by Joe Fenton
Chapter 1: Blood, Sweat, and Tears
'Two minutes to target, Colonel.'
The voice on the headphones was strained, and Colonel Patterson didn't blame the pilot one bit. Flying into the middle of a Death Eaters attack was tantamount to committing suicide. Death Eaters - a year ago the Colonel would have laughed at the notion that magic was real. By the time the British 'Ministry of Magic' had decided to end the secrecy, the war against the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, was all but lost. He personally believed they only broke the secrecy because there was no one left with the power to enforce it.
He glanced over the passengers in the V-22 Osprey with him. It galled him that Britain had been forced to ask for help. If the stupid gits in the British magical community had come forward earlier, it might not have come to this. As it was, the wholesale slaughter of 'muggle' communities had been the shocking introduction of magic to the world at large. The Colonel had been to a town after a Death Eater attack. The shear brutality of the enemy shocked even him. Men, women, children - even infants - were subject to the kind of torture that gave one nightmares. The Colonel had been tempted to order his men to shoot the few that survived. Leaving them alive was not mercy from the enemy.
Conventional weapons were of no use against their magical foes. That had been a stunning revelation. The first time his men had gone up against the Death Eaters, the soldiers had unleashed every weapon in their arsenal, enraged at the atrocities they had witnessed, and itching to deal some vengeance upon the murderers. Unfortunately, bullets encountered impenetrable magic shields, grenades failed to explode, and flame throwers found their fire under the control of the magic users, dealing death to his own men. The one time nuclear weapons had been authorized, the bomb had blinked out of existence where it was dropped, reappearing over London.
That had been the final blow. The British couldn't fight this on their own any longer and had appealed for help. When it seemed that the rest of Europe had written off the British Isles and were more interested in building up their own defenses, the Italians had given British High Command a program that they had been in the process of shutting down. That and the help of a few wizards and witches who had been too old to fight were all the Colonel had. They were now just seconds from the ruins of the once prestigious wizard's school, Hogwarts, where the few remaining members of the Order of the Phoenix were making a last stand against Voldemort's forces.
Sirius was in desperate straights. He'd been fighting for days. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept, and he had taken his last phial of pepper-upper many hours ago. He was separated from the others and pinned down by Death Eaters in a dungeon classroom. Sirius found it not without a dark kind of humor that he was most likely going to die in Snape's potions classroom. He mentally prepared a spell - if he was going down, he was going to take as many of them with him as possible. He never got the chance.
Appearing at the shattered remnants of the door to the room was a young girl, no more than ten or eleven. With short brown hair and dressed in a skirt and blouse, she appeared as nothing more than an average muggle girl. But where an average girl would have been running, this girl strolled into the room in a manner suggesting anything but fear.
One of the Death Eaters nudged the other. "Hey, it's some kid."
"Get rid of her. We've got more important things to deal with here."
The first Death Eater quickly moved to the center of the room to intercept the girl. "Avad-"
The girl darted forward with unexpected speed. A kick shattered the cloaked man's knee, cutting off the spell. Before he could even let out a scream from the injury, her hand stabbed forward, crushing his windpipe. The Death Eater fell over, unable to draw breath.
The Death Eater's partner turned to confront the threat. "Sectumsempra!"
The girl slipped a foot under the dying man, then flipped him with almost casual ease into the path of the spell. Blood sprayed as the spell ripped through his body. During this time, the girl drew the P90 submachine gun strapped to her back. As the body fell, the girl opened fire. A stream of bullets tore through the Death Eater, and more blood sprayed as pieces were torn from his body.
"Missilis incendio!"
The girl dove to the side as missiles of fire burst around her. She was unable to completely evade the attack, taking a hit in the right arm and two in her right leg. She rolled onto her feet, staying in a crouched position as she laid down a suppressing fire with the machine gun.
The third Death Eater cast a shield impervious to bullets, then moved to a better position to throw his next attack. It therefore came as a complete shock when the next burst of gunfire torn off his wand arm and ripped open his abdomen. He fell on his back, his mask coming free as he struck the floor. Blood formed an increasing larger pool around his body. He gasped as the girl stood and approached, unmindful of her own injuries.
"I - it - it's - no-t possible... it's not - possible..."
The girl held the P90 pointed at the ceiling as she drew a nine millimeter SIG Sauer pistol from the holster strapped to the small of her back. She stopped before the Death Eater, and in accented English spoke for the first time.
"Magic bullets."
She squeezed the trigger, the round tearing off the top of the Death Eater's head.
Sirius gradually became aware of his surroundings. He was lying in a hospital bed.
"Ah, you're awake."
He glanced to the side where a well dressed man with dark hair sat by his bedside, then pushed himself upright. "How long was I out?"
"Four days." The man stood. "The witch who treated you fussed about idiots who push themselves, taking potions when they should be resting."
Sirius snorted. "Like there was any chance of that."
The man nodded. "I understand completely, Mr. Black."
Sirius was hesitant. "How - how many made it out?"
"Eleven. Two died on the way here." He gave Sirius a little time to absorb the information. "Get dressed. There's still work to be done if you wish to save your country." He left the room as Sirius struggled to contain his emotions.
Sirius dressed and exited the room. The dark haired man was speaking with the girl who'd rescued him. They were speaking softly in Italian, leaving Sirius with no clue as to the conversation. They broke off as he approached.
"Who are you?" Sirius wasn't referring to just the pair either.
"I'm Giuseppe. This is Henrietta, my partner. We came here under orders from the Italian government at the behest of the British military."
"If it's not too much of an offense, what the hell is she?" Sirius was in no mood for pleasantries.
"Straight to the point - that's good. She's a cyborg, and this will bear more on your situation than you are currently aware." He led the way down the hall, the girl keeping a watch from a few steps behind. "A fratello consists of a handler and his cyborg partner." He nodded at Henrietta. "The fratellos we brought over from Italy are - how would you say it - a one-trick pony. Lord Voldemort will eventually adjust to this new opposition." He frowned as he strolled down the hospital corridor. "The problem is we need to take the fight to him instead of just waiting for his Death Eaters to attack. Unfortunately, all the Death Eaters' strongholds have wards that prevent non-magical beings from approaching." He stopped at window looking into one of the ICU's.
Sirius looked, then wished he hadn't. Like most hospitals, this one was packed with victims of the Death Eater attacks. Close by the window, a girl about the same apparent age as Henrietta sat in a wheel chair. Bandages covered the stumps of both arms and legs. Her eyes were dead, unseeing as she stared at the glass.
Giuseppe nodded. "She would kill herself if she could. As it is, she doesn't speak and refuses to eat. They have her on an intravenous drip to keep her alive."
Sirius refused to ask. He was familiar with such victims.
Giuseppe continued. "Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters have a particular hatred of magic users not of pure blood. This poor girl had the misfortune of being a magic user with non-magical parents." He glanced over at Sirius. "You people call them mudbloods."
Sirius grabbed his collar. "Don't call them my people!" His arm was abruptly torn from Giuseppe and forced behind his back. His feet were knocked out from under him as he was slammed to the floor. He struggled, but couldn't break the grip on his arm.
"That's enough, Henrietta."
Sirius forced himself upright as the girl let go and took a step back. He glared at her, then at her partner. "I'm fighting against the people who think that way. I've lost a lot of good friends - and family..."
Giuseppe nodded. "You wouldn't be here if I thought otherwise."
Sirius took a deep breath, getting himself back under control. "Then why are we here?"
Giuseppe nodded at the window. "Her." He noticed Sirius' puzzled expression. "The Death Eaters came for her a week ago. It's important you understand what she's been through. They spent the day alternating between forcing her parents to watch her being raped, and forcing her to watch her parents being tortured." He ignored Sirius' horrified expression. "When they finally tired of their game, they cast a spell to keep her conscious and slowly burned off her arms and legs, then executed the parents. She was one of the few we've managed to keep alive."
Sirius shook his head. "Why? Why didn't you just let her die? What is there for her now?"
"You... possibly. We need magic users to go up against Lord Voldemort. We brought over our doctors as well as the existing fratellos. They've been working with the few wizards and witches that remain who aren't allied with the enemy. The - medicine - used to condition the girls affects their memory and shortens their lifespan. We've been able to make improvements thanks to the potions and charms we now have access to. I just wish we'd had access to magic years ago."
Sirius looked even more horrified. "You're monsters! How can you do that to children! Why are you doing this?"
Giuseppe was unaffected by the man's outrage. "The drugs and replacement parts don't work well on adults. Yes, we're monsters, and hell awaits us in the end, but before then, we have a job to do. These girls have nothing to live for. We give them a new life, free from the burdens of their former life. In return, we get a weapon in our arsenal against... whomever."
"What if I refuse to be a part of this?" Sirius spoke in a harsh voice.
"We'll find something else for you to do." He noticed Sirius' misgivings. "How a cyborg is treated is up to her handler. Some tend to treat the girls merely as tools - just another weapon to be used. I don't think that way personally. Henrietta means more than that to me, and I treat her appropriately."
The girl blushed and looked away.
Sirius noticed and addressed her for the first time. "What do you feel about all this? What do you think about being used this way?"
Henrietta looked him in the eyes. "I'm happy now. I may feel like I have to follow orders from the agency, but I want to anyway. I wish to please Giuseppe."
Sirius stared at the girl for a moment, then back into the ICU. "So what do I do?"
Giuseppe started to walk away, Henrietta following.
"You teach her to do magic. We'll teach her to kill."
End Chapter 1
Author's Notes: Did I mention this was very dark, and very violent? Well, it doesn't get any better. I'll try to get the next chapter out soon - probably no more than a week. While the wiki for Gunslinger Girl spells the name "Guiseppe," every other source including ADV, who is producing the English translation of the manga, spells his name "Giuseppe."
Harry Potter is the property of Warner Brothers and J. K. Rowling.
Gunslinger Girl is the property of Yu Aida, Gekkan Comic, and Fuji Television Network, Inc..
