You're never going to enjoy jogging. You're cheating horribly with magic so it's not uncomfortable or painful, but you can't say the thought of pounding the pavement brings you any joy either. You allow yourself to see Taylor first this time and hold up a hand in a half-wave. While you cover the next couple of blocks you refresh the tracking spell and cast the normal slate of spells you tend to use for her.
Stress is slightly down, but then the Brockton Bay school district did cancel classes on Friday, so she had a day away from her tormentors. A legilimency connection snaps into place without eye contact, which is nice considering how hesitant she is to meet people's eyes otherwise.
Once you come to a stop Taylor actually takes the initiative to start up a conversation. "Didn't you say that you just pick a random direction and jog on weekends?"
"Yeah, normally. However, I wanted to check up on you and see how your homework fared."
Taylor rocks side to side and fiddles her fingers around nervously. "Better. I didn't have a chance to waterproof anything, but I started using plastic bags to wrap things in…"
You hand her a partially-used bar of weatherproofing wax. "I have a canvas satchel I use sometimes and refinished it recently. It only works on fabric, but it works pretty well." When she looks like she's going to say something awkward you turn and start moving again and change subjects. "So we still had to go to class on Friday even with all of the chaos. I heard y'all had the day off though?"
The conversation changes to the fights themselves and Taylor—who from your mental checks spent most of the day in the nearest library using a computer—mentions something that you hadn't read on PHO.
"Yeah, someone said that Warlock guy helped New Wave downtown, but that a bunch of birds attacked people. Nobody saw him like command them or anything, but no one else that was around does any mastering like that."
You… hadn't considered that, but you can totally see why that might pique the interest of the bug-controlling cape. Still, best not to get her hopes up. "But then later he was supposedly healing with Panacea. How does bird summoning or controlling or whatever turn into healing?"
Puffing beside you in silence for a bit, she ends up shrugging. "Don't know." A flash of pictures of you comes up in her mind before she very nonchalantly (actually, totally chalantly) says "By the way, I saw pictures of someone who looked like you on PHO while I was looking…"
"Yes, I'm dating Laserdream—or Crystal, really." You look at her out of the corner of your eye. "Have they started using my real name, or are they still calling me 'green-eyes' and 'peacoat'? You've largely ignored Crystal's thread for the past week.
"Uh… apparently your new nickname is 'Gwoss' because of some little girl?"
All the magic in the world can't keep you running when you're laughing instead, and you end up leaning against a light pole while you recover your breath. "Oh my god, why are people on the internet so weird?"
You discuss where the name came from as you jog a bit more, and you manage to discover that Taylor is on the edge of telling her father about the abuse. You give a little push so that she'll make a decision rather than waffling, but try not to influence her either way.
With that bit of morning work done you text Crystal and tell her you're going to repair the wall you made at the cafe. Being the nice girl she is she offers to come with you to 'offset some of that edginess'. She brings a bag with a suit over and the two of you change in front of each other. Crystal finds the two separate pieces of your leather armor fusing into one amazing, but really enjoys sticking your mask to her face and posing in the mirror. Hearing her talk in a British accent is pretty hot, too.
After popping the two of you to the nearby rooftop, it appears that while the damaged vehicles have been towed away, the streets aren't open for car traffic. Broken glass is everywhere and dumpsters are overturned, walls have buckled or broken, the entire street is a total mess. You exchange a look with Laserdream and nod before she lifts off and settles at the entrance with you joining her in a billow of smoke.
Inside the cafe people are poking at the wall with a faint feeling of despair. Your entrance luckily doesn't cause any screaming, but it does seem like a close thing.
The older woman who ends up being the owner was one of the people examining your prior work. She's nervous as hell and wringing her hands as she comes over to you. "Uh, Señor—I mean Mister Warlock, I…"
"I apologize for not coming back yesterday, but I am here to remove the wall for you." You tip your hat to her. "If you want to make sure everyone moves away I'll put the floor back the way it was."
"You can just reverse it like that?"
You nod and start to stretch out your hands when another woman—the owner's daughter—rounds the wall. "Wait, wait! Instead of just getting rid of it, can you make it shorter instead?"
Flicking your legilimency over you see exactly where she's going with this. "You mean turn it in to something like a lunch counter where you can put chairs?"
"Exactly!" She turns to her mother and they converse in rapid-fire Spanish. Both ladies like the idea, but the older woman is afraid to ask too much of a cape.
In order to give them a moment you turn and restore both glass fronts with a wave of your hand and startled exclamations from people when pieces of glass fly in to reform the panes. You manage to fix a couple of table and chair sets as well by the time the talking stops. You turn back to the amazed women and cock your head. "So..?"
"Ah, yes. If it would not be any trouble…"
"It isn't," you reply, holding your hands out and pushing down. The head-high wall shrinks back down to something a little shorter and spreads out into more of a 'T' shape. Someone drags over a barstool and there's a little fiddling to get the height right, but they're left with an arc of lifted melded concrete with plenty of space to move around the edges. A couple more mending charms and a cleaning charm or two and you feel pretty good about leaving the place better than you found it. Rosa, the owner, is crying in a newly-repaired seat and her daughter Maria doesn't seem far behind as she thanks you.
"You are both very welcome. Please have an actual electrician check over the wiring—it should be repaired but I don't exactly have a license."
[X][Cafe] Anything else you do while you're there?
Maria seems hesitant, but decides to ask anyway. "Does your fixing trick work with ahh, like mixers and things?"
The full-face mask means that you're kinda stuck doing the head-tilt thing to emote when you're thinking, but at least it seems to get the idea across. "The more electronic something and the more computerized bits it has, the less likely I'll be able to fix it, but if it's already broken I won't make it worse."
You go on a tour of the back of the house and dispense mending charms and cleaning charms liberally. One tiny little nook holds a number of broken pieces of equipment including three industrial-sized mixers. Repairing them and floating one out to a plug, Maria hooks it up while Rosa and Crystal look on. When it fires up as smoothly as the day it was made there's happy yelling and calls being sent off to some relative who is apparently a baker.
Rosa gets up and hugs you, the older South American woman telling you that you eat free in the future. You can't help but chuckle when you picture yourself alone at a table trying to eat with a full-face mask on and scaring away people who walk in the door, but you appreciate the sentiment if nothing else.
Walking out of the cafe brings you right into the cameras and phones of innumerable cape-seekers. You wish you had just left from directly inside, but then the place would be swamped by jerks trying to figure out where you'd disappeared to. Questions are shouted to both you and Laserdream, but no one seems willing to get in your direct way as you let the newly-repaired doors shut behind you. You…
[X][Outside] Sit and answer a question or two (list a question)
You'd had a chat with Crystal while you were fixing things so she's clued in to any answers you give. She'll also take care of her own exit and regroup with you later so you can leave at will. Girding your loins and reinforcing your Occlumency, you face the salivating mob.
…it's not that big of a group. Perhaps two are actual reporters—you think one's a junior reporter shooting B-roll for one of the local TV stations, and another might be for the newspaper. The other twenty or so people just seem to be cape junkies. All of them have some kind of phone or camera or what-have-you trained on you as you exit. After holding the door for Laserdream you turn and gesture everyone back a bit before using both hands to raise up both a throne-looking chair and a smaller director's chair out of cleaned concrete. You seat your companion in the latter while you take the former and turn to the now-quiet crowd.
"Since you have made your desires clear I will answer a few questions. I will answer only what I wish to answer, only as much as I want to reveal, and I will ask you to remember that I am not beholden to answer to any of you." You see that the TV reporter is recording but simultaneously trying to set up their tripod so you point to who you think is the newspaper reporter first. "Ask."
To their credit, the woman looks over to make sure her fellow professional is getting video before asking, "What exactly were you doing inside this cafe?"
Ah, a softball as the first question, excellent. You explain how some of New Wave had been eating when the battle broke out, and how you had erected a shield, then come back today to fix the damage you had done.
"…the windows had long been shot out by the time I arrived, but I doubt either the ABB or the Empire are the type to do any good for the community or small business, so I did what I could there as well." You point to the other reporter. "Your question?"
"And just what are your powers, Warlock?"
You rear back a bit and press your hand to your chest as if affronted. "Such a direct and rude question." You let him sputter for a second before continuing, "I actually don't have powers, everything you see is sleight-of-hand."
"How d-"
You cut him off and wiggle your fingers. "Maaaagic. Next question? Yes, you in the yellow hoodie."
"Why do you look like a villain?"
"Why do you think I look like a villain?" You idly gesture at your costume. "Are you perhaps confusing villain for intimidating? Simply because I don't feel the need to wear a one-piece," you hook a thumb at Laserdream, "doesn't mean I'm a villain. Next." You point out someone else.
"You've been called the 'Angel of Death'. How do you respond to that?"
You do the head-cock thing. "Am I supposed to care about a name that someone with spare time and Photoshop gave me?" Propping an elbow on the armrest you roll your wrist and make a sweeping gesture with your hand. "I healed under the supervision of Panacea and I detained an idiot who pulled a gun. The names people bestow on me mean nothing. You next."
"Are you single?"
You put your masked face in one hand and audibly sigh. "Why did I not expect that question? No, I am not in a relationship. Kissing a mask instead of lips seems to be a turn-off for people. Who knew?" You point back to the TV reporter. "Last question."
"You were seen using a stick when healing, where is it?"
"Look, didn't I just say that my powers were sleight of hand?" You stand and meld the seats back into the ground, then hold out your hands in front of you, fingers together. As you draw them apart you conjure a 'wand' so that it looks like it's coming out of your sleeves. "A wand directs your attention," you flick it out and send off sparks, "so that you don't see—" pulling your hat off you tap it and a goose shoots out and honks angrily as people step back. When everyone looks at the furious animal you give Laserdream a wave, hold the hat out and expand it so that it covers you completely, then complete your sentence. "—the magic happen!"
You burst into smoke and manage to hit the goose with a finite as you escape up to a rooftop and apparate away.
Later, after you catch up with Crystal she gives you a skeptical look. "So you're a single stage magician?"
"Warlock is single, yes. And I'm just a stage magician today. Tomorrow I'll be Eidolon's secret lovechild."
"We have got to get you verified on PHO, your shit talking will get people banned left and right in your thread for trying to expose you."
You smirk. "Unfortunately Warlock's taken. I'll have to come up with one here soon, though."
Back at your apartment you both redress in civilian clothes before you tell Crystal to 'begone, woman'. She turns to you with hands on her hips and gives you a look. "Excuse me? You wanna fight?"
"Nah, but I need to go get you stuff for Valentine's Day and you coming with me kind of ruins things."
"James, we've only been dating for like two weeks. You don't have to get me anything!"
Pulling your jacket on you smirk at her. "That sounds like something someone would say when they forgot to buy a gift."
Turning so she doesn't meet your eye, you can tell you were spot-on. "Seriously, you don't have to—"
"I have an excellent idea for a little gift that will be both useful and (hopefully) cute. You don't have to get me anything except your company on Monday." You stop for a second and add, "And deciding on a place to eat that will have spaces available. That part I forgot."
"Hah! I'll find a place to eat and get reservations!" she crows, then squawks as you grab her in a hug and give her a kiss. She kisses back but then pushes away from you and gives you a smirk. "And maybe I'll get you flowers and chocolate."
"I prefer dark chocolate and roses are so cliche," you declare grandly. "And not to change the subject, but I'm changing the subject—I'm gonna check in on that Merchant depot tonight. I'll check in with you before I go, and again after."
Your girlfriend gets up in your face. "Oh no, I'm coming with."
"Nothin' personal darlin', but you wear bright friggin' white and I'm gonna be sneaking around in dark clothes."
"Ehh… lemme get back to you on that. I'll meet you back here after dinner?"
"Sure."
Finding an anklet at the Market wasn't difficult at all. Picking out charms is a little more difficult, if only because you don't consider Crystal a unicorn and sparkles kinda girl. You pick up a number of charms including a tiara, arrows that vaguely resemble the ones on her leotard, a heart, and a glass gem that you transfigure to more closely resemble the color of her powers. A bit of research allows you to enchant the anklet unbreakable and auto-resizing, while the individual charms get individual enchantments. You start with a shield, the emotion-shield, and the anti-nausea charm. You keep the glass gem in reserve for when you finally get around to researching portkeys.
It's a little after dark when Crystal shows back up at your apartment with a backpack full of clothes. "So I talked to my mom and—well, I talked to Lady Photon and Brandish—and I was told that if I'm going to be 'traipsing around with random independents' I'm not allowed to wear my New Wave uniform anyway."
"Legal issues?"
She chuckles a bit. "I'll spare you the comments from Aunt Carol, but the short answer is 'if the PRT wants to bully you, cape law is screwed up enough they can because they have lawyers and deeper pockets'. Mainly it's a PR thing so that if something horrible happens it's not immediately blamed on New Wave." She shrugs sadly. "Ass-covering."
You shrug back at her. "I'm surprised you were allowed to come." You take the bag from off of her shoulder and cast the anti-nausea spell on her. "I'm gonna take you to my lair so we're doing things from a safer location."
"You…. You have a lair?!" There's a full-force pout on her face. "We don't have a lair and New Wave's been a team for forever!"
"No whiners allowed in Fort Kickass, dear."
"Zipping!" she makes the 'lips zipped' gesture and takes your hand.
You've blocked off the library and potions lab to keep her from being too inquisitive, and she flops down on your bed as you get in to your costume. "So what did you come up with for alternate costume ideas?"
When you're handed her phone you just stare for a moment. "This is anime. Are you telling me you wanna be an anime?"
Crystal laughs, "While mom and Aunt Carol were discussing things I talked with Amy. She suggested it when I told her I'd be out with you."
"Can I suggest pants, or at least non-ripped leggings or something?" You do some quick searching and get something slightly more practical, assuming you change things out for pants.
She nods and you have her put on the darker clothes she had chosen before transfiguring them into a decent blend of the two.
Pulling out a tube of black lipstick, your girlfriend informs you that you simply must send some pictures to Amy.
"Uh, not that I am complaining in the slightest, but I didn't take you as a black lipstick kinda girl."
Blotting it and checking it over in a mirror you conjured she turns and poses. "I'm not, it's Amy's." She pulls those beautiful, pouty lips back in a smile. "Are you saying you like it?"
"It is totally working for me." Now that you consider the first sentence and the healer's secret anime knowledge is known you get a mental picture of her smearing the lipstick on her own lips, blushing and squealing things about 'indirect kisses'. "So it's Amy's huh. Is she like a secret goth?"
"It's probably a reaction to having to wear a white robe all the time. She mentioned that she would have preferred both of you doing your dark coat rather than you changing over to white like her."
Hey look, a chance to make Worm-fandom level comments. "So I could charm her robe black and call her Gothacea?" You politely ignore the snerk noise from your girlfriend. "Speaking of renames, now that you're in night mode are you—" deep voice time, "—Laserscream?"
Oh man, the dry-ass look you get. You have to take your mask off so you can match it with a cocked eyebrow and an assholish smirk. Crystal finally gives up and waves the phone at you, "Okay, that was actually pretty good. Now shaddup and strike a pose."
Transfiguring a little stand for her phone you take a number of pictures both separate and together before Crystal sends them off to Amy. You barely have time to undo the stand before she gets a text back and laughs. "She says 'tell him to lose the robes so I can see dat ass.'"
What the fuck, Amy? "Am I being objectified?" Nevertheless you pose coatless for a picture before getting ready again.
This time the message is a hasty photoshop in the vein of 'I can be yuor angle or your devil' with white-clad Laserdream on one side and 'Laserscream' on the other. "Oh my god, I'm going to smack that girl."
This is very much not the Panacea you knew from the first meeting. "Is she normally this much of a nut?"
"No, she hasn't been like this for years and as dumb as the pictures are, I'm loving the fact that she's doing it."
You smile as she finishes up another text and turns her attention back to you. "Alright, serious time. Here's how this is gonna go down—we're gonna pop to a lookout on the outside of the depot and make sure nothing major has changed. Once that's done I'll move us inside and we can see what we can see. I will make us transparent so it's harder for us to be seen, but I can't make us completely silent or we won't be able to talk to each other." Crystal nods and you both take the time to silence everything and she wraps her hair in a dark-colored scarf.
The lookout remains pest and Merchant free, but the 'abandoned' factory has easily triple the number of cars outside, most of them absolute shitheaps. You let Crystal know as you apparate in to the hidey-hole you had made last time.
As soon as you arrive there's yelling. It's quickly obvious that it's not because of you, and it lets you find the source pretty easily.
That hair, that voice, those ridiculous fucking bolt-ons—that's Squealer, all right. She's in the middle of a full-volume argument with a number of other people. Being the only one quite that loud you can't make out what the others are saying, but 'my Skids', 'armor suits' and 'the Big One' comes up all in the course of about a minute.
Looking around there's close to a hundred people, most pretty grungy, but around where the Tinker is ranting there's a number of better-dressed people, including good ol' Shaggy Shepard. This… could get messy, or go super smooth. You huddle with Crystal and decide..
Both of you take some pictures and video of the area before you decide you need to discuss what to do next. You touch Crystal's arm and gesture out to the lookout that you came from before popping you back outside. "Well, I was hoping Squealer was there, but the rest of that horde is a complication."
"Let me guess, you have a plan."
"I have a stupid plan," you state. "I have a liquid laughing gas that I could spread around, we can block the doors, call the PRT and let them sort things out from there." You shrug. "I only have a half-dozen bottles of it, and I'm not sure how it'd scale. Between that and attacking birds, freezing some of them in place and all of that we could keep them disoriented until backup arrives."
Crystal already has her phone dialing her mother as you've been talking. "Mom, get Aunt Carol and put me on speaker, there's a huge possibility here." A moment later she's laying out your plan to the leadership of New Wave and gesturing for your phone as well. She manages to keep up the conversation as she dials a number and lets it connect. "Hold on a second guys," she pulls your phone to her ear. "Amy, it's Crystal from Warlock's phone. He has some kind of laughing gas I want you to check over and see how safe it is. Talk to him." She shoves the phone back at you and dives back into the other conversation.
"Panacea?"
"Warlock!" There's a lilt to her voice when she says your name like this is the most interesting thing that's happened to her in ages. "So what's this gas and what are you planning to do with it?"
You keep a weather eye out for people leaving as you rattle off the plan and the potion as fast as possible. It sounds like she's moving around in the background and at one point you hear the echo of Lady Photon's part of the conversation as she goes downstairs.
"Gimme a second."
You look over to Laserdream who gives you a tentative thumbs up and mouths 'we'll talk'.
You can hear the smile in Amy's voice as she starts talking again. "Okay, get your gas potion thingy and get here as fast as possible. Bye!"
Crystal waves you over before you apparate. "Teleport in to the back yard, sliding door's open. Talk to Lady Photon, I'll be on speaker. Go."
Saving time, you apparate directly into the lab, grab the potions, and arrive at the Pelham house in perhaps half a minute. Lady Photon is sitting at the dining room table with a laptop and two phones. Yet again you get one handed to you so you pick it up and speak. "This is Warlock."
"Brandish. My sister is alerting the PRT and Laserdream will coordinate with them. My sister and I will arrive and stay back while you do whatever it is you do. I am not your lawyer, and it would be ethically dubious of me to be such when you are not a part of New Wave, so I will approach an attorney that deals with cape law to get you a meeting sometime this week. In general when dealing with the PRT or Protectorate be polite but not deferential. No matter how rude they are do not escalate, they have PR people and you do not. Questions?"
"Can I record what I am doing legally?"
You hear what you think is a pleased sigh. "Yes, I don't have time to go in to the specific legalities of it, but when you are acting as a cape you can record yourself and your activities. Just releasing it randomly on PHO could be an issue, but keeping it for your own safety is fine. Now," her voice drops the clipped cadence she had been using, "Amy has all but demanded she go along with this to monitor the drug usage so that no one dies. She doesn't have ways to defend herself. Look out for her carefully, please."
Seems like Carol has some affection for her adopted daughter after all. "I will keep her safe."
"Good. Tell Sarah I will be there momentarily."
Lady Photon is already nodding when you turn to her and pokes the mute button on her phone. "I know. Panacea is upstairs, she'll be down in a second. I'm currently on a conference with Laserdream and Commander Templeton. Crystal has sent pictures and a location. PRT forces are at least forty-five minutes out. Once you have established some kind of hold on the building, Brandish and I will show up to liaison with the PRT and offer assistance, but it's going to be your show." She pauses as Amy thunders down the stairs with a backpack on and stops next to you, almost vibrating with excitement.
"Lemme see it!"
You hand over one of the potions bottles and she pops the cap just enough to swipe a finger on the inside. There's a lot of blinking and frowning before she finally pronounces the verdict. "Pretty damn safe. I have some suggestions on how to spread it once we get there and I see the layout of the place."
Lady Photon sighs and seems to look right through your mask. "All of your safety is the most important. I will keep Crystal up to date."
Amy grabs on and you apparate back to the rooftop. Crystal has hung up the phone and Amy immediately drops her backpack and starts pulling things out. "Can you change the color of my robe and make me clothes like you did Crystal?"
Laserdream shakes her head fondly as she looks at her cousin pulling an old robe on. "I didn't see anyone leave, but we should get back over there. What's the situation on that gas?"
Amy looks over a the huge building across from you. "Whatever that stuff is, I can't recreate it exactly, but I'd like to suggest aerosolizing some ketamine to go along with it. Even in that huge space the two of them together would make everyone giggly and stupid." Now wrapped in a white robe she stands up and holds her arms out and ignores the stare from her cousin. "Do it."
You color-change the robe and transfigure her clothes to match Crystal's as the shorter girl pulls the hood over her face. Once you're done she slumps back to her knees and roots through the backpack and pulls out a huge bag of rice. "Fuel. So how're we going to do this?"
A quick hit of Legilimency tells you that Crystal knew that Amy could do things like this, but she's understandably shocked that you're being let in on it. Amy is nervous as hell, aroused, and is running mainly on adrenaline and making decisions based on feeling the rush of sensation. At this point you just need to ride the wave and make sure everyone comes out okay on the other side. "I'll enchant some cones that blow wind, we put them in bottles and blow the gas onto the mob. I'll hit us all with a spell so we don't breathe the fumes in. You do your magic with that rice. I'll put wards up so that people are unlikely to look and they won't be able to see through the grating. You two can work on gassing them and I'll run around outside and block the doors. When I get back in we monitor the situation until the calvary gets here. If there's a serious riot you both grab me and we get the fuck out quick." You get two nods, and you fish your shield necklace out. "Panacea, wear this, it'll create a shield for you. Three second recharge, don't go being crazy." You pause for a moment. "Also, let's record everything. Brandish gave her okay, and we can review it later. Good?" You take a moment to transfigure pockets in all of your clothes to stick your phones and run the record feature before refreshing the anti-nausea on everyone and apparating inside.
It has been perhaps five minutes total since you were last here. Now Squealer isn't yelling anymore, but she is doing rails of something off a table. There's some other drugs being hit, and the fancy fuckers have broken into three groups, one of which looks like they're about to continue the argument the Tinker was part of earlier. You let the girls continue to monitor as you transfigure the grating to solid steel and engrave a quick-and-dirty notice-me-not ward, followed by a shield enchant and a silencing spell. Taking some rubble you transfigure it into a number of cones with a gentle ventus that they can plug into the necks of the bottles to disperse the potions. Amy does something with the rice and turns it into a slurry that she stuffs into yet another of the cones to mix with the rest of the drugs.
A couple of people start wandering towards an exit so you pull your wand and hit the doors in question with a muggle-repeller. "So how long until they start feeling it?"
Panacea giggles quietly as she watches her cousin aim another potion bottle. "That stuff you have is pretty powerful, not really long at all. Five minutes maybe?" She gestures to her slurry. "This stuff should hopefully get to the level they'll be uncoordinated so they won't try the doors any more."
Crystal looks up and taps an earpiece in. "PRT ETA thirty minutes. They're trying to get some other teams routed here sooner."
"They have a bank of monitors and cameras so I need them pretty blitzed before I hit the outside guards." You keep yourself from fretting nervously by disillusioning yourself, appareling down to the floor and vanishing tires and placing sticking and disillusionment charms on any open weapons you see. You also try a confundus or two and ward off a few more people from leaving. Perhaps they're squibs and the muggle-repeller isn't working on them?
While you're down there you manage to find:
[X][Loot] A well-dressed man and a few moments to brain-dump him
[X][Loot] A well-dressed woman and a few moments to brain-dump her
Matthew 'Diego' Garcia is Shaggy's left hand man. The former Air Force Loadmaster has never had problems getting his hands dirty, whether that involves smuggling or murder. Currently he oversees much of the drug smuggling that gets the good stuff into Brockton for later distribution. You're able to pick out four major locations that store the bulk of the drugs. Only one is an actual warehouse, the others are businesses or residential homes. Typically there aren't large amounts stored for long periods of time; drugs sell fast in the Bay.
One of the other things that Diego had been tasked with has been to monitor the use of Tinker-drugs on the Merchants themselves. Yes, they started selling Tinked-up versions of the common drugs they sell, but other, more specialized drugs had been given for testing purposes. The most recent was called 'Red Sun' and gave subjects incredible strength and durability (Brute ~2-3) for 3-4 hours. Downsides included a fugue state lasting at least 6 hours and increasing on repeated use.
He isn't the main guy in charge of money issues, but he does know of a couple of accounts he can draw against, and has two bolt holes with guns, cash, and a means of escape.
'Sia' is the working name of Tammy Roche, the woman in charge of the soft-side of the Merchants. They don't do sex slaves, but they do partner with escorts and hookers to get their johns hooked on drugs. And the Merchants get a cut of the profit on all of it.
She knows names and dirty little secrets, and has video evidence of much of it as well. Some of it is stored on a external drive hidden in an apartment she rents under a different name, some is only kept in her head.
…did you know that the mayor enjoys rimming girls? Sia does. She's even pretty sure that Lung hired a black girl one night for some very rough but within-the-rules sex.
She also knows a few dirty secrets about one or two highly-placed people in the PRT and the Federal Prosecutor's office that will likely see her released with the equivalent of a slap on the wrist. At least if they don't want their pegging, findom, and pissplay fetishes to come to light.
Finally on one of your trips back up, Amy nudges you and points down where Shaggy and crew are. The burgeoning fight has cooled off, people are sitting back and lighting joints, nearby someone's giggling. "They're feeling it. You're fine, go."
Popping back to the lookout on the roof you hit yourself with a notice-me-not and disillusionment before popping closer and starting to stalk the people left outside to be sentries. Most of them are single guards near various doors, but a two of the cars have people in them too.
You quickly find a rhythm, smokejumping behind a guard and body-binding them before you fully reform, then sticking their feet to the ground. After that you can incarcerous them with rope that's matched to their clothes colors, stun them, and stick any weapons to the ground. The whole thing only takes a few seconds each and you leave a trail of statues behind you before turning to the first car with people in it.
The people sitting in the cars are probably supposed to be patrolling or at least keeping a look out, but given the smoky looks they're hotboxing instead. Rather than risk blowing out the glass and not hitting them you vanish a door and hit them with a the same flurry of charms.
With all of the people rendered helpless you use transfiguration to raise walls in front of all of the human-sized doors, then color them to look like the doors themselves. You'd disillusion them but the last thing you want is for the PRT to get an inkling that you can go invisible. The larger rolling doors you throw ten-foot walls in front of and likewise hide them before calling this done for now.
Back inside you find the sisters chuckling over something and you're immediately worried that they've been effected by one of the drugs floating around. "Uh, ladies?"
Panacea waves you over to her and scoops up a small amount of goo before forming it in to a rock-like thing. Leaning over the side she chucks it at one of the milling figures below where it hits them and explodes into nothingness. A second later he and everyone around him cover their noses and start the most awkward and uncoordinated slap fight you've ever seen. Honestly, most people are staggering around and getting in little scuffles or rolling on the floor in laughter rather than even trying to move to the doors.
Laserdream taps her earbud again and gestures the two of you to keep quiet. "Yes, all of the exits are blocked and everyone inside seems to be on drugs. Five minutes? Okay, I'll send Warlock out to meet up with them." Muting it again she turns back to you. "A small group that was patrolling ABB territory will be arriving shortly. Could you meet them out by the other building?"
"Sure, I'll do the light in my hand thing again." You wait for Crystal to relay that information before popping over and smokejumping to the far side of the building. Not even five minutes later two PRT vans roll up, foam turrets swiveling to track you.
A squad of four dismounts from the nearest van, guns not quite aiming at you. The middle figure stomps up and you get a glimpse at a velcro badge that says 'Menendez'. "Alright kid, what kind of shitshow do you have here?"
Frowning behind your mask you do your best to push a legilimency probe through the matte, blank helmet. You manage one after a moment and get the sense that this person just plain dislikes the fact that you exist. Lovely, he and the director are like two pigs in a poke.
"No shitshow at all, actually. All sentries have been knocked out, everyone inside is having a drug-fueled party. Once you decide how you want them I'll drive them out."
You're not sure how someone in a full-face mask can look skeptical, but maybe it's just because he has more practice than you. "Right, sure. Here's how it's gonna go you idiot-"
"I think you would do well to listen to the person who made this capture possible, Captain," a voice says as Lady Photon touches down carrying the ball that is her sister. Brandish pops up a moment later and her only reaction to Menendez' existence is a displeased 'Oh.'
The officer stiffens and turns back to you woodenly. "Fine, you say all the doors are blocked?"
Well, he's gonna be a bitch, but you can deal. Inclining your head slightly you pick up the thread of conversation. "Yes. All doors are blocked. There are somewhere between fifty and a hundred Merchants inside, including Squealer. No sign of Mush. It seems to be their vehicle depot, there are multiple tinker-vehicles inside. I have disabled a number by damaging tires." You pause for a moment and check your phone and discreetly tell the girls to stop drugging them. "Laserdream reports that they still seem unaware of anything going on outside. If you have enough containment foam I could raise walls outside one of the doors for you to shelter behind and you could disable them as they leave."
The PRT agent's shoulders relaxes fractionally, like he suddenly realized you're not going to propose going in guns blazing. "That… could work," he admits grudgingly. "What kind of weapons did you see?"
"Mostly handguns, perhaps a dozen other weapons, AKs and a submachine gun or two."
The second squad has dismounted and they speak quietly for a moment before one of them pulls a whiteboard out of the van and you get down to planning.
Honestly, in the end this was less like a fight are more like shooting—well, drugging—fish in a barrel. You erect some chest-height walls for the PRT officers to shelter behind and by the time the rest of the detachment sets up there's a containment foam killing field waiting outside of the large rolling doors.
Leaving Brandish and Lady Photon to hold down the fort you find the girls peering over the edge of the platform. Panacea looks over worriedly. "Everything's wearing off, I'm surprised they haven't noticed already. Please tell me they're ready."
You put your hand on her shoulder. "They're ready. Laserdream, you'll blast open the far doors and then we help herd them out." You hand over a 1950's Buck Rodgers-esque raygun to the healer. "Now, can you do an evil laugh?"
The 'go' signal from the PRT coincides with Laserdream pulverizing the big doors. Moments later a magically-amplified Panacea does a witchy cackle as beams of light lance down and startle the gangers into flight.
Laserdream does most of the herding, flying around and using low-powered blasts to cow the majority of the Merchants into attempting to flee. Panacea proves to be a pretty decent shot with the stinging-spell enchanted gun you gave, keeping anyone from getting into the suits of armor or invisible vans.
You fall upon anyone who still has a working gun and dares to point them at either of the girls. When you aren't, you use cannon-blast charms to startle them and freezing charms and banishing charms to slide their asses out the door.
The actual rout only takes about ten minutes, but it's very busy. You sweep the place with Homenum Revelio and have to root out a couple of hide-and-seek champions before you take the girls and report in to Commander Templeton.
The leader of the PRT detachment is an older woman with a steel-grey swath of hair along her left side. "Warlock, that's everyone?"
"Yes, the last one had climbed up under a truck and was hiding along the driveshaft. You will want to sweep the place yourself, of course, but I'm confident he was the last one."
Smiling a bit the woman gestures to Carol. "Since it's all over but the bagging and tagging I won't hold you very much longer. Most of the documentation has already been filed out while I was en-route, and the rest we went over while you cleaned up. Look it over and make sure it seems accurate." When Brandish gives you an approving nod you walk with the PRT commander over to a mobile HQ version of their vans. She grabs a sheaf of paper off a tiny printer and you thumb through them quickly.
Nothing listed is wrong, and while the whole thing is short on detail, that's perfectly okay. "Looks fine."
"Great. Listen, you've been much better about this than any of the other capes I've dealt with, even New Wave. Would you be willing to exchange contact info and throw me notice if you come across another major operation like this?"
[X][Templeton] Yes, exchange contact info
"I suppose. If you call and anyone who isn't me answers, just say you're my sugar momma."
Templeton's eyes narrow a bit. "Oh no, I prefer my boys pretty. That metal mask just wouldn't look right crushed between my thighs."
You lean back and fan yourself. "Wow, right for the gut punch."
The older woman's smile gains fangs. "Nice to know the ol' gal's still got it." She hands you a very official PRT card with her work contact information on it. That it just happens to have a different phone number with 'burner' written on the back means nothing, you're sure.
Taking a pen you scribble your Warlock phone and email address on a scrap of paper that gets tucked away immediately. "As a warning, I don't keep my cape phone turned on or on me regularly…."
The PRT commander nods. "Didn't expect you to, you seem to have a decent head on your shoulders. Use my contact info if you want to give me a tipoff. If I contact you then things have gone tits up enough that I'm not expecting a Hail Mary to land." She offers a handshake that you return before gesturing you out of the van. "Go take your pictures and flirt with the girls before you get out of here. You've given me enough to keep me busy for days. I expect there'll be a request to speak with you coming your way via Brandish by mid-week. It's understood that you might not want to, but if you do show up to answer some questions about how you learned of this it would make prosecuting all the gangers much easier for the DA."
"I'll probably be retaining a lawyer just for things like this, so I'll take it under advisement and speak with them about it."
"Well hell, then you're smarter and better-prepared than ninety-nine percent of the independants I've dealt with. Go on, get out of here."
You and the girls had taken pictures all during this operation (yeah, operation. That made it sound cooler) but the best one was the selfie with Squealer getting loaded into a wagon in the background. You might get that one printed out and frame it, honestly.
Despite her saying that she doesn't want to hold you much longer it's after midnight before you manage to apparate away with two goth girls hanging from your arms. Amy gets dropped off at the Pelham's and you and Crystal share a pretty chaste shower before flopping in to bed.
In one night you've (hopefully) broken the back of the Merchants. Yes, Mush is still out there, and who knows how many of the bigwigs weren't around, but the ninety-three Merchants (and Squealer) that got rounded up tonight may very well have ended this gang as a viable threat.
AN:
You've done serious damage to one of the Bay's major gangs. In your sleep you pull upon Potterverse fanon once again. What new magic do you learn?
[X][Bonus] The basics of Ritual Magic