Mob Sorcery 2 - Ch8

Chapter 8

“As much as I love being told to blow stuff up, I’d love it more if you had any intel on tonight’s security,” Vince said.

As he talked, he made his way toward the transport depot. Streetlights and the glow from nearby stores and apartment windows lit his way. The deeply overcast night forced him to rely heavily on that light, but he knew better than to expect to remain hidden from demihuman enforcers. Almost all of them possessed some form of innate night vision.

“I don’t have much, sorry,” Fia said over his earpiece, and he heard some tapping in the background. Presumably she sat in front of a laptop. “Most of what we know is from long-term observation. They have a couple dozen Lockheed Wagner drones buzzing about. You can bet they’re non-lethal only, as the blackshirts don’t appreciate autonomous drones shooting civvies.”

Vince’s expression darkened. Kaziern had splurged to put those drones around a transport depot. Lockheed Wagner was known far and wide for the military aviation equipment they made with the help of a dragon. Their civilian lines barely existed, save for some favoritism shown to Aulfair by said dragon.

“I don’t plan to tango with the drones,” he replied. “Fighting external security gives whoever’s inside a good chance to shut me out. What else they got guarding the place?”

“Patrols, mostly. A few girls ran by the place either for jobs, errands, or whatever excuse they could find. Nothing that might raise eyebrows. One even sent her little brother by, and he’s one of those weirdoes that streams his life online.”

“Wow. So thousands of people saw the depot we’re about to hit?”

“Try nobody. He got sent out precisely because his big sister covers his rent while he’s trying to break out.”

Rough.

“Anyway, what we saw wasn’t too out of the ordinary. They’ve beefed up their patrols a little, but nothing more than we’d expect with a turf war taking place a stone’s throw away,” Fia explained. “There’s a constant perimeter patrol, plus the enforcers guarding everyone loading stuff in the prefab stuff. Didn’t look like they brought any trucks in tonight.”

Vince closed his eyes. Damn. He hadn’t even thought of the possibility that the depot might be full of civilian personnel—or close enough for his line of work—loading and unloading product.

“I guess they don’t want to risk running their supplements and catalysts on the roads right now,” he said, taking a shot in the dark.

“That was Alessia’s guess, and I’m inclined to agree. I had actually hoped to take out some of their trucks as a distraction, but they all vanished the moment the blackshirts vamoosed.”

“Vamoosed? Did you spend some time with your grandmother, Fia?”

She hissed over the earpiece. “Fuck you, Vince.” A cough. “Anyway, try to avoid blowing up the prefabs. The stuff in them is valuable and—”

“Done. I don’t plan to fuck around outside, Fia. It’ll be up to Pola and the other enforcers not to blow them up during any counterattack.”

A sigh. “Good point. Kaziern might try to ice their product and prevent us from using it. I’ll pass that on to Pola and the other capos heading in.”

“Do you know the numbers on patrol?” he asked, trying to stay on topic.

By now, he’d gotten fairly close. The cars and trucks of the nearby main road rumbled, but even they were few and far between this late at night. With only a block or so between him and the transport depot, Vince remained put in a small street, lurking between the street lights.

“Probably a few pairs on perimeter patrol, and a good dozen in the yard,” Fia said. “We’re pretty sure they have a little security post in one of the prefabs. The enforcers who protect the exterior are low on the totem pole. Wagies that wear the uniform but are just glorified security.”

He nodded. “I’ll ignore them, then. I doubt they’ll even faze my barrier. Any clue if I’m tangoing with lions inside?”

“No. Assume you are. Luscarne herself is stationed out here now, and a bunch of her lions are dealing with Vanna. If she’s smart, she’ll have a lieutenant in every facility they care about.”

Vince hoped Kaziern’s chief enforcer wasn’t smart. He hadn’t been terribly impressed so far.

“What’s your plan to sneak in?” Fia asked.

“Sneak?” He laughed. “Fia, I don’t sneak. Do I look like some special agent? I’m going to run in, pop my barrier the instant I think I’m spotted, blow up anyone dumb enough to stand in my way, and get inside the main building before they can activate any big nasty wards. Even if they do, building wards of this power take minutes to charge up. I can bust in before they’re at full strength.”

“That sounds exactly like what I’d expect from you. You and Pola really should just fuck.”

Some noises came over his earpiece, and he heard Fia talking to somebody nearby.

He took the opportunity to make his way toward the depot. His briefing was over, and he didn’t need Fia’s assistance at the moment.

The depot was massive, naturally, and he stood in a side street facing the massive concrete wall surrounding it. Despite the age of the depot itself, the wall appeared new and fairly clean. Likely cleaners removed graffiti from it at least weekly.

Massive lamps showered the entire street with stark, sterile white light, leaving no shadows to hide in. Concrete overhangs spaced evenly along the wall held black domes, within which little red lights blinked. Given the depot took up a couple of city blocks, it stood to reason that Kaziern relied primarily on security cameras. Most of them would be fakes, but Vince had no clue which.

No sign of any foot patrols, though. This entire side appeared to be clear. He remained in the shadows after a quick glance, wary of being spotted by anyone on the cameras.

“You there?” Fia asked abruptly.

“Scoping out the perimeter,” he said. “Pola heard you?”

“Shit, did you become telepathic?”

“I guessed. Did she take offense?”

“No. She didn’t realize I was talking to you and wanted to chat.” Fia’s voice became muffled again, then returned. “Still wants to, even though I’ve explained that this is an actual job.”

“I guess the chitchat makes her think we’re having phone sex. Shall I put on my robe and wizard hat?”

“You know, I’ve never played any tabletop RPGs. Are they any good?”

“Fucked if I know. I use magic in real life. Not sure I need to roleplay it.”

“Don’t they make sci-fi ones? My twin brothers are really big on this space opera one where they’re rulers of some distant solar system cut off from earth and fending off ancient threats or something.”

Vince had to admit that sounded interesting and like some neat escapism. He wouldn’t mind being the ruler of somewhere far, far away from all the shit he dealt with day to day.

Before his mind could wander too far, he focused on the perimeter wall. As ordinary as it appeared with its lack of paint and solid concrete appearance, his senses told him otherwise. Magic lingered within the wall. Nothing too strong, though.

Foundational materials often came with some level of magical reinforcement to hold them up, if not to the extent that something like the Tri Sommet needed. Massive apartment complexes tended to collapse less if their support beams, penthouse swimming pools, and car parks were constructed with rebar that had been reinforced with even initiate-tier spells.

But when it came to defensive reinforcement and wards, anything short of wizard-tier might as well not exist. Vince estimated he could cut through this concrete wall with his flame laser spell as though it were made from butter.

The depot itself comprised of very little. A big yard full of half-cylinder prefab buildings, each large enough to fit a truck inside, the big wall on the outside, and a blocky brick building that the legal work was done in. Plus, Vince guessed a lot of the product remained inside the main building when not being loaded for security reasons.

Nicki had dropped him on the side of the depot closest to the main building. Despite that, he’d still need to cover at least some of the yard.

“I’m heading in. Talk later,” he said.

Stepping out into the bright lighting of the street, Vince drew the sword from his cane. He glanced each way down the street. Still no foot patrol. They must be on another side of the depot. Or taking a smoke break.

Not his problem.

After pointing his sword at the wall, he focused for a moment and incanted his flame laser spell in his mind. A brilliant beam of fiery death burst forth from his sword, coalescing around it like some sort of solar flare.

The concrete of the wall disintegrated on contact, and a good hundred feet of it lit up with purple sigils in a failed effort to repel his spell. Vince raised his cane and drew the shape of a door in the wall. Shouts raised from beyond it by now, no doubt due to the flaming lance blasting through the buildings beyond.

Vince suspected he might be causing a little collateral damage. He’d blame it on other people if Fia asked.

No alarms went off, though. And definitely no telltale shimmering or gigantic glowing barriers cutting off the main building looming ahead of him in the darkness.

Once he’d finished cutting the wall apart, he walked up and pushed against it. Groans escaped him as he heaved, trying to move the massive chunk of concrete off balance. When it finally shifted, he danced away as fast as possible.

As one might expect, the concrete block swayed inward, toward the yard. Then it stopped and teetered backward. The instant it rocked on its shaky foundation, the multi-ton mass unbalanced and crashed toward Vince, exploding all over the street into powder and debris. Good thing he’d moved out of the way, or he’d be part of that debris.

“Oi, asshole, what the fuck do you think you’re—” somebody screamed at him from the far side of the street.

Vince answered with a fireball before rushing through the opening he’d made. Something glanced off the wall behind him and reminded him that the first spell he should always cast in a fight was a barrier.

So he did exactly that after sheathing his sword so he could hold his cane. A solid wall of red light surrounded his body, so thick with magic that none of the weaker enforcers on Kaziern’s payroll could hope to touch him.

An utter mess awaited him on the far side of the wall. A line of prefab buildings stood directly behind the wall he’d carved open, and he’d split the prefabs apart like the cheap shit they were. Concrete, steel, tin, plastic, and tiles collapsed in piles where buildings had stood. One of them contained a truck, but Vince’s spell had sliced apart the rear half.

Five uniformed Kaziern enforcers stood around the wreckage. White barriers surrounded each of them, but they didn’t trust them enough to get close to the destroyed buildings. A couple even hid behind other prefabs.

The moment Vince appeared, all five unleashed spells they’d prepared. He’d barely gotten his barrier up before they blasted him.

Fire, ice, lightning, and light roared around Vince. Not a single mote of magic touched him. He kept running, ignoring the dust kicked up by the spells. A cough escaped him, though. Not from this dust cloud, but some of the concrete dust from earlier.

“Vince, are you hurt?” Fia asked.

“I’m fine,” he grunted. “Talk later.”

A fireball slammed into him as he ran past the enforcers, who stared at him. A couple seemed utterly confused as he ran.

“Don’t just stare, fucking shoot him,” the fireball slinging enforcer snapped. “He’s going for the main building. That asshole’s the one from the news!”

“The news?” A moment passed, then a shrill shriek escaped a female enforcer. “Fuck that! I don’t get paid enough to be eaten by a fucking dragon.”

The lack of non-fire spells chasing Vince down as he ran across the dirt toward the main building suggested his reputation preceded him. Turned out blowing up all of Kaziern’s elite enforcers scared the shit out of their mooks.

Far more powerful magic roiled off the old brick building towering over him. He glanced up at it while slowing down now that he’d reached it.

No windows on the ground floor. Vince lacked the ability to fly or make inhuman leaps, so that ruled out smashing one of the weaker windows and breaking in that way.

A pair of huge loading bay doors remained closed, but he guessed they’d be stuffed to the gills with defensive wards. Their size made them a big target, and all the goods would be near the loading docks.

Vince didn’t risk taking any potshots at the doors either. If he was unlucky, there might be some sort of automated wards. He might only have one good shot before stronger defenses came online. Hell, the fact the interior enforcers still hadn’t reacted remained fortunate. He couldn’t even sense the activation of the main defenses.

Maybe Kaziern had forgotten how. Not like they often turned on the wards. More than a few strongholds fell because nobody read the manual.

That left the front door, or the equivalent. Some old concrete steps led up to a pair of steel doors.

Vince stopped dead in front of them. Flames burst on his back as an enforcer kept trying his luck at breaching his barrier. Utterly unworried by his pursuer, Vince drew his sword once more.

A muffled shout croaked out from behind him and he heard footsteps racing away. No more fireballs, he guessed. Kaziern either needed to pay its enforcers more or they paid them too much, as they had more brains than the thugs that Immanuel hired and knew when to run.

Focusing, Vince tried to replicate the degree of power he once used to penetrate the protections of Lionetti Tower when he demonstrated his flame laser in front of Fia and Pola. If he summoned up every ounce of willpower he had, his spell would obliterate any defensive wards contained within the door.

He pointed his sword at the top of one of the doors, where any locks, chains, or bolts might be. Then he cast his spell.

Once again, the solid beam of fire shot forth. The steel glowed white-hot in an instant. Slag poured forth, bubbling down the door’s surface as Vince’s laser boiled away the solid metal within seconds. His senses told him that he’d punched through it, as he felt flames catch on far less dense materials. He used his flame manipulation magic to limit any fires within the building.

Then he lowered his sword, drawing the laser slowly through the rest of the door. Whatever might hold it closed melted.

At the same time, he felt the thrum of the entire building in his bones as the defenders finally activated the wards. The brickwork shimmered green, indicating that a wind mage had cast the protective wards. Yet the steel door continued to fall apart to Vince’s might.

A barrier would eventually spring to life over the entire building. Maybe several. If Vince was lucky, he might be able to punch through it at first, as the building’s power sources attempted to feed it. If he was unlucky, he’d be stuck outside.

His laser had reached the bottom of the door by now, maybe twenty seconds after the depot’s wards activated. Vince sprinted toward the entrance. He crashed into the door he’d targeted and it slammed inward, the noise of it clattering against the interior wall echoing across the reception hall.

A lion enforcer stood to one side, holding up a charred wooden staff. Shimmering red light encased the lion. With a growl, his entire body flared with blood red magical energy.

“You’ll go no further, Lionetti pet,” the lion snapped.

His staff slammed into the ground before Vince even had the chance to react.

The room transformed into fire. Vince blinked.

No, he’d been trapped inside a solid ball of flames. Only the floor remained intact, formed from some sort of cheap vinyl covering. Vince reached out and felt the ball crackle at his barrier.

He frowned. While he might be able to force his way through the spell, his barrier might fail. If that happened, he’d be dead, or lose whatever body parts were stuck in the flames. Vince’s barrier kept him from melting if the lion turned the heat up, at least.

More to the point, he didn’t need to worry about breathing. Normal fire consumed oxygen. A solid ball of it would leave Vince breathing in nothing but smoke and carbon dioxide by now. He’d suffocate within a minute.

Magical fire required nothing but the caster’s magical power. No smoke erupted from the ball of flames, and Vince retained access to valuable oxygen. This would only change if the lion lost control of his spell and lit the whole place on fire. Even if the magical flames didn’t chew up oxygen, the flames they produced on physical matter certainly did.

“Neat trick,” Vince said.

“Thank you. It will hold you until Lady Luscarne deals with you. I recommend not struggling. My will and focus is powerful enough to oppose yours,” the lion said. He sounded a touch upper class.

So Luscarne had kept some decent enforcers in her pocket. This lion knew his magic better than the moron that Juliet had hired.

“Shall we test that?” Vince asked.

“Oh? You wish to go head to head with a lionfolk such as myself? Your use of a meister-tier spell is impressive, human, but one’s ability to cast a spell does not denote mastery, and my kind have an inherent advantage with fire magic.”

Annoyance twinged in Vince’s mind. Humans were the ones that specialized in fire magic, not lions.

“I thought your kind were earth magic users,” he said, straining to remain polite as he grasped for the spell around him with his own fire manipulation spell.

“All things related to the scorching nature of the Earth are our playthings. The earth itself, light, wind, fire—our affinities are many,” the lion said, likely puffing up with pride.

That sounded like a load of bullshit.

Vince gripped the spell with his mind, along with the flames. Shattering it proved impossible. The lion’s power vastly outmatched his own. As one might expect from a demihuman, they could pump out more magic than a human.

Yet Vince knew he had the upper hand in terms of raw talent. The lion merely stood there, maintaining a spell, confident in his strength. Just as a dagger could slide between the plates of steel armor, so too could Vince split this spell apart at the seams.

He looked at his sword cane, which remained in two pieces as he’d drawn the sword. He pointed the sword in the direction he heard the lion’s voice from. His opponent appeared to be stationary, so this should work.

Then he focused his fire manipulation spell in the small spot directly in front of his sword. With every ounce of magic he mustered, he pulled the ball of flames open. A gap opened up, little by little.

The green eyes of the lion stared at Vince. Then they blinked.

“You think this will avail you?” the lion asked, amused. “My spell isn’t a wall. It cannot be torn apart brick by brick.”

“No, it can’t. You’re absolutely right,’ Vince said. “But a hole is good for lots of things.”

Then he cast his flame laser spell. A hole appeared in the lion’s head, and his barrier shattered the same instant. The wall of flames vanished.

Vince sighed and sheathed his sword. A grimace crossed his face.

“First fight of the night and I’ve already killed someone,” he said. “Nina did warn me.”

“Killed?” Fia asked. “You cut out for a while there. Had me fucking worried.”

“Some hotshot lion put me in a ball of fire. It probably interfered with the signal.” Vince looked around and confirmed nobody else had entered the reception lobby while he’d been busy. “Can’t hear anybody else around here. They might have a skeleton crew present. I’ll clear the place out, shut down the wards, and signal you.”

A simple layout of the depot stood on a wall nearby, indicating that the depot had two loading bays, a primary and secondary warehouse, plus some offices between them on the upper floors. Utility rooms resided underground, beneath the secondary warehouse.

Vince figured to hit the utility rooms first. The biggest and baddest enforcers would likely hole up there, defending the generators powering the wards.

He stepped out of the reception into the primary warehouse. The floor lit up beneath him at the same time it exploded upward around him. Dirt and dust clouded his vision, even as blasts of light burst from the heavens. His barrier crackled and popped in time with the light show.

If only he’d learned Fia’s explosion spell. Vince found himself surrounded by pillars of earth, which had failed to break through his barrier.

Without his new focus, he wondered if he’d have survived the attack.

After a few seconds, the dirt pillars retreated. Vince was ready for his enemies with fireballs in hand.

By the time he left the warehouse, he had to admit he’d done a little too much damage to the place. Fia had been right and he’d been wrong, though. The shelves appeared to contain little, suggesting if Kaziern stored anything here, it was likely in the prefabs outside.

He stalked the halls of the building, finding little more than a few lions and some other enforcers trapped in here with him. No elite hit squad or powerful defenses. Not even drones. They’d evidently deployed all theirs outside for aerial defense. Vince felt let down.

All his preparation suggested this building should have been the big one. Lions with powerful magical defenses at the ready.

Instead, the worst he found were a pair of lionfolk in Kaziern’s bulky uniform guarding the basement entrance.

“You can surrender, you know,” Vince called down to them.

They stood at the bottom of the stairs. A terrible defensive position.

“The same goes for you. You’re outnumbered,” one lion called back, a bog standard white barrier shrouding his body.

Footsteps clattered on the concrete floor and Vince jumped back. A third lion rushed him, hatchet in hand and glowing. A wall of orange light covered his body.

The first blow missed, but would have struck Vince’s head. Or the barrier where his head would have been.

A rumble ensued as a fissure split apart a good ten feet of brickwork and filled the corridor with dust. Vince gripped his cane and focused on his newest spell, aware of the distance between himself and his opponent.

A flame laser would end the fight, but could easily miss. The closest corner or doorway lay at least fifty steps away. That lion moved fast. Fireballs might not penetrate his barrier. Even the fire cage might prove too little, given the power in the spell cast on the hatchet.

Especially as it glowed once more. Whatever spell the lion used, he cast it in a moment.

“Now,” the lion barked down the stairs, before facing Vince again.

That had bought him a couple of precious seconds to cast his fire net spell.

The lion blurred forward even as Vince raised one hand. That axe snapped toward his head again, far faster than he could step away.

A net exploded around the lion’s axe, then his body. Roaring, he tumbled down the corridor under the momentum. After a few moments, he came to a stop. Then he tried to move.

The flames burst forth from the net, and the lion screamed. A blood-curdling noise roared off the walls as his barrier shattered after only a second. His axe clattered against the floor. Vince let his fire sear the lion for a little longer, worried that his foe might get back up.

Sure, he might not kill all his enemies, but they had insurance. If the lion got some third-degree burns, at least he’d stay down and not put an axe in Vince’s back.

The other lions reached the top of the stairs, just in time to see their comrade collapse. Also just in time to catch a pair of fireballs. One went down instantly, the barrier cast by his armor unable to protect himself from the spell. The other cast his own barrier to supplement his equipment and tried to attack Vince.

“Stay down,” Vince said, pointing his sword at the lion.

For once, a lion actually listened. He lowered his hands.

Vince nearly walked past him, leaving the lion be. Then he recalled Nina’s words from earlier.

Right as he turned to face the lion, he saw the enemy enforcer raising his hands, magic coiling in his body.

When Vince descended into the basement, he left behind only two living lions outside the basement entrance.

The utility room proved a confusing mess. Locked breaker boxes, gas lines, closets with confusing labels such as “PML23G.”

All he needed to see was a huge glowing area that suggested Vince should blow it up or press a button. No wonder the enforcers took forever to turn the damn defenses on.

“Fia, do you have any clue how to turn the defensive wards off?” he asked.

“Look for big steel boxes or closets marked with some sort of arcane symbol. It might be in a corner. They’re probably unlocked, given the lions just turned them on,” she said. “Common ones are a tri-star symbol, a twin comet, crossed wands, or—”

“How about a pentagram with Cyrillic numerals?” he asked.

“That sounds about right, yeah. They are Polish.”

Four closets, all unlocked, with different numerals and large levers in them. He used a translation app on his phone to turn the levers off in reverse order, after Fia advised him as much.

The building rumbled, then fell still.

“We’re clear,” he said. “Or close enough. I might have missed an enforcer or three.”

“Good enough. The lions pulled out the instant you hit the depot, so Pola doesn’t want to waste any time,” Fia said.

That sounded bad.

“Get up to a central room and pop the teleport beacon on the ground. Your magic will interfere with it,” she continued.

As he made his way to the primary warehouse, he listened out for any other enforcers. Nothing. No sounds of combat or alarms, either. Then again, none had gone off when the wards activated.

“If Kaziern pulled out from the turf warfare the second I got here—” he began to say.

“They knew we were pulling something, but not where, when, or how,” Fia growled. “Which means somebody is betraying us. Somebody high up enough to know Alessia has big plans for Kaziern. That suggests a capo, as none of the lower enforcers know shit about what your job is beyond blowing stuff up.”

He recalled discussing the details in the bar. Any capo there might have overheard him and Fia talking details and known about his targets. Or Alessia might have talked about her plans in the past, before she hired him.

“So my next target will be a real fight,” he said.

“Yes. Luscarne herself is heading there. That only further proves somebody fed her info, as there’s no way she could know exactly where we’d strike next unless a mole knew.”

Vince nodded, but a smirk rose to his face. He’d get his chance to see if he was truly superior to the chief enforcer of a company. Quite the opportunity.

- - - - -

Commentary: One of the main criticisms I've gotten from alpha/beta readers so far has been that Kaziern can't put up a serious fight against Vince. This is one of those situations where I sort of understand, as they occupy a fair bit of screentime but aren't super dangerous, but I don't see any good solution. If I make Kaziern stronger, it creates balance issues as there are far stronger players that Vince needs to immediately fight (why is Kaziern under Houou's thumb?). Or it makes Vince look incompetent, which is a common trope that's complained about in litrpg and progfantasy due to authors attempting to inject action and tension every few chapters by making mooks as dangerous as genuine villains.

Lockheed Wagner is one of those fun little ways often used in Alternate History's to show subtle changes. Truthfully, the Martin half would probably have been the more historical choice, but Lockheed is the portion of the name that is most recognizable to people in US military aviation and the fact it's now half-German is a nod to the fact WW2 didn't happen.

Anyway, Vince begins to cut loose with a proper job. But things are awry, even if Fia gets to provide plenty of banter and Pola some off-screen entertainment.