Unified Theory

Chapter 10: Ill-Gotten Gains

"Well, I'm sorry, but it seemed like the best idea at the time," Harry shot back at Hermione as they met in her office 2 days after the attack on Marauder International. "Granted, getting drunk and beating them was probably a bad idea, but we got some information out of them," he glared at her. "Sirius and I scanned them ourselves, nothing we had could pick up the damn suicide charm on them if they entered the Ministry itself, everything I do is not some plot to make more work for you," he added.

She stared back at him, not saying a word. "Okay, bad choice of words," he frowned, taking a drink of his coffee. "Some things Sirius and I may or may not have done over the last few years may have been to get you riled up, but this is not one of them," he continued. "Any activity with Malfoy or those four we captured that we can work with?" he frowned, not happy with the current situation.

"No, Malfoy's trail has been cold since he left disappeared after you put me in as Minister, believe me, we have been after what was left of the family fortune," she told him. "As for those four, we have very little," she handed him a folder. "Two were hit wizards from Eastern Europe, the other two were mercenaries from the same area," she paused as Harry flipped through the paperwork. "When we examined their bodies, we found they had metal pins inserted into random joints, probably whatever was containing the suicide charm," she watched as Harry nodded. "Any idea how they got by your wards?" she asked him.

"I have an idea, but I don't like it," he closed the folder and handed it back. "The wards we have up are blood based, you can't get in unless you have been keyed in," he watched her eye him angrily. "We used our non-invasive blood testing to get a sample form you and Ron as we keyed you in, take it easy," Harry shook his head. "The only way they all got in, and this is a big if, because it is completely insane," Harry sand emphatically. "The only way into those wards would be if someone was crazy enough to replace all or most of their blood with someone who was already keyed in," Harry got up and started pacing. "The problem is that our wards are built to keep everyone out, but allow people to apparate and such inside the building," he explained.

"How did they get the blood?" Hermione asked out loud.

"Hell if I know, we screened everyone we hired," Harry shrugged. "It took them years to sneak that many people in, they were not under the Imperius, out scanners check for that, they did it willingly," he sat back down. "Once they snuck their people in, they planned it well and hit the most dangerous parts of the complex at once, trying to take it all out at once, bloody Malfoy…" he grunted.

Hermione watched as Harry relaxed in his chair, having got his frustration off his chest. "Harry, this is more than trying to take your company out," Hermione watched him. "From what I got out of Ron, they had the two of you and Gryffindor busy in the basement as they hit their other targets," she watched as he gritted his teeth. "What did they take Harry?" she said with authority.

Harry scratched at his head before looking away. "Harry, there are some times I let you guys do what you want, but this is something that I need to know about, isn't it?" she got his attention by throwing a pen at him. "Pay attention," she scolded as he rolled his eyes. "What was taken?"

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"They got the bloody prototypes!" Harry shouted angrily as Gabrielle asked him the same question a few hours earlier. "They got every last one of the god damn prototypes we had built with the new crystal power matrix and from what Sirius could tell, they got a LOT of the paperwork to go along with them," he spat as he threw his glass at the wall. "Now that bloody bastard Malfoy…" he slumped into a chair in his study and grabbed his head.

"It's okay Harry, we'll find him," Gabrielle rubbed his back. "I am still mad at you though," she swatted the back of his head.

"Yeah, I figured," he rubbed where she had hit him. "About the suit, the whole dying thing, or not telling you when we hit the B-site?" he frowned before he was hit again. "Right, all of the above," he ducked before she could hit him again. "I'm sorry, alright?" he turned and grabbed her hand so she couldn't hit him.

"When you figured out that you were dying, when was it?" she watched him as he released her hand. "Harry?" she asked after he didn't respond and stared off into space. "Talk to me, please," she sighed and watched him.

"I am going to die," he closed his eyes. "Hell, I'm surprised I made it this long," he continued, leaning back against the chair. "I can't get close to people for too long or they notice the anti-AK field, or worse, get a little zap from it," he opened his eyes to look at her. "You know when I figured it out, it was when we broke it off," he looked away and got up from his chair. "I have to go, I need to meet with Hermione," he explained before apparating away.

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"Hey," Ron said uncomfortably as he spooned the food he had ordered onto plates for himself and Hermione.

"Hey," Hermione watched as he served the food and sat down, but did not eat. She set down a few small folders of papers to her left before taking her own seat, noticing the Chinese takeout boxes in the trashcan. She waited as neither of them made a move toward the food, before speaking up. "Dig in Ron, I appreciate the effort," she held back a smile as he attacked his food. They ate in a comfortable silence until Ron finished his plate and Hermione still had 2/3s of hers left.

"You're still mad," Ron wished he had bugged Harry for some wine to help loosen Hermione up.

"Just a bit," she put down her fork and looked at him. "You and Harry's drunken beating of those four was not fun to clean up after," she pointed her knife at him.

"Oh, it's just that?" Ron asked hopefully.

"Thank god you never went into politics," Hermione covered her face with her hand. "No it's not just bloody that," she rolled her eyes at him. "I sent all the paperwork that the Department of Mysteries had over to Gabrielle, but I skimmed over it once," she let out a breath. "From all I read, the process of making the stone takes months, if not years, even if Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Snape can help them get it going…it's going to be too late," she shuddered.

"What about that stasis thing he talked about it?" Ron asked as he eyed her food.

"Sure, talk Harry into something he told Sirius off about, good luck with that," she took a bite and nodded at the plate, giving Ron the go ahead to steal her food. "Harry figured out why they attacked his building," she continued between bites. "Turns out they used their inside people to get into some of his labs, the stuff they swiped…it's not good," she shuddered.

"Especially in the hands of a Malfoy," Ron added before he stole a piece of chicken. "I never got that out of Harry when we were talking, what all did then bloody git's men steal?" Ron paled as she started to explain.

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"Auror Jordan, are you there?" the mirror in the black Auror's pocket asked loudly. Lee groaned and handed it over to closest robber. He was in a local branch of Gringott's near his home in the west side of London when a dozen men in ski masks had entered and taken the bank. What he was more interested in was that half the men had guns, and the other half had some odd looking devices, looking like a cross between a gun and a vacuum cleaner. When they entered they used the odd looking weapons to incapacitate the goblins immediately, then his bloody mirror had to interrupt.

"Looks like we got us an Auror here," the man threw his mirror against the wall shattering it. "You picked a bad day to come here son," he laughed at Lee.

"Just take it easy, no one is going to try anything," Lee tried to defuse the situation. "Just take what you want and leave, no one has to get hurt," he kept his hand sup, trying to calm the men down. The man closest to him kept his weapon trained on him has the leader directed the men to start bagging all the money they could from the tellers.

"Bring him here," the leader ordered the man who was guarding Lee. "Jordan, how nice to see you again," the man sneered at Lee.

"I'd be lying if I said the same," Lee jerked his head as the man's wand dug into his neck. "Nice to see you too Zabini," he glared at the man.

"Now now, let's not let the past catch up with is, I know you have a way to call Gryffindor," he jerked his head at a man holding a hostage. "I want Gryffindor here, or else we start killing them, one at a time," he grinned.

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"What the hell?" Harry frowned when a light started blinking out of the corner of his eye. He looked around, making sure Gabrielle had not snuck into his lab again as she has been doing since they moved to the B-site. "This is Gryffindor, go ahead Lee," he said in a deeper voice as he tried to trace the signal being sent to him.

"Hey there James, sorry about this," Lee spoke before he was cut off.

"Gryffindor?" an unfamiliar voice came over the link.

Harry frowned as he sealed his lab. "Who is this, what have you done with Auror Jordan?" he asked as he followed the trace on the signal, trying to locate Lee.

"He's fine for now Gryffindor, but we will start killing him and the other hostages very soon, unless you do what we say," the voice replied over the link.

"What do you want?" Harry asked as he finished tracing the signal, locating the bank.

"Simple really, we want you, or your boss Potter to take their place," the voice laughed. "Someone is going to die Gryffindor, choose between you, your boss, and the Auror," the signal cut off.

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"Hermione, don't hang up, this is important," Harry said as he powered up his apparation spell.

"What is it Harry? I am still trying to juggle finding a way to save your bloody life and keeping the Wizengamot and the Muggles from making me come after your head," Hermione groaned.

"Are we secure?" Harry asked as he keyed in his target, a couple miles from the bank and disapparated.

"Yeah, we're clean, according to the thing you gave me," Hermione confirmed. "What's wrong?"

"Gryffindor got a transmission from Lee Jordan a few minutes ago on the emergency transmitter we left him," Harry explained as he shot off through the sky. "He was at a bank and a goblin tripped the alarms, so Auror command sent a signal to the closest Auror. He's currently being held hostage with an unknown number of people, the robbers…they're not robbers…" Harry frowned.

"I'll ignore how much you know about Auror command, what do you mean they are not robbers?" Hermione asked him.

"They took his Auror mirror and broke it, then they made him contact Gryffindor," Harry explained. "They're going to kill people, they asked for me or Gryffindor, otherwise they're going to kill Lee," Harry frowned as he targeted the bank.

"Harry, Gryffindor still has authorization to carry out mission I authorize," Hermione spoke quickly. "Send him in, get Lee and the others out of there, I'll take care of the aftermath," she ordered.

"Sirius will send Dobby by with all our information on the attack when he can, I need to go now. We'll be in contact once the situation is handled," he closed the communication as he dove at the roof of the building, crashing through it, landing on the bank's marble floor loudly.

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"Potter sends the Muggle, how typical," the man sneered at Harry as he kept his wand pressed to Lee's head. "No matter, we need to get some practice in with our new toys," he motioned with his free hand to a few robbers. "Take the tin man apart," he ordered the men.

Harry frowned as he and Sirius surveyed the situation, counting up the hostages. "I count 16 friendlies, and a dozen baddies, lighting them up in red and green for you," Sirius spoke into his ear as Harry's display changed to help him target better.

"Figure out the best order to take them out and program the damn spells, I'll keep them busy," Harry ordered as he raised his hands, shielding him from the magical blasts sent by the robbers. "They have my bloody weapons," he growled as he watched them keep firing.

"Bad news…when the alarms were tripped, it hit the goblin wards, can't apparate or portkey the hostages out," Sirius spoke into his ear. "You gotta take the baddies all out yourself," Sirius explained. "I got the targeting up, only problem we have is with the bastard holding Lee," Sirius added.

"Let the Auror go," Harry ordered in his deeper and metallic Gryffindor voice.

"I think not," the man holding Lee laughed, pulling his mask off. "The only reason you haven't freed him yet is because you can't without chancing his life, pathetic Muggle," he smirked at Harry.

"Zabini," Harry quickly sent out a low level electo-magnetic pulse, disabling the stolen weapons. "Give it up and maybe the Ministry will go easy on you," Harry threatened as the robbers noticed their useless weapons.

"I highly doubt that," Blaise froze as he saw his men playing with their useless weapons. "Kill him now!" he shouted, pushing Lee to the side. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouted as he shot the green light at Harry.

Harry saw the light coming and watched the shields automatically come up. He grimaced as the men opened fire with their guns, backed up with AKs and other dark spells. He fired back quickly, dodging as best he could in the heavy metal suit, downing the attackers within a minute, making sure to avoid the hostages. He shot a stupefy from his left hand, downing the final robber before allowing himself a second to regroup. He whirled his head as warning sensors went off. "Don't touch them!" he shouted to the people, noting Lee jerking his hands back as the unconscious body of Blaise disappearing.

"Hostages are all still here Harry, no one got caught in their automatic portkeys," Sirius confirmed. "Shields are a 40%, I wouldn't advise not taking that much damage again if at all possible," he joked.

"You okay Jordan?" Harry asked Lee as the hostages began to recover.

"Yeah, just fine," Lee scanned the room with his wand out. "So, those goofy looking guns they had shot spells, care to elaborate?" he glared at Harry.

"Ask your Minister, she has teams on the way," Harry brushed him off. "I need to go try to track them, tell Minister Granger that we'll be in touch," Harry ordered before he disapparated loudly.

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Back in his new lab, Harry was pacing in his black bodysuit. "This isn't good Pads, they know how to use the bloody weapons, hell, they know how to modify them," he punched at the wall.

"Harry, you need to calm down," Sirius spoke in his ghost form. "You saved lives today, if they didn't have our weapons, they would still have wand and guns," he continued. "You can't stop bad people from doing bad things," Sirius stepped in front of him.

Harry stopped, bowing his head at his godfather's ghost. "Not like this," he turned away. "We need to fix this bloody AK that is killing me," he looked up at Sirius. "I won't let people get killed by my inventions Sirius," he shook his head. "If we don't know how to make the stone by Christmas, it will be too late Pads," his eyes flared with a green light. "I'm not going into stasis, I'll drop the AK shields and take them out with me if I have to," he muttered to himself.

A/N: Yup, 2x updates in 24 hours, don't get used to it. I am going to try hard to get this done by the end of February so I can start Super Soldier up again (I have a lotta delicious twists in there). Besides that, I blame RL and the economy making me work harder and longer :P

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Steelers 34 – Cards 17