Disclaimer: All characters, names, settings etc belong to their respective copyright holders, only much of the convoluted plot, Night Wolf and a few other things are of my own creation (but inspired from many things under copyright, which aren't mine).

Chapter 20

Captain David Jones ducked behind a mock Tudor wall as several curses were flung parallel from him.

Leaning around he looked around, it was…a mess, spells, bullets and other weaponry fire was being flung back and forth, there was the constant hum, rising in pitch as a spell impacted with the magical jamming fields, the jamming devices were all plugged into the large UNIT trucks they'd brought with them.

2 Days Earlier…

Captain Jones, Colonel Rudd, Captain Gillard and Major Latham sat together with each of their teams in one of the larger briefing halls inside Night Wolf.

"Following surveillance by several of our teams, and collating information of the last couple of attacks with information from MI5 we have been identified this." A series of images photographed from an obvious distance flashed onto the two screens on either side of the lectern, it showed an older village with a small manor house over looking.

"This is where we believe many of Voldemort's forces have a centralised base."

"Sir? Is Voldemort stationed here?" Captain Julia Gillard asked.

Birmingham shook his head.

"We don't believe so, however 4 other Night Wolf teams will be conducting a simultaneous raid on Voldemort's house in Little Hangleton..."

Birmingham stepped aside as Rick Jennings stepped up to the lectern, he was part of Night Wolf's Research, Information and Logistics department.

"The target has been on the books as a 'mock Tudor' village back to around the 1940s, records before that were supposedly lost in the war. According to our research and what MI5 researched independent" He muttered slightly annoyed. "of us, it was taken over at some point during the war, all services that is had were disconnected. It may have been used as a large scale safe house for Voldemort's predecessor…" He paused flicking the screens over to enhanced pictures of the site.

"From initial surveys this is a completely wand user magical site…each of your teams will have a troop carrier for your teams and weapons, you will also be carrying large scale wand user magical jamming devices, with additional power units."

"Sir…will we have air support?" Colonel Rudd asked.

"No Colonel, the village, while set away from the local township presents too much a risk…also with the concentration of wand users in this area it presents too high a risk for the RAF commander….Now…you will be carrying all battlefield grade weaponry…P90s, the S/K-1 that's the Stun/Kill weapons, Scott has some updates on the battlefield front..." He flicked a button again and the screens changed to display an array of rocket launchers, grenade launchers and various other heavy weapons. "Your will have a selection of enhanced grenades carrying a mix of aggressive and passive weapons…the passive weapons are such things as fog fields, atmospheric dampening, and a grenade which should charge the atmosphere around a target we believe stopping or weakening a majority of their wand based spells…you and your teams are to report to Weapons Integration at 1300 for a detailed briefing."

5 Hours Earlier…

Jones swiftly changed gear on the large troop carrier pushing it faster than all the traffic on the motor way, the engine was still purring along, Jones smiled to himself, the engineers in Night Wolf really knew their stuff, if he'd tried to do this speed in a normal one the engine would be making more noise than a tank.

Behind his truck and in front of him were the other teams from Night Wolf, each truck despite all the equipment, the bulky jammers and everything else packed into with them they were still pushing 100 miles an hour as they thundered towards their target.

1 Hour Earlier…

Jones drove quietly up the dusty country lane, Rudd, Gillard and Latham were doing the same, they were attacking along basic compass lines, according to Max Robinson of Apothecary with his little bundles and whatever travelling along defined magnetic and compass lines of North, South, East and West woiuld afford them more protection in the battle.

"How much further Sam?" He asked in a low voice of the woman beside him, she was glancing at various screens linked to probes on the front of the truck.

He glanced across at the scanners she was looking at as he inched the truck closer to the magical field, while the front of the truck was shielded as best they could it wasn't impervious to the wand user's magical field.

"Just…about…stop!" She hissed as she watched the various scanning lines and information dance across the screen.

Jones jumped out of the truck walking around the back of the truck.

"Ok, get the jammers set up either side of the truck 5 meters, make sure they're hooked into the power supply on board." Jones ordered in a low voice.

Lt Samantha Parkin was at the front of the truck with a set of night vision goggles on looking around.

"What have you got Sam?"

Jones asked as he walked up handing her a P90 and a S/K-1, they'd been ordered to shoot to kill.

"There's definitely some sort of concealing spell…everything's blurry…"

Jones glanced at his watch, they had arrived at their position with 15 minutes to spare, the attack was timed to begin in sections with a 5 minute gap in between each team's first assault to maximise their panic.

"Sir, ready for power up."

"What about…"

"Just breaking out the launchers now…"

"When you've got the grenade launchers, line up a target for them then begin power up."

"Sir."

A moment later a humming began, is was a very low noise, but you could almost…not feel it, the same way you felt the magical wards that were around this area of land.

Jones glanced at his watch…

30 Minutes Earlier…

The hex came out from around a corner and slammed into him, it felt like he'd been shot with half a dozen bullets, it was, not for the first time and certainly not the last time he'd thank the people back at Night Wolf.

His vest had absorbed a lot of the impact, and he wasn't bleeding which was good, but he'd have a bruise, or 20 to think about later.

Jones rolled himself up and shot more than half his clip in the general direction of where the spell had originated.

The noise of the bullets was low compared to the various explosions, cries of various spells and the spattering of blood and bone as bullets racing at a higher velocity than the fastest spells ripped through their targets.

Jones crouched and made his way to where he hoped he'd taken down the bastard who had been torturing Rudd with one other wand'r.

Rounding the corner he found the wretch, dead he'd got a kill shot, but some how the wand'r was trying to revive himself…despite the bullets through his skull, heart and stomach.

He stretched down and grabbed the wand from his fingers snapping it as he did and moved on.

"Muggles…everywhere…here you are…Crucio!" Jones barely had time to spin around as the man came up behind him.

In some part of his mind it registered that the man had a French accent…that was just after the spell was cast and then he was concentrating all his energy on trying to block out the fire of his nerves all burning at once.

There wasn't any way you could actually beat the Cruciatus curse, according to the Sorcery division strength of will would provide…respite from the worst effects, but it was still the equivalent of fighting through a furnace as your body went to ash around you.

Supposedly it was all in the mind.

Supposedly.

Jones tried to keep that thought in his mind as he inched his finger onto the safety flicking it off…or he thought he flicked it off…

Then 3 bullets whipped past his ear and he fell to the cool wet dark ground, breathing and shaking slightly.

"…" Jones was sure that whoever had said something, but at the moment his ears were ringing and he was trying not to throw up and to stop shaking, he was managing one of those.

The shaking and the ringing continued as he was pulled up.

"Captain, Sir…" Jones felt a stick of something that smelt vaguely like aniseed pressed into his mouth and he tried to chew it down.

It was then, as he chewed that he recognised it. The apothecary division's 'crucio recovery bar'; should anyone experience the curse it would help with the recovery, containing various relaxants, plus various quick energy elements everything caffeine to complex minerals and components, it would bring you back from the breach.

Swallowing the last of it he pushed himself up.

"Lance…what happened…"

"Sir…Colonel Rudd…I…he…"

"Lance!" Jones bit out.

"He…I…he's dead sir…I nearly…"

"He was just recovering when he ordered me away…" Jones muttered.

"Sir…"

"Did you get them?" Jones asked looking at the younger man.

"Sir…yes sir…"

"Good…continue towards the primary objective." Jones said quickly, the shaking was dieing down.

"Sir are you…"

Jones nodded.

"Go…we're still on a schedule…"

Jones took off towards the main building.

5 Minutes Earlier…

Rounding a corner he saw there was…something a barrier and a shimmering image of…something, it looked like a sphinx and a dragon.

A part of his mind guessed it was shimmering because of the jammers, he could hear them whining as the absorbed spells…not that that was technically in their design parameters, technically they were meant for stopping magic, not keeping up an energy barrier.

He stepped out in front of the dragon and sphinx, they each roared, the dragon sending a plume of fire his way…throwing himself, once more to the muddy ground he felt the hairs on the back of his head sear and burn.

Present…

Doubling back he threw himself as 3 spells from 3 wizards were flung in his general direction.

Leaning around the mock Tudor wall he realised that the spells hadn't been aimed at him but Major Latham who was firing off at the wizard with his S/K-1 in one hand and his P90 in the other…doing so you sacrificed accuracy for more fire power…

He managed to duck two of the spells but the second, if Jones guessed correctly was a stunner hit directly in his chest sending him backwards still firing before slumping down.

Jones grabbed around his belt and grabbed a grenade…it was more or less a standard grenade, it had a yellow band around it indicating it had a scattering field, which meant it would explode and create a brief field of static and various other particles creating an electrostatic fog.

Pulling the pin he lobbed the grenade, there was a pause that seemed to stretch for an age, but lasted only a moment.

The explosion was small, made for close combat, it's effects were wider.

Jones could hear the crackling as he ran in a crouch out from behind the wall, firing at each target he could see as he made his way for the manor house, the air fizzing around him as he took down...one…two…three…four…the wand'rs dropping as he passed, their bodies crushed by the force of a bullet ripping through their cardiovascular system.

Energy flared from his S/K-1 as he alternated from his P90 to that as he can up the stairs joined by 6 others from all the teams, they were flanking him as he kicked in the door, rolling under the spells.

Like a machine…or wolves driven by the hunt he nodded to them communicating only through signals they each took a room, moving more swiftly alone than as a unit.

10 Minutes Later…

Jones walked out of the building, an absorbent pad pressed against his arm absorbing the shallow wound from a too close cutting curse…he was pretty sure he'd also cracked two ribs…but he smiled to himself…slightly it could have been worse…it could have been three.

"Captain Jones…David!" Jones looked up and over to see Sam running up, he had been looking over the remains of a village, it was salvageable, though what Night Wolf could use it for…there were some fires still burning, but the sit-rep he'd received…from one of Major Latham's team said that they'd eliminated all wand'rs…although a lot of their 'other' systems were still active. Jones had thoughts they means the image of the dragon and sphinx he'd encountered.

"Lt…" He coughed, spitting out a mouthful of bile and blood…the results of another casting of a cruciatus followed by some sort of similar shocking spell in too many minutes. He coughed for another few minutes before wiping the sweat, blood and whatever else from his mouth.

"Sam…what is it?" He said after a couple of moments.

"Call coming in from Night Wolf…sir…priority…"

Jones nodded.

"Where?"

"Our truck…sir..."

"Sit-rep Lt…" Jones nodded for her to walk with him…just in case he needed to collapse…not that he said anything.

"Colonel Rudd…"

"KIA…I know…" Jones accepting a water bottle from Parkin, he'd lost his at some point.

"Major Latham is out with a concussion…we've got him in his truck…"

"Anyone else KIA?"

"Lt Ted Shirr wounded in hand to hand…he had some sort of anti-coagulant spell cast on him…died of blood loss…about 6 minutes ago…"

Jones nodded as they walked up the ridge towards the truck and inside the jamming the strongest parts of the jamming field.

"Anyone else?"

"Nothing fatal sir…" She paused for a little too long. "Captain Gillard is getting over prolonged use of the cruciatus…her 2IC said she was conscious…just…she said that you're in command…"

Jones nodded and grabbed the side of the truck with his non bleeding arm and grabbed at his radio slipping it into his ear.

"Tiger to Nigh Wolf…receiving…"

"Receiving Tiger, patching through…" Jones waited, grabbing a bandage and a tube of an assistant to coagulant and bonding out of his vest and squeezed a portion onto his arm, he grit his teeth as it fell on…it was only mildly less painful than the cruciatus…probably only because it was only on his open and gapping wound.

It fizzed and hissed as he felt the wound go taut he wrapped a bandage around it quickly.

"Tiger…Greyhound Leader, sit-rep."
"Village secure…Colonel Rudd KIA, Lt. Shirr KIA, Major Latham unconscious…Captain Gillard suffering extraneous effects of cruciatus…no other casualties."

"Good, Tiger…Situation, Cromwell…" The Brig's voice was…concerned…Jones almost groaned.

"Not another attempt…" Then he added "Sir…"

"Negative…Initial reports from Hangleton raid report a planned attack on Buckingham Palace…Royals held hostage…"

"Is the Hangleton team dealing?"

"Negative, Tiger, they're encountering heavy resistance…prepare your teams for transmat…"

"Sir?"

"Flinders is preparing for large scale transmat of your vehicles…will take wounded and kit you out…Night Wolf is liasing with MI5 and Marines…"

"Sir we've got…"

"We know…Tiger…all teams engaged, multiple attacks…your teams have the most available jammers…" Jones nodded to himself and the Brig's words…after all Cromwell…was an attempt on the government…

"Sir…ETA to transmat?"

"15 minutes Captain…transmit exact coordinates on secondary frequency…"

"Received…Greyhound Leader…we're gonna need a clean up crew…"

"On route, good luck Tiger, Greyhound Leader Out."

Jones nodded and grabbed for the radio and began to radio the other trucks.

8 Minutes Later…

They'd just finished packing away the last of their equipment and loading the wounded then moved, now they were just waiting.

"ASCS Flinders to Tiger, ready for transmat in 2 minutes."

Jones figured it was more a warning than a question.

"Tiger to all units, prepare for transmat." Jones muttered across the radio and sat back waiting for the dematerialisation and the bad feeling it brought with it.