Eden gripped the closest tree, coughing up dirt and whatever in the hell else he was breathing. He felt like throwing up...he'd never run so hard in his life. The pretty girl stood there, her eyes dull and her breasts heaving in a heavy pant, though she looked nowhere near as bad off as he felt.

None of this was how he imagined when he pictured himself as Master of Death. He'd made it halfway across the field, admiring the glory of his army in its relentless attack, when everything suddenly erupted into fire and the giants began exploding. He'd never seen anything like it!

With his breath now sort of under control, he gripped the girl's slender arm and dragged her through the forest. He'd picked a spot already where Tony would meet him. With any luck, he'd have Bellatrix back within the hour.

As he burst into the clearing, the girl now decidedly more difficult to drag along, he spotted Tony. The wolf was among several dozen others, all of them looking battered.

"Hey, boss," Tony greeted, looking weary. He glanced at the girl, who was starting to squirm, but said nothing about her. "Did you get it?"

"I did," Eden confirmed, unable to help the smile that broke across his face. "I'm Master of Death."

Tony nodded reverently and then lunged forward. For a surprising, split second, Eden cursed himself for ever trusting the blasted wolf. He tried to get his wand up, but realized that it wasn't his throat Tony was going for.

Eden looked over to see him gripping the girl by the throat in one hand and holding her fist with the other. She had a look of fury in her eye the likes of which he'd never before seen.

"Lâchez-moi, bête," she gasped, somehow managing to sound musical in what was distinctly a threat. A threat, and French. An exchange student, maybe.

Eden let go, allowing Tony to wrap the girl in a tight bind. She struggled, but it was to no avail. Still, he was impressed. She'd managed to get herself free from the Imperius curse. Not many could say the same.

"Fuck you," rang a painful voice from nearby. Eden glanced over in time to see one of Tony's wolves rip the throat out of a muggle soldier who had been dragged all the way back here. An impressive accomplishment, he had to admit, given the level of destruction that had met their assault.

"What should I do with her?" Tony asked as she squirmed in his grip.

"Reaper Three, Reaper One, do you have eyes on Fleur?" a voice crackled over the radio. It immediately sent Eden's blood cold.

Reaper. That was the one who had killed his beloved Bellatrix. He would have her back soon, but he couldn't deny himself the pleasure of killing her murdurer.

A thought entered his head. Fleur...that was a French sounding name.

"Now," Eden drawled, poking a finger at her. She tried to squirm free but Tony's grip was ironclad. "You wouldn't happen to be Fleur, would you?"

Eden walked over to the dead soldier and picked up the radio. He'd seen them before.

"Reaper, this is Howard Eden." He let that simmer for a minute. "I've got your girl in the woods. You ever wanna see her again, you'd best come here...alone."

He winked at Tony, who let go of the girl. Eden held the radio toward her. "Say hello, honey."

She gave him a look of disdain and remained silent. Eden shrugged and gestured to Tony. He gripped her hair and yanked her head to the side in one rapid motion before biting into the base of her neck. She screamed, struggled vainly to free herself. Only when Tony let her go did she drop the ground, struggling to staunch the flow of blood.

"Come on, now," he drawled. "You don't wanna keep me waiting with a pretty thing like this."

"Fuck," Brad whispered, not wanting to alert anyone nearby. It was clearly a setup, but what could he do? He couldn't leave her out there.

His mind made up already, he walked over to the squad holding the corridor. "Who's in charge here?" he asked.

"That's me," one of them said, gesturing.

"You need to send a runner to the armory and get a resupply, get that organized," Brad ordered. The soldier glanced down at Brad's collar before nodding. It was necessary either way, but some people just didn't like being ordered around.

"Yes, Captain," the soldier replied, turning to his men.

Brad took that as his opportunity. He simply walked out of the door, leaving them behind. As soon as he was out, he started into a jog toward the woods. The longer she was alone with them, the worse it could be.

"Hey, where are you going!?" one of them called after him. Brad glanced behind, but was relieved to see none of them following him. The last thing he needed was other people on his conscience.

Mike pulled back the slide on his rifle, ensuring there was a round in the chamber. He was still down an eye, it wouldn't be fully regrown for a few more days, but he'd make do.

"What are you doing?" Ron asked. "Tell me you're not planning on going out there!"

Mike looked at Ron, who stared back incredulously. Then to Hermione. She wore a stoic expression.

"Yeah, we are," Eric replied into the silence.

"No way Cap is gonna stay put," Mike said. "He'll need backup. I'm going."

"Right," Eric chimed in, pushing to the door.

"Me too," Hermione replied.

Mike winced and opened his mouth to protest. He snapped it shut again as he caught her eye. She started back at him hard, determined...confident. No way in hell was he talking her out of it.

"Let's go." He followed Eric out of the Great Hall, catching a curious glance from the guards but no more than that. Hermione followed him, and Harry followed her, and Ron followed Harry.

They ducked down away from the main doors, heading to a side passage that gave them a more direct route to the greenhouses. The soldiers here were pushing a clear walking lane through the bodies of dead creatures in the hallway.

Eric made it out of the door before anyone said anything.

"Where are you going?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Our Captain needs help," Mike replied. The soldier looked back at him, then the trio, and then simply shrugged, getting back to clearing bodies.

They jogged to the woods, not sure what they'd find there, but knowing it wouldn't be pretty.

Brad kept his arms outstretched to the sides as one of the men unclipped his rifle from the harness. Another slid his sidearm free of the holster. Both weapons were tossed aside. Brad didn't see where; his focus was on Eden.

Fleur was a few feet behind Eden, her back propped against a tree. She was pale and grimacing in pain, fingers clamped tight against the side of her neck where blood still flowed.

"Reaper," Eden drawled as the two men stepped away. Most of them had melted into the trees since he'd been brought here. In fact, there was no one else in the grassy clearing aside from Eden, Fleur, the two guards, and himself.

"That's me," Brad confirmed, shrugging his shoulders. He still had the IFAK strapped to his thigh. He wondered if there was any way to get it to Fleur. His SOC-P knife, a discreet loop in the chest portion of his vest, was still there as well. He wasn't helpless, but it wasn't looking good.

Eden sucked his teeth, scowling at Brad. "You killed someone dear to me," he said after a long moment. "Bellatrix was everything to me, and you killed her."

Was that what this was about? "Yeah, that I did." Brad lied without missing a beat. No sense sending this maniac after Mike, too. He'd been through enough.

"Pretty blunt for a man at my mercy," Eden commented icily. He produced a long, slender wand and began twirling it effortlessly between his fingers, still not taking his eyes off of Brad.

"I'm a blunt guy," Brad said, looking around. "What now?" he asked. He was too far away to put that knife to good use, and he still had the guards to contend with. He wasn't sure if they were Death Eaters or something else, but they were close enough that he would never make it to Eden in time.

"Boss," someone called, walking noiselessly from the woodline toward them. At the edge of the trees, Brad saw five captives pushed to their knees. He recognized all of them. Eric, Sara, Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They'd fucking followed him.

"Tony, I see you found more." Eden gestured to the captives, on their knees and guarded by two more men.

"Caught 'em sneaking in the woods," Tony confirmed. Brad could see blood on his chin. "The Inferi are in place, as are my people. We can hit the castle again, if necessary."

Brad noticed a tone to that last part. If necessary.

"Oh, it is," Eden drawaled. "Kill them all."

The two guards by Brad bristled at this, evidently not satisfied with remaining behind to guard him. Tony's shoulders sank slightly, too, before he nodded and looked at the two.

"You go as well," he said. "I'll stay here with the boss." That would save Brad the trouble of hunting him down.

The two didn't have to be asked twice. They darted away into the woods and back toward the castle.

Tony tilted his head back and howled. It didn't sound quite like that of a real wolf, but it was loud enough and it was echoed through the woods as others who heard it mimicked the sound.

"Very good, Tony," Eden said. "Go keep an eye on the prisoners, I've got business to attend."

Tony frowned, first at Eden and then at Brad, but ultimately did as he was told. He walked over to where the trio and most of his team rested on their knees, stopping to stand in front of them.

"I think it's only fair that we fight," Eden said, beckoning Brad forward. Brad stayed put, knowing it to be a trap. "Oh, you don't think so?" he pointed his wand down beside him, to where Fleur was curled up. "Crucio!"

Her scream of pain echoed through the woods at the same time as distant gunfire erupted. Brad started forward, balling his fists for the off chance he could get his hands on that fucking wizard.

It had been several minutes since she'd lost sight of a second group entering the woods, this time the size of a squad. It was a small group, suicidal against the onslaught they'd just encountered. What the fuck was going on down there?

With a start, she remembered pulling the receiver from her ear. She stuffed it back into place, hating the uncomfortable thing.

"-per team just entered the woods, they're going after Captain Gordon," she heard.

What the fuck!? That was her team!

"Nothing we can do about it now," Overlord said.

She wanted nothing more than to run down there and find her team but she was several stories up. It'd take her fifteen minutes to get down there. What if there was another attack?

As if on cue, a figure caught her attention near the lake. It stumbled out of the woods ungracefully. It was quickly followed by another, then two more, then a dozen.

"Contact!"

"Here they come again!"

Sara cursed and took aim at a deathly grey, deformed figure stumbling toward them. As dusk descended, she made a note about needing to grab the thermal attachment from her kit. Pretty soon it would be too dark for her to target anything.

Crack. She caught the figure center of mass and it continued stumbling forward, not even bleeding. Crack. Another shot, this one just a bit wide, clipping the elbow and destroying the joint. The creature didn't so much as flinch.

Crack! This round caught it in the face and the creature slumped to the ground.

"They're not going down!" someone called over the radio.

"You need a headshot!" Sara replied, "All stations, aim for the head!" Sara followed her own advice.

Crack, Crack. One to the shoulder, the other to the forehead, dropping the creature. Still, when she looked, there must be a few hundred of the things pouring from the woods. Others were rushing forward, too.

More spiders. ghouls, trolls...giants. It was everything that had rushed them before, and then some.

"Hawkeye, FDC, repeat fire mission!"

"FDC, be advised, this is the last of our ordinance, out!"

Moments later, explosions erupted in the field before her. Some of the rounds were devastating, striking the large opponents or clusters. Others were too far away from groups to do any real damage. Overall, it was a drop in the bucket.

"If we're gonna die, make 'em pay for it!" someone shouted. She could get behind that. Sighting down the scope again, she started making them pay. One life at a time.

Brad stumbled to the ground again, his body locked up in pain as the familiar torture curse ran through him. His face smashed into soft dirt and dead leaves, thankfully not hitting anything hard.

As soon as Eden let up, he pushed himself back to his feet. The three guards, including Tony, had brought the others to where Fleur was. Hermione was holding pressure with her jacket against Fleur's neck. She looked weak. It was something, at least.

He looked back at Eden, who was smiling with a wicked grin. "Come on, now, don't make me fire on your girl again!"

It was all the incentive he needed. He rushed Eden, knowing he'd never make it. Again, his body locked up in pain and he dropped to the ground. This time he caught his chin on a rock and felt it scrape, felt his neck snap back with the impact. It was jarring, though nowhere near as excruciating as the pain arcing through every other nerve in his body.

It stopped. He took a breath. Pushed himself up again. His knees wobbled, but he pressed forward, his fists balled.

He got within reaching distance of Eden and was blasted off of his feet. He was weightless for several moments and then his back smashed into something solid and he dropped to the ground, unable to breathe.

It took him a moment to get air flowing again. To get his bearings. He blinked several times as Eden sauntered forward.

He was only a few dozen feet from Fleur...his team. With the exception of Hermione, they were being forced to look down by the three men watching them.

"I think it's time we end this," Eden sighed as Brad used the tree to steady himself. He pushed himself back to his feet.

Brad just heaved a breath and took a stumbling step forward.

Mike bit his cheek hard as he stared at the grass in front of him, listening to the sickening thump of Brad crashing into something. He had to act, had to help in some way, but they were being watched like a hawk.

Still, he hadn't been fully searched. He didn't think anyone had. They'd gotten all of the guns and wands, sure, but he still had Bellatrix's knife stuck in the side of his boot. He never thought he'd be particularly happy to have the damned thing, but it was all he had now.

"I think it's time we end this," Eden drawaled. Mike risked a glance a glance up and caught sight of Brad pushing himself up to stand. He rushed Eden, who easily sidestepped and tripped the operator. As Brad toppled to the ground, Mike's head was forced back down, his vision was again filled by dark grass.

"Pýli kólasis!" Eden cried out.

The night air filled with the most horrendous, terrible shrieking Mike had ever heard in his life. The hair on the back of his neck stood up on end and every fiber of his being wanted to shrink away from the source of that awful sound.

Mike looked up again. Brad was standing unevenly on his feet. Behind him lay an inky black portal, out of which knobbly, scabbed arms writhed and reached for anything they could grab.

"This is for Bellatrix!" Eden said, raising his wand and pointing it at Brad.

Fsh-fsh-fsh, thu-thu-thu-thu-thump. Mike hadn't noticed the approach of the Apaches until they were passing directly overhead. The grass around them lit as multiple Hydra rockets and the cannon began obliterating whatever target lay beyond the woodline.

Directly over their heads when it fired, the sound was deafening and surprising. Exactly the moment Mike had been waiting for.

He brought his knee up and reached down, pulling the knife free from his boot. His captor, the one with blood dripping from his chin, caught the motion but couldn't react in time. Mike plunged the blade beneath the man's chin and up into his skull and then yanked it free, surprised by the sizzling around the wound.

Around him, the others were standing, recognizing this as their chance. One of the captors raised a wand and Mike threw the knife. He'd never done it before and the blade wasn't balanced for throwing. The knife glanced off of his head and distracted him long enough for Eric to pounce, knocking the wand from his grip.

Mike turned back to see Brad grappling with Eden, and ran.

The pitched screeching behind Brad turned his insides cold. The desire...the hunger...it was palpable. It was desperate. His mind was foggy, drained from repeated hits from that torture curse.

He looked up and saw Eden pointing his wand and knew it was the end. He hoped Fleur would be okay. Briefly imagined what could have been. He hoped that the trio would be okay too, and his team. Hoped that he'd die before he made it into that pit of despair behind him.

Eden looked up at the sky, ducking down and covering his ears. Brad was distantly aware of explosions nearby, but he was acutely aware of the direction of Eden's wand. Up. Not pointed at him.

They were within feet of one another. This was his chance. He yanked the SOC-P blade from his vest and stalked forward, almost toppling to the side. His head was still foggy and he had to concentrate on placing each foot in front of the other.

Eden recovered just as Brad made it within arms reach and yelped in surprise. Brad caught his arm as he tried to swing his wand back down and then rammed the blade into Eden's gut. He was rewarded with a warm flow between his fingers.

The blade was too small to deliver a killing blow from there, though. Brad pulled the blade free as Eden struggled. It threw him off balance and they stumbled back several steps...the both of them recovered just outside the precipice of that inky pit, writhing arms just out of reach.

Eden twisted in his grip and tried to say something, but it came out as a gurgle. Maybe he'd caught something important with that hit after all. Brad tried to get a foot around the man and almost lost his own balance. Tried again, and this time he got it.

With all of his might, he pulled on Eden's arms, yanked his upper body down at the pit. With his boot in the way, Eden stumbled and fell.

Brad felt a euphoric elation as his opponent dropped, which disappeared as Eden gripped his thigh holster, jerking his legs out from beneath him.

Brad hit his ribs against the ground and clawed at the dirt as icy hands gripped his legs, pulling at him. Eden screamed from below him and Brad felt the man get a grip on the back of his vest as well. The pulling got steadily harder as more hands came to grip them. He dug grooves into the soft soil, unable to find a purchase on anything solid.

More icy hands wormed their way around him. Grabbing his vest, his waist, his boots. Anything they could. Brad couldn't tell who was screaming louder, Eden or himself...or perhaps the creatures dragging them in, for the screeching never stopped.

Something gripped his wrist and Brad grabbed it with both hands. He looked up to see Mike, straining. They slid back another inch.

"Help!" Mike cried out. Brad could see veins popping in his temple as he struggled to slow their descent.

He sank deeper into the pit and more hands gripped at him. One grabbed his throat, cold and slick; it cut off his air. He started to panic.

Then he stopped sliding back. Another icy hand got around his face, the fingers probing at his nose and mouth and straining his neck painfully. He tried to shake it away, but it clawed and scratched at him...screeched in frustration.

He inched forward, a slight tilt. Then a heave. The hand slipped away from his face. Then the one on his neck. Brad took several sucking breaths, desperate for air.

All of them were there pulling. His team, the trio, all of them held his sleeves and wrists, held each other. They pulled with all of their might, and Brad felt himself inch forward again.

He tried to kick his legs as he slid forward again. There were too many limbs pressed in on him. He slid up again and twisted.

Eden's eyes were wide and desperate, his fingers clamped around the straps of the thigh holster.

From behind Eden, Brad could see a pale white face shifting through the tangle of limbs. Separate. Distinct. It wasn't yet decayed like the rest, though it was still a horrible sight. Snakelike. Voldemort.

"You!" it rasped, loud and audible through the rest of the screeching.

Those pale arms wrapped around Eden's neck and face as the man screamed, and then he was yanked down into the writhing mass. Brad quickly lost sight of both.

Without Eden holding Brad down, the others pulled him free quickly and they dragged themselves away from the portal, which slowly began to close. The screeching crescendo died to a faint whisper, and then nothing at all. Nothing but the distant thrumming of rotor blades and the infrequent staccato of mop-up fire.