You get what you pay for when it comes to cheap hotel rooms. Off-white walls, smooth wooden floors, a single stiff bed, a tiny bathroom, and a small CRT television all form what is essentially a German version of Motel 6. However, in comparison to where she roomed up at in Bosnia, this place was far less nightmare-inducing to Scarlet. Laying on top of the bed in her beloved Jurassic Park t-shirt and a comfortable pair of sweats, Scarlet scooped out handfuls of Fruit Gushers, shoving them all into her mouth as her eyes stayed glued to the television. On screen, a trio of old human ladies in pink dresses appear, surrounding the orc protagonist. All three of them walk around him and encircle him, all cradling their rolling pins menacingly. The strings flare up as the camera spins around the lead. The camera cuts to one of the old ladies, who smirks evilly. As soon as she opens her mouth, Scarlet speaks her lines in unison.

"Looky here, ladies! Another unsuspecting ponce!" Scarlet smirked with a little pride, having said the lines almost perfectly herself. She stuffs her face with another four fruit gushers as the scene transitions into a surprisingly well choreographed action sequence. The ladies all gang up on the protagonist, who tries to defend himself the best he can. Left hook here, right hook there. The protagonist takes a rolling pin straight to the head, and the camera shows the destruction of the pin in all of its lovely detail. With a hard kick, the protagonist sends one of the ladies flying through a series of pallets, the wooden shipping pallets coming apart with some satisfying crunches! One of the ladies pulls out a revolver and presses it against the back of the orc's head. He twists around, bringing his elbow up to-

A familiar digital tone threw Scarlet out of the movie. On the endstand next to her spartan bed, the phone continued to ring as if were an alarm clock of its own. Scarlet groaned and muted the television, putting her fruit gushers aside to reach for the phone. "Urgh... Had to come in when it got good. Pricks." The homunculus groaned as she sat up in bed to better reach her cell phone. She pressed the Answer button and brought the phone up to her ear. "Go."

A masculine German accent spoke on the other end. "Hello, may I speak to Scarlet Rubashka?"

Scarlet sighed and leaned up against the headrest of her bed. "Speaking."

"Alright. Apologies for the intrusion. This is Agent Müller calling on behalf of the Organization of Magical Regulation." Scarlet's eyes widened a little, her surprise bringing a little more energy to her.

She sat up straight and listened intently. "Oh, uh... no, it's fine. I was just watching a movie. What's up?"

"Before we begin, I just want to ask you one question. Are you currently open to taking contracts?"

Scarlet blinked. "Well, uhm... it depends, really. I just got back from my last one eight hours ago." Scarlet immediately noted the suspiciously small gap between a closed contract and a new offer. The OMR must've been pulling a few strings to get her number. She rubbed the back of her neck. "How much are you offering?"

"Similar rate as to what your previous client paid you, and if you do your job well, we'll throw in some bonuses too." Agent Müller continued. "All necessary expenses, such as food, travel and car rental, will be covered within reason. Just be sure to keep your receipts so we can properly reimburse you."

Scarlet stretched and brought her legs to the floor, putting in some effort to stand up. She stretched out her arms, and then brought her phone back to her ear. "Okay, I'm listening."

"I'll keep this brief. Most of the details regarding the job will be given to you at our branch headquarters in Frankfurt."

"Frankfurt?" Scarlet blinked. That was a half hour drive from where she was currently holed up at. "... That's... erm... never mind. Go ahead."

"Don't worry, we'll answer any and all relevant questions when we have the time. Regardless, here's the situation." Agent Müller's cadence had no trace of change. "Two agents on a weapons smuggling case had to be reassigned to a high priority case in North America. The team assigned to the weapons smuggling case is now down two critical members, and we are looking for individuals skilled in armed security and crisis response. Considering your recent trip to Bosnia, I'd say that you qualify for the moment."

Scarlet looked out the window, her eyes widening a little. "Wait, how did you-"

"As I said, all will be answered at Frankfurt." Agent Müller replied. "Will we be seeing you there?"

Scarlet sighed. She remained silent for a moment, considering her options. While her last contract did pay out quite a bit, almost all of it would be gone in a month to erase her remaining debts. She could use some cash to actually fall on. Get her better hotels than this, and maybe settle down somewhere nice. Get a nice car, have a VCR and watch movies anytime she liked, living life like a human being. The thoughts of a future that is actually attainable to her made her lips curl slightly into a smile.

Scarlet brought her phone back up to her ear. "And here I thought I was gonna be watching some Skinemax tonight. I'll be there in an hour."




Out of all of the contracts Scarlet took in her four year mercenary career, Scarlet would find it hard to place it among the worst. The payout looked pretty good, she had a sign on bonus, and a lot of her expenses would be paid already. Shortly after the phonecall, Scarlet got dressed in more appropriate clothing, and gathered all of her personal items. She picked up a rental car and drove to the OMR's Frankfurt office to discuss the job in detail, and before long she had a decent idea of what she was in for. It seems as if the OMR are trying to look into a large scale network of illegal sales of small arms. Scarlet found it quite easy to identify most of the weapons that were in the surveillance photos. They were Soviet-bloc weapons alright. Makarovs, Kalashnikovs, even a few RPG-7s for good measure, and that's just naming a few. She's seen plenty during her deployments, in the hands of friendlies and hostiles alike. A lot of the weapons in question seemed to be in the hands of various criminal groups. As pointed out by the one briefing her, such groups would be ideologically opposed to one another under normal circumstances. Scarlet was familiar with dealings like that, sometimes arms dealers liked to sell weapons to both sides of any given conflict. It often earned them a lot of money through the sheer factor of force escalation. As for the reason why she was called in on such short notice (and offered some serious perks), it turns out that there was no available agents in the area that could fill in for those that were reassigned. They simply tapped the web for any available contractors that happened to be in the area, and Scarlet's previous client sent them a referral. Scarlet believed that the story checked out. The contract they handed her had similar rules and stipulations to the others she's taken before. Follow orders within reason, avoid civilian casualties, etc. There didn't seem to be any stipulations in it that had any ridiculous requirements. Scarlet signed it, numbers were exchanged, and she was sent on her way.

The city streets of Frankfurt proved to be a bit of an adjustment to Scarlet. She's grown accustomed to warzones, being back in a far less apocalyptic place was slightly jarring to her. Following the directions she's been given to where the team is headed, it wasn't long before she was cruising through the German countryside. The shiny red '89 Honda Prelude she rented contrasted slightly against the more muted domestic vehicles she passed by, but it didn't matter to her. The car was quite fun to drive. Visibility was good, the wind felt nice against her skin, and the car cornered quite well. She might consider buying one of these in the future once she's back in the States. As she drove through the countryside, she bopped her head and gyrated her shoulders to the music, belting out the lyrics in her rather unpracticed singing voice. She did consider playing her mixtape, but 1995's hottest track came up on the radio, and Scarlet had no choice but to crank up the volume.

"Been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradise... Been spending most their lives, living in the gangsta's paradise..." Scarlet bopped her head to the song, looking out for the destination given to her. The place that she was going to was described to be a compound of sorts. Though in Scarlet's opinion, calling it a compound was a bit generous. "Keep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise... Keep spending most our lives, living in the gangsta's paradise..."

Eventually, she spotted it in the distance. She continued driving along the beaten road, rolling up the windows and turning down the volume. She found her turn once the black sedans revealed themselves from the bushes, and brought the car in next to them. Those nearby could hear the subtle thumps of bass from the car, the muffled melody revealing Coolio's hit track to those listening. Scarlet sighed and put the car into park. The windows were closed, the engine was shut off, and once Scarlet stepped out, the doors were locked. She took a great big look at the compound ahead of her. While she has been in worse, this one wasn't what she'd call inviting. It was the kind that looked like was wired with traps and the like, and filled with all kinds of nasty drugs. And maybe nasty people. Scarlet thought to herself. Her eyes shifted from the compound to those inspecting it, and she got a good look of the team from a relatively decent distance. A bit more diverse than she was expecting, to say the least.

Knowing what she was generally getting into, Scarlet immediately went to work. At the moment, all she was wearing was just some well fit jeans, armored boots, a heather black t-shirt, a basic black gaiter and a large 'fanny pack' of sorts that hung next to her right hip. That pouch in particular was a magical one, one that led into a much larger space hidden away by a zipper. Opening up the zipper revealed an inky black darkness beyond. Scarlet reached into the void and pulled out a well-folded black plate carrier. Then came the knee pads, and then the plate inserts. She assembled her body armor in a rather short amount of time, and once all of that was done, she pulled out her black baseball cap, and put her ponytail through the opening in the back. Examining her reflection in the car's window, she smirked a little to herself. She looked like a proper mercenary. She threw a pair of finger guns at her reflection, and smirked a little. "Lookin' good~" Scarlet said to her reflection. With all of the traveling she had to do, Scarlet never had time to apply any makeup on herself. First impressions are quite important, and a good one could give you an advantage. An advantage that can offset the fact that Scarlet is less than the human she appears to be.

No, not today. Think positive. Positive thoughts. Scarlet thought to herself. She took a few deep breaths, and straightened herself out. Yeah. You're fine, you're okay. You got this. And with that, she turned to the rest of the team and headed in their direction.

Scarlet walked up to the group. As she approached them, she reached into her pouch and fished for her OMR-issued contractor ID. Finding it quickly, she brought it up for everyone to see. She cleared her throat briefly to get everyone's attention. "Hey there. Contractor Scarlet Rubashka, callsign Venom Bean, at your service." Scarlet pocketed her ID and curtsied with a playful smirk. She quickly stood back up with a slight pep. "Frankfurt sent me here to fill in for one of your reassigned agents, and as far as I know, I was assigned to this team for the purposes of armed security and crisis response. I didn't have enough time to look any personnel records or dossiers, but hopefully I'll get to know y'all better in time." Scarlet said, her Midwestern United States dialect rearing its ugly head. "I'm totally down for answering any questions y'all might have for me, so uh... yeah."

"For the record, I uh... I came here without much information in regards to this place and what I'm supposed to do here. So if anyone-" Scarlet stopped midsentence once her eyes fell on Amanda. Scarlet froze with her mouth slightly agape and blinked several times. She remained silent for a few seconds, blinked again, and managed to speak. "Uhm, I uh... I feel very rude for asking but uhm... are you a robot?" Scarlet asked, tilting her head. "Or a golem of some sort?"

@AWACS

Amanda was just about to leave for the other house, it honestly would've been a short trip and she could've returned to the group should something happened. But she then received a transmission, straight from the Frankfurt office, about the impending arrival of a contractor. "Huh, contractor? Well, better than nothing I guess. Yo Crane, can you wait here, I've just got a message about a new agent, well, contractor really, coming here. Just stay near the house and try to find something interesting if you want to, as long as you leave me with some stuff to investigate, I'll be fine."

She quickly paced back towards the rental car where the contractor was located. Anxious in what manner she wants to introduce herself to the new girl. Hmm, I wonder how will she be, is she more aggressive? Passive? How will she work with the current agents assigned to me? So many unanswered questions that needs to be resolved, and I still haven't gotten her biographical info from Hamburg, still interested though.

She was about to introduce herself when Scarlet already did it first. And then asked the million dollar question Amanda kinda expected. Of freaking course she would ask me if I'm a robot or not.

"Yes, I am." Amanda replied in her noticeable American accent. "I live near DC and was assigned to this case. First time in Europe actually, nice to meet you." The robot outstretched her hand.

Micheal's visage hardened up, "Alright, not what I hoped would happen but okay." He whistles and his three hangers on sprint up beside him, "You three were at that raid at the Lake so I'm counting on you. Help us out." the Three looked at Micheal, it'd been awhile since the last time he was quite this serious. Honestly the shaman is pretty laid back, even when he has to do a serious task. So to see him all serious'd up the three trade a look then nod. Micheal turns and walks towards the other house. His godly friends running forward to blaze a trail.

Micheal has had abit of time to rest so his stamina is back. As he goes he lifts a hand to his mouth, cupping it to the side and lets out a rolling war cry to the sky. He waits abit then lets out another cry. And this time an answer, from somewhere close by. He makes another and this time the answer is closer. Accompanied by the sound of running heavy footsteps. Micheal makes one more rolling undulating cry and this time the response is a high scree as a...sasquatch...a bigfoot, comes tearing out of some brush.

Micheal smiles and bows to the large hairy hominid. And in his mother tongue of Cree begins to speak, <Hello cousin. I am sorry for calling you from your tribe. But you are native to these lands, and I thought you may be able to lend us your knowledge. I know you have no reason to help us, but I still beg your council.> The sasquatch lets out a low guttural series of chuffs, ruffs, growls and rumbles. Micheal nodding <Yes thank you for hearing me out atleast Cousin. This land, these houses. Something dark has been done here. We hope you may know something. This place is in your territory.> The sasquatch makes a huffing sound and pounds the ground with it's hands. Micheal nodding slowly, and his eyes narrowing. He then nods, "Thank you." He bows and the beast man tears back into the brush, disappearing from view. Micheal looks back at Amanda and the new comer and the rest of the team, "He had nothing to add, beyond the fact, the people who came through here were noisy and noisome. and they had built a garbage pit on the edge of the woods over there." He gestured, "That they dumped noxious chemicals into." He shook his head, "Sad really. Her tribe had to move way back into the woods to avoid it. Leaving their usual scavenging grounds."

By then the gods had reached the other building and are waving for Micheals attention. Whiskeyjack calling, "Mike! There may still be someone in here...come on! There's sounds inside, and Manabozho says the power is still on." Micheal picks up the pace, "Amanda! Mercenary...Red? Whatever, we may need your help on this one. I'm a Ritualist and my combat ability is nearly nil. Come on!" He hurries towards the house while Raven is busily trying to pick the front door lock.

@Kumbaris@AWACS

Avi exited the car, slightly impressed by the beauty of the German countryside. He had noticed that Amanda, the driver, was also gazing at the scenery on the drive, yet somehow was able to drive perfectly still. Avi assumed that it was an android thing. His thoughts quickly turned back to the mission as he looked over at the house they had been looking for. The yard was a mess with many pieces of garbage and other miscellaneous items lying about, while the house itself seemed to be in a state of disrepair.

Avi decided to let Amanda take point as she approached the front door. As she opened it, a single crossbow bolt was launched forward from the door. Amanda was able to react at such a great speed to dodge the bolt, before somehow catching it in her hand. Avi was startled by this as where he was standing would have been hit by the bolt if she hadn’t caught it.

Amanda then revealed that there were many more traps like this scattered throughout the house. She then asked if he and Morgana could disarm the traps. Avi was a little apprehensive about this, not because he didn’t know the spell, but because he was rusty and didn’t want to be responsible for any missed traps that would harm or even kill a teammate.

Avi saw that Morgana was quickly going to work as her finger began to glow. Sighing, Avi pulled out his wand and placed his hands in the standard starting position for spell casting. He then thought back to his days training under his Father. While Avi had focused on illusion magic, his Father had insisted on Avi learning how to counter such spells. Part of that training was a spell for detecting hidden items, but you must be searching for a specific item.

As Avi prepared his wand, he remembered all the items Amanda had listed. He would have to search for each item individually, which would take a while. Avi then flicked his right wrist and began to chant in a dead language. His hands began to move on their own, his wand whipping about. Avi decided to focus on the crossbows first as one had nearly killed him. Within a minute of chanting, the first hidden crossbow began to give off a light blue glow, clearly revealing where it was hidden. Seconds later a second crossbow began to glow.

A smile formed on Avi’s lips as he was glad the spell was working. While this was good, he knew he was nowhere near done. After all the traps were revealed, he would have to cast a malfunction enchantment on each trap. Luckily for Avi, this was a spell that he was very comfortable with as he used it quite often during his time with the RCMP.

@Kumbaris @King Cosmos

---

Despite how dangerous the situation appeared to be with the entire house filled wiith traps, Faye didn't seem to be that worried. Sure, it was risky, but due to both the nature of her own ability and her already somewhat reckless nature, she didn't fear for her own safety. Still, it was good knowing that Micheal had a previous experience in a very similiar situation, as it became evident by hearing his comment.

"That sounds much more like a fortress than a drug dealer's den." Faye mentioned as she heard Whiskeyjack's description about the place.

Just as Michael finished giving his suggestion to look for the control room to Amanda, she began telling the group what they would do next. Faye was very surprised when Amanda asked Morgana to enter and disarm the traps. Even though she knew Morgana only for a short period of time, she could already imagine how much she would hate that task. Faye's prediction would soon be proven true as Morgana reacted to Amanda's words.

As Amanda mentioned that she and Ullross would be on lookout outside the house, Faye waved to him with a kind smile before turning to Amanda again, hearing to her explanation.

"Mines? Cool!" Faye said with an excited expression as she looked over the shoulder to where Amanda said the mines were.

"I know, I know... Before you guys say anything, I promise I won't go near them... Nor blink something at them to watch them go off or something..." she said with a sigh, rolling her eyes.

"It will definitely be boring though... Well, at least we can talk until they're finished, right?" Faye said, approaching Ullross to talk to him when Micheal suddenly let out a loud shout to the skies, making Faye jump, startled.

"Hey! What's with the shoutin-" Faye began complaining as she turned to Michael, only to stop mid-sentence when, surprisingly enough something replied to Michael's shout.

After that, Micheal shouted again and once more, something replied to him, the sound coming closer. After the third time, Faye and the rest of the group could already hear the thumping noises of something big approaching them. It was only then that, out of nowhere, a huge sasquatch approached the group. Big and furry, straight out of the tales and stories that most people in the USA seemed to love so much.

The exchange between Michael and the creature lasted for only a minute, before the creature went back to where it came from and Micheal began telling the group what he had discovered.

"Whoa, that was definitely something I wasn't expecting." she said, surprised.

"Who would've thought, though. It turns out that the crazy americans who keep talking about bigfoot on the internet weren't crazy after all!" Faye said, laughing.

Just as the bigfoot left and Micheal finished speaking though, they were surprised with the arrival of a new member of the team. According to Amanda, she was a 'contractor' or in other words, a mercenary. Truth be told, she really looked the part with the black body armor and the knee pads. What really drew Faye's attention though was the nickname Scarlet, how she introduced herself, mentioned. "Venom Bean"

"That is a funny nickname!" Faye mentioned, laughing.

"Hey! I'm Faye. I don't think I have a nickname though. To be fair, nor do I have experience in these type of things or even a military background soo..." Faye said, shrugging with a chuckle.

"Anyways, pleased to meet you. I'm Faye Hayward. I can blink and make portals." Faye mentioned with a smile as she introduced herself to Scarlet.

Scarlet continued to look at Amanda, trying her best not to stare for too long by glancing around, but her gaze always rested on the android. Once Amanda approached her and clarified that she is indeed a robot, Scarlet nodded, still transfixed. "Huh. And here I thought that they only existed in Hollywood. Shows me what I know I guess." Scarlet shrugged, chortling just a little, as to make herself a little less awkward. It helps to play it cool when living under a rock was a real possibility. Maybe everyone present except Scarlet knew that robots existed from the very getgo? Well, they are OMR, they do have access to more information and knowledge than a civilian like her would. Regardless, Amanda continued, and noted that this was her first time in Europe. Scarlet smiled just a little. "Just finished a VIP protection contract in Bosnia, happened to be in the neighborhood when the OMR called." She reached out and took Amanda's hand, giving it a firm shake. "Contractor Scarlet Rubashka, callsign Venom Bean. The pleasure's mine." Scarlet let go, standing up straight. "Uhm..." She looked around, trying to get as much context of the situation as possible. "... you're in charge here, right? If I am speaking to Agent Amanda Duvais, then that would mean that I am under your command."

Before she could ask any questions, a loud cry derailed her train of thought. Her instincts immediately assumed that someone was in danger, causing the homunculus to turn to the source almost immediately, but in just a second, she was able to determine the source and intention. She listened intently, and after determining that the noise was deliberate, Scarlet sighed in relief. Also there's a Bigfoot-looking creature emerging from the woods. A squatch as they call them in some TV shows. Scarlet looked at the creature for quite a while. She's seen a few of them in the form of TV footage before, but she thought they were only local to the United States. Figuring that there were things at play that were beyond her knowledge, Scarlet elected to ignore it.

"That's a funny nickname!" Scarlet heard from beside her. She turned to the source of the voice, a little confused. "Uh...? Oh! Venom Bean! Right!" Scarlet smiled. "Yeah uh... that one actually has a story to it. Normally for other people it would be a little embarrassing but I find it endearing." Scarlet admitted. She listened to Faye's introduction, and nodded with a smile. "Scarlet Rubashka, but I'm sure you heard it already if you heard Venom Bean." Scarlet said with a soft chortle of her own. "Just an ordinary woman with a bag of holding, and a whole lot of firepower." Scarlet said, putting her hands on her hips and flashing a subtle but proud smirk. "Blinking and portals is definitely useful though, that would've saved my ass in a pinch on so many deployments. But yeah, the pleasure's mine." Scarlet would've loved to continue making conversation with Agent Hayward, but before she could even say another word, duty called. "Uh... I think the guy who talked to the sasquatch just now is asking for my help, so uh... yeah. To be continued!" Scarlet immediately made her way over to Micheal, and followed him to the house.

Once she met up with Mike, she did some stretches. "Hey uh... person. I don't think we've met. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing here, but..." She turns to Amanda, if she were there as well, before turning back to Mike. "...yeah." She'd had to admit, she felt so out of place here without any context or orders. Judging from the ambient conversations she's overheard, there may have been bad guys here? And that this place was filled with booby traps of some kind. She can't draw any conclusions as she wasn't part of these conversations, but hopefully she'll know enough to get her job done. Assuming she was given one to do. "So uhm... what's going on here?" Scarlet asked.

Morgana completed the circle with a final sweep of her finger and the effect was almost instantaneous. Those sensitive to it would be able to detect the sudden rush of magical energy that suffused the building, starting from her design and spreading outwards; in its wake it left colours, ranging from vivid red to deep indigo in order to highlight the places people had been in the past few days. The brightest spot was by the door, the threshold practically glowing, while the interior was more a mix of hues; reds, oranges and yellows signified the places with the most activity such as the hallways and the furniture, while darker colours showed the less visited areas of the house like the very edges of the rooms by the walls as well as a few other, conspicuously undisturbed spots.

She would be avoiding those.

While she was working it seemed like her partner in this little exercise had come up with an idea of his own. He was casting something that she wasn’t familiar with in a language she didn’t recognise, but from what little she could pick up it seemed to have something to do with locating objects; a useful discipline for an agent she supposed, though not one she was that well versed in. As she watched him finish the first casting she saw another point of light appear within the house, outlining an object hidden within the walls that could only be a crossbow.

“Interesting.”

He began casting again and once he was finished a second crossbow appeared. It would seem the spell could only identify a single object at a time, which was unfortunate, but such a limitation was something she might be able to deal with.

She waited for him to finish casting, knowing better than to interrupt someone in the middle of a spell, before approaching him.

“Xaviron, was it? If you can teach me the basics of that spell I might be able to modify it to affect an area rather than a single object. Or at least design something to achieve the same result.”

@Martian

@BigPapaBelial@AWACS

Amanda could feel her confidence rising as agent Rubashka introduced herself. "Well, let's get to work shall we?" Just as the Sasquatch was walking right out of the forest and conversing with Micheal, while Scarlet was visibly startled by such a sight. Amanda was in this field of work for long enough that such a sight no longer fazed her. "Oh! A sasquatch. I haven't seen those things for quite a long time, it's fun trying to wrestle them whenever they feel like they wanna play. You get thrown around a lot and in the end, you'd probably made a new friend out of a giant. Fun times, fun times..."

"Anyway, I think we can get to work now since Rubashka's here. Can you join Faye and Ullross... wait, no, you are capable of defusing traps right?" She asked the woman, "I think that helping Morgana and Xaviron would work best for you, go meet up with them on that house over there, they probably need your help in disarming potential land mines and other wire traps and what have you in that house. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work to do."

She promptly left the Homonculus to work together with the Scientist and Field Agent, the Android returning to the Native American shaman. The sudden call for her help heightened her senses and she quickly ran towards the Shaman. "What's up? You said you need combat help? Is there someone there that might be a threat?"

Combat is nothing new to her. Considering her build quality and experience, whoever's behind that door probably wouldn't hold up a candle to her fighting abilities, but the situation here is not exactly ideal. Her trusty axe is left on the car, and the only weapons she has on her is her body, and the two concealed guns on her forearms, and she doesn't want to use them on whoever that thread is, unless if it's some greater demon or something.

"I can beat up whoever's inside that building if I have to, just tell me what's up Micheal." She inquired, her fists already balling up, ready for a fight.

@Kumbaris@AWACS



Micheal winces a little looking at the house, unsure of what to do. He turns as Amanda appears, "I don't know what the situation or what is up really. Manabozho just did an external casing of the other house. Says the power is still on and he can hear things inside. Could be someone, and if that's true they're likely watching us." He looks towards the house, Raven still working at the lock with a pair of lock picks, that were apparently taken from a lock picking kit with Micheal's initials on it. Micheal rubs his head, "Despite having a tomahawk and a propensity for summoning lightning, I'm not a combat caster. I'm a ritualist. It honestly takes time for me to conjure the magic needed to create lightning reliably and it's just not good for fighting. So kinda need someone to help me here. Or someones. You're a robot boss lady, and well we have a mercenary now I think? So maybe you could help me? Really don't want to go in there alone even if I have three gods with me."

He starts towards the front door of the house. Raven sticking a tongue out of the side of his mouth, "Almost got it..." The trickster god says softly, "I can feel the last few pins...just...give me a second or two more..." The god grumbles then winces as there's a pop, "Crap I just lost a pin hang on I can recover!" He keeps working and Micheal rubs his chin, gripping his tomahawk tightly, "Come on R, don't let us down now." Raven chuckles, "Don't worry Mikey i gotcha...just... alittle...and hey!" A click a pop and then BOOM! a shotgun goes off, blowing a hole in the door where the door knob was a moment before, Raven just having ducked out of the way. Raven peers through the hole, "Another trap...wow."

Micheal hums, "This place is trapped too. Great. But then this seems to be an MO around all kinds of places people don't want people to get into. Guess we need to watch out for trick steps, punji stakes and the like too. Watch your step everyone." Micheal reaches out and pushes the door open. Then helps Raven up from where he had sprawled to the floor. Manabozho and Whiskeyjack coming over to join them all.

Scarlet stands ready with Micheal and Amanda, awaiting orders. She listened as Amanda and Micheal spoke about the threat at hand, and nodded. A scenario she is slightly familiar with when searching for VIPs, often times small groups of combatants would monitor a group of buildings hot with traps and bombs. That way they'd easily take out large scores of their foes from the safety of whatever bunker they'd be holed up in. She knew right away, that with Amanda being... well a robot, and that with Micheal here, Scarlet would be needed here to provide fire support and defuse any bombs and traps that they might come across. Once Amanda turned to her and asked her to go with the others, she lifts a finger up. "Actually, with the way things are sounding, I think I might be needed here. I got enough firepower to cover the both of you, if things get sporty here." Scarlet looked around them, taking in the relatively quiet environment. "I doubt that we'll be dealing with a high concentration of enemy combatants, but even a very small number of armed people could be incredibly dangerous to people who lack combat capabilities." Scarlet said, gesturing to Micheal. "So in essence, I'm requesting permission to provide support to you and uhm... whoever you are...?" She turns to Micheal. "... I still haven't gotten your name." The homunculus gives a slight, awkward chortle in an unconscious attempt to convey a more friendly tone.

Once Micheal moved to the house, she lazily followed him there and watched as Raven worked on getting open the door. Scarlet gulps. She had a feeling that action could begin at any moment, so she slowly unzips her tactical bag of holding, and gently pulls out her AUG rifle from it. While Raven continues his attempt to pick the lock, Scarlet zips up her bag, brings the rifle to shoulder, adjusts a few knobs on the integral sight, slaps the bolt handle and disengages the safety. She brings the rifle up to shoulder, and takes aim at the door. She quietly speaks to Micheal and Raven. "Once you get the door, stand at the-" BANG! The shotgun blast did little to startle Scarlet, who simply pointed her rifle away momentarily to avoid friendly fire. "... sides." Scarlet sighed softly, before stacking up at the side of the door. She listens to Micheal as he speaks. Once he mentioned the MO and the traps, she nods. "Don't forget about landmines and IEDs... assuming these folks have the sophistication and class of your average evil paramilitary force." Scarlet said, her words dripping with venomous sarcasm. Her experience with evil paramilitary forces aren't what she would call the highlights of her life. She looks to the others for a moment, before looking Michael dead in the eyes. "All of you stay behind me. I got body armor and a rifle, so if shit hits the fan y'all would stand a better chance at surviving whatever happens." Scarlet said.

Once Micheal opened the door from the safest distance he could muster, Scarlet immediately walked inside with her rifle raised. She used similar fluid movements that folks would often see Spec Ops or SWAT do in the movies when it came to clearing buildings, but with the knowledge that the building was trapped, she moved at a much slower pace, making sure to watch her step and to keep an eye out for hostile activity. The building itself was rather old and rickety, with mold lining up some parts of the wall. However, the soft buzz of old flickering flourescent tube lights revealed the fact that this building was indeed occupied as previously suggested, so Scarlet kept her guard up, as well as her rifle. She made slow careful steps through the hallway, almost tiptoeing and watching every step she took. A quick glance down, and a quick glance up. A quick glance down, and a quick glance up. A quick glance down. Ah, shit.

Scarlet immediately stopped in her tracks, and held up her left hand in a closed fist, a standard NATO hand signal for HOLD POSITION. She made another signal, a diagonal slashing motion across her neck and chest, another standard signal for DANGER AREA. Looking down, she made note of a particular trap. "Clever bastards." Scarlet whispered to herself. Slowly, she slung her rifle onto her shoulder and let it hang on her side. She smoothly crouched in what appears to be a rug of sorts, occupying a large space ahead of her in a hallway. A closer look would reveal a gentle indent in a certain space. "Everyone stand back." She whispered, gesturing everyone to get behind her. She gently removes the rug, moving it in the most careful way she could muster. Most of what was below it was rotten hardwood floor, but there was a circular opening with a cylindrical object inside of it. Scarlet sighed once she looked at it.

"Soviet PMN mine. A battlefield classic." Scarlet sighed quietly. "Not something you can defuse with standard kits like with IEDs. In order to clear this thing I'm gonna have to blow it up." Scarlet whispered, before smirking a little. "But if y'all hate fun and like having hazards around, we can just stay clear of it and leave it here." Scarlet shrugged. "Up to you."

---

With each one of the members going to do the tasks they were assigned to, Faye found herself back into the boring task of being on lookout. Unfortunately, Ulross, who was her companion in that task, wasn't a man of many words, much for Faye's dismay... And so, without any other choice, Faye simply sat down on the hood of the car the group used, looking around rather absentmindedly... For the first ten minutes at least.

"Ugh! I'm sooo bored... This is torture!" Faye suddenly said, laying on her back on the hood of the car with a heavy sigh.

"Ulross, you seem to be like someone who have lots of stories to tell." Faye suddenly said, still lying on her back, as her head hanged from the edge, looking at Ulross.

"We could exchange stories! To help pass the time. What do you say?" she asked expectantly.

Just as she asked that though, distant sounds of motorcycles interrupted them, making Faye stand up and looking towards where the noise was coming from, before glancing towards Ulross. Both Faye and Ulross needed only a very quick glance to know that the group was heavily armed.

"Umm... Ulross... I think they're coming here..." Faye said, still looking at the bikers, who were getting closer and closer.

Before even getting out of his motorcycle, one of the bikers, which seemed to be the only one that was unarmed, suddenly raised his hand towards Faye and Ulross, with a fireball quickly forming on the palm of his hand.

"Get these fuckers! Burn 'em!" the biker shouted, just as he released his fireball.

"Get down!" Faye shouted towards Ulross, touching him and blinking together with him behind the car as the fireball missed them for a few meters, exploding and burning everything around it almost like a molotov cocktail.

With no regards to being silent, the rest of the bikers soon opened fire following the mage as they got down from their bikes. From shotguns, rifles and handguns, they immediately began shooting at both of them, stopping their bikes and getting down.

"They even have a mage?!" Faye shouted, alarmed as a shotgun slug shattered the window just above them, making shards of glass fall all over Faye and Ulross.

As Avi continued to flick his wrists, channelling his arcane energy, Morgana finished her spell. The rush of magic pouring out of her almost caused Avi to lose his concentration, as the room lit up in multiple colours. Avi recognized the spell as one of detecting past movements, an incantation he had been meaning to learn.

As Avi finished his spell, all the hidden crossbows in the house began to give off a blue glow. With the crossbows now illuminated, Avi prepared his wand to cast a spell to find the explosives. But before he could begin casting, Morgana interrupted him, enquiring about his spell.

“My name is Xaviron. If you want to use this spell, you need to speak some Lemurian. They used to use this spell to navigate booby trapped temples,” Avi replied, “But maybe you could at least cast it with just the somatic component of the spell, as some people don’t need to do the verbal component. I guess I could show you the basics at least.”

Avi walked over to Morgana, raising his wand in his right hand, “I take it you don’t use an arcane focus. That might make this tricky. You know what? Just follow my lead.”

Avi began to move his hands, showing Morgana the first parts of the spell. But less than ten seconds into the lesson, Avi’s concentration was broken by the sound of gunfire. He immediately moved his wand to a combat position, and checked his waist to make sure he had his gun.

“That does not sound good,” Avi said, “I’m going to see what’s going on.”

Avi walked back to the front door of the house of traps, gun in one hand, wand in the other. Avi then poked his head out the door, spotting several bikers approaching the residence. Avi quickly ducked back in when one tossed a fireball toward his comrades.

Avi turned back toward Morgana, “It seems we’re not the only magic users here.”

While Avi mulled over fighting another mage, he also thought of what spell to use. He had prepared a malfunction spell, but that would probably only be able to stop one gun. And they had a lot of guns. Instead, Avi decided to cast a spell that could target the whole group of attackers.

Once again Avi poked his head out the door, this time raising his wand, “Procella venti.”

A blast of air erupted forth from his wand, sending a gust toward the bikers, one that Avi hoped would be able to knock at least a few of them off their bikes.

@King Cosmos

@AWACS@Martian@13org@BigPapaBelial

Amanda was busy supervising the woman's work, to be honest, she was honestly zoning out for a little bit. She was expecting this investigation to go smoothly, almost like butter for the first day, but instead, after all of that progress in the warehouse, all she was left with was two houses trapped to hell and back. "Yeah, just blow it up with whatever you have Scarlet. Just make sure to be safe and all of that, don't want anyone here dying from bomb defusal."

Honestly, this kind of slow work reminds her of her first days as an agent. When she was assigned to that elven supervisor of hers. Bless him, but man, most of the work can be just shuffling paperwork and asking people around. Most of the action stuff was usually relegated on certain occasions, like during her time going solo in LA. Now that she thought about it. She's pretty sure her time in LA was the only time she ever had major action excepting her time fighting the Eldritch Abomination. "Huh... Well, that sucks." She muttered to herself.

She secretly desired for some action, and just like wishing on a Monkey's Paw. Her wish was granted, but not in the way she expected. She heard the rumble of the motorcycle engines, and the moment she shifted her head around, the bikers were already firing and engaging her group. "Oh shit!"

She saw Xaviron firing a spell in retaliation to the bikers, a gust of wind, useful, but only in temporarily disabling them. She knew that she must intervene if this situation would turn in her group's favour.

And with that in mind, she immediately recalled Scarlet. "Stop what you're doing right now! You have guns right? There's currently a bunch of biker gangs attacking us, I'll try to hold them while you get whatever it is you need to fight them. Is that understood?"

She immediately sent a signal for her briefcase. Completely undetectable to the naked eye, but it's effects were immediate. The trunk of one of the Mercedes was forcibly opened and a gigantic pole type thing flew out of it. It moved with such force, no doubt propelled by something in it. And Amanda immediately grab the pole just as it looked like it was going to hit her.

The Pole then unfurled itself into a gigantic battle axe, no doubt made for someone with her physiology to handle. "Faye! Xaviron! Ulross!" She screamed towards the trio. "Take cover behind the car, they're bulletproof. I'll handle them while you provide support fire. Understood?"

She wasted no time afterwards, immediately going to town with one unsuspecting Biker. Her gigantic axe slamming the guy in the torso and promptly tearing him in two. Amanda also proceeded to tear his limbs off before going to work on the other Bikers, all of them no doubt noticing the angry woman and starting to fire at her.

Scarlet continued to investigate the bomb. She listened as Amanda spoke to her in regards to that nasty landmine, and nodded with a soft smile. "You got it boss." She turned to the mine, and looked ahead of her, seeing a tripwire just two meters ahead. "Hmph. I would suggest leveling the building with any kind of ordnance we have on hand, but then again, uh... you know. ROE." Scarlet relented. "Oh well. A contract's a contract." She went to work, taking out small pieces of plastic explosive from her tactical bag of holding. "Everything's better with a bit of C4~♫" Scarlet sang to herself as she assembled her explosive. A little blasting cap there, and some remote fuses here, and viola! An ugly clay sculpture was formed around the mine. "I think this goes without saying, but we're gonna have to go outside when we blow this thing up. It might trigger a few of the other traps in the building and ruin the walls, but-"

POP! POP-POP-POP! POP!

Scarlet stopped herself, freezing. The sounds of gunfire echoed to their building. She heard Amanda curse, as well as the spells being cast in the distance. Scarlet twisted 180 and stood up, bringing her rifle back to shoulder. Once Amanda recalled her and gave her orders, Scarlet simply nodded. "You got it, boss. I got a light fifty at my disposal, so just give me a shout if you need sniper support." Before she could finish her sentence, Amanda was already running out the door. Scarlet turned to Micheal and his gods, and nodded to him. "I remember what you said earlier, which is why I came to your aid. If you and your friends here have any support capacity, by all means use it. Any little thing could mean the difference between life and death. But whatever you do, keep your distance, use the thickest cover possible, and stay down." She said with a little more intensity than she intended. She looked at her AUG and checked the safety. Confirming that the fire selector was on semi-automatic fire mode, she nodded to herself. She turned back to Michael and gestured to the landmine just six inches behind her. "I'll blow this up later. When you come out, give me a shout. I'll cover you. Good luck." She patted Micheal on his shoulder before sprinting out the door and out into the green yonder.

Immediately seeing the large number of bikers and their various assortment of weapons on hand, Scarlet got a good glimpse of them as she sprinted to cover. Standard leather outfits, big mean-looking people of different races and genders, a wide variety of scary looking weapons and gear, and somewhat undisciplined tactics. Taking cover behind the thickest tree she could see, she managed to get a good look at the situation. Looks like the beginning of a standard short-range firefight between a large well-armed gang and a small group of well-trained agents, but given that Scarlet was facing them at a different angle and is about 150 meters away, a defensive victory could be feasible for the good guys. However, one of the hostiles closest to them just got chopped in half by Amanda? What the fuck... It took Scarlet a while to get used to the fact that Amanda was a robot of all things, but one weilding an axe? She felt like she just walked into one of those strange animes that she sees from time to time. Except that this is real, and that her allies are in danger. And that she needs to do something now.

Scarlet looked around her. If she started shooting now, she'll no doubt draw a lot of their fire. She made sure her position wouldn't put anyone near her at risk, and given that the house she just came from was a good distance from the tree she stood behind and was surrounded by a lot of foliage, she knew that Michael and his friends could still get out safely even if she started firing now. She crouched, raised her rifle, and took aim down the scope. A biker with a Krinkov was firing on her allies at full auto, but couldn't aim for shit since the stock was still folded. But given the caliber of the weapon, it still posed a dangerous threat. 7.62x39mm would do serious damage to unarmored targets. Scarlet didn't recall seeing any of her allies wearing any armor. The choice was obvious. Just three seconds after she took aim, she squeezed the trigger.

POW-POW!

The Krinkov wielding biker fell. Two clouds of blood exploded from his back as his carbine went skyward, still firing for just a second before his dead hand relinquished it. A few of the bikers stopped firing for a moment. Scarlet took aim at another one.

POW!

A scorching hot hollow-point 5.56mm NATO round found its way inside the head of a biker wielding a machine pistol, and exited her skull just as quickly as it came. The woman fell immediately and spasmed a little, her corpse concealing some other bits of her that came out. A good portion of the bikers immediately shifted their focus to Scarlet, and started firing at her. Scarlet immediately took cover, bits of bark and dirt exploding around her as the bikers fired at her. Thankfully, they still can't hit anything worth a damn, especially at this range.

"HAH! Is that the best you fuckin' got!?" Scarlet shouted at them, chuckling a little as they continued to fire at her. "Even Stormtroopers have better aim than you! You could at least try to hit me! Idiots!" Scarlet chuckled, switching her weapon to full-auto before popping out. She took aim at an orc that was charging at her position with a shotgun. POPPOPPOW! A three round burst of hollow points to the chest was all it took to make him fall. Scarlet took cover again once the gunfire towards her intensified. Scarlet was just about to pull out her radio before she realized that she didn't get communications sorted out with the rest of the agents yet. "Shit!" Now she can't tell her allies that she's drawn quite a bit of their fire, so they are safe to move and cast spells. Well, at least she took out three of them. Three out of who knows how many. It slowly dawned on her that there was an unknown number of enemy hostiles that were firing at her position, and she was now pinned down by their gunfire.

"Well fuck." Scarlet sighed heavily. Despite the lack of good cover, this is still leagues better than fighting Serbian paramilitaries. Hopefully, the other agents will see the opening that Scarlet and Amanda are presently providing, and that the enemy is currently wide open for a variety of attacks.

Micheal had knelt on one knee beside Scarlet as she started to work on the bomb, "Interesting, no one has ever gone to this extent back on the Rez. Gotta tell you these guys are a touch above then." He hummed watching her work, even offering a hand to hold a part of the quickly strange looking and becoming plastic explosive mound come into being. He'd scrambled back several feet and into a small alcove, where somehow his three god friend had also slipped into. Then...

He looked over, "Was that a..." He blinked as a stray round fwacked into the door frame of the second house. He blinks, "Well fuck me sidewise and running." He looks over at Scarlet giving her a confused look. And then he nodded. And all he could think to himself is, "Oh honey if only you knew life on the Rez like I do. A little gunfire is nothing new." As the gun-toting merc ran out to help take care of thins Micheal and looked to his friends, "You guys in? Or sitting out?" The three hummed and nodded, "We can help." Micheal grinning, "Thanks boys. Come on. Let's find some cover. And maybe an empowering ritual? What do you think? A crow hop?" The other three grinned as they carefully filed out, finding a place to settle in outside.

And again the drum came out, and the four found a place. A set of hard wood, piled high. out of the way and protected. Micheal ran his hands over the drum surface. Not even ducking when another stray round wickered over head. He hummed. Then took up a drum stick. Looking around at his posse....

And unlike last time at the warehouse where the power of the ritual took effect at the beat of the drum. There's a pulse of magic the moment he shoots out, "HOKA!" Invigorating and focusing energy. Powerful and soul-filling. Freeing and uplifting. Allowing for better aim, courage and prowess! The power of a Ritual indeed. And then the song began. And Micheal's voice soared up in the lead. A faint pillar of his pure blue magic blazing up as he tips his voice to the sky. Helping his teammates as best he can. And after the first verse, the gods join in and three more pillars of support magic blaze into the air. Further helping the team.

Even as some of assailants try and fire towards the four pillars of light, Micheal and his friends still sing!

---

The roar of the motorcycles was almost drowned by the sounds of gunshots in a chaotic cacophony as the bikers continued shooting while approaching the house. Those that got close enough quickly dismounted from their bikes and slowly approaching the house as they continued to suppress Ulross and Faye, who were taking cover behind the car.

"Is this payback for me saying I was bored?!" Faye said, with a small shout as another window exploded, unable to hold on thanks to the continued gunfire.

Just as she said that though, a few words heralded a sudden, strong gust of wind, as Xaviron appeared from inside the house, knocking down about a third of the bikers, sending them tumbling to the ground, along with their bikes.

Along with Xaviron, the rest of the group also came. Using Xaviron's distraction, Amanda immediately came, asking for Scarlet's support, regarding firepower and jumping herself into the fray, after a stunt worthy of an action movie, making a huge pole suddenly shoot straight at her from the trunk of one of the cars, before unfurling into a huge axe.

"Whoa! That was cool- HEY!" Faye said, amazed as she saw Amanda dashing to one of the bikers and promptly slashing him into two with her axe, just to quickly pull her head down as a bullet hit the car and bounced, nearly hitting her.

Seeing one of their own literally being chopped into half, the bikers immediately changed targets, all of them focusing on the biggest and closest threat, Amanda.

"SHE KILLED CLYDE! She fucking sliced my little brother Clyde in half!!" One of the bikers who was just next to Amanda shouted, with a horrified expression as he immediately began walking back, desperately unloading his automatic rifle towards Amanda's general direction, his aim affected by his desperation and his emotional state.

Seeing all the nearby bikers beginning to focus Amanda, Faye did want to try to help her, but due to one of the other bikers, the one wielding an automatic rifle, suppressing her and Ullross behind the car with continuous fire, it wasn't a really good idea.

It was at that moment that Scarlet, after readying herself, shot the biker with the rifle, punching two fist-sized holes into his chest. Providing long range support, Scarlet continued shooting, taking another biker with a resounding shot. One after another, the loud shots coming from Scarlet's position were enough to vibrate the air and even raise dust from the ground as a third biker fell dead.

Raising a thumbs-up to Scarlet, thanking her in the distance, Faye looked to the ground near the car where she was ducking, seeing the many shards of reinforced glass into the ground. By now, the bikers that were knocked down by Xaviron had already gotten up and were finally arriving to aid the few remaining bikers. With their initial group being reduced to almost half of it's size, one would expect them to be demoralized, but instead, it seemed that they only got angrier and more reckless, fueled by the words of the fire-wielding mage among them.

"First they invade our property, then they kill our brothers and wreck our bikes? GET THEM! MAKE THEM PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID!" the mage said, readying a big fireball as he aimed at Amanda.

At that very moment, a strange, rhythmic drumming sound began playing. Almost like the sound of a beating heart, along with a tone being hummed. Immediately feeling the familiar energy that Micheal's magic had, Faye saw and felt the pulse of magic permeating and empowering her, along with a visible pillar of energy.

Feeling the urgency of the situation and empowered by Micheal's ritual, Faye immediately got a bunch of glass shards holding them on her hand as she stood up.

"AMANDA, DUCK NOW!" she shouted, raising her hands as the glass fragments between her hands suddenly disappeared, only to reappear a few meters ahead of her, flying with a frightening speed and spreading in a cone towards the bikers.

The rain of glass, flying towards the bikers as fast as a bullet, caused a lot of chaos. The random trajectory of the glass shards only added to the chaos, causing wounds that ranged from grazing cuts to deep puncture wounds and even piercing an unfortunate biker's throat, sending him to the ground as he desperately scratched his throat, before finally going unconscious.

While the mage was lucky enough to not suffer a deadly wound, one of the sharp shards of glass went right through his shoulder, making him lose concentration on the spell just about he was going to fire it towards Amanda, causing him to lose control of the magic flow and making the fireball explode before it was fired, causing severe burns into his right arm.

"AAARGH! FUCK!" the mage growled in pain, as the sickly smell of burnt flesh raised into the air.

As the gust of wind burst forth from Avi’s wand, he was happy that it was so powerful. But when it made contact with the bikers, it did less than Avi expected as only about a third of them were knocked down. But Avi didn’t focus on the effect for too long, as the automatic opening of the car’s trunk opening caught his gaze. A pole launched out of it, and flew through the sky, landing directly in Amanda’s hand. What happened next stunned Avi, as the pole transformed into a giant battle axe. While it was clearly a terrifying weapon, Avi wondered about the practicality of it. But as Amanda was an artificial being, he figured that she was designed with the strength to wield such a mighty weapon.

The mighty Android then turned to Avi and the other team members, ordering them to take cover behind a bulletproof car and lay down some covering fire. Without saying anything, Avi did as he was told. Pulling out his gun, Avi made a mad dash from the doorway to where the car was. Initially a few bullets whizzed past Avi, but the gunfire lessened as something else seemed to occupy the bikers. Once Avi made it behind cover, he peaked over the car to see what happened to the bikers. With a quick glance Avi saw that Amanda had cleaved one of them in half. Now the Android was the focus of the bikers’ attacks.

“That was unexpected,” Avi muttered to himself.

Avi readied his gun, calming his breathing so that would have better accuracy. But before he could start firing, several shots came flying by from a gathering of trees. The shots immediately down a few bikers, but it caught the surviving ones attention, as they began firing at the trees. Avi decided to help whoever was firing from the trees, peaking over the car. With gun raised, Avi fired two quick shots. The first one hit a biker square in the chest, while the second one missed slightly, hitting one in the shoulder. Still it was enough to knock both of them off their bikes.

As Avi ducked once more behind the bulletproof car, he heard rhythmic chanting beginning. Recognizing the voice of Michael and his God companions, Avi quickly realized that they were casting a spell. Within a few seconds, an energy surrounded Avi. Immediately he felt a wave of strength spread across his body as four beams of blue energy rose over Michael and his allies.

Feeling strong, Avi saw the equally empowered Faye toss a handful of glass shards through a portal, before raining down on the bikers. The attack was more successful than Avi would’ve thought, as it downed a few bikers, and it managed to interrupt the mage.

Avi decided to make use of the confusion caused by this attack, and the magical empowerment Michael had given him. Pointing his wand directly at the ground, Avi once again began chanting in Lemurian. Using the magical empowerment, Avi focused all of his magical power into the ground. Controlling the flow of the magic with his mind, Avi formed cracks in the ground underneath the bikers. As Avi spoke the last few words of his ritual, there was a crunching sound as the ground ruptured beneath the bikers. Their bikes began to tip over as the ground became unstable.

@Kumbaris @AWACS @BigPapaBelial @13org

@Martian@13org@BigPapaBelial@AWACS@King Cosmos

Amanda was pretty happy with the pace of the battle. She has seen more gruesome battles in her life, and this one, by the looks of it, is going to be a favourable engagement for her team. She was busy hacking and slashing to notice the sudden development from Faye's attack, finishing off 2 more bikers that were foolish enough to close in onto her after what she did with that one guy that's close to her.

She guesses that being a robot naturally attracts attention whenever she goes.

She was busy hacking and slashing that she didn't realize the impending threat that Faye has just created. She did see Xaviron's spell attempt though, and, with some predictive algorithms and internal stabilizers, managed to handle the shaking ground pretty well. Knocking out or killing any bikers that sunk into the ground or are disoriented with Xaviron's spell.

All the while. Her olfactory receptors were suddenly sensing a smell of charcoal and brimstone in the air, she's not sure, but is it possible for someone to have that inside his magical repertoire? She's heard about the case files from the North America branch, if there is a visible sense of charcoal and brimstone, and then a bright fire shooting up in the air...

Her focused senses suddenly cut off when a bright fire shot up into the air. Confirming Amanda's suspicions. "Ohhhh crap, this looks real bad." She muttered.

While the mage that was hurt by Faye. Now very much pissed, took a long stare, his bloodied face and body now visibly angry at all of them. "Fuck it! I'm doing this guys!!" He screamed, and promptly unfurled a knife from his pocket, took a stab at his left palm, and screamed in pain.

Amanda was no stranger to humans and other sentient beings screaming, but this type of agony feels different. She saw the knife for a moment before an eerie golden glow covered the entirety of the Mage Bikers' body. She knew that that knife is an artifact from a cultist sect that followed the eldritch abomination, the unnatural design of the blade and her sensors screaming in her face of the potential danger of the object is made clear, but she didn't know just what would happen should someone did a magical ritual using that knife.

And as the golden glow dissipated. The only thing she managed to briefly recognize was a mass of tentacular tendrils, black, gooey, emanating huge amounts of mana, before she was then promptly punched by it and flew straight into the house. Exploding a bunch of unknown, and more importantly, un-defused mines.

The remaining bikers fanned out and started to leave. All of them seemingly afraid at what the mage has become, and all of them chanting their goodbyes to the mage, and as Amanda walked out of the wreckage, her clothes a bit worse for wear but her physical body seemingly not suffering a single injury. She issued a declaration to her team.

"Guys and Gals, that right there." She pointed at the Mage, now seemingly looking at the rest of the OMR team. "Is an Eldritch Abomination artifact, used by the biker somehow to transform himself into that... thing. Don't engage it close-range, use your guns and whatever else you have to strike it at long range. I'll try to distract it while you pepper him with shots. Try to aim for the head, it seems like that's it's most vulnerable part for now."

Amanda promptly summoned her axe again, and walked towards the Biker mage, his clothes gone, entire body covered in black leathery snake skin, his face only an inky black void with two lights, and a mass of tendrils emanating from his back. "Alright then Mage. You wanna dance with me?"

"With all pleasure." He responded, his voice distorted and seemingly emanating from nowhere, before a tendril shot at Amanda and she deflected it, using her axe. She promptly tried slamming the gigantic metallic weapon into his torso, but that was promptly blocked by a tendril from the Mage turned abomination. This fight seemed to last forever, with both Amanda and the Mage no worse for wear.

Only time will tell if Amanda, or the mage, will win.

---

Faye's was satisfied to notice not only that her attack was very effective in disorienting and creating chaos among the bikers, but most importantly, that it had interrupted the mage, who was about to attack Amanda. Xaviron, who had made two bikers fall off their bikes with two accurate shots. The first biker fell from his bike to the ground with a loud thump. The hole in his chest was a dead giveaway that not only he wouldn't be getting back up at all. The second one was shot on his shoulder, making him fall from his back and roll trough the ground, raising up smoke as he grasped his shoulder, groaning in pain.

"I was going to ask how did you hit both of them while they were still on their bikes, but I keep forgetting that I'm the only one among you guys who isn't a trained super-agent and can't really use a gun..." Faye said, rolling her eyes as Xaviron took cover near her, behind the bulletproof car.

Just as she finished saying that though, Xaviron, suddenly pointed his wand towards the ground. Faye could feel the magic gathering and then permeating into the ground and moving towards the bikers as Xaviron chanted in a strange language. Strangely enough, while Xaviron's magic was definitely interesting, she felt a very strong connection with his wand. The traces of magic emanating from Xaviron's wand was similar to the magic the Faes used regarding it's feeling and it's origin. Her thoughts were soon interrupted when the ground started rumbling under her though.

The effects of Xaviron's spell were immediately felt by the bikers, who saw, much for their despair, the ground loudly cracking beneath their feets and their bikes, before it started opening under them. Those who were on their bikes either lost control, falling to the ground or were unlucky enough to have a crack appear just under their bikes, having to jump from their bikes, lest they be sucked into the ground together with them. Fortunately, Amanda, who was among the bikers was somehow able to resist the tremors and didn't loose her footing, which gave her enough time to finish off a few bikers who fell around her.

"Hah! Serves you right!" Faye cheered, seeing the bikers' numbers slowly, but definitely dwindling down and their group slowly loosing their advantage.

Unfortunately, Faye didn't seem to be the only one who realized how dire the situation was becoming for the bikers. Having lost their bikes and a good part of their numbers, their numerical advantage was now gone, pushing the mage to do a desperate move...

For Faye, the terrible, feeling came first than the mage's shout or the pillar of fire that shot up into the air. A horrible, suffocating feeling, almost as if that very magic power was wrigling under her skin, tightening around her neck and piercing her veins. The origin of such magic became clear as the mage raised a strange knife.

"What?! Why does he have that thing with him? No... No! DON'T!" Faye said, visibly altered as her eyes opened wide, shocked as she shouted the moment the mage stabbed the knife into his own hand.

What happened next could only be described as an abomination. A total and complete perversion of magic and life itself. Faye didn't need to look to see what was happening. Even if she sat behind the bulletproof car, cowering in terror, she could clearly feel the eldritch magic. Having a strong focus of eldritch energy so close to her, added to the shock of having saw and felt the transformation made not only Faye cower down in shock, but it semeed to have affected her powers as well, becoming unstable as the small rocks and glass shards on the ground seemed to be disappearing and then appearing, blinking around her in a chaotic pattern as irregular, small portals began to form only to collapse and disappear again. While such instability seemed to be harmless for now, it might not continue like that if Faye wasn't able to calm herself down and control her own powers again soon...

@13org@Kumbaris@Martian@AWACS@ReusableSword

The Contribution of a Shaman and Three Gods

The songs and empowering ritual continues. Micheal can hear the fighting on the other side of the wood pile his godly friends and he are hiding behind. He peeks up at one point to see the fighting and can see over the top of it all Scarlet firing clean into the Bikers, Amanda laying about her. Xavrion adding his ability to the chaos. It's incredible to see honestly. And he feels a shock of pride run through him that he can be part of such an able and skillful team. It's incredible to see it. And almost harkens back to stories he was told of Waskechak and other great names of the past. Geronimo's rebellion, and the battles of Sitting Bull. That is what this feels like to Micheal in this moment. Pride in his soul, in his heart at that moment.

A pride that though still warm, cools like a chunk of cast iron in the bottom of his chest. A cold, heavy feeling in his very being. It's the same cold thousands of other Shaman and Shaman women, Medicine men and women who helped to face the abomination years ago. Many of them were extinguished in the fight. Burned by a cold fire, struck by ethereal coils of power, or just destroyed utterly, body, soul and mind, screaming as a dirty power struck them down. He'd been beside a laugh-lined faced Shaman who's voice when in song was like a cheery bell. He'd gasped, stopped singing then screamed as a fire of cold fire burst out from within. He'd died trying to continue the song that had kept the Great Ghost Dance going to help against the Abomination.

And here now Micheal sees a mirror, a image, a fragment of that thing from long ago. Something left over, something brought forth from that dark knife. He'd dropped his drum stick and reaches out towards the mage, "NO!" He's screamed. But too late. The man is consumed utterly and there stands in the mages place. That shard of the Abomination. His friends stand and recoil. They'd either been on the moon where it was kinda safe or in a lodge during the fight. But now they are so close. So very close. Micheal snatches up his tomahawk then angrily, "Being from Beyond! You will not remain here! By the Shaman and Medicine clans! In the name of Misti Louie, Poundmaker, and all great Chiefs and Wisemen, I, Shaman Crane will not let you remain!"

He reaches down and slices the Cree Syllabic rune for Fire, then Ice, then Wind and finally Lightning into the ground. It's not a song this time. It's just a rough, empowered war cry. And he stomps his foot onto the rune for Fire. A glow forming in front of him before he strikes it with his tomahawk, a bolt of fire growling across the distance, and flaring against the things chest, "Fall!" he cries, then another war whoop, stomping down on the Rune for Wind. A near invisible blade of harsh cold Arctic wind lashing out to slash across the Horror's shoulder, "Fall!" He cries again, as he gathers himself for another attack.