C3 - Down to Business

Although the previous evening had been, by far, mostly pleasant, the arrival of the other two members of the cell, whom had been delayed and appeared to both be from North America due to their lighter skin tones, caused a repeat of the initial reaction of shock and distrust at the sight of a Maerorus, a half-Witch monster, in their faraway safe house. One of the two even drew weapons and nearly attacked, but was stopped in her tracks by Cecilia reacting in a flash and using teleportation magic to get right in front of the trigger-happy one with a stern warning to stand down.

Said trigger-happy newcomer eventually, after calming down, introduced herself as Samantha Randall, a Vindicare who, in all due appearances, wielded a very high caliber, refurbished Maynard carbine resembling the weapons of the same name used by the Confederates during the Civil war. She wore a rather simple outfit matching a private school uniform, with a dark gray jacket, a light gray skirt, and stockings, but it was her eyes that stood out the most. Those yellow-golden eyes, accentuated by thin glasses and framed by long black hair,  looked absolutely empty of warmth. Like the polar anti-thesis of Liese's own purple eyes, they appeared as if they had an unending hatred for the world and everything on it. There was no hesitation, no mercy and no ethics to be found in them.

The second girl, introduced as Jennifer Ashworth,  showed herself to be much more diplomatic and had an easier time coping with the situation as it unfolded. Her outfit bore similarities with Samantha's  but was more of a cross between one said private uniform and a butler's outfit, with a formal white undershirt topped with a somewhat fancy black jacket and skirt, which was completed by a purple ribbon. Her eyes were much more alive and of a vivid orange-vermillion color, framed by hair of a light shade of red, taking on to magenta. She was an Eversor specialized in direct, simple combat with no tricks or subtleties to it, and explained that the both of them had basically deserted the northern headquarters of the 8th Officio. It had been mostly on Samantha's insistence, and Jennifer as her one loyal friend had decided to tag along.

Eventually, both of them came to relax - Jennifer much more quickly than Samantha - when offered 'the good stuff'. Ashworth seemed to be rather approachable, much like Rebeca, and she was quick to talk a bit more about herself, namely about how she valued skill and personal achievement. Randall, on the other hand, remained guarded even under the influence, something everyone else in the cell noted as strange and rare, but to be expected when it came to Randall. In all likelihood, she had an extremely hard time opening up and trusting others, which may have came from some sort of traumatizing past. Even with the other cell members, she appeared to be somewhat distant, but at least there was no outright hostility directed at them; only uneasiness.

The next morning was about as quiet as it could be. A short downpour had rained down through the night and was still going by the early hours of morning, the sound of which was drumming over the canopy and the roofing alike. Sunrise was barely breaking when Liese stirred to wakefulness from an uncharacteristically heavy - if also surprisingly restful - sleep in an unknown bed. It took her a moment longer than usual to assess her surroundings, but she was still, apparently, in the cottage. The brown-orange hardwood walls and floor around her hinted as such, as well as the window, curtains wide open, that gave a good view of the of the giant flora just outside of its walls.

The bed was plain and old, but it was still comfortable, with blankets not too warm, and a mattress  which had not gone hard yet. Likewise, the room was modestly dressed, with a closet, a small desk with a plain chair, and a night stand with a lamp, all local wood furniture painted in red and brown like the sofas in the lobby. The lamp itself was made of colored glass, and underneath it was resting her peaked cap. Apparently, she had gone to bed in her magical costume due to the high, and someone had the niceness of bringing her backpack to her room, resting it against the desk.

Liese quickly hopped to her feet and made her bed in a hurry, picking up the white cap and settling it down on her blonde hair, framed snuggly by the inhuman, black horns. She then exited the room, exploring a part of the cottage se did not recall. She found herself in a hallway with many doors, likely all bedrooms, and realized the building was significantly bigger than she had thought from the entrance . This was not too surprising, as most of it had been obscured by the trees and shrubs, but now she realized the place may have one day been a small motel or resort for tourists, now long disaffected and forgotten.

Heading back, she eventually stumbled upon what seemed like the dining room, with one large table of rectangular shape and one of these self-serve style kitchens, reinforcing the motel idea. It had been rehauled to include a refrigerator and an oven, but the latter seemed to be one of these very old-fashioned models that still functioned on burning wood. At the table, two members of the cell were already awake: Cecilia, whom had sobered back to her closed, stern expression, and Samantha, whom still looked at the half-German like she wished to put a round between her eyes. Not the most pleasant of company in this early morning, to say the least.

Liese said nothing at first and merely went over to the counter, finding little more there than coffee and bread. She did not check the contents of the fridge, instead getting a plate and filling it with a few round bread rolls and a number of nearby fruits, which looked like significantly smaller black-purple grapes clustered in very numerous branches. As she turned around, she could hear Samantha curse under her breath and saw her toss a few coins of local currency over to Cecilia, nearly seeming to want to pelt her with the ill-gained money, but the Eversor managed to catch every single one of them.

"I was so sure she'd go for the meat. It was right in her eyes." The Vindicare with a death aura complained faintly before taking a slow, long sip of her coffee, looking down on the table.

"You are very perceptive, Randall, but you focus on the wrong things. She is reserved, so she would have gone for the path of least intrusion, and that is why I am the Squad Leader." Cecilia half-scolded the Vindicare after taking a sip of her own.

"I'm right there you know." Liese interjected as she pulled over a seat and sat down at the table, roughly mid-way between the other two, before starting to munch on some of the strange native fruits.

Samantha completely ignored the comment, merely taking another sip before putting down her cup of coffee while Cecilia shook her head. "Do not mind it, we just took a small bet earlier, there is no ill intent behind it." Although her voice remained for the most part cold and stern, Liese could tell the Eversor was making an effort to appear supportive. "I do hope you are prepared to get started?"

"I'm still not too sure what you're expecting of me, but I'm about as ready as I can get, I'm pretty sure." The blonde Vanus concluded with a nod before munching on one of the bread rolls and discovering it was stuffed with cheese: paõ de queijo, as the locals called it. It was a very simple snack, but it tasted fresh enough to be enjoyable.

"I figured as much." Cecilia nodded and gave what could be approximated to a smile before continuing. "I shall brief you quickly; we usually split in three groups of two: One delivers the goods, one makes ground work, and the last one remains here to keep watch on the safe house. Usually, I stay here with our Venenum, whom you have not met yet and produces most of the goods, but exceptionally, I will be taking care of the first and show you the ropes, so to speak. Cruz and Madeira will be on ground work duty today, when they wake up, and Ashworth and Randall will take it easy holding the fort."

Randall remained quiet and stood up, heading over to the fridge while Liese nodded back and relaxed a little, leaning back in her chair and quickly going through her pile of small fruits. "Sounds good to me, so I basically just kinda have to be on the lookout and lend a hand if things get sour, right?"

"This will be the gist of it for today." Cecilia confirmed with a sip of coffee before raising her free hand. "Two more things however. First: Formal rule, no smoking the goods on the job, you may only smoke between 6 in the evening and 7 in the morning."  Liese blinked twice, left somewhat speechless at the formal warning as the idea of doing such a thing did not even cross her mind. Sure, she -drank- on the job a lot, but this? " Second: You will need to pick up the basics, we all have to be able to cover for one another's tasks."

"Al..right.. I don't think that will be an issue in any way." Brandt responded with a slight bit of hesitation, more due to surprise than having any actual issue with what was being said. "So basically, learning the stuff, the prices, the customs, that kind of things." The idea of turning into a street dealer was not exactly anywhere near close to what she had expected when she set off for this infiltration mission. She had in mind more ritualized antics and faith-related jobs, but she supposed the mundane made sense too. Even Eldritichian Witch Cults needed money to operate, and they had to get it somewhere, after all...

The rest of the morning was rather quiet, with Noemi waking up next, and the remaining Eversors turning up last. There was no sign of the aforementioned Venenum, which Noemi explained was because she usually skipped breakfast and often worked in the basement. Once everyone was prepared, the native trio and their mercenary helping hand left the cottage to the vigil of the two northerners. The trek up north was much shorter than that to the city and led to a small rundown shack on the side of a deeper river.

The four girls settled down in the boat which was tied to a crude pier. It was, unsurprisingly, made entirely out of wood and was rather long. It seemed to be one of these small boats used for guided tours which had several rows of seats, with each row flanked by a pair of column which supported a flat wooden roofing to keep rainwater off the boat. Some of the seats at the center had been removed to make some cargo space, but there were still plenty to fit the small group. The boat itself was painted a matte blue that blended in with the clear water around it.

Although the motorized engine was somewhat noisy, the trip was peaceful and relatively short. The river, one of the many, many streams of the Amazons, linked directly back to the much larger one which housed the sprawling, inland port of Manaus. The small craft appeared tiny amidst the much larger commercial cargos that sailed in and out of the port, and was lost in the multitude of other small boats that sought shelter in the harbor. Before long,  the group docked and split up, with Cecilia hiding much of the goods into her magical inventory so that they would be impossible to find if a police patrol intercepted them.

And sure as the sun's rise, one did at the exit of the port. A pair of policemen stopped Liese and Cecilia, and had a dog search for any illegal contraband. The dog was quick to bark, of course, as the smell of weed was still on them from the previous night's leisure, but with all the drugs hidden in Cecilia's magical inventory, and with Liese's guns and ammunition hidden in her own, the search came in empty and the police was forced to let them go, with little more than a stern warning that the young girls should do better with their lives than indulge in drugs and fall in with the wrong crowd.

Another stretch by bus ensued, and by the time they arrived at their rough destination, it was already 9 in the morning. As one who was not exactly an expert in this kind of things, Liese saw the sale of drugs in this stereotypical way, as something that only happened at the dead of night in shady alleyways. The shady neighborhood was definitely surrounding them, being as decrepit and questionable-looking as the one she first met Rebeca in, but it was also in the absolute, broad daylight. A short walk later and the pair unlocked and entered into what appeared to be an abandoned house, which was frankly not looking all that much worse for wear among the rest of the worn out dwellings.

The windows were boarded up, and there was no light inside until the Eversor took several steps in and lit a few lamps in the nearest room. With this taken care of, she took the goods out of her inventory.  The available selection included a number of powders and some dried herbs in small pouches, but also joints ready for immediate consumption like those they used the previous night. No doubt, the temptation to just pick one up was strong, but they both had to resist the numbing goodness and focus on the task at hand. Manaus, like the rest of  Brazil, was a dangerous city. Between rival gangs and one of the largest militaries in the world after the United states, attacks and raids were frequent from thugs and policemen alike. And this was to say nothing of other magical girls working for the 8th or 2nd Officio who would like nothing more than to purge the cult the German Vanus was mingling with.

Both girls settled down on a withered table with the goods nearby. Ramires summoned her obsidian spear and rested it underneath the table, while Brandt readied her rifles and took her ammunition out of her magical inventory, loading up with heavy military-duty rounds and even some fragmentation grenades.

Now that they were prepared, Ramires started giving Brandt a rundown of the various drugs, their characteristics, and the price ranges. Apparently, all the starter prices were inflated to allow some leeway room to haggle with, if it became necessary. It was also at this time that the latter's lack of knowledge of Portuguese became a bit of a liability. The young girl from Europe was a bit of a genius in that she knew how to speak three languages fluently, in addition to the eldritch runes created by Witches, but that did not help her as she had no knowledge at all of the local tongue, and not all of the potential customers could speak English with ease, although it was still common enough. Ramires gave her a crash course of the most common Portuguese words to look out for, notably to pick up on when people were getting angry or to be forewarned of threats.

not much time later, business was already starting and disheveled civilians made their way to the abandoned house one by one, with various purchases in mind. Hard drugs were popular, but also the spiked ones prepared by the cell's Venenum which was as hot a sale as the most mainstream ones, mainly cocaine and oxi, with marijuana to a lesser extent. The trade, as it turned out, was much more flourishing than anticipated, partially due to the city's strategic location as an entry point from Peru and Columbia as well as a center of distribution in the Amazons, all of this exacerbated by the rampant poverty and poor economic and social conditions everywhere outside of the wealthy neighborhoods of Manaus.

Most of the day went relatively smoothly, with the pleas and angered shouts of those who needed their fix but had no money to pay as the lowest points, but around 3 in the afternoon, the situation changed. A raven flew in from an open window in the back and landed on Liese's shoulder with a caw. The Vanus had a few tricks of her own, and one of them was that she could summon Familiars, not unlike those of Witches, but these did not attack and merely served as sentries and spies.

"We've got company, about 8 people outside, they're armed." Liese stated as she stood up from her chair and raised her assault rifle, a short-barreled, close-quarter version of the HK416 used in the German army, among other operators. "Not cops."

"Let them come inside, they must be with the FDN." Cecilia explained as she picked up her spear and stood up as well, stepping away from the dim light of the strained lamps and into the darkness of the abandoned house. Her voice dropped to a hushed whisper. "It is best this way, so that civilians do not see our weapons or spells. Let me draw their attention, then open fire."

Liese stepped back from the light as well, the raven flying away, while Cecilia moved around the room with a silent, fleet step and circled around, close to the entrance door. Just a few seconds later, the main door burst open, with the bright sunlight of the late afternoon filtering through to illuminate the decrepit, immediate vicinity. Several thugs entered in quick succession, all of them young or relatively young locals who wielded pistols and revolvers, except for one who carried a threatening-looking riot shotgun.

Before the gangers could have the chance to accomplish anything, The Brazilian Eversor stepped into the light decisively and with the same motion dealt a killing blow with her hunting spear to the nearest thug. The remaining ones turned at the scream and began to fire, but their shots came in empty as she seemed to merely vanish with a shimmer. The half German Vanus knew this ability well, as she was familiar with magical teleportation, and could sense her fortune partner's presence shifting to a room nearby.

Capitalizing on the surprise, Brandt stepped out of cover and took two shots at different targets; single-action rounds taken with deadly accuracy to cripple the assailants without actually hitting the vitals. In response, the bewildered mobsters turned their fire on the Vanus whom moved back behind cover. Just in time for the familiar shimmer to come back around and for Ramires to appear out of thin air, spear stabbing into another of the thugs, whom were quite rightly starting to panic. Two of them, the youngest ones in appearance, turned around and fled without any ceremony.

Intent on finishing this, Brandt moved out of cover, readying herself to summon her own magical weapon to do so without spending any unnecessary ammunition, but doing so caused a slight miscalculation. Ramires did not teleport out this time, instead making another strike to one of the remaining two mobsters and having expected Brandt to finish the other one from range, but the expected bullet never came, and Ramires ended up staring into the twin barrels of a 12-gauge shotgun.

There was only time for a single curse between gritted teeth as Liese used a burst of speed to intercept, stepping between the two and taking the full shotgun blast squarely in the chest, making up for her carelessness by biting the literal bullet.

Fortunately for her, the Half-Witch monster was able to survive blows that would fell a healthy human easily, and then some, so although she twitched and gasped, she remained standing in full sight of an increasingly terrorized mobster who seemed to have witnessed some sort of demon from hell. Without leaving any ground for reaction, an obsidian scythe materialized into reality in her free hand and struck down.

"Are... you all right?" The rather surprised voice of Cecilia rose up from behind as she cleaned of blood her spear with a flick. "To take an attack for a stranger.. you must be a very loyal one indeed. Most mercenaries would not put themselves in the way of danger."

"It.. was my fuckup, so I had to owe up to it. I kind of forgot I'm not with my old squad anymore, and you didn't know I alternate between ranged and melee combat..." Liese explained as her scythe disappeared back into nothingness and she lowered her assault rifle. "I'll be fine with some rest. I took a rocket to the face once, and then a mouthful of concrete ceiling over the head." She turned back, grinning widely despite the blood trickling from her mouth.

"I.. see.. duly noted.." Cecilia adjusted her glasses as she took in this new information, one thing at a time. "Either way.. this selling point is compromised, we will head back to the safe house for now. We have others, so this is only a minor setback , so long as the safehouse itself is not discovered."

"And the bodies?" Liese inquired, pointing over with the barrel of her own firearm, not sure wath to do with them or with the weapons.

"No concern, I will give my contact in the police a message and they will come to recover them, and the guns. The police is corrupted to the core, so they are willing to overlook us if we do them a favor, every once in a while." The blue-haired Eversor concluded before leading the way back and across the city, sending the other group a phone call to meet back to the boat along the way.

While on her way there, the blonde Vanus learned - or perhaps just now realized what she had already heard before - that these things were, indeed common. Territorial disputes were frequent, especially when one intruded on the land of one of the main drug barons, like the FDN, Famiglia del Norte. The patrols seemed to ignore the group when they entered the port once more. In all likelihood, the message had already been sent over and passed down. The less criminals and weapons on the streets, the less they had to deal with after all...

The return trip was more lively, animated with the stories of the day, and the others seemed to all share a measure of surprise at the peculiar part of the story where the 'new girl' had done what many others would have feared too much to do. Of course, the tears in her coat were there to prove it, and it helped further the bond. The others became more welcoming, and even Noemi and Samantha reduced their respective bitch factors slightly. There was nothing that brought people together  like shedding blood, after all.

Upon arriving once more, the group was quick to relax in the lobby. Once again, they found themselves in the same positions, with the Brazilian trio on the red couch, Liese to their left, and this time adding the pair of north Americans to the right, on the last brown leather couch. With the leftovers from the day being cut short, there was plenty to unwind with, and this time, the half-Witch Vanus did not need to be coerced or egged on. No, this time, she reached forth and picked up one of the white rolls of her own initiative, thanking Rebeca for the fire once more and leaning back before joining in on the soothing, serene relaxation. The topic remained on past stories for a while, before moving to a more philosophical one about spirituality which Liese tried to pay attention to, but couldn't manage to keep up with.