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Chapter 24: Night Fight:
Neville moved around the deserted common room quietly. Too much celebration, too little restraint, and he was dealing with one heck of an upset stomach. Winnie had brought him a potion to calm it, but the smell was so upsetting he ended up pouring it down the drain. He sighed, finally understanding Dae's hatred of coddled eggs. What was worse, his wanderings had led him past Ron, Harry and Hermione plotting to go out of bed and exploring tonight. He couldn't tell on them, you don't betray your friends, but letting them strip the house of another 150 points, how could he allow that? Punish 250 fellow students because they wanted to solve some mystery of a dog?
Maybe that was why his stomach was so upset? He considered telling Rika, but after the dreams recently she'd been too protective and smothering. Revan just laughed and shrugged his shoulders. Telling Dae would lead to who knows what. He would probably join them on some wild escapade. The Headmistress from the Tokyo school was pushing hard for them all to move to Japan, and Neville didn't want to do that, not at all. He sighed and opened the Jedi Symposium, looking for an answer.
Ron, Harry and Hermione slipped into the common room, moving towards the door. Decision time, let them go? Stop them? What should he do?
He sprang out of the chair and placed himself between the trio and the door. "No, not tonight, you're not going out and costing the house any more points guys. I'm sorry, I just can't allow it."
"Neville," Harry said, "you don't understand. We need to stop Snape..."
"No! You're not costing us any more points. I'll stop you, I...I'll fight you, if I have to." Neville started to raise his fists, he hated himself for doing that, but he couldn't let his friends punish everybody because they wanted to go exploring.
Hermione stepped forward and squared off against Neville. "I'm really sorry, Neville. Petrificus Totalus!" She whipped her wand out and froze him, and he watched the room rock back and never felt the impact as he hit the floor. Great, he was just taken out in two seconds flat by Hermione, and he never even tried to throw a punch. Hitting a girl was wrong too, but, it was the principal of the thing. It was humiliating to be outmatched so easily. He sighed mentally. Oh well, at least he tried.
.§..§.
Rika moaned into the pillows, she punched them several times and muttered as they moaned. "Come-on babe, lay off, I have a splitting headache, and you punching me in the kidney isn't going to take my mind off it." Rika lifted her head and looked at the pillow. It was in fact Dae's belly, and his naked body was bare of any covers, since her tossing and turning had them all wrapped around her in a nice warm comfy cocoon. "Gods, Dae, turn off the damned TV, I swear I hear one more Star Trek beep from that thing I'll make you eat it, copper ring and all."
"Love, you were the last one up, watching The Good, The Bad and The Ug... oh flark!" Dae sprung from the bed and fell face first to the floor, he did actually have his feet tangled in the bed sheets. His frantic kicks flipped his com-unit out of the bed, and the screaming alarm was louder as it rolled across the room. He looked at the lights and listened to the tones, confused for a moment. "That's Neville's alarm? But I don't recognize the pattern, what does that mean?" He was grabbing his armor and slapping the cold metal to his chest, even as he grabbed his staff hilt and jumped into his boots.
Rika was confused as well, Revan hadn't come for her, neither had Winnie, and the alarm, while insistent wasn't one of the danger tones. Rika grabbed a robe and slung it over her body, barely getting her arms into the sleeves as she fought with the sash to try to belt it closed. Dae's armor had spread out over his bare body, the complex machine covering him from hairline to the tops of his boots, sealing itself in a protective mesh with power outlets, small arms holsters, and a sling for his staff. He grabbed several of her holdout blasters and ran for the door. Rika paused only long enough to grab up a belt with her heavy blasters and a couple of blades strapped to it.
The frantic pair charged up the stairs and slid to a halt at the painting that lead to the Gryffindor commons. "Password, please," the sleepy painting intoned with a slightly superior attitude.
Dae growled and ignited his staff. "Flammable painting," he snarled.
"PASS!" shouted the guardian and swung herself out of the way.
Dae and Rika sprinted into the room and almost fell over Neville. The small boy was petrified, and had a shocked look on his face. Dae swung around, eyes darting to every corner, mind racing around the room, touching every item looking for a threat. Rika slid to her knees, and started checking Neville over. "He's alive, just... frozen? I don't know, we need to get him to the infirmary." Dae nodded, and let his staff power down. As he knelt to pick up the small boy Rika snarled and yanked him away. "Look at his watch, it's been frozen too, almost 45 minutes. You find them. You find who hurt my baby, and you ..." she was almost in tears. "You find them, and... find them, and find out why, understood?"
Dae stared at the woman who was his life, then looked at the small boy and nodded. "Yes my love."
Rika tore out of the room, and Dae could see her leaping from banister to banister, covering the five stories to the ground floor in less than two seconds, and three jumps.
He took a deep breath, calming himself then went to the door guardian. "I'll ask this once, who left this room about 45 minutes ago."
The guardian looked worried and confused. Her duty was to protect the students from malicious intent, and answer to the teachers, but Dae wasn't, strictly speaking, a teacher. However, the Longbottom boy was hurt. How could she allow that to happen on her watch? "It was, the Potter boy, and... the Weasley boy..." she paused, reluctant to complete her betrayal. She looked at the enraged man. He had such a bad reputation, the ghosts feared him, but the students loved him. "...Hermione Granger, they went down the stairs to the third floor, in the east corridor. I could see them from here."
Dae turned and looked, the way was off limits, but at this point he didn't care. He took three steps and leapt to the corridor. He landed silently and moved off, his staff clutched in his hand, but shut down. He could hear snuffling and scrabbling a short way ahead, and opened a heavy door that was once barred. Hagrid's pet Fluffy spotted him and barked three times in joyful greetings. Dae moved to the huge beast and started scratching its three heads. The joyful puppy went bonkers, rolling over to lay belly up for Dae to get to more fun itchy spots, and he did. His eyes flicked to the harp in a corner, then the torn apart floor boards... floor boards?
"Ok, Fluffy, ok, enough. I gotta go get some kids out of the stink. Something's up and I've had enough of secrets." He pushed the over-sized puppy aside and gestured at the trap door, it opened obediently, and Fluffy whined. "It's ok, Fluffy, I'm allowed." Dae scratched each chin once more and dropped into the stinking hole.
He landed less then 10 feet down, on soft springy vegetation. The smell was appalling, and the footing was horrible, but he couldn't see a way out of the room. He kicked the plants a few times, looking for half-rotted bodies and found nothing. "Ok, what the flark?"
The floor attacked him, long root tendrils wrapped round his legs and hips. Some from the walls flopped at his arms and he ignited his staff. With a joyous howl he started swinging the cutting blade through roots, tendrils, even the floor in a few places until the giant plant pulled back from an opening.
"Well well, looks like I found that secret. Listen up, Mr. Foliage, I am not here to audition for some hentai! Touch me again, and I'll rip you out, spread salt over your roots, just for fun, before I get a few hundred liters of Petrol, and set you on fire."
The plant quivered and pulled even further back from the hole in the floor. Dae strode to it, and saw a ton of dead foliage making a cushion on the floor 45 feet below. Dae stepped through the hole and let his feet hit the floor with as much weight as he could summon, maxing his mass with the Force. Nothing moved. He snapped his head around, eyes darting, staff at the ready, thumb stroking the activation button. He straightened up and moved to another door. He listened cautiously, soft humming, some faint chimes, metal and stone scrapes. He felt with the Force.
"Ah, ok, now I understand, the plant, a hive mind, this artificial mind, and beyond that, the pattern..." he paused then kicked the door open. He stepped in boldly, and felt his jaw drop, flying keys? Oh come on. Moving to the far door, he lifted a foot and slammed his booted heel into the wood. Upon impact, he was tossed back so hard, he shattered the door he had just come through.
"Owwww, the hell?" He rolled to one side and glared at the far door, it was spell-warded, and if he wasn't wearing his armor, his back would have shattered on the door. "Damn, that's one nasty ward." He pondered cutting it, or blasting it, but thought better of it. "Ok, need the key... one key out of..." He looked into the room saw hundreds of keys flying around the room, and an old broomstick hovering above the floor. "Yeah, that's not going to happen. Flarking wizards."
Dae stepped into the room and found out the second part of the trap, attacking the door sent all the keys after him. They pinged off his armor, but where his skin was exposed he was cut, deeply. Over and over again the keys sliced his skin, and he stood there, watching the pattern, until he found the one key that didn't belong. He howled, and the sonic wave slammed the keys into the walls, and with a wave of his hands lightning arched out and melted hundreds of keys. A second scream, and more lightning, suddenly there were only a few keys left. Angrily he entered the room fully, and swung his staff through the darting keys. Once the sole key was fluttering around at the highest point of the room he gestured and drew it to him with the Force. It seemed almost eager to go into the lock and move Dae on past the wreckage of its companion keys.
He entered the final room and stared in shock, the Weasley boy was huddled on the floor, bleeding out, and the girl... Oh yeah! The snarky one from the first day of class! He liked her. He never thought that she would lose her nerve at the sight of a little blood.
He started to cross the tiled floor and she screamed. "No! Professor Amadeaus! If you enter the board the game will restart again! And we'll be killed!" Her fear wasn't just palpable, it was overwhelming her. She wasn't afraid for herself, but the dying boy at her feet.
"Miss Granger, how many times must I tell you, call me Dae..." he leapt across the room and landed on the square before the trapped pair and ignited his staff. In seconds the Queen raised her sword and stabbed at him. A simple swing severed the metal blade, and the back-thrust cut the huge piece in half, then with a spinning swing and it was quartered. "Come on you rejects from a bad anime, lets play!" Dae sprang from square to square cutting and slicing the pieces with wild abandon. He reveled at the chance to actually be able to cut loose and destroy something that could fight back. He took several hits to his armor, but nothing penetrated, again and again he circled the trapped kids, and cut pieces from both sides down until the reset board was cleared of everything but wreckage.
Dae crouched down and examined the boy. He had taken a sword thrust through the hip, it had nicked an artery, and he was bleeding out. Dae pulled his com out and checked his bones, snapped spine, there a second puncture, kidney and lung damage. "Ok, Hermione, I have to move him off the board. You need to cover me, make sure if anything moves it gets dealt with. I have two Kolto packs, but he needs three. So we're going to fix his spine, and then the kidney, but the big cut, you're going to have to help me, understand?"
Dae placed the packs on the boy, and activated them. He waited a few seconds and reached behind his back and pulled a slim blaster from his belt. "Look at me, Hermione! Look at Me!" The frightened girl turned her streaming eyes from Ron's pale face to Dae's. He picked up a shard of porcelain and grabbing her thumb jabbed it into the pad, breaking the skin and causing her to bleed a little. The shocked girl barely squeaked. He slid the bloody pad over a section of the blaster, and it beeped softly, twice. Dae folded her hand around the grip, pushing her finger along the trigger guard. "Ok, here's how it's going to go. In about a minute, the packs will have stabilized the worst of the boy's..."
"Ron, his name is Ron Weasley," Hermione interrupted softly.
"Right, Ron." Dae nodded and placed a hand under the girl's chin and forced her to look at him. "Look at me hon, listen to me. He needs you. We, need you." Dae stared into her eyes, and felt her come awake, her fear and terror receding, and he smiled. There it was, her fire, her passion, her extreme will to win and fight.
"Yes, dear, you're going to save his and your own lives, and probably Harry's as well, if you will fight for them." He jerked his head down, at the blaster in her hands. "That's coded to you now, only you and I can fire it." He twisted and slipped a small holster into the back waistband of her skirt. "There are two
spare chargers in the holster, when I set you and Ron at the door to this room, I want you to shoot anybody but Harry, Rika, me, or Dumbledore that comes through either door. You understand me? ANYBODY else, you shoot, dead center." He stared into her eyes.
"But my wand."
Dae shook his head. "If what I think is happening, IS happening, you'll never beat them magically. You want to save Ron's life? Shoot them. Same for the chess pieces, they start coming at you, blast away."
Hermione nodded and took a deep breath, then paused. "You said there were three wounds?"
"Yeah, this is going to suck for him." Dae ignited his staff and brought the blade down from 30 inches to three. Fiddling with the settings a little he opened Ron's pants and placed a hand on his head. "Welcome to the world of war wounds son." Dae slipped the blade into Ron's hip and cooked the bleeding artery closed. He woke for a moment and screamed, primal, terrorized, pain wracked his body until it shorted his mind out, and he passed out deeper than before. Hermione also screamed and pulled at Dae's iron grip. He ignored her and finished closing the boy's wound. Dae scooped the boy up and walked him to a sheltered alcove by the key room door. He laid him down gently and pulled Hermione close, forcing her to kneel and hold Ron to her slim body. "Keep him warm, keep him safe." Dae re-ignited his staff as he stood, turned, and stalked towards the final door.
"Professor Amadeaus. what are you going to do now?" Hermione asked with a trembling voice.
Dae turned and grinned, his eyes no longer electric blue, but flame red, and seeming to smolder in their sockets.
"Boss fight dear girl. Boss fight."
Coming soon, Chapter 25: Boss Fight.