Dice Part Three: There Are No Accidents

"Harry, something's wrong. I can't find any bombs in the building!" Orwell's frantic voice came over Harry's headset. So much for a walk to the kitchen. He held tight to the balance beam in his hands and stared straight ahead as he gritted out a response.

"She can use the building as a bomb. Check for irregularities, system failures…"

Hermione took his advice, her fingers flying over the equipment.

"Found it. There's a gas leak in the main elevator…"

Hermione paused as the guard she'd tazered earlier began to stir and zapped him again.

"All it will take is one spark to set off an explosion and the elevator's on its way up now. Can't you move any faster?"

"No, I can-" Harry broke off as he stumbled and lost his footing on the tightrope. He started to fall, but used the cape to grab hold of the high wire and dangled there, forty-one stories above the pavement. His balance beam had fallen out of his hands and made a sickening crash when it finally connected with the ground below, startling ARK security men who had been stationed nearby. That had been a close thing. If the beam had fallen on someone… Ugh. He didn't want to think about it.

As it was, the ARK officers were naturally suspicious as to why a balance beam had fallen from the sky and they looked up. They started shouting when they spotted the notorious Cape. Harry winced. This was a really bad time to be dangling off of a tightrope, not that he could think of a good time for it…

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Severus Snape frowned as he saw Dice approach him.

"Hello, Severus!" She greeted him cheerfully, as if she hadn't recently tried to kill him twice.

"Dice," he acknowledged her curtly. "What are you doing here?"

"Fixing my mistake, of course. The Cape's not here to save you this time, is he?"

"No, indeed." Snape's lips thinned. The little wretch was right. The vigilante was nowhere in sight. Well, he could damn well hold his own against a deranged witch. "Do you know what your problem is?"

"The wrackspurts in the room?"

"Poor Luna Lovegood: Deprived of a proper childhood; studied in a laboratory for half your life. Well, I have news for you: The blame for that lies with your dear father. Now, if you'll excuse me a moment." He walked to the center of the room and addressed the partygoers.

"Thank you for coming to celebrate the launch of the L.U.N.A. module. When I press this button," he held up a device, "L.U.N.A. goes into mass production. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the future!" He pressed the button to applause. Lovegood, of course, wasn't applauding, just staring at him, completely unfazed.

"Do not think," Snape snarled at her as he came within earshot, "that coming here in a tight skirt is going to make me let my guard down. I'm not some hormonal teenager and the fact that you know what I've done means nothing. You have no proof and you can't touch me. I'd advise you to leave before I have you thrown out!" Lovegood merely smiled in response, though she did head towards the elevators.

"It's been fun playing with you, Severus. I'm almost sorry that it has to be this way. Oh well. Goodbye now." As the elevator doors dinged open, she held up her cigarette lighter and started to flip it on… when suddenly it was snatched out of her hands by a cape.

"I'm sorry. I think I got inside your blind spot," the vigilante called to her. The blonde simply shrugged and ducked into the staircase, leaving Harry to deal with Snape, who seemed to be devouring him with his eyes.

"Dating just isn't as simple as it used to be," Severus purred. Harry repressed a shiver.

"You need to evacuate the building. There's going to be an explosion!" Harry warned him.

Snape frowned. Great; he had to help save people, again. This better not become a habit. Reluctantly, on the Cape's insistence, he made an announcement to the crowd to have them exit ARK Tower-without using the main elevator. His bodyguards grabbed his arms to try to lead him to safety, but he shrugged them off and waved them away impatiently. He faced the superhero.

"How far is this going to set you back?" Harry asked Snape.

"Well, I've still got the designs for the L.U.N.A. module and the software. I'd estimate the destruction would delay the launch for a couple of years, set me back a few million dollars." The Cape grinned.

"Send me the bill," he quipped. Harry flicked the lighter on and tossed it into the open elevator, and then shoved Snape out of harm's way and into the stairwell as the explosion went off.

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Some stories lower in the building, Dice was running down the stairs when she ran straight into Hermione. The blogger shoved Lovegood up against the wall.

"Guess you have two blind spots," she said. "Hope you enjoy Owl Island, bitch."

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Back in the Potters' apartment, Al walked into his mum's room and found Ginny laying on the bed, crying. She sat up and brushed away her tears as he held the comic book out to her. He sat down next to his mother and she wrapped an arm around him.

"I'm really not as good at this as Dad was," she apologized to him up front, before starting to read in a high pitched voice.

"'You'll never catch me, Cape!'"

"Mum," Al interrupted her. "Don't do the voices."

"Right, sorry," Ginny nodded before resuming in a more normal voice.

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Mad-Eye found Harry beating up a punching bag in Trolley Park.

"Need to release some pent-up aggression?" the mentor asked.

"I just spent the last two days saving Snape's life-TWICE!" Harry yelled, giving the punching bag one final jab. Moody offered him a glass of whisky, which he accepted. He downed the shot and then winced as it burned his throat.

"Why did this have to happen to me? I should've just gone back to bed that night. Bloody accident of fate!"

Flashback

"Mad-Eye!" Ron rushed into Moody's trailer. "We just found some bloke in a mask in the tunnels underneath the train yards. He's unconscious, might be hurt bad. Looks like there's been some kind of accident." Mad-Eye glanced down at the parchment spread out on his desk before replying to the redhead.

"Well, better bring him in, then." After Ron rushed off, Moody flipped open the trunk sitting next to his desk. On top lay the spider silk cape. The magician fingered it before sitting back in his chair.

"There are no accidents."

End Flashback

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Severus Snape stood at the window, looking out at the night from his penthouse. Then he felt something, heard something. He sensed he wasn't alone and turned around.

"Who's there?" The room was dark, but Snape spotted a chess game set up on his desk and moved towards the chair. "Yes; yes! Hello old friend!"

Chess sat down in his chair, smiling. His contacts were already on.

"Let's play!"

Author's Note: Yes, Snape is mental in this fic. Don't tell me you're just figuring that out?

Thank you, Orwell and IronAmerica, for reviewing! I am pleased to announce that IA, the beta, gave me the go ahead to post the original draft of the chapter as is.

Questions about this chapter? Thoughts on any of it, for instance, the snarry?

Anybody up for the TCK version of "Goggles & Hicks"?