Somewhere in Berun, 12th of March 1950
After an hour of navigating the back alleys and hiding, Matheus Johann Weiss felt the two were clear. They had taken cover in an old abandoned building near some squatters. No one paid them any mind.
Laurence had dressed Matheus with some clean rags they had bartered for by their politely discreet neighbors.
"Okay, it looks good," the thespian claimed after inspecting his work. "How do you feel?"
"I will manage fine, thank you."
"Don't mention it. You saved my life."
"It did not seem to be you that they were after."
They did send three mages and shot at Matheus even if they were not going for the kill.
"Then what was their plan?" Laurence pondered aloud.
"I have no idea, but we need to contact Interpol."
"You have that ring," the Albish man with green eyes reminded Matheus. "Does it have a communication spell in it?"
They had been so focused on making sure that Matheus would be okay and avoiding detection they avoided using unnecessary magic. They also wanted to avoid getting anyone else involved if things got serious.
Matheus tapped the computation orb in the ring. He felt something like a communication spell in it, but he needed to become more familiar with this device or new spells. The address for Tanya's dual-core fit into the preset place just fine.
It might work, Matheus thought, putting in a bit of mana.
It bounced off something, but it did not form a connection. Either Tanya did not have her dual-core, which was unlikely given her personality, or the spell was not for communication, he figured.
"I don't know if it works. I don't have the tools to check the formulae in this device to see if it is supposed to be a communication spell or not."
"We should not stay here much longer," Laurence decides. "Let us head to the Interpol office. I think that is better than potentially alerting the other mobsters where we are."
"We will have to go through a club district to get there."
"I think we can manage if we keep to the back alleys. I don't want to go out on the streets and get a cab until we are fully out of this area."
With that, they headed out.
After about twenty minutes of zig-zagging through, they spotted someone familiar.
"Tan—"
Laurence held him back and gestured to get quiet. The former spy leaned ever so slightly as to see what was going on. Whispering, Laurence explained what he saw.
"I see Tanya, Sonnetto, and Calamity, but the people around them are The Fist's goons. Those are probably the people who tried to capture us."
"Did they get captured too, you think?" Matheus wondered. "Also, who is The Fist?"
"I don't know if they were captured. They are in their casual clothes, and both of them are supposed to be working today. The Fist is a ruthless mob boss who blackmails anyone who is a threat to the Ring Clubs or their clients. Rumor is that he is a mage who tears people apart with his bare hands."
Matheus felt fear spike. "Why would those three be here then? What is happening to them now?"
"We don't know. One of the thugs grabbed Agent Nichts and shoved her to the ground. Then he kicked her."
Matheus had it. He was going out there.
Laurence held him back barely. The man had not fully recovered his strength, but he had several inches on the thespian.
"We have to be tactful about this, or we are going to get in danger, too. Okay, now, they let her get back up, and she is going inside with them."
"We have to get in there and make sure she gets out in one piece."
"We have to get to Interpol," Laurence replied. "I am on suspension, and you are a civilian."
"I am also her family. I am not going to let some thugs attack my family."
"Nichts will be livid if we mess this up."
"Tanya can be upset. People have to stop enabling her. What is important right now is that those three could be in danger. I am not losing any more family."
"Okay, okay," the thespian did his best to keep Matheus from rushing a bunch of gangsters who had gathered in front of a club down the street. "Calm down. I have a plan."
Laurence took a moment to take a deep breath. The black-haired aerial mage had a feeling that his buddy was still coming up with said plan.
"Okay, first you have to look the part," the green-eyed Albish man began. Matheus let him adjust his appearance. "First, let's get your hair a bit messy."
"Those bozos out front looked like they put a lot of money into their hair."
"Yeah, but that is to make them stand out and lend an air of romanticism to their thuggery. We want to fade to the background."
Matheus nodded.
Well, he was an actor, so he would know better than me about being a background character.
"Next," Laurence continued, "Let's undo a few buttons. You don't want to look like a square."
"Are we done?" Matheus pressed. He did not want to wait any longer.
"Yeah."
Matheus followed Laurence down the alleys to the back of the building The Fist's goons had brought those three Interpol officers. He was surprised when the thespian pulled out a device that looked like a Waldstatten Army knife, but instead of blades and tweezers, it had various lockpicks.
"Where—"
"Let's just focus on saving Nichts."
With that, they snuck into the club Immertreu, where the goons had brought the three women, but as the door shut behind them, Matheus would have sworn he heard someone call out his name.
Near the club Immertreu in Berun, 12th of March 1950
5 minutes after Sonnetto, Calamity, and Tanya entered the club
Investigator Sue was on her allotted flight time when she heard gunshots. It took her a while to find the crime scene — Sonnetto and Tanya's apartment, much to her surprise. It had been ransacked with blood all over the floor. After contacting her superior, Mary Sue searched for the perps or Matheus, who was supposedly at the residence.
"Captain, I am checking the vicinity for signs of their location," Investigator Sue communicated with her superior. While her magic had changed with her transformation, a lot of her training just involved learning how to use it safely. She could not be the judge, jury, and executioner. It would not be suitable for her to impose her justice without accountability.
"We have already sent a team to investigate the crime scene," her Captain answered. "I tried reaching Tanya, but she is not in the office or picking up on her orb for some reason. Something is happening, and as the mage on location, you are depending on you to save Matheus. Wherever he is, that is probably where Tanya is."
While Mary Sue had a sense that Captain Weiss was no average Germanian veteran, the way her captain spoke of the blonde woman indicated a sense of debt and duty. Mary Sue could sometimes pick up on people's feelings of guilt. Captain Müller had plenty of guilt, especially when compared to Mrs. Weiss, who only occasionally had spikes of it. To put it in other words, Müller had a constant level of background guilt behind her actions, while Tanya von Weiss had particular triggers and would turn off her guilt when it got too intense.
Then Sue finally spotted Matheus and a man who looked very vaguely familiar. After relaying that information to her captain via communication spell, the investigator descended onto the street.
Her wings took time to learn how to use, but these magical mutations gave her a tactile sense of the magic keeping her aloft. Innate flying could never have the precision of computation orbs, but it felt great.
"Matheus!" the angelic officer called out after landing. A bunch of individuals with fancy modern hairstyles quickly surrounded her.
"It is Interpol," one of the fancy ruffians shouted, pointing a crowbar at Sue. "The boss suspected you might show up."
"Yes, I am with Interpol. I am on urgent Interpol business. I need to speak to—"
"You don't just get to come in on our turf and make demands."
"I am not trying to make—"
"No, you don't get to speak."
The well-coiffed individuals formed a tight circle around the angelic officer. She did not have room to spread her wings and fly away. If Sue hit any of them, it would be on her head. The law was highly biased against mages when it came to violence. Even self-defense could result in the mage doing time if they hurt their non-mage assailant. The specific circumstances under which mages could use magic in self-defense were intentionally limited to discourage this kind of behavior.
Investigator Sue activated the communication spell. Her transformation had turned it into a celestial sigil on her wrist. She lifted her wrist to her mouth and spoke into the sigil.
"She is casting something. Get her!" Before she could say anything, the ruffian swung her crowbar.
"Officer Sue, what is wrong?!" Müller had overheard the ruffian's shout. While only Sue could hear her captain, Müller could listen to everything within a short distance from the angelic veteran.
"Stop, we don't have to—"
Sue could not finish pleading with her attackers as they all started taking jabs at her.
"Feels shitty not being able to fight back, magdict, doesn't it?" one of the ruffians jeered.
"Magdict" was a pejorative used by non-mages towards mages. It conveyed the idea that mages were addicted to magic, which was a fraught issue among mages.
Pain seared through Mary Sue's right arm as the crowbar landed this time, breaking something. Magic automatically started flowing to that arm to mend it. This was not the worst Mary Sue had taken in the past. The Devil had shot her in the chest, and her abnormally high amount of magic kept her alive. She was not like Sonnetto, but she could bounce back from some injuries.
Pushing back her instinctual fear of pain, Officer Sue barrelled through the first opening she saw. Her wings took a battering, rendering them unfit for flight magic for at least a couple of minutes.
"Sue, what is your precise location?" Müller requested through the connection. She had the general location, but more information would make reinforcements faster. For whatever reason, the local police did not seem interested in getting involved at all.
"I don't know. Sorry, I need to focus. Under attack."
"All non-mages?"
"Yes…No, there are a few mages, but they have non-mages around them."
It was a classic problem between magical law enforcement and criminals. Non-mages became body shields for their mage counterparts. Sue could not fight without the risk of hurting the non-mages, but the magical goons did not have such a limitation.
Sue would have to hold out with whatever defensive magic she could muster until either she got authorization to use a level of force or non-magical reinforcements could take down the non-mages. The Interpol in Berun did not have as many non-magical human resources as local law enforcement, so this was more than complicated.
Somewhere in Berun, 12th of March 1950
65 Minutes before Sonnetto, Calamity, and Tanya enter the club
Otto Bückler nervously fidgeted. This was really bad, super bad.
"Otto," came the voice of his boss through his ring. "Where is the hostage."
"He is with us. I promise!" He lied. Was he going to tell the truth and end up like Bloody Mary? No way!
"Well, get back here soon."
"Uh. We just have to take care of Karl. He got nicked in the neck and lost a lot of blood."
They had successfully stabilized the goon, but he would need plenty of rest. The doctor on The Fist's payroll would take care of him. Otto wanted more time to find this Matheus fellow. If he did not figure out something fast, the thief and his companions would be dead.
"We don't have time, Little Otto. This job needs to be completed as soon as possible. Every minute gives the coppers more time to ruin everything. If they don't scare you, I should. I want you here now with the hostage."
"Yes, boss! Will be there soon."
Immertreu in Berun, 12th of March 1950
63 Minutes before Sonnetto, Calamity, and Tanya enter the club
Sue "The Fist" Rennolds popped his knuckles in stress. Only the upper echelons of his gang knew his name, and for good reason. If anyone were caught casually saying his name, he would go into a rage. His father decided it was a good idea to name him Sue. The Fist had gotten bullied relentlessly as a kid for it. The shame and dark memories associated with that name festered in him. Then, he grew bigger and stronger than those bullies. No one bullied him anymore. He was the one who hurt people and got to make them feel weak. He was The Fist now, or any other number of new strong names. No one dared say his birth name in his presence.
That was one reason Bloody Mary was in a gag. The woman had dared to try to get sympathy from him by using his name. Well, now she could not even beg for her life, not that he actually planned to take it. Dead bodies can't be scared of you, after all.
The clock ticked in the background of his office at the back of the club.
Every minute made him more anxious. He did an excellent job of converting that stress into an aurora of menace to keep his goons in line, but if he did not do something fast, everything could go up in smoke. The client needed this done today, and that was a lot of pressure. Just getting the files on a target who knew Nichts required paying someone off in Interpol and more precious time.
Bloody Mary cried out because his knuckle popping had alarmed her.
The Fist lost the remainder of his patience and called up Agent Nichts.
"Who is this? How do you have this core address?"
"Be quiet, or something will happen to your precious Matheus."
There was a muttered expletive, but the line soon went quiet.
"If you want nothing to happen to your boy toy, you have to follow our demands."
"He isn't my—"
"Shut up."
The line went quiet again. It was essential to control the conversation. Don't let them think. Make them feel urgency, so they act rashly.
"You interrupt again, and I will get mad. When I get mad, I hurt people."
His only actual hostage started whimpering.
"Don't interrupt me, Mary, or your fate will be worse than what I have planned for Matheus." He was lying, but The Fist needed to sell his ruse. Then, the mob boss grabbed Bloody Mary's hand and crushed it with enough force to break a bone or two. The woman wailed through her gag.
"Shit," Agent Nichts swore before going silent.
Good, she understands the stakes.
He proceeded to instruct the mysterious Interpol Agent on what she needed to do with the Dzayer case.
Interpol HQ in Berun, 12th of March 1950
67 Minutes before Sonnetto and Tanya enter the club
Amber Canary (aka Calamity Amb) sat across from Captain Weiss at her office desk.
Amber did not know why she had two superiors at first until she had orientation and learned that Agent Nichts of the South Germania Office and Captain Tanya von Weiss were the same person. That had not shocked the ever-child as much as knowing that her temporary superior was the Devil of the Rhine. She had a conniption fit. She didn't care what they said. That mana signature was the Devil's.
Now that Devil was doing a huge favor for Amber.
"Thanks for helping with my asylum papers, Captain."
"Paperwork is not that difficult. In the future, you will be expected to fill out your own."
"I promise I will learn Germanian real fast, ma'am."
"That would be helpful."
She never imagined having the Devil of the Rhine, who had killed so many of the Allies' soldiers, help with your paperwork. To say it was bizarre was an understatement, but the world had a way of surprising people. The centennial gunslinger wouldn't break that nasty NDA ever, but after getting to know her superior better, she put aside her grudge. Amber was not a bounty hunter, and she saw a debt when she saw one. All this help getting her out of being conscripted into the Silver Legion's war on the Aztecs meant a lot.
It then got awkwardly quiet for a moment.
Amber decided to break the ice. "You know an Ildoan filmmaker reached out to me to help with his next big motion picture. I didn't know you Europeans liked Westerns, but I was so happy to talk about who I was. Apparently, they got some actor to play my old General during his last stand."
There was a slight pause.
After making a mental connection, Tanya von Weiss asked, "So, did you really serve under General Custer?"
"You mean General Duster. So you have heard of him?"
"Yes, that is what I meant, and only by reputation."
That name took her back. "Yeah, I served under him. That was a good bit after the Civil War. I had gone north to fight with the Union, stick it to those plantation-owning aristocrats, and end slavery. I always wanted to be a soldier, you see. I got all dressed up in guy clothes, and the boys were all good sports when they saw I could shoot good. Then, when the war was over, I stuck to the army and helped them with keeping the…."
Amber's face got all screwy with uncomfortable reflection. "Well, I didn't know any better back then. We were supposed to be the good guys, fighting evil, and I trusted that. You understand? I didn't realize General Biles was starving them into rebellion. When I did…I should have stopped. I am—."
Inhuman, a monster. I deserved to be this thing.
The Tejan took a moment to let the feeling play itself out. "Living this long is a curse that sometimes causes you to collect moral failings like thorny barbs to your pant legs and socks. Eventually, they cut you all up when you try to move forward. You know?"
Amber needed asylum status because the Silver Legion had conscripted all mages for their war on the Aztecs. It was the fate of mages pretty much everywhere in the West to serve in the military in the event of war. Some countries force you to serve for a few years after hitting the age of majority to get you battle-ready. Other countries did not trust their mages with freedom outside the military, and so they made you serve until you got too feeble. Having magic was a real curse when it came to all these responsibilities and restrictions to keep you from being a threat to the non-magical majority.
She was done fighting wars. Amber wanted out of the Unified States and the Silver Legion's genocidal expansionist ambitions. The magical gunner was done with the war environment that dehumanized her enemies to make the killing easier. If she had to kill someone, Calamity would make sure she internalized them as a person before she pulled the trigger.
She may not have been able to erase the past, but she was sure as hell not going to return to it. Sometimes, you just have to move forward past the pain and do the right thing now. Her death wouldn't make things better, Amber figured, but she was going to make sure she used her life to make the world a better place for everyone.
Her captain acknowledged Amber's point and gestured for her to resume the previous subject. Tanya von Weiss did not look up from the paperwork, and it was not clear if she understood how Amber felt.
"Well, General Duster and the others were all kind of like a family. We also had all sorts of people at Fort Canders, kind of like this Interpol outfit we have here. For example, there was Old Cash. She came from the Aztec Empire and wore this veil all the time. We thought it must be some cultural thing. Anyway, she was an excellent friend to General Duster and his wife. She was a fantastic midwife. Every child who drew their first breath back then at the fort was thanks to Old Cash.
"She also made these dresses with really daring necklines. While I am not the dress-wearing type, she had a way of making me feel envy on account of me being trapped as an ever-child. Anywho, give her some clothes, and she will make you something real pretty.
"I was even at her wedding to Sergeant Sherry. It was a beautiful sight. Anywho, I think you would have liked Old Cash. I will tell you her full story someday."
Amber noticed she had gotten off subject. She had the storytelling spirit, but sometimes that spirit took her on tangents.
"Anyways, back to Duster—"
Then, the telltale signs of a communication spell occurred, and Amber shut her trap to let her captain take the call.
"Who is this? How do you have this core address?"
Amber did not like what happened next, but her captain ordered her out of the office without explaining anything.
Something was up, so the Tejas Sharpshooter sought out Sonnetto, who might be able to help.
Interpol HQ in Berun, 12th of March 1950
52 Minutes before Sonnetto, Calamity, and Tanya enter the club
I rushed to change all of the paperwork that had previously required me to recuse myself from the Dzayer case. I couldn't scuttle the case if I weren't in charge of it, and leading would affect my reputation….
There is no time to think about the long-term consequences.
Matheus' life is in danger.
Once the updated paperwork went into my superior's lockbox, I returned to my office and waited patiently for the next call from the blackmailer.
Through the communication spell, a voice entered my mind: "Nichts! I... uh…you come to the Immerteru or else."
The mobster was obviously different from the guy who had called earlier.
I knew of the club. It was one generally suspected of doing sex trafficking, but that was not my purview unless we could get hard evidence of magical crime. Local law enforcement or the non-magical side of Interpol had to handle that until mages became involved.
I felt a headache growing as I heard this clearly incompetent mobster vaguely threaten me. He was not very detailed aside from giving me the address I needed to go to. In a hostage situation, nothing is more frustrating than a criminal who doesn't know what they want.
If even a hair on his head is out of place, I will….
I took a deep breath. The fate of everyone involved in this kidnapping of someone from my family will have to wait a little longer.
Somewhere in Berun, 12th of March 1950
51 Minutes before Sonnetto, Calamity, and Tanya enter the club
Otto panicked, so he called Agent Nichts with the core address in the file The Fist gave him. If he could not find her boyfriend, he would just have to capture her instead.
"Why did you send her to Immerteru?" one of the goons asked Otto.
"Uh, well, I might need The Fist's help subduing her."
"Makes sense, sir."
He knew it didn't, but Otto had just made this situation one hundred times worse. He was not going to admit that.
"We better get to the club ahead of her so we can manage the situation for the boss."
"I thought we wanted his help."
"We do, but it would be better if we didn't need it. Make sense?"
The remaining goons did not look as convinced this time.
As they got to the car, they realized something.
"Where are the keys?" They had two cars. One car belonged to Karl, who was at the doc's. The other belonged to the gal who drove Karl to the doc. They had been searching the alleys by foot for Matheus. "Fuck, we have to get there by foot."
Hopefully, they would get there before Agent Nichts showed up. Otto certainly did not want to explain his screw-up.
Somewhere in Berun, 12th of March 1950
50 Minutes before Sonnetto, Calamity, and Tanya enter the club
A rare thrill of excitement ran up and down Sonnetto's artificial spine. It had been a long time since she felt pleased about something. The cause of the celebratory mood was the new spell Agent U had synthesized through alchemy. Importantly, it would allow Sonnetto to speak with an illusory voice. It was still a prototype, which lacked the duration and mana efficiency for long conversations, but it was a start.
The first person Sonnetto wanted to show this spell to was her housemate, Tanya Degurechaff von Weiss. That was why she went straight to her office.
Just one thing: Agent Calamity was right outside the door.
"Sonnetto, I find you," the Tejan clamored in her broken Germanian. "Captain Weiss is. You talk her?"
"Yes," Sonnetto communicated through the thought-to-speech spell, earning Calamity a surprised look. A few-second delay in the spell still needed to be worked out, but Chief Scientist Agent U knew that.
Without further ado, Sonnetto entered the office and closed the door behind her.
"Sonnetto!" Tanya ran her hands through her hair frantically until it had become a mess of panicked curls.
"What is the problem?"
Tanya blinked at hearing Sonnetto's mental voice.
"Sorry, I don't have time to celebrate, but we have an emergency."
The blonde paced the room. Rage, concern, and dread waged a war. Her reason had taken a backseat. Sonnetto swore silver sparks popped around her housemate as Tanya muttered under her breath.
It took a moment, but the homunculus finally got her question out. "What is wrong?"
Tanya turned straight to her and got serious and determined. "Sonnetto, we have to keep this quiet. The mob has Matheus… and Mary. They must have captured Matheus at my apartment. I don't know if they killed Agent Masquerade. Now they want me to go to their club to meet with them."
Anyone who wants to capture Matheus must have some heavy-duty firepower behind them. Tanya had trained the man from the ground up and had a decade of combat experience in the most odds-defying operations. If you look up Commando in the dictionary and don't see a picture of Matheus, you should get a new dictionary.
Sonnetto wanted to get the same training as Matheus. The crimson-eyed officer had successfully coaxed Tanya into talking about the 203rd's training by getting the blonde to feel utterly safe in one of their evenings together at their flat. Tanya had confessed while in Sonnetto's arms that she had actually wanted Matheus and the others to quit with her over-the-top methods, and it had backfired. Now, there were at least two dozen super commandos like Matheus still in the world. Despite hearing this, Sonnetto still wanted that level of skill so that she could be more useful on the battlefield.
As her housemate discussed all that had happened and what she needed to do, the crimson-eyed woman noticed something.
"Did they say you need to go alone, or what should you bring?" She turned off the thought-to-speech spell to conserve its limited power and returned to using sign language.
Tanya blinked, and then she looked like she was starting to form a plan.
"No, they didn't," she replied, habitually switching back to sign language as well. It was also better if she did not want to get overheard.
These guys seem like rank amateurs at negotiating, which means anything can happen. I can probably bring one person without raising any suspicion. Two would be pushing it. If I am going into a trap, I want you by my side."
Sonnetto understood. Tanya had a lot of experience to lean on.
"How are you going to fight without your computation orb?"
There was no way Tanya would get into a club with a computation orb or foci on her.
"Can you absorb my dual-core?" Tanya wondered.
"Only up to a mono-core safely. Sorry."
Sonnetto could absorb most things if she coated them with an alchemical coating. Some items, like her pistols and rifle, had been purchased from Persia and could be released from their tattoos and reabsorbed indefinitely. Everything else required a new coat of reagent to be stored in a tattoo again.
The more energy an object she stored on her skin had, the more surface area it consumed. Due to her being an alchemical being, the tattoos could look like anything Sonnetto wanted and be moved slowly at will. Human alchemists could not move their tattoos if they used them. She needed the object to come off her skin safely, so she opted for tank tops and similar clothes underneath her cloak in order to have the surface area available to summon her gear, weapons, and alchemical ink wings.
Magical items had a lot of energy and did not always agree with her alchemy-based magic. Computation orbs and alchemy followed completely different magic systems. It was like trying to plug an AC electrical device into a DC power supply. A single old-fashioned and reliable mono-core would not overload the storage spell or Sonnetto's body, but a dual-core would undoubtedly do so.
With little time to plan, they started getting ready as fast as they could. In the locker room, both women switched into casual clothes, which was much easier for Sonnetto. The alchemical woman rocked tank tops and cargo pants. The only real difference from a distance was the lack of Interpol logos. Tanya wore slacks and blouses. The blonde sometimes wore a turtleneck when she was feeling like an "innovator", as she put it.
Tanya stuffed her duffel bag with her Nichts costume while Sonnetto carefully coated a spare mono-core with reagents so she could absorb it into a tattoo. Once on her skin, the white-haired woman could feel its core humming inside the tattoo.
Sonnetto also quickly absorbed several weapons, supplies, and gear they might need, and she always kept them pre-coated for missions.
When they got to the car, Tanya slid into the passenger seat like always. The blonde woman's short legs made it difficult for her to reach the pedals. Before Sonnetto could turn on the ignition, a knock came at the car door. The taller Interpol mage peered out of the window and then down. A cowboy hat stared up at her.
Calamity Amb was not about to let these two youthful knuckleheads rush off into danger without her. She had been in her forties once and remembered all the mistakes she had made back then. While Tanya von Weiss came across as a good deal more mature than most people the blonde's age, Calamity also had seen the last moments of a few commanders before they did something reckless and stupid.
"So, why am I not involved in this little hootenanny of yours?" the cowboy hat inquired in American Albish.
"Calamity, this does not involve you."
"Ma'am, I would like you to make it involve me."
"You will stand out." Captain Weiss answered from the other side of Sonnetto, struggling to make eye contact with the centenarian sharpshooter. The youngest of the team, Fang, would have been told to stand down, but Calamity Amb's voice carried the prudence of the ages, which changed the dynamic considerably. Experience trumped most things for soldiers like Calamity and Tanya von Weiss.
"I can look the part. See." Calamity Amb had put a handkerchief around her face like a bandit from the American frontier.
"They will see your eyes are unnatural and know you are an innate mage."
Calamity pulled out and donned some sunglasses from her vest pocket. She was a pro who covered all her bases before she did anything and had some acting experience from rodeos and Wild West shows.
Then she just popped into the backseat so that Sonnetto could finally start the car. There was no time to wait. The debate would have to continue on the drive there.
"Your ears?" Tanya followed up.
Her hair lifted ever so slightly at the sides of her head to entirely obscure her somewhat pointy ears. It helped to have complete control over one's hair.
"Your height?"
"It only makes me less likely to be a threat in their eyes. More importantly, I think I am taller than you."
"What? Really?" Captain Weiss then cleared her throat. "Well, you can't speak Germanian."
"I will just be all quiet like, and I also know some important phrases if needed."
"Give me a good reason why we shouldn't just drop you off at the first light?"
Calamity chuckled. "I will do you youngin's two better give you three good reasons."
The little gunner cleared her throat like she was about to give her case before a judge.
"Reason one: You are about to go into a whole hornet's nest of trouble by the looks of it. If you accidentally shake this nest, you will want the firepower I bring to the table. Remember that I am your team's arms specialist. I know the best use for their less lethal ammunition, so I can use them without accidentally killing someone. Plus, we both know that you, Captain, are not going to use the other one Agent S brought, given your whole proclivity of running off and going mano a mano with the biggest, baddest, nastiest, no-good son-of-a-gun you can find."
"Okay. Reason two?" Captain Weiss did not challenge the evaluation of her character. It was her role in the team to fight powerful mages. It was in her job description…which she had written herself, as Calamity had found out.
"Two: I listened to what you said, and while you two were getting ready, I filled out the paperwork for an emergency mission and for all that gear you took out so none of us get in trouble. I just so happened to put my name on this here operation. Now you have to take me."
"I didn't authorize…no, fine. Yes." Given the urgency, the captain clearly rushed through her preparations. Captain Weiss had no choice but to process the rest of Calamity's paperwork later.
"Don't forget the third reason—"
"No, you have me convinced."
"Ah, well, it is all settled then. Y'all were about to do something real stupid, I tell you, so I sure am glad you let me unstupid it for y'all."
"Don't mention it, Officer Canary," Captain Tanya von Weiss replied somewhat tersely.
The Tejan chuckled at what she saw as her superior's good humor. "Oh, just call me Calamity, Calamity Amb, or Agent C. The only people who call me Canary are my sister Mary and her great-grandkids. You know my sister actually wants to meet you someday."
"Calamity, I don't want to chit-chat right now. The situation is…."
The amber-eyed sharpshooter got extra quiet as she got the low down on the gravity of her first operation with her Captain. Her superior's level of recklessness made a lot more sense now.
Outside the Immerteru, 12th of March 1950
7 Minutes before Sonnetto, Calamity, and Tanya enter the club
When we got parked a little ways away from the club, some of the mob boss's henchmen came up to check on us.
"So why are you three missies here?" one of them inquired. His pompadour would have made it impossible for me to take him seriously if not for Matheus's life being at stake and all the other things I knew I knew about this crime syndicate.
"We are here for Matheus…and Mary."
"Oh, so you are with Bloody Mary? We have been expecting you." The gangster with the pompadour chuckled darkly.
I guess Mary's wings are tinged crimson, which kind of makes them look bloody. I have never heard this nickname for her before, though.
As I got out of the car, they gave us a pat down for computation orbs. I really missed the war right then because of what I wanted to do to these sleazy assholes.
"Hey, don't forget the goods. Bring the duffel bag."
I had planned to leave my Nichts' outfit in the car and run back to it if needed. I didn't come in my Nichts outfit because that would have been too conspicuous for anyone who saw me. My alter ego had international fame, and many Germanians saw her as a national hero. Plus, Matheus' life was in danger. I could take the hit of someone knowing how Nichts looked under her helmet for his sake.
Anyway, if they wanted me to take my duffel bag, that was quite convenient for me.
The gangsters ran mana through my duffel bag to check for computation orbs, but nothing activated, of course. The bag only contained my scientifically engineered protective gear. Despite how plain it was, the look had become iconic for my alter ego. There was no point really in adding Interpol logos. We had mana signatures and such to identify each other for the most part.
The man opened the bag. "What is this?"
"Nothing." That was one of my only jokes.
He pointed to the clothes. "Where is the money?"
"Money?"
They didn't say anything about money? These gangsters are terribly incompetent.
"Ugh, whatever." He gave me back my bag, and I took it.
None of them suspected Sonnetto of alchemy. While greater awareness of alchemy was spreading to Europa, it wasn't well understood outside of professional magic craft. Saying you were a mage was like saying you were an accountant. People's primary frame of reference for accountants is their tax accountant, not an auditor or managerial accountant for a corporation, for example. In this case, Sonnetto benefitted from their ignorance of other kinds of mages.
Calamity barely got any notice aside from some snide remarks about looking like a kid in a costume. They treated her like she was the mascot for our group, which sure brought back memories for me.
"So you three work with Mary, huh?" one of them asked as they escorted us to the club.
"Technically…yes…unfortunately." It was hard to describe how weird it was working with Mary Sue as a colleague.
"I would feel the same way in your shoes."
Why is this gangster sympathizing with me?
Before I could think further on the matter, he shoved me to the ground and gave me a kick in the back, bruising my ribs.
Why does sympathy hurt so much?!
I kept my cool as Sonnetto and Calamity helped me back up.
"That is why you get for what you have done. The boss has half a mind to just off Mary right now, you know that."
"Understood," I answered through gritted teeth.
We entered the club, flanked by our armed escort. It was still early in the day, so the establishment was not opened yet. I could see The Fist's henchmen running about in preparation for a fight. If there were any innocent bystanders here, they were the prostitutes who did not have a home or had to stay there under duress. The palpable loss of their ability to determine their future due to coercive forces and desperation made my wrists flare up with divine mana.
It was also a harry situation for the three of us. I often struggled with anxiety and paranoia, where I assumed the worst fate would befall me and those I cared about. Sonnetto thankfully picked up on my discomfort and took my hand. That made banishing the nightmare scenarios from my mind possible.
They threw us into a guest room and locked the door from the outside, which made me anxious. The walls became more oppressive suddenly.
"Wait here until The Fist is ready to see you," a mobster shouted from the other side of the door before leaving.
"Sonnetto." I signed when the three of us were finally alone.
For her name, instead of spelling it all out, I just summarized all the letters in two motions. It was faster. We based many signed words unique to our profession on the first couple of letters and then a clarifying gesture. It was necessary with the language since 15% of our conversational vocabulary did not have official hand signs. Other practitioners did the same for their unique language environments.
I only had to sign her name to indicate that it was time to move on to the next phase of our plan.
"I have a suspicion something is not quite right."
"Me too."
"We should contact Captain Müller at least. If this is a trap, then she can help."
She started taking out the mono-core from storage as I rapidly got changed into Nichts.
First, I put on the goggles, and I could already feel my perspective shift. Then, I buckled my helmet into position. The chaos of my thoughts returned to a familiar structured order beyond the irrational excesses of this adult body's endocrine system. Finally, I buttoned up my mantle, and Nichts was complete.
I took the mono-core from my subordinate Sonnetto's hand and gave her the expected customary thanks. The call would have to be brief since I had a meeting with the club's owner shortly. Given the stakes of this venture, negotiations might get heated.
I activated the communication spell, which the people in this room could sense. Calamity, thankfully, only tensed up a bit. It had taken a while for her to get used to being around my mana signature.
Regardless, my family needed me now, so I was too distracted to solve that mystery.
"Captain Müller, it is me, Agent Nichts," I said into the spell.
"Oh, thank goodness. Where are you?"
"Immerteru, ma'am, with Agent Sonnetto and Agent Calamity supporting me. Mr. Weiss and Investigator Sue are here, too. I have come to rescue them. The emergency mission paperwork should have been filed."
"I am glad you are fully apprised of the situation. Sue is keeping me posted on her situation as much as she can. Given the circumstances, it isn't easy for her."
It made sense that Sue had kept in touch with her superior. She was an innate caster. The gangsters could not take her ability to use the communication spell from her like they could me. She must have woken up recently from her captivity during my call with The Fist and gotten ahold of Captain Müller.
"Captain, what is my level of authorization?" I inquired. If my colleague coordinated this operation, it would fall to her to make that call. As a proper employee of a law-enforcing organization, I fell into line and did as she would order.
"You have Class C clearance for non-mages. Do you have the proper equipment?"
That meant using beanbag shotguns and non-lethal magic unless we could isolate the mages in such a way that we did not pose a risk to non-mages. It was the same grade as my last operation in Ildoa and the most common clearance given for operations. Agent U had come up with the beanbag shotgun after I fed her some ideas from my world. They were nowhere near as effective as Agent Fang's martial arts, but they would have to suffice. While Calamity's early comment on the shotgun came to mind, I still signed the question to my subordinate to double-check we had them and got a quick confirmation.
"Yes," I told Agent Müller.
If it came to it, then Sonnetto would have all the ammo and firepower we needed…hopefully.
"We are going to talk to their boss first," I clarified. "They have hostages."
Before the acting CO could reply, I cut the spell. Someone had come to the door.
"The Fist will see you now," a mobster announced as she opened the door. She wasn't one of the people who put us in the waiting room. "Wait, Nichts, you are the one seeing the boss?!"
"He invited me here, so yes. Please escort me and my subordinates to the meeting. We have urgent business to discuss."
I disliked delays. It was clear that the mobsters in this Ring Club were not all on the same page about what was going on.
"Urk, yes, follow me. No funny business, copper."
"I don't do funny, rest assured."
As we walked down the hallway, I scanned my environment for threats, opportunities, and escape routes. Calamity did the same, which reassured me significantly. I had to signal to remind Sonnetto to scan. She was right that I should train her more.
The rectangular building had a ground and basement floor. Our waiting room was on the more illicit side of the basement level. The mobsters brought us to the ground floor towards a room behind the bar where presumably The Fist's office or meeting room was located. The ground floor had a symposium architecture similar to a church. Two long hallways with tables flanked a dance floor. At one end of this rectangle was the main entrance with large tinted windows facing the street, and at the other end was the aforementioned bar and office. I also picked up on two additional ones along the side hallways. The little I had seen of the basement level indicated a path going under the street that led to other buildings. These underground tunnels made traveling the city by foot easier but gave another avenue of escape.
On the ground floor, I counted approximately twenty individuals. Five of them were women, presumably part of the "night staff", which was the way I would refer to them given the ambiguities present. They were just eating some food. Two appeared to be pimps of some sort. Eleven were well-dressed and moderately armed mobsters of some variety, two of which were mages based on the rings on their fingers — mono-cores each by size. The mages, like usual, registered in my mental scan as having the highest threat values. Their mono-cores were relatively cheap and civilian-grade. Sonnetto could easily take them out with her favored dual pistols if they could be isolated from the non-mages and victims of this business.
Among those twenty, I had spotted two familiar faces — Mr. Weiss and Officer Drake. While I was not expecting to see my suspended subordinate, whom I almost overlooked, his presence made sense. Weiss and Drake have spent time together frequently over the last month in our apartment.
For some reason, they had mops and cleaning supplies.
Did The Fist force them to clean the floors? No one paid them any mind, so that must have been the case.
"Wait here," the mobster told me before entering the meeting room ahead of us.
While we had a moment to ourselves and a safe distance from the other mobsters on the ground floor, the two men approached us. It was an opportunity to catch up with Mr. Weiss.
""We come to save you.""
""Weren't you captured?""
Mr. Weiss and I had both spoken simultaneously, and I could not really process what my former vice commander had said. I gestured to silence him.
"I am grateful that you are both okay."
"You aren't upset that we are here?" Drake wondered. "I am not in trouble."
He must have thought his failure to defend himself against these mobsters and avoid being captured reflected poorly upon his capabilities as an officer of the law.
"You should not feel guilty, Agent. The circumstances were understandable."
Drake looked immensely relieved. As his superior, I had the duty to alleviate unnecessary work-related worries such as this.
"And about Matheus being here, you don't mind?" my suspended subordinate followed up.
I pulled the man in close so he and I could say something to him no one could overhear. "Of course, I mind. Are you crazy? If things go poorly, I will make sure the man responsible for bringing Mr. Weiss here pays for every hair that is out of place on his head."
"Yes, ma'am!"
After releasing Drake, the man shook in terror. I thought I taught him more discipline than that. He needed to keep focused.
In the background, we heard some shouting. "They going to kill that angel chick" and "My money is that when they show up, the boss is going to kill Mary just to prove a point."
That reminded me that I had to rescue Officer Sue, which was something I had never thought I would have to do, but one must do their job even when they don't enjoy it.
My mono-core was in my pocket, and Sonnetto and Calamity were there to back me up. It was fortunate that the mobsters did not even second-guess the three of us showing up.
"Isn't it odd that they are just walking around like this?" Sonnetto wondered while gesturing at my suspended XO and former XO.
"You think they would be tied up."
It was a good point, but before I could think about it, the door opened again.
"He wants to know why you are here."
"Tell him we want to see Sue—"
Then, The Fist himself shoved himself out of the room, causing me to jump back to get out of his reach. The man had this obnoxiously red suit. He loomed way above my meager height. It was a situation with which I had decades of familiarity at this point, but it did highlight how I needed to handle the situation with care. Adding to the stakes, I could sense him activating two cores in his ring. He outgunned me on top of having the physical advantage.
"Well, here I am," The Fist shouted at us for some reason. "You have a lot of nerve coming here and saying that name."
"What name? Sue?"
The other mobsters started giving us space.
What is wrong?
"I am going to rip you apart if you say that name one more time!"
The man's face went beat red. I know Mary Sue could be infuriating at times, but this man clearly has a grudge against the angel-like woman—no wonder the mobsters said all those things about killing her earlier. I knew just enough about Mary Sue that I was not too afraid of her being killed without a lot of effort.
It was a shame we could not reach a mutually beneficial agreement. I was expecting to have a more rational conversation, but you really cannot set the bar low enough for some people. This situation was still acceptable in a way. He did hurt Mr. Weiss, and that came with consequences.
As I dodged out of the way of The Fist's punch, I signaled Agent Sonnetto to start passing out weapons. There was no more point in negotiating peacefully if he was already attacking us.
As I made my way away from him, I activated a voice amplification spell.
"This is the police. On the ground now, or we will respond with force."
Understandably, this resulted in a cacophony of screaming and people rushing for exits or pulling out whatever firearm or weapon. Only the night staff had the sense to get on the ground or duck to cover. I did not want any of them to get hit by bullets. My announcement was more for them than anything else. It was just proper not to get unrelated parties involved in these private matters, especially during more forceful negotiations. While I did not know how The Fist could run a club of this size with such hair-trigger prejudice for infuriating individuals like Mary Sue, that doesn't mean I had to stoop to his level. Sometimes, you have to be the bigger person.
While I handled The Fist, Agent Sonnetto took the lead in dealing with the minor threats. Agent Calamity and Agent Sonnetto both wielded beanbag shotguns, focusing down the non-mage threats who did not get on the ground or flee. My resourceful former vice commander had apparently acquired one of the mobster's rings at some point and quickly erected a barrier for cover as some gangsters reached for pistols and Berun Typewriters. I would stick to my mono-core and a mana blade. My suspended current vice commander, Officer Drake, wielded…a mop. We would give him a proper weapon, but he was under suspension and not authorized to use Interpol equipment during it.
Laurence "Laurence" Drake lifted his mop menacingly. "Come any closer, and I will wipe the floor with you."
The two mobsters paled.
That work?
Two beanbags then flew past either side of Laurence's head.
"Ouch! Stop shooting us." The two mobsters dropped their bats and put their hands in the air.
"At ground,
now," Calamity Amb shouted in a mixture of broken Germanian and Albish, getting the two criminals on their knees.
"What should I do?" Laurence inquired, but Calamity did not answer.
Sonnetto ducked into the room behind the bar to communicate with him. The thespian followed her and attempted to repeat his question, hoping she would at least point somewhere. "What should—"
"Laurence, after we clear the dance floor and give you the signal, you can be the first responder and use this room to treat injuries. Ahhhh! Give me a moment to speak. Can't gun and talk. Help that hostage over there with the swollen hand. Bye!"
The Sonnetto's magically generated voice came out of nowhere and caught the man off guard. He did not have long to think, though, as the alchemical woman returned to Agent Calamity's side.
"More ammo," the Tejan called.
Sonnetto literally extended her arm out and used her magic to fill the weapon with more beanbags from her tattoos. The crimson-eyed woman had perfected the art of the rapid reload. In some guns, she could even replace specially manufactured cartridges from her homeland in milliseconds.
"Agent Sonnetto, secure Mary," Agent Nichts called out.
"I think she is in the room behind the bar."
Sounds of muffled screaming finally caught Laurence's attention. There was another person in this room with him, but she was not Mary — well, not their Mary.
My announcement only ticked off the business owner more as I rushed down one of the side hallways toward the nearest exit. Most of the night staff had opted to hide under the dining tables there or had already fled into the summer heat outside.
"I should have known!" he screamed as he charged at me, ignoring my teammates to go in for the kill on me. "Mary is working with you, coppers. She must have tipped you off to our location."
"Yes, she is my co-worker, but—"
I had to change trajectories and stop the banter early as he literally tossed a table ahead of my intended path, blocking the side exit I planned to take. The man had a Beruner Typewriter, a machine gun popular among mobsters. I had to balance power between my flight and shield formulae. If he caught up to me, I would be dead. The Fist had a reputation for crushing or ripping apart his victims, depending on whom you asked. I was an avid advocate for not getting crushed or ripped apart myself, so I voted for pushing up to the limits of my military-grade mono-core computation orb to stay ahead of him.
Unfortunately, he had corralled me into the front corner. I went up to the ceiling and torpedoed myself towards the window near the front entrance. As I flew between his arms, I activated acceleration and mage blade formulas, temporarily dropping my shield, and attempted to stab at him. He successfully dodged my attack, and the blade only cut through and disabled his firearm.
I turned off those two formulae and reactivated my shield as I turned ninety degrees and defenestrated myself into the street, as one in magical law enforcement does when a meeting falls through. I quickly picked up altitude so I would have as much time to plan the next steps of my plans.
As I floated above the street, I sent a communication spell to Sonnetto. "I will draw The Fist outside. You focus on securing the building. I will get you an ETA on reinforcements."
Then I switched channels to Captain Müller. "The Fist has a dual-core. I am outgunned. I will try to draw him into a dog fight in the air if possible."
While the mono-core rings were probably unable to fit a flight spell, a spell coder would be remiss to exclude it from a dual-core. I would know. I have a spell coding license, for which I can thank my apprenticeship with the Weiss family.
"Understood, Agent Nichts. Reinforcements ETA 2 minutes. Thank you for arriving on the scene so quickly. Mary Sue needed help."
After confirming receipt of the information, I switched back to my channel with Sonnetto and gave her the update. We would both be switching to Müller's channel if the acting CO sent the signal to do so. One needs patience in these situations. Müller required focus to coordinate with dispatch and each of us, so we could not all talk to her at once.
Calamity Amb shuddered as another spell pulse from the Devil of the Rhine passed through her. One did not forget her mana signature. The little sharpshooter nearly pissed her pants when her Agent Nichts cast a spell in front of her the first time and basically declared herself the Devil of the Rhine. Old war jitters returned as Calamity attempted to maintain discipline. For all her bragging earlier, she did not know her superior was the most feared mage in the world.
A man with an unbuttoned shirt sat crouched next to her behind the bar. He said something in Germania that she did not understand literally, but his tone conveyed the meaning. Calamity needed to calm down. Let instinct and training guide her.
Then, the man activated a spell from his ring, and another very familiar mana signature from the war pulsed through the room. Calamity had to fall back on an old calming ritual of listing food from the menu of her favorite dinner. She hadn't needed it in years, but the ritual got her back into the fight.
Sonnetto, who was on the other side of the man, took one hand off her shotgun to conjure her pistol — loaded, naturally. Calamity pulled out her mirror and lifted it with her magical hair.
"One - eleven o'clock; Two - two o'clock." The Tejan had not lied about learning essential phrases for the job. Sonnetto nodded and tossed her shotgun far to the left. While the mobsters reacted to the distraction, she popped up, conjured her second pistol, and eliminated the three mages. The alchemical officer might not have fancy bullets or be a sharpshooter, but Calamity had to hand it to her teammate. Sonnetto knew how to use those pistols.
It wasn't easy to fire pistols with accuracy. Crossing your arms can give some added stability, but the key was making it worth it over a rifle. Having dual wielding allowed Sonnetto to target multiple threats without spraying bullets or resorting to explosion formulae. There were innocent people and non-mages in the room. They had to avoid getting those groups mixed up in the level of force necessary to take down mages.
As Sonnetto, who had a barrier spell up, kept a lookout for new threats, Calamity monitored the surrendered gangsters. The Tejan relied on Laurence Drake and Matheus Weiss to direct the people who were not gangsters to the safe room.
Things were feeling pretty good when another terrifying mana signature rocked Calamity.
As I flew above, The Fist looked up at me from inside the building. He was not dumb enough to come out in the open where he would not have non-mage body shields.
It seemed that I needed to take a page out of my subordinate Laurence's book and play the matador.
"Where is Sue? Sue-y Sue-y Sue-y." I amplified my voice to make sure he heard me. If he hated Mary Sue that much, then I would use her to my advantage for once.
Then I spotted the angel surrounded on the other side of the club.
"There she is."
That was actually a slip-up. I had not meant to say that aloud, given The Fist's hatred for the woman and her precarious situation. To salvage the situation, I quickly pointed at him inside the building.
"You are looking tiny down there. Oh, did I hurt your feelings? Sue me then."
Insults and provocations had a place on the battlefield. When I fought that limey from the multinational unit during the two-person suicide mission General Zettour sent my former adjutant and me, we had exchanged barbs in Albish. It was just workplace culture for soldiers.
My provocation worked. The Fist made one look at all his men around him and then blasted into the air after me.
"You dare humiliate me before my men! I will tear you apart!"
I sighed internally. The man was humiliating himself well enough on his own. I had nothing to do with it. Some people were just too clueless.
He rushed up at me, and we entered a double-helix-spiral flight pattern. I had to dedicate all my attention to him just to avoid him. An early termination would leave my family with an inferior pension package.
The Fist zoomed by me. He had superior power and speed, but I had plenty of experience to handle such foes. I just had to conserve my mana. I would accelerate at full tilt only for short intervals and at a perpendicular vector from his flight path. Basically, I was sidestepping his charges. I am glad he did not have a gun anymore, or this would have been difficult.
Even though I could summon a mana blade, I did not actually want to trade attacks with him due to all my disadvantages here. It was better to wait this out until reinforcements came to subdue him.
The mob boss came at me yet again; however, before I could dodge, I had to quickly reverse my vector as a vaguely familiar ray of golden light passed by my intended flight path. I was sure that beam attack would have killed me. Unfortunately, that meant I could not evade my current foe.
"Gotcha!" He declared as he grabbed me by both arms and pulled them outwards like some medieval punishment for all to see. "I will kill you before all my men so they know what happens when someone says that name."
Mary Sue isn't that bad, I mentally complained as I pushed my mana out of the safe limit to prevent my termination from this life. I did owe Officer Sue for keeping me sane while in that holding cell. No one other than Mr Weiss knows how badly captivity and I don't mix.
Neither does being restrained. If there was a silver lining to this situation, I had my Nichts costume on, keeping my panic in check. Overly emotional Tanya Degurechaff von Weiss would have probably had a fit in this situation. That was why Agent Nichts was necessary for this job. Agent Sonnetto or Mr. Weiss could soothe the Tanya side of me when we got home.
My excess mana running through my arms started to flicker with the telltale signs of my unique brand of mana contamination. Even smoke and silver flames issued from the sleeves of my flight jacket. I had tried to avoid this for over a decade. Anything could happen to me, and knowing Being X's desire not to have to do the heavy lifting of spreading his made-up faith himself, I was probably going to end up some walking symbol like Sue. That was the last thing I wanted for myself. I wanted the freedom to decide who I was going to be.
I hope Müller has someone who can get me out of this bind fast.
Then, I felt the punishment of a certain someone's leaking mana bash into me.
"I heard your call, Agent Nichts, and I am coming to help!" Mary Sue declared, flying up into the sky with her golden blade of misbegotten justice that had nearly killed me.
Correction: Mary Sue might actually be that bad, Mr. The Fist.
A few moments ago, outside the club
Interpol Officer Mary Sue gritted her teeth. There had to be twenty ruffians and ne'er-do-wells out here. She had finally summoned a barrier spell as they circled her again. As an innate caster, she depended way more on keeping her concentration up. There was no computation orb to run the spells if she lost consciousness.
"Don't be afraid of her appearance. I heard from the boss that she is a weakling."
Mary Sue did not know where this idea that she was weak came from. She knew her power level was abnormally high. Her captain had made it very clear to her that it was for everyone's sake that she stayed on the sidelines during most operations. That was why she had been practicing ways to use her power safely.
"Captain, I need to know my clearance."
Her opponents with mono-cores bashed against her barrier, trying to get it to crack. Some of them pulled out guns and unloaded at her. These people would kill her if she did not keep the focus on her barrier spell, which held firm.
Her wings had magically healed from their beating earlier.
"I have escalated the situation to B," Müller communicated through the spell link. "Don't make me regret this, Officer Sue."
"You can trust me, ma'am."
There were four levels of clearance of usage of force against non-mages for Mages of Interpol:
- Clearance D - This is the default. One was to avoid any engagement with non-mages.
- Clearance C - Authorized up to non-lethal force.
- Clearance B - Authorized up to reasonable force.
- Clearance A - Authorized lethal force at one's discretion.
Activating acceleration and enhancement spells, several sigils across Mary's body burst into bright golden light. Mary Sue perceived time slow to almost a halt for a moment before the initial spike of acceleration wore off.
She then saw Agent Nichts burst out of the building on the other side.
"Where is Sue? Sue-y Sue-y Sue-y."
Agent Nichts knows my name and gave me a nickname! I can't wait to tell Tanya and Matheus.
No, focus, Sue. You have ruffians to bring to justice.
The officer drew on the power of justice all around her. Slowly, her vision turned to darkness, and the power blinded her, as it always did. She could feel a sword in her right hand and the weight of scales in her left. Then came the voices.
Devil! Bullies! Monsters! Incompetent Businessman! Murderers! Thieves! Liars! Cheaters! Crooks! Thugs! Evil! Father Kidnapper!
The rage of the nearby aggrieved hit Mary Sue all at once. The mobsters had committed sex trafficking, among many other horrible crimes, and the aggrieved from the surrounding area cried out for justice. Mary Sue would be the instrument of that justice. Some of those grievances were somewhat out of place but felt rather intense.
While she might not see her targets, her magic felt their guilt. With a swing of her blade, a wave of light forced all those who had tried to kill her to duck out of the way or get hit by a beam. The attack inflicted those hit with the fate she thought they deserved up to the anguish she absorbed.
Since her wings had finally healed enough to fly again, Officer Sue then catapulted herself into the air after Agent Nichts. She swung her blade once more at whom the aggrieved directed the most of their anguish. She did not know who that was, but her power prevented her from acting on her own prejudice. Sue could not know who had or had not gotten hurt by her attacks. She could only decide what level of punishment was appropriate for each grievance.
"I heard your call, Agent Nichts, and I am coming to help!"
Outside the club, in the air
A moment later
"Watch it with those beams, Officer!" I shouted at the berserker angel.
"Don't worry, Nichts. It only hurts the guilty."
Another beam attack went at us, and I had to lift my legs to my chest just to avoid it. The man holding me flinched. It must have grazed him.
"Guilty by whose standards?" I had to ask. It was a reasonable question for my rather dire predicament.
"Mine!"
The guy and I dodged again. It must have looked like we were dancing.
"That is not very reassuring!" I knew how crazy her standards for justice were during the war. There was a reason why we did not use this overpowered Interpol officer in practical cases. Just seeing all the people who had burst into flames and collapsed onto the ground, I knew I wanted none of the justice she had in mind.
Sorry, but I am not in the market for justice. Please do not call again.
"Please stop swinging that thing!" I demanded. It was a fair demand.
"Don't worry, only those I believe deserve justice get hurt."
"Even if that was the case, Mary Sue, you couldn't hit an aerial mage with those slow attacks unless they stayed perfectly still."
The Fist stopped moving for some reason. "...Mary Sue… I think might have been—"
I stopped listening there. Mary Sue's next attack did not heed any warning. The Fist opted to use me as a shield. I desperately pulled with all my might to escape from the beam of golden light towards me. Smoke started billowing from my sleeves again due to how far past my limit I had gone.
I don't want to die!
Fear gripped me like it never did before. The Fist had restrained me with no way for me to avoid my fate.
I shut my eyes as I let the inevitable happen.
Then, there was nothing. No pain. Suddenly, The Fist let go of my arms, and I heard a clunk below me.
I peeked one eye open and got a face full of an excited and magically blindfolded Officer Sue.
"See, I told you it wouldn't hurt you. It passes through—"
"Ouch, not so loud, Officer. I am right in front of you."
"Oh, sorry."
"And pull back in your mana. It is hard to breathe." Her aura put pressure on me like I was deep underwater.
"I'm so sorry, Agent Nichts! I didn't mean to."
Her mana quickly went back inside her, and I could breathe a sigh of relief. I then looked around more. On the ground was a very dead The Fist.
I guess his hatred for Officer Sue ended up being justified in the end.
"Agent Nichts, you are on fire!" someone shouted.
My sleeves still had smoke coming at them!
I flew down to the ground, where I saw Captain Müller. Tossing my mantle off, I examined the damage just as the last bit of silver flames snuffed out.
"Nichts, your arms," the other captain commented with concern.
"I know."
"You still have your mantle sleeves on them somehow," she claimed, gesturing to my discarded garment.
"What? No, they don't."
I lifted my arm so Captain Müller could look more closely. My arms had changed color and now had faintly glowing silver sigils on the tops of my hands and lines on them. I had mutated.
"Officer Drake, Agent Sonnetto, I need both of you to set a perimeter. Keep this area clear."
They confirmed orders and set off. The other captain and I found a private place. We quickly checked for additional mutations and flames.
"Nothing strange about your face, hair, or head," Elya stated.
"Captain," called Mary Sue. "Oh, there you are."
Then, she spotted us. Officer Sue had already deactivated her blindfolded form.
"Officer Sue, we are—"
"Agent Nichts, you are Captain Weiss! This explains why you are always at the South Germania branch office instead of here. Wow, that must be quite the commute."
I wanted to roll my eyes. While this might cause other problems, Mary Sue adored Agent Nichts and thankfully did not believe that "another angel" could ever be the Devil of the Rhine. The problem was that it gave the Legadonian yet another line to conclude that I was that Devil. Mana Signatures don't perfectly identify mages given repeats, but I don't need coincidences piling up.
"Do you need anything, Officer Sue?" Elya pressed.
"Um, an autograph, but that can wait. The Berun Police Chief wants to talk to you, Captain Müller."
"Okay, Tanya, you don't look like any more mutations are happening," Elya stated, addressing me. "You should stay here until we get you an ambulance."
I groaned. My mutations meant I would be spending a day or two in the hospital being checked all over for how my mutations affected my health or might affect the health of others. Then, Agent U wanted her turn, which was for the best. If anyone could figure out why my mutation had given Elya the illusion of sleeves, she could.
Turning to her subordinate, Elya gave her next order. "Go let Matheus and the others know that
Agent Nichts is fine."
"Ma'am, yes, ma'am!"
The two left me to my own devices as Calamity took over, watching over me.
She really is taller than me, huh? I don't know how to feel about being shorter than someone who was trapped at 12 years old.
As I waited for the emergency personnel to take me away, I could not help but feel like I had forgotten something important. I knew it had something to do with paperwork. Was it the forms I would have to fill out for this mission?
Near the club Immertreu in Berun, 12th of March 1950
They had arrived too late to intercept Agent Nichts. Looking at all the cop cars, things definitely did not go as planned.
"Um, what should we do?" one of the goons asked.
"Find new employment," Otto answered. Seeing The Fist being put into a bodybag after what looked like a terrifying fall, the former livestock thief reconsidered some of his life choices. "In another country, no continent."
Bonus Scene:
Mary Sue's Apartment, 12th of March 1950
Since Sonnetto's home was a crime scene and Tanya was in the hospital, the white-haired officer had decided to take up Officer Sue's offer to spend the night at her place. Curiously, the angel-like Legadonian was sure she had figured out all of Tanya's secrets, but there was still one that Mary Sue absolutely should know about given all the things the three of them had done together. Something that might threaten their very friendship forever.
"Wait, what, huh, how?! She doesn't even have devil horns!"
"Lesbians don't have devil horns," Sonnetto wrote down.
"They aren't Devilists either….Well, not most of them," Sonnetto continued.
"I mean…that bit about having devil horns…I sound ridiculous, don't I?"
For context, Devilists were people who ironically worship the the Devil of the Rhine in order to take the piss out of the many pearl-clutching religious folks. Mary Sue had gotten swept up into the Devil-panic where, at its worst, these zealous advocates of the Lord of Faith saw everything new or on the margins as the product of the Devil's influence. This included rock music, sexy dancing, foreign animation, interracial dating, gender and sexual minorities, etc. The worldview produced a state of constant fear, concern, and, at times, hate in its subscribers.
Mary Sue had ironically consumed so much of what Tanya would call the "Cool Aid" that she could not identify these "evil" things without the "sign of the Devil". Most of the other people who bought into the devil panic engaged in large stretches of metaphor, but Mary Sue thought "literal" actually meant literal. If people were so confident that the Devil was involved in all of these things and that the "signs were everywhere", then these signs of the Devil should be equally apparent to her, as her earlier comment about devil horns suggested. Since she did not see those signs, then what she encountered with Tanya must simply be different from what her faith instructor had warned her about.
This extended to everything else they had experienced together over the last month. The music they listened to at the bar could not have been devil worship because it did not contain any prayers to the Devi, and so on.
"Like if kissing between girls and enjoying it makes you homosexual, then I am!" Mary Sue declared without a hint of awareness. "I don't see why that doesn't mean she can't just marry men. She is way past the age for all of this. Has she just not found one who is her tastes or something?"
Sonnetto wrote her response to Mary Sue's claim.
"Tanya can't just choose to like men. She knows her desires well enough. You don't choose what you are or what desires you have, but you do choose who you are and deal with the many whats that come with being a particular person."
Sonnetto did not find anyone physically attractive in the same way Mary Sue meant by the word "tastes"—at least, not in a way that made her want a physical relationship with a person because of their appearance. Roxanne's memories allowed Sonnetto to know how physical attraction felt and all the intoxicating pleasures that came with it; however, the homunculus knew she only had access to this emotional level. Anything physical would only be in service of her emotional connections.
She did not feel less because one door was closed to her. There were always more doors — more doors than one could ever imagine or experience. There was no essential experience that made up being a person. A life was full because there was always a
you who experienced it. That was part of the freedom that Tanya had taught Sonnetto.
What had that François philosopher said? He was a public intellectual who had gotten into the news recently. Something along the lines of: "We are not a thing, but rather a nothing that regards the world of things. That being nothing means we are condemned to be free." She admitted her understanding of Bartre was sketchy at best.
Maybe that is why Tanya chose the name Nichts. She is not a thing (a kind of Nothing) but rather a person who must
decide for herself.
Sonnetto did not grow up in Germania or Legadonia and did not know what it was like exactly for young girls in those countries. Each culture handles relationships and gender in its own way. The Germanian language, for example, could not handle the nuances of gender easily that other languages could without much effort. As Sonnetto saw it, evolutions in worldview created a new language, and education in that language, in turn, reproduced the established worldview.
In Mary Sue's case, her understanding of words was so entangled with a worldview that had built in so many mechanisms and rules to prevent changes that Mary could hardly comprehend the actual world around her. All the relevant words related to Tanya and Sonnetto failed to signify anything. It was like she lived in another world.
Sonnetto's claim did not convince the religious Interpol official. "Sure, Tanya can find a man she likes! Back at the women's college, it was common for women to date and have innocent crushes. We also had smashing and mashing. Then, you would graduate and dutifully get married. It is just a healthy part of a woman learning how to be a good partner. She just needs to move on from that phase like my mother and I did."
Mary Sue went on to explain the complexities of women crushes at single-sex colleges. Sonnetto recalled that Sue had gone to women's college right after the Great War in Legadonia. Bactria had its own university culture, and Roxanne's education experience did not map onto Mary Sue's.
The brunette finished her explanation with: "It was the work of psychologists like Figmund Sreud and others that transformed what were just innocent female relationships into complexes and disorders."
The religious woman had somehow anti-scienced and anti-progressed her way into greater acceptance of homosexual behavior. It was not perfect. She simply did not take Tanya's homosexuality seriously. Sonnetto had a feeling that Mary Sue was justifying her own life choices by expecting the same from other women and
It was a level of naivete to which Sonnetto wanted to bring an end. If they wanted to be friends, Mary Sue could not associate "the embodiment of evil" with people like Sonnetto and Tanya. The religious Legadonian could not believe the Lord of Faith brought about war and disaster upon this world to punish Tanya's lack of faith. As far as Sonnetto was concerned, if this Lord of Faith existed, why would he care so much about what one person thought of him? That would be very small of him.
Seemingly exasperated with figuring out why Tanya had not found any men attractive, Mary Sue decided to ask Sonnetto straight up for her understanding of the woman. The white-haired woman decided to focus on what she liked about Tanya.
"Tanya is a person who does countless little kindnesses without realizing it. She always has a snack or something to drink for me before I even think to ask. She masters preparing what I specifically enjoy and makes it for me. One time, she made me these bunnies carved out of apple slices. I really wanted to tell her how I felt, but she ran off before I could. Sometimes, I honestly can't imagine life without her when I consider these little thoughtful acts of love. She sometimes makes the smallest thing about me feel special just because it is part of me.
"Tanya also does these grand acts as well. She took me in when a chapter in my life had ended and left me suddenly without purpose or direction. Tanya gave me a home, made me part of her family, brought me to meet all her friends regularly so I felt included, helped me get a job at the place where she worked at a time when it would be hard for me to find fulfilling work in Germania, and, most importantly, put in a lot of time trying to understand me and my situation out of love for me — even if she would struggle to acknowledge that.
"Honestly, I can really see the influence she has had on the 203rd. Matheus has a lot of the same characteristics and was apparently trained from the ground up by Tanya. He must have picked them up from her."
Mary Sue said she thought Sonnetto was off about her assessment but could not place it.
They also had many other topics to talk about besides Tanya. The two dived into Sonnetto's painting hobby, the new Ildoan Western that would be coming out, and places from their home countries. Matheus eventually came over as he had promised. It was only for a moment. He handed Sonnetto her alchemy supplies so that the homunculus could eat meals. He then gave an update on Tanya, saying she was still in the hospital to monitor her mutation that night but should hopefully be out in a couple of days.
It became quite a long night before they crashed. Luckily, Mary Sue had plenty of stories and notepads.
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