Pentagram

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The Witch Hunters seemed to be caught off-guard by the agreement to help, so much so that Damien almost seemed to hesitate before answering the question. "We... don't know," he admitted. "It seems to work on a network principle, in that the caster can only keep the spell active on a certain amount of people, but apparently as long as they can pinpoint their exact location relative to their own when they cast it initially, or rather the exact location of their Sakoula, then the targets can continue to be affected from any distance until Soul Strings is otherwise neutralised. If the caster takes hold of more people they can manage, then they do so through making one of their other targets a node, who transmits information to the next target."
"What he's saying," Sasha sighed, ruthlessly tearing down Damien's attempt to look intelligent, "is for all practical purposes, it's line of sight, either yours or any of your victims, but the caster would have to actually look for you to find you. That's why they didn't just take me back through Damien or Ethan."
"Well," Damien muttered, shooting a brief glare at Sasha, "if that's settled, I'll call in some backup." He tapped at the phone's holographic apparition, before holding it near his head and waiting for someone to pick up.

Elle curiously looked over her shoulder when she noticed the researcher falling behind. Oddly, he appeared to be shutting the eyes of her kills on the way in. It seemed strange to her that he'd do that. They weren't his kills, and they were just mundanes. They had been stupid to challenge her in the first place, but going around closing their eyes was arguable even more so. After all, they were so fragile, they might as well have been made of paper, so just naming the ones she'd speared in her entrance would probably take an hour or so.
Not that she'd paid much mind to that. In the end, it was pointless; it was somebody else's responsibility to care, not hers, and certainly not his. Hadn't he been a soldier, anyway? Why did he care so much about a couple of dead people if he'd been on battlefields? Maybe she'd remembered wrong?
No, I'm pretty sure we found out he had been in some army or another, she told herself. We're similar there, so it isn't something I'd misremember.

"Hey, they've all got two eyes, no point counting," Elle murmured, half to herself. "It's really slowing us down."

It was still before dawn, she figured, so she had the right to be a little impatient.[/hr]
 
Oh good, so Soul Strings was so rare that even those who knew OF it weren't sure of its full capabilities. Absolutely perfect. Why hadn't he left again? Ah right, responsibility and all that. Sometimes he wished he didn't care so much. But it seemed as long as whoever was casting Soul Strings couldn't regain those he'd freed without a fair bit of effort. Good to know. Sasha seemed better at explaining things, Sasson directing his next question towards her. It seemed the best choice, due partially in fact that it questioned the intelligence of Damien's choices. "Do you know exactly how many people can be controlled through Soul Strings, or is there a good chance the back up we're going to get will also be under its effects?"
 
Damien took a very deliberate glance at Sasson, apparently impressed. "That's right, they probably will be."
"Then why are you calling them?!" Ethan exclaimed.
"Because if they try to pretend they aren't, there's only one door they can enter through," he grinned deviously. "And that means our miracle mundane here will have them right where he needs them."
Sasha almost laughed. She had nearly forgotten why Damien had been commended for his achievements in Cassiel's Strategic department.
Damien quickly put his finger to his lips, silencing her.
"Cardinal Office? ... It's Cassiel. We need backup. ... Current situation is at least Code B, possibly Code A. Potential for upgrade to Code S present. ... Negative, anti-electronic field over the area, probably EMP. ... Negative copy, sounded like 'log integrity'? ... Negative, recommended usages of Tergiversate and Dove Protocols. ... That's T for Tango, and D for Delta. ... Soul Strings. ... Affirmative, awaiting arrival, over and out." He hung up.
"Well?" Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Who are they bringing in?" Sasha asked.
"Only Abbadon."
The Witch Hunters fell silent, staring, stunned.
 
Ah, so Damien had thought through this plan, funnelling all the potentially hypnotized - no no, that wash't the right term. They weren't hypnotized, not in the usual sense. They were being controlled like puppets, stringed along in whatever way the caster wanted. There had to be a single word to sum all that up. Puppeteered? Not really a word, but it somewhat fit. Not that it really mattered at the moment, more so to keep everything straight in his head. The plan put him right at the head, in the line of fire. Damien had pulled a gun on him, who's to say the other witch hunters wouldn't? Still, it seemed the best strategy, putting them all within touching range. The hunter finished his call, putting down his phone.

"Well?" Ethan raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Who are they bringing in?" Sasha asked.
"Only Abbadon."

With how the other hunters reacted to the name, Abbadon was either someone, or a group, of very important, or very powerful people. Most likely both seeing as they were being sent alone into this storm of chaos. The name was familiar, some passage in the back of his mind relating to the rupture wars. The silence stretched, Sasson flicking his gaze between the three hunters. "I'm guessing Abbadon doesn't get involved in minor Witch Hunter business?"
 
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"D'you think so? What tipped you off?" Ethan frowned.
"Hey," Sasha snapped at him. "Be nice." She turned to Sasson before Damien could open his mouth to unleash whatever long-winded, trying-too-hard explanation was brewing in his mind. "Abbadon are the best, period. Almost everyone in their team was ranked Platinum in the Rupture War, which in non-Witch Hunter terms, means that just one of them could outmatch a whole company* of mundane soldiers!"
"Which means that their Strategic Department is a lot smarter than me," Damien muttered. "So we're going to need to be damn clever if they decide that they're not on our side."
The Hunters were silent again.
"Damien, you idiot!" Sasha exclaimed.

*A company consists of around 80 to 150 soldiers. Let that sink in for a moment.
 
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Sasson balked at the new information on Abbadon. Here he thought he'd just be dealing with some regular hunters, easy (relatively speaking) like Sasha, Ethan and Damien. And now he was going to be faced with the best of the best, a group of individuals that could pass as their own army, if they really wanted. Was it still too late to back out? He didn't exactly want to leave the Hunters to deal with this whole mess, especially since they would likely be in danger if Abbadon was under the sway of Soul Strings, but honestly, this was beyond him. Not only was he mundane and relatively helpless to anyone with any sort of magic, he also had no real physical skills to speak of. If Abbadon, controlled or not, decided he was a threat, death was a near 100% probability. "So touching them one at a time as they come through the front door isn't going to work. As soon as one sees what's happening, they'll all know of the threat and, at the very least, prevent me from getting close to any of them. If they don't shoot us dead, first." There was a flat bitterness in his voice at the thought, lips pulled into a bit of a sneer. "Is there any way we could break their company into smaller groups? Pairs would be preferable. Maybe have them do a sweep of the building for the mage who broke in and caused hell?" He could probably get lucky and risk a touch to one, maybe two hunters. Once. Hell, if anything, he could likely provoke one to punch him, or something. That would probably work just as well as if he touched them himself. "If we can free one or two of them from Soul Strings, we could probably enlist their help in reaching the others with a bit more ease." That is, if they were under Soul Strings, otherwise he was just a mundane who appeared to be attempting to attack a pair of Abbadon Witch Hunters, stupid and suicidal.
 
"Actually, that's the usual method of deployment for them, I think," Sasha noted. "In each squad, there were two members belonging to each Department, so they would work in twos with their partners."
"That applied during the war as the mandatory set-up," Damien nodded. "I think Abbadon still use it for ops like this.

"That means the two Assault-Class Hunters will move directly into the building. Those two will be the best fighters, hands down, and they'll have a handgun each, as well as a shortsword for if they run dry on ammo. But I think one of them... no, both of them dual-wield swords, and one of them can go akimbo as well. Be careful with them, because Assault-Class are trained in acrobatic combat, both ranged and melee, and they have ways to... deny enemy gunfire and low-Level offensive spells, so we won't be much help to you there. You'll need to 'dispel' Soul Strings before they can attack.

"They'll have two Support-Class waiting in the wings: one crack sniper and one demolitionist, but the latter will probably also be a way away with some compact artillery or something. If my memory serves me, Abbadon's sharpshooter is blind, so they have to use a cone amplifier, and the actual gun can't be even semi-automatic or the noise will blind them.

"They'll all be given sitreps by Strategic as they go through radio-based earpieces. It's more than likely that Operation, the pilots, will drop them in using some vehicle or another. I'm going to hazard a guess and say they'll come in by air. I'm not sure if the transport will be armed, though, so that's something to consider.

"It'll immediately be clear to Abbadon which part of the site and whose side we're on by the formation and amount of people moving out of our exit, so they'll make for there instantly with whatever tricks they're bringing.

"All of this is assuming they're not on our side, of course," he finished, shrugging. "Any questions?"
 
Sasson listened intently to the explanation of Abbadon's tactics, committing it all to memory for use in this suicidal operation they were going to run. Any and all information he could use would be helpful in getting through this alive, if only by a slim increase in his chances. "Just the one question," He began, hands finding their way into his pockets. "Which scenario is more likely if they're under Soul Strings; That Abbadon will attempt to keep up the facade of agency, and act as though nothing is wrong with them? Or full out attack us as soon as they realize this exit has been compromised?" Because the answer to this question changed a whole lot of his plans.
 
"That really depends," Damien mused thoughtfully, staring off into space. He almost didn't notice the gestural cues Sasha was giving him. "What?"
"Depends on what?" she urged.
"On how rare 'antimages' like our special guest here are," he elaborated, nodding at Sasson. "If they don't know what they're dealing with, I suspect they'll shoot first and ask questions later. If they do know about him, or figure it out, they'll probably act natural until they've got us pinned somewhere, then try to blow our brains out. Which begs the question: can your little trick do anything about magitech?"
 
Sasson gave Damien a dark look. Antimage? No no, he was not… He was NOT some special snowflake Antimage wonder child. He'd been on the receiving end of some low level magic, so he didn't have the ability to cancel out all spells. Just Soul Strings, apparently. "I don't even know. I didn't know I could do any of this until twenty minutes ago." Had it only been that long? He wasn't even sure anymore. He gave his shoulders a shrug. "Do you have something I could test it on?"
 
Damien edged away slightly. He almost considered asking what the look was for, but it didn't matter right now. "Um, for a test... I've got nothing."
"You're holding a phone," Sasha pointed out.
"Uh, my phone," Ethan reminded her. "And the only one that works. We need it."
"He has a point," Damien nodded.
Sasha sighed. "Well, we can't exactly give him a gun, we need them too."
"And thus," Damien sighed exasperatedly at repeating himself, "I've got nothing."
"Abbadon have guns," muttered Ethan to himself, prompting an annoyed glare from Sasha.
"You know, sometimes I forget you're an idiot," she told him.
"That would make you a goldfish," Damien raised an eyebrow.
"I'm standing here," Ethan snapped.
"Unfortunately."
 
"That's… That's just great." He managed, sounding both exhausted and annoyed. "I really doubt Abbadon will be willing to let me test out on their own weapons either." Okay, so, no guarantee of finding out if he could disrupt magi-tech until Abbadon was actually here. This was really bad planning, making him twitch. "If they didn't know about… Antimages," He had to hiss the word out through his teeth. Hating the title. Hating how it seemed to promise some hope to those without magic. "Would they be willing to shoot if you already had me in custody or something?"
 
Sasha was beginning to feel a little nervous now. He was getting angry, that much was clear, and if on the off chance he actually was an arcane, she did not want to experience the effects of a spontaneous outburst. Damien seemed almost oblivious, but it was difficult to tell with him; she couldn't be sure whether or not he'd say something stupid. What he did say, however, was probably as calculated as everything else that came out of his mouth.
"Willing, yes. Allowed, no. Protocol dictates to take mundanes alive," he noted. "Or, more specifically, take anyone who isn't above Level 3 alive."
"So he should be safe unless he starts spewing electronuclear torrents?" Ethan summarised.
"Yes. Besides being arrested, there's little to lose for you," said Damien. "Which, to be honest, is likely preferable to being incinerated by an intruder or crushed by falling masonry, especially if there's somebody who can bail you out."
 
So protocol would protect him from being shot full of holes. Great, cause the Witch Hunt had been so strict with protocol so far. There was also the doubt that any punishment would befall Abbadon if they didn't follow their own rules. And, if all went well and all that happened was he got arrested, the idea of someone coming to bail him out was laughable. MAYBE the professor would come, if he was feeling particularly generous that day. "Right. Well, that's good to know." He mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "What are you all going to attempt when they get here?"
 
Cail snorted darkly as the girl spoke, only shaking his head at the end," Nay, not all of them have two eyes. Not anymore... You saw to that." With a wave of his hand he indicated one whose head had been smashed by one of the girl's missiles when she first came through this way, and it was obvious that there would be very little of the face left for any sort of identification. Still, he knew that what she had said wasn't meant to be literal. She was actually asking why he was taking the time to morn over these guards, these mundanes, and the fact that she even needed to ask that made the former soldiers face scrunch up in disgust. Her attitude was the same as his when he had first been born into the world, before the repercussions of all those he had killed had begun to weigh on his soul. Now, on this day, she may not have any remorse biting at her heels. But one day it would come, and every face here would haunt her to the end of her days. But instead of saying that he just shook his head sadly and gestured her on.

There was no point in telling her. He knew he would not have listened either, not in the early days when he had been drunk on his own power and the weakness of those whose level had been below his own. They got moving again, and began their long ascent to ground level.
 
"We're a little short on resources right now," Damien pointed out. "We'll probably pretend to be on their side until they make their move. If they're hostile, we point guns at them until you dispel the magic. There'll be two of them, so we outnumber them."
"Wait, stop," Ethan said suddenly. "Why aren't we testing to make sure this works on magitech again?"
"Because there's nothing to test on, moron, try to keep up!" Sasha growled.
"What the hell are you talking about? We're in the headquarters of a company that specialises in mundane-friendly magitech! These guys manufactured our weapons! So why in the hell are we not looking for any?"
"I don't know, don't look at me," Damien shrugged.

Elle sighed as she began to walk up the stairs. They were just mundanes. What was the big deal?
{Oh, damn!}
The words echoed around her head, clearing her mind of all but the dread they had created.
What is it?
{They're sending in Abbadon themselves.}
Why is that a problem?
{Why do you think?}
...Oh, damn!
Now she'd have to expend Willpower getting out. It was inconvenient, but it wouldn't be too big an issue unless she actually had to fight any Witch Hunters. She'd dealt with the mundanes without a second thought, but if it came to it, she wasn't sure if she could kill them without hesitating.

The ties of family were cruel.[/hr]
 
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Well, finally a question he had an answer for. "Most weapons on these first few floors, and likely the floors below, would have been handed out to the security officers." He began, fixing Ethan with a pointed stare. Making sure he didn't interrupt. "Many of those would have been mundane weapons. There may be more on the upper floors, but there's a high chance that they're kept behind lock and key." He remembered seeing a few signs that might have indicated a weapons cache, but hadn't been allowed near those areas. "Also, while MagiSenth develops weapons, this is just a research branch. Production of known weapons would be done in a separate location. Everything here is experimental, and I don't know about you, but I don't particularly feel like messing with something that I don't know the function of."
 
Ethan nodded. He understood what the man was saying. Most of the stuff in this building, magic or not, would be useless, as dictated by sod's law. Finagle's law dictated that sod's law didn't apply to everything, though.
"But conventional lock and key aren't much good keeping out all the million mages in here," he reasoned, "So I'm guessing a magitech lock for anything important. That's easily a test subject for you as long as we can get the rune circle exposed, right?"
Okay, so it was a bad plan. But it was definitely better to have something than nothing if they ended up actually having to go against Abbadon Branch.
 
Sasson had to think a moment on that. The locks might have been magi tech, but he wasn't sure. He hadn't actually seen them. But it would make sense to keep weapons and other dangerous goods under stronger means than a mundane lock. "Yeah. Yeah, I could test it on a magi tech lock." He agreed. He laid out the blueprints of the building in his head, remembering the quickest, easiest ways to the restricted areas, once you took out the elevators. "Alright, let's go test this out. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and get this done before Abbadon shows up."
 
A look of surprise crossed Sasha's face for a moment. He was starting to take charge. But then, he was the centrepiece of the plan; it only made sense.
Damien's expression, however, did not shift in the slightest. "Even if Abbadon arrive halfway through, it'll at least give somewhere to prepare while we buy time for you," he nodded. "Ethan, you stand guard. Signal us if they come."
"How?" Ethan asked. "You don't have any cellphones or radios or anything!"
"I have complete faith in your ability to do something loud and stupid," Damien assured him, picking up his gun and loading it with an enchanted magazine. "I'll be escorting our friend here to the upper floors, Sasha will come with me."
Sasha almost jumped in surprise. "U-um, right! Ready when you are!"
It looked like they finally had something to work with.
"Lead the way," the Strategic Hunter implored to Sasson.
 
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