Chapter 14

November 16, 2015

Ministry of Magic – London, England

Zacharias Smith starts another non-descript day in the Department of Magical Transportation office. The stacks of paperwork, office notes through paper airplanes and his trusty eagle owl quill beside his well arranged inkwells. He takes a seat and starts filtering through the paper pile on top of him.

In the midst of all the boring sorting of travel requests, he spots something that immediately catches his eye. A pair of vacation leaves from Harry Potter and Hermione Granger with their designated officers-in-charge listed down for a duration of one month. 'Interesting, they've just had tea with Kingsley a few days ago and now they both are on leave? Something is fishy about that. Perhaps D'Artagan has an insight.'

Quickly scribbling another note, he taps a dot into the quick note device Maximillian gives him and disappears almost instantaneously. A few moments later, he receives a reply.

Z,

Good work on spotting that. I've had my package tampered with and needed to send a new one because it didn't meet my standards.

Keep me informed, there might be something I might have missed from there, perhaps where they'll be going?

RM

Zach places the quick notes inside his nearest pocket and goes back to work. He doesn't believe that they'll be going to the Bahamas since there isn't any indication of magical in his scanner in Heathrow or any portkey travel going there. Initially, the thinks a cruise ship might be another way, but with a young headstrong and weird kid in Lily Luna, it would make a longer trip for them unbearable. 'Occam's Razor after all'

On the other side of the continent, Maximillian sits down on his comfortable chair and reclines on it, his back facing the entrance door. His eyes are pensive with the latest update and his words still reverberate in his mind with the latest shield rune bracelets he just pitched in.

We protect our world from those who would want to see it burn. Do you want to be feared or respected? Why not both by conducting business with A.W.R.I? To peace!

He raises the champagne flute still on his right hand before he takes a casual sip and places it down on the side. 'Where would Harry Potter and Hermione Granger-Weasley go? I also have information that Luna Lovegood-Potter and Ron Weasley are also out of town.' Max ponders, but stops with a sigh, "I'll put that thought somewhere else for now. I'd better put a better armor for delivery, unfortunately, I still need a squib to wear it…"

Maximillian smiles to himself and whistles happily at the increasing sales their company is getting.

"I hope those 'customers' I have heading to Naxos aren't complete idiots and have the improved armor intercepted again."

Meanwhile in Naxos, Greece

"A man was spotted with three gunshot wounds and most likely drowned to death in between Bodrun and Kos. His arm and leg are missing too, but judging by the bite marks, it wasn't caused by an ax or slicing spell." Harun explains, seeing the latest report handed to him by a police officer he confounded during one of their refugee runs.

"Someone wanted someone to keep quiet. We'll have to keep an eye out and be ready when my paper sentries alert me of any suspicious group." Mikhail says, "but wait, where is that damned Scarlet Pimpernel, he should be here since we're going to join his strike team."

"Right here of course," A voice comes from behind them and Percy finds himself facing three pointed wands at him. "I did tell you I will come." He gives the report a glance and nods, gesturing for them to continue.

Katherine chimes in, "Given that and the distance they have to cover, Naxos really is the best choice if they don't want to be hassled into stopping every nearby island."

"And we'll be able to meet them during the nighttime here. Just be on guard and prepare for the next two hours. We'll be ready by then." The Scarlet Pimpernel remarks and disappears in thin air.

"Hominum Revelio!" Katherine incants and does not find anyone. She does here these words of course, "Up your game, that elementary spell can be countered with the right material." The same deep voice says.

"Damn, might as well prepare instead. I hope one of you reminds me to punch that cheeky bastard after this." Mikhail grumbles and starts tracing Chinese words on the pieces of rice paper he has. Harun replies, "Definitely. I'd like to punch that cocky person as well."

"Count me in as well." Katherin mumbles and they continue their preparation.

8:00 PM - Naxos, Greece.

"It was like the wonder of a falling star that no muggles have passed their delineated perimeter." Mikhail tells himself while waiting for the Pimpernel's go signal.

Underneath the barely visible moon are a group of ten people with one large crate. All of them wear the gloves with the Sanskrit word for Wizard. The only bald person their target is barking orders to stabilize their delivery vessel.

Katherine's blood is already pumping harder into her heart and worries the price they may have to pay in case they launch the assault. A faint whistle comes in from their masked companion. 'It's about time,' she tells herself before summoning a nearby trash bin and slams into one of the package handlers violently.

Mikhail on the other hand breaks through his cover and his eyes are narrowed in righteous fury. The paper talismans and paper cranes comes from all sides. Before his enemy could ignite, he unleashes a torrent of water which knocks back another of his enemies.

Harun dodges a killing curse by half an inch and returns the curse with a crimson looking cutter with black undertones.

One of them attempts to block it with marble, but the spell effortlessly goes through and hits the recipient in the jugular and falls down, trying to apply direct pressure to the wound. "Seven down."

The Pimpernel hops into action, hitting one with his cane on the nape and a solid punch knocks the extremist out cold.

Taking a forward roll, she flicks her wand to her right side and manages to make two of the attackers stick to each other abruptly and knocked their AK rifles from their hands. "Four left," she mutters jumping behind the nearest concrete wall and taking cover from attacking fire from the leader's desert eagle shots.

'Not on my watch,' Percy tells himself and smacks the gun away violently from the right hand of the bald man in the middle. A left hook suddenly comes and the Scarlet Pimpernel barely manages to block it with his right. He winces with the amount of force the man's fist can hit him with.

Mikhail disintegrates the desert eagle with another paper talisman and he sees Harun pinned down by oncoming rifle fire from the other three. A black speck floats by and he smirks, "go."

A blasting hex from the small black crane origami lights up behind the three and it knocks two of the attackers down. The woman wearing a hijab catches Mikhail's eye and she gives him a smirk before she portkeys away. "Damn!"

Percy parries the left cross and gets hit by a left knee to the gut at the same time. He grimaces and gets kicked away by a forward kick to the torso.

The leader dodges an inch and the piercing hex from Harun passes by. Doing a clean backflip to dodge the incoming attack, he manages to hide behind the package and unravels the case. He taps a small nub on the middle part of his left glove.

Mikhail brings the Scarlet Pimpernel up and gives him a pain relieving potion, while watching Harun and Katherine angrily pounding the remaining cover of the last man against them.

A blinding light stops their offensive attack and a pulse nearly catches Harun unawares and a part of his dragonhide armor is cracked from the blast while dodging.

"Round 2," their target remarks before jumping forward and giving Katherine a backhand. Her battle cloak catches most of the force from the hit but she gets knocked out after hitting a nearby wall.

Mikhail's eyes narrow and he blocks the leader's way to Harun and the Scarlet Pimpernel.

"You're feeling smug for having your sleeper cells attack Beirut and Paris." Mikhail remarks and then holds a paper talisman on each hand. He draws a line on the dusty floor in front of him and says, "Try me, you bastard."

He places his left hand behind his back and raises his right hand in a come-hither gesture. Twirling his index finger counterclockwise, Percy smirks and they initiate plan C, 'a distracted suit hammered from his flanks'.

Mikhail walks forward and uses the first talisman to absorb the incoming wider pulse of magic coming at him. Three origami cranes are left and he uses those to take the next three blasts.

His eyebrows furrow when he notices two approaching blurs from the remains of the box going for their enemy's leg.

"Fuck, they made it an exosuit!" Mikhail exclaims within himself, using a second talisman to absorb another blow. Percy manages to destroy one with his cane, but Harun misses his shot when another pulse clips his left leg.

"Two down," the bald leader mocks as the remaining leg attachment connects to become a magical exoskeleton.

Mikhail dodges to the right and starts circling the enemy. He notices Percy disappear and he smirks, taking his wand and going on the offensive, tossing a bag full of marbles at his opponent and it explodes in midair, blinding their target. Percy then slaps a small slab of red semtex with a small magical electric fuse in the middle of it.

The bald leader kicks forward and a bit of blue flame propels him towards Mikhail, who is five meters away. Percy nods and presses the trigger rune. A second later, the semtex explodes and destroys the suit.

Mikhail gives the bald leader a cold look and backhands him in the face before slapping a talisman on his head. "Help me clear this up, Harun," he remarks while placing a numbing charm on Harun's banged up leg. The Scarlet Pimpernel carries an unconscious Katherine and places her on a nearby bench.

Mikhail hisses, "Now I really want to kick the bastard in the balls now. But besides this, good job still." Harun and the Scarlet Pimpernel give him a thoughtful look and nod.

"I'll be working with you guys soon." Percy remarks and disappears after they finish with the repairs and securing the stunned and captured men. Mikhail places a talisman on each of their heads and they begin to hop behind Mikhail to go back to the Naxos HQ. He is pensive, carrying Katherine with him. "She's going to be pissed off at cue ball when she wakes up."