A/N- Hey guys and girls, I'm back with another chapter of Orc Empire II: Black Zero Command. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 7- Growing Pains
Lily Potter had had a troubling few months. She had been recruiting soldiers for her private army using methods that she knew her son and others used to recruit soldiers into their private armies. However in the last few months, recruiting had slowed to a trickle. On top of the shortage of recruits, both the Empire and Gromgor's Black Zero Command had begun to actively hunt down her private army's cells, capturing or killing many members and forcing others to flee and hide. On top of that, her private army didn't have the resources to move around freely or strike targets quickly before fleeing and avoiding possible retaliation.
Lily was exercising in a makeshift gym that had been set up in an underground bunker when a couple of the commanders who'd joined her from the outset arrived to deliver a report. "Lily, we're here to report about our current situation." One of the Commanders said. Both of them had grim faces.
"Don't beat around the bush. Whatever it is, I know it's going to be bad news." Lily said bluntly.
"Well, we really need new troops and fast." The other Commander said. "We need equipment and supplies as well.
"Hmmm, I think I know where to get some." Lily said to her commanders.
Averland- A few days after meeting her commanders.
A battalion of Empire soldiers were patrolling a hamlet and the area surrounding it inside Averland. It had recently been attacked by Greenskin raiders from Outer Heaven and it was currently being used as a supply dump for Empire forces in the area.
Like a hunter in the night, Lily stalked her targets one by one. Isolated Empire soldiers fell to silent stunning spells and when their comrades found them slumped on the ground, Lily stunned them too. She linked them up to some long pieces of string and turned those into Portkeys, sending them to hidden safe houses so they could be recruited. She also spirited away the entire supply dump's contents including food, ammunition and other essentials for her private army.
Before she got away from the area, Lily was spotted and was caught up in a fight with Empire soldiers. She managed to stun several dozen more Empire soldiers in the fight and successfully spirited them away before being forced to retreat as the Empire brought in reinforcements including groups of witch hunters from the church of Sigmar to hunt her down.
She didn't retreat far though as she portkeyed herself to a town a couple of dozen miles away and repeated the process of capturing Empire soldiers and stealing their equipment from the local supply dump. She then again was spotted and another fight with local empire forces broke out and reinforcements were scrambled to the town including the witch hunters who'd been sent to fight at the hamlet a short distance away. Once again, she took down numerous Empire soldiers and spirited them away before retreating once more.
The next place Lily appeared at in Averland was a village on the state's easternmost border. She barely made it more than a dozen metres away from where she'd landed before she was confronted by Greenskin and Human raiders from Outer Heaven who had overrun the village. Taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of a seemingly unfamiliar figure, they attempted to capture her without a fight. They were caught unawares when Lily fired stunners at them, causing them to drop like flies. They attempted to fight back against the flame haired woman but she was too quick for them and then she sent them all to her safe houses. A small military convoy of Empire troops, no more than three or four trucks worth, approached the village when a devastating mortar shelling wiped out the whole convoy. Lamenting the loss of life, Lily left the area and The Empire altogether.
Foxjager Command- unidentified Island
A number of senior officers of Greenskin and human origin were having a clandestine meeting on an island occupied by their troops. It had been mostly cleared of its native inhabitants, who'd been expelled from the island but there were still some who resisted. The inhabitants were humanoid with fur around their faces and backs and had scales everywhere else. They killed isolated Greenskin troops and stole their weapons. Their numbers were too few to throw out the occupiers but the occupiers were unable to effectively hunt down the small resistance movement. The senior officers met up in a sandy, rocky building as they'd realised that there was another hostile element on the island; one that didn't kill their soldiers but took them instead.
"Detreis is demanding results gentlemen. We have to identify the new threat." The most senior officer there told the others. He was a human, who'd joined Detreis in the aftermath of the great defeat and the fracturing of Outer Heaven.
"So what does Detreis' right hand man want us to do?" One of the Greenskin officers in attendance asked the most senior officer incredulously, identifying him as Detreis' second in command in the process.
"Start a hunt through the deserts and jungles. Use your initiative you fools." Detreis' second in command told them angrily.
"Give us more troops then." Another officer demanded.
As they continued to argue back and forth, the building they were in was suddenly consumed in darkness. The officers began panicking and tried to make their way towards one of the doors but they kept tripping over each other. Slowly, they realised that they were being picked off in the darkness but they heard no gunfire.
"Blast. There's a witch or wizard in here with us." One of the Greenskin officers exclaimed angrily. He was then promptly stunned and rendered unconscious.
Unable to see their assailant, the remaining officers and the few guards inside with them began shooting wildly. Their efforts were unsuccessful as the stunning continued until the gunfire ceased. Almost immediately after the gunfire ceased, the darkness was lifted, revealing Lily to be the one behind the chaos. She bounded up all the officers and their guards and cuffed them together before portkeying them away.
She left the building and made her way towards a nearby harbour. Most would've called her crazy if they'd known what she was currently thinking but she reasoned that it would take the many different Outer Heaven factions by surprise and even those who were watching her moves such as the Ministry of Magic. She eventually reached her target at the nearest harbour; it was a massive twelve kilometre long dreadnought. "Here's my new home I guess; just have to steal it now." Lily said to herself. She dashed past several patrolling squads of mixed human and Greenskin troops and got up close to the dreadnought and pressed herself against the metal skin of the beast. Lily tapped her wand on the outer shell of the triangular warship and muttered, "Portus." She then went to a stack of crates nearby where she was and opened one of them up. Inside were enough sedatives to take down several herds of elephants and she placed two crates worth of sedatives in the warship's water supply, knowing that the water would have to be drunk and it'd knock out the vast majority of the crew and passengers and render the rest disorientated enough that they couldn't fight back against a boarding party. She then made her way to another part of the harbour and watched as the dreadnought disappeared before the very eyes of many warship crews and the harbour guards.
Almost immediately, the alarms and sirens began to blare out and Lily disillusioned herself. Seeing a few more ships docked in the harbour, Lily decided rather bravely or foolishly to steal two or three more ships, the other ships being a Venator class Land Destroyer, a Scharnhorst class battleship and a dreadnought sized super tanker. Amazingly, against all odds, Lily succeeded in stealing the warships, repeating what she'd done to the 12 km long beast. This caused more chaos among the harbour's defenders, who all began to panic. Lily took advantage of the confusion and took out several squads of defenders without anyone realising, sending them back to her hidden followers. Lily then departed the area before anyone caught onto what happened.
Once Lily was a safe distance away, she noticed that some of the resisting locals had seen her and were wishing her luck. They'd approved of her actions but she was saddened because she felt she could've done more to help them. She apparated away, determined to return and help them out once again.
Underground Bunker
Lily returned to her bunker and found it mostly deserted; most of its occupants departed to help finishing off the job she had begun. As she went to go and sleep after a week and a half of near nonstop hunting and magic using, she noticed a small parcel with an attached letter with it. She read it and had a smile on her face when she read it.
Dear Doe
We hope the Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder we sent you a few weeks ago came in handy. Prongs wanted us to get some to you and we're sure the son of Prongs would want us to help keep you safe.
No need to reply; might cause some issues if you did.
Gred and Forge
The Unidentified Island
Unbeknownst to Lily, her actions here caused Foxjager Command to begin collapsing. Gromgor's Black Zero Command tore up their forces and forcibly annexed the breakaway faction. Governor Detreis was beheaded personally by Gromgor and his head placed on a pike whilst the rest of his body was used for nutrition and entertainment.
When wizards under his command discovered that Lily had been there, Gromgor ordered that anything outside of their control be burnt to the ground. The natives hid underground but whatever was left of their land was turned into ashes.
Gromgor intended to turn the island into a ruin and its inhabitants into labourers by force. It mattered little to him if they lived or not as a result of the labour he would make them perform.
A/N- I hope you enjoyed reading this and please review.