Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only much of the convoluted plot and a few characters and some objects are mine.
Chapter 7 – Attack & Change
Birmingham pilled the new pile of reports into a small pile.
He had been at Night Wolf for at least a month, for his first few days at Night Wolf command he'd been 'debriefed' and he'd given all the information about the ministry he could, the bounding of his mind only affected certain strains relating to the prophecy, but he told them everything else he could.
He'd found himself not knowing what to do, he could go out on missions, but many of the attacks were dying down, there were many less werewolves in the open, thanks to many safe houses, and…to the ministry's cull…it was genocide as one of the UN reports had laid the figures out for them.
He'd found himself in the Sorcery Department, which had many members but it didn't seem to have a 'commander' or coordinator collecting all the information into meaningful and useful portions, whenever a report was needed or something researched who ever wasn't busy just did it, which would work in the short run, but they were quickly gaining members who were proficient in various fields, from potions, to research to spell damage and everything else.
Birmingham had found himself in his element, and as no one told him otherwise had begun to take over some of the empty rooms and organising his fellows into groups.
It had been a long week, despite the lack of attacks Night Wolf Command was beginning to pull itself into a full research base and development centre, and there was no shortage of people in the research department wanting to develop all sorts of research coming in from various other areas, the EV/Firefox project and General McGeoch, who seemed to spend a lot of time in Geneva.
Birmingham shook his head as he walked though the corridors of Night Wolf command as he passed Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart.
"Birmingham something the matter?" The Brigadier asked, he looked like he was going out…or coming in.
"Nothing Brigadier…just…all this…seems so normal…"
"That's what I thought when I…." The Brigadier paused listening.
"Brigadier?"
The Brigadier held up his hand, it was closer, Birmingham tilted his head there was a soft sound as the air rushed in followed by a 'POP'.
"Oh Merlin…" Birmingham muttered and grabbed the Brigadier and pulled them to the side as there were another series of pops, closer to them.
Birmingham grabbed his wand from within his military issue shirt muttering a concealing charm over them.
"What the devil…" The Brig muttered, Birmingham shushed him quietly as a man in a heavy Ministry cloak walked past, everyone in Night Wolf knew them, they were almost as bad as the Death Eaters…not quite…they were hunters…
"Concealing Charm…wait for him to go past before we move…" Birmingham muttered quietly as he loosened his grip on the Brigadier's shoulder.
At least 5 people walked past.
Birmingham lifted the charm.
"Birmingham…get to the phone issue a code 1…"
Birmingham nodded as The Brigadier checked his weapons and headed for the armoury.
Birmingham grabbed the phone on the side of the wall and punched in 101.
"This is a code 1 alert intruders in base, ministry intruders…" Birmingham muttered into the phone. A moment later the code 1 engaged.
The fusion reactors were carefully shut down to cold, Night Wolf went to emergency backup power, everyone who had a wand would use it, any of the scientists had some very basic weapon training, but it depended, everyone knew the code 1.
The lights flickered off, emergency lights flickering on in their place.
"Code 1, Repeat Code 1, Base in Lockdown, Base in Lockdown, Unknown ministry intruders, Numbers Unknown, Base in Lockdown. Contain and eliminate intruders, Base in Lockdown,…Code 1…" The message repeated twice more before cutting off. Birmingham moved cautiously to find the Brigadier.
"Stupefy!." Birmingham muttered at a shimmer, the person tripped forward with a nasty thump outside the armoury, Birmingham heard a loud click of a magazine being thumped into a gun.
"Brigadier?" Birmingham muttered cautiously.
The Brig stepped out a moment later hauling some sort of automatic rifle and two handguns.
"You've passed basic weapon handling?" Birmingham nodded.
"Take it."
"But…"
"We've already seen that it takes time to say a spell, we need to find the others."
"There were a lot of people in the mess…I guess we're a bit insomniacs…" Birmingham muttered nervously, he was no stranger to battle, in his early years of the ministry all people in 'dangerous' jobs trained with the aurors…before there were specialised squads out hunting members of that world who wanted no part in it.
Birmingham was startled out of his musings as they came to a stop, he came to a stop in fact, the Brig kept moving.
"Brigadier…" He muttered, the Brigadier spun round.
"What?"
Birmingham spun round firing off a range of old, probably dark and forgotten fast spells and watched them fling their way down the corridor, 5 of the spells found purchase the third hit the wall making in blacken.
"That's going to need a new coat of paint." The Brigadier muttered to Birmingham startling him out of his gaze.
"Birmingham…can you detect any others?" The Brig asked slowly.
Birmingham looked at him before shaking himself bringing the wolf slowly to the surface, he sniffed the air experimentally.
Looking around he shook his head.
"Nothing in here."
"Good, we'll work together, work our way to the Sorcery Department, there should be a stock of weapons and other equipment there…"
"Yes…" Birmingham nodded. Through their journey there they encountered three others, the Sorcery department held a few more people, they had their wands, those who were wizards, the others held guns as they stormed through the doors they were nearly shot.
The Brig gathered those who had some offensive training together into two teams, one to stay here and the other to go with them to round up the others.
Birmingham went with the Brigadier's team which numbered 7 people 9 including himself and the Brigadier.
They slowly approached the Night Wolf Command mess, there was something… Some sort of babbling coming from inside.
Birmingham and the Brig slowly opened the doors, inside was General McGeoch and two others tied via magical ropes to chairs, they had a glazed look and were babbling.
"Vertiserum…" Birmingham muttered.
"The truth drug?"
"They're using too much of it." He muttered again.
"What?"
"They'll kill them if we don't stop them and get a counter agent into them." Birmingham muttered and looked around their group.
"Geri, can you go back to the sorcery department, tell them to prepare an anti-serum to Vertaserium…and any other mental potions that will help…" Birmingham cringed as he heard someone shout 'Crucio' he sighed "Get them to search through, even in the medical department, something to sedate and settle the nervous system…you got all that."
"Yes…sir, Birmingham. Brigadier?" She said quickly, she held an assault rifle confidently, she was one of the transfers from the army, she knew about the magical world before joining somehow…
He nodded to her and glanced at Birmingham.
"Do you think we got them all?"
"They won't have radios or anything, so unless they come out and check…"
"We have to go in." The Brigadier surmised.
"Soon…"
"Yes…you three go around to the other corridor enter through in 5 minutes." The Brigadier looked at the reaming three "Circle around ambush from the kitchens, we'll go through here."
"Sir." They muttered before running off.
"Birmingham, use anything to stop them, I don't want them getting up while we're going in to help our people…understand?"
Birmingham nodded.
The unforgiveables weren't always unforgivable, they were just three of the most direct and left very little to the imagination, but they weren't the only ones that could do what they did, especially Avada Kedavra.
--
Birmingham and the Brigadier stood at the front of the large room, a room adjacent to the Night Wolf's mess, there were several white boards around them, and most of the personnel of Night Wolf were present, some were still in the infirmary, still having treatment, General McGeoch was just one of them.
The Brigadier has talked to Birmingham about the meeting they were having, about how they could avoid, or at least prevent what had happened a week ago.
The squad of around 25 people who had infiltrated Night Wolf had all been found dead, they were enemy combatants, and from the initial reports they all had injured at least one member of Night Wolf.
Night Wolf had suffered 4 casualties, 2 marines who were trying to hold the infirmary, two others who went to help them after they got in.
"What about the Fidellius?" Someone shouted out.
"That's the secrecy field, makes it invisible?" The Brigadier asked some of the people nodded slowly.
"The castle's been here too long, according to the General it's necessary for everyone to know the castle is here…just not what's in it…" The Brig said slowly there were some nodding, the Fidellius was an option but wouldn't work for something like Night Wolf and UNIT.
On the board they had; Anti-Apparition Wars, Anti-Portkey wards (need to be updated regularly) Birmingham had written next to it, Security cameras covering all aspects of the castle.
"What about those cloaks, the invisibility things, how can we combat that?" The Brig asked spiking a burst of conversation, then they quietened down, one of the scientists was the first to speak.
"Sir…from our tests so far they don't shield against body heat…we were doing tests for the field…but the heat vision equipment is a bit bulky…"
"So you couldn't carry it?" One of the Army sergeants asked.
The scientist shook his head. "Not easily…not in a situation…"
"What about from above, from the top…like a map view?"
The scientists nodded slowly.
The Brig wrote it up on the 'to investigate board'.
They progressed for most of the day breaking late for lunch before returning, but the end of the day they had the boards full of ideas on both sides and extra pieces of paper.
The Brigadier admitted to Birmingham that they needed to keep their base safe if they were going to do anything properly.
"What ever we do we can pass it on to the others…"
"Other?"
"The EV/Firefox projects…"
"The spaceship project?" Birmingham nodded.
--
The Brigadier collected reports on the General's desk it had been several weeks since the attack, he had been using the General's office, while he was…in the infirmary, after the meeting several proposals for research and investigation, tests and everything had flooded in, the Brigadier had had plenty of that back in his UNIT days, a little smaller with a lot less funds at his disposal than this, but it was still the same.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in." The Brigadier called reading through a report on the viability of some sort of gas to disable intruders that some of their staff may be able to resist, he put it on the 'questionable' pile.
General McGeoch hobbled into his office, glancing around at the stacks of paper and some parchment that others still liked to write on for some 'official' and unofficial things.
"Lethbridge Stewart…" He managed to get out with a smile, Alistair snapped to attention the General waved it aside.
"General…I didn't know you were…I'm sorry that I….it was…that is I…"
"I get shum…reporsh…" He smiled weakly and gestured towards the chairs and the decanter.
"Get yourshelf a drink…and me…"
The general sat down, thankful he didn't have to lean on the cane he was provided with.
According to Doctor Baker and the people from the sorcery department he would make a recovery…however the intruders had used both the torture spell and a lot of that truth drug on him…
"Thhhs." He shook his head with a smile as the Brigadier sat down. "I bitsh my tongue…" That was the least of the things his body had done while attempting to not release information to the intruders.
The Brigadier looked uncomfortable. "Birmingham told me that it is one of the reactions to a lot of the truth drug, the body tries to stop the mind or something…stops you talking even if your mind wants to say it…I'm sorry General…"
"Shorry? Why Brigadier, you shaved lives…." He nodded curtly to the General.
"I puth in a request to the UN about a month ago, when we thought the war was over…"
"General?"
"Call me Brendan Alistair." The general gripped inside his loose jacket a crumpled letter lay within. He handed it towards the Brigadier.
"I was going thoo see you after you had gotten back that night…"
The Brigadier turned the letter over in his hands, it was an official communiqué from the UN, UNIT special council.
"Sir?"
"Open it."
The Brigadier slowly opened it, reading it slowly.
"Sir?"
"None of that General…"
"…" Alistair was speechless.
"Even before the last few weeks…I wash only meant to set up…get everything going for the UN…and now…during…the attack and after…you have shown exemplary leadership and dedication to Night Wolf and UNIT, General Lethbridge Stewart…now you're in charge…the ground work's here…"
"Still a lot to clean up…" The Brig…The General said solemnly.
"You can always reject the position…but good leaders are so hard to find…"
Lethbridge Stewart was nodding. "No General…I think I've got a bit longer left in me yet…" He chuckled. "Is there anything else I should know…?"
"Aside from there's a lot of paperwork in this job?"
The Generals chuckled.
"Yes aside from that?"
"Winter's leaving as well…he's going back to the UN…there's going to be some changes for the next couple of months…I'm sure you'll cope….what about the attack do you know who…have there been any more?"
Alistair paused and went over to the General's…to his desk and dug around for the report.
"The attacks sanctioned by the ministry seemed to have stopped abruptly, we're not sure if its because they attacked us…or"
"Or that we took out their whole force…" General Brendan McGeoch started.
"The research division speculates that it will be some time before the ministry tries anything like this again…Birmingham suggested that they will probably try to tie the werewolves up in legislature and protocols with other 'dark' creatures."
The general nodded for Alistair to continue.
"We've been through our personnel lists, and had them matched to the bodies, and the pickups from attacks…we think this man…" He pulled out a photo, a standard UNIT photo, and the second was of a body on a slab. "His name according to our files is Ben Morely…when we picked him up it was an attack on a safe house just after the full moon…we think he shopped our location…or he was one of the squad, he was wearing the robes of one…he's not a werewolf…Doctor Baker was able to ascertain that much…but we're still working through further tests…" He flipped through the folder. "There have been proposals, suggestions that he could have been a animagus…someone who could turn into something that looked like a wolf…to fake his way through a full moon transformation, other suggestions is that he have been using some sort of bodily transmogrification spell or concoction to change his outward appearance…"
The general was smiling and sipping his drink as he watched Alistair read off the report.
"Sir?" He said worriedly.
"You're going to be an expert at this Alistair, I think you'll enjoy it…"
Alistair nodded…and then looked back at the paperwork and frowned a little.
"Maybe just a small drink…" He glanced at the clock. "I am off duty…"