Mob Sorcery 5 - Ch32

Vince set aside the Daji problem for now. She went silent after bringing up the idea of seizing a body, leaving him in the dark as to how she might do that or from whom.

After Wagner strolled off into the garden, Alessia gathered the group around the gazebo. Nina dragged Vince to a chair before he even realized. The concerned glances from the girls suggested they worried about what happened between him and the dragon.

“He didn’t do anything,” Vince said. “But he gave me something to think about that I hadn’t thought about enough. We can discuss it later.”

His gaze ran over Ashley and Hamelin. The necromancer’s eyes narrowed and she grinned.

“Oooh, secrets,” Hamelin said. “It can’t be about the fox bitch we’re going to execute. Did he give you Davis’s killphrase?”

“His what?” Fia asked.

“His killphrase. If Davis is a robot deployed to destroy the US from the inside, then—”

“La Lupa, no.” Fia’s head collapsed into her arms. “Can we not immediately deal with this insanity?”

“Come on. He totally fits the bill. It’s like somebody manufactured the perfect dipshit to rile up normie America,” Hamelin said. “He totally has a killphrase.”

The entire table heaved a collective sigh. At some point, Ashley had produced her phone and begun playing a mobile game. She kicked her feet up on the table and ignored them.

“Are you joining us or busy getting your dailies in?” Gaby asked the demonic foxgirl.

Ashley flicked her massive blonde bangs. “Once the zombie stops masturbating to her nonsensical conspiracy theories, I’ll pay attention.”

“Can we just talk over her?” Nicki suggested.

Pola tilted her head. “Can’t Vince shut her up?”

Hamelin’s eyes lit up. “With his massive, thick co—”

Gaby’s fist slammed into the mousegirl’s skull, cutting off her words. Nearly her tongue, too.

“My joke wasn’t that bad,” Hamelin muttered, nursing her jaw. She brightened up, and the table tensed. “You should get some exposure to my sort of trolling. It’ll make future meetings go a lot smoother. I used to help people online develop their sense of humor this way.”

“I doubt that. I really doubt that,” Fia said.

Alessia listened in tortured silence, her ears flat against her head as she stared into the distance. Her coffee cup moved mechanically from the table to her mouth. Lucia leaned against the back of her boss’s chair while grimacing.

“So, what I’d do,” Hamelin said, “is go in political spaces, find Davis supporters, and tell them I’m going to tie Davis to my truck and drive it off the nearest pier.”

“You don’t own a truck,” Pola said, puzzled.

“Yeah, but rednecks usually do.” The necromancer grinned. “So people would get mad at me, and I’d tell them it was a joke and they should get a sense of humor. It’s timeless. Who doesn’t like jokes about tying up and murdering heads of state?”

The table stared at her. Nobody even bothered to sigh this time.

“I get why you’re on all the watch lists now,” Ashley said, still playing her game. “Can you even get past security at an airport?”

“Kinda,” Hamelin said. “The FBI said that if I forget to notify them next time I leave Aulfair, then I should be very careful when I come back.” She tapped her chin. “I’m not sure if they’re saying they’ll arrest me on the way home or that they’ll plant bombs in my bunker.”

“Moving on,” Alessia said abruptly, speaking loud enough to suppress anyone interested in responding to Hamelin. “Vince, could you start the meeting? I believe we’ve bantered enough.”

He cleared his throat, and Hamelin stretched in response. When she didn’t speak, he pressed on.

“First, any updates? There’s no point trying to make plans to take out Kigenai if it turns out she’s left the city, or an army of Yakuza enforcers have snuck into the city,” he said.

When Hamelin raised her hand like a child at school, Alessia’s eyes nearly popped.

“Hey, this is a real update,” the necromancer protested. “My shady employers approached me on Monday.”

“And you refused them. Because you’re working for Vince,” Pola said, showing her razor sharp canines.

“Uh, kinda.” Hamelin rubbed behind one of her oversized mouse ears. “The contract was in legal limbo and—Don’t threaten me, bitch!”

Pola’s eyes glowed, and she wasn’t the only one making intimidating gestures. Vince waved everyone down.

“She’s signed it now, so if she acts against me, we can destroy her,” he said. “The lawyers made sure no loopholes existed.”

“Yeah.” Hamelin nodded enthusiastically, her eyes locked on Kiyoko for some reason. Had the tengu summoned her katana? “Me and Juliet got summoned again. They wanted to know about your visit on Saturday. Got super excited about the bullshit story I told about you intimidating me because I’ve worked on a bunch of hits against you.”

“That wasn’t exactly bullshit,” Nina said.

“The best lies have a trace of truth,” Hamelin said.

“Even though that was a day after I was contacted, that explains the rumblings about us attacking you in your home,” Alessia said. “They must have seen the visit and made assumptions you ‘confirmed.’ It’s troubling this conflict is taking place on so many levels. Somebody wants to destabilize Aulfair to an unprecedented extent.”

Nicki raised her hand this time. Fia pointed at her.

“Shoot,” Fia said. “You can just speak up, too.”

“I guess.” The harpy shifted nervously. “Why does it matter that we kicked down Hamelin’s door? She kicked down Alessia’s. Hell, her and Juliet have made multiple public attempts on Vince’s life! I keep hearing about all these enforcer rules and conventions, but who enforces them?”

“Quintus,” Ashley and Nina said at the same time.

They glared at each briefly, before Nina inclined her head.

Blinking in surprise, Ashley slid her phone into her pocket. “The rules aren’t codified laws. Hammurabi didn’t carve them into stone and there’s no king who will strike us down if we fuck with them. Different powers in Aulfair have expectations of enforcers, and they enforce those. The government wants us out of sight, especially when we’re attracting international attention.”

“The conference,” Nicki said.

“Yeah.” Ashley nodded. “The conglomerates want a bunch of punch-clock enforcers who feel safe living their lives normally when not smuggling catalysts or guarding buildings. The average voter wants us to stay the fuck out of their lives so they can ignore us like they do all the other existential problems society poses if you think too hard. Even enforcers have their own desires.”

“The rules are a reflection of our desires, and enforced selectively by those who want them,” Alessia said when Nicki still looked confused. “Public destruction is often beneficial to the conglomerates and underworld, so the rules against public fights are frequently ignored. Juliet’s attacks on Vince are little different to his destruction of Main Street in the eyes of the law.”

He grimaced, but nodded.

“The two most important rules are those currently being enforced by Quintus Hierum, and the reason he wishes to work with us against Houou,” Alessia continued. “Enforcers must feel safe in their homes, or else who will become one? The highest-ranking enforcers and underworld leaders are exempted from these rules, but that’s because we’re not merely enforcers. A CEO or CFO isn’t a ‘wagie,’ as I believe they’re called, and garner no sympathy.”

“I’m guessing the second rule is the whole thing about not punishing enforcers for their past work?” Nicki asked. “What about civilian deaths?”

Alessia grimaced. “Avoiding those is important, but mostly to avoid police intervention or public protests. Enforcer operations are an arm of corporate activity in Aulfair, and like a lot of corporate activity, there is collateral damage. The public becomes outraged over civilian deaths, and the conglomerates need to lay low, but the same can be said every time the police kick down the wrong door or kill someone’s dog.”

“I’d be pretty pissed if someone killed my dog,” Gaby said drily. She blinked. “No offense to present company. I’d be extra pissed if anyone killed you.”

“I’ll take that as the compliment you intended,” Fia said, while the Lionetti sisters scowled.

“Hamelin, what job did they want you to do?” Vince asked. “Another hit?”

“Nah, not this quickly,” Hamelin said. “I think you spooked them with how easily you demolished the last one. There are viral clips of you standing in the middle of the street with your dragon around you fighting off foxes, undead, my phantoms, and an enforcer hit team. I think they’ve realized you didn’t escape Juliet by fluke.”

Funny, because he kind of had the second time.

“Instead, they offered something really dumb. Go down south and help the Yakuza hold their position.” Hamelin shook her head. “Weird shit. Houou wanted us to help the Yakuza fight other foxes in Houou. Fucking clan politics.”

Alarm shot across everyone’s faces.

“Wait, Juliet is helping the Yakuza now?” Fia asked.

Hamelin blinked. “Uh, yeah. I refused because the job was stupid. It was a job to get another job. We’d go down and convince the Yakuza to hire us, although I’m guessing my shady employer would grease the wheels.”

“That would get them around the blacklist,” Alessia said. “I’m not even sure what the police would do if you revealed you were technically an enforcer acting as Houou’s double-agent within the Yakuza.”

“Ignore it,” Fia grunted. “Independent enforcers aren’t supposed to do spy work.”

Ashley nodded. “The Special Corporations Act covers a lot of stuff, but being a spy isn’t in the list. It’s no different to taking an assassination gig. Did they offer tons of cash?”

“Not really,” Hamelin said. “I think they felt burned after the last gig. Juliet took the job because they mentioned you’d probably attack the Yakuza, whereas I ‘officially’ bailed for the same reason. Even if I hadn’t met you in person, I’d have bailed. Felt like a cheap way to convince me to fight you again without coughing up another hit team.”

That meant Juliet would likely interfere with their attack on Kigenai. Fortunately, they’d have her binding weakness ready.

“Any other updates?” he asked the assembled group.

“I have confirmed the foxes that arrived in secret did not join Mei,” Kiyoko said. “It appears they are working with Knightsgate. Their purpose is unknown.”

“Knightsgate, huh. They’ve come up a few times lately,” Vince said. “I’m assuming they’re up to something, and I don’t think it’s to help us.”

While Hamelin stared into space, Kiyoko’s lips shifted ever so slightly to form a grimace.

The tengu gave an infinitesimal nod. “There are political machinations at work. I suspect it is connected to Houou’s incoming civil war, but that is mere speculation.”

“Everyone wants a piece of the foxes,” Nina said. “Almost like they built an empire on sand by expanding too fast, pissing everyone off, and making lots of enemies.”

Vince wasn’t sure it was that simple. Knightsgate had very little pull in Aulfair, and he remembered Kiho’s odd statement that they’d told Ally’s father they could keep her safe.

With that said, he knew too little about their movements to do more than idly speculate. Most other players had shown their cards. Quintus wanted stability. The Miyoshi faction wanted power inside Houou. The Inabas claimed to desire change, at least compared to Houou’s belligerence since arriving. Frost and the police would arrest everyone they could, while Kreesa remained an enigma that sowed chaos in her wake.

Knightsgate, Mayor Kochhar, and the vampires still needed to show their hands. Perhaps they had little interest in Houou, and more in the outcome. Or maybe they planned to decisively intervene later.

“If Knightsgate isn’t moving now, it doesn’t matter to our plans,” he said. “Which means we can start planning. Kigenai is first. Once she’s out of the way, we finally tackle Mei.”

“Question.” Hamelin waved her arms in the air. “Who the hell is Kigenai?”

“A Qilin who’s the chief enforcer of the Yakuza,” Pola said. “She has huge lightning powers drawn from a god called… Uh…”

“Hwanin,” Kiyoko said. “More specifically, she uses derivatives of the divine gifts that Hwanin granted his grandson, Dangun, the first king of Korea.”

Hamelin blinked several times, then threw her hands into the air. “Wait, we’re fighting two demigods? Holy fucking shit. And I can tell you’re basically a clan guardian yourself. Can you at least tell us what these divine gifts are?”

Kiyoko nodded. “The Sword of Dangun manifests the lightning of Hwanin himself, Korea’s sky god, in a single strike. It uses divine magic to rip apart anything it touches. The Drum of Dangun severs the control of all magical summons and constructs in a large radius, as Hwanin is the sole arbiter of new life.”

“That’s bad,” Hamelin said. “You realize I use summons, right?”

“Can the drum be resisted?” Vince asked.

“Yes, but not by her.” Kiyoko barely spared Hamelin a glance. “Each of Kigenai’s manifestations is of meister-tier, although her method of spellcasting predates the modern system sorcerers divide spells into. Divine spells are difficult to categorize.”

Vince recalled Zeus’s thunderbolt and the immense power he felt, even as Wagner merely held it in his hand. Spell tiers represented complexity rather than power, but manifesting the power of literal gods sounded too complex for mere humans to manage.

“What’s the final gift?” Fia asked. “Dangun had three heavenly seals. I looked them up. There’s a mirror.”

Kiyoko frowned and darkness briefly flashed across her expression. “I am doubtful Kigenai will use it. The mirror represents the ideal image of the user, as if to guide Dangun and his heirs as rulers. I suspect she lost her ability to use it after Knightsgate crushed its Korean branch.”

Fia hissed. “That’s grim. Her spell relies on her mental state?”

“The same goes for ordinary sorcery. Vince could not cast his domain spells without a concrete image of how he wishes to control the world.”

Several women broke into coughing fits, while Alessia spluttered her coffee into her cup. Lucia cleaned her boss up with a handkerchief.

“Phrasing,” Vince said drily. “You make it sound like I’m planning world domination.”

Kiyoko tilted her head to one side. “Domain spells require the user to visualize their dominance of reality itself. This isn’t difficult for many sorcerers, given the arrogance inculcated in them by mage colleges. I have suspected your prolonged contact with demons in your youth altered your mental state enough to have a similar effect, and you view the world to be as malleable as most immortals.”

“Wow. So listening to Quintus yap about the fall of the Roman Republic and the waxing and waning of the Empire actually mattered.” Ashley slapped Vince on the shoulder with a burst of wind magic. “You might be the only guy who has benefitted from constantly dwelling on the Roman Empire.”

“Everyone can benefit from learning about the Roman Empire,” Gaby said, glaring at Ashley. “I figured immortals would understand that not understanding history means you die.”

“How’d executing that insane king go in Britain?” Ashley smirked. “Oh, wait. They turned him into a martyr, pretended he hadn’t invaded his own country, and the divine right of kings is stronger than ever. Maybe the lesson history teaches us is to just do the same shit, but murder everyone that caused trouble last time.”

Darkness shrouded Gaby’s horn, but she turned away with a grimace. Somehow, Ashley’s remark about British history struck a sore point. Vince filed that fact away for later.

“Enough arguing,” he said. “Kiyoko, if Kigenai does use the mirror, what will the effect be?”

“It’s similar to an empowerment spell, but unlike anything you have witnessed,” the tengu said. “Kigenai will briefly become as powerful as Mei dreams of being. But the power is fleeting and drains her. It is a last resort spell, intended to end a battle or allow a killing blow to be struck against a truly great foe.”

“So, we die if she uses that,” Nina said, grim-faced. “Can we interrupt it? Her big spells take a while to charge up.”

“Her stance will be the same as when she uses the drum. She will hold her hands above her head and channel her horn’s magic into them. Except then she will stare into the spell and allow its magic to wash over her. Again, I do not believe she will use it. Or if she does, the effect will be greatly diminished.”

Vince had to take what comfort he could from Kiyoko’s assessment. Her job was to eliminate rogue agents, and had presumably investigated Kigenai even before traveling to the USA.

“I’m far from the most useful contributor here, but where do you plan to combat her?” Alessia asked. “Even with distractions provided by Ronin and the Inaba twins, battle with a foe this powerful will require a large amount of space. To say nothing of her allies.”

Vince looked at Gaby and Fia, who nodded.

“We need to draw the Yakuza out from their defenses,” Fia said. “They’ve been trying to reach the docks ever since the siege started, either to escape or get better access to supplies. If we time our attack to their next attempt, we can easily isolate Kigenai from the rest of the Yakuza and especially Mei.”

When Fia nodded at her, Gaby piped up, “Getting the cops and Houou to blunder will be easy thanks to V. My girls don’t want to fight the demigods themselves, but they’ll happily help cut off regular Yakuza. Your mafioso will help my gang, and we’ll cut Kigenai off from her goons. Then we jump her.”

“But we don’t have a specific place to fight her,” Pola said.

“We’ll have to play it by ear. Kigenai is unlikely to let us lure her anywhere, and we’ll need to trap her with anti-teleportation wards,” Vince said. “This will need a lot of prep. Organizing the cops and Houou, then an ambush after the Yakuza rush toward the docks, followed by springing a trap on Kigenai that involves activating a large number of wards.”

“We acquired additional magic tools for the heist, and have been purchasing even more in preparation for Houou’s civil war,” Alessia said. “Any conflict with mystic foxes requires many anti-teleportation magic tools.”

“Salome mentioned seven-tails and above need wards powered by a generator, or something equivalent,” Vince said.

Kiyoko shook her head. “That will be necessary for Mei, but that is due to the space-bending properties of mystic fox magic. Kigenai’s teleportation is less powerful.” She hesitated. “It is possible Mei may attempt to rescue her, however.”

“I’ll ask Anzu about that,” he said.

While both Kiyoko and Alessia grimaced, they nodded.

Hamelin frowned. “Uh, Anzu? I’ve been confused for a bit, but you don’t mean Anzu Inaba, right?”

“I do.”

The necromancer stared at him for several seconds. “I really should have asked for more money to kill you. Next you’ll tell me you’re fucking Bastet.”

“She kinda offered if I joined Immanuel,” he said, unable to help himself.

The collective glare from his girlfriends nearly burned his face off. Vince did his best to feel shameless, but knew he failed.

“Such bullshit,” Hamelin muttered.

“If Mei can teleport away, we need to lure her to a specific location,” Alessia said. “Once we strike Kigenai, we’ll have limited time before Mei gives up on Aulfair and leaves. Or, worst case, erupts like a volcano and forces others to put her down.”

“I scoped out the area,” Pola said, drawing eyes to herself. Her ear twitched and she puffed up with pride. “We don’t know where Mei is hiding, but the Yakuza are still operating close to their old headquarters beneath an old restaurant.”

“Yes. I told you that,” Kiyoko said, staring at the wolfgirl.

Pola pouted. “I was still going. There’s a stadium under construction a stone’s throw away. It’s practically abandoned and between owners right now, but its size and isolated location makes it a great place to fight Mei. We could set up a generator and wards easily. Entire teams could protect them while we battle Mei ourselves.”

“That’s genuinely brilliant,” Nina said. “Hell, if we blow up the stadium, maybe somebody will swoop in and actually finish it.”

“I don’t think it needs to steal another billion dollars of taxpayer funds,” Alessia said. “Can you lure Mei there?”

Kiyoko frowned. “She may respond if I call her there. But…”

“We can try a few ideas. Given her soul egg is fake, she may…” Vince grimaced and looked at Ashley and Hamelin.

“You already told me her ninth tail is fake,” Ashley said, speaking as if he was an idiot.

“Oh, the fox bitch thinks she’s becoming a demigod, but isn’t?” Hamelin narrowed her eyes. “Ohhhh. That’s what went down that night, wasn’t it? She got screwed and you gave her a fake soul egg. I bet she’s pissed. Why not call her out and offer her the real deal? She might be desperate enough to charge into an obvious trap if she’s as arrogant as most foxes I’ve dealt with.”

Most of them traded glances, then nodded at Vince.

“Sounds like a plan, actually,” Fia said. “Mei will definitely know hers is fake by the time we act. She waxed lyrical to you that night. Maybe call her out in person, V, and we ambush her.”

“Better than nothing,” he said.

But one matter remained. One he’d nearly forgotten.

Alessia cleared her throat. “One final matter remains. The truth behind what happened the night of the heist, when Mei Suwa revealed her true colors. Much has happened, and the political situation has changed. We don’t need to undermine Houou or turn the city on Mei. I’m not certain we need to play the recording. Not yet.”

Vince frowned. Then his eyes widened. “Knightsgate.”

“Yes. Mei is already a pariah, but the recording’s true value lay in what it reveals about Knightsgate and Japan. I’ve told you before to let me handle politics at this level, Vince, but this was your plan originally. If you want to use the recording—”

“Alessia, I barely understand what Knightsgate is up to. If you have any clue what they might pull and can prepare for it, keep the recording up your sleeve,” he said. “I’ve organized enough help that we don’t need to rely on it. Ask Trippych to keep people distracted for a little longer.”

Alessia smiled and nodded.

Kicking her feet up, Gaby called attention to herself. “How much longer is ‘a little longer?’ I’m guessing another week minimum to coordinate everyone, move gear, and learn when the Yakuza will try for the docks next. But is that too long?”

“The police and Houou are taking little action. I suspect the actions of Hamelin’s former employer were intended to drag out the conflict even further, so we need not hurry,” Kiyoko said.

“Good for us. I want to move into our new house before this shit,” Nina said. “You realize how fucking horrible it would be to fight Kigenai, be recovering from our exhaustion and wounds, and need to move into a fucking mansion?”

“Is moving that much work?” Pola asked.

“Yes,” Fia, Nina, Nicki, and Ashley said at once.

Nicki clicked her tongue. “The only people who think moving is easy are the ones who get others to do everything for them while they neatly organize their plates and weird knick-knacks. My sisters and I would be breaking our fucking backs ferrying shit between places whenever our landlord kicked us out, and Mom said we whined too much after doing fucking nothing.”

Vince couldn’t help but agree. He’d only moved a couple of times when younger, but he’d once had to scrounge together the cash to pay some demons to move their furniture from one shithole to another.

Although half the payment had been some drugs he’d stumbled upon during a minor gig for Quintus at the time. Looking back, he suspected that wasn’t a coincidence. Random stashes of drugs weren’t kept in plain sight near Immanuel’s dead drops, even in the slums.

“If you’re moving, there’ll be a whole lot of bullshit along with it,” Ashley said. “A mansion sounds like hell to furnish.”

“We’re not filling it to the brim to start with.” Nina paused. “Although it probably doesn’t hurt to buy some new stuff and have it delivered. Assuming it won’t take a billion years to get it. Fuck, I should be furniture shopping.”

“Priorities, Nina,” Fia chided.

“Right. Training first, massive sofa I ride Vince on later.”

Several women appeared intrigued by the idea. He half-expected such a sofa to arrive the day he moved in.

“Alright, we’ll aim for… two weeks from now?” Gaby clarified.

“At minimum,” Alessia said. “There may be overruns with security upgrades. But I recommend finding all times we can conduct our plans. If the Yakuza make any moves, we need to be able to respond.”

The group nodded, almost as one. Even Hamelin joined in.

“Then barring anything going horribly wrong, we have a plan to take out Kigenai, and the beginnings of something for Mei,” Vince said. “We’ll work toward that. Now we need to talk specifics of how we’ll fight, gear, infusions, general equipment…”

The day went on for much longer. Vince had made a plan for how to make plans with Fia and Nina, as silly as it sounded. But as Daji had told him, defeating vastly stronger foes required both a good team and sound ideas.

No matter how much they planned, only the execution mattered. Just like the time spent training for the heist, the weeks before Kigenai’s ambush would barely be noticed. The only big event left to do was move house.

- - - - -

Commentary: We're nearly to the (first) big climactic battle. Vince is now doing the planning, in contrast to the heist where he forced himself to remain a hired goon, so he plays a stronger role in coordination now. Character development!