Casus hadn’t visited this area of Audunpoint before. Besides the fact it was obviously infested by a far-above-average ratio of gangsters, he also couldn’t help but notice that building. The one with blocked-out windows and evoy lingering about the entrance. It screamed trouble.
He knew he was all but begging for trouble by coming here. That was, after all, why he had gone so far as to don a disguise that concealed his nature as a Banisher. However, a man in subtle full-body armor and a long coat drew attention all the same. At least he’d had the good judgment to avoid using anything identifiable as Church equipment. That was a mistake he had only made once, and it had nearly cost him his life. As he was, he looked like someone who absolutely didn’t want to be seen in this part of town, but also wanted the ability to protect himself, which meant he had a bare minimum level of plausible deniability; the local gangsters couldn’t reasonably walk up and start trouble right from the start. The reason for that appearance was his current belt: The Black Magnum Coupler. A unique urban stealth model designed to make the wearer forgettable, emitting a weak sensory deterrence enchantment. Adding onto its stealth design, it emitted a minimal magical aura mimicking a normal person, and no two Black Magnum suits looked the same. Its combat capabilities were slightly superior to a Dregsteamer Coupler with the High Velocity cartridge, but its cost was over twenty times of that unit. It also had the unique feature of a self-contained, ultra-low-interference design, meaning he was able to wear the Silberblut Coupler under the Black Magnum suit without issues. Rather than a belt, the coupler was a lower face mask that expanded out to form the helmet and then the rest of the suit, and it was a monolithic black box unit, without a typical catalyst or voidkey-adjacent power source. It was not a well-known or widely-produced model, certainly not enough to be known to some random gangsters; it was just one out of Casus’ collection of couplers, which he had began during the time he was not yet able to handle Silberblut. It also hadn’t been produced in over a century since the introduction of the Black Magnum G, the improved model, but Casus personally far preferred the original’s aesthetics.
At the moment, his greatest concern was that evoy building, particularly one of the evoy out front, a huge, spiky specimen with thick chitin. Casus nearly double-took when he saw him, briefly thinking it was a war-morph. Simultaneously to his relief and concern, the giant evoy lacked most of the signs of a war-morph. It was just a freakishly large and powerful individual… But considering his demeanor when interacting with his two lackeys, he would likely pick a fight for any reason, or even no reason at all, if Casus grabbed his attention. He felt the giant evoy’s gaze pass over him, lingering for a moment, only to leave a moment later. One of the Black Magnum’s chief advantages was the sensory suite, featuring strong visual amplification, B- piercing appraisal capabilities, and even an audio telescope.
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As he made his way to the building that had been stated as the meeting place, Casus kept an eye on the giant evoy to ensure he didn’t stand up or do anything else to suggest he intended to attack him. It even had built-in triggers to reduce sound and darken the field of vision to counter bright flashes and deafening noises. Moreover, it had its own small voicebox, which he would use to speak instead of his own voice so that he would not be recognized by that means.
On the approach, he immediately saw something that grabbed his attention: A row of wanted posters with surprisingly accurate portraits of Lady Blackhand, at least in terms of appearance. He was sure the depiction of her was exaggerated, just like it was on the previous, even less accurate posters. She was depicted with a malicious grin on her face, her left arm glowing orange with fanged maws opened along its surface, running its fingers through her hair. Her gun was raised to the side of her face, drawn to the exact specifications of a true Pattner rather than the reproduction it likely was. Rather than bearing the designs or watermarks of any agency, they bore a serpentine design, openly claiming:
WANTED: Dead or Alive
“BLACKHAND”
500,000 DD
There was no delivery address, but then, they probably assumed anyone who did the job would already know where to take her, or would be able to find out. Right below the row of posters for Lady Blackhand, similar ones for himself were found:
WANTED: Dead or Alive
Casus Aristedes
“Mamon Knight Silberblut”
500,000 DD
He didn’t give much thought to the bounty payment; it was clearly just an amount that Hashem thought would suffice to get the target killed through sheer volume of attempts - whichever of the father-son duo was responsible for these posters. No doubt they would figure out some way to shave the cost down if someone actually delivered. When he entered the building, Casus immediately knew it was a gambling house. Many pairs of eyes lingered on him as he slowly walked across the floor, meeting the barman: “I am here in regards to the owner’s inquiry into a refurbished Samstani slot machine for sale.”
A thumb pointed to a recessed door in the back of the room. Hammerforged black iron. Tougher than anything in this building. These doors were one of the Heavy Ironworks’ best products, as they came with a door frame and were thus highly breach-resistant relative to their price. Such was the Ironworks’ business model: Advanced manufacturing applied to achieve above-average quality/price ratio. He didn’t think he could break the door down in a reasonable time unless he transformed into Silberblut.
The peephole slid shut, and the door opened for him. The guard, an Inax woman in a pinstripe suit, slipped out and shut the door behind him when he entered. External sounds fell silent, and Casus made his way through the short hallway to a well-lit, but windowless room. There was a table with quite a few chairs.