AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following contains scenes of intense and disturbing violence. You have been warned.
"What are the Stacyx planning?" Harry narrowed his eyes at Bletzar. "Do you have a central base?"
Bletzar continued to gurgle in pain.
"How many Stacyx are there?"
Bletzar made a sound like he wanted to spit up.
"Answer me!" Harry shook with rage.
"C'mon, Bletzar," Deacon said in a calmer tone. "You're buddies took off without you, left you to die. You think you still owe them anything?"
The Stacyx scout leader half-choked, half laughed. "I wouldn't waste time carrying a wounded warrior. Why should I expect the others to be different?"
"They really inspire loyalty in your army, don't they?" Spike said, slouching to one side, hands in his pockets.
Harry stared at the pool of oily black blood slowly expanding from underneath Bletzar. He wondered how much time this creature had to live.
"Back at the cemetery, when I asked what you were planning, you said we'd find out soon. How soon do you mean?"
Bletzar drew a ragged breath, but said nothing.
"Are you going to launch a major attack? When is it? Tomorrow? Next week?"
The Stacyx showed off his pointy teeth in an evil smile. "It's coming, and you won't have enough time to stop it. And when it happens, mankind will become our livestock, and every wizard and witch in the world will be exterminated."
"This is getting us nowhere," Bauer grumbled. He bent down, reached under Bletzar and turned him over on his stomach.
"What are you doing?" Harry's forehead wrinkled.
Bauer didn't answer. He pulled a folding knife from his pocket and opened it.
Harry's heart beat harder. His stomach twisted into a cold knot. He can't be . . .
Bauer shoved the knife into one of Bletzar's bullet wounds. The creature let out a blood-curdling shriek. Harry cringed, both from the sound and from Bauer jerking his knife back and forth. More dark blood gushed from the wound.
"No! Stop it!" Harry needed information, but not this way. He raised his wand.
Four CTU agents brought up their submachine guns, all barrels aimed at Harry's chest.
"You want this information?" Bauer yelled. "This is the only way to get it! If you can handle it, then get out!"
Bauer looked back down at Bletzar. "When do you plan to launch your attack?"
Bletzar gurgled, then spoke in a strained voice. "Three . . . three days from now."
"What's your target?"
"The attack . . . is worldwide."
"How many of you are there?"
Bletzar inhaled a ragged breath and pressed his face to the floor.
"How many?" Bauer drove his knife deeper into wound.
Bletzar shrieked. Harry sneered, running a hand over the back of his head in frustration. He couldn't stand this anymore. He had to find a way to stop it. But four Muggle weapons trained on him didn't give him much in the way of options. Being a wizard didn't make him immune to bullets.
"How many?" Bauer repeated.
"Eight . . ." Bletzar croaked.
"A worldwide attack with just eight Stacyx?" Buffy's face wrinkled in disbelief.
Bletzar drew in another wheezing breath and continued. "Eight . . . hundred . . . thousand."
His disgust at Bauer's torture techniques fled Harry's mind. Eight hundred thousand Stacyx? He shivered at the thought of whole hordes rampaging through Britain, America, Australia and numerous other countries.
"Where are they located?" Harry's voice sounded distant to him as he asked the question.
Bletzar groaned. "Our central base is in The Land That Time Forgot."
"Dean?" Harry turned to his friend.
"It's a movie from the 1970s. A group of Muggles in a submarine wind up in this undiscovered land filled with dinosaurs. It's sort of like Jurassic Park, only without the good special effects."
Harry glanced back at Bletzar, who appeared barely conscious. Bauer still had his knife dug into the creature's bloody wound.
"Three days," Harry muttered to himself. "Why three days from now?"
Harry whipped his head back to Dean. "When Hermione and I went to see Bentley Basham, he said the Stacyx's first invasion attempt was 1953 when they televised Queen Elizabeth's coronation. He said they needed some event that a large portion of the population would watch in order to launch a massive attack. Is there anything happening three days from now that a lot of people will tune in to?"
Dean worked his jaw back and forth. The silence lasted several seconds. Harry's impatience began to bubble when his friend's eyes widened.
"Oh my God. The Moon landing."
"Moon landing?" Harry raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. The Muggles have been playing it up for the last year."
Harry's lips curled. He hadn't heard a word about it. It just showed him how out of touch he'd been with the Muggle world since he left the Dursleys.
Dean continued. "They're billing it as mankind's big return to the Moon. This is supposed to be the first step in building a lunar base and eventually sending a manned mission to Mars. It's scheduled to lift off today and arrive at the Moon three days from now. Harry, half the world is expected to watch the landing."
"But that's over three billion people," noted Buffy. "Okay, eight hundred thousand Stacyx is a lot, but they can't suck out the brain waves of three billion people, especially if they're doing it one TV set and one family at a time."
"But it won't be one family at a time." Dean raised a finger to make his point. "You'll have groups of people watching this in pubs, in public squares, in stadiums and arenas. Imagine ninety-thousand people watching the Moon landing in Wembley Stadium. The Stacyx could take them all out in one fell swoop. Oh my God. There'll be world leaders watching. Prime ministers, presidents, kings, generals."
Harry had to use every ounce of self-control to keep from shaking. He spoke, fighting to keep his voice steady. "So we're not only looking at millions of dead Muggles, but possible worldwide anarchy."
Dean nodded. "And the Stacyx taking full advantage of it."
Tremors took hold of Harry's legs. Fear accelerated his breathing. The images of piles of dead people in pubs and village squares spooled through his mind. Next his brain spawned visions of Diagon Alley, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade lying in ruin. Amongst the rubble were friends and loved ones. Ron, Hermione, Dean, Dennis, George, Teddy, Luna, Molly, Arthur . . .
Ginny and little James.
He wanted to throw up. He wanted to wish it all away. He wanted to curse Bentley Basham for not killing every last Stacyx all those years ago.
The tremors spread over Harry's entire body. He hadn't felt fear like this since the night he went into the forest to let Voldemort "kill" him.
"What are we gonna do?"
A quivering female voice broke through his thoughts. Harry traced it to Hannah Montana. The girl looked at him with unblinking, terrified eyes, her face pale.
Harry sighed and shook his head. Standing here wallowing in his fears wouldn't do anything to stop the Stacyx.
"We have to inform the Ministry immediately. Not just ours, but all the Ministries and Departments of Magic in the world. Still, even if we got every auror in the world, every member of groups like the Order of the Phoenix in the world, the Stacyx would still have us vastly outnumbered. And unfortunately, we can't just conjure up an army out of thin air."
"Sure we can."
Harry turned to Dean with a befuddled look. "What are you talking about?"
A smile slowly spread across Dean's face. "Harry, we are inside the world of television. If you need an army, we can get an army."
NEXT: THE GREATEST GATHERING OF GOOD
AUTHOR'S NOTE: As you can see, the final showdown with the Stacyx is fast approaching. And since I'm such a nice guy, if you have any requests for TV or movie heroes you'd like to see in the upcoming chapters of "The Airwaves War," just send me a private message or leave your suggestions in your reviews, and I'll do my best to include them, even if it is for just a cameo. Remember, Harry and Dean said they need an army. Help me create one.