Chapter Nine

Elsa let out a long breath, momentarily covering the Crooked Man's whispers. For a moment she glared in his direction before she looked at me and then Ron and then Hermione. Then, after taking each of us in, she looked back at the broom that was on the ground.

"It really is better if you project confidence," said Hermione, a gentle smile spread on her. "Andrew likes to say that everything means something where magic is concerned—"

"Which is just something almost everyone in the magic world believes in one capacity or another," I interrupted. "More than not in the Ravenclaw and Slytherin houses. Everything means something when you try to manipulate and all that—"

"Is this going somewhere?" Elsa asked, her voice slightly shaky.

I shook my head. "Not really, no. Though I was hoping you wouldn't think about the broom all that much. It helps me."

"Well it isn't working," she said. "This is a flying broom. It's not supposed to work and yet it does. And because of what? Magic?"

"Would it help if you thought a tinker had built it?" said Hermione.

"Yes," said Elsa.

"Then think of it like that," said Hermione. "A tinker created that and she made it so that it responded to emotions and expectations."

"Why would someone even do that?" Elsa asked. The Crooked Man whispered. "My thoughts on the matter, yeah," she said. It had almost been a full day, enough time that our camp was considerably larger with a more spread out array of spells that were now in Wales instead of Scotland.

It had been enough time that almost all of us were used to the fact that Elsa spoke to the Crooked Man and we couldn't understand it. The only one who wasn't…couldn't get used to it was Andrew, trying to figure out why we couldn't understand the Crooked Man. It had a good thing the man had left for another boring meeting.

"He says because you're all crazy," Elsa said to us. "Needlessly complicating something that should be simple. This is dangerous. The Crooked Man's been saying that over and over. There aren't many safety precautions on the thing and—"

"You haven't even raised it yet," said Ron. "How about you first do that before worrying about when you're actually flying?"

Elsa looked at Ron for a long moment before she nodded and then let out another breath. "You're right," she said and Hermione smiled. "You're right." She took a breath and then said, "Up."

The broom wobbled but didn't acquiesce.

"Well," said Hermione. "That was a good starting point. Now keep shouting 'up' over and over until you can call it to your hand. Then I'll start teaching you to ride."

"I thought I was teaching her," I said.

Hermione shook her head. "You and Ron actually love the darned things," she said. "You never really had to learn to ride them. I did. I think I'd know how to help Elsa if she's struggling in a particular subject."

"No offense, Harry, but I'd like Hermione to teach me," the girl said, at that the Crooked Man disappeared.

"Ouch," I said. "Ouch even more because the Crooked Man."

Elsa shrugged. "The Crooked Man mentioned a situation where you flew me too high and expected me to control a broom as I was falling," she said. Hermione gave me an accusatory look while Ron just chortled under his breath.

"I would never," I said, quite aghast. Though, if I was admitting it, I could see the merit in it. If she was in real danger I could fire off a Cushioning Charm that would catch her before she hit the ground.

"He's thinking about it," said Ron, his grin even brighter.

My cheeks flooded with heat and I rubbed the back of my head, running my fingers through my hair. "Okay," I said. "Maybe I might. You're right. Let Hermione teach you. But if I was the one doing the teaching then I'd eventually teach you how to stand on your broom."

"No thank you," said Elsa. She took a breath. "Up." The broom wobbled with more vigour.

I smiled as I watched Elsa keep trying and gave a whoop as she succeeded on her sixth try. Hermione proceeded to give riding lessons then, on the procedure of a stable mount.

Soft pops sounded from the centre of our site and Zabini and his entourage appeared. Zabini at the centre and there was a cold expression on him. They moved closer, getting to our encampment.

"Everything go well?" Ron asked.

"In a manner of speaking," said Zabini. "Northern Ireland seems to be moving with the most vehemence and they've got the backing of everyone else through their delayed action—"

"But then it really might be the process taking its time," said Terry. "Reading says this world is much like ours in most instances where muggles are concerned. Well…were people are concerned honestly. It might be biases on our part," he said and he gave Zabini a look at that.

"They have reason to," said Zabini. He looked at me and when I turned to the others they were looking at me too.

"Yeah. Yeah," I said. "I know and it's possible. Probably used Sasha to see the outcome if we were there. Probably checked the outcome to see if they went a particular path too. Her ability is really a bitch to work around."

Zabini let out a hum. "Tell me more about these Enlightened," he said.

"Bad guys that see the Endbringers as gods," I told him. "They use chaos to call them near."

"Abilities?" he said.

"Herald is sort of like the Imperius Curse," I said. "Another has a trump nightmare ability, another controls water and there's another

one. They get killed a lot which means they change their roster. They haven't really been seen since they last attacked and then there were only two of them."

"Okay," said Zabini. "Andrew you think you could get started with countermeasures? Maybe Hermione might help?"

There was a small scream and I turned and looked. Elsa's broom lurched and the Crooked Man appeared, plucked her off from her broom and let the broom fall.

"We'll have to at least get some protective enchantments up on our clothes," said Ron. "I'll get started on that. Give me all your clothes, it should take me a couple of hours to be on the safe side."

"Maybe I should do it," said Andrew. "I've been practising the power of the abstract—"

Ron shook his head. "I've got the Weasley family formula," he said. "It's much quicker and more efficient than the pure theory stuff."

"I don't think that's true," said Andrew and then he frowned. "But then it might. There's emotion behind magic and the confidence you play might have a part. Then there's the fact that you're a Weasley and—"

Ron shook his head. "Clothes please," he said. "I'll get started as they come." And then he walked away. Andrew had stopped talking at this rate, watching Ron as he walked away.

"He doesn't like me much, does he?" he said.

"He doesn't like being lectured," I said and then I clapped him on the back, ushering him a little forward. He left, going to his tent, the largest of all gathered tents. "Why are we doing this?" I asked. "Getting involved?"

"They've given us implicit leave, for one," said Terry.

I shook my head. "Still doesn't feel right," I said and then I frowned. "Unless this is information gathering. Getting a lay of the land in case things go bad."

Zabini tensed while Terry's eyes were unreadable. I didn't even try and get anything from Archie and Freddie.

I let out a long breath. "All of you knew this coming in?"

"Yes," said Zabini. "Is this going to be a problem?"

I shrugged. "Not that I have much choice in the matter," I said. "This is the path of things and the only way to move forward is to use this for my own advantage. We're helping people and I'm happy with that."

"Good," said Archibald. "Then we can be blunt about this. We'll need a log of all the abilities you've come across and their limitations."

I gave him a nod. "Expect it within the hour," I said. "When will we move?"

"We'll first hash things out," said Zabini. "Make the implicit explicit and then take it from there."

"I'll leave that to you," I said. "I'll get that log done."

A part of me didn't like that I was doing this, but another part felt that the same was being said for them. It seemed stupid not to expect the worst, especially when the worst was losing a world. But the part of me that didn't like this thought, rather loudly, that this was the badness of the world seeping in. Our suspicion of the actions of the other might cause an irreversible action on one of both sides.

That was the scary part of all this, which prompted a third part of me to think that it might just be better to leave this world. Most of us wouldn't be happy about it, but when we looked at the greater scope it would be the best thing on all counts. But then I thought about the individual people and how they would be affected by all of this and I hated myself for thinking in the direction.

"You look pensive," said Ron. He had neatly folded clothes hovering just to his side. "Clothes are done."

"Thanks," I said. I pointed my wand and took over the spell, sending the clothes to my suitcase.

Ron chose a chair and sat. "What's going on? You're not as happy as I thought you'd be when you, you know, left," he said.

"I didn't leave," I said. I took a breath. "I just took a break."

Ron shrugged. "Whatever it was. I thought you'd be better," he said. "But you don't seem like you are."

I shrugged, looking at the log and continuing to jot down the abilities that I could remember. Ron was quiet for a long time and I expected that he might leave, but he didn't. He sat there looking at me with an unreadable expression. He was like that lately, more patient than he had been when we'd been at Hogwarts. But then, he'd grown up. Hermione and I were still the same in a respect, though Hermione had always been mature. But he'd changed, gotten older in a way that counted.

I let out a long breath. "I'm just…I don't know what to do," I told him. I looked up and he was looking at me. "There's a lot opportunity to screw things up. It looks like the best thing to do might be to leave."

"It does," said Ron and he sat back a little. "But then, we'd be leaving these people to…whatever the Endbringers are, even though we might be able to help them."

"Exactly what I'm thinking," I said. "It's frustrating because each option has its own sort of badness."

"But then…one is definite, isn't it?" said Ron. I hitched up a brow. "Well, we know for a fact that the Endbringers are going to attack. We know for a fact, at least going by past events, that people are going to die. And we know for a fact that we'll help. But us messing up isn't definite. Steps are being taken to mitigate any damage—"

"But there's still the very large damage that might occur if the damage isn't mitigated enough," I interrupted, frustration in my voice. "I fucking hate things not being simple. When we were growing up, things were easier. Voldemort was evil and he had to be stopped. People that willing stood with him were under the same hat and they needed to be stopped too."

Ron shook his head. "That's not true, Harry," he said. "It's just how we saw things. The world has always been complicated we just never noticed it. The trials showed that. A lot of people had prejudices when they stood with Voldemort, but there were some that were just scared. They weren't evil, just in a shitty position."

"We were in shitty positions and we still never did what they did," I said.

Ron didn't mirror my frown. He just shrugged. "Context," he said. "I'm sure we missed a lot. I'm not saying what they did was right," he said when I moved to speak. He must have seen something in my face, something I felt. "I'm just saying…the world has always been complicated. How we deal with that shapes the people we grow towards."

I let out a hollow huff. "Just so you know, that doesn't help me any," I said.

Ron shrugged.

I gave him a smile that I didn't quite feel. "How angry is Hermione with the Occlumency thing?" I asked.

"She's…not really talking to me," he said. "I'm just not sure if it's because she's busy or if she's that angry. I'm thinking of getting her a gift, but I'm not really sure what yet."

"Could get her a computer," I said. "The small kind. They're pretty cheap in this time."

He grinned. "It'll mean something she has to learn to use," he said. "She'll like that. Thanks, mate," he said and then he left.

I hadn't been lying when I'd said he hadn't helped me much, but did show me what I had been struggling with. Context. I hadn't put my finger on it before but it was what I was struggling with on the Aiden and Brody front. If I worked on it, then I might be able to help them on my own. But I couldn't without accepting the risk of something truly bad happening.

All of it was an interconnected ball of cause and effect that I couldn't pull apart. I couldn't help with impacting everything else and since things were so dangerous, it left the only clear option, leaving those kids under people with a master that could take away choice from them.

I knew what that was like and I knew the after-effects. After having being led a certain direction for so long, when I was older it became harder to make decisions. The same could be said for them down the line and then they'd hit a slump as they searched for meaning when they were older.

I didn't want that to be true but there was just so much risk.

Ron's words came back to me again: Context.

There was context here that decided my inaction, even though I found it morally reprehensible. Maybe there was context then too, why so many people hadn't acted and others had sided with Voldemort. Maybe it wasn't just cowardice.

But then memories came back of the number one excuse people had used: I was scared.

I'd been scared, the thought came and it was filled with all of my anger. But I did something. I didn't side with him, even when what he was doing was clearly evil. When he was hurting others.

Colin had been scared and he'd acted, even died for it.

"Fuck me," I muttered. It was starting again. I could feel the anger starting to burn out and the sadness rearing its ugly head. The last time I'd let it fester I hadn't been able to leave my house for a month, I'd ignored Ginny even though she'd tried to help me through it and…

I took a breath, closing my eyes and focusing. Occlumency was supposed to help and so were potions. But I could deal with this. I just needed to act, do something that made a difference and it would go away.

I focused on the log. The sooner I got it done, the sooner we'd go to Belfast and deal with the Enlightened.

It helped a little.

"Expecto Patronum," I said and the Patronus helped a little more.

888

A fox of blue light appeared and in Terry's voice said, "Harry, do you know a monster parahuman who calls herself Jay?"

I looked up from my meal at that and pulled out my wand, sending out a return Patronus. I felt a little embarrassed that I hadn't thought about finding a way to contact her. She wouldn't have been with the King's Men long enough to be under Sir Kay's power, and she still wanted to remember the person she'd been.

The fox appeared again and said, "She's clean. We'll be arriving with there in a moment." In the distance I heard a soft pop and in unison we turned to face the arrival of Terry, Blaise, Seamus, Susan and Jay.

"Merlin," muttered Ron.

"God," said Andrew. "Is this a facet of his power? That he formed is changed to that degree?"

"I don't know?" I said. "Jay? Can you tell us anything?"

"I don't remember," said Jay and people started, almost all of them moving to go grab their wands. "Even that."

"He can hear us?" said Andrew, his eyes bulging. He looked in Jay's direction. "I'm sorry if I offended you."

"It's fine," Jay's voice sounded. "It doesn't matter. I'm happy I found you again. I thought you'd disappeared, Harry."

"Sorry about that," I said. They were closer now. I waved my wand and conjured more table and chairs, summoning plates and food. I made sure to sit Jay next to me. "It's been a busy almost two days."

"Yes," she said. "The King's Men…I heard when you were fighting. I decided to run, think over what I wanted to do before they finally found me. They told me to come to you."

"The King's Men said that?" said Hermione. "Why?"

Jay took her seat and started grabbing food, eating it with the mouth that was in her stomach. It must have taken a little bit of effort for the others not to recoil, because even with the beings that existed in the magical world, Jay was a deviation. Elsa was the only one who couldn't school her expression, but then she was sitting to my right and Jay wouldn't be able to see the girl clearly even with how tall Jay was.

"It was Splice," said Jay while eating. "She told me to tell you that she's fine, that everyone's fine and that they're helping people. She said that it was the heat of the moment before, and that emotions were high and that's why they tried to kill you, but if you carry a mutual peace, then there's no reason to fight. She said the King's Men are good and they're still trying to do good and Sir Kay's ability help them think along the same lines."

"Sir Kay's another Imperius para, right?" said Andrew. "Except his would be different from Herald?"

I nodded. "I still don't know how it works," I told them. "But I know that it has a time factor to it. You have to be around him for a period of time before it works."

"It's scary the amount of Imperius super-muggles they have," said Ron.

"Not all that much when you consider that every wizard has the Imperius Curse," said Archie with a shrug. "Just here its specialised. But it can be countered with our own. I was thinking that, since we're going to be dealing with these super-muggles, then it might be a good idea to have the non-combatants curse the rest of us so their Imperius people don't get control of us."

"They'll be the weak point though," said Susan. "With their thinker parahumans they might be able to deduce that we've done this and target them."

"Boundary spells and standing protective enchantments," said Freddie. "I've heard you have a penchant for those, Mr Potter."

I nodded. "The complicated stuff will take some time," I said. "The exotic stuff will mean I have to learn it. But if we found a safe location then I could build the Shield of Permanence. That has the obvious issues though and we don't know if we'll be here long enough for that to matter."

"What's the Shield of Permanence?" said Elsa.

"A permanent shield," I said. She scowled and I chuckled. "It's really that. It's the basic of protective enchantments around homes, but it's used mainly by old families. People that can spend an upwards of six months away from home waiting for the spell to be strong enough to stay without constant sources of magic passing in and out of it. But the thing can take a wallop if it gets old enough."

"Then how to do you know about it?" said Elsa.

"Because he's in one of those old families that can do that," said Seamus. "I know he doesn't look it from his scruffy visage. But Potter here is filthy rich."

"You're rich?" said Elsa. "But…you were slumming it?" She shook her head. "All this time and we could have been living it up in a fancy hotel and you had us living in that dingy flat."

"Back on topic," said Hermione. She looked at Terry and Blaise. "I take it this means they've given explicit word?"

"As explicit as it will get," said Blaise. "We told them we were amicable to the idea to start setting things up in Belfast, working on their Endbringer shelters and our people thinking of a non-threatening way of seeding Harry's evacuation constructs—"

"Finally saw it and it was excellent work," said Andrew. "I mean, you could have shaved off a few notches of the spell network's intensity and you could have used a 'stronger' material. But it was still excellent work."

"—and they said," Blaise continued, as though he hadn't been interrupted, "that we had leave to protect ourselves however we saw fit. So long as it didn't break any of the laws that apply to parahumans. Worthy of note, we've officially been designated as parahumans and they said it might be better, since we'll be engaging supervillains, to have parahuman personas. So as to form a distinction between what do as the Group and fighting villains."

"Yes!" said Seamus. "Spitfire. I'm calling myself Spitfire!"

"I think there's already a cape by that name," said Elsa.

Seamus deflated. "Really? Who?"

Elsa shrugged. "I think they're American. Of course you could," she said. "But then people might just think you're them…" She frowned. "They must be international if I know about them. But I don't think they're in the Protectorate."

"Then Blaze," said Seamus.

"I'd rather you didn't," said Blaise.

"Star Fire? Firestorm" Each time Elsa shook her head. "Damn it. Are there even names left?"

Elsa shrugged. "You'll have to go to PHO," she said. "Check—" Seamus stood dramatically, slamming his hand on the table and pointing at Elsa.

"Name a city," he said.

"Bangor?" said Elsa.

"Then finish eating," he exclaimed. "Because when you're done. We're going to pillage that site until we find a name worthy of me."

Elsa looked at Seamus for the longest time before she just shrugged.

"And I'll start working with Jay," said Hermione. She wore a small smile. "I'm not got at Legilimency—"

"Certainly better than me," I put in. Hermione smiled brighter.

"But I think I might be able to make headway. I studied a little while working to reverse memory modifications," she said. "It'll have the same general principles."

"Thank you," said Jay, and she actually stopped eating at that to look at Hermione. "We'll start now?"

"After we finish eating," said Hermione. Jay nodded and then returned to her food.

"What will you be doing?" said Ron.

I shrugged. "Visit Merlin. See how she's dealing," I said. Blaise in my direction and I held up my hands. "Not going to do anything with the King's Men." He looked away, going back to a conversation with Susan and Terry.

"I'll come with you," said Ron. "Want to meet this…Merlin." He had a tone as he said this.

"Am I missing something?" I asked. He shrugged. Hermione snorted, giving me a knowing look. I decided to push it out of mind. Hermione and Ron could get annoying when they were on the same wavelength.

Lunch finished and thus we spread out. Archie, Freddie and Susan moving discuss further security controls; Hermione and Jay going off to start working on her mind; Terry and Blaise doing whatever it is they did, probably discussing contracts or something; while Andrew was likely off to tinker; and Seamus and Elsa disappeared for their grounded internet adventure.

"Should we be going then?" said Ron. I nodded and took his shoulder, turning on the spot and appearing a little away from the Suits' base in an alley. "Before we leave…?"

"Yeah. Right," I said. I pulled out my wand and pointed it at him. "Imperio," I said. "You actions are your own and will be your own even a master tells you otherwise."

He returned it, saying the words in the spell and casting a fog of happiness over me. The impulse to push it back was almost instinctive, but I held back, listening Ron's hard words. "You're actions are your own and will be your own even if a master tells you otherwise."

The happiness eased until it hung low against the back of my mind. We nodded to the other and then left the alley, walking as small distance and choosing a side-entrance as entryway. There was a receptionist there and after giving her my name and waiting as she called, she told us we'd find Merlin in one of the rooms on the fifth floor. We boarded the lift, walked a little before we were knocking on a door.

It hissed open, revealing a mess of machinery. Another tinker workshop, but this one was more disorganised. Merlin was there, so were Ace and Nandi, and all three of them looked enraptured in their own project.

Merlin looked up. "You're back," she said and then she returned to her work. She didn't have her drones which meant she was more hands on in her work. "Thought you'd forgotten about the mess you left when your friends arrived."

I didn't say anything for the longest time, left reeling from what she'd said. I hadn't expected it and I couldn't defend against it.

"Um…"

"That's not fair," said Nandi to her sister. "To anyone involved."

"What's going on?" I asked. Not Merlin, but Nandi.

Nandi let out a sigh. "Dad wants us to return to the King's Men," she said. "Or at least. He wants Thandi to return and he wants me to join them. He wasn't open to the idea of hiding with the Suits, saying that would send the wrong message about the King's Men—"

"Short of it is that he's under Kay's effect too," said Ace. She snorted a little. She wasn't wearing her costume which meant I could see the ugly smirk she wore. "All the good it did not doing anything and it's biting her in the ass," she said.

Merlin tensed, hand clasping tightly around a wrench before it eased. She reached into a compartment that opened on her hip, pulling out a square box. She pressed it and reality tore.

She looked at me. "I'm going to do this on my own," she said. "I've still got money and I'll get more while working with them," she said and gestured at the rip. "I could ask you for help but then I saw what you did with Aiden. I don't want another master hanging over my head. Nandi, you coming?"

Nandi looked in the direction for the longest time before she shook her head. "No," she said. "I think I'd feel better if I stood for myself at least in this. My power's…too close to yours. You're a tinker. I'm a tinker. You can modify yourself and the more I look at directions in my head, the more I'm seeing suits with similar effects to what I've seen you do." She shook her head again. "I feel like…I've always been stuck in your shadow and now my power is doing the same in a way. Maybe if I'm away from you things might be better."

Merlin nodded and then flew forward, wrapping her sister in a hug. "I love you," she said. Then she looked at Ace. "Keep her safe. I don't want make threats, but…"

"I get it," said Ace. "I will."

With that, Merlin glided away, the hole behind her closing. That was certainly a way to feel more horrible about what had happened, and here I'd thought I might feel better after all of this.

"We should get to leaving," said Ace. "The Spade Unit will get here in the hour and then there'll be three units here which won't be conducive to anything. I don't like it, but I should be away from the UK for a while less I do something stupid and impulsive."

"What about your dad?" I asked Nandi. "If you're away then…"

"Thandi didn't want to take the chance that he would return to the King's Men and have the effect be bolstered or whatever. So she's keeping him away. In a place where he can't hurt himself in an effort to get away."

"I guess that's….good," I said and the words were hollow. Nandi shrugged. "I guess…we'll be leaving then."

"Before you do," said Ace. "Maybe help build a teleporter so we can be out of here faster?"

"Name a place and I'll do it," I said. The Port Key wasn't all that much trouble to do.

888

"Well, that wasn't what I was expecting out of that," said Ron. He took a sip of his coffee and frowned in distaste, pushing it to the side.

"Tell me about it," I said. "But then, it's been a hectic few days."

Ron hummed. "Things will get better," he said. "Hermione and Andrew put to the task and I'm sure they can find a counter for that…master effect?" I nodded. "That master effect. And things will get even better when we have access to all our resources."

"You think things will go our way in the Wizengamot?"

"Old families love money," said Ron, his eyes roving over the menu. We were still in Belfast, in a café that looked over a busy street that featured a plethora of expensive car models. When a particularly interesting one would pass through, Ron would pull out his camera and take a picture for Mr Weasley.

"We're old families," I said.

Ron looked up, surprised. "You know, with the many times I've been called Blood Traitor I've forgotten that," he said. He shrugged. "Whatever. You know what I mean."

"That I do," I said. I took a sip of my own coffee, letting my mind run loose and not thinking about anything in particular. I watched as people moved with purpose, how some with chatting with smiles on their faces and some with furtive expressions and looking over their shoulders every so often.

Those I could understand. It was the former I couldn't. They were in a city that was in the process of inviting an Endbringer and yet they just went on with their lives. But then, what could they do? Leave every time something like this happened? It was asking people to give up too much.

It might also have been a measure of security to know that an American city, at least for now, was worse off. The bombings had escalated, with the city's Protectorate lagging behind as their villains seemed to be doing most of the work. At least that's what I'd heard discussed. I hadn't noticed that on the news.

"Oh," said Ron, pulling me out of my thoughts. He picked up the camera at his side and took a shot of a yellow car with a cow as its motif. The thing skidded to a stop in front of the café before a man stepped out, dressed fully in a white and blue costume, orange goggles covering his eyes and a head of red hair shooting out at the top of his head.

"Oh," said Ron and we were both on our feet, wands pulled out and pointed. A spell was about to spill out when the man spoke and everyone outside stopped.

"Fuck," I said. Then I grinned. "Quietus." Ron looked at me and gave me a short nod.

Herald strut as he walked in, all the while grinning as he ambled through the café, all the while getting closer to us. He walked to a woman at the table next to ours, asked to have her chair and then pulled it closer to us and took a seat.

Outside, people were starting to gather. The streets were rapidly filling with cars as people stopped, got out and started at us through the window.

"Hello, Gwydion," Herald said, smiling.

"Herald," I returned. I wondered how he knew me, but then if he had the Belfast Boys with him, he had Big Brother and…I really shouldn't have stayed after Merlin had left.

"You can sit," said Herald. "I know my words don't mean much to you and your friend, here, but this is a request on my part."

"And an implicit threat that the people outside will kill themselves if we don't?" said Ron. The people had stopped and were staring in, watching us, sometimes murmuring to their neighbours.

Herald shrugged. "Countermeasures," he said. "You don't live as long as I do without learning from the Mother God. Plans upon plans upon plans," he said. "I haven't reached her level, yet, but I think I'm getting close. It was by my hand that the King's Men were pushed into—" and he gasped "—killing fellow heroes after all."

Fuck. I took a seat at that and Ron followed my lead.

"You were watching," I said.

"I was watching," he said. "Did you know that Big Brother's ability doesn't have a range around him? He'd never thought to try it, especially with his operations rooted in Belfast as they are. But I was interested and it didn't mean much to test it out. Though of course, I'll have to keep him now that I know how powerful he is on the informational front."

"What's this about?" I said, slightly irritated. "Are you just here to gloat?"

"Yes? No? I don't know," said Herald. "I'm…interested in you. Interested in seeing the full lengths of what you can do. I have it in mind, sometime in the future, to perhaps get the Triumvirate under my sway. Eidolon's the worst sort of trouble in that regard. But, using you, I could test how to deal with him. If I can defeat you, then surely I can defeat him, can't I?"

"I don't think that's how it works," said Ron.

"You don't?" said Herald. "Sorry. I don't know who you are."

"Gwydion," said Ron. What I could see of Herald's eyebrow hitched. "Clone," Ron said. "Or at least as close as it could get. Saw the usefulness of it when I saw Evan in action."

"And you're just telling me this?" said Herald. "How suspicious."

Ron shrugged. "You would have figured it out sooner or later," he said.

"Doesn't make sense to hide it," I continued. I didn't know what he was planning, what angle he was playing, but I trusted him. I sat forward a little. "You already saw my wands. You know I'm a trump. There's even enough dots to make a picture."

"You're right," said Herald. "Though it still is suspicious and would have been something I'd been off kilter about, focusing on through our chat enough to make a mistake if I hadn't already known you Gwydion's friend from his alternate Earth."

"What I needed to know," said Ron. He looked at me. "Only way he knows that is if his people have been close to the Suit's base. They're compromised."

I nodded while Herald let out a short guffaw that ended in a grin. "Oh, I like you too, Mr Clone. If you'd asked I might have lied."

"I know," said Ron. "Can we get to the part where we find out what this is about? I was expecting something to eat."

"Okay, okay," said Herald. I took a glance outside and there were more people. Most of them looked scared but they weren't moving, instead just watching us. "Brockton Bay's getting attention," he said. "I don't like that because it means that that attention is straying from us. So I want to make a show."

"A show?" I said, slowly, scared of the words.

Herald nodded. "The Spades have arrived and they're already under my sway," he said. "They'll be the first to attack and then an hour after that, one of my people will attack and an hour after that, and so on and so forth until things start dying down in Brockton Bay.

"I've already seeded a mass suicide through most of the city's population and they'll activate it if they if any other heroes except you and two of your friends are the ones fighting. I've also seeded the command to go off if I'm not on the news this evening to make the announcement with a few other caveats to this. So if I don't make it out of here…"

I nodded, swallowing. "I get it," I said.

"Good," he said. "I want the same friends. Not picking and choosing between them. I want to see how you deal with stress, get a measure of your stamina. I want to know you, Gwidion. So no masks. I'll be watching."

With that, he stood. "You have thirty minutes to make preparations," he said. He grinned. "I have a feeling this will be fun." He stood to leave.

"Wait," said Ron and Herald did. He gave me a short glance. He had a plan. "What would happen if we attacked you now?"

"Well, I have countermeasures," said Herald. "What were you thinking, Red?"

"Oh, just test each other out," said Ron and he smiled a little. "Plans upon plans upon plans. But how do you really know that they're working if you don't test them?"

"A small test of strength before the real fights begin?" said Herald. Ron nodded. "And I suppose you'll want that I not kill people?"

"It goes without saying," said Ron. "We're sort of heroes."

Herald was quiet for the longest time before he gave a curt nod. "Okay," he said. "But I'll hurt them if you don't let me go. I like the sort of small scale chaos this will cause, but there's still he broader fun to think about. Even if I've been aching for this for quite a while. Before we do this needs to be said. You can't talk about or think about anything that you've seen here!"

"I take it we can start?" Ron said.

"Go ahead."

Herald had no sooner said this than Ron and I both acted. The Silencing Spell was quick, not a bolt as most of offensive spells but instantaneous. Ron chose a different angle, he pointed at his throat and, in Herald's voice, said, "Everyone run! You'll get in my way!"

It wasn't panic. It was efficient. People started running for the exits, not pushing or shoving, but opting for speed in an effort to get away. Ron's spell had boomed and so the people outside were doing the same, running away, getting into their cars and gaining distance.

Equal parts shock and excitement shone in Herald's eyes as he stumbled back, a cloak of water erupting off his skin and starting to condense into a from. A hand turned to claws and hardened into ice before they were shot forward, towards us. Our shields reacted and I pointed my wand, slicing it to the side. The water, before it could form a person, was shoved to the side; Ron fired an Imperious Curse and it broke apart as it hit an invisible barrier.

"They're all here," I said. I wasn't sure about Hellscape, but I'd noted two of their powers. The water would be Sea Hag and the invisible barrier was likely Dogoba.

Ron nodded and flicked his wand, sending tables jumping into the air. I followed suit, flicking and breaking apart the tables into pieces that warped into birds.

Herald tried to speak but it didn't work. The café was almost empty now, every having run out, the street was barren but it was starting to refill again. Cars coming to a stop and people coming out of their cars to watch.

The birds dove and then were stopped. Ron disappeared with a crack and my shields formed as icicles were sent in my direction. Ron pointed and was about to fire a spell before his shields formed, something crashing into them with a whump.

Homenum Revelio.

There were a lot of people but none of them were in the room.

"Hormophus," I said as Sea Hag started firing more icicles at me. The spell hit but nothing happened. She wasn't a breaker, then, perhaps she was a para like Jay, one whose form had been warped by their powers. Then the only option, "Confringo!" the spell hit and Sea Hag blew apart.

My shield activated as it was hit by, from the sound of it, a torrent of wind.

The shield was physical and it worked in both directions. It was the reason we had to go to the trouble of putting up shields that activated and deactivated as they were needed. Dogoba had surely noticed that with how Ron hadn't continued attacking Herald as he was assaulted by the torrents of wind.

Ron was doing his best, Apparating and Disapparating to attack Herald but the torrents of wind would quickly autocorrect.

"Leave! You'll get in my way," Ron said again.

Homenum Revelio.

There were no people around except two, most likely they would be Hellscape and Dogoba, and with how far they were I was impressed by Dogoba's control. But why was Hellscape hanging back when we were winning?

Well, we weren't, we were being kept at bay from Herald who had stopped trying to scrambling away and was just standing, dodging when a spell successfully managed to be shot. I could add to that, but then that would be stupid. I had to move in another direction.

I tapped my head and a bubble appeared over my head. Ron stopped and did the same.

Evanesco, I thought with a flourish. All the air in the room, all at once, disappeared. Our shields disappeared and Ron said, "Imperio."

The spell hit, and Herald shattered into glass.

Homenum Revelio, and I looked outside. Herald was there, quickly moving to cross the street. His car had disappeared, probably stolen by the crowd of fleeing people. I started turning on the spot but the colour drained out of the world and I stumbled as I hit a pane of air where the tube should have been.

Ron pointed at a table. "Portus," he said. The table glowed blue, vibrating before it blew apart.

"They've got us cornered," said Ron. "Really wasn't expecting that."

"Gorger, most likely," I said. "I'm thinking glass teleportation?"

Ron shrugged. "We'll have to tell the others?"

I nodded.

Homenum Revelio.

Nothing happened. We had no option but to wait it out.