==== MONSTERS MAKE SUCH INTERESTING PEOPLE ====
==== CLERIC'S TEMPLE – LOCATION UNKNOWN – NOVEMBER 18TH – 2021 A.D. ====
Marshall walked quickly through the darkened tunnels of the Temple until he reached the large steel door leading to the lab. He opened it and went inside, spotting Mathis in the process. He was leaning over and looking into a microscope, taking notes, then looking again.
He looked up as Marshall entered. "Any news about Ethan?"
"No. He'll turn eventually. Probably in several different pieces. I've order the Fidelius Charm changed on the safe house. Ethan was the secret keeper, now he's probably been tortured for information. He's killing us, one at a time." Marshall said gravely.
"We can't really be surprised, can we? How many of them have we killed, Marshall?"
"We are not the ones that will be responsible for Armageddon."
"Your right. It'll be one of them," Mathis said walking over to him. "just one. And yet we have practically eradicated their entire species. Just because of one. We can't pretend to be the victims here."
Marshall laughed. "You always did have a wonderful understanding of cause and effect."
"Comes with the job," Mathis said heading for the door. Together they began walking down another long corridor towards another large steel door.
"We always knew that the day would eventually come when we were forced to pay for our crimes." Mathis said indifferently.
"Of course, but it doesn't change what we're trying to stop," Marshall agreed as Mathis pushed open the door.
Inside the room were several other doors. Holding cells. Each cell had a large glass window for them to view the people inside them. All of the cells were empty and barren except for one.
Mathis and Marshall heading to the window of the only occupied cell.
"No matter what happens to us, we can't forget the damage they'll do. They have to be stopped," Marshall said looking through the window. Inside the cell was a man in his mid twenties with light brown hair. He had several restraints strapping him to a table and a IV drip being fed into his arm. The was kept sedated at all times. "If the world found out about Schizophrenic Pyromaniacs like this one, it would be chaos. You've brought down more of these things than anyone else, that's why I putting you in charge of stopping Albus."
Mathis looked shocked. "Me?"
"No one else has your experience,"
"No," Mathis said quickly. "I can't! I'm too busy here!"
"Still looking for your miracle cure? The final solution?" Marshall smiled.
"I'm close!"
"You've been close for 9 years Mathis! So far all you've managed to do is create a bunch of mutant rats! In the mean time, Albus Potter is on the war path!"
"These abilities are hard wired right into their genetic coding! Do you have any idea how difficult it is to separate the -"
"Exactly, you might never be able to do it! I don't need you sat in a Lab all day playing with rats, I need you out there, stopping the real problem!"
"You've still got Jack -"
"Jack!? He's lost it! He wants revenge Mathis, it's all he's thinks about! You know I can't send some loose cannon out there that's gonna do more harm than good! I need a professional and that's you!"
"I haven't been in the field in -"
"You went after him in Canada,"
"Yeah, because I thought he was dead!"
"Who else am I gonna send?"
"I can't...I'm sorry," Mathis began walking back to his lab.
"He's the one Mathis," Marshall said loudly causing Mathis to stop in his tracks. "the one we've been waiting for."
Mathis turned to face Marshall. "You don't know that."
"He's the closest candidate so far. We've seen powerful ones before Mathis but nothing like this. His behavior alone sets him apart from the others. He's gunning for us because of what happened to Lennox. Have you ever heard of one of them, especially one as powerful as he is, taking a witch for a mate?" Marshall's words seemed to strike a cord with Mathis. "He's different from the others and you know it."
Mathis looked away, trying to contemplate the possibility.
"We've waited 1800 years to kill this man. You can't back out now."
Mathis hesitated but then spoke. "Alright. One condition,"
Marshall was all ears.
"We bring him in alive." Mathis said firmly causing Marshall to laugh.
"Impossible! You'll never get him alive!"
"But if I could? We bring him in, you let me run some tests and we find out if it really is him. If it is, he goes in the ground and we all get to retire. Unless you want to just kill him, shut down the operation and then find out the hard way that we were wrong?"
Marshall nodded. "Okay, you think you can tag this bastard alive? Give it your best shot. But if for any reason it looks like it can't be done...You kill him on site."
"Agreed."
==== BANGOR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – MAINE – USA – NOVEMBER 18TH – 2021 A.D. ====
Ethan gradually began to come to. His entire body felt a hundred times heavier then it was but there was no pain what so ever. His leg wounds has been cleaned and were now covered with a white cloth. Blood had started seeping through it but he wasn't bleed nearly as badly as before.
He quickly realized that his was strapped to a chair, sitting in the middle of an old and disused warehouse.
The sound of airplanes taking off and landing could be heard in the distance. The whole area was dark and cold. The only light was coming from the landing lights outside. The beams from incoming aircraft were occasionally causing light to come through the broken windows.
Just in front of him, he could see is Wand/Baton and his wallet sitting on a small table.
It was only when he tugged at his restraints that he realized he couldn't actually feel a thing.
"Hi Ethan," Al's voice came from behind him.
"What are you doing to me?" Ethan could barely sound out any words.
"I thought we should have a little chat." Albus was standing about 30 feet away from him, using a small dirty sink to have a shave while he waited for Ethan to wake up.
"I can't feel my fingers."
"Well, because I've pumped you full of Phenobarbital." Al walked over, drying his clean shaven face with a wet cloth. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small syringe. "You see this? This'll counteract the sedative. If I put this in your IV, your nervous system will start to function as usual and then you'll start to feel the pain in your legs. And considering that I've been cleaning your wounds with Hydrogen Peroxide, it's really going to hurt." He smiled.
"You know I can't tell you anything," Ethan slurred.
"Well, see I've been thinking about that. You can't be sworn not to say everything because then you'd probably die from the first conversation you have. There's defiantly something that you can share with me."
"I can't...,"
"Well, maybe your minds a little slow at the moment. Let's see if we can't wake it up." Al grinned. He injected the syringe into Ethan's IV drip then sat down on the table in front of him. He started looking through Ethan's wallet while he waited of the counteractive to start kicking in.
"You know what really surprises me?" Albus said conversationally. "All of you people walk around like your normal most of the time. You got families, jobs and mortgages. You pretend to live ordinary lives until you get the call. Then you jump half way around the world and kill my species,"
Ethan could feel the sedative waring off. A strange and slightly unpleasant tingling sensation was creeping into his thighs.
"I mean, don't your families get suspicious when you say you have to go on yet another business trip?" Albus continued.
Ethan's breathing started to increase. The tickling sensation was starting to be replaced by a deep burning feeling that throbbed around his legs. He tried desperately not to show pain in front of Albus but it was quickly becoming agony.
"Oooh, tough little bastard, aren't cha?" Albus laughed at his attempts. "You know, if you can manage to stand the pain of those little scratches on your legs then I'm going to have to go for something a little more practical."
Ethan was sweating now. The pain from his legs was becoming intense.
"My personal favorite is what's known as the lightning nail," Albus came closer to Ethan. "see, what you do is you take a pair of long steel nails and you drive them into the guys legs. Right in so the tips touch the bone. Then you hook them up to the light switch. You flick the switch and they get a dose of a couple hundred volts through them. You see, the skeleton takes most of the charge which reduces the chances of causing accidental cardiac arrest,"
Ethan's eyes were wide and terrified and not just because of the agony that was emanating from his bullet wounds.
"Unfortunately, the location dictates the effectiveness of this. You can't use it in a lot of third world countries because they never have stable power grids. Unless you lug a generator around with you, but then you have to pay for petrol as well and we all know how expensive that is now. And since the lights in this place haven't been used for about a decade, it rules out using that kind of method."
Tears had begun to fall from Ethan's eyes.
"So, sometimes, you have to go back to the old fashioned ways. Pulling finger nails and teeth, slicing digits, breaking toes with a hammer, that sort of thing. But then you have to worry about blood lose and the person passing out. So you tip gasoline, again expensive, into the wounds to make sure they don't pass out. It's very loud, it's very messy and a lot of accidentally deaths often occur. Then there's things like acid drips, cutting, burning, beating, but again, very messy,"
"Please...," Ethan breathed is horror. Albus ignored him but had already begun to feel his buzz. Ethan's fear was pulsating around the warehouse. He could smell it.
"In the end, the best way is to find the pressure point. The sweet spot. The source to cause maximum pain, minimum damage."
"Please...I have a family...,"
"You do? So do I! Wait...," Albus pulled a small picture from Ethan's wallet. "are you...are you offering me your family in exchange for your life?"
"NO! No! Please!"
"That's what it sounded like! Maybe I should go and visit this very pretty wife of yours," He waved the picture in front of his face absorbing Ethan's fear. "maybe she knows something she'd be willing to share?"
"NO!"
"You didn't hesitate to try and kill my girl, why shouldn't I kill yours?" Albus growled.
"It was an accident! We were there for you! We don't like what we do, but we have to!" Ethan cried.
"Why!? Why do it at all?!"
"Because of what you'll do! There's a Prophecy!"
"I've already heard this!," Albus roared and laid a punch into Ethan's left leg right over his bullet wound. He screamed in agony. "One of my kind will start the Apocalypse right? I find that very unlikely! We may have superhuman abilities but that means fuck all with out a world to live in! So why would one of my kind want to destroy it?!"
"No...not them...you...," Ethan was breathing so heavily he could barely speak. "it's you...your the one...,"
"Me? I'm going to cause the end of the world?" Albus laughed.
"Yes!"
Albus looked at Ethan like he had just told a bad joke. "I'm not a great fan of Armageddon so I think I'll give that one a miss and if your determined to be unhelpful then I'll go see if your wife will be more accommodating," Albus began to walk away from Ethan.
"NO!" Ethan screamed. "17...Parker Street...Cambridge...,"
"And that's were your Machine is?"
"No...safe house. It's under the Fidelius Charm...," Ethan sobbed.
"You better not be lying to me,"
"I'm not! Please, don't hurt my family...they're nothing to do with this...,"
"Thanks for your help," Albus smiled. He walked over to the large black bag that was sitting by the sink and pulled out a small block of C4 with a detonator attached to it. "Okie dokie, well, it's off to the next life for you my friend," He primed the detonator. "no need to threat. You won't be lonely where your going and even if you are, don't worry, I'll be sending you some company real soon."
Albus placed the C4 in Ethan's lap. The timer had already started ticking away from 60 seconds. "Here," Albus dropped the picture of Ethan's family over the count down timer. "Say goodbye,"
He headed for the exit. He headed outside and checked the sky for incoming aircraft before blasting himself into the air. Just as he did, the entire warehouse exploded in a ball of fire.
==== MINISTRY FOR MAGIC – LONDON – UK – NOVEMBER 19TH – 2021 A.D. ====
The Ministers office wasn't usually this quiet.
They were all sitting in silence. Harry had just repeat Aurora's revelation to them. Both Ron and Teddy looked like they had witnessed someone exposing themselves in the middle of the Atrium. Harry looked ready to crumble on the spot while Hermione was battling with her conscious and whether or not to tell them that she had suspected Albus from the very beginning.
"So...," Ron mumbled. "Albus was the one in the warehouse?"
Harry nodded faintly.
"He can fly...," Teddy breathed.
"She said that these...Anomalies, had been around for thousands of years?" Hermione asked carefully.
"Yes,"
"Well that's impossible! We would know about them!" She was in full logic mode. The idea that Albus was some kind of super powered being was hard enough to grasp but the idea that there was an entire community of them out there was beyond belief.
"They've been hunted. Almost to extinction," Harry repeated absently.
"But...," Hermione was trying desperately to open her mind wide enough to form a theory but it simply wasn't happening. "there would have been some kind of trace of them! I mean, Albus -"
"Albus was never normal," Harry cut her off. "he could never use magic, he refused to speak when he was a child, he had a connection to nature...like it respected him...," Harry looked Hermione in the eye. "he's always been this way."
"You've got to tell Gin!" Ron declared.
"And what exactly am I suppose to tell her Ron? By the way dear, our son is an evolved human with abilities that we can't imagine and is doing his very best to become a mass murderer at the moment, what for dinner?!" Harry hissed.
"He's her kid too, Harry! You have to tell her something!"
"I KNOW!"
There was a knock at the door that broke the rapidly anger filled scene. Percy Weasley poked his head through the door. His face was pale white. "Harry...you need to hear this!" He sounded scared.
They rushed out of the door towards Percy's desk where the wireless was broadcasting.
'...Again these are unconfirmed reports but WWN has obtained exclusive information that Harry James Potter and the Ministry Auror Department are in fact searching for Albus Severus Potter who is wanted in connection with several brutal murders...'
Harry almost passed out. Panic washed over his entire body. The whole wizarding world knew!
"How the fuck did they find out?!" Ron yelled.
'Evidence gathered at the scenes of the crimes has indicated that the second child of the Boy-Who-Lived may be responsible. Albus Potter has not been out of the news for a long time now. At the end of his third year at Hogwarts, rumors began to circulate that he was responsible for the death of Professor Ian Lithgo but no charges were brought forward. Albus had reportedly suffered extreme mental anguish from Dark Magic use against him during that year which may have directly effected his stability. Shortly after, he was admitted to St. Mungo's for a rare and unknown infection that caused him to age rapidly although he was said to still be in good physical health at the time. He was allowed to return to Hogwarts under strict medical observation. During his Christmas break from Hogwarts, Albus apparently suffered a mental breakdown and ran away from his home in Petham. After an 11 month absence from the Wizarding World, Albus Potter returned, seriously wounded after an apparent attack in Venice, Italy. Albus managed to escape custody from Ministry officials during his interrogation and once again vanished. Now, several unnamed men and women that may have been part of that attack have been found murdered...'
Harry's legs gave out. He had actually done it. He was killing them.
He didn't know what to do. Albus was the Colossus. Even if he found him, how could he possibly stop him? The Colossus is the most powerful being on the planet. Even Voldemort would have been too afraid to say his name aloud.
Harry shook the doubt from his head. It didn't matter. Colossus or not, he was his son and he couldn't let him destroy his own life.
He had to find him!
He picked him self off the floor. "Pull in everyone that we have. I want them searching the entire country for him!" Harry commanded.
"Harry...he can fly...he's not likely to stay in one place for too lon -" Teddy said delicately.
"Then put out called to international governments, request cooperation. He's my son, I'll be the one to stop him!"
==== CLERIC SAFE HOUSE – CAMBRIDGE – UK – NOVEMBER 23RD – 2021A.D. ====
Every single one of the 17 Cleric's that were in hiding inside the house were terrified and had gathered at the living room windows. They were all staring out across the street.
"What's he doing?" A Cleric asked. Her name was Lisa. She was short and young with brown hair and a small scar on her cheek.
"Trying to figure out where we are. He knows we're here, he just can't find us." Another answered.
"It's freaking me out!" Lisa whined.
"He wants to come in here and kill us all! It's freaking us all out!"
Across the street, like a relentless predator, Albus was simply waiting for one of them to try and leave the protection of the safe house. Sitting on the wall behind him was his 'bag of trick' or more accurately, bag of heavy firepower! He was on his third cigarette so far and had been trying to figure out a way around the Fidelius Charm for the last 30 minutes.
Although it was a very powerful protective charm, it wasn't infallible. The wizarding world was very good at bending the laws of physics but it couldn't break them. The safe house was definitely there, sandwiched between the two buildings in front of him. The left building was a disused dry-cleaners that looked like it had gone bust recently, the other was a textiles shop and somewhere between the two, were his targets. He just had to figure out a way to get inside.
Albus knew how wizards thought. Despite the fact that it was seen as a crime to be intolerable of Muggle ways, wizards still thought them selves better than the rest of the world. Even if they did say it. They were so sure that their magic was the final word when it came to protection and hiding. They never believed that a Muggle could find a loop hole.
It was that smug superiority that would give him is opening. He simply had to find it. He had to figure out what they hadn't thought of. Not just the Cleric's, but the people that had created the charm in the first place. What could they have never conceived in their wildest dreams? That's where he's find his entrance.
For all of about 3 seconds he entertained the idea of re-creating the same vortex that he made in Canada but quickly ditched that plan after Aurora's warnings echoed through his mind again. But he was on the right path. Something out of this world and impossible. Something they couldn't possibly be protected against.
Then divine intervention came to his rescue in the form of a beautiful white door shining in his mind.
Albus grinned. It was so simple and that's probably the reason that no one had ever tried it before.
He dropped his cigarette on the ground and stubbed it out.
Despite the fact that he was in the middle of a busy city in broad day light, he started pulled weapons out of the bag. His hung the fully loaded shotgun over his shoulder and then took out the assault rifle. He also tucked the machine pistol into his belt, then flung the rifle over his free shoulder.
He walked over to the nearest vehicle; An old blue Ford Focus.
He picked the car up like it was a nothing but a large cardboard cutout, aim and lunch it at the divide between the two buildings with the force of a canon shell!
"INCOMING!" Lisa screamed as the Cleric's leaped out of the way.
The car smashed straight through the wall and into the living room, destroying everything in its path like blue wrecking ball! It smashed into the back wall where it stopped and slumped.
On the outside, just as he thought, everything looked exactly the same. The car had disappeared into thin air without a trace.
"Knock knock." Albus grinned.
Keeping his eyes pinned on the spot that it had vanished, he ran forwards, jumping straight at the hole.
He passed through the enchanted barrier and landed in the middle of the destroyed living room. Straight away he spotted several Cleric's desperately trying to gather weapons and find cover.
"I hope you guys don't mind, I let my self in!" He smiled, pulling the rifle off his shoulder.
Gun shots and spells rained through the air as the Cleric fired everything they had at him. He immediately returned fire, taking out one of them standing in a doorway. A span a peppered bullets through a second that was crouching behind the busted Focus.
Flashes of green light shot around the room, bouncing off his shield and destroying even more of the living room. He sprayed the entire room with the rifle until it clicked empty. He dropped it and at the same time spun the shotgun off his shoulder.
He it rip, firing off shells towards anything that moved.
Three Cleric's ducked for cover, running through a door way into another part of the house. He didn't bother with the door. Al didn't bother with the door, he simply smashed his way through the wall.
The dust and rubble from the hole he just created gave him all the help he needed. They fired shots off but weren't even close. Al dropped them one at a time with some fine shotgun work.
The 12-gauge snapped empty. As soon as it did, 5 of them ran at him, trying to take him on while he wasn't armed.
Albus laid a punch so powerful into the chest of his first attack, it send him flying straight through the wall behind him. A second swiped at him with his baton claws. Al dodged the attack, grabbed hold of him and through him into a third attack, knocking him off balance.
By the time he regained himself, he had a split second to see Al's fists closing in on both sides of his head. A red cloud erupted and the headless corpse dropped to the floor.
More gun fire came in the form of another Cleric trying to shoot him at point blank range. The bullets simply bounce off like they were being fired from a potato gun! A second later, he breathed his last breath.
The sound of cluttering wood grabbed Al's attention. He turned to see 5 Cleric's making a break for it out of the whole in the wall. Albus growled. This party wasn't over until he said so!
The 5 Cleric's ran straight to towards the Silver Porsche Cayenne parked just down the street. Panicking they simply used their wands to unlock the machine and got inside. They locked the doors and one of them used their wand to start it up.
The moment the engine revved he gunned the gas but the SUV wasn't going anywhere. The wheels screeched and smoke bellowed as he put his foot down but it still was moving. They all looked up to see Albus directly in front of the car, that trademark sadistic grin on his face.
"Car trouble lads?"
They tried to get out but even though they unlocked the doors, they would open.
Albus walked up to the front bumper. "Let me see if I can help!" Albus placed his hand on the bonnet and the metal began to screech and moan.
Suddenly, like it had just been hit b a meteor, the SUV pancaked it's self into the street! Like a million tonnes of rock had just fallen on top of it.
Passers by looked on in confusion, trying to understand what they just saw. Albus ignored them and simply looked at the 2 inch high twisted mass of crush metal. "There goes your no claims bonus!" Albus smiled and started walking back to the safe house.
He re-entered, through the hole. As soon as he did, more gunfire came at him from the top of the stair case.
Al pulled his machine pistol and return fire. The remaining Cleric's managed to duck out of the way and ran up to the second floor.
Knowing there was no way out from up there, unless they decided to jump from a second story window, he moved up slowly, savoring the moment.
"Little pigs, little pigs, I've come to nick ya X-Box!"
Despite the carnage that had just taken place downstairs, the second floor corridor was quiet.
"Come out, come out where ever you are...," Albus listened carefully. It wasn't long before he picked up the faint sound of heavy breathing from a room at the end of the corridor. "I can heeeaarrr you."
Some one, a woman, let out a whimper at that.
"You can't hurt me. Why don't you just come out and we'll talk like civilized people?" Albus called out.
He didn't expect an reaction to that but to his surprise the floor boards creaked and Lisa stepped out of the room at the back. She dropped her wand on the floor and simply stood there, trying desperately to hide her fear. Albus would had to admit it but he was actually impressed with her guts.
He knew that the other Cleric hiding in the same room was waiting to jump out a hope to get a shot off but it still took a lot of courage to stare death in the face. She was young as well, probably no more than 20 years old. Albus smiled.
Just then, as expected, the other Cleric jumped out, pushed Lisa out of the way and fired off three bullets at Albus. He didn't bother stopping the bullets this time. He simply curved gravity so they moved around and flew straight back in the direction that they had been fired from.
The Cleric hit the floor with three holes in his chest. Lisa looked more terrified than ever but still managed to look into his eyes. She had big, light brown eyes.
"You weren't at Venice were you?" Albus asked.
"No...I'm new...," She whispered.
"I think you chose the wrong line of work," Albus smiled. She was thinking the same thing.
He walked over to her. She tried to back up but hit the end wall of the corridor. He continued to move forward until he was so close that he could kiss her.
Instead he simply raised his forefinger and very slowly pointed to her chest. He touched the tip of his finger to her cleavage. An ear splitting scream filled the air and Lisa's body seized up. It was a thousand times worse than the Crusiatus Curse.
He took his finger away. "That's your heart being squeezed by gravity," She was breathing heavily and had teared running down her face. "hurts, doesn't it?"
"Yes!" Lisa cried.
"Can you tell me where the Machine is?" Albus asked, watching the horrified girl.
She shook her head.
"Too bad,"
The sound of a ring tone echoed through the corridor. Lisa's phone was playing a popular pop song from the charts. Albus reached over, pulled the phone from her pocket and answered it.
"Hello?"
"Hello Albus." Mathis voice said.
"Ahh," Albus smiled. "I was wondering why you didn't send any backup...still, I don't mind that you left me alone to play with your friends...So would this be the illusive mastermind of this operation?"
"No, I'm not that high up the food chain. You've been busy," Mathis spoke.
"Boys will be boys."
"Did you leave any of them alive?" Mathis asked.
Albus covered the receiver with his hand and turned to Lisa. "What's your name?"
"L-lisa." She sniffed.
"Lisa's right here, keeping me company." Al said down the phone.
"You do know that she had nothing to do with Venice right? And she's only 19,"
"Yeah, you guys hook em young, don't cha?"
"How do we sort this out, Albus?" Mathis asked.
"Well..., you guys could impersonate a bunch of lemmings and jump of a really big cliff. Then I'd call it square," Albus laughed causing Lisa to shudder.
"Out of all the people you've killed, only 6 of them were in Venice. That makes you a monster as well, Albus." Mathis said sweetly.
"I can live with that," Albus said easily. "as long as you don't,"
"So, it's revenge your after? Maybe I can help you get it...,"
Albus looked both amused and bewildered. "What exactly are you saying?"
"6 Down, 2 to go. Then you've got everyone that is responsible for what happened to Aurora -"
"You don't get to say her name!" Albus roared suddenly causing Lisa to jump.
"I can get you one of them...how about a trade?" Mathis offered, unshaken by Albus's threat.
"That depends...which one will you give me?"
"Jack,"
Albus thought for a second. His eyes shot from left to right and his brain interpreted the offer. "In exchange for?"
"Lisa, of course. She's been with us less then 6 weeks. She's nothing to you, never even been out on assignment -"
"Assignment? Is that what you call murdering my entire species!?" Albus growled.
"We're professionals,"
"Well this is personal!"
"I gathered. But it's only going to stay personal as long as you go for the right people."
"Let me get this straight..., you're offering me the lives of your co-workers in exchange for this little girl?" Albus laughed.
"Not just her. We just want you to go away Albus. I see a way that you can get your revenge and we don't have to worry about you anymore. What do you think?"
"I think it's bullshit. You pal Ethan told me that I'm the one you've been looking for. I'm special." Albus chimed.
"Really?" Mathis answered instantly. "was that before or after you started sticking kitchen knives into him?"
"Oh, he was a lot easier than that," Albus grinned. "started singing like a little birdy the moment I came near him,"
"He had a nervous disposition. It doesn't change my offer,"
Albus thought for a second. He looked a the terrified girl that was shaking in front of him while his brain worked overtime.
"Well?" Mathis voice asked.
"Midnight, Cherry Hill, Central Park, New York and I want you there as well," Albus said quickly.
"That wasn't part of the deal."
"I'm negotiating."
"Why do you want me there?" Mathis asked.
"Well, you sound like a smart guy, I just wanted to meet you."
"If I thought for a second that that was true, I would have actually turned up. But don't worry, Jack will be there. I'll make sure of it. Meanwhile, try to be nice to Lisa. She's a sweet kid."
The line went dead.
Albus turned to look at Lisa who was still crying. "Well, it seems to be your lucky day. Unless your afraid of flying of course?" He smiled.
==== CENTRAL PARK – NEW YORK – USA – NOVEMBER 24TH – 2021 A.D. ====
The park was all but deserted. The cold air and poor lighting gave the whole place an eerie feel, like waiting to be attacked.
Lisa had her arms wrapped around herself for warmth as she stood next to the large fountain out in the open. During the day, musicians would often line up and play for money at that spot, but tonight it was going to be the site of life trade.
She thought about making a run for it but knew she wouldn't get far if she did.
"Lisa," A voice said from the shadows. Jack Daggra stepped out slowly looking around. "are you alright?"
Lisa nodded sadly. He was saving her life at the cost of his own.
"Oh she's just fine Jack," Al's voice rang out although no one could see him. "Walk over to the fountain,"
Jack obeyed.
"It was nice meeting you Lisa. You can go now," Al's voice said.
Lisa hesitated as Jack approached her.
"You don't have to do this!" She whispered.
"Yes, I do. Go!" Jack ordered.
Lisa took off in the direction that Jack had come from.
For a few seconds Jack seemed to be alone. He looked around the area expecting to see Albus walk out from the darkness but he didn't. The sound of twigs snapping caused Jack to spin around but he still saw nothing.
He turned again. "Boo!"
Jack fell backwards in shock. Albus had somehow appeared right behind him crouching on top of the fountain wall. Daggra picked him self off the floor.
"You know, most of you guys turn into whiny little bitches when you know your about to die. Your not going to do that are you Jack?" Albus grinned and stepped off the fountain.
Jack simply stared him down.
Albus began circling him like a hungry shark. "Ooh, your a ballsy one too. How many of ya friends did you bring?"
"None," Jack spat.
"I think your lying," Albus continued to circle. "it's a shame. We could have just kept this between us. Me and you guys. But you just had to do it didn't ya..., you had to get her involved!"
Jack stayed tight lipped but didn't let Al out of his site.
"You hit the wrong target,"
"I could say the same about you," Jack hissed.
"Oh no, no, no, no, you're the ones that made this personal! You crossed the line! I just followed you over it!" Al chimed.
"You gonna yap all night or are you gonna kill me?" Daggra taunted.
Albus laughed. "Well, if you insist,"
He lunged, grabbing Jack by the throat and lifting him into the air. His grip began to constrict his windpipe. He wanted to choke the life out of him. He wanted to smell his fear. But something was odd. Whatever that scent was, it didn't smell like fear.
Suddenly his grip loosened but Jack's eyes had already rolled into the back of his skull.
Albus felt dizzy, light headed. He let go of Daggra as his vision began to blur. He looked down to see a small clear vial in Jack's hand. A slightly smoky looking vapor was pouring from it's uncorked top.
It was trap!
"Ahhhh shit!" Al slurred before hitting the deck, out cold. Jack slumped right next to him.
After a few seconds, 2 dozen men and women all wearing gas masks and armed to the teeth began to come out of the shadows.
"We got him, he's down!" One reported over the radio.
"Get him into stasis right now!"
One of the masked troops walked over to Jack and injected him with a small syringe. His eyes flickered open and he started coughing.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" He looked over to see several Cleric's bringing what looked like a massive steel coffin with some kind of computer controls on the side of it. One of them quickly opened it and began fiddling with the buttons on the side while a few others carefully loaded Albus inside it.
Jack looked down at his own hands to see them bubbling and changing. A few seconds later, his skin began to darken and a few wrinkles appeared on his face.
It was only a minute or two before the Polyjuice potion completely wore off, revealing Mathis.
"Get him back to the Temple right now," He ordered. "and nobody tells Jack about this!"