Fusion of Destinies II: Day of Reckoning
a Harry Potter/Metroid crossover
Chapter 25: Casualties of War
8-21-2009
by Grey-X
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series and all of its characters are the creation and property of J. K. Rowling. Samus Aran and the Metroid series are the creation and property of Nintendo, and was originally masterminded by Gunpei Yokoi (1941-1997).
xxxxxx
"You mean we're supposed to just LET Toadette's message get out!?" spat JB incredulously. Samus has wasted no time filling JB, Adam and George in on her plan, and were just as shocked as her three junior hunters. "No offense, Samus, but I pegged you as a tactical genius. What kind of advantage is there in letting the enemy know the secret behind your upcoming blitzing offensive?"
"There won't BE any blitzing offensive if we can't find Kor-Zor's location," Samus shot back. "And the counter-resistance that's being organized won't have much hope of succeeding if the exact locations of Inferno and its outposts aren't found, and soon. Right now, it looks like our only hope is to let Petunia's beacon go off and track the signal back to its source. With any luck, we can pinpoint the location of their outposts, Kor-Zor's location, Inferno itself, or maybe all three."
"But the tradeoff is that Valkyrie will know exactly what we're up to, and she'll dope out we've got one of her precious Reformers held prisoner," Ron pointed out, sounding exhausted. Along with Hermione, he had removed his helmet and slumped against the wall.
Samus inhaled deeply, swiftly losing her patience trying to convince everyone. Truthfully, she wasn't sure that even with Adam's brilliant mind and the technology at his disposal, her gambit would pay off. But her instincts told her that time was running out, and they had to act on this opportunity. "There's no guarantee she wouldn't find out anyway, judging by how easily Ped slipped into Hogwarts. And we know she's got spies and plants everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew. But we still have one advantage: only we can decipher the location of the other three pieces."
"I say Samus has the right idea," said Harry. "Assembling that weapon is no good if we don't know where to deploy it." She turned to him, relieved someone was backing her up. He still stood tall, keeping his helmet on. He looked as exhausted as Ron and Hermione, but no doubt refused to show any weakness in front of Voldemort.
Samus glared to the back of the ship where Voldemort stood. He had been strangely quiet since returning to the ship, and she suspected the revelation that the Chamber of Secrets wasn't entirely Slytherin's doing, and that his ancestor regretted it, was on his mind. At the moment, he was intently studying Petunia Dursley, who was bound with polymer cable on the biobed, still out cold. No sense worrying about him. He'll come up with some way to convince himself his genocidal zoomershit is still somehow carrying out Slytherin's dreams...just like how Valkyrie keeps telling herself everything she does is for Dumbledore and Harry's mother, she thought acidly. Out loud, she asked, "Voldemort, what about you? If you've got anything to say, now's the time."
He turned around, his scarlet eyes narrowing. "It is a huge gamble with no guarantee of a payoff," he said coolly. "Given enough time, I'm sure my Death Eaters can track down..."
"Weren't you listening?" snapped Harry. "We have no idea how close Valkyrie is to milking Kor-Zor for all the dark energy she needs. We don't have the luxury of time. Samus's plan is our only hope of getting the information we desperately need, right now."
"Well, whatever we do, we better decide fast," George cut in, holding up Petunia's beacon. "I can sense that whatever enchantments were put on this thing, they're getting weaker and weaker. My guess is that it's some sort of timer charm. Once it's gone, the message gets out...and it's just about gone."
The urgency in George's voice seemed to get to everyone. Samus looked down to Ron and Hermione, who just weakly shrugged and nodded in approval. She then interpreted the derisive snort from Voldemort as a yea. "Then it's settled," came Adam's gruff voice. "Someone hook the beacon up to my communications array."
"I'll help you do it," said Hermione weakly, pushing herself off the floor with some effort.
"In the meantime, someone better get those gauntlets off of Dursley before she comes to," said Samus. "And I want them placed in a secure compartment with forcefields. If she can use the ice beam module, then they've got a slew of advanced electronics and I don't want Valkyrie springing any nasty tricks with them."
"I'll be more than happy to pry them off," jeered Voldemort cruelly, turning back to the biobed.
Harry looked ready to explode, but Samus placed a restraining hand on his shoulder. "Adam, make sure Voldemort doesn't do anything stupid. Don't forget, if Harry's theory is right, we need to run every biomedical test available to us on her...and we need her alive."
"Understood, Lady," came Adam's curt reply. He sounded quite unsympathetic about their prisoner, no doubt because she had latched onto the ship without him being any the wiser. Samus understood his frustration. Harry may have pieced together all the clues about Valkyrie's ultimate goal. It's not that she resented how Harry had proven a better detective in this case, it was just that so many people were looking up to her as the only one who could outwit Valkyrie. She was under enough pressure, and here was something vital she had missed. It only served to fuel her doubts about leading a team.
"Samus, something wrong?" Harry's abrupt question jarred Samus out of her troublesome thoughts. She slowly turned around, removing her helmet.
"I don't know, Harry...it's just that...some things die hard, including nagging doubts," said Samus.
Harry gave her an odd look. "What d'you mean by that?"
Samus cast a quick glance back at Voldemort, who roughly grabbed one of Ped's arms, prodding her gauntlet with his wand. Once she was sure he was too engrossed with that, she explained what she felt was a fatal oversight on her part. "Not only that, back there against that runespoor, I almost let Voldemort get taken out of the equation..."
Harry's eyes widened in shock. "You're upset about VOLDEMORT getting in harm's way because of you?" he whispered in disbelief.
"Like it or not, we need him," replied Samus roughly. "And it could easily be you or your friends in the line of fire if I make any more mistakes, and let's not forget my biggest mistake: letting Valkyrie play me for a fool. Ever since coming back, I've tried to convince myself that these old fears are baseless, but now..."
Harry roughly grabbed her shoulder and pulled down so their eyes were level. "Fine, then I'LL convince you those old fears are baseless," he said sternly. "You say you're not fit to lead a team? Please. Who figured out how to expose Slytherin back there? Who figured out how to stop those spinning heads?"
"Still, Ron and Hermione figured out what opened the way to Slytherin's lair, and how to do it," said Samus.
"That's because they know more about magic and how Hogwarts's founders thought and worked," said Harry impatiently. "We're here to back you up, to help with the few things you're not so good at, just like you're here to help with anything involving the Chozo and their technology. That's what being in a team is all about. You've already admitted Valkyrie's too much for any one person to tackle alone, so don't keep acting as if you've got to carry this entire burden yourself."
"It's not like she's got much choice. Each one of us will have to take a separate piece of the founders' weapon, remember?" Hermione called out, holding up a fist, the emerald snake heads on her knuckles gleaming. "If Valkyrie ever lets Kor-Zor's dark power get out of control, us four will HAVE to face it together."
"As for Voldemort...dunno if you ever noticed, Samus, but he's never been much of a team player anyway," added Ron.
Samus sighed. Intellectually, she knew they had good points. Still, the nagging doubts were as irksome as ever. Being any kind of active leader, she realized, was the amalgation of all her worst fears. All of a sudden, flashes of Rundas, Ghor and Gandrayda's grisly fates flitted across her mind's eye, but thankfully Adam's gruff voice snapped her back to attention.
"George insists that the countdown spell extinguished itself seconds ago, and indeed, some sort of carrier wave is being emitted," Adam informed everyone. "I will not claim to entirely understand the mechanics of Asara's little gadget, and there's no telling how the lingering effects of that solar flare will influence..." His doubtful voice trailed off, but when he spoke again, it was in a tone of urgency. "Hold on...give me a moment to process this...yes, it is indeed bouncing off several parts of the upper atmosphere. I think it is possible to trace...SUCCESS!"
With that, a holographic projection of the Earth flitted into existence, the glow far more radiant than Samus suspected such an image should be. Did this excess illumination reflect Adam's mood? Several pulsing red dots on the rotating globe caught her attention. One of them was along the coast of the nation called Norway, no doubt the hangar she and McGonagall infiltrated. About seven or eight others dotted the projection, including one that looked to be a few dozen kilometers from where Valkyrie launched her CME-triggering charm into space.
"And I think it goes further than that, everyone," said Adam proudly. "I'm happy to report that the solar flare didn't garble things as badly as I thought. If these readings from several satellites are sound, that signal wave reaching those outposts is being rerouted, down into the Pacific Ocean...given time to process the data, I may soon triangulate the location of Inferno itself."
A relieved silence fell upon the ship, but Samus's ears were pounding with the furious pumping of her own blood. She had her own doubts about her crazy gambit, but Adam pulled through and it paid off. They were a few steps closer to halting Inferno's ambitions for good.
"I'll be...we're in business now," said JB breathlessly. "Of course, now our own dirty secret is out, so let's book before more of Asara's pets come sniffing around." With that, his hands deftly flew across the cockpit panels, prepping the ship for departure. Samus noticed how he handled the controls as expertly as any trained GF combat pilot.
"Oh, and a bit more good news...I've finally removed these accursed gauntlets from this mutated freak," Voldemort called out from the back. Samus and Harry turned to see Ped's gear on the floor. Voldemort had somehow snapped them open, but judging from the reddish discoloration on Ped's forearms, he hadn't exactly been gentle. Adam swiftly scooped them up with robotic arms protruding from the ceiling and locked them away in a secured compartment. But then, Samus noticed Voldemort examining a wand, one far shorter than his.
"Lemme see that," snapped Harry, pointing his own wand at Voldemort and silently Summoning it away from him. Harry caught it with his free hand and, ignoring Voldemort's mutinous glare, examined it himself, going so far as to remove his left gauntlet to handle it.
The ship slowly ascended above the swampland, then rocketed away, heading back for the Atlantic Ocean. But Harry's attention was focused solely on his aunt's wand. "Hmm, about nine inches, looks really old, think I can see a bit of unicorn hair sticking out from the tip," he muttered. He slashed it around, leaving a trail of white-hot sparks. He then conjured a glass jar in midair, and after it fell and shattered, he Vanished the broken pieces with a simple wave.
Harry looked back over to Voldemort. "Dunno how to break this to you, but this is definitely a real wand," said Harry acidly as he slid his missile-launching gauntlet back on. "No doubt about it now. Valkyrie really did rewrite her DNA and made her one of us."
"And we'd better figure out how," added Samus. "Adam, take as many tissue samples as you need. Run every medical scan you can think of, and keep your findings organized so I can look over them later. Harry's right. Petunia Dursley could be the key to unraveling the rest of Valkyrie's little scheme, but I got a feeling time's not on our side..."
xxxxxx
June 28, 1997 - 2:31 PM Western European Time
Hogsmeade
Even with the sun shining brightly over Hogsmeade, the entire town had a brooding, dark aura that Harry felt even from looking through the cockpit window as JB brought the ship down. The streets were abandoned, and Harry hoped it was because Scrimgeour ordered everyone to relocate to the castle. Still, Harry knew people were waiting in Hogsmeade for them. Special arrangements had to be made for their prisoner.
JB landed the ship a few yards away from the Three Broomsticks. As soon as he did, Harry saw McGonagall, Hagrid, Fleur, Moody and Molly burst through the front door. Bellatrix and a gaggle of Death Eaters followed them out, along with Rosmerta. Understandably, she looked more anxious than when dementors were assigned to patrol Hogsmeade.
Ron and Hermione exited the ship first, holding onto Petunia Dursley. She was forced to stand, but was still bound in polymer cable and looked half-asleep. Samus, Harry and Voldemort followed them out, while George and JB stayed inside. Harry immediately noticed the shocked looks on McGonagall, Hagrid and Molly's faces. They all stared blankly at Petunia. "Merlin's beard, even seeing her now...I still can't believe Asara really changed her," muttered McGonagall.
"Believe it," said Ron dryly. "We had to pry one of those Chozo weapons off of her, and she did NOT go down without a fight. One bloody nasty fight."
"She used a...you fought and..." Molly began before running over to Ron. She grabbed his shoulders and gave his armor a once-over, then looked over his face. "What exactly did she do against all of you? This armor looks fine, but..."
"Mum, lay off," said Ron quickly. "Harry's aunt was tough all right, but nothing we couldn't handle. Slytherin and his giant runespoor, though...THAT thing got in a few good hits."
"What the...don't tell me Salazar Slytherin himself was hiding in that swamp!?" growled Moody.
"More like an android with an artificial intelligence that mimicked him perfectly," explained Samus. "Once he and the runespoor were defeated, we found out he was actually the weapon piece, and bonded with Hermione's suit."
Over a dozen heads turned to look at Hermione, whose face was unreadable as everyone's eyes looked over the green serpentine reliefs. "I don't understand...how can this weapon be assembled if one of the pieces is lodged onto Ms. Granger's armor?" asked McGonagall.
"Turns out the Chozo also made the founders their own suits, and their descendents were supposed to let these four pieces merge with the corresponding suits, so that no one person had total control," said Harry. "Good thing Samus's suit and these Muggle-built ones work just fine."
The Death Eaters and Order members took a moment to digest this. "So, is it gonna be th' same thing in the other three sanctums? Yer gonna have ter fight robot versions of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor too?" asked Hagrid uneasily.
Ron shrugged his shoulders. "Looks like it."
"I can't believe I'm letting you go on these suicide missions," Molly muttered to herself. "Bad enough Samus keeps dragging Harry into these fights, but my youngest son..."
"Mum, there's no way out of this for me. Four people with suits like these are needed," Ron said quickly. "Only I can use this suit now. No one else can fill in for me."
"But perhaps if we find this one suit meant for Slytherin's descendent," said Bellatrix hopefully, longingly looking over at her boss.
Samus shook her head. "Sorry, no time to hunt down the founders' originals. It has to be us four," she said dismissively.
The thought of Voldemort having his own Chozo power suit sent a chill through Harry, as if a Sheegoth belched in his face. Luckily, that was unlikely to ever happen. But then, the mention of Slytherin gave Harry an idea about how to knock down Voldemort and Bellatrix a bit more. "Speaking of Slytherin, on a sidenote, turns out the Chamber of Secrets wasn't really his idea. He was sort of bewitched and manipulated by his half-brother, who was under Kor-Zor's influence."
Just as he expected, Voldemort's expression soured even more, while Bellatrix looked as if she'd stuck her fingers in a light socket. The Order members looked baffled as well. "Y-Y-You mean, he was never truly THAT fanatical about keeping Muggle-borns out of Hogwarts?" McGonagall managed to get out.
"That's what his android said," said Hermione, who looked as pleased as Harry when all the Death Eaters spoke in hushed whispers amongst themselves.
Their Hogsmeade reception, Order and Death Eater alike, seemed unable to come to terms with how this revelation would change many interpretations of magical history forever. Silence lingered over the abandoned town a few moments longer, until Bellatrix finally spoke up, turning to Voldemort. "Erm, My Lord, speaking of the Chamber of Secrets, the potion you wanted brewed upon your return is ready," she said, taking out a corked flask filled with a translucent, light-blue liquid.
Harry eyed the flask apprehensively. "Hold on, just what is that potion?" he demanded.
"A special little something that needed an ingredient you so thoughtlessly made it no problem to get: basilisk venom," sneered Bellatrix.
"Basilisk venom? Wait a minute...you can't mean the one that was in the Chamber of Secrets! Voldemort's X parasites assimilated its corpse!" cried Samus.
"Foolish woman. I would not eliminate the source of such a rare potion ingredient so thoughtlessly, not when you could have recovered your memory at any time and decimated it. I wanted it intact upon my return to the school," said Voldemort. "Those X only took a few cell samples, and the new basilisk moved the corpse elsewhere."
"You still haven't answered my question. What's that potion for?" Harry pressed on.
Voldemort glowered dangerously at Harry for a moment before leaning a little closer. "This potion is not meant for you, your weakling friends or anyone in your precious Order. That's all you need to know," he said acidly. Harry refused to flinch. If they had any hope of making Voldemort toe the line, none of them could show any weakness.
McGonagall looked ready to press the issue further, but suddenly Ped moaned. Harry turned to see his aunt stir. Hagrid glared angrily at her. "So what're we supposed ter do wit' Dursley here? Why're didn't yeh land at the castle and drop her off, instead o' making us come out here ter fetch her?"
"Long story short, we don't want Scrimgeour or anyone in the Ministry finding out that we've captured a Reformer, or rather THIS Reformer," said Samus. "Like Adam told you, Harry suspects Valkyrie's planning to mutate every single non-magical human on the planet, and Petunia Dursley was the first to be transformed by whatever method she'll use. Adam's taken all the scans and tissue samples he feels he needs to find a scientific explanation, but we want you to try and find out what could've been done magically. That won't be possible if Scrimgeour insists on his Aurors taking her into custody," she told McGonagall.
McGonagall looked over Ped uneasily, her face inscrutable, before turning to Harry. "Mr. Potter, you really believe that transforming every single Muggle is Asara's true goal? That your aunt was only the first and won't stop?" she asked.
Harry shrugged his shoulders. "No other explanation makes any sense. She told Voldemort she wanted to plunge Earth into chaos, told me and Samus she wants to manipulate human evolution, and keeps saying she's trying to fulfill my mother's dream of uniting Muggles and wizards. Pulling off something like that would do all three."
McGonagall looked to Hagrid and Moody, their expressions betraying exasperation and doubt. Harry knew they were all wrestling with this idea, something that sounded so admirable on the surface, but couldn't be trusted with someone like Valkyrie was pulling the strings. The Death Eaters, predictably, showed nothing but outright disgust, casting hateful glances at the former Muggle.
"What about interrogating her!?" Bellatrix demanded suddenly. "The slimy monster is one of Asara's lieutenants! All the information we could possibly need can be stripped from her brain one layer at a time, something I'll be happy to..."
"NO!" screamed Harry. "She'll be interrogated alright, but by someone in the Order...not by you!"
"What do you care!? I always thought you despised the Muggle filth that Dumbledore stuck you with!" Bellatrix retorted incredulously.
"Unlike you, I'm not in the business of stamping out family members I don't like!" spat Harry, every impulse now screaming for Bellatrix's neck. She already cost him his godfather, and he wasn't letting her get near his only blood relative. "That's the other reason we're keeping the Ministry out of the loop about this. So far, he doesn't know my aunt is one of Valkyrie's elite soldiers, and you and your boss will make sure it stays that way!"
"What makes you think any of us will do so?" Voldemort asked silkily, his expression one of detached amusement.
"Very simple: because I'm telling you to," was Harry's quick, curt reply.
Voldemort's amused look faded in an instant. "You DARE presume to give me and my Death Eaters orders!?" he roared.
Harry wasn't intimidated. There was no reason to be browbeaten by Voldemort anymore. He popped out his wand and armed his missiles. Icy mist rose from his gauntlet as he charged a shot, letting Voldemort know he meant business. "Damn right I dare! It's like JB said, there's no point trying to bully anyone now that someone bigger and badder than you's come along, someone who's forced you to come to US for help! If you're not willing to go along with our gameplan, fine. You and the Death Eaters can leave, and I'll be happy to show you the way out!"
The two of them stared unblinkingly at each other, the venomous hatred between them threatening to reach the boiling point. The Order members and Death Eaters watched anxiously, but Samus, Ron and Hermione looked even more apprehensive, not sure who needed protection from who. Several tense moments passed in silence, neither one of them backing down, but suddenly, Harry was granted a reprieve in a way no one expected.
In the span of less than a second, an insanely long tongue shot toward Voldemort, snagged his wand, and retracted. Harry turned in horror to see that, somehow, his aunt still had her frog's tongue. Hermione was still holding her, but Ped shoved her aside and turned around. Her hands were bound behind her back, but she caught Voldemort's wand and screamed, "Diffindo!" The polymer cables snapped apart. Now able to move freely, she slashed the air and cried, "Torrentus!" At once, a powerful gust kicked up a plume of dirt and swirled around the street, disorienting everyone. Harry saw her try to Disapparate, but thankfully, nothing happened.
Hagrid moved in, but Ped ducked under his huge, groping arms and made a break for it, clear of her dust storm. But Bellatrix was a few yards in front of her. She aimed and cried, "Expelliarmus!" Voldemort's wand flew away, but Ped charged her. Before Bellatrix could act, Ped unloaded with a few quick punches to her face, took her wand, then grabbed her arm and jerked her elbow backwards. Harry wasn't sure if Bellatrix's scream or the grisly snapping of bone was louder.
But with Voldemort's wand knocked away, her wind current died, letting everyone move freely. Harry decided to end it right there. As his aunt bolted again, he aimed his charged blast at her feet. A flurry of icy mist exploded everywhere, and Ped was blasted into the side of the Three Broomsticks. She slumped to the ground, unconscious again.
McGonagall rushed over to her and conjured some metal bands to bind her once more, along with some sort of muzzle over her face. Meanwhile, Voldemort picked up his wand and used it to mend Bellatrix's broken arm. He wasn't particularly gentle, as Bellatrix's high-pitched scream followed a horrible wrenching sound. "Slimy M-Muggle bitch...d-dares to steal our wands, comes at me with bare fists..." she spluttered.
"I don't believe it, she still has that tongue. We let our guard down for only a few seconds, and she almost escaped. Hard to remember she's still a witch with her looking normal," said Ron.
"It's so hard to believe...whatever Asara did to her, it really is permanent!" cried Fleur. "Good thing we cast wards over Hogsmeade to keep anyone from Apparating in or out, or she'd be gone."
"With my wand no less," added Voldemort angrily. "Get that scum out of my sight, before I come to my senses and decide to rid ourselves of her for good."
Hagrid bent down to scoop her up. Harry was relieved to see that although he still had no love for Petunia, he was at least gentle. "Urgh, we'd better stop underestimatin' these blokes, or they'll get th' drop on us every time!" he grumbled.
"And she's supposed to be the least experienced of those four. How much will it take to subdue the other three? Especially that ferocious vampire leading them?" Fleur wondered aloud as she walked with Hagrid.
Harry remembered something he forgot to ask them before. He rushed up to them and quickly asked, "Fleur, Hagrid, how much do either of you know about Olympe Maxime's family?"
Both of them stared back with blank looks. "Err, never did pry that much, 'Arry," said Hagrid. "Why so interested all o' a sudden?"
"It's something I heard in the memories Dumbledore collected," Harry replied. "Wildflower's real name is Isobel Maxime, and if she's a relative of hers, maybe she can tell us more about her. Fleur's probably right about Wildflower being the toughest Reformer, so we need to learn all we can."
"Well, 'Arry, I'll see if I can send Madame Maxime an owl, but...I am not sure if she'll discuss anything so personal," said Fleur.
"Just try," Harry urged. "I've got a nasty feeling, now that our secret's out, Aunt Petunia's teammates will try to take Hogwarts real soon. If Maxime knows anything we can use..."
"At least, thanks to Samus's gamble, we've been able to send some people on reconnaissance to the bases she found," Moody cut in. "Hopefully they'll find something useful. It's been surprisingly easy to set up a network for our little counterresistance. I mean, just before coming to meet you, we got the word out to some witch who seems to be renowned in Romania, and she's heading for the outpost near there. What's her name? Belna...something..."
"Still, it's not all been good news since you four left," said McGonagall. "Inferno activity is picking up here in the British Isles, especially London. We've already made arrangements to have the Muggle Minister and his staff moved here, it's getting so bad."
"Things are getting worse overseas, if Captain Granger's reports to us over the last few hours are any indication," growled Moody. "Looks like whatever your aunt and her goon squad did over at his Hawaii base, it started something that's rendering their nuclear arsenal useless. Said he thought it was something called a 'computer virus' the big one must've planted."
Harry shook his head. From the way McGonagall and Moody were describing things, it sounded like they were fighting to contain a plague. It almost made him forget how much Valkyrie's overtures had tempted him.
Almost.
xxxxxx
June 28, 1997 - 2235 Inferno time
Asara Manor
Draco Malfoy leaned against the wall of Valkyrie's mansion, wearing simple Inferno training garb, heedless of the vines and their strange-smelling flowers. He was too bruised and too tired to care about whatever got on him. Besides, he had just spent countless hours deep in this hot, humid rain forest, sticking with the strict training routine his new boss laid out for him. He was hot, sweaty and a little bloody, so hygiene wasn't an issue right now. It turned out this entire forest wasn't strictly her private domain. Dotting the biosphere were outdoor training facilities, elaborate obstacle courses, fields for training against robots and magically-animated statues of stone and metal...just about anything her soldiers needed.
And they were set up so that trainees needed both magical talent and sheer athleticism to triumph. After two days of brutal training, it quickly became clear that Draco needed to improve in the latter department. His legs felt horribly sore from running around for hours on end, and he ached all over from bruises inflicted by obstacle course traps and blows from Inferno's martial arts trainers. Valkyrie must've thought this abuse was necessary to toughen him up. It occurred to Draco that before, he would have scoffed at the notion of training up like a lowly Muggle would, but like so much else, recent events forced him to rethink that attitude.
Namely, how Valkyrie and others mentioned this was much like the training regimen used to toughen up Petunia Dursley. If Potter's ex-Muggle aunt can survive this torture, and become stronger for it, so can I, Draco thought to himself. But he was surprised to find a burning urge to prove himself superior to Ped just wasn't there. It was so strange. For years, he'd taken it upon himself to bring Harry Potter and his groupies down a few pegs. Now he was supposed to fight side-by-side with his aunt, given magic by artificial means, and oddly enough, he couldn't work up the desire to show her up.
These four Asara's going to stick me with...I haven't seen much of them since coming back from the Ministry raid. Draco knew the Reformers were out on assignments, but he still found it odd he knew almost nothing about his new teammates. Well, except for Tesla. It still irked him how she had pumped him for information all year, but if her constant passes at him were any proof, she genuinely cared for him. He still wasn't sure how he felt about that. Wildflower and Faction were as stoic and mysterious as you could get, and Ped was nothing like the Muggle he had heard rumors about for years. It all served to fuel doubts that still lingered. In hindsight, staying a Death Eater was not an option, but what had he gotten himself into now?
"Son?" came his mother's voice suddenly, strangely hushed.
Draco pried himself off the wall, turning to see his parents walking out the mansion's back door, looking concerned. Valkyrie had invited them to stay under her roof while Draco went through his training. Narcissa ran over to embrace him, but Draco shoved her away. "Mother, please, watch the bruises!" he huffed. "That fan trap alone made me hurt all over in places I didn't even know I had!"
"Val always had some nerve about her. Pushing you so hard, so fast..." Narcissa began.
"Mother, it's no big deal," Draco implored. "If this training worked for that annoying Muggle mutant, it'll work for me!"
"Err, son, careful," said Lucius softly. "I don't think we're supposed to say things like that anymore," he warned.
"Not sure if I even think things like that anymore, to be honest," said Draco. "Hermione Granger was one thing, easily dismissed, but a Mudblood that erects entire underwater countries?"
His parents sighed and slightly hung their heads. No doubt they had just as hard a time wrestling with their old beliefs. Before any of them could discuss it further, Valkyrie's familiar, Ryx, flew out of a window and swooped around them, cawing vehemently. She eventually landed on Draco's shoulders. He winced as her claws dug through his training garb, but then noticed how the archeopteryx was inclining her head toward the door, still cawing.
"Uhm, I get the feeling she wants us to follow her inside," Narcissa offered. Shrugging his shoulders, Draco went for the door. Once he opened it, Ryx flew off inside, and the three were forced to follow the evolutionary throwback.
Eventually, Ryx led them to a room on the top floor none of them had seen before. Draco cautiously opened the door, peering inside. It was quite dark, and what little illumination there was was provided by screens lining one of the walls. It took a while for Draco to figure out what those screen were displaying, but eventually he realized most were Muggle television broadcasts, the quality of most terrible due to the solar flare Valkyrie triggered. But there was no mistaking the chaos Inferno's forces unleashed all over the world. Magical creatures freely rampaging through the streets and the skies, sporting events disrupted by ice, wind and levitated spectators thrown about everywhere, all done on a scale the Death Eaters could never hope to match. And Draco had no doubt that by now, Inferno's forces were moving against the Muggle militaries with brutal swiftness.
"Come on in, Draco," came a croaky voice from the far end of the room. It took a while for Draco to realize it was Valkyrie's. There was a large desk there, and she was sulking in a large, cushy chair, watching the screens as intently as Draco had been. Draco warily crossed the room, standing before her desk. "Everything's going smoothly so far, Draco. Pure, unbridled chaos to slowly engulf the Muggle world. Not nearly enough to destroy it, but to ensure it will be...malleable," said Valkyrie calmly, waving her bionic hand at the screens.
Draco watched the screens again. On one, he saw what looked like a large dam crack open. Some writing on the bottom of the screen said it was someplace in Egypt called the 'Aswan Dam'. A second later, several Inferno soldiers on broomsticks swooped in, magically freezing the water in place, giving the Muggles in harm's way ample time to evacuate. Most would be spared, but it was enough to make those Muggles lose their minds, if the scenes of panicked, screaming Muggles fleeing from their cars were any indication. Draco fidgeted nervously as he watched helicopters move in, firing their weapons, but the Inferno troops deftly flew around to evade their attack, and quickly returned fire. Blasting Curses took out the blades, forcing them to crash-land.
"It's what you hoped to see as a Death Eater, isn't it, Draco? This kind of chaos?" Valkyrie asked slyly as she watched, sounding somewhat detached. "Despite the differences that still linger between us, Draco, we're alike in that we resent much of the Muggle world. How we're forced to hide from them, knowing how they fear and hate what they can't immediately understand. But as you know, that'll all be a thing of the past."
Draco nodded dully, not wanting to think about her ultimate goal. It was still impossible to wrap his head around. But even seeing the chaos her armies were unleashing was hard to watch. Valkyrie was right in that, once upon a time, he would have relished seeing Muggles terrorized like this, but like so many other things, he wasn't sure what to feel. "Erm, my lady, is this..."
"I've told you and your parents already...NEVER address me like royalty!" snapped Valkyrie, making Draco jump fearfully. "That's the worst possible insult you could ever hope to throw at me. Then again, I hear some of the work crews down in the Pits like to call me 'Queen of the Damned'. In a way, I suppose I am..."
"Dr. Asara, I-I-I...please accept my a-a-apologies," Draco quickly spluttered out, casting a nervous glance back at his parents in the doorway. "B-B-But d-doctor, it looked like Ryx wanted me here...I mean, did you..."
"Have Ryx summon you here? I most certainly did," said Valkyrie. "I wanted to discuss the one thing that HASN'T gone according to plan."
It took a while for Draco to figure out what she was referring to. "Potter," he said flatly.
"And his closest friends, especially Samus Aran," added Valkyrie. "I've had you pegged as a fifth Reformer for a long time now, but I needed those four for other things, especially Samus Aran. For years I listened to the tales Kas spun about her. Her stories reminded me so much of myself, and when I discovered she had been brought to this era, it seemed destined that we meet. Tesla's spy reports revealed she was headed for a fate similar to mine, used and thrown away, and I so wanted to spare her that. And spare Harry Potter a bleak, hopeless future as well."
"Doctor, I-I...don't know of how I can help you there," said Draco nervously.
"Not when it comes to Samus Aran, at any rate. She's every bit as enigmatic as Kas always said," replied Valkyrie dryly. "But Harry Potter and his friends may be a different matter. You have a unique perspective on the so-called 'golden trio', Draco. You must've seen a side of them few here are privy to, trying to seek out their flaws and exploit them. I could use that insight."
Draco was flabbergasted. This woman, capable of building an underwater nation with alien technology, had come across a puzzle she couldn't solve, and came to HIM for help. Or was she being more like Voldemort, playing some mental chess game? "I-I-I don't understand, doctor. D-Did something happen that..." His words trailed off as Valkyrie's bionic hand shot across her desk and hit a button on a built-in panel. A recording started playing.
It was a long-winded message from Petunia Dursley, explaining how Samus Aran and Harry Potter had discovered there was a weapon capable of destroying Kor-Zor. If she was right, each Hogwarts founder took responsibility of one quarter of it, and buried their piece deep in sanctums the Chozo erected in their honor. Ped had hitched a ride on Samus's ship as they sped to a swamp in America. She claimed she was going to confront her nephew alone and make him see sense, and left a message beacon in the swamp in case she was unsuccessful. As the message played, Draco saw Valkyrie pour herself a glass of wine. She downed it in one gulp, and when the message was finished, she crushed it in her good hand.
"This was relayed to Inferno hours ago, and I've heard no word from Petunia since. I've already dispatched units to investigate this sanctuary of Slytherin's that Harry unearthed, but so far they've been stymied by its defenses. At this point, I can only assume the worst: the first piece of the one thing that might undo me is his, and Petunia has been captured…or worse," she said darkly, ignoring the blood dribbling down her right hand. She turned to Draco, her indigo eyes blazing more intently than ever. "I thought I made all the right moves after freeing Kor-Zor. I showed him I could bring down Voldemort and the corrupt government that tormented him so. Instead, he's sided with Lily's killer and probably struck down his own aunt! So I'm asking you Draco...where did I go wrong? He was supposed to become one of our greatest assets, but instead he's trying to undo my life's work!"
The look in Valkyrie's eyes let Draco know she expected an answer, and soon. It was all too obvious this vexing puzzle was driving her mad, but Draco had no idea what to tell her. He couldn't understand why Harry Potter would throw away his best chance for revenge either. Draco knew full well that Potter was a Gryffindor through and through, but found it hard to believe even he turned on Valkyrie like this. Draco kept drawing blanks as those indigo eyes bored into his, but as luck would have it, something interrupted their conversation. A blinking, red light went off on Valkyrie's left wrist, which caught her attention at once.
"Something's up in the command center, pretty urgent if they're contacting me like this," said Valkyrie. "I'd better get moving, but...there's still much I want to discuss later. Sorry if I sound like I'm afraid you'll run off on me, but..." Valkyrie placed her bionic hand on his shoulder, and suddenly Draco felt himself get dragged along as she Apparated across Inferno.
Disoriented from the shock, it took a while for Draco's blurry vision to clear. When it did, he found wherever he was, it was still quite dark and dreary, but bustling activity could be heard everywhere. All around were several platforms constructed of some strange, bluish-black plastic, on which what Draco guessed were computer stations built in. There were several levels of these platforms, interconnected by stairs, but what really caught Draco off-guard was noticing the stations built UNDERNEATH the platforms! Uniformed Inferno personnel were walking UNDER the stairs and stood UPSIDE-DOWN at those stations! Once again, it was driven home that Valkyrie wasted nothing, especially space.
Draco then noticed the huge window at the far side of this 'command center'. Wherever they were, it was definitely in one of those spire-like towers, and through the dim, murky darkness, barely illuminated by the faint light from Inferno, he could see the outlines of more towers. No matter how many times Draco saw them, the sight was still chilling and unnerving. "OK, I'm here Isobel, What's the bad news?" he heard Valkyrie ask. Even more anxious, Draco turned to see Wildflower, her staff out, striding up to them.
"We have been found out. Don't ask me how, but a fleet of U.S. nuclear submarines is closing in, approximately 4000 feet above us. I'm sorry to say it looks like Kago's worms clearly aren't doing their job fast enough. They should be directly over us in less than five minutes," said the vampiress.
Valkyrie looked to the window, then at a nearby monitor panel manned by a goblin. "Hmmm, Samus Aran's ship is the only combat-ready craft not made by us that can reach such depths. No doubt the American Wizarding Union is helping the U.S. Navy out. Wizards and Muggles collaborating and putting together a plan like this in such a short time. I must say I'm impressed," said Valkyrie in a tone that betrayed far more indignation than respect. "Good thing you called me, Isobel. This is something I must handle personally. Lieutenant, put me on, make sure everyone in those subs can hear me," she told the goblin.
The goblin fiddled with some dials. "You're on, Doctor," said the goblin with a nasty grin.
Valkyrie took a deep breath, and said, "Hear me, officers on the approaching submarines! This is Dr. Valencia Asara, supreme commander of Inferno's armed forces. We here in Inferno are well aware you're positioning yourselves over our home, that wizards from your country are helping you, and that you're probably planning some sort of nuclear attack. Rest assured, any such attack will fail, and if you go through with your orders, we will respond accordingly!"
Several minutes passed in tense silence for Draco, but all Valkyrie's officers in the command center went about their business, unworried. How could they be? Draco knew enough about what nuclear weapons could do. How could Inferno fend off power like that?
Suddenly, the goblin spoke up. "Looks like they're ignoring you. They've deployed something, looks like nuclear missiles outfitted to fire straight down. Less than two minutes before they reach us," he stated with a calmness Draco didn't share.
"Clinton, you overbearing fool. It seems I must show what it means to attack Inferno," snapped Valkyrie. She took out her wand and aimed straight up. Some sort of explosively bright charm struck a crystal plate in the command center's roof. Whatever the charm was supposed to do, something in Inferno was augmenting its power, for waves of bright sparks lit up the waters outsides as they washed over it. Draco gazed nervously out the window, hoping and praying the plan, whatever it was, would work. He finally saw something fall, rocketing toward the center of Inferno, but once they were halfway past the spires, they just floated idly, their propulsion halted. Giant robotic arms reached up and plucked the nukes out of the water.
"All warheads have been disarmed, collected, and on their way to Biosphere 15D's storehouse," reported the goblin, a nasty tone in his voice.
"Sure wish Kas was still with us. She could think of something useful to do with those," said Valkyrie somberly.
"Dr. Hinada's passing came as a shock to us all, Val," said Wildflower reassuringly. "But right now, we have other concerns."
"Indeed, we do," said Valkyrie, turning back to the goblin. "Find the lead sub and target it, then fire on my command."
Draco's eyes widened with shock. "Wait a minute, you're going to sink those subs!? But you just showed there's no way their weapons will work, and I thought you wanted this revolution to be as bloodless as possible!?"
"My, suddenly you're concerned for the well-being of those Muggles up there? Val was right, you truly have changed for the better, Draco Malfoy," said Wildflower with an amused smile. Draco gasped, realizing just how he sounded.
"But unfortunately, here we don't have the luxury of showing mercy, Draco. They've brazenly attacked our home with a full nuclear assault, willing to wipe out millions of civilians just to get at me. I can't let that go unanswered," Valkyrie said coldly. "Trust me, Draco, I understand the American Muggles. At the end of the day, there's only one language they understand. The only one who was ever different was Hermione Granger's grandfather."
That last tidbit came as an even greater shock, momentarily making him forget that she was ready to fire on those submarines. The goblin spoke up again. "We've locked onto the lead sub, Doctor. Just give the word," he said cruelly.
Draco held his breath, certain that Valkyrie wouldn't give the order. She was supposed to be the anti-Voldemort, wasn't she? That was part of why he joined her, to prove to himself and the world he wasn't really like the other Death Eaters! She couldn't indiscriminately kill just to make a statement like Voldemort always did! She just couldn't...
He watched as Valkyrie inhaled deeply, a disturbing hardness to her narrowed eyes. Then, to Draco's horror, she said, "Fire."
Draco heard popping sounds from beyond the window, and turned to see long, slender, needlelike-things shoot up through the water, leaving a trail of bubbles. Within seconds, they were out of sight. A minute or two passed in silence before the goblin officer said, "Three direct hits on the lead sub. They're taking in water, and whatever their AWU buddies did to fend off the crushing pressure...it's broken," he said nastily. "No way there's any survivors, and it looks like the other subs are breaking off."
"Then we've made our point," Wildflower said confidently, turning to Valkyrie. "We will keep you apprised of all future Muggle advances, Doctor."
"Good. Let the other subs go, now that they've got the message. In the meantime, we've all got work to do," said Valkyrie gravely. "I hadn't anticipated the Wizarding World forging this level of partnership with the Muggles so swiftly, or Voldemort's forces bailing out the Ministry and relocating to Hogwarts to mount a united resistance. We must move quickly to make up for my shortsightedness." She then walked over to Draco. "Your former comrades, Hogwarts, Harry Potter...I may need your help sooner than I anticipated."
Still feeling sickly, Draco said, "Err, what about Snape? He might be a bigger help. After all, he..."
"My husband's already seen enough conflict for one lifetime, especially where Harry Potter and Voldemort are concerned. You are to be a Reformer. This is your duty," Valkyrie replied sternly.
Just then, the goblin spoke up again. "Oh, another message from our Norwegian outpost! They've finally tracked down the traitorous Death Eaters that tipped off Voldemort!"
Valkyrie looked over her shoulder, her lips curling into a cruel smile. "Have them transferred to Inferno immediately. After backstabbing me when I made them such a merciful offer...betraying my trust cannot be forgiven," she said. "My Metroids will feast well tonight."
Chills ran up and down Draco's spine, once again seeing far more of his new boss than he wanted. And then, for the first time, it occurred to him why Harry Potter didn't join her as well.
xxxxxx
June 29, 1997 - 5:03 AM East Africa Time
southeastern edge of Madagascar
Things had not gone smoothly over the last day or so.
In stark contrast to Samus and her tirelessness, Harry and his friends were in desperate need of a few hours of sleep after returning to Hogwarts. Naturally, this irked Voldemort, but since Harry never cared if something pissed off the Dark Lord, he just told him he was free to go find the next sanctum himself, then stormed off for Gryffindor Tower. Upon awakening, he found not much had improved. Veritaserum and Legilimancy were getting the Order nowhere with Aunt Petunia. Nor did they get any closer to finding the cause of her transformation. Worse, it turned out deciphering the location of the next sanctum was taking Samus MUCH longer than before. She claimed she had run into an even more intricate array of logic puzzles in the relic, and thus it came as no surprise when it turned out Rowena Ravenclaw's sanctuary was next.
The coordinates Hermione gleamed led them to the island nation of Madagascar, an hour or two before the sun rose over it. Against everyone's better judgment, Voldemort was back, and the five jumped over and through the granite formations that dotted the rain forest as they searched. Most of the time, no one said anything, the only noise being the buzzing of mosquitoes. Harry and his friends, luckily, had their suits, but Voldemort was a different matter.
"Argh, miserable insects!" snapped Voldemort as he slapped his neck, finally having enough and casting a charm to ward off the mosquitoes.
"Please be Anopheles mosquitoes, please please please," Harry heard Hermione mutter.
"Y'know, it's like the Slytherin and Ravenclaw sanctums were in the wrong place," said Ron suddenly. "I mean, aren't the symbol for America and Ravenclaw both eagles?"
"And runespoors are only found in Africa," Hermione added as they trudged through a copse. Suddenly, her foot got snagged on something, and she fell flat on her face. Voldemort muttered something impatiently under his breath as Hermione staggered to get up. As Hermione rose, however, she knelt back down, taking a closer look at the ground. "People, I think we found something!" she cried, kicking up a gust of wind to blow away leaves and soil, revealing a small panel made of bronze, nestled into the ground. It bore a relief of an eagle's head.
"Well, at least we've now found the entrance...hopefully. But what are we supposed to do with..." Samus began, but trailed off, her eyes widening. Harry looked back down to Hermione and saw what caught Samus's attention. The snake reliefs on her hand had come to life, springing off her gauntlet and biting into the panel. Hermione looked just as shocked as any of them, but they all got a second shock moments later. Metal bands shot out of the ground and encircled the area they stood in, surrounding the five of them in a steely, weblike dome.
"Oh great, what's this!?" cried Harry, but more nasty surprises were in store as more things shot out of the ground. Huge, magically animated bronze statues of eagles, with wingspans than Samus was tall, rose from the ground and latched onto the sides of the wiry dome, their beaks aimed straight up.
"I don't like this," Ron whimpered dejectedly.
"Do tell me what's to like about all this," hissed Voldemort as he examined one of the eagle statues. None of them moved, but then, they heard instead of saw something happen. Soft words that seemed to echo all around them, spoken in a strange language...
"Samus, that's Chozo, isn't it?" Harry asked nervously. "W-What is it saying?"
"Strange, it's just Chozo numerals, but they're going..." Samus's eyes widened again as something dawned on her. "Backwards," she finished.
"It's a COUNTDOWN!? To WHAT!?" cried Hermione.
"I dunno, but I don't want to be here when it hits zero!" exclaimed Ron as he popped his wand out, casting Severing Charms on the wire dome. Harry and the others pitched in, but missiles, beams, curses and even trying to Apparate outside the wire dome all failed. All the while, the soft voice kept counting down in Chozo, the words drilling into all their heads. Harry felt his heart thud against his armor as Samus said, "Everyone, brace yourselves...the countdown's at ten and still going down!"
Harry looked at one of the bird statues, and noticed something was rising from the bottom. It looked like smoke, and he thought he saw sparks shoot out below its tail feathers. His mind racing, Harry's first thought was it looked like a rocket ready to go off. Then he thought about the countdown. But that couldn't possibly be the answer...
"It's hit zero!" cried Samus, and as she said that, Harry's initial suspicions were confirmed. Fire shot out from the tail feather area of each eagle statue, and in an instant, the platform buried under a few feet of earth was propelled upward by the statues clamped onto the wire dome. They shot upward at a dizzying speed, and the rocket-eagles only carried their little prison up faster and faster, practically flattening the five of them against the dirt. The crushing pressure was nothing short of oppressive, but Harry still managed to crawl to the edge of the dome. He peered down, his heart leaping into his mouth as he saw over half of Madagascar below him, and it was still receding from view. Then he rolled onto his back and looked straight up, and received an even bigger shock.