Scarlet payed close attention to the footage in the garage. She kept a close eye on the timestamp, and once they got to the point in time when the imposter left the building, nothing happened. For a bit, anyway. But someone else stepped out shortly after. He looked a bit different from Mosley himself, and while the film was too grainy to get an exact ID of the guy, they at least knew what he looked like in general. He then got in a white Lada and pulled out from the parking garage. “Guys. I’m going to run over to get some identification on that car. I just need to see if the place of the car’s residence and registration can lead us somewhere. So just hang tight and I’ll see what I can do.”
Scarlet nodded. "Copy." She rewound the tape back to the point where the suspect left the building, and kept her eyes trained on the footage. Was that just an employee who left from a different part of the building? Or was he actually the mole? They'd have to look at the other tapes just to be sure, but she didn't recall seeing anyone else leave the building through that way. She wasn't familiar with the building's layout, so being able to plot their movements would probably establish a firmer case for them. "Hey uh, can you get a floorplan for the building too? Forgot to mention that earlier, sorry." She said to Amanda as she stepped up to the TV. "Yeah, this one's really got me scratching my head too. If that's our guy, I can't see how he was able to drop the disguise so quickly." She switched the tapes back to Communications and played back the footage that showed the imposter in his disguise, hoping to find something that can give them a clue.
And thankfully Faye was the first to spot it. She quickly stopped the tape and brought it back, pausing it right at the moment she needed to. And if it weren't for the fact that they were looking for solid leads, Scarlet would've been quite jealous of Faye's ability to wrangle with otherwise uncooperative VCRs. "I can see some strange traces of magic coming from the fake Xaviron! Just on a few frames.. They look like reflections if one doesn't pay enough attention... They look like... wisps of light?" Scarlet blinked and looked closer. What she first dismissed as VHS artifacts were indeed light wisps. Faye continued brainstorming possibilities, and Faye brought up the idea of stacking spells. It clicked, and Scarlet's eyes widened a little.
"Oh, yeah, that's quite possible." Scarlet nodded. "I don't think it's exclusive to the fae. I don't know how it was done, but I know it can be done." Scarlet jogged her memory the best she could. "I know I keep bringing this one deployment up a lot, but I think my coworkers did something along the lines of that to our VIP, so we can safely escort him out of a contested city. I remembered that they mentioned something about stacking spells to make the disguise more convincing or something along the lines of that. I was a little... scatterbrained at the time so I can't remember the details of how it was done exactly. Worked like a charm too, took the Serbs a few more seconds to shoot at us." She chortled lightly before staring at the screen. "I'd bring that up to Amanda when she gets back."
Scarlet looked around for additional TVs and VCRs, and then scrounged together a smaller, separate setup. Her idea was that she'd look at the other tapes so the others could focus on examining the magical artifacts in the frames that they revealed themselves in. She put the parking garage tape on next, and after seeing the familiar footage, she noticed another detail as well. "Uh, guys, I don't think our perp was acting alone." She said, gesturing over to her screen. After the white Lada pulled out from the parking garage, a black Mercedes G-Class SUV pulled out about twenty seconds after it. She didn't see anyone get in or out of the vehicle, so someone was clearly waiting in there for a bit. Unless they were a sworn agent who was spending too much time in their car after their shift was over, they may be in on the whole thing. It looked a bit too suspicious for her. Either that or she's watched way too many movies where every bad guy in Europe owned a black Mercedes G-Class SUV. "That's interesting. We might want to run the plates on that one too."
Michael rubbed his chin lightly. Even his diefic little brothers are looking serious. Micheal sighs and mutters, "Things are so much simpler sometimes on the Rez. The politics aren't this murky usually. People stab you in the back, but you know who they are afterward." He rubs his face and shakes his head.
So on top of someone mimicking one of their teammates, and a potentially st9len car oh and of course Faye saying there appears to be something about the disguise their potential suspect could be done with some kind of mirror or reflection magic. This just seems to pile on bit by bit. Micheal hums, looking bit a Scarlet plays the footage and that second vehicle rolls off behind the first, "Gotta be something else. Do we have a clear view of the Mercedes plates somewhere? Roll bCk abit did the doors or rear hatch of the Mercedes open at any time? If they did and no one got out then we can add someone with a Cloak or invisibility effect to to thinks to watch out for." Micheal looked over at Scarlet, "Fun times huh Red?" He gives her a playful wink, "We got an okay team here though. We can work this out."
The Android woman quickly returned with the car identification, and, sure enough. She was met with a wall of information from the other team members. From the additional car Scarlet discovered to the theory Faye put forward as to the potential origins of the spell. To Micheal’s constant insights and general smarts.
Amanda felt secretly proud that the team she assembled is working like a well-oiled machine. But first, she has to make create some order out of the madness of information she has just received. Perhaps it would be best to start with Scarlet’s insight, the black Mercedes that was spotted around the corner is an interesting piece of information, worth mulling over, but potentially useless since they are on a time crunch.
Faye’s information is also super insightful. An individual with multiple spell matrices linked alongside each other. It would be a pain in the ass to discover the true identity of the individual if it weren’t for the fact that Amanda has pinned the address the car originates from.
She’s happy about that at least.
Micheal’s insights also proved insightful, there’s nothing more to be said about that.
So we are dealing with individuals that are capable of using multiple complex spells, have a car that is reminiscent of the one the OMR uses, and has been sighted gathering intel on their arrival. This is problematic on multiple levels, but Amanda loves a challenge if she sees one. “Alright then.” Amanda concluded. “So looking at the car’s ID, we have managed to pin it down to an apartment complex in the downtown area, considering the fact that this individual is capable of stacking spell matrices on top of each other, this is an enemy we don’t take lightly. So for the moment, I need you to prepare, because I am planning a raid on this base in like, half an hour at most.”
“Just be at your best okay? We do not want screwups like our arrival here in Minsk, we want to be deliberate, and we want to be careful. I have a plan of the apartment complex right here.” She said, unfurling a map. “Typical Soviet commie-block design really, lots of hallways, lots of rooms, but our perp has the 2nd floor, specifically room 214 as his potential hideout. If there are any civilians, urge them to stay indoors, if anyone has a weapon? Urge them to to put it down, if anyone points at any of you? Kill on sight. Is that understood?”
“I have informed the office of the potential raid and the info leak, they are currently busy rebuilding the wards they thought were foolproof, so there won’t be any reinforcements present until a couple of hours from now. So bring your A-game okay?”
Amanda doesn’t like this, but the suspect’s lead is simply too hot at the moment. If they managed to capture the suspect, invaluable information on who Mr X is might be gleaned for that, although… with how sophisticated Mr X’s ops seem to be, Amanda has a working theory on who they might be.
“Just between us guys.” Amanda urged them to get closer. “But I think Mr X might be a deity. Just… think about it, near perfect knowledge of OMR SOP’s, advanced kill squads ready and waiting for our arrival. The fact that they used magic from the abomination. Either Mr X used to work at the OMR, or knows someone in the OMR to peel their brain on how the organisation works, or alternatively have traitors in the organisation itself.”
“What do you think?” Amanda then asked the group. Waiting for their opinion on her theory.
Madeleine was happy on the thought that the cultists are gone, she has already phoned the Frankfurt office and agents are already being dispatched to the garden. She is also quite content at the thought of the rogue spirit being sent off to the other side to ensure minimal destruction of property and lives within the local area.
But she is still quite unnerved by the fact that these cultists are still out at large, probably plotting against her team as she speak. She does not like this, and has conferred both Morgana and Xaviron to discuss things. “Alright. So, first things first, we are going to the Frankfurt office and we’re doing to de-stress and get ourselves cleaned up, secondly. I want your opinion on what we should do next.”
The car ride and the literal cleanup were short, but afterwards. Everyone was in relatively tip-top shape and Madeleine gathered the Witch and the Half elf into an office meeting room. “Alright, let’s make this quick and then we can take a nap.” Madeleine said.
“We have two options right now. We can rejoin Amanda’s team in Minsk and let the Frankfurt office deal with this cultist mess. It will take some time for the local German OMR to do this, but they do have the capabilities to handle them as they see fit. Alternatively, we can continue investigating this issue and possibly find the links between Mr X and Morgana’s English witch coven. Something I’m sure our dear English friend would appreciate.”
After the rather sudden departure from the garden and a swift car ride back to the offices, Morgana soon found herself sitting in a non-descript meeting room opposite Madeleine and next to Xaviron. Her hair was still damp from a brief shower and her clothes had been changed, but her coat was the same she had been wearing before and her overly large hat was stood on the table to her side; they were both laden with wards after all and not exactly replaceable.
Upon hearing the options laid out before them, the witch crossed her arms over her chest and sat back in her chair with a huff. “I’m not sure appreciate is the word I’d use. I’d rather hoped to be done with my family after cutting ties with them, so having them become relevant to this investigation does not exactly fill me with glee.” Under her breathe she muttered to herself. “But of course my mother would find a way to involve herself in my work, one way or another.”
There was a moments silence after that, in which the expression on Morgana’s face could almost be described as sullen. It had been years at this point since Angelica Faith had made any attempt to open a dialogue with her daughter. Years since the witch had tried to convince her to return and resume her training so that one day she might take her place as the head of the family. Morgana had, at one point, been next in line to take charge as the eldest and only daughter of the Faith family’s current matriarch and old lineages could be very, very superstitious about that sort of thing. They could be very set in their ways like that and Morgana knew that her departure had left them in something of a disarray; last she had heard one of her cousins was appointed to the role instead, but she knew that there were going to be a few people who were opposed to that while she still lived.
Many overtures were made to try and get Morgana to return; nothing substantial, nothing that aligned with her goals or resolved the reasons why she had left and every attempt only went to further demonstrate how little Morgana wanted or needed from them. Eventually, they stopped trying.
That wasn’t to say that Morgana wasn’t still in contact with her mother, of a sort. Her mother still sent her a letter on each of her birthdays and on special occasions, as was only proper, and Morgana still sent her a copy of every research paper she ever authored or co-authored that went some way to disproving the superstitious notions of magic the woman had tried to fill her head with as a curious child.
Let it never be said that she could not be a petty woman at times.
“I vote that we stay and continue to investigate. I’m sure the local teams can handle it, but they don’t know my family and likely don’t know the particulars of British witchcraft as well as I do. They might miss something.”
Faye kept watching the strange scene on the tape, letting it play only to rewind and watch again as Scarlet and the others commented about it. Only being able to see the faint image of the wisps in the monitor and not being able to feel the magic as she usually did was very frustrating for Faye.
"This small thing really doesn't help!" Faye said, frustrated as she stopped the tape, giving up on trying to see anything more than she was already able to.
"It would be much easier to have more clues about the magics the impostor is using if I could at least see him personally... Whoever it is, it must be rather skilled. Or at least had the help of someone decently skilled to be able to weave spells like this." Faye said with a sigh.
"Stacking magics like that would be done differently according to the type of magic used. Faes used to 'weave' their magic spells almost like fabrics in order to make them work together... I am not sure about how other types of magics would do this stacking though..." Faye said, agreeing with Scarlet as she mentioned it wasn't something exclusive to the Faes.
When Scarlet mentioned the other car, Faye immediately looked to the screen as well. She was so concentrated on the wisps and the spell that she didn't even notice the black SUV Scarlet mentioned getting out of the parking area after the Lada or even how no one seemed to get inside that car, which suggested that they were inside, waiting.
"Huh... I had completely missed that..." Faye said, curious as she watched the tape again, focusing on the interval of time between the Lada and the black SUV getting out of the parking area.
Just after Micheal mentioned looking at the plates of the cars, Amanda finally returned with the information they needed, narrowing down the location of the car to an apartment complex in the downtown area. Particularly the second floor. According to Amanda, they should start getting ready, as the raid would occur in about half an hour from now.
"Already? I thought we would have a little break after everything that happened..." Faye said with a heavy sigh. The fact that they wouldn't have reinforcements was a bit worrying as well, considering the ambushes they faced until now, but they didn't seem to have much choice on that matter. Faye hoped they wouldn't face any more ambushes though.
When Amanda mentioned that Mr. X could be a deity, Faye furrowed her eyebrows, in a thoughtful expression before she replied.
"But I thought the actions of every deity were pretty well controlled nowadays, aren't they? That would make it considerably more difficult to a deity to move themselves in secret and plan those kind of stuff... Although, considering their influence and power, depending on who they are, some might not even need magic to pull some strings to make things go according to their plans..." Faye said, commenting on Amanda's theory.
"If we are going against a deity, things might get even scarier as our target gets even more cornered..." Faye concluded, looking to the group with a worried expression.
She wasn't aware of what Mr. X was capable of if he was a deity, but she was certain that the moment Mr. X got cornered, he would use everything at his disposal without worrying about anything else and when he did so, things would get much harder to deal with by themselves.
Scarlet continued looking through the footage as the others made their insights. She tried to make sense of most of it, but most complicated magic was beyond her. Most of her experience with magic was messing with objects that were purchased pre-enchanted, she didn't know many spells herself other than the odd cantrip or two. As Scarlet scrubbed through the footage of the SUV, she listened to Michael's insight. "Gotta be something else. Do we have a clear view of the Mercedes plates somewhere? Roll back a bit, did the doors or rear hatch of the Mercedes open at any time? If they did and no one got out then we can add someone with a Cloak or invisibility effect to to thinks to watch out for." Scarlet nodded. "I got enough footage of the uhm... Mercedes'...s plates. Wait, is it Mercedes' or Mercedes's?" She muttered to herself before shaking her head. "Whatever, uh, give me a second." She scrubbed back the footage to see the Mercedes arrive at the garage at a much earlier time, but no one getting in or out of the car. "I think that may be our perp's support vehicle. Can't be too sure. No one got in or out, probably there just to monitor the op." Michael turned to her and spoke. "Fun times huh Red? We got an okay team here though. We can work this out." Scarlet nods with a soft smirk of her own. "One of the best I worked with in my short career, that's for sure."
It wasn't long before Amanda came back with more crucial information, and a lead. Their target destination is an apartment complex deep in Minsk, a standard commie-block apartment popular in most former Soviet republics. ROE is similar to most other low-intensity situations, keep the civvies away, capture the targets if possible, kill if necessary. “I have informed the office of the potential raid and the info leak, they are currently busy rebuilding the wards they thought were foolproof, so there won’t be any reinforcements present until a couple of hours from now. So bring your A-game okay?” Scarlet nodded. "You got it, boss."
Scarlet studied the floorplan carefully. Fuckin' Bosnia all over again, swear to Christ... She knew how nasty clearing apartments like that were. But thankfully, they only have to worry about maybe a handful of rooms and hallways at most. Having personally witnessed Amanda's combat capabilities, Scarlet figured that they might be able to pull this off and make it back in time for dessert. They'd need to be mission ready in about a half hour, so Scarlet checked her items, making sure she had everything she needed. As she did that, Amanda leaned in and confided with the rest of the crew.
“Just between us guys.” Scarlet leaned in after holstering her Glock that she just loaded and checked. “But I think Mr X might be a deity. Just… think about it, near perfect knowledge of OMR SOP’s, advanced kill squads ready and waiting for our arrival. The fact that they used magic from the abomination. Either Mr X used to work at the OMR, or knows someone in the OMR to peel their brain on how the organisation works, or alternatively have traitors in the organisation itself.” Scarlet blinked for a moment before groaning quietly. "Oh, fuck me..." She muttered quietly to herself. Why did it have to be a diety? Couldn't it hurt them to use a normal war criminal of some kind, the kind with heads that I can turn into pink mist? Welp, it's been a good run. See y'all in the afterlife.
Reflexively, Scarlet takes out something that appears to be rolled in some kind of paper. Anyone that happened to be in the same room as Scarlet that also has a working sense of smell could easily tell that it was a joint. "But I thought the actions of every deity were pretty well controlled nowadays, aren't they?" Faye said as Scarlet snapped her fingers to create a small flame within her hands. "That would make it considerably more difficult to a deity to move themselves in secret and plan those kind of stuff..." Scarlet used the flame in her hands to light her joint. "Although, considering their influence and power, depending on who they are, some might not even need magic to pull some strings to make things go according to their plans..." Scarlet took a long hit of that good stuff, and blew it all out in a direction away from the team. "If we are going against a deity, things might get even scarier as our target gets even more cornered..."
Oh, god, this can't be happening. Scarlet's face grew paler as she took another big hit. I was just a split second from meeting my maker yesterday. And now we're going to raid an apartment of a spy that's possibly on a rogue diety's payroll. Do they all have a fucking death wish? Scarlet exhaled, blowing a lot more weed smoke into the room. I am so gonna fucking die. And it's all gonna be Amanda's fault. The other two will mourn me for a week, assuming they survive this ordeal, and they'll replace me with some doe-eyed idiot, and history will forget me. Great. Just what I needed. So much for paying off the rest of my debts. Scarlet sighed, taking a seat and leaning back.
"Well, it was an honor serving with you guys. And it was fun while it lasted." Scarlet said, sharing her thoughts on the matter. "Just be sure to let me know when we're going after the Man himself. I'd like to get my affairs in order by then."
Micheal sat there tapping the top of his near empty thermos. Taking another sip of the still lukewarm tea within. He hums, looking at the still slowly playing footage on the screen and the lists of people who were around that night. It is a heady thing, a scary thing to know that you might be on the watchlist of someone that has it in for you. That's the only reason someone would place a mole into their group. Or so he thought right up until the moment Boss Bot says Mr. X might be a Diety. Not all Dieties are gods, some dieties are just really powerful spirits. The Voodoo Loa come to mind. Mike hums, "A diety." Raven sighs, "There are some bad eggs out there. We ought to know we sometimes get labeled those bad eggs." He looks at Whiskeyjack and Manabozho. Getting a tired pair of nods in response. Mikey smiles, "Still you have your good moments boys."
Mikey gets up and winces then stares at his still bound up arm, the magic burn from the night before still not completely healed. He takes a deep breath, "Alright Boss Bot we'll do what we can over here, my three diefic friends and I. But from experience I really don't want to be doing too much magic weaving when this burn is still relatively fresh. Doing too much magic weaving would likely turn this from a magic burn into a magic scar and I don't like the idea of losing access to a portion of my magic until I can get that scar removed." He sniffs then shrugs, "Still try and help anyway I can." He nods. And winces as Whiskeyjack grabs his bad arm and shakes it, "We have faith in you buddy." Micheal withstands it for about 5 shakes before he grabs Whiskeyjack in a headlock, "Cut it out you chucklefuck!" Whiskeyjack letting out a squawk and flailing as the muscle shaman holds him tight, "If I could only pop your little head off for that you piece o'..."
Mike lets him go though with a growl and then rubs the bandages, "We'll be good..." He looks around, "Yeah we'll be good. Faith in the team right?" He nods, "Lemee go pick up my kit and I'll be ready to go." He makes for the door, "And maybe apply a new bandage and poultice. This damn burn...really burns now." He chuckles softly. Heading out for now, plate and thermos in hand to return to the cafeteria.
Back in the room he was allowed to use he gathers his gear, making sure he has everything, his diefic friends joining him a few moments later to pack it all up properly. At that moment Micheal takes a second to peel off the bandages, and look around to make sure that creepy elf medic isn't anywhere to be seen, before reapplying the poultice, some padding against the skin and new bandage layers for protection. He doesn't want to risk it getting more irritated during the rest of the mission.
After that, he and the three dieties are marching down the hall. Mike has to stop and dope slap Raven for playing some kind of poppy-rap beat. The explanation having been the situation is like some movie hype scene when the heroes walk out. Mike had just groaned at the reference.
The next morning came early for Madeleine. She woke up around 6 AM, fully expecting this day to be as productive as the last one, nay, probably even more so than yesterday. She knew they would be going into the compound, probably heavily armed, and potentially asking a ton of questions to the people in this cult thing.
And right now she is currently waiting for both Morgana and Xaviron to arrive. And soon enough, arrive they did.
“Hey!” The Demoness greeted. “I think you know what we’re gonna do here right? We will be going into the compound where those cultists were and perhaps extracting some information regarding the connection between Morgana’s witch coven, Mr. X, the Abomination, and our deceased ‘friend’ Mr. Raimund. Don’t worry about finding the lodge. I made a request to all offices in Germany to search for a cultist lodge and they found the location just 30 minutes ago. It’s somewhere in the Black Forest, the forensic accounting team discovered a bunch of transactions between this ‘company’ so to say, and a bank account located in Newcastle, so I am pretty certain it’s here.”
“So, shall we pay this lodge a visit? I need to bring a certain uhh… equipment just in case things go badly.”
And so she left, the Demon quickly beelining to the armory and returning with a rifle that simultaneously looks old and new at the same time. “I made this myself, went to a certain Italian company, and borrowed their workshops for a short time, I think it’s in… the late 1800s? Definitely after the Franco-Prussian war. Ah, gotta love Beretta.”
The demon then poured some mana into the rifle. Making the circular thing light up in response. “Fires simple magic bolts, but it fires at such velocity it can pierce through Ceramic armour, also leaves a nice hole as that bolt explodes with raw mana upon penetrating a certain amount of flesh. It’s always a nasty sight, so any bastard that gets hit by this rifle always drops dead. Isn’t it nice?” She asked, smiling. “That Greatsword I used was more of a last resort, didn’t expect those cultists to arrive so shortly, this is my typical weapon when I’m on a mission.”
Slinging it on her back, she then looked at both Xaviron and Morgana. “So, ready to go? Already packed your things?”
The car Amanda managed to procure slid off the parking lot, with the Android quickly exiting and unfurling her giant axe as she looked at the Apartment Block in front of her. She saw the rest of her team coming out of the car and nodded in appreciation. “Alright.” She said. “Let's keep this tight okay? Faye, I want you to teleport any grenade they throw at us out of sight. Micheal, just do whatever it is you do with the spirits and make sure to not get shot, Scarlet, I want you to provide covering fire, just use your sniper rifle and make sure the enemy is pinned. Myself, Faye, and Micheal will be doing the clearing in the building.”
And just as the Android finished saying that. A stray bullet caught her head, scrapping off her cheeks and revealing the metal underneath her ‘skin’. “Fuck.” Amanda replied. and subsequently used her Axe’s large size to block any further bullets that came flying from the Apartment. “Micheal, Faye, on me!!”
Just as Amanda said, it didn't take long for the group to be on their way to the apartment complex after the location from the car they were after was identified. As it became evident by Amanda getting ready as soon as she exited the car, Faye knew that they should be on guard as their arrival was likely already expected and the reception definitely wouldn't be a warm one.
"So, Amanda... Just to be sure... When you say to 'teleport them out of sight' do you mean to teleport them anywhere or somewhere in particular? I totally paid attention while we were discussing our plan I just wanted to be sure... you know?" Faye asked, a bit nervously. It wasn't incredibly hard to imagine that she might have indeed gotten distracted by something and missed some parts of the explanation about their plan while they were in their way to the apartment complex.
"You know... Teleporting them away from us is easy... But they still have to go somewhere and explode there. Don't get me wrong, I can do either one perfectly fine. Teleporting them to a particular place or just randomly away from us, I mean. It's just that having a particular reference point would make a bit more consistent and avoid... unwanted explosions... Like the mines and traps back on the first mission..." Faye continued, trying to explain, only to be interrupted by the loud sound of a gunshot, followed by the metallic noise as the bullet ricocheted from Amanda's face.
"Okay! No time to discuss small things, I get it. I'll just teleport them to the parking lot, away from our car." Faye said, flinching before she quickly blinked behind Amanda, taking cover behind her and her axe.
"Just so you guys know... I can still teleport them back inside the building... As long as we don't care about what's inside, that is." Faye said with a chuckle, indicating that she might like explosions more than what others might have initially thought.
Sometimes she wondered if whoever decided she should be a part of this little operation had made a mistake. Certainly, she could see how having a multi-disciple researcher with expertise in multiple areas of magic theory who spoke and read several languages was useful and she liked to think she had made contributions to the investigation so far; analysing the teleportation ritual at the warehouse, creating a seal for the abominable knife the biker had used and returning the Roggenwolf to its own plane of existence. No, she understand why she was on this team. But with how often Amanda and now Madeleine insisting on dragging her into the field and, more importantly, dangerous situations the witch couldn’t help but wonder if someone had done the paperwork wrong.
It was the only explanation for how she found herself in her current situation, arriving at the rendezvous location to glare at the demon who asked if she was ready to launch an assault on what was sure to be a heavily defended cultist base in the middle of the Black Forest.
“I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that I am a researcher who has never undertaken any kind of combat training, has never been certified for that kind of work and who has never been in a fight in her life.”
That last part technically was not true as she had been present at the fire fight at the house where they had encountered the biker gang, but given that she had not contributed to the fight itself she felt it still counted. “The division of labour between these two teams seems to have been a little skewed in my opinion. But… yes, I am ready.”
Morgana opened and closed her hands a few times, balling them into fists and then splaying her fingers out as wide as they could go. The brand new leather of her gloves creaked as they were forcibly broken in, the witch still able to feel the fresh magical circles drawn on their surface by the light hum she could detect against her skin. She had spent most of her time since finding out about the compound and her inevitable inclusion in the raid preparing for it, which for her meant imbuing a fresh pair of gloves with spells that were a little more combat-focused than her usual pair. Left hand for defence, right hand for offense.
The rest of her clothing was unchanged, but given her usual work this still meant that she was covered head to toe in as many wards, apotropaic defences and detection spells as she could fit onto the fabric. Add to that the fresh application of the impact-resisting wards she had added during the gunfight at the gardens yesterday and she was about as prepared for a fight as someone with a PhD and no practical experience could be.
Most of the soreness that Scarlet felt from the events of the last few days mostly faded as her intense focus brought her to the present. There was definitely going to be another fight with a bunch of armed combatants soon, and she needed to be at her best. A quick plan and a closed comms network was assembled from a local map they salvaged and a bunch of handheld radios that the OMR had already written off. Anything more would've tipped off the mole, so Scarlet had to get all of these from the only places that the OMR didn't require paperwork, which was waste processing. Not like dumpster diving was the worse thing she's done for the sake of a mission, but it was still something she wasn't entirely proud of. Scarlet had a vague idea of where she needed to go and what she needed to do, and had prepared herself well ahead of time with everything. Her light gray t-shirt was mostly concealed by her black plate carrier, her gunbelt consisting only of her tactical bag of holding, her holstered custom Glock, and one of the older Motorola radios she's salvaged and jury-rigged into working order. Steel kneepads added a dash of aggressiveness to her otherwise casual and faded jeans. She hid most of her face with a combination of a skull gaiter, a black ballcap and a pair of shades that also doubled as shooting glasses. Even if she did her best to be prepared, she never really followed plans to the letter. They had a tendency to fall apart when they come into first contact with the enemy.
It wasn't long before the small team of seven arrived. Amanda parked the car somewhere nice and quiet, just a hop and a skip away from the target building. Scarlet didn't like how exposed they were here, but they had to act quickly before the mole can move their operations somewhere else. She climbed out from the front seat and stood to face Amanda, bringing her loaded and chambered AUG rifle to shoulder. Amanda reiterated their plan, and Scarlet nodded. Cover the entry team by shooting anyone that could threaten them. Routine shit, nothing she hasn't done before. So totallynot relieved in the slightest that she isn't in there with the entry team to soak up any and all ordnance the building's occupants could throw at them. A gentle sigh of said not-relief left her mouth once Amanda finished relaying her instructions.
As Faye spoke to Amanda, Scarlet looked around for the building that she was supposed to be on. It was a smaller industrial warehouse that was just two streets over, one that used to be some great worksite for the mighty Soviet Union that was abandoned the moment the Soviet Union ceased to be. She was also glad that Amanda chose this building for her. If the hostile contacts return fire to Scarlet, at least no civilians would get caught in the crossfire. Speaking of...
"Hey Amanda, can you repeat the ROE again? I just need to make sure that we-" *POW!* The first shot was fired, and it glanced off of Amanda's cheek. Scarlet blinked. She still can't get over how fucking cool that is. Scarlet sighed as she switched her safety to semi-automatic fire. "Contact 2! Upper floor!" She raised her rifle at the source of the gunfire and immediately fired off a few rounds, already working to cover the entry team. *BANG! BANG-BANG! BANG!* Several 5.56mm NATO rounds found their way through the building's upper windows, cracking some and shattering one. She was only partially listening to Faye's questions in regards to where thrown weapons can be teleported, but she did hear the entirety of Faye's last sentence. "Just so you guys know... I can still teleport them back inside the building... As long as we don't care about what's inside, that is."
Scarlet grinned underneath her mask a bit at the idea before firing off another few rounds to suppress some of the shooters. "Yeah, if we know for sure that there aren't civilians in the building, I won't be opposed to being a little more..." *BANG-BANG!* "...indiscriminate!" Scarlet took cover behind the car and started firing some more. "Hopefully y'all still know the frequency I set up for us! Good luck and give 'em hell!"
Scarlet continued providing covering fire for the team, suppressing most of the shooters in the windows so the entry team can get to the entrance with less issue. Once she knew that the team was safely inside, she was going to make a break for the building behind her and set up shop there.
Mike and his diefic buddies took a short bit to load up Micheal's gear into the vehicle. And then the gods piled into the trunk with it. Micheal sighed and shut the trunk grumbling, "If I look to find you all playing cards with dogs again I swear I'm commiting myself." He gets into the car and settles in. The whole way rubbing his arm, soothing the magical burns.
It's as they get to the apartment block that Mike gets out of the car, opens the trunk and puts on his gear. Leather vest, buckskin pants, slippers and the fingerless gloves with the symbolic embroidery. He sighs and rubs at the bandages again, unable to hide them now with the vest on and the long sleeved shirt he was wearing gone. He sighs, "Okay this will go fine right?" And the shooting started, he gripped his tomahawk in hand and ducked into cover. Once behind something solid he breaks out his ritual kit. And as he kneels there looking through things he bites his lip, "I don't know what to do..." He closes his eyes and begins to panic just abit.
Then his godly friends arrive. And it's they who are his voice of reason for once. Whiskeyjack saying, "Calm down nitisan breathe." Raven at his back patting it, "You know what you need to do." And Manabozho kneeling at his left side says, "Trust in your training, trust in us and trust in your friends. You can do this."
Micheal takes a few deep breaths, deep in and out calming himself as the fighting starts. Reopening his eyes and scanning his equipment, he then grabs a knife and a hunk of tree fungus handing it too Whiskeyjack, "cut that up, fine as you can." He picks up a packet of tobacco and hands that and a grinder to manabozho, "Fine as you can there too." He then picks his pipe out of there. Raven blinking, "You want to smoke? Now?" Micheal shakes his head, "Tobacco and fungus together, you take the sage and break it up. Mix is all together, I'm going to try a wind spell." The three gods who started their tasks look at him like he grew another head, "A wind spell what's that going to do?" Micheal shakes his head, "Okay so not quite a wind spell, but a smoke and cloud spell." Manabozho snorts, "There is no such...wait..." Whiskeyjack nearly drops the knife, "There is no such spell...are you suggesting..." The three gods say it together, "A new ritual? You know how dangerous the Elders say making a new ritual on the fly under stress is right?"
Micheal nods, "I know what they say but we're short on time. I burn myself out for a night then so be it. Finish up quickly!" He in the meantime begins to clean the bowl of the pipe. In a matter of minutes and seeing Red get into the game he's got his pipe ready and the sliced up ingredients are being packed into the bowl. It's a sphere of calm in the middle of the fight as Micheal and the Gods work. Soon he's packing that bowl, and sitting down, lighting up with the help of Raven, while Whiskeyjack and Manabozho bring up a pair of shields. Micheal lights up, and on the first pull of the concotion, the air stills about him, and he prays, "Spirits of wind, spirits of storm, spirits of dust and ash and cloud. Heed me, hear me. I call your aid..." HE takes another pull the magic seeming to condense about him, "Hear me spirits of the land, the sky and the water and of life. We fight this way to stop great evil, and to carry the day against anger, pain, and manipulation! Help us!" The magic of this new ritual seems to harden, then soften, as clouds begin to form around the Shaman. Mickey's eyes open, the glowing power of a shaman's ritual magic blazing in them, "Spirits! Hold my foes, help my allies. May my allies strike true! My foes strikes fail! Spirits! I call on you!"
Like a compression bomb, the magic condenses again before shooting out, clouds of dust and water vapor forming in the way of the enemy shooters. condensation appearing on the windows of the enemy who are trying to direct fire. And much to Micheal's surprise there's a crackle of lightinng on the air, as an honest to god storm begins to form above them. Before a bolt of lightning comes hissing down, missing Amanda where she's stands angles just above the ground then hisses into the building and explodes lashing it's electrical energy into a man who was raising a large big bore rifle aiming for Amanada. Micheal smiling, as tears of shamnanic power tear from his eyes, he rises his hand, still holding his pipe, "More!" He calls, as another lightning bolt accompanied by a blast of thunder hammers down and takes out a window, exposing the enemy to his allies fire. "And again!" he calls, the spirits come to their aid answering as a gust of wind and dust throw off the aim of another shooter.
All the while the three gods are laughing and cheering, Whiskeyjack his arms in the air and crowing, "He did it! The Mad man created a new ritual from scratch! Without testing it! And it worked! The utter mad man! Yes!" The god tips his head back and war whoops to the sky, cheering on the spirits and cheering on his shaman friend.
Amanda was eternally grateful Scarlet was assigned to her, because she just went to work with the criminal elements currently firing on her team, with the covering fire from the team’s resident arsenal. The android motioned everyone to go into the Apartment complex and clean house, she is now 90% sure that the Apartment is practically abandoned, but she doesn’t want to take any chances right now so she implored to team to keep with the ROE. “Remember, I don’t want no civilian casualties.” The android said, looking at the team as her hand guns automatically pointed and shot at an incoming aggressor without her looking.
The team then proceeded to go to room 214. “Looks like the target’s on the 2nd floor,” Amanda said, slowly leading the team forward as she proceeded to hack, shoot, or punch anyone that dares oppose the team. The occasional enemy that manages to get on the blindside of the team is shot down by Scarlet’s accurate shooting. When the team reaches the 2nd floor, however, the sight that greeted them once Amanda knocks down the door is… confusing.
“It’s a… Command Post?” Amanda wondered, looking at the smattering of military equipment, communications equipment, and various other C3I equipment she was deeply familiarized with. Looking further, she saw a massive rune in the center of the room, most definitely used to teleport equipment from here to Germany by the looks of it. Nonetheless, her curiosity was almost cut short as her proximity sensors suddenly blared at the rapidly incoming threat approaching her, she barely had time to react as a fist impacted her face and sent her flying through the window, the Android landed on a courtyard located in the center of the Apartment block, and was busy reorienting herself as error messages popped up on her eyes.
What in the world?” The android asked before her eyes adjusted and saw a hunkering Titanic beast, exuding the same aura as the abomination she’d fought years ago. She knew that, unlike the biker person. This man is probably forced into this form by someone, preparing her giant axe and making sure her footing’s steady, she braced for the coming fight, while simultaneously radioing the group. “Hey uhh, guys? Do you have any idea how we’re supposed to defeat this thing?” Amanda asked, dodging a sudden strike from the man possessed by Eldritch magic, she punched back in the ribs, but it made no difference as the man used that opportunity to turn and kick Amanda in the stomach, sending her flying once more before she hit the wall on the enclosed Courtyard. “My systems are giving me error messages all over the place. Uhh, help? Help?!?”
She hoped the radio’s still working, or else she has to book it and call for reinforcements.
The car Madeleine’s driving alongside Xaviron and Morgana pulled up near the border of the compound, with the three figures exfilling front the car immediately. “Alright so here’s the thing. I myself will go to the compound’s front door, gun prepared, and probably negotiate something with the cultists, since this is a forest, I expect you to trail me behind, maybe cast a cloaking spell or something just to keep them out of your scent. If things go south, then I already have a gun loaded up and a double-stacked shield spell ready to go, so just follow my lead since I doubt these cultists have anything that can match my defenses.”
She’s pretty confident on that assessment. The only individuals' Madeleine has been defeated by are masses of well-trained mages, dragons, and deities, and she has backup with Xaviron and Morgana trailing her.
“Morgana, I also have a query that you might be able to answer.” She asked the English witch. “What kind of potential spells, wards, and curses the Faith family may have taught these cultists if the connection between this cult and your family proved to be correct? I have never fought a coven of English witches before but I know Witches do have their secrets, and nasty tricks should they be in potential danger.”
"No collateral damage... At least for now, got it" Faye replied to Scarlet, opening a few portals around Amanda to catch stray shots and send them back in the direction of the shooters on the second floor, trying at least to help Amanda a bit due to the terrible position they encountered themselves in at the moment.
Bullets continued ricocheting off Amanda's axe and around them. It was only after Faye began redirecting a few of the shots that came for them and Scarlet began shooting back that the enemies stopped focusing them too much, giving them some space to breathe.
At that moment, Faye felt a surge of magic being weaved from behind, noticing only now that Micheal was preparing a ritual. If they weren't in such a tense situation, Faye would have definitely enjoyed watching the process of such spell being created by Micheal and his friends. Defended by conjured shields, Micheal continued preparing the spell, the magic beginning to take form and fill the area around him, conjuring heavy clouds on top of them, which soon became a storm and began to shoot down bolts of lightning, going first towards the ground, before being redirected towards the shooters on the building, shattering windows and anything the shooters were trying to use for cover, exposing them to Amanda and Scarlet's shots.
Amazed, Faye watched the storm swirling on top of them and the lightning bolts being redirected, fueled by Micheal's magic. Once again, she was reminded of how similar his magic was with the Fae magic and at the same time, how different it also was. For a moment, she forgot about the spells as she appreciated the flow of the spell, until it was finally over.
Faye followed Amanda and the others as they entered the apartment complex, slowly clearing their way until they finally arrived on room 214. The moment they entered the room, they were greeted by a sight none of them seemed to be expecting. Not even Amanda herself. A complete command center, replete with high-tech military equipment and a rune on the center of the room, similar to the ones they had found on the other warehouse earlier, no doubt it was used to teleport all that equipment there.
Before they could even start analyzing the room though a fist coming apparently out of nowhere suddenly hit Amanda, throwing her through the window, breaking it and sending her flying to the courtyard outside.
"What?!" Faye said, alarmed. Not even Faye had time to react to the attack. The moment she noticed something was going on, the huge beast was already swinging it's fist towards Amanda. The corrupted magic he exuded was very familiar to Faye. Having him in the same room as her was enough to make her feel visibly shaken.
"It has the same disgusting corrupted magic as the abomination..." Faye said, breathing heavily as she recovered herself from the surprise and the shock of feeling the aura of the beast so close to her.
"We need to go help Amanda... Now!" Faye said with an alarmed expression after she took a moment to recover, finally opening a portal to the courtyard where Amanda was so the team could reunite with her.
Even for Amanda, it was evident that the beast was a very difficult opponent. It's strength was enough for it to throw Amanda around easily with punches and kicks. Even Amanda herself didn't seem to know a way to defeat it.
"If we can't defeat it... we at least should find a way to restrain or imprison it!" Faye said, with the expression of someone that just had an idea.
"Amanda! Do you know a safe location, maybe a bunker, an armored safe or something that could hold this creature? It will take some time due to the interference of this corrupted magic... but I can create a portal to this place. We would have to find a way to push this titan to the portal though." Faye said through the radio, keeping the portal open so the rest of the team could go to where Amanda was.
Oh, so they weren’t going to be taking part in the assault, but rather Madeleine was to go in by themselves while she and Xaviron followed at a distance? Well, she supposed that meant her complaints about her skillset not being taken into account were a bit presumptuous.
That was a relief. Though if Morgana were being honest, she didn’t much like the idea of Madeleine going in alone; true, neither she nor Xaviron were the best suited to back her up, but surely they could have requested backup from the local OMR office for this task? The intent may have been to give the cultist a chance to negotiate, but nothing she had seen of them thus far suggested that they would be amenable to that; there was no chance that this ended in another other than another fight. And Madeleine would be fighting alone, most likely. The division of labour really was skewed if this was how things were going to end up.
But unless Morgana was willing to voluntarily step into the line of fire, the only thing she could do to help was provide information on the kind of threats she might face. In truth, she thought it unlikely that her mother would teach the cultist anything; knowledge was power, as the saying went, and power was influence. If there was anything her mother coveted if was influence and she would not lessen hers by sharing power without a very good reason. “That’s quite a broad topic, witchcraft covers many disciplines, but I don’t think you have much to worry about; my mother is… prideful. Even supposing she is in league with this group, either as an ally or just taking their money, she wouldn’t lower herself as to teach them anything important and would never give away any of our families’ secrets.
“An assault on the Faye ancestral manor would be exceedingly difficult, even for the OMR, but this?” Morgana gestured vaguely to encompass their surroundings, which were decidedly rural. “They won’t have been given access to anything that another witch of moderate skill wouldn’t have also access to. But assuming they have been given support, they will be more or less immune to most scrying attempts, will be protected from all but the most determined of curses and the defences will be mostly retaliatory in nature. A curse for a curse is the way witches work.”
They would not be using wards exactly, at least not in the way that Morgana did. Those were not typical for witches and the kind they did make use of were the kind that needed time and effort to produce; the kind that sank into the foundations and strengthened themselves through time and repetition. But witches balls, witches bottles and other such trinkets? They were simple, easy to make and effective; witches had been selling them to suspicious villagers to protect them from evil for centuries and when they wanted them to they worked.
The ones made by skilled witches could be particularly vicious too.
“Avoid crossing any thresholds, just to be safe, and it would be best if you stuck to non-magical means of combat as much as possible. While it should be fine for you to use magic that is not based on the principal nature of cursing an individual, I can’t say that there won’t be some backlash if you throw a fireball or the like at someone. If you want to use magic at all then the more indiscriminate the better; the defences should be thwarted if you don’t target anyone directly.”
Individual protections and protection of the household. The tradition of English witchcraft was one of curses, both ‘creation of’ and ‘protection again’; for a long time the greatest enemy of witches were other witches and that caused their practices to develop along a certain line. But that didn’t mean they hadn’t adapted their methods to be broader when different magical practices became increasingly common.
“Hmm. Don’t break anything made of glass, other than windows of course; things that look like ornaments, bottles and so on. I can safely disarm those later and they may provide a clue to their origin.”
If the did have anything created by her family or on their instructions, then it was best is she deal with it personally.
*BANG! BANG!* Scarlet continued to send hot lead towards what she perceived as enemy combatants. Silhouettes that resemble gunmen continued to appear in the windows, despite Scarlet's best efforts to suppress them. She's managed to suppress at least five, as they never appeared in the windows again after she took a few shots at them. She knew for a fact that she's killed one, a direct hit to the head painted the wall behind him red. Amanda managed to hand off the ROE as if it were just a mere fact, blowing away a ground level threat without as so much a glance. Dayum. As Faye threw up portals to redirect incoming rounds back towards the enemy, Scarlet took this opportunity to reload her AUG. The original 40-round magazine hardly lasted, as will the next. A classic HK-slap*CHACK!* seated the round and Scarlet was able to fire again.
In the short break in gunfire (Thanks Faye!), Scarlet took a moment to check on the team. Faye was still hard at work returning rounds to their senders, which turned out to be a bit more effective than Scarlet's own method. She glanced to Mike just in time to hear his prayer. She couldn't exactly determine what was going on, but she knew that his ritual was starting to have an effect on the world around them. The air felt... different. The already overcast sky got a bit darker.
*PFFT!*"Ulgh-!" Scarlet could only muster a grunt as a small portion of her neck burst out from underneath her gaiter. She fell, grasping her bloodied neck. It gushed briefly, before Scarlet put quick pressure on it, using the part of her gaiter that wasn't torn up by a intermediate Soviet round. "Fuck-" was all she could manage before she took cover behind the car, reaching into her bag to pull out another healing syringe. "Spirits of wind, spirits of storm, spirits of dust and ash and cloud. Heed me, hear me. I call your aid..." She quickly pressed it into her wound, crying out briefly in pain as she did so. "Hear me spirits of the land, the sky and the water and of life. We fight this way to stop great evil, and to carry the day against anger, pain, and manipulation! Help us!" Scarlet groaned quietly as the wound on her neck healed, but only to a point. It still bled, just not nearly as badly as it used to. She grunted as she tried to sit up, and turned briefly to Michael. She witnessed the clouds form around him as his ritual grew in power. "Spirits! Hold my foes, help my allies. May my allies strike true! My foes strikes fail! Spirits! I call on you!" Her eyes widened underneath her shades.
To call the next series of events mind-blowing would be an insult to Michael and what in the good fuck he and his friends just accomplished. The few shots that Faye didn't manage to intercept went even wider, and now there was sprinkling showers. What the hell... Despite her wound, Scarlet managed to fight through the pain, enough to turn her head upwards towards the sky. "You crazy son of a bitch..." She barely muttered as a whole ass weather pattern just materialized right above them. How in the-
***BOOM!*** What could only be described as the deepest sounding explosion she's ever heard, a massive bolt of lightning struck directly into the heart of a gunman who had the sights of his PTRD rifle trained on Amanda. Scarlet could barely even blink before Michael called out for more. Windows shattered from the combination of thunder and lightning, exposing a few who relied on them to remain unseen. Scarlet knew an opportunity when she saw one, so she painfully raised her rifle, and squeezed a few rounds. Target down. Michael called for an encore, and he got one in a gust of wind. A bullet just missed her head by at least a few inches, blowing away the car's driver's side mirror. Judging by the sound of that shot, that came from an SVD.
Mikey, I hope to whatever gods out there that still give a shit about me that you do not keep a tab. Scarlet raised her rifle to the source of the gunshot, spotting a sniper on the roof. *POW!* Scarlet was smart enough to duck before he shot, but that was still a close one. She grunted and rolled over to the ass end of the car, rolling onto her feet and taking aim from behind the trunk. Risky if he had tracers or incendiaries, but if she didn't shoot first, she was dead anyway. *BANG-BANG!* Both shots hit the wall in front of him, shooting up clouds of dust and concrete in front of him. She bought herself a few seconds. She kept it steady and held her breath. The pain in her neck was unbearable. The glowing red dot gently fell upon the sniper's head. She squeezed the trigger. *BANG!* The sniper fell. "Sniper's down, you're clear!" She barely managed to shout.
Scarlet heard the cheers right next to her, smirking a little to herself in pride for Michael and his friends. She was more than happy to call him a comrade at this point. Not like Faye slacked in the slightest, her portals gave them the chance to cheer.
Scarlet looked up to whomever spoke to her and nodded weakly. "Yeah, I'll make it." I hope. She grunted as she stood up. "I can walk it off, go ahead and stack up. I already know where to go."
Scarlet made her way over to the old Soviet building, having put pressure on her wound the moment she vanished from her team's view. She didn't like the idea of having to hide her wounds, but she hated the idea of compromising a mission for the sake of a flesh wound. Yeah, some flesh wound. I'm still fucking bleeding. Great. I really, really need to do something about this. She did feel a little sluggish while she made her way over, and that rusty fence was a little harder to climb than she was used to. Oh no, gods please don't let me bleed out. Fuck. She got to the rusted ladder on the side of the building. Deciding not to let go of her wound for too long again, she reached in her tactical bag of holding for a low profile bandage. She grabbed it, and applied it to the wound on her neck, sighing in relief as the fabric's magical properties kicked in. The bandage was made with magical herbs that helped in the healing process, disinfecting the wound and sealing it. A quick stretch and she was back in the game.
The ladder was a treacherous climb, but she managed to get to the top unscathed. She dashed over to the position she marked in her head, and slid over to the nearest source of cover. Thank you air-conditioning units. Scarlet took a knee behind the A/C unit, reloading her AUG before slinging it onto her back. She quickly produced her Barrett M90, loaded it with the standard cheap shit, and got cozy. "In position." She said on the radio, training her scope near Amanda and her team. "I've got my favorite OMR agents on scope. Happy hunting, ladies and gentlemen."
She watched as the team quickly cleaned house. Every now and then Scarlet had to interject with her light .50, but it was hardly an issue. When she first set up, she didn't have a chance to look into the room since it still had most of the condensation on it. By the time the team reached the room, most of it had already faded away. Best seats in the house. There was something off about that room, though. It was stuffed with all kinds of electronics, a lot of them high-end military gear. Scarlet reached for the radio, hoping to ask the team to relay what they're seeing to her, a light pulse of fear made her quake, causing her to drop her radio.
That same fear she felt when she fought Scary Thing.
A large shadow moved through the windows towards Amanda, launching her through the window and into the courtyard. Scarlet barely caught it as Amanda fell out of view, but her aim was trained on whatever the hell that was. Her hands quaked in fear. No. No no. No. No no no. Nope. Nope. This is a whole lot a fucking nope. She heard her leader's voice over the radio. “Hey uhh, guys? Do you have any idea how we’re supposed to defeat this thing?” No, this has to be a nightmare. She must be dreaming. She just needs to wake up. Please. Wake up. Please. “My systems are giving me error messages all over the place. Uhh, help? Help?!?”
Scarlet's frozen. She can't move. She was so useless, sitting here like a pathetic coward while her friends struggled and suffered. She was nothing. A homunculus, an artificially created human created straight from a factory, using a recycled brain wiped like a used floppy disk. She doesn't know what to do. She hasn't brought anything new to the world. All she does is kill things. That's all she's ever good for. She's scum, just like the rest of them.
No.
She took aim at its head and quickly squeezed the trigger.
*DOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!* A direct hit to the head, and the creature staggered backwards slightly. It didn't penetrate in the slightest, though, but the force was enough to make it stagger. It was enough.
"Amanda! Do you know a safe location, maybe a bunker, an armored safe or something that could hold this creature?" Faye's pretty voice came over the radio, and Scarlet's soul found hope again. "It will take some time due to the interference of this corrupted magic... but I can create a portal to this place. We would have to find a way to push this titan to the portal though."
Scarlet immediately reached for her radio and smirked underneath her mask. "Y'all might want to keep your distance from that thing. I'll buy you guys some time with my all-time favorite rounds." She reached into her tactical bag of holding, pulling out a 5-round magazine full of strangely tipped .50 BMG rounds. "Just sit back..." She pulled back the bolt as she dropped the original cheapo box from the receiver. "Relax..." She pushed the magazine, painted in lovely colors of fire and brimstone, cleanly into the receiver. She pushed the bolt forward and locked it down. "And enjoy..." She took aim at its chest. "...the fireworks."
*DOOOOOOOWWWWW!!!*
A flash burst from its chest, as well as large cloud of smoke. The explosive round kicked with so much force that it was enough to knock it back a few yards and bring it onto its knees. She hoped that with Scary Thing 2 grounded, the team would have the time they need to safely neutralize it.
Micheal brought down one more powerful blast of lightning onto the building, sending an ememy pair running for their lives at the thunder and blazing stream of lightning. Panting and with magical tears streaming down his cheeks, his eyes gleaming with the power he's channeling, Micheal looks about, seemingly a little out of place, "It all looks so clear right now..." The cracked and red magical burn on his arm at this point has burned away the bandages and boiled away the poultice, and the cracks in his skin from the burn are flaring a mean looking red light. But it doesn't seem to matter to the man right now. He holds out his hand and Whiskeyjack hands him his hand drum. Micheal lifting it and calling, "Sound of Thunder, roar of Nature, Here!" Then lifts his tomahawk to the sky as well in his other hand, "Flash of Lightning, fire of the sky, Here!" A blast of lightning lancing down, accompanied by the roar of thunder. The lightning clashing and blazing and is absorbed by the tomahawk, the head of it glowing a bright blue with arc of power flickering off it. And the drum the sound of the thunder condenses, and flows into the drum, the rattle and roar seeming to be just barely contained.
As Micheal lowers his ritual items he looks about still crying those tears of ritual magic, "I'm ready..." And follows the others inside.
He doesn't do alot inside the building at first. Citing at one point that, "Unleashing Thunder, and Storm inside these halls would do more harm then good, besides don't we want less killing right now? I hold the power of a storm in my hands." He had lifted his drum and tomahawk, "These would be almost as deadly as Red's gun."
As they went he had stopped to check in on Red, "You doing okay there Pretty Red Lady?" Okay maybe the adrenaline and the making a new ritual is making his mouth a little looser. But when she'd said she's okay he'd nodded and made his way forward. He'd trailed along, checking doors as they go, making sure those enemies that had been downed were downed and not just waiting for them to pass. He'd picked up one fellow along the way as he had been getting up to try and take a pot shot at Faye. And bodily...well bodied him into a wall then flipped him, First Nations fist fighting style into a window, smashing it then kicked him through into the room beyond, "No no you don't get to hurt my friends." He'd growled as he'd left glowing magical tears in his wake as he walked away.
He came in a little late to the room with the titan, "Defeat it? No, but I know a way I can slow it down. Manabozho, get me my whistle!" It's likely an interesting thing, when he forces his mental voice into the minds of the team there with him, "What I'm going to do, will likely burn out my magic for the next day or so, I may be utterly useless until I can get some rest. But bear with me my friends." He brought up his drum and struck a beat shouting, "Hoka!" And with the help of the thunder roar in his drum and the ritual magic he's stored up he begins to batter at the Titan with song and verse and music and magic. Manabozho seeming to know exactly when to bring the whistle to his lips and blow into it, the power of the eagle bone whistle, sending waves of additional magic through the magic stunning the beast for a time, "Whatever you're going to do, " Whiskeyjack called to the others. "Do it fast!"
It's already clear that it's taking every ounce of magic for Micheal to unleash the thunder and magic he is right now, the blue glow in his eyes already dimming.
Amanda was not feeling so well after the short fight, the punches the titan threw at her were not exactly bearable, as her systems blared warnings left and right. She’s built like a tank, and she knows it, so to have someone like that have so much magical energy it can bring errors into her internal systems is something to have a note about.
She’s thankful for all the help she received as the rest of the team slowly rained fire at the thing, she has no idea what to do if she were to fight this thing alone. She’s also formulating a plan from Faye’s suggestion. It sounds pretty good, but she’s unsure about making such a request during a firefight. That concern, however, was slightly put to rest as Scarlett shot at the Titan with 50 caliber rounds, nowhere near enough to down it, but enough of an effort to make sure Amanda could safely retreat back to the 2nd floor, staggering her way as she climbed the stairs. Hopefully, she can call in the facility and bring in spare parts once this is over. Oh, golly does she need spare parts after the blows she received.
“Micheal, whatever you do. I suggest you do it quickly, I’m currently making a request to the office for an emergency compound to restrain this thing. Hopefully, they’ll respond quickly and give me the-”
She didn’t manage to finish her sentence as a blast of eldritch energy tore through the walls she was staggering through and almost killed her outright. It was only a split-second reaction from Amanda that saved her from being completely destroyed. The worst thing she experienced was a singe on the edge of her fingertips. “Motherfucker can fire shots too?!?” She complained, now getting incredibly desperate as the titan started looking for more targets to shoot its eldritch beam at.
It was at that point that Amanda realized Faye was still in the courtyard, busy fighting the beast as the TItan’s attention was focused on a retreating Amanda, but now, her eyes started turning, rearing their sights on the British woman. “Fuck! Faye, get out of there now!!!”
It was an act of desperation. But the android noticed some windows with a clear view of the courtyard, She broke it, and promptly threw her axe at the Titan. “Micheal! Do whatever it is you’re gonna do to the Titan now!”
But it could be too late. The titan was ready to swing its fists towards Faye, and Amanda hoped that her thrown axe would travel fast enough to impale itself to the Titan. Hopefully bringing some time for Faye to escape, however thin that hope might be.
Madeleine only nodded to Morgana’s suggestions, although keeping the magic as generic as possible would be a little tricky. Sure her gun shoots pure bolts of mana, but her sword is a typical fire sword, a very powerful fire-imbued sword, but still just an elementally charged sword at the end of the day, she would need to be careful in how she would proceed with this if the situation turned south, which it would most likely happen. “I’ll try to use the gun as frequently as possible, my sword is pretty obviously imbued with fire magic so a counterspell just because of my sword would be a bit of an issue wouldn’t it?”
“Just prepare an invisibility spell or something, both of you. I’ll do the hard work in case things go south.” Madeleine further commanded, promptly walking towards the cultist compound with Morgana and Xaviron tailing the demoness.
As she reached the compound though, a weird feeling came across her, like a sort of internal red flag that allowed her to see where things might be going, and she had multiple red flags flaring up on her mind right now.
The compound’s seemingly empty, there’s no one to greet her, and there’s no activity within the compound at all. Almost like it’s deserted… but that wouldn’t be possible. If they are moving then the team would be notified of movement, and there’s no notification in the last 5 hours indicating such a thing.
“Hmmmmmm. Strange.” The demon said, before the shield spell she cast on herself just before the fight activated, and it’s not even on something small. She noticed that someone cast a life-draining curse and if it weren’t for her shield, her life force would be sapped until she killed the spellcaster. A spellcaster she noted hiding in the window on the wooden cabin on the left side of the lodge. And a spellcaster that got shot in the head as Madeleine aimed her gun true and fired a magical bolt.
“Well, Morgana. Seems like your English witches did teach them curses after all.” Madeleine commented, slowly moving into the compound and shooting mages that tried to curse her left and right.
The noise of Scarlet's gun firing echoed through the courtyard as she shot at the creature Amanda was fighting against. While it didn't seem to be enough to penetrate it's tough hide, the impact was more than enough to daze it, at least for a few precious seconds. The noise was so sudden and loud that made Faye flinch. But the fact that not even that shot was able to penetrate the creature's hide was what made her even more surprised.
"Scarlet, are your wounds okay to handle the recoil?" Faye asked, worried about the wounds Scarlet received a moment ago.
Scarlet's follow up to that shot was much more powerful though, firing an explosive-tipped round which was enough to knock back the creature and make it kneel down, dazed. The noise made by it was enough to make Faye cover her ears.
"What is this thing even made of...?" Faye asked, incredulous as she looked at the creature, which still seemed to be relatively unharmed by Scarlet's shots.
"Micheal, can you handle it? I can still open a portal to send it away if it gets too dangerous!" Faye said as she looked at Micheal.
The amount of power that was concentrated on him after the ritual was such an enormous amount that even those without any magical blood would be able to feel a strange 'feeling' coming from him. For Faye though, it was almost as strong as the corrupted aura from the creature. She knew well that Micheal was overexerting himself. The natural magic coming from Micheal's ritual was probably the only thing that was helping Faye deal with the corrupted magic emanating from the creature. With that said, the eldritch beams the creature started firing quickly began to worsen Faye's condition, with her feeling visibly more shaken and weakened.
The second Faye stopped paying attention at the creature to check on Scarlet and Micheal was the moment the creature directed it's attention to Faye. Distracted, dazed and weakened by the eldritch magic emanating from the creature, she wasn't able to even react in time as Amanda warned her about the titan, being able only to raise her hands as a reaction to the oncoming blow.
He took a step, still singing. Still casting those bolts of incandescent lightning. The wind and thunder called forth by the ritual. Mighty indeed.
But between one second and the next.
One step and the last.
It all just...
...winks out.
And Raven is just barely able to catch Mikey as he sinks to the ground, the deity letting out a howl of pain as the sound of sizzling flesh can be heard. His own, and by the looks of it, Micheals too.
The magical light that the young man had called up just bleeds away. And his eyes look dull as he lays there in the arms of his god-friend.
Manabozho and Whiskeyjack run forward and help to drag Micheal back to safety. Whiskeyjack the Cree trickster so in essense Mikey's closest ally looks him over, and says words loud enough for all to hear, "Magic burnout, he's as good as a Null until he has a chance to rest." Manabozho steps up and throws up a shield, which takes the form of a warrior Brave in buckskin with a warclub standing firm against the onslaught of the Abomination.
From behind the shield and in the arms of his friends Micheal can be heard calling, "Hey guys...I think I'm done for abit...hey Red Faye...boss Bot...sorry." He groans and rests back into Raven's arms, "Wooo...okay...just give me a second...and I can...get back in the fray." whiskeyjack then bonking the shaman's head, "Don't be an idiot you'll need atleast a day before you can even try scrying."
