Paranoid Investigation [Drug Bust Case File #38 Mission]

"I think you need to go back to Build-A-Bear and get your money back."

The witch stood in the doorway of the lab with her foot cocked against the wall and a cigarette in hand. Her voice wasn't seething with anger and she wasn't about to erupt like she had been the rest of the time she was here. A cold chill ran into the room from the remnants of when it was iced over, along with the strangely blue and inviting smoke from her death stick.
"Spooky. No wonder the other demons were afraid." The stickly sorceress ground out her smoke along the wall, pushing off as she swung her legs in a slow pace. She'd been quiet up until now. Patty had been thinking. She didn't like to think, she just liked to get it and then get it done. But her way wasn't working and she realized that now. Because they were getting played. So she hung in the back while everyone else dealt with this the way that they would instead of losing her shit like everyone expected. Doc was quiet like he always was when things were fucked up, Jingles acted like nothing was wrong like he always did, Cowgirl tried to be the voice of peace and Tammy lost it harder than Wicked ever could of. Normally she got angry. And she was. Patty was so freakin' pissed right now but throwing a fight and destroying everything wasn't gonna work this time because these people were cockroaches. They'd survive the fallout. So the hate quietly radiated off of her as she kept her distance and watched crazies get taken apart as she planned a way to dissect these sick fucks instead of stomping them. And that meant she had to think. Because no one thought she was capable of it, so they couldn't predict what she'd do and that made her just dangerous enough.

"Y'know... I've been thinking..." began the twiggy girl ominously, "...and I'm thinkin' we just got played." She brought her staff to hand and began to tap it along the ground as she walked. Something to hold that she could do something with. Something that took attention and energy.
"So the faceless demon right? ...I think it wanted this to happen. Think about it, the toilet demon was just doing it's own demon thing or whatever and the other ones are just what you think but demons only want what they want and this one told us how to get the key. And shut the cameras off. Said it got tired of the drug trade after a while too. And this dude? He's goin' nowhere, he wants us to show up. Bet money one of those jackasses will be there and the other one won't because we'll be kicking the flunky's shit in, not the boss so we look for him when we're done. ...there's no reason the boss should be here. They're packing out. I think we've been coverin' they're fuckin' trail. No more footage. Machine is gone. Stuff's packed up and left and no one knows what happened."

Wicked went silent for a good moment to let her words sink in. It didn't add up or make any sense. But one thing did stand out.
"Pssssssh. We're walkin' into a fuckin' trap but we got one thing and it's that they're runnin' scared and didn't expect this much heat. One of'em's gonna stay behind and get his ass beat no matter what but if we take too long the big fish gets away. C'mon, we're movin'."

The witch turned to calmly walk out the door before pointing her staff lazily in her direction of travel and zipping off in a flash. Giddy was terrible and fucked up and it ruined lives but these people didn't care. It made sense why they didn't care.

Giddy didn't fuckin' matter. The Devil's Auction did.

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After a quick stop just enough to get out of sight Wicked kept moving, barely slowing down. They were getting closer. This place was pretty deep in and way in the back, where all the important stuff happened. You always kept your most valuable stuff back where punks couldn't mess with it. The witch slowed down to a jog and a quick walk, stepping gingerly to the door in front of them. Sure looked important. That was a shame. Not.
"Never said it'd stop me. I don't give a fuck if it's a trap, dude. Everyone has a plan until they get rocked in the fuckin' dome piece, pricks like that haven't stopped me yet and they're NOT. GONNA." Patty nonchalantly pulled her revolver, snapping open the cylinder to check the shells. She was still thinking. Killing these asshats would be easy. Too easy. She had to think of worse things to do and nothing she usually would do would work. Busted teeth, broken kneecaps, a hole in the chest frame, none of that would scare these fuckwads. But it was coming to her. She had an idea of something way more terrifying.

Rampage followed the others and as they got to the door she looked at the group "Okay...yeah they have an advantage, but at least we know they might have a trap waiting, so keep on your toes, and please...don't try to be a hero..." she said looking to Runaway and oddly Wicked, "I know you Wanna bust them up, so lets make sure we all survive to do that...granted I doubt they could actually take you down Wicked....honestly they are going to have a tough time with all of us...but if you guys need to hide behind me eh?" she said as she checked her cestus, not that she really needed to, no way was Astarte about to let herself fall off.

Both her and Astarte where also getting rather worked up and excited, and it was starting to show as a flush came to her cheeks suddenly, and she hopped up and down like a boxer would before a match before she looked over her shoulder "Maybe we all can get a bite to eat after....your invited to Detective" she said with a wink towards both Wicked and Raidou

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Wicked took the lead now that they were headed to the endgame. As they passed a few of the other enemies, Tamsin felt the adrenaline in her veins pumping. She wanted to beat the crap out of them. But her anger had cooled since the fight with the eyepatch guy. It had reminded her sharply that while she was powerful, that didn't make her invincible. There were kids that would miss her if something happened. Wicked was right, it was time to be smart, not reckless.

Reaching the door finally, Tamsin felt an odd sense of foreboding....and anticipation. Not far from her, Rampage was bouncing on her toes like a boxer, Doc was recovering his energy, And wicked was checking her Revolver. Tamsin took a deep breath, walked up to Patty, and looked up dead into her glowing overshadowed eyes. "I know I'm not the strongest. I could go down again like I did in the forest, and I..." She balled up her gauntleted right hand. "I don't want to be a liability to you all. But even so...please let me start the fight. If I need to fall back, and sit out I will. But I want the chance to fight him. Whoever it is. Please." She popped a few pills before she turned from Wicked to face the door, restoring the energy lost to her from their rapid movement. "It's not that I have something to prove. But I made him a promise. That I'd introduce him to my fist." She brought the hand up to look at it. "And I intend to make good on that."

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"Hah ha... a hero. Yeeeaaaaaah..." the witch chuckled darkly. There weren't any heroes here except maybe Raidou. Patty was just gonna hurt someone because they pissed her off. Talk shit, get hit. Run your mouth, get knocked the fuck out. It was like the freakin' laws of physics or something. But this wasn't for justice or because it was the right thing to do. Wasn't really for revenge either. Patty was gonna rip these people to shreds because they made her mad. She lived in the drug culture. This is just what happens when you piss people off, someone stands up and decks you in your punk-ass teeth and you better be able to take it.
"Well like if they do then I'm doing as much damage as I can before that happens, but I'm either winning or going down swinging. I DON'T have any options." The skinny psycho snorted. Her voice was lacking in her typical enthusiasm. It wasn't a good feeling to be trapped and here she was. Trapped. If Giddy got into the Suppressants then she was dead already, just a matter of time. So it was here and it was now or not at all. Wicked shrugged.
"Shyeah, sure. But not tonight, like, tomorrow, I'ma go trashed and, like, I dunno, go break the law or some stupid shit." She flicked her revolver closed with a snap. "Like I know it's not easy to tell 'cause I'm not screaming and tryin'a blow shit up right now but I am really, REALLY pissed off so I'm gonna systematically rip this dude into a hundred pieces and then go find something to drink and something to break. Kay? Kay."

For once since she could remember it, Patty really wasn't up to talking with anyone. At the moment all she wanted was to pop pills and get left the fuck alone. Maybe fight someone. Maybe. Staying this angry was exhausting and it was getting tough to fake the happy and that's not something she wanted to be known for. Patty didn't wanna be some bitter bitch, she wanted to be happy, and she wanted people to think she was a happy person so then everyone could just chill and no one would ask her what's wrong or if she's okay and then she wouldn't have to deal with it.

The witch whistled and held up her hand, two beads between her fingers.
"Yo Cowgirl. Jingles. Catch." She casually flicked them through the air at the two.
"Use those on anyone that eats pavement, they pick you up. Doc can't pick up all the slack if we gotta pick up Doc, right?" Just about ready now. Wicked snapped the hammer back on her revolver. Time to paint the walls red and the floor black. But she got stopped. Tammy had something to say.

...she got it. Kinda. Patty would of never asked permission but some shit you just had to do, even if it's not the best idea.

...whatever. Fuck it. She could pretend to be happy for just a little while longer.

"Nah bitch!" she crowed, giving the short one a push on her shoulder. "Like, you totally got somethin' to prove. So we're gonna go in there and prove it together, m'kay? Some people you just don't fuck with." Her head rolled on her shoulders as her posture relaxed. Damn she was so tired. Tired of all this crap. She put her hand down to stop Tamsin from taking the pills she was about to and the handcuff appeared on her wrist, unlocking with a snap of her fingers and shattering on the ground. The spectral witch appeared to circle around Tamsin and peer over her shoulder from behind with her arms thrown over both.
"And we're gonna show'em! Ain't that right?" The warmth from the embrace was a special one, one that warmed the soul and restored her energy.
"...but when you get blood on your knuckles you get back, you're done. Get me? We got this just fine, but if we don't then someone's gotta go find the other spots and get backup. And you run the quickest so you've got the best chance of getting out. We'll be counting on you, aright? You can handle yourself." Of course, yeah, it wasn't the real reason. There wasn't a good way to say that Wicked didn't want a kid involved in their cornucopia of fucked up shit and if anyone made it out in one piece it should be her. Everyone else knew better. But she'd never say that.

"*Haaaaaaa* We ready? This is cutting into my not-being-here time." Wicked frowned with an exhausted look as she turned the key in the lock, putting her cocky smile back on once more when she threw the door open hard enough for it to slam.

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When the door opened, the team would finally be witness to the significant operation that was going on. Like through the earlier screen, it was a combination of a garage and storehouse in one. But this time, a lot of the boxes were stored inside and they could finally see a truck was stationed near the exit with several of the clown-like flunkies seemingly finishing up what looked like packing up all of the Giddy. However, the team would find their attention caught by the two individuals they saw through the security cameras. The one with the horned mask did not seem at all amused by their crossed arms while the paper bag man seemed a little giddy... as Raidou had her pistol aimed at both of them.


"You've been a real thorn in our side, do you understand how much all of that machinery cost? This entire operation?" Was all Faust said, as if in truthful declaration. He seemed to be livid, almost shaking in his very shoes. But the bagman quickly patted against his shoulder as if trying to calm him down, which seemed to keep it restrained for the moment. Though neither seemed to fear the Kuzunoha nor her group at all.

Raidou spoke out tersely as her index finger rest aside of the trigger, ready to pull in an instant. There was a real cold loathing in her voice. The cat that accompanied her gave a glance in her direction. "I'm afraid I care little. Why are you doing any of this? Turning people psychotic and into demons?"

"To spread happiness, of course~!" The baghead Psyche-Terrorist replied happily in a saccharine tone with both arms wide open to the room, almost seemingly excited about the new subject at hand. Even going so far to form a heart shape with his hands and over his chest. But when they noticed the hard look from the detective, a more even tone explained as they put their hands in their pockets. "I'm not lying. It's all a part of my little experiment to maximize as much joy and happiness in this crude fake city... all for the True Queen. Have none of you noticed how much of a sham this entire city is? Surely you must know if you have those masks on your faces."

"Against their will." Raidou grit out.

"On the contrary, many willingly agreed to the arrangement. Save for some... I suppose. I'll give you that. But they deserved to be used, otherwise there'd be no point in their lives. After all, they chose to forfeit it when they give in to their addictions for the next new high. We're just making good use of them. There's nothing more mortifying than having no purpose or use at all." Faust interjected with a dismissive wave of his hand. Then, an exasperated deadpan escaped from him and towards his partner. "Why are you even bothering to explain anything to these troglodytes, S? We--I have a schedule to fulfill."

"Please, we're the villains here, aren't we? It's obligatory to fulfill all the check marks before make our merry way out in the night! Ha ha ha!." S cackled back at him and sighed back. "I suppose you're right. Can't keep you away from that prize of yours in the auction or that snapping turtle will break free, eh?"

Doctor Fate's grip tightened on his staff, his expression as unreadable as ever behind his mask, as they entered. He was tired, angry, and more than anything, ready for this night to be over. But there was just one thing to take care of, first. Well, maybe two things. One of them seemed far more threatening than the other though. Of course, they both seemed to be the enemy. Fate drew his revolver, following Raidou's lead, and settled on pointing at the one wearing a bag on his head. He'd seen enough to know the one talking about 'making people happy' was probably the one to watch out for. The Infinity glinted, as Fate took a deep breath. "I don't care how much it cost. You probably paid too much for it. Sorry to say, though, you're probably gonna be paying a bigger price in a minute. After everything I've seen tonight..." The doctor's tone took a cold turn. "I'm gonna have to say fuck the hippocratic oath. The only ones who deserve what they have coming are you two, after all. " He'd already helped kill one drug head who HADN'T tortured people for god-knows-what. Might as well take out two more while he was in the neighborhood. After a moment, Fate chuckled though.

"I don't give a damn what the Queen's up to. You're thinking of the other assholes wearing masks...well, besides you two. Questioning the Queen was bad for business, and Fate wasn't interested in fighting in that war. If it came to it, he'd simple hang up the mask for good. But he wouldn't trust any 'freedom fighters' that couldn't think ahead. Or any freedom fighters that would split up their faction over a simple difference in ideals. "Hey, Bag-Head. Since you seem like a big fan of cliches, why don't you monologue about what you get out of this, huh? In plain english, so us normies can understand it. Tell us what's so important it justifies...whatever the hell you call this operation." He doubted it would work, but there was no harm in trying. There weren't many ways this ended without violence, anyway. Guns had already been pulled out, and there probably were many scenarios that ended with these two letting them just walk away anyway, after what they'd seen that night.

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Tamsin didn't ask for Patty to help her, or the for kind words that followed. She knew that Patty was just as upset at Tamsin was, and asking her to try to curb those feelings by being nice to her was...well, it would be unfair. But Patty did it anyway.

Tamsin lowered her hand with the pills as Wicked put a hand on her shoulder and her Persona came out, putting an arm around each of them like sisters or friends might. The embrace was warm, and the kindness of it made Tamsin's goggles fog up a little bit. She felt so angry. Angry at the enemies, angry that she wasn't as strong as every one else, Angry that she needed to be protected. But in that moment all she had to feel was gratitude, and it was almost enough to make her cry. The anger in her chilled to something sharper and less brittle, like molten metal molded to a fine point and cooled. She wasn't sure what it was, but it was something she could weaponize. The embrace over, Tamsin was only able to choke out a quick, "Thank you..." Before having her attention returned to the task at hand. She checked the magazine of her hand gun with a quick, practiced motion. She was checking the sight when Patty told her that she might have to run.

The prospect of doing that filled her with a nameless fear. These people had quickly become very important to her. They were like the disfunctional family she'd never had. Like the orphans, only instead of relying on her all the time, she could rely on them. It was one of the happiest feelings she could claim, and she wasn't about to lose that here. Not over a giggling upturned sack of groceries. "No...We'll all make it out alive. don't worry."

Tamsin readied her weapon, and followed after Wicked, stepping up beside and a little behind the witch.

The enemies that faced them were the ones they expected. But there was something Tamsin had not expected from what Patty had said before -- the truck was still there. They had to do something to disable it from leaving, She thought to herself. Granted, it could be full of enemies, but they didn't have the technology to track a vehicle, and the likelihood of the people this organized being able to be tracked by mundane means was unlikely. They had to stop this supply train here by any means necessary...

It was Doc that spoke first as the two began talking back and forth. Their mannerisms were nonchalant, and they didn't seem bothered by the group at all. That was fine. Being underestimated gave them power. Tamsin looked to Wicked, ready to follow her lead whether she chose to attack or keep talking. She might be buying time for an opening to attack the truck. That was Tamsin's mode of thinking, anyway. Trusting that they were on the same page, Tamsin pointed her gun, which she had initially pointed at the bag head, to the other guy. "It's hard to find good help these days, isn't it? Everyone is either a self-righteous hypocrite or giddy clown with no desire other than their own immediate satisfaction." She offered in a sympathetic tone. "Maybe that True Queen of yours should have hired us instead."

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Well, she wasn't alone as the witch held her own gun up sideways at the freakin' suits. Everyone was at their wit's end with these slummy dillholes. Wicked just lost her cool a lot harder than they did. Raidou was on the edge and Tammy was gettin' real bitter about it. Even Doc was about to throw hands but Doc was willing to talk. That was the smart thing. Patty didn't feel like doing the smart thing but after tonight she learned that if you wanted to curbstomp shit stains like these you had to think about how you wanted to do it. So she just had to think. And she thought of something, but her finger twitched on the trigger when the smarmy fuck in the suit started running his mouth. Somethin' about talkin' shit earlier? Yeah. Just like clockwork.

"AAAAAH HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAA...!" Her disruptive laughter was abrupt and nearly drowned the two of'em out. The druggie girl wore the most twisted, sadistic grin underneath the shade on her face, one that could be felt.
"Are you suuuuure? Are you absolutely suuuuuure about that?" she taunted, leaning in.
"Are you suuuuuure you're the villains here? ...ah ha ha ha because I might just fuckin' surprise you!" She was right. It was about the Devil's Auction after all. This was a means to an end and that was even MORE enraging. Fucking over people like her wasn't even part of some big plot, it was just the runoff from their rancid shit.
"So like... I don't know if you follow the news or anything but yeah. We're not like those people. I didn't come all this way and wreck your SHIT-" the witch gestured to herself, implicating her as breaking the machine. If she got to be mad so could they. Didn't matter, they were gonna eat street anyway.
"-for like justice or to protect people or to do the right thing or any'a that. Ha ha ha nooooooo, no I'm here 'cause you pissed me the FUCK off!"

The witch began to shake and growl, tensing her hand around her gun as her chest rose and fell.
"So yeeeeaaaaah, I'm not here to stop your plan or anything. I'm just gonna murder you. ....Hee hee ha hah you gave up YOUR life when you crossed the wrong bitch, asshole. I'll give ya somethin' to be fuckin' scared of." The witch squeezed her finger around the trigger guard, itching to just yank back the trigger and turn them both into blood mess. But she had to be smart this time. Fuckin' pissed her off. She relaxed all at once, taking a casual stance.

"Nah! Hee hah nah, go 'head, tell'im! Talk it out! We already know how this is gonna go, even if you get away we'll track you down just how we did last time." Sylph could track the truck, just like she tracked the dealer the other night in case it got away. But she couldn't say as much, not out loud until lead started flying.
"Humor us or some shit, funny guy. We wanna know about your experiments and the turtle or whatever. I wanna laugh before you suck-start this pistol.

...try an' go anywhere and you're getting one in the back of the head, suit. You're officially on my time now, bitch."

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Now unlike the Others Rampage was actually mostly okay, she had honestly experienced far worse, seen worse, so she stayed silent and let them rant and rave for the time being, as the door opened she walked in with them. Everyone else was carrying their gun, so she decided she would just join in, so she took the large gym bag off her shoulder, it was one she had picked out of the trash honestly, and she pulled her minigun out of it and looked to the people talking.

Honestly she was surprised that no one was shooting yet considering how the group had been reacting till now, hell even Wicked was being very...patient? No that was the wrong word...Sensible? Hard to say considering...ether way everyone was showing some restraint at least, though was now the time? yeah they wanted more information, but then the truck got a chance to get away...

So rather then point at the two guys, Rampage decided to point her rather large gun, at the truck, thankfully it wouldn't really need much spin up time meaning she could lay into it if they tried anything stupid. But she simply stayed quite as everyone else talked.

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Neither Psyche-Terrorist appeared to flinch at the number of firearms that were now aiming at them at all. They were so assured of themselves, or at least that's the impression Raidou was having. But what gave them that confidence? So much that both of them just simply laughed at the team's faces for all of the bravado they were being given? Was it a bluff?

"So we have a doctor in our midst! Absolutely deeelightfuuul~ If you must know, it's all a part of my grand experiment to solve a problem! Not many people are happy, so many are soulless and devoid of any joy in their lives. So I figured, hey? Why don't I make Giddy? Surely it must help out someone out there! And I get to spread my Queen's blessings to everyone! Like the saying goes, kill two birds with one stone! Ha ha ha! And it was worth it." The paper bag-headed Psyche-Terrorist replied to Rory with an even tone, but cackling along the way as they kept their hands in their pockets and rolling their shoulders for effect. Though they brought up their head towards Tamsin with what felt like a sneer. "Oh we're always looking for new recruits. There are so few of us that there's always room for more to share in the goodness of our Queen. Though, if you'd like, you can join us. Don't worry, we won't bite~"

"As amusing these hilarious threats can be... I tire of this. Unfortunately for you all, you won't be getting anything from me. If you don't mind, I have a pet turtle to attend to... S." Faust gave a pointed look towards his business partner. Even despite the mask covering their face, Faust seemed to get it and shook their head in disappointment. A huge trembling sudden quaked throughout the whole room, shaking hard enough to initially make it hard to aim. But even if they went to shoot, something erupted from the concrete ground between the two parties. Dust and debris blanketed everyone's sight... and a bestial scream cut through the entire building. The blanket exploded away to greet everyone the sight of a armored behemoth, almost taking up the entire immediate space between the parties... to the point they would have to shoot through it in order to hit the ringleaders and the truck.


The two men would begin to leave and enter the truck. As they did, S would pull out what looked like a remote and his thumb has already been pressing on a button this whole time. But suddenly it would break as they clenched their fingers into a fist, consequentially causing the beast to scream once more and begin to heave angrily at the party. Just as the truck began to leave, Raidou already took the cue from Patty to dispense a summoning tube. A flash of green and Sylph was already on her way towards the truck, but not before disappearing from the naked eye herself... leaving the beast to the party as both the fairy demon and the truck were gone.

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"Yeah I'll be fuckin' enjoying this alright..." the witch muttered with a steep tilt of her head as she began to close in on the two. But they ignored her. Out of everything that's happened tonight that was something that set her off immediately, getting treated like she was nothing.
"What the fuck did I JUST say, asshole!? Turn around and die like the-" At lack of better judgement Wicked began to charge the two of them as soon as they turned around but she didn't get far. The eruption almost knocked her off her feet and she stumbled, losing her shot as they got away. But now there were bigger problems to deal with.

"...son of a BITCH...!"

Patty wasn't afraid of anything. Not monsters, not gangsters, not demons or anything else. But THIS thing was freakin' scary. Her feet stayed glued to the floor for a moment in hesitation, unable to process the sheer danger and confusion in the moment. But she could push past that. Beat the monster or not she didn't plan on dying here and their options were fresh out.
"Heh heh heheh... Ah haaaa haaaa haaaa haaaaa fuck ME dude...!" Wicked laughed in exasperation. What else could ya do? As much as she wanted to say screw this and run Patty was compelled to fight it. Not because it was bigger than her and she had something to prove. Not to protect the people of Endymion or even her friends. She wanted to fight it to beat it. And show Faust and S that she spoke the truth and she WOULD NOT be stopped. Her staff appeared in her offhand and she took off first, Patty wasn't much for not doing something when something was there anyway.
"Someone get that, I've got this one!"

The crazy witch stood straight before the beast and whistled to get its attention. She couldn't remember if this was the noble idea or the stupid one but it was too late now.
"HEEEEEEEY MOTHERFUCKER!! Come at me, c'mon! Turn your big dumb fucktarded head my way and ignore everyone else you Frankenstein King Kong The Thing-lookin' limp-dicked bitch!" Patty snapped as she taunted, shattering her handcuff as the ghostly witch appeared and the area began to drain of color, sucking the energy to move right from it.

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