Chapter 26
Harry got out of the Land Rover and paused looking around, his hand going to the pistol within his pocket. The people around him didn't give him a second look. It was odd, being out, in the day time.
Out doing his job. Harry looked down the street and sighed as he walked toward the Ford Cortina that had been following him since he'd got into London.
"What are you doing here Benton?" Harry said as he looked in through the passenger side window.
-/
Harry took a long sip of his pint. "Do you know what I'm up to Benton?" Harry asked looking over at the military man.
The Brigadier had supposedly asked Benton to follow and "render any assistance necessary".
Benton shifted in his seat and looked around the half empty pub.
Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "Please Benton if anyone cared they couldn't eavesdrop."
"I know you're dealing with members of that group, the same one that that woman was from that we shot yesterday," Benton relaxed slightly.
"I don't expect Ginny to die too easily Benton. Fanatics take a lot to kill," Harry held the man's gaze. "That's what I'm up to," Harry leant back into the booth and stared up at the tobacco stained ceiling. "I don't think you want to be apart of what I'm doing Benton."
"I've killed before Harry," he replied in a level tone.
Harry smiled softly at him. "Ah, but have you? You've fought battles and obeyed orders, you've killed as part of your duty," Harry paused once more. "I'm not doing this out of some idea of what you might think of as duty. In some ways, I'm like the" he paused and smirked. "Master."
"Harry I don't-" Harry cut him off.
"No, you don't. The Master is a person who has goals, people are in the way of his goals and he removes them. But then," Harry paused, and smirked again. "You could say the same thing about the Doctor."
"Harry I…" Benton trailed off.
"The Doctor topples governments, gets rid of the things in the cupboards, he's the man monsters fear," Harry paused thinking to himself. "The Brigadier knows I'm an…associate of the Master. I actually consider him a friend as good as the Doctor."
Benton remained silent.
"The Master, for all the time I have known him, throughout my life, he's travelled alone. The Doctor, however, he almost always is with someone. He's a teacher, an explorer, he marvels at the universe," Harry took another sip of his pint. "At the moment, my life, at this point, I'm not, not marvelling at the universe. Not when there are fanatics, terrorists, trying to rip down the web of time, causality and the threads of my culture. At the moment, I'm more; working towards goals, I have people to find Benton, and then I deal with them." He fixed him with a stare. "Not in combat, not in a battle. I do things, and I deal with it. Sometimes I find some satisfaction in what I do, I'm starting to wonder what that makes me. I'm satisfied in my work," Harry exhaled. "I'm starting to wish for home. Where sometimes I did things like this and sometimes I found satisfaction in the work, but I had others around who understood the work that I, that we did," Harry chuckled a hollow laugh.
"Yet, at the moment the only person who really understands what I'm doing, is locked up in Fortress Island for 'unlisted crimes'. I'm sure he'll find the Doctor and Jo's visit a useful distraction," Harry said as he drained the remainder of his pint. "Benton, I don't think you want to see what I'm up to."
Benton reached forward and grabbed Harry's arm. "Harry. I'm your friend, at least I think we're friends, I want to help you, and would have without the Brigadier's orders."
Harry remained silent for a short time.
-/
Benton blinked, a man had appeared behind the Land Rover with a struggling man. He had just appeared, there had been something like the reverse of an explosion of air, he wasn't even sure what it had been.
Then the man pulled off a mask, just like the Master to reveal Harry Potter, even though he'd seen him pull on the mask it was still…somewhat unsettling, especially as he'd been the one to shoot the man whose face mask Harry had just removed.
-/
Harry punched the man on the back of the head and threw him into the back of the Land Rover and climbed in, stunning him to be sure now that they were properly hidden.
"You know where to go Benton. Go. Now," Harry ordered as he rolled his shoulder around.
Even the shortest distance of a side-along apparition still made his muscles ache, he had been tempted just to shoot the man there and then, but he needed to get some information. It was unlikely that Ginny had made contact with anyone since her "incident", but he needed more information to be sure.
Ginny had seemed very confident, that was a worry, it meant she and her fellow terrorists had a plan, or at least something to go from just inciting people in little groups in little cafés that would one day likely become designer bars with over priced drinks and bouncers outside.
How he longed for the 21st century, to be in his own time once again, not a wanderer in the 1970s.
-/
Benton stopped the Land Rover outside the abandoned factory, judging by the tyre marks Harry had been here before.
"Benton, stay here, whatever you hear, stay here," Harry said in a gruff tone.
"Harry I-" Harry gestured with his wand at the unconscious man in the back of the Land Rover and Benton watched as he floated out and came to a stop where Harry was standing.
"You don't want to see what I need to do Benton, I don't want you to see, do you understand me," Harry said in a level tone staring at him.
"I…" Benton blinked several times. "Harry!" He said angrily and punched Harry in the arm.
Harry smiled. "Force of habit, just, don't okay. Stay here, I wouldn't want your idea to be tarnished of me any more. Trust me on this."
-/
Benton sat on the front of the Land Rover, and didn't pretend to ignore the yells, the shouts coming from the factory.
No one else would be able to hear, it was only because he was so close, and trying to listen that he could hear.
There was a large UNIT exclusion zone around this factory. That was likely why Potter had chosen this location for his…
His what? He knew what Potter was doing. He could have stayed well away from this.
The Brigadier had been vague with his request and it was a request rather than an order, technically he was off duty.
Potter could have stopped him, prevented him from coming along.
Benton flinched as he heard a bullet shot, followed by another shout.
If he strained he could just make out Harry talking.
John Benton wasn't sure when he realised he could smell burning, then an indeterminate time after that Potter came walking away from the factory, a grim expression on his face.
He passed him and walked around to the back of the Land Rover.
"Are you…" Benton started.
"Yes, it seems Ginny hasn't made an appearance yet," Harry replied as he started to strip off his shirt and bent down to untie his boots, when Benton noted were splattered with blood and soot.
"That's good isn't it Harry?" He asked as he sat on the back of the Land Rover.
"Yes, and no. It means I need to see if we've got enough ingredients left to create a spell or whatever to track Ginny down."
"She could be…" Benton trailed again as he saw the scars that littered Harry's body. Benton had spent plenty of time around his men and when he'd been in the British Army around plenty of others and many, many men carried scars of battles but Harry's body…
Harry was looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "Admiring me body Benton? I wouldn't have taken you for a…" Harry paused thinking for a moment. "A…'shirt lifter'?" He said a moment later in an amused tone.
"No! I mean…" Benton quickly started.
"I do believe I've made you blush Sergeant Benton," Harry chuckled.
"I've just never seen so many scars Harry," Benton replied after a moment.
Harry smiled as he removed his other boot and pulled off his pants. "Rather permanent evidence of my teenage years, plus even more reminders of the more recent times," he paused as he grabbed a small bag from the Land Rover and pulled out some fresh clothing. "Blade wounds, energy weapons, acid, gels, spell damage, you name it, I've probably got a scar from it."
"Battling an animated grotesque in a graveyard?" Benton asked curiously.
Harry paused as he was doing up his shirt. "Graveyard yes, you could say my opponent was grotesque. But no, I haven't had the exact experience you had in Devil's End. My graveyard experience was far more…visceral," Harry closed his eyes for the smallest moment, the memory of it, of Cedric's death, despite the time that had passed, the memories of that night were still…vivid. Even the Doctor and Martha's rescue, the sensation of being rescued, of being in the TARDIS, of…of everything. Harry found himself running his fingers over portions of his body, new scars having covered the healed wounds of that night.
As he was pulling on his boots Benton spoke again. "Do we need to...dispose of anything Harry?" He asked awkwardly.
Harry looked up at the Sergeant and shook his head. "No Sergeant."
"Should I ask?" Benton began.
"Only if you want to know John," Harry looked to him "I'll tell you."
Benton remained quiet as Harry pulled on his boots and tied them up; Harry paid him no more than a glance. Even for the controlled military man there seemed to be some internal struggle going on for him.
-/
They were back, driving down the road, back towards London before Benton spoke in any lengthy way. "We're going back to London?"
Harry nodded. "I have unfinished business with an individual."
"Unfinished business?" Benton asked curiously.
"Just before the Foula business I was prevented from accomplishing my business, it seemed they already knew I'd disappeared a member of their group. From my surveillance it's somewhere a few members of Ginny's group congregate." Harry paused as he put his foot down, and changed gear to pass several lorries.
Benton nodded, he had heard that Potter had arrived back at HQ injured and had to be fixed up by the Doctor.
-/
It was, Benton thought very disconcerting seeing Harry wearing a mask that made him look like the Master.
"My dear Sergeant Benton, you look almost concerned," Potter said very much in the same tone of voice as the Master, it was weird.
"Don't do that Harry, it's bad enough that you've got his face," Benton frowned, shoving his hands into his jacket, it was turning into a cold night.
"They should all be there now," Harry gestured down a laneway.
"How're you going to handle this Harry, you were shot last time."
"Not just shot" Harry sniffed in amusement as he opened the rear of the Land Rover. "If you're going to stick around Benton you can be my backup," Harry said as he reached into the Land Rover and handed him a weapon in a holster.
Benton removed it and looked at Harry. "A silencer?"
Harry looked at him. "Wouldn't want to attract any additional attention."
"Harry you've got the face of a wanted man," Benton pointed out.
"Who should be locked up in prison, being visited by the Doctor at this very moment, unless the Doctor has broken him out of jail, or maybe Jo's walked in with her magic set of keys. Perhaps Trenchard's let him out."
Benton shrugged at Potter's comments, but then frowned. "How do you know Trenchard?"
Bugger. Harry thought to himself, he'd been a little too sarcastic for his own good.
"I eavesdrop Sergeant Benton and I wanted to know his name so I could go and visit my old friend."
Benton turned away from Harry for a moment, it was just too weird hearing Harry talk about the Master, while wearing a mask that made him look like the Master.
-/
Harry finished kitting himself out with the weapons from the rear of the Land Rover.
Benton looked at him as he checked the flash grenade. "You're going to let that off, in that building?" He asked incredulously.
"As you said Benton, I've already been shot once before, now it's time to take the less than subtle approach," Harry said and looked down at the single flash grenade and reached inside the Land Rover for a second one. "I've gotten too distracted with being here, now it's about accomplishing the mission," Harry said, mostly to himself as he breathed a few breaths of the evening air.
"I could accompany you. Help," Benton offered carefully.
Harry just shook his head and walked off into the night air.
-/
Benton didn't wait long there was the unmistakable sound of a flash grenade going off, then Harry appeared out of thin air again, again with a person, but this one was less alive than the previous.
"Just…don't bother," Harry said dismissively as he disappeared once more. Just by looking at the body, Benton knew the man wasn't alive, the bullet wound in his head and chest also indicated the man had been expertly dispatched.
Harry appeared several moments later. Massaging his shoulder with a free hand, then he grabbed the body he had left several moments ago and disappeared again.
He reappeared less than a minute later looking very much more tired and stressed.
"Go back to UNIT HQ Benton," he said as he rubbed his left shoulder, grimacing as he did so.
"Did you get…injured?"
Harry shook his head. "Apparition isn't all that fun when you're dragging someone along for the ride, Especially twice." He muttered the last bit to himself.
"What about you?" Benton asked.
"I'll return to where you left your car and pick it up and return to HQ," Harry said as he grabbed a small bag from the back of the Land Rover.
Harry closed his eyes, seemingly steeling himself.
"Okay Harry." Benton said clapping a hand down on his shoulder, startling Harry for a moment. "Tomorrow you're coming out for a drink with the boys." He said lightly.
Harry waited for a moment as Benton got into the vehicle and then disapparated away.
-/
Harry looked up from his mug of tea as the Brigadier walked into his lab. He'd had a particularly uncomfortable night. Moving two bodies through apparition hadn't been the most comfortable experience, but, he really hadn't wanted to drive with Benton with two bodies back to the factory to thoroughly dispose of them.
He needed to though, thoroughly dispose of them, he'd disapparated once more to dump most of the ashes into the sea, just in case. He doubted their remains could cause any issues to the timeline, less so than their living presence did. But he wanted to be properly thorough, especially now Benton had seen where he was dealing with things.
"Mr Potter," the Brigadier greeted.
"Brigadier," Harry said looking up from the newspaper, there was no news coverage of his little 'outing' the previous night. But when you were dealing with wizards there wasn't likely to be. But there was a story of a town Outer Hebrides having seen a "green cloud that looked a bit like a snake" whilst several buildings in the town "mysteriously caught fire".
"I just received a note from the Doctor and Ms Grant, they are assisting the Royal Navy with some business with an old fort close to Fortress Island."
Harry looked up from the paper as the Brigadier sat down opposite him with his own mug of tea. "And Brigadier?"
"Fortress Island is the location that was chosen to house the Master," the Brigadier explained.
Harry feigned some interest in this revelation. "Interesting, but I did know that already Brigadier, Jo and the Doctor were talking about it a bit." He wasn't actually sure if they had or not, but given how much the Doctor and Jo talked it was likely that they'd mentioned it at a point when he could have listened in. Not that it mattered, it wasn't as though they'd be able to ask Trenchard if he'd seen him.
The Brigadier made a non-committal noise.
There was an extended amount of silence between them; Harry was the one to break it. "Was there something else Brigadier?"
This seemed to disrupt the Brigadier's train of thought somewhat. "Just to offer UNIT's resources to you Mr Potter, if and when you need them."
Harry looked up at him, but said nothing, gesturing subtly with his wand to close and lock the door, sensing a somewhat private discussion incoming.
The Brigadier continued to look at him. "You've assisted us more than you think Mr Potter. Mr Benton can, barring UNIT operations continue to assist you."
"During his 'time off' you mean Brigadier?" Harry asked removing his wand and waving it at the door, it shut somewhat loudly. "I appreciate the offer Brigadier, but I had consigned to working on this alone."
"It pays Mr Potter to have someone to cover your back," the Brigadier said.
"Yes, it does. But…" Harry shook his head. "Benton is a fine soldier, but I'm not. Even back home I wasn't a soldier, I fought in battles, I stared into the faces of evil, I watched death walk through my life and saw the beginnings of the next great adventure," he paused to smile. "Back home, in my present, the 'future', I did many things, a jack of all trades, researcher, fighter, defender, I learnt these things from my friends, some are still there, some are here. I had the skills I've used here, but with a different direction," Harry looked hard at the Brigadier. "I'm not a soldier, I'm on a mission to remove certain people from this era, in some circles I think they'd call me an assassin. I don't want that label on any of your men Brigadier, you're too good for something like that," Harry said finally.
The Brigadier was silent for some time, regarding the younger man.
"Mr Potter, you may not be trained as a soldier, but you are also not an assassin. These people present a tangible threat to this country and the 'web of time'" he said awkwardly. "You are protecting everyone now and into the future from these terrorists, from their actions. You are not merely removing them for a fee, you yourself, Mr Potter have said you are on a mission, you have, I am confident, goals clearly and meticulously set out as you did our Operation."
Harry was actually feeling a little better about everything after the Brigadier's little speech. "Very rousing Brigadier. I gave more than one speech like that back in the day."
"I hope you took away from it more than my oration Mr Potter," he gave Harry a look.
Harry nodded. "But, it is still dangerous what I do and where I go, I can't have Sergeant Benton tailing me."
The Brigadier drained his tea. "I understand that Mr Potter, but I also do not wish you to come to harm, you are going into dangerous places. Just know that you have assistance if it is required."
Harry nodded. "Very well Brigadier, I can understand your point of view. I will keep it in mind should I need any help."
"Be sure you do Mr Potter, it costs nothing to ask for help when it is needed." As he turned to leave Harry gestured with his wand and a muttered spell to unlock the door.
-/ - \\-
Harry stared through the binoculars as the hovercraft 'escaped', he'd considered hiding himself inside the hovercraft to congratulate Magister for his exemplary escape from Trenchard, the Royal Navy and the Doctor.
But that seemed a little too smug and all knowing, even for him, someone who knows of their future.
Though why Magister would come back for that business with Atlantis and whatever he wasn't really sure. The power of Kronos probably.
"Can't stand around all day sightseeing," Harry muttered to himself and disapparated with a cringe.
He was beginning to dislike the amount of apparition that was required, either apparating or disapparating with a body gave him aching muscles. It wasn't he was relatively sure like exercise, where he could build up his side-along apparition muscles. They just ached and he needed a large tub of heat rub around his shoulders at the end of the night.
Maybe you built up your side-along skills when the bodies were alive and not struggling. When they'd expired they were a dead weight, maybe that was it.
It wasn't as though there was any literature on this sort of thing, who would it be written for?
Maybe he'd write an essay 'Solving temporal incursions by terrorists from the subjective future; methods and mechanisms for removing and disposing of issues and subjects by Harry Potter'.
Harry snorted to himself. He somehow doubted that would go down well in Flourish & Blotts.
-/ - \\-
Harry cringed as he flushed the toilet again, disposing of the remains of the man who wouldn't stop calling him a "deviant, muggle rooting, dementor buggeror", who hadn't met or seen Ms Weasley, his 'Savour', who should have killed Harry when she'd had the chance.
It was good that he'd succumbed to the minimal amount of torture in such a short time. Though the anti-apparition/disaparition spell that was around the building, which he hadn't really noticed when he'd arrived had forced a change of plans.
It was fortunate that even mad time altering bastards like the former wizard now swirling around London's sewer system, probably past bits of old Cyberman, had to take a slash every so often.
As he walked back out into the bar he noticed it was disconcertingly empty, with more than a few blood stains around.
Outside was worse, not just the bodies; but the lone wizard in long dark robes with his wand aimed high pointing to the sky. "Morsmordre!"
"Shit," Harry muttered as he whipped out his wand. "Avada Kedavra." The Death Eater managed to cry out in shock as the deep green spell washed over him and he collapsed to the ground.
Harry turned and walked away into the night. He didn't care if he'd killed off an 'important' Death Eater, not after he'd seen how the bodies had been abused.
-/ - \\-
Benton found Harry in their local.
"Benton. Hello," he greeted brightly.
"You're in early Harry," Benton said taking a seat next to him at the end of the bar.
Harry shrugged. "I needed a drink."
After Benton had ordered and received his own pint he remained silent for a time.
"I forgot that a lot of the war was about terror. The war that's building with them," Harry reflected. "The dark mark's about fear and terror, but it's backed up by something, something real and tangible," Harry mused to himself. "It's not just death, it's…the tangible reality that people get faced with when creating scenes of fear and terror."
"Harry did you…" Benton trailed off.
"Yes, I've been continuing with my assignment, I just happened to walk into someone else's war in the process of it. It's my war too, sort of," Harry chuckled sarcastically, if such a thing were possible. "Well I end it at least."
They were silent for a short time as the barman brought Harry another pint.
Benton reckoned it was not Harry's second, or even his third.
"Did you hear?" Benton asked before dropping his voice. "The Master escaped."
Harry smirked lightly. "Yes, I did know about it. I'm sure the Brigadier will be giving the UN and good bollocksing for placing the Master in such prison with an ineffectual warden," Harry commented as he sipped, rather than as he'd done so with his previous pints, which he drank.
Benton remained silent for a minute or two. "Did you know?"
"Know what?" Harry turned to look at him, placing his half empty pint on the bar.
"What would happen?" Benton added.
Harry snorted. "That Trenchard was going to be a fool and get himself killed and that the Doctor would try again to make peace between the Psionosauropodomorphaand humans? Look how well that turned out the down at Wenley Moor," Harry replied in a dark tone, shocking Benton slightly with has sarcastic comments.
Harry stood up, leaving the remains of his pint, then leaned down to Benton's side. "If you would like, some backup would be appreciated this Friday, my next target is somewhere in Greenwich."
-/ - \\-
Harry looked around. It was grim.
This area had well and truly changed by the 21st century. The Millennium Dome and other things covered this area in his time.
According to his original scan from the Post Office Tower there was a high trace of the same wizard based time travel residue around here.
Maybe it was just the gas works and the power station, but it all seemed a little too grim for his liking.
Benton had agreed to come along, while he probably could have done this without any assistance, he'd never actually been here before.
Still hopefully these last few people could be dealt with together and easily. He resisted the urge to cast another detection spell, he'd practically been washing the area in spells since he'd found the general vicinity that corresponded to his map.
It was little wonder much of this area got re-developed over the next 30 years. Maybe this was why some wizards had chosen it as a place to hold raves, or whatever they did out here, maybe they had swingers parties thought cynically to himself. A shag in the afternoon following by subverting history in the evening.
"Why can't I get a leg over?" Harry muttered to himself, not caring that he was talking to himself, if anyone was around they would have shot at or talked to him by now.
But that was the point, he'd been spending all of his time with UNIT, not exactly prime leg-overing opportunities there, or being shot at and that also wasn't the best time to ask anyone if they wanted a quick shag behind the land rover. Not that there were many 'birds' around.
Harry shook his head, maybe he could just call in a bomb threat and clear out all the sane people, only mad terrorist wizards would stay around here.
Just as he was pondering how to find his targets he was shot, in the back, with a rather powerful stunner from some distance away.
-/
"…that's Harry Potter…what's he bloody doing here and now."
"…heard that he's been at some of the other places…"
"…-uck…Harry frigging Potter…you know he and Ginny were together…"
"I was there if you recall."
"What should we do with them?"
"That one's a muggle."
"Are you sure that one's Potter."
"The scar, the hair, the frigging fact that only he would follow us here, you know he's one of the loonies that believes the shit we spin for the muggles."
Harry tried to identify the voices, coming out of a stunner without suddenly sitting up and looking around was a learnt skill, just as pretending to still be knocked out through either blacking out or concussion was and equal skill. Luckily it was just a stunner so it lacked many of the nastier side affects that other forms of being knocked out had.
"Keep an eye on them Graham and I are going to try for Ginny again."
Harry allowed himself to sit up as he heard the two pairs of feet leave the general vicinity.
"You're awake." Harry blinked as he opened his eyes. He didn't bother to struggled yet, he already knew he'd been bound to a chair, with normal ropes rather than magical bindings.
Benton was slumped forward in a chair opposite him.
"Evidently. So, I'm Harry Potter, boy who lived-" Harry was cut off by the man opposite him.
"How'd you make it here?" He asked as he picked up Harry's wand, inspecting it.
"Magic, skill, muggle knowledge, the usual." Harry commented making a show of struggling at the ropes.
"You won't get out of those, tied them myself," said the man.
"And here was I thinking they were magical bindings." Harry commented as he tried his best to sound disappointed.
He looked over across the room as the man turned towards a table with what appeared to be his and Benton's weapons on it, and his mask that he'd been wearing to disguise himself. Looking back he saw Benton was looking moderately awake.
Harry mouthed 'quiet' at him. Benton nodded quickly.
"This some sort of magical mask? Something your friends the Weasleys came up with?" Harry wondered if he should know this guy, he looked a few years older than him, but he couldn't put a name to the face. The face was one of the people identified before he'd left but in his post stunner awakening couldn't put name to face.
"Nup," Harry shook his head. "Just good ole-xenotech." The man stared at him. "Technology from beyond our Earthly reaches?" The man glared at him. "It's alien technology you lame maniacal idiot," Harry said finally.
"The belief in aliens is a deviant and misinformed method of dealing with the complexities of modern wizarding life, it is a delusion that wizards and muggles like to think exist. It is a deviancy that you indulge in to further your experiences and relations with the muggle military and social elite."
Harry leaned back into the chair as much as he could as the man approached, he could just about see Benton staring at him or the man slightly surprised at the sudden rant.
"That's…a very interesting point of view," he resisted the urge to ask how many times he'd needed to read it to get it down pat. Maybe they had readings of it, or maybe Ginny just gave out little red books.
"It's the only point of view any sane, intelligent wizard should have, that's why we're here," he countered.
The man turned away from him and back to the table, picking up a pistol and weighing it in his hand.
"This is one of those muggle weapons?" He asked pointing it at himself and looking down the barrel, Harry could see Benton tensing.
Harry pondered to himself how to answer a question like that, how to answer a question like that and turn it to his and Benton's advantage. It was very possible that he could just say 'squeeze the trigger and find out' but he very much doubted the safety was off or the man was that gullible.
However, if he'd read Ginny's book of self determination and quotations from Ms Weasley and probably re-read it he could be somewhat susceptible to…
"Yes, yes it is. You like the how it feels don't you?" Harry said, as he tried and succeeded in catching the man's eye. He made a mental note to send the Master a good bottle of Cognac, care of Professor Thascalos. Of all the skills he'd learnt from the Master this was the most useful and now not as headache inducing as it once was.
"Yess…I like it," he said slowly.
"You know who I am." Harry said still gazing unblinking in a steady tone at the man.
"You're-" Harry didn't let him finish.
"I'm your Master, and you will obey-" Harry wasn't able to finish his sentence.
"I will obey. You understand the flows of society, you have seen into the eyes of the deviant," he continued in a low tone.
Uh oh… Harry thought to himself. He briefly wondered if Ginny gave all her speeches like that.
"Uh…yes. Now flick the switch on the muggle weapon…you will obey me." Harry was rewarded with several more "I will obey, I will obey," and also a satisfying click.
Now was the more nasty part.
"Now, gaze into that hole, you will obey me, obey me and squeeze the trigger."
Benton's eyes went wide and then there was a BANG, with some of the blood hitting Benton.
"I thought the Doctor said hypnosis was about suggestion," Benton said looking over Harry as he pushed himself forward so he could put his feet on the ground to shuffle towards Benton.
"It's a good thing then, that I learnt that from the Master," Harry said as he kicked his foot towards Benton's bound hands.
"What was that for?" He exclaimed and looked at Harry.
"Grab my boot, I've got a knife in there," Harry said sparing a look at the dead man. "He was very suggestible, I didn't think that would work."
"Why don't you just 'pop' away?" Benton said as Harry kicked awkwardly again.
"If I could, I would have." He replied. "Quick as you can Benton, I don't want them to come back and find we've done away with our captor."
"And then?" Benton asked.
"Then what?" Harry replied.
"After we escape?" Benton added.
"You've really not hung around with the Doctor very often have you?" Harry wondered aloud. "First we get captured, then we investigate their base and then we stop the enemy, preferably without destroying a planet in the process, but their base of operations is okay."
"What-" Benton swore as he obviously nicked his arm with the knife. "The knife's sharp."
"All the better to...and all that." Harry quoted vaguely.
"All the better to what?" Benton asked.
"Well stab and kill people obviously Benton, why else would I have a sharp knife with me?" Harry shook his head.
"To get out of knots?" Benton asked with a grin as he freed his hands.
"There is that," Harry admitted as he twisted around.
"So have we 'you know' been here?" Benton asked as he cut through the ropes, having been unable to undo them, much despite Harry's jibing.
"You know?" Harry repeated curiously.
"Poof, pop" Benton replied awkwardly "…you know."
Harry pulled his hands free as the ropes fell away.
"No," he turned to look at Benton who was making and explosion motion with his hands. "Apparated?" Harry asked as he walked over to the table and began to replace the things from his pockets. "No. You usually get the sensation of pulled muscles when you do that roughly, and with us unconscious it's really rough. Here," he passed Benton his weapons, he'd come interestingly well armed.
"So we're still in London," Benton surmised as he tucked away the weapons.
"Unless they had a portkey," Harry said mostly to himself. "But that would require a bit of clout and nouse, something as evidenced by our friend there," Harry nodded down at the body on the ground. "I doubt these people have in spades."
"So what now?" Benton asked.
"Really?" Harry shook his head at Benton. "Really?" Harry repeated. He spared one final look at the body before opening the door, his wand out.
"To kill?" Benton muttered a query.
"Wound, these people actually know enough to go ask questions. I want to ask them some," Harry explained.
"But if you-" Benton started but Harry cut him off.
"Shut up Benton."
"Yes sir." Benton replied, Harry couldn't tell from his tone if he was mocking or not, and didn't turn around to check.
-/
They'd been walking along the corridor for several meters before Benton spoke again.
"If we still are where we were," He paused and then added as an almost afterthought "Sir. Where are we?"
"Tunnels, sewers, crypts, old foundations, Dalek pits, Cyber-Tombs, take your pick Sergeant, greater London's littered with interesting places to hide nuclear facilities, dinosaurs and secret government bases," Harry replied again mostly to himself. "Shhh…" Harry said as he looked down the corridor, concentrating.
"What?"
"There was a…" Then Harry heard the second sound of displaced or possibly disillusioned air, and then a moment later spells started flying.
Harry dove forward and tucked himself into a forward roll, barreling into the disillusioned person.
He was relatively sure as he head-butted (and immediately regretted that course of action) that a spell had hit Benton. Harry barely had time to note to himself that head-butting someone wasn't the best way to incapacitate an individual when he was grabbed in a headlock dragging him away from the unconscious man.
"Drop the wand Potter." The man said through clenched teeth and a death grip around his neck.
Harry grunted a shattering spell at the ground at his feet and was dimly aware of something squelchy hitting his leg, by the sound of it, it was the man's foot, going all squelchy.
Then the man fell backwards into what sounded like a gunshot.
Harry turned around slowly to find the man clutching his (bleeding) shoulder with Benton leaning forward in the gloom of the corridor holding a gun behind him with a determined look on his face.
"Please don't say you were aiming for his head." Harry commented as he grabbed the man's wand.
-/ - \\-
"You've got Veritaserum!" Harry exclaimed to the two men whom he'd cuffed and tied up. "Why?"
They both remained quiet and bloodstained.
Benton was waiting outside. At least he wouldn't need to ignore any exasperated methods of intelligence extraction, it should just be a nice, simple conversation.
"Or maybe that wasn't Veritaserum." Harry muttered to himself looking over the head-butted man who was now foaming around the mouth and seemingly choking on a mouth full of viscous foam. He stared at the label again and realised there was a tiny easy to miss set of skull and crossbones.
"You're going to kill me, aren't you Potter?" The man with the wounded shoulder said as the room quietened once more.
Harry hadn't asked his name, he didn't want to know the man's name.
Harry didn't want to admit to himself it had been hard to just watch the man die of whatever it was poisoning, he almost wanted to save him, just to kill him more humanely.
He wasn't sure what that meant, at the moment, talking to this man, he didn't want or need to think about it.
"The boy who lived, a killer," the man spat at him.
"I'm sure we could both sit down and have a nice cup of tea and talk about this reasonably," Harry snorted and leant against the wall. "Except we're not. You and the others followed Ginny into our past. To manipulate and alter our future. Did you think the Ministry would sit back and let you do that?"
"They didn't have any choice! You've seen the world Potter, wizards starting the believe our own creations, the world has become mixed up and you and your muggle friends are in the thick of it destabilising our society. We barely got through the last wars and now you and the muggles are continuing this insidious fiction. We had to do something about it."
Harry almost rolled his eyes at the man's struggles as he lectured at him from where he was restrained.
"You could have tried in our own time, or when you found yourself here you could have gone native gone away from the war," Harry reasoned.
"There is no try it's do or be done with Potter. You should know that," the man stared hard at him.
"Are you paraphrasing Star Wars?" Harry asked with a frown. "It's not just weird coming from you it's also anachronistic, though you're all about being anachronistic aren't you," Harry continued to himself. "Our world is about to tear itself apart and you and Ginny and the rest of them are setting up little groups, communes of thought. To try and what? Reshape our society along your ideals, all the while that Voldemort is out there?"
"You dealt with him, we weren't going to change that," was his response; a conversational shrug.
"And if I hadn't, if your actions here caused someone at Hogwarts to report things differently, if someone changed their mind about the Light and decided that eradicating all the muggles was a better idea than allowing people to believe what is right in front of their ideas?"
"Then we would have stopped it, we're not violent, not like you Potter, you're a deviant, you're believing in something false, can't you see it's just an extension of the wizarding world, even muggle-borns can see that aliens don't exist, yet you do…" he sneered. "I pity you and the world you've created."
Harry stared, somewhat wide-eyed at the man. "You don't get it do you? I don't care what you think about me or how I think about aliens. I care about the Web of Time, about how your buggering of the timelines would affect our present; the future," Harry exhaled, trying to calm himself. "Question time."
The man stared at him silent.
"Do you know where Ginny Weasley is? Yes or no." Harry asked.
"If you're going to kill me, do it and get it over with, I'm not answering questions from a deranged amoral deviant," he tried to spit on him as he finished talking.
-/
Benton flinched at the sound of a man's shout of agony, he however did not charge into the room, only shifted his weight and cringed at the bruising that was already manifesting itself along his arm where he'd been 'paralysed', according to Potter it should go away "at some point".
He however couldn't, later ignore the smell of burning that accompanied Potter as he roughly shut the metal door as he joined him in the corridor.
"I really hate mixing philosophy with target based conversations," Potter muttered as he walked past.
-/
Harry breathed deep of the night air as he looked up at the sky. Now there was just Ginny to find, then all he had to do was wait around for Omega to try and escape his black hole and then everything would fall into plan.
"They wrecked the Land Rover, I've got onto HQ they're sending one round." Benton said.
"Good," was all Potter said.
"How many of 'em want to invade us?" Benton asked after some moments of silence.
"I don't know Sergeant, the Doctor would probably have a better idea than me. I'm just here to make sure things go as they did," Harry paused. "And to flatten out the bumps that made their way back onto the road."
"Well at least it's all quiet for now. Even if the Master is still out there," Benton said, the last part directed vaguely in Harry's direction.
"Still fishing for information, even after everything tonight Sergeant?" Harry said looking away from the sky back down to…Earth. "You really think the Master is going to…" Harry stopped himself talking as he had a flash of memory, of the Doctor talking about Kronos…or something. No, he mentally corrected himself, it had been Jo, and the amazing way that Queen Galleia of Atlantis had her hair.
Harry chuckled drawing Benton's attention. Of course Jo would mention something like that, and that his young self would remember that.
It felt like such an age ago that he'd got a ride in the Doctor's car for the first time, seen his house, gone shopping with Jo who had been as awed by all the shops, the sights of London as he'd been. It'd also been the time when the Doctor had freed him from requiring glasses, and when he'd told him long stories of his time on Gallifrey when he'd been "younger and like a child" and the hermit he used to know. All about daisies that weren't daisies, the flutterwings that used to spawn in the spring and the forests of Cadonwood trees that the Doctor loved to explore and get lost in.
"How did I go from that, to this?" Harry muttered mostly to himself, with all things including blood on his hands, literally and metaphorically. But he knew the answer, life, death and the stuff in between, life wasn't all stories of wonder and brilliance. You had to fight and defend for it, sometimes there's danger, sometimes there's injustice, sometimes you have to do bad things for what needs to be done.
Benton cleared his throat. "Sir? Back up's arrive."
"Yes, right Benton, somewhere the tea's getting cold," Harry said to himself.
-/
A/N:
Minor edit done March 2021.
The paragraph where Harry is watching the Magister escape in a hovercraft is the final few minutes of The Sea Devils. I had planned it differently, planned it several ways differently.
One of them would have played out as Harry thinks about it, another would have had Harry rescue the Master and take him on board the hovercraft and it would have been Harry who waves to the Doctor from the hovercraft, while the Master would have been on the floor of the hovercraft.
This idea played nicely in my imagination and when I wrote the idea out, but it didn't feel right, it was basically the Harry rescuing the Master. The Master's never really rescued Harry yet, not in the same way the Doctor does and it just seemed wrong to reverse something that hadn't really happened and have Harry rescue the Master, it didn't seem right for their friendship.
So while I tried other variations I decided to go with what's in the story at the moment.
Just in case anyone trying to get a death count on the people Harry's trying to "disappear", there was a largish group that were with Ginny when she was flying over Cardiff back in 2003.
But when she arrived in the 1970s there's about 10. Harry learns this in Chapter 23 from one man, there's another person disposed of in chapter 24, another in chapter 25 and a few more in this chapter.
Kronos and Atlantis refer to The Time Monster.
