AN - Sorry for the delay in updating, folks. Insert generic life excuse, things get busy quick. Fast Frank, I wasn't able to send you a response directly, but my understanding is that NVDs have (or can have) infrared illumination lamps that provide the light necessary to amplify a no-light environment without emitting light visible to the naked eye, which is what I pictured when I wrote this.
To the Guest that reviewed Ch4(and thus also cannot be directly responded to), while yes there has been plenty of time to allow for immigration to build the magical US up since the witch trials, I would argue that the US just wasn't a major destination for witches and wizards. In Europe there is magical history, known institutions, prestigious schools, culture... In the US you have a higher per capita dark creature volume and a weak government. My logic isn't perfection, but I think it works okay for a story.
Finally, I agree with the majority of comments about how long I took with the arc from book 3. This has been a learning process for me and I have definitely made mistakes, and will probably make more. I appreciate all of you who have stuck with it and kept reading this story, and I appreciate you all leaving me advice, it has been a huge help. I apologize for this criminally long AN. I hope you all enjoy!
Brad lifted his plate carrier over his head and fastened it in place, double checking each strap to make sure everything was snug. He pulled on his shooting gloves and picked the Sig Sauer P226, feeling the familiar weight of his trusted sidearm.
He slid a red striped magazine in place and pushed the slide forward, chambering one of the stunning rounds. He only had a couple magazines of stunning ammo for his sidearm, figuring that if he had to transition to his handgun for more than a couple magazines, something had gone very wrong.
He locked his sidearm into the thigh holster and picked up his HK416, starting the process again with his rifle. Aiming down the sights to make sure everything lined up appropriately and that the digital ACOG sight was functioning properly. He flicked the Surefire flashlight on and off a few times and then did the same with the laser.
"What's up, bro?" Jason asked. Brad hadn't heard him enter. He picked up a red-striped polymer magazine up and slid it home, chambering a round into the rifle as well.
"Everything ready?" Brad had been told to stay inside the castle for the duration of the morning and that someone would come get him when they were ready to begin the second task.
"Yeah, they're good to go out there. And Sumner has additional eyes on this task. If someone tries to tamper with anything, we'll know about it." Jason replied, appraising Brad in his kit. Brad clipped his rifle to the sling and let it hang as he pulled his helmet on and fastened it. Finally, he snapped his night vision device to his helmet. He was ready to go.
"Let's rock," Brad said, stepping toward Jason and the door. Jason didn't respond as they headed outside.
Brad didn't even make it fully out of the castle before noticing that something was wrong. There was a huge stadium built next to a brand new dock on the lake. The stadium was filled with cheering students and, at this distance, he could see three figures standing on the dock.
"Shit," Brad muttered. Jason didn't reply. What was there to say? As they got closer Brad confirmed that the three figures on the dock were indeed the other champions. His heart sank a little when he saw that all three of them were wearing swimming outfits.
He thought back on what he'd heard exactly when the egg had fallen in the shower. It hadn't said underground at all. It said could not….above..ground. Underwater wasn't above the ground. SHIT.
"Ehrm," Ludo Bagman cleared his throat as Brad approached the dock. "Good luck." Ludo disappeared into the stadium with a worried look and Brad headed to the dock to stand with the other champions.
"That stuff looks heavy," Cedric commented as he got closer.
"I might have misinterpreted some things," Brad admitted. An hour underwater. How the hell was he going to manage that? He wracked his brain as he stood there, looking out at the lake. It looked a lot less peaceful and comforting than it had when he was sitting with Fleur.
He glanced at her and she gave him a worried smile. He smiled back without emotion. The SOLDA device popped into his head. He was pretty sure that a submersible was in the inventory of the OCDS satellite. He was gonna have to hope that there wasn't a SEAL somewhere that had already called that thing in because it was gonna be his only real chance. He could hear Bagman talking to the students now.
"Our champions are...ready...for the second task," Bagman stumbled a bit on the ready part and Brad winced, knowing that he was pretty obviously not ready. Not only had he not realized that he would need to do this underwater, he hadn't found a single item of his out of place. He had no idea what to look for once he was down there.
"Three, two, one," Bagman counted down and the others got into ready stances. Boom. The cannon fired and all three of the other contestants waved their wands about themselves.
Brad focused on the SOLDA device on his arm. He scrolled down to the OCDS menu and began searching through. He heard several splashes in the water and glanced over just in time to see Fleur's legs disappear into the water. He alone was on the dock.
He found what he was looking for. He was glad to see that there were actually two SOUIP-2 submersibles in the OCDS inventory, though he found no underwater firearms at all in the inventory. He selected the submersible and pushed the fire sequence, targeting the lake in front of him. He saw the launch confirmation and an ETA of eight minutes.
The Special Operations Underwater Insertion Pod was a single person frame with streamlined ports to either side of an angled HUD screen. The operator would lay forward between the two ports which pull water from the front and out through the back. The design was more efficient than props and allowed the pod greater speed and maneuverability while also maintaining a stealthier design. The heads up display on the front glass pane was capable of displaying an advanced detection system. It used a ping similar to sonar in order to create a 3D rendering of whatever was ahead for the next hundred or so meters. Far from perfect but a lot better than nothing.
As soon as he got the order confirmation he pulled the rifle from its sling and laid it on the dock. He pulled off his helmet, his plate carrier, the belt and handgun harness...pretty soon his entire kit lay in a pile next to him and he stood in the dock, thankful that he was a boxer briefs kind of man, and thankful that Fleur was underwater.
After several more agonizing minutes ticked by, Brad could hear the telltale roar of atmospheric reentry. The SWCC boats were circling the water slowly with divers on-board, likely to rescue anyone who needed it. He hadn't seen any of the three other champions resurface, so he figured they were probably doing alright.
He looked at the SOLDA device, the only thing he was wearing aside from his boxers, the small boot knife he had strapped to his ankle with some Coban from his medical kit, and Harry's wand, which he had similarly secured to his other leg. He saw the GPS projection of the pod's landing spot. Just as he'd ordered, it would be landing several meters into the water in front of him.
Brad took a deep breath and jumped into the water. The cold water bit at him immediately and he was suddenly very thankful for the several months they'd spent training with SEAL instructors. He was a bit rusty to be certain, but the hardest part was knowing that you could do something, and he hadn't forgotten that.
Something that SEALs had beaten into their brains during training was the forty percent rule. When you had reached the point where you didn't think you could handle more, you had really reached forty percent of your ability.
Most people gave up when the going started getting tough. Tough people stuck it out for longer, but there was a different mindset value in special operations forces. They were looking for those that were too stubborn to give up.
And so even though the cold water bit at him from every angle and threatened to steal his breath when he jumped in, Brad continued and swam toward the projected LZ swiftly and confidently. Shortly after he began the swim there was a tremendous splash ahead of him as the pod had arrived.
Brad swam forward a little further and arrived where the pod had disturbed the water. It was floating about a foot or so under the surface of the water. He dove down forcing his eyes open underneath the water. It burned and he kept blinking at it but he needed to be able to see what he was doing. He reached the pod and grabbed the handle. Sticking his feet to either side of the handle he pushed at the pod, triggering the release mechanism.
The pod broke apart and a large bubble floated up. The pod walls sank quickly and the submersible floated in front of him along with a fluorescent orange bag. He grabbed the bag and kicked up toward the surface of the water.
Taking a few lungfuls of air and blinking the murky water from his eyes, he tore the bag open, pulling out a pair of underwater goggles and a rebreather mask. The mask fit over his mouth and he had to bite down to hold it in place, not ideal but it was a lot better than holding his breath.
With the mask and goggles in place he swam down to the sub and positioned himself inside it. Pressing the ignition button he felt the vehicle hum to life. He raised his arm in front of his face and looked to his SOLDA map for which direction lead to the center of the lake, and started off.
The sub kicked forward and he held on, feeling the flow of water behind him as he was dragged along. He figured the center of the lake would be as good a place as any to start.
The water was murky and even with the floodlights turned on he could only see a few feet in front of him. He reached a finger forward and selected the sonar ping. There was ticking pulse that happened every few seconds and the glass in front of him started to read shapes as the computer on-board interpreted the data.
Below him he could see what looked to him like a natural lake bed. There were various shapes in the water ahead of him, mostly distant. One looked like a person swimming, a champion he guessed. He could see the bottom of one of the SWCC boats as it skipped along the surface.
As he continued he noticed he was making better time than the other figure. The sub was able to move him pretty quickly through the water. He passed the other champion, giving a wide berth just in case. He didn't want to take a stray burst from a wand if someone was feeling particularly competitive.
Closer to the center of the lake he began seeing what looked like unnatural structures. He also started to hear singing, clearer this time.
Come seek us where our voices sound
We cannot sing above the ground
Oh sure, now I hear that. He angled toward where he thought the singing was coming from and started seeing other figures in the HUD display. Shadowy figures that moved quickly through the water and four figures evenly spaced in the center of an open clearing between stone structures.
As he got closer he began to see what looked like mermaids or something. They were a little creepy looking and almost all of them were armed with tridents. They seemed curious about him but kept their distance.
He angled the pod to the figures in the middle of the clearing and felt a painful adrenaline spike as he got close enough to illuminate them. They were people...they were here to rescue people. He let go of the pod and swam forward.
Out of nowhere a half shark looking figure swept past him and toward the...hostages? That seemed like the best word for it. Brad reached down and pulled the knife from his ankle, wincing as the blade sliced his skin. He tried to swim after the shark-man but it was faster than he was. It stopped in front of the four hostages, then swam down, biting the rope that bound them to the floor of the lake and dragging them off.
With a sigh, Brad realized that was one of the other champions and not a threat. He was worried for a second that shark-people were an actual thing in the lake. He swam the rest of the way to the remaining hostages. As he examined them he recognized Cho Chang. Beside her was a small girl with familiar silver-blonde hair floating around her face, and finally…Mike.
Brad's heart hammered. Those motherfuckers had taken people. One was a little girl for fucks sake, she couldn't be more than eleven or twelve. And Mike. Jesus. He swam closer to Mike and could see that his hands were bound in front of him and around his nose and mouth there was some kind of hard, chitinous substance.
He put his fingers to Mike's neck with practiced ease and felt. There was a pulse and it felt strong. Brad swam down a bit and cut the rope with his knife, dragging Mike back to the sub. On his way he saw Cedric Diggory with what looked like a bubble around his head. Brad didn't watch as he got Mike to the sub, hooking the operators hands around one of the handlebars.
Brad took a look at the SOLDA device. They were forty-six minutes into the task by his count. When he looked back over, Cho and Cedric were gone, leaving just the little girl that looked like a young Fleur.
Brad remembered back to when he'd found Fleur in that tent during the Quidditch Cup. She had been holding a young girl about that age. Was that her sister?
He forced down the anger he was starting to feel. It was unbelievable to think that they'd use people as objects in this tournament...to use a young girl like that? Someone's sibling? It was disgusting.
He wanted to get back to the surface, to see if Mike was okay, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the girl behind. Fleur was a capable witch but it simply wasn't in his ability to just assume she was going to make it.
Brad could see the merpeople eyeing him curiously from a distance. He edged the sub closer and closer to the young girl and noticed the merpeople closing the distance a bit in response. It seemed like they didn't want him to try and rescue her. Fat chance.
He glanced at the SOLDA device again. Fifty-two minutes in. They were running out of time and he still hadn't seen Fleur. He didn't know if she'd run into some kind of trouble, but he damn well wasn't going to leave her sister down here. Deciding that now was the time to act, Brad swam away from the sub, which was now just a few feet from her, and grabbed her rope.
One of the merpeople shot forward in a flash and he almost dropped his knife in surprise as a trident edged against his neck.
"Only one!" it bubbled out at him with a menacing look on its face. He glanced around and saw that only the one mermaid was within reach of him, the rest had maintained their distance. Slowly he let go of the rope and the mermaid relaxed, edging the trident away from Brad. A mistake that Brad capitalized on.
Brad's free hand shot out, gripping the trident and he kicked his feet in front of himself, up against the slimy center of the mermaid. He pushed hard, yanking the trident from the mermaid's grasp and pushing the creature away from him. He let the trident fall and acted fast before the stunned mermaids around him could react.
He grabbed the rope and slashed at it with the knife, cutting it in one swipe. He pulled hard on the rope and the young girl slid through the water toward him. He grabbed hold of her bound wrists and kicked toward the sub. While it was only a couple feet away from him, he hardly moved and the kick seemed to knock the mermaids out of their idleness.
Dropping the knife he grabbed at Mike's ankle, the closest thing to him, and pulled. The mermaids were closing the distance rapidly, but the pull did the trick and he and the young girl slid up to the sub. He hooked her hands around the other handlebar and smashed the emergency ballast button. The sub kicked up and away from him, dragging the two hostages along as it rose toward the surface.
Brad, not attached to the sub in any way, remained behind and was determined to give the hostages the best chance at survival that he could manage. He turned to face the closest of the merpeople and rose his hands to try and grab at the trident it was carrying. It swam up at the last second, its tail smacking his arms and face, knocking the rebreather from his mouth and lifting one of the goggles ends up. Water filled part of his goggles and he couldn't open his eyes without the murky water stinging at them.
He felt panic rise in his chest. He was deep underwater and hadn't had a full breath when the rebreather had been knocked away. He forced his eyes open and looked for the glint of light from his sub, which would tell him which way to swim. Thinking he saw it above himself, he kicked hard and began to swim up.
He forced himself to stay calm, though his lungs protested with every millisecond. Each kick, each swipe of his arms caused his lungs to scream, to beg for oxygen. But, at least I got them out. It didn't seem like the merpeople were keen on fighting him now, not that he was going to be worth much fighting back anyway.
The burn started to become overbearing. All he could think about was getting the next breath and he felt his chest starting to hitch, his body mutinied against his mind. He was starting to see spots and his vision was narrowing. But he got them out.
His chest hitched again and he felt air slip from his nostrils and his body rebelled against him. Water ran up his nose as his lungs forced him into a shallow breath. He tried to stop it but the damage was done. He coughed hard, the remaining air in his lungs forcing out that little bit of water he'd inhaled.
He gave one last kick as his autonomic nervous system fought him, forcing a deep breath. He felt the water rush in and then felt his face break the surface. He coughed hard, spitting water out and struggling to keep his face above the water. Every time he tried to take a breath, water would lap over his face and force him to exhale.
After a short moment he felt hands grabbing him, pulling him up into a boat. As his vision started to normalize and his coughing fit died down, he looked around.
He was on one of the SWCC boats, along with Mike and the young girl. He looked past the rear of the boat and saw the submersible bobbing in the water. The other SWCC boat was on its way to retrieve the sub.
"Here you go, sir," one of the soldiers said, handing him a pair of pants. Brad coughed again as he slid his wet legs into the pants, starting to shiver with the cold air whipping past as they headed for the dock. The boat wasn't moving slowly.
Brad watched as a medic pulled the chitinous material off of Mike's face, then worked on the young girl. As the coughing subsided and his breath and pulse began to normalize he felt the familiar rising of anger building up. They'd used kids as hostages.
As they approached the dock and slowed, Brad could see a few figures at the dock. Cedric was standing next to Cho, who was bent over coughing. His hand was on her back and a concerned look on his face. Krum and What's-Her-Name from the Yule ball were standing together, both wrapped in towels. And Ludo Bagman was standing at the end of the dock, waving at the boat excitedly.
The boat's operator was obviously experienced with the vessel. He ran the boat toward the dock at full speed, cutting the thrust and turning at just the right moment so that the boat slid gently to the dock.
Brad saw Jason and Eric push past Bagman and head to his end of the dock, where they helped Brad up and out of the boat. Both of them looked like he felt, pissed. Mike was stirring into consciousness and started coughing. He was able to get up on his own feet and they helped him up. The medic picked up the young girl, who had still not regained consciousness, and handed her up.
As Brad picked her up, she started to cough a bit. She turned her head into his neck and wrapped her arms around him without opening her eyes. Her gentle coughs continued as she started to rouse.
"Did you know?" Brad asked. He didn't need to explain further his meaning and both of his operators shook their heads no.
"Marvelous job, Mr. Gordon!" Brad heard from behind him and Brad felt his body go cold as he turned. "If you'll just hand her over to the-" Bagman was gesturing toward a wizard in white robes, presumably a medic of some kind, but Brad was having none of it.
"I'll take her to the med tent myself," he said. Bagman smiled placatingly but didn't move.
"Nonsense, you need to get your scor-" Bagman started, but was again cut off by Brad.
"Step the fuck aside," Brad growled. The ministry official looked startled but didn't move.
"Now then, there's no need-" Ludo started, but he stopped his sentence short when he met the venomous look in Brad's eye. As if that wasn't enough, Eric and Jason both stepped a little closer, wordlessly backing their team-leader.
Finally, Ludo Bagman stepped aside, and Brad started walking toward the medical tent. He adjusted his hold on the young girl, who was starting to become much more alert. He could hear panicked French as they got closer and as they reached the tent opening, Brad turned to look at Jason and Eric.
"He doesn't enter this tent." Jason nodded once and stepped to the side of the tent opening, Eric taking the other side, and Brad entered inside.
Fleur was sitting up in a bed with tear streaks running down her cheeks as she babbled in French, fighting off the attempts by a pair of medical wizards to check her out. She glanced up and when she saw Brad with the young girl, her eyes opened wide.
"Gabrielle!" she shrieked, jumping out of bed and running to them. The young girl in his arms twisted and he let her down, though she didn't make it to the ground. Fleur snatched her up into a hug, crying in relief. "Je croyais t'avoir perdu!"
"Captain!" he heard the bellowing of Colonel Sumner from outside the tent. He didn't want to stay and crowd their reunion anyhow, so he slipped out of the tent. Ludo Bagman, Professor Dumbeldore, and Colonel Sumner were standing on the edge of the dock near the med tent. Eric and Jason looked confused on what to do. They were loyal to their team leader, but Sumner was in ultimate command.
"Sir?" Brad asked, his vision seemed to tint red as he laid eyes on Bagman again. His muscles tensed as he stared down the head of Department of Magical Games and Sports, the one responsible for this whole clusterfuck.
"Captain, stand down!" Colonel Sumner ordered, seeing the clench in Brad's fists. Brad didn't move, but he looked from Bagman to the Colonel.
"Using children as hostages?" Brad asked, "Tell me you didn't know about this, sir." Sumner stared the captain down without blinking and responded.
"They were not hostages, captain," he reminded the operator of his rank, an attempt to reign him back in, "They were volunteers and they were completely safe."
"The merpeople of our lake were not hostage takers," Dumbledore chimed in calmly, as though everyone was having a discussion about a favorite recipe, "they were caretakers. After the hour was up, the merpeople would have simply returned the volunteers to the surface. There was no danger of them coming to harm, Captain, I assure you."
Brad felt some of the anger draining from his system, relief that they hadn't just been massively betrayed by everyone for a game. It still tasted sour, however, thinking of them using human hostages. He couldn't drop that term for it.
"What happened to Fleur?" Brad asked after a long moment. Everyone visibly relaxed, save the Colonel. Sumner looked to Jason.
Colonel Sumner stepped forward, directly in front of Brad. "You're under a lot of stress and I get that Captain, but if you can't keep yourself in check I'll have you out of here faster than you can blink, you copy?"
"Understood, sir," Brad replied. Sumner turned to face Ludo Bagman.
"Do you want to pursue disciplinary action on the captian?" Sumner asked him. Bagman laughed uncomfortably and stammered for a second. When it became clear that Sumner intended to wait for an answer, he spoke up.
"Well, it's as you said, isn't it?" Bagman chuckled lightly, "High stress and all. I think we are all in agreement that this little outburst was a one-time thing."
"Understood." Sumner replied, turning back to Brad. "You lucked out. Report to the FOB at 0500 tomorrow." Sumner turned and walked away. Dumbledore and Bagman turned and headed back to the docks, where people were just starting to head out from the stands.
"She got attacked by some Grindylows," Eric said, apparently having stepped beside Brad, "whatever the hell those are. Knocked her out of the running." He could still hear the emotional reunion inside the tent and decided they should head out.
"Let's go find Mike," Brad said. He'd trusted the operator to be self sufficient while he got the girl, Gabrielle, to the med tent.
"Sure," Jason said. They started toward the docks. "You tied for first, by the way."
"Huh?" Brad asked, confused by what he could possibly mean.
"The tournament. You're tied for first with Cedric. I don't remember the particulars but you and Cedric are tied," Jason replied. Brad had forgotten for a moment that there were points, that this was a game.
"Fuckin' hell," Brad said, running his hand over his face. This stupid tournament was gonna be the end of him.