AN: *Oliver Twist voice: "Please, sir, can I have some reviews?"
"Reviews?!"
. . . . .
Lily stared at the woman for a few seconds.
"His best lieutenant," she muttered.
Bellatrix laughed, a wild sound, almost a cackle, her black eyes gleaming wickedly.
"Is that what the Ministry's calling me these days? Oh dear, I'm almost . . . Flattered."
Her eyes narrowed abruptly, a serious expression flashing across her face. The swiftness of the change was somewhat startling.
"We need to go, Lily. I was sent by the Commander to find you. I'll explain more once we get out of here, but we don't have any time to waste."
"The Commander . . . You mean Gaunt, Thomas Gaunt?"
Bellatrix nodded, a hint of pride in her eyes, "Spot on, dearest. That's the one. He wants to meet you . . . to help."
Lily nodded without hesitation. "Fine by me. Let's get the hell out of here." Turning, she addressed Waters, "Thanks for the help . . . And the information. If I find out anything about Anna, you'll be the first to know."
He nodded, seeming unconvinced, or perhaps just resigned to the hand which Fate seemed to have taken delight in dealing him. "Sure . . . Of course."
Lily frowned, biting her lower lip. "John, why don't you come with us? I'm sure we could use the extra help. Besides, they know I was here. If I disappear now . . ." she trailed off, looking away as a burst of guilt flooded her. He had already probably lost his daughter for good. Now he might lose his own life, and for what? To help someone who had all but accused him of betrayal and inadvertently caused his child's almost certain death?
However, he shook his head, smiling at her sadly. "Thank you, but no. Someone has to stay to deal with the fallout. I won't have my actions bring harm to my people."
The feeling of guilt increased, twisting in her gut like a knife. "I'm sorry," she said honestly, "I came to try to help . . . but it seems I've only made things worse."
He shrugged, giving her a pained smile. "No time for that now. You've got to leave before he gets back."
Addressing Bellatrix, he said, "They must surely have been watching the house. How did you get past them?"
The woman shrugged, smirking slightly. "Oh, you know wizards, arrogant bastards the lot of them. There might . . . also be a few dead guards in the alley outside your house . . . What can I say?Rabastan's handy with a knife."
One of the two men (neither of whom had spoken a word during this time), mimed sweeping a hat off his head as he gave a low, silent bow.
"Right then," Bellatrix continued, "Waters, isn't it? We're going to rough you up a bit and tie you to a chair, make it look like a break in. If you aren't opposed?"
Waters sighed, "By all means. Please, help yourself to my nonexistent valuables while you're at it."
The two men moved towards him, one, Rabastan, murmuring something in an apologetic voice as he clocked Waters in the face. A spurt of blood gushed from the other man's nose as he yelped, clutching at his face.
"For God's sake, man, you didn't have to hit me that hard!"
The second man rolled his eyes, pulling out a length of rope as Rabastan (more gently) smeared some of the blood around Water's face and neck, tearing a few rips in his clothes and messing up his hair as he did so. He then helped the grumbling man into the chair, while his comrade tightly wound the length of rope about him. Standing back, Rabastan cocked his head to the side, surveying his handiwork. A second later, he nodded, "Good enough. Sorry about this, mate. Necessary evil and all that."
Waters shrugged, looking tired and dejected.
Rabastan snapped his fingers. "Oh! I almost forgot." He stooped over and grabbed the now dry rag Waters had been using to clean Lily's wounds, gagging the 'prisoner' (who shot him a positively evil look). He shrugged, a jagged grin breaking across his face. "Devil's in the details, my friend."
"Are you boys finished yet?" Bellatrix drawled, looking bored.
The two men straightened up, Rabastan raising his hand in a salute. "Aye, Lieutenant. We're done here."
"Good, then would you be so kind as to scout the perimeter?"
They nodded, "Yes, Lieutenant."
Bellatrix turned to Lily as the two men furtively darted out of the house. "Do you know how to use one of these?" she asked, grabbing a spare rifle from her back and tossing it to Lily (followed a second later by the detached magazine).
Lily caught both with practiced ease, slipping the magazine into place with one swift motion.
"Yeah, I'll manage."
Bellatrix nodded, "Good to hear. Let's go."
Lily paused, about to thank Waters one last time when a shout rang out in the night.
Rabastan ducked his head in the door, face tense. They're back. We need to move. Now."
Bellatrix pulled two objects from her belt, tossing one to Rabastan, who caught it it with both hands, ducking outside.
"Flash grenade," she said by way of explanation, darting out of the house with Lily at her heels.
A half a second later, a blinding white light filled the street, scattering the darkness as the Lieutenant threw the second grenade towards the approaching wizards, causing a burst of fog to further confuse and distract their recently blinded pursuers.
"This way," she motioned to a side street, slipping silently away as the patrol members cursed and shot off spells at random.
"What about the others?" Lily panted as they ran, twisting and turning through the alleys and side streets, following some path only Bellatrix seemed to recognize and comprehend.
"Who? Rod and Rabastan? They'll be fine. They know what they're doing," Bellatrix answered dismissively.
"Your timing is impeccable."
Bellatrix grinned, teeth flashing in the moonlight. "We've been keeping tabs on you for a while. Gaunt had a . . . feeling you might need help soon, so he sent us."
Lily frowned. "But why me? My cell's influence is confined to a pretty small radius. I can't imagine what would make him think me important enough to send a rescue team, especially not one headed by you."
She shrugged, "You're the youngest resistance leader to date. He was impressed."
"Why do I get the feeling there's more to it than that?"
Bellatrix smirked, "You'll have to ask him yourself."
"Don't you know?"
"Wouldn't tell you if I did, sweetheart," she chimed in a teasing sing song voice. "Not my place. He wants to talk with you himself."
Lily fell silent, realizing she wouldn't get any more answers from the woman. A small part of her still regarded the Lieutenant and her comrades with suspicion, but if they really were who they claimed to be . . . Then a once in a lifetime opportunity had just been dropped in her lap. Not that she trusted Gaunt, mind you, but she respected his results.
The two of them broke into a clearing. Without warning, Bellatrix grabbed Lily's arm and tugged her to the ground as she herself dropped to her stomach. A flash of green light soared over their heads, impacting the building behind them and blasting off a chunk of the already crumbling wall.
Moving to a crouch, the Lieutenant yanked on the girl's arm once more, pulling her behind the remains of a ruined house.
"Come out, come out wherever you are!" a mocking voice called out cheerfully. "You can't hide from me, Bellatrix Black!"
Lily detected a faint snarl in the witch's words, hiding beneath a cruelly playful tone of voice. She winced involuntarily as a jet of crimson light scorched the ground nearer to where they had been a second before. Bellatrix had kept them moving once out of sight, darting from one ruined structure to the next. For the first time in her life, Lily found herself thanking the State for nor bothering to keep up with city maintenance by removing the broken down buildings.
"LeStrange to Black. We've cleared the town and are waiting for you at the rendezvous point, Lieutenant."
Lily flinched as the other woman's as of yet unoticed combadge sounded. Bellatrix cursed silently.
"Found you."
The witch rounded the corner, wand raised, eyes gleaming madly as she opened her mouth to speak the killing curse.
Bellatrix dropped her weapon into Lily's hands (the latter had lost hers, to her chagrin, when pulled out of the way of incoming spellfire), ducking as she darted forward and forcefully shoved the woman's arm into the air, causing the curse to collide harmlessly with the roof of a building. Using her enemy's distraction against her, the Lieutenant twisted the witch's arm downwards and away from her body, causing her to drop her wand as Black brought her elbow into the other's face with a sickening 'crack'. Lily tossed her the rifle and she finished without a pause by hitting the back of the enemy's skull with the butt of the weapon. The witch collapsed, unmoving.
"You could've just shot her."
Bellatrix glanced up. A shrug. "Ammo is scarce. Didn't seem right to waste it on this one." She savagely kicked the unmoving witch in the side.
"I take it you two have history?"
"We've met . . . once or twice."
Bellatrix stooped down, grabbing the woman's wand and tucking it into her belt.
Lily moved to retrieve her own weapon, not looking at Bellatrix as a wave of shame for her mistake washed through her. She shoved the emotion down and trotted after the Lieutenant as they made their way to the rendezvous point.
AN:
For anyone who may be wondering, the as of yet unnamed witch will be sort of an evil counterpart to Bellatrix. Because alternate universe irony. I may also shamelessly use this story in the future to promote another one I'm working on at the moment, a crossover between Star Trek DS9 and Star Wars, because I want to see the Major as a Jedi. Because it would be hilarious and awesome.
