"So," I said, as we waited for the lift, "you live in the computers?"
"Yep," said Faye, nodding her cartoon head.
"What's that like?" It all seemed very strange to me but maybe it shouldn't have. Was it really that different from Hogwarts' paintings?
"It's great!" she said. "I can see anything and go anywhere. 'Cept when I'm stuck in this PDA." She kicked an icon on the PDA's small screen — a folder full of paper — and it shot off to one side.
"You don't like the PDA?" It looked okay to me, sleek and shiny.
"It's too small," said Faye and spread her arms and wings wide. "I can't stretch out."
That made as much sense as anything else. What I knew of this world's magic was scarcely more than any world's computers.
"Do you have to go in the PDA much?"
She shook her head. "Nu'hu. Only when Daddy goes somewhere not on the network or is doing something big on the servers. Stupid hard drive."
"Hard drive?" I asked.
"Yeah." She nodded and snapped her fingers. "Stupid hard drive." A photo appeared, taking up half the screen. It showed a small white box marked with a stylized number four. "It's what Daddy is working on in the Vault."
"You can see into the Vault?" Wasn't it meant to be super secure or something? More to the point, wasn't I meant not to know?
"No," said Faye and shook her head. "But I can see through the security cameras in the rest of the base and they performed an initial inspection in Research and Development." The cat who ate the cream was back. In fact, this one seemed to have made off with the whole cow.
Now that I looked at it, the '4' was tickling something at the back of my mind but I couldn't place it.
"Do you know what the four means?" I asked.
"Yep," said Faye and clicked her fingers again. The picture changed, this time showing a team of four people. I said 'people' but such a usage required stretching the term quite a bit. One appeared to be some kind of rocky troll and another was on fire, like one of Luna's made-up Heliopaths. The man and woman seemed normal enough, though, except for perhaps their dress sense. Tight blue uniforms had never been in style, and I doubted they ever would be.
"Who are they?"
"The Fantastic Four," said Faye without hesitation. "They're famous."
Superheroes then. From the way Fogg had spoken, I wondered if it was possible to be well-known for any other reason.
"Thanks, Faye," I said. "What else do you know?"
"I know lots of things," she said, smiling. "I'm special."
Right. Faye really was childlike. "I meant about the Fantastic Four."
"Silly," she said, giggling, and clicked her fingers. An old fashioned mortarboard-hat appeared on her head and she drew a meter stick from one of the folders. "They're an American superhero team, led by Reed Richards, one of the smartest men in the world. The rocky guy is the Thing, the on-fire-guy is the Human Torch and the girl is the Invisible Woman. They were the first modern superhero team since the Invaders. I've got the MI6 files if you want to read them." She proffered a handful of digital icons.
"Maybe later," I said but inside my eyes widened a fraction. She had access to no-doubt highly classified files. More importantly, she was willing to just hand them out. "Faye, how did you know that?"
"I was born in Archives' computer systems, remember! I know lots of things."
"Right, right. You really are something."
"I'm special?" she said, hands tugging the edge of her dress coyly.
Despite feeling that I was walking into something, I nodded.
The lift doors slipped open and I stepped inside, sandwiched between a pair of chattering business women. Faye either didn't notice or didn't care.
"Told you I'm special," she said and her voice took on a sing-song tone. "I'm special. I'm special. I'm special. I'm..."
The women on either side sent me some very strange looks. It was time to take action, for all our sakes.
"Faye," I said in a hushed whisper. When that didn't work I spoke louder. "Faye!" That got her attention and the little cartoon fairy swivelled to look at me. "We all know you're special, but if you keep telling everyone you might stop being so special, understand?"
She froze, eyes opened wide. "I'll stop being special! It's not too late is it?" It sounded like genuine terror in her voice.
"No, no, you're still special," I said, "but you better stop now just to make sure."
"Okay!" she said, the worry gone as fast as it came. Oh the ability of small children, and even smaller fairies, to bounce back from anything, how I envied them.
The lift doors clicked open and I stepped out, PDA clutched in my hands. The cafeteria was a collection of rooms on the Planning and Operations level, slightly off to one side. It wasn't a long walk.
"Ooh, Ooh," said Faye, "what's that!" It was a bit hard to tell with just a 2D screen but she seemed to be pointing at a large tub of sausages.
"Sausages," I said. "You eat them for breakfast. I thought you knew stuff like this."
"Only things on Archives' computers," she said, shaking her head. "We're not connected to the Internet down here."
"Internet?"
Faye's eyes danced with excitement. "It's like the most amazing place ever!" she said. "Daddy let me go there once and there were so many sites and things to read and..." She leaned in closer, or did the two-dimensional equivalent anyway. "Women's naughty bits!" That last brought a series of giggles from her and made me decide I really didn't want to know.
While Faye was giggling behind her hands — it was clearly very funny — I got my breakfast: toast, orange juice and some sausages since Faye was interested in them. Unsurprisingly, there was no pumpkin juice or butter beer.
"Faye," I said, sitting down. "Faye! Joke's over." She clearly knew a lot and it was time to put that to my advantage.
She quieted, only letting loose the occasional snicker.
"So," I said, "if I'm going to be a field agent, what can you tell me about my teammates?"
"Lots!" said Faye at once. "What do you want to know?"
"Let's start with how many." I'd met four; was that everyone? There couldn't be many given the way Alistaire jumped at an unknown such as myself.
"There are twenty-nine field agents working for Mordred," said Faye, once more back in her teacher's garb. "Twenty five are normal humans or have negligible talents. Daddy calls them maybe psychics. Four have real superpowers, though. Do you have powers?"
"I cast magic," I said, carefully avoiding any use of the 'S' term, and blew some sparks from my wand. That drew some stares but Faye clapped her hands, clearly delighted.
"There's also a flight, that's twenty eight soldiers, loaned to us from the Royal Air Force Regiment on a rotatory basis," said Faye once she'd calmed down. "But none of them have powers. Just guns. I don't like guns." She shivered, wings rippling.
"The ones with superpowers are Kailen, Malon, Blackhole and Trinidad?" I said. I'd met all four the day before in the On Call room.
"Ah-huh," she said, nodding. "Trinidad's nice but Kailen's a big meanie. He called me pipsqueak!" After I agreed that this was a truly terrible thing to do, she continued. "Malon's okay some of the time but she shouts at me when I try and have fun. Blackhole's just no fun at all."
"What else do you know about them?" I said.
"Trinidad's really called Night Raven," she said. "He's really old and immortal or something. We're meant to pretend Night Raven is dead, though. The big meanie's a fairy but not a proper fairy like me and Malon's a mutant who can throw energy blasts. She almost died a few years ago and spent a long time in a coma. Mr Stuart made her better and now she works for us. Blackhole's the team leader. She's a former STRIKE Operations Division agent who fell off the radar after the agency collapsed. Alistaire Stuart found her working in Africa as a mercenary and offered her the chance to lead the new Mordred field team."
"And I suppose you can read their personnel files too?" I said, remembering the fistful of documents she'd produced on the Fantastic Four.
"Nope," said Faye. "They're encrypted and I can't read them, but I was watching when they were last updated and I read them then."
Right. Note to self, never get Faye angry at me. She had the entire place wired to be her personal plaything.
"You said Malon can throw energy blasts, but what can the others do?"
Faye clicked her fingers and some pictures appeared. The first was of Kailen, aka 'the big meanie', a bar of burning white light in one hand.
"He," said Faye, infusing the word with all the world's evils, "has a moderate level of enhanced strength, speed and senses, a sensitivity to magical energy and the ability to cast a weak fairy glamour. The sword is Claíomh Solais, one of the four jewels of the Tuatha Dé Danann. It can cut through almost anything, glows brightly when drawn and can give a limited form of battle precognition."
Kailen's picture disappeared and was replaced by one of Trinidad/Night Raven, black body suit, golden mask and two silver pistols. "Trinidad is an excellent marksman, hand-to-hand fighter and detective. After being exposed to a chemical toxin created by his nemesis Yi Yang, he became immortal and highly resistant to all forms of damage."
The picture changed once more, this time to show Blackhole. She wore black military gear and her hair was pulled back in a sharp ponytail. A pistol hung at her hip. "Blackhole's real name is Justine Beckley but she's not nice when you call her that. She has the power to create temporary holes through solid matter. The source of her power is unknown but it is linked to the Darkforce dimension."
"And Malon makes four," I said under my breath. "Thanks Faye. I really appreciate this."
She beamed at me. "You're welcome Harry," she said and began playing with the hem of her dress. That meant she was up to something. "Say, do you want to show me some magic? I like watching magic but I'm not allowed because I'm too noisy and sometimes it's dangerous."
And no doubt you watch from the security cameras all the same, I thought but didn't say. Instead I sighed and said, "Fine. Just let me finish up my breakfast." The sausages really were very good.
"And I can then combine the two spells using Salvio hexia," I said. We were back in my room and I was showing her the rudiments of creating magical defences.
"Show me!" she said.
Anything for a pretty lady... "Protego Salvio hexia Stupefy!" I said and tapped the chalk line I'd drawn in front of my door, careful not to warp the spells with intent. There was a flicker of light and a sparkling red shield erupted up, a magical wall.
Faye's face locked into a fierce mask of concentration. After a few seconds she said, "And that combined a Shielding Charm and a Stunning Spell? Not two spells on the same object, but one spell with the properties of both?"
"Yes," I said, nodding. In truth she understood it better than John and Lorance in many ways. "The Joining Spell — Salvio hexia — merges the effects of the spells which come before and after it. It's really the cornerstone of defensive casting. Two spells cast on the same object will always merge to some extent but the Joining Spell makes sure they do it in a correct and controlled way, like mortar between bricks. In this case, I get a shield which will stun anyone who tries to break it."
"And you need the chalk so the magic knows what to do!" She smiled widely and almost jumped up and down. As it was, her wings buzzed.
"That's right." She really was better than the two 'experts' at this. "You can't use intent to tell spells what to do when casting defensive magic or enchanting something, so you need to use a physical guide. Walking a circle, a pre-existing spell, some kind of physical mark."
"Because if you use intent the spells are different from normal?"
"Right again. If you cast spells using intent, you change them, and once a spell is changed, you can't predict what it will do anymore. Normally a Shielding Charm and a Stunning Spell work well together, but if I used intent to, say, make the Shielding Charm very big it might all blow up in my face. Back home there are whole fold out charts saying which spells work with other spells, along with the main subordinate incantations. It's all very technical." Which made it all the more surprising that I had a head for it.
"So if you tried to use that, um, Blasting Curse you showed me with that Colloportus spell it wouldn't work?"
I looked at her a bit odd. "That's right. How'd you know that?" The fact that a Blasting Curse wouldn't play nice with the Locking Spell was one of the first things I'd learnt from 'Dropping the Portcullis'. It was a lesson some wizards learnt the hard way, when the compound spell turned back on itself and sent an eruption of destructive magic right back at the caster. If you wanted a door which kicked back, best all round to use the Reductor Curse.
Faye shrugged, wings fluttering in a different way. While I was no expert on fairy body language, it looked nervous. "Just makes sense."
She was right; it did make sense, but only after you got into the nitty-gritty of how spells worked. Maybe it wouldn't be a complete waste of time to search Archives' library for a spell book from my universe? It was something to look into later.
"That'll have to do for today," I said and waved my wand, muttering counter-curses under my breath. The shield on the door dissolved. "I have to go meet John in his office."
"Can I come?" said Faye, giving me her best smile. Being a cartoon childlike fairy, her best really was very good.
Since taking her 'home' would've involved going right past my destination, I agreed and we set off.
John Taylor's office was easy to find and my Research and Development guide-slash-guard left me at the door. The Yellow room rule was getting annoying. I pushed the buzzer and waited.
"Yes," said a tinny voice. It sounded like John, if quite distorted.
"Harry Potter," I said. "You asked me to come."
"And me!" said Faye. "Don't forget about me."
"Harry Potter and Faye," I said.
John chuckled and buzzed me in.
The room was far larger than Lorance's and also less cluttered despite containing far more paraphernalia. Work tables lined the walls, filled with complicated looking technical equipment, and a stone table sat in the middle, on which lay a corpse. No. I looked again. Not a corpse. Some kind of robot, an android I supposed since it looked human. Mechanical guts spilled out its broken open chest, wires, tubes and blocks of circuitry.
"Welcome to my private workshop," said John, standing up from a desk at the far end.
"Thank you for having me," I said and it only took a small effort to stop from adding, 'I think'. Part of that was probably because I couldn't look away from the robot. It was far too life like. "What is that?"
John let out a soft laugh. "Yes, it does take some people the wrong way. It's an LMD. Sorry, Life Model Decoy, a kind of robot used by S.H.I.E.L.D. to impersonate important people. I'm trying to figure out how it works. Something like that could be invaluable to the intelligence community. Trawlers picked up a pair of them in the North Sea. I got one and mainstream Six has the other."
"Shield?" I asked, glancing down at Faye, then up at John.
Faye flickered and donned her mortar-board hat. A picture appeared — a stylised black bird, wings spread, inside a white circle.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said, "Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate. They were a super spy organization with international jurisdiction, officially under the control of the United Nations but in actuality it was mostly run by the United States of America, since they were its primary funder. The American President dissolved it a few months ago. Well technically he just removed America's funding and the rights-of-use to certain technologies but since they were responsible for seventy percent of the budget it amounted to much the same thing." She smiled at me. "Or that's what the file said."
"Thanks," I said and gave Faye a lopsided grin.
"As always Faye is quite correct," said John. "This particular LMD was probably lost during the Skrull Invasion. S.H.I.E.L.D. was heavily infiltrated even before that sorry episode and suffered massive losses."
"The Skrulls were the shapeshifters, right?" I said. Keeping all this new history straight was something of a chore. Skrulls, at least, were easier than most. They were big, green and looked like Dobby on steroids.
"Yes," said John, a shadow passing over his face. "Among other things."
Ah... People seemed to be sensitive on the whole Skrull subject, possibly as a result of the recent invasion. I nodded my head.
"Well," said John, pulling himself together. "Let's get you kitted out. I've had my staff look out the standard issue." He motioned to a worryingly large pile lying off to one side. "We have two sets of black combats, one set of desert gear, one backpack, two water canteens, one set of waterproofs and..." He grabbed up a list and handed it to me. "A lot of other things. Read the list when you have a chance."
"Thank you, Mr Taylor," I said and nodded my head. Faye decided to mimic the motion but I was the only one in a position to see.
"While I've got you..." said John and smiled. As smiles went, it wasn't an honest expression of his innermost feelings. He wanted something.
"Yes?" I said.
"Would you be willing to field test some of my creations?" The smile turned a bit more honest and a touch hopeful.
"Creations?" I said. "You mean spy gadgets?"
"Well, I wouldn't call them that," said John, "but in layman's terms, yes. Spy gadgets."
Play it cool, Potter. Merlin, who was I kidding? What self-respecting English boy would turn down a free trip to Q's sweet shop? Even Ron, whose knowledge of muggle culture began and ended with being able to dress vaguely right, had been impressed after I'd spent a day explaining it all to him. True, there was a compelling motive force behind the discussion (discovering the source of Rita Skeeter's spying) but the point still stood.
"I might be amenable," I said.
John grew a crooked smile and walked over to a wall covered with small plastic boxes. He began to sort through them.
"How would you like a poisonous gas ring?" he said, holding up just such an item. It was a narrow band of gold but sported a large head, almost like a signet. "There are some issues with gas volume and direction, but I'm sure with some proper field testing those can be sorted out..."
He saw my face. Maybe there was a reason he needed to foist his inventions off on the new guy?
"Never mind, never mind," he said. "Maybe this will be a little more up your alley." He bent down, pulled out one of the lower draws and removed what looked like a leather bracer, similar to what a centaur would use during archery. Its single odd feature was a metal rivet fixed in the centre. He held it up to me. "Put it on your arm. Left would probably be best, stud to the outside."
I took it gingerly and strapped it to my left forearm. The ring had 'issues'. Who knew what this would do?
"What now?" I said and held up my arm. The leather was snug and tight but not at all unpleasant.
"Make a fist and think Activate," said John. He demonstrated with his own hand.
Right, once more into the dragon's maw... It wasn't like I hadn't made a career of doing terminally stupid things. I made a fist, shouted 'Activate' mentally, as if casting a non-verbal spell and waited. I didn't wait for long.
A single heartbeat later, a long 'V' of metal shot from the stud and swung round, like an unfolding fan. There was the swish of well-oiled metal on metal, a faint clink as the final piece settled into place and it was done. I was left with a full disc of metal attached to my wrist, about a foot and a half across.
"It's a buckler?" I said, raising an eyebrow.
"It's more than that," said John. "The shield is made from a titanium alloy, probably one of the strongest conventional substances in the world. Yes, Adamantium and the like are stronger but even the false kind is near impossible to acquire. More importantly, though, is the thin layer of Vibranium on top of the shield. It might not be as strong as Captain America's but it's the best I can do."
"What's Vibranium and who's Captain America?" I asked. Come to that, what was Adamantium? I was tempted to ask that too, but I had enough questions without getting into things my buckler was not.
"Vibranium is a unique metal from Wakanda," said John, "a country in Africa. It absorbs all vibrations that comes in contact with it. That means if you block something fast and heavy with your buckler, your arm won't shatter from the impact. You'll still have to deal with most of the momentum however."
Maybe the shield would have its uses. Being able to block and still have my wand free could save my life and Merlin knew it could use all the saving it could get.
"And Captain America?" I said. Fogg had said something about him, I was sure, but I couldn't remember what.
"He was an American Superhero," said Faye, her voice unusually sombre, "a product of their Super Soldier program. He had an indestructible shield made from Vibranium fused with an experimental Iron Alloy, one of the precursors to Adamantium. He died a few years ago."
Faye was not in her usual schoolmaster's hat; the only unusual thing she wore was a sombre expression. It was very out of place.
"Now," said John, breaking the melancholy mood, "as I said, your shield is not indestructible, like Captain America's, so it will bend and buckle with use. Bring it back to me every so often so I can make sure it's okay and I'll want to know how it works out. To retract it, just make a fist and think 'Deactivate'.
I did as instructed and watched the disc disappear back into the bracer. It was almost hypnotic, the sound of metal on metal, the slink, slink of concertinaing steel. Or titanium alloys as the case may be...
Just as I was considering activating and deactivating it a few more times, a phone rang, breaking the atmosphere.
John picked it up and said, "Yes. John Taylor speaking."
There was a murmur from the earpiece, but I couldn't make out what was said. It must have been bad news, though, because John sighed in disappointment.
"Well unplug everything and put the hard drive in storage. Standard format and reinstall on AEON before returning it."
So they hadn't been able to get into the hard drive? Commenting would probably be a mistake; I already knew far more than I was meant to.
"Very well," said John, after a few more seconds of listening. "Start on the Easy Tiger files. That should keep us busy for the next few years."
After John put down the phone he turned his attention back to me. "Is that everything I need?" I said.
"Yes," said John, "unless you want a flamethrower shaving-cream can." He paused. "You don't want a flamethrower shaving-cream can do you?"
"I'll think I'll pass," I said and laughed. Of course, there was an undercurrent of worry too. What if John wasn't joking?
With that, I said my goodbyes. John called for an escort, and I picked up my kit and left.
Now that the work on the AEON was nearing completion, it was probably time to take Faye home, but I had one stop to make first. Laden down with a tottering pile of kit, I headed to my room, two levels below. There I made the rather foolish mistake of using the Unpack Charm in front of Faye and was promptly press-ganged into another session of magical demonstration, this time focused on Household Charms. After finally breaking free of that, I was able to resume my clearly epic journey: returning Faye to Archives. Odysseus had an easier time of it. That wasn't to say I didn't like the hyperactive fairy, but all things were best in moderation.
"Faye," I said as I walked towards the nearest level 5 lift. There was something I'd been meaning to ask. "What is an Easy Tiger?"
"British Intelligence code for extraterrestrials," she said and smiled widely. "E.T. Aliens."
Right, little green men. The idea was still faintly ridiculous. "Are, um, extraterrestrials common?"
"There are lots of them," said Faye. "Skrull, Kree, Shi'ar, Kymellian, hundreds have come to Earth and we've met thousands more."
"There are that many non-humans on Earth?"
"Oh, there is much more than just aliens!" said Faye. "There are the human offshoots, homo mermanus, inhumanus, aeternus and deviare, though the last three have a sapiens in there too. There are the Savage Land races, demons, serpent men, vampires, more. And that's just the really old ones. More recently, there are machine races, sentient computers, upraised animals and people who've become disembodied intelligences — magical, psychic, energy and everything in between."
As weird as it sounded coming from the somewhat over enthusiastic Faye, it really wasn't. My world also had plenty of non-human intelligent creatures, or Beings as we called them, a few standouts like centaurs withstanding. Of course, as the fairies of this world showed, names could have very different meanings.
"Mermanus are merpeople?" I said.
"Yep!" said Faye. "Homo mermanus. I was using the scientific name since that's what they are filed under in Archives' files. Most people call them Atlanteans. They look mostly human but have gills and live in the underwater city of Atlantis. Oh, and most are blue."
Blue... Atlantis I'd heard of, of course, if from my time in the muggle world rather than the Wizarding. It was the legendary sunken continent. In my world that was all it was, but here it seemed to be real. Another difference between the worlds? Since no one could describe the merpeople of my world as 'mostly human', they fit that category too. No. 'Oh Merlin keep it away from me would' be a more likely description.
"And vampires?" I said. Back home, vampires were rather pathetic creatures, forced to feed on blood to survive. They could be nasty if cornered but mostly liked to mope about in black evening wear.
"Incredibly dangerous creatures from pre-history," said Faye, wings drawn into her body. "They drink blood, convert others, wield mystical power and are very strong. We thought Doctor Strange wiped them out but there've been reports that they may be back." Her face was screwed up by the end, far darker than her normal sunny self. "I don't want to talk about them anymore. We have some of Doctor Sun's lab reports if you want to know more."
"No thank you," I said and she cheered up at once. "Who's Doctor Sun?"
"A very bad man," she said, face focused but no longer dark. "Doctor Sun was a Chinese scientist who developed a way to remove a human brain from its body and connect it to a bank of computers. After falling out of favour with Beijing, the process was used on him. It worked and he gained a range of psionic powers. There was an unforeseen side effect, however. To keep his brain alive, he was forced to consume a large quantity of human blood every twenty-four hours. MI6 analysts believe this factor led him to investigate vampires."
Faye called a picture onto the screen without her normal figure click. It showed a man-like robot, body the gold of jaundiced skin and chest sculpted in mockery of muscles. Metal rods ran along its limbs, like flayed ligaments and a glass bowl sat where a head would be. In the bowl floated a brain and around it twitched a nimbus of trailing red veins, like stalking tendrils. I could almost see them twitching, ready to strike and feed. It was a good thing Ron wasn't here. After what happened in the Department of Mysteries, free floating brains couldn't be a pleasant memory. He still had the scars.
"Doctor Sun," said Faye as she removed the picture, "was able to use his powers to hide from his former superiors. Soon after, he left China and came into contact with the Vampire Dracula, who he battled for many years. At some point he learnt to transfer his mind completely into a computer and did so with the Fantastic Four's Robot H.E.R.B.I.E. After being discovered, he moved to the computer systems of the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four's base at the time. It was there he was destroyed. According to the MI6 report, he had telekinetic and mind control powers."
"Thanks, Faye," I said, and she smiled back. Of course, I was far from out of questions. Who, for example, was this Dracula person? It couldn't really be Bram Stoker's Dracula could it? That strained credibility. Somehow I doubted I would ever be out of things to ask. They were like flies. For every one I swatted down, a dozen more popped up to take its place. There always seemed to be another superhero or villain or monster, all connected together in the world's most complicated tapestry.
Before I could dive even further down that particular rabbit hole, we rounded a corner and the bank of lifts came into view. The doors of the left most were just closing.
"Hold the lift," I said and dashed forward. The doors stopped, just shy of flush and I slinked through.
"Thanks," I said and smiled at the other man in the lift. He was older than most people I'd met, perhaps even Alistaire Stuart's senior. He looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties, had grey hair and wore an embroidered waistcoat over a dark green dress shirt, which did nothing to take off the years. "Harry Potter. New field agent."
The man looked me up and down, evaluation in his eyes. He extended his hand. "Charles Stanley," he said. "Head of Archives."
I shook back, squeezing down.
"I thought Robin was Head of Archives?"
His hand froze beneath mine, muscles hard, but only for a split second. That moment passed and he continued as if nothing had happened. "We share the position," he said, lips maybe a touch white. "It was decided we both had valuable contributions to make."
Right. Touchy subject. I wasn't the world's most sensitive guy but even I could take a hint.
"I'm sure you both do your part," I said and forced a smile.
"Yes," he said, frowning, "but some people's parts may be dangerous. Humans should treat magic — all knowledge — with care and respect, like we've been doing for centuries. In books it can be contained and controlled. This has been proven by generations of researchers, but Mr Cunnings' pointless drive to modernise puts everything in danger."
I was forcibly reminded of the stark division which was such of feature of Archives. On the left, rows of shelves, filled with leather-bound books. On the right, computers, televisions and technological devices the purpose of which I could only guess at. It was now clear who the driving force behind each was.
"Take Robin's little fairy, for example," said Stanley, clearly not done. "Now I know we could do a lot worse — a rampaging demon for example — but it would give away government secrets for a wink and a smile."
There was a buzzing from my hand as Faye's PDA started to vibrate. I didn't even know it could do that. Come to that, I still wasn't sure it was meant to.
Since Faye was clearly only moments away from exploding, I put on my best smile and said, "I'm sure that's not true."
"Now Mr Potter," said Stanley. "You're new here. I've spoken with the fairy many times and I can assure you that—"
I held up a hand. "Mr Stanley, while you might have spoken to Faye, I've spent the last few hours with her and I can assure you, she wouldn't give away secrets for, how did you put it, a 'wink and a smile'. It would take at least a hug. Isn't that right Faye?" I turned the PDA so Stanley could see it.
"That's right!" said Faye, wings buzzing so fast they were a blur. "And you're a big—" Something clicked on her face, and she turned, the two-dimensional equivalent of looking back at me. "Hey wait a minute!"
"Don't worry Faye," I said and patted the PDA, a rather stupid gesture if you stopped to think about it but Faye didn't seem to mind. "I was just joking. I know you wouldn't give out government secrets to just anyone."
In truth, I was far less certain. She'd given me briefings on my fellow field agents, offered MI6 files on famous superheroes and fed me information about a Black section of the base, somewhere I was not meant to go under any circumstances. While I didn't mind as long as the information was flowing towards me, it could get nasty if the transfer became a two-way street. There was plenty I didn't want people to know, not my enemies, MI6 or even the woman who did the tea. I'd need to be extra careful in the future. Faye could be watching or listening from anywhere and near anything.
Stanley opened his mouth to reply but stopped when the lift doors chimed and opened. He gave me a stiff nod and hurried out. I took a few seconds longer but followed after.
Archives was the same as I'd last seen it, left and right halves diametrically opposed. Robin was at the far end, connecting a mess of wires up to a large computer. The supercomputer AEON, unless my memory was even worse than I thought. The multitude of lights that covered its front blinked in unison, and that must have been good because Robin stood and stretched.
"Don't you have minions for this sort of thing?" I said, walking up.
He jumped at the sound of my voice, then turned, half looking over his shoulder. "Ah, Harry. It's you," he said and shook his head. "Normally I would but not with AEON. It's the Kree core. The last time I let them try, they took down half the network for a week. It needs a special touch."
Given the mess of wires connecting AEON to the wall, I could believe it. They came in every colour and shape imaginable, short red ones, long loopy green ones, hard grey things like miniature railway tracks and matched sets of blinking boxes. And that was to say nothing of the small screen Robin had open on the side of the beast. It contained a mass of confusing text I couldn't even begin to parse, as complicated as any piece of spell theory.
"I can see," I said and held up Faye's PDA. "I'm just bringing Faye home."
He smiled. "Ever the gentleman I see. Faye, how was your day?"
"It was great!" she said. "Harry showed me magic and talked to me and showed me the cafeteria and..." I tuned her out as she continued to ramble on.
After almost a minute of jumbled, temporally disjointed praise, even Robin looked lost. He held up both hands and said, "So you had a good time then?"
"Yep!" said Faye, all wide smiles.
"Good," said Robin. "Now, Harry. Could you plug her back in, please? The batteries on the PDA must be near depleted, and I'm almost done with AEON." He picked up and tossed a small back thing to me, and I caught it out of the air. Six years of Quidditch was worth something after all. "Just plug the charger into a wall socket."
While I did that, Robin continued tinkering with the supercomputer.
"I heard the computer didn't work," I said, just as I found the power slot on the side of the PDA. Faye gave me a thumbs up, smile wide.
"Yes," said Robin, bent over the small screen. "It's a pity, but the encryption is just too good."
"You know that after just a few hours?"
Robin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Breaking complex encryption is really very difficult, even with alien super technology. The defences are often just as advanced, you see. With the kind of advanced encryption in use here, we either break it in hours or not at all. Even with all the computational power available at Mordred, a brute force attack would take more time than exists in the universe. My hope was that AEON would be just plain, to put it in simple terms, smart enough to out think the encryption. That proved not to be the case."
I nodded my head, pretending that made any sense at all.
"Almost done," he said. "Faye, give me thirty seconds, then you can hop back into the network."
"Will do," she said.
A little over a minute later, Robin said, "And done. All up and running. Tests passed." He dusted off his hands, probably a symbolic gesture but it did look pretty dirty down where the wires met the wall.
"You're finished with your reprogramming or whatever?" I said. "Good to go?"
"Not reprogramming," said Robin. "It takes days to write even simple software from scratch. Anything more complex than 'Hello World' needs extensive planning and testing. I was just reinstalling our custom software and reconfiguring some network permissions."
I fell back on my normal standby of nodding and pretending the people around me weren't speaking gibberish. Maybe someday they'd start explaining things properly and maybe someday I'd be able to go a year without something 'interesting' happening. I wasn't holding my breath on either count.
Instead I turned to Faye. "You glad to be going home?" She, at least, spoke mostly in plain English.
"Yep!" she said, beaming widely. "This PDA is tiny. I like to stretch. AEON is so big. I can stretch and stretch and stretch and never have to stop."
She nodded and Robin said, "Off you go then."
Faye scrunched shut her eyes and bobbed her head. Nothing happened.
"Nothing happened!" she said, eyes opened wide, wings fluttering.
"Nothing?" said Robin. Lines creased his face.
"Nothing!" said Faye.
"You can't get back on the network?" I said. Maybe I was getting the hang of this computer stuff after all?
"No!" Faye's wings wavered and she wrung her tiny cartoon hands. Again she closed her eyes and her face locked in a mask of concentration. "Something's wrong! I can't go back." Her eyes opened wide, crystal blue and shining with fear. "The Wi-Fi's locked down! None of my passwords are working!"
"Don't panic Faye," said Robin in a calm voice, hands raised, palms out. "I'm sure I just made a mistake when I put it back on the network. You know how temperamental these supercomputers can be."
He walked back over to AEON and began poking at the small screen on the side. Lights pulsed in the glass orb and diodes flickered in a complex pattern but nothing else. Faye remained as distraught as ever.
"There's something..." said Robin, talking to himself. "Almost..." His eyes opened wide and the orb atop AEON flashed to full life. A mass of red lines swarmed within it, contorting, searching, hunting. "Harry! Shut down Faye's Wi-Fi!"
That was a tone of voice I knew well. It meant do now and think later. I dove for the PDA and flicked the switch Robin had shown me hours before.
Red lights, almost blinding in their intensity, glared out from AEON and Robin staggered back, hands raised to shield his face. Even I hissed and took a half step away, but still had the presence of mind to draw my wand.
"Impossible," he said, voice almost hushed.
"What?" I said.
"Daddy," said Faye, "what's happening!"
"No," said Robin, eyes darting. "I— I need to—" He dashed for a large wall mounted switch and yanked it down.
For a single blinding instant, the red light inside AEON shone like a second sun; then it flickered out. So did every other computer in the room, along with all the TVs and other devices. It was the silence which struck me most, a room wide susurrus.
"What's happening?" I said again and took a step towards Robin.
The ceiling lights flickered, then dimmed, going from white to a dull yellow. A spark rekindled inside AEON, a red glow like one of Voldemort's eyes. The diodes re-lit too, a scattering of flashing stars like droplets of blood. The other computers stayed deathly quiet.
"This is impossible," said Robin. His left hand came up, grabbing his face. "This can't be happening."
"What is happening?" I said again and grabbed him by the shoulders, my voice as calm as I could make it. First rule of leadership: if you were calm, so was everyone else.
"I just," he said. "I just shut down the power to all the computers but they're still on! It's a hard switch, no software involved!"
The red glow inside AEON grew brighter and the lights over our heads dimmed further. The computer cast red shadows along the floor, blood spilled and left to stain.
"Daddy!" said Faye again, her hands tiny fists, wings buzzing. "Harry!"
"Why?" I said, staring right into his eyes. "What's causing it?"
"Something," said Robin and took a breath. "Something's in AEON which shouldn't be there. It's getting loose."
Tendrils whipped out from AEON's glowing core, lapping against the outer edge of the orb, an obscene kiss. Directly above the lights flared, then exploded, shattered glass raining down. I grabbed Robin and tugged him backwards. Faye screamed from her PDA and Robin seemed almost numb, a heavy weight I needed to force to move. On either side of AEON, a half-dozen computers burst to life, speakers blaring static and screens showing a chaotic mess of colours.
"There was, is, something on AEON," said Robin. "That should be impossible. We formatted it, shut down the quantum core. The quantum states collapsed! Do you know what that means? Nothing could still be on it."
"Can't you stop it?" I said, just as another light exploded further down the room. More computers returned to life. Robin jumped and I turned, putting my back to the explosion. Other people were boiling in and emerging from deeper in the library, confused looking office types in suits.
"I don't know," said Robin, voice harsh. "It's not a computer program. It can't be. It's like Faye or— Or— I don't know."
Like Faye? Faye could spy through cameras and knew far more than she should but seemed fundamentally good natured. What could she do if she wasn't? "Faye," I said, turning. "What could you do if you really wanted? How much damage?"
One of the office suit types dashed up to us. "Mr Cunnings!" he said. "Mr Cunnings! What's going on?" I ignored him; so did everyone else.
"But I'd never do something bad like that!" said Faye, eyes darting from place to place.
"But if you really wanted to?" I said.
"But I wouldn't!" said Faye, face terrified. It was clear she wasn't going to answer, or perhaps couldn't.
"How do we stop it?" I said, turning back to Robin. "Whatever it is."
"Mr Cunning!" shrieked the office suit type.
Another light exploded and the office suit let out a terrified shriek. The red eye of AEON glowed even brighter, a burning cinder surrounded by a hunting swarm of red lines.
"I don't know," said Robin and his hand came up, grabbing my shoulder. "It's already bypass the hard cut off. There is no power!"
"Cunnings!" shouted a new voice. It was Charles Stanley, the other head of Archives. He strode out from among the rows of bookshelves, hands thrust into his waistcoat's pockets. "What the blue blazes is going on?"
"There's something loose in the network," I said. "We can't turn it off."
Stanley's eyes went straight to Faye but she was too agitated to notice.
"Everyone out," he said. "Evacuate the floor."
"I—" said Robin.
"Out!" said Stanley and grabbed the office suit type by the shoulders. "Standard evacuation. We've trained for this. Everyone up to Operations."
"Sir," said the office suit. He bobbed his head and ran for the exit. The other workers did likewise, a solid tide heading for the lifts and stairs.
"You pulled the hard cut-off," said Stanley. It wasn't a question. We could all see the large switch was pulled down, partially obscuring the word 'off'. Another light exploded, sending diamond shards cascading down. Everyone jumped.
"It didn't work," said Robin and shook his hands. "AEON came right back and—" More lights exploded and more computers returned to life, humming fans and flickering screens. Electronic static filled the room, like the hiss of a thousand snakes. Somewhere deep inside it, though, was the beat of insane laughter. Somehow I doubted it was my Parselmouth abilities.
"The computers still need power right?" I said, wand tracking along the line of electronics. The hard cut off might not work but that was not the only thing we could do.
"Of course," said Stanley.
At the very same time Robin said, "I don't know!"
That was enough for me. "Accio Cables!" I said and flicked out my wand. My Summoning Charm yanked at the cables but something else pulled back, just as strong. Nothing moved; I'd seen this spell pull iron spikes from a stone wall but the wires stopped me. We'd see about that. Slowly, fighting for every inch, I dragged back my arm, making the spell work by main-force. My arm shook, muscles straining, and sparks flew from some of the computers but AEON was not without its own power. It pulsed, red light burning bright, and again I was halted.
Both heads of Archives looked at me. It wasn't working. Of course it wasn't. That would've been far too simple. I dropped the spell.
"We need to stop this thing?" I said, a frown on my face.
They nodded.
"Then sorry about this: Confringo!" I whipped my wand in a tight circle and jabbed right through the centre. The air tore apart and the Blasting Curse exploded forward, right at AEON's glass head. It hit and splashed off the glass like it wasn't one of the hardest hitting pieces of magic known to wizardkind.
AEON pulsed red and—
The air warped, twisted and shot forward, a wave of force. It slammed into me and I went crashing back. I hit the floor, rolled and came to a stop, every bruise on my already injured body screaming with pain. There was blood on my lips, thick and coppery.
"Run," I said as I pushed myself up. "I'll hold it off."
Another light exploded and space warped. This time I saw it coming and threw myself to the left. Behind me a bookcase burst apart, pages flying in all directions even as the shelves crashed backwards.
With AEON's attention on me, Stanley grabbed the still shocked Robin and dragged him towards the doors. Since they were not yet clear, I staggered forward and slashed my wand through the air. Three Disarming Charms shot towards AEON, a tight bracket, and I put a little spin on them, picturing wires as weapons. There was no time to stop, though; another wave of force was already ripping towards me.
I dodged and struck back, an Explosive Banisher aimed at the floor beneath AEON and a Detonating Curse at the ceiling. They hit, waves of energy breaking loose in thunderous cracks. Plaster dust and vaporised carpet rained down and thundered up respectively. It was a white sheet, filling everything, and then it all shot right towards me as if grabbed up by some great invisible hand.
An alarm blared somewhere in the background, like the fire bell from my muggle primary school, but I had no mind for such things.
"Protego!" I screamed and forced my shield into a wedge. That took a bit of mental effort, far from the spell's preferred baseline, but I fought through. The shield spun into existence, an angled cone of blue energy, sharp at the tip, flared behind. The force wave struck and broke as if before prow of a ship but it still hit me hard. I staggered back, a grunt escaping my lips, but kept my wand up and shield raised.
The last few ceiling lights exploded in pyrotechnic fire, a transient star field of falling glass highlighted by burning sparks of still brighter things. That left only two sources of illumination: the blue of my shield and the arcing crimson of AEON. Where they met violet light warred and spilled out, otherworldly blood.
The force wave petered out and I dropped my shield, fighting through the last dregs as wind whipped my clothes. "Expulso!" I said, and jabbed my wand forward, twisting my wrist at the same time. A wave of fiery force erupted out, heading right for AEON. It washed off the invisible barrier.
AEON retaliated with a shortened force blast, forcing me to the left, then another, while I was still off balance. I staggered back, my non-verbal Shielding Charm only deflecting part of the force. A third hit me head on, but by then I was ready. Feet set and shield focused, I stood firm. Destroyed papers and shattered wood whipped about but I was in the eye of the storm.
The heat haze intensified in front of AEON, lensed space magnifying its burning eye, and a tremendous blast slammed into me. All around, the room's computers thundered their impending victory. Despite all my magic, I went back, tripping, stumbling, but kept my shield up. It was the only thing keeping me alive.
A still intact bookcase tapped against my back, the shelves hard, and I threw myself to the side. The force blast exploded into the books, tearing loose a typhoon of paper and cracking oak, but I hit the ground and cradled my head. The storm raged around me, archaic tongues, hand sketched diagrams for death rays and still other, stranger things but that didn't matter.
On the other side of the room, the red eye of AEON smouldered and a new hum rose as all the fans sped up. Light flickered on a multitude of screens, short bursts of static and fractal patterns which fell away to internal infinities. The air shimmered, a heat haze hanging before every screen, not just AEON's. Something big was happening. Something bad. That didn't sound like something I should just let happen.
"Accio table!" I said and slashed my wand through the air. One of the large oak tables flew towards me, a huge mass of wood, tumbling as it flew. Just like the day before, I stopped it with a second spell, leaving it suspended in mid-air, a halted titan full of potential energy. The next part would be hardest of all.
"Depulso!" I screamed and put all my will behind the spell, forcing the simple banisher to be as powerful as possible. The mental strain hit me like a blow but I did it all the same. It was a good thing I was already on the ground. Had I been standing, my legs would surely have given out.
The table hurtled forward through the air, heading right from AEON, and I held the shape of the spell with my entire mind. It was hard; I was pushing the spell far beyond what it was meant to do and that put all the pressure right on me. Two of the legs exploded into shrapnel as my will faltered a fraction but that didn't matter. The bulk of the table kept moving forward and AEON would need to try very hard to stop it. That was exactly what it did.
A shimmer formed in the air and caught the table, a force equal and opposite to my own.
"Arg!" I screamed through clenched shut teeth. My jaw was as tight as any vice, and the muscles of my face were white. The spell wavered, almost failing, but I kept it going by the mental equivalent of fingernails. It felt like my brain was ready to dribble out my ears. I needed a proper subordinate incantation, one designed to focus the banisher for power. Who needed paltry things like control or usability? I grunted again as I lost a few inches of ground, arm shaking and wand vibrating in my clenched fingers. Merlin, I needed a whole new banisher, one designed to do exactly this.
I screamed, a raw primal sound from the depths of my soul, and the table stopped retreating. It was hard, very very hard. I was back holding the Patronus Charm against the Dementors in my third year. No, it was Voldemort and I, wands locked in my fourth. No, it was the Hag Folkmoot, my Shielding Charm straining from a bombardment of Death Eater curses while the Hags performed their primitive earth magic ritual. Again I screamed and the table started gaining ground. With one final effort, I won the contest. With only the red glow to give light, the table smashed into AEON, knocking the computer back into the wall and cracking the glass dome. The red light died in an instant and bursts of angry lightning cracked around it. The room's other computers flickered too but then came back all the stronger, their screens and speakers pulsing with rage. At first the sound was just clawing and electronic but it soon resolved into an all too human scream.
I gasped for breath and let my head fall to the ground, too mind-weary to keep it raised anymore. Shattered wood bit into my face and there was nothing I could do about it. Casting individual spells all day, that was easy, but holding one highly intent warped spell? That took a mental hit.
Once more space twisted in front of the assembled mass of computers and a wave of force thundered out, converging just where I lay. It picked up shattered wood and ripped paper and it was almost all I could do to raise my wand. "Protego!"
Blue light flickered and flared, resolving into a weak Shielding Charm. The force wave struck but I endured, safe inside my bulwark. Losing AEON had clearly cost the what-ever-it-was; the blast lacked the power of those before, and it petered out after only a few seconds.
Still panting, I rose to my feet and lifted my wand, arm shaking. "Protego!" The shield appeared, hanging in the air, and I did it again and again. Within seconds, three shields hung unsupported, protecting my passage to the door. I ran for it, feet feeling like lead.
Destroyed paper and shattered glass shifted under my feet, crunching and moving. The computers attacked with a huge force blast, large enough to warp light and twist the far side of the room like a funhouse mirror. My first shield exploded, ribbons of blue energy flying in all directions, but I was already behind the second.
"Harry!" screamed Faye and something clutched at my chest. Faye! She was still in the PDA.
"Accio PDA!" I said, waving my wand, not slowing at all. The computers shattered my second shield with a barrage of fist sized strikes, each blow sending waves crashing through the shield before it failed entirely. That was for the best. It meant Faye had a path to me.
The PDA flickered through the air, almost too small to see, but I snatched it up, long honed instincts put to good use. One of the small force blasts slammed into my side, a full force punch, and I went wide, arms wheeling to keep my feet. I managed — just — and dashed for the cover of my third and final shield. I made it and then the doors were just ahead, wooden, closed but not barred. They swung wide to a silent banisher and I barrelled through. Blood pounded in my ears and my breathing was ragged, half from the danger, half from the pain and half from the banisher still dragging me down. My head felt too small and my brain too big. That probably explained were the extra half came from.
"Faye," I said, the name little more than a breath. "You okay?"
"Don't worry!" she said and gave me a thumbs up. "I'm check bit protected." At least someone was still chipper.
From within the room, the scream grew louder, a human voice intercut with electronic static. A dull thud rushed out and a rumble passed through the floor, shaking my feet. The doors vibrated on their hinges.
I drew myself together. Now was not the time to rest.
The doors rippled as I cast my first spell, a basic wood to metal transfiguration. The oak planks morphed, dark brown wood giving way to metallic silver. When it was almost done, I nudged the spell, a minor act of will. The two doors merged together, now one slab, and the whole thing grew outwards. It locked tight in the frame. Transfiguration outside the classroom had never been my best skill — I was no Dumbledore — but the slab wouldn't be coming down to anything less than a battering ram.
Even as I was mentally congratulating myself, the slab boomed like a struck gong and the centre distorted, bending out in a cry of twisting metal. The computers were not yet done. I frowned. If they weren't finished, neither was I.
With a few swishes of my wand, I made the slab Unbreakable. How much that would do against seemingly magical force blasts, I had no idea, but it couldn't hurt and there was more to come.
"Colloportus!" I said and wrapped hard with my wand, the resulting sound slightly tinny like all things bewitched to be Unbreakable. The slab shimmered with half seen light and thunked as if hit by a mass of especially gooey mud. The 'door' was now locked tight.
One last thing. It was time for some big impressive magic. In other words, magic which could easily get me killed.
I raised my wand and pictured what I wanted in my mind: a shield sweeping around the whole library room, covering every inch of wall and blocking all the doors. "Protego," I said, feeling my wand tremble in my hand, "Totalum!"
The spell whooshed out, an almost solid wave of white-blue energy, and it crackled against the spells already in place. Miniature bolts of lightning leaped towards me but I jumped back, heart pounding and violet afterimages staining my eyes. That was a pretty benign reaction, all told, especially considering I'd just done what all the defensive enchantment books said you should never do. Walk a circle, yes; use a physical guide, yes; use a pre-existing spell, yes; attempt to combine an intent warped spell with others, no and never. About the only good thing Theodore Warder would have to say, at least I'd not tried to combine them with the Spell Joining Charm.
From inside Archives came a renewed hum, the sound of working machinery and thundering fans. The slab boomed again as the strongest assault yet slammed against it. Ripples cascaded over the Shielding Charm, starting at the door and spreading outwards along the walls. They were shallow, though, and stayed that way. No constructive interference built up and neither did its destructive twin. The slab didn't explode out of the wall either.
I let out a breath, mostly from relief, and took a few steps back and to the side. After shaking my head to move a few last things back into place, I looked down at Faye.
"Time to make our exit," I said and adjusted my glasses.
For once Faye only nodded.