“So, I looked into that information packet I got, and it all checks out. I don’t know who sent you and the police that stuff, but they’ve clearly got an excellent information-gathering network. I tried to figure out who they are, but no luck.

“Also, I got some more information on that company. It’s your basic front with a generic name, owned by a dozen shell corps and covered by enough info-sec [Skills] to hold off a building’s worth of spooks. Except those don’t really work too well to cover up things I can see with my own two eyes, and when I got a good look at that place, I found some interesting things.

“First off, that place’s layout doesn’t match the floor plans submitted to the city. The outermost rooms look normal at first glance and I couldn’t see the innermost bits, but everything else has been changed around as if to defend against attacks, making it a nightmare for someone trying to storm that place.

“Secondly, there’s a lot of stuff in there that’s just plain weird. Nothing I’d outright call illegal, at least not to the point where I’d have called in a major raid in back when I was on the force, but also stuff that’s just plain out of place. It just doesn’t belong in a random company which, on paper, is mostly just an accounting firm. Or something to that tune, the description isn’t very descriptive, just filled with enough legalese to look good without making any promises it might have to back up. It’s not just a shell, something’s being done in there.

“I’m afraid that’s all I have for now, I’ll call you when I find out something else.”

Isaac put down his phone as the recording of Brandt’s call came to an end. He hadn’t been face to face with his in-house investigator for almost a week, given that if the man ever asked “who do you think sent us that information”, there would be trouble.

Isaac wished he could give Brandt the same boost he’d given Zambon, but that wasn’t feasible. He couldn’t order Brandt to pursue the random cases, there’d be hard questions asked and while sending him enough information to make it pique the investigator's interest might work, it might also end with Brandt looking for the person who’d sent him that information instead of following up on the leads. Most likely though, they’d go straight to the file cabinet to be forgotten. Brandt had a permanent job, a serious case to sink his teeth into, and no reason to go haring after a random mystery that ended up on his doorstep.

“Ok, I just received a voicemail from the PI I hired to chase after the people who tried to rob my team. He looked into the building as well and he found the same thing I did: the plans don’t match.” Isaac announced to the room, getting a few tired nods in response. Not that he could blame them, GSG-13 and GSG-9 had been making plans for a raid on the property for a few days now and learning that the information they’d been basing everything on was wrong … not fun.

But they had the warrant, so that wouldn’t be a problem. A clear connection to a very worrying criminal group, the robbers, the fact that there’d been a massive search underway for the owners of the building, and tons of circumstantial evidence that said building was involved in criminal activity.

They had GSG-13, the most elite force available to the police, the monster fighters that Isaac would have backed against even some [Raid Bosses]. They also had an unusually large number of outright magical individuals amongst their ranks, a testament to their status as a testbed for [System] integration.

GSG-9, their spiritual predecessors were still focused more on dealing with human criminals, but this was exactly what was needed here. They’d been lacking Isaac’s taught [Skills] and [Aura] control, but that had been rectified as much as possible in the last few days. And they were here with three of the four strike teams they maintained, a staggering concentration for a single deployment.

Two world class law enforcement units, comprised of the best of the best with advantages, training and equipment money couldn’t buy, and not a single member under Level 50. And a Level 97 legendary [Class] holder to back them up if there was any trouble. They should have this in the bag. Hell, they probably did. But there was still the small issue of how they were going in blind.

And getting everyone here had also not been that hard either. Isaac had had Zambon send the same information packet he’d given Isaac to the cops as well, with a few additions that Isaac had figured out himself. It was not something that any police officer worth his salt could have ignored, especially after it had been verified. And Isaac had also had a copy sent to the team, then “checked it out” himself and showed up at the precinct that had been erected right next door to his workplace. His reputation and track record had done the rest.

“Either way, let’s go take this from the top.” Habicht said “Polizeihauptkomissar Wachtel will take the front entrance in plain clothes, accompanied by two officers likewise out of uniform, show the warrant to whoever is manning the reception desk, and see how they react.

“Should there be a hostile reaction, the first group of GSG-9 will go through the front door, the second will enter through the rear, GSG-13 will teleport onto the roof and breach through there. We will spread out according to the standards pattern for clearing and securing a location with an unknown layout and meet in the middle. Anyone encountered will be arrested and cuffed to the nearest available secure anchor point, any potentially hazardous materials will be locked away using the containment spheres the research division has provided. We don’t know just what is there or how dangerous it is, but it almost certainly isn’t good.

“On the other hand, if things go unexpectedly well, group one GSG-9 will clear the building while group two and GSG-13 remain in position, ready to intervene in case things anything happens. Everyone will be removed from the building and guarded, any materials locked down, and only once the building is cleared we will send in the investigative team. Anything to add, Polizeihauptkomissar?”

The man who now stepped up to the board in the front of the room was Habicht’s polar opposite. Where the Polizeirat was short and built like brick shithouse, looking like the could have broken a brick wall with a headbutt even before the [System], this new guy was one of the tallest people Isaac had ever seen, so much so that he probably needed to have his equipment custom made. Where Habicht looked like he should be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wachtel didn’t give the impression he could have been a police officer at all, let alone have passed the strenuous physical entry exams that GSG-9 required. He clearly had, else he wouldn’t have been here, but his appearance was definitely out of place.

“Just one thing: we don’t know who these people are or what we know, but we know they’re dangerous. Many, many of them have Levels that couldn’t have been reached without combat. There are materials on site that should not be there and can be used for destructive purposes. And we’ve been able to verify that they’re connected to the attempted robbery of the Demon Lord’s blood late last year. They’re experienced, know how to fight and aren’t afraid of dropping bodies. Stay vigilant and be prepared for this to get ugly.”

… that had been a lot more than just one thing, but Isaac agreed with everything that had just been said. This was going to go to hell in a handbasket the moment that warrant was produced.

The group broke up shortly, people heading off to make last minute preparations. However, Habicht approached Isaac once the room was empty.

“I’ll stay in the back, keep to myself, and share any information I pick up,” Isaac promised, causing Habicht to chuckle.

“We all know how that worked out last time.”

“Would you rather I have let you get skewered?” Isaac asked with a raised eyebrow.

“My point is: that’s your yardstick for intervening, which I know you know. Anything less can be handled by one of us and doesn’t require me to fill out so much paperwork that it probably should qualify as a human right’s violation.”

“Oof, sorry about that,” Isaac said.

“Better than getting skewered, but not by much.” Habicht added “But that’s not my point. There’s a bit of a legal uncertainty as to what exactly [Aura] is. Is it a part of someone’s body, does touching someone with it technically constitute assault? Or is it merely an odd energy that you can’t get in trouble over unless there’s tangible damage and/or injury?”

“That’s going to be a terrible pain in the ass to sort out,” Isaac observed.

“It is, but that’s not my point. As long as no one ends up hurt or traumatized, you can use your [Aura] without getting into legal trouble. Given your level of [Aura] power and control, I think that making sure everyone in there knows they’re being watched and that they’ve got no chance should make it a lot easier to ensure no one does anything stupid. So, does that sound like something you could do?” Habicht asked.

Isaac took a moment to formulate his response, but by the time he responded, he was forced to fight to keep a feral grin of his face.

“Yeah, I can do that. I’ve actually got a [Skill] exactly for that.” He said.

***

“Nervous?” Wirt asked, looking at Isaac from the side.

“More like apprehensive. Shit is about to hit the fan and I’ll probably be fine, but it’s not a nice feeling.” Isaac replied as he observed the building through his [Aura]. They were both dressed for battle with Wirt wearing the proper GSG-13 tactical gear while Isaac had on a cross between his regular pseudo-medieval armor and modern tactical wear to not quite look as out of place as he would have wearing chainmail while still being different enough to not seem to be “fraudulently impersonating a police officer”. Because yeah, someone would have eventually thrown a fit otherwise.

“If something goes wrong, we’ll protect you,” Wirt replied with a playful wink. He’d been assigned to Isaac as one of his “bodyguards”, though they were clearly intended to be babysitters instead. Well, that and to have witnesses in case something went wrong.

They were also both aware of the fact that if it became necessary, Isaac was the one who would be the one doing the protecting.

Right now, they were in an alleyway out of view of the building they were about to raid, under the protection of Habicht’s [Unseen Approach], which cold-stopped any kind of alarm or detection device other than the good ol’ Mark One eyeball.

… or a vastly stronger detection [Skill], but Isaac had been able to determine there wasn’t one in play.

The [Aura of the Desperate Seeker] was already interwoven with every part of the building he could reach, but deeper in, there was too much interfering. Hostile [Auras], information defense [Skills] and protective enchantments that were layered so thickly that trying to get in might have tripped an alarm. Isaac was absolutely certain that he could get a good look, but there was just so much crap interfering that it wasn’t guaranteed to go well.

Meanwhile, slowly picking his way through, slowly but surely bypassing every layer of security would have risked someone noticing a suspicious person hanging around outside for a damn long time.

Anything he could have tried would have risked detection and this was a situation where he just couldn’t have risked that as it could have spooked his only lead and caused it to vanish. He knew he’d made the right call waiting for reinforcements and the ability to lock down these people with the full force of the law behind him. But not being able to easily look inside something for the first time in this new timeline was killing him.

Still, listening in on the conversation happening in the lobby despite the noise-dampening enchantment was easily within his capabilities.

“Good morning.” Wachtel politely opened the conversation as he walked up to the reception desk, casually pulling out the warrant once he was in range of the receptionist, his other hand producing his badge. The anti-ballistic field around that desk would have made using his gun a risky proposition, but it hadn’t been made to prevent someone from just reaching over and grabbing the receptionist by the collar. After all, that would have made actually being a reception desk somewhat difficult.

“We have a warrant to search the premises, I’m going to have to ask you to step out behind the desk, slowly.”

The receptionist got up, but in the process, his knee smacked into a button hidden under the desk, a panic button, clearly.

One moment, Wachtel and the two officers accompanying him had stood there in the standard government employee suits that were a cliché for a reason. The next, they were fully armored up in tactical gear, urban camouflage covered interlocked Kevlar, ceramic and metal plates covering their limbs and torso, balaclavas capable of deflecting at least a few bullets protecting their heads except for a small slit over the eyes. Typical military helmets rounded out the look, a forcefield being projected down from each of them to provide another layer of protection for their heads and necks. All in all, the armor looked like the bastard lovechild of a medieval knight, modern soldier and SWAT officer, each of them towering over the receptionist.

Even though the machine pistol was still slung over his shoulder instead of being aimed at the receptionist, when Wachtel spoke next, there was steel in his tone.

“Step out from behind the desk, slowly, do not touch anything.”

“The alarm didn’t go off anywhere in the building I can look at,” Isaac called out via the Party.

“Check the core,” Wachtel ordered.

“Yes, sir,” Isaac said and flung his [Aura] forwards. He’d recently figured out of how to separate out both of his auric enhancement [Skill], concentrating them into a single portion of the energy field and vastly increasing their power. So when the relatively sedate sensory [Aura] hit the outer layer of protective enchantments, the forwardmost part glowed a dark, steely grey, hammering into the defenses like a battering ram. No subtility, no tricks, just raw power aimed right at the weakest points of the defenses.

Enchantment after enchantment broke, allowing him to gain an excellent look at the inside.

“The alarm isn’t going off in the building, we’ll likely have company soon.” Isaac warned, “And I might have set off an alarm here.”

“Might have?” Wachtel practically growled back.

“The enchantments set up a resonance when destroyed that would have alerted everyone in the building with an [Aura]. I was able to squash it, but it won’t last.” Isaac said.

“Can you tell if there are any other nasty surprises in there?” Wachtel asked.

“I found some of the obvious ones, armored shutters and a couple of electrified floors, but there is almost certainly stuff I haven’t seen yet.”

“We’re going in, full force.” Wachtel said, the “God-fucking-damnit.” being unspoken but clearly audible nonetheless.

More and more nasty tricks became apparent as Isaac’s [Aura] swept through, countless anti-siege measures designed to utterly trash attempts at storming the place. There were also several things here that made it very obvious this was the correct location.

The back door next to the loading dock practically disintegrated as the [Skill] [Breach] hammered into it, even the ludicrous level of reinforcement meant to delay an invader failing to hold them up for even a few milliseconds.

“Thoma, suppress them.” Habicht snapped as he appeared above the building, the rooftop access door vanishing in a plume of dust as it was likewise hit with a [Breach]. Three teams of some of the most elite law enforcement professionals in the world charged through the building, anyone they met being immediately cuffed.

Each and every security feature, ranging from the steel shutters and the literal death traps of the patches of floor that could be electrified at the push of a button, was identified by Isaac and either avoided or disabled, usually by pointing guns at the person sitting near the trigger mechanism. Sure, the building was designed to have those inside the “defenses”, but Habicht’s rooftop attack had put him on the other “wrong” side and allowed him to bypass everything.

And then there was the auric suppression. Powerful [Auras] boiled out of every officer in there, making it abundantly clear that everyone who saw them that they were powerful even before each [Aura’s] specific effect came into play, and those were as varied as the people using them. Weapons and things that could be used as weapons became practically fused with their holsters or whatever they were lying on, doors flew open ahead of the charging officers, and the few people whose first reaction to seeing the police was jumping up and charging inexplicably ended up slipping on floors that should not have been that slick, ending up on their asses and ready to be cuffed in a simple motion. However, could that have happened?

Meanwhile, anyone who noticed the “invaders” without being near enough to be arrested ended up on the wrong end of Isaac’s [Aura], the full [Burden of Power] pressing down on them. It didn’t actually hold them down or truly hurt them, but it was like having Arnold Schwarzenegger standing in front of you, one hand holding onto your shoulder in an iron grip, staring straight at you, and daring you to do something dumb. You weren’t outright prevented from doing anything, but would you really want to try something?

Most of the time, they didn’t. And when they did, Isaac followed it up with [Death’s Embrace], the freezing cold touch of skeletal fingers brushing down their spines as the black miasma wrapped them, sapping their physical Stats while the sheer menace of the attack froze them in their tracks.

The raid ended with almost three hundred people in cuffs temporarily to ensure they didn’t do anything stupid while the police proceeded deeper into the building, another hundred-odd truly arrested for resisting arrest or even attempting to attack the officers.

All in all, that was it. The investigative teams marched in, with Isaac accompanying them less than ten minutes after Wachtel had marched into the lobby. A proper display of the elite teams’ training and efficiency, even though the resistance had been nil. At least if you decided to ignore those whose attempts at “fighting back” had achieved precisely nothing.

No one was hurt, nothing damaged, and now they had a whole building full of leads and illegal crap to explore. The shielded core … sheesh, that was a whole lot of very suspicious-looking files down in the basement.

With Wirt and Richter, Isaac’s second “bodyguard”, by his side, Isaac headed straight there, all the while using the Party interface to highlight everything he’d spotted on the way.

For example, he’d found parts consistent with those hell tasers that had been used in the robbery. Those weren’t just a clue, but also another noose to hang these people with. In Germany, there were strict laws on the power a taser could have, how quickly they could be reloaded, and in the case of tasers that used launched prongs, confetti with a serial number that came out along with the prongs to make the device trackable. And these things had precisely none of that.

Plenty of materials had been refined to the point where almost everything they could be turned into was illegal. Not outright actionable, but even circumstantial evidence could be damning if there was enough of it.

Then, Isaac finally tripped over the hidden lockbox, metaphorically speaking. Sure, the archives in the cellar looked very enticing, but the box that had literally been phased into the walls, enchanted with runes to show up just like the surrounding materials to even [Auras]. The only reason he’d seen was that it was too perfect, too even, more like the idea of concrete and rebar rather than anything that could exist in the real world, even with [Skills].

Now that he knew it was there, Isaac could have broken the seal, but he held off. If the seals protecting the core of the building had been set up to create an alerting resonance when broken, there was no reason to expect these folks couldn’t have created a way for the seals to destroy the contents. Better safe than sorry.

“I found something interesting upstairs,” Isaac said as he turned on his heels and began marching straight back the way they’d come, his babysitters following suit immediately afterward.

“What is it?” Wirt asked.

“A hidden lockbox, very well disguised as a part of the building. I’m pretty sure there’s either highly incriminating files in there or something very valuable to these people.” Isaac explained as he took the stairs two at a time.

“And what if there’s something dangerous in there? Given what you’ve said you’ve found already, I wouldn’t put it past them to stick something toxic in there.” Wirt pointed out.

“Simple: [Fully Geared: Hazmat Suit].”

Isaac announced a [Skill] as he used it for the first time in months, his armor immediately being replaced by a set of weirdly steampunk-y set of hazmat gear.

“This thing is fully CBRN certified even in cases where the material in question was created using [Skills], at least up to a Level 75 epic [Class] holder.”

“And after that?” Wirt asked.

“We’d need something like that to test the suit with?” Isaac replied dryly “And here we are. Am I allowed to damage the wall?”

They were currently standing in your typical cubicle farm, examining the wall opposite the floor-to-ceiling windows, with the other side of the wall belonging to the main office which was normally meant to be used by the overseer of the cubicle farm.

“Sure, but we need to be able to show we had cause.” Wirt said, “So, are you sure that there’s something in there?”

“Either that or the material in there is a scientific impossibility,” Isaac said, his Kabar manifesting in his hands. A venomous green halo wrapped around the blade, the wall disintegrating as he brought the weapon closer. He waved it back and forth, slowly revealing a typical lockbox cemented into the very bones of the building.

“Holy crap.” Wirt said “Nice catch.”

“Thanks. I …” Isaac started to reply but was immediately cut off as there was an odd sound from outside. A downright unnatural combination of a thunderclap, an electro-music sound effect, and the roar of a large cat. A portal, a large one, opened in a way as to be loud, obnoxious, and unmissable. Someone wanted to make an entrance.

“And what is this?”

The voice was loud, booming across the city like thunder.

“The Pigs decided that people being people, exercising their freedoms in a way that the fat cats don’t like, was a little too much and decided to break out the jackboots.”

What. The. Heck. That was straight out of the “cliché anarchist speech” playbook, who actually talked like that?

“But if an office building scares you enough to cause you such an overreaction, I figured I’d give you a reason to be scared off. [AXIS MUNDI]!”

The world outside rumbled, buildings creaking, and loose objects going flying. For one, maybe two seconds, that seemed to be the only sound that existed in the world. Then, the screaming started.

Isaac whirled around, Balmung already in his hand and glowing a red so bright it dyed the entire room crimson.

“You two, go get the box out of the wall, stick it in your inventory but do not bring it back out unless you’re in a secure space with the bomb squad, hazmat team, and every other kind of booby-trap dismantling team you have access to.” Isaac yelled. As tempting as it was to just rip the box free the rest of the way, that would likely end with it blowing up in his face, with the same going for any other quick and dirty method of retrieval. It was also highly unlikely he’d be able to retrieve the box when the maniac currently trashing the city outside came knocking.

He was already charging out, but then, there was another portal that flashed open. Silently, subtly, and with the mess outside, Isaac would have missed it if it hadn’t been inside his [Aura]. Even as he turned to face the newest arrival, he felt his connection to any Party member outside this room shatter and a [Skill] slam into place around them that would make it damn hard for outsiders to see in.

“Well, looks like it’s a good thing I got here when I did. You guys were about to find the stuff you really weren’t meant to see.”

Once again, Isaac spun around, ready to tear the newcomer’s head off, but was forced to dodge instead as a beam of vile gunk splattered past him. Ew.

The person who’d just arrived wasn’t nearly the amateur they’d seemed to be at first glance. Sure, they made stupid quips, but they still attacked immediately upon exiting the portal.

And what an appearance they struck. Tall, androgynous, completely wrapped in dark robes with an odd, rainbow-like pattern across the top, giving them the appearance of an oil slick. The only part of the outfit that wasn’t made from the odd material was the bone-white, expressionless mask that covered the assassin’s face.

Sludge that made even sewage look appealing by comparison floated around them, like some kind of infectious ooze monster straight out of a horror movie. Suddenly, Isaac was very glad that he’d put on his suit now because this was about to get ugly.

Even as multiple sprays of the doubtlessly highly toxic and/or infectious mess lashed out at him, a beam as thick as his arm hammered into the lockbox he’d just retrieved while Isaac was out of position, punching through the outer shell as if it were tissue paper and utterly ruining whatever had been on the inside.

“Run!” Isaac roared as he charged, hellfire welling up around him to wipe out most of the attacks meant for his babysitters. They were far less well protected against whatever weapon his foe was using than he was, and they lacked his incredible recovery potential. He hadn’t gotten very far trying to analyze that crap, but he could already tell that it was incredibly dangerous.

Suddenly, he figured out just what was going on here. The guy outside was the distraction with the cliché insults, while this fella was here to destroy all the evidence. On one hand, the man who’d just cast an area of effect cooldown [Skill] in the middle of a major city was going to earn this group the label of terrorists and see them hunted to the ends of the Earth. On the other, that likely would have happened anyway after this building had been searched from top to bottom. This way, they’d be left without any leads.

But for that to even become a problem, he had to survive this.