Things had gone decidedly pear shaped from the start. It was supposed to have been a simple snatch and grab, and then... well it hadn't turned out that way. "It's never that easy" Harry thought to himself as he nursed his wounds. He'd gotten lucky, in some ways, since the spell had missed him and simply struck the glass wall behind him. Most of his injuries were from the blown out glass, though none of that bothered him as much as his wounded pride.
Hiding, no, cowering he told himself, behind an upturned table as the one wizard he was sent after turned into no less than six; Harry had suffered the indignation of being ordered out of there by his boss. Reluctantly he fired a last spell at his attackers before apparating out to the 'command' center. Such that it was. Now sequestered up in a tiny ass room packed with aurors and several strange wizards that he didn't at first recognize, Harry was beside himself.
"Come on," he said through gritted teeth as the Mediwizard applied healing potions to the many cuts, "Let us go back in with more Aurors. There's six of them, and we can take them by..." He never finished the sentence. One of those strange wizards who had perched himself in a window, dressed in all black with a beret cocked over his head had turned to look at him. Harry didn't know why, but something about that wizard bothered him. The man just watched Harry for the longest time before slowly shaking his head and apparently going back to sleep. Rolling his eyes, Harry shook off the Mediwizard and approached the lead Auror. "Sir, just let us go back in, we can handle it."
"Would were it that easy," the auror said with a sigh. "We've orders from the Minister himself to stand down."
Harry blinked and then looked at the man for a bit. "Bollocks." He spat out. "You don't think we can handle a few dark wizards."
"No," a deep voice said behind him, causing Harry to turn. Shacklebolt had moved well into the position of Minister, though he still kept the aura of an experienced Auror. "I know you can handle a few dark wizards. However, the ministry just got this." He said, extending a parchment to Potter. "Read it." He added before looking around at the assembled wizards.
Harry started to read, only to be stopped by Shacklebolt. "Aloud Harry, so the others can hear."
Pausing for a moment, Harry cleared his throat. "Minister Shacklebolt. By now your Aurors have no doubt told you of our little game we played with them. A game we won. We have taken hostages, and will kill them should your aurors attempt to retake us. Attached is proof of our intent. You will be contacted by us in one hour's time with our demands. Fail to meet any and all of them, or attempt to retake the building, and we will kill everyone inside."
Potter gulped reading that and looked to Kingsley. "They said proof?" Kingsley slowly nodded. "Severed ears from two of the hostages." He said dryly before looking to the lead Auror. "We've about twenty minutes before their demands. What do we know about the building?"
The Auror blanched at the proof before gesturing to a magical map before him. "Three story building. Bottom floor is pretty much open, top floors have several rooms, and the hostages could be in any one of them. There's also a basement to deal with. If Potter's word is to be believed, there's at least six holed up in there."
Kingsley nodded slowly, and then asked with a sigh "And the hostages?"
"Not sure. Maybe as many as ten, though I'd guess less."
Kingsley took this in and then said to no one in particular. "Ideas?"
Harry spoke first. "Hit them hard, and fast. Apparate in with three aurors and take them out before they can do any damage."
Kingsley looked to Potter for a moment, his hand massaging his chin as he thought. "That does have some merit."
"Bullshit." A quiet voice said. Everyone looked around for the person who said that, finally landing on the apparently sleeping wizard. As he spoke, the man looked up from his perch. "No gaurantee that you can even apparate in there. If they're smart, and no doubt they are, then they've prevented that. So you're stuck to using doors. You send three Aurors in there, and you better expect they aren't coming back alive."
"Who the hell are you!?" The lead Auror spat, only to be stopped when Kingsley raised his hand. "Let him speak." Shacklebolt said slowly, turning his gaze on the man. "So, Colonel," he said, his voice level, and yet stern "How would you handle it?"
Raising himself up, the man stretched, and then stepped forward. Harry noticed that the man wore a uniform that vaguely reminded him of the muggle military. What's more, he had what seemed to be a muggle firearm holstered on his hip. The man walked over to the map, and after gesturing at it to make it zoom out, he produced his wand and pointed to two locations.
"If it were me, I'd send in Alpha and Omega. Alpha here," he said, prodding the roof of the building, "And omega down here." He poked the basement entrance. Both places glowed red on the map. "Send Omega in first, a silent entry. Take down any wizard there. Then as they moved up, have Alpha breech in through the ceiling, and go loud. Work to each other, clearing floors as they go."
"Expected casualties?" Shacklebolt asked, sounding rather interested in the idea.
"Enemy? Six X rays down. From the hostages? ideally none. If you hit them from two sides like that, then you're bottling them into a smaller area. May get a stray hit on a hostage, but it's not likely." Pointing at the map once more, the man prodded it to open it to show the second floor." Most likely they've the hostages holed up in one of these interior rooms here. Only makes sense really."
Harry watched for a time, and then looked to the man. "Why does it make sense? Why not keep them on the ground floor?"
Looking over to Harry, the man shrugged. "It would be easy, yeah, to keep the hostages there. Problem is, you've got a big open place, and windows out front. There's only so much that can be done to prevent us from seeing through that. So, it's easier to put the hostages in a small room, out of the way of prying eyes."
Harry thought about that for a very long time before nodding slowly. What the man said DID make sense. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that the man knew exactly what he was talking about. Kingsley looked to the map for a while and then asked "So can you do it?" The man shrugged. "Maybe. Better chance than sending aurors in there and letting them and the hostages die." With that, the man turned and walked back over, this time sitting on an old steamer trunk. Kingsley simply nodded. "I'll keep that in mind Colonel." He said, and then turned to speak to the Lead Auror.
Moving away from his superiors, Harry approached the man. "Who are you?" He asked curiously. "I mean, you look familiar...but I don't know of any branch of the Ministry that wears uniforms like that. Are you some kind of special Auror?"
The man looked up at Harry, pausing to take off his beret and run a gloved hand through his shaggy blonde hair before putting the beret back on. "Call me Boss, or Colonel, or whatever you want." He said. "That didn't answer my question." Harry replied with a tinge of impatience.
Looking to Harry for the longest time, the man seemed to bore right through him before he finally spoke. "I'm a Hitwizard." He said simply, and then leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed before him. Harry knew without being told that he was being dismissed. He'd heard stories of Hitwizards. Loose cannons of a sort. Usually made up of wizards and witches who had washed out of Auror training. The Hit Wizards were pretty well trained at dealing with rogue wizards, and the odd magical beast, but as far as Harry could see, this guy seemed to be something more. As he watched the man doze, a young woman joined him. Dressed exactly as the supposed 'hit wizard' was, she walked over and gave him a light punch in the shoulder to move him over on the trunk before joining him. Her eyes wandered around the room, and she spoke in low tones to the man in a language Harry couldn't quite catch.
Several minutes passed, the air in the room growing stale and heavy with the knowledge that not far away, innocent witches and wizards were being held by men who had proven that they weren't afraid of hurting someone to make a point. Harry was just about to speak when a young Auror trainee called out. "Someone's coming out!"
Heads all turned to the windows, as they watched a young wizard being led outside by a man who held a wand to his back. When the young wizard reached the bottom step, a green flash shone and the young man dropped dead. The wizard with the wand retreated back inside.
"Bloody hell..." Kingsley said under his breath. "Colonel. It's your game. I don't give a damn what their demands are. I want you to take them down."
"Capture, or kill?" The wizard said dryly.
"Kill. Capture only if possible." Kingsley replied.
The wizard nodded curtly at this, and then looked to his companion. "Angel, Showtime." Standing he turned and opened the trunk, revealing that it was magically modified to have a long ladder down into it. At the bottom, a group of similarly clad wizards waited. One by one, they climbed from the trunk, each clad in what seemed, to Harry, to be full riot gear. Curiously, Harry noted that these wizards were silent, and their faces covered with a thin fabric mask with a human skull on it. The wizards assembled at their respective areas, while the Colonel dissappeared for a moment before returning with some gear for the female Hit Wizard. Once she was clad in the gear, he gave a series of hand signals and watched as they trotted off. The remaining wizards milled around while the man walked over to produce a large mirror and touch it with his wand. "You'll be able to see what we see," he explained "and hear what we hear." With that, he too pulled on the riot armor, donned the mask, and silently left.
As Harry watched the magical mirror, he saw the wizards take their respective positions. He realized then that the masks they wore served a double purpose. For one, it made them anonymous, but at the same time, it hid everything they were saying through a magical muffling spell. As he watched, he saw the one team taking up a place atop the building, and slowly laying out a powder in a long circle. The Colonel's team stacked up at the basement door.
"Alpha in place, burn's set Boss." Came a quiet female voice that sounded foreign to Harry.
"Copy," came the colonel's voice. "Angel, we'll pop in here and try to clear the basement before moving up. I'll give you the go when we're in. Standard rules of engagement. Flash and clear. Set weapons to killing spells."
"Copy." Came Angel's voice, followed by several other wizards repeating it.
"Snips, move up and check that door for curses." Boss said, and Harry watched as a smaller witch headed up and started working on the door. "Make it fast Snips, we're exposed here..." Boss said, only to have the woman retort "Almost through. Your breathing down my neck isn't helping matters."
As they worked, Harry looked to Kingsley. "Who are they? I mean...I know they're Hit Wizards." He started, and watched the mirror further, "But who are they really?" Kingsley looked over at him and then just shook his head. "Not for me to say." He replied.
"We're through." Snips voice said, putting an end to the talking.
"Go soft." Boss said, and then reached to lay a hand on the door. "Stack up. Smoke and clear." Wizards took position on either side of the door, while the Colonel produced a small vial of liquid. Nodding at the wizard at the door, he slowly turned the handle, and gently eased the door open before quickly closing it.
In the instant the door had been open, the Colonel tossed the vial to the second wizard, and that wizard quickly threw it into the basement, the door closing just after the vial had entered. Moments later, the hit wizards burst through the door. Though the room had filled with a noxious purple smoke, the hit wizards could still see their targets. In quick succession, two of the dark wizards fell under the fire from the team. The weapons these hit wizards carried looked like Muggle firearms, Harry had noted, but they were more than that. They fired what Harry could only describe as spells. "Must be some kind of magical artifact" Harry thought to himself, watching as the wizards moved up to the last door in the basement.
"Basement clear." Boss called. "Two Xrays down." As he spoke, a wizard from inside the building called down to his mates, when he didn't get a response, he started running up the stairs. One of the wizards on Omega team quickly leaned out the door and fired, striking the wizard in the back and causing him to fall down the stairs in a heap.
"Fuck. Cover's blown. Go loud. Alpha, now."
Atop the building, the girl known as Angel touched something to the powder, causing a great flash and a loud boom. Before the smoke had even cleared, the wizards were dropping down through the hole that had now appeared in the roof. Things became increasingly hectic by then, with Harry having a hard time following just what was going on. Only the repeated "Xray down" as a Dark wizard seemed constant. Though one thing caught Harry with a start. As Omega team rounded a corner, one of the hitwizards took a spell right to the chest. Harry could tell the man was dead even before he hit the ground. "Alpha down. North staircase." Came the mechanical call. The wizards never stopped for their comrade. Rather they kept moving. Working in groups to pin down the Dark wizard before he ducked into an adjacent room.
Angel's team had cleared the top floor, and were down on the second when they met up with the first. "First door, on the right." Boss said, and then moved to position his two teams at the door.
"Open and clear." Boss ordered. One wizard from Alpha team moved in front of the door, only to have it explode outward and blow him completely through the wall. "Alpha down." Came the almost mechanical comment, even as the hit wizards moved in. Their weapons drawn on the last Dark wizard. He stood in front of the hostages, and Harry felt a lump go straight to his throat. He knew many of those wizards and witches. Some had been friends of his, others, he knew from work. The dark wizard before them was holding up a vial of some angry looking liquid, and laughing.
"Lower the potion." Angel said, her voice loud enough for the dark wizard to hear. "Not worth your life mate."
"Fuck you." the Dark wizard called back. "I've enough of this shit to take all of you with me." As he spoke, he started to raise the potion bottle. What happened next shocked Harry. One of Omega team, a wizard harry only knew as "Panther" from the codename he'd been called, ran at the Dark wizard. Panther speared the wizard right in the chest with a full bore tackle. As he did this, his hand went to the potion, pulling it to himself and the Dark wizard. Their momentum carried them back, and then out through the window. Only seconds later, a loud explosion ripped through the building, blowing in all the windows and echoing down the street.
"Holy...fuck." Harry said through his teeth. "He..." He couldn't find words for it. Here he had just watched this hit wizard not only die, but willingly give his life to save everyone in that room. "He..." Harry said again, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. Kingsley reached over, touching Harry's shoulder. "Come on. Once it's cleaned up in there. I think I need to introduce you to someone."
Harry nodded slowly, wiping the tears from his eyes. It was sad seeing the man go like that, and yet, Harry felt something more. He felt awe. Pure, unadulterated awe.
Epilogue:
About half an hour had passed from Panther's display of true heroism. Harry found himself in a lightly lit room in the Ministry itself. A great black wall stretched, and on it were numerous names and photos. Each of a wizard or witch in the black beret. The names stretched for the length of the wall. In the center of the room, there bodies lay.
Minister Shackelbolt looked at the bodies, each clad in the identical black uniforms, their berets laid on their chests. He counted three of these bodies, as he turned to Harry."You asked me," he said, his gaze turning on Potter "Just who these people were, and I didn't explain. Maybe now it's time that I honor their sacrifice by finally giving you an answer." Taking a deep breath, he seemed to be steeling himself for the words, words which he knew would shock the young Aurors to their very core. Yet, he hoped to impress upon them the gravity of the sacrifice those wizards had made. "It's often said," he said, finally breaking his short silence "That Aurors are the elite dark wizard catchers. There's a great deal of truth in that, something that no doubt has inspired you to take up the call. Yet, for all our power, all our strength, there are places where even Aurors fear to tread." Sweeping his arm out, gesturing at the three bodies, and the few surviving members of that team, he smiled wryly. "These men and women go those places. They willingly enter, taking up the fight. They go where Aurors are afraid to go, and they do so in silence. They seek no awards, nor will they ever be given them. They are unknown, and always anonymous. A faceless group who care less for their own lives, and more for those they may save, in as much that they will each and every one willingly die if that loss prevents the death of an innocent. If it takes every last one of them dying to save one single soul, then they are willing to do that. They call themselves 'Division Six.' I call them heroes, and I think you see why."