Zaunya waiting outside the entrance of the ripper's is leaned up against a chainlink fence. Her black leather facemask hangs from her front pocket as she posts one of her long legs up against the fence for stability. The lack of ambient advertising lights has her nearly shrouded in darkness as stray sirens and car horns ring far off in the distance. Its been a long day... thinking of Brian's injuries causes her to take brief inventory of her own damage. With chrome as quality as hers, damage that'd normally rip a choom in half like wet tissue paper is nothing more than a few dings and dents.
The hierarchy of power that exists within every circuit... every wire... every single piece of chrome anyone may have walking down the street... creates a never ending cybernetic arms race driven by things so very human...
Fear.
Understanding of the sheer precariousness... the fragility of the world around them... bendable to the will of the strongest and most determined.
Zaunya takes long, calm drags of her smoke... staring deeply at her reflection in a small chemical laced puddle beneath her feet... recalling a memory:
Young Zaunya, now about sixteen, frantically scrambles to organize an opulent tea set. She places the various cups and silverware onto a gold tray... engraved at the base reads 'PETROCHEM' glaring up at her. Her hands shake as she nervously lifts the tray and makes her way down a long hallway in the corporate mega-structure.
She makes her way past various corpos going about their business.. hearing stray shouting matches, whispered conversations and office equipment firing. Janitors on their hands and knees clean up alcohol spills and party trash, vacuuming open offices and scrubbing desks.
She arrives outside of a board meeting room and is just tall enough to peek in through a small window on top of the door, seeing various suits sat at a huge table deep into a meeting.
Her green eyes catch a man sat at the head... elbows rested on the table with hands folded to his forehead. He's either irate or completely uninterested in what's going on. She glances up to see her mother, stood behind him massaging his shoulders.
Little Zaunya enters the room abruptly, bumping into the door awkwardly with the tray causing a clanking noise... startling everyone inside and throwing off the flow of the conversation.
Everyone inside glances over at her including her mother.
The executive being massaged is the last person to look up at her. He raises his head with a half surprised expression.
The conversation returns to flow as everyone re-focuses and Zaunya begins quietly serving tea.
She silently offers each member of the table a cup to which some accept and some deny.
As she slowly makes her way around the big table she glances over at her mother giving the man a massage before her attention is immediately turned to the man himself staring directly at her.
It startles Zaunya... she glances at him again realizing just how hard he's staring at her as she attempts to stay focused on her task. After serving each one... she glances over to still see him staring right at her... it was almost as if time had slowed... and everything happening around them was inaudible... her senses heighten... her heart rate increases the closer she gets... like she can feel him.
She finally makes her way... seeing her mother with hands on his shoulders and both now looking at her... smiles on their faces.
He places his hand on her mother's hand.. signaling her to stop massaging and to take a step back... he quickly sits upright as Zaunya approaches.
She pours him a cup of tea... her heart now pounding in her ears... his eyes never leaving her face... the pour feeling like an eternity chaining them together.
She quickly goes to turn away without a look at him... she hears his deep, intimidating voice for the first time.
"Thank you sweetheart." He whispers with a big smile.. making her jump slightly.
She turns back around to face him, forcing direct eye contact... she smiles with a nod before quickly turning and walking away. She collects the tray and heads for the door; As it slides open and she steps through, she instinctually feels him still staring at her... compelling her to turn around and check.
She sees him a final time... sure enough... staring right at her with hands folded. She stares back fearful as the door slides closed... forcibly breaking their eye contact with each other. Ending the recollection.
Zaunya drops her lit cigarette into the puddle, distorting her reflection. She hears the sound of the door slide open off in the distance... she glances up. She looks to see Brian walk out, quickly looking around the street for her in the opposite direction. He finally looks over in her direction and sees her before beelining it toward her... she calls out to him.
"Hey, good... you're ok." She sighs with relief.
He doesn't respond, continuing toward her with vigor and anger. Recognizing this, she shifts her tone.
"What..?" She asks confused as he gets closer... no response.. no alter to his speed.
"WHAT?!" She shouts lowering her eyebrows.. raising her arms confused.
Brian shoves her toward the fence... the force of the push surprises her, sending her falling back onto it.. the loud clank of the fence echoes down the alley. He puts both hands on her shoulders pushing her up and pinning her against the fence.
"Four days!? Four fuckin' days i spill blood for you and you bring me to a FUCKIN RIPPER?!" He shouts cracking his voice and looking her deep in her eyes "WHAT THE FFFUCK!?"
"Y-you wouldn't... s-stay awake! Y-you were... dying!!" She yells through her teeth, struggling to release his grip to no avail.
He quickly lets her go... turning and stepping away... running his fingers through his short hair... his mouth wide open and eyes closed tight.
"Was I supposed to just... let you bleed out!? There was NOWHERE. ELSE. TO GO!!" Her voice cracks, watching Brian pace back and forth.
"What does she want... who the hell was that?" He demands trying to calm himself.. glancing over at the building and the surrounding street, recognizing its unmarked... next to impossible to identify.
"Look.. that doesn't matter right now alright? Because this? THIS is time sensitive." She says holding up the black and gold access card they retrieved from sixth street. "Your place is gone... you're going to need this to start over."
Brian puts his hands on his face... raising his eyebrows in disbelief at her audacity. He looks back at her with his raised eyebrows and points directly at her face. "You. You and i... are gonna have words." He ensures walking past her toward the street.
Zaunya unable to find the right words quickly follows behind him.