Lord of Zenth Mage
Chapter: 12 To the headquarter of NATO
The crowd of over three thousand wizards and witches watched in utter disbelief at Minister Fudge. Most of them knew how Fudge prided himself. But now, what they were seeing was not what they would believe if they hadn't seen themselves. They were however not totally surprised at Fudge's revelation. Words of you-know-who's returned had been flying around.
Fudge continued, "I have endangered the lives of my citizens with my foolishness and thus I will be handing my position to someone more capable. Since we have here not less than a thousand citizens, whish is the minimum requirement of public body for the ministry to make major changes; I am now announcing my resignation and replacement of my position."
Harry waved his hands and Fudge was now in more decent clothing for ceremony. Harry made Fudge stand on his feet. Fudge, oblivious to everything besides his task to perform power handing, put his left hand on his heart and his hand over the crowd. He spoke in calm monotone, "I, Cornelius Fudge, being not fulfilling the oath of the minister, here by resign willingly. In the light of the safety of the wizarding community at this time of darkness, I nominate, confidently, Amelia Bones as the Minister of Magic of Britain and Scotland Isles. Please confirm your support of Madam Bones as the next Minister of Magic by raising your hands."
Harry's hand shot up first, followed immediately by several ministry personnel. Mei Yuan looked torn between following Harry's lead and remaining quietly. She knew she was not a citizen of Britain and Scotland Ministry of Magic, but she also considered herself as one after meeting Harry. She finally decided to follow Harry's lead, and put her hand up. She felt Harry's hand squeezed hers and she instantly knew she made the right decision.
Slowly, hands shot up one by one. No one spoke. No one breathed loudly. Madam Bones' face remained impassive considering her life would change to something new.
After what seemed like an eternity, over half of the crowd was showing support to Madam Bones. Harry saw Dumbledore was not showing any sign of supporting Madam Bones. He raised his eyebrows and whispered to Mei Yuan, "Hey, look at that fool, can you believe that? I mean, of all people, he should know how talented Madam Bones is."
Mei Yuan screwed her face, looking quite lovely to Harry's opinion. She said to Harry, still looking at Dumbledore, "Harry, he wants someone from his side to be in that position. I don't know what he's up to."
Harry nodded and sneaked into Dumbledore's mind. "Of course he has always wanted someone from his Order of Phoenix. Hmm…interesting one he got there. He wants Mr. Weaseley on the position. He is confident that he can control Mr. Weaseley easily. Wait, he also wants someone else too. Who might that be? He doesn't even seem to be aware of that one."
Mei Yuan reminded him, "Harry, you have a whole lot of important business here. Let the old man be for now."
"Right," said Harry sheepishly. He watched in silence as Madam Bones took over the ministry position. Madam Bones took oath and was announced minister. She spoke calmly and solemnly, "I thank you for your confidence and faith in me and I shall not betray your faith. I will take certain precautions ahead of the upcoming war. I will clean the ministry from worms that are eating us from inside out. In short, I will make sure the ministry does not repeat its mistakes."
The crowd applauded wholeheartedly. A satisfied smile lit up on Harry's face. He could see Dumbledore seemed to accept the statement. Dumbledore's frown had disappeared completely and was smiling merrily.
Harry sent Fudge to his home with a wave of his hand, "Our ex-minister is extremely tired and has requested me to send him home." He turned to Madam Bones, "Minister, may I congratulate you for your achievement. I will be at your temporary ministry building with a new key to a new ministry building in a week from now. I apologize for the ministry building and important items in it."
"Lord Potter, you have no reason to apologize. As for the items and documents, we have back up copies and prototypes for each in a safe place. If the ministry is good at anything, it is at making sure it doesn't meet problems in a slightest way. In this case, we have lost nothing but bad reputation along with its way of dealing things. You have even reminded how weak the ministry really is. You have done a good course to the ministry its citizen. The ministry thanks you for your action today." Madam Bones, the new minister, said calmly and loudly enough to hear most around them. Those who heard nodded in agreement with her.
Harry nodded and said, while taking hold of Mei Yuan's hand, "Alright then, I believe the ministry can take over from this point. My friend here and I will be going now. I will always be ready to give any assistance should the circumstances arise. Goodbye for now!"
Harry and Mei Yuan appeared in the bed room at the Ancient City. Harry threw himself on the bed in exhaustion, taking down Mei Yuan with him. He hugged her tightly and buried his face in her fresh and soft hair. He inhaled her scent deeply and released the tension from his body with a huge sigh. He ran his hands up and down her smooth back, feeling her perfect waist. In turn, Mei Yuan rested her head on his chest, letting out warm breath now and then. She ran her hands on his arms, releasing some tense muscles.
The door to the room crept open and let in an excited Rupa. She exclaimed loudly as she entered, "I knew it could only be you!"
"How do you know we're here?" Mei Yuan asked, knowing this was what Harry was wanting to know.
"The future keepers of this city know everything in this city," replied Rupa, already on the bed with the other two.
The three of them spent the next hour enjoying each other. They finally fell asleep from total exhaustion.
It had been a week since the ministry incident. The wizarding community had been informed everything. The whole community was now actively helping the ministry rebuild from scratch. The defense groups were formed and the Auror division had been upgraded. The aurors were keeping low profile. They were awaiting orders from a certain walking atomic bomb.
Remus Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley, Moody, the Weaseley twins, and Ron were walking tall with their chest pushed out in front of them, chins in the air. They had never been so proud of themselves in their lives. Their wand tips were always ready for the ones who were talking ill about Harry, their friend, their brother, and mostly an ideal figure for the wizarding world. They were overprotective of Harry that Ron and the twins even had to curse Hermione for saying Harry's actions were a bit ruthless. Hermione had to live with her front teeth touching her chest for two whole days. Since then, Hermione never open her mouth about Harry. How would she dare to say anything when she saw overly mischievous glints in the eyes of the twins whenever she spoke about Harry? Even Ginny would suddenly leave to somewhere whenever she tried to talk to her about how Harry shouldn't have done what he had done. She seemed to be the only black sheep among the Weaseley family who thought Harry was acting unreasonably. Even Percy Weaseley showed respect for Harry's action in his eyes. Hermione was totally confused now. And furious at why the whole Weaseley family couldn't see such obvious facts.
One time, she even cornered Mr. Weaseley, who was avoiding her slightly, and told him what she thought. But she was left open mouthed with the words of Mr. Weaseley. She remembered them as clear as crystal, "Hermione, I'm not saying you are wrong. But sometimes, things are better left alone than making big deals. In this case, Harry has done what is to be done, what everyone should have done ages ago. Harry has matured beyond his age and I doubt he will be spending his time at your one-way logic anymore. Believe me, when I say Harry has done more than the right thing, I meant every word of it. You have no right whatsoever to criticize Harry's action or decision. I would strongly recommend you not to talk about this with him. I'm sorry to say this, but I will have to say this at one time or another if you are going to act like the way you are now. You are the brightest witch of your age, Hermione, but you need to learn when to remain silent or when to try to see not from your point, but from the reality, the real world. I know you can do better than this, Hermione. Accept the reality." She had been left alone for the rest of the day. The Weaseley had acted like they were giving her some times alone to think. And think she did, but she still believe that Harry shouldn't have forced the respectable wizards and wizards to kneel, or slapped the former minister repeatedly in front of over three thousand witches and wizards, or attacked Professor Dumbledore without warning. Most of all, Harry was ordering around the Goblins like they were his slaves. How could he, after all those campaigns on S.P.E.W?
Her fuming was cut off by a sudden voice, "Lord Potter-Grindelwald-Evan has sent words that he will be arriving here shortly." The man stepped into the Great Hall of the temporary Ministry, looking excited to meet their hero. All ministry personnel and respectable families were here to welcome the young hero. There were around 500 people in the Hall and four and a half outside the building. Hermione and the Weaseley were among the special guests due to being Harry's only family. Remus Lupin was with Kingsley as he was assigned as Head of Counter Attack Auror Department. With his werewolf sense and strength, he was the best man for the position. To add to his ability, he was always level headed when dealing with problems.
Suddenly there was a flash of red, black, and white blur at the doorway. The figures stood in the doorway silently, the sunlight casting shadows on their faces from behind. All that the crowd could see was they were tall. Power was radiating from the tall figures. The figures, four in total, move towards the crowd. The crowd let out gasps of surprises when it saw the figures went walking. The figures glided over to near the stunned crowd. The crowd could now see the figures clearly. The tallest figure was wearing dark-red robes. Each side of him was beautiful girl in pure white robe. Both girls reached to the ears of the man between them. A boy in pitch black battle robes followed the three of them from behind. He looked to be easily over 6'5". He seemed to be some kind of brother to daggers. His waist was strap with all kinds of daggers.
"This air walking art is so cool!" whispered Harry.
"We should thank the Toppers for giving us this gift." Rupa replied, grinning as she too enjoyed the feeling of gliding.
"Well, I certainly enjoy the looks on the people around us!" Rajig exclaimed with a wide grin.
They stood in front of the crowd that was supposed to welcome and lead them to their table. However, when no one seemed to be showing signs of action after 1 minute, Rajig decided to wake them up from their trances.
"BOOO!" Rajig shouted on the top of his lung. The room broke into chaos. Some jumped high into the air while a few yelped in surprise. Shouts of repairing damaged things were heard across the room. Harry and Rajig roared in laughter and fell to the floor, rolling and twisting between fits laughter. Rupa and Mei Yuan giggled madly. They pressed on their sides and tried to catch for breath. Witches and wizards were red on the faces from embarrassment. Madam Bones walked over to near the still laughing group. She cleared her throat nervously, extremely out of character indeed, "Lord Potter and…and…" Madam Bones lost her voice when Harry opened his eyes and looked up at her. She saw pure joy in those green eyes. That made her praised every God she knew as she was sure she wouldn't be slapped like Fudge had been for interrupting Harry's joyful moment.
Harry continued for her, "My Elite Council Members from the City. Treat them well."
"We are also Harry Potter's personal guards and friends. We punish those who tried to harm him in any way. We have punished hundreds of Voldie boy's followers so far." Rajig said in a menacing tone.
Harry saw some gulped nervously. The crow shifted nervously as a voice that could make them all go straight to hell in a blink, "Arrogant, aren't we. Who do you think you are to threaten the noble families?"
Rajig's eyes flashed once. He crossed his arms and stood tall. "Who are you little scum? Are you too afraid to come out here?"
There was a huff of indignant, "Careful who you are talking to, you a piece of bamboo. I am Draco Malfoy, the Heir of the Malfoys." The blonde boy came forward and stood with his nose in the air.
Harry stepped forward and ruffled Malfoy's blonde hair, "My, my ferret boy, arrogant as ever, I see."
Malfoy yanked away from Harry's hands with a yelp, "Potter! What do you think you are doing?"
Harry grinned, "Well, well, well, aren't you a sweet little ferret. You are never going to change your little ferret mind, are you?"
Malfoy's face went red from anger. Harry turned to Rajig, "My dear friend, would you do the honor to give a dagger or two of yours to that ferret over there? Don't give him too much though; he might need some for later time."
"Sure thing my dear friend," replied Rajig with a serious expression. He faced Malfoy, who was looking confused as to why he was getting some stupid daggers as gifts. Two daggers flew out and by the time Malfoy took notice that he was the target, he was already pinned on the wall behind him. He faintly remembered being thrown over the crowd across the room by the daggers. He was hung on the wall by his cloak with Malfoy crest pinned on the wall by the daggers. He looked up and saw that he was merely two inches away from the ceiling, which means it would be really painful to land on the floor if he ever tries to be free from the daggers.
The entire room was in total silence except a tapping sound from Malfoy's sweat hitting the hard floor. A shrill voice deafened the crowd's ears, "Harry James Potter! I can't believe you just let him did that! Release him now or I won't…I won't…let you copy my homework again."
Harry was instantly at the side of Hermione alone with his three friends. Harry walked around as if examining her entire body thoroughly. "I must say you look rather nice, Mione. You have grown into a rather attractive woman. But I think it would be sexier for you to wear clothes that are not too big for you, tight ones, I'd suggest. What do you think girls?" Harry asked the two girls, still looking over Hermione's entire body.
"I agree with you Harry. She has a rather nice body. I think she should wear what me and Mei Yuan wears." Rupa said while nodding to herself as she too examined Hermione.
"You're both right. I think she should tame her hair a bit too. Not too much though. Bushy looks like her nature." Mei Yuan agreed.
"Well, I think, she shouldn't carry that stupid thick book around. It looks ugly to a beautiful girl like herself with an ugly book." Rajig complained, looking at the book, to which Hermione was hanging on like her life depends on it.
Harry grinned at Rajig's words, "True, true my fiend. Ron and I've been telling her not to carry around books. I think if books were to alive, they'd run away whenever Hermione's around. You know, she even put the books as pillows when she sleeps."
Hermione was in total shock and embarrassment by now. Not only her secretes were revealed to a large crowd, she was also being examined by three strangers and her best friend. She never thought Harry would be that much forwarding.
Harry left Hermione and walked over to the Weaseley family. He was greeted whole heartedly by the whole family. Remus Lupin looked at Harry intently and asked, "Harry, how did you come to that tall in such a short time? It's not normal, you know."
"Yeah mate, you look around 6'6". Even I am not that tall. I'm 6'1" right now." Ron said in what seemed to be a suspicious tone.
Harry grinned, "What can I say…I can't control my growth spurt, you know."
"Why didn't you tell them the truth, Harry?" Mei Yuan's voice said in Harry's mind.
Harry sighed inwardly and replied, "Because, my dear, who would believe that I can be as tall as an ant when ants look at me and as tall as a giant when giants look at me. I take the height of the tallest in the crowd automatically and everyone see me as that tall. I have no intention to explain what I don't fully understand myself."
Harry motioned to his three friends and walked over to in front of the crowd after excusing from the Weaseley family.
"Listen people, I'm here today to give you your new ministry building. As I'm the one responsible for the damage of the former building, it is my responsibility to give you back another one. For the past five days my friends and I've been busy working on the new building. We've come up with a new idea." Harry paused, and then continued, "The ministry building will no longer be hiding under the ground. It will now stand proudly and gracefully on the ground. Its entrance won't be from some stupid phone booth any more. It will now have grand doors at four sides. The building is of a perfect square shape. It is a five-storey building and stretch wide about 500 football fields on the ground. For those who don't know what football is, you might want to learn more muggle terms from now on. The ministry building is equipped with modified muggle technology, from laser screening to eye screening. This is the layout of the building."
Harry drew his hand inside out and a 4D image of a large building appeared in the air above the room. The image flickered for a second before rotating itself slowly, giving everyone a good view. The building was big, much bigger than Hogwarts. It was silver bright in color.
"It has several layers of defense wards. The final ward will hold Voldemort himself from entering the building. Werewolves will come through the wards, but will be destroyed once they neared the walls of the building. The vampires will be destroyed before they even touch the second wards. Trolls, giants, and other creatures will be shed into pieces before the last wards. Death Eaters will be stuck in the cells of the ward along with their half-breed master. See, you don't even have to lift a finger for the entire event. The wards can sense the danger and will activate the wards, all by it self. I don't trust to give total control over the wards, so I decided to give the power to decide to the building itself."
Everyone in the Hall and outside the Hall was stunned at Harry's words. Harry had made sure no one was left behind for his explanation. He had projected everything that was being said and done in the Hall to the entire wizarding families. People would have jumped in surprise as a screen appeared in front of them out of no where. It could be on the dinner table or on the road. He was tired of hiding information from people. He had been kept in darkness for so long and he knew what it felt to be left outside. Besides, he wanted to let the whole world know that the Ministry of Magic of Great Britain now had the best defense and offense wards in the whole world. Soon there will be request from the Ministries all over the wall to upgrade their wards. Then Harry would tie strings to the ministries for later use. The next dark lord to appear will wish he had never been born if he ever tries to harm a single strand from a wizard or a witch.
Madam Bones snapped out of her stupor and asked with a shaky voice, "Lord Potter, the ministry doesn't have gold to pay that much to pay right now. The ministry won't have that amount until next fiscal year."
Harry held up his hand, "Don't worry, this is the least I can do for the wizarding world. The safety of the ministry is the safety of wizarding community. I can't imagine a body walking around without its head. Besides, it was not that big deal building this one."
Madam Bones looked at him as though he were insane, "Harry…I mean…Lord Potter, do you know how long it takes to build just the building itself, let alone those wards that I've never heard of? It takes two full months to a master and five months to a new graduate. The vampire slaying wards are very difficult and energy consuming."
Harry was bored out of his wit by now. He just wanted to get to his new home and take a nice shower. He decided to cut short Madam Bones never ending speech, "Oh…well…I managed to get a few help from my powerful friends. Here is the key to the building. It is the only that will let you in to the minister chamber. Here is the manual to use the building effectively, how to key in, and how the security works. We are going now. Say my name or "Elite Council" to the key if you need help. Help will arrive in an instant."
Harry made to go but was held back by a pair of boney hands. Harry looked at Dumbledore's tired face. Seeing how much Dumbledore looked tire, he softened his voice a bit, "Speak, Albus Dumbledore."
Dumbledore smiled a bit, "I was wondering if you might still be attending Hogwarts, Harry. After all, you are now taking the adults' responsibilities very well."
"Of course, professor, I will return to Hogwarts. It is, after all, my first real home. But please do not expect me to act like a normal student. I will do whatever I like and make changes to whatever I see fit. I will be on the train on the 1st of September. Is that all?"
"Yes Harry, it is all for now. I hope to see you very soon then." Dumbledore looked relief. He patted Harry's arms and walk away. Harry stared after Dumbledore for some moment, and then motioned to his three friends. They all disappeared from the Hall.
The Weaseley family was hurt that Harry was as warm to them as before. True, Harry had talked to them a moment ago, but it wasn't like before. They felt they were strangers to this new Harry. They were so used to with the old Harry, the Harry who looked unsure at things, the Harry, who looked shy, and the Harry that needed to be fed because he was always underfed by his so called family. The new Harry they had just talked to was someone was beneath Harry's shell. He looked so confident. He was nothing like the old Harry anymore.
Among them, Hermione was the one who felt totally useless after Harry's words. Perhaps she needed to re-evaluate herself after all. Even Ron, who was always protective of her, was now looking at her like she got what she deserved. Ginny looked somewhat sympathetic of her, but showed no sign to comfort her. Mr. and Mrs. Weaseley were decidedly avoiding eye contact with her. Even Draco Malfoy, the reason Harry made her feel like shit, was looking smug. Malfoy was now on the floor, thanks to the combine effort of Dumbledore and the Aurors. The daggers won't come out of the wall no matter what spell they used. They finally had to tear off the cloak, an act of dishonor to destroy a pureblood family's crested cloak.
Madam Bones and the ministry personnel hurried off to their new building. The rest of the guests left slowly. With a new sense of security in their hearts, everyone left the temporary ministry building.
Harry, Rajig, Rupa, and Mei Yuan stood in front of a magnificent building. It was dark-red in color. It had only one storey. It had no doors or windows whatsoever. The entire outer layer of the building was blazing, yet no heat was coming from the fire. Harry and the others walked over to the nearest blazing wall. The fire froze in mid air and fell apart, forming a void in front of Harry's group. Harry walked over to the wall and walked straight through it. He was soon followed by the other three. Once they were all inside the wall behind them flickered with some static and stayed silent.
Harry looked around the room they were and spin around with satisfaction, arms spread out. The other three looked around the room in confusion. Rajig told Harry accusingly, "Harry, mate, I told you we would help you out with your new home. You refused and look at your house now…it's empty…no chair, no table, no window, and most of all…there's no food, mate! I can't believe you didn't decorate your own house as you did to the ministry building!"
Harry grinned and turned to the girls, "Well, what do you think? Do you like your new house?"
Rupa and Mei Yuan shared a look and crossed their arms. They raised their eyebrows and looked at Harry as if demanding to know what Harry's up to. Mei Yuan said, "I, for one, certainly…" She stopped and looked Harry and the sofa that appeared out of nowhere.
Harry plumped down on the sofa and relaxed back, throwing his head back. He looked at the other three and raised one eyebrow, "Well, aren't you going to sit down?"
"How? Where?" Rajig looked confused, thinking if Harry meant them to sit down on the floor.
"Ask the room. Ask it politely to provide you what you need…anything." Harry said eagerly.
The other three looked skeptical at the idea of asking something to a room…politely?
"Butterbeer…please." Rajig asked uncertainly. His eyes grew wide when a mug of Butterbeer appeared in his hand. He grinned and continued to ask foods and drinks non-stop.
Rupa rolled her eyes, "Expand the sofa, please." The sofa Harry was sitting on expanded to fit three people. Rupa and Mei threw themselves on the sofa.
"This is a house where you can get anything out of thin air. The house will only recognize my magical signature and the ones that I give permission. This house has its own mind…meaning it knows who is who and who is trustworthy. If one is not trustworthy enough, the house won't let that one in even if I give permission. The house can draw magical energy out of the enemy and make that energy as its own. Then, the house will modify the energy into a more fitting one for me. This house can also serve as a portal to any place in the world. Just ask it nicely and a door will appear to wherever you wished for. Oh and the wall can serve as screen. Audio and visual streams can be turned on or off at your command. You can watch any corner of the world from here. Beware when you are taking showers, girls." Harry winked and ducked as two hands flew over his face.
"So, are you saying you can spy on what the ministry is up to or what Voldemort is planning?" Mei asked curiously.
"I won't say 'spy', I'd rather use 'keep an eye' on them. Who knows what they might be planning when someone as powerful as me is running around and threatening their power. I decided to use this method because I'm tired of reading shits on the newspapers. To be honest, I was never told what is going on with the wizarding world, the world I'm bloody destined to save. Can you believe they keep their only savior in the dark when people are dying day after day? Shouldn't they at least give me permission to use magic outside school so that I can practice spells?" Harry was now trying to think the things that he could have done only if he was not kept under some damn underage restriction.
"Harry, you said the walls can be turned into screens. Show us something!" Rajig said excitedly, effectively stirring the conversation into another direction.
"Absolutely, my friend, I want to try this on the muggle world. Shall we play some prank on the intelligence agencies from around the world? Or shall we just play with the NATO headquarters?" Harry asked with a grin.
"What's NATO?" Rajig asked in confusion.
"It stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. If I recall correctly, it is the agreement made between several European countries, the USA, and Canada to give each other military help if necessary. Now, which one do you want to play with?" Harry asked while activating the screening.
"NATO sounds interesting enough." They all agreed on NATO. Harry requested to the screen, "NATO headquarters please." A picture of the world appeared on the screen. The screen zoomed around for a moment before stopping at a layout of a building. "Intelligence Department, please," Harry requested and the screen followed the instruction. They were now watching at a room with several computers. Many people were working on the computers. A large screen with satellite images of the world was in front of the large room. Harry got an idea and instructed the screen, "Leave the message Hello NATO' on that large screen." Soon the message appeared on the screen. Many people in the room looked confused before chaos broke out. Alarms were set off and the entire room was lock into a secure position. Harry saw a man with a high ranking uniform stood in front of the screen. The man commanded to his people while looking at the message on the screen, "Trace the location of the hacker. Lock down the main mainframe. Function with the secondary mainframe. Do it now!"
While everyone was busy doing their order, the man looked into the screen and muttered to himself, "Oh God, this is not good. Who might this could be? How could he break into our high security system?"
Harry grinned to his friends and said to the screen, "Activate Microphone. Pause!" Harry turned to his friends, "Well, who'd like to meet the Commander of the NATO intelligence?"
The other three shared a look and said, "Well, you should be the one to introduce your self first. They won't understand what we're talking about."
"Ok then, activate!"
The NATO headquarter was in chaos. There had been many security breach attempts in the past, but none had been able to come to the main monitor screen. But now, not only greetings messages were taunting them, but also voices were coming from every speaker in the room. "Hello Commander, fancy meeting you. How's everyone out there? Nope, I won't try to turn off the monitor if I were you. I have some important things to discuss with you. Gather your top officials in this room in 3 minutes. If I don't see you all in here in 3 minutes, I will destroy your entire top secrete files. Oh yes, I know where and what they are. See you in a moment."
Stunned would be a bit understatement for all people present in the room. Commander's jaw was nearly hitting the floor. It was not everyday sight to see him in that situation considering ever present calmness on his face up until now. The commander snapped out of his stupor and gave out a series of orders to the stunned group.
After about 2 minutes, every high-ranking officials in headquarter was around the table in front of the main monitor screen. They were sitting like stones with backs straight up. They had not dared to alert the government of the member nations. They had no idea what might happen if they do something without permission from the hacker. But they had prepared the alarm to set off once the danger was present in Headquarter.
Suddenly the monitor screen in front of them rippled and flashed bright red. When the light faded away, they could see four figures standing in front of them. They looked at ease considering they were at a joint military base of several powerful nations. They all looked not at all worried about intruding into the heavily armed military base. The boy…man…on the far right corner was wearing in black and was heavily armed with strange looking daggers. He looked young and carefree but dangerous at the same time. The man beside him was clearly standing out from the group. He was dressed in all dark-red robes. A strange lightening bolt scar was standing proudly on his forehead. He looked about 7 feet tall. The remaining two were beautiful girls in pure white dress robes. They had fine features with every bit of beauty that a woman would want on her body.
The man in dark-red robe spoke up in a deep and authoritative voice, "Good evening gentlemen, sorry to interrupt your evening. I hope you could forgive me for my rudeness."
The officials could only gawk at them, mouth hanging open. The voice was so deep and unusually musical. It was difficult to trace the man's country of origin. They couldn't place what accent that the man was using. The girl to the far left spoke, seeing none of the officials couldn't find a word for response, "We were hoping to make a fair deal with NATO member nations." Her voice was more musical than the man who spoke first. It was like a soothing song was washing over each and everyone in the room who heard her voice.
The man with too much daggers spoke in a sharp and clear voice, "We want two dozens of your first class commandos under our command. Know that it is for a good course." His voice was like a sharp dagger. The officials and the security personnel behind the wall, who were watching every move of the strangers, shivered at the man's voice. They felt like their souls had been pierced through with unseen daggers.
The last remaining girl spoke again in the same musical tone, "In return, we will see to your security system. I'd say your system is rather…inappropriate with as much responsibility as you have with. If a sharp intruder is able to get through your security system, I can't imagine what might happen with your top secrete information."
"Consider this for the safety of your citizens. Many lives will be ruined if your information were to let loose to the terrorists' hands. Consult with whomever you need to and give us your answer two days from now. We don't have much time to let you take more than two days." The man in the dark-red robe spoke in emotionless tone. All traces of musical tone were gone. They then folded their arms, seemingly waiting for a word from the officials.
The commander found his voice after a moment, "Look, whoever you are, you are invading the property of NATO, and thus we have no choice but to give you the penalty that you asked for." His tone was that of someone who wasn't too sure of what he was saying.
A man with a hawk's nose and sharp eyes, however, glanced at the commander with some anger in his eyes. He cleared his throat and spoke calmly, "I'm the Major General of the Commando Unit. We will consider your deal. You have to understand though that we can't guarantee that we will agree to your deal. It is not in the nature of nations to give their armed unit under someone's command. It would be easier if you could provide us with your names and from what organization you are from."
Harry and his friends share a look and conversed something in their minds. Finally, Harry spoke, "We thank you for you agreement to consider what is best for both sides. We are not from any known organization and we are not to reveal our identities to you. Give us your answer in two days. Tell 'Under Your Command' to this screen right here. No other words will bring your words to me."
A young man raised his hand and asked curiously, "Are you human?"
Harry shared an amused look with his friends and answered, "We have no knowledge of the term 'Human,' young man. Are you human?"
"I…I…" The young man stuttered. All the occupants in the room looked shock. They were still staring at them when Harry's group disappeared into the screen. The room was silent for a good two minutes. Only the beeping sounds of the computers were heard in the room. Finally the commander motioned his hands behind him. A voice answered, "Yes Sir."
"What are the results?" The commander asked, still looking at the screen.
"Negative, Sir." The voice answered in a tone of surprise.
"What do you mean negative? There must be something!" The commander fumed.
"We screened their entire bodies, but we found nothing, no bones, no blood, no muscles, no flesh, and in short, we don't even get their outline figures."
"Did you check their vocal frequencies? Did you check their DNA samples from the screen they came out of?"
"Yes Sir, we checked them both. Their Vocal frequencies were beyond our programs' recognition. We don't have the program that can check the frequencies of the Extraterritorial Travelers. The program that the NASA provided us also couldn't place their origin galaxy. We tested their DNA sequence. But instead of the usual sequences, we found a series of letters."
"What letters?"
"See for yourself, Sir."
A bunch of letters appeared on the screen. Cries of indignation filled the room as the letters arranged themselves to form a sentence.
"Sod off you stupid sorry arses? That's intolerable! That's an insult to the great Nations! Send warning to those stupid kids and arrest them now!"
"Yes sir, where can we find them, sir?"
"Um…uhh…damn it! Did you able to trace their base?"
"No sir. The radar couldn't find any of their signals, sir."
"Use the emergency satellite for Christ sake! This means war, people!"
"We lost the control over that satellite, sir."
"What do you mean 'lost control' the satellite?"
"The satellite has shut itself down, sir. It was fine until we try to track the strangers, sir."
"Oh my God, I'm so damn! Contact the governments!"
"We lost control over that too, sir."
"Again?"
"Yes sir, we are now cut off from the outside world, sir. The security system has lock down all exits and entrances, including emergency channels. We have a count down of something here sir! It reads 47:40:21, sir. It seems two days 40 minutes and 21 second sir. 47 hours 39 minutes, sir. I'll connect the countdown to the main monitor, sir."
A big, red countdown appeared on the screen. It read, "You have 47 hours 37 minutes to decide your deal."
"Damn it! What have we done to deserve this situation? Contact the stupid kids with their password now!"
The screen flashed and the number of the countdown flew fast. A message appeared, "Every time you speak ill of us, you loose 20 minutes. Every time you insult us, you loose 30 minutes. It's your choice!"
Everyone stared at the number in disbelief. They had just lost 50 minutes for the stupid words! The countdown now read 46 hours 10 minutes.
The commander's eyes grew wide and curse for his use of language. He screwed up his face in disgust as he spoke the words 'Under your command' to the screen. A voice rang out from every corner of the room, "What can I do for you, commander?"
"I was wondering if you could reconnect our communication system." The commander said in a supposed sweet voice.
A laugh filled the room, "Oh I see, I don't suppose you have a walkie-talkie with you?"
"No, I don't. Why walkie-talkie though?"
"Because, dear Commander, Walkie-talkie is a short range device and doesn't apply to the restriction of satellite communication. I am sure you have one in your whole headquarter. And for a word of advice…use your head more often, commander."
The voice disappeared, leaving an angry commander and amused looking crowd.
End of chapter 12.
