Severus and Lily sprinted through the woods, hand in hand. They could hear the sound of screaming and gunfire. They stopped for breath as the loud noises persisted.
''Something big is happening,'' Severus remarked.
''Very big,'' Lily agreed.
''Any chance it doesn't involve Dumbledore?'' Severus questioned. Lily giggled and the two continued onwards.
Albus, Georgia, Howes, the aurors and the soldiers were still throwing everything they had at the Dalek. The Muggle guns had proven just as ineffective against the Dalek as magic had, and yet more casualties had been sustained.
One of the soldiers hurled a hand grenade at the Dalek which exploded, setting the entire ground around the creature ablaze. The Dalek itself, however, was unscathed.
''This doesn't make any sense!'' Howes spat, ''What kind of metal can withstand that sort of assault?''
''Your guess is as good as mine,'' Georgia answered.
''And what are those stick-guns, anyway?'' Howes questioned, gesturing to Georgia's wand.
''You wouldn't believe it in a million years,'' laughed Georgia, before launching another Reductor curse at the Dalek.
''There's one thing that might work, though,'' Howes said, ''We've got air strikes on the way. Figured that we're dealing with something serious. Everything else has failed. All we can do now is bomb it to oblivion.''
Unit 4 glided slowly through the air, watching the ground below for activity. It could see in the distance the battle between the humans and Unit 3. Clearly it's comrade required no assistance in keeping the human resistance at bay.
''ALERT!'' Unit 5 called, ''AIRBORNE CRAFT DETECTED. PROXIMITY 200 METERS AND CLOSING.''
''EXTERMINATE!'' Unit 4 shouted, swerving around to see three human military aircraft heading towards them.
Unit 5 fired a shot, which caused a small explosion on the plane. Unit 4 followed suit, and the plane was already badly damaged. Two more shots and the plane burst into flames and went spiralling into the ground.
There remained another two aircraft, growing closer to the Daleks. ''MAXIMUM EXTERMINATION!'' Unit 4 ordered. Both Dalek units powered up their guns and began to fire relentlessly at the planes, until they too were sent spiralling to the ground in a vast inferno.
Severus and Lily were thrown to the ground by a force far stronger than anything else they had ever felt. As Severus dragged himself up and helped Lily up, the he couldn't help but notice how hot it was. He turned around and was almost blinded by what appeared to be vast fireball. Everything behind them seemed to be in flames.
Lily started to sob. Severus put his arms around her protectively.
''We have to keep going,'' he whispered, ''We have to find Dumbledore.''
''I don't think I can take more of this,'' Lily whimpered.
''You can,'' Severus assured, ''You've got it in you!''
Lily smiled in spite of herself. As awkward and at times rude as Severus could be, he always seemed to know just the right thing to make her smile.
''Come on!'' he encouraged, grabbing her hand and leading her on.
Albus and the others had felt the destruction of the fighter jets too. Howes was utterly disheartened.
''I just can't believe it,'' he muttered, ''How could that have happened?''
Albus sighed, ''In all of the confusion and panic I neglected to inform you that the 'Dalek' we are fighting is not the only one of it's kind in the area,'' he explained, ''There is at least one more.''
''What difference does it make?'' Howes spat, ''We can't handle one of them anyway.''
''Well, I'm going down fighting,'' Georgia declared, ''I'm a Hufflepuff. Unafraid of toil, right Headmaster?''
Albus smiled while Howes looked utterly confused. The three stepped forward and continued firing at the Dalek. The remaining aurors and soldiers were doing the same, though by now more aurors were apparating in.
''We've got more backup on the way, if that helps?'' Howes bellowed between shots.
''Great, give that thing more target practice!'' Georgia laughed grimly.
The Dalek Commander watched the proceedings with satisfaction. The humans had proved themselves once more to be utterly inept at combat and the art of war. Although they continued to send in reinforcements like the fools they were, the only effect that had was to turn the battlefield into a graveyard.
Every war the Daleks had ever fought had ended in the opposition being utterly crushed, right up until that fateful day on Gallifrey. But the Commander was aware that even a single Dalek could wipe out all life on this backwater planet. Although the humans' psycho-kinetic abilities were unusual, they had still proved feeble, as Unit 3 had comfortably engaged the humans while sustaining zero damage.
The Commander was considering entering the fray itself. It was by far the most experienced of this Dalek taskforce, but it had been so long since the Commander had last felt the satisfaction of snuffing out the life of an inferior. However, there was more important work to be done here. The castle in the distance was producing unusual readings. It could be a potential source of energy. Roboforms were poor footsoldiers. Perhaps that building could be used to establish a Dalek production line.
Once the Dalek units outside had eliminated the resistance, the entire taskforce would launch an assault on the castle, purging it of all life, and beginning construction on the production line.
Severus and Lily continued to run through the woods. By now, the sounds of fighting had become much louder.
''Sev!'' Lily whispered, ''Look what I see!'' Severus looked at her, confused. Lily pointed forward to reveal something Severus didn't ever think he'd see in his lifetime. Wizards and Muggles working together! Muggle soldiers and Wizarding aurors clearly fighting on the same side. And among them was a man with silvery white hair and a very long beard. Dumbledore!
But it wasn't that which caught Severus' attention. Beyond the humans was something shining in the darkness. And Severus knew exactly what it was.
''That's the thing,'' Severus told Lily, ''The metal thing I told you about.''
Lily watched as an auror swooped down on a broomstick only to be shot down by the metal thing. Her eyes widened and she placed a hand over her mouth.
''What is it?'' She whispered.
''No idea,'' Severus answered, ''But we have to stop it.'' He suddenly started to run forewords, with Lily on his heels. ''Professor Dumbledore!'' he bellowed.
The old man turned, and his expression upon seeing them turned to one of fury.
''I distinctly recall asking both of you to remain within safe limits!'' he shouted.
''Well, we're here now!'' Lily pointed out, ''It would be more dangerous for us to try and go back.''
''Very well,'' Dumbledore said, ''Just get down and keep behind us at all times.'' The two teens did as they were told, though as they sat huddled together, it was hard to escape the fact that the ground was littered with bodies.
Unit 3 continued blasting any human that it could see. The humans simply continued to throw reinforcements at the battle, which very little challenge for the Dalek. Humans were not only weak. They were stupid too. Daleks would never simply try to overload an opponent with strength of numbers. They didn't need to, since very few creatures could outmatch them in terms of strength alone. But even so, if the Daleks had only the capabilities the humans did, they would have dedicated all of their resources to developing something more powerful. They certainly would not send their own people to their deaths.
Lily buried her head in Severus' shoulder. After what they had been through today, she swore things would be different. Since she had been sorted into Gryffindor she'd allowed herself to be swayed by the beliefs that all Slytherins were untrustworthy. Of course, Sev was hardly blameless himself. No matter what he himself believed, he'd paid lip service to the disgusting beliefs of his housemates, simply because he wanted their respect. However, Lily decided it was time that both of them put their friendship above this idiotic house system.
Severus, meanwhile, was staring into thin air.
''What are you thinking?'' Lily whispered.
''I was just thinking that... if this is the end, I'm glad I spent it with you,'' he smiled.
''Don't say that!''
''Well, it's true!'' Severus pointed out. ''Wizards can't touch that thing. Muggles can't touch that thing. Even if they work together there's nothing anyone can do!'' However, as he spoke, his eyes widened. Severus' gloomy expression suddenly turned into a grin.
''What is it?'' Lily questioned.
''That's it!'' Severus realised, ''Wizards and Muggles don't need to just work together! They need to combine!''
''I don't understand,'' Lily remarked as one of the Muggle soldiers hurled a hand grenade at the metal creature.
''Give me one of those!'' Severus shouted at Howes.
''What?'' Howes questioned incredulously.
''Just do it!'' Severus bellowed. Howes did so, handing the teen a hand grenade. Severus pointed his wand at the device and shouted, ''Engorgio!'' He smirked as the grenade grew much larger. It became much heavier so it couldn't be thrown. Instead, Severus levitated the device, and with a flick of his wand, sent it hurtling towards the metal creature.
The explosion was so powerful it sent everyone to the ground. As everyone slowly got their feet, they were greeted by the site of the metal machine's midsection blown wide open.
Annnnnd the tide starts to turn! The question is, is Unit 3 dead or damaged? Find out next time, guys!
