The three soldiers bomb-burst out of the Room of Requirement. Straight
off Brian fired a grenade at a mountain troll, blowing a great chunk out of
its chest and knocking it dead to the floor. Sean put a long burst from his
M60 into the troll's companion, who died almost instantly. The trio then
hustled down the corridor towards the staircase. A platoon of orcs charged
around the corner, and Sean and Shepherd massacred the lot of them before
they could even think about throwing any axes. Shepherd hastily reloaded
while still running. Brian saw several wolfmen approaching from behind and
fired two grenades in fast succession. Though a couple of the wolfmen were
fast enough to dodge the first grenade they didn't even see the second.
Coming down the stairs, Shepherd saw two Death Eaters down the corridor coming off the bottom of the stairs. Shepherd hurled himself right, just dodging a killing curse and pushing Sean out of the way of a different killing curse. Brian then got onto the stairs and fired a grenade at the Death Eaters. It fell too short, but distracted them enough that they couldn't let off any more curses. Brian fired another grenade, this one landing smack on target between the two and blowing them into deli meat. A classroom door opened and Brian didn't even pause, he fired the sixth and last grenade from the drum at the door, instantly killing whoever or whatever was about to come through it. As he ejected the drum and picked up another one to load in, Shepherd and Sean got up and continued running. They saw a side exit of Hogwarts and sprinted for it.
The door was ajar. They squeezed through it and found themselves on a set of five stairs leading down to a dirt path, on which ten centaurs sat. They nocked arrows and drew back the bowstrings, but were all killed before they could let the arrows fly due to how ridiculously well-armed Shepherd and his men were. The soldiers heard flapping from above and looked up. Although the sun blinded them slightly, they could make out that several harpies and a few griffins (or Hippogriffs) were descending on them. Brian brought up his sniper rifle and fired, managing to kill two of them with the same round. Sean and Shepherd let them have it with scores of rounds, punching them out of the sky to hit the earth with a splat, after which both had to reload their weapons.
Suddenly they noticed two tanks approaching the main door of Hogwarts, with black-clad soldiers huddling near the tracks for some ballistic protection. There were also several helicopters in the distance, and some Land Rover transporting black-clad soldiers approaching Hogwarts on this side.
Shepherd felt intensely grateful. Although legally he shouldn't have known who these people were, he did. They were Black Ops, a deniable militia doing the jobs that the US government wanted done but didn't want the rest of the world to know the US had done it. Once the Black Ops had been called in to solve a hostage situation Shepherd had been outside of. They showed no mercy. And they had been called in by a non-Imperius-cursed general to fight the creatures.
Suddenly a Yeti bashed open the side door of Hogwarts with its fist. Howling, it advanced on Shepherd and his men. The minigun mounted on the back of the Land Rover roared to life, spraying countless rounds into the Yeti. The Yeti screamed a very loud cry and fell forwards, definitely dead.
"Hey, thanks - "Shepherd began as he stood up, but then the minigun swivelled his way, still firing. He just barely ducked in time, and rolled behind two dead centaurs for cover. He looked around wildly to see the state of his other two men. Brian was hit.
"What the fuck are you doing, you assholes?!" Shepherd screeched.
"Get 'em, get 'em, get 'em!" one of the Black Ops shouted. The minigun, still spraying, stopped firing into Shepherd's cover and cut a swathe across the ground, over Brian's corpse and towards Sean, who also dived behind some dead centaurs.
Almost too late Shepherd realised the Black Ops had also been ordered to kill soldiers. Their mission wasn't to help stop this conspiracy, it was to make the world forget this conspiracy. No witnesses, not even witnesses who think they're allied with you. Shepherd snapped the case off a 66, aimed underneath one of the centaur's legs at the lead Land Rover, and fired. The rocket whooshed as it came out of the tube and impacted the driver's side door, mangling the front half and killing everyone on the Land Rover. Sean also aimed from a place of similarly excellent cover and blazed away with his M60, massacring the Black Ops on the other Land Rover. The dead driver thankfully slumped forwards onto the brake pedal rather than the accelerator, leaving Shepherd and Sean a bullet-riddled though operational vehicle to take them to the Forest faster.
But first Sean walked over to his now-dead friend and checked his pulse. It was a futile gesture; Brian had nearly been cut in half. But still Sean had held onto the weakest of convictions that Brian might have survived, right up until he felt the coldness of Brian's skin and saw the glassiness of his open eyes. "Fuck." he muttered. Meanwhile Shepherd had jogged over to the operational Land Rover and executed all the Black Ops who were still alive with his M16. He reloaded his M16, kicked out and dragged out most of the bodies, then restarted the stalled engine. Sean vaulted into the back and sat at the helm of the minigun.
Shepherd drove as fast as he could directly towards the Forbidden Forest and as far away from the Black Ops tanks as possible. He thought he was home free to get to the Forest until he saw some of those Thestrals.
"Sean! Thestrals!" he shouted over the noise of the engine.
Sean recovered quickly from the shock of seeing Thestrals, then his training took over. He held down the trigger and put streams of near-molten metal at the incoming bloodthirsty Thestrals. He smashed their dead bodies into useless strips of invisible-to-most mummified sinew. "They're gone." he shouted back with satisfaction as he looked around the sky to make sure.
Suddenly a tree was uprooted and hurled at them. Shepherd squealed the Land Rover around a square corner on two wheels to avoid it. He looked back. It appeared to be a giant coming out of the Forbidden Forest, mumbling crazily. Without hesitation Sean continued firing the minigun at it, and Shepherd took the casing off a 66. Shepherd opened the door and hopped out, and Sean grabbed his M60 and jumped out, just as the giant smashed its fist down onto the Land Rover, crushing it until it was only half a metre tall. It let out a bellow of rage that these small creatures evaded it. Shepherd aimed for the neck and fired. The rocket whined through the air and blew a great hole into the giant's throat. Gurgling in a revolting manner, it turned its attention to Shepherd as blood ran down its neck and chest. Shepherd ran away and the giant gave chase. But then Sean opened up with his M60 at the giant's left knee, and after some fifty rounds there was a crunch and a grating sound, then the giant fell facedown. It bellowed so loud it echoed. Shaken, Shepherd ran far around the giant and rejoined Sean.
"That's good enough, the bastard won't be able to follow us into the Forest." Shepherd panted. "Let's go." The two ran into the Forest.
Coming down the stairs, Shepherd saw two Death Eaters down the corridor coming off the bottom of the stairs. Shepherd hurled himself right, just dodging a killing curse and pushing Sean out of the way of a different killing curse. Brian then got onto the stairs and fired a grenade at the Death Eaters. It fell too short, but distracted them enough that they couldn't let off any more curses. Brian fired another grenade, this one landing smack on target between the two and blowing them into deli meat. A classroom door opened and Brian didn't even pause, he fired the sixth and last grenade from the drum at the door, instantly killing whoever or whatever was about to come through it. As he ejected the drum and picked up another one to load in, Shepherd and Sean got up and continued running. They saw a side exit of Hogwarts and sprinted for it.
The door was ajar. They squeezed through it and found themselves on a set of five stairs leading down to a dirt path, on which ten centaurs sat. They nocked arrows and drew back the bowstrings, but were all killed before they could let the arrows fly due to how ridiculously well-armed Shepherd and his men were. The soldiers heard flapping from above and looked up. Although the sun blinded them slightly, they could make out that several harpies and a few griffins (or Hippogriffs) were descending on them. Brian brought up his sniper rifle and fired, managing to kill two of them with the same round. Sean and Shepherd let them have it with scores of rounds, punching them out of the sky to hit the earth with a splat, after which both had to reload their weapons.
Suddenly they noticed two tanks approaching the main door of Hogwarts, with black-clad soldiers huddling near the tracks for some ballistic protection. There were also several helicopters in the distance, and some Land Rover transporting black-clad soldiers approaching Hogwarts on this side.
Shepherd felt intensely grateful. Although legally he shouldn't have known who these people were, he did. They were Black Ops, a deniable militia doing the jobs that the US government wanted done but didn't want the rest of the world to know the US had done it. Once the Black Ops had been called in to solve a hostage situation Shepherd had been outside of. They showed no mercy. And they had been called in by a non-Imperius-cursed general to fight the creatures.
Suddenly a Yeti bashed open the side door of Hogwarts with its fist. Howling, it advanced on Shepherd and his men. The minigun mounted on the back of the Land Rover roared to life, spraying countless rounds into the Yeti. The Yeti screamed a very loud cry and fell forwards, definitely dead.
"Hey, thanks - "Shepherd began as he stood up, but then the minigun swivelled his way, still firing. He just barely ducked in time, and rolled behind two dead centaurs for cover. He looked around wildly to see the state of his other two men. Brian was hit.
"What the fuck are you doing, you assholes?!" Shepherd screeched.
"Get 'em, get 'em, get 'em!" one of the Black Ops shouted. The minigun, still spraying, stopped firing into Shepherd's cover and cut a swathe across the ground, over Brian's corpse and towards Sean, who also dived behind some dead centaurs.
Almost too late Shepherd realised the Black Ops had also been ordered to kill soldiers. Their mission wasn't to help stop this conspiracy, it was to make the world forget this conspiracy. No witnesses, not even witnesses who think they're allied with you. Shepherd snapped the case off a 66, aimed underneath one of the centaur's legs at the lead Land Rover, and fired. The rocket whooshed as it came out of the tube and impacted the driver's side door, mangling the front half and killing everyone on the Land Rover. Sean also aimed from a place of similarly excellent cover and blazed away with his M60, massacring the Black Ops on the other Land Rover. The dead driver thankfully slumped forwards onto the brake pedal rather than the accelerator, leaving Shepherd and Sean a bullet-riddled though operational vehicle to take them to the Forest faster.
But first Sean walked over to his now-dead friend and checked his pulse. It was a futile gesture; Brian had nearly been cut in half. But still Sean had held onto the weakest of convictions that Brian might have survived, right up until he felt the coldness of Brian's skin and saw the glassiness of his open eyes. "Fuck." he muttered. Meanwhile Shepherd had jogged over to the operational Land Rover and executed all the Black Ops who were still alive with his M16. He reloaded his M16, kicked out and dragged out most of the bodies, then restarted the stalled engine. Sean vaulted into the back and sat at the helm of the minigun.
Shepherd drove as fast as he could directly towards the Forbidden Forest and as far away from the Black Ops tanks as possible. He thought he was home free to get to the Forest until he saw some of those Thestrals.
"Sean! Thestrals!" he shouted over the noise of the engine.
Sean recovered quickly from the shock of seeing Thestrals, then his training took over. He held down the trigger and put streams of near-molten metal at the incoming bloodthirsty Thestrals. He smashed their dead bodies into useless strips of invisible-to-most mummified sinew. "They're gone." he shouted back with satisfaction as he looked around the sky to make sure.
Suddenly a tree was uprooted and hurled at them. Shepherd squealed the Land Rover around a square corner on two wheels to avoid it. He looked back. It appeared to be a giant coming out of the Forbidden Forest, mumbling crazily. Without hesitation Sean continued firing the minigun at it, and Shepherd took the casing off a 66. Shepherd opened the door and hopped out, and Sean grabbed his M60 and jumped out, just as the giant smashed its fist down onto the Land Rover, crushing it until it was only half a metre tall. It let out a bellow of rage that these small creatures evaded it. Shepherd aimed for the neck and fired. The rocket whined through the air and blew a great hole into the giant's throat. Gurgling in a revolting manner, it turned its attention to Shepherd as blood ran down its neck and chest. Shepherd ran away and the giant gave chase. But then Sean opened up with his M60 at the giant's left knee, and after some fifty rounds there was a crunch and a grating sound, then the giant fell facedown. It bellowed so loud it echoed. Shaken, Shepherd ran far around the giant and rejoined Sean.
"That's good enough, the bastard won't be able to follow us into the Forest." Shepherd panted. "Let's go." The two ran into the Forest.