\+/ Tales From Night City \+/ Chapter 59 - Taken

  Molly suddenly jolts awake with a deep inhaling gasp... shes been tucked into bed nice and snug with a soft, silk blanket... and a fresh bottle of real water waiting for her on the bedside table. Her head feels heavy... carrying along a headache that makes her feel as if shes been hit by a MaxTac AV.

  She rolls over onto her side to see that she's in a clean, well furnished, beautiful apartment high-rise. The familiar sounds of shouting ads and car horns lay muffled countless floors below her as she looks around at the quiet, opulent and rather stylish, high-ceiling apartment. Completely lost, and unaware of her location, she shakes the blanket off and sits up in the bed revealing her black bra and panties. She lets out a deep, exhausted shriek of pain as she feels the soreness in her body wash over her. She looks down to see a deep bite on her chest... dried blood around the deep top and bottom row of teeth marks. She slowly reaches to lightly touch it... feeling a sharp pain, making her twitch. Her pale neck and wrists were red and raw as she raises her hands to her forehead and lays back onto the bed.

  She slowly gets out of the bed and stretches before the warm, rising morning sun... piercing in through the wall sized windows and wrapping itself around her curves. The sound of her bare feet slap on the polished wooden floor as she walks up to the huge window pane overlooking the beautiful morning Night Cityscape. She sees a feint reflection of herself overlapping the city in front of her... their reflective images seem to seamlessly blur together before she focuses in on the city itself.

  She firmly places the palm of her hand on the glass... staring deeply out into the city.

  The moment is quiet... personal. She just can't take her eyes off of her... and has no idea why... and doesn't care to. She can feel the city doing the same thing... it sees Molly... and wouldn't dare to look away. An impossible moment.

  Although unable to understand these feelings when doing this... for the first time... she fully embraces them.

  "Good morning Night City." She softly whispers to herself... a tone of awe on her tongue with a slight smirk.

  She re-focuses her attention back to her reflection in the window... seeing her own toned, curvy body stood in her bra and panties. A wave of various thoughts and emotions hit her all at the same time.

  She feels the sensation of belonging... understanding... acceptance... as if she's offered forth the enigmatic, feral nature of her true self only to have it embraced with open arms... A feeling she's truly never felt before. In all of her years of travel and work all over the world... nothing has ever given her sensations quite like this.

  They seemingly all hit her at once... causing her to snatch the palm of her hand away from the window and take a step back in discomfort and disbelief... ending her mesmerized gaze out into the cityscape. '

  "What the hell was that..?" She thinks to herself... intimidated and confused. The idea that something... anything can reach out and grab her like that-

  -She glances to her right and sees her street clothes neatly folded and stacked beside the bed. On top of them rested a small white note, written in pink cursive left behind by the Russian doll. She walks up to the clothes and grabs the note... hearing the Russian doll's soft, beautiful voice in her head as she reads:

  "You have taken me. And I have taken you. Nothing will ever change that."

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  "Please. Make yourself at home. I will see you soon. My precious killer. My Milaya."

  Molly looks up with disbelief on her face as she slowly crumples the note, closes her eyes, and puts her hands on her forehead. "Shit..." she whispers under hear breath.

  She begins to slowly put her t-shirt on and feels another sharp pain on her back causing her to wince and shriek hard. The shirt slowly slides over the deep, red scratches all over her back from nails frantically digging in.

  She finishes getting dressed and makes for the exit... seeing various personal belongings... pictures and items throughout the apartment that she forces herself to ignore. She exits down the elevator, walks through the lobby and makes her way outside.

  A sudden rush of the city sounds and commotion wash over her as various people go about their day. Vendors shouting things for sale, car horns and alarms going off alongside the sounds of sirens and people laughing in conversation, automated advertisements constantly ringing out over tattered speakers. These sounds are a new, welcomed comfort to her that shes quickly growing a fondness for. As she makes her way up the street through the dense foot traffic, she blends in effortlessly. She walks several blocks up the street, well away from the doll's apartment and takes a seat on the stoop of another apartment complex down an alley. She takes a heavy drag of her smoke while slowly gathering herself and casually watching commuter traffic. Countless thoughts drift through her hungover and exhausted head as she bares witness to the engine... the lifeblood of what makes Night City what it is. Looking on at it like an outsider still unable to understand. She ponders not only the prior night... but the entirety of her time spent in Night City. For such a unique and unfamiliar place.. she can't help but feel the belonging.. the sense of kinship lingering just within reach and waiting for an outstretched hand.

  She takes all the time she needs before taking a deep breath... letting it out slowly while feeling the remnants of an unforgettable night both mentally and physically.

  "Fuck... here we go." She mutters in a tired tone.

  She rests her cheek on her closed fist as she turns off her geo-block... causing a huge wave of notifications to flood her vision. Countless texts and missed calls from Manny and various associates of the corpo chain frantically trying to contact her scroll in one after the other with the notification sound pinging over and over again. Before they can even finish flooding in, a call on the holo comes in from Manny causing her eyes to glow orange.

  =Molly!!= He shouts in a genuinely concerned tone before he quickly catches himself and clears his throat. =ehem; Ma'am. A-Are you-? Is everything alright? W-where are you? Team was trying to report you MIA but I didn't let em... as you wished. I think the-="

  =-Just... come get me Manny...= She responds dismissively before disconnecting the holo and taking another drag of her cig and flicking it.

  She rises from the stoop and starts to walk up the block... Molly suddenly hears a gentle voice shes passing by on the sidewalk that grabs her attention... causing her to stop and look over.

  "Spare a veteran some change ma'am?"

  Without hesitation, she transfers 200 eurodollars over to the homeless man.

  "Of course... here you go." She responds softly... her tone genuine.

  "Knew I saw good in you... God bless."

  Hearing the statement causes Molly to pause... continuing to look the homeless man in the eyes... instinctually unable to believe what she just heard... almost insulted by the read.

  She responds in a stern tone.

  "...There's no good in me."

  Before the homeless man can disagree... she walks off into the distance as he watches.