The gentle, imposing wind sends scattered trash and debris wafting through the air. 2 different gangs stood opposite of one another stare each other down in a Mexican stand-off minus pointed iron.
'Gangs'... just another way to describe a group of people... doing things some may or may not agree with. In Night City... there's only action. Things like morality and empathy come later or fall on def ears... leaving behind a culture... a mentality that creates people like these... under the hot sun with nothing to lose... just... standing there. Clothes fluttering in the breeze... with every word said and move made resting on a shaking powder keg... carrying the weight of imposing chaos.
The leader of one side steps forward with confidence... her crew at her six. With tattered clothes, her unkempt hair blows in the wind... a crazed look on her face she stares down the opposition... another no name group of NC's products of creation. God only knows the paths some of these dregs have walked in their lives that have lead them to this point... wearing the scars of time's past events.
However... regardless of who they are, where they come from... or what the fuck they've done... at the present moment... all that matters... is the task at hand.
"You got what mama's owed honey? You've been dodgin' my calls for days now Bristle." The woman barks with a smirk across the meeting lot.
"So then... YOU'RE the famous "mama" makin' waves around here huh? Heh. Well shit, as promised... last of our supply at double the current rate. Not really sure what you plan on doin' with all that excess product but-" The gang goon drones, walking across the center of the lot and handing over the large case before turning to walk away.
"Oh. That's none of your concern honey. I'm sure you'll no doubt enjoy kickin' your feet up now this' all over. Ya'll got plenty of scop swaps to occupy yourselves with by now i'm sure." The woman caps causing her crew behind her to chuckle.
"Tch... look you cocky bitch... you and your fuckin' cult may have the supply now but if ya'll think we're gonna let go of the block just like that durin' a time like this then you THOUGHT WRONG!!!" The gang goon shouts... quickly drawing his iron and turning to point it at the woman.
He looks to see the woman with a smirk... iron already drawn and pointed directly at his face to his surprise... almost as if she knew exactly what he was going to do and when.
She pulls the trigger... blowing his brains out and spattering blood all over her face as a firefight breaks out... shots crack out into the air alongside screams of panic and pain... leaving the rest of his crew laying in various blood puddles.
After a short ordeal and a spattering of gunfire, the woman walks back over to the man she was just dealing with.. stepping over corpses alongside the sounds of double taps and pleads for life. Her bare arms and tanktop covered in blood, glistening under the beaming sun... she squats down over the corpse with a big smile on her face as she picks through his lifeless body for trinkets, useables and her eddies back.
A glint from the reflection of the sun catches her attention causing her to glance up.
She takes a high caliber, suppressed round right in the collar bone just above her heart from a sniper hidden away on a nearby rooftop... sending her to the ground hard as she lets out a scream of indescribable pain.
A counter attack kicks off... various well placed mercs pull off a well timed hit as they collapse on the position... using the initial crew of goons as bait and flatlining the woman's crew that was busy picking through their corpses like buzzards. As she gasps for air through blood in her mouth.. her eyes open wide to the sounds of even more booming, chaotic gunfire with scattered screams, smoke and debris now clouding the air.
After another one sided firefight the heavy weighted steps of boots slowly approach and stand over the dying woman desperately gasping for air.
A new outfit of well armed mercs sporting chrome dressed in all black coordinate to secure the area. Clearly a step above their gang goon counter parts... a masked figure armed to the teeth and dressed as an operator stares down at her.
"That her..? That this 'mama' bitch he told us about..?" A man stood alongside of him leans over and asks.
Before he can respond, the woman gathers the last of her strength to produce a blood curdling laugh... spraying blood into the air at them as she laughs maniacally with all that she has left in her lungs.
"Yeah... that's gotta be her. Crazy bitch.." He says aggravated as he raises his iron to finish her off.
Suddenly.. the street begins to rumble beneath their feet staggering them... causing them to look down.
A huge, booming explosion erupts from a sewer grate below them sending one of the parked vans flying into the air in smoke and flames... shrouding the lot in thick debris.
A second counter attack is initiated... catching the merc operatives completely off guard and out of position. The dying woman continues with a screaming laugh amidst the loud chaos and re-ignited gunfire. Outnumbered and outgunned, they're quickly overwhelmed by an even larger group of unknown street punks under mama's control.
The streets re-settle yet again as the masked merc in black watches his various crew members get executed with headshots and double taps... he finds himself laying alongside the woman he nearly executed before being ambushed... hearing her once maniacal laughs now turned to gasping whimpers of pain.
With scorching flames and black smoke throughout the air the leader of this latest group of street punks slowly walks among the burning vehicles and bloodied corpses... a look of focus fixed on her face... iron clutches tightly in her grip.
She steps over the merc and gently gets down on one knee while lowering her iron to the pavement.
She gently cradles the dying woman in her arms as she gasps for air with a mouth full of blood.
"Did... did I... did I m-make mama... p-proud?" She struggles with the last of her strength to speak through seeping blood out of her mouth... filled with emotion... desperation.
The leader whispers in a soft, nurturing, southern accent. "Ohh.. you made mama so proud baby.. you made her SO proud. Shh.. shh... its ok honey... rest now... shhh.. rest now child y'here? Mama's here baby... Mama's here."
The woman covered in blood slowly fades away in the street punks arms... as the 2 share a hollow embrace within the depths of death and settling chaos. The streets of night city... regardless of person... reason or intent... eventually... a final resting place for us all.
She gently lays her down... staring at her for a while in detached mourning before turning her full attention to this merc operative coughing up blood... fading in and out of consciousness.
She squats down over him looking deep into his eyes.
"Can ya hear me baby..?... Sure ya can... Your boss is gon' see this too i bet huh? Look through them kiroshis cuz i need ya ta listen good.." She mutters before leaning in closer into his dying eyes.
"If you want this to stop... meet her... now. Ya already know where baby." She stands up over the gasping merc operative... pointing her iron at his face.
"Mama's waitin'." She says gritting her teeth.
She pulls the trigger causing a loud boom. Cutting to black
Some time earlier, the gifted Rancho street netrunner, having just set off the corpo's car bomb confidently yanks out her line… jacking out of her runner chair and sitting up. She takes a deep breath with a smile while she stretches and loosens her neck. She promptly hops out of her chair, in a small ratty apartment complex somewhere deep in Rancho Coranado. A setup having seen some significant upgrades very recently. In fact… the entire workspace has seen an upgrade. Recently cleaned, furnished and organized for productivity. The headquarters housed a spattering of stained furniture and old discarded hardware being creatively repurposed.
"Preem work Connie!" A woman's voice that was monitoring the op from a desk computer says while glancing back at her. The runner, Connie, with a smile on her face waves back at her while walking past the street kid sporting his brand new boots. They cross each other's path heading in opposite directions in the spacious hideout with ample foot traffic... carrying the energy and pace of a traditional corporate environment now mixed with the chaotic degeneracy of a Night City street hideout with informal slang being exchanged productively.
The kid makes his way to the main office, promptly letting himself in past the huscle... he approaches a tired and overworked Molly sat in deep thought with her elbows rested on the desk with her hands on her face and a lit smoke between her fingers.
She gently massages her forehead with her fingertips... acclimating to her new environment appears to be much more of an ordeal than she anticipated.
She glances up at the kid as he walks over to receive his hug... something his little heart has grown to look forward to everyday. Molly gives the boy a genuine hug with a firm squeeze as he whispers into her ear the various valued information hes gathered for the day. She thanks him before handing him some iron which he promptly tucks in his waistband barely able to cradle it before heading for the exit... busy and moving to his next destination.
"From throwin' modified EMPs at us to feeding us this shit holes most valued information just like that huh?" Manny whispers into Molly's ear sat at her desk as they watch the kid leave and close the door. The loud, busy chatter of the Rancho headquarters bleeds in briefly before the door closes.
Molly rests her back up against her chair as she takes another drag. "The most valuable people in any organization... corpo or not... are often either: the most overlooked... the most underutilized... or the most fucked over. You'd be amazed how many good ideas fall on def ears. How much ambition and opportunity withers away in the wrong hands."
She glances back at Manny. "A seed can grow within even the harshest of environments... if only given a solid foundation."
Molly, sat at a raggedy desk in her new base of operations... deep in rough and rugged Rancho Coranado... has the place running like a well oiled machine. The place was as gritty as it had always been for years, yet there was a clear upgrade in essentials and creature comforts. Not much different than slapping a band aid on a gunshot wound in a lot ways.
Molly looks as if shes wearing a costume... sporting traditional Night City streetwear hand picked by her runner Connie... something very fitting that you wouldn't look twice at if you didn't know her. Alternatively, Manny's new outfit making him look like a soon to be initiate for the Valentinos.
As Manny stands firmly behind her, they seem to have settled in quite nicely in their new environment. Impressive considering not too long ago they were walking around like tourists on eggshells around the place. Sticking out to even the untrained eyes is now a thing of the past... everything from the way they walk to the way they smell is now Night City.
An older woman is then escorted into Molly's office by a couple of street punks before they close the door behind her. Molly promptly gets up out of her chair and approaches the woman who meets her halfway and wraps her arms around Molly tight.
Molly a bit stunned by this does her best to return the hug... the woman crys out in joy while weeping.
"I JUST NEEDED TO COME SAY THANK YOU! THANK YOU SO MUCH MAMA..!! YOU... YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'VE HAD TO GO THROUGH!!!!"
"Easy honey.. easy.. mamas here." Molly whispers with the woman in her arms crying out loud in relief on her shoulder... Manny looks on surprised.
"THIS!!! FUCKING!!! CITYYY!!" She screams crying into Molly's chest.
Molly's awkward pat on her back turns into a genuine one... overwhelmed by the humanity of the moment... her squeeze tightens on the woman... causing the two to embrace... Molly catching the weight of her energy and holding it.
"Its ok baby... its ok. I've taken care of all of it alright? You can go home now, not have to worry about any of that shit anymore.. ok?" Molly says sincerely... stooping for eye contact. The woman nods weeping before slowly turning and leaving the room.
Molly raises her eyebrows and takes a deep breath before returning to her desk.
"Who uhh... who was that?" Manny asks curious.
"Daycare lady... tch.. more like foster care honestly." Molly says looking at the door. "Not easy chasin' around dirt kids for strung out parents with gang goons breathing down your neck. Hm... one of the few people in this shithole that deserves to be left alone."
"Any of em still gonna be a problem? Those goons?"
"Course not... they work for me now." She concludes... plopping back down into her seat. She kicks her feet up onto the desk.. the weight of her boots knock down hard on impact. She stares up at the decaying ceiling before popping a fresh cig in her mouth... Manny lights it for her.
"Just gave her a few stacks of eddies and some stress relief... hm... Its amazing to me how little I need to give to make such a lasting difference around here. Shes given me eyes and ears on pretty much every corner that matters as a result." She takes a drag. "I mean... the level of loyalty people here are willing to give to someone they TRULY don't know... someone whose essentially shown up out of thin air n' could be gone just as quickly as they arrived."
She takes another drag of her smoke. Ashing it lazily on the floor. "Its like... its not the status or prestige of someone that matters around here... its only what you actually do that matters... and how that affects people y'know? For better or for worse... even sometimes both."
She takes another drag as Manny glances down at her with a smirk of mesmerized admiration... he just can't get enough of how this woman moves.
"I mean... these people have fuckin' nothing... nothing at all y'know?... and yet... they still have... so much to give. They can... just do so much... with so little... hm..." She concludes... staring up at the ceiling in deep thought smoking. Having learned so much in her short time on the block... she's spent a lot of it just taking in the streets in a way that she's never bothered too or even thought possible. Staying adaptive... applying her own expertise in a very pinpoint way and... just kind of seeing what happens.
Corpos don't take the time and energy it requires to do what shes doing... wouldn't even know where to begin. Understanding the streets of NC by the numbers, the data and analytics is one thing... becoming them however... is something different entirely.
A patient knock is heard at the door before it slowly opens. One of Molly's top lieutenants walks in with her crew in tow. Back from the deal... their adrenaline flowing and out of breath. They walk in bloody... covered in soot and smelling of fire and gunsmoke... some badly injured... carrying their various gear as they stand before Molly with several boxes filled with a spattering of different drugs.
The lieutenant's mind quickly flashes back to the dying woman who helped her complete the op... cradling her in her arms and hearing voice as clear as day... "Did... did I... did I m-make mama... p-proud?" Victory in Night City is rarely pretty... the traumatic memory flushes itself out of her head as she gathers herself to talk to Molly. Straightening her posture and gesturing her crew to quickly do the same.
"Mama." The lieutenant greets with a bow exhausted with her adrenaline high.
"He broke. S-Set up was perfect... just... just like you said it would be. He's uh... he's ready to meet... immediately." She concludes out of breath.
Molly takes a final drag of her smoke before stamping it out directly on the desk. Cutting to black