The afternoon sun beams down on the skyscrapers of the city center as commuter traffic honks and zips around the freeways. Various clothes lay scattered about a polished, marble floored, high-end hotel room suite; alongside empty liquor bottles, broken glass, and various drugs on a countertop. Molly's custom PetroChem combat knife with the initials 'MS' engraved in gold on the white, textured blade handle lays covered in dried blood... resting in a small bowl of melted ice.
Molly lays sound asleep naked under gold sheets alongside her beautiful, petite Russian doll. Molly rolls over in her sleep to spoon with her, revealing Molly's wrists and neck both red and raw. The doll... with a fresh, deep cut down the center of her chest, takes a deep breath in her sleep as she grabs Molly's hands to wrap them around her waist and hold them there… revealing blood on and under all of the doll's fingernails. The two are out cold with the warmth of each other's bodies creating a barrier of comfort around them... deep in a city that offers little to none of that. The explosive energy of their lust and impulses lay to rest like a quenched thirst as they wear the marks of their true selves inflicted on one another. Their individual propensities for violence contrast the vulnerability of their current loving embrace in a beautiful way.
Brian, Zaunya and Audrey are gathered in the living room of the hideout with mellow house music playing. They light smokes after snarfing down a much needed meal from a favored place in the area that's yet to go under.
=Nova. Sounds good.= Audrey says as her Kiroshis stop glowing orange and she finishes a call on the holo. "She's on her way." She says glancing back at the group right before they hear a knock at the door. Audrey slides the backdoor open and sees Netty with his yellow hoodie on, dressed in his familiar street clothes and wearing his signature black digital mask covering his face; A digital smile on it made from yellow pixels.. goofy and jarring.
"WHAAAAZZZUUUUUP!! MY!! CHOOOOOOMMBAAADAAAAAASSS!!!!! HAHAHAAAA!!!!!" He shouts with a digitally altered voice causing everyone to look over at him. Zaunya can't help but giggle hard to herself with a big smile as Brian rolls his eyes with a smirk.
"Take that fucking thing off…" Audrey scoffs while quickly yanking him inside.
Netty in a good mood plops down on the couch next to Zaunya and sees her grabbing a fresh smoke from a recently unwrapped pack of Death Styx. The latest flavor, Strangle The Fuck Out Of You Strawberry catches his eye with the bubblegum pink text on the black pack. He gestures to her asking for one causing her to look at him with skepticism.
She gives him one as Brian looks over at the pair of them.
He gazes at the cig from various angles, sniffing and holding it with two fingers and an unnecessary level of curiosity. This makes Zaunya giggle with a smile on her face.
"Smoke it or lose it kid." Brian grumbles like an annoyed older brother.
Zaunya lights Netty's cig for him as he takes a drag and begins coughing his lungs out.. causing her to laugh hard as she watches him. He drops the cig into the ashtray after a single puff effectively wasting it. He settles into the living room with everyone else as they chat and catch up.
Some time later, A light knock is heard at the door. Brian walks over and slides it open to BugBear stood there waiting. He steps by to let her in as they give each other a hug.
"Hey." They each mutter.
"Just be sure to tell em what you told me alright? Everything." Brian whispers. She responds with a silent nod.
She then glances over to the couch and sees Netty sat there beside Zaunya placing his DR5 Nova on the coffee table. They make fleeting eye contact... exchanging a silent greeting with each other while BugBear avoids a smile. The last time they saw each other is still a fresh scar... bordering on a mental wound... a memory neither of them have let go of… try as BugBear might.
Some more time has passed as the crew spend the afternoon with each other... Brian spends it teaching Netty various workouts and fight techniques he wants him to add to his newly issued training regiment hes expected to do. Zaunya and Audrey re-enter the hideout from the fire escape returning to everyone in the living room. They settle into their various seats with cigarette smoke wafting through the air as they focus their attention on BugBear. She speaks.
"I was over in Kabuki at a bar late night... weather was shit so I planned on sticking around. Before I knew it, there she was. Recognized her from the first time I saw her outside your shop." She says glancing over at Audrey while the rest of the crew silently listens on. She continues. "Although I will say her getup did look radically different this time… honestly wouldn't've recognized her as corpo at the bar counter. Anyway, Figured there's no way she could've possibly followed me... I ended up there at random."
"Kabuki night life…? hm... chicks got quite the appetite." Brian comments.
"Checks out based on what we heard down at Audrey's clinic." Zaunya adds.
"Wait, she went back there?" Netty asks confused, causing Audrey to chime in.
"She showed up randomly during that heavy rainstorm after we all split.. luckily I saw her before she pulled up… was able to stash these two in the basement before she came knocking." Audrey says gesturing at Brian and Zaunya.
"It was… interesting to say the least. Sounds like she came by for a therapy session if you ask me. Was sounding like Night City is starting to grab ahold of her." Zaunya remarks causing Brian to chime in as the conversation continues to flow amongst smoke and sunlight.
"I've heard of shit like that happening before... fresh off a flight and landin' smack dab in the middle of that glowing Night City allure for the first time can feel like a straight hit of the lace. Although I have heard in some cases your taste for what the city has to offer can definitely change things."
Brian pauses.. looking over at BugBear and returning on topic.
"Did she spot you?" He asks causing everyone to look over at her for an answer.
She hesitates as she tenses up slightly.
"We... did catch each other's eye.. b-but I gave her the slip! After I heard her talking to her huscle about the access card!"
Hearing this causes Brian to wince.
"B-But! she doesn't even know who I am! shes never even seen me before!" She protests.
"Doesn't matter. This woman doesn't have the position she holds for nothing… intuition can be a hell of a thing... I'd know." He says before another drag of his smoke... handing his lighter to BugBear before continuing.
"She may be busy tasting what Night City has to offer… but she WILL be on high alert... it's in her nature. She's not from here... so she's got an eye thats not native to this town. Things may stand out for her in a different way. Her knowin' about the access card means shes on a trail that WILL eventually catch up to us if we don't make a move. Its gonna have to involve some finesse... can't stop her from being well… her."
He takes another drag of his smoke. "Also important to say Bear heard she's working this op alone now with just her personal huscle... now that's one i've never heard of happenin' before. Guessin' she's got some serious pull to be able to just shoo away her handlers and an entire investigation team."
"Why don't we just fucking zero this bitch." Zaunya mellowly barks... dismissively chiming in.
The still silence of the moment grips everyone as the words float through the air carried by tension. It causes Netty to look over at her uneasy.. nervous at the idea. Audrey glances at her with concern while BugBear and Brian smirk.
"You wanna flatline a PetroChem special agent..?" Brian chuckles with a smile. "Startin' to like you more and more by the minute girl."
Zaunya scoffs with a smile.. breaking the tension.
"Well if we play this right... we might not even have to." BugBear says, cutting him off and returning on topic. She continues.
"Naturally, you can imagine I ended up not getting much sleep after running into her. Ended up doing a deep dive into a few known PetroChem subnets."
Hearing this causes Netty to turn his full attention toward her... a serious look of disbelief and interest. She continues.
"Got a hit and ended up in one of their dataforts... PetroChem icewalls are no fucking joke... took a while to navigate discreetly. Time was less than limited.. had to be thorough-"
"You... hit a PetroChem datafort?" Netty asks impressed... completely caught off guard. "I uh.. I could've maybe helped-" He says as she glances over at him.
She ignores the statement before continuing.
"Took a lot longer in there than I thought I would. There was a lot of misdirects and spoofing but I eventually got into a pretty tight section of their employee database and did some quick combing... ripped as much of her file as I could." Her Kiroshis begin to glow blue as she uses Audrey's t.v interface to project a datashard for everyone to look at. Audrey's eyes begin to glow blue as well as she steel curtains the various windows in the apartment, completely blacking the place out and highlighting the projected holograms. The various floating displays show Molly's character profile, specs and history with the company in a well made, organized spread.. alongside a professional, no nonsense profile picture of her gaze. BugBear speaks.
"Molly Isabelle Seeker. PetroChem Auditor, Investigations Department. Shes worked as a Special Agent for these fucks for well over a decade now. List of successful corporate 'projects' involving black ops seems to just scroll on and on with a lot of sparse details... most of it's scrubbed... or just flat out redacted. Chicks been all over the world building this jacket. Cuba, China, Ireland, Japan.. you name it. Shes gotta be packing some serious chrome too... redacted implants, one off pieces... hell... most of this stuff's not even listed or on market... i mean just look at those redacted spec lists! All that blur! You ever seen anything like that?"
"When i did her checkup it did rattle me a fair bit... don't get drop ins on her level often. god... i can only imagine the level of upkeep needed." Audrey mutters checking out the list.
Netty quickly thinks to himself while looking over at Zaunya leaned back on the sofa with her long legs crossed. "Redacted chrome..? Just like Zaunya's..." BugBear continues.
"Higurashi 20-13 Mantis Blades... a heavily modified version of them even... heh... Shit, those are illegal now if i'm not mistaken... Steel skin, Nano Plating... Adrenaline Booster... a Pain Editor... and a Cellular adapter to boot just to name what's available... This chicks a tank... not gonna be wanting to let her get too close-"
"Speaking of one off pieces... her kiroshis are a custom made model." Audrey chimes in. Effortlessly Spotting the subtleties of her various chrome with just the naked eye. She continues. "Those aren't just a traditional Kiroshi optics legacy model... see those dots below the iris? When they chip shit like this they can integrate a number of different perks and capabilities into them.
"Like what?" Brian asks curious
"Tch... feel free to use your imagination. Anything from seeing chrome through walls, lighting up the pitch black darkness... to literal fucking laser beams being shot out of them. Worth noting the anatomical limitations to them alongside the compromises needed to sport a set of these. Shit... she was probably walking around blind with a team of handlers for at least a couple weeks while they dialed em in. Strong application... limited use." Audrey concludes before taking another drag.
BugBear's eyes continue to glow blue as she takes a drag of her smoke and continues
"With all that being said, i've gotta say... Shes quite the fucking degenerate. Thirty. Fuckin'. Seven insubordination write-ups... and shes been formally reprimanded nine times. Heh... don't even wanna begin to comb through that corporate hodgepodge... most didn't make it into the rip anyway."
Hearing this makes Zaunya briefly gaze at Molly's picture with a different perspective. She scoffs impressed... smiling to herself at the relatability... BugBear continues.
"Crazy... even with a jacket like that shes still actively working for them... Hm.. regardless... we've got her made now."
BugBear concludes as her eyes stop glowing blue and the various interfaces close. The steel curtains of the hideout slowly rise back up, revealing the sun and illuminating the cig smoke while everyone sits processing the intel.
She steps over to Brian and hands him the datashard with Molly's spec on it. "First moves ours... what do you wanna do?"
Brian takes another long drag of his smoke... staring at the datashard in his hand.