Shoals of Dust

by Luminous Beginnings

Tides of light have stolen him from where he belongs. Alone, he must stand and fight, in a galaxy where he stands as the last of his kind. The burden placed upon his shoulders is of the hero he replaced. Now he waits until he can hand this burden back.

6. Woes of Fiends

This is the Cirno News Network with a breaking story. According to a reporter at sister company, Westurland News, further investigation following the last news story, the reporter Khalisah al-Jilani has discovered something disturbing. After tailing the interviewee for several hours as he wandered about the Citadel. As he passed by a few others, however, he began muttering about lunatics on the grass towards them. These comments were followed by promises to meet them on the dark side of the moon. Further reports will follow when we have more information. Nonetheless, so far, we have dubbed the whole incident 'creepy'.

Note: Cirno News Network and associated publications are produced under the Nineball Corp. (⑨) Any information disseminated by ⑨ is most likely untrue, and is rebutted by the parent corporation. Actually, it is most definitely untrue, and is completely false. And we should consider informing the authorities about the above reporter, as this is verging on stalking. After all, the interviewee was most likely listening to Pink Floyd. Or their modern knockoff, Lightish Red Floyd. Music is just not as good as it used to be, is it?

This has been a message from Nineball Corp. (⑨) and the Cirno News Network. Remember, WE ARE THE STRONGEST! Now, back to your irregularly scheduled fic.

Chapter 6 - Woes of Fiends

Barely ten minutes into their flight through the twisting confines of Omega, the shuttle touched down. Standing up, he quickly waved his two companions out of the shuttle, before waving the still confounded driver way. As he did so, he turned around to find yet another of the strange four-eyed aliens bearing down on them. He took them in, the multitude of eyes searching each member of the party before turning to Harry. "Seems like we're starting to scrape the bottom of the bucket. Sorry, lady, but this ain't some social gathering. You can take yourself and your pretty little dress back on out of here. You'd just clog up the battlefield."

Harry rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "Just remember that when we're coming to get our pay. May have to take a little more than you wanted for that comment."

The alien just laughed in his face. "Whatever you say. Just don't start dancing too much on the battlefield. You might distract the real fighters." He held a hand up to his ear, making something inserted within click. "Yeah, you're starting it? Alright, I got three more meatbags here, I'll send them up to the front." Rolling his many eyes, he let go. "Alright, we're starting the assault. Just head up to the front and out with the rest of the men. I'd say that you shouldn't get shot, but with a quarian and your dress, I imagine it won't take too long." Laughing to himself, he wandered off into the recesses of the place.

Grumpily, Harry just turned to Jacob and shrugged. "Lovely fellow, wasn't he?"

Jacob just nodded. "Indeed. You gotta love batarians… They think everything with fewer than four eyes is beneath them."

Harry tilted his head. "Isn't that every single race out there?"

The muted voice of his female companion answered. "Pretty much. Sadly enough though, he was friendlier than a lot of people I've met. Most like to pretend that my kind don't even exist anymore." Tali sighed heavily. "Whatever, let's get going while we still can. Maybe we'll be lucky, and Archangel will get tired of shooting when we get out of here."

At that, Harry nodded, and began to move out. Part of the way there, he had to remind Tali to slow down, as her digitigrade legs kept on propelling her out in front of her two human companions. Giving him a slightly chagrined look, she fell back into line. Barely a minute later, they had made their way to the front. At least, it probably is the front, giving how many dead bodies there are everywhere. Lovely…

A shot rang out and took out a nearby soldier. Reacting immediately, Harry dove forward into the nearest cover, as Jacob and Tali did the same. Looking between the two and the freshly dead body, he waited for another few seconds and spoke. "So, any suggestions as to how we get around?"

Jacob looked at him. "Well, I don't suppose you could jump around and use your teleportation thing again, could you? It could distract him enough for us to get across."

Harry shook his head. "Didn't get a good look at where he was. If I don't know where to jump to, I can't do anything about it. And besides, it's apparition, not teleportation."

Glancing at the bridge and back again, Tali said, "So, you don't want to poke your head out and look yourself? With a head that hard, you might have a chance to survive."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Possibly Tali. But as I do value that hard head, I'm afraid I'll decline. And it might be the future, but I hardly think decapitation is in this season."

She shrugged. "True, true." Pausing, she tapped her helmet as another shot rang out and yet another merc went down. "Only thing I can think of is your charm that you used earlier. Wouldn't it work in this situation?"

Nodding, Harry just said, "Yes." Quickly applying the charm on each of them, he flashed Tali a quick grin. "Glad to see how quickly you're taking advantage of this."

She nodded. "Well, I would hardly be a quarian if I didn't adept, would I? But I'd like to see something flashy after this. You've been holding out on us, I think."

"Flashy, eh? You mean a charm that makes you practically invisible isn't good enough?"

She shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. Still, I'd like to see what you can do, and not just what you say you can."

Harry snorted to himself. "As you wish. But first, let's get out of here. Ready to head once more into this gauntlet?" Receiving affirmations from both of him, waited until the next wave was out. As it was going through, he waved them forward, and the three of them shadowed the wave. While nearly every man died on the way across the bridge, they made it by. One soul was unlucky enough to take a breather once he was out of the sniper's line of sight. Tali took the opportunity to draw her boot knife and silently end his short career.

Moments later, bullets began to be fired across the bridge and into the lower floor of the building. Grabbing the quarian by the scruff of her suit, Harry whipped her around into cover. "You know, the charm doesn't really work if you kill someone and every person is watching."

Tali just gave him a flat look. "We were going to reveal ourselves anyways. May as well make sure that he never gets the chance to shoot at us, at least."

Privately, Harry agreed with her. Nonetheless, he just grunted and turned around, making his way through the building. Spotting their lone sniper, another rather oddly shaped alien, he shrugged and began to walk forward. Trying not to raise any alarm in the target, he dropped the charm from the three. Edging forward, he almost introduced himself before the sniper held up a hand. Three fingers again. Must be more common than I thought.

After dropping another target, the alien sighed and leaned into a wall. Turning around, he looked from Harry to Jacob, and then to Tali. For a few seconds, the alien stared before chuckling. "Not exactly where I expected to see you Tali." As he spoke, the alien reached around and unbuckled his helmet before removing it. "But I can hardly complain seeing a friendly faceplate, after all."

Tali stared at the alien's painted a second before running towards him. "Garrus! You bosh'tet, what do you think you're doing?" As she reached him, she pounded on his chest plate. "What made you think it was a good idea to try and get yourself killed?"

The alien, Garrus, I suppose, chuckled dryly. "Oh, nothing too much. Just needed to keep sharp. A little live fire practice goes a long way, after all." He gazed over at Harry and Jacob. "But what are you up to? Have so much fun on the Normandy that you decided to get your own herd of humans?"

While Harry was pretty sure he was joking, he glanced at Jacob and asked quietly, "They don't actually do that, do they?" At the shake of his head, he sighed a bit, and turned to listen to the rest of the byplay.

"What? No, I am not Garrus. The rest of my team is off getting a shuttle. I decided to lend a hand to Harry here, since I owed them a favor."

That got another dry laugh. "Harry? You must really like him then. You never called Shepard by his first name."

She crossed her arms and stared down Garrus. "Nobody called Shepard by his first name, Garrus." She sighed and shook her head. "This isn't the time. We need to get you out of here. I can call for my team to pick us up in the shuttle, as soon as they can, anyways."

Garrus lowered his eyes. "I can't do that, not yet. I've been hunting some of these targets for months. These are bad people Tali. People that have ruined the lives of countless others. If there's a chance I can take them out, I'm going to." Then his expression darkened. "Even if we could, there's a gunship out there somewhere. I was able to disable it earlier, but who knows if it's fixed. No need to risk them being shot down."

She shook her head. "You never change, do you?" Giving up the argument for now, she motioned Harry and Jacob. "Sorry for ignoring you two. Harry, Jacob, this is Garrus. Old friend from when we served with Shepard. And his head is even thicker than the bony plates seem."

Laughing, he threw the quarian a look. "That just makes it easier to take a bullet, then." Anyways, he composed himself. "Anyways, nice to meet you two." His eyes lingered on Jacob's uniform for a second. "Although it is odd to see Cerberus personnel being so blatant about their affiliation, especially on Omega."

Jacob met his glance blandly. "Maybe so. But that isn't why we're here. We're to recruit you."

Garrus just raised his brow. "Do tell. If that's the case, then you might want to help me get want I want. I might listen then." He shrugged and turned back to the bridge. "I've been using the bridge here to keep funneling them over. The mercs just keep sending out their new hires. It's no trouble, but I've got the feeling their planning something."

Harry decided to chime in finally. "So, we just need to keep up the pressure." Looking over the bridge, he sighed. In all the time they had spent talking, the mercenaries had regrouped. Multiple squads of white and yellow armored troops began had taken cover on the far side of the bridge, while veritable hordes of mechs began to take flanking positions. While primarily LOKI's, the formations were interspersed with a few YMIR mechs. Remembering how much damage they took back on Freedom's Progress, he grimaced.

Garrus seemed to echo his sentiment. "Eclipse mercs. Arguably the most elite of the three groups. Do I need to point out how fond they are of mechs?"

Shaking his head, Harry replied, "No thanks, I can tell." He turned to face Tali. "Any way that you could hack enough of them to cause a distraction?"

Tali shook her head. "Maybe three or four if we get lucky. But with all those troops, it will hardly matter. They'll just be able to run straight into the base."

"Wonderful. So, need to pull out the big guns." He watched as the first groups left cover and slowly began advancing, still fearful of sniper shots. "Garrus, you able to cover me from anyone taking me out?"

The alien shrugged. "Sure, but what are you planning to do? You don't have a gun, and you aren't pretty enough to distract them with your looks alone."

Harry grimaced at him. "Trust me." Readying his wands, the incantation fell from his mind onto the tip of his tongue. Staying himself, he asked one last thing. "One request then, Tali. Fire or ice?"

She turned to face him, silver eyes inscrutable. "…Fire. Why do you ask?"

Raising his wand, he replied, "Because I'm about to make their world end."

Staring down the rear of the line, he barely registered as the mercenaries' eyes turned up towards him, wondering what the silly human was doing waving a stick. He waved his wand, gathering up his magic as all else dimmed in his mind. Quietly, almost with a whisper, the incantation finally made its way past his lips.

Fiendfyre.

Gouts of fire poured out of his wand, streaking over the heads of the majority of the mercenaries. A few unfortunate souls were unlucky enough to have the flames lick their armor, igniting the hard material in a blaze that they could not put out. Finally, it landed on the far end of the bridge, creating a wall of flames that scorched the small army with an unfathomable heat.

Shaken by the attack, but believing that the human had somehow missed them at point blank range, they kept marching forward. As they raised their own guns to fire, ignoring the screams of their comrades whom were being cooked alive inside their suits, they stared into the eyes of the human. Eyes that were beginning to glow.

A roar sounded behind the mercenaries, causing a few of them to turn around. The flames, spreading too rapidly to be natural, were beginning to take form. A reptilian maw appeared in the flames, roaring yet again at the army. The mercenaries focused on the head and began firing rounds into it. Nothing they did, however, had any effect.

The head kept roaring as the fire kept growing, inching closer and closer to them. As the flames consumed everything before them, the head began to rise, supported by a long neck licked by the fire. Still, shots poured into it in a vain attempt to put it down. One of the higher-ranking mercenaries pounded his omnitool, making the mechs turn around and join in the fire. As the bullets whistled by the head of the creature, it focused its sight on the nearest group of mercenaries. With yet another roar, a clawed foot appeared from the flames and descended upon the heads of its foes.

They were incinerated instantly.

The flame grew further, and another leg appeared and descended upon the next group. The mercenaries, having gone from professional calm to full panic in a heartbeat, began to rout. Some of the smarter ones attempted to make their way inside Archangel's base. However, a withering hail of rifle and pistol fire cut them down before one even reached the perimeter. Others simply broke down on the bridge, unable to comprehend what had just happened. These were easy pickings for the fell beast.

A fair few, however, tried to stand their ground and continue firing at the creature. Roaring again, it leaned itself forward so that its head was level with the rest of the crowd. The remaining mercenaries that were cognizant began to retreat out of reach of the fiery claws and flaming teeth. However, the creature opened its mouth, and the flames poured forth.

The LOKI mechs instantly burst into flames, their thin armor being no match for the intense heat. The YMIR mechs lasted seconds longer, until they too melted into slag, and then disintegrated. A similar fate met the rest of the mercenaries, as fire's breath washed over them and reduced them to ashes.

A few more seconds, and it was all quiet. No more screams sounded from the bridge, and the dragon had quieted momentarily, as it began to eye the building behind it where more people were cowering.

Harry exhaled slowly, tamping on the wild magic that he had allowed to run wild. The Fiendfyre tried to resist his control as it began to thrash around on the bridge, sending molten material flying in every which way. A few seconds later, though, and it finally bowed to his will as the flames receded. In no time at all, the fire had vanished from the now ruined bridge, which glowed at the heat it had been exposed to moments prior.

Tired from his exertion, Harry collapsed onto floor, leaning against the railing. Turning his eyes towards his three companions as they stared at him in awe, he just shook his head and looked away. "Was that good enough then?"

Realizing it was her being addressed, Tali responded somewhat sheepily, "I… Yes. That was just… How did you do that?"

Harry just grimaced as an unpleasant feeling built up inside of him. "Magic." He knew, though, that they would want a better explanation. "Fiendfyre is a very dangerous spell. It's almost a living flame, and it can burn anything. It's virtually impossible to put out by nonmagical means, too." He clutched his stomach. "The stronger it grows, the more powerful it becomes. If strong enough, it can even take on the shape of a dragon, or a basilisk, or something else similar."

She almost interrupted him with more questions before he grabbed his stomach. Somewhat alarmed, she let forward to check him with Jacob close behind. "Harry? What's wrong? Did you get shot while you were…?"

Shaking his head, Harry tried to smile and relieve her worries. "No, it's not that. It's… Well, it's a dark spell. This is just the price I have to pay to use magic like that."

Tali glanced at Jacob before looking back. "You mean like the spell you said should have killed you?"

Harry shook his head as his hand reached for his virtually invisible scar. "No, not quite that bad. Fiendfyre isn't Unforgivable. It's just dark… And magic wants to remind me I shouldn't be using it."

Placing a hand on his shoulder, she made him look at her. "Then why would you use it then? Weren't there better ways to do it?"

He shrugged as another pain lanced through his stomach. "Maybe. It's the most powerful fire curse I know of. And the only one that truly burns everything. But this way, it cuts off both that attack avenue as well as their hopes to finish this quickly. They won't use that human wave tactic again, at least." He shot them a grimace. "And it's not too bad, at least. I've been Fate's bitch long enough that she gives me some leeway to work with."

Tali sighed before standing back up. "Alright, if you say so." She gazed over the bridge towards the de facto headquarters of the mercenaries. "At least you're right. I can't see anything over there now. They're probably figuring out what just happened to them."

Garrus took the opportunity to chime in. "They are. It doesn't help that you just turned Jaroth into cinders out there. He was the leader of the Eclipse here on Omega, and easily the smartest of the three."

Harry turned to face him. "Sending all your troops in one attack doesn't seem to be that smart, though."

Shrugging, Garrus turned back towards the bridge. "Against a sniper, it's the best idea, actually. At least, in this situation. If it were I, I would have gotten a better sniper to go after me. Or an orbital strike."

The quarian shot him a look. "Still thinking highly of yourself, aren't you Garrus?"

He returned her look in stride. "But of course. It wouldn't do to have anyone beat me. Even if it means I have to be snobbier about myself than other people are." At her flat look, he reached around and scratched his head. "That was a bad metaphor, wasn't it?"

She just nodded. "It was." Turning back to Harry, she asked, "So, are you going to be ok, or do you need to sit out this next round?"

Harry just gestured to his stomach. "Give me about ten, and I'll be good to go. It'll take much longer than that for the bridge to cool down, so we've got plenty of time." As soon as he finished his statement, an explosion rumbled through their base, making them all jump in pace. Ok, next time, don't tempt fate. It'll just end badly.

Garrus' eyes widened as he eyed the bottom floor of their hideout. "Crap. They must have breached the tunnels…" At the confused look of his compatriots, he explained, "There are a few tunnels that lead into the first floor of this building. I had sealed them off back when my team and I first bunkered down here. They must have intended to use the attacks as a distraction. Clever."

Sighing in frustration, Harry asked, "So, what do we do?"

He gestured down the stairs again. "We'll need to reseal as much as we can. There are too many tunnels to get them all cut off, but we can try to funnel them into one. It'll make it easier on us, at least."

Harry nodded and struggled to get on his feet, before being stopped by Tali. "No, Harry. Remember what you said? You need to wait until you're not feeling sick. Jacob and I can handle it for now, right?" At her glare, the Cerberus soldier quickly nodded.

"You sure Tali? I can go down there instead, if you need…" Garrus was cut off by a finger in his chest.

"I'm sure, Garrus. It's close quarters down there, isn't it?" He reluctantly nodded. "Good. That's the type of combat quarians are designed for. Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Alright, but first…" Harry raised his wand again and recast the charm on all of them. "There. If you two are going down there, might as well cheat a little on top of that?" Jacob just grinned at him as Tali bowed her head in thanks. "Thought so. Good luck, you two."

As the two left, Garrus just shook his head and moved back to his post. Steadying his rifle, he began to scope out the other side of the building, looking for targets of opportunity. "So, magic?"

Harry just nodded at him, while closing his eyes to rest a bit. "Pretty much. You're taking it calmer than most do."

He shrugged. "I've seen a lot in my time. No magic, but some of the stuff was just as crazy as it. Well, almost." He fired a shot. "Are you something new that the Alliance has cooked up? Or Cerberus?"

"Nah. We've been around for as long as humans have existed. But we've been in hiding for centuries, and not many believe in us anymore."

"Oh, I see." Another shot fired. "Dammit, missed. So, they found your people and recruited you?"

Harry grimaced. "Not really. More like Cerberus built a time machine and stole me from two hundred years ago."

Garrus was quiet for a few seconds before answering. "Interesting. Yet you're still working for them?"

"They have a good reason. You've heard about the human colonies?" He cracked open his eyes to see the alien's nod. "That's why they got me, to try and put a stop to it. We've found who is taking them, too, so we know more than the government, apparently." He closed his eyes again. "Besides, they have the only way for me to get back."

"That sounds like Cerberus." Garrus took a few moments to squeeze out another shot. "So, why haven't they gone back in time to take over the galaxy then? Or make humanity better prepared to meet the rest of the galaxy?"

"If they're using the same temporal mechanics wizards used, then it's because time is immutable." Harry let his voice slip into a lecturing mode. It was something he had picked up from teaching defense so many times. And from hanging around Hermione so much. "Basically, the timeline is set in stone. You can't go back in time to change something that happened. I've done it before, when I was real young. I thought that we could change what would happen; but in reality, it had already happened that way. We just had to go back in time to do it." But now that he mentions it, did I keep a secret all of this when I went back in time? Or did only the magical community know, and not tell the other governments?

Garrus shook his head before firing a shot, popping the heat sink in his rifle and replacing it, and firing again. "Sounds like fun. A bit too complicated for me, though. I'll stick with shooting things." He waited a few more seconds before speaking again. "It would have been useful having one of your kind last time, when we fought Saren. And Sovereign."

Harry nodded. "If I'm remembering correctly, he was the rogue Spectre that helped the Reaper attack your Citadel?"

Another shot was fired. "That's the gist of it. But Saren was a tough bastard. We had to kill him twice to put him down for good."

"I know how you feel." Granted, one of the times I put down Voldemort was when I was one, but still it was tough. "So, pardon me for asking, but what are you?"

That made Garrus pause and look over at Harry. "Really? You don't know what a turian is?"

The wizard shook his head. "Jacob described them a bit for me, but mostly talked about krogans and asari. But the first alien I ever met was Tali, and that wasn't even one day ago."

At that, Garrus started to laugh. "Interesting. Most humans never get to see a quarian outside of the vids. At least you met a friendly quarian before the other, more aggressive races."

Harry grinned at him. "So, a shotgun to the head is considered friendly nowadays? I'll keep that in mind."

"She must like you then. She only saves that for people she really likes, or wants to kill." Garrus chuckled again. "Or maybe it's both. In that case, welcome to the club." Picking off another enemy, he continued, "So, you don't know what the other races are?"

Shrugging, Harry gave his answer. "Somewhat. I know quarian, asari, batarian, and I suppose turian now. I know that get are apparently robots. And I know that krogan apparently have large humps on their back, but otherwise…"

The turian nodded. "Alright, that's a good few of them. You'll recognize the krogan when you see one. Those amphibian mercs with Eclipse are called salarians. They're smart buggers, but they're a bit weak. They tend to never go into combat without having the upper hand. So if you take that away…" He shrugged. "Then there's vorcha. Nasty ones, a lot of teeth, and can heal extremely quickly. They're never friendly." Garrus took another shot.

"That's pretty much all the species you'll have to fight. Hanar are… what did Shepard call them? Ah, yes, Jellyfish. They usually are pretty nice. Preaching about the Protheans. They rescued the drell decades ago, so they act loyally to them. But there are fewer drell than even the quarians, so you'll not see many. Volus are small, and a client species to the tureens. They're universally merchants of some type. And elcor are big quadrupeds; a bit slow walking talking, but they are tough and methodical."

Harry nodded to him. "Alright, thanks for the summary." Sighing, he forced himself to his feet. Still a bit wobbly, he leaned into the nearest cover, before looking out. "So, how many have you gotten?"

"Oh, a good ten or so. They've been more cautious now then they had been. Odd that they hadn't returned fire yet."

Grinning slightly, Harry explained. "Probably that charm I put on ya. They can't notice you unless you do anything out of the ordinary. I suppose that they've just gotten used to you shooting them, so it never crosses their mind."

Garrus flashed him a thumbs up. "Nice, I think I like that. Might have to use it more often."

Harry shook his head. "If it were any other situation, it wouldn't be nearly as useful. Unless it's normal to drop dead randomly from sniper shots here in the future?"

Thinking for a second, the turian reluctantly replied. "I suppose so. Drat, well, it would have been nice. At least now people will know who's putting them down, at least."

Opening his mouth to reply, Harry was interrupted by a loud and low yell of "ARCHANGEL!" Immediately, he snapped to attention and raced towards the interior banister. Down below was an entire troop of nasty looking aliens with big teeth, along with a few larger ones with humps. At least Garrus was right. Vorcha and Krogan. Looks like fun. One of the larger krogan, with an intricate set of armor covering him, marched up the stairs as he continuously shouted for Garrus by his title. He turned to Garrus, who had also entered cover nearby. "So, you know this guy?"

A small growl issued from his throat. "Yeah, Garm. Leader of the Blood Pack. Fought him once to a standstill, but that krogan regenerates like you would believe."

As the krogan charged up the rest of the stairs and turned down the hall, Harry asked, "So, need to take him out real quick then?"

"Pretty much."

At that point, the krogan had broken into the room, and was sniffing around for them. "I know you're in here Archangel. Come out and fight!" Having a sudden thought, Harry waited until the krogan had his backed towards them and let his wand peek out. Levicorpus.

Suddenly, the krogan was inverted, hanging in the air as his shotgun clattered to the ground. "Archangel, I said fight me! Not hide behind your traps like the weak turian you are!" Before he could rant too much farther, Harry moved onto his next spell. Glacius. Ice began to form around the krogan, causing his eyes to widen and for him to start struggling. Before too long, though, the ice had begun to permeate the thick skin and armor of the krogan, lowering his core temperature dramatically. And soon after that, he was frozen solid. Still, to be sure, Garrus pumped three rounds into the krogan's cranium, shattering it completely. Tossing aside the corpse with a banishing charm, Harry turned his eyes back towards the ground floor.

Which was now covered with corpses and blood.

Before he could add two and two together, the familiar synthesized voice rang out. "Got a bit lazy there, Harry. Good thing we got back in time to get your backs."

He turned to grin at his companions. "Hey Tali, Jacob. So, I suppose everything went swimmingly down there?"

Jacob just nodded, wiping off his shotgun as a dark substance slid down his uniform. "Pretty much. They never saw us coming. Only a few of the krogan down there even noticed that people were dying left and right. Did you put something extra in that charm?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I didn't. I guess fighting and dying is normal enough for all of them that they hardly noticed."

Tali chuckled darkly. "Apparently. It's just nice for something to go our way for once."

Nodding absently, Harry simply replied, "Just don't jinx us. If my luck is anything to go by, the worst is yet to come."

Walking back towards the bridge side of the room, Garrus took his sniper rifle and started looking around. "Maybe, maybe not. Blue Sun is the only group left, but they're the largest. Considering how thin their numbers are by now…" He paused for a second, thinking. "Still, taking out Jaroth and Garm, along with their respective mercenary groups? I'll be satisfied with that." He turned back to the group. "If you want, we can bug out now, while we still have a window."

Tali nodded, before opening her omnitool. "Alright, I'll check and see if they've found a ship yet." As she did so, Harry noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Turning, he spotted several blue shuttles streaking just across the skyline.

"Garrus, eyes up. I think we have incoming."

The turian picked up his rifle and checked them through the scope. "Dammit, you're right. Blue Sun's gonna try dropping in, since the bridge is still too hot."

Harry nodded and turned to the other two. "Jacob, Tali, You two need to head downstairs, and try to keep us covered. I'll be able to take out any up here. Garrus, just keep on sniping."

Nodding, the quarian and human ran to position, while Garrus moved back into his cover. As he took potshots at the incoming shuttles, disabling one, ropes began to appear outside the upper windows. They are rappelling in? This shouldn't be too hard. Raising his wand, he waited for the first mercenary appeared and hit him with a rather simple charm. Depulso.

The merc was suddenly thrust away from the rope as he fell into the abyss below. Grimacing at what he had to do, Harry continued to cast the charm again and again as more troops attempted to drop in. Eventually, they stopped their attempts to enter through the upper level. Harry turned his eyes to the lower level, where his companions were taking holding off the growing mess of troops that were incoming.

While Jacob's biotics were rendering the occasional mercenary helpless, it still wasn't enough to stop them. There was a purple orb floating about Tali, firing rockets at troops that were attempting to flank the two. Deciding to inject himself into the fight, Harry cast a few Reductor curses at those nearest the two. As they fell to the wayside, armor beaten and battered, he spun towards the largest mass of troops and cast another spell that had a little more weight. Bombarda. The explosions threw the clusters of mercenaries to the ground, and forced them to flee to cover.

Seeing that the tide had been turned, Harry checked to see if they had begun lowering troops into the upper level again. As they hadn't, he was about to begin cursing the lower levels again when a voice rang out through the din of battle. "ARCHANGEL!"

Outside the building, a large angry looking plane had appeared, dashing straight towards the window. Harry heard the cry of gunship from Garrus, and had begun to bring his wand to bear. Before he could get off an attack, however, streaks of bullets lit up the upper level, accompanied by missiles trailing plumes of smoke. Seeing them streaking towards Garrus, he quickly changed his spell and incanted mentally.

Protego Amplus.

A point of light exploded out from his wand, growing into a dome as the missile streaked closer. Mere moments passed by as if they were minutes, until the shield eclipsed Garrus, and the missiles struck.

Light filled Harry's eyes as the explosives pounded against the shield. Ten times did the missiles impact, and ten times he did not waver. However, the gunship continued to fire and sap his strength, until finally the shield was penetrated. The magic lashed back towards Harry, separating him from his wand and throwing him sideways into the wall. A sick crack accompanied his impact as his left arm broke due to the force of the impact. He slid down the wall as stars danced in his vision.

However, Harry forced himself back to the realm of the living. After making sure Garrus had safely positioned himself away from his damaged perch, he scanned for his wand. Seeing that it was too far away, he reluctantly reached into his pocket for the wand made of elder. Still, his body was aching and moving too slow, as the gunship's weapons clicked and it prepared for a second pass.

Suddenly, an explosion on its side interrupted said gunship. Reeling in the sky from the sudden attack from an unseen foe, it attempted to whirl around to face it. Three more blasts were issued, and three more explosions appeared on its side. Trailing smoke, it began to move back towards the safety. It was all in vain, however, as another shot rang out and shot away a thruster. Unable to keep control, it began to spin out and crashed onto the bridge. Weakened from its earlier experience with Fiendfyre, the bridge creaked, cracked, and snapped off, taking the gunship and its pilot into the abyss.

Somewhat dazed by the turn of events, Harry groaned and struggled as he attempted to stand again. As he tried to, a hand reached out and grabbed him by his good arm, helping him to his feet. It cautiously let go as Harry found his bearings. Ignoring the pain in his dangling, useless arm right now, he looked around for his wand. Not seeing it, he was about to panic before a hand tapped on his shoulder. Turning, he found an amused pair of silver eyes watching him, as she twirled his wand in her grasp. Grinning somewhat, he held out his hand for her to return it.

"If you insist as much." Her voice was still amused. "It was a bit funny watching you realize you didn't have it." Still, she handed it back without a fuss.

Harry took it and conjured a splint and rope to bind his arm. Gritting his teeth at the spike of pain that shot up through his arm as it was snapped into place, he answered her. "I don't exactly need it, but I've used it for so long, it's a part of me. Without it, I'd feel naked."

Tali tilted her head to the side, before nodding. "I understand what you mean. I may not have a lot to call my own, but what I do is very precious." She shook herself out of her reverie. "Come on Harry. Our ride out is here."

Nodding, he followed her silently out of the building, taking care to move past the remains of the mercenaries. Reaching the impromptu dock, he found a larger, older shuttle hovering in the air, with a few of Tali's quarians speaking with Garrus and Jacob. Mincing his way forward, he followed Tali onto the shuttle and took a seat to the rear, leaning on the bulkhead. Looking over at her and Jacob, he tried to crack a grin. "So, did ya'll have a good time?"

Jacob just grinned and chuckled, but didn't say anything. Tali replied, "It wasn't too bad. Although I have to admit things were a bit flashier than I'm used to."

Harry snorted. "Well, I aim to please, at least." He heard Garrus cough to himself. "What?"

He just laughed to himself. "I would have to agree with the flashier bit. But this was your first mission with my favorite quarian, and you know what they say. You have to go easier the first time, take it nice and gentle, and let the lady guide you." He gave Harry a look that he had come to associate with a grin. "If this if your definition of gentle, I'd hate to see what you do when you play rough."

"Garrus! Why. You…" Harry took the momentary distraction of Tali's outburst to massage his forehead.

"Go ahead, Tali, might as well hit him. I'd offer to do it for you, but…"

"I've got a better idea, actually." She summoned her omnitool and tapped a few buttons. The same purple sphere from earlier hummed into life. She eyed Garrus evilly before spitting out, "Go Chiktikka. Go for the optics."

Harry and Jacob, along with the rest of the quarians, watched bemusedly as one old crewmate tortured the other for the rest of the trip back. Well, this will be a fun adventure. Pity that Tali has to leave. This is pretty amusing to watch.

-oo-

A few hours later, and Harry found himself sitting in the conference room, thankful that someone had finally decided to bring chairs into it. Having just gotten through informing the Illusive Man of their progress, along with enduring questions about what exactly he had done with his magic. Tired from the impromptu interrogation, not to mention fixing his now sore shoulder with his magic, he was ready to fall asleep in this chair. I suppose I should find where my quarters are. Funny, it feels like I have been here forever, yet I still haven't had a proper night's sleep on a bed yet.

Getting up out of the chair, he made his way to the exit and opened up the door. As he did, he was met by the familiar purple faceplate. As he did, he stopped and stepped aside to let her through. However, she waved him down, before asking him, "Hey, Harry, have you got a minute?"

Resisting the urge to yawn and beg off, he nodded to her. "Sure, I've got some time. But I thought you'd be gone by now."

She shrugged at him. "We're pretty much ready to go. The squad is just sitting waiting for me to get back. I'm just surprised that Dr. Chakwas let you out of her sight. Magic or not, she would have felt that a broken bone is a broken bone, and needed to be watched."

Harry smiled slightly. "I guess I got lucky then. When she examined me, she found that the arm was perfectly fine. Granted, she wanted me to stay for observation, but as I was nothing but tired…" He shrugged back at her. "Besides, I had to inform the boss of what happened. Jacob may be the executive officer, but he's got plenty of duties split with that and running the armory."

Tali just nodded. "I see. Well, sounds like you enjoy being in his presence almost as much as I do."

That made Harry laugh. "Not quite, but close, I suppose." He continued laughing for a few seconds, before quieting down and sighing. Looking at her, he asked, "I suppose there's no way to persuade you to stay in there. It's been good working with you so far."

Eyes becoming downcast, she looked away. "It's not that I want to leave. You may be working for Cerberus, but I know you and Jacob are actually good people now. And you're doing this for the right reasons, at least."

Allowing a small smirk to appear on his face, Harry said, "It doesn't hurt that we've got Garrus along for you to torment?"

She looked back at him and chuckled darkly. "Perhaps. I know it was fun having Chiktikka go after him." She calmed down though, her somber tone returning. "But still, I have a mission for the fleet that I need to complete before anything else. And the fleet will always come first."

Harry just nodded in reply. "It's all you have, so you have to fight for it. I understand perfectly."

Tali nodded before sitting there quietly. After a few seconds, tilted her head, looking him in the eye. "I don't suppose there's anyway I could persuade you to come back with me, and help the fleet?"

Unable to risk the jab, Harry replied, "Taking the strange man you just met home with you? Sorry, I can't do that." I've got a home to return to already.

Tali's eyes narrowed at him. "Oh, don't make me set Chiktikka on you too." She shook her head. "That's not the reason. After seeing all you can do, You could help out the fleet so much with your magic. I… just had to ask. Just to satisfy my curiosity."

Harry nodded. "I know, I know." After giving the idea some thought, he shook his head. "But I can't. Not right now. Maybe someday, I can come help. But right now…"

"You've got the Collectors to worry about." Tali nodded and sighed. "Well, we each have our duties." She made a move to stand up.

As she did, Harry offered, "Is there anything I can do to help you on your next mission, though? Whatever it is you're doing?"

After giving it some thought, she sat down and replied, "Is there a way to keep those charms up long term? They were really useful down on Omega."

Harry slowly shook his head. "Not incredibly long-term. The reason they worked on Omega is because the magic wasn't on you, it… surrounded you, for better lack of a term." He paused. "It encompassed you. But if I put a long-term spell on you, it would have to be within you, and your suit. And since the suit is so important…"

Tali just nodded to him. "I understand. It was a bit much to hope for, but I had to ask."

Tapping his chin, Harry slowly said, "But there might be something I can do. Can I see your heat sink?" Somewhat confused, she reached back and pulled the heat sinks out of her shotgun and pistol, and placed them on the table. Picking them up, Harry took a good look at them. "So, they're nothing fancy? Just blocks that absorb heat?"

Tali nodded. "Yeah, pretty much. While they do cool down like the old ones, they are less efficient since they're removable. Smaller surface area for the heat to dissipate from."

Enthused by her response, Harry kept quiet. Withdrawing his wand, he tapped the first brick and firmly incanted Gelu Aeternus.

As he did, white wisps began to appear about the block. Lazily floating about it, they grew nearer and nearer, before being sucked in one at a time. After the magic imbued the block with its power, the pale red of the heat sink faded into white and frost began to grow about it. As the spell finished, Harry gingerly picked it up, wincing at the cold. Giving it back to Tali, he asked, "This should help with that problem then. You think it will work?"

Holding the heat sink in her hand, she whispered, "Keelah, I can feel it through the suit…" Shaking her head, she turned to Harry and answered, "Yes, it should work fine. How long will it last though?"

Harry shrugged. "It will last until you break the enchantment. Granted, if you use it too much, it'll break, but the only thing I know of that could break it would be dragon's breath or Fiendfyre."

Tali nodded. "So, the only way it would break is if the gun was melting in our hands anyways?"

"Pretty much." Seeing she approved, he went ahead and did it to the second one. "Just remember to test it beforehand. I never was the best enchanter, so there may be something wrong."

"I will, don't worry." Gathering up the heat sinks and replacing them in her guns, she stood up. Staring quietly as he stood up next to her, she began to fiddle with her fingers. "Ummm, well.." Kicking herself mentally, she stood up straight and forced her hands to comply. "Captain Potter, permission to leave your ship?"

Curious about her sudden change in demeanor, but not asking, Harry replied, "Permission granted, Miss Zorah." After she relaxed, he continued, "And Tali? Good luck. Hope to have you on board again."

Her otherwise impassive face belied her reply as she said, "The chance to serve with a couple of insane humans in an attempt to save the galaxy? Again?" She shrugged, acting nonchalant. Yet her eyes were laughing at him. "If I get the chance, I suppose it'll be hard for me to pass up." Quieting down, she said seriously, "Thanks Harry. Hopefully someday, you will return to where you belong." At that, she turned around and left Harry in the conference room.

He sat there for a few minutes, mind still a bit tired. Eventually, he stood back up, talking to himself. "I suppose I better go find someone to tell me where my bed is, like I was going to in the first place. It's past time when I had a good sleep." And maybe the dreams will take me home, if only for a little while.

A/N Well, I suppose I'm done very early this time. I considered waiting a few days to release this, so as not to get you too used to a quick update schedule, but we'll see. Anyway, now we come to the close of what I am affectionately calling Scene 1, Act 1. I don't study drama though; so don't sue me if I get the terminology wrong. But yeah, now we're losing our first teammate, but we have Garrus to make up for it, for now.

If you were wondering, I had considered originally going and finishing Haestrom first, and getting the quarians on our side. But the path would have been a bit too far into the Flotillawank for me to take it seriously. At this point, Harry is still reacting, instead of acting, so he'll just keep running through the motions for now. Anyways, for Tali fans, don't worry. She'll be back by Act 2.

We also learned a few things this chapter. First, I love abusing the Notice Me Not Charm. It's so useful, but at the same time, is limited by the fact people can see through it. However, if you think I'm going overboard with it, just tell me. Secondly, Harry and dark magic doesn't get along well, which makes sense. As fun as a dark!Harry might be, I'd like to keep this one on the light side. But he is ready and capable of using the spells (and in a few cases, he will.) Just don't expect much to happen in that regards, unless necessary. Finally, we learned he could be beaten, if he's not careful. Granted, surprise!gunship can ruin anyone, but it's still something to worry about.

Anyways, enough rambling. Thanks for reading; as always, do please review.