[Prelude] Keystone Kops

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Luca
Posts: 65
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 5:12 am

[Prelude] Keystone Kops

Post by Luca »

One of the simplest laws that governed Occultus Magica that was punishable by death was very simple: Don't kill humans with magic.
As for what was just forbidden knowledge in Occultus Magica, the laundry list would take a while, but these ones sprung to mind immediately: Transforming others permanently (willing or otherwise), necromancy, time travel, permanent mental control/dominance and calling anything from Beyond the Outer Gates (Since they don't follow contracts, and will wreck everything). Meanwhile, Exposing magic to the world at large was punishable by paying for the cover up and getting something to remind you why you shouldn't have done it.

The reasons as to why these laws were put into place vary from century to century, but it was widely agreed that generally, these sorts of power bids and quick fixes are addictive since it brings a lot of power quickly at the cost of someone else, usually an innocent party. These laws were in place to make sure the world at large remained safe from the rest of us, and maybe us from each other.

Fortunately, the laws were going to be enforced tonight, and this was one of those nights where then enforcer could bend the laws a bit to catch this perpetrator. Sixteen counts of necromancy, five counts of murder with magical means and one count of annoying the officer that was tracking this guy down. The perpetrator taken residence in an abandoned warehouse just outside of Los Angeles, California. She always wondered what it is with abandoned places and crime, magical or mundane. They just tended to gravitate to abandoned areas since it was the honest folk dare not tread. Fortunately, the warehouse in question was easy to spot thanks to the stench of rotten magic.

It was a few centuries ago that evil magicians made their spells carry a sense of dread that spread the more they worked their foul trade. To the mundane folks, this tends to drive them away from the area with a sick feeling in their stomach and a primal fear they couldn't identify or ignore, making their survival instinct kick into second gear.
For wizards and magic practitioners, all it does is tell them where to find them, either as a challenge or to attract like minded folks.

The enforcer was not what you'd call a like minded person. She was up for a challenge, or she wasn't one of Occultus Magica's Inquisitors.
"Meep meep," She whispered to herself, imbuing the words with a bit of willpower as she felt the world around her slow down, and watched herself speed up. She sprinted over to the warehouse with blinding speed and halted herself near the side entrance, the one that didn't have two slabs of hired muscle out front, "Meep meep," She felt the world catch up to her again.

She then looked at the side entrance and paused, letting the world around her tell her what was going on with a mundane but useful skill called listening. Behind the door were two others, similar to the two idiots out front, possibly armed. Further inside the warehouse, which sounded mostly open save for a few crates left to rot to the elements was chanting. Throaty ululating with increasing tones. A magical ritual, likely forbidden. However, listening closer yielded the sound of someone struggling, someone whimpering for help.

This had gone from a bust to a rescue mission.

"Meep Meep, Vir-Vultus Foramen, Pie Pugna," Three quick spells, ones she knew and loved, and the ones that'd be right for the job at hand. She leapt through the wall, twisting her physique with pies in hand, taking the two men completely off guard as the pies ended up in their faces. She landed on her back with one of her hands behind it, and said out loud: "Soda Solum Validus!" The Inquisitor's next move was to pull and old fashioned soda bottle from behind her with a trigger not unlike a squirt bottle. Upon pushing down on the trigger, a gout of water would come washing forth as though it was launched from a fire hose, knocking the men against the wall and inflicting enough bruising for them to no longer be a problem, but not dead.

She stood up, uttered "Meep meep," Again and turned around with soda bottle in hand, using her spare hand to adjust her classy hat and adjust the tie on her zoot suit. She marched forward, eyes alight with the thrill of justice, "Torpeo Cranium," As she headed towards the source of the sound, another one of the perpetrator's enforcers swung at her from the shadows with a lead pipe towards her head.

Then something the goon didn't expect happened. Upon the lead connecting with the Inquisitor's head, an exaggerated, almost cartoony sounding CLONG noise could be heard loudly as the weapon itself bent to match the contours of her head almost exactly. She blinked for a moment, crossed her eyes to look at the pipe and let her eyes wander towards the goon, who was in utter disbelief. In response, she kicked him in the groin, and caused him to clutch his family jewels as though his life depended on it. She pried the pipe off of her head and stepped over the goon and walked in on the ritual.

It was almost something out of a Hammer Horror movie, with the perpetrator all dressed in black standing over an altar with the sacrifice tied down and screaming for her life as best as she could through a gag. However, the Inquisitor's intrusion had not stopped the foul wizard's chant, since it required concentration. If one stopped paying attention to a ritual, even for a fleeting moment, it got bad for whoever was on the calling end.
"Kristoff Abraham Zanetti!" She called out, finger pointed, "You are under arrest for sixteen counts of necromancy, five counts of murder with magical means..." She raised her hat, "And one count of pissing me off!"

Kristoff did not respond. Still, he was guilty of his crimes, and he didn't seem interested in redemption, as most of them weren't. The Inquisitor lifted up her soda bottle, however innocuous it seemed, "Soda Solum Mortifer!" Instead of the fire hose result that was seen earlier, a thin beam of focused water came out, and that's what got the necromancer's attention. She made the beam cross over his left arm, along the shoulder and across his chest in a diagonal cut. The necromancer stopped chanting, and the Inquisitor didn't know what killed him first.

Whether or not the magic he was calling on fired off too early and didn't get to the intended otherworldy recipient, instead going off in him explosively, or the beam of water that cut through him like butter, and piercing his heart. Either way, he fell over, very dead. The execution was a success, even if he had a hand in it. The lady on the table didn't know how to react, and stopped struggling for a moment to look at her saviour.

"Hello," The Inquisitor said, walking over to the captive and hiding the soda bottle behind her back, making it disappear into hammerspace, "I'm Lucia. Think of me as a guardian angel." The captive had no idea who she was or what she was capable of, but she seemed nice, and was willing to stay still for longer as Lucia untied her, removed her gag and sat her up on the altar, "My my, you look distressed, let's put a smile on that face," With a flick of the wrist, she conjured a bouquet of flowers and butterflies, giving it to the girl, whose face lit up with mirth.
The flowers were an impromptu spell she liked to use, the spell was made of all of the things that'd brighten someone's day, no matter how bad it got. It never worked for Lucia, but she could see the results on someone's face, and it was infectious.

Suddenly, a phone was ringing in Lucia's pocket, and she answered it while the girl was taken in by the flowers, "Yes?"
"You succeeded. I could feel the release of energy from here," Answered a dusky voice on the other side of the line, "Kirstoff is dead?"
"Yes. He had some hired muscle too, I knocked them out. I think they were under compulsions," Lucia replied, twirling her hair idly, "Furthermore, there was a third party."
"Friend or foe?" The voice on the line asked concerned.
"Neither. Just someone caught up in the dragnet, and could've been a sacrificial lamb if I hadn't come sooner," She sighed for a moment as she flicked her wrist again, then produced a coin from behind the girl's ear idly, "Can you get those lovely boys from Relocation and Memory Modification down to help her out?"

"Sure. We'll be there in a few. Excellent work, Lucia," The person on the other side of the line disconnected, and Lucia pocketed her phone while letting the girl up onto her feet and walking her out of the warehouse through the front door. The two goons who were out front appeared to have wandered off, probably wondering where they were and why they couldn't remember anything.

"Let's get some ice cream, shall we?" The Inquisitor asked the victim.
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