? How bout a kiss... through the mask." Rick goes to push up toward her for the kiss.
Before Brian can reach over to him, Zaunya throws a punch at his face. Rick dodges the punch, grabbing her wrist and quickly throwing her over the desk, slamming her back up against the trophy wall with serious force... the loud bang sending various trophies flying around the room as Zaunya falls to the floor. With his focus where he threw Zaunya, Brian tackles him from the side as both tumble to the ground wrestling. Brian on top of Rick starts raining down fists and elbows while holding Rick's arm. Each strike deters Brian from throwing another as the impact on Brian's knuckles and elbow outweighs the damage being done to Rick's chromed jaw. The impact of bone on chrome is excruciatingly brutal but Brian ignores it. Rick instinctually tries to scramble up to his feet but Brian stops him, using his much bigger frame in attempt to crush Rick's throat.
Rick quickly grabs Brian by the throat with his prosthetic... Brian grabs the metal hand squeezing like a vice with both of his.. gritting his teeth trying to rip it away. "Still mostly ganic huh!?" Rick says through gritted teeth trying to get Brian off of him. He punches Brian in the face.. sending him flying off the top of him sending a bunch of empty glass bottles smashing through the room. Rick, scrambles on top of Brian... the weight on top feeling like a full sized vehicle. Rick quickly draws a blue and white stinger from his ankle and stabs Brian in the bandaged wound of his shoulder... causing Brian to roar in unimaginable pain. Without hesitation, Rick yanks the knife back out and raises it to stab Brian again in the face.
The booming sound of a gun shot rips through the hangout hitting rick in his collarbone from behind... exiting out of his neck from the front and spraying blood all over Brian's face. The velocity of the shot sends Rick tumbling off of Brian immediately giving Brian a clear view of Zaunya holding her nue with a shaking hand and smoking barrel.
As Brian rolls over in pain struggling to get up, Zaunya helps him to his feet checking his body and stab wound as he breathes in relief, flustered trying stabilize himself... he instinctually shakes her touch off. Their attention is quickly turned to Rick who's crawled over to a wall and sat up against it with eyes wide open, he coughs violently spitting up blood as he struggles to breathe.
The fear and panic in Rick's eyes is clear as Zaunya slowly walks up to him, squats down, and grabs his knife. She holds it up admiring the craftsmanship and customization. The white and blue steel faded in then out all the way to the handle with a single white star along the body of the blade stained with Brian's blood. "Now THAT'S a trophy." She mutters detached... completely contrasting Rick's state of peril. She stands back up fully... casually flipping the blade before tucking it in her belt. She glances back to see Brian stood over Rick's desk not moving... she continues to search Rick's person... opening up his jacket, jostling his arms and legs around and patting down his pockets as he grunts in extreme pain with every movement she makes him do.
Brian slowly reaches onto the desk grabbing his nue... the feeling of the iron in his bloody and bruised red right hand sends a warming surge through his core... drowning out the sound and commotion of everything happening around him. He stares at it in his hand deeply as Zaunya walks back up to him explaining their current situation... with his current state of mind... she was completely inaudible.
"Brian..? ... Brian..?" Zaunya softly murmurs realizing his state... snapping him back out of it... he quickly looks at her.
Rick struggling to speak gasps for air getting their attention as they turn to look at him, standing side by side.
"Y-you're... you're dead... the b-both of you... are FUCKIN DEAD!!! ya hear me!!!?" Rick's eyes begin to glow orange as he attempts to make a call on the holo. Brian and Zaunya both raise their nues simultaneously unloading a flood of loud, booming shots into Rick's face and chest... leaving behind gunsmoke and an unrecognizable torso.