C4 - Payback

"There will be no distribution today. Cruz, Madeira, you will be taking care of the safe house while I take care of some groundwork on my own." Cecilia's voice explained with its usual sternness that brooked no questioning.

The entire Cell, save one Venenum, was seated at the dining table in the safehouse, sharing a quick brunch of ham, eggs, warm bread rolls and fruits. The attack of the previous day, while only a minor setback, had still thrown a wrench into the smooth operations of the cell. Due to the nature of Brazilian organized crime, there was only one way to react: by striking back. A very distinctive spirit was prevalent among the Brazilian cartels and gangs and it was one of might makes right. Confrontation was expected to be responded to by confrontation, and failure to rise up to a taunt or an insult drastically sabotaged the influence and reputation of the one who did so, branded as weak and cowardly. Things were no different whether one had magical powers or not.

"Ashworth, Randall, you will be taking care of sending a message to the FDN by striking one of their own operations." The briefing continued, quickly getting to the part that most wanted to hear about since the previous day. "Kiefer and Brandt will assist you."

"Oh? Alexis gets to go out today? Does that mean we'll be needing her healing?" Jennifer leaned forward with interest, fork raised with a piece of cooked ham speared on it.

"It is a possibility, but that's not all of it. You will be hitting an important strategic location for the FDN. It will be well-guarded, but the most important part is that you are to take out and bring back a prisoner." Cecilia explained before taking a sip of coffee, her dark eyes were more somber than usual. "Itzli has demanded we bring her back a man by the name of Otàvio Mendes, alive. Everyone else is to be purged."

"Do you often take prisoners like this? What for?" Liese spoke up with a mild amount of curiosity, rather surprised that a Witch, especially one with the peculiar behavior of Itzli, would be interested in such oddly specific things.

The reactions were immediate and mixed. Rebeca and Jennifer both glanced away with an evasive expression that immediately gave away that something was afoul. Noemi pretended to be too busy with her scrambled eggs to notice the question and Cecilia's expression became even more somber, a feat that the half-German Vanus did not know was possible. Finally, it was Samantha, the self-indulgent sociopath, who finally brought an answer forward with twisted laughter.

"You bunch of pussies, just say it." She practically scolded the rest of the cell with ice-cold words before leaning to the side of her seat and rolling her hollow eyes. Her next words oozed with sarcastic childishness "He's gonna get om nom'd. Mommy wants a fresh meal and she's being picky."

"She speaks the truth..." Cecilia confirmed with a sigh and took a significantly longer sip of coffee before going back to her briefing, as if nothing happened. "The sages have scryed he will be present and relayed us a precise description of what he looks like so--"

The rest of the sentence was lost on Liese who was having a tough time processing what she had just heard. She had participated in Purges before, like that of the secret lab in Siberia a few months ago, so she was not unfamiliar with this kind of wide slaughters, much as she disliked them. This, though? There was no question about it, the cultists around her were speaking of the live sacrifice of a fellow, thinking human being to a Witch. This was unquestioningly a terrifying way to die. She was prepared to do many things when she volunteered to come here, but this? Could she really become complicit in such a monstrous act? Surely this was some kind of threshold that once crossed she could not come back from and call herself a good person with a straight face...

The thought haunted her and she was torn. On one hand, the idea was repulsive to every fiber of her body, but on the other, she could not just break contract and leave, the entire mission would be compromised because of her unwillingness to do what she had to... She could not afford to be picky, she had came here to learn the truth and this... this horror was the truth she had come to collect. With her mind trying to reconcile both opposites, Liese started to try to rationalize the whole thing.

Surely, if she just focused on taking out the armed hostiles and left this dirty business to the cultists, she wouldn't -really- be taking part in it would she? The thought hardly seemed solid, so her mind tried something else. Traumatic as the whole thing was, it should, hopefully enough, still be a relatively quick death and therefore... not that different than any others... and probably a lot less bad than the kind of tortuous deaths some other twisted souls would bestow on their unfortunate victims... With those thoughts at the forefront of her mind, she let out a deep sigh.

"You still with us?" Rebeca snapped her out of her pondering with a concerned tone and expression before putting a supportive hand onto the blonde's left shoulder. "Trust me, I get what you're going through, it screwed with my head at first too, and I'm still not entirely used to it either but... yeah..." Rebeca spoke in faint, complicit whispers and showed hesitation that was unlike her, but understandable given the circumstances.

"Yeah I'll just... I'll.." Liese attempted to respond, but stumbled onto her words, failing to form a coherent train of thought.

"Guess you're a lot less of a bastard than we all thought from your whole Witchy deal eh..." Rebeca added with a faint chuckle and two firm pats. "If you stick around, it'll ease up, I can guarantee it. Especially if you decide to 'join' one day." The brown-haired Eversor assured with a smile, and the whole display felt like an odd role reversal for the Vanus who was used to being the one trying to cheer up others.

Before long the briefing was over and the group of five who were to head out made their way to the boat. During the trip on the river, Jennifer and Samantha exchanged ideas and thoughts about the upcoming battle and how to proceed with it. They mostly boiled down to heads getting blown a lot. The Venenum, going by the name of Alexis, remained quiet and seemed rather bored with the whole thing. Liese had not yet truly talked to or even been introduced to Alexis, save for the latter healing the nasty shotgun wound of the previous day with her magic.

Alexis Kiefer was a fellow German from Cuxhaven in the northern state of Lower Saxony, and an ex member of the 13th Officio. She had waist-long purple hair and golden eyes who seemed eternally tired from insomnia. Her skin was of a pale shade which did not help in any way that somewhat sickly appearance. She wore a gray shirt and gloves underneath a long, white labcoat, which reminded Liese slightly of her own younger sister, also a Venenum who was fond of going around in a labcoat.

All too soon, the frail riverboat docked in Manaus and the police controls were passed with a deceptive ease. There, Cecilia split off from the group to take care of her part of the work while Jennifer took an uneasy mantle of leadership. Although friendly and approachable, Jennifer was no natural leader, but she was still much better at it than the sociopathic Vindicare and the chronically bored Venenum. The red-haired Eversor guided the others towards a different district of Manaus, this time all the way to the wealthy neighborhoods of the northern sector.

The target was a sizable villa on a large yard which belonged to the primary target, Mendes, and was both a seat of political power in the area but also a staging ground for large amounts of imported drugs from Peru and Columbia. Normally those staging areas would be far away from cartel leaders' personal properties, but this one was lavishly paying the policemen who came to investigate occasionally. With the rampant corruption in the system, the crooked policemen were more than happy to see the equivalent of two months of salary being gently nudged into their waiting hands.

Once again, the attack would happen in the brazen bright of day, as seemed to be normal in Manaus. The strike team moved up from the side for cover, sticking to the thick mixture of tall palm trees and lower, densely-leaved mango-bearing mangueira trees and avoiding the empty, open field of the front yard. Circling around, they found themselves in the back  of the two-stories property where a number of guards were stationed at the various entrances and some guests were leisurely enjoying the large pool, itself about as big as most commoners' entire houses.

"This is it. I'll take point and you two give me cover fire." Jennifer stated in a hushed whisper before summoning her magical weapon; a large, golden claymore with gaelic runes inscribed at the bottom of the blade in black. "Since you can take a punishment too, don't hesitate to move in as well." She then added to Liese as an afterthought.

"I'll help with that." The blonde Vanus confirmed with a nod "I'm used to taking point myself, so we should be able to cover for Alexis as well."

"Don't mind me too much, I will probably just hang back until either one of you gets mauled. I am mostly here to find the target and give him a mouthful of chloroform before miss Randall here gets too trigger-happy and screws everything up." Alexis dismissed the concerned with her usual tired expression, muffling a yawn before making a jab at Samantha.

"I'll ventilate your face next if you want." A pissed off Samantha answered with cold, seething venom as she took out her large-bore carbine and loaded in a few rather excessively big shells.

 "Please refrain from doing that, you'll hurt the entire Cell by taking out the source of all our profits." the chemist brought a gloved hand to her mouth, this time failing to suppress a long yawn.

"Keep that aggressiveness for the mobsters you two, here goes." Jennifer scolded the pair and denied them the opportunity to talk back by dashing into the fray, sword raised and cleaving in half one of the gangsters as soon as they could sight her.

Screams began to rise, both from the terrified guests and the assaulted thugs, but were soon covered by that of heavy gunfire. The guards attempted to focus their fire on Jennifer, but most of their bullets failed to hit while those who did were mostly shrugged off by the tremendous power of the red-haired Eversor's magical armor without inflicting any real damage. In response, more gunfire came from the treeline: Samantha prioritized targets with heavier weaponry and turned the head of a gangster with an assault rifle to red mist with the excessively large .500 Nitro shells of her carbine. At the same time, Liese moved in, most of her inhuman appearance covered under her hooded coat and taking quick burst shots with her own assault rifle as she closed in, summoning her scythe in her free hand after taking out two more guards.

No sooner was the backyard cleared of hostiles - and of all life, as the terrorized civilians ran for it through the trees on the other side - that the hornet's nest was stirred. Gangsters on the second floor took cover at the windows and started peppering down with a variety of pistols and revolvers, but their targets soon disappeared as the strike team moved inside . The combat quickly turned in a bloody wrestle from room to room, rife with ambushes at every corner as the lights went out. Explosives were used twice, with multiple grenades being stealthily rolled on the floor under the cover of the darkness by thugs hiding in small bathrooms or closets.

The deception was successful and stalled the magical girls for some time, forcing Alexis to use her magic to heal Liese and Jennifer while Samantha overwatched. Despite the setbacks, the two were in a state of battle trance and barely felt the pain, slicing and cleaving through foes ruthlessly and expediently with every room they cleared. It came as a surprise to Brandt that the criminals were still fighting just as brazenly despite the horrific losses they were taking, but, as she would learn, this was the result of the merciless 'might makes right' food chain among the drug cartels; backing off meant their criminal careers were over.

Before long, the entire first floor had been wiped of hostiles and the strike team had moved up the large staircase. All around them was a scene of luxury that could only contrast with the extreme poverty of the poorer districts. From tables to cabinets to couches, all the furniture around them were of a pristine, pure white with cushions and curtains of colorful make, and no doubt indecently comfortable, perhaps even made of silk or velvet. Expensive trinkets of porcelains dotted the surfaces on the walls and lights, out as they were, seemed plated gold with intricate glasswork surrounding them. The surface of tables were made of see-through glass and live plants rounded the decoration with the occasional painting in the hallways, which displayed scenes of traditional frontier folk.

It left no question as to why illicit activities were such a rampant issue in Brazil; crime -did- pay and those who aligned themselves with it were more likely to enjoy this kind of luxury, or at the very least better conditions, while those who tried to gain their bread honestly were treated with wages of misery and decrepit households in the borders and the slums.

The remainder of the purge went without a hitch and soon, the villa was littered with bodies and blood. To add insult to injury to the obscene amount of wealth on display, the target had been found on the rooftops, about to board a private helicopter and whom was only stopped by one of Samantha's monster bullets punching through the glass and into the dashboard from all the way across the rooftop.

Alexis was quick to spring into action when her turn finally came, showing she was not as out of it as she let on with her tired appearance and lax demeanor. She conjured chemicals out of thin air straight into her gloves, which she used to knock out Mendes even as the helicopter's rotors were still loudly circling.

With that over with, Liese came back out of her battle trance and was confronted once more with the reality of what was happening, and what would later happen. She could have spared the man the fate by executing him now, but she could not find it in her heart to feel sympathy for one who drowned in luxury while being the very instrument of the misery of those all around him through the trade of hard, highly addictive drugs. The act of lowering her weapons came all too easily, and perhaps she should have been sickened by that, but she was not. It was just as her grandmother had once said after all; "pigs in human clothes". The memory reinforced her in her stoism, but if the target they were meant to bring back had been an innocent civilian, she would not have had the chance of taking this moral high ground. This, she knew, and the back of her mind screamed: "You were lucky, bitch".

The group made their way back down post haste and hijacked one of the many cars in the driveway, hiding the unconscious body in the back of the car, tied and gagged. Samantha proved a surprisingly skilled driver at the wheel and before they knew it, they were back on the boat, to the approving praises of a slightly-less-stern-than-usual Cecilia.

Liese remained troubled over what she had knowingly and willingly became complicit to,  and she couldn't help but lay down in the boat, eyes staring into the wooden roof that blocked the high noon sun. Jennifer and Samantha were keeping themselves busy by retelling the whole battle to Cecilia, snickers and snide comments rising up every now and then. Alexis meanwhile reapplied the sleeping chemicals on the prisoner and sat down next to Liese.

Wordlessly, the Venenum displayed her craft, turning her back to the rest of the group. She was a master of the peculiar power of Conjuration, which allowed her to use her magic to weave out of apparent thin air a variety of objects, given she had studied them beforehand. With this, she first summoned a roll of thin cigarette paper into her left hand then upon it she materialized a small amount of dry, herbal cannabis. She topped the crumpled leaves with a tiny amount of a purple substance with a very faint glimmer then rolled the paper. With this done, she handed it over to the distracted Vanus.

"Hm? Err, thanks, but you're sure about that? I mean it's barely like, one in the afternoon, aren't we supposed to wait until six?" Liese accepted the joint, but did not bring it to her lips, somewhat confused as she recalled the formal warning.

"She's right, Kiefer, what are you trying to do behind my back again?" Cecilia's voice rose up from the other side of the boat as she caught on to the subtle shenanigans.

"It's fine Cecilia, today is an half-day because of the hit and run, so it's not like we have more work to do." Alexis countered with an even tone before flicking her purple hair slightly, her right glove still faintly smelling of chloroform. "Besides she's a mercenary, so technically she's not a full member of the Cell and doesn't have to follow our rules to the letter." She continued, meeting Cecilia's stern pragmatism with her own. "Plus..." Her expression mellowed down a bit. "She really fucking needs it, and it's been years since I've seen someone from my home country."

Cecilia stared back with an half thoughtful, half annoyed expression before eventually relenting with a deep sigh and crossing her arm under her chest. "Alright, fine, but only one." She finally conceded.

With the trio going back to their tales, Alexis brought out a lighter and offered a flame, which Liese took, bringing the lit joint to her lips before closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, the relaxing effects coming nearly instantly. "Sure is nice, isn't it?" The chemist leaned forward a bit, musing in her native German tongue which only the Vanus could understand.

"Sure is." Brandt responded softly, also in German, with a nod. "I've never had weed before coming here, but I'm.. pretty sure it's not supposed to be as strong or as fast-acting so... you do something to it?" She then inquired, slowly piecing two and two together.

"Ja, I've always been good with drugs of all kinds, but this stuff? It's thanks to Itzli." Kiefer leaned back, tempted to make one for herself as well but wary not to antagonize her Cell Leader further. "Ever since I received her Kiss I've been able to synthesize a kind of poison - don't freak out, it's harmless to us - that's able to give an effect similar to her mark."

"Wait.. what do you mean?" Brandt asked further, growing increasingly lost. Itzli's special case asides, for all she knew, Witches' Kisses had only one effect; brainwash their victims into obedient, suicidal targets, so she could not understand what her fellow German was talking about. It also did not help that the mixture was making her mind slightly more dull.

The chemist shifted her position a bit, leaning to the side as she pondered how to answer for a few seconds. "You should ask Rebeca, she's the best at explaining this stuff, but basically, her Kiss helps us all  relax, like the stuff I make, but better."

Liese opened her eyes back and rose a skeptical eyebrow. The very idea was a strange one to say the least... but then again there was no reason for Alexis to really lie to her. For the time being, they were on the same side and, worst came to worst, she was just trying to sell her cult while avoiding any hypothetical drawbacks associated to the whole thing.

"Not to be a bitch, but I have a hard time believing that." Liese objected with a tone that left no doubt as to her skepticism, but wasn't immediately hostile or antagonizing in any way.

Alexis shook her head before chuckling and offering an apologetic shrug. "I can't really blame you, this does sound like crazy talk to an outsider. I was absolutely terrified at first, but things... turned out for the better." She glanced back towards Cecilia then let out a small sigh.

"If you were that scared, why did you take the dive?" Brandt asked, this time rising back up to a sitting position with genuine curiosity before taking another, more moderate puff and letting out a small, satisfied sigh.

"I was fucked either way." Kiefer shrugged once more before starting to tell her own story with a melancholic tone. "You know how much of the 13th's operations are seaborne, right? The ship I was on got wrecked by a freak wave at large near Brazil. We tried to limp back to a port, but couldn't make it in time, radio was busted, couldn't plug the leaks... Sank a couple kilometers off the coast. I'm.. not actually sure how I even made it back, but next thing I knew, I was alive on the beach.

Kiefer took a short pause and a deep breath before continuing. "Alive, but stranded and alone. No one else made it, my papers got washed off, my phone drowned, I had no way to contact back, so I had to fend for myself. The 8th thought I was some kind of rogue or cultists so they weren't exactly friendly either. I pretty much had to survive on my own, and joke's on them, by treating me like scum, they kinda made it a self-fulfilling prophecy."

The purple-haired Venenum leaned forward, and so did Liese, by now thoroughly invested in the story. " Seeds were the hardest to come by, and I had to use Grief to get money to get some food and a roof on my head, so my Gem was darker than was healthy most of the time, I didn't have much time or hope left... then I found the Cult, and they gave me a place to be; somewhere I could use my gifts and live a relatively comfy life. Sure I was terrified of letting a Witch Mark me, but what other choice did I have? In the end, it turned out they were telling the truth to me this entire time, and it wasn't just some kind of elaborate ruse to let her devour me."

"Scheisse, I don't know what I would have done in your shoes, my skillset isn't exactly as useful for making quick money as yours." Liese eventually responded, leaning back with a deep sigh and taking another puff. She needed it after such a sob story. "I really can't blame you for making that judgment call either..."

"It's in the past now. Itzli's been good to me, and now I spread her love through my narcotics." Alexis responded with a nod and a distant, tired smile. "I still get dark a lot, but now, everything's a lot more comfy and easier."

"Spread her love, huh?" The blonde Vanus repeated as she stared out and into the treeline on the edge of the river they were navigating through. The words were odd to her; on a fundamental level, they felt wrong on the basis that Itzli was a Witch, a Witch who had her followers bring her live sacrifices. Yet at the same time, something in the deepest recesses of her mind also thought the words felt right. This scared her.