\+/ Tales From Night City \+/ Chapter 57 - Nightmare on Klep Street

  The calm ocean waves of Pacifica gently grace the sands of the beach one pull after another. The neighboring, quiet chaos of Night City matches the tone... the energy of the starless night sky and the baron tattered streets. The silhouettes of Brian and the crew march side by side up to the building they hope Zaunya and Audrey are being held in. As Brian leads the march, he hears the sounds of the crew racking their iron and preparing their kit alongside their confident footsteps on wet pavement through the quiet streets.

  His mind begins to race with possibilities on what may have happened or what could be happening to the women. A quick flash of the dead young lady's face back at the Hotel Pistis Sophia enters his head. The moment that's engraved itself in his mind revisits... laying her limp body gently to the floor... watching a single tear run from her lifeless eyes as her head turned.

  He hears the sudden scream of Marilyn's voice come back into focus... continuing to haunt him during his times of stress and uncertainty. "NO NO! PLEASE! VARGA!! VARGAAAAA!!!!!"

  He shuts the intrusive thoughts down and locks in.. drawing his Nue and clutching it tight. He speaks to the crew as they walk.

  "There's gonna be more in there. Gotta know whats goin' on by now. Eyes open. Keep up... match my pace." He says sternly. They stack up on both sides of the building entrance as a homeless man trying to mind his own business passes by on the sidewalk. He gets a glance at the crew and decides to quickly cross the street toward the beach instead.

  BugBear quick hacks into a tattered surveillance camera of the building watching the street, granting her access to several of the cameras inside. She quickly scans through the ones available, giving a limited view into various rooms.

  "Nothing so far... place looks emptied out-.. Wait, shit. I see a few of them. They're hunkered down toward the back. They've got iron drawn... they're waiting... ready."

  "How many." Brian whispers

  "uhh.. I see 6 in the front and like 8 more upstairs. They're still scrambling around."

  "Netty, get the door." Brian orders causing Netty to quick hack the security access panel next to it. The light on the door turns green. Brian gives Carter and BugBear a nod as they all ready their iron to enter.

  BugBear with the gang goons in line of sight through the camera remains in deep focus. With her eyes still glowing red, she navigates her custom pink runner interface with various personalized logos and branding on it; one being an angry, robotic cat baring its teeth and roaring. She targets the various goons while cycling through her programs... an intense look on her face as her eyes glow red, flowing with code.

  "Just a... sec more... and... done.. Short circ with an optics reboot incoming.. And not much in the way of resistance either! They're mine."

  "NOW!" Brian yells as they yank the door open and storm in. Brian takes lead with Carter as BugBear and Netty hang back. Carter raises his jet-black Guillotine with a high polish finish, catching the dim light perfectly, making it gleam as he pushes forward alongside Brian. They see a once prepared group of mercs with their guns trained in their direction now completely compromised... some stumbling around blinded and reaching for their dropped iron. They drop several of the sight and cyberware compromised with ruthless efficiency as they panic fire. A sudden onset of loud booming gunshots and screams of pain ring through the building... sending shockwaves in volumes throughout the place.

  The sounds of their brutal work is heard upstairs by the other goons as some of them stay put and several sprint for the staircase. The sprinters are met at the top by a couple of thrown flashbangs that go off right in their faces. The closest scavs to the explosion have their heads nearly blown off by the concussive force, dropping them instantly and blinding the waiting mercs on the top floor. Brian keeps the merc's body propped up with his own strength, using it to push forward as multiple heavy rounds are immediately fired into the back of the corpse by waiting shooters. As Brian draws the fire of the mercs on him, Carter pushes up behind him... spraying the mercs with precise Guillotine bursts. Carter takes a heavy round to the shoulder, knocking him off balance as he slams up against a wall in the hallway, leaving blood behind on impact. Brian gets to the end of the hall with the chunked scav and shoves it on top of another posted in front of a door at the back. The dead weight of the body catches the scav off guard and knocks his giant 6 foot 5 frame off balance. Brian leaps up into the air over the falling dead body and knees the huge scav right in the face with full force nearly knocking him out. The force of the impact knocks the two of them off balance sending a bunch of blood from the merc's face spraying onto a nearby wall as they go tumbling to the floor with force. Carter quickly walks up behind them and rips chunks out of the back of the scav's skull with his Guillotine. As Brian shoves the corpse off of him, Carter helps him up to his feet.

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  Without missing a beat Brian turns his full attention over to the door the scav was guarding... he franticly struggles to force it open, unable to get any firm grip. He desperately bangs on the heavy iron door several times... hopelessly trying to yank it open. Carter looks on, watching his back.

  As Brian struggles helplessly with the door... his anxiety runs rampant... his worst fears begin to rush through his mind. "Am i too late!?" He thinks to himself... his eyes open wide and he grits his teeth in a panic...

  The feelings of uncertainty and desperation grab hold of him and bare down...

  He hears the feint shriek of a scared woman in his head alongside Marilyn's playful giggle.

  Various thoughts race through his mind untamed as the intensity of the moment builds with every failed yank.

  "Has this all been for nothing...? Did i fail...... again...?"

  The door abruptly turns green and slides open as Netty and BugBear slowly make their way up the stairs through the brutal carnage of the building. Seeing various clouds of smoke and debris... stepping over street toughs pooling excess blood underneath their lifeless corpses. All of them sporting headshots.

  Brian rushes into the room and stops in his tracks... his eyes and mouth wide open...

  He sees Audrey alone in the center of the room, in her white bra and panties... her hands tied behind her back, and a stray rope around her neck like a dog leash. She lays with her back towards them in the darkened room now lit by the dim hallway light behind them. She's... lethargic and frail... barely conscious as Brian gets down on his knees and works quickly to untie the restraints around her wrists and ankles.

  She whimpers in a daze as she comes too. "N- No.." she helplessly groans with no strength left before she hears the sound of Brian's deep, gentle voice.

  "Audrey! Audrey.. its me.. shh.. shh.. its me." He whispers causing her to gather her attention towards him.

  The sound of his voice causes her to break down... as the restraints around her raw, red wrists and ankles come off, she turns to face him while still laid on the ground. She sits up and hugs him around the neck tightly... pulling him down as tears begin to run down her face... the intensity of her emotions in the moment overwhelm her.

  "They tried to-" She cries uncontrollably into Brian's shoulder... he pulls her into his chest even tighter.

  "My god.." He sighs in relief... completely overwhelmed by the moment... looking up at the ceiling as emotion begins to consume him. "I'm... i'm here Audrey.. shh.. its ok.. i'm here.. shh.. its ok...its ok..."

  The two share a very personal... vulnerable embrace with each other.

  BugBear races into the room pushing past Carter and Netty. "AUDREY!" She shouts as tears build in her eyes. She drops to her knees and wraps her arms around Audrey, nearly falling on top of her as the pair embrace each other tightly. Brian gets up and sees Netty gathering Audrey's clothes torn and scattered about the room. He steps to Carter completely flustered, with his adrenaline surging.

  "There's... there's one more. Zaunya... she... they... they can't-" Brian stumbles over his words before Carter cuts him off heavy hand placed on Brian's shoulder... forcing eye contact.

  "Hey... hey.. we'll find her, Yeah? We're gonna find her." Carter nods in a deep tone. Brian looks at him before looking down... silently nodding in agreement.

  Audrey yanks the rope off of her neck and over her head. With blood running out of her mouth, she shouts through her teeth to the group while slowly being helped up by BugBear.

  "Basement!... BASEMENT!! I s-saw them take her there!!" She shouts in pain, filled with frantic emotion causing Brian to look over at her before immediately storming out of the room at full speed.

  A chem fiend looking scav with wirey hair and goggles on is seen with his back pressed up against a door while clutching his iron. He sits in the intense, uncertain silence of the place while in a panic... unaware of the results present outside the room. The door gets pounded with a loud bang and great force, pushing him off of it briefly and nearly knocking him off balance. It scares the shit out of him, causing him to press up against the door even harder.

  The door suddenly blasts open with serious force, causing the scav to go flying into the corner behind it.

  Brian steps into the room with anticipation...

  He sees Zaunya in the center... both of her wrists chained and held up by the ceiling... various vials, bottles and needles littered about the floor and a side table. Brian quickly approaches her... full focus and fear in his eyes... Carter enters right behind him and sees the scav attempting to get up to his feet and shoot Brian in the back. He kicks the scav's gun away as it fires... sending it flying before proceeding to beat him down relentlessly. Netty enters soon after and joins Carter in beating down the scav as BugBear rushes to free Zaunya from her restraints.

  The commotion going on in the room is silent to Brian as he drops his knees and gently grabs Zaunya's face... she slowly looks up at him as he gently places his thumb on her bottom lip, revealing her bloody mouth and teeth. In a stunned daze, she gently turns her head away as tears build in her eyes.

  As her restraints come off... she falls into Brian's chest limp as he wraps his arms around her, grabbing the back of her head and pulling her in tight.

  With his mouth open in disbelief... he clutches onto Zaunya with her face buried in his shoulder... he closes his eyes tight.