War

dragonis

Rating: R
Genres: Romance, Action & Adventure
Relationships: Harry & Hermione
Book: Harry & Hermione, Books 1 - 6
Published: 30/10/2006
Last Updated: 09/02/2007
Status: in_progress

AU. What if Muggles and Wizards were part of a greater whole? What if everything that humans think they know is a lie? And how is it that muggles are able to develop magical powers? Muggles and wizards working together, combining the strengths of both worlds. This story is about action, and adventure with a good bit of romance thrown in there, there are scenes that will send shivers down your back and make you cry - If you want to read a truly original story with twists and spins around every corner then check this out you will not be dissapointed.

Chapters

1. Death

2. Bessy

3. Toys

4. Sniper

5. Eight years

6. Contact

7. Authors note - Interlude

8. Knocking on the Devil’s Door

9. Daddy

10. Waking up

11. Joining Forces

12. A Magical Night

13. Hogsmead

14. Humanity

15. Heaven and Hell

16. Hell

17. Contact

18. History Lesson

19. Haven Four

20. Council

21. Stalker

1. Death

Death

A violent hurricane had assaulted Great Britain and Hogwarts was not spared its ferocity in the least. Wind howled between Hogwarts' mighty towers, assaulting its heavy walls with thick sheets of rain, the grounds were beginning to flood as the trees heaved and bucked with the wind, their creaks and groans lost amidst the tumulus roar of the storm. A thick branch from some inconspicuous tree smashed against a window, but to no avail, the wards and protections upon the mighty school-fortress held firm and not a scratch was to be seen upon the aged glass. In the midst of the great chaos Hogwarts held steady, Voldemort was growing stronger, a full out war was brewing, neither side could get a foothold, as it stood things were at a perilous stalemate. Inside, two of the most important people stood sleeplessly, one aged and weary like the castle, but nevertheless immovable and strong as ever. The other, young and powerful looked into the eyes of his love.

Harry broke the passionate kiss and looked into Hermione's chocolate brown eyes. “I love you.” He whispered. “I give you my soul Hermione, my life, my everything. Without you I would be lost or dead, you are my guiding light, my angel.”

Tears brimmed Hermione's eyes. “I love you too Harry, more then you will ever know.” She kissed him again, trying desperately to show him what he meant to her.

They were in the room of requirement, it was seventh year and Harry had just proposed not more then a half hour ago. As their kisses grew more fierce and passionate the food and table cleared away and were replaced with a lavish bed. Neither of them cared to notice as Hermione fell back onto the bed, keeping Harry on top of her and beginning to unbutton his shirt. As the seconds and minutes progressed things got more and more passionate as Hermione finally gave herself up to her one and only love, Harry.

A grassy field, a storm, a dark figure. Voldemort. “We settle this tonight Potter, just like you wanted. Me and you, no one else. Do not keep me waiting.” The words came out like ice, deep red eyes borrowing into Harry's mind.

Harry woke up slowly but alertly. Hermione was sleeping naked beside him, her head on his chest with a most content smile. A lone candle's light bounced off the diamond on her gentle finger. Harry smiled and sighed, knowing what he had to do.

`I'm doing this for you Hermione, I'm doing this for everyone, for my parents, for Sirius, for the Weasley's, everyone. I won't sit by any more and let people die, I am ready, its time to face my destiny. I love Hermione. My wife.' Harry smiled with grim determination and got ready.

It didn't take him long; he had prepared his cloths, his wand, everything. The portkey that he had created almost a month ago was in his pocket, waiting for him to touch it. This was the night, when everything would end, one way or another, but now Harry had too much to lose, he had to win, no matter the cost he would.

Giving Hermione one last kiss on the cheek he saw her smile a little more and snuggle tightly into his pillow. “I love you.” He whispered and touched the snake medallion in his pocket.

The cold rain, so different from the warm room he had come from attacked his senses as lightning blazed overhead, illuminating the scene before him, as Harry stood no more then five feet away from Voldemort.

Steadily holding his wand Harry looked into Voldemort's eyes, emerald green met blood red. “Come now Harry, there is no need to play games anymore, they have irritated me far enough already.” Voldemort threw his wand on the wet roiling grass and burst in a shower of green flame.

Harry grinned, throwing away his wand and destroying it entirely in a burst of green flame, he merely had to think it, there was no longer any need for a wand. “As you wish.”

“On the count of five. One” Said Voldemort, his eyes never leaving Harry's as he backed up one step.

“Two.” Harry backed up one step exactly.

“Three.” Voldemort held his hands at his sides.

“Four.” Determination blazed within him.

“Five.”

Two spells erupted in mid air as the last number was spoken. The shockwave threw Harry and Voldemort off their feet, sending them to the ground, but even as they fell they kept casting spells that burst around them in spectacular colors. Spells struck each other, exploding and sending the water flying outwards, dirt and grass were kicked up as they both held nothing back. Shields were put up, shields were knocked down, explosions rattled the ground, the air. It was war. Harry and Voldemort were not just wizards, they were armies in and of themselves, throwing everything they had at each other. The sound was deafening, the sights blinding. They fought on for a whole hour, neither one able to gain any sort of advantage, but as the time wore on and the combatants grew tired Voldemort began to gain the upper hand, his years experience and ability coming out as Harry began to falter. And then it happened; a spell broke past the defenses and Harry's limp body fell to the ground.

The storm ceased, the wind grew quiet as everything was still, nothing moved, nothing was heard. The bright moon illuminated the scene as Voldemort cautiously stepped closer. Standing over Harry's body he laughed, the sound utterly cold and merciless, utterly cruel and evil. Tired, and near exhaustion he apparated away, a cold look of triumph on his face as he cackled gleefully.

***

“This O26 approaching the sight of disturbance.” The sergeant reported as his Humvee plowed through the fields, oblivious of the various little obstacles in its way as it went through ditches and mud with ease. “Things have been calm since the report five minutes ago, we are unable to see anything, but there are definite signs of combat.”

“Damn Sarg this is fucked up! The whole bloody field looks like its been turned upside down by artillery and hell knows what else. I saw a tank company do a demonstration one time and even they didn't mess the field up that bad.” The driver said as he looked about nervously. The Sergeant was reporting the situation as they went and manning the .50 Cal. There were only two of them with no back up. Nothing about this seemed right.

He drove through slowing, scanning for signs of anything, nothing, not even tracks showed up.

“Fifty yards right we got a body!” The Sergeant hollered as the driver swung the Humvee around and stopped a few yards away.

“Cover me with the fifty, I'm gonna check it out.” The sergeant ordered.

The driver swung out from his seat and clambered to the weapon as the sergeant made his way out, gun ready.

The Sergeant looked the body over, the guy was no more then twenty, young. He checked his pulse, for a second he didn't feel a thing, and then one heart beat. Water droplets landed on the man's face and his eyelids opened and closed slowly.

“He's alive, checking for I.D.” The Sergeant hollered. After a quick search the only thing he found was a medallion with a snake on it. “Got nothing except a medallion, help me carry this guy into the truck. Together the two men lifted the man into the back of the Humvee and strapped him in.

The Sergeant looked about him, they were out in the middle of a field which looked like it had a whole heavy weapons division unload on it, but, with absolutely no tracks or signs of anything except a half dead twenty year old. He knew for a fact that their own tank division hadn't gone anywhere and no one wanted to go out in this weather, the equipment cleaning after would be murder. Climbing back into the truck he nodded for the driver to get back to base and radioed in their findings. “This is O26 over.”

“Roger O26 what's your status?”

“We've found one body, male, no more then about twenty years old. Seems to be suffering from a sever case of exhaustion and trauma. No cuts bruises or broken bones upon first impression. We found him in the middle of a field that looked like it had just been raided, but we have found no tracks whatsoever.”

“Come on home O26.”

“Copy that.” The Sergeant replied.

***

Hermione's happiness lasted mere seconds before she realized that something was wrong, something very very bad had happened. Firstly Harry wasn't in the room, secondly his cloths were gone and finally her stomach was in a knot. Getting out of bed she scrambled to find the Maurader's map, meanwhile feeling completely and utterly sick.

“Find Harry.” She commanded once she found the map. Nothing happened.

“Find Ron.” The map instantly found Ron, with Luna right beside him in the common room.

Throwing on some cloths she ran down to the common room as fast she could, the knot in the pit of her stomach getting tighter and tighter until she felt like she was about to throw up. Rushing into the common room she collided with Ron and Luna.

“Have you seen Harry!?” Both of them asked at the same time. Ron looked like he hadn't slept at all, his eyes were red and his face was pale.

“I think that something bad has happened to him, don't ask me how but Harry needs our help.” Ron said quickly.

“You're telling me!” Hermione cried.

“This seems pretty serious if both of you are feeling like this, I would say go to Dumbledore right now, even I feel kinda strange.” Luna advised.

At that moment Ginny and Neville came rushing down the stairs. “Something doesn't feel right.” She called out to them. Upon seeing Ron and Hermione's face she knew that something was very wrong indeed.

Not wasting a moment the five Gryffindors ran down to Dumbledore's office, all of them looked completely out of it as they reached the Gargoyle who was already out of the way. Making their way up the spiral staircase they heard sobbing from within.

“Come in.” Called out Dumbledore's strained voice.

Slowly opening the door and walking inside they found Professor McGonagall crying and sobbing in a chair. When she saw them she tried her best to compose herself and walked over to them, not daring to look anyone of them in the eye. “I am so sorry.”

“No…no…” Hermione looked over at Dumbledore, his eyes were puffy and red and he the look of a man who had lost something very dear to him.

Trembling and crying Hermione fell to her knees. “WHY!” She bawled, hitting the floor with her fists.

Ron stood there for a second and then sat down in a chair, his face vacant of all emotion, of everything, of a will to live.

Neville turned around and began punching the door as hard as he could, yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs. “I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!!! RIP VOLDEMORT LIMB FROM FU-CK-ING LIMB!!!

Luna and Ginny cried in each other's arms as Professor McGonagall tried in vain to comfort Hermione.

After a while Ron finally looked up at Dumbledore and asked. “Is Voldemort dead?”

“No.” Dumbledore replied softly.

“Then we'll just have to kill him then.” Ron said with a look of cold hatred.

Excusing themselves the group slowly made their way out into the grounds, the storm had subsided its merciless attack but it still hovered above, blocking out the light and casting everything into deep sullen gray. No one spoke for a long time as they walked around; they went to the lake, the forest, everywhere. They simple thought, took things in, and attempted to come to terms with reality.

Hermione was the first to break the silence. “He proposed to me.” She said with a sad smile. “We made love. We were going to be married, have a family, live happily ever after. But that. That will never be.”

“He was more then a best friend. He was like a brother.” Ron said quietly.

“He was our leader. I just don't know how we can go on.” Said Neville, breaking another stick in half.

“Oh but you are wrong. We will go, we will kill Voldemort, we will as you so delicately put it rip him limb from fucking limb.” Ron had stopped and looked at all of them in turn. “We will kill Voldemort and we will kill anything and anyone that stands in our way.”

No one else said anything, but they didn't have to say anything, they understood.

This was a war they could not lose, a war the world could not lose, and if they did, well then, they would see Harry. Sooner or later, they would see him and he would be proud.

By the time Ron, Hermione, Luna, Ginny, and Neville got back to Hogwarts everyone had been informed of what had happened. The great hall was decorated in Gryffindor colors, but no one smiled. When anyone saw Harry's best friends they would nod or say a few comforting words. All of the Weasleys had arrived at the castle by lunchtime and told of the news. Molly and Jan Granger had both feinted upon hearing the news. For many it was a breaking point, a point of no hope, Harry was their last hope in the past couple years and now he was gone. Others vowed to stand and fight to their last breath. Fred and George immediately converted their joke shop into a non-profit weapons factory, creating many nasty anti-deatheater products.

Harry's funeral was held two days later at Hogwarts. There was one giant ceremony to which almost everyone came to pay his or her respects. Because Harry's body could not be found it was a closed casket. During the funeral Hermione made an emotional and beautiful speech, at the end she revealed the most shocking news of all.

“And Harry will forever be with us.” She said sobbing. “Because…Because I am pregnant with his child.” She said with sad smile that also had a hint of hope, of happiness. “His name will live on.”

***

A limousine pulled up to the Registry building at the Thirty Second Armored Devision's base. A man in a black suit walked out, rich and important, with wide shoulders and a hard jaw line. His bright calculating gray eyes took in the scene around him and he entered the building with an air of authority.

“Name?” Asked a female clerk at the registry desk.

“Frank Miller.” Came the clipped response.

She scanned her computer screen and suddenly sat straighter. “Yes Sir, please follow me Sir.”

Frank Miller followed her to the infirmary where a doctor awaited their arrival.

“Hello sir, my name is…” The doctor began but was cut off.

“Stephenson, show me the patient.” Again a quick clipped order.

Stephenson wanted to ask how he knew his name but thought better of it. “Right here sir.” He led him to a closed room.

“Tell me what you know.” Miller instructed before they went any further.

“Well we saw flashes and…” Again he was cut off.

“Yes I know about all that, tell me about the man himself.”

Stephenson looked at him curiously but began explaining without saying anything, when dealing with these kinds of people he found that thinking was not a good thing unless told to so. “Well we estimate that he is anywhere from about seventeen to twentyish, he has been through a lot in his life let's just say that. He is pretty well-built, good physical shape, no problems of any sort, internally or externally. He has a scar on his forehead, can't really tell from what but its really old, my guess is about childhood. Either way it doesn't really matter. When he was brought in his body was past the point of exhaustion, entering a coma. We stabilized him and he came back after about thirty-two hours. Bottom line is amnesia. He can speak, walk, read, write, pretty good at mathematics; smart guy actually. All in all he seems well educated, just can't remember who he is, doesn't know how he got anywhere or really remember much of anything at all, poor guy doesn't even know his name. There is one funny thing, he keeps saying one name.”

“What name?”

“Hermione.”

“Does he have any possessions?”

“Well not really, he has a medallion and he wore what appear to be wizard robes.” Stephenson said with a laugh at the end.

Miller did not laugh. “I want to speak with him. Alone.”

Stephenson handing him the key and having not received any further orders wait outside the door.

Walking in Miller noticed the man had been reading a book before he walked in. “Hello son.”

“Hey…who are you?”

“Frank Miller, I'm a psychologist, expert on memory.”

“So you can help me get my memory back then?”

“I can try.”

“Ok sounds good.”

“Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions and you reply with whatever comes to mind first, ok?”

“Alright.”

“Abra…” He indicated a pause with his voice.

“Kadevra.”

“Your name is?”

“Dunno.”

“You live in?”

Shrug.

“I need you to say what you think, even if you don't know just say you don't know.”

“Ok.”

“Crucio.”

“Pain.”

“Why pain?” Asked miller.

“I don't know. Its just the first thing that came to mind.”

“Ok lets continue on.”

“Berty N' Bots.”

“Jelly beans.”

The questions went on for a little while longer before Miller was finally satisfied.

“Okay, here is what we'll do now. I'm going to take you to another base, it's a rather lengthy trip but you'll find it pleasant. We'll talk on the way, maybe you'll be able to remember something.” Miller told him.

“Whatever you say.”

“Okay good, gather up your cloths, I'll wait for you outside.”

“The man is coming with me, I'll wait for him outside. You will receive all your documentation within ten minutes.” Miller told Stephenson outside the room before flipping on his cell and dialing a secure number.

“We got our first one. Amnesia, good shape. Answers correspond with what we've seen and the box of candy, apparently its popular.”

“Avada Kadevra, Crucio, the jellybeans, all of them?”

“Every single one.”

“So do you think we have a starting point?”

“I think we may have a leader, we can build the squad around him, I have a good feeling about him, don't know why. Call it a gut instinct. We'll run tests and all, but things look good so far.”

“What about the area?”

“It all matches.”

“Well its your call, you're the one in charge. Still seems a bit risky. I mean what if he ends up being powerful, and if we teach him and equip him to such an extent that it makes Special Forces look like your average cops, like you said. And the he goes and remembers everything, wouldn't he then be unstoppable?”

“Nukes are also risky.”

“This can prove to be a lot more devastating then a nuke though, with what he and his squad will know…”

“That's why we'll be careful, we'll treat them well, with respect, and when and if the time comes they will be on our side. He also appears to be `The boy who lived' you know the thing we read in the newspaper?”

“What…But if that newspaper holds any truth? Then this guy must be one of the most powerful ones of them all, do you know what this means?”

“Just make sure things are ready by the time we arrive.”

“They will be don't worry.”

Miller turned off his cell phone and waited for the man with the scar on his forehead out by the limo.

“You ready son?” Asked Miller.

“I guess so.” Replied the man as he got into the car. After a moment inside the limo he asked. “Do you know who I am at all?”

“I know what you are.”

“And what's that?”

“A wizard.”

A/N. Ok unlike my other two stories I really know where this one is going and actually have it planned out. Assassin is on the way so don't worry, Predator…maybe. I'm hoping to really get some bigger fights in this. Next chapter will explore Miller's ideas and what happens with Harry. Read, have fun, review stay cool. As always ideas are welcome. Oh and sorry if there are any mistakes, went over it once so there shouldn't really be many.

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2. Bessy

Bessy

“A wizard? Right… I may have amnesia but I'm not stupid.”

“On the contrary I think you are very intelligent.”

“Care to explain then?”

“We've got a long ride ahead so I'll settle with you as much as possible.”

The man got comfortable.

“Over the last twenty years we have become aware of a phenomena which we have come to call the magical community. Our attempts to pierce their society have largely been unsuccessful, but we do know some key things that we have been able to scrap together. We are sure that's its fairly correct however there is a lot of information missing so bear with me. Twenty years ago there was a war of sorts, a conflict, terrorism, full-scale war, we can't really tell, but it wasn't pretty. During that time our society, the non-magical one, muggles we think they call us, suffered many catastrophes. Bridges fell, houses collapsed, things were blown to bits, all sorts of property got destroyed and that kind of stuff. Thousands upon thousands of people died is the key point. On a per individual situation it was normal, but upon investigating all of the situations and looking outside the box we found things to be rather ambiguous. First we found signs of memory loss in almost all individuals present, time frames did not coincide, evidence given was shabby at best, and the number of such catastrophic occurrences was far too frequent. Basically a lot of it didn't fit when you looked at the big picture, things were just too similar. On a handful of occasions we saw, through concealed cameras and audio recordings, a few common spells if you will cast by what we now call wizards. Two of the primary spells we saw cast were Crucio which caused the subject to cry out in pain and roll on the ground screaming, and Avada Kadevra which simply killed the subject. Our lucky break came when one day things got quiet and we found a few burnt up newspapers. After months of work on reconstruction we gathered that a baby with a scar on its head survived something extraordinary, and killed this evil without a name, again the papers were burnt so we tried our best. We tried to contact this magical community numerous times, believe me we have tried everything imaginable.

After being unsuccessful in contacting them we were somewhat successful in locating them. We succeeded in finding anomalies, fuzz on radar, random half-second blips, and electrical equipment that simply fails at random in certain places. We believe them to be out there, but hidden very well with magic. Eventually we gave up and began constructing contingency plans for the safety of humanity was another such war to occur. As is obvious our biggest problem has been locating, contacting and gaining any sort of useful information on the magical community. Therefore we had to be content with sitting back and merely getting ready. There are three key aspects to the program that we set up. Technology. Training. Magic. We have covered the first two, the weaponry and training we have at our disposal is at least a hundred years a head of the public, and another fifty of the general military. We get part of it from the military, the other part from private and state funded research labs, the equipment we have gotten is … experimental, meaning that there is nothing else that can rival it. The magical part would be the hardest part of the equation, we knew that we would only be able to at best acquire a handful of men or women, and that we would only be able to make a similar number of equipment for them. Money is not the problem, production is. Now you have come along...” Miller explained carefully.

“Okay, I'll buy that. So now what you're saying is that I am powerful magically, or so you believe, because since it was apparently such a big deal, logic dictates that it had to have special significance, doing something which none thought possible . This new menace is upon the magical community, I fought, this time lost, and now you have me. Because you can't contact them and I can't remember a thing the only real option left is for me to fulfill the final piece of the puzzle, which happens to be the best possible solution you could have hoped for. The real reason that you need me is that if you guys can't see them, and I'm one of them then I should be able to naturally bypass any barriers that may have been set up against you.”

Miller smiled inwardly, he like this kid already. “You would form the center of a special team, you would be the sergeant, the leader of the squad. You and your squad would be armed and trained to the brim, you would be an army in and of itself, and if I have my way you'll be able to control other ones when the times comes. That, is option A.”

“What's option B?”

“Option B is we lock you up in maximum security and let the biologists run some tests on you.”

“Lets go with option A.” The man said with a grin.

“That's a very good choice son.”

“So…what will my name be?”

“What do you want it to be?”

The man took the medallion out of his pocket and moved it around. “Call me Snake.”

“Mind saying that in English?”

“What?”

“You just looked at that snake medallion and well…talked snake is what I would say.”

“Isn't that unusual? Improbable?”

“After what I've seen in my life time the unusual and improbable is usually the correct. Besides, if you can talk snake then we might already have your first squad member, and you name?”

“Snake or Sarge, whichever.”

“Fitting, Snake as code, Sarge is what we'll call you.”

“Sure.”

They soon got onto a plane that took them to the middle of nowhere in Greenland. Miller explained that Greenland was largely a neutral country, with a lot of uninhabited, unwatched area that was tough to get through and navigate. It was perfect for all sorts of equipment testing. The jet they had used was small, could fly vertically, and was extremely fast, it only took them ten minutes to get to their destination.

“There are other faster jets, but those don't have stabilizing seats, and without stabilizing seats you'd be shaking for the next few days.” Miller told him as they got off at a small landing platform.

“I want one.” Sarge said marveling at the machine.

“Yours is in the hanger, it's a combat variant.”

Sarge took the time to look around, they were surrounded by a rim of mountains on all sides, secluded in their own valley about twenty kilometers in width and around sixty in length. A lake was at one end with a river running through it disappearing between snow-topped mountains. A group of small buildings clustered around where the lake met one of the giant mountains, run down and dilapidated looking it didn't seem to be very impressive as the dark sky gave everything a very foreboding feeling.

“Eh, where is everything?” Sarge asked perplexed.

Miller pointed to the mountains opposite of where they stood. “Weapons division in those mountains.” He pointed farther right, closer towards them. “Armory and logistics. Vehicle division behind us, the hive everywhere, but centered in the middle about a kilometer below us. And everything you see around you is our testing ground. It was finally completed two years ago, so its fairly new.”

Right on queue the jet and the platform they were on suddenly began descending into a brightly lit cavern. It was as if stepping into a new world, trucks, cars, planes, jets, and even a couple tanks spread out over a large area, scientists working on them individually.

Sarge was led around the compound, shown the various wings and main projects that they were working on.

“The benefits of having all of the research labs in one area allows quicker integration of technology, makes things move faster, allows the scientists to kick ideas back and forth all the time, its all a collective organization.” Miller was telling Sarge as they passed through the weapons section.

“Hey what's that?” Sarge stopped at one of the glass walls and was looking keenly inside.

Miller already knew without looking what had captivated Sarge's attention, it caught everyone's attention and he still didn't know its official name. “Its called the BFG, Big Fucking Gun, never bothered learning its official name.”

The BFG, the gun that was the epitome of any boy's wet dream sat on a tall cylindrical platform, suspended by see through plastic, it gave it a heavenly look, if god had a gun that would be it. “The technology behind it, or rather the energy, it uses has replaced electricity, or it will when its perfectly safe. For now we're the only ones that use it.”

“So you don't use electricity?”

“No, too inefficient, not enough power. We simply use anti-matter for all our needs really, convert the energy from that into the plasma that the BFG uses, or plasma cells instead of electricity. Pure concentrated energy.” Miller talked about two of the most dangerous substances in the known universe as if he were talking about how to make French toast.

“And…will I be able to use the BFG?” Sarge asked, afraid that Miller would say no.

“We haven't put your name on it yet but if you really want it on there.”

“Its ok, I like how it looks as is.”

They kept walking through the complex, or The Hive, as it was called. Various scientists came up to Miller a few times, confirmed that project Exodus was initiated, saw Sarge, shook hands and went to do what it was that they were working on. He found the people to be friendly, brilliant, some a little crazy or eccentric, but brilliant, always happy. At the end of the tour they stood before a large steel door that looked neigh impenetrable.

“One of our biologists found it five years ago, they say it was in its adolescent stage at that time, it grew…so we locked it up. We guess that its about forty years old, which means that it lives for a very long time, other then that we don't know anything, this is the first time we have found anything like it. Haven't been able to tranquilize it, so we've kept it as our pet if you will.” Miller hit a switch on the access panel and the door slid open silently, opening up to what was essentially a large viewing room that overlooked a part meadow, part cave.

“This is only the entrance to its cave, it digs into the mountain you see, so we've had to pretty much reinforce the entire thing with steel.”

As Sarge looked out he saw the thing bathing in artificial light and his breath caught in his throat, he didn't know how but he was almost certain that he had seen something like this before. Curled up in a ball was the biggest snake he had ever laid eyes on, it looked like it could swallow a pick up truck with ease.

Miller flipped a few switches on the wall panel. “Try talking to it, it should be able hear you, there are microphones set up inside this room and in its pen.”

Sarge looked nervous for a second before speaking. “Hello?”

The giant snake moved its head and looked at him. “Hmm? A human…talking to me…who are you?”

“Sarge.”

“A wizard?” She hissed out, looking him over.

“Well, maybe, I don't know. I can't remember anything.” Sarge proceeded to give a quick over of what had happened.

“Well that is interesting, you probably are a wizard though, never heard of one being able to talk to snakes…then again, I don't get out much nor am I that old.”

“Is it lonely?”

“Yes, but they treat me well. They bring in prey for me to hunt, I have a lot of room, you see, just no one to talk to.”

“What are you? What is your name?”

“I am a Razorback Basilisk, and I have no name.”

“Would you like one?”

“What one?”

“How about Bessy?”

“That sounds nice, thank you.”

“Well it is a pleasure meeting you Bessy.”

“Likewise Sarge.”

“Are there other kinds like you Bessy, out there I mean?”

“Yes there are other basilisks, they are rare, but I am the most rare of them all, if I were to guess I would say that there are less then a dozen of us on the planet.”

“What makes you different from other basilisks?” Sarge asked questions just as they popped into his mind, maybe something could trigger his memory.

“Well for one we are twice as big, and we can do this.” Suddenly razor sharp spikes and blade like protrusions shot up along her body, out from beneath her scales. Miller visibly stepped back in fright.

“Its ok, she is just showing me how she is different from the other type of basilisk.” Sarge told Miller in a reassuring voice. “I want to go in there, how do I do that?”

“Wait one minute, I'm going to go in.”

“Ok dear.”

“Are you sure about this?” Miller asked with obvious apprehension.

“Completely, she's harmless.”

Harmless, that's the word he used to describe the most lethal creature known to man. “As you wish, just get yourself killed.” Reluctantly he led him to a small doorway that connected to a tunnel, I'll be watching.”

Bessy watched Sarge with interest as he walked towards her, not scared in the least, a fascinating human.

“Can I touch you?” He asked.

“Sure.”

“Just don't take those blades out, they look pretty sharp.”

Bessy gave what amounted to chuckle and watched him as he touched her hardened scales.

They talked for a little while longer while almost half the staff at the Hive watched on in awed silence.

“By god Miller…who is this guy?” Asked Patrick Swain.

“Our Sergeant.” Miller replied simply, audible to everyone now in the room.

“No shit.” Said a scientist with a t-shirt that said `If you see me running try to keep up.'

“You think Bessy can be on my squad?” Sarge asked when he finally came back into the room that was now full of people.

“Sure, its your squad.”

“Oh and can you not keep it closed, she won't hurt anyone I promise.” He referred to Bessy's pen.

Miller looked at him for a moment and then went over to a consol at the side of the room, picked up a small mike and spoke into it. “Good day everyone this is Frank Miller. I am here with some very good news. Project Exodus is as you may have heard a go. Ladies and gentlemen we have our Sergeant. Secondly Sarge has spoken with our pet snake and has recruited her, Bessy, to be on his squad. Her area will now be open at all times, so if you see her around make sure to say hi, and don't worry she is harmless.”

A/N I will be updating this pretty quickly so check back daily.

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3. Toys

A/N. A lot of people have pointed to the fact that looking at a basilisk would kill you, however Bessy is no ordinary basilisk, you'll see plenty of surprises from her yet and all will be made clear soon enough. Thank you all for the comments, I really appreciate them, and it's a real drive to get these chapters out. I've got a big exam on Saturday, and work on Friday so I'll probably only get another chapter out till then, maybe one and then a smaller filler one. Stay cool guys.

Toys

“Don't you think you're rushing things a bit with this kid?” Asked a concerned Omar Al'Lahem. Omar was a man in his mid forties, he had been in the Iraqi army before being recruited by Miller for his skills, Miller who picked only the best of the best, no matter where they came from or who they were.

Miller looked at the genius tactician, the man wasn't physically intimidating by any means, but by god did he know how to win battles. “Remember how you told me one time that the best way to break in a recruit was to rush him into the thick of things as fast as possible? Then let him brood over things, get accustomed to the new environment, to the punishment, and then back off and really start training, shock therapy is what you called it.”

“By Allah this is not the same thing! This is no ordinary man here, there are no percentages, most probable outcomes. His mind is fragile, it is hurt, and you must let him recover, we cannot possibly lose him. With normal men we know what we are dealing with, we know what to expect from them, its text book material in pretty much every nation.”

“On the contrary it is the same thing.” Miller interrupted. “First of all we must make sure that he can stand up to the rigorous training we have set up before him, if he cannot pass this then he is unqualified, if he breaks now then there is no way that he will be able to cope sufficiently later on. Secondly we must never hold things from him, he must know from the beginning that he is part of the team, by showing him around like this we prove that fact to him. By allowing that Basilisk out we prove to him that we trust him, and with all this as a solid foundation he will co-operate with us completely, he will trust us in his training, and there we will mold him, and he will allow us to do so willingly. Now he is resting, thinking over what he has seen, we have given him clearance to everything and he is using it.” Miller read off a list from the computer screen at his desk. “Weapons research, combat training, navigation, tactical data. All of it is open to him, even his snake is now sleeping in the same room as him.”

Omar didn't bother pushing the subject further. “So when does his training actually begin?”

“In a couple days we'll start the physical aspects, we'll build him up to be the toughest mother fucker there is. Then we'll start spending more and more time in combat training, once he gets a handle on that we'll bring in logistics and strategy until we get the complete package. This is by no means a text book case.” Miller gave a quick run down.

“When do you plan on doing the enhancements?”

“We'll give him the Nanites in a few weeks and let them get started, at that point his diet will be extremely protein and fiber rich, naturally allowing the Nanites to start working on enhancing him. No operations, no pain, bioengineering at its finest.” Miller said with a smile.

“Yes but how safe are the Nanites?” This is the one thing that still bothered Omar, he loved technology, he loved this place, but tampering with the human body in a cellular level was something else altogether.

“Fifteen years ago I was the first human test subject, or rather my eyes were, you would laugh at the kinds of glasses that I used to wear in my youth, now I have twenty five, twenty five vision.” The concept and test have been around for much longer, it is perfectly safe, just very expensive, and that is why it is not available to the general public.

Omar's cell phone vibrated. “Excuse me one moment.”

“Yes, ok I'll be down there in a moment, thank you.”

He turned back to Miller. “The combat simulator is ready for a run through. Take care Miller.”

“You too Omar, good luck.”

***

Three months later

“How are you feeling Sarge?” Asked Doctor Amanda Flowers, head of the bioengineering division and Sarge's personal doctor.

“Great.” Sarge replied sitting on the bunk in front of her.

“Anything out of the ordinary?”

“Nope.”

“No unexpected pains, vision blurriness, dehydration, exceptional fatigue, head aches, cramps?”

“Nope not at all, the Nanites are doing their job.” Sarge declared cheerfully.

Amanda Flowers had devoted her entire life to bioengineering, more specifically the Nanites, and to see all her long years of hard work paying off in such a dramatic way was really exceptional. She had met Sarge almost three months ago, back then he was pretty well built but nothing exceptional, but now…after three long months of physical training and Nanite induction he was really something else. The first thing that the Nanites had done was make his bones denser and tougher. Then they went to work on his muscles, integrating a sort of artificial mesh in with his natural muscle and then allowing it all to grow and fuse together so that it was all biological and natural to his body, but far superior to anything that nature could ever hope to produce. The muscle itself was indistinguishable from any normal human's muscle from outside appearance; it was all on the cellular level that it could be distinguished. Comparing on a one to one mass ratio Sarge's muscles could output twice as much power and go on for twice as long, it a medical marvel. His eyes were enhanced, they now equaled that of a hawk, his sense of smell, hearing, all of it far better then any other humans could naturally be. Even his lung and heart were more efficient, all in all he was super human in every respect. A small part of her wished that she was younger, so that she could thoroughly test him…

“Well then I would say you're ready for the next step.” She congratulated him.

“Thank you, so what do I do now?”

“Weapons and combat training. But don't worry you'll still be in here a few hours each day and I'll be watching you like a hawk.”

“Ok, so where do I go?”

“Doctor Clarkson, weapons division, he should be waiting for you.” She instructed.

“Okay see you later then.”

The weapons division was at the other end of the hive so Sarge took off at a quick pace. Bessy was at his side as they made their way over, no one really minded her anymore, she was just like a pet, a very odd one, but a pet nonetheless.

“So you get to play with guns now, how nice, you've been waiting for a while.”

“That I have, I hope they let me use the BFG today, I haven't even touched it yet.”

“As long as you don't point it at me I'll be happy.”

They made the rest of the journey in silence, Bessy was slightly nervous, she just hoped that they would start him off with something easy. They did the opposite of what she hoped for.

“Nice to see you Sarge, come in come in.” Doctor Paul Clarkson greeted him wearing a ballistics vest.

“Thank you, its great to see you too Doctor.” Sarge said marveling at all the weapons, unfortunately the BFG was not on its stand.

“Now then I thought I'd give you a good taste of everything, just to see what you like, what you don't like, what we could perhaps focus on, you know.” Doctor Clarkson said leading him through a few corridors. “It would be best if Bessy did not come in with us, just for her safety.” He suggested when they arrived at a door labeled FIRING RANGE.

“I'll be in the cave if you need me.” She slithered off silently.

“After you.” Clarkson invite Sarge to step forward.

The door hissed open and Sarge walked through, some of the most powerful toys known to man greeted him.

“Wow.” He was utterly speechless.

“Shall we get started?” Doctor Clarkson asked stepping up to the first station. “Allow me to present to you the BFG.”

Sarge walked over and picked up the large mat black Y shaped gun, hefting it in his hands and getting a feel for the powerful weapon.

“The main rule is that whenever you have your finger on the trigger the business end of the gun must be pointed at a target down the range.” Clarkson's voice told Sarge that this was a rule not to be disobeyed. “Take two deep breaths, exhale and fire when ready.”

Taking two deep breaths to steady his breathing Sarge looked down the end of the gun, exhaled and squeezed the trigger. Nothing.

“Rule one when preparing to fire a gun. Make sure the safety is off, or with the BFG's case that the gun is on.” Clarkson instructed.

“How do I turn it on?” Sarge asked a little embarrassed.

“Put your index finger on the little pad just above the trigger.”

Sarge did so and the weapon whined as it powered up and charged its first shot. “Identification confirmed. Sarge.”

Exhaling calmly once again Sarge looked down the middle of the gun and squeezed the trigger. A bright blue ball of plasma erupted out of the BFG with a low whine, igniting the air itself as it streaked towards a human dummy. Upon impact it engulfed the dummy, leaving nothing but a smoldering stick of wood on which the dummy had stood.

“Four seconds recharge time, thirty charges per cell. When you need to reload press this button, twist forward, pull it out and insert a new cell, which is this cylinder right here.” Clarkson demonstrated.

“That is fucking awesome.”

“You like it?”

“Hell ya I like it.”

“Good, because we can only outfit your squad with one, and I hoped that it would be you.”

“Damn I love this thing.” Sarge took another fun filled shot to prove his point, obliterating yet another dummy.

He took another few shots before they continued on to the next station.

“AKX Assault rifle. We based your standard assault rifle off the AK-47 Extremely powerful, durable and versatile, you can do anything you want to it and it will keep on firing. Fires depleted uranium rounds with your choice of three different dips, anti armor, anti-personnel and standard. The miniature chainsaw at the end is for when things get up close and personal and it has a built in Kill-Cam at the top here.” Clarkson went over the basics of the weapon.

As with the BFG Sarge put his finger over the small pad. “Identification confirmed. Sarge.” He also noticed it had a few settings, single, burst, full. The single setting unsurprisingly fired one bullet, the burst three and then the full unloaded the clip entirely. After going through a couple clips he found the weapon to be just as described, the single shot was very good for accuracy, the burst kept most of the accuracy but with more damage, and the full auto didn't have the best accuracy if you just kept your finger squeezed, but with some work he was sure that it could be quite accurate.

Going on further there was a very shotgun, flamethrower, missile launcher, tri-barreled mini gun, a very sophisticated sniper rifle that could fire almost any sort of bullet, along with some high-powered pistols, and various grenades. The last thing on the menu was what Clarkson called the sentinel.

“The Sentinel, is a deployable turret, in essence it's your assault rifle on a tripod fitted with a motion sensor and one replaceable six hundred round clip. You can set it to virtually any scanning arc and motion distance. To fold it out you simply pull this lever like so and it pops out.” Clarkson demonstrated, pulling a lever at the top of the folded Sentinel. A tripod popped out from below and it sat at around waist level.

A small LCD screen lit up. “If you don't give it instruction within ten seconds it just goes to a default setting of a ninety degree arc.” He waited ten seconds at which point the screen faded to what must have been almost black to Clarkson but easily readable to Sarge. “Now check this out.” He fingered a couple buttons on the wall beside them and the target up ahead began to move back and forth. It took the Sentinel about a half second to lock on and fire on full auto, recoil dampeners allowed it to fire with perfect accuracy, blowing the dummy away in mere seconds.

“Nifty, is it the only one or are there others?” Sarge asked admiring the simple yet very useful machine.

“We have about a hundred of them so go nuts if you want. Any active ones that you or your squad deploy will come up on your helmets HUD, and if need be it has a self-destruct option that packs quite a punch. Omar Al'Lahem absolutely loves the things, says they're absolutely brilliant for all types of things, so we started up a little production line for them. Speaking of which if you see the guy tell him he owes me the two hundred from our bet.”

Sarge laughed. “Will do sir.”

“Don't sir me, just call me Clarkson, I'm like you, a one name man.” He chuckled.

“You said something about a HUD on my helmet?”

“Oh that, you'll be given body armor, light but tough as hell, made of a platinum fiber composite. Has its own power supply for your helmet, life support that kind of stuff, we're still putting the finishing touches on it so you'll have to wait a bit.”

“Sounds amazing, is there anything else you could show me?”

“Not really, I can show how some if it is made if you'd like, fascinating really.”

They were interrupted by Miller joining them. “Sarge, Doctor Clarkson.” He greeted them nodding.

“Hello.”

“Sir.”

“May I interrupt?” He asked politely.

“Go ahead, we've finished up with all the toys anyway.”

“I can tell.” Miller said looking around the smoldering range. Turning his attention to Sarge he asked. “Would you like a sniper on your team?”

“Of course.”

“Ok then, get changed into civies, I'll meet you on the flight deck.”

“I'll see you later Doctor Clarkson.” They shook hands good-bye and Sarge was off to his room.

“How's it look?” Miller asked.

“Very good, he has a keen eye and an exceptionally good aim, Flowers told me the Nanites would enhance any skills or talents that he already has, so I'm not surprised at all. He showed some real talent with the BFG, didn't like the mini-gun or launcher, said they didn't fit him, all in all he'll probably pick the AKX and BFG as his weapons” Clarkson reported.

“Very good, do you have a sniper rifle ready for transport by any chance?”

“Ya over there, in the case marked ASR-1.” Clarkson pointed over to a part of the armory where cases were stacked along a wall below a number of weapons.

“Thanks a lot, take care Doctor.”

“You too.”

Miller left the range, picking up the black case marked ASR-1 along the way. Fifteen minutes later he met Sarge at the flight deck. “Ready to go?”

“Yep. Bessy went out for a dip, said she wanted some fish, I put up a notice so it should all be good.” Notices were sent out to everyone's palm pilot fifteen minutes before any testing was done outside, it made sure that things like diving and underwater plasma testing didn't go on at the same time.

“You know how to use the sniper rifle?”

“I didn't test it out fully but mostly I do, shouldn't be that much different compensating for long ranges.”

“Then we're good to go.” He said going up the jet's ramp. “We're set.” He told the pilot once they got inside.

“Gotcha, just finalizing clearance and co-ordinates. Plotniv, three fifty k north of Moscow correct?”

“Correct.”

The jet took off vertically, powered up its main engines and took off towards Russia at mach six, where one man was about to become the third member of a special joint UN military group that was unrivaled anywhere in the world, and whose existence was mere speculation to most of the top politicians in the world.

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4. Sniper

A/N. To answer the question of where I am getting my inspiration/ideas. The answer is not simple, a whole bunch of places. So I'll list them all here so that you guys can get some pictures to put to the descriptions, or don't look and let your imagination play out. There are a lot of things that I've really wanted to incorporate in other non-HP stories as well as my HP stories that I haven't really been able to do, and so this is a place where all of those little tiny bits of ideas are coming together. Harry's name and the general composition of the squad, is from Doom the movie, I'm trying to stay away from the game simply because its not as accessible to a lot of people and the movie just portrays it in a more `realistic' fashion, really gives it the feel I'm looking for. The assault rifle is from the game Gears of War, its right on the cover picture, very cool looking gun, check it out. The implants are from the mmofps Planet-Side. The sniper rifle is from Warhammer 40,000 Vindicare assassin with some liberties taken to it. Sentinel idea from AvP. Rocket launcher will be named Shark from Unreal 2, M406 Hydra Grenade launcher also from the same place. Still debating on which air vehicle I want to give them, thinking either the Doom one at the beginning or the Halo drop ships, if anyone has some good ones they like please share them, AvP one seems pretty good too, still very much debatable. Not sure if an APC or ground vehicle would be used, I want to, but haven't really found what I'm looking for, other then perhaps the `bat mobile' from the latest movie - it's a high tech military design that costs too much, so it fits. So it's a lot various bits and pieces that I've always wanted to use but have never been able to properly. Oh ya and the armor kind of like Gears of War, fully enclosed, helmets and all that. The rest I've come up with, melded all these bits and pieces together and done all that kind of stuff. About Bessy - try as I might the name just stuck in my head and it fit really well; I mean c'mon it's just awesome.

Sniper

Alexander Romanov made the short five minute walk to the firing range in dreadful silence, the colonel was escorting him to see the army commander. Damn it his dick got the better of him and now he was paying for it, at least the night out at the club was worth it. They were going to hold him responsible because his brother was a leader in the mafia, he was well educated and could speak fluent English, the colonel hated that, and he had shot out the dollar sized alarm sensor from five kilometers away, and that was how they traced it to him. He fucked up and now there was hell to pay, plain and simple, although it was strange that it had gone this far.

“You've fucked up big time asshole.” The colonel said with relish.

“Go fuck yourself.” Romanov spat out, its not like he was going to get into even more trouble for swearing to him.

The colonel couldn't say another word as they saw the commander standing outside with two civilians. They came up, saluted and Romanov remained at attention.

“You are dismissed colonel.” Came the commander's curt reply.

That's interesting, thought Romanov as the awe struck colonel left immediately.

“At ease.” The commander looked at him carefully, sizing him up. “Tell us in English how you disabled the security sensor last night.”

“I took one shot from the living quarters with a sniper rifle sir.”

“What were the conditions like?” The civilian asked the question, he was old but in shape, and he looked sharp, like a man you didn't want to fuck with.

“Very windy. I had a buddy shine a light on it so I could see it.”

“You did it when it was dark?”

“Yes sir.”

“With that gun?” The man pointed to the rifle that the commander was holding.

“Yes sir, my own gun sir.”

“That would seem like an impossible shot, are you lying at all?”

“No sir. The shot is not impossible, just a bit tough.” Romanov answered confidently.

“And how many other people do you know of that could make a shot similar to that?”

“Honestly sir?”

“Yes.”

“None sir.”

“There is Coke can on a stool at the end of the range, hit it.” The man ordered.

The commander nodded and handed him the rifle. “You have three attempts.”

Romanov popped the clip and checked inside, three bullets, little bit of cross wind, ten kilometers. Easy. He got onto one knee, held the rifle steady, adjusted the sight as necessary, fired three quick consecutive shots, put the rifle down and gave it back to the commander.

“You can go over there and check, I hit it all three times.” The commander and the old guy had been looking through binoculars while other one hadn't. The other guy was young, and for the life of him Romanov did not want to be on his bad side. His eyes seemed to penetrate every fiber of his body, he couldn't look in the eyes, and the gaze seemed probe down to his soul. He was obviously tall and very muscular, he wanted to think special forces but that didn't seem to quite fit, he held himself better then any mere killer, he was something else entirely. Romanov had met many different people in his twenty two years, but never someone like him, he was so sure, so calm, the commander intimidated him, but this guy intimidated on a whole different level, he didn't even have to say anything to intimidate.

“He hit it all three times.” The man said.

Romanov released a birth he didn't realize that he was holding, but how could have possibly seen?

“He is exceptionally good.”

“You want him?” The old man asked.

“I do.”

“Commander if you will excuse us please.” The old man asked.

To Romanov's utter astonishment the commander nodded and actually left. Now they were completely alone from all outside eyes and ears.

“Up on that hill over there.” The man pointed to a hill at least twenty kilometers away, he couldn't even see the damn thing. “Is a cherry, hit it.”

Romanov looked at the old guy curiously, was he being serious? “Sir, that shot is physically impossible.”

“Why?” It seemed like a stupid question to Romanov.

“Well because the gun cannot physically hit that target, the gravitational pull, the wind, even a computer wouldn't be able to pull the shot off. Maybe if the gun was powerful enough you could, but I don't know of any that could do that, I mean that rifle right there is the best I know of.” Romanov reasoned.

“It is a nice rifle, where did you get it?”

“My dad, the mafia, we have ways.”

“Interesting, so you say you can't hit it then?”

“No sir.”

“Would you like to?”

“Pardon sir?”

“Would you like to be able to make that kind of shot?”

“Well yes of course, I just don't know how it can physically be managed.”

“The Sergeant.” Miller motioned at Sarge. “Has accepted to recruit you into his team, do you accept?”

“What kind of team?”

“A special kind.”

“What is the catch?”

“A big one.”

His brother had always told him not to accept any kind of offer that was very loose, but he had also said that if everything is completely and utterly unusual, that there is something about that just seems to fit, then take it. “Yes, I'll join.”

The sergeant walked up to him with a long black case. “As soon as I open this there is no going back. If you still wish leave you are free to do so, this is your last chance.”

“I'm in.”

“I'm Sarge and this is Frank Miller, the director.”

“Victor Romanov, nice to meet you both.” He shook hands with both of them in turn.

“Like wise.” Sarge replied.

“Give me your hands, palms down.” Miller instructed taking out a small LCD screen and typing some things into it.

Romanov stuck out his hands. “Put you fingers on this screen one at a time, start with the pinky on your left hand and go right.”

Again Romanov did as instructed. “Okay you're in our data base now, welcome to Exodus.”

Romanov just stood there not knowing what to really say.

“Would you like to make the shot that you yourself told us is impossible?” Sarge asked.

“Yes.” The word came out a bit anxious.

Sarge put the case down on the ground and pressed his thumbs on two small pads. “Identification confirmed. Sarge.”

The case opened and inside was a night black rifle, but this thing was like nothing Romanov had ever seen before. The Barrel and butt end of the rifle unfolded itself crisply in Sarge's hands.

“This is your new gun.” Sarge said handing over the awesome looking weapon to him.

Romanov held it delicately. It was a bit on the heavy side but perfectly balanced. The scope was a miniature LCD and there were no buttons whatsoever. He put his finger over a small pad as instructed by Sarge. “Identification confirmed. Snipes.” The LCD in the scope turned light green.

“Comes with various ammunition and clip sizes, this is your standard long range bullet, the barrel is auto adjustable so you can pretty much fire anything that fits in the hole. It uses ionic coils to fire the round, no kickback, no loss of energy, just hold it tight and steady.” Sarge explained.

Romanov nodded in understanding, a little overwhelmed at the moment he looked into the scope. Not wanting to look stupid he didn't ask how to adjust it, after not being able to find anything on the smooth weapon he finally asked. “How do I adjust he sight?”

“Talk to it.” Sarge replied simply.

“Talk to it?”

“Yes talk.”

Romanov shrugged and told the rifle. “Twenty kilometers, cherry.” The LCD began zooming in, scanning the area for the characteristic dimensions of a cherry. To Romanov's utter astonishment small arrows began to guide him to a locked on object…a cherry. Confirm blinked at the bottom of the visor, knowing of nothing better to do he said. “Confirm.” The circular lock on changed to a cross hair.

“What about variables?” He asked out loud, still looking down the scope.

“The barrel of the gun is pointing at a different spot then what you're seeing on the screen.” Sarge explained.

“Ok.” Romanov made sure that he had it dead center and took the shot.

The shot gave off a slight red hue and as the very air was ignited in a coned line by the passing projectile. Twenty kilometers away a bullet larger then its actual target hit the cherry dead center.

Romanov stood up slowly, trembling slightly for the first time in his life. Unwillingly he gave the rifle back to Sarge who packed it into its case.

“Go get whatever belongings you wish, we will meet you at the airport.” Miller instructed him.

Romanov didn't need to be told twice. His imagination ran wild with questions about what had just transpired, this was obviously something very unique, from the two men, to the weapon, the circumstances, how the commander acted, all of it was bizarre, and yet it all felt right, in its own way everything sort of made sense. By the time he had packed his things and made his way over to the small nearby airport he was sure of only one thing, the strangeness had just begun, their jet and the conversation inside proved that fact beyond all doubt.

Miller and Sarge had just told Romanov about what was going on, the magical community, about Sarge, what he was doing, what he had become, what they would become, and of course about Bessy. He sat silently for a few moments soaking the information in, his life had literally just been turned upside down.

“Questions?” Miller asked.

“Thousands.” Romanov replied.

“What will my family think happened to me?”

“They will be informed that you graduated to a special forces group, that you would be out of contact for a while, but would make a visit when possible, the time and duration of these visits will not be specified. You will be labeled as alive, your family will know you are safe, but not know where you are. You will be able to make visits home, we will try our best to make sure that you make their birthdays or new years, its never a long flight.”

“Thank you sir.”

“Not a problem.”

The last few minutes of the flight were spent in comfortable silence as they arrived back at the facility, landing lightly on a seemingly random spot close to the lake.

“Now remember Bessy is harmless and very intelligent so don't be scared.” Sarge reassured him.

He wasn't very sure about the harmless part, but if she was intelligent and Sarge could communicate with her then it shouldn't be much of a problem. Then he heard a rough slithering noise behind him coming from the lake, and then he saw her and almost choked. Sarge put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly as Bessy slithered up towards them.

“Hey Bessy, good swim?” He asked petting as she rubbed her head against his chest.

“Yesss, this the new guy?” She motioned to the bewildered Romanov.

“Alexander Romanov, our Sniper.”

“Interesting.” She said turning her attention towards him, her tongue flicking at his face.

“Its ok you can pet her.” Miller urged.

Romanov reached out a trembling hand and pet Bessy lightly on the head, she responded by moving into his hand, showing that she didn't mind and wouldn't hurt him. After a few minutes he relaxed as she tasted him out with her flicking tongue, familiarizing her senses with him.

“Personally I think of it this way. What ever you are scared of, whatever creature or thing haunts you the most, know that Bessy is far worse and she is on your side. I was really scared of sharks a few weeks back, so we had Bessy get really hungry, brought a nursing shark into the lake, they can live in fresh water and are big nasty sharks, then we took all of the people scared of sharks out for a swim with Bessy. Bessy had dinner and we weren't scared of sharks anymore, worked out well for everyone.”

Romanov looked at him like he was joking, and then realized he wasn't.

A/N. Next chapter will give a perspective on what is happening at Hogwarts and generally do a nice big leap into time.

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5. Eight years

A/N. This is more of a `filler' chapter, so if you have some question that you really want answered ask them and I'll try to answer them in the context of the next chapter, or if you want to see certain aspects of either world.

Eight Years

A silent wind rustled the short grass, flowers swaying with a sad motion; it had been eight years, eight years since he had left them, trying to defeat the very thing that was now consuming the world. A woman knelt before a grave crying silently, the four people around her stood up, the two women also wept while the men stayed strong but it was obvious that they were hurting. Three kids stood with them, one of the boys tightly hugged the kneeling woman.

"Don't cry mommy, please." He sniffed.

"James…" She hugged him back fiercely.

"Tell me about daddy." There that should do it he thought, she always got happy when she told him great stories about his dad.

"Ok." She said through a sob, she could never refuse him, whenever she looked at him those emerald green eyes would look back, and she could never refuse. She brushed his curly brown hair that could never lay perfectly right and smiled at her pride and joy.

"Today we're going to give you all some very special things." Said Ron. He had changed, he was hard, cold, brutal and excessively violent to deatheaters, out of the original founders of the D.A he had probably changed the most. His wife Luna was at his side, holding onto their son Sirius's arm, his dirty blonde hair had a sort of red tinge to it, immediately recognizable as a Weasley.

The other couple was Neville and Ginny who had a beautiful girl, a redheaded beauty named Lilly whom James secretly fancied.

They went to the new Burrow, the old one had been rebuilt near Hogsmead, as had a lot of houses, and now all of the Weasleys, two Potters and Longbottoms lived there. It was very large and spacious for a house, but when you had around thirty people living there it got a bit crowded at dinnertime. A lot of things had changed, everything in fact, Hogwarts now accepted student as young as seven years of age so that they could learn even the most rudimentary of spells, to give them at least some hope of surviving an attack.

The trio sat on a large comfy couch as their parents got their presents for them, they were to be going into first year very soon and so had expected some kind of surprise.

"We are passing this down to you, some of these things are very old so make sure to be careful with them." Ginny told the three of them and gave little Lilly a memory ball. "Now you can't say you forgot to your homework." Neville warned. Lilly also received a small charm from her mother that she had gotten from her grandmother.

Sirius received a set of magical dragonhide gloves and a special quill that could encode all sorts of messages as you spoke to it.

When it was James' turn Hermione stifled a sob as she sat on her knees before her son. "This had been your father's very first broom, he got it from his god father Sirius." She said softly handing him Harry's old Firebolt.

"Wow…thank you mom." He said giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Next she took out a glimmering cloak that felt like water in her hands. "This was passed down to your father from his father, may it serve you well as it served him."

"An invisibility cloak!" The trio gathered around it.

"And finally for all three of you is this." She handed them the Mauraders Map. "You already know how to work it, so now it is yours and you may use it."

The trio marveled at the things that they had all received, imaginations running wild with all sorts of possibilities. Hermione's eyes welled up as she saw the happiness on her son's face, if only Harry could see him now, he would be proud. His son was growing up to be just as courageous as he was, just as handsome and just as clever as her.

The fireplace began to blaze and then a split second later Dumbledore stumbled into the room, tired and weary, the past eight years had been very hard on him and it showed.

"Any luck?" Ron asked, noticing Dumbledore's pink muggle suit.

"No, not a thing." He said sadly, resigning to an old chair.

"There is a convention in a weeks time that I would like Hermione to attend with me actually." Dumbledore informed them.

"Ok, how should I dress?" She asked.

"It will be a big gathering of various muggle leaders, it is a UN meeting that is to be called regarding Voldemort's most recent attacks. They are catching on, many feel that something is wrong, it has gotten very obvious even to the foolish...It is only a matter of time before we will not be able to cover things up and then the world will plung into the greatest war seen in all of history."

"I will try and be of as much help as I can professor, just tell me what you need."

James took advantage of the small pause in their conversation to show Dumbledore his new treasure. "Look Professor." He held up the cloak and broom.

"And this." Added in Sirius, showing him the Mauraders map.

"Well isn't that nice, I was wondering when you would recieve those things, but why I seem to be forgetting something…I just can't put my finger on what that may be, I am getting old you know." He said playfully to them.

"Well we haven't received our letters yet." Lilly said sadly.

"Letters, yes that's it, I have three letters here." He pulled out three envelopes. "Lets see now. Miss Longbottom, Mr Weasley and Mr. Potter." He announced giving each one of them their Hogwarts acceptance letter.

Watching them so happy, so joyous, brought back the same old twinkle to his eyes as they read their letters. How things had changed…It was full scale war now, the light versus the dark, towns switching alligances, anti apparation wards causing bloody battles between witches, wizards, warewolves, vampire, trolls, and all sorts of other creatures. Witches and wizards had come to Europe from all over the world, many to come fight for the dark, less for the losing light side. In fact things had gotten desperate, at the rate that things were going it was only a matter of time before Voldemort won, ever since he had taken London things had gotten bad, there were rumours now that he had his sights on Moscow, in all wars the city had never fallen to the enemy, but if it did this time...and so Dumbledore had taken to the muggle world for help. He visited countries, committees, looking for any possible signs of help, but mostly it was anger and hate at something the muggles did not understand. He was desperately hoping that the UN meeting would bare at least some fruit, that he would be able to find at least someone to help him.

Later on that night Hermione tucked little James into bed and kissed him good night. "Mom?"

"Yes honey."

"Do you think dad could be alive? They never found his body, so he could still be alive couldn't he?"

She dared not tell him what she really thought, that not one spell, item, enchantment, ward or anything could find him, that there really was no hope that he could be alive, and so she lied to him. "Yes, there is always a chance, that he could be out there somewhere, getting ready to come back, to defeat all the evil and bring peace and happiness to everyone once again."

"I know he is alive, I can…feel it. When he comes back he'll send Voldemort and all his little cronies packing, and then he'll make them regret what they did." He said animatedly smashing his fist into the palm of his hand.

"I'm sure that it could happen, now go to sleep."

"Good night mom." And he went to sleep with a big smile on his face, knowing that one of these days his dad would come back and make everything right, and they would be a happy family, together forever.

Years later people would quote Frank Miller. "In this line of work the improbable is usually the most probable, never forget that." And they would point to little James as the prime example…

--- Iceland ---

Omar watched in horror as his perfect strategy began to unravel and collapse. "Alpha hold the corridor, Gamma come up on the west front from the trees, Delta cover their approach with sniper fire."

"Squad Delta has been terminated." The computer announced.

Omar swore in colorful Arabic.

"Penetration rounds dear Omar." Romanov chuckled on the speakers.

"Squad Alpha terminated."

"How…" He switched to another monitor and noticed that the wall had been lacerated by what appeared to be hundreds of blades giving the previously white spotless walls a destroyed red bloody tinge…Bessy.

"Hey everyone watch this shit." Said the deep rumbling voice of Destroyer. "Ready Sarge?"

"I'm set at this end, Bessy is out."

The camera spun around to show a computer representation of Sarge firing off his BFG at a particular support column, while at the same time Destroyer unleashed a salvo of rockets at another specially predetermined location. Spinning around again the camera showed trenches dug under the building, causing the entire structure to come down on the valuable fifty man Gamma squad. Whoever remained was quickly moped up by precision fire from the other six members of Exodus and the simulation was over.

"I…I, how? How could you have possibly beaten that?" Omar asked stumped. "Six hundred troops, an armored division, air superiority, turrets, everything."

"Guess you'll just have to watch the recordings." Pyro mocked.

Exodus had just completed by far their most difficult assignment yet; the nine of them had assaulted a fully fortified, fully prepared enemy, on their own territory, in a base Omar had personally planned out in secret, it should have been impossible. He reflected back to where they had been eight years ago, no squad, only the facilities and technology, and now they had Exodus. Omar looked over the roster, the poor bastards who go up against them won't stand a chance.

Sarge - the natural leader of the squad, perhaps the deadliest one of them all, he could just Do things sometimes, open doors, not die after falling from a skyscraper, those kinds of things the weird thing was that AI simulator allowed it.

Bessy - Sarge's pet, she was harmless so long as you were on her side, otherwise she made your worst nightmare look like a good dream.

Alexander Pankratov, Snipe - If he couldn't hit the mark no one could, best marksmen alive, giving him the ASR 1 was overkill in Omar's opinion.

Roy Rolans, Destroyer - Heavy weapons specialist, the biggest man Omar had ever laid eyes on, by far the physically strongest human of the group he could mow down droops with the mini-gun in one hand and take out tanks with the Shark rocket launcher in the other.

Tyler Fletcher, Bulldog - Always loves to fight, amazing with a shotgun at close quarters, hot tempered but loyal.

Jason and William Harold, Joker and Pyro - Amazing with all weapons, give them a Hydra Grenade launcher and a FF Flamethrower and watch things heat up.

Johannes Jeunamann, JJ - The man fit the German stereotype to the core, efficient, cool, and deadly, a magician with the technical aspects of things also a pilot.

Chan Yao, Stalker - The little Chinese man was the smallest of the group, but he was especially quick and silent who had a great knowledge of marshal arts before he became part of Exodus. The man was a skilled scout, acting as the forward eyes for the group, and he had a special mark light device that he could lock onto targets with and then have the group shoot at even if they couldn't see the enemy, this worked especially well with Snipe whose rounds could punch through walls without losing much velocity.

All of them had trained extensively with the use of all weapons, in the end they all picked something to specialize in, their load out always included the versatile AKX assault rifle no matter what, on Sarge's orders. They had practiced with every load out imaginable, in every scenario imaginable, from going in with only their combat knives to a full payload with all the support they needed. They practiced working solo, in teams, with Bessy, without her, everything, and they did it all in a virtual environment, the simulator wasn't exact, but it got very close to the real thing. Of course they did training outside, in real weather, under all sorts of conditions. In the end they turned out to be 'The baddest mother fuckers on the planet' as they referred to themselves. It wasn't just their training, in eight years they had become a family, brothers, trusting each other completely, ignoring all racial discrimination, they were each an indispensable part of a whole team known as Exodus and because of that trust, that bond, that single minded purposeness they were the best.

He watched them leave the simulator joking and laughing at each other, fighting along the way.

"So Sarge, I was thinkin'" Destroyer put his arm around him in a very thoughtful manner.

"You were thinking, well that's impressive." He said with a laugh.

"Kiss my black ass Sarge." The others laughed. "Anyway I was thinking about what JJ and Snipes were thinking about, and I think it's a great idea."

"Well you know what so do I."

"Babes and booty here we come!" They all roared.

Snipes was already speaking in Russian to his brother through his comms. before Sarge had even said a thing. "Ladna, boodeam cherez polchesa, aha ... paka." "Alright I told him we'd be there in half an hour or so."

Miller watched on with a satisfied smile, he'd done it, he'd created the perfect killing unite, but now they were going to face some real tests, and so was he. Unlike Exodus he wasn't going to be flying out to party at a mafia nightclub, he was going to see Pinky, or so he called the old man. He wasn't worried about them going out, they always took their equipment with them wherever they went, so if anything they could be ready within five minutes and airborne to the destination.

The Hawk swooped down low like a bird of pray, coming down unseen onto an empty parking garage that was attached to one of the most famous night clubs in Europe. Four men waited for its arrival, Snipes' brother and three of his cousins, JJ brought the jet down with minimal thrust to avoid being seen by people on the ground, the loud music meant they wouldn't be heard, once on the ground no radar would spot it and the tarps that were to be put across would make sure it stayed invisible from the air by sight.

"Welcome everyone." Vlad greeted them all. "My brother has told me very little and I will ask nothing, friends of his are friends of mine. Your … transportation will not be touched, the tarps you sent will be put over it as you requested."

They greeted each other pleasantly, Vlad turned out to be a very slick host, he had been in the top layers of the criminal world long enough to know that when someone arrives in something you have never seen before you don't ask questions.

"Please everything is on the house." He led them inside the club, taking a second to talk into a small mic. "No one but those eight men go onto the roof." The message went out to all security.

A/N. Next chapter will be a real fun one, if you caught on then you'll know whom Miller is going to meet. The next chapter, or most probably the chapter after that will really explore the state that the magical world is in, and it will have the first real fight. From here on out things will start getting crazy, deceptive, and emotional. Enjoy, please and review, it really helps a lot with the creativity, mistakes that have been made and it gives a real drive to write the story.

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6. Contact

Contact

Inside it was a real party, and it wasn't just anyone who was there either, to get into this club you had to be rich and a criminal, it attracted people from all over the world and ended up being a favorite forum for the black market to many. The security was tight and no one was allowed to bring in weapons other then the security present of course, the result was very civilized, clean and fun, if you didn't get the deal you still had a good time partying.

The music was pumping, the drinks were flowing, people were dancing, having fun, socializing, a perfect night of celebration.

“So, what is it that you do?” Toyed a very attractive brunette.

“I shoot things you know.” Replied Sarge.

“What kind of gun do you have?” She played with her V-neck dress Sarge following her hand attentively.

“A very big one, the most powerful.”

“Can you show me?” She bent forward, affording him a very generous view.

“That can certainly be…” Explosions outside cut him off mid sentence.

Sarge ran to the closest window and looked outside, there in the distances were flashes of light and explosions, spells, the people inside didn't hear, but a few outside had noticed it. The few small clips of footage that they had of spells being cast paired with what he saw before him and he knew they had to act quickly. His squad had stopped what they were doing and looked to him for information, he gave them a quick nod and sprinted to the VIP room.

“Hey something wrong guys?” Vlad asked as they all ran into the room.

“We need guns, anything you may have right now, right here, pistols, shotguns anything.” Snipe asked him in hurried Russian.

He looked at them oddly for a second before turning around and going to a portion of a wall behind him. The wall opened up to reveal a rack of AK-47s, a couple shotguns and ammo.

“Thank you very much.” Sarge said dispersing the weapons, making sure that Bulldog got his shotgun.

“I want those back.” Was all Vlad said as Exodus ran out.

“We'll take the side entrance.” Snipe said leading them outside into the warm night air.

“What are we dealing with Sarge?” Stalker asked as they fanned out and sprinted down the street. “And shouldn't we be getting our real equipment?”

“About fifteen of them or so, and no we don't have time, this whole thing could be over in two minutes.” Flashes and explosions lit up the narrow streets.

“Stalker and Destroyer flank right.” Sarge ordered, the two immediately broke off from the group, going down a separate ally.

“Bulldog and JJ right.” They disappeared into the left, double-timing around a building.

“Snipe stay loose.” The command told him to stay with the group unless he could find a good place to take up position, not likely in this urban environment, but still possible.

She was having a nice nap in the jet, the vibration of nearby music rocking her to sleep, and then magic, she could sense it, and then the feeling she got when Sarge was up to something…why now? Bessy thought irritably, uncurling from her ball she slithered towards the one of the doors and peaked out through the tarp, all clear. Taking a quick look around she slithered down the side of the parking lot and broke her way into the sewer, it was tight fit, smelly, and it pissed her off. Whoever had started up a fight was about to seriously regret it.

“Quickly, we must fall back out of the anti apparation zone, we can't win this.” A ragged, worn figure called out as he and his last four men ran through the tight corridors, ten Death Eaters followed them, throwing spell after spell in their direction.

“The bitch is mine!” Yelled out one of the Death Eaters as he spotted one of Order had dripped up on a pothole and was scrambling madly around a corner to get away.

“I got you now you filthy MUDBLOOD!” He snickered, stepping around the corner. The cold barrel of a shotgun touched his brow for a split second before his head dispersed itself evenly around the surrounding walls.

The witch looked at the strange muggle who had just saved her life. “Go.” He said, as his partner darted around the corner, snapping off a couple of precise shots.

The main Death Eater force ran down a central ally, the same one that Exodus had picked out, they didn't notice the four advanced super soldiers hiding in the shadows, waiting for them to get closer so that they wouldn't have a single chance to `teleport away' as the analysts back at the hive had called it.

A shotgun sounded off to their right.

“Go.” Sarge's command was inaudible to the normal human ear, but to his squad it was if he were standing right beside them speaking normally.

They got up as one and opened fire simultaneously, cutting through all of the Death Eaters, save one who had enough brains to turn around and start running as fast as he could in the opposite direction. As he ran, and the bullets stopped he thought he saw something large move, a heavy metal object sent him flying backwards before he could contemplate the thought any further.

“Bitch.” Destroyer muttered, holding a pipe in his hand as he advanced.

The Death Eater raised his wand to attack only to have his wrist shot out, the anti-personnel bullet continued past an unflinching Destroyer and imbedded itself in a wall.

Snipe kept his rifle trained on the Death Eater who looked around helplessly, scared as the shadows closed in on him, he couldn't see any of their faces, just their outlines against the twinkling night sky above and he was terrified. Three other silhouettes joined the big one that had just stopped him dead.

“I am going to ask you some questions.” Said a dead, emotionless voice behind him.

“Lying is not advisable.”

The Death Eater gasped for breath, his ribs were broken. “A muggle asking me…questions…ha!” He forced himself to laugh through shaking teeth. “Do you pathetic wretches know who I am?”

The ground before the Death Eater trembled ominously before something erupted from under the street, sending concrete and bits of metal flying in the air. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it had glowing red eyes that pierced through the darkness like fire. Thousands of serrated barbs ran along its length vibrating at impossible speeds, it was the biggest most terrifying thing he had ever seen. Frozen in shear terror he watched as the gigantic basilisk slithered out and brought its face millimeters from his own, opening up a gaping maw filled with dagger sized diamond sharp teeth.

“That is exactly what I was about to ask you.” Said Sarge as Bessy wrapped herself around him, making sure that her barbs bit painfully into his flesh.

He tried answering but couldn't.

“If you are going to be silent then there is no need for you.” He said playing with him.

“Bessy you smell awful.”

Thinking that he was about to be eaten he stumbled through a fearful sentence. “I-I-I am, the Dark Lord's wrath. And y-you are all…going to DIE!”

“Then why are you so scared?”

“I-I…I am not!” With an act of defiance he whispered a quick incantation, setting of a curse that instantly killed him.

“Fuck.” Sarge swore silently.

“Damn Sarge, that voice almost scared the shit out of me.” Said Joker eyeing him.

“And Bessy smells like shit.” Said Pyro with a laugh.

“Tell him that I'd rather smell like shit after going through a sewer then smell like shit every day.” With the eight years she had spent in close proximity with humans she had actually managed to start learning the language, she couldn't speak it but could understand enough.

Sarge laughed. “She said that she'd rather smell like shit after going through a sewer then smell like shit every day.”

“She got ya there.” JJ teased.

“So what do you want us to do with the bodies?” Asked Stalker, sirens blared in the distance, coming closer.

“Take whatever you can find, leave the bodies and guns, we're going to have to get past a lot of people. Snipe you're free to compensate your brother however you see fit.”

“Yes sir.” They quickly went through the bodies, only able to find long sticks in their hands that looked like wands, nothing else.

“Everyone meet up at the jet, groups of two or three.” Sarge ordered once they had gone through the bodies.

Off in the distance, where they were sure to be able to apparate a group of wizards and a witch watched the interrogation unfold before their eyes with fear and bewilderment.

“Should we spread out and memory charm them?” Asked a wizard.

“No, we have to report this directly to Dumbledore.” Said the witch who had been saved by Bulldog.

Five soft pops later they disappeared.

Meanwhile at a UN summit meeting in Berlin Frank Miller sat by himself and observed the proceedings, more importantly he kept a close eye on two people who stood far apart from everyone else on the balconies, one of whom had attended any sort of major government meeting for past few months. This time he had brought a friend, a strikingly beautiful young woman, who unlike her pinkly suited companion knew how to dress appropriately. Taking one last look around he got up from his chair and casually made his way towards them.

When Miller was only a few steps away from the pair he uttered one simple word that confirmed all of his suspicions about them. “Crucio.”

The pair whirled around startled, only to find the grinning face of Frank Miller.

“How horrible it is that one simple word can make such a beautiful young woman such as yourself turn in shock.” Miller said casually.

“Who are you?” Asked the old man carefully.

“The answer to that is just as intriguing as the answer to who you are.”

“Is that so?” Asked the lady.

“Why yes, Miss…”

“Mrs. Hermione Potter.” She held out a hand.

Hermione, could it be? He took her hand and gently kissed it. “Frank Miller.”

“Albus Dumbledore.” The two men shook hands.

“You see them?” Motioned to the rows upon rows of people below them. “They think they are in control, they think that they know everything. How foolish. But we know better, we know who is in control. The only question is, who is in control of your world?” Miller asked delicately.

Dumbledore studied Miller carefully, and like wise Miller studied Dumbledore and Hermione carefully.

“It is in a tipping balance.” Said Dumbledore.

“A war then, not surprising. I would assume that because you are here you are not winning.”

“Then would it be logical to assume that you are also losing? Tell us who is in control here?” She was fierce and direct.

“Ultimately I am in control.” Miller said looking out through the window at all the flags below.

“But you are here, there must be a reason for that.” She shot back tactfully.

“Do not mistake surveillance with weakness. I could very well set events into motion that could annihilate your world and then take over this one, but that would ultimately lead to a flawed result, one that we cannot allow if we are to survive. And besides I am not a dictator, or mass murderer.”

“I seriously doubt that you can use missiles, and armies to take over our world, they are too expensive, too hard to maneuver, too unwieldy, divided as we are you could not possible stand a chance against us.”

“But my lady I do not use such cheap, blunt equipment. As you have pointed out it would be futile.”

“If you were to use nuclear weapons then you would be destroying your own cities.”

“Nuclear weapons are only a diplomatic tool, and even when used they destroy whatever it is you may have hoped to gain in the first place, they are very obsolete in my arsenal. Now enough with the games, should I stop wasting my time and destroy you all or are you going to tell me why you are here?” His tone was not aggressive or mocking the least, it was conversational without any sort of bullshit.

It was at that point that Dumbledore and Hermione realized they had no other alternative other then the truth; this was obviously a man not to be underestimated in the future. “We are losing a war, and if we lose the world will plunge into darkness. There are essentially two sides, the Order; we only wish to live peacefully and without conflict, and hopefully some day live with muggles, your world.”

“And the other side?”

“The side of darkness, led by a man who calls himself the Dark Lord Voldemort, he wants to essentially rule the world, plunge it into darkness.”

“A fight between good and evil?”

“Yes that is what it comes down to.”

“What is your stance on our world?” Miller asked, quick on the questions. He didn't want to give them time to think, if the answer was a lie it would be easily identifiable, otherwise it was the truth.

“I am from the muggle world.” Hermione answered. “A large part of the magical community is from the muggle world, there are almost no pure blood families left.”

“And this Voldemort, what is his stance?”

“Kill them all, or turn them to slaves.” Dumbledore answered sadly.

“If I were to agree to help you now then I would request one thing from you when this war would come to an end.”

“And what is that?”

“That you help me.”

Dumbledore looked at curiously. “Help you do what?”

“When the time comes I will explain everything to you, but you must give me your word or we part right now and by this time tomorrow you will have another enemy to contend with.”

Dumbledore thought carefully for a moment, could he be bluffing? No, he did not seem like the type, he was calm, precise and most of all in complete control. “Okay, you have my word that I will help you to the best of my ability.”

“Good, then we can be allies.”

“We can be.” Said Dumbledore.

Miller looked at him.

“Do you know the town of Peddington?”

“Yes I have heard of it, some strange things going on there.” He was pretty sure they had lost contact with the whole area a few days ago, troops stationed nearby had been ordered to investigate, not a word from them since.

“Indeed there are, for that is where a major Death Eater city is located. There is a large prison there housing many Order members and civilians. There have been many battles recently for its strategic importance, for it is a major junction for our Floo network. They cannot apparate away so that should not be a factor in your attack against them. Should you be successful then we will truly be allies, until then I simply cannot trust you and your abilities.”

“Three questions.” Miller. “One what is the Floo network?”

“The Floo network is a mean of near instant transportation, we connect fire places to eat and travel between houses that way. Before the war it was open, except for any restrictions that you might want to put on a fireplace, but now we have major junction points where you must go through. Think of the Floo network as a highway, and Peddington as place where a lot of the roads meet. Without Peddington we really must go out of our way, with all of the security measures put in place going from one point to another is now much more time consuming then it used to be.” Dumbledore explained.

“What is apparating?”

“That is instantaneous travel, much more dangerous because of the concentration required, and you need to have been at a spot before hand in order to be able to go there. Many wizards and witches have accidents along the way…”

“So they cannot apparate in that area, a type of roadblock if I may use the analogy, and it is a vital transportation route.”

“Yes you are correct, what is the third question?”

“How long do I have?”

“Would a week be enough time?” Dumbledore asked, hoping that it would be sufficient.

Miller laughed lightly. “Be there in six hours, should be about sunrise.”

Dumbledore looked at him as if the man was talking mad.

“If there is nothing else to talk about until that point in time then I shall be leaving. Mrs. Potter it was a pleasure meeting you, Dumbledore.” He nodded to them both and walked away.

“He underestimates the situation, there is no way that he can do something of that scale within six hours.” Hermione said to Dumbledore once Miller had left.

“No my dear Hermione, it is we who have underestimated him.”

A/N. I'm not the best at canon stuff, so what are the kinds of things that might make a certain area of strategic importance? If any of you have some creatures that you would like to see then please say so and I'll put them in there, so far I've got the following: Death Eaters, undead - Nefarie (that how you spell it?), trolls, giants, dragons, werewolves, vampires, orcs (those around and if they are would they be like LOTR orcs?), dementors, giant spiders, corrupted centaur, and of course muggles.

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7. Authors note - Interlude

Setting things clear here and stopping people from worrying.

Miller is British, the only American person on Exodus is Destroyer who also happens to be black. JJ is German, Snipe Russian, Stalker Japanese, Bulldog Irish/Scottish, Pyro/Joker French Canadian (so mixed), Harry obviously British. Omar is Middle Eastern.

A bit about me. I'm Russian (Moscow born) and live in Canada. I have Russian, American, German, British, French, Canadian, Korean, Japanese, Scottish, black, white, yellow, red (told her to wear sunscreen but nooo) friends. I've based the characters on people I know and even included some of their names.

The Exodus project/hive is a global foundation, that is why when Miller says he is in control that is because the people at the Hive are from all over the world, have connections that they can use in politics and what not, he is not direct, but sublime through his contacts and people at the hive. Basically the hive is a gather of the best of the best of humanity. If its sounding too Americanised I apologize, but I live in Canada and it rubs off. I'll be looking up maps of cities/town from all over the world to use in this story, or if you would like to have a certain one featured just tell me and make sure to say where its from. I'll be taking Exodus all over the world so this would actually help a good bit - descriptions of the area would also be nice.

The city Peddington - The guy who I based JJ off of has a huge dog named Pudding, he asked me to fit the name in.

It will not end up being an arms race but a world wide war, and if some of the things will seem to be too easy for Exodus, there is a very good reason for it which I can't say without spoiling the ending, there will either be a second follow up story or this one will just be really long. I'm not going to say more then that. If you guys have read my other stories you know that I always have a big surprise, and this one is by FAR the biggest.

Miller does not know who Sarge really is, he just believes him to be a powerful wizard. They really don't know anything about the wizarding world other then they can teleport, use spells, make themselves invisible/hide themselves very well. Beyond that he is guessing. Since he believes Harry to be a wizard he would use Harry to see through the magical barriers and then Harry's own latent powers would allow his squad to see what he sees, but he doesn't even know that, its all theory basically, he needs Dumbledore more then he is letting on.

There have been and will be clues as to what the surprise will be, if you think you know what it is tell me, it is not obvious but one or two of you mentioned something about it.

No I have not played Quake ever, only Doom 3 (latest one).

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8. Knocking on the Devil’s Door

A/N. Thank you rainbow star, not only do I want to go there now but I will definitely use your location in the story.

Knocking on the Devil's Door

A red warning light and a flashing LCD screen abruptly halted all conversation within the Hawk, nine heads turned to the twenty-one inch monitor.

Sarge tapped the screen.

-MISSION READY-

LOCATION: PEDDINGTON. SOUTH ENGLAND. X: 4986 Y: 9822

TIME FRAME: 5 HOURS.

PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVES: SECURE PRISONERS. DESTROY ALL HOSTILE FORCES.

SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVES: DESTROY ALL ENEMY FORTIFICATIONS/EQUIPMENT.

MISSION RESTRICTIONS: KEEP PRISONERS ALIVE.

ESTIMATED THREAT LEVEL: HIGH. MAGICAL CITY. POSSIBLE TRAITOR MILITARY FORCES.

SATELITE IMAGRY:

An overhead satellite image followed along with additional data, in accordance to past and present satellite imagery the most probable location for the prisoners would be the largely rebuilt town hall in the middle of town, infrared scanning showed this center to have the largest amount of people. A thin wall with outposts stationed clearly showed up on the satellite, if they could read the small print on a newspaper on a cloudy day then they sure as hell would be able to see a wall. The last thing he checked was the ground statistics, soft soil.

JJ had stopped the Hawk in mid air just off the coast of Greenland. “Sarge?”

He thought for a moment, taking a quick look over things a second time. “Bring us to the hive. We'll pick up our pilot, and any additional equipment you may need. Stalker, you're our demolition man today; Bessy will dig a trench under the wall that you'll use to get in. You'll place charges at these locations.” Sarge marked a couple dozen houses on the map. “I don't want anyone knowing you're there, Bessy you help make sure. Once you set the charges pick a location where you will not be caught by a blast. At that point Snipe will take out watchman around the walls, simultaneously set off the charges and we'll go in down this street burning the place to the ground. Snipe you pick off anyone you can from anywhere you want at stage two. Stage three we go into the hall and take care of things. Destroyer bring along a Sentinel. Questions?”

There were none, plans were never very concrete; the battle could change at any second after all.

Their stay at the Hive took five minutes, refuel, check equipment, put equipment on, simple as that.

“This the real thing boys eh lads?” The pilot asked.

“It is.” Sarge replied.

“Then we'd better make sure they don't know you're coming.” The Hawk took a sharp nosedive, the altitude falling dramatically to ten feet above see level, a wall of water erupting out from behind the screaming jet. With the speed of the actual jet the wall ended up being ten kilometers long and fifty feet high, a spectacular sight upon the calm, cold ocean water. “ETA fifteen minutes.”

“Got it. Lets lock and load gents, you know the drill.”

Clicks, hums, and wines echoed around the cabin as helmets were sealed and weapons were activated.

“Identification confirmed. Destroyer.”

“Identification confirmed. Stalker.”

“Identification confirmed. JJ.”

“Identification confirmed. Snipe.”

“Identification confirmed. Pyro.”

“Identification confirmed. Joker.”

“Identification confirmed. Bulldog.”

Finally the most powerful weapon hummed to glorious life, the primary barrel chamber glowing blue for a second before powering down. “Identification confirmed. Sarge.”

The eye piece visors glowed a dull green, night vision mode. Sarge's HUD flashed through his squad members, all at one hundred percent, nothing deployed in the field. With a minuet shift of his eyes and reading of wavelengths an overhead infrared map was brought up, their satellite was in place. Anything and everything that any of the squad wanted to know could be brought up on their HUD instantaneously, from deployables out in the field, to status of squad members, and if they wanted to they could download music free of charge.

The Hawk stopped two point five kilometers north west of Peddington, the pilot kept it covering a few feet above ground as the squad deployed within a few short seconds and began a sprint to their destination. Snipe veered off north after a solid kilometer, taking up position in an old farm almost directly north of the town. Getting comfortable on the barns roof he checked where the rest of the squad was before announcing. “Ready, taking out patrol.” Two silenced shots were fired and kilometer away two bodies fell to the floor, holes the size of tennis balls blown through their heads.

As the two Death Eaters fell Bessy flared out her barbs and began vibrating, her head covered in blades she began to dig into the soil creating a tunnel that ran under the wall. Exodus crouched a hundred yards away, when Bessy was through Stalker ran for the tunnel diving in and in a crouched run made his way down the tunnel, nine years ago he would have been terrified, now he was comfortable and secure. He crawled out the other side, spotting Bessy going off into the dark, on Sarge's orders she was to meet him within ten minutes at a certain spot where neither would get caught by any of the soon to be explosions, somehow she had a very good sense of timing.

Stalker stalked the streets of Peddington, slapping black palm sized disks onto various buildings, eyes darting about, he was like a ghost in the shadows, easily mistaken for a trick of the light. He did run into a few unsuspecting Death Eaters, each time his darkened blade would come out and slice smoothly through flesh, a throat, a spinal cord, all utterly silent. He did not even stop to inspect his victim, he did not have to he was perfect, he knew the results, each swipe was precise, each motion calculated. By the time he had deployed his last gift to the town his blackened blade was slick with crimson blood, a mixture of color and textures most unsettling.

“Stalker and Bessy are in position.” He said as Bessy came up behind him, her serrated spear like tail as dark as her red glowing eyes.

“Finished.” Said Snipe as he took his final shot.

“Lets go to hell.” One silent mental command from Sarge and they knocked on the devil's door.

The disks that Stalker had so generously spread out opened up their little vents and billowed a tasteless, odorless gas, three seconds later three shrill beeps sounded as two small prongs popped up and tiny spark of plasma passed between them. Each disk had enough power to easily destroy a small mansion; in this case, thirty of them blew up from the outside in, in an almost perfect circle towards the town hall. There was a reason they called them the Little Devils. Bessy took the liberty of going through the four houses between which they were hiding, she continued on through the fires, her scales burning red, the fire was like a drug to her, driving her into a mad frenzy, killing anything she did not recognize. Stalker took off back towards the squad, taking down a trio of Death Eaters along the way with his pistol.

At the other end of the city part of the wall disintegrated in a blue explosion of plasma, Sarge's BFG making a low drowning hum as it powered down and prepared another shot, the barrels still glowing a menacing light blue deep from within. They advanced down the street; fire burning around them, screams of the burning and dieing echoing through out the streets. Anyone they met was gunned down within a second, Joker would fire off high explosive grenades into anything that looked too whole, while Destroyer's mini-gun whirred mechanically, waiting for any fun surprises. Their eye visors glowed red, the targeting systems piercing the thick black smoke and bright red flames, they looked like daemons, unflinching, uncaring, advancing through what could best be described as hell made manifest. Stalker quickly joined them, custom high-powered pistol held at the ready, his pistol used the same technology as ASR-1, able to fire a variety of bullets with a power unmatched for something of its size. Bessy made her appearance once, blowing through a burning building she took a look at them, checking that they were all still there and doing okay before plowing through another building to continue on her rampage. Unseen and unheard Snipe made it clear to the large group of Death Eaters inside the town hall that showing your head outside was a mistake one would not live through.

Other then what appeared to be a couple werewolves the resistance to the town hall had been near non-existent.

When they finally got to the front door of the town hall Sarge simply blew a hole through it, later he would find parts of a few Death Eaters, one of Joker's concussion grenades followed. Stepping aside, Destroyer walked through and unleashed a hail of bullets on the spacious room; cutting through dozens upon dozens of death eaters while JJ prepped a Sentinel. Before anyone inside could even begin to regain their senses after the concussion grenade, or his assault, Destroyer baked out of the room and let JJ position the Sentinel. The group waiting outside for a moment while the Sentinel chattered away before going still, no more targets. JJ deactivated the Sentinel and Sarge led the way in.

Bulldog just changed up his ammo from long range to what he called Artist Ammo, given enough bodies he could easily paint an entire room red. Suddenly spells flew at them, the group ducked behind cover, while Joker and Pyro took out AKX assault rifles. The spells came from a hallway just in front of them.

“Bloody bastards, they'll pay for this!”

Sarge lunged, rolled and came up in a crouching position in the center of the room, firing a precise shot down the hall at the Death Eaters who didn't even have enough time to fully register his presence before they were engulfed in searing bolt of blue energy. Because human bodies are rather week when compared to metal or concrete the shot burned through the first few Death Eaters before finally exploding outwards in the direction of the shot on the fifth member.

“Bulldog with me. Joker, JJ, Pyro take the left. Destroyer, Stalker go right.” Sarge ordered, making his way past the dead bodies.

Adrenaline pumped, and senses were on high. Bulldog showed off his painting technique on the first room they came to, a group of Death Eaters arguing on what to do. The tri-barrels thumped in quick succession one after the other, it was Bulldog's first on the job masterpiece, the first of many to come. They kept going; Sarge and Bulldog taking turns clearing out rooms, going down a flight of stairs they noticed the `resistance' to be less and less. A few wizards managed to get off a spell or two, but frightened, confused, and disoriented they went wide on the mark.

Joker, JJ, and Pyro flew through the corridors, all Joker had to do was lob a grenade inside and keep going, where he could Joker would stick his flamethrower through a door and liberally douse the room in scorching flame.

Destroyer and Stalker didn't even bother with opening doors, they were smart about things, using infrared imaging which rooms had people in them, if there were only one or two Stalker would fire a couple shots through the wall. If there were more then three, Destroyer would unload on the entire room and then calmly open the door to make sure nothing was still breathing.

In the end Sarge and Bulldog found the prisoners who seemed more scared of them then they were of their captors. Perhaps it was the tower killing machines with glowing red eyes, blood and grime covered armor, or perhaps it was the gunshots and screams of Death Eaters dieing in tortured agony that scared them, either way they were scared.

“Primary objective accomplished.” Sarge informed the group, kicking a cell door with so much force that it shattered the lock.

“Follow me.” He told the prisoners once they had opened up all the cells.

“Clear.”

“Clear.” Came the two responses.

“I don't see anything moving and Bessy is waiting in the lobby.” Snipe informed the group.

“Affirmative Snipe, group up with the rest.” Sarge told him.

Doing one final check Snipe jumped down from the roof and ran to join his squad.

When the group saw Bessy in the lobby they had to admit that she looked intimidating, glowing blood red eyes, blood covered barbs and scales, singed pieces of grime and dirt, and her scales had changed to a dark red color, all adding up to give her a look of a daemonic creature straight out of hell. Therefore it was not surprising that the prisoners latterly went white and shook in fear at the sight of her, what baffled them more was that the biggest of their saviors who held a large multi barreled gun actually came over and pet the monster.

“Love the look Bessy.” Destroyer said warmly, patting her scales. “You are one hot lady, literally, anyone have some steak? We can make a barbeque.” Destroyer joked around half serious.

“I'll take mine rare.” Joker walked up and pet her too. “Hey she is hot, even through the gloves.

Soon enough all of Exodus was petting her, even Snipe did when he came in, curious to see what it felt like.

“You alright?” Sarge asked.

“Ya I'm perfect. I adapt to any environment, that's why I changed color and became so hot, it really feels nice actually.” She explained, loving the attention, and loving the fact that she had literally scared the shit out of several prisoners.

Bulldog made it quite clear to the prisoners that they were to stay inside the room at all times or else Bessy would go find them.

Sarge reported on the progress of the mission. “This is Exodus. Primary and secondary objectives accomplished. Team status one hundred percent. Total mission durations since received one hour twenty-four minutes.

Request further orders.”

“Hive confirms mission success. Hell of a job Exodus, congratulations.” Responded Miller.

“Thank you sir.”

“Keep the area secure, I'm coming down to explain things.”

“Affirmative.”

“By the way Sarge we have something to show you.” Said Joker.

“Everyone keep the area secure, four points, the rest relax.” Sarge ordered, following Joker.

On the way the Sentinel chattered for a second before going quiet again. “We found a room full of fire places, and well one of the wizards came out of it when we were clearing the room. We set up the Sentinel at the doorway, loaded it up with some extra ammo, should keep them from coming through. Do you want them taken out permanently?” He asked.

“Take them out.” Sarge said packing up the Sentinel while Joker prepped his Hydra.

Eight grenades on a ten second timer took out all eight fire places and the room itself.

“Destroyer and Joker go through the building and take out any fire places you might find, make it thorough.” Sarge ordered.

Ten minutes later any and all fireplaces were utterly demolished, to the point that the rooms they were in did not exist. The building was labeled secure once Bessy had gone through and checked for anything that they might have possibly missed.

Miller arrived half an hour later, the Hawk swirling the smoke and debris around as it settled down in a small clearing.

---

Miller had just played them a recording of his conversation with Dumbledore. “You think this Hermione could be the Hermione whose name I kept saying for the first few days after you found me?” Sarge asked hopefully.

“I don't know, it could be. Either way I would think it best for you to not say anything until we figure out who these people are and what is really going on, I don't want to give them anything that they could possibly use against us.” Miller warned.

“Okay, everyone keep your helmets on at all times.”

“Sure thing Sarge.” The squad agreed.

“This is bullshit though.” Pyro interrupted. “We do all the work, they'll come in smile and then decide whether we are good enough or not. On top of that we have to wait for a good three hours.”

“I say we make them run through a couple of our own loops, see if they are good enough for us.” Snipe suggested.

“What did you have in mind?” Sarge inquired.

“How about we let them come into the city, teach them some respect?”

“Not a bad idea. If anything it will give Miller some leverage.”

Miller did not bother arguing or saying anything on the matter. He had realized not too long ago that he could never really order Exodus to do much of anything, they let him do it, and right now this was territory they had conquered and they alone would decide what went on there.

---

Professor Dumbledore, Ron Weasley, Nevielle Longbottom, Remus Lupin and Mad Eye Moody apparated as close as they could to Peddington, a distance of ten kilometers away. From that distance it was easy to see the still billowing black smoke on the bright horizon, tinged with a sort of black purple color. They flew cautiously towards the city on their brooms; the only living thing they could spot was someone moving towards them just outside the gate.

“Frank Miller.” Dumbledore greeted surprised, landing down before him.

“Dumbledore.” He replied warmly.

They shook hands and Dumbledore introduced the people along with him. “Ron Weasley, our chief man who leads us on many battles, Nevielle Longbottom, our herbologist and clever tactician, Remus Lupin who leads our special troops, and Mad Eye Moody, our veteran and one of my close personal friends.”

Miller shook hands with each of them in turn.

“I must say that I am pleasantly surprised and astonished that you could take out this city within such a small amount of time, within six hours, it is nearly unheard of.” Dumbledore congratulated.

“Not six hours. One hour twenty four minutes.” Miller corrected proudly.

“How?” Ron asked, his tone was cold and disrespectful, biting into an apple.

“Easily. Now I must ask you to hand over any weapons and your…wands?”

“No.” Ron stated with finality.

“You do not understand the situation young man. I am not asking you, Exodus is, saying no is not an option.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“It is not a threat it is a condition.” Miller replied. “Exodus can hear what you and I are saying right now, and I can receive instruction from them.” Miller pointed to an earpiece. His eyebrows shot up ever so slightly. “Mr. Weasley please throw the apple you are holding upwards over your head.”

Ron threw the apple over his head. At the apex of its climb upwards the apple exploded in the air. “Your weapons please.”

Dumbledore gave Miller his wand. “Its okay.” He said to the others.

Reluctantly they gave up their wands and followed Miller through the destroyed city in silence, bodies littered the ground, buildings lay burnt and destroyed, the city had been leveled to the ground. They followed Miller through the front entrance, no longer sizzling and burning away, Mad Eye spotted a figure waiting just beside the door on the other side but said nothing. Ron was the last to walk through the door, he barely got two feet through before the butt end of a shotgun smashed straight into his face, flipping him hard on the ground with a painful thud.

Bulldog cocked his shotgun. “Snipe doesn't miss, but I do. Be disrespectful again and you will regret it. That is a threat.”

As much as he wanted to do or say something Ron was completely powerless, his nose was shattered and bleeding, and the man above him scared him more then an army of Death Eaters. He got up and swallowed a quick potion for simple physical healing, a potion that Neveille made by the liter.

Getting up Ron looked around the demolished room, bodies of Death Eaters lay strewn about like rag dolls, holes, blood and burn marks dotted the entire lobby, he doubted it was much different in the rest of the building. It was carnage, a vision of hell, and muggles had done it all…

Then suddenly voices, a group of around sixty prisoners ran in, weeping and cheering at the sight of Dumbledore and the Order.

“They're daemons Professor daemons.” A woman cried, a look of utter terror on her face. He immediately saw what she was so scared of, seven men entered the room, powerfully built, armed and armored, he had never seen human beings like them before, the woman's description fit them perfectly.

“This is Exodus.” Miller introduced.

They looked at them cautiously, and then Bessy made her entrance. There was no screaming, or crying, it simply turned quiet.

“Do not be scared of Bessy.” Said one of the men, for some reason a shiver ran down Dumbledore's spine, he was not the biggest man, but the way he held himself, the way he talked, the aura around him said that He was the one in control here.

“I am Professor Dumbledore.” Dumbledore extended his hand.

“Sarge.” They shook hands, Dumbledore's hand felt weak and insignificant compared to the iron grip of the other's.

“We mean you no harm. There is a war going on and we had to be certain that you were not some kind of trick, that Miller could do what he said he could do.”

“Was this a test?”

“Well, unfortunately yes.” Dumbledore replied.

“It was an easy test.”

“Please, allow us to get these people home.” Dumbledore asked, looking around at the many witches and wizards.

Sarge was not a heartless killing machine, he had established his team's dominance, he saw truth in the old man's eyes, the fear in those around him, and now the game was over. Besides, somehow, deep down inside he knew to trust this man.

“Give them back their…wands is it?”

“Yes wands, we use them to cast magic.” Remus Lupin spoke for the first time.

“Well, give them back.”

Miller held out the wands and each member of the Order took their own.

“We have some questions we would like to ask.” Miller said.

“Yes, likewise. I would ask you to come to Hogwarts, please.” Dumbledore invited.

“What about this place?” Sarge asked.

“We will have people here shortly.” Dumbledore replied.

“Okay, how do we get there?”

Dumbledore pulled out a half dozen handkerchiefs from his robes. “Hold one of these and you will be teleported to Hogwarts grounds.”

Exodus took them skeptically. “Shouldn't I get a big one?” Destroyer asked, wondering if size had anything to do with it.

Once the handkerchiefs were passed around to everyone present Dumbledore muttered a quick spell and they were portkeyed to the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts.

A/N. Hope you enjoyed that. The next chapter should be the one that you have all been waiting for, and the chapter after that.

-->

9. Daddy

A/N. To those people asking why Harry hasn't been recognized yet, well that's because they haven't seen his face. Every member of Exodus is wearing a fully enclosing helmet, stuck into this helmet is sensory and communication equipment rivaling that of a battleship.

Daddy

James and Sirius were playing a game of Quidditch with a group of their friends, they had requested that they not be supervised directly, their maneuvers were to be “top secret” as James had told his mother. After days of persuading and ultimatums Hermione finally gave in on the condition that she and Ginny would watch them from Hogwarts. After careful deliberation with Sirius the deal was closed, and now here they were, at the crack of dawn with their best friends. The unusual time was all part of their brilliant strategy to make sure that no one was awake to spy on them, their tactics were to be undefeatable.

As they flying around practicing maneuvers and having a great time the inevitable it happened, Hogsmead was attacked. In the time it took Hermione to sound a silent alarm a dozen Dementors descended upon the Quidditch pitch, their target plainly obvious; James. Help was on the scene immediately, Hermione and Ginny at the forefront of the small group, casting multiple Patronus spells as the Dementors circled around James and forced him to fly as fast as he could in the direction that they wanted. To add to the chaos Dumbledore's scouting party and sixty or so prisoners appeared on the pitch.

“Ginny go help Dumbledore and the others.” Hermione shouted, several explosions heard off in the distance.

“No Hermione, I'm coming with you.” Ginny protested, running to a broom shed.

Hermione grabbed her by the arm. “NO. James is my responsibility, he is my son, I will get him. You have to worry about all these people and the attack, we're going to need all the help we can get.”

Ginny nodded reluctantly, handing Hermione a broom. “Good luck.”

Without another word Hermione shakily got on the broom and took after the Dementors and her son.

Exodus hit the ground rolling, weapons at the ready, their position was immediately sent up to a satellite, which pin pointed them within milliseconds. Before anything else could happen a group of wizards and witches ran by, yelling. “Attack on Hogsmead.” They came from one war zone to another war zone.

Sarge took one glace about him to get a rough picture of what was going on. They were on a sports field, a giant looming castle a head of them, explosions and what was to be guessed Hogsmead off to their left. He glanced up and around, a woman was taking off on a broom, following her direction of take off he easily saw flying black creatures chasing a small boy on a broom. Doing a double take of the way the creatures and the boy were acting he realized that they were herding him, a sinking dread in the pit of his stomach confirmed this.

“Secure the Hogsmead place, watch what you shoot, I'm going after that woman, she doesn't seem to know what she's doing.” Orders given Sarge raced off to the broom shed, he already knew they wouldn't ask questions.

Giving Sarge the affirmative Exodus sprinted off towards the source of explosions, easily gaining ground and passing the people running there to help. They didn't notice how people actually stopped or veered away from them and Bessy, a few wanted to take a shot at them but realized that if they were already here, going in the direction that they were going they must be on their side. Dumbledore had briefly talked about some sort of ally joining them; they figured that this must be it, even if it did scare the crap out of them.

Instinct seemed to take over Sarge as he ran to the shed and mounted a broom, kicking off as if he had done so a thousand times before. The sensation didn't feel strange either; it felt familiar, as if he had done this before a countless number of times.

Hermione was getting close, but not soon enough, the Dementors were pushing James into the trees until finally he clipped a branch and plummeted down, holding onto his broom for dear life. It snapped, cracked and broke against the trees, but ultimately saved his life as he came down hard on the moist soil below, his landing immensely slowed by the broom.

“Expecto Patronum!” Hermione shouted, the spell erupting like a brilliant white light, so intense, so powerful that it seemed to hurt the Dementors, causing them to scream and wail in pain, retreating back to wherever they had come from.

Hermione landed as best as she could, shaking with fear and rage she ran up to her son's fallen body, fearing the worst. “JAMES!” She cried “James! Please say something.”

“That hurt.” He groaned.

“Here drink this.” She opened a potion and poured the lime green liquid down his throat, kneeling and crying in happiness that he was alive. She had come far too close to losing him.

He coughed and sat up painfully, his wounds healing for the most part. For the first time Hermione took a look around, the forest was pitch black, she could barely see a few feet ahead of her. A shiver ran down her spine, something didn't feel right. Her broom, they had to get out of here. She went for her wand only to have it fly out of her hand.

“You won't need this.” Said a snickering voice, she heard the sound of her wand being snapped in half.

“Or the broom.” Said another voice. The unmistakable sound of wood splintering and blowing apart reached her ears.

“Hehe, what shall we do with her?” Another voice.

“Oh I have a few ideas, lets have some fun with this mudblood.” A fourth.

“Lord Voldemort only said to bring the boy, we can do anything with the tramp.” A fifth voice.

“Oh what shall we do?” They laughed amused, closing in on her from all sides.

Damn it Hermione thought, how could this have happened? She was better then this, she wasn't this stupid, but now non of that mattered, she only prayed that they would spare James.

“I say we rape her in front of the boy.”

Oh no, why, why would they do this? Were they really that sick and twisted? “Please, don't hurt him.” She begged. “Whatever you do to me don't let him see it.”

“No thanks, but we'll have fun with you.”

Seeing no other way out Hermione got up, she'd tare their eyes out with her bare hands if she had to. “If you want him, come and get him you worthless filth.”

“Oh she is feisty. Pity you gave yourself up to such a weakling as Potter, and you took his name too. Pathetic.” They had almost closed in on her.

One of them cast a spell, knocking her off her feet, binding her ankles with invisible rope.

“I've been waiting a long time for this. You watch little James as real wizards take care of your mommy.”

“I won't let you touch her.” Little James stood up bravely, terrified to no end he wished for his daddy to come and save them. He prayed to anything that would listen. “Any god or being out there, please let daddy come now and save us, I know he is out there, I just want to have a family, I want all of us to live happily. Is that so much to ask? Please, I don't want things to end like this, I want mommy and daddy to walk me to my first day at Hogwarts, I want normal things, I want to get in trouble. Please, let daddy come.”

Behind the Death Eaters, outside of their little circle something large crashed through the trees landing with the sound of branches breaking like bone.

“Whose there?” The Death Eaters apparently spun around.

“Don't touch them.” The voice sent cold sharp fear through the Death Eaters. Not the mocking, self-absorbed kind they got from Voldemort, he liked to play with them, but they knew they would usually be able to get out of punishment alive. But not with this voice, if death itself could talk it would sound just like that.

Two red eyes flashed in the darkness, something glowed bright blue, illuminating a behemoth of a man, clad in heavy armor, stained with dried blood, encrusted with grime and ash. The voice of death had a physical form to match. The blue lighting and red glowing eyes gave stock contrasts to its armor, daemons looked friendlier then this, they could almost picture it grinning behind its helm. Suddenly a bolt of blue energy shot out and vaporized one of the Death Eaters and disappeared.

“What…What is that thing?” One of the Death Eaters stuttered, no longer sure of what was going on, all traces of bravado lost.

But little James knew, it was daddy, he could feel it, the sensation was indescribable, relief, warmth, happiness, all of the good emotions and feelings flooded him all at once.

“They are so dead.” James muttered.

Hermione brought him down to the ground, covering him, trying to protect him from whatever it was that was out there.

“Lumos.” Finally one of the Death Eaters got a bright idea. The wand lit up and against Sarge's chest, he was standing almost right on top of the Death Eater. The light went out and the Death Eater screamed in agony to the sound of his spine being crushed. Then it all was quiet.

“What should we…” The Death Eater didn't get to finish his sentence, as a monomolecular blade opened up his throat. He coughed, spattered, and drowned in his own blood.

There were two of them left now, both breathing heavily in fright, both smelling of urine. One of them screamed, the sound of a skull being obliterated against a tree followed.

The last Death Eater whimpered pathetically.

“Do you know how to teleport away?” The voice seemed like it was right on top of him, he dared not turn around and look the thing in the eye.

He nodded, barely perceptible.

“Good. Take this.” A smooth metal disk was placed into his hand.

“You will not let go of it correct?”

He nodded again.

“Good, now teleport away.” The voice ordered.

The Death Eater stood frozen to the spot.

“GO.”

He ran, he ran for dear life, finally getting outside the temporary anti apparating zone he apparated away. He appeared in a room full of Death Eater officers who looked at him bewildered. The thing in his hand suddenly popped, looking down he noticed that it gave off a white gas. Three shrill beeps followed.

Hermione held onto James as tightly as she could, the bindings around her ankles gone. “What do you want?” She didn't know where to look so she asked the darkness.

“Don't be scared of me.” The voice said, it was different now, warm and comforting.

He appeared as a large shadow before them.

“Dad?” James asked pulling away from his mothers grip. As his hand touched his arm they all suddenly saw flashbacks from Harry Potter's point of view. His parents dieing for him, his life with the Dursleys, his years at Hogwarts, Hermione, their first date, their first kiss, all of it flooded through their minds. The images slowed down to when he faced Voldemort, then to the day he was picked up by Miller, Bessy, the Hive, Exodus, their training, their unbreakable bond of friend ship, their ups and downs, and then it all stopped.

“Harry?” Hermione breathed out.

“Eight years...” He said lost in thought. It was completely surreal as Harry began to take off his helmet the sun's rays broke through the trees, bathing them in soft white light. “It's been a while.”

Hermione didn't need any invitation; she flung herself at Harry, their mouths smashed together in want, in need, in absolute love. “Oh my … Harry.” She broke off breathlessly, looking into his piercing emerald green eyes, eyes that made Death Eaters cower and made her melt.

“Ehem. Mom, dad?” James asked quietly.

“Sorry. James, this is your dad. Harry, this is your son James.” Hermione introduced them to each other.

James couldn't take it anymore; he threw his arms around his dad as best he could, crying against his chest, not caring what was on it. Harry hugged him back tightly. “Shh, its going to be okay. I won't ever leave you again.”

Crying Hermione hugged them both; in the midst of dead enemies a family was reunited. Harry smiled in happiness, the missing hole in soul restored; he wouldn't let anyone harm them, that was a promise he would keep. The blood pounding fury was gone, the beast within him was tempered, for the moment.

“Come on, there are some people I want you to meet, they are like brothers to me, and … sister, kind of.” Harry didn't know what to say about Bessy.

A/N. I really wanted to get this out to you guys today as I'll be gone for the next couple days, so don't expect an update till about Saturday or Sunday. I've done a quick read through of this chapter, but not carefully because I've got an exam in five hours and I'm really short on time, so I apologize for any glaring mistakes, I'll probably end up going back and fixing up this chapter sometime in the future when the story is finished. For now though I hope you enjoyed it.

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10. Waking up

Waking Up

“I've never read about a basilisk like Bessy, it's probably best to ask Hagrid.” Hermione pondered as they walked happily and almost carefree through the forest, she knew that dangerous creatures lived here but for some reason she hadn't noticed any one of them.

“It doesn't matter, I can talk to her and she can be like my big sister.” James chirped from beside his dad, he had given up carrying the massive BFG a while ago because it was too heavy. He had gleefully taken a carefully controlled shot after Harry had told them all about Exodus and the Hive. Hermione had stood by and watched nervously, those two would be trouble and she couldn't be happier.

“What happened after I disappeared?” Harry asked bringing up the subject of what had happened in the wizarding world.

“A lot happened, it was somewhat predictable I guess, it didn't take long for Dumbledore and the others to try and guess what Voldemort would do. I should say that it saved us really.” Hermione fingered her ring, the one that she never took off, and with a comforting glance from Harry she continued. “We tried every possible way of locating you, magical and non, nothing worked, we couldn't find your body and on all detectors you showed up dead. Voldemort was out of it for a few weeks, but when he came back he made sure that everyone knew about what happened. The Order took over the ministry almost immediately; there is no ministry anymore, its just part of the Order with Arthur Weasley leading it. The fighting began soon enough all over the world and escalated rapidly, anti-apparation wards, the Floo network were now completely controlled, air space was literally controlled by dragons, giant bats from … somewhere. Voldemort began taking over towns and cities, within four years we were stretched to the limit with trying to cover up our war. Ron is leading a team of aurors, the best we have, I must warn you though that he has changed a lot. He's cold, brutal, unforgiving. Neveille has been working as a herbologist along side the twins who have created some really unique things. They don't run a joke shop any more; everything is completely focused on the war now. Ginny is a medi-witch, officially I teach transfiguration and Luna took over Professor Trelawny's position after she was killed.” Hermione went on to tell Harry as about what territories Voldemort dominated, what they still controlled, and by the end he had gotten a very bleak picture.

“What do you think will happen now, with me coming back from the dead?” Harry asked.

“About that.” Hermione began with a little grin. “I was thinking that perhaps before you come back as the big hero and all that, and everyone fusses over you … that we have you to ourselves for awhile.” Her expression told him that if James weren't with them right now that they probably wouldn't be doing much walking.

“I do believe that is the correct course of action. We tell no one that I'm back, let us get adjusted and spend some quality time together, and then everyone will find out soon enough.” Harry couldn't be happier at all the prospects of this, from not having to deal with reporters to spending time with his wife and child, especially the time that he and Hermione would share together, eight years was a lot of time to make up. He did sort of feel bad about not telling anyone, but being dead for another week or two wouldn't hurt that much, the problem would be staying dead.

James looked a little upset. “Okay fine, but we still play Quidditch every day, no matter where we are.” He held the now perfectly fixed and spotless Firebolt. He so desperately wanted to tell everyone that his dad was alive, that he was right all along, but he also wanted to get to know him.

They continued on talking about how they would have to make sure to act properly, and what they would do, almost normal family stuff. “Time to be anonymous hero.” Harry gave Hermione a long passionate kiss, James muttered something about parents and yukky kissing, before putting his helmet back on with a sharp click and giving James a hug.

“We love you Sarge or…Harry.” Destroyer's voice said over the comm.

“I love you too guys, and its still Sarge to all of you, unless you want to be called Roy. We're still Exodus, we're still brothers, nothing will ever change that. I'll fill you guys in on everything as soon as we leave, just pretend like nothing changed, like you don't know anything.”

“Yes Sarge.”

“And Sarge.” This was Pyro. “You powerful? Like magically that is.”

“Very.” There was no denying it, he couldn't, he was no longer a scared little boy, he was a hardened, perfect killer, and he couldn't possibly deny that, it was pointless to deny nature. He hoped desperately that he would be just as good being a father and husband. “What's the situation over there?”

“It felt like a decoy, way too easy, and they retreated way too quick, seems that they just wanted to get your son. We got a few of them for interrogation, the Hawk is here we're bringing them over to it back at the stadium.” They reported.

The attack had been stopped a bit too easily for his tastes but it was still halted. He hated to admit it, and he wouldn't to anyone, but those muggles did far better then anyone else. Those muggles were a real asset, an asset that was to be controlled and used, by him.

“RON!” Ginny ran up to him. “Where's Hermione? Have you seen her?”

“No.”

“Don't worry about Hermione and James they're with…” Mad Eye Moody considered the rest of his sentence carefully. “The Sergeant, coming out of the forest over there.” He pointed. Bloody hell Potter, its good to have you back, he thought. He had seen through Harry's helmet but hadn't said anything at the time, who knew what was going on, and Harry Potter was a very sensitive subject to a lot of people.

Hermione and James strolled over to them; they kind of seemed reluctant to leave the muggle Ron noted oddly, great, that's all he needed right now, some daemonic vicious looking muggle to make friends with Hermione and James.

“Are you okay?” Ginny asked.

“Yes.” Hermione replied a little too quickly.

She looked into her eyes, no glassy look, no Imperius, but happiness. She had never seen Hermione so happy since Harry had died. “What happened?”

“D-The Sergeant ripped the Death Eaters to shreds.” James replied animatedly.

“You were attacked!” How could he have missed this? He was better then that, it all made sense now, he should have saw, should have predicted, he had almost failed, and what was worse the muggle had saved the day.

“Yes Ron we were attacked but we are completely fine now thanks to Sarge.”

“Look mom.” James pointed over to the Quidditch pitch where all of Exodus had assembled, including Bessy. “She's so beautiful.” No one dared approach the quidditch pitch for obvious reasons.

Four Death Eater's were dropped painfully to the ground, utterly frozen and limp, Bessy had ensured they wouldn't protest. Their backs were to a cold metal machine, they assumed it was one of those muggle planes, but at the moment they were more concerned with the seven frightening looking muggles and a basilisk that made every other basilisk or terrifying creature look like a fluffy bunny. A man in a neat muggle suit was with them, completely at ease. They were waiting for something, probably Dumbledore or the Weasle, not one of the Death Eaters could tell what was going on between the muggles that had captured them because of their helmets. And then He came, and it was not the feeling of fright that they got from Voldemort, it was the feeling of immanent, painful, death.

“Miller, you can trust Dumbledore completely, conduct your meeting without us and I will explain everything back at the hive. I assume that the others have told you the news.”

“Yes they have, and I must thank you for staying with us.”

They shook hands. “No Miller I must thank you. You have been straight and honest with us this whole time, you gave me a second chance at life, and ultimately at seeing my family. Find out what you can from Dumbledore, just don't mention me or who I am. Just a warning about Dumbledore though, he likes to manipulate people a good bit.”

“We'll get along just fine then, anything in particular you would like to know?”

“Nothing that your thorough analysis won't cover.”

“Okay, will see you soon.” He made sure to connect to the correct audio and video channels so that everything would be recorded and if anything Sarge could give him some advice should anything come up.

As Miller left Sarge looked at the Death Eaters before him. “How is Tom these days?” His tone was casual, so utterly at ease, and it made him all the more intimidating.

A feeling of death and utter helplessness washed over the Death Eaters, they could speak now, their mouths could move but nothing came out.

“Let me clue you in on a little something. Do not be scared of Tom. If you are going to be scared of anything at the moment be scared of us, especially Stalker and Snipe.” Sarge motioned to the two. “You see Stalker comes from a military family with long standing proficiency interrogation. Snipe on the other hand comes from a very influential mafia family; together they can get anything out of anyone. We will not use veritaserium or any of the unforgivable curses, they only affect the mind and after all, they can be blocked. Now you have a choice, and this is the last choice you will be able to make before you die. Do you suffer pain, tell us what we ask and then die, or do you tell us what we ask and still die?”

“We won't tell you anything. You pathetic muggle, worthless scum sucking piece of shyte.”

“Ok. Lets see if we can get comfortable shall we?” Sarge asked. In a flash they were in a dark, dusty room, the cold steel was replaced with cold stone. The Death Eaters looked around, snake statues. There are two people who are able to apparate inside Hogwarts grounds, Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter.”

“What the hell?” JJ asked looking around.

“I apparated us, wasn't sure if it would work but it did.”

“You ever do it before?”

“Yes, with two others, Hermione and Ron.” The Death Eaters didn't hear any of this of course all they heard was silence.

“That will come in handy, no need for the Hawk now.”

“Actually I can only do it over short distances, mainly around Hogwarts, don't know why.”

“Fill us in on this stuff later will ya Sarge?” Pyro scanned the room.

“Will do.”

Bessy slithered around, checking the tight fitting tunnels. This place has a weird feeling to it. She came back and coiled around the room, keeping an intimidating glance on the Death Eaters.

“Welcome to the chamber of secrets. You no doubt have heard of this place, it is below Hogwarts castle.” The Death Eaters looked about even more bewildered and petrified.

“Will you talk now? We have been very courteous to you, much more courteous and accommodating then you are to your prisoners I would imagine.” Sarge spoke directly to them, while Snipe and Stalker fished out a few items.

“You really are stupid aren't you? Don't you get it? We're going to rule this sorry world and there is nothing you can do to stop us.” The same Death Eater spat.

“You are wrong on all accounts. We are not stupid, maybe a little crazy and daring in some respects but far from stupid. Secondly, you are not going to rule this world because we will stop you. And finally.” Sarge stopped his face inches from the Death Eater's he slowly took off his helmet. “I am not a muggle or a wizard. I am Exodus. And we, are so much more.”

The Death Eaters were simply pale at this point visibly shaking, sweating, it was shock. When they looked at their Lord Voldemort they saw pure evil, but evil could be talked to, could be coached, soothed, predicted, and even manipulated to some extent. But here, with those eyes that bore into their souls there was no talking to, no evil, no coaching, no hope of survival, there was simply hard cold death.

The BFG has safety flush option where in the event that the gun is damaged and overheats the user can activate it to flush the heat out, this act creates unimaginably hot temperatures at the muzzle of the weapon for the duration of the discharge. This has no ill effects upon the weapon itself, the alloy it is constructed of can easily withstand the temperatures while most other alloys and metal melt.

“Flush engaged.” A feminine voice spoke monotonously.

The barrels glowed brightly and blue misty light rolled out of the muzzle cooking the very air itself as it came out. The Death Eater's screams echoed so loudly that even some people within the castle stopped for a second as they heard the bone chilling cry of pain.

“Flush complete.”

The Death Eaters body and face were burned away, the flesh burned off, the brilliant white ribcage exposed vividly, but such was the temperature that all the wounds were burned closed so that the Death Eater wouldn't die from blood loss or infection, the searing heat of plasma was gone and he was left gasping out of breath. His lungs felt like fire as he finally managed to inhale the burning air that stripped away at his lungs from the inside, burning them red.

“You're not going to lie to us.” It was a statement not a question.

The Death Eater's shook their heads no.

“Good. Where is Tom?”

“We don't know. He moves around all the time, never staying in one place for too long, that's why the Order can never catch him.”

“Do you know where he moves to?”

“No.” All of the Death Eaters were talking now.

“Do you have any other attacks planned?”

“We don't know. Lord Voldemort gives us orders or the commanders do and we obey.”

“Do you know of anything that he might have planned?”

“No.”

There was silence from one of the Death Eaters for a second. “Yes.”

“What?”

“He is searching for something. Searching frantically for it. Don't know what, we just know that he is, some sort of key, some sort of something.”

“Key to what? What something?”

“I don't know, I swear. I managed to overhear a conversation, they were saying that he was getting closer to it. They say that the Lord has been acting strangely lately, that he is focused on something entirely. He wanted the boy James for some reason. Don't know why.”

“Anything else you know that I might want to know?” He gave them a few moments to think.

They shook their heads no.

“Burn them to ash.” He told Pyro.

Without hesitation an inferno was unleashed upon the Death Eaters, so hot that they didn't even have time to scream in pain as they were turned into a fine black ash.

- - -

Computers that had laid dormant for thousands upon thousands of years flickered to life. Energy reading had been gathered, data assimilated, confirmed, checked, cross-referenced, accepted. Ancient energies flared to bring the heavily shielded facility online, shields were checked, the lone occupant checked for status. Everything was at one hundred percent; ninety five percent would have been acceptable. The mission was a success, so far.

A lone cylinder hissed for a second, its occupant awoken from his deep hibernation. The individual slowly got out of the comfortable cylinder; groggily he made his way over to a lone terminal and checked the readings. Ten thousand years had passed, not too bad, he had hoped it would be quicker but nevertheless not too bad. Calculations showed that there was a fifty-six percent probability that nothing had gone astray. An acceptable probability considering the circumstances. He glanced the most important reading collected so far, nine out of nine matches, two were very close to completion, the other seven were getting there, only a matter of time now. The potentiality was fully developed according to the data; it was the realization that would become the fun part. He briefly wondered in which layer of society humanity's last hope had imbedded itself, it could after all be any.

Taking his time the individual dressed himself in plain yellow white clothing, nothing glaring, he hoped it would pass off for both societies. Then he went back to the terminal after getting a few things to eat and began pouring over various data, probabilities, some acquired by his hide away, others by various probes and scanners scattered across parts of the galaxy. He found it disheartening that the human race had fallen so far from glory, they were perfect, nothing could have stopped them and they would have made things right…but no. Some species were not meant to co-exist. He continued on through the data, catching up one the last fifty thousand years of history. He took time to check the other projects status, to his utter horror he found it a complete loss, and worse still he found it to be under control…the virus had won, the screening had failed. After a few days he decided that he would watch, see how things played out, find out more about the current situation before revealing himself. He only hoped that it wasn't all too late, he kept telling himself he mustn't rush, he can't, has to go at their pace or else everything could fail. After all, humanity was on the brink of extinction.

A/N. Okay I know this one took a long time to get out but I've had to write and essay and crap like that. The biggest thing is that I suddenly got a brand new idea of where to take this story, so scraped the old one. But, I wanted to keep aspects of the old one and so was working on how to make it all fit nicely, pretty sure I got it now just a couple items to iron out and its all set. Again thanks a lot for the reviews guy, I thrive on them. Next chapter will be devoted to the Potter family.

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11. Joining Forces

A/N. None of you have slightest idea of what is to come, on the matter of this new God character, is an ultra powerful god like being? No, any one member of Exodus could take him down without much trouble. Is he like a god? Yes, kind of. Yes I like to make things very confusing so that you all go `wtf?'. This chapter starts off with another one of those moments.

Joining Forces

Amanda Flowers stared at her computer screen in bewilderment, a couple other scientists beside her peering intently. “See, it's the same. You all saw me run the test on three separate machines, it can't be a glitch or malfunction.”

“B-But this defies all laws of genetics!” Wailed Homir Munn, a biophysicist who liked to play around with genetics, mainly nano technology. “And look at the nanites…HOW!”

“I don't know. But you want to see something really weird?”

“This isn't weird enough?” Inka Svidler asked dumbfounded.

“I ran a check on the other seven members. Six of them are almost identical to Destroyer, but the seventh is Sarge.” She flicked through some readouts.

“G.A.L.A.X.Y. A second one!” Munn was almost hysterical.

“I cross referenced readings done throughout the time that they were here and here is what I found.” Another screen flicked up. “It appears to have begun a few years ago, but it was in the early stages so the computer just gave it to us as a variable and didn't show it, once I dug deeper I found traces of the preliminaries. What you see here was taken a few weeks ago. They have been developing at an exponential rate, estimates show weeks if not days before the first new one is fully developed, and about just as long before Sarge has fully developed his second.” She explained. “Of course we can't trust anything simply because by all known laws this is impossible.”

“You think the rest of them will grow a second?”

“Yes.”

“How do you know?”

“It's already started. Look here; you can see the faint pink beginning to emerge, that's the second one developing.”

“Well is it having any negative effects on them?” Homir Munn had begun to calm down, his breathing steady. He popped a cola from lab coat and drank rapidly.

“No, not at all. In fact the nanites are becoming part of their cellular structure as this develops. It would explain why you couldn't find them in their system, they are not outside their system, they have grown together. Do you think that it could be a side effect of the nanites?”

Homir Munn composed himself and pulled up some files, scanning through them he pointed out a few things. “No, their bodies are doing this willingly, it's their cells that are absorbing the nanites and replicating them. This is biotechnology on a whole new level. This is the perfect unification, I just don't understand how. Its like m…” He stopped for a second. “Its like magic.” He whispered slowly.

“What have we to do now?” The beautiful Inka asked.

Homir Munn rubbed his bald pink scalp in frustration. “We wait. We wait and see what happens. We monitor them.” He thought some more. “We don't tell them. We wait and see what happens.” He talked in short bursts. “Call up some people, this is top priority.”

James plowed through people at break neck speeds towards the Gryffindor common room, he'd use the fireplace there to get to the Burrow and then bring some of his things back over to the castle and then to dad's jet.

While James was busy clearing out the Burrow Hermione attended a meeting with Miller, Dumbledore, Ron, Lupin, Moody, McGonnigal and a host of other wizards and witches.

“Before we get started I would like to name the terms of our alliance.” Said Miller, seated around at a long table in the room of requirement. Things had really calmed down since the attack on Hogsmead, they had heard the echo of something a good twenty minutes ago, but now it was time for business.

Dumbledore nodded for him to continue.

“We be given full access to your world and all of your data pertaining to your world. Secondly we be given unrestricted access to areas that you control. We are not to be left out of any major decisions. Battle plans are to be created with Exodus present unless otherwise specifically stated. Resources are to be shared as evenly as possible. We would also like some of your people to come to the Hive and some of our people to come here so that we can more easily integrate our forces.”

“Very well, I will agree to this.” Dumbledore really did not have much of a choice. “We have prepared some books that should be very useful to you, most of them are written specifically for muggles who enter our world and should be very helpful to you. On the aspect of who to send we can have …”

“I'll go with James. See how things are then see whom we should bring over.”

“With James?” Mad Eye looked at her curiously.

“Yes, he really bonded with Sarge after he saved us. Might be good for him to have such a heroic fatherly figure.” She got odd looks from several people but didn't think much of it, James was her son after all.

“I'll go too.” Replied Mad Eye, his left finger tapped at his temple inconspicuously, motioning to his magical eye.

“Very good idea Alistor.” She replied getting the hint. “We don't need many people to make the first trip.”

For the next hour or so Dumbledore explained various details of their situation, how the magical community existed, how were they different, various things that should be known, and other such things. Once all of Miller's questions had been answered to his satisfaction it was Dumbledore's turn to ask. “Could you tell us exactly what the Hive and Exodus is?”

“In the mid nineteen thirties a scientific research organization named U.S.P, United Scientific Program, was created by Great Britain, France, Canada, the United states, Switzerland, Sweden, and Finland. At the time it was a very small organization, a political joke in a sence, a tool used to show that everyone was friends. During the war it leached funding through various channels, and by the end Russia had joined. None of this was done very openly, in fact none of the countries presidents or leaders knew of it. By nineteen forty five it disappeared from all records and became a world wide organization going so far as to include German scientists. Since that time it grew rapidly into a secret organization that holds potent ties with all governments around the world, including churches. There has not been a single leader of any nation that has know of its existence, true power has always been kept from the front lines. I will not bore you with the details but the short fact is that it has grown to become a the real leader in world affairs, we have agents everywhere and we can do anything with immunity. Being a fundamental research organization our technology is far beyond that of even the most modern military, we do not even use the same power source as the rest of the world. Then we began noticing your kind, I was head of that department and after long studies we renamed ourselves and moved to a permanent location with a new goal in mind. We became known as the Hive and our goal was and still is, to protect the world from you, the magical people. Prior to moving to the Hive we worked largely through politics, or if need be agents, quick assassinations and espionage. But in essence we never really had any sort of physical force to deal with any real threat to us, nor did we have any way of going to war or stopping you should we be able to locate you. That's when we began creating Exodus, highest technology, highest training, best of the best. Exodus represents the peak of human combat capability, it is an army in and of itself composed of eight individuals backed by the most powerful organization on earth. I am proud to say that I have been more then impressed.” Miller stopped and looked around the contemplating room.

“Could you use normal muggle forces?” Lupin asked,

“Yes. But there is no need for that.”

“Say the need was to arise.”

“Then yes.”

“Your program's skills are unquestionably exceptional, to tell you the truth I very much doubted you, but your Exodus has proven itself very well. It may be just what we need to turn this war in our favor, as ultimately we are currently losing. We will have to set up training, orientation, so that we may work together smoothly and effectively, I very much look forward to working with your organization.” Dumbledore congratulated.

“As do I.” Miller said with a smile. “The potential to fuse your magic with our technology could revolutionize the human race, we could do so much together.” His mind was flowing with ideas as he spoke.

“One question, is your Exodus only those group of individuals?” Mad Eye asked.

“Yes Exodus consists of those nine individuals, and you are all partly incorrect. Exodus is not ours. We created it, we gave it life, but we do not control it. Exodus is something so very special that I cannot describe it, you have to witness what Exodus is, you have to watch them work as one, so perfectly, so exactly.” Miller finished off silently, drawing the room to his words.

“How did you get a Razortail Basilisk?!” Hagrid finally burst out. “They are thought to be a myth, a legend, but you have one, how?”

“We found her, and then Sarge talked her into joining us. We don't know particularly much about her, so could you fill us in at all?” Miller asked the standing Hagrid.

“Well ther ain't much ta say really, most of tha things I know are myth.”

“Just tell me what you know.”

“Well…Unlike normal basilisks tha Razortail dun't petrify victims, it can when it wants ta, but then apparently it can unpetrify them too. It can adapt to any environment almost instantly and live there with no problems, one of the reasons why its so hard to find is that they can live in the ocean jus' as well as they can live near a volcano. There was one fascinating story where a Razortail came out of flowing magma into the ocean an swam off. I'd guess tha they'd be loyal to whatever they see as friends, they're extremely intelligent mind you, like us, me and you. They have spikes and barbs that come out their skin and they can dig through solid rock with that, very quickly some people say. They dun attack humans unless you hurt them, we're too small for food an it ain't scared of nuthin, just curious. Thas all I really know bout it, will do some digging to try and find out as much as possible for ya.” Hagrid explained.

Conversation went back and forth a while longer, Exodus listening and watching in on the conversation the whole time. During the meeting Harry took the liberty of showing his team mates around Hogwarts, James supplied the Mauraders map, it was easy for him to find them, and pretended to lead them around the castle. As they explored a computer-modeling program created a digital replica of the castle and surrounding grounds, and even sent it off to Omar's tactical division so that simulations and possible improvements to structure and defenses could be made. Speed was one of the main factors that differentiated the Hive from any other organization on the planet, everything was open to everyone, and a perfectly efficient communications infrastructure allowed for uninterrupted progress and up to the second news.

Exodus and the meeting group met in the great hall, much to the relief of many students and families who now lived at Hogwarts, even if they were friendly they still looked terrifying, especially Bessy who had now turned a dark gray color.

“Exodus.” Miller greeted. “You ready?”

James quickly hid the map as they met.

“We're set. Do you have the books?” Sarge asked.

“Yes I have them.” Hermione indicated leather bag. Harry was not surprised.

“How did you know about the books?” Arthur Weasley asked curiously.

Miller touched his glasses. “Camera and microphone, the only reason I wore these.”

“So you could hear and see everything that Miller saw?”

“Yes we could.” Answered JJ. “And we've also scanned your school and grounds.”

“Fascinating, absolutely fascinating. I will have to visit your Hive as soon as possible, I have a lot of explaining to do to the public first, but I will definitely come to visit soon.”

“We look forward to having you.” Harry replied.

“Do I know you?” Ron looked at Sarge. “You sound kind of familiar.”

Hermione and James froze.

“Don't think so.” Harry replied coolly.

“We must be going, no sense in standing around here.” Moody plowed along.

“Yes we shall see your shortly I suppose. Good bye.” The two groups broke up and parted their separate ways.

Harry, Hermione and James gravitated towards one another as they left, a fact that Ginny noticed.

“What the fuck. Another couple red heads.” A targeting array appeared on all HUDs, directed from Bulldog.

“Don't worry about it, you can trust them.” Sarge removed the targets.

“Who are they?”

“The twins.” Hermione replied, there was no getting around those two.

They met the cheeky brothers at the Jet, suitcases and trunks ready to go.

“Well look who it is George.”

“The Potters.”

“All three of them.”

“Get in.” Sarge ordered.

They climbed in, hauling their things with them. Harry gently helped Hermione and James inside, out of instinct he was last one to board. The non-military version of the Hawk was there, weapon systems and racks were replaced with luxurious chairs, the metal floors and seats with fine white leather. Exodus tried hard not to ruin it all, but in the end it was obvious why there were two version of the jet.

“Going home.” Miller told the pilot.

“Got it.” He paused his game and turned to the controls. “This is Civi requesting an interior remodeling. Exodus has just been through combat and is taking a ride.”

“Affirmative Civi.” Replied a knowing voice.

Back in the main compartment Exodus took off their helmets with quick snaps and hisses, all eyes were on Sarge.

“Okay what's going on?” Moody looked sternly at Sarge.

“I had amnesia, or some kind of it anyway. When James touched me back in the forest it all came back. There isn't much else to it.” Harry shrugged.

“Other then what you've become now. Care to give us some more information on you and Exodus?”

Harry spent the next hour explaining the basics of his whole life, a conversation that was recorded and broadcast so that he wouldn't have to tell the same story over and over again. By the time Civi neared the Hive everyone who had listened, and everyone had, knew the basics of Harry's life. He didn't go in depth, just a broad general sweep, how his parents died, his eventful years, his magical and the muggle training, by the end everyone had a new found respect for him, some of the women even cried at his tragic life.

They had already been to the equipment center where Exodus had taken off their armor and equipment and then each took a separate shower, even Bessy had her own. Now they looked and smelled nice, Hermione clung to Harry for dear life; she still wasn't entirely over the fact that he was alive.

James beamed with pride as he walked side by side with his mom and dad, everywhere he went people already knew his name, everyone nodded or said a polite hello. On a few occasions he was called `cutie' or `sweetie' or any number of other names that he wasn't particularly fond of. He didn't want to be some little boy, he wanted to be just like his father, be like one of the guys from Exodus, with a cool tough name. He was Harry Potter, Sarge's son, he wanted a fearsome name like Destroyer, Pyro, or Bulldog, or even something like Snipe or Stalker, something like Joker or JJ would fit nicely too.

“Here we are, the living area.” Said Harry.

They walked into a very lavish, modern looking living room. A big screen T.V, games, consoles, computers, huge weights were scattered around, a couple Playboys made Hermione frown.

Harry caught Hermione's stern look. “I don't read them I swear.”

“I know you don't read them because there is nothing to read in them.” She said icily, configuring them into napkins.

“But that's the latest issue!” Joker groaned. He went off to his room muttering something about how he would never marry.

“We have a kitchen in there, bar over in that corner, hallways go off to separate rooms with washrooms and showers.” Harry showed them around.

Hermione and James found it to be very spacious and luxurious, with anything that anyone could want.

“What a bachelor's pad George.”

“Indeed Fred, indeed.”

“Now where are the fun toys?”

A/N. And I'm going to stop it right there. Okay here is the thing; I'm not good at writing the family reunion stuff, or just the fluff you know. I have a point that I want to get to, but there has to be a couple chapters in between here and there and frankly I don't know what to fill them with. I have a few ideas but not very many, so please, please! I need help on this stuff. Blood, gore, fighting, suspense, all that kinda stuff is easy, but fluff is hard - ya I'm seventeen, a male, and enjoy extreme mountain biking, no need to elaborate. If you want to write up some little scenes with the Potters or what not GREAT, I'll use them and give you full credit for it. Ideas, suggestions, if you want to even write a chapter go for it, throw something together. Other wise I'm a little stuck, it will go on, but it won't be great fillers. Put your ideas into the review or email me or catch me on msn at TyphusHoN@gmail.com. Actually put them into the review so that some other people might find an idea to work off of. If anything I'd even be willing to collaborate for the next couple chapters or so. Okay thanks a lot guys, really looking forward to your input.

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12. A Magical Night

A/N. Thank you all for the ideas and support, really appreciate it guys, no matter how large or small thank you all. I'm going to try out a little something in this chapter, scenes changing very quickly. Its just a bit of an experiment that I want to try out where the purpose is to show a lot of things happening at the same time, so tell me how it comes off.

A Magical Night

It had been five days since they were reunited. Harry was back, she could still barely believe it, but it wasn't the Harry she remembered, not in a bad way, just different. The Harry she knew was uncertain, scared of other people getting hurt, the Harry she remembered used to be Dumbledore's weapon, the Harry of eight years ago would jump into danger without thinking things over, just going with his heart…which sometimes didn't end so well. But this Harry was in a way far removed from the old one, this one calculated everything, knew all the ins and outs before going in, he was nobody's weapon, he was powerful and knew it but didn't abuse it, he used every advantage he could get, destroyed every flaw he found. He wasn't scared of anything, well, except James. The one thing that he was utterly petrified of was being a bad dad, she recalled the moment when he had saved them back in the forest, the pure rage, the utter feeling of death that he emitted, she shuddered to think at what those Death Eaters had felt in their last moments of life. All that fury had been brought up by a subconscious instinct to protect her and James.

There was also a new factor in their whole situation, Exodus. Things would never truly go back to how they were before; there could no longer be any sort of trio. It was Exodus and then everyone else, they had a bond the likes of which Harry and Ron had never shared. She had watched a simulation, the way they worked together, like one organism, they didn't even need to say petty things like `Thanks' or `I owe you one', it was understood on a much deeper level, they felt each other. She knew it was an odd description but it was the only one that fit. And so she realized inexplicably that Exodus was now part of all their lives, she just didn't know how she felt about it. Part of her wanted things to go back to how they were, part of her wanted to just run away from it all, have a normal family, but in the end she still loved Harry and all the baggage that he carried with him. For when he looked at her, it was with the same look that she remembered from their youth, and she knew that her Harry, the one she had fallen in love with all those years ago was still in there, behind whatever it was that he had become.

They had had a talk about thing, them, their relationship, it was long and serious. She had asked him if he really did love her, he told her more then ever, she guessed that it was almost like a time lapse for him, he didn't have to suffer through eight years, he just wanted to go with how they left off. They talked about James, about the others back at Hogwarts, their concerns, how things would go, especially with Ron, and after hours of complete openness they made love and fell asleep. When they woke up they had discussed plans for a wedding, it would take a lot of adjusting both admitted, more so for her, but they would have a family just like they had always wanted. Things were starting to come around more and more the last couple days, she was beginning to adjust, the shock ebbing away, life settling into a new rhythm.

At first she had worried about James, but it soon became apparent that there was no need to worry, she constantly reassured Harry that he was being an amazing father and that there was nothing to worry about, each time he nodded, always thinking, always revising. She watched them now in the weight room a little scared, James was pretend bench pressing five hundred pounds, Harry was the one actually lifting, but she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. It only got worse.

Destroyer and Bulldog got the bright idea of helping James set a record, to James' delight and Hermione's horror they set up an extra strength bar and loaded it up with a ton on each end. Destroyer took one end, Bulldog the other, and Harry in the middle, with James not even able to get his hands around the bar they began lifting it up and down, James pretending to struggle with the massive weight.

“NO. No more.” Hermione barged in when they began adding on even more weight.

“But mom!” James groaned.

“Hermione its really…” She looked at him sternly.

“No seriously...” Hermione cut the massive Destroyer off mid sentence; all the other guys in the room went quiet too.

“I don't want to see or hear about anything like this happening ever again.” Hermione warned.

“We'll do it when she isn't here.” Harry whispered quietly after Hermione had left.

“I still get to keep my toys though right dad?”

“Of course you do, I'll talk her into it.”

Hermione knew about the toys that were being made for James, she didn't approve of them, but it was a father and son activity, one that they really bonded over. James had requested to have a weapon and some `awesome armor', she had been there for the conversation and had shrugged it off, no one was going to give an eight year old a gun. Much to her disbelief the next day James was presented with a gun and a special baggy uniform. The gun happened to be a modified version of the pistol that Snipe carried, and the armor, while little more then tough fabric, meant the world to James. He was now just like his dad and even got a cool code name, Wasp. Harry had assured her that this was more for show then anything else, she caved in after a good deal of persuasion and assurance from each of the weapon researchers and Miller that it was as safe as riding a broom.

They went out to dinner that night, they still hadn't had a family meal together, Exodus always made food together and ate together, meaning that Hermione, James and Harry hadn't gotten to have a Potter family only dinner. Bessy tagged along on the Jet, she and Hermione were still on thin ice, Bessy saw Harry sort of as her son and was still very much suspicious of Hermione.

“Don't worry we'll be back soon.” Harry told Bessy once they had arrived in a Paris.

“Bye Bessy.” James called back as they made their way out of the Jet. Hermione didn't much condone James being a parseltongue, but it still irked a bit now because of Bessy and the possible influence that she could have on him.

They drove a nice standard BMW to an upper middleclass restaurant in Paris and had their first family meal. They laughed, they talked, and they pretended to be a normal family visiting the gorgeous city. They visited the Eiffel tower, strolled around the many beautiful parks and enjoyed their time together, forgetting about all of their problems, all of their concerns and who they really were. It was Hermione's vision of heaven, a thing that she had waited for so long, and it was perfect. Along the way they bumped into a most cheerful old man who had a full white short beard and only half his hair left.

“So sorry there.” He excused himself in an English accent that they couldn't quiet place.

“Its okay sir.” Harry replied warmly.

“Its so beautiful isn't it?” He gestured all around himself.

“Yes it is, its our first time here.” Hermione replied, feeling at ease with the man's cheery composure. “I take it this your first visit too?”

“Yes you could say that.” He replied looking up at the shining tower before them. “I'm sorry but I didn't catch your names.”

“I'm Harry, this is my wife Hermione and our son James. We're to be married soon.”

“How splendid. My name is Alos Thramasurius, but you can call me Alos.” He shook their hands energetically; he certainly had a lot of energy for a chubby man his age.

“It is a pleasure meeting you Alos.” James said.

“It is an honor meeting you all. But now I must be off, I have so many places to visit and so little time.” And before they could say anything he disappeared into the crowd of people milling about them.

“He was an interesting fellow Hermione remarked.” After he had disappeared.

“If only there more people like him the world would be so much better.” And she was right.

Meanwhile back at the Hive a revelation was made, blood samples had been taken from Hermione, James, the twins, Moody, along with a host of other wizards and witches whose samples were collected at random from Hogwarts, and finally a fresh blood sample was taken from Exodus. Rivers of blood had been spilled throughout history in the name of various progress and emotion, but the most startling of discoveries came from only a handful of droplets.

“By god what the hell are we?” Homir Munn whispered to himself, his face white.

Amanda Flowers came in a few moments later. “Homir are the new calibrations giving us anything new?” She stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing his state. “What is it?”

He said nothing at first but then said one sentence then made her dizzily stagger over to a chair.

In another part of the Hive the twins celebrated their very first accomplishment with a group of astrophysicists and host of other scientists. They hadn't slept in days but they had done it, they had done what they thought was the impossible. They created a sort of engine capable of going far faster then the speed of light, by combining the most advance technology with some inventive magic they had come to a solution.

Their heads pounding the development team had scheduled for the party to continue in a few days. No one had literally slept in days, an unhealthy amount of booster drugs keeping them going. Wearily they made their way over to a fireplace and flooed to the Burrow, stumbling groggily, their bodies finally caving in.

“Fred. George!” Molly Weasley bounded towards them.

“What have you been doing?” She looked them; over they could barely walk.

“Just some stuff with the Hive.” One of them managed to mutter.

They pushed past her and into their rooms, not even bothering to give their wives a kiss.

“Think we could name a planet after ourselves?” Fred asked.

“I was thinking about naming a system after ourselves.”

“Good idea George.”

With that they slumped off into their rooms and slept for the next two days.

In a deep remote area of the Amazon rain forest Lord Voldemort trudged like a sick dog, throwing up, screaming, and scratching at his face.

“Get out. Get out now. No. No.” He fell to the ground convulsing in tremors.

Finally he got up, slowly, shakily. “Yes.” He breathed. “I must find it. I must find the door. There has to be a door.”

“I am Lord Voldemort. I am my own. I must find a way. I must warn…NO. I must warn and kill. I must rule.”

The Potter were flying back to the Hive, Harry and Hermione had decided that tomorrow would be the day that would come out and reveal Harry to the wizarding world.

“You know tomorrow we can go get your things for Hogwarts.” Hermione told James.

“We can?”

“Yes we can son.” His dad replied.

“Does that mean everyone will know about dad?” He asked.

“It does, they have to know now, a lot of people are getting suspicious.”

“Okay, and can I tell them all about everything?”

“You sure can.”

“Are the Weasleys coming with us?” He asked.

“Yes they are.” Hermione replied, hoping that everything would be okay. She had a feeling that Ginny knew that something was up, and several other people were beginning to get suspicious.

Once back at the Hive Hermione visited the Burrow and talked to Ginny and the others about meeting up early the next day to go to Hogsmead to get the kids their supplies.

“Do we get to meet your new hubby?” Ginny approached the subject as delicately as a bull approaches a red car.

“You've already met him.” She replied quickly and flooed back to the hive before anyone could say anything else.

“I have a feeling that there is a lot going on down there that we don't know about.” Molly said suspiciously. “Fred and George stumbled in utterly exhausted, we never see James or Hermione, Moody is constantly over there working on something. Will we ever know what is going on?”

“Don't worry about it Molly, its nothing bad.” Arthur assured her. Arthur was one of the very few privileged with the information about Harry and the goings on at the Hive. “Everything should be pretty clear to you tomorrow dear.”

“Don't dear me.” She replied indignantly. “When my boys come home in that state, and everyone is constantly going in and in and out, I have to worry.”

“Let me just say that we at the spark of a massive world wide explosion in everything. We are just trying to make sure that nothing bad happens because of it.” Arthur reasoned.

Molly sighed and didn't bother pursuing the subject any further, if he said that everything would be clear tomorrow, then everything would be clear.

Snipe cursed in colorful Russian. The firing pin on his old rifle was broken, after working with perfected technology he liked to get back to the his roots, fire off some of the older weapons. It was nice to fire a sniper rifle that was used back in world war two, it kept his senses sharp, made sure that he didn't rely on technology but on himself, his own skills. He knew that the other guys did the same thing too, Pyro played with matches and gunpowder, and Stalker filmed parkour videos, Bulldog liked to go to a pub and start a fight, while Joker played cards and tennis. Destroyer just broke things, and JJ liked to tinker with gadgets and computers. Sarge liked to fly planes, and all of them loved extreme sports, from base-jumping to mountain paraskiing, it was great fun.

Checking the damage done he found that he would need to get a new pin manufactured, it was a pain in the ass to it. The weirdest of things happened as he wished that the pin would just fix itself…it did. In his palm the cracked pin molded back together, leaving absolutely no trace of the fracture.

Again the colorful Russian.

Just for the hell of it he broke it again and wished for it to be fixed. Concentrating on the pin it fixed again. He did this another dozen times, experimenting with various parts of the rifle.

With this new discovery he ran to tell the others, but upon arriving in the living room he found their fascination gathered around Joker and Pyro.

“What's going on?”

“We've all been doing some freaky shit man.” Destroyer replied unnerved.

“So I'm not the only one?”

“You too?”

“Yes. I just fixed my rifle by thinking it.”

“Okay one at a time everyone show everyone else what you can do.” JJ suggested.

Stalker went first, concentrating he moved his arm along his body and it disappeared. He patted his chest to show that it was still there. JJ took out a lock, held it at arms length and suddenly it popped open. Pyro put a tennis ball on the table and put it on fire, extinguishing it just as quickly. Snipe followed with his break and fix, and Joker transformed Pyro's tennis ball into a deck of cards. Bulldog brought the same tennis ball to float above the table and it blew up when Destroyer shouted “Boom!”

They stood in silence for a few moments, going over what had happened; they knew what had happened, they just couldn't believe it. They had done magic.

At that moment Sarge walked in with Hermione and James who looked at the assembled group inquisitively.

“Hey Sarge, watch this.” Stalker made his torso become invisible.

“Bloody hell.” Sarge said astonished.

“And that's not all, we can all do something too.” Snipe put in.

“Umm Hermione?” Harry asked her uncertainly.

She looked back at him just as confused. “Something tells me that they might need to get some wands.” Was all Hermione could say in her bewildered state.

A/N. One more chapter of confusion for you guys before our friend shows up. Getting confusing isn't it? Any guesses?

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13. Hogsmead

A/N. A note about the formatting was brought to my attention, in my draft I would have two spaces in between paragraphs where there is a scene change but portkey's formatter changed it to one, so from now on I'll be using --- to signal time/location change. If you think that you know what the plot is or you have a good idea, you probably don't, some of you have in a way touched its surface but never really known it.

To the question of whether I watch/like X-Men, Spiderman, etc, the answer is yes but they never really crossed my mind when writing this.

Hogsmead

Blooming vortex.

A galaxy in chaos.

The waves of death ripple and roil.

The red tide has turned.

The howling winds pierce all.

Un-abating it tares at shores.

It howls madly, breaking through the havoc of conflict.

Like a tidal wave,

It corrupts. It engulfs. It consumes all.

Without moral it passes through.

Consuming.

Destroying.

Silence.

A graveyard.

Shadows stir forgotten.

Greatness lies in ruin.

Excerpt from data chip dated GF. 23.11.09/3:00 Galactic standard time.

---

He rubbed his full white beard thoughtfully, blue eyes looking distantly, thinking, and remembering. Was there any chance of saving the others? They were different, It did not control them, simply mutated them, It was no longer present, It simply killed all, that is what It did. He briefly wondered if it was worth opening the door, but the risks far outweighed the benefits. He thought back to the previous night, they were such a happy family, if only they knew, if only one of these people knew the danger that was coming towards them. But there was still time, they had not been found, and even if they were to be found it would take years for them to arrive. There was also the possibility that the others could have changed, but then what did they know of the past? What did anyone but he truly know?

It was time to begin his search, it would not be hard to find them, their spectral location was easy enough to locate.

---

The Burrow was alive with activity, the undertone of tension lying just beneath the hustle and bustle.

Fred and George stumbled into kitchen, talking about some nonsense device, the word Warp came up constantly in their short conversation before they once again went off to sleep without a word to her. Molly sighed, she had better find out what was happening, and soon. Arthur had come back from the Hive looking baffled, saying that Exodus would be coming with them. Miller joined him soon after, she hadn't met him before but the look of confusion did not seem to fit his features.

Suddenly James popped in through the fireplace, he was greeted with a crushing hug from Molly a good handshake from Sirius and a blushing hug from Lilly.

“Where have you been mate?” Molly heard Sirius ask.

“With my dad, and Exodus.” Somehow this sentence seemed to cut through the house like a monomolecular knife.

Before anything could be said Hermione followed, and then one by one Exodus arrived. They wore their normal cloths, all very different, ranging from Bulldog's tough and gruff rags to Snipe's stylish attire. They seemed to wait for a second once they were all there, looking around they made room for someone else. Then that someone else came and the room froze.

“See, dad and Exodus. Just like I told you.” James said as if it was the most ordinary thing, and to him it was.

“Harry has had a very serious case of amnesia, he was picked up by the Hive after his duel with Lord Voldemort and only remembered everything no more then a week ago.” Arthur quickly explained.

“So I wasn't good enough to know a week ago?” Ron asked coldly.

“Ron, no that's.”

Ron interrupted Harry without thought. “No. You listen. Tell me, why couldn't you have told me? What happened to our trio, what happened to our friendship? Or did you forget that too?”

Hermione worst fears were coming true, there would be no trio, the friendship was there but it was different, and they had their reasons for not telling him.

“I suggest you watch your tone pal.” Bulldog warned, advancing.

“Bulldog.” Sarge said, stopping him. “Not now.”

Reluctantly Bulldog stopped his advance.

Afraid that things could easily get out of hand Hermione stepped in. “Ron we wanted to be a normal family for a week, we just wanted some time to get back together.” She said stepping between Harry and Ron. “And Ron there is no more trio.” There, she finally said it.

“Ron things have changed mate. We're still mates, its just that the last eight years have created some drastic changes. You must understand I just wanted to be with Hermione and James, we never wanted to hurt you, we even talked about telling numerous times.” Harry said stepping to Ron.

Slowly Ron's features softened, he too had changed, he didn't act on brash impulse. He was pissed, and he knew he would be for a long time. But there was logic in this whole thing, somewhere. “I need to be alone for a bit.” He said walking out of the house.

Harry made to go after Ron but Luna stopped him. “Don't, he needs some time alone, just let him be.”

Molly had been holding back tense tears but couldn't any longer. Before Harry knew what was happening she had him in a crushing hug, fussing and fretting, asking how he felt, whether he got enough to eat and what not. Harry assured her that he was perfectly healthy and there was nothing to worry about.

They all talked and had breakfast together, Molly fussed about more then usual, flying around the room, excited, nervous, happy, and everything in between. Exodus had already had breakfast, so they really didn't have much to eat.

Molly and the rest of the Weasleys had many of their questions answered, Harry retold his story, assured them that he was okay and that everything was going to be fine. After a couple hours of greetings, reuniting, not but a few tears from several of the women, Ron finally came back.

Bulldog watched him carefully as he approached Harry. “I heard what you said to everyone, and I'm still bloody mad at you. But we're mates, and mates stick together.”

They shook hands and almost indiscernibly Ron's features changed, somewhere the ice-cold façade was beginning to melt. He shook hands with the rest of Exodus, some more willing then others, Bulldog made sure to crush his hand as much as he could. They were not going to get along.

Unsurprisingly Molly burst into tears again.

---

He apparated into the library inside a magnificent castle. He looked through some books, left the library to leave the castle, past the spectacular door, and out onto the grounds. Following a path he went to the city, ignoring the strange glances that he was getting. He hummed happily to himself things were going well.

---

Exodus, and the Weasleys walked to Hogsmead while Moody and Miller went to get Professor Dumbledore and explain the full truth about Exodus to him.

The repairs to Hogsmead had been made perfectly, but to Harry it was far from what he remembered. Hogsmead had turned into a bustling city with many stores and shops relocating to the area in recent years. Diagon Ally had been over run, and now only the most heavily protected areas were completely safe to walk in. Aurors vigorously patrolled the streets and the whole mood seemed to be sad and foreboding, like people left without any hope, afraid to enjoy life, waiting for inevitable death. To say that Exodus and the Weasleys attracted attention would be an understatement, even without their gear Exodus was intimidating, and to many odd looking, dressed in what they wore they easily stood out from the crowd. Then there were the Weasleys of course and the Potters. They had barely made it to the bookstore when rumors and reports of The Harry Potter being alive began to spread like wildfire amongst the city.

Walking into the bookstore all eyes turned on them, rushed whispers circulating around. Apparently Molly had already arranged to have all of the books that the kids needed, be ready for pick up and payment.

“I-Is that really y-you?” Stuttered the storeowner, looking up at Harry and his scar.

“Yes it is. He had some amnesia but is now back.” Hermione replied holding Harry's hand lovingly.

“Merlin's beard.” She gasped. “Maybe there is some hope left.”

They paid quickly and left to pick up the other things on their list, not wanting to attract more attention then they had to. Wherever they went people gasped and awed, the Daily Prophet had run two whole issues dedicated to the information that they knew about the Hive and Exodus, and now they were finding out that the man leading them was non other then Harry Potter himself, back from the dead. They greeted whom they could, offered words of encouragement. They moved quickly, not wanting to get bogged down under a mob of people and reporters, there was still the very important question of what was happening to Exodus. Minute by minute Hogsmead seemed to swell with more and more people, all of them trying to catch a glimpse of Exodus and Harry.

Just outside the door of their last and most important stop Harry sent a clear message to the magical community.

The sky above Hogsmead erupted in a blaze of fire, and there was written a simple statement.

DO NOT FEAR DEATH FOR I AM THE REAPER.

-EXODUS

The message burned brightly throughout the night, blazing its intent for all to see. The tide of war had turned.

The group met a bewildered Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall.

“Harry, by Merlin himself I can't believe it, is that really you?” McGonagall stumbled forward, hugging him tightly.

“Yes Professor it is.” He replied warmly. “Its good to see you once again.”

“It is a miracle to have you. I do wish that you would have at least told me, but your reasons are obvious.” She looked to James and Hermione.

“Harry I am sorry for having failed you.” Dumbledore began to apologize.

“Don't Professor. What is done is done, and what has happened has happened, we can only move on. I just hope that you treat me with more respect this time.” He looked at him directly.

“That I will Mr. Potter.” For the first time in his long life Albus Dumbledore was utterly speechless.

“Back from the dead once again I see.” Mr. Ollivander came into the room and looked over the assembled group of people.

“Ollivander.” Harry and the wand maker shook hands.

“A miracle to have you back Mr. Potter.” He turned to the three children. “Lets us find you some wands shall we?”

After trying out a few wands each they finally found one that shot sparks, happily they waved them around, James tried to be cool as he could but failed miserably, in the end he was just a child.

“Congratulations to you all.” Ollivander said happily. “I assume you no longer require a wand Mr. Potter?” He asked.

“No, but the rest of Exodus might.” This caused everyone to look over to them.

“Really?” Professor McGonagall asked astonished.

“Yes, they did some magic last night. We don't know how but they did, and so our first thought was to get them some wands.

A man walked through the door unnoticed.

Miller and Dumbledore were discussing something about this issue, looking inquisitively upon Exodus.

“Well then, let us see what we can do.” Ollivander brought forth stacks of wands for them to try out.

Having watched what the kids did Exodus picked up some wands and began trying, all the while Ollivander kept bringing his stock of wands up to them, the number of untried wands diminishing by the minute.

“Are you sure that you can all do magic?” Dumbledore asked them. “We would have spotted it if you could.”

“Yes certain.” Destroyer replied in an agitated voice. No more questions upon their eligibility to do magic were raised after that.

Not entirely sure why Ollivander went to the back of his store and brought out a wand for Harry. “Holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches. Just like your old one.”

“But I don't need one Mr. Ollivander.” Harry told him, looking at his frustrated brothers; they had decided to call themselves that now that they could all use magic. They were brothers from different mothers as JJ had put it.

“Just try it.” He insisted.

Shrugging Harry picked up the wand and gave it a swish. Nothing happened. Another few swishes, nothing. Now things were really becoming strange.

“You know putting a reactor core in those wands would get you some positive results.” Said a voice off to the side of the room.

All eyes turned to the old man with the short white beard, blue eyes sparkling. “Alos Thramasurius?” Hermione asked.

“Yes that is my name, we met last night.” He said happily, making his way closer to the group and examining Exodus.

“Who are you?” Miller asked.

“Oh the questions already. Lets see now.” He stopped before Exodus. “Heavy weapons, scout, sniper, special weapons one and two, closer quarters specialist, engineer, and the of course the deadliest of them all, the sergeant.” He named them off, pointing at each one in turn. “No basilisk?”

“Bessy is at home. Now who are you?” Sarge asked him.

“Ah ok, good, good. But the question is who are you? Who are we all?” At the slightly agitated silence he continued. “Lets go somewhere where I can demonstrate.”

Before anyone knew what was going on they were inside the Hive, the biological area to be more precise.

“G-A-L-A-X-Y!” Cried Homir Munn.

Mr. Ollivander and the wands were all transported along with them.

Amanda Flowers along with a large number of other scientists and researchers were also in the room, Alos addressed them. “I have been watching you all, your progress is going very well, but you are all very stumped I assume.” He asked as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

“Who are you?” Amanda Flowers asked bewildered, she had practically fallen off her chair.

“Who am I? Well let's see now.” He had never really thought about how he would explain that little detail.. “There are architects, engineers, people who build buildings, transportation, push their field further, develop, enhance, watch over their creations. When they need to these people rebuild their creations. You can say that I am a builder, but instead of building say a house I have rebuilt the human race. Quiet literally from the brink of extinction.”

---

On the edge of the solar system a small green ship scanned the area, it was a probe, there were millions of others like it. But unlike those millions of others it had accomplished its mission, a mission that was hoped by an entire race never to be accomplished.

---

A/N. Your answers will be answered in the next chapter, which I have already started. Last chance to see if you have any idea about the plot.

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14. Humanity

Humanity

Thy sky blazed in deep rippling agony, purplish red clouds convulsing, changing, thundering their defiance. Drop ships pelted down like rain, swooping in at the last second to unleash their cargo before veering away from Moslin's mighty defense batteries. Codian was pleased to note that many did not make it back to safety. A brilliant white city remained, Humanity's last refuge, the origin, their very capital was all that was left. Orbital bombardments bashed against its shields, after days the enemy gave up and knew that they would have to come down and fight them on their terms. They would have to assault the one opening to the city, the massive highway and there they would die.

Codian spat on the ground in disgust, the Unity, a collective of races that had single handedly brought all life in the galaxy to its knees. But he could not understand why, they had tried to come to peaceful terms with all races they met, when forced to fight they won, and then they conquered, and showed that the Human race was perfect. But the Unity would not, could not accept a new dominant race, and so they created the virus, it was perfect, too perfect, and it evolved, and it turned on life itself. But the thing that bothered him most was that the Unity, their own race dieing, would send what scraps they had left to finish off the Human race, and for this, for this very blood crazed whatever it was emotion he detested them. It was dishonorable; it was reckless, before their own separate races faded into the shadows of history they wanted to see Humanity die, to somehow show that they, the great Unity, were better. He would relish killing every single one of them.

The highway was a mile in width, cratered with constant bombardment and previous assaults, behind this last mighty defense line lay the city, women, children, all but helpless. They were going to die, inevitably they would, inevitably they all would, and the Human race would be a shadow. Grimly Codian wondered whether some far off race from another Galaxy, or perhaps in time this one, would ever see their city, wonder about humanity, excavate the shattered ruins, and wonder and guess at what they were. Or would everything simply be forgotten till the end of time? He knew that somewhere the two Titans listed out in space, their crews killed off by the virus, or did they self-destruct, whatever happened to many of the fleets? So many magnificent, so many beautiful things had been snuffed out near instantly, all because of one races cowardice, their hate, their inability to adapt.

Codian looked down on the fifteen year old by his side holding a wand in one hand and a pistol in the other, and he trembled in rage. The boy looked up at him, his courage having long left his delicate features. Codian's scarred face grinned back at him. “Do not be afraid of death. For I am the reaper. And today we are all brothers.”

The boy nodded back, some small facet of courage and defiance returning. He turned to look out on battlefield, twisted and burned out hulls littered the dry arid surface, disfigured bodies lay strewn about like rag dolls as far as the eye could see, mingled indiscernibly together. More flyers and drop pods crashed down in flame, searing the living and the dead alike. The boy watched a large drop pod get clipped by a bright lance of magic, it veered off course, slamming into a drop ship that was unloading its troops. He watched those that were outside get caught by a series of explosions, he imagined those trapped inside burning to death, screaming as they died, hands flailing helplessly against melted doors, trying desperately to escape. He had watched his parents die as the virus took them apart cell by cell, the long integrated breaking down, magic running wild, he had seen people burn to death, he had seen people's skin peel off as they died from within. Somehow he had survived, somehow he had escaped the virus.

Now he stood side by side with a legendary warrior, the pinnacle of human evolution, the perfect integration of technology and magic. He knew that given a mere thousand years all of humanity would achieve this final peak, but that would not come to be…the bastardly Unity had seen that nothing would come to be, that everything would simply die. He watched as the snipers and heavy weapons pounded into the sky, bringing down the pathetic wretches in droves, but still they kept coming.

“This is Codian.” Codian spoke into the vox to the entire assembled forces. “If this is to be our last hour, if we are to be remembered, then let us be remembered for this, let us make this a most glorious end. Do not fear them, for they fear us, look at them over there, assembling their pathetic forces. Look at them cower behind their own twisted wreckage, I say they are taking too long, I say we take the fight to them.” He looked about him, there would be an ocean of blood on this desolate death soaked land before the day was up.

“Brothers and Sisters…” He paused for a second. “Die well.” And he charged, a mighty roar erupting behind him as they followed. His squad, his family, they had all died honorably, he only wished he would be able to as well.

He fired from the hip, bullets and spells whizzed by his head, impacting with the enemy. A salvo of artillery fired, shaking the ground as the rounds hit, throwing up bits of concrete and shredded enemies. Tanks and skimmers fired off, making a mockery of what little fortifications the Unity had set up. They had seen them coming, they were getting ready for their assault, they would not be.

“Apparate.” As one the human forces apparated to within feet of the Unity and fired at point blank range, mowing them down like grass, cutting through with the vengeance of an entire species. Searing red Basilisks plowed through infantry and armor alike, a mad bloodlust upon them, their hunger for revenge insatiable.

The Unity soldiers flew backwards, hit with spells, or were simply obliterated by heavy weapons. Codian drove deeper and deeper into their ranks, using the warped hulks around him for cover as return fire chipped away at his armor, his helmet had been destroyed long ago, a searing pulse round reminded him of that fact. But nevertheless he drove on, oblivious to the pain, oblivious to the explosions shaking the very earth beneath his feat. Throwing his rifle down he transfigured the wand at his hip into a fearsome jagged sword, pulsing and crackling with blue energies, the perfect union, magic and technology combined. Hefting the mighty weapon he clove a gray skinned monstrosity in two, kicked off into the air, rounds, friend and foe whizzing by him, with the help of a spell he landed in the midst of a heavy weapons squad. He relished butchering every single one of the frightened bastards, his body a mass of blood and gore when he was through with his righteous task. A massive dark gray creature suddenly smashed into him, throwing Codian into the side of some twisted tank, jagged splinters penetrating the weak spots in his armor. The creature's stupid face looked down on him, the lower half of his rider still dangling from it back it went back, the top half was no where to be seen. With a roar of cannibalistic rage it reared up on its hind legs and prepared to smash him into a pulp. A hail of bullets shredded its pathetic skull, ending its miserable life.

“Sir.” It was the fifteen-year-old boy; before Codian could say his thanks the boy's head exploded in a violent shower of bone and brain matter. They were beginning to counter attack. An assault squad came at him, regal red capes flowing behind them, staves raised to strike him down. Codian gladly met them, adrenaline pumping through his veins he clove the pathetic bastards to shreds, he was faster, smarter, stronger, and without fear, while the assault squad, even with their fearsome look were scared, they were hesitant. And so they died, limbs and bodies separated in powerful slashes, one thrown into the air to be hit by a stray rocket.

It would never be known that Codian Thramasurius died under waves of enemy soldiers, the bodies of those he slay piled high around him, the body of a fifteen year old boy behind him, he never once took a step back. Humanity fought with its back to a wall, and even managed to win the battle. Ultimately the Unity were all selfless cowards, and before the battle was over a sustained orbital bombardment washed over them, shockwaves penetrating the planet's very core, not a trace was left of the Unity or its defeat, nor that of courage warriors that fought there.

Ultimately the rest of the population was all massacred, and to the best of the galaxy's knowledge the human race was no longer in existence.

---One hundred thousand years later---

“You might all want to sit down.” Alos said conjuring up some chairs. “This will come as a shock to you all, but it will make perfect sense, so please do not interrupt until I am done.”

The gathered people took a seat around the spacious laboratory and looked at the man before them.

Alos thought for a moment before beginning. “Human DNA as you know it is divided into twenty three chromosomes as you know it.” The large screen behind him gave a three-d representation of this. “However it was not always so, originally human DNA had twenty four chromosomes, with a twenty fifth emerging just before our near extinction.”

Homir Munn opened his mouth to say something but Alos held up his hand and he did not. “Chromosome twenty three and twenty four are the techno and the magio chromosomes, so called because they deal with magic and technology. You may think it odd, but the techno chromosome was very much responsible for the ingenuity, and thinking that is required when inventing and working with technology. The magio chromosome gives humans the ability to manipulate magic, which is actually a form of energy that lies parallel to our dimension, encompassing it if you will. So originally we had both, and we flourished like you could not imagine today. When we arrived on the galactic scene, and yes there are aliens out there, we found out that in comparison to other races we had come from nothing to everything in the smallest fraction of the time that it took the other races to get to the point of where they were.

Once out in space our advancement continued at a pace that was normal to us, but was mind boggling to other races. There were some that were scared, other envious, while others still accepted us as the up and coming natural leaders, unfortunately the latter was very much in the minority. But for the time there were wars and no one gave us much thought, we weren't in anybodies way and at the time we didn't pose much of a threat. It was at this point in time where certain individuals began to advance into a second stage of human evolution; it was a form of adaptation that was on the cellular level. These exceptional individuals began to replicate the nano technology within them through birth, up until that moment in time nanites had to be injected at birth and while very adaptable they were still a foreign matter. But with these people the nanites were part of them, they had them upon conception, and here we found the development of the twenty fifth chromosome, one that bridged all the gaps between magic and technology, fused it so that it was one and the same.

The numbers of these individuals was very small, but they grew steadily, little by little. We grew as an empire and the War grew as well, escalating into a full galactic affair. The Unity, a conglomeration of races was setting themselves up as the natural rulers of the galaxy in a very brutal manner, if you did not join them you were killed. Our first skirmish with one of their splinter fleets proved disastrous for us, we did not have the resources for such fleets, our magiotech was on par with their technology, even better in some cases, but we simply did not have the numbers or resources to build a fleet that could stand up to them. With no other option left we consolidated, we took a beating, we learned how they fought, but we could not see a plausible way out. Diplomacy failed, the other races were having their own troubles and could care less about us.

A military group finally came up with the answer. We could not beat them with out fleet, but what if we could take over theirs? As far as we could tell they had no boarding actions or infantry so to speak of, who needs it when you can just threaten to blow a city from orbit or starve a planet into submission? Boarding actions in the physical sense were impossible, shields prevented it, but we could apparate. I still do not know how you chose the same name as the original military group, but somehow you did. Many of the individuals who had the twenty fifth chromosome volunteered to make a special strike force called Exodus. They were the best humanity had to offer, they could feel each others emotions, communicate on another level, squads grew up together, they almost became one organism, they worked so flawlessly. They trained for years, and they had the best support that humanity could offer, to be able to say that you were related to an Exodus Marine was a great honor, and to become one even greater. There were a hundred squads in total, each operating independently, they consisted of nine members, eight human and one Basilisk.” Bessy slithered in and stared intently at Alos.

“Like that one.” He pointed at Bessy. “To say that Exodus teams were invincible would be a lie, they were incredibly good, but they could go down when enough bodies were thrown at them, or an engine core detonated as was the case on a number of occasions. We did not stop with Exodus, not by a long shot, the back bone of our forces were our infantry and normal military, think of Exodus as a scalpel and the other military forces as a sledge hammer. After our first few skirmishes we were left alone, beaten back and bloodied Exodus developed, our strategies changed, our military forces strengthened and plans to build two Titan class warships began, and so did the building of our fleet. With the help of some neighboring allies we were able to secretly build up a heft force, far from anything major but better then nothing. Long story short by the time the Unity decided it had a fleet to spare we had changed a lot, and when they attacked we beat the crap out of them and took their fleet. The Unity attacked with four ships, we attacked with four very small very quick and stealthy ships that each carried an Exodus squad. The squads apparated aboard, took out any attempts of resistance and we got ourselves four new ships. We refitted the ships to meet our needs and waited for the next attack. The next attack came and we did the same thing, and so we did the same thing for the next ten consecutive months. The time the Unity figured out no one was helping us and actually came to really investigate we had amassed a hefty fleet, all for free and with no casualties. That is when we were taken seriously. We retook our few systems, and pushed ever outwards, whenever we fought we only got stronger. We helped out our allies and in this way as the War escalated even further we grew ever larger. The Unity eventually caught on, attempted to sort of resistance, their first successful one was denying us the opportunity to take a ship, they simply hit the self destruct button and took out one of our squads.

Soon enough we were conquering planets, then systems, our allies grew, and we pushed the unity back. When it came to attacking a planet a couple Exodus squads would take out the centralized leadership and our normal military forces rolled over all resistance. It was more beneficial then annihilating a city, and it was far quicker then starving a planet. Over time it was becoming obvious that we were the new dominant race in the galaxy, the Unity could not simply self destruct every ship they had, and they had next to nothing in terms of ground troops. All this time more and more people were born with the twenty fifth chromosome, the human race was well on its way to fully hitting the next stage of it evolution, and our little black Exodus ships were rightly feared, sometimes all we had to do was have one there and the enemy would simply surrender.” Alos paused for a moment composing himself, a great sadness came over him.

“The Unity created a Virus, a perfect Virus, one that they must have known would eventually turn on them, but not before it was done with us. They made a biotechnological Virus, one that was conscious, all evidence points to this fact, that it had to have a consciousness of some sort. Its first programming told it to attack the specific human DNA pattern, it did…it was so effective.” He talked slowly now, each word bringing back painful memories. “It also attacked technology, shutting down infrastructures, traveling through communication signals, destroying everything. Whole planets literally died over night, and The Virus as it was known changed, it was too good, it had its own agenda, its own consciousness, and it began attacking everything living, stripping worlds bare of all life within days. It traveled through the air, through signals, through anything. Before anyone or anything knew what was happening uncounted billions had died, decomposing at the cellular level they literally fell apart. You could peal off muscle with the least bit of effort, a slight breeze would skin you alive. Within a month the Galactic population was down approximately forty percent, within a year ninety percent of all living things were dead. And not just humans, EVERTHING, even plants died. The only way to escape it was to not send, receive or in any way come into contact or communication with those infected. There were things that slowed It down, and they worked, but they only bought time and agony… The Unity attacked Gaia, humanity's last refuge, they attacked and they killed them all, and then they died. The Unity's cowardice, their pride, went so deep that even when we repelled their attack they bombarded the battlefield from orbit to hide all traces of their defeat. My son was there, he led that last defense…” Alos stopped again, motioning not to be interrupted.

“I led a team to save humanity. We worked with what little resources we had. We gathered those that were not infected, spliced their DNA to make it unrecognizable from normal humans, found two planets and lay the seeds for a future humanity. We broke up our original team into two, one responsible for one planet and the other for the other planet. We monitored the progress, waiting for the time when the human race would begin to recover, waited for first available chance that signs of the Exodus would show, and then whoever was left would come down and tell you all about the true history of the human race, lead you to the brink of the cliff from which we through you to protect our race. The reason that the magio gene and the techno gene are separate is because of us, we did it to make sure that nothing would be able to follow us, to recognize us, that enough time would pass for the Virus to die out, as it has. And so I am here.”

The room stared at him shocked.

“The Exodus gene, why has it come up so quickly in us?” JJ asked. “You make it sound like we should be farther ahead, we do not have the magio and techno within the whole population, and now the final stage of our evolution is upon us, how is that possible?

“Good question. The Exodus gene was already imprinted in your DNA, even if it wasn't there the blueprints were. You are the most direct descendants from a Exodus squad. Basically evolution has had to write and come up with the correct sequencing, the blueprints are already there, it is merely a matter of building according to these blueprints.” Alos answered. “Does that answer your question?”

“I think so, but what about the rest of the population?”

“What about it?”

“Shouldn't they have the magio and techno gene in them?”

“They do. Are, what's that word…muggles, not showing signs of magical development? Do you not take `muggles' to become wizards and witches as you call yourselves?”

“We do.” Dumbledore replied.

“Then there you have it. Muggles are becoming more wizards and witches, and I do say that there are two gentlemen who have been working here that are not of `muggle' descent, and if you looked you would be hard pressed not to find wizards witches not capable of interacting easily with technology. The foundation is all here, its all about to spring up and show itself publicly.”

“How quickly are all of these changes going to take place? Will we be able to do magic?” Homir Munn asked.

Alos turned to him and brought out a wand that had thin wires running down its length. “This is a training wand, swish it around.” He handed the wand over to Homir.

Looking at it curiously Homir Munn gave it a twirl, and to his utter astonishment the end began to glow and a holographic representation of the their solar system appeared in mid air.

“That answer your question?” Alos asked.

A/N. If you have question ask them now and I will answer them through the story if possible. And if I missed something please tell me so I can clear it up. As a side note, for once I have not been threatened with toothpicks, feels kinda funny.

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15. Heaven and Hell

A/N. Exams, holidays and a two-week vacation, that's why this has taken so long, that and a new PvP system for WoW. I've tried to answer all of your questions, you do have to use your imagination a bit. At the moment I don't actually have any races set, however I have been tossing around the idea of using the Warhammer 40,000 races, aka Orks, Tau (with the Kroot, Vespid, etc) Eldar or Dark Eldar, not Tyranids or Necrons, chaos in a way I guess, perhaps some space dwarves or something like that. We'll see, if you have a suggestion go for it. This is all a good ways away and so I won't say much else on the issue. Okay now the next statement you have to understand. I am not good at current politics, or in anyway know its various intricacies. It is not my intent to offend anyone with how various governments and peoples will be acting within this story, I am going off limited knowledge and mostly a creative license. If you are knowledgeable in this field then please talk to me, I would love to know more so that the story works out as logically as possible, and so that nothing strange happens…just you get the idea.

Heaven and Hell

“I still don't understand.” Hermione said perplexed. “What is the Unity exactly? Who were your allies?”

Alos really hadn't imagined the explanation would be so hard, he had grown up in a sprawling galaxy full of life, and to his consciousness he had spent the last year preparing to save humanity, and now here he was. “The Unity were five unique species united under one banner, one common goal. We didn't have any stable allies, but really what does it matter? They're all dead now anyway, or if they aren't then who knows what has happened in the last hundred thousand years.”

Hermione nodded, still trying hard to piece things together.

Seeing them still puzzling over the information overload Alos simplified things a bit. “Okay let me make things really, really simple. Humans break past the confines of their planet and begin space exploration. Humans find aliens and a war going on, a galactic one. Humans keep expanding and no one takes them seriously. Humans get the crap kicked out of them and shrink back to a handful of solar systems. Human realize that they had better do something and create what is to become the most feared force in the galaxy, Exodus. Humans start building fleet and drawing up plans for super ships. Humans go out again and through exploiting enemy weaknesses start to dominate the galaxy. Big bad guys get all emotional and decide that if they can't rule the galaxy then no one can and so create a virus that it is designed to kill off humans but ultimately the virus evolves and kills almost everything. Uninfected humans don't like the idea of dieing off and create two planets from which humanity would grow again. They splice the DNA of these new humans so that they are unrecognizable on a DNA level from the original humans should anything happen. Time passes, human DNA fixes itself, they live happily, unaware of their past and then I come here to you and try to explain everything.”

“Okay that sounds a bit better, I still can't understand the whole techno gene, it just doesn't make sense.” Amanda Flowers said.

“How so?”

“Well, its just, I mean a gene for magic I can understand, but a gene for technology?”

“Well yes. The wizards, those who do not have the techno gene would be very limited when it came to technology. The techno gene gives humans extrapolative thinking, extreme situational adaptation, stress management, and body musculature. A person without the techno gene is on average weaker physically when compared to a person with the techno gene. They would also not be able to comprehend advanced physics, and computers. Their bodies are not as adaptable to environmental changes, they would reject any organ transplant, and their bodies would certainly reject any form of nano technology or technological alteration to their bodies.” Alos looked for an example, his eyes settled on Homir Munn. “For example, when you try out a wand it fizzles, and sparks right? Do you know why? I'll tell you, magic surrounds our dimension of space and time like an ocean, when you use magic you tap into this source and manipulate it in its pure form, hence you cast spells and your wand sparks the first time its picked up, it's the magic burning its way through. Now when you have someone with both a magio and techno gene the techno gene acts as sort of a controlling device for it, the training wand I gave to Homir tapped into the magic for him but subconsciously he controlled it.”

“You said you broke the project up between two planets. What happened to the second?” Harry asked quietly, the room went deathly silent, waiting for a response only to have Alos open and close his mouth as if to start a sentence. “That bad?”

“Worse.” He replied painfully.

“How worse?”

“The margin of probability for the occurrence was minimal, less then one percent.” He said quietly.

“What occurrence?” Harry urged.

“Somewhere along the line something went wrong, I cannot honestly tell you what, perhaps the blue prints were off, some social factor, or even possible meddling with DNA, I just don't know…nor is there any way to find out.”

“What happened?”

“Mass mutation, chaos, anarchy.” He took a deep breath. “You could call me a god in that I created both Heaven and Hell.” He gathered his thoughts, not knowing how to tell them what they were to do. “And Hell is where you must go, for the survival of Heaven rests upon the complete destruction of Hell.”

“Are there are still humans on that planet?” Destroyer asked.

“Not humans, there is life on that planet. We no longer share the same DNA, nor do all of them resemble us. They can be described as daemons, mutants, things too horrible to imagine, but nevertheless things you must face.”

“I know we're good, but how the hell are we supposed to wipe out an entire planet? Unless you got one Really Big Fucking Gun or a bomb in the planets core or something.” Destroyer said with a grim chuckle.

Alos looked at him seriously.

“No shit…”

“We were prepared for every eventuality, even this one.”

Joker raised his hand up. “Question. Right, maybe you haven't noticed but we don't really have space flight capability. You know, could be a problem an all.”

“But we have the Doorway. It is a teleportation device we set up on both planets.”

“Ok cool, I call dibs on pushing the big red button.” Joker joked, the humor was lost on the audience.

“But why must we go and destroy this other planet in the first place? Can we not simply leave it alone?” Dumbledore asked Alos.

“We could if they hadn't found it.”

“If they hadn't found it?”

“Yes, they have been trying to get through for years, and recently they have almost gotten through a couple times. When we put the Doorway in place we did not want it to be sealed with no hope of opening it. The consensus was that we wanted it openable without my assistance; whatever was to try and open the doorway would in some way possess both magic and technology within them, nanites, bionics, or something similar. Were it to happen that if my brother Jalonos or myself were to die or were in some way unable to meet with the new humans then eventually they themselves could detect it and open it. The logic behind this is that the first planet to succeed could help the other one out and theoretically could have doubled the population, efforts for space travel could have been increased, hence the reason for such a small doorway.”

“So why not just destroy the door?” Ron looked at him as if it were the simplest answer, and yet he knew that things couldn't possibly be that simple.

“We cannot destroy the door because it is outside our dimension, or rather fused with the magical one. Basically there is no tangible way to destroy it because it's basically an artificial wormhole.”

“So why not just guard our end and stop them when they try to get through?” Ron continued on.

“What's to stop them from sending a bomb, a gas, an agent, or something through that would wipe out everything, waiting a few moments and then coming through and having a blast? Nothing. Trust me kiddo we thought this through.”

Ron had nothing else to say, it seemed like they had to go in after all.

“About a thousand miles away from each of the doorways we hid a facility, which cannot be found without you knowing where to look. In this facility are the controls that will allow for the detonation of the planet's core via bombs and magical conduits arranged around the planet. Before you ask there is a size restriction, nothing much bigger then Destroyer will fit through, which means that Bessy and vehicles cannot be used.” The lights in the room dimmed as he explained this and a holographic projection appeared out of thin air, floating like a cloud. “You have to get from here, to here.” Two dots appeared on the map, a red line connecting the two points in space. “I cannot say what is here as there is simply no way of telling without going there. Prior to you departing we will send in a bomb to clear the surrounding area, from there on out you will be on your own.”

“Mission objective is to reach instillation and self destruct the planet. Assume everything is hostile. Operation time is unknown. If that's everything we leave in five hours, get me the twins I want to talk to them.” Harry stated to the room.

“Harry you can't do this right now, we need to prepare and go over things.” Hermione protested, a look of fear in her eyes as she realized what he had planned.

“No. The only certainty here is that at any moment those things, whatever is out there, will get through this Doorway, or wormhole or whatever the fuck it is and kill and everything here. I will NOT let that happen.” And there for the first time ever the only fear that Harry would ever show was made evident to Hermione for a brief flicker in time, the fear of losing her and James, the fear of losing his only family. She knew in that instant that no matter what he would be ready to go in five hours or less, even if he had to go by himself.

“Okay.” Tears brimmed her eyes. “But promise me that you will be back, swear to me and James that you will come back to us.” She told him in a trembling voice.

“I swear to you both that I will be back.” Bending down he kissed her passionately and gave James a long hug.

“Come back soon daddy.” James whispered into his ear.

“I will, I swear it.” Tearing his eyes away from them he made his way to the door, his brothers following behind, grim determination set in their features. “Alos, Miller, come with us.” Sarge led the way to the spacious combat prep room that was located in the middle of the hive. As they walked people looked up to them happily only to realize that something was wrong, Exodus did not march through the Hive in quiet contemplation and deathly determination.

Once they were all inside and the door shut with a hiss Sarge turned around to face the expectant faces of his brothers and makers, Bessy slithering up behind him expectantly.

“Would I be correct in assuming that you wish to leave a lot sooner then in your stated five hours?” Miller asked.

Sarge nodded. “Alos what are the chances of our survival?”

“Experimental, meaning I have no bloody idea.”

“Of anyone other then Exodus?”

“Zero.”

“My thoughts exactly. Miller are the new ammunition packs ready?”

“Yes, the twins finished working on them a few days ago. Cartridges loaded into the packs are one tenth the size and weight, they work just like your previous packs except that now you have a lot more ammunition.”

“Good.”

“Do you still want the twins?”

“No, that was just to make them think I wasn't going to go off without them.”

“Understood, I'll call up the Firebolt.” Miller opened up a small palm sized computer to give the instructions.

The Firebolt was technologically the same to Exodus' normal jet, except that it quiet literally had some magical touches added to it, as did all of their gear. The armor was now slightly lighter and even more durable, a few clever charms helped fight gravity, meaning that they could now jump higher and land softer then before, then there were other small miscellaneous things that helped them survive.

“Bessy you're not going to be able to come with us on this one, not because we don't want you to but because you literally can't. Your responsibility will be to make sure that nothing gets through to this world.” He instructed Bessy.

“I understand, I'll take care of them don't worry.” She assured him.

“Alos tell us where we need to go and how to do what we need to do.” No sooner had Sarge finished the sentence then a wave of information was literally downloaded into their brains.

“That works too.” Harry gasped. The others blinked a few times, the sensation making their heads throb.

“The fuck was that?” Bulldog rubbed his temple.

“Everything I know, which at the moment isn't very much. There is one thing that I did not mention to the others.”

They were about to ask what when almost randomly a thought surfaced on their consciousness.

“Don't go looking for them, but if you happen to come across them then find out all you can. I will update all of the imaging and scan that I have to your suits once you are ready.” Alos told them.

“Well then, what are we waiting for? We gonna sit around n' chat all day are we gonna start some fires with our burnin desires?” Pyro grinned.

Without another word and grins that only true bad asses could wear, Exodus went to prepare their equipment. Magic now allowed them to shrink their weapons with a flick of a switch, a fact which made carrying two weapons extremely easy.

“I have watched this sight hundreds of times before, and still I have shivers running down my spine every time.” Alos told Miller as they looked upon Exodus preparing. “They have a bond that you and I will never understand nor experience.”

“I've tried figuring out how they time their last segment together so well, but have never been able to.” Miller replied to him.

“You could say it is a mystery of the universe.”

“Identification confirmed. Stalker.”

“Identification confirmed. Joker.”

“Identification confirmed. JJ.”

“Identification confirmed. Bulldog.”

“Identification confirmed. Snipe.”

“Identification confirmed. Pyro.”

“Identification confirmed. Destroyer.”

There was a short pause wherein a low whine announced the BFG coming online. “Identification confirmed. Sarge.”

- - -

The Firebolt skimmed just feet above the ocean floor, a tail of white water following in its wake, quiet literally the key to humanities survival sitting patiently in its hold.

“What does the Doorway look like?” Snipe asked Alos who sat beside a small but very powerful bomb.

“You've all seen it, Sarge has actually seen it thousands of times.” At this they all looked at him, their body language betraying their faÃ§ade of emotionless killers. “In fact, all of the people who have walked through the great doors of Hogwarts have laid on eyes on it and have never suspected a thing.”

- - -

The Firebolt landed in a flowing gust of rain, eight armored figures jumped out and walked purposefully towards the looming castle before them. Gray storm clouds blocked out the sun, echoing the mood of the warrior below. Alos and Miller followed behind them, the weight of the matter fully settling in, all that they had both worked to achieve was about to be put to the ultimate test.

The great front doors of Hogwarts creaked open with a sound that echoed throughout the dark great hall, spreading out into the castle. The enchanted ceiling was the only source of light as a thunderstorm began to rage outside, the ceiling mirroring the weather. Destroyer planted the bomb in the center of the room with a resonating thud.

Muttering under his breath Alos lifted his hands up into the air as the ceiling above began to swirl and crackle with brilliant white energy. “You may set the count down to five seconds.” He told Destroyer who stood beside the bomb.

Flicking a switch and turning a small dial Destroyer activated the cylindrical weapon. Stepping away from it two seconds past before a bolt of white light struck it and the bomb disappeared.

“3. 2. 1. Merry Christmas.” JJ counted down.

“Don't forget to put up a defense around this place.” Sarge told the two old men.

“Don't forget that we don't have a plan B in this scenario.”

“Don't worry. I promised my family I'd be back.” Sarge stated in a tone that you did not bullshit with.

“We've knocked on Daddy's door. Now lets go say hi.” Destroyer cycled his minigun as on giant bolt of energy crashed into Exodus.

A.N. Updated both HPZ and this today, hope you enjoyed it.

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16. Hell

A.N. Hellgate London, and Doom 3 with a touch of W40k in the mix. That's the kind of pleasant scenery that you'll be seeing. Thanks a lot for the reviews guys, hope you all didn't get too attached to some of the members of Exodus…

Hell

Imagine if you can, a world without light, a sky of such a putrid color that merely looking at the roiling tempest makes you retch. Imagine the smell of decaying bodies, blood, grime, filth, and toxins where simply breathing the air can strip your throat and turn your lungs into a bloody mass of useless tissue. Imagine burnt out buildings, wreckage, fires, cities in ruin, imagine piles of blood caked bones pilled high in the worship of some despicable god. Imagine buildings smeared with gore and riddled with holes, skulls and bodies staked upon jagged pieces of metal, some decomposed, others still with maggots crawling through them. If you can imagine that then you have caught a mere glimpse, the tiniest fraction, of Hell itself.

Exodus appeared unspectacularly in the middle of a crater, small bits of debris raining down upon them, covering their black armored forms in a fine layer of grime. The suits filtration systems kicked in immediately as the air was recognized as unsafe to breath. Snipe steadied his breathing as the sight before him made him sick to the stomach, the very atmosphere seemed to pulse with an overpowering sense of death. It was a sight, a feeling, that he could never have possibly imagined, that non of them could have imagined. Swearing a stream of Russian he took a moment to compose himself as they all did.

“The fuck happened here…” Pyro said more to himself then to anyone else.

“Don't know, but if you ask me we fit in pretty well here.” Bulldog observed. And it was true, the eight of them looked like they belonged here, it was is if they were daemons brought up in heaven and now they had finally found home. One could easily have mistaken their giant armored forms, red glowing visors and rifles with chainsaws on the ends and other exotic weaponry to have all come from such a place as this.

“Stalker, scout things out. We've got a long way to go and I don't want to be bogged down in a fire fight, take a longer route if you need to.”

Nodding Stalker sprinted towards the edge of the crater, climbing up the steep slop he took a quick look out from the cover before disappearing over its lip. The others slowly followed after him, letting Stalker build up a sufficient lead as they took a good look out into the world around them.

“This looks pretty modern.” Snipe observed as he looked out at a demolished city no more then a few miles ahead of them. “The cars, the skyscrapers, I'd say that whatever happened here didn't happen too long ago. Say fifty to a hundred years tops.”

“Which begs the question what the fuck happened?” Bulldog commented.

“The virus?” JJ proposed. “Alos had said that scans indicated a near zero percent in human life, and the other half percent could easily have been a glitch.”

“Couldn't have been the virus or else why didn't it take out both worlds? Even if they had worked separately they would have communicated and so the virus would have ended up on both worlds and would have taken both of them out.” Said Sarge.

“Well viruses can lay dormant for years you know.” JJ informed them. “What's to say that it didn't simply go dormant for thousands of years, on both planets and it simply happened to hit this one first. And besides it wouldn't even have to be the original Virus that pretty much wiped out the galaxy, when you're working with genetics and forces on this kind of level and scale pretty much anything can happen. I doubt the original humans to be rookies or not know what they're doing, but still as Alos himself said this is all experimental. Rebooting a species isn't exactly textbook kind of material you know.”

“Might not have been a mistake made by Alos and his team either, could have easily been muggles and wizards working together on something and then bam, wrong potion and you're done.” Said Sarge, he had learned the hard way how easily potions and spells could go wrong. “Either way, this planet's days are numbered.” Sarge lifted himself out of the crater and followed after Stalker who had signaled the okay.

The bomb had really done its job well, there was literally nothing but dirt in a three mile radius around the blast, a fact that was booth good and bad. The good was that nothing was alive and so couldn't surprise them. The bad was that if anything was nearby it would head on over and since Exodus had nowhere to take cover until they hit the city could easily take them out. The map showed that they were to head north and slightly to the east, around a small mountain range, and then through a valley. Straight ahead was a giant looming city, and potentially a way through the mountains too, a way that could potentially save them days of travel.

“Incoming, one thirty. Airborne.” Stalker warned.

As one Exodus got down on one knee, weapons poised and ready. Flying high from the city were what appeared to be a half dozen gargoylish creatures flying on crimson leathery wings. They had talons, barbs, and what looked like bionic weapons fused to their arms, and their screech like a thousand rusty nails grating against a chalkboard.

“Got em.” Destroyer stood up hefting his Shark rocket launcher. `Burst' A mechanism in the weapon swiveled to load up the desired ammunition type, setting a lock onto each of the incoming flyers he pulled the trigger. A cluster of six rockets linked together was fired as one, streaking through the putrid sky before coming apart mid flight. As they came apart they each locked onto their own designated targets. Homing in each of the rockets made slight adjustments before impacting in a small series of bright red explosions. All that was left was small burning pieces of the gargoyles fell down harmlessly to the ground.

As soon as the threat was eliminated Exodus got up and sprinted towards the cover of the looming skyscrapers before them. The light from the grotesque sky above seemed to give everything a red goreish ting, it was as if it was a permanent sunset night, there was enough light to see, but not enough to see well. Shadows seemed to creep everywhere, a hanging light bulb from a pole sparked above them, somehow there was still some sort of power leaking throughout the city.

Exodus crept along the walls, moving as quickly as they could through the shadows, censors and weapons trained and ready as they came to an intersection. As Sarge scanned the intersection he heard a sort of ripping noise, like the tearing of flesh and bone above him. Looking up, a piece rotting flesh hit his shoulder. There above them was a four legged beast not much bigger then an averaged sized dog, it had a large razor filled maw and feet with talons on the end that sunk into the concrete as it brutally devoured a human body, its mouth and eyes open in a look of horror, its head hanging by thin tendrils from the rest of its body. As he looked at it, it saw him and without a thought sent its scared form sailing towards him, gapping maw wide open with bits of the corpse still in it. The creature disappeared in a blue ball of plasma.

“Stalker hold position, we're going to check something out.” Sarge ordered looking up at the demolished third story.

“Cover me.” He walked back a few meters and ran at the wall, with the help of protruding pieces of pipe and blasted out chunks of wall he climbed up to the third story to inspect the corpse.

“What is it Sarge?” Pyro asked.

“Check this out.” He transmitted what he was seeing through his HUD. “This dude is fresh.”

“I'm coming up.” JJ said when he spotted what looked like a rifle at the edge of Sarge's video feed.

Curiosity getting the better of him Sarge inspected the revolting body. Although there wasn't much to it the body told them a lot of things. “Looks like militia, nothing serious, some light body armor, maybe some rations. Been dead a couple weeks or so.”

“Looks a normal assault rifle.” JJ inspected an unimpressive rifle that lay a few feet away. Taking a look around the blasted out room he noticed that the door was locked and that there were parts of other bodies lying around. “Looks like something hit this building and took em all out, a grenade, mortal shell perhaps, nothing too big.” He walked towards the door and kicked it in, the wood shattering under the impact.

A tiny, barely audible beep sounded a split second before a small explosion hurtled JJ backwards and out of the room, his legs hitting a part of the none blown out wall sent him head first into the pavement below. Thankfully all parts of the armor had a levitation charm on them and so JJ didn't hit the ground full force, the charm saved his life.

Grunting he lifted himself up off the ground, swearing in German. “I'm okay.” He grunted as his brothers helped him up. Running a diagnostic of his armor he made a mental note to personally thank the engineers and wizards who had built it, modified it and ultimately saved his life. Other then some scratches and a burn mark the armor was all right.

“You know that half percent of human life doesn't seem like such a glitch anymore.” JJ re-evaluated their position. “What do you think Sarge?”

“I say that doing some exploration could be worthwhile. Lets take a look at what we know shall we?” He suggested. “Alos told us that whatever it was that was here was trying to get through the Doorway and it was close to succeeding. We know that there is a half percent human population, seemed like a glitch at first but I seriously doubt that now. The bomb that we sent through wiped out whatever was trying to get through the Door, and now we find a squad of humans here. Which begs the question; did we just annihilate a group of daemons or humans?”

“The bomb made sure that we ain't going to find out through physical evidence that's for damn sure.” Bulldog put in.

“Then there was the light, it was sparking. Means that power has to be coming from somewhere; could be an autonomous generator or manned power unit with something operating it.” Said JJ.

“There any way you could find out where the power is coming from?” Sarge asked him. “Could be our chance to make contact.”

“There is one way, we'll only get one shot and then it will melt the lines and possibly take down the entire network if the power source isn't protected very well.”

“How?”

“One of your BFG power cells could keep a city the size of London running for a week. The way that your BFG works is that it takes clumps of that power and sends it out in one bolt of energy, but when you hook it up to anything else all that power goes in one quick stream frying any sort of normal circuit. Unless they're already using plasma technology we could end up frying the whole system. And even then the odds of a city this size having its own power source is unlikely, it probably coming from some other source that could be anywhere.” JJ explained to them. “So what we do is hook up one of your cells to a power line.” He pointed to a fallen power line across the street. “And see which way the bolt goes. Most of the power will only go through the main lines and since most lines are spread out like a web we can get a good guess of where the regulating station is. Upon overload the systems are designed to have the power go towards a central station so as it doesn't blow the crap out of the surrounding area.”

“We'll actually be able to see a bolt of electricity?”

“Yes, and we'll be able to follow the slag that's left of the power lines.”

Sarge threw him a cell. “Go for it.”

“Would the power station turn to slag too?” Snipe asked still a bit unsure about this whole idea. If there were humans depending on the power he didn't want to destroy it all, but then again if there were daemons or what not, then what the hell?

“Maybe, but then it again it might just assimilate the energy. Who knows, its not like we ever tried, its all hypothetical.” He answered, fiddling around with the power line and plasma cell as the rest of Exodus stood well back.

“Twenty bucks says it back fires on him.” Joker wagered.

“No deal.” Bulldog declined.

JJ had barely scrambled back a few feet when a white blast of energy rocketed along the power lines towards an unknown destination.

“It's zigzagging north west.” Stalker informed them. While they were talking he had climbed up on a room to see where it would go.

“Well then, north west it is.” Sarge said.

“So we're just going to the power station to see if anyone is alive there?” Stalker asked Sarge through the comm. as he climbed down and started scouting out another path.

“No, power stations have logs, computers, networks we can hack into. If there are innocent people here I'm not going to just blow them all to hell without at least trying to help them.” Sarge answered. Funny, they were already in hell.

Splitting up into two groups they moved along the walls through the city, one group going on side of the street, the other on the other side. As they ran through and inspected their surroundings more and more they realized that this had been one hell of a battle zone. Buildings were burnt down, obliterated, bodies lay like rag dolls, vehicles lay strewn about, rusted and filth covered. Pieces of paper and various random debris was scattered all around, they couldn't read anything, most of it was burnt or destroyed beyond the basic recognition of a sign or poster.

At one point they even came upon a barricade, cars were laid end to end with sandbags and random bits of tables and miscellaneous cover hastily scrambled together. The twisted wreckage of a tank lay on its side a bit off from the middle, various bits of evidence of bodies strewn about it. Two melted chainguns sat at the sides of the barricade, a charred hand gripped one of the handles, its thumb laying on what would have been the trigger. The barricade itself was torn to pieces; whatever had attacked it had attacked dead center and plowed right through, taking the beleaguered defenders in the onslaught.

The sky above them erupted in lightning, raining down black greasy drops of viscous liquid.

“Can anyone tell what kind of tank that was?” Sarge asked looking upon the pitiful remains of the tank. “My best guess is APC, or something light, way too small to be packing anything powerful.”

“Want to know something scary?” Joker examined the tank more carefully.

“Amuse us.” His Joker replied.

“Whatever took this tank out was not an explosion or a shell.” He continued looking, his voice getting worried.

“What?” Joker had known his older brother all his life, they were best friends and he had never heard his voice sound like this.

“Something ripped this thing apart, with claws or something. These are tear marks, like stabs, there is no charring or burns, or anything to indicate a fire or explosion, or even energy based weapons like the BFG.” His voice quavered slightly.

“What the fuck rips apart a tank, how the fuck do you rip apart a fucking tank?” Destroyer came up to examine it himself. When he noticed some of the bodies were literally flattened, as if something had stepped on them.

“Must be real cute and cuddly.” Joker tried to lighten the situation but really couldn't.

“Turbo Penetrator” Snipe's weapon cycled through to his most powerful anti armor bullet, it was so powerful that when fired it actually produced recoil on a weapon that wasn't supposed to produce any. “It has to get to us first.”

“Lets keep our heads clear guys, no sense in worrying about it until we actually get to it. Just be prepared for anything. Back on earth we were at the top of the food chain, now we've fallen down a few notches, but together we're still the biggest, baddest, motherfuckers in the galaxy. We had species that were scared of us, entire armies would flee if they even caught whisper that we, Exodus, were there. Remember that.” Sarge rallied them, they weren't used to this sort of thing, being at the bottom with everything trying to kill you. They had trained knowing that they were the best; they had used that knowledge, that confidence and proved it. But now there was doubt, and doubt clouded judgment, and clouded judgment meant death.

A.N. Going to end this chapter right here to give you all a taste of what things are like, hope you enjoyed it. Read, review, and stay cool guys.

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17. Contact

To those familiar with W40k I will be taking many liberties with what you see here, adapting it to a one-planet situation if you will - no 40k races are used directly, I'm mixing a few of them together or rather taking some of the more interesting units. Thanks to everyone for the reviews, if you think this is complicated then you have never read some of the good 40k stories…those get wild. Anyway I want to ask you guys something as it was mentioned to me that the story hasn't gotten the attention it deserves - not my words, so here is a question for you guys. When you look at the little description things of a story, what draws you in? Makes you want to read it, you know.

Contact

Unnerved, Exodus continued their trek through the blasted city, the further they went the more destruction they saw. It wasn't just ruined buildings and upturned cars or some scattered bodies, no this was far worse. Bodies covered everything, civilian bodies, ripped to shreds by an unknown foe, it was impossible to tell whether they were cut up or shot, for it was impossible to tell one body from the other, it was a of sea gore, appendages sticking out, seeming to grasp at the sky. And then Exodus came upon a sight that chilled them to their very core. At what would have been a main intersection in the city was a pile of blood caked bones that dominated the entire junction, rising like a mountain six stories high. And it wasn't corpses piled one on top of the other, there could have been reason behind that, there was no reason in this. Something had brought the bones there, collected them and then washed them in a tide of blood.

Stalker crawled through a building, moving like a shadow, soundless and efficient…he heard it a second before it was on him. The wall he was crouching against erupted as something leapt through, sending him tumbling against the opposite wall, bits of rumble coming down on top of him. A split second later it pounced again, coming at him from the wall. Instinctively Stalker spun around and brought his feat up before him, connecting with the six limbed creature's body he used it's own momentum to send the creature flailing down the corridor. He flipped onto one knee, gray rubble sliding off him as he fired his pistol at the creature. The first shot hit it in the shoulder as it began a spin in the air to correct its trajectory. Sinking its muscle bound legs into the tilled floor and pounced again. The second shot missed its head by millimeters, it was big and it was incredibly fast, its four limbs outstretched Stalker caught a glimpse of the thing's massive red claws and fired again blowing one of them away. The shot managed to throw its trajectory off by a bit as only one claw connected, slicing through his chest armor as if it were made of paper and sending him reeling to the ground once again.

Flipping itself onto the wall it lunged again with blinding speed, giving Stalker barely enough time to brace himself as it came down on top of him. As the thing landed Stalker brought his long bladed knife into its arm, impaling it at the shoulder he hooking his feet into its ribs as the thing flailed wildly trying to get at him with its smaller secondary talons. Then it opened it razor filled maw and a bright pink tongue shot out almost imperceptibly fast. Like a small needle it drove a half inch into his chest before its head exploded as a Turbo Penetrator round sailed through and then past another few dozen walls. Purplish green blood oozed from what remained of its pink head and the wounds on its pinkish white body, the whole time its unnerving black eyes seemed to gaze at him with an animalistic malevolence.

Before he could catch his breath the wall nearest to the outside exploded, he sighed in relief as Destroyer's barreled in, his fearsome gun seaming to move with a life of it's own as he scanned the corridor.

“Thanks for the save there Snipe.” Stalker got up shakily, pushing the dead creature's body off him.

“What in bloody hell happened?” Sarge swore.

“I don't know Sarge. One second I'm going through this place and then the next this comes out of the damn wall.” He pointed at the dead creature. “Let me tell you though I am extremely lucky to be alive, you have no idea how fast that thing is.”

“He got your armor pretty good.” JJ inspected it closer. “More then good, this is a perfectly clean slice. This armor can stop an AK forty-seven round no problem at the vital areas like the chest, shoulders and so on. The joints obviously aren't as well protected but that's the trade off for maneuverability.”

“So what you're trying to say is that…” Snipe spurred him on to his conclusion.

“This thing could have sliced through our tank back there.”

“It might be able to but it didn't. One of the puncture holes was as big as the size of the things head, if not bigger.” Pyro interjected.

“Why didn't you have your motion sensor on?” Sarge asked.

“I did, only picked it up when it was already on top of me.” Stalker explained.

“Well the good news is that it didn't quiet reach your body, minor wound nothing major.” JJ interrupted them. “Lets see if this thing works.” He took out what looked like a glue gun and held it close to Stalker's armor. Pressing the trigger a sparkling white substance floated out and began covering the exposed area, sealing the armor. “Gotta love it when magic and technology work together, nanites work while the magic gives them all the resources they need. Beautiful.”

“You know what we need now do you?” Bulldog asked the group. “Some weapons.”

“You alright there bro?” Snipe waved his rifle before him.

“No, what I mean is close combat weapons. You saw what happened with Stalker; he barely got three shots off.” He took out his combat knife. “This is not going to cut it.”

“Sure thing mate, I'll call the Hive up for you right this minute…Oh wait, we're on a different planet.”

“Shut it Joker.”

“You both have a point.” Sarge broke up the argument, they were getting nervous, edgy. Things had always been too easy, and now was their first real test and they were worried. “Bulldog is right we need something, but if those things can slice through armor plating as if it were nothing, then there isn't anything that we can hope to find that will do little more then make us feel good. From now on we stay together and go down the middle of the road. Whatever is out there can see us coming, the best we can hope to do is keep as much distance between us and a possible ambush…which means anything. Bulldog and Pyro take flanks, Destroyer cover our rear and all of you stay loose.” Sarge ordered them.

And so they continued on, they guessed that it was nighttime when the temperature fell and the rain turned into a sort of dark smudgy ash. They jogged for a few hours, coming upon more and more similar sights, brutal massacres, pitiful barricades, everything was destroyed or mangled beyond recognition. Their only hope of finding out anything was the power station, if it still gave power then there had to be a computer running it and if there was a computer running it then they could hack in and at least find some sort of information. They talked and joked, but not like they did back at home, here they knew that they were very much stoppable, that were no reinforcements, no other options. But finally they got there and their efforts paid off.

A block down they saw lights, and they heard sounds, machinery moving, garbled voices that they couldn't make sense of. Sarge didn't have to give them any commands, Snipe broke into the building that presumably overlooked the power station. Climbing the long set of stairs he picked a floor near the top, the buildings in this area were relatively intact, both sides who had fought for this place wanted to keep the area intact, not knock down any vital power line. Carefully Snipe crept through the building, assault rifle out and ready. Making his way through the building he was careful not to make a sound, each footstep he took was carefully positioned, he listened for anything, anything at all that might give away something's position. He opened a room and peeked in, the windows were gone and burnt furniture littered the room. What remained of a computer stood on a desk, a pile of fused wiring and bits of metal. He continued on, stepping carefully over the bodies on the floor, he closed the door and knelt by the window to take his first look out at the enemy.

On the other side of the street was a blackened moderately sized building with the word `Unoka Power Station' barely visible through the soot. And then he saw them, they had been human, but they resembled daemons more then anything. Their bodies were twisted and warped, mutations having sprung out creating pincers, and scythe like protrusions. Their armor seemed to be fused to their bodies, like it had grown into them, become a part of them. Blood seemed to trickle from various orifices on their bodies, tubes and wiring writhed under their skin, their eyes popping out, connected by strands of metallic tissue. Some of them didn't have arms, drills, guns, blades, chains, and clubs made of bone grew out of them. There were a few big ones commanding the rest, these guys had heavy armor, spikes sticking out of their bodies, multiple limbs and an assortment of blood soaked weapons. There were small ones who Snipe guessed to be the technicians, they like naked thin humans who had cables growing out of their backs, their hands ending in servos that flailed about through the air as they scampered between the station and the vehicles that seemed half alive and half organic. The two trucks had flesh keeping some parts together, guns swirling by themselves, there was no cabin but there were eyes and then a sort mouth…

He felt the thing before he saw it, a giant creature that looked like a bloated giant came out from a large wall in the building, fat and oozing rusty liquids, thick armor covered it's entire body. One of its arms had two giant spiked drills, electricity crackling down the length, pieces of dripping body parts slopped down onto the ground as it moved it heavy bulk around. Its head was a mix of a dog and some sort of lizard, a red tongue flickering out from between yellow pointed teach, a helmet was actually the things head, it all melted together. The thing's left arms was a giant three barreled high caliber gun, by the ammo belt that literally came out of the creatures back and into its weapon Snipe guess that it didn't fire often, but then again with barrels that size he doubted it need to. It roared at something, and then yelled some unintelligible commands.

“You seeing this Sarge?” Snipe asked him as he fed what he was seeing to the rest of the team.

“Spread out around me and get ready to fire.” He walked back from the wall and they stood beside him, three on each side. “Now concentrate on me and appearing over top that manhole cover that's on the edge of Snipe's vision. Snipe cover us” They did so without question.

“Sarge! You see that gun, those drills on that thing!” Snipe, took out his sniper rifle and readied it for use.

“Ya, I see his gun. And mine is bigger.” Suddenly Exodus apparated to a mere few feet from the abominations, weapons at the ready.

The big giant thing that was presumably the Boss did not even have to process that something had changed in it's vision before a bolt of bright blue plasma disintegrated its upper body, the plasma bleeding out on the wall behind it. Nothing was prepared as the atrocities were greeted with a hail of fire, Destroyer's minigun unleashing a stream of fire upon the creatures, ripping apart flesh and armor with equal ease. Pyro let loose with a wash of flame, incinerating everything as his brother put a few well placed grenades under each of the trucks, blowing them sky high into the air. With the help of infrared imaging Snipe fired through walls at enemies that couldn't even be seen, taking them out in rapid succession, his rate of fire more akin to that of an assault rifle then a sniper rifle. One of the creatures lunged at Joker, only to have a small round go neatly through it head, the thing skidded to a bloody halt at his feet as blood gushed out of its head. The firing stopped just as the burning wreckage of the trucks hit the ground, bits of burning shrapnel bouncing harmlessly off Exodus' armor.

Switching to his shotgun Bulldog led the way as Snipe's helmet computer composed a rough 3D outline of the building and the rooms inside. Nothing was spared as they systematically went through the few rooms in the building, each time Bulldog's shotgun would sound and another masterpiece of gore would decorate the walls. They easily reached the control room, all of the guards had been outside, it was only the small crippled creatures that had gone inside to check up on the systems. Not wanting to damage any of the equipment they killed the half dozen pitiful creatures with their bare hands, snapping their necks and then putting a shotgun round through each of their bodies for good measure.

“Snipe do a check around and come down here, we'll set up perimeter. JJ get working on those consoles. Destroyer take the front door, the rest of you go through the building and permanently seal all doorways, look for anything that might be useful.” Sarge ordered as he started scanning the bodies, trying to figure them out.

“Hey thanks for the save there Snipe.” Joker thanked Snipe as he looked for something useful in the building.

“Say what?”

“For saving me from that one thing that took a dive at me.”

“I never shot at anything outside.”

There was silence for a second as they all stopped what they were doing; one word ran through their heads. Sniper.

Snipe cursed in Russian, reloading his rifle. Turning back to infrared he took a glance out the window and scanned the nearby buildings, sure enough, on a floor above his in the adjacent building was a clear, red human form, one that would have seen them coming and seen them apparate. “Looks human.” He awaited Sarge's instructions.

“Give it a warning shot, tell it we know its there.” He responded.

The thing was that Destroyer wanted to do some more shooting, so that seconds after Snipe put a round inches above the things head Destroyer took the liberty of stepping outside and unloading a few hundred rounds around the thing's form. Through their advanced optics they could see the thing crouch in terror.

“This means we know you're there!” Destroyer hollered as his minigun cycled in another cartridge with a few cold clicks and snaps.

“The word sublime mean anything to you?” Snipe asked him.

“Naw.”

They watched as whatever was up there grabbed a few things and then putting its hands up made its way down through the building. In the meantime Snipe ran down through the building that he was in and went across the street to stand in front of the door from which the Sniper was to come out of, hold his rifle steady he yelled. “Try anything fun and you're dead, nod if you understand.”

The thing nodded, carefully coming over to the door and opening it slowly. She sobbed as she stepped out, trembling from fright with her hands up in the air. She wore a simple light armored vest, with baggy ragged torn clothing concealing an insulated black leather one-piece suit. She wore a fully enclosing helmet with a clear glass plane so that her face was easily seen through the glass, some sort of air filtration unit was built in, two small tubes ran from either side and into a pack on her back where a sniper rifle also hung.

“P-Please. Don't hurt me. I mean you no harm.” She begged, a small trickle of blood ran down her arm.

“What are you? Wizard, muggle?” Snipe asked, slightly lowering his rifle as Destroyer took point at the power stations entrance.

“I-I'm-m not a wizard, I c-can't-t do magic. I-I'm a muggle.” She mumbled through her words.

Lowering his rifle Snipe took out a small cylindrical device and popped a switch, causing a needle to jut out. “This might sting a little, but I promise it will not harm you.” Slowly he walked up to her and took her trembling hand, pressing the device into the area near her wound and stepped back.

“Human, muggle. No infections. Shows signs of possible stress.” His computer told him, he turned it on so that it was audible to her.

“Come on, everything will be okay. We won't hurt you I promise.” Snipe put away his rifle and held out his hand comfortingly. Slowly, cautiously, she took it, her hand cold and trembling. “That wound, what caused it?”

“Shrapnel, from the minigun.” She answered, holding back a sob.

“Okay, here I'll heal it for you.” A small vial popped into a slot in his pack so that he could reach it. Uncorking the small vial he poured a drop of the liquid onto her wound, healing it instantly.

She gasped at the warm feeling, her body feeling the rejuvenating effects of the potion.

“Bring her into the building Snipe, JJ has something. Destroyer set up a sentinel.” He loved the fact that they could carry so much equipment with them; magic and technology working together produced truly amazing things.

Snipe led her into the power station, past burning wreckage and dead creatures, into the main control room were Exodus had gathered. “What's your name?” He asked her softly.

“Maya.” She responded, the tears gone but the fright and uncertainty still in her voice.

“My name Snipe.” He didn't have time to go on as Sarge sealed the door to the control room and began casting some sort of spell, his hands glowing bright yellow with some sort of substance on them. After a moment all of their HUDs read the air safe to breath. The room itself had been cleaned up of all gore and nasty bodily entrails, it was the first cleanliness they had experienced on the planet. With a small hiss their helmets came off and Maya saw that they were not daemons, but humans.

“You are human.” She gasped.

“Yes we are.” Sarge answered her, his eyes seeming to burrow into her soul; she felt like all of her being, all of her traits, her faults, were open like a book for him to read.

Snipe squeezed her hand. “Don't worry, he's a good guy.” She looked up at his short dirty blond hair and handsome features and couldn't help but think him cute. She looked down, a small barely noticeable blush creeping up on her as she took off her hood and helmet, revealing strikingly beautiful long black hair, and eyes that were full of wonder and determination.

“Right, so here is what I got. It's not much but I've been able to do some tracing, and it will get us somewhere, plus we have a native.” JJ informed them as he hungrily bit into a food pack, apparently Sarge had told him that it would be safe to eat and so he was all ready to go.

The others immediately took out some food, it was far better and more delicious then standard military rations. Maya watched them eat, realizing her own hunger.

“Here.” Snipe handed her a silvery plastic bag. “Hold that button, think of what you want to eat and enjoy.” He smiled, conjuring up a chair out of thin air, the rest of Exodus follow suit, and none of them even realizing what they had done.

Warily Maya sat down in the chair and did as instructed, her bag fizzled and expanded, and when she opened it she found a fork and knife inside, with delicious creamy pasta that smelled absolutely heavenly.

“Right, so. The charge did come here, we know that for certain because it fried everything, but something else also happened. At first I thought the charge stopped here and don't go anywhere else, then I checked some readings that these creatures were checking and it seems like something leeched the power, mainly a bigger station. There is no Internet or anything like that, but I pulled up the data that this station does have and found that there is nothing in the area that could have leeched it; all maps and records show that everything comes here. But the power did go somewhere, because there was an output reading.” JJ flicked through a few screen as he talked. “So I sent a tracer signal and it pinged back.”

“I never knew you could do that.” Said Pyro.

“We can, no one else can.” JJ smiled.

“Do you know what the power went to?” Sarge asked.

“Not a clue, but its big and it can handle a good surge. As the plasma charge went down the lines it dissipated bit by bit, so that by the time it left here it was reasonable power.”

“Anything else?”

“Nope, none of us got anything, all burned or trashed.”

Sarge turned to Maya. “So who exactly are you?” He looked at her and again the same feeling invaded her body, one of utter helplessness.

“Maya.” She swallowed hard.

“And who are you?”

“A human.”

“Yes we know that or otherwise you'd be dead by now.”

“My name is Maya Fantura, daughter of Dimitri Fantura. I live at Haven Four.” She answered as calmly as she could.

“Ease up on her Sarge.” Snipe told him.

Suddenly the feeling of utter helplessness left and Maya relaxed a little, still tense and unsure, questions ran rapidly through her head. Hesitantly she spoke. “Who are you? Your weapons, your armor, your technology…I have never seen such things, who or…what are you?”

“We are Exodus.” And here eyes went wide with awe.

-->

18. History Lesson

History Lesson

Maya sprung up out of her chair, looking at them all in baffled wonder. “By God it is true, the prophet was right!”

“The prophet?” Sarge asked.

Calming herself down Maya answered. “Over two thousand years ago a prophet appeared among us, he came to both wizards and muggles, and he was said to have possessed powers that no one could have fathomed at the time. He united muggles and wizards, and taught humanity many great things, he was said to have been like a god. Many took his teachings as a word of god, and in fact a religion did spring up from his teachings and ways, people actually prayed to him. Not long before he died he said that Exodus would come forth, that eight great men would come on that day, that they would be greater then him in power, and that they would unlock the door to another world. Once he died the religion really took off and gained momentum, even after the scientific enlightenment people still believed, and they pray to this very day, perhaps even more so because of the times we live in. There are people that pray to you, that would give their lives for yours…to many you are gods!”

“We are not gods. We are simply fully human…” Sarge was about to get into the whole history of the human species but thought better of it at the moment. “This prophet, did he have a name? Did he leave anything for us?”

“Why yes, His name is Talos Thramasurius and he left for you a tablet which no one has been able to open, or even destroy. If only you knew how much blood has been spilled for the possession of that artifact, it is mind boggling the amount of wars it has caused, but we have it with us at Haven Four for the time being at least.”

“And how did all this come about?” Sarge swept his hand, indicating the situation.

“I apologize that I'm not great at my history, so I can only give you a rough background.” She apologized.

“That is okay, tell us what you know.”

“So after Talos died muggles and wizards lived together, there were wars, conflicts and so forth. About a hundred years ago or so a group of scientists and archeologists began trying to uncover who Talos really was, but as was later revealed their real agenda was power, you see Talso was powerful, and they wanted that. What they found was that Talos had used modern technology that is even beyond us today, and magic in unison, completely together, a fact that was unheard of and at the time absurd to even consider. A human could not posses both traits of a muggle or human, some muggles could develop magical powers and vice versa, but never both in one person. For a while this group lay low, but as we now know they made great advances in biological engineering…” Maya paused for a second. “What happened next I do not know precisely, I don't think anyone knows except Them. This group known as the Independence fused magic and biotechnology together, they created viruses and mutations, abominations, creatures that should not exist, daemons that were neither machine, nor creature, but a chaotic fusion of both. Whether part of it was accident or all of it was done on purpose we cannot say, the horrors of it point it to being an accident, yet the power they gained, however horrendous it is, points to all of the experiments as being intentional. Anyway, they began taking over governments by force, starting wars, killing all those who did not join them, they were never very subtle about it, they sent their creatures out into the public to terrorize and wreak havoc upon civilization. What controls them none know, but we are almost positive it isn't human, perhaps a form of some sort of virus, or some sort of machine, mutation perhaps, we just don't know, maybe it really is a daemon. What ever it is it began killing off humanity, a global war ensued, and those that joined them willingly were never seen again, or perhaps they were just unrecognizable.”

“An organization delves into who Talos is and then goes onto preparations for world domination…” Maya interrupted Sarge.

“Actually…Their motto was `Galactic domination. A new human race to rule the Galaxy.'”

“…Interesting. So they wish to take over the galaxy and delve into genetics, creating what they call the new supreme human race, start a war and kill off anything that stands against them, is that the gist of it?” Sarge tapped into her mind a bit, reading the emotions and what she was trying to get across.

“Yes pretty much, we have historians that will know more, for the last fifty years we have been in a post apocalyptic war. Chemical weapons were used, viruses, mutation weapons, anything and everything you can imagine. The Independence, they caused all this, the sky, the creatures, everything, they're responsible for it.”

“There was an explosion on the outskirts of this city yes?” Sarge asked.

“Yes, there was. The Independence had set up some sort of base, heavily guarded. It was destroyed little more then a day ago by some giant explosion. We have no idea what it contained or what they were trying to do, or how it was destroyed.”

Exodus let out a sigh of relief. “Rest assured we destroyed it, now about the human population on this planet. How many are still alive?”

She looked at them with an unceasing wonder. “Why millions! There are still many of us left that resist. There are five Havens, fortifications that we have constructed around mountains; I must say their defenses are nearly impenetrable. We have our own water supply, power, food, everything…just not much of anything else. The Independence launched an attack on this city a few weeks ago, we had been largely untouched up to that point, and they used a new chemical weapon that made the air toxic and un-breathable. But we're dealing with it, as we deal with each new thing they throw at us.”

“This city had inhabitants when the attack was launched?”

“Yes it did, there were many evacuating to Haven Four when they attacked, they slaughtered so many…the wretches…the convoys were barely protected…”

“So you have everything needed to survive, just nothing to strike them back with correct?”

Maya nodded sadly. “But we have hope, hope that Exodus will come. Many believe in the prophet now more then ever, the believers think of them as gods, the unbelievers…well, we don't think of them as gods but damn it we think you're pretty damn close to it. Either way it gives people hope to continue on, the children are told tales, movies and books are written and made, there have been all sorts of incarnations about you, people trying to imagine what you are, what you will do.” She stopped. “What will you do?”

Sarge smiled grimly, millions of people still alive, looking up to them as their saviors, they were their only hope, and their true mission…was to kill everything. The others clued in to his train of thought, shifting their weight uneasily.

“Give it some time Sarge, we'll decide.” Destroyer said solemnly.

“I can't. I won't do it. Even if we get there…millions of people, millions of people who have been led to believe that we are their saviors, that we are to help them, and what does our mission end up being? Destroy the planet…I can't let that happen. Scrap our old mission, I'm making a new one. Objections?”

There were no objections, only determined grins all around.

“The way I see it, our ancestors did this sort of thing once, and they played with more then two planets. I say we can handle this no problem.” Said a determined Snipe.

“Huh?” Maya looked at them confused. “What's going on?”

“Nothing, we're going to do exactly what you believe we are going to do.” Sarge answered her. “Tell me, why were you here?”

“Oh that. Well there was a major power surge, we redirected the lines to go to this station and I went to check it out. They don't let me go on major missions, because I'm a woman and because my father is who he is, no one treats me seriously, they think of me as a Barbie doll because I have a nice chest and pretty smile.” She said the last part in disgust.

“You went off by yourself without telling anyone.” Sarge corrected her.

“How did you?” She reminded herself of whom she was talking to. “Yes that's right.”

Sarge smiled. “Its okay, I understand your motives rather well. Could you take us to Haven Four?”

“Yes certainly, I should actually really be getting back now before they go all crazy and send out an army to search for me.” She laughed. “But you still haven't told me, where are you from? Who are you really, and what's going on? You seem to know a lot about the prophet Talos, did you ever meet him?”

Sarge held his hand up to stop her waterfall of questions. “Your questions will be answered in time, for now rest assured that we are here to help.”

Were Sarge anyone else then the legendary Exodus she would have continued with the questions, but with him it was better not to refuse. “So what will you do now?”

“Now you will lead us to Haven Four.” He told her.

“Okay, but I came here on a bike, and frankly I can't walk the distance.”

“That is alright. What I want you to do now is think of the path to get to Haven Four and open your mind, be calm.” He told her soothingly.

Nodding, Maya relaxed her mind and thought of the way to Haven four. As she did this she felt something probing her mind, something extremely powerful coming in gently, warmly, reassuringly, it was an odd experience as she put the thoughts of the directions to the fore front and the images began to flash through. Then the other thing seemed to withdraw and the images stopped, and she found herself back in reality. “What was that?” She breathed.

“That was me reading your mind.” Sarge answered. “Meet us at the eastern entrance, we will wait for you there, just on the outskirts of the clearing.” He turned his attention back to the others. “Lets suit up.” He said putting his helmet back on. Once everyone was ready to go he opened the door and the noxious air flooded back into the room. The sentinel was powered down and packed up again as they watched Maya run off to find her bike. They stood in silence for a few moments, looking around the area, each of them deep in thought as they heard a bike engine power up and zoom down the streets.

“What do you think guys?” Sarge asked walking back inside.

“I want to know why Talos came so early, did the Exodus gene popup thousands of years ago?” Pyro wondered.

“And what the fuck are we fighting here exactly?” His brother added in.

“She said the slogan of this Independence was `Galactic domination. A new human race to rule the Galaxy.' That must mean that they found something about our past, but the only ones that knew anything were Talos and Alos. Alos came to us, and Talos came to them but a few thousand years early.” Bulldog put forth.

“You suggesting it could be some sort of rivalry?” Asked Sarge.

Bulldog shrugged. “Who knows, Alos had inferred that he was in charge, maybe he didn't want to but it seems by the way he talked that he was at the head of the thing. What if his brother was jealous, and when you're starting the human race again it would seem like a good time to go and take over, then take over the part your brother was controlling and basically do whatever the hell you want.”

“But you still have two to three thousand years between his death and this organization taking over and turning things to hell.” Snipe argued.

“So much of this doesn't make sense, there are too many unknowns.” Destroyer mumbled.

“When I was at university taking quantum physics the first thing our professor told us was that if you have a seemingly incomprehensible problem then don't try to dive in and solve everything at once. Work off of what you know, one by one and see where it takes you. I say we work off of that.” Said JJ.

“So lets see what we know. Humanity was on the verge of dominating the galaxy, virus pushed them back pretty much destroyed everything. Group of scientists restart the human race splitting the DNA up, and sowing the seeds for a new empire on two different planets. On our planet things go right, supposedly. An organization starts up, there is friction between muggles and wizards, organization wants to find out about wizards. Unknowingly Exodus comes together as the organization gathers humanity's best. Alos comes tells us about things, who we really are and all that jazz. And now we are on the second planet that has gone to hell. The question we have to answer is what went wrong?” Sarge recounted.

“The friction.” Said Stalker. “On our planet there was friction between muggles and wizards, both sides didn't want anything to do with the other, the organization that springs up has no intention of world domination, just world preservation. Think about it, that's the difference.”

“Could be, who knows. Our first step right now should be to go and figure out that tablet, there have to be answers in it.”

“And that brings up the question of how should we go?” Destroyer said. “Should we clean up and make ourselves known gloriously, with red capes and glimmering armor?”

“You just want to wear a cape don't you Destroyer?” Joker asked him with a laugh.

“Shut up.”

“Destroyer brings up a good point, and what I think we should do is the opposite. We should put on black cloaks to conceal ourselves, and let everyone be afraid of us, and know that the most frightening thing on this planet is us, and that we are on their side. It will make people realize that there is nothing to be scared of, for we are the worst of the worst, we are not fear, we are death.” Said Sarge, an aura of chilling death seaming to surround him.

…

A stream of dust followed Maya's bike as she ground it to a halt just outside one of the main entrances to Haven Four. She fumbled with the little transmitting device that had been given to her. “Sarge, hello? I'm here.”

Exodus got up, making sure that they took everything they focused on Sarge as he prepared to apparate. “Next time you guys are doing this by yourselves.” A sharp snap announced their presence beside a surprised Maya

Pyro whistled. “Not bad, not bad at all.” He commented looking upon Haven Four.

-->

19. Haven Four

A/N. There were a few things that were brought up in a recent review that really hit the nail on the head, and so here is a little explanation. The major thing that I had in mind before starting was to make a really unique HP story that combines concepts and ideas from a variety of other genres and universes, to be honest I didn't think it was going to be possible in the first place but went for it anyway, and so far it looks to be going pretty well.

After reading a lot of the HP fiction I found that a lot of it was very cookie cutter, the trio goes out on an adventure, one of them (a lot of times Harry) find some power and from then on in fight some obstacles or what not all the while H/Hr get closer and all that. This was the last thing I wanted to have, none of the fiction I've read really break out of this mold, and if they do they don't it well and focus is lost. Thats why Exodus is introduced, its all about them and being thrown into a giant mess that they have to sort out, its a very different type of situation from what the HP universe is used to, its squad based action with the sort of bond that military groups feel out in combat. That is why there is going to be no trio in this story, sorry to break it to you guys.

To be frank with everyone reading this, if you're looking for the whole sappy, feely, touchy, cookie cutter fiction then stop reading right now as you're probably not going to enjoy this fic. Otherwise read on, there are going to be some interesting twists and turns to come, if you know about W40k you might have guessed about one of them, although I doubt it.

Haven Four

Haven Four was a city within a city, a massive fortification literally built into and around a mountain, with most of it situated inside the mountain or otherwise below ground. Around the whole gigantic area was a mile of cratered wasteland and a massive wall, brimming with artillery, heavy weapons emplacement, and all manner of magical charms and spells. Cables, bridges and tunnels connected the wall with the mountain, serving as both a shock absorber and a quick means of getting between the wall and Haven. The wall itself was like a dome, extending up and curving to meat with the tip of the mountain itself, forming a sort of cocoon. The space between the wall and Haven measured at around a quarter of a mile at base level, this was so that if attackers did manage to breach the wall's defenses they would still have to cover ground to reach Haven itself, the whole time being bombarded from all sides. Getting past all this would lead an attacker to the meter's thick shell of Haven itself, and the wide heavily built corridors where barricades could be set up. After these defensive corridors lay the defenseless innards of Haven, as a last act of defiance the power core could be detonated to annihilate the whole area.

Snipe marveled at the sight before him as Maya finished explaining to them the complex and intricate details of Haven's defenses. “That's pretty damn impenetrable eh Sarge?”

Sarge thought for a moment, taking a careful look at the fortification. “Its easily penetrable and easily destructible.”

“What!” Maya yelled shocked. “No disrespect, but how can you possibly bypass all that?”

“Air drop on top, use those vents.” Sarge pointed to the pillars of chemical exhaust rising from the tip of Haven. “Use something to plug the exhaust for a moment, jump in as far as needed, cut through to the inside and you're in. After that you make your way through the place with little to no resistance, as you yourself said that once past the defensive corridors there isn't much of a defense left. You make your way to the core and detonate it, if you can hack into the system you do it remotely, otherwise you plant a nice big charge and boom.” Sarge stopped and thought for another minute. “Actually you would only need one person, use the air vents or something, if its anything like an average military complex then a person should be able to fit through.”

Maya was shocked to say the least, but she wasn't entirely sure that what Sarge was saying was even possible. “Well you would need to get some sort of schematics for Haven wouldn't you? You can't just jump in and blow whatever you like up, it just won't work and so your whole plan is forfeit if you don't have that information.” She challenged.

“Have you told anyone about us yet?”

“No, why?”

“Good. Snipe, JJ, start hacking.” He ordered them.

Not waiting a second they began scanning for signals coming in or out of Haven, after a few moments they had each found a couple and began trying to sneak their own signals through. Five minutes later Snipe and JJ both grinned. “Its just like hacking into a wireless network, granted this was a little tougher but we got it.” Schematics for Haven Four popped up on all of their HUDs.

“I don't believe you.” Maya stated.

Snipe fiddled around with the network for a second. “The password to your room is Goldfish?”

She didn't say another word.

“Uh oh. They found me.” Snipe announced. “And they are not happy, requiring authorization and all such things we don't have. Sarge if you need anything else tell me now or else they'll boot me real quick.”

“Let me talk to them.”

Snipe sent him a signal path to the main communications.

“This is Haven Four. Who are you?” Asked a voice over the line.

“This is the being who has hacked into your system and found a way to destroy Haven Four within about a twenty minute period of time.” Sarge responded unemotionally.

There was silence for a second before a very angry voice came on the line. “This is Dimitri Fantura, First Speaker of Haven Four. What is the meaning of this? Who are you?”

“First Speaker, sounds pretty important, no wonder your daughter Maya announced her heritage so proudly.”

“What! Where is my daughter, what have you done with her? By Exodus I swear if you hurt her I will tear you apart limb from bloody limb!” The man roared.

“No need to get angry.” Sarge responded coolly.

“Why you insolent swine!”

“Hey Sarge they're tracing us, and we're on the edge of the clearing…so unless your plan is to get toasted I wouldn't make him so mad.” JJ warned.

Sarge nodded. “I assure you Dimitri I am not an insolent swine. I may call you Dimitri may I not?”

“You bastard answer the fucking question or I will blow you to hell.”

“First tear me limb from bloody limb and now you want to blow me to hell. Funny you are both inconsistent and I assumed we were both already there. My name is Sarge, and my brothers and I were simply showing your daughter how easy it would be to destroy Haven Four.”

“Eighteen seconds before they lock onto us.” JJ warned.

“By the great Talos and Exodus combined I swear you will not live a moment longer if you do not explain yourself.” The voice was trembling with rage.

“I'll be seeing you soon Dimitri.” Sarge cut the line mere seconds before they had their location. “That was fun, your father seems like a very religious man.”

Maya sighed. “Our General Marlonius Graff is also very religious, he and his first company will see you all as gods.” She strode forward from behind the wreckage that they were leaning against and clicked on her transmitter.

“This is Maya reporting in.” She checked in.

Her father was the one that answered. “Maya, is that you?”

“Yes dad, check my vocal patterns.”

There was a few seconds of pause where a check was run. “Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Yes father I am perfectly fine, although you may have failed a test.”

“What test?”

“I don't know if it was a test, but insulting and threatening Sarge is not the best of mannerisms.”

“Wait, you mean that foul swine is with you?”

“Yes, I heard the whole conversation, and may I suggest that you not call the leader of Exodus a swine?”

“What … did you say?” There was unbelievable shock in his voice.

“Exodus is here and intentionally or not you just insulted them. We're nearing Haven, be there momentarily.” She cut the communication.

“I really apologize for his behavior, he is a good and honorable man.” Maya apologized to Sarge.

“He seems very hospitable.” Exodus followed Maya as she led the way to Haven Four.

…

The Haven Four communication room was deathly quiet. Dimitri Fantura flicked his comm. device to Marlonius' personal line. “Marlonius?” He said quietly, a bit of static flickering through before he responded.

“Yes, what is Dimitri?” Asked a strong dominant voice.

“I may have accidentally insulted Exodus, they are here. Do what you can, they will be at the south eastern gate in moments.”

“A-Are you sure it is them?” Marlonius asked, his voice both shocked and joyous.

“Maya is with them, she said so herself, we can only assume that the prophet was right, that now is the time they come.”

“At once.” Marlonius did not bother to say another word. Checking his immaculate uniform he raced towards the first company barracks, shouting orders as he ran to assemble all the men he could. The great Exodus was here, there would have to be eight of them, just like the prophet Talos had told them, they had come and they had come at a most dire time. He stopped at the chapel and briskly walked along the red carpet; inside he knelt before nine statues, eight great shrouded figures and one smaller, a man with wrinkled features and a knowing smile. Around the statue's neck a stone tablet hung from a golden chain, intricate writing upon its surface blazed out into the room. Offering up a quick prayer he prepared to meet the godlike Exodus.

His honor guard of six men, three wizards and three muggle, all fierce combatants and utterly devoted to Them knelt before the statues offering up their own quick prayers before turning their attention to Marlonius as the Bishop came up to the group.

Marlonius stood still for a moment, looking them over as the Bishop came forward, an air of potent magical charms around him. “General Marlonius, any news on the recent disturbances?” He asked.

“The hour has come. They are here. Devine retribution shall be hours. Exodus shall now guide us forward directly.” He stated slowly, proudly.

There were gasps between the men.

“Are you sure? Are they really here? Could it really be?” The bishop began to get excited, his voice quivering.

“Almost positive. The First Speaker's own daughter is with them now; she would not lie about such a thing.” His eyes burned with fire, he only prayed that he had done enough in his life, he prayed that he would be worthy of perhaps even fighting alongside Exodus in the glorious battles that were sure to come.

…

In the fifteen minutes that it took Exodus and Maya to reach the walls of Haven Four

Marlonius, his honor guard, and various high ranking individuals awaited the arrival of Exodus at the main gateway of Haven Four itself. Dimitri Fantura anxiously shifted his weight as Marlonius stood at the back, his honor guard flanking him, while the other officials and personelle gathered around them.

Prior to leaving their concealed position Sarge had conjured up black cloaks for all of them, they were like undistinguishable shadows, red eye sockets their only distinguishable characteristic.

“We will have to go through a series of air locks.” Maya explained as a door appeared before them.

“No need to. Focus on an area inside Haven Four, I do not want us to be hailed like gods yet, even if everyone knows we are coming.” Said Sarge.

Thinking of a good secluded place for them to appear Maya focused on an area that would be more or less deserted.

With a loud pop Exodus and Maya appeared in a brightly lit corridor. “They will probably be awaiting you at the main entrance, it opens to a grand hallway that leads directly to the chapel, it's just around the corner if you wish to go there.” Said Maya as she and Exodus took off their helmets.

Sarge nodded. “Lets meet your father shall we?” Sarge motioned for her to lead the way, although by now they had a full schematic of the entirety of Haven Four and knew exactly where they were.

…

“Do not worry yourself Dimitri, you could not have known it was them. What you did was respectable as a father, they will see that.” Marlonius assured his old time friend as he looked out from the entrace of the grand hallway, guards had been posted around the area so that no one would intrude upon them, Exodus however had appeared with this perimeter.

“Its okay honey, everything will be alright.” His wife held his hand comfortingly.

“The populace has not been alerted?” Bishop Orfoyal asked.

“No, and I suggest we do not until Exodus' wishes are known to us, it is best to not cause a scene.” Replied the first minister of public affairs.

Footsteps echoed behind them, but because of the guards placed around the area everyone assumed it was just some stragglers making their way over.

Sarge walked up behind the proud General Marlonius. “General Marlonius?” He asked.

Without turning his head around the General replied. “Yes?”

“Do not kneel.” Sarge told him.

This time his interest was piqued and Marlonius turned his around to look upon Sarge's face, it took him a half second to realize who it was before him and it took all of his self control not to kneel and so he just stood there, rigid.

“My name is Harry Potter, but I am known as Sarge and we are known as Exodus.” He held out his hand.

The other people turned around gasping as Marlonius shook hands with Sarge. “General Marlonius Graff, Haven Four.” His proud and sturdy voice held a hint of uncertainty in it.

“We have been told that a tablet was left for us by Talos Thramasurius, may we see it?” Sarge asked getting down to business.

With no other thought coming to his head Marlonius responded. “Yes my Lord, as you wish.”

“Thank you, and do not call me lord, Sarge will do.”

Rigidly General Marlonius led the way to the chapel, his mind unable to focus on one thought or question, and the other delegates simply followed quietly behind, not daring to make even the slightest of noises.

They passed through the long great hall, candlelight throwing beautiful paintings into stark contrast as they all made their way forwards towards the looming chapel ahead of them.

“This Haven Four is a magnificent fortification, even with it's drawbacks it truly is awe inspiring.” Sarge commented.

“Thank you…Sarge.” Thanked Dimitri Fantura. “And I am most sorry about earlier, please forgive me I…”

Sarge cut him off. “No need to be sorry, you did what any father would have done, although I suggest that you look into the weakness that Maya will later describe to you.”

“Yes Sir.” Dimitri nodded.

“What weakness? Is Haven Four not completely secured?” Marlonius asked.

“No it is not. The vents that rise from the top are ample openings for an assault, we have personally met up with a creature who I would suspect could get in and do anything it pleased with ease.”

“I am afraid I do not understand.”

Sarge quickly went over a brief attack plan that could easily be used against Haven Four, his the new schematics to outline it in more detail.

“Interesting, although highly dangerous such an attack could be possible, we just never thought that they could get by our turrets and magical wards in the first place…” Abruptly he stopped talking, looking at Sarge in confusion before changing the subject. “May I ask what your plans are at the moment? You see we are at a stalemate in this war, if you can call it that.”

“Our only concern right now is finding out what that tablet holds, the current situation is much more complex then you can imagine.” Said Sarge.

“Wait a minute!” One of the representatives of Haven Four declared boldly. “How do we know you are Exodus? How do we know you aren't one of Them?” This got a few other members of the group riled up.

Not breaking his stride Sarge continued on. “Because you would all be dead if we were.”

“And you would be dead if you were.” Marlonius assured Sarge who responded with a grin.

They continued on into the chapel that happened to be the most richly decorated area of Haven Four, the walls were made of white flowing marble, the carpet a crimson red with both candles and electrical light illuminating the beautiful statues and paintings. At the end of the main room were the nine statues, with the central one holding perhaps the most important object in Haven Four.

-->

20. Council

Council

The Bishop’s knuckles were white as he held his cane, sweat trickled down his face as he waited with baited breath for Sarge to pick up the tablet that hung from the statue’s neck. The doors to the chapel had been barred shut and now the gathering stood a few feet away from the unflinching Exodus. Carefully Sarge picked up the tablet, the chain at its tip seeming to melt like water as he pulled, letting the tablet slide gracefully off. Examining the tablet he found an inscription that read:

Great of power are those that hold this

Greater still of power shall they become

Exodus as one, triumphant bar none

Destiny seeks them for what we have done

The blood of perfection Will of hold no rejection

Below the inscription was a tablespoon-sized dip with the images of two planets to either side. The tablet itself was decorated with precise images of stars, planets, nebulas and comets that were so precise in detail that no natural human hand could have carved it. Although it appeared to be made of a solid brilliantly multicolored stone that seemed to flow like waves it was much lighter then one would have thought, it seemed to shimmer and move as the light danced against it’s smooth surface.

The last two lines and the bowl held Sarge’s attention, he read them out to the rest of the group who had gathered around. Reaching into his pack he thought of a syringe, the only thing he got though was a syringe filled with adrenaline, the packs could only provide what they were originally filled with.

“What are you up to Sarge?” Bulldog noticed the syringe as he inspected the tablet.

Sarge ripped the plastic off the syringe and emptied the contents. “Blood for that bowl, I’ll bet you that’s how we open it. Would make sense too don’t you think? What’s the best way of checking if we’re really Exodus other then running a check on our blood.”

“Smart.”

“Thanks.” Sarge drove the needle into his finger and extracted some blood, then with Bulldog holding the tablet he carefully squirted the blood into the small bowl which disappeared on contact. There was a low humming sound as something inside was activated, the letters began to glow white sending shafts of light that connected together in a white ball above the tablet, glowing and spinning miraculously until with a brilliant flash a life sized holographic projection of an old man appeared.

The man in the holograph looked very much like Alos, it was obvious that this was Talos, his brother. Like Alos he wore a white coat and pants, and just like Alos he had a jovial smile. “Hello Exodus.” The hologram said.

The people assembled awed, stepping closer to try and get a better look as Bulldog set the tablet on the ground and moved a little to make some room for the others to see.

“Before I say anything else I must tell you that I am a ghost image of my creator, his thoughts and knowledge are my thoughts and knowledge, the only thing I cannot do is manipulate the physical world in any way, so pardon me if I cannot demonstrate anything to you in real life, you can speak to me so don’t worry about that. Now then, my name is Talos Thramasurius, and you must be Exodus, if I can call you that. You might very well have taken a different name, or have yet to take a name at all for that matter.” The hologram waited for a response.

“Yes we are Exodus and that is what we call ourselves. But we are not from this planet. We have come from the other planet; your brother Alos has contacted us and told us of our history. We are a full squad including the ninth animal Bessy, although she has stayed back on earth. Before your brother came to us we had already formed a unique squad, we have technology that is fifty to eighty years ahead of the regular technological standing, according to your brother we are more then a success.” Sarge explained.

“I see.” The hologram scratched it’s head in a very human fashion. “I presume you are part of some organization perhaps? Secretive but very powerful, with you at its center?”

“Yes.” Sarge confirmed.

The hologram nodded, thinking. “And what of this planet?”

“Failed. Primary scans done by Alos showed this planet to be devoid of human life, a half percent is all it showed, a glitch we had assumed. He found the planet to be in a state resembling one’s imagination of hell, and having been here we can confirm that that is an accurate description.”

The hologram became somber, its features twisting in sadness. “Humans still live here?”

“Yes, a few million or so we are told. They have protected themselves within massive, neigh impenetrable fortifications and now it has turned into a stalemate, the planet is barely habitable, the air itself is poisonous, there is no sun only a twisting nether of cloud.”

Sighing the hologram apparently understood. “If you plan to carry out your primary objective I will not hold it against you, no one can, a failed planet is a failed planet, it’s a liability not an asset.”

“Self destruction of the planet is a possibility, but not with all these people here. I cannot simply kill millions with the touch of a button.”

“But you might have to…if there is no other choice then you must. You must realize how close humanity was to extinction, the death toll was not in the millions, it was in the trillions. But I cannot do anything, the choice is yours and if you believe there is a better way then so be it.”

The delegates murmured in shock, different planets, there’s a failure? None of them knew what any of it meant, but it did not sound pleasant.

“What happened to you Talos?”

“Me? The life support system blew.” He laughed. “There was nothing I could do to repair it, an asteroid really messed up some of the power systems and I am no technician, so I went and did the only thing left, prepared for the arrival of Exodus. I used the power of religion to prepare a social basis for your arrival, I ensured that this tablet be the holiest of holies and therefore survive one way or another through anything that might happen and ultimately reach Exodus, or rather the foundation of it. Once a member of Exodus or members found out about this tablet, the truth, and the history of humanity, people would hold them in god like status and so they would not need my help in creating a nucleus for the next generation of humanity. Understand?”

Exodus nodded, Talos had tried to create social conditions that would make it easy for the emerging Exodus to take power, and they wouldn’t need his direct help, a clever plan to say the least.

“And this planet, why is it a failure?” The hologram asked.

Sarge shrugged. “We’re not really sure, we’ve only been here a few days. What we have been told is that about a hundred years ago a group of muggles and wizards went off to try to find out who you were, they found out you used muggle technology far exceeding that of their time in perfect unison with magic, they wanted the power, to find out how you could do what you did.”

“They caught on that I was different.”

“Yes, apparently they then began taking over the world creating unnatural fusions of biotechnology and magic, we have seen what the end product was and it is…disturbing, perhaps one of you could explain further?” Sarge looked at the unnerved delegates.

“To tell you the truth we don’t know much about those years, a lot of data has been lost, key people killed in the fighting.” Marlonius Graff spoke for the group. “The Independence, they started taking over the world and they succeeded devestatingly well. Before things got completely out of hand several of the most powerful nations built the six Havens and they built them well, those who could fled to the Havens…for many it was far too late to go anywhere, missiles were launched, massacres erupted and people were slaughtered. It was Armageddon. Now we are at a stalemate, they can’t get in but we can’t get out. The earth is in their control and we live like prisoners, eventually it is only a matter of time before our populations grow and we must get out, that’s when we will fight again, die and hide again.” He said the last sentence in disgust.

“I take it there is a way to fight back?” Sarge caught the meaning of his emotions.

“I have personally proposed plans of attack on numerous occasions, on each occasion I have been told bite my tongue. These fools would rather live like prisoners then take up the fight, we have not even tried to attack, with your arrival I had hoped things might change.”

Sarge grinned as a delegate argued against Marlonius. “No! We cannot fight them and win. We simply cannot, other then death what will we achieve? At best nothing, or They might decide to come and attack until we are all dead! Is that what you want?”

“I would rather die and fail then live and not do anything!” Marlonius retorted

Sarge raised a hand, silencing the angry delegate. “Talos please tell these people about humanity and who we are.” Sarge asked of the hologram.

“Certainly…” The hologram went into the explanation that they had all received a couple days ago, answering any of their questions and clearing things up that Talos might have made unclear. Sarge followed up with a brief explanation of their situation, giving them as much as was needed. There was utter silence in the chapel once the hologram had finished, the people looked at Exodus with a mixture of wonder and curiosity, the explanation had stripped them of their godlike image, but not of the power, Exodus was very much capable of a lot of things that they could only dream of. Now they could relate more to Exodus, they realized that they, the people would have to play a large part in whatever was to come.

“Where do we go from here? Do you have any specific plans?” Dimitri Fantura ventured.

“We have a few ideas, but it would be best to discuss them where information is available, if you have a meeting room of sorts could we perhaps go there?” Asked Sarge. “And boys, best not too look so dirty.” Sarge’s hand began to glow slightly as he touched his armor, the grime, dirt and other disgusting residue disappearing off the black armor. The others followed suit, their magical powers seeming to develop exponentially.

“Certainly.” Replied the Bishop First Warlock Bassette, conjuring a long piece of string he muttered a few enchantments, the string turning into a preset portkey. “We have areas around Haven that are connected via portkey, the traditional method is not required, simply knowing the location and your current one is all that is needed to activate the underlying connections.” He explained.

“Like a Floo network?”

“In a sense yes, although not everyone is allowed to use it, we tried it but it created some problems with people appearing simultaneously or not being able to go anywhere at all. Now then everyone tough a piece and we shall be off to the council chambers.” He lengthened the string so that everyone could touch it and once they all did muttered a spell and they appeared in the council chambers.

A large brown wooden table dominated the room, with a pair of fireplaces off to in one corner of the room, and a large screen covering an entire wall at the opposite end. A number of computer terminals sat beside what appeared to be a pensive and a regular crystal ball. The room itself seemed to feel like a modern boardroom with a flair of Dumbledore’s office.

Exodus took off their equipment, setting it down against the wall and took a seat at the table, Sarge making sure to sit across from the General. “Feel free to bring in any staff that you wish, I do not care for secrecy.” Sarge gave them a few moments to contact various people who were soon present at and around the table, looking inquisitively at Exodus before being informed of who they were, their faces lighting up in awe. One old lady who seemed to be a secretary of some sort had a white coffee mug that matched the color of her robes, once she was told of what was going on the coffee and her robes met in a yelp of disbelief, embarrassed she hurriedly cleaned up the stain with her wand and prepared the parchment she had taken with her.

“By the way I apologize for doing all the talking, feel free to say whatever you want.” Sarge told the rest of the team.

“Don’t worry bout it, some of us seem to be a little preoccupied anyway.” Destroyer indicated Snipe who was flirting up a storm with Maya, the man wouldn’t have noticed a nuclear blast go off much less some conversation.

“The type of gun really defines a man you know, the amount of power really relates to how well he can perform out in the field.” Snipe was using some blatantly obvious metaphors.

“If you want power then I’m your man.” Destroyer winked at Maya, teasing Snipe.

“Ya but it always seems that you’re quick on the trigger and even quick to go dry.” Snipe grinned back.

Sarge started up the meeting before the conversation turned into a penis contest, whistling sharply he shut up all conversation in the room. “Now then if we could get to some of the matters at hand please?” He gave the room a second to quiet down. “The way I see it the situation on this planet is bad…real bad. From what we have seen so far most everything is either destroyed or unusable, please correct me if I am wrong, but even if that is wrong my idea should still hold merit. What I propose to you all is a planetary evacuation. We can set up stations to gather whatever natural resources are available, or if they are not and the planet really is just a liability then with no humans left we can self-destruct the planet. Our other alternative is to engage the enemy and take the planet back, for which the cost to benefit ration might or might not be worth it. Comments?”

Marlonius stood up, a pointer in his hand as the large screen turned on. “Allow me to make this decision easy for you.” A world map flashed on the screen with various colors and shapes dotting it. “The white dots are the Havens and our controlled territory, the red area is Independence territory and the blue is no one’s.” The patterns changed. “All major natural resource areas are controlled by the Independence, meaning that if we want them we have to go through them. But this has recently come in within the last few weeks.” The screen changed to various pictures of hideous daemonic armies. “In collaboration with the other Havens we have gathered intelligence on enemy movements. Over the last month the armies have been growing and collecting at various locations, not only that but that are also moving towards us. With the knowledge that we have now you would have to be stupid not to realize that they are heading for the Gateway, and they will take us out along the way, and against these types of forces we will not last long. Like it or not when they get here and start their attack it will only be a matter of time before Haven Four falls, I can guarantee you that inevitability.” He flicked through a few slides, indicating troop movements and force density. “There is no debate here, there are two choices. Either the planet is blown up with us on it, or with us not on it. If we do nothing we will be dead anyway.” He sat down, letting grim reality set in.

“What is the estimated time before they start?” Pyro asked.

“If movement stays consistent we believe that they should begin to move to a closer more central location within a week or so. Once there they would come in as one giant force and attack Haven to take out all obstacles, that gives us roughly two or three weeks before they get to us. After that we may last a few hours or a few months, but one way or another Haven Four will fall. We must act now, we do not have much time left.”

Sarge sat deep in thought, the room waited for him to speak. “I agree with General Marlonius. Contact all Havens, have them begin to evacuate to this area immediatly. We will first secure the Gateway and set up a post there, I cannot stress enough how important that location will be to us. When we’re ready I’ll go over and make sure to have arrangements made on our planet. Make sure to note then nothing much bigger then Destroyer here will make it through the Gateway, although I’ll talk to Alos and see if we can do anything about that. Once we get all civilians through the military will go as well, at that time we will go and prepare the detonation of the planet, and hopefully make it back in time before this place ceases to exist. There is the possibility that the Independence will arrive before we have made it through, and so if need be we will have to meet them in battle.”

“Excuse me, where are these co-ordinates?” JJ read off a series of co-ordinates that one of Marlonius’ aids punched into a terminal.

When the location on the screen came up Marlonius explained to them what it was. “That one of the Independence’s major and one of their most secure installations, we believe that is where their forces will be meeting up before making the final push towards us.”

“This will be fun.” Destroyer muttered.

Snipe had managed to pull away from his conversation to realize the significance of this new realization. “Is that…fuck it is isn’t it? And here I was thinking this was going to be easy.”

21. Stalker

A/N. Okay I’ll try and get at least one chapter out per week, maybe two.

Stalker

A few hours later the council had been concluded, a news broadcast went out with the explanation about Exodus and what was to happen, after the populace had a few hours to settle down and churn through the implication work began at a furious pace, it was stressed that time was crucial, things had to be done in record speed. An armored division along with infantry support and anti air backing was sent out to secure the Gateway site almost immediately, once the site had been secured builders were portkeyed to the area to begin construction of a base, a large dome building was to be the center of the area. Meanwhile at the various Havens around the world belongings were being packed and readied, it was decided that a direct floo connection to the Gateway site would be the most efficient way of moving people, however the worldwide military began it’s move to Haven four almost immediately, as Exodus soon found out it wasn’t only humans who made up the resistance against the Independence.

…3 Days after Exodus’s arrival at Haven Four…

Sarge looked out at the milling forces below, humans, ogres, centaurs, house elves, goblins and even giants camped out in the kill zone, the area between Haven and it’s walls. He had been told that an unprecedented amount of individuals had taken up arms in the coming fight, everyone willing to go to war now that Exodus was leading them, and of course everyone who wanted to fight was allowed, Sarge himself had ordered that anyone who wanted to could and Sarge’s word was law. This made the composition of the weaponry employed below very different, there were wizards with wands, and staffs, giants with wooden clubs wearing crude metal plating for armor, goblins with sinister looking daggers, centaurs with bows, humans armed with anything from a simple rifle to a remote control that was linked to a missile silo. The facility that was responsible for the planetary detonation, the facility that Exodus had to get to in order to blow up the planet, was nestled nicely under one of the Independence’s largest and most powerful bases, the base that the Independence forces were to be rallying at. Because of the nature of the facility Exodus could not simply apparate inside, they literally had to stand at a certain location and open a cleverly hidden door, there was no way around that. This meant that Exodus had to get to the heart of the Independence, and this meant that they had to fight their way there. It was ultimately decided that while the final battle was to take place the civilians were to be evacuated off planet, this meant that those going to fight were most likely going to die. The mission itself was stated simply, destroy the enemy base, past that no one knew what would happen and from then on the battle would have to be played fluidly.

Exodus had been training their magical abilities none stop since the first council had concluded, the battle to come was to be the end of something, and they would most likely be the determining factor for what would end. There had been one thing that was odd, a number of killings had occurred inside Haven, the culprit had not been identified and Stalker had been on the case for the past two days, Stalking the brutal killer responsible for the murders.

Marlonius walked up beside Sarge. “More are arriving each minute, soon the entire armed might of the resistance shall be here, it will be a glorious battle the likes of which has never been seen in millennia.”

Sarge nodded. “Did you do the blood tests?”

“Yes, we have run a check on all military personnel using your software, we have isolated those individuals who received a positive from the program. Although I do not know what the purpose of it was I must tell you that I myself was identified positive, whatever your actions may be I simply ask of you that you allow me to fight.” He held out his ornate pistol, a weapon that was more symbolic then practical.

Sarge looked at the weapon and after a moment of consideration took it from Marlonius whose features creased in pain, according to doctrine he was no longer able to fight. But then Sarge did something that very much surprised the venerable General; he pulled out his own pistol and handed it to Marlonius who cautiously took the weapon. “The program checked the DNA for indication of more then twenty three chromosomes, because of the genetic engineering most people only have twenty three, those that tested positive had the twenty fourth at least beginning to appear.”

“You mean that those who tested positive are fully human?”

“Yes, or will be soon in accordance to the genetic definition of what a human is. I congratulate you General.” Shortly after their arrival at Haven Four, Pyro had suggested that they check the population, with muggles and wizards living so closely to each other the genetics had to be getting modified at a good rate.

Marlonius grinned. “I assume you have special plans for us?”

“Yes I do, and I appologise for not telling you my purpose, you understand my motives.”

“No need to explain yourself, I understand the need for secrecy.”

“While the main battle will be going on outside we will be going in through another entrance and then splitting up to accomplish various tasks. I have been studying the reverse engineering reports and want to hit various areas of the base. We will head down into the core where we will be able to both initiate the planet’s self destruct systems and hopefully take out the power to the entire enemy base. Your team will head to the shield station and shut it down, if we can get the base’s shields down quickly enough we’ll be able to pound them from a distance instead of breaching the walls directly and going in on foot.” A man running towards them interrupted sarge.

Skidding to a halt the man saluted sharply “Chief Security officer Pedinksy requests your presence down at the control room immediately.” He reported.

The General nodded. “Very well.” And the two briskly followed to the bustling control room. On the way there Sarge told Destroyer and Joker to go down to the holding cells and pick up the guys who had passed their little DNA test, they were to going to get a nice little surprise.

Reaching the control center, which was pretty much the nerve center of Haven Four, they found JJ and Snipe waiting for them there as the man they were following disappeared into the bustling screen filled room.

“Why did I have to come?” Snipe pouted, his messy hair giving away his recent activities with Maya.

“Because I’ve seen the video that Pedinksy is going to show us and I need you with us.” JJ told him.

Snipe shrugged. “Okay…”

Pedinsky walked up to them, saluting the assembled group. “I’ve gotten a room ready for us, I have shown no one else the tape. Follow me please.”

They followed, Sarge asked JJ. “What’s going on?”

“You’ll see.” There was a trace of uncertainty in his voice, like it was a puzzle he had solved but didn’t like the outcome.

They walked into a blackened room and Pedinksy flicked on the screen. “We found this video footage from the murder last night, so far we’ve managed to keep the half dozen of them quiet.” He pressed a button and a quick movie played through, in the top right corner they saw a man walking along a dark corridor, there was a blue flash from something off screen and the man’s head exploded. After that the tape ended. “We don’t see the killer or the weapon or anything.”

“Do you see anything different about that?” JJ asked.

Sarge and Snipe shook their head no, but Marlonius replied. “Yes, the shot was blue.”

“Exactly.”

“So, blue shot big deal.” Snipe wasn’t impressed.

“But it is a big deal. You see, to us a shot emitting a blue light is ordinary, the surveillance guys here don’t know much so the miss the obvious fact.”

“Which is?” Snipe insisted.

“We don’t have weapons that emit a blue light when fired. We have the standard flash, not a blue flash.” The General explained.

“Snipe how many weapons on this planet create a blue flash when fired?” Sarge asked, clueing in but hoping that he was wrong.

“Three. And each one of them is different, the BFG, Snipes’ rifle and Stalker’s pistol.”

“Wait, are you saying that I shot the guy!” Snipe rose up from his chair.

“The shot coming from the weapon in that tape uses electromagnetic drive coils, and that technology has not been developed yet on this planet. I went down to the site myself and found that the shot only went through a wall before I found the round. Even at it’s lowest power setting the shot from your rifle would have gone a lot farther, that and at the time of the shooting I had seen you and Maya at the café.”

“Which only leaves…”

…Near the holding cells – Haven Four…

“Stalker! Wait up bro.” Joker called out as he jogged to catch up to Stalker who suddenly went through a door at his right. ‘The hell, I’m gonna take that boys helmet off and give him a good smackin for making me run.’ He thought.

Joker followed after, pushing the door open he walked into the small storage room, he didn’t even have time to look around before two high velocity shots smashed into his armor, each feeling like a fright train. He reeled back, shocked and confused as both rounds penetrated his armor and lodged themselves inside. It was then that he was kicked through the door, the hinges shattering as his body sailed through and hit the opposite wall, his head cracking like a melon before his body slid down the wall. Before losing consciousness one word went through his head. “Fuck.”

…Two minutes later…

Destroyer rounded the corner, he had heard the sounds of something breaking but hadn’t thought much of it, now he wished he had run as fast as he could. He knelt down in the thick pool of Joker’s crimson blood; examining his limp body he found a pulse, a week one, but a pulse nonetheless.

“Destroyer, Joker?” Sarge’s voice came through his ear piece.

“Joker’s fucked up bad, we need a medic now!” He yelled.

“It’s Stalker, but whatever we do we need him alive, just stay where you are, we’re coming.”

“What?”

“Stalker’s been infected, whatever you do don’t kill him but subdue him if you see him.”

Sporadic gunfire echoed off the walls nearby, dieing off within seconds. “Understood, you want him alive.”

Destroyer pulled the minigun off his back, the familiar voice greeting him as the weapon whirred to life, the barrels spinning shrilly from lack of recent use. ‘Sarge had said to keep Stalker alive, but he hadn’t told him how alive he wanted him.’ Destroyer advanced down the hallways, his helmet on and sensors on full alert, sweeping for any and all signs of movement. Coming around a corner he found that the lights had been shot out and the walls were riddled with bullet holes, a few mangled bodies lay against the wall; two of them didn’t even have their weapons out, while the other two had their heads blown off. A blood stained door consol sparked providing the only light for the short hallway as a mutilated body lying below it, seeping blood from multiple gashed along its now indistinguishable face. Stalker was ramming the door, his spent pistol lay discarded on the floor, a few good sized craters in the door showed that he had tried to get in the easy way.

Destroyer whistled, catching Stalker’s attention who swiveled around more like some sort of beast then a human, his body hunched low with his long serrated dagger in his right hand moving as if with a life of its own. “Don’t make me do this Stalker.” Destroyer advanced a couple feet, the ground was slick with blood and he was pretty sure that he had stepped on a hand that lay detached in the middle of the floor. Swaying his head side-to-side Stalker lunged at Destroyer, a stream of bullets met his lower body and shred his legs, the force sending him screeching to the floor, violet blood gushing out of the stumps he now had for legs. Screeching in bestial rage Stalker clawed his way forward, trying feebly to slice at Destroyer’s ankles, the effort cost him another limb as a half dozen rounds cut through his hand.

Loud footsteps resonated along halls behind him, an anguished cry accompanying the beating approach of help. The rest of Exodus, Marlonius and his guard rushed towards them, Pyro the only one who had stayed back with his brother. They surrounded Stalker in a circle, Sarge stepping forward knelt down, his eyes blazed as he tried to penetrate Stalker’s mind. Suddenly Stalker began to tremble and shake, his last arm going up to the helmet and removing it, showing his pale skin and dead black eyes, Lumos spells allowing them to see his vivid transformation.

He trembled and shook more and more violently, gasping for air as he coughed up blood. “Virus…s-sentient. Needs host. Dorman-n-n-t lay. Ch-Changed. Alien…here, started, not human.” He was dieing, convulsing in painful gasps for air, then with complete clarity he looked Sarge straight in the eyes and with perfect diction said. “It needs you.” As it said those words Stalker died.

“Amazing, he was so strong to have lived that long, and then to have broken free of its grasp…simply amazing.” Marlonius muttered.

“Care to explain what the fuck just happened?” Sarge asked, his BFG still pointed at Stalker’s body.

Marlonius swallowed hard. “They’re called Genestealers.”

A/N. Comments? Suggestion? Clarifications? I’m now answering all questions through review thing – figured out how to work it properly J