Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Mass Effect. If I owned the former, half the time would be spent in the Mako, battling hordes of thresher maws. And if I owned the latter, there would have been many fewer monsters in chests. Or perhaps it may be the other way around. Eh, details.

Chapter 3 - Tagging In

A few hours later, Harry was utterly confounded by the influx of information. The idea of there being not a few, but nearly a dozen major alien species out there, some of which had near legendary abilities. If the Flamels were still around, I am sure they would be jealous. A species which naturally lives for over a millennia? And is almost indistinguishable from humans? Minus the whole blue skin, tentacles, and no males thing. Not to mention the krogan. Bloody trolls on steroids from the sound of it. Hope I don't end up meeting one soon.

Indeed, some of the species worried Harry immensely. While the asari seemed mild enough, the turians and the krogan made him pause and think about how he would take them on if he came across someone hostile. I take it back, even krogan can't be as imbecilic as trolls. Nor are they as likely to carry around clubs. Unless they're these special 'mass effect' clubs. If I didn't know better, I'd say the shoes on my feet are powered by it. I'd almost say it's completely crazy how ubiquitous this stuff is, except that I've been around wizards all my life. Depending on magic,

That brought him to the next element of intrigue. This mass effect technology. How, when powered by element zero, it would be able to make any objects mass increase or decrease. Through this, they apparently were able to accelerate the ship enough to reach lightspeed. Or at least something like that. Not quite too sure myself. It was always Hermione who was fascinated by Muggle technology. All of my enthusiasm comes from when she first showed me Star Wars.

What amazes me most is what they can do without magic. Of course, a featherweight charm could lighten mass, but I suppose I never have thought of increasing mass instead. Maybe I can watch these 'biotics' and see what they're capable of. Being powered by element zero, biotics were even more of an impressive creation than ships themselves. Jacob wasn't too specific in what they could do. I suppose it'll just be one of those things I'll have to see to understand. I've got plenty of believing though, at least.

Harry was shaken out of his ruminations by the pilot telling them they were approaching the colony. Again lamenting the lack of a window to see what was going on, Harry stood up stretched himself. After popping his back, he looked up at Jacob. "So, any suggestions for our little trek through this colony?"

"Not in particular. We're to find who did this to our people, and if anybody survived." Jacob gave Harry a funny look. "So if you know any fancy magic mumbo jumbo that would tell us if they're alive…"

Harry just snorted. "I know a few things which would reveal if a human was present. But we don't know whether any survivor we could stumble across is human. Nor do I know whether it would register with an alien…" How would my magic work on aliens anyway? I suppose I'll know if we meet one.

Jacob merely nodded before turning back towards the cargo door. With a quiet thump, followed by the hiss of pressure seals releasing, said door raised. The two men stepped outside, both readying their weapons as they scanned the area. While Harry fingered his wand, taking in the pod structures that dominated a concrete landscape, Jacob pounded on the windshield of the shuttle. Without more than a few words of luck sparking over the radio, it disappeared into the sky.

Seeing that the immediate area held no real threat, Harry let his wand ebb slightly, waiting for Jacob to join him. As his companion unfolded a rather oversized pistol, Harry just shook his head before walking to the nearest door. Pressing one gloved hand to the door, they began their search.

Nothing more than silence and emptiness greeted them for quite a while.

-oo-

Monsters, they are here again. What do, what do.

First one monster shuttle comes, and monsters pour out. Send mechs to protect, but are damaged and destroyed.

Now another monster comes from the dark. What do…

Have to stay hidden. But must protect. If can't get offworld, maybe chance can be saved.

Other monster shuttle left. But first still here. Still hidden, send in mechs to destroy.

Veetor may not stay hidden. But Veetor won't let them escape.

-oo-

Cargo module after cargo module turned up empty to the two explorers, which worried Harry greatly. It was as if they had never left. The dinners were left on tables, the computers were left on beds with their screens still alight, and in a few cases sinks were still running. Yet in not a single case was a human or other being found. And this worried him.

He turned to Jacob as they searched through their twenty first home. "I know the Illusive Man said that the planets were found deserted, but was it truly like this? As if nothing had happened?"

The younger man shrugged. "As far as I know, that's the case. The Alliance has been rather tight-lipped about any information from these colonies. And the Illusive Man hasn't shared too much with me." A wry grin grew on his face. "That's what Miranda's job was. I'm just here to shoot stuff and make a difference."

Harry chuckled to himself. "Well, I hope it's a bit more than that." He shook his head as they left the pod. "I just have a bad feeling…"

Jacob quirked an eyebrow, while the pair walked to the gate. "Bad feeling? As in, someone is here to rob us blind bad feeling? Or crazy wizard mumbo jumbo is going to curse us and leave us scarred for life?"

Harry slowed down and stared at the younger man, before turning away. "I've seen many things like this before. People murdered in the middle of the night and disappearing. Walking into a mysterious wood and never be seen again. Know of a family that once died at the dinner table, of what seemed to be perfectly good health." He sighed and leaned on the large metal gate that separated this compound from the rest of the colony. "Magic could have done this. But I don't know what's worse. An entire colony gone due to other wizards, or what terrible technological abomination could be the promise if not."

Setting his mouth into a firm line, Jacob just nodded. "You're right. I hope that whatever it is though, we can help stop it. Or hopefully save the colonists here."

Harry simply said, "Me too Jacob. Me too." Pushing himself off of the gate, he laid a hand on the holographic display. "Let's just hope we don't have any unpleasant surprises shall we?"

As the gate opened, Harry looked past where the metal barrier stood, sighting a baker's dozen worth of robots. As their heads turned to meet him, their odd red eyes seemed to flash, and they reached for a sidearm attached to their mechanical hip. Eyes widening, he threw himself behind the side of the gate, Jacob copying his motion on the other side. A torrent of minuscule bullets flew after them, blowing out divots in the concrete whence they stood a few moments before.

Jacob took the initiative by yelling at Harry. "LOKI mechs! They aren't very smart or efficient, but they have good aim and are relentless!"

Giving him a nod in thanks, Harry waited for a moment until the fire let up. As it did, he leaned around his cover and sighted his wand on the nearest one and incanted Reducto in his head. The brilliant light flew from his wand and connected with the robots torso, blasting it into several sparking bits. As it fell, Harry was already casting it at the ones nearest it. All in all, a third of the mechs had fallen before their guns had even moved to cover Harry.

As they began opening up on the now retreating wizard, several shots from Jacob's pistol poured into the group. A few connected with their chassis and merely dented them, but those that met the head unit crashed through the cameras and neatly decapitated them. Again, the LOKI's turned to meet the newest threat, and the cycle repeated over and over until the only robots left standing were wandering out randomly without a head.

Harry cautiously moved out of cover, eyes whipping back and forth to make sure nothing else was coming. Lowering his wand slightly, he gestured Jacob to come out of cover. "Well, that will hopefully be the last time I tempt fate before a battle. At least these buggers weren't too hard."

Jacob merely shook his head as he strode up to Harry. "By themselves, no. This was a relatively new colony, so not many militia. And we're far enough into the Terminus systems that the Alliance wouldn't have put in a garrison. Hence the LOKI's."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't seem to be a very efficient robot though."

Jacob merely shrugged, before checking his pistol. Satisfied that the heat sink was cooling enough, he turned back to the Harry. "By its lonesome, not at all. It's supposed to be used in conjunction with another element. Merc bands use them to supplement their troops, increase the suppression without having to pay for another whole merc. And since they're machines, they can be airdropped almost anywhere, to put pressure onto a certain position." He paused for a second, confused by what they were seeing. "But with only other mechs, they'd usually be used in conjunction with either FENRIS, or YMIR mechs."

Noting the uncertainty in his voice, Harry immediately tensed up, wand snapping back to alert. "So, it would be odd that these robots are here all by their lonesome?" He raised an eyebrow at Jacob. "As in, odd enough that we probably should be expecting them any minute now?"

Eyes widening, Jacob nodded and drew another firearm from the small of his back. As it unfolded into what was either a shotgun or a small cannon in his hands, he focused on the way forward. "Let's go, then, Mr. Potter. If they're arranging us a welcoming party, we might as well decide to crash it."

"Well, that is certainly one way to put it." The pair advanced up the stairs, not taking nearly as much time to search the debris. Harry knew that either someone was controlling these robots, or no one was left and they had been left as a present for whomever came after. Might as well clear them out while we have the initiative. How many robots would be standard for a planet garrison, anyways?

Finding another clearing, Harry silently watched over it as a pack of dog like robots silently on one side of the plaza, near some of the pods. As Jacob came up next to him, he whispered to his companion, "So, which ones are these?"

Jacob just frowned, eyeing the mechs carefully. "Those are the FENRIS. They are dog like, supposed to come into close combat and flush you out of cover with shock probes. It's odd that they haven't attacked us yet though. Surely they know we are coming?" The last question seemed to be asking himself as muc has he was asking Harry.

"I have no idea either, but we both know that there is something wrong here." Harry fingered his wand. "So they have to get up close to do any damage?" Receiving a brief nod, Harry smiled slightly. "Well, this should work easily enough." Again, he incanted in his mind, this time recalling the first spell he ever learned. Wingardium Leviosa. As his wand first swished about the pack of dogs, their lights came alive as something disturbed them from their duty. As the flick came down, their vocal units came alive with a series of mechanical yelps, as over a hundred legs scampered to find purchase on a ground that was no longer there. The sheer cacophony nearly deafened Harry, yet he maintained concentration as the dog robots firstly floated up, then over one of the cliffs nearby. Releasing control, the mechanical animals continued to yelp as they fell to the bottom.

Wiping away a bead of sweat that had appeared on his forehead, Harry turned to Jacob. "So, does that do the job?"

"I'd say it did." Jacob shook him out of his stupor. "I definitely could never have done that with my biotics. Miranda might could have, as she is more powerful than I am. But still…" Jacob shook his head again. "After seeing that, I have got to say that I love magic."

Harry grinned at him. "Even after I've had it all this time, it still is something, even to me." As they emerged from their vantage point and headed down to the clearing, Harry realized one thing that Jacob had said. "Wait, you're a biotic too?"

Jacob nodded quickly. "Yes sir."

Sir? Interesting. "But why haven't you used them yet?"

"There's been no real reason to, yet." He shrugged. "It wouldn't have been that great of an advantage against the LOKI's. I would have used it against the FENRIS, but someone else beat me to the punch."

Harry just laughed. "Alright, I get your point. We should get moving, though. Don't want to be caught chatting if more of those robots show up." Acquiescing the point, Jacob moved up beside Harry as they crossed the clearing to where the mechs originally stood, as they gave a few of the pods cursory glances.

After examining the first few pods, something caught Jacob's eye. "Wait a second, there's something odd here. A few of these pods are locked down." He gestured to a small cluster nearest to where the mechs had been. "See the red hologram? Some purposefully sealed it shut as tight as they could."

Nodding, he walked over towards them, eyeing the hologram. "So, someone doesn't want whatever is hidden in here to be found. Maybe it could be survivors?"

Jacob scratched his chin, before calling up his omnitool and scanning the lock. "It may be. Would have explained the mech's behavior. They could have been reprogrammed to attack anything that isn't a survivor? How could they tell survivors from other humans though?"

"You're asking the wrong person, Jacob." Harry waved at him to get his attention. "Remember, time displaced Brit here?" Idly, he waved his gloved hand in front of the hologram, with little hope that it would open. "No luck, it seems. Any way you could get it open?"

Jacob was still momentarily, studying whatever information was on his omnitool. Eventually he shrugged and shut it down. "Not likely. I'm not good enough with tech to force my way through security. If we had Miranda, we perhaps could, but even then it'd be difficult."

Harry gave the lock a curious look before raising his wand. "Don't know if this will work, but I have a little bit more mumbo jumbo that might do the trick." Tapping it on the metal behind the hologram, he muttered Alohomora under his breath, hoping that the added power might make it work.

Surprisingly enough, it did. As the the hydraulics in the door groaned, he relaxed as he faced Jacob. See, no problem."

Before his compatriot could answer, however, a quick snap echoed across the room. Before Harry could look, he felt cold steel being pressed against his head.

What did I tell myself about tempting fate?

-oo-

Problem. Many problem. Monsters have met with other monsters. Had first monsters trapped. Was safe. Now not safe. What do.

Must hide. Quickly, monsters can not find. No. Kill egress. Then hide. Mechs will protect me.

Monsters keep coming. Mechs will protect. Mechs must protect. Hide. Hide.

Must prevent them. Keep monsters from Seeking.

-oo-

Harry quietly sighed, before staying as still as possible. By the reaction on Jacob's face, he must have had some weapon pointed straight at him. Yet still, Jacob's eyes sought his. Asking instruction. Harry gave the barest shake of the head. There was no way that the muggle could get out of this easily. And Harry couldn't get out of it without Jacob being shot. So he waited for the first five seconds. Then the next ten, then the next fifteen. Deciding that maybe they were waiting on him, he opened his mouth to ask who they were and why they were being held at gun point. Before he breathed out his inquiry, though, he was cut off by the owner of the gun.

The first thing he noticed was that the voice was fairly synthesized. Secondly, the voice was uniquely feminine. The third, and most important thing, was that this voice was definitely angry.

"What do you think you're trying to do hear, Cerberus?" Yes, that voice was definitely angry. And said voice contained a large amount of vitriol for his current… employer, in particular. And if that was enough, the gun barrel being jammed into the side of his head was enough to emphasize her words.

Harry tried to answer the voice. "Well, we're attempting to find out what happened to the colonists…" He couldn't get more words out, though, as he was cut off by another voice. This voice was even more indignant than the first voice.

"A likely story. But I know you, Cerberus scum. It's more likely that you took the colonists yourself, and used them in another of your experiments." Harry would have been intrigued at this line. Save for the fact that he had that gun pressed against him, he would have asked exactly what the voice meant. I probably should have found out more about Cerberus before joining. Sounds like they already have a bit of a reputation.

Jacob sighed to himself, before throwing out on a limb, "Then why are we here?" A silence fell on the group, before Jacob decided to press on. "Look, if it was Cerberus, we wouldn't be here. Since the rest of the colony is gone, and we're here, there aren't many ways to interpret that." The man looked like he wanted to say more, but decided to stay quiet.

The silence left in the wake of his statement was nearly deafening. Harry was sure that whomever these people were, they were communicating with each other silently. After another minute, the gun barrel was slowly removed from his head, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to finally see his assailant, and was met with a cold pair of eyes behind a purple visor, shrouded under a purple hood.

"As much as I am inclined to disagree, you are right," that voice said. "We observed you from one of the security cameras I had hacked when we commandeered these buildings. Whatever it was that allowed you to destroy the mechs, I would not like that turned against us. Like it or not, I'd rather have you on our side."

Harry just raised an eyebrow. Before either him or Jacob could get a word in, one of the other masked people spoke again. "To hell with that! This is Cerberus! I'd rather be dead myself than work with them!"

The first person's eyes narrowed even further before she snapped her head towards the other one. "Then you should have been the ones holding rearguard earlier! It's your fault that we're in this situation anyways!" She suddenly turned and strode over to the other, raising her hand and poking him in the chest. Perplexedly watching, Harry realized that something was just off. Wait, she only has two fingers. Not four. Did I just have my first meeting with aliens and not realize it until now?

As Harry was ruminating, the first alien continued to prod the other. "I've almost had enough of you, Prazza," she shouted. "You know that I'm in charge of this mission. I am aware that you are typically the one in charge of your own squad, but I'm sorry that we didn't have enough time to come and rescue one of our people." Her voice began to drawl and took an ironic tone. "I'm also sorry to say that even though we're facing simple mechs, we need to keep down and out of sight. We do not walk out of cover and draw their fire towards the squad!"

The other alien, Prazza, responded. "They're mechs Zorah! What more could they do to us? Damn it, the bosh'tets don't even have shields!"

The leader responded, her voice suddenly turned to ice. "Those mechs managed to penetrate a quarter of the squads' shields. Thanks to your impatience, we've got three of our marines with suit ruptures! From now on, you will be following my orders explicitly. If you even put one finger out of line, I'll sic Chiktikka on you. Do you understand‽"

Prazza glared back at her before neutrally saying. "Yes ma'am. I understand." It was left without saying that he still didn't like the situation. Zorah turned back towards Harry. "Ignore Prazza, Cerberus. He's an idiot." She gestured the two inside, other hand still gripping her shotgun. "Come in. If you truly are here to find survivors, then perhaps you would like to know that there is one here. Maybe he knows what you seek."

Wand still in hand but lowered, Harry walked in alongside Jacob. Once they had proceeded far enough, the door behind them shut, locking them out from the world. The first alien, Zorah, soon stopped them, indicating that they had gone far enough. Both sides stared at each other for a long moment. Eventually, Harry broke down and asked, "So, erm, Ms. Zorah. Who might this survivor be? You know he is here?"

She cocked her head to the side as he first spoke. What exactly did I saw that was odd? She shook her head out, catching air in her odd hood. "His name is Veetor'Nara, a fellow quarian. He is a fellow quarian here on his pilgrimage. When we arrived, we had locked onto his suit's transponder. That way, we could tell he was injured." Suddenly, she averted her eyes. Odd. "And, ah, delirious. He was the one that activated the mechs, as far as we could tell."

At this point, Jacob spoke up. "Still, he probably knows what happened here. Making it important to locate him. So, you still know where he's holed up?"

Her synthesized voice responded, "Yes, we do. He's located a few compounds over. But seeing as he's got the entire mech lot under his control, we'd have to fight our way through a number of them. With a full squad I wouldn't be worried, but…" She cast a worried glance at the injured. "Frankly, with three down, and the ones I'd have to leave behind to guard them, I didn't feel like we could make it."

Looking back at the two humans, she continued. "But seeing what you two did, whatever it was, I could use that help. Even if I was a little angry how you were joking around when we were tending to our wounded in here."

Harry reached upend scratched the back of his head. "Yeah… It was hardly the most professional thing that we could have done. He glanced over at Jacob, and the man also had a contrite look on his face.

Evidently, this was enough for Zorah, as her shoulders sagged and her body relaxed. "And it wasn't quite professional of myself either, even considering…" She shook her head. "Enough of that. Do we have a deal? You help me find Veetor, and you can hopefully figure out who did this to your colony. Everyone wins."

Noting the glare that Prazza and a few of the other aliens were giving him, Harry thought that maybe not everyone wins. But as a I still value breathing, I'm not going to complain. He turned towards Jacob, only to be met with a nod from the younger man. I suppose that even if he didn't agree, we're hardly in the position to turn it down. Harry held out his hand. "Deal, but I do have two questions."

Gripping his hand with her odd, yet stronger than expected two fingers, she replied, "Alright then. What is it that you want to know?"

Harry tilted his head. "What is this pilgrimage?"

Again, her head tilted. Apparently she wasn't expecting that question. However, she responded quickly, as if she'd done this many a time. "A pilgrimage is a journey that all quarians take to become adults. The reason for it is…" She shook her head, as if attempting to clear some cobwebs. "Old habit… It doesn't matter that much. I'll just say that he was here working for the colony. Easier than to explain the intricacies of the matter." Glancing back to check that her squad was still orderly, she spoke in an aside, "What was the other question?"

Scratching the back of his neck once again, he asked with a sheepish smile, "So, what is a quarian exactly?"

An electronic snort issued from Prazza. "Well, at least it's apparent why this human joined Cerberus. Probably been scared into thinking that all aliens are the same, and want to eat them."

"Prazza!" Zorah snapped at the temperamental marine. "Enough of that. No antagonizing the guests. Remember Chiktikka?" At his wince, she chuckled darkly. "Makes me wish I still had Wrex here." Turning back to Harry, she gave him yet another odd look. "Well, that question is simple enough. All of us here are quarians. Although why you need us to tell you that, I don't know. Have you never seen another type of sentient being?"

Harry shrugged back at her. "Sure, I've met plenty of things that aren't human."

Zorah tilted her head, giving him an even more confused look. "Well, from the sound of it, you certainly hadn't. I'd almost think, what with the business a few years ago, that all of your kind would know."

Business? Ah, yes. Reapers. "I wasn't around for that, I'm afraid. But I never said that I had met aliens. Just other sentients, as you put it."

Now Harry received a flat stare, as Zorah's eyes narrowed. "Really. I spent a lot of time with humans. And I am quite sure there are no other species that evolved on your homeworld."

A smile edging on his face, Harry wondered how far he could push it. "Actually, there are several other species that are on Earth besides us humans."

At this point, both Zorah and Jacob were starting at him incredulously. After a few seconds, she speaks, her voice dry as ever, "So you have a multitude of sentient species on your planet. Where do they happen to be?"

"Oh, the government hides them."

An incredulous sigh was the only response. "So, how do you know about them, then?"

Harry's grin was slowly widening second by second. "Well, I first met them when I was in school. But… I did work in the government for over a decade."

Another sigh. "So, you're a former official in the Alliance, you claim? When exactly did you serve? And what did you supposedly do?"

Harry shrugged, grin still widening… "Various things. Ended up serving in most positions except janitor. Because janitor… well, that's really the crapper." Ignoring Jacob's groan, he continued. "As for the when, well, I retired about two centuries ago. Give or take a few decades."

Silence engulfed the pod, until a muttered bosh'tet issued from Zorah's speakers. "Damn it, why must every human I work with be insane for some reason?" Glancing back at Prazza, leaning on the bulkhead, she muttered again, "At least that's a step up from before."

Turning around to face the squad, she barked out orders. "Alright. Everyone, head back to the shuttle. I'll head on with these humans. Just hunker down and wait for me there."

One of the quarians in the rear began to speak up. "But ma'am, are you sure you don't want a guard? It is Cerberus, after all."

Looking back at Harry and Jacob, she merely shook her head. "I can take care of myself. And while these two may be far from harmless, they look at smart enough to not mess with me." At this, she patted the shotgun still in her hands. "Any questions," she asked to any of the quarians in particular. Receiving no reply from any of them, she strode towards the door while activating her omnitool. As the door opened and she stepped outside, she called back without looking, "See you once we're finished, then."

As Harry and Jacob followed her, the latter quietly asked, "So, how much of that was true?"

Harry just chuckled again, before whispering back. "Would you believe me if I said all of it?"

Snorting, Jacob didn't respond until a few seconds later. "Yeah. Sad thing is, I've got the feeling that it will only get weirder the more mention your… magic."

"Indeed. It seems to be one of the few laws that magic listens to." At least I am reminded of why Albus used to enjoy his games. Or conversations, whichever he preferred to call them. Half truths are sometimes even more believable than whole lies, sometimes. Wait. If that's the case, doesn't that make me Obi-Wan? Crap. I've no desire to mentor someone for less than a few days. Nor getting killed either.

Reaching up with Zorah, who was idly fiddling a few separate buttons on the gun, he almost broke the silence. However, Jacob beat him to it.

"Ms. Zorah, I'm sorry that we didn't get off to quite a good start. I figured that it might be a good idea to start over again. I'm Operative Jacob Taylor."

Again, before Harry could speak. Zorah beat him to the punch. "Hardly. Your organization is never going to get another chance from the quarian people, especially after what you have done. However, I suppose I can stretch a thin veneer of civility, since you've been offering it. I'm Tali'Zorah vas Neema nar Rayya." Throwing a glance at Harry, shed asked, "And who is your insane friend supposed to be?"

Harry just snorted. "Harry Potter. And I'll have you know, from where I come from, I'm quite sane."

Tali just shook her head. "Funnily enough, I can actually believe that. Well, let's get going. It's but a small hike to the where we sensed Veetor was."

Harry just nodded, falling into step. Since she knows where Veetor is, might as well let her lead us. He noticed that Jacob still had something that troubled him, but he shook himself out of whatever it was that was bothering him and headed onward.

The next few minutes were rather quiet, with the now trio slowly but surely making their way through the streets lined with pods. However, no more mechs were to be found. After passing through yet another metal gate, Harry became tired of the silence.

Before he could break said silence, however, an enormous blast erupted from the horizon. Instinctively throwing himself behind cover, he turned to Jacob. "What was that bloody great bomb?"

Jacob stared at it momentarily, before yelling back. "That wasn't any normal type of bomb... That was an eezo explosion! Must have been a shuttle or something…"

With growing horror in her eyes, their quarian looked away and began snapping words over the radio. "Anyone, please respond. Prazza, Malo, Kul. What is your situation." After a few terse seconds, she shouted again. "Please, respond!" Another few seconds. Her shoulders slumped down. "Damn bosh'tets…"

Looking at Tali, Harry felt he had to console her somehow. "Hey, Ms. Zorah? You did say that your men are marines. If that was your shuttle, maybe they were able to avoid whomever just… destroyed it." The words still felt hollow coming from his tongue.

She just took a deep breath, still looking away. "Maybe they did. If Prazza didn't figure a way to screw it up again. This mission has just gone wrong from the start… I wish Shepard was here..." Suddenly her eyes narrowed and turned back. "And why do you care at all? You're Cerberus."

Harry shrugged back. "It's just the way I am. Don't see a reason to not ask." Besides, Hermione still nags me about my saving people thing… Or would it be nagged now? Bah, time travel. However much he wanted to move forward though, that one thing from earlier still bothered him. "If I may ask, what was it that Cerberus did to your people to make you hate them so much?"

"Oh, that," she said in a flat tone. Turning back in the direction they were headed, she muttered loudly enough to hear, "Nothing personal. They just kidnapped and killed the crew of one of our frigates, used it to storm aboard one of our cruisers, and nearly destroy it." Before he could respond, she looked back and snapped out, "Are you two coming? Or are you going to gawk at the alien all day?"

Sighing to himself, Harry caught up, with Jacob beside him. Well, there goes all the progress we've made. And who did I exactly sign up with? From the sound of it, they're just a group of terrorists. Heh, space muggle death eaters. Never saw that one coming.

-oo-

For the second time, a silence descended on the group. Tali steadfastly refused to look back at the other two, nor waiting for them to catch up. Jacob seemed to oblige her, not drawing any attention to himself. Of that, Harry was glad to oblige him. Not wanting to be reminded of the previous conversation, he merely fingered his wand and continued to follow their irate guide.

Suddenly she slowed down, holding a three fingered hand up to stop them. "Wait," she said, "We're about twenty seven meters away." Pointing behind yet another metal gate, she continued. "Right over there, probably in some sort of command pod structure. And considering the way Veetor has been acting, I expect that the rest of the mechs are waiting in there."

Harry nodded to her. "So, heavy fire. And lots and lots of robots." Pausing, gazed past the opening. "So, we just going to wade through there and destroy everything we can see?"

Tali shrugged. "Pretty much. Unless you want to do that trick again that you did with with the dogs earlier?"

"If they're shooting at us? I won't be able to." Seeing her odd look, he explained. "I have to concentrate if I do that. So if they're shooting, I would be exposed, and probably get hit." He couldn't help but insert under his breath, "Happened enough times already…"

Apparently, she just seemed to give up her questions. Although when she replied, there was a definite tone of curiosity in her voice. "If you say so. Although, I have to admit that I've never heard of biotics that act like that."

Harry just gave a tight grin. "That's because I'm not a biotic. Come on, let's get this done. We've taken enough time as it is."

Jacob chuckled and unslung his shotgun from the small of his back. "Bout time. Never thought you two would quit it."

Rolling his eyes, Harry began to edge around the corner. His eyes widened at the large group of mechs clustered in a courtyard. The nearest cover for any of them beyond was a small pile of crates a good three yards in. Quietly, he spoke to the others. "Alright, on my mark, head to the nearest cover. I'll keep them distracted."

Jacob simply nodded towards him, taking a deep breath. Tali at first acquiesced, but then seemed to realize something. "Wait, where's your gun?"

Harry just grinned. "Don't need one." He eyed a group of mechs slightly separate from the group. That'll do. Slowly counting down from three, incanted Reducto once again. As the beams of light flew towards the mechs, he finally shouted out, "Mark!"

As the quarian and the human broke cover, the beams of light impacted on the small cluser of mechs. Three of the LOKI's were immediately torn to shreds, falling to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The rest of the mechs turned towards the source of the fire. LOKI's raised their pistols and FENRIS began to charge. However, a flurry of light hammered their position, most scoring at least pockmarks. One of the dogs had its electrical head blown clean off by the light. The rest had relatively minor wounds, with the armor merely dented or an extraneous limb damaged.

By this point in time though, the other two in the squad had gotten into position and began to contribute to the fight. Jacob began poking out from his side, laying potshots into the nearest mechs with his shotgun. Eventually, a pair of the FENRIS decided they would chase after him, and streaked towards his corner. Suddenly, Harry noticed that he was surrounded by this odd blue mist. A ball of dark light reupted from one of his hands and slammed into the ground between the dogs. Angry electronic snarls turned into scared electronic whines as they began to float away from the ground.

Interesting. So that is biotics. Watching the two mechs sail off over the side, he just shook his head. Now he's copying me. Still, Harry just continued his tactic of popping out and laying a few Reductor curses for cover. It was as effective as anything else that was thrown at the mechs.

For all that he tried to confuse the mechs, Tali was easily outpacing him. Before introducing them to the business end of her shotgun, she threw out a small hovering robot projecting a purple field. Said drone seemed to take great care to shock all of the other mechs in the faceplate. I wonder if that is just the way that she programmed it, or if it is actually listening to her orders to 'go for the optics'?

At this point, the battle seemed to be going swimmingly. However, a rumble issued behind the main line of mechs. Nearest to the pod, a giant metallic box stood up, unfurling itself into an even larger mech. It gazed around the battlefield, before locking onto the small drone that continued to harass the smaller LOKI's. It raised its left arm, which blossomed and revealed a barrel inside. Without warning, a rocket flew out and towards the drone, instantly demolishing it. This had the side effect of knocking over every other mech within ten feet of the drone.

Harry turned and focused all of his curses at the new mech. While ever curse that was hit was sufficient to destroy any of the smaller mechs, it merely dented the thick armor of the larger ones. For his trouble, the mech focused on him. This time, the arm on the right side blossomed open. Large caliber rounds flying at a fraction of the speed of light poured out, ripping out chunks of the wall Harry was taking cover behind.

Once the barrage had ended, Harry shouted, "Jacob, what is that bloody thing‽"

Jacob quickly answered, "It's a YMIR mech! Very heavily armored, and you saw what it can do. It's one tough son of a bitch to take down! Usually, you need heavy weapons to make a scratch!"

Harry's answer was cut off by another barrage of bullets. Again, another hole was cut out of the wall. Taking advantage of it, he returned fire with a few more curses, keeping its attention off of the other two. However, through this new whole, he spied two large shapes plodding towards them. "I think we have two more incoming!"

"Stubborn bosh'tets don't know when to quit! Potter!" Harry turned to face her, still ducking behind a pile of steel crates. "I can hack into one of their systems, but I need you to keep distracting them!"

"Distract?" I can think of a few ways. "Alright, can do." He peered over through the slit again, as the YMIR paused between rounds. There's no cover on that side, but that pod looks like its open from this angle. Memorizing both of the locations, he breathed deeply, exhaled, and spun on his feet.

After being squeezed through that tight rubber tube for a time that felt as short as eternity, he was on the other side, with the backs of the three large mechs in front of him. Shaking off the momentary feeling, he raised his wand and fired off a few more of the Reductor curses. While they didn't accomplish any damage, they did succeed in attracting all three of the mech's attention. As they slowly turned around, Harry thought of his chances. His spells were doing no more damage than they would to a troll, and they would easily cut him in half. He was tempted to shout at Tali to hurry up, but knew that was no use. Well, I suppose if I can't fight, I should make it so they can't fight either.

As the trio finally faced him, he immediately snapped up and tried three different spells. At the furthest, he cast Petrificus Totalus. All six arms raise, and the left ones all blossom. At the second, he cast Incarcerous. Each of the arms began to fire a rocket in perfect synchronization. At the one closest to Jacob and Tali, he used Tarantallegra. The rockets sped towards him, smoke billowing out.

He spun in place.

As he reappeared in the pod that was not five feet to his right, dust exploded from where the rockets impacted the wall behind him. As it slowly fell to the ground, Harry watched the three robots. He couldn't help but to grin at the one awkwardly shuffling around, arms waving as the servos attempt to keep it upright. However, the one ensnared by the Body-Bind remained bound for no more than fifteen seconds, and the one covered in rope shrugged said bindings off. Still, it was enough time, as he saw Tali stand up with her omnitool alight.

At first, nothing seemed to happen. Suddenly, sparks emanated from one of the YMIR. It slowly turned toward the other one not flailing about, and began to unload rounds into it. When it sensed the threat, the second YMIR raised its own cannons, and the two traded shots at point blank range. Sparks flew as the cannons tore through the armor and into the systems of the mechs, until one fell to its knees. The first YMIR simply stood there, gutted but not quite inoperable.

While Jacob pumped rounds into the flailing YMIR, Tali still stood with her omnitool out, as a red light began glowing. She shook her head and punched a few more holographic buttons. The sparks intensified around the YMIR that survived, as it raised its left arm and placed it in the gaping hole in its belly.

No sound is made as a rocket fired into its metal body, tearing the mech in twain. It collapsed onto the ground, lights slowly fading.

Harry had by this point joined Jacob, and thusly launched spell upon spell at the YMIR. No matter what, no more than a crack appeared in its reinforced frame. He saw Tali turn to face the last mech. She flicked a button on her shotgun while she strode over as the weapon started to glow red. As Tali got as close as she could, she raised her shotgun, and fired.

A red bolt of what appeared to be pure fire shot out at the YMIR, crashing into its head unit. A crack appeared in the frame, before an explosion ripped the head from the rest of the body. As it did, the mech seemed to suffer even further from spasms. It began to flail wildly, acting like a chicken with its head cut off. In the midst of of its decapitation induced dilemna, one arm swung out and clocked Tali up the side of her head.

As it did, Harry, leapt out of the window of pod. And as he did, Jacob also began to run towards the downed quarian. However, the last unit started to issue a series of beeps as red lights flashed in its body. Harry only needed to take one look at Jacob to realize what exactly that mean. He waved the soldier off and ran as fast as he could towards her. The beeping got faster. He wouldn't reach fast enough. Harry turned in place.

He was next to her. The beeping became a shrill tone.

Expecto Ferrous Arx

-oo-

As the dust settled from the explosion, Jacob peered around the corner. He expected to see the bodies charred, or maybe still burning. Maybe if they were lucky Tali's suit would protect her. What he did not expect was Harry to be on the ground with Tali untouched, with a gray barrier surround them. Put aside his surprise, he ran forward to check on the two. "Harry, Zorah, are you two alright?"

"Yeah, Jacob, we're fine." Harry coughed after inhaling some of the dust. "Relatively, at least. Did that thing have a bloody nuke in it?"

Jacob couldn't help but chuckle. "No, but I think they designed it so people think they did." He offered Harry his hand. "Come on, we're almost done."

Taking the hand up, immediately turned back towards their other companion. "Are you alright, Zorah?"

Still somewhat stunned, it took her a moment to clear her head. "Keelah… I believe so. No injuries, no suit breaches." Turning to face Harry, she asked, "Not to be rude, but Keelah, what are you?" Misinterpreting his and Jacob's mutual glance, she backpedaled slightly. "I don't mean anything bad. It's just that, when I had asked for a distraction, I just expected covering fire, something to get their attention. Not teleporting, or creating ropes out of thin air, or whatever you did to that YMIR…"

Shaking his head, he just softly replied. "Well, if you're wondering, I'm still completely human." Trying to dodge the question, he said, "Although, I noticed that you still followed through on your plan either way."

At that, she huffed and crossed her arms. "I did say that every human I worked with was insane. So I'll admit I was expecting something out of the ordinary. But this… This is beyond anything I've seen."

Harry sighed. Well, Cerberus pretty much knows. And if they were honest, they couldn't find any other wizards, so no one to harm. Plus, no one has come after me yet… "Well, if you want the simple answer. I'm a wizard."

Tali just looked at him for a few seconds. "Really…" At his continued stare, without a grin on his face, her eyes began to widen. "Really? You're telling the truth?" At his nodded, her voice became sarcastic. "Pardon me if I don't believe you right off the bat. It's completely illogical"

That made him grin. "Well, then you understand the first thing about magic, Ms. Zorah. And the only logical thing about it."

She just glared at him. "You know, I am still debating on whether you're an insane biotic, or telling the truth and just crazy instead."

Harry chuckled at that. "I'm pretty sure you'll get the chance to pick apart exactly what it is I do." This time, he leaned down and offered her his hand. "Now are ye ready to go finish this mission finally?"

Her hand grasped his, squeezing a bit more than necessary. "Yes. I'm quite ready." After he pulled her up, she checked her shotgun, sliding out a glowing red brick while sliding a new white one in its place.

As they turned to walk to the the pod, Tali asked, "Potter. Why'd you do it?" Harry looked back at her somewhat confused. She lowered her eyes. "Why'd you come back and save me? You're Cerberus."

Harry just smiled gently. "I've been told many a time that I have a saving people thing. Last I checked, you're people, aren't you?" He gestured her on. "Come on, Ms. Zorah."

Tali stared up towards space for a few seconds. "Potter… Harry?" Again, Harry looked back. "It's Tali. I owe you that much."

"Ok, Ms. Tali. Let's go get Veetor."

-oo-

As they entered the pod, Harry was nearly overwhelmed by the amount of amber holograms were up. Ok, it was cool at first, but do they really need it all in the same color? And are the displays in monochrome? Shrugging, he followed Tali towards the sole inhabitant of the pod. As she walked up, she called out his name a few times. Yet he never responded.

"Monsters coming. Mechs will protect. No, swarms. Safe from swarms. Hiding here. Yes, safe. Safe safe safesafe…"

Jacob turned his head towards Tali. "I think we need to distract him. He can't hear any of us."

Nodding to him, Tali raised her arm and activated her omnitool. Sweeping it over the monitors, they blinked off one by one. After a few moments, Veetor apparently recognized they were gone, and that someone was behind him. His eyes widened when he saw the trio.

"Humans. And… and a quarian? How did they not find you? Where did you hide?"

Tali immediately responded, "Who, Veetor? Who didn't find us?"

The shaken quarian stuttered out a response. "The monsters. The… the swarms. They took the humans. All the humans."

At this, Harry spoke up. "How did they get everyone Veetor. Did no one fight back? Did no one try to resist?"

Veetor, a bit more strongly, explains. "You don't know. You didn't see. But I saw everything."

At this, he activated the terminals again. Footage began to play. Scratchy and grainy, but still visible. Swarms of weird insects flew about, as insect like aliens escorted floating pods. Immediately, the hairs on the back of Harry's neck raised. This isn't normal.

Before anyone asked, the scared quarian explained. "The… the swarms. No one could hide from them. Anywhere. And once they found you. They froze you. And then… the monsters took you."

Jacob raised his hand to his head, shaking it. "This is bad. If everyone is gone… Everyone… There were over nine hundred thousand here on the colony. And if no one was missed…"

Harry's mind whirled with the possibilities. "You could do a lot with over a million prisoners…" Looking Veetor square in the eye, he asked, "Is there anything else you collected? Anything at all?"

He brought up his omnitool immediately, and pressed a few buttons. Small holograms appeared on both Tali's and Jacob's wrists. "Yes. Many readings. Electro-magnetic, dark energy. But, they will be back. They took the people to their ship. Had so many. Must come back for more soon. Will come back for me."

Tali muttered under her breath. "He's not going to get more coherent, he's scared out of his wits." She reached out to him gently, placing a hand on Veetor's shoulder. "Come on Veetor, you're safe now. We'll keep you safe." While his muttering slowed, he wouldn't moved.

Hesitantly, Harry asked, "Tali, I know a way… a spell, to calm him. It's only temporary, but it should be enough until we get out of here."

Tali gazed at him, her bright eyes meeting his. After a few seconds, she nodded. "Alright. I still don't think it'd work, but you've been honest with me so far."

Slowly bringing his wand up, as not to startle Veetor, he waved it in a circular motion about his head while incanting "Sedo." A soft blue light fell over the quarian, who slowly stopped mumbling, before looking around.

Immediately taking the opportunity, Tali repeated her words. This time, Veetor heeded her, and she ushered him out the door, Jacob following. Harry almost fell in, before turning back and staring at the screen. It still shone with the images of the creatures.

An entire colony gone. Nearly a million people. And nobody could even fight back. From the sound of it, without their Shepard, nothing will be able to.

Still, he stared at the images. He knew that this was what he was searching for. What he needed to discover, for his own sake. Could he really go back, now that he knew what they faced? Even if he couldn't help, would he be satisfied without trying?

In the end, he knew his decision.

Damn. I have to stay. Hermione would shout at me for doing it. Can't help my old saving people thing. Maybe Ginny was right all those years ago. Maybe I'm not going to be happy if I'm not out there, helping people.

I'm sorry love. I'm not going to be coming home for a long time.

A/N Hello all, Long time no see. Well, I finally have a chapter for you all. I've tarried much to long to start writing. Partly because I put myself on a self imposed schedule, in that I would write other chapters for other stories. And I lost all inspiration for anything before I got inspiration for what I planned to do. Not to mention I wrote a oneshot last week that turned out to be illegal. Funnily enough, second person is not allowed. So all that work went down the crapper.

Anyway, as you can tell, I've gone way off the rails. As every time I tried to get back on, the train jumped the tracks. Ok, that metaphor is a bit tired. But I digress. There are some important things I wanted to point out here, as I am not going to be following specifically the rules of the games. Which means carnage will be back, teammates will have all skills unless it makes sense to acquire in the course of duty, and heat sinks can cool down and may be swapped in an emergency. Which was the original intent. Also, I figured I'll change up the balance a bit. As you can tell, even with all the mechs I threw at our resident wizard and friends, they still went down easy. Even when the YMIR was buffed to nigh invulnerable. I'm hoping to continue that trend, so that we have some more exciting battles. And not curbstomps.

Anyways, enough of my yammering. Thank you for all of your kind reviews, they've been very helpful. Please leave any thoughts on ways I could have done things better, etc. Even if you have to say I was an idiot on something. :D Until next time (hopefully sooner), später!

Edited 2/4/12