It took a while before the dust cleared a little. When it finally did, Emmett looked around. The building was missing. Odd thing was, there wasn't even a heap of rubble as one would expect. Instead, a big hole in the ground could be found upon closer inspection. All the rubble was in it, not even filling it entirely.
Most of the ants around were disoriented, probably from the tremors. Emmett ran to the crater, hoping to find at least some of his companions. At first, he saw only two ants - one was trying to dig itself out of the rubble while the other was interested in something buried in the said rubble. Emmett ran to the ant, careful not to cause another slide. A well aimed kick took the ant out of commission. He removed a beam that was in his way.
"How have you managed to end in there?" asked Emmett - it was his brother who was wedged between the rubble. Remarkably, Emmett had the decency not to sound bemused when he asked the question.
Edward growled and replied, "Couldn't decide whether to stay up or try to get into the tunnel." He shook out some of the dust that his hair was filled with.
"What tunnel?"
"The ant tunnel! Now help me out of here, carefully."
Emmett bit down a retort and did as he was asked. They quickly left the unstable surface.
Meanwhile, Jared was busy digging through the rubble. He worked carefully but quickly - the tunnel was giving him creeps. After a short while of burrowing, he reached Alice. Or her leg to be more precise - she was somewhat higher than he was.
"Finally! I think that an ant is trying to get to me," she said.
Jared made no reply and grasped a snapped beam firmly. He saw some movement through gaps between planks and beams. He aimed carefully and thrust the sharp, splintered end in the ant's belly. The ant started to trash around which caused a small avalanche of dust and sand. Jared quickly leaped away.
"Thanks. I could have freed myself but I didn't want to cause another cave in."
Jared just replied with unintelligible murmur and continued digging. Suddenly, he cried in rejoice, "Here you are! I was afraid I've lost you!"
"I'm here," called Alice after him.
Jared paid her no attention and pulled his machine gun from the rubble. He rushed back to the part of the tunnel that wasn't filled with rubble and started to check it up and clean it.
Alice was about to say something nasty but Carlisle was faster. "Have patience, Alice. Let me help out these two first," he said.
Carlisle was digging in a different direction than Jared and somewhat deeper. He reached Sam and Bella after a few more moments. The rubble formed some kind of a dome around them. However, the ceiling of the said dome rested on Sam's shoulders, whose muscles were straining to keep them both from being buried alive. Bella was unconscious.
"She created a shield for us but she fainted from the strain," explained Sam, though he was quite sure that the doctor knew already.
Carlisle took Sam's place quickly and told him to get the girl out of there. Sam took Bella in his arms and carried her away. When he reached Jared, the boy was already loading his last belt in the machine gun.
"Hi," said Jared, barely raising his eyes.
Sam decided not to reply.
"Boys? I need you to continue down the tunnel," called Carlisle who was still keeping the rubble from collapsing. "We'll follow you when you reach a safe distance."
Jared looked in the darkness in front of them. There was barely any light in the crater - the tunnel itself was completely dim.
"You don't happen to have a flash-light in your pocket, do you?" he asked.
"I'm afraid I've left it at home this time around," replied the alpha. He hoisted Bella once again and ordered, "Let's get our asses moving."
Jared followed him carefully. He tried making little sounds and using his wolfish hearing for listening to an echo. Well, he got a lot of echo but his brain was unable to tell him what it meant.
"Stop it!" snapped Sam when the sounds started to grow more ridiculous.
They heard noise from the tunnel entrance. Carlisle left his post and rushed to Alice who was already kicking through beams that were in her way. Carlisle helped her to get out more quickly and they ran after their companions before the rubble collapsed on their heads. A gust of dust followed in their wake and enveloped all five of them. The three people who actually needed to breathe started coughing immediately. Carlisle and Alice used their vampire vision to lead Sam and Jared away, even though the tunnel was becoming to dark even for them. Carlisle was especially concerned about Bella and at least covered her nose with a piece of cloth which he tore from his shirt.
Once they got away a little and the dust settled, he helped her to clear her airwaves. The heavy coughing woke her up. Jared reached in his backpack and handed her a small bottle of water.
"What happened?" she asked after she moistened her throat.
"You brought the bloody building down on our heads," answered Sam icily.
"It wasn't her fault," protested Carlisle. "The whole building was undermined so much that it was practically standing on thin air!"
Jared raised his hand tentatively and said, "Guys? It may be irrelevant but have you noticed how he found about about the danger just right before the building collapsed? I mean, in all the movies, people always find out about an impending catastrophe only a moment before it happens. Why? Because the audience needs to understand what's happening!"
In the meantime, Emmett and Edward observed the situation on the surface. Edward knew for the whole time that Bella was alive but he was relieved nonetheless when she woke up and he could hear her mental voice again. He briefed Emmett on the situation underground and did his best to contact Bella through his quantum-entanglement communicator.
Most of the ants left the two vampires alone after they found out that they couldn't catch them. Only Edward gave any thought about how they were able to realize that. Emmett was more interested in their following behaviour though - the ants formed lines and started to trail to the other buildings. Both vampires ran towards nearest structure which was at least twice as big as the one they had taken cover in before. They wanted to find out the reason for the sudden change of behaviour of the ants but Edward had a theory already.
They sneaked inside what looked like a processing plant. As they made their way through the building, a label on one of the doors caught Edward's eye.
"Go on alone," He told Emmett. "I bet that there's another tunnel under this building. Come back as soon as you confirm it."
Emmett complied and Edward entered the room that caught his interest. It was a storage of auxiliary reagents used for processing. Thanks to his perfect recall, he knew what most of the stored minerals, extracts, and chemicals were good for. His vampire brain made a list of all possible combinations he could make under the current conditions. He found out that there was one thing that could be possibly useful to them and contacted Bella to consult her. Then he heard sounds that indicated that Emmett encountered some ants and added what he learned from his thoughts to his report.
Bella used her wand to illuminate their path as she and her four companions hurried through the tunnel. They reached a place where another tunnel reached theirs and formed a broader one together.
"Where's it coming from?" asked Jared.
"It seems it leads to another building in the complex," said Carlisle who knew their exact location and heading.
Bella was already receiving the information from Edward at the time and added, "Edward says that the ants are pouring into the tunnels. We need to hurry and get to a main vein."
Alice took Bella on her back so they could continue with superhuman speed. They passed some more tunnels and finally left the area of the complex.
Jared listened for a moment and asked, "Is that sound what I think it is?"
Carlisle answered, "Indeed. Ants are after us."
"We need to cut them off," stated Sam.
Alice and Carlisle started to examine walls by knocking on them. It took them only a few seconds to cover about twenty meters. The others followed them.
"Here," pointed Carlisle.
Sam, Jared, and Bella positioned themselves about five meters further. Alice and Carlisle started to batter on the walls or even punch through them in places where ants used their acid and saliva to create a crust behind which wasn't solid rock but just gravel.
Once the walls started to crumble, the vampires rejoined the others hastily. Jared raised his machine gun and hastened the process with a salvo. Bella added a reducto. They ran away to avoid getting caught in another cave-in.
"I think that should stop them for a while," remarked Bella when the rumbling stopped.
"Do you have any idea where does this lead?" asked Jared and motioned with his gun towards the darkness in front of them.
"Where do you think?" confirmed Bella his suspicion.
"You mean into an anthill? And you intend to go there? What if there's some kind of mutated-evil-ant-queen-from-space-or-another-dimension?"
"Unfortunately, we have to. I agree with Sam - we can't leave until we know what's going on here. Edward's reports indicate that they are indeed controlled by somebody and yet, he and Emmett haven't found anybody in the complex."
"Not somebody," muttered Jared. "Something!"
Bella paused for moment to think and continued, "Carlisle, how often has this tunnel been traversed?"
"Well, it's hard to tell but the scent indicates that it wasn't used very much lately. However, when I look at scratches in the floor, I see that countless ants went through here."
Sam nodded solemnly and proposed a theory, "So, if we for a moment agreed that Jared was right and that something was done with these ants to, let's say, increase the revenue, then, hypothetically, they started in the complex and made use of the tunnel to keep it a secret and moved their operation inside the anthill later."
"Who would want to live in an anthill?" remarked Alice in a low tone.
Jared's commentary was somewhat louder, "Revenue? They want to take control of the world or something like that!"
Bella shook her head and said, "Death Eaters are taking control of the world and a bunch of ant-herders can't change that."
Jared wasn't about to be silenced though and continued, "And how do you know that we are dealing with a bunch of ant-herders? I'd say this stuff is too sick for a human and don't forget about that skeleton either. What if we are dealing with some kind of an alien over-mind that controls the ants, huh?"
The others didn't even bother with responding to that. There was a moment of silence.
"Well, the path is clear," stated Bella. "Edward and Emmett are scouting what lies ahead already."
The little fellowship continued through the tunnel. They covered about a kilometre soon. As if to confirm Sam's theory, they saw no turn-offs for the whole time. They also encountered an ant and then another after several hundred more meters. In both cases, Carlisle was able to reach the ant in a split of second and tear its head off before it could sound an alarm.
"Isn't it weird?" mused Jared. "They were smart enough to follow us into the tunnels. And now, when we are heading towards their centre, they just ignore us?"
"Well, we shall proceed with caution," replied Bella.
"It's just, either we are actually walking away from them, which I find hard to believe since there's allegedly nothing in the complex, or we are walking into a trap."
"I think I've answered already," retorted Bella shortly.
"Excuse me? What's your plan? Shouldn't we prepare or turn around for that matter?"
Bella stopped walking and answered, "Do you remember how you compared me to a certain extra-terrestrial hunter after the Port Angeles incident? Well, I actually took time several weeks ago to watch the movie - on Emmett's insistence. Now, do I remember correctly that when the soldiers tried to lure the said hunter into a trap, the hunter used their overconfidence to turn that into their last attempt to fight back? You say a trap? I say spring the trap!"
Bella started to walk again but Jared wasn't so easily discouraged.
"We are nowhere near as powerful, smart, or well equipped as him," he claimed. "In fact, we are almost out of ammunition."
"Then we'll make sure not to fight throngs of ants again," stated Sam.
Bella nodded and continued, "Indeed. The wizards behind this are fools to let us march into the anthill unhindered. And we shall exploit this and go straight at them. They've seen nothing of our power yet but they are going to. Plus, the boys are covering us from above."
"And how can they help us?" asked Jared.
"Well, we could for example scout the anthill from the inside and find the most vulnerable point. Then we'll contact them."
"And then what?"
"Then we shall bring the anthill down. Of course, that's only one of the options. It all depends on what are we going to find."
"Bring it down? How?"
About the same time, Edward and Emmett stopped. Edward put the bag he was carrying carefully down. He draw his gun and took the magazine out.
"We need to open all the cartridges I've got left," he instructed.
Alice and Carlisle run forward a little. Once they were away from the disruptive effects of the shape-shifters, Alice looked ahead.
"We are almost there," she informed the others once they were rejoined. "The area at the end of this tunnel is heavily disrupted."
"That means magical creatures and possibly some magic," remarked Bella.
"A lots of magical creatures," corrected Alice. "And yes, possibly some magic."
"Great. We have to fight not only ants but some spell-casters as well," complained Jared.
"It could mean wards and enchantments as well," theorized Bella.
Carlisle thought about it for a moment and asked, "Alice, are you able to distinguish disturbances of your vision caused by magic from those caused by magical creatures?"
"If the boys keep some distance, I can try," she replied.
"Well, I was speaking hypothetically but one can't be too careful. Alice, Carlisle, and me shall go in the front. Sam and Jared will be our rear guard." concluded Bella.
They progressed further in the way she described. Before too long, the tunnel connected into some kind of hallway which went slightly upslope to the right and downward to the left. Jared appeared to grow uneasy as the stench of insect grew stronger. In fact, the smell was palpable even to Bella. The group decided to go up in a hope that Edward and Emmett would be able to reach them easier. Alice and Carlisle confirmed that the area was recently traversed by ants and that they heard scurrying of tarsal claws from both directions.
They walked about ten meters and reached a bend, when Alice stopped them. "There's a local disturbance of my vision right in front of us," she said.
Bella stepped forward and peered into the tunnel but failed to see or feel anything extraordinary. "I guess it's some kind of a ward," she said finally.
"Are we going to try going in the other direction?" asked Carlisle.
"Why? Bella is going to get rid of it, right?" opposed Jared who didn't like the sound of letting anybody dictate their movements.
Everybody stepped back a little and looked expectantly at the witch.
"And here it is again - we say something and it happens," whispered Sam so silently that it was heard only by... everybody with the exception of Bella.
"Uhm. Uhm..." mumbled Bella as she contemplated the best course of action. She knew a thing or two about wards but that knowledge consisted mainly of setting of alarms. Also, as she had mentioned to the Cullens during her big reveal, she had once extracted from Pansy Parkinson the information needed to gain entrance in the home of her family. However, there was a difference between opening a door with a key and opening it with a pick-lock. So in the end, her most useful information stemmed from a brief conversation with Bill Weasley and some books she had read afterwards.
"How is it going?" chirped Alice, startling Bella.
Bella hushed her and turned her attention back to the ward. She started to cast some kind of a detection spell. It wasn't even finished when they heard a loud rumbling behind them.
Everybody remained still for a moment. Jared and Sam, who were behind Alice and Carlisle, slowly turned around. When they remained silent, Alice walked over to them and looked behind the corner. There, where used to be the mouth of the tunnel through which they had arrived in the anthill, was just a pile of rocks which completely blocked the entrance.
"That was great, Bella," remarked Sam sarcastically.
"Yeah. Don't you want to do it again? Maybe somebody didn't hear it," added Jared snidely.
Bella was about to snap back at them but Carlisle made a quick end to the brewing argument when he hissed, "Silence! Listen."
"What is it?" asked Bella after a while.
"An alarm," answered Alice. "It's nowhere near and it's difficult to hear over the sounds that ants make but it sounds like that."
"Alarm... That means that there are humans somewhere in front of us because ants just sense vibrations," pondered Bella.
"Exactly," confirmed Carlisle.
"I can't believe it," commented Jared grimly. "Somebody really lives here among these creepy ants."
"We need to go, I can hear ants moving towards us!" urged Alice and the group did as she said.
They hastened forward as quickly as the boys could run without loosing their ability to watch out for danger. Bella rode on Alice's back so they wouldn't get slowed down by her human muscles. They reached an intersection and an ugly head of an ant awaited them there. Carlisle sent the creature flying back where it came from before Jared could even raise his weapon.
Soon enough, they reached a huge dome. Only, it wasn't one empty space but rather a system of intersecting spaces not very different from the internal structure of bird bones. As they emerged from the tunnel, they triggered another ward.
"Bella, could we please evade at least one bloody ward in this anthill?" sneered Jared bitterly. "Just one! That's not too much to ask for."
"Oh shut up!" she snapped back at him. "It's not like we can alarm them any more than they already are."
"Ants are coming! From the tunnel," warned them Alice.
Carlisle wasted no time and charged back at the tunnel they came from. He was no Emmett but when his shoulder impacted on a weak spot in the rock, the walls shook. Bella fired two crushers as Carlisle retreated back to them. There was a minor cave-in which partially blocked the tunnel with rubble. More ants were heading towards them from other parts of the anthill however and the sensitive ears of the non-humans detected their scampering claws.
"Where are they coming from?!" cried Jared, whose brain was unable to decipher all the echos.
"Silence! Let me!" hushed him Carlisle. He closed his eyes and listened for a few moments. Then he pointed in a certain direction and told the others, "The bulk of them is coming from that direction." He pointed in another direction afterwards and added, "There's less of them that way."
The group rushed in the direction he gave them. They encountered an ant after second turn, several more were looming in the darkness further along. The ant did not attack but Carlisle killed it anyway. The other ants retreated.
"What's wrong with them?" asked Jared.
"Who cares," rebuffed him Sam and kept running.
They arrived to some kind of a "clearing" - a slightly bigger space undivided by any supports, natural or constructed. Several tunnels could be seen on the other side. Some of them seemed to be heading upward.
"Shall we?" asked Sam and nodded towards those tunnels.
"I don't know, we still haven't found any sign of those behind this mess," replied Bella. She turned to Carlisle and asked, "Can you smell any humans?"
The doctor shook his head and answered, "No, I don't think so. I do smell something strange though. Maybe an ant caste we haven't encountered yet?"
Jared froze and asked, "Like... like a queen? Or an overlord brain?"
"I have no idea."
"We should rejoin Emmett and Edward," suggested Alice.
Bella looked at her companions. Almost everybody wanted to go up. She met Carlisle's eyes briefly.
"Let's go up," he stated and moved towards the tunnel that seemed most upward-ish.
He didn't get too far when they heard rumbling and rolling of debris and stones. The vampires were able to feel some tremors. Dust exploded from two of the tunnels, including the one they wanted to take. A small avalanche of rocks followed.
"Great. This is just fabulous," complained Jared.
Suddenly, a deep alien rumbling sound filled the cavern. It took them a while to realize that it was laughter.
"Oh no..." whispered Jared.
The same deep rumbling voice spoke, "Who dares to enter my domain?"
Jared narrowed his eyes and scoffed, "Oh come on!"
Carlisle looked back from where they came from and warned the others, "The ants are closing on us! No, wait, they are stopping."
Bella nodded and sent directions to Edward. She turned her attention back at the tunnels. She took a breath, lifted her chin and... and Jared suddenly grabbed her elbow.
"Don't!" he said. "Don't you dare to shout something like 'Show yourself!' Because that's just old, you know."
Bella shook hear head. That was exactly what she wanted to shout.
Edward and Emmett finished circling the anthill - they had enough sense not to get too close. Edward pointed at an entrance which was roughly halfway to the peak of the structure. From their cover, they saw a handful of ants in their planned way of approach.
"On my mark," he said. "Just remember not to linger there. We'll use the breach to get in afterwards."
"The smell is coming from there," pointed Carlisle. "I can't place the voice however. Magic, I suppose."
Sam sniffed at the air. His nose was overwhelmed by the pungent smell of ants and the sharp scent of the vampires but he managed to catch something else as well.
"What is it?" whispered Alice. Jared said nothing and just gripped his machine gun tighter.
Bella contemplated what to do. The host of ants in their back was a problem but she didn't want to send a signal to Edward yet - not until the speaker came out of the tunnel. But how to draw him (or it) out? Finally she decided that bluffing was the best course of action. She briefly considered whether their enemies knew that they had been using modern weaponry. She gestured to others to stay put and stepped forward.
"Dare do I?" she called out, laying her British accent heavily on. "No! How dare you? I represent the owners of this establishment and I won't suffer any vagrants here!"
There was a snarl mixed with insect-like clicking (which made Jared worry again). Bella wondered whether she was really that lucky and managed to make the speaker angry. In response to her thoughts, the voice retorted angrily, "This place has no other owner and no other master than me and it is me who shall tolerate your presence no longer!"
Bella thought her response quickly out. She wondered when the whole situation started. A year ago? Two years ago? Finally, she shouted back, "Well, the papers say differently, mister! My parents bought their part in this business almost a year ago and received no share of the earnings since then - nor the resources they requested. In fact, they received no contact at all and their missives were ignored! And what do I find when they decide to send me in to personally investigate the matter? The people responsible for this are nowhere to be found and allegedly, the harvesting was stopped till further notice! But that doesn't compare to what I've just seen on my own eyes! The colony has grown unruly and your ants are violent! You are very lucky that I wasn't harmed! I don't know who you are but if you used to operate this place, I say used to, then you can be sure that my parents will sue you for negligence!"
There was a moment of silence and the voice growled in lower volume, "William - even in his death, he's an annoyance. I should have killed him sooner." Bella and her companions weren't sure whether they were meant to hear it.
Bella shouted back, "Well I don't care what your deal with him was, all is proper and legal on our side. By the way, confessing to a murder in front of witnesses wasn't a good idea. Then again, you've got quite a bit on your plate already anyway. You can be sure that the Ministry will hear about this and that there will be repercussions!"
There was a brief pause followed by that creepy laughter again. Unlike last time, it sounded genuinely bemused. The voice responded, "If I didn't hear it myself just now, I wouldn't believe that British wizards are actually as arrogant as everybody says. Then again, I shouldn't be so surprised, with your recent history. You actually believe that your ministry has jurisdiction over the entire planet! And you keep believing it despite the fact that your ministry has fallen!"
Carlisle narrowed his eyes. Despite all that had happened until that point, there were signs that the speaker despised the regime in Britain. Bella ignored those signs and shouted, "The Ministry of Magic has not fallen! It's stronger than ever before! Just wait till you are dragged in front of Wizengamot in chains! You shall see that the Ministry now represents a united Britain and has support of all the most noble and ancient houses. And what more, we've also got the support of the most powerful sorcerer in the history of humankind! Not feeling so brazen right now, are you? That's right, you have no idea what are you interfering with! The resources and incomes from this place are needed for the cause and we shall suffer no hindrance!"
Carlisle concentrated on his hearing and informed Bella, "I hear ants move in the tunnels. There's also something... heavy."
The speaker chuckled and spoke, "I believe I'm starting to see the whole picture now. Tell me, what is it like to know that you've failed your family? Your parents thought to buy themselves the favour of the Dark Lord. Too bad they weren't more careful. I've heard that he makes an example of those who displease him. You say the most powerful sorcerer in the history of humankind? Well, the history of humankind is coming to its end fortunately."
Carlisle frowned. There went the idea that the speaker was on their side ideologically.
The speaker continued, "Britain and its allies will find themselves in a war with the rest of the world soon enough. So forgive me if I refuse to believe that anybody will come to bother us any time soon. In fact, I believe that I have more than enough time to perfect my army. Speaking of which, I can't really send you back home with a clear conscience - the situation is bound to be a mess there."
Ants started to trail from the tunnels in front of them at that point. The speaker's voice was no longer displaced, it came from one of the tunnels. "However, I am starting a new splicing program and I could use such a young, healthy, pure-blood witch such as yourself."
Even Bella could hear steps of some big insect then. She decided that it was time and gave Edward a signal. Jared stared at the mouth of the tunnel. Along with ants, something big and ugly came out.
Emmett broke the perimeter of the anthill at full vampire speed. Edward followed right after him. There were alarm wards, of course, but it was too late for anybody to react since Bella's group had everybody's attention at the time. Emmett reached their destination and barrelled into an ant that stood there.
Sam was rather disturbed when he finally saw the mysterious speaker in his (or rather its) full glory. Carlisle and Alice had similar feelings in the matter. Jared was creeped out thoroughly.
The lower half of the creature was slightly more robust than a warrior ant. It had six legs, just like ants, but where a head should have been, the body of an ant changed into an upper human torso. It was still insect-like with exoskeleton and all but the human features were definitely there. Its eyes weren't composite and looked rather human-like. The most horrendous aspect of it all was the fact that the creature had been a man once probably.
"Behold the future of this world!" cried the grotesque abomination.
"Are you kidding me?!" exclaimed Jared.
Another similar creature, though smaller, came from another tunnel. Another one joined the ants in the main part of the dome. They all waited for a signal from their leader.
There was an explosion and the ceiling of the dome shook. That was all the distraction Bella needed.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A slightly overcharged green bolt soared towards the mutant. He made an attempt to move only a split of a second before it struck. A piece of his chitin armour exploded and he roared in fury and pain (though the curse never reached his flesh). He staggered back to take cover behind his ants.
Bella's group wasted no time and began to move in a better position. In the meantime, the dome was collapsing on the host of ants. This had a tremendous effect on their ranks. Anybody who watches documents about animals (or liked to play with insect in childhood) knows that ants react rather wildly when their anthill is disturbed. The abomination in the collapsed part of the dome found himself jostled by swarming ants. He tried to bring them to order but whatever influence he held over them couldn't overcome their basic instincts.
The ants in the front and the other abomination (henchman?) were about to panic as well but they stilled suddenly as if paralysed. They started to walk in disorganized manner towards their enemies. The henchman walked right behind them. Jared took aim with his machine gun and opened fire. This was a surprise for the henchman, considering the things Bella had said earlier. He (it?) stayed behind a little and made same kind of a sound to get his boss's attention. The ants continued forward without him.
Bella was keeping track of the main boss. She feared that he would flee. After a moment of hesitation, she used her wristwatch to send a request to Edward and Emmett. Jared and Sam were busy shooting the incoming ants, for whenever any of them got too near, they seemed to be released from their thrall and attacked a nearest non-ant target with fury.
Alice and Carlisle were doing their best to cover the others and thanks to their nature, they were able to keep track of everything at the same time. And so it happened that they were the only ones who noticed actions of the henchman. He erected some kind of antennae not only on his head but his back as well. He stood up on his hind two pairs of legs and raised the front ones. Little sparks of electricity started to appear on the tips of those antennae. Carlisle understood at that moment and ran to Sam.
"Sam, give me your gun!" he shouted and nodded towards the henchman.
The alpha followed the direction of his gaze and realized that the mutant was about to attack them with magic. Instead of relinquishing his weapon, he aimed at the ant-man himself and emptied the rest of his last magazine at his target. Carlisle grabbed some rocks and chucked them at the caster. Their attacks did little damage but they succeeded in interrupting his concentration. The henchman finished the spell too quickly and a small ball of electricity flew from his hands (legs). His aim was off and the ball struck rock behind Sam.
Sam dropped his empty gun and ran forward to meet a charging ant. He sidestepped its swipe and vaulted on its back. He grabbed its head and killed the ant with a sharp twist.
By that time, Bella knew as well that the ant-men were capable of casting magic. She decided to trust her companions with the ants and the two henchmen for the time being and went after their boss. However, the boss seemed perfectly happy to hide behind his ants and observe the intruders. Bella looked for a quick way to flank those but there seemed to be none and she was unwilling to apparate. Finally she levelled her wand at the nearest ant and cast the Imperius curse.
Getting the insect under control proved to be more difficult than she expected. It wasn't like the ant was actually resilient to her intrusion, it was more like she was contesting with somebody for the control of the specimen. It wasn't so surprising in hindsight - the ants had behaved smarter than expected from the beginning. However, the ant-masters had to spread their influence over the entire anthill while Bella focused her power on a single ant. The leader of the ants felt her intrusion and abandoned his plan to attack with magic. He focussed his mental strength to battle Bella's hijack. He also wished to keep control over his panicking army but he was forced to let go of any ants who weren't part of the ongoing battle. This didn't help the henchman in the dome much.
Jared kept hammering at the incoming ants with his machine gun. The ants kept coming at him and while their numbers weren't unlimited, there were more than enough of them. He found himself stepping back in pauses between salvoes. Then his machine gun made an empty click and his back touched a wall of rock. At the moment, Sam and Carlisle were trying to progress along the wall of the cavern and get closer to the henchman. Alice was somewhat nearer but she noticed Jared's situation too late. An ant came at him. Jared thrust his empty gun against its mandibles but otherwise he did little to defend himself. The claw on the end of the ant's left-front leg pierced Jared's chest right below his shoulder. Jared yelled and drew a knife which he used to sever the leg. He sunk to the ground, the piece of the leg still embedded in his flesh. Alice got to him as quickly as possible and rammed in the ant at full speed. She crouched next to Jared.
"I'll get Carlisle," she said.
"No, just cover me for a moment," refused Jared. He carefully slid his backpack off his right shoulder. Then the revulsion got too much for him and he had to extricate the leg from the wound.
"What have you done?!" exclaimed Alice when she noticed how he worsened the situation.
Jared took a potion out of his backpack at that moment which stopped Alice from calling Carlisle. A human would loose consciousness by that point but Jared was from sturdier cloth and still possessed enough strength to drink some of the potion, then dribble some of it on the wound, and finally drink the rest.
"Go on, I'll be all right now," he urged Alice who hesitated for a split of a second before she turned to face the ants.
The henchman in the collapsed part of the dome was attempting to get away from the swarming ants at the time. Since he was quite distracted, he didn't notice the incoming danger. There was a flash of something fast and he felt something penetrating his armour - Edward drove a makeshift wooden spear through a weak-spot and into the head of the ant-man. He leaped away from the swarm quickly. The henchman started to trash around and the ants around treated him like any other dysfunctional specimen.
Edward joined Bella and nodded towards the tunnel from which the main abomination came from. A rumbling started to come from it and then dust and rolling stones - courtesy of Emmett. Bella paid little attention to that since she knew about it in advance. Instead, she focussed on the ant she had gained control of. It was slowly but surely pushing its way through the enemy lines. Bella didn't make it to attack anybody yet so the other ants left it mostly alone. A few ants began to approach Bella and Edward began to destroy them. He made sure not to be lured away from Bella though.
Bella's ant got to the surviving henchman and attacked. The ant-man ordered the ants around him to attack Bella's ant which caused confusion among them. The main problem was how to specify the target of their attack because the target was no different from them. Carlisle, Alice, and Edward were steadily working on reducing the number of opposing ants. Sam took a cover behind a boulder not far from the henchman but he was unsure how to proceed. He decided to wait for the right moment and then provide a distraction. Phasing never crossed his mind - that would mean using his teeth on those disgusting creatures.
Momentarily, everyone forgot (figuratively speaking where vampires were concerned) about the leader. He couldn't escape easily and they would notice if he tried. In fact, another tunnel started to collapse by the time. Also, nobody from the company was in his line of (spell)fire. The vampires and shape-shifters were suddenly reminded about him when they heard a sound of accumulating electricity. The vampires knew exactly where the leader was - he was covering in a depression near the collapsed tunnel. They weren't sure what he was up to since he stopped fighting Bella's hijack but the best guess was that he was attempting to take control of the ants in the collapsed part of the dome. Hence, they knew that he couldn't hit any of them.
A large ball of crackling energy flew from his position. It was headed upward, at the ceiling above Bella's head. Edward moved before it struck. He grabbed Bella as gently as possible but the sudden acceleration took her breath anyway. She lost control over the ant and it was quickly forgetting her orders. Still, the ants around the henchman remained in disarray.
There was the sound of accumulating electricity again. Edward grabbed a stone and ran to an upper ground. He leaped into the air and jabbed the stone at the leader of the ants. The abomination noticed him and released the prepared spell in an omnidirectional wave which knocked the stone away. Not that the stone would do any real damage to his armour but it could snap an antennae or something. He walked away from his spot, towards the collapsed part of the dome.
By that time, the henchman backed away from his ants and was about to start casting as well. Bella shot a quick flame spell at him and ran after Edward. Carlisle told Alice a few words at vampire speed. They charged a well placed ant simultaneously. The impact sent the ant flying right into the henchman. Sam met Carlisle's eyes but he gestured to him to stay put.
Bella reached a position from which she had a line of sight on the leader and cast a normally powered killing curse on him. She was attempting to a hit a weak spot but her aim was off and the spell struck his armour instead. Bella mentally asked Edward to keep an eye on her. She gathered her magical strength and cast an overpowered killing curse, bellowing the incantation at the top of her lungs. The abomination made no attempt to evade. Instead, he levitated some rocks and put them in the path of the green curse. Edward heard Bella think, "Well, blimey."
Carlisle and Alice threw another ant at the henchman. They noticed that Jared was trotting after Bella and Edward. Carlisle heard sounds of another tunnel being destroyed by Emmett and told Alice to go help the others. After several moments, pieces of rock started to roll from the tunnel and then it started to collapse. The henchman had intended to use it to escape. He turned back and quickly searched for another way out. Carlisle heard Emmett running down the collapsing tunnel and decided that it was time to strike. He nodded at Sam and started to lob rocks at the ant-man. He was aiming at his weak spots, especially the strange antennae connected with the electrical attack. This forced the henchman to keep the antennae folded into his armour. Carlisle was unsure whether it meant that he was unable to do magic.
Sam saw his opening and picked up a large rock he had found himself earlier. He heaved it above his head and ran at the henchman. The ant-man turned partially towards Sam and when he (Sam) was near, he (the ant-man) swiped with his leg at him. Sam expected it and swung the rock against the leg while leaping back. At that moment, Carlisle hit the ant-man with a stone in his head. The ant-man lost balance momentarily.
Emmett emerged from the collapsing tunnel. He surveyed the scene quickly. He made three quick bounds and landed on the middle section of the ant-man. He grabbed a front leg with each hand and sneered, "Eat dirt, bug!"
"Actually, ants are insect," remarked Carlisle and ran forward. Emmett tore the front legs off. The henchman yelled in pain. The gravity made him fall forward, face first into dirt. He attempted to get up using his human arms. The first thing he saw when he looked up was Carlisle. The doctor delivered a kick in his head which made his armour crack. Originally, Carlisle intended to kill the henchman but a momentary hesitation of his resulted in a weaker kick. It didn't matter, Sam and Emmett seemed to have things under control. Carlisle told Emmett to clear up the remaining ants and ran where the fight with the leader of the ants was taking place.
In the meantime, Bella and Edward were thinking hard how to tackle the director of the anthill. The most simple solution would be for Edward to charge the abomination at full speed and wound it critically. Unfortunately, such a plan was too risky because they didn't know what kind of other tricks the monster had. They were quite sure that he possessed enough physical strength to tear apart even a vampire. Another way would be to pelt him with overcharged killing curses and other high-powered spells. However, Bella was nearing a point of exhaustion and they couldn't risk her collapse. For the time being, Edward kept chucking stones at the director. They were either ignored or slowed down with telekinesis. Every now and then, the abomination shot a stone at Bella.
Jared joined them. He headed towards Edward and tossed his knife to him. Edward heard only one word from his mind: "Metal." That made sense - metals and killing curses were a deadly combination. The problematic part was sticking the knife in the armour of their enemy. It was possible for him to throw the knife with enough force that it would penetrate a weak point but what if the director stopped the knife or what if he missed? Edward just nodded at Jared to indicate that he understood and kept throwing stones at the director. Jared joined in (though not to such a great effect).
Alice arrived and Edward directed her to Bella. Bella had a faint idea about what was Edward intending and climbed on Alice's back. "I believe I'm going to need to be able to move quickly soon. Just mind your acceleration," she explained.
The director kept heading towards the swarm of ants. Edward understood that he intended to bring some of them under his control and use them in the fight. That wouldn't be good but Edward considered it as their chance to strike at him. After all, getting the ants back under his control would require a great deal of attention. The director probably didn't consider this aspect of his plan. Finally, Edward realized that Jared's knife wasn't the only metal he had got.
As the director neared the ants, Edward moved into position and took out his empty handgun. He transmitted to Bella a blurry idea he had. The witch thought about it quickly and replied with a more solid plan. She whispered something in Alice's ear and the two of them shot forward. The director was about to start enthralling the ants when Bella released a weak death-wave from her hand. At the same time, Edward threw his gun at the director so it passed straight through Bella's wave. The metal parts sucked in the energy of the killing curse. Thanks to the velocity given to it by Edward's strength, the metal didn't explode until it impacted with the back of the ant-man's upper body.
The director roared in pain and anger as the explosion ravaged his armour plating. He turned around. Bella gained his attention by a weak flame spell. Jared threw a few stones at the ants nearest to the director and ran away when the monster turned to him. By that time, Edward was behind the director again. He took a running start, then leaped in the air and threw the knife when he was in the best position. The knife embedded itself in the damaged armour on the back of the ant-man.
The tip of the knife had to reach the flesh because the director obviously felt it. He turned around again. Alice was already moving closer. Once she had a clear shot, Bella cast a killing curse. It was blurry, sort of like the wand-less version. It hit the knife which acted as a lightning rod. The energy of the killing curse was sucked into the knife and led through it into the monster's flesh. The leader of the ants stilled as the power of death spread across his neural system and the knife exploded. A large chunk of flesh and armour was torn from his back but he was already dead. This happened shortly after the death of the second henchman.
Bella sagged and almost dropped her wand. Alice carried her away from the swarming ants and laid her against a wall. Edward was by her side in a flash and tried to get Bella's attention but she was almost falling asleep. Carlisle arrived and told them that they needed to leave. He and Alice started to kill any ants who got too near but Edward was unwilling to leave Bella. Sam and Emmett arrived after a while. Carlisle called Edward again to come help them. This time he agreed to leave Bella with Sam and Jared.
It took a while but the vampires managed to clear a way out finally. Sam and Jared followed the vampires and carried Bella outside. When they started to talk about what they should do next, Bella came out of her stupor and stated that they had to milk the situation for all it was worth.
In the and, Alice ran back to the cars. Sam and Jared stayed with Bella while the remaining vampires searched the anthill (a task Jared was more than willing to leave to them). Edward discovered what seemed to be the director's laboratory. Others collected a handful of dead ants with unspoiled armours and collected other raw resources.
Bella insisted on re-entering the anthill herself after she rested briefly. Edward led her to the laboratory. There seemed to be no extra security measures. They searched it and found some rare ingredients stored in there. The director had probably purchased them while he was still human.
Afterwards, Bella decided to let the vampires to finish the looting of the anthill and started to walk with Sam and Jared back to the complex. By the time they reached it, Edward was finished at the anthill and caught up with them. He led Bella to the storage room in the processing building where he had found reagents for the bomb. Bella decided to plunder it and all the other buildings as well.
She sat down and watched as Edward scurried around and packed everything for transport. After a while, he turned to her and informed her, "Alice arrived, with Jacob. They drove two Jeeps as far as they could and left them not far from here. Alice ran to the anthill to help them carry everything to the cars. Jacob is on his way here."
"Why?" asked Bella. "Oh, never mind," she dismissed the thought and yawned.
"It's going to take several trips to haul everything back to the van and then to the warehouse. We should get this done as quickly as possible, I would prefer not to linger here."
Sam and Jared were searching another building at the time. The alpha noticed that Jared was still creeped out. While the danger was gone, so was the adrenaline. Thus, he wasn't getting any better. He also kept rubbing the spot where the ant injured him. Suddenly, he froze.
"What is it?" asked Sam.
Jared looked back at him and answered, "The potion closed the wound. What if there are some splinters left?"
Sam shook his head and replied, "I believe the potion would take care of it if that was the case. I would be more worried about what was that potion made from."
Jared's worries weren't dissuaded by the first sentence but the second one caught his attention. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"Well, bugs are a common potion ingredient..."
They were near an exit from the building. Jared bolted outside to find Bella. Jacob descended from the cliffs by that time and was nearing the battlefield. He caught sight of Jared and called to gain his attention. Sam was following Jared and called back at Jacob, "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it did sound to me like you had fun so I have decided to take a look," he answered and jogged towards the nearest ant which lied several meters away from Sam and Jared. He carried a small branch. He knelt next to the ant and started to study it. He used the branch to lift up one of its limbs.
"What are you doing?" asked Jared and made a few steps towards him.
"Just looking at these beauties while they are still whole. That is, as whole as they get. What have you done to them? It looks like a platoon of starship troopers walked through here."
Jared made a few more paces towards him and snarled, "Shut up!"
Jacob looked up, finally noticing Jared's demeanour. He retorted, "Hey, chill up, man. Maybe you shouldn't have watched the movie two years back."
The hulking shape-shifter crossed the remaining distance in a flash and grabbed Jacob by his throat.
"Let him go!" ordered Sam and was by them a second later. He pried Jared's fingers from Jacob's neck and ordered him to calm down.
Jacob seemed unfazed by Jared's outburst and was probably going to say something but Sam turned to him and sharply said, "Don't provoke him. Unless you haven't noticed, he isn't feeling well."
"Tell me about it," muttered Jacob.
Edward and Bella arrived at the scene shortly afterwards. "Jacob, why don't you walk Bella to the cars," he suggested. "It's time to leave."
Jacob tried to get Bella to tell him what had happened on their way back but she was quite tired and limited herself only to a few basic points of the story. Back at the complex, the wolves and Edward wrapped up their looting. The rest of the Cullens started to haul the carcasses to the Jeeps.
Next step was to get their booty out of the reservation back to the van (which again took several trips) and then back to the warehouse (in several trips again). The sun was setting when everything was safely transported to the warehouse. Alice and Emmett left to rent two more vans afterwards. Bella considered taking a nap on the back-seat of Edward's Volvo but decided against it - she wanted to be present while the useful substances were being extracted from the ants. In the end, Edward drove one of the cars inside the warehouse so Bella could make herself comfortable.
The old Quileute rubbed his hands and proclaimed, "Well, let's get started while these critters are still fresh."
He took a hook on a rope and passed it to Jacob. The boy threw the hook over a pipe which was fastened above the workbench. Edward and Carlisle laid an ant on the bench. The old Quileute asked everybody to pay attention and hooked the hook to a certain place in the carapace. Jacob pulled at the rope. Then the old man started to crack the chitin open carefully.
"Excuse me," asked Carlisle, "I'm quite interested in these creatures. Could we dissect one?"
"Sure," replied the old man. "Let me put this plate of armour away first." (Crack.) "Now let's start with the middle part." (Crack, crack.) "As I understand, the fluid from these and these parts should be suctioned out and bottled, right?" Bella nodded and Edward took a big syringe and followed her mental instructions. "Before doing anything else, we should also extract the fluid from its brain. It doesn't look like it has any parasites in there but let's take a look anyway." (Crack, crack.) "What about the formic acid from the hind section? No? Well, it can't hurt to have some at least. Now, as with the normal ants, the hind part is where their guts are." (Crack, crack.) "The stomach for gathering, the first digestive stomach, the second digestive stomach. Could you hold this, please?"
Jared was like frozen for the whole time. He snapped finally and ran outside where he started to retch in such a loud manner that even the three humans could hear him. The old man stared in Jared's direction for a second or two before shaking his head and saying, "Well, let's process the rest of them. Be sure not to damage the carapaces."
Edward and Carlisle took over another table and started to work. Sam wasn't as revolted as Jared but he opted to stay away from gutting the ants all the same and only helped to haul carcases on and off Jacob's table and to clean the separated carapaces and wrap them in damp cloth.
Edward asked Bella about the potion Jared had used. She told him, "There are no potions for humans which would be so fast. I designed this one to work specifically with the faster metabolism of a shape-shifter."
"It doesn't have any ill side effects, does it?" asked Sam. He didn't voice his observation about Paul having to pee more often recently.
Some time later, Jared returned inside and approached Bella. "You know, I've been thinking," he said.
"Yes?" she asked without opening her eyes.
"You had no idea what were we going to stumble into?"
"Nope. Sorry, but he obviously kept his operation quite secret."
"Well, it's not like I blame you for a lack of intel gathering," drawled Jared. "It's more like I wonder whether you truly had no idea?"
Bella opened her eyes and retorted, "If I had any idea, we would come in full numbers and all of us would have big guns with armour piercing ammo. What exactly are you insinuating?"
"Well, maybe you wanted to see us in action. Maybe you wanted to force us to work together in a tough situation."
"Jared, that's quite an accusation," stated Edward disapprovingly. "Bella wouldn't do something like that."
"That's right!" confirmed Bella.
Carlisle cleared his throat and spoke, "Bella, I do not believe that you knew what was happening in the colony. However, it was you who wanted us to progress further when we should have turned back - or to stay and investigate when it was still possible to escape without attracting too much attention."
"I wasn't willing to take any chances," responded the witch.
Carlisle continued, "Also, you have used my scientific curiosity to drag me here. While you weren't expecting a fight, this was still supposed to be a tight, covert operation. Don't tell me that you didn't want to see how I would perform. And don't tell me that you weren't glad to see me in a combat situation. After all, you've made it abundantly clear how much you hate my pacifism."
Bella scratched her scalp and answered, "Well, I was glad you agreed to come. However, it's not like I've made you to break any of your moral convictions, they were just mutated ants. And by the way, you did perform rather well - I believe you remained calmest of all of us."
Jared snorted and remarked, "Yes, so calm that you went to investigate some strange drafts of air while the rest of us were fighting an army. And it didn't make us any good anyway in the end."
"If I remember correctly, I prevented that warrior ant from biting your head off," reminded him Carlisle.
The old Quileute interrupted them, "Could we all return to work? There are still ants to process."
Alice and Emmett returned some time later with two big vans. Alice took Sam's place. Bella joined her and supervised preparation of the extracted substances for transport. Sam and Emmett began to dispose of the gutted ants. They decided to break them into smaller pieces and bury them.
When Bella took a break once, Jared sat next to her and told her, "You know, one thing occurred to me when I thought about that trick with exploding metal. What if somebody tried to shoot bullets through bolts of the killing curse?"
"At hostile wizards?" asked Bella.
"Yeah. You would have a wand in one hand and a gun in the other. Or better yet, you would cast killing curses and somebody, a vampire, would stand next to you and shoot through them."
"I don't think that would be very practical. Against wizards at least."
The work progressed swiftly and when the sun rose, a colony of six vehicles started its journey towards Forks.
Aurors (at least that's how British wizards would describe them) started to trickle into the area while it was still night. At first, it was just a pair of scouts to find out what the detected spell-fire was about. They weren't in a rush to move in - after all, they knew for months how dangerous the area was. Then a few more scouts arrived. They reported erratically behaving ants roaming around.
In morning, their superiors decided to create a perimeter around the area to keep the population contained and secret from muggles. The lack of action from the leaders of the colony baffled them. It has been decided a few hours later that maybe the disarray of the ants was an opportunity they have been waiting for. A task force was assembled and sent to the complex. They reached it (on foot) and found it abandoned, just like Bella and her friends had. The wizards didn't ponder about that much though because something else gained their undivided attention - the remains of a battle.
They stood on the cliffs and stared at the bodies of countless ants strewn around the buildings. Then breeze brought a stench of decaying insects to them. There was some gagging and quick spell-casting. Once everybody had a bubble charm around their heads, they descended to investigate.
Their findings were baffling. The carcass-count was astounding and utterly disproportional to the amount of magic dispensed. As a matter of fact, it would be utterly disproportional even if ants weren't resilient to magic. Search of the carcasses revealed (or rather confirmed) that very few of them had been killed by magic actually. It became quite a mystery for the investigators.
"What a mess," complained the leader of the task force. "Everybody who knew about this agreed to let us handle the situation dammit!"
"Maybe somebody thought we were taking too much time? Or somebody new who didn't know we were onto it?" mused one of his colleagues.
About an hour into the search, an idea began to form in the head of one of the investigators. His name was John Smith. Some of the carcasses caught his attention. As he examined their wounds, something started to ring in his head. He looked around and noted how the carcasses he was interested in were arranged.
He approached one of his colleagues who were investigating the crater and asked, "Have you detected any people down there? Or their corpses at least?"
"Negative. But there is a tunnel leading towards the anthill."
John Smith nodded and approached his superior. "Sir, I believe I know what have killed some of these ants. I'm sure that if we opened one of them, we would find something rather interesting."
The man in charge narrowed his eyes. After a moment of consideration, he said sharply, "Well, do it then."
John Smith bowed his head a little and trotted towards a carcass of a warrior ant. A transfigured forceps helped him to crack the damaged armour open and look inside. A little while later he shouted at his superior to come take a look.
"What is this supposed to mean?" asked the man.
"This ant was killed by metallic projectiles propelled at it at a high velocity." John Smith pointed at a few other carcasses and added, "The same projectiles could be found in those ants as well."
The leader of the task force ordered his men to detect and extract metals from the ants. Apart from machine-gun slugs, they found some pistol bullets as well (not that they knew what they were).
"This still doesn't make any sense," claimed the commanding officer. "While more ants have been killed with these projectiles then with magic, more than a half of them have been killed with means unknown to us."
"Torn apart, I would say," proposed one of the other investigators. "As if they were attacked by other beasts - maybe even other ants. Also, some ants were killed with makeshift projectiles like iron rods and bricks."
"Iron rods and bricks?" repeated John Smith. "That does not add up to me."
The commander of the investigators made a sharp motion with his hand and stated, "It's a moot point. The detected levels of magical activity wouldn't cover the energy required."
"Well sir, that has been my point. I have no other explanation for the rods and bricks other than magic but the bullets are rather clear to me. I believe that the people who used them were positioned in the collapsed building. A thorough search of the ruin would yield remnants of the means used to propel the projectiles. Of course, that would take time."
Another investigator added, "By the way, it's possible that the people responsible for this retreated through the tunnel underneath and then caused the collapse themselves to cut off the pursuing ants. Maybe we shall find more in the anthill."
The commander said, "We are just guessing here. And we aren't approaching the anthill just yet."
John Smith was only half listening. His attention was turned to a group of investigators who stood by a shed on an edge of the complex.
"Could I borrow those omniculars, please?" he asked.
He saw that there was another dead ant. One of the investigators there examined something on his palm.
"Excuse me, I believe they found something over there. Could you please wait for a minute?" asked John Smith. He made two short jumps (both of them way of mark) and ran the rest of the way. He quickly examined the dead scout and asked the other investigator to show him his find. When he returned back, the little discussion circle was already disbanded. He sought his superior again and showed him a handful of empty shell casings.
"What is it?" asked the man in charge.
John Smith quickly showed him how a bullet fit in the casing and explained the principle.
"Wait a minute, you mean something like a muggle firearm?" asked the commander shortly.
"Exactly like a muggle firearm!" confirmed John Smith.
"That's ridiculous! And what a hell do you know about that anyway?"
"Well, my grandparents, you know, they had a rifle above their mantelpiece."
"Oh yes, now I remember - they were muggles, weren't they? Still, I don't see how any firearms would be of any use against such monsters. Maybe against one or two ants but not against a whole army!"
"Well, we could find some muggle-borns and ask about that but I already suspect what would they tell us - that firearms have improved since the time of my grandparents."
The investigator in charge pierced John Smith with a stare and then asked, "Let's say I'm going to take you seriously. Of course, we shall consult an expert later. I've got a question though: what exactly are you insinuating here? I hope you aren't trying to say that a bunch of muggles did this."
"Obviously not. However, it's apparent that guns were involved, at least two of them. Together with the ants killed by magic, I'd say a half of the mystery is solved! The bottom line is that the people who did this knew what they were doing. Maybe this is our chance to put a stop to this circus without any losses!"
The man in charge pointed a finger at him and resolutely said, "We aren't attacking the anthill yet. There is still a significant number of ants running around." Their discussing attracted attention of other people again so he added for their benefit, "We shall wait, observe, and send for reinforcements."
It took a few more hours. Large quantities of sugar laced with a special potion was delivered. The "aurors" spread the sugar in the area around the anthill. The drug in it sedated the ants to a point where they stopped being aggressive (even the ones who merely gathered the sugar without ingesting it).
The task force (plus reinforcements) approached the anthill. The damage was visible from far away.
"No wonder they went berserk," remarked one of the wizards.
"Who could have possibly done such a thing?" wondered their leader.
Some time later, a few wizards on brooms braved the opened part of the anthill. They were protected by cloaking and scent-isolating spells of course. The three corpses they found were damaged and starting to decay but there was no argument about what it was. The only thing left was to analyse tissue samples to confirm the identities. All the wizards were as revolted as Jared had been.
"It seems there isn't much work left for us," said the leader of the investigators to his colleagues. "There is one thing I wonder about though. Why didn't they stay to claim the colony?"
One of of the others proposed, "Because this area is ours? On paper at least - haven't we bought the whole business from that William guy before he died?"
"For one Galleon. And it's questionable whether that gives us control over the area."
The discussion was interrupted by John Smith. "Sir? I've taken a cursory look at ants. Some of them have been killed by the same big calibre as the ones around the compound. The director, however, was killed by a killing curse. Combined with metal, I believe."
One of the wizards around replied, "Well, what do we make of this?"
The leading investigator mused, "Maybe this isn't just another community trying to wedge their noses into our business. Maybe this is something new, something we don't see."
He stopped any further discussions shortly afterwards because it became obvious to him that the matter was way above their pay-grade. However, he fully intended to convey his concerns to their superiors. He also considered to bring John Smith along when it was time to make that report. It was a pity that they didn't find the car tracks not far from the processing complex - even John Smith didn't think to search for something like that.
More people arrived and started to restore the colony to order. The spokesman of the area informed the president that the surrounding area no longer needed to be restricted. The life of the ants slowly returned to normal. That is, as normal as it gets when you are a doubly mutated giant ant.