Riefen: "Krieg!" und wollten Macht,

Mann, wer hätte das gedacht;

Dass es einmal so weit kommt.

- 99 Luftballons Nena

Brother Roger adjusted his tie as he sized up the teleportation gate to Berlin.

On a silver plaque above the archway read: “Brandenburg - 9th Gate”.

Mockingbird turned his attentions to Roger and then to the gate and back again.

“It’s not the teleportation gate, buddy, it’s something else,” he said to his battle avatar.

He reached for his Bible and opened it to Isaiah 35:4 “Be strong, don’t fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution, he will come to save you.”

It was only 30-minutes ago he was talking with his pregnant sister, Rachael. She desperately urged him to leave this mess alone. He refused to state that he needed to finish what he started and finally put this evil to rest.

She pleaded with him to turn his desire for revenge into the love for his soon-to-be nephew. As Roger almost began to give in her knew deep down that if he allowed that vile witch to continue her plan, the world would not be a safe place. Evil wins when good does nothing.

She agreed and told him she would talk to the Deacon if he could come up with anything at the Savory House.

He stepped into the portal. After a few nauseous minutes spent traveling from one side of the planet to the other he arrived in AFC Berlin.

He glanced over his shoulder to see “Chi-town Gate” written on the portal he stepped through. He was now in Berlin Germany.

“First things first, bring up a list of languages available for sale on the AFC boards,” Roger asked Mockingbird.

Mockingbird accessed the sales listings across the various AFC-banks, guilds, and most of the reputable trading sites where just about anything could be bought and sold.

He found one listing that stuck out. The seller, Effluvium, had listed the ability to: read and write the German language (college level proficiency), a 10th grader’s knowledge of the German history, regional cultural mannerisms and seven accents for the unusually low cost of one point of fate (the local currency of a Fate Mage).

Roger made the purchase. What would normally take years to learn, Brother Roger learned a new language as if he lived in Germany all his life. After the information dump was completed he felt a slight pop from the right side of his head.

(Translated from German) “Suddenly, I’m in the mood for a jelly donut,” he mentioned to Mockingbird.

“Ich bin ein Berliner!” squawked his battle avatar.

Roger rolled his eyes as they headed off the floating pathways to the city below. Mockingbird quickly accessed the Berlin phone book for the Savory House. It was not found. The avatar expanded the search to 50km (since they were in Europe) with no results. Mockingbird expanded the hunt.

Five minutes later Mockingbird blurted out “found it!

Savory House is in Straufen Germany. It’s about 821 kilometers away, sorry 306 miles. Wait, do I use miles or kilometers now?”

“We need to get a car rental,” Roger replied back.

After a nine-hour drive Brother Roger and Mockingbird finally arrived in Straufen Germany early in the morning. The city was nestled in a valley, being watched by ruins of a castle on top of the hill.

“I don’t care for this place,” whispered Mockingbird from the dashboard of the car.

Roger scanned around, but couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. As they drove closer to the Savory House, both Roger and Mockingbird felt a gnawing feeling deep down.

Roger parked his dark blue coup. He sat back in his chair as he carefully noted the layout of the neighborhood. He nibbled on a pretzel that he had purchased hours ago at a gas station.

Forty minutes later a black luxury car pulled close to the restaurant, before driving off. Quickly, Roger fished for his black-rimmed glasses and put them on.

The glasses automatically adjusted its tint as it polarized the incoming light. The ultraviolet rays of the sun slowly became more prominent. He could see the rays bending which revealed the outline of a human.

Next, he activated the infrared enhancer. The effect allowed Brother Roger to see the infrared light, that’s normally unseen to the human eye, and see heat emanating from the figure.

He lifted the now tinted glasses and the figure was gone from his sight. Whoever was there was using magic to obfuscate their presence. Brother Roger noted the time, as Mockingbird recorded.

After another 15 minutes, a similar luxury car drove up. This time a woman with an hourglass figure stepped out. She was cloaked under an invisibility spell as well.

Approximately, 15 to 20 minutes, a slightly different car arrived, dropped off an invisible passenger and drove away.

“I see people going on, but no one is leaving,” Roger mentioned to Mockingbird, who was in full record mode.

As minutes transitioned into hours, he received an AFC-Instant message from Rachael. He brought it up in “picture-in-a-picture” not wanting to take his eyes off the Savory House.

The message read: I’ve talked to the Deacon, and he says that he was convinced that something was amiss after Ifrit failed to show up for the debate. Even more suspicious, none of the other Satanists have been seen for days. Our contact at the Lutheran Church said he has spotted a number of satanic cultists trickling through the Brandenburg Gate.

Brother Roger sent a reply: In Strafen Germany, investigating Savory House. I’m going in. If I fail to report back to you in 30 minutes, please send help. I'll lay down a homing beacon.

He quickly said the Lord’s Prayer while Mockingbird jumped into his pocket. Brother Roger adjusted his tie and quietly exited his car.

As he tapped his glasses at the shaded filters transitioned clear. He opened the door and appeared to examine the menu. Inside the store clerk and two others (invisible) were behind the counter. The visible man slightly jumped in surprise.

“Uh,” Brother Roger said in Swiss-German accent, “Pardon me, but do you have any,” pausing to examine the menu again “fresh potato soup and veal roulade?” H

e pushed his glasses up. The gray haired clerk has a puzzled expression but quickly regained composure. Brother Roger asked again and spoke slowly as if talking to a child. The man nodded in agreement, despite the thick accent.

Roger felt the icy tentacles wrap around his mind. Someone was making a not-so subtitle attempt to read his mind. Mockingbird, ready for a possible mental threat, immediately activated passive countermeasures.

A long and boring story played out of a chemical engineer, who specialized in laser design, was traveling to the CERN Lab in Geneva. Before the intruder could probe deeper Mockingbird released the contents of a college level engineering textbook along with a few trigonometry equations. One of the cloaked individuals took a step back and was forced to lean against the wall for support.

In a brief flash, Brother Roger remembered the time he and Mockingbird helped a fellow petitioner with a few college classes on the earth realm.

Neither of them knew trigonometry or about chemical engineering. So Mockingbird memorized the school textbook and feed it to Roger over a series of days. The battle avatar never deleted the information, just in case they needed it again. The individual stumbled out, as the field flickered. Brother Roger forced down a chuckle.

When the food finally arrived, Roger paid with a fresh crisp 50€ note. He hurriedly left the Savory House with his food. Once inside the car, he drove off towards Geneva. Mockingbird focused on the magnetic strip wove inside the 50€ note.

As the people inside began to talk, the metal strip vibrated acting as a passive listening device. Brother Roger called his sister on the cell phone’s loudspeaker and while Mockingbird broadcast the conservation.

The two individuals inside began to speak. Brother Roger accessed the Church database records for a voice comparison. The analysis came back:

RESULTS:

Names:

Loco-Zamuno / Olive-137

Affiliations:

Loco-Zamuno – Church of Saturn in AFC – Houston

Olive-137 – Church of the Reformed Satan AFC - Houston

The two individuals began speaking backward, Mockingbird provided the translation.

Loco-Zumuno – Who the bloody hell was that guy?

Olive-137 – I dunno.

Brother Roger apologized to his sister for the foul language. Soft footfalls echoed off the tile floor as someone was coming into the room. As she spoke Roger recognized her as Whippoorwill.

Olive-137 – Did the mind mage get anything off him?

Whippoorwill – He gave her a migraine. She told me that he was some sort of egghead from CERN. *pause* Do you hear that?

Olive-137 – What?

Whippoorwill – That echo.

Olive-137 – What echo?

Whippoorwill – Close up the shop! This operation has been compromised; begin preparations for the ritual at the castle now!!! Loco, activate the static noise generators, right…”

White noise filled Brother Roger’s and Mockingbird’s car. He activated his glasses. A soft white glow emanated from his bag of food. Inside the veal, the tendons glowed with a minor magic enchantment.

Like the magnetic strip, the tendons vibrated when it came into contact with any noise. Brother Roger tossed the bag of food out the window and changed the direction he was driving.

The Deacon was listening in along with his sister.