The heavy taps of black high-heels rapidly stomp one after the other across a linoleum floor. Various corpos throughout the halls doing various tasks and carrying on various conversations quickly realize who she is and move out of her way. Some bow their heads in respect while others offer a nervous smile with wavering eye contact. The smells of fresh roasted coffee and business colognes combine with designer perfume and recently cleaned carpets. The woman makes her way through the long, wide PetroChem megabuilding halls to a gold elevator that scans her before opening.
The elevator rises with a gradual hum... there's a brief pause of stillness before the woman takes the moment of privacy to hyperventilate; Catching her fall by posting her hand on a wall in the elevator and struggling to catch her breath. Shades of her humanity begin to pierce through the cracks of her corporate shell while no one's looking. To climb this high to the top and still remain rocksteady is often only possible for those who've ridded themselves of such things like 'humanity'. This one however... seems to have somehow slipped through the cracks. She quickly gathers herself before taking a final deep breath and stabilizing the shaking in her hands... clenching them together tightly. The emotionless gaze worn by a veteran of this daily struggle washes over her face as the elevator dings open.
She enters an executive suite with a birds eye view overlooking the sunny and bustling Night City's Center. The lavish opulence of the office suite glimmered in the eye of the sun's rays beaming in through the wall sized windows. A beautiful black and gold theme was present throughout... marbled pillars and floors with glossy high-polish reflections. Intricate corpo trinkets and awards rest in calculated locations for prestige. Spotless jet black carpets sported golden PetroChem branding with various gold patterns and trim throughout them. An executive leaned up against his black wooden desk smoking a cigarette stares out into the City with his arms crossed. He speaks in a deep tone... clearly on edge.
"The postmortem. Is it complete."
"Yes sir." The woman promptly responds. "They're still digging through the details. The clean up is gonna be a real bitch... collateral damage reached most of the block and across the street. Families of the deceased employees are being paid for their silence and cooperation with public statements. N54 and all other media outlets sniffing around are being fed diversion or damage control."
She steps across the black and gold marbled floor... her high heels tapping one after the other causing a hollow echo to flutter through the air. The fabric of her jet black corpo skirt rubs against her thighs as she makes her way beside him... joining him looking out into the cityscape with her back straight and hands clasped behind her back. She continues.
"Product is completely irretrievable. No security footage recovered now that the buildings been leveled. Several eye-witnesses are being probed as we speak. Instructions were clear to focus on intel gathering over cleaning on the building site... not much you can do with a fucking explosion though. Its everywhere by now. Dealing with this by the book is going to take a shit ton of time."
He listens while still gazing out into Night City, taking long drags of his smoke... his gold ring with the PetroChem logo on his middle finger briefly catches the sunlight and reflects off. He speaks.
"Rectifying the product shortage is priority number one regardless of time." He takes a deep breath letting out a sigh... calculating the various compounding problems looming on the horizon. "The new formula won't be easy to replicate. Why the fuck was security not-"
"Board made the call sir... they decided on discretion for the product over security."
"Fuck discretion. They're shooting themselves in the foot. The product was integral to finally obtaining leverage over Sovoil. For it to go up in smoke just like that... cleaning this up is gonna be a real bitch." He says before taking another drag.
"What are next steps sir."
The exec pauses briefly... thinking deeply while smoking.
"Touch bases with the research team. See what can be done about the product setback... if further funding is needed for whatever reason... provide it. Have the auditors on high alert. If any traces of the formula make their way to the streets I want to know about it. Its essential this doesn't get into the wrong hands."
A long pause takes place between the two... they each continue to look out into the cascading Night Cityscape... hearing the muffled sounds of a busy city behind thick glass in each other's presence.
"And the goons who did it?" She asks.
"Get local PD to sniff around. Start with the vehicle witnesses saw." He continues speaking as you quietly see Brian and Zaunya driving through the pitch black badlands with the city off in the distance from the night prior.
"Fact is... Whoever did this... knew exactly what they were doing... We just gotta find out why... to find the who."
Zaunya takes drags of her smoke in the passenger seat with a fixed gaze out of the window into the badlands. Brian meanwhile has his gaze fixed on the bright neon lights of Night City off in the distance. The rumbling engine of the Butte settles into the late evening breeze... the warmth of the cab takes over the pair sharing a quiet, somber silence after an intense and personal interaction.
The bonds and connections made on any given day in Night City can grab ahold of you as strongly as they can push you away... Whom you choose to trust or open up to could lead to outcomes you may not even wish on your worst enemies. The collective experiences you have may drive you down a path you'd soon rather set ablaze than take a single step down.
Completely exhausted, the desire for the two of them to interact at this point is far gone... with so much on each of their minds and so much they'd like to say... for one reason or another... they've both found it best to keep thoughts and words to themselves. The quiet ambience of the baron badlands far away from that of Night City's booming, relentless ambience is a welcome change of pace... allowing for some quiet time to organize thoughts. The pair slowly approach a parking lot with neon pink lights gradually filling up the cab the closer and closer they get.