Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Gundam Wing.
Chapter 5
In The Blood
AC 196 July 16
The incessant clicking of fingers moving over the computer keyboard filled the room, a regular and steady thrum of noise that was hardly disrupted as of late. The office – more a room of glorified cubicles – was made for eight, even if more often than not, it was only at half capacity. The number was in constant shift at the beginning, but as the year continued, the ebb and flow had reached a steady number of six. At the current hour, it was only two, the other four out on assignment or errands.
It would be seven, in the times Quatre wasn't pulled to one meeting or conference for any number of reasons. Wufei did not envy the Winner heir's workload, though true to Quatre's abilities, the blonde pulled off everything excellently.
It should be eight, Wufei thought in one of his rare moments of idleness. His time was often occupied these days by matters related to magic, of all things - as a former Gundam Pilot, he was one of the Preventers most experienced agents; as a Level One Newtype, he was indispensable.
Newtypes, as they had taken to calling themselves for lack of anything better, were quick to figure out how to organize themselves. Preventers had stepped in to help them figure out not only how to organize, but also how to identify others – wizards and Newtypes alike. Although each Newtype had, to some degree, an ability to sense those who could use magic – they had to be in close proximity, which meant they were essentially finding Newtypes with a dousing rod.
The Earth wizarding communities had been useless in that arena. Not only did their abilities not work outside of the Earth Sphere, they had magical artifacts that identified magic users for them but had no idea how they even worked. These artifacts were layered with so much ancient magic lost to time and tradition that current-age wizards didn't even know how they worked.
Preventers had scanned and studied the Newtypes they employed zealously, trying to find some underlying common feature to search for. They'd ended up stumbling upon irregularities when doing MRI scans of Newtypes; their reactions to different stimuli often affecting more than a few regions of their central nervous system, as if their bodies were naturally reaching for something that others did not have.
Newtypes had a sensitivity to those of their ilk, to varying degrees depending on their own abilities. A Level Three Newtype may only feel a bit of a nag at the edge of their senses when passing another magic-user, easily shrugged off if they were harried. A Level Two Newtype, of which made up the bulk of the Newtype Preventers agents, could register the presence of a magic-user in their vicinity. A Level One Newtype, such as Wufei, could sense the presence of a magic user even if they were in a different room; it was similar to the feeling he got when he was being targeted for attack, minus the hostility in most cases.
The problem with this system was that Preventers could not force the entire galactic population to do an MRI. They were able to make it a necessary step to law enforcement employment and were even able to slip it in as part of the FRA exam for minors – a sort of welfare health check, to make sure the kids weren't suffering from any illnesses contracted during the course of the war.
This disproportionately affected the current Newtype population: it was mostly former soldiers, current law enforcement offices, and children. In the present time, the numbers were slowly but obviously growing; through sheer exposure, Newtypes were finding other Newtypes. If a Newtype suspected someone of being the same, they only needed to convince them to visit the Preventers to do an MRI. If the MRI found the same irregularity, a Newtype Preventers Agent or someone of equal agency – a Level Two Newtype with similar credentials – was sent to verify.
It was labor intensive, the necessary manpower draining Preventers' Newtypes agents' ability to continue their multitude of missions effectively. Une had foreseen the complications at the beginning, and as soon as Newtypes began to grow enough as a community on their own, she'd tried to edge Preventers out of their position as a harvester.
Initially, she'd tried to get Relena Darlian to accept a position as Chief Representative of the Newtype community despite the Vice Foreign Minister not being one. Relena was well-liked by the Newtypes community, and for the most part, Newtypes did not distinguish themselves as a completely separate community; it was more they just had an additional ability. That was the distinctive difference between Newtypes and Earth's magical communities; the latter held themselves aloft from their Muggle counterparts, the former was so closely intertwined that they couldn't imagine being separated.
Relena had declined taking up a Newtype leadership position, believing an actual Newtype should be the one to represent them. She, under Une's blessing, had instead offered the position to Quatre; a Newtype that was practically revered among his peers. Quatre, being Quatre, had not accepted the position – suggesting that instead of one representative for the entire Newtype collective, they form a committee meant to represent the Newtype community of each colony cluster.
This was how, currently, Preventers now got to interact with the fifteen members of the Newtype Committee. The five colony clusters each elected a Representative, a Vice Representative, and a Secretary to form the Newtype Committee. The Committee had held an interim election for their members but were currently setting an official date for the actual election once the Newtype population numbers stabilized.
Quatre had been voted in as L4's Representative, to his chagrin; the Winner heir was so busy nowadays that his Vice Representative often filled in for him for Committee affairs. Sally had jokingly suggested Wufei offer himself as candidate for the L5 colony cluster, but Wufei had threatened murder and/or resignation if anyone dared reveal him. He had no interest in politics, and if the Newtypes of L5 figured out that not only was he one of them but also a Gundam Pilot, he'd be voted in regardless of his wishes. Quatre had only been suckered in because of his family's stance of pacifism during the war, his natural charisma, and his well-known charitable personality; Winner Enterprises was known for multiple charity projects in reconstruction among the colonies.
"Chang."
Wufei glanced over the cubicle wall – What's even the point of these walls if I can see his entire desk area? he thought spitefully. – to where Heero sat, staring at him with his familiar stoic expression. It was only through sheer exposure to the taciturn pilot that Wufei could even discern the exhaustion that lined Heero's shoulders.
"I require your stapler," Heero said.
Wufei frowned at him even as he pulled open his desk drawer to retrieve said item. "What happened to yours, Yuy?" he asked.
"It's broken," Heero replied. The former pilot of Wing Zero obligingly reached into his trash bin, pulling up the marred remains of his Preventers-issued stapler; it was charred black in random areas, some of the metal pulled back as if it had been attempting to explode itself.
Wufei snorted. Of course, he thought, handing his stapler over to his friend. Just because Heero's face betrayed nothing didn't mean he was feeling perfectly fine. Wufei had been present in the canteen last week when Heero had accidentally snapped his fork in half. (The horror that came across some of the faces of the other agents had been hilarious in hindsight.) Wufei could only imagine what had happened to the laptop Heero had replaced after Duo's last message.
Wufei took a moment to just watch Heero as he stapled his reports. Une required paper copies as back-up to any mission report, although reports regarding magic users were kept almost exclusively on electronics given that magic users couldn't use technology. Something about their magic interfered with electronics, a handicap Newtypes did not share; Sally theorized that because Newtypes spent so much time in space utilizing the electronic systems that kept colonies alive, their magic had adapted to technology for sheer survival purposes.
Thus Heero's little outbursts were more indicative of his tumultuous emotional state rather than a sign of an inability to control his own magic. After all, just like the other pilots – Heero Yuy was a Level One Newtype.
"You could apologize," Wufei stated without preamble.
Heero did not even look up from his reports. "I apologized for what I sincerely could," he replied in neutral tones. "Apologizing for anything more would be a lie, and Duo cannot stand being lied to."
Wufei's eyes cantered over to the desk next to Heero. It'd been empty for months now, souring Wufei's mood the longer it went. Occasionally, someone would leave a little gift, a silent plea to some omnipotent force that the desk's owner return: Heero refreshed a small vase of flowers every week like a robotic florist, Sally and Quatre had taken to dropping off candy so that they'd been forced to get a bowl in order to collect them, Trowa left tiny origami animals stashed in the empty spaces unobtrusively, and even Wufei was guilty of putting canisters of his friend's favorite brand of coffee in the desk drawer.
It had gotten to the point where even saying Duo Maxwell's name in the office was a quick way to ensure some random office supply was accidentally destroyed. Noin watched the collection grow on Duo's desk with a wary sort of amusement, and Zechs Merquise had quipped a week ago that it was starting to become a shrine.
If there was a summoning spell strong enough to bring Duo to them when the Deathscythe pilot so clearly did not want to be found, Wufei would have used it already.
Duo didn't even know what he was.
Duo had taken what he'd informed Une was 'sabbatical leave', and the head of Preventers had granted it without question. Wufei wished he'd been in the office that day – to talk Duo down, to convince him not to leave, to do something for his friend. But Wufei had been on a mission and Duo had taken off without a word of warning of his departure.
Their means of contact – the coded messaging system they'd used during the war – went ignored by their braided friend in the months between. Weeks without contact, without any clue where Duo had run off to or how to reach him. Duo had missed the discovery of Newtypes, had never met with any one of them so that he could be told; Duo was a Newtype, of that they were sure. There'd always been- something in the air between them, but they'd just attributed that to the connection they'd forged as comrades. As Gundam Pilots, they were expected to be more than the average soldier – it hadn't occurred to them there was something magical about it.
And now, with all that Preventers had learned of Newtypes and their abilities, they had no way of contacting Duo to inform him. Wufei knew Heero could find Duo if needed, because even Duo's abilities of subterfuge and evasion were not enough to remain invisible to the searching power of one obsessed Heero Yuy.
But Heero said Duo needed time, because Duo was upset.
"When Maxwell is upset, he tie-dyes your training shirts and fills your locker with dollar-store slime," Wufei started bitingly. Come to think of it, he never did get back at Duo for that; he'd had to change lockers because of that slime. Wufei was half-convinced Duo had actually taken the time to make it, which was just such a petty thing for Duo to do that Wufei was now a hundred percent certain that's exactly what Duo did. "He doesn't disappear for months only to message Winner to fuck off."
"He didn't say 'fuck off,'" Heero replied evenly.
Wufei glared at him. "None of this was Winner's fault to begin with, and yet Maxwell is lashing out at all of us," he stated coldly. "Maybe you and Barton should record a message of you two begging for forgiveness while on your knees."
"Barton wasn't at fault either," Heero refuted. "The blame lies solely on me. Duo knows this, he's just upset."
Of course he's upset, Wufei thought critically. The fallout of Heero's actions had left Preventers one excellent agent short, and more importantly – had sent one of Wufei's closest friends running.
"Duo will return," Heero said with utmost certainty. "He just needs time."
Time. It was such a novel thought, the idea that they now had time to spend freely. They were not confined by the urgent mission parameters of war anymore, and they had time to fight and sulk like the teenagers they were.
Wufei scowled as he came to sudden realization. "Maxwell's going to find a way to magically turn my hair pink, I just know it," he muttered. Hair dyes didn't work on his jet-black hair, but with the full scope of magic at Duo's disposal – Wufei could only imagine the horrors that would unfold.
The corner of Heero's lips twitched up as he smothered a smile.
"Fuck you, Yuy," Wufei snipped.
Noin stepped into the office then, glancing over at them – probably to make sure they hadn't inadvertently destroyed something – before her eyes fell on the new addition to Duo's desk that Trowa had dropped off early that morning: a picture of all five of the former Gundam pilots, Duo's smiling face in the center.
"Oh my god, it really is a shrine," she said weakly, staring at it.
"Don't be stupid, woman," Wufei sneered. "No one's lit candles or incense for him."
Heero's methodical stapling paused. "…Duo is partial to the smell of sandalwood," he noted aloud.
"No, Yuy."
AC 196 July 18
Two more days.
Duo felt a little bad about keeping a running countdown, but he just couldn't help it. It was a habit he'd developed during the war, his internal clock always engaged to better carry out missions. Even in his downtime, he wasn't entirely free of it; he'd practically have a mini-mission list for the weekend. Given who he spent most of his time with, though, it was never an issue – more a shared trait.
Duo twisted the cap off his bottle of soda, the taste of the sugary beverage momentarily distracting him from his own reminiscence. It was so exhausting at times, being at the mercy of his own thoughts. Why couldn't he just turn off, like a computer going into shutdown?
Pretty sure that's a coma, Duo mused. He turned his attention to his laptop, which was currently going through his playlist to fill the quiet of the cottage. The little vacation cottage he'd rented out for his stay in Yorkshire was a homey place, most likely meant for a couple's romantic getaway. Duo didn't know why anyone would come here for romance, but to each his own; as it was, Ironworker's Barn's summer cottage was affordable and private, which was all Duo needed from a rental space.
It was technically a one-room cottage, but the loft upstairs was sectioned off by metal railing, the bed partly obscured by a wooden bookshelf filled with classic literature. From the loft railing, you could see most of the cottage interior: a living space crowded with a couple of comfy armchairs and small loveseat, a glass coffee table, a television hanging on the wall, and a small dining table meant for two. The ceiling had large wooden beams vaulted across the top, more for decoration than a means of stabilization. The kitchenette was directly under the overhanging loft, sectioned off by a matching island counter. The bathroom was behind it, a small space with a shower-tub combo.
There were two doors to the outside and five large windows; one window by the kitchenette, three in the living space, and one by the bed. The doors were located on adjacent walls, which Duo privately thought was pointless but knew he couldn't expect much from a remodeled barn. In any case, the windows were large enough for him to squeeze through if needed.
Duo's eyes moved over the assortment of souvenirs he'd inadvertently collected over the past week. A silly hat from Flamingo Land, a water globe from the aquarium, the mock medal given to him for completing that adventure course they'd done on the 14th, a souvenir keychain from that small town hosting a "spy mission," a palm-sized stuffed alpaca toy Duo had stared at too long in the Beacon gift shop, a 24-pack of chocolate truffles, and a tin mug from the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet that they'd gone to today.
Lupin just bought him anything and everything if Duo made the mistake of even showing even marginal interest in it. Duo could only watch as Lupin's meager savings drained from his bank account over the course of the trip; any attempt he made to dissuade the man was deflected with a pleasant smile and amiable countenance.
Is this what parents do? Duo wondered. He doubted it; Father Maxwell and Sister Helen had never done anything of the sort, but then again, they'd hardly had the funds to do so. And they did let Duo get away with quite a bit, troublemaker that he was, so maybe Lupin was just channeling parental actions into a different channel than Duo was accustomed.
Duo didn't believe they'd gown any closer. It'd been only a week, after all, and Duo had never started another game of 20 questions with Lupin after that first day. He just couldn't quite muster up the courage to do so. Sharing anything personal about himself dredged up feelings he'd been avoiding acknowledging for months now, and Duo was not ready to address them with a virtual stranger, even if that stranger was related to him by blood.
Not everyone gets closure, Duo thought, shaking the water globe. He almost wanted to break it; the idyllic underwater scene captured inside was irritating to look at for too long, but if Lupin ever found out, he'd be devastated. Besides, Duo knew better than to take out his frustrations on unrelated objects, so instead he just placed it back down on the table and glared at the ceiling instead.
The music playing on his laptop stuttered, then stopped completely - just as all the lights turned off simultaneously.
Duo bolted upright from his chair. Power outage? was his first thought, but he quickly discarded it; a power outage wouldn't turn off his laptop, which had over half a battery life left. It was most likely an EMP; an electromagnetic pulse could easily take out the cottage light fixtures, and a particularly strong one could shut off his laptop. And- there. That creeping sensation that started from the nape of his neck, that strange innate sensor he'd used throughout the war to keep himself alive – he was being hunted.
Duo slowed his breathing and opened his senses. There was nothing; no wind, no crickets, not even the sound of creaking pipes hidden in the walls. It was like the entire area was drenched in a suffocating blanket of silence, unnatural to the highest degree.
His eyes moved to the doors and windows. It's coming, his intuition clamored at the back of his mind. Duo moved instinctually, up the stairs and into the loft area. He pulled out the handgun he'd had stashed away under the mattress before moving over to the railing, stepping up and leaping up onto one of the ceiling beams in one fluid movement.
Swinging himself up into a perch where he could see a majority of the living space of the ground floor, Duo clicked off the safety on his firearm. He had an eye on the door but kept himself out of sight, helped by the darkness that obscured the interior of the cottage. He couldn't discern anything that may hint at someone approaching and yet his instincts screamed in warning, so Duo pressed himself into the corner between beam and wall, the muzzle of his weapon already aimed at the door.
And then the door opened.
Duo's body, thrumming with adrenaline, remained perfectly still as he cloaked himself in the dark. He watched with unblinking eyes as three tall figures entered the ground floor; black flowing robes nearly melted into the room devoid of luminescence, but what slivers of moonlight filtered in through the windows caught on gleaming silver skull masks.
A prank? Duo threw away that idea too; locals looking to give outsiders a good scare wouldn't go so far as to use an EMP, nor would there be such a thick sense of hostility hovering in the air around them. These people weren't looking just to scare him, Duo knew – they wanted to do something much worse.
"Where is it?" one of the cloaked figures growled, moving about the small living space.
It? Duo echoed internally. They're looking for something?
"He was here," one of the others replied. "The lights were on. Must have gotten scared when we set up the anti-apparition wards since they turned off the lights."
The tallest of the three made what sounded like a snort behind his mask. "These damn muggles," the male sneered. "Worse than mice."
Looking for me, Duo amended. Some of the words made no sense to him, though; perhaps it was British slang? Was that ward thing they mentioned a type of EMP device used here? There was also something very familiar in the way they spoke about him – as if he were something less, an inferior being more alike to pests than people. Oh, Duo thought. That's right – that's how he and his gang had been regarded back on the streets of L2. Vermin carried disease, and his colony's street orphans were regarded in the same manner.
No one else followed the three inside, and the taller figure shut the door behind himself. Duo knew he wouldn't have the advantage for long; the cottage was too small, with not enough spots to hide if they were intent on finding him. There was also a chance the masks had some kind of night-vision goggle built in, as the three had no trouble moving about the place. Duo's eyes had already adjusted to the dark; he'd always been quicker to adapt to his surroundings.
Just as the first man turned in the direction of the stairs, Duo took aim and fired; the man's kneecap exploded with a sharp pop and he buckled under the sudden loss, a scream aborted by the sheer quickness of the attack. He toppled forward, arms flailing and accidentally knocking off a potted houseplant on the island counter before his temple met the corner of the counter with a sickening crack.
"Selwyn?!" one of the other cloaked men snapped out in surprise.
Duo didn't wait. He darted across the wooden beam to get a vantage point of the other side of the room, where the two other cloaked figures were standing and staring at their fallen comrade in what seemed to be shock. The taller one came back to his senses when the next shot went off, the shorter male falling to the ground with a scream as his shin bone was shattered by a bullet.
"It's the muggle!" the taller man screamed out, grabbing the other by his collar and dragging him under the foyer and into the kitchenette. "Stand up, Gibbon! Stand up!"
"I-I can't! My leg!" the shorter sobbed out. He was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, blood gushing from the hole lodged under his left kneecap.
Duo climbed back over into the foyer, grabbing the trash bin next to the bookcase as he strode over to the stairs. 13 rounds left, he tallied. That would be more than enough to take care of the last man. Once he'd neutralized the threats they posed, he'd bind them up and do some emergency first aid so they didn't bleed out. Arguably, this was still self-defense; they had been breaking and entering, and they were clearly aiming for him, for whatever reason. Duo figured he would interrogate them once he had them tied up.
With a flick of the wrist, he threw the rubbish bin down the stairs before pivoting and darting over to the railing. Just as he'd suspected, the last of the cloaked men responded to the noise – but perplexingly, a bolt of green light lit up the narrow corridor of the stairwell.
The fuck was that? Duo wondered, even as he used one hand to propel himself over the railing, landing atop the island counter with a muted thud. The sound had the last cloaked man turning, but Duo was a step quicker; jumping off the counter and tackling him to the ground.
"You filthy-" Duo pistol-whipped him across the face, putting a stop to the words as blood and teeth came flying out. Something from the man's right hand clattered to the floor, catching Duo's eye: a slightly crooked stick with a heavy handle.
The sight of it caught Duo off-guard. The man was going to subdue him…with a stick?
"Mudblood filth!"
Duo jerked his body to the side as a bright green light careened past him. He rolled back up to his feet, moving around the island counter to put a barrier between himself and his assailant. A laser? Duo thought as he jumped back over the counter.
The man he'd shot second was using another stick, and when he caught sight of Duo's shadow moving over the counter, he whipped the stick around. A jet of bright green light shot out of the tip but Duo dodged that as well; he didn't know what it would do, but if they were trying to hit him with it, then he bet it was nothing good.
Duo lunged forward, one hand grabbing the man's wrist, holding the stick away from him as he swung his other arm back to bring the butt of the Glock against the side of his opponent's head. The man fell limp to the ground just as the hair on the back of Duo's neck stood on end; he fell back and to the right, using his momentum to pull the unconscious man up and jerk him around like a body shield.
Another jet of green light hit his impromptu shield, sending both the body and Duo flying back to hit the kitchen wall. The rack of pans hanging overhead were knocked loose at the movement, raining down on the two; one pot hit Duo's hand on the way down, knocking the gun out of his grip as another clipped his temple.
"You worthless muggle," the tallest cloaked man snarled. A dribble of blood was draining from the corner of his mouth, the words somewhat muffled by his injury. "If you think this is going to be quick-"
Duo bolted to his feet and launched forward, snagging the handle of a frying pan and bringing it around to smash into the side of the man's head. The cloaked male was whip quick with his stick, and the next thing Duo knew, the frying pan smacked into a light blue sheen that seemed to be pouring out from the man's stick.
Lasers don't do that, Duo registered in blank shock. Despite his mental stall, his body instinctively knew how to move: he dropped the frying pan instantly, instead pulling out a pocketknife he'd kept wedged in his boot. He jutted it forward, but sure enough, it met the same strange blue sheen that stopped it mid-movement. Duo couldn't see it, but he knew the man was sneering behind his ornate mask.
Again, Duo thought. He pulled back and slashed forward once more; the blue shield crackled at the contact this time, a tremor creeping up his opponent's arm as he let out a surprised shout. Again, Duo slashed forward; spiderweb-thin cracks spread out from the point of contact between his knife and the man's shield. Again, and again, and again – blue flakes dropped and shattered into flaring embers that died before they reached the ground.
"What are you!" the male screamed. "What the fuck are you!"
Duo's head was ringing, sharp flares of pain striking into his hand from where it scraped against the shield in his fervor to break it. But Duo knew he couldn't let up, couldn't rest and regain his bearings; this man had aimed for him, had went after him, had actually injured him. Enemy combatants went after Gundam Pilots for one of two reasons: to kill them or to capture them.
Duo couldn't allow that. His knife lashed forward and the blue shield fell apart like a cascade of starlight. Duo hooked a foot around the man's left ankle, jerking it out from underneath him. He couldn't get captured, not again, and he wasn't going to die here either, not when he had to avenge- The man fell back and Duo darted forward to follow him down, knocking the stick from his hand and ripping the mask off in the same movement.
It didn't matter that Duo didn't recognize the face underneath it. He'd never be able to recall the names or faces of every single person he's killed. Duo drew his blade across the man's throat, his assailant's last words lost in a swell of blood. The body jerked, heaving more blood up into the gorged throat, but Duo kept the man's limbs pinned down as the blood spilled out onto the floor.
Ten seconds, fifteen seconds, twenty seconds later – and the body stilled.
Thirty seconds, forty seconds, fifty seconds later – and Duo remembered himself.
Duo climbed back to his feet and moved away from the cooling body he'd left behind on the kitchen floor. He took stock of himself quickly: his temple ached, his hand hurt, and there was blood splatter over his right hand and staining his clothes.
He looked down at the unrecognizable man. Dead, he assessed clinically, eyes moving onto the next cloaked figure. A quick check of his vitals yielded no pulse or heartbeat. Dead. Duo moved onto the last figure, still lying crumpled between the stairs and living area. There was a small pool of blood originating from where he had cracked his head against the counter; again, no pulse or heartbeat.
Three dead.
Duo breathed in, then out. In and out, one more time.
The war was over.
"Fuck," Duo muttered under his breath. Should I move them? He wondered, glancing between the bodies. This was technically a crime scene, and as a responsible citizen, he should be reporting to the authorities. Is this still self-defense? Duo didn't think self-defense worked to cover three dead bodies.
Duo's eyes fell on the sticks. He picked up the one belonging to the man by the stairs, rolling it between his fingers experimentally. It looked just like a well-polished stick; no switches, buttons, nothing at all to indicate someone hadn't just broken it off from a tree and polished it. Glancing between the stick and the robed figures, Duo frowned. What kind of cult has laser sticks?
The braided teen gave the stick an experimental wave, similar to the way he'd seen the men do. It abruptly exploded into cinders in his hand, splinters lodging into Duo's palm and fingers as the rest scattered about the floor.
"Fucking hell!" Duo yelped, dropping what was left of the handle to the ground. He stared from the ruin to his own smarting appendage, scowling – that had hurt. Was the damn thing operated on biometrics and geared to explode when someone else handled it? Even those deranged scientists hadn't managed that yet!
Pulling out the splinters, Duo ignored the light bleeding in favor of picking up the rest of the wooden weapons, leaving them atop the island counter. Stepping carefully around the two bodies in the kitchenette, he shifted through the pots and pans on the floor until he found his Glock, lodged under the large frying pan.
Duo first needed to find where they'd put the EMP and disable it, otherwise he wouldn't be able to use the phone – landline or cell. Preventers or local authorities? Duo wondered. He was mildly surprised the sound of gunshots hadn't earned the attention of the cops yet. He should report to Preventers himself first though; they'd be called in eventually anyway, once the police tried looking him up and found all of his personal files locked under top security clearance.
Duo stilled.
"-the anti-apparition wards are still up!"
The voices were quiet, hushed murmurs that Duo could barely glean through the door. He crouched down so that the island counter hid his figure, creeping past the corpses to better peer around the corner of the kitchenette. He couldn't see out the windows from this angle, but an uncomfortable feeling settled over his skin as he watched the doorknob slowly turn, reminiscent of the way the blue shield had stung at his fingertips. The door swung open silently, abnormal because Duo knew of its creaky hinges.
Remus Lupin stood in the doorway.
Duo's grip on his firearm tightened, the only physical marker of the strain that crept over him. The man wasn't wearing his customary khaki and white button-up combo; instead he wore a tired brown robe, patched in some places that was visibly illuminated by the moonlight. He was also holding a stick similar to Duo's fallen assailants, slightly different in figure but recognizable for its polished gleam.
Of fucking course, Duo thought. It only figured that the one blood relative Duo had was part of a cult and wanted to kill him. At least he's not wearing a stupid mask.
Lupin stepped fully into the room, waving the stick around – a beam of white light shot out from it, hitting the overhead lights and they burst back into life, the rest of the assorted light fixtures and lamps following suit. Duo pulled himself back behind the counter, silent with his gun at the ready.
There was a sharp intake of breath – Lupin had seen the corpse of the man the other two had called Selwyn. Soft footfalls clued Duo in that Lupin was not alone, and he tried to gauge the number present through sound alone. Four- No, five, someone was walking with an awkward limp, Duo mused. They weren't making much noise, their words falling silent as they entered the cottage.
"Is that…" a woman's voice began tentatively, the sound of her footsteps drawing closer.
"Tonks!" came a sharp growl. "Don't move!"
"Alastor?" came the inquiry in a deep baritone.
"Lupin," that sharp voice called out. "Your son – he has a long braid?"
"Y-Yes," Lupin stuttered out hollowly.
"He's in the kitchen," the man said. "And he's holding a Muggle weapon."
Duo tensed. There was no way anyone had seen him – he'd hidden before they even entered the cottage, and the one window that looked into the kitchenette was in a different direction from the door they'd entered.
What does Muggle mean? "Do you have fucking X-ray vision?" Duo grumbled under his breath.
"…Duo?" Lupin breathed out in a hopeful tone of voice.
There was no point in hiding if they already knew his location. Duo slowly stood up, first peering over the kitchen counter to get a better look at the room's occupants: Lupin stood between the door and Gibbon's body, a young woman with a mop of violently pink hair at his shoulder, a tall black male was stationed by the open front door and next to a grizzled man with an eyepatch where a large, electric blue eye swiveled unnaturally, and lastly was the regal looking woman donned in a green shawl near the loveseat.
"It's rude to just barge into someone's place, y'know," Duo stated lightly.
Everyone stared at him.
"Was he Confunded?" the pink-haired woman asked in a bemusement.
The half-second that everyone glanced at her as she spoke was what Duo had been after, though, and he raised the gun up from where he'd been holding it under the counter and out of view. Non-fatal wounds, Duo had to remind himself. Three bodies he could explain, but eight-
A jet of red light hit his hand, the gun flying out of his grasp and landing by the dining table. Duo ducked back under the counter, glancing at his hand; it didn't hurt, hardly tingled really, but when the red laser had hit it, it was as if the gun had been ripped from his fingers. What kind of laser could do that?
"Moody!" Lupin snapped out.
"He was intending to do something with that Muggle weapon," came the fierce response.
"A what weapon?!" Duo hollered back in offense, scanning the area. He still had another pocketknife tucked into his other boot, there were metals pans and pots still on the floor, a knife rack on the other side of the refrigerator, and the exploding laser sticks he'd left on the island counter.
"Duo, wait, calm down and let me explain," Lupin began, and Duo could hear him as the man moved slowly closer. The teen pulled out the knife from his boot, turning and going into a crouched position, waiting for Lupin to come into full view.
"Lupin, he's got a knife," said that same grizzled man.
They weren't holding any scanners or the like, Duo recalled, cold and methodical. They had those sticks, but nothing that could be a screen. Whatever that man was using to see Duo, it didn't have a traditional screen, which meant he was using something that only he had a connection to.
The eye, Duo realized. It was big and awkward in that scarred face, and it moved autonomously – not at all in synch with its beady, natural counterpart. Change of plans then.
"Duo," Lupin's voice was gentle, the same kind of tone a person used when confronting scared children or feral animals. "We're here to help. Those people in the masks, they're not-"
Lupin came into full view with slow and deliberate steps. If Duo really had been the frightened teenager they so clearly thought he was, he would have surely been lulled into a false sense of security by the man's calming tones.
What they got instead was Duo lunging forward, only he used his left shoulder to ram Lupin back and into the wall. It was a tactic meant to stall and surprise, ultimately harmless aside for the bruise Lupin would probably get on his chest.
It was enough, because the one it was meant to distract had his eye on Duo's left side where his body connected with Lupin's – not on Duo's right, where his hand had flicked forward, sending his pocketknife straight towards the face of the grizzled man with deadly precision.
Duo watched in shock as the knife stopped just before striking true, hovering momentarily in front of the whirring blue eye, and then dropping to the floor.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Duo muttered. Lupin, still pressed against the wall, had gotten a grip on Duo's arm in his moment of distraction, but Duo was honestly too surprised by the failure of the knife plan to do anything about it.
"Did he just throw a knife?!" the woman in the green shawl squeaked out.
In lieu of answering, the man with the false eye shot a bolt of red at him. Duo tried to jerk out of Lupin's hold but the man was surprisingly strong, especially given that sickly frame. The red laser hit him in the side, sending him sprawling back onto the floor and out of Lupin's hold. His eyes closed against his will, but Duo absolutely refused to fall into unconsciousness; it was like a sedative had been pumped into his system.
"-orry, Lupin, but he's violent and high-strung."
"Never thought I'd hear Moody call someone else 'violent and high strung'," a female voice muttered audibly. Duo didn't move from his crumpled position on the floor, listening to the sound of their footsteps as the others moved around him. He was outnumbered and without a weapon, and his opponents were using some kind of weapon that used lasers of varying levels of intensity. Duo knew his top priority now was to escape.
"He was attacked by Death Eaters, Moody," Lupin said, voice biting. "If you'd just let me explain to him-"
"Before or after he stabbed you?" retorted one of the women.
"The Death Eaters are dead," the black male spoke up from where Duo gauged was the kitchenette. "…he slit Rowle's throat."
"Lupin, get him out of here," the grizzled male ordered.
A sigh came from over Duo's prone body. Duo could hear one member of the group moving around in the kitchenette, and two others had gone up the stairs. Lupin was presumably the one hovering over him, which left only the grizzled man somewhere by the front door.
No better chance than now, Duo knew.
He snapped his eyes open, catching sight of Lupin mid-wave of his stick. The man's amber eyes widened at the sight of Duo's open eyes, but before he could say anything, Duo kicked out and struck him in the shin. Lupin buckled and Duo leapt to his feet, knocking Lupin aside as he dashed by him.
Just as expected, the grizzled man Duo thought they had been referring to as 'Moody' was by the door. His stick was already out and pointed in Duo's direction, but Duo could easily discern the trajectory of any laser that burst out of it, sidestepping even as he continued his surge forward.
"Stupefy!"
A red bolt of light struck him in the back. Duo stumbled briefly but caught himself on his next step, continuing forward. Whatever that red light was, its sedative effects weren't effective; as long as he powered through its initial stage, it dissipated quickly.
"Wha- He's immune to being stunned?!" one of the women cried out.
Duo didn't slow down. Instinctively, he scanned the man between him and the exit; the weakest points when attacking men were the face, the chest, and the groin. His knife had not been able to strike the man's eyes, which meant it was possible they were using the same shielding device that the masked man had used, but Duo didn't have the time to stab his way through it. He just needed to get around him; incapacitation was preferred but not necessary.
"Duo, stop!" Lupin shouted from behind him.
Moody slashed his stick through the air, sending a jet of blue light out. Duo moved around it, never stopping his forward momentum, one hand reaching out to feel the air around the man. If the shielding device was activated, he should be able to physically meet it, but nothing but air met his outstretched fingers.
"I don't want to hurt you, boy!" Moody snapped.
Duo's grin was wide and maniacal. "I don't care," he replied with a laugh.
Then Duo's right hand lashed forward, no hesitation in his movements as his fingers slid past flesh and sclera. His fingers burned as he pushed them into the Moody's skull, something sharp sending spikes of pain into the tips, but Duo didn't stop, fingernails scraping to get a handle on what rested in Duo's palm. Duo yanked his hand back, marbled white and blue cradled in his appendage, the sharp sparks of what seemed to be the energy used by his assailants dissipating in a drifting line from what Duo held up to Moody's now-empty eye socket.
"MOODY!"
"DUO, NO!"
Three jets of red light hit Duo square in the back. The sheer force of it caused him to stagger forward, but the man he'd just mutilated had one hand covering his wound and the other pointing his stick in Duo's direction, a fourth beam of red light striking Duo in the chest.
Fuck! Duo thought desperately, even as his body gave up on him – he stumbled a couple steps back, the sedative effect of the lasers causing numbness to spread out from where they'd hit. Another series of red lights came at him once more, but Duo could do nothing as his body collapsed from underneath him and he fell back into someone's arms.
No!
Darkness claimed his vision, and Duo knew no more.
Thousands of miles away, blue eyes snapped open as Quatre Winner sat up in his bed, one hand clenched over the vicinity of his heart.
"…Duo?"
End Chapter 5
A/N: Yay~ The Order is here~!
Story Notes:
-Newtype Levels:
Preventers have sorted Newtypes into three categories, where Level Three are considered the weakest, up to Level One as the strongest. In comparison to the wizarding world, Level Threes are like squibs (low magical energy) and Level Twos and Ones are more similar to traditional wizards and witches. The stronger the magical energy, the higher the level. Preventers doesn't have a magical energy measuring system (lol), but there's a noticeable ability difference between someone like Agent Papillon (a Level Two) and Wufei (a Level One).
-Family Reconstruction Act:
A reader brought up a point on the FRA, which made me realize I must have been too vague on how the FRA worked in this story! Sorry for any confusion, everyone. So:
The way the FRA system works here isn't so much as a "here, I found a kid that's related to you, they're yours now lmao," it's more like those services that trace your family tree: they find your relatives and inform you of them. Preventers figured that they could let possible guardians for any of the orphaned kids know there was a kid in need that they had a blood connection to. (It'd be harder to find guardians not related by blood because documents tend to get lost.) It's not an Earth family-colony orphan match; given the population breakdown, it's far more likely a match will be made between space colonists, rather than ESUN citizen-space colonist. But because the FRA is more a family tree than an adoption service, there are no incentives or monetary compensation. The FRA service only mediates prior to the actual meeting, and even then, it only forwards itineraries and requests after finding a match. Any relative contacted by the FRA system regarding a minor in need of a home has the choice to decline taking responsibility of the minor. Preventers is hopeful that any person contacted about a child in need will step up - but the reality is the adult relative may not have the resources to take care of a child. The Preventers in this story are much, much bigger than their canon counterpart, with a lot more sway - but they can only enforce taking part in the FRA, not pushing children onto people who may not be able to take care of them.
Reviewer Response Corner:
-Wind dancer1981: Thank you! :)
-Pat: Yes, Duo does get to attend Hogwarts, no worries. Well, okay, Hogwarts should be worried, but... Haha~
-TrenchcoatMan: Wufei would totally do that, lmao! And I agree, Quatre could eat the sloppiest thing imaginable and still be pristine by the end of it, I have no doubt in that boy's ability. (And as for if he eats his pizza with cutlery just to tease Duo, well, I won't tell~ lol) All five Gboys do get to meet Remus eventually, no worries! Duo and Remus are just...bonding...first. And Quatre is having fun being terrifying in other locations right now, but he'll also get the chance to terrorize the kids at the Constellation Conference - we wouldn't want Draco to get too comfortable, after all. ;)
Thank you for reading!
Please be kind and drop a review! :)
