Thick clouds of smoke gently whisp through the air undisturbed... the sun's rays beam through the shadeless window of Brian and Zaunya's motel room. The scattered stray sounds of various cars and people going about their day are feint on the other side of the door. Brian pacing back and forth in the room causes the gently wafting smoke to scatter and dissipate... he occasionally glances out the window to check the roads. Cigarette butts scattered throughout the trashy room, most of them being fresh.
Zaunya sits at the edge of the bed with legs crossed and elbows rested on her lap.
The idle smoke from her cig remains steady between her fingers... staring down at the floor of the motel in deep thought... a heavy woosh fades in... as a flashback begins:
*BANG BANG BANG* "AUDREY!!!!" *BANG BANG BANG* A loud shout suddenly rings out on the other side of a metal door jolting Audrey awake as she falls out of her chair. The banging screams continue as Audrey quickly scrambles to the door.
She slides it open seeing Zaunya struggling to carry Brian with his limp arm slung over her shoulder.
Audrey's eyes open wide in disbelief at the sight of Zaunya... she gasps and steps out of the way allowing her to drag Brian's unconscious body down into the room with streaking blood trailing behind him.
Zaunya and Audrey strain to quickly get Brian lifted onto the ripper chair in the quieted clinic... the sound of scuffling on linoleum combining with rumbling thunder.
"MOVE!!" Audrey shouts pushing in-between them... quickly cutting and ripping Brian's clothes off with her tool tipped ripperdoc hands... covering her fair skinned forearms in blood. Metal clanks violently as she rummages through desks grabbing for various tools. She storms by, flipping on various pieces of equipment as the beeps and whirs of her medical tech begin to fill the room.
Zaunya slowly steps back... putting her hands on her head... eyes and mouth wide open... she absentmindedly gets his blood smeared on her face... completely flustered in a panic.
"Is... is h-he alive?" She mutters to herself as Audrey scrambles to work on Brian.
"SHIT!" Audrey grits her teeth. "He needs blood.." She mutters while beelining it to a cabinet.
Brian lays on the ripper chair... completely mangled with his ears ringing... looking as if fresh off the battlefield of a corpo war. Audrey and Zaunya's frantic communications back and forth are completely muffled to him as they fade out and he goes unconscious.
Sometime later, Audrey and Zaunya stand just outside the clinic leaned up against the building with smokes in hand. The distant sirens... Night City street ambience takes over as the two rest in each other's company covered in blood.
Audrey breaks the silence.
"Where the fuck have you been Zaunya." Audrey snaps in exhale.
She doesn't respond.
Audrey steps in front of her and starts checking her wounds and patchwork... occasionally opening her coat and lightly grabbing her face and turning it.
Zaunya gently grabs Audrey's wrist.. moving it away from her face.
"I'm... i'm fine." Zaunya insists while turning away.
After a brief pause... Audrey's energy shifts with growing anger.
"I told you to get the fuck outta the city." She points back at the door with her thumb. "And who the fuck is tha-"
"-I'm sorry.. Audrey.." She says in exhale, looking down at the street.
"Sorry..? You're SORRY!!?? Do you know what the fuck's gonna happen if they find out you're still here!!??" Audrey yells cracking her voice trying to keep it low unsuccessfully. She takes a few steps away turning her back and looking up and down the street.
"You knew i wasn't going to fucking leave Audrey-"
"-Zaunya-" She exhales... closing her eyes looking down.
"-This isn't over... Audrey... its not gonna be... I have to finish it."
Audrey quickly turns, walking up to Zaunya getting right in her face and gently grabbing both of her shoulders... her tone shifts again abruptly... pleading with emotion.
"No no no Zaunya please- shh- no. l-look at me. You can't do this... y-your... your mom-"
Zaunya looks directly into her eyes... Audrey growing overwhelmed with emotion struggles to speak... unable to find the words.
As Audrey looks at her... its clear the woman she's looking at is no longer the same one she once knew and cared for. She sees in her eyes a different person... one with energy and purpose. Her demeanor feels lighter than its ever been... emotions she once felt are no longer worn on her face... long gone or buried. Its as if her mind is not only clear... but pointed with calculated determination... an energy all too unfamiliar.
Audrey feels it... taking a long hard look at Zaunya's face... it causes her to let go of her shoulders and take a step back... neither women breaking eye contact.
During the moment of realization in Audrey... Zaunya takes another drag of her cig.
"....I'm gonna bring the whole thing down." She mutters exhaling smoke, leaned up against the building... looking deep into Audrey's eyes.
The two separate... sharing a pause as music blaring from a car passes by with more sirens off in the distance... the weight of time's past adding to their distant familiarity. Two women with deep history brought back into each other's life by pure circumstance.
In Night City... the costs of your actions are rarely seen coming... instead they crash.
"Now tell me what you want for all of this." Zaunya stresses exhausted... pointing back at the door with her thumb.
Audrey, near the street with her back turned closes her eyes with hands on hips... she takes a deep breath in defeat before a pause.
"An eye." She claims.
Zaunya stands up straight with arms crossed.
"There's this corpo gonk who got my number from someone I don't even speak to anymore. He was climbing the brown nose mountain and well on his way to a cushy executive existence. At the time he was mostly good for the eds... but luckily i know how this game works and made em pay for one eye at a time. He must've pissed someone higher up off soon after because I never even received full payment for the first one. Its an Oracle... I don't just keep those lying around and can definitely do better with a pair instead of just one."
Audrey finally looks back at Zaunya over her shoulder at a distance... she nods her head up.
"Bring me the eye."
Zaunya with arms crossed, takes a final drag... dropping her lit cig before a step on it. Cutting to black.